Bodyweight - 257 (no carbs last night)
Pause Squats -
barx10,10,10
135x5,3
225x4
315x3
405x2
500x3 PR
405x3,3,3,3,3
Deadlifts -
315x3
405x3
500x3
585x3
635x3
585x5
Notes - Another really good one. Felt something pop in my tricep on the last set of pulls but don't think it's anything serious. I gotta switch my carbs back around to the night BEFORE training.
The pause squats were a PR, and well, quite fucking easy.
Strength - Life - Legacy
Thursday, May 23, 2013
The ruler of the unaccomplished....entitlement
en·ti·tle·ment 
/ɪnˈtaɪtl̟mənt/ nounplural en·ti·tle·ments
1 [noncount] a : the condition of having a right to have, do, or get something
▪ my entitlement to a refund
b : the feeling or belief that you deserve to be given something (such as special privileges)
▪ celebrities who have an arrogant sense of entitlement
2 [count] US : a type of financial help provided by the government for members of a particular group
Obviously this article isn't going to be about government financial aid, basic human rights, or being an heir to the throne. None of these things generally stand in the way of people becoming stagnant in progress or smug about the things they believe they are deserving of. Though one could make a case for government financial aid being a big enabler in that regard. I will not do so in this article however.
I think that "b" however, sums it up quite nicely.
The FEELING or BELIEF that you DESERVE to be GIVEN something........
Feeling...
Belief...
Deserve...
To borrow a quote from the enigmatic character Will Munny from the movie Unforgiven, "deserves got nothing to do with it."
One of the most prominent issues with people these days, in my opinion, is so many now in the "participation generation" believe they are owed something. That it is their "right" to have something. By that I mean, something they have not earned or worked for. Maybe it's not fair of me to single out younger people in that regard. So I'll take that back. I think it's a problem with some people just in general.
As usual, this belief spans the entire paradigm of their existence. It saturates their attitude in relation to their job, relationships, love life, and every other endeavour of their undertaking.
Many people believe they are owed something. Where this sense of entitlement comes from, I do not know.
The permeation of it is injected into their words and actions on a continuous basis. When Jamie and I were doing podcasts, for free....on OUR time, people complained that it wasn't on a certain file sharing service or that it wasn't as high quality as they expected.
Here, fuck...and you.
That was time that both of us set aside in our personal life, to dispense either training information, or entertainment. We didn't charge for it. We did it because we enjoyed the banter and because we thought we could help some people out in the process. Yet, people still had complaints. I'll remind once again, that it was free. Yet certain people still felt the need to bitch that it wasn't to their liking in some way. God damn, it was free.
This reminds me of a story I recently heard where this group of fat asses were complaining about all of their food at the IHOP. This dish was too cold, the eggs were too runny, this piece of meat was overcooked......so the manager said the meal was on the house. Yet family fat ass still continued to bitch about said meal. At the point the manager said the meal was free, family fat ass essentially lost their right to bitch, moan, and complain. As far as I'm concerned they did. And I would have chest kicked their fat asses right out of the place until their dogs back home died.
Regarding relationships, I wish I had a dollar for every time I read where a woman wrote "I deserve a good man." Oh really? Why? What basic human right or promise made in life gave you that belief? That you DESERVE a good relationship, or a good man? I'm totally befuddled by this thought process.
A GOOD relationship is generally made up of two people who have each others best interest in mind. That want to fulfill the needs of the other person and that their own happiness is also dependent on the happiness of the other person.
A person who believes they are deserving of something generally only has their own best interest in mind. Which means, they feel all of the needs of the relationship should revolve around them. That they should be emotionally catered to, and that they DESERVE that.
What kind of relationship does that look like for the other person? You know, the one you are so deserving of? Looks pretty shitty from the window I am peering in through.
Both people in a relationship have to be fed properly by the other in order to grow together. If one person is constantly wanting to lay back and be fed grapes by the other, eventually the grape feeder will realize he or she is hungry as well, and will take their grapes someplace else. Namely, to someone else. Don't bitch or moan about a lack of "good partners" in the world if you can't remember the last time you took time out to feed yours properly. Whether that be emotionally, sexually, financially, or mentally. Relationships are a full course meal, and once you start leaving out the meat and potatoes, people will find food elsewhere. It's your fault for believing that you're the only one that requires to be fed. It's your fault that the other person eventually became hungry. Selfishness is a gluttonous whore and she has no idea how to nurture the wants and needs of another.
People in careers often feel entitled to certain position because of how much time they have put in, or because they kissed X amount of ass. Being in the IT field, I can say that I've been around my fair share of ass kissers, and indeed sometimes this happens (the ass kissers getting moved up the chain) and the right people get passed over. The "right people" generally being the ones that do most of the work, but less of the brown nosing. I can't blame the ass kissers totally, I mean it takes a complete dipshit of a manager to not understand when someone doesn't know what the fuck they are talking about, but promotes them anyway because they're willing to let management run a bukkake chain on them.
It's generally the person who does just enough to keep their job, but also expects the promotion that has the overwhelming sense of entitlement. The "worker" doesn't care about that shit, and the ass kisser, well, that person is working hard at ass kissing. So they are both doing something that is at least productive in some kind of way.
