So, got a new bike…

It’s a sweet ride and it folds, so I can potentially take it on the Metro during peak times if I need to. Only thing I really need to change is the tires. They’re off road tires and grab everything – so, basically, the moment I stop pedaling, I stop moving. The tires I have are 26 x 1.95 – if anyone knows of a good road tire of that size, please give me a holler…

I’m getting over a knee injury – been out of commission since October, but need to get back into rugby shape, so I’m going to (as much as possible) take the bike on the Metro (DC) in the mornings and ride home (Reston, VA) at night…

I rode from Reston to DC the other day. The W&OD trail at the Reston Metro Station to the Custis Trail. I was going to take the Custis Trail to the Mount Vernon Trail to the Bridge that takes you to the Jefferson Memorial (I think everyone calls it the 14th Street Bridge). But, somehow, I took a left (totally missing the rest of the Custis Trail) and ended up taking the Francis Scott Key Bridge to Georgetown, then down the waterfront (Rock Creek & Potomac Parkway) path to the Lincoln Memorial and back to Virginia, crossing the Arlington Memorial Bridge…

As I was going across the bridge I could see the trail that I had missed below me, but there was no way for me to get there from the side of the bridge I was on (I didn’t realize until I looked at it from my maps app when I got home that I could have gotten there had I been on the other side of the bridge). I tried riding around a bit to see if I could pick up another trail, but there was none to be had. As I was about to backtrack and suddenly, right next to the SeaBee’s Memorial, in a bush, there was an elevator with a sign saying “Arlington Metro”….

Sweet! As any good NOVA Resident would, I have my Metro Pass on me at all times. I totally took that bad boy all the way back to Reston. Funny thing is, everyone else had the same idea that day. When I got to the platform, there were at least 30 folks with bikes waiting to get aboard. From what they were telling me, the wind was just too strong that day and they didn’t want to ride against it all the way home…

I didn’t understand it until we got to Reston and I had to ride home. Yup, glad I did that – it would have taken me hours to get home riding against that wind…

Anyway, for my first long ride on my new bike – it was a good one. My knee felt great and my quads burned awesomely…

Everyone, well not everyone, but a lot of people, has been asking me to explain my workout to them.  Well, here it goes:

1st -> Print this .pdf – it’s 14.4MB, so give it a few minutes

2nd – > I will just explain the first 2 pages, cause the rest is pretty self explanatory – just shows the exercises for each workout…

OK, at the beginning of each set you wanna get your 10RM (10 rep max – the most weight you can do for that exercise 10 times – if you have something left over, keep adding weight until you’re there) for each exercise you’re gonna do for that set.  I do this every time because somedays your body just doesn’t wanna push heavy and others it really does (don’t worry about it, this will kill you anyway!).

Once you have your 10RM (should take a few minutes to set up both exercises), write that weight in the box next to the exercise that says “Weight” in the heading.  Then start your egg timer at either 15 or 10 minutes ) whatever the sheet says under the heading “Time”…

You job at this point is to do as many sets as possible until the egg timer goes off…

Don’t do more than 5 reps per set/exercise – the idea is to do as many sets of each exercise as possible.  If your doing it right (if you’ve really put a good weight on and are really doing as many sets as you can possibly do safely) the last few minutes should be excruciating – if your doing more than 2/3 reps per set, you weren’t pushing hard enough the first 7.5/10 minutes…

Anyway, for each set/exercise, put a mark for the number of reps done in the appropriate box (5-1).  Don’t worry if they aren’t the same for the two exercises!  Just cause you pushed out 5 reps in Exercise #1 ten minutes into it doesn’t mean you can do the same in Exercise #2 (be careful with Exercise #2!) – I’m usually the opposite cause of a bum knee that acts up randomly…

Don’t forget!  It’s all about form – don’t get hurt!  

Now, here’s the cool part.  At the end of the workout, after you’re showered and kicking back, add up the reps for each exercise individually, take that number and multiply it by what you have written in “Weight” for that exercise.  If the exercise was bilateral (working the body separately – ex: dumbbell curls with the right hand and the left hand holding their own dumbbell, or a forward lunge one side to the other) multiply the number in the last sentence times two (x2 is how I have it marked on the sheet right next to the exercise).  If the exercise was unilateral (ex: curls with a bar, or squats with a bar), then keep the number as is (x1 is how it is marked on the chart).

