Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Perspective

So I sit here battered and mildly bruised from the meet three days ago, and my time spent there gave me a lot of perspective about things.

First off, a lot of people will have something to say about me getting injured.  That's fine.  I'm 36, been at this for 22 years and am still constantly pushing the envelope of what I am capable of.  Sometimes this is smart, sometimes it's not.  Talk to both Ed Coan and Ernie Lilliebridge at the meet, they echoed the same sentiments about their own training.  That staying healthy is always the biggest obstacle for guys our age or older.

I told Ernie I know I'd be good for an 1850 beltless total if I could get two injury-free training cycles in.  He laughed and said "I just want to get one injury free training cycle in!"

It has nothing to do with my methods or philosophy, but everything to do with my time put in under the bar.  At 36 I'm not as pliable as I was at 26, or even 30.

I liken it to the guys in the NFL.  At 36 he isn't as fast as he was at 26, so in order to be more effective he has to go from playing 50 snaps a game, to 25 snaps a game.  Then he doesn't wear down as much over the course of the season and can still contribute at a high level.

For me, that means more recovery and strengthening some areas in a prehabilitation way.  It used to be that my adductors would strain under the heavier loads of squatting.  I fixed that this past training cycle, but my VMO went.  So obviously, that will be on the list of things to shore up.

My squat is really the only lift that has caused me injury in all actuality.  I tore my bicep deadlifting last year however that was most definitely an anomaly.  My elbow issues are more just wear and tear, and even with my permanently separated shoulder I never beat myself up too bad benching.

So keeping things in perspective, what I really need to do is just take care of my legs and continue doing what I have been doing and a big total is there.

In closing I wanted to give a big thanks to Chuck Miller and Jim Wendler.  Both who gave me a lot of great advice going into the meet that proved to be invaluable.

Another meet will happen sometime in my near future, and the elusive big beltless total will fall.

But in the meantime, it's time to get in shape, do some cardio, lighten up on the lifting and then plan some strategies out from there.  I will probably go to my shake diet for the next 6 weeks and see where I end up weight wise.

17 comments:

  1. I hope you heal quickly, Paul. My training at 55 is much different then when I was younger. Heavy grinders take too long for me to recover from. I do much better and feel healthier with quick reps done more often. The weight is too heavy if it takes me more then 2 or 3 seconds to complete a rep.

    ~ Barney

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  2. Paul,

    That sucks about being injured, but that's just a part of the game, no matter which game it is, its GOING to happen, as you have said.

    I wanted to ask you, have you ever thought about totally switching gears and doing something different? Like Mastering Your own bodyweight.

    There's some guy on youtube, I'm not sure if you've heard of him or not, but his name when you type to search is Dthreehundred.

    Apparently he's an ex-powerlifter That One Day Said "fuck it", and decided he wanted to get healthier and "lifting heavy all the time isnt going to fix my chlosterol", type deal, from what ive read about him anyway.

    Anyway, its too much for me to type, you could check him out if u want, some of his stuff is pretty sick, except for the rap music in all the videos, but then again im a rock guy.

    Have you thought about changing gears like that?

    Thanks,

    Frank T.

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  3. Actually I have, and yes I've seen the video. Pretty impressive. At some point my mentality will switch back to heavy conditioning and fighting. It always does, so you can be sure at some point I will in fact switch gears.

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  4. That would be great to see some videos when that time comes. When i saw that I said to myself, "if anybody that damn big could do that it would be Paul Carter". I look forward to it.

    Hey I just Caught this video interview of Chael Sonnen before the wanderlei silva and chris leben fight, where pretty much Wandy calls out Sonnen, but Sonnen brings up some interesting stuff about Wandy, its pretty contraversial, and funny as hell, I hate Sonnen, I love Sonnen, Either way, its worth a look, start it about the 5:25 mark.

    http://www.cagepotato.com/outrageous-chael-sonnen-video-interview-of-the-day/

    Frank T.

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  5. Sonnen is a funny dude. Love him or hate him you always want to hear what he has to say.

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  6. Shake diet for six weeks?

    Is that only protien shakes for 6 weeks straight? Brutal dude, but i bet it leans you up like crazy!

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  7. No it's two meals a day with 4 meal replacements.

    I may not start it right now. I'm going to wait at least a week and decide what I will do.

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  8. i have actually ran something similar to that a few times, and it works awesome for me. i use EAS meal replacements along with EAS protein powder. i have a question for you Paul. you gain body weight leading up to a meet right? i dont feel nearly as strong while dieting, and was just wondering if that was the right approach to take while training for a meet. i really dont like the "eat everything in sight" diet. but i feel that 300-500 calories over surplus would gain weight, and not to much fat. is this the correct way to go about gaining strength for a meet?

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  9. I def like to be eating going into a meet to make sure I'm covering all the bases. So yes the 300-500 would be fine.

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  10. Paul you high bar beltless squatted, super way to close benched, and pulled conventional with a quad tear. No one in the real world would say shit to you. You inspire me (haha that sounds really gay after I typed that) and I am sure a fuck ton of others.

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  11. Trust me, someone always has something to say....

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  12. I have ask before but don't remember what you said but what brand of MRPs are you using?

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  13. Paul, have you ever considered trying to get an article published on T-Nation.com? That's where I first heard of Jim Wendler and other aspiring authors. I bet you would be well received there.

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  14. Anonymous - Nah not really.

    Kyle - Usually Met-Rx.

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  15. Nice evaluation of the meet, and future plans.

    You lift like it should be like: raw, way below parallel, conventional deadlifting, squat walked out, close grip on the bench.

    And I also think you should stop visiting some boards. I see you talking about people talking shit about you on certain boards..

    Stop arguing on the internet, and stop paying attention about anonymous haters.

    Fuck 'm.

    You lift, you are in shape, and you have a great blog and philosophy.

    Keep going, and do more meets.

    Good luck,

    Mark From Holland

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  16. Thanks Mark.

    Generally I don't give a shit and don't visit many boards.

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  17. you're right; someone always has shit to say - no matter what you do or how you do it. who gives a shit what they say - fuck them!
    geoff

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