Developing a sense of entitlement is exactly what you need to do if you desire nothing. Procrastination is the lipstick worn in copious amounts by the lips that apply the kiss of death to any form of progress or growth in our/your life. And entitlement is the body those poisonous lips are attached to.
Developing a sense of NEED for something earned, constant earning, will always produce growth. Even if it's just a modicum of growth and betterment, it's still better than dying an agonizingly slow death because your attitude reflected that of a spoiled rotten child.
Always earned.
Never given.
That's the attitude required for person growth.
/ɪnˈtaɪtl̟mənt/ nounplural en·ti·tle·ments1 [noncount] a : the condition of having a right to have, do, or get something
▪ my entitlement to a refund
b : the feeling or belief that you deserve to be given something (such as special privileges)
▪ celebrities who have an arrogant sense of entitlement
2 [count] US : a type of financial help provided by the government for members of a particular group
Obviously this article isn't going to be about government financial aid, basic human rights, or being an heir to the throne. None of these things generally stand in the way of people becoming stagnant in progress or smug about the things they believe they are deserving of. Though one could make a case for government financial aid being a big enabler in that regard. I will not do so in this article however.
I think that "b" however, sums it up quite nicely.
The FEELING or BELIEF that you DESERVE to be GIVEN something........
Feeling...
Belief...
Deserve...
To borrow a quote from the enigmatic character Will Munny from the movie Unforgiven, "deserves got nothing to do with it."
One of the most prominent issues with people these days, in my opinion, is so many now in the "participation generation" believe they are owed something. That it is their "right" to have something. By that I mean, something they have not earned or worked for. Maybe it's not fair of me to single out younger people in that regard. So I'll take that back. I think it's a problem with some people just in general.
As usual, this belief spans the entire paradigm of their existence. It saturates their attitude in relation to their job, relationships, love life, and every other endeavour of their undertaking.
Many people believe they are owed something. Where this sense of entitlement comes from, I do not know.
The permeation of it is injected into their words and actions on a continuous basis. When Jamie and I were doing podcasts, for free....on OUR time, people complained that it wasn't on a certain file sharing service or that it wasn't as high quality as they expected.
Here, fuck...and you.
That was time that both of us set aside in our personal life, to dispense either training information, or entertainment. We didn't charge for it. We did it because we enjoyed the banter and because we thought we could help some people out in the process. Yet, people still had complaints. I'll remind once again, that it was free. Yet certain people still felt the need to bitch that it wasn't to their liking in some way. God damn, it was free.
This reminds me of a story I recently heard where this group of fat asses were complaining about all of their food at the IHOP. This dish was too cold, the eggs were too runny, this piece of meat was overcooked......so the manager said the meal was on the house. Yet family fat ass still continued to bitch about said meal. At the point the manager said the meal was free, family fat ass essentially lost their right to bitch, moan, and complain. As far as I'm concerned they did. And I would have chest kicked their fat asses right out of the place until their dogs back home died.
Regarding relationships, I wish I had a dollar for every time I read where a woman wrote "I deserve a good man." Oh really? Why? What basic human right or promise made in life gave you that belief? That you DESERVE a good relationship, or a good man? I'm totally befuddled by this thought process.
A GOOD relationship is generally made up of two people who have each others best interest in mind. That want to fulfill the needs of the other person and that their own happiness is also dependent on the happiness of the other person.
A person who believes they are deserving of something generally only has their own best interest in mind. Which means, they feel all of the needs of the relationship should revolve around them. That they should be emotionally catered to, and that they DESERVE that.
What kind of relationship does that look like for the other person? You know, the one you are so deserving of? Looks pretty shitty from the window I am peering in through.
Both people in a relationship have to be fed properly by the other in order to grow together. If one person is constantly wanting to lay back and be fed grapes by the other, eventually the grape feeder will realize he or she is hungry as well, and will take their grapes someplace else. Namely, to someone else. Don't bitch or moan about a lack of "good partners" in the world if you can't remember the last time you took time out to feed yours properly. Whether that be emotionally, sexually, financially, or mentally. Relationships are a full course meal, and once you start leaving out the meat and potatoes, people will find food elsewhere. It's your fault for believing that you're the only one that requires to be fed. It's your fault that the other person eventually became hungry. Selfishness is a gluttonous whore and she has no idea how to nurture the wants and needs of another.
People in careers often feel entitled to certain position because of how much time they have put in, or because they kissed X amount of ass. Being in the IT field, I can say that I've been around my fair share of ass kissers, and indeed sometimes this happens (the ass kissers getting moved up the chain) and the right people get passed over. The "right people" generally being the ones that do most of the work, but less of the brown nosing. I can't blame the ass kissers totally, I mean it takes a complete dipshit of a manager to not understand when someone doesn't know what the fuck they are talking about, but promotes them anyway because they're willing to let management run a bukkake chain on them.
It's generally the person who does just enough to keep their job, but also expects the promotion that has the overwhelming sense of entitlement. The "worker" doesn't care about that shit, and the ass kisser, well, that person is working hard at ass kissing. So they are both doing something that is at least productive in some kind of way.
