Keeping the CNS fresh.

[SweetLou321]

Im looking for advice on the best ways to keep ones CNS as fresh as possible. I had no idea where to post this question but i figured Id try here and let the mod move it if need be. I currently run 5/3/1 and do the scheduled deload every 4 weeks. I try to do 3 conditioning sessions a week with 4 lifting sessions a week. Sometimes its just 2 conditioning sessions. Its usually monday-bench, tuesday-squat+conditioning, wed-off, thurs-press, fri-deadlift+conditioning, sat-conditioning, sun-off. This is from the 3/5/1 book and he recommends conditioning on lower body days. I sleep 8-10 hrs a night and eat over maintence cals. I guessing i need to go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier and take a break from stimulants. I usually use 150mg caff 3-4 times a week pre-liftings. All tips and suggestions welcome.

 

[MakaveliThaDon]

subbed for some good suggestions. The best one I have for you is to just make sure you are getting adequate sleep. In my experience the thing about overtaxing the cns is it isn't entirely dependent on the amount of time/days of week you train as much as it revolves around the INTENSITY with which you train. For instance you could do 7 HIIT sessions a week one everyday and add weight training on top of it and definitely be overtraining yourself. However take those seven 20 minute HIIT sessions and turn them into just slow moderate intensity cardio sessions and all of a sudden you find you are able to recover adequately.

 

[GeekPoop]

rarely max on dead lifts. i know the 5/3/1 progression but IME if i gotta do 6 reps or something, i find 6 singles much easier on myself vs one big set

i generally find if during warm up the first set at 80-85% feels heavy, ill give it a go that session but if its all a struggle i deload that week.

 

[pasamoto]

i use 5/3/1 myself and love it. make sure you arent pushing all your sets to failure. just the the 3rd set. also dont go to failure on your assistance work. on wave 4 delaod as much as needed. sometimes i drop intensity even lower than the 60,65,70%. try some meditation or yoga, it is pure cns recovery.

 

[SweetLou321]

I usually pick my battles every week. I pick two sessions a week I am to pr on the last set, the other two are just the min reps unless im having a really really good day. I dont usually push assistence work to failure either, 1-2 reps short unless im going for a planned pr again. So geek u recommend just hitting min reps on deads or?

 

[MM11]

Great thread

 

[schwellington]

sleep, off days(cardio seems okay for me) enough food/water,

this is my split
monday- heavy chest superset each set with light dumbells(18 sets total with the SS) do tri's this day too
tuesday- back(one day width one day thickness/definition) superset each set with biceps(24 sets total with biceps)
wensday- legs(if i did deadlifts the previous day on back i will do LIGHT LIGHT squats, or front squats) each set SS with shoulders(24 sets total)
thursday- day off
friday repeat of monday except light barbell movements with heavier dumbell movements
saturday- repeat of back- whichever i didnt do i do this day
sunday repeat of legs
rest and repeat
now- as you can see this is designed to keep the HR up and tax the muscles(after all to make a muscle grow- put it under stress it hasnt experinced before- feed it, rest it and boom)
however it also taxes the CNS

so when I take two days off in a row from weights(do this 2 times a month) i am so much stronger, i am more energetic in gym, and workouts are way better

 

[GeekPoop]

I usually pick my battles every week. I pick two sessions a week I am to pr on the last set, the other two are just the min reps unless im having a really really good day. I dont usually push assistence work to failure either, 1-2 reps short unless im going for a planned pr again. So geek u recommend just hitting min reps on deads or?

for the most part yeah. if you gotta grind a rep / are shaking when youre lifting it, chances are cns is pretty well taxed.

heres a good spread set up i like for dead lifts

use pirlepin's table - these are all singles. 15 sets = 15 singles and so on

week 1 70% 15 sets, 1 minute breaks
week 2 75% 12 sets, 1 minute breaks
week 3 80% 8-10 sets, 1-1.5 minute breaks
week 4 85% 4-6 sets, 1.5 - 2 minute breaks
week 5 90% 1-3 singles, 1-2 minute breaks
week 6 deload or rest
week 7 PR week

longer set up and its kinda designed for pre meet. not bad tho, can apply this in many ways to all aspects / routines

 

[MM11]

There was an awesome episode about CNS on super human radio. http://www.superhumanradio.com/components/com_podcast/media/mp3s/SHR_Show_752.mp3

I found this to be a great listen.

