Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Sleep Deprivation and Max Strength- my experiment day 2

Another tid bit of information regarding sleep. Over the past 3 nights my baby has been sick so I was averaging about 3 hours sleep per night and completing a course through the day (so not napping). WOW, has this ever affected my maximum strength. I did have a good night sleep last night but, I was only able to complete 4 berpie pullups in total today (last week 5 then 4- 2 sets) and dropped 20 pounds on my near max cleans (3 reps)(barbell pulling motion). I know factors like nutrition come into play as well, but I feel my accumulation of sleep deprivation was the kicker. I am putting myself through a little challenge where I am trying to improve on these 2 exercises every Tuesday. I will let you know my conditions (sleep and diet) and my improvements. So the question is, can a new mom dramatically improve her strength results? With constant set backs like the flu, lack of sleep and emotional stress, what is realistic? You can loose fat with the quick Tababta style fat loss workouts and being organized with your diet, I am living proof of that. Now the question is how and when will I regain my pre-pregnancy strength- if ever. My busy mom fitness strength workout today- dynamic warmup, standing lat pulldowns, lunge press, shoulder rotations, elevated prone plank with knee ins, 4 Berpie pullups 1 set, 2 sets of narrow grip pullups each 4 reps, circuit of front squat-pushpress-bulgarian split squat 2 sets. Now it is time to try cleans, warmup goes well so I add 20lb and able to complete, I add 10 more pounds to complete 5x but not maxed out so I add another 20lb to try for my 3 rep max- NO DICE. I could not complete this complex lift today. I altered my lift to a high pull 5x, then backed off on the weight to complete 5 more lifts. I proceeded with post rehab hamstring and glut medius exercises. I will be reporting on this every Tuesday for the next month and let you know how far I have come and under what conditions, I will perform these 2 exercises at the same point in my workout each week. I know strength training may not be your goal, but there are some great benefits to it. It is a great way to shake up your program, decrease boardum and allow you to set mom fitness goals for yourself. In the long run you will be able to lift more while you are circuiting, therefore cutting more fat. All training I talk about is strengthening, but I am specifically referring to trying near max lifts. I do feel I am ready for this as my baby is almost 1 year old.

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