Developing a sense of entitlement is exactly what you need to do if you desire nothing. Procrastination is the lipstick worn in copious amounts by the lips that apply the kiss of death to any form of progress or growth in our/your life. And entitlement is the body those poisonous lips are attached to.
Developing a sense of NEED for something earned, constant earning, will always produce growth. Even if it's just a modicum of growth and betterment, it's still better than dying an agonizingly slow death because your attitude reflected that of a spoiled rotten child.
Always earned.
Never given.
That's the attitude required for person growth.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
In praise of the incline
Back when I first got into lifting, I followed bodybuilding because well, that's what was available for me to read. Bodybuilding rags. Ironman, MuscleMag, Muscle and Fitness, Flex, etc all filled the magazine shelf each month, and I bought them all.
Without fail every month there would be a special on building some kind of barreled/huge/thick/slabs of pecs (boy that felt homoerotic). Funny enough, the common theme in those articles was always that the incline press be the staple of your chest pressing.
You see, in bodybuilding it's more important to have more muscle mass in the upper pectoral region. This gives a more aesthetic appearance and makes one look "prettier" if you feel. I mean seriously, there's nothing worse looking than a case of some saggy boobs....or moobs.
While I benched plenty when I was younger (who doesn't?), I never neglected my incline. I always did a lot of incline work, sometimes even dropping the flat bench for long periods in favor of it. Without fail, if my incline went up during this time, I could go back to flat bench and find a bigger press there too.
Now this sort of goes against my own theory of specificity reigning. If you want a big squat, squat. Don't box squat. If you want a bigger pull, you gotta spend some time pulling. If you want a bigger bench, then bench. I still believe this to be true, however over the years my ability to bench more often has declined due to my creaky elbows and the fact that my permanently separated shoulder causes my pec tendons to get inflamed and painful.
This is what eventually caused me to create my split of inclining one week, then benching the next. I never found this to hurt my bench, and often helped it by giving my elbows and such a break.
I'm not the only one that has found this to be beneficial as I've received tons of write ins from guys who ran the "all my shit hurts" split with great success.
All My Shit Hurts Split -
Week 1 -
Bench (heavy) - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1 (no back offs)
Incline (light) - 225 or 250 for max reps x 2 sets
Triceps
Week 2 -
Incline (heavy) - up to a top triple, 1x8-10 back off
Overhead Press - medium weight - 2 sets all out
Triceps
Let’s make something clear before we go any further. Incline pressing 280 kilos does not guarantee you a gold medal in the shot put at the Olympics, but improving your incline press strongly correlates with improving shot put performance. Thus, if you already have good mechanics in putting the shot or throwing baseballs, concentrating on improving incline presses will do more for your shot put performance than spending hours at the dipping station.
Next, throughout the years, for all lower body sports that require speed, I have found there is an optimal ratio that, when achieved, translates into short-distance improvement. For example, in short-track speedskating, when the incline press reaches 85 percent of the front squat, you get the best potential speed for the 500 meters. Of course, the skater should also work on getting his or her front squat numbers as high as possible.
If you are going to choose only one test to measure shoulder flexion and elbow extension strength, an excellent choice is the incline bench press performed with a barbell.
Although the bench press is one of the basic tests used in the NFL combine, it is overrated as an upper body maximal strength test. The pressing angle of an incline bench press is more specific in terms of sporting movement due to the shoulder joint angle in relation to the trunk. Whether it is a punch delivered in boxing, the release of a shot put, or the push-off position in the short-track speed skating relay, you will notice that the upper arm is at a 45-degree angle upward in relation to the trunk. There are also many sporting movements where one pushes with the upper arm directly at 90 degrees to the trunk.
Without fail every month there would be a special on building some kind of barreled/huge/thick/slabs of pecs (boy that felt homoerotic). Funny enough, the common theme in those articles was always that the incline press be the staple of your chest pressing.
You see, in bodybuilding it's more important to have more muscle mass in the upper pectoral region. This gives a more aesthetic appearance and makes one look "prettier" if you feel. I mean seriously, there's nothing worse looking than a case of some saggy boobs....or moobs.
 |
| The dumbbell variation is solid as well |
While I benched plenty when I was younger (who doesn't?), I never neglected my incline. I always did a lot of incline work, sometimes even dropping the flat bench for long periods in favor of it. Without fail, if my incline went up during this time, I could go back to flat bench and find a bigger press there too.
Now this sort of goes against my own theory of specificity reigning. If you want a big squat, squat. Don't box squat. If you want a bigger pull, you gotta spend some time pulling. If you want a bigger bench, then bench. I still believe this to be true, however over the years my ability to bench more often has declined due to my creaky elbows and the fact that my permanently separated shoulder causes my pec tendons to get inflamed and painful.
This is what eventually caused me to create my split of inclining one week, then benching the next. I never found this to hurt my bench, and often helped it by giving my elbows and such a break.
I'm not the only one that has found this to be beneficial as I've received tons of write ins from guys who ran the "all my shit hurts" split with great success.