 

[Rodja]

My tips:
Always hold back a rep or 2 on your ME sets
On days where you go 95+%, I call it a day after that; no assistance work
MFR; not exactly for the CNS but still necessary
Keep yourself in good aerobic and anaerobic condition
As already said, never go to failure on assistance work and stagger the volume on that based on feeling

 

[SweetLou321]

Thanks guys. Ill give that spread a look geek, maybe ill try it out after this cycle. Rodja, Im doing most of that now and its helping a ton, I just pay attention to your log lol. Gotta improve my conditioning though. MM11 I listened to that, good stuff for sure!

 

[Rodja]

One more easy, free tip: get more sunlight!!

 

[schwellington]

listend to that episode- i gleaned rest is the most important thing

i think im going to do 2 days on one day off from now on

 

[ZiR RED]

...And learn to manage stress.

High stress jobs/school takes a toll on your CNS as well. Learning techniques to manage this stress is important. I only wish I could follow my own advice - PhD work is driving me into the ground.

Br

 

[Resolve]

PhD work is driving me into the ground.

Just being in a doctoral program requires a certain amount of obsessive determination, and it's all too easy to let it get to you.

 

[SweetLou321]

More sun and manage stress. I can do that.

 

[SweetLou321]

Also on the shr show, they talked about keeping your body alkaline, lets get some tips on how to best stay alkaline?

 

[Resolve]

Also on the shr show, they talked about keeping your body alkaline, lets get some tips on how to best stay alkaline?

Lots of green veggies.

 

[Rodja]

Also on the shr show, they talked about keeping your body alkaline, lets get some tips on how to best stay alkaline?

Google PRAL and look for a list of foods that show their net acid/base amounts.

 

[MakaveliThaDon]

More sun and manage stress. I can do that.

get your popeye on with some spinach man. Obviously green veggies, red skin potatoes are also great.

 

[ZiR RED]

A heaping tea spoon of baking soda with each meal.

 

[MidwestBeast]

Great thread

 

[SweetLou321]

Baking soda? Ive considered this, it wont have any negative impacts on anything? I was gonna add a teaspon to my intra-wo for this purpose.

 

[Rodja]

This is probably the 15th time I've linked this amazing article by John Berardi:
http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/bases.htm

 

[SweetLou321]

Lol^
EDIT: Just read the article, awsome stuff. Im gonna use some of this. So long to oats and brown rice.

 

[MidwestBeast]

This is probably the 15th time I've linked this amazing article by John Berardi:
http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/bases.htm

Very interesting read. That's honestly the first I'd heard of this. Looks like more vegetables and baking soda are in order.

 

[ZiR RED]

Baking soda? Ive considered this, it wont have any negative impacts on anything? I was gonna add a teaspon to my intra-wo for this purpose.

If you are going to be using it as a performance enhancer you'll need to take it about 1-1.5 hours pre workout. You will also need .3g/kg of body weight. So if you weigh 220 pounds, you'll need 30 g of baking soda. And, it will only (most likely) improve performance if you are generating a lot of lactic acid in an intermittent fashion.

Side effects: Intense burps, explosive squirting ****s.

[Shameless self promotion] I'm publishing (hopefully, formatting from college APA into journal requirements is a ....) an article about bicarbonate supplementation and soccer performance fairly soon.



Br

 

[SweetLou321]

Well sir, ill have to give it try, maybe not start at 30g or so lol