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RVJs: 26" (Jan 2012), 31" (17 Aug 2012)
SVJs: 23" (Jan 2012), 30" (24 Aug)
Sprint 30m times: >5s (Jan 2012), < 5s (1st Oct)
SVJ dunk (1 hand) - 22 Dec 2012
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Aren't you like 6'3 84kg? How can you be 20% bodyfat at that height and weight???
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sup man, why did you choose the nick 'entropy'? curious..
every time i read your nick, i picture myself banging on my keyboard & if i had a mouse, wiggling it around like crazy.. to improve the entropy pool for /dev/random when generating RSA keys.
wut.
pc man.
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Aren't you like 6'3 84kg? How can you be 20% bodyfat at that height and weight???
lol.. i dunno. i just don't know. i try to think of it positively that when i'm 75kg i'll be leanish and then i can bulk a whole 10kg and still be only average weight for someone my height.
I mean are you sure you're not overestimating your bodyfat?
Use this bodyfat calculator it's probs not 100% accurate but it'd give a good ballpark figure.
http://home.fuse.net/clymer/bmi/
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Yeh you're probably around 19-20% bf than. No point in really getting a dexa. With waist measurements I don't think it really matters where you measure your waist as long as you consistently measure it in the same place and at the same time. E.g you measure your waist relaxed 1 inch above the naval as soon as you wake up that's the way you measure it for all times in the future.
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@adarqui haha damn you've got an active imagination. whatsup bro. i chose entropy cos I've been spending too much time learning probability stuff and it just popped up in my head when i was trying to think of a name. Nothing deep, sorry to say! btw i've been reading your posts on the geek board, I see you're a fellow hacker too. Good stuff.
cool man.
ya i tried to hack my central nervous system.. escelated privs, got root, but unfortunately there were RBAC policies in place which restricted what i could do with root, so unfortunately i couldn't take full control and run ./t-dub .. perhaps if i had run steroids, i might have been able to run t-dub, but, that would have ruined my 365*(predicted age max) uptime on my selfOS (human server), probably leading to a sooner death, as cancerous_pollups_in_shrunken_testicles.kld would probably emerge.
HTP.
that's kind of how i always viewed training, hacking the CNS.. trying to take advantage of 'hidden CNS resources' that are only available during peroids of extreme stress (violent/possibly life or death situations).
peace man
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I woke up at 84.1kg which was close to 84kg, my goal for April. It was a tough slog towards the end but I've dialled in nutrition and training.
Training (off day)
2x lap around football field jog
rest
1x lap football field
I wanted to try out my new running shoes but they bothered my ankle so i put them away and used my normal rubber ones which aren't that great but they don't disturb my ankle.
Then practiced ball handling in the parking lot, then shot hoops. Took around 80 shots, hit 50 odd (wait this sounds wrong, i should have shot way more than 80 to make 50 cos i'm not a great shooter.. dunno). Anyway, i am starting to find a groove with my jumpshot, it's almost there just need more practice.
nervous about the game tomorrow, we're playing the top ranked team in the contest, and we are closer to the bottom. would be crazy to win though.
Bodyweight: 84.1kg (May goal 81-81.5kg)
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Woke up surprisingly lighter. I expected it would take a few more days but i've lost half a kilo overnight! That's a whole pound. So now I can relax a little bit since i'm ahead of the curve for the week. But not too much because it will be real nice to start next week < 83kg.
I used a pair of accumeasure calipers to take a skinfold reading of my supra this morning and it came out as 12mm, which according to the table below means i have a bodyfat of 14.6%. I don't for a second think my bodyfat is quite that low but now I am a bit more uncertain than before, not that it changes anything, the plan is still get to 80kg and see whats up.
(http://i.imgur.com/LYFxo.png)
Bodyweight: 83.6kg (May goal 81-81.5kg)
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Just got back from the game. My team held our own in the first half, i was pretty surprised how well we were playing. But it was a blowout loss in the end. But i'm mostly annoyed with myself. I got plenty of looks, just couldn't score. Driving, I was easily shaking off defenders right and left with quickness only to end up missing easy shots. Then I would pull down my own board over and over, but i missed again and again. Before finally they'd tap it away and i'd be left there scoreless. I'm doubly annoyed with my conditioning, I run up and down with the fastest guys, but in general lapse back into slowly conserving energy cos i'm unfit and can't play a full game at full steam. In the past when I played seriously i was very light (~75kg) and I could run all day, but now i'm not as fit and much heavier.
So need to figure out a way to improve conditioning, that needs to be priority #1 from here. I'm gonna try simulate game conditions when running up and down 40m. I figure if I can do that for 10 minutes straight without a break then i'm fit enough? We'll see. And figure out why my shot deserts me gametime. At practice i've got a nice smooth release and I can hit them but it all goes out of the window during games.
sleep 4/10, diet 3/10 (still cutting hard), freshness 6/10. Next week i'm gonna aim for better sleep and freshness. Ankle is 6/10.
Gonna eat dinner and hit the gym..
Training
Bench Press 3x6 72.5kg
Back Squat 3x6 90 kg
Deadlift 1x5 90kg (Tekniq steroids haven't started working yet .. but i'm getting closer..)
Chinup 3x5 BW=85.6kg
Hanging Leg raises 15, 10 (abz fatigued might stop there)
BB Curl 2x10 35kg
All done! tired, gonna get some sleep now.
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during practice, are you practicing shots off of screens, off the dribble, off passes, with someone in your face, etc.? or are you practicing stationary jump shot after stationary jump shot? if the latter, consider doing the former.
i'm a terrible basketball player, but i can hit shots all day in rhythm with no one guarding me.
just a thought.
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I practice mainly alone outdoors. Not ideal. When I do get to practice with others, I can still hit shots in their face but gametime I miss wide open jumpers. My muscles just lock up and dont shoot normally, if that makes sense.. I even miss layups and shit. I need to calm down more, I can easily play better in a better mental state. I get what you mean though, it's probably a matter of being more gamelike during practices, will try to get more realistic practise in.
Btw no more daily weighings, cos I get obsessive and it just leads to extra stress. So from now on, bodyweight measurements are taken on dates ending in 1. So in a month i'll take 3 measurements, if the last day of the month is 31, then i'll skip it and take it on the first of the following month. The next scheduled weighin is on the 11th of the month.
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Good idea on not weighing yourself every day.
And yeah, sounds like you're not confident when you play real games if you lock up like that and miss easy shots/lay ups. Basketball is all mental. One thing though, the more athletic you get, the more confident you'll get
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Training
BP 3x5 77.5kg
BS 3x5 100kg
Hang Clean 1x3 65kg (i did more sets but that was my top/last one)
Deadlift 1x5 100kg (getting closer to good form)
Off to play pickup ball now, and before bed i'll squeeze in chins and curls. My form on the backsquat wasn't perfect, I wanted it to be. Cleans are starting to look real preedy tho.
yea and the chinups and curls aren't happening, i can barely move now post balling..
Played pickup ball for ~3 hrs, only lost one game I think, so spend most of the time on the court. Bah, i'm spent now. i tried to run around at a fast pace to simulate game conditions.. but honestly I don't feel like this < 1/2 court stuff makes any difference in practice. Ah well it was fun at least. I worked on my finger rolls when driving hard inside and was making them pretty easily. hopefully i can do that in games too.
blah, too fatigued now. need to chill out and relax, unwind. had a nice long hot shower and washed my hair.. lol.. now i just i want to sit bak and watch playoff games but the torrent files are too big/too high quality and they dont load properly on the ps3. it just refuses to play them.. fucking useless.. i miss being able to watch games on youtube but the nba got the channels banned just before playoffs.. :(
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Training
BP 1x87.5kg
BS 3,3,1 x110kg
DL 5x110kg
Fatigue: 7/10, Ankle: 8/10
BP wasn't happening today. Even unracking 80kg felt like death. My programming is obviously not working. I was trying to do 3x6, 3x5 and then 3x3 - but when it comes to 3x3 day i'm not recovered enough. So perhaps something has to give for next week.
DL catches up with SQ. Am feeling much better about my DL than I am about my BS. For the 3rd week in a row, i've been stuck on my squats, which is becoming frustrating. So long as my DL keeps going up, which I am guessing it will since DL doesn't care for BW as much as SQ does, i'll keep heart. If I can drive my DL workset up to 2*BW then my BS might just be cajoled upwards to 1.5BW for worksets.
I've been laying off running and jumping this weekend to allow my ankle to heal. I'm just going to take the next couple of days lightly and let the built up fatigue dissipate. For the last 20 days I don't think i've had a day of rest? Should be nice and fresh for Weds game if i take it easy the next coupla days.
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How often are you squatting?
If your squat is stagnating, it can be that you are over-trained/not fully recovered. Make sure your squatting days, the day before you get enough sleep/eat well/ and rest or just light stuff for your lower body. Nothing CNS intensive the day before, unless you are well adapted. For me personally, I COMPLETELY rest before my lower body day, cuz without a fresh CNS, I can't squat for shit.
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How often are you squatting?
3x a week. I try to sneak in a really light workout on one my rest days to make it 4x - but not all the time.
If your squat is stagnating, it can be that you are over-trained/not fully recovered. Make sure your squatting days, the day before you get enough sleep/eat well/ and rest or just light stuff for your lower body. Nothing CNS intensive the day before, unless you are well adapted. For me personally, I COMPLETELY rest before my lower body day, cuz without a fresh CNS, I can't squat for shit.
I'm definitely fatigued most of the time. I realise it's because I do a lot of training - lifting, running, jumping, playing basketball and this while trying to diet - it's going to cost me recovery ability. I get that - I'm not denying that, just trying to understand how I can make it work the best considering i'm not going to change training since it's unavoidable. But your post made me realise I am not really prioritising squat. Usually i bench first before squatting. On match day, I usually play ball first then lift.
I was thinking today since i'm refreshed having had 2 rest days where I didn't do any training, that I could maybe squat heavy again today - but warming up, I felt rusty and didn't think i'd be able to hit the same weights as my last workout. So i went with the scheduled 3x6 weights which felt okay.
The only thing thing I can think of is, maybe not go so hard on fridays, so I can come back on sunday to make my 3x3 lifts? But the cost of that is I can't work on my conditioning as hard but something has to give.. :(
I made teh change to squat first today though, fresh. Last week I trained after the match, and after bench pressing. Today squatted first, then bench, and then play ball.
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Squatting 3x a week is not better than 2x a week or 1x a week, if your 3x a week is not progressing into any strength gains. I may be wrong, but I believe when your cutting calories, it is better to reduce frequency of workouts. Try 2x a week squatting. When I cut calories, I lifted heavy one day and light the other day and that was it, but I was at least fresh for each heavy session, allowing me to progress my squat most of the time.
You're on a diet... It will make it that much harder to recover. 3x a week is already a lot for non dieters unless they are well adapted, but you obviously are not.
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Training
SQ 3x6 92.5kg
BP 3x6 73.5 kg
Bball match (fitness improving, still managing to fuck up the finish on my drives .. sigh.., positives, pulled down a bunch of boards tho)
DL 1x5 117.5 kg
Skipped chinups after warming up with them felt grindy.
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I'm really bad at taking good advice so help me out here - how would you change my program
weds: squat, bp 3x6, dl 1x5, bball match
friday: squat, bp 3x5, dl 1x5, bball, jumping, sprints
sunday: squat, bp 3x3, dl 1x5, bball/sprints
oh yeh and i do chins (and weighted ones) but lets not worry about them for now
if having two meaningful squat sessions, would I keep the 5s and 6s and skip the 3s? Or keep 3s and drop one of 6s or 5s? Must confess I love 6s, so i'm reluctant to drop them :P Dont care much for 5s except they're heavier than 6s and I find them challenging. 3s im neither here nor there.. dunno.
Just to another piece of info - i have no problem hitting the 6s and 5s, usually only struggle with the 3s on sunday cos i'm not well recovered from fridays death by hours of pickup ball..
You have a basketball match AFTER heavy lifting? You can still play like that?
Anyways, my advice is, take out your squats and dead lifts on Friday. Just do upper body and basketball/sprint/jump, but don't go too crazy with the volume on these. You should be fresher on each squat session and therefore, more likely to progress your strength.
Sunday you do sprints BEFORE squats right? If not, do so.
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You have a basketball match AFTER heavy lifting? You can still play like that?
Today I did for the first time. But it's not really heavy -3x6 weight is about 20kg lighter than my 3x3 workout. The last few weeks I had been playing first, then lifting, but that means I finish workout out pretty late. What I could do is try to do 2-a-days again, had some success with them early 2012. That way I could do some of my lifting in the AM, then play ball, and lift post workout. Might be better? I can definitely try that out.
Anyways, my advice is, take out your squats and dead lifts on Friday. Just do upper body and basketball/sprint/jump, but don't go too crazy with the volume on these. You should be fresher on each squat session and therefore, more likely to progress your strength.
fridays workouts aren't hard, neither, if I played less ball, i might be better recovered? It's a balancing act heh. The other thing is, my squat is really sensitive to frequency and it detrains very quickly. Taking 3 days between squats might be bad. I'll think about it.
Sunday you do sprints BEFORE squats right? If not, do so.
Usually get the lifting out of the way, then head to the park. Is this bad? I figure I can go all out on the sprints that way, and not have to save myself to lift later, cos I don't know how to limit myself.
Thanks for the ideas, i'm gonna take them on board and improve my programming.
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Of course I can't say for sure, cause I don't know you and I don't train with you, but it seems like you're not going that heavy on your squats. 6 reps being 20kg lighter than 3 reps is a lot, unless you're purposely trying to go lighter. Lifting heavy is important when dieting.
If your really frequency sensitive with squats, at least make Friday a light day (~60% 1RM). If you believe you really can recover with your current routine, and it's the basketball that's messing you up, reduce that.
You gotta reduce one or the other, or you'll keep on being chronically fatigued and not progress your squats. You said your squat stagnated for 3 weeks. At your strength levels, this should not happen, ESPECIALLY considering your doing pretty high frequency. So obviously something is wrong, and most likely overtraining/ lack of recovery so up to you. Take something out, if you want to keep progressing. Gotta sacrifice some things for the bigger goal. I know the feeling, I hate giving up basketball time, but if "CHASING ATHLETICISM" is your primary goal at this point, gotta make the necessary changes.
Sprinting/ Max effort jumping/ and other plyo's should be done with the same mentality as how us athletes treat heavy lifting days. Quality over quantity, and train at your peak.
Sprint BEFORE you lift, so you will train your body for sprinting at it's best. The reason it doesn't work the other way around is, lifting will hinder sprint performance for the day, but sprints (OBVIOUSLY GO FOR QUALITY AND NOT MUCH VOLUME) will not hinder your lifting, in fact it is a good warm up for max lifting. How much plyometric volume one can handle before risking lifting performance varies by individual but play it safe and go for low volume first and keep adding until you know your limits. More volume on sprints/plyo's/jumps is not worth it to risk lifting performance.
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Of course I can't say for sure, cause I don't know you and I don't train with you, but it seems like you're not going that heavy on your squats. 6 reps being 20kg lighter than 3 reps is a lot, unless you're purposely trying to go lighter. Lifting heavy is important when dieting.
I get that. Yes the 6s aren't heavy, but from experience they're important in the big picture. I find I need them to keep my form honest. If I lift heavy triples only then my form goes bad because the weight is heavy, and I'm struggling to just get thru the reps and sets, it sets up a situation where i'm doing ugly squats ALL the time. The 6s are an antidote to that, they remind my body what a pretty squat looks like, Good form is important for self evident reasons and also I think for someone with my proportions (not build to be great at lifting) I need that time under tension to get sufficient stimulus. I actually don't know the full explanation of by heart but I read it on a t-nation article (lol) and it made sense. The idea is lanky guys like me need more work with higher reps with lighter weight to get the best out of lifting. I don't know if it's true or not but when I reach my goal of 1.5BW for worksets, I want to be doing it with good form, not shitty form, because that's worthless from the perspective of attaining the next goal of 1.75BW and longterm 2BW. So if it means working with weights 10-20kg less in 2 workouts of 3, that's okay for me.
The other thing is, i've tried the go heavy every time thing in the past while cutting. I dont know if it works cos I always end up taking reps off and by the end i'm doing heavy awful looking doubles and triples with a weight I was using for 5s previously before the diet. And form gradually gets worse and worse. As in scary and painful to watch. The other thing is, someone with a long road of dieting ahead, there is no way I can lift heavy every workout for the next 8-16wks - even if twice a wk, i'd burn out very quickly. The recommendation to just lift heavy bro when cutting doesn't make too much sense to me. People can't lift heavy all the time when they're bulking - so why would you try that on a cut? It makes no sense and yes I've tried it earnestly in the past and it didn't work and i think rep work is too important to give up just because you're cutting.
If your really frequency sensitive with squats, at least make Friday a light day (~60% 1RM). If you believe you really can recover with your current routine, and it's the basketball that's messing you up, reduce that.
Yeah I need to cut down on ball slightly.. (easier said than done, it's like opening a bag of crisps/chips and planning only on having a a handful..lol). But i'll have to be strict about it.
You gotta reduce one or the other, or you'll keep on being chronically fatigued and not progress your squats. You said your squat stagnated for 3 weeks. At your strength levels, this should not happen, ESPECIALLY considering your doing pretty high frequency. So obviously something is wrong, and most likely overtraining/ lack of recovery so up to you. Take something out, if you want to keep progressing. Gotta sacrifice some things for the bigger goal. I know the feeling, I hate giving up basketball time, but if "CHASING ATHLETICISM" is your primary goal at this point, gotta make the necessary changes.
Athleticism means having a decent base of fitness/conditioning right? So if i'm half as well conditioned as the average athlete, i can improve that by just showing up each time. Pretty sure each time i train, i improve, just because i'm so out of shape. I mean taking my 100m sprint from 17s down to 14s wont take a huge amount of high quality work. I just need to run a few times a week and i'll automatically improve, at least for a while. The other thing is, i'm doing extra work atm cos i have to lug around a surplus 10% of bodyfat which I wont have when lean. So there is that too. I'm more fatigued and unfit now, but i wont be later even just maintaining my current fitness and training.
Regarding squats - im guessing I weigh around 83kg right now. My goal is 1.5BW squats for 3x3. I'm at 110kg atm, and I need to nudge that up to 120, while cutting down to 80kg to reach my goal. This month I can probably manage to get up to 115. Maybe. dunno. If I get myself unstuck first lol. But say If i make progress this week and get 112.5 then 115 should be doable by month end. Then as long as I can nudge it up slowly from 115 to 120, i should be okay. I'm not trying to set the world on fire with my squat, not while cutting and playing ball etc. 1.5BW worksets is my goal, and i'm not too far from it, i think i'm 1.36BW atm. and I did 120kg for 10 sets of 3 earlier this year so it's not a PR for me either. So 120 is a fairly realistic/modest goal imho.
Sprinting/ Max effort jumping/ and other plyo's should be done with the same mentality as how us athletes treat heavy lifting days. Quality over quantity, and train at your peak.
I understand. When i'm down to 10% bf and i'm squatting 130 for triples etc, and my 100m time is < 14 I'll have to change my approach since just showing up wont be enough. I look forward to that lol. That's when I get to approach the limits of my natural ability - will be hard work and training in a different way than i'm used to.
Sprint BEFORE you lift, so you will train your body for sprinting at it's best. The reason it doesn't work the other way around is, lifting will hinder sprint performance for the day, but sprints (OBVIOUSLY GO FOR QUALITY AND NOT MUCH VOLUME) will not hinder your lifting, in fact it is a good warm up for max lifting. How much plyometric volume one can handle before risking lifting performance varies by individual but play it safe and go for low volume first and keep adding until you know your limits. More volume on sprints/plyo's/jumps is not worth it to risk lifting performance.
Ok. i'll try this out tomorrow. Will let you know hhow it goes. Also can you tell me what sort of distance is ideal for me? I've seen some guys here logging 15 yard sprints, mine are around 40m (i think, could be 60m i haven't measured just using the lines drawn on the field). Does it matter?
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Well from a basketball player's perspective, how long is a full court? 30 yd? No point in training farther than that. If you have other goals and sports, (football, track) than of course you should train other distances. Sprint work should have an emphasis on accelerating as fast as possible within ~20-30yds for basketball players. This emphasis also helps with your vertical goals.
When I said you should lift heavy on a cut, of course I was assuming lower frequency than 3x a week. I lifted only once a week during my cut, which allowed me to go heavy each time and maintain my strength. But you said you don't wanna go under 3x a week so that's that. Heavy doesn't always mean 3 rep maxes on each set. It can mean work up to a 5 rep max and then have 3 more sets at a lower weight for a little extra volume. It can mean 3 sets of 4 at a 6 rep max... Heavy is ~80%+ 1RM I believe.
Yes, conditioning/fitness is athleticism as well. But when you watch the NBA, do you look at Rip Hamilton (one of the most conditioned players) and say "DAMN HE ATHLETIC"? Or do you look at Lebron James get his head on the rim and say "DAMN HE ATHLETIC". Most of the time it's the latter because that's what most people associate athleticism with in regards to basketball players. So, that's what I thought you meant. I still think you should put your vert goals ahead of your conditioning goals because getting well conditioned for basketball games, you can do any time in a short amount of time. You just basically show up to ball frequently and play hard and up goes your conditioning. Up to you though. If you feel you're too fat right now, then yeah get that weight off first.
Good luck.
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For some bizarre reason I had come to believe a basketball court was 40m long, and now looking at it online it's around ~28m. Yeah 50-60m was too much. I shouldn't be training sprints for such longer lengths. Will change that today. If I can find a tape measure roll, i'm gonna measure out 30m too. just to be exact. Thanks!!
If > 80% is sufficiently heavy then I think i'm still in that range with 3x6 92.5, which is good to know :) Today i'm taking your advice and will sprint first then lift, then go play ball.
Yes, conditioning/fitness is athleticism as well. But when you watch the NBA, do you look at Rip Hamilton (one of the most conditioned players) and say "DAMN HE ATHLETIC"? Or do you look at Lebron James get his head on the rim and say "DAMN HE ATHLETIC". Most of the time it's the latter because that's what most people associate athleticism with in regards to basketball players. So, that's what I thought you meant. I still think you should put your vert goals ahead of your conditioning goals because getting well conditioned for basketball games, you can do any time in a short amount of time. You just basically show up to ball frequently and play hard and up goes your conditioning. Up to you though. If you feel you're too fat right now, then yeah get that weight off first.
I agree with you completely. I guess conditioning is just taken for granted and expected. But when you don't have it, it eats into your ability to express the other athletic qualities during games. If you're tired and fatigued and out of breathe you can't move as fast nor jump as high etc. Suppose you are right and I can improve my conditioning just by playing more ball and at a hard pace - then outside the court I should be working on my power, strength, jump and sprint more than conditioning. Makes sense. I'll make the necessary changes, thank you.
Btw I went and tested my SVJ yesterday and on my legit 10" rim - I have 3.5" above the rim with a 98" standing reach. So that means my SVJ is 25.5? I find that surprising - i would have thought i was still around 22". But hopefully once my ankle is all healed up, i'll be able to train jumping harder and take that up to 28". I can't do a decent RVJ attempt because of my ankle. Speaking of which..
Where has athletic tape been all my life?? I read a thread recently about NBA players taping their ankles and I tried it out myself since i'd been having problems with my left ankle. It makes such a huge difference. The stuff is magic!!
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Training
30m x 5 sprints while fresh, best time - 5:84
Used ankle tape and new running shoes, was mostly painless. I really like these shorter sprints, can go all out and be powering thru the finish rather than slowing down cos of fatigue. Felt great. Will continue to do them from now on. I ran a few other warmup sprints but didn't keep a track of them.
Time to put on my WL shoes and do some sqwats.
3x5 102.5 kg Backsquats These were stupidly hard, I had to psyche myself up lol, for 100kg? I wont be sprinting before lifting again. i can sprint after squatting without a problem, but lifting after sprinting is way harder.
Getting tired of benching all the time. I don't want to start doing some other exercise half heartedly but dunno.
Going to play pickup ball now, i'll come back and bench/chin before bed.
1 hour pickup ball - amazing difference playing with a solid ankle. Felt a lot more confident.
I might still bench tonight, but i don't really want to. lol. will see. I need loads more upper body strength. I find myself unable to shoot properly cos my upper body feels weak. Maybe i should add some volume on bench press and drop the intensity some. That might build more strength endurance and a good compromise in intensity cos i'm not setting PRs any time soon anyway.
Forgot to mention, i took an attempt at dunking. But i'm not 100% sure I actually did dunk lol. I know i grabbed the rim both hands at the end, and the ball went in too, but i'm not sure if it was a dunk or just some bullshit. Will count it as a miss anyway. Another thing, I tested SVJ thsi time at a proper court and I hit the rim with my palm middle. So my SVJ is prob slightly higher than 25.5"? maybe as much 27". That is bullshit too. If a fat, unfit, injured unathletic fuck like me is getting 27" without really training for VJ then something is wrong somewhere..
I love 30m sprints.. can't wait to do them next time.. what's a good time to aim for, less than 4s?
BP 1x5 78.5kg, 1x5 71 kg - Last rep was ugly on the first set. 2nd set was 10% less than the first. Felt guilty eating a big dinner and skipping bench so went back and did it lol. I just hope I can make some progress on my lifts on the next workout.
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Training
SQ - 3x3 107.5kg - would like to have better form on these but dieters cant be choosers.
DL - 1x4 125kg - grip gave out on 5th rep.. should have taken a smaller jump, next time do 120kg and take 2.5kg jumps from now on.
Chinup - 2x5 BW - why do i suddenly suck at these? weird.
5x30m sprints (best time 4:95). happy about breaking 5s. will chip away at this to break 4s over the next few weeks.
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Training
full court basketball match (~1hr)
Sq - 3x6 95kg
Sprints - 10x30m (Best time 4:95 on the last sprint - had to go balls deep to break 5 today, the best i could do before that was 5:08-5:13 - kept hitting 13 regularly in the last 5 attempts. The first 5 were were mid 5s - bit rusty)
Skipped upper body work, strained intercostal over the weekend (think from unracking bench or squats, or both, on friday). Don't want to make it worse. Hopefully it will be healed faster this way. I've had this injury before and it's a bitch. Last time i just had to lay off all training and it took a few weeks before it healed. Otherwise it never went away when i tried to train thru it, only made it worse and took ages to heal that way.
frustrated with my game.. i'm not finding my place in the team.. i feel as though i'm underutilised on offence.. i should be getting the ball much more since i have good offensive skills, i can dribble well for my size, and i can beat most ppl guarding me easily. but i keep getting overlooked. the only way around this, and i feel selfish about it is if i pull down a board on defence and run it all the way.. which is the only way i'm getting to the hoop it seems sometimes. but i'd rather get a good assist than score anyway, i'm a pass first kind of guy. ah well. i'm actually really happy with my team, we got blown away today as usual, but it was good to see everyone contributing, the ball was passed around much more, and we played decent defence, all things considering..
Forgot to mention, I had another steal at half court where i didn't think to go for a dunk on teh fast break. Dunno why i didn't even try. I regretted instantly cos i slowed down enough to let someone steal the ball in the end.. wtf was i thinking.. lol.. next time finish fast break with dunk, no matter what!
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Nutritional Checklist (N)
+ avoid processed foods
+ fruit and vegetables with every meal
+ Appropriate carbs. I tend to cut out carbs excessively - need em for training: performance and recovery (i could do with more starches around workouts, I don't normally have them, admittedly)
+ eat meat for dinner daily
make sure I check that off every day. If I hit all 4, then it's N=4/4 - etc.
Went to shoot some hoops, my left ankle was complaining, so I forced myself to lead with my non dexterous right foot. Since then my right foot has been cramping/fatigued - interesting, suppose that means it's weaker? Would be good to consciously train and strengthen it - so when fully healthy, both sides will be strong. I did some jumps off my right foot too.
N: 3.5/4 (190g protein. Additional Notes: Started taking fish oil capsules today - 4x1000mg after dinner - lets see if it makes any difference.)
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Training
SQ 3x5 105kg - I stopped pausing my squats today, and they got magically super easy..
BP 3x8 65kg
DL 1x3 120kg
3x30m sprints, best time 5:15 - strained L hamstring on one sprint, and then decided to wrap it up before I did any more damage. My R foot has been sore/tender since yesterday too. Might have done something to it too. I'm basically a magnet for injuries lol. Keep picking up stuff all the time :/
Have decide to switch to higher reps on BP. I figure if I can't get strong with low reps, for whatever reason, then I can at least have perfect form and good repping ability. I am aiming for close grip, 10+ reps x 80kg with perfect form- which if I get it, should mean I have moved my max up and over 100kg, which i've not been able to do forever.
DL form fucking sucks. I think it will improve when ive got full ROM back on my L ankle, cos i've got to be closer to the bar than i'd like to be and i've currently got very little room for ankle flexion before it bothers my ankle.
Will do a whole lot of chinups before bed cos otherwise all these carbs I ate today were a waste. I really wanted to get some good sprints in today!! Ah well. Next time.
Nutrition N: 2.5/4 (-no veg meal 1, +processed food - bag of chips)
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post vid of dl form. it'd be odd for ankle mobility to be the limiting factor there.
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post vid of dl form. it'd be odd for ankle mobility to be the limiting factor there.
Will do next time I DL.
It seems i've given myself a nasty dose of plantar fasciitis by favouring my uninjured foot shooting hoops that day. I can't even walk normally now, have to limp around the house. What I need to learn from this is to back off properly when injuries arise. Going to take some time off to rest and heal up and come back when ready.
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Update on injuries..
In my new found zeal for athletic tape, yesterday I had taped the bottom of my R foot thinking it would be beneficial. But having removed the tape after waking up, I found it feels much better. Guess not everything needs to be taped. I'd also taped my chest last week (which was painful removing!) which might or might not have helped with the intercostal strain.
Anyway to so today I think I could probably still squat and bench today. L ankle and R foot seem to be okay. R foot is better than yesterday at least. But maybe squatting might make it worse. That's the question.
Also left hamstring seems to feel worse today than it did yesterday. It's not a soreness, feels like a pull or a strain. So not sure if squatting is a good idea for that either.
I guess i'll warm up and see how it goes.
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Do you foam roll and stretch at all? If not it sounds like you could benefit quite a bit by starting.
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I haven't for months. I shall start now, thanks for the tip.
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Training
SQ 3x3 112.5 kg
BP 3x8 67.5 kg
DL 1x2 125kg
Sq was good, the 2nd set was paused. I'm confident i'll finish the month squatting 3x3x115kg. That should leave me well placed to aim for 120kg in June.
BP - i'm finding the 8th rep much harder than the ones before it. Guess i'm just not used to higher reps. Liking them so far though, hitting decent form and finding them a nice change of pace.
DL - I take 1 step forward and 2 back, every time I think i've made progress, something else looks wrong. Frustrating. Would love to have some coaching :(
R foot felt great as the workout went on. Am not worried about it anymore. Hamstring tenderness on L leg throughout the workout, although I felt a rush of endorphins through my hanstrings while doing squats and DLs which felt magically amazing. I just hope I can get back to sprinting soon.. !
Then did some random lat pull downs and a bunch of chins and stuff, not logging them though.
Optimistic about squatting 115 and maybe 117.5 by the end of the month :)
Nutrition N: 4.5/5
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Training
SQ 3x6 97.5kg
BP 3x8 70kg
That's it, nothing else. Could not be fucked training today and i'm not gonna do any more lifts/exercises!
My foot isn't healing :( I can't even walk 200m without withering in pain.
Did not play bball today either due to injury, sad to hear my team lost by 1 point. I would have made the difference probably. That's heart breaking too.. lol.
Ah well rest is good. I'll trainer harder and better once i'm 100% healthy. Time to push squats up in the meantime.
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Training
SQ 3x5 107.5kg
BP 8,8,7 71kg
DL 3x127.5kg
Horrible workout. Felt weak even on lighter warmups.
Injuries update: R foot improving slightly every day, L ankle feels great day-to-day but deadlifts bother it. Dunno. Still laying off conditioning except a bit of treadmill work in the mornings.
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Training
SQ 3,3x115, 3x112.5kg
BP 10,10,9 65kg
DL 1x3 120kg
Did some RDLs (which I am finding quite enjoyable since I did them for the first time last workout!).
Was a great squat workout. Difficult for sure, i struggled with most reps. But my form is starting to come together nicely. I will stick with the same weight until form is picture perfect. But i'm looking good for 120kg sometime next month.
DL form improving. Will not add weight until form is perfect for ~130kg worksets.
Injuries: Woke up today with R foot feeling very much 100% normal. But I didn't dare tempt fate by doing sprints just yet. Next workout - for sure though. L ankle continues to worry me. Why isn't it healing? I injured it in feb.
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Finally went down to shoot some hoops today after 10 days. Must have picked up something from watching playoffs, perhaps by osmosis as i found my jumpshot to be much improved, reminiscent of and channelling kobe bryant. I don't even find him to be a pretty shooter, but there is an irresistibility to it too. It must be totally subconscious but i'll take it. I should be channeling james harden or manu ginobli instead, since their style of play is more attractive to me, especially as left handed man of a similar height and build, and mannerisms in the case of harden. plus he has a cool beard. ha.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECTF4Vqwq_E
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Never knew you were actually James Harden
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^lol :D
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Training
SQ 3x6 100kg
bball match
BP 3x6 75kg
Really happy about my squat form. i love 6s. to think in a few months i'll be using my current (heavy) triples for pretty 6s. That will be ace.
Played well today, was probably my best game yet. Have lost some conditioning from the layoff.
time to bench and then get some sleep.. tiring day. can't be bothered benching tho
Decided I want to keep 6s in my bp programming. It gives me a nice change from the 10s and 8s, so i'll do em on weds.
I can't work out why i am unable to do chinups now. I've gone from a solid 7 dead hang to struggling with even a few reps. It may be all the deadliftin i'm doing now. dunno what to do about this. suppose i could try chinups before DL? will try that next time.
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End of month update
Bodyweight: 85.3kg (188lb) (gone up from ~84kg)
Waist: 35.5" (gone down some)
I could swear I am leaner than 4 wks ago but the scale actually went up :/ It's been tricky with all the injuries I picked up sticking to the diet. It's usually not recommended to be on a diet while injured so that interfered on attaining the weight loss goal. But it's actually possible i haven't gained fat but i've gotten leaner too since I'm visibly leaner and the waist measurement has been consistently close to 35" than 36.5-37.5" when I started this log.
Positives: Got my squat moving again, I am scheduled to be squatting today for 3x5 what I was using for an ugly 3x3 earlier. Moreover my triples have gone up too - the forms a lot better and this time I am completely stimulant free. Have not touched any stim for over 4wks now. That was a conscious decision on my part that it's better to reach my intermediate goals of bodycomp and strength without extra assistance, so no belts, stims, psyching up etc. It's all been fairly straight forward. I also switched to higher reps on the bench which I seem to be better suited to. My deadlift form is much improved, and RDLS are proving to be the best addition to my training i've made in a long time. I can actually do them with great form, and they are working well at targeting hamstrings.
Negatives: The injuries to my right foot, my left hamstring, left ankle, and intercostals were a setback. Had to take off about 2 weeks from training normally which cost me fitness and conditioning.
Going into June: I am confident that i've overcome the injuries, the ankle is the only remaining issue, and it's getting better every day. I am going to add back sprinting and jumping, and keep my lifts moving upwards. I should be looking at squatting 125kg for triples with good form if everything goes perfectly every week. Bodycomp wise, 83kg by the end of the month is a good goal. 3kg loss over 4wks isn't going to happen unless training is compromised, 2kg is better and I would like to stick to the pace of dropping 1kg every 2 weeks. That's fairly conservative, and at the same time, 2kg is actually a solid result from my current bodycomp. I feel I am very much at the cusp of 15% bodyfat now, I should be dropping below it within a few weeks.
Also just a passing note, I don't think I will be needing to get under 80kg to get near 10% bodyfat. That's good because I have no intention to be skeletal!
June Goal: So to summarise over June avoid processed foods, keep carbs high on training days, add back sprinting and start training jumping and aim to lose a kilo a fortnight over the month. Squat over 1.5*BW (1.5*83kg ~ 125kg) for heavy triples. Stay injury free.
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Training
SQ - 3x5 110kg
pickup bball 3hrs (had a lot of fun)
Form improvements in SQ - I noticed on video I wasn't extending the hips on the way up - which meant I was leaving the work for my lower back to GM, to finish the rep. Fixed that in the 2nd set and found it made a huge difference, found it much easier to do the workset as well as looking prettier on video.
In two minds whether or not to BP now. Think it might be better to do sprints, practice dunking, and play pickup ball then come back to bench before bed. That way i will be fresher for those activities, and I can always grind out the BP reps after. Makes sense right? Will see how it goes.
I just got back from ball. Was very fun today, I had one or two dunk attempts, unfortunately it was too crowded to do sprints or try dunking more. got one on video though -
unfortunately the quality isn't ideal but whatevers.
Skipped bench in the end .. smh .. will make up for it on sunday..
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I wish to jump higher. What shall I do?
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Training
SQ 2x117.5, 3,2x116, 1x115 (exhausted by the end, the 115 felt maximal and grindy but looked okish on video though)
BP 1x8 72 (PR), 1x10 68.5 (PR)
6x30m sprints, best time 5:00 (hit low 5s consistently, changed to crouching starts today)
2x30m double leg bounds, fun
that's it, wrap it up. my hamstrings have been sore ALL week. Can't explain why, must be the RDLs from last sunday, which is what 9 days ago? weird. Anyway as a result I've decided to skip DLs and RDLS since I took an extra day of rest and my next workout is in a days time so I can't go too hard today if I want to be recovered well by then.
Btw the reason I struggled with my squat today was just playing too much pickup ball on friday, and i wasn't well recovered over the weekend, even taking sunday off and lifting on monday. I should have got 3x3x117.5kg today otherwise.
Not much to add, think i'll stop playing pickup ball and stick to high quality work instead since it costs too much in terms of recovery. Sticking to the basics of strength, sprints & jumping, and meaningful practice of course. Am even thinking of quitting bball altogether, since i'm not sure it's worth the trouble at this point. I can get myself in shape better and faster and into peak athletic condition and then later try out for a better team than stick with the bottom of the heap mediocre one i'm currently with and spin my wheels with my currently limited training. Dunno.
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Iono if i were you i wouldn't quit playing basketball. At least don't quit playing organised basketball coz it's a skill so overall you'll be a better player by just spending a lot of hours practicing on top of all the stuff you doing atm to improve your athleticism. While your playing you can still look for better teams. I can understand quitting pick up ball though. With pickup sometimes you get people that can play but 90% of the time you're just playing with scrubs who aren't gonna help you improve your game. Just my 2 cents.
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15mins on TM, 5.5 speed for 10 mins after warming up 5mins @ 2.7. Next time use smaller warmup.
Have to put in the work and build an aerobic base. It's probably the best way I can improve myself at this stage. I am kicking myself for not doing so earlier, but it's never too late to start. Have to put in the hours running - it will get me leaner, build endurance/stamina and improve my recovery ability, maybe not in the short term, but it will once the base is there.
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Iono if i were you i wouldn't quit playing basketball. At least don't quit playing organised basketball coz it's a skill so overall you'll be a better player by just spending a lot of hours practicing on top of all the stuff you doing atm to improve your athleticism. While your playing you can still look for better teams. I can understand quitting pick up ball though. With pickup sometimes you get people that can play but 90% of the time you're just playing with scrubs who aren't gonna help you improve your game. Just my 2 cents.
You're spot on about the pickup thing. Most of the time it's a waste of time, sometimes you get a rare game which is worth it but it happens so infrequently. It takes so much out of me because I end up playing for hours and hours, but it's very low quality work, that just accumulates fatigue and there is no benefit out of it since the level of play is so low. It used to be a social thing with my friends, but none of those guys come anymore, so i'm just playing with a bunch of random scrubs, as you said, and there is no reason to have it in my training now. No more pickup games.
And that's good advice about keeping up the skill while looking for a new team. Would be a smoother transition than trying to start from scratch later, definitely. Thanks!
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Just got back from basketball.. some observations -
Conditioning was not a problem today. Why?
- Pre/peri workout nutrition. Sipped on a shake (~600mL half water, half lowfat milk, 2 tablespoon chocolate powder, half a scoop protein powder).
- Didn't squat before the game
- Did some treadmill work yesterday.. can it make a difference so quickly?
I'm not sure which of the above made the biggest difference, but obviously I should try to do all 3 from now on.
I only failed to run back on D twice, and both times it would have been futile cos they were fast breaks and I was too behind to catch up. My team slacks off on D meaning I have to spend extra effort making up for it. But I did well today, I lost count of how many blocks I had. It got to the point where I was more likely to block a shot than not when someone drove inside, near me. Although I did pick up 3 fouls in the 1st half, which meant I had to dial it back for the 2nd. Offence sucked, as usual. I had 3 FGA the whole game, scored 2, hit 2/4 foul shots, which I am annoyed with since I needed to score more points. Can't do anything about it. If my team worked harder at distributing the ball and playing D we'd score more points. I really can't understand why i'm not getting more looks, but it doesn't matter since it's not something I have any control over. If they weren't so slack on getting back on D, i'd be more confident hovering around the rim looking for offensive boards, but that's neither here nor there, esp when turn overs are a big problem.
But yeah the priority now is to build an aerobic base. It's the thing I lack the most and because of all the stupid HIIT shit i had read, i've neglected it. Fuck squatting, jumping, sprinting, weights all of that shit, aerobic base takes precedence. If I build up excellent conditioning, i'll be able to run up and down and play awesome D, and go forward on offensive, pick up boards and maybe score some points.
Training
Bball match
SQ - 3x6 101kg
BP - 3x6 76kg
SQ was stupidly hard today. Even warming up with the bar felt difficult, my knees were complaining. So I chilled around for about 4 hours and then tried again at midnigh. My left knee actually hurt after the first workset and I had to take the bar out backwards for the remaining 2 sets. That addressed the knee pain thankfully.
BP was ok today.
Finished off with 4 sets of chins, got a nice arm pump. All in all glad to punch in and get this workout in. Was inclined to skip it after the draining game but couldn't go to bed missing a workout. This will be a hard week with 5 back to back workouts.
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Training
SQ 3x5 111kg
BP 10x69.5 (PR)
DL 3x130kg
RDL 8x 80,75kg
2km run in 20 mins @ 6km/hr , 2 incline - covered
SQ was very hard and form was awful. BP I didn't have any idea what weights/reps/sets to do today, so casually worked up to a max of 95kg which I didn't try to get off my chest, i knew i was going to fail it. Should have gone with 92kg but it's all good. I haven't got any programming for friday bench. I'm just going to freestyle it? Might start playing with overhead presses too. Why not? Set a new 10RM on BP which is welcome within my new training philosophy that any progress is great, whether for reps or for weight. Interestingly when I failed the 95kg, i could wiggle under it easily, which means i've lost a fair bit of weight since the last time I got pinned down it was a big struggle crawling out. One day i'll get that 100kg close grip BP and i'll be happy, till then, keep adding reps and see where it takes me, so far it's working, i feel much better underneath the bar and my form is solid and progress with reps seems to be coming along nicely.
DL sucked. The weights are very light and fly up, but my form sucks, with horrible back position both at the start of the lift and putting the bar down. I don't know why I bother with this exercise. Am thinking now to make the RDL the main exercise and let DL be an assistance one. My RDLs look picture perfect compared to DL. That way i'll get the benefits of doing a hip hinge ex correctly from the RDL and I can probably start doing rack pulls then to still keep pulling heavy just with good form. Why not?
Oh and I did Chins before DL today which worked quite well, so keep doing that too.
No sprinting today because it has been raining and the grass will be wet.
Randomly decided to do aerobic work, feels good man. I should do this 3x a week on every training day. Why not? It's great.
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Training
SQ 3,2x117.5; 1x116
BP 4x79.5, 4x79
PR 3x55
3km in 26mins @ 7km/hr
incremental progress in squatting.. repeat same weight next sunday, hopefully i'll get 3x3 with good form then.
BP did some 4s today and some presses for the first time, felt okish, should be able to work up steadily in weight next coupla weeks. I am told press loves frequency and bp loves volume, so i might do press every workout and work up to a heavy triple, then finish it off with a bunch of volume in BP for 6+ reps.
The run was a bit harder than i expected.. the pace might be too high but all the same this tells me i'm currently fit enough to run for 25 mins straight and cover 3km, which can't be that bad. As a goal, i'm thinking being able to run an effortless 5km in 30mins will be a great goal. If i have that kind of fitness that should mean a decent aerobic base such that conditioning for basketball is adequate.
This week i ran 5km total, starting from 0km/week normally. I'm kickign myself for not adding running earlier, it's probably the best thing i have done training wise in years. it will get me leaner, fitter, and more athletic. why didn't i think of it sooner?
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Training
Sq 3x6 102.5
Basketball game - 40mins no subs
BP 3x6 77
Ok, i've decided if we are going to lose games every week, i'm going to go down swinging. There is no reason why i'm taking < 5 FGA a game, when i'm easily the best player on the team by far. Will play tonight as though it's my last game ever. Superstar mode enabled. brb getting our first win.
Didn't win :( But i did everything i could.. frustrating. we were within 6 points (amazing for us) towards the end, i got a steal in the last 30 sec, and quickly went up for a layup, got fouled, just missed the layup .. if i had hit it, and made the and1 wud have had a chance to take a 3 to tie the game. but alas it wasn't to be. turnovers killed us, stupid ones too, like being called for carrying the ball.. scrub level mistakes. it was discouraging to play solid defense, run back on o, and just watch us turn over the ball...
looks wise, had to practically beg for the ball .. i think i've pissed off our point guard cos he doesn't want to pass to me :( honestly what we're missing right now is a decent shooting guard. we need a guard who can score.. atm our one half ok guard is reluctant to play point, he just doesn't give a fuck about running the ball. i don't blame him, we don't have the best candidates for passes lol. but even when he does decide to pass, he takes a million seconds before deciding to pass, which pisses me off cos i like a fast paced style gane and don't like it when the defense has too long to figure out what's going on: just pass is quickly!!.. if you take too long, i dont even want the ball anymore lol. our other guard is a highly functioning retard.. he can barely get from one side of the court to the other without turning it over.. so sad .. :(
There was a point at half time when the scores were teh same. We have a quick chat at the break, and a team mates is saying 'good job guys, your position on D was perfect' and im thkning no shit, i've played my heart out, blocked every single shot inside, helped out my team mate at the right wing, and boxed out for rebounds perfectly.. it wasn't an accidient! but what i really wanted to say was, you faggots need to pass me the ball more, how else do you think we will score? And of course you can't say that because it's impolite and greedy .. but it's also the truth lol!!! im fairly sure i scored at least half of my teams points despite having too few shots :/
have started asking around if there any teams looking for players. i watched a game after us and someone told me they possibly needed an extra player. but although they are 10x better than my current team, i don't think i'd fit in there.. they are still a bit too shit, even though i'm not looking for a too polished team either. will keep looking! i just don't think people respond well to random guys approaching them to join their team. I asked one team which i like and who beat us a few weeks back if they needed a player. and he seemed receptive, said sometimes they need a sub, but when i asked him if he wanted my phone number he said, i'll just see you next week yeh? lol.. so he was just humouring me.
oh fuck in all my rambling dear diary above, i forgot to mention conditioning was much improved even playing the full game without sitting out. we don't stop much either since there were few foul calls and no time outs either. i'm ascribing it to the 5km i ran last week, so it's clearly helping with aerobic fitness. so this week i'm gonna try to run ~6km.
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Passing isn't the only way to get the ball in your hands, you can also grab the rebound and keep it. If i'm on a team and I don't feel like I'm getting enough touches I focus on getting the rebound. If the pace is too slow for your liking get the defensive rebound and push the ball yourself. You may need to work on your handle, if you do the drills here the prescribed # of times every day for a week you should have more than sufficient handle for pushing the ball. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cen1bKmicg Bottomline, if they're not giving you the opportunities you deserve create your own opportunities and show them why they're better off with the ball in your hands.
I know you're easing back into things after an injury but I'd still focus on picking up the speed of your runs as opposed to worrying about distance. 7km/hr is very slow especially for someone who prefers an uptempo game. To give an idea of what that would require, the really fit guys on my team who can run up and down the court all day train intervals in the 13k-20k/hr range for 20-30min.
Anyway, good luck w/the team and keep up the hard work.
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Passing isn't the only way to get the ball in your hands, you can also grab the rebound and keep it. If i'm on a team and I don't feel like I'm getting enough touches I focus on getting the rebound. If the pace is too slow for your liking get the defensive rebound and push the ball yourself. You may need to work on your handle, if you do the drills here the prescribed # of times every day for a week you should have more than sufficient handle for pushing the ball. Bottomline, if they're not giving you the opportunities you deserve create your own opportunities and show them why they're better off with the ball in your hands.
On defense we play 2-3 zone and i'm back on the wing, so when I've got the rebound 9/10 players on the court are already infront of me, so when pushing up i'd still be behind a bunch of them. If i push hard I can usually get past a lot of them, and my handles are ok for dribbling past most smaller guys who gamble for the steal, especially when they think i'm going to be uncordinated for my size. But i realise now that I take the foot of the pedal just past 1/2 court and allow the chance someone will steal it from behind. The reason why I do that is I don't want to be greedy, and I want to let some of my team mates catch up, and hopefully i can get an assist. But if I made up my mind to go all the way, I think I would score more often than not. Especially considering if we let them setup their usual zone defense before we attack, we're never going to get past the top 3 defenders. We don't have the perimeter shooting and our guards can't get the ball past them. But I get what you mean. I should just push it hard all the way to the rim if i've pulled down a board, that's not selfish. I'd definitely try that next game, and in the meantime i'll work on my handles with the video. Thank you for showing me a different way of looking at things, appreciate it.
I know you're easing back into things after an injury but I'd still focus on picking up the speed of your runs as opposed to worrying about distance. 7km/hr is very slow especially for someone who prefers an uptempo game. To give an idea of what that would require, the really fit guys on my team who can run up and down the court all day train intervals in the 13k-20k/hr range for 20-30min.
Healing my ankle is kind of my priority right now. I know when I do sprints, it puts a lot of stress on my ankle and I think it sets back healing. I'd love to be sprinting regularly. Once i'm healthy i will change priority to sprinting. I've never sprinted until this year and it's terribly exciting for me each time I set a new PR - but i have to be patient and not push too hard right now. The same goes for jumping. Plyometric stuff is very hard on the ankle and i feel it afterwards. In the meantime i'm happy with gently pushing my squat up and spending some time building up aerobic endurance. I have never done running before so i've probably missed out on the benefits of aerobic work (health benefits like low resting heart rate etc). I also find that running on the treadmill for distance/time is fairly gentle on my ankle compared to sprinting.
I also realise my times are quite slow for now, but it's early days, considering today was just the 3rd time running kms. Maybe it wont help me at all and i'm just wasting time, but i'm happy to experiment. If after a few weeks I realise it's not doing anything for my athletisicm then i'll back off the longer runs. You are right that 7km/hr is slow but it's kind of the aerobic sweet spot for me atm, it's the pace where I can run but not go anerobic and get lactic acid buildup. It's not supposed to mimic game conditions like your team mates who can do impressive 13-20km/hr intervals (sounds like a good goal for me to work up to though) . i'm using the guidelines from the HIIT myth ebook (link below) which try to keep the heart rate down so you're in teh aerobic zone. I don't have a heart rate monitor but i'm going by feel for now. Probably shouldn't even be as high as 7km/hr to be honest. I tried 8km/hr today and after 5 minutes I knew there was no way i was gonna run 25minutes at that pace.
Anyway, good luck w/the team and keep up the hard work.
Thank you and I appreciate you stopping by!
http://anthonymychal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/TheMythofHIIT.pdf
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Training
SQ 3x5 112.5
BP 9,8x70 (new 9RM), 1x5x60
25 min run @ ~7.3km/hr, 3.1km (started at 8km/hr but couldn't sustain it and dropped down to 7km/hr at around 5 mins in)
Next week repeat the squat weight. Dont go up on the 5s until form is perfect.
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Made some bad decisions today. There was a team training session planned, and I had to choose between lifting and going to training. Got there and realised it was a mistake because there were only 4 of us there, and they were playing 4v4 half court pickup games with some random guys. I wish I hadn't bothered driving there cos it took me 40mins and i missed my gym session for it. Didn't end up doing anything meaningful, i was hoping to run some plays but it was pointless with the low turnout. I said fuck it im here now and jumped into playing pickup. I was rested/fresh I felt amazingly athletic. I was hitting 8/10 of my shots, even nailed 3/4 of my 3point attempts and scoring a will, droving inside at will finishing off the glass or hitting a jumper. Got to say, if you play pickup the right way, it's actually a good way to practice different things. I tried posting up for instance, which i'd been inspired to having watched Lebron's play.
But oveall i'm regretting it now because i'd rather have squatted. Won't beat myself up too much, I made the wrong choice, it happens. Knees were complaining from running on the treadmill. Have to make some adjustments, i need my knees man and i've never had problems with them, so I don't want to mess that up now by doing some dumbshit choices. I think running on grass is best.
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Can you bail on that team?
I know you're shopping around for teams more at your level but it sounds like those guys are really bringing you down. I'm sure you enjoy the organized play, counted points, refs calling fouls, shit like that...But is it really worth it? With your knees acting up the amount of time you can ball hard is reduced and I think you would benefit more from doing some solo drills.
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Can you bail on that team?
There is only one team mate i'd feel bad letting down. Him, because he's actually making an effort and improving himself each week. He's come a long way from the start of the season and I know he actually gives a fuck, shows up to training and listens. The rest? Not really.
I know you're shopping around for teams more at your level but it sounds like those guys are really bringing you down. I'm sure you enjoy the organized play, counted points, refs calling fouls, shit like that...But is it really worth it? With your knees acting up the amount of time you can ball hard is reduced and I think you would benefit more from doing some solo drills.
Wondering the same thing - if it's worth the frustration. I like your idea better, to go underground for a few months and come back as a lean, mean, athletic machine and kick some ass. Seriously, just concentrate on getting my bodycomp right and improving skills and athleticism. Then i'd only be worrying about things I CAN CONTROL and not a team that's a source of frustration and disappointment.
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Training
SQ - 3x120kg (5 month best), 7x100kg (PR)
BP - 1x92.5kg (PR!), 10x70kg (PR!)
10x30m sprints (5 warmups, 5 recorded time - 83, 83, 78, 65, 86 - new PR - 04:65!!)
Psyched myself up to lift today even though my knees were complaining even getting out of bed and sitting up from a chair. I spend a bit of time warming up them carefully - then went for it. I realised if I didn't train today, I wouldn't lift again til wednesday, meaning a 4 day break, which is bad news since my lifts go down rapidly on layoff. In the end I was really happy with training today. It's not every day you get 3 PRs - feels good man.
Breaking my sprint PR from 4:95 which I could never break to consistently breaking it today is just awesome. If I was to say why it happened, it's because I tried to pump my arms hard, which i never used to do until today. I picked that up from watching some youtube celebrity, forget his name, he's pretty famous for doing music videos and skits. The scary thing is, I'm not sure i've peaked. I can do a lot better than this - esp since i haven't sprinted in over 2 weeks, and today was the first time this month I felt healthy enough to go all out. The weathers been good, stopped raining, suns come out and it dried away the wet grass, was still a bit dewy though, but I didn't notice it when running though.
I decided I didn't want to do three heavy triples on my last workout of the week. It's gotten pretty heavy, and my form goes out of the window in sets 2 and 3. Mentally it's gotten very intimidating. Now I'd rather just psyche up and go all out with 1 heavy set and then finish off with backoff work. This workout isn't for getting stronger, that happens during the other 2 squat sessions. The heavy triple is just for setting a new PR. After the heavy triple, I took weight off the bar and did 100 for 7 reps. I had another rep or 2 in me, but I wasn't looking to set a new RM. My goal with the 2nd set is to add reps. If I can take my 7x100 to 10x105 or even 10x110 the 1RM calculator says my 1RM can go upto 150kg. Which is crazy. Because that means just working hard in the higher reps, in that narrow 10kg range of 100kg to 110kg, I can get still get a lot stronger. So why not do that in addition to doing heavy 5s and 3s as well as continuing with the 6s which are serving me very well too. It saves me burning out from grinding out sets across with heavy weights which fucking sucks.
92.5kg close grip felt good - i'm gonna be ambitious and try 95kg at the end of the month. I have a feeling I have it in me. That would bring me a step closer to the magic 100kg goal in the coming month/s.
Oh and i've decided to follow the good advice i've gotten to skip the distance running. I don't fucking need it. 20-30minutes shooting hoops is aerobic for me. So why the fuck would i beat up my knees on a treadmill when I could be working on something I enjoy as well as improving my skills in my sport? Exactly.
As far as conditioning goes, i'll ease myself gently into intervals and just build up slowly over time. I tend to be super skeptical of training advice after being burned before, but in this case i'm coming around to the idea now. I just have to be smart about training now. I am just coming out of injuries and if I pick my battles, I can improve across the board by budgeting my recovery sensibly.
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saw your question yesterday about training w/a heavy basketball. I know a few basketball trainers and coaches and I've seen them used to improve ball handling skills, develop soft hands for catching passes in traffic and to increase upper body stamina at the end of workouts via layup drills, tipping drills or Mikan drills but I've never seen anyone use it to improve shooting. Personally, there's no way I'd use one for shooting because of the risk of it throwing off the mechanics of my shot.
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saw your question yesterday about training w/a heavy basketball. I know a few basketball trainers and coaches and I've seen them used to improve ball handling skills, develop soft hands for catching passes in traffic and to increase upper body stamina at the end of workouts via layup drills, tipping drills or Mikan drills but I've never seen anyone use it to improve shooting. Personally, there's no way I'd use one for shooting because of the risk of it throwing off the mechanics of my shot.
Thank you. I need to work on all those areas so i'm going to make heavy use of the ball when it arrives. Ashamed to admit that I never learnt to do layups with my non-dexterous hand. Currently working on that and it's pretty awkward but i'm getting there. Reading about the Mikan drill now while writing this post and damn that's exactly what I need.
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Damn.. spent the evening analysing video of shooting practice. I've figured out why my jumpshot sucks. I tend to push the ball out of my hand. I never realised this because I still manage to put a fair bit of arc on the ball by flicking my wrist as it leaves. So it never occured to me that I was pushing it away, but it's quite clear from the video. The tell tale sign of this is instead of my shooting hand being perfectly vertical at the end of the shot - it is actually inclined something like 45° to the vertical. This would explain why I can shot a lot better with a lighter ball. It's easier to push of course.
Also note to self. If i have a 22" SVJ, why the fuck am I only getting like 6" off the ground when shooting? I am not saying I should be hitting 20" on every shot but still - the disparity is troubling.
So next time I work on my shooting, keep in mind the shooting arm should finish vertically. Which might mean I have to start learning to shoot from scratch. The elbow thing i'd heard about before makes a lot more sense now. When thinking in terms of high elbow you're unconsciously setting up a more vertical finish. I also think I might be holding the ball wrong too - because what's best for pushing the ball out, is not good for flicking the wrist violently. So keep that in mind also.
edits..
Watching game 2 of the NBA finals and I noticed Durant who is said to be a "pure" shooter has a similar predicament. But in his case, it might just be that his freaky wingspan makes it necessary. Bosh shoots similarly too. Need to look further into all this :/
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post video.
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okay, compare the text book
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euY_hdJc4nM
where there the elbow snaps violently upwards ending in an almost vertical arm
and durant at 01:29s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDhz_ZyMigI
he does not snap his elbow.. he straightens his arm but it ends up being somewhere between horizontal and vertical to his body.
my footage from yesterday below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56J2W8eP7g4
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Training
SQ 3x6 103.5kg
BBall match
didn't get time to bench after the game, went out to have dinner with my friends and it got late.
Game sucked. My team mates played like pussies, not much more to say.
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Game sucked. My team mates played like pussies, not much more to say.
I think you owe it to yourself to quit the team. The one friend you don't want to disappoint...well, you don't owe him anything. Tell him what the deal is and hopefully he will understand where you're coming from. If he doesn't then that's his problem. You gotta put yourself first.
Took a look at those videos with the shooting technique. My view on that (for what it's worth) is everyone has a unique style to shooting; whatever feels comfortable. As long as you can be consistent with your form I don't think there's any reason to try and change it.
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Thank you Rix. Will take your advice and have a word with him and take it from there.
I just got back from shooting practice now. Would have liked to have video to review but it was too dark and my camera doesn't work very well in low light. Here is what I tried and how it worked out -
1. Tried having elbow very high making shooting arm almost vertical at the end of the shot. Result: The ball goes too high into the sky, i'm pretty sure that it's never going to be the right shot for me. I can see someone with short arms and of a smaller height shooting like that to get a good arc - but for me it just ends up with a comically high arc.
2. Then i adjusted my usual form by bringing the ball release to occur closer to my head and with a higher release point than usual. This actually felt pretty good. Arc felt like normal, didn't feel like it was skying the ball high. The ball drops softer too, which is good since you don't want to hit the rim too hard (if you hit the rim that is). I think my ideal form is closer to this, i still want to experiment a bit more tinkering with shot release.
So i think i've improved my shot some. I wish I had video to confirm it looks prettier but I will have to wait till practice under better light to have proof. Funnily enough I hit more shots from 3pt line than from inside. Would be interesting to look at the video and try to figure out why that is.
As far as basketball goes, a few good friends of mine might be putting together a team to play in the season starting end of august. That's plenty of time to lose these last few kilos and get in shape.
Bodyweight: 85.3kg
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Training
SQ 6x95, 4x90
pickup ball
bp 3x6 78
Felt weak in the gym warming up, the last warmup set of 105x1 felt heavy, so i wasn't going to be able to hit 3x5 112.5kg. Which is just as well, because i'd been thinking of changing the friday workout to something else anyway.
I only went to play pickup ball today because i was hoping to spend some time playing ball with my friends who I wanted to make a new team with. I think now it's pretty clear that is a terrible idea. We have zero chemistry playing together, to the point where it just felt wrong to be on the court together at the same time. I basically felt out of place the whole time. I only had fun when at the end i picked two of the smallest scrubs to play with me for 3 vs 3 against my friends. And then I had a good game finally - hitting 2 jumpers, a three, and posting up 3 times against my friends who I wanted to show what they'd been missing by not involving me more during our earlier games. I can see being very frustrated with them if we were to play together in a proper full court game. But wait there is more.
In the midst of one of the chaotic pickup games, I was getting frustrated at being fouled by every single guy around me which I didn't call myself, but then they were calling the softest fouls themselves. At one point, I came down awkwardly and I felt my left ankle twist. It wasn't so bad that I was limping or anything like that - it just feels really tender now. So i think i managed to re-injure it playing a pointless pickup game. I told my friends this was the last time i'd ever play pickup, and i'll never come back there again to play against scrubs who carry, travel and foul too much, and even if they don't it's not competitive enough to make it worth being there and the chance of injury landing on some uncoordinated guy's foot is too high.
So no more basketball for the next few months. I'm just going to lay off my ankle and let it heal, and try to lose some fat in the mean time. If i can squat, i'll squat, but no balling or running until i'm confident it's 100% ok. i'll work on perfecting my shooting and ball handling (i realised today i depend too much on my left hand when being pressed with a double team) and try out for a good team around my area. And if it doesn't happen, that's ok too, lifes too short to stress about this stuff.
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okay, compare the text book
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euY_hdJc4nM
where there the elbow snaps violently upwards ending in an almost vertical arm
and durant at 01:29s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDhz_ZyMigI
he does not snap his elbow.. he straightens his arm but it ends up being somewhere between horizontal and vertical to his body.
my footage from yesterday below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56J2W8eP7g4
Consider the difference of leverages. Stephen Curry needs that shot to be released very quick and high so that his shot isn't bothered by more athletic, longer guards/forwards on him. Durant is basically 7 feet and has a very long wingspan, so his shot is very fluid and more natural-- following through towards the basket.
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Consider the difference of leverages. Stephen Curry needs that shot to be released very quick and high so that his shot isn't bothered by more athletic, longer guards/forwards on him. Durant is basically 7 feet and has a very long wingspan, so his shot is very fluid and more natural-- following through towards the basket.
That's true in retrospect. It's hard to say if those were factors when they began to play basketball. For example Durant may not have been tall and lanky at 7 or 8 years old when he began playing and even if he were it may not have mattered if he routinely played against older & taller competition. According to wikipedia he was 6'2 through his Jr year in HS so he wasn't always significantly taller than the competition.
The difference is more than likely attributable to the instruction of whomever taught them how to shoot which is why Curry's shot looks just like his father's. Really, as long as you keep the ball on your fingertips, put in a ton of practice and keep your form consistent then you should be able to become a good shooter even if your form isn't perfect (think reggie miller.)
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Chris makes a good point about ingrained early habits, which I hadn't though of but agrees with my general impression of creative's post.
Creative's theory seems to fits the data very well, it matches up with intuition. But one thing i've learnt is that there are often many different theories which fit very well. Whether or not it's actually true is a different matter. If we had data for release trajectories for different players you could check if creative's theory agrees with the data. Just to make it clear, I am not disputing creative, I just don't know for sure. It certainly seems to agree with common sense but intuition can be wrong.
Btw chris, last night I watched a very long video [1] on shooting, and in it the coach says holding the ball in the fingertips is a mistake. He actually encourages his shooters to touch the ball with the whole hand for better stability and control. So like you said, it depends who taught you and how. But I can't help thing that there must be a 'natural' shooting form which if you're seeking it, must be unique for a given individual and body proportions.
[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbd0vOqCOPo
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Btw chris, last night I watched a very long video [1] on shooting, and in it the coach says holding the ball in the fingertips is a mistake. He actually encourages his shooters to touch the ball with the whole hand for better stability and control.
I have these videos...he uses more hand than I do, but I think that's because he uses a more relaxed finger spread whereas I prefer a wider spread. By "keeping it on the fingertips" I meant keeping the ball from resting on the palm while shooting so I don't think he and I disagree much. I learned from the old pistol pete series http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-nV0Gzof_0 though I have problems keeping my elbow in because of my build
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(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61aJkecq5hL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg)
Reading this book ^ .. Will be posting any interesting things I can find in it.
The author Fontanella says MJ gets a higher release point on his J by extending his legs (so they're straight) as well as pointing his toes down to the ground. This raises his Center of Mass higher, leading to a higher release point.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnbKqMHgGmc
Thought to look on youtube for how to tape an ankle. Was blown away with some of the stuff i came across. So I went to the pharmacy and came back with some new stuff, and as a result, I've taped my ankle really well for the first time, feels amazingly stable and firm, and it doesn't feel like I could hurt it by accident. Feel 100% safe and secure.
The only downside, and I was hoping it wouldn't happen, is losing much ROM that I can't squat down. I will have to lay off squatting and do a lot of RDLs and focus on upper body. I could even join a gym for a few weeks. They will have dumbells and machines there. Should be fun. Ideas on upper body training? Would like to add a few inches to my guns and look like somone who lifts. Thinking lots of bench press, overhead press, chinups, lat pull downs, rows and curls. Perhaps 4-5 times a week.
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Training
SQ - 2x6 104kg
Partial SQ, 3x120, 2x125
BP - 3x6 77.5kg
RDL - 2x8x80,3x85,3x90,2x95
Knee pain, as might be expected when squatting with a taped up ankle. But otherwise I can squat ok. I felt the deeper I go, the more ankle flexion occurs, the more it hurts my ankle.
Today for some reason I thought to try partial squats. Looking at the video, with my long limbs, it still looks like a legitimate exercise. I can imagine a small person not doing much work with partial squats, but for me, it looks like a genuine lift. I mean someone 5'7" even full squatting looks a bit like a ezy peazy curtsey to me, nevermind their partial. But discovering how wonderful partial squats are to do makes me question the whole zealous dogma surrounding full squats. But for me right now, the main advantage is that works well with restricted ankle ROM. I also felt it target my quads very well, which was surprising. Will explore them further. Wish I had sooner, I guess I could afford to be even more open minded than I thought I was when it comes to training.
Lots of RDLs. I love this exercise. I am going to aim to my worksets up to 100kg asap. Basically RDL every time I go to my gym.
BP was rather challenging, found myself struggling with the latter warmups and the worksets were definitely maximal. Layoffs do that to me, apparently, even just a week between benching. Chins were difficult too. Upper body detrained.
Oh yea this is the start of a new training cycle with a focus on rehab, attaining full mobility and doing a lot of upper body lifts, RDLs and partial squats.
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Today for some reason I thought to try partial squats. Looking at the video, with my long limbs, it still looks like a legitimate exercise. I can imagine a small person not doing much work with partial squats, but for me, it looks like a genuine lift. I mean someone 5'7" even full squatting looks a bit like a ezy peazy curtsey to me, nevermind their partial. But discovering how wonderful partial squats are to do makes me question the whole zealous dogma surrounding full squats. But for me right now, the main advantage is that works well with restricted ankle ROM. I also felt it target my quads very well, which was surprising. Will explore them further. Wish I had sooner, I guess I could afford to be even more open minded than I thought I was when it comes to training.
Welcome to my world!
I have had those thoughts about full/half squats in relation with long legs ( mine are ~38'' to hip joint with a height just under 6' ) for many years now.
I think that the answer is that we are WEAK AS SHIT and we tend to favour the half squats because we can lift more weight there. Having long-ass limbs makes it even worse , because it amplifies the full/partial squat strength gap.
Using both is not bad though, just imho make sure to stick with the (lighter) full squats for strength gains, use partials for specifity/stim/peaking.
Just 2 bro-science cents :D
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Training
SQ 5x100kg
BP 5x60kg
Basketball
I wanted to take it easy in the gym. But probably not this easy, it turns out I couldn't have done much more if I had wanted to anyway. I found it hard to rep heavy, hit a max of 117.5kg and dropped down to 100kg to do some reps but found it hard. I just can't squat properly without bothering my ankle. I tried different stances, and some are better than others. Doesn't matter, i'm hoping I can get a PR on friday.
I got roped into playing another basketball game. What can I say, am addicted to basketball lol. Texted my team mate and said, ok i'll play today but it's my last one. On the way there I was thinking how badly I wanted that W and i'd do everything I could to get it. I know we suck, but surely if I played like a beast we could still win? We played the 3rd top team, and they were a lot better than us. Put it this way, any one of their players would be the 2nd best player on ours, by a large margin. The odds were not so good but I thought there is nothing to lose here. Fuck it lets have fun. My plan was, dominate the game early, and then take the pressure off my team mates, and then bring them into the game more once we had a decent lead and the pressure was lifted. Pressure on poor players sucks, it leads to turnovers and transition baskets, and it was my duty to take the burden of pressure, so they didn't have to. This way I can only blame myself for not doing more, rather than my team mates who can't help it. I mean sure they could improve themselves but lets be realistic that's not going to happen, and during a game isn't the time to improve lol.
To cut a long story short I ended up scoring 75% of my teams points and only missed a few attempts in teh 2nd half. My FG% was around 70% working it now. I LOVED this game, they were a good opponent, and I had to earn every basket I scored. It just felt like no one could stop me. Double triple teams, it didn't matter, I kept my dribble and the harder they guarded me, the better I played. Now you're probably thinking if you were being double teamed why didn't you hit the open man. Because my plan was to keep the pressure on myself. Sure I could dish it out after attracting the defense, but then i'd have to watch the pressure collapse on any one of my team mates who would immediately turn it over. I know it sucks, what I'd give for JUST ONE GOOD SHOOTER, but that's the sad reality.
I think though, I should have found a way to get the ball to one team mate in the many fast breaks who ran with me, just to keep him interested. But then it annoys me how people don't try to get open. I mean get out there move, do something, and in those 50%-50% situations, i'm going to choose to pass every time than hold on to it. But that's on me, I should have found a way to pass those. It's not easy when my team mate runs into the defense rather than moving away, but suppose I could fake it or something, get the defense to bite, and then pass it. I should have done that I guess. But it shouldn't be my job to make a team mate more open if you know what I mean. Guess it's a chemistry thing, if we played together more often, we'd have an understanding of what to do in those situations and then you could play together with a common purpose.
We lost though. I don't think I could have done much more myself. I mean I could have hit those 4-5 shots I missed, I suppose. But that wouldn't have made the difference. The problem was, and i'm kicking myself for not doing something about it during the game, is bringing the ball up, it was in the wrong person's hand, as in the weaker players. Like 5-10 turnovers, that become fast breaks baskets. Those killed us. The solution would have been to play point and bring it up myself. There is only one other player on my team who can bring it up (our guard) but he has no interest. He's the first person back on offense, and I know he doesn't want to bring it up. He doesn't give a fuck about that stuff, which is why I don't think he's a genuine point guard. And that leaves our weaker players to bring it up. And they can't do it. I should have brought it up more often. Would have made a huge difference.
I got a bunch of blocks, and I didn't play bad D. I just don't understand why we allow so many points to be scored against us. Must be some obvious thing i'm missing. If only there was a tape, cud go thru it and see what goes wrong.
Ah well, basketball is fun. I can't wait to get my heavy ball and work on my jump shooting. If I become a good shooter, I can see me hitting 3s during games which will be nice. And this was the first game where I left the court thinking, I am not frustrated today. The reason for that is, if I kept the pressure on myself, then I can't blame my team mates for stealing my chance to do better, if that makes sense. I am not even disappointing in yet another L - there is only so much you can do, and if you do your best, then it's easier to walk away without winning.
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Got my heavy ball :D First impressions, it's just like a normal ball but heavier lol. ~3x heavier than normal, it weighs 1.5kg.
Went to shoot around with it, and quickly realised I wasn't going to be shooting 3pts with it. Even free throws are too far. But around the foul circle (i think this is the right term, basketball terms confuse me) closest to the rim is fine. I can shoot mostly normally from there. Anyway here are my initial observations. There is a potentiating effect to using a heavy ball. Even just holding it and touching it carries over to finding a normal ball feather light. I think spending a few minutes with the heavy ball just dribbling it does the trick. After that, I just used the normal ball to shoot and this is where interesting things happened.
1. The normal ball being lighter now meant I could try form corrections that were prohibitive before. By that I mean, a change of form which would have resulted in airballs before, now became feasible, so I could technically alter my shooting form without penalty. This is exciting stuff. See #2.
2. I tried a particular form correction which I had been reading about - basically my non shooting hand should be more perpendicular to my shooting hand. This removes the chance of side spin. Yes yes, it works very well. I started swishing shots with consistency i've seldom experienced before.
Finished off with shooting a bunch of free throws, to really cement the new shooting form. I was consistently hitting strings of 6-7 shots in a row before a miss. Which is much better than before.
So to summarise I think the heavy ball has already proven to be a great addition to training. I completely forgot to take a camera but i'm sure it will show a prettier jumpshot. To all those people who think you can't change your shooting form, yes perhaps it's not possible, because changes to form might find particular physical weaknesses that prohibit shooting well but working with a heavy ball overcomes those limitations so you can actually make form corrections that work better. That was my experience today.
Btw, I shot around for about an hour, the time spend with the heavy ball was probably around 5 minutes. The potentiated effect lasted the full hour. The normal ball never got lighter.
I also saw noticeable and impressive improvements in ball handling and dribbling. I could dribbble much faster and my handles seemed to magically improve.
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Thought to look on youtube for how to tape an ankle. Was blown away with some of the stuff i came across. So I went to the pharmacy and came back with some new stuff, and as a result, I've taped my ankle really well for the first time, feels amazingly stable and firm, and it doesn't feel like I could hurt it by accident. Feel 100% safe and secure.
The only downside, and I was hoping it wouldn't happen, is losing much ROM that I can't squat down. I will have to lay off squatting and do a lot of RDLs and focus on upper body. I could even join a gym for a few weeks. They will have dumbells and machines there. Should be fun. Ideas on upper body training? Would like to add a few inches to my guns and look like somone who lifts. Thinking lots of bench press, overhead press, chinups, lat pull downs, rows and curls. Perhaps 4-5 times a week.
empirical evidence for benefit from ankle taping is scanty at best.
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I would never play with a taped "fixed" ankle... no thanks, I don't want an injured knee because of it.
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empirical evidence for benefit from ankle taping is scanty at best.
pretty general remark bro, in which case in particular? Preventative? Rehab? Chronic? Etc.
I would never play with a taped "fixed" ankle... no thanks, I don't want an injured knee because of it.
I would have said the same thing but somehow taping it PROPERLY made a huge difference. I haven't had knee probs since taping it firmly.
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Training
SQ 2x122.5kg (2RM PR), 8x100kg (8 rep PR), 8x90kg
BP 1x85kg, 0x93.75kg, 10x70kg (was amibitious attempting a PR today since i haven't been benching much lately)
6x~30m sprints (best time 5:13 - yea blah, was snail like today)
RDL 3x100kg (3PR), 10x80kg (8PR)
The best thing about training today was my ankle didn't bother me during squats!!! I decided to keep the "weight" over my ankle in a particular way, which seemed to work. I really wanted a triple but the 2nd was maximal and I would have probably failed the 3rd. Ah well im confident next week i'll have a triple and maybe even for 125kg. That would be sick.
Ran some sprints. They sucked. Grass was wet, i felt fatigued after all the squats. Note to self don't do too many sets of squats before sprinting. Just the heavy ones, then one set for reps. Sprint then do the remaining sets. That will work better. Oh and I just didn't feel so good sprinting. Felt sluggish, I think it's because of the taped ankle too. I tried to remember the form tips I picked up from reading posts in the forum, but only found myself confused hearing Avishek's refrain saying its bullshit and muscles are nonsensical.
Shot around for about 15mins, shot wasn't on, came home early.
Now going to do some RDLs and chins and spend the weekend resting perfectly.
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Looking at my squat video for the 122.5kg double yesterday, some observations.. the first rep was fine. But in the second:
1. Descent looks 90% ok. It could be better but it's acceptable
2. coming out of hte bottom up to the half squat position, also looks fine
3. from half squat position to the top - this is bad
Here is what goes wrong in 3, i reach a "sticking" point at the half squat position, and to overcome it, my lower back takes over in a good morning pattern. The bar is literally RAISED by the good morning, while the quads don't contribute much if at all to the bar moving up, they basically hold their position, maybe allowing my thighs to move a few degrees. Bar already raised, then knees are straightened, pretty easy since there is no work done against the bar any more (it's not displaced).
Based on the above analysis it is clear my quads are not getting enough work. If they were, they'd be contributing from the half squat position, but this isn't happening.
Diagnostically, If my chest was further back at the half squat position, it's possible the quads could contribute more to the lift, but because the bar has moved forward, i have to GM to bring the bar back. If i could use quads more then i'd be stronger in the squat. I might even have the causation the wrong way, that if my quads were stronger then i'd be able to use them more. I dunno, am not a coach and I dont know any one who can coach me, and even if they thought they knew why, it would just be a theory anyway.
But there are some things I can try. Suppose I work on adding quad strength using partial and front squats and then seeing if it helps with the back squat form, that will confirm the theory. I forgot to do partials yesterday, but I will do them next time. Since I am doing a lot of RDLs too, hamstrings will not be neglected. I wonder if this piecemeal approach can work. Lets see.
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End of june update
BW: 85.5kg (Thought i'd be heavier, have been eating a lot lately)
injuries: had to rip the tape off in the middle of the night last night, it was itching me like crazy. woke up feeling pretty good. it seems it's 100% ok. i am really surprised how well hardcore taping worked. but now i have to be extra careful not to disrupt rehab going from here.
July goals: continue rehab conservatively, conservative fat loss goal of 83.5kg by aug.I have to be under 84kg at worst. And squat 130x3 - this sounds ambitious considering i am only at 122.5x2 and 120x3 atm, but i am trying a few different things which might pay off (asssitance lifts including partial squats, RDLs and front squats).
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Training
SQ 3x6x106kg
BP 6,6,5x78.5kg
Tried a bunch of things today after squats. Started with partial squats and worked up to 140x3 with a belt. I dont use a belt for normal squats but I thought to err on teh side of safety with partials. I can probably use a lot more weight than this but dunno, intuition for partials isn't so good them being so alien. I can probably quickly work up to 2BW on these, since I just started doing them and I can handle a lot more weight than I'm used to with squats. After that I tried front squats. Found myself a natural with these, form was good from the very first set of 60kg. Worked up to 2x80 which felt a bit heavy, but still form was good (see pic below), so I did a final set of 75x3. Will be working up from here. Instantly I can tell these target the legs, since I could feel them in the legs from the first rep.
After that finished off with BP. Was thinking of doing RDLs but my workout had already taken too long. Next monday, skip the partials and just do SQ, FSQ and RDL.
I may do partials once a week, on friday after 3RM heavy squats. I guess i should make it explicit that i'm now not keen on partial squats, front squats seem like the better lift to me, even better than back squat. I mean I had to work very hard, and still struggle with backsquat form, whereas front squats are just automatic.
(http://i.imgur.com/vxHrW.png)
^ perfectly flat back, nice and deep squat, felt it in mainly in the legs.
I am still to sort out how to hold the bar properly, on one set I accidentally had my wrist loaded under the bar, but that seems like a fairly easy thing to fix. Wish I had been doing front squats all along. Kicking myself for not trying them before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEwzyHeAlos
^ Saw this the other day. Wonder if he's on to something hmm.
Another article I found while searching for FSQ vs BSQ - http://assets.teamusa.org/assets/documents/attached_file/filename/15739/Strong_Athlete_-_Zero_injuries.pdf - the message of correct form resonates with me a lot:
Technical failure." What it basically means is that the set ends
when you can no longer do another correct rep. I'm a big believer in the technical failure concept. The set
ends at technical failure, not when you can't cheat through another rep. I'd always rather undertrain than
overtrain. Tomorrow is another day. The tortoise beat the hare. The healthy trainee lives to train another day
while the hurt guy goes to PT.
Crazy idea would be embark on a program of RDLs and Front Squats alone. These are the two lifts I can do technically correctly with crisp form. I wish I was crazy enough to actually try it. Would be interesting.
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For me half squats are so much difficult vs full squats. So hard to stop and reverse at that 1/2 squat position ending.
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empirical evidence for benefit from ankle taping is scanty at best.
pretty general remark bro, in which case in particular? Preventative? Rehab? Chronic? Etc.
all of the above. after i got my third ankle sprain a few years ago i started doing research and stuff -- which is what eventually led me to start working out in a structured/serious way -- and pretty much every paper i ever found on the subject was ambivalent or plainly negative on the effects of taping. there's either no difference from placebo (i.e. tape placed haphazardly) or no difference from an untaped state.
at some point i even came across a paper theorizing that tape could even negatively affect re-injury rates by providing a false sense of security.
that doesn't stop people from doing it and taking it really seriously, and i'm just a random guy on the internet who did a bunch of pubmed searches a few years ago. who knows, maybe all those NBA and NFL trainers are onto something. but nothing i found indicated that there's much there there.
ETA: the title of that video, "Why Front Squats are Better for Athletes," indicates that the person making the video may be retarded. any such categorical statement (see harvey's recent "you will notice that sprinters are massive athletes" for another example) is likely to be broscientific.
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I respect that's your experience. In my case, i injured my ankle in February early this year and while it got slowly better, it wasn't until I taped it properly just over a week ago, that it finally healed significantly. I only taped it properly because I had recently re-injured it in a pickup game. The next day after reinjuring, I taped it up. I think I kept the tape on for about about 10 days? That's all it took. Btw while I had it taped, I didn't stop playing ball, or lifting or even sprinting.
Here is what I've observed: many times this year I would wake up in the middle of the night, in pain, because I had put my ankle in an awkward position while sleeping. Since I taped it hardcore, that NEVER happens, and it couldn't either, I had taped it soundly so that it couldn't flex sideways, which is what caused the pain. Since removing the tape a couple of days ago, I feel fine. There are moments here and there during workouts where I felt I was bothering my ankle, but it wasn't as acute as it used to be before taping. I know you'll probably think it's placebo, but I just think the combination of immobilising the ankle for about a week made healing happen which hadn't in 5-6 months prior to taping.
Yeah the guy in the video is a bit of a nerd. I actually think he knows a bit more than the average bro though, at least his expertise in physiology betrays a deeper understanding than the former. There is also Mike Boyle who backs fronts over backs. I don't care about dogma though, i've tried back squatting for a while, i'm going to give front a try. See what happens. If I gain nothing from it then i'll change my mind
raptor i think i know what you mean. btw the partials i did were quarter ones, not halfs. I couldn't do halfs with that much weight .. it would pin me down for sure.
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Day after front squats woke up with sore quads (yes!), shoulders, sore hams(??!), lats (?), upper back (!), chest (!), abs, and all sorts of muscles I didn't even know I had! Even adductors were sore. Only downside is my knees are sore, which I think was from quarter squats. I might not do those any more.
I don't get why front squats are so effective. Could it also be because I did both back and front squats? Back squats don't normally make me sore. I was completely fresh, did no chinups or pulls, just squats, front squats and some bench presses. Normally bps dont make me sore either. perhaps the combination of back squats with front squats do. hmmm. tantalising.
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New exercise. Body not used to the movement.
I can't even do front squats so I can't know how they are.
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Yep, but if it didn't make anything sore i'd know it wasn't training anything differently than the ordinary backsquat so it's a good sign that it's doing new things to my body which is awesome. How come you can't do them, flexibility?
Just came bck from a wicked pickup game with my friends, we played 3vs3. The best thing about playing with these guys is they're so competitive so everyone is trying hard and it's a good challenge. I am happy to say my ankle didn't bother me for a change. Feels good man. See if pickup games were this good, i'd play them more often just for the sheer enjoyment.
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Training
SQ 2x5x100, 1x5x90 (nice and deep)
FSQ 2x3x77.5, 1x3x70 (beautiful depth)
OHP 3,3,4,4x55
(http://i.imgur.com/Mrtxw.png)
I found I could go pretty deep on backsquats. Not sure how that's happened. But here is the interesting thing. I could go even deeper during FSQ than last workout. Somehow i've gotten more flexible in BOTH lifts. I am thinking adding front squats might have something to do with it. FSQ grip is improving. It still quite uncomfortable to hold the bar but that's what I get for being undermuscled in the shoulders. So after squatting, I didn't feel like doing some pointlessly light bench presses and put the bar overhead instead. Think this will become a permanent feature for the midweek workout actually, since I have been freestyling it for the last few months, and needing concrete programming and purpose for the middle sessions.
So my program appears to be:
Mon: SQ 3x6, FSQ 4x3, BP 3x6, 3xChins
Wed: SQ 3x6-10 (perfect form, max depth with milestone weight, held constant until 10 reps are reached), FSQ 3x3, OHP 3x3-10
Fri: SQ 1x3, 1x8-10, BP 1x3, 1x8-10, Sprints 10x30m, FSQ 2x3, RDL 3x8, 10xChins
Summarising in english, sets across on Monday with a medium weight. Wednesday emphasise form and depth with lighter weight, and finally Friday is heaviest weights for a new PR, then a new PR for reps with a lighter milestone weight (eg 60kg, 65kg, 100kg etc), as well as sprinting for a new PR.
I would like to do hang snatches too but my workouts are already too long.. :/ Also I'm thinking I should probably do more OHP but like I said workout length is already a prohibitive factor. Will experiment a little to see what I can do about it.
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Sounds like a good plan, the only thing I would caution you of is using ONLY front squats for the lower body, especially with your build. It very often ends up in knee issues, especially when switching from a more bent over style squat. Push one glute/hamstring exercise up along with your front squat, and you can easily avoid these issues.
If you dont have problems loading the front squat due to the rack position, and keep some solid hamstring work in your program, it can work very well as your primary knee dominant lift in your set up.
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front squat and RDL is a good combo.
only thing that i don't like with the FS is the limited leg loading you will get eventually because your lowerback/torso gives up a lot sooner.
this is my torso already getting beat at 345x1 FS, after doing a top paused single of BS using 425x1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u64a-e7HwaA
props to you for building your strength with the heavy compound lifts. tall + strong = :headbang:
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Training
SQ 2x125kg (PR), 9x100kg (PR)
FS 3x3x80kg (PR)
BP 8x75kg (PR)
RDL 5x105kg (PR), 10x85kg (PR)
Chins - 10 sets (total reps I think was 34.)
So I was looking forward to squatting heavy for the first time since adding front squats. Would it make for a better BS? I wanted to know. And I got under 125kg, did 2 challenging reps, and didn't have a 3rd rep. I thought I had bombed the set, but looking at the video, it was actually much better form than expected, which was surprising to me. Then I did the backoff set for a new rep record with 100kg and managed 9 reps. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be since the first time I did 100kg for reps I managed 7 while keeping a rep or two in the tank and that was about a month ago. This 9 was pretty close to max. My guess is adding the FS has built up a bit of fatigue, so even though i'm stronger now from it, it's hidden by the extra fatigue.
Front squats were good. Oh I must say I have figured out how to hold the bar properly. It actually has to be further from my body than I had thought initially. I have it just on my delts now, and it's fairly comfy there, I don't have the piercing pain of having the bar sitting on my bones now!
BP - I got a really hard single at 85kg which was disappointing, I thought it would be a bad bench day, but somehow I managed 8 reps with 75kg which made me happy. According to the 1RM calculator, going from 8x75 to 10x75 will take my max from 93kg up to 100kg! (yay the magic number!). Will be trying to get that 10x75 this month. Hopefully once I have the 10 reps, then I can spend the following month mastering the shit out of the 75-80kg range and working towards 10x80 which is probably my main bench training goal for the moment.
RDLs - I was only supposed to do a heavy triple with 105kg, but I kept going and got 5. That's with taking a 5kg jump from last week. I could have gotten greedy and tried for 110kg but there is no hurry. I'll keep adding 5kg/week for as long as I can.
Finished off with 10 sets of chins while cooking dinner. This got a bit chaotic but i'm glad I didn't skip it.
So a good end to this weeks training, look forward to next week and getting a 125kgx3 PR on back squats.
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Wow-we-waawa - I feel like I should never wash this log again now that King & Lance have posted in it :personal-record:
Sounds like a good plan, the only thing I would caution you of is using ONLY front squats for the lower body, especially with your build. It very often ends up in knee issues, especially when switching from a more bent over style squat. Push one glute/hamstring exercise up along with your front squat, and you can easily avoid these issues.
If you dont have problems loading the front squat due to the rack position, and keep some solid hamstring work in your program, it can work very well as your primary knee dominant lift in your set up.
Thank you. I will follow your advice and appreciate the heads up on potential knee probs by doing only FSes. In addition I'll do the RDLs. I also don't think i am hamstring work deficient (as opposed to hamstring size/strength deficient) because my hams have been sore nonstop for about 3 months now lol. I seriously can't remember the last time I didn't have sore hamstrings.. it just seems to be always there. In contrast my quads are rarely sore except if I do sprints, which btw make hamstrings quite sore too, and i was happy to see quads getting sore from lifting when I started doing FS early this week.
front squat and RDL is a good combo.
only thing that i don't like with the FS is the limited leg loading you will get eventually because your lowerback/torso gives up a lot sooner.
this is my torso already getting beat at 345x1 FS, after doing a top paused single of BS using 425x1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u64a-e7HwaA
props to you for building your strength with the heavy compound lifts. tall + strong = :headbang:
Thank you sir. Will do! Btw that is a very pretty FS, i'm impressed by the way you control the lift throughout.
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Skillz work
80 mins shooting practice over 2 sessions of 60 and 20 mins each
Some observations. I am starting to get reeel comfortable with the shooting fingers spread out grip on the basketball. I'm not quite as sharp with the new form as my usual old one, but when the shot goes in, it goes in oh-so-softly so I know i'm on the right track. That softness I've read about in books is showing up in my own shot. But in conjunction with a stance change, i'm finding a good rhythm with a spread grip which evaded my earlier forays into the new grip. I just need to practice it more and it will become automatic and then i'll become a reliable shooter.
The stance change came about from reviewing my footage a few weeks ago. I noticed I am always UPRIGHT on the court. It makes me look like a retard and I had no idea I was doing. No one ever taught me to play basketball otherwise I would have learnt the correct way early. You want to be low to the ground, drop hips down, ass back, get in that athletic stance. This way you can accelerate rapidly in any direction, whether going up in the air for a jumpshot or rebound, or forwards for a drive, or whatever. So staying low for the first time by dropping hips down rather than my first attempt last week by idiotically bending over and finding it silly, worked wonders. I practice driving to the hoop a few times, and was surprised how quickly I could go from the first step, to layup just by changing the stance. This might not sound much, but considering I would normally be completely upright, it keeps the ball and dribble low, knees bent for easier acceleration and harder for defense to read if you're always in that position. Can't wait to try this out in a game. Just realised it will do good things for my defense too, I usually rely on my reach to keep up with a defender, but i'll be able to play much better D if I stay low. Good stuff.
Summarising, stance change + spread grip = decent jumpshot release, ball comes out nicely now and when it drops in, it drops in softly. Even shots from long range dropped softly, kind of like Ray Allen's shots.
Abs are super sore, hurts when I sneeze.
The worst thing about being on a basketball court is seeing that sexy ring just sitting there, and all you wanna do is just dunk the shit out of it. But I must wait a while, let the ankle be fully healed first. It's so frustrating holding back and not trying to jump though.. esp when I look at the other logs here and see what others guys are jumping regularly in their training and wishing I could too do that.
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Whatever i've been doing by laying off my ankle has been working. Feels almost good as new. i say almost because I haven't got full ROM back. I can kind of push the ROM, but it feels uncomfortable then. I think what's also helped is not dieting which although has made me fatter :( is helping healing. I hate getting fat, especially when I know how hard it is to get rid off the bodyfat but think i've chosen to be healthy first before cutting. Having said that, if I could cut just a little fat rather than getting fatter, that would be better. We'll see if I can pull of a mild recomp.
More shooting today, only 30 mins, had to share the court with other ppl and my R knee has been complaining so I cut it short. I took a camera this time and saw improvements in my shooting form. The angle wasn't so good so I could only analyse one or two shots but form looks prettier now. I'm glad i've gone from seeing my shot on video and thinking this is ugly, but having no idea how to fix it, to making a few changes which have started to find good grove as well as looking nicer to the eye. I think working with the heavy ball for a week made me strong enough to overcome the weaknesses that had prevented me shooting with a conventional text book form, and having overcome those, and with practice, it's paid off.
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Training
SQ 5x107.5,6x105,5x100
FS 3x3x82.5 (PR)
BP 6,5x78.5
Shitty session, have started dreading gyming lately. Unlocked a squat bonus tho, found that all along i'd not been using legs during the last 1/2 of backsquats. If you run the video backwards it shows it more clearly, just a straight up good morning. On the last set today I made the fix, pushing hard thru the floor, using leg power and saw it made a big change in addressing the GM finish.
FS are starting to get heavy, which I don't mind, except form isn't so good. I didn't stay very tight at the bottom (i think) and this caused more ankle flexion than i'd like, which bothered my injury. That sucks too. I was hoping I could train pain free for a while but maybe it's just a form thing and I can work around it next workout. Will see.
So form improvements needed.
I think part of the reason i'm dreading workouts is the sheer number of sets to work thru, every session. Today I was scheduled to do 6 sets of squats not including warmup sets. Just gets a bit overwhelming, although I realise if I was doing something like smolov i'd be doing 10 sets so in that context it shouldn't bother me too much, but smolov type intensity isn't something I want every workout, that would fucking suck over a time period including many weeks or months. So have to adjust my volume cos the way it is, it's unsustainable. I wasn't even fully recovered given the 2 day weekend break after eating like a fat cunt which makes me doubt very much I could pull all this off while cutting. Maybe take one scheduled set away from back squats each session to start with.
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not dieting while rehabbing from injury = smart. glad you're almost back to normal.
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^Thanks bud.
Played a lot of pickup basketball - was fun. The only downside is when there is no ref, people tend to get carried away with fouling, and I saw some guys on the other team get hurt, which was unfortunate. I don't understand why people don't realise it's stupid to play dangerous D but I managed to get away unscathed. It's not worth it jumping into traffic and risk an injury just for some pickup game, I picked off open jumpers and got some nice assists which made me happier. Looks my basketball season is over too - which means I can focus on getting my lifts moving now. The annoying thing is I was the only guy running up and down the court at full speed after about 2 hours of playing full court pickup ball without subbing out - i guess I got that wretched fitness just a little too late.. lol. I struggled bigtime in the earlier games of the season, and now that i'm well conditioned, no more games. Well there are games but i've opted out of the team so effectively they aren't any left.
I spent a lot of time shooting afterwards and could reliably most of my shots. Was nailing that corner 3 hard. Am beginning to realise there is no special trick to it, you just need to put in the hours and clock up a whole load of shots to become a good shooter.
I met a guy who plays for a good team (they play the top division and his team just won the finals), and he says they have 8 people already and they're trying to shed players. I was really hoping he'd ask me to play but alas it wasn't to be! He's probably the strongest 5 foot something guy i've ever played with. He guarded me really well, and later I found out he plays as a point guard which explains his amazing handles. Was interesting talking to him. He complimented me on my court vision and passing, saying he liked how I was always looking for the pass. I told him I play pseudo-point for my team because our point guard doesn't want the ball, he found that hilarious. Hopefully can run into him again sometime. Playing with a guy like that improves you just by being on the same court.
Also what is it about asking for a guys number that people don't want to share it? I've always gotten a number of a girl if I asked her. But with guys, it's hit and miss. Mostly miss these days. lol.
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Skipped session after death by basketball the day before. That was dumb but fun.
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Training
SQ 1x127.5, 3x117.5
FSQ 3x3x85 (PR)
Sprints 5x~30m (Best Time: 04:65, equalled previous PR)
Jumps - some running some standing (PR hit the rim 1.5" below my wrist. You'd think I'd be dunking easily by now :( )
BP 1x87.5, 8x75
RDLs 3x110, 8x87.5 (PRs)
10 sets chinups
Workout was too long. I need to figure out how to better schedule this stuff, I can't be spending all day in teh gym like this!!
If my standing reach is 98" - means I need 22" to hit the rim. I measure 9" at that point below my wrist, so does that mean my RVJ is 31"? I find that hard to believe considering the highly athletic Russell Westbrook has a max vert of 36" and we have a similar height and reach and i'm highly unathletic. 5" difference in vert isn't much esp considering i'm rocking too much bodyfat atm. Something has to be wrong somewhere??
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/russell-westbrook-5062/
Thinking about vertical. Once i've cut to a lean bodyweight of 80kg, I will add Plyos to my training. I'm confident that will be the best time to add them since i'll be light enough to spare my joints and tendons and hopefully by then my ankle will be fully healed and able to handle the stresses associated with plyometrics. I'll also hopefully have a 1.75BW back squat then (by maintaining my current backsquat of ~ 3x130kg BW), and optimistically a 1.5BW front squat, which would make me pretty well placed in terms of strength for dabbling in the elastic stuff. I hate how I move so slowly, and I can't see more strength improving my reaction speed and step. Hopefully that's not too long away now.
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Training
SQ 1x127.5, 3x117.5
FSQ 3x3x85 (PR)
Sprints 5x~30m (Best Time: 04:65, equalled previous PR)
Jumps - some running some standing (PR hit the rim 1.5" below my wrist. You'd think I'd be dunking easily by now :( )
BP 1x87.5, 8x75
RDLs 3x110, 8x87.5 (PRs)
10 sets chinups
Workout was too long. I need to figure out how to better schedule this stuff, I can't be spending all day in teh gym like this!!
If my standing reach is 98" - means I need 22" to hit the rim. I measure 9" at that point below my wrist, so does that mean my RVJ is 31"? I find that hard to believe considering the highly athletic Russell Westbrook has a max vert of 36" and we have a similar height and reach and i'm highly unathletic. 5" difference in vert isn't much esp considering i'm rocking too much bodyfat atm. Something has to be wrong somewhere??
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/russell-westbrook-5062/
Thinking about vertical. Once i've cut to a lean bodyweight of 80kg, I will add Plyos to my training. I'm confident that will be the best time to add them since i'll be light enough to spare my joints and tendons and hopefully by then my ankle will be fully healed and able to handle the stresses associated with plyometrics. I'll also hopefully have a 1.75BW back squat then (by maintaining my current backsquat of ~ 3x130kg BW), and optimistically a 1.5BW front squat, which would make me pretty well placed in terms of strength for dabbling in the elastic stuff. I hate how I move so slowly, and I can't see more strength improving my reaction speed and step. Hopefully that's not too long away now.
If your reach s 98" and u get 9" above a 10' rim, than yeah you're RVJ is 31". However, Westbrooks measurement on that site is inaccurate. I know of the site and they are the best source for NBA measurements, but it is clear Westbrook just had a bad day at the combine or the other people made an error or something. Westbrook has close to a 40" as many of his highest dunks, his head gets a few inches below the rim. Maybe I'm wrong and he does have a 36" vertical. That doesn't mean you can't be only 5" below him and stuff. Some basketball players are just much more impressive at displaying their athleticism. Harrison Barnes has a 38" SVJ and 40" RVJ, so technically he's more athletic than Russell Westbrook, but when you watch them play, RW looks 10x more athletic/explosive.
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Thank you. Russell having a 40" vertical sounds pretty reasonable to me too. The other thing is, he might only have a 36" but he can start his jump and get up in the air very quickly which is athleticism. Whereas my 31" might be a lot slower from the moment I start my runup. Even if I jumped the same as him, he'd be athletic since he can quickly get in the air whereas it would take me much longer. So i'm not sure RVJ alone is enough. That reminds me, I should look at his 3/4 court sprint time - just looked it up and it's 3:08 which damn close to the best ive ever seen!! so there is that factor too.
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That link of Russell Westbrook was his stats at the NBA combine. It's a different atmosphere there, so he might not have jumped as high as he normally would in a game situation. Plus, again, it was at the combine, which was a couple of years ago. I think he's become more explosive since then.
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I agree with everyone , that combine measurement could have 1 million parameters that we don't know.
Take home points:
1) Your reach is 98'', you can touch 10'9'', your RVJ is 31'', period!
2) This is NOT 36'' :
(http://fullcourtpumps.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/russ-rim.jpg)
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@creative
Playing in the NBA would do good things for athleticism I suppose, being a highly competitive environment where athleticism is common. I can see how a year or two of that would do good things for someone who hadn't attained their potential athleticism. I dunno i'm not a scientist just guessing attempting an explanation for your claim that he's gotten more explosive since the combine.
@vag, but he got a wicked sprint time so he must have been in good physical shape, right? I mean if we are saying he wasn't as explosive, he was still VERY explosive at the combine to get that time! Thanks for confirming the 31" - wohoho feels good man. Can't wait to improve it :D
I just came back from shooting around, it was the first time i've ever had a rebounder, all 3ft of him. I borrowed a child from some guests at my place. He averaged around 10-20s chasing the ball down and then another 10-30s getting it back to me haha. But even so I got the best shooting session in a long time. I could stay at one spot and just keep taking shots until it felt good. Now my left biceps' fatigued, which is a new thing since I never manage to get off so many shots normally.
Someone should invent a rebounding robot that would be awesome.
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i think you said it just now in that post: westbrook can jump high, sure, but the thing that really separates him as an athlete -- as it does for derrick rose, tyreke evans, and a few other guys -- is his speed. he gets from 0-60 faster than most and he has the upper body strength to get through contact
also, as i can tell you from years of trying to add inches to my vert, 5" is a huge difference.
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^That must be what kellyb meant by 'fast nervous system'.
Came across this piece of wisdom while forum surfing
i think the depth you go to is more a factor in hamstring recruitment in the squat than stance width. If you are pushing your feet down through the floor in the majority of squats the start out of the bottom is all about hamstring contraction to start then becomes quad quickly as you approach parallel from the bottom. In the specialized low bar wide stance squat out of a monolift in high end gear, you are sticking your ass way back "into the hams and glutes" and literally doing a good morning from above parallel.
Takeaways are to hit hams more you need to go deep in squat AND push your traps through the bar (vice the feet through the floor) when squatting. On the other hand when pulling conventional to activate more quads you need to intiate pull with feet pushing down into floor.
Small but important details.
Lots of good stuff there to take a note of. May take another attempt at deadlifts. I don't think i've tried the floor push, or if I have, I prob didn't explore it properly. I have this sneaky suspicion I have a huge quad weakness.
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Been sick with the flu, missed yesterdays sesh, was feeling mostly ok today, but after struggling to open a new jar of fish oil capsules, I realised i'm still not ready yet. It kicked my ass and I had to cut the side thing, open with a tool. Will just wait for the scheduled Weds session and see how it goes. Interesting things - i noticed the usual hamstring soreness present even 3 days off (!). But looking at it closer, I found only the RIGHT hamstring was sore. Left was recovered ok. Isn't that strange? I thought so too. I'm used to have sore hamstrings they're always sore for the last few months, but I think the sprints on Friday did a better job of hitting both sides, and since the right side is undertraining somehow, it's still sore. That's my working theory.
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Training
SQ 1x110, 5x105
FS 2x3x87.5 (PR)
BP 1x85,5x75
Got weak, lost over a kilo apparently, scale read 84.8 something. Blah. 3x90 squat warmup felt heavy. I found the push the floor cue to work well in getting legs more involved in squatting. So much so that it seems the backsquat done that way is a better leg exercise than the front squat. If I wasn't doing pretty front squats I wouldn't even bother with them but my problem with the backsquat is the leverage thing - its exceedingly hard to make good progress and maintain form simultaneously. Front squats came naturally to me and so far I'm adding weight (12.5 kg since I started them recently) and form remains nice. Still, i'll keep going with the fronts, once i've hit that goal of mine 120x3@80, i'll probably switch over to high bar on squats and take it from there.
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Sore hamstrings on both sides as usual the following day. No soreness in quads. Also sore upper back, which is unexpected since I didn't do any pulls whatsoever. Ankle feels better than ever. If I didn't know which side I had injured, i wouldn't be able to tell you by feel now. Feels good man. Not long to go now before I can start working on my VJ. Gotta move that vert of 31" with a 20+% bodyfat to a 36" with abs.
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Glad your ankle is feeling better man, youve been putting in some solid work in here, keep up the good work!
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Training
SQ 1x120, 3x105, 4x100
OP 2x55, 6x50
30 mins basketball practice, ~6-8 jumps, best one hit the rim with wrist. Got the first one handed dunk on the outdoor rim. Hit the rim pretty hard. Actually palmed the ball when doing this, didn't think it was possible. I can palm the ball and walk around with it, but when jumping with it wouldnt stick. I need to buy a new pair of bball shoes but im not playing so dunno if i'll bother to. These high tops bother my ankles for some reason.
4-5x120m running, best time 16:00. I was suprised to get 16s, that was my 100m time months ago. Which is terrible I know, but i've improved it without running longer than ~31m. I mean the sprints I did were brief, max all out, and they carried over to 100+m. Now i'm curious what my best 100m time would be. If you scale the 120m time it's ~13.3s, which sounds a bit reasonable. I could probably expect to have it down under 13s though.
Still weak in the gym. Have accepted it's just part of life losing gains overnight. I dont see me squatting 127.5x3 any time soon unfortunately, it will be a long road back there which annoys me because i worked hard to get so close (127.5x2 last wk) before being struck by illness. The 120 felt maximal, although my form was surprisingly decent which i'm sure is a result of the new floor pushing cue.
Cheers Lance, appreciate it :)
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I wore my sprinting shoes today instead of bball ones because I don't like hightops, they hurt my ankle when I jump.
Finally happened, I can dunk now!! Before I might have just kissed the ball into the rim as I dropped from the leap, there was always doubt whether or not that counted as a dunk, but now i'm sure i've dunked legitimately. Feels good man. What's more, it turns out I don't need a big runup or anything, was basically spinning around the baseline and going up. I could so do that in a game too! Not bad for a fat, slow unathletic guy who never thought he'd be able to get up there.
In another life i would have liked to be a great point guard .. definitely missed my calling by getting into basketball late in life. Oh well can still have fun on weekends :D I played the most amazing set of pickup games. Lost all of them, but i passed beautifully, got over a dozen sick passes into my team mates. feels good man. I was getting mad compliments from the other team lol for how well i passed. And it wasnt just "good passing for a slow fat big guy" but genuine respeck from legitimate point guards. Feels good man.
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Nice bro. I remember when i got my first dunks I felt on top of the world. I didn't know you were an Aussie as well! We got a few on this forum haha. Congrats. :headbang:
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Congrats, bro.
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Nice bro. I remember when i got my first dunks I felt on top of the world. I didn't know you were an Aussie as well! We got a few on this forum haha. Congrats. :headbang:
Cheers bro. Yeah there are a few, haha.
Congrats, bro.
Thanks bro!
I forgot to mention yesterday I woke up at ~84kg which is why I decided to head out to the gym to see if it made any difference being lighter. I was actually jumping slightly lower than my best though, so I think I can make a lot of improvement yet. But ultimately I need to get down to ~80kg though hopefully with athletic bodyfat levels and visible abs. I think that's got to my main goal now. I just want to get my squat up to 130x3 quickly before I can start cutting first. Is doing Smolov jnr crazy just to get the 130x3 out of the way? Or may be I should try Kingfisher's daily squatting thing. Need to decide soon, i wanna get this out of the way quickly.
In my position, if you had 2 weeks to put 5-15kg on your squat, what would be the best way?
I woke up sore around the right glute area. That's new. I can't remember the last time that's happened. Using that as feedback, may mean I need to strengthen my glutes for jumping.
today morning bw: 83.5kg (2006-2012 PR)
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(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81Rl%2BruomyL._SL1500_.jpg)
http://www.amazon.com/Fila-Clutch-Low-II-Basketball/dp/B004UQIVB0
These low tops look pretty good. Will see if I can find a pair here or i'll have to ship them in from online. hopefully I can find a pair here. I dont know why I persisted so long with hightops - they suck.
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Training
FS 2x3x90 (PR)
BS 2x100, 4x95, 2x6x90,
BP 5,4x75, 4x72.5, 2x6x70
Rusty all round after the marathon pickup ball session yesterday. Could not backsquat for the life of me, but still managed to front squat PRs. Will work extra hard this week to recover lost ground on the lifts from illness.
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In my position, if you had 2 weeks to put 5-15kg on your squat, what would be the best way?
If I had to try I'd probably do 3 days of lower body and spread the following throughout those days:
Band assisted sets of 3 w/130
1 variation (e.g. box squats)
1 alternate stance squat (e.g. sumo or narrow depending on my weaknesses)
Partial reps in the bottom 1/4 for a few sets of 3-5 reps w/a decent weight & bands for added resistance
Car or prowler pushes
Sprints
Weighted Step Ups
8-10 sets of heavy singles
Heavy partial reps (130+ if you're not able to do 130x1 yet) at a depth between quarter and half (or justhalf if possible)
A few negative reps @ around 150
I'd throw in hanging leg raises, weighted situps, hyperextensions & oblique twists on the 1&3rd day. No idea if that would work but if left to my own devices that's what i'd try. I wouldn't try what Kingfish is doing as he's doing it for maintenance and not to build strength and from personal experience, you'd see a dropoff in strength at first. I'm a fan of mixing it up also so I'd prefer something w/more variety than smolov jr.
I woke up sore around the right glute area. That's new. I can't remember the last time that's happened. Using that as feedback, may mean I need to strengthen my glutes for jumping.
Could be a sign that your glutes are becoming stronger and providing a larger portion of the force in your jumps. That's what happened to me when I started doing box squats last year and my pc became dominant.
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Thanks chris, loads of good ideas there! I like the blanket hammer all the different possible weaknesses approach in case there is a glaring weakness or two which needs the most attention. Will try it out this week. I also agree with your assessment that daily squatting will probably make me 'weaker' in the short term which isn't what I want. I'm reluctant to smolov because while I know it works very well at peaking, I don't like my chances of holding on to the gains while cutting.
Could be a sign that your glutes are becoming stronger and providing a larger portion of the force in your jumps. That's what happened to me when I started doing box squats last year and my pc became dominant.
Perhaps so! Now i'm kicking myself for not doing deadlifts and heavy belted squats. The reason of course I don't do these things is because I don't want to fucking injury myself since I have the worst form on deads and belted squats. But in the past I did a lot of those anyway, only wish I had still kept the strength I build while doing that dangerous shit. I know I keep saying i need to get back into deadlifting but i really do need to do. Maybe even starting light and doing high rep sets to start with, as long as form is good, and i can progress them that way.
Second day in a row waking up ~83.5kg - im a little confused really. I mean it wasn't long ago i was 86kg and since getting the flu, i've lost weight of course, but it's starting to feel permanent? I'm happy about it. It was a big mental stumbling block being stuck over 85kg and i wasn't breaking under it for about 2 months i think. And then boom, overnight i'm under it. I'll take it. The best thing is it's given me extra motivation to get leaner and lighter, i have a feeling I can break into the 82kgs by the end of the month. And if that happens i'll definitely be under 15% for the first time in forever. It'll have been a long journey from a rather fat 112kg a coupla years ago down to 82.
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Training
SQ 1x110, 2x6x92.5
FS 2x3x92.5 (PR)
10 SVJ jumps on carpet (About 8" away from the roof so when I ever touch the roof i'll have a 30+" SVJ)
OP 2x60, 4x55, 5x52.5, 7x50 (PR)
RDL 3x115 (PR), 10x90 (PR)
DL 6,4x90
How I went from doubling 127.5 to a max of 110 I don't know. I Still can't squat very well, I think my body has forgotten how. I kind of remembered in the last set of 6x90 though by screwing my feet into the floor. I was previously forgetting to use hamstrings. But in that set my depth was borderline. So either I had depth and shitty form (quad centric squatting) or better form (hamstring involved) and bad depth. Should be able to get both next workout if I work on both aspects.
FS was fine. I failed to take a tight grip on the bar on set 1, did so in set 2 and form was better as a result.
OP, working on mastering the weights between 50-60kg aiming for the goal of 10x60. Will keep working with various rep ranges until I've mastered things. In the coming weeks i'll get 10x50 to start with, then 10x55, and finally work towards 60x10. I was able to double 60kg today so i'm not too bad on pressing considering it's only my second pressing workout this year. I'm a much better presser than bench presser, I should probably just press more, but I wanted to bench 100kg first and it's just not happening.
RDL - I didn't RDL last week, so was keen to get back into it. The only problem was grip. I haven't pulled this heavy in about 2 weeks explaining the grip weakness.
Finally I did DLs today. And i'm pleased to report the press the floor cue worked. I actually pulled with a flat back, and the weight was very easy, my form was good. This was prob the best part of training today. I would love to have a decent DL if i can fix my form, there is no reason why not.
Bodyweight: ~84.5kg - bounced up from yesterday. I guess that's to be expected.
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Kind of lost my appetite last wk and today I was supposed to meet some friends for a buffet today and didn't go. Fuck that shit, I have an enormous appetite and I know what would happen and it's not good and I can't have that anymore.
I'm recognising that a few months ago when I did a good amount of dieting and was beginning to get real lean, I'd jeopardise it all by binging. I know that's just my body reacting to the hunger and stuff but I should know better. Of course that's no big deal in a normal diet but the thing is, when you've been dieting a while, those binges end up undoing weeks of work, you're just primed for fat gain, and it all goes right back. And it's so easy to justify it in the name of recovery ("i wanna get some PRs brb eating like a pig) but that's all bullshit. It makes no difference. To be fair I was healing from injuries so it was justified. But now i'm healed up I have to be careful not to spin my wheels.
So i'm eating small serves of food, even nutritious food, no point going overboard, Im having smaller portions and not going back for seconds. If I keep eating like this consistently, no takouts, eating clean, no seconds, i'll surely find my abs.
new soreness: hams, upper back, and the back of my arms (presses?).
more and more I think chrisbro's approach is sound. I have too many weaknesses. Could be abs, hams, quads, upper back, lower back, glutes, any of those. Not knowing which, just need to hammer them all hard.
I just finished ripping off all the duct tape of my barbell. I had accumulated a few layers on the center knurl cos that thing was razor sharp and bruised up my back bad. I've had a bandage on my back for the last month and a half, and I wear like 3 layers of fabric between the bar and my skin, and several layers of tape as well but it still bruised me up. So finally ripped off the tape and spend a good 2 minutes with sand paper. It's not sharp now but it's not smooth either. Hopefully that's enough otherwise i'll sand it down some more. Must say the bar feels much more comfy and secure without the tape, may even improve form.
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Ah man waste of a friday night. I called up the Fila store and asked if they had the Clutch lows (pictured above), and i was told yes by a girl on the phone, and they even had the similar DLS shoe. Wicked I thought, i'll go and pick up a pair. Got there and they had one shitty pair of high top clutches, and that was it. I asked the guy there if had the clutch los and he said nah we never had those. lol. Waste of an hour driving and then walking around different shops looking for an alternative pair. I found one I liked, the Nike Air Ring Leader Low - reasonably priced but not in my size :( What i like about this shoe is that it's fairly wide. At least it looked wide than the typical narrow basketball shoe.
Tried out the new kobe los, they're ok, i wouldn't pay the crazy price for it, for what is pretty much an ordinary running shoe that costs 4x more. Converses had a few low tops which I liked but real narrow at the front.
Nothing at adidas, i was told they had some decent low top adizeros, but man I couldn't find them for the life of me.
After this adventure i don't think i'd bother risking ordering online in case i get a shoe that doesn't fit me well. Special bonus, someone yelled out at me, confusing me for the name of a little known homicidal evil genius who sparked a bunch of wars earlier this century. Swear to god I don't that fucking guy but it could be worse, at least my name isn't michael bolton
Oh and before I forget, i should log todays training too brb
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Training
SQ 1x115, 1x122.5 (failed 2nd rep badly), 1x112.5, 1x110
FS 2x95 (PR)
SQ 6x95 and i think i did another set with 97.5 but i can't remember how many reps
10x30m sprints (best time 04:63 - im not sure if its a pr? anyway i hit 04:65 consistently several times today- yes checked out as PR)
1 1 hand dunk, could barely palm the ball for some reason
BP 2x85 (ugly shitty set), 6x75, 8x70
chin ladders, 26 total reps
worst training in a long itme. next week im just gonna reset and work back up on backsquats. the failure today was very ugly, my back was rounded so much when I got pinned at hte bottom. I didn't expect to fail, i haven't failed in a long time, so i didn't set the pins high enough, meaning i had to rest the bar on a low pin (i leave it there for benches) and it crumbled me up in a dangerous position. no more of this bad form shit. i honestly thought i had 120+ for a triple today after finding the 115 pretty ok. but i got greedy, maybe if i had just gone with 3x117.5 i'd have got it too :/
not mentioning how bad front squats were today, every single rep i did today whether FS or BS sucked bad, my back was rounded, every single rep was horrible and dangerous. even warmups. I shouldn't have done RDLs and DLs last workout, i should save them for fridays, lesson learnt. i think my hams (or lb or abs or all of the above) were fried from wednesdays marathon hamstring sesh and i couldn't squat for shit. end of story.
horrible end to the week, reset and good form next week!
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Squatting is soo frustrating!
I'm in a similiar position to you atm. A few weeks ago I got 132.5 for a double and now today I only done 120 for a triple. In my case it was coz I fuked up my knee, which set my progress back a bit but yeh hopefully in like a couple months I'm doing 140 for a triple- if not than :pissed:
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I swear it's the hardest lift to get right if it's off. When things are going right it's just automatic and you wonder what the fuss is about, but when it's not, it's the damnest thing! Get that 140 triple man, you've got plenty of back/leg strength given your nice DL, you just need to string together some consecutive progress over a few weeks. I know it's hard with your sport, it eats into recovery and training time so you can't help it either!
Btw i just checked and the 04:63 was a pr on the sprints. I guess that was the only good thing from today. Will take it. I realised while doing the 4 or 6th sprint that I could take LONGER strides, and somehow this made me get better times. There is definitely a trick/technique to these short sprints. Wish someone would tell me what it is! it's frustrating having to discover it myself thru trial and error
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Yeh I know what you mean. With squats when you get a PR or make progress they are actually enjoyable but when you don't they just piss you off but we'll both be repping 3 plates soon just got to stick at it.
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Woke up 84.15kg, thought I should go try dunk. Didn't eat anything, just sipped on a whey shake. This whole kellyb inspired idea of dunking when you're light is fucking dumb. I won't do it again. Gotta have a solid meal in and well hydrated. Couldn't actually land any dunks, i was using a different ball and i couldn't even palm it, otherwise I would have got some dunks. Then played pickup ball for 3 hours. That was dumb. Finished up and could barely walk, got in the car and started feeling nauseous, like i was about to faint, and just really freezing cold. Somehow managed to get home ok, and popped some mini snickers bars and felt better. Guess was just suffering from low blood sugar. What a waste of a day. Couldn't even play well, was sluggish and slow, was getting beaten off the dribble and couldn't even block guys who were driving inside where I was waiting.
Not sure if i'll be able to lift tomorrow, blah, the fog continues. What would abishek do? Probably quit lifting and let the adrenals return to normal function. I lost my libido like 2 months ago for the first time ever, and it hasn't come back. Maybe i'm overtrained.
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My bodyweight thru the month of July
(http://i.imgur.com/WomjU.png)
Weighed in at a light weight 83.6kg today. It's strange being under 185lb. I think that's hydration related more than anything else but still i'm confident i'll be under 84kg by the end of the July.
Still fat at 83.5kg - but i'm confident somewhere along the way from 84kg down to 83kg I will cross the 15% bodyfat barrier. And i'm going to be agressive about fat loss over August - nothing short of 82kg will do.
Soreness - right glutes, and right hips. Quads are still sore from friday sprints. low back is fine, lats are a bit sore from marathon chins on friday too.
Taking the day off training today, I could probably force it but there is no point pushing it. I'm deloading anyways.
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Looks like youre having some rough days, hang in there. Its important to remember when cutting, that the trip there is not the same as the stay. Youll have some days like that for sure, but look at them through the grand scheme of things, a few off days here and there but youre achieving a much longer term goal in the process. Things will even out and youll be able to make up for those days you felt "off" with no problem.
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You're right lance :highfive:
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Training
SQ 2x100,3x97.5,6x90,6x87.5
FS 2x3x95 (PR)
BP 3x6x72.5
BW: 84.2kg
Think I tweaked something in my back on sundays dunking/jumping. My right glute has been acting funny. Took the reset on squats - was hoping to go 3x6x97.5 but my form started breaking down on the 3rd rep, so I think I should be using something like 3x6x90 instead. Will work up from there, and of course make sure form is perfect. I don't care where my lifts are, so long as I weigh a lean 80kg and have good form, if that means squatting 2 plates with visible abs, so be it, I can always get stronger by stringing together a few months of uninterrupted progress from there.
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first two reps looked pretty good, actually. you were starting to come forward but not badly. third rep obviously broke down a bit but even that wasn't so bad. just looked like the last rep of a heavy set. one thing that helps me when the weight is even a little bit challenging is to refocus for every rep. it looks like you're just gliding through the set. maybe instead try pausing at the top and reminding yourself of your cues before each eccentric.
for me it's something like, "heels...push floor apart...breathe in...hold...abs out...chest up...go."
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Much apprech. You are spot on with your analysis. A split second before I take the bar, I'll say to myself, do X Y Z - but as soon as I unrack the bar, I am so completely focused on the lift that my mind goes blank during the set and I forget what I was supposed to remember. It's frustrating because if I remembered to squeeze the bar hard, keep the weight balanced on my feet etc i'd have better form. I guess that's where it helps to have a coach or a training partner. But i'll try to take a second before the rep to run thru what I'm supposed to do before I start the lift.
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Training
SQ 1x95, 3x6x85
OHP 2x2x60,3x5x50,1x8x45
CURLZ 3x8x32.5
Back felt better today but still not 100% - so went conservative on the squats. Even at this light a weight, I concentrated extra hard on having perfect form and not aggravating my back and I found myself exhausted by the end. That's good. I want perfect form. Observations - set 1 was picture perfect, set 2 wasn't as good, and set 3 wasn't as good as 2. So I have a problem with muscular endurance it seems. It's probably my leverages working against me but i'd like to turn a weakness into a strength. See next paragraph.
I read on pendlays forum that people who have trouble getting folded over out of the bottom of a squat should do a lot of these so called pendlay rows. Now i've never done rows, but if that's fixed the same problem for other people, it may just help me too. So i'll try do those on mondays.
OHP - made no progress this week, which makes me think my programming for OHP is inadequate. So today I went with sets across with 5s and will progress those weekly. I need a lot of rest between OHP sets otherwise I can't do many reps. Now the interesting thing is I never need as much rest for bench press. Which makes me question whether this is to do with muscular endurance not of the upper body but rather my lower back/abs. But if my muscular weakness is lower back and abs - then it would follow I need more rest during my squat sets too. Something to think about perhaps.
I'm adding curls on the middle workout and will make sure they are done every week.
Bodyweight: 83.9kg
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I was watching Damien (ex poster on this forum) bench off his youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uydQsf_Axw
and I can't help but think i'm going somewhere wrong in my training. We had pretty much the same bench at the start of the year, I was benching 90 for 10 sets of 3, and he was benching I think a max of 100. I have a similar frame to him, he's leaner than me, probably weighs close to 90kg to my ~84kg. I don't get it, how has he added 10kg to his max. This fucking sucks. I need to find that magic program which will have me repping out 100kg :(
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Layne Norton Training Series + Full Power/Hypertrophy Routine
Day 1: Upper Body Power Day
Pulling Power Movement: Bent over or Pendlay rows
3 sets of 3-5 reps
Assistance Pulling movement: Weighted Pull ups
2 sets of 6-10 reps
Auxiliary Pulling movement: Rack chins
2 sets of 6-10 reps
Pressing Power Movement: Flat dumbbell presses
3 sets of 3-5 reps
Assistance pressing movement: Weighted dips
2 sets of 6-10 reps
Assistance pressing movement: Seated dumbbell shoulder presses
3 sets of 6-10 reps
Auxiliary curling movement: Cambered bar curls
3 sets of 6-10 reps
Auxiliary extension movement: Skull crushers
3 sets of 6-10 reps
Day 2: Lower Body Power Day
Pressing Power Movement: Squats
3 sets of 3-5 reps
Assistance pressing movement: Hack Squats
2 sets of 6-10 reps
Assistance extension movement: Leg extensions
2 sets of 6-10 reps
Assistance pulling movement: Stiff legged deadlifts
3 sets of 5-8 reps
Assistance pulling/curling movement: Glute ham raises or lying leg curls
2 sets of 6-10 reps
Auxiliary calf movement: Standing calf raise
3 sets of 6-10 reps
Auxiliary calf movement: Seated calf raise
2 sets of 6-10 reps
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Back and Shoulders Hypertrophy Day
Pulling Power Exercise speed work: Bent over or Pendlay rows
6 sets of 3 reps with 65-70% of normal 3-5 rep max
Hypertrophy pulling movement: Rack chins
3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy pulling movement: Seated cable row
3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy pulling movement: Dumbbell rows or shrugs bracing upper body against an incline bench
2 sets of 12-15 reps
Hypertrophy pulling movement: Close grip pulldowns
2 sets of 15-20 reps
Hypertrophy shoulder movement: Seated dumbbell presses
3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy shoulder movement: Upright rows
2 sets of 12-15 reps
Hypertrophy shoulder movement: Side lateral raises with dumbbells or cables
3 sets of 12-20 reps
Day 5: Lower Body Hypertrophy Day
Lower Body Power Exercise speed work: Squats
6 sets of 3 reps with 65-70% of normal 3-5 rep max
Hypertrophy pressing movement: Hack squats
3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy pressing movement: Leg presses
2 sets of 12-15 reps
Hypertrophy extension movement: Leg extensions
3 sets of 15-20 reps
Hypertrophy pulling movement: Romanian deadlifts
3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy curling movement: Lying leg curls
2 sets of 12-15 reps
Hypertrophy curling movement: Seated leg curls
2 sets of 15-20 reps
Hypertrophy calf movement: Donkey calf raises
4 sets of 10-15 reps
Hypertrophy calf movement: Seated calf raises
3 sets of 15-20 reps
Day 6: Chest and Arms Hypertrophy Day
Pressing Power Exercise speed work: Flat dumbbell presses
6 sets of 3 reps with 65-70% of normal 3-5 rep max
Hypertrophy pressing movement: Incline dumbbell presses
3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy pressing movement: Hammer strength chest press
3 sets of 12-15 reps
Hypertrophy fly movement: Incline cable flyes
2 sets of 15-20 reps
Hypertrophy curling exercise: Cambered bar preacher curls
3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy curling exercise: Dumbbell concentration curls
2 sets of 12-15 reps
Hypertrophy curling exercise: Spider curls bracing upper body against an incline bench
2 sets of 15-20 reps
Hypertrophy extension exercise: Seated tricep extension with cambered bar
3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy extension exercise: Cable pressdowns with rope attachment
2 sets of 12-15 reps
Hypertrophy extension exercise: Cable kickbacks
2 sets of 15-20 reps
Day 7: Rest
Keep in mind this workout would be for someone who is relatively adapted to higher frequency and volume, so you may want to cut out an assistance/auxiliary exercise on each day to start until your body adapts.
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I had a good diet day today, until 30 minutes ago. Ate 2 meals - both clean, breakfast and dinner - hit my macros, got the right amount of calories, protein, fats and carbs, fruit and veg. Had a satisfying dinner of thai green curry chicken, rice, 500mL protein shake with 1.5 scoop whey and fruit (strawberries and a banana).
After that I ventured upon desert. I only intended to eat 1 serving but I wasn't satisfied, so 6 or 7 bowls of icecream later
(http://s11.postimage.org/yp9jbtd5d/icecream.png)
As I am eating while writing this post, my brain hasn't got the message from my stomach that it's full. It just never came. If i wasn't dieting, i would have had maybe 2 bowls at the most - and i'd have been full and i'd have gotten the signal to stop eating. But because i've been dieting, i don't get that signal, I keep eating and eating. And eating.
Meanwhile I've just finished the entire 1L container of icecream and now finally I am satisfied. It seems the signal to stop eating doesn't come from my stomach but instead it comes from my brain, when it realises there is no more left to eat. Btw the cravings are quite specific, just exactly the stuff i'm not supposed to eat on a diet.
It's funny because in the morning I was thinking, i am only 2kg away from being the leanest i've been since high school - over a decade ago. And a kilo or two from there from seeing my abs. I could be athletic, fit, and I could end my cut. Even knowing all this, I still went ahead and ate all that icecream. Unlike other guys here who are 10s of kilos away from their goal, im so close but I can't go any closer, I just keep tripping up.
But all of this would be pointless if it wasn't for the realisation that I can't do moderation while i'm dieting. If I was eating at maintenance, I could have a bowl of icecream and it would be okay. I would enjoy it and I wouldn't get carried away by a bottomless hungry stomach.
So for the next week or so i'm going to try something new - just accept that while im cutting my body wont help me stick to my goals, it wont send satiety signals, it will work hard against achieving my goals, hunger will confound my best efforts and I somehow have to look past it and just stick to the plan. Once i've stopped cutting i'll allow myself a normal unrestricted diet. If I can manage that for just one week, i'll finally get under 83kg - and that's a guaranteed under 15% bodyfat. That's all I have to do, stick to the plan for just one week.
edit, went for a long walk and shot some hoops.
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Training
SQ 2x110
FS 2x3x97.5 (PR)
SQ 2x6x90, 6x87.5
BP 1x85, 7x85, 2x6x73.5
RDL 3x117.5 (PR), 10x92.5 (PR)
DL 5x100 (conventional), 3x100 (sumo), 5x3x95 (sumo)
4x5xBW chins (orange, 9th pin)
Bodyweight: 84.3kg
The double with 110 was kinda meh. Form was ok, not great, but ok. I wanted a triple but I didn't have a heavy triple in me today. FS were hard - they were definitely 3RMs.
While warming up with the front squats, I was getting this clicking sound in my left knee. Now I don't like the sound of that, so I tried something different - I broke first at the knees on the way down. This way my ankle angle with the floor is smaller, knees further forward and I can be more upright at the bottom position - no clicking in the knees. But it looks like of funny breaking deliberately first at the knees. Experienced guys - is this normal?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8IeFzGTE70
^2nd set of 3x97.5 (3RM)
Finished off with 3 sets of 6 on the back squat - my form was fine for the first 3 reps, 4 was borderline, and 5 and 6 were worse. But I nailed the set with 87.5 to finish with - so next time i'll go 3x6x90 and stick with it til i have a perfect 6 across.
RDLS my grip was weak but I did ok. This is the only exercise which made my back feel better. It really is a magic exercise for me. Love these.
I ended the workout to have dinner, in a coupla hours if i'm up for it, i'll do some deadlifts and chinups.
Did the DLs and chins after all. Why did no one tell me about sumo? After pulling my first set of 100 and being annoyed with my form, i just had this sudden idea to try sumo. I mean why not? So i took a wider stance and experimented a bit with sumo. Found out I could manage a very pretty looking pull that way. This is a game changer. Now I can DL. Back strength here I come :D
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Knee break looks good, I would stick with it. When you come out of the hole, think of driving the bar up and backwards, that will help you stay more vertical on the way up as well. The eccentric is spot on most of those reps. Also, that knee break works well for some on the back squat too, might give it a try if youre leaning over more than you need to.
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Will do, thank you. I never thought to try it on back squat, I will experiment with knee break there too.
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http://tnation.t-nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding/question_about_knee_break_low_bar_squats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJikHEfYgWM
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Ah Pendlay <3 - i'll try it out tomorrow on backsquats and see how it goes. Thanks for digging that thread up :)
Played some pickup basketball today - was disciplined and only played 2-3 games - left the gym feeling BETTER than when i entered it. That's the sweet spot of doing just enough enough to have fun, but not too much that you get fatigued and can't recover well enough to train properly!
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Training
FS 2x3x100 (PR)
BS 3x6x90
BP 3x6x75
pushups 2x10
cable rowz 2x10
Bodyweight: 84kg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfLQDtDstvk
I'm halfway to my front squat goal now - another 20kg left til i'm using 1.5*BW for triples on front squats with my ideal bodyweight of 80kg.
I felt very weak today after the warmup with 100kg for a double on backsquats felt kinda heavy, but i forced myself to go ahead and front squat a PR after the backsquat warmups anyway. Feels good man. On a good day I would smoked it with perfect form, but today I was just happy to get my reps in. I think I have a couple more weeks of adding 5kg/week - and then i'll switch to 2.5kg/week. If i'm ambitious i'll hit 110kg by the end of August.
I owe a big one to Lance. I wouldn't have thought to break at the knees first on backsquats - it was the last thing i would have tried unless he had asked me to. So today I tried it even though i was skeptical. But im happy to say it has solved my good morning problem once for all. Even towards the end of the set with fatigue setting in, when I would have gotten folded over out of the bottom, it didn't happen, my positions were good even on the limit reps. I'm so blown away what a difference it makes.
Afterwards I analysed the video carefully, breaking at the knees first on backsquats (and fronts too for that matter) means my knee position is further forward; this SOMEHOW preserves my back angle out of the bottom of the hole, improving my positions at the bottom all the way to the top. It's genius. It takes an experienced person to make a suggestion like that and i'm very grateful to have received the wisdom. Thank you so much Lance :D
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We have very similar squat issues, forward lean due to long limbs etc. I use the knee break too , it has helped me a lot, although i have a long way to go yet.
But the main reason i am posting is the front squat. That 100x3 is very tight! Drastically improving form while hitting 3RM PRs is no joke!
:highfive:
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Training
FS 2x3x100 (PR)
BS 3x6x90
BP 3x6x75
pushups 2x10
cable rowz 2x10
Bodyweight: 84kg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfLQDtDstvk
I'm halfway to my front squat goal now - another 20kg left til i'm using 1.5*BW for triples on front squats with my ideal bodyweight of 80kg.
I felt very weak today after the warmup with 100kg for a double on backsquats felt kinda heavy, but i forced myself to go ahead and front squat a PR after the backsquat warmups anyway. Feels good man. On a good day I would smoked it with perfect form, but today I was just happy to get my reps in. I think I have a couple more weeks of adding 5kg/week - and then i'll switch to 2.5kg/week. If i'm ambitious i'll hit 110kg by the end of August.
I owe a big one to Lance. I wouldn't have thought to break at the knees first on backsquats - it was the last thing i would have tried unless he had asked me to. So today I tried it even though i was skeptical. But im happy to say it has solved my good morning problem once for all. Even towards the end of the set with fatigue setting in, when I would have gotten folded over out of the bottom, it didn't happen, my positions were good even on the limit reps. I'm so blown away what a difference it makes.
Afterwards I analysed the video carefully, breaking at the knees first on backsquats (and fronts too for that matter) means my knee position is further forward; this SOMEHOW preserves my back angle out of the bottom of the hole, improving my positions at the bottom all the way to the top. It's genius. It takes an experienced person to make a suggestion like that and i'm very grateful to have received the wisdom. Thank you so much Lance :D
Glad that helped man, those front squats looked great too!@! :highfive:
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I will never understand, in my lifetime, how it's possible for people to keep their elbows forward like that in that position.
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We have very similar squat issues, forward lean due to long limbs etc. I use the knee break too , it has helped me a lot, although i have a long way to go yet.
But the main reason i am posting is the front squat. That 100x3 is very tight! Drastically improving form while hitting 3RM PRs is no joke!
:highfive:
It will be interesting to see how I go with form issues once the backsquat weights get heavy again. I'm hoping the new knee break movement will serve me well but it remains to see what happens. The thing i'm really excited about though is finally building some leg strength from my recent front squatting. The LBBS for me was mostly a hip/glute/lower back exercise and for the first time it seems i'm building leg strength. I feel it during the exercise and later in my sore legs. That's all new. I measured my thighs recently and I saw a 0.5" improvement since the last time. And that's while trying not to gain weight of course because i've been "cutting". Adding another 20kg to my FS will do wonders for my leg strength :)
Glad that helped man, those front squats looked great too!@! :highfive:
I'm hoping to have even nicer front squats on friday when i'm nice and fresh unlike Mondays. Thanks!
I will never understand, in my lifetime, how it's possible for people to keep their elbows forward like that in that position.
lol .. before I started doing them, i was a bit afraid of failing front squats. With back ones you can just ride the bar down and it's easy. Failing a front squat seems scarier, I dont wanna break my bar dropping it on the pins, but thankfully i haven't failed yet.
(http://s15.postimage.org/403xqks2j/graph1238754107276522728.png)
My bodyweight goal for the month - want to reach 180 lb
I'm getting a bit frustrated with weight loss. I've been on the wagon for 2 days now and it's not showing up on the scale. Hoping to break under 83kg by Monday - another 5 days to go and about 0.9kg to lose. Have decided that I will break 180 pounds by the end of the month by being super strict for the remainder of the month. I want to see my abs mid sept and quoting walt in breaking bad, having "a chocolate cake with chocolate icing".
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Training
BS 3x6x92.5
OHP 3x5x52.5
CURLZ 3x8x35
Short and sweet, BW:83.9kg.
Battle with squat form ever present. Think I figured out a few things though which I'll try on friday.
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two days is nothing, be patient. fat loss just seems to happen that way sometimes. see lyle's article, "of whooshes and squishy fat": http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html.
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two days is nothing, be patient. fat loss just seems to happen that way sometimes. see lyle's article, "of whooshes and squishy fat": http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html.
4 days complainant now.. still pretty much the same bw lol .. i'm def in a calorik deficit cos i'm hungry often ..
(http://s16.postimage.org/mvulhuzo5/graph5910838268828062543.png)
but when I get that woosh i'll be happy :)
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Training
SQ 2x115
FS 2,3,3x102 (PR)
SQ 3x6x95
BP 2x6x77.5,1x5x77.5 (CG), 3x5x62.5 (Wide grip)
RDL 3x120 (PR), 8x95 (PR)
~20 dead hang chins
Exhausted. I finally got around to fixing my floor problem. My floor tiles are uneven and sloped, and this makes it hard to squat properly. So today I spent like 3 hours trying to fix that. I got some concrete slabs and laid them out. I dunno how I spent so much time on this but I wasn't sure how to solve it - so just walked around looking at stuff I could use. Decided against wood cos it would get damaged. Anyway tomorrow I gotta level the slabs but I just squatted on them today even tho they wobble atm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stHk19vySbw
The new floor is so much better already but it changes the pin heights and things. I fucked up my first set of front squats cos the pins were too high (i had try to adjust them prior but it still needed to be one hole lower). Caught my 3rd rep on the pins and failed it. Sucked. So I did one more set to make up for it, and form was kind of iffy today anyway. I think the 2-3 hours I spent on my feet mighta contributed to that.
Then came backsquats - oh I forgot to mention, Lance is spot on about my form breakdown, the heavy set of 115 had the exact failure mode Lance predicted - I got GM - letting my lower back power the lift since my legs wouldn't. Hmm. Next week probably go with 112.5kg and try to get THAT with good form and just add reps for the heavy set over the coming weeks. I think 120x3 with GOOD form would be nice as a short term goal.
Backsquats, on the 2nd set, I strained something in my groin. I worked thru it, it's not painful or anything, just has that pulled/strained sensation. Got all 3 sets, my form is good for the first 4 reps, and the 5th was ok but 6th borderline. I guess as fatigue sets in, it starts to resemble the form breakdown I saw in the heaviest set.
Then bench, this changed too with the higher floor. I found it more comfortable esp with my legs higher up now (the floor underneath my feet is not raised). I like it, I could stay tighter that way. But i still couldn't get all 3 sets, the last one only managed a 5. Next time reset 1kg back and take smaller jumps. Maybe 1kg? We'll see.
RDLs, i misread my log and went for 3x117.5, which is what I had done last time. So repeated it with 120x3, this was ok, just my grip strength sucked today and even warmups felt heavy in my hands. The bar kind of rotated in my hand on the 9th rep of the set with 95kg and I put it down.
Oh and I stupidly tried to clean 60kg off the failed front squat but the bar was a bit too high to clean properly, and I managed to fail halfway and then bang it into the pins. Might have bent it badly. I spun it on the pins and it was def wobbling. It's a shitty cheapy bar and quite old now and I have been thinking of replacing it but i'm not going to spend a lot of money on a bar - i'm not a professional athlete or anything so spending $500 on a barbell isn't happening lol. May just get another cheap one and then treat it really gently, for my goals I don't see it getting too much of a beating. I'll use it for squats and presses only.
And yeah the workout was too long, I didn't risk sprinting with my groin strain. next week do RDLs on monday, friday workouts are too long
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Hmm, woke up with the groin strain sensation still there. Not looking good, have been googling and it seems it takes around 4-6wks to heal a grade I :( Watched all three sets of backsquats and I can't see anything that would have caused the injury. They are actually really nice sets, probably the best form of mine i've seen on video.
I think the 3 hours on my feet before the workout might have been a reason, maybe I had some fatigue there that make me vulnerable? Dunno.
My other theory is cos my front squats took longer this time (due to the extra set) and I went straight front squats to my backsquat worksets - that I had gotten cold, and I should have warmed up again.
But i've done the sequence of 1. backsquat warmup, 2. front squat warmup, 3.front squat workout then 4. backsquat workout; many times and never had any problem. I usually go thru the fronts pretty quickly tho, this time I had to do an extra set and I took a bit longer rest too. And I guess I have been using a lot of volume too, squatting 3x6 every workout for the last 2 weeks, maybe that caught up with me somehow.
Anyway will see how it feels on monday otherwise i'll prob rest the week
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Nah, if you didn't actually feel the injury etc, and there was nothing wrong with and during your squats, I don't see why it would take that long to recover.
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I agree with raptor. Feel it out though, do some light stretching and myofascial release/massage, dont do anything that hurts it. It sounds like a very minor strain, shouldnt take too long to heal, definitely not a month.
also, compression pants (hard material) will do wonders for your issue there until its healed. You can also get a neoprene thigh sleeve and pull it up high on the leg. Ive done this with a torn sartorius and didnt miss a single squat workout. Those sleeves can really help a ton.
(http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/hockeymonkey_2224_25885385)
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You guys might be right, seems to be improving as the day goes on. I did try to rest as much as possible which mighta helped. See what happens over the next coupla days. Ive started icing as well, not usually a big fan of icing becos i dont wanna intefere with normal healing but thought to try it. I will look around the pharmacy for that sleeve too lance, thank u.
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not usually a big fan of icing becos i dont wanna intefere with normal healing
That's like saying "I'm not a big fan of training becos I dont wanna intefere with normal body development"
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lol tru bro. what if ur family is starving, is it ok to steal a loaf of bread to feed them? and what if they dont like bread, they want cigarettes, thats ok right? :P im trying to remember this absurd analogy i had running thru my mind earlier today
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Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrright
Oooook... time for your medication now... (http://www.adarq.org/forum/Smileys/blah/tongue.gif)
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lol tru bro. what if ur family is starving, is it ok to steal a loaf of bread to feed them? and what if they dont like bread, they want cigarettes, thats ok right? :P im trying to remember this absurd analogy i had running thru my mind earlier today
lmfao
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Woke up feeling even better today, seems to be healing more every day!
I'm visibly leaner too, except, damn the scale actually went up not down. I wanted to be under 83kg by tomorrow morning, instead I was over 84kg this morning .. slightly frustrating lol.
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Usually play basketball on sundays but didn't today. Messed around with banded swings, nice little workout. Got a bit of conditioning done.
Training
Banded swings (orange band) - 8x10kg, 13x5kg, 11x5kg, 9x5kg, 12x5kg, 11x5kg
my groin felt better afterwards too, it's almost perfect now! Phew.
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Training
FS 2x105 (PR), 2x100,2x85
SQ 3x6x97.5
BP 3x6x76.5 (CG), 3x5x65 (WG)
lat pulls 1x20, 3x8
BW: 83.8kg
I couldn't triple any front squats, more in my head than anything else, i think i was holding back some in fear of injury. I shud get 2x3x105 on friday though, im sure of it.
SQ - in lieu of finding more uprightness, I experimented with bar position, moved it higher up. Wanted to see if it would make a difference in forward lean. It may have, its perhaps too early to tell. But what I did notice was more tension in legs. Give it a few more workouts to see how it pans out.
Also since I didn't lose ANY weight this whole week despite beign 100% strict, i'm making some changes. Have reduced milk intake on workout days by 200mL and on rest days i'll reduce by 300mL. Also have stopped using butter (I usually eat 1 teaspoon a day). Felt more hungry today than usual.
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(http://s9.postimage.org/jn5md01a7/graph2162978781155921403.png)
BW: 83.6kg or 184.31lb .. i'll be genuinely delighted when I drop under 83. Hopefully sometime THIS week. I think i'm still way over 15% bodyfat, maybe even over 20?
Reduced my usual 2 slices of bread for breakfast to just 1 on rest days. Oh and I cut 1/2 a scoop of whey as well. So basically i'm very low fat, low carb, medium protein now. Been hungry all day lol. This shit better work!
(http://s18.postimage.org/aubzfh2p5/lowtops.png)
My lowtop basketball shoes arrived. They're pretty nice. But a bit too roomy. Might have to wear 2 pairs of socks, will try them out on sunday for pickup ball. I didn't really tighten the shoelaces but I could pretty easily slip my foot out of the shoe which was a bit disconcerting. Hopefully I can jump in these shoes without bothering my ankles like my other hightop boots! I just realised I haven't tried dunking in over 2 wks now. And it's been around the same since I ran sprints. I missed a session due to rain, and last wk due to injury. Will def do both jumping and running this wk, weather permitting.
In other news, I finished my new new flooring. I wasn't satisfied with the grey slab of concrete, something about it set off my inner caveman sensibilities. So a million flint sharped nails later, and a hammer worthy of coach he-who-shall-not-be-named-in-this-log, i've got a fully paleo surface any prehistoric man would be proud to have adorning his cave.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtLvYdg3XDs
haven't tried squatting on it yet but will get a chance tomorrow, it seems pretty flat and even.
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My lowtop basketball shoes arrived. They're pretty nice. But a bit too roomy. Might have to wear 2 pairs of socks, will try them out on sunday for pickup ball. I didn't really tighten the shoelaces but I could pretty easily slip my foot out of the shoe which was a bit disconcerting. Hopefully I can jump in these shoes without bothering my ankles like my other hightop boots! I just realised I haven't tried dunking in over 2 wks now. And it's been around the same since I ran sprints. I missed a session due to rain, and last wk due to injury. Will def do both jumping and running this wk, weather permitting.
Sounds a bit risky. I'd change your size down if you can.
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I think the size isn't the real problem, its just the sole its not very grippy and my foot slides around inside the shoe. Any tips to deal with that?
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Sick work on that flooring for your rack. :highfive:
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Training
SQ 3x6x100
OHP 4x55,3x54.4,4x53.5,4x53,2x8x45
CURLZ 3x8x37.5 (PR)
Really happy with the first 4 reps of my squats. The last 2 not so much. But i'm ok with that, considering, see next line.
OHP told me what I had suspected from squats, I was really weak today. I couldn't even ANY of my planned sets on press, and the weights are still light for me well within my old PRs. So I did what I could have.
Worked super hard for the curl PRs.
Looking forward to fridays, wanna PR my front squats and get some sprints in.
I suspect I was weak cos I lost a lot of water weight, thats why i'm treating my (current) bodyweight with suspicion. If it stabilises in the low 83s then i'll be more happy about it of course but we'll see.
(http://s11.postimage.org/u778jhk6b/graph2455936561324959094.png)
Bodyweight: 83.25kg/183.5lb
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Btw i realised that what I thought was a groin strain is actually probably my quads. It was fairly high up my leg so easy to confuse. The reason I mention this is, it makes sense that my leg strength has been lower this wk for that reason. By that I mean the front squats have been a lot harder than they should have been (not being able to triple 105 maybe cos its heavy, but 100 and 85? yeah thats def odd).
The other thing is today i was practicising squats and trying to figure out a way to make my backsquat more upright and athletic. I tried putting a plate under my heels, and using a highbar position (incidientally this makes no difference whatsoever to my backsquat form whether its highbar or lowbar placement). But I can't do it, no matter what I try my back isn't upright its always always angled as usual.
(http://s9.postimage.org/jll5u0asv/bsvsfs.png)
What I dont understand and i'd be grateful if someone can point it out to me, why can't I get my backsquat to be similar to my front squat? What is it about putting the bar on my back which makes this impossible? I can do an upright looking front squat - but all my backsquats regardless of stance, bar placement, knee break and so on makes no difference.
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(http://crossfitnyc.com/squats.jpg)
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i was gonna say something snarky and clever about physics and something something something but raptor nailed it. just look at that picture, it's not a hard concept.
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Do you think squatting like in my left pic will make the squat in the right pic go up? Cos thats why i'm going on about all this stuff. I wanna squat my BS in a way which makes my FS go up without necessarily needing to FS a bunch.
As far as reasons and snarky physics goes, bring it on man. I'm keen on hearing it. I know one guy claims the LBBS puts less of a torque on the LB than the HBBS. Then Greg Everett debunked him in his book, showing the opposite was true, that the LBBS puts more of a torque on the LB.
But here is where im stuck .. in my mind model the lower the bar goes on the body there shud be a lesser tendency to lean forward cos there is a smaller moment trying to topple u over. or conversely, the higher the bar goes, the bigger a moment trying to rotate u fwd, hence more fwd lean. Why is my mental model flawed? I havent read gregs book but i wish i knew his explanation
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PROPER TECHNIQUE FOR THE ATHLETE’S SQUAT by Fred Hatfield (Dr. Squat)
Position the bar on the squat racks at a height approximately three to five inches lower than your shoulders.
Check your equipment -- weight even on both sides? Collars in place? Spotter rails adjusted?
Is the area free of loose plates and debris?
A recommended way to evenly disperse the weight across your shoulder girdle is through the use of a Manta Ray (TM), a neat little device which clips onto the bar. This recommendation is made because the bar alone can cause discomfort or injury when sitting atop your 7th cervical vertebra.
With at least two spotters standing by (NEVER only one spotter), position your hands evenly on the bar and, with your feet squarely under the bar, lift it from the rack with the legs.
Step back just enough to avoid bumping the rack during the exercise, and position your feet at a comfortable width -- this is called the "athletic stance," where your force output capability is at its maximum -- usually a bit more than shoulder width).
Your weight should remain centered over the back half of your feet throughout the descent and ascent, not on your toes.
Descend with control into a position where the tops of your thighs are about parallel with the floor, keeping your torso and back erect so that your hips remain under the bar at all times.
Do NOT allow your hips to drift backward, your knees to drift inward or out beyond your toes, or your torso to incline forward.
A check on proper position is to ensure that the angles formed at the knee joint and hip joint are close to being equal. (By contrast, powerlifters almost always have more of an angle at the hips, and close to a right angle at the knees.)
You should go to a depth necessary to stimulate maximum quadriceps and gluteal contraction, but not so deep that 1) your knees are traumatized, or 2) hyperflexion of your lumbar spine exposes you to serious back injury.
Descend to a depth where your thighs are approximately parallel to the floor.
Vigorously rise out of the squat position following the same path that you descended -- the torso and back remain erect and the hips remain under the bar throughout the ascent.
As your leverage improves throughout your ascent, accelerate the bar, always bearing upwards against the weight with maximum force. Slow down just short of lockout in order to eliminate unnecessary ballistics.
Repeat the squat movement for the required number of reps.
The use of supportive devices such as power, suits, wraps and belts is not advised except in cases where the weight is extremely heavy.This is so your body receives adaptive stress instead of your gear. Your gear will rob you of this elemental benefit of squatting.
When returning the bar to the rack, have the two spotters carefully guide you in, being sure that your hands are not in the way of the racks.
Your fatigued state has diminished your control over the heavy weight, so exercise caution in the return to the racks.
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re: fred hatfield: i stopped reading at, "Do NOT allow your hips to drift backward, your knees to drift inward or out beyond your toes, or your torso to incline forward," because it's physically impossible for you not to do those things. look at any picture of him squatting, he's doing every single thing on that list except letting his knees drift inward.
you're thinking about the positioning of the weight in completely the wrong way. look harder at the picture raptor posted. the lower the bar, the closer to the center of your torso, the closer to the center of your torso, the more of your torso needs to be on the other side of your center of mass for you not to fall backward.
getting stronger in the squat will make your squat go up, full stop. don't pick at the minutiae like that, you're getting distracted. just work on getting stronger, both of those squats look fine.
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re: fred hatfield: i stopped reading at, "Do NOT allow your hips to drift backward, your knees to drift inward or out beyond your toes, or your torso to incline forward," because it's physically impossible for you not to do those things. look at any picture of him squatting, he's doing every single thing on that list except letting his knees drift inward.
Sure I agree with you but here is the key thing, Hatfield isn't talking about watching someone's squat or teaching someone to coach someone else to squat. He's talking about what the lifter under the bar ought to be thinking/doing. If you look at it from the perspective of the lifter then his instruction makes sense, even if it's impossible, the point is it helps the lifter hit the right positions by thinking about the cues.
you're thinking about the positioning of the weight in completely the wrong way. look harder at the picture raptor posted. the lower the bar, the closer to the center of your torso, the closer to the center of your torso, the more of your torso needs to be on the other side of your center of mass for you not to fall backward.
i gotta think about this, will reply later once ive thought about it.
getting stronger in the squat will make your squat go up, full stop. don't pick at the minutiae like that, you're getting distracted. just work on getting stronger, both of those squats look fine.
Fair enough, that's a good point. I just know guys who've squatted 400x5 with LBBS and watch them struggling with 225 front squats, at that point I have to question whether just progressing (the wrong) squats is the right thing to do, at some point you want an athletic payoff from all the work in the gym
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Btw i realised that what I thought was a groin strain is actually probably my quads. It was fairly high up my leg so easy to confuse. The reason I mention this is, it makes sense that my leg strength has been lower this wk for that reason. By that I mean the front squats have been a lot harder than they should have been (not being able to triple 105 maybe cos its heavy, but 100 and 85? yeah thats def odd).
The other thing is today i was practicising squats and trying to figure out a way to make my backsquat more upright and athletic. I tried putting a plate under my heels, and using a highbar position (incidientally this makes no difference whatsoever to my backsquat form whether its highbar or lowbar placement). But I can't do it, no matter what I try my back isn't upright its always always angled as usual.
(http://s9.postimage.org/jll5u0asv/bsvsfs.png)
What I dont understand and i'd be grateful if someone can point it out to me, why can't I get my backsquat to be similar to my front squat? What is it about putting the bar on my back which makes this impossible? I can do an upright looking front squat - but all my backsquats regardless of stance, bar placement, knee break and so on makes no difference.
That looks pretty good to me considering your levers.
If you want to remain more upright in your squat, start with the weight centered more towards the heel a little. This will enable you to push the knees a little farther forward, without getting onto the toes and affecting the knees in a negative way.
The position you have there in the hole is a world away from a 90 degree torso low bar hump squat, and will generate tons of quad/glute activity.
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Also, those pictures from Rippetoe are not indicative of the position REQUIRED in any squat, nor optimal in many peoples definition. Those are drawings from THEM, keep that in mind.
I posted some videos of a 6'2 guy with a very short torso/long leg build doing heavy squats with the low bar position, and keeping a much more vertical torso than many have with a high bar position. There is only so far you can push the torso angle though and that pic is not bad at all. As your LEGS get stronger and you get used to driving the squat that way, you will start to naturally get more vertical as well.
(http://i.imgur.com/MobgL.jpg)
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Knees point ahead?
Wish me luck going lower than half squat depth with my knees pointing straight forward...
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Knees point ahead?
Wish me luck going lower than half squat depth with my knees pointing straight forward...
lol .. you gotta be squatting pretty deep to achieve that I think! I can do it with FS but no way with LBBS. Btw you mean, knees pointing up not forward right?
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That looks pretty good to me considering your levers.
Thanks. I think my form on BS is kind of ok now. When the weights get heavier though, i'll start getting bent over and it will be squatmorny. It's kind of inevitable.. but lets see, this is the first time i've obsessed with getting form perfect rather than just good enough to get by
If you want to remain more upright in your squat, start with the weight centered more towards the heel a little. This will enable you to push the knees a little farther forward, without getting onto the toes and affecting the knees in a negative way.
love the tips. Will try that tomorrow, thank you!
The position you have there in the hole is a world away from a 90 degree torso low bar hump squat, and will generate tons of quad/glute activity!
true its not a blatant GM atm.
Believe it or not but i've come a long way in my backsquat from just this last month so i'm happy to keep trying to improve it. hopefully i can get it to a point where its good enuf and then i can just concentrate on maintaining form while adding mad weight (the plan is to do that once im done cutting to 10% bf). So i'm trying to get my ducks in a row for once i'm ready to gain some weight and hopefully add some 40kg to my backsquat to finally get that 2BW BS etc.
I just spent a good amount of tonight reading stuff about squatting and ive got some ideas to try out tomorrow for being more upright.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_jxTc2ITA8
I watched some chinese oly lifters backsquat and i noticed they're looking UP not just infront. im going to experiment with that to see if it makes me more upright. I also read that for HBBS you want to lead up with the chest (not hips) out of the hole).. but im not sure if that will work with my current squat.
Btw i'm not sure when it happened, but i think ive decided at some point I want to switch to HBBS. I dont know if you'll approve lance, because i know you like aspects of the LBBS, i just feel like i'd like to squat in a way which will make my legs stronger and make my front squat go up without the actual pain of front squatting heavy often. I still wanna FS 2x a week, and at least 1x heavy but getting a bit intimidated by setting a PR every time i do them since im not very sure if my form is good
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I think its a fine idea if you want to switch to high bar, but keep plenty of direct ham work in your program so your knees dont start bugging out.
The low bar position is easier on many peoples knees and helps the imbalance issues that many have, but should still be done in a similar manner to a high bar squat and intentionally made into a deadlift so you can lift more weight.
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Knees point ahead?
Wish me luck going lower than half squat depth with my knees pointing straight forward...
I dont think that picture is optimal for everyone, it was only to show that there are many different opinions on squats than what rippetoe preaches has to happen. Look at the low bar squats that are in the article thread, many different ways to do things, depends on what your goals are.
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I think its a fine idea if you want to switch to high bar, but keep plenty of direct ham work in your program so your knees dont start bugging out.
Definitely, i'll not stop doing RDLs, they're always staying in my training now regardless of what squats i'm using.
The low bar position is easier on many peoples knees and helps the imbalance issues that many have, but should still be done in a similar manner to a high bar squat and intentionally made into a deadlift so you can lift more weight.
ive been having knee problems lately but never had them when i did only LBBS. I think from bad reps on the FS. Understood though, i'll keep that in mind.
Thanks again lance.
Also that picture (raptors) was drawn by lon kilgore. i can't remember who drew the 2nd one but it might have been kono but i could be wrong
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I dont think that picture is optimal for everyone, it was only to show that there are many different opinions on squats than what rippetoe preaches has to happen.
Um... there are?
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I think its a fine idea if you want to switch to high bar, but keep plenty of direct ham work in your program so your knees dont start bugging out.
Definitely, i'll not stop doing RDLs, they're always staying in my training now regardless of what squats i'm using.
The low bar position is easier on many peoples knees and helps the imbalance issues that many have, but should still be done in a similar manner to a high bar squat and intentionally made into a deadlift so you can lift more weight.
ive been having knee problems lately but never had them when i did only LBBS. I think from bad reps on the FS. Understood though, i'll keep that in mind.
Thanks again lance.
Also that picture (raptors) was drawn by lon kilgore. i can't remember who drew the 2nd one but it might have been kono but i could be wrong
Kilgore the first one ya, kono the second one. http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2008/08/olympic-squat-tommy-kono.html
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also, didnt see your question earlier on chest/hip drive, but I like the cue of "driving the floor away from you". Think of staying tight and upright on the way down, then push the floor away from you, while maintaining the torso position. This seems to work the best for most imo.
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also, didnt see your question earlier on chest/hip drive, but I like the cue of "driving the floor away from you". Think of staying tight and upright on the way down, then push the floor away from you, while maintaining the torso position. This seems to work the best for most imo.
good one, i should collect these into one place somewhere!
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Training
TM warmup (~3 minutes, damn i havent done cardio for months! i shud add some in to help with fat loss, maybe weds)
SQ 2x112.5 (to think i was conservative ONLY going for 112.5 lol .. i bombed this, horrible forms)
FS 3x105 (PR), 3x95 (backoff set)
SQ 3x6x102.5 (ok form, I wish I had some traps so I could do HB, the damn thing is uncomfy on my bone lol)
5x30m sprints (best time 04:38 - i couldnt get close to this time a 2nd time though, all my other times were around 04:60 so dunno, might just be an erronous measurement altho i did feel very quick on that sprint so .. we'll see)
~5 SVJ jumps
BP 6,5,5 77.5 (ive stalled already, now what? fuck)
~20 deadhang chins
FS form was horrible, my 3rd rep was super ugly. upper back rounded like a mothafucker. just a bad training week, my legs have been piss weak, hoping next week will be better. i would post the video but its too ugly.. edit i'll post it anyway
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Szmw2i06Ug
Was good to sprint after almost 3 wks off. have picked up where i left off which is good.
Did some jumps, my SVJ is VERY close to my 2 step RVJ (is this called drop step?) - but I could hit the rim SVJ with the base of my palm, close to my wrist, so thats 7.5" above the rim, making my SVJ 29.5" - it counts for fuck all though cos i still cant dunk )
This whole thing took me hours. I've decided to move RDLs to mondays. Also moving bench assistance to mondays. And i'm thinking i should do bw chinups on weds, and on mondays and fridays i should do banded ones in the AM so my usual PM workouts dont get too long.
i'll make a detailed post of my program soon, have to move around a few exercises so workloads btw sessions is evenly distributed
Bodyweight: 83.6kg
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(http://i.imgur.com/NXUFe.png)
ok guys tell me why its stupid or what i should fix .. or do differently
also shud i be doing PENDLAY ROWS? What day?
Anything else i shud add or remove
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What are your top 5 priorities or goals in order 1-5?
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What are your top 5 priorities or goals in order 1-5?
1. Get down to 10% bf (prob around 80kg bw)
2. Get bench unstuck and progressing smoothly towards 120kg (1.5bw)
3. front squat 1.5bw triple
4. Jump higher, move quicker on the court, well conditioned
5. Add 2" to my biceps so I look like I lift
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What are your top 5 priorities or goals in order 1-5?
1. Get down to 10% bf (prob around 80kg bw)
2. Get bench unstuck and progressing smoothly towards 120kg (1.5bw)
3. front squat 1.5bw triple
4. Jump higher, move quicker on the court, well conditioned
5. Add 2" to my biceps so I look like I lift
For 2, extensions of some type will help the bench the most after bench press itself. Skull crushers, tate press, etc. work great.
for 3, you have kind of a high rep scheme for fronts, might try 2 s and singles, theyre easier to progress with fronts.
for 5 lol, make sure you pick a type of curl that you actually FEEL in the biceps. This makes the most difference imo, and continuous tension works wonders here.
pendlay rows are a great exercise, if you do them put them in on your easiest workout day.
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2. I'll add the extensions as bench assistance
3. I'll try doubles and singles. Should I aim for around ~10 reps total? 15?
5. The only one I FEEL in my arms is the cable curl, i like that cos it holds tension continuously like you said. But i recently started doing straight bar curls as well, 3x8x30kg and i'm thinking if I get that up to 3x8x60kg i shud see some growth from that alone too.
cool i'll do them when i have a workout that feels easy
cheers lance!
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(http://i.imgur.com/NXUFe.png)
ok guys tell me why its stupid or what i should fix .. or do differently
also shud i be doing PENDLAY ROWS? What day?
Anything else i shud add or remove
Updated. Upper back assistance can be any of Pendlay Rows, banded chins or heavy rack pulls, depending on what I feel like, i'll prob alternate thru them.
I kept 3x4 FS on mondays with a medium weight, for volume/form work - but on fridays i'll do heavier singles, doubles and triples. I don't want to do heavy front squats 2x a week, it gets a bit too much while cutting (am i a pussy?).
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2. I'll add the extensions as bench assistance
3. I'll try doubles and singles. Should I aim for around ~10 reps total? 15?
5. The only one I FEEL in my arms is the cable curl, i like that cos it holds tension continuously like you said. But i recently started doing straight bar curls as well, 3x8x30kg and i'm thinking if I get that up to 3x8x60kg i shud see some growth from that alone too.
cool i'll do them when i have a workout that feels easy
cheers lance!
Depends on the load your using for total reps, but a good rule of thumb is 20-30 reps with >80 percent 1rm when using 2's, and 10-20 with > 85 percent when using singles.
With the curls, you may get some good growth if you can keep the tension on the biceps well during straight bar curls, a lot of longer armed guys cant though. Dumbell curls done like the standing barbell curl can really make a difference in these cases. Either way good luck, looks good.
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Shit thats a lot of reps haha. I might have to back off the backsquat volume then if I wanna increase front squat volume. Not sure I care, I have started to think the backsquat is a complete waste of time now. I should have joined a gym and used a leg press all this time. fucking barbell propaganda man.
Sunday jumping practice .. did about 40 jumps, no pickup games, got lazy
5 SVJ, 5 dunk attempts
2x8 band swings (yellow, a bit too easy, i was trying to save my orange band by using yellow more but yellow is close to useless)
5 SVJ, 5 dunk attempts (best SVJ attempt was when I hit the rim with my arm under my wrist, thats very close to my best two step vertical)
2x10 yellow band jumps
Got my first SVJ dunk, it was bullshit
seems the band stuff actually helps add a few inches. i was jumping pretty mediocre before I used the bands. and yes i was warm and i did lots of jumps before trying banded swings/jumps
not bad an effort for a day i was feeling far from 100%
but i stupidly left my band behind so gotta drive back now at night to get it before someone else takes it. gives me an excuse to take a measuring tape and see how high those rings are, my friend said they're low, and i suspect as much but i'd like to know for sure
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Has anyone read Gary's article? I found myself reading it last night, cos I used to look up to this guy and he was the one who really sold me on using a belt for squatting. Anyway one very interesting thing in the article was Gary's explanation that the backsquat turns into a squatmorning not because of weak quads (!) but because of hamstrings. Gary goes on to claim that not only are the quads NOT weak, they're strong they've actually done their job.
If Gary is right, then as i'm watching the horrible video of me doing squat mornings with 5x137.5kg, i'm looking at someone with good quad strength but bad hamstring strength. If Gary is right, that person in the video had strong legs. Can this shit be true? I dont know. But suppose I follow Gary's logic, I see my ass going from the bottom position in the hole to the quarter squat position quickly and easily - what muscles ARE in charge of that? Glutes and quads? Hams? ANd of course to finish the squat morning from the 1/4 squat position i push away from the belt and good morning the bar up.
Shit is confusing man lol
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Think about it this way man, your body is getting into a position it needs to be to use the muscles that are the strongest, or the movement patterns its most familiar with. In most cases, the lean happens when guys want to use their lower back more to aid the lift. Plenty of quad dominant people squat upright as hell, in fact, they tend to miss the lift very quickly with even a slight lean.
I havent read the article your referencing, but if he is talking about a low bar squat it would make more sense.
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Think about it this way man, your body is getting into a position it needs to be to use the muscles that are the strongest, or the movement patterns its most familiar with.
That makes sense but are we on the same page. I'm not talking about the last half of the lift which is a definite GM. I'm talking about the segment consisting of moving out of the hole up to 1/4 squat position, which then finishes with the GM in the next segment. To get to the 1/4 squat position what musculature is responsible for the movement out of the hole. That's not the lower back is it. The last segment (GM) definitely is all back without doubt
In most cases, the lean happens when guys want to use their lower back more to aid the lift. Plenty of quad dominant people squat upright as hell, in fact, they tend to miss the lift very quickly with even a slight lean.
In my video, at the 1/4 squat position after coming out of the hole, my back is fully horizontal. No doubt whatsover that the rest of the lift is all good morning. and if thats my body getting itself in a position to lift the weight then that's happening because the bar went fwd and i lost the back angle
I havent read the article your referencing, but if he is talking about a low bar squat it would make more sense.
its titled "Powerlifting, Year One" - by gary gibson if you're interested
When ppl do 1/4 squats, their back isn't horizontal obviously, but if it was, then the lift wud not be a quad dominant movement. but in my case with a horizontal back, it was all GM, no quad. I think Gary is wrong anyway, quads dont move the bar out of the bottom of a LBBS. And in later years he changed his mind on the LBBS and he thinks HBBS is better become its more leg dominant than is LBBS
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That makes sense but are we on the same page. I'm not talking about the last half of the lift which is a definite GM. I'm talking about the segment consisting of moving out of the hole up to 1/4 squat position, which then finishes with the GM in the next segment. To get to the 1/4 squat position what musculature is responsible for the movement out of the hole. That's not the lower back is it. The last segment (GM) definitely is all back without doubt
RIght, thats what I mean when I say, the body is getting into a position to use the musculature it wants to.
If you allow it, you will press straight out in front of you during an overhead press too, its easier that way, for a while. The GLUTES are what I think youre looking for in the position you described, the hamstrings will get more activity the greater the torso lean. When you weak glutes and weak quads, youre going to naturally want to lean and drive your hips up first to get more leverage from different muscles.
In my video, at the 1/4 squat position after coming out of the hole, my back is fully horizontal. No doubt whatsover that the rest of the lift is all good morning. and if thats my body getting itself in a position to lift the weight then that's happening because the bar went fwd and i lost the back angle
or simply having not placed a priority on staying upright long enough for it to become habit yet, and having learned "drive your hips up" vs staying tall and driving the body up as a unit, chest and shoulders up first, in the way you do in any athletic movement in history.
its titled "Powerlifting, Year One" - by gary gibson if you're interested
When ppl do 1/4 squats, their back isn't horizontal obviously, but if it was, then the lift wud not be a quad dominant movement. but in my case with a horizontal back, it was all GM, no quad. I think Gary is wrong anyway, quads dont move the bar out of the bottom of a LBBS. And in later years he changed his mind on the LBBS and he thinks HBBS is better become its more leg dominant than is LBBS
yea I am not sure what he is getting at there, a certain degree of isometric strength is required from the hamstrings at the position you are describing, but it is so miniscule compared to the strength required of the glutes and quads to actually drive the body up, in an upright position. Its simply not an issue in most cases, in fact I would say in my experience most quad dominant guys will stay upright naturally, while guys who have more hamstring strength and weak quads will tend to have to be cued to do so.
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or simply having not placed a priority on staying upright long enough for it to become habit yet, and having learned "drive your hips up" vs staying tall and driving the body up as a unit, chest and shoulders up first, in the way you do in any athletic movement in history.
The other day you gave me the tip to have the weight back on my heels when starting a squat, which was a great tip because im realising i wasn't even upright and actually leaning fwd at the top when about to start squatting down. I guess I have to work very hard to correct these patterns cos they've become ingrained. What I'd give to start from scratch but with better squat instruction!
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or simply having not placed a priority on staying upright long enough for it to become habit yet, and having learned "drive your hips up" vs staying tall and driving the body up as a unit, chest and shoulders up first, in the way you do in any athletic movement in history.
The other day you gave me the tip to have the weight back on my heels when starting a squat, which was a great tip because im realising i wasn't even upright and actually leaning fwd at the top when about to start squatting down. I guess I have to work very hard to correct these patterns cos they've become ingrained. What I'd give to start from scratch but with better squat instruction!
Yea, here is a good pic from Everett on the path, its actually further to the rear in most cases.
(http://www.catalystathletics.com/blog/images/080518-lowHighTorque.jpg)
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prob obvious to you lance but when you look at the right pic, if that guy kept going deeper, his back wud get more vertical (this is prob true for any squat regardless of bar placement?) as well as his knees more forward. of course that might not possible with low bar with hips way back. I only just made that connection recently. Am thinking when I switch to highbar, i'll work on mobility so my squats are deep and upright.
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prob obvious to you lance but when you look at the right pic, if that guy kept going deeper, his back wud get more vertical (this is prob true for any squat regardless of bar placement?) as well as his knees more forward. of course that might not possible with low bar with hips way back. I only just made that connection recently. Am thinking when I switch to highbar, i'll work on mobility so my squats are deep and upright.
He could, if he relaxed his hamstrings, however thats against what Rippetoe preaches apparently. The worst part imo of all that is driving your hips up vs driving YOU up. What happens most of the time, in that picture if he were to go lower, he would simply get more leaned over, and keep the same or very similar knee angle.
Looking at your front squat, I dont think mobility will be your issue, I think motor learning and getting stronger around the knee will have to take place to really make you comfortable with it. You can squat pretty upright with a low bar position too, and this is not a bad way to do it, you have to groove the squat differently though than your typical low bar, and drive your chest and shoulders, not your hips.
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and drive your chest and shoulders, not your hips.
Is there a bigger blasphemy?
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The worst part imo of all that is driving your hips up vs driving YOU up. What happens most of the time, in that picture if he were to go lower, he would simply get more leaned over, and keep the same or very similar knee angle.
Yeah, I see what you mean.
Looking at your front squat, I dont think mobility will be your issue, I think motor learning and getting stronger around the knee will have to take place to really make you comfortable with it. You can squat pretty upright with a low bar position too, and this is not a bad way to do it, you have to groove the squat differently though than your typical low bar, and drive your chest and shoulders, not your hips.
It's funny you should say this, I came away with a similar impression from todays workout. I'll explain in my workout summary.
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Training
BS 3x90,2x100 (these were just warmups but cos I didn't do anything heavier than this i'll log these)
SQ 4x87.5-95 (nb notation for 4x95,4x92.5,4x90,4x87.5)
BS - 87.5x0 (didnt even do one rep lol)
BP - nope lol
RDL - 3x122.5 (PR), 10x97.5 (PR), 10x90
I only did front squats, wasn't planning only doing front squats, it just happened that way. Btw from now on I shall call the FS just a plain squat. To me it's the real deal, the only genuine squat. The other one is a BACK squat = back/hamstring exercise, just an assistance exercise for the real squat.
I have to say a word about higher rep (reminder = front) squats. I found these a wonderful exercise. After I was done squatting, I couldn't do anything else though. It fatigued all my back muscles, so much so that I could barely unrack 87.5kg (!!) for a backsquat warmup. In fact I just racked it, cos it felt so heavy on my back just walking it out. So a weight I could rep 4 times in my 4th set of squats, i couldn't even walk out of the rack on my back. Weird.
It goes on, the same thing happened with bench press. I got thru my warmups ok, but first rep of my workset and I hit the pins. It wasnt happening. Squats tired out my upper body (!) - i cudnt bench press.
RDLs were a struggle to start with, warming up, i could barely grip the bar with my 2nd warmup - 3x90kg. I somehow got 122.5x3 with good form, and then after that, the last 2 sets were real easy. I had made a conscious decision that if my grip was my weakness, then i'd try to get thru the set quickly, cos the longer it went, the more my grip wud suffer, and i'd fail not cos of my hamstrings but becos of grip. Turned out real easy when done quickly, i could have probably done another 10 reps that way!
But this changes everything. Squats, real squats are the antidote to the shitty excuse i'd been doing before. And i need to put the backsquat on the back burner, i'll do them dont worry, but just as an afterthought, i'll maintain my strength and slowly increase them over time but it's not a main priority now. The priority is to progress squats and once i get them up i'll have taught my body the right way to behave.
The darkness is finally over.
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Here's my argument for (F)SQ over BS
Have only been doing SQ for a short time but already
1. SQ is quickly catching up to BS, last wk I did 105x3 on SQ vs 110x2 on BS - very little to differentiate them
2. SQ form is better than BS form
3. progress in BS comes at the cost of form - squatmornings happen because legs are weak and back is much stronger, lighter backsquats do nothing for legs, and heavier backsquats are too much for legs and eaten up greedily for breakfast by much stronger back
4. SQ is remedial for squatmorning BS pattern - it fixes that and it teaches uprightness which will carry over to BS, in fact already has to some degree
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Here's my argument for (F)SQ over BS
Have only been doing SQ for a short time but already
1. SQ is quickly catching up to BS, last wk I did 105x3 on SQ vs 110x2 on BS - very little to differentiate them
2. SQ form is better than BS form
3. progress in BS comes at the cost of form - squatmornings happen because legs are weak and back is much stronger, lighter backsquats do nothing for legs, and heavier backsquats are too much for legs and eaten up greedily for breakfast by much stronger back
4. SQ is remedial for squatmorning BS pattern - it fixes that and it teaches uprightness which will carry over to BS, in fact already has to some degree
fwiw, youre not nearly the only one thats come to this conclusion. As long as youre keeping balance in your legs with the hams and quads, go for it.
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Here's my argument for (F)SQ over BS
Have only been doing SQ for a short time but already
1. SQ is quickly catching up to BS, last wk I did 105x3 on SQ vs 110x2 on BS - very little to differentiate them
2. SQ form is better than BS form
3. progress in BS comes at the cost of form - squatmornings happen because legs are weak and back is much stronger, lighter backsquats do nothing for legs, and heavier backsquats are too much for legs and eaten up greedily for breakfast by much stronger back
4. SQ is remedial for squatmorning BS pattern - it fixes that and it teaches uprightness which will carry over to BS, in fact already has to some degree
fwiw, youre not nearly the only one thats come to this conclusion. As long as youre keeping balance in your legs with the hams and quads, go for it.
I much appreciate your by-needs approach to training. It's suprisingly refreshing in this world of hard and fast internet experts. From stumbling thru pitfalls ive grown wary of dogmatic 'you must do X or you are pussy' thinking which doesn't take into account what's best for a given individual. And done, i'll heed your refrain to keep hamstring work. Either an extra day of RDLs to make 2x weekly - or try to setup a makeshift GHR or just keep one day, probably wednesdays for backsquats.
RDLs and Front Squats are my two special lifts. They come easier to me, form is good, and I am progressing well while enjoying my training. Compared to conventional deadlifts and LBBS backsquats it's a world of difference. I'm going to stick with them and make them my bread and butter and see how far they take me in becoming athletic.
Today was a bad diet day. I blew it both meals, meal 1 - I had a slice of cake and about a bowl of creamy chicken pasta. Then for dinner I had another slice of cake after eating dinner. It doesn't sound like much when i've written it down, but that's on top of my usual meals. It just brings home the lesson I learnt earlier today - that while cutting I have no business touching any food with excess dietary fat. Pasta is ok but that rich pasta was bad. Dietary fat will just go right back as bodyfat. Eggs and lowfat milk fat is ok, even a teaspoon of butter for cooking is ok. What's not ok are fatty foods that do not belong in my day-to-day, nutrition as a (wannabe) athlete. Lesson learnt I hope. I want to salvage the week/month and still hit my goal of being ~82.5kg. Will need to lose a just under a kilo in 10 days. Should be do-able.
Btw I realised I've actually looked leaner about a month and a half ago even though fatter and weighed more! How does that work you ask? It's because I was doing a lot more cardio then. I was playing basketball regularly and that preferentially burns bellyfat for me (maybe not for everyone in general). So I've got that trick under my sleeve in my battle against bodyfat. I've also had good success in the past with keto diets - I lost the majority of my weight from a heavy ~250lb/110kg using low carb diets. Another weapon I've not yet used is using stimulants. I was hoping to get under 15% before pulling out any special tricks but we'll see how it goes, the option is always there. I'd rather save them for when I need them though. That way I still have them under my disposal to break plateaus.
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(http://s16.postimage.org/5904onl6d/graph3978586810408637252.png)
BW=83.25kg/183.54lb
K time to be ultra strickt for 10 days. I'll have a cheat meal or two though, family obligations, cos I haven't seen my sister in a long time and she's visiting and I don't want to be That Dieting Guy.
Have also decided to do daily cardio. Not hardcore 1hour long sweating like a pig cardio, just gentle fasted daily TM for 10 mins in the morning, and 5 mins before workouts, what I should be doing normally anyway. This doesn't stop me from doing hardcore cardio later when I'm closer to 10% - it just means i'll be better adapted for THAT then by gradually building up to it in the mean time.
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Here's my argument for (F)SQ over BS
Have only been doing SQ for a short time but already
1. SQ is quickly catching up to BS, last wk I did 105x3 on SQ vs 110x2 on BS - very little to differentiate them
2. SQ form is better than BS form
3. progress in BS comes at the cost of form - squatmornings happen because legs are weak and back is much stronger, lighter backsquats do nothing for legs, and heavier backsquats are too much for legs and eaten up greedily for breakfast by much stronger back
4. SQ is remedial for squatmorning BS pattern - it fixes that and it teaches uprightness which will carry over to BS, in fact already has to some degree
fwiw, youre not nearly the only one thats come to this conclusion. As long as youre keeping balance in your legs with the hams and quads, go for it.
I much appreciate your by-needs approach to training. It's suprisingly refreshing in this world of hard and fast internet experts. From stumbling thru pitfalls ive grown wary of dogmatic 'you must do X or you are pussy' thinking which doesn't take into account what's best for a given individual. And done, i'll heed your refrain to keep hamstring work. Either an extra day of RDLs to make 2x weekly - or try to setup a makeshift GHR or just keep one day, probably wednesdays for backsquats.
RDLs and Front Squats are my two special lifts. They come easier to me, form is good, and I am progressing well while enjoying my training. Compared to conventional deadlifts and LBBS backsquats it's a world of difference. I'm going to stick with them and make them my bread and butter and see how far they take me in becoming athletic.
Today was a bad diet day. I blew it both meals, meal 1 - I had a slice of cake and about a bowl of creamy chicken pasta. Then for dinner I had another slice of cake after eating dinner. It doesn't sound like much when i've written it down, but that's on top of my usual meals. It just brings home the lesson I learnt earlier today - that while cutting I have no business touching any food with excess dietary fat. Pasta is ok but that rich pasta was bad. Dietary fat will just go right back as bodyfat. Eggs and lowfat milk fat is ok, even a teaspoon of butter for cooking is ok. What's not ok are fatty foods that do not belong in my day-to-day, nutrition as a (wannabe) athlete. Lesson learnt I hope. I want to salvage the week/month and still hit my goal of being ~82.5kg. Will need to lose a just under a kilo in 10 days. Should be do-able.
Btw I realised I've actually looked leaner about a month and a half ago even though fatter and weighed more! How does that work you ask? It's because I was doing a lot more cardio then. I was playing basketball regularly and that preferentially burns bellyfat for me (maybe not for everyone in general). So I've got that trick under my sleeve in my battle against bodyfat. I've also had good success in the past with keto diets - I lost the majority of my weight from a heavy ~250lb/110kg using low carb diets. Another weapon I've not yet used is using stimulants. I was hoping to get under 15% before pulling out any special tricks but we'll see how it goes, the option is always there. I'd rather save them for when I need them though. That way I still have them under my disposal to break plateaus.
appreciate the kind words man. We are glad to have you here man, I see big things coming from you in the future if you keep busting ass and training the way youve been. Keep up the good work in here, always like to read this log.
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Training
BS 3x105-100
OHP 4x55,3x53.5,5x52.5,5x53.5,4x52.5,5x52
Push Press 3,3,5,5,3x60 (5 is a PR - new lift)
CURLZ 3x8x39.5 (PR)
Chins ~bwx20 deadhang
Cable curls 3x8
hanging knee raises 3x8
Really happy with BS form. I have successfully uncoached myself from LBBS. I now understand what Glenn meant when he said you just put the bar on your back and squat it, you don't need any detailed manual to learn how to do HBBS. The only struggle really is having to consciously force myself not to think of the myraid cues to go thru to do a correct LBBS - with HBBS it's just put the bar on the back at the right position, now squat. I avoid leaning fwd and thats it, the other thing I did was try to feel the weight thru the heels throughout the lift. Result? 4 nice looking reps, nice depth, upright and smooth. Only caveat was 5th rep was borderline acceptable, and 6th was a bit squatmorning. Not as bad as I used to squat morning but that's not good enough, i want to have all perfect reps. I'll keep working at it.
I couldn't understand why my OHP has been going nowhere but finally I saw why. I taped the sets and saw clearly I was leaning over too much. And then I remembered whenever I did OHP in the past, i did them barefoot, which helps keep me upright - so hopefully starting next week i'll be progressing on these.
Tried push presses after the recent discussion about them for basketball, decided I like them and will keep them after presses on weds. Much more fun than doing 3x8 with a lighter press for assistance.
appreciate the kind words man. We are glad to have you here man, I see big things coming from you in the future if you keep busting ass and training the way youve been. Keep up the good work in here, always like to read this log.
;D :highfive:
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I've not benched "heavy" since Friday but i've had doms around my chest. This is probably a good sign. Im putting it down to squatting upright.
I think i'm close to moving from average to fitness in bodyfat
Ripped (<10%) --- Athletic (<13%) --- Fitness (<15%) --- Me --- Average (~20%) --- Fat (>20%)
I'll prob be in the "fitness" category when I get to 82kg. And athletic at around 80kg.
On a tangent, if I were to start doing a lot of cardio, my bellyfat would go down appreciably and i'd look a lot leaner but without changing my strength/weight ratio much. But i'll do that later, even though i'm sick of being fat :/
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I think i'm close to moving from average to fitness in bodyfat
Ripped (<10%) --- Athletic (<13%) --- Fitness (<15%) --- Me --- Average (~20%) --- Fat (>20%)
I'll prob be in the "fitness" category when I get to 82kg. And athletic at around 80kg.
On a tangent, if I were to start doing a lot of cardio, my bellyfat would go down appreciably and i'd look a lot leaner but without changing my strength/weight ratio much. But i'll do that later, even though i'm sick of being fat :/
That's me too. We are the same bw, same bf, more or less same responses to diet/bulk.
But i never get unlazy enough to do my cardio. I also don't want to go below 82-83 kg, probably because i was weak and skinny all my life. So i end up cycling between 15-20% bodyfat / 85-90kg. 15% feels good for me, i could use some less belly slab but oh well...
Keep it up man , i enjoy this journal a lot, both the training progress and the insight/literature.
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I think i'm close to moving from average to fitness in bodyfat
Ripped (<10%) --- Athletic (<13%) --- Fitness (<15%) --- Me --- Average (~20%) --- Fat (>20%)
I'll prob be in the "fitness" category when I get to 82kg. And athletic at around 80kg.
On a tangent, if I were to start doing a lot of cardio, my bellyfat would go down appreciably and i'd look a lot leaner but without changing my strength/weight ratio much. But i'll do that later, even though i'm sick of being fat :/
That's me too. We are the same bw, same bf, more or less same responses to diet/bulk.
But i never get unlazy enough to do my cardio. I also don't want to go below 82-83 kg, probably because i was weak and skinny all my life. So i end up cycling between 15-20% bodyfat / 85-90kg. 15% feels good for me, i could use some less belly slab but oh well...
Keep it up man , i enjoy this journal a lot, both the training progress and the insight/literature.
lol I am my own worst enemy. I know if I can string together 7 days of perfect compliance to a diet i'll get MUCH leaner than i've ever been but that's proving to be difficult. I did manage a whole week this month, and saw progress but since then its 2 days on, 1 day off, then repeat, kinda going nowhere fast. I really hate cutting. I know everyone does but i've struggled a lot with it because i've been cutting for so long and the days of going 6 weeks strictly without tripping up are long gone. I can't bring up the same amount of discipline now as I did then. Maybe because it's more to do with my body fighting to keep the bodyfat than before. It's hard to say.
I actually enjoy cardio, gives me a chance to listen to some music and unwind. It just sucks when it fatigues legs which leads to bad squat workouts. Maybe I shud just swallow the temporary hit to lifts and get the cutting out of the way though.
My brother came over this weekend and for some bizarre reason he went out and bought a massive chocolate cake. He ate like a slice or two and then left the rest in the fridge for me to finish. So i've been slowly working thru it, a slice here a slice there. I was doing so well just avoiding food I shudnt eat but i haven't got the self discipline to avoid indulging the cravings when the temptation is so near.
But yeah I shud just get the cutting out of the way and stop fucking around. Starting NOW :P
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(http://s16.postimage.org/gmdxrul1h/graph2125615812570703889.png)
BW=82.75kg/182.43lb
Going to post these up every friday. That way it corresponds to FS PRs (hopefully), and it gives a useful week-to-week progress report. If I drop 1 pound this week, i'll end up at around 82.5kg - if I drop 2 pounds i'll be in the low 82s. I think my goal for the month is 82.5kg or under - so i'll keep that in sight. 7 days of perfect compliance = goal achieved.
Ive fasted 19 hours, not intentionally just kind of happened, and then did 1km on the treadmill fasted. Will dial in nutrition today, and the weekend, i'll have a cheat meal probably for dinner on saturday. Pickup ball on sunday for a caloric deficit from training. That's the plan.
Also i've got a 35" waist now. I'm glad to see the waist size decreasing, even if I have to drag it along kicking and screaming just to see small changes compared to scale changes.
I must say the one thing I get right is breakfast. Whether i'm cutting or just eating normally, my breakfast is always quite good. It's the one meal i'll get 100% right 98% of the time, 365 days a year. While on this recent cut it looks something like this:
3 whole eggs, boiled or cooked in 1/2 tspoon butter
2 slices wholemeal toast (not buttered)
using the above i'll make an egg sandwich which tastes great and is nutritious.
Then i'll have a banana and another fruit, orange or what've been eating currently since they are in season, strawberries (~6 of these).
And finish it off with a whey shake in 400mL lowfat milk + 100mL fullcream milk, 1.5 scoops of whey.
That's it, pretty quick and easy and well balanced in calories and nutrients. The only way to improve it wud be to add some veg and meat, but i'm not into eating those things for breakfast.
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I find your log the hardest log to follow because you write so much in it each time (much like what Avishek is doing). So I just see how much is written and go "nah... I don't want to read all that" and just pass on. But hey, who cares about what I do, right? Just thought I'd say this.
I do respect your passion and dedication though.
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I see what you mean, i tend to go dear diary mode a bit too much even tho I try avoid it sometimes. Maybe I shud make 15 minute youtube videos instead and then you'll say, why can't you just write it down somewhere so i can read it in like 2 seconds :P Thanks though, also to vag.
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Your journal is one of my favorites to read. I actually like the length of your posts. They give a lot of detail and explain your interpretation of what's going on as you train. For example I struggle in a similar way with the BS and thanks to your analysis am now inclined to try FS'ing once I am able to comfortably do legs again. Keep up the hard work!
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Thank you for the kind words Rix! ;D
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Training
CGBP 5x78.5, 6x75, 6x72.5
WGBP 3x5x67.5
BS 2x110 (HBBS - PR? It's a new lift this HBBS so why not)
SQ 2x107.5 (PR), 1x110 (PR), 2x106, 2x2x100
BS 5x107.5 (HBBS PR), 5x105
5x30m sprints (best time 04:34 - PR!)