All My Shit Hurts Split -
Week 1 -
Bench (heavy) - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1 (no back offs)
Incline (light) - 225 or 250 for max reps x 2 sets
Triceps
Week 2 -
Incline (heavy) - up to a top triple, 1x8-10 back off
Overhead Press - medium weight - 2 sets all out
Triceps
This was the routine that helped get my bench back up to over 400 on a consistent basis. Since then I've done many modifications of it. For this past meet, this is how it looked most of the time.
Week 1 -
Bench - base building work, then later the short cycle
Rows
Week 2 -
Incline - base building work
Rows
That was pretty much it. Lots of volume from either option 1 or option 2 of my base building cycles, then later into the peaking stuff.
In retrospect what I should have done, is taken one of the incline weeks and thrown the 350 method back into it. The amount of volume that I do now week after week will in fact take a toll on the joints, even using lower intensities. So backing way off to get some blood moving through there would have probably benefited me quite a bit.
So basically just swap out one week of base building incline work, with the 350 method.
Let me also add that one thing I've always noticed about guys with good inclines is that they were both good at benching AND overhead pressing. I've known lots of shitty benchers that could overhead well, and lots of great benchers that couldn't overhead press well. I don't know of any guys that can incline pretty well that can't bench and overhead pretty good as well. From a "duh" kind of perspective, it's probably because incline falls between those two pressing angles. So if you get good at incline, you'll probably see some carryover to one or the other, or both. Just my own opinion.
Actually incline pressing.....
I do not bring the bar down all the way to my chest, no. I talked to John Meadows about this because he does the same thing. Cuts the ROM just an inch or so short. He told me he does so for the same reason, because it's much harder on the shoulders to come all the way down to the chest. I can vouch for this. I can't incline without pain if I come all the way down to the chest, so I cut the ROM an inch or so short. I also learned this years and years ago from IFBB Pro Chris Cormier, who had a 500+ incline and did this as well.
If you feel better bringing the bar all the way down to your chest, do so. If it gives you pain or discomfort, shorten the ROM that inch or so and try that.
I never think of all the trivial things to mention however the bar path on incline is pretty simplistic. You bring it down to your upper chest area, and press it straight back up. This is one of the reasons why I like the incline for beginners rather than the bench, and that's because there is no "set up". There isn't anything to worry about other than mostly lying down on the incline bench, and doing some pressing. There is a brutal simplicity to it that I like in that way.
Some benchers with a huge arch and small ROM due to setup, might hate the incline because it exposes their pressing as being weak. If they just competes in powerlifting and their pressing really revolves around technique, that's fine. However I am in the gym to actually be strong as well. And I think one of the things about being strong is that you need to be strong, period. If someone wants to do a new movement, you shouldn't be weak as shit on it because you can't squeeze yourself into some sort of leverage advantage. I'm not saying getting better leverages isn't a part of actually lifting more weight, but there is a difference in being "strong" and using leverages. Some people are going to argue with that, and I don't give a fuck. Anyone who has been around the iron long enough knows the difference.
I also believe, and so do lots of S&C coaches, that the incline offers better application for sports strength.
From Charles Poliquin.....
Next, throughout the years, for all lower body sports that require speed, I have found there is an optimal ratio that, when achieved, translates into short-distance improvement. For example, in short-track speedskating, when the incline press reaches 85 percent of the front squat, you get the best potential speed for the 500 meters. Of course, the skater should also work on getting his or her front squat numbers as high as possible.
If you are going to choose only one test to measure shoulder flexion and elbow extension strength, an excellent choice is the incline bench press performed with a barbell.
Although the bench press is one of the basic tests used in the NFL combine, it is overrated as an upper body maximal strength test. The pressing angle of an incline bench press is more specific in terms of sporting movement due to the shoulder joint angle in relation to the trunk. Whether it is a punch delivered in boxing, the release of a shot put, or the push-off position in the short-track speed skating relay, you will notice that the upper arm is at a 45-degree angle upward in relation to the trunk. There are also many sporting movements where one pushes with the upper arm directly at 90 degrees to the trunk.
The last many years the incline has taken a back seat to guys just wanting to bench and overhead press, and I don't know why. I am pretty much an overhead pressing phenom and I can tell you that I never did a thing to make that happen other than show up at the gym. Overhead work also never did a single thing for my other lifts.
If you've been slaving away at your pressing for a while with no results and aren't doing incline I suggest you rotate some inclines in for a while and see what happens. You're not going to get weaker, so I'm not sure why you're not doing them. If you don't do them because you suck at them, that's probably an even better reason to do them.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Be proud!
Every week I get e-mails and testimonials from men and women thanking me for what I write, my programs, my honesty about struggles in life, so forth and so on. They tell me about the improvements that they made in their training from those things, and then almost without fail, they follow that up with something to the effect of "I know my numbers aren't elite" or "I know it's not superhuman level".
Listen, the numbers you work for and the progress you made, you should always be proud of.
ALWAYS!
They are YOUR numbers. It is your progress, and your journey. You put in the time and effort to achieve it, so be proud of that. There's not a damn thing in the world wrong with being proud of the fruits of your labor. No one gave it to you. It wasn't found on the side of the road. You didn't run down to Wal-Mart and purchase it.
You worked for it.
