theworkoutexperiment.com

[antonber]

theworkoutexperiment.com is launching August 20th. It will be an analysis of a rigorous 10-day session (with one day rest between 5 days of intense workouts), including cardiovascular exercise and intense weightlifting. Daily analyses will be performed, including a breakdown of workouts, nutrition, photographs, and more. My brother and I would love to hear some feedback from you guys before launching, and continued feedback as we take part in our experiment.

We aim to "overtrain" for ten days to see whether results are positive or negative, and the degree of these results. The regimen involves:

1. One hour of jogging every morning
2. 1 - 1.5 hours of intense exercise in the late afternoon/evening
--- Day 1: Either swimming or running
--- Day 2: Chest/Tris/Shoulders/Abs
--- Day 3: Either swimming or running
--- Day 4: Back/Bis/Abs
--- Day 5: Sprints
And some variation of this cycle repeated for the 5 days after the mid-way resting point. No legs are included because so much emphasis is placed on running that it would be unwise to have sore legs.
3. Approximately 3000 calories per day, consisting of a balanced diet with high protein, dispersed throughout the day in 5 to 6 meals.
4. Stretching before and after every running session.

Let us know what you think and we hope to see you on our website during the experiment.

Thanks,
Anton and Nikita
[email protected]
http://www.theworkoutexperiment.com/

 

[super_rice]

Interesting, until i saw your "split." If you guys are absolute beginners, then be prepared to either not see any results, or not finish the "rigorous 10-day session." You will see some results that may amaze you however, if you took say a 3 month time period - and if you did backsquats

On a side note, I've heard good things of (mt). Very elitest.

 

[antonber]

Thanks about MT.

I used to be an intense swimmer, now I've been an intense lifter for over a year. My brother has been in and out of martial arts, but has never performed any intense lifting.

I realize that this is a short time-period, and we are as skeptical about the experiment as you are. Time and time again, sources say that months are required for any kind of results (positive or negative), regardless of workout intensity or frequency.

We aim to test this hypothesis by keeping very detailed daily records of our progress. Despite that this is only 10 days, many people are interested in whether or not short-term high-intensity workouts can produce any significant results -- in terms of dropping weight, decreasing body fat, and any other variation. I do not expect to increase muscle mass in the next ten days, but I am very interested in what will happen.

Thanks for the input!

Here's hoping for the best,
Anton

 

[d-dub]

10 days doesnt seem long enough to assess results from a program, but good luck with it.

And what the ricemeister said - wheres the lower body stuff?

 

[antonber]

We were hesitant to include lower-body high-intensity exercises because of the strain that they would place on the legs. We need the legs for cardiovascular exercise at least once a day, often twice a day. Therefore, we thought it unwise to work the legs, especially for such a short period of exercise.

I, too, am skeptical about finding results, but the statistics will speak for themselves.

Thanks,
Anton

 

[CENTURION44]

What statistics will be monitored....

 

[Shepherd4]

We were hesitant to include lower-body high-intensity exercises because of the strain that they would place on the legs. We need the legs for cardiovascular exercise at least once a day, often twice a day. Therefore, we thought it unwise to work the legs, especially for such a short period of exercise.

Let me apologize in advance, because upon reflection the following may come across more harshly than I intend it. Although I'm a relatively new addition to this board, I think that those who have been here a while will vouch for my temperance...

If you're hesitant to include lower-body exercises for fear of over-straining the legs, how do you expect to overtrain at all? Setting aside the fact the overtraining is typically the result of a systemic overload of the organism over a prolonged period (not just 10 days), I don't see that this program is all that taxing. As written, it basically boils down to alternating days of cardio and weight training with additional morning cardio. Ten days of crossfit workouts would be way worse than this. Instead, what you've written looks like what 95% percent of guys do in the gym already (See Exhibit A: no significant leg work). Also, if your aim is to overload the system and test the results, why are you taking a day off in the middle?

Of course, all this might be different if your plan is to run 10-15 miles each morning, and perform 10 max-effort sets of 10 with each exercise. Is that your plan, though? If not, I just don't see the potential for overload here. One other concern I have is that you're mixing too many variables by combining cardio and weight training. At the end of the cycle, how will you know which contributed most to your condition? If you're actually looking to conduct an experiment and draw meaningful conclusions from it, I would recommend going with either/or for the 10-day period; that is, either running and swimming LONG distances every day for 10 days OR performing a total body workout in the gym every day for 10 days.

Now, what WOULD be interesting would be to see you guys take, for example, the first four weeks of the 5x5 cycle discussed elsewhere on this board and compress those 12 scheduled workouts into 12 straight days. That would be very interesting, and there are a lot of people on this board who would be fascinated to know your results.

mpc

"Think of Tiger Woods out there hitting a bucket of balls. He's not swinging the 5-iron to get stronger -- he's swinging it to hone the groove. Hone the groove."

