This Past Week (5/2-5/8)

This past week I started SMS7 and, wow, I have to say that these timed sets are EXACTLY what I've been needing. In fact, I have said that these timed sets are the best thing to happen to my lift since I switched from the Bowflex to the iron game, and it is true. If you don't know already, SMS7 gives you an amount of time to do each exercise instead of a number of sets. I'll be writing my June training article on this topic, so for now that's all the detail I'll be going in to.

So Sunday was my squat day, and from the first exercise that was timed like this I could tell that I was on to something good. I was getting in way more sets than I normally would, and I was feeling as strong as ever. The paired exercises were brutal to get through, but at the end of the workout I had one of the greatest T pumps going that I've ever had. This held true for my bench, deadlift, and military press days as well. Basically, I don't know if I'm ever going to go back to lifting like I used to, with a pre-determined number of sets and reps.

Monday and Friday I did plyos again, and Tuesday and Thursday were my recovery days. Friday I was dragging a little bit, but luckily my plyo workout was short and sweet so it was just enough stimulation to wake me up and get me out of my fog. Wednesday I did hill sprints behind the school's track. There is a small, fairly steep, hill back there that takes about 6 to 8 seconds to get up. It's the perfect size of anaerobic work. I did hill sprints for 20 minutes on it, making 30 trips in that time. I would sprint up and walk down. It got my heart rate super jacked and I burned a ton of calories, not to mention the two and a half hours of epoc after I was done.

I forgot to tell you that Sunday evening I had trouble sleeping. I laid down to go to sleep at 10:00 PM, and at midnight I was still staring at my ceiling. I couldn't believe it. I normally sleep so well and fall asleep right away. I had tried different breathing tricks, some minor meditation, reading, writing a new blog post, but every time I would go lay back down my eyes refused to shut and my mind refused to shut off. So, after lying awake for two hours, I decided I needed some physical activity, so I hiked Self Made Mountain.

Yup, at midnight I decided it was a good time for a walk so I put on a shirt and my shoes and headed out the door. At first I wasn't sure where I was going, I just wanted to walk. But after a while I realized that the only way I was going to fall asleep was if I hiked this mountain, so that's what I did. I got back to my room at about 1:15 AM completely soaked with sweat (it was a really humid night) and passed out in my bed. Then I woke up at 5:45 AM that morning to get my lift in haha.

On Thursday of this past week I sent out the May issue of The Source. If you aren't signed up for it yet, you can do so by clicking here. No Williams e-mail addresses please! The Williams e-mail system blocks my newsletter as spam, so I'll need an alternate address if you are a Williams student or faculty.

Well, that's all for this past week. Now it's time to go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.