Not Just a Man's World

It’s not often I get to write a blog post like this, but this will be a short celebration of the fact that I had learned my lesson last time I tried to increase my work capacity and workout density.  I applied those lessons and as a result I managed to smoothly move into my new workout format without tears, misery and a sense of depression.

Getting it right doesn't mean I'm not exhausted at the end of the last exercise (glute bridges)

What lessons did I take away last time?

It was a short but valuable list of lessons that I took away from my previous attempts to increase work capacity through increased workout density.

1. Don’t try to increase workout density the week my period starts.
2. Don’t try to put the workout density right up to maximum amount I’m aiming for in the first workout.

Timing workout changes with my period

Thanks to the contraceptive pill, I know exactly which week will be the one where my period will affect my strength and ability in the gym.  I’ve found that my strongest week is generally the week leading up to the start of my period, the weakest week is the week when my period happens.

The first thing I did when I realised that I was going to have to change my workouts was look at the calendar and check where I was in my cycle.  Well, I didn’t because I knew off the top of my head where I was, but I did think about it.  If my period had been about to start I would have taken a rest week before starting the new program.  In fact, I had been tempted to take a rest week before I started anyway, but when I realised that I was in that precursory week – my extra-strong week – I went straight into changing the program.

I went for it and it paid off.  I’ve seen improvements throughout the week and I’ve survived without tears and mental weakness (though there’s been plenty of lying on the floor between exercises, bemoaning my foolishness).

Gradually building up the workouts

I realised that, with my strong week, I could take a slightly light-touch to this.

For the very first workout (actually my fourth workout in the previous week) I did some lightweight squats at the start but not the full heavy weight squats that should have featured as exercise one.  This was partly due to the poor form that I still had when I started but was also a conscious decision that I would need to drop one of the 3 main exercises for the first workout.  The poor form just decided for me which exercise would be dropped.

The second workout (ignoring the strongman workout which was the true first workout of the week) was during the weekend, so I could take my time over it. 

This was the workout where I felt physically sick from the lactate in my muscles, so I could going and walk in brisk circles (until I got dizzy) on the patio between exercises to try to get rid of some of the lactate.  Despite this, I dropped the reps on my pull ups (the third main exercise) from the previous workout and only did just over half of them.  Normally this would have upset me, but having learned my lesson from last time, I was content to take this as part of the building blocks for my new workout.

The third workout took a different format to workouts two and four, being the deadlift workout.  It was unpleasant but for the first time I did every exercise that was planned.  Finally I felt like I was getting there.

Finally, workout four was the test.  It was the same format as workout two but this time I did all the exercises.  I also increased the weight and quality of performance on the previous workout.

Success comes to those who learn from past failures

I was pleased to see that by taking on board earlier lessons and applying those I’ve got to the end of the week and I’m where I hoped to be.  I’m a great one for setting out the lessons that I learn from things I do but I’ve not previously had the belief that I would take those lessons away and apply them the next time I’m faced with a similar situation.  This week was evidence that I can do that and that it pays off.

I hope this also inspires some of you to ensure you learn lessons from things that go wrong in order to learn from them.  This can be done through training logs and personal journals.

It also reminds me of one of the first things Chris ever taught me when he first took me to a gym – you should always keep a written record of your training.  Not just to see your progress and give yourself a confidence boost in the bad weeks but to learn what does and doesn’t work for you.

Related posts:

1. Increasing work capacity
2. Lessons learned this week: the menstrual cycle and making workouts more challenging
3. Lessons learned: keeping training records
4. Lessons learned: exercise and the menstrual cycle