Right now I’m concentrating on building a base of muscles that have the ability to endure prolonged use. During workouts, I’m doing multiple sets of high numbered reps. For instance, this morning I did 160 curls with a 20 lb weight. I’m placing that demand on my muscle over a longer period of time. By lifting a 50lb weight ten times wouldn’t give my muscle the same demand. It would be asking it for short powerful bursts instead of consistent use under load for a longer period. My workouts will tend to be longer, but that’s what I’m shooting for. Some of my workouts may seem extreme, but I’m letting my muscles use every ounce of energy until they can’t contract anymore. The goal is to increase the reps or extend the time performing an exercise every time I workout that muscle. Otherwise, my recovery time was too short and I’ll wait longer between sessions next time. If I don’t do more reps or extend the time performing a particular exercise, then I’m not getting stronger, obviously. I’m just wasting time.
I’m doing as many as I can…. every time.
That makes a lot of sense particularly when you’re training for an endurance event like an Ironman. I bet it takes a lot of determination since I know that I get bored when my workouts get too long.