Workout until muscle failure (go anaerobic) for the next 20 days!

[gollygeebers]

I just recovered from an injury and am going to go anaerobic for 20 days straight!

My continued inspiration for this style of workout is Lew Hollander. He's eighty-five years old, is in unreal shape, and attributes his health to going anaerobic nearly everyday. (He also seems pretty mustachian, too.)

For reference, I met him last summer and wrote This Article about his take on going anaerobic. Would love to hear if anyone else knows more about the science behind it.

[FIstateofmind]

Thanks for sharing! This reinforces soemthing I've been testing out, which was working out for less time, but pushing myself to the edge while doing so. I also seem to be getting more results!

[gollygeebers]

This morning I ran steady for 15 minutes, then I ran high-speed until my muscles were on fire, I was huffing and puffing, and my pace slowed way down against my will. It hurt so good and I felt amazing—afterwards :).

Cool to hear, Beeonka. If you have time, what kind of workouts are doing?

[FIstateofmind]

This morning I ran steady for 15 minutes, then I ran high-speed until my muscles were on fire, I was huffing and puffing, and my pace slowed way down against my will. It hurt so good and I felt amazing—afterwards :).

Cool to hear, Beeonka. If you have time, what kind of workouts are doing?

I do HIIT where every 30 seconds to 1 minute I alternate between a super high intensity exercise and a medium intensity one. Mostly cardio based (gotta lose the fat!:D) I do this for about 20 minutes or until I collapse xp

[gollygeebers]

I flared up my injury and bailed on going anaerobic everyday. Will try again!

[JoRocka]

Training to failure with high frequency is a really good recipe to get hurt. It's easy to either stall gains - or give yourself a repetitive stress injury.

By all means work out intensely- but be careful please of over doing it- I've had lost gains (i.e. I couldn't progress any further and straight plateauted and was just beating my body for the sake of beating it) and I have had RSI's.

[gollygeebers]

That's good information JoRocka. I was trying to rotate the exercise (anaerobic one day with running, and the next with calisthenics), but it still didn't work out that well. I stopped as soon as it started to not feel right, so I'm still in good form, but should probably take a different approach.

What are RSIs?

[Lagom]

I presume RSIs are repetitive stress injuries?

Totally agree with JoRocka. It's like the vegan bodybuilders who claim anyone can do what they do. The reality is some people are just genetic freaks (in a good way, no offense to vegans), and can make great progress doing things most people shouldn't try to do. I am a powerlifter and I see this all the time. People who max effort every day either get hurt or inevitably are surpassed in strength by people who follow more varied programming. I regularly go entire cycles never lifting more than 85-90% of my previous max and still set solid PRs when I finally max again. Been doing this 18 months now without a hint of injury.

Of course, I am not particularly knowledgeable about all areas of fitness, and I can't speak to those who primarily enjoy running/calisthenics. I do have anecdotal evidence from my time as a crossfitter that regular max effort sprints of 100-200-400-800m can build up distance running speed and endurance a surprising amount. I would go a month or two between running farther than 800m at a time and then smoke a 5k pr almost every time I tried, which was interesting. But it's not like I was sprinting to "failure" in those workouts either.

[SoccerLounge]

Totally agree with JoRocka. It's like the vegan bodybuilders who claim anyone can do what they do. The reality is some people are just genetic freaks (in a good way, no offense to vegans), and can make great progress doing things most people shouldn't try to do.

And then there's the juice... which also helps. Some people. Allegedly. ;)

Seriously, I agree. I try to incorporate max-effort elements into most or all of my workouts, but I don't do it every day. Rest days are for resting!

[use2betrix]

My workouts are to total failure basically. I do a two day split.

Day 1:
Chest
Shoulders
Triceps
Back width
Back thickness

Day 2:
Biceps
Forearms
Quads
Hamstrings
Calves


I do one exercise for each muscle group and do a couple warm ups and then total failure. My total failure set is until failure, obviously, rest 10 seconds, same weight til failure, then strip 50% weight and go til failure doing rest pause and focusing on holds and the negative portion of the rep.

This is not for beginners, and not for people that want to lift every day. I lift 3 days a week and rest 4 days. So each week I either train upper or lower body twice, and the other once.

There's really a lot more to it than my description, but that's it in a nutshell, and it works great for me. I've been lifting for the better part of 14 years, and have tried damn near everything. For me, low volume with maximum intensity seems to be my ticket for success.

[FIstateofmind]

My workouts are to total failure basically. I do a two day split.

Day 1:
Chest
Shoulders
Triceps
Back width
Back thickness

Day 2:
Biceps
Forearms
Quads
Hamstrings
Calves


I do one exercise for each muscle group and do a couple warm ups and then total failure. My total failure set is until failure, obviously, rest 10 seconds, same weight til failure, then strip 50% weight and go til failure doing rest pause and focusing on holds and the negative portion of the rep.

This is not for beginners, and not for people that want to lift every day. I lift 3 days a week and rest 4 days. So each week I either train upper or lower body twice, and the other once.

There's really a lot more to it than my description, but that's it in a nutshell, and it works great for me. I've been lifting for the better part of 14 years, and have tried damn near everything. For me, low volume with maximum intensity seems to be my ticket for success.

I do something similar! I have a cardio intense hobby which too much lifting would detract from, so I do a 2 day split similar to yours 2 - 3 times a week and do my cardio hobby/calisthenics and light weights 3 - 4 times a week. I really like the 2 day split, I'm surprised it is not so popular! I get lots of results with it.