The Burning Wall

Emotional burnout is one thing - nobody wants that.  This kind makes a muscle weak but it comes back stronger in a few days.  Today's workout was a perfect blend of a high heart rate (not too high) and very tired, burning muscles.  It's great for building lean muscle and burning off unwanted fat.  This workout was done with a pair of dumbbells (one light and one medium weight).  You will also want a bar to hang from and a place to run.  If you don't have a bar to hang from - do bent over rows.  If you don't have a place to run do jumping jacks for 1 minute as a substitution for the running.

Three stations, work the station then move on to the next station.  This workout took us about 40 minutes.

4 round of each station

Station 1:
10 imbalanced dumbbell press (we held a 30#db in one hand and 15# the other, switching each round)
10 slow pushups (TEMPO IMPORTANT, 3 seconds down, 1 second up)
10 pushups (normal speed)
run (about 200 yards or so)

Station 2:
10 pullups
10 slow dumbbell curls (15#s, 3 seconds down, 1 second up)
10 dumbbell curls (normal speed)
run (about 200 yards or so)

Station 3:
10 split jumps
10 slow squats (3 seconds down, 1 second up)
10 squats
run (about 200 yards)


So WHY do it this way?

Type II muscle fibers drive the higher strength functions (and muscle growth).  If you are lifting a light weight, the type I fibers must be fatigued first before the type II get activated.  There are 3 ways to activate the type II fibers.  (1) heavy weights (75% of your absolute maximum lift) or (2) 3 second tempo to failure or (3) very high reps (though this is of some debate)

The first movement activates type II muscle fibers (if you're pressing heavy enough).  The second exercise continues this with the slow tempo and when the muscle reached a high level of fatigue we are continuing with what would normally be a light weight movement but at this time the lactic acid is flowing strong and it's very difficult.  We're trying to get the most out of the type II that we can.  Enjoy!