Cookies Training Log

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Thought I'd give this a shot an see how it goes.

A little background: touching 49 years, natural, trained many years, many styles, lost my way a little in recent years forgetting the basics but also wear and tear and old injuries coming home to roost (hence love the idea of the initial high rep sets.) Tending to carry a little more round the waist than I'd like.

Never been Mr anything & never will be but still there's nothing that could replace the feeling of fulfillment having completed a good hard workout.

The first couple of weeks will be very much suck it and see. I've a fair idea as to weights to use. I'd like to start squatting again (if my back and knees will let me). I'll start VERY quietly & see what happens.

Anyway here are my thoughts.

Split: 4 way
Upper Body vertical
Arms
Upper Body Horizontal
Lower Body

Training days per week 3 to 4 with HIIT aerobic work & some abs etc on off days.

1 primary exercise (3sets) plus 1 secondary (1 set) per bodypart. I may alternate the primary and secondary from workout to workout contrary to Johns advice but I'm not decided.

rest between sets : Around 4 minutes between A1 A2 etc. john is this about right: tonight I felt as though I needed LESS rest between the later sets of lower reps at higher weights. The higher reps were a killer.

Tonights workout (please don't laugh at the weights used:

Upper Body Vertical Plane
A1 Parallel Grip Technogym Pulldown 20X110 16X127 12X143
A2 Lateral Raise 25X13 15X18 7X22
B1Wide Grip Technogym Pulldowns 12X154
B2 Military Press 12X121

Hard workout in 45 minutes: Felt good.

Cookie

[cookie]

Went to the gym tonight with th intention of doing some HIIT on the treadmill/Concept 2.

But..........couldn't resist an arm workout.

10/05/2007

Primary
A1 Close Grip Bench Press 25X135, 14X176, 5X220
A2 EZ Curls 25X55, 17X66, 12X77

Secondary
B1 Triceps Pushdown 10X88
B2 Straight Curls 8X72

Averaged around 3-4 minutes between sets.

Good workout!

Cookie

[cookie]

Friday 11.5.07

did around 40 mins treadmill work using speed and incline to vary intensity. Do not want to aggravate knee at this stage.

Sunday 13.5.07

1st leg work out for quite some time: Starting very slowly on smith squats etc. Rotated three exercises, but only did primary exercises to keep the volume in line with other routines.

A1 Smith Squats (very deep, narrow stance, high bar) 25X88, 15X110, 10X132
A2 Seated Leg Curl 25X55, 15X77, 10X88
A3 Standing Calf machine 18X132, 12X154, 10X176

Good workout: High rep squats are a killer even at light weights!

Cookie

[John A. Casler]

Hi Cookie,

Glad to see you "onboard" the Rogue HIT Express.

I am trying to wrap around what your program entails and offer suggestions, if you want it to offer the benefits of Rogue HIT.

My first comment, would be that you need a "minimum" of two full days of rest, between Rogue HIT sessions.

So you might find that you reduce your progress or become over trained if you go 4 days a week.

Even 2 is superior to 4. The way I arrived at 3, was to place lower body day, in between "chest and back" and "arms and shoulders", which still gave everything at least 2+ full days of growth/rest.

Another suggestion would be to make sure and try and select exercises that you can see yourself becoming VERY STRONG in.

I see on your "Upper Body Vertical" day you use pulldowns and dumbbell laterals.

Pulldowns can offer supreme growth in strength, but you might reach limits on the laterals within a shorter period.

Now that said, I worked up to 65# dumbbells x 12 in side db laterals using this program, so it can blast the delts in a big way. If I remember correctly it was:

40 x 30
55 x 20
65 x 12

I might even have done 70's for 5-8 reps, but they probably looked more like high pulls than laterals.

I was 48 when I first really put this to the "REAL" test so your age should not be a factor.

I like the Upper Horizontal and Upper Vertical idea and feel it is a good implementation;

For anyone else reading this you might try the following:

Upper Vertical Plane:

Overhead Press (of some type)
Pulldowns (of some type)

Lower Body and TORSO:

Squats
Reverse Load Squats

Standing Calf

Upper Body Horizontal:

Bench Press (of some type)
Bent Over Row

Extra pump sets can be done afterward with no intentions except maximum pump.

OK back to Cookie.

Cookie,

As far as your squats, I suggest freehand squats if possible (even if your beginning weight is the bar alone), but only, if you can squat in a POWER RACK, with bottom pins for safety.

Also, if you have a knee problem, [glow=red,2,300]NEVER[/glow] start your weighted squats, until you have done a freehand (no weight) set of 40-50 reps, followed by another set of 30-40 reps.

THEN....you can use the weight. At 48, if you rush the weight progress, or don't warm up the knee, you are only asking for injuries and pain.

If you do the right warm up, you'll have the potential of breaking every PR (personal record) you have ever set, in every exercise.

I might also suggest "icing" the knee (for at least 15 min) after both squat and cardio sessions. It can pay dividends in future sessions.


"alternating" exercises, will likely not allow you to achieve the best results, since this system is assembled to provide specific stimulus/recovery cycles, that cause many of the relevant factors of growth and strength to be addressed in a way to get maximum results.

Looking at your first couple workouts, it seems you are starting light enough, to make some very nice progress and make sure not to "rush" the weights up too quickly.

Do be prepared to take more time between sets on the "main" exercises, after you start to get into the heavier weights. Recovery must be complete, in order to "attack" the next set, and set the PR. each time.

[John A. Casler]

Cookie?

You still out there?