The attribute of the strong

All of us are born into the world, essentially, with a clean slate.  Unbeknownst to us at that time, and whether we like it or not, there will be people, environments, and experiences that occur that take that clean slate, and make it dirty.

Childhood isn't something, in a perfect world, that should be "endured".  It shouldn't be something we have to persevere through.  It should be something we get to look back on and marvel at.  Recollect a time in our life when our world was mostly care free, stress free, and beautiful.

As kid....as a young person, the "matter" that makes us up, is still very soft.  Pliable.  It is still waiting to be molded.  We are the clay, and life is the potter.  Life can sometimes hand us very wicked potters, and shape us into things that are twisted, cruel, misshapen, and dysfunctional.

The fact is, most of the problems we face as adults are handled by us in a way that was molded in us when we were very young.  The inability to trust, the inability to be honest.  Our love or hate for something can often be traced back to the days of being in the hands of the potters.

Often times when an adult had been an "only child", they often need to be spoiled, pampered, and catered to.  They often lack the ability to be selfless because it wasn't learned at a young age.  

For others, it's the inability to let go of things they feel wronged by.  And it magnifies and manifests itself into the grown up version of the kid that felt betrayed, and wronged.

"My dad wouldn't let me eat all the chocolate I wanted."

..........says the kid, who grew up into a fat adult.  Never able to shed that daddy complex of being neglected.  Said fat adult never fully wanted to take responsibility for their own choices.  Their own wants.  They held onto what "daddy did to me", instead of growing into someone that understood that at some point, they are an adult responsible for their own choices.

Now they are obese, and bitter because they are and because they let someone else give them a "hang up" that "caused" them to make such poor choices.

"My dad spoiled my brother, and let him blow out my birthday candles because he threw a fit about it." 

....says the kid, who grew up into the hate harboring adult.  Never developing the ability to let go of feeling wronged, regardless of how significant, or insignificant.  Destroying relationships with bitterness, anger, jealousy, and resentment.  No matter how big or small the wrongdoing is, it's met with 100% of hate and venom.

Some experiences or events are far more impacting than that.  Abuse of various kinds can and do tend to scar forever, and twist peoples souls and inside into a sort of ugliness that often times cannot be undone.

But outside of those truly horrible experiences that need professional help to overcome, most of us still lack the ability to let go of our childhood hang ups, and we end up carrying them with us....well, forever.  That is, unless we become very cognizant of them, and through severe introspection or other more meaningful experiences, grow into something stronger, and better.

In other words, if our parents broke our trust, we finally meet someone one day that proves to us through words and actions, that trusting is indeed an ok choice to make.

Or we find a way to understand that it's ok to let go of the demons that plagued us in our youth, and that the only way to be resurrected into something greater is to actually do so.

As we do grow and become adults, we alone are responsible for our choices, and decisions.  One of the biggest problems I see we do as adults is that we constantly justify our shitty behavior, or that we react back harshly to being hurt by the people we love.

The two seem to go hand in hand.  Someone we care about does something, or says something awful to us, and suddenly we feel very justified in returning our own nice neatly wrapped bundle of hate and malice.  Usually far surpassing what it was they presented us with in the first place.  It's not good enough to just talk like adults, or make rational decisions.  What we really must do, is try our very best to pull the insides out of that person, through their mouth and asshole simultaneously, until they writhe and hurt and "feel our pain".

You ever have a buddy hit you in the arm, and it hurt?  In order to show him how hard he hit you, and how much pain he inflicted on you, you really hit him back about 7,549 times harder...because "that's how much it hurt."

Emotionally, we do the same thing when someone we care about hurts us.  We need to hit them back much harder than they hit us.  Because we need to show them, you know, how much they hurt us.  When in fact, we really just inflame the situation, and add more things that will need to be overcome after the drama dies down and cooler heads prevail (if that happens).

As adults, we are shaped by our experiences as kids....in our youth.  However, most of us become emotionally and mentally mature enough to know we have the ability to let go of the things we feel we've been wronged about.  To let go of the awful experiences that misshapen our soul.  It's not always easy, it's not always clear on how to do it.  But forgiving and understand that we have all the power in the matter through choice can be a powerful start.

After all, we all lift weights because we desire to be strong.  Well, forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.  The weak can never forgive.

Base Building for my offseason

Now that the manual is done, and there are no meets on the horizon for a while, I feel a lot of stress off and I can get back to delivering a bit more content here.

So the obvious issue that I need to address for the offseason are the quad/leg injuries I've been having during competition.

I want to cover some really, really dumb fucking shit I've read about theories on why this may be happening. Or mainly, just one.

