Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 162

Day 162 I stuck with the plan pretty well today and got into some upper body strength work. I've really been wanting to increase my chin-up strength, so I made that a major focus today.

I decided to give a particular protocol called wave loading a try. Wave loading involves alternating an extremely heavy load with a moderate load. The purpose of this it to trick the body into accepting heavier loads in the higher rep range sets through a phenomenon called post-tetanic facilitation. Basically by using a really heavy weight in say your first set, something close to your 1 rep max, you cause your nervous system to freak out. The result is increased activation of the number of motor units involved in that movement. This means that if you rest adequately, before doing your lighter set you should be able to move more weight because of the increased neural activation. I hadn't really tried it before so I was interested to see how things turned out.

Today's Workout

Superset 1

Exercise 1: Weighted Underhand Grip Chin-up Wave Load: 1 - 6 rep protocol / 3 min rest Set 1: 70 extra lbs x 1 Set 2: 70 extra lbs x 6 Set 3: 100 extra lbs x 1 Set 4: 70 extra lbs x 6 Set 5: 125 extra lbs x 1

Exercise 2: Inclined Barbell Press Wave Load: 3 - 6 protocol / 3 min rest Set 1: 135 lbs x 8 Set 2: 185 lbs x 6 Set 3: 205 lbs x 3 Set 4: 185 lbs x 6 Set 5: 205 lbs x 6

Superset 2

Exercise 3: Wide Grip Bent-Over Barbell Row 4 sets / 6 - 8 reps / 2 min rest Set 1: 115 lbs x 8 Set 2: 165lbs x 8 Set 3: 165lbs x 8 Set 4: 165lbs x 8

Exercise 4: Barbell Bench Press 4 sets / 6 - 8 reps / 2 min rest Set 1: 205 lbs x 8 Set 2: 205 lbs x 8 Set 3: 205 lbs x 8 Set 4: 205 lbs x 7

Well I'm not sure if the wave loaded really made much of a difference, but I'm still happy with how the workout turned out. I'm especially happy with my chin-ups. I didn't think I would be able to add an extra 125lbs. Tomorrow, I'll give the weights a break and might try to sneak in some intervals on the treadmill.