Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff

Was supposed to squat last night but was dog ass tired.  So I will push it off to tonight.  This feels smart right now.

Well I was not interested in the NFL season as it opened but with both the Saints and Chiefs in the playoffs, I'm pretty excited overall.

Just from a discussion standpoint on strength......

  • 400 - 300 - 500 for squat, bench, dead is a solid level of strength
  • 500 - 400 - 600 is good
  • 600 - 450 - 650 is really good
  • 700 - 500 - 700 is elite to me regardless of how much you weigh
Somehow over the past few months my insomnia has pretty much disappeared.  I can crawl in the bed at night and pass right out without much thought.  For a guy who has had insomnia his whole life, this has been a very strange thing.  I'm not complaining, just saying it's strange.

I used to think that arm work was useless.  I am rethinking that with my elbow issues.  I now think that doing arm work and forearm work is probably a great idea in terms of injury prevention.  I don't think you have to go super heavy however.  Guys doing 90 pound "curls" still make me laugh.  Lots of guys with big pipes go light and actually work the muscle on both tricep and bicep moves.  

Man I feel like crap not being able to condition because of this plantar fascitis.  

Football on a Tuesday night.  WeIrT!  

Guys remember how bad it was dealing with your GF's dad?  Well chics deal with the same shit out of our moms.  It's true.  

It kinda feels good to drop the meet mentality right now, and focus on reps again rather than singles.  I feel like breaking some rep PR's is going to push my singles up when I go back to em.  

Someone asked me about how I transitioned from DC training into powerlifting training using similar methods and split.....

Lifting 3X per week it was like so........

Day 1 - Squat/Deadlift 
Squat - 5/4/3/2/1, 1x20
Deadlift variation - stiff legs or rack deads - 1x10
Hamstring movement - 1x20-30 r/p

Day 2 - Bench
Bench - 5/4/3/2/1, 1x10
Db Bench Press - 1x20-30 r/p
Chins - 1xmax reps r/p

Day 3 - Squat/Deadlift
Front Squat - 1x5 (top set)
Deadlift - 5/4/3/2/1, 1x3 back off
Shrugs - 1x20-30 r/p

Day 4 - Press
Standing Press - 5/4/3/2/1, 1x10
Dips or Hammer Dips - 1x20-30 r/p
T-Bars or Db Rows - 1x20-30 r/p

This split is still a GREAT split.  Basic and to the point.

There is no one on the road in the morning right now.  Every has taken vacation with Christmas and New Years.  I love it.  There is nothing I hate more than morning and afternoon rush hour traffic.

I am thinking about getting some t-shirts made to sell off of here.

Someone asked me once about what you would need to weigh to hit all of the weights/reps for "What Constitutes Strong".  I am pretty sure now it's 240-250.  The chins are going to make the super HW type guys lose weight for it, however for the squats and bench you're going to need to be carrying enough mass to make those lifts happen.  I am also not going to count sumo deadlifting personally.  I think it's just an abomination of a lift.  Sorry sumo guys.  I've also just seen too many youtube vids of some 5'6" guy with long arms strapping up (gay) and pulling 500 for a 2 inch ROM for 100 reps while he has a 300 bench and 400 squat or some shit like that.  Conventional with no straps.  That's deadlifting.

Hot babe of the week.  Marzia Prince.









   

6 comments:

  1. Paul,

    Happy new year a few days in advance. In all fairness, there's a ton of conventional videos out here done w/straps and enough hitching that the bar has legit ground for rape . I can respect the purists out there, but for those of us getting ~40lbs more on sumo vs conventional it's an easy decision.

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  2. No hitching and no straps either bigs. The straps thing has just become a fucking abomination. And I'm a guy with a shit grip, so if I can pull 500 for 10+ with no straps some guy with a great grip shouldn't have issues.

    If you can't pull 500 without straps, work your grip. There really is no excuse for straps IMO on deadlifts. Everything else I don't really have a problem with, but for deads? Yeah, it's gay. I guess guys who do strongman get a pass, but otherwise no.

    Happy early new years to you too bigs.

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  3. I chased my first 600 dead sumo-style for about 5 years, getting stuck at 589. Then I learned about Good Mornings and got so much stronger in my glutes and hams, I switched to conventional for the next meet and made the 600 pounder. I used to get almost 100 lbs more from sumo than conventional, but I also squated wide, so now I think I just never developed enough strength in my hips and hams.
    I can say I sure felt like more of a stud hauling weights up conventional.
    Just an experience from the 50+ old fart crowd

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  4. Conventional def = more studly Frank.

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  5. What about semi-sumo a la Ed Coan? I agree, toes out so wide they touch the plates Sumo deadlifting is lame as hell, but I can't seem to pull with my hands outside of my legs without my back hurting....shoulder-width stance with my hands on the inside and boom, I feel solid as a rock.

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  6. Well that was Coan. Ed also pulled well over 800 conventional too. So you're talking modified sumo, which is less lame unless you're pulling over 900 with it. Then it's not lame at all.

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