5 SVJs (best jump 30" - PR)
BP notes - I don't like to do a lot of BP on fridays, esp this grindy. But the reason I did it today was because I didn't bench on Monday. That's why. Next week I will do a set or two of BP in the AM and get out of the gym. WGBP looks considerably more "normal" than CGBP - but I made a decision a while ago to stick with CGBP as my main lift since I want to have healthy shoulders as a priority and i'm not build for benching obviously so progress at the cost of broken shoulders is a dead breaker. WGBP is still light, and I don't intend to push it too far - just keeping it there for assistance since I have no chest development to speak of.
BS (I)notes - I like high bar. I am sold now. I wish I had switched to it a LONG time ago but my stupid ego wanted the stupid LBBS milestones which were never going to happen because LBBS is the WRONG lift for my body type. I could probably have done another rep on top of 110x2 but I was "saving" myself for front squats, so yeah. I was suprised to set PRs today. It's only like the 2nd or 3rd workout of using HBBS but it's becoming very familar, very quickly!
SQ notes - I used Lance's recommendation and aimed for 10 reps of above 90% of 1RM. Here is the problem, what is my 1RM? But I worked that into the workout after going for 3x107.5 and racking it after getting 2 reps, I knew my 1RM was around there, and the next set was 1x110 which I would say is/was my training max - and probably pretty much my 1RM. Using that I calculated 90% was above 99kg, and lance had said to do singles with >90% but I did doubles instead to save time. That's funny because it still took me waaaay too long to finish squatting. I should probably move around the squatting load so half of it is AM and the rest PM. or something. Work in progress.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRgw-YYUGJw
^1RM of 110kg - I was happy with this, it gave me a lot more confidence with the following sets knowing I could squat 110kg and anything lower than that would be do-able. Thanks lance for putting me on to singles and doubles.
BS (II)notes - Considered going for a third set but i wasn't sold on grinding myself into the ground with yet another set of squats, maybe 2 is enough. If i can progress with 2 sets why should I do more than that? I loved that I got 5x107.5 HBBS - my form was okay too. Looking forward to more squatting next week!
Then sprints, I wasn't happy with my starts on sprints. It just seemed i wasn't coming out strongly enough. Well finally had a breakthrough on my last sprint. I got my left knee down and used it to help push off the ground (usually only use my right leg). This made a difference, i came out blazing, and then I pushed hard as i could, and my time blew me away. Now keep in mind this was done after a whole load of squatting so i'm confident I can do a lot better if I work out a way to redistribute my friday squatting so i'm not too fatigued by the end of the PM session. That should help my sprints.
And yeah a PR on SVJ - i'll take it i guess. I'm still fat so hopefully I can improve a lot here. Wouldn't it be nice to have a 36 SVJ? :)
Oh and i've been diet compliant for 3 days now - will try to make that 10 days in a row so I can break into the 82s.
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squat looked good man. :highfive:
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squat looked good man. :highfive:
Yeah, it looked at some point he lost tension in the hamstrings for just a split second but otherwise...
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bosshoggin :ibsquatting:
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:highfive:
diet stuff
Been putting in the work this weekend. Fasted like 14 hours yesterday, might have been 16, I can't remember exactly, then did 1.1km fasted cardio on the TM. Counted my calories for the day and they were around 1600. And today I fasted 19 hours! But i was so hungry by the end, I forgot I was supposed to do fasted dreadmill werk. Still, I drove at a high level of concentration for about an hour, so maybe that burnt a lot of calories, haha. Gonna eat around 1600 today too. And i might go out and play some ball later but I couldn't go to my usual pickup game due to family stuff.
bodycomp
When I look in the mirror I think, yea a kilo of moobs, about 2kilo around the belly, and maybe a kilo around my lower back. But that mirror lies and flatters like a motherfucka. All it takes is taking the regular forthnightly progress photos to realise that. I've still got more back bacon than my local KFC. It's kind of depressing that guys who lift around my height are LEANER at 90kg/200lb bw than I am at 83/183lb. Still, im not panicking, lemme get down to 80kg and if I still have ways to go to 10% then I can throw my hands up and complain about the genetics i've been dealt with, until then, just gonna put my head down and put in the work.
vertical jump stuff
I need a goal for my vertical and think the top of the shooting square on a backboard might be a good one. I've been searching online and it seems the top of the square on a backboard is 136" above the ground. That means if my standing reach is 98" (w/o shoes) - I would need to jump ~36" to touch the top corner of the square. I'm guessing my two step vert is around 31" now, so I'd need to add 5" on top of that. But then I haven't been jumping much for the last 5 wks since I got my first dunks. I did last wk but it bothered my ankle which I thought was perfectly healed until then - footwear is a big factor, the wrong shoes hurt my ankle more often than not. And sadly my new shoes are no good. The other thing is my SVJ is very close to my moving jump, so that probably means once ive done cutting/squatting, i need to add some vertical specific training. But i'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
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Training
jumping practice - 5 SVJS, 5 RVJS (new PRs - 30" SVJ, 33" RVJ? see below)
2 hours pickup basketball
I only attempted 1 dunk today. Someone asked me if I could dunk and I said, maybe, lets see, and then I went for it. I probably wouldn't have even tried today. I hate that feeling of trying your best and missing a dunk. It's embarassing when other ppl are around as well cos you feel worse lol. Anyway luckily on my very first jump of the day, very first attempt at dunking, I landed it, and it was a nice strong dunk. Which made me more confident so I did some more jumps - none with the ball, just because i didn't wanna fail.
After that I felt good about jumping so tried some SVJS and RVJs. See video of SVJ, im pretty sure its a new PR. I hit under my wrist, so i'm going to say thats about 8" above the rim, putting it at around 30" SVJ. It may be slightly more though but its hard to tell from ze veedeo.
I have played basketball only twice this last month. So i was a bit rusty with the ball. Just felt like my hands were 3 steps behind my brain. I should probably work on that. But damnit it feels good to play basketball sometimes. Got my magic johnson on and got some good assists. I was also surprised to see how easy it was to rebound today, I was grabbing the ball with ease for some reason.
edit, i'll post videos when I get a measured 36", it's too early to tell now and i haven't seriously started jumping so it's just a distraction for now. Gotta keep focusing on cutting and squatting.
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Man you have some long ass arms. What I can see is that your speed is not good in your jumps (the speed of executing the actual jump). It looks like you give a what, 40% of your max effort to do these jumps... pretty weird.
Maybe you should work with plyos and explosive stuff more in the near future as you get stronger is my point, and jump more often.
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Thanks raptor. Do you think if you jump faster you can jump higher? I try to get as much power out of the jump thats why i jump slow, i could try speeding it up and see what difference it makes. Will try that next time.
Also, i was thinking recently that I shud do some hang cleans as an assitance ex to build some traps for highbar squats. might kill two stones with one bird that way, if i can improve explosiveness as well. does that sound like a good idea? i'll prob leave the fancier plyo, jump specific stuff for when i've finished cutting and then maxed out on my squats though.
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You should experiment jumping more relaxed instead of more tensed up like you're doing right now. Right now you're thinking "I want to give my all in this jump and jump as high as possible" but instead you're tensing up and jump lower - I know that because I used to do it too and I still am doing it.
Weirdly enough, you're more likely to tense up when you're more tired than when you're fresh, so it might give you some feedback on that too - if you tense up all the time you might be overtraining. The reason for that is that when you're tired CNS-wise you're weaker and in order to "get up there" you need to recruit more muscle (or you think you need to) and you tense up. This messes up everything.
So next time try to do some more relaxed jumping, especially while planting. You can really push at the end of the jump when you take off but as you plant, "be like water, friend" to quote Bruce Lee.
PS. Shaving will give you 2 more inches.
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That (relaxed jumping) sounds completely counter intuitive and I must try it and see what happens. Thanks again! lol, i'm probably just jumping the gun and shud work on 10% bodyfat and my squat goals first :D
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Thanks raptor. Do you think if you jump faster you can jump higher? I try to get as much power out of the jump thats why i jump slow, i could try speeding it up and see what difference it makes. Will try that next time.
Also, i was thinking recently that I shud do some hang cleans as an assitance ex to build some traps for highbar squats. might kill two stones with one bird that way, if i can improve explosiveness as well. does that sound like a good idea? i'll prob leave the fancier plyo, jump specific stuff for when i've finished cutting and then maxed out on my squats though.
Slow jumping is low jumping mate, I learned that way too late. Try a paused squat jump and really fast eccentric squat jump and see which one is higher for you.
Hang clean idea sounds good to me, when you're ready to do more explosive stuff you could transition to power cleans or full cleans and it wouldn't be too much of a jump for you technique-wise.
Good to see you're taking the common-sense approach of [cutting fat --> increase strength --> increase reactivity] to increase vert/athleticism. Intelligent training goes a long way.
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Lol its goign to be a long week until next sunday when I get to jump again but I can't wait to try out this relaxed thing :D
Good to see you're taking the common-sense approach of [cutting fat --> increase strength --> increase reactivity] to increase vert/athleticism. Intelligent training goes a long way.
Thank you :)
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Yeah you can also experiment with your head position.
I personally have this tendency to look at the ground when I jump off two feet and I suck so hard when I do it - I basically orient my chest down and jump forward and low.
When I actually look at the rim, which is very difficult to do for me when I jump off two feet, I get higher. Pretty much always.
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Training
Morning BW: 82.8kg
Session 1
CGBP 4x6x78.5-72.5 (PR!)
WGBP 3x5x70 (PR)
Finally a bench PR! Lifetime PR too, even when I weighed ~20kg more than this with a lot smaller ROM (on account of being a huge gigantic fatass) and much wider grip. I have a real good feeling i'll get another PR this coming friday too. Im not sure why i'm making progress on bench while cutting weight, cos most ppl struggle to maintain their bench during a cut, and i'm a bench press hardgainer. Whatever - PR - I'll take it. Maybe the wide grip is helping a lot, it makes sense cos I probably neglected my chest by using CG all the time before. I can easily see my WGBP catching up to and passing my CGBP in about a months time.
Session 2
BS - 1x110, 1x112.5, 1x115, 1x117.5, 1x112.5 (HBBS PRs)
SQ - 4x4x97.5-90 (PR)
RDL - 3x125 (PR), 2x10x100 (PR)
Chins - yellow band - ~ 25 reps total
BS notes - Felt like backsquatting for some reason, so did 5 heavy singles. I picked up a tip from clarence's new HBBS article on taking a very narrow grip on the bar, it bunched up my "traps" lol - giving a better platform, also tightened up my upper back and pushed chest forward AS a RESULT of the narrower grip. Im also gripping the bar with thumbs around now, almost nothing resembling my old LBBS bar placement and grip. Form was good, im not squat morning these anymore. The bar isn't shifting forward and i'm not fwd leaning. Happy with the form then I turned to the other kind of squats.
SQ notes - Im starting to get bruises on my delts from front squatting. Pretty disappointing day for these and each set was a maximal one. I think because of fatigue from back squatting. The only silver lining was the final set. I remembered something I read on clarence's new website on backsquatting where he said he starts the squat slow, but as he heads towards the hole he speeds up. I thought to try that out and i found I was going deeper than ever before, and form was quite good too, and the set was very easy. Now that could be because its some 20kg lighter than my max? But i was struggling with all the sets before that so i think it's a good cue to keep in mind in future.
(http://i.imgur.com/wtNYc.jpg)
^ depth with clarence's speed up instruction
RDL notes - just the usual progress on these, nothing new to report. In a few months I hope to be using 2*BW triples on these. That will be cool. My hamstrings need to become a lot stronger if my squatting ambitions are to be realised.
Chinups notes - I made a fatal mistake of recording myself from behind chinning without a shirt. I look like a huge massive blubberous fat whale. It's a complete JOKE to think i'll be lean at 80kg - try 75kg MAYBE if i'm lucky LOL.
I hate these long workouts. I need to figure out to fix that somehow.
And I haven't been logging my cardio but I did 1.6km today over 3 blocks. Morning one, and 500m preworkout warmups.
clarence's squat instruction - http://weightliftingfix.com/2012/atg-backsquat/
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I scoffed at the plank as something crossfitters do, but then read Dan John's Easy Strength and one of the first things he does with his athletes before starting any weight training is checking to see if they can hold a plank for 60 seconds. I actually tried to do one and i couldn't last 10 seconds. It might be cos im fatigued from yesterdays marathon session but dunno, maybe I have a weak c0re? On one hand that sucks to find out i'm so weak somewhere, and on other hand it's grea because I like finding out about a weakness I can now address.
Just had an idea to try them with a belt on, see if that helps. Because i was failing from my hamstrings not so much my abs now that i think about it
Speaking of abs - I have observed that my abs no longer feel sore after doing a lot of chinups or leg raises. Whenever I did over 20 reps on these, i would always make my abs sore the next day - this doesn't happen anymore. The only other thing ive changed in training is doing front squats a lot. Is it possible my abs have gotten stronger FROM front squats? That might explain it perhaps.
I tried doing overhead squats today and was surprised to find I could kinda do them. I can go pretty deep too! So seems my flexibility and mobility has improved this last few months. Man i've come a long way from the inflexible, broken guy who first came here!
Now that my ankle is better, I can start using the ab wheel too.
I'm kicking myself for not getting a DEXA when I started my cut at around 86kg. If I had known i might only be 15% bf at 80kg and not 10%, i would have done RFL to get down to 80kg quicker instead of spending months losing those 5kg. But I don't regret anything - i wouldn't have made all the training improvements i've made if I was doing RFL.
Anyway now that I know i'm still quite overweight, im gonna make the most of it. Everything I do using my bodyweight has a strength training effect. So running, jumping, pushups, chinups, ab roll outs, planks etc all make me stronger and better, so im gonna be doing them as part of my normal training. Hell even jogging will grow my calves while burning bodyfat so im gonna do that too.
Training
850m, 10mins, treadmill fasted (AM)
850m, 10mins treadmill (PM)
1.5km walk and shooting hoops
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How is not being able to hold a 10s plank even possible? Never met anybody that can't do it.
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How is not being able to hold a 10s plank even possible? Never met anybody that can't do it.
Are you calling me fat? I challenge you to a plank off.
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Yeah I find that hard to believe especially if you can rep 70kgs for bench and back squat 110kgs+.
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Ok i reviewed my time and it was 17s -slightly more than 10 but not significantly. This was a wobbly, struggling effort. It wasn't an effortless this-is-a-waste-of-my-time-i-could-do-this-all-day type of thing. I don't think I had good form either. Is it easy for the rest of you guys to do > 1 minute?
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17s plank is pretty bad. my friend jimmy, when he gets new clients, one of the tests he uses is plank for max time. if you can hold for 30s or more, okay, if not, core work becomes an focus of the training. a one minute hold would not be challenging for me, it's more interesting to add variations (plank using rings, plank with one arm and one leg raised, etc.).
core stuff is easy to do, too, you don't even need to do it with the rest of your workout.
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A lot depends on the plank type.
This plank should be easy:
(http://www.runireland.com/sites/www.runireland.com/files/front_plank.gif)
The plank that kellyb does at the end of this video is near impossible:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOvkwrzJTNA
Kellyb has some interesting things to say about abs in this article:
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/noglutes.html
Core Stability
You'll also want to test your basic core stability.
TEST #1
PERFORM A PLANK: Get into a pushup position, then rest your forearms on the floor. Your body should form a straight line from your head to your feet (don't let your hips sag). Hold the position as long as you can. You pass if you can hold it for two minutes or longer.
(http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/images/frontplank.jpg)
You fail if you collapse before the two-minute mark, or if your hips dip at any point within that time frame.
TEST #2
PERFORM A SIDE PLANK: Turn onto your side and, keeping your body in a straight line (just as in the plank described above), rest your weight on your forearm. Hold the position as long as you can, then repeat on the other side.
(http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/images/sidebridge.gif)
You pass if you can hold the position for 90 seconds or longer.
You fail if you collapse before the time is up, or if your hips dip at any point within that time frame.
Fortunately, if you fail at either of those tests you can remedy the problem with the same exercises you used in the tests.
For the next 3-4 weeks, perform both tests 3 times per week, doing 2-3 sets of 30-second holds for each, and working up from there.
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i can do those ones with my arms all the way out, too. ;D
i can also do standing ab wheel rollouts, so maybe i'm actually kind of strong in the core.
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Yeah you definitely are some strong cored bastard!
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Ok i reviewed my time and it was 17s -slightly more than 10 but not significantly. This was a wobbly, struggling effort. It wasn't an effortless this-is-a-waste-of-my-time-i-could-do-this-all-day type of thing. I don't think I had good form either. Is it easy for the rest of you guys to do > 1 minute?
I tried it and got over 2 minutes easy.
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Yeah it depends. You could also do a russian plank... both Bret Contreras and Pavel demonstrated that one.
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Yeah it depends. You could also do a russian plank... both Bret Contreras and Pavel demonstrated that one.
Uh yea I don't have a kettle bell bro.
I tried it and got over 2 minutes easy.
Ok thanks, if you've never done one before and managed 2 mins easy, then i've got some work to do. Will work up to 2 minutes over the next few wks.
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Yeah it depends. You could also do a russian plank... both Bret Contreras and Pavel demonstrated that one.
Uh yea I don't have a kettle bell bro.
I tried it and got over 2 minutes easy.
Ok thanks, if you've never done one before and managed 2 mins easy, then i've got some work to do. Will work up to 2 minutes over the next few wks.
I've done planks before but I havn't done them for a while. At rugby training in pre-season we'll always be doing stuff like planks and having competitions on who can hold them the longest and shit like that.
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Ok i reviewed my time and it was 17s -slightly more than 10 but not significantly. This was a wobbly, struggling effort. It wasn't an effortless this-is-a-waste-of-my-time-i-could-do-this-all-day type of thing. I don't think I had good form either. Is it easy for the rest of you guys to do > 1 minute?
Yeah, you need to work on your core strength. I think this is something that can be progressed easily, though.
Myself, I honestly get bored just doing minute after minute of planks so I weight mine, lol. I go for around 20+ seconds that way.
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Ok i reviewed my time and it was 17s -slightly more than 10 but not significantly. This was a wobbly, struggling effort. It wasn't an effortless this-is-a-waste-of-my-time-i-could-do-this-all-day type of thing. I don't think I had good form either. Is it easy for the rest of you guys to do > 1 minute?
Yeah, you need to work on your core strength. I think this is something that can be progressed easily, though.
Myself, I honestly get bored just doing minute after minute of planks so I weight mine, lol. I go for around 20+ seconds that way.
Haha, mine are weighted too brah. I'm on that GOMAD, all natural loading :D This is actually awesome news for me cos i wanna improve my weaknesses so I can squat better.
Many thanks all.
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Yeah it depends. You could also do a russian plank... both Bret Contreras and Pavel demonstrated that one.
Uh yea I don't have a kettle bell bro.
fucking LOOOOOOOOOOOOLL!
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Yeah it depends. You could also do a russian plank... both Bret Contreras and Pavel demonstrated that one.
Uh yea I don't have a kettle bell bro.
fucking LOOOOOOOOOOOOLL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TKktamzq4o
Grab a kettlebell and throw yourself in the water. See how long you can keep a plank there.
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Training
Session 1
BS 6x107.5, 5x102.6, 6x100
OHP 3x5x53.5
PP 4x65, 5x62.5
Wasn't happy with form or depth on back squats. I'm gonna repeat the weight until i've got good depth & form.
Session 2
CURLZ 3x8x42
Chins - 23 reps
CURLZ 15,15,12 pump work with the empty bar
abs - 2xplanks, 2x10 ab wheel rollouts from knee (new exercise)
total cardio - 2.1km on TM
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Ok I've been looking further into this plank thing, what I noticed was about 10seconds into the plank, my abs (obliques?) around the LEFT side start fatigueing, i start shaking from there. but my right side is solid and doesn't see what the fuss is. About 44 seconds in, and im shaking like a leaf from the left but the right is still rock solid. So wtf is going on? Have I got some sort of asymmetry? Or could it be my left side is more fatigued than the right side?
Has anyone experienced what im describing or come across it in someone else?
My theory is that it's from the way I sit on a chair. I spent several years sedentary in an office job where I spent long hours sitting down, and i'm wondering if the way I sat favored one side of my core?
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What about carrying bags etc for example for school? Some people always carry on the same side all the time, right or left... it can develop some imbalances.
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What about carrying bags etc for example for school? Some people always carry on the same side all the time, right or left... it can develop some imbalances.
That would be me then, I always carried a bag on my right side, which fits my imbalance. Damn.
Training
1.1km TM fasted (AM)
2x40s planks
400m TM (PM)
1000m TM (PM 2)
Cardio is working like magic. The fat around my waist is melting away quickly. But as yet it hasn't shown itself on the scale. If anything i've gained weight (83.1kg this morning). This is what I don't understand. Whenever i've done a fair bit of conditioning i've always seen a smaller waist but the scale doesn't reflect it. What's up with that? As far as dieting goes, this week has been a write-off. With my sister in town, have been eating with family a lot and it's been hard to remain compliant. We'll see what the damage is on monday.
Am thinking if I have to diet to 75kg, I don't want to slog it the slow way. Am tempted to start RFL next week and speed thru the 83-80kg stage. Pros - faster. Cons - can't expect to progress in training, might even regress.
New soreness - lower back. I can't remember the last time my lower back muscles were sore! I have to put it down to the ab wheel rollouts.
Total cardio: 2.5km
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Make sure when you do ab wheel rollouts to round the back a ton. If you arch it you're going to feel it in the lowerback.
Like this:
(http://www.shapeshiftermagazine.com/3/graphics/V1_I3_01-4-5.jpg)
http://www.shapeshiftermagazine.com/3/01.htm
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Thanks man, you were right, I was doing them wrong. I had a hard arch, which actually limited my ROM on the ex, i couldn't roll out very far. See diagram.
(http://i.imgur.com/gbYUR.jpg)
I switched from the bottom one to the top one, and now I can roll out further and feel it more in the abz.
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(http://i.imgur.com/y7er8.png)
BW: 82.35kg/181.55lb
Am on track to end the month successfully with my bodyweight goals. The fat is literally melting off overnight, I lost 1/2" from my waist, and i'm close to an even 34". I think the next few kilos will have a dramatic visual impact. Thank cardio for that. It's targeting abdominal fat specifically. I'm not even doing hardcore cardio, just several small 5-15 minute sessions at a leisurely pace. Later when I want to get close to 10% i'll probably need to do harder cardio. I'm ok with that, the lighter I get, the easier it becomes to recover from cardio too which is nice.
Training
1.07km Fasted TM (AM)
500m warmup (PM)
Session 1
BS 2x100, 1x110, 1x115 (maximal)
SQ 1x100, 1x105, 1x107.5, 1x112.5 (PR), 2x102.5, 1x105, 0x106
BS 1x100, 1x107.5, 3x107.5 (belt on), 2x2x112.5, 2x102.5
Well the Ab wheel fucked me up. My lower back was torched apparently even before I walked into the gym from those conservative ab wheels I did the other day. I had even kept sets and reps low (2x10) done from the knees intentionally because I knew the ab wheel has a disrupting effect (usually to my triceps lol) upon introduction, but apparently it can destroy lower back too lol. Anyway so the 115 single was hard, and I didn't go any heavier. I had planned on doing a single with 120kg but that wasn't gonna happen today.
Then it started raining. A lot. Flash flood. Flooded the gutters and all over ,my gym was covered in water in 30 seconds. My pendlays got slippery as hell on the wood, i was sliding around lol. Mopped it up as best I cud, and threw a carpet over it, and that allowed me to continue the workout.
Front squats weren't any easier on account of lower back doms. I managed a PR of 112.5kg though. Form was unacceptable but i muscled that sucker up somehow. Did a bunch of singles. Managed to strain my R groin again. It's not as bad as the first time just a bit tender.
Then I knew backsquats werent gonna happen either but I tried anyway. Thought to work around my lowerback soreness by using a belt. Kinda worked, cud do a few more reps. And here is something interesting....... when I used to put on a belt in the past, i'd instantly squat morning. Well not today. This is either from having a HBBS bar placement AND/OR recent remedial work in liue of uprightness. Or perhaps both. So the workout wasnt a complete waste of time - finding out I can now wear a belt and still stay upright is a nice discovery.
Session 2
BP 6x79.5 (PR!), 6x76, 6x73.5
I've got my BP unstuck finally!! PRs in consecutive workouts. Looks like ramped sets + wide grip assistance did the trick.
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HBBS is good much better than LBBS because it keeps me upright out of the bottom. It's fixed the squatmorning problem but there is still work to be done.
Things to Try Next Week
From reading clarence I have a plan for what to do next. I have to do slow perhaps even paused, heavy backsquats out of the bottom. And ensure I never let my body go fwd out of the hole. It's as simple as that. That's how i'm going to fix my squat. I know kingfisher might not approve because athletic squats aren't done slowly - but my problem is STRENGTH - and specifically strength in the bottom position.
Once i've got good positions at the bottom and out, I can work on getting faster. Bouncing is easy and will come naturally once weakness are addressed and positions are good.
When core fatigue sets in, the belt can be used to do additional sets for further volume for leg strength.
Another big weakness I have which the belt wont help with, is upper back/chest dropping. That needs desperate remedial work. So have to do the rows and hang cleans. May just add an extra session JUST for that. Perhaps evenevery day I train.
For the (front) squat I need to drive my elbows up out of the hole. I did this on my last front squat set, and lol it worked - but my body found the position unfamiliar (it is used to upper back rounding) that I just stalled and then failed! (my first fail btw). I think part of the reason that happened is because I "forgot" to keep pushing with the legs at the same time, because I was concentrating so hard on the elbows? Maybe.
If I do the above and i've got good positions out of the bottom of the hole, and my core is strong, my upper back and chest are strong - then i'll be ready to push my squat (front & back) up aggressively. That should happen, at the latest when i've finished cutting and ready to gain some mass. Hopefully before that though.
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Squat Video Analysis Tool
I've been playing with two copies of my video
A- in reverse starting from from hole
B- normally starting from the hole
In a perfect squat - A and B would be indistinguishable. In mine, A and B are very different. To improve my squat I have to make B look closer to A. I'm stepping the video frame by frame to see where the breakdown takes place.
Ok i've gone full analytard - ive decided to make my next project an app which takes a squat video as input, and produces as an output, a frame by frame description of the angles and positions during eccentric and concentric. The app will allow easy analyis of where positions differ from ideal, to suggest possible improvements and more importantly to measure them. You can't improve what you can't measure, and this is a first step in measuring. Yes i'm a geek but you gotta admit it sounds cool. Any suggestions for names? squatysis?
8) :uhhhfacepalm:
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"ideal" is kind of hard to define with any exercise. so much depends on body mechanics. your "ideal" squat will look different from mine, even (especially?) if you rendered us each as stick figures, because we're such different shapes.
still, it'd be cool to have something like dartfish but combined with moving versions of the still images vag creates of his squat. watch the stick figure move up and down, and watch the bar path. i'd pay $4.99 for that.
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Training
2.04km Fasted TM (~25 mins)
core stuff (AM)
5 mins jump rope (PM) (new ex)
700m TM (PM)
Here is September already. Aiming to break under 80kg (~176lb) by 1st October. Only one scheduled off-diet day - my birthday, and even that I'm going to fast prior and still hit a caloric deficit over the day. The rest of the month is 100% strict. Not doing RFL, i've got a good thing going now, can train hard and make progress as well as seeing steady fat losses - so why change to something else which might not work as well. Stay the course.
Lifting goals for the month are to hit 120kg front squat for a single. 120x3 will come much later once i'm maxing around 130kg, so that's still a while away. Work on core and upper body weaknesses.
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"ideal" is kind of hard to define with any exercise. so much depends on body mechanics. your "ideal" squat will look different from mine, even (especially?) if you rendered us each as stick figures, because we're such different shapes.
Oh I agree in general it's impossible to define it. But i'm using ideal in the sense that pos is ~= reverse neg. It's where a video of the concentric played forwards, looks identical to the eccentric played backwards - with both starting from the hole. Lets look at some examples:
good
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_jxTc2ITA8
pos very similar to reverse neg
and a bad one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebr4-iRfCJ0
I actually don't think this is a bad squat, looks ok, just see some chest dropping. but if you imagine the neg played in reverse starting from the hole, you can see it would be a lot different from the pos played forwards.
I'll try to make a video showing what I mean, it will be clearer that way.
still, it'd be cool to have something like dartfish but combined with moving versions of the still images vag creates of his squat. watch the stick figure move up and down, and watch the bar path. i'd pay $4.99 for that.
yep .. working on it :)
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HBBS is good much better than LBBS because it keeps me upright out of the bottom. It's fixed the squatmorning problem but there is still work to be done.
Things to Try Next Week
From reading clarence I have a plan for what to do next. I have to do slow perhaps even paused, heavy backsquats out of the bottom. And ensure I never let my body go fwd out of the hole. It's as simple as that. That's how i'm going to fix my squat. I know kingfisher might not approve because athletic squats aren't done slowly - but my problem is STRENGTH - and specifically strength in the bottom position.
Once i've got good positions at the bottom and out, I can work on getting faster. Bouncing is easy and will come naturally once weakness are addressed and positions are good.
When core fatigue sets in, the belt can be used to do additional sets for further volume for leg strength.
Another big weakness I have which the belt wont help with, is upper back/chest dropping. That needs desperate remedial work. So have to do the rows and hang cleans. May just add an extra session JUST for that. Perhaps evenevery day I train.
For the (front) squat I need to drive my elbows up out of the hole. I did this on my last front squat set, and lol it worked - but my body found the position unfamiliar (it is used to upper back rounding) that I just stalled and then failed! (my first fail btw). I think part of the reason that happened is because I "forgot" to keep pushing with the legs at the same time, because I was concentrating so hard on the elbows? Maybe.
If I do the above and i've got good positions out of the bottom of the hole, and my core is strong, my upper back and chest are strong - then i'll be ready to push my squat (front & back) up aggressively. That should happen, at the latest when i've finished cutting and ready to gain some mass. Hopefully before that though.
form is the very first thing you should be focusing on.. so you have the right idea here.
do not pay attention to the weight on the bar. just make sure there is enough load there to push you down and give you a challenged concentric.
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form is the very first thing you should be focusing on.. so you have the right idea here.
do not pay attention to the weight on the bar. just make sure there is enough load there to push you down and give you a challenged concentric.
Understood. Learnt that the hard way but i'm doing it the right way now.
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Training
1km Fasted TM (AM)
5x30m warmups, 5x30 sprints (best time - 04:30 - PR - but I don't want to count it, see below) (PM)
5SVJ, 5 RVJs (shit couldn't jump.. may be all this cardio catching up to me now) (PM)
2 hours pickup ball (better than last week but still a little sluggish) (PM)
I didn't sprint on friday because of rain but I will sprint today instead before jumping and pickup basketball. It might be a good idea to group the 'athletic' stuff together in one day anyway, and makes fridays shorter and easier to recover from. Worth a try, as long as mondays workouts are still do-able, i much prefer it this way.
sprints felt real sluggish. I don't think i'll do them on sunday again. I perform better on fridays after squats, for some reason. I managed a 04:30 on my *last* sprint - but it's not reproducible cos a hot girl was jogging near me and my caveman instincts kicked in to go an extra gear lol, that wont happen since i normally sprint late at night when no one is at the oval.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC_t8MfGHMQ
advantage of running in the sun tho is you can record yourself. im looking at my form compared to bolt lol. trying to see how i can improve my form so it looks similar to his. i notice my upper body is very robotic. but I can't see bolt's arms moving any differently, although obviously he must be doing something subtly different cos we look a world apart in technique. the other thing i picked up is his ankle is very high on the recovery. mine is lower. so i'm gonna experiment next time with that.
Stuff to do Next Time I Sprint
high ankles on recovery leg
higher knees on striking leg
deliberately pump arms
try not be so upright, have to be leaning fwd more
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In hindsight I didn't do myself any favours over the weekend. Have to remember my recovery is finite, esp when cutting. Delayed mondays workout. Will try it tomorrow instead. Have found my body to be too beaten up lately and I need to train smarter rather than harder. My knees, lower back, triceps, hamstrings all complain that i've not been kind to them.
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My work on the squat video analysis is going well though. I've found some interesting things already about my squat. It turns out my negative and positive have some notable differences and similarities. I've already got the side-by-side video of positive and reverse negative - and it's quite instructive to compare them. I find my backsquat syncs well in both videos in timing, but not in specific positions. That is, my chest is caved on one side but perfectly straight in the other. That's visually apparent. My next step (which is hard) is to display a grid over both videos - so I can more easily inspect the differences in positions by scale. The last part will be the hardest, measuring angles. I'm not even sure i'll tackle that one, might let the user do it by providing an angle measuring tool. Dunno.
LBSS - you asked about the ideal squat. Well my program knows what my ideal squat looks like by analysing my squat video. See below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKJtuwR-jvY
This isn't my ACTUAL 112.5x1 PR video from friday. It's actually one that is constructed by the app. The next step would be to compare the positions (knees, barbell etc) in the actual video compared to the ideal one. The closer they are, the better the squat.
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Training
BS 2x100
SQ 1x100, 1x105B, 1x90
BP 6x80.5 (PR), 6x76, 6x72.5
Squats sucked more than usual, i can't be bothered explaining. my next hopeful form improvement is Dan's sitting between the legs thing -
What people discover at this moment is a basic physiological fact: the legs are NOT stuck like stilts under the torso. Rather, the torso is slung between the legs. As you go down, leaning back with arms straight, you will discover one of the true keys of lifting: you squat “between your legs.” You do not fold and unfold like an accordion, you sink between your legs. Don’t just sit and read this: do it! To develop the ability to squat snatch or squat clean hinges on this principle!
http://danjohn.net/2009/12/the-front-squat/
I think with my stupidly long legs, I need to space them out more (by taking a wider stance) - and then sitting btw my legs will bring me deeper and more upright. Yea we'll see lol.
Surprised how well my BP is progressing now. Normally whenever i've had to set a PR on BP it is a hard grindy effort which takes a lot of mental energy. But with the descending sets i'm finding the weight not heavy but light and I feel fresh and stronger. Lets see how far I can go, so far i'm sustaining 2kg/wk progress.
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I am considering drastic changes to my fat loss strategy. I remember back when I was at university, I ate pretty much what I wanted (a kilo block of cheese a week, tubs of icecream, litres of fullcream milk, eggs, bacon, loads of pasta and carbs etc) and I was lean and fit. I don't think diet was the main thing. Training was.
Back then I was playing competitive basketball and I think it was *that* which had the biggest influence on my bodycomp. When I wasn't playing matches I was playing pickup games fairly regularly. Even this year when I started playing basketball matches, I found myself getting leaner and fitter, esp as the season went on. There is something about playing basketball which turns on a fatloss switch in my body. I dunno if i'll start playing again but I want to re-create that training effect.
One reason not to start playing basketball again is it gets in the way of weights training. If i was eating more I could probably do everything - including basketball, conditioning intervals, weights and even swimming. But the whole caloric deficit is a recovery deficit is a bitch. Sigh.
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There is no magic recomp switch turned on by any sport.
Playing competitive basketball is 1,5 hours of HIT. Some tables indicate that caloric expenditure is about 650kcals per hour.
So ~1000kcals burned every time you play, while 1kg of fat is ~7000kcals, that's all there is to it! :)
Just my 2 cents.
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There is also EPOC (post exercise burn). The studies say the benefits of HIIT peaks at about a month. But in that month it's possible you achieve significant changes to bodycomp. I think that's what basketball brings to the table
I also don't believe cal in vs cal out is the be all and end all of body composition. Different ways of training have different results on composition imho. I believe in cal in vs cal out for weight loss but only as a simple guideline. There is more to it than that though
The reason I think basketball works so well is because its a good mix of aerobic and HIIT .. it involves
b) gives the benefits of HIIT
c) gives benefits of aerobic training
and together this works well to give great fat loss. The calories burnt during exercise aren't the whole picture, far from it, and they certainly don't consitute the entire "calories out" picture. For that you have to look at EPOC too.
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Agreed, not every kcal burn is the same. Kcal in vs kcal out is definitely not the end of it.
But for someone with a relatively clean diet and a regular training schedule, like yourself, the "initial conditions" of the problem are set, the degrees of freedom are much less. In that case, imho kcal in vs kcal out covers 80% of the body composition plan if not more.
About basketball and fat loss, i do agree there is a thing too, a feeling that there is a switch as you described. I just think it is mental. You burn a ton of kcals without even trying for it, you are out there practicing your beloved sport. And then one day you look at the mirror and say damn, im lean. To achieve the same you would have to walk endless boring hours on the treadmill, while spending those hours deliberately for the specific fat loss purpose. That wears you out and you have it on your mind too, you are on a fat loss plan, this is what is supposed to happen, there are expectations, targets etc. Basketball is about fun though, so the fat loss effect is collateral, that's why it's logged in our minds as a surprise, a little bit of magic... This whole paragraph is a totally personal point of view on it though!
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Those are good points for why basketball works psychologically. I just don't think I enjoy basketball as much as I used to! I was pretty miserable playing in my team so it wasn't fun by any means, was full of disappointment and stuff. But one thing which you are more likely to do in a competitive game is go balls out, because someone is trying to defeat you. So you work harder, and push to a higher intensity. You aren't going to do that on a treadmill I agree. I just think the combination of HIIT and aerobic training in a basketball game has worked very well for me in the past to get me lean. And it worked regardless of my diet, just like magic. I'm not eating much these days but i'm still fat. I've eaten a lot more food and been leaner becos of training. Yes you can say that's because training manipulated the cal out part but it's more than the number of calories surely, esp when those calories aren't much compared to my then daily intake (woulda been easily 4k+)
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I competely agree with Vag. It's all mental.
There isn't any kind of secret to basketball. Cmon, listen to yourself. Sounds like possibly your trying to give yourself a reason to start doing something you love more, even though it gets in your way of your strength training.
In the end, the vast majority of your weight loss goals will come from calories in vs calories out, while your macronutrient ratios play a big part if you're going for fat loss/muscle maintenence, instead of just getting lighter.
Back in college, you were younger and had a faster metabolism probably. I'm only 23 and I get fatter now if I eat whatever I want, but when I was 18/19, I ate even more than I do now and I didn't gain a single pound. It's certainly not cause I was playing more basketball, cause my activity level is about the same.
I'm not saying don't play basketball. I'm just saying in my opinion, you're getting kind of ridiculous saying that basketball is some sort of magic fat loss activity. Burning 100 calories from basketball is the same as burning 100 calories from jacking off.
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I was 67 kg up until 21 years old (when I was actually 64 kg) and now I'm at 83-84. I used to eat much worse back then.
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Training
BS 2x110, 3x108.5, 5x105, 4x102.5, 4x100
OHP 4x55, 2x5x54.5, 4x54.5
PP 2x67.5 (PR), 4x65
CURLZ 3x8x43.5 (PR)
Chins ~ 21 reps (dead hangs)
ab rollouts 3x10
Next backsquat aim for 6x108.5. Form was ok but i was piss weak so couldn't get thru the reps as I would have liked. They were are all pretty much RM sets today.
OHP - im ok with these, i did them with a pause. Slowly going to build up to 3x5x60 with a pause, and then i'll switch to descending sets like my other lifts.
PP for some reason I thought i'd be able to add 2.5-5kg to this lift easily but it's not that easy at all. I'm going to reset a little and then take smaller jumps.
Rollouts, i did the first two sets by propping my toes under a sofa, which allowed me to roll out to a rock bottom full extended position. Then i tried it without the sofa and i lost most of my ROM. LOL. i'm still doign these from the knees. hopefully I can transition to from toes soon though, although I couldn't even do one rep that way when I tried. In the past when I used the ab wheel frequently i was doing full rollouts from standing position and I weighed over 100kg back then too. So where has all that strength gone?? may be my form was shit though, i never taped them.
Also I have a theory why my bench has suddenly started moving up. Perhaps from adding arm work (curls) and ohp. By adding these two things, ive increased upper body strength. my shoulders were always the strongest part of my upper body (I could get ~96kg close grip bp off my chest easily and snappily only to get stuck halfway becos of weak triceps). And by adding back the overhead work, shoulders have gotten stronger, which helps with the bench. Maybe the wide grip bench has helped as well out of the bottom of the bench press. Either way, i'll take it. I wont change anything, keep PP, BP, etc the same and ets see how far I can ride it out.
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(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dtaWqzV6d7M/TB45nbhN4II/AAAAAAAAAtY/MyuICqOC7ZA/s1600/DSC04689stubb.jpg)
See the homeboy above, that V - I had that visible earlier this year when I was playing basketball despite weighing about 4-5kg more. That means i've lost 4kg of bodyweight and since i'm stronger and more muscular now than then, it has been 4-5kg of bodyfat.
How do you guys explain that? Cal in vs Cal out sermons can't explain it to me. I'm willing to accept I was burning more calories then than now. But i also know i was eating more then than now. So how does that affect balance? Now think about this for a second. I've maintained a caloric deficit to lose 4-5kg of bodyfat, so im definitely in a deficit, but yet that V above, yea I dont have it right now!!
I WONT cut more calories from my diet. I'm practically eating 2 square meals, 2000-2700 calories a day. I wont drop below 2000 and if you tell me to cut more than that. I REFUSE TO CUT ANY MORE CALORIES. My metabolism will get fucked up if I have a bigger deficit from diet than I already have and that's no way to live.
But I dont need to cut any mroe calories because there are other ways to burn bodyfat than thru diet. Aerobic steady state and HIIT will do that very well. I know that from experience.
I think I have it figured out tho. It's the mix of aerobic and hiit that I need to add. And sensibly, not 10+km of cardio a week like I did last week. No it has to be a reasonable amount. And it has to be both aerobic and hiit. I cant' and wont go back to playing basketball (cos then i cant train properly), so i'll have to be really smart about this.
tentative plan
daily 500m-600m fasted TM (~5-10mins, weekly progression: add 0.1km/hr and 50m)
1x a week HIIT (tabata mountain bike), steady state cardio (30-60 mins riding mountain bike)
3x a week - ~3mins/session - TM warmups - before weights, stick to about 3 minutes, not too high intensity, just get warm and blood flowing.
1x week pickup basketball (max of 3 games, and no more than 2 games back to back).
Playing pickup, I wont/cant play 2-3 hours straight like i did sunday because then training gets fucked up.
But basically i'm going to keep a bit of daily aerobic work, nice and gentle, pure fat loss, little impact on lifting. And slowly ramp it up over time. Then ride a bike trying to simulate my magic fat loss from basketball (mix of HIIT and aerobic) by doing tabata sprints and then just riding casually for 30-60mins.
On off days, i might go for a long walk but not a treadmill and maybe shoot hoops. dunno maybe.
I don't want to do much running/jogging cos it fucks up my knees/ankles and tires out my calves/hamstrings/quads and makes for shitty squat sessions. So i'm going to try riding a bike instead. Hopefully that will give the conditioning without the side-effects i just mentioned. It also gives me a chance to go outdoors since i have a nice bike trail 5 minutes near my place.
I want a nice balance of aerobic (2x a week) and HIIT (1x a week). Just what I had when I played basketball earlier in the year and saw good spot reduction of belly fat.
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(http://i.imgur.com/epITU.png)
Conditioning will be on a mountain bike. I'm thinking tabata sprints 3 mins and 30-60mins w/o sprinting. For variety or in bad weather, once a month i'll play basketball with my old team.
Upper body assistance will be an exercise from chinups, banded chinups, curls, widegrip bench press, push presses, cable curls, hang cleans or rows.
I'm doing descending sets for backsquats and bench press btw.
When I feel like it, I can take Tue or Sat completely off.
Time to find those abs, great form, become stronger and powerful, jump higher and run fast.
:headbang:
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(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dtaWqzV6d7M/TB45nbhN4II/AAAAAAAAAtY/MyuICqOC7ZA/s1600/DSC04689stubb.jpg)
See the homeboy above, that V - I had that visible earlier this year when I was playing basketball despite weighing about 4-5kg more. That means i've lost 4kg of bodyweight and since i'm stronger and more muscular now than then, it has been 4-5kg of bodyfat.
How do you guys explain that? Cal in vs Cal out sermons can't explain it to me. I'm willing to accept I was burning more calories then than now. But i also know i was eating more then than now. So how does that affect balance? Now think about this for a second. I've maintained a caloric deficit to lose 4-5kg of bodyfat, so im definitely in a deficit, but yet that V above, yea I dont have it right now!!
I WONT cut more calories from my diet. I'm practically eating 2 square meals, 2000-2700 calories a day. I wont drop below 2000 and if you tell me to cut more than that. I REFUSE TO CUT ANY MORE CALORIES. My metabolism will get fucked up if I have a bigger deficit from diet than I already have and that's no way to live.
But I dont need to cut any mroe calories because there are other ways to burn bodyfat than thru diet. Aerobic steady state and HIIT will do that very well. I know that from experience.
I think I have it figured out tho. It's the mix of aerobic and hiit that I need to add. And sensibly, not 10+km of cardio a week like I did last week. No it has to be a reasonable amount. And it has to be both aerobic and hiit. I cant' and wont go back to playing basketball (cos then i cant train properly), so i'll have to be really smart about this.
tentative plan
daily 500m-600m fasted TM (~5-10mins, weekly progression: add 0.1km/hr and 50m)
1x a week HIIT (tabata mountain bike), steady state cardio (30-60 mins riding mountain bike)
3x a week - ~3mins/session - TM warmups - before weights, stick to about 3 minutes, not too high intensity, just get warm and blood flowing.
1x week pickup basketball (max of 3 games, and no more than 2 games back to back).
Playing pickup, I wont/cant play 2-3 hours straight like i did sunday because then training gets fucked up.
But basically i'm going to keep a bit of daily aerobic work, nice and gentle, pure fat loss, little impact on lifting. And slowly ramp it up over time. Then ride a bike trying to simulate my magic fat loss from basketball (mix of HIIT and aerobic) by doing tabata sprints and then just riding casually for 30-60mins.
On off days, i might go for a long walk but not a treadmill and maybe shoot hoops. dunno maybe.
I don't want to do much running/jogging cos it fucks up my knees/ankles and tires out my calves/hamstrings/quads and makes for shitty squat sessions. So i'm going to try riding a bike instead. Hopefully that will give the conditioning without the side-effects i just mentioned. It also gives me a chance to go outdoors since i have a nice bike trail 5 minutes near my place.
I want a nice balance of aerobic (2x a week) and HIIT (1x a week). Just what I had when I played basketball earlier in the year and saw good spot reduction of belly fat.
-There's no magic fat loss from basketball.
-Cutting under 2000 calories doesn't fuck up your metabolism to any significant degree.
-Other ways to burn bodyfat other than diet? Other things help, but how effective these other things are comes down to your diet...
-There's no such thing as spot reduction.
-As for an explanation of your "argument" above, it's impossible to tell from the information you gave. There can be numerous factors involved.
-Your plan will probably work for getting you leaner, that's not what I'm arguing. I'm just saying your facts are totally wrong.
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-There's no magic fat loss from basketball.
-Cutting under 2000 calories doesn't fuck up your metabolism to any significant degree.
-Other ways to burn bodyfat other than diet? Other things help, but how effective these other things are comes down to your diet...
-There's no such thing as spot reduction.
-As for an explanation of your "argument" above, it's impossible to tell from the information you gave. There can be numerous factors involved.
-Your plan will probably work for getting you leaner, that's not what I'm arguing. I'm just saying your facts are totally wrong.
lol aren't you pushing the calories-in dogma a little too far dude? I agree its the main thing if you eat like crap it probably doesn't matter what you do training wise, you'll still stay fat. but that's not my situation, im eating 95% clean and under maintenance, so i've got that in check. I'm not someone spending 10 minutes on the treadmill and then going to have double whoppers "for recovery" post workout!
basically my argument is this, whenever i've played basketball seriously, i'd be unwittingly doing HIIT and aerobic training and this burns bodyfat. Period. And it does this regardless of whether or not i'm in a caloric surplus or deficit or maintenance or whatever. That's my experience. When I was in university i was on a high caloric intake and yet i was very lean because of basketball. And recently, earlier this year when I played basketball (as compared to not doing any HIIT or aerobic exercise) - i burnt bodyfat - bellyfat to be specific even though my caloric intake was slightly surplus to maintenance.
But now i'm on a caloric deficit while not playing basketball i've lost 4-5kg of bodyweight and yet I have more bellyfat than I did when i weighed more and wasn't cutting but was playing basketball. 'm not generalising to everyone out there, just describing my personal experience.
And btw there is spot reduction but not in the way you are thinking of. For example if you take someone very obese, and you put them on a low carb diet and have them doing cardio, they'll take off belly fat preferentially according to the science. Or even if you take some one obese who is sedentary, the experts say first goes the visceral bodyfat and then the subcutaneous. Is that spot reduction in the sense of someone doing high rep bench press to burn man boobs? Not quite the same thing
But if you're going to talk about facts you have to admit that aerobic and HIIT are good at burning fat and introducing them to someone who doesn't do them will have a fat loss effect (provided diet is in check which it is for me but i'm not getting the results i want with just diet alone)
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-There's no magic fat loss from basketball.
-Cutting under 2000 calories doesn't fuck up your metabolism to any significant degree.
-Other ways to burn bodyfat other than diet? Other things help, but how effective these other things are comes down to your diet...
-There's no such thing as spot reduction.
-As for an explanation of your "argument" above, it's impossible to tell from the information you gave. There can be numerous factors involved.
-Your plan will probably work for getting you leaner, that's not what I'm arguing. I'm just saying your facts are totally wrong.
lol aren't you pushing the calories-in dogma a little too far dude? I agree its the main thing if you eat like crap it probably doesn't matter what you do training wise, you'll still stay fat. but that's not my situation, im eating 95% clean and under maintenance, so i've got that in check. I'm not someone spending 10 minutes on the treadmill and then going to have double whoppers "for recovery" post workout!
basically my argument is this, whenever i've played basketball seriously, i'd be unwittingly doing HIIT and aerobic training and this burns bodyfat. Period. And it does this regardless of whether or not i'm in a caloric surplus or deficit or maintenance or whatever. That's my experience. When I was in university i was on a high caloric intake and yet i was very lean because of basketball. And recently, earlier this year when I played basketball (as compared to not doing any HIIT or aerobic exercise) - i burnt bodyfat - bellyfat to be specific even though my caloric intake was slightly surplus to maintenance.
But now i'm on a caloric deficit while not playing basketball i've lost 4-5kg of bodyweight and yet I have more bellyfat than I did when i weighed more and wasn't cutting but was playing basketball. 'm not generalising to everyone out there, just describing my personal experience.
And btw there is spot reduction but not in the way you are thinking of. For example if you take someone very obese, and you put them on a low carb diet and have them doing cardio, they'll take off belly fat preferentially according to the science. Or even if you take some one obese who is sedentary, the experts say first goes the visceral bodyfat and then the subcutaneous. Is that spot reduction in the sense of someone doing high rep bench press to burn man boobs? Not quite the same thing
But if you're going to talk about facts you have to admit that aerobic and HIIT are good at burning fat and introducing them to someone who doesn't do them will have a fat loss effect (provided diet is in check which it is for me but i'm not getting the results i want with just diet alone)
Where the hell in that quote of my post am I further pushing the calorie in vs out concept?
All I'm saying is, burning 100 calories from jacking off = burning 100 calories from HIT/basketball/cardio/whatever... There can be a myriad of reasons to explain your argument, but to think basketball has had magical effects on your fat loss efforts is wrong.
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Just play basketball and keep eating relatively clean. Do whatever your body responds well to. If that's playing basketball than play basketball. As long as you eat pretty clean and exercise than you'll lose fat without having to worry about excessive dieting. Plus eating more helps for playing sport and gyming.
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Where the hell in that quote of my post am I further pushing the calorie in vs out concept?
All I'm saying is, burning 100 calories from jacking off = burning 100 calories from HIT/basketball/cardio/whatever... There can be a myriad of reasons to explain your argument, but to think basketball has had magical effects on your fat loss efforts is wrong.
lol i think you've made your point clearly. but what intensity are we talking? is it balls out HIIT jacking off? cos that might burn a bit more calories. Or long duration steady state - smaller burn but for a longer period. But why do you have to choose one or the other, what if you do both? Then you get the benefits of HIIT and the benefits of steady state. :P
im actually hoping i can get the same or better fat loss effect of basketbell by not not playing basketball. i'll use sprints on a bicycle for the HIIT benefit and longer rides for the aerobic benefit. I'm hoping this will give the fat loss without the fatigue of actually playing basketball
Just play basketball and keep eating relatively clean. Do whatever your body responds well to. If that's playing basketball than play basketball. As long as you eat pretty clean and exercise than you'll lose fat without having to worry about excessive dieting. Plus eating more helps for playing sport and gyming.
This. I will eat the same as usual, but I'll just more fat loss out of it by trainer better.
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Training
BS 2x100, 1x110, 3x108.5
FS 1x90, 1x100, 1x102.5, 0x102.5, 1x100, 1x100 (Belt on), 1x100, 0x100, 6x1x90, 2x90, 3x90, 2x90
BP 5x81.5, 6x75, 6x72.5 (close grip), 5x72.5 (wide grip)
Long fucking workout. Took 3 hours to do all that squatting. The 90s were paused. I slowed everything down so I could really nail down form. Here is what I have learnt about good form
- strong unrack, like a powerclean rack
- pull jaw apart and hold it there, keeps my chest tight (also squeezing the life out of the bar helps for that too but i tend to forget this while in the zone)
- break at knees
- sit between legs
- make sure hips are constantly loaded in tension under the bar (this avoids the tendency to lean fwd)
- hold knees stable upon sitting
- push chest upwards by driving against the floor while simultaneously
- DRIVE TRAPS BACK out of the hole
and if i go thru that encyclopedia of details i have something resembling a good squat. Now try remembering all of it while having a heavy bar on your shoulders lol. I bet it's not this hard for *other* people, i'm just not built for this shit but no matter, i'll persevere
today my quads are pumped for a change, the paused sets really help there
oh yea and in other news i broke under 180lb today, my morning bw was 179.9lb .. yay for me. Still a big fat mess though.
Fuck this shit man, its past midnight and i have yet to bench brb
damn I didn't get a PR on the bench. I probably would have on another day). No matter, i'll get it on monday!
Taking the rest of the wkend off so im nice and fresh for next week when I start my new program.
I had 110g carb, 50g fat, 180g pro today. How many calories is that? 1760? hmm. interesting.
laters
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After yesterdays front squats high vol session here is what is sore -
hamstrings (lol), glutes, and chest, and adductors. Why not quads? WHY?
re-instated daily cardio, going to keep it low intensity and duration today, 600m.
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Maybe you stay a ton on your heels or something?
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Maybe you stay a ton on your heels or something?
what do you mean, while squatting? yeah but you're supposed to lol. also i just noticed im sore around my hips too and bizarrely lats. front squats man, they're some exercise.
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I know you're supposed to, but I kinda tend to go a bit towards the toes when I go down (or at least I was when I was squatting high bar) and that loads your quads quite a bit more in my experience because it moves the center of gravity a bit forward as well so the blunt of the load is being taken care of by the quads.
Obviously if the knees are going forward then you'll lose hamstring tension and load the quads more as well.
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Nah man I use oly shoes and never come up on my toes.
Have you ever tried putting a block under your TOES (not heel). Wonder what will do for quad activ
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Nah man I use oly shoes and never come up on my toes.
Have you ever tried putting a block under your TOES (not heel). Wonder what will do for quad activ
I've seen people deadlift like that.
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I just had a thought. If i am 19+% right now and don't know it, then I have ~10kg of fat left to lose (!). Shall I take the $100 DEXA and rule it out? I can kinda see my upper 2 abs if i flex them any time of the day now. But only faintly and to the side. If I really do have 10kg to lose i'd use RFL and drop 5kg quickly.
(http://i.imgur.com/7MOUC.png)
Hmm.
I think i'll stick to the plan. Get down to 80kg. Or drop under it and if i am 15% at that point then i'll know I have another 5kg to lose to get to 10%. If I get to 80kg and i'm still well over 15%, i'll probably do RFL for a month to get in 12-15% range.
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Grats on getting under 180 man, keep up the good work !@! I wouldnt worry about dexa right now, use the scale and the mirror. Measure your WAIST regularly, that will give you good feedback for a long period of time.
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Grats on getting under 180 man, keep up the good work !@! I wouldnt worry about dexa right now, use the scale and the mirror. Measure your WAIST regularly, that will give you good feedback for a long period of time.
Thanks lance. It didn't stick under 180 though but hopefully I will break it and stay under consistently. My waist is 34" at the navel, 35" at the widest about an 1.5" below there. So 34-35" - which is consistently lower than when I started cutting. I am guessing i'll need to get that down to 30-31" to be 10%? So have a while to go yet.
When I started this 12 week phase, I weighed around 86kg was lowbar backsquatting (w/o belt) 100x8, 120x2 (to just parallel). I was also recovering from my ankle injury and starting to front squat (2x3x75 was my first workout). RDL has gone from 3x100 to 3x125.
Since then i've healed from ankle injury, quit basketball, dropped bw to below 83kg while taking my front squat up to 1x112.5kg (and 105x3 was my last triple). My lowest BW was obviously the 179.xlb. My bench press has finally made progress and I am at 6x80.5 and going for 6x81.5 today. My vertical went up to over 30" for the first time which i'm not certain is a result of losing bodyweight or from increased leg strength. Speaking of leg strength, I am going to test my powerclean to see where it is now after not having trained it.
Oh and I also switched to high bar recently, so as far as I am concerned every improvement in HBBS is a PR because it's a different lift. For the record I squatted a PR of 1x117.5 high bar.
I haven't made the greatest gains admittedly but I have been working on fixing form, which is more important at this stage than PRs. Lets see what the next 12 weeks bring. Hopefully finish cutting.
But looking at my results I am disappointed. I have been fucking around really, I should have lost more weight. I am going to fix that in the next phase.
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New Program : Phase Ripped Abz
(http://i.imgur.com/epITU.png)
Conditioning will be on a mountain bike. I'm thinking tabata sprints 3 mins and 30-60mins w/o sprinting. For variety or in bad weather, once a month i'll play basketball with my old team.
Upper body assistance will be an exercise from chinups, banded chinups, curls, widegrip bench press, push presses, cable curls, cleans or rows.
I'm doing descending sets for backsquats and bench press btw.
When I feel like it, I can take Tue or Sat completely off.
Time to find those abs, great form, become stronger and powerful, jump higher and run fast.
:headbang:
Body Comp Goal
I'm going for a hard and fast 5lb loss over 3 weeks to start off this phase. No excuses.
(http://i.imgur.com/CW3Lo.png)
Target is set at 178 on the morning of October 1st.
No more fucking around.
Training
650m Fasted TM (AM)
BP 5x81.5, 6x75, 6x72.5, 3x5x72.5 (wide grip, PR)
BS 2x100, 1x115, 1x120 (high, bad form, dont count it)
FS 3x100, 4x92.5, 4x90, 4x87.5
PC 2x60, 1x65 (ok form), 3x70F (I wasn't pulling these high enough to rack. Not sure why but I did get 1x70 yesterday on my first attempt at PCs in like 2 years but it wasn't happening today. May stick to only trying these on Sundays.)
PCDLs 2x3x90 (2nd set was good)
RDL 3x127.5 (PR but bad set, rounded LB, i guess i went too long btw RDL workouts), 10x102.5 (PR, good form)
BW: 83kg (182.98lb)
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graphs: check
charts: check
multi-colored stuff: check
sick.
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Ha tnx adarqui :)
650m Fasted TM (AM)
damn im hungry. I find myself dreaming about and lusting for certain foods.
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Training
650m FTM (AM)
W1
300m TM (warmup)
BS 4x108.5 (PR), 4x103.5, 4x100
OHP 4x55, 2x5x55
W2
300m TM (warmup)
CURLZ 8x45 (PR), 8x40, 8x35, 8x30
Chins 3x3x90 (+5kg; PR), 2x4xBW
W3
200m warmup jog
5 min intervals (60m)
football pitch sprint x1
200m jog
Woke up with residual lower back soreness. Must be from the pulling.
Right knee not happy, finding even warmups troubling. Changed video to front angle, saw L knee stays out of the bottom, R comes in though. Not sure how to fix it, messed around with turning right foot out and in. Oh and squatting was hard work today, even warmups felt heavy. Haven't been sleeping well lately.
Lost the last rep of OHP first set in front, made sure to bring the bar closer on 2nd and 3rd, and it made it possible to get 5s.
I avoided my usual tendency to try to make up for bad workouts by doing more sets.
Not doing sets across on curls. They were just becoming half curls anyway. Going to do one heavy top set, and then stricter following sets, this way I get full range benefits while at the same time pushing up curl strength as well.
Chinups have gone no where, in fact they've regressed. For some reason I had thought losing BW and doing BW chins would result in more reps - but it never happened. If anything reps stayed the same at best or gone down. So i've decided to add weight. If reps stay the same, fine, at least i'll be adding weight.
First conditioning session went well. I kept it short, HIIT + bit of aerobic. Can't wait to melt this remaining fat off! :D
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I feel great the day after my first conditioning session. Was a bit afraid I would have shaky knees and sore hams/quads but instead I feel fresh and rejuvenated. It seems I shied away from conditioning because of my experience with longer duration aerobic work (~30mins) and longer HIIT (40 minute bball games) - but now I believe i've got a good compromise which is easier to recover from. If my body can handle it, I might add a 2nd conditioning session. Double the bodyfat loss, pretty please.
Training
650m FTM (AM)
2km walk (PM)
If i'll be lean (? 10%) at ~75kg(165lb) - I don't think I'll get there on this cutting phase. Probably will take a diet break after ? 15% - for about 2 wks, reset my hormones and shit back to normal before resuming the cut from ~15% to 10%. If my calculations are right (ha) - i'll be ~15% at around 79.5kg (175lb). So i'll keep cutting to 175 at which point I should be legit ? 15%.
Incidentally my estimates are based on the following calculations that I am at 19% right now
(http://i.imgur.com/dU8ct.png)
So glad I added some carbs (wheat) into my diet about a month ago. I started eating 2 slices of wholemeal toast for breakfast. And 2 roti for dinner. Game changer. Makes life easier, takes away hunger andI have better energy thru the day and best of all, fat loss is unaffected. The extra fibre and nutrients are nice too.
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Are you really at 19% currently after already cutting down to 83? Seems a bit too much , what was your strting point?
Also you are training very often AND playing competitive basketball, why are you at 20%??? I would only guess there is a terrible diet obsession, like overconsuming sweets or alcohol or something.
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I would even guess i'm over 20% to be honest. I'm just not a very muscular person. Also I don't play basketball anymore, i quit basketball about 6 weeks ago? I play pickup once or twice a month and that's it! I only recently added back conditioning though, so i'm hoping to lose about 2" from my waist in about 4-5 weeks just from adding back aerobic and hiit into my training.
I'm pretty good at dieting though, these days i seldom eat out (can't remember the last time i did, must be about 3 months ago), never get takeaway food either. I have a 100% healthy breakfast every day without fail. And i am 85-95% good with my dinner. I don't snack on junk (if i allow myself to eat crisps/chips, chocolate etc i'll binge so i just avoid it completely). im a good boy at eating fruit and veg :D it's been working too, i've cut down from 86kg to 83kg while increasing my lifts so i'm not burning lean mass either. I think realistically i will be finished cutting at around 75kg. But if i get to 75 and i'm not under 10%, i might neeed to cut even lower as 74-73, I don't know, will just have to see when I get there.
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Well , i am not a diet expert but there is a missing link here. What was your bodyfat percentage before the cut? And why was it that high?
BTW, i don't mean to insult you or call you fat or something. I am not muscular either and i have a very hard time going under 15% or a 35'' waist. I was jsut very surprised to see you at 20% in the middle of what looks like a well planned and sucessful cut.
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Well , i am not a diet expert but there is a missing link here. What was your bodyfat percentage before the cut?
BTW, i don't mean to insult you or call you fat or something. I am not muscular either and i have a very hard time going under 15% or a 35'' waist. I was jsut very surprised to see you at 20% in the middle of what looks like a well planned and sucessful cut.
If we work backwards, my bodyfat at 86-87kg would have been around 22%. I thought it was over 20%, so i wasn't too much off. I never got a DEXA though. If I had, it might have showed I was maybe 24-25%. I don't know.
And why was it that high? BTW, i don't mean to insult you or call you fat or something. I am not muscular either and i have a very hard time going under 15% or a 35'' waist. I was jsut very surprised to see you at 20% in the middle of what looks like a well planned and sucessful cut.
No offense taken. Why it was that high. Good question! I got measured twice with a 7point caliper test as follows:
+ 100kg BW - bodyfat 25% (fat mass of 25kg, lean mass of 75kg).
+ Charts and BMI measurements for my height and bodyweight also suggested the same thing.
So that means at 85kg, i should have been 12% bodyfat.
I dieted down to 85kg and surprisingly no abs in sight!! So i kept dieting. And now at around 82.5kg and i'm still not even close to 15%. Which means my previous bodyfat measurements were way off. I wasn't 25% i was probably 35% and up.
This is the danger of not getting down to a low initial bodyfat when training. Because you don't know how fat you really are and estimates are hard to get right. It's when you get down to seeing abs that you have a realistic idea of what your lean mass is, and from there you have a good idea of how gains in bodyweight are partioned btw fat and muscle. I never got down to 10%. So where I was starting my bulks (at a supposedly 85kg ~ 15% estimated) - i should actually have been ENDING my bulks somewhere 5kg lower. This is bad news for p-ratio which means gains are mostly fat. Big mistake. People tell you that if you are over 6 foot tall you should weigh such 200-220. And if you listen to them you end up very overweight. I listened to them.
If only I had dropped $300-500 on a DEXA it would have been a sound investment. If there is one thing i could change about my training, it is not knowing my initial bodyfat. So if anyone asks me - i'll tell them most important thing is to know where your bodyfat is, esp if they are sedentary mature adults who haven't remained athletic.
My waist at the mo is quite close to 34" now, and I think if i came off creatine, i'd lose an inch and a half just from that water retention. But that's neither here nor there.
So to answer your question, the reason I was so fat initially. I just didn't know exactly how fat I was. It's not easy to tell the difference between 24% and 20%. Nor from 20% and 17%. In fact above 15% it's not easy to pin down where you are. You only find out how deep the rabbit hole goes when you start cutting and seeing where you are at. If only I had got a DEXA at some stage, I would have known I was way off with my bodyfat estimates. But because I used tables, and caliper measurements, I never came close to finding a true estimate.
The other thing is vag, I say i might be over 20% because that's being conservative. But i might even be as low as 17%, even though I don't believe that to be true. I can't know for sure either way until i've finished cutting to 15%. And then working backwards I will be able to tell you what bodyfat I was when I weighed 83kg. But right now, there is an uncertainty due to the lack of precision in visual estimating bodyfat above 15%.
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Training
700m FTM (4.3 kph av, 9mins, preworkout stimulants)
W1
300m TM warmup (7kph av)
FS 1x100, 2x108.5 (PR!), 1x115 (PR!), 1x107.5, 1x106, 1x105, 5x90(PR!)
BP 5x81.5, 3x80, 6x76, 7x72.5
Good workout. I have learnt that a good workout wont get any better by doing more worksets than needed, it can only get worse. Conversely a bad workout wont get better by doing more worksets than that demanded. I usually grind myself into dust doing extra work but i'm curbing that instinct. Progress is progress, and doing more work than necessary can only detract not enhance progress.
W2
300m TM warmup (~3.5mins)
BS 4x108.5 (=PR, but deeper this time), 4x105 (wtf why cant i get more than 4 reps?!), 5x100 (thas better)
BS (belted) 1x110, 1x115
sprints 5x30 (04:78, 04:50, 04:58, 04:50, 04:50)
ABZ
- rollouts 2x10 (from knees, strickter than last week, damn these were hard)
- weighted crunch 2x5x10kg, 2x10x10kg, 1x8x20kg, 1x20kg, 1x8x35kg
FS notes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvIOIOxbab4
^pr of 115kg @ 182 lb
I decided I didn't want to do upto 20 heavy singles. I understand that's what an advanced lifter needs to do, but i made most of my front squat gains by doing 2x3. So I don't need to go balls out every time. If anything that makes progress harder, mentally more challenging too. So i stuck to dancing with the girl who got me where i am, 6 heavy hard reps, and then a backoff set of 5. Done. The 5 was pretty, and i'm going to try to keep the bulk of my reps pretty so it becomes automatic and ingrained.
BP notes:
Have hit a wall on bench press progress. Have to figure out how to get myself unstuck.
BS notes:
Ok so I can't seem to get more than 4-5 reps this week. I didnt get one single set of 6 which makes me sad. Dunno why. Maybe cos I did dls on monday? but it doesn't seem to have affected my front squat for some reason. Anyway, we'll see what happens nxt week. Also next week dont attempt backsquat PRs on friday. BS PRs come on monday or wednesday from now on. It's too much to expect FS and BS prs on the same day. In fact i'm inclined to only do BS once a week if that will get me unstuck.
Sprint notes:
As much as I like to measure progress, i have to admit that holding the Gymboss in my hand throws my form off. Especially on the start, and from watching my videos it seems I take forever to get going. I can't push off properly off the ground, and feel slow having to coordinate my start as well as triggering the timer at the same time. In fact on viewing my footage, the majority of the 4.5s is spent in the first 5-10m. So i wont take the timer with me anymore. At some point i'll like to measure how i'm doing, and I'll figure that out later, but in the meantime i need to concentrate on my form and running as fast as possible instead of worrying about timing myself over such a short distance/duration.
ABZ notes:
Here is where my training went wrong the last 12-18 months. I stopped doing heavy ab exercises. For me that used to be chinups when I was heavier (? 90-100kg). Even stuff like ab roll outs at that bodyweight made my abs bigger. But since i became a lightweight (? 85kg) - chinups stopped being a heavy exercise, esp when I stopped doing the weighted variation. And my abs got weak and small. But i'm fixing that now by doing weighted chinups and weighted crunches etc. Adding back ab wheel. Give it a few months and I think i'll have bigger stronger abs. It might be one reason why my abs aren't showing yet, becos they're too small. I remember them being a lot bigger, popping out of my flab when I was heavier. I remember them popping out after doing bw chinups. That never happens now becos i'm too light. Another data point, after wednesdays weighted chinups, i experienced ab soreness after chins for the first time. That's a sign i'm on the right track now. Damn i was stupid to stop doing weighted chinups while cutting.
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Well , i am not a diet expert but there is a missing link here. What was your bodyfat percentage before the cut?
BTW, i don't mean to insult you or call you fat or something. I am not muscular either and i have a very hard time going under 15% or a 35'' waist. I was jsut very surprised to see you at 20% in the middle of what looks like a well planned and sucessful cut.
If we work backwards, my bodyfat at 86-87kg would have been around 22%. I thought it was over 20%, so i wasn't too much off. I never got a DEXA though. If I had, it might have showed I was maybe 24-25%. I don't know.
And why was it that high? BTW, i don't mean to insult you or call you fat or something. I am not muscular either and i have a very hard time going under 15% or a 35'' waist. I was jsut very surprised to see you at 20% in the middle of what looks like a well planned and sucessful cut.
No offense taken. Why it was that high. Good question! I got measured twice with a 7point caliper test as follows:
+ 100kg BW - bodyfat 25% (fat mass of 25kg, lean mass of 75kg).
+ Charts and BMI measurements for my height and bodyweight also suggested the same thing.
So that means at 85kg, i should have been 12% bodyfat.
When you were at 100kg there's no way you could've been 35% bodyfat. If you were 35% bodyfat you'd have a 45+ inch waist. If your waist was 40 inches at 100kg than your bodyfat would've been around 23.
The thing is when you're natural and you go on a cut you lose a mixture of fat and muscle. So let's say you were 25% bodyfat at 100kg and you cut naturally to 85kg. There's no way you'd be 10-12% bodyfat at that weight because to do that you would've had to lose 100% of fat, which doesn't happen naturally.
I remember reading a thread on Adarq, which had a quote of Kelly B saying- "Don’t even try to diet without some type of assistance anabolically- it’s a complete waste of time. You’ll lose all your muscle mass and strength". Cutting isn't a science it's an art so you can come up with all the charts in the world and estimated bodyweights that you want but as you've experienced you don't know where you'll end up until you get there. So just worry about your waistline and the mirror rather than your weight.
With that said I completely agree with what you've said about cutting down and getting lean so you know where you're actually at. You're defs getting leaner though so obviously what you're doing is working but yeh I guess i'm just trying to say that even with meticulous attention to detail and calorie deficit you're still going to lose muscle when you cut it's inevitable.
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When you were at 100kg there's no way you could've been 35% bodyfat. If you were 35% bodyfat you'd have a 45+ inch waist. If your waist was 40 inches at 100kg than your bodyfat would've been around 23.
At 101kg my waist was 41". But I still doubt my bodyfat was anywhere as low as 25%. Was it as high as 35%? Who knows. It's possible though. My fat was always smooth and soft but not flabby, so it never looked as bad it was it. Even if I was 40%, I think i wouldn't look it.
The way I cut from 100kg to 90kg, and 90kg to 85kg was using RFL. Which is a protein sparing fast, designed to spare LBM while burning mostly bodyfat. Did it work? I always looked really sickly skinny when I had finished RFL so perhaps I did unintentionally burn a lot of muscle in the process. Where did all the muscle go? But perhaps it was never there in the first place i would think, maybe it was just an illusion made up by the bodyfat. My best guess is that yes I lost maybe a kilo or three of muscle, and visually that made a big difference but I don't think I would have lost much more than that. If I had a DEXA i'd have definitive answer but unfortunately we will never know for sure.
With that said I completely agree with what you've said about cutting down and getting lean so you know where you're actually at. You're defs getting leaner though so obviously what you're doing is working but yeh I guess i'm just trying to say that even with meticulous attention to detail and calorie deficit you're still going to lose muscle when you cut it's inevitable.
Yep! I don't care if I carried 5kilo more muscle if it meant weighing 100kg and being a big fatfucked unathletic guy. Would rather be 80kg, 10%bf, small and athletic. Not that I am anywhere near being a lean 80kg, but i'll get there eventually. And then a lean 85kg..
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Training
650m FTM
Not doing anything else today. I'll give my body a break and reward it for surprising me with an overnight whoosh on the scale. Well under 82kg now! And I had no reason to expect it. Usually the day after training days, my bodyweight increases slightly but never decreases. I ate a carb heavy meal last night to refeed gylocogen after a hard week of training. And what a shock to see the scale drop. I guess sometimes it takes a refeed to trigger a weight drop. Lets see if it sticks over the next coupla days.
BW: 81.7kg/180.12lb
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Damn, I usually look forward to sundays because they're easy but today i've got powercleans, conditioning, jumping/dunking and pickup basketball scheduled. Lets see how it goes.
Training
FSTM (4.3kph, 650m)
TM warmup (300m)
PC 4x1x60, 1x65, 1x70, 0x72.5, 0x71, 0x60
5xSVJ, 5xRVJ, 5x0xdunks (couldnt land a single one)
HIIT 3x (2x50m sprint, 50m jog, 50m walk) (~4mins duration)
football length sprint (length unknown, 100-120m? - 15:65s)
5 minute jog warm down
PC notes
its funny how i'll hit a max on PC (=70kg) and then I can't clean anything after that, it's like my CNS says ok thats it we're done for today. Which kind of means if i keep doing the same thing every time i'll never improve. which isn't true because my form is still coming around. i switched to hook grip today which is a lot kinder on my wrists on the 2nd pull. i just dont find it as comfortable when bringing the bar down (i cant drop it - no bumpers). Perhaps next time go for a few sets of doubles rather than singles
Skipped pickup basketball this week. I just don't see the point. Is pickup CNS fatiguing? Lots of starts and stops from stationary, quick accelerations and slowing down, no time to get into a stride etc. It would explain why i would feel so banged up afterwards, perhaps its not my muscles that take a beating but my CNS and joints.
I took my weekly free meal. preworkout had some cheesy/garlicky/pastry thing. it was heavenly. oily but. i wasn't lusting after it or anything, just was at a loss for a preworkout carb source. Reminds me, i should go buy some cereal, have started to think cereal preworkout would be just perfect. something effort=0, tasty, fat free, kind of nutritious and of course carby, will be just the thing.
BW: 81.75kg/180.23lb
Soreness: abzs still very sore from friday, quads and hams too.
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(http://i.imgur.com/Twpzt.png)
BW:81.95kg/180.67lb
Soreness: a little abs, a little hams, a little quads
That's 3 days of being under 82kg in a row, so i'm happy to think it has stuck. That overnight kilo loss is here to stay.
PR - waist is now 34" :personal-record:
Feeling good about fat loss, I have my birthday coming up this week but i'll probably stay true to my diet, don't really feel like celebrating anyways. I'd rather get under 80kg asap. With the weather warming up, i'm feeling good about being lean, the idea of a summer without being fat is a novel thing. Once my body weight has stabilised a little, i'm going shopping for a new wardrobe. Have been holding off buying new clothes since my bodyweight has been in constant flux the last year and a half. Most of my clothes don't fit me anymore. The other day I went sprinting and my shorts were falling off my waist lol.. i'm no longer an XL ;D
I'm going to continue being aggressive about dropping under 80kg to get there quickly. The faster I am done cutting, the sooner I can get down to building some muscle and finally being in a position to drive my lifts up hard.
Training
FSTM (4.5kph, 700m)
TM warmup (300m)
BP 6x81.5 (PR!!), 6x77, 6x73, 3x5x75 (wide grip - PR)
TM warmup (300m)
FS 4x100 (PR!!)), 4x95, 4x92.5, 4x90
BS 1x100, 1x105, 1x110B, 1x112.5B, 1x115B, 1x117.5B
RDL 3x130(PR!!)), 10x105(PR!!))
DL 2x3x95 (felt real light, form was good, i dunno how it happened but now I can DL with good form!)
ABZ
- weighted crunch 15x37.5,15x45, 8x55
Have been patient waiting for the new week to start so I can bump up the daily TM parameters. Took a 0.2kph bump because I wanna get up to 5kph faster than 0.1kph/week increments will allow. Once I get to 5 i'll take 0.1 bumps though. Also bumped up the distance from 650m to 700m. While i'm still overweight (for my lbm), daily fasted TM work is a good idea even if it will take up a new meaning once i'm down to stubborn fat levels (~10% bf).
BP notes:
Finally a break thru - i got 6x81.5 at last, it took me 4 consecutive workouts but it's done. Now I might stick with the same weight until it's not so damn heavy. Once it becomes lighter, i'll take the reset to 80kg and change to bigger plates. They're slightly heavier than expected, that's why i'm being very cautious around the 80kg plate boundary. To get 81.5kg I have 2x20kg, 2x5kg, 2x2.5kg and then 8x0.5kg plates. So a lot of plates but now my aim is to transition smoothly into the bigger 2x10kg plates, ie. 2x20kg, 2x10kg and from then from there 'll chase 6x85. Oh yea and the wide grip assistance has gotten very heavy (RPE 10). I think i'll stay with the weight until it's easier, and once it becomes lighter, i'll go aim for 3x8 with the same weight. That should be enough stress to keep my chest stimulated for quite a while.
FS notes:
Well looks like I made another break thru in squatting. Something Lance said turned me on to it. Turns out it's better to FS first and then BS because that way the FS form remains pure. Doing it the other way like I had been, instructs my body to behave incorrectly which doesn't happen if I just FS first. But what about BS after FS? That works fine. My guess is that for HBBS that's the way to go, FS and then HBBS reinforces upright squatting. If you are a LBBS squatter though, you probably don't want to pollute your LBBS by doing upright FS first, so in that case you would probably want to LBBS first and then FS last.
RDL notes:
Back was straight this week on the heavy RDL, back on the wagon. 150x3 by the year end thank you very much.
ABZ notes:
Think i got the hang of these weighted crunches. They caused wicked soreness since friday btw which is why i'm going to keep doing them. The problem is, it's hard to get in position with all these fkn plates on my chest. Also my tiny hands can only grip 2x20kg plates + 1x10kg and including the 4th plate, its all too thick for me to hold properly. I might be able to use the 15kg instead of 10 next time, but then what? 3x20s isn't going to happen unless I grow my paws some. If only I had heavy DBs :( Damn shame because this is a great exercise. Btw I can't just hug the plates because it limits ROM. Maybe i'll experiment and see what I can do about it.
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With the weather warming up, i'm feeling good about being lean, the idea of a summer without being fat is a novel thing.
You're in Australia?
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FUCK it just occured to me why my deadlift was pretty today. It just came to me in a flash of insight.....
the reason.....
is
BECAUSE I DID RDLS first!!!!!
They warmed up or stretched my hamstrings, allowing me to get them in a good position which allowed me to set my back perfectly flat. That's it, it's the rational explanation. :o
Hmm I wonder if this has any ramifications for backsquat. Perhaps I could do some warmup RDLs before squatting and see what difference it makes.
After squatting today, I have recently come to believe my weak core (esp lower back) is the reason why i suck at backsquatting. It's why wearing a belt helps me so much. With my proportions, I have so much tension on my abs at the bottom of a squat, on account of my leverages, that my abs and lower back need to be made of steel to lift even modest tonnages. step back, im on this. I put on the belt for 112.5 I think, after doing 105 w/o belt, and the velcro wanted to open up at the bottom of a squat. It was eerie. So that just goes to show how hard my abs have to work to stabilise even such a light squat load. Interesting stuff.
raptor, in or on?
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at
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My brother took me to a buffet for lunch. Godamn i'm stuffed. Best steak i've ever had. I expect a backsquat PR tomorrow.
Today became an unscheduled carb reload. Have been eating sweets and snacks all thru the day.
I've almost finished a 12 hour binge, er, i mean carbofat reload. Have been eating nonstop. Carb at me bro.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrjRj4uQQ1o
Training
FSTM (700m, 4.4kph)
TMW (300m, 3 mins)
BS 5x108.5(PR!!), 3x110(PR!!), 3x103.5, 4x100
OHP 4x57.5, 4x57, 5x57
TMW (300m, 3 mins)
Chins 3x91.7(+7.5kg), 2x3x92.8(+8.75), 3x94.4 (+10kg), 2x6xBW
CURLZ 8x46(1/2 curls, PR), 8x40, 8x35, 8x31
HIIT 2x(2x (2x25m sprint, 25m jog), 25m walk) - 02:59:58
football length sprint (100-120m?) - 15:15s (PR)
whole oval jog - 03:19:15 (PR)
BS notes:
Form was ok. I have been paying careful attention to what part of my body fatigues just before eminent failure. It was hamstrings. My fucking hamstrings don't have the strength endurance to go thru 6 reps. Quads are fine to FS 115kg and yet I have trouble doing 6 reps of 108.5kg on BS. Why? Hamstrings. As soon as I hit around 4 reps, hams give up and don't hold my back angle, back rounds, form becomes abhorrent. And core (lower back/abs) also comes into the picture during rep limit sets, i'm working on that too by doing a lot of core work now.
Hmm I wonder if this has any ramifications for backsquat. Perhaps I could do some warmup RDLs before squatting and see what difference it makes.
Tried this today. It actually worked nicely, i could tell from my first backsquat warmup with the empty bar that my hamstrings were nice and flexible at the bottom. This is probably my only worthwhile discovery in the gym worth a damn. If you have problems with flexibility at the bottom of a squat - try warming up with RDLs first.
OHP notes:
OHP is going great now. I widened my grip on account of my long arms. I dunno why I had such a really narrow grip before, but now the lift is easy peasy. In a months time i'll be repping over 60kg fo sho w/ bw < 80kg.
Chins notes:
Weighted chins are the shit. I'm getting stronger very quickly. Can't wait to do reps with a 20kg plate hanging under me.
Conditioning notes:
I can't believe I ran the whole oval without stopping. It's my first time lol. I felt in slow-mo mode though, but was surprised with my time of 3 mins 19sec - that's not bad for an unfit fat dude. I wonder how long it is? Maybe a km? Dunno.
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Training
FSTM 700m @ 4.4 kph
Have been thinking why my powerclean isn't going up. My best powerclean was 75kg when I weighed ~100kg in 2010. I started doing PCs 2 weeks ago and the first time I tried them I got 70kg after not having done them in years. So that made me confident that with a bit of practice i'd be quickly cleaning a lot more (i was thinking in terms of BW). But it hasn't happened. I suspect it is because my lowback strength is holding me back. That's why i've added deadlifts back, also to assist my backsquat which is about to be overtaken by my front squat lol.
I'm having problems with hunger. When i'm on my diet for a while, then it's easy, hunger isn't a problem. But having all this leftover cake and stuff in the fridge is stoking my hunger. I keep craving stuff I can't eat :( I gave away a lot of the cake already but i've still got some left over (had 3 total lol).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyQSzx0ofto
^watched this documentary, got some ideas. have to increase my NEAT. the guy in the doc burned 500kcal more by moving up and about more instead of his usual sedentary sitting down all day.
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i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that low back strength is not what's limiting your PC. 75kg is light weight. you can DL way, way, way more than that even with solid form.
post video.
also, throw away the cake and stuff. i never read eric cressey or tony gentilcore anymore, but back when i did one of the best lessons i got from them was: if it's in the house, you're probably gonna eat it. if it's not in the house, you're probably not gonna eat it. basic behavioral economics. it's much easier to restrain yourself from doing something that requires effort (putting on shoes, going outside, traveling to the store, buying something individual, carrying it home) than something that requires little or no effort (opening the fridge in your boxers and sock feet, stuffing your face).
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i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that low back strength is not what's limiting your PC. 75kg is light weight. you can DL way, way, way more than that even with solid form.
post video.
videos from sunday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXo1cGJujrA <- 65kg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nba4CWmg_4o <- 70kg
I know form isn't great but it's improving every time
I suspect lower back weakness because, take my last workout for example. I did ohp, backsquat, and weighted chinups. The next day my lower back was sore. Now consider i never usually get sore from backsquats (can't remember the last time it happened that i got sore lower back from squatting for that matter), i think it was weighted chinups which did it. So if my lowback is being torched after some weighted chinups with only a 10kg plate, then i think i have a lot of weakness there. It's not just pulling the bar up to the knees where the low back is needed (and you're right 75 is light for a deadlift) but even the 2nd pull you need a strong back. I read it somewhere on the internet lol, i think pendlays forum
Yeah and I agree with you about not having the stuff around. I just got all this food from other ppl on my birthday but I want to be disciplined enough to know when to avoid eating something when it conflicts with my goal. But i find myself rationalising it saying, it's ok brah, its for recovery, go ahead, a bit of carb and fat is anabolic, have those chocolates and cake. Anyway i think i'm on the wagon now, just gotta stay the course. After a few days, it becomes automatic. Thanks for the tip though, it's spot on for me. I never go out and buy something that I know isn't on my diet. If anything i'd come back with something super healthy instead after mentally debating it lol
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No. Your lower back is more than likely TOO ACTIVE in driving the lift, rather than holding a static position. The second pull should be GLUTE driven, as hip extension should always be, with the quads assisting. Most people with a short torso and longer legs are not weak in the low back, the levers are massively in their favor. They are using the low back to do things it should not be doing.
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Shit, that makes sense. I did have a much stronger, bigger ass back then, so that's probably why I could clean more. Hmm.
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just saw vids. The reason youre feeling your low back so much is youre getting on your toes during the pull. If you want to think " jump" for the second pull, think of jumping off the HEELS. Yes the toes will come up, as an after the fact of the explosive hip extension from the HEELS.
Youre also essentially doing a half deadlift, then doing a hang clean. I would do some clean pulls early on, sweeping the bar into the hip/upper thigh, making sure you are in good position for the second pull. Then carry on with the power clean. Don mccauley has some good videos on these positions and drills if you are interested.
edit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZR2tolczAo
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Damn. I need to unlearn a lot of things Lance, might as well re-learn them properly now rather than later. I'll watch the video and try again on sunday and put up new vids.
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(http://i.imgur.com/H6q7i.png)
Back on track after birthday diversion thankfully. Waist is just under 34" now, and I can see my 3rd ab faintly if I flex in the mirror. I am starting to think i am closer to 15% than I am to 20% now.
Training
FSTM - 4.4kph, 700m
TMWU - 300m, 3mins
FS 2Fx110, 1Fx117.5, 1Fx116, 1Fx107.5, 4x1x103.5, 1Fx102.5, 1x103.5, 6x90(PR)
TMWU - 300m, 3mins
BS 3x90, 2x100, 1x97.5
BP 6Fx82, 6x80 (2x10s), 5x77
ABZ - weighted crunch 10x60, 15x65
- ab rollout from knee 2x15
- cable crunch 2x10
5x30m sprint (no timing)
FS notes:
Horror workout. My lower back was still sore coming into this workout and absolutely shattered by the end. And it showed, I struggled bigtime. The string of failures shows that clear enough. I was failing reps right at the bottom, even before my legs could get involved. It makes me sad that my run of FS PRs came to an end. I dunno whether it was doing this workout pseudo-fasted (and yet it didn't stop me PRing last fri?) - but this was a terrible workout. At one point after the heavy sets, i couldn't see properly and that lasted about 1/2 hour before i could see better.I ate some chocolate, that might have helped. In the end i decided to make up my 10 reps at 90% (90% of 115 = 103.5).
Btw part of the reason i had a bad workout was using the wrong cue. I came into the workout concentrating on spreading the floor out with my feet. That works quite well for backsquats i admit, but i realised after my penultimate single which I failed, that it must be the cue which is to blame. Lo and beyold the next rep, i didn't use that particular cue, and I made the rep. So i'm doubly annoyed because had I know it was a bad cue, it's possible i would have had a few more PRs today. No mind. My lower back will get stronger, and then I wont have soreness after weighted chins and then i'll set some more FS PRs.
ABZ notes:
My brother was home so got him to spot me on the weighted crunch. I used 3x20kg plates initially, got 8 reps. Then added another 5kg in the next set and kept going and got 15 reps lol. I must have some strong abs huh? I bet I could probably do 5 reps with like 80kg but that will mean being completely buried underneath a big stack of plates.
The cable crunch seems promising. I'm still learning how to do it properly but it allows me to add weight easily, as well as working alone without a spot.
Sprint notes:
I must say it was liberating not having to HT. I felt myself much faster off the floor and stronger thru the whole start and strong thru the finish. If I was timed, i'm sure i would have been close to 4 flat. Once a month i'll probably go during the day with a camera and time myself using that. It's more accurate that way too and I can really concentrate on my sprint.
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Thinking of getting a pair of knee sleeves.From what I have read, they help keep knees warm. Which is nice because I usually have to heat up my knees with a heater before squatting otherwise they feel rusty. I also think see i haven't got the best genetics for strength, i should be proactive about my joint health. I'm not equipped with large robust knees, so a bit of support will probably help my long term health.
(http://www.undergroundelite.com.au/images/T/Tommy-Kono-Knee-Elbow-Sleeves.jpg)
The Tommy Kono pictured seem to have a good reputation. They're $55 for the pair and another $8 for shipping. I dunno what the difference is btw these and what I can buy from any pharmacy
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I am considering replacing daily fasted TM work with something else. I enjoy the TM - it gives me a chance to listen to some music and unwind, but if it's hurting my knees, it's not worth it. I'll still do fasted aerobic work, but probably involve taking the dog for a walk instead. If this fixes my knee issues, then i'll make it a permanent change. I'll still get the knee sleeves as a preventative measure when squatting. The other thing I haven't explored is rolling my quads with a softball, see if that looses them up and helps knees feel better. But one thing at a time, so I can pinpoint which made the most difference.
Ha, tried on a pair of my brothers jeans (mine are far too loose even with a belt), they're 82cm(~32") and they fit me but slightly loose! I could be justified wearing a belt. Feels good man.
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Training
Fasted walking/jump rope - 15min
PC 3x40, 3x50, 3x60, 2x67.5, 1Fx72.5, 1x71 (PR!), 1x72(PR), 1Fx76, 1Fx75, 1Fx72.5, 1Fx72.5, 1x67.5, 2x3x62.5
Powerclean notes:
I watched the Don Mc video on sweeping the bar in. He also suggested putting the bar closer to the toes than I used to. It's further now, so much so the bar no longer touches my shin on setup. Is this ok? Anyway. sweeping the bar alone wasn't enough to make any apppreciable progress. For that I needed another improvement: stopping the stupid jumping thing I had picked up from the wrong way of being taught the lift.
Sweeping the bar and staying on my heels and not jumping was a revelation. I instantly got two PRs once I made the change. And I was surprised to see the bar rack because I wasn't exploding up like I had previously been taught. Instead I was transferring more momentum to the bar rather to propelling myself in the air. So I was delighted with the 2kg PR. The funny thing is, I almost nearly racked 75kg which would have equalled my lifetime PR albeit weighing ~20kg less than when I set it. I'm convinced with a bit more tinkering on form I could have racked 76kg as well, I just forgot not to jump (it seems it automatically happens when the bar feels heavy, i relapse into the older wrong way). If I had stayed on my heels i might have come closer to racking 76 like I almost racked the 75 where I consciously stayed on my heels.
Anyway i've decided I am not served well by doing a lot of heavy singles and failing a bunch of them. It's probably the right way to go if you have a lot of experience with the lift and your form is good but in my formative period with learning new technique, too much weight just confounds the learning process. Starting next week i'll just do a bunch of lighter triples, nailing down form, and add weight when I've mastered the previous load. This way i'll get a lot of reps with good form which will teach correct technique and later when I've got good form, i'll go back to doing heavier singles. I'm going to be super ambitious and hope to clean 90-100kg by the end of the year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2UT4915I4k - 1x72kg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaA9mmVRuU4 - 1Fx75kg
Thanks again Lance for the sweeping tip.
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Thats better man, and yea, the bar will sit right over the joint of the big toe in most cases. You sweep it into the hip as you "press" the floor. You still have a little hitch there but its getting better, nice.
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Thats better man, and yea, the bar will sit right over the joint of the big toe in most cases. You sweep it into the hip as you "press" the floor. You still have a little hitch there but its getting better, nice.
I was thinking I could do better. I'm not getting that pop out from hips in my PCs the way I do from my hang cleans. I could probably hang clean more than I could PC right now, because my PC form is so bad. Haha. I'll keep working on it! :)
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Thats better man, and yea, the bar will sit right over the joint of the big toe in most cases. You sweep it into the hip as you "press" the floor. You still have a little hitch there but its getting better, nice.
I was thinking I could do better. I'm not getting that pop out from hips in my PCs the way I do from my hang cleans. I could probably hang clean more than I could PC right now, because my PC form is so bad. Haha. I'll keep working on it! :)
Go slow during your first pull, really slow for a while. The MOST important thing is that the speed accelerates, not the total net speed. slow, little faster , little more, FAST is much better than fast-faster-slower-fast
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Will do. I noticed when I got the 71 and 72 I pulled them slower and just concentrated on getting in a good position to do the 2nd pull right. I was really struck with surprise to find the bar still racked even after pulled slowly. The other reps I failed, I was trying to pull harder/faster from the ground, but didn't rack those. I think I have a good feel for what a good PC should feel like now. It's not the 1/2 DL + jump shrug at all, it's a sweep and hip fwd movement while keeping the tension on heels (so to avoid being airbourne on the toes).
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^ yes, its one fluid movement, and the most important part of the first pull is getting it into a good spot for the second pull. There is an old saying that goes the first pull cant make the lift, it can damn sure fuck it up though. The second pull IS the lift. And youre spot on with not chasing the barbell up into the air. Youre trying to move the load AWAY from you, not go chase it. Mccauley has another video where he shows at the end of second pull, youre actually SHORTER than you are standing straight up.
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^ yes, its one fluid movement, and the most important part of the first pull is getting it into a good spot for the second pull. There is an old saying that goes the first pull cant make the lift, it can damn sure fuck it up though. The second pull IS the lift. And youre spot on with not chasing the barbell up into the air. Youre trying to move the load AWAY from you, not go chase it.
Got it.
Mccauley has another video where he shows at the end of second pull, youre actually SHORTER than you are standing straight up.
should I be catching the bar standing upright or should I be in a 1/4 squat position so i'm shorter so I don't have to pull the bar as high?
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Training
fasted aerobic ~15mins (walk, jog)
BP 6x80, 7x75, 8x72.5,
WGBP 5x75, 6x70, 8x65
Hang PC 1x70, 8x2x60
TMWU 300m (3 mins)
FS 4Fx102.5, 4x97.5, 4x95, 4x92.5
BS 1x90, 1x100, 1x105, 1x110, 1Fx115
RDL 3x132.5 (PR), 10x107.5 (PR)
DL 2x3x100
ABS - cable crunches - 3x10 (this is the greatest exercise ever, i feel in the abs from rep 1. Nice burn. Big abz here I come)
Hang PC notes:
I can't stop myself jumping up on the 2nd pull. I tried hard to keep my heels grounded but it just happens. Frustrating. It's like my body prefers to pivot on the balls of my foot rather than pivoting on my heels. It could be that I need to have a bigger heel on my shoe?
DL/RDL notes:
DL - In the 2nd set, I used a setup similar to my PC in that the bar was further from my shins. This made a huge difference and it just felt much better.
FS notes:
Didn't get the 102.5x4 PR sadly, failing the 4th rep. But nevertheless I had a break thru in squatting after that set. My shorts were fucking up my form somehow, they were causing my back to round. I then squatted in my boxers and I must say it was most liberating. I felt looser and my bottom positions in the subsequent sets were almost perfect, dare I say, Kingfisher like. I was in the zone, upright and controlled. I need to shop around for a pair of shorts which will allow me to squat without interfering with my positions at the bottom. Failing that, i'll just stick with squatting in boxers. Why mess around with something that works.
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vids are private, can't see 'em.
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vids are private, can't see 'em.
try now
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vids are private, can't see 'em.
try now
there you go.
also, re: bayes. you ever read harry potter?
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Nope, is it a character from there? I'm saving HP for when I have a child to watch it with haha.
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Nope, is it a character from there? I'm saving HP for when I have a child to watch it with haha.
ah well. if you'd read the books, i'd recommend an AMAZING fan fiction* of harry potter that reimagines harry as a math prodigy and dedicated rationalist who refers pretty frequently to bayes. it's actually significantly better than the original books. but not worth reading without having read those first, because you won't get 75% of the jokes.
*no, i do not ordinarily read fan-fiction. i used to read star wars novels as a kid but that was like 15 years ago.
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I might check it out sometime brah. Thanks for the headsup.
Training
40mins fasted walk
And this is prob the last time i log daily aerobic work. I've been doing it daily for over 14 days now, and it's become habit and i'll be keeping it up. No need to clutter up my log with stuff like that. Now if I happen to miss a session i'll log that of course. For what it's worth, my knees already feel much better from laying off the treadmill. I'll continue with and stick to non-TM aerobic work in future.
My glutes were slightly sore for the first time after those nice deep front squats I did last time. It's funny when I did SS with LBBS the only part of my body which got sore from squatting was lower back and glutes. Always glutes. Since then my glutes have rarely gotten sore.
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Why don't you go to the gym when you're fresh, whenever that happens?
I was trapped into the schedule mentality for years but I'm finally seeing the bigger picture. You don't need to become the slave of layed out programs.
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Obviously don't go over board, but it's better to be more rested than more fatigued IMO, especially if you're a hardgainer.
I usually take just another rest day and then go to the gym if I'm very tired. It doesn't make any sense to push through fatigue only to get more and more and more run down to the ground. If you do it, you're going to need a deload at some point.
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Training
TMWU 300m/3mins
BS 2x108.5, 2x110, 1x112.5, 1x115
OHP 4x57.5, 4x57, 3x58.5
TMWU 300m/3mins
Chins 3x3x97.25kg (+12.5kg), 5x88.25(+3.75kg), 2x6x84.5
CURLZ 8x47(PR, 1/2s), 8x40 (4 full rom, 4 almost full), 6x35 (full rom but right arm cramped up otherwise i had 8 reps), 6x32.5 (right cramp)
HIIT - 6 intervals of 10s on, 15s off
SSTM - 15 mins, 1.5km
Still have noodle arms, they haven't grown a jot even though i've been doing arm work regularly now. I've gotten stronger at the lifts but it has done jack all for me. Ridiculous because next week i'll be doing strict dead hang chins with 100kg and i'm almost half curling 50kg and yet i still have 12.5" arms. DO I EVEN LIFT?
Conditioning notes:
I finally figured out how to use my gymboss timer to do intervals lol. I started conservatively. I'll add 5s of on and reduce 5s of off next time. And probably add an interval to make 7. The "official" tabata is 8x20s on, 10s off. I'll approach that within the next 2 workouts.
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plan on getting back into making squat PRs
1. better preparation and recovery (improve hydration pre, peri and post workout, don't lift fasted, get a meal in before the first session of the day, full seminal stores during the week, dont wear out knees using the TM, etc)
2. reduce CNS stress (backsquat and front squat heavy only 1x a week: that means heavy triples, doubles and singles - only one day a week no more, cut down on the powercleans a lot- 1x week and not excessive intensity/volume - they seem to fry my CNS, ditto on the deadlifts)
3. add volume, my backsquat loves volume (lots of sets of 6+ reps, stick in the 80-85% range of 1RM)
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i love the growing preoccupation on adarq.org with limiting jacking off or having sex. you'd think we were a bunch of boxers in camp before a big fight. anyone know of any research on that? quick pubmed search of "effects of masturbation on serum testosterone" didn't yield anything relevant.
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there are studies out there but i really don't wanna turn my log into a discussion on the merits of abstaining lol
finding myself seduced by the lure of new lifting gear..
exhibit 1.. grey pendlays (i have the whites but they're ugly and i had the heel modified to be lower for when i was a lowbarer but apparently these only have a 0.75" heel? So if i'm after a much bigger heel than my current ones, 0.75" might not be enough anyway)
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515GALR5LOL.jpg)
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PFFG%2BkEmL.jpg)
Cost: ~$115
But then i'm also considering the ristos which have a legit 1-1.25" heel and would be ideal for olympic lifting
(http://www.undergroundelite.com.au/images/D/New-UGE-Weightlifting-Shoes-Australia.jpg)
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vzvO8xq9sdY/TLsYDZTXGsI/AAAAAAAAAdA/Fv_DeUNv1Kg/s1600/WThundr4.jpg)
These cost $115
And finally a cheapo pair on ebay which goes for around $90
(http://i.imgur.com/UYv7Z.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/BuGUq.jpg)
Or I could buy something more expensive and hope it's good enough to last a lifetime etc..
(http://www.budo-fitness.cc/os2/images/ADI-G17563.jpg)
adidas powerperfect ii for ~ $160
Oh and I forgot, another pair I came across..
(http://awf.com.au/merchandise/images/boots2.jpg)
The AWF pair for $110. The heel looks pretty high on this one too
Honestly I can already do a pretty nice deep upright front squat with my current shoes. If i get one with a bigger heel i might be able to go slightly deeper but it wont help my front squat much. But the reason i'm entertaining new shoes is because i'm hoping a higher heel will help my highbar backsquat to become more upright deep.
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We've had the discussion about masturbation/sex etc before, it just lowers aggression, bascially lowers rate coding etc.
If you have sex then you relax, chill, you don't need to "spread your seed" so you're like "ah, whatever, I don't need/want to be aggressive". I think that's safe to say it reduces your lifting and jumping abilities, basically anything that depends on rate coding etc.
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Training
TMWU 300m, 02:26
FS 2x107.5 (didn't have a 3rd), 2x110 (PR), 0Fx117.5, 0Fx116
BP 6Fx80.5, 6x77.5, 6x75
TMWU 300m, 02:46
HBBS 2x100, 2x1x107.5, 4x100, 3x97.5, 6x92.5, 3x90
5x30m sprints
ABZ - cable crunch 3x5 (+3.75kg from last time, great burn, my abs still feel warm minutes later lol)
- plank test - got an easy PR of 1 min before it got challenging. So that means i've improved core strength since i haven't done planks in months. Good to know that the ab work i've been doing is paying off!
FS notes:
I had heard but not known until now but these heavy RM attempts really do fuck you up for subsequent lifts. In hindsight instead of that 2nd heavy single i should have attempted a lighter 3RM PR instead. Or even if I had attempted 116 instead of 117.5 in the first place I would have got it. That's another thing, best be realistic and admit a ceiling of 5kg gains per month. So I should try 1kg, 1.5kg, 1kg, 1.5kg jumps over 4 weeks instead of trying for weekly 2.5kg ones as I have been til now and failing them.
Next friday I will attempt the following PRs hopefully with no failures:
106x3, 111x2, 116x1
If I make the above PRs, then the following weeks I will add 1kg or 1.5kg alternating.
Failed 116kg. I lean fwd out of the hole and it makes it difficult to lock the lift out. My question is this - if I had a higher heeled shoe, would I have got that lift? Mine have a heel slightly lower than 1/2". Suppose I had a heel around 1" - would that put me in a position to make that lift rather than to fail it?
HBBS notes:
I stumbled upon a nice little trick I hadn't seen mentioned anywhere else - I thought to explicitly instruct my hips to go forward on the descent. This combined with finding that feeling of sitting between the legs makes the entire thing feel very much how a front squat feels at the bottom. Which is good. Additionally I found by taking a slightly wider stance than usual, I could really stretch out my legs, so much so, rather than being limited by hamstring strength as usual, I felt the tension entirely on my quads.
The bad news is, looking at the video, it doesn't look similar to a front squat. The other caveat which worries me is that it seems to put myself in a rather precarious position if the lift is abortive and must be completed via a squatmorning, because the bar is rather forward. Maybe i'm just not meant to backsquat. Video below.
dessert:
(http://i.imgur.com/13Whg.jpg)
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Lifts look much better. Dont get too overy critical of minor details that cause you to get frustrated. Your squat is FOR SURE training your legs in a way that will strengthen them for athleticism. Sure you can eventually get even more upright and more stable, but what youre doing now is also effective as you continue to improve technically. Keep trying to improve and dont fall into that "I simply CAN NOT do xxxx". You can, and look how far youve already come.
I wouldnt get so frustrated with the missed pr's either. Some days youre going to have "off" workouts, its many reasons that cause this and some of them are actually positive. Having a set goal of volume like 30-40 total reps at >80% can really work well for you in those cases, you get some very crucial volume in even though youre not hitting a pr, that will enable future pr's in the next weeks.
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Just what I needed to hear. Starting monday i'll accumulate volume (30-40 at over 80% is a lot more than i'm used to, almost double, but i welcome the challenge and hope it does good things for me!) and make sure I do a good quanity of acceptable quality reps each workout. Appreciate it as always Lance, legend!
:headbang: :ibsquatting:
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I looked and I can't find anything! There are of course hardware timing gates (i think this is the technical term) but they cost a fair bit. And i dont need anything fancy just smething I can roll out on my own as a personal project. There are a whole bunch of fitness related apps out ther but nothing for timing sprints unfortunately.
ya man i'd rather be able to do it accurately on my phone too.
nice man sounds like a fun project.
i can't even get that android simulator to run on any of my systems.. really crappy specs.. takes like 20 minutes for it just to load up.
continuing it here so we're not spamming his journal or yours lol
yeah i was sprinting earlier and just before my last 30m sprint as i was resting it came to me in a flash, and i shouted out 'damn thats a good idea'. there were some ppl nearby who must have heard me and thought what's wrong with this guy lol. but yeah, i really think it could be something accurate enough to do the job and what I like about it the best, it will be reliable/reproducible. with hand timing, sometimes you just fumble triggering on and off and it's hard to be consistent. i also hate how hand timing gets in the way of starting and finishing. i heard they found a way to speed up the simulator but i never tried it personally. i'll let you know how it goes when i try it out
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what lance said. also, it seems kind of weird to go for a 3RM pr, a 2RM pr, and then a 1RM pr. i'd pick one of those three and focus on that for the workout. personally that tends to be 1RM because it's the most fun. but if you've put enough effort in to pr for three reps, what makes you think you'll have enough left in the tank to set a real 1RM pr?
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what lance said. also, it seems kind of weird to go for a 3RM pr, a 2RM pr, and then a 1RM pr. i'd pick one of those three and focus on that for the workout. personally that tends to be 1RM because it's the most fun. but if you've put enough effort in to pr for three reps, what makes you think you'll have enough left in the tank to set a real 1RM pr?
Yeah you're right. If my programming is good the 3 rep PR should be slightly less than the 3RM. That's why i'm going to be looking at 1kg and 1.5kg PRs now. So hopefully I can do a heavy triple and then a heavy double and a heavy single which are PRs but not true RMs. If you're asking me why i'm attempting all 3. Well I started with triples and then I got stuck, so i went for doubles and then i got stuck with those and went for singles and got stuck. And because I don't know on a given day which one will succeed and which one will fail, i try all three. Probably not optimal but it's hard to predict which attempts will be successful a priori.
I have to concede my new program isn't working and needs revision. My knees are constantly sore and I am hardly ever fresh. I've also got an insufficient amount of volume for squats and I will be doing more reps starting monday. It now resembles a bodybuilding split with 2 dedicated leg days where I do a shitload of volume. I'm moving the conditioning to the leg days because that way I will give my legs more rest since they'll have 5 days off and 2 very hard days on. Lets see how it goes.
(http://i.imgur.com/X6uNh.png)
UPDATED: HIIT during the day is stupid unless indoors, so move to PM.
side note, how cool are newbie/memory gains. have only been doing ab crunches for 2 weeks and my upper abs pop out, bulge out underneath the fat. gives me confidence that when i'm done cutting, i'll be able to gain back some of the mass i've lost, eg in upper back, lats and CALVES!!
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I slept awkwardly from wearing my massively oversized jordan hoody on account of it being very cold the night before and woke up left glute pain I used to have all the time when I had chronic sciatica. Thankfully it's gone today though. Very relieved, it was scary there for a while, i didn't want to relive that nightmare again.
Taking today off on the scheduled conditioning sessions. I'm resting up for the next program starting tomorrow where conditioning days coincide with leg training days. So it's no big deal, i'm just going to delay it a day. Hope it works better this time around.
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(http://i.imgur.com/4cBkf.png)
BW=81.35kg/179.35lb
~3.6lb over three weeks is not a bad result at all, all things considered. I'm comfortably under 180lb now at least. And very close to slipping into 80kg.
My best front squat in August was 112.5kg, my best FS in sept was 115kg. So I added 2.5kg, whooptydoo. I might have got 116 if I hadn't tried for 117.5 but that's neither here nor there. Anyway i've had enough of shitty progress and i'm going to add volume starting today when I begin my new workout, so things might be on the up. We'll see.
Where is my bodyfat at right now? Still have no accurate idea. It's in that fuzzy region of ~15-20% and could be anywhere there. Extrapolating if I will be 10% at 75kg say then based on that estimate i'll have an lbm of 67.5kg then i'm roughly 18% right now which is reasonable. On the other hand, i have good reason to believe I am at or very close to 15% right now. My waist is under 34" and into the 33s and my bodyfat may well have even slipped underneath 15% already. But until I reach say 12-13%, it's not yet /obvious/ exactly how lean (or fat) I really am right now.
I've been cutting for ages and it's coming up to the time I need to take a scheduled diet break which is set for 15th October and will be 2 weeks long til the end of October..
That gives me 15 days to finish up this cutting phase at my target of being reliably under 80kg (176lb). If things go perfectly and better than expectation i'll get as low as 79.5kg or 175lb but i'll settle for just being under 80kg at this point. I wont be 10% bodyfat at that weight, but i'm confident it will definitely below 15%. This might be too ambitious since losing about 5lb in 2 weeks is unlikely even over 4 weeks leave alone 2 but we'll see what happens. If I get an early whoosh I may just be able to ride it out to a 5lb net loss. If I don't then at least i'll get under 80kg. Only time will tell.
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Training
FS 4x101 (PR), 3x98.5, 4Fx96 (went real deep on the 4th rep and annoyingly caught the pins, had forgot to adjust them prior or i'm squatting deeper now, otherwise I had that rep easy), 4x94, 4x93.5, 5x92.5 (PR)
1x30m sprint (timed it close to 4.5s w/ camera and I also used t0dday's inspired idea of setting a manual interval)
BS 3x90, 2x100, 4x100, 6x95, 5x93.5, 1x97.5, 3x92.5, 3x92.5, 3x87.5
RDL 3x135 (PR), 10x110 (PR)
DL 2x3x105
HIIT tabata sprints, 14 on, 13off, 7 intervals total
ABZ - 3x8 weighted cable crunch (+5kg)
SSAT 10 mins, about 1km lol (my quads cramped had to stop)
FS notes:
Great squat session. Good form, nice and deep, controlled and solid reps, nice amount of volume. Really happy despite making a few fixable blunders like getting caught by the pins. It was very hot today and different from what i'm used to but I didn't mind it. Nice not having to heat up my knees. I don't think i'll be bothering with getting the knee sleeves until get it gets cold again.
I also found I was going rock bottom deep with weight above 80% so I'm putting on hold any thoughts of getting new shoes. I don't need them, I have sufficient flexibility to make do with a small heel. Later if I need to use a different shoe to squat > 1.75bw then i'll rethink it but for now i'm good.
One thing i'll mention is I made yet another technique breakthrough. I took a really close grip of the bar (like 15mm away from the smooth), this allowed my elbows to be pretty much perpendicular to my torso and nice and high, which allowed me to really get real tight, and this helped stay upright and together. The only concern is if I ever fail a rep and have the bar drop suddenly if i could smash my elbows on my knees? that would be bad. But i dont know if that's even a possibility and i like to think the pins would catch the bar before it got to that? I should do an experiment with the empty bar to see what happens.
Total reps above 80% attempted: 25 reps
Conditioning notes:
HIIT session delayed til evening - i went to the park and tried it but it was too hot and i'm not crazy enough to attempt tabata sprints in those conditions
I did run one max effort sprint. I set the interval timer to countdown to 2s before starting, and i took off at the beep, then it beeped again at 4s. At that point i was pretty close to the finish line. So i'm confident that I can get quite close to 4s if i am a)fresh (i definitely wasn't today), b)i finish cutting and push my strength up. Exciting stuff! All i know is, with a 30m sprint eventually under 4s I shouldn't have any trouble playing competitive basketball at a decent athletic level if I ever decide to play again
HIIT was a killer. I didn't like this session. Last time I felt fully recovered for every sprint but this time 2-3 intervals in and i was panting like a dog and 'sprinting' slowly
I'd just like to point out I ran on the TM today topless and last time I tried that I had to stop and pull on a shirt because of my moobs slapping around. But today there was minimal slapping. See guys, cardio/hiit does magic things for me. Even though i've only lost about a kilo of bodyweight, i've lost a lot of fat because of conditioning. I can't explain it but it's magic and happens every time I start conditioning.
BS notes:
No more HBBS nuff said. See next post for detail.
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The high bar experiment comes to an end
I was seduced by the arguments by Pendlay et al that HBBS is superior and better for athletes. I still find the arguments convincing and believe them to be correct. But i've tried HBBS out for a few months now and it's not worked out as well as I hoped. I still hold that an upright squat is a better squat, and if my backsquat were very upright I would be happy, but it's not going to happen with either back squat variant. My HBBS is more upright it's true but it has several drawbacks which I describe below. I also believe that HBBS in general is more upright and closer to the FS. And for some people their HBBS would be a great lift to use to drive up their FS. They should definitely use HBBS heavily. I'm not one of them. I also don't believe the other camp in thinking that LBBS carries over to FS either. So far i'm with Glen. But then trying it out, it just didn't work out for me.
HBBS and FS together beat up my knees, HBBS is harder to get right and more risky and the real kicker, it's not much stronger than my FS. So I never experienced the holy grail of doing 1 squat (HBBS) and seeing my FS go up with it. PC dominant squat wont help my FS go up, I know that and don't expect it to. Only my FS will help my FS go up so the idea of carry-over loses it's appeal in practice for me. And since the HBBS gives me no benefit but has drawbacks (knee beatup) then it's a no-brainer to pick LBBS which does provide benefits which FS does not.
I wish I could do a pretty HBBS that is upright, deep, heavy and carries over to FS. The reality is my HBBS sucks, it's lower than my FS, it is dangerous when form breaks down (i will invariably snap some shit up when the loads are much heavier and form deteroriates due to fatigue or what have you). I already had a scare from last friday when my last set of HBBS which were light but done while fatigued tweaked my back bringing back sciatica symptoms. No thank you.
I don't like keeping my hips in because it makes it harder to set a flat back which will come back and bite me at some point if I keep up with HBBS.
To sum it up HBBS doesn't give me anything that FS does not, but it gives me far less (except the back bruise!). So it's settled. I went back to PC dominant backsquats and it's time to rebuild PC strength and get back to squatting over 120kg for reps asap. I do a nicer, safer PC dominant squat and it's better on my knees since sitting back is much gentler on them. FWIW my hamstrings were shaking badly just using 97.5kg which should be a light warmup for me. I have regressed but it's ok, newbie gains for the reaping.
FS is still my main squat and I will be driving it up towards the lofty goal of 1.75*BW. Anyway things are lot simpler now, HBBS was no panacea for me i'm sad to say. i'm done experimenting, just going to stick to the familiar basics which have served me well so far: FS and using the PC dom squat as assistance. The End.
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Training
BP 5x50, 2x60, 3x70, 1x77.5 (warmups only)
Well. When my last warmup felt like a max attempt, I knew there was no way I was getting 6x80.5 today, so I called the workout off and will try again tomorrow. I was hoping I would have a better bench workout by having it on a seperate day, but I wasn't counting on being so weak and destroyed for upper body work after monday's hardcore lowerbody training but apparently it's just so. This sucks. Have to go back to the drawing board and make a new program now
But for what it's worth, not doing upper work yesterday made recovery for lower body quite good. Hams are a bit sore but that's normal and otherwise my lower body feels fine today.
Well laid plans of mice and men..... don't survive the first battle, is that how the saying goes?
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THE BEST LAID SCHEMES O' MICE AN' MEN
GANG AFT A-GLEY
robert burns. that poem is awesome, the opening lines are just awesome:
wee sleekit, cowrin' tim'rous beastie,
oh what a-panics in thy breastie?
thou need na start awa sae hasty,
wi' bickerin' brattle!
i wid be laith t'rin an' chase thee
wi' murd'rin' prattle!
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Do you have an English translation? Lol but nice, i gotta read the full poem, sounds intriguing
I swore I wasn't gonna do another one of these cutting posts so soon since i'm obsessive but I can't help it because I might have had that much cherished overnight whoosh although it might just be a transient water balance thing.. we'll see over the next coupla days if it pans out and sticks.
anyway here it is
(http://i.imgur.com/HOH7r.png)
BW: 80.75kg/178lb
I'm into the 80s baby!!
Although I still think i'm fat but im probably now under 15%. If it sticks and I am consistently into the 80s then I might just reach my goal of being 175lb (@ 13%?) by the end of the diet which is in 13 days time. Lets see what happens.
Training
BP 5x81, 5x78.5, 7x75, 7x72.5
WGBP 5x75, 6x70, 4x66, 5x62.5
OHP 2x55, 2x57.5, 3x4x52.5, 3x52.5
WCU 2x100 (+16.25kg, cheated 3rd, dont count it), 2x98.75 (+15kg), 1x98.75 (cheated 2nd), 2x4x88.8(+5kg), 3x86.3 (+2.5kg), 5x85(+1.25kg)
CURLZ 2x10x30, 1x10x20
BP notes:
Much better workout today. I think i've only just recovered ground though, no progress yet. I made one mistake today which was going to failure in latter BP sets, which made subsequent sets harder and made me fail those short of my rep goals. So next time avoid failure. It's not worth getting a PR in one set by going to failure if the latter sets are below par. PRs must not come at the cost of form or entire workout quality/quantity. Made up 20 reps of wide grip all the same, didn't quite get the chest pump I wanted but that was because of going to failure, won't happen next time.
All in all, I think i will annoint Weds to be Chest day. I'm a bodybuilder now, didn't you know?
Bad workout but i know how to improve it. Next time do presses in the AM followed by chinups. Bench in the PM. That will work best. I only did BP first today because I wanted to get a hard BP session to stave off detraining.
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(http://i.imgur.com/X6uNh.png)
Just going by trial and error but this is what im thinking of in terms of changes
0. Mondays stay the same
1. Tuesday off
2. First upper body workout on Weds. Make it hardcore. Shoulders (heavy ohp) and upper back (heavy weighted chins) in AM; chest (high vol bp) and arms (curls) PM
3. Thursdays off
4. Friday keep the same
5. Saturdays off
6. Sundays 2nd upper workout, make it a lighter one, tricep assistance (medium close grip bp, the skull crusher like lift lance suggested a while back), shoulders (medium ohp) and arms (curls). This shouldn't affect mondays workouts hopefully.
The benefits are I get a bit more frequency for ohp which i'm told the lift loves. and Arms get hit 2x a week which should give me better growth than i've seen so far (close to nil).
So in pictorial form it looks like:
(http://i.imgur.com/laHPD.png)
disclaimer: Management reserve the right to modify or withdraw program at any time whenever deemed necessary etc
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THE BEST LAID SCHEMES O' MICE AN' MEN
GANG AFT A-GLEY
robert burns. that poem is awesome, the opening lines are just awesome:
wee sleekit, cowrin' tim'rous beastie,
oh what a-panics in thy breastie?
thou need na start awa sae hasty,
wi' bickerin' brattle!
i wid be laith t'rin an' chase thee
wi' murd'rin' prattle!
English translation
Small, crafty, cowering, timorous little beast,
O, what a panic is in your little breast!
You need not start away so hasty
With argumentative chatter!
I would be loath to run and chase you,
With murdering plough-staff.
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cheers seifullaah73 ;)
(http://i.imgur.com/iS8cm.png)
dinner which is my 2nd meal of the day. Today it is rice w/ snow peas, potato & caulliflower and chicken, banana protein shake in lowfat milk.
This is pretty much how I eat most days, so i'm not starving myself, I just avoid the junk and let the caloric deficit do its work. Maybe when i'm closer to 10% i might have to eat like a bodybuilder w/ steamed veges and chicken breasts, but so far I haven't needed to thankfully. I owe most of my success to getting my breakfast right 100% and sticking to it day in day out without fail.
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cheers seifullaah73 ;)
(http://i.imgur.com/iS8cm.png)
dinner which is my 2nd meal of the day. Today it is rice w/ snow peas, potato & caulliflower and chicken, banana protein shake in lowfat milk.
This is pretty much how I eat most days, so i'm not starving myself, I just avoid the junk and let the caloric deficit do its work. Maybe when i'm closer to 10% i might have to eat like a bodybuilder w/ steamed veges and chicken breasts, but so far I haven't needed to thankfully. I owe most of my success to getting my breakfast right 100% and sticking to it day in day out without fail.
damn looks good..
im absolutely starving right now, that didn't help any.
entropy, did the new forum mess up your sig? i remember you had a picture in your sig.. or did you just take it out?
peace man
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damn looks good..
im absolutely starving right now, that didn't help any.
hah sorry!
entropy, did the new forum mess up your sig? i remember you had a picture in your sig.. or did you just take it out?
peace man
Nope my sig was getting a bit long but it still works w/ images, i just checked.
Also have you watched dexter ep1? spoiler: omg so crazy. you almost feel sorry for deb. they have done an amazing job with the start of the season.
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damn looks good..
im absolutely starving right now, that didn't help any.
hah sorry!
entropy, did the new forum mess up your sig? i remember you had a picture in your sig.. or did you just take it out?
peace man
Nope my sig was getting a bit long but it still works w/ images, i just checked.
Also have you watched dexter ep1? spoiler: omg so crazy. you almost feel sorry for deb. they have done an amazing job with the start of the season.
slick use of spoiler....
here's my reply:
bro, that episode was SICK.. this season looks like it's going to be way different than the previous seasons... i dont foresee him just hunting down one killer the entire season.. it looks more like he's on the verge of snapping and just kind of goes apeshit with all of the conflicting stuff going on..
homeland was equally good.. what a ridiculous back 2 back combo.
:!
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spoilers: when they were running thru the last season recap, i couldn't help but notice how weak that season really was. the other serial killer villians were boring, there was no suspense or mystery it was just a bad season except for the ending which was different. And from the first minute of this season you can tell it will be completely different. I found it more unsettling than enjoyable, engrossing for sure. I miss the old dexter story line of dexter almost gets caught but then he somehow manages to finnese his way to freedom at the last second. But now with deb knowing everything as dexter goes thru the motions at the crime scenes, you lose that sense of secrecy and escaping in plain sight. Still. I'll def be watching it!
I saved homeland ep1 for tonight, will tell you how I find it tomorrow :headbang:
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THE BEST LAID SCHEMES O' MICE AN' MEN
GANG AFT A-GLEY
robert burns. that poem is awesome, the opening lines are just awesome:
wee sleekit, cowrin' tim'rous beastie,
oh what a-panics in thy breastie?
thou need na start awa sae hasty,
wi' bickerin' brattle!
i wid be laith t'rin an' chase thee
wi' murd'rin' prattle!
my totally un-poetic translation (real poets have translated it but i can't be bothered to find one):
little sneaky, cowering, timid beast
what's that panicking in your breast?
you need not run away so quickly
with angry squeals.
i'm not going to run and chase you
with a murderous stick!
even good translations have NOTHING on the original, though. wee sleekit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastie...best description of a mouse in the history of the english language.
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Fell off the diet wagon after 10 days of strict compliance. I had about 600 calories worth of chocolate and probably 1000 of icecream and a greasy lamb kebab (500-1000kcal). I do so well during the week but it seems whenever my brother comes over, I end up binging on stuff he brings home. It's my fault though. I was experimenting with this thing I read from Lyle where you don't let cravings built up, and if you feel like having a piece of chocolate, just have one, and end the craving swiftly right there and then before it builds up into a ravenous eat-everything-in-sight monster. Well it kind of worked, I only had two caramello koalas. But then a few hours later i came back for the 3rd to reward my discpline and breakthru in self control. And then a little later I had another one, just because I felt like it, and it was just one, right? The icecream came later when I gave up and decided I had fucked up so badly that I might as well go full cheater mode. Which is exactly what I had been instructed to avoid in the first place by eliminating cravings lol.
(http://i.imgur.com/OLuhX.png)
The following day weigh-in
I'm getting disillusioned with cutting and being so far from my desired bodyfat levels. Feels like i've been cutting forever and yet i'm still so far from 10% bodyfat. Realistically I can't even get there by the end of the year. I will probably finish at just under 80kg mid oct. And after the break, on 1st nov, if i have managed to maintain my weight (big if, that will be challenging) over the break, i'll have to lose another 5kg, probably. 5kg in 6 weeks is impossible, esp since i have a 2 week diet break at the end of Dec, at which point i'll have to maintain my weight during the holidays!
So realistically we're looking at maybe finishing the cut sometime february? anyway we'll see what happens but fuck getting so fat that it takes forever to get lean. i'll never go above 15% again. I should have been starting my cut under 80kg, not 87kg or whatever it was I started at. Anyway i'm not going to stress about this stuff anymore, I have so far to go that it doesn't pay to be obsessive this far out.
Not much to report otherwise as it was a rest day. I woke up with really sore lats and chest for a change, which was nice. I am really digging my new program.
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I have had 3 days rest since my last leg workout. Lets see how it goes. Maybe a PR or two if I'm lucky. I think I will still get those knee sleeves. My right knee still doesn't feel 100% even after the rest.
Training
FS - 1x100, 1x106, 0x110, 1x100, 1x102.5, 1x105, 0x107.5, 2x100, 2Fx102.5, 0x100 (total reps I think 13 inc failed ones)
ABZ - rollouts, 3x10
- crunches 3 sets (+10kg on baseline)
SSTM - 2.25km, 20mins
FS notes:
Horrible workout. No chance of PRs. I must admit I got this wrong. If i'm going for volume, something has to give, bar weight, and I should have come into this workout thinking of doing 10x2x102.5 or something, instead of trying for heavier PRs and having no chance at getting them. As a result I have nothing to show for this workout, no PRs, and only half the volume I should have got because I burnt out trying for heavier reps and failures. Note to self, don't chase PRs, get the volume, workload is king, PRs will come later.
enough of this freestyle bulllshit i've been doing, i am my own worst enemy. I need a program with predetermined sets and reps and weight. Modified smolov junior for FS over 2 days? I read that in Pavel somewhere, i'll dig it up and go for it
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Sets Reps Weight
6 6 85
7 5 90
8 4 95
10 3 102.5
6 6 90
7 5 95
8 4 100
10 3 107.5
6 6 95
7 5 100
8 4 105
10 3 112.5
This is based on adding 5kg per cycle. Obviously it would take me a lot longer since i'm doing it over 2 sessions per week and it will take 2 weeks to do one cycle. I might have to take smaller jumps in the last two workouts but that's okay, we'll see what happens. Also I might jump in at 8x4x95, which should make Lance happy since that is ~80% and I don't drop below 80% for the duration of the program.
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sounds like your experiment with nipping the eat-everything-in-sight monster in the bud did not go very well. sounds pretty classic, actually. you'd been doing great and you still are, don't worry about it too much.
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CURLZ 7x5x32.5
Not doing my program anymore. My body can't handle it. Knees are getting worse by the day and right quad is acting up. There is a time and place for high volume programs but it's not at the tail end of a cut to 13%.
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RE: bad training performance over the last few weeks
I fell into this perfectionist trap where I was setting up a long fast before training, then not eating a full meal but just a small snack briefly before training. I know from past experience that this kills my squat but it's so tempting to optimise calorie intake around training to maximise fat loss that I lost sight of what's equally important as bodycomp and that's performance.
Today i'm breaking this habit. I've had a decent meal after fasting only ~15hrs (compared to 17-18 last week), and i've had plenty of water throughout the day. I'll have a 2nd preworkout carb meal later just before training while training later during the day like I used to before I got distracted by fasting. I know that as long as I stick to my macro and calorie goals i'll get the fat loss so the extra leangains IF nonsense is just an unnecessary performance handicap. I can still do the long fasting nonsense on rest days when it doesn't affect performance but strictly speaking it's not essential even then
The other thing i'm changing is my training itself. Each set I do must count for something, if it's not important, it's not worth doing. I have to make sure every rep has a purpose within the overall framework of physical performance. Enough volume is better than too much or too little, and I have to watch intensity and keep my CNS in check while cutting. I'll adopt Pavel's refrain about leaving a workout feeling fresher than when you began it. Avoiding failure, no grinding, keeping a rep or two in the tank. All that good stuff. Saving the CNS tasking workout for just one day (friday), and perhaps just one set, and keep the rest of the week low on CNS fatigue.
And I think i will go back to full body workouts too. I think the combo of daily treadmill work, high bar squatting and front squatting alot so often took a toll on my knees, but now that i'm not using daily TM or hbbs it should be ok to squat 3x a week while keeping my knees happy. I'll keep a close watch on this and make changes I need them. I do love the bodypart split approach but i'm going to save that for another time, it's better suited for when bulking rather than when cutting, probably.
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FS 3x102.5, 2x102, 2x98, 2x95, 4x92.5, 4x91
BS 5x80, 5x85, 8x75
FS notes:
Started off with my knees very rusty. As the workout went on, they felt better and better. The only interesting thing about this workout, apart from how weak I have gotten was that I discovered I shouldn't be trying to bring the bar back at the bottom of the squat but rather forward. Very counter intuitive. But the upshot is that it really stretches out my ankles and pushes my ass into my calves getting a nice bounce that doesn't hurt my knees. Remember this for next time.
BS notes:
It's clear to me now that the RDL gave me false confidence. It's been a huge waste of time, it hasn't done jack shit for my hamstrings and I only know that because I can't LBBS for shit any more and the RDL hasn't maintained leave alone built any hamstring strength since I stopped low barring. If the RDL had lived up to the promise of a hamstring builder then I wouldn't be struggling with squatting 90kg right now. Sure it makes hams sore. But i'm wondering whether whenever my hams got sore, it wasn't just for show and ultimately meaningless? Who cares.
On the other hand, i'm going to take the opportunity to get higher rep work with the backsquat. 8s and maybe even 10s while i'm working back up to my older PRs.
So i'm going to do squats and presses and upper assistance work and that's it. If i get a nice squat (both fs and lbbs) then i'll have decent lower body strength. Ditto with bench press and weighted chinups.
I'll do benching tomorrow, I want to try the upper body day by itself again and leave mondays, weds and fridays as sole lower body days.
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Plan for squatting over the coming weeks
- fs & and lbbs mon, wed, fri initially, then fs only mon and fri, and bs mainly weds only.
- bs - start with a heavy triple top set, avoiding failure and grinding, adding 5kg each time, then 2.5kg. After topset ramp down and get a nice deep six reper, followed by a lighter 6+ and an 8+. Aiming for total reps of ~20-25.
- fs - work in the 4s and 3s, adding 1-1.5kg each session, ramping down the weights thru the sets, no more than 20 reps, aim for 16 hoping to get 4x4.
goals, for oct i'd say getting 115x3 on bs would be great progress, 107.5x3 more realistic, but lets see what happens. for the higher rep sets, i guess 100x6 and 90x10 would be a good start. If i get that, i can hope to get to 125x3, 110x6 and 100x8 by year end? Dunno we'll see how it pans out. As for FS, well I wanted 130x1 but since i've stalled out pretty hard, maybe i'll be lucky to get even 120-125, but we'll see what happens. For this month, i guess 120x1 would be a great achievement.
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(http://i.imgur.com/P8BnG.png)
Never seen this before. I think it's just my scale being funny. It probably can't differentiate weights around 80kg accurately and it's appearing to round to 80. So when it does move appreciably from 80, i'll probably just wake up one day and appear a lot lighter on the scale
I can't remember if I remembered to update my strict compliance thing yesterday, that's annoying
new soreness: quads, all over my upper thighs, upper/inner thighs, lower back (yes!), glutes, hams (of course). It makes sense. I remember the same inner thigh sensation during workouts involving fs and lbbs, and it's good to find that familiar soreness returning. the thing is, on a particularly tasking FS workout, my inner thighs will also be on fire, so probably hitting them often with heavy or high rep pc dominant back squats will probably help drive my fs up than did my hbbs. I am regretting not heeding lance's advice early when i started front squatting to keep a hamstring dominant exercise in my program. At the time I did use pc dominant for a while but then I thought it was enough just doing RDLs, but if RDLs have helped me in any way, it isn't with hams
It's clear now that the combination of FS and PC dominant squats give me a complete leg workout. When I was doing hbbs+fs, i wasn't hitting my legs as well, going by post workout soreness
Also i'd like to record my backsquats are a lot deeper than they were in the past which is something I'd like to maintain. When I compare my front squats now with front squats a month ago, or even longer, it's easy to see the difference in depth. I am going ATG now and wasn't getting much below parallel when I started. So FS might have helped with my flexibility not just in doing fs's but also bs.
this is pretty exciting stuff, can't wait to get back to moving heavy weights
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Never seen this before. I think it's just my scale being funny. It probably can't differentiate weights around 80kg accurately and it's appearing to round to 80.
Testi it ( if you haven't done it already ). Weigh yourself and if it says 80 drink 500ml of water and weigh again. If it says 80,5 it means it works fine.
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It's not really a big deal, either way im too heavy and have to get lighter but the scale itself does a good job differentiating 1kg and more when i checked it in the past, im not sure if it can tell apart 500g but i'll check now, i have 0.5kg plates :) Also if you check the graph if i weigh 1/2 pound lighter it shud be able to detect that
update so i checked,
Baseline = BW
Baseline + 1/2kg plate = no change to BW
Baseline + 2x1/2kg plate = +1.1 kg
Which is about right, so it doesn't seem to care for ± 1/2kg but it will detect 1kg changes in the right direction
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BP 2x81, 4x80, 3x79.5, 3x77.5, 6x75, 6x72.5, 6x70
WGBP 5x72.5, 4x70, 5x65, 5x60
Have lost ground on BP too. It's clear I shud go back to 3x full body workouts, that's what works best for me.
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Knees now feel great. I've given them rest by cutting out the fasted walking stuff and I think the last time I ran was on 4 days ago on a treadmill which made them feel terrible. Hard to say whether it's because of rest or whether doing PC dominant squats has helped. Maybe both? I'm glad either way. Strictly speaking, I don't even need fasted training yet, I should just save it for when i'm into the stubborn fat stage around 10% bodyfat and I still have that weapon in my armoury.
I think once i've finished cutting, i'll come off the creatine. It will take off a few kilo of bodyweight and water bloat, and hopefully make me more athletic. Then i'll save creatine for later when i really need it, eg chasing a 3 plate bench press, 40" vert or a 4 plate squat not for my current modest goals. I know it helps with recovery which is why i'm staying on while cutting but later i'll stop using it.
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Food log
Meal 1:
3 eggs, 2 slice wholemeal toast, 400mL lowfat milk, 1.5 scoop whey, strawberries and banana (total cal ~700)
Meal 2:
Have run out of will power now when it comes to dieting. I just ate to satiety the following
3x masala dosa (loads of carbs, low fat, ~ 500g of potato..)
400mL lowfat milk, 1.5 scoop whey
5 snack size mars bars (~500 kcal)
1 bowl icecream (~200 cal)
Hope my fat ass gets some PRs tomorrow, i'm itching to squat. The upside of waiting 2-3 days between squatting makes me look fwd to squatting rather than seeing it as a chore
I'm ashamed to admit I couldn't finish the last week of my diet properly, I just can't string together 2 days of compliance anymore. I doubt i'll hit my goal of <80kg either
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Bodyweight: 80.6kg / 177.69lb (PR)
(http://i.imgur.com/97NqE.png)
The thing that kills me if I saw this progress yesterday I would never have broken my diet lol. The whole reason I lost motivation was out of frustration at the lack of progress on the scale. Anyway i'll start from scratch today, lets finish this thing.
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Bodyweight: 80.6kg / 177.69lb (PR)
(http://i.imgur.com/97NqE.png)
The thing that kills me if I saw this progress yesterday I would never have broken my diet lol. The whole reason I lost motivation was out of frustration at the lack of progress on the scale. Anyway i'll start from scratch today, lets finish this thing.
yup, make sure you're looking at the real data before you get frustrated.. your mind will easily play tricks on you to get you to stuff your face.
regardless, sticking to your diet more often than not is still effective.. sometimes you need to just give in and cheat.. if for some reason a day of cheating leads to 6 days of motivation, then it served an effective purpose.
i'd cheat 1-2x/week when leaning out.. but that's 5-6 days of staying focused.. everything depended on my 'stomach shrinking' though.. as i stuck with it, i'd need less food to satisfy me, even with the cheats, so it just adds up throughout the week and you get that good fat loss..
i honestly loved the fasted or non-fasted long walks to help with the fat loss.. sucks that it's making you feel achy etc.. cycling your legs a bit more, on occasion or for some significant duration, really helps to loosen up those quads.
pc man
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Nice ideas there adarqui. Reminds me of batman -
Why do we fall sir? So we might learn to pick ourselves up
Of course it explains why after a day of falling off the diet, you sometimes re-double the efforts the following days in trying to get back on track. Nice.
You're right about mind playing games - my thinking was I had stalled out, that to go further in my cut i'd have to cut more calories (scary) or train more (my poor knees) or worse take supplements (while still a long way from when i should need them ~10%).
RE: fasted walking, yeah. I think it might be partially because i'm not hydrated enough and my joints aren't well lubricated or whatever? I should try walking while hydrated see if that helps but I tend to just jump into it while hungry/thirsty.
One day i'll join a gym and then i'll have a bunch of different ways to train without beating up my knees. I'd use a SSB to hit my quads hard without breaking my knees with too much high bar/front squats. I'd use a bike or rower and get my fitness levels up without the knee beatup. I might even do it over nov-dec if i'm dangerously close to being lean and strong as a reward for my hard work lol.
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Training
FS 3Fx102.5, 1Fx102, 2x97.5, 3x95, 4x92.5, 4x92
BS 2x90, 3x95, 5x90, 6x85, 8x80 (PR), 10x75 (PR)
Sprint 5x30m (best attempt was inside 1m away from finish line at 4 seconds)
SVJx5 (best attempt hit the rim at my wrist, that might be a new PR? dunno - doesn't matter)
FS notes:
I wanted that 4x102.5 but it wasn't to be. It's defied me the last 3 attempts but one day i'll get it. Actually, next time go for 4x102. I might have a better chance of getting that than 102.5.
Form was great. YES YES. Did not hurt my knees once, i've got this shit mastered now. I'll upload a vid after coming back from sprints but things are going well for me now. No there are no PRs but they will come eventually - be patient - for now just know I have progressed in technique and depth and if I keep working hard PRs will come.
BS notes:
High rep sets are a revelation. Im using a high bar placement but without fwd knee travel of HBBS squats. So basically it's a hybrid of sitting back and high bar placement. Net result is no squat mornings, and no knee discomfort. It's the holy grail. And I go plenty deep to stimulate glutes and hams while giving adductors plenty of work as well.
For the first time I am on top of squatting. I am not going to bother with any half deadlifts (so called RDLs) or full deadlifts (so called back-snap-shit-uppers). Just plain old PC dominant backsquats and glute dominant front squats. I still don't know how to make my quads big and strong - but for now i'm nudging them along ever so gently.
brb sprinting
Sprinting & Jumping notes:
Keep in mind my running and jumping was done straight after ~40-50 reps of squatting but ..
I started off rusty but my last sprint felt great, i was quick off the ground and finished strong. Came close to hitting my 30m in under 4s goal but not yet. Maybe once i'm closer to 10% i'll crack it. Yes i will and then i'll be athletic!
Jumping, i haven't jumped in like 2 months? Feels like ages. Anyway i was surprised that even after not having jumped for so long, I could easily hit the rim at the wrist off a SVJ. That was cool. When i'm a legit under 80kg - then i'll go to the gym and test my leap properly. I'm loath to jump maximally on concrete because it bothers my ankle every time so I didn't try any max attempt RVJs or any RVJs for that matter. That makes a 30" SVJ? Cool but I want more.
So good training today. I saved the best for last, made a judgement call not to do conditioning (HIIT or SSA) today. I'll do it on teh weekend that way I wont beat up my CNS/joints too much today.
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I figured out how to make my squats more quad dominant. Paradoxically it means cutting depth to just around parallel. This is what I was doing earlier with my front squats when I set my old PRs. Back then, I always felt the lift in the quads. That's no longer the case now that I go a lot deeper, it's all glutes, they power me out of the bottom. Now at this point if I was perfectly setup, quads would be in a good position to contribute and finish the lift. That's not happening, I think because the bar has moved fwd, so quads cant contribute from that disadvantageous position. But cut depth and the quads can be perfectly positioned to drive the bar up since there is no fwd movement. I think I will experiment with depth. I like deep squats. And I will keep doing them. But I will also look at cutting depth when wishing to make the movement more quad dominant, perhaps as an assistance.
Videos on the way to illustrate the above.
Then:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTYIc9uNVxU
Now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_qDT0j638I
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Nice ideas there adarqui. Reminds me of batman -
Why do we fall sir? So we might learn to pick ourselves up
Of course it explains why after a day of falling off the diet, you sometimes re-double the efforts the following days in trying to get back on track. Nice.
You're right about mind playing games - my thinking was I had stalled out, that to go further in my cut i'd have to cut more calories (scary) or train more (my poor knees) or worse take supplements (while still a long way from when i should need them ~10%).
RE: fasted walking, yeah. I think it might be partially because i'm not hydrated enough and my joints aren't well lubricated or whatever? I should try walking while hydrated see if that helps but I tend to just jump into it while hungry/thirsty.
ya i notoriously under-hydrate.. i used to underhydrate on purpose too, for dunking.. lose an easy ~5lb water or so, one more inch.
but ya, when im underhydrated, i'm much more achy.. since you're doing fasted walks, down 8-16oz of some propel-like liquids.. it's basically 0 kcal so that's not a problem.
One day i'll join a gym and then i'll have a bunch of different ways to train without beating up my knees. I'd use a SSB to hit my quads hard without breaking my knees with too much high bar/front squats. I'd use a bike or rower and get my fitness levels up without the knee beatup. I might even do it over nov-dec if i'm dangerously close to being lean and strong as a reward for my hard work lol.
ssbar is great.. i no longer have to worry about my shoulders while squatting & it feels more like a front squat, which i've always loved but hated racking the weight, especially when i was really lean/skinny, would kill my bony shoulders lul.. ssbar seems to hit "core" pretty hard too, it's definitely a great investment.
can you swim good? i've never used swimming as a form to improve fitness, but it makes sense.. probably would be a great tool for people like us who have to be careful with join inflam/various aches+injuries.. i doubt i could swim good enough to get a decent workout.. i can swim fine but i've never felt tired when trying to swim 'fast+long'.
Training
FS 3Fx102.5, 1Fx102, 2x97.5, 3x95, 4x92.5, 4x92
BS 2x90, 3x95, 5x90, 6x85, 8x80 (PR), 10x75 (PR)
Sprint 5x30m (best attempt was inside 1m away from finish line at 4 seconds)
SVJx5 (best attempt hit the rim at my wrist, that might be a new PR? dunno - doesn't matter)
FS notes:
I wanted that 4x102.5 but it wasn't to be. It's defied me the last 3 attempts but one day i'll get it. Actually, next time go for 4x102. I might have a better chance of getting that than 102.5.
Form was great. YES YES. Did not hurt my knees once, i've got this shit mastered now. I'll upload a vid after coming back from sprints but things are going well for me now. No there are no PRs but they will come eventually - be patient - for now just know I have progressed in technique and depth and if I keep working hard PRs will come.
BS notes:
High rep sets are a revelation. Im using a high bar placement but without fwd knee travel of HBBS squats. So basically it's a hybrid of sitting back and high bar placement. Net result is no squat mornings, and no knee discomfort. It's the holy grail. And I go plenty deep to stimulate glutes and hams while giving adductors plenty of work as well.
For the first time I am on top of squatting. I am not going to bother with any half deadlifts (so called RDLs) or full deadlifts (so called back-snap-shit-uppers). Just plain old PC dominant backsquats and glute dominant front squats. I still don't know how to make my quads big and strong - but for now i'm nudging them along ever so gently.
brb sprinting
Sprinting & Jumping notes:
Keep in mind my running and jumping was done straight after ~40-50 reps of squatting but ..
I started off rusty but my last sprint felt great, i was quick off the ground and finished strong. Came close to hitting my 30m in under 4s goal but not yet. Maybe once i'm closer to 10% i'll crack it. Yes i will and then i'll be athletic!
Jumping, i haven't jumped in like 2 months? Feels like ages. Anyway i was surprised that even after not having jumped for so long, I could easily hit the rim at the wrist off a SVJ. That was cool. When i'm a legit under 80kg - then i'll go to the gym and test my leap properly. I'm loath to jump maximally on concrete because it bothers my ankle every time so I didn't try any max attempt RVJs or any RVJs for that matter. That makes a 30" SVJ? Cool but I want more.
So good training today. I saved the best for last, made a judgement call not to do conditioning (HIIT or SSA) today. I'll do it on teh weekend that way I wont beat up my CNS/joints too much today.
one thing that always made me uber-achy was performing jumps after squatting, unless my volume was very low (such as with the crazy high frequency ltmp/rested max stuff).
nice on that SVJ.. good sign after not jumping or 2 months.
I figured out how to make my squats more quad dominant. Paradoxically it means cutting depth to just around parallel. This is what I was doing earlier with my front squats when I set my old PRs. Back then, I always felt the lift in the quads. That's no longer the case now that I go a lot deeper, it's all glutes, they power me out of the bottom. Now at this point if I was perfectly setup, quads would be in a good position to contribute and finish the lift. That's not happening, I think because the bar has moved fwd, so quads cant contribute from that disadvantageous position. But cut depth and the quads can be perfectly positioned to drive the bar up since there is no fwd movement. I think I will experiment with depth. I like deep squats. And I will keep doing them. But I will also look at cutting depth when wishing to make the movement more quad dominant, perhaps as an assistance.
ya that's why I always half'd.. saved my hips/knees & hit my quads hard.
one other possibility is eventually investing in chains or LIGHT bands.. I used to hit quads pretty hard by going deep (light) and then really loading up the weight on those chains.. so quads would really have to work once I got above parallel.. accommodating resistance is definitely effective for improving 'the best of both worlds'.
otherwise, you could just do your deep sets and then just do one progressive workup above parallel.
PEaCE!
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ya i notoriously under-hydrate.. i used to underhydrate on purpose too, for dunking.. lose an easy ~5lb water or so, one more inch.
but ya, when im underhydrated, i'm much more achy.. since you're doing fasted walks, down 8-16oz of some propel-like liquids.. it's basically 0 kcal so that's not a problem.
Truth. Okay, i'll try fasted walking again but on the provision that i have plenty of water before hand. And you're right it's zero calorie, so there is no reason to avoid it. I just am not used to drinking a lot of water on an empty stomach but it's dumb to train fasted while underhydrated. Thanks for that, makes sense.
ssbar is great.. i no longer have to worry about my shoulders while squatting & it feels more like a front squat, which i've always loved but hated racking the weight, especially when i was really lean/skinny, would kill my bony shoulders lul.. ssbar seems to hit "core" pretty hard too, it's definitely a great investment.
Haha! i have the bruises on my collar bone and shoulders to prove it but thankfully Wolfs law kicked in at some point, and even tho i'm pretty bony, it doesn't hurt anymore and I never think twice about the rack. Bones adapt pretty quickly which is good! When I started i used to complain about wrists too but now they're plenty flexible and i'm happier for it. THe only complaint I had against front squats was my knees hurting. But I think I have that fixed now, i just have to go into the hole a certain way, and then it doesn't hurt knees. It's brilliant.
can you swim good? i've never used swimming as a form to improve fitness, but it makes sense.. probably would be a great tool for people like us who have to be careful with join inflam/various aches+injuries.. i doubt i could swim good enough to get a decent workout.. i can swim fine but i've never felt tired when trying to swim 'fast+long'.
Funny you should mention swimming. I learnt to swim last summer and i was thinking of getting back into it now that it's warm again. But the only problem is for me swimming is an anerobic activity lol, im not a great swimmer (probably worse now that im less of a whale than I was last summer!). But i'll get back into it, and if I adapt and it becomes aerobic, i agree its a great way to get some extra conditioning in. Good suggestion. I'll ask my homies if they wanna join me again this summer.
one thing that always made me uber-achy was performing jumps after squatting, unless my volume was very low (such as with the crazy high frequency ltmp/rested max stuff).
Yep i dont jump more than a few times on concrete, it's just a bad idea. So i did about 5 SVJS and stopped.
nice on that SVJ.. good sign after not jumping or 2 months.
cheers! can't wait to get to cut to 10% bf and take my front squat up another 5-15kg hopefully by then, and I'm hoping it will give me some nice improvements in vert.
ya that's why I always half'd.. saved my hips/knees & hit my quads hard.
Well. I don't have any probs with hips, and now i've improved my technique at the bottom, knees are ok. But the problem is i'm not a natural squatter. A natural squatter will go deep into the hole and come out strong and then eventually quads kick in which are perfectly placed at the right leverage to finish the lift. I come out of the hole strong but my positions are wrong for the best leverage for quads, so while they work hard, if my position was better i'd be able to lift more weight and with better form. But we work with what cards we've been dealt. I just see myself using a piecemeal approach to improving my athleticism now. Deep squats for glutes, hams, adductors etc. And then parellel squats to give quads the best leverage and hit them hard that way. A natural squatter would do one squat that covers all those bases, but i'm not one of those. I hate you LBSS.
one other possibility is eventually investing in chains or LIGHT bands.. I used to hit quads pretty hard by going deep (light) and then really loading up the weight on those chains.. so quads would really have to work once I got above parallel.. accommodating resistance is definitely effective for improving 'the best of both worlds'.
i have bands but not a pair of the same band. i could try to get another one though? And i never thought of using chains that way but wow that makes so much sense. At the bottom of the lift half of the chain is on the ground, and as you go higher, they yank up, giving the quads more work. Brilliant! I never knew how that all worked lol. Thanks for the idea, esp with using a lighter weight to have perfect position coming out of the bottom, and then using extra resistance to make the latter half of the lift more challenging. That might just be what I need hmmmm.
otherwise, you could just do your deep sets and then just do one progressive workup above parallel.
Will try this next time I squat. Thank you.
PEaCE!
thanks bro. appreciate it.
Another thing that hit me, if I was using a higher heeled shoe, it wouldn't magically solve my problems I think. If anything it would make it worse. Why do you ask? I'd be leaning over more out of the bottom of the hole. Which would put me at even more disadvantageous position at the 1/2-1/3 squat position which is where quads are most active. But. If I were using the higher heel and doing parallel squats, then I could lift more weight and quads would be at a better leverage. I could be completely wrong about this since im just theorising though.
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I hate you LBSS.
:-*
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:-*
Excited for my next squat session. Get to try out adarqui's idea of throwing in a set of parallel (FRONT!!) squats. I'm gonna put 121kg (1.5xBW) on the bar and get a FS PR for a max single. It won't be deep but it will be below parallel.
:headbang: :personal-record:
Damn, how am I am gonna get thru the next 48 hours til I can squat again :(
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(http://i.imgur.com/zzcQO.png)
Back on track!
BW: 80.3kg / 177 lb
New soreness: quads. But im not too excited about that, sprinting after a while always does that. Have also got sore lower back. Glutes and hams too. Basically everything except calves lol.
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FS 3x60, 2x80, 1x85, 1x87.5, 1x90, 1x92.5, 3x80
BS 5x60, 3x80, 2x85
WCU 2x100.5 (+17.5kg), 2x2x98 (+15kg), 4x90.5 (+7.5kg), 4x88 (+5kg), 4x85.5 (+2.5kg)
BP 2x70, 3x75, 4x72.5, 6x70, 6x65, 6x60
The plan was to get a light workout in to adjust back into 3x full body workouts. It went ok for squats. Then kind of fell apart on chinups, i went for a PR and failed the 3rd rep. Well not failed, technically I made it but I cheated the last coupla inches and I don't count those. And then I did a few other heavy maximal sets. BP was light though as planned.
In two minds whether or not to do conditioning. We'll see what happens.
Btw does anyone know what that mild pain/soreness is in the chest/intercostals when you unrack a bench press? It's a discomfort I get whenever i have recently front squatted or benched, kind of a lingering doms that only exhibits itself on teh unrack cos i have to stretch out to take the bar out. i hate it. it's no biggie just wish i understood it better.
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RE: banded squats
I dont have a pair of the same band but I tried with two different bands. The tension wasn't the same of course, but I got to try out banded squats all the same. The 2nd problem I had was my power rack does not have pegs for bands. I looped them around the pins but that gave insufficient tension, then I tried around the vertical support columns. That worked kind of except the whole thing about them being so far from where i am standing, meaning there was a great deal of tension pulling the bar off my back and into the back of the rack. Oops.
Chains are a lot more expensive but they'd work better for me at home. The thing is, if i'm going to spend ~$300.00 on chains I would want to try them out first. The same thing goes for SSB. I haven't found any gyms near me that have a SSB so I can't say whether it's worth buying one.
But I do have a plan on going to a gym with all this gear and testing out which of these pieces of equipment suits me well. I'll prob do it once i'm done cutting though, i dont wanna get distracted right now.
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Why do you worry about all that at your strength levels?
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Why do you worry about all that at your strength levels?
Bands and chains? Because they help train around natural limitations. What I can deep squat is nothing for my quads. To make deep squats more challenging for quads we add resistance using bands or chains.
In heavier deep squats, I come out of the hole strong but my positions are wrong once glutes have done the job and it's time for the quads to finish the lift. If my positions were better I would be ideally placed to quarter squat the weight up but i'm out of position because coming out of the hole my glutes dont drive straight up, they drive at an angle to the vertical. A strong squatter can converts the bounce out of the hole into an ideal position to quarter squat the lift to completion. My position not being ideal, means the quads are used inefficiently. Form sucks as well.
Using chains allows for using a lighter load at the bottom, as heavy as I can lift while hitting a good position at 1/2 squat on the way up, which ensures a position that is ideal for quads finishing the lift from there, the chains kick in and it puts a greater load on quads to challenge them. The net result is a more complete deep squat workout with perfect form throughout that is challenging for all of the muscles involved.
Also I think you need to consider the troll factor of doing banded squats with 60kg and pissing off the hardcore strength guys who care so much about what other ppl do in the gym
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Troll factor = me being a fan.
+1
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next day after workout soreness
- weighted chins made abs sore
- light squats helped dissipate soreness in quads
Was watching clarence front squat after flander linked his vid in the beast thread. I noticed his knee position is fine into the hole, probably pain free which is good. Then on the way up his knees come in. That got me thinking. It could be something that just happens naturally on heavy squats. But if it is something that just happens naturally it must have a purpose. I think it allow the quads a more mechanically advantageousness position to work with. I'm not sure if it's something I should try out myself but why not.
The other thing I noticed just now is the usual chest up cue. I am questioning it's literal value. A lot of stuff you just do because you heard it somewhere but who really knows whether they're useful or not unless you experiment.
Instead of chest up while arching my back, I tightened my core and crunch my chest down (instead of up) it flexes my massive upper abs. I find this position to be firmer and tighter. The whole thing feels super stable and rock solid. Chest up and the same stability isn't there. I could be wrong but i'll know for sure once I squat. Maybe I should be squatting that way all along. I'll try it out tomorrow. I'm excited about this, maybe it will fix my SM tendencies.
And the third thing is, pause at the bottom of a squat, re-orient chest, crunch abs and tightened core and then drive the core up in one piece. Maybe this will help with form.
I'll try out all of these tomorrow.
Oh and i need to schedule more light and medium days, i go balls out every time and it's given me jack shit in terms of gains, will try a less hardcore approach.
Didn't really hit a caloric deficit this weekend. But it's okay, i'll just nail the coming week and finish the job. It's the last week of cutting so i'm quite motivated to get to 175lb.
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Troll factor = me being a fan.
+1
+2
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Also I think you need to consider the troll factor of doing banded squats with 60kg and pissing off the hardcore strength guys who care so much about what other ppl do in the gym
+100
I am in complete support of anything done in the name of annoying those halfwits.
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(http://i.imgur.com/rJ4ZJ.png)
BW: 80.2kg / 176.81 lb
Goal BW:79.3kg / 175 lb (In exactly a week's time from now)
Here we go, the first day of the last week of the cut. I want to get to 175 so bad and if I have 100% compliance I will get there. I'm extra motivated now just to finish this thing. 175lb is a great place to end. I am hoping that last 2lb will come off entirely off the waist and take it down to high 32"s (A girl can dream).
Plan for fat loss -
+ stick to diet of course
+ daily fasted walking (20-40mins - more on rest days, less on workout days)
+ drink loads of cold water
+ stimulants before workouts
and finally the big one
+ 2 conditioning workouts this week
all of that above should surely make me loss 0.9kg in 7 days. Right. Right?
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Training
FS 1x100, 3x102, 1x105, 2x106, 4x96, 4x93, 3Fx92.5
BS 2x90, 2x100, 3x97.5, 5x92.5, 6x87.5, 8x82.5, 10x87.5
HIIT sprints - 7x (11 on, 14 off)
Spent. That's a shitload of squatting, took me over 2 hours. I don't have the energy to attempt benching now. It's given me another idea to try the split again, but this time instead of being a go heavy or gtfo bro, i'm going to try something different. Tomorrow I will bench, but not to PR or anything like that - just to get some nice volume in at a medium weight.
I didn't do abs today. Because apparently doing 55 work squats is kind of an ab workout in itself. I think it's part of the reason my backsquats aren't heavier is because abs are fatigued by the time i'm done front squattin. Not making excuses just stating a fact.
FS notes:
My new cues were a shit and miss. Instead of concentrating on the only good cue i've found so far (the put the bar between the ankles at the bottom), i forgot about it while trying to concentrate on the new ones which didn't really pan out. There is no harm in experimenting, only that the ankle cue saves my knees and I did cause a fair bit of discomfort to my knee today. It's okay, it's a learning process. I thought the 106 was a PR attempt but then I checked my logs and i've done 108.5 for a double before. The depth of that wouldn't have been as good as the 106 but nevermind. I've gotten weaker though. 2 weeks ago I had better form and was finding the same weights easier but cutting happens.
BS notes:
Cunt fuck motherfuckering. Enlightenment. Nonlinear progress ftw. One gets so caught up in adding weight every time that form is sacrificed for the sake of numbers in a log. Shitty way to train. I know now that nonlinear progression is the way to go. I'm going to take a measured approach to progress, when form is good, then progress, otherwise repeat. I can progress nevertheless by adding a rep or two next time with the same weight. That's progress too. My last set is deeper, more controlled and w/ much better form. If my training max today was 100kg then 77.5 is about 80% which is the sweet spot. This is telling me I've been going too heavy and it has cost me progress and good technique. But suppose if I take my 10x77.5 to 10x100 with the same form. That will be more beneficial that trying to push up multiple sets of heavier triples or fives while having imperfect form. I think one heavy set is fine though.
reminder to self ask Lance for a form check on backsquats
Conditioning notes:
Good choice of parameters today. Next time add 1sec to on, and take 1 sec from off.
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just remember that if you haven't made it to 175 in exactly a week, YOU HAVE NOT FAILED.
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just remember that if you haven't made it to 175 in exactly a week, YOU HAVE NOT FAILED.
I hear you mate, will keep that in mind. Thanks.
So far it has been easy, did 20 mins fasted walking yesterday, 40mins today. Trained hard in gym and got my first HIIT conditioning session out of the way. Looking forward to training again tonight. I had a preworkout chocolate bun yesterday but it's okay it was within my macros and it didn't affect the caloric deficit.
BW this morning was 80.1kg / 176.59 lb .. confident i'll be dropping below 80 / 176 real soon.
Training
BP 2x5x72.5, 1x5x70
And that's it. Nothing more :) I took stimulants, and after finishing the 3rd set I went back out to do another one and then decided why not just stop here. Sure I could do another set or two but lets be smart about this. I'll press again tomorrow. And bench again friday and sunday, no need to go balls out every time. Save that for the PR session.
So i'm still buzzed, what am i gonna do now? I have decided to use the extra stimulation to study my machine learning book 8)
I'm going to make splits work. They need care obviously - but the advantages are there. I did 55 reps of squatting yesterday, the next day my legs are recovered. Why? Because I only did lower body yesterday - my body recovers much more efficiently when I don't do full body workouts. It just means the next day I can't go and set an upper body PR. But that's ok, I don't have to set a PR the next day. I can set it on another day when i'm fresher. Will make this work :headbang:
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RE: sprinting vs jumping
I realised today that I like the idea of sprinting fast than I do about jumping high. Jumping high is something you do to impress other people I think. But running fast is something you do for yourself, no one else cares or will ever care about your sprint times, only you do. It's a purer goal.
I haven't looked very hard but I came across this table of data:
(http://i.imgur.com/AfAnu.png)
I didn't realise my goal of getting under 4s was so close to worth class, at least by 1992 standards. Now i'm even more keen to achieve it, especially considering how difficult it may prove to be.
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Yeh i like running as well coz it's more goal orientated for my sport (rugby). That's a cool chart showing the splits. It's interesting to contrast the differences between the sprinters. Even though Carl Lewis came last in that chart you can see from the chart how good his top speed is.
60-100m
Linford Christie 3.42
Carl Lewis 3.43
Andre Carson 3.49
Dennis Mitchell 3.53
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damn. Was working late and just finished up now i'm starving. Makes it hard because have plenty of left overs from a family thing over the weekend. Cake, pasta etc. Have to go without, otherwise i'll have to diet mo days. sigh. on cravings I brought a packet of salted peanuts into my bedroom and i was tempted to finish but forced myself to cram it inside an empty bottle of stimulants. That should keep it fresh and once i'm done cutting im gonna devour it.
sleeping hungry for the win .. but < 175 by monday will be worth it
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Got an overnight whoosh, under 80kg now! Have decided to revise my goal of 175 to 174 since i'll achieve the <175 goal 5 days early. I actually like the idea of finishing up under 79kg than leaving it as 79.3 anyway so this is great.
(http://i.imgur.com/wGwjv.png)
BW: 79.6kg / 175.49lb
It's funny. When i started cutting I thought i'd be ripped by 80kg. It now looks more likely it will happen around 75kg. I don't mind, it means I can gain a whole 5kg (11lb) of mass and still only be 80kg. Will be a beast at 80kg once i'm done cutting and bulking.
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 1x105, 1x110, 1x90, 2x80
BS 3x90, 3x97.5, 5x92.5, 6x90, 8x85(PR), 10x80 (PR)
CU 5xBW, 8xBW (PR)
PU 2xBW PU (new exercise, lol.. might have to use bands on pullups til i get better at them, will see)
CURLZ 2x8x30, 1x8x25
SSTM - 1 incline, 2.6km, 20 mins
FS notes:
Next weds don't go heavy just get some volume in and quickly go to backsquats. Otherwise good day, the 110 was rather ugly but i wrestled it up all the same.
Note to self, when squatting a hard rep, after the bounce out of the hole, think bring hips forward. this will save getting bent over. and then just squeeze it out with quads, nice and simple. try that next time with a PR weight.
BS notes:
Two things. I realised a) I have a sticking point, and related b)when I hit the sticking point, i relax my quads, and let my back round, allow the weight to lean me forward. Then i leave it to my much stronger back and glutes to take over.
The sticking point is very much real. And it's the reason my backsquat hasn't done much for my front squat AND VICE VERSA. vice versa you ask? Why yes. Check it. I front squatted 115kg. I'm struggling with backsquats around 100kg. How can it be? Because of the sticking point see. When I hit it, instead of pushing thru with my quads, i don't. This means all the leg strength i've build using front squats does not transfer to the backsquat. But i'm on it now - this will be addressed quick time. Newbie gains to the rescue.
Exactly a month ago when I was deep into my high bar squatting experiment I was going deeper and I had great form at least to the naked eye. Maybe the camera doesn't show everything, it's possible my knees were hurting but it makes me wonder if I gave up on high bar too soon. Maybe I can find a way to improve knee impact for hb as I have achieved with fs. And it's possible I can improve form so it's safer too. Maybe the sticking point that shows itself in my pc dominant squats is also there for hb and if it's removed/fixed then hb form and safety will too. These are all possibilities I should consider.
Conditioning notes:
Damn i'm loving running. Kicking myself for not doing it earlier. I put the incline on 1 because 2 sucks lol. It took me 15:22 to run 2km, i think a good goal for next time is 3km in 20 mins. Once i get that, i'll try get 4km in 25 and finally work up to 5km in 20-25 mins. That will be good enough for my purposes I think.
Another day, another 44 work squats. I must be crazy to do 40-50 reps of squatting 3x a week but that's how I roll now 8) .. unashamed squat addict
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(http://i.imgur.com/TSU0j.png)
BW: 79.2 kg / 174.61 lb
Goal achieved 4 days early. New goal is < 79/174.
I will fast 18 hours today and stick to the diet and hope i'll be under 79kg by tomorrow and l have a feeling I have PR coming up in me tomorrow in the last squat workout of the cut. That would be ace.
Possible choices for PR attempts
4x102, 4x102.5, 3x106, 3x107.5, 2x111, 2x112.5, 1x116, 1x117.5
Not sure which one of these I like my chances of best. The 117.5 would be bring me within a kilo on the bar at 1.5BW so that would be cool. But I've been working hard at the 102 the last coupla weeks and would like to see that fall (best i've got is a failed 4th rep). Realistically speaking i'm probably gonna go for the 102 but who knows what i'll end up attempting.
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I'd go for the 4x102.5 just think it's only a 500 gram difference from the 102. Plus it'll give you the confidence to knock off the heavier triples and single you want to do.
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VICTORY.
:highfive: :highfive: :highfive: :highfive:
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I'd go for the 4x102.5 just think it's only a 500 gram difference from the 102. Plus it'll give you the confidence to knock off the heavier triples and single you want to do.
Sounds like a plan. I don't feel very strong today (even flexing my bicepts seems tiring lol) so I don't think i'll go for heavy maxes, just try to get that 102.5x4 and then finish up with some lighter sets. Hopefully i'll crack it this time.
VICTORY.
:highfive: :highfive: :highfive: :highfive:
Thanks bud :D
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BW = 89.2kg / 174.61 lb
Training
FS 3x102.5, 0x117.5, 4x97.5, 4x95, 4x92.5
BS 2x90, 3x100, 5x95, 6x92.5, 8x87.5, 8x82.5
BP 1x77.5, 4x80, 2x75
HIIT 7x(12s on, 13s off)
FS notes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfptghp0bPg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HRO-hWOwKo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOQ-at86YYc
Went for the 4x102.5 but after the 3rd rep I just racked it, i know I wouldn't have got the 4th. Wanted a PR and decided to go for the 117.5 max, wasn't to be. On the bright side i'm 2.5kg off my PR for 3 reps and i've just got thru a long cut so i'm not too displeased with my last squat showing while cutting.
So that's that - next time I squat I won't be on a diet. I'm going to be aggressive with my front squat over the diet break. Will write a longer more detailed post on this next week.
Oh sweet, I figured out how to use avidemux to trim my videos. Will make uploading MUCH faster and it wont fill up my HD. I might write a script to go thru all my videos and trim them now. This one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz2wcAxRnBY) is only 2MB now! I think it makes it easier to focus on the lift. I usually edit my videos so they're as brief as necessary. Now they will be visually compact too.
BS notes:
Depth varies too much. I will repeat most of these sets again next time.
BP notes:
Benching after front squatting just does not work. I was prioritising front squats obviously otherwise I'd BP first. May just have to do that anyway, I don't like losing ground on bench.
Conditioning notes:
Amazing what difference 1 second makes. Last time it was almost enjoyable, this time it wasn't.
No abs or chins, too fuxxored. I squat too much.
Food
(http://i.imgur.com/ALM1J.png) (http://imgur.com/ALM1J)
Took my free meal for the week. Grilled wedges & coke. Still have two solid days of cutting left over the weekend, will be strict of course.
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If I remember right, one of your knees used to bug you. Any issues with that recently?
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If I remember right, one of your knees used to bug you. Any issues with that recently?
Hey long time. Yeah my right knee sometimes acts up. I've kind of figured out how to keep it under control. I used to do daily treadmill walking which was a problem. But with discussing it adarqui and others I realised I wasn't well hydrated when I was doing those walks in the morning. So i've been drinking more water before fasted TM. That has helped. The inner bro-scientist things it lubricates the joints or something like that. The other thing which I think has made a difference is i've dropped the incline from 2 to 1. I just do much longer sessions now which is probably better for fat loss anyway. Like 20-40mins compared to the paltry 7-10mins I used to do.
In terms of lifting - my technique was a problem. I was bouncing off my knees at the bottom of a squat. I have fixed that now by using my self-discovered cue of bringing the bar down into my ankles. When It goes there, there is no tension on my knees and I can bounce of the hole pain free. So these two things have made a huge difference.
Forgot to mention. The other big change I made was ceasing high bar squats. I like them, just doing them AND front squats, it's a bit redundant. And together they probably beat up my knees way too much. So now I do a PC dominant squat which is much easier on the knees while continuing with front squats which I love.
Having said that, i'm going to get a pair of Rehband knee sleeves. I don't have massive robust knee joints, so for someone like me, not genetically predisposed to heavy lifting, prevention is better than regret later. So i'll get some knee sleeves and keep my knees nice and warm and secure while I do my shitload of squatting (50 reps, 3x a week!).
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(http://i.imgur.com/hXQP6.png)
20 hour fast broken with a sandwich made of 5 eggs (small ones tho), 2 slices wholemeal bread. Also 2scoop whey shake in 400mL lowfat milk. A banana and half a dozen strawberries. It's pretty much dinner time lol and i'm having my brekfast.
For dinner i'll just have another shake later and get some sleep. Hopefully I got a wicked deficit today. And tomorrow we'll see what happens. I might or might not train depending on how much I want to squeeze an extra day of hard fat loss out before monday.
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Decided against the hard deficit for the last day of the cut. For the same reason I didn't train either. I wanna be fully recovered and fresh for tomorrow when I begin the next phase of becoming athletic. It's a 2 week period where I will eat maintenance calories and hold my bodyweight steady. It allows my hormones to rise and return to baseline after the long period of dieting.
I am hoping to see better performances in the gym as a result of the better hormonal milieu. I dunno if it will mean setting PRs every workout. We'll just have to see what happens.
Hopefully i've done enough to take my bw near or under 79kg / 174 lb - but we'll see what the scale says tomorrow
The plan for training is pretty simple .. loads of front squatting. Then some more back squatting. Aim to add a solid 10kg to my front squat PRs (for triples and fours) during the maintenance break. Upper body lift i will be emphasing is the weighted chinup. Will hit it heavy and often and aim to add weight aggressively as well. Don't be surprised if I end up doing a smolov with weighted chinups - i'm just that keen on the heavy chins.
So my best FS so far is:
bests: 115x1, 110x2, 105x3 and 101x4 (@ > 82kg)
goals: 125x1, 120x2, 115x3, 110x4 (@79kg)
And yea it might not be possible to add 10 kilos in 2 weeks. That's ok. If i only add 5kg, that's still awesome progress.
I dont like how I have marathon squat sessions which leave me unable to do much else. So i'm gonna split the workload as follows:
AM - heavy FS (3s and 4s), heavy BS (3s and 5s)
PM - lighter FS (4s), lighter bs (6s, 8s, 10s)
Hopefully this way the CNS shit is done when i'm fresh. The pump stuff goes later during the day.
I still wanna maintain my bench and press, so will have to figure that out somehow but it's not so important. I think the weighted chin is my preferred upper body mass and strength builder and the goal now is just to get to a decent level (think 115x3 and 120x1 @ BW < 80kg) so that when comes time to bulk, i'm not wasting my time with light shit and can just go all in for a real decent goal like weighted chins with 140kg. Realistically speaking that's much more likely than me ever benching 300 with my build (long arms, narrow shoulders, little upper body mass).
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If I remember right, one of your knees used to bug you. Any issues with that recently?
Hey long time. Yeah my right knee sometimes acts up. I've kind of figured out how to keep it under control. I used to do daily treadmill walking which was a problem. But with discussing it adarqui and others I realised I wasn't well hydrated when I was doing those walks in the morning. So i've been drinking more water before fasted TM. That has helped. The inner bro-scientist things it lubricates the joints or something like that. The other thing which I think has made a difference is i've dropped the incline from 2 to 1. I just do much longer sessions now which is probably better for fat loss anyway. Like 20-40mins compared to the paltry 7-10mins I used to do.
In terms of lifting - my technique was a problem. I was bouncing off my knees at the bottom of a squat. I have fixed that now by using my self-discovered cue of bringing the bar down into my ankles. When It goes there, there is no tension on my knees and I can bounce of the hole pain free. So these two things have made a huge difference.
Forgot to mention. The other big change I made was ceasing high bar squats. I like them, just doing them AND front squats, it's a bit redundant. And together they probably beat up my knees way too much. So now I do a PC dominant squat which is much easier on the knees while continuing with front squats which I love.
Having said that, i'm going to get a pair of Rehband knee sleeves. I don't have massive robust knee joints, so for someone like me, not genetically predisposed to heavy lifting, prevention is better than regret later. So i'll get some knee sleeves and keep my knees nice and warm and secure while I do my shitload of squatting (50 reps, 3x a week!).
Cool, I like that bar over the ankles cue.
The reason I ask is because I have similar issues with my left knee. The majority of the problem is form for me. I've taught myself to be so quad dominant since I started squatting it's a real battle to get the PC working. It sounds stupid because it's so obvious but I really have to focus on getting my hammies and glutes working. Right now, it's not natural for them to engage out of the hole, so I have a lot of work to do.
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(http://i.imgur.com/IHRA0.png)
Cutting from 5th July
BW=78.75kg / 173.834 lb
GOAL ACHIEVED!
Start: 86-87kg (~190lb), >20% bodyfat
End: 79kg (~174lb) <15% bodyfat
All in all, im happy with the results. Have got a lot leaner and lighter and i suspect i'm only a few kilos away from being at an athletic bodyfat level (~12%).
After this 2 week maintenance break, i will have time for another 6 weeks of cutting - which should permit getting to 10% mid dec.
I will post regular bodyweight updates to keep myself honest and don't let my bodyweight drift up while on the maintenance break. Feel free to yell at me if i start slipping!
I want to test my vertical and sprint time while fresh now that i'm lighter and finished cutting. May do it today but i've got a lot of work to do over the next coupla days. Sigh, we'll see if I can finish up and take an hour or two to drive down to the gym to jump. If weather permits i'll sprint today though. Failing that i'll just do it later towards the end of the week, even if I'm a bit more fatigued then. I expect to gain some rebound bodyweight after doing a carb reload though, cos i'm fairly glycogen deprived i suspect, but we'll see what happens on the scale over the next coupla daysd following the refeed (sometime today).
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That was a great cut. Losing 7kg and losing 5+% bf is really good.
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How did your strength evolved over all this process?
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(http://i.imgur.com/IHRA0.png)
Cutting from 5th July
BW=78.75kg / 173.834 lb
GOAL ACHIEVED!
Start: 86-87kg (~190lb), >20% bodyfat
End: 79kg (~174lb) <15% bodyfat
All in all, im happy with the results. Have got a lot leaner and lighter and i suspect i'm only a few kilos away from being at an athletic bodyfat level (~12%).
After this 2 week maintenance break, i will have time for another 6 weeks of cutting - which should permit getting to 10% mid dec.
I will post regular bodyweight updates to keep myself honest and don't let my bodyweight drift up while on the maintenance break. Feel free to yell at me if i start slipping!
I want to test my vertical and sprint time while fresh now that i'm lighter and finished cutting. May do it today but i've got a lot of work to do over the next coupla days. Sigh, we'll see if I can finish up and take an hour or two to drive down to the gym to jump. If weather permits i'll sprint today though. Failing that i'll just do it later towards the end of the week, even if I'm a bit more fatigued then. I expect to gain some rebound bodyweight after doing a carb reload though, cos i'm fairly glycogen deprived i suspect, but we'll see what happens on the scale over the next coupla daysd following the refeed (sometime today).
Success! Great work man. :headbang:
I really like the chart you use on your log, really helpful.
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(https://cuces.soc.srcf.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/1309300880715.jpg)
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That was a great cut. Losing 7kg and losing 5+% bf is really good.
Success! Great work man. :headbang:
I really like the chart you use on your log, really helpful.
(https://cuces.soc.srcf.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/1309300880715.jpg)
Thanks guys!
How did your strength evolved over all this process?
I've lifted heavier weight before on some lifts like DL and BS - but my form was quite bad back then. I set multiple PRs on most lifts that I care about (FS, RDL, weighted chinup and BP). Most people would be happy just to maintain their strength but I actually built some! I put this down to dieting moderately. Especially the last month or so of cutting I really hit my stride and was able to balance the deficit without compromising workouts. My next cut will go much more smoothly given what i've learnt in the last 4 weeks.
I've done hardcore heavy deficit diets like RFL before - but this was much better suited to maintaining and improving physical performance.
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Training
FS 3x102.5, 1x100, 3x97.5, 4x92.5
BS 2x90, 1x97.5, 3x100, 5x95, 5x90, 8x70, 8x75
BP 3x79.5, 2x77.5, 5x75, 6x72.5, 6x70
WGBP 8x60, 7x62.5, 5x65
ABZ 8, 2x8x10
Best part of these structured diet breaks of Lyle are the carb refeeds. I am gonna try put down 500g of carbs today. Lyle says if you do it right (surplus calories w/ <50g fat, <100g sucrose, <50g fructose) - you can actually continue to burn fat because your body will preferentially shuttle incoming carbs into the muscles towards glycogen storage. This helps restore leptin levels. Here is my post workout meal which I cooked on the bbq between sets of squats
(http://i.imgur.com/scvEH.png)
300g of lean meat cooked in loads of bbq sauce and served with tomato sauce later (ie = sucrose), and 8 of these awesome bread rolls which come out to a total of 150g carbs, 30g protein and under 5g of fat.
Will wait a bit and then go bench before eating more carbs. Am thinking I will prob have pasta and milk and icecream before bed :D
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Oh man i had the best night of sleep in a long time. It's amazing how much the body loves carbs. I'm continuing my carb refeed (24hr long - ends in 3 hours). Today i've had about a dozen bread rolls. The macros are quite favorable, under 15g of fat. I made a mistake yesterday by eating eggs in the morning, those bitches cost me 27g of fat.
My arms seem fuller today. Legs not yet though, still look skinny, so hopefully by tomorrow they will be pumped up too.
Goal is to put down 800g of carbs in this refeed. So far i'm up to 700g ish. Almost done.
Done, sucessful carb refeed is sucess.
Aite fun and games are over, starting tomorrow im back to my usual cutting diet + some extra carbs and fats to bring up to maintenance and that's it. Im hoping i'll see better times in the gym. If I don't get some PRs soon i'm going to be heart broken :( just kidding.
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Training
FS 1x100, 1x107.5, 1x112.5, 2x105, 1x102.5, 2x1x105
BS 2x90, 2x95, 2x100, 1x102.5, 2x1x100, 1x102.5, 1x105
WC 2x97.8, 3x97.8, 1x102.5 (+20kg! PR), 4x92.5, 3x90, 3x87.5, 5x85
FS notes:
I liked these singles. I will do more singles in the coming workouts.
BS notes:
Singles here also felt good. More of these too.
WC notes:
I did a chinup with a 20kg plate, feels good man. It's not as strict as I would like, so I wont count it officially until I do it 100% strictly.
Felt weak today. Here's to hoping friday is better.
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Damn, my abs are singing in soreness like i can't remember. Weighted chins man, they're the bomb. Strangely my lats aren't bothered but forearms are sore. I'm even keener to persue the weighted chin as my main upper body exercise. Want to do weighted chins with 2x20kg plates.
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Training
FS 5x1x107.5
BS 3x100, 5x1x105
BP 5x77.5, 5x1x80
CU 2x7xBW (PR)
Sprint 5x30m
SVJ 1x5 (PRish range - hit 1" below the wrist on one of them)
FS notes:
Almost perfect front squats. I'm loving dem heavy singles! I have such bad form with heavier sets but singles I can manage to do a decent enough job. Do you agree?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVBMz9FqDTA
BS notes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkp7OgelSTU
Form is much improved. Lance you were right, front squats may have just rehabilitated my squatmorning tendencies! Btw can you see my sticking point? Am I always going to have that or will I be able to overcome it thru training?
BP notes:
Had a crazy idea to do singles for BP too. Why not? Will see how it pans out.
CU notes:
Sure I am a light weight now but fuck these were so easy. I was worried I'd hit my head on the roof, that's how high above the bar I was getting and easily, just flying up like it was noting. The weighted chinups are doing good things for me - watch this space.
Sprints notes:
I used nearmap to locate a new piece of ground that's exactly 30m long. This is an improvement over my usual originally estimated but consistent length of grass in the park. I'm also running on turf now as opposed to grass. I prefer grass, it's just i don't like the bumps and troughs you get on grass which might injure me if i'm going all out. Turf is kinda squishy though, wish it was the hard firm kind.
The bad news is im not close to 4s at all. I checked on nearmap and im around 5m out of the target by the time the beep goes off. On one sprint I felt that was maybe 3m out? That's heaps man. Not sure if i can realistically expect to get under 4s. Maybe if i get real lean, push my squats up, work on my sprint (more than 1x a week), and run while fresh (as opposed to the end of a weights session) - then maybe, maybe i can squeeze the gap down to 2m? Big if anyways. Lets see how close I can get, it's exciting as a goal in itself.
Jumps notes:
i'd say i'm damn close to 32" SVJ now in favorable circumstances, I suspect the park rim is slightly on the high side cos I always seem to jump higher relatively in the gym.
Goal Time:.
I see myself at the end of this year under 77kg/170lb, 10% bodyfat, 20 smooth as butter strict dead hang chinups, weighted chin with 120kg (+40kg: 2x20kg plates), front squatting 120+kg and backsquatting 130+kg. Oh and benching 100kg. While jumping 34+" SVJ and running 30m in ~4s. The only thing stopping me is my dedication. I can do this - 60 days and i'll do wonders for my athleticism, i'm at that cusp of breaking over from unathletic fatty to lean & athletic.
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both squats look great man, nice work.
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both squats look great man, nice work.
Means a lot. Thanks much!
Was on the dreadmill as usual punchin in my 30-40mins slow steady a day and the meter on the thing said I burned a whole 30 calories. That means it will take 6 months to burn a whole kilo of bodyfat. lol seems almost pointless. I'm hoping that figure is on the low end but realistically it's probably not far from the truth. Ah well, it's only one part of the bigger jigsaw so it's not a big deal.
I'm going to add a 4th workout a week. I like the heavy singles a lot, but if I abuse them i'll get weaker/overtrained/injured. So will do them only on fridays. Then to make up the volume i'll add an extra training day on the weekend, but i'll make sure to only train at 70% of 1RM. This should be nice and easy and will help perfect form as well, which I need to do.
Somehow training is just coming together now, before it was all a big mess with a lot of experimenting going on trying to find something that works - think that's behind me now thankfully.
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Hey bud, I am about a month away from going on a cut. You gave me a good advice on eating about 80% great, rather than going for 100%. Should I focus on restricting carbs or restricting fat more. In other words, which poison should i pick? I am quite fat right now, with a rubber ducky around my 6 pack.
Re restricting carbs or fats - both. Sit down and work out how many calories you should be eating a day. If you don't know, get a good estimate and work with that. Take 15-20% off that to get a caloric deficit and you're left with your daily caloric goal. Say it's 2000kcal.
Next work out how much protein you should be eating - say it's 150g (1g per pound of lean mass). That means 600cal of your intake is gone towards protein, so you're left with 1400cal to split over fats and carbs. That's the only restriction that matters, how you split them up is UP TO YOU. If you need a good amount of fats in the morning so you feel full thru out the day, go for it. If you need more carbs at night to sleep better, then just do that, it'll do the job just fine.
Once you've worked out your calories and macros, draw up a breakfast, lunch and dinner. And choose foods you actually enjoy but fit your macros and calories. Some people pick super healthy foods they hate, and then they invariably find themselves avoiding sticking to them, avoid that. If you hate oatmeal don't bother, find something else you like. Then eat that every day. Sure it's boring and monotonous, but it will work. After a few months you'll have good results to show for it without needing to do anything fancy.
If you'd prefer to freestyle it as you go, measure your calories and make sure you dont go over your daily limit - that can work for some ppl too, but i've never tried that myself so I can't say much about it.
Don't fall into the trap of picking a huge deficit and then finding your workouts suck and you can't lift what you want - it's possible to progress while cutting just aim for 1-2lb weight loss per week and be dedicated (80% compliance over 3 months is better than 100% dedication that only lasts for 5 days ). Good luck get ripped man.
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Asymmetric soreness in lower body. Left glute and hamstring more than right. It's odd. It's kind of disturbing because it resembles my old chronic sciatica symptoms. I think it's because I haven't been jumping regularly, and now whenever I jump it bothers something. This happened earlier in the year too but as I was jumping and playing ball regularly, it went away and seems i've got that imbalance back from quitting basketball/jumping. I should do jumps regularly I think, even if they are submax, maybe throw them into workouts with a bit more frequency but little volume.
I had this dream last night that when I jump, I don't use both of my legs, and in the dream I used my right leg too and I was sailing over the rim dunking with ease. Was a cool dream, note to self think about jumping with both legs see if it helps lol.
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were they running double-leg jumps? when i first started practicing them a lot i got asymmetrical soreness/aches because i always plant LR. left hip ended up feeling wonky. but it went away with time and i do enough bilateral stuff that i'm not worried about it.
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were they running double-leg jumps? when i first started practicing them a lot i got asymmetrical soreness/aches because i always plant LR. left hip ended up feeling wonky. but it went away with time and i do enough bilateral stuff that i'm not worried about it.
Thank you. I don't do max running jumps on concrete, it's asking for ankle trouble. All I did were a few double leg SVJs. I get what you are saying though, if i was doing running jumps I do prefer to plant right leg first and then jump off left leg and it's important that to have ruled that out as the source of trouble since I didn't do any rvjs.
I think even in squats i'm left side dominant, not so much in front squats which are more symmetric but in backsquats. i have been working consciously on pushing with the right leg in backsquats because it's usually happy to just chill and go along for the ride given by the left leg. I might be unconsciously doing the same thing in jumping too. I wonder.
Last night I did my usual array of hip, glute and ham stretches which I do whenever i'm having problems. This morning I feel much better thankfully. I should probably do a few jumps regularly now to loosen up the imbalance and keep things nice and mobile. And regular stretches might not be a bad idea either, i tend to stop doing them when things feel good.
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Training (Active recov)
FS 5x20, 5x40, 3x60, 3x70, 1x72.5
BS 5x60, 1x80
BP 8x20, 5x50, 5x55
CU 2x5xBW
BW=79.2kg
Nice and light and easy. Next week add 1 set to each exercise.
Added the 4th training day. So now i don't go longer than 1 day between squats. No more than 1 day between presses and chinups either (i will be doing them every workout). More frequency = better recovery, less soreness, CNS fatigue and beating up joints. Hopefully better gains too. We'll see.
My goal was to use 70% on the lifts, but that was kinda too heavy today for some reason. I mean I could have done it of course (it's ONLY 70%) but i didn't wanna push it at the expense of tomorrows workout which is important and this one is just a recovery one.
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Feel weak today, i'm drinking water to try to hydrate better but think i might have to go get some gatorade from the shops. Have had about 2L of water so far. Will probably work out late tonight, i just wanna make sure im well hydrated first. Life is so much easier when you are downing a gallon of milk a day, would probably hydrate like a motherfucker with all that sodium, potassium, calcium, carbs and of course the gallon of fluid itself. But I can't drink much milk right now so will have to settle for sugar water instead.
Once i'm nice and lean i'll be able to handle a lot more calories without getting fat. This cut has really opened my eyes how over weight I was with respect to my lean mass. I had no business at all hitting ANY caloric surplus while weighing 85+kg - that was just a recipe for getting fat as fuck. But once i drop my weight down to a lean 10%, i'll have a better p-ratio and partioning of surpluses will better for mass gain. Realistically I shuda been around 73-75kg all along.
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 1x105, 1x110, 3x1x102.5, 2x1x100, 4x95, 4x92.5, 4x90
BS 2x90, 1x100, 3x102.5, 5x95, 6x92.5, 7x90 (PR), 10x85 (PR)
BP 1x75, 6x77.5, 6x75, 6x72.5, 5x72.5 (WG), 5x70, 6x67.5
CU 6,6,6,5 x BW
ABZ - 3 sets of ab pulldowns
Hydrated a lot. Over 3L of fluid thru the day. Gatorade worked like magic. Water just goes thru me but gatorade stuck around. Milk too.
FS notes:
Kinda forgot how to do front squats but rediscovered it again on the last set. It's go forward (paradoxical rite? you think the opposite). but at the bottom bring it back into the ankles (my cue). Remember this for next time ffs! Otherwise good session. Was weak as a kitten but I made do.
BS notes:
Form is getting better every time. I'm tapping into some newbie gains here w/ new form, watch this space!
BP notes:
going thru the motions.. my chest has gotten flabby since i stopped doing heavy wige grips so remember to go heavy on friday with those.
Chins notes:
Just clocking up the volume
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Thinking about front squats and athleticism and my experience with the lift so far. I think a good minimum for an athlete might be 1.5*BW - in fact that's probably too easy because a good athlete would be around 10-12% bodyfat and 1.5*BW isn't a big deal. But like I said minimum.
A 80kg athlete who is lean would need to front squat 120kg at a minimum, i'd say 140kg or 3 plates would be a decent front squat for a lean 80kg athlete. Incidentally 140kg is 1.75xBW which I have put down as my training goal for the medium term.
While i am around 80kg right now, that minimal goal of 120kg is just beyond my current reach annoyingly. But i'm not a lean athlete, im a fat unathletic guy who happens to weigh an overfat 80kg. If I was 10-12% my bodyweight with my lean mass I would be around 74-77kg (guessing here) and that would mean a 1.5BW minimum front squat would be in the range 110-115kg, which I have done already. So if I keep my current maxes and diet down to ~75kg, i'd easily have a minimal 1.5BW front squat but because i'm overfat it counts against me because for my current weight the minimal front squat is just out of my reach.
It's interesting how good the front squat is in informing me about my (lack of) athleticism. I don't think 120kg is hard by any means for someone my bodyweight, it should be easy for someone who is a lean 80kg. That's why I call it minimum.
If I was to speculate - a great athlete would have an easy 2BW front squat. For someone lean and 80kg - 160kg sounds about right at a minimum and this goes up to 180kg for a 90kg athlete. A 90kg lean athlete would be a genetic beast though and 180kg would be nothing for such a person but a great long term goal for someone who wishes to be athletic..