Never downplay those accomplishments. If you went from a 95 pound bench to a 135 pound bench, then HELL YEAH! Stop comparing yourself to what others do. I've written this countless times. It doesn't matter what they do! It has no bearing on your own journey. Understand and grok the shit out of that.
If you fall short of your goals, sulk about it for a bit, then get back on your war horse and do work.
But NEVER EVER downplay the results of the work that YOU put in. Always be proud of your accomplishments when you achieve them, and then set new goals that you can be proud of when you arrive there as well.
Listen, the numbers you work for and the progress you made, you should always be proud of.
ALWAYS!
They are YOUR numbers. It is your progress, and your journey. You put in the time and effort to achieve it, so be proud of that. There's not a damn thing in the world wrong with being proud of the fruits of your labor. No one gave it to you. It wasn't found on the side of the road. You didn't run down to Wal-Mart and purchase it.
You worked for it.
Never downplay those accomplishments. If you went from a 95 pound bench to a 135 pound bench, then HELL YEAH! Stop comparing yourself to what others do. I've written this countless times. It doesn't matter what they do! It has no bearing on your own journey. Understand and grok the shit out of that.
If you fall short of your goals, sulk about it for a bit, then get back on your war horse and do work.
But NEVER EVER downplay the results of the work that YOU put in. Always be proud of your accomplishments when you achieve them, and then set new goals that you can be proud of when you arrive there as well.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Heavy pressing with some PR's
Bodyweight - 265
Incline Press -
barx50,40
135x15,10
225x5
275x4
315x3
365x8 PR
405x1.5 PR
Db Bench - 150's x 9 PR 100's x 25
Flex Machine Rows - 5x15
Notes - Happy with PR's.
Incline Press -
barx50,40
135x15,10
225x5
275x4
315x3
365x8 PR
405x1.5 PR
Db Bench - 150's x 9 PR 100's x 25
Flex Machine Rows - 5x15
Notes - Happy with PR's.
Thoughts about life, crap, training and stuff - Rights,wrongs, attitude, and sorrow
Everyone coulda, woulda, shoulda.
If I just WOULDA picked 633-430-670 I walk away from the nationals with a 1733 total, no belt, on a pretty badly torn groin. I probably COULDA picked 640-435-675 and still made it, for 1750. However neither of those happened.
Since then, I've had time to reflect and on what I could have done differently going into the meet, and what things I thought went well, or that I thought I did well.
So let's get to it.
Things I couda, woulda, shoulda done different or better -
Benched less -
Because of my separated shoulder, I really can't bench every other week for more than about 4-5 times (8-10 weeks) before things get problematic. I think the week I hit that VERY FAST 405, I was as good as I was going to get. It's not a "strength" issue. It's that my pec tendons, brachialis, and elbows all get so beat up and sore that benching hurts very badly. That's one of the drawbacks about benching close grip with a lot of volume. The brachialis contract so hard that eventually mine get to where it's painful to bench effectively. Same for my pec tendons and elbows. Because bench training had been going so well however, my enthusiasm got the better of me and I pushed out bench training a few more weeks than I should have. You also must remember that I am inclining heavy during this period as well.
For someone who does not have these issues, I still recommend benching every week, with a lot of volume. That is really going to drive the bench fast. However for someone like myself, this cycle will help me understand how many weeks I can plan for benching in the future. On the strong-15 short cycle, that's going to be about 3 total bench sessions, with almost no benching done coming into it. I may have to pare benching back to once a month with inclines and dumbbell work being the stuff I do in between.
Kept up the abductor and adductor machine work -
The first 5 weeks of training, I had a day dedicated to a lot of "pre-hab" work like the good girl and bad girl machines. I kept on top of this religiously, and I felt like it was indeed doing a good job of keeping my legs feeling "healthy". Eventually I dropped that day because I felt like I was "ok" and no longer needed it. I have no idea if dropping this day contributed to my groin tear, however I think dropping it was not a great idea. I have a history with adductor tears/strains so I REALLY need to stay on top of that good girl machine. Not to mention that the stronger your adductors, the more stable your squat will feel, so the stronger it should feel. I plan on making the adductor machine literally one of the main movements I don't do without starting this week.
The blood pooling has started on the inside of my leg (I will get a good pic up this week) so the tear was probably a bit more significant than I initially realized. Either that, or I tore it more when I took the 611 squat. My left knee hurts as well right now, and the reason I believe that to be is because I squatted again this past week, and immediately I could feel my body "shift" to protect the groin, and move the load bearing over to my left leg, where my knee traveled far more forward than usual.
Kept in the 350 method -
I also eventually dropped the 350 method in favor of heavier high volumed inclines as well. I also feel like this contributed to getting more beat up in the shoulders/elbows/pecs over the 9+ weeks. The 350 method gives a nice break joint wise, while getting a lot of blood moving, offers a change of pace mentally (which I feel is important over a long cycle), and and certainly helps with some muscle growth. Being pain free for me, is often the biggest difference between being able to press very strong, and not being able to. So once I started getting beat up, I found everything got way harder because of the pain. When I was still pain free, weights were flying and I felt like the 450 close grip bench was pretty much a lock.
I think a good rotation for myself going into the peaking work, would/could have been something like so....