"Paul doesn't believe in training heavy so then he gets into a meet and has to go heavy and he tears something."

It's hard for me to believe that someone wrote this, that claims they have read my writings or ideas about training.

Before Relentless, I squatted 585 for an easy double, no belt.  A week before that I did 555 for an easy triple.

Before Nationals I squatted 595 for an easy single, no belt.  A week before that I did 545 for an easy triple.

So I'm not sure where the idea comes from that I don't believe or do any heavy training.  I mean, I have a youtube channel that video logs most of my top sets, so basically this is nonsense based on nothing more than taking a few pieces of information here and there completely out of context.

The Base Building methodology is based around sub max training, bar speed, and volume.  This has been detailed very well in the new manual.  All of the principles behind it are sound, have been proven by tons of elite level strength athletes, and stood the test of time.

My peaking programs do in fact require one to train heavy, but for a shorter period of time.

If I had to attribute my last two meet injuries to anything, it would be......

1.  Massive weight cuts
2.  Lack of quad strength/mass

The #2 there has been the hardest for me to swallow.  Because my legs are in fact, more than 30".  However, if I am going to be honest with myself, it's because my adductors are so damn big.  My actual quads need a TON of work.  I have thought this for a while and just not given it the attention it deserves.  My thoughts about this was cemented when my diet guru Michael Israetel told me "Paul, you have the upperbody, shoulders, and back of a guy that's near 300 pounds.  The quads?  Well, not so much."

Burn.  I needed aloe vera for that burn.

But the fact is, the hardest shit to hear is often what you NEED to hear the most.  And for me, that means hey, my quads are well behind where they need to be.

The Zenith -

If you did not purchase the Base Building Manual, well then, kill yourself.

If you don't want to kill yourself, and do in fact want to live and become bigger and stronger, then purchase it and read about the Zenith split.

BASE BUILDING MANUAL

My offseason split is going to be a modified version of the Zenith.  It will use the same principles that created that split, but with a little more emphasis on quad building.

Here is how I plan on laying this long offseason out -

Week 1 - 

Day 1 - Bench 
Bench - BB Phase I with fatigue singles
Hammer Bench/Db Incline - 2x6, 2x12
Hammer Pulldowns - 2x6, 2x12

Day 2 - Squat/Deadlift
High Bar Squat - BB Phase I
Deadlift - BB Phase III
Hacks - 1x8-15 - big-15 method

Day 3 - Incline
Incline - 350 method
Tricep Extensions - 4x20
Curls - 1x100

Week 2 - 

Day 1 - Front Squat
Fronts - BB Phase III with fatigue singles
Barbell Rows - 3x8
Leg Curls - 4x20

Day 2 - Press
Press Behind the Neck - 1x8-15 50% set - big-15 method
Dip Machine - 4x20
Curls - 1x100

Day 3 - Squat
Low Bar Pause Squats - BB Phase II with fatigue singles
Barbell Rows - 3x8
Leg Curls - 4x20

Week 3 - 

Day 1 - Bench
Bench Press - BB Phase I with fatigue singles
Hammer Pulldowns - 2x6, 2x12
Tricep Extensions - 4x20
Curls - 1x100

Day 2 - Squat/Pull
Squat - BB Phase II Tapered Version
Deadlift - BB Phase III
Leg Press - 10x10

Day 3 - Back
Chins - 50 total reps
Cable Rows - 4x25
Shrugs - 5x20
Db Rows - 1x20-30
V-Grip Pulldowns - 2x6, 2x12


Notes - LOTS of leg and back volume.  Listen, that is where your bread and butter is for getting massive, and moving big weights.  And I am going to spend a great deal of my time hammering the fuck out of those areas before I make a decision to compete again.

Solving a madman's puzzle - How I helped Pete Rubish increase his bench

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away there was this chump who did really heavy deadlifting in his basement in front of the washer and dryer, all the while screaming "EASY!" and "I KILL IT!" as he pulled everything from 135 to 700.  That'd be Pete Rubish.  

Seriously, Pete when you were pulling over 700 you were screaming "EASY!" at 315....well duh it's easy....anyway.....

I met this joker for the first time in Chicago at the Juggernaut seminar, however before that we had communicated online about how ridiculous his training was, and how he needed to find some structure.  

Pete loved to essentially max out.  On everything.  All the time.  Pete's squat and pull, and his take no prisoners intensity fueled his early training progress and helped him rise to very high strength levels at a rapid pace (his great leverages for pulling probably had something to do with that as well).  But Pete lacked structure and often found himself taking 1 step forward, and 2 steps back.  And his bench was well, how shall I put this....well it sucked nuts.  