Going forward supposing I finish the cut to 10% in the next 2-3 months and i'm then 75kg @ 10%, front squatting around 115-120kg. That's an easy 1.5bw going on 1.6bw. So not a bad place to start gaining athleticism (as opposed to shedding unathleticism by cutting bodyfat). So now i have great insulin sensitivity thanks to low bodyfat, i'm allowed to gain a solid 5kg of mass while staying at or below my max bodyweight limit of 80kg. I can train at a surplus as opposed to the deficit i've been on for the last 6-12 months. Gaining 20-25kg on my front squat while allowing up to 5kg weight gain seems like a sure bet. I mean if anything I'd say it should be fucking trivial really - challenging would be adding that 20kg to the bar while trying to stay under 77kg say.
The thing is though im not going to fall into the trap of gaining a lot of bodyweight quickly just to easily progress my lifts. Because it's utterly useless to me to gain 20-25kg on my squat if it means having gaining 5kg of fat. That doesn't help my athleticism in any way - and then getting rid of that extra fat would take a lot of cutting which i would rather avoid. I think my chances are good of being ~13% bodyfat if I do gain 5kg from 75kg to 80kg provided I gain them over a period of a few months rather than weeks. My main goal wont even be to gain mass - it's to become more athletic, ie to push the lifts up while staying lean. In future i will take a break from strength and athleticism and train purely for mass gain - i would like to be a lean 85kg one day and there is a place for mass specific training. But in the meantime, i'd prefer to be a maximally strong 77kg front squatting over 140kg than a fat 80kg @ 15% bodyfat with the same lifts.
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Future bulk layout
Back to my plans for world domination, one heavy single at a time..
this is a better, actually conservative one
(http://i.imgur.com/kPdWe.png)
What I dont like about it though is how it's linear. Linear is probably bullshit. The human body doesn't work in a neat straight line. Maybe in reality the first 10kg on the bar will go up with only 1kg of bodyweight gain. Or maybe they'll need 3kg, and the last 15kg will need 1kg. Who knows how it goes, it sure doesn't have to be linear and i am betting it won't be for me.
But if at any stage I find myself slipping away from that dark line - it means i'm getting unathletic. So at least it gives a way of checking if i'm on the right track or not. So long as i am on or above the line, all is good. If I fall below, it is probably worth getting my bodyfat in check. I'll be updating the graph with my actual numbers as I go along.
If I am being optimistic i might be finishing the cut at 75kg @ 10% and perhaps with a front squat 120+kg. That would put me with a starting ratio of 1.6 which makes the above the graph rather pessimistic but we'll what happens once i've finished the cut. It's rather dubious to conjecture so far out from 10% when my PR is only 115kg. But suppose I chance upon the magic combination of training and the heavy singles carry me all the way to 120x5x1 then it might just be a reality. A girl can surely dream.
And that's all i'm saying on that topic.
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Hey how come it seems like you are focusing on front squat rather than back squat? Is it because you are more posterior chain dominant rather than quad?
Im just a much better front squatter and a poor backsquatter. I like front squats more than back squats. Both to perform and to watch. I have a bad sticking point with back squats which prevents me from doing them well with a lot of weight. When my form breaks down with backsquats with even moderate weights, its very dangerous and unsafe. I train alone and even with limit front squats I can fail safely without risking injury, just ride them down to the pins, no problems. With backsquats i'd get bent over it would put my back in a precarious position prone to injury, no thank you, esp when i've got a history of chronic sciatica behind me that I don't want to invoke anew.
The other thing is my fs and bs are very close together. Some people can handle a lot of weight on the back than front, i am not one of those. So I don't gain much from putting the bar on my back as opposed to on my chest. I lose some, form and safety, so the trade off just isn't there for me to focus on backsquats.
Lance thinks my backsquat turns itno a squat morning because i learnt to backsquat badly (hip driven) so front squat acts to remedy that tendency. I have found him to be right about this after focusing on front squats and seeing my squat mornings turn into nicer back squats.
Re pc dominant vs quads, honestly i have no clue. lance thinks i need more quad strength and i'm inclined to agree with him because i've noticed my quads not powering me out of the latter half of squats (both fs and bs). And my hamstring strength sucks for that matter, which is another reason i do backsquats - as an assistance exercise to help strenghten and build hamstrings & lower back. If i were to guess i'd say im very glute dominant, i power out of the hole easily.
did i mention i love front squats? lol. i think they're a purer exercise, a better test of athleticism. I've heard guys like Joe Defranco and the venerable yo elliot say the same thing so it must be true 8)
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the only pure exercise is the snatch. all other exercises are unclean to some degree.
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Training
FS 1x100, 4x93.5, 5x90
BS 3x90, 2x100, 3x105, 5x97.5, 6x95, 7x90
WCU 3x97.5 (+15kg), 2x100 (+17.5kg), 2x98.75 (+16.25kg), 1x102.5 (+20kg, PR!!!), 1x103.75 (+21.25kg PR!), 4x92.5 (+10kg), 4x90 (+7.5kg), 5x87.5 (+5kg), 5x85 (+2.5kg)
BW: 80kg
Decided to save myself for fridays front squats heavy singles so only did 3 sets of not heavy front squats. Finished with some backsquats which were not as good as I would have liked considering i wasn't exhausted from front squatting as usual.
FS notes:
Form sucked, didn't have a clue what I was doing today.
BS notes:
I started off well with the first warmup feeling very light on backsquats (probably cos i am a lot fresher than usual). But i'm really disappointed with backsquats. The depth just wasn't there today. I dont know why, i will repeat these sets next time.
Chins notes:
Got the +20kg chinup today, feels good man. Was 100% strict and not all that hard. I will probably start doing singles on this lift too. I reckon i am not far from 105kg w/ singles, and in a few months time I can expect to be close to my goal of 120kg chinups (+2x20kg plates).
Bring on friday, looking forward to doing front squat singles with 110kg!!
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the only pure exercise is the snatch. all other exercises are unclean to some degree.
I would agree that the snatch is the purest exercise. I would argue the front squat is the purest squat though. Well maybe just edged out by the squat morning..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkK9-mnDAy4
A nice deep upright front squat is a pretty sight.
compare and contrast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU_1OgTgYqM
uggers
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I like the front squat myself ( although i cant get it right , maybe now with lifting shoes ) , and i've also read that you get the form right ( which is the main problem ) its more 'functional' than back squat.
Having said that, the compare videos are terribly biased, you can't compare a submax 5-reps 200kg raw front squat with powerlifting meet sutied 350+ kg back squats.
Any day's video of your FS vs BS would be convincing and unbiased enough! ;)
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I like the front squat myself and i've also read that you get the form right ( which is the main problem ) its more 'functional' than back squat.
Having said that, the compare videos are terribly biased, you can't compare someone a submax 5-reps 200kg raw front squat with powerlifting meet sutied 350+ kg back squats.
Any day's video of your FS vs BS would be convincing and unbiased enough! ;)
lol vag I did that on purpose .. (playing chess 2 moves ahead ;) !)
so now i show you a big fat guy doing a limit front squat...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkSN3f-a3Ok
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMBsGbWBlX8
still purty to me :) check mate!
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To be fair reza has a nice back squat too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuaESO6c63M
but i'd argue it's because it's closer to a fs being a hb and all
pat's limit bs looks good too (on account of it being deep and upright)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK7m6I5m6gY
Just a bit of fun, everyone gets to choose their own favorite lifts of course :D
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Well played kind sir , well played ! :trolldance: :lololol:
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for the record, i was definitely joking.
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Training
FS 5x1x110
BS 5x1x107.5
BP 5x1x82.5
BCU 2x7
BW: 79.5kg / 175.27lb
Weather did not permit sprinting or jumping.
Maintenance break is over as of yesterday, back to cutting. This phase will be 6 weeks long with the concrete aim of reaching 75kg/165lb @ 10% bodyfat. The majority of weight loss will happen in the first 4 weeks though. I want to get down to 11% by the end of November.
Training will be focused around progressing heavy singles on fridays.
(http://i.imgur.com/GsDsp.png)
If my estimates are correct, i am roughly 15% now (i could be more but my reasoning is due to my abs poking thru fat, all hours of the day unflexed. This might just mean I have big abs and am actually over 15% but if visible abs mean anything maybe i am even below 15. Maybe 14% but i'm being conservative since most people understimate their bodyfat. We'll find out by 1st December anyways.
Aite, lets do dis shit.
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visible abs all day = you're out to lunch if you think you're still at 15%. unless you have some really weird fat distribution. i have blurry but visible abs and my guess is i'm around 12%.
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visible abs all day = you're out to lunch if you think you're still at 15%. unless you have some really weird fat distribution. i have blurry but visible abs and my guess is i'm around 12%.
But we train - so abs are going to be more developed than someone who doesn't? That means abs begin to show up much earlier and w/ higher bodyfat than usual! On the internet I just assume everyone is much fatter than they say/think - so if you ask me, you're probably a muscular 15% :P
I could easily lose 10lb though so I doubt i'm much lower than 15%. I don't mind if am under 15% though, it means less time cutting lol. Lets see what happens, will know for sure when leaner.
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(http://i.imgur.com/gAcuE.png)
Ok so the plans to end the maintenance break early just did not happen. I got off to a great start on the cut the first 4 days - but my sister flew over unexpected on the weekend and I took her out to lunch yesterday and we ended up eating too much so the weekend was a writeoff. Having said that, I did manage to squeeze in 36 hours of fasting in there but still, it doesn't count when you eat 2500kcal in one meal lol.
So lets start over and get back on track. In 7 days time I want to be under 78kg / 172 lb.
Beast mode enabled.
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Somewhere in a book or magazine, I read about this old school british guy who did the overhead press everyday. I think it was every day. It might have been every other day but I distinctly remember it being daily which is what made it remarkable. Anyway so each time he did the exercise he'd add only a tiny/neglible amount of weight to the bar. Like less than a pound. After a year or so, he was pressing some beastly amount. I hate doing heavy presses now and get lazy and stop doing them when I cant be bothered. But i was thinking about that man adding a tiny amount of weight each time, just getting in the reps daily.
Would like to try something like this - ohp 3-4x a week, low volume, high freq, low intensity.
So the last coupla days ive been doing presses 2x5 with a light weight, and adding a bit of weight. Lets see how long I can keep it up and what sort of gains if any come from it.
Btw i'm going to chase a 85x5 wide grip bp in the next coupla months - hopefully it will build some chest mass which I'll need to bench 120kg later on in a competition with mutambo.
Training
OHP 2x5x45
BP 6x78.5, 6x76, 6x75, 5x76 (WG), 4x74.5, 4x72.5
FS 1x100, 1x105, 4x100, 4x97.5, 4x95, 4x92.5
BS 3x90, 2x100, 3x107.5, 5x97.5, 6x95, 8x90 (PR!), 10x85 (PR!)
SSAT 2km, 16:51 (next time bump to 7.7 kph and for 20 mins)
That's 52 reps of squats. Felt good.
FS notes:
Am not liking that last rep of the 4s - it gets ugly towards the end of the set. Will keep working on it.
BS notes:
A few reps towards the end of the sets were just parallel but I figure as long as i'm progressing it's not a big problem. The way I see it, those reps make me strong too, just in a different way. Eventually I want to get say a deep 10x100 but it wont hurt if at that time I am also doing 3x130 just to parallel.
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I would be very interested to hear your thoughts/methods on BMR & TDEE calculation.
There is a relevant thread here : http://www.adarq.org/nutrition-supplementation/exrx-calorie-requirement-calculator/
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Only 1 day into the originally planned cut - my metabolism is revving at high speed from the hormonal reset of the maintenance break. I'm gonna make the most out of it by keeping a solid deficit and just dropping bodyfat quickly before metabolism adapts and ramps down.
I hate cutting, hate being to unable to sleep from hunger in bed but will suck it up and get it over with. 1 2 day done, 41 40 to go.
At some point I will need to take stimulants to get by but I can't be bothered ordering any yet.
Check my sig for a link to the post I will be updating in future rather than cluttering up the log with new bodycomp posts every time.
I am starting to feel that I wont even be lean at 75kg. Wish I knew what bodyfat was, sigh. Whatever the case I will keep cutting and see what reality has in store.
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Training
OHP 2x5x47.5, 8x40
WCU 2x101, 2x98.5, 2x98, 1x103, 2x1x105 (+25kg, PR)
FS 5x92.5, 5x94.5 (PR)
BS 3x110, 5x100
jumps (5svjs, 5 rvjs)
HIIT 7x 10on,12off
BW: 78.1kg / 172.18lb (new low bw)
Some PRs today. Technically nearly every workset is a PR because i've never lifted before at this bodyweight - but they aren't lifetime PRs so I wont count them.
FS notes:
I had trouble keeping a flat back b/c was experimenting with a new technique but I will abandon it due to imperfect form.
BS notes:
Depth is improving, but I will repeat the triple next time since the form was a bit off for the last rep. The 5 was ok.
WCU notes:
Didn't go for the 25 reps today - have decided to split volume and intensity up. Will start next week. Btw I am digging these heavy singles. Will persue them exclusively now.
I'm gonna mess around with some inclined benches and arm work now, just cos I feel like it but wont log them. Til next time, tada.
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Training
OHP 2x5x47.5
BP 5x1x85 (PR)
FS 5x1x112.5 (PR)
BS 5x1x115 (PR)
BW=79.3kg
Fasted today = Bad training.
Pressing Notes:
Employed Lance's bench cues. Not sure how I feel about it yet because these were heavy as motherufucka on account of my fasting nonsense.
FS Notes:
Form was horrid.
BS notes:
Each rep was very demanding - but my form held up surprisingly.
That's it, no abs, and no cardio, it got too late.
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Pressing Notes:
Employed Lance's bench cues.
Link?
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Training
OHP 2x5x50
BP 5x79.5, 6x77.5, 6x75, 5x77 (WG), 5x75, 5x72.5
FS 1x90, 1x100, 1x107.5, 2x102, 1x100, 2x97.5, 4x95, 4x92.5, 4x90
BS 3x90, 2x100, 2x100, 2x95, 5x92.5, 6x90, 8x87.5
BW: 78.6kg / 173.28lb
Pressing notes:
OHP is going ok so far. Will be switching to 1.5kg jumps now, for maybe one or two workouts and then it's going to be 1kg.
For BP - intensity is kinda higher than ideal for volume. I wanna push my topset up to 80x6 and then i'll be content to keeping intensity below that and just getting the reps in.
FS notes:
Balls. New cue is a game changer. Another piece in the squat jigsaw falls into place. Form is approaching that of a kingfisher or a LBSS if I am so bold. But I can't lift as much weight FOR REPS with the new technique although I suspect I can max a bit more now. FOR NOW this is an acceptable tradeoff. I DONT CARE! - i finally have pretty form!!
Will build back to PRs pointedly while observing the new technique and maintaining form.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxSWAgJo8K4
BS notes:
Squatmorningnomore, see fs notes, same thing applies. I employed a super effective cue today and was so excited to try it out, actually had dreams about itl all weekend waiting breathlessly to squat. lol.
I could have lifted a lot more weight but my (R) hamstrings were not interested. It just felt really sore and strange. I think I should have got that active recovery in over the weekend, but part of the reason might be with the new form, my hams are loaded more and this shows up a weakness.
Reminds me of something LcMcD once said that if you want to stretch out hamstrings, then make sure your back is arched. And if you want to stretch your back, make sure your hamstrings are relaxed and your back is rounded. That guy is a smart motherfucker.
No abs today. No cardio today. I could do cardio but I wanna see what muscles are sore tomorrow and cardio might muddle the causality.
Absolutely destroyed from squatting. It was all leg work today, no more strong lower back compensation for bad technique. After my last set of squats I had to lie down and just get my breath back. Felt like 5 minutes at least.
And I did stupid fasting today again so lifts were much harder than necessary. But I wanna get under 77kg by next Monday morning so that's the main thing. I barely ate anything today just some protein shakes. I will be very hungry this week - losing 2kg in a week kind of makes that unavoidable.
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crazy depth.
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crazy depth.
ATG dats how we do :lololol:
Btw what was sore after those squats? Hams, glutes, quads and lower back. Keep in mind i squat all the time, so I don't expect soreness but there it was all the same. Good sign.
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Training
OHP 2x5x51
WCU 3xBW, 2x84.5, 1x89.5, 1x94.5, 1x99.5, 1x107 (+27.5kg; PR), 3x2x99.5 (+20kg), 3x94.5, 45x89.5, 5x87, 5x84.5, 8xBW (79.5; not PR see notes)
FS 5x92.5, 3x95, 5x90
BS 6x97.5, 6x92.5
SSTM 15 mins, 2km (next time bump to 8kph and 20 mins)
BW: 78.4kg / 172.84lb
OHP notes:
This lift is fuck of fuck. It's 15kg (!) below my 5rep PR but it felt hard. It doesn't help I am doing fasted training but whatevers. I will take 0.5kg jumps now.
WCU notes:
I think I did something like 30 weighted reps whch was the goal. The last set is not a PR because I didn't dead hangs nor strict so not PR, just went for arm pump but then remembered i have to squat later and need fresh abs so stopped. After squatting I may go for the arm pump chins again but probably not.
FS notes:
I picked the wrong weight for the 2nd set, should have gone for 90kg rather than being ambitious and going for the PR of 95x5. I could have got that 5 but it would have been ugly/grindy. Form was good.
BS notes:
Good form. Accidentally did 6x97.5 when I was supposed to 5 reps. But i'll take it. Next week will go for 100x6 and 105x5 with the new (solid) technique.
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low back soreness might be related to your butt tucking at the very bottom. you don't NEED to go that low, you're way past parallel before the butt tuck starts. i notice more soreness when i can feel the tuck happen during squats (well, it hasn't happened in a long time but i remember it).
still, looks/feels cool to be true ATG.
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low back soreness might be related to your butt tucking at the very bottom. you don't NEED to go that low, you're way past parallel before the butt tuck starts. i notice more soreness when i can feel the tuck happen during squats (well, it hasn't happened in a long time but i remember it).
still, looks/feels cool to be true ATG.
It may be related but I don't think so. Actually normally I don't maintain the lower back arch out of the hole in both FS & BS. That last workout was the first time I managed to fix that by holding the arch throughout the eccentric by employing a new cue. That alone might be reason for the soreness b/c in the past i'd have relaxed the lb after the concentric but now i'm novelty working the lower back harder to maintain a rigid spine. It's funny because in the past LB would have to work harder to GM/SqM the weight back into my body.
I hear ya about depth. I think my backsquat as opposed to fs is just to parallel or slightly below. I would like slightly more depth there but i def don't go too deep on BS and prob never will because i'm just not that flexible yet. When I started doing FS they weren't very deep and now I can go ATG. Maybe I will be able to go a lot deeper with BS but my hamstrings tighten up and limit depth there whereas with FS I can just go as deep as I like because hams don't limit rom.
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Training
OHP 2x5x52
BP 5x1x87 (PR)
FS 3x1x115 (PR)
BS 3x90, 2x100
HIIT 6x10onx13off (ow lawd)
BW: 78.6kg / 173.28lb
FS notes:
FS burnt me out. Form was bad on account of near limit tonnage. On the bright side I equalled my old 1RM and used the same weight for 3 singles while weighing ~4kg (9lb) less so that's the silver lining.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6BNWqzz4Wk
But damn I haven't hard to work this hard for 5 reps before, these were very difficult. I failed the 4th, there was no way I could stand up with it and just left it on the pins, wanted 5 total. Guess it was just all I was good for today.
update. oh crap i know why i failed it. the eccentric was too fast. i shud go slower. also i will do heavy partials from near the top. im ok coming out of the hole now. that used to be a problem but it's good enough atm. have to nail down the last 1/4. experienced folk - do you concur?
BS notes:
Heavy BS singles planned did not take place, I was late for a dinner meeting so left it there. Am disappointed but what can you do, cutting happens.
From here, I guess I will have to prioritise FS or BS - I can't hope to advance them both in the same workout. That sucks but recovery is very limited right now and I have been sore in the hips, hams and quads lately even after rest days so something has to give.
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hey lance or andrew can you give me some tips for how to schedule fs and bs w/o grinding myself into dust? Atm i do the following program while reversehypertrophing:-
mon
FS 4RM, 4RM (-2.5kg), 4RM(-5kg), 4RM (-7.5kg),
BS 5RM, 6RM, 8RM, 10RM
weds
FS 2x~5RM
BS 5xRM, 6RM
fri
FS 5x~1RM (heavy singles)
BS 5x~1RM (heavy singles)
and i've hit a brick wall with this, am sore and beaten up (joints, ligaments etc) and burnt out cns'ly and kind of dread squatting now
will be cutting for another 4wks btw hoping to get sub 75kg/165lb ..
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update. oh crap i know why i failed it. the eccentric was too fast. i shud go slower. also i will do heavy partials from near the top. im ok coming out of the hole now. that used to be a problem but it's good enough atm. have to nail down the last 1/4. experienced folk - do you concur?
re: partial (front) squats .. (reading up it appears the technical term is concentric squat)
come to think of it that's a similar prob with my backsquat too except it manifests itself there as a sticking point. with fs tho, i kinda let my upper back round so i can hug the bar and then good morning it horizontally back into me and then once i've got the bar position, i push my hips thru.
here is how it shud go - from that sticking point, hips shud be going thru fwds while the bar is going up. this will bring the bar horizontally back into the body simultaneously while the bar rises. but atm this isn't happening. what happens is i have two seperate distinct horizontal and vertical motion components in succession
i might just spend a few weeks hammering out that sticking point by using partials and see how it carries over to the full rom exercises. ive never done partials before but this sounds like a good time to start.
can't wait to try this out next week :wowthatwasnutswtf:
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hey lance or andrew can you give me some tips for how to schedule fs and bs w/o grinding myself into dust? Atm i do the following program while reversehypertrophing:-
mon
FS 4RM, 4RM (-2.5kg), 4RM(-5kg), 4RM (-7.5kg),
BS 5RM, 6RM, 8RM, 10RM
weds
FS 2x~5RM
BS 5xRM, 6RM
fri
FS 5x~1RM (heavy singles)
BS 5x~1RM (heavy singles)
and i've hit a brick wall with this, am sore and beaten up (joints, ligaments etc) and burnt out cns'ly and kind of dread squatting now
will be cutting for another 4wks btw hoping to get sub 75kg/165lb ..
While your cutting I would keep the really cns intensive stuff to the front squat, and use the back squat for your volume. One way-
mon- ramped front squat in singles up to heavy single ( whatever youre capable of for a single without much grinding. Shouldnt have to psyche up for it, and shouldnt miss.)
then 3 x 5 back squat around 8rm to start with. ramp weight if its easy
weds- 3 x 3 front squat ramped sets up to a heavy triple. 2 x 10 back squat (easy weight, could get 15 to start with)
friday- 4 reps front squat, rack the weight, 4 reps back squat, 4 sets. Try and improve the load each week you do this.
only an example, though that will make progress easier and still give you nice volume.
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hey lance or andrew can you give me some tips for how to schedule fs and bs w/o grinding myself into dust? Atm i do the following program while reversehypertrophing:-
mon
FS 4RM, 4RM (-2.5kg), 4RM(-5kg), 4RM (-7.5kg),
BS 5RM, 6RM, 8RM, 10RM
weds
FS 2x~5RM
BS 5xRM, 6RM
fri
FS 5x~1RM (heavy singles)
BS 5x~1RM (heavy singles)
and i've hit a brick wall with this, am sore and beaten up (joints, ligaments etc) and burnt out cns'ly and kind of dread squatting now
will be cutting for another 4wks btw hoping to get sub 75kg/165lb ..
While your cutting I would keep the really cns intensive stuff to the front squat, and use the back squat for your volume. One way-
mon- ramped front squat in singles up to heavy single ( whatever youre capable of for a single without much grinding. Shouldnt have to psyche up for it, and shouldnt miss.)
then 3 x 5 back squat around 8rm to start with. ramp weight if its easy
weds- 3 x 3 front squat ramped sets up to a heavy triple. 2 x 10 back squat (easy weight, could get 15 to start with)
friday- 4 reps front squat, rack the weight, 4 reps back squat, 4 sets. Try and improve the load each week you do this.
only an example, though that will make progress easier and still give you nice volume.
Thanks much. Will implement it starting today!
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Laying off the daily TM work for a while, have managed to bother my right knee again. As long as I stick to about 3kph it's fine but on Saturday I went to 3.6 and that did me in.
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Nice squats. It's hard to keep focus on front squat and back squat while cutting but this is what I have been doing for awhile.
Warm up with front squats, triples up to one or two challenging but not impossible work sets for front squats. Then switch to back squat and do higher-volume paused reps until I hit a rep goal.
For example if I am going to work with 315 (which is about a 6-7rep max for me in fsq): Front squats: 3x135, 3x225, 3x275, 3x315, 3x315 THEN switch to paused back squats: 5-10x315 until I hit somewhere between 20-40 reps.
That might be a bit volume intense, but I really like using the front squats for ramping so the movement pattern doesn't get old, but limiting the heavier sets you are not too fried for your back-squat. I've cut around 10 lbs and been able to keep this up while raising my reps/set in the backsquat. A fair compromise.
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Nice squats. It's hard to keep focus on front squat and back squat while cutting but this is what I have been doing for awhile.
Warm up with front squats, triples up to one or two challenging but not impossible work sets for front squats. Then switch to back squat and do higher-volume paused reps until I hit a rep goal.
Thanks. I've been doing FS first and then BS 2nd, it works ok except on the heaviest FS day I am too fried to attempt BSs afterwards. But on volume days i've been doing ok with FS first and then BS last, similar to what you do.
For example if I am going to work with 315 (which is about a 6-7rep max for me in fsq): Front squats: 3x135, 3x225, 3x275, 3x315, 3x315 THEN switch to paused back squats: 5-10x315 until I hit somewhere between 20-40 reps.
I like that mindset of picking a weight, sticking with it until you've mastered it (got the rep goal), before adding more. I still have this awful habit that I picked up from my introduction to weights where I try to linearly progress thru workouts every time, but I really need to give that up and allow form and mastery of a weight should dictate when to progress, not some idealised progression scheme.
That might be a bit volume intense, but I really like using the front squats for ramping so the movement pattern doesn't get old, but limiting the heavier sets you are not too fried for your back-squat. I've cut around 10 lbs and been able to keep this up while raising my reps/set in the backsquat. A fair compromise.
I like the suggestion. Until now i've been working w/ Lance's advice a while back to do volume (~30-40reps) which I took to mean 30 reps with FS and then 30 reps with BS - meaning I was doing close to 50-60 reps on my high volume days. Then on medium volume days i was getting about 40 reps total, and the heaviest/low volume day, i've been doing heavy singles for a total of about 20 heavy reps. But recently the FS singles have gotten so heavy that BS singles have become difficult afterwards.
Thanks for stopping by, always a pleasure to hear your thoughts on training.
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I tried training using Lance's suggested program but as I feared, back-to-back heavy singles days were not going to happen. I got pinned really badly halfway up on my last warmup single (105). I'm not sure what's going on but I think i'll need to take deload week before switching from my old program to the new one.
And i'm also easing off on the daily treadmill. Like i've mentioned it amounts to a mere 40-60 calories a day. Chump change, and if it's messing up my knees and affecting my squatting/sprinting then it's not worth the opportunistic cost.
So plan for this week is get the knees feeling better, shake of this right hamstring tendon funkiness, deload for the rest of the week (i haven't taken a deload week all year), and then start Lance's program monday.
This week is proving to be a bad one for training - been too busy with other things. So no point stressing over it, just going to take it in stride and let my body recover and heal up for the rest of the cut.
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try some other kind of cardio? jump rope? rower? light bodyweight circuits?
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try some other kind of cardio? jump rope? rower? light bodyweight circuits?
I tried skipping earlier this yr, hurts my knees & ankles. Don't have access to rower or bike (that would be ideal tho). I will try your circuit suggestion. It sounds crossfitty but it might just do the trick. Thanks.
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Training
OHP 2x5x52.5
BP 4x77.5, 3x75, 6x70, 6x67.5, 6x65
FS 5x93.5 (PR?), 5x92.5 (form PR)
BS 5x97.5, 6x95
FS notes:
FS was ok. I used a tip I picked up in vag's thread from kingfish about wearing shoes loose. It allowed me to drop down into the hole effortless without bothering my ankle nor my knees nor my hamstring tendon thingy.
But the real breakthru was in the 2nd set where I learnt to use my quads to keep myself upright out of the hole. Vid below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qooHvkFnQC4
This should be my form in all worksets from now.
BS notes:
Felt amazing to backsquat without sore hips/hamstring tendonitis. I wanted 100x6 but the layoff has made me weakr.
Pressing notes:
My right shoulder hated benching. I found everything heavy and ugly.
Forced myself to workout. I don't deal with skipping days, it throws me completely off my game. But thankfully this week is behind me, should be smooth sailing now til the new year.
Should fit in 1 more workout this wk and then next wk start over with programming changes. I haven't been cutting properly either the last few days. Just life getting in the way.
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New bodyweight milestone, under 171 lb today. Can't wait to be in the 160s. This is suprising esp since I have been working thru a 2L container of icecream over 2 the last coupla days. I'll take it.
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Nice. You'll be 165 sooner than you thought at this rate.
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How do you feel so far vs where you started... in terms of everything?
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try some other kind of cardio? jump rope? rower? light bodyweight circuits?
I tried skipping earlier this yr, hurts my knees & ankles. Don't have access to rower or bike (that would be ideal tho). I will try your circuit suggestion. It sounds crossfitty but it might just do the trick. Thanks.
YAAARRRRRR crossfit did not invent circuit training! they just fetishized it! circuits are fun.
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Training
OHP 2x5x53
FS 5x95 (PR), 5x91
BS 6x97.5, 6x95
BP 1x87.5 (PR), 1Fx87.5 (brought the bar down too fast)
WC 3x90, 2x100, 0.8x110 (+30kg, couldn't get chin over the bar), 3x95, 8xBW (PR)
BW: 77kg/170lb
FS notes:
Felt strong today. I was in two minds whether to go heavy and do the heavy singles, or save myself for monday as per Lance. In the end I was happy to do 5s. I like 5s on FS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxvyOnkV14M
Felt good about form. It's not every day I get a PR on the bar, as well as on the scale, and have good form as well. See video above!
BS notes:
Form was great. Squatting has come together. I must remember to always employ a cue I got from LBSS months back which helps a lot on both squats.
Have to bench and weighted chin yet. I could leave wc for next week but it will be 2 weeks btw workouts which i want to avoid. so looks like i'll be having a hard ass training day instead.
YAAARRRRRR crossfit did not invent circuit training! they just fetishized it! circuits are fun.
Was that intentional or coincidence (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yaar)? Either way is very cool. Yeah they didn't invent it, they have just appropriated it and made it unfashionable. Which is probably a pity because it's got some merits, they just went full retard with it!
How do you feel so far vs where you started... in terms of everything?
Feels like I just got asked an interview question by a blonde valley girl. What do you feel, like, about stuff? Lol. just kidding. Yeah dunno man, i think it's too early to tell atm and I don't think I have achieved anything yet. Yes i've lost 20 pounds, but so what I still feel like a big fat whale (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUI68NSK2e8) so as far as I am concerned nothing much has happen. But that's probably because i'm too familiar or accustomed to myself, if that makes sense? If i meet someone I haven't seen in a while they'll comment how skinny ive gotten. Ask me again once i finish cutting to 10%. Will probably be sub 75kg/165lb when i'm done.
Nice. You'll be 165 sooner than you thought at this rate.
Hope so. Thanks! I haven't been very strict lately so it might mean it takes longer than mid december. I don't mind as long as it's done by new year though. Most people make their resolutions then, i'll be delivering mine as a late xmas present to myself lol. But seriously would like to be under 75kg/165lb by then. That would be wonderful.
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Training
OHP 2x5x53.5
BP 5x77.5, 6x75, 6x72.5, 3x5x70 (WG)
FS 5x96 (PR), 5x92
BS 5x100, 6x97.5, 6x92.5
Pressing notes:
I need access to DBs, barbell's not doing it for me.
FS notes:
Form ok. Happy with the PR, next time go for 5x97.5.
BS notes:
Good form. Stick with 100 as top set until I can get 6 reps before adding weight.
Started new Lance inspired programming. CNS intensive FS followed by voluminous (sounds like a shampoo commercial) BS. Lets get dis done. Progression occurs when sufficient reps are performed with a given weight with good form. Both things (form and reps) must be there before adding weight.
Goals for next 5 weeks:
- BW < 75kg/165lb
- FS: 105x5 and 120x1 w/ good form
- BS: 110x6 and 100x8
- BP: 100x1 and 85x5 (good form)
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Training
OHP 2x5x53.5
FS 5x97.5 (PR), 5x92.5
AM workout down, PM to go. Will backsquat and weighted chin later tonight.
FS notes:
I wasn't happy with form but reviewing the video it actually looked a lot better than I thought it would be. Nevertheless I will stick with 97.5 til form is great and then add weight.
Taurine is a sick supplement. It solved my big problem of finding myself lying restlessly in bed, hungry and sleepless and feeling miserable. I took a gram before bed which chilled me the fuck out for a few hours later while I was catching up on Dexter and Homeland. And then I took another gram just before I knocked out. Instantly made me forget I was hungry and I found myself easing up and soon quite relaxed.
For anyone else having trouble with mood and hunger while cutting, make sure to give Taurine a try.
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I remember taurine......
That't what they put in energy drinks. Like Red Bull
Try that next time and see if it brings the same effect.
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Training
FS 1x100, 1x105, 1x110, 1x112.5, 0x115
BS 3x90, 2x100, 3x100, 3x97.5
Upper body stuff tomorrow, can't be bothered finishing this workout. Messed up this week. Didn't adhere to diet, trained badly. Weather sucked and just feel like blah.
seif, lol, do you want me to try taking redbull before bed? Not sure if srs brah.
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You probably won't sleep if you drank red bull. lol
i was kidding.
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Might just post in the log that I spun my wheels throughout November. I had about 2 weeks of solid dieting and burned about 1-2 kilos of bodyfat. And 2 weeks off the rails where I gained it all back. So net result is 0. I will now do the predictable familar reflexive knee jerk lets-start-from-scratch-and-do-it-right-this-time-thing-I-do.
The only bright side to all this i've come to believe I have an easy 5kg of bodyfat left to lose and my bodyfat is probably still around 15% maybe more. So that means I should be able to sustain 1kg/week weight loss if I don't fall off the diet. It will be difficult this time of the year with all the holiday stuff but i'll manage somehow.
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go and get it.
:headbang:
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Training
BP 1x77.5, 1x82.5, 1x85, 1x87.5, 1x90, 0x92.5
OHP 4,5x54
WCU 3xBW, 2x84.5, 1x94.5, 1x99.5, 1x104.5, 0x107.5, 3x94.5, 5x89.5, 5x87
Good day for training. Looks like i'm about 10kg away from benching 100kg. Not likely to happen in 2012. OHP is doing great things, i've added a lot of meat to my shoulders in the few weeks i've been doing these. I will prob transition these from 3x a week to 1x at around 60kg ish. Weighted chinups, i'm happy with. Wanted the 107.5kg pr but couldn't lock it out. came close tho. Next time.
go and get it.
:headbang:
cheers!
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Training
FS 4x98.5, 5x93.5
BS 6x100, 7x95 (PR), 8x92.5 (PR)
BP 5x77.5, 4x75, 6x72.5, 3x5x70 (WG)
FS notes:
Not saying I would have had got the rep but annoyingly caught the pins on the bottom of the 5th rep which threw me off balance and I failed the last rep. This hasn't happened for ages because the pins are set pretty low. I guess I went lower than ATG if that's possible. But it's ok i'll definitely get it next time. I would have repeated it anyway to get better form so no harm done.
OH and the 5x92.5 was very pretty - almost the nicest set of front squats ive done!
BS notes:
Finally some PRs. I got the 100x6 I was chasing as well but I will stick with these weights til I get more depth before progressing.
Diet notes:
Been struggling with dieting. I managed 2 days in a row and then yesterday had a family function and did really well - ate within my restrictions. But somehow later that night used up all my (finite) discipline along the way and unfortunately ended up finishing all the left overs (!). Threw me off my game and today I was so disgusted with myself I ended up eating more junk in the morning. Anyway. Will start over tomorrow.
Programming notes:
My program is coming around organically. I'm taking bits and pieces from Lance and keeping what was working for me before - dropping what wasn't and hopefully it will serve me well going forward. Here is how it looks -
Mon: FS 2x5, BS 1x6, 1x6-8, 1x7-8 (aiming for a total squatting volume of about 28-32 reps)
Wed: FS 2x5, BS 1x5, 1x6 (aiming for a total of 20-21 reps - higher intensity on the BS than Mon)
Fri: FS singles to a max, BS 1x3, 1x5 (aiming for a total of ~15 reps, higher intensity than Weds)
So it's waving intensity up and volume down thru the week. I know it's the opposite of what Lance recommended (waving intensity down and volume up) but it seems to suit me better psychologically - because I look forward to going balls out on fridays but knowing I have to do less volume.
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at this point why are you still worried about going deeper? your depth is great, you need to keep adding weight to the bar!
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at this point why are you still worried about going deeper? your depth is great, you need to keep adding weight to the bar!
Pretty sure you wouldn't approve of my depth on back squats. In fact I remember you told me to squat deeper in the first place in my old log :) But have a look at the video first :-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P2x-CBJz1w
Btw is it ok to backsquat to parallel or just slightly below if i'm doing ATG front squats as well?
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If you're front squatting I think you'd be better suited to do low bar squats and/or very hip dominant compound movements like RDLs/isolation glute exercises like hip thrusts. You should get plenty of quad hypertrophy from the front squats, no reason to be redundant with high bar squats.
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If you're front squatting I think you'd be better suited to do low bar squats and/or very hip dominant compound movements like RDLs/isolation glute exercises like hip thrusts. You should get plenty of quad hypertrophy from the front squats, no reason to be redundant with high bar squats.
Fuck your half deadlifts dude.
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at this point why are you still worried about going deeper? your depth is great, you need to keep adding weight to the bar!
Pretty sure you wouldn't approve of my depth on back squats. In fact I remember you told me to squat deeper in the first place in my old log :) But have a look at the video first :-
Btw is it ok to backsquat to parallel or just slightly below if i'm doing ATG front squats as well?
word, i guess i figured that because your FS depth has improved so much your BS depth had followed. on that video, you could be deeper but you're at or below the plane.
whether it's okay to BS to parallel or slightly below depends on what you're trying to get out of the BS. hell, some of adarq's best vert gains came when he was half-squatting to pins.
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at this point why are you still worried about going deeper? your depth is great, you need to keep adding weight to the bar!
Pretty sure you wouldn't approve of my depth on back squats. In fact I remember you told me to squat deeper in the first place in my old log :) But have a look at the video first :-
Btw is it ok to backsquat to parallel or just slightly below if i'm doing ATG front squats as well?
word, i guess i figured that because your FS depth has improved so much your BS depth had followed. on that video, you could be deeper but you're at or below the plane.
Well in a way I can squat a lot deeper on BS if I take some weight off the bar but you might say that's pointless and I should be looking to add weight instead. Maybe it's psychological, don't like being at the bottom of a backsquat with a heavy weight, feels precarious. I don't mind with front squat, that feels perfectly comfortable even with limit weights, but with BS I feel i could easily snap some shit up, esp when I hit my sticking point and then I have to work very hard not to get bent over and squat morning.
whether it's okay to BS to parallel or slightly below depends on what you're trying to get out of the BS. hell, some of adarq's best vert gains came when he was half-squatting to pins.
This is what I wanna know. Do I get more out of doing deeper and lighter backsquats, or do I get more out of doing heavier parallel ones. Who knows.
raptor, i'm kind of sick of training already, i dont wanna add any more exercises cos it feels like I live in the gym already. That's why I don't do RDLs anymore, just cant be bothered with another exercise unless it's absolutely improving my athleticism - which I found RDL not to be doing. I think i got nothing out of the 3-5 months I spent working on my RDL. On the other hand, i'm not squatting much right now so maybe I should just work on adding some weight before looking to assistance exercises like hip thrusts. But perhaps if I did do them, i would find it easier to progress my BS? I dunno. I'm willing to hear suggestions. I agree with you about HBBS tho - i use a HBBS placement (kind of) but my backsquats are closer to LBBS than HBBS - do you agree?
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If you're front squatting I think you'd be better suited to do low bar squats and/or very hip dominant compound movements like RDLs/isolation glute exercises like hip thrusts. You should get plenty of quad hypertrophy from the front squats, no reason to be redundant with high bar squats.
Fuck your half deadlifts dude.
lol'd
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If you're front squatting I think you'd be better suited to do low bar squats and/or very hip dominant compound movements like RDLs/isolation glute exercises like hip thrusts. You should get plenty of quad hypertrophy from the front squats, no reason to be redundant with high bar squats.
Fuck your half deadlifts dude.
lol'd
Me too, although that's too bad for him.
What rep range/volume did you use for your quarter deadlifts?
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What rep range/volume did you use for your quarter deadlifts?
Work up a heavy triple (135kg ish last time I did them). Then 2 sets of 10 with around 110kg. Did them once a week.
So i've lost 20lb since I first dunked. Wonder what my vertical is now? I haven't been on a basketball court for many months. I wouldn't mind testing vert at some point.
Got wicked lower body doms from last workout. Still sore today will see how it goes squatting.
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OHP notes:
Kinda tweaked my back on OHP. I hate this stupid lift, always gives me back problems. I should focus on maintaining perfect form and only adding weight once i've mastered the weight. Patience will probably go a long way as long as I'm consistent over a period of 6-12months.
I have the same problem and i don't even lift as heavy as you , currently at 7-6-6@45kg if i remember well.
Why don't you switch to push press , the back problems for me appear at the bottom of the ROM and they all dissapeared when i switched to push-press. Lance is a big fan of push-press too , it's also supposed to have a much better athletic carryover ( which seems logical since there is a violent triple extension involved ). I hate the OHP and i loved the push-press ( but now i'm stuck with OHP because of my quad injury , FML , irrelevant ).
Just some thoughts material.
:lololol:
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Do you purposedly not lock your knees at the end of the movement (back up)? What's up with that? It looks like you're so weak when you stand tall, at the knee joint.
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OHP notes:
Kinda tweaked my back on OHP. I hate this stupid lift, always gives me back problems. I should focus on maintaining perfect form and only adding weight once i've mastered the weight. Patience will probably go a long way as long as I'm consistent over a period of 6-12months.
I have the same problem and i don't even lift as heavy as you , currently at 7-6-6@45kg if i remember well.
Why don't you switch to push press , the back problems for me appear at the bottom of the ROM and they all dissapeared when i switched to push-press. Lance is a big fan of push-press too , it's also supposed to have a much better athletic carryover ( which seems logical since there is a violent triple extension involved ). I hate the OHP and i loved the push-press ( but now i'm stuck with OHP because of my quad injury , FML , irrelevant ).
Just some thoughts material.
:lololol:
Dabbled with PP earlier in the year. Did not mind them but not in love with them either! I dislike both of them equally :) I also do not think they are an OHP replacement. If I were doing PP i'd still keep an overhead press in there but my preference is to do less exercises than more. I don't think PP are safer than OHP though - I can fail OHP easier than PP because the weight is lighter. There is also an equipment issue - if I had bumpers i'd reconsider PPs since they'd be easy to drop if something went wrong. But if I had bumpers i'd probably just do jerks instead!
One exercise I would consider replacing OHP with is the incline press. Is that a good idea?
Do you purposedly not lock your knees at the end of the movement (back up)? What's up with that? It looks like you're so weak when you stand tall, at the knee joint.
Yes mate, I relax at the top of the lift to get my breath back. I don't lock out my knees completely because I don't know, it just feels more in control of the weight and I prefer to be actively bouncing around (keeping my CNS primed) than statically locked out with a passive CNS if that makes sense. Do you think it matters? I find it better prepares me for the next rep this way.
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I am personally locking my knees and even trying to actively hyperextending them (I know, sounds terrible) and also am doing the same thing with the hips (going for a posteriorly rotate pelvis at the top) - these two things help me really squeeze the VMOs and glutes, a thing that normally doesn't happen if I don't actively think about it. If I'm just doing "normal" reps these things don't occur. It's a pretty big difference for me (I can feel the VMOs and glutes do work doing this).
Obviously I'm not overdoing it or really exaggerating it to the point of injury, and I'm usually doing it with lower weights. You won't see me think about this doing 1RM stuff.
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Training
OHP 2x5x55
FS 5x98.5 (PR), 5x94.5
BS 3x105, 6x101
HIIT 6x 10 on, 13 off
FS notes:
Felt weak today warming up, the last warmup with 100kg felt like an RPE 10. But somehow I still got the PR and it wasn't too bad. Next week i'll go for the 100x5 which is fairly exciting!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnDZFaH8EYA
Btw i'm going really deep now on FS - It's not surprising to me that I caught the pins last workout now that I think about it.
BS notes:
Wanted 5x105 but 3x105 will do for now - I didn't chase failure! The 6th rep of 101 was unsafely ugly. Stupid backsquat. But it's my fault, I shouldn't be working with RMs like this. Should keep a rep in the tank!!
So on friday i'll aim to get 5x105 and 3x107.5 - This might be too ambitious? Ideas welcome.
OHP notes:
Kinda tweaked my back on OHP. I hate this stupid lift, always gives me back problems. I should focus on maintaining perfect form and only adding weight once i've mastered the weight. Patience will probably go a long way as long as I'm consistent over a period of 6-12months.
Conditioning notes:
Got a stitch lol - that's how unfit i've become. But this is good, have to do my HIIT regularly to get rid of this damn lower ab fat.
Decided to try splitting up squatting into two sessions - FS and BS. Will see if it leads to higher quality BS workouts.
Delaying weighted chins for another workout - can't be bothered today. Instead i'll do the first conditioning workout in about a month lol.
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I am personally locking my knees and even trying to actively hyperextending them (I know, sounds terrible) and also am doing the same thing with the hips (going for a posteriorly rotate pelvis at the top) - these two things help me really squeeze the VMOs and glutes, a thing that normally doesn't happen if I don't actively think about it. If I'm just doing "normal" reps these things don't occur. It's a pretty big difference for me (I can feel the VMOs and glutes do work doing this).
I might be misunderstanding you (probable) but are you saying that if you consciously exaggarate the movement at the end of the cocentric you get better activation in VMOS and glutes? I'll have to try that out and see for myself.
Obviously I'm not overdoing it or really exaggerating it to the point of injury, and I'm usually doing it with lower weights. You won't see me think about this doing 1RM stuff.
Interesting. Yeah, it would have to be an effect seen over volume since it's such a small part of the ROM.
I read that as people diet down to lower bodyfat - their muscle fibres transition into slow twitch ones. Now that's something I don't want to happen - so I should keep the sprints and jumps in while cutting. But what i'm wondering is, maybe when they studied this thing, they were studying people who did a lot of traditional "fat burn" training like slow steady cardio. If you spend hours on the treadmill a day, of course that will mean your muscles adapt to that sort of activity. Doesn't necessarily mean cutting bodyfat itself is automatically the mechanism for the fast->slow twitch changes.
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^^^ Interesting. Where is T0ddday to explain this to us? Intuitively you'd think that losing BW wouldn't have a deleterious effect on muscle fiber composition as long as you're consistently training for strength and/or explosiveness. No idea whether that's actually true in the real world, though.
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Actually, training brings you more into the IIA realm of more endurance (vs IIB) - sitting on your butt all day long gives you more IIB than training (probably also does doing very low volume/very high intensity (tension) singles and stuff like that).
What's also interesting is that only the type II fibers actually hypertrophy, otherwise we'd see those muscular marathon runners with huge type I muscles.
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Training
FS 1x100, 1x107.5, 1x112.5, 1x117.5 (PR)
BP 1x77.5, 1x82.5, 1x87.5, 0x92.5, 3x80
BS 3x107.5, 3x105, 4x102.5
WCU 2x84.5, 1x89.5, 1x99.5, 1x104.5, 1x102, 2x99.5, 4x94.5, 5x89.5, 5x87, 9xBW (PR)
Jumps (5 svjs, about 5 double step jumps)
HIIT sprints 06:10:13
BW: 77kg/170lb
FS notes:
Warmed up rusty. But finally a new 1RM PR breakthrough. That means i'm above 1.5BW now!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoCF-PbHlZ0
Form was iffy - and I know exactly why - it's a lack of quad strength. I know the form breakdown mode very well, all i'm lacking is a strategy to attack it with. Andrew gave me an idea earlier in the log to use heavy partials - that might help. Provided quads get stronger in the next few weeks, I believe I can get 120kg @ ~75kg with good form by the end of the year.
BP notes:
I came closer at getting the 92.5 max this week but it's still a bit too heavy for me. I won't try it again next week, instead i'll try getting some more reps in with a weight that's slightly below there.
BS notes:
Good form. Happy with backsquat!
Jump notes:
I am about 6" away from touching the top of the square on the outdoor rim. This isn't too bad considering i haven't jumped in months. So I haven't lost much if at all, if anything i'm jumping slightly better than before. But I think once i'm done cutting (as in a legit 10% bodyfat) - I will be some 5kg (of pure lard) lighter than i am currently. I'll also be able to train jump more seriously and will be able to eat better etc. So these are all promising signs that i'm on the right track.
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that ain't just quads, broseph. look at how much your upper back rounds on the concentric.
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that ain't just quads, broseph. look at how much your upper back rounds on the concentric.
I think the causality goes the other way. insufficient quad strength leads to upper back rounding. Fix the quad weakness, fix the rounding. You can argue my upper back rounds, which causes the breakdown of form. But I know from being under the bar that it was my quads being close to limit effort that my body compensates by allowing back to round, making it easier to bring the bar into my body using lower back strength, and then once the bar is back into my body (and raised slightly), i push my glutes thru. This whole thing bypasses my quads because they couldn't do the job in the first place. But we'll see how it goes, if i'm wrong then quad work wont make much difference and will be back to square 1.
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interesting analysis. you're obviously in a better position to know than i am.
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interesting analysis. you're obviously in a better position to know than i am.
Yeah I think quad weakness is the cause, and upper back rounding the effect.
It's one thing which really bugs me about my front squats. It feels like this whole time i've been doing them i've been cheating my way through and even though I set out to build leg strength by them, i've just build glute strength or something instead.
But i'm wrong, because yesterday when I tried out my swimming shorts for the first time since last summer, they have got real tight around the thighs, so much so that I can't even walk properly when I wear them. And my quads bulge out which never used to happen before. If you think maybe you just got fat - well no, because i'm some 20 pounds lighter now so it's the muscular kind of girth not the starting strength one.
I know how a good front squat should feel like (real leg dominant) and it just doesn't happen often. Could probably count on my fingertips on one hand the reps which i've felt 'hitting' my quads til now. I even get the feeling I get better quad involvement out of my more modest backsquats than I do from my front squats, even though the front squat weight is heavier than the bs weight!
That's why I would like to try out some SSB squats one day, see if they hit my quads better. And if you are thinking 'then why don't you just do backsquats' - it's because i'm built wrong for backsquats, hit this awful sticking point halfway up and either near enough snap my spine squatmorning or grind out a slow difficult rep. But it just sounds like im making excuses sometimes.
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Body comp thoughts
When I started cutting at 87kg (190lb) I thought by the time I got to 80kg (175lb) I'd be ripped. Then I got there and it wasn't the case. So I said, surely by 75kg (165lb) it will happen. And as i'm quickly approaching 75kg I realise it's not going to happen there either! I'm thinking it might be closer to 70kg (155lb). I can't imagine needing to go under 70kg, that must be a safe lower bound, but lets see what happens. I'm getting used to disappointment.
My waist is now just under 33" and I suspect given my build, i'll need to look at achieving a 30" or smaller waist for single digit bodyfat. So I probably have months of cutting left to do. This sucks obviously. But i'm satisfied knowing there will be the light at the end of the tunnel, i'm just not anywhere near it yet.
Oh and the reason why I'm looking at 30" is the following table:
American Council on Exercise
Bodyfat % Abdomen (in.)
0% 26.58
1% 26.92
2% 27.27 Essential Fat
3% 27.63
4% 28.00
5% 28.38
6% 28.77 Athletes
7% 29.17
8% 29.58
9% 30.00
10% 30.44
11% 30.88
12% 31.34
13% 31.81
14% 32.29 Fitness
15% 32.79
16% 33.30
17% 33.82
generated using http://www.chaosreigns.com/gym/waistfromfat.html - i put in 14" for neck and 75" for height. Would be interesting to see what other people get using the calculator for their current waist and expected waist at 10%?
funk master flex
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With 41cm neck and 179cm height I got:
0% 72.49
1% 73.33
2% 74.17 Essential Fat
3% 75.06
4% 75.95
5% 76.86
6% 77.83 Athletes
7% 78.79
8% 79.78
9% 80.82
10% 81.86
80cm waist so ~8-9%, mostly in line with other online calcs I've used.
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Surveys FTW!!! :highfive:
Neck = ~16'' ( 40,5 cm ) / Height = 72'' ( ~183cm )
10% 31.90
15% 34.18
20% 36.78
Current waist = ~35,7'' ( 90,5cm ) => ~18% :ffffffuuuuuu:
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Neck = ~16/ Height = 67
0% 27.47
1% 27.78
2% 28.10 Essential Fat
3% 28.43
4% 28.77
5% 29.12
6% 29.47 Athletes
7% 29.84
8% 30.21
9% 30.60
10% 30.99
11% 31.40
12% 31.82
13% 32.25
14% 32.69 Fitness
15% 33.14
Current Waist = ~ 32.5 => 13-14%...seems pretty accurate, thats what I would have estimated
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Thank you for the data guys. It looks like it uses neck circumference as a proxy for muscularity and waist circumference for fatness. If you have an inch more of neck circumference it affords you an extra inch of waist circumference for the same bodyfat. Interesting stuff.
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Waist 33.5 inches
Neck 16.75 inches
Bodyfat- 13%
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Training
FS 1x107.5, 4x100, 5x95
BP 6x77.5, 6x75, 6x72.5, 6x70, 6x67.5, 6x65 (last 3 wg)
BS 3x90, 2x100, 3x102.5, 4x100, 2x97.5, 10x60
BW: 77.1kg/169.98lb (quietly slipped into 160s -- reverse hypertrophy here I come)
FS notes:
Couldn't for the life of me figure out why almost every single rep including warmups had bad form. Were my shoe laces too tight? Was it the different pair of shorts? Was some muscle (group) not fully recovered from last week? Very frustrating.
BP notes:
Struggling with that top set but I finally got 6 this week. But it was so difficult that I may as well have failed it! The good thing about this session was getting 36 reps in. Decent amount of volume.
BS notes:
Delaying this to the 3rd (!) session made a big difference. I think also because I warmed up starting from the bar rather than my usual practice of going straight from FSs to BS starting with 90kg. Whatevers. Was still shit, couldn't get 6 reps at all. I didn't court failure though. Anyway, hopefully i've done enough to put some carbs into my legs all the same.
Session 1: Incredibly shitty workout. I guess i've had a good run lately, lots of PRs while cutting. In hindsight I might have erred by not taking the carb reload today. I have been feeling pretty awful, tired and my brain feels sluggish inside my scull. I guess that was a sign i'm carb depleted or whatever but I wanted to soldier on for another week. Nevermind. I'll take on wednesday.
I cut the workout short, will have some bread and try again later tonight to backsquat and bench. If i have time and weather permits, hiit sprints as well.
Session 2: I decided just to do the carb reload today. Why not? I've been eating bread like it's going out of fashion. So good.
(http://i.imgur.com/1YG54.png)
I think there were 8, 10 or 12 in the whole pack. I didn't pay attention. But looking online each one is 16g of cho, 2.8g pro, 0.7g fat - so pretty great for a good clean carb reload.
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neck 15.75", height 71", measured waist 32"
6% 29.87 Athletes
7% 30.26
8% 30.65
9% 31.05
10% 31.47
11% 31.90
12% 32.33
13% 32.78
sounds about right.
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I need to measure some stuff... brb
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I end up at 39 cm neck and 90 cm belly giving me 18-19% bodyfat.
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Training
FS 4x100, 5x99.5 (PR)
BSS 35x5R, 35x5L, 35x4R (fail), 35x4L, 35x5R, 35x5R
OHP 2x5x56, 8x50
FS notes:
Was annoyed at not getting the 100kg pr, so decided to attempt a closeby 99.5 pr on the 2nd set. Got it but form left much to be desired. So next week i'll probably get 100x5 and then i'll see what to do about progressing from there.
BSS notes:
My right side is a lot weaker than L. I can go deep (touching ground with knee) on L. Not so much on R. Good! This means i've got an imbalance and I have an exercise which will fix it hopefully!
Shit failed BSS at the bottom of the last rep. had to jerk the barbell over my head, then drop it infront of me. Not sure how i'm supposed to fail these without breaking my shit.
Ok back into the rack, the pins will save me if I get trapped. Sorted out.
Anyway i'm fucked off with with my problems with squat form. I dunno if it's my body dimensions, my bent bar, the not level floor, or just flexibility but i've had enough with asymmetry. The bar isn't straight on my back, isn't straight out of the hole. Was thinking since i pay for medical insurance regularly I should probably try geting something back for my money and try seeing a physiotherapist, if it will help rule out a few of these factors. They tend to be useless quacks in my experience but surely this isn't a difficult problem to diagnose..?
Just another thought. If the problem is imbalance - I should try unilateral exercises. I've wanted to try bulgarian split squats earlier this year. But I couldn't because of a persistent ankle injury. I'm healed from that now so I might give it a shot. I just realised I don't even have to use a lot of weight. Suppose I work up to 100kg BSS then that's plenty of weight for just 1 leg. right? It shouldn't be too unsafe. I'm not used to training outside the cage though so it feels a bit weird.
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Thoughts on BSS
I like these a lot. I found myself falling out of balance at first but I think it's just a matter of practice. Here are my immediate observations after the first time doing these.
- L leg a lot stronger but got a sick burn - meaning the FSs done earlier exhausted this leg
- R leg was struggling with the weight (lack of strength) but no burn
So hopefully 2 things will happen from BSS - R leg will catch up strength wise to L. And 2, once R has caught up to L - L won't be so fatigued from FS/BS because R leg will be contributing it's fair share.
Once the above correction takes place - hopefully I will cure this R hamstring tendon funkiness too.
And here begins the BSS experiment.
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Make sure you keep an upright torso as possible if you're doing barbell bulgarian split squats. When I did them I tended to lean forward as I was going down - that's why I switched to dumbbell BSSs that are so much better (for me at least).
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I'll PM you a video, tell me if i'm doing them ok. Thanks.
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Well I mean... you're probably going to load the quads quite a bit if you do bend forward and considering you're already doing front squats I guess you're using BSSs for glute development, which they're GREAT at.
For me, the BSS is the best glute exercise ever. Better than hip thrusts and RDLs.
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Well I mean... you're probably going to load the quads quite a bit if you do bend forward and considering you're already doing front squats I guess you're using BSSs for glute development, which they're GREAT at.
For me, the BSS is the best glute exercise ever. Better than hip thrusts and RDLs.
No man the front squat experiment to build quads was a big failure. It didn't do jack shit for quads. I just end up going ATG which stretches some muscles (dunno which, glutes, hips, hamstrings or someshit) and i come out of the hole strong, and most of the time quads just chill and go along for the ride without much involvement! I think I use more quads in BS actually, but I suck at BS and have given up on them almost.
I want to use the BSS to build symmetric leg strength. which i haven't done using FS or BS .. not glutes!!
what's a good (lower) back exercise for me btw?
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you can shift the focus of BSS within your leg by moving your forward foot closer to or farther from the bench. closer = more quad, farther = more hip. have you considered doing TKE's or something as part of the warm up? you might just have trouble activating your quads at all, "feeling" them working.
for low back it's all about hypers and reverse hypers. you can do reverse hypers on a kitchen table.
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you can shift the focus of BSS within your leg by moving your forward foot closer to or farther from the bench. closer = more quad, farther = more hip.
Will experiment with this, thanks.
have you considered doing TKE's or something as part of the warm up?
Never heard of those before. i'll try them out.
you might just have trouble activating your quads at all, "feeling" them working.
well dunno. it might be a dysfunction. It doesn't show up on FS. my FS is pretty symmetric (except right hamstring gets some kind of pathology at the bottom of the movement which I don't understand very well). But at least to the eye FS looks symmetric. BS is another story altogether. I'm so L leg dominant on BS it's day and night. I literally shift the weight to my L leg coming out of the hole, it's that blatant.
for low back it's all about hypers and reverse hypers. you can do reverse hypers on a kitchen table.
hmm k.
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Here is a summary of what i'm going on about -
- Use BSS to fix strength imbalance of R leg << L leg
- In addition to correcting the imbalance the BSS will also improve quad strength of both legs
- Use extra leg strength from BSS to improve form on the last 1/3rd of front squat
- Use corrected leg strength symmetry to backsquat with great form
So BSS will help both FS and BS. It will help BS the most because of its corrective effect on asymmetry. It will help FS too because more leg strength -> better FS form. My current FS being limited by leg strength as i'm very strong out of the bottom of the hole but weak at finishing the last 1/3.
Does this make sense?
My goals are still much the same - I like FS as my favorite squat exercise and will continue to use it as my main squat with the goal of hitting a FS ~ 1.9xBW, BS ~ 2xBW.
I just see correcting imbalance as neccesary for going further because i'm currently limited by the imbalance from doing backsquats well. And FS are limited by leg strength but unfortunately I can't see a way to improve leg strength using FS alone. I seem to have turned the FS into one that doesn't emphasis the quads somehow and it is the BS for me which is the more leg dominant exercise. But the problem with the BS is my form is horrendous due to the assymetry. So hopefully once symmetry is restored, I can use the BS to add tons of leg strength which will carry over to the FS as well.
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I remember Kelly saying a good front squat number is 80% of your back squat number in VJB 2.0
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Mad DOMS in glutes post BSS. Wasn't expecting that but looks like you were right raptor. Nothing in quads (or hams for that matter). Maybe it's not heavy enough yet to make my quads sore? :(
Kelly is setting the bar low there, 80% of BS is pretty inefficient, maybe if you use a belt on BS and don't go very deep and get bent over a lot? Dunno. Mine is closer to 100% lol. I like it that way. A good oly lifter has a ratio closer to 90-95% from what i've read though.
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Yup... it's the glutes for the BSS.
I've did some cable pulls with the back of the knee two days ago for the VMO... was pretty good. This one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrUOEwTDbqA
Pretty lame but...
Listen, if I were you I'd do something like a 3x5 back squat (full) and then finish up with a 2x20 quarter squat for the quads. I'm actually doing that (+these in the video) in my volume day, but I'm using 8x5 + 2x20 partial leg presses for quad development.
If you have a slope (a hill or whatever) near you you could also do backward sprints uphill... or even pull your car going backwards (or a sled or something).
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Yup... it's the glutes for the BSS.
Quite so. But I think in hindsight I was too forward from the bench, so I made it glute dominant? I'll experiment with positioning and try to nail down. I did find as the day went on there was some slight, very faint quad doms too. I never get quad fatigue from gym work - only from sprinting so that's still a good sign i'm on the right track.
Oh and the other thing I wanna make a note of. The left side of my abs are very sore. Like painfully, not doms maybe like a strain or something. I like this cause I always knew my left side of abs are very weak for some reason. So BSS might cure that imbalance too. Fucking A - that's not a bad thing at all if it fixes all these symmetry problems I have.
Listen, if I were you I'd do something like a 3x5 back squat (full) and then finish up with a 2x20 quarter squat for the quads. I'm actually doing that (+these in the video) in my volume day, but I'm using 8x5 + 2x20 partial leg presses for quad development.
I can't BS though otherwise i'd go for it. BS shows up a horrible bilateral imbalance. FS don't that's why I'm going to keep focusing on FS. Hopefully BSS will cure my (leg) imbalance so I can use BS later though? But supposing BSS makes my leg stronger then why the fuck would I even bother with BS then lol. And i'm not going to risk my knees by doing heavy partial squats right now while cutting because I already push them too much as it is with all the front squats and heavy partials will punish my knees even more than they already are.
If you have a slope (a hill or whatever) near you you could also do backward sprints uphill... or even pull your car going backwards (or a sled or something).
This I can try and I will give it a shot as a conditioning thing as well. Thanks for the ideas.
So today i'll try the TKEs (thanks lbss), closer hopefully quad dominant BSSs and some conditioning work incorporating some extra quad work. lets see how it goes.
i'm almost considering going full adarqui mode and embracing reverse hypertrophy ideals. I hate that bileteral exercises haven't done much for me at all and im close to doing walking lunges with 30lb weights while holding a knife btw my teeth.
Back Squat ×
Front Squat ✓
BSS ✓
Pendlay Rows ✓
Good mornings ✓
I shied away from rows because I was told they fatigue the lower back too much esp if you're backsquatting & deadlifting. And since i'm not backsquatting or deadlifting, rows are good because they will strengthen my back and make be a better bencher, chinuper etc. Ditto with good mornings - i was a hell of a good morning'er thanks to all the squat mornings ive done in the past. Time to get all that back strength back. I want a big solid lower back and GMs and PRs is the way i'll retrain and build back strength.
BSS for fixing my strength imbalance. This one is a no brainer. Legs are unilteral, why persist with the bilateral exercise which has clearly not done the job - out go backsquats into the bin.
Front squats i still like as a squat for aesthetic reasons but I dont know how useful this exercise is anymore. It has no doubt helped me to correct squatmorningness but since i'm not backsquatting that's not a huge plus. I wanted to use it to build big strong legs and i'm sure that front squats do that so long as you do them right. But mine aren't leg dominant and there isn't much more to say about it. If my legs are stronger I can front squat more. But the converse doesn't seem to have happened - being able to front squat more hasnt made my legs stronger. I might push my FS up to 120kg and then just go on maintenance mode while focusing on bss.
So going forward - more unilateral work for legs using bss. More back specific work using gms and pendlay rows. maintain fs and bs. Give it a few months, see what happens. Hopefully good things.
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Training
BP 1x80, 1x82.5, 1x85, 1x87.5, 0x90, 1x90
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If you're using the BSS to fix imbalances, do your weak leg first and limit the volume of the strong leg to that of the weak one (if you do 4 reps with the weak leg, do 4 reps with the strong leg).
You could also do light weight, big volume partial squats. Think 20 rep sets 1/2-1/4 squats for VMO development. That's what I do (I use the leg press though) after your main (BSS in this case) exercise which is already pretty glute dominant the way you do it. If you use lightweight in the partial squat then your bilateral imbalance shouldn't be so obvious since you're not going extremely heavy where one part (one leg) will really push and the other will really slack.
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Will do. Thank you.
My abs have started to feel better. Not sure whether I should take the weekend off training to allow it to fully heal up or just train and hope it's nothing.
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 1x105, 1x110, 1x112.5, 0x120
BS 3x90, 2x100, 2x110, 3x100, 5x90
BSS 3x30, 2x6x40, 6Rx40
WC 3xBW, 1x88.8, 1x93.8, 1x103.8, 0x108.8
BW: 77kg
FS notes:
On a better day I would have got that 120kg PR .. but today I couldn't lock it out. I put it down to residual quad fatigue from weds BSS.
BS notes:
Filmed some sets from the front showing the lack of symmetry which i'm hoping BSS will fix.
BSS notes:
Got 6 challenging reps with right leg and used that same weight for L leg which found it ezy in comparison. So the imbalance is clearly there. Lets see what the BSS can do for me in fixing this problem. Did an extra set with the R leg. Next time will do 2 more sets with the R leg.
WC notes:
Just can't lock out that +30kg PR damn... but I will one day. In the meantime I was messing around with 1arm chins using 2 fingers from the other hand for a slight amount of help and found I could pretty much do the chin. Maybe if I work hard on it, i could get that 1arm chin as well. Not worth much when you're approaching 165lb BW but still it's something. I haven't felt such a burn in my bicepts from any other exercise which is cool.
Warmed up with TKEs. I like these will keep doing them.
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Wicked doms in glutes again. Thinking of re-starting daily TM since weight loss has stalled for a few weeks.
update - I've got doms in my L leg. Doh. That's the wrong leg lol. I want doms in my weaker R leg :( I'm guessing the FS, BS are so L dominant that the additional BSS with the L leg led to DOMS. And yet R leg which is the weaker leg has no DOMS whatsover.
oh snap i think i know what's going on. I bet i'm managing to do the BSS with the weak leg with the strong leg. I need to consciously work on using only the weak leg out of the bottom. note to self.
Also doms in right calf. Doms in lower back too.
I dont have dbs but I really wanna do more unilateral work with not just lower body but also upper body. i've known for a while that my bench is limited by my R side being weaker than my L for example. Really tempted to join a gym just for access to dbs. I remember trying using the bb with uneven loading, so if i'm focusing on R side, i'd load the L side lighter. Might try that again. I bet i can get my bench moving by bringing up my weak side. Hmmmmmm.
omgs damn this hunger. im finding it extremely hard to stay on the diet while im surrounded by temptations........ i thought getting abs would be hard work, but i didn't know i would have to be so hungry :(
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Came off the rails pretty bad. Think i might stop cutting now, i'm annoyed with myself for not taking ECA to deal with hunger which lead to bad binging. I held off using the stimulant stack cause I wanted to get down to 75kg first since i was "saving" them for when I "really need" them later on. Which in hindsight was now. It's my body it's had enough of dieting and just leads me down to insatiable binging.
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At least you can add some muscle now :strong:
I wouldn't worry too much about it bro. Just clean bulk for a few months up to low 80s or something and than try and cut down again. This time you'll have more strength and muscle anyway so when you cut down you'll look heaps better at 75kg.
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Any idea what's your bodyfat right now? I know I've asked in the past but are you still dropping down on the bodyfat %?
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At least you can add some muscle now :strong:
I wouldn't worry too much about it bro. Just clean bulk for a few months up to low 80s or something and than try and cut down again. This time you'll have more strength and muscle anyway so when you cut down you'll look heaps better at 75kg.
I wish I was in a position to add mass now! But reality is I still have a fair bit of back bacon left to shed lol. If only I could slice that shit off with a knife. If I clean bulked now I would probably just get really fat again since it would just increase (even only slightly) my current bodyfat which is too high. it would make more sense to be stopping a bulk at my current bodyfat than it would to start one here.
raptor i'm probably around 15% give or take. Maybe as low as 13% and as high as 16%. I dunno exactly. I have a full flexed 4 pac. but still got a fair of fat around my gut and lower back to lose.
Should I just take the ECA now and see what happens? Or save it for later when getting from 75kg to a ripped 72kg?
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 1x107.5, 0x110, 3x100, 2x96, 2x90, 2x60
FS notes:
I'm at a loss at understanding this lack of symmetry -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl_kVJUKlAE
any ideas? What's going on here??
Ok i'm trying to get to the bottom of this so to speak. I filmed some sets with the empty bar. Perfectly symmetrical. Might have to do a few more of these experiments and see if I can narrow down what the problem is. If it's flexibility or whatever, wouldn't it show itself everytime regardless of clothing/weight?
so over the new few days im gonna work hard on figuring out what's this asymmetry. maybe its the bar. when ive got enough weight on there, it may be that because its bent or whatever, or the plates are uneven, that it forces me out of position.
possible hypotheses
- its the bar
- the floor
- flexibility
- strength/muscle imbalance
- poor technique
- shoes
- a mix of the above
could be a combo of factors like 10% of the first, 20% of the 2nd etc. But i'll work at it like a scientist and go from the effects back to pinpointing the cause (s).
update: So my next workout will be at a gym. I know one which should have fairly new equipment so hopefully the bars are straight and the floor level etc. I'll train there and film some sets and see whether it's a equipment thing.
I'm also gonna take the time to get some unilateral upper body work in with dbs and see how that goes.
excited :)
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To me it looks like some lack of flexibility that's pulling one of your legs out of alignment or something. It could be weakness too, but you should feel that yourself.
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suppose its flexibility.. what shud i do to fix it?
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Training
FS 5x100 (PR), 5x96
BS 6x100, 6x96
BSS 2x6x45 (PR), 2x6Rx45 (PR)
OHP 2x5x57, 8x50
BW: 77kg/170lb
FS notes:
I've made some changes and they've paid off nicely. I switched L-R orientation, focus on videos taken from behind, and use the reflection of the glass infront of me for feedback in maintaining symmetry. The PR was nice too, i didn't feel like it was a huge mental effort, just sort of came naturally, which was unusually odd but very cool. The only bad rep was the 5th which I had to muscle up uglyly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI9nEsssNCA
Plan is to get a nice clean 100x5 next week before trying to add any more weight on the top fiver. I think a pretty 100+ fiver pretty much converts to a 120kg single so that should cover my year end goal.
BS notes:
Work in progress. My right leg is weak so it shoots in out of the hole - that needs to be cleaned up.
BSS notes:
Bit wobbly with R leg. Did 2 extra sets with R - making it 2x the volume of the stronger L leg. It still may not be enough cos if my FS/BS are really L dominant then R might need even more sets? Well we'll see.
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Woke up looking a lot leaner but the scale doesn't show much change nor does waist circumference. Maybe water retention or something? not sure, until scale/waist changes i'm not taking much stock
R quad doms ✓
L quad doms ✘
Lower back doms ✓
Glutes doms ✓
I'm guessing lower back doms are to do with BS since it's been a while since i backsquatted.
R quad doms and no L quad doms is frustrating me. I guess i'll add a few more sets to the R leg BSS - but i'm already doing 2x the volume of L leg so wtf. maybe i just need to stop using the L leg completely while bringing the R leg up by stopping front and backsquatting for a while but I don't really wanna do that.
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I'm not sure if doing more volume for one leg is the smart way to go... I'd rather do the same volume for both but start with the weak leg first.
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Well then the other leg wouldn't catch up because each time both legs would get a lil bit stronger but the strong one will always be ahead of the weak one? I do start with the weak one first though. And then do the same number of reps with the strong leg even though I could easily do more!
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You can't think like that. The effort for the weak leg will be bigger than the effort for the strong leg and slowly they will catch up.
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aite so how about this, once ive got 6x60 for both legs, i keep the stronger leg on 60 while progressing the weaker leg to say 70. Then progress them both from there at the same rate
:derp:
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thinking out aloud .. what is the bss? it's a kind of unilateral exercise but not really since it's not a true single leg exercise that is kind of a squat but not really because it's not below parallel. so for it to be an effective leg exercise you kind of need to be lifting a weight >> 1/2*FS_max. Why? because being a partial squat, by giving up depth we use more weight. and by giving up true unilateralism we can use more weight than 1/2 the bilateral weight. so i should be looking at building up to say 100x6 on BSS to get something out of the exercise. hows my logik?
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aite so how about this, once ive got 6x60 for both legs, i keep the stronger leg on 60 while progressing the weaker leg to say 70. Then progress them both from there at the same rate
:derp:
No. You use the same weight for both legs, with the weak leg first. This way the weak leg gets to his maximum number of repetitions while the strong leg gets "some" training effect since it still does work but it doesn't go to failure like the weak leg does.
thinking out aloud .. what is the bss? it's a kind of unilateral exercise but not really since it's not a true single leg exercise that is kind of a squat but not really because it's not below parallel. so for it to be an effective leg exercise you kind of need to be lifting a weight >> 1/2*FS_max. Why? because being a partial squat, by giving up depth we use more weight. and by giving up true unilateralism we can use more weight than 1/2 the bilateral weight. so i should be looking at building up to say 100x6 on BSS to get something out of the exercise. hows my logik?
You think too much... you shouldn't worry about correlating exercises. You shouldn't think "If I front squat 100 kg does that mean that I can do the same work back squatting 120 kg or BSS-ing with 50 kg dumbbells?"
Too many parameters to correlate these exercises. You just need to worry about improving whatever lift you're aiming to improve. If you're improving then you're getting closer to your objective of improving athleticism.
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do the weak leg to technical failure, then match reps with the strong leg. same volume for each but you're not exacerbating the difference between sides.
for another approach, go read adarq's journal over the past few weeks. he's been doing unilateral sets to failure and just ignoring the imbalance, with the idea that the strong limb getting stronger will also help the weak limb get stronger. there's some basis there: people who injure a leg and can only exercise one can get strength gains in the injured leg -- or at least prevent more serious losses -- by doing that strong-side only work.
not that you need more food for thought. you just need to squat. RHYME!
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Thank you gents, all good infos. Will keep it in mind as always. I was due for an epic catch up session of front squatting, back squatting, bss, weighted chins, bench press, sprinting, hiit, jumping but i'm helping my father out on a renovation today so i'll probably be spent moving around heavy blocks of limestone all day. we'll see how it goes. i think kids like to use the phrase FML in times like this .. it's all good.
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 1x110, 1x115, 0x120
BS 3x90, 2x100, 2x110
BP 1x77.5, 1x80, 1x82.5, 1x85, 6x75, 7x70
WC 3xBW, 3x83.3, 2x93.3, 1x98.3, 1x100.8, 1x103.3, 2x98.3, 5x93.3
BW: 77kg/170lb
FS notes:
My ego led me astray (yet again). I shuda gone for 118 or something for a 1/2kg PR instead of 120. Next time will do a better job picking the top weight. And another thing, I should try to get more volume in weights around 110kg cause I can do those without getting folded over.
BS notes:
Shit shit shit. When I think i've won ground, squat takes it back the next workout.
BP notes:
Finally got around to BP in over 10 days (!). Have lost some strength, rebuild time.
WC notes:
I didn't do any dubious reps - every single one I exploded way over the bar. That's how I like em. Will try to get more reps with 20kg next time, and keep in that explode range. Then once i've got some decent volume built up, try to set a new PR.
I feel like trying to dunk. I haven't dunked in like 4 months or something. I doubt I can even jump that high but I just have the itch. Will go try out in the outdoor court now!
update - damn!!!!!!!!
I was running late for picking up my sister from the airport who is come home for holidays. On the way there, i stopped at the court for a few minutes. I didn't expect to even get one dunk. But on the very first attempt, no warmup, landed it easily. Then tried another one but harder and I got higher and dunked it even better. Then tried a SVJ dunk - got that too!! That was only a dream for me and now it's reality! So exciting!
:goodjobbro:
:wowthatwasnutswtf:
:almostascoolasnyancat:
uploading a video now brb
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 1x110, 1x115, 0x120
BS 3x90, 2x100, 2x110
BP 1x77.5, 1x80, 1x82.5, 1x85, 6x75, 7x70
WC 3xBW, 3x83.3, 2x93.3, 1x98.3, 1x100.8, 1x103.3, 2x98.3, 5x93.3
BW: 77kg/170lb
FS notes:
My ego led me astray (yet again). I shuda gone for 118 or something for a 1/2kg PR instead of 120. Next time will do a better job picking the top weight. And another thing, I should try to get more volume in weights around 110kg cause I can do those without getting folded over.
BS notes:
Shit shit shit. When I think i've won ground, squat takes it back the next workout.
BP notes:
Finally got around to BP in over 10 days (!). Have lost some strength, rebuild time.
WC notes:
I didn't do any dubious reps - every single one I exploded way over the bar. That's how I like em. Will try to get more reps with 20kg next time, and keep in that explode range. Then once i've got some decent volume built up, try to set a new PR.
I feel like trying to dunk. I haven't dunked in like 4 months or something. I doubt I can even jump that high but I just have the itch. Will go try out in the outdoor court now!
update - damn!!!!!!!!
I was running late for picking up my sister from the airport who is come home for holidays. On the way there, i stopped at the court for a few minutes. I didn't expect to even get one dunk. But on the very first attempt, no warmup, landed it easily. Then tried another one but harder and I got higher and dunked it even better. Then tried a SVJ dunk - got that too!! That was only a dream for me and now it's reality! So exciting!
:goodjobbro:
:wowthatwasnutswtf:
:almostascoolasnyancat:
uploading a video now brb
wtf? sick@!$!@
i can't imagine not dunking for 4 months and somehow doing what you did..
you are now officially in the kingfish SVJ dunk club.
congrats man.
were you feeling bouncy or what? I mean you must have felt really good when you walked on that court?
:ibjumping: :ibsquatting: :wowthatwasnutswtf: :almostascoolasnyancat: :personal-record:
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Being light helps eh?
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 1x110, 1x115, 0x120
BS 3x90, 2x100, 2x110
BP 1x77.5, 1x80, 1x82.5, 1x85, 6x75, 7x70
WC 3xBW, 3x83.3, 2x93.3, 1x98.3, 1x100.8, 1x103.3, 2x98.3, 5x93.3
BW: 77kg/170lb
FS notes:
My ego led me astray (yet again). I shuda gone for 118 or something for a 1/2kg PR instead of 120. Next time will do a better job picking the top weight. And another thing, I should try to get more volume in weights around 110kg cause I can do those without getting folded over.
BS notes:
Shit shit shit. When I think i've won ground, squat takes it back the next workout.
BP notes:
Finally got around to BP in over 10 days (!). Have lost some strength, rebuild time.
WC notes:
I didn't do any dubious reps - every single one I exploded way over the bar. That's how I like em. Will try to get more reps with 20kg next time, and keep in that explode range. Then once i've got some decent volume built up, try to set a new PR.
I feel like trying to dunk. I haven't dunked in like 4 months or something. I doubt I can even jump that high but I just have the itch. Will go try out in the outdoor court now!
update - damn!!!!!!!!
I was running late for picking up my sister from the airport who is come home for holidays. On the way there, i stopped at the court for a few minutes. I didn't expect to even get one dunk. But on the very first attempt, no warmup, landed it easily. Then tried another one but harder and I got higher and dunked it even better. Then tried a SVJ dunk - got that too!! That was only a dream for me and now it's reality! So exciting!
:goodjobbro:
:wowthatwasnutswtf:
:almostascoolasnyancat:
uploading a video now brb
wtf? sick@!$!@
i can't imagine not dunking for 4 months and somehow doing what you did..
you are now officially in the kingfish SVJ dunk club.
congrats man.
were you feeling bouncy or what? I mean you must have felt really good when you walked on that court?
:ibjumping: :ibsquatting: :wowthatwasnutswtf: :almostascoolasnyancat: :personal-record:
Thanks bruv!!!!!
i wasn't feeling especially bouncy but I just felt like dunking for some reason. like a craving. I haven't felt like that in months. I was pretty tired today didn't sleep well and hd a long training session before going to the playground. Was late picking up my sis so only had like 2 minutes to throw down before jumping in the car and driving 30-40 mins!
I can't describe the feeling though.. amazing........ omgs! still on a high :D
Being light helps eh?
kind of but i was pretty light for most of my life but i could never dunk. like even in highschool when i playd a lot of ball, i cud touch the rim but no chance dunking. After school and into university I become sedentary with office job etc and gained a lot of weight (topping out at 112kg/250lb 2 years ago). I've lost some 35kg since then but dunno, training and weight loss has gone well together. I couldn't have done it without one or the other.
video on its way .. might be a while though connection isn't super fast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca7I0We4Cts
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:lololol: :ibjumping: :wowthatwasnutswtf:
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I'd really freak out if I saw Jesus dunking.
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BW: 76.8kg/169.31lb
Finally a whoosh. I've been strict for 6 days and the scale finally got under 77kg. I have decided that since I can't do carb reloads properly, I shan't do them at all. Instead I had a larger carb meal last night for dinner and left it at that. Much better, didn't lead to any crazy binging. I think the reason the scale finally moved is because of the free meal? Which is a cool side effect.
Somehow i'm managing to navigate the dieting landmine that is this time of the year without crashing over. Actually doing really well, feels like I could go the distance this time around. I think the extra motivation of seeing the effect my training/nutrition has had on my athleticism is giving me more reason to stay the course.
edit. oh and i'm hoping to get close to 75kg by the end of the year if I get a coupla whooshes. But we'll see what happens. Might have to do some extra conditioning since I haven't been doing any lately.
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sick, you're 6'3 i'm 5'8 and i weigh 10 lb more than you... that's how fat i am... i dunno if i should cut or maintain and go for more strength (maybe hit 385 full squat) before cutting. i guess cutting doesn't mean i can't still gain strength.
ha yeah its freaky. if i were you, i'd put weight gain on hold, try to maintain or slightly reduce your bodyweight (so say a 10% deficit). And keep pushing your lifts up til you reach your desired milestone. Whether it's 330, 350 or 385, whichever one can get to without stalling hard. Then start the cut for real. Going from a bulk straight into a cut is a mind-fuck because you get so used to easy PRs and then they become just that much harder and rarer on a cut so it's hard to deal with psychologically unless you've been accustomed to training under maintenance or a slight deficit first.
So diet wise go to caloric maintenance -> slight deficit -> moderate deficit. Training try to push your lifts up for as long as you can, then go to maintenance when PRs vanish and it becomes a struggle to make new ground without risking form and injury.
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Training
FS 5x101 (PR), 5x97
BS 3x90, 2x100, 5x102.5, 6x100, 6x97.5
BSS 2x6x50 (PR), 6x50 (R leg), 7x50 (R leg, PR)
BP 6x76, 6x74.5, 6x72.5, 5x70 (WG), 5x67.5, 5x65
BW: 76.8kg/169.31lb (PR)
FS notes:
I tried this new thing - front squats are exhausting on upper back, obviously. But what I was finding is when sets go on for ages, you get really fatigued just from standing there with a bar. So I tried to get thru the set quicker. It worked, was easier. But I found my form was breaking down a bit from having to rush thru the reps. So i think there is a sweet spot where you do it just quick enough, but not too quick so that form is good and excess fatigue does not occur. Good discovery.
BS notes:
In warmups with 90kg: SHIT secret unlocked! Basically at the bottom of the bs - i shud let my hips psuh me down, kinda liek what happens in front squats. I wasn't doing this til now, but having done it ive noticed it gives me that extra depth which I was missing in BS. LBSS might be happier now with my depth i think.
I wanted 6 reps of 102.5 but got 5. Would have got an ugly 6th (form on 5th was breaking down) so didn't bother. Next time 102.5x6 and hopefully 105x5 as well? Maybe we'll see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdl7cj_f70w
BSS notes:
I tried using my lifting shoes for these - big mistake, was very unstable and wobbly on the bench leg. L leg is beasting, finding all the weights easy, even with brief rests following R leg worksets. For weak R leg I did 2x volume of L leg again. Not sure if I wanna keep up this R skewed training but like i've said before, R leg doesn't mind, it's L which gets the doms .. which makes no sense but that's what we have yup. Oh wait, maybe it does make sense! L leg is more of a n00b, R leg is intermediate. So R leg is chilling and recovering ezy because it's on that newbie flex. That makes sense right? Whatever.
Was in two minds whether to do concentric heavy front squats or BSS. Decided to stick with BSS on this high volume day. I can do the concentrics on the higher CNS intensity days. Either way, i'm confident i'll get that 120 front squat PR by friday week.
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I envy you , in the good way! That approach was always my ideal scenario. Pick a workout scheme ( FS + cutting in your case ) , stick with it for a long time, then go to the court after a long time and enjoy the benefits. I know it's not even right , you ( we ) should keep up with jumping to maintain efficiency/mobility needed for ME jumps, its better injury-wise too.
But that feeling , hitting the court after months and being a totally different (better ) athlete, priceless. Hope it makes sense!
Keep up keeping up! :highfive:
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I envy you , in the good way! That approach was always my ideal scenario. Pick a workout scheme ( FS + cutting in your case ) , stick with it for a long time, then go to the court after a long time and enjoy the benefits. I know it's not even right , you ( we ) should keep up with jumping to maintain efficiency/mobility needed for ME jumps, its better injury-wise too.
But that feeling , hitting the court after months and being a totally different (better ) athlete, priceless. Hope it makes sense!
Keep up keeping up! :highfive:
Thanks vag! That makes perfect sense. The reason I haven't kept up jumping is because i've been juggling enough things already in training and playing basketball and jumping wasn't a priority in the end. If i got a bit of extra recovery ability i'd put it towards building strength/muscle or improving conditioning to aid fat loss! Those just happened to be the main goal. But I do wish i could do more things in training I'm just terribly limited by the cut to stick to a few things only.
I used to love playing ball but I had to give it up because I couldn't improve my lifts and cut and do everything else too.
The other thing is, when i was in middle of the long cut, my legs were tired from all the squatting and conditioning (daily cardio + 3x hiit/SS) I was doing. If I went down to the basketball court, i was sure i'd find i was jumping poorly. Which makes me feel bad because as you might know the feeling, there is nothing worse than doing a max effort jump and being well below expectation. That feel sucks. So mentally I wasn't interested in failure and decided it was just better to avoid failure by avoiding jumping altogether lol.
I bet if I had kept up the jumping i'd be jumping higher now though. You're definitely right about that. I'd have bigger/stronger calves as well. Guess it was just a trade off. Thankfully it hasn't hurt my VJ though which gives me hope that I have a lot of potential left in me when i've all the ducks in a row. Thinking when I finish cutting, push up my lifts a bit more, start doing plyos and eat more food i'll be jumping a lot higher maybe. we'll see.
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I've got doms on doms today. Doms in glutes, lower back, shoulders etc. Glad I decided to bp in the end because I can never bp well the day after front squats anyways. And it would have ruined front squats on weds so that was the right call.
Still keeping a deficit even while eating holiday food which i'm pleased about. I took a page out of KF of fasting prior leaving space for higher cal meals. I'm finding having a lot of self control with portions and not binging as well. 7 days compliant, have no doubt i'll set a PR in days compliant.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdl7cj_f70w
Nice to see tall people squat full with good form. :headbang:
Get out of that twig weight and lift more volumes. Good things happen the stronger you get - you also have more tissues to absorb the impacts of landing as you squat more weight.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdl7cj_f70w
Nice to see tall people squat full with good form. :headbang:
Thank you! :highfive:
Get out of that twig weight and lift more volumes. Good things happen the stronger you get - you also have more tissues to absorb the impacts of landing as you squat more weight.
Will do as soon as I can. I can't wait to do more volume and gain some mass both.
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Absolutely destroyed my diet on xmas day lol. Maybe I'll get some nice PRs tomorrow? Lets see.
My idiot friends convinced me to drink a 750mL double strength dare espresso iced coffee at 3:30am just before going home to sleep. Now i'm completely wired and the last thing I wanna do is go to bed. It's out of revenge because apparently I introduced them to dare a few years back and they've been hopelessly addicted since so they wanted to get back at me for putting them onto the stuff. I was hooked myself for a while and swore off the stuff but man it's like liquid crack. So smooth, so good.
Exciting news. Might be joining a new gym with plenty of equipment. I saw they have dbs that go over 80kg and a few squat racks etc. Should be good for training in the summer when it's too hot to workout outside in my home gym.
The only catch is I need them to waive the high initial membership nonsense fees. Supposing I can manage that, then I shud be training there for at least the next 2-3 months.
One key motivation is I want to try out dbs for unilateral work, esp for upper body since my weak side doesn't want to catch up with the strong one on bench press etc. I notice my left pec is much stronger/bigger than my right one. That should be fixable with dbs.
They also have the usual array of machines. Which I want to try out. Maybe i'll get a lot of mileage out of the leg press? Perhaps the single leg press for building quad mass on the weak side.. worth a try..
and i can finally do some beach work and build my guns better than just with weighted chins .. hopefully dbs help there
I'm also finally gonna be able to do conditioning on a bike which should be low impact enough on joints while allowing me to implement a proper tabata. Should get me real fit very quickly. Maybe even try the c2 rower for conditioning..
What else is exciting .. i guess i'll be able to find out how badly my issues with flooring/bent bar at home affects my form on the main lifts when I train with better equipment. Although they don't seem to have any power racks and having instead to use their squat racks with fixed safeties might not suit my proportions? will have to see. I don't mind continuing to bs/fs at home though. if only they had bumpers I cud just drop them.. but that's not gonna happen in an ordinary gym..
But all of this will give me a new fresh stimulus to training since things have been getting a bit stale :)
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Body Comp
(http://i.imgur.com/T6j4q.png)
BW: 75.5kg / 166.449lb (PR)
Uh yea wtf!! How is that for the last so many weeks (5-6?) i've been stuck very frustratingly at around 77kg and then just b00m - it disappears? It makes no sense, esp with the sheer amount of food I ate last night lol.
Somehow yesterdays xmas day excesses have triggered a massive downward scale movement. Whoosh? I've read about this happening, quite bizarrely that a free meal triggers the whoosh / delayed long term fat loss effect or something. Let's see if it sticks over the next coupla days. I'd be more convinced if I had lost an inch from my waist overnight but that's not happened .. anyway this is so close to my goal it's ridiculous. I'll do a final end of year progress summary with before and after details - hopefully having gotten sub 75kg (provided the whoosh is real and today's bodyweight drop persists).
Any takers on bodyfat estimates? I know pics are not very reliable but ball park is fine. My guess is around 13-15%.
Training
OHP 2x5x57.5, 8x50
FS 5x102 (PR), 5x98
BS 5x102.5, 6x97.5
OHP notes:
That's ~76% of my BW for sets of 5 across! I'm now to make 1/2 kg jumps for a while.
FS notes:
I kinda know a way to make my form better but I didn't get a chance to try it on the top set. Next time. Plan was to do the first 3 reps rapid fire. Take my time on the last 2? I want better form even for a PR.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2q260wHvjA
BS notes:
These sets were very difficult. The first 5x102.5 was a true 5RM today. I had to grind out that last rep with every ounce of my being at the risk of being injured if I failed. Not good.
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 1x07.5, 1x112.5, 1x115
BS 5x60, 3x90, 2x100, 3x107.5 (depth was high tho), 5x100 (ok depth i think)
BP 1x70, 1x75, 4x80, 5x75
DIPZ 3x5xBW (new exercise, very shaky on these)
BCU 10, 8, 6, 5, 4
Single DB bp 8x20, 6x24, 2x6x22R
Single leg press 3x8xwhatever the plates were on
foam roller on quads
BW: 76kg / 167.551lb
I think that's the lot, unless i'm forgetting some exercises. I was scheduled to do weighted chinups but i didn't take my chains with me so just did bw ones.. will probably do weighted next workout. oh and I didn't do BSS - didn't wanna stack it in front of everyone on my first day at the new gym. Did single leg leg press instead. Probably the same shit anyways.
FS notes:
Well it looks like my form problems are in fact to do with my home gym setup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJAtTP63fYk
BS notes:
BS form improved greatly from change of scenery.
Upper body notes:
So my flat bb bench liked the new bar. But all this training i've done at home has put a definite strength imbalance there and it wasn't reasonable to expect everything to be perfect so soon. I used the dbs to work on my weak side, doing a few more sets. Will give it a bit of time and hopefully I can bring up R side and then i'll get my bench press nice and symmetrical. Oh and dips. I was shaky on these, new exercise and all. Lets see what this does for my upper body.
So I will prob get another 2 sessions in this gym before going on to gym B. The barbells were very nice. Expensive ones. Was sick using a decent one for a change. In another note, my waist did finally catch up to the scale - i've lost a full 1/2" making my waist 32.5" which is cool.
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nice to go away and come back to find people have been killing shit. you're right about the BS depth, nice job.
bf% guess is tough without a back shot, but i'd say about 12-13%. abs wouldn't be coming in at 15% unless you carry all your fat on your back.
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nice to go away and come back to find people have been killing shit. you're right about the BS depth, nice job.
bf% guess is tough without a back shot, but i'd say about 12-13%. abs wouldn't be coming in at 15% unless you carry all your fat on your back.
Thank you. I've had abs for a while now even when I was heavier than now. So I think it's the latter - my body has cleverly stored fat in places I can't easily see. This might also go some way in explaining why even at my heaviest I never looked "that fat" - like when people say they carry "it" well.
Doms in lats and upper back. I only did unweighted chinups (for lats) which should be really easy for me?? Shrug. Unless the dips & 1 hand db presses contributed too. No idea.
update. doms in lower back and abs also.
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Waist under 32.5" now. I need to find the motivation to finish this neverending cut. How long will take me to lose the remaining 2.5"? Could I do it by mid Feb? Is that realistic. Am aiming for 9% bodyfat which should be a ~30" waist and perhaps the ridiculously low BW of 72kg/159lb.
So I think I need to man up and just go 100% laser focused strict mode and get this thing over and done with. Come January I will string together 2 instances of 15 days of solid uninterrupted compliance to diet, while adding in conditioning, then i'm sure I can get to 73kg by 1st Feb.
Conditioning newbie gains are still there to be taken advantage of - and they'll burn a fair bit of bodyfat once I do them regularly. I've not done conditioning regularly for ages. Maybe averaging 1-2 a month now. More recently i've been doing fasted TM on rest days which is working well not bothering knees, so that stays too. I've noticed that fasting on training days is a bad idea. But i've been doing it ok on rest days. So will keep doing that too.
I've got access to a gym now so I can train better with a variety of different exercises which weren't available to me before. DBs are gonna feature heavily in upper body training. As will machines for conditioning (think rowing and cycling). I will also explore dips which I have never been equipped to do at home. Various rowing movements like T-bar rows and machines will help with back strength. As far as corrective training goes - I am going to address L-R strength imbalances by employing unilateral training via BSS, single leg legpress and 1arm db work. Also more heavy weighted core work. More focus on lower back using GMs. Heavy DB rows for upper back as well.
Just for fun assistance exercises - calf raises, misc curls, adductor (bands & machine), neck work.
With new exercises you can progress them while cutting because of newbie gains so i will take advantage of those. Especially if they additionally help fix imbalances or bring up weak muscles and attack sticking points on the main lifts.
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Training
FS 4x102.5 (PR), 5x97.5
BS 5x102.5, 6x97.5, 5x95, 6x90
BP 2x70, 1x75, 77.5x3, 72.5x6, 70x5
Single DBBP 6x20R, 5x22.5R, 3x25R
DIPZ 3x8xBW
FS notes:
I wanted 5x102.5 but my upper back rounded on the 4th and I knew if anything the 5th would be even uglier. Decided to rack it after all. Woulda been nice to get the 5x102.5 PR on teh last workout of the year - but you know what 4x102.5 is still a 4 rep PR so whatevers. Next time will get it fo sho.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7fj6-9alDU
^was happier with my form on the 2nd set of front squats.
BS notes:
Shithouse backsquats. Only decent set was the last one.
Another day, another gym. The one i went to last time was closed which sucked or so I thought but turns out today's one was even better. Very neat, nice equipment, kickass air/conditioning, not very busy, not many bros. It was one of the best i've been to in this city. I'm so lucky it was open today and being under that icy cold a/c because it was 40° C at home and so ridiculously hot that there was no sense in trying to get thru it here. The squatting setup was almost perfect. The floor was solid (not squishy like the previous gym). The only defect was there was very little clearance between the barbell sleeves and the rack. You have to be super careful not to catch the pins with the bottom of plates.
Workout done under long time fasted conditions because i've got a party later tonight. Workout was much more difficult than it would be otherwise. So that's it, the last workout of the year.
2012 Summary
I did well this year, lost a whole load of body weight, was around 90kg at the start of 2012 and I ended up 75.5kg at my lightest a few days ago. My best backsquat was 130 without a belt and my best front squat was 117.5kg. I'm due to FS 120kg any day now. Post cutting, I'll do a lot better on lifts in 2013. In the process I went from not being able to dunk, to landing my first dunks and finally in Dec, being able to dunk with ease.
My waist reached a PR milestone of 32.25" this morning - which means i'm not far from being under 32" now. That gives me motivation going into the new year - want bad to stop being a fatfuck and finally be lean and athletic. The main reason I didn't end up 8% bodyfat is because I started out a LOT fatter than I initially thought. I may well have started cutting from upper 20s.
(http://i.imgur.com/7aAJ6.png)
End of year progress pic.
Will finish the job and get down to 8-10% by Mid-Feb.
Thanks for reading. Happy new year everyone. Hope you achieve your goals!. Til next year :)
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abzzzzzzzzz
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I'd heard the dip is the upper body equivalent of the backsquat. I didn't know then what to make of such a claim having never tried the exercise. But now the day after dips, I find a great deal of residual soreness in my shoulders, triceps, forearms and especially lats. There might just be something to the claim after all. I plan to work up to 12 reps of BW dips before adding weight. May eventually replace the bb bench press since I have so many issues with that exercise.
I spent the afternoon reading through my log. I didn't realise how much being injured earlier in the year affected my training - and even body recomp because I had to put dieting on hold while healing. Being injured sucks, obviously, but i've been lucky for a while now with no injury concerns. Will work to keep it that way. A big part of staying injury free, I must admit, was not playing basketball.
I remember how badly I'd get beaten up from playing basketball - not just injuries which were are obvious, but the beating my joints would take from playing the game. I didn't realise then but it might have been because I was overweight. Even attempting a dunk would hurt my ankle, say, from the impact of landing with a heavy bodyweight. I don't have that problem now - even on concrete, it's kind on on knees and ankles.
So this leads to the question, suppose I finish my cut and lose another 5kg of bodyfat - and then if I were to play basketball, would it be even more easier on my joints? Would it mean much better recovery following games so that I can train normally in the gym afterwards? Perhaps. Worth finding out.
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Losing fat should have a pretty important effect on those aspects, especially if it altered your posture.
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Losing fat should have a pretty important effect on those aspects, especially if it altered your posture.
Speaking of posture. I don't have back problems anymore either. Wonder if that chronic sciatica I had for several years was partially due to being a huge fatfuck. This really bothers me.
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Why the heck it bothers you? :D
It's good you got rid of that. Sure it's kind of annoying not to know why but keep up the good work.
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Why the heck it bothers you? :D
Just that I didn't know any better initially. Could have been luckier and found better sources for advice. I know everyone gets burned by poor training & nutrition advice but it set me waaaaaay back. I'm not even out of the hole I dug for myself yet, still have 6-8 weeks of cutting to go.
It's good you got rid of that. Sure it's kind of annoying not to know why but keep up the good work.
Oh for sure, best thing i've done in a long time. Will do.
Looking forward - I think I will take a page out of Mutombo's log and implement a no sugar-no-sweets regime for this year. I know that sounds a bit too extreme, but cutting out fast food which I did the latter half of 2012 really paid off big, and I think the binges of icecream/chocolate I have once every 2-3 months need to go. I don't have the stuff usually. But then I'll start eating icecream and just have it every night til the freezer is emptied.
Oh shit I forgot to mention something that has been on mind. I'm obviously very light for my height right now. And people keep telling me how sickly thin i have become ("you are anorexic bro .. gross i can see your veins"). And there is a real temptation there to go "fuck it man, i'm gonna gain some weight now, enough cutting". But i'm going to resist that trap. Because suppose I do gain some weight, so I get a bit fatter than I am now. Then what? Eventually i'll have to say ok time to cut, and then i'll hate to lose the new fat I gained in the bulk as well as dealing with the old fat I didn't remove in the first place. It's nothing more than spinning ones wheels. So I will stay the course now, get rid of ALL the bodyfat and THEN bulk. No matter how skeletal I become, i'll keep going. Like Lance said, the trip isn't the same as the stay, it's a temporary inconvenience for the cost of doing things the right way for the long term.
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Training
FS 3x103
OHP 5x58, 4x58 (repeat next time), 5x52.5
FS 4Fx103, 4x98.5
FS notes (I):
the triple was a RM. I should know better not to front squat fasted but erred once again. The other thing was - the dips from monday destroyed my middle back so much so that I was struggling to stay upright. This is wild - how does an upper body exercise hit my back so hard? That's sick. I get that dips are a great compound exercise now - I just need to schedule better so it doesn't affect front squats.
OH and this explains why monday's 2nd front squat set looked so good - it's because I did dips on friday so maybe that helped strengthen my back so much so that it helped avoid upper back rounding? Promising signs. Dips might just be that magic exercise I needed the most in training. Now just need to juggle everything else to make them fit in nicely.
Will try FS later tonight once again when not fasted.
FS notes (II):
I think the 2nd session was easier but still I failed the 4th rep. So dunno, it wasn't a huge difference either. My back is toast So much so that i'm skipping weighted chins, backsquats and bss because I don't wanna get injured trying to train thru this.
At some point I want to switch focus away from front squats. Yes I love them but there can be such a thing as too much of a good thing. Would like to get to 5x105 and 1x120 before putting FS on maintenance.
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Tentative Program
Monday:
FS 2x5 (ramped down)
BS 1x6, 1x8
Squat assistance
DB BP 3x6 (weaker arm more sets)
| Wednesday:
FS 2x5 (ramped down)
Squat Assistance
OHP 2x5
WCU (~20-25 heavy reps) | Friday:
FS 1RM
BS 1x5
BP 3RM
Squat assistance
DIPZ 3x6 |
Squat assistance: Alternate btw BSS (3x6) or single leg press -- and -- rows (t-bar, heavy db etc) or good mornings.
I am considering doing away with backsquat and just doing heavy good mornings. I figure GM+FS = Win - but I might regret it later on that I didn't keep up with backsquat so dunno.
Once I FS 105x5 and 120x1 - I will take stop FS 3x a week and switch to 2x. Maybe even 1x if I can get away with maintaining my 5RM and 1RM. Number of sets will go down for maintenance as well. At that point FS focus will give way to BSS. If you are wondering, why not BS instead? Because I still have mad issues with backsquat assymetry and imbalance. That's why I am choosing instead to focus on the unilateral BSS exercise instead.
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So all that new year resolution nonsense resulted in 1 day of strict compliance. On day 2 I ate a whole load of chocolate. And today I though to do even better and ate a whole large bar. I'm okay with this. I think the strict-all-in-or-nothing attitude isn't a good one. I can mess up today and pick things up tomorrow without missing a step. That's a good thing. If 90% of the time i'm compliant then over time I will get the results all the same. But the really remarkable thing is what made me write this post - that having eaten an entire large block of chocolate, I don't have a sugar rush, or feel any sort of low. It's a sign to me that my insulin sensitivity has improved leaps and bounds since my obese days - that if I were to do a bulk now, chances are i'd have better muscle:fat partitioning. I'm on the right track - sub 10% and my insulin sensitivity will be optimal and I will be able to do a great bulk.
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yes, it's best not to moralize foods.
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I'm a little annoyed. The gym I was excitedly planning to join soon is proving to be a disappointment. They delayed their opening by a week. And after speaking to them yesterday it turns out all their website claims were a trick to get you to talk to salesman. Like saying "no contracts" in big letters everywhere on their website but the rates for non-contracts are 2x as much the annual ones! I don't know if I even want to be in a gym for that long, I may end up training at home after the summer so that's a deal breaker to me. But even their rates for annual membership are too high for me.
I may end up going to that other gym I went to the other day which had a great setup and it's more in line with my budget (on a contract mind) although it's a bit of drive from home which I was hoping to avoid.
I hurt my back on wednesday overhead pressing. Stupid exercise. Will skip today's workout until back is ok. The last time I hurt my back was while doing ohp. That's the 2nd strike against barbell ohp. I don't think I will do them again.
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Here the average fee for a monthly "complete" (come when you want, leave when you want, for an unlimited amount of times) gym membership is about 17 euros, so about 20$. I pay about 35$ for my gym, but it's close to home (5 minutes) so I'd rather pay more and have it close to home than otherwise.
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I have something like 15 gyms to choose from that are within 20 mins and there are more coming up. It's ridiculous. So in a way i'm spoilt for choice! I've got the option of 24/7 gyms but without barbells. One which has barbells and another one which should be close opening in around 3 months time. Several full featured gyms but ones that require a yearly contract. One which doesn't have a 24/7 but is very cheap for off peak. Another one has a nice indoor basketball court etc but the other ones don't.
The other option I have is to spend the money I would on gym membership and buy extra gear - like dbs. But I hate my homegym now for some reason and like the idea of training in a nice a/c indoor gym esp in the summer. But for $600ish I could buy a bunch of dumbells. Maybe even a new, half decent barbell
I really like that last gym I used, and they're reasonably priced - $600 for the year. Nice equipment and good solid floor. Only that rack is a bit tight but I can probably get used to it
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Here's the membership for a year is 440$, and with some discounts etc that they practice I guess it ends up to about 400.
The problem is that the average monthly salary is ~300 $. My monthly salary + meal tickets ends up at 456 $ currently.
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Damn! Gyms are way more expensive there. I wouldn't bother in that case. This stuff is a luxury not a necessity obviously. I think i'm leaning towards one or two - just have to go there and physically check them out and make a decision so I don't have to worry about this stuff anymore. If it works out in a few months I will ebay my homegym.
My back went from bad to worse thru the day. I binged on chocolate and icecream. That wont hurt healing. Hopefully it will be ok by monday. Note to self, no more barbell overhead pressing ever. DBs are so much safer. Inexplicably my shoulders have gotten like 10% bigger in the last few days.
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Back feels gooooooood today. Have to decide whether to workout or rest a coupla more days and start back on monday.
also, oh shit I got fat. I feel fat and flabby. Feels bad man. I think I ate an entire tray of chocolates yesterdays, a bag of doritos, normal meals and 2 large bowls of icecream. What a pig.
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 1x107.5, 1x97.5, 2x95, 5x90
BS 3x60, 3x90, 2x100, 1x107.5, 7x90
pickup game 1.5hrs
Then gym closed so couldn't do upper body stuff. I wasn't aware of the closing time otherwise I woulda planned the session better.
FS notes:
The 107.5 was heavy :/ i've got weak. But I was holding back some since I didn't wanna disturb my back.
BS notes:
I need to do something different, not going anywhere on this lift, if anything i've regressed a lot.
Basketball notes:
Played pickup for the first time in 6 months or so. was wild, i didn't have the fine motor skills honed so was a bit funny. kept fumbling the ball, passed, dribbles etc. but it was slowly coming back. finished off with a game of 4-4 to 21 points, and I reached into my deep reserves to see if I had some extra athleticism available - i did - hit a new gear and blew by mate who is usually very quick and hard to get by, and i scored it to put us on top and win. felt good. but overall unfit, slow, sluggish, uncoordinated, lots of things to fix. I just think i was too heavy today, and i suspect tomorrow my joints will complain because i put them thru too much beating playing this heavy. my lanky ass needs to be 72kg to be maximally athletic. Just need to get my shit together and finish this cut........
and my d sucked. i need to read the advise lance gave me because i got killed today
In other news, the gym search is over! I've found the right one. They just renovated and they have a really nice setup with all the equipment I could possibly need. And a basketball court I can use for jumping, so I have no excuse to skip jumping after lifting.
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Various soreness, asymmetric, in my left leg. Lower back and upper back (i did squeeze in a set of 5 dips before leaving the gym). I ate more junk yesterday and today as well. Decided to start over on the first monday of the year and give myself a bit of diet break before resuming the cut. I've gained a lot of weight this past week - but things should be back to normal soon now that I have a new gym sorted out.
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Hey good job on the amazing progress in 2012. I was browsing your journal and saw you had some problems with ROM, older injuries, assymetry, etc. Try checking out mobilitywod.com and do some searches for your body part or lift.
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Hey good job on the amazing progress in 2012. I was browsing your journal and saw you had some problems with ROM, older injuries, assymetry, etc. Try checking out mobilitywod.com and do some searches for your body part or lift.
Thank you for the kind words. I'll have to give mobility work a go - it's something i've never tried before.
Today was supposed to be a rest day where I ate like a pig for the last time and relaxed but ended up helping out my father with some labour work. Moved a whole load of heavy blocks thru sand and it was a great workout. Haven't sweated as much as this in ages. I am regretting the basketball I played the other day, sore knees and ankles abound. Note to self, i'm not in any kind of shape to play basketball.. yet.. so don't tempt fate, stay injury free!
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Body recomp (The final cut)
Starting stats: 77.2kg / 170lb, 32.5" waist, 14-15% bodyfat
Desired stats: 72.5kg / 160lb, 30" waist, 9% bodyfat
TLDR: looking to drop 5kg/10lb of bodyweight to 160lb and 2.5" off my waist to 30" in 45 days.
Crazy lower body doms since yesterdays yard work. I really should do more explosive pushing/pulling work, this stuff is brilliant. Am beat - but will fit in a workout later tonight at the new gym. Will do a whole load of volume but keep intensity low.
Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 4x102.5 (=PR but shit form), 3x95, 5x90
DBBP 6x12.5, 5x17.5, 8x22.5, 6x27.5
WC 5xBW, 3x10kg, 2x15kg, 1x20kg, 0.9x20 (shitty gym design, the plate hit the wall stalling me), 4x10kg
DIPZ 8xBW, 10xBW (PR), 12xBW (PR)
aerobic bike thing (cardio setting - ~1km, 132 heart rate)
FS notes:
I wasn't even planning on squatting today after yesterday's gruelling "workout" - but forced myself because I wanted to start the cut properly. I didn't have a 5th rep in me, the 4th was ugly. But I think if it wasn't for yesterday I would have got the 5 rep PR. Form sucked, didn't have leg strength and my back was fried too making it hard to stay upright.
Upper body notes:
I finally got around to weighted chins - for the first time in over a fortnight. Have gotten real weak on these. Also I can't do them them at the new gym - the 20kg plate touches the wall because the bar is too close - so will have to do these at home. That's not a problem.
Happy with DB BP - will add weight and just do a lot of volume and see where it takes me in a coupla weeks
DIPZ - getting better and better at this exercise, i can easily see doing 3x15 real soon. And it might be time to add weight.
I didn't realise it until now but i've had 3 training days in a row. That's kind of beaten me up, not just joints and tendons but CNS as well. I might avoid playing basketball again until i'm done cutting - because if I try to do too much i'll get burn out and quite easily succumb to injury. So lets stick to basics - 3x lifting, 3x hiit/cardio - jumps and sprints 1x a week. And that's it. Oh fasted treadmill on rest days. Basketball has no place in training right now. Lets get this done. 6pac or nothing brah.
Workout took too long, gym was real busy and I had to wait 20-30mins for squat rack. Will have to schedule better to avoid this in future.
Nutrition
Thinking I might dial down protein a tad for the first 3 weeks or so. So might take 2.5 scoops of whey a day. I'm already on 700mL of lowfat milk atm - will keep that there. The idea is, I need less protein the fatter I am - and as I get leaner, the more protein i'll need. I'll add more protein in as I go along. But if I start higher now, i'll be eating a lot more later if that makes sense.
Nailed nutrition on day 1 -
meal 1: 2 eggs, 2 slice wholemeal bread, 1 banana, 1.5 scoop whey shake lowfat milk
periworkout: can coke
meal 2: cup hot & spicy chicken breast curry, 2 rotis, 1.5 scoop whey shake in 350mL lowfat milk, half a mango.
and that's it - will be by daily template day in day out. Might take slightly less milk on rest days, so perhaps 600mL but that's not a big deal really.
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(http://s13.postimage.org/guhuaj7zb/graph6611362373821880929.png)
BW: 76.5kg / 168.65lb
Seem to be losing weight quickly as expected early in the cut. I had a lot of food in my gut which will go away over the next few days. So i'm hoping by next week I'll be in the 75kgs / 165lbs region which is where I left off last year. Waist is comfortably under 32.5" today as well. The other thing is I ate a lot of salt so water balance should be restoring soon.
No training today, wanna rest up after 3 consecutive days of training.
Change of plan. Couldn't help myself and did 30 mins on the TM fasted @ 3.3km/hr.
Just got to make sure tomorrow unlike today I take my first meal nice and early to be strong for the workout. I feel very tired today - even too tired to drive. I know I need more volume across the board, but damn i'm not letting go of intensity and it's not doing me any favours.
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so let go of intensity, for a while. you've disciplined yourself on diet, you can discipline yourself on training. you can always go back to the high-intensity stuff later.
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so let go of intensity, for a while. you've disciplined yourself on diet, you can discipline yourself on training. you can always go back to the high-intensity stuff later.
The reason I've traditionally gone for intensity is because, as you might know, lmcd recommends keeping intensity up, volume low, frequency low on a cut. I don't buy it myself but I err with lcmd because he's usually right about these things. But I think if I truly have 5kg to lose then I should be able to afford some leeeway in working volume. So i've just got to make the decision to put my ego & concerns about muscle wasting aside and go for it.
The other thing which really bugs me is I want to do give BSS a honest go, but i'm just doing too many damn exercises (FS, BS, BSS, 1 leg leg press) now to give any one exercise the volume focus it needs. So as a result I do only a couple of sets each per exercise. I'll figure it out somehow.
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true but he also advocates depletion workouts (in UD2.0).
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some half assed jumps (could barely get over the bottom of the square)
FS 1x90, 1x100, 2x102.5, 3x90, 4x90
BS 3x90, 4x90, 4x85, 6x80
OHP(DB) 5x15, 5x20, 0x25, 5x22.5, 9x20, 6x22.5
TBDL 5x60, 3x90, 3x100
arm work
FS notes:
I haven't had form this bad in forever. I dunno wtf was going on today but i haven't been this weak on fronts for as long as I can remember. I miss certain home comforts if you know what i mean, which you wont.
BS notes:
Finally bs for the first time in forever. Was weak in this too but sucked up and did some volume. I know I need more, but not going to jump into it all at once. Each time add a set or two. Build up the volume, keep form good.
OHP notes:
Good bye shitty barbell lift. Hello superior dumbell alternative. So very interesting to see that I get zero reps with 25kg bells but I can get 9 with 20kg ones. Decent amount of volume. Lets hope db work gives a semblance of balance on L and R sides. Atm i've got that L dominant, so hopefully quitting barbell work and working dbs will fix that and push me further along.
Trap bar notes:
Why has the universe hidden this amazing exercise from me? It may just be the one I was looking for all this time. I felt it in the quads. Additionally it gives extra back work. AND gives me a heavy pull exercise - hitting all the key joys one gets from a compound ex. Watch this space. Maybe i can be so ambitious to think in terms of 4 or 5 plates on this if it gives me the rewards, I will give it the time.
Trap bar makes me happy. I just don't know how the fuck to load it because there is no rack for it? There must be a trick surely.
I'm doing well on the diet, 2 days of compliance, and today being the 3rd one looks safe in the bank. I'm thinking in terms of being in the 75kgs by monday morning.
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Trap bar makes me happy. I just don't know how the fuck to load it because there is no rack for it? There must be a trick surely.
Not sure if you can in a public gym but once you have a plate on each side or the trap bar sit them on a 5 or 10kg plate. This means you get that little bit of room to slide other plates on afterwards. Hope that makes sense.
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Cool thanks, i'll try that out next time!
Just noticed a kind of tiny rash on my middle finger on the right hand. Ugh, another reason why I dislike gyms - being exposed to ppls nastiness. How do you even prevent something like that? I bet they never clean the dumbell handles. Note to self use the alcohol gel in my gym bag immediately after.
Waiting to drop into 75s, was 76.55kg this morning. So far so good. Want to get the first week under my belt and tackle the 2nd one.
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Thinking of buying my own trap bar and 2x45kg dbs instead of gym membership.
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 5x102.5 (PR), 4x97.5 (*)
BS 3x90, 2x100, 1x105, 6x95, 6x90
DBBP 5x12.5, 5x22.5, 4x30 (PR), 6x27.5, 8x25
TBDL 3x100, 1x120, 3x140 (PR), 5x100, 5x100
DIPZ 15 (PR), 15, 12
SVJx5, RVJx2
FS notes:
Well finally progressed my front squat fiver. Feels good man. Will repeat until form is good before adding weight (Yes i say this all the time and never do it but this time I simply must!)
The 2nd set (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5xdKRCjzSE) (*) was ruined by a dude in the mirror who kept moving around just behind me while speaking loudly to his friend. I dont know if that's his fault or me not being used to it - but it threw me off my game and I just couldn't focus, kept thinking I wanna turn around and let him have a piece of my mind but that came to pass quickly!
BS notes:
Slowly rebuilding back the worksets.
DBBP notes:
So I am hopelessly weak - i can't even clean the 30kg dbs - took a huge effort to get in position, but once I was in, managed 4 very slow ugly reps. I guess I should build up more reps with 27.5kg before going up to 30? Will try that.
Trap bar DL notes:
I'm basically mechanically retarded when it comes to deadlifts. I dont have a clue how to set the bar down? In my head i'm thinking first break slightly at knees, do RDL to bring bar lower. Then bend knees more to put the bar on the ground. Is this correct or should be doing somefink else? i have a video if it will help but i doubt it.
Looking at the video - i'm not satisfied with form. My upper back rounds just before breaking the bar off the ground. This is the reason I don't do conv dls so if it's the same with trap bar maybe it's not quite the panacea i was hoping for ..
My right pec cramped on the 3rd rep so I didn't try for 5 reps. But yea i used 3 plates today on my 2nd time doing these. I want to clean up my form and perfect my set-down before going towards and beyond 180kg.
DIPZ:
Got the 15 reps! Now will try get 3 sets of 15 before adding weight. Exciting stuff. This is the only exercise i can really think of that I feel in my chest.
Jumps:
So i'm 110% sure the rim at this new gym is way higher than regulation. not just a coupla inches but perhaps as much as 3"-5". I can't prove it but here are some reasons -
1. Usually I can grab the net while directly underneath the rim - not at this place, have to get on my heels.
2. It just seems so fucking high lol, even the bottom of the backboard seems a lot higher than i've seen elsewhere
3. I haven't got one single dunk on this rim - not from a lack of trying either
This annoys me. On the other hand, suppose I work up to dunking easily on THIS rim - then a regulation rim ought to be much easier? So in a way it's good? But no, it's frustrating not even being able to land one dunk.. not even at max effort.... grrr...... sucks being unable to dunk again.. thought I had shaken that off for good but no..
I have video of this also, will upload tonight.
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What's my VJ?
Background info:
Camera frame rate is: 30.000 fps
g=9.794 m/s^2
Quantifying SVJ
Concentric frames: [frame#42, frame#53]
So SVJ consists of 53-42=11 frames
which means t_ecc=11/30=0.366
vert=1/2gt^2=1/2*g*t_ecc^2= 0.658m = 25.90".
I eval'd the following code in an emacs scratch buffer
(defun vj (num-frames)
(let* ((t_ecc (/ num-frames 30.0))
(s (* 0.5 9.79403 t_ecc t_ecc)))
(/ s 0.0254)))
>(vj 11)
25.92
Quantifying RVJ
Concentric frames: [frame#31, frame#42]
So RVJ consists of 42-31=11 frames
Which is 25.92" as before. This is very interesting... well i didn't realise my vertical was so mediocre.. i thought i was closer to 30" and actually on the other side of 30 lol.. damn reality check!
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How do you go from airtime to SVJ? Trying to recall kinematic eqs while making dinner brb
http://www.adarq.org/adarq-org-special-content/complete-hangtime-to-vj/
If still curious about the theory behind it , it is based on the 'Conservation of energy'
energy at bottom = energy at top => kinetic + mecanical energy at bottom = kinetic + mechanical energy at top.
kinetic energy = 0.5 * mass * velocity ^2
mechanical energy = mass * g * height
But mechanical energy at bottom and kinetic energy at top are zero.
So the equation is 0.5 * mass * velocity^2 = mass * g * height => 0.5 * velocity^2 = g * height [1]
The type of motion is 'constant linear acceleration. so height = velocity*time - 0.5*g*time^2 [2]
Time is the time you took to reach the top, hangtime/2.
There you go, 2 equations with 2 unknown variables ( height, velocity ), solve to height and you are there.
:-*
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Nice front squat.
Do you usually dunk on outdoor/concrete courts? Aside from the ring being higher there could be another reason why it's harder to dunk. I think your body gets used to jumping on concrete so than when you jump on hardwood it's harder coz your body isn't used to it. That's what I found even though most people say they can jump higher on hardwood (maybe that's another reason why my knees get fuked up- always jumping on concrete).
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Nice one vag, let me plug in the numbers and see what comes out. I am starting to think it's better to work with time t=t* where t* is the time taken taken to reach the peak rather than total airtime. This is because I can get the exact frame where the peak occurs - which saves having to work out which frame is where one lands which is more subject to error.
The other thing i'm not positive about is - do you take the first frame F_0 when you are airborn? Or when the heel visibly begins to rise? Not sure. Ok i've decided to take the last frame just before I'm visibly airborne. This should be t=0 I think because by the next frame i'm already in the air.
Nice front squat.
Thank you!
Do you usually dunk on outdoor/concrete courts?
Usually I don't dunk anywhere lol. But the last time I dunked was just before xmas on concrete. Before that time, I dunked on hard-wood but that's going back 6 months or so.
Aside from the ring being higher there could be another reason why it's harder to dunk.
You may well be right. Maybe I jump higher on concrete. The only way to test this is to try on another hardwood floor (the place I usually play basketball when I play) that will confirm whether it's a localised effect of my new gym. But here is the thing. When I weighed like 7-8kg more than I do right now, I could dunk on my old hardwood gym. But now that i'm lighter, stronger and more athletic, I can't dunk at all at this new gym. So that points to the new gym being the anomaly...? Unless my old gym is lower but I doubt that since it's a proper court.
I think your body gets used to jumping on concrete so than when you jump on hardwood it's harder coz your body isn't used to it. That's what I found even though most people say they can jump higher on hardwood (maybe that's another reason why my knees get fuked up- always jumping on concrete).
Maybe you're right. I will try to get to the bottom of this by trying a few more gyms. Thanks for the thoughts. It may well be the surface. Btw your experience mirrors mine - I could never jump properly on concrete because it would mess up my ankle & knees. But now I think it's because I was too heavy then (=84-85kg) and that's why it was bad for me. At 75-76kg my body doesn't mind concrete at all.
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Nice one vag, let me plug in the numbers and see what comes out. I am starting to think it's better to work with time t=t* where t* is the time taken taken to reach the peak rather than total airtime. This is because I can get the exact frame where the peak occurs - which saves having to work out which frame is where one lands which is more subject to error.
The other thing i'm not positive about is - do you take the first frame F_0 when you are airborn? Or when the heel visibly begins to rise? Not sure.
First frame airborn, thats when the 'constant linear acceleration' begins, which is actually decelerating with constand acceleration factor -g. When heels start to rise, you are still building up your initial velocity, you are in the previous, undetermined, motion. 2 more general reccomendations:
-For dunks don't use the full hangtime formula, hangtime is distorted ( inflated ) from rim contact. Use that only for 'clean' jumps.
-The hangtime formula calculates the distance you traveled from toes off, what we call verticall is from heels down, you need to do that correction. You need to add that difference, for me its 5''
More info here : http://www.adarq.org/strength-power-reactivity-speed-discussion/about-the-hangtime-based-vertical-jump-calculators/msg2158/#msg2158 , more analysis at the youtube video description.
:lololol:
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A lot of things go into it to make a good estimate. Lots of food for thought. Btw is it possible to do without the initial velocity? Cause how would you measure that anyway... unless you take it to be =0 but that doesn't make sense either unless you start counting from stand still (which means including time spent on the ground before airborne).
I think I got it. We should do the video analysis from the peak of the jump, to landing time. This will allow you to take initial velocity as 0 obviously. We're talking about freefall. The other thing is, it's symmetric because at the top of jump, heel is elevated, toes down - just the same way you land which you can pick up easily from video. I think this makes the most sense?
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The initial velocity is being thrown out of the equation because it can be expressed as a function of height and time. It was the equation [2] a few posts above. That's why you have to time from first frame airborn, to make sure that this equation is valid , while on the ground, what is happening cant be determined.
Also , the jump is never actually vertical , that induces a factor equal to the cosinus of the jumping angle ( e.g 10 degrees angle , cos = 0.984 , 1.6% error ).
I don't use the hangtime formula. It just gives you a good estimate. I only used it when i could not determine my jumps otherwise ( tracking depth jumps performance at home ).
What i use is how higher i got above a measured rim. That can never lie.
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Understood. Thank you vag. I don't use the height above rim because i strongly suspect rim height isn't 10ft. But I should probably measure that sometime just to see what it is exactly. Would be good to get an exact measurement of vertical also but I don't currently have a way to measure it very accurately.
So I ran the numbers and my vert is coming out as a very modest ~26" (#frames=11) for both SVJ and RVJ. I found this humbling but lets take a look at how the data varies with a table:
#Frames vertical (inches)
10 21.421762904636918
11 25.920333114610667
12 30.847338582677168
13 36.2027793088364
14 41.98665529308837
So a single frame makes a big difference in the estimate of vertical and there is easily an uncertainty of ±1 frame on the peak frame and the also ±1 frame on the landing one. Which is to say, i may still have a 30" but it's hard to say from this analysis. Suppose if I got my hands on a camera which can take a higher fps than 30 then i'll be able to get a better measurement.
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Well it looks like you are getting exactly a clean hand above rim at that SVJ. For your height i would guess a 9'' hand. With your 98'' reach that equals to 31'' of vert if we assume the rim is legit 10'. Calculator gives 26'' so there you go , 5'' correction according to my theory, verified. Measure your flatfooted vs up-on-toes-reach and i bet you will find it at 5''.
Sorry for hijacking your journal, if you find this annoying let me know so i delete the posts and take it to the hangtime thread.
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98" reach (but that's barefoot, not that I wear shoes with a heel though), 8" hand and yup hit my wrist on the SVJ - so you think 30" iff it's a 10ft rim? That's interesting. Only thing left to do is measure rim height. Don't mind the posts, it's good stuff but if you like to cross post to the hangtime thread as well, feel free so others may find the info easier.
Another SVJ video from earlier in the week, I think I jumped higher there.
I slowed it down and dragged it out to 5s by using a frame rate of 5fps since it was only 1s long to start with to aid ease of watching. I trust you guys to know well intuitively what a vertical is by looking at the video. Does that look like 26" or am I in the 30s? Any estimates welcome.
We haven't established rim height yet but my suspicion is it's a lot higher than 10ft. Thanks again.
I woke up today with wicked lower body doms. Hamstrings, inner thighs, lower back - all torched. Feels good man.
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The dunk attempt SVJ is lower but it doesn't count as the ball in the hands ruins the hands windup and the highest reach at peak. Unless we are talking about kingfish but he is not human anyway.
Let's stick to the 1st SVJ video. Around 30'' is my estimation, and i am arrogant enough to say i am the certified eye-vertec of adarq.org! :P
Your reach is probably ~99'' in shoes, so wrist at 10' rim is 29''. Now this rim could be a bit lower OR a bit higher , it looks legit compared to your height. Also you won't find gym rims more than 2'' different than 10', you can tell from the first look if they are higher than 10'2'' or lower than 9'10''. So my estimation is 29'', no way lower than 27'', no way higher than 31''.
:highfive:
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The dunk attempt SVJ is lower but it doesn't count as the ball in the hands ruins the hands windup and the highest reach at peak. Unless we are talking about kingfish but he is not human anyway.
Let's stick to the 1st SVJ video. Around 30'' is my estimation, and i am arrogant enough to say i am the certified eye-vertec of adarq.org! :P
Your reach is probably ~99'' in shoes, so wrist at 10' rim is 29''. Now this rim could be a bit lower OR a bit higher , it looks legit compared to your height. Also you won't find gym rims more than 2'' different than 10', you can tell from the first look if they are higher than 10'2'' or lower than 9'10''. So my estimation is 29'', no way lower than 27'', no way higher than 31''.
:highfive:
Made me laugh out loud.. :highfive:
I'll take 30" thank you very much. I'm hoping when I wrap up this cut and stop being on a caloric deficit (=catabolik state) i'll get a few inches on top of this, and I can then work hard on strength & jumping to get to 36". Yes that might be ambitious but a girl can dream. Actually I'd rather break 4s on my short sprint goal than jump 36" in terms of pure athleticism but they're probably connected - and when i'm athletic enough to do one, i'll probably be close to the otehr and vice versa.
So into the last day of the first week of the cut. So far so good, only felt hungry ONE time which happened yesterday, and I ate some fruit, and it went away. Funny how that works, it's like the body said, oh you gave me some fibre and something for the sweet tooth? Good i'm full now, step away from the icecream and cookies, situation normal.
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 4x105 (PR), 4x97.5, 5x90
BS 3x90, 6x97.5, 6x92.5
DBBP 3x22.5, 8x27.5 (PR), 8x25, 10x20
DIPZ 3x15 (PR- b00m!)
JUMPZ 10 SVJ, 5 RVJ (PR - first double hand SVJ dunks)
BW: ?? (I'd say ~76kg or so but I've not been weighing myself)
FS notes:
So here is the thing, at the gym I can only go up in 2.5kg jumps since I don't have my 1/2kg plates from home. So I had to jump to 105 from my 102.5kg PR from last week. I got 4 reps!! I could have ground out an ugly 5th but it's only monday! So i kept a rep in the tanky and will go for it on weds or friday, whichever feels rite. I was surprised because I thought i would be really weak.
Now if you're taking notes you'd realise I have to work super hard to get a 1/2kg pr on front squats. And today I just got a 2.5kg improvement since last week, wtf? I think it's the trap bar dl i did last week. They've beefed up my lower back some, which has helped with my front squat. This tells me what I already suspected, my back is a weak point, i should be trap bar deadlifting over 4 plates with my long ass arms (esp since i've done 170kgx5 with conventional dl a few years bak when i used to dl).
BS notes:
Just putting in the werk. I wanted to go for another set but I thought fuck it i'm gonna save my legs for jumping.
Jump notes:
Got my first double hand SVJ dunks today. Feels good man. I guess i was just too heavy/fatigued last week? I could dunk today even after doing 25 odd squats before hand. Once my fat ass is down to 72kg i'll be jumping much higher... just gotta be faithful to my diet now.
I have video but it was soo dark i doubt it will work once youtube runs its recompression algorithms over my footage. we'll see if it looks ok i'll update the post.
^ i ran a brightness filter thru the original footage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGr0wQKsfvs) which was too dark. if you watch either video, be sure to put it on 480p setting first because otherwise it pixellates too much.
I wanted to do weighted chins but the db bp & dipz killed my triceps and i can't do chinups. so note to self, make sure to do them on wednesday.
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You should've added a noise reduction filter too :P
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Congrats on the SVJ dunks. You make it look so easy.
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You should've added a noise reduction filter too :P
lol, did you take a look at the original?! it's a world of a difference, any better and i'd have to sneak into the CSI media lab ;) But yea i'll have a look to see if there is a NR filter around would be cool if it worked.
Congrats on the SVJ dunks. You make it look so easy.
thanks mate. it's always been a dream of mine, hopefully ive got a lot more potential left in me yet.
BW:76.3kg .. right on track
(http://i.imgur.com/UDwd1.png)
I am due for a scale whoosh I think, since i've been on the wagon for 8 days and weight as more or less held steady. I suppose I could do more conditioning too.
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105x4 front squat...i'd be lucky to get 105 for a single these days :(
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god i could fucking kill you. dunking with two hands from a standstill and it doesn't even look like you're trying.
/pity party.
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^ lol thanks guys much love <3
Training
FS 4.5x105, 3x95
BS 5x100, 5x95
DBOHP 5x22.5, 0x25, 8x20, 6x22.5 (PR? dunno)
TBDL 3x100, 1x120, 1x150 (PR but i'm a dickhead)
SVJx5, RVJx5
BW: ??
FS notes:
Didn't sleep well, was weak today. Didn't get the 5 rep 105kg pr. My mind wasn't there today. I'll get it next time fo sho.
BS notes:
I did the 2 sets I was scheduled to do, wanted 6, but didn't have it in me.
OHP notes:
couldnt get the 25kgs up ha ha, but yea ohp is weird like that. i can bust out 6 reps with 22.5kg and can't get a single one with 25. double u tea eff.
TBDL:
I had no plan today, let my ego lead me to trying a double bw dl, got it but form sucked. What was the point of that anyway? Oh and I did some high pulls (100x5 i think) because I read shaf talk about them on irongarm. As if that's a good reason to do something in the gym but there you have it.
Jump notes:
Yea the rims on the main court are definitely high. I finally landed a dunk on one, but it was a max effort, rvj kind of thing. Maybe i was just fatigued though but it tooke verything to land.
I watched 2 full court basketball games after gym. I am getting the itch to play ball again.. but knowing me i'll get obsessed and then I will be trying to do a million things all at once and not being able to do any single one well. Basketball wires up my CNS like crazy, i get so excited just watching, it's 10x worse when i'm actually playing. But i should just keep my head down, do my front squats, do my cardio, acquire low bodyfat. Then when im done cutting, i'll play ball. Right? I can't be athletic if i'm weak and fat - so don't be a dickhead, just stick to the plan.
also i got into double digits.. will celebrate when i'm halfway there - only another 12.5 days to go.. what.
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Doing the costings for new gym equipment:
Tarp Bar - $242
Olympic db handles - $100
4x10kg iron plates for dbs - $120
Total: $462
Also considering getting a new barbell:
Olympic barbell - $247
Total: $709
I would like to have a dipping setup as well but I can use the one in the park when I go to do jumps and sprints so it's not strictly necessary.
Not sold completely on tarp bar yet. Maybe it's good, maybe it's not. It's too early to tell. Maybe I could get the same benefits by doing partial straight bar deadlifts? I should find out. Also adjustable dbs might be too unwieldly to actually use if the 10kg plates obscure normal rom? I will try it out at the gym next time because they have the oly handles there.
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How come playing full court bball is detrimental to your training? I didn't get the CNS part.
In my personal opinion and experience, not just full court but any even 3v3 pickup played for a long enough duration (1-3hrs). I suspect it's to do with being in poor physical shape (bodyfat > 12%, conditioning & fitness low to average). The constant stop start nature of basketball where you are either in acceleration or deceleration often, jumping, landing, changing direction combine to put a lot of stress on joints and the excitation of the CNS in particular due to the frequently occurring high intensity movements during play. In addition to the regular stresses just described in competitive games you have also the extra adrenalin intensification of the nervous system from being in a charged competitive environment. Movements have to be max effort otherwise you'll be uncompetitive against the opponents.
If I were to play basketball now while being in a cut, while weight training and trying to progress my lifts i'd quickly find myself overtraining due to the factors described in the previous paragraph. During a high intensity RM set you might psyche yourself up and go all into a set that takes say 30 seconds to complete. In basketball that might be 30 minutes or more - which takes a greater toll on the CNS, somethign you don't want to do during a cut.
But suppose you're not dieting, you can improve recovery by eating more food (= sizeable caloric surplus) and this might allow you to play basketball and train hard in teh gym as well without running into overtraining problems. I can see that working in that specific case. But in a deficit while working hard to push up my lifts? Nope. It's just asking for injury and overtraining.
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Thinking back to a discussion where T0ddday described sprinters like Mutumbo000 having a great deal of natural lower back strength. Got me thinking that since I would like to be more athletic, it would follow reason that I should work on my back strength. I mean the causality T0dday describes goes the other way:
sprinters -> back strength
but I dont think it would hurt to try going in the reverse direction, ie,
greater back strength -> becoming more sprinter like.
Need to devote a fair bit of effort to building back strength. But programming it will be tricky since deadlifts and the like are hard to recover from. I'll figure it out by trial and error.
just a note, i came off my diet yesterday. it was a combination of things which i wont go into but suffice to say i recovered gracefully today so at least in that sense my ability to diet has improved markedly. no more several days of binging once i come of the rails, just picked up where i left of the next day, easy.
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 1x105, 1x110
BS 5x90, 5x95
DBBP 3x22.5, 3x27.5, 6x30 (PR), 8x27.5, 10x25
TBDL 3x100, 1x130, 3x145 (PR)
DIPZ 10xBW+7kg, 8xBW+12.5, 6xBW+15KG (all PRs - first time doing weighted dips, used dbs)
CU ~20-25 reps, from +12.5kg thru to BW - have got real weak on these on account of not doing them forever
RVJ x5
FS notes:
Well in hindsight doing that ego driven double bw trapbar dl last workout was a mistake. My lower back was fried, i couldn't front squat for shit, even my warmups were hard and shitty. So try to be smarter about these back exercises because the first priority is front squat, everything else is secondary. Fuck me.
BS notes:
A hot girl was waiting for me to finish squatting and I wasn't exactly going to set PRs today so I just did warmup weights and then told her I was done. I hate gyms, kind of like in that shakespeare poem
TBDL notes:
Yup back is getting strong very quickly. I pulled that 145kg triple with good form. Even decent form. If I keep up the tbdl work i can easily see me pulling in excess of 4 plates in a matter of weeks, it's just that good an exercise and i'm just that much of a newbie when it comes to back strength.. but .. the cost is having shitty front squat sessions which is untenable.. so i need to figure how to resolve this problem soon
My 2 week gym trial comes to an end tomorrow. I have to decide whether to put down the money for gym membership or buy new gym gear (tarp bar, db handles, plates for db handles.. ). Will decide this weekend. Weather still sucks so I'd like to train in a gym til at least end of feb .. because i dont fancy sweating away at home.. but we'll see maybe i should just suck it up.
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(http://i.imgur.com/aGBpMoj.png)
BW: 76kg / 167.55lb
Good news is that I weighed an even 76kg in the morning. Bad news is that I caught up with my friends for dinner and had a few too many slices of oh so good but oh so greasy pizza. Afterwards I had a large chocolate fudge icecream sundae thing which was glorious. All very much worth it.
I've now got a reason for training though, have convinced my mates to put the band back together and to sign up for a basketball tournament at the end of march. I'm gonna make sure i'm the best shape of my life and get my athleticism and skills to the best level they've ever been. I have the time and opportunity to get my ducks in a row and i'm gonna work really hard. I've always wanted to play with my friends and this might be the only chance to do it before we're all too old.
Goals for the tournament are 10% bodyfat (obviously), 5x115kg front squat, sub 4s 30m sprint, 36" vertical. As import is to improve my ball handling skills to a very high level because I want to realise my aspirations of being a sick point guard. Elite level conditioning too. Also will focus on taking apart my jumpshot and rebuilding it properly so it looks pretty and falls softly and accurately.
Lifting wise once i've got 5x105 on my front squat, i'm going to put the lift on a gentle simmer (=0.5kg jumps) and let it gently bubble it's way to 5x110kg - in the meantime i'll work my back hard and build up my lower back strength to a high level. I'll also work my abs hard. Once both of these weak areas are addressed i'll turn my focus on front squats and push them up aggressively (5x115kg as a minimum - 5x120kg as a great effort and anything above that is just bonus).
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Well kind of came off the rails on my diet this past weekend. For the record I had
2xslice french toast
banana
1 bag of kitkats
1 big bag of doritos
about 1/2 kilo of mexican bread pudding
protein shake
But not going to cry over spilt milk. I think if I stick to my usual everyday diet i don't have any problems but the dominos starting falling when I had the french toast instead of my usual "healthy" breakfast and i lose control then and there and it just gathered momentum on its own
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 5x1x105, 5x95, 5x92.5
BS 3x90, 5x95, 5x92.5, 5x90
BP 5x70, 5x75, 5x67.5, 5x65
TM, 20 mins @ 6.5kph, incline 0
FS notes:
my form sucked, experimented with varying stance width, didn't amount to much. i like to stick to my usual athletic stance which is what I use for jumping as well, even though with my long legs it's not ideal for squatting since it ends up being such a deep bottom position.
BS notes:
BS was good.
BP notes:
Uneven bar path, left side higher, right side lags behind. Thought the db work i've done for the last 4wks would fix it but it didnt.
Restarted cardio today. Will alternate btw HIIT and slow steady btw successive sessions.
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It's amazing how great my recovery is when i've eaten more food and slept well. Actually I think the reason I slept so well is because I ate well (=plentiful carbs from icecream -> amazing sleep). They're connected together. Yesterday I was annoyed about falling off the diet on the weekend so I went about business as usual while on my diet. Trained hard. Then decided to eat two bowls of icecream for dessert because I wanted to finish it so it wouldn't mindfuck me. I wake up feeling refreshed, no doms, no aches and pains. Feels good man.
I think in a way even though my bodyweight hasn't changed, my bodycomp has improved. Hard to prove though. And probably wrong so i'm not taking that idea too seriously.
But i'm really glad I've restarted cardio. I bet I could even eat a surplus and still lose bodyfat if I work hard on conditioning because of newbie conditioning gains. I have only scratched the surface, yesterday being my first aerobic session since september or something!
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fwiw charlie francis was a big proponent of lower back strength as key to fast sprinting. i think it's in "speed trap" where he describes ben johnson's erector spinae as "the size of a man's forearm."
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fwiw charlie francis was a big proponent of lower back strength as key to fast sprinting. i think it's in "speed trap" where he describes ben johnson's erector spinae as "the size of a man's forearm."
Thanks for sharing that - gives me further confidence I am on the right track. It may just be the thing which makes me buy a trap bar for my home gym. I'll try using a straight bar on friday for deadlifts but if my form isn't on then i'll stick to training exclusively with the trap bar which so far has allowed me to work my back hard while keeping my form decent.
I'm excited, I can't wait to become a good sprinter :)
I was baffled how being strict on my diet for what it was (13 days straight?) the scale went nowhere. Which threw my motivation out of the window. But the scale (and tape measure) just conspired to defeat me because today i've looked at before and after pics and there is definitely a big change. I had some big changes in body weight today so that's why i'm updating now.
removed pics, try not to be a faggot entropy.. lol.
So i'm just going to ignore the scale and the tape measure now and stick to the plan. As long as I am compliant the results will come, even if they take time to show it. The body can confound your best efforts by concealing true fat loss thru water retention etc so it's not the most reliable judge of progress. It really sucks though when you put in 2 weeks of hard work and have nothing to show for it, but it's there, one just has to be patient.
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Training
FS 2x90, 1x100, 3x105, 3x100, 3x97.5, 5x95
BS 3x90, 5x100, 5x92.5
OHP 5x50, 5x52.5, 5x51
WCU 5xBW, 3x89, 2x94, 1x99 (+20kg), 3x94, 5x89, 5x84, 7xBW (=79kg)
FS notes:
Couldn't rep out out 5s for some reason. I blame myself for not optimising recovery because last week i had 4.5 reps and should have had an easy 5 rep PR already but i've been careless with recovery. Work in progress I guess.
Still trying to find my way back to good form. I think it's something peculiar to my home setup because my form at the gym is a lot better. On the last set I tried using the old cue I used way back when I started doing front squats to break first at the knees. I don't use that cue these days because it looks funny on video but aesthetic reasons aside, it seems to help me be tighter at the bottom of the movement so it may be worth exploring next time once more.
BS notes:
BS once again was good. Maybe it will catch up with FS worksets next week if everything goes to plan.
OHP notes:
Back to barbell variation after a month of dbs. Felt ok. Just stay safe and don't tweak my back because that's the only danger to this lift.
WCU notes:
Slowly working my way back to my old prs. I've lost about 7kg off my max so have a bit of room for improvement yet.
I'm skipping conditioning today - hear me out - my knees hurt. I'll do my 2nd session of the week on friday. Next week i'll do 3 sessions. This is my first week so it's sane not to go all out all at once - 2 sessions to start with working up to 3 makes a lot more sense. Knees will be happy this way.
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Unexpected doms in forearms. Faint doms in lats. Inner thighs, glutes and hams.
2 days diet compliant now, onto the 3rd. Will string up perfect compliance for the remainder of January to get sub 75kg for sure.
Btw the tournament I was preparing for has been cancelled because 3 friends have bailed on the team which sucks because I was really looking forward to it. Especially returning to my beloved melbourne with my friends would have been a great deal of fun. Now I have to find another way to motivate myself to train hard. I might start playing with my old team again but I don't really want to do that either. May just give up on the idea of playing basketball even though i'm in the best shape of my life and it seems a waste of training.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCF225x1vLU
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find another sport? ultimate frisbee can always use tall dudes who can jump.
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Btw the tournament I was preparing for has been cancelled because 3 friends have bailed on the team which sucks because I was really looking forward to it. Especially returning to my beloved melbourne with my friends would have been a great deal of fun. Now I have to find another way to motivate myself to train hard. I might start playing with my old team again but I don't really want to do that either. May just give up on the idea of playing basketball even though i'm in the best shape of my life and it seems a waste of training.
Seriously? C'mon get on it!
You're in great shape, dunking, lifting. Now is the perfect time to get back in the game.
I was in a training rut before I got back into ball. Hadn't played for a couple of years and it's been a breath of fresh air trianing wise. Always something to work on even though (for me) playing is purely social. We're competitive beasts. What's the point of training if you're not at least competing in something?
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find another sport? ultimate frisbee can always use tall dudes who can jump.
I really doubt anyone plays that here but i'll try to have a look. You've given me an idea though, i should try to a different sport. Always loved cricket but never thought I had get the stuff to play well, maybe i'm athletic now to be a decent bowler. will have to give that a try sometime.
Btw the tournament I was preparing for has been cancelled because 3 friends have bailed on the team which sucks because I was really looking forward to it. Especially returning to my beloved melbourne with my friends would have been a great deal of fun. Now I have to find another way to motivate myself to train hard. I might start playing with my old team again but I don't really want to do that either. May just give up on the idea of playing basketball even though i'm in the best shape of my life and it seems a waste of training.
Seriously? C'mon get on it!
You're in great shape, dunking, lifting. Now is the perfect time to get back in the game.
I was in a training rut before I got back into ball. Hadn't played for a couple of years and it's been a breath of fresh air trianing wise. Always something to work on even though (for me) playing is purely social. We're competitive beasts. What's the point of training if you're not at least competing in something?
I keep getting the urge to play ball.. it's growing every day.. and it's proving to be irresistible. currently trying to get some replacement players but while most ppl are keen enough not to say a straight up no, tehy're not that keen to say yes either. Will keep trying. hopefully it happens, would love to get down to 10% bodyfat, work hard on my shooting and passing and get on the court in the best bball shape of my life at 29.. nothing motivates me more than the prospect of playing competitively while being decently athletic.
thanks guys :)
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 3x105, 2Fx107.5, 4Fx100
BS 3x90, 1x100, 4x102.5
BP 5x60, 5x70, 1x80, 5x67.5
Partial DL 3x100, 1x130, 0x150, 0x140, 0x130, 5x100
RVJx2, SVJx3
DIPZ BWx5, 8x89(+10kg, PR), 5x89, 8x89 (=PR)
HIIT sprints 10,13
FS notes:
Good news is i know how to fs with good technique now. Bad news is that for the last few months i've been cheating myself out of quad dominant front squatting. Good news is that I know better now and can fix that asap but might have to take a temporary hit on weight. Isn't that always the trade off? It sucks not even being able to do a double with 107.5kg! But I think this week has been bad for recovery and I might have got it on a better day, still 107.5x2 is nothing special even if I had got it.
For next week, don't worry about attempting 5x105, just go for the 1kg pr and attempt 103.5 or 104.5 kg, which ever is the PR weight. I think 103.5 is a 5 rep pr but i'll have to double check that. And then from here on, just add that 1kg (2x0.5kg), don't be greedy esp when I can progress consistently with 1kg jumps.
BS notes:
Really really tempted to switch focus to BS now - but i'd rather get to my short-term front squat goal first before changing up. BS is going great. Just keep form honest and add weight, nothing more to be said.
BP notes:
I'm really missing dbs. But not enough to go out and splash out on my own. Bother..
Partial DL:
I used the bottom most safety pin on my rack. It's a bit high though. Just below my knees, kind of a dead stop RDL, if it's still an RDL done without the stretch reflex? If my lower back is sore tomorrow then i'll stick with these rack pulls. Otherwise I might need to get a trap bar.
Jumps notes:
Landed 2 rvj dunks. couldn't land an svj one, think my legs were too tired.
Dips notes:
Used the playground equipment to do these. Not a fan. IF i was using a 20kg plate it would have been obstructed to the point where it wasn't possible to do them normally. So i need to arrange a way to do these at home too. but i'm loath to spend more money on gym stuff it's an empty black hole really.
Conditoning notes:
And finally the good news! I got my 2 conditioning sessions in for the week. Feels good man. Be consistent on these and i'll definitely lose that next inch of blubber! Believe!!!!!!
So tired, want to sleep. Even too tired to physically hold my tooth brush.
Random (to you not to me) thoughts
Weighted vest :- I think as my bodyweight goes down, I should find a way to keep my training bodyweight at around 80kg. Why do you ask? Because while my athletic bodyweight might be say 72kg (or 159lb) - I don't really want my body to get lazy and used to being super light weight. Eventually I want to be a lean 80kg - so I think I should maintain an effective 80kg training bodyweight regardless of my current bodyweight thruout the cut. Atm it's not too bad (training bw ~ 77-79kg), but as I get lighter, i'll need to add artificial weight. Any ideas? Am thinking of a weighted vest.
Home made dips setup :- I've never tried it but i've heard if you use two barbells in a power rack you can do dips in them. But I only have one barbell. I wish I could weld, would be easy to rig up a dipping attachment for my power rack. Hmm.
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This is new - doms in my neck?! Not sure what made that happen.. dips or bench? but neither of those have had that effect before so shrug. Or maybe the rack pulls I did for the first time.. perhaps.
Diet unfriendly day today, have to meet with friends. Will have to try mitigate damage by fasting prior, taking some caffeine and doing some fasted walking and see how it goes.
(http://i.imgur.com/0ocd4K0.png)
BW: 75.8kg / 167.11lb
I've falled behind the pace a bit. I think i'm holding water though. Anyway i'll make up for it when the consistent conditioning sessions start to pay off.
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Rack pulls.
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Rack pulls.
Interesting. Well i wouldn't mind growing my neck. Only wish the pulls had done something for my lower back but it's completely dom free! doh. Guess will have to find a way to work my back.
You think having longer legs to upper body ratio gives a person more of an advantage? Also 6'5 person vs 5'8 person, both have the exact same proportions and genetics and body shape. Both have equal amt of strength, but wouldn't the 6'5 person be able to jump higher because he has longer legs so more room to propel him up?
I think so - but taller guys have trouble with the powerlifts & olympic lifts. If you have long ass arms you can't do the olympic lifts well for example which is bad for the typical basketball player. Powerlifts also don't favor longer limbs since the rom is greater. The other thing is for a taller guy to be a competitive lifter he has to weigh a LOT which means you're not going to be very athletic (our chris is the exception) even if strong. So I think for a taller guy you give up chasing big lifts since the excess weight is detrimental to athleticism. Shorter guys can be very strong and lean at a decent bodyweight that isn't too heavy (so say 170-180) while at the same time being light enough to be athletic. But a taller guy in that range isn't going to be very strong because there isn't much meat on him. So i think you have to look at the individual case - everyone is different. Someone like lance is a beast at 6'3" benching 400 while squatting 500 highbar at 220. Myself? I'm a huge fat ass at 200 so i'm never gonna approach the strength of someone like him because I just dont' have the muscle mass to be a good lifter for my frame and rom.
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Whenever I do cleans and snatches I get A TON of trap soreness... usually due to lowering the bar back to the top of the legs under control (since I can't just drop the bar in a commercial gym).
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Training
FS 2x90, 1x100, 3x103.5, 3x100, 4x97.5, 4x95
BS 3x90, 1x100, 2x105, 6x90
FS notes:
Form was almost perfect today. By that I mean as is practically possible. But I was weak, have not been sleeping or recovering well - just life issues.
BS notes:
Had to rush thru this very quickly. Wanted to do more volume than this but was out of time.
Have to do only half of the workout - might do upper body later tonight - going to an australia day bbq. Happy australia day for all my ozzie peeps!
raptor, spot on, it must be the set downs on the rack pulls. Good call.
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Training for basketball begins now. I've somehow managed to put together a team. Time to get in basketball shape asap. I will try to get sub 75kg for my ideal playing bodyweight but as far as chasing a sixpac that's not a priority right now. It sure would be nice. But it's not the main thing right now. Going to go shoot around and practice dribbling with my heavy ball.
updates.. lolzy pop.. i dislike playing basketball on the outdoor court because random ppl always want to shoot with you even though they've never played ball before. but today i ran into a homeless man who struck up a conversation, said he had cancer and was dying in 2 years (do they even even give prognosis that far out?). nice enough guy, and clearly intelligent but fuck man.. just wanted to shoot some hoops not listen to someones drunken sob stories. need to find a new bball court..
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Good on you for getting back into ball. Was one of the best things I did motivation wise for trianing.
The only problem I have is timing the workouts. I find training legs the day before playing leaves me flat and the day after I fear the weights will suffer. Am thinking of training the day of playing and see how it goes.
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Good on you for getting back into ball. Was one of the best things I did motivation wise for trianing.
This is so true. I'm more focused now that there is a stake to it. Not just lifting to impress guys on the internet (thanks guy from Jersey Shore) but to be more competitive on the court.
The only problem I have is timing the workouts. I find training legs the day before playing leaves me flat and the day after I fear the weights will suffer. Am thinking of training the day of playing and see how it goes.
Million dollar question right there and very timely. I've always ran into this problem myself. I mirror your observations but lifting the day after game time meant having very sore knees which meant lifting was a bad idea. Lifting on the same day as games meant tired legs. Think the balance might be something like legs in the AM, games in the PM - giving a bit of spacing there?
So i might go join my old rec teammates tonight .. they have a late game, just to get some match fitness now that i'm going to be putting together a proper team it's imperative that I get back match fitness asap, esp if I will demand high level of dedication from my team mates. Exciting stuff.
dont read below if you dont want to be exposed to oversharing info..
Also not to be that guy on the net who logs his bowel movements in a training journal - but i've been literally shitting all day - I woke up a solid 76kg in the morning (76.00kg) and i've just reweighed myself now in the evening and i'm 75.95kg!! Which means my morning bodyweight on Feb 1st might be sub 75kg. That would be so sick.
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Training
FS 2x90, 1x100, 4x103.5, 5x98.5
BS 3x90, 1x100, 5x102.5, 5x97.5
OHP 4x55, 5x53.5, 5x52.5
WCU 3xBW, 3x82, 2x87, 1x92, 2x97, 3x92, 5x87, 5x85, 6x82, 6x79.5
TM 7kph, 20mins, 0inc
BW: 75.95kg / 167.44lb
FS notes:
Yes this is some quad dominant squatting. But form wasn't perfect today. I wasn't strong, didn't have the endurance to eek out heavy reps. Still 4 reps is ok, i'll get the 5 rep PR next time for sure. Very deep reps though.
BS notes:
Scary shit grinders today.. godaaaamn nuts icon...
OHP notes:
New cues im trying, slight knee bend thruout the lift. Flex calves and glutes/quads to give a stable base. Felt good.
Conditioning notes:
Had the bright idea to break in my new bball shoes by running on the TM. Kinda worked, they got more comfy as time went on. Hopefully I can play in them this wknd.
Had a break for dinner, will do weighted chins and TM running later before bed.
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just grab some maalox, man. you'll be sub-75 in no time.
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I took Maalox... what's that doing? Took it for stomach pain.
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lol.. i'm so regreting over sharing now ..
lets change the subject matter
(http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/397058_3557272870382_86511822_n.jpg)
:D :D :wowthatwasnutswtf:
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Million dollar question right there and very timely. I've always ran into this problem myself. I mirror your observations but lifting the day after game time meant having very sore knees which meant lifting was a bad idea. Lifting on the same day as games meant tired legs. Think the balance might be something like legs in the AM, games in the PM - giving a bit of spacing there?
Yep. That's what I'm thinking right there. Lifting AM and playing PM. I'm going to give it a shot Monday so will let you know how it goes.
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Million dollar question right there and very timely. I've always ran into this problem myself. I mirror your observations but lifting the day after game time meant having very sore knees which meant lifting was a bad idea. Lifting on the same day as games meant tired legs. Think the balance might be something like legs in the AM, games in the PM - giving a bit of spacing there?
Yep. That's what I'm thinking right there. Lifting AM and playing PM. I'm going to give it a shot Monday so will let you know how it goes.
Awesome, keep us updated.
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(http://i.imgur.com/tpGBrzo.png)
BW: 74.9kg / 165.13lb (PR!)
Finally a whoosh on the scale. I don't think i'm visually any leaner though? But whatever, milestone achieved - sub 75kg! But i'm not celebrating because i'm still fat lol. So guess I need to get to around into the 73s before I stop being fat? No problem, i've never been more motivated than I am now because this contest will be great competition and I don't want to get embarrassed by younger, talented, faster more athletic guys.
Also for what it's worth, starting to get that quad tear drop effect happening again. Shows I'm on the right track in terms of leg training.
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 5x103.5 (PR)
BS 3x90, 1x100, 5x102.5
BP 5x73.5, 5x72.5, 5x70
SVJx5, RVJx3
BW: <75kg
FS notes:
Finally got the PR. And I did it at a BW under 75kg which makes me doubly pleased. I reckon my max is now over 120kg. Feels good man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDdhTsgcS-I
Form imperfect but honestly even the 100kg warmup was heavy, i kind of did really well to get the PR so I'm ok with it.
BS notes:
Ok.
Jumping notes:
Felt slow and sluggish today but still was able to jump as good as ever. I landed all my dunks didn't miss any, even the first warmup one which was a SVJ one btw! I did the first double hand SVJ dunk on this rim which i couldn't do before. And then did a coupla RVJ just to see how easy it is for me to dunk now, it's almost effortless. Oh did crash one powerful SVJ into my face though, knocking off my glasses, damn, that sucks, they're bent now.
Didn't sprint/run today, just feel too fatigued, will save it for sunday's bball training. Too fatigued.
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^ nice... what's your vertical nowadays?
No idea, it's on my TODONE list to make a vertec. I'll prob get around to it when I've finished the cut which is prob gonna be the end of feb. I dont want to cut any longer than that, i'm sick of cutting it's destroying my soul (diva mode enabled).. lol.. but yea once i'm done cutting, i'll focus on pylos and stuff to maximise my vj. It's probably low 30s now conservatively? i dunno. im hoping to have a solid 36" vert when the big bball tournament rolls around in 56 days.
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jesus christ, you're not fat. you've done an incredibly impressive job cutting down. the discipline is there, no question. but you're starting to get like adarq circa 2011 with his athletic anorexia shit. i realize you're kind of kidding but distorted body image ain't a joke. you're getting to the point where no matter how much weight you lose, you won't look that much leaner because you're thin. t0ddday had a good post about this a while back. three 6' tall guys at ~10% bf, one weighs 165 pounds, one weighs 175 pounds and one weighs 185 pounds. all else being equal, who looks leanest? the heaviest guy. adarq, even when he was under 150 pounds, never looked super lean. whereas t0ddday and kingfish look ripped despite weighing more at shorter heights and probably having equal or higher bf%.
what i'm saying is, let's do a bit of a bulk together, my brother. you can always lose the weight again later.
awesome depth on the front squats, btw.
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You need to be 110 lbs to be cut at 6'3.
Proven undeniable FACT!
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Oh shit! First of all I appreciate the looking out dawg! And I totally get the impression of being reversehypetrophy 2013 EDITION. You'll prob seize on this revelation but the other day for the 2nd time this year, I put a hot chip (or french fry in USA speak) in my mouth, savored the taste but then sooner expelled it into the bin than injest the unwanted calories. And that sounds borderline admittedly lol. But you'll have to believe me when I say i'm still very much fat..! I've got snitch tits that could fill a 34A cup (i just measured lol) and a generous gut and plenty of back bacon around my waist.
Plz alow me at most another 6lb weight loss - at 159lb i'll be done cutting and then i'll be in that kyle macdowell ideal zone of ~10% bf for bulking. I'm terrified of doing a bulk now in case I end up spinning my wheels only to wind up where I first started off so I wanna finally do things the right way by finishing the job (cut). I'm hoping to spend the rest of the year either bulking or maintaining - so it's not like i'm going to cut forever, just enough to reset my bodyfat to athletic levels. Also I think i'm a special snowflake because most ppl who lift, nevermind guys above 6ft would be ripped at 165 and i'm definitely not.. so i have to accept the painful reality that i'm always going to be a lot lighter than most ppl unless i'm fat.
The point T0dday made is a good one but the difference between those 3 guys when ordered from lightest to heaviest is 9lb of muscle and 1lb of fat for the guy next to him. So to go up a 10lb weight category i'd need to add a whopping 9lb of muscle and only 1lb of fat. I'm not confident i'm in a position to naturally add that kind of ratio of muscle and fat, even if I allow for cutting excess bodyfat, it's just too much to ask, knowing my body, and it's reluctance to build mass. But the one thing I can control is dropping from a higher weight category to a lower one by cutting, that's totally in my control. If I could click my fingers and and add 9lb of muscle to maintain my bodyfat, I would so do it. But unfortunately in the real world the only way to add 9lb of mass is thru a decent bulk, and it will invariably also push my total bodyfat to unacceptable levels. Im not willing to risk making no progress by bulking now, only to undo my hard work cutting so far, ending up spinning my wheels because I started bulking at my current level of fatness esp when i've worked so hard to get where i'm atm.
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So had the first training session with the new team. Had a decent turn out, 9 guys came down. But that's not as great as it sounds because only 4 are committed atm. I made the typical retard mistake I do soemtimes where I played on an empty stomach. I guess I thought I would go super light weight and land some dunks or whatever but I was so gassed running up and down the court that the one time I had a fast break I hit the rim on my dunk. lesson learnt, will have my weetbix (metaphorically speaking) in the morning before practice.
Lots of good signs, I'm liking the team quite a bit. As a team we have good defence. I was pretty dominant on defence too. Didn't really come into offence much short of drawing double teams opening up lanes for team mates. Which is ok. I wanted to show my boys I can put the ball down or pass the ball well but my conditioning let me down. Guys expect me to post up and play with my back to the rim, which I hate because it's not my game. Hopefully next time we will have an extra big so I can play my natural game. It's okay. I'll work on it. And I think having played so hard today, I wont be able to train weights tomorrow. But that's a trade off I'll have to make.
So yea lots of things to fix. I'll have to raise my game a lot, i was fairly disappointed with myself, but it's early days yet.
Btw, weighed 74kg when I got home. Damn this heat wave .. crazy summer ahead..
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fwiw charlie francis was a big proponent of lower back strength as key to fast sprinting. i think it's in "speed trap" where he describes ben johnson's erector spinae as "the size of a man's forearm."
Guess I'm a bit late on the convo but I remember seeing this vid ages ago talking about the key to a cheetah's speed and one of the characteristics was the cheetah's spine.
This was the vid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-zcA_mOa94
"Within 3 seconds it's reached 90km/hour. As it closes in it hits maximum speed- 120km/hour. A wide range of factors effect an animals speed. Environment, body type, predation, and more. And every one of those factors has come together in the evolution of the cheetah to create the ultimate sprinting machine. The head. Smallest relative size of any cat, it's aerodynamic design cuts through wind like a bullet. The collarbone reduced and free floating it's like a tiny axle for quick tight turns. A massive chest holding a huge heart and lungs to pump fuel to the muscles. Legs. Long and light with extended achilles tendons for superior shock absorption. Claws. Non-retractable like a dogs they dig into the earth with every stride providing traction. And the heavy tail, which helps the cheetah steer.
Speed is really generated from strides. Once every foot has touched the ground once. Any running animal to increase its speed needs to increase its stride length or its stride rate and cheetah's have managed to increase both of those. Scientists studying humans have shown that runners need powerful leg muscles for long strides. These muscles bring the leg down hard launching the runner into the air for long leap like stride. But the cheetah's legs are thin and fragile so how do they achieve long strides? Most people assume that cheetah's speed is generated from their legs. They must have really powerful legs. It's actually their spine. About 60% of a cheetah's muscle mass is packed onto its spine. So if you combine that with those long gaited legs you get an animal that has an average of about a 23 foot stride length and that's incredible. Flexing its spine like a coiled spring, the cheetah's body flies out airborne for a distance more than 5x it's length at a top speed of 4 strides per second the cheetah can cover an entire football field in a fraction over 3 seconds. The cheetah's speed is the secret to it's survival an asset that evolved sometime between 3 and 5 million years ago.
Every feature of the cheetah says speed. Bones are lightweight. A long flexible spine spring rolls each stride, which can cover almost 30 feet in a quarter second. To sustain this incredible speed the cheetah sucks in oxygen through oversized intake valves. Large nasal passages. It's lungs, liver, heart and adrenal glands are supersized to kick its metabolism into high gear".
Good job on getting back into basketball as well. You'll get back into basketball condition just by playing more games and getting used to it again.
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So i'm still not fully recovered from the hectic basketball training session over teh weekend. In hindsight I went a bit too hard, esp on my first time playing basketball since July last year. I've got a lot of assymetric soreness, left side of my body, starting from foot, calves, hamstring, glutes and all the way up to lower back. I guess i'm just that much left side dominant.
But either way i'm going to train today (tuesday) - i figure i'll do a lot of volume today. Then take 2 days off, and go heavy on friday. Rest saturday, and then basketball training sundays. Only 2 weights session a week? Enough to maintain my lifts/mass? Hope so. Enough to build strength? Doubt it very much. Esp while cutting, it's probably too little. Which makes me think perhaps I should just accept it as a compromise, force my way to say FS 5x105 (PR) and then hold it there thru feb while I cut the last few pounds of adipose. Then starting march i'll go maintenance/slight surplus and maybe start pushing them up again? We'll see. I hate planning this far out when i'm strugglign so much with day to day planning and scheduling.
Yeah mutumbo my conditioning is terrible. Like really bad. I regret not keeping it up, esp when at one point last year I was well conditioned. Hopefully it will come back quickly though. I need to raise my game to another level.
Re lower back strength, you guys have convinced me. Im going to push my lower back strength up like crazy. My legs are weak but my back is even weaker. Squatting makes my legs a bit stronger sure. But nothing is making my back stronger which is a problem. If I want to be a good sprinter i'll def have to prioritise my lower back.
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^ Ehhh... I don't want to bash the cheetah (an awesome animal for sure).... but comparing the mechanism by which a quadruped accelerates to bilateral bipedal human locomotion is pretty out of left field. Active lower back strength is somewhat helpful to the hip hinge involved in a running vertical jump or in double leg bounding... but pretty much nonexistent in sprinting. Isometric back strength IS essential to holding speed at high velocity but unless your at a pretty elite level it's probably not what's holding you back... Guys running multiple <0.9 10m splits are so strong and have such tremendous leg stiffness that weakness in isometric strength can cause breakdown when they reach high speed. Most amateurs lack the leg stiffness and even the basic hamstring strength necessary to run fast enough, essentially your breaking down way before you back is really that important.
@Entropy:
How is the sprinting coming? How have your times coincided with your diet? I am a little late to the party as far as your extreme weight loss but while I agreed initially with LBSS I am essentially puzzled by your numbers. Your 6'3, 160 pounds, and just posted a video of 5 reps of bottomed out front squats (so you have decent strength). You also posted that you were >=20% bodyfat at 190lbs and still look "fat", despite the fact that you should be closing in on 5% now. And you are training as a sprinter which is IMO the best training for body composition....
While at first glance it seems you should stop trying to lose weight.... It seems you have gained strength despite getting really small. This certainly isn't in-line with extreme weight loss. I can maintain strength while cutting into the single digits, but strength absolutely tanks at around 5% bodyfat. By tanks I mean squat goes from 400's to 200's. And speed endurance becomes non-existent which makes track workouts impossible.
Either:
1) you have hollow bones (pretty awesome, like a bird)
2) Your scale/ruler is broken
3) You think you look fat but suffer from body dysmorphia (you should post a picture for the sane members of the forum to evalute)
4) You were extremely inactive/fat for a lot of your life, have a small frame, and have added decent squat strength despite an overall lack of musculature and some stubborn fat deposits/extra skin which keeps you from looking lean with your shirt off despite the fact that you actually have a low overall percentage of bf. You store almost no fat on your legs, glutes, back, but have a bit of adipose on your love handles/chest where a few pounds can keep you from looking lean...
If I had to guess I would say it's probably a tiny bit of 3 and a lot of 4 (although I'm holding out hope for #1). As such I would advise you to stop the active cutting right away. It's great that you have built up some decent squat strength while cutting... But now that your neural gains are likely plateauing the worst thing you can do is sabotage you ability to push up your basic strength with a restrictive diet. I understand that you want to look lean but you are already 6'3 160. I also know that you probably look a lot better at 160 than 190 and you want to continue the progress. But you are already REALLY small. If the problem isn't total fat but fat storage then putting your body in a poor hormonal state from restrictive dieting is only going to exacerbate where you put fat.
Just my two cents, but you are at a good point and here is what I would do if I were you. Stop cutting. But DO NOT BULK. At least not the bulk that 95% of people do to gain strength. You are spot on when you say you fear spinning your wheels by making your progress and then fattening up and adding some strength but losing or maintaining relative strength. You have built up a lot of discipline from dieting. You can summon on that discipline to maximize your potential. Keep the training up. Add some carbs post-workout [~50g] and one other time per day (preferably morning unless you train really early) get a minimum of 100 grams of protein and some oils in your diet and when you are hungry try to reaching for primarily good protein sources and eat until your almost full. You still shouldn't eat that "hot chip" and probably never should. Stay away from alcohol and keep the training intense try and the volume decent. Consider adding other compound movements like standing barbell presses, oly lifts, and deadlifts to your training. You could even bench press. Get on the track all the time. Do speed work but don't neglect speed endurance workouts. They will hurt but they will get you to win races and they will get you lean and they will get you to recomp. I have yet to see a guy who doesn't neglect his weight training and runs himself into basic track shape (example: 3 400m's in sub 60 w/3 minutes rest or 10 200's under 30 with 1 min rest) who looks "fat". This holds even for idiot college athletes who subsist on orange soda and dorm food. These guys look remarkably leaner after a couple weeks of two-a-days despite binging on pizza each night. You get sufficient protein and don't binge eat and you tilt the equation even more in your favor. Take a picture now and take a picture after... My bet is you might be a few pounds heavier... But who cares. You will be a hell of a better athlete... and that is what you are chasing...
Again, just my two cents. Hope you improve no matter what path you choose.
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 3x104.5, 3x100, 4x97.5, 4x95
BS 3x90, 5x97.5, 5x95, 5x92.5, 5x90
FS notes:
Form was good. Was real rusty warming up though but it all went ok. I avoided failure didn't attempt the 5 rep PR on the 104.5. I figure there is no point grinding myself to dust this workout, save that for the 2nd workout of the week. Could have muscled up a 5th rep on all those sets but didn't court failure on those either.
BS notes:
Did 20 reps today, the prettiest set was the last one, nothing heavy. Will go for a 5 rep heavy set next time.
And that's it. Decent amount of squat volume, nothing else. Tomorrow i'll do upper body. In promptu decided to try a bodypart split again cause I wasn't up to full body death by volume.
Also re above posts, not going to do a kneejerk reply, have to read your post carefully and understand it before responding. Thanks so much for the advice, i'm very lucky.
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for the record, by "bulk" i did not mean "GOMAD!!!" or "pizza every day!!!"
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How is the sprinting coming? How have your times coincided with your diet?
I'll find out for you this friday, I haven't tested since I weighed mid 180s. Should be interesting to see how it goes!
While at first glance it seems you should stop trying to lose weight.... It seems you have gained strength despite getting really small. This certainly isn't in-line with extreme weight loss.
I have to agree with this. If I was as lean as it would seem for my height and weight, then I would be struggling bigtime with trying to progress my squat. But actually I am progressing even though it's very slow, my lifts aren't plummeting by any means, if anything im consistently adding weight to the bar (albeit over a timescale of several weeks and months). The fact that I originally thought I was 20% doesn't mean i'm 5% now, it just means I was a initially lot higher than 20% - prob high 20s? It's most likely that i simply underestimated my initial bodyfat which a lot of people do when they're fat.
Either:
1) you have hollow bones (pretty awesome, like a bird)
2) Your scale/ruler is broken
3) You think you look fat but suffer from body dysmorphia (you should post a picture for the sane members of the forum to evalute)
4) You were extremely inactive/fat for a lot of your life, have a small frame, and have added decent squat strength despite an overall lack of musculature and some stubborn fat deposits/extra skin which keeps you from looking lean with your shirt off despite the fact that you actually have a low overall percentage of bf. You store almost no fat on your legs, glutes, back, but have a bit of adipose on your love handles/chest where a few pounds can keep you from looking lean...
Straight away we can rule out 2 because I've checked my bodyweight against the scales at the gym and it matches close to the pair I have in the bathroom. I dont think I have body dysmorphia, I don't think i'm someone anorexic thinking he's fatter than he is. I don't want to be super skinny in the first place! It's something i'm having to do so that I can gain mass optimally later on.
This is taken 2nd of Jan this year. I'm leaner now though but not significantly. Weighed around ~168.
So that leaves hollow bones.. and small frame and inactive during the ages 18-21 and then 22-27. I was very active as a teen but my diet was terrible and I was almost anoexic thru puberty (how I wish I could go back in time and change that!). I think this is probably it. For someone who weighs 165 at 6'3" I don't look small at all, I look pretty big. I think that's an illusion due to my small frame. I'm tall yes but I don't think i'm that wide? So the 165 is distributed in a way which makes it seem plentiful and as a result I look a lot heavier than I weigh (in my admittedly biased opinion). But then again I don't have tiny wrists or ankles, mine are 6.5" and 8.5" respectively, which I think is average or above average? I honestly can't explain it. Your guess as good as mine.
For what it's worth, I woke up today looking and feeling (=pinch test) a lot leaner than I did the day before. So it's like i've had an overnight transformation. It gives me confidence that i'm on the right track. Steadily with time, the pinches are getting smaller, and there is less jiggling in the mirror when I jump about. I dont think i'm in danger of getting into single digits of bodyfat .. yet. Yes, that goes completely against intuition, I don't expect you to believe that someone with my height and weight is still this fat.. but it is what it is.. i'm not sure what I can do about it short of staying the course.
Let me put it this way. The fat around my waist and chest wont disappear if I suddenly gain 9lb of muscle. It will still be there. I'll still LOOK fat even if my objective bodyfat % has gone down from adding more muscle. And that what really matters to me. I guess at some point I decided I didn't care about what a DEXA would say about my bodyfat % (whether it's 7% or 17% means nothing to me), nor skinfold calipers and what have you. The only test that matters to me is looking in a mirror and seeing someone lean and athletic - or not - and since i'm not - i'd like to keep dropping bodyfat until I get there. I dont expect I have very long to go now. I'd say about 1lb of fat in my upper body, 1.5lb around my lower back. 1.5 around my gut. Maybe another 2lb around my body in general. A total of 6lb. At 159 I think i'll definitely be done. I'm around ~165 now. So it's not a long way away. We've all seen the video below or some model of bodyfat before, that's what i'm using for my rough estimate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V52At_gnZKM
Just my two cents, but you are at a good point and here is what I would do if I were you. Stop cutting. But DO NOT BULK. At least not the bulk that 95% of people do to gain strength. You are spot on when you say you fear spinning your wheels by making your progress and then fattening up and adding some strength but losing or maintaining relative strength. You have built up a lot of discipline from dieting. You can summon on that discipline to maximize your potential. Keep the training up. Add some carbs post-workout [~50g] and one other time per day (preferably morning unless you train really early) get a minimum of 100 grams of protein and some oils in your diet and when you are hungry try to reaching for primarily good protein sources and eat until your almost full. You still shouldn't eat that "hot chip" and probably never should. Stay away from alcohol and keep the training intense try and the volume decent. Consider adding other compound movements like standing barbell presses, oly lifts, and deadlifts to your training. You could even bench press. Get on the track all the time. Do speed work but don't neglect speed endurance workouts. They will hurt but they will get you to win races and they will get you lean and they will get you to recomp. I have yet to see a guy who doesn't neglect his weight training and runs himself into basic track shape (example: 3 400m's in sub 60 w/3 minutes rest or 10 200's under 30 with 1 min rest) who looks "fat". This holds even for idiot college athletes who subsist on orange soda and dorm food. These guys look remarkably leaner after a couple weeks of two-a-days despite binging on pizza each night. You get sufficient protein and don't binge eat and you tilt the equation even more in your favor. Take a picture now and take a picture after... My bet is you might be a few pounds heavier... But who cares. You will be a hell of a better athlete... and that is what you are chasing...
I pretty much agree with everything you've written here starting with being patient with gains and not trying to gain too much weight all at once. That's definitely how i'll be doing it. My diet has been dialled in for a long time now, I get around 160g of protein a day, and keep fat intake low but I do eat healthy fats like egg yolk and fish oil and use minimal olive oil in cooking. Will def keep that up long after I stop cutting but i'll increase the amount. Carbs i dont mess around with, if i eat too little my mood plummets and my physical performance goes along with it. So I keep carb intake around 100-150g a day. As I get leaner I might have to manipulate carbs though - but so far I haven't needed to. I already use heavy compound movements like bench and overhead press and will keep that up as well. I do need to add heavy deadlifts though but i've had problems with form which scare me off. But yes i'll def try the 2-a-days and heavy track work. That sounds like a great change of pace. And to make it worthwhile i'll put myself down to enter a meet this year too to motivate myself.
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Training (Upper)
DIPZ 3x5x15 (PR)
BP 5x74.5, 6x70, 5x70, 5x67.5, 6x65
BW: 75kg/165 lb
Something funny going on with my left forearm just below the wrist.. like RSI or something. Im gonna try use the right hand for the mouse/kb til it goes away.
Mad doms in the quads, adductors and hamstrings. Knees dont feel amazing, otherwise i'm tempted to go for a run or practice some jumpshots but will just wait til tomorrow practice. And sprint on friday.
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I have to agree with this. If I was as lean as it would seem for my height and weight, then I would be struggling bigtime with trying to progress my squat. But actually I am progressing even though it's very slow, my lifts aren't plummeting by any means, if anything im consistently adding weight to the bar (albeit over a timescale of several weeks and months). The fact that I originally thought I was 20% doesn't mean i'm 5% now, it just means I was a initially lot higher than 20% - prob high 20s? It's most likely that i simply underestimated my initial bodyfat which a lot of people do when they're fat.
I don't know what you looked like but I really doubt you were in the high 20%. High 20% male is REALLY fat. Like someone who walks into the room and everyone knows it's the fat guy. Since you are dieting right now you are probably holding a bit of water. I went from 210 to 190 once and my bodyfat (hydrostatic measurement) went from 9% to 5%. This only accounts for about half the weight, but this is typical. About half the weight you lose on a cut if bodyfat, a tiny amount (if you do it right) will be lean tissue, and almost half should be water from lack of glycogen. Remember hydrophilic glycogen isn't very efficient, about 4 grams of water are in complex with each gram (this is why the body stores fat), so we lose a lot of weight when you cut it. This weight loss comes off quick and comes back quick, it's why people think they are yoyoing and gaining/losing fat (for the most part they are not). I can gain 10-15lbs in one day from an extreme glycogen reload... I have a decent amount of muscle so this might be a bit more than some but most of us will be able to gain/loss a lot this way. If you were 195 and now your 165 I would estimate you were went from 18-20% bf to about 10-12% bf. Your bodyfat loss probably accounts for 15-20 lbs which is AWESOME.
(http://i.imgur.com/DUADQ2R.png)
This is taken 2nd of Jan this year. I'm leaner now though but not significantly. Weighed around ~168.
Let me put it this way. The fat around my waist and chest wont disappear if I suddenly gain 9lb of muscle. It will still be there. I'll still LOOK fat even if my objective bodyfat % has gone down from adding more muscle. And that what really matters to me. I guess at some point I decided I didn't care about what a DEXA would say about my bodyfat % (whether it's 7% or 17% means nothing to me), nor skinfold calipers and what have you. The only test that matters to me is looking in a mirror and seeing someone lean and athletic - or not - and since i'm not - i'd like to keep dropping bodyfat until I get there. I dont expect I have very long to go now. I'd say about 1lb of fat in my upper body, 1.5lb around my lower back. 1.5 around my gut. Maybe another 2lb around my body in general. A total of 6lb. At 159 I think i'll definitely be done. I'm around ~165 now. So it's not a long way away. We've all seen the video below or some model of bodyfat before, that's what i'm using for my rough estimate.
No offense, but maybe a bit of dysmorphia. If you are leaner than the guy in the picture... You have done pretty well for yourself. The first thing I notice about the guy in the shoulder is undeveloped delts, not excess fat!
I DO understand that you think (and probably do to an extent) have extra unsightly fat around your chest or waist. Some of it excess skin which will tighten over time and some of it additional adipose tissue. But what I am saying is that while it's DISAPPEAR if you suddenly gain 9lb of muscle... It's not necessarily going to go away either when you get to 159 or 155 or 149... but all those numbers might cause your strength gains to slow or reverse and that's certainly a bad thing. Like you said all that fat that you want to get rid of probably weighs about 2-3 lbs. While it's unsightly, it's the minority of of the fat on your body. If you get to 159 it's likely you might finally lose a bit of muscle, lose a few lbs of fats from your legs where you can't really see it lose some water.
Fact is you need to accept that you are getting so lean that it's going to be hard to cut further fat without losses in LBM with restrictive dieting alone. Love handle fat is largely hormonal and probably will be some of the last fat to come off your body.
I didn't mean to throw LBSS under the bus with his advice to cut... I'm sure he knows what a sound approach is to nutrition but unfortunately the phrase "go on a bulk" has just a negative connotation thanks to the legion of rippetoe followers who totally bastardize the idea of gaining a bit of weight to get strength up.... I wrote some advice about bulking to dreyth that you might want to check out. I think it's fitting for you as well. In the long run if you set out the goal to touch 159... go for it. It probably won't kill you and their is some psychological value to achieving goals which I will admit. However, it sounds like your goal was 165 and you amended it because you still have some unsightly fat... Please don't amend it again if you still have it at 159 (you probably will). Instead you should focus on controlling your nutrition (read the dreyth post) and adding tempo work to your fitness (or you can swim or whatever, I only favor tempo from track). I had the pleasure to speak with Charlie Francis about the value of tempo/system work and what he had discovered from years of training athletes was that tempo was absolutely necessary for female sprinters (who are hormonally a lot worse off than you) because when they just did speed work and weight training they held too much fat, but when they dieted down to hit weight to cut bf they lost too much strength/muscle (where you are at) but with tempo work they could maintain low-bodyfat without sacrificing calories and in turn losing muscle/strength. It sounds strange but I always recommend amateur male athletes take serious they training/diet that works for elite women, because elite men have genetic/drug advantages which might make their gains inapplicable.
Think about it like this. You just lost 30lbs and 20lbs of fat. Now time to get some muscle. Get the tempo work in and you won't gain much fat along your next phase. I know you want to lose an extra lb of love handle but at some point you gotta say I just lost 20lbs... Maybe that love handle is for round 2.
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You are definitely lean enough to bulk!!! unless you are trying to look like Martin Berkhan.. just don't do the GOMAD thing and have a clean bulk. for example a higher protein intake
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yeah for the record i did not mean GOMAD BRO!!!!!!!!!!
not sure what t0ddddddday means by my "advice to cut" -- maybe just mistyped. my advice was to stop cutting and to begin thinking about adding muscle. that can obviously be done the rippetoe way, but the rippetoe way is sub-optimal in this context as we have all discussed. for what it's worth i agree completely with t0ddday and i think we were saying the same thing. he just did so in greater depth and fewer references to jesus.
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Let me put it this way. The fat around my waist and chest wont disappear if I suddenly gain 9lb of muscle. It will still be there. I'll still LOOK fat even if my objective bodyfat % has gone down from adding more muscle. And that what really matters to me. I guess at some point I decided I didn't care about what a DEXA would say about my bodyfat % (whether it's 7% or 17% means nothing to me), nor skinfold calipers and what have you. The only test that matters to me is looking in a mirror and seeing someone lean and athletic - or not - and since i'm not - i'd like to keep dropping bodyfat until I get there. I dont expect I have very long to go now. I'd say about 1lb of fat in my upper body, 1.5lb around my lower back. 1.5 around my gut. Maybe another 2lb around my body in general. A total of 6lb. At 159 I think i'll definitely be done. I'm around ~165 now. So it's not a long way away. We've all seen the video below or some model of bodyfat before, that's what i'm using for my rough estimate.
Have you seen anything written by Anthony Mychal at www.anthonymychal.com ?
He's big on the skinny fat syndrome (as he calls it) and talks about some psychological baggage that comes with it. I've read pretty much all of his stuff cause that's definitely where I fit.
I would argue though that if you put even 2-3kgs of muscle on your frame you would certianly not look fat. If that muscle was in the right places (chest, shoulders, upper back, etc) you would look even less fat. It's all about perception. You don't notice that the guy with the big upper body has a little more fat around his waist because, well, he has a big upper body.
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yeah for the record i did not mean GOMAD BRO!!!!!!!!!!
not sure what t0ddddddday means by my "advice to cut" -- maybe just mistyped. my advice was to stop cutting and to begin thinking about adding muscle. that can obviously be done the rippetoe way, but the rippetoe way is sub-optimal in this context as we have all discussed. for what it's worth i agree completely with t0ddday and i think we were saying the same thing. he just did so in greater depth and fewer references to jesus.
^ yeah sorry, mean your advice about bulking. Agreed.
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Re lower back strength, you guys have convinced me. Im going to push my lower back strength up like crazy. My legs are weak but my back is even weaker. Squatting makes my legs a bit stronger sure. But nothing is making my back stronger which is a problem. If I want to be a good sprinter i'll def have to prioritise my lower back.
Making your legs stronger will help your sprinting and athleticism around 200355459084458000.7 times more than worrying about your lower back. Youve made great gains in athleticism so far doing what youve been doing, why start spinning your wheels now?
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Re lower back strength, you guys have convinced me. Im going to push my lower back strength up like crazy. My legs are weak but my back is even weaker. Squatting makes my legs a bit stronger sure. But nothing is making my back stronger which is a problem. If I want to be a good sprinter i'll def have to prioritise my lower back.
Making your legs stronger will help your sprinting and athleticism around 200355459084458000.7 times more than worrying about your lower back. Youve made great gains in athleticism so far doing what youve been doing, why start spinning your wheels now?
hey everyone, lance is still alive!
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True Lance. I'll keep dancing with the girl who brought me to the ball. Thanks for reminding me. Btw do you think it's ok to keep cutting to 159? Or do you think I should stop now? I don't want to give up when i've come so close. I don't think I have long to go now.
edit. Thinking about it, there are only 3 weeks left in Feb. I can't lose much weight now anyway and 159 is out of the picture from around 165. At best I'll be in the low 160s at the end of Feb. So how about a compromise. I'll cut to say 163-162. And stop cutting there. But since I'm unhappy with my body composition, i'll believe T0dday that thru training I can continue to improve my body composition, or specifically that doing tempo work will improve body comp, I can continue to improve bodycomp even once i've stopped cutting come march. This way I'll be able to train better by getting off the caloric deficit and my body comp will improve thru training. Sort of a best of both worlds.
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True Lance. I'll keep dancing with the girl who brought me to the ball. Thanks for reminding me. Btw do you think it's ok to keep cutting to 159? Or do you think I should stop now? I don't want to give up when i've come so close. I don't think I have long to go now.
edit. Thinking about it, there are only 3 weeks left in Feb. I can't lose much weight now anyway and 159 is out of the picture from around 165. At best I'll be in the low 160s at the end of Feb. So how about a compromise. I'll cut to say 163-162. And stop cutting there. But since I'm unhappy with my body composition, i'll believe T0dday that thru training I can continue to improve my body composition, or specifically that doing tempo work will improve body comp, I can continue to improve bodycomp even once i've stopped cutting come march. This way I'll be able to train better by getting off the caloric deficit and my body comp will improve thru training. Sort of a best of both worlds.
Yea, I agree with what hes saying, eat enough to get stronger, while staying athletic/fairly lean. dont " bulk". Good luck man keep killing it.
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Training (Lower)
FS 2x90, 1x100, 3x104.5, 3Fx105.5
BS 3x90, 1x100, 5x95, 5x90
SVJx5, RVJx2
5x30m sprints (~4s per 30)
And that was it. Then 8 hours later when i'm driving home, I realised I had this weird thing going on in my right pec. It's a kind of searing pain. It scares me because last time I had this was when I tore my intercostals and I had to stop training completely for weeks before it healed. Back then I made it worse by training thru it. Hope this is nothing and it goes away but i'm going to be cautious. Bother.
Anyway the sprints were good. I've never been this close to breaking 4s. Which is remarkable because I haven't been sprinting for months and this was the first time. So hopefully once i'm done cutting and I work my sprinting harder i'll be under 4s.
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Training (Lower)
FS 2x90, 1x100, 3x104.5, 3Fx105.5
BS 3x90, 1x100, 5x95, 5x90
SVJx5, RVJx2
5x30m sprints (~4s per 30)
And that was it. Then 8 hours later when i'm driving home, I realised I had this weird thing going on in my right pec. It's a kind of searing pain. It scares me because last time I had this was when I tore my intercostals and I had to stop training completely for weeks before it healed. Back then I made it worse by training thru it. Hope this is nothing and it goes away but i'm going to be cautious. Bother.
Anyway the sprints were good. I've never been this close to breaking 4s. Which is remarkable because I haven't been sprinting for months and this was the first time. So hopefully once i'm done cutting and I work my sprinting harder i'll be under 4s.
Just wondering, what do you run 30m sprints? That distance is almost immeasurable as far as hand-timing goes and thus really hard to gauge improvement. It doesn't even let you hit top speed. I doubt Usain Bolt could hit 4s for 5 reps without spikes.