Week 1 - benching - heavy/high volume
Week 2 - incline - 350 method
Week 3 - benching - lighter - low volume reps big-15 method for rep PR
Week 4 - incline - heavy/high volume
Peaking wise -
Week 1 - bench up to 385
Week 2 - incline 350
Week 3 - bench up to 405
Week 4 - heavy incline for volume
Week 5 - bench up to 425
This would have set me up for the 450 I was chasing, without so getting beat up, I believe.
This is something I will be covering in the base building book as well. Everything has a point of diminishing returns. There is only so much volume you can do before that has no real benefit. You can only train balls out on 1 rep sets for rep PR's before you hit a wall there as well. The best method, even for base building, incorporates all of these methods through time that way you can avoid overuse, or diminishing returns. That will be a big part of what base building does.
Slept better -
I basically didn't sleep for the whole peaking cycle. I mean, I did, but it was 3-4 hours some nights, an hour other nights. The one deadlift video where I almost blacked out was a big "wake up" call (not sure if pun is intended or not) for me, that I needed to do something.
Eventually I found this stuff called "Calm" that helped a lot. It's a mag supplement and I was able to cope a little better using that. I also took a Valium the night before the meet, but I'm not sure at this point if that played a role in me not feeling worth a shit the day of the meet (felt like I still wanted to be sleeping).
Some things I felt I did right -
The weight cut -
This was not hard. I cut all carbs for the most part (a piece of fruit here and there during the day) for two weeks. This brought my down to 251. I drank three gallons of water for three days, 2 gallons for 2 days, then basically a little less than a gallon the last day then cut all water off at 7 P.M. I did two hot baths the next morning and made weight at 241. I dropped food during this time to eggs, chicken, and protein shakes.
All I did to find this "secret" method was use the Google machine, and then run it by Jamie to make sure it looked good. Yet I've been asked 1,802,849 times to document the weight cut I used like it was some big secret. I literally just googled it, found some reputable sources and implemented it. I don't know why I find it annoying when people ask me to document this particular thing, but I do. I've never done a weight cut, but to me figuring out the process was not difficult, and I used the same resources to figure out how to do it as everyone else has access to.
Pulled heavy for the last time two weeks out -
I was a little worried about this, so I ran it by 900+ deadlifter and pro strongman Vince Urbank, and he told me that's what he did. In fact, Vince told me that sometimes he pulls his last big deadlift three weeks out. My heaviest pull was a deficit pull of 605x2x2. The next week I pulled 500 for a single, and the next week 365x3. At the meet, I pulled a fairly easy 655, injured.
The reason this ended up happening was actually me just listening to my body. I was set to pull 620x3 from the deficit the next week, but my mind and body were just revolting. So I just pulled 500 for a "not so crisp" single and knew that backing off was a good idea. No one gets "weaker" while they are training on a consistent basis, but your ability to demonstrate strength can be waning because your recovery curve is still in the negative. This is where I felt like I was at the time, so I basically started a "deload" after the 605x2x2 and went from there.
Did lots of rows -
I really dedicated myself to doing a lot of rows this past training cycle, and I felt like it paid off. By the time I pulled my groin was so tight that getting down to the bar was a bit of a chore, however I felt very strong off the floor and through the whole ROM and I believe that all of the rowing and upperback work I did was a big part of that. I hate rowing, or at least I have in the past, but I found two movements I liked enough to be consistent with them.
One was the Flex Machine row. It's a machine made by "Flex". It's seated with a chest support. I generally do these after heavy pressing. The other row was done on Saturday's as a main movement, and it was just the good ol barbell row. The difference is, I did it without straps and double overhand. I also did not get sloppy with my form of course. My best was 315x10, I believe. I will stick with both of these because I find I do them pretty consistently. That is always the most important factor in picking what work you're going to be doing. The work you know you'll do consistently.
Attitude -
Lifting is such a mental game. Numbers can fuck with your head for a very long time until you finally conquer them. This is why it's very important to hit certain weights for certain reps, and to constantly reinforce you are "good" to move certain weights.
Creating an undying belief that you can do something will eventually cement it in your mind that you can.
It's vitally important to still believe you can accomplish something, even after you fail many times trying.
Remember, you're not working to silence your critics, you're working to silence your doubts.
It's not about saying "fuck the haters" or "fuck the doubters"....it's about not hating yourself for failing, and saying "fuck the doubts" you have within yourself.
Believe in what you are capable of, to an unhealthy degree. If people want to say that's arrogant, that's fine. If people want to say "you have to accomplish it before you can say you did it, that's true. However you can say all day "I CAN...." and that's a healthy fucking attitude. That attitude is required for success. The day you replace "I can..." with "I hope..." the day you start expecting less from yourself.
If I just WOULDA picked 633-430-670 I walk away from the nationals with a 1733 total, no belt, on a pretty badly torn groin. I probably COULDA picked 640-435-675 and still made it, for 1750. However neither of those happened.
Since then, I've had time to reflect and on what I could have done differently going into the meet, and what things I thought went well, or that I thought I did well.
So let's get to it.