Anyway, sorry about that, once you have multiplied reps times weight, and multiplied that by your type of exercise – bilateral (x2)/unilateral (x1) – put that number in the box for that exercise marked “Density”.  That is how much weight you moved for that exercise in a 15/10 minute period today…

The idea is to “beat” your last “density record” every time you work out, as you do you will see it escalate – which is why this training is called Escalating Density Training (or EDT)…

I designed 12 workouts (on the sheet) which I do sequentially, so I don’t get my “Escalated Density” for a given workout until I finish the 12th and start again at the 1st; but I can see it often for individual exercises…

Always give yourself at least 24 hours of recovery between these workouts!  Everyone of these workouts is a Full Body Workout.  If you’re really smart you’ll take a few days between workouts, or skip from one-to-two-to-one-to-two-and-so-on days off…

(WG) -> Wide Grip

(RG) -> Regular Grip

(CG) -> Close Grip

Every time I do Bench with dumbbells in my hand I do flys and tri extensions with them – Push (1), Fly (2 down-3 up), Tri Extension (4 down-5 up), and down to the chest (that makes one rep). “45 Bench” means “Incline”, “0 Bench” means “Regular”, and I do Dips instead of “Decline Bench”…

Let’s see, what else, oh yeah!  Chin up is palms facing you, pullup is palms facing out…

Can’t think of anything else at the moment…

Totally twisted my knee while jogging two days ago. My dog cut direction on me, I went with him for the exception of my right leg below the knee (which was planted). I really didn’t know anything was that bad until I got out of the shower a while later…

The next day I couldn’t move the leg at all (total bummer cause I had to ice my knee and use a stick as a crutch all day – my 1st borns birthday)…

The good news is that it felt better today, feels pretty good as I’m writing this, and a buddy of mine loaned me his crutches for the next few days…

My next gig is a few weeks away, so I have time to heal…

Bummer is that I’m gonna have to slow down my workout a bit cause most of my exercises are full-body, which means I can not do them…

I’m really not gonna run anymore, so if anyone on the mainland can get their hand on a “Stamina Body Trac Glider” Rowing Machine (should run around $150) please let me know. I’ve looked for them online and the only place I could find that would deliver to Maui wanted to charge me a little more than the cost of the machine to send it to me – really bummed. I just need it sent to me – doesn’t matter how slow it gets to me, as long as it gets to me…

I’m liking this WordPress for the iPhone!

Speaking of the iPhone, it hasn’t arrived yet. Waiting for this thing sucks!

On a side note, I noticed the other day a ton of PDF’s of news for the last few months on my computer, when time allows I’ll put it up (goes all the way back to Feb/Mar)…

I changed my workout a bit for this cycle. I found that, after the first few weeks, my body was able to adjust to the exercises much faster than before – to the point where I wasn’t getting a good workout. So I made a change-up. I don’t do the same exercises (for the most part), within a two week period. I work the same body parts on the same days as before, I just use different exercises…

This workout is working so far – my body hasn’t had the time to adjust to any of the exercises yet. So it doesn’t have a choice but to get stronger and grow to make up for what it doesn’t know is coming next…

Here’s the workout:
New Cutting Workout

The first, third, fifth, and seventh week are the first page; and the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth weeks are the second page. If I have to miss a workout (I tend to have a few 14-20 hour days every now and again), I just pick up where I left off on the following day. If I have to miss two, I try to do a two-a-day on the next day to keep on schedule. If I have to miss more than that, I pick up where I left off but take sunday off. So my Monday may begin with a total different body part than Chest, Delt, and Tri…

Anyway, I try to get up early and do the workout beforehand on the days I suspect will be long one’s – so I never really have to worry about it…

I have a few old friends who have been asking me about my recent workout – so here it goes…

I’m on my second cycle of this particular workout now. Basically I did what I now call my “Cutting Supersets” Workouts for 8 weeks, took two weeks off, did what I call my “Strength Building” Workouts for 8 weeks, took two weeks off, and now am in my first week of my 2nd “Cutting Supersets” Workout…

I hit a plateau for while there, but then came across this book called Muscle Logic (by Charles Staley) and it totally revolutionized my way of thinking. EDT stands for Escalating Density Training – Density being the amount of “work” done within a given time frame. To make my “Cutting Supersets” Workout, I took my old Supersets Routine and applied the EDT “approach” to it…

What do I mean by “approach”?
My old approach was to do this workout as “Century Sets” meaning I would do (EXTREMELY) light weight and take it to 100 reps. The first month or so, I would only be able to do 30-40 reps per set, so I would end up doing something like 3 sets of 33, 4 sets of 25, or 5 sets of 20 reps, etc. By the end of the workout, the body parts I worked that day were totally wasted (and if they weren’t I would do extra exercises just to make sure I got the “burn”)…
Charles Staley’s EDT says to do your 10RM (the max weight you can do for 10 reps), no more than 5 reps per set, for as many sets as possible, for a given time limit (usually 15 minutes).

Basically his EDT “approach” is 180 degrees from the way most of us have been lifting for the last 20+ years…

From the outset of starting this workout, I felt nothing, I was gonna go back to a 3×5 or 5×5 workout. I had no “burn” during, or after my workout (which drove me nuts); no soreness, or tightness, the next day (which really didn’t feel natural); but, I decided to stick it out just to see what the results would look like. After the end of my first 6 weeks, I looked at the data and I noticed two really strange things happening:

1. I really started to cut up (the mirror doesn’t lie), and
2. My strength went up massively for every exercise

After my 8 weeks was up, I sat down to really analyze what was going on (I write down everything). I started cutting, because this workout makes me sweat more than any workout I’ve ever done (I, literally, sweat more than I do when I go for a run). I got stronger because I’m able to workout with (MUCH) heavier weight by doing sets of 5 rather than sets of 20-100.