Why not just run 60m and 100m sprints. They will allow you to measure your improvement with much less noise, allow you to work on accelerating to much faster speed, and have measurably good benefits for body competition, which you are concerned with... I would be afraid an athlete training his self timed 30m is training moreso his ability to reflexively react to his stop-watch press than actually training his legs to get stronger...
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Just wondering, what do you run 30m sprints?
Honestly I just saw other guys doing short sprints when I first started logging here and I thought I should try doing them too. They were doing 20-25m sprints I think, which are ever shorter. I guessed it was to do with the length of a basketball court (~25m) but I have no idea what the actual rationale is behind them. For that you'll have to ask the other guys here, hopefully they'll chime in. Another guess would be the 30m sprints test max acceleration since you try to go from rest to your top speed as quickly as possible? I don't know.
That distance is almost immeasurable as far as hand-timing goes and thus really hard to gauge improvement. It doesn't even let you hit top speed. I doubt Usain Bolt could hit 4s for 5 reps without spikes.
Interesting to hear that! I went with 30m because it coincides perfectly with the length of the cricket pitch at the park, which allows the convenience to run the same exact distance each time. That's the only reason i'm doign 30s. I dont have any trouble measuring with my gymboss because I set it to count down to 0 then it beeps, I take off, and then it beeps again exactly 4s later. So I use that 2nd beep to see how close I came to the end of the 30m. If it beeps after I pass the 30m mark I know i've broken 4s. It hasn't happened yet though, and hearing how Usain would have so much trouble with it, maybe I never will either!
Why not just run 60m and 100m sprints. They will allow you to measure your improvement with much less noise, allow you to work on accelerating to much faster speed, and have measurably good benefits for body competition, which you are concerned with... I would be afraid an athlete training his self timed 30m is training moreso his ability to reflexively react to his stop-watch press than actually training his legs to get stronger...
Sure. I'm happy to run 60m instead. Will have to mark it out though but that's ok, i'll take the measuring tape next time. I dont think I can run 100m at full speed yet, i run into endurance issues but i'll switch over to 60m first and see how that goes. Thanks!
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I didn't take any chances last night and I taped up my chest before bed just in case I had torn something. It meant I could only sleep upright because leaning to the side would pull the tape apart which would cause pain. Now i'm not sure if the discomfort i'm feeling is because i've taped my chest, or because i've torn/strained an intercostal/pec.
I still have NO idea how I picked up the injury. I woke up fine so it must have been during training. All I did was squats, jumps and sprints. Any of those could have caused it. But it didn't manifest itself until hours later when I realised I had hurt myself.
Tomorrow is bball training, so i'll try to take it easy. I don't lift til tuesday anyway so hopefully by then it's all healed up. But what i'll do on tuesday is take off the tape and see if it feels good, and if it does, then i'll train.
Great deal of quad soreness after teh sprints. It's been ages since i've had these.
Didn't deal well with the injury scare, I kinda binged today. Ate some m&ms and bag of crisps. I hate myself .. lol.
Anyway, gonna try get some rest.
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Well i've def injured myself. I forced myself to trian through it because A). its my team and B). if i dont play how can i expect others to play? Went by the after hours clinic after the game but they wanted $70 to see the GP. Fuck that. I told them I didn't need to see a doctor just a nurse to bandage my chest but they don't allow that. So went by the pharmacy and picked up some stuff. Will tape myself up and then rest all week. Aint nobody got time for this injury - it's a bitch to heal and last time I had to rest completely for weeks before it healed up. FML. Just when I needed to turn training up to 11 I have to pull back because of this!
Oh forgot to mention, I only attempted 1 dunk today. No warmups, landed a nasty one hand SVJ. Then I didn't try dunking again because I didn't wanna worsen my intercostal injury.
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I would be VERY careful bench pressing or doing pull ups if youre scheduled to, might even skip them for a week or so.
The jumps can cause this type of thing easily if you are using a powerful arm swing, and the tissue is tight from prior pressing. Lots of soft tissue work with a softball, pnf stretching, and use overhead press and rows/hor. pulls instead of vertical pulls and bench for a while.
You can still do jumps only dont use the arm swing for a while. Careful man, once you tear the pectorals good, and its most likely the actual muscle tissue and not the tendon in your case (i.e. no anabolic usage= tear the muscle tissue, + anabolics=tear the pec tendon), its a very recurring problem.
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^Why I don't bench more than 2 months out of the year. Pec tears are terrible and crop up at weird times once you get them.
The best way to rid yourself of the endurance issues you have during the 100m is by doing 100m's. Everyone has endurance issues during 100m. It's part of running 100m
I didn't realize you were training in a park, I thought you were on a track training the competitive sprints. 30m sprints will largely test your reaction and initial part of your acceleration. But since reacting to your watch doesn't translate too well to the track then they really only test the initial part of your acceleration phase. I don't favor them because athletes tend to develop bad habits when training only for the 40 yard. They were popularized from American football, but if you watch american football you would see the guys who kept track up in college (Jacoby Jones and Trindon Holiday) outrunning everyone else in the playoffs and DeAnthony (who trained with our club in LA!) flying by everyone at Oregon.
Track will get you faster to 20m, 30m, 40m.... Whatever meters. Running only 30m is like only doing squat singles. The shorter you test yourself in the more you will be training your ability to cheat slightly and less your ability to actually get faster.
Since you have body composition goals I would strongly suggest you run longer tempo. Running 30m or even 60m isn't going to lean you out much. But running 150m+ repeatedly will get rid of all the fat on your body.
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I hear you lance, i'll stay away from the chinups & presses. Idgaf about that stuff, the thing which is killing me is knowing my legs will get weak and deconditioned while im injured. I dont know when it's safe to jump back in into training. It will be a week since I last squatted this coming friday (its wed night now). I'm going to try get in a light workout on friday, if it's pain free, i'll add a bit of weight. Then rest the weekend. Hopefully by monday i'll be good to train normally.
So my plan is to rest thurs, light front squats friday. Then rest the weekend. Have bball training this weekend but ill not be participating this week.
I guess after training hard for the last 12 months or so, this is the first week off i've had. and my knees are happy everything feels good and rested. It might even do me good. I hope I dont get too fat though from being inactive. Just this bitch off an injury is hard to train around, everything bothers it, anything physical and it hurts to breathe etc. I can train around it, it just means it wont then heal.
Anyway, lets see how it goes. Today it felt real good. Yesterday was bad, pain thruout the day. If only I had rested the weekend i bet i'd be all healed up by now. Resuming the diet tomorrow also.
Todday i'm sold, i'll do longer sprints. Thanks for the advice appreciate it.
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I guess after training hard for the last 12 months or so, this is the first week off i've had. and my knees are happy everything feels good and rested. It might even do me good. I hope I dont get too fat though from being inactive.
IMO this is the hardest part about dieting/maintaining leanness. Like I have been stressing, with proper tempo work and high-workout capacity you can become/maintain very lean without restricting calories much.
Additionally, it's not that hard to eat clean when you running quick times on the track, throwing up big weights, and looking great. If you run a couple season PR's in the morning and then get in the weight room and kill some squats that afternoon, when you go out with your girl that night it only makes sense to say "I'll take the grilled Salmon". Poor quality food doesn't even seem right for the well oiled machine you are.
The problem is when the activity falls off. Those little injuries/or life/work events where you don't/can't train for a week. You forget that you are the pinnacle of fitness and ice-cream doesn't sound horrible anymore. Without the positive feedback of training and improving/maintaining excellent body composition it becomes easier and easier to fall off the wagon... Then a two week injury gets accompanied by a few lbs of fat gain which causes some more injuries and your season goes...
Don't let this happen! The hardest thing is when your inactive you actually should eat CLEANER than when you are training heavily. If you can master this you will be healthy for the rest of your life. There will be times we can't train whether life or injury, and as you get older dealing with these times correctly is probably more important than your actual training.
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I guess after training hard for the last 12 months or so, this is the first week off i've had. and my knees are happy everything feels good and rested. It might even do me good. I hope I dont get too fat though from being inactive.
IMO this is the hardest part about dieting/maintaining leanness. Like I have been stressing, with proper tempo work and high-workout capacity you can become/maintain very lean without restricting calories much.
Additionally, it's not that hard to eat clean when you running quick times on the track, throwing up big weights, and looking great. If you run a couple season PR's in the morning and then get in the weight room and kill some squats that afternoon, when you go out with your girl that night it only makes sense to say "I'll take the grilled Salmon". Poor quality food doesn't even seem right for the well oiled machine you are.
The problem is when the activity falls off. Those little injuries/or life/work events where you don't/can't train for a week. You forget that you are the pinnacle of fitness and ice-cream doesn't sound horrible anymore. Without the positive feedback of training and improving/maintaining excellent body composition it becomes easier and easier to fall off the wagon... Then a two week injury gets accompanied by a few lbs of fat gain which causes some more injuries and your season goes...
Don't let this happen! The hardest thing is when your inactive you actually should eat CLEANER than when you are training heavily. If you can master this you will be healthy for the rest of your life. There will be times we can't train whether life or injury, and as you get older dealing with these times correctly is probably more important than your actual training.
Preach it brother! This is the practical wisdom I need more of day to day. :highfive:
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Don't let this happen! The hardest thing is when your inactive you actually should eat CLEANER than when you are training heavily. If you can master this you will be healthy for the rest of your life. There will be times we can't train whether life or injury, and as you get older dealing with these times correctly is probably more important than your actual training.
Damn, yea better avoid that.
I feel good today. I might do some very light sets with front squats, i did 6x20 just now and it felt ok. No discomfort. I think front squats might be my best friend now. Because I remember last time I got this injury, I couldnt backsquat (it stretches out the pecs). Lets see, will add a bit of weight and see how it goes.
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x95, 1x100, 1x105, 5Fx97.5, 3x95, 5Fx92.5, 1x90
sprints 3x150m (best time 24:14), 5x60m (~8s)
FS notes:
Well was very conservative being in the midst of injury and all. But the signs are good, front squatting seems to be ok wrt the injury. But obviously i've gotten weaker in the 7 days since it happened. I couldn't for the life of me rep out 5 reps, failing the 5th on two occasions. My plan was to get a heavy topset of 5 and then do volume with a lower weight.
Still, it will come back to me. Especially now that i'm training FS exclusively.
Sprinting notes:
Used toddays advice. Started with some longer sprints - felt good, 24s ish was my best time. Then tried 60m sprints. These were interesting: I was going so fast around 30m that I couldn't control my body very well. I think it shows up a weakness in my lower back? And perhaps lack of leg stiffness? Well whatever the case, I guess i'll be improving those things by doing these sprints regularly. So that's exciting.
And today was the first day since I injured myself that i'm eating like an athlete. I wasn't going to diet while injured obviously since that would make healing difficult.
Now I'm going to do some calf raises and maybe, do some short low temp sprints, so long as they don't bother my injury i'll ramp up, otherwise i'll come home.
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Update on injury:
Good training session today after the week off for healing.
Thank you so much Lance for the guidance as usual, you're a legend. I'm so fortunate that you advised me to watch the upper body work. Left to my own devices i definitely would have done some upper work by now and disturbed healing. But front squatting is fine, so i'll be focusing even more on them than I usually do. Want to end feb sub 75kg while squatting 105 or more for 5 reps.
Todday: Longer sprints were awesome. I felt better and better each one I did. So much so, it feels like i'm perfectly healed now! But I will still avoid upper work til next week. And I didn't dare do any jumps or shooting. I figure I'll make sure i'm fully healed first. It shouldn't take too long. But yea i'm all in with T0dday's plan of doing longer sprints to bridge my body comp & athleticism gap. I'm a little skeptical to start with because everything I know about this bodycomp stuff comes from Kyle Macdowell and he's never really talked up track work for aesthetics. He actually forbids sprints because he says it means you have shitty leg sessions in the gym. But i'll give it a try anyway.
Also quick shotout to coges, thanks for putting me onto Anthony's stuff again. I discovered it last year but it's timely rediscovering it again now when I'm getting myself ready for basketball.
Re basketball team: I had some bad news earlier, our point guard flaked and he's dropped out. Which would leave my team completely dead in the water. But fuck him - i've got way better court vision and passing ability than him anyway - i'll work hard on my dribble and passing and play PG - it's always been my dream anyway. I just need to prove it to everyone else that I can get the job done and well.
TLDR: I need to improve my conditioning and athleticism via a heavy diet of front squats + 60-120m sprints for the next 42 days while getting myself quickly into basketball shape for the tournament i'm counting down to. Priority is to heal from injury, regain my lifts to where they were and then become athletic before the deadline.
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kyle's main audience is people whose primary concern is aesthetics. if your goals include "getting faster" or "improving speed endurance," then obviously you should sprint. he wouldn't argue with that.
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You're right. And knowing when to go against Kyle is something I look forward to in life. It means i'm pushing beyond the envelope of what is the realm of the average guy and someone who trains more seriously towards being an athlete.
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kyle's main audience is people whose primary concern is aesthetics.
Don't know who Kyle is but IMO people who train primarily for aesthetics rather than performance end up looking like the train only for aesthetics. Which to me is a rather unaesthetic look.
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kyle's main audience is people whose primary concern is aesthetics.
Don't know who Kyle is but IMO people who train primarily for aesthetics rather than performance end up looking like the train only for aesthetics. Which to me is a rather unaesthetic look.
kyle is lyle mcdonald.
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Had basketball training. I'm getting fed up of ppl telling me to post up. Don't they know i'm 6'3" and I weigh 75kg/165lb? How strong do you expect a guy my size to be in the post. I feel like a fish out of water. I wish I had another 10-15kg of muscle on me, i'd be a beast. Almost miss being a big strong fat guy when I weighed 100kg/220lb. I was much harder to move around then!
But I played well, got some nice assists and im passing better and better with time. I have to work hard on my dribble though. That's my main weakness, I don't have a problem finding the open man or seeing the cut or whatever, it's just being in control of the ball well enough that I'm focused on the offense rather than protecting the ball. It will come with time..
And oh yea, you can say anything you please about someone. but i crossed the line where I cast aspersions on their quad dominance. Note to self, dont go there man, it's more contentious than debating guns and politics.
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This is kinda incredible so i'm going to log it. Woke up feeling really refreshed, no aches, no pains no DOMS. I usually have sore knees at the least. And my right hamstring always hurts pretty much all the time.
Wonder what I did differently yesterday which made recovery so good overnight. Mystery to me. Usually i'd be struggling to get out of bed on monday. Maybe i've just become adapted to basketball now.
For the record I had a small bite to eat before training. 2 icecream cones from mcdonalds on the way home from training. And I didn't drink any water during basketball even though it was a hot 38C or whatever it was yesterday. Came home had a lot of water. Felt really nauseous for some reason, needed more carbs I guessed. Had usual dinner of chicken, roti, a mango, and a protein shake. And big bowl of icecream before bed.
Even my injury feels ok but yet I was worried because driving home it hurt to hold the steering wheel with my right hand (while im eating my icecream lol).
Maybe the longer sprints I did on friday helped strengthen my legs up or something. I have no idea, but i'll take it..
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maybe it's the fact that you're 165 pounds instead of 220.
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x95, 3x100, 5x95, 5x92.5, 5x90
BS 5x60, 5x80, 5x85, 5x87.5, 4x6x70
FS notes:
Finally got some 5s again, i'm back on track.
BS notes:
Did BS for the first time since injury. Felt good.
A lot of squat volume today.
I think i'm ready for upper body work but to be safe i'll leave it til next workout. Dying to do some chinups but i'll be patient. Presses too. Funnily enough I don't miss bench press at all.
maybe it's the fact that you're 165 pounds instead of 220.
lol perhaps!
LBSS, what do you think of Pavel's Pin into Pillars program for backsquat on teh side. Thoughts? To remind you it's a 10x5reps program starting with 50% of 1RM and adding 2.5kg/5lb each time, done 3x weekly.
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i think that's a lot of volume, why do you want to do so much?
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I wouldn't do it exactly as written.
I'd like to start with heavy FS 2x5.
Followed by medium-heavy BS 2x5.
Finish with backoff sets of light BS 4x6 (start with 4x6x70kg and add 2.5kg each time)
Total volume: 44 reps.
Why volume? Because I can do it with perfect form. Can correct my imbalance where my right leg is weaker causing it to rotate in out of the bottom on heavier sets.
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oh that looks quite different from "pavel's pin to pillars for back squat on the side." seems fine to me although again, that's pretty high-volume for squatting. i keep saying that one of these days i'm going to do smolov jr. again, and that tops out at 36 reps per workout.
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Ha. Thanks since then I reconsidered and relented and reduced the volume some. I don't think I could do proper Pins right now. I would have to be eating a sizeable surplus to pull that off. But it would probably work a treat in building mass. Will put it aside for the moment.
I've done smolov jnr with squats before while maintaining bw. I got a 130kg backsquat without a belt this time last year when I did it. But my vertical went no where and I got nothing out of it athletically. That kind of high freq, high volume program doesn't do much for me in the way of lasting athletic gains. It just made me specialised at squatting.. meh. Still it was fun. If that's the right word (it isn't).
Shit you are right though, as hellish as smolov was, this is even more volume than that. But then again smolov is sets across with a medium-heavy to heavy weight and that's a different beast from what i'm proposing. Any-way-- I think I would probably just end up doing it one day a week if i'm still playing basketball which for now is the plan.
Thanks again.
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Usual doms in legs. But also doms in lats. delts, and biceps. I have to wonder if squatting FS & BS encompasses a full body workout in itself - including upper body. The pump in my arms suggests so..
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Training
FS 3x102.5, 5x97.5, 5x94.5
BS 3x85, 2x6x90
OHP 5x30, 5x40, 5x50, 5x52
BP 6x50, 6x60, 2x6x65
WCU 5xBW, 5x85, 5x90
FS notes:
Still recovering lost ground, but slowly getting there. Should end the week with approximately 3x105 & 5x100.
BS notes:
Ok.
OHP notes:
Add 2kg next time.
BP notes:
Benching outside the rack from now. Felt ok. Add 2kg next time.
Chinups notes:
Go for 2x5x92.5kg next time.
Bad weather, no sprinting/jumping. Was tentative about doing upper body work for the first time since injury (3 weeks ago?). But it all went ok. Will be conservative progressing it because bench was the only exercise which seemed to bother my chest, everything else was ok.
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Went to the park to shoot around. Warmed up and knees felt great and did some dunks. Haven't felt this fresh in ages. Dunks felt strong.
Tried doing some self lob dunks adarqui style but i found out i'm not able to do those or anything else because then i end up approaching them in a single leg fashion. In fact as I've found the only way I can jump decently is off two legs off a coupla steps. If i take a runup i can't jump as high, because then i try to jump off one leg and it all comes apart.
To sum it up, my SVJ is strong. My double step RVJ is strong. But everything else is weak.
Any suggestions for exercises i should be doing to improve my single leg jump performance or if there is a trick to double leg jumps off a runup?
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I've decided that starting Monday i'm going to resume cutting and I'll cut for 6 weeks til i'm down to 155. You heard it here first.
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I've decided that starting Monday i'm going to resume cutting and I'll cut for 6 weeks til i'm down to 155. You heard it here first.
What happened to this!?:
edit. Thinking about it, there are only 3 weeks left in Feb. I can't lose much weight now anyway and 159 is out of the picture from around 165. At best I'll be in the low 160s at the end of Feb. So how about a compromise. I'll cut to say 163-162. And stop cutting there. But since I'm unhappy with my body composition, i'll believe T0dday that thru training I can continue to improve my body composition, or specifically that doing tempo work will improve body comp, I can continue to improve bodycomp even once i've stopped cutting come march. This way I'll be able to train better by getting off the caloric deficit and my body comp will improve thru training. Sort of a best of both worlds.
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Fair comment fella. I'll explain! Since I got injured til today i've had 2 weeks off my diet. I ate towards healing, not caring about body comp. 2 weeks is what Kyle McDowell recommends as the right amount of time between stints of long dieting. So i've got that base covered. Not intentionally, it just happened that way that I went down and while resting and eating to heal, I got the diet break in as a result.
So i'm legit in a position to resume dieting. As far as going down to /only/ 159. I think that's conformable with my goal to get to 155. Let me explain. If i diet down to 155, then once i stop cutting and eat more food and carbs, i'll quickly gain water weight and top out probably topping out to 159ish.
And training wise i'm staying the course, lots of squatting and lots of running. That will help with my cutting goal anyway and i'm not a pussy to worry about muscle wasting as an excuse to shy away from doing lots of 60-150m sprints.
Rushed thru my front squat workout before ball training, took 20mins including warmups.
Omgs just came back from basketball training. life is so much better when you're on a cal surplus. I was bouncy as fuck. Got my first in-game dunk!!!!!! It's possibly one of the best feels i've ever had on the court. It was a pickup game mind you, not a proper one, but still felt so good. I caught the ball on the left block, and dunked it so hard i pulled the rim down and had to push it back afterwards. PPl around me were stunned cos they didn't expect it haha.
Will do PM sesh later, going to backsquat and upper body.
Training
FS 3x104, 5x99 (AM)
1.5 hr basketball training
BS 2x6x92.5, 3x6x75
OHP 2x5x53
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Day 1 (25th feb 2013)
here we go.................. :strong: .. To 155lb of pure reverse hypetrophy and beyond. All I want in life is people to say "do you even lift bro" when I walk into the room. In related news, im giving up eating pork because pigs are such amazing intelligent animals .. it just seems wrong to me, like eating a dolphin, a dog or a well groomed rat.
Goal is to get thru 3 weeks of this thing. Then I go away on holiday. maintain for a week or two, and come back and do the next 3 weeks. 6 weeks ought to be enough to get down to 155.
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Training
FS 3x106, 5x101, 5x97
BS 3x90, 2x6x95, 3x6x77.5
BP 3x6x67.5
FS notes:
Next time I'll go for the PR of 3x108 which is mildly exciting. Realistically though before injury I was due for 5x105 which means my best triple ought to be around 3x111 so it's not that special either. But either way, i'll keep pushing the triple up. Maybe I can get it as high as 3x115? That would be nice. I'm trying to keep a 5kg difference between my top triple and top fiver. This should mean when I triple 110 I will be using 105 for 5 which is where I was pre-injury.
BS notes:
Last 2.5kg jump, from now on it's 2kg increases.
BP notes:
These bothered my previously injured pec. Blah.
Will do upper body after dinner. Probably only just bench press.
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at 6.3 you want to cut down to 155 ? man I´m 6.1 with 160 at 6-7% bodyfat. Why you want your bodyweight that low ?
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at 6.3 you want to cut down to 155 ? man I´m 6.1 with 160 at 6-7% bodyfat. Why you want your bodyweight that low ?
Everyone is different! For everyone who is above average in lean mass there will be someone on the other side of the average. I'm on the other side, it happens, it's normal.... haha
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Training
FS 3Fx108, 4Fx103
BS 2x6x97.5
OHP 2x5x54
WCU 3x95, 4x92.5, 4x90, 5x85, 5x82.5
DJ 3x5x7"
FS notes:
Late night last night cost me the PR today.Annoyed with myself. Will get 3x108 (PR) and 5x103 on sunday.
BS notes:
I decided to keep up the 2.5kg jumps up to 100kg, then i'll go to 2kg jumps.
Depth jumps:
Started these. I hope they make a difference. Form check video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EyNLeQEX7U
let me know what I can improve, I don't even know what a depth jump is to be honest just guessed.
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You need to drop off, not jump off the box. Drop off it and once you hit the ground immediately jump up.
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You need to drop off, not jump off the box. Drop off it and once you hit the ground immediately jump up.
yes. here are some good ones from a guy who used to log here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ4WGEoN9FE
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Me back in the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfqtcKajiEI
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Noted, i'll copy the form above. Thanks!
Btw LBSS i remember reading in your log a long time ago about running into a jump but at the last second just abruptly coming to a stop. Is that a thing I should try as well?
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Noted, i'll copy the form above. Thanks!
Btw LBSS i remember reading in your log a long time ago about running into a jump but at the last second just abruptly coming to a stop. Is that a thing I should try as well?
nah don't bother. i can't remember who suggested that. i tried it a few times but your time is better spent on other things.
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Training
FS 3x108 (PR), 5x103
BS 2x6x100
BP 3x6x70
SVJx2x5, RVJ 3x5 (PR see notes below)
FS notes:
Good sign that the triple wasn't an RM. I think I had another rep in me! Hopefully I can drive my triple up and over 110kg next week.
BS notes:
These are getting heavy/hard. I want to keep my BS going but not sure how I'll do that. Either way that was probably the last 2.5kg jump, i mean I could probably force 2x6x102.5 next time, but I don't seem me getting 105 the following session. So maybe it's time to go 2kg jumps now. Will see.
BP notes:
Love and hate relationship with bp continues. Today was a better day. Think my pec problems are now in the distance. Thank God!
Jump notes:
Started off real sluggish, couldn't land any 1 hand dunks, svj or rvj. But i think the ball was slippery or something. So i switched to two hands. That worked better. Changed up my dunk approach, tried from the sides. I like these a lot.
Then tried something completely different, an RVJ double hand reverse. Got it! My first non-trivial dunk. Although it's probably still a trivial dunk for anyone who can dunk, but to the non-discerning eye it probably looks a lot more impressive. Wish I had video but was too dark. Best part is I can do it consistently, so it goes in my bag of dunks which now has 3 dunks. Haha. Can't wait to try that in the gym!
My friend saw my front squat PR and said I did well but that I'm really skinny and I need to gain weight. What you guys have been telling me all along. I told him I will do just that come winter, just need to get this (never ending) cut finished first. Id like to get into the 150s by end of March. That would make me happy. But is it too ambitious? Probably not achievable but it gives me something to aim for..
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My training has evolved. That time off during injury has showed me how much my body appreciated rest. My knees feel great. No aches and pains anywhere which used to be there all the time. I will be working regular weeks off for rest maybe once after every 4 weeks or whenever I need it really, whichever makes most sense.
Slowly getting back to where I was pre-injury on the scale, weighed 168 today. Still a bit bloated but it's going away as my body adjusts to cutting. I'm struggling with hunger which always happens at the start of diet before adapting.
I'm tempted to practice dunking today but i'll be patient and rest because I want to get some nice PRs tomorrow. If I can get FS 3x110 & 5x105 PRs i'll be thrilled. And then there is also backsquat to progress as well. Yes i'll definitely rest today for what's to come tomorrow.
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Training
FS 5x105 (PR), 5x100
BS 2x6x102, 4x6x80
OHP 2x5x55, 5x50, 8x45
FS notes:
Finally got the 105 fiver!! I wasn't up to it mentally today but somehow it happened. I'll take it. Hungry for more PRs this week. Bring it on.
BS notes:
Just re-realising why I abandoned backsquat. I'm the worlds worst backsquatter :( I feel an incredible amount of torque on my lower back (spine) on the backsquat. I simply don't have that in front squats. The other thing is, most people say good squatter can front squat 90% of their olympic backsquat. Here I am struggling with backsquatting a weight LIGHTER than my front squat. WTF. I'm just not build for this lift. I give up. I don't get how other ppl can work their way easily to squatting 3 plates and some while i'm struggling around 2. I feel as though I should at least work up to 2x6x115 but how??
OHP notes:
Going to try devoting more attention to overhead press. Chasing a big bench didn't work, i'm a better overhead presser than bench presser, let me give ohp a chance now.
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better than me
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Training
FS 5x105 (PR), 5x100
BS 2x6x102, 4x6x80
OHP 2x5x55, 5x50, 8x45
FS notes:
Finally got the 105 fiver!! I wasn't up to it mentally today but somehow it happened. I'll take it. Hungry for more PRs this week. Bring it on.
BS notes:
Just re-realising why I abandoned backsquat. I'm the worlds worst backsquatter :( I feel an incredible amount of torque on my lower back (spine) on the backsquat. I simply don't have that in front squats. The other thing is, most people say good squatter can front squat 90% of their olympic backsquat. Here I am struggling with backsquatting a weight LIGHTER than my front squat. WTF. I'm just not build for this lift. I give up. I don't get how other ppl can work their way easily to squatting 3 plates and some while i'm struggling around 2. I feel as though I should at least work up to 2x6x115 but how??
OHP notes:
Going to try devoting more attention to overhead press. Chasing a big bench didn't work, i'm a better overhead presser than bench presser, let me give ohp a chance now.
eat strong. squat strong.
your diet sucks. your back squat form is pretty good. i've seen 6'2 / 220lb gym rats who can barely quarter squat 225lb. your poundage is not so bad for a twig. lol
if you are not inflexible, maybe you just need to focus on keeping your whole torso / spine as one solid unit while breaking the knees/hips. point top of the head straight up and let everything else follow it through the range of motion.
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Training
FS 5x105 (PR), 5x100
BS 2x6x102, 4x6x80
OHP 2x5x55, 5x50, 8x45
FS notes:
Finally got the 105 fiver!! I wasn't up to it mentally today but somehow it happened. I'll take it. Hungry for more PRs this week. Bring it on.
BS notes:
Just re-realising why I abandoned backsquat. I'm the worlds worst backsquatter :( I feel an incredible amount of torque on my lower back (spine) on the backsquat. I simply don't have that in front squats. The other thing is, most people say good squatter can front squat 90% of their olympic backsquat. Here I am struggling with backsquatting a weight LIGHTER than my front squat. WTF. I'm just not build for this lift. I give up. I don't get how other ppl can work their way easily to squatting 3 plates and some while i'm struggling around 2. I feel as though I should at least work up to 2x6x115 but how??
OHP notes:
Going to try devoting more attention to overhead press. Chasing a big bench didn't work, i'm a better overhead presser than bench presser, let me give ohp a chance now.
Post a video back squat video from the side. I imagine you lack a bit of ankle flexibility (or don't own good oly shoes) but are religious about hitting good depth which causes you to round your low back hard to keep from falling backwards on your backsquat. WIth the bar in front you can hit that really deep without rounding your back. Try this test:
Squat down in front of a mirror but let yourself go on your tiptoes (think of a catcher in baseball). Look at your back in the mirror and notice that it is perfectly perfectly straight up and down. Now try and get your heels on the ground while maintaining the same back angle but shooting your knees farther past your toes. If you cant get your shin angles appropriate to allow this you can do two things.
1) Get some decent olympic shoes, they will help a lot already.
2) Stop squatting artificially deep. Build up to it. Unrack the weight with the bar on your back and slowly descend by breaking at this hips/knees simultaneously and letting your knees go forward to keep your back one solid unit. Don't release tension, don't go so low your back rounds out. Slowly get into this position where you maintain tension and you will feel your shins "stretching" and your weight on the ball of your foot. Pause for a few seconds and explode up. Continuing doing pause squats where you are congizant of your knee angles and your straight back... your ankle flexibility WILL improve and you will be able to hit more and more depth without sacrificing your tightness.
Also, get some oly shoes. I commend you for squatting ATG, but you can't combine your method with standard PL squatting advice (knees behind toes, break at hips, keep weight on the heels). You are training a squat for which has a lot of athletic bang for the buck. But it's not orthodox, the weight is on the ball of the foot and your knees should travel far past your toes. Like front-squatting, this isn't the most efficient way to move big weight... but you will jump higher if you keep at it.
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I think your form is fine it's just that you're really skinny. At 6'3 165 you're not going to be putting up good numbers. I'm actually surprised that you can front squat as much as you can- good neural efficiency. Even if you were heavy though most tall people aren't made to squat in the first place. Of course there are some massive squatters that are tall but pretty much all of them are 265+lbs or have a squat build (short limbs, long torso), or usually both. So really it's just a mixture of all those reasons. If you put on 60lbs you'd probs be squatting 350-400lbs but like you said there would be no point in that because it'd be detrimental for your athleticism.
At the end of the day I wouldn't even worry about it too much. Like you said you're increasing your athleticism without the back squat. The back squat is just a tool it's not the be all end all. Everybody would like a high squat to brag about but if you can get the results without it than fuk it.
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BS notes:
I don't get how other ppl can work their way easily to squatting 3 plates and some while i'm struggling around 2. I feel as though I should at least work up to 2x6x115 but how??
eat strong. squat strong.
your diet sucks. your back squat form is pretty good. i've seen 6'2 / 220lb gym rats who can barely quarter squat 225lb. your poundage is not so bad for a twig. lol
if you are not inflexible, maybe you just need to focus on keeping your whole torso / spine as one solid unit while breaking the knees/hips. point top of the head straight up and let everything else follow it through the range of motion.
Do you think I need more muscle mass to squat say 5x115kg? I can front squat over 120kg, I should be able to backsquat more than that even at my twig-weight .. right? That's what's bothering me because fine I don't have the muscle mass to squat 400, but i have enough muscle to front squat >120kg, shouldn't I be able to backsquat say ~135kg/300lb (to take 90% of backsquat). But if I was a 135kg backsquatter I wouldn't be struggling with backsquatting low 100kgs..?
I might have a flexibility issue. But i can post a video of me front squatting ATG with decent form. So you'd think I have the flexibility for backsquat, esp since the depth is higher on the backsquat.
Post a video back squat video from the side. I imagine you lack a bit of ankle flexibility (or don't own good oly shoes) but are religious about hitting good depth which causes you to round your low back hard to keep from falling backwards on your backsquat. WIth the bar in front you can hit that really deep without rounding your back.
Added the video back to my earlier post, please have a look. I don't ATG on backsquat, not militant about depth on backsquat as long as it's below parallel i'm happy. I save my deep squatting for the front squat which comes naturally to me. I do use oly shoes, and I think i have the ankle mobility because I can front squat deep fine.
But having said that I might still have a problem with mobility all the same because my backsquat looks very assymetric, i favour my strong left side a lot. I just don't know what, or how to fix it.
I think your form is fine it's just that you're really skinny. At 6'3 165 you're not going to be putting up good numbers. I'm actually surprised that you can front squat as much as you can- good neural efficiency. Even if you were heavy though most tall people aren't made to squat in the first place. Of course there are some massive squatters that are tall but pretty much all of them are 265+lbs or have a squat build (short limbs, long torso), or usually both. So really it's just a mixture of all those reasons. If you put on 60lbs you'd probs be squatting 350-400lbs but like you said there would be no point in that because it'd be detrimental for your athleticism.
At the end of the day I wouldn't even worry about it too much. Like you said you're increasing your athleticism without the back squat. The back squat is just a tool it's not the be all end all. Everybody would like a high squat to brag about but if you can get the results without it than fuk it.
I accept that I wont be squatting shitloads at my bodyweight. No argument there. My problem is with my BS/FS ratio. It should be >1 and i must be the only person where it's less. I find it perplexing that my backsquat is lighter than my front squat. That's unheard of, because universally backsquat should be a lot stronger. Add to the fact that I go deeper on front squats than I do on backsquat and it becomes even harder to understand.
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Shit that's a wall of text, sorry. For raptor's sake, i'll post a TLDR:
TLDR: For my muscle mass and strength, am I overachieving on the front squat or underachieving on the backsquat?
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Shit that's a wall of text, sorry. For raptor's sake, i'll post a TLDR:
TLDR: For my muscle mass and strength, am I overachieving on the front squat or underachieving on the backsquat?
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--ekR6jG4Iwk/Tw4zvKN4RCI/AAAAAAAAAn0/IX-VBCUOUvs/s1600/didnt-read-lol-chicken-gif.gif)
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Added the video back to my earlier post, please have a look. I don't ATG on backsquat, not militant about depth on backsquat as long as it's below parallel i'm happy. I save my deep squatting for the front squat which comes naturally to me. I do use oly shoes, and I think i have the ankle mobility because I can front squat deep fine.
But having said that I might still have a problem with mobility all the same because my backsquat looks very assymetric, i favour my strong left side a lot. I just don't know what, or how to fix it.
Need a side view. Deep Front squat doesn't require as much ankle mobility, so that doesn't mean much. The fact that you hit depth by bowing your knees out rather than breaking forward at your knee suggests you lack a bit of mobility, but without a side view it's really hard to tell. Also, you squat just looks bad, just looks like you aren't very good at it. I bet if you squat a few times a week for a couple months your back squat will shoot right past your front squat.
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Your back squat is 'lighter' than your front squat because you have been front squatting almost exclusively for the past several months. Than when you do back squat it looks like you usually do it after you front squat so your legs are already fatigued a little plus the movement feels weird coz you've just been spending your time doing front squats. I experienced the same thing over a year ago when I was doing front and back squats in the same session. It feels awkward to back squat after you front squat so weight that should feel light feels heavy.
If you spent as much time doing back squats as front squats than your back squat would be higher than your front squat. Also think about it this way. You've back squatted 140+kg before but the most you've front squatted is 120kg. So that's a 20kg difference right there. If you've back squatted that much before than you're capable of doing it again if you practice the movement.
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I've long done the same amount of FS:BS work - it's not like i've done FS twice as often. The days I squat (every session), I do both FS & BS! But I always do FS first and BS last like you said. Thing is, going from FS to BS, it should feel 'easier' because BS is an easier exercise (for the same weight). Right? But that's not my experience. BS is hard, harder even. Also, in recent times i've done 2-3 sets of front squats only before moving to backsquat. 2 sets is about my average. 2 sets of heavy front squats take away some, sure. But i'm not super exhausted/fatigued either. I could do a lot more front squatting before I get fatigued. Most days I'm not going into backsquats completely fatigued. Perhaps just enough to make it harder, i'll buy that.
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Training
FS 3x110 (PR), 5x106 (PR)
BS 2x6x104
BP 2x6x72, 2x6x67
DJ 3x5 (18-22" box)
DUNKZ ~50-60 dunks (most RVJ, about 10 SVJ)
FS notes:
The triple (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMTi7PJARCc) wasn't a grind, I reckon I had a rep in me! Wasn't sure what weight to pick for the 5 rep set, i want to keep a 5kg difference between the triple and 5, but i'd already done 105 last time so went for 106 this time. Next session i'll go for PRs 3x112 and 5x107. Bring it on!
BS notes:
First set was hard (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFzRoexRUZs). I improved my form in the 2nd set, but i pressed record twice and it wasn't filmed. Damn. I have the vid for the first set though.
Dunk notes:
I did a shitload of dunks today! By the end I was dripping in sweat and out of breath. Crazy workout. I finally got my first self lob dunks, I can do them reliably now.
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You go up pretty good considering how slow you move... you're not using your arms at all on the jumps (ok, just very little).
To me it looks like you actually have good quad strength, it's more the posterior chain that you should work more on. When you plant you can really maintain the knee position... a thing I can't.
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Thanks. I think you might be onto something there. It would also go someway in explaining why my backsquat is lagging (because my posterior is weak link in the chain). I'm planning on pushing up my backsquat 20-25kg at some stage when I've reached my FS goals (3x115-120 & 5x110-115).
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I'd do low bar squats if I'd also be doing front squats with them. Doing front squats and high bar squats at the same time is kinda redundant.
Basically you can go with FS + LBBS (not the forum member) and some posterior chain high rep assistance work (2x12) - think RDL and hip thrust DONE CORRECTLY (glute dominant, pay attention to the pelvis being in neutral, especially when doing hip thrusts).
Otherwise, since you've lost so much weight, I believe your calves aren't an issue right now and therefore your only thing left to improve MORE would be the hip extensors.
Why don't you do this test?
http://www.adarq.org/strength-power-reactivity-speed-discussion/the-training-schedule-i-did-for-nightfly-could-help-you-too/
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Training
FS 3x112 (PR), 5Fx107 (PR)
BS 5Fx106(LB), 6x105(HB)
OHP 2x5x56, 6x50
WCU 5xBW, 2x88.5, 3x98.5, 3x93.5, 5x88.5, 5x83.5
FS notes:
Got the 112 triple but the last rep was a grind. It's ok, because my last warmup bar speed was quite slow, so all things considered i did well to get a PR despite my state. On the 5th rep of the 107 PR attempt, I just couldnt grind out the last rep. I came so close to overcoming the sticking point but it was just too much for me today. I will def get it next time though. I just need a bit more rest. It's been one of those weeks.
BS notes: (HIGH BAR VS LOW BAR?)
I took Raptor's advice and did the first workset low bar. It was a wreck. I failed the last rep in an ugly manner. It could be that i'm not accustomed to lowbar but I found it very challenging. The 2nd set I went back to my usual highbar position. Got 6 reps and it was easier and more controlled. I'll put both videos up for you to judge for yourself.
My verdict? I am a much better high bar squatter than lowbar. Question is, should I stick with highbar, or switch to the lowbar despite the obvious problems :- A. Crazy amount of torque on the low back, difficult, dangerous lift. B. New lift, not used to it, have to take off a lot of weight to progress it from here.
Looking at the video i'm noticing that on the lowbar I went quite deep, I don't think you're supposed to go this deep on LBBS.
What do you guys think?
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To me it looks like you actually have good quad strength, it's more the posterior chain that you should work more on. When you plant you can really maintain the knee position... a thing I can't.
Well^^^, time to reiterate that assumption. Do you do any RDLs or direct posterior chain work? (hip thrusts, glute ham raises, reverse hypers)?
When I squatted low bar for the first time EVER I used 50 kg to start (obviously, started with an empty bar first) and went up to as high as 80 kg.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRRNOn19nFQ
Basically... start conservatively. I would've never used the weight you used (so heavy). Start low and work your way up. I'd stick with the low bar squat if I were you IN YOUR situation.
I'm actually doing high bar squats right now but that's only because I've neglected direct quad work for so long... (and also working on ATG flexibility at the same time).
By the way - it was terrible, my first low bar squat day. Terrible elbow pain, very unnatural movement (I get quad dominant when the weight gets heavy), very weird position to have the bar onto on the back, weird body awareness etc. So if you do indeed choose to do low bar squats be aware you're going to get better after a week or two at them.
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Cool, have fun.
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lol sorry brah. You know how much I hate your half deadlifts :P
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Well then have fun being quad dominant and having future knee issues. If you do the RDLs right they will help you. If you mess around with them having preconceived ideas then they will not, but that's your fault.
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Look at the ROM, it's tiny on the RDL! I get that it makes hamstrings sore, but I can make them sore in many different ways. The easiest and fun way is doing a few max effort sprints. Btw RDL never made my glutes sore ever.. as a posterior ex it doesn't work (for me)
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so stick to high bar. they both looked pretty jerky, for what it's worth. take a look at your high bar video and then go look at any of kingfish's squatting videos. the focus on the knees and hips. see how smoothly his break, how controlled his body is as it folds. then compare that to how segmented your movement is.
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I'll never squat as pretty as you or KF. If I was going by that i'd never bother with backsquat whatsoever. I have to compare the two relatively, not absolutely against others.
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I'll never squat as pretty as you or KF. If I was going by that i'd never bother with backsquat whatsoever. I have to compare the two relatively, not absolutely against others.
yeah i know you'll never squat like KF (don't limit yourself against me, though!). your body's completely different. doesn't mean you can't try to focus on smooth, continuous movement.
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Try some snatch grip deadlifts or straight leg deadlifts if you haven't yet.
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I don't want to get at all into the RDL usefulness argument ( because i have no knowledge ) , but the ROM from RDL to RDL can be different.
Here are the RDLs i used to do before Lance coached me on them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh82VnSzpT0
And here are the improved ones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldfE0SGGvxU
Yes, the improved ones are also 35kg lighter, but that was forced, the improved form caused a major load decrease. An indication of how harder the exercise got.
Also , i am not even sure if the latter is still and RDL or an RDL/stiff legged DL hybrid, but it sure is a full ROM exercise.
Just some food for thoughts :D
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Man you were really unlocking your knees on the 2nd ones... they look very weird to me (weak). :P
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I will say that the RDL is a great grip exercise, having to hold on to a bar continuously for the whole set is by far the hardest part of doing them
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Try some snatch grip deadlifts or straight leg deadlifts if you haven't yet.
Not sure if I wanna start deadlifting right now, recovery and all. It's the reason i'm not sprinting either.. saving recovery for gym and basketball training.
What about good mornings...? Or should I try these exotic deadlifts with lighter weights..
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I hate good mornings... even with an empty bar the tendency of the bar is to roll on your neck forward and the load on the back is a ton etc, fuck them.
ANYWAY
The snatch grip deadlift is really the "full deadlift" if you want to go that route. I'd argue that the regular deadlift is a half-deadlift and the RDL is a 1/4 deadlift.
The SGD has the longest ROM, gets you the deepest, and it really works the glutes and hams and everything. I did 2x10 yesterday with 60 kg and it was great. It's a bitch to hold the weight though so you'll use very low weights but that's great, it just means your more likely to use your legs rather than your back, and that's what you want to do. I also use the mixed hook grip when doing SGDs.
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Training
FS 5x107.5 (PR), 5x102.5
BS 2x6x107 (PR)
FS 5x97.5
BS 3x6x82.5 (LB)
BP 2x6x73.5, 6x68.5, 6x63.5
DJ 3x5 (18-22" drops - next time measure this just to be sure!)
5 SVJ dunks, 8 RVJ dunks.
FS notes:
I was going to repeat the 107kg I only got 4.5 reps last time. But thought, why not be ambitious and go for 107.5 instead? Got it! It was super hard. This must be my 5RM - it was a max effort 5th rep. Imagine my surprise when I put it into the 1RM calculator and found it equates to 121kg! I usually do a lot better than the 1RM calculator suggests on the FS - so I think my 1RM might be around 125kg now. That's nuts. Hard work paying off.
BS notes:
Better than last time. But the last rep was a grinder. These must be lifetime PR 6s, at least for highbar. I've used way more weight using lowbar but you can't really compare them can you, so i'll just call it a PR since it's my defacto backsquat variant now.
KF, t0dday & LBSS whatdathink, does my form merit your approval?
I'm also using Raptors advice to use LBBS for backsquat backoff sets - 3x6x82.5 today. I like. I'm quite pleased with form also. Raptor happy? :P
I used Lance's advice to intersperse FS & BS to avoid fatigue biasing one lift over the other. Seemed to help. I'll stick to it. I started with two heavy FS worksets, followed by 2 heavy BS worksets. Then i'll do the remaining front squat sets before finishing with BS assistance sets. It's a pain alternating the weights for FS & BS, as well as the safety bars but you know what, at least it's not waiting at some sweaty public gym while you share equipment with other ppl.
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Yeah it might be a good idea, to have the backoff sets as low bar for more posterior chain work/hypertrophy.
I should do it the other way around - having the backoff sets being high bar.
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front squats look great. you still have a weird hitch in your giddyup on the back squat that you don't on the front squat, but it does look better than before. the first rep looks good and then you start breaking kind of jerkily at the knees. i wonder why front and back are so different for you w/r/t knees.
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Yeah it might be a good idea, to have the backoff sets as low bar for more posterior chain work/hypertrophy.
I should do it the other way around - having the backoff sets being high bar.
Makes sense. It might even be possible for me to do it more than 1x a week which is what i've been using only for my 'volume' day. I'll see how it goes.
front squats look great. you still have a weird hitch in your giddyup on the back squat that you don't on the front squat, but it does look better than before. the first rep looks good and then you start breaking kind of jerkily at the knees. i wonder why front and back are so different for you w/r/t knees.
Thanks mate! Yeah I see what you mean wrt the latter sets and jerkiness (the derivative of acceleration this is not!). I think it's because I forget to tighten up hammies, maybe? I'll keep that in mind next time. Why my FS and BS are so different, i have no idea, welcome any explanations. I'm just a natural frontsquatter and an unnatural backsquatter, I think.
Treated myself to a 'cheat' dinner + Peep Show episodes - so good
(http://i.imgur.com/OYMqmHh.png)
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Yeah you can even go crazy and do low bar half squats for more specificity. Not sure if that makes sense and overcomplicates things.
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Damn, hamstrings are nice and sore today.
But nothing in the glutes :( Some faint late soreness emerging in glutes also!
I remember when the only part of my body that was sore post squats was glutes. That was when I had a big strong ass from really heavy sets of dangerously ugly belted lowbar backsquats of questionable depth. I wish I still had that strength and glutetrophy, I bet i'd be a lot faster on my jumping approach. I'd probably be a complete athlete then, with decent acceleration in general, sprinting, basketball and dunking. Also feel fat today. I should eat perfectly for the rest of the week.
I like what i'm getting out of lowbar assistance work. I want big firm strong buttocks that accelerate me from 0 to 100km/hr very rapidly. But i can't do 3x6 assistance every session can I?
Rough plan for the next 2 weeks before the basketball tournament
This week - FS 3x115 (PR) and 5x110 (PR). I'm confident about the 115 but not so much on the 110 - considering 107.5 was a 5RM yesterday. But 2.5kg in 2 sessions might be doable. I might go 108.5 tomorrow, if I get it, then go for broke sunday for the 1.5kg PR. High bar BS I'll keep going up in 2kg jumps, I did 6x107 last time, 6x109 tomorrow and 6x111 on sunday. That will be brutal im sure, but i'll pysche myself up for it.
Next week
If I get FS 5x110 and 3x115 then I'll put that lift on maintenance and focus on backsquat. I would like my HB around 6x120 but I don't think that's doable before I leave for melbourne (26th). So. A realistic target is 6x115 - that will be challenging in itself. If I get it, then my 1RM ought to be around 300lb - which is not bad for a beltless highbar fullsquat, especially at my bodyweight. My quads will be strong.
Now that leaves hams and glutes. I'll keep doing LB assistance, maybe every session while it's still light. But dunno, maybe i'm biting off too much than I can chew. On the other hand I think there are newbie gains (esp memory gains) to be had there easily, but i have to be careful and not overrun my recovery needs.
And the one thing I haven't mentioned which is very important.. conditioning. No point being athletic as fuck when you run out of breathe within a few minutes. So i'll alternate HIIT and longer aerobic cardio (20-30mins) conditioning on training days.
And i need to work on my skills as well.. shooting, dribbling, etc. Do that every day I reckon. Aim for 10 more shots made each time. I did 45 last time, go for 60 today and then from there 10 more per session.
I'd also like to lose 1kg of fat while getting myself into top shape. So on rest days, diet. On training days, eat slight surplus. Yes i'm doing a recomp and I don't believe in them for most people (too fat, too slow a process), but I think I'm in a position to do it now.
Damn I left it last minute.. but lets see how close I can get.
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if you ever do get those big firm strong buttocks, you should wax, post a pic to the big booty bitches thread, and then revel in the lulz when raptor and mutumbo upvote you.
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Can hardly wait.
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if you ever do get those big firm strong buttocks, you should wax, post a pic to the big booty bitches thread, and then revel in the lulz when raptor and mutumbo upvote you.
HAHAHAHAHAH! :D
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Training
FS 3x114 (PR), 5x108.5 (PR)
BS 2x6x109 (PR)
OHP 4x57, 4x56, 7x50
FS notes:
Got the PRs but they were crazy hard. I've never come so precariously close to failure on the last rep nevertheless completing the set. Damn. These are 3RM and 5RM, at least for today. I wanted the PRs to come easy after I ate a lot of food yesterday.
BS notes:
I dunno if i'll be able to manage the BS pr today after grinding out the PRs on front squat, but we'll see, give a shot. Update - got it! And this isn't just a high bar PR, it's a lifetime backsquat PR for 6 reps including lowbar. Feels good man. I love high bar backsquatting now. It feels so comfy. Don't get me wrong, i'm not going to cheat on my first love or anything, but it's growing on me.
For the first time my BS worksets are higher than my top front squat fiver. Haha. About time, even if only by 1/2kg. Full squat video below, hyperlinked references linked above.
Time to talk the dog for a walk, and then i'm going to shoot around, throw a coupla dunks down, have a quick conditioning session and begin recovery procedings.
I'm looking forward to smashing the last front squat PRs of the week on sunday. The big 3x115kg and 5x110kg front squat milestones are finally here!! I'm going to be ready. I'll sleep perfectly, kingfisher style, lots of rest, lots of chicken breast. They will fall and then front squat goes on maintenance while I focus on my new found adoration for highbar backsquats.
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bs looked so much smoother at the knees. nice job.
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bs looked so much smoother at the knees. nice job.
Thanks bud!
I forgot to log the rest of the night, but I went and did some dunks. I didn't do too many because i'm saving that for sunday. They were alright. The SVJ's felt very strong, I did 10 in total, and about 10 RVJs. Was curious about my vertical, and came up with an easy way to quickly tell my vertical, see below.
So if i'm close to my wrist, that's a 30" vertical. And the top of my forearm is a legit 40". So depending on where I touch on the arm, i'll know where I am in that 30"-40" range.
My SVJ yesterday was probably around 31-32". I don't think it was as high as 33.0" or as low as 30.0". The annoying thing is, i'll touch my arm to the rim, but I wont be able to tell upon landing where exactly I touched. I can't feel the contact point or anything, which is frustrating. But i've got an idea. I'm going to put a band or something around my arm, say around 36". Then on video i'll be able to tell whether the band was above the rim or below, giving me an idea of where I am.
A 36" SVJ would be real nice I think and a 40" running would be sick. But i'm not close to either of those right now. I think i am at 32" and 35" respectively. On sunday i'll give a definitive estimate of my vertical for both standing and running.
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I was studying the front squat for the first time in forever and I ended up watching johnymnenomic on youtube. I remember watching his video when I initially started front squatting and I was very impressed with the way he maintained a vertical back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NRmdtSvmQQ
This time around I noticed how wide his stance his. I bet if I had such a wide stance I could have nicer form with less violent movement into the bottom position. But I think at some point I decided I liked a narrow stance because it felt more comfortable and strong, and because it was more applicable to athletic endevours. I looked at my stance just before a jump and I pretty much have the same sort of stance in my squats as well.
I was also browsing pendlays forum and came across this post by one of the guys theree
Oly squats you DO NOT WANT TO DIVE BOMB IN TO THE SQUATS. This WILL RUIN YOUR KNEES IN THE LONG RUN. Not a question of IF BUT WHEN.
NO COACH will tell a lifter to dive bomb in to the squat. Descent should be controlled and fast up. You want to get STRONG and not use the bounce in the squat to squat more.
Your knees will take a huge amount of a beating in the OLifts as it is.
This will hurt the smaller guys A LOT MORE. The smaller guys will have less muscle/ fat around the joints and will be able to get deeper and this will ruin your knees if you drop from a greater height in the squat. It really is a recipe to injure yourself longer term.
Ask Glenn/ Don about this. You do not want to drop in fast in the squats to get strong/ get use to the bounce. Practice the bounce by lifting and getting the timing. You will use less weight and you will be dropping from a lower height.
Koing
And it got me wondering, am I doing what Koing describes above? I really should get those knee sleeves as well.
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I agree with what Koing (cool name bro) is saying overall. I guess on the other hand there's the specificity crew who would argue it's a good thing to accelerate the eccentric phase because you want to do that in a bilateral jump.
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Koing-Vert
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I agree with what Koing (cool name bro) is saying overall. I guess on the other hand there's the specificity crew who would argue it's a good thing to accelerate the eccentric phase because you want to do that in a bilateral jump.
Except you don't use that depth to jump so the specificity "jumps" out the window.
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I agree with what Koing (cool name bro) is saying overall. I guess on the other hand there's the specificity crew who would argue it's a good thing to accelerate the eccentric phase because you want to do that in a bilateral jump.
Except you don't use that depth to jump so the specificity "jumps" out the window.
Shit I meant standing not bilateral. Running bilateral is a different story as you say.
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I agree with what Koing (cool name bro) is saying overall. I guess on the other hand there's the specificity crew who would argue it's a good thing to accelerate the eccentric phase because you want to do that in a bilateral jump.
Except you don't use that depth to jump so the specificity "jumps" out the window.
Shit I meant standing not bilateral. Running bilateral is a different story as you say.
Well they still miss the point if the subject is training for strength and hypertrophy.
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I agree with what Koing (cool name bro) is saying overall. I guess on the other hand there's the specificity crew who would argue it's a good thing to accelerate the eccentric phase because you want to do that in a bilateral jump.
Glad you liked that! Btw any luck with choosing squatting shoes? Have you seen the underground elite ones btw? They look like a decent budget shoe if you're not keen on spending over $200 on the higher end ones.
Good discussion above also.
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Training
FS 3x115 (PR), 4x110 (PR)
BS 6x111 (PR), 6Fx111
DJx4x5
DUNKS ~ 30 total
BP 2x6x75, 6x70
FS notes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdO8P-uTY2I
Got the 115 triple PR, it was controlled, smooth and deep. All you can ask for in a heavy 3RM attempt. Owned my goal! Next up was the 110 fiver - this was ambitious considering my 5RM two day ago was 108.5kg - but I went for it. I got the 4th rep ok. But I knew if I went for the 5th rep, i'd either grind out a very difficult 5th, or fail it. So i racked it and saved it for another day. Next time I attempt the fiver it will be my top set for the day, so I will probably get it then no dramas. 5x110 will be legit when it happens.
BS notes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBvegOVrw_E
After the FS PRs i moved on to BS. felt real strong warming up, like it was light as a feather. But the workset PRs were nevertheless quite challenging. I got the first set ok. But didn't have a 6th rep on the last set. It's ok. 6x111 high bar is pretty good! Starting next week focus will be on backsquat, and i'll be moving this lift along with aplomb. I want 6x115 before melbourne - that will be my main squatting goal.
Jump notes:
Went back to dunk again, found my tripod, woot! So tired now.
Crazy training day and week for that matter. Exhausted.
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I agree with what Koing (cool name bro) is saying overall. I guess on the other hand there's the specificity crew who would argue it's a good thing to accelerate the eccentric phase because you want to do that in a bilateral jump.
Except you don't use that depth to jump so the specificity "jumps" out the window.
Shit I meant standing not bilateral. Running bilateral is a different story as you say.
Well they still miss the point if the subject is training for strength and hypertrophy.
Yeah, but I'm guessing the reason entropy brought it up is because he isn't training for hypertrophy as such, more for athleticism, and obviously SVJ is a big part of what we define as 'athleticism'. Someone might say to him "Hey, you should accelerate your eccentric phase to mimic the eccentric of the SVJ", but I agree with you that it's not really necessary for that aspect and maybe even dangerous in heavy strength work like back squats. It's probably more important to try and accelerate the concentric phase rather than the eccentric in heavy squats. I found DL bounds/tuck jumps were good for getting better at accelerating the eccentric phase of the SVJ, made most of my improvements in the SVJ when I was doing well in those.
Anyway, just random thoughts on what Koing-bro brought to the table.
I agree with what Koing (cool name bro) is saying overall. I guess on the other hand there's the specificity crew who would argue it's a good thing to accelerate the eccentric phase because you want to do that in a bilateral jump.
Glad you liked that! Btw any luck with choosing squatting shoes? Have you seen the underground elite ones btw? They look like a decent budget shoe if you're not keen on spending over $200 on the higher end ones.
Good discussion above also.
Yeah I did actually see those. Not bad price-wise, about $110AUD with shipping to Melb. I guess if you only really need a solid elevated heel in a good pair of shoes, you're just paying more for brand/look with the AdiPowers/Romaleos.
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I was studying the front squat for the first time in forever and I ended up watching johnymnenomic on youtube. I remember watching his video when I initially started front squatting and I was very impressed with the way he maintained a vertical back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NRmdtSvmQQ
This time around I noticed how wide his stance his. I bet if I had such a wide stance I could have nicer form with less violent movement into the bottom position. But I think at some point I decided I liked a narrow stance because it felt more comfortable and strong, and because it was more applicable to athletic endevours. I looked at my stance just before a jump and I pretty much have the same sort of stance in my squats as well.
I was also browsing pendlays forum and came across this post by one of the guys theree
Oly squats you DO NOT WANT TO DIVE BOMB IN TO THE SQUATS. This WILL RUIN YOUR KNEES IN THE LONG RUN. Not a question of IF BUT WHEN.
NO COACH will tell a lifter to dive bomb in to the squat. Descent should be controlled and fast up. You want to get STRONG and not use the bounce in the squat to squat more.
Your knees will take a huge amount of a beating in the OLifts as it is.
This will hurt the smaller guys A LOT MORE. The smaller guys will have less muscle/ fat around the joints and will be able to get deeper and this will ruin your knees if you drop from a greater height in the squat. It really is a recipe to injure yourself longer term.
Ask Glenn/ Don about this. You do not want to drop in fast in the squats to get strong/ get use to the bounce. Practice the bounce by lifting and getting the timing. You will use less weight and you will be dropping from a lower height.
Koing
And it got me wondering, am I doing what Koing describes above? I really should get those knee sleeves as well.
No, youre not even close to dive bombing your squats. Second, Pendlay is a HUGE proponent of catching a bounce at the bottom of the squat. Watch any of Norths squat videos and you can hear him scream it on every rep.
Looks like youre still improving your front squat and athleticism, that vid looks great. Good shit. Fastest way to stop those improvements is start changing shit up and get on some of those glute bridge/deadlift/cns efficiency pistol low bar glute hypertrophy rdl hyperextensions and stop focusing on the shit that actually matters.
a 2 x bw front squat at your height will mean 30000000 times more for your athleticism than anything else you can do with a barbell.
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Hey Entropy, when does your ball league start? I remember posting a while back about lifting and playing on the same day and said I'd get back to you.
Well, squatting and playing on the same day seems to work out really well. I've been doing 5x5 at 115 and then 120 (didn't get all reps) and felt great for the game. Deadlifting though, not so much. Tried to play about 5 hours after deads a few weeks back and had absolutely nothing. I was doing 5x5 there too so maybe more of a reason but either way it was shit.
Will be interested to see how you structure things once you start playing.
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Yeah I did actually see those. Not bad price-wise, about $110AUD with shipping to Melb. I guess if you only really need a solid elevated heel in a good pair of shoes, you're just paying more for brand/look with the AdiPowers/Romaleos.
Yeah i think diminishing returns happen when you go towards highend shoes. Switching from ordinary shoes to (any) lifting shoes is like 95% of the improvement. And then going from an (ordinary) lifting shoe to a high end lifting shoe probably gives you an extra 4-5% improvement or something. I'd imagine. But yea see if you can get a pair of those maxwell barbell wei rui warrior shoes if they come back in stock. The reviews (http://wlshoes.com/review/wei-rui-warrior-weightlifting-shoe/) i've read had put them at the level of expensive shoes but with the price of a budget shoe without compromising quality. The UGE ones seem to be the same.
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I was studying the front squat for the first time in forever and I ended up watching johnymnenomic on youtube. I remember watching his video when I initially started front squatting and I was very impressed with the way he maintained a vertical back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NRmdtSvmQQ
This time around I noticed how wide his stance his. I bet if I had such a wide stance I could have nicer form with less violent movement into the bottom position. But I think at some point I decided I liked a narrow stance because it felt more comfortable and strong, and because it was more applicable to athletic endevours. I looked at my stance just before a jump and I pretty much have the same sort of stance in my squats as well.
I was also browsing pendlays forum and came across this post by one of the guys theree
Oly squats you DO NOT WANT TO DIVE BOMB IN TO THE SQUATS. This WILL RUIN YOUR KNEES IN THE LONG RUN. Not a question of IF BUT WHEN.
NO COACH will tell a lifter to dive bomb in to the squat. Descent should be controlled and fast up. You want to get STRONG and not use the bounce in the squat to squat more.
Your knees will take a huge amount of a beating in the OLifts as it is.
This will hurt the smaller guys A LOT MORE. The smaller guys will have less muscle/ fat around the joints and will be able to get deeper and this will ruin your knees if you drop from a greater height in the squat. It really is a recipe to injure yourself longer term.
Ask Glenn/ Don about this. You do not want to drop in fast in the squats to get strong/ get use to the bounce. Practice the bounce by lifting and getting the timing. You will use less weight and you will be dropping from a lower height.
Koing
And it got me wondering, am I doing what Koing describes above? I really should get those knee sleeves as well.
No, youre not even close to dive bombing your squats. Second, Pendlay is a HUGE proponent of catching a bounce at the bottom of the squat. Watch any of Norths squat videos and you can hear him scream it on every rep.
Good to know. I was worried that stretch/bounce i'm catching at the bottom was the divebomb which Koing was warning about. I guess I got that doubt from watching the squatrx FS video above where johnny goes into teh hole and doesn't catch the bounce. But he squats way differently from me, he has a very wide stance and he doesn't go as deep. I love his squatting though dont get em wrong but it's completely different.
Looks like youre still improving your front squat and athleticism, that vid looks great. Good shit. Fastest way to stop those improvements is start changing shit up and get on some of those glute bridge/deadlift/cns efficiency pistol low bar glute hypertrophy rdl hyperextensions and stop focusing on the shit that actually matters.
lol! made me laugh out in real life. yea no probs, i'll stay the course.
a 2 x bw front squat at your height will mean 30000000 times more for your athleticism than anything else you can do with a barbell.
shit. that's a sick goal, a double bw front squat would be too amazing. I think i'm closing in on 1.7bw right now but i've let my bodyweight go up a bit lately, and if i come down to below 75kg i'll be above 1.7. I can def see me getting around 1.8bw just by manipulating my bodyweight though - and that's without trying to push my lifts up aggressively. But once that's all done, i will have to bulk towards 2bw because there is no way i'm front squatting 150-160kg without gaining a load of mass.
Thanks lance.
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Hey Entropy, when does your ball league start? I remember posting a while back about lifting and playing on the same day and said I'd get back to you.
Well, squatting and playing on the same day seems to work out really well. I've been doing 5x5 at 115 and then 120 (didn't get all reps) and felt great for the game. Deadlifting though, not so much. Tried to play about 5 hours after deads a few weeks back and had absolutely nothing. I was doing 5x5 there too so maybe more of a reason but either way it was shit.
Ah yea I remember. Good to hear you've got a nice balance going btw weightroom and game time. Your suspicion of DL compromising performance is probably correct. You'll notice a lot of people here recommend to avoid the deadlift completely for various reasons while persisting with squatting if doing other things outside the gym.
Will be interested to see how you structure things once you start playing.
I'll let you know when I start playing, still a while away from now! My focus atm is to get ready for this basketball tournament i've got during easter. It will be ~9 full court games in the space of 3 successive days during easter. should be crazy, death by basketball. I haven't got much time left to prepare but hopefully i'll manage somehow. Thanks for stopping by.
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Training
FS 4Fx110, 5Fx109.5
BS 6x112.5 (PR), 5Fx112.5
LBBS 6x85, 6x87.5, 6x90
OHP 2x4x57
BBALL TRAINING (60 made shots,conditioning, practising low post moves etc)
FS notes:
Yeah in hindsight the 1.5kg PR attempt last time was a bit too much. My form was perfect on the first 3 reps, and on the 4th, for some reason i came up on my toes, which meant I lost position on that rep and failed the set. This never happens to me, my heels never cup up so that was strange. If I hadn't come up on my toes I probably would have got the 5RM PR today, it didn't seem that hard otherwise.
The 2nd set form was good, and I came oh-so-close to grinding out the 5th rep but I couldnt get it up. But really, if I had attempted 5x109.5 (PR) in the first place instead of 110 would have got it today, so that's what i'll do next time. No probs. I can def get 5x110 this week. It will have to be on the saturday workout.
BS notes:
Went for 112.5! Got the first set ok. And I didn't have the juice to do a 2nd set. I could have malcolm X'd a 5th rep at the high risk of snapping my shit up, but I didn't bother, I just did the eccentric and set the bar down on purpose with great control. That's still half a rep right? Haha. It's all good.
I have to say something, the high bar squat, I didn't choose HB, in fact on paper my favorite backsquat would be the low bar squat. But the high bar squat chose me. For real, it has dragged me kicking and screaming to becoming my favorite backsquat out of sheer pragmatism. I <3 HB now.
BBall training
I wanted to do sprint, sprint, jog intervals for 5 mins straight. But I simply couldn't last the full amount of time. My conditioning is pityful. Hopefully it improves a lot very quickly. Help.
also, I think I did a windmill dunk but I don't believe it myself until I see it on video. nuts..
So now i'm training every other day. I want a highbar BS 6x115 (PR) and FS 5x110 (PR) by the last workout before I leave.
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You'll notice a lot of people here recommend to avoid the deadlift completely for various reasons while persisting with squatting if doing other things outside the gym.
That's interesting. I was actually thinking about moving to trap bar DL and cutting volume to 1 max set per week so you could be onto something. Thanks for that.
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^That sounds great. Keep up the good work.
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dude the last BS vid you posted looked like best yet. it's like t0ddday said a few pages ago in this thread: before it just looked like you hadn't practiced it much. lots more confidence evident now.
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I think a deadlift, performed at the RIGHT time using the RIGHT volume (which for our purposes is VERY light volume, basically singles) can have a positive potentiation effect. I use it when I want to peak in my jumps that day (for example today I worked up to a single of 160 kg).
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^That's a highly specialised situation dude, not regular training. I get the same effect out of banded swings, but I'm not going to put them into my regular programming! But you have a point, everything has a use, I just don't think the deadlift has a place outside the PL's training. If you need to recover for a sport etc then you have to choose the exercises which give the best bang for the buck (where the cost is recovery and perhaps injury). Having said that, my experience with the trapbar was very favourable. It got my front squat moving right away which had been stuck for a while, so it seems like a friendly exercise for athletes.
In other news, I was training every other day in the lead up to the basketball comp but i've burned out or something because yesterday I had a fever and even though I was tempted to train thru it, I thought to take the day off and see how I felt the next day. Better. But lots of shit going on in my life right now which is affecting me badlly. She's killing me. Not good.
On the bright side, i've been eating like a teenager back when I went to university, loads of carbs, loads of icecream. My body loves it. Sleeping better than before, my mood is great again, i have developed a ferocious appetite for life. And if you think i'd have gotten mad fat as a result, it hasn't happened. I think all the cutting i've done has made my insulin sensitivity and p-ratio very favorable. So i'm actually not gaining any weight while eating loads and training hard. But my muscles look fuller and i'm as strong as i've ever been. While weight is around 76kg now with all that glycogen storage. So it's pretty awesome. But here is the most crazy thing - my waist is now a legit 32" - like close to get into the 31"s, i look lean. I took Kingfishers advice to heart eat more to squat more lol and it's been working, PRs every workout afetr being stuck for weeks when cutting.
Oh and I forgot to reply to
dude the last BS vid you posted looked like best yet. it's like t0ddday said a few pages ago in this thread: before it just looked like you hadn't practiced it much. lots more confidence evident now.
Yea every time i've done the lift i've gotten better. My best attempt was the last one 6x112.5kg PR! That's better than I ever did with low bar and I had great form. High bar fits me like a glove now. It's uncanny, i went from backsquat retard to highbar stud overnight. I can't explain it. Can anyone?
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Training
FS 5Fx109.5, 3Fx117.5 (PR), 2x109
BS 4x112.5 (PR)
BBALL pratice, played some 1-on-1s, some shooting, some dunks.
BP 2x6x76
conditioning: 5 consecutive sprint,sprint,jog intervals, and total of 9 in 5 minutes.
FS notes:
Not sure what to say. My legs are willing but my back is not, I keep losing that 5th rep because my upper back gives way. Conversely the 3RM attempt failed because my legs weren't up to task - but my back was fine. Interesting to compare the two failure modes, one is based on endurance and the other one on raw strength.
BS notes:
I burnt myself out on the front squats - had no hope for backsquat PRs today.
Conditioning notes:
I need to be able to last 5 minutes at least, quickly improving thankfully. Please don't let me down conditioning.. i've worked too hard to get here to be let down by something every gym goer worth his salt has mastered (=aerobic base).
The only regret I have about my training the last 12 months is the neglect of cardio. If there is one thing I could change is not having regularly done cardio. Will never make that mistake again. It will be a priority as much as squatting from here.
Bad workout, was lost outside the gym for reasons unrelated to training. Now only 2 training days left after this one. I'm hoping to get the prized 5x110 and 3x117.5 front squat PRs and 6x115 HBBS one before I fly out.
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more supplemental work for back? i know KF has made great use of rows and hypers.
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more supplemental work for back? i know KF has made great use of rows and hypers.
Thanks. Perhaps in the future. I've added it to the TODONE list. I think I can get to my current goals without any extra non-squat assistance. But from there, say FS-5x115 will need to work on my upper back strength specially on that last rep. What I might do is add an extra rep on my backoff set. I usually do fives for those, might make those 6s. Might that work?
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it might, sure.
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PRs I need
- FS 5x110kg (best attempt 4.5 reps to date)
- FS 3x117.5kg (best attempt 2.5 reps)
- BS 6x115kg (haven't attempted, but got 6x112.5 earlier this wk)
And i've got one workout left (tomorrow's). I could probably squeeze in a quick morning one on tuesday, but I don't know what my chances are of getting a PR at 5:30am. So we'll see. I also don't know if I want to find a gym there for a workout during the week for a possible 3rd workout.
The trick is picking the right scheduling for these attempts. Because i've come to find it's not possible to do them all on the same day for some reason. I can only do one FS PR and one BS PR on the same day. So my plan is for tomorrow to go for FS 5x109.5kg. If I get it, great. Then save myself for the BS PR on that same day. I'll save the final PR for tuesday.
The other option is to try to split the sunday workout into two different sessions. An AM one and a PM one. Something like this:
AM: BS 6x115 (PR)
PM: FS 3x117.5 (PR) followed by 5x110 (PR)
Perhaps that will work.
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more supplemental work for back? i know KF has made great use of rows and hypers.
Thanks. Perhaps in the future. I've added it to the TODONE list. I think I can get to my current goals without any extra non-squat assistance. But from there, say FS-5x115 will need to work on my upper back strength specially on that last rep. What I might do is add an extra rep on my backoff set. I usually do fives for those, might make those 6s. Might that work?
I'd caution against thinking like this. There are two reasons why your upper back strength is limiting you.
1) Holding heavy weight across the shoulder is causing your upper back to fatigue which causes your bar position to shift during multiple reps making the stress even worse. This is often the problem when you are doing more than 3-4 reps.
2) You are grinding a bit due to weak/fatigue quads and your instinct is to shift more weight to your hamstrings/glutes/low back and good-morning a bit... Of course you can't do this in a front-squat without dumping the bar so your upper-back has to dynamically fight the rest of your body to pull you back upright.
####
In either case I would recommend against adding assistance work specific for front squats. Remember, your goal is to jump high. If its case (1): Would upper-back work get you an extra rep or few lbs on your front squat... Maybe. But you aren't trying to break the front squat world record, you are trying to become a better athlete. For all the advantages front squats have for training athletes.... The big disadvantage is that the fatigue is almost unmanageable at higher rep ranges. If you want to do higher reps, this is what back squat is for. You just became an expert high-bar back squatter, now you can call on this ability to for your higher-rep back off work. And yes, back squatting may require some assistance work down the road... and it might be unavoidable, but it will at least hurt your ability to get your legs stronger LESS than it will in the front squat.
If it's case (2), then just let yourself get pinned if your upper-back forces you to with heavy weight. When you do grind and feel upper-back activation though.... Keep your legs firing, cue the legs to fix the problem not the other way around. Notice how when I do a high intensity front squat my back gets activated/bar slips forward and bar speed suffers.... However, I complete the rep not by having a strong back (my upper back is not very strong) but by keep my legs firing and standing up. Keep your training simple. It's working really well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqCrz52UeBY
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more supplemental work for back? i know KF has made great use of rows and hypers.
Thanks. Perhaps in the future. I've added it to the TODONE list. I think I can get to my current goals without any extra non-squat assistance. But from there, say FS-5x115 will need to work on my upper back strength specially on that last rep. What I might do is add an extra rep on my backoff set. I usually do fives for those, might make those 6s. Might that work?
I'd caution against thinking like this. There are two reasons why your upper back strength is limiting you.
1) Holding heavy weight across the shoulder is causing your upper back to fatigue which causes your bar position to shift during multiple reps making the stress even worse. This is often the problem when you are doing more than 3-4 reps.
2) You are grinding a bit due to weak/fatigue quads and your instinct is to shift more weight to your hamstrings/glutes/low back and good-morning a bit... Of course you can't do this in a front-squat without dumping the bar so your upper-back has to dynamically fight the rest of your body to pull you back upright.
####
In either case I would recommend against adding assistance work specific for front squats. Remember, your goal is to jump high. If its case (1): Would upper-back work get you an extra rep or few lbs on your front squat... Maybe. But you aren't trying to break the front squat world record, you are trying to become a better athlete. For all the advantages front squats have for training athletes.... The big disadvantage is that the fatigue is almost unmanageable at higher rep ranges. If you want to do higher reps, this is what back squat is for. You just became an expert high-bar back squatter, now you can call on this ability to for your higher-rep back off work. And yes, back squatting may require some assistance work down the road... and it might be unavoidable, but it will at least hurt your ability to get your legs stronger LESS than it will in the front squat.
If it's case (2), then just let yourself get pinned if your upper-back forces you to with heavy weight. When you do grind and feel upper-back activation though.... Keep your legs firing, cue the legs to fix the problem not the other way around. Notice how when I do a high intensity front squat my back gets activated/bar slips forward and bar speed suffers.... However, I complete the rep not by having a strong back (my upper back is not very strong) but by keep my legs firing and standing up. Keep your training simple. It's working really well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqCrz52UeBY
Appreciate the detailed logical analysis brother. I'll try to discover which of 1 or 2 it may be. I go thru the first 3 reps without any problem, it doesn't seem heavy or challenging. The 4th one is hard enough but it looks easy on video. By the 5th rep i'm conscious of this being the last one - so I take a few breaths trying to get mentally prepared to bust out the effort. At this point i'm feeling the fatigue. I want to rack the weight but I also want the PR. I push forward. While resting before the 5th rep, I'm aware that standing there with a barbell on my shoulders is fatiguing me further so I can't wait too long. I need to stay tight but my body isn't willing to expend that effort because it's saving it for the final grind out of the hole. I go down into the hole and come up quick, and then, at around 1/4 squat position im at a dead stop, my back has rounded and I ride the bar down to the pins. I have to remind myself then that I should have anticipated my upper back rounding and worked harder to stay upright but it never occured to me during the actual rep because I was so focused on just completing the rep.
I agree with you that instead of GM it up, it's better to fail the rep. Or at least try to finish it by pushing thru the legs. That's good sense. I don't make a habit of GM my front squats, I consciously keep form honest throughout the set.
Why I have been doing 5s. I like the idea of doing 2 heavy sets of 5 and getting my volume in quickly. I did a lot of triples initially but those things are a bitch mentally, especially when I squat 3x a week and doing heavy triples frequently just kinda sucks. It's fun once in a while, i dont mind doing a set or two once a month. But 5s just seem better, they're brutally hard, they carry over to 3s and they give a great workout. I like the challenge and the economy in total sets they provide. Having said that, you've made a good case for doing higher reps with backsquat and lower reps with front squat. I think when i've got my FS fives to somewhere decent say 125kg - i'll maintain that, and then do more triples and doubles while doing the higher reps with backsquat. That's the other thing. I fail frontsquats a lot more gracefully than backsquats. Backsquat failure is kind of sudden, abrupt and precarious - i've learnt now to ride the bar down anticipating failure rather than actually failing though. Whereas with front squats I can technically fail and still safely ride the bar down without any risk of injury.
Also your video is private!
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Training
FS 4x110 (=PR, failed 5th halfway), 1x109
BS 3x115 (PR), 5x113.5 (PR), 3x113
FS 1x100, 1x110, 0x115
OHP 2x5x57.5, 6x52.5
WCU 5x80, 3x90, 2x95, 2x100, 2x95, 2x90, 2x5x85
FS notes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrF1EWhyuG0
Couldn't get 5 reps of 110 again :( I dunno. I think I've played this way wrong. I should have gone for 109 last wk, 109.5 earlier this week and today I could have legitimately got 110. But it's just been too long since I got a set of 5s that my body has forgotten how to do them. Ah well.
BS notes:
I didn't have 6x115 in me today. Shit's just a bit too heavy for some reason. But I got 5 of 113.5? So that means I prob would have got all 6 had I attempted 113.5 first. Prob should do that next time. I don't have 115 in me yet for whatever reason.
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Woke up with my back tweaked, usual symptoms, pain in my left glute area. I shouldn't have strained those overhead presses. Really need to keep a rep or two in the tank on that fucking lift.
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more supplemental work for back? i know KF has made great use of rows and hypers.
Thanks. Perhaps in the future. I've added it to the TODONE list. I think I can get to my current goals without any extra non-squat assistance. But from there, say FS-5x115 will need to work on my upper back strength specially on that last rep. What I might do is add an extra rep on my backoff set. I usually do fives for those, might make those 6s. Might that work?
I'd caution against thinking like this. There are two reasons why your upper back strength is limiting you.
1) Holding heavy weight across the shoulder is causing your upper back to fatigue which causes your bar position to shift during multiple reps making the stress even worse. This is often the problem when you are doing more than 3-4 reps.
2) You are grinding a bit due to weak/fatigue quads and your instinct is to shift more weight to your hamstrings/glutes/low back and good-morning a bit... Of course you can't do this in a front-squat without dumping the bar so your upper-back has to dynamically fight the rest of your body to pull you back upright.
####
In either case I would recommend against adding assistance work specific for front squats. Remember, your goal is to jump high. If its case (1): Would upper-back work get you an extra rep or few lbs on your front squat... Maybe. But you aren't trying to break the front squat world record, you are trying to become a better athlete. For all the advantages front squats have for training athletes.... The big disadvantage is that the fatigue is almost unmanageable at higher rep ranges. If you want to do higher reps, this is what back squat is for. You just became an expert high-bar back squatter, now you can call on this ability to for your higher-rep back off work. And yes, back squatting may require some assistance work down the road... and it might be unavoidable, but it will at least hurt your ability to get your legs stronger LESS than it will in the front squat.
If it's case (2), then just let yourself get pinned if your upper-back forces you to with heavy weight. When you do grind and feel upper-back activation though.... Keep your legs firing, cue the legs to fix the problem not the other way around. Notice how when I do a high intensity front squat my back gets activated/bar slips forward and bar speed suffers.... However, I complete the rep not by having a strong back (my upper back is not very strong) but by keep my legs firing and standing up. Keep your training simple. It's working really well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqCrz52UeBY
Appreciate the detailed logical analysis brother. I'll try to discover which of 1 or 2 it may be. I go thru the first 3 reps without any problem, it doesn't seem heavy or challenging. The 4th one is hard enough but it looks easy on video. By the 5th rep i'm conscious of this being the last one - so I take a few breaths trying to get mentally prepared to bust out the effort. At this point i'm feeling the fatigue. I want to rack the weight but I also want the PR. I push forward. While resting before the 5th rep, I'm aware that standing there with a barbell on my shoulders is fatiguing me further so I can't wait too long. I need to stay tight but my body isn't willing to expend that effort because it's saving it for the final grind out of the hole. I go down into the hole and come up quick, and then, at around 1/4 squat position im at a dead stop, my back has rounded and I ride the bar down to the pins. I have to remind myself then that I should have anticipated my upper back rounding and worked harder to stay upright but it never occured to me during the actual rep because I was so focused on just completing the rep.
I agree with you that instead of GM it up, it's better to fail the rep. Or at least try to finish it by pushing thru the legs. That's good sense. I don't make a habit of GM my front squats, I consciously keep form honest throughout the set.
Why I have been doing 5s. I like the idea of doing 2 heavy sets of 5 and getting my volume in quickly. I did a lot of triples initially but those things are a bitch mentally, especially when I squat 3x a week and doing heavy triples frequently just kinda sucks. It's fun once in a while, i dont mind doing a set or two once a month. But 5s just seem better, they're brutally hard, they carry over to 3s and they give a great workout. I like the challenge and the economy in total sets they provide. Having said that, you've made a good case for doing higher reps with backsquat and lower reps with front squat. I think when i've got my FS fives to somewhere decent say 125kg - i'll maintain that, and then do more triples and doubles while doing the higher reps with backsquat. That's the other thing. I fail frontsquats a lot more gracefully than backsquats. Backsquat failure is kind of sudden, abrupt and precarious - i've learnt now to ride the bar down anticipating failure rather than actually failing though. Whereas with front squats I can technically fail and still safely ride the bar down without any risk of injury.
Also your video is private!
Fixed the link. Watched your vid, can't tell for sure by the angle but looks like the knees coming together before failure as well. I'd fix that before I'd work on upper back. Band walks. On the last rep when you back rounds a bit you can grind it if you press harder and press back a bit more through the heels. Although, if you are squatting 3x times a week, I wouldn't go for the grind reps anyway.
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Training
FS 3Fx117.5 (=PR), 5Fx109
BS 4x113.5, 3x110 (bailed 4th not technically failure)
BP 2x6x77.5
FS notes:
Maybe it's the sciatica which has made an unwanted return at the most inopportune time thanks to overhead presses, or a general burning out, or lack of sleep or just stress and shitty week but this was probably the worst front squat session i can remember. My right leg completely deserted me today, and i struggled getting any reps up at all, even warmups.
BS notes:
True 4RM on that 113.5 - fuck this shit!!!!!!!!!!!!
So that was the last training sesh. Flying out tonight for bball comp on the weekend. Would have been nicer to end with some PRs but instead i suck more now than usual, so no confidence to be had from gym. Hopefully a coupla days of rest will do me good and by game time i'll actually be stronger than ever..
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Just got back from the tournament. Man it was nuts. Here are a few things for me to keep in mind
- It's not easy guarding bigger guys who have 2-10cm of height on you and 30kg of bodyweight! I did ok boxing out on account of my leverages/squat strength but I really need to add 5-10kg of mass before next year's tournament.
- Need to become a jumpshooter
- Need to have a 40" vertical
And trainingwise, i'm going to aggressively chase a double bw frontsquat and highbar squat. Going on a slight caloric deficit (10%ish) so I can keep training hard and keep pushing my lifts up hard.
But by next year, I should be thinking in terms of a 400 pound front squat while being a lean and cut 85kg bodyweight.
My conditioning held up very well.
I need to play more ball now, i'm addicted, was nuts having a crowd cheering while you're playing an intense match, shit's like crack, i want more now.
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Training
FS 2x90, 1x100, 1x105, 1x110, 1x112.5, 3x100, 6x60, 5x80
BP 6x75, 6x70, 6x65
FS notes:
Body forgot how to do front squats. I was pausing at the bottom instead of getting a bounce. Got the bounce from the 60kg set though. So take 6 days off and I have to start from scratch? That sucks.
BP
BP held up better, got 6x75 even though it was a RPE 10 - at least I could do it unlike fs.
So time to get back to where I was before. Then from there I'm thinking more in terms of front squatting 5x120kg and perhaps 3x127.5kg while dropping bodyweight to sub 75kg. Will have to work my ass off. I also want to get my conditioning up to a high level and then i'll put it on maintenance mode.
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But by next year, I should be thinking in terms of a 400 pound front squat while being a lean and cut 85kg bodyweight.
I don't want to be that person putting you down... but unrealistic expectations are often the cause for failure. In a years time you want to add ~30 lbs of muscle and 150lbs to your front squat? All while playing basketball, running and jumping?
Start small. Your not a beginner anymore so gains are harder but still attainable. Think in terms of adding ~20lbs to a lift over periods of 8-12 weeks. Do this every so often and you will keep getting stronger.
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But by next year, I should be thinking in terms of a 400 pound front squat while being a lean and cut 85kg bodyweight.
I don't want to be that person putting you down... but unrealistic expectations are often the cause for failure.
Lol I know I will never realistically squat 400 whether FS or HB - esp while lean -- it's a ceiling for me, if I aim for it, i might exceed all expectations than if I set a lower goal. Aim for the sky ;) Ditto with the BW goal, 85kg lean is nuts, 80kg lean would be amazing really.
In a years time you want to add ~30 lbs of muscle and 150lbs to your front squat? All while playing basketball, running and jumping?
I know I can frontsquat 130kg at a bodyweight of 72-73kg without a doubt. I recently worked up to ~125kg at around a fat 75kg bw. Adding 50kg to that while allowing my bodyweight to go up 13kg isn't unreasonable is it? That's around 3.85kg on the bar for every kilo of bodyweight, not too crazy.
I anticipate I can get to 140-160kg efficiently once i'm done cutting and eating at a decent caloric surplus while staying around 75-80kg. And from there it's not a stretch to think I could add 20-30kg to the bar while adding 5-10kg of bodyweight. But yea i'll be a bit fatter than I expect, and I probably wont be a lean 85kg, just a very strong one. I'll have to cut to probably 80kg or so, I can see it happening though. I'm confident about getting around 2xbw ~ 150-160kg - anything above that will be a bonus.
Start small. Your not a beginner anymore so gains are harder but still attainable. Think in terms of adding ~20lbs to a lift over periods of 8-12 weeks. Do this every so often and you will keep getting stronger.
I think I am still a beginner in many ways, at least in hypertrophy terms, ive been been on a caloric deficit for most of the time, not much opportunity to grow mass (and -> strength). When I went off the deficit, gains came easier. I know I can get to 140-150kg without any trouble just by getting off the diet. Not saying i'll squat 400 overnight, it might take a long time.
My motivation is high right now, lets see where it takes me.
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it's 3rd April today and i'm back on the diet wagon now after however long off i've had! No more eating chocolate eggs for breakfast, i've finished them all. Time to do this thing, finish what I started - get down to 159-160lb and achieve true reverse hypertrophy status. The scale said 78.3kg (!) this morning, time to get sub 75kg asap. But I don't feel or look that heavy, so I guess it's water retention or something, whatever the case, I have my goal and that's what i'm focusing on.
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Training
FS 2x90, 1x100, 1x107.5, 1x115, 3Fx110, 3x105, 5x102.5, 5x100
BS 3x90, 2x100, 4x107.5, 5x105, 6x102.5
OHP 3x50, 2x55, 2x57.5, 3x57.5, 2x60, 5x55, 5x52.5
WCU 2x7xBW
DUNKZ 30 total
BBALL practice, ~80 shots made, 40 mid range, 20 3s, 20 foul shots
FS notes:
Slowly getting back into the swing of things. I think by next workout i'll have recovered most of the lost ground. I'll prob go for and get one or two of: 3x115 (=PR), 4x110 (=PR) and 5x108.5 (=PR)!
The bar doesn't feel stupidly heavy/awkward on my shoulders like monday, felt light as a feather actually. I just haven't got the upper back endurance to rep out heavier 5s yet but that makes sense because it's been a while since I did some longer sets (which I did today) - so hopefully the 5s will come nicely real soon.
BS notes:
Went a bit conservative with weights, form was good, didn't court failure, except that last set, i wanted a 6 even though I prob should have racked it after the 5th, but the rep turned out to be easy so i'm not too concerned.
OHP notes:
New thing where i'm going to respect the OHP - done right it will make me into a beast. Done wrong, it will break my back and snap my shit up. Now keeping a rep or two in the tank, no grinders. But will not shy away from heavier sets either. I would like a BW press without grinding. When you are a light weight like me, that's only going to be around 70-75kg so it should be doable.
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Change of plan. I wont start cutting until i've got the following lifts:
FS 5x115kg, HBBS 6x120kg
BP 6x80-85kg, OHP 3x65kg, WCU 5x100kg
until then i'm not actively cutting but i'll do a shitload of conditioning for or from basketball so whatever fatloss happens will be purely incidental. Main priority is to get my lifts somewhere respectable before cutting aplomb. Then i'll just maintain them thru the cut. Easy.
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Okay, this is promising. My whole body is sore, especially back (upper-middle-lower) and hamstrings as well. This tells me 2 things, my high bar squat is pretty good for hitting my posterior chain as well. But I prob still need some kind of hamstring assistance exercise in there at some point. For now high bar squat and front squats will have to do though.
I should be patient and let the gains some come but i'm in a hurry to get to my goals quickly so I can start cutting again, just wanna be lean and ripped so I can do a proper bulk and become a beast. Patience. Relax.
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But by next year, I should be thinking in terms of a 400 pound front squat while being a lean and cut 85kg bodyweight.
I don't want to be that person putting you down... but unrealistic expectations are often the cause for failure.
Lol I know I will never realistically squat 400 whether FS or HB - esp while lean -- it's a ceiling for me, if I aim for it, i might exceed all expectations than if I set a lower goal. Aim for the sky ;) Ditto with the BW goal, 85kg lean is nuts, 80kg lean would be amazing really.
In a years time you want to add ~30 lbs of muscle and 150lbs to your front squat? All while playing basketball, running and jumping?
I know I can frontsquat 130kg at a bodyweight of 72-73kg without a doubt. I recently worked up to ~125kg at around a fat 75kg bw. Adding 50kg to that while allowing my bodyweight to go up 13kg isn't unreasonable is it? That's around 3.85kg on the bar for every kilo of bodyweight, not too crazy.
I anticipate I can get to 140-160kg efficiently once i'm done cutting and eating at a decent caloric surplus while staying around 75-80kg. And from there it's not a stretch to think I could add 20-30kg to the bar while adding 5-10kg of bodyweight. But yea i'll be a bit fatter than I expect, and I probably wont be a lean 85kg, just a very strong one. I'll have to cut to probably 80kg or so, I can see it happening though. I'm confident about getting around 2xbw ~ 150-160kg - anything above that will be a bonus.
Start small. Your not a beginner anymore so gains are harder but still attainable. Think in terms of adding ~20lbs to a lift over periods of 8-12 weeks. Do this every so often and you will keep getting stronger.
I think I am still a beginner in many ways, at least in hypertrophy terms, ive been been on a caloric deficit for most of the time, not much opportunity to grow mass (and -> strength). When I went off the deficit, gains came easier. I know I can get to 140-150kg without any trouble just by getting off the diet. Not saying i'll squat 400 overnight, it might take a long time.
My motivation is high right now, lets see where it takes me.
Your still a beginner in terms of muscle mass but not in terms of strength increases. I don't want to burst your bubble but it gets hard. Well, it got hard for me, it gets hard for most people, you might be the genetic exception. I think your 4:1 in BW increase to strength ratio is actually pretty wishful thinking but it's not necessarily the ratio that I disagree with as much as the time scale. The most you have ever front squatted is 125kg. So you assume you can do 130kg. And, since your cutting you then assume another 30kg will come getting off the caloric deficit, so now your at 160kg. And then if you allow yourself to actually eat a caloric surplus and gain some weight... that's gotta be worth 20kg, so now your around 390lbs. At that point... what is 10lbs? Easy, a 400lb squat.
Sorry, to say this but this kind of thinking is a bit dangerous. Aiming for the heavens and landing in the stars is great advice advice for kids, but really just a way to set yourself up for disappointment if your an adult. There is nothing wrong with setting reasonable goals and exceeding them. I ran 10.64 at 5'10.5 185 lbs in a time trial after stumbling in the blocks. I remember thinking: "Man, I still don't look super lean, if I had my power at 170 that would be worth at least 2 tenths (~10.40)... I haven't even done much true speed-endurance, once I do I will be able to hold better and gain at least a tenth (10.30),,, take away that stumble has to be worth a tenth (10.20)... Add in the adrenaline of having other competitors gives at least half a tenth (10.15) and throw in a favorable but legal tailwind (10.05)... which is close enough that we can just assume.... SUB 10!... wow I should really start thinking about being a sub 10 guy." In reality I pulled my hamstring soon after and got really discouraged and haven't ran faster than that ever. I should have been thinking... See if you can repeat that or get 10.5x. My point is that once I set unreasonable goals on top of goals on top of expectations I started to set my self up for disappointment after disappointment which led to more injury and worse training. Don't let that happen to you.
You have front squatted 275. That's good. Two and a half plates. Three plates is pretty hard. Three and a half (365 lbs ) is really hard. Taking four plates (405) atg in the front squat is damn near elite strength. As a basketball player (eg someone who isn't going to be squatting daily) you are aiming to get your squat up through moreso strength than movement efficiency. There simply aren't that many non-huge guys who do 405 who aren't weightlifters. It's a HUGE lift. Maybe your the outlier and you will do it in a years time... But getting it in your head seems to me the wrong way to think. Aim for 315lbs. Program your way to 315 and when you hit it for a single post the video and celebrate the milestone. Don't look past 315lbs until you get there. My advice, you can do with it what you please.
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:goodjobbro:^^^^^^^^^^^^
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+1 million to t0ddday's post and i am trying to incorporate the same thinking into my own training -- it's hard to fight the desire for bigger numbers in the gym when your real goals are elsewhere. these past few months i would have been better off focusing single-mindedly on the squat and getting that up, but i thought i could do it and do some explosive work, too, and the consequence is that i haven't made real progress in either area. having lofty goals is good -- hell, dunking for me is a lofty goal -- but setting the RIGHT goals is more important. hard lesson for my stubborn, thick brain, and i think you and i are kind of alike in that way.
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In the JackM split, when you're doing the explosive workout the ONLY strength work you do is Monday, a 3x3 squat with your 5RM. Other than that, it's all explosive stuff. Depth jumps + jump squats for kinda big volumes on Monday and the jump PR day on Friday (where you go out and give it your all with all kinds of jumps, but the most recommended are jumps to the rim and dunks (at a lower rim if you can't at 10)). That's it.
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Thanks T0dday, LBBS and raptor. Advice taken, lets get to 3 plates first! 140kg @ 75-80kg will be sick, btw 1.75x-1.87x bw, which is pretty damn good. Adding the next 15kg of weight to the bar is the main focus. I still don't think it's going to be very challenging but lets see how it goes.
Thoughts on front squats
I was watching some legit oly lifters (reza etc) that they take the bar on the rack with just 2 fingers. I can do that too and it feels so much better, brings the bar closer into the body and gives a much stabler rack position. But the caveat is it's just two fingers man. Now for the oly lifter thats no big deal, they can just drop the bar. But if I do that, i'll need a new barbell. So i'm forced to hug the bar with my hands instead. That sucks. Just something I wish i could change but i'm not able to.
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you calling me lbbs...freudian slip?
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Thanks T0dday, LBBS and raptor.
you calling me lbbs...freudian slip?
He was just thanking LowBarBackSquats for the athletic performance improvement they have offered him. :trollface:
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lol.. wont be the last time I make that error. Speaking of which, sometimes I wonder if the only reason I come to this site is to heap upclicks upon LBBS (the poster not the lift, the lift sucks). :D
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Training
FS 2x90, 1x100, 1x110, 1Fx117.5, 1Fx117, 2x105
BP 2x6x76
FS notes:
Back was fried from last workout, couldn't squat shit lol.
BP notes
So far so good. Next time 2x6x77.5.
Lower back ill recovered, was a waste of a workout. Next time hopefully I can get back on track. It just goes to show how much front squatting demands from the posterior chain, i'm reconsidering the notion that the front squat is a quad only exercise. It's not.
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i'm reconsidering the notion that the front squat is a quad only exercise. It's not.
Where did you get that from? The front squat is in many cases a superior glute exercise than the squat, since the low back and hamstrings do not contribute as much to the lift. Think of exercises in terms of movement patterns, not muscle isolation. A lot of the "glute soreness" people think they get from low bar squats is the glute/ham tie ins being overstretched at the end rom. You can get sore from static stretching too, doesnt do shit for hypertrophy/strength though.
That vert calculator is fucking trash, and the way it was made is laughable, ie. the POWER SNATCH FROM THE HIP correlating highly with the vert, so this genius goes "since most WEIGHTLIFTERS can power snatch xxx % of their snatch, and they can snatch xxxx percent of their squat, we can take the SQUAT, THE FUCKING MILLIONTH VARIAbLE DOWN THE LINE, and correlate it with the vert!". The one thing he always maintained was that a 2x bw front squat = 40 inch vert, and out of all the retarded calculations in there, that one is definitely the most "legit". I dont think I have ever seen a 2xbw front squat on athlete 6 feet or over at a decent fat % that couldnt fly.
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Thanks T0dday, LBBS and raptor. Advice taken, lets get to 3 plates first! 140kg @ 75-80kg will be sick, btw 1.75x-1.87x bw, which is pretty damn good. Adding the next 15kg of weight to the bar is the main focus. I still don't think it's going to be very challenging but lets see how it goes.
Thoughts on front squats
I was watching some legit oly lifters (reza etc) that they take the bar on the rack with just 2 fingers. I can do that too and it feels so much better, brings the bar closer into the body and gives a much stabler rack position. But the caveat is it's just two fingers man. Now for the oly lifter thats no big deal, they can just drop the bar. But if I do that, i'll need a new barbell. So i'm forced to hug the bar with my hands instead. That sucks. Just something I wish i could change but i'm not able to.
No, if you can get your hands around it, thats MUCH better, youre looking at guys with flexibility issues. The goal is always to get a full grip so you dont have to reposition for the jerk, those guys are just too big/not flexible enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-SEt13Wyhc
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That vert calculator is fucking trash, and the way it was made is laughable, ie. the POWER SNATCH FROM THE HIP correlating highly with the vert, so this genius goes "since most WEIGHTLIFTERS can power snatch xxx % of their snatch, and they can snatch xxxx percent of their squat, we can take the SQUAT, THE FUCKING MILLIONTH VARIAbLE DOWN THE LINE, and correlate it with the vert!". The one thing he always maintained was that a 2x bw front squat = 40 inch vert, and out of all the retarded calculations in there, that one is definitely the most "legit". I dont think I have ever seen a 2xbw front squat on athlete 6 feet or over at a decent fat % that couldnt fly.
I agree so strongly with this. Though you can count me as number as your first example of an athlete hitting (close to those numbers) who couldn't fly! Last summer I tripled 355lbs in front squat and weighed under 200lbs... I only practiced jumping for about a month but peaked out at what I think was about 35/36 (standing vertical/running vertical). The lack of increase to my RVJ was disappointing and reminded why sprinters do not need huge squats...
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i'm reconsidering the notion that the front squat is a quad only exercise. It's not.
Where did you get that from? The front squat is in many cases a superior glute exercise than the squat, since the low back and hamstrings do not contribute as much to the lift. Think of exercises in terms of movement patterns, not muscle isolation.
It's a commonly heard claim that the front squat isolates the quads. Logically that's not saying it's quad only - but it's not far from saying that. I dont agree with that at all, it's a very much full body exercise, you can't come into it with fatigued lower back or hamstrings or whatever and hope to get your programmed worksets - from my experience. Hell even if my chest is too fatigued from benching the previous day, i can't stand up with the bar thru the whole set!
A lot of the "glute soreness" people think they get from low bar squats is the glute/ham tie ins being overstretched at the end rom. You can get sore from static stretching too, doesnt do shit for hypertrophy/strength though.
I have a question - if the glute soreness is just purely incidental in the low bar squat - not associated with hypetrophy/strength, how come those vocal guys who do lbbs a lot usually have big asses?
That vert calculator is fucking trash, and the way it was made is laughable, ie. the POWER SNATCH FROM THE HIP correlating highly with the vert, so this genius goes "since most WEIGHTLIFTERS can power snatch xxx % of their snatch, and they can snatch xxxx percent of their squat, we can take the SQUAT, THE FUCKING MILLIONTH VARIAbLE DOWN THE LINE, and correlate it with the vert!". The one thing he always maintained was that a 2x bw front squat = 40 inch vert, and out of all the retarded calculations in there, that one is definitely the most "legit". I dont think I have ever seen a 2xbw front squat on athlete 6 feet or over at a decent fat % that couldnt fly.
Yeah on the internet i've seen people with say a 400+ lowbar (belted) backsquat, maybe just to parallel, maybe struggling with, maybe getting, a 300 front squat. If the LBBS squat is a double bw one, then the front squat isn't, it's like 75% of their low bar belted squat. So double bw front squats are kinda rare on the internet. You do have to be training specifically for it, otherwise you'd have to be a, i dunno, maybe, a guy weighing 200 with a 540 low bar belted squatter to do it, and that's kind of rare too, especially with an athletic bodyfat, and then I dont know if it would be a proper deep atg front squat of 405 either. I'd like to see that I guess. But I digress. Of all the athletic rules of thumb, the double bw front squat seems like the most honest ,most meaningful one. It kind of forces you to have a decent bodyfat % - because excessive bodyweight really makes the job that much harder, you can't fudge your way to it with depth/assistance/excess bodyfat gain like with other squats. High bar double bw is probably the next best goal, and then i dont even know what a double bw lowbar squat means, it's not something I can realistically hope to achieve but for those who can it seems too easy. I'm rambling, sorry.
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Thanks T0dday, LBBS and raptor. Advice taken, lets get to 3 plates first! 140kg @ 75-80kg will be sick, btw 1.75x-1.87x bw, which is pretty damn good. Adding the next 15kg of weight to the bar is the main focus. I still don't think it's going to be very challenging but lets see how it goes.
Thoughts on front squats
I was watching some legit oly lifters (reza etc) that they take the bar on the rack with just 2 fingers. I can do that too and it feels so much better, brings the bar closer into the body and gives a much stabler rack position. But the caveat is it's just two fingers man. Now for the oly lifter thats no big deal, they can just drop the bar. But if I do that, i'll need a new barbell. So i'm forced to hug the bar with my hands instead. That sucks. Just something I wish i could change but i'm not able to.
No, if you can get your hands around it, thats MUCH better, youre looking at guys with flexibility issues. The goal is always to get a full grip so you dont have to reposition for the jerk, those guys are just too big/not flexible enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-SEt13Wyhc
Ohhh. I didn't know that. Thanks for explaining!
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That vert calculator is fucking trash, and the way it was made is laughable, ie. the POWER SNATCH FROM THE HIP correlating highly with the vert, so this genius goes "since most WEIGHTLIFTERS can power snatch xxx % of their snatch, and they can snatch xxxx percent of their squat, we can take the SQUAT, THE FUCKING MILLIONTH VARIAbLE DOWN THE LINE, and correlate it with the vert!". The one thing he always maintained was that a 2x bw front squat = 40 inch vert, and out of all the retarded calculations in there, that one is definitely the most "legit". I dont think I have ever seen a 2xbw front squat on athlete 6 feet or over at a decent fat % that couldnt fly.
I agree so strongly with this. Though you can count me as number as your first example of an athlete hitting (close to those numbers) who couldn't fly! Last summer I tripled 355lbs in front squat and weighed under 200lbs... I only practiced jumping for about a month but peaked out at what I think was about 35/36 (standing vertical/running vertical). The lack of increase to my RVJ was disappointing and reminded why sprinters do not need huge squats...
Those are good numbers Todday, with 355x3 at ~200, and 35/36, I wouldnt consider that too much of an outlier though, as those are upper range numbers in any sport. Its still silly to assign any exact # based on any type of strength exercise to vert, but since people will notoriously do it anyhow the front squat #'s will give much "better" feedback.
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i'm reconsidering the notion that the front squat is a quad only exercise. It's not.
Where did you get that from? The front squat is in many cases a superior glute exercise than the squat, since the low back and hamstrings do not contribute as much to the lift. Think of exercises in terms of movement patterns, not muscle isolation.
It's a commonly heard claim that the front squat isolates the quads. Logically that's not saying it's quad only - but it's not far from saying that. I dont agree with that at all, it's a very much full body exercise, you can't come into it with fatigued lower back or hamstrings or whatever and hope to get your programmed worksets - from my experience. Hell even if my chest is too fatigued from benching the previous day, i can't stand up with the bar thru the whole set!
There are several performance camps that exclusively use the front squat as the primary lower "push" exercise now, they hold that it enables a much more complete transfer of power through the kinetic chain to the hands, like athletes need to do. I dont disagree with the correlation there, as with most athletes I work with a front squat increase not only means snatch/clean increases, but also push press and many times the PRESS.
I have a question - if the glute soreness is just purely incidental in the low bar squat - not associated with hypetrophy/strength, how come those vocal guys who do lbbs a lot usually have big asses?
They are fat.... One of the first things you notice with fat gain is people claim their glutes are growing. They are, not with contractile tissue though, and definitely not as fast as they are slapping on the pounds.
Yeah on the internet i've seen people with say a 400+ lowbar (belted) backsquat, maybe just to parallel, maybe struggling with, maybe getting, a 300 front squat. If the LBBS squat is a double bw one, then the front squat isn't, it's like 75% of their low bar belted squat. So double bw front squats are kinda rare on the internet. You do have to be training specifically for it, otherwise you'd have to be a, i dunno, maybe, a guy weighing 200 with a 540 low bar belted squatter to do it, and that's kind of rare too, especially with an athletic bodyfat, and then I dont know if it would be a proper deep atg front squat of 405 either. I'd like to see that I guess. But I digress. Of all the athletic rules of thumb, the double bw front squat seems like the most honest ,most meaningful one. It kind of forces you to have a decent bodyfat % - because excessive bodyweight really makes the job that much harder, you can't fudge your way to it with depth/assistance/excess bodyfat gain like with other squats. High bar double bw is probably the next best goal, and then i dont even know what a double bw lowbar squat means, it's not something I can realistically hope to achieve but for those who can it seems too easy. I'm rambling, sorry.
agreed, also, most people who primarily low bar, especially with the shit "drive your ass" goodmorning form, cant front squat shit. Its like comparing a deadlift with a squat. Imagine trying to jump, throwing your ass up and leaving your back angle parallel. Picture that, it made me lol just now.
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Good comparison with the deadlift. No one bats an eyelid at a 2xbw deadlift, i'd say the same with the lbbs double bw as well, only you can use a belt and there is more room for creativity in terms of depth than the deadlift hahaa.
I'm not saying it's easy though. i'll never be able to do it, either from wanting to, or being able to risk the back problems in attaining a >>2bw DL/LBBS just because it puts so much tension/torque on the lower back and i have prexisting back problems to avoid so it's not very meaningful to me. Having said that, before I knew what I was doing, i have done a belted (velcro) lowbar backsquat to about parallel which would be about my current double bodyweight, for whatever it's worth, could probably get back there again, just not worth the risk and i dont know if there is any reward to it either.
2xbw FS is the main thing i'll concern myself with in the gym, by next years tournament I want to have a 40" vertical, that would be amazing. I just want to add that would be amazing for me.. i'm not very athletic, and I know this more now than ever after spending time competing with people who are naturally gifted in athleticism. They're so quick and able to change direction and accelerate so quickly - it just blew my mind.
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Unless you can't frontsquat, like me. Then it all sucks.
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Good comparison with the deadlift. No one bats an eyelid at a 2xbw deadlift, i'd say the same with the lbbs double bw as well, only you can use a belt and there is more room for creativity in terms of depth than the deadlift hahaa.
I'm not saying it's easy though. i'll never be able to do it, either from wanting to, or being able to risk the back problems in attaining a >>2bw DL/LBBS just because it puts so much tension/torque on the lower back and i have prexisting back problems to avoid so it's not very meaningful to me. Having said that, before I knew what I was doing, i have done a belted (velcro) lowbar backsquat to about parallel which would be about my current double bodyweight, for whatever it's worth, could probably get back there again, just not worth the risk and i dont know if there is any reward to it either.
2xbw FS is the main thing i'll concern myself with in the gym, by next years tournament I want to have a 40" vertical, that would be amazing. I just want to add that would be amazing for me.. i'm not very athletic, and I know this more now than ever after spending time competing with people who are naturally gifted in athleticism. They're so quick and able to change direction and accelerate so quickly - it just blew my mind.
i also believe that the front squats does many good things.. i don't do them often because i cannot get the same tonnage as compared to the back squat. i (back mostly) can't recover fast enough to do a lot more reps.
back squat is all right as long as you try to keep it honest - no aggressive leaning just to lift more weights.
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I think you're fine king, because you have great form on your olympic squats and then you're repping >> 2bw on them as well, so you've easily covered the strength requirements for being athletic. With your BS style, you don't lose much if anything by choosing the backsquat variant, it's the similar situation with olympic lifters who have front squats and backsquats very close to each other, over 90% or so correlation. The only time the backsquat doesn't help much is if your ratio to front squat is so disparate that you're effectively doing an exercise so dissimilar to the FS that it's not strongly correlated anymore. Interesting debate and i'm glad we had it, clarified my thoughts on the subject very well.
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Training
FS 2x90, 1x100, 1x107.5, 1x112.5, 1x117.5, 3x110, 5Fx106
BS 3x90, 2x100, 5x107.5, 5Fx105
OHP 4x57.5, 3x60, 5x56
FS notes:
So before I left I did 2.5 reps with 117.5kg. Today I did a hard single with it. So i'm a rep away from catching up to where I was before. Tripled 110kg which was my goal, but it was hard. Before I left I had tripled 115kg and was good for probably 3x116-117 so i have some ground to recover yet. And I wanted to 5x107.5 but decided it might be too much today, so went to 107, and then thought fuck it, lets go with a weight I will probably definitely get, which should have been 105kg but somehow my ego allowed me to leave an extra kilo on there and I failed the 5th rep of 106 lol.
Oh yea and I hurt my R knee by changing up my warmup protocol. I was going by something I read of Gary's which was a mistake, he does these funky bodyweight squats as part of a dynamic warmup. I tried them thinking they'd get me warmer better etc. Turned out to be a mistake, felt my ACL complain and it didnt go away thruout the workout. Worrisome. Not going to try that shit ever again.
BS notes:
Hurt my R hip on monday or wednesday. It's been bothering me all week. Thought it was getting better but this workout brought it back in full effect. So went with 107.5kg and wanted 6 reps but the 5th was a 10 RPE and I prob would have failed the 6th. Racked it, will prob try again the same weight next week, hopefully with happy hips.
Forced a 4th workout for the week, probably was a mistake. I was so desperate to get back where I was before leaving but it didn't happen and I hurt my R knee and R hip, was a mistake. A light week would have been better idea in hindsight. Rest and healing, next week will be conservative with workouts until everything is healthy and back to normal!
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Don't like being injured, i can feel myself getting weaker, slower, fatter, etc. Hip feels better today but not 100%, not sure if training is a good idea, it might just make it worse when it's been getting better..
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Training
FS 2x90, 1x100, 1Fx105 (lol), 1x105, 4x107, 3x112, 4x105, 4x103.5
BS 3x90, 2x100, 1x105, 2x107.5, 6x102.5, 6x100, 6x97.5
BP 2x6x77.5, 6x72.5
FS notes:
My body can't do 5s because it doesn't know how to anymore. But 4s are okay because i'm doing a lot of 4s recently. That 112kg was a 3RM - i reckon I can advance it to 115kg or so by the end of the week even with my injury, which is where I was initially.
BS notes:
BS hurt my hips a lot more than FS. I can go deep but it hurts a lot. I widened stance but then i'm weaker and depth is shit. Will make do for the moment. The remarkable thing was, having sacrificed depth for comfort, I found I was doing a very quad dominant exercise? Perhaps Lance is right after all - a deeper squat is a lot more glute driven than meets the eye.
Did a fair bit of experimentation today to find a way to train around hip problem. Kinda sort of have a workaround but they all still bother it. Anyway the best thing I found was widening the stance, this avoids pushing the hip muscles in at the bottom, which helps a bit.
Injury retrospective:
Have a fairly good idea how I hurt my hips now. What happened was when I went away for the tournament, I had 5 days off from gym. Then I came back to squat on the 6th day and went all out, heavy and hard, trying to 'keep' my gains. What happened ext was my body wasn't used to having hips stretched at the bottom of the deep high bar backsquat, and when I did that, it hurt me because I had lost that flexibility from the gym layoff. So my mistake was not coming back conservatively. Now if I was squatting regularly, nothing would have happen because that flexibility would have been there, and I would have been safe. Interesting stuff.
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I might have overdone it yesterday with the 40 squats not including warmups and was afraid I've beat the shit out of my already imflamed hips. But, magically woke up feeling 98% great. I've got more discomfort from doms in my hamstrings, glutes and quads than I do from my hip!! So. That's great. Problem solved. Time to become a beast.
Tomorrow i'm gonna destroy 3x114kg on FS and prob 4x110 as well. I want to get real close to 5x110 and 3x116 by the end of the weak.
update, got a ravenous appetite today, feel so hungry, maybe my body is telling me it needs calories to recover and rebuild. I've only had my first meal so far. But maybe that's just an excuse fat people tell themselves to drink GOMAD and eat a million double cheeseburgers......
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Training
FS 3x114, 4x107.5, 5x102.5
BS 6x107.5, 6x106.5
BBALL 1hr, conditioning, dunks and shooting etc
OHP 4x57.5, 2Fx62, 2Fx61, 3x60.5, 5x57
FS notes:
114 was a grinda on the 3rd but you can bet I was gonna make it some how! Feels good man. Legit 3RM effort right there. Was no hope of getting 5 with 107.5. In hindsight i coulda, shoulda, probably gone for 108.5 or so for 4 instead since i'm only getting 4s on weights around there. And in that spirit next workout will be 4x110 which is back to PR territory. I'll also have a legit PR in 3x116 next time as well. And just to get my body used to 5s, i dropped all the way back to 102.5 and got it, so next time i'll add a bit to that and slowly work towards 5x110. No dramas. Good solid front squat sesh.
Summarise - next time do the following: FS 3x116 (PR), 4x110 (=PR) and 5x105. I actually dont want to do a 3rd set on sundays because I have to go play ball - but.. this week I'll make an exception because I need to get my body used to 5s again.
BS notes:
Yes! Got the 6x107.5 - next time go for 2x6x109.5!
BBALL
Kinda shitty shooting sesshion, couldnt get my stroke :( i took too many days off since last time. Sigh. Have got practice on sunday, hopefully i'll do a lot better. Got some nice dunks, esp on this rim i think is slightly higher than regulation. I'm jumping higher than I used to and hitting it pretty hard, even though i was a lot heavier today than back then. So that's a positive. I love that post-conditioning feel you get, endorphins and whatnot, you never get that from weights alone, i like it.
OHP notes:
Was ambitious thinking I could do something with 62kg. Even 61kg was too much, failing the 2nd rep. But 60.5 was aight, got the triple, even though it was a hard grind which i wish to avoid. So, next time i guess go for 3x61kg. And being realistic 3x65kg is probably my ceiling right now unless i start gaining some mass so when i get there, i'll go maintenance mode.
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Training
FS 3x116 (PR), 4x111 (PR)
BBALL pickup, 2 hours (exhausting)
FS 1x100, 1x105, 2x106, 5x103.5
BS 6x109.5, 6x99.5
BP 2x6x78.5
FS notes:
Back in PR territory. Had to lift in the morning quickly before driving out to bball. Didn't even have a chance to eat breakfast. So not ideal lifting conditions, certainly not my usual ones, but still got the PRs. Will try to get a fiver in in the PM session if i can manage it.
3x116kg (PR), (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amN_mLnn3Pk) 4x111kg (PR). (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57cbKyl-JDw)
PM workout was as expected brutal. I somehow managed to get the 5 though. Form held up well. Next time go for 5x105.
BBALL notes:
Am prepping for a big game in 2 sundays time. Played too much, too hard. Haven't got much left in the tank now. But kinda necessary to get in ball shape. I hate playing with this team, so frustrating, guards are selfish, not very fun to play with. PG rakes more shots than everyone else combined lol. Whatevers. Still have to win it. Gonna put in the work over the next 14 days so i'm a beast.
BS notes:
Hard set of squats but somehow I got it and my form was ok. Not perfect but just ok. I mean, this is interesting. I can do a limit rep set of squats and still maintain ok form now - that's new. Thanks to high bar. I'm so sold on the HB variant now. It gives me more than FS - hamstring work, while not having the safety issues of lowbar squats. Fantastic.
BP notes:
So now i'm not far from failure. I might need to start lifting inside the rack again but I much prefer benching outside :/
Still need to come back and do the PM session later tonight. Have remaining 1 set of front squats followed by highbar backsquats 2x6x109.5 and then bench press. Should be a struggle considering I could barely jump by the end of bball. Really fatigued, was getting cramps etc. Will try rehydrate, eat, rest and see how it goes.
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Hey, ppl ever freak out when they see u on an airplane? be kinda funny to see paranoid ppl's reaction when you step on a plane.
edit- i wasn't trying to make fun of u. being serious. a buddy of mine is super paranoid about middle eastern looking ppl at airports
This is actually funny and possibly quite real.
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vids are private.
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Training
FS 4Fx113, 4Fx112, 5x105, 5Fx102.5
BS 6x111
OHP 5x57.5, 3x61, 5x58
FS notes:
Form was ok but weights were hard today. No PRs, not well recovered from sunday yet. That's unfortunate but unavoidable at this stage due to the focus on basketball.
BS notes:
Form was atrocious. And I only did the first set to save my legs for basketball.
Have a basketball game tonight, someone called me up, said they're short of players and asked if I wanted to play. Said yes, even though today is usually my high volume squatting day and not the best one to add extra work to. Will see how it goes. Either way i'll make it work by eating and sleeping well. Didn't end up playing the basketball game in teh end lol.
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Saw a doctor today about something else but asked about my hips and he thinks it's muscular and I should rest it until it's ok otherwise I risk making it a chronic problem. So i guess i'll be taking that advice. I might lay off high bar work until im 100% healed.
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What happened? I don't see a mention of hip issues in your earlier posts.
Also I want to check out those squat vids, can you make them public?
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What happened? I don't see a mention of hip issues in your earlier posts.
It happened during the first workout after my gym break of 5 days, labelled w1d1. I kind of over-did it, instead of easing myself back into gym, I went all in and hurt myself. Think I strained the muscles in my hip - that's what the doctor suggested as well.
Also I want to check out those squat vids, can you make them public?
Thought i'd wait a bit and post better videos once i've reached some milestones, not far from them now, so i'll post videos probably in 10 days time when I get the milestone PRs.
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Training
FS 2x118 (PR), 4x113 (PR), 4x109
BS 6x113 (PR), 6Fx107.5
BP 2x6x79.5, 6x75
BBALL - 40 shots made, 10 "dunks" - couldnt last the last 3 though because was starting to rain down and I was rushing thru but whatevers.
FS notes:
I was probably not mentally prepared to triple 118. Woke up weak. But went for it, just because I wanted to lift heavy. Got the double and bailed on the 3rd half heartedly. Confident that i'll smash the triple (PR) on sunday. This brings me awfully close to my current FS training goal to triple 120kg.
Notice the 4x109? That was my ego. I should have had a 5 there. I thought of going for 5 rep PR when I should have gone for 5x106 or 5x107.5 at the most. Brings to mind:
... it provokes, and unprovokes; it provokes
the desire, but it takes away the performance. There-
fore, much drink may be said to be an equivocator
with lechery: it makes him, and it mars him; it sets him
on, and it takes him off; it persuades him, and dis-
heartens him; makes him stand to, and not stand to; in
conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep, and, giving him
the lie, leaves him.
BS notes:
Experimented with BS form to work around injury. Think i have found a work around. Got the PR. Hungry for more. This week i'll get the 115kg sixer and then i'm not far from the goal of 6x120kg for next week.
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Nice work on the Front Squat!
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Nice work on the Front Squat!
Thanks bro, in advance, I'll save that one for when i've got 120x3 because right now I don't feel worthy! When I get 3x122.5 while weighing 75kg or less i'll be more deserving. Right now i'm a disgrace to this log and my peers on this site.
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Training
FS 3Fx118 (=PR), 2x114
BBALL 2hours
FS notes:
Just a really shitty session. I blame lack of sleep. Got woken up early and just couldn't go back to bed. I hate myself for not getting any PRs.
BBALL notes:
Played well. Got a massive two hand slam dunk during a game. It felt amazing!! I had ppl around me so i kinda hung on the ring as well. First time i've done that lol. Was sick.
Feeling smashed after bball, no hope of getting any more squats in but i guess i'll try. i always try anyway.
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Training
FS 4x114 (PR), 3x118 (PR), 5x109 (PR)
HBBS 6x115 (PR), 6x108.5
OHP 5x58.5, 3x62
BBALL 40 mins (~10 dunks, 40 shots made total)
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:personal-record: :personal-record: :personal-record: :personal-record:
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Damn you're on a roll... you lost so much weight but you still keep on piling up PRs... keep up this roll.
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Damn you're on a roll... you lost so much weight but you still keep on piling up PRs... keep up this roll.
:personal-record: :personal-record: :personal-record: :personal-record:
Thanks guys.
I haven't circumvented any universal rule, shit is still as the imitable wallace and grommit illustrate
(http://i.imgur.com/hgiHc1C.jpg)
Except on one side is a stack of plates and on teh other side stacks of bodyfat. I can push up one by accumulating the other. I think if I get this right, i'll get FS 3x125kg (PR) while weighing 75kg - meaning i'm repping 50kg over my bodyweight. That's got to be the only meaningful milestone for front squats in the next few months.
edit. fixed, thanks raptor. haha.
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3x25?! Damn, weak PR :trollface:
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Training
FS 4Fx115, 2x120 (PR), 5x110 (PR)
HBBS 6x117.5 (PR), 6x110
BP 2x6x80, 6x75
BBALL (30 mins, a few dunks, 40 or so shots made)
FS notes:
Finally got the 110kg fiver PR!! Been chasing that one for a while!
The 115x4 PR was sooo close. I just lost focus on that last rep at the last 1/3rd of the lift because someone was moving around noisily around me. Guests man. Not used to having people near my gym when i'm doing my thing. I'll get it next time fo sho.
BS notes:
Ego took me to 6x117.5kg (PR) instead of 117kg. I'll allow it this time but in future i'd like to log more victories against it than for.
Thanks raptor. I took a page out of your bag of tricks the last 3 or so workouts and it's done me wonders. Watch this space. I have a lot more gains left in me yet.
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You did?
What was that page you're talking about?
By the way - do you feel like when you fail a rep it's because of the quads giving out or the glutes giving out?
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So my thoughts on training at this moment, hold my drink while ive stumbled onto this soap box of mine. The backsquat to me is a shitty graceless exercise, which is why it's a staple of the crass powerlifter who has appropriated into something entirely revolting. Big fat guys waddling their way up to a monolift, breathless by the time they get there and then a revolting courtesy abomination of a deep knee bend to the glowing admiration of other fat disgusting men who secretly think the squat wasn't to depth but hold their breathe lest the circlejerk of naked fat internet powerlifting emperors collapses around them.
But it's a good exercise. It makes you strong and stuff. And that's cool.
Mine is a high bar lift. But that doesn't mean anything. It's not where you put the bar on your back, but how your lift looks to the eye. And mine looks like a backsquat. Not an unathletic LBBS, nor a picture perfect HBBS of an olympic lifter. But just a backsquat. And that is good enough for me.
The front squat is my staple athletic exercise and will remain for as long as I can imagine training towards athleticism. But the backsquat now has a place, it will fill the gaps, beef up my hams and glutes and erectors while serving as an assistance to my favorite squat.
:lololol:
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So i didn't log a training session today because of course I had that big game on today. Man, was probably the best game of my life. I just don't know how to describe it. I think i played as well as I could have under the circumstances. Since this is my log i'll describe my role. Happy with my D. got some big stops late into the game (1 huge block) and all with about 3-4 mins left on the clock, we were down 7, I hit some clutch shots, got a great assist and somehow, it all came down to us winning last second by 1 point. It still hasn't sunk in yet. I dunno how I managed to help us wrestle back being down and with the momentum of the game firmly with our opponents. Great team effort as well.
Next important game is in 3 weeks time. I can't wait. Just need to trim down some of this extra bodyfat, improve conditioning and push my frontsquat firmly in the 3x125kg - decent effort category - and i'll be happy with my preparation.
I love playing these random tournaments. The buzz and build up is awesome.
I'll probably lift tomorrow.
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Last few weeks of backsquatting have made my erectors grow noticeably. Thinking I may prioritise getting a 2xbw backsquat and get it out of the way just to fill the gaps of strength in my kinetic chain. It will probably improve my chance of getting a 2xbw frontsquat having got the backsquat goal already. Incidentally, this would be adding around 12.5kg to my recent backsquat worksets so it's not a long way away by any means.
Current BS worksets 117.5kgx6 -> 130kgx6 (2bw)
Current FS worksets ~120kgx3 -> 120kgx5 (1.8xbw)
Current BW 78kg -> 75kg
Importantly getting a 1.7bw front squat is still sometime i haven't yet achieved which annoys me, especially when relative strength is a priority. My VJ and athleticism have gone up regardless though but still it's pretty embarrassing to be in the [1.6-1.7) region. I mean I have a 1.7xbw FS if my bw goes back down to 75kg but it's not there right now. So I really need to reduce my bodyweight back to baseline (~75kg) and nudge my lifts up by 2 or so reps.
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Training
FS 4x115(PR), 2x120(=PR), 4Fx111
BS 2x119.5, 2x118.5, 6x105
OHP 5Fx59.5, 1x63, 2x62.5, 3x62.5
FS notes:
PR but was a real messy last rep. Either way though, got the milestone 4x115. That puts my current PRs at:
5x110, 4x115, 3x118 .. starting to come around to the way the way i'd like them to look.
BS notes:
Have lost work cap/endurance from 4 days since my last squat sesh. So I didn't have the juice to rep out a 6 rep PR. But i'm confident sometime this week it will be back to business as usual setting PRs!
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Almost no doms the following day. Means I probably didn't do enough volume although that was intentional because it was 4 days since the last workout.
I'll also start doing regular basketball drills to improve fluidity on the court. I want to go from clunky and awkward on the court to smooth and fluid.
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Discovered a new FS cue today while warming up. Game changer! Bust up.
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Training
FS 1x105, 1x112.5, 1x116, 6x60
BS 6x60, 6x90, 6x100
BP 6x81, 6Fx81, 6x77
FS notes:
Lower back fried from last time's backsquats. Can't squat. oops. Too much squat morning.
BS notes:
I wish my hips were ok so i could squat my usual bouncy way. Hmm. Tried with 60kg and no pain though.
BP notes:
Only 5kg to go til i've reached my training goal of 6x86 ->100kg single! Lets get this shit done.
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Dreading squatting today in case my lower back is still dom'd up too much. Hopefully not. I need mo PRs! Thinking FS 4x116, 3x119.5 and perhaps 5x111. Then BS of 6x119? Dunno, we'll see.
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Training
FS 4Fx116, 1x119.5, 1Fx121
FS partials - 7x111, 2x120, 3x130 (pins on 7th hole from top)
BS partials - 10x130kg (7th pin)
OHP 5x59.5, 3x63
BBALL stuff
FS notes:
Yeah dunno. I've having some terrible FS sessions lately. No PRs since the first workout of the week ;( Might be time to add 1/2kg jumps on the 4s and maybe 1kg jumps on the 3s. I'm probably on 1/2s for 5s already.. damn.
BBALL notes:
Started off real weak, couldnt even dunk, but warmed up into it and was throwing with ease. Did some drills. I think my shoes are shit, my feet slide around too much, i can't do cross over behind the back thru the legs dribble drills in them. I do much better with another pair of shoes I have which aren't basketball ones. I hate basketball shoes.. haven't had a good pair since the 90s. Blah.
I think I will explore partials while i'm waiting for my hips to heal. They don't bother my hips at all, and they give my legs (quad & glutes specifically) a bit of heavy work which I can't get without squatting deeper. Fairly excited about this actually. I think as my strength goes up, the pins will get lower, and eventually i'll be doing ATG reps with 130-140kg! That sounds awesome. Having said that, the front squats today didn't bother my hips. So it's mainly backsquats that bothers hips.
I'm having bad squat days because A. wrecked lower back from bad backsquats on W5D1 workout and B. grindy bench session on W5D2 which has torched chest and upper body so much making it harder to stay upright/tight thru FS PR attempt sets. Hopefully just temporary and eventually my back and chest will be stronger and i'll be an even better front squatter but in the short term i've taken a hit ;(
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Mac: We've gone over this. I'm cultivating mass -
Dennis: You've been saying that for too long. Stop cultivating and start harvesting.
Mac: Dude, I"m like an offensive lineman, bro. Try and move me.
(http://25.media.tumblr.com/a0665cafc4f8f5d342938c56b91a8383/tumblr_mgfkjkwUEt1rsthpao1_500.jpg)
(http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrkmn0e49g1qzu5eco1_400.jpg)
This kinda sums up where i am at the mo. I am fat and weak. My gains recently are alright, I wanted more out of this 'cycle' but i dunno if that's gonna happen now unless i let my bodyweight drift up to 90kg or some shit, which is bullshit. Might just consolidate, get some PRs and drop bodyweight down to 73kg like I was supposed to in the first place before I got distracted.
FS 5x110kg ->5x112.5kg, 4x115kg -> 4x117.5kg and BS can go fuck itself, but I guess 6x120kg might be ok if I can manage it. BP is at 6x81 - I really wanted 6x86 but that's a while away I think. Maybe just 'settle' for 6x85? That might even be too hard but maybe I can work harder and find it in me somehow. Happy with press, i might just aim for 5x60kg and 3x65kg. So that's 2 more weeks but bodyweight has to start coming down now, and I don't know if these lifts are even realistic while cutting.
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dysmorphia FTL. there's a 0% chance you look like that guy.
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dysmorphia FTL. there's a 0% chance you look like that guy.
Mac from Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Great show. There is a series where one of the characters Mac embarks on a dirty bulk, a favorite of mine. I'm not there yet but that's where I would be heading if I don't stop the slide. I've just got to find the discipline again.
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Have you considered adding paused front squats on one of your squat days, with front squat the other? That gives you two different lifts to continue to PR on that will compliment each other, while also giving you time to recover from each lift. The stronger you get the harder it is to continue to hit records each time you come in. This is when adding another exercise that still fits the goals can actually help.
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Have you considered adding paused front squats on one of your squat days, with front squat the other? That gives you two different lifts to continue to PR on that will compliment each other, while also giving you time to recover from each lift. The stronger you get the harder it is to continue to hit records each time you come in. This is when adding another exercise that still fits the goals can actually help.
I hadn't no, thanks for the suggestion. It might give a welcome bit of variety actually, have been doing the same thing every time for ages now. Looking at my workouts the last few weeks, my volume has been a lot lower than it used to be. I think I just need to get volume up to get my lifts moving again. But i'll def try adding a paused variant.
Wonder if the paused variant is better at making legs stronger. Will be interesting to see. Because I think the bounced version which i've gotten good at, is a lot easier on the legs because it makes the hardest part of the lift easier (rebound).
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easier to move more weight but not necessarily easier on the legs. kingfish, for example, credits the pause with reducing the stress on his joints and allowing him to squat daily without injury. he and others have also pointed out that a paused squat is a truer test of power, because it removes the stretch-shortening cycle from the equation. more like a snatch or PC in that way: you have to go from a dead stop to full extension.
although kf does cheat with some mini-bounces from time to time. :P
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easier to move more weight but not necessarily easier on the legs. kingfish, for example, credits the pause with reducing the stress on his joints and allowing him to squat daily without injury. he and others have also pointed out that a paused squat is a truer test of power, because it removes the stretch-shortening cycle from the equation. more like a snatch or PC in that way: you have to go from a dead stop to full extension.
although kf does cheat with some mini-bounces from time to time. :P
Cheers for that info. Not having the most robust joints, I think I will eventually transition into a KF'seque paused training program eventually when I've got 'enough' strength. Just guessing but it probably spares the joints but canes the CNS?
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Training
FS 4x116 (PR), 4x111, 4x107.5
BS 3Fx118, 2Fx120, 1x120, 3x110, 6x107.5, 6x105
BP 6x82, 5x82
WCU 5x83, 2x5x88
CURLZ 2x7x30
FS notes:
Got the PR. That 4th rep was lol form. Probably the ugliest last rep i've ever done. I have video, uploading it in a bit. But It's ok. My weakness is upper back rounding on these limit reps. I can't help think my main lower body exercise is currently limited by upper body strength. On that note, I didn't get any fivers today, didn't have the juice to do the 5th rep. Next workout I'll probably go for a 5 rep PR and leave the 4s for WxD1s. As long as I can nudge the 4RM up a kilo a week, i'm happy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzzuv5bP0tU
BP notes:
My 1RM calculator says I have a 95kg max now. Another 5kg to go til i've reached the 100kg milestone.
WCU notes:
Have decided to add back chinups. For assistance to bench press since my biceps are still (sadly) tiny. Hopefully by the time i've reached my BP goal, i'll be able to focus on WCU and push it up somwhere half decent (say 115kg for reps..) which will then get my BP moving again.
Aiming for a decent amount of squat volume today. Get back on the easy PR train rather than the impossibly hard grindy ones i've been forced to make recently. Think the total was around 30 reps for worksets and including warmups it would be probably 40-50 reps total. Which is aight. Only regret is I got some SqMorns in - hopefully it wont torch LB too much that I can't squat properly on W6D2.
Next time go for FS 3x120 (PR) and 5x111 (PR) in that order.
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Doms on doms in glutes, hams, abs, lower back, shoulders, forearms, triceps and lats. Have probably neglected abs since I stopped doing chinups..? Maybe I should do more ab assistance work in general, it probably won't hurt to have big strong abs. They look nice as well. I remember when I was fatter but I did a few weeks of weighted ab crunches and my abs blew up, even though i was fat, they were popping thru the fat. Combination of being lean and having big abs will be sick.
Ok 10 days til the basketball tournament. The plan is to get an estimated 130kg max on the front squat (im at estimated 127kg atm), while weighing around ~77kg. Haven't stuck to a diet for a long time, time to remind my body how to do it again lol.
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People seem to have different theorys on direct ab work. But I have found it to be extremely beneficial in my journey. It seemed to be one of the limiting factors in my squat performance (among other issues). I have had the best luck picking a movement and going after it for 4-8 week then switching it up.
Good work man. keep at it.
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People seem to have different theorys on direct ab work. But I have found it to be extremely beneficial in my journey. It seemed to be one of the limiting factors in my squat performance (among other issues). I have had the best luck picking a movement and going after it for 4-8 week then switching it up.
Good work man. keep at it.
Thinking about it now, since I don't use a lifting belt, it's probably even more important to have strong abs to keep myself stable at the bottom of a long and/or heavy set of squats. I'll take the advice, keep ab assistance in - at least 1x a week. Thanks man. I'll just do weighted chinups for now until that's not hard on my abs, and then i'll add the ab wheel and weighted crunches and i'm also thinking of weighted pushups and planks as assistance to my bench press. Will alternate them after a while like you suggest. Thanks for stopping by.
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Training
FS 3x111, 3x105
PFS 5x60, 5x70, 5x75, 5x80 (PR)
PBS 5x60, 2x6x90 (PR)
OHP 5x60, 3Fx64, 3x63.5
BBALL (handles, conditioning, shooting)
FS notes:
First day doing pauses front squats. Started conservatively with just 1 plate and added weight. That last set of 80 was quite challenging. So i think next time I do PFS i'll just do 2x5x85kg and nudge them up fro there by 2.5-5kg.
Please provide criticism for paused SQ. Am I doing them ok?
BS notes:
Only did paused variant today. Different. Thought to go heavier on BS than FS, so started with 90kg. Challenging but do-able. Feeling very good about paused backsquat - i think it might fix my long term form problem of moving strangely out of the hole in backsquats only. It will help strengthen the muscles that maintain knee position at the bottom position. If it cures that, i'm gonna become a backsquatting beast cause that's a def weak point of mine.
OHP notes:
5x60kg milestone achieved lol. Next one up is 65x3 and then 65x5 at which point i'll be damn close to a BW press. Wot!
I took Lance advice to start doing paused squats for variety. I wasn't getting any PRs today (close to 0% chance) so it seemed like a perfect time to try. Instead of thinking I was having a shit workout and feeling bad about it, I found paused squats to be a wonderful, different, interesting and challenging exercise. So new PRs on the board, and a new exercise to look forward to progressing :)
True test for paused squats is the next workout. If Ican hit my scheduled PRs (ie paused squats either dont detract from normal training - or rather they enhance it) allowing the due PRs then i'm a believer in paused training. Lets see what happens!
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I'm giddy with delight after doing paused squats, cant stop thinking about them. They might even keep me up at night haha, i should be asleep right now ;) They've filled me with thoughts of miraculous results which have thus far eluded me. I think definitely the paused backsquat I did today will help fix my spiral movement out of the bottom of the back squat. It slows the lift into the bottom, ensures my knee position is held rigidly and all the supporting muscles are tightly held to keep that crisp paused position where you sort of stick into space (if you've watched a paused squat video you'll know what i'm describing).
And paused front squats, just a bit of variety, might help me get my legs stronger since i'm no longer using such a strong bounce out of the hole - legs will have to work harder. Without having to put a lot of weight on the bar - it will help build acceleration and speed. And reinforce good positions at the bottom of the hole, because sometimes knees cave in despite our best intentions.
I've been reading like crazy about them online all night, here is some excerpts
1. I look fucking badass.
When I squat down, and people think I’m pinned then I stay there for a few seconds and then suddenly just stand up again, imagine how hardcore that is? They’d probably think “Oh, he’s fucked†and then you stand up again. It’d be like a phoenix rising from the ashes! Roar! Yes?
2. It’s a different variable that can be trained
In training, we always say there are few things more important than constantly progressing and overloading. Sometimes we overload in the weight, often the repetitions and sometimes the sets. Why should we stop there? Overloading can be done on other variables such as tempo..
3. Pausing increases the amount of muscles recruited
Now unfortunately (Or fortunately if you think about it), I don’t know the so called technical terms on this. The idea however, is the same as a gymnast. When they pause, they increase muscular recruitment. As fast twitch muscles (okay that was an technical word!) continue to fatigue, the slow twitch muscles are recruited in order to continue holding one’s body at that odd position. This, consequently allows the mind to fire up more muscles every single time we do a movement, because it gets better at “switching on†those muscles.
4. It cuts out the stretch reflex, thus forcing us to use more muscles.
This is somewhat alike point 3, but there’s a slight difference. When the stretch reflex is used, momentum allows us to drive out the hole faster. However, when you are forced to just cut the stretch reflex, your body has to summon all the muscles that it can, to lift a weight that’s considered light with the stretch reflex.
pretty entertaining list but there might be something to it.
So is 70% of 1RM a good weight to use for pause squats? Cause that's where i'm going to be pretty soonish. I mean i'll be progressing it so it doesn't really matter where my ratio is atm but just curious.
Thinking about it, a paused squat might be better training for jumping in basketball, because you don't always have the chance to do dip down into a jump, you sometimes just have to take off - and that's kind of similar to the paused squat. maybe.
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If you do paused squats you do them to save your joints, if anything, not because they are specific in any shape or form to jumping.
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That's not why I'm doing them (for joints). That's a reason to do them but not THE reason because there are many different reasons that are important depending on the person and their needs. Having said that my point stands. Think of boxing out for the rebound after the 2nd free throw. Specificity of pause squats is obvious. In general rebounding without an initial dip. A block attempt also.
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That's not why I'm doing them (for joints). That's a reason to do them but not THE reason because there are many different reasons that are important depending on the person and their needs. Having said that my point stands. Think of boxing out for the rebound after the 2nd free throw. Specificity of pause squats is obvious. In general rebounding without an initial dip. A block attempt also.
Uhh... I'm actually Raptor on this one! With this line of thinking you are jumping on the path to bosu-ball balance squats... Pause squatting is not similar to boxing out during free throws or blocking someone at all. You never want to let your stretch reflex go in sports; even in a block start there is a ton of active pressure on the blocks before the start; this is exactly the opposite effect of what you are trying to train in the pause squat. Squatting is will always be a GENERAL strength exercise, don't get in the habit of choosing your lifts because they somehow remind you of a basketball move...
Despite all this.... The pause squat is a fantastic exercise. As far as 70%... Likely the most you can do initially but it will certainly climb up past 90%... You should be prepared for carryover disappointment. I was stuck on a 405 lb back squat for a long time (eg I could get it on a good day and not on a bad day)... I pause squatted exclusively worked my way from 315 to 405 in the pause squat.... Was very excited to finally let myself do a non-paused squat and throw up 500... Instead I got pinned with about 425... An efficient pause squatting is almost as good as a reactive pause squatter. The main improvement was to my form; pause squatted allowed me to never worry about my depth, etc.
I'm not sure what to make of your front pause squatting. I favor the combination of back-pause squatting and non-paused front squatting. I really wouldn't want to sit in the hole a bunch with tons of weight on my shoulders. That would get old real quick. Also, in your front squat your depth is excellent but you don't have a relaxed bottom position. The HSI group (Jon Smith and Maurice Greene) sometimes does them in the westLA weight room, I don't know how much stock you can put into John Smiths advice (he is a bit weird) but he really tries to get the athletes to get into an almost relaxed zen position at the bottom of the squat; hams on calves; don't LOSE your breath or tightness but be relaxed and go to a special place... He has the athletes get to that position and then uses a starter to shock them into exploding the weight up... Really awesome the extent that they turn it on... Then again that group has girls breaking 10.8... So, yeah they must be doing something right.
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take all advice with a grain of salt.
;D
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Salt is bad.
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That's not why I'm doing them (for joints). That's a reason to do them but not THE reason because there are many different reasons that are important depending on the person and their needs. Having said that my point stands. Think of boxing out for the rebound after the 2nd free throw. Specificity of pause squats is obvious. In general rebounding without an initial dip. A block attempt also.
if you rely on muscling athletic movements, you will ran out of gas really fast. SSC is very energy efficient.
get more leg mass to improve strength/power (and injury prevention), but also spend time improving your SSC with SVJ,RVJ or the DJ. too much plyos will eventually break you but the right amount really gets moving explosive, fast and almost effortless.
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That's not why I'm doing them (for joints). That's a reason to do them but not THE reason because there are many different reasons that are important depending on the person and their needs. Having said that my point stands. Think of boxing out for the rebound after the 2nd free throw. Specificity of pause squats is obvious. In general rebounding without an initial dip. A block attempt also.
Uhh... I'm actually Raptor on this one! With this line of thinking you are jumping on the path to bosu-ball balance squats... Pause squatting is not similar to boxing out during free throws or blocking someone at all. You never want to let your stretch reflex go in sports; even in a block start there is a ton of active pressure on the blocks before the start; this is exactly the opposite effect of what you are trying to train in the pause squat. Squatting is will always be a GENERAL strength exercise, don't get in the habit of choosing your lifts because they somehow remind you of a basketball move...
Despite all this.... The pause squat is a fantastic exercise. As far as 70%... Likely the most you can do initially but it will certainly climb up past 90%... You should be prepared for carryover disappointment. I was stuck on a 405 lb back squat for a long time (eg I could get it on a good day and not on a bad day)... I pause squatted exclusively worked my way from 315 to 405 in the pause squat.... Was very excited to finally let myself do a non-paused squat and throw up 500... Instead I got pinned with about 425... An efficient pause squatting is almost as good as a reactive pause squatter. The main improvement was to my form; pause squatted allowed me to never worry about my depth, etc.
I'm not sure what to make of your front pause squatting. I favor the combination of back-pause squatting and non-paused front squatting. I really wouldn't want to sit in the hole a bunch with tons of weight on my shoulders. That would get old real quick. Also, in your front squat your depth is excellent but you don't have a relaxed bottom position. The HSI group (Jon Smith and Maurice Greene) sometimes does them in the westLA weight room, I don't know how much stock you can put into John Smiths advice (he is a bit weird) but he really tries to get the athletes to get into an almost relaxed zen position at the bottom of the squat; hams on calves; don't LOSE your breath or tightness but be relaxed and go to a special place... He has the athletes get to that position and then uses a starter to shock them into exploding the weight up... Really awesome the extent that they turn it on... Then again that group has girls breaking 10.8... So, yeah they must be doing something right.
I love it. I was actually gonna ask you about Maurice because I read something online where someone was saying the paused squat carries over to 'start strength' which is important out of the blocks for sprinters. Thought you might have your own take on that.
Yea i see what you guys mean about functional training and the perils of mimicking sports moves in the gym. But i dunno. It seems like IT should carry over to sports when the movements are kinda similar. Take the push press - Lance argues well that it's a good lift for builing strength & power for basketball players. I can see that without having any experience training basketball players or trying it out myself. It seems like it ought to work. If a 80kg basketball player can throw up 100+kg for reps in the gym, he's probably gonna find it helps when chasing a rebound or a block or something. Right? Same with the paused squat, maybe the similarity is superficial and it doesn't cross over but maybe it does. I guess the danger is building a whole training regime around these things - that's probably a trap many sports trainers and what not probably fall into - that's a valid point. But then I'm clear that lifting in the gym is about building general strength and it just happens to help with certain facets of athleticism. And in that relationship if we can select exercises which help more than less then that's a good thing.
For example I was sold on teh benefits of the RDL - I gave that a decent shot of around 9 months of consistent training. Worked up to a decent poundage and I had good form (i think). But it gave me no benefits whether in the gym or outside. So i've tossed that lift. And it's possible that in a different context it would have helped but at that time it didn't. I can see paused squats helping me a lot right now because I need to clean up form - and for the main reason which is why i'm doing them - because lance suggested it lol - to help keep myself progressing in the gym because i was getting frustrated with not making easy progress with just front squats.
Btw that description of paused squat description of the HSI group sounds awesome. I would love to be in that stage someday with my front squats.
Running out of time gotta lift so i'll finish my post later.
Also Kingfisher's post was the best thing i've read on this site for a long time. It was deep and enlightening - kinda still in awe at it!!
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Everything is plyometric in sports... you never stop, take a 5 second pause, and then "explode". You don't do that on a rebound, you don't do that on a block, you don't do that on anything.
Even in something like skanderberg you must be isometrically contracted and ready for the start, so it's not complete relaxation into complete tension.
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Training
FS 4Fx117.5, 2x120, 4Fx111
BP 6x83, 5x83
BBALL 1hr (some dunks, pickup game)
FS notes:
Decided to go for 117.5 milestone instead of scheduled 117kg. Hindsight will show that to be a mistake because I failed the 4th and got no PRs instead.
BP notes:
Getting awfully close to the goal of 6x86! Somehow I keep progressing, haven't hit the wall yet. This puts my estimated 1RM at 96kg. This is probably as close i've gotten to benching 100kg ever. But this time i'm leaner and athletic.
Sad not to get any PRs. I have no explanations. I ate a whole fucking buttery garlic bread in the middle of the night when I woke up hungry. Maybe the conditioning intervals I ran last workout killed my recovery or some shit but dunno, I should have gotten a PR. Ah well. At least my bench is going up :)
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Training
FS 3x111, 3x105
PFS 5x60, 5x70, 5x75, 5x80 (PR)
PBS 5x60, 2x6x90 (PR)
OHP 5x60, 3Fx64, 3x63.5
BBALL (handles, conditioning, shooting)
FS notes:
First day doing pauses front squats. Started conservatively with just 1 plate and added weight. That last set of 80 was quite challenging. So i think next time I do PFS i'll just do 2x5x85kg and nudge them up fro there by 2.5-5kg.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldqakqIE8sA
Please provide criticism for paused SQ. Am I doing them ok?
BS notes:
Only did paused variant today. Different. Thought to go heavier on BS than FS, so started with 90kg. Challenging but do-able. Feeling very good about paused backsquat - i think it might fix my long term form problem of moving strangely out of the hole in backsquats only. It will help strengthen the muscles that maintain knee position at the bottom position. If it cures that, i'm gonna become a backsquatting beast cause that's a def weak point of mine.
OHP notes:
5x60kg milestone achieved lol. Next one up is 65x3 and then 65x5 at which point i'll be damn close to a BW press. Wot!
I took Lance advice to start doing paused squats for variety. I wasn't getting any PRs today (close to 0% chance) so it seemed like a perfect time to try. Instead of thinking I was having a shit workout and feeling bad about it, I found paused squats to be a wonderful, different, interesting and challenging exercise. So new PRs on the board, and a new exercise to look forward to progressing :)
True test for paused squats is the next workout. If Ican hit my scheduled PRs (ie paused squats either dont detract from normal training - or rather they enhance it) allowing the due PRs then i'm a believer in paused training. Lets see what happens!
paused fronts looked good man. If youre adding paused back squats as well, it will take longer to pr your front squat, but that might not turn out bad in the long run.
The good thing about the paused front squat its the ground floor of everything squat and performance wise when you use it right. When it goes up, so will all other squats, and usually olympic lifts, even push press/press as well. Its harder but it pays off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDVNM9Yto7E
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That's not why I'm doing them (for joints). That's a reason to do them but not THE reason because there are many different reasons that are important depending on the person and their needs. Having said that my point stands. Think of boxing out for the rebound after the 2nd free throw. Specificity of pause squats is obvious. In general rebounding without an initial dip. A block attempt also.
Uhh... I'm actually Raptor on this one! With this line of thinking you are jumping on the path to bosu-ball balance squats... Pause squatting is not similar to boxing out during free throws or blocking someone at all. You never want to let your stretch reflex go in sports; even in a block start there is a ton of active pressure on the blocks before the start; this is exactly the opposite effect of what you are trying to train in the pause squat. Squatting is will always be a GENERAL strength exercise, don't get in the habit of choosing your lifts because they somehow remind you of a basketball move...
Despite all this.... The pause squat is a fantastic exercise. As far as 70%... Likely the most you can do initially but it will certainly climb up past 90%... You should be prepared for carryover disappointment. I was stuck on a 405 lb back squat for a long time (eg I could get it on a good day and not on a bad day)... I pause squatted exclusively worked my way from 315 to 405 in the pause squat.... Was very excited to finally let myself do a non-paused squat and throw up 500... Instead I got pinned with about 425... An efficient pause squatting is almost as good as a reactive pause squatter. The main improvement was to my form; pause squatted allowed me to never worry about my depth, etc.
I'm not sure what to make of your front pause squatting. I favor the combination of back-pause squatting and non-paused front squatting. I really wouldn't want to sit in the hole a bunch with tons of weight on my shoulders. That would get old real quick. Also, in your front squat your depth is excellent but you don't have a relaxed bottom position. The HSI group (Jon Smith and Maurice Greene) sometimes does them in the westLA weight room, I don't know how much stock you can put into John Smiths advice (he is a bit weird) but he really tries to get the athletes to get into an almost relaxed zen position at the bottom of the squat; hams on calves; don't LOSE your breath or tightness but be relaxed and go to a special place... He has the athletes get to that position and then uses a starter to shock them into exploding the weight up... Really awesome the extent that they turn it on... Then again that group has girls breaking 10.8... So, yeah they must be doing something right.
I love it. I was actually gonna ask you about Maurice because I read something online where someone was saying the paused squat carries over to 'start strength' which is important out of the blocks for sprinters. Thought you might have your own take on that.
Yea i see what you guys mean about functional training and the perils of mimicking sports moves in the gym. But i dunno. It seems like IT should carry over to sports when the movements are kinda similar. Take the push press - Lance argues well that it's a good lift for builing strength & power for basketball players. I can see that without having any experience training basketball players or trying it out myself. It seems like it ought to work. If a 80kg basketball player can throw up 100+kg for reps in the gym, he's probably gonna find it helps when chasing a rebound or a block or something. Right? Same with the paused squat, maybe the similarity is superficial and it doesn't cross over but maybe it does. I guess the danger is building a whole training regime around these things - that's probably a trap many sports trainers and what not probably fall into - that's a valid point. But then I'm clear that lifting in the gym is about building general strength and it just happens to help with certain facets of athleticism. And in that relationship if we can select exercises which help more than less then that's a good thing.
For example I was sold on teh benefits of the RDL - I gave that a decent shot of around 9 months of consistent training. Worked up to a decent poundage and I had good form (i think). But it gave me no benefits whether in the gym or outside. So i've tossed that lift. And it's possible that in a different context it would have helped but at that time it didn't. I can see paused squats helping me a lot right now because I need to clean up form - and for the main reason which is why i'm doing them - because lance suggested it lol - to help keep myself progressing in the gym because i was getting frustrated with not making easy progress with just front squats.
Btw that description of paused squat description of the HSI group sounds awesome. I would love to be in that stage someday with my front squats.
Running out of time gotta lift so i'll finish my post later.
Also Kingfisher's post was the best thing i've read on this site for a long time. It was deep and enlightening - kinda still in awe at it!!
Its not that there is some magical quality about paused squats that make them sport specific, the sport specific part is that they make your legs fucking strong. Youre getting longer time under tension in the stretch portion of the lift, and killing the bounce that usually makes that portion easier. Front squat with a pause is awesome in that it takes more of the lower back out of the lift, and REQUIRES it to drive from the LEGS. People can get away with shitty squatmorning front squats when they can bounce out of the hole and not have to spend any time in that end range, pauses will correct this.
Think of how much time we spend in the bottom of the squat, its very minimal. Pauses double and even triple this time each rep, so youre getting 2x the t.u.t. in the most beneficial portion of the lift, the stretch.
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Yeah it reminds me of the 1&1/2 squats some people do, where you go all the way down, then up to parallel, then back down, and then all the way back up, that constituting a rep.
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Training
FS 3x117, 4Fx111, 5x105
PFS 2x5x90 (PR)
PHBBS 5x100 (PR)
OHP 5x60.5, 3x64
FS notes:
Made the right choice to attempt PR of 4x117 instead of 4x117.5. But I didn't have a PR in me today. I've lost my mojo, front squatting doesn't feel the same anymore. I think i've started over thinking it - which is not necessarily a bad thing, it just seems to be getting in the way of progress.
BS notes:
Ugly set really. I might lay off heavy backsquats completely until my hips are ok - this set sucked, broke the shit out of my hips. NO MORE BACKSQUAT GREED UNTIL I'M HEALED UP.
OHP notes:
Progress is nice and welcome.
Good news is i've managed to finally string together 2 days of dietary compliance. Now that im in the groove i'll be sure to stay the course til i'm back to 75kg.
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Training
FS 4Fx117, 2x119.5
HBBS 3x115
PFS 2x5x95 (PR)
BP 6Fx84, 5x83.5
FS notes:
No PR today either.
Paused front squats are interesting. I haven't had leg soreness like this before from anything i've done in a gym with a barbell.They are definitely a leg exercise. But as yet it has not carried over to normal front squats so that's a bit disappointing. I was expecting to PR my front squat at least but nope. Early days? We'll see.
BS notes:
Before abandoning BS I thought to try squatting facing the front of the rack rather than the back. Yeah I guess it's different, kind of still bothered my hips though.
BP notes:
Failing bench outside the rack is fucking scary. I got my brother to spot me on the 2nd set.
That'll do pig, that'll do. Til next week.
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come on now. you've been doing paused squats for what, a week? two? and you've got t0ddday and others in here talking about how small the carryover is to normal squatting. you had a run where you were PR'ing every workout but that's not gonna be the normal course of events. relax, be patient.
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You probably had more soreness because of the longer TUT you get from doing that pause and trapping more blood plasma to generate more soreness in that process.
If anything, that indicates a better potential for hypertrophy.
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Last week I was setting PRs. This week i'm weak as fuck. Really starting to hate this lifting shit, it's so ephemeral. Miss one workout and it all goes away, like cinderella at midnight. I've collected a bunch of injuries too. Have gotten pretty demotivated.
My last workout which I didn't log while on the road was osmething like
FS 1x110, 3Fx115
PS 5x95, 5x90
OHP 3x60
Have to heal and recover another pec tear again. And my hips are still not 100%.
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Training
FS 1x112.5, 1x115, 1x121 (PR), 3Fx115, 5x102.5, 5x100, 5x97.5
BP 6x50, 6x60, 6x70
FS notes:
Kinda had no business putting 121kg on the bar, but I wanted to get some confidence back by setting a PR - i wanted a double but this was a maxish single. Thinking for the meantime while i'm rehabbing and shit, i'll stick to volume with lots of medium weight 5s and the rare heavy doubles & triples to set strength PRs while the psychological block of 120kg looms - I can't seem to break past it. It may be because at that plate boundary the delta from under <120kg is too large. So the plan is to get PRs in double and singles over 120kg and triple just under 120kg.
Happy to get around 20 squats in - without hurting my hips. Front squats are the shit. Let me stay with them exclusively til im healthy. Also, I noticed my left quad was burning/domming as i went thru this workout. I'm very much left leg dominant. I wish there was a way to balance this out and my right leg stronger but the only way I can think of is a leg press machine which I obviously dont have.
While healing and rehabbing my pec and hips no more backsquats and no more paused squatting - it hurts my hip too much as much as I was starting to like them. I really want to bench. I might try a light set just to keep myself familiar with the movement? Sucks because I was so close to PR territory and my goal of 6x86 :( I mean i was practically a few workouts away from a 100kg max - which has eluded me forever thanks to my long skinny arms and not-build-for-benching leverages.
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Doms in hamstrings & faintly in glutes. As far as I can tell that's the only lower soreness i've got after my layoff workout. Quad
and glute soreness absent - surprisingly enough. Deep ATG front squats do work hamstrings pretty good.
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Took 3 days off for resting & healing. Hips and pec feel good. Not 100% normal yet though. Will see how it goes squatting. The main thing to watch out for is failure - because i think it is when I fail squats that I disturb my hip muscles the most. Going to continue this deload period I am on for a little longer. When healed i'll be able to train harder than ever so I just need to be patient now and bid my time. Laying off stimulants as well. Been caffeine free since saturday. Will only use stims at most 1x a week.
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Why don't you use a lower % of 1RM to work with.
For example do your 5 rep sets with your 7RM. It will improve everything - form, recovery and speed, and prevent injuries (due to better form).
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Why don't you use a lower % of 1RM to work with.
For example do your 5 rep sets with your 7RM. It will improve everything - form, recovery and speed, and prevent injuries (due to better form).
And get weaker? What's the point?
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Training
FS 1x102.5, 1x110, 4x105, 4x103.5
lol
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Why don't you use a lower % of 1RM to work with.
For example do your 5 rep sets with your 7RM. It will improve everything - form, recovery and speed, and prevent injuries (due to better form).
And get weaker? What's the point?
Weaker? How so? How do you define strength? What's the goal of your training? Pure neural strength? Muscle gain?
What do you see wrong in what I suggested? You think lowering a load and promoting better form, better recovery, more safety and better speed will make you weaker?
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If I take weight off the bar and do more reps I'll get weaker. Yup. I believe that completely. If I want to maintain or improve my strength I have to maintain or add weight to the bar. I can't see a way to circumvent this :/
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So if you have a 7RM of 100 kg and you get that 7RM to 120 kg you get weaker? Interesting.
You might as well do forced reps then with a 1RM+ weight, so you can get stronger.
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So if you have a 7RM of 100 kg and you get that 7RM to 120 kg you get weaker? Interesting.
Never said that. If you add 20kg to the bar then you got stronger..
add weight, not take weight off..
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If I take weight off the bar and do more reps I'll get weaker. Yup. I believe that completely. If I want to maintain or improve my strength I have to maintain or add weight to the bar. I can't see a way to circumvent this :/
what the...who the...how did you...what...fuck...what??!?!
if training with a set stimulus stops working, you change the stimulus. in what universe does that make you weaker?
:raging: :raging: :raging: :raging:
the way i see it, this post has a few possible explanations:
1. a sudden and unexpected switch to active trolling
2. a sudden and unexplained amnesia regarding everything you've read in your own log and on the forum more generally
3. a sudden and unwelcome descent into hyperdunk-level stupidity
dropping weight and training in higher rep ranges for a little while could be exactly the stimulus you need to break through current plateaus. you cannot possibly be ignorant of that.
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Yea raptor and lbss are right on man, it gets addictive to come in and squat for a heavy pr each time you train but you have to understand that it doesnt work like that for very long.
A while back there was a program going through its circles from david woodhouse called the "syyystem" where lifters train only twice a week, and do one max triple on the front squat each session, going for a new 3rm every session. It worked well for some fairly advanced guys, and they went around forums preaching it as the the second coming of Christ. If you look now, not a single one of them is still using it, and they started to regress or stayed stagnant once they adapted to the program.
This is kind of where you are now, youve pushed your neural adaptations to that rep range/load near the max, and to continue to progress you need to either a.) get on gas, that will allow further progression of neural progress with increased rate coding 2.) increase work in a lower percentage of max to allow some hypertrophy of the relevant musculature, then switch back to the way youre training now to peak out those gains.
Its addictive to go in and squat your max every session, or every day. You can adapt to that and its no longer much of a training stimulus, its going in and testing your max. Lots of guys going in on the everyday squats fall into that, they are addicted to the squatting itself and fear losing strength, rather than pushing for progress, even though that will mean a temporary loss in the ability to DISPLAY high percentage max strength.
When I suggested paused front squats to you, this is what I was hoping you would do with them, which would allow you some lower end rep work and volume, and you could still have a neural/high percentage max front squat day with the traditional fronts. Using squats on top of those variations is too many exercises though, and will make that progression take much longer. Longer is not always wrong though, you have to plan on it so it doesnt frustrate you though.
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Yea raptor and lbss are right on man, it gets addictive to come in and squat for a heavy pr each time you train but you have to understand that it doesnt work like that for very long.
A while back there was a program going through its circles from david woodhouse called the "syyystem" where lifters train only twice a week, and do one max triple on the front squat each session, going for a new 3rm every session. It worked well for some fairly advanced guys, and they went around forums preaching it as the the second coming of Christ. If you look now, not a single one of them is still using it, and they started to regress or stayed stagnant once they adapted to the program.
This is kind of where you are now, youve pushed your neural adaptations to that rep range/load near the max, and to continue to progress you need to either a.) get on gas, that will allow further progression of neural progress with increased rate coding 2.) increase work in a lower percentage of max to allow some hypertrophy of the relevant musculature, then switch back to the way youre training now to peak out those gains.
Its addictive to go in and squat your max every session, or every day. You can adapt to that and its no longer much of a training stimulus, its going in and testing your max. Lots of guys going in on the everyday squats fall into that, they are addicted to the squatting itself and fear losing strength, rather than pushing for progress, even though that will mean a temporary loss in the ability to DISPLAY high percentage max strength.
When I suggested paused front squats to you, this is what I was hoping you would do with them, which would allow you some lower end rep work and volume, and you could still have a neural/high percentage max front squat day with the traditional fronts. Using squats on top of those variations is too many exercises though, and will make that progression take much longer. Longer is not always wronge though, you have to plan on it so it doesnt frustrate you though.
the purpose of the heavy top set for improved athletic performance is to prepare the big muscles for productive sub-max volumes that follow. easier said than done sometimes. submax volumes are so much more fatiguing.
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Yea raptor and lbss are right on man, it gets addictive to come in and squat for a heavy pr each time you train but you have to understand that it doesnt work like that for very long.
A while back there was a program going through its circles from david woodhouse called the "syyystem" where lifters train only twice a week, and do one max triple on the front squat each session, going for a new 3rm every session. It worked well for some fairly advanced guys, and they went around forums preaching it as the the second coming of Christ. If you look now, not a single one of them is still using it, and they started to regress or stayed stagnant once they adapted to the program.
This is kind of where you are now, youve pushed your neural adaptations to that rep range/load near the max, and to continue to progress you need to either a.) get on gas, that will allow further progression of neural progress with increased rate coding 2.) increase work in a lower percentage of max to allow some hypertrophy of the relevant musculature, then switch back to the way youre training now to peak out those gains.
Its addictive to go in and squat your max every session, or every day. You can adapt to that and its no longer much of a training stimulus, its going in and testing your max. Lots of guys going in on the everyday squats fall into that, they are addicted to the squatting itself and fear losing strength, rather than pushing for progress, even though that will mean a temporary loss in the ability to DISPLAY high percentage max strength.
When I suggested paused front squats to you, this is what I was hoping you would do with them, which would allow you some lower end rep work and volume, and you could still have a neural/high percentage max front squat day with the traditional fronts. Using squats on top of those variations is too many exercises though, and will make that progression take much longer. Longer is not always wronge though, you have to plan on it so it doesnt frustrate you though.
the purpose of the heavy top set for improved athletic performance is to prepare the big muscles for productive sub-max volumes that follow. easier said than done sometimes. submax volumes are so much more fatiguing.
well, the purpose of the heavy top set is to push the cns to a point it wont inhibit performance on lighter/faster lifts. This was the reason in front squatting first thing in the bulgarian system, only to a top single, and only in single reps. It works WELL for a while, if youre taking recovery "helpers" it can work for a long ass time. The thing is, this is a PEAKING method for athletes. Once you PEAK, which will happen, its time to save that cns stress for more volume/rep/muscular intensive work. here is the thing though, ANY cns stimulation method, including caffiene/supra max loads,, etc. will start to lose its effectiveness if used too often. Chemicals change the length of this period, as they can change the whole wiring, not simply an effect on a muscular level.
If somethings working for you then you should continue to push it for as long as you can, you need to be honest with yourself though whether youre addicted to the stimulus of squatting daily, afraid that if you dont you will lose strength, or are you addicted to PROGRESS. If youre not hitting PR's at the very LEAST monthly, with anything under a 500 squat, you probably need to re evaluate what youre doing.
an easy way to look at it is, fast to come/fast to leave- long time to get/long time to go away. If you stop squatting daily, and go to a more volume friendly schedule your 1rm will for sure go down initially. The thing is, once youve accumulated some good volume and come back to the frequency/intensity schedule, youll destroy your previous numbers.
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Kingfish I wish I could find this long write up on max aitas squatting from Glenn, the short version is, he had gone and trained with ivan A. in bulgaria, with a premium on pushing his squat up since he was hurt/wrist pain. He improved quickly at first, then stalled for around a year if i recall correctly. Still squatting daily, he returned to cal strength and pendlay got him to go into a 5 x 5 squat program, with the exception he could continue his daily squatting. This gave him one volume day, which was all he needed and likely could handle with his daily squatting on other days.
after a few months he destroyed his previous pr's, I want to say it was by well over 100 pounds. The videos of those squats can be seen on the cal strength channel, the story leading up to them is golden though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO3rv5vHy00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0piKrM3dimc
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Exactly.
I always go to a "daily 1RM" in my volume squatting though. I used it as a primer for the CNS. Obviously it can't be TOO straining because that would supress the CNS instead of potentiating it for the volume work sets.
But working up to a confortable daily 1RM, then unracking a ~1.5x that 1RM for about 10 seconds, then going to my work sets really makes the works sets feel lighter and "achieveable" mentally especially.
The reality is that once you get very efficient both in terms of the mechanics of the squat and in terms of the CNS output in that movement, you're going to need bigger muscles to actually get stronger. It's a cycle in between getting bigger and getting more efficient, and repeating that.
Plus taking some weight off gives you a chance of recovering better, and since we all kinda are obsessed around here with training hard - and not taking enough time to recover well - it kinda MAKES you get to the point of recovering.
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Much has been said above and I'm not going to try reply to all of it, no one would care to read it and I'll save myself the trouble. A lot of what Lance has written has resonated deeply with me though. I was going into the gym every session and busting out a new 3RM or 4RM or 5RM. And i could even do that every workout, even adding 2kg at a time for a while. Not even talking about when I started but as recently as 3-4 weeks ago. But then you hit the wall and it's not working and you're dreading walking up to the bar knowing exactly what you are demanding from your body and mind to get that new PR which you want so bad. And yes PRs are important even to guys like us - not just for powerlifters, a bigger max is more strength and more strength helps with athleticism even if the chain of causation is quite long and the carryover isn't 1 to 1.
I stand by comments that if i'm using 4s a lot and find my 4RM has gone down then i'm weaker. That doesn't mean I can't switch to using 5s and using a lighter weight than what I was using with the 4s while pushing that up. I do that all the time. My point was if I do what raptor suggested (taking weight off, eg 7RM but only doing 5 reps and keeping the same rep range) i'll def get weak. And i'm not even going to debate that because to me that's the most trivial truth I know from my experience in the gym.
Having said that. I am leaning towards minimisng CNS intensive workouts. Maybe only 1x a week where I use stimulants and heavy weights to set a 1-5RM or whatever and the rest of the time i'll not use abuse heavy weights or stimulants and let my CNS get back to normal. What lance described is something I was familiar with - my test levels were evidently lowered when I was training hard for months at a time going heavy every workout. I can't keep that up, nor do I want to. I want to progress but not at the cost of being fucked up. And there is probably a better way to structure workouts around volume instead of intensity. But intensity is so sexy and i've fallen in the trap of focusing on it too much. I also found when I was trying to keep basketball in the mix, I couldn't do too much volume so intensity become more attractive.
Also paused squats were fine for the purpose of progressing another lift. The problem I found was in that deep stretched position at the bottom it bothers my hip flexors (?) and that's why i'm avoiding them right now since my right hip flexor still hasn't healed.
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Training
FS 1x102.5, 1x110, 3x115, 1x123 (PR), 4x107.5, 5x104.5, 5x102.5
BP 6x80, 4x85, 6x82
FS notes:
I'm weaker in the sense that I can't rep out heavy. But. I can still set PRs with singles. So. I don't think i'm actually weaker - it's just a lack of training with volume which is showing up in the lack of rep PRs lately.
BP notes:
I thought my bench would have plummeted but somehow it hasn't. The 6x80kg was so easy, and it's been 2 weeks since I benched heavy when I did 5x84kg? Can't explain this. So I put another 5kg and got 4 reps with that though they were challenging and ugly. So i'm not weaker on bench after my pec tear/strain. Which is good news. I also think I have figured out how to bench better which is giving me confidence too. I wasn't finishing the rep hard with my triceps to lock out, now i am, it's made a big difference in the tempo of the lift. I am now thinking I can get to 6x90kg - which is probably my ceiling with this lift. Which is cool. My ambitions are just to be strong enough to be able to say I lift (~100kg bp qualifies i think). Then i'll prob maintain that and switch to bb training and gain some mass which should be a nice welcome change to upper body training.
Used stimulants today.
Last session of this cycle. Starting monday I start a new 12 week block with the end goal of having a 135kg front squat.
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To be honest I haven't read your log.
I saw Lance's post and wanted to piggyback off of some of the ideas Lance talked about. (Maxing out every day, I have been Deadlifting 3x/week along with squatting). My deadlift cycle went like this (Each row is a workout):
65%x15x1
70%x15x1
75%x12x1
80%x8x1
85%x6x1
I basically lifted MWF. At the end of the cycle you add 10lbs to each workout and start over. Once that starts grinding the recommendation was to test a new sorta max.
Instead I moved to the following cycle
70%x2x5
70%x5, 75%x3, 80%x2
80%x5x2
85%x6x1
Add 10lbs rinse and repeat.
It is a slow cook it approach, longer term thinking like Lance was talking about. My deadlifts have gone through the roof. I think a similar approach would be effective for the squat. BTW squatting and deadlifting 3x/week at my stage is pretty high frequency (Squats were heavy n the beginning but now more of a DE type squat). Today I pulled 250kilos for my 5x2. Pretty much my previous PL'ing max from my 20's only instead of a single I hit 5x2. And it was pretty easy. And I am getting OLD. The hard part is being patient and not pushing the pedal to the metal. It's a mind fuck to stay comfortably within yourself. Knowing if you need a day off it's OK. Or resisting the urge to "Just see what you can lift". I am sure it will slow down eventually (hence the switch I made to a lower volume approach). Every 3 weeks or so I get the urge to change but then I think I am stronger than ever so keep going. Or as Dan John says "It was so effective I stopped doing it!" So I always need to remind myself of this too. It is also hard getting used to the idea that you shouldn't feel smashed after every workout. Cool thing about a cycle like this is that it won't really interfere with your other training.
What's next? I may try deadlifting every day 70x%3x3, 75%4x2, 80%5x1. I know much lower volume than before but frequency will be doubled. I would probably take this to I start grinding and then take 2-3 days "off" and max out.
If training for a sport, I would do a warm up with whatever correctives you need. Do 2 plyo exercises for your goal (hip for speed, squat for jump), hit the squats with the %'s and reps listed, add in some glute hams or single leg deads (not both). Stretch and call it a workout. Play your sport for conditioning, or if you are old like me do a bunch of swings, ropes, etc... 2-3x/week.
Intensities and volumes are manageable enough for you to practice your sport/goal so we don't get distracted from the prize (on the field of play, not the weight room)
Just something to think about
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Yes one of the best things I have started to do lately is giving myself additional rest days when I need them.
In the past I would just "go hard at it" and train even when I'm tired etc, but in reality - if you need one more rest day so that your training day of tomorrow is better, then go at it.
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To be honest I haven't read your log.
I saw Lance's post and wanted to piggyback off of some of the ideas Lance talked about. (Maxing out every day, I have been Deadlifting 3x/week along with squatting). My deadlift cycle went like this (Each row is a workout):
65%x15x1
70%x15x1
75%x12x1
80%x8x1
85%x6x1
I basically lifted MWF. At the end of the cycle you add 10lbs to each workout and start over. Once that starts grinding the recommendation was to test a new sorta max.
Instead I moved to the following cycle
70%x2x5
70%x5, 75%x3, 80%x2
80%x5x2
85%x6x1
Add 10lbs rinse and repeat.
It is a slow cook it approach, longer term thinking like Lance was talking about. My deadlifts have gone through the roof. I think a similar approach would be effective for the squat. BTW squatting and deadlifting 3x/week at my stage is pretty high frequency (Squats were heavy n the beginning but now more of a DE type squat). Today I pulled 250kilos for my 5x2. Pretty much my previous PL'ing max from my 20's only instead of a single I hit 5x2. And it was pretty easy. And I am getting OLD. The hard part is being patient and not pushing the pedal to the metal. It's a mind fuck to stay comfortably within yourself. Knowing if you need a day off it's OK. Or resisting the urge to "Just see what you can lift". I am sure it will slow down eventually (hence the switch I made to a lower volume approach). Every 3 weeks or so I get the urge to change but then I think I am stronger than ever so keep going. Or as Dan John says "It was so effective I stopped doing it!" So I always need to remind myself of this too. It is also hard getting used to the idea that you shouldn't feel smashed after every workout. Cool thing about a cycle like this is that it won't really interfere with your other training.
What's next? I may try deadlifting every day 70x%3x3, 75%4x2, 80%5x1. I know much lower volume than before but frequency will be doubled. I would probably take this to I start grinding and then take 2-3 days "off" and max out.
If training for a sport, I would do a warm up with whatever correctives you need. Do 2 plyo exercises for your goal (hip for speed, squat for jump), hit the squats with the %'s and reps listed, add in some glute hams or single leg deads (not both). Stretch and call it a workout. Play your sport for conditioning, or if you are old like me do a bunch of swings, ropes, etc... 2-3x/week.
Intensities and volumes are manageable enough for you to practice your sport/goal so we don't get distracted from the prize (on the field of play, not the weight room)
Just something to think about
Excellent post Alex, thats great work on the deadlift too man, congrats!
Entropy, whatever you choose I hope for the absolute best for you bud, I hope you dont take any of this as negativity towards you at all, we want to see you keep progressing like a bosshawg like you have in the past. Dont get frustrated, plan smart and then kill it like you have been.
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Excellent post Alex, thats great work on the deadlift too man, congrats!
Entropy, whatever you choose I hope for the absolute best for you bud, I hope you dont take any of this as negativity towards you at all, we want to see you keep progressing like a bosshawg like you have in the past. Dont get frustrated, plan smart and then kill it like you have been.
what he said.
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Thanks AlexV, lovely detailed post. I think you are right that it would work for (front) squats well because it doesn't call for high reps. It reminds me of something I read last year on charles poliquin site:
Q. What are the best sets and reps to increase the front squat?
A. This is one of my favorite questions to ask my most successful colleagues, as there are many training protocols that will improve your front squat. Whereas higher rep ranges are preferred in the back squat, most experts prefer to train the front squat in a lower rep range, and frequently endorse doing singles in that lift. Every expert agrees that doing more than 6 reps in that lift is a complete waste of time, as the scapulae retractors cannot hold the proper position isometrically when the duration of the set is too long.
The following are set-rep protocols recommended by weightlifting coaches of multiple Olympic medalists. (To avoid confusion, recognize that sets always come before reps, so that 2 x 5 means 2 sets of 5 reps, not 5 sets of 2 reps.)
Wave-Like Pattern 1
With this protocol, the trainee should be able to use more weight during each successive “wave†as the nervous system adapts to the workout. For example, a lifter might squat 150 kilos for 3 on the first wave, 160 kilos for 3 on the second, and 170 kilos for 3 on the third.
1 x 7, 1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 7 , 1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 7 , 1 x 5, 1 x 3
Wave-Like Pattern 2
This is simply a variation of the previous workout, but it’s designed for a more advanced athlete who is striving for maximal strength, especially relative strength.
1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 2
Wave-Like Pattern 3
Among all the loading parameters patterns recommended, this is the one recommended most often by elite weightlifting coaches. It does require you to do 12 sets of work.
1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 1
1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 1
1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 1
1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 1
Patient System 1
Choose a weight that is very challenging (but possible) to lift for 8 sets of 2. In every workout try to get to 8 sets of 3. Once you can do 8 sets of 3, increase the weight.
East German Stair-Step System
5 x 2 followed by a decrease in load of 7 percent, then 5 sets of 3 at the new step load.
Modified Hepburn Method I
8 sets of singles followed by 5 x 3-5
In this approach, I advise performing the first 8 sets of singles with a regular stance, then the 5 x 3-5 with the heels elevated by 2-2.5 cm.
Modified Hepburn Method II
8 sets of singles @ 50X0 tempo, followed 5 x 3-5 @ 32X0 tempo
To learn more about this system, check out the following article, Training Heavy Comes First.
In this approach, I advise performing the first 8 sets of singles with a regular stance, then the 5 x 3-5 with the heels elevated by 2-2.5 cm.
http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/677/My_Best_Tips_for_Increasing_the_Front_Squat.aspx
I think eventually i'll have to use something like these advanced programs but while i'm a ~130kg front squatter wanting to be a ~140kg squatter they're probably overkill. You're pulling 250kg for a double, that's amazing. My goals currently are modest in comparison. I'm looking to add 7.5-15kg to my front squat in the next 12 weeks, albeit without gaining weight. I could probably do with the discipline of a written out program though. I dunno. I tend to prefer freestyle my workouts but then fall into the trap of wanting too much every workout.
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Entropy, whatever you choose I hope for the absolute best for you bud, I hope you dont take any of this as negativity towards you at all, we want to see you keep progressing like a bosshawg like you have in the past. Dont get frustrated, plan smart and then kill it like you have been.
No probs. Will do! I am due to change things up since 10 weeks of training are up today so it's not unwelcome criticism by any means. It helps a lot to organise what I want to do next. I'm looking forward to the next 12 weeks. Want to do a better job than I have in the past and I think planning workouts will definitely go a long way.
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Duration: 12 weeks, 3x weekly, MWF
Training Goals: FS 5x120-125kg/135-140kg max @ BW of 75kg
BP 6x90kg / 105kg max
OHP 5x65kg.
Front squats
120kg for 5 at the minimum. My best fiver is 110kg but i've done 4x116kg. So that's a big ask but may be doable with smarter training. Perhaps it's possible to go as far as 5x125kg. Very ambitious yes but there are a few differences from what i've done in the past. I've usually split up squatting half-half FS:BS training whereas now i'm FS only, at least until my right hip flexor is fully healed. The other thing is i'm not training for basketball this time. So that frees up recovery that will go towards progressing front squat. I have to believe that when I had a 6x117.5kg/140kg max HBBS that I was much stronger than I am now that i'm not backsquatting. Still. Specialising on FS might make up for that. It remains to be seen how far I can go with just FS alone though.
The problem i've had in the past is when I did a lot of volume with FS, my knees didn't enjoy that too much. With mediumish volume my knees are happy and never complain. So i'll have to watch that the volume isn't too much but I can't progress without sufficient volume either so i'll have to get the balance just right.
While not backsquatting, i might try doing GMs for assistance. Not saying I need them. But it's worth a shot, if it doesn't help then i'll drop them. Also thinking I should give RDLs another shot, if for no other reason than to keep a pull in my training so when I eventually incorporate Olympic lifting for athleticism i wont be too weak at pulling.
I'll freestyle and experiment the first 2 weeks. And then based on the feedback I receive from my body and performance i'll go with that for the remaining 10wks. I have a good idea how i'll structure it though.
I want to rep 115kg for 5 first w/ stimulants and also without. So i'll rep it for 4 first. Which i've done already in the past w/ stimulants but I need to get back there again. So i'll only do it say Mondays or fridays. But I need regular PRs too and they're all sweet, whether 1-5 reps. So on fridays I will probably attempt a 2nd one for 1-4 reps after attempting the 5. And then wednesdays workouts, I haven't decided what I need to do there. I think in the past I have erred there thinking more when I should have been thinking less is better. That will be an important change.
That's the rough plan for now, will make it concrete after seeing how it goes after the first 2 wks.
Summary
Mondays: No stimulants, at most 1 heavy PR set w/o stimulants (w/ milestone weight 3-5x115kg/120kg/125kg etc), followed by mid-high volume (25-30 reps @ 80-85%)
Weds: No stimulants, low-mid volume (15-20 reps), low intensity (80%), no heavy PRs.
Fridays: Stimulants, upto 2 sets heavy PRs (1-5 reps per set, 90+%) and then mid volume (total of 15-20 reps @ 80-85%)
BP & OHP
6x90kg /105kg max would be amazing. I think if I keep up the pressing i'll def get there, esp with recent technique improvements. Really excited about this more than anything else. Bench PRs are so sparse for me, i can't even remember the last time I got one.
OHP was going really well before pec injury. I had reached 3x65kg and 5x60.5kg. Not sure where I am at right now. But will rebuild back and strive for 5x65kg. That should put be awfully close to having a BW press which will be sick.
Other areas
I feel as though I should be sprinting at least 1x a week. Not too crazy but just enough to keep my body familar with the movement. Same with jumping and basketball. I have often neglected maintaining skills while focusing on strength training, this time around i'll avoid that. Maybe 1-2x go down to shoot hoops and practice moves. Even if it's only 10 mins or so.
Assistance exercises:
As much as I can without intefering with BP progrss, i should look to add back chinups for some ab work. Also try the wheel. It's a shit exercise i know but better than nothing. Maybe crunches as well. Wednesday might be a good day for these exotic exercises.Assistance exercises for arms, legs, back and core go on wednesday and fridays. Basketball drills (pick 3 good ones and get practice them hard) + and skill work 1-2x a week, after workouts.
Also read this post of gary's recently.
2013-04-16
You're probably doing it wrong.
That's the impression I'm left with after each corrective session. There are so many things that I've done wrong over the years that have led to weaknesses, compensation and injury that I can't imagine that anyone consistently gets it right.
I've said before that the best athletes are those whose bodies have a knack for doing things more right than the rest of us do. So they survive the longest and can go the furthest in terms of strength, speed and skill. The rest of us...I wonder if we should ever do anything physically challenging (barbells, running, jumping, etc) without the close eye of an expert staff.
This may seem extreme, but blame modern life. Seems that it makes us extremely dysfunctional. Shoes too early in childhood can lead to weak feet that will lead to ankle, knee and back problems later if one runs or lifts hard. Never squatting beyond early childhood, not even to defecate, will lead to weaknesses and compensations and injury should one decide to squat later. If I'd spent my entire life from early childhood running and jumping and climbing, I wouldn't have to be doing this corrective treatment now.
But how many of us decide to become badasses only later in life, after a childhood and adolescence and early adulthood getting weaker in crucial areas? And then start to load aggressively and get stronger in the faulty patterns established by a lifetime of letting key muscles get weaker? Then we start to compensate and continue to load so that we get very, very strong in the wrong pattern. Then we get plateau and keep getting injured.
My knees just keep on getting better rapidly. The treatment is erasing the old contraction patterns so that my joints aren't getting beat up by everything I do. So they can finally heal. And they are healing very rapidly. I have a range of motion and ease of movement in my knees that I haven't seen in years. All that persistent inflammation is being flushed out.
The sessions, however, are getting brutally hard...and not a little demoralizing. Basically I do a few sets of five sits with increasing amounts of current. And in each session the last set or two pushes me to new heights. The idea is that when I'm "fixed", I'll have no problem doing the movement properly even under the highest current. But I'm not "fixed" yet. I get able to handle more current with each session, but that is only because Chad takes me to my limits each session. This is way harder and more intimidating than going for new maxes in the squat.
Higher levels bring pain in the "hot spots", especially as one approaches key joint angles. I get to the point where just standing still causes a lot of discomfort and bending the knees feels like I'm bending them while they are being crushed by cars while someone is trying to hammer an icepick through my kneecaps. Yes, it really hurts that much. I have to approach new levels by bending just an inch or two at first. It does get easier immediately because the body immediately starts to adapt because of the current causing so many hundreds of contractions with the new recruitment patterns. The hot spots literally start to melt away with the first rep or two. But overcoming the initial pain of the first rep at higher levels takes a lot of psyching up for me. Over time, levels of current that used to be painful become a breeze to move through. That's a sign that progress is occurring.
It's very interesting. As I get better at moving correctly under the load of the current, my muscles act on my joint better and allow the healing to occur, like I mentioned above. So to get through the pain, I tell myself that I am resolving all the pain and frustration my knee problems have been causing me for years. I have to go to my "happy place" because relaxation is vital. Breath-holding and tension are also compensations that mask a lack of strength in the proper places.
So, progress continues. But there is so much to fix and so much to keep in mind to prevent relapse that the thought of squatting or jumping or running or lifting seems pointless. The current is just a tool to enhance the speed of recovery caused by engaging the right patterns. Other movements include wall sits, iso lunges and one-legged deadlifts and squats...but these have to be done precisely, engaging the proper muscles at the proper times. It is very frustrating and very exhausting. Like I mentioned before, the owner of my gym is a very buff, athletic looking guy who is spending all his time just correcting stuff with this protocol, so much that he doesn't even lift anymore. I think I'm getting to that point too.
Some of us just weren't meant to be athletes, especially those of us who spent crucial years not keeping the body free of dysfunction.
http://www.pendlayforum.com/showthread.php?p=76291#post76291
This is so me. But right now i can't put all my goals aside to focus on corrective training. I should eventually. I promise to start at least though. I started with a 22" standing vertical and i've come a long way since then pushing it into the 30"s. I want to believe I will push that up over 36" for no reason other than thinking my best is yet to come and i've only scratched the surface of my potential.
Injury status
Interestingly since ceasing backsquatting, paused squatting, aconsciously avoiding failure and front squatting out of the rack instead of into it, my R hip flexor is now magically fine. As in 99.99% good. Amazing how quickly that's happened. My pec is also now fully healed, I benched heavy friday painfree and im fine today on sunday. So i'm very close to full recovery. Awesome!!
So i've taken all the feedback into consideration. Only using stimulants + heavy weights 1x a week. Only. The rest of the time i'm going to live on a diet of volume with 80-85% without significant CNS stress.
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Training
FS 1x102.5, 1x110, 1x115, 5x105, 5x102.5, 5x100, 5x97.5
OHP 1x59.5, 1x61, 5x61, 2x65, 2x64.5
Stimulants: None
FS notes:
The first scheduled session w/o stimulants was challenging. In hindsight i shuda had something to eat before hand because i went some 2 hours since the last meal. I couldn't believe how heavy the warmups felt, even 90kg. Guess my body isn't used to lifting without caffeine. But I forged ahead anyway, my plan was to triple 115kg - that wasn't going to happen but the next stage was to do 5s with a weight around 105kg, which went ok. I mean it was hard, like RPE 10, but i managed all the same. If my goal was to avoid CNS stress on this workout, maybe doing RPE 10 wasn't the right choice, but i'm hoping that eventually i'll adapt and then it will be easier than it was today.
total volume: 21 reps
OHP notes:
The 5x61 set came out of nowhere. I'll take it. I couldn't triple 65kg though, but next time i prob will be able to. So i'm back on track for pressing. I need more volume for upper body but the presses were quite tasking so I could do backoffs sets. I may do some chinups later though. And maybe curls and what not.
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YOU DON'T NEED CURLS, BRO. BEACHWORK IS FOR BROS. KIPPING PULL UPS AND THRUSTERS ARE ALL YOUR ARMS NEED TO GROW. CROSSFIT LYFE.
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I like the wave load. I am really becoming a believer in staying within yourself. IE not pushing it. Let the frequency and volume take care of the overload. That is more of a Russian philosophy. It is kinda like this: You could squat 100kilos for 5x2 (we'll pretend that is hard) m/w/f OR you could squat 100kilos m/t/w/th/f/sa for 6x1 (much easier workout). In the first option you get 30 reps at 100 kilos and the second you get 36 reps at 100 kilos. The second option will feel easier but over time have a greater training impact. Same intensity, higher volume/week (20%), higher frequency (more motor learning/CNS) which one over time will yield better results without you ever feeling smashed. Problem is that people take the Russian methods (OH Gee 6x1) and go all out. You need to fight the desire to max and trust the system.
It actually falls well withing my other beliefs of doing every rep perfectly. Take your time.
One thing I ALWAYS do when programming is what Jim Wendler suggests in 531. When planning your cycle figure out your sorta max and then use 90% of that weight. So all your weight stays lower. The first week or two build some momentum which carries you deeper into the cycle before gains slow. The momentum relly helps drive gains in the future. Again it is more of a long term approach but it helps a ton. Especially for athletes who have practice to worry about.
As Charlie Francis would say "The rush to results often leads to stagnation and uncertainty." I have followed this for a while BUT as I grow older it makes more and more sense.
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I like the wave load. I am really becoming a believer in staying within yourself. IE not pushing it. Let the frequency and volume take care of the overload. That is more of a Russian philosophy. It is kinda like this: You could squat 100kilos for 5x2 (we'll pretend that is hard) m/w/f OR you could squat 100kilos m/t/w/th/f/sa for 6x1 (much easier workout). In the first option you get 30 reps at 100 kilos and the second you get 36 reps at 100 kilos. The second option will feel easier but over time have a greater training impact.
and has a MASSIVE difference in rate of injuries, especially over time. The statistics are very clear on the Russian (and even Chinese which is kind of a modified Russian system) systems low rate of injuries vs the bulgarian and other similar systems, the medal count is also higher for the Soviet system. Its the old fable of the tortise and the hare all over again.