Things I couda, woulda, shoulda done different or better -
Benched less -
Because of my separated shoulder, I really can't bench every other week for more than about 4-5 times (8-10 weeks) before things get problematic. I think the week I hit that VERY FAST 405, I was as good as I was going to get. It's not a "strength" issue. It's that my pec tendons, brachialis, and elbows all get so beat up and sore that benching hurts very badly. That's one of the drawbacks about benching close grip with a lot of volume. The brachialis contract so hard that eventually mine get to where it's painful to bench effectively. Same for my pec tendons and elbows. Because bench training had been going so well however, my enthusiasm got the better of me and I pushed out bench training a few more weeks than I should have. You also must remember that I am inclining heavy during this period as well.
For someone who does not have these issues, I still recommend benching every week, with a lot of volume. That is really going to drive the bench fast. However for someone like myself, this cycle will help me understand how many weeks I can plan for benching in the future. On the strong-15 short cycle, that's going to be about 3 total bench sessions, with almost no benching done coming into it. I may have to pare benching back to once a month with inclines and dumbbell work being the stuff I do in between.
Kept up the abductor and adductor machine work -
The first 5 weeks of training, I had a day dedicated to a lot of "pre-hab" work like the good girl and bad girl machines. I kept on top of this religiously, and I felt like it was indeed doing a good job of keeping my legs feeling "healthy". Eventually I dropped that day because I felt like I was "ok" and no longer needed it. I have no idea if dropping this day contributed to my groin tear, however I think dropping it was not a great idea. I have a history with adductor tears/strains so I REALLY need to stay on top of that good girl machine. Not to mention that the stronger your adductors, the more stable your squat will feel, so the stronger it should feel. I plan on making the adductor machine literally one of the main movements I don't do without starting this week.
The blood pooling has started on the inside of my leg (I will get a good pic up this week) so the tear was probably a bit more significant than I initially realized. Either that, or I tore it more when I took the 611 squat. My left knee hurts as well right now, and the reason I believe that to be is because I squatted again this past week, and immediately I could feel my body "shift" to protect the groin, and move the load bearing over to my left leg, where my knee traveled far more forward than usual.
Kept in the 350 method -
I also eventually dropped the 350 method in favor of heavier high volumed inclines as well. I also feel like this contributed to getting more beat up in the shoulders/elbows/pecs over the 9+ weeks. The 350 method gives a nice break joint wise, while getting a lot of blood moving, offers a change of pace mentally (which I feel is important over a long cycle), and and certainly helps with some muscle growth. Being pain free for me, is often the biggest difference between being able to press very strong, and not being able to. So once I started getting beat up, I found everything got way harder because of the pain. When I was still pain free, weights were flying and I felt like the 450 close grip bench was pretty much a lock.
I think a good rotation for myself going into the peaking work, would/could have been something like so....
Week 1 - benching - heavy/high volume
Week 2 - incline - 350 method
Week 3 - benching - lighter - low volume reps big-15 method for rep PR
Week 4 - incline - heavy/high volume
Peaking wise -
Week 1 - bench up to 385
Week 2 - incline 350
Week 3 - bench up to 405
Week 4 - heavy incline for volume
Week 5 - bench up to 425
This would have set me up for the 450 I was chasing, without so getting beat up, I believe.
This is something I will be covering in the base building book as well. Everything has a point of diminishing returns. There is only so much volume you can do before that has no real benefit. You can only train balls out on 1 rep sets for rep PR's before you hit a wall there as well. The best method, even for base building, incorporates all of these methods through time that way you can avoid overuse, or diminishing returns. That will be a big part of what base building does.
Slept better -
I basically didn't sleep for the whole peaking cycle. I mean, I did, but it was 3-4 hours some nights, an hour other nights. The one deadlift video where I almost blacked out was a big "wake up" call (not sure if pun is intended or not) for me, that I needed to do something.
Eventually I found this stuff called "Calm" that helped a lot. It's a mag supplement and I was able to cope a little better using that. I also took a Valium the night before the meet, but I'm not sure at this point if that played a role in me not feeling worth a shit the day of the meet (felt like I still wanted to be sleeping).
Some things I felt I did right -
The weight cut -
This was not hard. I cut all carbs for the most part (a piece of fruit here and there during the day) for two weeks. This brought my down to 251. I drank three gallons of water for three days, 2 gallons for 2 days, then basically a little less than a gallon the last day then cut all water off at 7 P.M. I did two hot baths the next morning and made weight at 241. I dropped food during this time to eggs, chicken, and protein shakes.
All I did to find this "secret" method was use the Google machine, and then run it by Jamie to make sure it looked good. Yet I've been asked 1,802,849 times to document the weight cut I used like it was some big secret. I literally just googled it, found some reputable sources and implemented it. I don't know why I find it annoying when people ask me to document this particular thing, but I do. I've never done a weight cut, but to me figuring out the process was not difficult, and I used the same resources to figure out how to do it as everyone else has access to.
Pulled heavy for the last time two weeks out -
I was a little worried about this, so I ran it by 900+ deadlifter and pro strongman Vince Urbank, and he told me that's what he did. In fact, Vince told me that sometimes he pulls his last big deadlift three weeks out. My heaviest pull was a deficit pull of 605x2x2. The next week I pulled 500 for a single, and the next week 365x3. At the meet, I pulled a fairly easy 655, injured.
