This week is totally brutal to say the least. I’ll be testing my strength using these 4 exercises:
- Monday Madness with Barbell Bench Press
- Rest and Recovery
- Fatal Wednesday with Front Squats
- Rest and recovery
- Black Friday with Chin Ups
- Stronger Saturday with Deadlifts
- Sore Sunday with rest and rest and rest and recovery.
The whole idea is to take my 10 Rep Max weight and do as many reps as I can in 30 minutes. Ideally the point is to try and do 1 set at the start of every minute. So overall I can get 30 sets done in 30 minutes.
The key is to pace it well enough so that I don’t gas out or pass out (Oh yeah, I almost did pass out while doing the front squats) before the 30 minute period. I would normally do a 10 Rep Max and take a break for at least 2 to 3 minutes before I dive to the next set.
So this was totally crazy, something you should not try to do. This can only be done after you have progressed and graduated to a certain level with your workouts and you know that your form and technique is impeccable.
Live Report from Monday Madness with Bench Press:
This was the first time I was testing my muscular strength by doing a 30 minutes all out workout. I took my 10 Rep Max weight and churned out 115 reps in 30 minutes. I started out well, but soon realized that I will have to pace it well else there was no way I could have gone with this for 30 minutes.
I usually do not like a spotter around me. But this was one of those days where I would have loved a spotter around me. I nearly had the bar fall on me on more than 5 occasions when I thought ‘I can maybe get a rep or two more’. Towards the end, I could only manage sets with 2-3 reps each.
This will be a good starting point for me when I redo the tests later next month. I will hopefully touch the 150 mark.
Live Report from Fatal Wednesday with Front Squats:
I love doing my leg workouts. However, this was one workout that gave me sleepless night. Squatting with a 10 Rep Max for 30 minutes was the craziest thing I ever did in my life.
I literally had to ask the owner of the gym to stop other members from using the squat rack or walk around that area so that my 30 minutes stint does not go topsy-turvy in any way. This is one of the advantages of being friends with someone who owns the gym.
I started off decently but was beginning to gas out from the 3rd set itself. I usually take 5 minutes between sets during my regular workouts. So this was kind of really tough on me. Things started falling apart from set 11. I could not pace myself to do 1 set every minute. I literally had a black out and was going to fall flat during the 16 minute mark.
I just closed my eye for a minute and sat on the bench for 40 odd seconds. I guess it was the adrenaline that got me going again and I did eventually complete the 30 minute mark. However, this was an experience of a lifetime.
Well, you must be wondering, ‘how many reps did Karan manage?’ The answer is 70. I would like to reach a 100 when I re-run this test again later next month.
Stay tuned for live reports from Black Friday with Chin Ups. Coming soon….
Caution:
Do not do this ever.
There is a scientific reason behind everything I’m doing.
Every training is goal specific and your goal can be completely different from mine. So do what is right for your goal, not what the other person is doing.