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I think it has to do with a misinterpretation of the Russian lit. Americans see 6x1 and think 6x1@95%
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I think it has to do with a misinterpretation of the Russian lit. Americans see 6x1 and think 6x1@95%
Yea I mean the actual Russian Weightlifting team, there was stats posted a while ago on Pendlays forum and the Russians had an insanely lower rate of injuries vs the bulgarian team, along with longer careers in sport.
Not to mention more medals overall than any other system.
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Very interesting discussion... I remember when I was doing the chezkenny routine which called for squats + bench press + deadlifts + chinups every day and that's when I set my all time PR in the squat in terms of 5RM. Obviously and increase in movement efficiency but was it really JUST that?
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Training
FS 3x90, 2x100, 1x110, 2x5x100
BP 5x83, 3x83, 6x90, 6x77.5
WCU 2x5x85
TKE 15, 20
AWHEEL 2x8 (from knees)
Stimulants: None.
FS notes:
Light workout, low volume. I wasn't sure whether to do 2 sets or 3. Figured i'd do 2 sets this week. And if it works, then stick with it. If I need more, then i'll add an extra set next week. Less is better. And i'll bump up the weight maybe 1kg a week. After 2 months i'll be using 110kg for 2x5 without stimulants which is my current 5rep PR with stimulants.
BP notes:
Wanted 6x83. Didn't happen though, was too heavy and I had no spotter so didn't court failure outside the rack. I think if I was on stims i would got the 6. I didn't think about how not using stimulants would affect my upper body workouts but i'll have to keep to adjust for that in future.
Assistance notes:
Restarted chinups. Will ease back into them, don't wanna strain my pec again. Also TKEs. I might do a few sets of the ab wheel as a gentle reintroduction to the exerrcise.
postworkout doms: abs (yes!).
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Training
FS 4Fx115, 1x125 (PR), 5Fx111 , 4x107.5
BSS 5x20
OHP 4Fx62, 3Fx65, 3x64.5, 5Fx61.5
GM 5x20, 5x60, 2x8x80 (PR)
Stimulants: 200mg caffeine + 1/4 can of coke
FS notes:
It was eerie how light and easy (my own fat loss commercial) the first 3 reps of 115kg felt that I got distracted to the point where I lost focus on finishing the set!
Added 2kg to my heavy single PR from last wk. I am confident I can march up to 130kg or so while taking 2kg jumps yet.
I was one rep short on all the sets (except ofcourse the single which I got). I am ok with it though. I trained well this week but everythign else outside the gym was rather suboptimal. All hings considering i'll take it. I expect things to improve next week.
OHP notes:
Have to be careful with this exercise. I am starting to think it is to blame for my hip problem.. see post below.
Assitance notes:
Started doing Gooood mornings! Exciting stuff. Lets see where it leads.
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placeholder for general thoughts
My legs have been rather sore lately too. And abs also. This probably affected my heavy CNS intensive workout this week. As my abs get stronger and my legs adapt to volume, I expect a straightforward path to 135kg front squat, esp considering i'm still taking 2kg jumps on the singles.
The one thing which concerns me is my right leg being very weak compared to my left leg. I wish I could fix that somehow. But the only exercise which I know to work my legs is the backsquat and i'm still avoidng that atm. For me, the backsquat is the superior leg exercise, i'm convinced. On that thought I am going to try BSS. I remember my R leg being rather shaky on these, so perhaps if they become less shaky that will carry over to squatting too.
I am going to start my remedial mobility/flexibility work now. I have got a copy of that supple leopard book. Time I started working on addressing my structural problems. It will be hard and painful but I know it will be worth it when i've fixed myself up. If my squat becomes symmetrical, my right leg catches up to my strong leg then I have no doubt i'll be squatting more weight than ever. And if I can do while progressing my FS up to 140kg i'll be nice and ready for the next stage where I need another 20kg on the bar to double my bodyweight.
The main areas I want to address first is my flexibility at the bottom of a squat. I am not happy with it as it stands at the mo. It's too asymmetric. Also think my back is a bit fucked up which is causing issues with my right hip flexor. I noticed that after squatts my hips were ok. But as I warmed up for ohp, my hips started complaining. That suggests it's a back/spine issue.
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Mobility Session #1
Started with the squat specific stretching ..
Experimenting with improving my bottom position on the squat. Using the california strength video as a guide (starts approx 3:48)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYMqN6vveB0
I am doing that stretch as per video trying to get my spine vertical and upright.
Progress !! PR!!!!!!! - I can get my spine both deep, upright and flat How you ask? By adding a 3/4 heel (maybe 1/2" because i used rubber which compresses.). I think if I had a pair of oly shoes with a ~1" heel, my squat would be perfect. I am blown away by this discovery. Time to go shopping for shoes I guess.. lol.
Finished the mobility session. That was harder than my workout. lol. I'll keep working on it. It's taught me a lot of things already. The reason I SqMorn out of the bottom of certain squats is because of back rounding. If the back is straight you move up and down in the vertical plane. When back rounding occurs though, the movement is forwards, then up. I need to work hard on fixing this. I wonder what the reason is. Could be anything, ankle flexibility, calves, hamstrings, hips, etc. My spine is perfectly flat at parallel and just below. But to go ATG it causes that famous buttwink. I am not convinced even new shoes will remove that. I'll keep working on mobility and see where that takes me. It's possible that eventually i'll be able to go ATG with or without the new weightlifting shoes.
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don't you already have oly shoes?
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don't you already have oly shoes?
Nope. Kind of. I had my pair mutilated when I didn't know better. They're like flat shoes better suited for lowbar squatting not deep front or highbar ones, not ideal for my obviously.. :/
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99.999% convinced my hip problem is caused by my back. I can pretty much fix it when it occurs by adjusting and stretching the back. Will try make my back happier from now on and continue working hard on mobility and then I can resume normal training including backsquats & paused front squats.
Sick postworkout doms in the PC chain, glutes, hams and lower back. Good mornings have delivered. It's like doing RDLs without the CNS stress of squeezing the bar. Win! While doing GMs I had a good burn going in my abs as well. Signs are this exercise was the missing link in my training.
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99.999% convinced my hip problem is caused by my back. I can pretty much fix it when it occurs by adjusting and stretching the back. Will try make my back happier from now on and continue working hard on mobility and then I can resume normal training including backsquats & paused front squats.
Sick postworkout doms in the PC chain, glutes, hams and lower back. Good mornings have delivered. It's like doing RDLs without the CNS stress of squeezing the bar. Win! While doing GMs I had a good burn going in my abs as well. Signs are this exercise was the missing link in my training.
lol. what a concept.
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99.999% convinced my hip problem is caused by my back. I can pretty much fix it when it occurs by adjusting and stretching the back. Will try make my back happier from now on and continue working hard on mobility and then I can resume normal training including backsquats & paused front squats.
Sick postworkout doms in the PC chain, glutes, hams and lower back. Good mornings have delivered. It's like doing RDLs without the CNS stress of squeezing the bar. Win! While doing GMs I had a good burn going in my abs as well. Signs are this exercise was the missing link in my training.
Back and hips are frustratingly interrelated. Your psoas actually is a back muscle that crosses the hip flexor and MAY or MAY NOT be made of two muscles! Seriously, when I learned that only around 50% of people have a psoas minor... that's crazy! That area is annoying though because pain/tightness/weakness in the hips, back and abs are all related and usually focusing on which of the three you think of as the source doesn't solve the problem. Don't know if it's true but my PT told me the reason sprinters have such prominent developed abs is because of tightness that develops in the hip flexors and back and pushes you into anterior tilt causing the abs to be statically on and leads to the ab development. According to him good neutral posture will lead to less prominent abdominals and a large "six-pack" is a sign of bad posture. He's pretty knowledgeable but it could be a slight exaggeration...
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99.999% convinced my hip problem is caused by my back. I can pretty much fix it when it occurs by adjusting and stretching the back. Will try make my back happier from now on and continue working hard on mobility and then I can resume normal training including backsquats & paused front squats.
Sick postworkout doms in the PC chain, glutes, hams and lower back. Good mornings have delivered. It's like doing RDLs without the CNS stress of squeezing the bar. Win! While doing GMs I had a good burn going in my abs as well. Signs are this exercise was the missing link in my training.
lol. what a concept.
Yeah. I realised today I have nonexistent hamstrings. When I bring them up via GMs i'll be way more balanced. I expect it will do wonders for my athleticism. It wasn't so bad when I was backsquatting after front squatting but the last month and a half or so i've laid off backsquats. Well i've got a posterior exercise in now so hopefully that'll lead to an improvement in hamstring mass and strength.
T0dday very interesting, thanks for the info. Explains my issues nicely.
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Amazing!
So the half-deadlift would suck for you since you have beast hamstrings!
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Amazing!
So the half-deadlift would suck for you since you have beast hamstrings!
MY GMs LOOK LIKE MY HALF DEADLIFTS BUT WITHOUT THE CNS STRESSING GRIP ISSUES.
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Training
FS 3x115, 4x107.5, 5x105, 5x102.5, 5x100
BP 6x60, 6x70, 6x77.5, 6x75
Stimulants: None
FS notes:
Total reps: 24
yo godammn these /unstimulated heavy/volume workouts are brutal. So hard but so good. My quads are singing like never before. I think the recent mobility work and emphasis on flexibility at the bottom position has paid off. It has made the front squat a better leg exercise. My form is a lot better than before, esp on the backoff sets and the scary thing is it's early days yet and there more improvements to be reaped.
If I am bold, I can imagine working up to 5x115 caffeine free sometime in this 12 week program. I mean i did a triple today on the 2nd week. I can see getting to 4 reps very soon (within a week or two). And then I have time to work on the 5th rep.
Abs are struggling a bit during limit reps. I guess they're still getting used to the new program.
OH and after front squats hip flexors are fine. Recent mobility work and form cleanups have done the trick. If I am to blame any one exercise it'c fucking overhead press for my back problems.. but anyway, enough about that for now.
Can't wait til friday to squat 127kg :)
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nice set, man. congrats on the PR.
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Thanks man. I know my depth isn't consistent yet but i'm still delighted.
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Training
FS 3x90, 2x102.5, 1x110, 2x5x102
OHP 4x61.5, 1x65, 10x40
WCU 5x85, 5x90
CURLZ 8x30
ABWHEELZ 2x10
Stimulants: None
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Hips are 100% ok now. Plan to start backsquatting next week! Woohooho. Also pec is close to 100% too. Flexibility/mobility work is paying off nicely. I expect it to do much more for me in the coming few weeks.
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Training
FS 4Fx115, 1x127 (PR), 5x111 (PR)
BP 6x84 (PR), 7x80 (PR)
GM 2x8x90 (PR)
BBALL (30 mins, 10 SVJ dunks, ~20 RVJ)
FS notes:
So I just got an easy PR on the 127kg single. Which means back when I had the 4x116kg PR I was probably a ≥130kg squatter?! I have no doubt i'll get 129kg next friday. But the PR i'm especially delighted with is the 111kg for 5. Finally got that PR, it's been a while chasing it. The disappointing set was the 115kg - wanted a 4 but bailed on it on the 4th rep, just didn't have it in me so I didn't court failure/injury by forcing the issue.
I'm unhappy with my form but i'll keep going, I wanna get up to 140kg asap and then change focus on perfecting technique. Not long to go, esp how easily i'm getting these 2kg PRs on the max singles every week. ETA 6 weeks? We'll see.
BP notes:
One of those rare BP PRs. I'll take it :) 1RM calc puts me at 98kg max. The 100kg milestone looms ever so tantalisingly near.
BBALL notes:
Kinda got carried away and attempted some 32 dunks + 5 jumps. Haven't had a dunk session in what feels like 3-4 months. So that was fun. But, my right ham/glute is acting weird now, think i might have done my back again. Sigh.
Good news is that I can still dunk, more or less the same. Bad news is I haven't got my abs anymo. I also got my first dh slam on this rim even though i'm a fat cunt now and out of practice dunking. Can't wait to get my squat up to 140kg and then cut back to 75kg bw.
Was really tempted to do paused front squats but decided to play it safe and wait patiently til next week to keep my hips happy as they have been lately.
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Congrats on the PRs man. You're absolutely smashing it.
Dunks are looking nice too. I like practicing the one bounce dunks. Good transition to game environment.
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Congrats on the PRs man. You're absolutely smashing it.
Dunks are looking nice too. I like practicing the one bounce dunks. Good transition to game environment.
Thanks!
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Training
FS 5x107, 5x105, 5x102.5, 5x100
BP 6x70, 6x78.5, 6x75, 6x72.5
FS notes:
I noticed how my depth's nonexistent lately. And I tried to get back to where it used to be. But there is a problem. If i do it with my current (in flux form) it hurts my hips (by bothering my back). So. I went bck and looked at tape of my squats from xmas and I was blow away. I was doing full ATG depth with crisp professional olympic lifter form back then. How far I have fallen. My mobility was fantastic back then! This gives me pause. Have I been wasting my time? Back then i'd get pinned by a 115kg single. Now I can do that for 4-5 reps and yet I feel i've not improved if anything i've regressed. I can put 130kg on the bar and FS it, but with less than thrilling depth. So. There are a few things I need to change. I want to take my form back to the way it was back then, depth also. And if I do both those things my back wont hurt and bother my hips, and i'll be a better lifter all around.
^ Damn. Hard to believe that was me.. lol.
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There are people much more knowledgeable than me in here, but imho your current ( heavier ) FS is better for your training. Yes, it is not as deep as the old one, but it is still well below parallel. I am not sure that lowering the weight to reach an olympic depth squat will contribute positively to your training, unless it is olympic squats that you are training for.
Just a couple of cents, plus a link with a good relevant read : http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/squatdepth.html
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There are people much more knowledgeable than me in here, but imho your current ( heavier ) FS is better for your training. Yes, it is not as deep as the old one, but it is still well below parallel. I am not sure that lowering the weight to reach an olympic depth squat will contribute positively to your training, unless it is olympic squats that you are training for.
I agree vag. Actually if you look at the BEFORE vid, I was getting a lot of bounce out of the hole by going that deep. It made the lift easier if anything. Now it's harder because I don't have such a strong bounce out of the hole, it asks for more brutal strength/power to complete the lift without the leverage. Funny isn't it. I think if I was squatting deeper now I would moving more weight more easily just because I get so much more momentum out of the deep squat. Which is to say, I think if athleticism is my main goal, then my current depth isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'll keep piling on the weight, once i've got to my goal of 140kg - I can take a few months to improve form and depth with the goal of using the same weights but with better depth.
I don't mind having nice squats, it's aesthetically pleasing and makes the lift more efficient. I am struggling with bruteforcing lifts right now, when it used to be more technique dependent in the past which I would prefer at least from a mental perspective.
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I figured it out. Expect nice deep pretty squats for workouts coming up, including PR ones!
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I tried to recreate my form from december but to no avail. I am getting frustrated now, it feels like i've spun my wheels this whole time. And what's worse i've picked up an injury that threatens to be chronic. So i'm decidedly worse off. Oh well.
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Training
FS 2x100, 1x110, 3Fx115, 1Fx129
BP 3x70, 2x80, 6Fx85
FS notes:
Good news is my depth is good enough now. Bad news is couldn't get any of my sets, failed 115 on the 3rd rep and 129 on the bottom. I feel bad about all of this but it's okay, at least i'm back on the wagon.
BP notes:
Failed outside the rack, had to to have someone remove the plates for me, that was scary because the bar gets unbalanced. Right hamstring cramped up. In future i'll have to bench inside the rack or avoid failure outside the rack. This sucks.
Delayed workout W3D3 by 2 days and got really weak but got it in just now. Awful workout, have been eating and sleeping poorly and have been stressed too. If I had done a heavy workout last time, i probably would have held on to strength better but because it was a light/low volume workout it didn't have the same effect. Anyway, enough about all of that. In other news i've gotten addicted to playing starcraft 1 again after a 10 year break. The game is pure crack, so good. My eyes are really red all the time and i'm not sleeping much as a result. It's good, gives me an escape from the drudgery of life lately. Think i'm going thru a phase where i've become fed up of training esp with issues i'm dealing with to do with injuries, bad form, lapsing body comp and lack of progress.
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Looks like that hamstring cramp yesterday was more than just a cramp, think I have strained it on that last failed rep of bench press. lol. In the past the best period of training for me usually comes when i've had a period of frustration and I think this is about to happen again. The problem is i've had nothing to train towards, i don't really chase a vertical jump goal like many ppl, or a certain sprint time or whtaever. I just wanted to be a good athletic basketball player, and without any games to train for, i've had no motivation. So i've come up wiht a goal, by my 30th birthday mid sept, I want to have a double bw front squat (150kg @ 75kg). That's all. Nothing else. I would like my bench to be above 6x90+kg though as an upper body goal just to keep my upper body improving.
So yea, 150kg FS @ 75kg by my 30th birthday. Let's get it done.
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Good goal, also very doable IF you cut out that manic depressive phase you keep hitting right after you do something good in your training. Increasing the frequency of front squat, which for you might simply mean replacing back squat with front squat. Looks like most of your pains have come after back squats anyhow, so no need to keep messing with something less specific to your goals.
Getting to 2x bw front squat will do much more for your athleticism than anything youll gain from back squatting regardless.
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Good goal, also very doable IF you cut out that manic depressive phase you keep hitting right after you do something good in your training. Increasing the frequency of front squat, which for you might simply mean replacing back squat with front squat. Looks like most of your pains have come after back squats anyhow, so no need to keep messing with something less specific to your goals.
Getting to 2x bw front squat will do much more for your athleticism than anything youll gain from back squatting regardless.
Sorry i've been a bit emo lately. haha. Good advice. I tried the lower back band stretch you recommended to atozo, bc i've got back problems too. today my glutes are domming in a new place than usual. even while doing the stretch i was getting a great burn. good stuff. think i'll keep doing it. one side of my body was really struggling. might be addressing my degeneracy somehow?
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Training
FS 5x20, 5x40, 4x60, 3x90, 2x102.5, 1x112.5, 2x115, 0x120, 2Fx110, 5Fx100
BP 6x20, 6x50, 5x60, 3x70, 2x80, 1x85
I never log my warmups but since my workouts these days are basically just warmup weights, I guess that's what i shud log lol. This is about the point where people disappear from the logging subforum but i'll keep logging even if it's just baby weights now.
I am annoyed that I couldn't bench properly today. I tried benching inside the rack but the combo of pin heights just didn't work and i can't use the spotting bars for this shit. So i'm back outside the rack but without a spotter. I'm going to try rig up a spotting thing tonight, see what I can find at the hardware shop.
Losing motivation. Getting really fat, still broken/injured this week.
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Training
FS 3Fx113, 1x110, 5x97.5, 2x5x95
HBBS 6x85, 5x87.5, 6x60 (paused)
BP 5x85, 5x80, 6x77.5
FS notes:
The 95s were nice and deep and pretty. Not so much for the rest. I will work up from here, maintaining depth & form.
BS notes:
Hips healthy now, re-initiated backsquatting.
BP notes:
I didn't wanna court failure so didn't go for the 6th rep PR - will go for it on friday though, my brother will be over to spot me on the weekend. Actually no he wont, just remembered. But i'll arrange someone else i guess.
Fresh start in July. When training is good, I find it easy to stay true to my diet, so now i feel good about my chances for the week after a decent first session. I am hoping to work my heavy triple on the front squat up to 117 or so by friday. BP pr on friday (~99kg max) and backsquat will go up 2.5kg each time.
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Training
FS 1x107.5, 3x105, 5x97.5
OHP 5x50, 2x60, 2x62.5, 3x60, 4x57.5
Stimulants: None
FS notes:
Form was ok, depth was good.
OHP notes:
Last OHP session was 3 weeks ago, wasn't sure if to go all in or be conservative. Kind of went half way. Working towards 3-5x65.
Seems like my legs have blown up lately. They seem much bigger but I dunno if it's that's a local or a global maximum.
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actual measured difference or just visual?
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Visually. Measures as 23" - which is where they've always been. Wonder if there is a way to add 2" thickness to my legs and what that would do for my lifts. If only there was a way.
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Wonder if there is a way to add 2" thickness to my legs and what that would do for my lifts. If only there was a way.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Squat.png)
(http://wednesdaychef.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/11/08/tenderloin_7.jpg)
(http://steamykitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/how-to-microwave-rice-recipe-8144.jpg?4fd0a3)
repeat
;)
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Mine are 21 inches but i'm shorter than you and have 13 inch calves so my bones are naturally small.
Edit- My left leg will probs be 12 inches once it comes out of the cast.
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I refuse to believe you have smaller legs than me. I'm probably measuring wrong. You're a rugby player, they have huge thighs! My calves are 14-14.5" atm, but when I play basketball they go up closer to 15". Would love to have 17" arms and calves haha.
Vag lol. The plan was to get down to 8% bodyfat, get real strong at that point while being a lightweight. And then do a traditional bulk to gain some mass. I just never finished the job. After dieting down to 10% or so (probably 11-13% in reality), i got tired of cutting. I keep meaning to start, but i can't even get thru 1 day of dieting these days. Seems my discipline has gone down the drain.
Honestly I think the only way I could add another even 1" to my arms/legs would be to start juicing. At which point i'm going to be pissed off with myself for not starting that sooner because I could have achieved decent gains much easier/quicker and spend my time doing other things instead!
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Nah I got fkn marathon runner legs.
(http://wABcdshgCHPPjeDvsHpBpEilXlPQBiRTlceL-610xh.jpg)
(http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/photos/view-user-photo/28691931)
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Mutumb000 - Lol, evidently we won the genetic lottery stakes. But at least you've got athleticism to make up for it! Having said that I think you're way below your genetic potential. From memory your diet is pretty suboptimal so I wouldn't be suprised if you can put on loads of mass when you your training and diet converge on optimality.
I practiced shooting today. Had been planning it for a long time, finally had a chance to get down to the court and test out my fixes. It turns out I am capable of shooting a technically acceptable jumpshot. I should have been shooting like this all along, I just never learnt the proper mechanics til now. If I had played basketball formally when younger, I would have been coached the correct the technique from the start. But until I saw the horrors on video in my latter 20s, I had no idea I had bad mechanics. Just one session in and my mechanics have been cleaned up a good deal. Still have room for improvement though. Makes me think. So many things I've tried to learn on my own, only to spend much time later fixing things because of poor technique. I think if I were to do it again, I would have learnt properly in the first place via a coach or rigorous dedication to technique. I regret learning from the source I had, which encouraged adding weight even with shit form. I should have perfected technique before adding any weight. I think the self coaching method when it comes to sport/lifting has been a complete failure because of the way I went about it.
I am using a top down approach to fixing my form. I see now my legs are all over the place, so I will probably address that next time.
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Training
FS 4x60, 3x90, 2x102.5, 1x112.5, 3Fx115, 0x127.5, 0x122.5, 1x112.5, 3Fx107.5
BP 4x85, 8x60
HBBS 5x60, 3x90, 6x95, 6x97.5, 8x92.5 (PR)
CU 2x5x86
FS notes:
Another disappointing FS session. Was happy with form and what not, just failing too many sets man. Might take a reset next week and work back towards PR weights.
BS notes:
Ok so this is the one lift which is going well for me right now. I am able to backsquat discomfort free and am currently using it properly (for higher reps) the way it's supposed to be done. Have to be patient and build up the volume/reps, mastering the lift before chasing big weights. Once my form is solid, my technique automatic, i'll pile on the plates. I reckon when I had a 130 FS I probably had a 145kg or so raw/belt free backsquat in me - unrealised of course because at the time I was focusing on FS and doing BS as an afterthought (6x117.5kg was my best HBBS this year). The really nice thing about backsquatting is what I keep coming back to every time I start doing them is how good a leg exercise it is. It feels like the entire weight is on my legs and to get the bar up, i have to use my quads. I never get that with front squats, i guess because i got so good at using my glutes and hamstrings at doing front squats that my quads were never isolated the way backsquat does. It might also have to do with depth because my FS are deep which get more muscles involved whereas backsquat depth cuts off at a point where the brunt of the work is handled by quads.
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Nice work on the jump shot. Keep smashing the practice and it'll become second nature during a game.
I went through something similar a while back (forearm was drifting out to the side when shooting) and it made a helluva difference. Also good to get plenty of input from the legs too. At our heights a proper jump shot is incredibly hard to block.
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Training
FS 2x90, 1x100, 1x107.5, 3x112.5, 5Fx105, 5x100, 5x97
HBBS 3x90, 2x97.5, 2x6x100, 8x95 (PR)
BP 6x50, 6x60, 6x70, 7x80 (=PR), 8x77.5 (PR)
FS notes:
Slowly getting back into the groove but still a way to go. I was gonna do another set but I decided I would rather get my BS sets in than do more FS and then not be able to do a good BS session.
BS notes:
Got to 100kg, now will take 2kg jumps on the 6s. 8s will be 2kg as well, except if 1kg over a 5kg multiple. Also will try go for 9 reps next time. This way I am closer to getting 10 reps than if I keep doing 8s. My goal is 110kg for 10 reps which is around a 150kg calculated max, kinda where I need to be for a double bodyweight once i've finished cutting.
BP notes:
Pretty sure I could have got 8 reps on that 80kg set - but I didn't have a spotter and didn't wanna risk getting pinned so I racked it. Still got a PR anyway the following set albeit 2.5kg lighter.
Total squat volume today is over 40 reps, which is a decent amount of volume. Hopefully this will trigger some progress back into pr territory. Total bench volume is 33 reps. Good pump. Hopefully will get the 6x85 PR on friday.
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Nice work on the jump shot. Keep smashing the practice and it'll become second nature during a game.
I went through something similar a while back (forearm was drifting out to the side when shooting) and it made a helluva difference. Also good to get plenty of input from the legs too. At our heights a proper jump shot is incredibly hard to block.
Thanks! I think if I make a full switch to proper form, I'll have to get more out of my legs than I am used to. In the past I was guilty of pushing the ball forwards towards the rim, which is wrong because you don't want to push the ball out rather you want to shoot it out so it lands softly into the rim. I can't even hit a 3 right now with good form because i dont put enough on the ball to make the distance so they're falling short. Hopefully when I address the bottom half of shooting i'll be able to shoot from anywhere on the court with good form! Good call on the height thing also, if I release the ball higher it's very difficult to block esp if my vertical (standing) goes up to 36" or so.
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i don't play basketball nearly as seriously as a lot of the guys on here so take this with an enormous grain of salt, but cues help me in all kinds of things, not least shooting a basketball. the number-one most-helpful cue by far for me as far as shooting well vs. shooting poorly is "bend your knees." if i bend my knees, i get elevation and the movement is smooth from bottom to top, i get a nice straight-on release and the ball usually goes in the net. if i don't bend my knees, all hell breaks loose.
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Good looking out, i'll make sure to focus on knees when I get a chance to work on my shot again.
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Nice work on the jump shot. Keep smashing the practice and it'll become second nature during a game.
I went through something similar a while back (forearm was drifting out to the side when shooting) and it made a helluva difference. Also good to get plenty of input from the legs too. At our heights a proper jump shot is incredibly hard to block.
Thanks! I think if I make a full switch to proper form, I'll have to get more out of my legs than I am used to. In the past I was guilty of pushing the ball forwards towards the rim, which is wrong because you don't want to push the ball out rather you want to shoot it out so it lands softly into the rim. I can't even hit a 3 right now with good form because i dont put enough on the ball to make the distance so they're falling short. Hopefully when I address the bottom half of shooting i'll be able to shoot from anywhere on the court with good form! Good call on the height thing also, if I release the ball higher it's very difficult to block esp if my vertical (standing) goes up to 36" or so.
Yep. The most important thing is to get comfortable with your technique and hammer it so it becomes second nature. I have to admit though that at the level I play at (social) a few weeks worth of focus made a huge difference. My go to move is a one dribble pull up from the top of the key. I get good height and it's almost impossible to block. Considering most guards in my league are under 6ft it becomes a relatively easy shot too.
The actual biggest difference to my shot was focusing on the back of the rim when shooting regardless of where from. Uncanny how such a small thing can make a big difference.
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Training
FS 2x90, 2x100, 1x110, 3x115, 4x107.5, 5x105
HBBS 3x90, 2x97.5, 2x6x102
OHP 4x60, 2Fx65, 5x60
FS notes:
Yes. No failures today :) Form was decent too, depth was good.
BS notes:
Lance talks about exploding the bar up even on submax sets. I am working on that, because I think with backsquat I can make my quads stronger by focusing on getting a strong quad driven cocentric, kind of like atzo's squats. It will help my front squat as well as other athletic activities like sprinting and jumping.
Pushing both my squats up aggressively back into PR territory, 3x a week, otherwise weds is usually a light/low vol day, but for the next few weeks it will be a normal progression.
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I took vag's advice and have been eating meat and carbs for growing my legs this week. I doubt I can add mass to my legs but we'll see what happen in the next few weeks on this diet of high volume squatting and meat and carbs.
The plan is to do just enough front squatting to keep my my FS moving up. But to do a lot of backsquatting to add up the reps. A lot easier to do volume with backsquats when you're doing sets of 6. And even 8 as I have been, with the goal of getting even 10 reps.
Coges, i'd love to have a go-to move like that. Was thinking about it, during games if i'm shooting over someone, my form naturally becomes good in that i'll have a higher release (to avoid getting blocked). I've just got make that my regular shot so it's the same whether practising or game time for consistency. Will post a video on friday, hope to get down to the court and work on my shot.
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You already know but:
1) You need to eat quantities, a 'normal' plate of 200g steak and a bowl of rice are ~600-700 kcals. It's a long way to 2.5-3K.
2) You can't expect results in 1 week. If it was so easy, we would all be carrying kf's quadzillas!
;D
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Quick tip on getting your shot to carry over is to practice your shot at game speed and use 'game moves'. That way its a very natural progression to a game situation and you don't feel hurried.
For example Coges said his go to was a one dribble pull up. If I were him I'd focus on that in practice at full speed. One hard fast dribble and good height on the release. If he practices it slow then gets hurried in a game his form could suffer. Make practice hard and games are easy.
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BS notes:
Lance talks about exploding the bar up even on submax sets. I am working on that, because I think with backsquat I can make my quads stronger by focusing on getting a strong quad driven cocentric, kind of like atzo's squats. It will help my front squat as well as other athletic activities like sprinting and jumping.
Pushing both my squats up aggressively back into PR territory, 3x a week, otherwise weds is usually a light/low vol day, but for the next few weeks it will be a normal progression.
Thanks for the words man. One tip though...and this may be broscience so take it with a grain of salt...With the powerful concentric, watch the lower back in the beginning. I think that is how I got hurt back in April. Your legs are plenty strong, but your back may not be ready to brace an explosive move out of the whole, so maybe ease into the explosive concentric. Either way, good luck man,I'm sure you will get it. And btw, your depth isn't jus good its ATG, which is awesome.
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Quick tip on getting your shot to carry over is to practice your shot at game speed and use 'game moves'. That way its a very natural progression to a game situation and you don't feel hurried.
For example Coges said his go to was a one dribble pull up. If I were him I'd focus on that in practice at full speed. One hard fast dribble and good height on the release. If he practices it slow then gets hurried in a game his form could suffer. Make practice hard and games are easy.
Yep exactly. That's how I've been practicing. Made the mistake of using half speed initially and during a game my form would break down. Have been practicing full speed explosive style and it's made a huge difference. Hit 5 in a row that way a few weeks back. Such an easy shot too. If I can do it I'm sure almost anyone can.
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BS notes:
Lance talks about exploding the bar up even on submax sets. I am working on that, because I think with backsquat I can make my quads stronger by focusing on getting a strong quad driven cocentric, kind of like atzo's squats. It will help my front squat as well as other athletic activities like sprinting and jumping.
Pushing both my squats up aggressively back into PR territory, 3x a week, otherwise weds is usually a light/low vol day, but for the next few weeks it will be a normal progression.
Thanks for the words man. One tip though...and this may be broscience so take it with a grain of salt...With the powerful concentric, watch the lower back in the beginning. I think that is how I got hurt back in April. Your legs are plenty strong, but your back may not be ready to brace an explosive move out of the whole, so maybe ease into the explosive concentric. Either way, good luck man,I'm sure you will get it. And btw, your depth isn't jus good its ATG, which is awesome.
Thanks for the warning, will heed it. Can you tell me what goes thru your head when you're going into the rep? Talk/walk me thru it if possible. My depth for FS is good, my depth for BS is not haha, it's just below parallel, which is actually ok with me, because I do my fs's deep so hopefully i'm not missing out on much there. I actually prefer it this way because it places the brunt of the work onto my quads which is what I need.
Quick tip on getting your shot to carry over is to practice your shot at game speed and use 'game moves'. That way its a very natural progression to a game situation and you don't feel hurried.
For example Coges said his go to was a one dribble pull up. If I were him I'd focus on that in practice at full speed. One hard fast dribble and good height on the release. If he practices it slow then gets hurried in a game his form could suffer. Make practice hard and games are easy.
Yep exactly. That's how I've been practicing. Made the mistake of using half speed initially and during a game my form would break down. Have been practicing full speed explosive style and it's made a huge difference. Hit 5 in a row that way a few weeks back. Such an easy shot too. If I can do it I'm sure almost anyone can.
chrism, will do, i'll add that to the list of things to work on when I practice. Thanks guys.
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Training
FS 3x117.5, 2x120B(PR), 2Fx112B
HBBS 2x6x104, 8x97.5 (PR)
BP 6x85 (PR), 6x80
FS notes:
Depth good, form ok. Thought to try using a belt for the 2nd set, put 120kg on there and did it ok but I had no juice in my legs so I struggled a bit with that set. I think if my quads were fresher, i could have done maybe another rep or 2? Well who knows. I've been beating my legs up a lot this whole week with squat volume so fatigue is a major factor right now. Anyway, I thought to try 112x5 as a PR with but I failed that shit on the 2nd rep.
BS notes:
Wasn't happy with my form. Went back later and figured how to fix it. Happier now.
BP notes:
Finally got the 6x85kg PR!! That puts my 1RM close grip BP at 99kg! I'm thrilled. So close to 2 plates but yet so far, it took everything I had to lock out that 6th rep. My spotter was terrified haha but she's a tiny 5ft girl so it's understandable. How i'm going to add weight from here I DONT KNOW but I want to work my way up to 6x90kg in the next few months.
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Thanks for the warning, will heed it. Can you tell me what goes thru your head when you're going into the rep? Talk/walk me thru it if possible. My depth for FS is good, my depth for BS is not haha, it's just below parallel, which is actually ok with me, because I do my fs's deep so hopefully i'm not missing out on much there. I actually prefer it this way because it places the brunt of the work onto my quads which is what I need.
Honestly, I don't think that my squat form is anything amazing but this is what I do: I don't really think about my depth. I just go as far down as I can while maintaining a neutral spine; being safe is always the most important thing for me. If my flexibility increases over time I can go lower. Anyway, as far as my mental process, I really try to keep it simple. On my first warm-up reps I don't do anything explosively at all. I just use them to try and achieve my desired range of motion, so I go pretty slow. Once, I'm feeling pretty good with really light weight (obviously this depends on the individual), then I start doing the reps a little more explosively. As far as cues....all I'm ever worried about is having my back straight. If my back is straight and I'm as upright as possible I have no fear to explode and really go to work in the squat, so both my cues are centered around that. THe first thing I do is to get my hands as close as possible without discomfort in my elbows...this makes my upperback really tight and that in turn makes my chest pop out. Also, I engage my lats by pulling my elbows down really hard and trying to crush the bar (I think some people like the elbows up and back, but that doesn't work for me). The other cue that helps me is something Lance said in my journal. He said to use the hip flexors to pull yourself into the squat. This second cue helps me with my lumbar spine. When I engage the hip flexors in this way it really helps me keep the back straight. I think that is why you think my squats are so concentric driven, because all I'm really thinking about is my back. So, when I descending I'm just thinking about the 2 things above: (1) Upperback tight, pull down elbows; (2) Pull myself down with hipflexors to keep lower back tight. Once I hit my depth and I have done these things, I feel so tight and wound up like a coil, that I just explode out of the hole. IDK, thats the only way I can describe it. At the bottom of the squat everything is really tightly contracted...my upperback, my lower back, my quads, my glutes....It kind of makes me feel like a spring, and as long as my back is straight I can destroy the weight. Idk, if any of this helps you, but thats usually what I think. Oooo, and obviously the knees need to be pushed out, but I don't really think about this as much because it is usually not a problem (every once in a while it will creep into my form though so I stay conscious of it).
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Thanks for the warning, will heed it. Can you tell me what goes thru your head when you're going into the rep? Talk/walk me thru it if possible. My depth for FS is good, my depth for BS is not haha, it's just below parallel, which is actually ok with me, because I do my fs's deep so hopefully i'm not missing out on much there. I actually prefer it this way because it places the brunt of the work onto my quads which is what I need.
Honestly, I don't think that my squat form is anything amazing but this is what I do: I don't really think about my depth. I just go as far down as I can while maintaining a neutral spine; being safe is always the most important thing for me. If my flexibility increases over time I can go lower. Anyway, as far as my mental process, I really try to keep it simple. On my first warm-up reps I don't do anything explosively at all. I just use them to try and achieve my desired range of motion, so I go pretty slow. Once, I'm feeling pretty good with really light weight (obviously this depends on the individual), then I start doing the reps a little more explosively. As far as cues....all I'm ever worried about is having my back straight. If my back is straight and I'm as upright as possible I have no fear to explode and really go to work in the squat, so both my cues are centered around that. THe first thing I do is to get my hands as close as possible without discomfort in my elbows...this makes my upperback really tight and that in turn makes my chest pop out. Also, I engage my lats by pulling my elbows down really hard and trying to crush the bar (I think some people like the elbows up and back, but that doesn't work for me). The other cue that helps me is something Lance said in my journal. He said to use the hip flexors to pull yourself into the squat. This second cue helps me with my lumbar spine. When I engage the hip flexors in this way it really helps me keep the back straight. I think that is why you think my squats are so concentric driven, because all I'm really thinking about is my back. So, when I descending I'm just thinking about the 2 things above: (1) Upperback tight, pull down elbows; (2) Pull myself down with hipflexors to keep lower back tight. Once I hit my depth and I have done these things, I feel so tight and wound up like a coil, that I just explode out of the hole. IDK, thats the only way I can describe it. At the bottom of the squat everything is really tightly contracted...my upperback, my lower back, my quads, my glutes....It kind of makes me feel like a spring, and as long as my back is straight I can destroy the weight. Idk, if any of this helps you, but thats usually what I think. Oooo, and obviously the knees need to be pushed out, but I don't really think about this as much because it is usually not a problem (every once in a while it will creep into my form though so I stay conscious of it).
This is exactly what I was after. You did a great job walking me thru your reps. I have a lot to learn. The stuff in bold is stuff I have to work on. My grip around the bar is very close because i've worked on bringing grip in over time to the point i'm about an inch away from the rings. I find this helps keep tight too, as you stated. What I hadn't considered was pulling the bar down with elbows. I keep my elbows down but I thought by pushing the bar up I was making myself tighter, I didn't think to try pulling down might actually be better. I will try that out next time!
On the way down you say you go slow and work hard to be tight/stay tight - i found in my best/prettiest reps (usually the first reps in a set), i have a very controlled eccentric phase. That's something I have to consciously work on for the entire duration of the set. Like in my last video (front squat but same lesson applies as backsquat), i kind of rush my last rep, this costs me depth, which costs me bounce, and then i get out of position and my elbow drops.
The other thing is you feel like a loaded spring at the bottom. I don't have that, but perhaps it's because some of my muscles are too relaxed, eg quads/calves. I might tighten then up as I go down into the squat? Pull myself into the bottom of the lift (like lance's suggestion). I first heard of that in Pavel's and I use it for bench press but i'll try it for squats too.
Lots of things to try out next time. I can't wait..
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Training
FS 2x90, 2x100, 2x110, 1x114.5, 3x119.5 (PR), 5Fx112.5, 5x107.5
HBBS 2x6x106, 9x99 (PR)
BP 6x81, 8x78.5 (PR), 7x75
CU 3,6,3,4,3,2,3 (total 22 reps)
Stimulants: 200mg caffeine, 20mg synephrine (inspired by asafa powell to dust off and bust this out of my cupboard lol)
FS notes:
Finally knocked out a heavy triple PR - it's been a while but i crushed it. IWell not really, form was shi t but i'm just pleased to get the PR. I want to think the set was easy but I can't really remember now. After that set, I got cocky and thought now i'll get a new 5Rm while i'm at it, and went for 112.5kg milestone PR when i shuda gone for 112kg PR (and probably got it). But i regret nothing. I didn't even attempt the last 1/2 of the rep so i dont consider it a failure, more like 4.5 reps :P
But next time is the big 3x120kg PR - only a half kilo more on paper, just the plates are not accurate so in practice it usually feels a *lot* heavier than it should be. But i'll get it no problem. I've set my eyes on 3x135kg in this cycle so 120kg is nothing but a peanut! ;)
BS notes:
Good news is i've identified a weakess and i've got an exercise which exhibits the failure. Bad news is I have a weakness that needs fixing. But happy to get 9x99kg! While doing the set I thought my form was amazing, that i was going deep and controlling the set. On video it didn't bear out my prejudices lol. It's okay though. Fix my weakness, fix my BS technique. That's the plan.
BP notes:
Still trying to work around not having a spotter. Frustrating, might probably have got 8 on that last set, and maybe 7 on the first set.
Now to eat loads of carbs and meat and make vag happy :P
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Nice PR on the FS entropy! Glad you found the response helpful; hopefully you find something in there that helps you.
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Nice PR on the FS entropy! Glad you found the response helpful; hopefully you find something in there that helps you.
Thanks, i used your elbow tips and controlled descent. They're gold and i'll keep them in mind when backsquatting.
So here is the thing, the weakness i mentioned in my last post. I think if it were not for that weakness i would have decent backsquat form right now!!! My form is bad because my knees come in out of the hole. Realisation of the weakness came about when I was doing my warmup mobility work and I tried that stretch thing La nce suggested to you in your log - video below (is it called a banded glute bridge?)
Anyway quickly even within like a rep or two, i've got this sick burn in my right glute (I point to the area during the vid). Left isn't hot either, being all shaky and unstable, but right is especially weak. So i'd say i've pinpointed a reason for my shitty backsquat. Now the plan is to do this same exercise a lot until I get better at it. Hopefully fix that weakness and as a result have better backsquat form.
I welcome theories suggesting what weakness this is and how it affects my backsquat.
Also is my fix just to do the banded glute bridge ok, or are there other things to try too?
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lolololololololol that video is cracking me up. something about the insistence of your pointing. haahhahahahahahahahahaha
in seriousness, probably can't hurt to keep doing glute activation stuff like those banded bridges. also, just a guess, but working on posture throughout the day might help -- the first big takeaway i had from starrett's book is that engaging your glutes is sine qua non for maintaining proper posture. something i've been doing consciously throughout every day and it seems to be helping. i even noticed having an easier time maintaining a good stance while playing tennis yesterday. just a thought.
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Glute activation sounds like some gimmick fitness thing raptor would obsess about but it can't hurt to try. Next thing you know i'll be doing those bar humping exercises he talks about. Cheers man. Lets see what happens. I'm excited by the prospect of fixing my BS. Apparently I should have a 150kg max backsquat for my front squat max, which is around 2bw (ideal bw not current fat ass bw). So i'm def leaving a lot on the table yet, hopefully glute activation will realise the remaining gains.
Btw vag I hate u, lol, eating a lot of meat sucks, it's disgusting. i rarely it usually and im struggling with eating a lot now, taste/texture puts me off. still all worth it for PRs ;P :highfive:
Can't wait til the next workout - have decided to go for a FS 3x121 PR and finish the week with 3x123. Think I can do it if i keep up the eating and resting like I have been the past 8 days or so.
Also reading this atm (http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/noglutes.html).
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Glute activation sounds like some gimmick fitness thing raptor would obsess about but it can't hurt to try. Next thing you know i'll be doing those bar humping exercises he talks about.
not sure if serious.
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I was jumping the highest ever after incorporating hip thrusts every day for about 2 weeks (I got sick so couldn't continue). Especially off two feet. Who knows if you have the same glute inhibition off two like I do (it's bad in my case) so...
But the squat overloads the glute in the flexed position while the hip thrust overloads the glute in the extended/hyperextended position so... you get the best of both worlds.
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You convinced me. Did you do any tests to diagnose glute inhibition btw? kelly gives some in that article I linked.
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Following corrective exercises done yesterday, I've got doms in the right places on weak side of my body in my glute/hamstring. This is promising! :D
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You convinced me. Did you do any tests to diagnose glute inhibition btw? kelly gives some in that article I linked.
Let's just say I used to feel a ton of pressure in the knees/quad overload whereas after doing them for a bit that regressed and I was jumping about 2 inches higher I think. Even off a SVJ I was getting higher.
But that is MY particular case of sucking in terms of glute recruitment off two feet.
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Training
FS 1x110, 1x116, 2x121 (PR)
HBBS 2x6x108
Orange Band Glute Bridge 2x12
FS notes:
I read my log wrong and thought I had been doing chinups regularly on mondays. Turns out I hadn't done them in 2 wks, so doing 22 reps this monday messed me up properly to the detriment of today's front squats, costing me a 3x121 PR. I couldn't even hold the rack position on these bad boys my chest was collapsing just standing there! This really fucked me right off because i've been eating like a hippo all this week and if I don't have PRs to show for it, it's all for nothing. Stupid chinups. Having said that, i am a fool for not doing chinups regularly because I desperately need the upper back strength and they will help me squat better.
BS notes:
Never noticed this before but I get hella hunchback of notre damn with my neck on backsquats. That's not right! So i worked on getting my neck back. This felt uncomfortable and I don't think I maintained it thru the set but now i'm aware i'll be trying to fix that asap. Slowly but surely my backsquat form is coming together. I am also feeling a need to do unilateral leg work to beef up my R leg because it's the one whose knee that shoots in out of the hole. Hmm. Work In Progress.
Mobility notes:
These are getting better quickly. Might add another set and go for 3x15 next time.
Wasted todays training really, hope to get back on track on friday. I should have been going for FS 3x123 on friday, instead I have to decided whether to dial back to 3x120 instead. Blah.
I take it back. I've just realised this wasn't such a bad training day at all. I found a new way to improve my backsquat with better neck position. This also goes someway in explaining why i am a much better front squatter than I am backsquatetter. With the FS the neck goes back to avoid choking. It forces the neck into the correct position automatically. LBSS might be onto something with the posture thing. I have good posture. But I can have great posture once my neck is back and my chest is up. When working on the desk i have a fwd head posture.
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I heard Mackelmore Thrift shop. What a sick song..... How did I miss it til now?!
question for all the squatters .. do you hollow ur abs (suck in). Or do you brace (push them out). Also say if you use a cheat belt.
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I heard Mackelmore Thrift shop. What a sick song..... How did I miss it til now?!
Great hook. Horrible gimmicky lyrics. Just like all "Can't Hold Us" and all his hits. Get a talented guy to sing a really catchy hook with a great beat. Throw in some gimmicky, nostalgic, local, "I'm a white boy", lyrics and hope everyone laughs at the words and gets crunk to the beat. ( I am biased I went to high school with the guy and maybe I'm hating just a little bit....lol. Could be possible)
question for all the squatters .. do you hollow ur abs (suck in). Or do you brace (push them out). Also say if you use a cheat belt.
Never use a belt or really do either one. Don't usually squat that heavy so usually relaxed. But when I have gone heavy what I do is basically let my air out and keep my abs firm; they are basically flexed and my breath is held. I'm not pushing out my gut so much but I am conscious of my abs; on the concentric I let a bit of air go out between clenched teeth and out fully at the top and repeat. Sorta hard to explain. Learning this technique really helped especially for the quick reversal.
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hollow your abs?!?!? HOLLOW YOUR ABS?!?!?!! what kind of broscience garbage is this?
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Lol relax bro it's a real thing. So-called abdominal hollowing. Stuart McGill says ney, so does everett in his WL book. And Starrett too in his. So that's why i'm asking about this shit. For the record my answer is hollowing because that's how I learnt it (unfortunately).
edit link to read - http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=54160
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I'm not going to argue with anyone (everyone does what they thinks works for them) but what I personally do since you asked us is fill up my belly with as much air as possible and then brace the abs as hard as I can. Obviously when you brace your clenching and bringing them in. I wouldn't call it pushing out. I mean, that once as much air is in there as possible you try and squeeze the shit out of that air against the inside of your spine using your abs. I'm not saying that I know all the science behind this, but this has definitely been the most effective thing for me. My core becomes hard like a rock and I don't lose any force transfer from my legs up. Also I definitely feel that doing it this way helps with keeping my lower back straight. I can literally feel the air that I have sucked in being compressed up against my spine and securing it when I squeeze my abs. This is how belts work; you fill your belly up with air and push out against the belt and it braces your spine; so, I'm not sure what exactly hollowing the abs would do that is beneficial, you would have less air to use to brace the spine.
And I'm not sure that Starett advocates for hollow abs in his book. I would have to check again when I got home, but I'm pretty sure one of his first principles about getting the spine in alignment is bracing the abs after filling them up and clenching the glutes to hold the pelvies in alignment; I could be wrong though. Also, check out videos of many of the top weighlifters of all times...before they start their pull for their lifts so many of them suck in a deep breadth.
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My understanding is that bracing actually means pushing the abs out. Belly button out. Hollowing means pulling belly button inside towards the spine. So a lot of us are technically hollowing even though we think we're bracing. Everett DOES NOT recommend hollowing - he recommends bracing; bracing so understood. Oops, Starett says no to hollowing too.
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And I'm not sure that Starett advocates for hollow abs in his book. I would have to check again when I got home, but I'm pretty sure one of his first principles about getting the spine in alignment is bracing the abs after filling them up and clenching the glutes to hold the pelvies in alignment; I could be wrong though. Also, check out videos of many of the top weighlifters of all times...before they start their pull for their lifts so many of them suck in a deep breadth.
Ah I see where the mixup is. You think that taking a breath and holding it means you must pull abs in? That's not true, just try it out. You can take a breath, hold it and push your abs out. If I do that right now while typing this I get a much stronger core contraction when pushing out than pulling in. You can easily do either while holding your breath. You're a hollower. So am I. But many authorities recommend bracing rather than hollowing.
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^^No, I'm definitely not a hollower, I'm a bracer. Honestly, the way I used the term and the way I have heard it used I just think bracing is contracting your abs as hard as possible. I say this because even after contracting you can draw your belly button in or out; so, I think bracing is something separate. When I say brace I literally mean to tighten the abs as hard as possible and hold them there. I would forget about drawing the belly button in, because all that does is move the tightness you created upwards and no not where you need it; in your lower back.
Edit. http://www.bigbackpain.com/abdominal-bracing-hollowing.html
If you look there you will see that bracing has nothing to do with pushing in or pulling out the stomach. It is just bracing like your about to get hit in the stomach.
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To correctly execute this step, continue squeezing your glutes, take
in a big breath of air, and then exhale. As you let the air out, engage
your abs and get your belly tight. Think about shrink-wrapping your
spine with your abdomen by pulling your bellybutton to your spine.
It’s not sucking in or hollowing; it’s not even drawing in; it’s
stiffening in place as you exhale. As the musculature of your trunk
compresses toward your midline, you create a higher intra-
abdominal pressure around your spine, creating an even more rigid
lever.
I went and looked at the book and he says he's not suggesting hollowing. Sounds like a bunch of self contradictions ha.
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^^^That still makes complete sense and he is saying it better than me. The only difference is he is talking about breathing while doing it. But that is exactly what I was talking about. I just brace; I don't think about my bellybutton though.
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The terminology is confusing. Forget about hollowing/bracing lol. Rephrase the question with the understanding that the abs are held rigidly in either case. For clarity, when your abs are rigid/tensed/contracted, do you pull your abs inward or push them outward??
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i seriously don't understand what's confusing.
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I just brace my stomach as hard as I can after holding in a big breadth. I just create as much tension as possible. I don't think about the direction of anything. Thats just me though, maybe other people do it differently. All I care about is feeling as tight as possible.
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I heard Mackelmore Thrift shop. What a sick song..... How did I miss it til now?!
question for all the squatters .. do you hollow ur abs (suck in). Or do you brace (push them out). Also say if you use a cheat belt.
macklemore sucks
100% push out, bigger girth is more stable. the point of a belt is to give you something to push out against, though I don't use one.
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Brace. Cant squat real heavy without a solid bracing. Plus research sows it is safer. Oh and the TVA from the hollowing ( the main argument for it) actually TVA and proper core activation comes from diaphragmic breathing... so belly breathe and brace and core function will take care of itself.
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Can you define what you mean brace, Alex? As in walk me thru your defn. Actually if you could walk me thru your process starting from approaching the bar all the way to when you rack it when the set is over i'd very grateful.
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Brace? If you were to get punched in the stomach you wouldn't brace?
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THE THING IS THOUGH BRO, YOU CAN BRACE INWARD AND YOU CAN BRACE OUTWARD. WTF DOES BRACE MEAN?
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Training
FS 1x110, 1x115, 3Fx120, 2Fx125B, 3x112, 4Fx108.5
HBBS 2x6x110, 10x100 (PR)
BP 6Fx85.5, 8Fx80
X-Band Walk(orange) - 2x15m
Glute Band Bridge (orange) 3x15
FS notes:
Still paying for those careless chinups from monday. I have to believe if my upper body (back mainly) were less fatigued I would have a shiny new 3RM PR to show for it. Next monday it is. I came quite close to locking out that 3rd rep on the 120kg set as I can remember. But my elbows dropped and I couldnt leg drive up from that point so I put it down. Thought to see what a belt would do, i put on another 5kg aiming to double 125kg but once again my rack let me down and I had to bail on the set. It seems to me my FS right now is limited by the upper back. Not even the so called 'core' because a belt doesn't help me much if at all which suggests it's either legs or upper body.
So monday, i'll repeat 120x3. The fucker is a LOT heavier than what should be a 1/2kg PR. Frustrating!
BS notes:
This lift was much better this workout. The rehab work is already showing form improvement, so much so the weights felt light and though the sets themselves were nevertheless hard, I have to think i'm now on the right track. The high bar acksquat for what it is worth, is already adding slabs of meat to my thighs, there is no denying it. It's the lift which gives me a noticeable quad burn during and after the set, not the FS. I think it will drive my FS up 1:1 just because it's such a leg dominant lift. That's supposing of course that my upper back keeps pace with my leg development, which I will have to ensure by training the upper back directly.
My form felt very strong. I'm taking a narrow stance and my toes are turned out only slightly now (thanks Kelly crossfit guy). I just think i'm awfully close to getting my BS just right.
BP notes:
My (new) spotter kinda ruined my PR attempt. She miscounted the reps, and went for the bar after i finished the 5th rep, so i stopped her and said i have one more, which took away my focus. And then on the 6th rep, i hit my sticking point but she had already moved to grab the bar before I could bear with my full force on locking it out, i gave up because I wasn't going to count the rep even if I got it since she was touching the bar. I miss self spotting myself. Sigh. It's okay, next time i'll for 6x86kg and I'll get it too because I felt very strong today bench wise.
Mobility notes:
Forget the band glute bridge. That's an okay exercise, dont get me wrong. But i've found an ever better one now. It's called the X band walk. It really shows up my weakness and I am confident that by getting good at the exercise I'll have much better backsquat form when all is said and done. Very optimstic about my backsquat right now. Things are going very well.
After doing the mobility work I felt sick. They are hard work. Good..
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you can't brace inward, unless the word "brace" has a different meaning in upside-down land. there's no pulling in or pushing out, you just get your spine and hips lined up right and squeeze your abs. they do tend to go out just a bit because you're flexing them, but that's the same as if you bent your hand to touch your shoulder and then flexed. you're already in position with your hand on your shoulder, the flexing just stabilizes you in that position.
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lolzy pop, Don't shoot the messenger. it's not me man, i dont have a horse in this race. The meaning of 'brace' depends who you ask. The word brace means the same as 'good', everyone thinks it's what they prefer. Ownership of the word etc. The guys pulling their belly button inside think they are bracing. And the guys who are pushing their diaphragm out while squeezing their abs out think they are bracing too. I wish I could quote Everett's book right now because he has an interesting take of this subject as well.
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the people with the horse in the race named "sucking your belly button toward your spine" are betting on a three-legged nag. that's literally the dumbest thing i've heard so far today. you say you don't have a horse in the race, but you continue to acknowledge that "bracing inward" is a possibility, which it manifestly is not. bracing is neither inward nor outward, it is just bracing! your abs and obliques and other core muscles stiffen to preserve the neutral position of your spine! that's it!
i'll post a picture later of what pushing your diaphragm down and your abs out really looks like. most people can't do it at all. it's one of my several useless talents.
kelly starrett is a mediocre writer, the shrink-wrapping metaphor is sort of okay but it falls apart when he adds the bit about sucking your belly button in. you're right that his description is confusing.
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Some of the weirdest discussions here... I would say more but... I'm being diplomatic...
I hear something opposite of the valsalva maneuver here. I personally never did valsalva. I just BRACED or flattened my abs.
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Would you guys say it's impossible to actively push against a lifting belt? And is it impossible to do the opposite?
The interesting this about this week's training is I did very little FS volume (23 reps not including warmups) and a low amount of BS volume (56 reps) too. But yet my quads are sore. They never got sore like this when I did mainly a shitload of FS volume. I mean I used to do that many FS in just 1 workout. It gives support to my theory that my HBBS is way more quad dominant than my FS. I still find it confusing what this means for my musculature - how am I getting the FS up if not with my quads? Glutes? But my glutes are terrifically weak as shown by the glute activation exercises i've been doing lately. Real life mystery. For whatever it's worth though, my backsquat isn't even heavy right now, the weights i'm using are weights i can use for FS for the same reps. So I probably have a lot of potential left in me yet. By next week this time i'll only just have got near my PR weights on the HBBS. And from there I would like to add another 20kg to my HBBS.
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Training
FS 3Fx120, 4x112.5, 3x110, 4x107.5, 3x105
BS 2x6x112, 10x102.5 (PR)
FS 5x100, 4x97.5
BP 7x80, 7x79.5, 7x75
CU 2,5,4,3,4 (banded)
FS notes:
Eventful session. I learnt a huge lesson about this lifting stuff. I had been reading all the information I could get my hands on lately in an attempt to really nail down my technique and become a good lifter. I read everetts's book and he went thru the usual reasons for using olympic lifting shoes. They provide a stable base of support, etc etc. All stuff that makes sense on paper. But in reality I had already discovered the OL shoe can be more of an impediment than a facilitator of good technique. How you ask? Because I had discovered from trial and error that by tightening the shoe up as recommended, and using the metatarsal strap to tightly embrace the foot is one of the touted benefits of the OL shoe actually prevents me from squatting properly, esp at the bottom position.It pulls me out of position, forcing my hips to stay behind and I don't get any bounce out of the hole. Instead I come out leaning fwd at a fault. So you read this stuff and say ok they must be right, i'll try it their way because they're experts. And then you have a string of bad workouts where form rather than being much better is demonstrably worse. PRs are not coming and you're wondering wtf is going on.
On my last set of front squats, I loosed the fuck out of my shoe. Took the bar out. And found my old nice groove on the FS. Form was suddenly and noticeably improved. Hips stayed under the bar.
Before & After bottom positions.
Now I have to question the wisdom of using WL shoes. What exactly are these things providing me? The hard to compress heel? Well I could get that from an inexpensive pair of leather dress shoes! They're just expensive ugly pieces of pointless gym equipment. If I were to do it again, i wouldn't bother with buying them at all. I mean if i'm going to wear them loose then the strap doesn't even need to be there. And all shoes have laces that can be kept loose, again, nothing to be gained.
I did have a curious thought. What if the WL shoe takes away mobility by hugging the foot tightly. But it gives back some mobility thru the heel? The net effect is you get the tightness without sacrificing mobility that would entail? Perhaps that's true. I can't test that hypothesis though cause mine have a small heel.
BS notes:
Wore shoes loose, see FS notes. I don't know whether this is good or bad. On one hand I need much less ankle mobility on HBBS cause they're not as deep. But I was getting more hip involvement with them loose, so perhaps I do get more out of the exercise with looser shoes. More carry over to FS perhaps.
Gorgeous form on that last set of PR HBBS. I'm approaching professional olympic lifter form on these :) Feels good man.
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The interesting this about this week's training is I did very little FS volume (23 reps not including warmups) and a low amount of BS volume (56 reps) too. But yet my quads are sore. They never got sore like this when I did mainly a shitload of FS volume. I mean I used to do that many FS in just 1 workout. It gives support to my theory that my HBBS is way more quad dominant than my FS. I still find it confusing what this means for my musculature - how am I getting the FS up if not with my quads? Glutes? But my glutes are terrifically weak as shown by the glute activation exercises i've been doing lately. Real life mystery. For whatever it's worth though, my backsquat isn't even heavy right now, the weights i'm using are weights i can use for FS for the same reps. So I probably have a lot of potential left in me yet. By next week this time i'll only just have got near my PR weights on the HBBS. And from there I would like to add another 20kg to my HBBS.
Soreness shouldn't really be trusted as that good an indicator of muscle involvement. Soreness can vary based on diet, lifestyle, stress, technique, eccentric speed, etc. Additionally, if you stress the muscle belly near the insertion it's more likely to get sore; different firing patterns may make a muscle more or less sore but muscle activation doesn't always correlate.
For 99% of people the front squat involves more quad activation than the backsquat. Despite this an old coach used to say if you can't front squat you have week hamstrings/glutes. The reason being the largest difference with front and back squat is that the front squat takes your back almost completely out of the lift. The second largest difference is your front squat requires more quad activation than backsquat. However, if you have weak hamstrings/glutes you can still get a backsquat up thanks to your back; not so for frontsquat. When you front squat you probably have a different firing pattern from glutes/ham coming out of the whole to quads; on your backsquat your glutes/ham or more active later in the lift but your back can contribute more as well; this different firing pattern probably causes you to be sore because you are NOT USED TO IT. You have front squatted awhile and you did it in the absence of back squat. Don't forget that. People are always amazed at the muscle activation of a new exercise. Had you back squatted exclusively for a year and then started front squatting you would be posting "OMG front squats make my quads sooooo sore, they must be much more quad dominant". After about 3 years of training you won't hardly get sore at all except for strange dull tendon feelings; then you will be able to better judge.
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bracing is simply what Raptor said. Tense your entire abdominal girdle like you are going to take a punch. We can talk more complex about this but this is essentially what it is. to regulate stiffness you brace the wall and do the valsalva maneuver pushing the diaphragm down and into the brace. This is what you would do if you are attempting a big pull or squat. So the valsalva is not always part of it but it is definitely a component of a good brace.
When you valsalva into the brace you will see the abs push outward a bit.
So it is NOT drawing in, it is not pushing your belly out like buddah (i think tat came from louie simmons and his use of the weight belt), it is just tighten your gut like your friend is trying to knock the wind out of you. Then valsalva into the brace to create as much stiffness as the job requires. Picking up a 45lb plate? may not need more than a little tightness. Squatting 315? Brace and valsalva into it to create as much stiffness as you need. Squatting 600? brace and valsalva maximally into it.
Wanna get better at bracing.
lie down
keeping 1 leg straight on the ground bend the other knee to 90 and keep the foot resting on the ground
brace
Valsalva into the brace
perform small crunch into the brace not letting the valsalva or brace go (just get your shoulderblades off the ground)
this is my understanding of a mcgill crunch
as your brace and valsalva get stronger they will resist the crunch more and make it more and more difficult
Use as much or as little as you need to get the job done. If my nephew is punching my gut it is a little brace. If it one of my MMA fighters it is much more and will include valsalva.
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THE THING IS THOUGH BRO, YOU CAN BRACE INWARD AND YOU CAN BRACE OUTWARD. WTF DOES BRACE MEAN?
Something you most certainly wouldn't think about before getting punched in the stomach.
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Training
FS 1x110, 1x115, 4x112, 5Fx110,
BS 2x6x114
FS notes:
I took out the bar to attempt 3x120kg PR but my chest was crying at the rack and just wasn't having it. It's a clear sign I can't try to force a 3RM FS PR every workout of the week anymore, especially if on wednesdays my upper back, lats and and front are going to be fried from monday's chinups and bench and of course front squatting. Racked it without attempting any reps because there was no chance I could get a PR. Thought to go for 5x112 but the 4th rep felt like a RM. I've forgot how to front squat or something, my form is terrible right now. Thinking I might reduce FS frequency from 3x to maybe 1x or 2x while focusing on BS but attempt a new FS 3RM weekly.
BS notes:
Tightened up shoes for BS. Thought this would limit ROM and depth and take stress of my hips because i'm paranoid of reinjury. I thought my form was terrible. Just cant seem to keep my knees apart in tension, I have to allow them come in before driving the bar up. Is it an anthropometry thing? Maybe i'm just never gonna be able to fix that problem. But that's just what's visible on video. The problem that's really working me with my BS is I don't think my core (especially at the back) is tight during these reps. It almost feels impossible to tighten up when I take the bar out on my back. My back muscles are probably loose or inert thru the whole set. On the last 2 or 3 reps I get this lightening bolt sensation up my arm from my back, probably as a consequence of my back looseness.
The working training plan and philosophy is to push my BS to 6x140kg from todays 6x114kg in the next 4 weeks and build some general mass and BS strength as a consequence. Then later i'll convert that general muscle and strength into useful athletic strength by refocusing on the FS (and perhaps some other pussy gymnastics shit with a barbell). The impediment as always is my shitty form which will be the #1 problem in achieving my goal.
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The interesting this about this week's training is I did very little FS volume (23 reps not including warmups) and a low amount of BS volume (56 reps) too. But yet my quads are sore. They never got sore like this when I did mainly a shitload of FS volume. I mean I used to do that many FS in just 1 workout. It gives support to my theory that my HBBS is way more quad dominant than my FS. I still find it confusing what this means for my musculature - how am I getting the FS up if not with my quads? Glutes? But my glutes are terrifically weak as shown by the glute activation exercises i've been doing lately. Real life mystery. For whatever it's worth though, my backsquat isn't even heavy right now, the weights i'm using are weights i can use for FS for the same reps. So I probably have a lot of potential left in me yet. By next week this time i'll only just have got near my PR weights on the HBBS. And from there I would like to add another 20kg to my HBBS.
Soreness shouldn't really be trusted as that good an indicator of muscle involvement. Soreness can vary based on diet, lifestyle, stress, technique, eccentric speed, etc. Additionally, if you stress the muscle belly near the insertion it's more likely to get sore; different firing patterns may make a muscle more or less sore but muscle activation doesn't always correlate.
You have front squatted awhile and you did it in the absence of back squat. Don't forget that. People are always amazed at the muscle activation of a new exercise. Had you back squatted exclusively for a year and then started front squatting you would be posting "OMG front squats make my quads sooooo sore, they must be much more quad dominant". After about 3 years of training you won't hardly get sore at all except for strange dull tendon feelings; then you will be able to better judge.
I accept your points but I would like to provide some more info. Til April I was squatting 50-50% FS and BS volume for about 6 months.My BS PR was 6x117.5 around May. Since then I stopped using BS while healing my hips. Now my hips are fine I'm BS again. But this time my FS volume has gone down to like 33% what it used to be! Meanwhile BS volume is the same. I'm eating a shitload of food now (back then I was cutting hard!). So these facts bear explaining. How is that my quads are toast after backsquat. Not just doms but like during the sets and immediately after I have a burn in my legs. I'm actually experiencing what colloquially would be felt after a 'leg day'. But my total squat volume is much less now. My BS volume is low to medium thru the week. It's eerie! I used to do waayy more squat volume (with both FS and BS) and while cutting hard and still I didn't have this kind of leg soreness.
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Knees coming together is a common problem especially in tall athletes. I've trained guys taller than you whose knees come in so close that they almost touch when he lifts really heavy weights.
Your goal is pretty ambitious ( you expect to add ~60lbs to your 6 rep max in 4 weeks???? ) I would make an effort to fix that problem. I've worked on it a lot with a taller athlete; X-band walks seem to help or even bands around knees with light squats. Anything to get your hips/glute medius stronger; skater jumps also good. If you do a set of skater jumps put your outside hand at the top of your outside hip and feel the top glute muscle that should be activated.... Get that strong.
Your knees coming together is partially because of anthropometry BUT it's still something you need to fix with specific strength.
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Knees coming together is a common problem especially in tall athletes. I've trained guys taller than you whose knees come in so close that they almost touch when he lifts really heavy weights. I would make an effort to fix that problem. I've worked on it a lot with a taller athlete; X-band walks seem to help or even bands around knees with light squats.
I discoved x-band walks last week. The problem with this - it's teh wrong leg which gets a burn/fatigue. My weak leg which comes in doesn't get ANYTHING out of the x-band walks. That's frustrating me so much. I do the exercise symmetrically - up and down so it should affect both sides equally. And yet by the end my strong left leg is burning and my right weak leg is fine!!! I'm now trying to isolate my right leg with bands but with a different exercise.
Anything to get your hips/glute medius stronger; skater jumps also good. If you do a set of skater jumps put your outside hand at the top of your outside hip and feel the top glute muscle that should be activated.... Get that strong. Your knees coming together is partially because of anthropometry BUT it's still something you need to fix with specific strength.
Thanks, i'll try that out.
edit. forgot to reply to this
Your goal is pretty ambitious ( you expect to add ~60lbs to your 6 rep max in 4 weeks???? )
My thinking is the meter doesn't start counting til I reach my old PR of around ~6x120kg. From there I'd like to add another 20kg. Yes ambitious. But I haven't focused on BS so I think I have some gains to be made yet. Like even now I BS after doing my frontsquats so i'm not doing my BS fresh or anything. Also, I can ATG FS about 130kg, so that means my BS is under-achieving and ripe for pushing up easily. I've been adding 2kg a workout, 3x a week for the last month or so, haven't stalled yet so that's why i've set my eyes on 6x140kg.
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I accept your points but I would like to provide some more info. Til April I was squatting 50-50% FS and BS volume for about 6 months.My BS PR was 6x117.5 around May. Since then I stopped using BS while healing my hips. Now my hips are fine I'm BS again. But this time my FS volume has gone down to like 33% what it used to be! Meanwhile BS volume is the same. I'm eating a shitload of food now (back then I was cutting hard!). So these facts bear explaining. How is that my quads are toast after backsquat. Not just doms but like during the sets and immediately after I have a burn in my legs. I'm actually experiencing what colloquially would be felt after a 'leg day'. But my total squat volume is much less now. My BS volume is low to medium thru the week. It's eerie! I used to do waayy more squat volume (with both FS and BS) and while cutting hard and still I didn't have this kind of leg soreness.
Certainly strange I will give you that. Not strange enough to favor soreness or burn as gold standards for muscle activation but certainly interesting. One possible conjecture: Restrictive dieting does funny things to the body. It could be without glycogen stores you don't get nearly the muscle pump and thus don't feel the burn as when you are in well fed state. I don't have studies that bear that out but in my experience that seems to be true. I have noticed this unfortunate fact on the track: I can run a decent 60m/100m despite a pretty massive bodyweight (5'11 & 200-220lbs). However, it's almost impossible to move down the track for the longer sprints (200m, especially 400m) when I'm heavy. However, when I'm dieting restrictively my training times for the 200m/400m get really bad. The race becomes LESS painful but my legs simply don't have as much strength and I feel like I'm fast but the clock says I am slow. When I'm in a more fed state I am able to perform so much better in the long sprints; BUT the muscle pump and cramping is incredibly intense and painful. I have not been dieting at all for the last couple weeks. I ran 2 400m races last week (400m and 4x4). Ran pretty well (the combo of relatively light but not dieting is of course ideal) BUT after the 4x4 my quads/glutes/hamstrings had the most intense pump ( in track parlance is called booty-lock ). The lactate in combination with the muscle pump was so bad I had to get to the restroom and change out of my compressions because the muscles were screaming so much. THAT never happens if I am dieting!
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My thinking is the meter doesn't start counting til I reach my old PR of around ~6x120kg. From there I'd like to add another 20kg. Yes ambitious. But I haven't focused on BS so I think I have some gains to be made yet. Like even now I BS after doing my frontsquats so i'm not doing my BS fresh or anything. Also, I can ATG FS about 130kg, so that means my BS is under-achieving and ripe for pushing up easily. I've been adding 2kg a workout, 3x a week for the last month or so, haven't stalled yet so that's why i've set my eyes on 6x140kg.
Fair enough. My fault for not following your journal close enough. You want to get your backsquat PR 10kgs above your front squat PR with four weeks of focus. That would sound MUCH more reasonable if your knees didn't go in like that. Pushing a max up when you have such a mechanical problem is a bit dangerous IMO. It's funny the taller athlete I trained; his inward knee pull was such a problem I had him switch to exclusive front squats for awhile (were the problem is not really there) which allowed him to get his front squat PR really high relative to his back squat PR... He has since switched back and we have managed his form a bit but it is a struggle. Speaking to your other point; it could be that your weak glutes dont stabilize you in the back squat and your knees track inward which puts undue stress on your quads. Basically, you tall guys have weird muscle patterns! The best thing to do might be to really figure out what causes the knee tracking inward. I would bet it's that glute medius but it could be hip flexor. Basically sit in a chair and track your knees together and feel the muscles on your hip/glute that are used to keep it out. Some hip flexor work, glute thrusts, etc will go along way toward your athleticism goals.
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My thinking is the meter doesn't start counting til I reach my old PR of around ~6x120kg. From there I'd like to add another 20kg. Yes ambitious. But I haven't focused on BS so I think I have some gains to be made yet. Like even now I BS after doing my frontsquats so i'm not doing my BS fresh or anything. Also, I can ATG FS about 130kg, so that means my BS is under-achieving and ripe for pushing up easily. I've been adding 2kg a workout, 3x a week for the last month or so, haven't stalled yet so that's why i've set my eyes on 6x140kg.
Fair enough. My fault for not following your journal close enough. You want to get your backsquat PR 10kgs above your front squat PR with four weeks of focus. That would sound MUCH more reasonable if your knees didn't go in like that.
lol yup. Well I want to get my 6 rep BS to be 10kg above my current 1 rep FS max, which is much harder granted. But I expect in the process my FS will go up some while my BS worksets goes up 20kg from 120kg to 140kg because i'll build some muscle and general strength. But you're right it's ambitious sounding esp with my plight of form problems.
Pushing a max up when you have such a mechanical problem is a bit dangerous IMO. It's funny the taller athlete I trained; his inward knee pull was such a problem I had him switch to exclusive front squats for awhile (were the problem is not really there) which allowed him to get his front squat PR really high relative to his back squat PR... He has since switched back and we have managed his form a bit but it is a struggle.
I agree with you than it's dangerous if my form doesn't improve. It's been 1 week of doign remedial work. Lets hope it starts to correct my form soon.
Speaking to your other point; it could be that your weak glutes dont stabilize you in the back squat and your knees track inward which puts undue stress on your quads. Basically, you tall guys have weird muscle patterns! The best thing to do might be to really figure out what causes the knee tracking inward. I would bet it's that glute medius but it could be hip flexor. Basically sit in a chair and track your knees together and feel the muscles on your hip/glute that are used to keep it out. Some hip flexor work, glute thrusts, etc will go along way toward your athleticism goals.
Thanks so much. That gives me ideas for how to proceed from here. I've edited my workout entry and added a front video video. Does that help illuminate anything? I'll follow your advice to hit my my glutes and hips specifically and see if that improves my form!!
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What about clams for that knee caving problem?
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Not a bad idea. Can do them against bands too. A machine wud be perfect cause it could resist you both ways. Bands only apply resistance in one direction. Could my right hamstring be to blame? Will 1 leg rdl diagnose it?
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So an update. My hips (R) are quite inflammed today as a result of yesterday's squatting. This sucks. But i've made some changes that hopefully will improve my form and prevent hip re-injury
1. Ditched my makeshift platform. It had started to buckle and creak too much and I think it's better to go without it than continue using it.
2. Moved my power cage to a different location
3. Using carpet over the brick paved floor
4. diagnosed my mobility problem as "Poor Internal Hip Rotation" from a Starett video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inKpTU_TFrU)
Re lack of IR - I can make my hips magically feel good by moving my knee out and in while tensing my calves. When I took a video of my squat in the new power rack position, my hips are symmetrical and even on both sides (only used the empty bar but I suspect it will be the same with weight too?)
So we'll see what happens tomorrow. Fingers crossed..
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do you mean literally inflamed, like, visibly swollen? or just painful? if the former, :uhcomeon:
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do you mean literally inflamed, like, visibly swollen? or just painful? if the former, :uhcomeon:
Not visibly just tender/painful mate.
Starrett video suggested that low internal hip rotation was the reason for my R knee cave in. I've ruled that out, my internal hip rotation is fine both sides.
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New Hypothesis: My knee-caving problem is caused by my unstable R ankle. I can't maintain a stable foot position throughout the set because my right ankle is too weak.
Yep now convinced my problem is my ankle. I dont have a stable ankle. I must have fucked it up from basketball along the way and never noticed it til now. My R ankle sucks compared to my beasting L ankle. It's supple and firm and stable, the opposite of the R one. Btw last year when I had a severe ankle injury which took me over 6 months to heal? Yup that was my L one. So the R problem must be going back years maybe a decade back. I did have a sprain I think in 2002 or 2003 which was pretty bad but for the life of me cant remmber which leg it was. Anyway that's not important. This is heart breaking, it means no ATG front squatting. Just shitty leaning over fucked up squats which hurt my hips and god knows what else. And what am i supposed to do now for training. If I keep squatting i'll just keep hurting myself again. Doctors are shit dont expect seeing one will be worth the money, i can see it already, "there is nothing wrong with you, you're perfectly healthy why do you need perfect ankles you're not a professional athlete and this doesn't impede anyones daily life" which is all true of course, not being able to squat is not exactly a quality of life problem lol.
so yeah, this sucks but it certainly explains why i'm such a bad squatter.
sorry for the sob story ;( lol .. i have put in a lot of effort and work into squatting just didnt know it would come to this. I'm lucky i haven't torn my ACL/MCL while squatting like this, it's only a matter of time though. It's too dangerous doing barbell squats with an unstable foot.
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both your knees cave, so why do you think the problem is in one ankle? also, knees caving as a result of ankle instability makes no sense as far as i can tell. it's much more likely to be a result of immobility and/or weakness in your hips and upper legs.
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both your knees cave, so why do you think the problem is in one ankle? also, knees caving as a result of ankle instability makes no sense as far as i can tell. it's much more likely to be a result of immobility and/or weakness in your hips and upper legs.
Just the R one from what i've seen on video. L one is pretty stable in comparison. Lateral ankle stability is the issue. Either i've got restricted mobility in my L ankle. Or my R ankle is hella unstable. My experience with ankles is n=2 so I dunno. I'm gonna try see a specialist and get their opinion. But honestly my R ankle feels like jelly i can move my foot around so easily and it gives little resistance in 180 degrees. This affects squats because it makes for a 'low torque environment' in kelly speak (been reading his book). During squats my right foot has a tendency to rotate externally, my heel slides in and my toes slide out. How does this lead to knee caving? well think about it, the ankle and the knee aren't aligned in tension making the leg unstable and in trying to find stability knee has to come in. It's so obvious now it's a wonder it never occurred to me before. All that mobility mumbo jumbo about hips was just noise.
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You're thinking too much.
If an overanalyzer like me tells you that then you need to pause and think about it.
Oh wait, nevermind, DON'T THINK ABOUT IT. STOP THINKING.
Your only worry should be "I have to get stronger using perfect form". If you have this tendency to collapse then lower the weight to where you can use perfect form and work your way back up. When you reach your current PR using this better form you will see improvements in the field as well.
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You're thinking too much.
If an overanalyzer like me tells you that then you need to pause and think about it.
Oh wait, nevermind, DON'T THINK ABOUT IT. STOP THINKING.
Your only worry should be "I have to get stronger using perfect form". If you have this tendency to collapse then lower the weight to where you can use perfect form and work your way back up. When you reach your current PR using this better form you will see improvements in the field as well.
x2. You seem to be diagnosing all these form issues lately ranging from ankles and hips to bad posture, inward caving knees etc. Yet you're still pushing PR weights every session and trying to add 60lbs to BS? That can't be helpful.
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^Agreed too.
Also, this was just 1 month ago:
Good goal, also very doable IF you cut out that manic depressive phase you keep hitting right after you do something good in your training. Increasing the frequency of front squat, which for you might simply mean replacing back squat with front squat. Looks like most of your pains have come after back squats anyhow, so no need to keep messing with something less specific to your goals.
Getting to 2x bw front squat will do much more for your athleticism than anything youll gain from back squatting regardless.
Focus and keep it simple man , don't let overthinking/overanalyzing distract you.
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This is the sorry fate of the self coached lifter, analysis paralysis haha. I get what you guys are saying. I dont agree with everything but appreciate the support. If I don't work hard to improve my form it wont happen on it's own. I keep coming up with new theories all the time, eventually i'll hit on the right one. Today I thought my pelvis might be uneven in the horizontal plane which forces my knees and ankles into the wrong positions. I would need an overhead video to confirm this lol. Tears in dere eyes real niggas get 2 go 2 heaven.
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Training
FS 3x120.5 (PR), 5Fx112.5
BS 2x6x116, 9x105 (PR)
BP 4x86 (PR), 8x75
Orange Band Glute Bridge 3x20
X-band walk 2x15m
1 leg ankle/calf drills (5 mins)
Salient workout changes -
wore 2 pairs of socks on the R foot, not using the top most lace holes in the shoes, tightened strap and laces, feet pointing straight forward not turned out, no initial knee break on fs, aiming to put knees over the foot as guide for fs, held hips stable on backsquat, on front squats, new power rack position, no wooden floor, carpet floor, benched in power rack, no spotter (self spotted with newspaper), 20mg synephrine and 3g creatine preworkout
FS notes:
Deliberated what weight to attempt, thought 120kg with the 2x10kg plates was a bad omen, went back to 10s + 10.5kg, which is 1kg over my previous PR. Got it. Made the right choice of PR attempt. Next time i'll just add another kg - keep it simple. Body didn't know wtf was going on with a 3 rep heavy attempt because it's been 9 days since the last time I made one. I expect next time the triple will be much smoother now that I succeeded tonight. Didn't know what to attempt for the 2nd set - 125kg double or 112.5kg fiver? I don't give a shit about either really, so went with the 5s just because it was lighter and i'm watching my hip health.
BS notes:
Much better sets today. No lightening bolts up the body, I made sure to keep my back and abs tight throughout. Happy enough with how the sets went during the lift. Video review shows there is room for form improvement. The last set, I probably would have got the 10th rep, but I thought to leave that PR for monday.
BP notes:
Self spotting now that the pin heights are more conformable on carpet. I dunno, i sucked though, couldn't get even 5 reps wanted 6. Probably got greedy and should have gone for 85.5kg but honestly i probably would have failed that too today, felt weak on bench. Took it as a sign to deload the next set.
Mobility notes:
LBSS i'm getting real good at these banded bridges! Have no problem holding the band stretched while my glutes do their work. Feels good man.
XBand walks - like before I'm finding my L leg struggling with these, R leg finding it trivial. Explanations??
The ankle calf work was awesome, really hit my calf. Dunno if it's doing anything for my ankle but we'll see over time.
Mobility work and ankle/calf strengthening work for R leg to follow. I also think it's important to log that this workout was very friendly on my ankle, knees and tendon near my hamstring which always takes a huge beating when I use loose shoes which leads to external rotation of the foot. It seems i've solved that problem by taking the new starrett inspired foot position of pointing straight forward, as well as by tightening the shoes but leaving the top holes unlaced which gives tight support to the foot without restricting ankle mobility. Success!
Oh yes so I should say Starrett has got it right with the torque thing. I felt much better squatting today - stronger and stabler, it's remarkable. Best of all I have happy HIPS even though I got a bunch of squatting PRs and did a decent amount of volume as well. I now expect to push some decent PRs next week now that i've solved a huge problem with my foot position which led to a whole host of other problems upstream.
Btw raptor, if you're reading this, maybe you should check out starrett if you still have an interest in high bar squatting. His way of pointing out the toes and maximising torque might help with your knee problems.
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Well... once I get to around 110 kg I feel like I can't progress any further when doing high bar squats for... I don't know exactly, but I think for strength and structural reasons.
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Well... once I get to around 110 kg I feel like I can't progress any further when doing high bar squats for... I don't know exactly, but I think for strength and structural reasons.
Would like to see video of those 110kg sets and ones before you run into a problem. But yeah check out Supple Leopard.
I've figured out why I stalled on my front squats. It's quite simple really. To go from 119.5kg to 121kg I took off 20kg worth of small plates. And put on 2x10kg plates. This changes the exercise considerably cause it's harder to balance the bar or whatever. Think of an acrobat on a tightrope with a long bar across his body - same principle. So the solution is quite simple and it came to me last night, instead of transitioning from 119.5kg to 120+ with 2x10kg plates - just use 4x5kg plates instead. This means adding 2x5kg plates to the existing 2x5kg ones and removing 9.5kg of smaller plates. Now teh balance change isn't as drastic - 10kg is fine I think. So on monday i'll do that and get my FS moving along. When I get to 130kg i'll then change to 2x10kg plates and use 2x5kgs to make up 130kg and so on. Always using big plates that are 10kg lighter than necessary. This shold take me up smoothly to FS 3x140kg and BS 6x140kg which is my goal. Solved!
Philosophifical muisigs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1DJ8odNf-M
To me the most impressive squat i've seen is and I didn't even know it until I saw it again recently after working hard to fix my own technique. What we see is a very heavy highbar backsquat done to full ATG depth with perfect control on eccentric and concentric. No PL style equipment and spottery and half assed depth - just masterful squatting. Beautiful. But when you look deeper there is even more to be impressed by. Check out his knee position how stable it thru the whole lift, his huge calves and hamstrings do a wonderful job keeping him upright and his quads and glutes explode him out of the hole at a flash but yet to finish the lift he had to grind it out without dropping his chest. I think pat might weigh around 120-130kg here, maybe slightly less dunno. But he's such a wonder of nature. I learn so much just watching that lift over and over. I find myself thinking if I had bigger calves and hamstrings myself, I'd have a better time squatting. I can't remember the last good squatter I saw who didn't have big calves.
Another squatter i've been studying is a strongeman dude - brutally strong in the upper body, hips, back, buttocks and legs. He is listed as 6'7" and he weighs 260-270lb. Very strong. This motherfucker picks up (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vliNWlG4Fs4) a 505lb stone lol and puts it on the table. He deadlifts (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EQ9ks6Hseg) 525 like it's 135. And yet watch him front squat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSM3gtiAcG4&t=170)and it's a horror show. It's very light for him being a 500+ squatter but his form is terrible. Even his backsquats exhibit form probs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9sKOb_mphQ) but then again you have to remember you're watching a guy do 10 reps with 380. He looks lean as fuck in that last video as well.
But anyway would you guys tell him to reset to 90kg until his knees stay out? I mean the guy is a strongman in every sense of the word - it's not clear to me what specific strength he's missing which prevents him from having good form or if its just an anthropometry thing. If anything the guy IS STRONG because he toys with these weights. But his form is bad because he lacks leg mass which would improve his form. My theory is he has stick legs for his squat weights, if he had bigger calves and maybe bigger hams he'd be stabler under tension. The hams and calves maintain stability and the quads act as absorbers, they slow you down, powerfully dampening and sucking you into a stable bottom position. So big thick legs = good squatting ability and not just for the obvious reason that bigger legs are stronger, but in the way they help you squat better by facilitating sound technique.
I need to grow my calves and thighs. lol. I'm a lot stronger than my stick legs. I can move a lot more weight but my form wont get better until I actually add mass to my legs. Taking weight off to 'fix technique' will just make me weaker and waste time and solve nothing because until I grow mass it won't be solved and lighter weights wont do that. Just clarifying my thoughts in my diary no offense intended. I'm better served by continuing to progress and keep working on fixing weaknesses AND adding leg mass.
Btw the above is why Mutombo call pull 220kg like its nothing having the leg and back strength to lift it and yet he struggles to squat more modest weights. The reason is not his lack of strength, it's a lack of mass in the legs. He has thin legs which prevent him from being a good squatter - they are plenty strong though as shown by his pulls. Squat proficiency is determined by leg mass and vice versa.
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I need to grow my calves and thighs. lol. I'm a lot stronger than my stick legs. I can move a lot more weight but my form wont get better until I actually add mass to my legs. Taking weight off to 'fix technique' will just make me weaker and waste time and solve nothing because until I grow mass it won't be solved and lighter weights wont do that. Just clarifying my thoughts in my diary no offense intended. I'm better served by continuing to progress and keep working on fixing weaknesses AND adding leg mass.
Btw the above is why Mutombo call pull 220kg like its nothing having the leg and back strength to lift it and yet he struggles to squat more modest weights. The reason is not his lack of strength, it's a lack of mass in the legs. He has thin legs which prevent him from being a good squatter - they are plenty strong though as shown by his pulls. Squat proficiency is determined by leg mass and vice versa.
What? The reason Mutombo can't squat more is certainly lack of strength! If could could squat more he would be stronger. Fix your weaknesses but you are really getting off track watching elite athletes and deciding what the "secret key" is to their success. Also, no offense but your conclusion comes off as self-serving ( eg. I'm actually really strong but because my legs are thin I can't move the weight; these elite guys aren't necessarily that much stronger than me but have bigger legs ). If this was the case then this hidden strength of yours would manifest itself in all the avenues that aren't specific to supporting weight in the squat.... So you would be able to run really fast; jump really high; shot toss huge weights; jerk big weights (mostly leg drive - not arms ), etc. I'm not trying to down you but it's really dangerous to analyze a bunch of really elite guys, notice a pattern and then let your confirmation bias convince yourself this X is the key! If squatting is all about leg mass rather than strength.... it's not really a very functional activity now is it? So unless you are a PL... why are you doing it?
Anyway, for years people watched elite sprinters and were certain you had to be tall with high knee action. Then Michael Johnson came along and everyone changed what is ideal. Now Usain Bolt rules the day and everyone talks about how great it is to be tall. The fact is there is more than 1 way to skin a cat. In fact there are a million ways to skin a cat! You choose the path that's easiest for your body and gets YOU to improve the most. But keep in mind that thats not the only way and you could always do it a different way. I honestly have never seen you get stuck; just impatient. Stuck is when you don't improve for a LONG time. There will be months where you don't add weight to the bar. You are not a beginner anymore. Keep training; keep your form good and when you get TRULY stuck; don't be afraid to reevaluate your training... Just to add a small reminder:
(http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/export/sites/default/ironmind/taner-202.5_lg.jpg)
That guy is 5'8 170lbs. He is known in olympic lifting circles for his scrawny legs and overall scrawny frame. I don't know how much he squats but he can clean 450 and snatch 380 so I'm sure he his squats pretty damn good, skinny legs and all. More than one way to skin a cat; no excuses do it your way.
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He's deep down into OCD mode...
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I think you can have a strong squat (like Craig) but have bad form (because of lack of leg mass). I think leg mass determines SQUAT form nicess. You need enough leg mass to have good form (provided mobility and what not are in order of course). I think Pat has amazing form in that video because he has plenty of leg mass. I was comparing pat to craig to show two strong guys who have form disparity and explaining the disparity by pinpointing leg mass as the causative. Incidentally after Pat's surgery and subsequent comeback if you look at his form now that he weighs around 105kg or so, he's not as strong of course, still strong though but his form is not as good as it once was because he's lost leg mass. I didn't say I was strong in a relative or absolute sense but that my legs are skinny for my squats or compare myself to those guys in any way except to say my lack of leg mass is the reason for my bad form, just as it applies to them and everyone else for that matter. This will no doubt be misinterpreted again so i'll just leave it for now. I've come out of this overthinking phase with clarity and I don't think i'll be doing any more thinking for the next 4-6 weeks lol.
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I think you can have a strong squat (like Craig) but have bad form (because of lack of leg mass). I think leg mass determines SQUAT form nicess. You need enough leg mass to have good form (provided mobility and what not are in order of course). I think Pat has amazing form in that video because he has plenty of leg mass. I was comparing pat to craig to show two strong guys who have form disparity and explaining the disparity by pinpointing leg mass as the causative. Incidentally after Pat's surgery and subsequent comeback if you look at his form now that he weighs around 105kg or so, he's not as strong of course, still strong though but his form is not as good as it once was because he's lost leg mass. I didn't say I was strong in a relative or absolute sense but that my legs are skinny for my squats or compare myself to those guys in any way except to say my lack of leg mass is the reason for my bad form, just as it applies to them and everyone else for that matter. This will no doubt be misinterpreted again so i'll just leave it for now. I've come out of this overthinking phase with clarity and I don't think i'll be doing any more thinking for the next 4-6 weeks lol.
Yeah, thats the problem. You have come to a conclusion by looking at a few youtube videos which agree with your confirmation bias. Your body proportions have much more to do with how "nice" your form looks. Your confirmation bias is so strong it's actually as if you are trying to make a point. Mendez comes back after a long layoff where we all know that what one leases LEAST of is leg mass and what one loses MOST is neuromuscular movement efficiency..... And your conclusion is that his form looks worse because of a lack of mass.....
I'm just trying to save you some trouble. You will always be a tall lanky dude; you can add some mass but you will still not have the body proportions you are looking for. However, you don't even have that bad form! Your form breaks when you use what 90% of your max? Pretty common. A real form problem would be one which manifests itself when you are using a MUCH smaller proportion of your max. When you have a form issue that ONLY shows up when the weights get big.... That's just a weakness. Really, Raptor has given you the most salient advice. Lift with a weight that you can use good form and bump it up while keeping form. That will work. Or you could get fancy and do what Raptor advised while also doing some direct work for your weak hips. (it's your hips not your ankle that causes the knee to cave in!). Either would serve you well. Deciding that you need a lot more mass to squat well is going to ruin your dunking and stall your progress. But I guess in the end we need to learn for ourselves.
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I stopped thinking about this stuff a while ago but I thought having long limbs just sucked for squats and lifting in general?
Entropy has body structure more like mine.. not meant for squatting well. Now almost everyone would say I have impeccable form but I feel like if my body structure was more designed for squatting I'd be lifting that shit as easily as deadlifts.
Why do some people have such small differences between deadlift and squat? I felt like it was because their deadlifts looked more push dominant because their hips were lower. My hips are naturally very high in the deadlift beacuse of my long limbs, but it makes the exercise a lot easier than squatting does.
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If you have naturally strong legs and naturally weak back then the difference between your squat and your deadlift isn't going to be big. Obviously structural factors come into play as well.
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Training
FS 3Fx122, 3x121 (PR), 3x112.5
BS 2x6x118 (PR), 10x105 (PR)
BP 4x85.5, 6x79.5
WCU 4x5x88
FS notes:
We're back on track. Feel strong and full of purpose.
A little unsure how much FS volume I need right now. Obviously too much is bad but finding the minimal amount will take some tinkering. The goal is to do enough to keep the FS ticking over but the main emphasis is on agressively pushing HBBS up to build leg mass. FS volume can take a backseat in the meanwhile. See BS notes.
I had to attempt 2 heavy triples today because my first one was the wrong weight. So much so that by the 112.5kg set instead of getting 5 reps, I felt I was close to failure on the 3rd. So this means it caused unnecessary fatigue. This wont happen again though cause in future i'll only do 1 heavy triple. I needed 2 today because I had to experiment to find the right choice of weight for the choice of bigger plates. I have figured it out now, so from here it should be smooth sailing. I loved the feel of that 3Fx122 set - it was heavy but not ridiculously heavy as the 120kg sets have been in the last 2 weeks. I failed it simply because my legs didn't have juice, not upper body not core, just a lack of leg strength and not overall being defeated by the weight. Got the next set defiantly enough. It felt like a 3RM but i'm confident it wasn't one, just fatigue from the previous set making it seem that way.
BS notes:
I feel confident with my HBBS as of today - it seems similar deep and upright enough to FS that I'm expecting close to 1:1 carry over to FS so i'm okay with allowing HBBS to take precedence sooner than I expected. In coming workouts i'll keep my FS work crisp, minimal, failure free and causing as little fatigue as possible as to prevent interfering with BS workouts.
Chinups and bench to come later tonight.
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I stopped thinking about this stuff a while ago but I thought having long limbs just sucked for squats and lifting in general?
Entropy has body structure more like mine.. not meant for squatting well. Now almost everyone would say I have impeccable form but I feel like if my body structure was more designed for squatting I'd be lifting that shit as easily as deadlifts.
Why do some people have such small differences between deadlift and squat? I felt like it was because their deadlifts looked more push dominant because their hips were lower. My hips are naturally very high in the deadlift beacuse of my long limbs, but it makes the exercise a lot easier than squatting does.
If you have naturally strong legs and naturally weak back then the difference between your squat and your deadlift isn't going to be big. Obviously structural factors come into play as well.
Obviously leverage is huge in explaining the differences between the lifts. Long legs make it harder to squat for sure. Also, without grip strength one can't deadlift. But ignoring grip (say allowing straps), a big difference between the explanation of the squat/deadlift ratio can be explained by the someone's athletic background. If someone has never taken weights seriously but has played a lot of sports which involve running then 9 times out of 10 when the get into the gym and take the two lifts seriously their deadlift will quickly dwarf their squat. In the case of Avishek it's not simply his limbs that help his deadlift but his athletic background. Sprinting (be it in Rugby, Soccer, whatever) will train your back to be isometrically strong; and provide you with a lot of strength for that hip extension. It will also help you in the 1/4 squat.
On the contrary, someone who doesn't have a background involving athletics of running/jumping will have much more even ratios (some variation for body structure of course) and even more telling will be the difference in squat depths. The first time I learned to squat I could pile on the weight and go a couple inches above parallel.... but when I was told to go full depth I had to drop the weight to slightly more than a plate. An athletic background doesn't help much for the bottom portion of the squat. When someone doesn't have an athletic background but learns how to squat you will notice that their full squat and their 1/2 squat and 1/4 squat are all pretty similar. This is one reason it takes a long time for some athletes to see dividends from squatting. They are bumping up their full squat from 250 to 350 lbs while their 1/2 squat started at 400 lbs. In this case they still have surplus strength at joint angles used by most for jumping/sprinting. But get a less athletic guy whose full squat and half squat are both in the ballpark 250 to bump his full squat to 350 lbs and you will see all kinds of new-found athleticism.
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They are bumping up their full squat from 250 to 350 lbs while their 1/2 squat started at 400 lbs. In this case they still have surplus strength at joint angles used by most for jumping/sprinting. But get a less athletic guy whose full squat and half squat are both in the ballpark 250 to bump his full squat to 350 lbs and you will see all kinds of new-found athleticism.
great explanation. interesting.
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Training
FS 3x123 (PR), 5Fx112.5
BS 2x6x120 (PR)
OHP 4x59.5, 3x62.5, 4x60
Salient changes: didnt wear shorts under my tracks, liberal mobility activation work preworkout, 2 pairs of socks on both feet. Very tight laces and strap.
FS notes:
Was a 3RM effort. Friday's scheduled 3x125kg shud be very difficult if not impossible but somehow i'll have to get it to make up lost ground in the last 2 weeks of stalled FS.
BS notes:
10 RPE effort on these as well :/ I should have scheduled 6x119.5kg before switching bigger plates. Make a note for that in future when approaching 10kg milestones. Nevertheless should press on from here, 2x6x122kg on friday.
First time ohp in 3 weeks, have to try avoid skipping these, it's the only trap exercise I have lol and hbbs like big traps and mine don't exist.
June summary:
FS 1x110kg, 3x105kg (1st July) ----> 3x123kg (31st july)
BS 6x90kg (1st July) ----> 6x120kg (31st july)
Added 30kg to my HBBS worksets. And a solid 18kg to my FS. My bodyweight has gone up a fair bit though but I am an expert at cutting and will get my abs back.
August Plan:
August goal: FS 3x140kg and HBBS 6x140kg (@ BW of ~85 kg)
Aggressively pushing my squats up 20kg. After august I'll begin a long cut back to a bodyweight of 75kg/165lb giving me abz(~9% bodyfat), double bodyweight front squats and high bar backsquats. That's the plan. 1 month of extremely hard work to build some decent leg mass and absolute strength (+ 20kg to my squats) and then 4-6 months of cutting away the bodyfat and training sprint, jumps and plyos to achieve excellent relative strength and athleticism. Hopefully by new years i'll have abs, solid lifts, 40" svj, 2xbw fs/hbbs, sub 4s 30m sprint and then I can focus on conditioning and get in top basketball shape for april's tournament which I want to dominate by being an athletic and skilled beast.
I am confident about attaining the HBBS goal. The FS one will be much harder, esp if I try to do it concurrently with HBBS. But we'll see. I should get to at least FS 3x130kg and BS 6x130kg concurrently and anything over 135kg on FS will be ace. I can always focus on FS after getting the BS goal anyways, and the additional strength and mass from HBBS will help FS esp since my BS form is deep, upright and athletic and shoudl carry over nicely to FS.
I just thought to make a note that my thighs aren't that big, they were actually a lot bigger back when I was ~75kg. I dont understand this at all. I'm stronger and moving more weight and heavier so wtf is going on? The reason I just found this out is because i tried out my swimming board shorts which were tight in the summer. They're loose right now. Maybe cause i was jumping and sprinting more then?? Will recheck after august.
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what's your SVJ now, again?
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what's your SVJ now, again?
right now idk, but last year I think i was at 32-33" (in my running shoes) or so when i had just started dunking properly. I never measured it formally just by rim touch on my arm. I should still have that video somewhere (if you want to see it, lemme know i'll PM). Since then i can jump higher (in shitty shoes) and got a lot stronger and leaner this year, so potentially higher than that now. 40" is just a nice round number, better than 37.25" or something heh. I'll probably never formally measure either, when I can SVJ touch the top of the backboard square i'll be satisfied for my purposes and i believe that's around a 36" leap with my 98" barefoot reach.
edit - Above invitation stands for anyone else who could care to verify my claims. Would be nice to have an official 'vag certified' label for my SVJ/RVJ claim lol.
This has got me thinking. How did my fat weak person jump so high last august?? i was front squatting to barely parallel depth with lite weights.. and my backsquat was horrible and unathletic (lbbs/hbbs hybrid with shit depth). I see I was doing RDLs with 125kg for a triple and 100kg for 10 reps. Could it be Raptor was right and RDL's are a good exercise? NOooo cant be. But the other thing was i was sprinting and jumping i think 1x a week. I must have been doing something right back then..
Woke up in the middle of the night hungry and went to eat half a loaf of bread, a banana and protein shake lol. Gotta get those PRs on friday somehow. This is how it must be like to be a bodybuilder, always eating!
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what's your SVJ now, again?
right now idk, but last year I think i was at 32-33" (in my running shoes) or so when i had just started dunking properly. I never measured it formally just by rim touch on my arm. I should still have that video somewhere (if you want to see it, lemme know i'll PM). Since then i can jump higher (in shitty shoes) and got a lot stronger and leaner this year, so potentially higher than that now. 40" is just a nice round number, better than 37.25" or something heh. I'll probably never formally measure either, when I can SVJ touch the top of the backboard square i'll be satisfied for my purposes and i believe that's around a 36" leap with my 98" barefoot reach.
edit - Above invitation stands for anyone else who could care to verify my claims. Would be nice to have an official 'vag certified' label for my SVJ/RVJ claim lol.
How tall are you? I'm 5'11 and I'm out 3 inches from the height of the top backboard square but I certainly don't have a 40 inch vertical!
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4" taller but im guessing you have a similar reach to me? Mine is 98"/8'2" barefoot dunno what it is in shoes, prob an inch higher. small hands :( You also jump a lot higher if you're closing in on 40". I'm closer to 30". We're talking SVJ now right. Cause 3" short of the top of the square svj is pretty damn good! Last time i tried i was just above halfway up the box, can't remember if that was rvj or svj, either way, long way to go.
Found this fiba specification pdf (http://www.fiba.com/downloads/Rules/2010/BasketballEquipment2010_V2.pdf)
(http://i.imgur.com/hkQckoV.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/mqcF9zt.png)
measurements are in mm
ground to top of rim - 3050mm (120")
base of rim to top of square - 450mm (17.7")
so approx height of top of the square is 3500mm = 137.8 ~ 138". This is on the high side cause it's from the base of the rim not the top of the rim.
But anyway with a 98" reach. i need roughly a 40" raw dog vertical to reach the top of the square. Maybe shoes add 1" to my reach. And maybe the rim adds 1". So call it 38".
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I'll probably never formally measure either, when I can SVJ touch the top of the backboard square i'll be satisfied for my purposes and i believe that's around a 36" leap with my 98" barefoot reach.
edit - Above invitation stands for anyone else who could care to verify my claims. Would be nice to have an official 'vag certified' label for my SVJ/RVJ claim lol.
Verified! Top of backboard is 11'4'' (136''), your reach in shoes is 99'' to 100'' so you need 36'' to 37'' to touch it.
4" taller but im guessing you have a similar reach to me? Mine is 7'10" barefoot dunno what it is in shoes, prob an inch higher.
Not verified! 7'10'' is 94''. 98'' is 8'2''.
Probably lost something in the conversion. Use google, type your reach in cm and then "in inches".
Example ( i am guessing the correct one for you ):
google "249cm in inches" ---> 98.03''
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Oh, 40 inch standing vertical. I'm not even close. Maybe 34-35 on a good day. I'm only talking about running vertical. I don't really get reach measurements; when I stand up with one hand I can touch around 7'8 in shoes so about tour difference is about equal to our height difference. But, if I go on tip toes and dislocate my shoulder I can get close to 8 feet. If I don't stretch hard it's more like 7'6. I measure my vertical with my head cause I find it's much simpler. I can hit my head on the backboard pretty easily so that means my vertical as at least 36 inches. I'm far from the rim but need another object to jump for; maybe the goal post... Surprised you are only 6'3, you look so much taller in your video.
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I jump much lower on a fast break type approach. I think my strongest jump is highest off 2 or 3 steps, what's the acronym for that - DSVJ and TSVJ? That's more meaningful to me, so touching the top of the square off a coupla steps would be cool. And being able to do it SVJ would just mean i've got enough hops to dunk in a game off a stand still in a post situation even with a defender infront if i am close enough to the rim. I tried that earlier this year and missed the dunk :( Would have been my only game time dunk too). Without a defender there i get that dunk cause i can SVJ dunk but with a defender and with game time fatigue, i gave up about 2-3" and just missed it. Better conditioning would help there too.
That's my height barefoot last i checked.
Also hitting head on the backboard? that sounds risky?!
But yes regarding the other conversation in LBSS thread, my interest is in power dunks during games. Not a big involved runup or elaborate build up (when do you get the chance to do that in a game? the lane is often or always clogged), just a coupla steps max with a quick move, drop step and bang explode up with two hands and hit the rim hard, pulling it down. power play.
Today's food. I am uncomfortable eating so much but it's just short term so i'll allow it
half a loaf of fancy gourmet type bread
3 eggs
2.5 scoop whey
650mL lowfat milk
3 sausages
3 slices wholemeal bread
2 bananas
going to try eat some beef today. i eat it maybe a coupla times a year if that, but i need to front squat 125kg for a triple tomorrow to keep myself unstuck so by any means necessary. also started supplementing with taurine today. i had bought some last year for help with mood control during cutting, but it actually made me feel worse so i didn't use it. seems to be ok now, been putting it in my shakes.
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Training
FS 1x120, 2x125 (PR), 1x124
BS 5x122 (PR), 6x121 (PR)
BP 6Fx86
DL 5x60, 3x90, 3x100, 1x100, 1x130, 1Fx150, 1x140
DUNKZ x5
FS notes:
I watched a new technique video (see bs notes) just before the workout and it must have got in my head subconsciously because I approached my lifts completely differently today. Watching on video, I was going super slow motion into the squat. Not my usual groove at all. I did the double with 125kg and racked it cause I thought I would have failed the 3rd rep because I felt my 2nd rep was uggers. But on video it looked smooth and easy, so either the video is lying or my mind is.
BS notes:
Knees-in is not only ok, it's good. So says the chinese olympic coach i've been following on youtube. Even with BS i went into the hole slow and deliberate and didn't get any bounce. Lost count (when does that ever happen to me? never!) and did one rep short. But the 5th was sufficiently goodmorny that I wouldn't have got a 6th anyway. On the 2nd set, i caught the bounce and it was decidedly easier.
DL notes:
Having some trouble with DL form (of course.. lol). I can't break the bar off the ground without hips first going up. Not sure what this means or how to fix it. Bother. Still, it did the job, got some nice back work in thanks to the old trusty deadlift. If only I knew how to fix my form.
I believe I've made one big mistake in my training the last year or so. While focusing on front squat was good, i neglected my back, and because I dont have a very strong back right now, it's limiting my ability to backsquat. Just doing deadlifts once a week would have done wonders for me. Regretting that now.
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don't regret, address and move forward.
your platitude of the day.
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Training
FS 3x124 (PR)
BS 6x123 (PR), 5x123, 9x107.5 (PR)
BP 6x60, 6x60, 6x70, 8x79.5 (PR)
CU 6xBW
RP 1x100, 1x130, 1x150, 1x160, 5x100
Salient changes: Slowly shedding and unlearning every piece of western advice on squatting - today it was the big chest cue which got binned. Switched back to coke from pepsi preworkout.
FS notes:
Monster effort to lock out the 3rd rep. Only 1 set of FS, focus is on BS now. I have a suspicion even that 1 heavy triple is taking out too much out of me to backsquat properly though.
BS notes:
New chinese inspired cue really made my biceps work harder keeping elbows in place vertically. But it made the lift a lot easier on the concentric. Now biceps must adapt so I can make the new form automatic.
Upper body notes:
Looked at my log to see what I did last time on mondays bench get a PR on friday's bench, tried to replicate it in today's workout. Lets see what happens friday, hopefully 6x86kg will finally fall! Have decided to move chinups to weds, mondays getting too hard and weds are a better fit. But I still did 1 set of chins to keep my body keen and keep the movement pattern fresh.
Back notes:
Tried rack pulls. Did them from the bottom most pin. It works out to be just below my knee. Watching the video frame by frame, i see that just before I break the bar off the pins, my middle back rises slightly. So that's bad. I need to figure out a way to keep it flat thruout the lift.
Day 1 of 28 day HBBS specialisation cycle. Goal is 6x140kg by the end. If my FS is 3x130kg by the end that will do but i'm happy just to maintain a 125kg triple. I also invite advice on how to keep myself unstuck on backsquats. I feel as though the 6s are now high intensity and something needs to give (volume?). I've reduced FS volume a lot. Do i need to reduce frequency too? not sure. BS is a hard beast to tame.
LBSS yep you're right, i took the advice and did deads on friday but over the weekend i found I had tweaked my back and hurt my spine and i'm terrified of deadlifts again. I need a safer back exercise. The only one i keep coming back to is goodmornings but i'm not sure if it's an effective exercise or if it's just a waste of time the way RDLs turned out. Suppose I could give them a chance though. Really short of ideas otherwise. The other option is heavy rack pulls which might be safer but i'm afraid to try in case they too snap my shit up. Pendlay rows to me seem dangerous for the same reason as DLs are, doing a pull off the ground where my breaking the bar off the ground with good form is the problem.
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there's all kinds of shit you can do for your back that aren't DL variations, GMs or pendlay rows. any DB row variation, shrugs, hypers/reverse hypers, regular barbell rows, cable rows a la king(fish), pull ups and chin ups, and on and on.
EDIT: or, you know, light rack pulls. there's not absolute need to go heavy from day one. why not start with light rack pulls? why did you start with heavy deads, anyway?
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Why did I go heavy? Because I needed back strength last week, not in a months time lol when i'm done with my high bar squatting cycle. Like need it asap.
I think rack pulls were ok today, cause they're very close to a flat back, just a tiny rounding of middle back. A lot better than pulls from the ground which are scary.
Sure, I can try regular rows. Anything using dbs is out cause I dont have any. I can also try cable rows cause i have a pulley system, but that sounds like a gimmicky exercise (yes i know kf does them but that doesn't prove anything).. will try that out nevertheless.
I dont have a back extension bench thing :( It's prob the most important piece of equipment i'm missing but they're fairly expensive last time i checked.
I might be getting a coach next week, he might be able to teach me to pull correctly from the floor too.
Thanks for your suggestions.
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Why did I go heavy? Because I needed back strength last week, not in a months time lol when i'm done with my high bar squatting cycle. Like need it asap.
it's hard to tell if you're joking here.
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Not joking. Which variant of cable row does KF do, seated or the lying one?
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Seated cable rows are boss. I've never heard of lying ones though.
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Seated cable rows are boss. I've never heard of lying ones though.
Thanks sold re seated cable rows. Lying ones - I'm thinking of this exercise I saw Arnold do in pumping iron, he's on the ground, legs straight and he's doing a low cable row. Sounds a bit crazy now that i think about it, trying to find it on youtube to make sure i didn't imagine it
edit, found it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=my6IroYcyEI&t=73)
just a regular seated row but he goes past vertical
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You do know that lifting fatigues you so that your muscles rebuipd stronger in anticipation of that weight again....
so why do you think you can gain back strength like you're wanting in a few sessions?
Forgive me if im wrong but im pretty sure KF has been lifting for quite awhile to reach his strength levels. I've been browsing your log ajd it seems your stuck on instant gratification which rarely happens with vertical training (if ever). Just be consistent and keep kicking ass man. Don't look for any magic, the magics in the work.
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Because i'm not building it from scratch. I used to pull 170kg for 5 off the ground easily a few years ago. I used to have that strength, don't any more because i haven't done any pulls in years :( i neglected training my back and now it's come back to bite me in the ass because my backsquat is limited by my (lack of) back strength. I am using the same weight for backsquats as my front squats but struggling because my back is weak as fuck when it should be easy for me. Backsquats are supposed to be like 10-15kg heavier than front squats for olympic squatters. And for ppl who don't go atg on bs, the difference shud be even greater.
This feels like when you are studying for a class you find easy but because you left it last minute you have too much material to cover in one night and you're panicking even though you should be acing the test coming up. for me the test is backsquatting 1kg less than my front squat, something that shud be a piece of cake but it's crushingly hard instead cause i neglected back training
so what are you saying that the cable row is an advanced exercise? or it's a good exercise because kf does it? kf prob has plenty of back strength from years of training, he probably used heavy pulls heavily at one point and he probably still most of that back strength available to him.
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you have the weirdest misconceptions of how bodies adapt to stuff. you need back strength, so your solution is to DL for singles to failure after ages of not DL'ing at all, expecting that this will address your perceived strength deficit quickly and then being surprised when instead it leads to your back hurting. i can't even wrap my head around that logic.
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Amen LBSS.
Entropy, you say you've neglected back training for awhile now, when you neglect something it doesn't stay with you. Now, it should come back qu8cker than it was achieved according to some but I don't think you got to 170x5 by doing heavy singles, right? So why do you expect that to get you there now? Idk, maybe I'm mis-reading you but I think you're going about this all wrong. You seem to want PRs every single session but that cant be maintained forever. Everyone plateaus once in awhile, you just need to be patient and keep working.
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I've only read the last few posts, but from personal experience, you can gain strength back pretty quickly if you have muscle memory. Of course it's better to be patient, but I've done similar things and seen results. Over the past year my squat has gone up, then down, then up, and down, depending on how much sprints/plyos I did. If I did longer sprints I would become hamstring dominant and it would mess up my squat. Stopping sprints, and just doing some light squats allowed me to see massive increases in strength in a few days, about 10lbs a day. For example my squat was feeling so shitty i could barely do 245lbs 5 times when I had been able to do 275 for a few reps before. SO I did 245 3x3 (easy), one day, 255 3x3 the next day (a little harder), then 265 3x3 the next day, and I was back to where I started. That's of course a lighter approach but if I hadn't had that muscle memory before I wouldn't have been able to do that. The adaptations there were all neural mostly.
Now this wouldn't have worked if I stopped for years but I would think it would still work a little if you have muscle memory. With deadlifts I've experienced the same thing, I stopped DLing seriously for about a year I'd say, but just doing some brief intense lifting brought the strength back quickly. I did heavy singles too at one point, just a few to bring back that muscle memory.
TO conclude...I think the gain strength WITHOUT ever having it, lifting regularly (any program that builds strength i mean) is the best solution. If you IN THE PAST have had great strength, I think you can safely use a different approach, an approach that involves bringing back that muscle memory and strength without a lot of volume. However going lighter and just working on form can bring back muscle memory too... so I'm not saying lifting heavy singles at the risk of injury is the best approach... I'm saying that conventional lifting is not necessary. I unfortunately don't have the data to back it up but if I searched I'm sure I could find anecdotes.
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About CNS stim before bed. Yes I know some things.
Always meditate do yoga after your workouts. It will balance you out and active the rest and digest branch the parasympathetic branch of your nervous system and increase vagal tone (vagus nerve). Doing aerobic exercises also increases vagal tone a lot so I would actually suggest that if you feel wired for "hours," because that's not going to be a good thing for your recovery. When your CNS is wired like that after a workout it's hard to eat. I've experienced the same exact thing and it's not a good state to be in if you want to optimize digestion. You want to be in a rest/digest state to get anabolic. Maybe try doing some higher rep stuff becaue the super heavy low rep stuff is great for just stimulating the CNS and eventually running it into fatigue. Cool down. That's key. Meditation/yoga, again. DOn't neglect. Are you cooling down appropriately?
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I've only read the last few posts, but from personal experience, you can gain strength back pretty quickly if you have muscle memory. Of course it's better to be patient, but I've done similar things and seen results. Over the past year my squat has gone up, then down, then up, and down, depending on how much sprints/plyos I did. If I did longer sprints I would become hamstring dominant and it would mess up my squat. Stopping sprints, and just doing some light squats allowed me to see massive increases in strength in a few days, about 10lbs a day. For example my squat was feeling so shitty i could barely do 245lbs 5 times when I had been able to do 275 for a few reps before. SO I did 245 3x3 (easy), one day, 255 3x3 the next day (a little harder), then 265 3x3 the next day, and I was back to where I started. That's of course a lighter approach but if I hadn't had that muscle memory before I wouldn't have been able to do that. The adaptations there were all neural mostly.
Now this wouldn't have worked if I stopped for years but I would think it would still work a little if you have muscle memory. With deadlifts I've experienced the same thing, I stopped DLing seriously for about a year I'd say, but just doing some brief intense lifting brought the strength back quickly. I did heavy singles too at one point, just a few to bring back that muscle memory.
TO conclude...I think the gain strength WITHOUT ever having it, lifting regularly (any program that builds strength i mean) is the best solution. If you IN THE PAST have had great strength, I think you can safely use a different approach, an approach that involves bringing back that muscle memory and strength without a lot of volume. However going lighter and just working on form can bring back muscle memory too... so I'm not saying lifting heavy singles at the risk of injury is the best approach... I'm saying that conventional lifting is not necessary. I unfortunately don't have the data to back it up but if I searched I'm sure I could find anecdotes.
yeah but he ALREADY TRIED THAT AND HURT HIS BACK IN THE PROCESS.
also, "conventional lifting is not necessary"...what does that even mean?
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it's not clear how bad he hurt his back. is he out of commission?
By conventional lifting I mean anything people normally do to gain strength. 5x5, smolov, anything. When you have muscle memory you can do MUCH less and gain strength and muscle mass back much faster.
So what i'm essentially arguing is that you DON'T strictly have to be patient, you can treat it aggressively and then once you're back use conventional lifting. Heavy singles will work but just going light to bring back the motor pattern is all that is necessary.
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It's not too bad. Getting better quickly. Technically it was singles to failure, but practically speaking it wasn't, i mean I failed to break one single off the ground but I didn't fail it in the sense that it didn't even budge. Deadlifts are bad news for me so i'm going to stay away. I think it's to do with the length of my leg segments, my femur is too long and it makes it hard to set the bar up properly. No big deal, just means I can't be an olympic lifter and clean 3 plates like i once dreamed :( but it's okay, there are plenty of other ways to get explosive, maybe i can pull off blocks or something. That's the other thing, my plates aren't standard height so it's more of a deficit pull which doesn't help.
I agree with everything avishek said. I think i might even have been inspired by avishek and raptor to do singles. I don't care about doing reps of deadlifts because form breaks down with every rep and when even the first one is of questionable form there is no sense in doing more reps. I like the idea of working up to a decently challenging single and then leaving it there which is what I did on friday except i didn't know where to start and had to bisect between 150kg and 130kg to find the right weight (140kg).
Also chris, i still have the muscle on my lower back, can touch and feel it there my erectors are still there. I just need to remind them how to be strong. I'll try the exercises mentioned like cable & barbell rows and heavy rack pulls.
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Not joking. Which variant of cable row does KF do, seated or the lying one?
i do one-hand standing cable rows with the off-hand bracing to keep me perpendicular to the cable resistance.
this gives me mass on the mid back, rear delts and forearms and NOT for the spinal erectors. the braced off-hand removes as much of the erectors as i can to not fatigue them.
best torso-stabilizing exercise aside from squats - i do high repetition weighted back extensions (3x45s on GHR bench).
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Cool down. That's key. Meditation/yoga, again. DOn't neglect. Are you cooling down appropriately?
Thanks man. Nope, never do any cool downs. What is a cool down? lol. I see people do self massage mobility movements after workouts but ive always approached that stuff as something you do to prepare for a workout, it never occured to me that it would be useful after a workout, you know? I'll try meditation and yoga after tomorrows workout, see what happens. Should I try to actively lower my core temperature too?
Not joking. Which variant of cable row does KF do, seated or the lying one?
i do one-hand standing cable rows with the off-hand bracing to keep me perpendicular to the cable resistance.
this gives me mass on the mid back, rear delts and forearms and NOT for the spinal erectors. the braced off-hand removes as much of the erectors as i can to not fatigue them.
best torso-stabilizing exercise aside from squats - i do high repetition weighted back extensions (3x45s on GHR bench).
I actually just considered joining a gym just to use a GHR bench after reading your post lol. It's cheaper than actually buying one ($600). Yeah mate the torso stabilisation is what i'm after for my heavy 6-rep highbar backsquats. Could I join a gym for a few weeks and just build up my back strength enough to get my squats nice and stable and then stop doing them or will I need to keep doing them to keep the benefits? I'm not sure.
Found a shiny 6 foot steel pipe to use as my practice bar, i was just looking for a broom handle but this is much nicer. Doing the classic lifts from the hang. Turns out i'm good at snatching, it comes so naturally to me. Cleans are the opposite. My long arms make the rack impossible/difficult. With the snatch, the wider grip suits my long arms nicely. But this is just broom stick work yet so it's early. I already think i'm going to give up on cleans though, it's not a natural exercise for me and I think for us wannabe athletes snatches are a better tool anyway. I remember Lance saying the snatch is the gold standard for athletic performance, and that the front squat is a proxy to it, and a backsquat is a proxy to the front squat and so on. It's nice when an exercise comes naturally, this is what it must be like to be a normal person. Might update this post with a video later, i took one but haven't watched it yet.
You know what would be cool. If somehow taking a wide grip on the bar ala snatch actually allows me to do a nice pull from the floor. That would fill me with joy but I should temper my expectations and assume the worst. We'll see.
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just do some lower intensity exercises. run, just a little, slowly, not fast. And deepbreathing/yoga/meditation. I wouldn't try to actively lower core temp no. but going into an ice bath isn't a bad idea it can be very stimulating though.
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Oh word. I usually take dog out for a walk in the evenings except on training days when i'm too busy working out. Didn't realise it was costing me a valuable cool down. But i'll now make the time for a slow jog. I just hate being so wired up and unable to sleep, ruins recovery! Can't wait to try this out tonight. I'm cleaning up sleep hygiene - last night i put my phone far from me where I couldn't reach it from bed. Fell asleep much quicker and easier than normal. Might make that a permanent rule now.
KF just recommended Good mornings for upright torso stabilisation. Unlike deadlifts - I can actually do that exercise very well, safely and i'm good at it. So i'll make that my defacto stable core exercise from now on. Make sure to take video and check out that i'm doing them adequately.
Today is a big milestone for my squats - parity between front squats and backsquats. Hope I get both PRs.
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Training
FS 3x125 (PR)
BS 6x125 (PR), 5x122.5, 5x127.5(B, PR), 4x120 (B)
OHP 6x60, 3x65 (PR), 3x62.5
CU 3x6xBW
FS notes:
Pretty easy as far as heavy triple PRs go. Didn't sleep much so getting a PR in this fashion was a pleasant surprise.
BS notes:
Must have hit record twice on my shitty camera and because it's got no flashing led indicating recording, i didn't pick it wasn't recording til the set was over. Taped the 2nd set and it was ok form. Used a belt for the first time, not sure how I feel about it yet, don't like to use a belt but unless my core gets a lot stronger very quickly i dont see how i'm getting to 6x140kg in 3 weeks without some serious core gainz. So we'll see. Have to remind myself the goal is to breed muscle mass on my legs and buttocks, and if a belt helps with that goal then it's all good really.
Upper notes:
New form teck on ohp. Squeeze glutez, fix gaze btw middle of pullleys, one big breathe for the whole set. Made that 65kg triple feel like a warmup. I prob had another 2 reps in me. Sick 1s. I've set my ohp training goal as 3x75kg (ideal bw).
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it's not clear how bad he hurt his back. is he out of commission?
By conventional lifting I mean anything people normally do to gain strength. 5x5, smolov, anything. When you have muscle memory you can do MUCH less and gain strength and muscle mass back much faster.
So what i'm essentially arguing is that you DON'T strictly have to be patient, you can treat it aggressively and then once you're back use conventional lifting. Heavy singles will work but just going light to bring back the motor pattern is all that is necessary.
@LBSS: While Avishek is correct, it absolutely does not apply to Entropy at all. Totally true that you can increase a neglected lift with neural gains really easily. Physiologically speaking this is the same reason beginners can increase every lift initially (all are neglected). However, this is the "falsest" of all forms of strength. It's why I would way rather have the athlete who has never lifted and maxes out his bench press at 185 than the kid who spent the last 8 months benching and maxes out at 205. The 185 kid will be generally stronger in every way and just lacks the specific bench press coordination.
The unfortunate thing is; unless you compete as a power lifter the movement efficiency component of lifting is useless; it has no carryover to anything but that lift! That's why if you squat 400 and then focus on jumping for and don't squat for three months your vertical won't go down despite the fact that when you squat again you might only be able to do 350. At the same time when you quickly (as Avishek mentioned) get your squat back to 400 you won't get any gains in vertical. Getting the squat to 450 by building up leg strength and then focusing on vertical while your squat goes down to 400 WILL get your vertical higher than it was previously with a movement efficiency inflated 400lb squat.
Entropy is looking for an ASSISTANCE exercise to increase aid his back strength in squat. He is totally barking up the wrong tree by attempting to quickly build back up to what he thinks were once impressive DL numbers... Movement efficiency in assistance exercises is silly; that's why powerlifters do 3x8 or 4x10 higher volume assistance work, the goal is always slow increase of strength through hypertrophy, otherwise assistance exercises don't carryover. That's also why KF refers to using his assistance exercises as exercises to "add mass" to certain portions of his back to aid his squat. It's two ways of saying the same thing. Assistance work helps add mass or general muscle strength to a certain muscle; this added muscle makes related but not mechanically similar movements easier. Entropy trains like an meticulous and excited postdoc rather than a traditional athlete so he probably won't heed the advice and use assistance work to his advantage; instead he will probably add fatigue to his workouts by trying to quickly recapture neural gains in the deadlift while in the middle of a intense squat cycle.... this won't work.
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I don't think that argument is right when it comes to deadlifts. Squats maybe, other exercises too, but not deads. What you're saying is what ppl experience from doing a stint of smolov backsquats where find they get very good at squatting from high frequency and volume but this doesn't necessarily carry over so to speak. This is the complete opposite of that. Low frequency and low volume! And it's ignoring the special role of the back. It's exactly why a wiry bob peoples pulled 800 or whatever it was while weighing something like 180 (from memory). It's because the back can get very strong without requiring a lot of muscle mass. This is exactly why it's okay to treat the back differently. So I think you're wrong about this completely. It's not the squat which depends on technique and movement efficiency, it's the deadlift, you know, just raw brute strength. Anyway lets forget about deadlifts all the same, i'm not doing them anymore due to safefy so this discussion is irrelevant!
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[redacted]
i'm glad you've decided to abandon near-max-effort DLs from months of not practicing them as a way to improve back strength.
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^Thank God for That. lol. The Hodge Twins were right all along. i'll never question them again. DEADLIFTS SNAPPED MY SHIT ALL UP NOW MY MOUNTAIN IS BROKE.
LBBS :highfive:
I'm seeing olympic coach tomorrow.. bit nervous, never been around someone who knows what they're doing, esp with my shitty form when olyfags are famous for being sticklers for form.
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Training
BS 6x127 (PR), 3x130
BS notes:
Trained with coach. He made some major changes to my technique.
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I would naturally do a long writeup of what I have learnt but the last thing I want is someone nitpicking some minor point so i'm just gonna skip it lol. Suffice to say, things Lance has told me all along, coach reinforced them so i should just learn to take good advice and act on it. I see good things from me in the coming future, my technique was so suboptimal it's amazing i have got as far as I have with it. But with better technique i'm going to do much better. Just need to do the hard work.
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So for some reason (I am going to blame Raptor because i'm sure i picked it up from him) along the way I had decided an 'athletic squat' had a narrow stance than normal and that I should keep a narrow stance to make my gym gains carry over. The problem is my idea of normal was not. When coach took my stance (he's a lot shorter than me) by placing his feet over the plates he had me put under my heel he said, this is much to narrow even for me. But at the time I thought he just didn't understand that i want an athletic squat brah. Then I saw the video and instantly I saw what he saw - my stance was ridiculously narrow. Then as I thought about it some more, I realised coach was right and this isn't a powerlifter cheating on depth - it's an olympic lifter/coach taught by a national chinese coach who is telling me my stance is too narrow. I argued with him at the time saying, 'but it's athletic' and he said yes but, we're not doing squats to emulate a jump, we're doing them to get strong and grow big legs (paraphrasing). He's right ofcourse :-
(http://i.imgur.com/BeOdRQo.png)
Now I remember reading somewhere Lance writing that guys with longer legs need wider stance. But I thought that was just cheating for the sake of moving more weight and sacrificing depth by an excuse of height. That the true exercise was a narrow so called athletic stance. Incidentally Kelly starett calls an athletic stance as 'just wider than shoulder width' - which is my after position above. Which seem waaaay wide to me when I take the position and yet that's actually what he'd call athletic.
There are many other things we went thru with coach but this one is the one which i'm going to fix first. What i'm finding is that it's easier to stay upright now. But my depth isn't so good. But one other thing which really changes from stance is my hips are open now. Try opening hips with my old stance - it wasn't that easy lol. So maybe once i've adjusted to this new stance, i'll strengthen the hips and get more muscle contrib from other muscle groups and become stronger for it. Coach's all about the quad strength to the point of focusing on it exclusively. But i dont think it works for me honestly. My form was so shit, but i think that was partly because i insisted on my (very) narrow stance. So have to experiment and see whether his way can actually work for me because it didn't yesterday. His way makes for much worse squats than normal.
Oh and coach wasn't even interested in my front squats, he saw the video of 125kg triple PR from weds and told me how to improve but he didn't spend any time on it. I already know that i'll have to modify my stance though. And then i'll be more upright. And then i'll make my quads stronger. And then it will be a useful exercise, cause whatever i've been doing so far has been worthless, probably.
Further experimenting with the new stance I just tried and got a perfect ATG overhead squat, balanced, controlled and deep. And on the concentric went straight up. Fuck this is awesome.
I miss Lance :(
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You're a really odd guy man... trust me.
I haven't read so much overanalyzing over small details in quite a while... and I'm to blame for your very narrow stance? wtf
I've always squatted wide and I always felt like narrow stance squatting is just an exaggeration by people who don't know any better and come up with "yeah but that's athletic" and if you ask them "what do you mean by that" they can't respond. They just keep on saying "it's athletic" => the obvious sign that that guy is full of crap.
Now I remember reading somewhere Lance writing that guys with longer legs need wider stance. But I thought that was just cheating for the sake of moving more weight and sacrificing depth by an excuse of height.
So in your paranoia you thought Lance was secretly recommending a wider stance so that you cheat yourself from getting stronger? :goodjobbro:
My form was so shit, but i think that was partly because i insisted on my (very) narrow stance.
So it didn't occur to you, in all this time training, to try a different stance width? :goodjobbro:
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Wow nice overreaction there. Calm down man. I wasn't seriously suggesting you are the reason. Clearly I was being flippant. But i'm also pretty sure that I read it in one of your posts this connection btw narrow stance and athletic. But that's not the reason I switched over to it. I used to do wider (=read normal) stance squats til October when I experimented with narrowing stance. This allowed me to go deeper and it gave me better leverage making the lift much easier, esp with front squats I found I could hit ATG. So it seemed right. And i stuck with it. But I was just cheating myself into thinking it was better. Actually it took work away from teh quads which is the whole point of squatting. I also don't think it's sustainable long term cause it's an inherently unstable position out of the bottom.
Now I remember reading somewhere Lance writing that guys with longer legs need wider stance. But I thought that was just cheating for the sake of moving more weight and sacrificing depth by an excuse of height.
So in your paranoia you thought Lance was secretly recommending a wider stance so that you cheat yourself from getting stronger? :goodjobbro:
No you fool it was I who was cheating myself thinking depth was better when it's not. Narrow stance gave greater epth while wider stance has less depth. It's the flip side around, people make a big deal about more depth being better and less depth is cheating yourself whereas for me it turned out exactly the opposite way. The shallower lift is harder much harder.
I did wider stance til October. From october to April I did narrow. And then I hurt my hips (easy to do with narrow stance) and switched to wider stance til late june. Then switched back to narrow and pushed both of my squats all thru july. Now i'm going to revert to a wider stance and make it work. But already I can see it's so much easier to stay upright and drive up with the quads.
Also it's not 'overanalyzing over small detail'! super narrow stance vs normal stance is a huge deal. Instead of making my quads bigger and stronger, by adopting a narrow stance I made it an exercise for the extensors and the glutes!! Is it a minor detail that I turned a mainly quad exercise into a glute one? No! This means the last year of training was wasted! I'd have got more out of doing half squats lol. That's what it basically means. (And yes vag you made the point in my log about 6 weeks ago but i was seduced by ATG depth)
:raging: :derp:
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So you think a small difference in stance width suddenly made you waste months of training?
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Is it small? Look at the pic! And it's not just the difference in foot width, it's what it means for the lift. Like right now if I do a BW squat, narrow stance and auch knees, dont feel it in the muscles. SW stance, and boom, instantly quads feel it. It solves a whole host of probs ive had where I don't come out upright from the bottom position. I overlooked it til now because coach told me and also because in the past where my power rack was situation I couldn't take a video from the appropriate angle which would have shown it to be a wrong stance. But so many things are now starting to make sense. I had bigger thighs last summer because then I was doing normal stance. I added 30kg to my squats since then and yet my quads are smaller .. didn't make sense. And after re-starting backsquat after my injury i favoured a wider stance to keep my hips healthy, well what do you know, suddenly i was getting epic quad soreness all the time. Which I never had from a shitload of front squatting. All these things are explained by stance.
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Hey man just wanted to say I always react in a similar fashion - one realization of something I was doing wrong and all of a suddenly it's X months of training down the drain. That's just not true. Maybe training wasn't optimal, but you couldn't have learned what you learned without that experience. Your time is never wasted. Thinking like that can be really mentally draining. Things get much easier what you can take a step back and analyze without beating yourself up.
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Hey man just wanted to say I always react in a similar fashion - one realization of something I was doing wrong and all of a suddenly it's X months of training down the drain. That's just not true. Maybe training wasn't optimal, but you couldn't have learned what you learned without that experience. Your time is never wasted. Thinking like that can be really mentally draining. Things get much easier what you can take a step back and analyze without beating yourself up.
This^^^
Look man... it's OK to be passionate about analysing stuff and getting up with better ways to train. Same goes for keeping an open mind (I'm looking at Avishek).
But you have to keep a cool head, stay calm, and if it's the case - then make the adjustment. Nothing wrong with that. Just bring it down. You're at a 10 and you need to be at a 2.
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(And yes vag you made the point in my log about 6 weeks ago but i was seduced by ATG depth)
Btw, i have nothing against ATG squats, on the contrary. My objection back then was seeing you get frustrated about not reaching ATG and planning to lower your working load to achieve it, while you were already squatting at a below parallel depth. Had it been above parallel, i would have encouraged you to proceed. In other words, full squat vs ATG squat : no big deal. Half squat vs full squat : big deal. But those little ( or big ) obsessions are part of this whole thing we are into.
Agree with raptor and rix. You never wasted anything. You had amazing and constant progress in all your goals. It's nice that you found a way to optimize the process even more, but keep in mind that all you did so far was not even close to being a waste.
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Is it small? Look at the pic! And it's not just the difference in foot width, it's what it means for the lift. Like right now if I do a BW squat, narrow stance and auch knees, dont feel it in the muscles. SW stance, and boom, instantly quads feel it. It solves a whole host of probs ive had where I don't come out upright from the bottom position. I overlooked it til now because coach told me and also because in the past where my power rack was situation I couldn't take a video from the appropriate angle which would have shown it to be a wrong stance. But so many things are now starting to make sense. I had bigger thighs last summer because then I was doing normal stance. I added 30kg to my squats since then and yet my quads are smaller .. didn't make sense. And after re-starting backsquat after my injury i favoured a wider stance to keep my hips healthy, well what do you know, suddenly i was getting epic quad soreness all the time. Which I never had from a shitload of front squatting. All these things are explained by stance.
Mate, I have just gone through a very similar process as you. I didn't have the benefit of a coach but have been struggling with squat form for ages and have kept injuring myself. Somewhere along the line I too thought it better for a more narrow stance even after experimenting with all ranges. Biggest clue for me (after picking up Starrett's book) was feet just outside shoulder width with feet as straight as possible which helps force the knees out. I'm still working through an injury but can't wait to get back in and cement the new form for future gains.
Having said all that I think it's hugely important as Rix said, to not throw the baby out with the bathwater. So you weren't training optimally. Who is? Make your adjustments now and move on before the next adjustment comes but don't forget how you have trained and how much you have benefitted so far. From what I can see you've made incredible progress (mostly while mad cutting too).
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If I could back and not see coach on friday, i probably would lol and continue thinking I was on the right track. Haha. But i srsly i didn't believe that proper squatters must have such a stance so much wider than mine. I had to see it from his eyes to realise it and then it just hit me like a ton of bricks. Watch Михаил КоклÑев
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6L1z7afvB8
That's a wide as stance! Or is it? The inside of his shoes up near the heel are pretty much shoulder width. He's still hitting good depth and staying upright. I'm also noticing how wide his grip is on the bar, i should experiment with mine too instead of just taking it on faith that close as possible best (mine is very very close).
Over the weekend i practiced a lot with the empty bar. Shoulder Width (SW) stance, slightly wider, more wider, toes straight, toes turned out a little, more, with plates under feet, etc. I found that I couldn't do my usual ATG on front squats with a wider stance, for some reason i run into huge buttwink issues, back rounds completely just after breaking parallel. This was paradoxical to me why with a narrow stance I can keep a flat back and go proper deep and with a wider stance it becomes close to impossible. I obviously haven't got the mobility to squat properly with a SW stance right now, and if i switch over to it immediately i'll likely get injured. So that's what I won't do. I may gradually increase my stance, hopefully while preserving depth and get stronger over time.
Here is a mindfuck though. With a SW stance, I can do a perfectly deep, upright OHS!! How can you explain that? I have no idea. It must be my hamstrings/hips tightening up on FS/BS which doesn't happen in OHS? I found I need to tighten up my groin muscles to keep a flat back on BS. Wider stance brings a whole host of issues with it, it's no wonder I came to prefer narrow.
I have picked up some injuries since wednesday. I wore my worst pair of shoes on my postworkout cooldown run/jog and they have given me a nasty dose of Achilles tendinitis. It flared up on friday and coach had me do some stretches and rolling but i think that just made it worse. It wasn't something to stretch away but needed to be rested. You never know about these things, some niggles go away from working at them, some get worse. I also think my lowerback didn't like the heavy good mornings i did with coaches technique. His squat technique leads to way more squatmorning than my usual method. It also hurt my right knee. I completely believe that his way is more quad dominant.
I measured my thighs and was surprised to find them come out as 25" - that was my goal size. So now i'm thinking with my FS+BS combo and everpresent quad soreness, i was on the right track, perhaps suboptimally and didn't really need to make drastic changes. By veering off course, i just caused myself unnecessary stress and possibly injury! So small subtle changes from here on, back to way things were on my last good workout (wednesday). nothing drastic, just incremental small improvements from here. Yes I need a wider stance. No I wont go all the way to SW right away.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JftyKFFZho8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti2Htl0-tzc
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Training
FS 3Fx127 (PR), 3x126 (PR)
BS 4x127.5 (PR), 5x125(PR), 10x110 (PR)
BP 5x86 (PR), 1x87
FS notes:
I didn't FS on friday, wanted to make up for it by adding 2kg instead of the usual 1kg. Didn't get the 3rd rep but on the 2nd set got 3x126 I would have done on friday. Body is able to produce 1kg PRs a pop (3kg a week) but no more than 1kg at a time. Noted. Really dirty 3rd rep on the 126kg. If I posted the vid you'd all rightly chastise me. I reason that if I had not attempted a 127kg triple before that it would have been cleaner. Upper back rounded a lot, lower back was ok. Have to strengthen upper back. And yes coach would say it's because your quads are not strong enough, totally true, stronger quads mean you can get away with less upper back strength by driving the rep hard but since i'm already working very hard on quads there isn't much I can do about that but upper back can be strengthened via other exercises.
BS notes:
I kinda figured out a way to make my normal technique more quad centric. Just by re-oriented myself on the way up to drive straight up via quads. Bad news is I didn't have my 6 reps in me for 127.5 - my thought was to continue from friday's 6x127 ugly squatmornings to give myself motivation by getting a 1/2kg PR. But really I should have done 126kg or something instead since the 127kg last week was too dirty for any use. So. Next time go for 6x126kg topset and then resume 2kg jumps from there. Also that 6x126kg will be a PR set - i'm not counting fridays squat mornings with coach as backsquat - they were good mornings!
Also for next time consciously tighten up adductors. Just to get more stability into the hole. It's one thing I can do to reduce the horizontal instability that comes with my narrow stance.
Happy to get the 10x110kg milestone PR - 1RM calculator puts that as a 147kg max, which is close to 150kg = 2xbw for my ideal bw of 75kg. So that's something i guess. I would like 10x120kg just to make sure I have really covered the 2xbw goal, or at least mean it's a smooth athletic lift rather than a slow grindy one.
BP notes:
Think i've hit the wall on 6s. Have got as far as these could take me. Now I will try 5s for a while. If that gets me unstuck up to 90kg it will be great.
So subtle changes are the way forward. I'll make that the watchword of the day. Slowly and gradually i'll improve my form but in the meantime stick to the program and get my 140kg squats (FS 3x140 and BS 6x140) in the next 3 weeks. If I fall 5kg short on FS that's ok. If I can't get 6 reps of BS - that's ok too, 5 will do. I may switch to 5s for my topset if necessity deems it so.Then come september, i'll start dropping bodyfat back to baseline. :) Work tirelessly on my form, slowly and steadily widening stance, getting more upright, maintaining depth. Add in accessory work and close up any strength and muscle gaps in my kinetic chain. Become a beast.
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the thing of it is, entropy does keep a cool head and keeps to his plans. he comes on here and freaks the fuck out over tiny shit and gets all hyperbolic about wasting months of training and whatnot. and then he just keeps on keeping on and getting PR's. so maybe he just needs adarq.org to vent and we should all stop reacting to it because he generally doesn't seem to be carrying that venting over into changing his workouts every two weeks.
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^Hmm. He's right! He's right! Lol.
I'm trying to figure out my sizing for nike romaleos 2. I tried out nike free's in 13 and 11.5 which were obviously wrong. Also tried out 12s and 12.5s. Hard to decide between 12 and 12.5. 12's are snug. 12.5's are slightly roomy. So not sure which to go with out of those two. If I wear 2 pairs of socks i'll def need 12.5s (been doing that because i thought my right foot ankle mobility is jelly like).
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Training
FS 3x127 (PR)
BS 5x129.5 (PR), 5x125, 6x120, 8x112.5 (PR)
OHP 5x62(PR), 3Fx67(PR), 3Fx66
WCU (7,6,6,5) x 89
HT 3x60(PR), 6x60(PR), 6x70(PR), 6x80 (PR)
FS notes:
Ok.
BS notes:
I said i'd go for 6x126 topset but I thought i might try my luck with with progressing heavy 5s for a while. Smashed it. I mean it was very hard but I bore full control over the weight thru the whole set. And last time I only got 4 reps with 127.5kg which weren't controlled so having take a 2kg jump i'm pretty pleased with the way the set went! If they keep moving at 2kg that's equally fantastic. I can leave 6s for the 2nd set, which will go up 1kg at a time after getting a new 6PR. Didn't have a 6th in me today though for whatever reason. So attempt 6x126kg on friday. Oh and i've decided the 3rd set will be 120kg for reps, hopefully 8 next time, and work my way up towards 10 reps. This way I get nice load of volume with a heavier set, while continuing to progress towards 10x120kg which corresponds to the cycle training goal of a 160kg max.
I improved my HBBS form today. I actively balanced the bar not just midfoot (after coach's advice) but also laterally btw my legs distributing it equally over both feet. This made a profound difefrence, the bar looked very straight and balanced on video which is new. I think if my floor was even the effect would be even more pronounced. This is a worthy improvement!
OHP notes:
I was kinda spent after today's squats. Not making an excuse, just think if I were fresher I would have got the triple PR w/ 67kg. All good. Heavy doubles aint so bad but they were bit too hard for my liking after how easy I got the 3x65kg PR last week. Next time.
Hip Thrust:
Lol so tried these for the first time. I kinda suck. 60kg was challenging on that first set lol. What didn't help was my bench would tilt over at the top of the rep. So have to figure out a way to stop that. Think I found one for set 2 onwards put wood blocks under the bench legs so it stays in place. Rather uncomfortable to have bar dig in on my pelvic region, but i'll adapt I guess. I think i'm currently limited mostly by pain threshold than I am by strenf on these. Once my bones adapt to the stress then I'll be able to comfortably load some decent weight on this probably. I looked at Raptors log and he's only using like 90kg for this and he's been doing the exercise foreever .. so i guess I can't be too bad in the glute area? Dunno. Whatever lets see what happens over the next few weeks. If it carries over onto my squats i'll know instantly cause my squat (topset) is very challenging and i'll know if HT work have made them easier.
Coach wants me to do hip thrusts but i'm focusing so hard on squats that I dunno if I can spare the recovery/effort for accessories rite now. But I should at least start them I guess :/ He also wants me to do a lot of quad power exercises which i'll begin when my achilles tendinitis dissipates completely.
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In case anyone is interested, this is the program/plan coach sketched for me :-
(http://i.imgur.com/U2nWISy.png)
I'm not yet doing 100% what's written, just because I want to finish what I started first. But also because I can't do some of those things right now due to injury and what not. But eventually I will do it as written.
What do you guys think btw? Is he mad? Good? Bad? A lot of it resonates with what Lance has told me along the way and I respect his views quite a lot.
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if you have taken him on as your coach, you should do what he says and not listen to anything anyone on here says to the contrary. i am unsure how jump squats will cure your cancer of leaning forward and having too strong a back, and also i was unaware that "too strong back" was a problem for you. i think i'm reading it wrong.
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His reasoning for squat jumps (not jump squats) which are unweighted squats into a jump is to teach my body to recruit the quads out of the hole. I'm not doing the plyo exercise you guys use with a barbell, which to my understanding is an advanced exercise. Too strong a back means giving up finishing a squat with the legs allowing the back to take over (squat morning) when legs aren't strong enough or just lazy legs giving up too easily. btw he's totally right about my quads being weak as fuck. I had a solid convincing reason for that but now i've forgotten it for the moment, will edit when i remember.
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If you can do strong front squats then you know how to recruit the quads out of the hole (and the glutes).
Interesting that he noted "hip thrusts" there. I'm becoming a very big fan of them the more experience I have with them.
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This is the same problem i had, since i heard you don't want quads stronger than the hams all i concentrated on was the hammies and now i have that problem of leaning when in the hole and coming with heavy weights, someone told me that when in the hole if you curl the weight a bit back it should place weight on your p-chain rather than your torso so you can get up more upright.
maybe i should try the front squats. but don't want to add more to my workout yet.
unless i feel like i can add more than maybe
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If you can do strong front squats then you know how to recruit the quads out of the hole (and the glutes).
yes. IMO, problem here is weak BW. :wowthatwasnutswtf:
you get our of this twig mode, you will improve your squat ratio and potentially be more explosive.
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If you can do strong front squats then you know how to recruit the quads out of the hole (and the glutes).
yes. IMO, problem here is weak BW. :wowthatwasnutswtf:
you get our of this twig mode, you will improve your squat ratio and potentially be more explosive.
This^^^
You're already probably very high in terms of neural efficiency and movement efficiency in the squat so... getting up in bodyweight should help at this point.
But you're still PRing so...
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If you can do strong front squats then you know how to recruit the quads out of the hole (and the glutes).
Interesting that he noted "hip thrusts" there. I'm becoming a very big fan of them the more experience I have with them.
Yeah but I still have NO IDEA what muscles are responsible for my front squats. I know what muscles SHOULD be responsible for front squats, but I don't know if the same applies to MY front squat lol. It will remain a complete mystery. Re HT - came out of the blue when he wrote those down. But if you think about it, I used mainly FS for a long time. BS sporadically when healthy. No deadlifts. No RDLs etc. So maybe I am deficient there? He must have noticed something in the way I squatted? Not sure. But I like them a lot already. Just need to work on doing full ROM and setting up the equipment properly.
If you can do strong front squats then you know how to recruit the quads out of the hole (and the glutes).
yes. IMO, problem here is weak BW. :wowthatwasnutswtf:
you get our of this twig mode, you will improve your squat ratio and potentially be more explosive.
lol. I'm working on it man. It's getting harder to put on weight though ;(, and i'm also afraid of a long demoralising cut after if i gain too much, so i'm reluctant to step up the eating. But i've already gained a good amount of weight, sadly half of it was during downtime due to injury and what not. I have gained enough mass to get my goal lifts I think (>>2xbw HBBS and 2xbw FS). But no where near enough to move some serious weight (~180kg). So that will have to wait til next winter. I can't gain too much now because I need to be in shape for bball in april and if I bite off too much, i wont be able to cut to sub 10% to be maximally athletic on the court.
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I just want to make a note in the log that this week I've been taking an extra 4g of fish oil per day for a total of 10g. Even with a decent amount of squat volume, i'm dom free. This is new for me, i've had leg doms for the last 6-7 weeks of this squatting program. It's also made a lot of the usual pain and niggles disappear. Knees feel good. Back feels almost 100% now after the deadlift misadventure. Achilles tendinitis is reduced every day. I've not changed diet much, if at all, so the one thing which I can point to definitively is fish oil.
Another thing I wanted to note is next time I do ohp, after my usual sets, i'm going to do lots of 1/2-1/3 presses just for the pump, you know, like how bodybuilders do them. I can probably use more weight as well. While i'm eating more, might as well grow some muscle in the upper body. Muscle will be useful later. And in the same vein, i might try half cheaty reps with other upperbody exercises too. Grow biceps grow .. still stuck very much in DYEL territory ;(
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if you are careful and deliberate about your diet, you can add a lot of weight without putting on a lot of fat.
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Training
FS 3Fx128 (PR), 1x127.5
BS 5Fx130 (PR), 3x125, 6x120, 7x115 (PR), 8x112.5 (PR)
BP 5x87 (PR), 7x80 (PR)
FS notes:
So I tinkered with my rack pos a bit. Made it much more comfy. But the downside was I couldn't maintain it thru a hard 3RM set. Perhaps it's not as strong? So for the first time in my life, I failed a FS set with the bar leaving my hands. I also maintained a very relaxed tempo in this set which might have cost me a bit of extra aggressiveness. The other thing was my rack was a lot weaker today than normal from wednesdays chinups. Which really annoys me because I couldn't give less fucks about my chinup and my front squat means everything to me so it's frustrating that it cost a PR attempt.
I reviewed the video and yep my grip on the right side gave way, this sucks. I notice my R hand was a bit too far from shoulders. Bringing it in wud have made the difference probably. Like I said this never happens to me, my grip is rock solid when I fail a FS i always remain in control of it all the way down. I had already done 3/4 of the lift when R side of the rack gave way. This sucks! Should have had that 3PR man. Next time grr.
BS notes:
Stripped the bar of 29.5kg of small plates and replaced with 2x15kgs. Thought it was time to use big boy plates. The set was very hard, even the latter warmups of 120x2 and 127.5. MY HBBS being so quad dominant as it, quads were noticeably less rocket powered as wednesdays. I think i might have bitten off more than I can chew in terms of recovery last workout with my eagerness to try hipthrusts and do a lot of upperbody work. Still, I punched in the squat volume.
Progress summary:
2 weeks down, 2 weeks to go. Only 6 workouts left!
Plan from here:
The next 6 workouts will be different.
I'm doing away with all the accessory stuff and only focusing on my squats. I don't care where my bp or chinups are for the duration of this period, i can always bring them up later, there is plenty of time. My reasoning for not wanting to do any more accessory work? For example if I do a lot of chins, there goes my FS rack in the next workout. Abs are too torched to squat heavy. That's not good. So to avoid that i'm going to take it easy while i'm focusing on my squat.
So here is what I'll do. Maintain my bp. Maintain my chinup. No other exercises, no deadlifts, rack pulls, good mornings, hip thrusts, etc. So that means one or two sets per week of bp/ohp/chinup and that's it. And mo squats.
The majority of my energy, effort and recovery will now go towards squatting HBBS-5x140kg and probably FS-3x130kg.
FS is taking a backseat because it's kind of a pointless lift right now. It will be done 2x week only. My backsquat is much better for building quad strength, FS displays it. And even that, not very well because it's currently limited by my rack strength not my leg strength. Actually FS would be much better mass builder due to the bounce - but it's very hard to do lots of volume of FS with heavy weights whereas I can do a lot of volume with heavier BS so bit of a catch 22 there. Still I have full confidence when I lay off BS volume later, i'll be able to ramp up my FS easily all the way to a 3x140kg triple at some point this year without much fuss (=2xbw, 75kg BW w/ rock hard abz too). My reasoning is this :- if I add 12kg to my BS in 6 sessions, that means my quads are a lot stronger by the end. And that will def translate to at least 6kg on my FS so long as rack strength keeps pace. So. That's the plan going on from here! B00m!
ps. PR 1000 posts lol.
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I just want to make a note in the log that this week I've been taking an extra 4g of fish oil per day for a total of 10g. Even with a decent amount of squat volume, i'm dom free. This is new for me, i've had leg doms for the last 6-7 weeks of this squatting program. It's also made a lot of the usual pain and niggles disappear. Knees feel good. Back feels almost 100% now after the deadlift misadventure. Achilles tendinitis is reduced every day. I've not changed diet much, if at all, so the one thing which I can point to definitively is fish oil.
What kinda fish oil you take? This is complete broscience but when I was taking the caps I didn't notice much but I swear I felt a bit less joint pain when I was drinking the liquid version. It was disgusting though... Probably coincidence but wanted to get your experience.
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if you are careful and deliberate about your diet, you can add a lot of weight without putting on a lot of fat.
Is it diet or training? I'm eating enough to gain weight but not seeing much mass gain. Perhaps I'd see better results by doing a traditional BB program? Suppose I ate the same but did a bulking mass growth routine, I'd probably have more muscle to show for it. Actually i'm skeptical of even that. Could it make *much* of a difference? I'd probably need to take drugs to grow muscle. I was going to say to KF, I don't think I would be a very strong 100+kg lifter. Probably a very mediocre one. But I can be a good, strong 75-77kg (basketball) athlete. My top competitive weight class for lifts might be 77kg or 85kg rather than 94 or 105-110kg that might be suggested by my height. Also not a powerlifter, not very good at lifting, doesn't come naturally, don't have the bone structure for it. Long limbs and small joints (ankles, knees, elbows, wrists). So have to be realistic and embrace a more realistic ceiling. I can get very strong around 75-80kg while being lean. Getting over 80kg and i start getting sloppy. And by 85kg i'm pretty fat and unathletic. It's a balance I seek.
I just want to make a note in the log that this week I've been taking an extra 4g of fish oil per day for a total of 10g. Even with a decent amount of squat volume, i'm dom free. This is new for me, i've had leg doms for the last 6-7 weeks of this squatting program. It's also made a lot of the usual pain and niggles disappear. Knees feel good. Back feels almost 100% now after the deadlift misadventure. Achilles tendinitis is reduced every day. I've not changed diet much, if at all, so the one thing which I can point to definitively is fish oil.
What kinda fish oil you take? This is complete broscience but when I was taking the caps I didn't notice much but I swear I felt a bit less joint pain when I was drinking the liquid version. It was disgusting though... Probably coincidence but wanted to get your experience.
Just 1000mg caps. It's called BioSource. New brand for me, i haven't taken this one before, it was the only one I found at the pharmacy at the time. I tried the liquid one too last year, that was good stuff, tasted funky even though they tried to mask it. Also fairly expensive compared to caps. I have stockpiled a lot of caps in the fridge lol cause I found it on special that's why since ramped up to 10g intake. Oh yea and i keep it in teh fridge, a friend of mine told me it's better stored that way, i just took it on faith.
Btw I meant to ask you on what you thought of the Marion Jones saga?
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Rested and recovered well thru the weekend gearing up for the big squatting PRs to come in the next 6 workouts. Ate a lot of carrots this fortnight, like 2kg of them. Also lubricated my barbell sleeves. The sleeves spin so smooth, like brand new. Not sure if that helps me in any way, but I was considering getting a new barbell but I checked mine carefully and it's still straight so I really have no good reason to get a new one. I mean if this one was bent and banged up yeah maybe. It's not perfect but it's good enough for my needs. I am not in danger of doing anything spectacular with a barbell any time soon and it annoys me when weak crossfitters spend big $$ on equipment when they're lifting mediocre weights. Also not sure if I will get the Romaleos 2. I mean I don't need them for backsquat since I don't go ATG. I do go ATG on FS, but I'm not convinced a bigger heel will help me stay upright. It may well lean me over more which I obviously don't need. But if wearing them would make my FS more upright, hell yes that would be worth it. I just don't know how they'll affect my FS.
I watched a lot of London 2012 footage on youtube. They have it in HD quality now. Why the fuck couldn't they provide it live during the games? That would have been sweet. Anyway check out the epic 77kg group A session below. It's actually really exciting which I never thought I would say about WL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1vyuSmxTpo
The 94kg class is pretty boring though. Illya is a beast, just owns it. Apparently he's going to move up to the 105kg class? That would be nuts. Klokov was quoted saying that's not such a great idea. Lol.
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Lu Xiaojun is my idol. He has the best physique in the world.
Also, I remember this. It was such BS when they didn't let him take his third snatch.
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Yeah I still don't understand what happened or who was at fault. Was it the jury or the audience or the chinese coaches? As I recall they thought they had 2 mins before Lu cud lift. But the judges thought the other chinese lifter was up, and so he only had 1 min. So stupid. They should have just left him have the WR attempt. Gutted! I was looking at his results, he could easily place in the 85kg class he's that strong.
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Training
FS 3x128 (PR)
BS 5x131 (PR), 3x126, 3x120, 7x117.5(PR), 8x112.5 (PR)
BP 6x50, 6x60, 6x70, 8x80 (PR)
WCU (2,7,6,4,4)x89
CR 3x10x37.5 (PR)
FS notes:
Eh, PR and all but I wished it came easier so I could have a few weeks of continuous PRs in me. That seems unlikely now, though I may be recovering badly. I have had broken sleep, perhaps it's costing me gym progress. Nevertheless I got the job done today, seems i'm close to stalling but 3x130 should be do-able nevertheless next week. I won't FS til friday, will skip FS on the mid-week session just to focus better on the HBBS topset of 5x133kg.
BS notes:
GM that 5th otherwise good solid top set. I would like 6 reps at 126kg and have been avoiding failure in the 120kgs, today even for the 3rd set stopping short at 3 reps. But the 7 rep sets are still going up so i'm not concerned. When I get my 7s and 10s around 120kg, i'll start attacking the 6s again.
Trying to think if there is an assistance exercise I can do today which will help my HBBS immediately. Any suggestions?
Upper body notes:
Copied the BP workout from 2 weeks back which I really enjoyed. It's nice and light but gets a good amount of volume in, today I even got a PR which made it sweeter. Also did chinups today instead of midweek because i'm not FS on weds so it's the ideal to do upper back work since it cannot interfere with the FS rack. New exercise -- cable row -- was interesting, really torched abs and forearms. Didn't really feel a burn in the back so not sure if they did the job of strengthening upper/mid back but we'll see if I get doms there.
Otherwise ordinary day of lifting, 1 session down, 5 to go then I can start cutting (yay).
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Training
FS 3x90, 2x105, 1x115, 1x122.5
BS 6x126 (PR), 3x133 (PR)
OHP 5Fx63 (PR), 3x66 (PR)
Accessory pump x 5
FS notes:
Plan was to do my normal warmup sequence and leave it there no heavy triples. That way I keep the movement pattern fresh but save myself for BS.
BS notes:
I thought I should try making my HBBS topset the second workset instead of my usual first one. Why? I just thought it would prepare me better for the 5 rep PR set. Did it work? I don't think so but then I don't think I would have got that set anyways. Or maybe I would have, hard to tell post hoc. Anyway, I noticed a few things on video. My heels came up slightly on the concentric. This suggests I could benefit from using a weightlifting heel. It would mean my PC can help drive against the floor which isn't happening now, leaving my quads to do the heavy lifting. And since quads are NOT that strong, i'm ending up squat morning too much. Also triceps are too smashed after squatting.
Erectors were sore as fuck going into the workout and completely torched after the squatting. So it just goes go to show, the backsquat for me is such a major back exercise, it limits the amount of work I can give my legs. That sucks, because sore erectors disrupt normal progress. Legs are recovering ok workout to workout but LB isn't. I am coming around to the idea I need a bigger heel to make my BS (and FS) more upright, which will allow efficient training of legs rather being hamstrung by having to overtrain stabilising a forward leaning squat. So bring on the Romaloes, and I might even go further than than and get heel inserts. My ankle mobility is very good (just watch my FS ATG sets). But the higher the heel, the more upright I can be, the more upright i am, lesser the torque on the lower back and most importantly the better the exercise for leg strength. Makes sense right?
Hoping my back is recovered for friday's session. Going to be really annoyed if I waste 2 workouts of gainz because of this lower back soreness :/ If I feel good i might even attempt 5x135kg and pretend I got 5x133 today. We'll see what happens. That's all, til next time.
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Back feels pretty fresh next day thankfully! Will try to get my recovery perfect today and make scheduled PRs tomorrow. I ate ~250g of protein yesterday which is a lot more than I would normally eat (~150g). Also ate a variety of sources, dairy, chicken, eggs, beef and grain. Will do the same today. If it's the last day of this impromptu bulk then might as well go all out. If i have another week after tomorrow then i'll have to play it by feel.
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I watched the olympics on the BBC channel as they had the right to broadcast as well as it being in london, that was strange the controversy with letting liuxiao don't know how to spell his name to lift as long as he got to lift the world record.
it explains the story on that video starting from 39:29 onwards.
Its so weird, because luixiao finished, and the other guy was supposed to lift so given 2 minutes but they didn't want to come out so it was liu xioa's turn to follow himself and there was only 1min left on the clock, so lets just say the judges weren't informed of the other guy not coming out, so liu xioa should have come after and only 1 min left on the clock he didn't have enough time, so the judges were misinformed about the other guy not lifting and setting a figure for the lift, so liu was given his time and not enough time, its like 2 people have appointment and first guy finishes early so the other guy only given the time left from the first guy, this kinda stupid time management or other errors always seem to happen to the judges don't know why.
:uhhhfacepalm: :pissed:
his first attempt at the clean and jerk at 195kg was amazing especially at the deep squat lol
what was the thing the egyptian guy was smelling for his clean and jerk 197kg?
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Lol. I still have no idea who was at fault but yeah that's summarising things the way they happened. The chinese guys for not communicating better with the judges? The stuff they sniff before lifting is ammonia. It fires up the CNS, makes the athlete alert etc. I don't remember seeing any top athletes use it. From what I understand, the olympic weightlifter wants to be fully relaxed and in control of himself and not highly amped up and aroused because their job is so technical. Traditionally used by powerlifters since they don't require so much technique and it's more about brute strength.
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Feeling disillusioned with backsquat. It's clearly the superior exercise for all those wonderful reasons that are well known. But on the downside, i'm finding it a terrible exercise for my lower back. It puts so much torque on my LB that I can barely walk properly most days. I have to struggle getting up from a chair. It hobbles me up. Question is, is it because the backsquat is too hard on my back. Or is my back too weak to backsquat? Or maybe I'm backsquatting too heavy too often. I dont understand what's going on. The lower back discomfort I have is asymmetric, it occurs on the left side only.
If I make all my PRs today then I might consider doing another week. Otherwise, i'll start cutting on monday!
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I haven't back squatted since 2012 because of the same reason. I ruined my lower back from doing high rep back squats. I didn't even go that heavy my PR was like 90kg for 15 reps but I'm 100% sure that high rep back squats along with physically demanding jobs last year was what fuked up my lower back.
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Feeling disillusioned with backsquat. It's clearly the superior exercise for all those wonderful reasons that are well known. But on the downside, i'm finding it a terrible exercise for my lower back. It puts so much torque on my LB that I can barely walk properly most days. I have to struggle getting up from a chair. It hobbles me up. Question is, is it because the backsquat is too hard on my back. Or is my back too weak to backsquat? Or maybe I'm backsquatting too heavy too often. I dont understand what's going on. The lower back discomfort I have is asymmetric, it occurs on the left side only.
If I make all my PRs today then I might consider doing another week. Otherwise, i'll start cutting on monday!
Maybe it's not the actual back squat itself but rather the manner in which you do it? Or, you may have some issues with the left or right side of your body (tighness, weakness, etc) that place more stress there when back squatting. I know the BS has hurt my lower back before but I learned this was due to an excessive arch (anterior tilt) and also knee and ankle issues on one side of my body. If you are feeling the pain (force) in your lower back then there's obviously something breaking down in the chain.
Then again, maybe it's just not for you. Have you noticed the same thing when you have squatted with a wider or more narrow stance or different bar position?
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I haven't back squatted since 2012 because of the same reason. I ruined my lower back from doing high rep back squats. I didn't even go that heavy my PR was like 90kg for 15 reps but I'm 100% sure that high rep back squats along with physically demanding jobs last year was what fuked up my lower back.
Thing I am finding with those higher rep sets is you have the temptation to reach a milestone (say 8 reps) and you'll do the 7th, know that the 8th will be ugly/uncontrolled and have to make the choice whether to go ahead and get the PR or rack the bar. And of course you don't want to be a pussy, so you go ahead and do the rep, even with shit form. And that way you can write PR on your log, but is it the right thing? I would think not. Better to keep a rep in the tank, and do it safely and perfectly. But much harder to make that choice when the seductive prospect of a PR lingers. If i was training someone else, I would tell them to do perfect reps only and rack the bar if you know the next rep won't be technically correct. But i can't follow my own advice because i'm so focused on getting to my milestone goal.
Feeling disillusioned with backsquat. It's clearly the superior exercise for all those wonderful reasons that are well known. But on the downside, i'm finding it a terrible exercise for my lower back. It puts so much torque on my LB that I can barely walk properly most days. I have to struggle getting up from a chair. It hobbles me up. Question is, is it because the backsquat is too hard on my back. Or is my back too weak to backsquat? Or maybe I'm backsquatting too heavy too often. I dont understand what's going on. The lower back discomfort I have is asymmetric, it occurs on the left side only.
If I make all my PRs today then I might consider doing another week. Otherwise, i'll start cutting on monday!
Maybe it's not the actual back squat itself but rather the manner in which you do it? Or, you may have some issues with the left or right side of your body (tighness, weakness, etc) that place more stress there when back squatting. I know the BS has hurt my lower back before but I learned this was due to an excessive arch (anterior tilt) and also knee and ankle issues on one side of my body. If you are feeling the pain (force) in your lower back then there's obviously something breaking down in the chain.
Then again, maybe it's just not for you. Have you noticed the same thing when you have squatted with a wider or more narrow stance or different bar position?
Oh for sure. I have problems with symmetry, always have. Have been working hard on correcting the asymmetry. I remember when I was doing planks last year, i found my R side of my torso was much stronger and the L got tired faster for some reason even though my L side is my strong side. So it's def possible that my L side core strength is only now being dragged, kicking and screaming to parity. But I doubt it. I think I just end up putting more torque on the left side of my back when backsquatting.
Might go down to the shops and get some dencorub, when I used to backsquat a lot, i remember it being useful for making my back feel better.
As far as technique goes, my plan now is to get Nike weightlifting shoes for my birthday which have a 0.75" heel, which will help me be more upright. Hopefully that takes torque off the back. The more upright and highbar my squat, the better it is for my back and more useful an exercise for athleticism because it puts more of the work onto the legs and buttocks rather than the erectors and the spine.
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I haven't back squatted since 2012 because of the same reason. I ruined my lower back from doing high rep back squats. I didn't even go that heavy my PR was like 90kg for 15 reps but I'm 100% sure that high rep back squats along with physically demanding jobs last year was what fuked up my lower back.
Thing I am finding with those higher rep sets is you have the temptation to reach a milestone (say 8 reps) and you'll do the 7th, know that the 8th will be ugly/uncontrolled and have to make the choice whether to go ahead and get the PR or rack the bar. And of course you don't want to be a pussy, so you go ahead and do the rep, even with shit form. And that way you can write PR on your log, but is it the right thing? I would think not. Better to keep a rep in the tank, and do it safely and perfectly. But much harder to make that choice when the seductive prospect of a PR lingers. If i was training someone else, I would tell them to do perfect reps only and rack the bar if you know the next rep won't be technically correct. But i can't follow my own advice because i'm so focused on getting to my milestone goal.
Feeling disillusioned with backsquat. It's clearly the superior exercise for all those wonderful reasons that are well known. But on the downside, i'm finding it a terrible exercise for my lower back. It puts so much torque on my LB that I can barely walk properly most days. I have to struggle getting up from a chair. It hobbles me up. Question is, is it because the backsquat is too hard on my back. Or is my back too weak to backsquat? Or maybe I'm backsquatting too heavy too often. I dont understand what's going on. The lower back discomfort I have is asymmetric, it occurs on the left side only.
If I make all my PRs today then I might consider doing another week. Otherwise, i'll start cutting on monday!
Maybe it's not the actual back squat itself but rather the manner in which you do it? Or, you may have some issues with the left or right side of your body (tighness, weakness, etc) that place more stress there when back squatting. I know the BS has hurt my lower back before but I learned this was due to an excessive arch (anterior tilt) and also knee and ankle issues on one side of my body. If you are feeling the pain (force) in your lower back then there's obviously something breaking down in the chain.
Then again, maybe it's just not for you. Have you noticed the same thing when you have squatted with a wider or more narrow stance or different bar position?
Oh for sure. I have problems with symmetry, always have. Have been working hard on correcting the asymmetry. I remember when I was doing planks last year, i found my R side of my torso was much stronger and the L got tired faster for some reason even though my L side is my strong side. So it's def possible that my L side core strength is only now being dragged, kicking and screaming to parity. But I doubt it. I think I just end up putting more torque on the left side of my back when backsquatting.
Might go down to the shops and get some dencorub, when I used to backsquat a lot, i remember it being useful for making my back feel better.
As far as technique goes, my plan now is to get Nike weightlifting shoes for my birthday which have a 0.75" heel, which will help me be more upright. Hopefully that takes torque off the back. The more upright and highbar my squat, the better it is for my back and more useful an exercise for athleticism because it puts more of the work onto the legs and buttocks rather than the erectors and the spine.
Yeah exactly. That's where I went wrong when I was back squatting heavy (using heavy in a relative way) with low reps I never had a problem. Than I read up about doing 20 rep squats and that's when all the trouble started. I was trying to push myself too hard. So when my form was breaking down on the 13th rep I'd just take long pauses between each rep and aim to rep out 20. Of course what happens is your back starts compensating for your legs and the form deteriorates, which leads to injury.
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I forgot to mention, Coges, sorry you had to learn those things the hard way. I find a lot of the instruction available is deeply flawed. You get people telling you to 'arch your back' on squats. NO!! My (chinese) coach deplores such things. You don't want to arch your back. Rather you want your back neutral, and the muscles around the torso held rigid around the neutral spine. I just avoid western instruction now, i've had a terrible time with it all. I've had to unlearn 99.99% of everything I picked up from american origin. Pretty much everything i've learnt now resonates with the way coach teaches things. I can't do it his way yet, but eventually i'll get there.
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Training
FS 2x129 (PR)
BS 3x134 (PR), 3x127, 3x120
FS 3x112.5, 1x112.5 (done with block under heels)
BS 8x115 (PR, w/ form change)
BP 4x88 (PR), 8x81 (PR)
WEIGHTED DUNKZ X2 (MAX EFFORT LOL)
FS notes:
Ok. Will go for a triple on monday.
BS notes:
Blah. Had zero bounce, had to quad-drive every single rep including warmups. Hips and PC chain are on holiday, quads are being overworked.
BP notes:
For the first time the 1RM calc puts me over 100kg! (=101kg) with that 8x81kg set. I am better at higher reps though but I do think i'm actually there, that has been a long time goal.
Jumps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIFzho_u59Y
It's been over 2 wks since I tried dunking. LOLZ ive gotten so overweight that it takes max effort to land a dunk. I missed 8/10 attempts before finally getting 2 dunks on my 9th and 10th attempt. Relative strength is terrrrrrible right now. I came home and weighed myself to be just under 91kg. That's nuts, like being 16kg overweight from my TFmax as per Zatsiorsky.
Btw dunk above felt like how it felt when I first got a proper dunk, you know, when it takes all your will to land one and otherwise you would miss. Very reminiscent of that first time.
So think that kind of sums it up, time to end this thing. Yes it's a week earlier, but I don't see any point in going any further when i've stalled hard. Time to stop cultivating mass and start harvesting! Will summarise my gainz in a seperate post.
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Training
FS 3Fx128 (PR), 1x127.5
BS 5Fx130 (PR), 3x125, 6x120, 7x115 (PR), 8x112.5 (PR)
Training
FS 3x128 (PR)
BS 5x131 (PR), 3x126, 3x120, 7x117.5(PR), 8x112.5 (PR)
Training
FS 3x90, 2x105, 1x115, 1x122.5
BS 6x126 (PR), 3x133 (PR)
Training
FS 2x129 (PR)
BS 3x134 (PR), 3x127, 3x120
So think that kind of sums it up, time to end this thing. Yes it's a week earlier, but I don't see any point in going any further when i've stalled hard. Time to stop cultivating mass and start harvesting! Will summarise my gainz in a seperate post.
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...
(http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/558/434/36c.gif)
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Thing I am finding with those higher rep sets is you have the temptation to reach a milestone (say 8 reps) and you'll do the 7th, know that the 8th will be ugly/uncontrolled and have to make the choice whether to go ahead and get the PR or rack the bar. And of course you don't want to be a pussy, so you go ahead and do the rep, even with shit form. And that way you can write PR on your log, but is it the right thing? I would think not. Better to keep a rep in the tank, and do it safely and perfectly. But much harder to make that choice when the seductive prospect of a PR lingers. If i was training someone else, I would tell them to do perfect reps only and rack the bar if you know the next rep won't be technically correct. But i can't follow my own advice because i'm so focused on getting to my milestone goal.
Never a truer statement said regarding the squat.
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I forgot to mention, Coges, sorry you had to learn those things the hard way. I find a lot of the instruction available is deeply flawed. You get people telling you to 'arch your back' on squats. NO!! My (chinese) coach deplores such things. You don't want to arch your back. Rather you want your back neutral, and the muscles around the torso held rigid around the neutral spine. I just avoid western instruction now, i've had a terrible time with it all. I've had to unlearn 99.99% of everything I picked up from american origin. Pretty much everything i've learnt now resonates with the way coach teaches things. I can't do it his way yet, but eventually i'll get there.
Haha yeah I'm right in the middle my own learning experience (definitely the hard way) at the moment and these things are starting to become very apparent. Lifting used to be so much easier when I didn't know anywhere near as much.
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Whoa I didn't realise you were 90kgs+ atm. I thought you were still around 80kgs. Like vag said in gif form, I'm confused as to why you think you're 'stalling'...getting a PR in every session lately is pretty much the opposite of stalling. But whatever, it's up to you in the end. I'll be interested to see what your SVJ is after you lean out a bit with all this new back squat strength.
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Training
FS 3Fx129 (PR)
BS 4x127.5, 2x136(PR), 3x117.5, 6x60, 6x20
BP 6x50, 6x60, 6x70, 8x82 (PR)
CU 7,6
FS notes:
Nice clean 2 reps, 3rd one cudnt lock out.
BS notes:
No juice in legs, probably the jumping i did on friday. Didn't push it today, just gonna let the fatigue dissipate while reducing volume. I did technique work to finish with, realised there was a major form fix I could make as result, so looking forward to squatting heavy next time. Should make a difference I think.
Pretty ordinary session overall.
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If somebody would show me a picture of you and ask "how much do you think this guy weighs?" I'd be like "~70 kg".
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too many posts in between your response to my last one to read through at the moment, but when you were like, "i'm eating enough for mass gain but not gaining any weight," i was like, "are you seriously, bro? if you are not gaining weight, you are by definition not eating enough to gain weight."
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I had something similar to this, i thought i was eating a lot but found out i was not eating enough as when they eat a lot, it means to eat more frequenty what i did was eat a lot but there were big gaps between my meals i.e. 5 hours in between so it was not about eating a lot but eating frequently.
just my 2 cents
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vag, acole, yes i'm getting PRs but not the ones i'd like. ie, getting BS 3x133 when i wanted 5. And FS 3Fx129 when I wanted all 3 reps. But yes PRs are still PRs, just not all PRs are worth the same. The main thing which threw me off is when I got into the 130kgs and switching over to using 2x15kg plates instead of a lot of smaller plates (~30kg worth) i'd been using til then, i just lost my groove. The weight feels too heavy now. The lifts are a lot harder. I bet if i had a 3rd pair of 5kg plates i'd not have got stuck and actually reached my goal of 5x140kg. Fucking sucks but it's okay, i might still be able to triple 140kg by friday.
LBBS and seifuallah, no i can gain weight, i just dont gain as much lean mass as i'd like. I get, got fatter than i'd like. it sucks, but whatevers. At that point i made that comment, I wasn't able or willing to eat a lot more to keep gainining weight (hit a setpoint or something?) and i was remarking that i had been eating enough to gain weight til then, just not seeing the muscular gains id like. But this is not very relevant right now considering i'm 2 sessions away from finishing up the current mass accumulation phase.
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Training
FS 3x90, 1x105, 1x117.5, 1x125 (just warmups)
BS 3x120, 3x127.5, 2x138 (PR), 5x127, 6x117.5, 3x115, 3x112.5, 3x110
FS notes:
I thought this was a good day to nail down technique.
BS notes:
I wanted 6x127.5 to start with, i didn't think that was happening so i racked it after 3, saving myself for the heavy topset. That turned out to be really easy contrary to expecation. Then I dropped back to 127, optimistic that taking off 10kg would make the sixer a piece of cake, and of course it wasn't, the 5th was goodmorned. So that was that. I wanted 8 with 117.5, that wasn't to be either. Did technique work for the rest of the sets, very productive as it turned out.
I taped from the side and noticed the bar was going down just ahead of midfoot but it was coming up even forward. That's not good. I had worked on just staying midfoot without any other change for the 115kg set. It was terrible because instantly i hit a sticking point out of the middle, shit. No wonder my instinct was to shift forward to get out of that sticking point.
For the 112.5kg set I made a change based on the following reasoning. If my hips were too far back, meaning i was leaning forward a lot, shifting me off midfoot, I had to find a way to get my hips closer to my ankles and bringing the bar into midfoot. How does one do that? Knees go forward of course, so made the conscious decision to break at the knees first. And then I had a bounce out of my hips as well! No more sticking point. I went deep and more upright and the best bit -- the bar stayed over midfoot on the descent AND on the ascent!
This has got em thinking, suppose I make another modification by adding a heel wedge under my feet. So now my knees go slightly further forward, thus bringing my hips closer to my ankles yet, making me slightly more upright again. This means I get a strong quad drive out of the bottom, rather than hitting the sticking point which arises from sitting back with the hips where I have no where to go but forwards to bring the bar ahead of midfoot to gain leverage. With all these changes - my backsquat form might even approach decent this way and with the added bonus that i can move more weight AND see more athletic carryover. That would be ace.
So on friday, my last session i'm going to try the above technique for my heavy sets and hopefully that will mark where all my hard work in honing technique will come together and culminate in a PR with a heavy weight with sound form.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3gkFt8wquw
You can see this better from the reverse angle, but it pretty much looks like these guys squat entirely with knee action, but that the predominant motion is as much outwards as forwards, so they're sitting almost between their knees.
When are you getting oly shoes?
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Nice. That video should be in the beautiful squats thread! Coach taught me a similar method of squatting even down to the head jerk seen on the ascent, his reasoning was if you look down your body follows your head and then you end up turning it into a good morning. So to remain upright look up and your body will follow your head. I am paraphrasing him. Those guys have short femurs makes theirs squats so pretty and upright. I think if i break my knees first, it gives me more room to pack my long femurs into. If I don't do that, they force my hips wayyy back. Getting the romaloes in approx 2 weeks time, for my birthday.
edit, so i re-read and rewatched the video later and I see what you mean by knee action both outward and forward. Interesting. That's another thing to experiment with (the outward). I'll def try that on thh technique sets on friday. Thanks man!
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Damn. Yes. Their legs are so short. Amazing.
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Training
FS 3Fx129 (PR)
BS 2x140 (PR), 6x127 (PR), 6x120
BP 5x87.5 (PR)
FS notes:
I had problems taking out the bar evenly across my chest today. I felt the bar was too loaded on one side which threw off my balance out of the bottom. I should have got the triple so i'm pretty disappointed about that 3rd rep.
BS notes:
Incorporated form modification from last sessions technique work. It made a difference. I got my PRs.
That was the last session of the bulk. Yay. Will do a full review in another post. Btw if anyone wants to see videos of the above lifts drop me your youtube username please.
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Nice work with all the PRs. Hopefully you can maintain the majority of your strength now on the cut.
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You've been doing awesome man!
Don't be down on yourself. Yeah you might have issues here and there but in all, you're doing really well.
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Nice work with all the PRs. Hopefully you can maintain the majority of your strength now on the cut.
Thanks mate. I don't anticipate i'll have a problem maintaining, if anything i'm going to do better than that and actually improve my lifts. I was going so well til that friday with coach and it just threw me off the rails trying out his way. Before then I was adding 2kg a workout without a stall. I don't blame him or regret it -- i learnt a lot -- even thru trial and error during that time -- but i've just ended up going back to the way I was squatting before I met him and my form is much better and cleaner now and I feel confident I can add a lot more weight with my newly acquired muscle mass.
You've been doing awesome man!
Don't be down on yourself. Yeah you might have issues here and there but in all, you're doing really well.
Thank you! I'm really hard on myself I know, sometimes it's just venting but I do feel as though my gains have been less than I wanted. Still they're good. I'll recap them when I get a chance. Having said all that, I squatted a milestone of 3 plates today for reps without a belt, highbar without form breakdown. It feels good man!
Progress Summary
(http://i.imgur.com/UK5miqs.png)
So my back squat went up some 40kg and my FS went up around 16kg. It's interesting that my FS went up without my doing any FS specific work. I just did a heavy triple before my backsquats and my backsquats pretty much drove my FS up with minimal FS volume. Pretty cool. I think it's true what they say that the BS is the superior leg exercise, it just does so much all at once. I believe I got the best out of both worlds by doing both exercises though. Before I started focusing on BS my FS was pretty much stuck. BS got it unstuck and and stayed unstuck until my BS stuck in which case my FS also got stuck lol.
I kinda regret all the time I spent doing a shitload of FS before that, it was hard work and I was struggling to edge my FS up ever so slightly by doing FS alone. Yet with BS my FS was able to progress smoothly up to 3x128 and 3Fx129. I wish I had tripled 130kg but because my BS got stuck I couldn't get that last 2 kilos.
Okay now where do we grow from here? It's quite simple. I'm about 15kg overweight right now. For every kilo I remove from my waist, i'm sticking that on the bar. So by the end of my cut my goals are quite simple - 140kg -- BS 6x140kg and FS 3x140kg. I will continue to focus on BS while working up to 6x140kg. That will be my first goal. My expecation is that this will get my FS unstuck and take me up to around 3x135kg. From there having achieved the BS goal, i'll turn my attention to FS and work my ass off adding the next 5kg to triple 140kg.
I'm kind of sick of the way I am training. It doesnt' get my dick hard. I need to figure out a way to take less of a toll on my CNS. Might have to find a better way to program my lifts. Might make a thread and ask for help.
While cutting i'm going to transition back to basketball skill training and conditioning. Will do this very slowly. 1-2 sessions of conditioning after lifting. Alternating HIIT and steady state.
Summarising the goal for the coming cut - lose 15kg of bodyweight, gain fitness and conditioning and for strength add every kilo lost from BW to the bar. Get HBBS 6x140kg and FS 3x140kg. If i get those three things done, i'll have big visible abs, top conditioning, double bodyweight squats (FS and BS) and decent athleticism (vertical and short sprints).
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Nice stats man.
Summarising the goal for the coming cut - lose 15kg of bodyweight, gain fitness and conditioning and for strength add every kilo lost from BW to the bar. Get HBBS 6x140kg and FS 3x140kg. If i get those three things done, i'll have big visible abs, top conditioning, double bodyweight squats (FS and BS) and decent athleticism (vertical and short sprints).
Good luck with that man, sounds good and to achieve would be awesome.
go and get it.
:ibsquatting:
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Last day of the bulk, hit up a buffet with friends. Ate too much. Then got involved in an impromptu challenge with a mate, had to jump up and grab a steel girder about 9.5 ft from teh ground and do pullups on it. My mate couldn't grab it but he climbed his way up somehow and did 5 pullups. I never do pullups so only managed 4 I think but I had jumped and grabbed it as per the challenge. Have to start training pullup lol.
Tomorrow Sept 1st starting my cut! Gonna be 100% compliant for 6 weeks straight, no cheat meals, no bullshit, just full compliance and get into the low 80kgs as quickly as humanly possible while getting my PRs in.
update -- so this is the heaviest I got on the bulk as of 1st sept, 201.7lb/91.5kg.
(http://i.imgur.com/bLYffxg.png)
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Read back thru my log, saw some interesting bits, a lot of cyclical realisations which seem to recur more or less regularly. What's that saying about learning from the mistakes of others instead of repeating them? something like that. I need to learn from my experiences better.
1. What i've seen I have this recurring wish to improve my PC strength (for whatever reason). Partly a greener pastures thing and I keep coming back to, or continuing on with, training quads because they've served me well so far. But I dont know if they have or if that was just an artefact of losing a lot of bodyfat? Hard to say.
2. I also trained suboptimally. In feb when I dieted down to sub 75kg, I had been mainly sets of 5 rep front squats. Why?! I should have been doing doubles and triples, it's not like i was going to gain mass while in the middle of a big cut. That was dumb. I probably would have got more out of front squats if I had been doing low reps. As i've learnt now, there is such a big difference between 5 reps and 3 reps and 1s in FS. It doesn't follow the 1Rm calculator at all. I think my 1RM is 10-15kg more than my 3RM FS rather than 7.5kg the calculator predicts. Each extra rep is a lot harder than it should be. I don't have a problem with higher rep frontsquats, they surely have a place too. But if your dieting, it's not appropriate unless it's for rehab or as a very distant assistance exercise for something else. But since it was a main lift for me, I should have been doing lots of sets of low reps instead. That's the first thing. So right now for instance i'm stubbornly clinging to my triples though i've stalled (for 3 front squat sessions). But perhaps I should embrace doubles so long as I can progress them?
2. I should hedge my bets. Perhaps with HBBS and FS i've got sufficient coverage for glutes, hams and back. But just in case it's ok to do other exercises (RDLs, hip thrusts, BSSs etc) even though I don't want to, it can't hurt to make a passing effort to do them with slow but regular progress. Bodybuilders routinely do a dozen exercises per session, there is no reason why I can't do one or two of these per week.
3. I'm way overfocusing on strength. I dont care about dunking, i'm not in it for the dunks or huge jumps. I wanted to be a good basketball player, which in my mind includes having excellent athleticism, true. But at this stage my skill deficit is much greater than my strength and power one. I need a lot more movement work specific to playing than I do with spending time in the gym. But. I don't like to give up on what I started, and i'm so close now to getting that minimal gold standard of 2xbw squats (FS and HBBS -- the latter for reps), that i will see it thru. I just need to slowly add back sports specific work so i'm ready for game time (~6-7 months from now).
4. As always i've neglected conditioning, it always seems to fall on the wayside. I know why it happens, sore legs don't help when you're focusing on pushing up squats. But whether I like it or not, it's just as important if not more important to have a big strong motor than raw power. I can play great defense. Or I can play great offense, but not both, because my conditioning didn't permit it last time.
5. A big one is speed. I haven't been working on getting myself faster. jumping faster. accelerating. Plyometrics. I could wait forever til i'm ready, but maybe that'll never happen and i should have started sooner and got some benefit rather than waiting for a day that isn't coming.
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3. I'm way overfocusing on strength. I dont care about dunking, i'm not in it for the dunks or huge jumps. I wanted to be a good basketball player, which in my mind includes having excellent athleticism, true. But at this stage my skill deficit is much greater than my strength and power one. I need a lot more movement work specific to playing than I do with spending time in the gym. But. I don't like to give up on what I started, and i'm so close now to getting that minimal gold standard of 2xbw squats (FS and HBBS -- the latter for reps), that i will see it thru. I just need to slowly add back sports specific work so i'm ready for game time (~6-7 months from now).
4. As always i've neglected conditioning, it always seems to fall on the wayside. I know why it happens, sore legs don't help when you're focusing on pushing up squats. But whether I like it or not, it's just as important if not more important to have a big strong motor than raw power. I can play great defense. Or I can play great offense, but not both, because my conditioning didn't permit it last time.
IMO these are two great questions? When do you start incorporating these at the expense of what else you are trying to achieve? You could strength train endlessly without ever being ready to start conditioning or working skills let alone even playing basketball.
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3. I'm way overfocusing on strength. I dont care about dunking, i'm not in it for the dunks or huge jumps. I wanted to be a good basketball player, which in my mind includes having excellent athleticism, true. But at this stage my skill deficit is much greater than my strength and power one. I need a lot more movement work specific to playing than I do with spending time in the gym. But. I don't like to give up on what I started, and i'm so close now to getting that minimal gold standard of 2xbw squats (FS and HBBS -- the latter for reps), that i will see it thru. I just need to slowly add back sports specific work so i'm ready for game time (~6-7 months from now).
4. As always i've neglected conditioning, it always seems to fall on the wayside. I know why it happens, sore legs don't help when you're focusing on pushing up squats. But whether I like it or not, it's just as important if not more important to have a big strong motor than raw power. I can play great defense. Or I can play great offense, but not both, because my conditioning didn't permit it last time.
IMO these are two great questions? When do you start incorporating these at the expense of what else you are trying to achieve? You could strength train endlessly without ever being ready to start conditioning or working skills let alone even playing basketball.
I see what you're getting at. I'll start today and do a little more each time. If I don't start working on it now it won't happen, so you're right, do something no matter how small or insignificant every chance I get. If I fail to, i'll make a note in the log for that day. Thanks.