Pete was pulling over 700, but benching anywhere from 315 to 335.  I've said for some time that to me, strength isn't about singular demonstration of one lift that you are genetically built for.  

Strength, to me, is about being strong across multiple avenues.  Ed Coan isn't considered the greatest powerlifter of all time just because he pulled 900 at 220.  He's considered the best because he was strong on everything.  He could do press behind the neck with 400 pounds, benched mid 500's, pulled over 900, and squatted a grand.  He was strong on anything and everything he did.  Same for Kaz, and the same for any of the other "greats".  Yes, most of those guys had a lift that was a little more superior than the others however, they were all strong in every facet of moving weights.  

Pete was constantly underachieving in his meets because he was terrible at picking attempts, and because his bench sucked.  

So when we were in Chicago and had a chance to train together, it became obvious to me why Pete was struggling with his bench.  

Weak Shoulders - 

In Chicago Pete and I trained together, and we agreed to do one thing I wanted to do and then one thing he wanted to do.  So we did press behind the neck to start.  

Pete's shoulder strength was some of the worst I'd seen for a guy that was as strong as he was in everything else.  I mean he had the shoulder strength of a 10 year boy on estrogen treatments.  He maxed out at 185 for a HARD single on overhead work.  I mean, it was a true max.  So I knew right then, that Pete needed to really focus on bringing his overhead strength up.  I personally do not get any carryover on my bench from increasing my overhead press, however I believe I am an anomaly in that area.  Most guys will get carryover from increasing their overhead press to their bench.  

The other part of the "shoulders" that gets overlooked however, are the rear delts.  The "base" that everyone talks about in benching is really the upperback and that is made up of essentially the traps and rear delts.  Pete was weak in his rear delts, so his stability on the bench was indeed lacking.  

Weak Arms - 

After overhead work, Pete and I did some tricep work.  Again, his tricep strength was so lacking it was hard for me to fathom that he had ever lifted weights at all.  I knew this would need to be fixed as well.  

Poor bar path and grip choice - 

I did a standing push test on Pete to determine where was actually strongest.  Basically, he would shove against my hands.  Once we found where he could shove me with the most power, we determined his grip width.  It was closer than he had expected.  This did not surprise me, as most guys do in fact bench far too wide, then wonder why their pecs are always getting pec strains or tears and why their bench strength is hit and miss.  It's because benching wide isn't generally the area where most guys can generate the greatest amount of power.  

I know there are lots of great benchers that bench wide, but believe it or not, wide benching generally favors guys BUILT for benching.  Guys NOT built for benching (most of us, believe it or not), can generate more power with a closer grip than we expect.  You don't have to go as close as I do (15" or so, however I am changing that up) but it's generally a little closer than you're probably benching now, unless you have already remedied this.  

Actual programming, inclines, and paused work - 

Pete did what a lot of guys do in regards to the bench that make very little progress.  And that is, max out with singles or lower reps, and rarely incorporate rep work or paused benching.  Show me a guy that struggles on bench or has been struggling and I'll generally show you a guy that maxes out on it too much, or uses singles too much.  

Rep work is king in terms of building your bench.  Not singles, not doubles.  Triples are ok in doses.  However 5's and 8's really build the bench.  If you look at all of the big benchers of the past, they all did TONS of rep work.

Reps build your bench.  Especially if those rep sets are paused.  

Here's a little hint.  Your touch and go bench doesn't mean shit if you're a powerlifter.  I have no idea why people even do it.  Touch and go anything doesn't build paused anything.  It just doesn't translate.  If you have to pause in competition then why are you training your bench with touch and go reps?  I don't get it.  The same can be said for your deadlift too in case you didn't know.  Deadstop reps make shit much harder, and that's a good thing.  

The other thing I would include would be the addition of the 350 method on the incline press.  I'm not going to try and explain why this method works so well for improving the bench, but I've used it myself and on everyone I've trained and without fail it increases the bench.  If I had to venture into why it works so well, it would just be something as simple as the fact that the volume really does wonders for hypertrophy in the pecs and triceps.  

So for the people who hate incline, if you have a shit bench, maybe you should get with the program.  I have yet to meet someone that legit trained to increase their incline strength that did not get carryover to their bench.  

Base Building and principles - 

I had Pete doing a tremendous amount of volume early on.  All paused work, all sub-max, and then heavier work on his overheads (usually sets of 5-8) and trying to beat his 350 weight for inclines (he was damn proud when he finally beat 50 reps with 225).  

Pete benched and inclined on day 1, and then did overheads and lots of rear delt work later in the week.  