The reason this ended up happening was actually me just listening to my body. I was set to pull 620x3 from the deficit the next week, but my mind and body were just revolting. So I just pulled 500 for a "not so crisp" single and knew that backing off was a good idea. No one gets "weaker" while they are training on a consistent basis, but your ability to demonstrate strength can be waning because your recovery curve is still in the negative. This is where I felt like I was at the time, so I basically started a "deload" after the 605x2x2 and went from there.
Did lots of rows -
I really dedicated myself to doing a lot of rows this past training cycle, and I felt like it paid off. By the time I pulled my groin was so tight that getting down to the bar was a bit of a chore, however I felt very strong off the floor and through the whole ROM and I believe that all of the rowing and upperback work I did was a big part of that. I hate rowing, or at least I have in the past, but I found two movements I liked enough to be consistent with them.
One was the Flex Machine row. It's a machine made by "Flex". It's seated with a chest support. I generally do these after heavy pressing. The other row was done on Saturday's as a main movement, and it was just the good ol barbell row. The difference is, I did it without straps and double overhand. I also did not get sloppy with my form of course. My best was 315x10, I believe. I will stick with both of these because I find I do them pretty consistently. That is always the most important factor in picking what work you're going to be doing. The work you know you'll do consistently.
Attitude -
Lifting is such a mental game. Numbers can fuck with your head for a very long time until you finally conquer them. This is why it's very important to hit certain weights for certain reps, and to constantly reinforce you are "good" to move certain weights.
Creating an undying belief that you can do something will eventually cement it in your mind that you can.
It's vitally important to still believe you can accomplish something, even after you fail many times trying.
Remember, you're not working to silence your critics, you're working to silence your doubts.
It's not about saying "fuck the haters" or "fuck the doubters"....it's about not hating yourself for failing, and saying "fuck the doubts" you have within yourself.
Believe in what you are capable of, to an unhealthy degree. If people want to say that's arrogant, that's fine. If people want to say "you have to accomplish it before you can say you did it, that's true. However you can say all day "I CAN...." and that's a healthy fucking attitude. That attitude is required for success. The day you replace "I can..." with "I hope..." the day you start expecting less from yourself.
Sorrow -
Last, but most certainly not least, just to keep all of this in perspective....a long time friend of mine lost his daughter this week. She was everything to him. I don't know that I've known a more doting and proud father than him. She was his entire world, and upon receiving this news yesterday, I began crying. I can't imagine the pain that my friend is in or what he is going through. I shed tears because I can't even begin to fathom even the modicum of anguish that he must be experiencing right now.
Powerlifting and weights and all of these things, they are trivial and insignificant things in the grand scheme of life. People debate tirelessly over what system does what and what lift does what, and what food is good for this and that, and then.........LIFE, real fucking meaningful life sledge hammers you, and you remember that there are things in this world far more important than worrying about arguing over such nonsense.
Chuck, my thoughts and our love are with you and your family right now.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
The importance of the every day max
One of the biggest reasons so many training programs fail is the lack of honesty on the part of the lifter.
Our goals and aspirations often cause us to take a "shoot for the moon" mentality, and more often than not that FAILS because it does not take into consideration that well, we're not being realistic.
I absolutely hate the mentality of "no limits" because we ALL have limits, and when you sit down and decide to make a productive training program, you have to be very aware of your limits in order to actually push PAST THEM.
This is one of the reasons that an EVERY DAY MAX is what you should be programming around. That day that you managed to bench a PR by 20 pounds is NOT what you should be basing your training cycles around. It's what you are good for on an every day basis. That is your baseline. When you improve your baseline, you will be able to improve the peak associated with that baseline.
This is how intelligent training is programmed.
Grinding weights week after week eventually causes people to stall in progress, or get injured because the fatigue curve gets too steep, and the supercompensation curve is negated. This is backed over and over and over again by what we've seen from the Russians and other strength systems that have been kicking our ass.
Pushing your baseline strength level can be done without deloads, lessens the chance of injury, and keep training cycles consistent.
Our goals and aspirations often cause us to take a "shoot for the moon" mentality, and more often than not that FAILS because it does not take into consideration that well, we're not being realistic.
I absolutely hate the mentality of "no limits" because we ALL have limits, and when you sit down and decide to make a productive training program, you have to be very aware of your limits in order to actually push PAST THEM.
This is one of the reasons that an EVERY DAY MAX is what you should be programming around. That day that you managed to bench a PR by 20 pounds is NOT what you should be basing your training cycles around. It's what you are good for on an every day basis. That is your baseline. When you improve your baseline, you will be able to improve the peak associated with that baseline.
This is how intelligent training is programmed.
Grinding weights week after week eventually causes people to stall in progress, or get injured because the fatigue curve gets too steep, and the supercompensation curve is negated. This is backed over and over and over again by what we've seen from the Russians and other strength systems that have been kicking our ass.
Pushing your baseline strength level can be done without deloads, lessens the chance of injury, and keep training cycles consistent.
This is going to be a whole chapter in the new Base Building book. There's so much more to cover about the importance of programming around your average, rather than your exception.
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