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Training
FS 3Fx129 (PR), 4x120 (PR)
BS 6x128 (PR), 7x120 (PR)
BP 8x83 (PR)
CU 3, 7
CND 5x100m (60% effort, 100m run, then walk back 100m and repeat)
Bodyweight: 90.7kg/ 199.96lb (So after the first day i'm under 200 already, that was certainly short lived lol)
FS notes:
Had no plan nor intention to do a 3rm today. But had a last minute desire to break my stall by sheer will power. Yeah I just don't have the leg strength, juice or endurance to do it right now. I was in two minds whether to give up on triples and just progress doubles. But decided against it. Instead repped out 120kg with the goal of 5 reps, I racked at 4, not because I was going to fail the 5th, I just wasn't sure if i'd get it, so i thought that's good enough for today. I guess i'll go for 5 next time. 120x5 is a pretty nice milestone.
BS notes:
The 6x128 was veeryy hard. On the 2nd set, I tried Kelly's screw feet into the ground cue. So not sure if it was just light for me but i was getting a nice strong bounce out of the bottom. Will explore it further, it's certainly intriguing and hey I got a PR as well so that was nice.
Conditioning notes:
First time running since summer. Feels good man. Started nice and easy, not risking any injuries, just gradual improvement, I have plenty of time til basketball starts so i'm gonna take my time but keep working on it bit by bit. I tried to focus on my technique because i'm going so slow I can actually keep a track of what my body is doing and try to make technique changes. Not that i have any idea what good technique is lol so I welcome any advice please!
Also what can I do for upper body endurance? It occured to me that running was find for conditioning lower body. But in basketball your upper body needs to be well conditioned too otherwise you can't shoot/pass/rebound/etc well either when exhausted?
Programming notes:
On mondays i'll do squat volume: 5 reps of FS and 6-8 reps of BS. Weds i'll go for the heavy triple on FS. And friday will be heavy BS day (new 3RM). Think that will give me a nice bit of variety and momentum going forward as well devoting one day to each important aspect of squatting. It just came to me organically while working out so i'm rather pleased about it since I was a little lost for programming.
Good start to the first training session of the cut. PRs across the board! Long may it last.
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Also what can I do for upper body endurance? It occured to me that running was find for conditioning lower body. But in basketball your upper body needs to be well conditioned too otherwise you can't shoot/pass/rebound/etc well either when exhausted?
Long shooting/passing/dribbling practice sessions?
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I've always found the best way to get in shape for basketball is to simply play ball.
Other than that make all your practice sessions/drills harder than a game situation and do them at 150% speed. Games will feel slower and you'll execute much better also.
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Also what can I do for upper body endurance? It occured to me that running was find for conditioning lower body. But in basketball your upper body needs to be well conditioned too otherwise you can't shoot/pass/rebound/etc well either when exhausted?
Long shooting/passing/dribbling practice sessions?
I've always found the best way to get in shape for basketball is to simply play ball.
Other than that make all your practice sessions/drills harder than a game situation and do them at 150% speed. Games will feel slower and you'll execute much better also.
I train alone, in a shitty outdoor court with low fence and no net. Have to chase the ball down a lot down the road if my shot is off (and i suck and the ball goes over a lot). Kind of hate that training. It's boring as shit and I don't seem to improve lol. But i'm going to try going to an indoor court 1-2x a week to practice properly. The other thing is, this isn't like in america, it's a fringe sport here, hard to find decent pickup games etc. If you play proper D people think it's weird. And then ppl who play recreationally don't really welcome newbies to their team because they have a team dynamic with friends and dont really want anyone. I've tried asking before. As it happens my actual team is in another city thousands of miles away and I only see them during contests. So i have to do all my preperation alone by myself. Not ideal. But the level of competition in the tournament is high, we face really good teams with talented athletic players so it's an amazing chance and I really want us to win next year. So i'm going to train as hard as possible.
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There's this Aussie website called hoops.com.au
Sometimes people on there are looking out for players for social teams. It's mainly a South Australian based site but there are some people from NSW and Victoria as well looking for players.
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Also what can I do for upper body endurance? It occured to me that running was find for conditioning lower body. But in basketball your upper body needs to be well conditioned too otherwise you can't shoot/pass/rebound/etc well either when exhausted?
Long shooting/passing/dribbling practice sessions?
For the most part you can't shoot/pass/rebound because your legs and whole body exhausted.... It's not usually specific lactate response in the upper body.
Like the others said, actually playing basketball is of course the most specific to basketball endurance. Aside from that interval running is all your need for general endurance. At the end of interval sprints your shoulders, core, arms, etc are incredibly fatigued. Running is not solely a lower body exercise. IMO sprinters have a lot stronger shoulders than basketball players. You could add in some calisthenics if you want to shift the focus to upper body. A workout I like to make athletes do on the track is repeat 150m sprints with a 25 meter walk between sprints and then 10 pushups before each 150 starts. If you can knock out 5 150's in this manner in a total time of less than 5 minutes. Your in REALLY good shape upper and lower body.
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Right now I only do one training session per week to stay decently sharp and its always solo. Theres something about being out there alone and feeling like I'm improving when no one else is that feels good. That being said the key is to not let it get boring, always challenge yourself with varying drills, always practice for your game/gameplan, always 'overspeed' train and (again) don't get bored!
If you find your training boring switch it up because you'll lose focus and that's detrimental. Hoisting 1000 stationary jumpers will make you good at shooting spot up jumpers. Practice how you play. I try to keep my session at90 mins or less and train everything at once handles, moves and shot are each involved in every drill (sans warmups). I pick and choose my 'spots' that I normally get scoring opportunities and spend a majority of my time attacking those areas and spend a little time on other areas like post up scenarios just to round out my game.
Thats just what has worked for me but the few friends Ive trained have all noticed transformations in their games since training like this versus their 'normal' boring jack up a bunch of shots then work on handles then this type training.
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for upper body endurance, try no-weight or very-light-DB overhead presses for SHITLOADS of reps. like do a set of 30, then rest 30s with your arms extended overhead, then do another set.
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I train alone, in a shitty outdoor court with low fence and no net. Have to chase the ball down a lot down the road if my shot is off (and i suck and the ball goes over a lot). Kind of hate that training. It's boring as shit and I don't seem to improve lol. But i'm going to try going to an indoor court 1-2x a week to practice properly. The other thing is, this isn't like in america, it's a fringe sport here, hard to find decent pickup games etc. If you play proper D people think it's weird. And then ppl who play recreationally don't really welcome newbies to their team because they have a team dynamic with friends and dont really want anyone. I've tried asking before. As it happens my actual team is in another city thousands of miles away and I only see them during contests. So i have to do all my preperation alone by myself. Not ideal. But the level of competition in the tournament is high, we face really good teams with talented athletic players so it's an amazing chance and I really want us to win next year. So i'm going to train as hard as possible.
Where do you live? I know you've mentioned it before but I can't remember. I play in the South East suburbs of Melbourne and we're looking for players. We have a lovely yellow uniform too and a name that will please if you ever watched Dragon ball Z (I inherited both the name and the uniform). Anyway if you're in Melbourne and want a game let me know.
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3. I'm way overfocusing on strength. I dont care about dunking, i'm not in it for the dunks or huge jumps. I wanted to be a good basketball player, which in my mind includes having excellent athleticism, true. But at this stage my skill deficit is much greater than my strength and power one. I need a lot more movement work specific to playing than I do with spending time in the gym. But. I don't like to give up on what I started, and i'm so close now to getting that minimal gold standard of 2xbw squats (FS and HBBS -- the latter for reps), that i will see it thru. I just need to slowly add back sports specific work so i'm ready for game time (~6-7 months from now).
4. As always i've neglected conditioning, it always seems to fall on the wayside. I know why it happens, sore legs don't help when you're focusing on pushing up squats. But whether I like it or not, it's just as important if not more important to have a big strong motor than raw power. I can play great defense. Or I can play great offense, but not both, because my conditioning didn't permit it last time.
IMO these are two great questions? When do you start incorporating these at the expense of what else you are trying to achieve? You could strength train endlessly without ever being ready to start conditioning or working skills let alone even playing basketball.
I see what you're getting at. I'll start today and do a little more each time. If I don't start working on it now it won't happen, so you're right, do something no matter how small or insignificant every chance I get. If I fail to, i'll make a note in the log for that day. Thanks.
I've always stuggled with this equation for fear of hindering my strength progress but as you have rightly said basketball is about more than dunks and jumps. Will be interesting to see how you work it in and how it affects your other training.
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There's this Aussie website called hoops.com.au
Sometimes people on there are looking out for players for social teams. It's mainly a South Australian based site but there are some people from NSW and Victoria as well looking for players.
Signed up. I had a look around for a search thing but there isn't one. Will have to go thru the threads on a slow day!
For the most part you can't shoot/pass/rebound because your legs and whole body exhausted.... It's not usually specific lactate response in the upper body.
A workout I like to make athletes do on the track is repeat 150m sprints with a 25 meter walk between sprints and then 10 pushups before each 150 starts. If you can knock out 5 150's in this manner in a total time of less than 5 minutes. Your in REALLY good shape upper and lower body.
I'll work up to that. Had a look on google maps and the park is approx 150m wide from fence to fence. I'll have to figure out a way to do the walk (probably along the fence while resting) but shouldn't be a problem.
Right now I only do one training session per week to stay decently sharp and its always solo. Theres something about being out there alone and feeling like I'm improving when no one else is that feels good. That being said the key is to not let it get boring, always challenge yourself with varying drills, always practice for your game/gameplan, always 'overspeed' train and (again) don't get bored!
If you find your training boring switch it up because you'll lose focus and that's detrimental. Hoisting 1000 stationary jumpers will make you good at shooting spot up jumpers. Practice how you play. I try to keep my session at90 mins or less and train everything at once handles, moves and shot are each involved in every drill (sans warmups). I pick and choose my 'spots' that I normally get scoring opportunities and spend a majority of my time attacking those areas and spend a little time on other areas like post up scenarios just to round out my game.
Thats just what has worked for me but the few friends Ive trained have all noticed transformations in their games since training like this versus their 'normal' boring jack up a bunch of shots then work on handles then this type training.
I must admit that does sound pretty good and fun. I'll have to try it out.
for upper body endurance, try no-weight or very-light-DB overhead presses for SHITLOADS of reps. like do a set of 30, then rest 30s with your arms extended overhead, then do another set.
Will give that a go too.
I've always stuggled with this equation for fear of hindering my strength progress but as you have rightly said basketball is about more than dunks and jumps. Will be interesting to see how you work it in and how it affects your other training.
Same. I feel as though my strength is still priority #1 and it will remain so until i've reached my strength goals. Especially while dieting which imposes a recovery deficit. But once I have reached the strength goals (2xbw etc) i'll put strength on maintenance and focus mainly on basketball. It will be easier to train more widely when i've finished cutting because i'll be able to eat more food to help recovery (while maintaining bodyweight). In the meantime i'll work hard on general fitness and endurance. Can def do that while cutting, and it actually helps with fat loss as long as I don't get carried away. That's the challenge. I think last time I did minimal conditioning work, and just because my bodyweight was so light, I was able to fool myself into thinking I was fit. But i really wasn't, it was just easy to believe because it's effortless running as a light weight. I'm not making that mistake this time around, i've started while heavy, so gains in fitness will come steadily thru the next 6-7 months.
Also to answer your other question, I wish I lived in Melbourne and could take up your offer! That would have been perfect. That's where my team's from lol and I could attend their training sessions too but unfortunately I'm in the west coast.
Thanks guys!
(http://i.imgur.com/dxqmLNw.png)
Bodyweight: 198.42lb / 90kg
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Ah no good. Shame you're all the way over there.
I'm sure you'll get some great benefits from the general fitness and endurance when it comes to converting it to more specific basketball fitness though.
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Yep, check out LBSS's thread and join us!
Wanted to make a note that my glutes are sore for the first time. Not sure if it was kelly's screw feet in cue, or 4 rep FS set, or conditioning work. I don't think it's the last 2, cause I don't remember either of higher rep front squats nor running making my glutes sore. Running makes quads and hams sore, sure, but glutes i dont recall being sore. Perhaps kelly's cue is helping me recruit more glute out of the hole? It would reconcile with the strong bounce I was gettting.
Would like to explore the screw in cue more. Maybe for heavier backsquats and perhaps even front squats? The only downside as far as I can see is, it takes work away from quads. And. It costs me depth. The former I can live with, because I can add more weight to the bar and make up the work for quads. But depth does worry me, I dont want a huge amount of depth on BS but easy below parallel is a must. Maybe flexibility and WL shoes will solve that problem as well as giving more quad work? We'll see, more room to experiment there.
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Training
FS 3x123.5, 3Fx129 (PR)
BS 2x127.5, 2x132.5
FS notes:
Misloaded the bar. Thought I had done 128.5kg for a triple but the L side was missing a 5kg plate. Which really pissed me off because I thought I had finally got myself unstuck. Then kinda angrily loaded 129 and failed the 3rd as usual. Probably would have got 3x128.5 today otherwise. Next week i'll only attempt a 3RM on wednesday. I'm not getting stronger from these failed sets. They're actually doing nothing for me, just testing strength instead of building it. Should do more reps to build strength, will do that next week, just testing a 3rm every time isn't working anymore. The easy ride provided by backsquat has run it's course now I have to actively work on working on my FS to progress further!
BS notes:
Blah. Wanted a 5PR and a 6PR, neither was possible today.
Terrible session, cut it short and decided to call it a day. Didnt help the air was choked thick with the stench of a freshly manured garden. Hope it rains and clears up for friday I have lost ground to make up.
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I'm not getting stronger from these failed sets. They're actually doing nothing for me, just testing strength instead of building it. Should do more reps to build strength, will do that next week, just testing a 3rm every time isn't working anymore.
+100
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I'm not getting stronger from these failed sets. They're actually doing nothing for me, just testing strength instead of building it. Should do more reps to build strength, will do that next week, just testing a 3rm every time isn't working anymore.
+100
I'm pretty sure I read an interview with Dan Green in which he said that he hasn't missed a rep in training for almost a year.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-KUHGKcsD0
Joe, LBBS, acole etc, all you guys who read K*, i've found an actual competitive lifter who practices the K* method without the nauseating crossfit faggotry. Strong dude. Squats athletic as well. Impressive.
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see now those GHRs would not pass the alexv test. hips first, torso follows.
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Training
FS 2x129 (PR), 1x131.5 (PR)
BS 2x127.5, 2Fx140, 2x135, 1Fx130, 1x115, 1x115, 6x100
BP 5x88.5 (PR)
WEIGHTED DUNKZ x 10 (+17kg)
PICKUP BBALL (1 hr, 20 mins)
FS notes:
Weak. That double was a ME.
BS notes:
I used a heel block for the last 4 sets. Experimented around aiming for a barpath over midfoot. Neither here nor there.
Hellish squats. Going to take bad workouts in stride, they're to be expected until I get used to training on a deficit etc. All good. Abs starting to come in already which is cool but might dash my plans for featherweight status at 75kg BW.
Conditioning and bp later tonight.
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oh MY LAWD. Played pickup ball for the first time since winter. Didn't plan to, i just went there to do some jumps and practice skills but saw some guys playing and couldn't resist. Quads and knees quite sore now, i'm so far from my athletic bodyweight right now it's very difficult on my frame. Might make it a weekly thing. It wont be easy recovering from this in time for monday's workout though. I dont want to swallow a hit on my lifts that I worked so hard for, but what can you do? At some point you just have to otherwise what's the point of training at all.
I got some nice dunks on tape. I think my vertical right now is as good as it has ever been. I mean it takes max effort to do what used to be easy. I always thought that rim was high, today I measured it. the pole thing to for moving the ring away was 78" from end to screw. And i set my tape measure at 42". And then hung the pole on the rim off the screw. It was pretty much taut at that point. I dunno, could still be within an inch or so high with measurement error because the bolt doesn't stand perfectly still on the pole thing. At some point i'll rig up a definitive way to tell a 10" rim just to check for sure.
It's exciting that being 15-17kg overweight I can still get up that high. Last year when I got my first dunks I had to diet down to the low 80kgs before I could finally land one. Now i'm hovering over 90kg and jumping just as well as when I was 75kg in the summer. That's nuts. That means whatever i've been doing in the gym hasn't been a complete waste of time. It has actually made me more athletic. Which is cool. I couldnt even dream of dunking at over 90kg before, now i can, while my lean mass suggests an athletic bodyweight of around 75kg/165lb. Except this time when I get there, i expect to sport a full 6pac rather than a 4 i had last summer.
Oh and I meant to do Todday's test but got carried away with bball. I'll do it on monday now. lol.
Only downside to all of this is, hope i can still get my PRs on monday.
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Post new activity update
Injury fixed, see below.
muscular soreness in the lower leg area, from ankles up to including calves
sore glutes
Injury Update
About 4 weeks ago I picked up a problem with my left ankle/heel area, self-diagnosed myself with achilles tendonitis. Interesting thing is, it's been there more or less all this time. But yesterday after basketball i noticed I had lost the tenderness that was usually there if I raised my toes towards my foot. Next day it feels even better. I had tried all the usual stretches, rolling etc, none of that helped, it actually made it worse. Icing made it feel good but it didn't heal.
I figured out the cause was the soft rubber flip flops I had been wearing and over zealous ankle mobility work. The flipflops were ok while new and while I was a lightweight. But as I gained weigh, and they got older, they got squisher and it forced my ankle out of alignment which caused tendonitis. The last 2 days i've been barefoot at home and that has helped too, i think. I will get a new pair that are the hard rubber kind to avoid this recurring.
What I think finally fixed the problem was while playing basketball it puts the ankle/foot in new ranges of motion and stresses and this somehow loosened up something or freed something that was stuck and boom, instant fix.
Has anyone else experienced this phenonemon before where injuries suddenly disappear after starting a new activity? I had the same thing happen last year when I started sprints, my hamstring strain of many weeks disappeared instantly and never came back.
So right now i'm 100% injury free. Lower back is good. Left foot is healed. Hope it stays this way.
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Training
FS 1x125 (last warmup), 4x120 (PR)
BS 3x120, 2x127.5, 6Fx129 (PR), 3x125, 4x122.5, 5x120
BP 8Fx84 (PR)
FS notes:
I'm keeping my usual warmup sequence but not doing heavy triples on mondays. I wanted 5 of 120kg but my form on the 4th wasn't great and I am avoiding doing ugly reps for non-ME sets. Bit annoyed cause I thought I'd have an easy 5 today as a topset after getting 4 easily last monday done after a 3RM attempt? Was just weak or something. I have a lot more to say about form but that will go in the bar path thread.
BS notes:
Wanted 6x129, failed the 6th. Actually i didnt even attempt the concentric of that last rep, would have been a bad goodmorning and it's not a good habit to do those so i just sunk onto the pins. 5.5 reps is in some sense 'more' than racking it at 5 if the goal is eventually getting 6.
BP notes:
Set was eassssssssy as. But I couldn't rack the 8th, came so soo close to owning the set and PR. it just slowed to a stop and i had no juice left to RACK the bar. As in my arms were both straight. I just couldn't rack the bar in a controlled fashion. Wish I had a spotter cause the bar came down pretty fast, bit scary. I will repeat this next week and then take 1/2kg increases from there on, the 1kgs might have come to an end on the 8s. THe funny thing is if i had a spotter, i could legit count this as 8 reps. But since I never have a spotter, it's not a set until the bar is racked. So be it.
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Strong front squats like usual.
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Strong front squats like usual.
Thanks! I'll take that in advance for when I squat 3x140kg @ 75kg :strong:
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Training
FS 1x117.5, 1x125, 2Fx129
BS 5x6x60, 6x90, 6x100
FS notes:
I paid for my form sins commited monday. Squat mornings destroyed my lower back such that it was impossible to the scheduled workout. That sucks but I stuck to the plan and did technique work with backsquat after the FS.
BS notes:
Think i'm good with my backsquat form now with elevated heels on 2.5kg plates. Just have to work up the weights back to my old PRs and then crush them from being more upright. I get my WL shoes next week, so hopefully i can transition smoothly onto using them from my work with heel elevated sets.
So since I wasn't able to get my proper FS 3RM attempt today. I will have to attempt in on friday. Which sucks because it was supposed to be BS heavy day so doing FS first will likely cost me a BS PR. That's even if my back recovers by then to train properly.
Will do some ohp later tonight, was supposed to do chinups but since I have to FS heavy friday, I wont touch that shit lest it wrecks my FS rack. So bit of a mess but it's ok, i'll recover ground somehow.
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Re squatmornings:- If I have any body part which I can consider to have good muscular development it is my hamstrings, which I never train exclusively, only by accident via squat morning. It's funny when I look around online and see guys who do hamstring work with RDLs for example and I could easily go out and do more weight on RDL for more reps even though I don't do hamstring work. No deadlifts, no pulls at all, no GHRs etc. It's because i'm 'blessed' with deadlifter proportions and my squats turn into squat mornings meaning I work my hamstrings as well as someone else just by doing backsquats. I would trade places at once with someone with a squatter build if it meant my squats were squat-like rather than deadlift-like! I'd make a better powerlifter than an olympic lifter. It just so happens I look down on typical PL technique as vulgar and unathletic (which it is). Olympic form is much prettier and of course athletic too which is what we're interested in here.
Wondering, do sprinters have deadlifter builds or squatter ones? What about basketball players? Which athletes have deadlifter builds? I doubt there is any, since my prejudice says they're not good athletes lol.
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Re squatmornings:- If I have any body part which I can consider to have good muscular development it is my hamstrings, which I never train exclusively, only by accident via squat morning. It's funny when I look around online and see guys who do hamstring work with RDLs for example and I could easily go out and do more weight on RDL for more reps even though I don't do hamstring work. No deadlifts, no pulls at all, no GHRs etc. It's because i'm 'blessed' with deadlifter proportions and my squats turn into squat mornings meaning I work my hamstrings as well as someone else just by doing backsquats. I would trade places at once with someone with a squatter build if it meant my squats were squat-like rather than deadlift-like! I'd make a better powerlifter than an olympic lifter. It just so happens I look down on typical PL technique as vulgar and unathletic (which it is). Olympic form is much prettier and of course athletic too which is what we're interested in here.
Wondering, do sprinters have deadlifter builds or squatter ones? What about basketball players? Which athletes have deadlifter builds? I doubt there is any, since my prejudice says they're not good athletes lol.
Sprinters and basketball players and pretty much anybody that's naturally fast or of West African decent all have deadlift builds (long legs, short torso).
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/bodystructure.html
By the same token many athletes who can jump high and run fast have physical characteristics such as long lower legs, high calves and a long achilles tendon. The length of the achilles tendon gives them a leverage advantage for reactive strength because it acts like a long rubber band. Recall that in a plyometric movement the muscles and tendons are stretched and energy is stored and released in greater quantities. Having long tendons in the lower leg can enhance this process. The achilles tendon is amazing at storing elastic energy and giving it back to you; it's an adaptation to make activities like walking and running more efficient. In the animal kingdom kangaroos probably have the longest achilles tendons and are also the best leapers. They can literally bounce around over small buildings with hardly any muscular effort.
This doesn't at all mean that just because you might not have long legs and tendons that you won't be able to run or jump, it just means strength and agility will probably come easier for you and that your leaping ability will likely be naturally more dependent on pure strength and your reactive ability will come less easy. Maximize your attributes and develop your weaknesses and you will definitely overcome someone who has the right attributes but doesn't train correctly.
On the other hand, if you have long legs and tendons,- strength and the ability to demonstrate that strength in the weight room, jump from a pure standstill, or fire off the line like a bullet in a sprint probably won't come as easy for you, - yet being bouncy, having good top speed, and having good reactive ability will. If this describes you and you one day desire to be a powerlifting champion it can be done but you're just gonna have to work a little smarter then others who are gifted with a structure geared towards lifting.
You think Michael Jordan is going to be in the gym squatting 500lbs? Fuk no. I doubt he'd be able to squat much over 315 even if he did squat. But you know what? It doesn't matter because his build allows him to be a great jumper naturally. Carl Lewis didn't even have to lift because he was born with athleticism. Same as most of the guys you see in dunk videos and in the NBA.
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Shit i dont have a short torso. haha. So guess i'm not a deadlifter build either? Wtf am i then :P
But that makes sense Mutumbo000. I guess there is a difference between being athletic and SUITED to lifting (eg oly lifters). And being athletic and being unsuited to lifting (eg basketballer builds). It's like that video of the bulgarian dude doing a 4x bw FS. And raptor said he must have a 50" vertical. But. His femurs are a lot smaller. So he might still have a huge vertical, but what makes his lifting so good is what makes him bad at jumping. It goes the other way too, if you have bad proportions for lifting, you actually get the most out of lifting since it converts better to athletic endavour. So jordan wouldn't need a 500lb squat, he might only need a 400 one (to get athletic improvements)
I got huge gains from front squatting by the time I was using 100kg for reps even though someone who is build perfectly for squatting would need to get to say 150kg to get the same benefit. So it's a big struggle for me to get to 150kg, but when I get there, i'll have a similar benefit to a build-to-squat person who is now squatting 250kg..
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Shit i dont have a short torso. haha. So guess i'm not a deadlifter build either? Wtf am i then :P
But that makes sense Mutumbo000. I guess there is a difference between being athletic and SUITED to lifting (eg oly lifters). And being athletic and being unsuited to lifting (eg basketballer builds). It's like that video of the bulgarian dude doing a 4x bw FS. And raptor said he must have a 50" vertical. But. His femurs are a lot smaller. So he might still have a huge vertical, but what makes his lifting so good is what makes him bad at jumping. It goes the other way too, if you have bad proportions for lifting, you actually get the most out of lifting since it converts better to athletic endavour. So jordan wouldn't need a 500lb squat, he might only need a 400 one (to get athletic improvements)
I got huge gains from front squatting by the time I was using 100kg for reps even though someone who is build perfectly for squatting would need to get to say 150kg to get the same benefit. So it's a big struggle for me to get to 150kg, but when I get there, i'll have a similar benefit to a build-to-squat person who is now squatting 250kg..
Exactly. In the end it kind of evens itself out. Like I've never been able to squat 3 plates. However, the first time I ever deadlifted I did 3 plates. I'm not sure why I can't squat. Maybe I have low test or slow twitch muscles because despite how weak my squat is I actually do put a lot of effort into it. That said I think if I could ever squat 4 or 5 plates at my current bodyweight than I would probably be running 100m in mid 10s but that's a lot easier said than done.
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Shit i dont have a short torso. haha. So guess i'm not a deadlifter build either? Wtf am i then :P
But that makes sense Mutumbo000. I guess there is a difference between being athletic and SUITED to lifting (eg oly lifters). And being athletic and being unsuited to lifting (eg basketballer builds). It's like that video of the bulgarian dude doing a 4x bw FS. And raptor said he must have a 50" vertical. But. His femurs are a lot smaller. So he might still have a huge vertical, but what makes his lifting so good is what makes him bad at jumping. It goes the other way too, if you have bad proportions for lifting, you actually get the most out of lifting since it converts better to athletic endavour. So jordan wouldn't need a 500lb squat, he might only need a 400 one (to get athletic improvements)
I got huge gains from front squatting by the time I was using 100kg for reps even though someone who is build perfectly for squatting would need to get to say 150kg to get the same benefit. So it's a big struggle for me to get to 150kg, but when I get there, i'll have a similar benefit to a build-to-squat person who is now squatting 250kg..
Exactly. In the end it kind of evens itself out. Like I've never been able to squat 3 plates. However, the first time I ever deadlifted I did 3 plates. I'm not sure why I can't squat. Maybe I have low test or slow twitch muscles because despite how weak my squat is I actually do put a lot of effort into it. That said I think if I could ever squat 4 or 5 plates at my current bodyweight than I would probably be running 100m in mid 10s but that's a lot easier said than done.
We talked about this recently in my log where Todday disagree with me but I think you are very strong, that's what your DL says. Walking into a gym first time and pulling 3 plates says exactly that. His theory is sprinters naturally have a lot of back strength from isometric training. But I think it's a true test of strength. The squat is much more about technique and skill. That's not talking about build which I admit goes for deadlift too (good deadlifters might be bad (olympic) squatters and vice versa). As far as what it would take for you to squat 4 or 5. I'd love to know that too, for you. Maybe when you focus on strength you should post videos from a variety of angles, to see if there is some glaring fixable fault that you're unaware of, like i said, highly technique dependent. Build to squat guys will accuse you for overthinking etc, but they don't understand how hard it is for someone not build to squat to get good at it and make progress!!
Or maybe we just need to leg presses. Like really really heavy leg presses. I sometimes think I could build my leg strength a lot better with a machine because it would challenge only my legs and not my stupid mickeymouse build which wants to fold over like a house of cards at the slightest provocation while trying to challenge my legs with a heavy weight on the squat..
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Shit i dont have a short torso. haha. So guess i'm not a deadlifter build either? Wtf am i then :P
But that makes sense Mutumbo000. I guess there is a difference between being athletic and SUITED to lifting (eg oly lifters). And being athletic and being unsuited to lifting (eg basketballer builds). It's like that video of the bulgarian dude doing a 4x bw FS. And raptor said he must have a 50" vertical. But. His femurs are a lot smaller. So he might still have a huge vertical, but what makes his lifting so good is what makes him bad at jumping. It goes the other way too, if you have bad proportions for lifting, you actually get the most out of lifting since it converts better to athletic endavour. So jordan wouldn't need a 500lb squat, he might only need a 400 one (to get athletic improvements)
I got huge gains from front squatting by the time I was using 100kg for reps even though someone who is build perfectly for squatting would need to get to say 150kg to get the same benefit. So it's a big struggle for me to get to 150kg, but when I get there, i'll have a similar benefit to a build-to-squat person who is now squatting 250kg..
Exactly. In the end it kind of evens itself out. Like I've never been able to squat 3 plates. However, the first time I ever deadlifted I did 3 plates. I'm not sure why I can't squat. Maybe I have low test or slow twitch muscles because despite how weak my squat is I actually do put a lot of effort into it. That said I think if I could ever squat 4 or 5 plates at my current bodyweight than I would probably be running 100m in mid 10s but that's a lot easier said than done.
We talked about this recently in my log where Todday disagree with me but I think you are very strong, that's what your DL says. Walking into a gym first time and pulling 3 plates says exactly that. His theory is sprinters naturally have a lot of back strength from isometric training. But I think it's a true test of strength. The squat is much more about technique and skill. That's not talking about build which I admit goes for deadlift too (good deadlifters might be bad (olympic) squatters and vice versa). As far as what it would take for you to squat 4 or 5. I'd love to know that too, for you. Maybe when you focus on strength you should post videos from a variety of angles, to see if there is some glaring fixable fault that you're unaware of, like i said, highly technique dependent. Build to squat guys will accuse you for overthinking etc, but they don't understand how hard it is for someone not build to squat to get good at it and make progress!!
Or maybe we just need to leg presses. Like really really heavy leg presses. I sometimes think I could build my leg strength a lot better with a machine because it would challenge only my legs and not my stupid mickeymouse build which wants to fold over like a house of cards at the slightest provocation while trying to challenge my legs with a heavy weight on the squat..
Yeah it's frustrating. Especially when you go on sites like bodybuilding.com where every man and his dog seems to be able to squat 4 plates and people say that everybody should be squatting 315 within a year of training. You go on forums to look for advice and it's always along the lines of 'squat 3x a week and eat more'. Eating more is ok if you don't care about putting on weight. Than there's people that are around my weight that do have very good squats but usually they are only around 5'5-5'8 and built for squatting anyway. My track season has almost started so I don't think there's a lot that I can do to dramatically increase my strength. Next year I'm not going to play rugby when my track season finishes I'm just going to use the 6 months to stay injury free and go squatting 3 or maybe even 4x a week with 3x5 or smolov or whatever routine I need to do to get great leg strength.
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Shit i dont have a short torso. haha. So guess i'm not a deadlifter build either? Wtf am i then :P
But that makes sense Mutumbo000. I guess there is a difference between being athletic and SUITED to lifting (eg oly lifters). And being athletic and being unsuited to lifting (eg basketballer builds). It's like that video of the bulgarian dude doing a 4x bw FS. And raptor said he must have a 50" vertical. But. His femurs are a lot smaller. So he might still have a huge vertical, but what makes his lifting so good is what makes him bad at jumping. It goes the other way too, if you have bad proportions for lifting, you actually get the most out of lifting since it converts better to athletic endavour. So jordan wouldn't need a 500lb squat, he might only need a 400 one (to get athletic improvements)
I got huge gains from front squatting by the time I was using 100kg for reps even though someone who is build perfectly for squatting would need to get to say 150kg to get the same benefit. So it's a big struggle for me to get to 150kg, but when I get there, i'll have a similar benefit to a build-to-squat person who is now squatting 250kg..
Exactly. In the end it kind of evens itself out. Like I've never been able to squat 3 plates. However, the first time I ever deadlifted I did 3 plates. I'm not sure why I can't squat. Maybe I have low test or slow twitch muscles because despite how weak my squat is I actually do put a lot of effort into it. That said I think if I could ever squat 4 or 5 plates at my current bodyweight than I would probably be running 100m in mid 10s but that's a lot easier said than done.
We talked about this recently in my log where Todday disagree with me but I think you are very strong, that's what your DL says. Walking into a gym first time and pulling 3 plates says exactly that. His theory is sprinters naturally have a lot of back strength from isometric training. But I think it's a true test of strength. The squat is much more about technique and skill. That's not talking about build which I admit goes for deadlift too (good deadlifters might be bad (olympic) squatters and vice versa). As far as what it would take for you to squat 4 or 5. I'd love to know that too, for you. Maybe when you focus on strength you should post videos from a variety of angles, to see if there is some glaring fixable fault that you're unaware of, like i said, highly technique dependent. Build to squat guys will accuse you for overthinking etc, but they don't understand how hard it is for someone not build to squat to get good at it and make progress!!
Or maybe we just need to leg presses. Like really really heavy leg presses. I sometimes think I could build my leg strength a lot better with a machine because it would challenge only my legs and not my stupid mickeymouse build which wants to fold over like a house of cards at the slightest provocation while trying to challenge my legs with a heavy weight on the squat..
Yeah it's frustrating. Especially when you go on sites like bodybuilding.com where every man and his dog seems to be able to squat 4 plates and people say that everybody should be squatting 315 within a year of training.
I dont place much stock on what people say about their squats online. Most of the time when you see it, either their depth is shit, or they're using shit form, or they're leaning over. There are guys who are using layers and layers of knee wraps and thick belts and doing heavy good mornings which they'll cite as their squat numbers. It's meaningless. Might as well tell me what you deadlift instead. A squat should be squat-like not pull-like. Unless your squat could go in my Beautiful squats thread, i have zero interest in lol. If you're a clarence kenedy doing nice upright heavy squats or a chinese olympian squatting the world with textbook olympic form then i'm impressed, and only because it satisfied my sense of aesthetics while at the same time being very heavy but the latter is just a prerequisite, the beauty is what I enjoy the most.
For instance I dislike my own form, ashamed of it even, i wont post any more vids again. even if i achieve some respectable numbers i'll always be ashamed because it's not pretty to look at. And that's the point, for me squatting is more art than material for the ego. I can't stand people who tout their squat numbers as if it means anything because 9 times out of 10 their squats are ugly.
You go on forums to look for advice and it's always along the lines of 'squat 3x a week and eat more'. Eating more is ok if you don't care about putting on weight.
So true. You can do the eat a lot and squat a lot thing. I could listen to them and I could have done it all the way to 115kg bw like they'd say for someone my height and probably squatted 160-200kg for reps. But fuck that. What will that achieve? It would then take me 2 years or more to cut back to 10% bodyfat and i wont be able to keep my strength for a cut that takes that long. Unless I take steroids, i'd never do that, would kill my athletic dreams and give me a host of health problems which I don't need.
Than there's people that are around my weight that do have very good squats but usually they are only around 5'5-5'8 and built for squatting anyway. My track season has almost started so I don't think there's a lot that I can do to dramatically increase my strength. Next year I'm not going to play rugby when my track season finishes I'm just going to use the 6 months to stay injury free and go squatting 3 or maybe even 4x a week with 3x5 or smolov or whatever routine I need to do to get great leg strength.
Yea. Build for squat types are blessed in one way, but they have to add so much weight to their squats, it's not the blessing it would seem. Like if they have to train up a 250kg olympic squat with athletic bodyfat to get a 40" vertical it will take a lot of hard work and single minded dedication. And then someone like me would gain as much athleticism by just getting a 150+kg FS. It's not fair, but i'm saying that too because it's hard for me to get to 150 lol.
I dunno about smolov for building leg strength. I think it's a powerlifting program to peak for a meet. And that's about it. If you eat a lot maybe it will build keepable muscle and strength too. But i'd rather do a proper mass gain routine to put 5-6" on your legs, however it may look (depending on your body). And then just train for strength with compound lifts to use the mass, squat 2-3x a week like you would normally just adding weight regularly up 180+kg while staying lean.
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Remember that video with Kobe squatting 400+chains?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wTkjxz3bnk
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By the way - I agree with entropy about gaining weight to gain squat numbers. I mean... I'd get to a 100 kg bodyweight at 6'0 with a 180 kg squat... but what would that do on the actual field? Each and every jump would be such a shock and such a destroyer of joints at that point... I would jump a few times and then need to go home. And as I have terrible cardio ability, carrying that weight with me and trying to move it around would be TERRIBLE.
So... it doesn't make any sense (in my position) to get there.
As for squatting - looking at my recent squats that I've filmed... they look really good IMO even as low bar squats. Mutombo should go with low bar IMO.
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By the way - I agree with entropy about gaining weight to gain squat numbers. I mean... I'd get to a 100 kg bodyweight at 6'0 with a 180 kg squat... but what would that do on the actual field? Each and every jump would be such a shock and such a destroyer of joints at that point... I would jump a few times and then need to go home. And as I have terrible cardio ability, carrying that weight with me and trying to move it around would be TERRIBLE.
So... it doesn't make any sense (in my position) to get there.
As for squatting - looking at my recent squats that I've filmed... they look really good IMO even as low bar squats. Mutombo should go with low bar IMO.
You don't look very lean though. You could probably be the same weight as you are right now with a way bigger squat.
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By the way - I agree with entropy about gaining weight to gain squat numbers. I mean... I'd get to a 100 kg bodyweight at 6'0 with a 180 kg squat... but what would that do on the actual field? Each and every jump would be such a shock and such a destroyer of joints at that point... I would jump a few times and then need to go home. And as I have terrible cardio ability, carrying that weight with me and trying to move it around would be TERRIBLE.
So... it doesn't make any sense (in my position) to get there.
As for squatting - looking at my recent squats that I've filmed... they look really good IMO even as low bar squats. Mutombo should go with low bar IMO.
You don't look very lean though. You could probably be the same weight as you are right now with a way bigger squat.
Totally agree. But I eat a lot of sugars because that's what I grew up liking (that's what my mom always bought as a "reward" etc). Plus I'm terrible at cardio so... no kcal burning either.
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By the way - I agree with entropy about gaining weight to gain squat numbers. I mean... I'd get to a 100 kg bodyweight at 6'0 with a 180 kg squat... but what would that do on the actual field? Each and every jump would be such a shock and such a destroyer of joints at that point... I would jump a few times and then need to go home. And as I have terrible cardio ability, carrying that weight with me and trying to move it around would be TERRIBLE.
So... it doesn't make any sense (in my position) to get there.
As for squatting - looking at my recent squats that I've filmed... they look really good IMO even as low bar squats. Mutombo should go with low bar IMO.
You don't look very lean though. You could probably be the same weight as you are right now with a way bigger squat.
Totally agree. But I eat a lot of sugars because that's what I grew up liking (that's what my mom always bought as a "reward" etc). Plus I'm terrible at cardio so... no kcal burning either.
Do 3 weeks of RFL. It will be the best thing you do for yourself all year. Will teach you to retrain your eating habits to becoming cleaner, lose your dependency on sweets, drop 2-3kg or so of bodyfat. And show you what a difference losing bodyfat makes to athleticism, maybe you'll even keep up dieting for longer til you've reached your athletic bodyweight, albeit with a less severe diet. But to kickstart a drastic change in diet, RFL is a good way to go.
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Speaking of, i've been meaning to an update of my cut. Honestly i haven't been doing it very well. I seem to be fine on training days because after lifting I don't get hungry. But on rest days i'll be really good and compliant til after dinner, hunger is slaying me lol. Hard to go from a bulk to a cut. So i'm taking it in stride, usually what happens is i'll get sick of myself and say ok lets do it right, and then i'll be super strict for months at a time.
Anyway here is where I am as of today
(http://i.imgur.com/BY7taNa.png)
On track to break 190 by month end. Think i'm slowing adjusting to it though. Once I do, I expect I will be able to get into 180s by 1st october.
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Um... what is RFL?
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google is your friend.
*googles "RFL"
*no relevant results
*googles "RFL diet"
:o
(http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/rapid3d.jpg)
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Oh. I thought it was "Romanian Foot Lift"
:trollface:
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Training
FS 1x117.5, 1x125, 2Fx129, 0Fx132.5
BS 3x120, 2x127.5, 2Fx135, 0Fx140, 1x130, 1x132.5, 1x130, 1x130, 1x127.5, 1x125, 1x127.5, 1x122.5
BP 5x89.5 (PR)
WCU 7x92kg (PR)
FS notes:
Paradoxically I had a really good FS day, my technique was solid and I would have got a PR today contrary to expectation from poor preparation. Will crush it on wednesday with my current technique, just wasn't strong enough today.
Technique sets to come. Second thought, i might skip it today. Wanna see what becomes sore tmr.
BS notes:
Did a lot of singles just nailing down technique. Happy with it. I'm emulating the TK style squat at least in my mind when doing these.
Bench if i can be bothered later tonight
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Re: the discussion with mutombo about leg training
Hack Squats – Hack squats are a classic bodybuilding exercise and are my preferred exercise for building up larger quad size. I prefer the hack squats because they place very little stress on the back and isolate the quads I feel better than leg pressing. They also allow you to practice driving your hips forward as you would if you are a quad dominant squatter who also engages the hips well. Like any exercise I will try to push these so the rep and weight combinations are difficult to complete, but shooting for 1-2 very hard sets of 20 is ideal here.
I'll put this to the test next week. It might be just the thing i've been looking for..
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It might be just the thing i've been looking for..
:trollface:
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I was going to write 'the missing link' just for you LBSS but thought to be slightly more subtle. Haha. This one jacked housewife has discovered the ultimate secret to quad length and girth. Click here to find out more.
Fasted all day today. Went to the 'mall' as the kids say to get out and walk around to take my mind off being hungry. Just to get used to being hungry as fuck. I reason that once my body gets adjusted to being hungry, i'll have an easier time stringing together a few weeks of unbroken compliance. So far so good. I think mentally i'm almost there into that zealous cutting mindzone where i'm fully committed and nothing will stop me from my goal.
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Training
FS 1x117.5, 1x125, 1x130, 3Fx120
BS 3x120, 2x127.5, 1x129
Orange Band Glute bridge 3x15
Pushups 8, 10, 12
Orange Band leg press 2x15
OB 1leg Leg press 2x25
FS notes:
So lots of volume fatigues CNS (quoting the 101 lesson thing mutombo highlighted). That's interesting. Explains why I was retardly weak today after overdoing it on friday. In fact muscularly I feel quite fresh but i guess it's the CNS which is dampened ...... that blews my mind a little. Have to respect volume.
BS notes:
Was just warming up when a flash flood passed by and stormed out my gym. lulz. Would have kept squatting but my shoes were slipping all over the place and it's probably not a great idea to squat. Might go check out a gym nearby and get some sets in, if i can be bothered. Blah
Bodyweight stuff:
Just fooled around with bodyweight exercises. Pretty fun and not that easy. Should do this sort of thing more often!
ok that's all for now.
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Might just be a temporary thing but i'm close to 195lb today
(http://i.imgur.com/ECsEYLS.png)
Next wednesday i'd like to be around 192-193 so I can PR my front squat to a milestone 3x130kg. Depends how strict I can be, with my birthday this week and all. But we'll see how it goes.
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I've been taking mobility a bit more seriously. Have been looking at getting a foam roller, may help with my squat form. In the mean time I rolled my glutes on a softball on the floor. Hurts a fair bit. But already made a huge difference immediately with a bodyweight squat test. Which is promising!!! Wish I tried this earlier.
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(http://i.imgur.com/ZFHkJWf.jpg)
Nike Romaleos 2 are pretty sweet. Nicest shoe i've had. Very snug though on my R foot. Wish it was slightly wider, they're really narrow lol. I wonder how narrow the Adidas must be since the Romaloes are said to be wider than than adipowers etc. I put them on and tried air squats, hit depth and had a flat back which was cool, cause I hadn't done any moblity work yet. Will do my usual mobility sequence later and then try squatting. I'm running on low sleep and dont think i'll hit any PRs today so I'll just enjoy the workout. Friday is gonna be all business though, i wanna get some PRs, it's been a while since I last got a squat one.
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Nice! They are a cool looking pair of shoes. I love mine. Interested to see how you go in them.
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Nice! They are a cool looking pair of shoes. I love mine. Interested to see how you go in them.
Shoes were perfect to squat in. They fit me like a glove and what I thought was too snug before simply disappeared once they moulded to my feet. The only thing I noticed was the straps drag underneath the foot when I walk around but otherwise i love them! More detail in the workout log.
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Training
FS 2x110, 1x120, 1x130, 2x120, 3/4x110, 6x100 (PR)
BS 3x100, 6x110, 3x120, 4x115, 3x100
FS notes:
First shot with new WL shoes. I went down to a newly opened local gym to test them out because I haven't redone the flooring for my home gym yet and I don't wanna use the NR2s on the paved flooring in case it scruffs up the soles.
The gym was to unpredictably defy my attempts at a decent workout. To start with they have 20kg, 10kg plates and 5kg plates. And that's it. So if you're weak like me and you want to squat with 105, 112.5, 117.5, 125kg or 127.5kg you're out of luck. ie no 2.5kg or 5kg jumps just 10kg lol. This is a big ass expensive gym that just opened btw. I dont know what you're supposed to do. So my warmup sequence which is usually 3x90, 2x105, 1x117.5, 1x125 became 3x90, 2x110, 1x120, 1x130. Not ideal, cause i'm not used to it. For my worksets I had planned on doing triples with 125kg and 115kg but i simply couldnt. Serves me right for not taking my own (1.25 and 2.5kg) plates right? I should know by now gyms are retarded and plan in advance.
- warning rant below, skip if not interested.. --
I had to wait 20 minutes for some starting strengther bros do their quarter squats with 110kg first while I sat there like a pervert watching them them do their thing. Not even hating, cause i'm sure they'd be complaining about the weird as fuck guy who did shitty reverse squats in the deadlift cage with baby weights while they sat idly. I felt like a real piece of shit working up to my massive 130kg squat while ppl waited for me to leave so they could do their half squats with 90kg. The guy in the rack next to me was doing, no joke, decline bench press with 70kg. In the fucking 'deadlift rack'. Why is that even necessary i dunno. I keep saying deadlift rack cause a PT came and chased away 2 strengthers from the rack so that he could train his client with RDLs off the ground with awesome form. Why you have to do that in a power cage i dunno, but there you go.
Btw I think this whole 'you got to squat bro' movement is misguided. Most of these casual gym squatters would be better off using machines for leg strength. Hell I think i'm probably included in that category, squats done badly are way worse than machines done not-bad.
I felt that my quads were being hit very hard, esp considering i did very little volume (or intensity for that matter). So that's a great sign that the shoes will help me with acquiring highly sought after athletic leg strength. I was also able to FS 130kg as well as I have with flatter shoes. I mean i was in no danger of repping it, because I was very weak today, but otherwise signs are good that the shoes are helping the areas I needed the most help.
Btw I did a lot of paused reps too, just because I was annoyed with the situation with the plates, to make the workout slightly less shit.
I've got post traumatic gym stress now. I'm gonna put on my old shoes and do some back squats when my heart rate goes back to normal.
BS notes:
Pretty ordinary session. But i noticed i have midfoot bar path on one rep?!. Not sure how that happened or what I did differently on the descent lol. interesting.
I didn't get a chance to do mobility work today. Will def do it before friday's workout though. I feel as though i'm close to making a form breakthrough, i just need to get everything to align before it happens. Mobility, recovery, strength, motivation, shoes.
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Yeah there's so many shit gyms in Australia. All these Jets and 24/7 gym franchises are popping up everywhere and saturating the market. It wouldn't be a bad thing if they had good equipment. Except they don't have equipment all they have is a bunch of machines and free weights that go up to like 30kg in increments of 5kg. You're lucky to even find one of those franchises with a bench press let alone a squat rack. Anytime Fitness seems to be alright but once again it's a similar environment with everything crammed into a small space with no staff, yet with superior equipment. I go to Goodlife now. I used to go to Fitness First but all the Fitness Firsts in Adelaide got acquired by Goodlife. Thankfully they haven't made any radical transformations and have kept most of the equipment as it is.
I can't really complain that much about my gym. It's pretty good but there's definitely more treadmills and cardio equipment than weights. We got 2 bench presses, 1 incline bench, 1 squat rack, and a Smith Machine. We also got a Cable Crossover. Dumb bells go from 2.5kg all the way up to 50kg in 2.5kg increments. As far as plates there's 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20 (as it should be). All the basics are covered. Got quite a few machines but I train pretty simplistically so I don't use them much. All in all it's a fairly good gym. The only thing I hate about it is the atmosphere. There's hardly any bodybuilders or strong lifters it's mainly fat people and cardio bunnies.
Once I get my license back I'm going to start going to Southbound. http://www.southboundfitness.com.au/about.html
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lol no 2.5kg plates? that's just bizarre.
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FS 0Fx132.5, 2x127.5, 6x102.5 (PR), 5x107.5, 6x100
BS 1x135, 6x112.5
BP 3x90, 5x86
ÇU 7x90, 3x100, 3x95
BRO 10x40, 10x50
OBGB 2x20
New training obsessions is rows.
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Training
FS 1x117.5, 1x125, 1x132 (PR)
BS 5x120, 2x6x115, 3x117.5
FS 6x107.5(*), 4x107.5, 5x106
BP 7Fx84 (PR)
FS notes:
Plan was to work up to a heavy single PR and then do BS.
BS notes:
So i'm doing these with a plate under the heels. Slowly working back to my old PRs with flat shoes. I'm still a faggot though because my form is shit and I don't even give a shit anymore lulz.
FS 2 notes:
Heel elevated all sets. I failed to drop the safety pins 1 hole which confounded my 6PR attempt, I hit the pin on rep 4. Racked the bar, moved the pins down, then did the next 2 reps but of course that doesn't count as a 6 rep set. I tried again next set but my 4th rep was ugly enough that 6 was out of the question. For the 3rd set i decided to try my luck with 106 for a 6PR and i probably could have done a really ugly 6th but that's not a good habit to get into cause those ugly sets don't do much for gains. So my carelessness cost me a PR, it's ok, ill get it on wednesday.
So-so workout to begin the week. But on the balance i'll take it, still better than the last 3 weeks of fucking around in the gym. Upper body to come later!
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Wooho, might do an adarquisque update on my computing adventures. Last week I had to put my regular PC out of commission after it overheated. I took it apart and cleaned the insides but because I took the heat sink out, have to wait til i've gotten thermal paste to re-apply on the cpu and heat sink. In the meantime I dragged out another unused PC in the house which had horror of horrors, windows vista. I have only now excaped the hell that is Vista without an admin password. I couldn't use 99% of the apps I downloaded to image a win7 iso. It took all of my patience to finally get a usb flash disk imaged with a windows7 iso so I could install windows 7 on it. Must say, after almost 15 years of using Linux exclusively, i'm finally going back to windows. Windows 7 just seems so right to me and it was about time I moved away from the ghetto and computing slum that is linux. It's just never going to get good enough i'm afraid to say, I believed it for the longest time and now i've lost the initial convictions i once strongly held against Microsoft. They've done an amazing job with Win7, and I can say that having using it all of an hour lol. Being able to play full screen HD flash video without my cpu fan exploding is awesome. At this point it's easier to bring my favorite linux apps onto windows than try to deal with the general shittiness of the linux experience. I'm gonna figure out how to setup emacs etc and then i'll be good. How exciting. The last time i was this excited about windows was back in highschool when someone slipped me a windows 98 cd lol that had just dropped at the time. Good times. Anyway i digress, expect more of the usual verbose loggings now that I have a proper computing environment setup and I dont have to click away on my phone!
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I feel as though I failed in my strength accumulation phase. I should have hit at least a 140kg FS and a 150kg BS. As in tested and video taped, not calculated bullshit. In theory a 130x3 FS should be a 140kg max and a 6x130kg BS should be a 150kg max. But the truth is I never came close to realising those maxes. I doubled 140kg on the BS and that's not close to 150kg max. Maybe off by 5kg or so but that's still a lot when i'm talking about the bare minimum I wanted to achieve. I rather would have liked a 160kg BS and a 150kg at the very least, my goal was even more lofty to do 150kg for 5 reps before starting my cut to 75kg bw.
But then again this wasn't about strength, i wanted to gain mass. And i think to that end I succeeded somewhat. If it was strength alone I sought could have done an ego friendly smolov stint.
I can do more though. I might maintain my bodyweight for a few weeks and finish the job before cutting. I am talking about front squatting 140kg. My BS should be 135-140kg for 5-6 reps too. That seems like a good place to finish a strength gain phase and begin a cut phase. That way if I drop 10kg of bodyweight, I can put that 10kg on the bar and stay just as strong, but a lot stronger relative to bodyweight. That will be worth something. As it stands, maintaining a shitty 130kg FS and a who-knows-what-mediocre BS is close to worthless to me.
And yes this is partially inspired by acole's thread and a need to be more competitive. I haven't dug very deep i'm ashamed to admit. I can get more out of the amount of muscle i've got. Just need to work harder and keep my form truer.
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Training
FS 5x107.5, 6x105 (PR)
BS 6x117.5, 6x117, 5x115
OHP 5x60, 3x62, 8x52.5 (PR), 9x50 (PR)
FS notes:
Switching to Nikes. I haven't done the flooring yet but I'll def do it this weekend so i'll start properly next week but in the mean time i'll be able to adjust and adapt. Using plates underneath heels sucks so I won't be doing that again.
BS notes:
Done with nikes. I had really nice form!! Feels good man. Next time i'll go for 3x6x120kg and from there it's +2kg per workout. Hopefully that'll take me up to 135kg or so without stalling because i've done a reset of sorts now.
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BW is 196 this morning of the 26th, would have liked to be sub 195 by 1st October, just so September wasn't a complete waste of time but we'll see what happens, there is still a few days left yet.
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BW is 196 this morning of the 26th, would have liked to be sub 195 by 1st October, just so September wasn't a complete waste of time but we'll see what happens, there is still a few days left yet.
You've still got 5 days left. Plenty of time to drop 1lb.
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Training
FS 1x125, 1x130, 0Fx132.5, 5x112.5 (PR), 6x107 (PR)
BS 6x120, 5x119.5, 6x120B
BP 4x90 (PR), 5Fx86 (PR)
CU 7x90.5, 3x100, 3x95, 4x92.5
Salient workout notes:
All squats from here forwards will be done with weighlifting shoes, nike romaloes 2, unless otherwise indicated.
FS notes:
I came oh-so-close to locking out that 132.5, but i am too weak today. Yes I know I seem to say that every time but it's actually true, i'm going into these workouts ill prepared without having my recovery ducks in a row.
Anyway finally got that 112.5kg fiver which once seemed like a hard goal and has eluded me for what is probably 6 months? So even while weak and with horrible recovery i can still make long term PRs. But that's just because I haven't trained 5s for ages and i'm stronger now so it's not exactly a great achievement. I should be doing 5s with 120kg really.
BS notes:
Blah, shitty form. Actually the video looked fine. I tried a belt for the 3rd set, and it was suprsingly easy. Does that mean I could do with much stronger abs? Or does it mean my core is just fatigued. Or does it mean an increase of IAP just made light work of the set. Who knows but i should experiment more to see if I can derive a strength benefit from a belt.
In addition to belt on BS, i should experiment with it on FS too. Maybe after doing my last warmup set of 130kg, i should put on a belt for heavy max single? Will explore.
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BW is 196 this morning of the 26th, would have liked to be sub 195 by 1st October, just so September wasn't a complete waste of time but we'll see what happens, there is still a few days left yet.
You've still got 5 days left. Plenty of time to drop 1lb.
Coges, nope bro, i'm not cutting actively right now, want to get my squat goals before resuming cut for acole's contest. I did make one breakthru though. I remembered that when I did my awesome cut earlier this year to get down to ~10%bodyfat, I did it by flipping around any internet advice from GFH camp which favours high calorie, high fat eating. So where they say high dietary fat intake for gainz, i went low fat intake for health. Health is the thing, when you think about the effect of food on the inside of your body, it makes it easy to eat well, which then leads to more mental strength and discipline not just for nutrition but also towards training. That's why I made good gains in the gym as well as in the mirror because I flipped around bad advice which suited me really well. So even though i'm going to hold my bodweight stable, i'll make the necessary changes to my mindset to prepare me for the long cut ahead.
I'll see how it goes maybe i can still make it though, you never know.
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Training
1 hour 1-1 basketball
notes:
whats the point, i'm still as unathletic and sluggish as ive ever been. i used to be quicker or as quick before i even started doing sterngth training. and the thing which which really makes this awesome is i dont even enjoy my training, so what is it all for? nothing, waste of time. i could tell myself i'm 10-15kg overweight and once ive cut down to low bodyfat i'll be awesome but that's not true either, i doubt i'll make much difference.
threw down some alley-oops off the glass to myself, yay
so not worth it, def not worth ruining a sunday sleep in. wont be able to squat properly tomorrow with sore knees but we'll see how it goes.
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Are you serious?!?!?! You don't think dropping 20+ pounds (forgive me I'm American lol) will help?! Man, dropping I noticed a difference dropping 7lbs and maintaining the same strength levels.
Also, how often are you training specifically for basketball or quickness? If you aren't a 'natural' athlete or player then you'll need to work on those almost as often as lifting. Just my observations from watching other players for years.
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Are you serious?!?!?! You don't think dropping 20+ pounds (forgive me I'm American lol) will help?! Man, dropping I noticed a difference dropping 7lbs and maintaining the same strength levels.
Relatively speaking i'll be better compared to where I am now? Maybe a bit. But relative to other people? Probably still going to be average :( The 2 guys i was playing with were killing me and neither can be said to be very athletic. I'm pretty disillusioned now. Admittedly i only rarely ever do anything physical outside my squat rack. So i might be able to improve a little on movement efficiency by regular practice, but i was hoping to be quite a bit faster than I was yesterday. Maybe I could say it's from fatigue from squatting etc etc. But if I weigh 20+lb less then I'm instantly a lot weaker in the post. So i'll not get anything useful out of my training except maybe a wicked SVJ, which counts for nothing much I must now admit.
Also, how often are you training specifically for basketball or quickness? If you aren't a 'natural' athlete or player then you'll need to work on those almost as often as lifting. Just my observations from watching other players for years.
Once a fortnight. I suck at lifting as much if not more, so I need to devote a lot of time and effort to it, to even get modest gains, it's not like I can afford to compromise there.
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It's dangerous getting stuck in the pattern of training for a sport or activity by not actually doing said activity. Yes you're improving your strength but when will you every actually be happy with your progress strength wise? Then if you add experiences like you've just had, your will to become better without actually playing becomes even stronger so you end up spending more time away from the game. I've fallen into this trap myself and the truth of the matter is the guys who play ball more often will always be better ball players than the guys who spend more time in the gym.
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^When I achieve the goals in my sig, i'll be happy to switch focus onto mainly sports specific training. But perhaps I might just add a minute or two of SST to every gym training day? Better than nothing?
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Training
FS 1x117.5, 1x125, 1x130, 1x132.5 (PR)
BS 2x6x122.5, 3x127.5B, 6x122.5B
BP 8x83.5 (PR)
SST (5 mins)
FS notes:
I'm a dickhead and my recovery was shit etc etc, esp the basketball i played yesterday which usually WRECKS me badly for lifting. So i wasn't prepared for today by any means. But. I destoyed it! Made z big form breakthrough today which spared me from having a shit workout. I'm a better squatter after this workout than I was before it. Isn't that amazing? I had to stop myself at 132.5kg and say save it for backsquats, otherwise I was gonna put 135kg on the bar and try it with a belt, but decided against it because I don't need to use that weapon out of my armory just yet, my FS should be at least 140kg before I think about messing around with a belt.
Form change is basically to do with knees. They go in at the start of the concentric, and then OUT as I go past the sticking point. This is new for me, it's the antidote to the squatmorning sickness I so desperately needed to cure.
BS notes:
The form breakthrough from FS carried over nicely to BS as well. Seems everything has come together for me technique wise now. From shoes to form to patience with gains, i'm ready to make some decent progress now. I will be ambitious and add 2.5kg all the way up to 3x6x127.5kg on friday. The following week maybe i'll switch to 2kg jumps but for now i'm feeling good about 2.5kgs.
FS2 notes:
Omitted higher rep fs sets today. I dont wanna dig too big a recovery hole lest I can't get out for wednesdays workout. I'll do it then though if i feel good.
upper to come later tonight.might edit in a bit about the form breakthru as well just for record keeping sake.
SST notes:
I just went and shot around, dribbled, nothing special, but each time i'll def do a little bit more. Over weeks and months it will become something significant but for the moment doing anything at all is better than not, so that's the working justification and motivation. My knees didn't feel like I could do max effort jumping so I didn't push it, when my body feels good i'll do 5 SVJ and 5 RVJ, and that's it, just enough to get some improvement but not too much to hurt intefere with achieving lifting goals.
Re W1D1 restart.
I know i seem to restart every week lol but this time it's srs. It's week 1 of eating properly, going low fat mode, october will be a perfect diet AND training month. I'll keep carbs medium to high as I see fit, obviously too many will hurt fat burning but too little will kill performance so i'll err on the side of conservative. That means 100-150g, nothing crazy. also dont worry im not going zero fat or anything, i eat a lot of fish oil (~10g day) and i'll have 3 whole eggs daily, and a bit of olive oil to cook my chicken and veges in but that's about it, no pizzas or fatty foods, no fast food at all, etc.
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awesome job on that FS, breh.
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Nice!!!
Coges is 100% correct in his statements. The guy working solely in his game will destroy the guy just lifting and shooting once in awhile thats why its important to find a middle ground. I usually shoot around after every lifting session as a cool down and have 1-2 serious skill training sessions a week. As the season gets closer I'll ramp up the skill sessions. That is what works for me but I have always been a very natural basketball player so you may need more volume to maintain your skill or increase it.
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^When I achieve the goals in my sig, i'll be happy to switch focus onto mainly sports specific training. But perhaps I might just add a minute or two of SST to every gym training day? Better than nothing?
A little is definitely better than nothing. Also you may find that if you gradually add these sessions in your body adapts to the workload and you can find a decent balance between lifting and sports stuff. I don't quite have the shooting talent of Chris but have been playing ball since I was 6 (27 years) so I don't need to do too much ongoing work. Especially for the level I'm playing at. For me it becomes more of a touch issue during games. Having said that keeping your goals in mind is important. For me this will probably be my last season for a bit so I'm not going to get too carried away with skill training (contrary to what I posted about a week ago :D)
Congrats on the PR too.
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Nice squat! I'm going to go ahead and put that on the rankings list just to give you (and others) a bit of motivation.
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Thanks gents!
Well said, agree with everything ChrisM and Coges have said. I realised that in the best case scenario, this squatting stuff pays off big and I end up like that highly athletic spazz that used to play for the Lakers, forget his name, all the athleticism in the world but he couldn't become a good player despite getting many chances in his career and all the tools to become one. But that's not a best case I want. I should be constantly improving my skills because atm my skill deficit is much bigger than my athleticism deficit. Not to say i'm athletic, obviously i'm not, but right now my skills are rusty and far behind where they've been at my best. When I was a better played i used to play a lot, 3-4 times a week and even though I didn't gym, i could jump as high as I can now, off one leg. After taking up strength training, i transformed into a 2 leg jumper when all my life i was a 1 leg jumper. But I digress. My point is, i haven't done much athletically for my game, even though i can jump higher standing and can now dunk easily when i couldn't before, i'm not as good a shoot blocker as I used to be, nor as good at beating the defender on a drive. I'm sure if I work hard on those things I can be better than before, but it hasn't occured automatically as I hoped it would have.
One of the guys I was playing with is a hockey player, so it's not like he's kicking my ass because of more practice. The other guy is a legit baller so i could accept that argument but the hockey player was scoring on me at will and i'm taller etc. I just feel like no matter what I do in the gym, if my bench and press goes up, my squat goes up, i wont have that hardness strength quality you find in strong players. I played 1-1 with one guy last year who had that in spades, when he was guarding me, it felt like his feet were bolted to the ground, i couldn't leverage him despite having about half a foot of height on him. I guess that game specific strength which is what I really need, it comes from playing hard ME type ball against other strong players? I need to seek that out somehow.
Morning bodyweight is 196.5lb. I hope I can do better in october, would be awesome to be under 187/85kg but that's probably not realistic with my squatting focus right now. We'll see what happens, maybe I wont get stuck and can wrap up the goals in 2-3 weeks or something.
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Absolutely. Game strength is different than weight room strength just like squat strength doesn't automatically make you fly. Both require you to practice the movement. You can be an ox with dumbbells and still get ripped going to the hole if your strength hasn't translated to game situations. Conversely I know a 5'7" 145lb point guard that you CANNOT take the ball away from when he goes to the hoop, he wraps it up and just takes the contact. Its hilarious to watch bigger guys getting frustrated that they can't take the ball away from some 'stick arm' guy but he has functional game strength from playing all the time.
So get out there and play, best way to improve is by playing guys better than you. ;)
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Agree to disagre with you guys.
Indeed game strength =/= gym strength, but they are still correlated. Becoming strong at the gym might not transform you from Touriaf to Kobe, but still , you will be a better Touriuaf than in the past. If you want to improve your skills, yes, you have to practice them, there is no other way. But taking your squat from 1xBW to 2xBW will give you a much better SVJ, dropstep and 1st step. Similarily a bigger bench press/push press will make you much better at blocking out. Being 5-10kg heavier will make you draw contact better. Those will make you a better player with the same skills that you had. Also, a lot depends on the position you play. I play PF. When i gym, i can blockout better, i jump higher off dropstep and SVJ which is 99% of the rebound/block/attack jumps of my game (in the paint), so fuck you fancy crossovers and pullup Js. The 5'7'' guy or Nate Robinson will still beat me. But the guy who barely beat me in the past will lose now.
Just a different perspective :lololol:
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Form change is basically to do with knees. They go in at the start of the concentric, and then OUT as I go past the sticking point. This is new for me, it's the antidote to the squatmorning sickness I so desperately needed to cure.
you are using too much weight if you had to grind the knees to get the rep. uneven stress on the knee is not healthy specially when supporting near-max weight.
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Form change is basically to do with knees. They go in at the start of the concentric, and then OUT as I go past the sticking point. This is new for me, it's the antidote to the squatmorning sickness I so desperately needed to cure.
you are using too much weight if you had to grind the knees to get the rep. uneven stress on the knee is not healthy specially when supporting near-max weight.
A lot of Chinese lifters do it and Dan Green also recommends it. IDK how to feel about it because what you say has also occurred to me as a potential trouble.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y8yKSJbpFI
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Agree to disagre with you guys.
Indeed game strength =/= gym strength, but they are still correlated. Becoming strong at the gym might not transform you from Touriaf to Kobe, but still , you will be a better Touriuaf than in the past. If you want to improve your skills, yes, you have to practice them, there is no other way. But taking your squat from 1xBW to 2xBW will give you a much better SVJ, dropstep and 1st step. Similarily a bigger bench press/push press will make you much better at blocking out. Being 5-10kg heavier will make you draw contact better. Those will make you a better player with the same skills that you had. Also, a lot depends on the position you play. I play PF. When i gym, i can blockout better, i jump higher off dropstep and SVJ which is 99% of the rebound/block/attack jumps of my game (in the paint), so fuck you fancy crossovers and pullup Js. The 5'7'' guy or Nate Robinson will still beat me. But the guy who barely beat me in the past will lose now.
Just a different perspective :lololol:
Actually I think you kind of agree to agree albeit with a slightly different perspective. I play SF-C and get hte majority of rebounds, do most of the blocking out and get most of the blocks onmy team. I'm definitely a better ball player when I'm also lifting and getting stronger in the gym. But I'm also playing ball at the same time. I'm not saying getting strong in the gym won't make you a stronger ball player but you still need to actually play ball to realise that strength and transition it into game strength. It's the law of specificity. If you want to be a better ball player, play ball. If you want to be a stronger squatter, squat. There's obviously ground everywhere inbetween those two points but you will not become a better ball player by not playing/practicing ball. Period.
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^Yeah, it turns out i had 'agree to disagree' meaning wrong in my mind, I mostly agree with everything.
The point i wanted to highight is that the gym will not improve your basketball skills but it will improve your athletic skills. Maybe speed, maybe agility, maybe strength, maybe acceleration, maybe vert, maybe just inertia from your increased mass. But those, with your given skills , will make you a better player than you were. Or, to put yet another perspective at it, we can see the athletic features as skills too. It's kind of neglected, you can say someone's FG% ability to a demical point percision but you can't say 'he can block out guys up to 250lbs', you just get a void 'he is strong'.
Another factor, You HAVE to practice your skills to even preserve them. That goes the other way around. So the equations are:
same skills + better athlete = better player
better skills + same athlete = better player
worse skills + better athlete = unknown.
better skills + worse athlete = unknown.
To sum up and find where we all agree , better skills + better athlete = GOLD. So gym+skills practice is the way.
inb4 : no shit sherlock ! :uhhhfacepalm:
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I get what you guys are saying. We all that know that one skinny lanky dude who is quick as fuck and not just quick but also incredibly strong ON THE COURT. As in that indescribable hardness quality where they feel immovable and hit like a ton of bricks even though they weigh like 160 or something. THATS the strenght quality i'm after. I dont give a damn about gym lifts, i'm sure the guy i'm talking about would struggle to bench his bodyweight for reps. And forget about squatting, he probably never tried that either. How do you get THAT quality of strength, is that trainable efficiecntly? how? and please dont tell me the answer is to lift weights because the guy i'm talking about didn't. And yes i know some people are born efficient but they've also trained to have that hardness, that physically tough play must be have a trainable component to it which needs to be tapped into before it's realised.
Vag I take issue with your idea that athleticm comes out of strength training. If you said it gives you potential to be athletic i'd be ok with. But i dont think it gives you athleticism, maybe increases your capacity to be more athletic?
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Ab work? I feel like those sorts of people are the type to have spent time doing tons of ab stuff in their bedroom for the last 10 years.
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Basketball is a sport that's a bit like BMX and Gymnastics in the sense that you have to start from a young age and practice it a lot to be a great player. Like everybody else has said the athleticism you're talking about is a mixture of lots of practice + natural ability and talent, which you're never going to be able to replicate by lifting. All you can really do is practice and play as much as possible. Sometimes you see players who have deceptive athleticism, which just comes down to all their years of practice. Sure they're not fast or anything but they still manage to be able to get the job done because they have a great crossover or a powerful drive that compensates for their lack of speed. Pretty much all the Corner Backs, Safety's, Wide Receivers and Running backs in the NFL would be more athletic than NBA guards. However, if you put them on a basketball court the guards would be the ones that appear more athletic even against most of those NFL players that have a background of playing basketball. Skill specific.
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Training
FS 1x120, 1x127.5, 1x130, 1x135 (PR)
BS 6x125, 5x125, 5Fx125B
OHP 6x40, 5x50, 4Fx60, 4x62.5, 0x65, 7x55 (PR), 9x52.5 (PR)
FS notes:
New warmup sequence felt good. I think 120 to 127.5kg makes more sense than 117.5 to 125. Ideally i'd like it to go 110 -> 120 -> 130 and thn the topset. I'll adjust my way up to that over the next few workouts, think an additive warmup sequence makes the most sense. Also I tried the form corrections I spoke about in my bar path thread. It's still not midfoot but the sets felt better. Give it time. I'm using hte new form for even my warmups now to really hone it in.
BS notes:
First set good. 2nd set got ruined by kids who lost their ball and wanted to look around the backyard. So my rest period lingered far too long and I wasn't ready mentally to do the 2nd set. They also wanted to watch me squat lol, which threw me off cause they were standing right infront of me and i'm not used to it. Anyway enough excuses. 3rd set with a belt was ok but I failed the 6th cause I didn't want to finish it with a egregagious squat morning which was to be. Maybe repeat this session on friday? We'll see how it goes. I may even do 127.5, 125 next time?
FS2 notes:
blah, not sure if i'll bother with these today with my recovery this week being so poor
upper to come
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I'm not disputing that skills training is essential. I agree that if you have movement efficiency then you're going to kick ass, and to get that you have to spend hours practicing. No argument there.
I'll also accept that lifting weights helps you (indirectly) tap into your potential athleticism. Even that it raises your ceiling for athleticism. But I dont think it does that in a primary way.
Here is the thing i'm really interested in, the lightweight guy who seems absurdly strong despite being light and weak looking, i'm interested in describing and understanding that kind of strength. How is it defined qualitatively and quantitatively? Like you can look at someones squat 1rm and that tells you how good they are at squatting. A SVJ tells you something about their ability to jump. And so on. But is there a measure for the inherent hardness strength quality i'm describing? It can't be connected to a bench 1Rm say because we find individuals who exhibit this hardness who dont even lift! Can you guys help me understand this particular kind of strength?
Is it even connected to gym strength? Take mutombo who walks into a gym for the first time and pulls 140kg. I feel as though that might be connected to the kind of strength i'm describing, a kind of natural, untrained (at least in the gym) strength. But maybe i'm conflating two different things there, my primary interest is in that hardness quality in a good basketball player. It's not to do with athleticism or skills, it's strength.
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it's connected entirely to skill. you can't take the ball from that guy because he has complete control over the ball, relative to everyone else on the court.
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^ see my post just before yours, not talking about skill but strength
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^ see my post just before yours, not talking about skill but strength
Strength is exactly the same as what I've just said before. It's a pretty common expression in rugby 'Big for nothing' or 'Looks like Tarzan but plays like Jane'. The guys that lift the most weights aren't always the hardest hitters on the field. When I first started playing pretty much every guy that looked like a bodybuilder played like a pussy to the point where we got an import from Sydney who was a massive gym junkie but had played first grade club rugby in Sydney and professionally across Europe. Anyway when I first saw him in the change rooms I expected him to be a shit player just because he looked like a bodybuilder. Anyway as soon as we started training obviously I realized he was a great player and later found out about him playing first grade and all that before.
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^lol exactly. size vs strength. gym strength vs on court/field strength.
I miss Lance :( I bet he'd have some insight on this hardness quality i'm on about. If this sounds a bit like raptor then it's probably because i am a bit of a pussy when it comes to sport. I'm very competitive in the sense that I hate to lose. But I don't think I play physically hard the way the guy i'm describing does. I feel as though it's partially because I played most of my basketball as an adult with glasses (didn't get contacts til my mid 20s) and by then i'd already become a bit too soft in avoiding contact and making too jerky movements lest i lost my glasses and have them trampled or destroyed. That still happened a lot, i've gone thru at least 5 pairs of glasses that way. But i think it's made me kind of reluctant to play physically in the way i'm describing. If you can help me be more hard on the court i'd be very grateful. Or even just help me understand the phenomenon more deeply.
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I can't really help. When I was younger I played heaps of basketball but because I'm short (5'11) I was always a guard so I never really had to deal with much contact when I played. At rugby I'm small (180lbs) and even at my level the average weights is around 200lbs for backs and 230lbs for forwards. Only difference between the size at my level and pro level is that our forwards are 240lbs with 20-25% bodyfat while a professional will be 240lbs with 11-15% bodyfat. Point being I don't go looking for contact or go looking to run at people haha.
Even though I don't really like contact it's inevitable because you got to play D. I just go on with the attitude of going at 100 miles an hour and shoulder charging them or grabbing them and using my momentum to tackle. Most of the time I'm lucky that when I tackle forwards I get to come in from the side and get them from behind because they've made a break. For me there's no worse feeling than standing next to a ruck standing still with forwards eager to get the ball and charge at you. I pretty much just act as a speed bump. Players that have played the game since they were young or who are great tacklers just have the attitude of I don't give a fuck. Instead of acting like a speed bump they'd do what your supposed to do and aim for the legs but I've seen heaps of concussions from that so that's why I just aim high.
For me to improve as a rugby player I should stop being a pussy and practice tackling with the right technique and start going for legs. So that's really a combination of technique + attitude and mindset. Also what's preventing me from playing is size. I live in Adelaide so I can play first grade at my size but if I moved to Sydney I'd really struggle to play in a first grade team unless I bulked up to 200lbs. Ever since I started running again at the start of the year I've sort of lost my motivation for rugby and now I just want to be a fast runner. But yeah if I was to become as good a player as possible at rugby those are the things I got to do.
So for you I'm guessing it's mainly about mindset and attitude since you've got reasonable height. You're weight is on the skinny side but even if you were 220lbs you'd still have the same issues as you're having now until you change your mindset and practice imposing your physicality.
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^ see my post just before yours, not talking about skill but strength
you're imagining a dichotomy that's not there. sports strength like what you're talking about with the skinny little guy who can't be stripped IS skill. and that skill IS strength. they are the same. i'm not trying to be zen, that's just the way it is. no other measure than "can you take the ball from him when he's going to the hoop" is worth anything when you're measuring his strength at holding onto the ball when he's going to the hoop. i would bet $100 that the only "measurement" that correlates strongly would be something like how fast he can get through taylorhorton's dribbling complex.
edit: and if you took that guy and added barbell strength WHILE NOT ALLOWING HIS SKILLS TO DEGRADE, he would be even harder to take the ball from. but improving his ball handling even further obviously is not going to have a strong influence on his bench. as for what's appropriate for an individual's progression as a player, it depends on the individual. if i wanted to get better at basketball i'd be best-off dropping almost all of my weight room work and spending nearly all of my training time on the court. i'm reasonably strong but mediocre at basketball. if anthony davis wants to get better at basketball he should probably spend a bit more time working on his bench. he's skinny like a runway model but has breathtaking skills for someone his height.
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The type of strength that entropy is describing is something called "general systemic strength". Which is basically the strength of the entire organism. When you get into people that have good general systemic strength, even when they're light, they're just "well made" and don't have weak points, and therefore they can balance and stay strong in every position/situation etc. It's basically a combination of good upperbody, core and lowerbody strength coupled with good mobility and no recruitment issues.
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I'll take a stab at answering this since I've played ball since I was very young (and played and continue to play against some pretty legit competition).
Parts of what all of you are saying is right:
LBSS is right that it is a skill, its a learned behavior. My small PG buddy couldn't always protect the ball like that in the lane, it is a learned skill through years of playing. He's developed his own way to hang on to the ball in traffic and through contact, just like I have even though our methods are completely different.
Entropy is right as well in that he can barely bench his own weight and his squat is pathetically weak (were working on that though lol) but he seems "strong" on the court.
Raptor says its "system strength" or that he just has no weak areas. That's true WHEN HES ON THE COURT. He HAS to be, he's been doing those same movements all his life. Put him on a football field or hockey rink and you'd expose all sorts of functional strength deficits! Take a farmer that tosses hay bales all day every day...look at him in his element and yes, hes "strong", take him away from that element and what happens though? You'll find weakness. (This is why SST is SO important as well!)
And Mutumbo go to probably the heart of it.... He's NOT a pussy. (can't think of any better way to put it actually). He knows he's going to get it, all the small guys do, we still go in there and bang because we don't give a fuck, we just want to win and thats the bottom line.
It's a mindset. A mental toughness polished through years of competitive play and the nature of a true competitor. You can't get that in the weight room, you can't get hit during drills or shooting sessions or even the most intense practice. It's forged on the field of play. Period.
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I actually think this is a pretty simple issue.
Most really good ball players have been playing since they were what 5? They've probably had a ball in their hand ever since. The number of repititions they've done of the fundamental movements required to play ball would be astronomical. I know that from the age of 6-10 I trained no less than once per week and played once per week. From 11-20 I trained no less than twice a week and played no less than twice a week, often 3-4 games. And that's just team training and playing. Not to mention every lunch time at school through both primary and high school. I'm not going to add them up but that's a fuck load of hours spent honing and ingraining the skills. It's also years of being comfortable with contact and the closeness of other players which is what I see puts off a lot of guys who haven't played ball their whole life.
Now you obviously can't go back and start all over again but there's a couple of things I'd do if I was you:
- Skill training- ask someone else (ChrisM) on this area. My skills are good given the amount of practice I now do but that's largely off playing my whole like.
- Use your hips/bum- these guys that seem immovable have great hip strength and have learned to use their hips/bum to either block out or move their opponent to their advantage. If you've ever watched AFL think Chris Judd. Not the biggest guy out there but has great hip/core strength to be able to stand up in tackles and not get moved/shoved off the ball. As a big guy on the basketball court this skill is essential.
My old man is great example of someone who can come late to the party and still be a great ball player. He started playing when he was 17 and not long after got a call up to play at a serious level. Turns out he was more interested in chasing skirt than making a career out of it. He would routinely drop 40-50 points, dunked maybe once in his life and wasn't the most athletic guy out there. What he did have was 2-3 go to moves. A turn around jumper from free throw range and a nice jump hook that I can remember. He was also a bit of a mongrel on the court (a fair mongrel but still a mongrel) and maybe that's part of what you're missing.
I hope that made some sense.
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^ see my post just before yours, not talking about skill but strength
you're imagining a dichotomy that's not there. sports strength like what you're talking about with the skinny little guy who can't be stripped IS skill. and that skill IS strength. they are the same. i'm not trying to be zen, that's just the way it is. no other measure than "can you take the ball from him when he's going to the hoop" is worth anything when you're measuring his strength at holding onto the ball when he's going to the hoop. i would bet $100 that the only "measurement" that correlates strongly would be something like how fast he can get through taylorhorton's dribbling complex.
edit: and if you took that guy and added barbell strength WHILE NOT ALLOWING HIS SKILLS TO DEGRADE, he would be even harder to take the ball from. but improving his ball handling even further obviously is not going to have a strong influence on his bench. as for what's appropriate for an individual's progression as a player, it depends on the individual. if i wanted to get better at basketball i'd be best-off dropping almost all of my weight room work and spending nearly all of my training time on the court. i'm reasonably strong but mediocre at basketball. if anthony davis wants to get better at basketball he should probably spend a bit more time working on his bench. he's skinny like a runway model but has breathtaking skills for someone his height.
I agree 100% with LBSS and Mutumbo on this one. Your making up qualities that don't exist. If you have ever done manual labor perhaps you have heard of something called "old-man strength". That's the made up strength quality where your uncle can unscrew bolts and saw faster than you even though your stronger in the weight-room. In reality there is not such thing as "old-man strength" it's just a combination of grip strength and labor skills that the young person hasn't developed.
There are two things going on here.
1) As LBSS said the skinny guy who can't be stripped IS skillful to such a degree that you can't see it. Perhaps he wraps the ball better in contact; perhaps he actually brings the ball down on his reverse layup with more precise timing, etc. The effect is he is hard to strip, the cause is he has developed a lot more skill than the next guy. His skill level at keeping the ball may be somewhat unconscious (eg he isn't thinking "let me cradle the ball strongest here on my spin move because this is where it's mostly likely poked out by the help defense") but it's a learned and develop skill, not a magical "strength hardness". A few years ago we used to play a lot of pickup basketball after practice and since I look somewhat bigger than your average guy when I would jump into contact and score other players would say "weight room". I don't know if they save that in Australia but it's an American colloqualism for when you score the ball essentially going through the other player. What's funny is it has more to do with body mass, leverage, and skill than anything in the weight-room.
2) As Mutumbo said.... There is just no replacement for toughness. Unfortunately, this might be a bit harder for someone to acquire because you can practice all you want but you might not have toughness. Toughness is really acquired pretty young; you can pretty much tell from an early age which kids have it and which kids don't. Basically the kid with all the broken bones who doesn't seem to fear much socially or physically and is a bit crazy... Usually only children/first children have less toughness and young girls are more cautious. Exceptions to every rule. One way to be tough is to just naturally not give a fuck or have a bunch of older brothers that beat the hell out of you all the time... The thing about being fearless is it's a bit maladaptive... I think the only way to really acquire toughness is to play a collision sport where you realize that you just have to let go and go absolutely crazy. I didn't start playing football until high-school and I was pretty afraid to hit during drills because they coach was forced to make us watch tons of videos about spearing and paralysis so I tackled high with my head to the sky and and always received blows when tackling. One day I was already moving full speed and somebody came out of no-where and I had little choice but to dip a shoulder and I was able to pancake the guy and continue running over him. After that I realized the benefit of delivering the blow rather than receiving it and became somewhat addicted to tackling and started playing like the strongest guy on the field....
The confound here is described in point #2. To some extent you can figure out "toughness/physicality".... but it's easier to figure it out if you are also bigger and stronger to begin with. Throwing your body into the other player will almost always yield a better result than flinching and cowering... but if your really weak your gonna get wrecked and your glasses broken either way.... so you won't get as much positive feedback to inspire your toughness. Perhaps your teammate complain that your soft.... But since you are tall and useful to the team they don't complain very loudly.
The bottom line for you is to not go down any further the path which you have started. No offense but I call this the typical "nerd" approach to sports. They find that they have some disadvantage (example: "you get the ball stripped the other guy doesn't") and then they take an approach where they essentially say "Ok back to the lab to figure out how to model the problem and ameliorate this deficit".... Then the waste a bunch of time doing shit like band bicep curls with my hands clasped to increase strength for ripping the ball through the lane... This is the kind of idiocy that spawns things like bosu ball squats....
Don't waste your time... Yes, you might be too old to get the type of toughness Charles Barkley had. But if you want to be the best forward you can be in basketball you just have to go down your checklist and KEEP IT SIMPLE: Get bigger and stronger in the weight room, practice, practice, practice to get better and better at the game, AND TRY HARDER, imagine something that makes you mad, go to a crazy place, whatever works for you, but play and practice inspired and it will fall into place. You are doing great and doing all you can do... Don't derail yourself.
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Training
FS 3x90, 2x110, 1x120, 1x130, 0Fx136
BS 3x120, 3x126, 1x130, 1x135
FS 3x115, 3x108
BS 6x110
BP 4x90 (PR), 8x70 (paused, PR)
WCU 2x92, 7x90, 5x94, 5x92, 4x90
HKR 2x15x90 (PR)
FS notes:
This is the warmup sequence i'd like to have, the only time i have to take plates off is going from 90kg to 110kg, i have to swap out the 15s for 20s. Maybe i could work up to 3x100kg so I don't have to take plates off for 90kg and can just add 10kg up to 130kg from 60kg onwards.
BS notes:
Kinda thought to work up to a heavy single because I wasn't really able to do reps. I got 135kg, which isn't great considering I doubled 140kg a few weeks ago not to mention 6x128 should convert to closer to 150kg than 140 but the lesson I learnt from that is higher reps are ok for pushing up strength but 1rm calculations are not very useful to me as I need to be able to actually lift a heavy max for athleticm's sake, not just compute one on paper.
FS2 notes:
Pretty disappointing attempts at 5 and 6 respectively. 5x115 i kinda dissuaded myself out of a PR because for some reason I was thinking 6 reps and there was no way i could do another 3 but in fact I only had another 2 reps to do for 5. Either way, it was going to be a difficult grind and I was in no mood for that shit today.
BS2 notes:
I wasn't game to do more sets just doesn't seem worthwhile to work hard while using light weights, i'm not motivated by that shit.
Core and misc notes:
Hanging knee raises seem like a good core exercise, especially while i'm overweight.
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Next week i'd like to achieve a 140kg front squat and get my backsquat to 2x6x130kg, my plan is to do 3x6x126kg on monday, then 128kg on wednesday and on friday 2x6x130kg, maybe the 3rd set of 6 but with a belt, dunno.
To improve my chances of achieving the BS goals, i'm goign to do some core assistance work tonight, i have 2 days to recover so it should be good.
The squat mornings I did earlier this week have def made my back a lot stronger so i'm feeling good about kicking ass next week since I didn't over do it today and should have a fresh CNS and stronger lower back ready fo duty.
More than my FS i feel as though my BS /heavy/ for REPS is the best tool I have for improving my organism strength as Raptor described. FS exhibits it but it's the BS which builds it. And I have unfinished business left with the backsquat. When I can rep 140kg for 6 reps with good bar speed and nice form then i'll be stronger, until then i've just been fucking around.
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http://chadwaterbury.com/align-your-pelvis-to-reduce-pain/
http://www.movetrainperform.com.au/1/post/2013/08/the-importance-of-glute-max-activation-in-lower-limb-rehabilitation.html
^good reads
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Lots of good replies above, sorry I haven't got around to acknowledging them yet.
LBBS, what you say about being 'strength' to hold the ball without being stripped is a skill is true, just not what we're talking about. Actually ChrisM came closer when he spoke about playing thru contact. That is an example of (physical) strength which is what i'm particularly interested!
Mutumbo000 got what I was getting at with having a strong physical game. He gives the insight that Rugby players who are fearless have been doing it all their life and do not shy away from contact. Todday gave more detail on this mindset and how it begins from an early age. I can relate to Mutombo about avoiding contact because i'm not build to hit ppl. T0dday might be, being a big burly stocky guy compared to someone like me.
I dont particularly want to play grindy and physical either, it's not attractive to me, actually that's a dirty aspect of the australian game, it's too physical and not enough finesse and skill which seems vulgar. In fact to me, an athletic, finesse game is ideal, and that's what drives me to work hard on increasing my athleticism because i'd like to out-move, out-jump, out-strength out-think my opponents. I'd like to dance around them (with my superior trained athleticism) AND in anticipation to what LBSS might say (it's a skill not athleticm) i'm sure it's related to physical /strength/power/reactive ability/etc which isn't a skill. I can work on my skills, should work on it will work on my skills, that's going to happen regardless.
But coming back to strength, real physical strength on the court or the field. When you make contact with a strong player you feel the impact and power that the athlete is generating. Even if they weigh only 165, they hit hard. When you're guarding them as they drive, they're generating surprising amounts of momentum and you can feel it if you make contact, it's irresistible. I'm intested in both facets of this, both being able to generate that kind of power, and also in being able to resist it (being immovable).
Raptor says its "system strength" or that he just has no weak areas. That's true WHEN HES ON THE COURT. He HAS to be, he's been doing those same movements all his life. Put him on a football field or hockey rink and you'd expose all sorts of functional strength deficits! Take a farmer that tosses hay bales all day every day...look at him in his element and yes, hes "strong", take him away from that element and what happens though? You'll find weakness. (This is why SST is SO important as well!)
And Mutumbo go to probably the heart of it.... He's NOT a pussy. (can't think of any better way to put it actually). He knows he's going to get it, all the small guys do, we still go in there and bang because we don't give a fuck, we just want to win and thats the bottom line.
It's a mindset. A mental toughness polished through years of competitive play and the nature of a true competitor. You can't get that in the weight room, you can't get hit during drills or shooting sessions or even the most intense practice. It's forged on the field of play. Period.
^this sums it up
- Use your hips/bum- these guys that seem immovable have great hip strength and have learned to use their hips/bum to either block out or move their opponent to their advantage. If you've ever watched AFL think Chris Judd. Not the biggest guy out there but has great hip/core strength to be able to stand up in tackles and not get moved/shoved off the ball. As a big guy on the basketball court this skill is essential.
Thanks, that's what I need in the post, which is an area i'm not confortable in, and quite frankly, I don't know if I need to be, being 6'3" and weighing 75-80kg lol. I mean I would like to be able to defend well but as far as posting up on someone who outweighs me by 20-40kg yea that's not going to happen.
2) As Mutumbo said.... There is just no replacement for toughness. Unfortunately, this might be a bit harder for someone to acquire because you can practice all you want but you might not have toughness. Toughness is really acquired pretty young; you can pretty much tell from an early age which kids have it and which kids don't. Basically the kid with all the broken bones who doesn't seem to fear much socially or physically and is a bit crazy... Usually only children/first children have less toughness and young girls are more cautious. Exceptions to every rule. One way to be tough is to just naturally not give a fuck or have a bunch of older brothers that beat the hell out of you all the time... The thing about being fearless is it's a bit maladaptive... I think the only way to really acquire toughness is to play a collision sport where you realize that you just have to let go and go absolutely crazy. I didn't start playing football until high-school and I was pretty afraid to hit during drills because they coach was forced to make us watch tons of videos about spearing and paralysis so I tackled high with my head to the sky and and always received blows when tackling. One day I was already moving full speed and somebody came out of no-where and I had little choice but to dip a shoulder and I was able to pancake the guy and continue running over him. After that I realized the benefit of delivering the blow rather than receiving it and became somewhat addicted to tackling and started playing like the strongest guy on the field....
The confound here is described in point #2. To some extent you can figure out "toughness/physicality".... but it's easier to figure it out if you are also bigger and stronger to begin with. Throwing your body into the other player will almost always yield a better result than flinching and cowering... but if your really weak your gonna get wrecked and your glasses broken either way.... so you won't get as much positive feedback to inspire your toughness. Perhaps your teammate complain that your soft.... But since you are tall and useful to the team they don't complain very loudly.
The bottom line for you is to not go down any further the path which you have started. No offense but I call this the typical "nerd" approach to sports. They find that they have some disadvantage (example: "you get the ball stripped the other guy doesn't") and then they take an approach where they essentially say "Ok back to the lab to figure out how to model the problem and ameliorate this deficit".... Then the waste a bunch of time doing shit like band bicep curls with my hands clasped to increase strength for ripping the ball through the lane... This is the kind of idiocy that spawns things like bosu ball squats....
Don't waste your time... Yes, you might be too old to get the type of toughness Charles Barkley had. But if you want to be the best forward you can be in basketball you just have to go down your checklist and KEEP IT SIMPLE: Get bigger and stronger in the weight room, practice, practice, practice to get better and better at the game, AND TRY HARDER, imagine something that makes you mad, go to a crazy place, whatever works for you, but play and practice inspired and it will fall into place. You are doing great and doing all you can do... Don't derail yourself.
This is great advice.
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I'm getting this 'strength is a skill' vibe from posters above. I can buy that, to a certain extent anyway, if you practice movement in a fluid powerful manner then you're actually quite /strong/ when performing those movements if you happen to make contact. Or if you defending someone who moves like that, being able to react correctly must also be skill. One important thing i've picked up from posts above is that toughness is a mindset thing, and if you're passive then you'll be weak, if you are deliberate and play without fear you're strong. That might help me a lot actually, i just never consciously thought of it that way.
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^^^
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/psychofactor.html
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Training
FS 1x136 (PR)
BS 4Fx126, 4x125, 3x120, 5x117.5, 5x115
BP 8x84 (PR)
ABZ 3x8xrollout
FS notes:
Not bad but I can do a lot better. FS 1x140 by friday is probably too ambitious though but I will still give it a honest shot, if i sleep and rest properly and feel strong and fresh on friday, it's doable, otoh, with my backsquat doing so poorly perhaps I should compromise some.
BS notes:
Form clicked, I made it a very knee dominant movement ,i dont know how or why, but it was cool. I still can't rep out my sets though which sucks but i only have myself to blame for poor leadup. I might try 3x6x127.5 on wednesday all the same. Oh btw it's due to a lack of leg strength endurance that I cant do more reps, otherwise my core held up ok. I am really disappointed with my backsquat numbers right now :(
summarising -- 2x6x127.5 on wednesday will make me extremely happy..
My PR for 6 reps on backsquat is 128. If i'm failing to get 126 or 125 and 120 not to mention 117.5 and 115 then it goes to show even on such a weak day i can still get a front squat PR. This tells me i have a lot left in the tank, maybe 140kg on friday isn't so crazy. Conversely if i'm doing poorly on my backsquat on a weak day, what's my potential on the backsquat on a strong day? I dunno, i wish it were 135kg plus for 5-6 reps but that's interpolating far too much. At some point i'll just accept the fact that i'm not able to rep over 130kg for whatever reason, and just chase a different goal (150-150kg max) instead.
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http://chadwaterbury.com/align-your-pelvis-to-reduce-pain/
http://www.movetrainperform.com.au/1/post/2013/08/the-importance-of-glute-max-activation-in-lower-limb-rehabilitation.html
^good reads
Very interesting reads
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ChrisM and raptor had an interesting discussion on maintaining a flat upright back on a double leg vertical jump (see the my bboy stance thread). ChrisM said it's to do with a lack of core strength. This ties in with something Joe suggested about my freaky 160lb athlete who is much stronger than life would suggest. I've put 2 and 2 together and started working on my core strength because I have a horrible unathletic rounded back stance while playing ball, whether on defense or a ME SVJ attempt. So on friday I did more core work. Today I reaped the benefits, even though my legs were too weak to get a backsquat PR, I noticed I could hold my position at the bottom of a backsquat much better. It felt stronger. I would put that down to teh extra core work i put in friday. I'd like to continue this tack over the next few weeks, doing core work regularly and seeing how it benefits me both in the gym and on the court.
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Jumping
5xSVJ dunks
5xRVJ dunks (off 2-3 steps)
5xME RVJ jumps
Interesting that tonight I jumped as high as I can remember on this court, albeit weighing a portly 198.5lb (90kg) in clothes and socks-only before leaving home. So i'd say w/ basketball shoes take me over 90, maybe 199.5 or so (dunno what they weigh). Anyway I tried out the new thing of keeping a conscious flat back on the jump, suddenly I could land those SVJ dunks convincingly. That was interesting. It's not so clear how to employ the same technique on RVJ but i'll figure it out.
Then I took off my big oversize, heavy cumbersome bball shoes and put on my lightweight running shoes which I use for the occasional, bi-annual jumping session. I wanted to touch the top of the backboard square, that remains my training goal, and at 90kg bw, it wasn't really in the realm of possibility. So imagine my surprise when a lot closer than I ever have before?!! This is on a weak day, when i'm fatigued from squatting, with very little jumping practice in me. So wtf is going on, i dunno but it's interesting that being 10-15kg overweight i just jumped as good if not better than I ever have on a vertical touch test. I really wish I had some sort of coloured powder or something so I could leave a mark on the backboard to measure against but i didn't have any handy.
So this gives me a lot of motivation going forward. If i am a mere 3-4" away from my prized holy grail of touching the top of the backboard square, perhaps i'm not doing too badly in chasing athleticism. I mean right now my relative strength sucks (barely over 1.5xbw FS). So when I add the next 14kg to the bar and take off 15kg off my belly, perhaps just maybe, this slow, unathletic whale will soar above 36" and beyond. Thank you and good night.
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;D
Keep going man!! I train some part of my core every session. Its helped with lifts AND jumping.
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;D
Keep going man!! I train some part of my core every session. Its helped with lifts AND jumping.
Because of your post I went back and did ab wheel. Thanks! :highfive:
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Ow lord my abs are sore today. Hope i'm good to squat tmr. I have to make the most of being heavy right now and do a lot of bodyweight exercises while they're hard. Doing ab wheel rollouts when i'm a lightweight is fucking pointless but right now they're not too bad, hitting the spot pretttttty good. maybe i should get a weighted vest and maintain my bodyweight for certain exercises..
bodyweight update: 194.8 (!), is that the first time i'm under 195 in the last few weeks? I haven't really been weighing myself regularly when I lost my pc, i lost access to my custom software i made to keep a track of my training and bodycomp. i'm back on my system so i'll start tracking everything regularly again. Saying that, also waist was 36.5" today, so i'm still fat but it's ok, once squat goals are achieved i'll fix that.
also, calves are sore today for the first time in ages. jumping i did last night, cool. I guess this is telling me i should keep regular jumps in my training, at least once a week from here on. calve raises might be useful too.. maybe i have really weak calves...? worth experimenting with by adding in some weight training for them.
One thing I can't wait for is to finish my squatting block and begin sprinting. I feel as though as training at my current bodyweight to run quickly will do wonders for my athleticism, maybe indirectly thru increasing leg stiffness? i dont do any running right now cause they'll make my legs too sore to squat :( but .. ive heard hill sprints avoid that, not that i know of any places to dhills around here, will try to ask around if there are any. well i have hills around home but they're concrete not grass.
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I wouldn't bother training calves. You'd get more benefit just spending that time playing basketball or even just dribbling at home if you don't have access to a court. Once you start running again your calves will also get a bit of a workout.
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I wouldn't bother training calves. You'd get more benefit just spending that time playing basketball or even just dribbling at home if you don't have access to a court. Once you start running again your calves will also get a bit of a workout.
Thanks, i agree with you on dedicated calf training. Here are the potential benefits of doing heavy barbell raises -
1. Get used to having a supramax weight on the back
2. might help with core stability by challenging the whole body to stay rigid while supporting a heavy weight
3. CNS training effect, PAP
4. preparatory work for one day when I do heavy ass (180kg+) quarter squats
5. strengthens dorsiflexion which is important for stability and control in deep ATG squatting
but the problem is, if i dont really believe in something, i wont do it. i mean i might do it once or twice, for me do it regularly i really need to believe lol and i'm not sure i do right now
i agree with you that when playing basketball regurlarly and running i'll be working them pretty good. wish i was but i really need to get my squat goals out of the way, i'm sick of waiting
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I wouldn't bother training calves. You'd get more benefit just spending that time playing basketball or even just dribbling at home if you don't have access to a court. Once you start running again your calves will also get a bit of a workout.
Thanks, i agree with you on dedicated calf training. Here are the potential benefits of doing heavy barbell raises -
1. Get used to having a supramax weight on the back
2. might help with core stability by challenging the whole body to stay rigid while supporting a heavy weight
3. CNS training effect, PAP
4. preparatory work for one day when I do heavy ass (180kg+) quarter squats
5. strengthens dorsiflexion which is important for stability and control in deep ATG squatting
but the problem is, if i dont really believe in something, i wont do it. i mean i might do it once or twice, for me do it regularly i really need to believe lol and i'm not sure i do right now
i agree with you that when playing basketball regurlarly and running i'll be working them pretty good. wish i was but i really need to get my squat goals out of the way, i'm sick of waiting
Well if you've got the time there's probably no harm in doing it than. I do abs literally every time I go to the gym and it probably has even less carryover to anything than calves but I do it because I don't mind spending the time doing it. If you feel the same way about calves than just go for it.
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Once you start sprinting more than 1x/week you won't want to do too much extra calf work. Sprinting is a great exercise for calves, especially lower calf where it attaches to the achilles.
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Training
FS 1x127.5, 1x132.5, 0Fx137
BS 3x120, 2Fx127.5, 2x127.5, 2x130, 2x125, 6x115, 6x112.5
OHP 6x50, 5x60, 8x55 (PR), 9x52.5 (PR)
Salient notes:
Abs were destroyed from monday's ab wheel .. even sneezing hurted them yesterday, today wasn't any better, oh well, i'm a dickhead for being careless. I think i should leave that accessory stuff for fridays. Doing it on monday was a mistake when I have a whole week of training ahead.This didn't bode well for squatting, as you'll see.
FS notes:
lulz, even warmups felt wrongly heavy, PR wasn't in the realm of doability. Will get it friday when my core is refreshed
BS notes:
Giving up on the idea of reps and sets now, it's bullshit, you can't plan this stuff, it's too chaotic to expect the body to act in some orderly fashion. jettisoned repsxsets as of today, now it will be freestyle from here! My guide will be keeping myself from doing dirty sets, if the next rep will be dirty, i'll end the set there and then. If I have more juice in me, i'll do more reps than I might have originally intended. I'll avoid sets that result in slow grindy lifts, except for the ocassional PR. Lets see where this new approach takes me.
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Thanks for the advice on calfs, my esteemed sprinter friends :) Will keep that in mind. I'm itching to start sprinting again, i probably miss it more than anything else, even basketball which I don't really enjoy right now. More and more i'm attracted to solitary sports like weightlifting and sprinting, at least that way you don't have to be constantly disappointed and let down by other ppl, it's frustrating when you try your best to spark some interest and people just habitually don't come thru despite their assurances.
I just wanted to make a note in the thread that good news and bad news -- i'm not as fat as I thought. i can pinch my waist and grab a small-to-medium amount of fat today. Which suggests to me i'm probably over-estimating my bodyfat because i'm usually bloated or whatever. Not say i'm not fat, but I might not be in the 15kg overfat range I thought I would be. Actually I dont know where my bodyfat is right now, it may be mid 20s or more, but I feel as though it could be as low as high teens. Anyway this is neitehr here or there, just a passing observation. It's actually depressing to me because i want a double FS more than anything else, and if i'm lean at 80kg (say) then I need another 10kg on my FS than I initially planned. Still, even if i get a 150kg FS @ lean 80kg that's better than what I started off with, 120kg FS @ not-very-lean 75kg.
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With what numbers do you come up using this?
http://home.fuse.net/clymer/bmi/#bodyfat
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With what numbers do you come up using this?
http://home.fuse.net/clymer/bmi/#bodyfat
19%. But I put zero faith in these things, I am a special snowflake, all these measures and estimates (including skinfolds, dexa etc) don't WORK for me.
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BW: 194.5
Blah. I love how I tried to lose weight actively thru september and failed, struggling to string together even a pair of days of compliance. And in october when i'm actively trying to maintain my bodyweight, i'm finding myself naturally eating clean and at a deficit this whole week. So i'm dropping bodyweight even though I don't want to, and ideally i would have liked to get a 140kg FS @ 90kg which is better than 140kg @ 88kg which is where i'm headed :( The reason I want 140kg @ 90kg rather than 140kg @ 88 is because it's i'm stronger when squatting the same weight + 3kg of extra bodyweight! It gives me a better chance of getting 150kg @ 75kg.
Abs feel less sore and painful today than yesterday. Hopefully they'll be fully recovered tomorrow, would like a strong workout to end the weak.
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BW: 194.5
Blah. I love how I tried to lose weight actively thru september and failed, struggling to string together even a pair of days of compliance. And in october when i'm actively trying to maintain my bodyweight, i'm finding myself naturally eating clean and at a deficit this whole week. So i'm dropping bodyweight even though I don't want to, and ideally i would have liked to get a 140kg FS @ 90kg which is better than 140kg @ 88kg which is where i'm headed :( The reason I want 140kg @ 90kg rather than 140kg @ 88 is because it's i'm stronger when squatting the same weight + 3kg of extra bodyweight! It gives me a better chance of getting 150kg @ 75kg.
Abs feel less sore and painful today than yesterday. Hopefully they'll be fully recovered tomorrow, would like a strong workout to end the weak.
:huh:
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Because legs have to support that extra bodyweight. Athletically/relatively speaking it's worse, but for the purposes of getting stronger, it's better to be a 200kg fatty squatting 200kg than a lean 100kg one, because the 200kg fatty's legs are moving 200kg bw + 200kg bw.
Put another way, if I squat 140kg @ 90kg, then drop 3kg of bodyfat, i can now squat 143kg @ 87kg by maintaining the same load on my legs. But if i'm only squatting 140kg @ 87kg, then i've gotten weaker than I was at 90kg.
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Because legs have to support that extra bodyweight. Athletically/relatively speaking it's worse, but for the purposes of getting stronger, it's better to be a 200kg fatty squatting 200kg than a lean 100kg one, because the 200kg fatty's legs are moving 200kg bw + 200kg bw.
Put another way, if I squat 140kg @ 90kg, then drop 3kg of bodyfat, i can now squat 143kg @ 87kg by maintaining the same load on my legs. But if i'm only squatting 140kg @ 87kg, then i've gotten weaker than I was at 90kg.
Nah that logic doesn't work out. Imagine how much more potential the guy at 100kg has. If the 100kg dude bulked up to 150kg and the 200kg fatty lost 50kg down to 150 the lean 100kg dude would be miles stronger than the fatty. Same as the guy squatting the same absolute weight at a lighter bodyweight is stronger than the heavier guy lifting the same absolute weight.
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Because legs have to support that extra bodyweight. Athletically/relatively speaking it's worse, but for the purposes of getting stronger, it's better to be a 200kg fatty squatting 200kg than a lean 100kg one, because the 200kg fatty's legs are moving 200kg bw + 200kg bw.
Put another way, if I squat 140kg @ 90kg, then drop 3kg of bodyfat, i can now squat 143kg @ 87kg by maintaining the same load on my legs. But if i'm only squatting 140kg @ 87kg, then i've gotten weaker than I was at 90kg.
Nah that logic doesn't work out. Imagine how much more potential the guy at 100kg has. If the 100kg dude bulked up to 150kg and the 200kg fatty lost 50kg down to 150 the lean 100kg dude would be miles stronger than the fatty. Same as the guy squatting the same absolute weight at a lighter bodyweight is stronger than the heavier guy lifting the same absolute weight.
MUTUMBO! DO NOT ENGAGE WITH THE DERANGED INTERNET WANKING! IT IS DANGEROUS FOR YOUR HEALTH!
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Because legs have to support that extra bodyweight. Athletically/relatively speaking it's worse, but for the purposes of getting stronger, it's better to be a 200kg fatty squatting 200kg than a lean 100kg one, because the 200kg fatty's legs are moving 200kg bw + 200kg bw.
Put another way, if I squat 140kg @ 90kg, then drop 3kg of bodyfat, i can now squat 143kg @ 87kg by maintaining the same load on my legs. But if i'm only squatting 140kg @ 87kg, then i've gotten weaker than I was at 90kg.
Nah that logic doesn't work out. Imagine how much more potential the guy at 100kg has. If the 100kg dude bulked up to 150kg and the 200kg fatty lost 50kg down to 150 the lean 100kg dude would be miles stronger than the fatty.
That's true and goes along with what i've said! That's relative strength, yes, but not absolute strength. So bulking is about gaining absolute strength (bodyweight + bar-weight) to a maximum amount. And cutting is about gaining relative strength (bar-weight/bodyweight). You have to see strength in the right context. While i'm gaining absolute strength, it's preferable to lift the most amount of total weight (bodyweight + bar-weight). So in that context i'm strongest when that total is largest at my heaviest.
For an athlete, being as light as possible, while moving as much bar weight as possible is the right context of strength. When acquiring strength or gaining/bulking, your lifts go up but so does your bodyweight. If you gain 15kg like I did, that's a significant amount of weight borne by the legs. Now if I maintain my end of bulk bar weight and shed those extra 15kg, i'm now much weaker than i was at the end of the bulk. I'm not interested in just plain relative strength, i'm interested in maximising my absolute strength which means using extra bodyweight to make up that total.
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Ok. Well you're still doing a good job with your lifting so don't be too hard on yourself!
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Ok. Well you're still doing a good job with your lifting so don't be too hard on yourself!
Ha thanks. I'm planning on maintaining my absolute strength (140kg FS + 90kg BW = 230kg). So if I drop 5kg bodyweight, the bar weight should be 5kg heavier so i'm still the same absolute strength. That's my goal. If everything goes to plan, by the end of the cut, i'll still have the same absolute strength (230kg), and my relative strength will be that magic 2xbw number instead of the 1.5 it is atm.
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Training
FS 1x127.5, 1x132.5, 0Fx137, 0Fx136.44
BS 3x120, 2x127.5, 2x132.5, 1x135, 2x130
HBBS-ATG 2x6x100
BP 5x90 (PR)
WCU 2x90, 7x90, 5x94.5, 5x92, 5x90
HKR 2x16x90 (PR)
AWR 7Fx90
FS notes:
Not much to say, disappointing front squats, no PRs, got owned by the weight, couldn't even get it into the sticking point lol. I'm regretting ab wheel on monday, ruined my training for the whole week, my core still isn't well recovered. i was going so well this week before dabbling in that stupid shit. oh well.
BS notes:
No pop, no juice, legs heavy and uninterested.
Upper body:
Big milestone today, I benched 90kg for 5 reps. That was a long term goal. Now the hard work begins towards 100x5, hopefully when that happens, i'll start to look like I lift. lol.
Abs notes:
Did chinups and then hanging knee raises, these were really tough today, i guess from monday's ab carnage. I also did just one set of rollouts, just to keep my body keen. I expect on monday i'll find myself recovered and with new core strength that is sufficient to achieve my short term squatting goal of 140kg.
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At least you can see how much the core strength matters in the squat, and in the jump as well as a consequence. And it tells you that you need to improve it (it tells me that as well).
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At least you can see how much the core strength matters in the squat, and in the jump as well as a consequence. And it tells you that you need to improve it (it tells me that as well).
Fully agree! That's the silver lining here, i can be a fair bit stronger a squatter, esp out of the hole with more weight once i've beefed up my core strength. The downside is right now this 'discovery' is costing me valuable progress/PRs, which sucks. But it's okay, i'll find a balance. I tried to be conservative with ab wheel and only did 2x8 but seems even that was too much to start with, should have done 1x5 or something instead. I'll do some today, and hopefully come monday with a much stronger, recovered core i'll be back on track for FS 1x140kg (PR) so I can put this absolute strength gain chapter behind me and start on relative strength gain.
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Do you do them kneeling? Try to focus on keeping a posterior pelvic tilt throughout the motion.
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I started them kneeling yeah, but I got full rom, i end up with my bellly touching the ground .. maybe i'm too fat haha. and yea you taught me how to them correctly last time so they dont work my lower back and focus on the abdominals.
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Training
FS 1x120, 1x127.5, 0Fx132.5, 0Fx137, 0x140, 5x115 (PR)
BS 3x120, 3x126, 2x130, 3x127, 2Fx120
BS2 2x6x105
BP 7Fx84.5 (PR)
FS notes:
Even failed a warmup today :s overtraining?
BS notes:
Blah
BP notes:
Concentric on 7th was a bit off and this threw off the eccentric on the 8th, also at the same time my right hamstring cramped up, so i failed the 8th rep, still a PR but I wanted 8. Anyway next time i'll get it. I'm so close to 8x85 now at which point I think i'll put my BP on maintenance and bring up my ohp.
Shithouse session.
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Did you fail 132.5, 137 and 140 in that order?
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Training
FS 1x120, 1x127.5, 1x132.5, 0Fx137, 3Fx117, 5Fx110
BS 3x120, 1x125, 1x131
CR 10x120, 10x130, 10x140
OHP 6x40, 6x50, 5x60, 5x62, 7x56(PR), 10x52.5(PR)
FS notes
My recent problems with FS appear to be technique related. I had good form on the warmups, upto and including the penultimate set, getting bent over on the 132.5; nevertheless failing the topset but feel confident that I would have got it on a better day. I haven't quite figured out how my technique is breaking down on the limit maxes, but at least my warmups were much improved. Now to carry that over to PR attempts.
BS notes:
Taking a holiday from backsquats today, back to normal friday.
Calves notes:
New exercises barbell calf raise, i like it, lets see what it does for me.
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Coming down with something, body temp has been higher than normal. Not all there mentally either, because I forgot to take my daily vitamin c when I could really have used it. Oh well, i'm still going to try to push a PR tonight.
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Training
FS 2x110, 1x122.5, 1x127.5, 1x135
FS notes:
misloaded the last warmup as 127 instead of 130. meant the jump to 135 was too large. i tweaked the fuck out of my back during, but finished the rep. i heard this crunching sound with like 3 beats. fuck, i hope it's not too serious, it feels pretty bad, never had anything like this happen to me before. scary.
Thats it, not going to try train thru this, i can barely unrack the plates and put them back on the rack, leave alone train! should always double and triple check the plates before squatting, i dunno why i didn't this time around, i am usually pretty good at that. I guess like i said in my last post, i'm not all there today.
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Imho the real take-home-point here is not 'never load wrong the warmup sets again' but 'never push a bad form 1RM squatmorning again'. Not saying that loading the correct load is not important, but a back injury is aeons more serious than a random 1RM miss.
Hope it ain't serious man, damn, all the forum seems to suffer injuries lately :(
AELSqwad everyone!!!
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The right warmup set is very important because it tells me how to play the topset. Depending on the feel of the warmup, i'll give the topset the respect it deserves. If it's really hard then it takes out enough out of me that the topset will fail safely at the bottom. The worst place to fail a front squat is over halfway up, cause then you are either dropping it, or you're going to be fucked completing it with bad form, or you're safely riding it down. I wasn't struggling today, it wasn't that heavy & challenging that i was going to give up on it and ride it down, usually when that happens for me, it's because i'm soundly defeated by the weight. But that didn't happen today, bar went up quickly and strongly, and then disaster struck, and yet i wasn't near failure, the weight didn't fall out of my hands, i just locked it out without a fuss even after injury.
Just wasted 6 hours of my life at the ED. Doctors wouldn't do any scans. Said not worth exposing you to the radition of an x-ray. Or a CT scan, and they don't do MRI's on overnight patients. Doctor said it's a muscle sprain/strain/tear/whatever. The cunt wrote me a script for BTC ibuprofen and some other shit, i made him change it to celebrex though, cause the least i could get out this whole thing was some decent nsaids. He said we don't usually prescribe celebrex, cunt, probably cause they have a contract with the ibuprofen supplier. Fuck them.
Anyway at least I got to read a really cool book, Visual Complex Analysis is the bomb.
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Agree about the warmup sequence, even more in your case (warming up for max single ). I just thought it was a bad rep that did the snap, but it seems it wasn't. As you said, disaster struck, bad luck, sucks!!! Feel better man, hope it's just a minor tweak/strain. Very wise to not train through it, back is a real bitch!
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I just think 127.5 was too light to tell me anything useful, or prepare me for 135kg because it was only a 5kg jump from 122.5kg. 122.5kg to 130kg to 135kg would have been much better :( It's just the way i've trained these front squats, my last warmup has to be heavy and close enough to the topset. I kind of adopted it from broz when he says daily squatting autoregulates your squatting attempts. My warmups usually serve to autoregulate my singles.
Been in a bit of agony, can't sit down long before it starts hurting quite badly. Hard to sleep too. But it seems to be improving daily, i think. Haven't taken any nsaids yet, haven't been to the pharmacy, just panadol and occasionally apply topical voltaren, maybe twice a day. I might train tomorrow or take a day off depending on how it feels. I've done more reading in the last 54 hours than I have in the last 6 months though. I sat down to write a C program but found myself in so much pain while trying to read the docs that I abandoned it, but otherwise I imagine this would be a really productive time for me there too!
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Training (rehab day 1)
FS 5x40, 5x50, 5x60, 5x70, 5x75, 5x77.5
BS 6x60, 6x80
FS notes:
Real slow, controlled, tight reps, effectictively paused ones. Did not affect pain.
BS notes:
More uncomfortable than FS for some reason, form was immaculate here too.
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Training (rehab day 2)
FS 5x20, 5x40, 5x60, 3x90, 2x105, 1x115, 1x120
BS 6x100, 1x115, 1x120, 6x112.5, 6x107.5, 6x102.5
OHP 6x20, 6x40, 6x50, 8x56(PR), 5x60
WCU 3x91.6, 5x91.6
FS notes:
Didn't do these paused, still tentative but worked up to a conservative 120kg, which I calculated to be be under 90% of 1rm for whatever that's worth (i never place much stock in % of 1RM).., 120kg is usually a warmup for me normally so that's how I selected it.
BS notes:
Ok so did a fair bit of volume with backsquat. Figure it's my main rehab exercise, since my love affair with front squats has come to an end.
Overall i'm healing quickly but not yet 100%. I think I did well so far, friday will be more of the same, conservative but slowly working back on the weights with the goal of being back to normal for next week's training.
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Training (Rehab day 3)
FS 3x90, 2x110, 1x120, 1x127.5
BS 3x110, 6x120, 1x130, 6x115
BP 1x87.5, 3x90, 6x80
WCU 7x91.6, 2x3x96, 1x100
FS notes:
After the 127.5kg set I had half a mind to do 130kg for a single next but somehow I couldn't go thru with it. I felt as though in the best case I get it, and I feel good that a week after my back injury i am on track. But in the worst case, i re-injure myself and set recovery/training back even further. So common sense won out and I decided to save it for next week!
BS notes:
Hmmm.
BP notes:
Benching heavy after 2 weeks since my last heavy set of 5x90kg, sucked, thanks injuries. Worked so hard to get my bench somewhere decent only have it dashed the following week :( I would have liked to put bp on mainteance but now i have to work back to 5x90 first. oh well.
coach told me something that I now think was full of shit. He talked about having a minimal amount of tension in the body on a squat but i think that mindset might have contributed to my injury since i wasn't working super hard on having a very rigid upper body and this lack of tightness eventually caught up to me. All I had to do today was look at the image joe put up in the beast thread to see how wrong it is
(http://i.imgur.com/oIYVHQD.jpg[)
So i tried that today, to tense my traps and lats to get that sort of hulk effect, and where I should have done like a double or a triple with 120kg i was able to do 6 reps, albeit with nonperfect form. pretty interesting. this way of squatting is way more exhausting though, i struggled to rep 90kg warmups. I dunno, maybe i'll get used to it and then it will be effortless.
This week i've been off caffeine, last time i had some was on last friday when I got injured. Today i wished to remain caffeine free but i needed a carby preworkout and went for a coffee. suprising to find even just one cup got me buzzed. i guess my tolerance dissipated quite some. that's pretty cool. they say it takes about 10 days to return to baseline, i was 7 days in. But this is good, i'll keep this going for another few weeks while i rehab and prepare myself for what's to come after that. it was getting ridiculous the last few months i was taking 200mg caffeine tablet + 1 teaspoon preworkout powder + can of coke. Kingfisher quantities of caffeine there, not good. So i'm diallign it back, i reckon i can go about 3 weeks squatting 115kg for various sets and reps while on minimum caffeine.
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that advice makes no sense, maybe he was trying to say something else? think about KF, his supplemental work is overwhelmingly for his back.
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He said i look too serious, i'm too emotionally involved in the lift, describing my facial expressions etc, that i should be more relaxed. relaxed is good he said. i've got a lot of that mindset so i'm not questioning it at all, feel like ive done the majority of my training this past year without needing to psyche myself up which is a good thing because it's not sustainable going balls to the wall hardcore chaos and pain style very often. re the tension/tighness, they want like 3/4 or 2/3 tension or something like that, not 100%, that's what i meant by minimal, it deosn't mean literally no tension of course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdFSzleg6vM
coach wu kinda goes thru it in this video but i dont agree wit hit anymore
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Been thinking about what to do next for training and I think i'm sold on the Russian Squat Programme. The only thing I was deliberating on was what to plug in for my 1RM.
By the exrx calculator a BS 6x128 comes to a 149kg max, even though the heaviest i've done in the last 4 weeks is 140x2 which the calculator equates to a 145kg max. Very recently i haven't gone over 135kg though. Anyway this isn't really important because the first 3 weeks are a preparatory phase where you lift the same weight every session, so I feel my chances are great of getting thru the first half of the program.
If I use a max of 143.75kg (lulz funny number but it makes the weights come out nicely)
(http://i.imgur.com/pQAQ4Kt.png)
And if I use a max of 150kg it looks like this:
(http://i.imgur.com/820GH6I.png)
Which i'm not sure if i'm capable of hitting 6x5x120kg really, ie the first 3 weeks are going to be very challenging. Which might be a good thing because it will keep me motivated and force me to work very hard. Not sure. I may play around with the worksets on the first 2 weeks to get myself ready to nail the 3rd week as written, ie own 6x6x120kg.
So i'll be starting that this coming monday. I don't really care what I do for the first week as long as it's getting me ready for week 3.
update: As much as I'd love to do the RSR above, i'm not sure if i have the time to do it. This will take me into the 2nd week of december. Leaving me 4 months to get in shape for the bball tournament. That's not nearly enough time when we're talking about dropping 15kg :/ I fucked this up badly, i dont have 6 weeks to run a squat program lol. Not really interested in doing smolov jnr either, it's only 3 weeks but that shit is brutal.
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He said i look too serious, i'm too emotionally involved in the lift, describing my facial expressions etc, that i should be more relaxed. relaxed is good he said. i've got a lot of that mindset so i'm not questioning it at all, feel like ive done the majority of my training this past year without needing to psyche myself up which is a good thing because it's not sustainable going balls to the wall hardcore chaos and pain style very often. re the tension/tighness, they want like 3/4 or 2/3 tension or something like that, not 100%, that's what i meant by minimal, it deosn't mean literally no tension of course.
I could be wrong but I don't think the advice has anything to do with percentage of tension. The same advice is given to beginning sprinters and wildly misinterpreted. I can't tell you how many sprinters have been given advice to "relax" and then they run like rag dolls and run really slow. At high speed sprinting you NEED to have a lot of muscles isometrically turned on - almost every non-prime mover is isometrically active at high speeds otherwise you fall over or collapse on footstrike. If you ever try to run after an abdominal strain you realize this instantly. I imagine squatting is similar.
However, there is this feeling when you run a really really good pickup in the 100m the same feeling you get when you hit a home run and perfectly knuckle kick a soccer ball to top netting... This feeling of ease from perfect execution. IMO that's what your coach is trying to get for you. It's not 2/3 tension, it's 100 % tension coupled with 100% relaxation/100% anxiety. It's really hard to describe but think about how if any of your strength, any of your brain is wasted on the anxiety of the difficultly of the feat and becomes weak and choppy. That's what you are going for. You don't actively loosen your muscles, but you relax and let your self unconsciously break through barriers. If it sounds like BS it's because it's 50% bs 50% just really hard to explain.
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That was a wonderfully lucid explanation! It reminds me of when I started this journey, a year ago, could barely touch the rim and i'd make a huge effort to get my hand higher than an inch or two above the rim and feel like it was impossible. Somewhere along the way, what was once impossible became easy and effortless. It was a mental thing, i went from being completely defeated by the challenge to owning it. Mindset is a huge part of it. And I can't even explain it very well but it's a transition that i went thru, from overwhelming and overwhelmed to relaxed and powerful. Wow! I did that. That's cool.
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Yeah some of my best jumps came when I was "relaxed", but it's easy to confound "relaxed" with "weak".
For example, if I am to really relax when doing stuff I'd become like jelly, and crumble down into horrible posture. I think being relaxed is all about having the tension in the RIGHT muscles while being able to call upon relaxing and contracting at the right times vs. staying stiff for the entire duration of that movement.
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I agree with that. To maximize efficiency you need curtail wasted energy. Tensing unneeded muscle groups only wastes energy that could be used performing the lift/jump/sprint/etc maximally.
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^I think in the case of squats, it's not wasted energy when it controls the rigidity of the body which determines form? I dunno. I'll explore it.
So just an update to say I will be doing the Russian Squat Routine for the next 6 weeks after all. I don't have the time to do it, but I'll make it work, by adding in running, jumping and skill work. This means by the end of the 6 weeks i'll have a beast squat, strong and powerful and i will be fast an athletic. And fat. But 4 months to lose 10-15kg is def doable if i'm perfectly disciplined. I'm going to keep my bodyweight around 88-92kg.
The way RSR is setup, there is a kind of deload day after every significant lifting day. This bodes well for adding other athletic shit in. And it's perfect because i'm trying to peak not just my squat, but my overall systematic organism strength across the board. I should be maximally powerful too.
The max i'm plugign in is 150kg. Lets get this done.
(http://i.imgur.com/820GH6I.png)
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Hey man, good luck, but speaking from experience I'd just be VERY careful with adding in too much run/jump/ground contact stuff when you're squatting 3x/week and more than a few kgs over your natural body weight. If you're managing fatigue properly then you'll no doubt be fine (and I know you're good at listening to your body in that regard), just a heads up. You gonna be playing competitive bball during the 6w?
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Training
FS 1x122.5, 1x130
BS 6x122.5, 6x120, 4x2x120
BP 6x50, 6x60, 6x70, 6x85
BS notes:
RSR-RX - 6 sets x 2 x 120kg - That didn't appeal to me, did 2x6x120+ instead and then a coupla doubles to finish off. I'll work up to 6x6x120 on my own terms so i can nail the 3rd week's hardest set, indeed the hardest set of the first half of this program. I didn't use romaleos for these. I backsquat better with a smaller heel.
I guess this was supposed to be a nice and easy beginning to the routine but I struggled with it. That's good, i need to toughen up.
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Just to continue the convo about being relaxed at maximum effort: in both squatting and sprinting I have seen an improved ability to relax during 100% maximal efforts.
It is hard to explain, but I went from needing to be really psyched up in the beginning to going in the rack or the starting line casually without any fear or hesitation and being able to activate only what is necessary in order to execute the lift. I felt like on the eccentric of the squat, my legs just folded easily and effortlessly; coming back up was always difficult but from repetitive practice, my form became consistent.
Also I think the antagonists need to be relaxed properly, hip flexors, abdominals, if they are tight they will inhibit the extensors.
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Hey man, good luck, but speaking from experience I'd just be VERY careful with adding in too much run/jump/ground contact stuff when you're squatting 3x/week and more than a few kgs over your natural body weight. If you're managing fatigue properly then you'll no doubt be fine (and I know you're good at listening to your body in that regard), just a heads up. You gonna be playing competitive bball during the 6w?
Thanks. It's one of the reasons I found the Russian Squat Routine appealing because it has that 6x2 workout alternated with every other workout. 6x2x120kg is something I can do even if i'm fatigued/tired/etc, as a way to dissipate fatigue. But I don't know how exactly to fit in other stuff although I think that's very important, i'll explain why. Last time I did one of these fancy squat programs, smolov jnr, i got good results on my squat but my vertical went down, paradoxically. I don't want that to happen this time and I think i have the solution, something todday said about Kingfisher's approach to training -- squat -- and practice SVJ -- makes both things go up. I didn't practice jumping when i did smolov, so perhaps that's one thing I can learn from that experience and improve on this time around with the RSR is to keep some athletic work in so that squat gains are converted into athletic gains as I go along. 6 weeks is a long time especially with my limited timeframe to get in shape for basketball in march, so i'd like to be steadily working on getting into basketball shape as I go along on the squat program. But i will take your advice and watch I don't over-reach and dig a recovery hole I can't get out of. Nope I won't be playing any ball while on this program, I don't think I want to over-extend myself with actual gametime, especially being so out of form as I am right now.
My idea was to do a few 200m sprints per week, in the first 3 weeks. As I go into the 2nd half of the program, i'll transition into shorter sprints, 30-60m. Does this sound ok? My jumping will be done 1x a week, fridays after lifting, should be re-coverable if i keep it brief (10-15 jumps total).
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some n=1 personal advice: when we talk about "athleticism," in most of our cases we mean jumping and/or playing basketball or some other sport. in other words, a specific skill set that degrades with neglect. KF got good at SVJ by doing SVJ. sprinting 200m will help keep you in shape and build some of the physical characteristics that make for good jumping, but it will not really help you hold on to your basketball-specific jumping ability. this has been my stupidly obvious lesson of the past year: nothing can replace skill practice. so my advice is: sure, sprint a few times a week. hell, if nothing else it's just flat-out fun to do. but don't limit yourself to one day a week of jumping. i'm trying to practice jumping at least three days a week and even that's not enough, but it's what i can manage at the moment. those workouts don't have to be draining, either. 15-20 jumps doesn't exactly take a lot out of you.
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^Bingo! Jumping is a skill just like shooting. Volume repetition with good mechanics is a necessity!
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Training
FS 1x130
BS 3x120, 5x125, 5x120, 3x3x120
BS notes:
shit form, shit sets, fml. Last couple of sets were ok. For next time, remember to stay really tight into the hole, then a controlled knee in burn, quickly followed by a knee out to lock out. Has to be controlled otherwise it doesnt work.
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Just to continue the convo about being relaxed at maximum effort: in both squatting and sprinting I have seen an improved ability to relax during 100% maximal efforts.
It is hard to explain, but I went from needing to be really psyched up in the beginning to going in the rack or the starting line casually without any fear or hesitation and being able to activate only what is necessary in order to execute the lift. I felt like on the eccentric of the squat, my legs just folded easily and effortlessly; coming back up was always difficult but from repetitive practice, my form became consistent.
Also I think the antagonists need to be relaxed properly, hip flexors, abdominals, if they are tight they will inhibit the extensors.
That's interesting man. I am still experimenting with this atm so my thoughts are in flux. Today I found that until i tightened up my upper back (and i think this automatically carries over to the whole body) my form was ad hoc and powerless. But when I work really hard on the upper body tightness and then subsequently riding the whole body wave of tightness that comes with it on the descent, i have a good strong bottom position. Mentally I have to be very focused on these reps, I can't be relaxed and get the sets. On the front squat, it's different though but i dont really care about that lift atm.
some n=1 personal advice: when we talk about "athleticism," in most of our cases we mean jumping and/or playing basketball or some other sport. in other words, a specific skill set that degrades with neglect. KF got good at SVJ by doing SVJ. sprinting 200m will help keep you in shape and build some of the physical characteristics that make for good jumping, but it will not really help you hold on to your basketball-specific jumping ability. this has been my stupidly obvious lesson of the past year: nothing can replace skill practice. so my advice is: sure, sprint a few times a week. hell, if nothing else it's just flat-out fun to do. but don't limit yourself to one day a week of jumping. i'm trying to practice jumping at least three days a week and even that's not enough, but it's what i can manage at the moment. those workouts don't have to be draining, either. 15-20 jumps doesn't exactly take a lot out of you.
I jump about once every 3 weeks, sometimes as long as 6 weeks between jumps. Not very frequently. I don't lose my jump, it seems to stick around. I can progress my jump by doing it as little as once a week, i think, but i'd have to look that up. Or maybe that was just an artefact of losing weight when I was doing that? Dunno. Either way, at least 1x a week is a great improvement if I can manage it
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I picked up an injury last week I didn't mention in the log. It's the same old familiar recurring one on my R side, which i've described variously as a /pec tear/, /intercostal muscle strain/ or something else. I don't know wtf it is, but it's back :( I think it happened because of either presses or chinups last wednesday. Sucks. I can make it feel better by mobilising my neck and upper back/traps, but it's only temporary. So usually i'd take a week off, strap my chest, and wait for it to pass. But i'm in the middle of the RSR. FML. It's from one injury to another :(
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Training
FS 1x130, 4x116 (PR)
BS 4x125, 5x2x120
FS notes:
After my back injury ive struck trepidation on those those heavy singles, today my depth wasn't my usual ATG. IDGAF but i'd like to slowly work my FS back to PR territory even though that's not my current priority.
BS notes:
blah
Upper body work omitted on account of injury.
With week 1 behind me, i'm not looking forward to week 2. I think i might have over-done it this week but doing the bare minimum as rx would not have prepared me for week 2. 3 sleeps ought to be enough to be nice and ready. looking at friday's workout next week is pretty daunting, 6 sets of 5x120kg is ridiculous. but i haven't been taking caffeine, or sleeping well, so maybe I will have that in me. Lets see, should be the first real test of this program. oh and injury, hoping 3 sleeps fixes that too.
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Training
BS 6x4x120
BP 6x50, 6x60, 6x70, 6x80
FS notes:
Omitted. I have decided to do FS only on the deload days. That should be sufficient.
BS notes:
Did the RX worksets today, figured the RX was hard enough, no need to risk ruining my chances of getting thru it ok.
BP notes:
Just a deload session, want to heal from my injury first before resuming normal training.
Still keeping caff intake lo. Might need it for fridays 6x5x120kg though, that's gonna be a hardy. I had an epiphany where I imagined I cut everything out except for backsquats going deeper into the RSR, and as I did, my backsquats got stronger and stronger and I actually came out of the 6 week program with the RX maxes. Wouldn't that be nice? I have to give myself a fighting chance of doing that. Sleeping and eating and using stimulants judiciously and doing only backsquats might just be the way to do that.
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Training
FS 1x130, 1x132.5
BS 6x2x120
FS notes:
Slowly working my confidence back on heavy front squats. I went over 130 today, which was totally fine. When I set the PR of 136kg I used a bunch of small change (100kg + 4x5kg plates + 4x2.5kg + 4x1.25kg + 2x1/2kg) plates. I'm not using those loadings now, it's (100kg+2x15kg), so i've got 3 big plates on each side. I think this is better. If my goal was only 140kg i could stick with the former but since i have to add a lot of weight to the bar yet (150kg goal), i should really just embrace the bigger plates.
BS notes:
Not much to report, just noticed I don't hold the bar symmetrically on my back. It might be because my floor is slanted. Or maybe it's just a force of habit or something. I tried to fix it as i went thru the sets, got better even approaching symmetric on the 5th set. I should really do something about the floor.
Been waking up with a noticeably higher body temperature when I touch my forehead. Not sure why, but feel like i haven't been sleeping very well. Oh and still off caffeine. Not sure if i'll use it for fridays, will see how it goes. 6x5x120kg looms ever so forbidding.
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Training
FS 1x120
BS 1x130, 6x5x120
BP 6x50, 6x60, 3x70, 2x80, 1x87.5
Salient notes:
Mostly healed from chest injury.
Took 200mg caffeine tablet because I wanted to maximise my chances of getting the sets in. This was the first time in 3 weeks that i've used a preworkout stimulant!
FS notes:
I decided to use FS as a warmup. I figure it may be useful for potentiating for backsquats? broscience but it could be true lol, have nothing to lose. if nothing else, it will keep the FS movement pattern fresh. like if lance is right and it's a very good glute exercise, maybe it's helping glute activationl or something.
BS notes:
Ok so this was my first real test on teh RSR, and I pretty much destroyed it. My best and easiest set was the last and sixth! On that one, everything came together, form wise i've determined a pure knee break forward motion into the hole, strong and stable, then knee in burn out of the hole followed quickly by knee out. THis way the squat is a pure, strong, accelerated and forceful movement. That's exactly what I wanted.
Injury Update:
I've been eating about a dozen eggs a day. Drinking over 2L of milk a day. I've given myself the best chance to heal out of this thing without making it chronic. It has worked. Today i'm 99.99% perfect! I expect by monday i'll be fully healed.
Progress Summary:
(http://i.imgur.com/9r5DCap.png)
Will be caffeine free til wednesday which is the hardest workout of the first half of the russian squat routine - 6x6x120kg. So that means no caffeine over the weekend. Monday's workout I plan to do completely unstimulated. We'll see. Feeling pumped for week 3. Bring it on. I really love this program.
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Training
FS 1x130, 0Fx133.5
BS 6x2x120
FS notes:
Just going thru the motions. I should have been strong enough to do a convincing 135kg single today. But life had other plans.
BS notes:
Ok. RSR has already proven to be a revelation to me. I will definitely be incorporating this sort of training always even after i've finished this present program. It's just that good. Nothing else has worked as well as this, my form is immaculate and my body is strong in all the positions.
One of the worst days to train, sluggish and heavy headed. ive been sleeping like shit and been sick for the last 2 days. Hopefully it's nothing and i can still hit 6x6x120kg on wednesday! I'm skipping upper body work cause I need full recovery for legs to get 6x6x120kg.
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Training
FS 1x120
BS 1x135, 6x6x120
FS notes:
Kinda ruing the lost opportunity to get a decent FS max this week ... monday was the right time, unfortunately my body wasn't willing. And i don't think my chances are good for getting it on friday after today's tough backsquat session. We'll see how it goes.
BS notes:
The hardest session on the first 1/2 of the RSR is behind me and I did it with the worst leadup, been sick, haven't been eating much food, haven't been sleeping well. Not much to say, if I can get 6x6x120 on such poor preparament it bodes well for my chances on finishing this program successfully. Indeed I only have one hard volume workout left, the hardest workout of the program which is the one on monday when I have to do 5x5x127.5kg - it will be brutally hard, after which it will be low sets and reps for heavy weights which is much easier.
My VMOS are singing after that workout! This method of squatting (knee-forward action into the bottom, knee-in out of the bottom, knee-out to lockout) is perfect for hitting legs and in particular VMOs.
Late night workuot, was going to skip today's session, weep softly into my pillow and repeat week 3 the following week but that made me feel like a pussy so I forced the workout anyway. So glad i did, feels good man.
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some n=1 personal advice: when we talk about "athleticism," in most of our cases we mean jumping and/or playing basketball or some other sport. in other words, a specific skill set that degrades with neglect. KF got good at SVJ by doing SVJ. sprinting 200m will help keep you in shape and build some of the physical characteristics that make for good jumping, but it will not really help you hold on to your basketball-specific jumping ability. this has been my stupidly obvious lesson of the past year: nothing can replace skill practice. so my advice is: sure, sprint a few times a week. hell, if nothing else it's just flat-out fun to do. but don't limit yourself to one day a week of jumping. i'm trying to practice jumping at least three days a week and even that's not enough, but it's what i can manage at the moment. those workouts don't have to be draining, either. 15-20 jumps doesn't exactly take a lot out of you.
For the most part I agree with this advice; but there is one caveat that's important to remember when it comes to sprinting. Obviously the old concept of "base-work" mileage is pretty silly. However, I think a lot of athletes/coaches go a little too far the other way in designing their sprint programs. Sprinting any distance fast will have great benefits to body composition, general fitness, etc. But if you want the benefits of sprinting to carry over to a different activity the most direct carryover is likely sprinting -> single leg jumping. When going for the carryover most will follow the line of thinking that the effective length of the basketball court is about 20 meters (the farthest you run most of the time) and the approach of a single leg jump is a lot less.... so therefore it makes sense to practice a lot of 10m and 20m sprints. This sounds correct but it is wrong. Practicing non-resisted 10m and 20m sprints doesn't have much use (if your already an athlete) IMO. The greatest gains will be made as you learn better acceleration technique and stride patterning (in other works learn how to run much differently than you do in basketball/jumping).
The way I think of it is you are capable of taking off on a single leg at ~ 90-95% of your max v. Any faster and you simply can't jump. Same goes for more sports specific skills... ie catching a football, finishing a fast break. This is why I think athletes will reap better carryover if they work on running fast rather than short sprints. Max velocity work is almost most foreign to basketball players and as such you will be able to get gains faster. Now this doesn't mean 200m necessarily. But certainly longer runs 40-100m and flying runs would provide more carryover than they are given credit. If you want anecdotal evidence look at Carl Lewis sprinting and jumping. Poor acceleration and always last to 50m but incredible pickup and max velocity. Also the second best long jumper of all time. In fact jumpers are often serviceable members of 4x100m teams despite being poor in the open 100m.... their weakness is their acceleration NOT their max velocity.
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You're so right about this ^^^
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Training
FS 1x130
BS 6x2x120
FS notes:
No sleep + zero caffeine => really tough front squats. ALL warmups were challenging :o I almost fainted holding 147.5kg, had this banging/ringing sensation thru my skull, so weird. It did make 132.5kg feel lighter on the rack, but i couldn't get it up. Get it up, haha.
BS notes:
Ok. Form was satisfactory.
Progress Summary:
Halfway thru this thing..
(http://i.imgur.com/n3mU9C7.png)
Next workout will be the hardest of the whole program. Bring it on. All i need now is 2 good nights of sleep. I haven't slept properly since tuesday. And not at all since the last workout :/ I get about 4-5 hours a night, brokenly, if that, just don't seem to be able to sleep. nNext up is - 5x5x127.5 -- i'm not really worried for some reason, i think after getting 6x6x120, my confidence has accumulated. Form is good right now too.
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Training
FS 1x130
BS 1x142.5 (PR), 5x5x127.5 (PR)
JUMPZ 18 total
Salient workout notes:
Going into the workuot with < 5 hours of sleep. Taking 200mg of caffeine only. My rate coding is close to nil right now. I feel like a pussy and haven't got an ounce of aggressiveness in me right now. I think i might be in love :s I tried to psyche myself up by listening to some youtube videos but it didn't really work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoZwMZhc4RE
FS notes:
If the FS is a measure of how powerful I am on a given day then today I was a 2/10. Even warmups were hard. I struggled with the 130. This is not a good sign for THE HARDEST MOTHERFUCKING SQUAT SESSION OF THIS WHOLE PROGRAM!.
BS notes:
Was to do 140kg as a hot-up for the 5x5 workset but I thought to go for the PR of 142.5 just to make it a nice 15kg difference with the worksets. Btw this was a really heavy rep.
Then onto to 5x5x127.5, From the first rep to the last this was a hard workout. I was too weak and not ready for the toughest challenge of the RSR. I hella good morning the shit out of the last rep from set 2 onwards. By set 5 i was doing mostly good mornings. But I got it done.
Anyway I think i'll go do some jumps now, just to see where my vertical is at right now. I haven't jumped in over a month (partially from reading KF post and reminding myself that squats+jumps did a lot of good for me so I should go back to it.
Jump notes:
I would have to look it up but that was the first time I jumped in over a month (!). It was probably the worst jump session i can remember in a long time. I landed like 3 SVJ dunks and i think maybe 2-3 RVJ ones. Which is to say this was a very mediocre session.
I don't need to do as much jump volume as did today. Next time i'll do 10 reps, and taper off jump volume with RSR.
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When is the last time you've done plyometric work? You look like a guy with a lot of untapped strength into power. You're like a mini-tractor that sucks when he's pushed at high RPM.
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Training
FS 1x120
BS 1x120
FS notes:
Ugliest 120kg i've done in a long time.
BS notes:
If FS was bad, BS was 3x as bad.
So for the first time on RSR I failed to get thru the LIGHT session of 6x2x120 which had become a cakewalk. Lower back was the weak link. It hadn't recovered from monday's 5x5x127.5kg death by squat morning.
On friday do i go ahead and attempt the scheduled 4x4x135 or repeat wednesdays 6x2x120 and delay the 4x4 til monday? I dunno.
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Training
FS 1x130
BS 1x147.5 (PR), 6x2x135 (PR)
JUMPZ 7xSVJ, 7xRVJ
BP 4x90
FS notes:
Didn't have any pop on that 130, which meant once again i wasn't explosive/athletic today.
BS notes:
RX was 4x4x135, but if I forced that i would have good morning'd the last 2 reps on on the first sets and definitely all of them by the 4th set and this would have made me useless for another week or so while my lower back recovered. So i made the decision to adapt the program to myself and did 6x2x135 instead. This meant I got the majority of the volume done, and stuck to the 6 sets thing i've been doing so far, which I really like. It does mean I was 3 reps short (inclusive of the 147.5kg rep). But i figure if you add in the fatigue from the FS set and the BS max that it evens out. I def could have forced another 2 sets but at the cost of lower back fatigue. So the upshot of this is that by wednesday I should be good to go for the next heavy day.
Ok i'm really hyped right now. I'm gonna do some jumps. So glad I did 135kg workout today and not yesterday or monday, it was the right decision. Yesterday i wasn't fully recovered. Monday i would have fallen behind on the RSR schedule. This way I maintain the schedule, made allowance for my recovery needs and feel good physically and mentally which is the best part.
JUMPZ notes:
I started off really badly. I couldn't land a single SVJ dunk. Which made me sad. But then I remembered to make rigid my core, and then I finally got one. And then another. That made me happier. RVJ came next, had to rush thru them quickly cause it had started raining. I was dunking them pretty well once i made sure to speed up my approach.
Came home and weighed myself just to check what i was - and lo and behold the scale said 95kg!!!!!!!!! Lol. The last time i weighed myself i was around 92. Did i really gain 3kg of bodyfat in less than a week? I'm gonna say what every fat lifter says, "just bloated brah" but it is worrying me a little. I was ok being around 90kg, even up to 92kg but 95? That's not good. It means i'm 20kg overweight and with so little time left til the bball tournament, i'm quite concerned. But the good news is that i'm not far from finishing this program, just 2 more hard workouts left. And they're not volume ones so i dont need to eat much if at all. I won't start cutting til i'm done with the last session but it does mean i'll start watching my diet a lot sooner than i anticipated.
BP notes:
Thought to try a heavy day for a change, i hope it doesn't aggravate my chest injury again. But it felt good, strong. Next time i'll go for 5 reps to equal my previous PR!
Good news is I can dunk more or less the same as I could before but now i am 20kg overweight. So my strength has def gone up with bodyweight. Bad news is this is cutting it very fine for getting in shape for the bball tournament. I dont think i'll get down to 75kg by then, but i can realistically aim to be sub 80kg maybe even close to 75kg if I eat clean for the next 145 days straight. I can do that, i have the discipline. I just wanna make sure i've done enough to get a double bodyweight fronty by then.
update: The next morning my bodyweight is 93.6kg. Which is still too high but i can live with it for the moment. I am obviously fat but I don't think I look that fat. Maybe i've gained a decent amount of lean mass. Otoh could just be water more than muscle. and fat too. Will know what's up when cutting.
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Training
FS 1x120
BS 6x2x120
FS notes:
My form was abysmal, really really bad. I think due to mobility or something. I ran my usual mob sequence, maybe i could have done a bit more but I am at a loss why form can be good one day and terrible another day.
BS notes:
Quite challenging from set 1 thru to 6. Not what you want for a light day. These workouts are becoming quite hard to recover from, not what i expected for such low volume. But at least I got thru it today unlike the last light day when a warmup of 120kg was a 1RM and I had to end the light workout early during warmups.
Not doing any upper body work today, i need all my recovery resources to go to my legs, buttocks and lower back to get thru the next heavy session.
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small recommendation that you(r internet persona) will not hear: in working to get in shape for basketball, do not think primarily about your weight. think about your sport-specific fitness. if you can run up and down the court and play D and hit jumpers for extended periods, then you're in shape, whatever your weight. you'll probably lose weight in the process of getting in shape but it shouldn't be your primary goal.
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I totally agree with you. You can play at any bodyweight (PAES) lol. But in my experience the body takes a far greater beating playing at a high bodyweight. Joints, ankles and knees especially take a huge pounding. Knees start to ache, ankles start to break. Spine gets shaken up too. Risk of injuries goes way up. Last summer when i was a lightweight (@165lb) i was pretty much unfit and yet i could play a full court game without much loss of performance. Actually that's not fully true, i had to pick and choose whether to play good D or O but the point is i could just depend on my low bodyweight to make up for my lack of fitness. But that's not something I want for this summer. I need to be properly fit -- regardless of playign bodyweight. Ideally i'll have low bodyfat and superb fitness, regardless of my eventual bodyweight whether it is 75kg or 85kg -- which one it is remains to be seen.
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obviously those things are true and being lighter is easier on your joints. i'm just recommending that you treat weight loss almost as a side benefit of getting in shape, rather than focusing on weight loss as an end goal. shift focus to conditioning (and may i add: sport-specific conditioning) and maybe do some light calorie restriction if you really want to, but don't actively try to lose 20kg this time around. just my two cents.
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I totally agree with you. You can play at any bodyweight (PAES) lol. But in my experience the body takes a far greater beating playing at a high bodyweight. Joints, ankles and knees especially take a huge pounding. Knees start to ache, ankles start to break. Spine gets shaken up too. Risk of injuries goes way up. Last summer when i was a lightweight (@165lb) i was pretty much unfit and yet i could play a full court game without much loss of performance. Actually that's not fully true, i had to pick and choose whether to play good D or O but the point is i could just depend on my low bodyweight to make up for my lack of fitness. But that's not something I want for this summer. I need to be properly fit -- regardless of playign bodyweight. Ideally i'll have low bodyfat and superb fitness, regardless of my eventual bodyweight whether it is 75kg or 85kg -- which one it is remains to be seen.
Maybe you have never been really lean... but all those symptoms you mention (and more) come right back when you get really really lean. Leaning down to under 5% makes me feel like I have a cold and everything starts to hurt. You will REALLY miss the lack of fat when you land on your tailbone on the basketball court. You might jump higher; but for a contact sport I would be cautious about cutting too much fat. Especially preseason. It will go away during season a bit anyway. You have added appreciable muscle (hopefully) since the last time you cut to 75kg.... Trying to get your weight down close to there again might result in some levels of leanness that you just don't want.
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I totally agree with you. You can play at any bodyweight (PAES) lol. But in my experience the body takes a far greater beating playing at a high bodyweight. Joints, ankles and knees especially take a huge pounding. Knees start to ache, ankles start to break. Spine gets shaken up too. Risk of injuries goes way up. Last summer when i was a lightweight (@165lb) i was pretty much unfit and yet i could play a full court game without much loss of performance. Actually that's not fully true, i had to pick and choose whether to play good D or O but the point is i could just depend on my low bodyweight to make up for my lack of fitness. But that's not something I want for this summer. I need to be properly fit -- regardless of playign bodyweight. Ideally i'll have low bodyfat and superb fitness, regardless of my eventual bodyweight whether it is 75kg or 85kg -- which one it is remains to be seen.
Maybe you have never been really lean... but all those symptoms you mention (and more) come right back when you get really really lean. Leaning down to under 5% makes me feel like I have a cold and everything starts to hurt. You will REALLY miss the lack of fat when you land on your tailbone on the basketball court. You might jump higher; but for a contact sport I would be cautious about cutting too much fat. Especially preseason. It will go away during season a bit anyway. You have added appreciable muscle (hopefully) since the last time you cut to 75kg.... Trying to get your weight down close to there again might result in some levels of leanness that you just don't want.
Being under 5% to play basketball :o that's insane. Personally I feel a million times better playing at ~180-5lbs ~10-12% bf as opposed to 210-215lbs ~18% bf, man that was a bad time.
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What did you do to get down from 18% BF to 10?
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Cycical keto, with a weekly carb refeed at first lasting 8 hours or so, becoming a every 5th day as I got leaner. Carb loads were dirty and out of this world (try hit 1000g cabrs in 8 hours, not pleasant). keto was burgers sausages bacon chicken cheese and eggs pretty much...wasn't so bad. Used quite a lot of LISS towards the end too, HIIT sporadically.
At the end of that cut which was 3 and a half months or so I did a one week liquid only PSMF...I lost like 14lbs this week, 8 or 9 apperently glycogen. Yeah I probably lost some muscle but it came back quick and I hit a 220kg deadlift pr a few weeks later when I couldn't get 190 while cutting.
I think I have pics/graphs on the first post of my log if not ill upload them cos they were kinda cool.
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That's crazy... I'd probably fall into severe anxiety/panick attacks if I were to do the same as you.
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From low carb?
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Well that plus the overall weakness I'd feel throughout my body... I have bad recovery as it is, let alone under restrictive diet.
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Training
FS 1x132.5
BS 1x152.5 (PR), 2x142.5 (PR), 3x1x142.5
JUMPZ 8xSVJ, 8xRVJ, 10xRVJ (total jumps 26)
FS notes:
Felt real strong on front squats today. I really wish I could have gone for a PR today :( but I had to save myself for the challenging RSR worksets. The remarkable thing is that 132.5kg was done after a 125kg warmup which was nice and easy up from a double of 110kg. Which is to say, i was primed for a front squat PR today but alas I could not attempt one for fear of ruining my backsquats!
BS notes:
The good news is I got the 152.5kg PR more or less as a matter of course but perhaps it cost me the chance to get a bunch of doubles with 142.5kg as I planned. I wanted to get 4 doubles which would equal 8 reps just 1 rep short of the rx, and if you add in the heavy max single that would make 9 reps total as rx (3x3x142.5). I ended up doing a total of 6 reps, 3 short. I was totally spent by that last single so I didn't attempt any more. I could have done backoff sets but everything felt so heavy I just didn't feel like it, esp knowing I have to go out and jump later tonight.
The fact I did less volume than planned, and without any good mornings, I feel means i'll be able to attempt a heavy front squat on light day friday. Maybe even a PR set of 5 or 3, i will see how it goes, if my back feels nice and fresh i'll do so otherwise no drama stick to the light sets as RX.
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obviously those things are true and being lighter is easier on your joints. i'm just recommending that you treat weight loss almost as a side benefit of getting in shape, rather than focusing on weight loss as an end goal. shift focus to conditioning (and may i add: sport-specific conditioning) and maybe do some light calorie restriction if you really want to, but don't actively try to lose 20kg this time around. just my two cents.
I get what you're saying. It's just i've seen so many people on the internets who are very overweight and afraid of cutting who fool themselves into thinking they can get fat loss thru training alone without actually doing the hard work on the food side of the equation. But I know what you are describing is true to a certain extent. Anytime you add in conditioning when you haven't been doing it, say thru playing ball, then you'll lose SOME bodyfat from the addition of that extra activity and/or the special role of conditioning. And since I have been doing zero conditioning that's going to be even more true for me. So i accept that and agree. But I also know that if i'm 10-20kg overweight (say from 10% bodyfat) then i def will have to do a lot of dieting to get down to my desired level of leanness.
But i'll do something different this time and i'll take your advice for a change and TOTALLY allow my body comp changes to come from playing ball and in training for ball. I think if I can get down to around 15% bodyfat without actively obsessively dieting then i'll spare myself and everyone around here a lot of annoyance of being that dieting guy. Lets give it a shot. See where it takes me.
Maybe you have never been really lean... but all those symptoms you mention (and more) come right back when you get really really lean. Leaning down to under 5% makes me feel like I have a cold and everything starts to hurt. You will REALLY miss the lack of fat when you land on your tailbone on the basketball court. You might jump higher; but for a contact sport I would be cautious about cutting too much fat. Especially preseason. It will go away during season a bit anyway. You have added appreciable muscle (hopefully) since the last time you cut to 75kg.... Trying to get your weight down close to there again might result in some levels of leanness that you just don't want.
I think i'd never get that low bodyfat without using a lot of drugs. I just dont have that sort of metabolism. Plus i'm old now, 30 years old. 5% now is nuts. I'm just after 10% or so. And if you're thinking how is this guy 6'3" talking about getting down to 75kg again and not being some ridiculous low bodyfat level, it's because we saw last time that i wasn't THAT lean at 165lb. I hadn't even started to getting rid of stubborn bodyfat around my chest and lower back. I didn't have a full six pac. This time around it might be different cause i've gained some mass (hopefully) but you never know until you actually get there and see.
Btw last time i was cutting, i actually achieved my best vertical jump at around 83kg. My lifts then were very low in comparison to what they are now. As in what was a 1RM then is an easy warmup now. So hopefully around 85kg i'll actually be pretty lean and athletic. I have gained some mass in my legs, they aren't as stick like as before. But i know from experience everyone thinks they're big and strong after a bulk, and it takes the cold reality of a cut to see the truth once all is said and done.
Being under 5% to play basketball :o that's insane. Personally I feel a million times better playing at ~180-5lbs ~10-12% bf as opposed to 210-215lbs ~18% bf, man that was a bad time.
Yep! Same here. Btw awesome work with the cut, very impressive results brother.
Anyway i'll take LBSS advice. Let me wrap up RSR next week and then we're going head first into bball training mode!!!
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Just came back from jumping. Had let 2 hours go since squatting but I had to wait home before I cud go out and jump. Got it in rushedly but amazing session. I started off very rusty. MY svjs were weak and wack. RVJ were amazing. I was dunking as strong and smoothly as I could remember back when I was a lightweight. Felt so good. I could have become that explosive guy i wanted to be, who could do a powerful jam off a coupla steps, albeit now i weigh a man size ~100kg. Imagine that, me dunking at ~100kg. I'm not supposed to be able to do this shit. Sure i'm not in danger of doing a windmill at a bodyweight of 260lb like our Chris Hickson. I'm never gonna be that strong etc. But i've got closer right now that i ever imagined.
Can't wait to see my abs again :ibjumping: :ibsquatting:
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Training
FS 1x130
BS 6x2x120
BP 3x92.5 (PR)
FS notes:
I wasn't super tempted to go for a PR today. I am weary of injury for what would have been a meaningless PR today. On another day the PR would be worth more, say once i've wrapped up RSR.
BS notes:
Just the rx.
BP notes:
I can't understand how i've been easing off bp big time due to injury, and then i can go in and do a heavy PR set just like that.
5 weeks down, just 1 left! Only one hard workout left, monday's. Then testing a new max on friday.
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Played 3 on 3 basketball for 2 hours. I probably shouldn't have and got some rest instead. Felt good for the most part. I did find myself wishing to be quicker though, i couldn't shake off defenders or keep up on defense. Squatting probably doesn't do anything for the ability to move side to side quickly huh? I had a chance for a dunk but i didn't have the hops to do it. Going to rest and recover now and get ready for week 6.
Bodyweight: 94.5kg
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Fared pretty poorly the next day. Soreness all over, legs, hips, buttocks, lower back, upper body. Ugh. I took it as a sign and smashed a lot of protein, starting with 2 shakes. Drank over a litre of milk. Ate eggs, bread, ham. Loads of chicken. Pasta. Went out for a birthday dinner at a thai restaurant -- ate loads again, green curry chicken and phad thai represent. I haven't been this full in a long time. I also did a fair bit of restorative work, stretchin and rollin. Feels pretty good at the end of the day. Lets see how it goes tomorrow.
Just for fun i'll go weigh my self and see how it compares to the morning bodyweight.
Morning bw: 94.25kg
Night bw: 97.5 kg
delta: 3.25kg (7 pounds for my imperial brothers)
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Training
FS 1x140 (PR)
BS 1x150, 0Fx155, 1x150, 1x140
JUMPZ 6xRVJ, 3xSVJ
FS notes:
I felt like a FS PR today. And i didn't bother with some small change one, went all in for the 3 plate milestone. Got it without any fuss. I don't even think that's my max right now but i'm happy enough for the moment to get my goal of 140kg. Focus meanwhile remains on backsquats.
BS notes:
Plan was to double 150, get a new PR of 155, and then do a single of 150 to complete the rx of 4 reps of 150kg. I wasn't fresh enough to do that though. I didn't force the issue on the double. Nor on the 155 max. I remembered to knee-in action on the next rep of 150kg which was a slow grinder, i think because I fatigued myself on the 155. All in all, i ended up attempting 5 heavy squats which I believe is enough work for the day.
Jump notes:
Excited after getting my squats in, i went to ball with my friends. Did some jumping. Was a bit slow and sluggish to get going. But got warmed up eventually to dunk ok.
I've been playing too much ball lately, which is not helping my weights sessions. But i am embracing it because it will improve my chances of keeping my shit together once i've finished the program and moved on to a fat loss and conditioning phase centered around basketball while maintaining my absolute strenght and building my relative strength in the gym.
Not sure if i wanna bench today. May do, or leave it for weds.
So that was the last hard squat session of the program. Light day wednesday, max out on friday.
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Looking good^^^
You're still SO slow in your plants and moves and everything... you should start doing some more plyos and sprints and stuff like that when you think you've had enough with strength training.
Just cycle these things out.
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Looking good^^^
You're still SO slow in your plants and moves and everything... you should start doing some more plyos and sprints and stuff like that when you think you've had enough with strength training.
Just cycle these things out.
agree.
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But that beard....epic sir, epic.
I'm going to have to agree with Raptor and LBSS, just imagine how much higher you'll be jumping with a proper run up and low BF though!
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sikhs do tend to have big beards. comes with the whole not-cutting-your-hair thing.
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Ah, still badass.
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When is the last time you've done plyometric work? You look like a guy with a lot of untapped strength into power. You're like a mini-tractor that sucks when he's pushed at high RPM.
Looking good^^^
You're still SO slow in your plants and moves and everything... you should start doing some more plyos and sprints and stuff like that when you think you've had enough with strength training.
Just cycle these things out.
agree.
But that beard....epic sir, epic.
I'm going to have to agree with Raptor and LBSS, just imagine how much higher you'll be jumping with a proper run up and low BF though!
Raptor i haven't done plyometric stuff since last summer when I dabbled at it for a few weeks. Did depth jumps from 24" or so? I didn't measure it out just used a retaining wall near the basketball court. I haven't done sprints in ages. They used to make my legs too sore to squat normally but i really loved doing them when I did.
If you want to run up faster. Do you just .. run up faster? Is that what I should be focusing on? I will think about it next time.
It's still really early for me. I only played ball for the first time on saturday. Then played again monday. And will play friday once more. Saturday I was really slow and unexplosive. Monday I was much much faster but still quite ultimately slow. So i'm going to get a lot of muscle memory gains each time i play for a while. But when it stops working i'll need to ask for help. I actually would like to know what sort of things would give me the most value for the buck. If there is a low-impact exercise or activity which can make me more reactive i'm all ears. I used to love doing short sprints, 5x30m but they leave my legs too smashed to play ball normally and/or squat well. Maybe i'll try longer sprints this time and do 200m ones instead? I can try that friday.
I haven't reached my strength goals though so i'm going to keep trying to push my squats up. I feel a 180kg backsquat will make me strong enough and if I achieve it my front squat will be round that 2xbw corner. Otherwise the only way my front squat becomes a double bw is if i do the long cut to 75kg which i've been advised to avoid.
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You probably won't be able to stabilize the plant properly if you try to run up faster to the plant spot, or you will decelerate and plant at your "normal" speed.
IMO you need to do high volume 2-leg bounds, hurdles and sprints in order to get better at controlling your body first at higher speeds, then you can try faster plants.
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one thing t0ddday told me about when we trained together a couple months back was "earning" the steps. so for high jumpers, they're only allowed to take a run-up out to the number of steps where they get diminishing returns. if you don't jump any higher from two steps than one, you only get two. when your two-step jump is better than your one-step jump, you get three, and so on. that's what i've been doing on the court recently, even adjusting by day: some days i'm good out to three and others not. but it allows you to practice being as explosive and fast as possible out to the distance where your body and brain can handle it. worth a shot.
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one thing t0ddday told me about when we trained together a couple months back was "earning" the steps. so for high jumpers, they're only allowed to take a run-up out to the number of steps where they get diminishing returns. if you don't jump any higher from two steps than one, you only get two. when your two-step jump is better than your one-step jump, you get three, and so on. that's what i've been doing on the court recently, even adjusting by day: some days i'm good out to three and others not. but it allows you to practice being as explosive and fast as possible out to the distance where your body and brain can handle it. worth a shot.
Interesting. What's the deal if my running jump is at least 4+ greater than my three step jump or drop step jump?
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having seen a short clip of you jumping, i doubt that you do get 4" more from a full run up than a three-step run up. or if you do, you're doing the three-step wrong. you look like me, medium-efficient and medium-fast, better than entropy (though we're short and so can't dunk) or vag but not exactly smooth or springy or fast. you jump maybe an inch higher than i do right now.
try to work your way out from a drop-step one day and see if you really do get any benefit from the steps you take before the final two or three.
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having seen a short clip of you jumping, i doubt that you do get 4" more from a full run up than a three-step run up. or if you do, you're doing the three-step wrong. you look like me, medium-efficient and medium-fast, better than entropy (though we're short and so can't dunk) or vag but not exactly smooth or springy or fast. you jump maybe an inch higher than i do right now.
try to work your way out from a drop-step one day and see if you really do get any benefit from the steps you take before the final two or three.
Yea, I'm still trying to improve my run up. I have a much faster run up when I'm not thinking too hard about it. Is springiness a quality that can be learned? Or is it just based on how high you jump? Ex: A person with a over a 40'' vert will always look springy.
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no it's not based on jump height, although springy people tend to jump higher. kingfish jumps 40" but looks slow as fuck, he's just very powerful. same for chris hickson when he was around. dreyth, but less so. some people are naturally springy and others aren't, a lot is based on genetic things like body structure, tendon length, and so on. people like you and me have a lower ceiling than people like, uh, actually most of the gifted two-leg jumpers on here are gone (taylorhorton, rip, rutgersdunker). chris m and matt a come to mind, i guess. but none of those guys has the springs that taylorhorton had, or certainly that rutgersdunker has. that dude is an animal.
but we can definitely improve movement efficiency, grace, speed, and power. no doubt about it. adarq went from touching rim to dunking off one leg, which is truly awesome and frankly a big part of why i'm still going at this.
will just make it that much more satisfying when we finally do throw down. :ibjumping:
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one thing t0ddday told me about when we trained together a couple months back was "earning" the steps. so for high jumpers, they're only allowed to take a run-up out to the number of steps where they get diminishing returns. if you don't jump any higher from two steps than one, you only get two. when your two-step jump is better than your one-step jump, you get three, and so on.
Brilliant, just brilliant!!!
Is springiness a quality that can be learned? Or is it just based on how high you jump? Ex: A person with a over a 40'' vert will always look springy.
Yes it is trainable quality. It is arguable to what extent it is, but it is. Plyos and explosive lifts ( jump squats, speed squats, o-lifts ) is the way. And obviously ( but very often neglected ), if you want to improve your RVJ efficiency you need to train your RVJ itself more than anything. Some great stuff about plyometric ability, how much it can be improved and how, here: http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/plyomyths.html
No, i don't believe it is directly related to the inches you can jump. Your 40+ example is extreme, indeed i doubt that you can reach 40+ without having your bounce up to par, unless you are some kind of freak that can just power-jump 40+ ( inb4, kf ). But to get down to the real world, you can see entropy looking terribly slow and clumsy while he jumps ~35'' ( rough estimation ). Myself and LBSS have reached 35'' too at some point, but our runups looked bad ( mine VERY bad ). So n=3 already. Agree with LBSS, keep improving what you can, that's the only way.
Edit:
About rutgersdunker, not doubting his bounce at all, but if i could choose to have a quality of his, it would not be his bounce:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKmw4hGCbwA
:trollface:
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entropy is ~6'4 in shoes so i'd guess his reach is ~8'1 (5" taller than me and long-limbed, give him 7" extra reach). he's getting say 4" below his wrist on the last jump there. so...actually yeah that's about 33". looking slow. fuck.
edit: between squatting and jumping i'd go with jumping in a heartbeat. but yeah, he's a beast, we all know it.
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Then go the adarqui route: anorexic dunking!
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no it's not based on jump height, although springy people tend to jump higher. kingfish jumps 40" but looks slow as fuck, he's just very powerful. same for chris hickson when he was around. dreyth, but less so. some people are naturally springy and others aren't, a lot is based on genetic things like body structure, tendon length, and so on. people like you and me have a lower ceiling than people like, uh, actually most of the gifted two-leg jumpers on here are gone (taylorhorton, rip, rutgersdunker). chris m and matt a come to mind, i guess. but none of those guys has the springs that taylorhorton had, or certainly that rutgersdunker has. that dude is an animal.
but we can definitely improve movement efficiency, grace, speed, and power. no doubt about it. adarq went from touching rim to dunking off one leg, which is truly awesome and frankly a big part of why i'm still going at this.
will just make it that much more satisfying when we finally do throw down. :ibjumping:
Does being quick (being able to change directions extremely fast, able to maneuver short distances extremely quickly) have anything to do with springiness? I'm thinking springiness is just looking athletic.
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Springiness is basically bounce but I'm not sure whether there would be a correlation between bounce and agility.
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Springiness is the expression of strength on the right body structure to be expressed as springiness.
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I looked through some old videos. RutgersDunker doesn't seem that springy? He seems to get up extremely high with all that strength and power. Same with adarqui and Kingfish. RutgersDunker looks a lot smoother and more "athletic" though.
This is another guy that gets up with pure strength. He does squat 3x bodyweight at 5'7 though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6ZnghUUKOw
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Few things...
First I really like what Toddday said, that's a very sound way to make sure you aren't wasting energy being inefficient.
Second, thanks LBSS but I don't think I'm overly gifted at all.
And lastly I don't think agility has a direct correlation to 'springiness' or 'bounce'. It can certainly help if you're naturally like that as it points to some positive structural/neural tendencies that with training would help your vert but I know lots of guys that can stop on a dime or change direction instantly that can't fly. Tony Parker comes to mind or the professor or hot sauce. My friend I'm training with as well, he changes directions in an instant but his vert is 10-12" lower than mine.
Maybe that bouncy look is what you get from doing it (jumping) all the time. Ex: most NBA guys appear bouncier than a NFL guy but a quick glance at combine numbers shows that the vert for skill position football players blows away a ton of NBA guys verts. The basketball guys just have a more esthetically pleasing jump. Just my observatiosns of course. :)
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Like I said, strength on the rightly structured body will look like springiness.
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Agree with raptor. Tbh i don't believe much in bounce. That's why i said i'd prefer rudger's strength over bounce, it was a 100% jump-related statement. Someone with huge relative strength and awful bounce will still jump damn high, maybe his RVJ will look terrible and will be only 1'' higher than his SVJ, but it will be 40-ish. Not the same case with someone with awesome bounce but weak. I also want to note that our n=1 gets too strong here. So i, with my old rusty degenerated joints, am expected to not believe in bounce much. I did (half)squat my way up from 24'' to 35'' anyway. LBSS who is a healthy fit lean 2*BW squatter but cant jump over 35'' would be the oposite example i guess, bounce is his last hope. What to do? Nothing new, keep improving everything we can.
So, entropy, you used to have a journal? ;D
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Training
FS omitted (!)
BS 2x6x120
BP 6x50, 6x60
FS notes:
Need my legs fresh for fridays max sesh so allowed da fronts. Btw my right quad has been unusually more sore. I think it's from all the jumping and basketball i've been playing -- which is cool cause i guess it shows up an imbalance or weakness that hopefully i'm correcting as I get better at SSC at this high bodyweight while eating a lot.
BS notes:
Why don't these ever seem so easy? Light day my ass.
Going to binge my way thru the rest of this week. I've decided to go for a 160kg max on friday. It should be do-able if I skip front again, do minimal upper body work today, and no basketball or jumping for the rest of the week. 2 sleeps + good diet + no training + restfulness should do the trick.
I just want to make a note in passing, while my legs have gotten a bit bigger on this squat program, it's my ass which has truly grown. I just shocked myself by looking in the mirror and seeing it after gyming. It must have happened overnight because I can swear I dont remember it being so prominent :o
Vag lol thanks! i don't mind at all, i'm happy for the free exchange of ideas and thoughts to take place here! It's been pretty interesting to read.
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Yeah but being bouncy (having good structure) is your winning lottery ticket for being able to jump high while still being weak.
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^True, but it is easy to stop being weak while it is impossible to stop having bad/mediocre structure. No shit sherlock. You know , i know , we all know. We all train strength AND bounce trying to find balance between fixing weaknesses and emphasizing qualities. The reason i insist on this is not for the shake of the argument, i think we all agree ( with slight perception differences ). The reason i insist is the case someone reading this is new at jump training, it should be heard clear that strength is a much more trainable quality than bounce and a much better bet for vert improvement. And right now, as Avishek was away from the pc doing something totally irrelevant, his head still exploded! :D
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Heads exploding is nonsensical, it has nothing to do with this bullshit.
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Few things...
First I really like what Toddday said, that's a very sound way to make sure you aren't wasting energy being inefficient.
Second, thanks LBSS but I don't think I'm overly gifted at all.
me neither. :P i was just trying to think who on here actually jumps high right now while not looking sluggish doing it. also, ian, gp about rutgersdunker, guess i hadn't watched his dunk/jump vids in a while. whatever, it was a sidebar anyway.
And lastly I don't think agility has a direct correlation to 'springiness' or 'bounce'. It can certainly help if you're naturally like that as it points to some positive structural/neural tendencies that with training would help your vert but I know lots of guys that can stop on a dime or change direction instantly that can't fly. Tony Parker comes to mind or the professor or hot sauce. My friend I'm training with as well, he changes directions in an instant but his vert is 10-12" lower than mine.
i'd agree with this
Maybe that bouncy look is what you get from doing it (jumping) all the time. Ex: most NBA guys appear bouncier than a NFL guy but a quick glance at combine numbers shows that the vert for skill position football players blows away a ton of NBA guys verts. The basketball guys just have a more esthetically pleasing jump. Just my observatiosns of course. :)
exactly. the point is that "springy" is just an aesthetic judgment about how someone looks when they jump. but it says something about how they get up. an nfl guy is likely to be much more powerful than an nba player because he has to be stronger and heavier to play his sport at that level than the nba guy does. but that's not to say there aren't some nfl guys who aren't springy or nba guys who aren't powerful. it probably has a lot to do with body structure and biomechanics. you can affect the latter to a point but you can't make your legs longer.
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I think it also has something to do with your "structure" in terms of tendon and bone actual "thickness" if you will.
If you're a naturally frail guy that goes up in weight at SOME point, despite your muscle gains, the tendons and bones don't adapt that well like muscle does and when you plant at your heavier self of now the mechanoreceptors, golgi tendon organ, call it whatever, will see that extreme load (due to speed + your heavier bodyweight) as dangerous for the tendons/bones and will shut you down.
So I think springiness is also somewhat closely related to being "light". If you're born with thick bones and thick tendons and you're naturally heavy but you have the proper structure in terms of tension distribution, levers etc, you can still be "bouncy" (think a guy like LeBron or Barkley being very heavy and still being somewhat bouncy, being able to jump off one leg well etc).
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Good discussion. A few points.
And lastly I don't think agility has a direct correlation to 'springiness' or 'bounce'. It can certainly help if you're naturally like that as it points to some positive structural/neural tendencies that with training would help your vert but I know lots of guys that can stop on a dime or change direction instantly that can't fly. Tony Parker comes to mind or the professor or hot sauce. My friend I'm training with as well, he changes directions in an instant but his vert is 10-12" lower than mine.
i'd agree with this
Using sports performance as a measure of athleticism is always a poor idea. They are related but always a combination of skill and reactivity. Lionel Messi looks ridiculously quick to me, but I have no idea if that's 70% skill and 30% reactivity. Even wide receivers can make up for a large amount of speed/reactivity and appear quick if they are masters of route running. There are so many easier ways. IMO the simplest skill wise is just multiple two legged bounds vs repeated broad jumps.
Maybe that bouncy look is what you get from doing it (jumping) all the time. Ex: most NBA guys appear bouncier than a NFL guy but a quick glance at combine numbers shows that the vert for skill position football players blows away a ton of NBA guys verts. The basketball guys just have a more esthetically pleasing jump. Just my observatiosns of course. :)
exactly. the point is that "springy" is just an aesthetic judgment about how someone looks when they jump. but it says something about how they get up. an nfl guy is likely to be much more powerful than an nba player because he has to be stronger and heavier to play his sport at that level than the nba guy does. but that's not to say there aren't some nfl guys who aren't springy or nba guys who aren't powerful. it probably has a lot to do with body structure and biomechanics. you can affect the latter to a point but you can't make your legs longer.
I'd be careful using NBA combine numbers. Ty Lawson and Demar Derozon are both listed as 29 inch verticals. I can tell you watching Deron train in college... No way that number is legit. Seeing Ty Lawson wind up and dunk on the Lakers once... I don't think his max running vertical is 36 inches either. You have to understand that the NFL combine is a make or break event where millions of dollars are earned or lost. Players train exclusively for each event and then try and peak during testing. NBA players are drafted 99% on game tape. Derek Rose would have been the first pick had his vertical been 18 inches. Everyone new he could jump because they saw what he did to the rim and it is always 10 feet! It's not like college football where you could look fast because of good offensive line and slow defenders in your conference so it isn't taken seriously by most of the players and comparing a half hearted vertical jump by an NBA guy to a somewhat cheated vertical at an NFL combine does not make sense.
^True, but it is easy to stop being weak while it is impossible to stop having bad/mediocre structure. No shit sherlock. You know , i know , we all know. We all train strength AND bounce trying to find balance between fixing weaknesses and emphasizing qualities. The reason i insist on this is not for the shake of the argument, i think we all agree ( with slight perception differences ). The reason i insist is the case someone reading this is new at jump training, it should be heard clear that strength is a much more trainable quality than bounce and a much better bet for vert improvement.
I don't totally agree with this. Reactivity or springiness is not just a result of structure. Additionally strength training may be easier to improve as far as weight room numbers but you can't promise carryover.... I think this advice is great for the guy who traditionally wants to increase his vertical jump.... the basketball junky. The guy who plays 5 hours of pickup ball a day and is constantly trying to throw lobs to himself during the time between pick up games. That guy needs to get in the weight room. But for a guy like LBSS who isn't really a basketball player it's REALLY important for him to do some actual jumping and get more springy/reactive. Reactivity is a consequence of structure, strength, and coordination! Strength and coordination can certainly be improved. I explained the physics of reactivity on depth jumps already with Avishek but in a nutshell with strength and coordination you can get better at storing force for longer (so you have more time to produce force yourself) AND storing more force. I'm not much of a jumper but after the track season ended last year I spent about 3 weeks jumping 3 times per week. I went from 2-3 inches away from hitting my head on the 9'2'' backboard at 5'10.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFqQrh6xid8
Raptor pointed out to me that I was jumping by first planting my left foot and then rapidly swinging and planting my right. This increased coordination allowed me to jump a lot higher. Observing LBSS his approach jumps of more than 2-3 steps all resulted in stutter steps and then 2 step jumps. So while he could complain about his lack of ability to 7 step jump.... He actually hadn't yet acquired the skill to a seven step jump. IMO that's the quickest bang for his buck.
So I think springiness is also somewhat closely related to being "light". If you're born with thick bones and thick tendons and you're naturally heavy but you have the proper structure in terms of tension distribution, levers etc, you can still be "bouncy" (think a guy like LeBron or Barkley being very heavy and still being somewhat bouncy, being able to jump off one leg well etc).
That's a pretty good point. It's a lot easier to be reactive when you are "light" where light is dependent on your body type. Entropy looks lumbering at his current weight despite the fact that he weighs less than me and is like 5 inches taller.
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t0ddday i think you misread vag slightly. when he says "bounce" he means the kind of effortless reactivity that comes to people like raptor described in his last post: people who are light with "good" structure for jumping. gerald green is the prototype. dominique wilkins, dr. j, michael jordan, that ridiculously tall kid from bahrain who's really good at high jump. i don't think vag would ever say that you can't improve jumping through practice, or that practicing jumping isn't the most important thing you can do to improve your jump, especially if you're not getting lots of little jumps in and around playing a sport.
obvious point about the combines is obvious, but worth repeating. they are not comparable.
also, very true about sport-specific skill translating as quickness: i'm pretty quick playing ultimate frisbee because i know how to play. but i plod playing basketball because my poor handles mean i'm not confident with the ball. same with soccer. that's not to say there's not an innate component to quickness, just that movement efficiency is a skill that can be learned and improved dramatically with purposeful practice, which i think was your point.
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^Correct! To be fair with toddday my last post could be misread easily. I was referring to noobs, that is the key. LBSS is a guy that has already strength trained for years to reach 2*BW, he was not part of my argument. If i may rephrase it, it would be "You need to have a good strength foundation before starting to worry about ways to express it better".
Yeah, if i ever say that you don't need to jump when trying to improve jumping, please ban me from this site! :P
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^Correct! To be fair with toddday my last post could be misread easily. I was referring to noobs, that is the key. LBSS is a guy that has already strength trained for years to reach 2*BW, he was not part of my argument. If i may rephrase it, it would be "You need to have a good strength foundation before starting to worry about ways to express it better".
Yeah, if i ever say that you don't need to jump when trying to improve jumping, please ban me from this site! :P
Vag, are you saying that people who aren't strong yet shouldn't do any power exercises (jump squats or reactive squats or depth jumps) and just focus on squatting and jumping? I'm doing squatting, power exercises, and lots of jumping right now, and I'm not that strong yet.
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Training
BS 1x150, 0Fx160, 0Fx155
BBALL ~1hr
BP 3x95 (PR)
BS notes:
I was running late for basketball so I had to rush everything but still managed to be really late anyways. I have to say a few things - my choice of weights was probably wrong, i must admit in hindsight. I could have given it a lot more consideration. For instance. If my 1RM is 155-157.5kg then I shouldn't have done a single with 150kg first. It's too close to the max that it causes enough fatigue to prevent a successful PR attempt. But. It seemed like a jump from 140kg to 160kg was too steep. that's why I went for the intermediate 150kg. In hindsight my last warmup shuda been around 145kg only.
I'm pretty gutted at failing what I thought was an ideal end to the program -- 160kg max would have been sick. Unfortunately lack of sleep and having a cold and playing too much basketball on the last week cost me my goal PR.
Looking at the video now, i had it pretty controlled into the hole, came out of the hole ok. And i just couldn't get past the sticking point. I hate that about my squatting - i either get a rep strongly or fail. I don't have the opportunity to grind out a heavy 1RM like most ppl.
Basketball:
Pickup ball has been ramping up, i worked up a decent heart rate today. And hit a lot of my jumpers. To the point where leaving me open for a midrange was a defensive error costing points against. So that's the only good thing about training today. Otherwise very ordinary.
BP notes:
I did the cgbp today AFTER playing basketball. I think on a fresh day i could triple 97.5-100? I really want to get to 100kg just for the milestone then i'll work towards a 120kg max which is an awesome uperbody goal (to/for me). Surprisingly i'm being beginning to grow what appears to be pecs! I wonder what the next 10kg will bring? So exciting. Til very recently I had no visible pecs, just man boobs.
I feel pretty terrible about missing 160kg. I didn't even get a chance to weigh my fat ass so i dunno what bw was. Doesn't matter. Next week, new program. I am also putting an end to the unlimited eating. I am so sick of eating food now, i have turned myself off eating. Looking forward to eating less as of tomorrow onwards.
My new goal going forward is a 170kg backsquat @ bodyweight of 85kg. My plan for getting is quite obvious to me after my stint with the RSR. I'll just restart RSR with 130kg. The only difference is i'll try to bump up my 1 rep PR by 1-2.5kg every week, so i wont be going 6 weeks before attempting a heavy PR again. Ie. i'm adapting RSR to my needs. I will also be capping volume to under 25 reps, no 6x6s this time around while on a caloric deficit. Oh and basketball takes precedence so i'll have to be really smart about recovery. But yeah thie job is only half done. I need to get the 2xbw BS out of the way asap, it's the easiest most trivial goal I am embarassed not to have done yet.
Also, sad day today. Rip to a fallen soldier, original OG, Mandela. Grew up looking up to him, we will miss him.
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Nice work grinding out that benchpress!
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^Correct! To be fair with toddday my last post could be misread easily. I was referring to noobs, that is the key. LBSS is a guy that has already strength trained for years to reach 2*BW, he was not part of my argument. If i may rephrase it, it would be "You need to have a good strength foundation before starting to worry about ways to express it better".
Yeah, if i ever say that you don't need to jump when trying to improve jumping, please ban me from this site! :P
Vag, are you saying that people who aren't strong yet shouldn't do any power exercises (jump squats or reactive squats or depth jumps) and just focus on squatting and jumping? I'm doing squatting, power exercises, and lots of jumping right now, and I'm not that strong yet.
I'm not sure what Vag would say to this but I'll answer with my take on this. This is *somewhat* true. It is "more true" when talking about a two footed jump than a one footed jump. However, the big problem with this is that being "not strong yet" is REALLY nebulous. I cringe every time I hear someone say you shouldn't start plyos until you can squat 2x bodyweight or some made up rule. There are MANY high jumpers who cannot squat close to 2x bodyweight but can jump over 7ft. Any coach who thinks the key to getting a few more inches out of them is to have them stick to squats and not expression of strength is an idiot. It's sort of a circular argument but the fact that they jump 7ft means that they are not weak!
So that's the answer in a nutshell... That advice is somewhat sound (again moreso for bilateral jumping) given that you don't use a simple definition (like bw to squat ratio) to determine whether you are strong/weak. Personally, since it's difficult to determine whether someone is strong/weak I would favor the following approach. First get an your athlete somewhat coordinated at reactive jumping/movement. Get his movement efficiency to where you can accurately asses his ability to jump. Depending on the athletes background this can take a long time. IMO you may be "weak" but it's really not priority #1 until you are at least coordinated enough for it to matter. Otherwise you end up deciding your weak and adding a bunch strength that doesn't carryover. The same needs to be done with weight training but the time required to build coordination doesn't take as long in the worst case. The initial gains in your squat will be all movement efficiency and won't translate to much. Anyway only after the athlete is coordinated and reactive enough for his weakness to carryover should strength training really be the focus. True novices will often be really weak and unreactive. However, IMO from a performance standpoint they will be less reactive than they are weak; and so this should be the first priority; otherwise you risk turning them into a buff uncoordinated slob. The exception is of course athletes who don't strength train. If you have played a skill position in football your entire life but haven't lifted weights and now want to focus on vertical jumping.... You probably are weak but reactive enough for strength training to really make a difference. There are a million tests to figure out if your athlete is weak/strong reactive/unreactive but they all may require some time for coordiation to be learned. Bottom test BOTH attributes before you proceed.
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It's interesting how you lifted your left foot off the floor as you missed the rep... I wonder if you were loading up more on your left leg or something.
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As for what Today is saying, I totally agree. It's like driving a car. First you need to learn to drive a car. A slow car is good for that. It's better (in a way) to start weak and start getting coordinated. If you're strong and you're not coordinated and you start applying a lot of power in an uncoordinated movement you can more easily get injured.
Then as you learned to drive this slow car you can start working on upgrading the engine (strength train). And then once you have this faster engine you can start working on trying to drive the car faster, as the new engine allows that to happen.
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Nice work grinding out that benchpress!
Thanks! Hopefully the 3x97.5kg coming friday won't be grindy.
It's interesting how you lifted your left foot off the floor as you missed the rep... I wonder if you were loading up more on your left leg or something.
Yeah. My right foot from my perspective always rotates like that when i fail. Left is my strong side of the body so it makes sense. I got greedy i really should have gone for 155 or 157.5kg instead with a smart warmup of around 145kg. So annoyed with myself. I might give it another go on monday. But to do that i have to take this weekend off to rest and play no bball.
This past week i played ball on saturday, then monday then friday. 3 times is quite a lot when i was trying to peak my squat. I regret that but if I don't play ball when my friends want to, they might lose interest and then later when I want to play they might be unwilling. So in a way i'm just going along even though i realise it's supoptimal to ramp up so aggressively especially at my high bodyweight right now.
This is another thing i wanted to mention. I am taking quite a beating to the hips and legs from playing heavy. I landed pretty hard yesterday and it shook me up. My lower back has been feeling funky ever since. This is what I was avoiding. It's also costing me in the gym. Maybe there is an adaptation period to it and after which thing will be much easier to recover from? But perhaps I should just get my bodyweight down into the mid 80s first? I don't want to waste time though when i could be getting in ball shape. So. i'm in two minds. Keep playing ball, and take the hit to my squats. Or get my squats up and get bodyweight down first before playing a lot of ball.
I really strongly want to 160kg @ 95kg backsquat out of the way asap as that was my RSR goal. It has to be at 95kg or more otherwise it's not as valuable to me. So getting say 160@ 93kg will be worse in my eyes. But that's with shoes and clothes and everything. So my bodyweight in the morning could be as low as say 91-92kg and it will still be ok. For the record this morning i am 94.6kg.
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Played ball again lolz. Was a lot more explosive today jumping. But on that end of the court the rim is low so it's not really anything special. I am going to try the Broz approach of embracing the dark times. Perhaps i'll adapt and come out of it ok.
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I thought my legs have been looking bigger the last 2 days but it was probably in my head but thighs measured out to 27" (!) this morning. I had a discussion wiht mutombo in my log a while back about leg sizze and we both had similar leg size of around 23.5" or so from memory. I remember saying i just wanted to have 25" legs. Well now I have 27" and I still don't think that's enough for my frame to not look skinny.
I feel as though right now my squat is limited not by my leg size or strength but my ability to stabilise my body out of the bottom of the movement. ie, i need more ham+back+abdominal strength. Maybe at most an inch more to my legs needed to be able to backsquat 4 plates and 2xbw? Will see. I n the meantime i need to figure out a way to get my back strong. It's probably where i'm lacking hte most right now, even outside the gym. If my back was stronger i wouldn't have injured it again playing basketball on monday. I hope it heals soon!
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Training
FS 1x137.5
BS 1x145, 6x2x130
FS notes:
Honestly had no idea what to attempt on FS today. i felt that I wasn't ready to do a repeatable 140kg just yet, but i didn't wanna go as low as 135. It's all bullshit really. I will work up to a repeatable 140kg and once i get there then i'll find out what my max is, hopefully on the strong side of 145kg.
BS notes:
Fuck basketball, has ruined my backsquat and hurt my back :( I am having serious form problems have found myself with technique amnesia on the heavy reps. I think i eventually figured it out during 3rd double of 130kg but by then enough fatigue had accumlated that i couldn't go for a PR. For the record I failed a string of reps starting from 145-153.5kg which i haven't logged.
So russian squat program redux. This time i'll get more out of it after my first attempt. Bring it on!
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not complicated to get back stronger. ask kingfish: hypers and revsere hypers, and lots of heavy pulling for the upper back. done.
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not complicated to get back stronger. ask kingfish: hypers and revsere hypers, and lots of heavy pulling for the upper back. done.
I just hate doing (back) exercises which disrupt squat progress. I'll start to do good mornings, deadlift, ab wheel or whatever assistance exercise and then when I find it's ruining my squat workouts i'll stop doing them :( Also my workouts get too long if i do anything more than squats and a pressing exercise . And the one time I devoted myself to a year of posterior chain exercise - the RDL -- it gave me nothing for my dedicated efforts which is something I don't want to repeat again.
edit The prospect of doing an assistance exercise for a long period of time is repulsive but I am more amenable to doing a 'back specialisation' for say 3 weeks? Is there such a thing. Also open to rotating assitance exercises every 3 weeks or so. That way I won't get bored and stop doing them since there will be something else around the corner to look forward to rather than the dread and monotony of the same exercise.