As Pete broke his 350 records and got stronger on overhead work, his bench moved.  He stuck with all the paused work, and his bench rose from the low and mid 300's to eventually hitting a paused 415 months later.  Yes Pete gained weight during this process, however when he was benching in the mid 300's before he was at a similar weight.  So the weight gain was the main factor.

Over the course of these months, Pete kept some of the things he liked, and discarded some of the things he didn't.  He eventually replaced out inclines for weighted dips, but kept his overhead work in and got stronger there on a steady basis.  

This is what everyone will have to do throughout their training life in order to make progress.  You start with a staple, then make a change here or there, to see what happens.  You don't make huge wholesale changes when things go into the shitter.  If you plan your training around solid principles and theories, then you shouldn't have to rearrange everything in order to move up again.  You make small changes, to see how they affect your training, and go from there.  

Most movements will eventually get tapped out in terms of effectiveness at building the main lift.  When Pete felt like inclines were no longer serving him as well, he replaced them.  He then concentrated on dips, but kept military in.  This is solid, and a reason why Pete's bench continued to rise.  

I don't take full credit for Pete's massive progress on bench, however I take credit for helping to get him moving in the right direction and giving him some principles to build around.  This is why a training philosophy far outweighs "routines".  Routines are just that.  Routines.  Principles and ideologies BUILD the routine.  Not the other way around.  

I'm ridiculously proud of Pete, and I know he has room to grow yet still.  I can see a 450 bench coming from Pete in the next two years.  Something that just a year ago, didn't seem possible.  However what Pete will realize is, going from 400 to 450 will mean a new learning curve as well.  Just as getting from 350 to 415 required one.  

Hopefully, he will listen to 50% of what I tell him at least 82% of the time.  I think that's about how it all worked out over the last few months, and he did "ok".  

A tid bit on Base Building.......

One of the things I really tried to emphasize in BB is that you're not going to train ONE WAY forever, nor will you train one way to reach all of your goals.

It's not that "everything works" either. I hate that fucking saying. Everything DOES NOT work. It's about finding what works optimally to reach whatever goals you are trying to get checked off on.

The problem I have seen for years now, is the lack of ability from most guys to be introspective enough to know when they need change.

"My bench hasn't moved in 2 years."

Without fail, every time I've gotten this comment, that guy has failed to get bigger. Yet he's still doing heavy singles or doubles on his bench.

You have to GROW. You have to gain muscular SIZE in order to raise your strength ceiling. This is not even a debate, nor is it open for discussion. Most guys that fail to make serious progress in terms of weight on the bar or with rep PR's fail to do so because they have not addressed one of the principles of Base Building.

Muscular / Technical / Peaking

Each of these things BUILDS on the other. You want to get bigger? You must eat more, and move more weight. If your bench hasn't moved in two fucking years, and you're still 200 pounds, then you need to build a bigger muscular base. If you think "bodybuilding is gay" then enjoy not making progress because of your idealistic dogmatism.

Throughout your training life you will need to switch gears in order to get over hurdles. Often times guys don't ask the right questions, so they don't get the right answers. Training for strength isn't always what you need in order to get over a strength plateau. Training for size isn't always what you need in order to peak your maximum strength out.

I have reiterated this so many times that I finally realized that's what I wanted Base Building to encompass. And I didn't want to over inundate the reader with so much info that he left more confused than when he arrived.

It's simple. And it's in there.

The Base Building Manual is available.

You've been waiting for it your whole life!  And it's finally here!

Ok so that's really overstating it, but I it has taken a long time to get this thing together.

I ended up OVERWRITING it, and eventually had the idea (and a novel one) to reduce the content a bit to mostly just the training and programming because well, you know, it's a training manual.

NOTE*  IT IS NOT OUT OF STOCK.  GLITCH IS FIXED.

GET BASE BUILDING HERE

Training - Off season Base Building Press

Bodyweight 270

Bench Press - modified my grip and bar path a bit

bar x 20,20

135x10,10
225x6,6,6

315x8,8,8,8 all paused
365x1 fast

Wide Grip Bench - 225x8,8

Hammer Strength Pulldowns - 4 PPS x 6,6 - 2 PPS x 12,12

Upright rows and rope tricep extensions - 4 sets of each

Notes - First workout in a designed template by RP but using a lot of my base building percentage work.

I have altered my bench press a bit.  I have widened the grip to be exactly where my incline is.  So it's a bit wider, but still looks close compared to most regular benches.

I will be spending this offseason working on my quads a LOT.  They are obviously my weak link and I am bound and determined to bring them up.  A LOT.

Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff - UPA weekend, mass gain, weight cutting edition

This past weekend I drove up to potentially bench and pull at the UPA Power weekend in Iowa.  Nevermind the fact that I tore my quad two weeks ago, I did in fact pull 635 x 3 from a deficit a little more than a week ago, so I figured "what the hell, I can go bench 400 and pull 700 and hang out with my buddies."  Seemed like a solid plan at that time.

On the drive up however, my leg got achier and achier and my overall feeling of well being deteriorated pretty rapidly.  By the time I woke up Saturday morning I had a splitting headache and felt like I had bean beaten half to death by a meth and hate fueled Snuffaluffagus.  Nevertheless, I decided I would still go give it a shot.

I took a token squat of 170 then sat around for the next 459 hours waiting to warm up for bench.  By the time my flight was warming up I knew something was not right.  My body ached and my head was pounding to the tune of a drum that not even 16 ibuprofen could quiet (that's not embellishing either.  I had taken 16 by that point).

On bench warm ups, I knew something was very off when I could barely unrack 275 and press it without pain and weakness.  I texted my best buddy Pegg and told him of my concern.  He texted back two words that rang with truth.

"Stop.  Now."

I knew what he was telling me was right, but like most guys that compete in powerlifting or really any sport, my mentality was to push through anything.  To give my right leg if I had to in order to compete.  The problem was, I had already given my right leg two weeks prior in Detroit.

"Do you want to be rehabbing a pec AND a quad at the same time?  Shut it down." he told me.

So with a heavy and reluctant heart, I did.  It was the hardest...and smartest, decision I had ever made in regards to a meet or competition.

You see, there are definitely times when you have to get fucking stupid, and despite all odds, finish by destroying through whatever obstacles have been put in your way.  You must will yourself to overcome the pain and the feeling of being defeated, and embrace everything you have left to give and empty yourself out.

And there are times when you need to weigh up the odds, and options, and say "there's nothing to win here today by doing that."  And that's what I came to the conclusion of.  That if I tore a pec or a hamstring that there was nothing to win.  Not with myself, not with anything or anyone else.  I needed to, for once, be smart and shut it down and go back to the drawing board so I can set myself up for bigger and better things down the road.  It won't be the last meet I ever do, so what did I have to gain?  Just another injury.

With all of that said, I did enjoy helping my little brother Pete Rubish.  I've said for a long time that Pete had it in him to total big, if he'd just quit being stupid.  Well, this time I was there to make sure of that.  Though he was still stubborn Pete listened to me for 95% of the day, let me call his numbers, and he ended up going 8 for 9 with a 1851 total, and hit about 1,239 PR's.

And you know what?  They count now.  They are in the books.  Not on youtube, and not because some stupid bitch on his Facebook wanted to jack off to his lifting videos.  Pete got his best day ON THE BOOKS.  And I am humbled to have been a part of helping to make that happen.  Now to just keep his head on straight so he doesn't keep doing stupid shit in the future.  I think Pete could total 2K no wraps in the next couple of years if IF IF he doesn't get stupid in training.  So...that's a big IF.

My other buddy Ernie Lilliebridge Jr, went 1900+ at 220, which is ridiculous.  I've said for a long time that Ernie Jr. is the most underappreciated dude in all of powerlifting and I think he proved that very well this weekend.  His brother broke the all time world record for the squat....twice.  In wraps of course.  He did 925 in a day he could have done 950.  I know big E was pissed about his last pull that didn't get passed but he still had a great day and a great meet, and I know he'll eventually calm down and realize that.

My other buddy Swede Burns went 1800 with a severe upper respiratory infection.  Was really proud of how he gutted through that.

Oh and Dan Green broke the 242 total record...again.  Ho hum.

My plans -

After this past weekend I decided I need to do what the Base Building Book is all about.  Get back to growing and setting up the next layer of a foundation in terms of mass, so that I can grow into the 275's effectively.  I'm not a 242 anymore, and all of this weight cutting I believe, has been a big part of why my training and meet results have been so hit and miss.  During training, I get strong when I'm not worried about my weight, and eat.  Not junk mind you, I just let myself eat more.  Then when I have to dial it back, food wise, for the meet I feel a bit of that "umpf" come off.  The weight cut then tends to effectively kill that "umpf" and I feel like shit.

I'm not saying you can't weight cut and break records and be strong and all that jazz.  I'm just saying it hasn't bode well for me to the point.  Cutting 30 pounds for relentless, I feel, set my up for my injury.  So I'm just not going to worry about that anymore, get back to breaking rep PR's, doing 50% sets, and building as much lean tissue as possible.

As Wendler told me after the meet "stop getting in your own way."  Well that's the plan.  I will be detailing more of what I am going to be doing later this week.

I hope everyone is having a dog shit Monday!