Yeah, it was supposed to be yesterday, but I was busy. I DON'T ANSWER TO YOU! Had a fun time picking up the boys with my mother, sister and her kids. We all took turns throwing an axe at my three year old standing on the top of the stairs.
It was a foam axe. He was laughing hysterically.
Anyway, I brought them back to central new york and dropped them off with their mother. I came back home alone. Which sucks. But that's part of my life now, right?
So, yeah, I'm under 300 now. Was again this morning, so it wasn't just a fluke. It feels good. It should probably feel better. I don't know.
Phase 2, which I'm 3 weeks through now, is called the Push Circuit. In this phase of the Chalean Extreme program you are lifting heavy weights. Heavy weight, low rep is the name of the game for this circuit. I'm using weights that I never expected to be lifting for things like this. When lifting weights like this, your muscles muscles fail. That's the entire point. You want exertion to failure. In the three weeks that I've done this circuit, I've at least gone up 5 pounds every week on most exercises. Some I've gone up as much as 15 pounds week to week.
So I want to make this a slightly educational post. I want to talk about what happens when your muscles fail, and what DOMS really is.
First, muscle failure. Training to failure is, quite simply, repeating an exercise until your muscles no longer have the capacity to complete any further repetitions. In most weight-training regimens, you want to stop when you can no longer complete a repetition WITH GOOD FORM. Once you reach the spot where your form is no longer effective, i.e. your arms/legs are shaking, you are compensating by changing your posture, etc, it's time to stop.
So why train to failure? The science behind muscle failure is rooted in fibers. The strength of your muscles is in these fibers. They are classified into three types. I, IIA, and IIB, determined by their explosive power versus endurance. These fibers are, in a sense, fired in order. If you do not train to a certain point, only Type I fibers will ever be engaged. A moderate workout will cause the Type IIA fibers to be utilized, taking over when Type I fibers are fully exhausted. Training to failure, however, will ensure that Type IIB fibers are fired as well, coming through when Type IIA is spent. If you do not train to complete failure, only Type I fibers will be broken down and rebuilt stronger. Training to failure is the way to make sure all three types are improved.
Now, let's learn about DOMS. DOMS is 'Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness'. It is that phenomenon where your muscles are sore in the days following exercise, NOT during or immediately after exercise. DOMS is a normal thing to feel, and is part of the 'muscle confusion' platform that so many recent workout programs are based on. DOMS is the signal to you that your muscles are adapting to the new exertions. This will lead to greater stamina and strength as the muscles recover and build, a process called hypertrophy.
Hypertrophy is the increase in volume of an organ or tissue do to enlargement of it's cells. That is to say, that when you are strength training, you are actually not 'gaining' muscle cells. You are actually enlarging and improving the already existing cells.
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness used to be considered caused by lactic acid buildup. However, it is now known that lactic acid is expelled from the muscle within an hour of the exercise. So this cannot be the cause. As for the actual cause, I'll let wikipedia explain:
"Delayed onset muscle soreness was first described in 1902 by Theodore Hough,[4] who concluded that this kind of soreness is "fundamentally the result of ruptures within the muscle".[1] This is still considered broadly valid, although the soreness does not appear to involve the rupture of whole muscle fibers.[2]What has been observed to accompany soreness are ultrastructural disruptions of myofilaments, especially at the Z-disc, as well as damage to the muscle's connective tissue. That tissue damage may relate most directly to soreness, as it may increase the mechanical sensitivity of the muscle nociceptors, or pain receptors, and cause pain with stretching and palpation.[1] The delayed onset of the soreness may occur because the inflammatory response process that sensitizes the nociceptors takes some time.[1] However, the relationship between damage, inflammation and soreness is not yet completely understood.[2]"
I hope you found this information helpful or informative. I'm going to sign off for tonight. Time to watch some of the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities.
You are soooo smart. I always knew about the fibers but not the details. Educational post indeed. Its good to be happy about your accomplishments, but its not good to be completely satisfied. Just need to set that next attainable goal. When you don't have a goal, don't bother.
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