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if you think you can take it psychologically, i'd try doing one assistance exercise at a time for your back, low weight, moderate-to-high reps, after squatting. so start with 3x10 really light good mornings, maybe. or hypers, which you can do on a bench.
also, 27" is huge! :o
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if you think you can take it psychologically, i'd try doing one assistance exercise at a time for your back, low weight, moderate-to-high reps, after squatting. so start with 3x10 really light good mornings, maybe. or hypers, which you can do on a bench.
When you put it that way i can def work with that. Thanks so much. I see now that I need to keep it fresh and interesting, i couldn't stand the thought of doing the same assistance exercise for a long time. Also starting conservatively so it doesn't disrupt regular training is a lesson i've always had to learn the hard way.
also, 27" is huge! :o
lol, 27" sounds crazy to me too but it's true even when cold. After squatting it goes up half an inch. But I do weigh 96 or whatever it is now so dunno.
I just realised I still have to lie about my squats. I was too embarssed to tell my friend that i'm a lowly 140 and 155 squatter and instead said i am a 150 and 170. The latter is my current goal sure, but i'm not there yet. So I have work to do.
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LBSS that is 5'10''/180 will consider 27'' quads huge while entropy that is 6'3''/210+ is just content with them. Mine are 25,5'' now and they don't even look big. I remember the other day, avishek logged that his arms are 14'' and everyone at the gym is checking him out and i was like wtf, mine are 16,5'' and i feel they look just above average. But then i remembered avishek is 5'9''/165 or so, while i am 6'1''/200+ so his 14'' arms should indeed look proportionaly bigger.
Yeah, obvious analysis is obvious.
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LBSS that is 5'10''/180 will consider 27'' quads huge while entropy that is 6'3''/210+ is just content with them. Mine are 25,5'' now and they don't even look big. I remember the other day, avishek logged that his arms are 14'' and everyone at the gym is checking him out and i was like wtf, mine are 16,5'' and i feel they look just above average. But then i remembered avishek is 5'9''/165 or so, while i am 6'1''/200+ so his 14'' arms should indeed look proportionaly bigger.
Yeah, obvious analysis is obvious.
Naw.... This is different. Avisheks arm's are not big but if they are lean they will look muscular wheras 16 inch arms won't look impressive if your bodyfat is high... But 27'' quads are huge ESPECIALLY when you consider entropy is 6'3 and long legged. If his quads are really 27'' (28'' post workout) they should dwarf his physique. My quads are big enough that I have to buy custom suits for correct waist quad ratio and at my fattest and biggest my quads are 24.5'' when I am 5'11 220. To put it in perspective Frank Zane and Franco Columbo had 26'' quads, Arnold Schwarzenegger had 28'' quads. Only today's bodybuilders ( Jay Cutler and Ronnie Coleman have 31'' and 36'' inch quads) have significantly larger quads then Entropy and they are 100 pounds heavier and when you see then in person they look like actual cartoon characters...
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/best-bodybuilders-of-all-time.html
The only possibility here is that Entropy measured incorrectly (maybe converting to imperial or something) OR this is a sign of some crazy body dismorphia. His main goal is to jump higher... His quads are certainly not a hindrance in this department and would look silly compared to those of world class jumpers. If anything he should take this measurement to mean he has added enough mass to his quads already!
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holy shit, i went to play ball before replying to vag's post and came back to this. it's quite simple really, i never claimed my quads are 27" (!). I said thighs!! ie the biggest circumference around my leg. This is mostly upper hamstring with the remainder being my inner thigh muscles whatever they're called lol. It's not my quads. No way would I have 27" quads lol.
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^Totally agree about bf being more important than circumference in aesthetics, wanted to edit my post and add exactly that that but forgot.
Wouldn't bf affect thighs circumference too? IIRC entropy is about 20%bf now, for a 210lbs guy that would be ~30lbs of extra mass ( of not dense, bigger volume taking fat mass to be exact ) compared to a 6%bf bodybuilder of the same LBM.
One very important thing here would be to define where and how one should measure. Loose VMO area vs flexed upper thigh area would obviousely give huge circumference differences. I measure about 3/4 between knee and hip flexor and flexed, i guess that i am doing it wrong.
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Just checked quads and they're ~19.5" - which is dwarfed by todday's 24" quads (!) - but yeah i need a lot more meat on my quads to not have stick legs. I'm all ham (he says as he bites into a slice of ham and cheese pizza).
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LBSS that is 5'10''/180 will consider 27'' quads huge while entropy that is 6'3''/210+ is just content with them. Mine are 25,5'' now and they don't even look big. I remember the other day, avishek logged that his arms are 14'' and everyone at the gym is checking him out and i was like wtf, mine are 16,5'' and i feel they look just above average. But then i remembered avishek is 5'9''/165 or so, while i am 6'1''/200+ so his 14'' arms should indeed look proportionaly bigger.
Yeah, obvious analysis is obvious.
AHEM. i am 5'11 173...
Naw.... This is different. Avisheks arm's are not big but if they are lean they will look muscular wheras 16 inch arms won't look impressive if your bodyfat is high... But 27'' quads are huge ESPECIALLY when you consider entropy is 6'3 and long legged. If his quads are really 27'' (28'' post workout) they should dwarf his physique. My quads are big enough that I have to buy custom suits for correct waist quad ratio and at my fattest and biggest my quads are 24.5'' when I am 5'11 220. To put it in perspective Frank Zane and Franco Columbo had 26'' quads, Arnold Schwarzenegger had 28'' quads. Only today's bodybuilders ( Jay Cutler and Ronnie Coleman have 31'' and 36'' inch quads) have significantly larger quads then Entropy and they are 100 pounds heavier and when you see then in person they look like actual cartoon characters...
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/best-bodybuilders-of-all-time.html
The only possibility here is that Entropy measured incorrectly (maybe converting to imperial or something) OR this is a sign of some crazy body dismorphia. His main goal is to jump higher... His quads are certainly not a hindrance in this department and would look silly compared to those of world class jumpers. If anything he should take this measurement to mean he has added enough mass to his quads already!
...and my thighs are 24.5" cold. like t0ddday, i have to buy custom suits and buy normal pants several sized too big and have the waist taken in. i still don't get how he outweighs me by nearly 50 pounds. i wonder what entropy was actually measuring the first time around, because thigh measurement is generally, at least when buying pants, taken to mean the widest part of the thigh, right below the hip. how would one measure one's "quads" separately from the whole leg?
on a related note, the guy who used to be the fencing coach at UNC famously had 30" thighs. fucking huge.
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...and my thighs are 24.5" cold. like t0ddday, i have to buy custom suits and buy normal pants several sized too big and have the waist taken in. i still don't get how he outweighs me by nearly 50 pounds. i wonder what entropy was actually measuring the first time around, because thigh measurement is generally, at least when buying pants, taken to mean the widest part of the thigh, right below the hip. how would one measure one's "quads" separately from the whole leg?
on a related note, the guy who used to be the fencing coach at UNC famously had 30" thighs. fucking huge.
Ha, i haven't gone back on anything. My original measurements were so understood ^^ -- 27" around my thigh at the widest (nearer to the hips). And 19" at the smallest (closer to the knee).
The interesting thing is earlier this year during the summer when i was at my lightest at 75kg/165lb -- i had to squeeze into 32" pants which were too tight for me at the thighs but too loose at the waist. At that time my thighs (not quads !) were 23-24" just like mutombo when we compared in the log around may or june i can't remember exactly. Btw i dont own any clothes with those dimensions (eg 32" waist), i was wearing my bros clothes i found in his warddrobe. My goal was always to finish cutting to a legit 9-10% first before buying a new wardrobe. Nextmint i'm a 96kg obese guy with a 38" waist lol. The plus side is that i can fit into all my old clothes now. I bet no one ever said that before in this context hah.
You know if i did diet down to 9-10% i would still weigh less than you LBSS. Just find that funny.
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I have a 64 cm thigh and a 46 cm quad at the VMO "level". So 25 inch and 18 inch. Left leg by the way. Right leg is 64 and 45.
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I'm thinking a 180kg backsquat with a belt at a bodyweight under 90kg is a good goal for me after reading how belts help with leg muscle recruitment. I no longer see them as the antithesis of athletic training.
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Yeah they're really not... that's another one of your crazy self-imposed ideas based on nothing.
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Yeah they're really not... that's another one of your crazy self-imposed ideas based on nothing.
Not nothing, guilt from association with those who do heavy belted squat mornings but can't front squat (=leg and athletic check) for shit.
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Yeah they're really not... that's another one of your crazy self-imposed ideas based on nothing.
Not nothing, guilt from association with those who do heavy belted squat mornings but can't front squat (=leg and athletic check) for shit.
Well, then you'd be right haha
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Training
FS 1x135, 0Fx142.5
BS 0Fx145, 1x140, 1x145, 1x150, 1x140B, 1x150B, 1x155B (PR)
BS 6x3x130
BP 2x6x60
FS notes:
Had no plan for front squats. Was at a total whim I went for 142.5kg which i wasn't really prepared for. On a strong day it would have gone up i just cudnt get deep enough into the sticking point. Also my warmups are currently in flux so i'm focusing on that atm. Today I did 5x60, 3x100, 2x120, 1x135 and then went for 142.5 just because even though 140 wuda been better.
BS notes:
I am finding my form varies depending on the set being attempted. I have different form for volume worksets and heavy singles - which is not good cause ideally you want the same identical form. I just can't seem to work out what is the best across the board. Btw my warmup sequence went 3x100, 2x100, 1x135 and then the failure at 145. It appears I need to get 140kg first before I attempt 145. Idk, will have to think up a better warmup cause failing warmups sucks.
Experimented with a belt today. Did 140, 150, and 155 w/ a belt. I dunno how i feel about it just yet but i am liking the idea of hitting 170kg with a belt on my way to 180kg with a belt. I still have a goal for beltless -- i reckon 160kg beltless along the way is good enough, that's a 2xbw when i'm lean (9-10% ish).
So a rough plan for the next few weeks, maintain a repeatable 140kg front squat. And i think a good way to make 140kg repeatable is to PR 145kg. On backsquat work with 130kg for RSR for the first 3 weeks, no belt as usual. Make my form crisp and athletic. Then in weeks 4-6, i can start using belts as the RSR tapers off volume and into intensity. This shud take me to a 170kg belted max by RSR-W6D3. And by then my beltless max shud be 160kg. Which i am going to be pushing up steadily as a "warmup" before RSR volume sets. Do the occasional belted PR as well, just to learn the technique as I go along. Start to drop bodyweight. I want to maintain a 95kg pre-squatting weight but morning bodyweight shud be under 95kg, no need to get fatter than I already am. Also maintain and slowly build basketball fitness and keep practicing jumping regularly. Want to start sprinting too.
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Btw, why have you gotten so fat, 38'' waist sounds too much. No offence , i am more or less the same fat but also much weaker ( relatively and absolutely ). I ask because you started from a pretty lean state, you were at something like 12% judging from the pics? I started this year's bulk at a much fatter state of around 15% and now ( morning dry weight ~90kg, workout wet weight ~92kg, bulk gain ~7kg in 3 months ) my morning waist is around 36''. I would expect your bulking to be much more efficient, mostly because of the original lean state as Lyle preaches. Maybe you were bloated when you measured? Or maybe it was a ( too ) dirty bulk? Mine was pretty clean FWIW.
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Yeah I agree 38 is too much. Maybe it's 37 or osmething. I need to fix that. But you always had a smaller waist than me vag, even when i was lean I just got into the low 33s and high 32s but you were only an inch or so away from me, from memory even though you outweighed me by a lot.
I dont know about 12%. Pic below is the last one i took when i was lean, after the bball comp, early april.
(http://i.imgur.com/bMoBh8W.png)
I may have been as low as 12% maybe lower but it's hard to say for sure. I had to decide whether to continue cutting down to say 159lb (~72kg) or gain some mass even though i wasn't lean enuf. By then i was sick of cutting, it took me forever to get down to 165lb.
In the end i didn't have to make that decision because i got injured and i couldn't keep cutting while trying to heal. Nextmin i was up to 80kg. And to get back to my old PRs i started training hard but my bodyweight kept drifting up slowly. I got injured again just under 85kg. And by the time i had healed my bodyweight was over 85. And I had to decide whether to cut or get my lifts up. I started to cut but I didn't have the discipline to do it, life got in the way, i wasn't eating well and i stopped caring. Then around 87kg i decided to get strong after acole's challenge and my bodyweight went up very quickly as I ate loads to keep from stalling. Went up to 92kg quickly. Then i slowed down and gained 2 more kilo and that's where iam now, about 94kg in the mornings. But bloated (saying this i am disgusted with myself for sounding like a self delusional fatty). I reckon i cud get down to low 90kgs very quickly once i start cutting.
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you are 12% AT MOST in that pic. probably less.
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Yeah, that looks 10-12 to me. I guess the answer to my question is that your bulk was much more efficient than mine indeed. I thought you were 38'' at a wet 94kg weight, 37'' at 94kg dry already changes much. Also well said, waist circumference is not the start and end of all regarding bf, just a rough indicator. I would bet you look much leaner than the 'obese' person you describe yourself recently, or to what 38'' waist brings to our minds.
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If you guys are right (and i don't know if you are or not) then i shud be around the same amount of lean-ness of 12% in the low 80s. But i dont think i've quite gained 5kg of muscle. Obviously I haven't. I'd be lucky if i've gained even a kilo of contractile muscle tissue. lean mass sure, but that's just water, 3g of water for every gram of fat etc. I'm super curious to see how my cut will go.
Btw just a note in passing, apparently when i use a belt, my hamstrings get real sore. Glutes too. Wonder if this is a good thing or not. On one hand, you can never have enough hamstring and buttock strenght. But i still want to get strong quads obviously. And my normal unbelted backsquat builds quad strength nicely. So. dunno. Not that this will change anything, my plan is the same, get thru the 3 week volume phase beltless and then use a belt for intense phase.
I really wanna be lean :( but i want a 170-180kg backsquat just as much. Blah
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you're a maniac. you've definitely gained more than 1kg of lean tissue in the, what, 25kg you've gained since you stopped cutting?
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Yeah from ~75 kg -> ~95kg. Maybe 1-1.5kg of lean muscle. 5-10 kg of bodyfat. And a shitload of extra water weight (:s).
(http://i.imgur.com/myh5nIE.jpg)
1 kg of lean tissue is a lot! Imagining a big piece of steak. That's a lot of meat. Realistically I don't think I would have put on say 5kg without becoming a lot more jacked. That would be a lot of muscle to pack on. I would put my ceiling at say < 2kg but perhaps more than 1kg (if i'm being optimistic even then).
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If you guys are right (and i don't know if you are or not) then i shud be around the same amount of lean-ness of 12% in the low 80s. But i dont think i've quite gained 5kg of muscle. Obviously I haven't. I'd be lucky if i've gained even a kilo of contractile muscle tissue. lean mass sure, but that's just water, 3g of water for every gram of fat etc. I'm super curious to see how my cut will go.
3g of water for every gram of fat??? There is little relationship between water weight and fat. Glycogen carries water, fat is hydrophobic, that's why it's such an efficient energy source.
Contractile muscle tissue? Why are you making things so complicated? Are you afraid that you are gaining sensory muscle spindle only? Of course a gain in muscle weight doesn't occur only at the sarcomere... but approximations are necessary to stay sane... use them.
I strongly agree for the most part that people way overestimate how much muscle they have gained when they go on a dirty bulk. But... you are one of the few people who is going the other way. I'm confident that you have gained more than a kilo in muscle... but who really cares? Again remember your main goal as an athlete. You want to be better. You were semi-lean and got better athletic performance but your strength was plateauing and you decided to allow yourself to become less lean in order to chase down your goal of squatting X kilos (and more importantly getting stronger legs). When you hit that goal you will do like any sensible power athlete and try and lean down whilst preserving strength. If you can lean back down to your previous weight without losing strength... Well then I guess you haven't gained any muscle. But who cares! Your performance will be maximized at this level. If you lean down to a level of 5kg above your previous weight.... Then you essentially gained 5kg of muscle. If you only gained 3kg of muscle and 2kg are actually fat that provides you the leverage to be that strong.... It doesn't really matter... If the weight is necessary for the strength, it's strength-dependent weight. The goal is always to gain as little of this as possible so you don't become yo-yo strong. This is IMO the biggest danger of a dirty bulk. Not the added fat (discipline can shed that)... but the yo-yo affect of strength and weight.
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3g of water for every gram of fat??? There is little relationship between water weight and fat. Glycogen carries water, fat is hydrophobic, that's why it's such an efficient energy source.
Within a fat cell, you store 3g of water for every 1g of fat (triglyceride). So that's a lot of water stored there in those fat cells. When we talk about bodyfat we're talking about all those fat cells not just the stored energy of the cells. Correct me if i'm wrong here.
Contractile muscle tissue? Why are you making things so complicated? Are you afraid that you are gaining sensory muscle spindle only? Of course a gain in muscle weight doesn't occur only at the sarcomere... but approximations are necessary to stay sane... use them.
Not trying to make it complicated just saying that actual muscle mass isn't something that i've drastically altered. It's pretty much the same. Maybe I have gained a kilo or so more dry muscle than before. But that's probably about it. I am being conservative in my opinion because as you said it's easy to overestimate gains on a bulk. The only true judge is the cut. I expect to lose the vast majority of my size and weight after the cut and maybe top out a kilo, maybe 2 kilos heavier than before. We're on the same page though. I expect to be leaner at a slightly higher bodyweight than before. A lot stronger though. Most my the weight i'm holding right now is dead-weight, muscles aren't a lot bigger, but i'll cut dilligently and build and preserve my strength. Lets see how it goes, i'm pretty excited to see where I end up :)
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Training
FS 2x130 (PR)
BS 1x145, 1x147.5B, 1x152.5B
BS 6x2x130
BP 2x97.5 (PR), 1x100 (PR)
FS notes:
I'd like my warmup sequence to be 6x60, 3x100, 2x130, 1x140. Only problem is i'm not strong enuf for that yet. So next time i'll go for 137.5 after the 130 double. Or maybe i'll just add reps to the 130 set. Will see how it goes.
BS notes:
Haven't recovered from wednesdays yet. Hoping to be on mon. Struggled with bar speed.
BP notes:
Day of milestones. I finally made the switch to bigger plates. From 2x5kgs to 2x15kgs and 2x20kgs for the last set. This is significant because it's a *lot* harder with the larger plates in my experience. I wanted 3x97.5kg -- i am happy with doubling it for now. Getting the 100kg milestone was kind of nice. But damn so much grind! Next time i'll go for the triple of 97.5kg. My goal is so close now, 3x100kg is where I want to be.
That's the lot, week 1 down. I will take this weekend off for a change and get some much needed rest. Normally play ball but I won't this time around. Want to be fresh for monday. If i'm real strong i'll go for a 160kg PR on backsquat. If i'm weak, i'll just do the RX sets - i'm getting tired of these heavy maximal singles .. they're draining.
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I'm coming to the realisation (http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/noglutes.html) that i've missed out of on a lot of athletic benefit of heavy belted squats -- big strong glutes and hamstrings. Maybe not for my standing vertical jump but certainly for accelerating from 0 to top-speed. On the court and in sprinting. If i'm right about htis, i'll be able to see better times after i'm done building up a respectable belted backsquat (~180kg or so). And by then my bodyweight will be lower too so i'll get the benefits of being lighter and having stronger legs as well. In fact I think the belted squatmorning is the superior exercise for buillding raw athleticism. I also expect it to carry over well to my 3 step jumps which is pretty much what i care about the most when it comes to jumping that's how i get my highest jump!
I have done this experiment before. When I exclusively used lowbar belted squat mornings, even at a bodyweight of 90+kg i could move so quickly around the court that it surprised me a lot. My vertical was just ok, was a one leg jumper then and i could jump pretty high (for me at the time). Eventually i dedicated myself to athletic squatting and become a double leg jumper. But before that i was a single leg one. Incidentally all this new leg strength has done nothing for my 1 leg vertical which is pretty much useless on the court except if you get enough space to get in position for a double leg jump which is extremely rare.
Marvelling at the infinite variety afforded to 'squats'. From the venerable highbar to the despicable squatmorning and the favorite front squat. I need to use all 3. I will be logging FS, SQM, and BS from now on. Unless otherwise stated, a correct SQM will always be done with a belt, and the other 2 without one.
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Morning bodyweight: 95kg/209.5lb
Waist circumference: 38.5"
Have become increasingly uneasy with my bodycomp to the point i simply must do something about it. Have decided to actively reduce bodyfat properly as of today onwards. Want to take advantage of my current roaring high performance metabolism to get my bodyweight below 90kg/200lb asap. ie drop 10lb in 16 days.
Training will go on as normal. I might do a refeed on high volume days of the RSR - so that's 1x a week or so. Will go for a run after weights. Starts today!
edit, and if i needed any more justification, i ripped two pairs of boxers today while doing my mobility work. I do these regularly, so it's a clear sign that i'm packing too much weight right now. not good. i haven't done this since my fatfuck days years ago. Damn.
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Training
FS 1x135
SqM 1x152.5, 157.5 (PR)
BS 1x150, 5x4x130 (PR)
CND - 1 lap around oval, 10 mins shooting practice
FS notes:
Was tempted to go a PR but i didn't wanna jeopardise my chances of getting a squatmorning PR.
SqM notes:
Like any good squatmorning, this was done with a belt, a velcro one for now (yes i know). When i've peaked with the velcro, i'll use the leather one which will give more assistance. I'm worried my squatmorning might not be unathletic enough. I will try hard to make it less athletic. But at least I got a PR today. I will go for 160kg on friday!
BS notes (RSR):
Not a bad day at all. It was tough going though, especially in the heat. I figure I should hit 150kg regularly enough that it becomes easy so when time comes to PR i'll be better prepared to lift a heavy PR max. So Rx was 6x4x130, but i decided to cut it a set short, just because i'm watching diet and b)i want to make sure i'm well recovered for friday. On friday i'll go for 5x5 instead of 6x5 and then the following rx of 6x6x130, will be come 5x6x30, which i think is good enough if i can do it while cutting.
Conditioning notes:
Here we go, here we go. I started off very conservatively. I figure at my bodyweight even walking is a good conditioning sesh lol. I mean it's like putting on a 20kg plate around me and walking for 8 mins, that's not super easy on paper. Yet it was of course. I'll add a lap every day even on rest days and then start jogging a lap. Wore new basketball shoes, will break them in (literally at ~100kg bw) so they're nice and comfy for when i start balling seriously later on. They are light weight lowtops as i always wanted, but they sucked on the first wear so we'll see if they improve.
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What's the point of squat morning and why are you trying to make it look unathletic?
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A squatmorning allows you to use a maximal load in an exercise that resembles halfway between a goodmorning and a backsquat. It's a great builder of spinal erectors, buttocks and hamstrings --
“There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that provides the level of central nervous activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed squatmorning.â€
Unfortunately my SqM isn't quite correct. It still has too much athleticism to it (==quad), i will slowly remove any traces of it as I perfect my form.
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wut.
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I ended up taking 6 melatonin tablets (!) last night and I still couldn't feel sleepy. Apparently training wires up my CNS so much that it made them completely ineffective. 2 nights before when i took the supplement for the first time, 5 tablets totally knocked me out. My star burns so bright in the gym, i know lifting heavy 3x a week isn't sustainable but i dont know any other way. I am hungry for success. Today and yesterday have been good diet days so far. Somewhere along the lines i found discipline but lost others.
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I slept yesterday from 19 to 21 and then went to the gym at 22, came home at 23:30, went to bed at 3 and couldn't sleep at all... and I felt terrible...
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Is it to do with training? Apparently Bryant uses a polyphasic sleep pattern like that where he'll take a nap, do stuff then nap later when he feels tired. For me it's totally related to training.
We've discussed this before in discussing "The Myth of HIIT" (http://anthonymychal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/TheMythofHIIT.pdf) where the author talks about this in his book
Aerobic training, by virtue of lowering the resting heart rate, can
reduce overall stress on the body during times of inactivity. This is one
of the coolest parts of developing the aerobic system: it improves how
the nervous system functions.
Developing the aerobic system has a positive effect on the nervous
system by making us more parasympathetic-dominant (also known as
carrying a vagal tone).
The parasympathetic nervous system is known as our “rest and
digest†control center because it’s responsible for relaxation.
Can’t sleep? Performance sucks? Parasympathetic nervous system
is probably out of whack.
The easier your parasympathetic nervous system kicks in, the
better off you are. You recover from stressful events faster, which means
you can perform at higher levels with consistency and frequency.
He goes on to say
Turning yourself off is just as important as turning yourself on.
Ever notice how some athletes play a ton of video games? After practice,
they go home, rest, and escape from it all. Personally, I’d prefer you do
something more useful like read a book. But everyone has their
preferences.
Taking naps and falling asleep quickly are hallmarks of being able
to suppress your sympathetic nervous system to expedite recovery.
I particularly love this quote
Training yourself to relax is training yourself to become
parasympathetic-dominant—part of aerobic training’s job description.
It’s like this: a developed aerobic system kick starts the relaxation
and recovery process. More time recovering means more recovery.
I'll stop quoting there but the next section is titled "On an Off switch". I need to re-read this again, i definitely have a lot of room for improvement in turning off. I can't even sleep at ALL before big games. I would stay up all night. And then play all day, get no sleep again that day, and play the following day. It completely wrecks you.
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Training
CND - 2 laps walk around the oval
Conditioning notes:
So so itching to start running. But i'll be patient. Have to ease myself into fitness. Just a bit at a time.
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I ended up taking 6 melatonin tablets (!) last night and I still couldn't feel sleepy. Apparently training wires up my CNS so much that it made them completely ineffective. 2 nights before when i took the supplement for the first time, 5 tablets totally knocked me out. My star burns so bright in the gym, i know lifting heavy 3x a week isn't sustainable but i dont know any other way. I am hungry for success. Today and yesterday have been good diet days so far. Somewhere along the lines i found discipline but lost others.
Melatonin doesn't work like that. It doesn't have anywhere close to a linear response. In fact more melatonin can make you feel less sleepy. Why are you taking 6x the amount of something?
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I ended up taking 6 melatonin tablets (!) last night and I still couldn't feel sleepy. Apparently training wires up my CNS so much that it made them completely ineffective. 2 nights before when i took the supplement for the first time, 5 tablets totally knocked me out. My star burns so bright in the gym, i know lifting heavy 3x a week isn't sustainable but i dont know any other way. I am hungry for success. Today and yesterday have been good diet days so far. Somewhere along the lines i found discipline but lost others.
Melatonin doesn't work like that. It doesn't have anywhere close to a linear response. In fact more melatonin can make you feel less sleepy. Why are you taking 6x the amount of something?
lol.
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(http://25.media.tumblr.com/7ff6c45a37fbd8d36432f49b3d52a592/tumblr_mwp4ppynjh1rntezlo1_400.gif)
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Training
FSB 6x60, 4x100, 2x125
BS 6x2x120
BP 6x60, 6x70
CURL 15x20
CR 10x170, 10x180
FSB notes:
i'm evolving towards a warmup that looks like this - 6x60, 5x100, 3x130. That is 6 reps of fs then 6 reps of bs, followed by 5 reps of fs and 5 reps of bs and so on.
BS notes:
In a rush, zipping thru these.
Assistance notes:
Will curl and calf raise every week. I want bigger arms and calves.
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Some thoughts on squatting. I am looking at my BS form and I don't like it at all. I still want that nice textbook olympic form. But i can't get a good bottom position. My hips are too far back and i don't know why they dont come forward. I suspect it's a flexibility mobility thing - which leads into my second point - i will one day become a daily squatter to fix this problem. I got this idea from Broz. He says he doesn't have his lifters do any mobility work. Which makes so much sense to me once it clicked that the best way to get good at having a decent position is frequent practice. It's really that simple. Squatting 1-3x a week isn't enough, you need to really hammer it in daily. And by simply squatting you get the mobility and flexibility just by regular training. I still have some doubts about daily training which i'll elucidate later.
Olympic squats when I master them will be the best way to squat. It will mean instead of doing frontsquats, backsquats and squatmornings i can just do one exercise (olympic squat) and get all the benefits. Will get really good at one squat too, making it possible to move a lot of weight, very efficiently. My current backsquat form is very inefficient owning mostly to a far from optimal descent phase. I don't descend into an ideal bottom position which costs me leverage and efficiency.
In the mean time i'm finding squatmornings have already done wonders for me because they're fixing a weak point, erectors, glutes and hamstrings are getting a lot stronger and bigger and this is carrying over to normal backsquats and even front squats. My lower back isn't as smashed after volume squatting as it used to get, thanks to including squatmornings. When i've achieved a decent squatmorning (~180kg) at a low enough bodyweight (≤ 80kg) i'll be a far better athlete. My leg strength has gone up too since last time so together, with big strong glutes and hamstrings and quads i'll be more powerful. I should have at least a 150kg frontsquat raw and a 160kg raw backsquat. But that's just one facet of my training there are other dimensions i need to focus on. I need a lot more sprint work to build my reactivity. I need to hammer down my conditioning to a high level to make up for my lack of natural athleticism. All things I can improve on from my current position, the former less than the latter. Exciting times ahead for the summer!
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If you want that good nice olympic form you have a few options:
1) Use less weight
2) Practice perfect form squatting more often
3) Change your structure. Cut your bones and put others in the place of them so that you can have a better structure for squatting.
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Last squat session I taped what i thought was a technically crisp set of warmups
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2Y8YxEs_Y8
Broz had something interesting to say about the 3rd point you made - if you can squat perfectly with light weights, then it's not a matter of mobility or flexibility it's one of strength. He says a lot of simple yet profound stuff like this which subtly blows your mind!
There isn't a point using only light weights just to have perfect form. That's not an acceptable trade-off to me. Being weak and technically perfect doesn't help you become more athletic. Better to be strong and technically impefect. I know when I first squat 180kg it will be with a belted squatmorning. I'm ok with that. It will serve a purpose for improving my athletic ability. Separate to this is a concern for perfect form which is a persistent struggle for the long term. I've improved my technique considerably over time and i'll keep doing so as long as I can. I also know what you can do with really light weights with a particular technique might not be possible with a heavier one. Whether or not the first technique is superior or not, it's hard to say because with light weights you can use any technique you like since the weight can be ignored.
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those are some good-looking squats.
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Thanks. Thinking I need more strength in the right positions to maintain crisp form for heavier weights too. That's why I have high hopes for squatmornings. A really heavy squatmorning capability improves my strength across the board. The organism strength as Raptor called it. And this will carry over to normal squats (fronts & back). I have a rough plan for the future that involves maintaining a decent SqM, FS and BS max by regularly hitting it in training -- but doing a majority of my squatting with reps of lighter weight to patiently build strength in the positions lacking it.
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It depends on what you mean by squatmornings (how bad would they be) and how often you'd do them. If they're very bad and you do them often, then you're going to:
1) Program yourself to execute faulty mechanics
2) Not gain any leg strength
3) Subject yourself to increased injury risks
You make the call.
There's a reason we want to do perfect-form squats - because they have their targets, and these targets are what we want to improve while also staying safe.
What you're proposing, to me, is like saying you're going to do half squats because you can use more weight, and no other argument than that. Or that you should use a bent-back deadlift form because you're going to lift more. And so on.
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I do a total of 2-3 squatmorning reps very heavy (> 1RM BS) on heavy squat sessions. Heavy sessions occur 2x a week or 1x a week, alternating. So frequency and volume isn't high. I would not do more than 1 rep sets of SqM because i'm wary of grooving the movement too much.
I am not worried about gaining leg strength from SqM because that's not what they're being used for - building posterior chain strength. I get my leg strength work from backsquat worksets. I keep front squats in, but very little volume, basically just a few warmups and that's it. That seems enough to keep the movement pattern intact and my leg strength keeps going up thanks to backsquats so i'm not worried about that at all.
There is always an injury risk with training heavy. Not really worried about that. I've had my share of injuries, and they can happen with any exercise. For instance, I hurt my back from front squatting, when everyone says they're safer for the back!
The benefits of the SqM have been apparent already. My back is stronger, as are my glutes and hamstrings and I don't get as much lower back doms as I used to from volume squatting. It's a sign i'm on the right track -- fixing weak points and bringing them up using a different exercise from my usual staples. My thighs are visibly bigger and thicker too. Erectors are much more prominent and thicker too.
Tomorrow i'll put up a video of my SqM 160kg PR attempt so you can see and judge for yourself.
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Ate way too much today for lunch and breakfast. Hit up a buffet with my brother and cousin. Haven't been this full in a longgg time. Going to wait til it gets cooler before gyming. I had an ok night of sleep as well, around 8 hours but i woke up feeling ordinary nevertheless. Let's see how it goes. Should be a fun session in the gym. Hungry for PRs.
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Training
FS 1x137.5
SqM 1x160 (PR)
BS 1x152.5 (PR), 4x5x130 (PR)
BP 2x97.5 (PR), 1x100 (PR)
CU 2x3xBW (new exercise; started conservatively)
CND - 40 mins basketball practice
Bodyweight: 95kg / 209lb
FS notes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OViKut7byLg
Ok. I had perfect form on the 100kg warmups. They looked as pretty as my video from the previous page. Unfortunately the double with 125kg after that didn't feel as pretty although it looked OK - not picture perfect as the previous set though.
SqM notes:
Oh man, the topset today was dirty as fuck. I don't want to be that dirty, the 157.5kg pr from monday was much nicer. I dunno. I guess i'll repeat 160kg until it's clean enough before I even think of adding weight. But i wasn't super strong today so perhaps it was an anomaly?
BS notes:
These were brutal. 5s always are for me :/ Cunted but got thru 4 sets as planned. I would like to have nicer form on the last 2 reps but i wasn't able to today. I figured out why my form breaks down, it's cause my quads aren't recovered/fresh/strong to launch me up on the ascent. Which sucks cause it can ruin form so easily and turn it into an exercise that isn't any longer a leg dominant one.
BP notes:
Have stalled :( Really want to get 3x100 but it's not happening. Bother. I was hoping to switch focus to OHP and/or chinups once I get the goal. You know what, fuck it, i'll start chinups today anyway. It might even get me unstuck.
Conditioning Notes:
That's probably the first time i've worked up a sweat, lost my breathe in months. I mean i've been playing 3pt-line pickup but such was the pace that it wasn't even mildly aerobic. This was different. I feel good. I think i enjoy this more than playing with other ppl - less chance of injury from playing with uncoordinated fools. I'll work hard each time and build up my conditioning and skills - awesome.
I just wanna make a note in passing that this was the first time i shot around in my new shoes. Oh man i'm such a better shooter when i'm wearing shoes that fit, these being closer to my size. Apparently the 2-3 sizes too big that i usually wear fuck up my shot too much. I feel so much more compact and smooth on jumpshot ascent now. I was hitting my shoots sweetly too. Interesting. I also found it better to move around laterally.
2 weeks down, just 1 volume workout left for the first half of RSR which is on weds. Sould have plenty of time including the weekend to rest up and get my batteries charged up. Rx is 6x6x130kg. I will prob go for 4x6x130, and possibly a 5th set but probably not.
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Question for my basketball buddies -- i'd realised i don't use my strengths during gametime. I mean i'm a double leg jumper but in games i go off my feeble 1 leg. Is there a strategy to getting enough space or setting up a double leg jump for moves etc? I am asking generally from defense to offence. Would like to transition to a powerful 2 leg game throughout to get the maximum amount of carryover from strength training to sports.
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^Easy, change postition to PF/C, you'll be doing SVJs and dropsteps all day long at both ends of the court. As for DLRVJs, i guess you have to be able to accelerate/gather/jump naturally off the dribble to do it at drives, like Westbrook, VC etc. I wouldn't know though, i have not been able to do it without travelling even when practicing for it alone. The only way i have done DLRVJs in real game situations was not off the dribble, but cutting: Recieve the pass while running (which is your runup ), power dribble ( which is your penultimate step ), jump.
Just 2c, i bet ChrisM has a lot more to offer here ;)
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Someone rang? :D
Vag hit on a few good points, post play and 'natural' accel/plant/jumping. I don't think it's 100% natural (although obviously some cases are, see Vinsanity) though. I'd lean more towards a learned behavior. It's repetition on top of repetition from years of doing it in game environments. It becomes second nature after all that practice. Even with that said I bet there's tons of game footage of Westbrook/VC going off one foot. I do A LOT in ges. Why? Its quicker. Sometimes it's not about how high you get as much as it is how quickly you can get there. My best advice is lots of practice.
The move towards post play would definitely play towards your strengths as well. I'll post up again later,dinner time lol
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Thanks vag. Some good ideas there. I want some more from you! I agree with you on the travelling point. I was trying to practice yesterday by myself with 2 leg jumps but the only way I can make them work is if I 'catch' the ball in a jumpstop (2 foot landing - can pivot off either foot) then i can take one step (drop?) and go up for a shot or layup or whatever. Actually that's probably illegal in FIBA rules because you have to dribble first? Yeah so do that with one dribble - can do that pretty powerfully I found.. Just re-read your last sentences and that's exactly what you've described too. But i can't take more than 1 step because i believe it will get travelled more often than not. At least in my head it feels like a straight up travel although i dont know if that's /actually/ the case. The game is so biased for one leg jumping.
ChrisM thanks. I have about a 10" difference between my one leg jump and double one. Speed difference exists too. I can accelerate powerfully off 2 - and feebly off 1. I'm so much more powerful off 2 legs even though my natural game is to play off 1 leg - that's still my instinctive style because i was always a one leg jumper. It's just from squatting i become a powerful double leg jumper when I never used to be one. So now my basketball game has to evolve to take advantage of that, because i'm quite slow and unreactive/unathletic and to not use my strength is a big mistake I feel.
I should probably bring my one leg vertical up though. I mean there is no reason it is still languishing in the low 20s. But in between all the squatting I do, i haven't had the recovery to burn towards sprints which would build my plyometric ability. I should do that though and get my 1leg jump to high 20s, that would make a nice difference. Although my double leg will probably still be much higher even then so i should still be a mostly double foot player and occasionally 1 foot one.
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I really wish I had started doing standing barbell calf raises sooner. I can think of no better way to familiarise yourself with having a supramax weight on your back for a long set of calf raises where you are ballistically accelerating it on every rep. I wonder if I had been doing them all along would I have got my 160kg PR on the last cycle of RSR? My lower legs are a lot weaker than my relatively massive quads and hams. Have since learnt from all the strong squatters on this site though. They're all heavy calf raisers.
I used 10x180kg for the first time on calf raises last week, and this week i'll go for 2x15x190kg and so on. It may or may not build my calves just yet but it will get me used to having that weight on my back so when time comes to heavy squatting i'll be better prepared. A good goal i feel is 2x20x200+kg, where bw+bar-weight ≥ 300kg.
I just wanted to mention in passing, my abs have gotten stronger somehow very quickly. Even sitting at the desk i can contract them so forcefully now. Weird becuase I thought as a beltless front squatter i had already got decent abs. But belted squat mornings may to be blame for my new ab strength - parodoxically.
I am running out of time to get in shape for bball. Have just under 4 months left now. I can probably get down to 80kg bw if i start dieting asap. But i want to get thru the last volume workout (on weds) before cutting earnestly. I really really want a 170kg squat @ 98kg or so though.
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One of the main reasons some strong people suck at one leg jumping is because they let their calves "fall behind". The calves are less adaptable in terms of strength gains and if you gain weight, gain quad mass, gain glute mass, get hamstring mass, you name it, and get "strong" (while also getting heavier), you will have a higher relative squat to bodyweight ratio but you will collapse in a high speed one-leg jump plant because the calves are the ones that didn't grow at the same rate.
And since that happened, then you will experience ankle collapse that will feel like the quads are giving out or the knee itself gives out.
So it's a bit counter intuitive because you'll think the quads aren't doing their job, when in reality the quads are overloaded by the ankle collapse.
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Training
FS 1x135
BS 2x6x130
CURLZ 2x12x30
FS notes:
Using 135kg for a light day is kinda cool, no?
BS notes:
My quads were singing today. Which means they were clean reps. So that's good. Hope quads are nice and fresh for weds!
I will call monday curl day from now on and calf raise on weds. Commiting to this for at least a year. Lets see if i can put some meat on my calves and biceps. Will help me a lot in basketball too.
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One of the main reasons some strong people suck at one leg jumping is because they let their calves "fall behind". The calves are less adaptable in terms of strength gains and if you gain weight, gain quad mass, gain glute mass, get hamstring mass, you name it, and get "strong" (while also getting heavier), you will have a higher relative squat to bodyweight ratio but you will collapse in a high speed one-leg jump plant because the calves are the ones that didn't grow at the same rate.
And since that happened, then you will experience ankle collapse that will feel like the quads are giving out or the knee itself gives out.
So it's a bit counter intuitive because you'll think the quads aren't doing their job, when in reality the quads are overloaded by the ankle collapse.
I have a feeling you might be onto something there. It actually explains a few things i've noticed over the years. When i got my first dunk it was off 1 leg as a weak skinny basketball player in my early 20s with zero gym experience. At the time I remember i used to play a lot of ball and i did a fair amount of long distance running (< 5km) as well. This would have made my calves strong and elastic.
Fast forward 10 years and last summer I cut down to a similar bodyweight but this time i have a fair bit of squatting under my belt. Nothing earth shattering, i was maintaining a 120kg front squat max at a bodyweight of 75kg. This is 1.6xbw. I can jump pretty well off 2. But off one, i'm not dunking (not that i tried very hard but just saying it was so effortless to dunk off 2 in comparison). Perhaps if I had devoted myself to calf training then i would have seen a decent increase my in my 1 leg jump -- and -- general basketball ability which is very dependent on 1-leg ability.
I can't really do much about the past, except to learn from my mistakes. I will dedicate myself to calf training seriously and see where it takes me. Perhaps when my bodyweight converges on an athletically ideal 80kg or so - and my absolute leg and posterior strength on the magic ratios above 2xbw - and the milestone of 4 plates behind, my calves this time will also be stronger and bigger - will i see better performance in both single and double limb movements? It is something I look forward to testing come mid april.
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fwiw, the SL-DL gap for me used to be like yours, 10" or something. then i started doing lots of layups a few times a week as a warm up. submax jumps but not low-effort. the gap is more like 5-6" now, and my DL jump has gone up in the past two months. food for thought.
practice matters, as we all know.
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Whenever I see "entropy" posted something I think of this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRmBChQjZPs
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Whenever I see "entropy" posted something I think of this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRmBChQjZPs
^Cool.
The more I think about it, the more convinced I focused on the wrong weakness. The athletic deficit in my SL was far greater than my DL one. Even say if I have a 2xBW FS - this might not do much if anything for my SL performance. My SVJ might go up several inches which is cool and all. But does that translate into the court? Not for a underweight C/PF. You don't get a chance to display that athleticism since jostling for position remains a function of body size and leverage on the ground at that position. And since my SL performance is so terrible, getting into position with an inferior SL athleticism remains a difficult even impossible task! It took my basketball ability no where! Not on defense or offense. Now if I had the same DL leg ability and athletic ability but at a much higher bodyweight, then I could use my size to bully for position even if I was as slow as i am. But since I lack the size and athleticism, there is a diminishing return on what I get out of DL leg strength training.
Instead I should have been bringing my SL performance way up. Overachieved the shit out of it thru training and hard work. That would allow me more quickness to get good position around bigger, stronger, slower opponents.
I also wanna make a point that if I had worked at developing my posterior chain to the extent I have recently and continue to do in pursuit of a 180kg squatmorning, I would have seen much better athletic carryover on the court.
TLDR: heavy squatmornings, heavy calf raises, 200m sprints, practice SL layups and dunks, low bodyfat will do much to improve my SL performance. It won't hurt to have a nice FS just because i've worked really hard at bringing up my FS over the last year or so either for DL performance.
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I think we've already had this discussion before but the best way of getting good at just about any sport is by practicing that sport. No amount of stuff you do in the gym is going to make you a better basketball player. It might help your vertical and acceleration but if you don't have good handles than you're not even optimizing that acceleration anyway.
Just play as much organised basketball as you can and when you're not playing organised basketball try and play pick up games (I know there's not that much pick up basketball in your town though since it's small).
Edit- Take myself for example. This year I've made absolutely no increases in my squat, bench or deadlift. Yet my 100m time has improved by 0.47 seconds and my 200m time has improved by 0.80 seconds. Now obviously if I trained better and actually did make weight room gains than I probably would've been faster, however, because I've actually been training my sport I've still managed to make gains.
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^It's an ancient debate of Nature vs Nurture much older than this log. It depends on the person. If you start off as unathletic and unskilled as I did, then you'll get more out of gym than the court. But gym+court will deliver the best improvement. Gym only will not do it (i am proof). Court only won't do much either because you're capping yourself to your (strength) untrained potential. When something you do in the gym carries over to the court, that's a beautiful thing, and that's what makes this journey so interesting. The trial and error of trying to determine what you need in the gym is what i've described in my previous post.
If i were to rank my strengths and weaknesses id say i have high iq, mid skill, low athleticism. To close the gap i worked hard on the former and my skills haven't really declined or inclined - they remained more or less the same. My ability to express skill depends on my athleticism which is too low to really do much with it. Yes i know there are paradoxes like steve nashes and kevin loves of the world who somehow manage to make do without any athleticism. I guess if I had devoted my whole life to skill i could follow their path. But i really dont want to. I would get too bored practicising dribbling or shooting all day, every day, not to mention i don't have the motivation they have of being paid pros.
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god damn it, everyone starts out unskilled.
(http://cdn.sheknows.com/articles/indian-baby-girl.jpg)
also are you fucking kidding about steve nash and kevin love being unathletic? steve nash had one of the highest beep test scores ever recorded and is a lock for the hall of fame. kevin love is an all-star. they are elite athletes by definition.
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(http://i.imgur.com/aNiyEGg.jpg)
beep test lol. they're not elite when it comes to defense are they? not that i've seen much of either player. also love's sub 30" (http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Kevin-Love-1062/) vertical can be said to be unathletic!
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I agree. They're both considered way more skilled than athletic. I don't think Steve Nash can even dunk and he's around 6'2''
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Training
FS 1x137.5
BS 1x150, 4x6x130 (PR)
CR 2x15x185 (PR)
FS notes:
It doesn't feel easy but it looks it on video. Bar speed is very good.
BS notes:
Really really hard. I slept poorly just when I needed to be most fresh. But got thru it nevertheless. My lower back was so pumped and fatigued by the last set. Damn!
CR notes:
There are a few glaring issues with heavy barbell calf raises. I found it very difficult to do these after volume squatting today from a stabilisation point of view. Fatigued core wrecks you for subsequent heavy barwork. Secondly, it's inherently precarious a position getting in place on the block of wood. Plus footwear is an issue. I didn't use my lifting shoes just cause I don't wanna ruin them (valid concern or not?). Used some other shoes but they felt really flimsy under load. The heel is rubber and it flexes easily. I think a hard firm sole would be better? I took a video. Wouldn't mind any pointers if you have them. Also, it's pretty daunting that you're holding so much weight -- one slip up forward and the whole rack will topple forward, very risky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_6Kbs78lHc
^Damn, i can't get over how amazing Hema looks in this hindi music video from back in the 70s. Filmed in Afghanistan.
(http://i.imgur.com/V1Lv4ym.png)
So RSR volume phase comes to an end with that squat sesh, well i have a light workout on friday but that's hardly worth mentioning. Next week begins intense phase. SHUD be interestin. I haven't employed a belt yet for RSR worksets. My plan was to do without it for the entire volume phase - and then introduce it for intense -- which is still the plan -- although i am thinking i should do a set or two beltless first? Dunno we'll see how it goes.
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Training
FS 1x135
BS 1x155 (PR), 6x2x130
SqM 1x165 (PR)
BP 3x96 (PR)
CU 3x4x98 (PR)
CND ~30 mins
FS notes:
Was really tempted to PR but chose to save it for backsquats. It was because i was thinking of a PR that i went with a lighter warmup of 135kg instead of 137.5kg i would have taken otherwise. Even if i got a PR today, it probably would have been a meaningless one like 142.5kg or soemthing. Would rather save for a proper attempt at a milestone like 145kg in the coming weeks.
BS notes:
Happy with the beltless PR. I have been thinking 160kg beltless clean is a good goal for this cycle of RSR. I'm on track for that, halfway thru the program. The rx RSR (light) worksets were piece of cake, i was going deep and even pseudo-pausing them just for fun.
SqM notes:
After failing a 157.5kg squat morning with the velcro belt in disgust with myself, i said fuck this bullshit -- it's time for a proper belt -- so i dusted off the good old unused titan leather badboy, spend half an hour configuring the lever for my current waist circumeference, the majority of which involved finding a screwdriver lol -- and then got under the bar with 140kg which was pretty easy even though i'd gone cold. After that 150kg went up real easy and i felt solid, even on the descent the bar felt weightless - the belt makes you feel strong throughout the set.
Then put 157.5kg which i had failed with velcro, got it ok, not challenging! Now it was time for 160+kg -- my PR with the velcro is 160kg, i thought 162.5kg was too conservative. Yet 165kg struck me as formidable. Fuck it, last second i swapped out the 1.25kgs for 2.5kgs and went for 165kg! It went up ok. So that means my belted SqM is around 10kg more than my beltless! Probably a bit more too cause of all the fucking around between those two PR attempts.
Conditioning notes:
Got a quick session in. Shot around first then practiced jumps and layups. I threw down some strong dunks off 1 and 2 steps even at my gym bodyweight of 98kg. Pretty sure this is the heaviest i've been and i can still dunk hard off a step or two. Not bad, i can't do that in games though so it's close to worthless :( Felt pretty powerful. I can't wait to get lean and see what I can do then against other ppl and not just this shadow dunking stuff. I do my 1 leg layups of my right leg which is my weaker leg. I think if i keep this up it will actually improve my strength across the board cause my R leg can def do with some catching up to my dextrous one.
Was scheduled to be a light day. I didn't like that the heaviest i'd squatted this week was 150kg and no squatmornings either, especially with next weeks brutal RX schedule ! I needed confidence that comes from getting heavy PRs going into the intense phase monday. Last time i got a PR was 7 days ago. I didn't feel super sore or anything so i threw caution to the wind, popped some synephrine to shake off the sleepless fog and went for it. My plan was to do 3 heavy reps, a beltless BS PR, and 2 squat mornings, one a PR. But i ended up 9 heavy (+1 failed) thanks to my body not sticking to the plan.
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I didn't do an ideal job for week 4 in my last shot of RSR. I realise that now. It's actually a high volume week - 5x5 monday and 4x4 friday is a decent amount of volume. And the weight is a lot heavier than week 3 which had only one heavy workout in weds rx 6x6x120 last time with 2 light days monday and friday. The point of all of this is, it's probably one of the most important weeks because it's where you transition from volume to volume + intensity both, before tapering off volume and into higher intensity in weeks 5 and 6. So in effect you can say RSR volume phase lasts a month and intense is 2 weeks.
What happened last time was after the 5x5 my lower back was so thrashed i couldn't even get thru weds light day, and friday's 4x4 wasn't in the cards either. I did train on saturday feeling recovered and did ok but it wasn't the rx 4x4.
This time around though, i have better expectations for week 4. My lower back strength has gone up considerably as has its recovery ability. I know that because I don't get crazy lower back doms anymore. Why that happened, i don't know. It could be the inclusion of squat mornings in regular or just a gradual acclimatising to the back strength requirements of squatting. I can't say for sure.
Tomorrow i plan to do the rx RSR of 5x5x137.5 but depending on how I feel after the 4th set, i may or may not do the 5th. I just need to do enough work to recover for and get thru fridays 4x4. Less is more in this case. Have decided not to use a belt for monday. I haven't decided whether or not to do any heavier singles before the worksets. I have always done them for workouts til now though.
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Training
FS 1x137.5
BS 5x5x137.5
BS notes:
So friday's rx light day which become a heavy one cost me bigtime today. I did the first set sans belt and it was brutally hard. Sloppy form on the last coupla reps. I had no choice put on the velcro belt for sets 2-4. And the 5th i did with the leather belt. Absolutely destroyed. I am pissed off cause on a good day i prob would have have got more sets beltless :(
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I agree. They're both considered way more skilled than athletic. I don't think Steve Nash can even dunk and he's around 6'2''
Beep test probably isn't the most meaningful test.... but neither athlete is "unathletic". Steve Nash is more like 6'0 and while I wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't dunk now (he can barely move he is so injured) he could routinely catch two handed lob in college. If he was on the forum and he trained for vertical jump he would be one of the better athletes on here... not out of this world but he would be able to do all the dunks I can do. He isn't a slouch by any means. While taller the "high-flying" NBA players (Kenyon Martin, etc) simply get way too much credit as elite leapers ( all would get put to shame but a triple jumper or high jumper ) the smaller little guys who play below the rim really get disrespected. JJ Barea can dunk and is seriously like 5'9 at the most... but like Steve Nash he plays below the rim so you would never know. It's simply not advantageous for really small guys to jump in 99% of situations... even Allen Iverson wised up and stopped dunking pretty early in his career.
As far as Kevin Love.... You have to respect that height IS athleticism. It's useful, it translate's to all sports, and it's not trainable so it's really the most athletic trait there is! Given that Love is probably pretty strong and is really tall he is a great athlete. Both Love and Nash are great shooters (Nash really the best of all time) which of course makes you faster as far as basketball is concerned.... but it still doesn't do ALL the work for you. Everyone in the nba is an athlete.
Perhaps the greatest proof that Steve Nash isn't all skill no athleticism is the fact that he is a shell of the player he once was now that he REALLY has no athleticism! At his peak his main move was pick and roll; he would come off the pick and due to his quick release (and IMO the best shot ever ) he had to be guarded extremely tight by the switch or the guy fighting through.... Given that the defender had to respect his shot to such a ridiculous degree he was more than athletic enough to go right past his man and cause havoc. With his age and injuries he doesn't have the athleticism to do this which really hurts his game. As far as his inability to play defense... It was not a lack of quickness or leaping ability that made him a bad defender but really a matter of size. I was at a game last year where Dwayne Wade just abused him in the post. I don't care what they are listed at but Nash seriously looks 5'' shorter and 60 pounds lighter than Wade. In the NBA help defense is so good that poor on-ball defending isn't as bad as a strength-size mismatch.... That said... I guess Steve Nash is a poor athlete as far as strength... He really just isn't strong enough to defend ( a strong reason why you can argue that John Stockton was a better player )... But while he isn't strong the myth that he is pretty much that slow non-leaping highly skilled white guy.... that is false.
Also, the skill/athleticism debate is silly. Does Entropy really think that shooting is all practice and skill? We could all practice shooting for the rest of our lives but that doesn't mean we could be the shooter that Steve Nash is. Sure, it's more practicable at the beginning (everyone starts out a bad shooter if they have never played basketball) because it's a foreign movement.... But same with playing the piano... however some people become world class pianists and some don't and it isn't simply how much you practice. The best shooters in the world practice a lot AND have the genetics to become as good as they are.... that's why shooting is athleticism as well.
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Solid points! I agree 100% with you now after reading that post. I also can't agree strongly enough that a 6'8" NBA athlete with crazy long arms and long feet has no problem soaring above a lowly 10ft rim. I used to play with a guy in university who was 6'7" and with long limbs and he could do any dunk so effortlessly. It's not the same thing when someone around ~6ft or less is dunking. The vertical leap requirements are completely different. It's an illiusion. I can't work up any enthusiasm when i see NBA highlight dunks from these guys on a 10'. This is partially why I will be way more impressed when I see LBSS throw down than anything i've done with a basketball
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Also, and this is the most important thing I need to focus on -- get my fitness and conditioning up. That's the most athletic thing I can do for my game. I play good defense, or good offense, but i can't do both for more than a minute or two. Let me get my squat goals out of the way and i'll be a full time aerobic guy.
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Also, and this is the most important thing I need to focus on -- get my fitness and conditioning up. That's the most athletic thing I can do for my game. I play good defense, or good offense, but i can't do both for more than a minute or two. Let me get my squat goals out of the way and i'll be a full time aerobic guy.
well, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. but doing some tempo sprinting and basketball-specific conditioning (defensive slides, dribbling up and down the court with layups at each end, etc., i'm sure there are millions of drills) would do you wonders.
i was kind of kidding about the beep test but not really: i think it's as good a measure of sport fitness as anything other than game performance.
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Also, and this is the most important thing I need to focus on -- get my fitness and conditioning up. That's the most athletic thing I can do for my game. I play good defense, or good offense, but i can't do both for more than a minute or two. Let me get my squat goals out of the way and i'll be a full time aerobic guy.
well, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. but doing some tempo sprinting and basketball-specific conditioning (defensive slides, dribbling up and down the court with layups at each end, etc., i'm sure there are millions of drills) would do you wonders.
Full time aerobic guy? That will kill your game. The best thing you can do for you game is become a knock down quick-release shooter and a semi-competent dribbler. A 6'4'' guy who is a dead-eye shooter from outside the line is really hard to guard if he even a tiny bit of an ability to go past his man.
Listen's to LBSS's advice as far as conditioning and keep it basketball specific. Tempo sprints are great for body composition and recovery from speed work; but tempo sprinting trains you to be an efficient at moderate velocity sprint work... something you NEVER do on a basketball court. If you have the time you should get your basketball conditioning done with basketball specific conditioning... if you are pressed and need to lose fat tempo sprints are great because you can get a lot of work done in 20 minutes.
i was kind of kidding about the beep test but not really: i think it's as good a measure of sport fitness as anything other than game performance.
Really? I don't understand why the beep test is relied on at all. The beep test is still totally aerobic. Sure it's progressive aerobic cardiovascular endurance rather than a sustained aerobic cardiovascular endurance (like mileage) which is WAY better but still far from optimal. Basketball, football, etc. are still primarily anaerobic!! Additionally the beep test also is poorly designed because it measures the absolutely useless skill of timing running speeds so they are running just slow enough to just make it during the initial beeps and conserve energy for the faster beeps.
I think the beep test is popular because it actually predicts basketball fitness quite well because the intermittent beeps allow speed reserve to play a large role in the test. A fast athlete like a Russell Westbrook will be able to rely on his speed reserve to use very little energy when the beep interval is long or moderate just like he can conserve a lot of energy running at sub-max speeds on the court ( when others are closer to max effort ). This is however an "accident" of the test. Speed == Endurance when the difference is speed is large; rather than the beep test you could just have all the basketball players run a 50m sprint (even better would three lengths of the court with stopping and starting) and you would get similar results. However, you are still just testing speed rather than disentangling fitness or endurance or testing that specific quality.
This is the same concept behind short to long sprint training. If you run a 22s 200m and a 49s (split 23, 27) 400m and increase your top speed so that you can run 20.x and 48s (split 23,25) in the 400m did you get more fit or did you get faster? I would argue that you got faster but actually got less endurance/fitness. Having 20.x speed allowed you to run 23s on speed reserve making it really easy to come back at 25s (which you couldn't do before)... but given your new 200m speed of 20.x your 48s time in the 400m is quite pedestrian.
The beep test is a poor test because if we disentangle speed from the test we will find it's really quite useless. For example if we take all NBA athletes and test their max speed in a three court lengths sprint (with stopping/starting) and then bin the athletes by ability; THEN see who performs best within the speed cohort you would be testing only which athletes have the most progressive aerobic cardiovascular endurance... which is a poor measure of basketball specific fitness.
A better test has to consider the physiology better. Even the above example (three court lengths) is really cheating because it is not a measure of "pure speed" aside from endurance. Since running speed involves elastic reactive components and has to be progressively built up it's not really possible to test raw sprint power ie. it takes 3-5 seconds to get up to top speed and 3-5 seconds is long enough that the body will need to use the phosphagen system to regenerate some ATP - thus you are testing the ability of the muscle to fuel itself (endurance/fitness) rather than just the capability of the muscle contraction to produce speed. A closer approximation to the muscle capability would be a flying run, approach jump, broad jump or multi bounds.
Assuming equal "speed capability", trainable basketball specific fitness would be better tested by a measure which measured the ability of the athlete to regenerate ATP during short and long bouts of periods of zero to no effort which are a very important part of basketball. Basketball players have to move between all gears including really easy to really hard which requires that every energy system be well trained. The reason I don't think you see a test better than the beep test is because pretty much every athlete at a high level gets whipped into what is pretty close to maximal shape for them just by the amount of playing games and practice that they do. They are so fit that a lot of players sit out to avoid wear and tear and injury almost moreso than to regain energy.
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all extremely valid points, but entropy is looking for a standardized test of his "fitness." this is a guy who likes charts. obviously, the only real test of fitness is playing the sport. no one disputes this. but as you said yourself, whether accidentally or not the beep test correlates with specific fitness pretty well. i'd also point out that the beep test involves a lot of accelerations and decelerations, even if submax, which is fatiguing in a different way than straight-line running and closer to what you actually do during a game*. it's not something he should use to train but if he wants a measuring stick outside of playing the game, he could do worse.
*not the same! at all! i know!
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LBSS, Todday both i mean doing some sort of aerobic work daily. I can certainly work in basketball drill work in that context. I am actually thinking of devoting myself to a dedicated training block of say 3-4 weeks where I work very hard on bringing up my conditioning. Like a Smolov Jnr of fitness. How would you would program that? Afterwards i'd keep up 50-50% work to maintaining and building strength and fitness.
LBSS is right in that i need something measurable so i can steadily and regularly PR my way to better conditioning.
If you watch ray allen shoot 3s, he's getting up several feet in the air on every jumpshot. He's doing that day in day out, whether out of breathe from running around on an NBA court or just practising in the gym! A mediocre athlete like me might only get that high on a gym dunk attempt. I can't get that sort of hop in my normal play, not when pulling down a rebound or even a game time move like a layup or dunk. Or exploding quickly at 105% speed to blow by a defender. Yes i can do that when fresh. Not a couple of minutes into a game playing hard D. That's got to be related to conditioning. If you have good conditioning you can probably unlock a higher level of raw athletic performance game time. I don't get why i can put 2.5ft underneath me when jumping up near a rim in ideal conditions. But find that same jump become close to 1ft game time.
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all extremely valid points, but entropy is looking for a standardized test of his "fitness." this is a guy who likes charts. obviously, the only real test of fitness is playing the sport. no one disputes this. but as you said yourself, whether accidentally or not the beep test correlates with specific fitness pretty well. i'd also point out that the beep test involves a lot of accelerations and decelerations, even if submax, which is fatiguing in a different way than straight-line running and closer to what you actually do during a game*. it's not something he should use to train but if he wants a measuring stick outside of playing the game, he could do worse.
*not the same! at all! i know!
Fair enough... although I maintain that a stopwatch and a friend to time how long he takes to cover three court or free throw line to free throw lines will prove just as reliable a test of basketball fitness. An even less horrible test.... Three line-to-line sprints. Rest 30 seconds. Repeat. Rest 30 seconds, repeat. Add up the 3 times and make that a measure of fitness. It's not complicated and doesn't use beeps but it's a better measure of fitness by a long shot.
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LBSS, Todday both i mean doing some sort of aerobic work daily.
Umm... why? As explained, basketball is primarily anaerobic. Dedicating yourself to aerobic only conditioning will just allow you to spin your wheels. Playing game after game of full court is far better than aerobic conditioning.
I can certainly work in basketball drill work in that context. I am actually thinking of devoting myself to a dedicated training block of say 3-4 weeks where I work very hard on bringing up my conditioning. Like a Smolov Jnr of fitness. How would you would program that? Afterwards i'd keep up 50-50% work to maintaining and building strength and fitness.
LBSS is right in that i need something measurable so i can steadily and regularly PR my way to better conditioning.
I outlined an example you could incorporate above. Three reps of 3 shuttle sprints. You can play with the recovery if you like. You could even do something like baseline to opposite ft line - back to ft line - back to opposite baseline, then 5 reactive backboard or rim touches THEN 20 seconds rest and repeat for a few reps. Anything, you can come up with like that will help you more than straight aerobic conditioning.
If you watch ray allen shoot 3s, he's getting up several feet in the air on every jumpshot. He's doing that day in day out, whether out of breathe from running around on an NBA court or just practising in the gym! A mediocre athlete like me might only get that high on a gym dunk attempt. I can't get that sort of hop in my normal play, not when pulling down a rebound or even a game time move like a layup or dunk. Or exploding quickly at 105% speed to blow by a defender. Yes i can do that when fresh. Not a couple of minutes into a game playing hard D. That's got to be related to conditioning.
No it doesn't have to be related to conditioning. First of all Ray Allen does not jump several feet into the air on every shot. He jumps between 1-2 feet off the ground on his jump shot. I understand that you can't do that DESPITE the fact that you can jump 2.5 feet off the ground in ideal conditions. There are two reasons why.
1) Ray Allen is a much better athlete than you. At this point in his career he spends zero effort working on his max jumping ability in ideal conditions while you spend lots of time practicing... however if he did he would jump much higher off the ground than you... say between 3-3.5 feet. Just like the concept of speed reserve... he has jumping reserve on you and can jump 1-2 feet off the ground all day long because it's only 50% of his ideal jump. Jumping 50% of your max is merely a hop; it requires no knee flexion. You are trying to figure out why you hop jump more around 70% of your ideal jump.... but nobody can.
2) Ray Allen has practiced his jumpshot mechanics 10000x more than you. When his shot comes off a dribble the momentum of the ball perfectly helps him rise up, when he has to step back and rise up his body coordinates itself perfectly to allow his legs to move slightly forward at the peak height to get him centered and high; his armswing with the ball is effortless and perfect. This is mechanical perfection. Let me give you an example for my case. I was able to get my head a few inches past the backboard ( a 38'' inch vertical ) by practicing my running vertical jump where I would approach with speed plant my left foot first and then rapidly put my right foot down and rise up.... Pretty good. But if I played in a game of basketball I rarely found myself getting close to this high on drives to the basket... Not surprisingly I tested out my vertical jump with the opposite plan (Right, left).... My maximum jump using these mechanics was hard to test because I was so uncoordinated it was hard to give a good effort... But we can ball park it around 25 inches. I'm losing 13 inches of jump when I jump in an unfamiliar fashion and it's not due to a lack of conditioning!!!! I simple have no mechanical efficiency using an unnatural plant. Similarly, you can't jump well in your non-ideal conditions because you are mechanically inefficient at jumping during a jumpshot compared to Ray Allen. But again, this has nothing to do with conditioning!
If you have good conditioning you can probably unlock a higher level of raw athletic performance game time. I don't get why i can put 2.5ft underneath me when jumping up near a rim in ideal conditions. But find that same jump become close to 1ft game time.
Cool theory but really makes no sense. Your best bet is to work on (1) and (2).... Get your maximum jump higher. Realize that your maximum jump is the result weight-training and lots of jumping and as such may translate less to your sub-max jumps than someone who has not "maxed-out" their jumping ability so you will need more jumping fuel to get hire on submax jumps. Work on (2) but drilling different kinds of jumps; practice drop steps both ways; doing repetitive rebounding drills; get mechanically efficient at all sorts of kinds of jumping. But drop the idea that conditioning is going to help you jump much higher during game conditions. From your previous posts I thought your focus on conditioning was for court speed which makes a little sense.... but when it comes to jumping and fatigue.... It's a pretty much all or none proposition. Either the muscle has ATP or it does not; microtrauma to the muscle will usually be minor from basketball. That's why you will notice you can still jump pretty high AFTER a game or two or three of pickup ball.
Just because you brought it up.... Ray Allen's three pointer last year. In that very clip though... Ray Allen's a distant second as far as the most impressive sub-max jumping going on. Watch Norris Cole on the bench.... What is that like 8-10 jumps of 3 feet in about 5 seconds? Those are not ideal jumps by ANY means... but Norris Cole can jump because that's what he does... jumps with fist bumps, jumps with chest bumps, just jumps all the time and has become really mechanically efficient jumper.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44T6FYdLcLc
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Fair enough... although I maintain that a stopwatch and a friend to time how long he takes to cover three court or free throw line to free throw lines will prove just as reliable a test of basketball fitness. An even less horrible test.... Three line-to-line sprints. Rest 30 seconds. Repeat. Rest 30 seconds, repeat. Add up the 3 times and make that a measure of fitness. It's not complicated and doesn't use beeps but it's a better measure of fitness by a long shot.
hm that would be better. but then he can't benchmark himself against steve nash. :D
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So i've decided this a good time as any to begin the inevitable cut down to an athletic bodyfat level. Perhaps i've already accumulated a good amount of muscle mass underneath all this adipose (and yet i remain pessimistic about this in reality). In the meantime, I expect my squats to continue climbing up towards the magic 180kg absolute mark while relative ratios approach and surpass 2xbw. I'm not going to get greedy while shedding bodyfat, i'll keep training very tightly controlled around the limited recovery.
I'm just aiming to get my bodyweight under 80kg/175lb @ 10-12% bodyfat from today's 96.5kg/212lb @ 25% bodyfat.
Here is the obligatory progress & goal graph
(http://i.imgur.com/hqO55hH.png)
Happy new year all!
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Training
FS 1x135
BS 6x2x130
CR 2x15x190 (PR)
FS notes:
My form is so much safer since I got injured. If I had form like this all along, I wouldn't have hurt my back. I'm glad I know better now, it will serve me well for the future. For the interested reader, it involves a knee-in and knee-out action on the ascent, helps prevent getting bent over.
BS notes:
Pretty tough for a light day lol. But at least I was able to do it today unlike RSR1 when I couldn't even get thru warmups on the week 4 light day!!! I'll take it. I had nice clean form albeit bar speed was quite slow.
Calf Raises notes:
I have started using the leather belt for these. Also didn't use a block underneath, it's not safe. I also used lifting shoes. I got a good calf burn regardless and feel more in control so i'm happy with these changes. Now to work up to 220kg..
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Day #2
Bodyweight: 95.65kg / 210.87lb
Waist: 39.5"
I'll do daily updates for the first 3 weeks, then when cutting has become ingrained habit, updates will occur every 10-15 days.
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LBSS, Todday both i mean doing some sort of aerobic work daily.
Umm... why? As explained, basketball is primarily anaerobic. Dedicating yourself to aerobic only conditioning will just allow you to spin your wheels. Playing game after game of full court is far better than aerobic conditioning.
I remember your explanation and I still don't know for sure how much is demanded aerobically and how much is anaerobically in a typical game. I have my doubts, because i struggle to dunk in games even when it become effortless for me to dunk in practice. It could be like you explained that you need the right groove and runup and since in games you're not given what you want but rather have to work with the space available to you, i'm not able to hit my usual positions to do it properly? I can buy that in principle. But i was dunking routinely around the rim from all angles then. That's why i'm pinpointing my lack of aerobic fitness because that could be a possible weak point.
Even if you're right about basketball being mainly anaerobic, i think my aerobic ability is far below average to the point it will drastically affect my performance on the court. I don't think i would do well in any meaningful test (eg the one LBSS suggested or the ones you have offered). I think you're perhaps under-estimating my lack of fitness. I'm prob one of the least fittest members of this site, including raptor who has chronic problems with fitness. For me it's been from an intentional neglect to focus on pushing my lifts up which are slowly coming around to where i'd like them. In the summer when I was lean, i dont know if i was actually fit, or it was just easier to move around being so light.
I outlined an example you could incorporate above. Three reps of 3 shuttle sprints. You can play with the recovery if you like. You could even do something like baseline to opposite ft line - back to ft line - back to opposite baseline, then 5 reactive backboard or rim touches THEN 20 seconds rest and repeat for a few reps. Anything, you can come up with like that will help you more than straight aerobic conditioning.
This is cool, i will try it out.
Also your explanation of Ray having a vertical jump reserve, and that a submax jump for him is much higher than mine, which is why i top out on my jumper at say 1' instead of 2' or more like him and him having grooved the movement a lot in training. This makes a lot of sense. I plan to continue improving my max jump so hopefully my reserve will go up to something decent for submax performance.
1) Ray Allen is a much better athlete than you. At this point in his career he spends zero effort working on his max jumping ability in ideal conditions while you spend lots of time practicing... however if he did he would jump much higher off the ground than you... say between 3-3.5 feet. Just like the concept of speed reserve... he has jumping reserve on you and can jump 1-2 feet off the ground all day long because it's only 50% of his ideal jump. Jumping 50% of your max is merely a hop; it requires no knee flexion. You are trying to figure out why you hop jump more around 70% of your ideal jump.... but nobody can.
I am glad you made this point because it's something i've noticed before. I find in traffic it's harder to dip down into a jump (even a quarter one) for a SVJ or RVJ off a few steps. I wonder if there is benefit in training partial exercises like heavy quarter squats to improve ones ability to jump with a less knee flexion. It would be more useful to me for dunking in games..
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Long term hypertrophy goals
I am committing myself to getting 17" arms, calves and neck. My measurements are around 14" atm. Will do calf raises and curls/chins every week for the whole year and hopefully add some size. At some point i'll need to do a specialisation block for each of these, to really make them grow. Dunno what to do for neck, just push my bench press up to 3 plates i guess.
Legs im happy with for now at 27" - but i wouldn't mind have 28" legs when lean. That's not really a goal just a nod towards improvement.
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SQUATS ARE GPP. stop thinking about squats as a specific exercise for jump training.
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also, you have a 14" neck at 6'3, 215? holy shit! :-X i'm pushing a 15.5 at 4" shorter and 40 lbs less than you.
(http://www.rosstraining.com/images/neck1.jpg)
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SQUATS ARE GPP. stop thinking about squats as a specific exercise for jump training.
full squats are GPP. Partial squats are SPP :P
My neck is like 14.5-15" - i think my arms are too, but then i haven't trained arms for ages, left one might be 15, idk. 14" sounds about right though given measurement error. Legit 17" would be sick. I read that somewhere in a bodybuilding book that perfect aesthetic symmetry comes when neck=arms=calves.
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we have a thread about greek statue proportions somewhere. you should shoot for those. :P
EDIT: http://www.adarq.org/strength-power-reactivity-speed-discussion/measurements/
EDIT 2: this makes me want to do a BB block. :-X at the very least i'm gonna remeasure today. my waist and thighs are definitely bigger now than they were in my post there.
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I remember your explanation and I still don't know for sure how much is demanded aerobically and how much is anaerobically in a typical game.
The basketball numbers that I am using are 60/20/20 alactic, lactic, aerobic. These are from a pretty classic SSC book and I believe the numbers were arrived at using college basketball players who played continuous full court basketball (a scrimmage) wearing monitors. Play stopped for out of bounds, fouls, etc, BUT there were no time outs, no time on the bench, no quarter-time, etc, so if anything an actual game is less aerobically demanding. Pick up basketball is probably even less at least here where players argue and re-check the ball constantly.
I have my doubts, because i struggle to dunk in games even when it become effortless for me to dunk in practice. It could be like you explained that you need the right groove and runup and since in games you're not given what you want but rather have to work with the space available to you, i'm not able to hit my usual positions to do it properly? I can buy that in principle. But i was dunking routinely around the rim from all angles then. That's why i'm pinpointing my lack of aerobic fitness because that could be a possible weak point.
I get that you think that someone who dunks from all angles should perhaps struggle less to dunk in games. Even if you don't buy my explanation, you are pinpointing it on something that cannot be the reason! You also have small biceps... but why not pinpoint your lack of in-game dunking on your weak biceps? Aerobic fitness is NOT the reason why you struggle to dunk in games! You have to think about basic physiology. Having a well conditioned aerobic energy system will allow you to do sub-max (FAR submax) work continuously. A more fit aerobic system will be able to fuel a higher difficultly of work but nothing close to dunking. You can argue about the aerobic/anaerobic %'s in basketball but if you use a sport where the numbers are more exact you can see just how poor the aerobic system as far as maximal effort. No matter how fit you are the aerobic system kicks in at around 30s of sustained work. Not surprisingly, sprint speed drops off precipitously after 30s. Usain Bolt can run 300m in 30.9 seconds (an average of about 10.3 seconds per 100m). His best 400m time is 45.5 seconds. The time required to add that last 100m is 14 seconds! Someone with less aerobic fitness might run with even worse ratios... say 15-16 seconds. The GOAT at the 400m (Michael Johnson) could run his 400m only 13 seconds worse than his best 300m. That's the aerobic system of the greatest long sprinter in history.... And his added time over 100m is what you would expect out of a high school girl....
The point is that the aerobic system is a low intensity system. Having aerobic fitness will help you as a basketball player because you will be able to jog up and down the court without being the last one down. But when you go to dunk you better have the ATP ready to fire those non-oxidatitive fibers. That ATP is refilled during extremely low intensity periods, eg standing around on the court... possibly walking. You can take the fittest man in the world and if you have him run two miles at a pace that challenged him and then ask him to jump as high as possible 10 steps before he crosses the line.... he will struggle as much as you.
Even if you're right about basketball being mainly anaerobic, i think my aerobic ability is far below average to the point it will drastically affect my performance on the court. I don't think i would do well in any meaningful test (eg the one LBSS suggested or the ones you have offered). I think you're perhaps under-estimating my lack of fitness. I'm prob one of the least fittest members of this site, including raptor who has chronic problems with fitness. For me it's been from an intentional neglect to focus on pushing my lifts up which are slowly coming around to where i'd like them. In the summer when I was lean, i dont know if i was actually fit, or it was just easier to move around being so light.
I'm not doubting that your in absolutely terrible shape!! ( Although I do call BS on you being 25% bodyfat - being able to dunk at 25% bf even at your height would be a major accomplishment ). I'm also not arguing that your horrible aerobic fitness doesn't detract from your ability to play good team basketball. If there is a long period in the game without a dead-ball and you find yourself quickly becoming the last one back on offense/defense because your walking while everyone else is jogging... Then your lack of aerobic fitness is hurting the team. My argument is that your examples don't illustrate a lack of aerobic fitness (not being able to play good on-ball defense, not rising on your jump-shot and not being able to get in game dunks because all those examples suggest a lack of anaerobic conditioning, a lack of mechanical proficiency, and the unfortunate effect of specialization***.)
However, despite the fact that aerobic fitness may be a weak point in your game.... I still don't suggest that use sustained cardio as the means to bring it up. Sprint intervals CAN be useful for someone like you because they will provide a lot of bang for the buck as far as bodyfat goes AND there is something psychological about getting used to sprinting 60-100m repeatedly that makes a basketball court seem REALLY short. However, I still recommend you improve the bulk of your fitness with more basketball specificity.
The best argument I can give you for this is anecdotal... The year after college I didn't run track at all but I did play a lot of basketball.... we played pickup ball 4-5 times a week and would play upwards of 8 games on a good day. I was in amazing basketball shape and could dunk the ball off a drop step... I still rarely dunked in games unless it was a put back or a truly clear fast-break because dunking in games is HARD... but I digress.... The point was that I was one of the fastest and fittest guys on a court shared by a lot of high-level basketball players. Simply from playing basketball a lot and having an athletic background. Years later I didn't have a good pickup basketball resource and got back into running and at the seasons end I was in pretty decent track shape and pretty good aerobic shape (I'm talking 50 second quarter mile, 2:10 in the 800m, and the ability to run a 5 min mile - levels that are probably above where you are shooting for). However, when I played a game in a summer league my friend had organized I was gassed pretty quickly. Sure, I was still doing better than the weekend warrior's who were in terrible shape. But my basketball fitness wasn't anywhere near the level it was at when I actually played a lot of basketball. Basketball fitness is really specific. While I stand by the fact that it's primarily anaerobic it's also just simply unique. There really is not substitute to playing basketball for you.... if you don't have a good resource to pickup or league basketball.... Then I would stick with the basketball drill I gave you AND others that you can make up. They won't be as good as playing but they will be a close second. Keep it simple and keep in measurable. Another good one: how many times can you dunk in 2 minutes given that you have to dunk on alternating hoops? That will help your in game dunks way more than any cardio...
I am glad you made this point because it's something i've noticed before. I find in traffic it's harder to dip down into a jump (even a quarter one) for a SVJ or RVJ off a few steps. I wonder if there is benefit in training partial exercises like heavy quarter squats to improve ones ability to jump with a less knee flexion. It would be more useful to me for dunking in games..
Sorry, like LBSS said... GPP man. Full and quarter squats are GPP. Neither is executed at anything near the speed of a jump and neither involves similar mechanics. You have made some good strides in your athleticism and used squats... Don't go overboard now and think that you can weight lift yourself to gains in every reactive motion.... Your better off learning to dunk off different plants. Better to analyze your jump and find out how to get better at in game dunks. My problem with in-game dunks was always that my dunks were restricted to one footed dunks or put back dunks because although I jump well off two feet I use a left right plant which would be great if I am left handed (or could jump high enough to do a 360) but I am not.
***One last point about specialization. You should not underestimate the unfortunate lack of carry over that happens when you become a specialist. You have put a lot of work into your squat... If you take someone who hardly squats and he has similar bw to squat ratios... He will almost always be faster/stronger/etc. Getting good at something unfortunately means it starts to provide less aid in similar movements. You are now a specialized squatter and jumper. So your 34 inch jump (or whatever your PR is) will translate to a lot less when you have to jump at an odd angle, weird plant , in traffic, or simply without the mental queuing that you have learned to do before you jump in practice... Your old 25 inch jump translated a lot better because you hadn't yet reached a level of specialization... The guy who had trained his vertical from 15 to 25 inches probably saw your 25 inch jump and wondered why he couldn't use his 25 inch jump to rise up on his shot, block shots, etc. It's an unfortunate thing that happens when we get really good at something..... but hey it's because you have finally gotten some athleticism !
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Training
FS 1x140.5 (PR)
BS 1x152.5
SqM 1x160, 0Fx170, 0Fx167.5
BS 4x4x145 (PR, all belted, first 2 velcro, last 2 leather)
FS notes:
Just testing the waters, 140kg is pretty easy right now. I wonder if i'm good for 150 by the end of this RSR stint. Guess we'll find out soon enough.
BS notes:
Holy moly this was some of the hardest squatting i've ever done. I kinda burnt myself out with heavy maxes, 2 of which i failed @ 170kg and 167.5kg respectively. I got closer on the 170 than 167.5, so chances are i would have got the 167.5 if i had done it first :/
I don't need to do heavy singles anymore i think, the RSR worksets are heavy and challenging enough that it's unnecessary and counterproductive to achieving the rx sets. Next week heavy rx is 3x3x155 on weds, with rx light days monday and friday. Weds rx is ridiculous and daunting considering i have only repped above 150kg once, and that was on RSR1 and my 1rm with the velcro is only 160kg :/
upper and conditioning to come later tonight..
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Nice job on the squats... Here are the fitness tests used to screen high level soccer referees which is certainly a more aerobic activity than basketball.
http://www.cnra.net/academy/fifa-high-intensity-fitness-test-fitness-interval-run-test/
Both tests are very general are (especially the second) a bit more aerobic than the needs of a basketball player would suggest, but still neither is sustained cardio. Really holds true that unless your sport IS sustained cardio, fitness is primarily how well you recover during the breaks rather than how well you hold up during the intense periods. Intervals rule the day.
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***One last point about specialization. You should not underestimate the unfortunate lack of carry over that happens when you become a specialist. You have put a lot of work into your squat... If you take someone who hardly squats and he has similar bw to squat ratios... He will almost always be faster/stronger/etc. Getting good at something unfortunately means it starts to provide less aid in similar movements. You are now a specialized squatter and jumper. So your 34 inch jump (or whatever your PR is) will translate to a lot less when you have to jump at an odd angle, weird plant , in traffic, or simply without the mental queuing that you have learned to do before you jump in practice... Your old 25 inch jump translated a lot better because you hadn't yet reached a level of specialization... The guy who had trained his vertical from 15 to 25 inches probably saw your 25 inch jump and wondered why he couldn't use his 25 inch jump to rise up on his shot, block shots, etc. It's an unfortunate thing that happens when we get really good at something..... but hey it's because you have finally gotten some athleticism !
What does this mean? The more you train your vertical in a certain way, the less it translates in other types of vertical jumps?
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End of RSR2 volume phase retrospective
In the first round of RSR, RSR1 I was doing beltless singles with 150-152.5kg with nice form and good bar speed. This time around, ive PR'd 155kg beltless but bar speed has been much slower even for warmups around 145kg. What happened? I am definitely much stronger now than I was then but i think i've figured out why.
In RSR1, I was using 120kg as the training weight for the first 3 weeks worksets and as my light day throughout the 6 weeks. Turns out this was manageable because it wasn't that challenging for my quads or posterior chain for that matter. This time around in RSR2 I used 130kg for training weight. I got thru it beltless but often noticed on light days my bar speed was slow. The reason is quite simple really. My quads have been taking a beating this round. Even light days are challenging for my quads but since they're too light to task my posterior chain, it has recovered better. Also my posterior chain has been worked a lot harder this time around, much more so than RSR1 and has gained a lot of newbie gains just from being worked hard for the first time.
I am hoping as I let volume fatigue dissipate in week 5 (only one hard workout, a 3x3x155kg), my legs will freshen up, and i'll be able to increase my bar speed out of the bottom. And this will allow me to set some new PRs for beltless and belted both.
For the next round, RSR3, where i will be using 140kg as my training weight, i'll probably find my leg strength improve considerably but i'll have to be very careful with light days since they're hard on recovery. Have to think of a way around this cause it will be a deal breaker. One obvious solution is to use a belt -- but that's pretty repulsive to me for a light day!
(http://i.imgur.com/5uVzFep.png)
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***One last point about specialization. You should not underestimate the unfortunate lack of carry over that happens when you become a specialist. You have put a lot of work into your squat... If you take someone who hardly squats and he has similar bw to squat ratios... He will almost always be faster/stronger/etc. Getting good at something unfortunately means it starts to provide less aid in similar movements. You are now a specialized squatter and jumper. So your 34 inch jump (or whatever your PR is) will translate to a lot less when you have to jump at an odd angle, weird plant , in traffic, or simply without the mental queuing that you have learned to do before you jump in practice... Your old 25 inch jump translated a lot better because you hadn't yet reached a level of specialization... The guy who had trained his vertical from 15 to 25 inches probably saw your 25 inch jump and wondered why he couldn't use his 25 inch jump to rise up on his shot, block shots, etc. It's an unfortunate thing that happens when we get really good at something..... but hey it's because you have finally gotten some athleticism !
What does this mean? The more you train your vertical in a certain way, the less it translates in other types of vertical jumps?
kind of. the more you groove a certain pattern for any skill, the farther the gap between your proficiency using that pattern and using any other pattern. t0ddday talked about watching jesse williams, who is a world-champion high jumper, jump around on a basketball court. off two legs or off a normal run up of any kind he could dunk weakly at best. but if he takes his normal high jump approach and then does a rim jump he can pretty much hit his head on the rim. that pattern is just sooooo much more efficient for him than anything else.
it's not that getting better at something one way translates less to other ways, it just means the gap grows. another example: imagine you're a chef and you get really good at chopping vegetables with your right hand. you can do that emeril shit where he's just going nuts and looks like a machine. but your left hand is only as good at chopping as it ever was, or maybe it's a little bit better but it hasn't kept pace with your right. similar idea here.
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I'm starting to hate PRs. I like the idea of getting a PR, i just don't like the post-PR excitement high that ruins a good night of sleep. I hate PRs. I think i prefer to get an easier less meaningful PR that doesn't mean much than a milestone one because it's much easier to come down from psychologically. Think i'll work that into my training philsophy from now. I've already been doing it with front squats, i get the odd PR here and there but for the most part I just try to make a hard (submax) weight much easier over time. And eventually it becomes easy at which point my max has gone up too, without fussing. Still, it's seductive chasing milestones like 160-170-180kg etc. I guess once in a while it's ok.
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For me, if I jump off one leg WITH the ball in hand I get much higher than doing anything else. That includes jumping off one leg WITHOUT the ball and jumping off one leg with the ball in both hands... there's a BIG difference.
Why? Because I have always tried to dunk off one with one hand, thousands of times. And I'm the best at doing that.
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What does this mean? The more you train your vertical in a certain way, the less it translates in other types of vertical jumps?
kind of. the more you groove a certain pattern for any skill, the farther the gap between your proficiency using that pattern and using any other pattern. t0ddday talked about watching jesse williams, who is a world-champion high jumper, jump around on a basketball court. off two legs or off a normal run up of any kind he could dunk weakly at best. but if he takes his normal high jump approach and then does a rim jump he can pretty much hit his head on the rim. that pattern is just sooooo much more efficient for him than anything else.
it's not that getting better at something one way translates less to other ways, it just means the gap grows. another example: imagine you're a chef and you get really good at chopping vegetables with your right hand. you can do that emeril shit where he's just going nuts and looks like a machine. but your left hand is only as good at chopping as it ever was, or maybe it's a little bit better but it hasn't kept pace with your right. similar idea here.
LBSS is completely correct but I think while the chef chopping example is true; I don't know how much a chef would expect his left hand chopping to improve as a function of his right handed chopping improving. Right and left sides are innervated pretty separately so in this case I don't think they carryover would ever be that strong, even for a novice chopper. What's important here to realize is that even when movements are functional similar; or one seems almost in fact to be a more difficult version of another movement that the carryover still goes away.
Something to consider might be the standing vertical vs running (two footed vertical). The standing vertical seems basically to be a more difficult version of the running vertical... Thus, whatever you can standing vertical you can running vertical that + x. For most people that's totally true. A poor leaping but coordinated high-school basketball player might have a standing and running vertical jump of 23 and 29 inches while a better leaping teammate may be able to jump 29 inches standing and be able to jump 35 inches with an approach. If the poor leaping teammate trains and improves his standing vertical to 29 inches he will likely also achieve a running vertical jump at least near his teammates 35 inch jump. HOWEVER... say he really focuses getting in the weight-room and focuses really hard on getting that standing vertical jump higher and one day achieves a 35 inch standing vertical. At this point his running vertical jump may be hardly higher than his standing vertical jump. Some evidence may be visible (he might now perform his jump from much deeper squat which looks drastically different from his running vertical jump) but in reality the movement he is now performing is less similar to the running vertical jump both mechanically and on a neural level.
That is the failing of specialization. It's an important to recognize this because you don't want to fall into the trap of being that athlete who get's the standing vertical jump to 35 inches and then compares himself to NBA players who also have listed 35'' verticals and then comes up with an incorrect reason for why he can't dunk like those players (no offense to entropy here) which derails his training.
Their are countless head-shaking examples where people become so good at something that it pretty much boggles your mind how it does not carryover better to a similar activity. One example for which there are hard numbers if the 400m hurdles. The rule of thumb is that your time should be 400m time + 5 seconds unless your not coordinated at hurdling. This makes sense because the 400m hurdles is pretty much a harder version of an open 4... It's 400m PLUS 10 3 foot barriers in the way. What's shocking is that for the very best 400m hurdlers they can only run a bit more than a second faster in the 400m open race than when jumping over 10 hurdles. If you talk to some of the athletes they will tell you that the 400m hurdles feels easier because the rhythm and step count allows them to relax and get into a zone which allows them to perform while the 400m open is chaotic and never "feels" right.
These examples serve to help us as trainers or athletes to enforce two principles into our training:
1) Calculators and Tables are not predictive for an individuals performance but rather a useful tool to suggest how to focus training. For example if some table says that if you can squat X then you can jump Y inches.... This is not useful at predicting how high you will jump when you squat X (and you should not count those chickens before they hatch!). What it is useful for is to help you design your training --- The table should be looked at for your current ability! If you can already squat X but have a vertical jump greater than Y.... Then squatting might be a helpful tool at this point. If you can squat X and jump much less than Y, then you are probably pretty decent at squatting and thus you are practicing a movement that is pretty different than your vertical jump. The question that short sprinters ask is "how fast does my 60m need to be to be sub 10?" and of course there is no good answer... However, if your running in the range of 6.5 and don't run sub 10.... you should probably focus work on your lactic anaerobic system...
2) When we program our strength training and axillary work we should focus on generally similar movements rather than movements which we think mirror the movement but have resistance. We must remember that having even moderate*** resistance means the movement no longer is the same. This seems counter intuitive at first.... shouldn't we at least try to get our movements similar??? The reason we shouldn't is two-fold. Consider a high jumper who can either perform squats or heavy single leg bosu ball quarter squats. The single leg quarter squat looks a lot more like his movement.... However, it's a lot slower. Mechanically he now he has to train the complicated and similar movements of the high jump AND the strange squat which will slow down how fast he can get better at the only movement that matters (the high jump). Additionally, while the single leg squat may currently seem similar as he increases his skill in the high jump he may now alter his form to increase hamstring recruitment.... Had he been squatting those larger hamstring muscles which now have a lot of motor units to innervate would have come in handy... Only he doesn't have them because he concentrated on sports specific movement. Weight training should not be movement specific but muscle specific. High jumping involves the legs so it makes sense to use exercises which best target the legs.
***Exceptions here... While we don't want to try to emulate sports specific movements with large or moderate resistance... This is not the case if added resistance is minor. A high jumper may improve by performing jumps with a diving belt ( a 5-7 pound resistance ) for example as it will provide an greater load while not altering the movement to any degree.
For me, if I jump off one leg WITH the ball in hand I get much higher than doing anything else. That includes jumping off one leg WITHOUT the ball and jumping off one leg with the ball in both hands... there's a BIG difference.
Why? Because I have always tried to dunk off one with one hand, thousands of times. And I'm the best at doing that.
As always thanks to Raptor for providing a pathological example which illustrates the point better than any of the examples I posted!
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Cool post t0dday. What's the point of half squats/quarter squats if not for specificity to the movement of jumping? Just the fact that more resistance can be used?
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Thanks to T0ddday for making an interesting log to read! A lot of good stuff there. I definitely understand this subject far better now and have got a lot of ideas for how to improve my training towards attaining athleticism. From conditioning to movement and jumping, it's been enlightening to read.
My summary
- 60m sprints make 25m basketball court seem small and easy
- intervals of layups or dunks coast to coast for conditioning or 3 to 3 etc
- practising jumping with L-R plant (which i never do) compared to R-L plant (do 100% off the time!) while dunking with L hand or both but never with R
- keep doing everything else more or less the same
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Yeah but it's better to specialize yourself if your only goal is dunking. So if all you want is dunk, you gotta make up your mind what kind of plant you want to use and only practice that endlessly. Eventually you should be able to do it.
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Game time dunking, raptor..
My favoured approach is R of the rim with a R-L plant while dunking with the L hand. I do the same thing from the L side too but not as comfortably. Would a L-R plant from the L side be more ideal? And I guess with the R hand would even be better. But I can't hold the ball as well with my R hand. Guess i could stand to work on my grip regardless.
Btw does anyone do windmills, what is good technique for it? Not for me, i'm asking for a friend who has 10% bodyfat..
Also this video is amazing. Watch STAT finish around the rim, it doesn't matter if there is 5 ppl around him, he'll dunk it anyway. that would prob be one way to dominate bullshit FIBA zone defenses. Wish i was a bit taller, wish i was a baller etc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74mBPFK5yqU
and PR on 100pg log & 30k views ...
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Yeah but the 10 foot rim for Stoudemire is like a 9 footer (or less) for us.
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Indeed, Amare's standing reach is 9'0,5'', so 10' for him looks like 9' for us ~8' reachers. Toddday's reserve argument is still valid of course. Amare's draft measurements are 32'' SVJ / 35,5'' RVJ. He can touch 11' with 24'' of leap, which is only 75% of his SVJ. If his numbers were lower, he would have a harder time dunking ( no shit Sherlock! ).
Forget Amare and anyone else, focus on yourself. You have a 8'3'' reach, you need 21'' to touch rim, you can palm the ball easily so you need 28-30'' to dunk. Get to 38-40'' of vert, have 10'' of reserve between barely dunking and max vert, enjoy in-game dunk-fest!
:lololol:
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Training
FS 1x137.5
BS 2x6x130
BS notes:
That was a light day?? damn, i am spent. They were very hard. I went into the workout with my left knee feeling achy. As i went thru the workout it felt better and better and as i write this, it feels normal thank god! I am afraid the squatmornings i've been doing might have started to weed their way into my pristine highbar mechanics. I can see the dirty hip drive faggotry creeping into my concentric :/ Hopefully it's just an aberration because of the fatigue built up from last week. I've had doms in my posterior chain, doms in my quads, doms in my calves... etc.
I planned on doing arms and pressing today but i might not do it in the end, i need to be fully recovered for weds rx heavy day and might let my legs and buttocks take the full recovery resources available..
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Game time dunking, raptor..
My favoured approach is R of the rim with a R-L plant while dunking with the L hand. I do the same thing from the L side too but not as comfortably. Would a L-R plant from the L side be more ideal? And I guess with the R hand would even be better. But I can't hold the ball as well with my R hand. Guess i could stand to work on my grip regardless.
As Vag and Raptor pointed out... you will never be Amare because your just too short (although you can still be a formidable in game dunker - Charles Barkley sure was). But to be the best in game dunker you can you essentially want to have all the plants and practice dunking off both legs. It's also a good general workout and will allow you to have jump sessions where you get in a lot more dunks without putting much more stress on your body. Of course some of your dunks probably won't even be dunks but you could drill things like: standing dunks, drop step dunks, 1 leg right, 1 leg left, two step LR, RL, etc, etc.
As far as plants go.... Perhap's I've never been truly into dunking enough.... but I personally have never really been able to learn to plant the opposite way. I didn't put a ton of time into it but I messed around with it once and found it pretty awkward. However... If you want to be the ultimate 2-footed dunker I would argue that yes you really need to develop a LR plant from the L side ( or a RL plant from the R side ). An alternating plant ( LR from L, RL from R ) really does open your hips up to dunk and it opens your opposite shoulder to the defender (so if have to dunk on someone you can).
I think the best developed resource from bilateral jump footwork is actually volleyball... Not basketball. In volleyball a left handed hitter is taught to jump with with a LR plant and a right handed with a RL plant. Jumping the opposite way (as you and I do) is referred to as "goofy footed" and avoided most of the time because the contortion causes shoulder injuries and it's a slower approach relative to the set. Of course in advanced volleyball there are *some* uses to goofy footed hitters because they can jump reverse essentially and mess up timing, but as a standard it's the less desirable plant. As to whether athletes should switch from goofy to regular is a little unclear... Most coaches will try to switch a young volleyball player to regular plant, some believe you have to leave it alone. Honestly, I am not sure whether it would be easier for me to learn to dunk with my left hand or switch my plant... I actually think it might be easier for me to just dunk lefty with my current plant, then again I have stubborn coordination and I have been jumping this way ( and starting in blocks LR AND on the line as a receiver LR ) for about 20 years now so it's a pretty ingrained pattern... you might be able to change it and if possible you should become proficient at the other plant.
I'm sure it's been posted before... but perhaps the best bilateral jumper of all time, the 6' cuban volleyball player... And of course he uses a RL plant for a right handed spike.
Btw does anyone do windmills, what is good technique for it? Not for me, i'm asking for a friend who has 10% bodyfat..
Lol, asking for a friend huh ;). From the dunk videos posted you are not incapable of windmills. I quite good at missing windmills and the answer to the question really depends if it's off a lob or a dribble. As bad as our plant for where it puts our shoulders it can be useful for more advanced dunks. Despite only having about 2'' inches of two-handed dunk reserve (ie on my best day I estimate I could maybe do two handed dunk on 10'2'') I have been able to pull off really easy turn around drop step dunks ( back toward hoop, turn body toward right, bring left around for powerful plant, then tap with right as I power-dribble and rise up with right hand ) because my plant actually helps me with the turn. Additionally, I have landed a few fake 360's be approaching turned and finishing the last 150 degrees of the spin in the air to dunk. I forget the mechanics but I was at one time working on a strange windmill windup that helped me straighten up from my plant. Essentially the goofy plant the both you and I use requires you to contort your body in the air to get your hips open and dunking shoulder back if you take off for maximum height.... This contortion can be used to do a semi-360 or some cool wrinkle on a dunk that will make people think dunking is a lot easier for you than it is... It will take a lot of practice.....
BTW, speaking of the challenges of in game dunking.... Part of the problem is you are just too short... The threshold for in game dunking seems to around 6'6'' for where you can ALWAYS dunk. Consider Dwayne Wade (who btw can plant both ways)... Similar standing reach as you, doesn't have huge hands, has some nagging knee pain (like you do when you squat), and has fatigued legs from the nba season.... He blew a layup the other day because his steps were off and it simply isn't that easy to dunk on command... so your in good company: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5P4BSUK72A
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Cool post t0dday. What's the point of half squats/quarter squats if not for specificity to the movement of jumping? Just the fact that more resistance can be used?
Good question. Snarky strength coaches would just rephrase the question as "What's the point of half squats/quarter squats" - nothing.
But the point of half/quarter squats is the same as trap-bar deadlifts... To develop leg muscle and strength. If an athlete can do full squats easily, has good form, etc then the only possible advantage is to a partial rep is like you said supramaximal loading. However, a lot of athletes can't full squat much at all or end up relying on their back too much when full squatting. Half squats and quarter squats might be better for these athletes if they can build leg strength and muscle faster with them. You can easily add in a hamstring exercise for what half squats dont recruit as far as glutes/hams. My problem with half squats was moreso that they aren't measurable than than that they are a inferior movement. They lack measurability because it's hard to know whether you have PRed in the half/quarter squat or just raised your depth an inch.... Pin squats can keep the bar going down to the same height but then it's hard to measure whether you just bent your back a bit more to hit the pin.... I favor a box squat a bit more because measurability is slightly better that way, but basically if you can keep honest form then and prefer half squats can be really useful.
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I looked on google images for an appropriate up arrow gif but i can't find one to do justice. Might defer to LBSS to look into big bag of cool graphics and kindly post one in gratitude for the awesome posts above!
So this is the first time in a long time, i can't remember the last, maybe when i was learning to swim a few summers ago that i'm genuinely excited about going out and trying something out in anticipating of improving myself. I can def get behind exploring different plants, i just wish someone had suggested it to me sooner. I'm always keen to re-learn and re-do my mechanics. it was only recently i took apart my jumpshot and put it back together again with cleaner technique. I love stuff like this!
Shit, even before i become a DL jumper. I always jumped off my L leg, either side of the rim and after become a squatter and DL jumper, i just carried this over when i took up a RL plant w/ all my jumps. That would have been the ideal time to switch to LR where it's more appropriate but i didn't know better.
So for efficiency if dunking L of rim, I should use L hand and plant LR. If dunking from R of rim, use R hand and plant RL (what i alraedy do except with L hand). hmmm interesting.
:highfive:
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ask, and you shall receive.
(http://img.pandawhale.com/87495-Thor-upvote-gif-ANOTHER-Imgur-vhqM.gif)
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Also, FWIW and from my n=1, it is much easier to change your dunking hand than your plant. It is weird in the beginning but you adapt to it pretty fast ( i am talking weeks, not even months ). At least that is how it worked for me. I am still 100% right handed except from dunking, and LR-L is 100 times better than my previous LR-R. I did play around with plants too but there was no way to get the RL down right, it always feels awkward and has me jumping 2-3 inches lower. To be fair also, at my all time peak my plant was more like a jump stop than a true LR, but still, if last step before that was with L, it wouldn't work again. Agree once again with toddday, play around with all plants, bring them all up.
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Also, FWIW and from my n=1, it is much easier to change your dunking hand than your plant. It is weird in the beginning but you adapt to it pretty fast ( i am talking weeks, not even months ). At least that is how it worked for me. I am still 100% right handed except from dunking, and LR-L is 100 times better than my previous LR-R. I did play around with plants too but there was no way to get the RL down right, it always feels awkward and has me jumping 2-3 inches lower. To be fair also, at my all time peak my plant was more like a jump stop than a true LR, but still, if last step before that was with L, it wouldn't work again. Agree once again with toddday, play around with all plants, bring them all up.
I'm totally with you on the difficulty of changing your plant... It doesn't really matter for Entropy as he wants to be an in-game dunker and so he must get decent at both plants, but I'm just curious if someone who more of a contest dunker has had any success changing their plant? I always figured that the jumpers who use what looks more like a jump stop might have more luck than someone who really single leg plants and taps with the other leg. It would be really cool if it I could dunk with the opposite plant... It's really nonsense to be equally as good at 180s, drop steps, and running dunks but that is where I end up with my goofy plant.
I think Entropy will be a good test case... He is meticulous, willing to put in the time to practice, and since he wants to in-game dunk even if he can't successfully change his plant foot to jump as high as his natural plant it will still be helpful for him to improve. I wonder how much of the plant leg is coordination vs strength. To be fair I feel really uncoordinated trying the other plant, but at the same time I run the 200m (turning left), long jump off my left foot, single leg jump off my left, and have for years... My left hamstring is visually bigger than my right hamstring so maybe switching plant legs wouldn't work even if I was more coordinated... Hopefully Entropy has less strength imbalances and will adapt better.
Vag, can you palm the ball with both hands? Obviously, you L-R-L dunk is better than your L-R-R dunking but is your L-R-L maximum vertical touch higher than your L-R-R maximum vertical touch? I probably should take your route and suck it up and learn to dunk with my left hand but I can precariously palm the ball only in might right hand and I've gotten pretty coordinated at keeping it in that hand! Do you bring it up with both and switch to left?
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...or maybe your right hamstring would get bigger and stronger.
fwiw, i used to be a complete mess SL jumping off my left foot. as bad as i was off right, i could not even do a coordinated layup off left. now, some hundreds (not even 1000s) of layups later, i can touch rim off both feet although my peak off right is still probably a bit higher. i have no doubt that my (or entropy's, or anyone's) RL plant would improve with lots of submax work.
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Vag, can you palm the ball with both hands? Obviously, you L-R-L dunk is better than your L-R-R dunking but is your L-R-L maximum vertical touch higher than your L-R-R maximum vertical touch? I probably should take your route and suck it up and learn to dunk with my left hand but I can precariously palm the ball only in might right hand and I've gotten pretty coordinated at keeping it in that hand! Do you bring it up with both and switch to left?
Yes i can palm the ball the same with both hands. When i began changing it, highest touch was the same for LR-L and LR-R too. Dunk/highest touch sessions were mixed, like 50-50 LR-L LR-R. Session by session i started using more and more left, and after a couple of months or less it was pure left. Have not tried right ever since. That didn't happen deliberately, the LR-L efficiency naturally dominated.
I have it palmed before the runup but supporting it with the other hand during all runup and plant, i seem to release the right hand when starting to rise.
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To me, entropy's biggest problem is neither of these things discussed here... I have to be honest... he just LACKS LIFE so to speak.
Whenever I see a recording with him... he's walking around very slowly and his jumps look like a 60 year old guy tries to jump. I hope entropy (or anybody else) doesn't hate me for saying this but... that's what I think.
Until he won't try to be more aggressive and FASTER... I just don't see how this will work out. Maybe he'll be OK off a standing vert or something but of a running (walking) jump in his case...
Entropy buddy... you need to put out some life out there man. Seriously. You can't just walk around and jump like someone forces to do it and you hate it, and then expect to have results.
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I agree. I'be been reading and thinking about that Raptor, funny you should say. It's to do with having poor footwork, i don't have active athletic feet. I should be more forefoot dominant (have i used enough buzzwords yet?). When i watch video of myself during games i am very heavy on my feet and appear flat footed.
It's something i'm going to work on though. I have found a few drills to get good at; the BFS dot drill and the line hopping one, will see if it helps. I'm also told to do a bit of barefoot running to groove the position but there is something gross about running on grass these days knowing there are so many dogs who have pissed on it before. Probably. Maybe on sand or something, idk.
The other thing is partially an artefact of the video equipment I use. The few times i've filmed with a better camera eg on my phone, it comes out looking a lot smoother and faster. But it's harder to hold the phone in place compared to a camera i can put on the tripod or just sit up on a ledge somewhere, you know. I guess if i look fast on my usual camera, then i'll be super quick in real life or on a good camera :P
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Cool post t0dday. What's the point of half squats/quarter squats if not for specificity to the movement of jumping? Just the fact that more resistance can be used?
Good question. Snarky strength coaches would just rephrase the question as "What's the point of half squats/quarter squats" - nothing.
But the point of half/quarter squats is the same as trap-bar deadlifts... To develop leg muscle and strength. If an athlete can do full squats easily, has good form, etc then the only possible advantage is to a partial rep is like you said supramaximal loading. However, a lot of athletes can't full squat much at all or end up relying on their back too much when full squatting. Half squats and quarter squats might be better for these athletes if they can build leg strength and muscle faster with them. You can easily add in a hamstring exercise for what half squats dont recruit as far as glutes/hams. My problem with half squats was moreso that they aren't measurable than than that they are a inferior movement. They lack measurability because it's hard to know whether you have PRed in the half/quarter squat or just raised your depth an inch.... Pin squats can keep the bar going down to the same height but then it's hard to measure whether you just bent your back a bit more to hit the pin.... I favor a box squat a bit more because measurability is slightly better that way, but basically if you can keep honest form then and prefer half squats can be really useful.
Thanks for the response T0ddday. Also, why not just leg press and hack squats to build strength? Do the stabilizers (which aren't trained by leg press/hack squats) matter that much for the vertical jump?
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Yeah I think you're exactly right entropy. In fact, to think of it... that's the reason. If you have a lot of upperleg strength and you're weak in the lowerleg department... then you will tend to look like you do. That's a big no-no in my books.
Not only that, but will put you in the position of a possible injury because you will exert power from the upperlegs but have ankle collapse lower down the chain, which in turn will stress the knee.
So... the barefoot running idea is a very good one (I do it on the track). And anything else that loads up these calves while being in a dorsiflexed position is great too (consecutive jumps, ankle bounces, line hops, rudiment hops, sprints, high hurdles etc).
If I were you I'd probably do barefoot sprinting and double leg bounds + rudiment hops at the end, with emphasis on staying on the ground as little as possible.
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Thanks for the response T0ddday. Also, why not just leg press and hack squats to build strength? Do the stabilizers (which aren't trained by leg press/hack squats) matter that much for the vertical jump?
What are the stabilizers? Some special group of muscles I have never heard of? There are good reasons why squatting is usually a better idea than leg press but training the "stabilizers". Muscles can act as stabilizers but there are not really muscles which can only be trained as stabilizers... The prime stabilizers in the back squat are the quads, low back, and glutes/hams... The stabilizers are the prime movers! The front squat is going to involve more core stabilization but if anything that's a weakness (limits load on legs) as far as grading the front squat as a leg movement. Now if you are talking about bang for the buck exercises (ie you can only choose one exercise) then sure choose front squats to press or some crossfit move but if you want to build bigger, stronger legs choose the exercise that lets you best do that...
Despite that the legpress as an exercise has a lot of weaknesses compared to the squat. First of all it's just simply dangerous... the pelvis rotates away from the back rest when weights get big and you can easily herniate a disk if loads are significant. Second of all it doesn't build any general mobility. However, there are types of machine squats and or lifts that reduce stabilization that certainly could be used by athletes.
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Training
BS 3x3x155 (PR)
CR 2x15x195 (PR)
BP 6x60, 6x70, 6x77.5, 6x72.5 (paused, PR)
JUMPZ 2x3xLR
FS notes:
Just warmups up to a double of 125kg. Heavy warmup single omitted on account of BS rx workload for the day.
BS notes:
Absolutely damn heavy. First set with velcro, last 2 with leather belt. I have no business repping anything over 150kg. My body just isn't build for that shit. I did it anyway because of the written program rx but i don't think it agrees with me. I'd rather make up the volume by doing more sets than repeating this scheme again. In future runs of RSR i'll do it my way.
CR notes:
Came pretty close to losing my balance and toppling forwards on rep 2 of the first set. I dunno what happened, it was too freaky. How are you supposed to train calves heavy with a barbell without dying?! Have to think of a better way this is too unsafe. I might start doing a lighter warmup set of around 180kg first..
Jumps notes:
I might jus do a seperate post for this since it might get a bit long w/ video.
I wasn't planning to but i'll do pressing today so i have less to stuff to do on friday, allowing more recover time for the final assault on RSR which begins monday. After wrapping up RSR2, I'm putting squat obsession on a hold while i bring up my GPP and SPP (basketball)! Doesn't mean i won't stop squatting, or even keep pushing my squat up, but that it won't be the main focus anymore. I'll write a proper plan when i'm done next week.
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I started with LR plant from the R side of the rim with my L hand. The first 10 or so jumps were very awkward. Initially i was just doing layups and even those were challenging lol. But gradually as familiarity set in, I become accustomed to getting a bit more out of the jump and my hand got closer to the rim with each attempt. It took a dozen attempts before i got my first legit LR plant dunk!
To start with i found the mechanics with dribblign the ball too much to handle at once, so i didn't worry bout dribbling or taking a proper off-the-block drop step approach. I remembered T0DY's advice to earn every step and not advance to N+1 steps until i'd mastered N first. This helped.
I found it confusing at first trying to remember all the advice provided. Different plant sure, but different hand too? Or was i supposed to do only one of those? In any event switching hands was much much much more difficult task than plants. Plants came easier.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPY4HOnD_78
(if it's too dark please wait. it might take some more processing time while it runs a lowlight filter, thanks for your patience!)
I have video but unfortunately the lighting is terrible. Eventually i'll record indoors with better lighting. If you watch it, the first 11 are misses from the R side. The 12 and 13th i land my first 2. Then switched to L side of rim. And i couldn't remember if i was supposed to change plants here or keep my usual RL one? I just went with RL plant on these but it's possible i got everything upside down of what i was supposed to do?!
From here do i just keep practising LR plant until it's really strong or do i have to worry about dunking with my R hand too? cause i'm not too keen on that just yet since it's a bit too much all at once. Can i please have a clarification for what I should be drilling for next time i jump. Which plant from which side? And is it with L hand for all? Thanks.
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Training
BS 3x3x155 (PR)
CR 2x15x195 (PR)
BP 6x60, 6x70, 6x77.5, 6x72.5 (paused, PR)
JUMPZ 2x3xLR
Glad to see you putting the time to program jumps in... Remember, jumping is not merely a test to see if you have improved but a training tool as well - LBSS can attest to that. Although, when you jump volume is lower than your squat volume you know you are not jumping enough! Still you know your body so ease into it. Soon you will be ready for single leg bounds!
I wasn't planning to but i'll do pressing today so i have less to stuff to do on friday, allowing more recover time for the final assault on RSR which begins monday. After wrapping up RSR2, I'm putting squat obsession on a hold while i bring up my GPP and SPP (basketball)! Doesn't mean i won't stop squatting, or even keep pushing my squat up, but that it won't be the main focus anymore. I'll write a proper plan when i'm done next week.
I can't tell you how many times I have seen gains actually accelerate when you put your obsession on hold... Training's funny like that! The gains seem to come from the obsessed period... but seem to be somewhat refractory during the obsession. I expect big things from you!
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From here do i just keep practising LR plant until it's really strong or do i have to worry about dunking with my R hand too? cause i'm not too keen on that just yet since it's a bit too much all at once. Can i please have a clarification for what I should be drilling for next time i jump. Which plant from which side? And is it with L hand for all? Thanks.
Nice too see improvement during the video. It would take me about 1000x more reps to get my bad plant anywhere near my good one.
As far as what you need to keep in your head for practice time. Optimal plant for body position and thus dunking a basketball (or spiking a volleyball - ie hips opened up to target) is always an alternating plant LRL or RLR where LRL means left leg, then right leg, then left hand. As far as which to practice it depends on what your concern is. If you are only concerned with dunking you practice whichever is easier - depending on whether you are more ambidextrous or better at alternating plant legs. In Vag's case he found that despite being right hand dominant he had an easier to getting LRL down than trying to learn RLR. If he was REALLY right hand dominant (and maybe not so mechanically proficient at his plant) maybe he would have been able to get RLR.
In your case however... You get to do them all! Since you want to be an in-game dunker you should work on LRL and RLR and LRR and RLL. Work on getting the plant powerful from a big-step lead in (what you are doing now) and a hopped pre-penultimate (best IMO) and a turn-around step.
I actually think its a really good sign that you are confused about which plants/hands/etc. And it's good that you switched plants so fast... It means you are not that good at planting to begin with! I better jumper would clearly be able to tell which plant/hand is optimal and have a hard time doing anything else... What that means is that you have a lot of inches yet to gain just by getting better at jumping.
Another thing I would recommend you doing is some actual maximum jumps. Get a target that you can touch or almost touch (head to backboard or the pole behind the backboard - something close to 11 feet in your case) and get reps in jumping toward this object. This won't help in game dunking (except for fabulous alley-oops) but this will really help you get plant and arm mechanics down. Get reps in toward the end of your dunk session in. A jump/dunk session could look something like this:
10-20 vertical jumps
5-10 no-reload vertical
10 standing left/right verticals
2x10 repetitive jumps (jump land jump)
1x10 for all single step plant jumps/dunks
3x5 single leg running verticals jumps/dunks
3x3 maximum running vertical
log everything. get better at all.
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Thanks so much! With jumping, a little bit goes a long way for me especially at this stage when my bodyweight is much higher than it should be and too much volume risks injury. In the past i've observed I don't have to jump as much or as often as others here to get improvements. I can even go weeks even over a month without jumping and still maintain or improve. I never figured out why this is, just that my squat seems to be strongly tied to my jumping. But i have so much new to learn with jumping now, i'll definitely have to increase the workload as I go along.
As far as what you need to keep in your head for practice time. Optimal plant for body position and thus dunking a basketball (or spiking a volleyball - ie hips opened up to target) is always an alternating plant LRL or RLR where LRL means left leg, then right leg, then left hand.
In your case however... You get to do them all! Since you want to be an in-game dunker you should work on LRL and RLR and LRR and RLL. Work on getting the plant powerful from a big-step lead in (what you are doing now) and a hopped pre-penultimate (best IMO) and a turn-around step.
Understood. I'll drill all of them. That takes the confusion out since i have to do everything haha.
I actually think its a really good sign that you are confused about which plants/hands/etc. And it's good that you switched plants so fast... It means you are not that good at planting to begin with! I better jumper would clearly be able to tell which plant/hand is optimal and have a hard time doing anything else... What that means is that you have a lot of inches yet to gain just by getting better at jumping.
I didn't know it until you guys put me onto thinking about plants but i've only just realised this is about giving yourself the flexibility to plant in such a manner that you are able to position yourself according to the defense. If you can only dunk with one kind of plant with only one hand from only one side of the rim then you can only do that dunk very rarely when that chance arises. But if you can do a whole variety of plants and hands then you pick your space and dunk depending on the opponents position. It opens up a greater number of opportunities. This is awesome! I see what you were getting at now :)
Another thing I would recommend you doing is some actual maximum jumps. Get a target that you can touch or almost touch (head to backboard or the pole behind the backboard - something close to 11 feet in your case) and get reps in jumping toward this object. This won't help in game dunking (except for fabulous alley-oops) but this will really help you get plant and arm mechanics down. Get reps in toward the end of your dunk session in.
I actually already have the perfect target, it's in my sig. A 36" leap for me corresponds to touching the top of the small backboard square. That's my macro goal! so training with it is actually totally amenable and i'll work that in my jump sessions.
A jump/dunk session could look something like this:
10-20 vertical jumps
5-10 no-reload vertical
10 standing left/right verticals
2x10 repetitive jumps (jump land jump)
1x10 for all single step plant jumps/dunks
3x5 single leg running verticals jumps/dunks
3x3 maximum running vertical
log everything. get better at all.
Looks nice. What's no-reload vertical btw? standing L/R verticals means with SVJ jumps with L hand and then R hand? is the repetitive jumps what i think people call pogos?
I can't tell you how many times I have seen gains actually accelerate when you put your obsession on hold... Training's funny like that! The gains seem to come from the obsessed period... but seem to be somewhat refractory during the obsession. I expect big things from you!
Thank you. it means a lot to hear that from you! The best thing about this is since my team is from Melbourne, I only see them a few times a year, the last time was last year June; so next time i see them (mid-late april) for a big annual tournament, i'll be a lot stronger, fitter, leaner, more athletic and have a variety of new moves. I can't wait, i'm aiming for that most improved player label :)
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a 36" leap for me corresponds to me getting all but an inch of my palm over the rim. sing again the sad song of the average of height.
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Thanks so much! With jumping, a little bit goes a long way for me especially at this stage when my bodyweight is much higher than it should be and too much volume risks injury. In the past i've observed I don't have to jump as much or as often as others here to get improvements. I can even go weeks even over a month without jumping and still maintain or improve. I never figured out why this is, just that my squat seems to be strongly tied to my jumping. But i have so much new to learn with jumping now, i'll definitely have to increase the workload as I go along.
It's because you are a poor jumper. That is a good thing though. If you develop your optimal plant and become proficient in the running two footed jump then you will notice it won't improve anymore if you go a month without jumping no matter what happens to your squat. You have essentially saved this up... but it's time to stop saving it up because you will start to plataue hard if you think you can still bump your squat up and jump 34'' then 36'' then 38'', etc. Works great for 24'',26'',28'' but jump specific work is what's going to carry the improvement in the 30''s.
However... you are somewhat right about high volume jumping and injury. You are somewhat safe because you are not super proficient at your approach jump but I totally agree that high volume maximal running vertical jumps off two feet at a high bodyweight is just asking for injury. Your danger level is dependent on your bodyweight and proficiency. For example if your standing vertical is 26'' and your drop step vertical is 28'' but your running two footed maximal vertical is 36'' then you are getting those extra inches with a huge amount of torque and stopping force on the second leg of the plant... Jumpers knee will follow, especially if you are heavy.
The solution is to do a three things...
1) Decrease the volume of maximum effort running vertical jumps as you get more proficient. Think almost of it as a reward... Like if you finish your jumping workout and your feeling good then you will get a good static hip-flexor stretch in, lace up those kicks, and allow yourself to get 3-5 earnest all out efforts to touch the top of the square... If you almost get it your last attempt you don't get to keep trying and muscling your way to the goal. Also if you feel any knee pain before and after... shut this part down. Have to be zen about this.
2) Don't neglect standing vertical jumps. Unless you are already injured or have serious strength or mobility issues standing vertical jumps are actually really safe. Boring but safe as long as you have safe controlled landings. At your height you can even make them even safer by standing below the rim, jumping up and grabbing it with two hands, and then hanging completely (can even grab the net) so that you don't ever drop from more than 20 inches.
3) Use submax work to practice approach technique. You can mix it into basketball skill. Something practicing spin move to submax jump to dunk ( which is basically a single turning plant ) or if that's difficult you could do practice hard dribble, gather, rim height finger roll. You have to be careful here obviously but neglecting everything but standing vertical jumps is probably not best... you just want to mix in approach jumps using just enough intensity to not risk injury.
A jump/dunk session could look something like this:
10-20 vertical jumps
5-10 no-reload vertical
10 standing left/right verticals
2x10 repetitive jumps (jump land jump)
1x10 for all single step plant jumps/dunks
3x5 single leg running verticals jumps/dunks
3x3 maximum running vertical
log everything. get better at all.
Looks nice. What's no-reload vertical btw? standing L/R verticals means with SVJ jumps with L hand and then R hand? is the repetitive jumps what i think people call pogos?
A no-reload is something I took from track. Basically squat to your jump depth with your hands up. On someones command (or your own) jump as high as you can. Great submax drill. Correct about pogos. Standing L/R vertical means stand on below rim. Lift your right foot off the ground and jump off only your left foot to touch the rim. Also, a relatively safe sub-max drill. Will also allow you test bilateral deficit. I have a 28'' vertical using JUST my left foot. But I'm well under 24'' when standing on my right. My right leg sucks so much it's depressing.
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Injury (day after)
FML, I couldn't even get thru the first week of 2014 before picking up my first injury. I strained my intercostal thing again, but this time it's on the left side not the usual R side it usually happens. It's bad, but it's not too bad, i've had worse. I am fairly sure I did it while squatting too, on that last set of 3 where i forced the 3rd rep because the program required 3. Trying to remember how to deal with this thing, i have to stop doing upper body work and... probably lay off training for a while. It's only been less than 2 months since i last had this injury on my R side and i was just starting to recover from it and get back into normal training again. Bother.
Update (next day)
This is getting better really quickly. I feel less that it was intercostals and more thinking it was my left pec. I might have strained or teared it a bit :/ This is not good cause these things can get very chronic. Honestly, who tears a pec while squatting? Apparently just me, i've done it so many times. Question is, i'm scheduled to train today, a light day for squats. Obviously i will have to be really clever about this and aim to be healed and ready for mondays heavy day.
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Training
BS 6x2x130
FS notes:
Just warmups to 125kg double again.
BS notes:
Not sure why i call these a light day when it's so challenging. It's ridiculous that i've done 4 sets of 6 with 130kg in wk3 and yet 6 doubles feels so hard right now in wk5!
As noted above, i'm dealing with an injured left pec right now. I was careful not to bother it and skipped chinups because i know that will disrupt healing. Squatting was totally fine. I had severe inclement soreness in my R hip flexor which is unusual, as was the novel abdominal soreness i got after wednesdays 3x3x150kg squats. Had some lower back soreness also but nothing major, i'd say about 4/10 where 8 is pretty severe. So week 5 comes to an end. Next week i wrap up RSR2!
(http://i.imgur.com/x21MnpD.png)
Time to drown myself in protein and nutrients as I try to heal this thing up in time for mondays heavy double doubles. I am ambitious and thinking i might put on 165kg for the first set with velcro and if i get it, 167.5kg for the 2nd with the leather belt. Will see how I feel on the day. If strong and fresh then the latter, otherwise stick to rx and pray for the best.
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I wonder if I could attribute the R hip flexor soreness to trying LR plant jumps for the first time? That would certainly be interesting if true.
I also forgot to mention, today I used a pvc pipe on the back of my neck muscles trying to remove tightness around the chest. My neck is so free and effortless to throw my head up now, it feels a bit strange, like i am bobble head doll. I am used to way more resistance! I should do more mobility work for my upper body my shoulders and chest aren't very mobile right now. I used to do mobility for my neck traps all the time, but ever since i wrapped my (thin) PVC in a towel for rolling my lower back, i haven't used it for neck. Now i think i need to do better for 2014, I will get a proper PVC pipe setup - a dbigger diameter pipe dedicated for my back and legs. And use the thin one for neck and traps. I also wanna get a thin steel pipe for my calves, i used to have one, dunno where it went. Anyway just something to remember for next week.
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resistance bands are awesome for that, too. i do a set of shoulder dislocations and my neck is twice as loose after.
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resistance bands are awesome for that, too. i do a set of shoulder dislocations and my neck is twice as loose after.
Oh yep, if what you're describing is what I call back and forths where the band touches your abs then lower back and so forth. I do those daily as a staple but i'm weary of doing them right now in case they bother my chest during the movement. Although i did one set very tenderly earlier too. I don't find it does anything for my neck though! PVC worked quite like magic. I'm kicking myself for being so lazy and not unwrapping my towel-wrapped-pvc one even though it's a hassle re-rolling it again.
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Training
FS 1x142.5 (PR)
BS 2x165 (PR), 1x167.5 (PR)
FS notes:
Last thing i wanted to do today was fuck around with front squats. And yet if i didn't FS today, the next time i could fs heavy would be friday, which would put like 10 days btw heavy fses -- that's not good. Well i decided to try for a PR and got one but i'm regretting not fs heavy. This is the first time since RSR1 that i've put 3 plates on for fronts -- i was using 137.5kg + change but that's much easier than having 3x20kgs per side obviously. A bit of a reality check, this was challenging so i haven't really done much for my front squats out of RSR2 :/ Maybe it was just a bad day though.
BS notes:
I felt strongish on warmups but couldn't get a beltless HB PR of 157.5kg which I failed. Rx was 2x2x162.5kg. I tried for 165kg and it was a limit double. Decided to do the rest of the reps as singles, PRd 167.5kg and then failed 165kg at which point i decided to call it a night.
So now rest up for friday when I get to test my maxes... and .. finish up with RSR2 and focus training around basketball.
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Damn, you're going so strong lately.
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Damn, you're going so strong lately.
Lol nah. Just newbie gains for posterior chain which was long neglected in training. Thanks though.
Question for the forum - ways to train quads ability to absorb forces? I'm thinking it is a weak point of mine.
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accelerate, then decelerate as fast as you can.
that said, you're so nuts. i alternately love and hate it.
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Back in the day I used to sprint and then actively decelerate as fast as I could. So go all out in the sprint and then try to stop in as shorter distance as possible.
I remember some coaches asking why I do that etc. and annoying the heck out of me.
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Back in the day I used to sprint and then actively decelerate as fast as I could. So go all out in the sprint and then try to stop in as shorter distance as possible.
I remember some coaches asking why I do that etc. and annoying the heck out of me.
Those coaches probably didn't realize that your were so lucky to be blessed with an extreme slothlike quality that made that training possible without risking serious injury. If a sprinter actually goes to max velocity and tries to stop in as short a distance as possible he will do exactly one rep and get carried off the track. Sometimes you have to excuse coaches who assume a basic level of ability and apply basic training safety for that level of ability.
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As I linked in the articles discussion section, use of a belt when squatting allows you to recruit more leg musculature. Which is great for training legs. But I find when I use a belt, while I can lift more weight in general, i can lift less weight with good form than if I didn't use a belt. So my technical beltless squat max is actually higher (~157.5kg) than my technical belted squat max (~150kg) while my belted max is around 170kg.
The only way i can explain discrepancy is by pinpointing the ability of quads (maybe hams too) to absorb force.
And no LBSS i'm not going to try that lol, it sounds like a bad idea.
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As I linked in the articles discussion section, use of a belt when squatting allows you to recruit more leg musculature. Which is great for training legs. But I find when I use a belt, while I can lift more weight in general, i can lift less weight with good form than if I didn't use a belt. So my technical beltless squat max is actually higher (~157.5kg) than my technical belted squat max (~150kg) while my belted max is around 170kg.
The only way i can explain discrepancy is by pinpointing the ability of quads (maybe hams too) to absorb force.
Currently I don't understand at all what your saying. I don't understand integrated circuits. The only way I can really explain how they work to myself is sheer magic... but I know that's probably not true. That's how I read some of your explanations... Even still, I'll bite... So you think that if you quads could absorb more force you could have better form with a belt... is that what you are saying? WHY?
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Yes exactly what i'm saying. Based on this article (http://gregnuckols.com/2013/12/04/should-you-wear-a-belt-or-not-study-write-up/),
Wearing a belt allows you to lift more weight, and even with the same training weights it increases muscle activation in the quads and hamstrings without decreasing abdominal activation.
So it seems to me my quads are getting overwhelmed whem using a belt. Too much force to absorb. Or the hamstrings are overpowering quads. Either could be happening i guess
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Back in the day I used to sprint and then actively decelerate as fast as I could. So go all out in the sprint and then try to stop in as shorter distance as possible.
I remember some coaches asking why I do that etc. and annoying the heck out of me.
Those coaches probably didn't realize that your were so lucky to be blessed with an extreme slothlike quality that made that training possible without risking serious injury. If a sprinter actually goes to max velocity and tries to stop in as short a distance as possible he will do exactly one rep and get carried off the track. Sometimes you have to excuse coaches who assume a basic level of ability and apply basic training safety for that level of ability.
It's not like I was doing that in spikes. And it's still took a ton of distance to stop. My biggest problem was always the ability to decelerate (which is extremely important in one leg jumping because "decelerate" equates to "changing direction from horizontal to vertical") - so that's what I was training.
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Yes exactly what i'm saying. Based on this article (http://gregnuckols.com/2013/12/04/should-you-wear-a-belt-or-not-study-write-up/),
Wearing a belt allows you to lift more weight, and even with the same training weights it increases muscle activation in the quads and hamstrings without decreasing abdominal activation.
So it seems to me my quads are getting overwhelmed whem using a belt. Too much force to absorb. Or the hamstrings are overpowering quads. Either could be happening i guess
The reason why you have worse form with a belt is because you use heavier weights because you feel stable enough to use them due to the increased abdominal tension (because of the belt). The CNS translates that into "this is safe(r) enough for this heavier weight" so then the leg muscles are being overloaded (since they aren't used to that heavy weight) and you start to use your back more etc to compensate.
If you want to see what the belt does or doesn't, compare a squat that you're able to do without a belt with the same squat done with a belt.
So say 140 kg beltless with 140 kg with a belt.
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Nope, it's not it, Raptor. I routinely work up to 152.5-155kg beltless with good form. Even 157.5kg is on the cards but my abs aren't strong enough yet, still form breaks only a good part of the way up on the ascent. In constrast 150kg is about the heaviest i can do with a belt with technical crisp form. It breaks down at the reversal point. To iterate, it is a lighter weight than my beltless technical max!
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Training
BS 3x2x130
FS notes:
Laying off these for the rest of the week while i peak out my backsquat. Just did warmups up to 3x100kg, didn't double 125kg as usual. Btw i think i might have been using a too heavy weight for warmups, 125kg is 90% of my pr max... and i always do 137.5+kg or so which is 97% of that same max.
BS notes:
Rx was 6x2x130kg but i halved it to taper off volume for friday. These are pretty darn hard anyways.
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Then I have no idea. Maybe the presence of the belt distracts your attention and makes you lose form?
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Then I have no idea. Maybe the presence of the belt distracts your attention and makes you lose form?
Belt doesn't. I have done thousands of reps without the belt to groove good highbar technique over 8 months or so. It's pretty much set as a movement pattern. I don't really focus on the belt, it's almost as if it's not there to me. Everything goes the same into the descent. It just overpowers my quads and the body reflexively shifts to the much stronger hamstrings and glutes.
Idk, i've always had this problem when using a belt, it ruins my form completely. It's why i train beltless until recently when i wanted to bring up my posterior chain. Would love to know a way to fix this, but it seems i'm the only person in the world who has this problem, i haven't come across anyone else with the same issue. Most people find their form improved with a belt, i'm an anomaly.
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Training
FS 1x145 (PR)
BS 1x157.5 (PR)
BBS 0Fx170, 1x169.5 (PR)
CR 2x15x200 (PR)
DUNKS LR plant x 12
CND 30min walk, 1x100m hill sprint
BW: <96kg
FS notes:
PR is nice and all but harder than i'd like it to be. I put it down to warmups not being ideal but then again, i can't afford to optimise warmps towards FS too much when the focus is backsquats. Only got 5kg out of RSR2.
BS notes:
Finally got that 157.5kg PR. Too hard, once again. Need more abs. I'm really disappointed i only got 5kg out of this RSR cycle.
Belted BS notes:
Well, i had a choice to make going into this workout. Go all in on belted backsquats and aim for ≥170kg even maybe 175kg while eschewing any other kind of squats for this workout. Or get 3 different squat PRs albeit at the cost of a more modest belted PR.
But in the end I decided it was better for MY TRAINING GOALS to get 3prs in front squats, beltless high bar squats and a belted BS, than a PR only in belted squats. I failed 170kg for reasons i can't understand, it just feels so much heavier and harder than anything in the 160s. Whatever. I came close enough, 169.5kg is good enough for this cycle. I'll be good for 170kg soon enough.
Jumping notes:
So I practiced LR plant again this week. I wouldn't say it's become natural, but at one stage RL plant felt unnatural. The gap is closing. I hit a couple of dunks which felt very strong off LR. I believe I need more practice to make the transition from the plant to takeoff more seemless. There is a bit of discrete jaggedness there atm. I took a video but there isn't anything amazing there to bother you guys with.
Good news is i'm injury free!!
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:goodjobbro:
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Plan for the summer (2014)
I have 90 days to the bball tournament exactly. My bodyweight is 96kg/211lb (17th Jan). I'd like to play at 80kg/175lb, but i don't think I have enough time. Still I should be able to get 80kg≤bw≤85kg. It really depends how quickly I can get out of the 90s. If it takes over month, then foggetaboudid. But if it takes, idk, a coupla weeks, then it's in the realm of possibility. My metabolism right now is roaring, so i'll be able to get off a good start at least. And how much is postbulk bloating, water weight and how much actual adipose? Well that all remains to be seen.
Training will focus around basketball. My weak points are my fatness, slow/clumsy feet, fitness and conditioning and general athleticism like running and jumping. I'll be training to improve all these facets.
For fatness i'm going on a legit cut, there is no other fool proof way to drop 16kg of bodyweight. You can recomp a kilo or three, but 16kg is a job for a professional, honest to goodness diet.
Conditioning, running and jumping are to be combined into a 1x weekly court session, fridays, working up to 3x a week, as I get lighter. Start with dunk practice. Then followed by conditioning -- I like the the drill Todday suggested, timed coast to coast layups/dunks. I will prob go for a walk every day too while i'm heavy. I will also do slow jogs after every training session at the park on days i'm not going to the court. And maybe include longer sprints like 200m. For fun..
Feet - will do the BFS dot drill and line drills. How often? I am thinking I could do these every time i train. They can't be that hard on recovery as long as i'm warmed up etc. Shit I don't know how fix yet -- I play too vertical if that makes sense. When you look at a slow-mo of derek rose or something, he'll be like slanted over 45 degrees to the ground. How do you evolve that sort of body positioning on the court for someone who is always on his heels?
Gym - Use 140kg as my training weight, til i've mastered it which means doing sets of 6 with it for backsquats. And it means hitting it any day on front squats. Will maintain and build-on my maxes, ~160kg beltless bs (2xbw), 145-150kg fs (~1.85xbw), ~170kg belted bs(≥ 2xbw). Train calves heavy 1x a week, wednesdays. Train biceps 1x week, mondays. Train abs 3x a week. Abs are my main weakness right now limiting my squats. Bigger, stronger abs will make me a beast. Not just in the gym but on the court as well. I need abs so strong, they are prominent thru a t-shirt. Abs so big they pop thru my bellyfat. I should do OHP 1x a week too, they make my traps grow and it will help on the court for building strength useful for rebounding, boxing out, etc.
Skills - Learn post moves, rebounding, shooting the 3 ball, midrange jumper, and dunking on fools from all angles.
Goals that would be nice to have but not the main focus
- 155kg front squat (~1.95xbw)
- 180kg belted backsquat (purely for the ego)
- 40" vertical
I think that about covers it, i cant think of anything else right now, if i remember i'll edit.
BRING TO BEAR YOUR BEST CRITICISM PLZ. Srs, welcome all inputs!
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Training will focus around basketball. My weak points are my fatness, slow/clumsy feet, fitness and conditioning and general athleticism like running and jumping. I'll be training to improve all these facets.
Conditioning, running and jumping are to be combined into a 1x weekly court session, fridays, working up to 3x a week, as I get lighter.
:pokerface:
my advice: abandon squat goals. abandon all goals except improving at basketball. nothing has worked as well for me as having no other goal than jumping higher.
if you can work out three times a week, do three days of basketball training, with one of them being more intense and the other two a bit less so, with gym afterward: you're like me and won't abandon the gym altogether, which is great, but you need to de-emphasize it psychologically. four days of training per week? two basketball-only, two basketball+gym. yes, do dot drills and line hops every time you train.
you can do very easy conditioning at first, and up the intensity as you get lighter, as you said. that's smart. but you should be doing stuff like ballhandling, shooting drills, layups, etc. every time you train.
as far as bending over like d.rose, just consciously incorporate it into your training. when you do defensive slides for conditioning, do them in the ready position: on the balls of your feet with your knees bent and hips low. when you do ball handling drills, do them in the ready position. when you do layups, start with a few moves at the three-point line in the ready position and then go to the rim with your COG forward. when you do the dot drill, start and finish in the ready position. practice practice practice practice practice.
you didn't ask but here's how i'd set up a week for you (assuming 3x/week training):
monday
- warm up (incl. dot and line drills)
- ball handling sequence a la taylorhorton
- jump shots working your way from the rim out to three-pointers
- layups alternating left and right
- dunks
- defensive slides
- more jump shots and layups
- stretch
wednesday
- warm up (incl. dot and line drills)
- ball handling sequence a la taylorhorton
- jump shots working your way from the rim out to three-pointers
- layups alternating left and right
- post footwork
- back squat up to a heavy triple plus light-ish back-off sets
- upper and core shit
- stretch
friday
- warm up (incl. dot and line drills)
- ball handling sequence a la taylorhorton
- jump shots working your way from the rim out to three-pointers
- layups alternating left and right
- post footwork
- defensive slides
- more jump shots and layups
- front squat 3x6
- upper and core shit
- stretch
going for long walks on off days is a terrific idea, as well. the elements here can stay the same as you lose weight and get in better shape, just add volume and/or intensity as you get more comfortable. go harder on the bball stuff on monday, ease up on wed-fri.
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I really don't know anymore lol. Thanks for your post, i'm reconsidering my approach. I'll think over it LBSS. I can accept most of your reccomendations but i don't think i can put my squats on the backburner and go back to being weak and feeble and struggling with 2 plates again. I want to keep pushing towards 4 plates, and then i will maintain that and switch focus to other areas. I feel as though that will be enough strength.
But i've been pretty depressed about my quads. I have 27.5" thighs and yet my quads can't absorb enough force :( it makes sense though, my femur leg segment is longer than average so i need more cross sectional muscular area to make it look less stick like. I think of powerlifters and their massive thighs and if that's what i need to squat a lot then maybe it's something i'm going to have to live without. Basketball players don't usually have big thighs ..
(http://alleyesonwho.com/events/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/AmareStoudemire.jpg)
And i'm pretty sure there is a photo of wilt somewhere too
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Wilt_Chamberlain_Nate_Thurmond.jpg)
I forgot to mention last night when I went for my walk, I came across this beauty
(http://photogallery.canberrabirds.org.au/images/Frogmouth_Tawny2_Cook.jpg)
it was just sat there on the branch completely still. i dunno how i spotted it, but it was completely camouflaged. So so cool. So I spend a good part of today reading about it on wikipedia. It's called a tawny frogmouth which i think is a wholly unflattering name for such a beautiful creature.
So there are benefits to going outside more often :)
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as far as bending over like d.rose, just consciously incorporate it into your training. when you do defensive slides for conditioning, do them in the ready position: on the balls of your feet with your knees bent and hips low. when you do ball handling drills, do them in the ready position. when you do layups, start with a few moves at the three-point line in the ready position and then go to the rim with your COG forward. when you do the dot drill, start and finish in the ready position. practice practice practice practice practice.
Lol, when my unathletic person tries to get low... i end up looking like this
I know what a good position should be like, a college ball player would be low to the ground, flat back, hand up, one low, on balls of the foot. And yet when i think i'm doing these things i'm actually not. I wish i had coaching.
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de-emphasizing squats doesn't mean you have to abandon them and get weaker. i can't squat as much as i could even four months ago but i'm definitely good for 90% of that, and i have no doubt that a switch back to squat-centered training would see me recouping what i've lost pretty quickly. you can push yourself on the squat sets, you just can't expect to make gains.
EDIT: after looking at a bunch of pictures on the internet, i've determined that your defensive stance isn't wide enough to allow you to get low.
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Correct. A wider stance would allow for a few things. You'll be able to slide your feet rather than shuffle, you'll be in a better position to flatten your back which should allow you to tighten you core/be in a better position to change directions and you'll be lower which allows defending ball position/passes easier.
When I am actually playing D (rare lolol) my feet are outside my shoulders.
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Yeah you can see Larry Nance here, his quads sucked:
(http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0902/nba.dunk.contest.winners/images/1984-larry-nance.jpg)
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Thanks guys. In october, I practiced once with a wide stance. But to the point that I was being told it was too wide. Possibly it was. I need to experiment and find the ideal one and then drill it in. Also ChrisM i wasn't setting my chest/core, i didn't realise i needed to do that on defense lol. Will try that next time. Wider than my usual one but not so wide that it is encumbering for me and with chest up and core rigid.
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I guess I may have worded that a little wrong. You don't want to ACTIVELY tighten your core like you would in a lift, it's just that the better posture will/should automatically do so to a certain extent. This will help breathing as well as your diaphragm won't be constricted.
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Thanks Chris, that makes more sense. I'll go out and hit the courts and try it out.
Starting the new program tomorrow, will do a series of post as I work out how i'm going to do it.
Abs
Like i've mentioned this is a huge weak point for me right now. I was misled by claims that front squats without a belt would double as ab work. I mean they may have, but perhaps not as much as hyped and certainly not enough to have warranted dropping abs assistance work. So lets fix that.
While i'm heavy, bodyweight exercises like planks, chinups, raises, and rollouts will do the job nicely for stabilising strength. From past experience I know while these things will make my abs strong. They won't really make them grow. For that, I found cable pulldown crunches and weighted lying crunches work best. They really blow up my abs. Since variety is the spice of life but consistency is the lifeblood of progress, i'm going to have to figure out a way to make the best gains in strength and size without compromising the other.
I want to train abs 3x a week, will alternate btw hypertrophy and strength. Although i'm prob going do strength every workout anyway lol. It's my new obsession.
Btw LBSS this is how i will progress my squat, without obsessing with squats, just bring up my weak points. Calves, abs, upper back.
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So i tried it out. As bad as it is to be upright, when i do the whole getting low wide thing, i feel stapled to teh floor. And i can't react to opponent. So it makes me even more useless on defense. Blah.
I did the footwork drill, same, ran some laps of the court, c-t-c layups. And played a pickup game. I felt like a complete useless piece of immobile stone on the court. i was slow, sluggish, couldn't shoot, couldn't defend or do anything right. Passed ok. Just ok though, nothing special. Forget about dunking in games, i am not even quick enough to get an easy layup.
I think i'll play basketball on sundays. Then maybe take monday and tuesdays off to rest. And lift weights weds, fris, sunday. Is that the way to do it? training 4 times a day is fine, but not when fucking cutting. In fact, ideally i'd be playing zero basketball and just lifting and resting while cutting. i got this so so wrong. but i think 1x a week is ok. if i can make it work. lets see.
edit. I'm just gonna suck it up and train hard. eventually the dark times will pass, and my body will have adapted.
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Bodyweight: 95.2kg/209.88lb
After basketball training last night, I actually woke up feeling great contrary to all expectation. I guess I have maintained some of the basketball fitness I had from the last half of RSR1. Which is strange considering I didn't really play any ball in all of the six weeks of RSR2. Apart from the weekly jumping or so. I'll take it.
The main thing i'm excited about today is starting training abs. I will be conservative, really really conservative to start with. Usually get that part wrong and thrash my abs too much and then i can't train properly for ages which sucks. So will probably do, i dunno, 3 sets of 2, or something like that on the ab wheel. And maybe 30s plank? Whatever, it's just a starting point will be working up from there.
The other hting i'm excited about is about making 140kg my training weight for squats.
Training
FSBS 3x100, 3x120, 1x140
BS 4x2x140
BBALL ~ 30 mins
CND - Jog around oval, 30min walk
ABWEEL - 2x3 (from knees; kinda partial reps for those too)
FSBS notes:
For future reference, FSBS is where i do x reps with FS followed by x reps with BS. It's my warmup. So this culminated with 1 rep with 140kg front squat followed by 1 rep with BS. I have decided to grow up and make 140kg (3 plates) my everyday, anyday, training weight for front squats. When I can do that reliably, i'll work up my PR from 145kg up to 150kg where i'd like to be by the end of this 90day cycle. But in the meantime i have no business going above 145kg since i'm so ill-conditioned to squatting 3 plates.
BS notes:
I'm really really bad right now at doing reps with anything above 140kg. On friday i PR'd 157.5kg and today monday i struggled to double 140kg. That's how shit i am right now. But this is why it's so important to master 140kg for reps before i can consider myself a good squatter. It's easy, somehow to do 4x6x130kg and 5x5x137.5kg as i did on RSR2, and yet put 140kg on there and i'm jelly. Not good. Lets fix that. I'm basically doing RSR but without a timeframe, so if i had got 6x2x140kg today, i wud have gone for 6x3x140kg next time. Since i didn't do 6x2, i'll repeat 6x2 weds until i've got it before attempting 6x3 and so on. It's slow steady progress when it comes, rather than on a schedule.
Basketball notes:
My shot was much better today. Felt good top down. I worked on post moves also, I have figured out a way to really put my power into moves finishing with an explosive jump finish at the end. I can't imagine many people will be able to block that, once i get it down pat. Esp with a drop step vertical around 40". Lets work on it.
I took LBSS advice and decided to train bball every time i train, this way i can't be accused of neglecting my sport. And i think i can still keep up my gym workload, at least while i'm overlyfat, it will be another story closer to 10% bodyfat, probably but while i'm 25%? fuck yea, do it all.
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Bodyweight: 93.85kg/206.9lb
5 days into the cut and my progress looks like this:
(http://i.imgur.com/Va2IXKq.png)
Kind of incredulous finding my bw so low, so soon. I don't really believe it, might have something to do with the crazy heat wave going on. Will see over the next coupla days if it sticks. So far i've been pretty faithful to the diet. I'm eating 2 meals a day, a 100% clean breakfast. And a dinner which is pretty healthy, but perhaps I could use less fat in cooking my chicken? I had drumsticks yesterday, and i baked them in the oven w/ olive oil. Tasted pretty nice. Eventually i'll have to start limiting fat intake to 50g a day or something, like RFL. But right now i'm not going too hard to keep myself sane, because I know the road is long, and i'll gradually embrace further austerity as my caloric requirements subside.
I really wish I felt fresher today, but those ab wheels i did thrashed my abs anyway despite my lamentations for conservation. I feel as though I must PR my front squat by 2-2.5kg this week before my RSR peaking cinderella strength gains vanish. Maybe i'll wait til friday now. And this is why I don't like doing abs, cause they ruin my squat ambitions. But i know if i stick to it, eventually the turntables will turn.
Training
FSBS 4x100, 3x122.5, 1Fx137.5
BS 1x140, 1x145, 2x140, 1Fx140
FSBS notes:
Was a horror show when 122.5kg feels hard you know somethings up. And i actually failed a front squat, can't remember the last time that happened. This was ominous for what was to come..
BS notes:
I was planning on doing 6 doubles with 140kg. It wasn't in the cards, i haven't recovered yet from monday/sunday.
I feel like shit, i can't remember the last time i had such a bad workout. I guess there will be more of these to come :( Totally regretting those ab wheels now. But truth is, it's probably only one part of the jigsaw for why this was a bad training day. I was to do upper body, i'm gonna skip it and hope to be recovered for friday.
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http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html
not saying it applies, just food for thought.
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From what I remember, the LTDFLE thing (http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-ltdfle.html) happens long term, after months of dieting, you might see whooshes or whatever when the last fat cells empty. Towards the end of the diet, not the beginning. The other thing is, it is usually marked by a visible change in body comp. I mean it may still be the case, for the former perhaps it can happen even early, and for the latter, perhaps i'm too fat to notice even significant changes in bodycomp. We will know over the next few days, if it bounces back up then i'll know it wasnt anything. And if it sticks then great, i'll take it!
My theory is it might be de-bloating post-bulk, i've cut dairy intake down to 600mL a day, so that might be a factor also.
Btw LBSS, i don't think i'll try 4 sessions a week. It's doable when you're well conditioned and you've got a caloric surplus. But when cutting, limited resources etc, you do less rather than more. Even 3x a week is probably too much according to our Lyle. I will stick with 3x i think after today's horror show workout.
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that's fine, 3x a week is good. the point was just to not lose sight of what you really want to get better at.
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Bodyweight: 93.85kg/206.9lb
5 days into the cut and my progress looks like this:
(http://i.imgur.com/Va2IXKq.png)
Kind of incredulous finding my bw so low, so soon. I don't really believe it, might have something to do with the crazy heat wave going on. Will see over the next coupla days if it sticks.
Glycogen is really really heavy for how little energy it supplies. Not a surprise that we store bodyfat. Five pounds in three days is expected. Now that you have some muscle you will notice bigger swings as well. When I started cutting for the new year I got off a plane in and weighed in at 221. I fasted completely the next day and ate breakfast the next and weighed 205 before dinner that day. A couple of years ago I went from 195 to 215 after thanksgiving.... It happens both ways.
After you get under 200 it will really start to slow. At that point you will have to be meticulous with your diet or do what I do and start throwing in some fasts. But at that point you will be losing that fat.
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that's fine, 3x a week is good. the point was just to not lose sight of what you really want to get better at.
Understood. Will keep that in mind, thank you. Tt's def a mistake i don't need to repeat again!!
Glycogen is really really heavy for how little energy it supplies. Not a surprise that we store bodyfat. Five pounds in three days is expected. Now that you have some muscle you will notice bigger swings as well. When I started cutting for the new year I got off a plane in and weighed in at 221. I fasted completely the next day and ate breakfast the next and weighed 205 before dinner that day. A couple of years ago I went from 195 to 215 after thanksgiving.... It happens both ways.
After you get under 200 it will really start to slow. At that point you will have to be meticulous with your diet or do what I do and start throwing in some fasts. But at that point you will be losing that fat.
Wow you know i've never really experienced such big fluctuations, my bodyweight is reasonably stable in comparison! That's pretty wild though. I never though of it that way -- a guy your size and build and activity will have a daily maintenance requirement of say 3500kcal. And fast a day and you're -3500kcal, which is equivalent to the energy value of about half a kilo of pure bodyfat. Do that for a couple of days and maybe you can burn a decent amount of bodyfat very quickly. There must be some catch to it though, maybe your body will downregulate metabolism a lot harder when you're very lean or worse, start using up muscle tissue for energy. But if you're say 10-20%, i'm sure there isn't such an effect. Pretty cool. I wonder if you can 'trick' your body by only doing it 1-3x a week or so, so it doesn't have a chance to slow down metabolism? The downside is probably it will take ages to cut down to your goal bodyweight though as opposed to dedicated daily fasting. And for most people, the problem would be dealing with cravings and binges out of hunger and not being in a stable habit which makes a huge difference because we can humans deal with a lot of severe things that we become used to as opposed to regular disruptive changes. irregular hunger can be insatiable after a while, whereas you can get used to a baseline sort of hunger when dieting. Btw i am aware that daily fasting as in intermittent fasting actually shows a speed up in fat metabolism during the fasting period. Hmm.. lol anyway, something to try one day!
But right now i have to get thru the 3 week hump, after which i find things just settle into a groove and you can cruise along as you stick to the daily habit.
(http://i.imgur.com/Nctn1S6.png)
Btw LBSS, it stuck, bodyweight is pretty much the same today as it was yesterday!
I was going to say, Todday, i actually fasted today, i haven't eaten in 17 hours and i could probably do 24hrs too, it's not so bad on rest days, i just can't train properly on training days, i've tried it before, it kills my performance.
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Wow you know i've never really experienced such big fluctuations, my bodyweight is reasonably stable in comparison!
Not surprising. You never had much muscle. You are at your all time most muscular now so fluctuations will be a lot larger.
That's pretty wild though. I never though of it that way -- a guy your size and build and activity will have a daily maintenance requirement of say 3500kcal. And fast a day and you're -3500kcal, which is equivalent to the energy value of about half a kilo of pure bodyfat.
No, not really. That's the thing. More muscle means more glycogen. So a fasted day (that begins in a fed state) without aerobic exercise will probably just put you near the point are running out of glycogen and beginning to use primarily fat. Of course burning glycogen for 3500kcal will certainly mean a huge difference in bodyweight as you shed all the water bound to it. But you don't actually get into fat metabolism any faster than the skinny guy. I recommend you buy some cheap keostix and you can figure out exactly at what point you run out of glycogen and start producing ketones. For me it's around 36 hours fasted with training.
Do that for a couple of days and maybe you can burn a decent amount of bodyfat very quickly. There must be some catch to it though, maybe your body will downregulate metabolism a lot harder when you're very lean or worse, start using up muscle tissue for energy. But if you're say 10-20%, i'm sure there isn't such an effect. Pretty cool. I wonder if you can 'trick' your body by only doing it 1-3x a week or so, so it doesn't have a chance to slow down metabolism?
Again, changes in metabolism are greatly exaggerated. They are very slight and take a long time to occur. And if you keep up your training they essentially can't happen. I've run 6x200m w/3 min recovery all under 28 sec in a completely fasted state. My body is still making energy at that point. They don't happen faster depending on how lean you are either. The problem with leanness is that your body won't be as preferential as far as using fat as a fuel instead of amino acids. That's why when you are lean it's more important that you keep up your dietary protein. I always tell athletes not to waste their money on protein supplements when they want to bulk. A normal western diet with a caloric surplus is more than enough protein to build muscle for all non-bodybuilders. It's when you are lean and want to get more cut while still sparing you protein that you need protein supplementation. In fact in the clinic it's really the only protein supplementation that is used medically is protein added to modify a fast.
The downside is probably it will take ages to cut down to your goal bodyweight though as opposed to dedicated daily fasting. And for most people, the problem would be dealing with cravings and binges out of hunger and not being in a stable habit which makes a huge difference because we can humans deal with a lot of severe things that we become used to as opposed to regular disruptive changes. irregular hunger can be insatiable after a while, whereas you can get used to a baseline sort of hunger when dieting. Btw i am aware that daily fasting as in intermittent fasting actually shows a speed up in fat metabolism during the fasting period. Hmm.. lol anyway, something to try one day!
But right now i have to get thru the 3 week hump, after which i find things just settle into a groove and you can cruise along as you stick to the daily habit.
Yeah personally I don't get why people spend so long cutting. It's going to impede your performance anyway so just fucking get through with it. Just man up and don't eat. Get up Monday drink some black coffee and get it in in the gym. Eat again Tuesday night. Do the same on Friday to Saturday and you will lean up pretty quick. All the cravings and headaches are for women or guys who really don't have much mental fortitude. Not being sexist here btw - women actually have a harder time fasting.
I was going to say, Todday, i actually fasted today, i haven't eaten in 17 hours and i could probably do 24hrs too, it's not so bad on rest days, i just can't train properly on training days, i've tried it before, it kills my performance.
That's all in your head man. Fast. Wake up. Black coffee. Train. Man up and you will shock yourself what you can do. If track athletes can do it you can definitely lift through it. This type of challenge is probably what you need.
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dreyth used to beast it in the gym fasted, iirc.
also, come on entropy, you've read enough kyle mcdougal to know about PSMFing with EOD refeeds, haven't you? nothing but protein and veggies (and a little fat i guess) on rest days, protein and veggies and carbs (and a little fat i guess) on training days.
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Yeah but isn't it dangerous not to eat for that long? Like a possible calcium attack or hypoglycemic crash?
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Yeah but isn't it dangerous not to eat for that long? Like a possible calcium attack or hypoglycemic crash?
Not at all in an otherwise healthy person. Hypoglycemic crash from fasting is really a myth. When a healthy person fasts a lot of physiological changes take place. Insulin secretion stops, glucagon and epinephrine (which is pretty awesome for training) are released leading to glycogenolysis/gluconeogensis/lipolysis (in other words you harvest glucose from glycogen, make glucose denovo and burn fat). All of these things are awesome.
Some people (a small minority) suffer from fasted hypoglycemia which is caused by excessive insulin secretion or a fatty acid oxidation disorder. The majority of sufferers are younger than four years old and they have to essentially eat a glucose source every 8 hours to maintain blood sugar.
A great many people complain about lethargy from a constant lack of food. There was long thought to perhaps be some burn in period where those used of constant sugar perhaps suffered from minor hypoglycemia when they were first put on a restrictive diet. However, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that this isn't true. While most studies show cognitive performance better after breakfast than after skipping breakfast..... the ONLY study to actually control for skipping breakfast (they made a polymer based breakfast that looked and tasted like food but supplied no caloric energy) found zero difference in cognitive performance from a fasted state. In other words if you think you need to avoid fasting for performance it's all in your head..... So man up and stop thinking you need food.
References Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Sep;88(3):667-76. A double-blind, placebo-controlled test of 2 d of calorie deprivation: effects on cognition, activity, sleep, and interstitial glucose concentrations. Lieberman HR, Caruso CM, Niro PJ, Adam GE, Kellogg MD, Nindl BC, Kramer FM.
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Training
FS 1x135, 0Fx140
BS 5x1x140
BBS 1x147.5, 0Fx155
JUMPZ x 20
ABWL 4,4,3 (knees)
CU 5,5,4
AB raises x 8
FS notes:
Shit in every way possible. Quads not fresh enough.
BS notes:
Shit also, no quad drive.
Jump & bball notes:
Man i dno why, but i was dunking so hard and easy. maybe cause im a bit lighter? surprising considering how bad i was in the gym. Even jumpshots were falling nicely. I think the reason for that is not tiring out my shoulders/biceps in the gym by not doing any upper body work. Interesting.
Abs notes:
I was going to skip these but i've decided to get them a proper go. I did 2x4, i think i might have done as many as 5 on the 2nd set, kinda lost count. Just a triple on the 3rd set, just to do a 3rd set. I could probably done as many as 5 reps on the first set, maybe more, idk, they were easy today, i could go full rom. But still not strong enough to do one off toes. Will aim for 3x5 next time. Or maybe even more, idk, i used to routinely work up to 20 reps on these, maybe i'm being a pussy, but after getting my abs thrashed after 2x3, who knows what to expect.
I think i might have strained my R pec again. It's not super bad, but i can def feel it a bit off.
The first week was a complete clusterfuck in almost all respects. I shouldn't have attempted 4 sessions in the week. I shouldn't have thrashed my abs so much last friday. I shouldn't have run and walked as much as did early in the week, nor played ball sunday. I shouldn't have fasted yesterday. I got everything wrong. My legs were too weak. I'll have to do a lot better next week!
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Then what about going on a long walk or run or jog or whatever in a fasted state first thing in the morning? I've heard people for and against this.
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Then what about going on a long walk or run or jog or whatever in a fasted state first thing in the morning? I've heard people for and against this.
Not sure what you mean. Is it dangerous? No. Is it going to lead to more weight loss because you are in a fasted state. No, not really. First of all you are not really in a fasted state first thing in the morning. You haven't come close to depleting muscle glycogen after a nights rest. But even if you have for the most part "fasted cardio" is another broscience myth. If you wake up and eat 1000 calories and run 4 miles then your cardio burns 500 calories.... If you BMR then takes care another 1000 than you will be -500. If you wake up and run 5 miles than you will be at -500. Then you will eat 1000 calories and be back to plus 500. Really doesn't matter ether way. Meal timing and your metabolism has long been shown to have negligible effects. Get your energy balance negative through training and diet manipulation and you will lean up. There are some health benefits unrelated to body comp that fasting might provide but IMO the main advantage to fasting is that it is much much easier for the athlete to control.
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But that fat you've burned during the fasted exercise is gone for good. Now if whatever you eat later keeps you in a caloric deficit, that's fat that's never coming back. So it helps for fat loss definitely. But if you eat a surplus afterwards, well then you are probably going to restore the fat as you've said.
Also i think you've overstated the case for ketosis and/or glyocogen depletion. You don't need to be depleted first to start burning fat!! In fact structured carb reloads are a part of good diets because they help reset hormones back to baseline to alleviate somewhat the effect of chronic dieting such as raising metabolism. LBSS knows what i'm talking about, we've read the same source material haha
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So i'm really reconsidering my approach to reaching my goal of being a strong, lean, fit, conditioned, skilled player by my deadline (~11 weeks time). I think i will fit in a stint of hardcore severe dieting, maybe 3-4 weeks. PSMF. And hopefully that will take me from say 90kg down to 85kg and then i can slowly work my way from there to 80kg. Now i don't think that's actually a realistic endpoint, it's an ideal endpoint. But the closer i come, the better, so it's not necessary an attainable goal as such, only a guide for where to aim.
In lieu of the above, i'll be ordering extra protein (i calculate i need btw 2.5-5kg) and BCAAs. This will help with muscle sparing etc. I've never used BCAA before, maybe they'll be beneficial, perhaps especially when i try the fasted training thing.
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Ok, i'm gonna experiment with this fasted stuff tonight. My last meal was 10.5 hours ago. I did have some carbs (coke) preworkout though. Anyway that coke was about 6.5 hours ago. I haven't eaten anything since then. I'm going for a late night walk. If i had BCAA i would mix some first. But i don't have any, so i used 2tspn whey instead. I know it's got BCAAs as well. So lets see how it goes. brb.
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i don't think there's any strong evidence that BCAAs are "better" for training than plain old WPC, which contains all the BCAAs anyway.
don't lump me in with you on the impact of glycogen depletion!
bottom line: you need to pick a goal and settle on it. if you keep jumping around you're just going to spin your wheels.
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Toddday's point, about the run fasted thing:
case A: fast ( or sleep ), run and burn Y kcals, eat X kcals.
case B: fast ( or sleep ), eat X kcals, run and burn Y kcals.
The energy balance is [X]-[Y]-[BMR expenditure] in both cases, eating before or after does not change what you burn in an exercise.
Now obviously if you don't eat at all, the energy balance wil be 0-[Y]-[BMR expenditure], but then we are not discussing the fasted cardio myth anymore. The myth is about some magic voodoo stuff going on that burns more fat when you run fasted than when eaten.
Double captain obvious note, word!
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don't lump me in with you on the impact of glycogen depletion!
Fair point brah, I won't speak for you. but say if i'm a 85kg athlete, and i go on a cut, which means a caloric deficit. And i'm eating say 2000 calories a day with say 100g of protein. So that's 400cal from protein, and the remainder i decide to eat from mostly carbs, so i'm eating 1500kcal from carbs a day. I'm still going to lose fat. I'm still burning fat even though I might not be glycogen depleted. That's my point. Caloric balance gives me fat loss regardless of my macros.
But i agree there is a place for depletion in dieting, even Duchain's original Ultimate Diet had a depletion phase with specific worouts designed for depleting glycogen. I just don't think you have to be in ketosis to be burning bodyfat. You can never be in ketosis and still shed mad bodyfat just because you're on a caloric deficit. This must be preaching to the choir, surely?
bottom line: you need to pick a goal and settle on it. if you keep jumping around you're just going to spin your wheels.
So when did I do that? My goal is the same, hasn't changed in forever, get strong, get lean, get fit, get in shape for bball. That hasn't changed, i'm just stuck finetuning my approach towards it!
Toddday's point, about the run fasted thing:
case A: fast ( or sleep ), run and burn Y kcals, eat X kcals.
case B: fast ( or sleep ), eat X kcals, run and burn Y kcals.
The energy balance is [X]-[Y]-[BMR expenditure] in both cases, eating before or after does not change what you burn in an exercise.
Now obviously if you don't eat at all, the energy balance wil be 0-[Y]-[BMR expenditure], but then we are not discussing the fasted cardio myth anymore. The myth is about some magic voodoo stuff going on that burns more fat when you run fasted than when eaten.
Double captain obvious note, word!
Vag, this is not right. Suppose you eat some carbs before this silly hypothetical run, now you're going to be using that for fuel, probably, because preferentially the body prefers to fuel off glucose. If you're fasted, then you have a better chance to burning bodyfat for fuel..
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I'll expand on that a bit. Walking burns says 70% bodyfat, and 30% carbs. Jogging might burn 40% bodyfat and 60% carbs. And sprinting may be 10% bodyfat and 90% carbs. I don't know the actual values and i don't care for the purpose of this post. So say if you do fasted walking, perhaps it shifts the ratio further towards bodyfat, same with jogging. But jogging expends more calories than does walking, although we're interested in the number of calories that being burned from bodyfat rather than something else. So in the fasted jogging case, you're looking at a bigger number of calories coming from bodyfat than before. This might be a significant amount, maybe not over one day, but over a long period of say several months. Also your body might have other sources of fuel too, like muscle tissue. Todday will no doubt give a better more factual explanation. Also, when did we decide ageold bodybuilder wisdom is broscience? They're the experts at this stuff, they've been finetuning it over decades!
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I get the logic, but that mechanism that shifts the percentages of fat vs glycogen ( for the same activity/HR zone ) while being fasted or not is not yet explained, so i still consider it voodoo and unacceptable. I do understand it, the body senses that glycogen storages are running low, so it changes the fuel source. It sounds logical, but that doesn't mean it is valid. I can agree that it makes a lot more sense if you are totaly glycogen depleted, but at that point you should not be running :D
Edit/PS : I have not read too much about that stuff, so i am also waiting for toddday to confirm i am right... duh, i meant to say to enlihten us! :trollface:
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Honestly, i'm just arguing for arguments sake. i don't really care for this stuff lol, i'm never going to train anything meaningful while fasted. I want to set PRs, i don't want to be struggling with 10% under my PRs which is what has happened every time i've tried fasted lifting. I get that some people can do well on it, that's great for them, it doesn't work for everyone, i'm in that subset.
Lyle has this to say about fasted cardio (http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/fasted-cardio-and-fat-loss-qa.html), which kind of makes sense. If you're trying to get into low bodyfat then fasted cardio has it's place. For the rest of us, it's not really that big a deal.
I do want to try using BCAAs around cardio though, cause it totally sucks that i can't do running/jogging without fatiguing my legs too much to affect squats. Lets see what happens, will try to nail down my around workout nutrition to improve recovery. I'll take some BCAAs (whether whey or BCAA per se) before/and/after.
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So when did I do that? My goal is the same, hasn't changed in forever, get strong, get lean, get fit, get in shape for bball. That hasn't changed, i'm just stuck finetuning my approach towards it!
1. get strong
2. get lean
3. get fit
4. get in shape for bball
that's four goals, although i guess you could argue that by 3 you really mean 4. they're not mutually exclusive but "get in shape for bball" means a COMPLETELY different focus than "get strong.
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The race is the same, it's not changing, only my strategy for how to run it. I'm trying to peak for a "meet" except i'm not a PL who has to prepare to do 3 lifts, i have to play a sport, where i want to be maximally athletic, which for me means being as strong as possible, as lean as possible and as fit as possible. A lot of people will say that impossible, pick one. Fuck that shit. It does me no good to be 75kg/160lb or whatever i was last 'meet' where i was being flipped around like a feather. It does me no good to be squatting 180kg when i'm a breathless out of shape fatfuck. For me all of those things ARE THE GOAL. i know most people won't understand it, but i expect people on this forum to!
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dude no one is saying it's impossible, everyone here wants to see you get where you want to be. don't worry about that. we're just confused sometimes because of how much you overthink. well, i should speak for myself. but anyway i backed off once before because your train of thought is just inscrutable to me and you keep doing what you mean to be doing. go get it.
just don't forget that if you want to be good at basketball you have to practice basketball.
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It does me no good to be 75kg/160lb or whatever i was last 'meet' where i was being flipped around like a feather.
I'll get to the fasted cardio thing later. But... This line above is my own issue with the way you structure your training. First of all.... If I recall you were about 6'3 175 with about a 315lb squat....
You were not getting flipped around like a feather because you were only 175. You were not getting flipped around like a feather because you could only squat 315lbs. You come back a year later at 185 with a 350lb squat and you will STILL get flipped around by better basketball players. I have worked with basketball athletes that were less dense and could squat less than you and would absolutely beast you inside and under the hoop. Sure, at a high level a Nene or David West has an advantage from sheer bulk. But, at your level not getting flipped around is a matter of skill (playing basketball once a week while trying to peak for basketball is a joke), toughness (again - get this quality by playing) and positioning. Your insistence that your problems with court strength is something that is weightroom fixable could really come back to bite you.
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I get the logic, but that mechanism that shifts the percentages of fat vs glycogen ( for the same activity/HR zone ) while being fasted or not is not yet explained, so i still consider it voodoo and unacceptable. I do understand it, the body senses that glycogen storages are running low, so it changes the fuel source. It sounds logical, but that doesn't mean it is valid. I can agree that it makes a lot more sense if you are totaly glycogen depleted, but at that point you should not be running :D
Edit/PS : I have not read too much about that stuff, so i am also waiting for toddday to confirm i am right... duh, i meant to say to enlihten us! :trollface:
I'll expand on that a bit. Walking burns says 70% bodyfat, and 30% carbs. Jogging might burn 40% bodyfat and 60% carbs. And sprinting may be 10% bodyfat and 90% carbs. I don't know the actual values and i don't care for the purpose of this post. So say if you do fasted walking, perhaps it shifts the ratio further towards bodyfat, same with jogging. But jogging expends more calories than does walking, although we're interested in the number of calories that being burned from bodyfat rather than something else. So in the fasted jogging case, you're looking at a bigger number of calories coming from bodyfat than before. This might be a significant amount, maybe not over one day, but over a long period of say several months. Also your body might have other sources of fuel too, like muscle tissue. Todday will no doubt give a better more factual explanation. Also, when did we decide ageold bodybuilder wisdom is broscience? They're the experts at this stuff, they've been finetuning it over decades!
As far as the fasting/ketosis/cardio debate....
I'm really confused as to what the argument is. Basically to clear things up a bit.
First of all I know most of this board are disciples of that ornery speed-skater guy who writes books on fat loss. I have never published a book on fat loss. But I've done actual research and gotten my PhD and I can tell you that that guy does pick and choose research results and does have a habit of making things seem a little more figured out than they are. I don't want to argue with his merits but I can give you as one example that his discussion of leptin and its mechanistic role is complete conjecture... The scientists actually working with the rats would not agree with this guy. Then again he has a motivation to sell books.... so just keep that in mind.
That said.
1) Entropy is correct that Ketosis is not necessary for fat loss. Your body has multiple fuel sources and as long as you are in negative energy balance you will lose fat as long even if you never run low on glycogen. That's true. However... If you are not an endurance athlete than it's damn hard to lose significant fat in a short amount of time without ketosis. When you are not in Ketosis your body will turn to glycogen/glucose for the majority of the fuel required for your BMR. Some activity will preferentially use fat as fuel but for a power athlete the majority of their energy expenditure will come with a resting heart-rate. So, sure a power athlete who does zero aerobic work could in theory continue eating the same, add in some low heart rate aerobic work and burn an extra couple hundred calories a day which would result in really slow fat loss. Of course this extra aerboic work will make him more hungry so he better be SUPER on point with his diet. Or he could just get to negative energy balance by restricting his intake. To sum it up you have two options: Be super vigilant with your caloric intake, stay out of ketosis, and add aerobic work OR just restrict intake. I think the last is easier.
2) Vag is right that fasted cardio is broscience. Rat after rat has been sacrificed to prove the point is energy balance does not care when you go negative. First of for all non-muscular people burning muscle tissue is negligent. Second Entropies example that there is a long term difference in fat loss depending on whether you run before or after breakfast does not make sense. I don't want to spell out what is actually happening because it's long and complicated but just consider this..... Person A jogs (always in fat burning zone) before breakfast but person B after breakfast.... So after six months of this every day they have both spent the same amount of energy on jogging and taken in the same as far as intake... So, if person A is now storing less energy (he is less fat) where did the energy go? This is magic to imagine he somehow performed the same amount of work but used more energy!
3) Bodybuilders are the masters of broscience! They think their androgen receptors are "fresh" for steroid cycles! What they lack in knowledge they make up for in discipline. The main point of all this is that it really doesn't matter! That's why people who spout two completely opposite bullshit theories can still make progress if they follow the advice! I know bodybuilders who swear by fasted cardio and believe what Entropy believes and get SUPER lean with it. I have a good friend who is a high-level masters bodybuilder who absolutely swears by eating 7-8 small meals a day for his metabolism.... He get's up and eats oatmeal and protein at four in the morning to "keep his metabolism churning" and he also can get extremely lean and maintain muscle. The fact is that he is disciplined as all hell and weighs and measures his food. The fact that both methods work is pretty good evidence that neither side of the debate is correct! That's why when Raptor said he heard arguments for and against fasted cardio..... My answer is that neither argument is correct.... fasted cardio is not something to be for or against!
4) Vag, why can't we run if we are glycogen depleted? I get that you will perform really terribly in a marathon if depleted.... but it's not bad for health!
**** As far as if it seems as if I have a side in the debate.... I do! I think fasting is a far superior method to achieve your body comp goals. But it's not that I think you can't achieve them without fasting or without ketosis. In fact for the super lean I think it's probably wise to avoid ketosis. But.... I just think it's simply easier to plan to reduce intake drastically a couple times per week than it is to follow the extremely strict diet necessary if we never deplete. Also, binging and feasting is damn fun to do as a celebration. Fasting allows you to deal with the blow of a large large meal which is simply a good time.
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I have a feeling that entropy just isn't bracing enough when he plays ball... if he plays the same as he dunks... meaning, like an old guy that is just walking around... then that explains it.
You need to be more intense man... not sleepwalk around :P
You have to be under constant body tension, be "ready" to get pushed etc, stay on your feet well etc.
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My part of the argument was about the fasted-run myth, it seemed to me that entropy didn't buy that it is a myth so i came back to illustrate and bump your argument.
Edit: I am not saying fasted cardio is worse, I am saying it is the same. Fasted run will still have the results you wanted because you burned the kcals and that's all to it.
But also, indeed I thought that running (or doing anything besides resting and eating ) totaly depleted is bad. Isn't it? I had something like this in mind:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitting_the_wall
Effects
Such fatigue can become seriously debilitating; in cycling, exhaustion can reach the point where the cyclist is unable to stand without the support provided by the bicycle. Symptoms of depletion include general weakness, fatigue, and manifestations of hypoglycemia, such as dizziness and even hallucinations. This condition will not be relieved by brief periods of rest.
The rising levels of serotonin are caused by increased delivery of tryptophan to the brain. What’s interesting, Davis says, is that the increase in free tryptophan in the blood is very much related to the increase in free fatty acids in the blood. “While many people believe that the increase in free fatty acids is very important to delaying fatigue in the muscle,†says Davis, “we think it has a negative effect in terms of central fatigue.â€
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But doesn't it make more sense to burn specifically more fat as fuel during a fasted state? Since you're out of glycogen, then fat should be the "only" source of fuel in that situation.
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(http://i.imgur.com/lrSehA6.png)
started from the top, now we here. Seems that fasting stuff the last coupla days got the scale moving nicely.
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My part of the argument was about the fasted-run myth, it seemed to me that entropy didn't buy that it is a myth so i came back to illustrate and bump your argument.
Edit: I am not saying fasted cardio is worse, I am saying it is the same. Fasted run will still have the results you wanted because you burned the kcals and that's all to it.
But also, indeed I thought that running (or doing anything besides resting and eating ) totaly depleted is bad. Isn't it? I had something like this in mind:
The wikipedia entry is a bit speculative. That said "hitting the wall" and training will fasted are very very different things. "Hitting the wall" occurs between mile 15 and mile 20 of the marathon... It's pretty interesting actually from a physiological standpoint, the marathon is the physical analogy of the 400m sprint. The 60m, 100m, 200m, and even 300m are primarily anaerobic events for top athletes and are run at roughly similar speeds (subtracting the start) by top athletes, but the 400m is where the anaerobic system simply gives way and the significant aerobicS component makes speeds much much slower even for the best athletes. That's the best times for the 100,200,300, and 400m are (9.x,19.x,30.x, 43.x) at 400 the average speed drops massively. Similarly the 5k, 10k, and even half marathon are all aerobic glycolytic runs and it isn't till the marathon distance that the body simply runs out and has to rely primarily on fatty acid oxidation (or digestion while training in some athletes) and times get a lot worse again....
For example take Zersenay Tadese the great distance runner. His hundred meter split over his PR in the 10k, 15k, 20k and half marathon is: 16.44, 16.63, 16.61, 16.60 (yes his 20k and half (~21.1k) are actually faster pace then his 10k). BUT his best ever 100m pace over his marathon is 18.6 seconds. Hitting the wall makes a big difference! If you take this long enough to ultra marathons you actually have races (over 100 miles) where women consistently beat men. At this point fatty acid oxidation is a primary fuel source and women are capable of storing more fat (and still being in shape of course!) than men.
So.... The point of that long winded discussion is.... Yes hitting the wall is terrible for performance (it's one reason I think people should not follow lyle mcdonalds advice when it comes to low-carb dieting... I actually like his recommendations for re-comping when it comes to average joes, but his contention that endurance athletes while ketogenic or fat-adapted is just wrong ->he has backed off recently and says it "may" work which is better I guess...). But as bad as hitting the wall is for performance it's probably not long term unhealthy and is actually pretty good for fat loss. That doesn't really matter because as non endurance athletes none of us are going to hit the wall with the type of depleted training I am suggesting!
If you get depleted and go run a bunch of 200's you will NOT hit the wall. Despite being depleted your body will still fill the muscle with ATP, this metabolism is just going to shift to fat metabolism (and amino acids depending on your leanness and your last intake of protein). So you run a 200m, you recover and regenerate by burning fat, and you run another one. No wall hitting here. Even if you run farther or jog or walk you will not hit the wall as long as you work at a pace that is low enough intensity that your fatty acid oxidation can keep up. Hitting the wall is only a concern if you are doing constant work at an elevated heart rate at an intensity which is too great for your fat metabolism. For example running 15 miles at a 16.5 sec 100m pace.... You keep doing that and when glycogen runs out you don't have any system capable of supplying you with energy, you can go into fermentation (lactic acid) without realizing it for a bit but then you are DONE. That's why you slow down a couple seconds per hundred and you are fine. So bottom line... do fasted intervals or low intensity distance work while fasted at your hearts content!
But doesn't it make more sense to burn specifically more fat as fuel during a fasted state? Since you're out of glycogen, then fat should be the "only" source of fuel in that situation.
Again... Yes of course. But, the goal is not to do as many workouts that burn fat as possible. The goal is to burn fat over the long term. Fasted cardio and refeeding will burn more fat during the bout of training and less fat for the rest of the day.... Eating before training will burn less fat during training but more fat later. Over a period of weeks it will even out. That's the reason it does not matter. As I described above it is worse as far as performance. I do favor it for both you and entropy though.... not because it burns more fat but because I simply think it's easier to follow.
In my experience this protocol is easy for an athlete who wants to cut. End Sunday with a high protein meal. Start Monday with some caffeine and intense training and continue to fast the whole day. Begin Tuesday with some lower intensity training while still fasting (this training is fun because you may actually have your bw lighter and jump higher) and then allow yourself to eat again Tuesday afternoon or evening. You may find that you are able to be satisfied eating a moderate amount until Wednesday. That's the benefit. It's an easier to follow protocol (for some athletes). Better because it's easier to follow, not because it burns more fat!
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I just wanna make a note that for the first time, today, i played ball on my toes. Not literally on my toes, I mean on the balls of my feet, but i'm exaggerating to mark the difference. I found myself blocking more shots than normal. The thing which i'm wondering now is, back when i used to play ball naturally and get a lot of blocks, did I habitually play off the forefoot then? And was it all the squatting that turned me into a heels down athlete? I can't really answer that. But i'm playing again tomorrow morning, will try it some more. Let it not be said i don't listen to advice, that's 3-4 sessions around basketball in 8 days.
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You know....I bet you'd see HUGE improvements in your game if you played/practiced 3-4x a week and lifted just enough to maintain your current strength levels.
I'm what most would call a 'natural' athlete and ball player but if I take a few weeks off I'm very out of sync for a few days, especially if I've been lifting.
I hadn't read your entire log but if your goal was to become a better player you're approaching this all wrong. Yea its good to be strong but at what expense to your skill level? Reading your log I've always thought you were a lifter who wanted to play decently not a player who wanted to get stronger. If your emphasis is basketball why is it relegated to always be second behind lifting?
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You know....I bet you'd see HUGE improvements in your game if you played/practiced 3-4x a week and lifted just enough to maintain your current strength levels.
I'm what most would call a 'natural' athlete and ball player but if I take a few weeks off I'm very out of sync for a few days, especially if I've been lifting.
I hadn't read your entire log but if your goal was to become a better player you're approaching this all wrong. Yea its good to be strong but at what expense to your skill level? Reading your log I've always thought you were a lifter who wanted to play decently not a player who wanted to get stronger. If your emphasis is basketball why is it relegated to always be second behind lifting?
deaf ears, brah. deaf ears.
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I'm going to come to entropy's defence here a bit and say that, from what I've read, it seems that he's not just desiring to be a better player in terms of pure skill, but also in terms of looking and playing like an 'athletic' player. Backing down defenders and scoring inside, dunking in traffic off drop-step, weakside blocks etc. So in his opinion that requires more focus on relative strength and run/jump work than pure skill work. He might be wrong, or it might be two roads to the same goal - we'll have to wait and see. But I don't think it's fair to say he hasn't listened and taken onboard a lot of stuff in the past. I think because he provides so much detail in every aspect of his journal, it allows more room for nitpicking and overanalysis. Sure, sometimes he wastes time worrying about mostly imperceptible differences between belted/beltless squat form or his 'non-force absorbing quads' or whatever, but overall he generally sticks to his broad approach and trains hard. I've seen a lot worse on this site!
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True he trains hard. But, if you want to look athletic out there...you need skills. I can take a monster NFL WR who runs 4.4 40s and jumps 40 inches at 6'4 220lbs and he'll look helpless in a basketball court because even though hes a beast of an athlete it wont translate into this game. Basketball is predominantly a skill based sport, being a beast athlete will only help if you have the basic fundamental skill set to showcase that athleticism.
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True he trains hard. But, if you want to look athletic out there...you need skills. I can take a monster NFL WR who runs 4.4 40s and jumps 40 inches at 6'4 220lbs and he'll look helpless in a basketball court because even though hes a beast of an athlete it wont translate into this game. Basketball is predominantly a skill based sport, being a beast athlete will only help if you have the basic fundamental skill set to showcase that athleticism.
that works but takes so much time (which really is the fun part IMO)..
if you want to look the part for BBall without doing the needed endless skill work:
- build monster calves, forearms, shoulders and back using compound movements.
- forget about traps, chest.
you will still suck at Bball offensively, but being very strong really helps with rebounding / boxouts. i play like rodman on the court. i may not match skilled players defensively too but i will wear people down until they don't bother fighting for spots anymore. ;D
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Bodyweight: 92.5kg/203.93lb
(http://i.imgur.com/bwt6OJ9.png)
Yesterday was australia day, and i went to play outdoor ball at the beach with some friends and they had a bbq afterwards which turned out to be amazing. I didn't intend to eat anything off my diet but it's hard to resist. Anyway, i had a couple of slices of bread, and about half a dozen, maybe more pieces of meat. About a cup total of /iced tea/dr pepper/. Came home, slept, and today i woke up weighing 92.5kg (!), and that was after having a 400mL glass of water, which i usually don't have have before weighing. So i had an overnight scale movement. And it checks out with the tape measure around the waist too, getting real close to 38" now, any day i'll be in the 37"s. So i'm making ok progress on the scale side of things.
Btw this marks 10 days into the diet. i've been pretty compliant except for last night's bbq, which to be fair was just a lot of protein and some fat, i guess, and some carbs which i took while glyocogen depleted.
Hoping to have a good workout today although i didn't sleep enough so we'll see how it goes.
I didn't train in the end. I decided it would have been just another shitty day in the gym. I woke up with a weak grip, so i knew my CNS wasn't up to snuff. Will try tomorrow.
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(http://i.imgur.com/yhE8RON.png)
Bodyweight: 91.9kg/202.61lb
So the following day my bodyweight is down again! And today I am looking noticeably leaner in the mirror. I don't think i'm in the 20%s at all now. I think i'm somewhere between 15 and 20. Which is wild, i've never held this much muscle. It's actually quite possible but something I am not willing to admit being pessimistic about these things, but I could be 15% around 85-90kg which nuts. Lets see how it goes, no counting chickens until they hatch!
I am planning on training today, grip is stronger. Not super strong mind you but it will have to do.
Training
FS 1x135
BS 1x147.5
BBS 1x160
CR 2x15x202.5 (PR)
DUNKZ ~ 20 total
ABWL 2x10 (knees, full rom)
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Looks like i've taken a 10kg hit on my PRs while cutting. I really hope it's temporary and i can recover my PRs once i'm done, because i worked really hard to make these gains, and it will suck losing them. We'll see how it goes, i am pretty much glyocogen depleted right now as well, it's possible if i had done a carb refeed i could have lifted more today. I'm also finding my body behaving very oddly lately, a dark fog has descended inside my head. I feel as though if i were sleeping better it wouldn't be there, but the reason i'm not sleeping well (deep and unbrken) is because well i'm not feeling so good, catch 22. I'll adapt, it could just be a temporary phase of adapting to using mainly bodyfat for fuel.
I'm taking bets for what my bodyfat will be when i get under 90kg/200lb. Will post a pic when I cross the threshold for validation.
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What are you doing to lose weight?
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Mainly just restricting calories bro. I eat a clean healthy breakfast everyday, 2 slices of wholemeal bread, 3 eggs, 1 scoop whey in 300mL lowfat milk. At night I eat about a bowl of carbs (rice or bread), 1 scoop whey in 300mL milk again, and about a deck of cards worth of meat protein (usually chicken). I do that pretty much every day without change. On workout days i'll have a coke around workout though, just out of habit, i should probably swap that out with something healthier! Yes LBSS i should eat more veges haha, but i'm saving that trick up my sleeve for later when i start to get crazy hungry, i can put some fibre in my gut to feel fuller and trick my body.
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Btw rap, I heeded your old man refrain and tried a more explosive/aggressive approach to the dunk. Vid below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QZ2XvwGmiQ
Also Todday, i am making improvements on the LR plant. :headbang:
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Nice, good to see you're trying. IMO, you need to try to get faster and faster in the plant... that tension in the amortization phase will call your CNS to recruit more motor neurons to stop you from collapsing/change direction, and faster, and that means you won't have to voluntarily generate power as much as you do now. It also means the recruitment process (of a high % of motor neurons) begins much earlier (since the tension in the amortization phase is bigger due to the faster speed (m*a)) - which means you have more time to actually develop power.
When you come at a slow speed, maybe counter-intuitively, you won't demand a strong stretch response from the CNS and therefore you won't get a lot of recruitment in the amortization phase (just what's needed at that slow speed) - so you will need to voluntarily recruit a lot of motor neurons in the concentric phase only. And obviously the concentric phase only is less time to generate power than the eccentric+concentric phases together. So you have to be really good CNS-wise to do it.
But this can only be achieved by training in this manner... trying to get faster and faster in the plant, as soon as you have your steps right (your movement efficiency becomes better and better) - time to increase the speed in the plant.
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Dunk looks better. If you want to get in game dunks you should practice standing on right side of hoop with your back to the basket. Swing around with a drop dribble and bring your left foot around and dunk. Drill that dunk... It's actually pretty easy, I can do it easier than two handed running dunk. So valuable for game time dunks and it will be easy to practice aggression with this move.
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Chris, LBSS, i realise now when i took a wider stance, i was more on my heels if that's possible, which gave rise to that stapled into the ground feeling of being slow to react to the offense. Think of the powerlifter who sits back into the squat with a wide stance. But since we want to be able to move easily, I should have got on my toes with the wider stance. Pehaps that will help make it more athletic? I'll test it out next time i play in a couple of days.
True he trains hard. But, if you want to look athletic out there...you need skills. I can take a monster NFL WR who runs 4.4 40s and jumps 40 inches at 6'4 220lbs and he'll look helpless in a basketball court because even though hes a beast of an athlete it wont translate into this game. Basketball is predominantly a skill based sport, being a beast athlete will only help if you have the basic fundamental skill set to showcase that athleticism.
that works but takes so much time (which really is the fun part IMO)..
if you want to look the part for BBall without doing the needed endless skill work:
- build monster calves, forearms, shoulders and back using compound movements.
- forget about traps, chest.
you will still suck at Bball offensively, but being very strong really helps with rebounding / boxouts. i play like rodman on the court. i may not match skilled players defensively too but i will wear people down until they don't bother fighting for spots anymore. ;D
Chris is right, i have this gap btw where my mind wants my body to go, and what my body does. It's long enough that, say for loose ball near me, i can't reach for and snatch it out before the nearest opponent, even though i had a better position. I have that lag. And as i play more, that lag gets smaller and smaller. I can def see the truth of what he says.
But what KF says is so true. I just wish I had been training my calves and arms all along! My standing barbell calf raise is coming along nicely, i'm up to 205kg next week. Will work up to about 220kg which is as far I think i can go til there is no space left on the bar. These are already paying off, not so much in size (lol) but being able to pop off my toes quickly, good for rebounding or launching vertically in general.
re forearms, i'm doing chins now, regularly, mostly for abs (lol) but they're also strengthening my forearms esp at my heavy bodyweight. I should keep working them. My forearms aren't as big as they've been in the past when i did more arm work. Also ab roll outs do something for my arms too. curls do a much better job for forearms though, i just can't seem to do them consistently. i should.
re delts, and i'm coninced strong explosive shoulders help a lot in bball in all facets. my interest is esp for shooting stroke quality when fatigue sets in. should start doing presses again lol, just to work up to a bodyweight press and maintain it.
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205 kg for calf raises is far and away from "bad feet" in terms of strength.
If anything, do plyometric work and play ball to improve your feet (you've brought this up in the past).
Do stuff that is very bouncy, like rudiment hops, 4-star drills, consecutive fast jumps, ricochet jumps etc, but REALLY fast. It's really more a matter of isometric explosive ability with plyos and especially with calves, moreso than just strength as we understand the term.
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Yea, that should make a large difference. Playing on the balls of your feet allows for much quicker reactions. A few keys to a good defensive stance:
-Feet should be shoulder width (maybe slightly wider depending on how you feel).
-Play in the balls of your feet.
-Back straight, head up. Some find it helpful if there feet are pointed slightly outward it helps maintain balance in this position btw.