The best part about it (for me) is that I’m not sore all the time! Two other factors which I’m really loving is that my flexibility has actually improved, and from the time I start my warm up to the time I hit the shower takes about 1hr 15min (which is about half the time of my old workouts)…

If you really want to get anal (which I am), you can actually check results in “amount of work done” (a.k.a. Density). If you do this, you can really see the results – and it will be an eye opener. I’ll give you an example just using the first group of exercises of the first day (which is “Flys-to-Press” and “Bent-to-Standing Cable Crossovers”):

• On the first workout of the first week, before doing your sets, you want to get your 10RM for the exercises. When you do, write it in the appropriate box for the given exercise. Don’t change this weight for the entire 8 weeks!
  Example, my “Flys-to-Press” 10RM was 40lbs. per Dumbbell (80lbs. total) and “Bent-to-Standing Cable Crossovers” had 70lbs on the machine…
• As you do the set for the two exercises, just put a mark when you complete a set – whether it be a set of 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1.
• You’ll find, when you first start, that you will probably not “work” the entire 15 minutes. You’ll be lucky to do 10-15 sets within that time. That’s cool, as long as you work as hard as you can, within the time allotted.
  My first few weeks, I did 10 sets of 5 reps as it turns out…
• As time continues, you start to push your body beyond the anaerobic threshold. Basically, this means that you stop caring about doing 5 reps per set and you just go for it – you try to do as many sets as possible regardless of the number of reps done in those sets – you just do as much “work” as you can.
  In the 4th week, I had 12 reps of 5, 3 reps of 4, 3 reps of 3, 3 reps of 2, and 3 reps of 1. Basically what happened here is, to do the most work I could, I did the following (just to see what it would feel like), kinda keeping track of it in my head – Set 1-4 (5 Reps), Set 5 (4 Reps), Set 6 (3 Reps), Set 7 (2 Reps), Set 8 (1 Rep), Set 9 (5 Reps), Set 10 (4 Reps), Set 11 (3 Reps), Set 12 (2 Reps), Set 13 (1 Rep), etc…
  Anyway, that was not exactly what I did, but close enough. The idea was to just keep going without stopping…
• To discover how much “work” was completed, count the number of reps in total and multiply it by the weight used. This number is the “Density” of that exercise for that day – hence, “Escalating Density” refers to the increase of “work” done (lbs per exercise any given day) within the given amount of time (15 minutes) over a time period (4 weeks, 8 weeks, whatever)…
• So during the first workout I did 10 reps of 5 (50 reps total) at 40lbs per hand for Flys. That would be 2000lbs of work for each side, which is a Density 4000lbs of total chest work.
  The 4th week I did 12 reps of 5, 3 reps of 4, 3 reps of 3, 3 reps of 2, and 3 reps of 1 (which is 90 reps total) at 40lbs per side. That’s a Density 7200 lbs of chest work total!
  So, Flys went from 4000lbs of work to 7200lbs of work in 4 weeks – in the same 15 minute time frame! Talk about Escalating my Density!
• For cable Crossovers the number went from 3500lbs of work on the first week to 6300lbs in the 4th week, in the same 15 minute time frame!
• In the first point above, I told you not to change the weight for the entire cycle (8 weeks). It’s a good idea for most people. But some of you may see the quick gains that I saw. My rule for adding weight is basically this: when my work load doubles I get my new 10RM and use that weight until my workload doubles again…

This “approach” to working out is great! You can see the improvement right there on paper – and it is obvious. I am doing my own workout (as far as which body parts I’m hitting, with which exercises, and when), I’m just doing it with his EDT “approach”…

Cutting Supersets – this is my 6-days-a-week workout which lasts 8 weeks. This is basically the same workout that I’ve been doing on and off for the last 20+ years, as Century Sets – now I just set my egg timer for 15 minutes and put a mark in the box as I complete a set (which means completion of both exercises for the set). Just try to do as many reps (at your 10RM) as possible within the given time – so what if you only do three reps for the last few sets, just don’t stop till the time is up…

When I start on my Strength Building Workout, I’ll put that in here and explain it to you. It’s a little more complicated, but very effective when applying EDT to it. Also, it follows ALL rules of a true EDT workout – meaning, it applies the concept of “Antagonistic Pairings” (which is the only EDT concept missing in my Cutting Supersets Workout)…

Something to keep in mind:
I workout in my home gym with no partner – and my program is designed around that. I don’t have to wait for someone else to finish their set, I just setup my weights and do my thing – you might not be able to do that…