 

[antonber]

I see your point.

What about a test of combining high rep/low rep workouts over 10 days of high-intensity workouts.

I.e.:

Day 1
AM: High Reps Chest/Tris
PM: Heavy Back/Bis
Day 2
Jog to help prevent soreness
Day 3
AM: High Reps Legs
PM: Heavy Chest/Bis
Day 4
Jog to help prevent soreness
Day 5
AM: High Reps Back/Bis
PM: Heavy Legs

Repeated for two cycles. Or would you recommend a more full-body combination for workouts?

Thanks,
Anton

 

[Shepherd4]

I see your point.

What about a test of combining high rep/low rep workouts over 10 days of high-intensity workouts.

I.e.:

Day 1
AM: High Reps Chest/Tris
PM: Heavy Back/Bis
Day 2
Jog to help prevent soreness
Day 3
AM: High Reps Legs
PM: Heavy Chest/Bis
Day 4
Jog to help prevent soreness
Day 5
AM: High Reps Back/Bis
PM: Heavy Legs

Repeated for two cycles. Or would you recommend a more full-body combination for workouts?

Thanks,
Anton

Thanks for taking my post in the manner in which it was intended. You're definitely moving in the right direction, but I still query whether you'll learn anything meaningful with so many variables still in play. Keep it simple.

It might be helpful for us to know what your experience level is. What's your background? Bodybuilding? Powerlifting? Marathons? How long have you been doing it? What's your proficiency level and how do you normally train? If you're relative newbies to hard weight training, then super rice is right -- you're not likely going to learn very much, except perhaps about the capacity for human misery.

I still think the compressed 5x5 idea is cool...

 

[blut wump]

I agree wholly with shepherd4's comments. I'd also like to know whether you are already conditioned. If you are currently unaccustomed to this kind of work then you may be unable to do the experiment justice. Whenever you change workout style significantly the body needs a period of adjustment before it can 'let rip'. Without that sliding-in the body might not let you give your all.

 

[antonber]

I have been weightlifting and running for over a year, and before that I was an avid swimmer (about 3 hours per day, 6 days a week). My brother is not conditioned for this kind of exercise. It'll be an interesting comparison to make, anyway.

In terms of the 5x5 idea, what specific 5x5 regimen did you have in mind? I found a few on the forum, but wasn't sure which one you were referring to.

 

[antonber]

In terms of my lifting/running conditioning:

I run/cardio about 4 days a week, evenly spaced.

I weightlift about 5 days per week, often 6. Chest/Tries, Back/Bis, Shoulders and Legs.

Thanks,
Anton

 

[blut wump]

It might be worth spending a few preliminary days just to get your brother used to the pace rather than his jumping in the deep end? Low intensity, light and steady just for acclimatization purposes.

 

[antonber]

We agree; that's what we've been doing for the past few days.

But what do you think about the high rep/low rep variation?

Thanks for the input!
Anton

 

[blut wump]

As a workout split it looks great. I used to do the same bodypart combinations as have many others. You could also consider cycling or reinstate the swimming as good alternatives or companions to jogging. Make sure you have comfortable beds and lots of time allocated for sleep.

Good luck

 

[Shepherd4]

I have been weightlifting and running for over a year, and before that I was an avid swimmer (about 3 hours per day, 6 days a week). My brother is not conditioned for this kind of exercise. It'll be an interesting comparison to make, anyway.

In terms of the 5x5 idea, what specific 5x5 regimen did you have in mind? I found a few on the forum, but wasn't sure which one you were referring to.

There's really just one on this forum, and it is excellently described, explored, explained and expanded upon in the thread entitled "Bill Starr's 5 x 5 program... Variation per Madcow2 (thanx) So here it is! K up now!" Basically, it boils down to the following:

Mon
Squat.......5x5 with constant weight
Bench......work up to a top set of 5
Row.........work up to a top set of 5

Wed
Squat.......5x5 with 15-20% less than Monday
Deadlift.....5x5 with constant weight
Military......5x5 with constant weight
Pullups.......5x5 with constant weight

Fri
Squat........work up to a top set of 5
Bench........5x5 with constant weight
Row...........5x5 with constant weight

During this volume phase, the aim is to add 5-10 pounds to the lifts each week for four weeks. There's a peaking phase, too, but that wouldn't be terribly relevant to your proposal.

 

[Singleton]

Measure VO2 Max?
Measure BF ?
Measure BW?
Measure strength?
Tape Measure?

10 days is not enough to see a significant change in most of these except maybe VO2 Max (which I say b/c I have no experience with).

If you shot for at least 4 weeks you could get results that you could see. 10 days he will definitely feel, but not much can be seen as far as body comp goes.