-SHUFFLE your feet don't slide! This, IMO, is a major point of defense that is taught all wrong. Shuffling in small lateral steps allows you to change directions quicker (feet spend more time on the floor at speed), you don't run the risk of getting your feet tangled, and you can make smaller adjustments in position.
As for the 'lag', that's probably instinct. The more you play the more natural your reactions (and therefore shorter time frame) become. Nothing beats playing but some coaches say visualizing game situations helps if you ccan't play. FWIW I notice a difference in my reactions when I play once a week vs 3-4x a week.
KF is right about being strong though, I had my first experience with a (much) larger opponent basically giving up because he thought he would post me up last week. After realizing he literally couldn't move me....he stopped trying. Awesome feeling.
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Good stuff. I do the sliding thing, i didn't realise it was suboptimal! I swear i picked it up from some youtube video lol. I wonder how good I could be, if i stopped commiting such fundamental flaws without knowing or realising they are. On post defense, how do you position yourself to be immovable? Is there a trick to it? I get moved easily :(
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Raptor, thanks, i'm hoping to start doing plyos sometime. But right now i'm just too heavy, and being on a caloric deficit, i don't wanna push my body too hard. Not being a pussy, i just dont want to risk chronic knee/back/ankle injuries from trying to push it too hard so far from my athletic bodyweight of (75-85kg). Maybe when i get into the 80s, i'll start doing one or two exercise. Will ask you guys for an exercise that will give the biggest bang for the buck.
Also everytime i go to the court i'm doing footwork drills now. It's part of my warmup.
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Yep. A few easy ones to implement are to always be lower than the offensive player. Lower CoG means you'll be harder to be pushed around. Secondly, split his legs. I don't really know how to explain this but you want your lead leg in between his legs, kind of like if he were to sit back he'd straddle your leg. This cuts his movement and allows you to almost 'force' him in the direction you want. I'll see if I can find a vid explaining it for you. Also, don't allow the offensive player to lean into you. You want to constantly bump him. This keeps you from getting lazy, and keeps him off balance. It also lessens the risk of him using leverage against you.
Those are some pretty easy concepts to implement. :)
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I always do the split legs thing but I do it mostly because I'm very stable when I'm in that position. I've had a guy complain numerous times that I do it and I was like "I'm just staying in my position, you're the one backing down into me" and he was pissed.
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He got pissed because you took away his options and made the fame hard for him lol
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Bodyweight: 91.85kg/202.5lb
(http://i.imgur.com/2RiPrtU.png)
Training
FBS 2x125
BS 2x132.5, 2x132.5, 2x137.5B, 2x135B, 2x132.5B
BP 1x90, 1x95
FBS notes:
Low back was thrashed as fuck from monday so it limited what i could squat today. It was supposed to be a light day anyways so it's no huge impediment.
BS notes:
As above, lower back fatigue was a significant factor. I did 2 sets of 132.5 ok, i wanted 6 sets, but it wasn't on the cards. Did another 3 sets belted and they kinda sucked.
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solid progress is solid. keep it up.
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solid progress is solid. keep it up.
Thanks bromide :)
Diet update (day 14)
Bodyweight: 91.25kg/201.17lb
(http://i.imgur.com/HRocRHi.png)
Today was the first day my waist is comfortably under 38". Hoping to make the trip in 37s and 36s as short as possible. I feel 35" is that sweet spot for me for going from a fatty to a non-fatty. I'm very motivated right now. Btw that right line on the graph represents day 15. I can't wait to get into the 80kgs.
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One thing i've been toying with is using a velcro lifting belt while jumping. My feel is that it might give an extra inch or two but i've never tried it out. Has anyone? I might do it tomorrow if i remember to take one with me to the bball gym.
The other thing i've been wondering about is how to get some salt into my body while fasting. The thought of mixing it in water turns me right off. And i can't imagine just plain eating it. I know if i take a berocca performance or whatever, it will do a superb job of hydrating me but they cost too much taken often. The constraint of being calorie free is the main impediment. Ideas welcome..
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I guess you don't really want the salt but the electrolyres/minerals? How about those 'light' electrolyte drinks, e.g powerade zero? Value is an issue here, bottles are relatively expensive. I use gatorade powder, comes in much much cheaper that way. Second option, electrolyte capsules.
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I wouldn't use anything while jumping that you aren't able to wear every time...IF it helps it'd just be a non repeatable disappointing PR. :/
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I guess you don't really want the salt but the electrolyres/minerals? How about those 'light' electrolyte drinks, e.g powerade zero? Value is an issue here, bottles are relatively expensive. I use gatorade powder, comes in much much cheaper that way. Second option, electrolyte capsules.
I don't wanna touch that gatorpowerade sugar water! I used to take the powder preworkout but meh, it finishes sooo quickly. Haven't tried the sugar free though. Apparently i found a good substitute vag! I squeezed some lemon into water and stirred in salt. Actually that reminds me, i bought some healthy salt back when i was doing Lyle's keto diets, i could use that for more K. Will try that next time :) Got lemon trees growing at home so it's a very cheap and easy solution.
I wouldn't use anything while jumping that you aren't able to wear every time...IF it helps it'd just be a non repeatable disappointing PR. :/
lol! but don't you know bro, when your belted VJ goes up, so does your beltless VJ?? I wonder though, if do a set of jumps that are a few inches higher than your PRs using the belt. Whether this pushes your potential up. I think it might? I'll find out tomorrow.
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i periodically drink salt water to help deal with a hangover. it's not so bad, just don't overdo the amount of salt you put in.
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Training
FBS 1x132.5
BBS 1x137.5, 1x142.5, 1x150
Basketball training ~ 90 minutes
FBS notes:
When 132.2kg feels this heavy, you know you done fucked. This was previously so light for me, i could skip straight to 139.5 from 125kg warmups before. Today it was an ugly, shitty, grindy, rep. Blah.
BS notes:
I didn't have a plan what to do today. I had basketball training immediately after, so kinda just fucked around. Worked up to 150kg with a belt and then called it a day. Fuck everything about bad squat days!
Basketball training:
I'm a huge unathletic, unfit piece of shit. It's hard to believe i actually work out 3x a week, every week, for the last so years. I'm so unfit, easily the unfitted on the court today. But it was such a good session, very challenging, my conditioning held me back a lot otherwise i would have got more out of training. First real basketball played since, oh i dont know, mid 2013. It's one thing to play against scrubs in the weekly pickup game, another thing altogether against fit strong opponents. Hopefully this will help raise my game, i'm going to embrace it.
I missed a dunk attempt, literally couldn't get high enough, hit the rim. So pathetic!
I was playing in the post with a strong 6'8" dude, held me own ok, but that's prob cause he while fit (from other sports), isn't super fit for basketball just yet. Otherwise he probably would have wiped the floor with me. In the coming few weeks, i'll bring my fitness up and if i can beast him, i'll be ok come match time ~80days from now.
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Not to sound like the typical self delusional fat lifter on the internet, but my abs are coming out already.
Starting to look lean. I don't take it to mean anything other than i'm prob well under 20% now, maybe as low as 17 or something. Doesn't mean anything, still have potentially another 8 weeks of dieting ahead of me! It's quite possible that if i start doing ab hypertrophy work, i'll have visible abs while being over 15% (been there done that before last summer). I might just start hypertrophy today actually. It will go better now than later when i'm leaner..
Recovered suprisingly well from yesterdays basketball. Perhaps a sign that my body is adjusting to basketball. That's half the battle right there, post workout recovery. Al that's missing is peri workout recovery lol. I imagine as I get leaner and lighter, and my fitness gradually improves, as well as requiring less from my body being lighter, i'll quickly become in good shape? I haven't been running intervals or anything crazy like that, only so much you can do while cutting. Which is another thing, i really hope i can wrap up cutting quickly so i can add more calories and do more training!
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Training
WCU 0Fx113.5, 1x108.5, 5x95.4, 5x97 (PR)
AbW 3x98, 3xBW, 5xBW
WCrunch 15x15, 15x30, 15x45
Abs notes:
A mystery to me why i couldn't do rollouts today! I tried them weighted to start with, found them challenging, tried bodyweight and they were still hard! Not sure what's going on.
The crunches were awesome, got nice pump in the abs. Give these a few weeks and my abs will blow up. Can't wait!
I might mix up some weighted ab raises in there too. My abs are gonna become like steel by the time i'm done cutting, and then when i turn my attention back to squats i'm going for the big 180kg milestone!!
shit, another overindulgent sunday, dinner at a friend's place. i had some of the most amazing tasting meat i've ever had, slow cooked spiced pork in a tandoor oven. so juicy and perfect.. godamn, must have eaten over half a kilo possibly even a kilo. I meant to eat little but it was just too irresistible. plus a few pieces of fudge for dessert and other snacks before that :/ come monday i'll start over and do it right all thru the remainder of feb.
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I'm having a crisis of faith. I don't think I can ever be considered athletic no matter what I do. It's to do with CNS, tendons, build, things I can't control. No one will ever call me quick. Have probably reached my ceiling with what I can do on and off the court. If you look at where i started, a legit 20" vertical, i'm not going to one day attain a 40". That's probably impossible and i don't want to keep thinking i can somehow get there by wishful thinking. Yes i can dunk ok at 90kg bodyweight but so what, doesn't mean i'll jump 5" higher when i weigh 10-15kg less? In fact it probably wont make any real difference to my jump PR; what it will do is make what was a max effort jump into a sub max one, and possibly my ME would be slightly, if negligibly higher.
What does everyone else who realises they're mediocre athletes do? Become mediocre powerlifters? That doesn't appeal. I need a new hobby.
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lololol! Good thing we know by now that those rants are part of your mentality, but so far they have proven to be incapable of affecting your training. Which training is on a constant linear progress for 2+ years and looks very likely to continue like that till 40'' and above.
:-*
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Well, you just have to ask yourself this: have you really reached your peak? Do you already squat 2.5x for 1RM or 2x for 5RM? Have you practiced jumping and playing and sprinting enough at the right intensity with the right mindset? Have you had a clear-cut goal that you managed to attain? And so on and so forth.
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lololol! Good thing we know by now that those rants are part of your mentality, but so far they have proven to be incapable of affecting your training. Which training is on a constant linear progress for 2+ years and looks very likely to continue like that till 40'' and above.
:-*
+1
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I'm having a crisis of faith. I don't think I can ever be considered athletic no matter what I do. It's to do with CNS, tendons, build, things I can't control. No one will ever call me quick. Have probably reached my ceiling with what I can do on and off the court. If you look at where i started, a legit 20" vertical, i'm not going to one day attain a 40". That's probably impossible and i don't want to keep thinking i can somehow get there by wishful thinking. Yes i can dunk ok at 90kg bodyweight but so what, doesn't mean i'll jump 5" higher when i weigh 10-15kg less? In fact it probably wont make any real difference to my jump PR; what it will do is make what was a max effort jump into a sub max one, and possibly my ME would be slightly, if negligibly higher.
Lol. Yes it does. All things considered weight loss is the one thing that almost always leads to better performance. If you jump X inches at 90kg bodyweight and 15% bf and you get to 8% bf without losing tons of strength... You most definitely jump higher on your max jump and sub max jump. It's the only training "promise" I make to athletes. Everything else can be false for some people (eg not everyone who raises their squat jumps any higher...). Keep it up and lose 10kg and you WILL jump higher. That's a promise. Maybe 3 inches, maybe 6 inches. Hard to put an inch number... but significantly higher. For myself my jump approaches 40'' when I am close to 180, between 33-37 when I am 190-200 and remains above 30'' when I am 200-215. BIG difference.
What does everyone else who realises they're mediocre athletes do? Become mediocre powerlifters? That doesn't appeal. I need a new hobby.
Getting good at anything involves feeling mediocre. Unless you are the best in the world. But even that is fleeting. Haven't you seen Karate Kid??? Mister Miyagi outlined this wisdom for me when I was about 7 years old. That's why you have to compete primarily with yourself. You have to make you goal to run 2 tenths faster or jump 2'' inches higher than a few months ago. Anything else and you will always find someone to make you feel mediocre. If you can go from 20'' to 36''...... That's fucking incredible. Adding sixteen inches to your vertical is amazing.
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Well, you just have to ask yourself this: have you really reached your peak? Do you already squat 2.5x for 1RM or 2x for 5RM? Have you practiced jumping and playing and sprinting enough at the right intensity with the right mindset? Have you had a clear-cut goal that you managed to attain? And so on and so forth.
It's bullshit raptor, all mutually exclusive. When your lifts are good, you're too heavy. When you're light, lifts are shit. You need some extra 25-40kg reserve strength to make it worthwhile post-bulk-post-cut. Fools errand!
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Training
FSB 1x132.5
BS 1x137.5, 2x132.5, 3x120, 3x127.5, 3x125, 3x122.5
AbW 2x15
FSB notes:
Just fuck off. 132.5kg right now feels harder and uglier than my PR of 145kg only 2 weeks ago. Ridiculous..
BS notes:
I failed 142.5kg, i think that kind of sums it up. My PR is 157.5kg at the end of RSR2. Do the maths.
Such a shitty session even though warmups felt absolutely brilliant, i just didn't have the juice to do anything with worksets. Not much more or to say, going to slowly rebuild up the volume and see where it goes, i think i've just been trapped in a low-volume weak phase which I need to dig myself out of.
I am also going to stop with fasting on training days, i think that might be contributing to horrors in the gym.
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Well, you just have to ask yourself this: have you really reached your peak? Do you already squat 2.5x for 1RM or 2x for 5RM? Have you practiced jumping and playing and sprinting enough at the right intensity with the right mindset? Have you had a clear-cut goal that you managed to attain? And so on and so forth.
It's bullshit raptor, all mutually exclusive. When your lifts are good, you're too heavy. When you're light, lifts are shit. You need some extra 25-40kg reserve strength to make it worthwhile post-bulk-post-cut. Fools errand!
Yeah I know it sometimes feels like spinning the wheels - gain strength and mass to increase your squat and you're too heavy and not "functional" for sports/you also gain fat.
Try to lose that fat and weight and you also lose strength and lose "all" the gains in the squat.
But... it can be done... just look at Kingfish.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYAWIZYUqn4
Something went off in my brain today appearing as a genuine spark of inspiration after watching Craig Simmons last night brutally destroy Sydney. It reminded me what all of this training is about, destroying the arch enemy Sydney. I'm going to raise my game to another level now, I have found faith in the purest of all emotions, hatred. I don't care about adding an inch to my PR, I want to live to see Sydney demoralized and obliterated the way they left us last year. This changes everything. Go hard or go home!
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Ah, I guess it's time for you to go home then!
Just kidding, follow your dream man... no matter what obstacles you get into.
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I hit a new bodyweight low of 91.1kg yesterday, that's 200.84lb. Not long before I get into the 80s/190s now.
Training
FSB 1x130
BS 4x122.5, 4x127.5, 3Fx125
DUNKZ ~ 30
Squat notes:
Volume is good, i'm back on the right track. The thing killing me right now is core fatigue. I know it's a temporary hit i'm taking from working my core hard but it will pay off eventually. Then i'll be able to push my squats into new territory. In the meantime it's disheartening to be humbled by such light weights, my only fear is my legs will detrain in the mean time..
Dunks notes:
As hard as gym was, on the court was another story. I felt strong and explosive, dunking hard and felt i was jumping as high, if not higher than I ever have before. And this at a bodyweight over 90kg! It's crazy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fredJ6s2PgE
i'll ask vag to estimate my highest jump today, i might have gone on the good side of 35" but i can't be sure, i don't know for sure, which is frustrating.
It seems the best exercise i am doing for my legs right now is dunking overweight, really puts a burn in my quads lol. Whatever i have been doing in the gym has been paying off, i couldn't even dunk at all at this bodyweight before, and now i'm dunking so effortlessly, something is clicking, i dont know what but i'm slightly optimistic. I'll put it down to a combo of heavy calf raises, ab work, and being slightly lighter.
I must say a good intense dunk session is an excellent conditioning workout. Full body one, hits all your muscles, legs all the way up to arms, and gets a good sweat going with a pumping heart rate. I should do this more often.
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Cam positioning makes it too distorted to be accurate. However it looks like a safe estimation to say you were getting 12'' above rim ( 4'' below wrist ).
Which is 11' touch / 34'' verts.
Now on those jumps at 0:00 , 0:08 , 0:13 , 0:17, if you said they are mid forearm ( 14'' above , 11'2'' touch, 36'' vert ) i wouldn't call you out, because that is most probably a correct claim!
Get better angle next time. If you can't elevate the cam, at least put it in a place where the cam-rim line is vertical to the entropy-rim line, and try to make those lines intersect at the rim ( which means dont get between the cam and the rim unless the cam is at rim level ).
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those are good-looking jumps but i just can't quite believe they're 34". his feet don't look three feet off the ground. i could just be envious that the 6'3 guy with long arms jumps as high as i do with less apparent effort.
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Hm... fair point. You have to factor his long-ass legs though. If you use the mouse pointer as a marker for highest heels point, it looks like the 'air' he gets is about up to the middle of his thighs. For me, mid thigh is about 32'' and I am 6'1''/95'' in shoes ( he is 6'3''/98'' ), so 34'' seems realistic. Again, just rough estimations, i wouldn't bet on a height, it is too distorted as i already said, too dark too.
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you're the vert measurement doctor. i defer.
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Training
FSB 1x130, 0Fx135
BS 2x2x132.5
BBS 2x3x137.5, 1x142.5, 1x150, 0Fx160
CR 2x15x205 (PR)
BBALL ~ 90 minutes
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Why don't you start doing 4-6 weeks of explosive work? Depth jumps, jump squats, KB swings, hang cleans, hang snatches, speed squats, explosive box squats, box jumps, broad jumps, bounds, plyos of all sorts and jumps to the rim.
To me, you're already pretty strong and maybe it's a good time to get into such a cycle right now because, again - that's what you seem to lack the most.
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Why don't you start doing 4-6 weeks of explosive work? Depth jumps, jump squats, KB swings, hang cleans, hang snatches, speed squats, explosive box squats, box jumps, broad jumps, bounds, plyos of all sorts and jumps to the rim.
To me, you're already pretty strong and maybe it's a good time to get into such a cycle right now because, again - that's what you seem to lack the most.
Because i'm still cutting, limited recovery resources. I have another 5kg of bodyfat to lose yet. I do plan on doing it though, just as soon as i'm below 85kg, i'll let the remaining fat loss come from conditioning alone. Hopefully it won't take to long because i'm running out of time. I agree with you my reactivity deficit is far greater than my strength one.
For the record, i am under 91kg now, just barely, have seem to have hit a wall. Hoping to wake up a kilo or two lighter in the next coming days, that would get me back on track.
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Yeah, what I mean is that it's a good idea to cycle strength and explosive cycles for like... forever for our goal.
Once you plateau in strength you can switch to explosive stuff for a while, improve the explosiveness, and then get back to strength. And so on.
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That's a really good point bro. I've just never been strong enough to do anything more than just basic lifts. Maybe some day. Sigh. I hate myself lol.
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I am with raptor here. You don't even need to pleateau to switch to a more RFD oriented scheme. Neither wight/bf is such a restriction, it is not like you will be doing DJs and bounds 24/7. You don't have to change much things, you can add some elements. Maybe just one FA/RFD session weekly? Think of it as something like periodization, a transition phase. Keep strength as main focus but add an FA/RFD session with DJs, jump squats, speed squats, even a couple of heavy singles at the end to feed your everlasting strength loath, whatever. That said, nothing wrong with what you are doing now. Going to dunk often should take care most of the needed RFD training. But would DJs benefit you? Definitely yes imho.
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Training
WCU 1x112 (PR)
WCr 2x20
LR 8, 10, 10x105kg (PR)
Notes:
My triceps were so torched by the time i was done with that lifetime chinup pr, that I couldn't do my volume sets afterwards lol. So that sucks. I kind of keep finding myself doing 4 training sessions per week which is not ideal. I just don't know where to put some of these lifts without making any oneday too long/difficult to recover from/. I will do a seperate post on this actually.
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Here is the story. My lifts are all over the place, i'm losing anywhere from 15kg to 40kg on my squats since january when I wrapped up RSR2. I'm finally adapted to playing basketball and come out well recovered the day after. Which is great news because this means I can keep improving my game skills gradually. My conditioning is still very poor, i'd put it at 2/10, and only because I feel I made the jump from 1/10 yesterday. Still really really fat, the more weight i lose, the fatter I think i am, which i think is a normal and unfortunate feature of cutting.
So in this situation where i'm struggling to keep my head over water, when i'm trying only to lose 10-15kg on my squats, i don't really have time to add in extra exercises which prob won't do anything for me right now because they'll eat into recovery for squats. Yes i know in theory you can do make it work, in practice i am already struggling and that's without even doing any extra work.
I really am quite stuck right now for ideas. I know there are a ton of ideas out there, but i have to reconcile that with my body and personal experience and i know most of the programs would never work for me.
I haven't even got a day to day plan for what to do in the gym. Kind of freestyling it based on mood and feel.. :/
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Here is the story. My lifts are all over the place, i'm losing anywhere from 15kg to 40kg on my squats since january when I wrapped up RSR2. I'm finally adapted to playing basketball and come out well recovered the day after. Which is great news because this means I can keep improving my game skills gradually. My conditioning is still very poor, i'd put it at 2/10, and only because I feel I made the jump from 1/10 yesterday. Still really really fat, the more weight i lose, the fatter I think i am, which i think is a normal and unfortunate feature of cutting.
So in this situation where i'm struggling to keep my head over water, when i'm trying only to lose 10-15kg on my squats, i don't really have time to add in extra exercises which prob won't do anything for me right now because they'll eat into recovery for squats. Yes i know in theory you can do make it work, in practice i am already struggling and that's without even doing any extra work.
I really am quite stuck right now for ideas. I know there are a ton of ideas out there, but i have to reconcile that with my body and personal experience and i know most of the programs would never work for me.
I haven't even got a day to day plan for what to do in the gym. Kind of freestyling it based on mood and feel.. :/
My only advice is to stop worrying about the squats right now. It sounds like you've got a lot of work to do to get fit, fast and skilled for your bball comp. Something has to give if you're cutting. Unfortunately it just seems you struggle to make strength gains from bulking stick during the cut back down to weight. Which kind of makes you wonder if for you, that whole strategy is flawed. This is long-term thinking of course, but have you ever considered NOT bulking/cutting, just trying your hardest to get to an athletic bodyfat %, establishing baseline strength levels for the major lifts, then centering your training around speed and basketball skill development and periodically alternating between short-term power/RFD blocks WITHOUT drastic bodyweight changes?
From what I've seen all over the web and in real-life in my club (and mostly from what my coach has been telling me), developing high bar squat strength during the 'off-season' (or other similar heavy, 'slow' compound lifts) is great for developing sufficient musculature and a power base for the 'season'. The power base is continually utilised during training for your specific sport (sprints, basketball, volleyball, whatever) and more of an emphasis is placed on the increasing measures of power during the season (i.e. broad jumps, std triple jumps, bounds, shot tosses, verticals, power cleans and other oly lifts). HB squat strength of most of the guys in the club usually decreases during this time, simply because it's not done much and the neural connections for the particular movement are de-emphasised. The coach will attempt to ensure his athletes aren't dropping too much strength during the season by keep squats semi-high intensity but with lower volume to make sure the important stuff is done well. For example, atm he prescribes 1x10@10RM (75% load) after all power work is done. Other coaches might do higher intensity lower rep stuff but it works for him. Now, would it be good if squat numbers went up during the season as well? Of course! But it isn't realistic in highly trained athletes (even amateurs like us), and probably not crucial either.
He also subscribes to Charlie Francis and others in that athletes shouldn't need to gain excessive mass over their careers. His rule of thumb is body fat should be kept in single digits during on-season and it's OK if it goes to double digits during off-season, but never over 15% (depending on natural bf levels). In other words, if he saw how you have been training over the past few months he would probably have a heart attack :D. Just food for thought.
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I agree with acole here, not only for what he posted but also because from what I've seen two things usually happen when guys try to bulk and cut.
1. They never cut because they are never satisfied with how strong they are. They change to a 'strongman' mindset, more more more regardless if it has any carryover to their original intent.
2. They start a cut and it's too hard (they lack discipline/motivation) or they don't see immediate results and go back to reason 1.
With that said (in addition to above posted) I'd have to say you would probably have had better results if you stayed lean, practiced jumping/skill work often and when you hit the weights set goals and a program but don't really 'worry' about hitting them as long as your on court performance is improving.
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I def can't argue with doing more RFD work. I know I need that badly. But, i'm going to defend the bulk. I had to gain enough mass to make myself a better lifter. It was at the point i hit around 95kg bodyweight at the end of RSR1 and during RSR2 i didn't gain any weight but my lifts really took off. It was because i had enough mass then to really push my lifts up. It's quite possible if i had started a 3rd cycle of RSR then, instead of cutting, i would have maintained my bodyweight and put my lifts up into respectable territory, 165kg beltless, 180kg belted, 150kg front squat, etc. And that would have been awesome, but i really needed to get the cut started.
So I did, even though i wasn't strong enough for my purposes to be cutting. Ideally my belted would be around 190kg, my beltless 170kg, and front squat 155-160kg or so. At which point I could just maintain my worksets and maxes while cutting, which is easier than what I actually ended up attempting which was to put 10kg on my lifts. But that didn't work out at all. Instead i've gotten weaker, a lot. But merely maintaining my lifts at end of RSR2 would not have been that great anyway which is why I tried to do more than that.
Right now at 90kg, i could probably maintain my bodyweight, and get back to my previous PRs, but to exceed them i'd have to gain a kilo or two. That wouldn't really win me anything though, considering i'm too heavy to do anything awesome with the strength. So i'll keep cutting, i'll be under 15% soon, and hopefully when i cross under 85kg, ideally 83kg or so, i'll be close enough to 10% (maybe as high as 12-13%) to stop actively cutting and start to eat more food and do a lot more training. I'd be working hard initially to get my lifts up though. But while maintaining my bodyweight.
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I disagree with not bulking or cutting and just maintaining a low bodyfat. That would have been around 75kg for me, how strong can I be at that bodyweight? No chance of front squatting 150kg, some chance of backsquatting 150kg but that's about it. Could I have got more athleticism out of that bodyweight by switching to RFD work. Possibly, but it's not like i was in danger of cleaning 140kg being that weak. If my front squat is around 160kg, and i'm lean and strong, there is a chance of having a decent clean, maybe not 140kg, maybe 120kg. But at 75kg i doubt I could clean over 100kg! Guys remember even at 90kg, i'm not super muscular, i have barely begun to get big enough to move heavy iron. If i was 8% at 90kg, maybe i would be just doing RFD work right now and just beasting.
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Yes but subjecting yourself to RFD work still counts as muscle damage and that muscle must be repaired and grows, so even with a lower time under tension doing explosive work - you can still get very strong. It won't be displayed in the gym, it will be displayed on the actual field.
And if you're an athlete and not a powerlifter, then that's what you should care about.
I know people in the track and field camp that barely squat with too much volume or intensity, yet if you take them out of their never ending plyometric world of bounding and hurdle jumping and long jumping and sprinting and put them in the gym for a few weeks they will start to display amazing strength due to all that plyo work that they have been doing.
It works the other way around too - if strength (squat) work can improve jumping, then jumping and sprinting and bounding can improve the squat. Why? Because they both improve strength. It's just that one does it faster and is less specific while the other does it "slower" but is more specific.
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I disagree with not bulking or cutting and just maintaining a low bodyfat. That would have been around 75kg for me, how strong can I be at that bodyweight? No chance of front squatting 150kg, some chance of backsquatting 150kg but that's about it. Could I have got more athleticism out of that bodyweight by switching to RFD work. Possibly, but it's not like i was in danger of cleaning 140kg being that weak. If my front squat is around 160kg, and i'm lean and strong, there is a chance of having a decent clean, maybe not 140kg, maybe 120kg. But at 75kg i doubt I could clean over 100kg! Guys remember even at 90kg, i'm not super muscular, i have barely begun to get big enough to move heavy iron. If i was 8% at 90kg, maybe i would be just doing RFD work right now and just beasting.
Well, this discussion is only happening because you're saying what you're doing isn't working. Maybe for you, both the cut and the bulk are happening over too short a time-frame for any practical use. A 150kg HBBS and 100kg clean would be very respectable numbers at 75kgs, by the way.
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I don't disagree with what all you guys said ( except from the limit strength&hypertrophy gains through sprints&jumps theory ). After all i did suggest some RFD work a few posts above, but how about a different prespective:
Entropy didn't do anything wrong, he is just always too hard on himself and deliberately ( although probably subconsiously ) presents his results in a failure-biased way. But the reality is different.
-His first cut was fucking awesome, he got to 10% with a clear six-pack, although he still says it was 13 or more.
-His bulk worked too, he destroyed his PRs in every lift, although he says he is weak.
-His overall vert gains is something like 10'' of SVJ in 2,5 years, although he says he hasn't gained much.
Ok, strength is now suffering from the cut while the cut itself has not progressed enough to present gains. It is temporary, as soon as he adapts and proceeds he is set for glory again. Lets not forget that even at that current supposedely worse state, his jumps are higher than ever and he hasn't even been practicing them.
I don't have the slightest concern about entropy's training, whatever he says at the rants, in the end he will do something that works.
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That is true Vag, he does present himself as failure prone often when in reality that isn't the case at all. I'd like to emphasize what raptor said in his post 'it wont be displayed In the gym, but on the field'. THAT'S an athletes response. He doesn't 'care' if he's 'beasting in the weight room as long as he's being a monster on his choice of field.
Honestly, it sounds like Entropy is inching closer towards my original point number 1. He's sounding like more of a power lifter than an athlete (not that power lifters aren't athletes but you see what im saying?). And let's face it, not many guys can do both simultaneously.
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That is true Vag, he does present himself as failure prone often when in reality that isn't the case at all. I'd like to emphasize what raptor said in his post 'it wont be displayed In the gym, but on the field'. THAT'S an athletes response. He doesn't 'care' if he's 'beasting in the weight room as long as he's being a monster on his choice of field.
Honestly, it sounds like Entropy is inching closer towards my original point number 1. He's sounding like more of a power lifter than an athlete (not that power lifters aren't athletes but you see what im saying?). And let's face it, not many guys can do both simultaneously.
This is 100% correct. We tend to move from a skinny basketball player to a fat powerlifter if you allow ourselves to think "squat strength is all that matters" and we only care about benchmarking that.
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Well, this discussion is only happening because you're saying what you're doing isn't working. Maybe for you, both the cut and the bulk are happening over too short a time-frame for any practical use. A 150kg HBBS and 100kg clean would be very respectable numbers at 75kgs, by the way.
What i'm saying is not working is i don't know a way to get my squats going again. That's all. I don't expect to set PRs, just keeping 90% of my pre-cut maxes would be cool if i could figure THAT out. My basketball ability is coming along nicely, much better than i expected, so quickly. I'm not there yet but each time i play I improve, whether it's conditioning, passing, defense or ball handling. Shooting really sucks but I can usually get that going thru lots of practice which i haven't devoted yet. Conditioning is still very bad but like i said, i improved from 1/10 to 2/10 which is cool, just in one session. Maybe i can keep bumping it up 1pt each time i play?
I need really amazing conditioning cause my team has shit, unathletic, unskilled bigs (amazing guards though), so they'll rely on me heavily for workhorse minutes, even though ideally i'd play fewer minutes, as an elite SF who pick-and-pops my reliable mid range shots or driving against bigger slower bigs. It's really not ideal when the opposition will have lean, athletic, strong 6'8" guys, or big strong 120kg beasts in the post. Also, i have to work so hard on defense cause the other bigs suck, and i end up anchoring the defense even though i'm not build for it, being so light and having to work so hard for position against much bigger and stronger guys. Plus our guards are very score happy (think iverson), so i get very few field goal attempts, which is frustrating, because i always have excellent fg%, i just commit myself off the ball to setting picks and getting boards instead of actively contributing to the offense. So if i'm squatting to much, it's because i know what demands there are on me, some of which are very unreasonable! it's not playing to my strengths at all but that's not my call. I need big strong thighs, buttocks and calves! It's not optional. Plus you guys are sprinters, your sport is more about raw performance rather than the multitude of physical demands of basketball. If i was a sprinter, i'd just accept i'd have sore dommed legs to be good in the gym, and accept the compromise, but i'm not getting that sort of leg fatigue from my sport, so i am hoping to do much better in the gym!
Incidentally i played ball again today, which means I trained thursday, lifted and played ball saturday, lifted sunday, and played ball monday. And i'm due to lift again tomorrow, tuesday. And possibly playing a full court game on weds, a friend has asked me, although i don't really know if it will eventuate cause last time we ended up driving back home half way there. I couldn't possibly be playing more ball right now. Btw have i mentioned i'm cutting? And i'm getting leaner as we go along!
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So when the heck do you rest? If I would do what you're doing, you can bet your top money my squatting strength would go down lightning fast.
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Honestly, it sounds like Entropy is inching closer towards my original point number 1. He's sounding like more of a power lifter than an athlete (not that power lifters aren't athletes but you see what im saying?). And let's face it, not many guys can do both simultaneously.
This is 100% correct. We tend to move from a skinny basketball player to a fat powerlifter if you allow ourselves to think "squat strength is all that matters" and we only care about benchmarking that.
I agree with the general concept. With both of you. Totally.
What i can't understand is how entropy ( who is already in the middle of a 10-15kg cut) relates with that fat powerlifter mentality. Wanting to preserve a good percentage of your ( hard gained ) limit strength during a big cut is not a powerlifting obsession, it is basic training principle imho.
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To me... the thing about entropy was never about strength, it was about "nerve". Like I've said it over and over again... whenever he does stuff on the field I'm like "is this guy going to get to bed in the next few seconds to sleep or something?"
Meaning - he looks like he has NO desire to jump, run, do explosive stuff. Just put a bar on his back and move it with slow speeds, that's all he cares about.
That's the impression I personally get from him. So... IMO, the best possible thing for him, by far, would be to do as fast movements as possible - beginning with sprinting and going with multi-response jumps like hurdle jumps etc. I have to emphasize the multi-response thing because I believe that if he'd go with single-response stuff he'd be as slow and lazy looking as he's always been.
I don't get how in the world he thinks he should continue with this slow lifting and training when he's not able to express in quick manner even a decent amount of percentage from the power that his strength says he should be capable of producing.
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Oh trust me, ChrisM, I am repulsed by the sport of PL in all different ways, and I would go as far as saying they're not athletes. The only strength athletes are, you know, the ones in the olympics lol, throwing shit or lifting stuff. That's it. PL is a horrible vulgar sport. Those who can't play any real sport, start powerlifting instead. I have slightly more respect for competitive crossfit. I think that's enough. Having said that, even PLs, at least those in the lower weight classes absolutely have to be lean and ripped and have good ratios, at least the competitive ones. I'm not talking about the 5'7" guys who bulk to a very sloppy 230 and think they're hot shit. I mean the ones competing under say 180lb. Even so, my goals are the pole opposite of PLs. I want to be strong AND athletic, which is entirely foreign to that sport.
Like vag said, if you're cutting you want to maintain your lifts, which will maintain your muscle mass. And that's the extent of it. I am not sure where the advice to lay off squatting is coming from, but it's not the right answer.
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Ah, good. I literally laughed out loud at the comparison to crossfit. :)
In my short experience, in season or during a 'explosive' block of work my squat/dl usually go down a little as well. I contribute this too a few things.
1. Less volume and therefore less time practicing the movement.
2. Skill work and conditioning do nothing for strength, in fact they usually have a detrimental effect.
3. The explosive stuff (DJs, bounds, etc) programs your neural and musculature circuits differently. Your body gravitates from being comfortable in a squat motion to being comfortable and therefore more efficient in another (jumping, running, whatever)
With that said I have also noticed this weird conundrum with myself. I train a strength block and add say 20-30lbs to my squat and its now 300lbs (vert doesnt go up much or at all, we'll say it stays at 30" for comparison sake). I take up a explosive block and my vert shoots up a few inches, and squat strength goes down. Now, funny part, I go to another strength block...I can't do 300lbs so I go down to 275. Work my way up to 320 or whatever and my vert stays where it was after the explosion block and doesn't decrease while I cut back on reactive stuff. So it keeps going up faster than my weights are. This has happened twice now. Just my experience but still a thought worth considering.
Basically, you're playing alot (see point 2) AND you're cutting. So don't worry about losing some squat strength as long as your displaying a more explosive you on the court?
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So magically the ball i've been playing has seemed to cut away my abdominal bodyfat. I bet i could have dieted for weeks, even months before that bodyfat started burning away (it always goes last), but something about basketball just burns it away directly. Pretty awesome.It's weird but overnight i've started to look relatively lean. I'm not saying i'm lean, but a lot leaner all of a sudden. I hope it sticks and it's just a transient thing.
I've become convinced to try more RFD related training. I am going to try on friday/saturday.
What else. I just ejaculated for the first time since october, which seems like such a long time, i just wanted to see if my equipment still worked. Was pretty awesome for an orgasm but i couldn't get very hard. Which is starting to worry me. I'm convincing myself it's because i'm cutting so all systems are depressed. But in the past even in the middle of 6 weeks of 800 calorie a day RFL, I'd still have excellent mood. I don't really care, maybe it's stress, whatever. We'll see once i'm done cutting and down to 10% bodyfat, hopefully i'll be good then..
Also, regretting playing basketball outdoors yesterday. It seems to have a much more stressful impact on my joints, way more residual achiness and soreness which i haven't been getting from playing indoors. Also i didn't take caffeine which probably didn't help with recovery. It wasn't even planned, just friends called last minute. I was to rest monday, and then have an awesome squat session tuesday. Instead i ended up taking tuesday off as result, and i'll try training weds instead. Last time i play outdoor pickup ball with that crowd. It's a low quality, low return activity. Rather stick to playing high quality ball against better players.
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october?!?! jesus.
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october?!?! jesus.
Haven't stayed layed down for more than a week since I was 12.
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With that type of dedication I take back anything I said about cutting/eating clean/etc being hard for you.
Damn.
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My waist was low 37"s this morning, so it wasnt just imagined reduction of waist as per my last post. Only downside is, i've only got 2 holes left in my belt. Fucking motherfucking starting strength "gains" mindset made me order XL when I should have got an L. It's a nice belt otherwise, top of the range leather lever one. It's just not suited for anyone athletic once you get down under 35" waist :( I wish i could swap it with someone who has a L. That would be awesome..
I must say there is something very seductive about being 90kg/200lb and lean. It seems like such a beastly thing to be. Don't get me wrong, i loved being 75kg/165lb and lean too. But being a strong and powerful 200 is something else. Maybe i'm not too far from that. Perhaps by the end of this cut, i'll be close.
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Training
FBS 1x130
BS 3x2x132.5
BSS 2x4x137.5
AbWheel 2x20
DUNKZ ~ 30
FBS notes:
I think my FS slump is form related! Which is good, cause i can fix that. I am confident i can get to 140kg by fixing my form up. Lets do this thing!
BS notes:
So far so good, added 1 more set since last time. Slow and steady progress forward. My goal is 6 sets 132.5kg doubles. I'm adding 1 set per session, next time i'll go for 4 sets.
BBS notes:
Decided to add a rep, even though ugly, i'll take it. I will work up to 6x137.5kg before moving on up to 140kg. Just add a rep here and there when I can.
Abs notes:
Holy moly, 2x20 ab wheel at a bodyweight over 90kg is legit hard. I'm toast.
Dunk notes:
I tried a different angle but i regret it now cause the ball hit the tripod and broke it :( I've had that tripod for so long, i think i inherited it from my parents from before i was born. Bit sad now lol. But it's cool, i'll prob try glue the plastic bits together. I'm gonna try do some RFD work everytime i train.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX4FhGCAkLU
I tried to take a more aggressive and longer runup this time.
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With that type of dedication I take back anything I said about cutting/eating clean/etc being hard for you.
Damn.
Yes. Truly amazing.
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Lol. Thanks guys. I'm under 200! this morning. I'm hoping the next few kilos will come off suddenly, because scale has slowed down strangely, and it usually does that before a bigger drop.
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BW: 90.5kg/199.51lb
Training
FBS 1x132.5
BS 4x2x132.5
BP 1x95
FBS notes:
Progress in a way considering i was pinned by 132.5kg the last 2 attempts. But it's mediocre compared to my 145kg PR, so i'm quite unsatisfied. Will slowly work my way up to a repeatable 137.5kg anyhow.
BS notes:
These were 10 RPE sets. I would have liked to do 2 more heavy sets with a belt. Thought i might save it for tomorrow when i'll try squatting again because today my core (back and abs) were just too thrashed to do justice to my squatting ambitions.
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Training
90 mins basketball
Notes:
Yesterday was a clusterfuck. I had about an hour or so worth of sleep. Went to move furniture all morning, had lunch at a buffet (! mistake) but i only had 2 plates, so i think it was ok. And then i napped about half an hour before going to basketball training. Was a mess, no springs in my legs, a step behind my mind. Bad passes, got beaten on defense a lot. Missed most of my jumpers. Couldnt finish near the rim. Couldn't dunk, felt completely exhausted.
Why is that every week I go to basketball either fatigued from gyming or life and I can't play 100%? I think that's something I need to address. I should be striving to be the best players ont he court. Instead i'm allowing myself to be mediocre because of excuses.
Next week i'm going to go ball fresh, and i'll dominate. It's the only way to play, mediocrity doesnt get me anywhere!
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Bodyweight: 90.1kg/198.64lb
So i'm getting close to breaking 90kg. But still not quite there. I haven't been strict with my diet at all. Just stuff keeps coming up and I can't stick to my usual routine of eating jack shit. It's fine as long as i'm home preparing my normal cutting meals. But when you go out, it's not easy to stick to the plan. So you have 2nds when you wouldn't normally. Or have desert when you never have it at home. No excuses, going to fast my way under 90kg, starting monday i'm gonna be 100% serious and going to finish feb strongly. I need to wrap up this cut quickly so i can get my lifts back to 160/170kg territory, and get my basketball ability up to a PR level for the comp in april.
Training today, abs and chinups, can't wait.
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Training today, abs and chinups, can't wait.
motivation still high: winning.
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Training
FSB 1x132.5
BS 2x132.5, 2x135, 1x133.5, 3x115
CR 2x15x207.5 (PR)
WCU 6x96 (PR), 5x98.5
CND sprint intervals @ 5 x (20s on, 55s off)
FSB notes:
At least 132.5kg is repeatable right now even in the darkest and weakest of times. But i want more, much more.
BS notes:
Have not recovered from basketball yet. I could have used another day of rest but i forced myself to train. Next time i'll kick ass.
Calves notes:
Next time i go for the big 5 plates, at least in my gym, 210kg! Can't wait..
Conditioning notes:
I started doing intervals today. I will aim to keep my effective weight above 90kg on this and every other power activity. I won't do steady state cardio type running until i weigh much less (~85kg) and that will be done as light as possible (because it's not power).
I can't do a full sprint for 20s right now, too unfit. So i run out of juice, maybe around 8s (just guessing i didn't check). So not sure if I should use a smaller on interval to start with, or just keep the curent one. Thoughts?
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What's your range of motion with that weight?
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What's your range of motion with that weight?
On the raises? Idk, as high as I can go on my toes.
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Ok new plan. I'm going to cut for another 21 days only to reach a morning bodyweight of 87kg / 192lb. And that's it. After that no more dieting. I'll eat at maintenance, or perhaps a slight deficit in an EOD fashion. The goal will then be to recomp. At that point the majority of my fat loss and body recomposition will come from conditioning. Taking my conditioning to PR levels will get my to 85kg morning bodyweight by the start of the basketball tournament.
So diet for another 3 weeks. Get to 87kg/192lb. Eat at maintenance. Work hard on taking my lifts to PR territory. Do a lot of conditioning work on the side to reduce bodyfat down to 10% or so with the eventual goal of being a lean 85kg in the morning.
In the meantime my effective bodyweight for all power exercises (squats, raises, jumps and sprints) will be done at an effective bodyweight above or equal to 90kg. The way i'm gonna do that is by drinking lots of water, or whatever, or maybe even getting a weighted vest.
(http://i.imgur.com/wKjSHpr.png)
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What are you planning for conditioning work?
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What are you planning for conditioning work?
weighted sprint intervals (2x weekly) and playing full court basketball 1x week. And when i'm lighter, i'll add in a session of longer cardio (~20-30 minutes).
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Bodyweight: 90kg/198.4lb
lol, the scale read 89.99 before it stabilised on 90kg. In any case, i'm going to be under 90kg by the time today is over. I'm going 100% strict mode for 21 days to get into the 85-87kg range.
Also endevearing to drink 6 ice cold glasses of water every day. I haven't done the calculation but I'm hoping that'll work out to like a pound of fat loss by the end of the 12 week SPP phase.
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I was about to rant about that ice water shit but then i did the maths. It is 8kcals per glass, 50 per day, 350 per week, 4200 in 12 weeks.
Lol, that's interesting, it does sum up to a serious quantity over that time span.
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Won't you get tonsilitis?
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(http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f296/Turbo_Topher/Mobile%20Uploads/wut-du-fuq_zpsaddff7d8.jpg) (http://s49.photobucket.com/user/Turbo_Topher/media/Mobile%20Uploads/wut-du-fuq_zpsaddff7d8.jpg.html)
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What? You people never get tonsilitis drinking cold water? I had that for over 20-30 times in my life.
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What? You people never get tonsilitis drinking cold water? I had that for over 20-30 times in my life.
When I think of you as a glittery eyed old wife telling stores of yore, a lot of things fall into place lol.
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Bodyweight: 89.7kg/197.76lb
(http://i.imgur.com/xIICZ0v.png)
So finally under 90kg, although technically I already got there yesterday but not in the first morning weighing. Looking forward to training today, yesterday i started getting quad doms which I associate with sprinting, i haven't got those for ages, maybe back when doing RSR2. Lets see how I go squatting, hopefully sprints wont affect them too much.
Oh and another milestone, i got under 37" waist too. Although technically it's not well into the 36"s so it's no cause for celebrating, but like i've said, the sooner I get to 35" and lower, the better, because that's the cusp of being fat and non-fat to me.
Training
FSB 2x120
BS 2x2x132.5
BBS 2x140, 2x142.5, 2x140, 3x130, 3x127.5
BBALL ~ 30 mins (incl ~20 dunks)
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What? You people never get tonsilitis drinking cold water? I had that for over 20-30 times in my life.
When I think of you as a glittery eyed old wife telling stores of yore, a lot of things fall into place lol.
So I get that you NEVER got tonsilitis from cold water?
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Before I left home for the court, i weighed myself and i was 90.5kg (i think, it may have been 91.5kg but i really doubt that). Which was borderline. Came home and weighed myself and i was 89.5kg. Which is soo dumb, because it means i was dunking light. Not good. I want to maintain a man size 90kg bodyweight on any power activity, because doing it as a lightweight weighing 75kg/165lb is just being a pussy and cheating myself from being at my best which should be around 90kg/200lb. I keep repeating myself but it's really important i think to make this a priority.
So i tried the water thing drank 800mL before leaving home, and apparently that vanished during basketball practice. So next time i really need to arrange for a weighted belt and make sure my bodyweight leaving home is around 92.5kg. That way i can be sure i'm def jumping over 90kg.
Btw dunks today were so strong and powerful, it's hard to believe this is me jumping this heavy. I was dunking effortless single and double handed with powerful ease. This is what I should be focusing on. No one gives a shit when a lightweight gets up, no matter how high, but it's impressive when you're strong , heavy, powerful and athletic.
Wtf do weighted belts cost so much $$? Fucking fitness industry is a scam.
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(http://i.imgur.com/jYusPlD.png)
Going to try use this to determine my squat volume. I'm not sure how to structure heavy/medium/light or whatever, if i will even use that, but i'll see how it goes. I hate how squats need so much attention to maintain them. Meanwhile I can bench once a week, sometimes even skip it, and pretty much maintain 99% of my gainz. Fuck squats.
Here is the interpolated table i'm actually going to use:
(http://i.imgur.com/DsBO7xy.png)
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Bodyweight: 89.3/196.87lb
(http://i.imgur.com/a4cYo9w.png)
I'm losing weight but it doesn't feel like i'm dieting. Eating 2 satisfying meals. It's hard to explain, doesn't feel like i'm actually cutting, when does it get hard?
I have found a weighted vest but the dude wants $100 for it, 20kg one. Fucks sakes.
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(http://i.imgur.com/RkYezRr.png)
The white man was onto a good thing when he designed the electric oven. I was privy only to some of his secrets, the use for making such fare as cakes and pizza. But recently I have dabbled, out of necessity, in ovencooking the simplest bodybuilding type foods. The results have been nothign short of amazing. I have no idea what i'm doing as usual, just freestlying it here and there. I used a recipe of recipe.com.au the other day, and I think someone trolled me, because the recipe called for using 240 degrees C to cook chicken breasts. Which was bullshit. Today i tried around 180C for 25 minutes and it worked so well. Chicken was juicy and moist, like i've never seen. I actually enjoyed it, and usually i despise anything to do with chicken breast cooked at home. I just never get it right. I have an unused George Foreman grill i got a few years ago and that never did a good job. Either i burned it, or it was raw, never got it right. But the oven changes everything. I'm supposed to be cutting but i'm having so much fun preparing and eating my meals lately, all thanks to the oven. I used some tomatos and chillis i got from the vege garden and threw in some onions (having no idea what i'm doing whatsoever), seasoned it all geneously, splash of olive oil, dashes of bbq sauce (dunno?) and that was it. Shit is fool proof, i can do this, even without any cooking ability whatsoever. No more hit and miss fucking around on the bbq or frying pan.
The best part is having solar power in a sun rich country so oven cooking is basically free. My mind is blown, things will never be teh same again. lolz.
I needed some carbs, and i've been making pasta recently, but today I just made a sandwich. The tomatos were so juicy and soft and with the onion as was the chicken breast, it was a phenomenal filling meal. I like that it limits my carbs to two slices of wholemeal bread too. Easy to track portions. Nice. Can't wait to try other stuff next time!
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crock pot changed my life, man. just saying:
1.5 pounds beef chuck roast
2 onions
2 carrots
1 celery rib
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
spoonful of tomato paste
1/2 cup water
splash of white wine
oregano
salt
pepper
chop the shit out of the onions (tiny pieces) and saute them for a while, until they're getting soft. chop the shit out of the carrots and celery (tiny pieces) and add them to the onions. stir 'em around, cook 'em for a few minutes. add oregano, salt, pepper, canned tomatoes, and white wine. cook for like 30 seconds, then throw into the crock pot. cut the chuck roast into four pieces and bury them in the onion mixture. set crock pot to high, then leave it alone for 6-8 hours. when it's done, shred the beef with a pair of forks and it is DELICIOUS. i eat it with pasta but if you're low-carbing you could just add some parmesan cheese (or not) and go to town.
if you do the pre-crock-pot steps in a pasta pot, then you can add the beef and just stick it in the oven on 400 for like 3-4 hours. uncovered. it's done when you can pull the beef apart with forks.
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I could never understand how people can eat... stuff like that.
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I could never understand how people can eat... stuff like that.
meat and vegetables? what do you eat?
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I could never understand how people can eat... stuff like that.
meat and vegetables? what do you eat?
I have a very limited variety of food... I usually eat mashed potatoes with meat and some onion/cucumber/cabbage or soup. Other than that, plenty of cheese and bread and eggs. That's about it.
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I'll have to try that out LBSS. I have a slow cooker but i've never used it, afraid of wasting a bunch of meat. I'll give yours a try as closely as I can. Thanks! Raptor, that reminds me, i should eat more potatos..
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Training
FSB 2x120, 0Fx132.5
BS 1x135
Paused FS 3x90, 3x95, 3x100, 2x115 (PR)
BBall ~ 20 mins (no dunks, saving it for tomorrows training! Better be a beast for once).
FSB notes:
Had no pop. My body just wasn't interested in lifting heavy, waste of a stimulant stack.
BS notes:
Stupidly heavy for such a light weight. Lower back fatigue sprung out of nowhere after that 135, didn't court injury from there.
Paused FS notes:
Just tried something new, had to do something else after my usual plans were off the track.
I've been talking to a new girl this week. I'm not in love with her or anything, but she's growing on me. Lets see where it goes.
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almost a week of talking and you're not in love yet? move on.
:pokerface:
:almostascoolasnyancat:
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3. The explosive stuff (DJs, bounds, etc) programs your neural and musculature circuits differently. Your body gravitates from being comfortable in a squat motion to being comfortable and therefore more efficient in another (jumping, running, whatever)
With that said I have also noticed this weird conundrum with myself. I train a strength block and add say 20-30lbs to my squat and its now 300lbs (vert doesnt go up much or at all, we'll say it stays at 30" for comparison sake). I take up a explosive block and my vert shoots up a few inches, and squat strength goes down. Now, funny part, I go to another strength block...I can't do 300lbs so I go down to 275. Work my way up to 320 or whatever and my vert stays where it was after the explosion block and doesn't decrease while I cut back on reactive stuff. So it keeps going up faster than my weights are. This has happened twice now. Just my experience but still a thought worth considering.
Reason 3, exactly how I feel.
I've had similar experiences squatting. Except, the stepwise increase in vert hasn't been as smooth as predicted. It has happened a little though. It's amazing how much "strength" I "lost" if I stopped squatting for a week. If I didn't do any plyos, I wouldn't lose strength, I would gain strength. But if I decided to do bounding and sprinting, I would immediately lose strength. My legs started to feel comfortable expressing strength in more of a quarter or half squat position as they do in the amortization phase of sprints and bounding, but not in a deep squat position.
The thing is, jumping and sprinting will affect negatively the squat, which can negatively affect jumping and sprinting if you try to do both within the same block.
The stepwise process is thus probably best, because I haven't figured out how to gain strength and explosiveness in the same block yet but I thought I did once. But, i'm still working on it.
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october?!?! jesus.
impressive. i've never been able to go that long.
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Bodyweight: 89.1kg / 196.43lb
(http://i.imgur.com/oa8VWoE.png)
So this is a milestone in some sense, because it marks losing 15 pounds. I'd like to get down to 85kg/187lb in the remaining 16 days. It's a big ask.
Was supposed to go basketball training this evening but it got cancelled. I will still like to play, may find somewhere to play pickup or failing that, i'll practice dunking, shooting and do some intervals.
almost a week of talking and you're not in love yet? move on.
:pokerface:
:almostascoolasnyancat:
Yeah i dont know. She's kind of hot and cold to me, which is totally reasonable, just find it difficult to sustain my interest without getting turned off. I dont want to play games at this stage of my life, i can't be bothered chasing a girl etc. But we'll see. october?!?! jesus.
impressive. i've never been able to go that long.
lol, i wonder if it's a lifetime PR for me. It feels like it must be. I just decided to focus all my energy into my training. Did well with my strength phase. Cutting phase is bringing me down though, but my vertical is going up, and i feel as though i should be a much better player than I was last year. Last year i cut to 75kg/165lb and i wasn't completely shredded. This year i'm dreaming of being a lean 90kg/200lb, it's kind of amazing the amount of progress i've made if you think about it, i'm not supposed to carry this much mass given my past background. We'll see how it goes. I'm starting to lean out nicely now.
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What kind of software is that?
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What kind of software is that?
it's a custom piece of software I wrote a few years ago, never got around to giving it a name, i just call it iron. Been using it for about 3 years and i've got all my shit logged on there for that time. It tracks all of my training, from RPEs and rest times for all sets etc. When I put it together I imagined a unified way to track and analyse training data, to better understand and improve training and programming. To this end, i embedded a sophisticated statistical system inside the app (Incanter). Which can be used to make models and find patterns etc. I actually never use that, because I think it's not that useful in the end, who cares what you were doing 2 years ago? or even 2 months ago? Training is always about the very recent past and what's going on in the present.
Here are some more screenshots
(http://i.imgur.com/g14Dlxx.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/Rx6Lcc5.png)
In theory, i could programmatically query every single set i've ever done, on every exercise, for the last 3 years. In practice, i don't really care about that at all. So imagine R or Matlab where you can get a vector of all sets above a certain weight for a given exercise. That sort of thing.
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^^^ Incredible, i wish i could upvote this more than once!
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Training
FBS 2x120, 0Fx132.5
BS 1x130, 1x135
BBS 1x137.5
BS 4x120, 3x127.5, 3x122.5, 3x3x120
AbW 2x25
AbPullD 10x32.5, 15x22.5, 20x27.5
FBS notes:
Paused squats last time seem to have done something for my bar speed, both on the eccentric and concentric. I couldn't lock out the 132.5kg though, but at least i'm not failing at the bottom anymore.
BS notes:
So depressing only being capable of 135kg or so on bs right now. Hard to believe i was at ~160kg before i started cutting. That's heart breaking :(
Decided to take squat losses in stride. I used 120kg as my training weight on RSR1, i guess that's back where i am now. If i finish cutting, maybe i can work back to using 130kg as my training weight, as per RSR2. Now that's depressing. Losing so much ground sucks. But we'll see how it goes, my abs are getting more prominent now, not because of diet, but because of hypetrophy and training. So maybe once all i said and done, with strong calves and abs, i can actually recover lost ground and go past 160kg beltless and 170kg belted? And a 150kg front squat would be mighty nice too. We'll see, not a huge big deal though, priority is to peak athleticism for basketball comp mid april. After that i can get back to building my squat up.
Abs notes:
For some reason I took the worst possible advice, to do sets of 25-30 reps (working up to) on ab wheel. I'm regretting that. Wtf was the point of that? it was against my best judgement that I did 2x25 today. My lower back is already torched. This is what happens when you do stupid things for no reason. I should instead do sets of 10-15, for a similar amount of volume, but strict and without risking lower back injury. I'm also not convinced the ab wheel is a useful exercise, but i'll persist with it for now. I find the cable crunches i started to do today, might be the better, safer one
Really upset I couldn't get out to the court and do some dunks. And shoot around. And do some sprints. I just didnt have the chance to :(
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Thinking of taking a fat burning stack over the last 2 weeks of the cut. But i don't have enough stockpiled, and i'm not sure i'll be able to order some in from o/seas in time. Not sure it will make much of a difference either, but i'm guessing my metabolism isn't as high as it was when I started cutting, so i could probably do with some help on that end. What I could do is, order some in, and hope my current preworkout supply is enough to tide me through til the orders arrive. I never took me last summer though, when I cut to 75kg, so idk if it's even necessary. But I do have a deadline..
so update, i dont think i'll take it this time. i'll save that for if ever feel like getting under 10% bodyfat (unlikely but you never know). I should be able to get to 10% without any fuss. Just have to stay disciplined, train hard and punch in the days.
Hey vag, thanks for your kind words. If I had finished it to my liking, I would have released it as a free open source program. But I never could get that last 5% done, just haven't got the motivation. Maybe some day.
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I finally made my abs sore, lol. I wonder if it was the ab wheel or the cable pulldowns. Or perhaps cumulative effect of both? Either way, i'll take it. Grow abs, grow! I want abs so big they pop thru the fat. Even before i'm low 10s bf%. Also interesting to note my waist dropped to 36.5". I'm hoping by the end of this 2 week period, i'll be under 35. That's kinda ambitious though but lets aim high. After that i'll be doing a shitload of training including conditioning but eating more food, which is how an athlete should be training.
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Training
FBS 2x120, 1x130
BS 6x2x122.5
WCU 4x97.5, 4x100 (PR?), 4x95
Bball ~ 30 mins
FBS notes:
Pat myself on the back for getting fronties right today. I went for 130kg, got it with 7/10 form. Much better than failing 132.5kg every session i've been doing for the last 3 sessions lol. I designated this as a light day. When I can hit a 130kg on my light days with good easy form, i'm doing something right.
BS notes:
Was real tempted to try using 125kg as my light day training weight. But i'm so glad i made the right choice and stuck with 122.5kg. Of course I should work up to having a 127.5-132.5kg light day, but right now this is the correct choice. Form was good. I'm happy with performance.
BBall notes:
I hit 5/10, 6/10, 6/10, 6/10, 6/10 on my shots. The weird thing is, i almost always hit my first one, and the last 3. But i almost always miss the 2nd and 3rd and 5 or 6th. Weird. I need to believe in myself more, it's just a mental thing.
Am also scheduled to do chinups today. Will eat dinner first though and then also go shoot some jumpers. I'm shooting every other day now, my jumper will be money by mid april. Also because I did a light day today (for the first time in forever), it bodes well for going heavy on thursday, my next training session. Can't wait. Thinking i'll go for a heavy max or around 140-145kg or so. Maybe belted 160kg (lol) if it's in the cards. And finish it with beltess doubles or triples with 132.5kg whatever the universe permits.
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my abs have never been sorer than after high-rep toes to bar during my brief crossfit phase ~5 years ago. i did one of those descending rep workouts, something like 10-9-8-...1 for time of dead lifts, dips, pull ups and toes to bar and i could not stand up straight comfortably for two days.
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my abs have never been sorer than after high-rep toes to bar during my brief crossfit phase ~5 years ago. i did one of those descending rep workouts, something like 10-9-8-...1 for time of dead lifts, dips, pull ups and toes to bar and i could not stand up straight comfortably for two days.
lol, i mix it up with those sometimes, do hanging knee raises (i think?). i couldnt do toes to the bar, that's absurd at this stage. Idk if it's leverage, or bodyweight or both but just knee raises alone are hard. though, it depends on exactly the ROM you have in mind, it's possible i'm not too far from it.
I think my abs are starting to adapt though, thank goodness, was getting tired of being too wrecked to train normally on the next session.
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my abs have never been sorer than after high-rep toes to bar during my brief crossfit phase ~5 years ago. i did one of those descending rep workouts, something like 10-9-8-...1 for time of dead lifts, dips, pull ups and toes to bar and i could not stand up straight comfortably for two days.
lol, i mix it up with those sometimes, do hanging knee raises (i think?). i couldnt do toes to the bar, that's absurd at this stage. Idk if it's leverage, or bodyweight or both but just knee raises alone are hard. though, it depends on exactly the ROM you have in mind, it's possible i'm not too far from it.
I think my abs are starting to adapt though, thank goodness, was getting tired of being too wrecked to train normally on the next session.
ROM is active-shoulder dead hang, legs nearly straight, swing 'em up and touch your feet to the bar. awesome exercise, i've abandoned them mostly because grabbing the rim messes enough with my left shoulder without adding TTB or any thing similar.
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Yeah, that's never going to happen any time soon. Maybe if I were a 150lb crossfitter but no way near 200.
Another exercise I once read about on forums was the barbell side bends one, where you have a bar on your back like you're about to squat, but you just twist about, side to side. Tyey say it's for obliques, which is prob an area I could do with more defn.
I just got thru another 18hr fast. I do them EOD, on rest days. I can't wait to lose the next 2 kg of bodyfat.
Training
Shooting 6/10, 7/10, 7/10
Shooting notes:
Happy to get up to 70% after only managing 60% earlier. Of course I want to do better than that, but happy with the improvement.
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Bodyweight: 88.95kg/196.1lb
Training
FBS 1x130
BS 1x132.5, 1x135, 1x137.5
BBS 1x137.5, 1x142.5, 1x147.5, 1x152.5, 1x155
BS 6x3x122.5
CR 2x15x210 (PR)
DUNKZ (5 RVJ, 10 SVJ)
SHOOTING - 8/10 (PR), 8/10 (PR)
FBS notes:
Wanted to push for 135kg, but when 130kg is this hard, there is no chance. Which sucks cause I got 130kg relatively easily the last few attempts so I thought I was due for (local) progress. Hard to believe I used to warmup with 140kg before I started this cut. lol.
BS notes:
Getting owned by 137.5kg sucks, but i'm going to try add 2.5kg each time, next week i'll go for 140kg. And worked up to a seemingly impossible belted 155kg which used to be under my training max for beltless before the cut. Very humbling.
Basketball notes:
My shooting is improving nicely, can't believe i'm hitting 80% now :). Also those SVJ dunks were nasty, as powerful as i've ever done them, so i'm happy, even after being destroyed from squats and raises, i can still PR my SVJ dunk. Good sign.
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I want to do a windmill. It feels like it's the only nontrivial dunk I should aspire to. It's worthy of being a major athletic goal. If and when I can do a mill, there is no doubt that'll be when i'll be at my physical best. Just the sheer coordination, athleticism, technical skill required is phenomenal.
I recently watched a vintage Vince carter casually do a windmill at ~40 years of age, and thought, if he can do that, submax at his age, maybe there is a chance that I too can do one at 30. But then I looked up his standing reach and it's 107", which means he's got over 7" reach on me, and also, he's an NBA athlete. So to fill that reach deficit i'd have to add another 7" to my vertical, and that's just getting started, plus more inches to my jump to reach his current VJ. It seems impossible.
But i'm going to try, and i've started dropping hints to people that i'm coveting it. I know that's a mistake, because you should never share your goals with anyone, because it can only bring you down, never inspire you. I just feel this is one of htose fake it til you make it moments when it's ok to make an exception. If i fail, so what, it's a windmill, not just anyone can do one. If i make it, i can say say, see you told you i'd do it. So i have nothing to lose.
I still dont know how you do a windmill. How do you not lose the ball when you swing it back. do you hold it cocked against hte wrist/forearm? I feel a 2 hand windmill might be more reliable to reproduce, but then that means doing it reverse, and you need way more inches to do that.
With a 98" barefoot reach, how many inches vertical do I need to do a windmill? Reverse windmill? Any ideas, i'm guessing it will be high 30s, for sure. I might be able to get to 36" but i can't see me doing much better than that this SPP phase..
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To make it even worse for you, if his reach is 107'' and yours 98'', then the difference is 9'', not 7''. Plus, if that was draft measurement it could be double hand reach so his single hand is a couple inches higher? But my main point would be : WTF, where did VC come from?? And when did 10 years of age compensate the difference between you and a former NBA dunk champion, arguably one of the best dunkers of all time, who is still an active NBA player?
Can you dunk off one leg? Dr J can at 6'7'' / 63 years old:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZJGQz-MBXg
So what? You can not compare uneven things, what VC can do at his 40s or Dr J at his 60s or the average joe at his 20s is totally irrelevant. The only one you can compare to, is yourself. So can you expect to land a windmill dunk? Damn right you can. How much vert do you need for that? No clue, you gotta find out. As you said, the windmill is a dunk with huge demands on technique, reach and vert are not enough to judge if you can do it. What can you do to find out? Go out and find lower rims to see if you can land it. The more rim heights you can find the better. The highest rim you dunked it detracted from 10' gives you the inches you are missing. Caveat to the above method: The time needed to do the windmill motion in the air. You may not be quick enough to do it so you may fail in a rim where your vert should be enough, but that would be only for the few sessions. You could also go the other way around : Go to your 10' and start attempting limited ROM windmills. Half windmills, not fully extended hands etc. And then you can just keep progressing until you land it as you have it in your mind.
I believe it is absolutely doable for you, in a rather short time too. I am not trying to be motivational, it is a legitimate estimation.
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I get ya vag. I was just trying to work out a starting approximation for what i'd need for a windmill so i used the reliable example of vince since rims are standardised and his reach is also compared to randoms on youtube. I have no idea literally, but i'd guess i need at least 7" more inches, and probably 10", which is probably impossible considering i started out with a 20" vertical and im unlikely to have another 10" in me, after getting to 30". Still, it's a guesstimate, i dont know if i'll ever get there, i just wanna know what i might need.
As to low rims, i can't think of any around me. There is one, but that's a fair drive away, and last time i went there, i couldnt do a windmill anyway.
I'll try tonight, even if i can't get into the rim it will allow me to practice the technique for when i can jump high enough to pull it off.
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Bodyweight: 88.6kg / 195.44lb
Training
FBS 1x127.5
BS 6x2x125
BP 1x90, 6x70 (Paused, PR)
BBall ~ 30 mins (20 dunks, 30 shots, layups etc).
CND ~ Sprint intervals -- 20s on, 45s off (brutal)
FBS notes:
I wasnt gonna do a heavy fs today but thought no harm in doing a sub 130kg one. It turned out to be pretty hard nevertheless, but glad i did it all the same as opposed to omitting it.
BS notes:
So i decided to take a bump up from 122.5kg for my light day to 125kg. These were all limit doubles though. But i'm ok with it. Next week i'll try using 125kg as my training weight so due is 6x4x125 and 6x5x125kg which are forbidding and impossible looking right now, but somehow i'll make it happen.
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Week 6 training comes to an end! I did 10 back to back workouts with only 1 day rest between them. Finally get to take 2 days off for some much needed rest. Then i'll come back for week 7 which is the last week of the diet. But it doesn't look like i'll hit my goal of 87kg bodyweight :( Which sucks cause it means i'm behind schedule. My plan was to lose the last 2kg over the remaining 5 weeks by just doing shitload of conditioning to be a lean 85kg by mid april. But i'll revise this situation at the start of week 8 and see where i'm at then.
I'm a real piece of shit. I'm weak, im not fit, i'm still fat, i can't play, i have nothing going on right now which i'm happy about. Literally. It's dark times for training. Hoping to see better days when i get off this caloric deficit. Til next week, farewall.
Oh and as update. That girl is something else. I thought she was just a normal girl who looked good with makeup and done up hair etc like most girls. But last night I asked her to send a selfie from bed after she had a shower and she looked a solid 7.5-8 sans makeup. Things are promising but as always i'm cautiously pessimistic.
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Training
FBS 1x130
BS 1x137.5
BBS 1x140, 1x145
BS 4x125, 4x122.5, 4x120
BBS 6x120, 5x125, 4x122.5
CR 2x15x212.5 (PR)
SqP-1 10x190 (PR)
SqP-0 10x200 (PR)
WCU 5x99.5, 2x104.5, 5x97, 6x89
Basketball ~ 30 mins (layups w/ weak hand, jumpshots etc, no dunks)
Squat notes:
I'm weak as a kitten. I give up. Fuck all of this shit.
For the record, partial squats are delineated by 0 indexing. The top most pin is 0, the next one down is 1 and so on. Today I used 1 and 0. I think 0 is better for going heavy and more explosively while loading mostly the quads. And 1 needs to be lighter but im not sure what that loads, not quads as much as 0.
Week 7, here we go.......... last scheduled week of the cut. Can I hit 87kg? Seems unlikely but let's give it a good shot.
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I was wrong about getting my squat stronger by bringing up my weak points: calves and abs. It didn't do jack shit, if anything, it's made me weaker. I should have done more specific squat exercises like partial squats instead. I am going to try that now. Do heavy partials for higher reps - over 180kg for over 8 reps. Lets see how that goes.
I will start from the top pin and work my way down.
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in re: sharing your goals with other people. i've found it helps me. i might have given up long ago if i hadn't started sharing my goals with people on here. and now that i'm close i'm open with people about it. most people are cool about it - or just impressed at how close i am at my height/skin color - but the few smirks and raised eyebrows are just added motivation. laugh it up, fuzzballs.
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I agree with LBSS. I don't 'need' any motivation but if you want to doubt me it just fuels me to another level. Their mistake.
On the mill thing...the few Ive managed to get down are on really bouncy days (so mid 40s vert) and my single hand reach is 7'6". So there's you a rough estimation of what you'll need though I think coordination and practice are essential for a windmill.
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Idk. I can't remember the last time I didn't regret sharing a goal with someone. I think a genuine one needs to be kept private, personal and you build an intimate elationship with it, which no one else could understand. As soon as you share it someone else, even if they on surface encourage you, you lose a little bit of that spark. Or rather, let them underestimate you as fuck, so you can blow them away when you reach it. Rather than have everyone know what you're trying to do, and then know people are expecting you to fail.
(http://i.imgur.com/l2swyXX.png)
Bodyweight: 87.9kg/193.79lb
So as a milestone I went under 88kg today. My goal is 87kg/191.8lb by monday morning.
I might have had a temporary setback monday night when I went to dinner with my family and ended up binging. Still, being carb depleted means most of that went to my muscles, except the fat lol, which no doubt accumulated some but i doubt it was more than 100g in the whole meal. But they do tend to go heavy on the butter in restaurant cooking. Should never really go out to eat while cutting. I need to figure out a way to do that in future.
I have 5 days to lose 0.9kg. Seems impossible. But i can probably manage it without some hardcore 18-20hr fasts on 3 days and eating slightly less overall when I do eat. I also tend to hold more water following a workout, so maybe that 0.9kg is maybe, idk, 0.7kg or something. We'll see over the nexst coupla days.
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Bodyweight: 87.85kg/193.68lb
Training
BS 2x120, 2x122.5, 2x125, 3x2x120
BS notes:
I felt well going into the workout but that was misleading because once i started squatting 120kg or so, I knew I was too wrecked to do much today after all the volume from last time. I wasn't going to do much anyway since it's a light day, but I had to temper my expectations by about 5kg. Was hoping to do 6x2x127.5, instead i did sets of doubles btw 120-125kg.
Not lifting anything else today, just gna take it easy and go take some jumpers in a bit.
I'm wondering what happens when I come off the cut next week, will my lifts go up by 5kg or so? That would be nice i guess, small consolation for losing most of my gains. I seriously am wondering wtf was the point of even doing RSR2 when I lost pretty much all those gains, and i'm now weaker than I was at the end of RSR1. I think i weigh either the same or slightly more or less as I did end of RSR1. This is bullshit because I actually got really good results from RSR2 but i haven't held on to them so it might as well have not happened.
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Bodyweight: 87.8kg/193.57lb
Training
Basketball ~ 2.25 hrs
Basketball notes:
full court games. did well. i'm still an unathletic, slow, fat, old dude. but i did ok. i am starting to rely more on my skill than my athleticism. Not strong enough for banging it in the post though. But. I should work on that. for sure.
Was supposed to lift heavy tmr, prob wont happen. but i might just force it anyways. we'll see.
haven't been eating much lately. just 2 shakes, 3 eggs and 2 slices of break. had a cappuccino satchen thing preworkout with 200mL light milk. Dinner was just some thin biscuits. I got the idea from Serge Nubret when he was preparing for Mr Olympia, he would eat them bitches to soak up water, dry out and look lean and hard. So since i'm only days from the olympia, i figure I should give it a try.
2 more days of cutting..... hopefully i can get to my goal of 87kg/191ish. That way i can start eating more food but training a lot more.
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Bodyweight: 87.3kg/192.46lb
I'm 0.66 pounds away from my goal weight. Scheduled end of diet is tmr morning. But. I might do another day, or so, to get to my goal of 87kg/191.8lb. It's no big deal really, I am quite close now so it's going to happen one way or another. I've got a visible 4pac at all hours of the day now, i'm starting to make that transition sub 15%. I still would like to be stage ready at 85kg come tipoff. But, i'm willing to accept I can't have everything perfect, so it's time to focus more on training than bodycomp starting Week 8.
One strange thing happened recently. My body has adapted to low calorie intake. I can train hard, squat hard, play ball hard, long periods of time, and still recover fine. So at this stage, i could even continue dieting since my body has gotten used to it. We'll see what happens.
Training to come today!
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Ok, i think i might end the cut here. It went ok. My goal was 87kg/191.8lb, and i came very very close. My bodyweight this morning was 87.2kg/192.35lb. Which is slight more, but i think it's because i have a bit of food in my gut. No matter. I'm not lean enough. So there is work to be done yet. I think another 2.5kg lost will bring me close to 12% bodyfat or lower. This is conjecture at this point, i just feel that it's a reasonable one.
I am going to end SPP phase there, call it SPP1, and start a fresh one, SPP2, that run the duration of the remaining 5 weeks.
Here is my bodyweight graphed. I lost 20 pounds, well done me, FML.
(http://i.imgur.com/Fj7yNBM.png)
So yeah, i think i'm 14% or so right now. I might be slightly more or less but the exact number doesn't matter, i just know i have at least another 2.5kg of bodyfat to cut away. I can't keep cutting though. Have run out of time. Instead i'll just endevour to recomp the last 2.5kg or so by eating clean, maybe taking fasting a coupla days a week, maybe a slight deficit or rest days, maybe just depend on doing a shitload of conditioning -- a mix of basketball specific intervals and or LISS. I'll just play it by feel.
I'd summarise my lifts and how i went from squatting 145/160kg/170kg (FS/BS/BBS) to... well.. nevermind, it's too depressing. fuck everything about everything.
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Training
FBS 2x120, 0Fx130
BS 1x132.5, 2x122.5, 2x127.5, 6x112.5
BP 1x92.5
Bodyweight: 87.2kg/192.35lb
Squat notes:
Only upside of this workout was the first set of 6 i've done in months. Time to bring my squat back to 4x6x130kg where I was in RSR2.
Gonna go for a run now, conditioning 3x a week in SPP2.
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I had the bright idea to dissolve my 200mg caffeine pill in some coke to make it absorb faster. Well shit, the plan worked. I felt it kick in within a minute. Normally takes a good 10-15. I've read that caffeine is absorbed only 87% as a pill but 99% in the aqueous solution case. But the downside is, wow it tastes foul, so that's a reason why they put it in capsules, probably. Not that mine are caps, they're pills but you can't really taste them unless you chew lol. Interesting.
Man i think i've become obsessed with the MH-370 story. I can't get enough of it. been hooked every since i heard about it. that chick told me about it, and i made a joke initially "where did you last see it?" but since then i've been completely engrossed. The mystery of the decade for sure.
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Training
FBS 1x127.5
BS 0Fx139.5, 2x6x117.5
BBS 6x125, 6x120
CR 2x15x215 (PR)
SqP-0 2x10x197.5 (PR), 12x205 (PR)
SqP-2 8x170 (PR)
SqP-3 1x170 (PR)
WCU 4x99.5, 2x104.5, 0Fx110, 2x6x89
Squat notes:
Still weaker than fuck. Just giving volume a chance. 6s will get back me where I was before, 6x4x130kg is the initial goal. Ideally i'd like to have 4x6x132.5-135kg though to PR FS/BS/BBS around 147.5/160/172.5.
Next time i'll go for 3x6x120kg beltless, and 2x6x125 belted. That is a decent amount of volume for now.
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I trained today, but bailed when front squat warmups felt too hard. Will try again tomorrow. I benched, but i was shit at that too, failing 95kg which is bullshit. Not worth logging this shit formally. Tomorrow, i'm going to squat and play ball. Can't wait. Going to kick some ass. And have a birthday party in the afternoon, hoping there is good food, im gonna destroy it, if so. haha.
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man you slayed the diet. nice job. btw intertube wisdom sez visible 4-pack means closer to 10% than 15%.
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man you slayed the diet. nice job. btw intertube wisdom sez visible 4-pack means closer to 10% than 15%.
Thanks LBSS. I think so too. If only my starting point was about 5kg lighter, i would have actually ended up athletic. Not athletic in the usual sense but as athletic as someone mediocre like me can be. But because i started from 98kg ish instead of 93kg, i am not lean enough to be athletic. To give you an idea how much difference this makes - when i played ball on saturday, to start with i could barely dunk, almost missing even a max effort attempt. Then as i played ball, sweated a lot, got lighter, i started landing dunks much easier. Which means, i'm about 5-7lb too heavy because once i shed that much water weight, i can jump more or less at an acceptable level. I say acceptable which is far and away from ideal.
I havent been updating because it's a littany of failure now, i just avoid writing about it because it will only inevitably lead to moping.. haha.
I have just over 4 weeks left now. I'm taking more stock in the team i've put together against all odds. Got me an athletic 6'8" freak who is one hell of a forward, 2 6'5" guys, one strong, long and powerful as fuck as the center, and the other one a budding athletic freak in his own right, who can play anything from PG to C. He's good. Only 17. So much potential. If only i could get him squatting he might make it far as a basketball player.
It makes me so happy that I facilitated this team. Have 2 quality perimeter shooters to boot, and a decent SG although he's aging and injury prone, he still has the potential to shine as the best player on teh court. That's my team. Unfortunately i'm not playing with them, even if i was, i would be a backup on the bench. Maybe next year, i'll play with my guys instead of my usual interstate team. I'm a better manager than i am an athlete anyways. I can't jump, run, or lift, i'm just mediocre, but i'd strengthen this team coming off the bench, for sure.
Btw can anyone tell me how to get a tall guy dunking quickly? The 6'5" center mentioned above can't dunk, inexplicably. He's lean, has strong thighs and legs, but yet i can't figure out what's holding him back from dunking. Any exercise i should reccomend to him? Dont say squats, no one has time to learn that shit. I was thinking maybe his glutes could do with more strength, so perhaps BSS? easy enough to teach, and might do the trick?
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man you slayed the diet. nice job. btw intertube wisdom sez visible 4-pack means closer to 10% than 15%.
Btw can anyone tell me how to get a tall guy dunking quickly? The 6'5" center mentioned above can't dunk, inexplicably. He's lean, has strong thighs and legs, but yet i can't figure out what's holding him back from dunking. Any exercise i should reccomend to him? Dont say squats, no one has time to learn that shit. I was thinking maybe his glutes could do with more strength, so perhaps BSS? easy enough to teach, and might do the trick?
Yeah I've heard of a good fix for this: it's called 'go out there and practice trying to dunk'. :trollface:
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what acole said, x10,000
also, i find it amazing that you went to the gym, had trouble jumping well, got really warmed up, jumped better, and then attributed the jumping better to losing weight. that's just, i don't even know why you would bypass the obvious explanation. you jumped better because your muscles and CNS were warm.
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Another shitty day in the gym. Thinking of doing something different like daily squatting. Of course the real problem is, playing basketball on sat/sun is killing me in the gym come the new week. Those are the days i'd normally rest and recover while training M-W-F. It's all bullshit. I wasted my time lifting, can't keep the gains, can't use them for anything once basketball takes priority they just fade away, like cinderella's past midnight. I might try lifting again tmr, i guess. I should be squatting 220kg off season if i want to maintain 160kg in season. Time to order some stereons.
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Yeah I've heard of a good fix for this: it's called 'go out there and practice trying to dunk'. :trollface:
Kind of, but kind of not. I'm not talking about someone who gets high enough but is missing dunks like LBSS or yourself. He's not, he prob needs what 25-26" to dunk? something stupid like that, and he can't jump high enough. Has big strong calves. I am jealous of them. But he can't jump. Why. Ihnfi.
what acole said, x10,000
also, i find it amazing that you went to the gym, had trouble jumping well, got really warmed up, jumped better, and then attributed the jumping better to losing weight. that's just, i don't even know why you would bypass the obvious explanation. you jumped better because your muscles and CNS were warm.
maybe man. maybe. but i used to being able to dunk cold, no warmup jumps. Now it''s a max effort thing, and i have to work up a sweat first :(
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Could be very slow twitch dominant? Is he fast? Quick first step? Changes directions quickly?
Ive know a few guys who look just jacked and cant jump/run at all. Either the muscle isnt trained properly.for the activity or they just arent coordinated enough to translate it properly.
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if the guy is in reasonably good shape, and it sounds like he is, then the answer is to practice jumping. simple as that. if he wants to, it can't hurt him to do some plyos, sprints, and/or leg strengthening stuff like BSS, RDLs, GHR, step ups, whatever. but the overwhelming focus just has to be jumping; secondary stuff should NOT get in the way.
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He's not super jacked ChrisM but he is def muscular and lean looking, athletic even. I'd say he's about 210-220lb if that at 6'5"-6'6". Not fat though. LBSS is right that he's in good shape, he normally plays football (world) every week, so i'm imagining his fitness is quite decent since they run a lot? Idk. He's not very quick no, but not super slow either. I'd say he's slightly more athletic and a lot stronger than me, which is why it puzzles me why he can't dunk easily.
Should I tell him to do some sprints 1x a week (maybe 5x40m?) and add in some drop jumps at training (a few sets of 5, 1x a week?). And of course have him practice jumping at the rim maybe a few sets of 5. It's worth a shot. I actually dont place much faith in this plyo stuff, so if it works for him, i'll be interested to revise my beliefs.
Btw i weighed myself at 86.5kg/190.7lb today. My theory was at 85kg/187lb i'd be under 12% or less. So it's def in the realm of possibility within 5 weeks of time i have left. Also my waist is around 35.5" now. That's come out of nowhere cause yesterday it was just under 36". So a woosh or something took place.
I just want to get my squat back above 140kg/150kg/160kg (FS/BS/BBS). Pls help :(
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I've had a friend who was 6'7 and could dunk, he could even dunk a 5 kg medicine ball at 10'2 (3.10m) off SVJ... but off a running jump, of any kind, he would suck so badly.
And no matter what I tried to do with him he was always like this.
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Training
FBS 1x127.5
BS 1x135, 4x119.5, 3x122.5, 2x2x125
WCU 5x99 (+10kg; PR), 3x104 (+15kg; PR), 1x109 (+20kg), 5x94 (+5kg), 6x90 (+1.25kg)
Bodyweight: 86.5kg/191.7lb
Squat notes:
The 135kg wasn't too bad. I want to get back to 150s asap. Next time i'm gonna try go for 6x3x125kg. I didn't do extra volume cause i wanna be recovered in time for friday when i can get this squat train back on track.
How i lost weight without trying this week makes no sense, esp when i've had a few days of eating too much. But i'll take it.
Squatting consecutive days -- I think daily squatting is the way to go to becoming a good squatter. Once i finish with basketball in april, i'm going to become a daily squatter and work my way up to a regular training max of 200kg. The reason I feel this way is that i find my form is better, stronger in the positions, it's as if my body is moulding itself to be good at the movement, which will really allow me to improve my strength-form or form-strength as it may be, which is what holds me back from lifting very heavy. I find my form breaking down once the weight gets heavy enough because i dont have the strength to hit solid positions throughout the ROM.
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Coming back from the court just now, I've realised the one dunk i'm most likely to get in a game is that dropstep-power-dribble-and-turn dunk which i can still do pretty well. I should practice the shit out of that every time im on the court. And i'll also use the heavy ball, just for the extra degree of difficulty. Then come game time, if i can do this move quickly/explosively, i can def land dunks during the game. I just have to be equally strong on both sides of hte rim, and well conditioned/fit enough to be able to do it. So add that to the list of things to do when doing SPP.
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Bodyweight: 86.35kg/190.37lb
(http://i.imgur.com/z1XtrXr.png)
Keep losing weight :S But i need to get stronger. So hopefully this process will converge around 12% bodyfat and previous PRs in the coming 4 weeks time. I have 2 days of basketball coming up too, today and tmr, so that will probably take me under 86kg/190lb by monday.
Training
FBS 1x120 (lol)
BS 1x130, 0Fx135
JS 5x20, 5x40, 5x60, 5x35
Squat notes:
Why cant i recover from squats no more??????? I could have forced the issue and done some shitty sets but fuck it, saved it for basketball for once. More on that later.
Oh and i started doing jump squats, cause vag told me to do them a few pages ago. So i took the advice. I find my reversal is very slow, which if i remember my Lance correctly, is the whole point of JS?? idk. So i dropped teh weight to 35 to see if i could reverse better and i was getting way more air but reversal still wasnt very quick. I took videos. I will appreciate inputs. Anyway.....
Basketball notes:
I had great hops today. I caught some alley oops that were amazing, one i picked up and scooped it in with one hand, kinda like how they do it in the nba, hard to epxlain, i should take a video if i can repeat it. I also played pretty damn well. few turn overs. reliable, accurate jumpers, good passes. ok defense, good boards. i'm ok with my progression thus far.
After ball, i looked in the mirror and i'm basically looking at a 4pac. so i think when im holding water/bloated i look terribly fat. and when i've shed that water, i basically look lean. It's bullshit. What does it mean to see your abs? i'm still too fat. what's happening is my abs are so big they pop thru the fat, doesn't mean i'm actually lean. So i'm hoping i'll be around 10-12% by 84kg/185lb.....
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Training
Played ball again. I prob played more ball this weekend than the entire latter half of 2013. Nuts. I'm starting to feel it coming back nicely. I even have a post game coming. Will be interesting to see if i can take it up another notch come game time in 4 weeks time. Exciting stuff.
I got some nice dunks on tape. But. Nothing you guys havent seen from me already so i wont bother uploading.
Can't wait to take tomorrow off and rest, it's been a crazy week for training, i need the sunday off for a change.
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I just thought i've done a 2 week diet break now, might resume cutting. I'm not lean enough for my liking, so i'll diet/cardio to body recomp and condition for another 3 weeks or so. Reduce training frequency to 3x a week, tue/thu/sat. ball and lift on saturday. Skill work basically every day. Become a beast. I dont care about my lifts anymore, they've gone, not worth dwelling on it, have to focus on basketball from here. Starts tomorrow.
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(http://i.imgur.com/vqjVi7X.png)
Bodyweight: 85.9kg/189.38lb
Milestone reached, into 85kgs and under 190lb! Also waist is 35" now. Next milestone is under 85kg and i guess 185lb would be the milestone after that one.
I'm going to actively diet off a good chunk of the next ~1kg in 5 days. Hopefully will be 84.5kg by monday after playing basketball on saturday/sunday which is still yielding excellent weight loss. Then i can just recomp the last 17 days or so. That's not too much to ask, considering i'm still losing weight quickly from newbie conditioning gains from basketball.
Training
FBS 3x100
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Training
FBS 2x120, 0Fx127.5
BS 6x100
FS 5x100
FBS 2,3x110
BP 6x50, 6x60, 6x70
BBALL ~ 25 dunks
Squat notes:
I was a much better squatter yesterday that I was today. I should have just done the workout yesterday, today was shit, in terms of form and strength. Never leave for tomorrow what you can do today. Lesson learnt.
Dunking notes:
I found out that im a better finisher on dunks when I actively propel myself as close as close as possible towards the rim, rather than trying to dunk from the launching position. So i should probably work that into my routine and practice it. The reason i dont do that normally is because that rim i did most of my dunking on, it has no net, so you dont wanna be too close to the rim and get hit in the face, break my glasses, etc. So that's why. Today i almost near enough jarred my thumb on the ricochet.
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Played basketball again (lol). Played 21 against my friend and a random 6'6" guy who i thought was 5'10" until he told me he was 6'6". Yeah idk wtf that is about, he just looks really deceptively short. I think it's because its cause of his built, it's not easy to tell he's tall because he doesn't look lanky like the typical basketball player. He was a beast though, i saw him windmill off one leg. Mind you it was with a volleyball but still, i could never do that shit. I got his number so hopefully i can play 21 again with him and my mate. I just realised whenever i actually got good at baskeball before, it always involved playing really hard games of 21 with players better than me and eventually i end up equalling or surpassnig htem and winning :P So thats why im excited about this..
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Bodyweight: 85.85kg/189.27lb
Ok 3 weeks to go, i'm overweight, unfit and have lost most of my gym lift gains. Not the ideal state to be in this close. But whatever. 3 weeks is enough to make a substancial difference, if i just turn up effort to 9.99, right? lol. I've been training basically every day this week, i played ball saturday, rested sunday, lifted monday and tues, played ball weds, and im lifting thurs and playing ball tonight. Friday off and then lifting/ball saturday and ball sunday. Lots of training ahead.
So lets get this done..
Training
FBS 2x120
BS 1x125, 1x127.5, 1x130, 2x3x120, 4x115, 6x112.5
WCU 4x100, 3x101, 1x106, 6x91
Squat notes:
The ugliest double of 120kg warmup front squats i can remember. It was so bad i should have just ditched the bar and walked away in disgust. I'm going to be very aggressive/ambitious in trying to peak my BS to around 150kg just before the tournament. Just to feel strong, powerful and confident. This means doing 120kg for at least 4 sets of 6. Basically RSR1 in a compressed, ultra short interval of 3 weeks instead of the usual 6. All hte while playing a shitload of ball and shedding 2kg of bodyfat. It's not even realistic but i'm gonna try.
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Damn, you're on a roll with your weight loss :D
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Prolonged hardcore diet + more lifting sessions per week + tons of basketball almost daily, yet your athleticism and lifts suffer? I can't imagine why!
:trollface:
PS : Not saying to stop or that you are doing it wrong, on the contrary. Just don't give a shit about gym&court performance right now. When you decide you finished take a step back, give yourself a deload and some good food and rest and i bet you will see awesome gains. aka overreaching/tapering.
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Damn, you're on a roll with your weight loss :D
lol
Prolonged hardcore diet + more lifting sessions per week + tons of basketball almost daily, yet your athleticism and lifts suffer? I can't imagine why!
:trollface:
PS : Not saying to stop or that you are doing it wrong, on the contrary. Just don't give a shit about gym&court performance right now. When you decide you finished take a step back, give yourself a deload and some good food and rest and i bet you will see awesome gains. aka overreaching/tapering.
vag i should have held on to 130kg as my training weight when i had it for 6s at the end of RSR2. Instead i got ambitious and thought id make 140kg my training weight. Which went ok the first week while cutting, and then it just went bad. I had got nice 6 doubles of 140kg. And i was due to go 6x3 next time, but it kind of fell apart there. So i kept doing doubles (the training/light/) workout for RSR with various weights under 140kg, aiming at last to pick a more modest improvement of 132.5kg as my training weight. But by then the damage was done, weeks of not doing much volume with 130kg made me weak as fuck, and since then it's been a slippery slope of regression.
Basically in future if aiming to keep RSR gains post burlk, i'd do the following;
work up to a regular training technical max (say if my tested 1rm at the end of RSR is 160kg, work up to 152-155 every time). Then do reps with sets of 6 with the training weight of RSR. If i was to aim to make improvement, maybe add only 2.5-5kg max to the training weight. So i should have used 132.5-135kg as my training weight into the cut. And even then, maintain the previous 6s because they'll preserve and build strength, doing doubles and triples will make me weaker (because they're not technically 90-100% type doubles so they're not heavy enough to do much).
As i went into basketball training earnestly i'd cut volume but keep maxes and weights on the 6s the same. So do like 3-4x6x130kg and max out at 150kg or so.
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Training
FBS 1Fx120 (lol)
Basketball game
Squat notes:
Just didnt recover enough to squat properly. I did some jump squats though but no point logging that mickey mouse shit. My hops my kingdom for some hops.
Basketball notes:
Fitness sucks. I beast the first couple of mins, and then my performance falls off. Joining a gym monday, going to spend some hours on the exercise bike/rower improving my conditioning
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Bodyweight: 85kg/187lb
Blah how did the scale tip so low? Prob just an anomoly after bball yesterday, im sure it will go back up over the next few days.
Waist is into the 34s though, but that's neither there nor here. I could see a clear defined 4 pac after ball yesterday but im still fat as fuck, i think i should be thinking in terms of 80-82.5kg bw to be lean (10-12%).
Playing ball again today.. Right knee feels wonky.
Training
Basketball (~1-1.5hrs)
Basketball notes:
Conditioning, conditioning, conditioning, its my achilles heel. Need to step it up..
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You should get some pick-up game or solo bball footage...would be interested to see how your game is improving.
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You should get some pick-up game or solo bball footage...would be interested to see how your game is improving.
No problem. I'll get some soon. I expect to hear a lot of 'be more athletic' and 'dont be unathletic' type comments though, haha. But maybe also some useful tips too.
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Bodyweight: 84.8kg/186.95lb
New milestone with BW quietly slipping under 85kg/187lb. With just over 2 weeks left, i'm not expecting to lose too much more weight but obviously I still need to lose maybe another 2kg to be lean. idk. I will do my best to get to under 84kg, maybe 83.5kg best case. We'll see. I'm lifting today but i might also join a gym to do some cardio later in the PM. From here on, more training, doing 2 a days.
Training
FSB 1x125
BS 1x132.5, 4x120, 2x3x120
CR 15x220 (PR)
BP 6x70, 3x80, 0Fx90, 3x75 (paused)
OHP 3x50, 1x57.5, 4Fx50
BBALL - ~10 windmill attempts
Squat notes:
Wanted to do some sets of 6 but i know if i do them, i prob wont be able to squat shit the rest of the week. So a trade off was made. I'll prob be able to get htem in later during the week though.
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Bodyweight: 85kg/187lb
Blah how did the scale tip so low? Prob just an anomoly after bball yesterday, im sure it will go back up over the next few days.
Waist is into the 34s though, but that's neither there nor here. I could see a clear defined 4 pac after ball yesterday but im still fat as fuck, i think i should be thinking in terms of 80-82.5kg bw to be lean (10-12%).
Have you ever had your bodyfat tested? Do you think that you have no muscle? The reason I ask is a training partner of mine just got his bodyfat tested. He is a pretty skinny build and has quads about 3'' smaller than mine (so def smaller than yours) and he was at 2.4% bodyfat at 6'3'' 181lbs. This is a guy that doesn't lift weights (red pants in the video below)... I really don't see how you can have the muscle mass and big lifts but have such low height/weight ratios required for bodyfat unless your bones are like half the mass of the average person. Maybe you are more like 7% now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUVnGGTXp9M
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Bodyweight: 85kg/187lb
Blah how did the scale tip so low? Prob just an anomoly after bball yesterday, im sure it will go back up over the next few days.
Waist is into the 34s though, but that's neither there nor here. I could see a clear defined 4 pac after ball yesterday but im still fat as fuck, i think i should be thinking in terms of 80-82.5kg bw to be lean (10-12%).
Have you ever had your bodyfat tested? Do you think that you have no muscle? The reason I ask is a training partner of mine just got his bodyfat tested. He is a pretty skinny build and has quads about 3'' smaller than mine (so def smaller than yours) and he was at 2.4% bodyfat at 6'3'' 181lbs. This is a guy that doesn't lift weights (red pants in the video below)... I really don't see how you can have the muscle mass and big lifts but have such low height/weight ratios required for bodyfat unless your bones are like half the mass of the average person. Maybe you are more like 7% now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUVnGGTXp9M
7% isn't in the ballpark. You've seen me at my lightest/leanest @ ~165lb and you thought i was above 10% then. I'm no where as lean now as I was then. It's not that I think i have no muscle, it's just i have too much bodyfat for how much muscle I have. I'd probably be as lean as your friend if i weighed 180-183 (estimating here, have no idea whether i'd need to weigh as low as 170 say in reality). But yeah we've talked about htis and you convinced me I might have lightweight birdlike bones. I just find it hard to put on muscle/strenght without putting on too much bodyfat. Like in January when i ended my bulk, i was 98kg, squatting 170kg and front squatting 145kg, could still dunk. But was just soo fat. Dieting down 15kg to get lean and i've lost muscle and strength, gone from 27.5" thighs to just under 25" etc. Lifts have come down too. If I could do my bulks more efficiently, maybe i'd be a better athlete but i kinda got it wrong this time around haha.
I'm just going to try to recreate my old PRs while staying under 85kg. It might take time/patience but i have a feeling if i get that done, i will prob have a similar amount of muscle as i did at 98? probably not but that's my hope.
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Hurt my back lifting last session. I can't be certain whether it happened during 220kg standing barbell calf raises or overhead presses. I think ohp is the culprit, it's a common thing for me, you'd think i'd learn to respect this dangerous exercise more but i keep relearning the same lesson the hard way. So dumb.
For the record pain is around right glute. I haven't got any back discomfort as far I can tell, but i know the cause is def my spine. I took the day off training, did nothing, iced to get the inflammation down. And took a 500mg naproxen tablet at 7pm. Will take another one sometime around 2am, and hope i'll be good by tomorrow. Terrible timing for this, ive been lucky to stay injury free til now..
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^^^ http://www.adarq.org/strength-power-reactivity-speed-discussion/shoulder-mass-builder-neutral-grip-seated-db-press/
I already dumped BB OHP , the back stress difference is really humongous.
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I loved dbs for shoulders whenever i have had a chance to use them. Just dont have them at home otherwise i'd be using them. I really hate bb ohp, it's such a shite exercise, esp for me, have injured my back so many times because of it.
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7% isn't in the ballpark. You've seen me at my lightest/leanest @ ~165lb and you thought i was above 10% then. I'm no where as lean now as I was then. It's not that I think i have no muscle, it's just i have too much bodyfat for how much muscle I have. I'd probably be as lean as your friend if i weighed 180-183 (estimating here, have no idea whether i'd need to weigh as low as 170 say in reality). But yeah we've talked about htis and you convinced me I might have lightweight birdlike bones. I just find it hard to put on muscle/strenght without putting on too much bodyfat. Like in January when i ended my bulk, i was 98kg, squatting 170kg and front squatting 145kg, could still dunk. But was just soo fat. Dieting down 15kg to get lean and i've lost muscle and strength, gone from 27.5" thighs to just under 25" etc. Lifts have come down too. If I could do my bulks more efficiently, maybe i'd be a better athlete but i kinda got it wrong this time around haha.
Yeah... I'm wholly confused. If you claim you would be at 2.4% at 180-183.... And now you are at 187... woudn't that make you a lot leaner than 7% currently?
My main point is that perhaps the mirror isn't the best gauge for your bodyfat levels. The person I am comparing you to is the same height as you and has much less lowerbody muscle than you (as judged by quad size) and doesn't really lift... However, he is 2.4% at 180 while you claim to be much higher % at 165lbs. That doesn't make sense. Sure, if we just look at you both you "look" much fatter. But how fat you look and how fat you are are not always in agreement.
I don't want to get into some long argument about race and bodyfat but just a few things to consider. You have not been training for most of your life so you probably added a lot of subcutaneous fat cells to your body. You are south-asian ethnicity and some evidence suggests that as such have a slightly higher set point as far as the fat you store subQ. As such it seems reasonable to me that you might get down to 175 lbs or so (with a decent 400lb squat) and take a look at yourself in the mirror and think "I'm still too fat" while in reality your actual bodyfat % is not THAT high (say around 7%). Trust me that seeing person after person get their bodyfat tested suggests that the mirror really isn't reliable for everyone. Cutting till you are as "ripped" as that other guy might just not work... That's all.
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Yeah... I'm wholly confused. If you claim you would be at 2.4% at 180-183.... And now you are at 187... woudn't that make you a lot leaner than 7% currently?
Right, I don't think he is 2.4% and i don't think i would be either if i weighed 180-183. Isn't that near enough essential bodyfat levels? Like stage ready bodybuilder levels? I dont think your friend is there, i'd say he's maybe somewhere between 6% and 12% as a guess just from visual inspection but that's not worth much. What was the estimation method btw? 2.4% with how much error? Cause if the error is say ± 3.5% then i wouldn't put much stock in 2.4% (which is claiming what, that you know bodyfat to 2 figures? i dont think so).
My main point is that perhaps the mirror isn't the best gauge for your bodyfat levels. The person I am comparing you to is the same height as you and has much less lowerbody muscle than you (as judged by quad size) and doesn't really lift... However, he is 2.4% at 180 while you claim to be much higher % at 165lbs. That doesn't make sense. Sure, if we just look at you both you "look" much fatter. But how fat you look and how fat you are are not always in agreement.
But the mirror is the only reliable thing we can rely on. If i look lean enough compared to other ppl who are athletic, i'd say i'm around that 10% mark, even though in reality, i have no idea what exact number my bodyfat might be in that case. And in truth it doesn't even matter. Its just a threshold of going from average in shape guy to athletic bodyfat levels. If i took a DEXA today and it came out with 6.9% (say) i wouldn't say great i'm lean now, i dont need to worry about my bodyfat. Because i'd know that i'm not quite there compared to my desire level of leanness. And after DEXA what else is there, dunk test? It's got issues too with error. We can't really do much better than mirror and photos in practice..
I don't want to get into some long argument about race and bodyfat but just a few things to consider. You have not been training for most of your life so you probably added a lot of subcutaneous fat cells to your body. You are south-asian ethnicity and some evidence suggests that as such have a slightly higher set point as far as the fat you store subQ. As such it seems reasonable to me that you might get down to 175 lbs or so (with a decent 400lb squat) and take a look at yourself in the mirror and think "I'm still too fat" while in reality your actual bodyfat % is not THAT high (say around 7%). Trust me that seeing person after person get their bodyfat tested suggests that the mirror really isn't reliable for everyone. Cutting till you are as "ripped" as that other guy might just not work... That's all.
It's interesting but its also a recipe for complacency. People have no shortage of excuses for not cutting. I'm going to recomp. I'm carrying a lot of LBM underneath so my bodyfat isnt that high. I'm just a few weeks away from seeing my abs IF I WANT. etc. In the end its only when you do the hard work and get rid of the bodyfat that you have something solid to show. But the only problem is when I get there, i am so weak that it's counterproductive to becoming athletic. There is probably a sweet spot to being strong enough and fat enough to be athletic though. I need to work harder at optimising my training and diet to find it..
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Yeah... I'm wholly confused. If you claim you would be at 2.4% at 180-183.... And now you are at 187... woudn't that make you a lot leaner than 7% currently?
Right, I don't think he is 2.4% and i don't think i would be either if i weighed 180-183. Isn't that near enough essential bodyfat levels? Like stage ready bodybuilder levels? I dont think your friend is there, i'd say he's maybe somewhere between 6% and 12% as a guess just from visual inspection but that's not worth much. What was the estimation method btw? 2.4% with how much error? Cause if the error is say ± 3.5% then i wouldn't put much stock in 2.4% (which is claiming what, that you know bodyfat to 2 figures? i dont think so).
My main point is that perhaps the mirror isn't the best gauge for your bodyfat levels. The person I am comparing you to is the same height as you and has much less lowerbody muscle than you (as judged by quad size) and doesn't really lift... However, he is 2.4% at 180 while you claim to be much higher % at 165lbs. That doesn't make sense. Sure, if we just look at you both you "look" much fatter. But how fat you look and how fat you are are not always in agreement.
But the mirror is the only reliable thing we can rely on. If i look lean enough compared to other ppl who are athletic, i'd say i'm around that 10% mark, even though in reality, i have no idea what exact number my bodyfat might be in that case. And in truth it doesn't even matter. Its just a threshold of going from average in shape guy to athletic bodyfat levels. If i took a DEXA today and it came out with 6.9% (say) i wouldn't say great i'm lean now, i dont need to worry about my bodyfat. Because i'd know that i'm not quite there compared to my desire level of leanness. And after DEXA what else is there, dunk test? It's got issues too with error. We can't really do much better than mirror and photos in practice..
Ok, first of all the method we use to test at the lab at USC is hydrostatic weighing. It's the same method used at the NBA combine and we have data from both the lakers and other athletes where we compare MRI/DEXA to hydrostatic weighings and the error is less than 1% with multiple weighings in all cases. The athlete I am showing you is maximum 3% bodyfat. He is a 45.x second 400m sprinter and you really don't see athletes running those times that are above 5%. I really don't understand how you can just contradict data and say "I'd say he is between 6 and 12%". Just for reference if you see an athlete who D1 (alabama) level (football and track) and is 6'3'' 180lbs in the USA that guy is not EVER 12% bodyfat. The SEC is the best conference in American College football... you will never find an athlete capable of performing at that level standing 6'3'' 180 who is not single digit bodyfat. Every non-kicker or quarterback who is double digit bodyfat weighs over 200lbs.
The point of all this is that your argument that the mirror is reliable is simply not true. I don't know much about Australia but there must be a decent sports lab around where you can get better data. It would help you on your training.
I don't want to get into some long argument about race and bodyfat but just a few things to consider. You have not been training for most of your life so you probably added a lot of subcutaneous fat cells to your body. You are south-asian ethnicity and some evidence suggests that as such have a slightly higher set point as far as the fat you store subQ. As such it seems reasonable to me that you might get down to 175 lbs or so (with a decent 400lb squat) and take a look at yourself in the mirror and think "I'm still too fat" while in reality your actual bodyfat % is not THAT high (say around 7%). Trust me that seeing person after person get their bodyfat tested suggests that the mirror really isn't reliable for everyone. Cutting till you are as "ripped" as that other guy might just not work... That's all.
It's interesting but its also a recipe for complacency. People have no shortage of excuses for not cutting. I'm going to recomp. I'm carrying a lot of LBM underneath so my bodyfat isnt that high. I'm just a few weeks away from seeing my abs IF I WANT. etc. In the end its only when you do the hard work and get rid of the bodyfat that you have something solid to show. But the only problem is when I get there, i am so weak that it's counterproductive to becoming athletic. There is probably a sweet spot to being strong enough and fat enough to be athletic though. I need to work harder at optimising my training and diet to find it..
Totally agree. It's a BS excuse 99% of the time. But not in your case. While you may not be a gifted athlete one thing that is special about you is your dedication. While Raptor refuses to give up eating candies and chocolate, following your journal is great because you are really inspiring with your level of dedication to your diet. You don't drop from 210 to 190 in as short as you do without great dedication to your diet. The reason I'm commenting here is that your consistent insistence that you are fat can slow you down in your goals to become a better athlete. If this was bodybuilding... this would be a different story. You are fat for a bodybuilder because the mirror says so and the only solution is to keep cutting into you look lean for bodybuilding and maybe you just don't have the genetics to be a bodybuilder. But this isn't about bodybuilding this is about athletic performance. And the fact that you are able to remain super dedicated to your diet, lose weight, but not appear super lean leads me to believe that maybe the level of leanness that will maximize athletic performance for you just won't have you looking super cut. And chasing a certain look may derail your training. Fact is the mirror might just be a shitty way for you to judge your bodyfat.
The simple test is to take a look at sprinters like Walter Dix and Craig Pickering. Your "mirror test" would estimate them around 15% bodyfat. I used to be puzzled by how "fat" guys run so fast. The truth is Walter Dix just looks fat... whatever you want to call it (thick skin, subQ water, low muscle tonus, extra skin, etc) he just isn't holding a huge amount of fat. If he was really 15% bodyfat that would suggest he could lose around 20 lbs.... A guy who runs 19.5 in the 200m losing 20lbs of fat would mean he runs 18.9 at the slowest. So, either believe that the mirror test is accurate and that there are "fat" athletes who are just a diet away from breaking every world record known to man OR realize that all high level athletes are not carrying tons of excess non-functional tissue but some just look better doing it. Which one is it?
Judging from your level of dedication I would say you consistently grossly estimate your bodyfat and need to settle in at a reasonable bw and maximize performance. The fact that you complain so much about strength losses when cutting is evidence that you are leaning than you think. Notice how KF didn't drastically lose strength until he was pretty light. I've cut to 5% and it isn't until I'm well into single digits that the strength losses become noticeable... 16% guys don't get weaker when they go to 12% (unless they are WAY stronger than any of us). Consider that.
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Hey Toddday, what type of sprinter has the lowest body fat % usually in your experience? Meaning, as a general average? The 100m sprinter, the 200m sprinter, or the 400m sprinter?
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Hey Toddday, what type of sprinter has the lowest body fat % usually in your experience? Meaning, as a general average? The 100m sprinter, the 200m sprinter, or the 400m sprinter?
Short answer: At lower levels 400m training will reduce bodyfat the most but 100m sprinters will have the least bodyfat.
Long Answer: For high level athletes I'd say it's pretty much a wash between those distances because they really have a lot more overlap than most people realize (consider that Tyson Gay has run 9.x, 19.x, 44.x --- a lot of "100m" or "400m" guys can do both). Maybe you could differentiate if you compare only guys who excel at the 60m/100m vs guys who are really 800m/400m guys. For example Martin Rooney vs. Dwain Chambers. In that kind of comparison the short sprinter will almost always have lower bodyfat levels than the middle distance sprinter simply because the 400m/800m guy carries far less muscle mass. Additionally, as the distances increase you get shorter runners which also have more % bf. This is actually an excellent comparison to consider because it hammers home a point that I think we need to all remember and that for all discussions of leanness we need to STOP CONSIDERING BODYFAT AS A PERCENTAGE!!!!
This concept that you NEED to have 3%, 4%, or 8% bodyfat as "essential bodyfat" is completely invalid when it comes to athletes. These %'s assume a constant amount of lean mass and as such are silly. A 6' distance runner might weigh 150lbs and have about 10 lbs of fat ( 6.6 % bodyfat ). If you add 30 lbs of muscle to the athlete you shouldn't expect his bodyfat to remain the same. In fact the amount of "essential fat" needed is more likely a function of organ size/chest cavity size and probably doesn't go up much with height. There are people alive with zero bodyfat so the idea of "essential fat" is somewhat incorrect anyway...
But the point is if you want to really consider you question accurately you should really focus on amount of fat mass rather than % of bodyfat to eliminate confounding information like height and muscle mass. The answer there is more straightforward.... All track athletes who compete at an event where bodyweight is the primary resistance are not going to get away carrying a large amount of fat for two reasons: 1) It slows you down. 2) Hard training reduces the amount you carry. I'd estimate that the numbers really don't vary that much for the 10k and down... Men probably have between 5-10lbs of bodyfat and the differences in %'s are just a function of muscle mass and height. The formula doesn't really change until the endurance requirement increases so much that fatty acid oxidation is a useful energy source... The catch is of course the longer the race the more mileage incurred in training means fat storage is harder to achieve. This is why women get so hard to beat as distances increase past the marathon (more adept at fat storage in spite of training).
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Hm... so as an useful training means for both athleticism and fat loss, 400m runs would be "the best"?
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Hm... so as an useful training means for both athleticism and fat loss, 400m runs would be "the best"?
No. First of all you have to decide what you mean by athleticism. Second, training "like a 400m runner" would be optimal for fat loss, but that does not necessarily mean doing a bunch of 400m runs (although I have fallen into that trap myself). Doing lots of 400m runs would be more like training for the mile. Training to reduce your 400m time would include a lot of work in the 100m-300m range at a pace better than your 400m PR. For the untrained and soft the 400m is a good test because if you make it a goal to reduce your time it is almost incumbent on you that you will have to lose BF to achieve your goal. Also, 400m is long enough that you can quite easily reliably hand-time yourself and gauge your progress...
For the type of athleticism that you desire ( I'm thinking unilateral jumping / weight loss ) you should emulate someone like Christian Taylor. One of the hardest working athletes I have been around and an absolute beast who runs the 400 in 45 seconds and is the Olympic champion in the triple jump. Get conscious of your 400m time, get some interval work and some end of practice reps in at 400m, but don't neglect your jumps. The biggest bang for your buck for the athleticism you desire will come from constant training (bounding/jumping then running) WHILE you are losing the babyfat. Keep your strength up but don't worry about things like squats - if you are doing proper bounding/jumping they are almost counterproductive. CT hardly squats and I would bet he cannot squat as much as he can hang clean.... Of course he can hang clean almost double bw:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og_koqNOdJ4
(should probably be in the beast thread... that's a 165 lb triple jumper!)
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Training
FBS 2x120
Basketball training ~ 1hr drills, 1hr scratch match
Squat notes:
I last squatted tuesday, it was sunday today. This is prob the longest ive gone btw squat sessions. Dunno if i logged, but i hurt my back so i took a day off lifting thurs, balled friday night and rested saturday after getting stomach flu friday night ball, either from water fountain or from going KFC lol. So ended up lifting and balling sunday. Not really lifting if you consider i only did a warmup as a topset and no upper body exercises at all. I should have at least done some chinups this week. But anyway, I noped out of a 126kg top single, took it out of the rack and put it back, my confidence in the gym is gone. I feel mentally defeated and i just dont want to risk injury by attempting such a light weight for a max attempt when it means nothing to me when i've lifted over 20kg more only a few months back. Anyway. Fuck it talking about squats. i'll get them back after my bball season.
Basketball notes:
I didnt play so good. Not to my standards. Friday night i beasted, even got a game time alley oop. But for the most part im not playing my best game yet. Illness, injury, mental and physical fatigue and stress are all culminating in some poor performances. I'm trying to train through it all though.
So you know you love basketball when you spend 2 hours discussing strategy and team tactics instead of talking to a girl or even watching the fuckin world cup final which i missed apparently. All good. not long to go now. im starting to look lean as well, the lightest the scale has read was i think friday morning when it was 84.45kg or something like that? todday that means it's closer to 25lb lost (24.x) rather than 15 :P But you are right, im probably getting too light than i need to be. I'll try to maintain my weight now. Im lean enough. need to get my performance up by eating normally.
i really appreciate the level of quality discourse you get on this site. im not sure what i've done to deserve it, esp when it seems like i complain and whinge mainly but like it's been observed i use this journal to vent and get out my frustrations and i know most of you understand that now. the reason i used mirror as a bodyfat check is because i got my info from physique dieting sources, aka kyle mcdowell, and i should know by now there are better sources for performance athletes. Noted. Will keep that in mind in future.
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you get quality dialogue because you obviously care and put in really hard, dedicated work, and your whole process is out there for everyone to see and engage with.
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you get quality dialogue because you obviously care and put in really hard, dedicated work, and your whole process is out there for everyone to see and engage with.
^^^ This point exactly. This is really the whole appealing thing about the community and what Adarq created. I have been training/coaching/in the athletics community now for over 15 years but Adarqs training model was unique in that his big question and challenge as a coach was: "Can truly excellent coaching, training and science application take a low-level or mediocre athlete and turn him into a high performing athlete?". His posts and his goal were more about the vertical jump and so his framework was always claim was always that truly great coaching could take himself from a 20inch to 40inch jump which would be more impressive than going from a 35 inch to 45 inch jump or something like that.
The question I am more interested in involves track and field and it's one I am not certain I know the answer to. I have made some gains in sprinting speed myself but the first time I stood up out of the blocks wearing distance spikes I ran 11.54 just on the athleticism I had developed from team sports... even at the peak of training my best races in perfect conditions were less than a 1 second improvement so I can't really say that I was ever a great sprinter... The "great coaches" of the world get handed athletes who run 10.1 as high school kids and turn them into 9.9 runners which is equally unimpressive but also not shocking because their are of course limits to human performance. I have trained some great athletes and some not-so-great athletes and like Adarq the question I want to answer is can you take a male athlete age 20-30 who has normal body movement and is say an "intramural level" athlete and put him on the track and watch him run say 13.5 seconds. With proper training and coaching can I make that same athlete run 11.0 seconds? 11.5 seconds? 12.0 seconds? I want to know the answer to that question... Even moreso than the vertical jump their is this refrain that speed is not something that you build but something that you are born with. Obviously, their is some truth to that.... but is speed more like height or body mass on the continuum of changeability. I like to believe that 13.5 to 11.5 is possible for 80% of men.... Of course I don't really know and I probably believe it based more on faith than evidence.
Most times I engage in coaching or training with one of those poor athletes they tend to make silly excuses ("I'm just not fast-twitch like you are", "I'm more of a natural jogger", "I'm white", "I'm asian", etc.) or get just far too nerdy in their quest to get faster (RJ Nelson thought DB-hammer would make him run 9.9x, Selfialluh thinks he needs to worry about his frontside mechanics) or plain get distracted by something else (like real life - Mutumbo has to get a job!). That last reason is why the question is hard to answer! A 13.5 second 100m is not going to get anybody to support him to train... he will have to have a job and a life and those things may make the question of whether it's possible that IF he was trained like a high-performing athlete he would get significantly better! But, it's still a question I want answered!
All that said that's why this msg board is great. Track boards have far better athletes. But this board has a unique number of athletes KF, Entropy, LBSS, etc who didn't start out elite. But are able to balance out their life to train like semi-elite athletes and see just what they can achieve. Of course we don't have a lot of guys with singular track goals which would make things more fun, but it's still enjoyable to be part of the quest for jumping or whatever. The big problem I see currently with Entropy is "WHAT IS YOUR GOAL!!!". You are only 6'3'' and were a fat horrible athlete and now you are catching oops in games! That's ridiculous improvement. Amazing. BUT.... what's your goal now? Is it to jump 38'' inches? Run 12.0 in the 100m? I wish you would get some type of explosive athletic goal and quest for it because this nebulous goal of being good at basketball is not that fun! We know you can be good at basketball.... I went to a Lakers game the other day and Steve Nash is shorter than you, less athletic than you, 100 years old, suffering from 15 injuries to ever muscle, AND still put on a passing clinic and probably had a +/- of over 10 in about 18 minutes of game time... Obviously, this is somewhat tongue in cheek, basketball is fun and if you want to excel at it keep it up... But the great dialogue you get is a reward for you amazing dedication to athletic requirements your willingness to be the oft-frustrated science experiment for scientists and trainers like myself... after all you named your journal chasing athleticism NOT chasing 20 pts and 10 rebounds a game.
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oh man t0ddday you're going to have so much fun when i start to refocus on sprinting.
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Training
FBS 122.5
BS 1x130, 3x112.5, 3x107.5
WCU 5x95, 3x100, 2x105 (PR?)
BP 1x87.5
BBALL training ~ 2 hours - shooting, dunking, ball handling etc.
Squat notes:
Those damned sprints I ran on sunday really messed up my legs for lifting this week. i mean it's wednesday and i still haven't recovered. It was only like 8x60m or something stupid like that, and only reason i did them, was cause i wanted some unfit team mates to raise their conditioing so i thought i should also participate. The way to improve my conditioing isn't by running sprints though, it just inteferes too much with the rest of my training.
Basketball notes:
I did acoles challenge and matched his 11/12 effort. I was annoyed i couldn't better it though, but i'm not a great shooter right now. Hopefully as i devote more time to practice i'll become a good one. Haven't got much time, only 8 days left til the tournament. I'm so not ready haha.
I've got dunks on my phone. Anyone wanna see? It's nothing special but i wouldnt mind getting some feedback..
Bodyweight woes. SO to start with i was dunking shit, and yes LBSS i was warm. it was just a max effort kind of hting, and i wasnt dunking so easily. And that persisted. But as i sweated and got light, dunks got easier and easier, til they were childs play. And this is with some 20-30mins breaks while watching games at the rec center, so it wasn't like i was super warm, just sitting there getting cold til i got a chance to dunk, waiting for the court to free up between halves, etc. I came home and weighed myself and i was 84kg (no clothes), which means that's my ideal playing bodyweight. So i should be waking up in the morning around 82.5kg - something i have been feeling intuitively for a while. No matter.
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Training
FBS 1Fx120, 1x122.5
BS 1x125
Basketball ~ 2 hours, pickup
Squat notes:
When you start failing a warmup like 120kg double, you know you're a piece of shit in the gym. Disgraceful squatting lately. Im fairly sure i was tripling 130kg or so, back when i weighed less than I do now, before the RSR bulk. But. I'm playing a lot of ball. A lot. So maybe it's to be expected. Or maybe im just making excuses.
More basketball tomorrow.
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I wouldn't worry that much about it.
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Basketball notes:
I did acoles challenge and matched his 11/12 effort. I was annoyed i couldn't better it though, but i'm not a great shooter right now. Hopefully as i devote more time to practice i'll become a good one. Haven't got much time, only 8 days left til the tournament. I'm so not ready haha.
Haha cool, I thought no one saw that. But I've gotta ask, what the hell have you been doing in practice if not shooting 100-200 free throws/session? I thought you would smash it.
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Post the vids mannnnnnn! :)
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Basketball notes:
I did acoles challenge and matched his 11/12 effort. I was annoyed i couldn't better it though, but i'm not a great shooter right now. Hopefully as i devote more time to practice i'll become a good one. Haven't got much time, only 8 days left til the tournament. I'm so not ready haha.
Haha cool, I thought no one saw that. But I've gotta ask, what the hell have you been doing in practice if not shooting 100-200 free throws/session? I thought you would smash it.
I just never thought to shoot 100-200 free throws in practice. But should I have been?? I do most of shooting around the vulnerable areas of zones where I end up taking most of my jumpers. Im a much better shooter from there than anywhere else. Though I have been thinking i should get more range. But i'll try your suggestion also. Thanks.
Post the vids mannnnnnn! :)
haha, i'll try.
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Bodyweight: 84.05kg / 185.3lb
So scale dropped out of the blue. Im not even trying to cut, just training a lot. Idk.
Training
Terrible session of basketball. Coach went a bit over board, kinda ruined the whole vibe. OH well.
Got basketball training tonight. Going to push hard.
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So i'm light enough now that i can dunk cold, submax, no warmups. Did it last night at training first thnig when i got there. I just need to start sleeping better now.
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DIPHENHYDRAMINE, BABY!!!
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Played my first proper game since last july or something. I didn't have the fitness to run the whole game, which i already expected but i needed to cause we didn't have subs. My team lost. We only had 5 players, actually 4, one was some guy who filled in lol. We had 12 points added to the opponents cause of lateness othewise we won that game. That's not important. I just feel like shit, i haven't slept well in 3 days so that's my main concern right now. I must have got 8 boards, 6 blocks and an additional 2 were clean but called fouls which idk about, a couple of steals. i scored i think 8 or something, nothing special, ordinary game, but happy to get a game under my belt. have another one on weds and then tournament starts friday. Idk if im gonna be ready but we'll see.
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Bodyweight: 82.6kg / 182.1lb
(http://i.imgur.com/APo12Cb.png)
Wtf... how did i get so light, so quick, lol. I really need to get a good night of sleep one of these days.. im fucked. Have another game tmr night but hopefully i'll just play little minutes and get my rest on til friday. Btw i dont think i'll be lifting at all this whole week. I would have yesterday but i went to play a game instead.
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Tournament is going well, my team made the grand final, my first one ever. I can't wait for tmr, going to play my heart out.
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Didn't win, i had a bad game, was on the bench for most of it, deservedly, probably. It was my 7th game for the week, 5th for the weekend. A lot to handle for a stressed out 30 year old without amazing fitness. Crazy. As I went thru the tournament, i got fitter as well, which was cool. I got leaner as well. Anyway im not going to dwell on it, all that time and effort put into training, didn't really get the return I would have liked. I just got overwhelmed by playing against top competition, my defense was ok but offense was horrible.
If i play again next year (big if), i'll just embrace what the universe has been pushing me towards, playing as PF. I need to put on a lot of weight though for that. But it makes sense, im just not athletic enough to be a great small forward. Oh and i really should have spent a lot of time developing a reliable 3 point shot if i was going to play SF, because it would have helped a lot. Still. Power forward. What does that mean, i hate playing in the post but i think that's where i belong, once i've filled out my frame some more.
Oh and fitness. So important. I wont ever neglect it again. I need to keep improving it slowly over time. Right now it's good. But it needs to be great..
And need more confidence in the post playing against good players. I can beast it in training against shorter or lighter guys who aren't trying that hard. But come tournament, you've got big strong 6'6" dude pushing back and I just mentally check out before completing the move.
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Not sure what my training will look like now. I dont really feel like going back into my usual squatting obsession. I do wish i was maintaining a semi-respectable squat though. Like 150kg bs and 140kg fs, but i really can't be bothered going thru the months and months of hard work it will take to get that back. And i'll probably be unable to play ball or do much conditioning, or have fun. So over squatting. So over lifting. Idk. Any ideas what to do for training?
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Sprinting and bounding, bilaterally and unilaterally. Specific lifts (half squats, glute ham raises).
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A little n=1 broscience about PF:
Post game is very much mental. Of course you need very good aerobic AND anaerobic endurance to go up and down the court and when you stop running start pushing, and then jump max and then run again bla bla bla. But the pushing part is mental. You reach a body state (LBM&lifts combination) that you consider yourself strong. Then you are not intimidated whatever you see as your matchup. My personal broscience formula is that when i feel i am at that strong phase (which is above 90kg and being at PR levels in all upper lifts ) , i can deal with guys 10cm taller / 10kg heavier. I am talking guys that are at least your height and weight. Shorter or lighter dont stand a chance. It works as a sum too, whatever is under 20 , you got it. 5 cm taller and 7kg heavier? Total = 12, you got it. As the sum approaches 20 it gets too hard. Above it you most probably dont stand a chance. Also, when one of the numbers gets above 10, it gets tricky, he is too tall or too big. So same height but 15kg heavier, sum is 0+15 = 15. Below 20 but still, he is too big. 10/10 is the number. :D
Woah, it was a relief to finally share this secret stupid formula! :wowthatwasnutswtf:
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Sprinting and bounding, bilaterally and unilaterally. Specific lifts (half squats, glute ham raises).
Sketch me a simple workout. I'll give it a week or two, if it's doing good things for me i'll keep it up.
Vag lol, bro you overthink it, and that says something coming from me :)
I dont care what someone weighs or how tall they are, i just wanna be built like a bear and just overpower them in the post. plus i know now that even if i weigh 100kg i can still dunk. So i just need to make sure at my heaviest strong/powerful weight, i have a)excellent fitness/conditioing to still run the floor and b)maintain my dunking ability. If i can do those things while being strong and reasonably lean, i'll be happy. And need to drill the shit out of post moves. As in against a real person, a big strong one preferably who makes me work hard.
I want to try a basic hypertrophy approach to this too. I've never had much out of pure strength training even though, that's what i've always done. Have to see wht i can get out of higher reps and sets. But before that happens, need to get back to some basic strength levels and be lean enough to start a decent bulk. So this is basically how i'll go about it.....
1. Get my bodyfat down to 10% or so;
2. Concurrently with 1, get my lifts back to 140/150/160 (fs,bs,bbs)
3. bulk with hypertrophy focus
4. harvest gains with strength focus
5. cut and maintain strength and mass (aiming for 160/180/190 fs,bs,bbs)
And throughout this, maintain my fitness/conditioning and KEEP WORKING ON MY GAME. Not starting from scratch again like i did this time around.
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I trained today, just basketball stuff. I wont bother logging it in detail. We did the 3-2-1 drill and some others i dont remember properly. I haven't lifted weights for like 10 days.
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Re: the shoe discussion on ChrisM's progress log
(http://i.imgur.com/Jtb0Xg1.jpg)
No love for the KDs? I am seeing them around quite a bit. It's a good thing lightweight lowtops are taking over. I hope this trend continues. These shoes look sick but i have no idea how well they perform. Maybe it just looks that way but they seem a bit flat, as in not much heel? That seems odd, you prob don't get as much quad or whatever, maybe it's just an illusion. The other thing is, they appear narrow which wont really suit. I'd like to try them out and see if i can jump/run/play well in them. Maybe i'll pick up a pair. Always looking for a good shoe though, haven't found one yet.
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^Good shoe. I wouldn't choose it as an all-around training ( plyos / sprints / dunks / random pickups ) shoe, i would as a court bball shoe though. It is the max air that breaks the deal for me, it is more oriented towards comfort than responsiveness. Which is a con for ME jumping day at your park but a pro for endless landings in a game. Also, from personal and friends experience, that exposed max air unit is very vulnerable, it just pops and then the shoe is useless. To be fair, the toes have zoom underneath, so i guess it depends, if you are on your toes all the time ( which you should be ) it may work better. But if you are still more flatfooted the max air might screw responsiveness up. To be more fair, the reviews say it is a good bball shoe overall. Light, comfortable, good court feel, tight fit. Supposedly it has some ventilation and arch fit issues but those are minor. Last but not least, it has traction issues too. Traction is not bad but it is not great either. Why do they dump the herringbone and try stylish shit on signature models? Looks over performance, even on the sole??? duh!
2c
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Good info. I didn't realise the context was a generalist shoe. Though i'm not sure I would go for such a shoe if one existed! I would like a shoe for the gym, a shoe for general jumping/dunking, a shoe for game time and so on. For training i'd even just jump in the shoe that's not that great, heavier or clumsier, just so you get more training effect out of it. But i doubt that makes much of a difference. I used to think it did, maybe it does if you are borderline on your dunking goals. But having gained and lost 15kg and still being able to jump more or less the same, a few hundred grams on the shoe doesn't really excite me. Though the perfect shoe if it exists must be wonderful to jump in because it feels right even if it only gives a neglible performance boost.
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Lets start over lol. I've not lifted in 10 days, prob the longest break in recent memory. I think i was still recovering from playing 7 games last week lol. But im feeling good now. I ate too much junk the last 5 days. Think that will end today, now that im back to training normally, my diet should return to baseline, as it's strongly coupled to training. I've noticed when i have training setbacks in life, injury or whatever, my diet goes with it.
Calves look good, just from playing basketball, the've filled out somehow. Nice not having stick legs. Now imagine rebuilding my thighs back to 27" while staying lean and squatting 170-180kg? that would be sick.
Training
FBS 3x100, 1x110 (lol), 6x90 (fs only), 6x97.5 (bs only)
BP 6x70
CU ~ 15 total
Squat notes:
Form wasn't great, and even 60kg warmups felt hard lol. I guess that's to be expected. It may be partially cause i did this workout stimulant free, i think im just gonna spend some time rebuilding up my strength without caffeine before I add it back. Do i need caffeine to FS 120kg? Right now i do, but i shouldnt need it for such a light weight. Maybe when i get back into the 130-150kg range i'll add back caffeine but dont need it atm.
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Yup, about shoes, specific shoes for specific tasks is the best choice obviously. I guess what raptor was asking for was a bball shoe that can be used as a trainer, because it doesn't work the other way around, playing pickup games in trainers is begging for ankle sprains. Disagree with the bulky shoe to get more out of training, kellyb and others suggest the opposite, nike frees, vibrams etc, the more ROM and the less cushioning, the better. Agree with the silly hype about the actual weight of the shoe, a few grams don't really make a difference when you are are trying to push 90kg 30 inches in the air or break you acceleration PR. 'Lightweight' is more about feeling light on your feet with the shoe, whatever that may mean for each one.
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I have pretty much always played basketball in running shoes and never had any ankle sprain in my life. Pretty much the opposite - I had a few moments when I stepped on someone else's foot but my shoes would just deform over the other person's shoe and my foot would not take the blunt of the shot.
Other than that, if you're an idiot and take stupid risks jumping over three people, then it's going to happen no matter what. Just take care.
If anything, I'd rather be afraid for my knees playing in non-responsive, rigid basketball shoes that take the function of the foot away from you and overload the quad and the knee.
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Thinking about how to get back into lifting. I'm not keen on doing RSR just yet, not until i'm in a position to do RSR with a training weight of 140kg anyway. But that gives me the notion of using higher reps and working my way up from my old 10rep PR of i think 10x110kg to 10x120kg 10x130kg and finally 10x140kg. That might take some time. I'm also going to try do front squats in higher reps, maybe aiming for 6x100kg, 6x110kg, 6x120kg and 6x130kg. With front squats though, i might still do a heavy single every now and then just for variety.
I played basketball yesterday, my right leg isn't as stiff as my left, so basketball has been helping me fix that imbalance. For a while while i've been focusing on SPP, my right calf is often too sore/fatigued, hopefully there will be some adaptation phase where i'll come out of it a better athlete...
I also want to focus on bench press, i think 130kg for a max is a good goal for me for next year when I play as as PF. Put some meat on my upper body. 130kg is a respectable bench for anyone, least of someone with my long limbs and narrow grip. Anyway want to race me? I'm going to do smolov jnr once i've got my bench to PR levels of 5x90kg, 3x96kg, 2x97.5 etc.
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I also want to focus on bench press, i think 130kg for a max is a good goal for me for next year when I play as as PF. Put some meat on my upper body. 130kg is a respectable bench for anyone, least of someone with my long limbs and narrow grip. Anyway want to race me? I'm going to do smolov jnr once i've got my bench to PR levels of 5x90kg, 3x96kg, 2x97.5 etc.
Fuck bench press, go nuts with push press:
http://www.adarq.org/sts-qa/push-press-and-basketball/
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vag, Isn't that more SPP? I'm after mass gains more than anything else. Beefen up my shoulder, chest, lats, arms etc.
Btw i'm not even sure i'd use PP or OHP even if i was training SPP. Why? Cost benefit risk. I have hurt my back too much with ohp. Maybe i could fix my form and reign my ego and get more out of these exercises. But. Idk, i'm not sure there is any point bothering with overhead stuff when ones bench is weak (~100kg or so). Adding 20-30kg to my bench will take my OHP up 10-15kg as well as push press (maybe more), so why not just focus on that one exercise..
I should probably do more overhead stuff anyway, but who has time to do all the things we should be doing :/
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yeah you've had bad history with OHP. you could do it for volume, though. when i've hurt myself doing OHP it's always been when i tried to go heavy. doing DB presses or lighter weight BB presses for high reps don't bother me. if you're trying to build mass then 3x10 might not hurt.
i really like DB presses and of course the adarq.org member with the beastliest upper back, kingfish, swears by them.
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Yeah, safety comes to mind immediately when comparing OHP/PP to BP. There is relevant discussion in that thread i linked about that too though, give it a read.
Another thing to consider, that KF's standing DB neutral grip OHP. It does not resemble the PP ( that discussion is in the thread also ) but it is a very safe and good way to build massive shoulders. In my mind it makes much better sense to invest on shoulder mass than chest mass for bball. Edit : just saw that LBSS mentions them too on the previous post. Hehe , n=2.
Finally, no matter if it is BP or OHP or DB OHP that you choose, it doesn't have to be either that or PP, you can do both. I understand you don't want to make it an SPP cycle but you can do them before your main volume exercise, to get the dynamic movement benefits and also potentiate yourself better for the heavy one. Like snatches/jump squats before squats, typical setup.
Just some food for thought.
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Re DBs: Man if only I had dbs, i'd become a full on brobuilder. I'd keep them in the living room and use them when while watching tv, just doing curls and presses. Will try to get some of gumtree or something. I need a pair of 25s and 45s and i think i'll be good.
Vag, i'm slightly confused, isn't PP /the/ heavy exercise since you can use a lot more weight on them? Or am i missing something. You'd be taking weight off to do OHP say.
I like the idea to do volume with OHP which might be safer. I will try that out. It might be fun as well.
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forgot that you don't have DBs. god i would kill to be able to work out at home. to have a garage...
volume OHP ftw.
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Training
FBS 6x60
BP 6x60, 6x70, 2x77.5, 6x65
OHP 8x40, 7x45
CURLZ 8x30, 7x35
Squat notes:
Either something is wrong with me, not sure what, but i can't bring myself to squat normally. I've been favouring my right knee, hoping it was just a temporary niggle but it's not going away. Even when i try to get up from a chair, it hurts somewhere in the middle of my kneecap. No idea where it came from. I do remember knocking knees with someone during the comp, but i be sure if it's to blame, cause i was able to go on and play normally from there and didn't really have any problems with jumping or running. It only really occurs when squatting..
Upper notes:
Did some pump work. I think i might devote myself to upper body, maybe it will be the change I need while my knee isn't 100%.
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Late reply, just noticed this:
Vag, i'm slightly confused, isn't PP /the/ heavy exercise since you can use a lot more weight on them? Or am i missing something. You'd be taking weight off to do OHP say.
In my mind it is still heavier, because you will be taking weight off but you will be taking the legs contribution off too. So the OHP or BP sets after the dynamic PP will be heavier on the upper muscle group. But that gets too technical and broscience and wanking. I just remembered that Lance favored PP for bball and linked it , that's all. Building big shoulders with volume OHP will sure work too and your back will double thank you.
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Thing is though vag, it's not just about throwing it up, which i agree is easier with PP cause you have more muscle mass driving the weight up. It more about keeping the torso stable, holding the position all the way up and down. I haven't got the right movement pattern for overhead stuff, i find everything above my waist, my whole upper body and torso driving the weight up when the weight is heavy enough. But i think the correct position for overhead lifts would have the torso holding steady or if anything, pushing downwards. But that's not what happens with me when the weight is heavy enough, to continue the keep the bar moving up, i lose that safe stability. And this will be the limiting factor in both heavy OHP and Push Presses which are even heavier. Idk. I'm not really sure. It's possible if my abs were say 10x stronger i'd then be be able to hold the positions more easily in heavier overhead lifts? Who knows.
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So i've had a 2 week break since the tournament. Both from training and diet. I think my basketball season is now effectively over. I'm going to get back into lifting in a big way, try to get back to making PRs and seeing how close I can come to my signature goals. Starting tmr, going to eat clean, get on a caloric deficit and lift my way to becoming a better athlete. I can't wait. I've almost started to feel that hunger for PRs which i haven't had since january. So i'm ready, it's time. Lets do this thing. I mean let me do thing, haha, there are no team mates in this game.
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Here we go, back in the gym! Bodyweight is 86kg, i suspect that will drop a few kg as I get back into stride. Did 5 mins on the treadmill to warm up my knees, 500m covered. Will stick with 6kph and 500m til it becomes real easy. Not in a rush, just wanna build up my conditioning consistently over time. Always do this first thing when lifting, will never repeat past mistake of neglecting conditioning again. Have to take fitness seriously if i want to aspire to being an athlete.
Training
FBS 1x120
BS 6x100
BP 1x85, 6x72.5, 8x67.5
CURLZ 2x10x32.5
Squat notes:
Going real conservative with volume to start with, so i'm good to squat more next time. I'll add one set of 6 and work my way up to ~30 reps for worksets. And i'll do that heavy single to start with, just to keep myself moving in the right direction. To think 120kg is a heavy single right now, but from humble beginnings, with patience, i'll be back in PR territory. What's another 30kg more, just a matter of time.
Upper notes:
Damn my abs were gone after that last set of bench. Lol. It goes to show, counterintuively, you need to have a strong core to do any of these exercises. 130kg seems so far away :(
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Training
FBS 2x115, 0Fx122.5
BS 2x7x100
WCU 6x87
WPU 2x87, 3x87 (new exercise)
CURLZ 6x37.5, 10x35, 10x32.5, 10x30
OHP 6x40, 7x47.5, 8x45
Squat notes:
My CNS was torched from last time. Every warmups felt heavy on my back and mentally I had to force myself to get thru the sets, otherwise my body/mind/CNS wanted none of it, just wanted to rack the bar and call it a night. So in that sense, i'm happy with getting /something/ done in the end! 2x7x100 is a legit effort, for my first week back of training. I suspect i'll be able to quickly work back to say 3x10x100 before my body is ready for adding some weight to the bar.
Failing 122.5kg front squat makes me sad though. Shit, 125x3 used be my warmup. 140kg was a warmup single. Now i'm getting owned by and failing 122.5kg. But i'm ok with it, things will get better, just have to put together 4 weeks of solid uninterrupted progress and i'll be back on track to get ready for the hard work needed to set PRs.
Upper notes:
Tried pullups, different, will continue them. Being conservative with chinup volume. Will build it up one set at a time. I think i should be able to do chinups every workout really, lets hit 10x100kg and get it out of the way quickly and then put it on maintenance while I focus on PR bench from there.
Btw i'm giving myself a pass on diet this week. Just because, training is so hard right now, mentally, i just need to take away any excuses i might have for not being up for lifting. Eventually it will get easier and i'll be able to transition onto a dietary regime without affecting my mental state.
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I finally got around to watching the ESPN 30 for 30 Bad boys documentary (http://www.sockshare.com/file/89BA7DC223ED01C6). So good. Have already rewatched it 3x times. It's that good. I really wish I had seen it back when I was idolising that 23 guy, would have been good to get a balanced perspective of how things really were back then as opposed to the manufactured, slick, polished, very biased source I grew up with.
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Training
FBS 4x100, 3x115
BS 2x8x105 (PR)
CR 15x210
BP 0Fx87.5, 6x75, 6x72.5, 7x70
WCU 2x7x86
WPU 2x3x86
Squat notes:
Gosh darn it, 3x115kg felt like a 3RM, i mean that's expected considering 2x115 was a 2RM last time. I put 120kg on the bar after that thinking i should double it but couldn't go thru with it, felt mentally defeated. Yes a warmup i did every time i squatted after tripling 100kg is now an intimidating 2RM attempt. Fucking sucks man. I'll be patient though. 3x120kg is my topset goal, think when i get there i'll be slightly happier.
I walked out 130kg in a FS rack and the fucker felt so heavy, i couldn't last more than 2-3s before i had to rack it. LOL. Goes to show how quickly you lose this shit. So i thought I should work up to some heavy rackouts, did 150kg on FS which was really damn heavy.
Oh and the 2x8x105kg was challenging enough but in a good way, i'm confident i can go 2x9x107.5kg next time, goal being to get 2x10x110kg in the coming week which is a good start though 10x140kg seems so far right now.
Calf raises notes:
I hurt my knee on the 12th rep, hopefully its nothing, fuck. update, it seemed worse than it was, combination of adrenalin and having to limp around in pain when walking. I put some heat rub on my knee and gave it 20 mins and now it's good. PHew.
Upper notes:
Holy moly what happened to my bench. I'm failing 87.5kg like it weighs 100+. Ridiculous. The 6x75 felt like 6x85. Weak. Also, i realised i was kipping my pullups. Not good. So i'm gonna use bands and work my way up to doing some strict sets of 8-10 with bands before going back to unassisted.
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Training
FBS 1x120
BS 3x120, 9x107.5, 10x102.5
CRLZ 2x8x37.5 (PR?), 10x35
Squat notes:
After 4x100 front/back squat warmups, i put on what i thought was a total weight of 117.5kg, and proceeded to triple it for both fs/bs and I felt good about myself for once, thinking wow, that was much easier than i expected, not a 3RM at all! And then it quickly dawned on me i had only loaded 107.5kg lol, missing were 2x5kg plates :P So nothing is easy right now, i can't even put the right plates on the bar let alone squat htem haha.
Didn't have 2x9x107.5kg in me today, hell i wasn't even sure i had any 2nd sets in me, had to psyche myself up to even attempt a 2nd set, wanted to call it a night but thankfully 102.5kg was a good choice cause i got 10 reps, which was my goal. Next time is 10x110kg and i'll prob try for a 2nd set of 10-11x105, 11 would be a PR, and the 10x110kg would equal my previous 10RM pr. The 1rm calculator (which is worth nothing) says that's almost a 150kg max. Yeah right. Considering 120x3 feels so hard, there is no way i'm anywhere above 130kg on my max right now.
Upper notes:
The brobuilding focus continues. I'm going to persist with arm work until it yields results. Am not going to settle until i have big guns, if it it means doing arm work for a year before i add an inch to my arms, so be it. So today's only upper body exercise was curls, yup. Whatever happens, i'll work up to 10x60kg and if that doesn't add some size to my arms, nothing will..
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Training
FBS 2x120
BS 3x125, 1x130, 6x110, 10x105
BP 1x85, 5x77, 6x75, 5x75
Squat notes:
Well got my short term goal of getting my FS 2rm to my old regular warmup double. Fuck me, ugliest 2nd rep though. This is only 120kg, fucks sakes. But still i'll take it.
Happy with the 125kg triple, it was hard but ok. And i worked up my first squat at 130kg for probably 2 months??! I'd have to check my logs but yeah it feels like ages. To think i used to warmup with 130kg for front squats and that's my BS 1rm now. But it's coming back, not long til i'm in that 140-150kg range, which will be aight as long as my bodyweight is low 80kgs..
Upper notes:
I have to consider that the arm work i've been doing has been disrupting my bench press aspirations. I'm just not that strong out of the bottom, maybe my triceps and shoulders aren't recovered enough. I need to sort out my programming better so i'm fresher for bp when I attempt it without compromising arm work.
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Training
FBS 1x125
BS 1x132.5, 2x4x120
OHP 6x40, 3x50, 4x55, 2x3x57.5 (belt on), 2x57.5
CRLZ 2x8x40 (PR?), 10x37.5 (PR?), 5x50 (cheat curls)
Squat notes:
Considered attempting 127.5kg fs but decided against it last second, racking it. Chances are i prob would have failed it anyways so i'm not too bothered. Will be good for it next time i think. Will be nice to be working up to a regular training max of 130kg on fs every time i squat, nothing special, just a good sign of getting back my previous strength levels.
I wanted to triple either 127.5kg or 130kg for bs. But having attempted that FS prob made that difficult today. Oh and i just want to say, the 120kg fs double became more warmup like than 2rm like, so that's good. I think i'd like to be tripling 120kg as a warmup in the next coming weeks. No high rep sets, would rather be well recovered for next session than too smashed to do much.
Upper notes:
Toying with having a dedicated ohp day. Not sure if i'll stick with it, depends how i go benching next time. Tried using a belt for the first time. Doesn't really help with torso stability tho but makes the exercise easier.
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Starting to get my leg mass back! But also starting to get a bit fat :/ After the comp, i was probably around 10% bodyfat, now i'm back to 15% or so. Maybe. I dont know. So, i'm going to cut about 2-3kg of bodyfat first and then i'll probably do a hypertrophy cycle. I'm starting to enjoy training with higher reps and doing curls lol. My body wont know what happened for about 10 days, so i can probably still gain a bit of mass/strength til then, before the cut starts to affect training..... not looking for a long cut, max of 3 weeks, should be enough to get lean.
I haven't abandoned strength completely just focusing on body comp for now. Around September i'll use RSR again and work up to a beltless backsquat of 170kg @ 85kg; i'd be pretty lean as well. And i know from past experience, as long as i keep doing the odd FS single here and there, it will go up nicely, i expect to 150kg. I wonder how athletic i will be, if i get that 180/170/150 @ 85kg? Surely a step closer to that 36" i've coveted..
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Training
FS 1x127.5
BS 2x127.5, 8x110, 10x107.5
BP 6x77.5, 5x77.5, 6x75
WPU 2x5x88 (PR)
WCU 6x88, 5x88
Squat notes:
That FS single felt ugly but progress! I don't have crazy aspirations for FS right now, just doing a repeatable 130kg warmup single will do. Not far from that, just have to make 127.5kg prettier and easier and then i'll take the bump up to 130kg (2x15kg plates).
BS - i failed a 135kg single, just felt too heavy out of the bottom. It's probably just a practice thing, have to get used to backsquatting heavy again i guess. I'll try it again next time, provided im fresher, i should have it in me. I haven't stated a BS goal but i think it's obvious i need to get 140kg out of the way first but eventually i'd like to be in that repeatable warmup single of 150-160kg range, especially if i'm going to do RSR again, there is no point attempting it without having a solid base to launch off..
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Training
FBS 1x127.5
BS 2x130, 1x135, 5x120, 7x112.5, 8x110
CRLZ 7x42.5 (PR?), 4Fx45 (PR?), 8x40 (PR), 11x37.5 (PR?)
Squat notes:
I didn't fail anything and that FS single was better than last time. So i guess i should be happy? But yet im not, nothing to do with training, just feel like shit lately, but i thought improvement in the gym would help. So from here where do we go? Obv just slow steady progress is the way forward, but knowing what weight to pick isn't so clear cut. I think im good for attempting a 130kg FS next time though. And as far as BS goes, well, im not sure, just try to add a rep here or there.
Upper notes:
Wasnt up for pressing or pulling. Just did some curls. Idk, arms look fuller afterwards but i wish that effect would last lol. I need to get some steroids.
I havent done anyting athletic in a month. Maybe 3 weeks to be more accurate. The only thing that comes close is jogging 5 mins on the treadmill before squats. Does that count?
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Hey entropy, I just solved your problem of "the Olympic lifters collapse their knees inward on their heaviest attempts".
It's because if you look at what muscles contribute to the hip extension (aka "the posterior chain"), they're the glutes, hamstrings AND ADDUCTORS.
And since in an Olympic lift the back is vertical (same as in a front squat, and to a lesser extent, the high bar back squat), then the knees go forward a lot and the hamstrings are put into active insufficiency.
This leaves only the glutes AND ADDUCTORS to provide hip extension. And the knees caving in is the athlete's attempt (subconsciously or not) to use these adductors to help the glutes, which are on an island on their own, to do the hip extension.
This is also the reason why front squats are great for hamstring dominant people (think - me) to learn how to use the glutes in the squatting movement: by putting the hamstrings into active insufficiency (shortening them at both the hip and knee joints), you're basically "isolating" the glutes and adductors as the only muscles capable of hip extension. And since you put the glutes in a stretched position going very low (assuming you can do it), then the front squat is maybe the best athletic training squat, assuming you still do stuff for the hamstrings.
Just thought I'll put this out there for the people wondering about these knees coming in on heavy attempts for the Olympic lifters, and also something to think about.
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More on this here:
http://startingstrength.com/articles/squat_rippetoe.pdf
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Rippetoe??? BLASPHEMY!!!
But seriously, interesting read, either you agree with it or not. Good food for thought!
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Well he brings a lot of very good points IMO. Couldn't find a way to disagree with him.
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I dont know if I would generalise so much about these exercises. It depends a lot on the person what squat is appropriate for their needs. If you're trying to become more athletic, i think FS def has a place, but in my experience, you can't really make it your main squat. It beats up the knees and tendons pretty good. Guys like Pendlay have said the same thing, we've tried doing a FS heavy training cycle with BS minimally as assistance and it doesn't work as well as mainly BS with FS as assistance.
More conventionally, you can do a good amount of volume with BS and work up to a FS max regularly without any problems, as I've experienced. BS does a great job of driving up FS this way. I'm not sure if the opposite is true, it's not so easy to convert FS gains to BS, at least ive never observed that to happen. Also it's not easy to drive up FS either, progress isn't smooth like BS. With BS I could add 15kg to my squat and see an immediate 7.5kg increase in my FS. It's pretty hard to add that kind of weight to a stuck FS though as I had found being stuck for months on 3x129 and 1x136 before my BS pushed my FS PR up to 1x145 and i was probably good for more, but my main focus at the time was BS not FS so i didn't max out.
I dont know, i feel like if i only did BS i would get nothing athletically out of it. There are millions of people out there doing only backsquats who never see anything good happen outside the gym. I dont want to become one of them, so i keep FS in, just in case, it will help, at least i think it has helped me a little, how much, i dont know. I do know that as my BS climbs up, my FS goes up too, as long as I keep doing the odd FS here and there.
Btw the whole issue about hamstrings is pointless to me. I dont do any hamstring work and my thighs are mainly hamstring, they'll always get a lot of work when i squat, it's just how i'm built, i'm ok with it. Going to FS doesn't magically made it a quad/glute exercise, if anything, BS is a better overall leg exercise for me. I really dont know what FS does for me that BS doesn't.
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There are millions of people out there doing only backsquats who never see anything good happen outside the gym
How so?
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There are millions of people out there doing only backsquats who never see anything good happen outside the gym
How so?
if people were magically adding 6" to their vertical or making their sprint times THAT much faster you'd hear about it all over the place. You never do. It doesn't happen, squatting doesn't do much. I have a theory that if you're not built for squatting but have an upright BS you might get something out of squatting. Otherwise FS is needed to get athletic gains. If you are built for squatting, you don't get much out of squatting unless you're moving a lot of weight 220-240kg much.
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Not really. You just have to look where you've started and where you've ended up.
If you're built for squatting and you naturally squat 1.5x for the first time you ever squat, take that to 2.5x and you're going to get more athletic.
If you're not built for squatting and you naturally squat under 1x for the first time you ever squat, take that to ~2x and you're going to get more athletic.
More ability to generate tension = more potential to get more athletic. And yes, the word is "potential".
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By the way - check out how bad this guy had it improving his back squat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFVquvhz7s
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Training
FBS 1x130
BS 2x3x122.5, 3x2x125
BP 7x77.5, 5x79.5, 5x77.5
Squat notes:
It's been so long since i front squatted 130kg but we're back there albeit it's a ugly grindy max right now rather than easy warmup. Not going to add any more weight to the FS til my BS is back to to 150-160. Did a RSR inspired 12 reps with 122.5-125kg of doubles and triples. Will try to get that up to 3x6x127.5 or so over the next few weeks. Wont be easy, im just finding these sets a lot heavier than they ought to be.
Upper notes:
As hard 5x79.5 is right now, to think i was using 5x90 around xmas :(
I am really unhappy with the state of affairs. My main goal is to be a lean 85kg. This means i need to diet off at last 2-3kg of bodyfat. And then gain another 2-3kg of lbm. But bodycomp aside, in training I wish to get stronger, because why else lift? I can make my lifts go up from where they are now (mediocrity) at the expense of gaining bodyweight which obviously i can't afford to do. Frustrating.
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I got my supplements order from bb, magnesium citrate, zinc and 2 bottles of allmax caffeine pills. I opened the caffeine just now and they've changed the formula or something, the tablets are physically different but the best part is they've made them more soluble, they dissolved so well in my coke, no bit chunks floating about. So im really happy with their new formula. If you're in the market for some cheap caffeine, allmax is my recommendation.
http://au.bodybuilding.com/store/all/caf.html?_requestid=3316405
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Training
FS 1x131
BS 2x127.5, 3x2x130, 3x127.5, 3x125, 7x115 (PR?)
OHP 6x50, 3x55, 3x57.5, 6x55 (PR?)
Squat notes:
I know i said i wasn't going to add weight to my FS. But i thought what's the harm of taking a 1kg bump here or there. Still, i would prefer to get a clean 130kg than a dirty 135kg (or whatever). But i also know getting a dirty 135kg will probably get me strong enogh to make 130kg pretty :/
As to BS, i'm ok with my progress. What was my 1rm a few weeks ago, im using for three doubles. Which is ok. bad news is i used 6 double of 130kg as my light day in RSR2, so lol. Ive set my mind on 135kg as my training weight for the future RSR3. Actually ambition would have me eye 137.5kg but that's probably more than my 1rm right now, so what business have i got coveting it for volume? 135 is good for now. And in future i'll do RSR with 140kg as my training weight which should get me to a 180kg max by the end of that cycle.
Oh and i am trying to keep my reps clean, the 125 triple was clean, i think one of the doubles was also and finally the 7x115kg set was clean while i could have forced a dirty 8x115. Might keep that last set clean though, i would like to have 10x120kg clean over the next few weeks.
Conditioning notes:
Have changed treadmill warmup to 2 mins pre-warmup finishing with 3 mins @ 7.3kph. Which is less than the 7.5 minutes i had used last week -- but i'll now be adding a conditioning session postwork of around 10mins so that should work better, it means i'm fresher for weights while still getting in the cardio in. Will work up to 20 mins adding 30s here and there.
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By the way - check out how bad this guy had it improving his back squat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFVquvhz7s
Wow. All strength it looks like. Hus run up/jumps don't look 'athletic' he just powers through it. Wonder how long it took him to get there?
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By the way - check out how bad this guy had it improving his back squat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFVquvhz7s
Wow. All strength it looks like. Hus run up/jumps don't look 'athletic' he just powers through it. Wonder how long it took him to get there?
Those roids seem to work, don't they?
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Hmmmmm......
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This whole time I don't think i've been lifting correctly wrt to trunk stability, which is probably why i've had such terrible results to date. I feel as though i'm on the cusp of a breakthrough. But right now, my core is so weak that it's holding me back, but i dont think that means i will do extra ab-work, getting a 180kg backsquat with my build will be more than enough of a challenge and stimulus for great core strength. The flip side of this is that I have over relied on my lower back than my trunk and legs due to imperfect form.
The problem arose from the popular 'chest up' cue, i had interpreted it as a prescription for anterior pelvic tilt. Which makes it very difficult to keep a strong rigid core. I dont care much for APT myself, i abandoned that sometime in 2012 but that didn't fix the problem which was i needed to figure out a way to keep my chest up without involving APT. So that's where I am now, have figured out the right way to get chest up without going APT.
To check my theory i've thought of a good test to see if i'm on the right track. I will try it next workout and see what it says. It's quite simple, if I can put on a lifting belt and have no or little break down of technique, then i've fixed the problem. It's always been the case that my form without a belt is far superior to with one. This is a consequence of the problem i wish to fix and the belt is a magnifying glass for technique that serves to compound my technique defects.
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Training
FS 2x120, 0Fx132
BS 2x130, 2x2x132.5, 2x130, 8x115 (PR)
WCU 6x88, 3x98, 4x93
Squat notes:
Legs were jelly, had no desire to front squat heavy but i forced myself to attempt a 132kg max single anyway, was too heavy to bounce out though. Im trying to get my old groove back, i had this thing where i went knees out halfway up the concentric right after hitting the sticking point so to prevent upper back rounding. It's hard to believe how elaborate my technique has to be to get a good safe front squat but i'll get there soon.. just hpe i dont hurt myself before that happens. On a stronger day i'm probably good for 135kg right now though.
BS, i could have tripled that first set of 132.5kg, i had meant to do triple with 130kg but wore myself out before i could attempt them. Just wasn't a good day for squatting so all things considering, i did ok.
Upper notes:
Sucks but it looks like my squat obsession is going to get in the way of my upper body ambitions. Why am i even bothering, not like I care that much about my squat, would rather look like i lift if i really had to pick a goal but yet here we are, still putting squats first..
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Training
FS 1x127.5, 0Fx132.5
BS 3x130, 3x132.5, 1Fx137.5, 1Fx135, 8x117.5 (PR)
BP 6x79.5, 5x80, 6x77.5
CRLZ 7x42.5 (PR), 6x42, 8x40 (PR)
Squat notes:
A string of failures today when I should have done a lot better. Oh well. I prob picked the wrong weight after getting that 2nd very good triple, should have done doubles with 135kg after that, or maybe just one double and then another double with 132.5 or something like that instead of failing 2 doubles! Still, i had the right idea, would have been nice to double 137.5kg, considering that's my training weight goal. but today it wasn't on the cards. Oh and the 8x117.5kg pr was nice. Im getting that dreadful about-to-hit-the-wall feeling as I aproach 120kg though, it just gets that much harder when you move to bigger plates. oh well, my plan is to maybe attempt say 6x120kg next time, get that, give myself some confidence, and then finish off with 8x119.5kg, which will set me up to maybe, maybe get 7 reps on a following session? Dunno we'll see.
Upper notes:
BP is going ok. I'm still 10kg below my PR 5RM though. Shit didn't do curls last week, as a result i couldn't progress from last time's PRs. Have to force myself not to skip curls. Maybe I should just do them every time? Idk.
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Hey Entrophy. How's it going?
I see your post about your lack of enthusiasm for squats and your want to look like you lift. What's stopping you from prioritising your upper body ambitions?
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Good to see you back. I knew you would return eventually! haha. You mean like doing upper body before? I think that's a good idea actually. Perhaps split up my workouts into an AM and a PM session and do like upper body on AM and a primer squat to finish off the AM. Then do lower body volume in the PM session. Gives me a bit of variety too, i could do another upper body exercise to finish the PM session. Might try that next week. Thanks!
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BW: 85.6kg
Like I said in the goal thread, i'd like to be a lean 85kg before I can even think of weighing 90kg again. There is no point being 95kg like i was in december with good lifts if it means i'm 10kg overweight. Now if i can beat my PRs while weighing 85kg or less, i'm doing really well and can build on that in future by letting my bodyweight climb up to 90kg while getting a lot stronger in that time and then i can cut to say a lean 87kg before repeating the process. So lets own 85kg before chasing 90-95kg, which is really where I should be for my height and power forward ambitions. Im an undersize PF in a unathletic SF body, worst of both worlds.
Training
FBS 1x130
BS 2x2x135, 7x120 (PR)
OHP 3x2x60, 5x55
AbW 3,1
CND - 10min @ 7kph, 0incline (new exercise!)
Squat notes:
After failing 132.5kg FS last time, i figured i wasn't ready to go 2x120, 1x127.5 and then 1x132.5. Instead i tried 2x120, 1x127.5, 1x130 and got it. That 130 was a max effort lift though. I think i repeat it until i can get the 130kg easier, then i'll be able to progress it a little. Right now i'm getting my ass kicked by front squats. I find myself passing out like a bitch just unracking it and holding the bar before the heavy singles and have to do 2 re-rack and re-attempt it. I forgot how hard i had to work before to get used to front squatting :/ I hate that blanking out feeling like you're about to pass out with a heavy ass bar on your chest.
BS wise, im doing pretty awful too. I wanted to do triples or doubles with 135-137.5kg, in reality the 135 doubles were close enough to 2RM that i had no business thinking of doing more sets. Hopefully just a bad day. I want to do lots of doubles with say 137.5-140kg before i can consider something accomplished.
Upper body notes:
Had this crazy idea to try an RSR inspired program with my OHP. I'll basically use 60kg as my training weight and aim to master it over time to get six sets of sixes with it, hopefully that'll translate to some hypetrophy and strength gains.
Conditioning notes:
There we go, added in that postworkout conditioning session i've been talking about for ages. Will stick to it, not trying to do anything amazing, just be consistent and keep doing it, slowly improve and hopefully i can build up my fitness to a decent level without much fuss.
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Good to see you back. I knew you would return eventually! haha. You mean like doing upper body before? I think that's a good idea actually. Perhaps split up my workouts into an AM and a PM session and do like upper body on AM and a primer squat to finish off the AM. Then do lower body volume in the PM session. Gives me a bit of variety too, i could do another upper body exercise to finish the PM session. Might try that next week. Thanks!
Cheers. Thanks mate. I eventually made it.
Good to see you got something out of my post cause I actually had no idea in terms of structure but I think it's something us skinny guys do is want to look like we lift and then continually focus on stuff that doesn't necessarily connect with that goal.
From the goals thread you sound like you were killing it late last year though.
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Training
FBS 1x132.5
BS 1x140, 1Fx137.5, 3Fx130, 6Fx122.5
WCU 3x87, 2x97, 3x102, 5x93, 6x90
Squat notes:
Excited that i progressed my FS. It was a technique thing. For some reason i was slowing, almost pausing into/outta the bottom. And on my warmups with 100kg i had the flash of an idea to try bouncing into-and-out-of which made that set very easy. The following set i bounced up 120kg for a double, probably could have done a triple which is novel because i'd been owned by 120kg doubles previously. So happy to improve something. The rep was ugly as shit though.
Finally squatted 140kg. Yay for me lol. How pathetic. I used to warm up with a 140kg front squat, now im happy about backsquatting it lol. Whaever, progress is progress. I need to work hard though, this should be something i'm repping for 8s not psyching up for a ME single.
My goal from last session was to do a PR of 8x120kg today -- but -- having failed the 4th rep of 130kg, i knew i had zero chance of repping 8 with 120kg, so i thought go for the 7x122.5 PR instead, and came close but failed the 7th. Next time i guess i'll repeat 122.5kg and try get 8 before moving on to 125kg. Or maybe just go for 125kg and try to get 6-8 reps, we'lll see how it goes. As sensible as it is to first get 10x120kg before adding weight, i really dont care much for 120kg - would rather work my way up to 8x130kg instead knowing that whenever that happens, i'll probably, automatically also be good for 10x120kg. Have to balance hunger and greed for progress with patience.
Too many failures this session :/
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I had a dream, nightmare, I tried to dunk and i couldn't; impotence. I think the last time i went on a basketball court was in april :/ might swing by a court today. I should really jump at least 1x a week, just to maintain my 'athleticism'. But more that, i need to improve it..
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You should do more speed work... if there's anything that jumped right at me in your videos, is the TOTAL lack of speed and quickness. You basically walk to a jumping spot and jump. You look like an old man yet you have a lot of strength in comparison to your displayed power.
So the problem must be in the strength to power transfer.
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are you referring to sprints? they are shit bc they'll kill me in the gym for squatting afterwards. If there was an exercise i could do without disrupting squats i'd do them. as it is, not worth taking off 20-40kg of the bar just to do sprints when they can never do much anyway
also, i jump better and higher when i take a slower controlled "walk" up than if i go speeding in.. it's to do with how i best produce maximum force, im not very reactive and that's not my strength, it's a weakness. taking a quicker run up sacrifices my ability to generate the most amount of force. for most ppl there isnt that tradeoff cause they gain more from a quicker runner up due to reactivity though so i understand why you'd suggest it but it doesn't take into account my strengths and weaknesses
it's the same way you guys recommend hamstring work to people but it doesn't apply to me because i have big/strong hamstrings and never do rdls/ghrs/deadlifts/hip thrusts/etc .. just dont need them cause my squats are so hamstring dominant
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Thats just counterintuitive in my mind. You say you lack reactivity so you avoid doing things that can help your weakness? I think you'd see more gains by attacking your weaknesses over trying to cover them up with your strengths. I'm not saying neglect working on your strengths (which is strength in your case) but by pulling your weaknesses up you become a more well rounded athlete.
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Can you get more reactive though? Isnt that something you're born with. You can get stronger thru lifting obviously, and that translates to more force production, more power, which you can use to jump higher. but reactivity is in your CNS, in your genes, it's not something you can train (much). i think there is a much lower limit on what you can do for poor reactivity :(
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I agree with that, yes, but just because its more genetically limited doesn't mean it wouldn't help. I mean, if you never train it it's obviously nowhere near your genetic potential or limit. So I still say you stand to gain a bit.
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Remember when I wrote that long post regarding LBSS and his issues? And how I said he doesn't get too much run-up or tendon contributions, if any? Well, he's better than you. Look at his bounding. He's complaining about how much he sucks at bounding, yet to me, they are really looking good. Not world-class triple jumper bounds, but they aren't terrible at all.
For you to invest into more reactive stuff, where you get contributions from the tendons as well and where you fine-tune your CNS and muscles to respond to a prestretch by generating more power, and adapting to that, is for you to get athletic. You don't really see athletes squat all day long and then walking towards a spot and doing a weak jump, don't you?
So, you must decide what your "primary sport" is. Remember, we strength train to get stronger FOR jumping, not the other way around. Strength work is basically assistance work.
It won't hurt you to do 2-leg bounding focusing on speed, and basic plyo work (sprints, bounds, donkey ankle bounces (reactive work for the Achilles)).
At some point you're going to find some out of nowhere power that you didn't know you were capable of generating (especially at the level you're at right now) and really "get it". But you gotta put in the work. Yes, it will suck initially. You will be slow and it will be really depressing. It will be hard to imagine yourself getting better at it. But you gotta GO GET IT.
Does that mean you must give up strength work? Not at all. It's just that you need to limit strength work to un-fatiguing sets and leaving the gym fresh, so that you can actually do what you're training to get better at - jumping and actually moving around (running, sprinting, getting on a fast break, getting past your man etc).
For that reason, I personally plan on doing "Easy Strength" like Dan John was proposing. Squat everyday, but choose sets and reps depending on your feeling in that day. You can go with something like 2x5, 5x2, 3x3, or 6x1. When you feel really good, go for "sort of a max", meaning a heavy single but not a maximal single. Feeling tired? Go with 3x3 with your 5RM, or do an easy 1x10 with a very light weight.
This will keep you fresh. And being fresh is what allows you to both recover and adapt to the stimuli you present your body with (which is strength by squatting and strength expression (power) by jumping), and to do high quality plyo work (jumping, sprinting, bounding).
I'll write more about this soon on my website, and it will all make sense, hopefully.
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entropy, you weren't around for the heyday of adarq's training, but he used to do HUGE volumes to train reactivity and tendon strength. like half tucks for sets of 100 and stuff like that. everyone has a ceiling for all their attributes, but few people are near their ceiling for any one attribute. so, you and i are slow dudes. but why would that mean we can't get faster? why would that mean our tendons can't get stronger under pressure? why would that mean we can improve our movement efficiency? we've both gotten stronger through lifting (and we've both regressed, too). but we've also both put too much emphasis on squatting at one point or other. for me, the point is to dunk. for you, it's to be better at basketball.
you love squatting, and so do i. even when it's depressing it's comforting. but it's time to switch up the grind, man.
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From "Easy Strength":
The difference between exercising and training is having a point. Exercise is done to waste
energy—burn calories—or to “blow off steam,†excess mental and physical energy, and tension.
Training is done in order to improve something—strength, endurance, neuromuscular control, etc.
Exercise is a singular event with an immediate goal.
The success of training can only be judged by changes over time in performance. Exercise doesn’t
have a point beyond the immediate session—if you leave the gym a sweaty mess, it was a good
exercise session or “workout.†If you show up every day and breathe hard and get tired and sweaty,
you may consider yourself to be successful at exercise. By contrast, training can only be judged as a
success if it works—that is, if after an appropriate amount of time you can clearly show improved
capacity for physical work. You may show up every day and push and pull and grunt and sweat and
even limp to your car—but be terribly UNsuccessful at training, if over time you are not getting any
stronger, faster, leaner, more agile, better at your chosen sport, etc. . . .
Swinging a weight around with the express goal of becoming extremely fatigued is what I would
do if I had a lobotomy. With a frontal lobotomy destroying my ability to plan over the long term, I
would believe that the goal of exercise was achieving a certain specific response—I would search
for the immediate effect of exercise. I would forget that as biological organisms, we not only respond
in the short term to a stimulus but also adapt in the long term to the sum total of stimuli we are
presented with—so long as we are able to recover. The idea that anything that made me horrendously
fatigued, to the point of nausea, vomiting, dehydration, hyponatremia, and even rhabdomyolosis,
would constitute an effective—or “killerâ€â€”workout would appeal to my zombie-like, shortterm-
thinking mind. I would strive in my workouts for “failure,†or forcing my body to stop working.
Fascinated by the immediate effects of exercise and unable to plan, I would work at top voluntary
intensity every time I exercised, always attempting to maximally disrupt my body functions. I would
also be unable to follow a program, so I would change exercises constantly, attempting to “confuseâ€
my body and prevent it from “getting used to†my exercise sessions. I would change aimlessly,
regardless of whether the exercises were useful or dangerous, choosing them solely based on how
bad they made me feel. . . .
If you want pain, learn Muay Thai. If you
want to learn about failure, play golf. If you
want to vomit, drink syrup of ipecac. If you
want to become stronger and more fit,
train appropriately.
Dr. Mel Siff:
To me, the sign of a really excellent routine is one which places great demands on the athlete, yet
produces progressive long-term improvement without soreness, injury or the athlete ever feeling
thoroughly depleted. Any fool can create a program that is so demanding that it would virtually kill
the toughest marine or hardiest of elite athletes, but not any fool can create a tough program that
produces progress without unnecessary pain.
Professor Thomas Fahey, one of the top American sports scientists, wrote:
A few years ago, I did some experiments with the college basketball
team that involved them only doing single, doubles, and
triples for whole body lifts (cleans, snatches, overhead squats,
bench press, standing press, etc). They got very strong but had
plenty of energy for playing basketball. They were in and out of
the weight room in 20–30 minutes.
Pavel Tsatsouline:
Steve Baccari is a stickler for perfect form, and he discovered that
none of his fighters could do 5 perfect deadlift reps. Doubles hit the
spot. Some fighters with perfect technique are allowed to do triples.
Interestingly, 2 is the most preferred rep choice of the Russian
National Weightlifting Team.
Two or three is a great rep range to emphasize in an Easy Strength
program. Four or five is where neural training and muscle building meet, which means you could end up
with some hypertrophy. This is out of the question in sports like boxing.
Singles, doubles, and triples are pure nerve force training. Singles, however, are very demanding on the
nervous system. Do a few, but don’t abuse them. Dan John lifts ten times in two weeks. Only two of
these workouts are singles and only one comes close to his max.
Hence, doubles and triples rule when it comes to Easy Strength with zero mass gain. But if your sport
does not punish muscle gain, don’t be afraid to train with fives more often. Regardless, go easy on the singles.
Soviet weightlifting champion and authority Robert Roman demonstrated that recovery is rapid and
soreness is minimal after low-rep, low-set heavy lifting. Just what the doctor ordered for an athlete.
High-rep training can be painfully ineffective and inefficient in building absolute strength. A friend of Dan’s
undertook a valiant effort of pushing his deadlift to 405 x 20. When he tested his 1 RM, he got—425.
Strength and power gains are superior with heavy low-rep training. Dyachkov had two groups of athletes
squat. One repped out to failure with 70% 1 RM, and the other did low reps with near-max
weights. When it was all said and done, the high-rep group improved their squat by 13.7 kilograms and
the low-rep group gained twice as much: 26.,3 kilograms. The standing vertical jump was measured, as
well. The “reppers†improved by 8.7 centimeters and the “near-maxers†by 13.3 centimeters.
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Legs were jelly, had no desire to front squat heavy but i forced myself to attempt a 132kg max single anyway
i had meant to do triple with 130kg but wore myself out before i could attempt them
A string of failures today when I should have done a lot better. Oh well. I prob picked the wrong weight after getting that 2nd very good triple, should have done doubles with 135kg after that, or maybe just one double and then another double with 132.5 or something like that instead of failing 2 doubles!
Im getting that dreadful about-to-hit-the-wall feeling as I aproach 120kg though
That 130 was a max effort lift though. I think i repeat it until i can get the 130kg easier
I wanted to do triples or doubles with 135-137.5kg, in reality the 135 doubles were close enough to 2RM that i had no business thinking of doing more sets
My goal from last session was to do a PR of 8x120kg today -- but -- having failed the 4th rep of 130kg
so i thought go for the 7x122.5 PR instead, and came close but failed the 7th
It's been so long since i front squatted 130kg but we're back there albeit it's a ugly grindy max right now rather than easy warmup
In contrast:
In the classic text on training the prototypical power athlete, the high jumper, Dr. Vladimir Dyachkov
offered a timeless recipe for Easy Strength training. The Distinguished Coach of the USSR advised to
stop the strength training session when the athlete starts feeling fatigue or starts experiencing a loss of
speed or a decrease in muscle elasticity. Dyachkov stressed that high-caliber jumpers have no business
training to failure. He also recommended that the athlete limit his reps with heavy weights to 1 or 2 and
to stay with 3 or 4 even with light weights.
By the way, Vladimir Dyachkov was no armchair quarterback. He was the USSR champion and record
holder in the high jump, the 110 m sprint hurdling, and the pole vault. Dyachkov won his last national title
at the age of 41, and his showdowns with Ozolin in the pole vault are legendary.
For the record, I have no interest in what you “could have†made. Please, no failures on max
deadlifts. Just make the lifts! For whatever reason, max DLs seem to take a ton out of your CNS,
and it doesn’t come back easily. Max DL misses seem to take even more out of the body. So again,
make the damn lifts!
I don’t suggest more than 2 max attempts, and most people are only good for 6 DLs in a heavy
workout. So, I consider that warm-up with 135 for a single part of the 6. If you don’t know how
to deadlift perfectly or at least properly, don’t use a max as a teaching unit. Please, know what you
are doing when you grip the bar, and leave it all on the table for these few attempts.
Does it work? Oh, absolutely. I love to tease men who are using an exaggerated vocabulary
about some minute fitness detail and tell them that they are almost as strong as my homecoming
queen with a 355 deadlift. So, save those max efforts for max efforts!
On the other side of the spectrum we have this:
The heavier the athletic implement, the more power gains an athlete can squeeze out of more
strength and vice versa. A javelin thrower will hit his point of diminishing strength returns sooner than a
shot putter, and a weightlifter will never hit his. But good luck finding an event in which strength is not
needed. German scientists Jürgen Hartmann and Harold Tünneman stress:
It should be noted that movements of negligible resistance are a rare occurrence in sports. Body
mass must be overcome explosively by sprinters and swimmers on starting, by fencers at flèche, and
by volleyball players when jumping at the net. Boxers, fencers, and javelin throwers must be able to
develop considerable strength to accelerate their equipment in addition to the resistance of the
mass of their arms (approximately 5% of their body mass).
An advanced athlete needs to get stronger in the time-deficit zone. One way to do this is what
Zatsiorsky termed the dynamic effort (DE) method, back in the 1960s. According to him, this method “is
used not for increasing maximal strength but only to improve the rate of force development and explosive
strength.†The parameters for DE training offered by Professor Verkhoshansky are 5 to 10 RM
weights lifted for sets of 3 to 4 reps and with the focus on the maximum rate of force development.
Fred Hatfield pioneered the use of DE as a combined modality for developing both explosive and
absolute strength: compensatory acceleration training (CAT), or maximally accelerating a moderate weight
throughout the concentric range of motion. His recommended protocol is 60% to 85% for 5 x 5 of
squats or other big and long movements with 5 minutes of rest. Dr. Squat assures:
Powerlifters who are using this technique have never failed to add well over 100 pounds to their
squat . . . in three months or less. Many football players I have trained claim that they are coming off
the mark far more explosively than they had ever done before, and basketball players are jumping
as much as five or six inches higher than before. . . . This technique requires very concentrated effort
on your part. You must concentrate! Concentrate on exploding every inch of the way through the
movement—not just initially or at the top, but all the way.
The examples are endless. Do with this information whatever you feel is right.
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Training
FBS 3x120, 1x130, 0Fx133.5
BS 1x135, 1Fx137.5, 3Fx130, 5x122.5, 7x120
BP 4x82.5, 5x80
CRLZ 8x42.5(PR), 8x40
Squat notes:
Another bad day for squats smh. I didn't get any goals done, just more failures.
The FS warmup triple with 120kg was the exception but still, it's only 120kg which i could probably have repped for 5 back when i was stronger so it's not even that special. Hell my 3 rep PR is close to 130kg so why would i be excited about 120kg anyways.
on BS, still can't double 137.5kg. Which means my 2RM is prob only 135kg or so which where i've been stuck since last week. Misloaded 125kg as 2.5kg on one side only, so as a result it was effectively only 122.5kg which is disappointing that i only did 5 reps. Rookie mistake. Next time perhaps. Need to get myself unstuck.
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I used to do this, back when I still scoured t-nation for useful articles, thought Dan John was more than a high school PE teacher
^ lol
relax raptor, that overtraining, HIIT nonsense is bs. Naturals have to work hard and lift heavy/hard to make progress. You read too much nonsense from people who like selling their easier sounding pussy training bs off as wisdom
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I used to do this, back when I still scoured t-nation for useful articles, thought Dan John was more than a high school PE teacher
^ lol
relax raptor, that overtraining, HIIT nonsense is bs. Naturals have to work hard and lift heavy/hard to make progress. You read too much nonsense from people who like selling their easier sounding pussy training bs off as wisdom
Not at all. Naturals can't afford to work as hard as people taking steroids, or as genetically gifted people. Why? Because they lack the recovery abilities of those people. If there's anything that steroids or good genetics does, then it's great recovery, among other things.
So a hard gainer actually needs to work less in order to maximize recovery.
The fact that you list endless failed attempts does nothing but to prove your continuous road towards overtraining and ultimately, failure and even health risk.
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Its not how it works though in practice when you're taking steroids. I don't know much about steroids but I do know the training is completely different from naturals. You do less intensity and more rep sets, pump work, like bodybuilding when juicing. It leads to more muscle growth that way, that's what i've read, have no direct experience obviously. I do know that I need a lot more volume and intensity to make gains. A lot of these guys don't tell you the full story of what supplements they had their guys on.
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Yes but you need more volume for what? Is strength your current focus, dissing everything aside? Because yes, a higher volume, assuming you recover well enough, is better for strength gains, as is a higher exposure (frequency). But the question is - do you recover well enough for you to progress? If doing more work was the answer, then we'd all be squatting 8 hours/day 7 days a week and be the best athletes in the world.
It's the recovery where you grow, but you already know that.
And your display of failed attempts can mean one of two things: overtraining or just poor judgement on choosing your weights. And even if it is "just poor judgement", that will eventually lead to overtraining. You staying under a maximal weight (or even heavier) bar very often and failing will eat a ton out of your CNS and your recovery abilities. If you don't deload soon, bad stuff will happen.
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I write F in my log but what you dont know is the quality of F, some F are where you are defeated completely mentally and physically. Other times, you just dont finish the rep because it might be too ugly to go thru with it and you just bail on it. Qualitatively and quantitatively you can have different modes of failure. Im still getting used to maxing out every time i squat. I want to have a decent repeatable max i hit every time with good form and ease. That's more useful to me as an athlete (wannabe) than peaking out for a max like a PL would, once every so many months at a meet or whatever. I need to have a good repeatable max because as an athlete that's more useful than a temporary peak i hit very rarely..
now if i can get my ducks in a row and start progressing nicely while keeping my bw low, i'll start seeing some gains outside the gym
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Yes, but if that's your plan, don't MAX out... "kinda max out". Go 95%. Don't go full 100%.
Go for a daily max. Work up in weight set to set in your warm-ups until you get to a weight that is heavy, but not grinding. If you do this, you won't blow up your CNS, you'll give your body the time it needs to adapt (and to adapt to an actual lift instead to adapt to failure) AND you will be able to repeat this more often (more good exposure = more adaptation) while still being fresh enough to do other stuff.
That's the point I'm trying to make. If you really want to max out literally, do it every once in a while. Train submaximally, but say every month or so max out and see where you are and how you've adapted. Then back off significantly after that max out day, doing easy stuff for a while (say, for 3 days after your max-out day use 80, 85 and 90% on your max single instead of that 95%).
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Thing is raptor, you need to do actually do the maxes to adapt to doing them often. That's the whole point. And yeah this will mean sometimes you don't get them (for whatever reason), but eventually your maxes and your goals will coincide. It happened last time i did RSR, i would work up to a FS max (130-140kg) then do a BS max (150-155kg) followed by my BS RSR workouts. It worked beautifully. I am not happy with my current maxes though, so i will keep trying to push them up. Which is what i did before when they were lower, i progressed them up over time.
To give you an idea, i was getting psychologically defeated by even approaching my FS maxes the last 4-5 weeks. And then this week, today, something different happened, i unracked the bar, and just squatted it. And it went ok. My body has adapted and made 130kg a normal, regular max i can hit every time. This will happen with my BS too once i figure out the right mix of attempts, i think i might drop the doubles and triples and just do the max followed by sets of 3-8.
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Well, good luck, we'll see how this goes.
But my understanding is that you're focused 100% on strength work right now, with no basketball, plyo or any explosive work whatsoever.
And when and if you get strong, you're going to come back to power work and see your strength numbers drop once again, and get you depressed once again.
You need a way to maintain your power and movement efficiency in a strength block, and a way to maintain your strength in a power/plyo/dunk block.
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I agree, my athletic work happens on the treadmill :) I did a 10min session after lifting last week for the first time. I'll add another session this week and make it 2x a week. Also slowly up the time/speed/incline. Hopefully that's enough to keep my fitness/athleticism. I don't really want to do any more than that though. It's too much hassle going outdoors in the winter lol and i cbf driving to the indoor basketball, esp when never know if it will be available etc. Dunking is also fairly boring when you're not doing anything new that you haven't done so many times before. Last time I did RSR1 and RSR2, which is like, 3 months, i hardly if ever jumped, and still i was able to dunk even when my bw got close to 100kg. So i do believe just squatting is enough to keep my athleticism. HOpefully the treadmill will make up the difference and keep my fitness as well..
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In the winter? You're in Australia or what?
Do some depth jumps in the gym or ankle jumps, jump squats, very low volumes. 2x10 or so. Before squatting. It will also fire up the CNS a bit so they might benefit the squats if the volume is low enough.
Also KB swings work well to warm you up and potentiate that posterior chain.
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Yeah winter. Southern hemisphere reprezent !
I can do some of that stuff if you think it will help with reactivity. But then it's hard to tell where the gains came from. Last time i can say definitively i got 100% of my gains from squatting bc that's all i did. No plyos, sprints, ankle hops etc. But if i start mixing up with other stuff it will make it hard to tell apart cause and effect
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three things:
- the point about attribution is a fair one but i think you're using it as an excuse to avoid trying something new because it makes you nervous. you're a whole-hog kind of guy. so maybe go whole-hog on sprinting and jumping for a while. (more on this below.)
- the treadmill is not going to make you "more athletic," certainly not in 10 minute bursts. the only way that'd be the case is if you were grotesquely obese and out of shape, in which case any physical activity would make you more athletic. set the bar low enough...
- no idea what aussie winters are like -- as an american i always just imagine them being beautiful and sunny and everyone says "mate" a lot and drinks fosters on the beach with hot women in white bikinis everywhere, but that can't possibly be accurate -- but where i live it is a crappy time to be doing stuff like sprints that require you to be outside or in some kind of proper facility. so not wanting to do bounds and sprints and whatnot now is fair enough. winter is a good time for GPP. but when it gets nice out again, consider a real-live speed block. raptor is right, you're slow as fuck. getting faster can only benefit you.
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Just for the record, i am with raptor here. Good fail or bad fail , it is a fail and it fucks up your CNS plus increases injury risks. Not that you should never fail or that your progress with that programming was not jaw-dropping anyway, but imho failing too often is not optimal. You could have achieved even more.
According to your preferred style of training, i think you could benefit a lot going kingfish-style:
Not daily, you will AREG the frequency. But whenever you train, build up to a heavy single ( 90%+ ) and try to evaluate how much more you had in you like he does. When you repeat a couple of +20lbs sessions, advance. If you need the volume, add a back-off set, but look again how much he reduces the weight, he singles 450lbs and does back-off with 315. Also look at how patient he is to get a PR, he might wait for weeks or months. Finally look how he AREGs the whole thing, carefully deloading and waiting for his body to recover when beat, constantly attacking when strong.
Just another possibility to consider :D
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for much more on AREG, check out mike tuscherer. also, this kid izzy, who's using tuscherer's AREG method for power lifting at powerliftingtowin.com.
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Just for the record, i am with raptor here. Good fail or bad fail , it is a fail and it fucks up your CNS plus increases injury risks. Not that you should never fail or that your progress with that programming was not jaw-dropping anyway, but imho failing too often is not optimal. You could have achieved even more.
According to your preferred style of training, i think you could benefit a lot going kingfish-style:
Not daily, you will AREG the frequency. But whenever you train, build up to a heavy single ( 90%+ ) and try to evaluate how much more you had in you like he does. When you repeat a couple of +20lbs sessions, advance. If you need the volume, add a back-off set, but look again how much he reduces the weight, he singles 450lbs and does back-off with 315. Also look at how patient he is to get a PR, he might wait for weeks or months. Finally look how he AREGs the whole thing, carefully deloading and waiting for his body to recover when beat, constantly attacking when strong.
Just another possibility to consider :D
This ^^^
I mean look, if you feel you need volume right now, and it's a good time to do it, by all means - go for it! Just pay more attention to recovery and you'll progress and it will also be less frustrating.
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Its not how it works though in practice when you're taking steroids. I don't know much about steroids but I do know the training is completely different from naturals. You do less intensity and more rep sets, pump work, like bodybuilding when juicing. It leads to more muscle growth that way, that's what i've read, have no direct experience obviously. I do know that I need a lot more volume and intensity to make gains. A lot of these guys don't tell you the full story of what supplements they had their guys on.
What are you talking about? I don't get how you can slam raptor for quoting Internet wisdom and then come back with this is how steroids work because this is what I've read. Nothing of the sort is true about steroids. Additionally the magic enhanced recovery myth is greatly exaggerated as well. Internet wisdom about steroids basically falls into two camps.
Those people who like my old coach are bitter that they didn't make it past trials and are convinced that it's because everyone else was on steroids but them... They propagate the myth that steroids drastically change the athlete, that an athlete on steroids is nothing like a natural athlete, that an athlete on steroids has to train differently and lift in a different manner than other athletes. This rhetoric makes steroids seem especially out of place in competition because not only do they give an athlete an advantage in competition but they force him to change even the way he trains which really ruins that idea of sport/competition.
On the other hand you have steroid users whose goal it is to justify steroids. They repeat the mantra that steroids "just allow you to train harder". They claim that steroids allow you to recover faster so you can train harder; this makes it seem as if they aren't cheating but rather using a tool that allows them to outwork their competition.
In reality neither one of these camps provides any useful information. The recovery thing is BS. Do any of you train with females? If steroids had such a drastic affect on recovery then females (who have 100x less androgens) would be sore for weeks after a workout. This isn't the case however. In reality steroids don't provide the athlete with magical recovery. They don't change the way you lift and they have very little affect on training. At many D1 programs all across the country men and women train with the same speed coach. If anything the volumes might be reduced slightly for the higher-androgen faster men. Steroids will allow you to put on more muscle which indirectly leads to more strength. They allow you to do it without massive caloric surpluses that will also increase fat. That's about it.
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Because I'm sure you want another opinion on this:
You've been through this conundrum before so whatever you're going to do back yourself 100% and you'll end up doing it. Listen to some of the guys on here and you may just get there faster or you may not.
At the end of the day all your body knows is stress and you need to manage the overall stress on your body better. Be it mental or physical.
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Todday you're right, it's internet wisdom for better or worse. Also if you take anabolics and don't lift, you still gain significant FFM and lose FM. Add weight training to it and you improve gains. It's not a stretch to say training specifically for hypertrophy maximises gains of mass when juicing, hence the BB style training popularised by users.
My argument in light of the above paragraph was just that if you're juicing then it doesn't really matter so much how you train because the effects of the supplements will take place regardless. It's not that you have to train differently when juicing, it's that you don't have to train the same as a natural. If you're natural though you need to train better/harder/whatever you want to call it/ to make gains.
Coges, im really really skeptical of what these guys say/claim regarding reactivity. I don't believe it. IF i was to quantify my belief in it, i'd say maybe they're 2-3% correct. Unless I see proof i'm not going to change my mind, there is a lot of bs info in training, including jump training and otherwise on the internet. My default stance is that it's bs unless i become convinced otherwise. I will be try it out myself at some point, but right now i dont want to waste my time experimenting with something i don't think will be effective. Later on, when i've exhausted gains from squats, i'll give other things a try. But i haven't done that yet. Not really. Until i get back to squatting near 180kg while weighing a lean 85kg, i don't have any reason to try other stuff which will probably do close to nothing. My bias is my bias, i don't make excuses for it, that's how i see it.
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Well, I have the perfect proof in the world for you:
Back in the day I was training on the track with a guy, we called him "the curly haired" or "Cretu" in Romanian.
And he was the slowest, weakest, most slow-twitch guy you have ever met. He would suck so badly that everybody was making fun of him. He was long as heck though (not out of the world long, but long).
And he was training for the high jump. And man he was weak. He was looking like you are right now moving around, but without your strength levels.
But he kept at it and continued to train on the track for the high jump. He did this for (now) I think ~10 years or so.
Wonder where he is now? Well...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_QattViB5I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR3cJwCKILg
I guess you can't become reactive afterall.
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You might want to read this:
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/reactiveability.html
You might want to focus on this part:
Don't Screw Up Your Natural Reactive Function
One way we screw up reactive function is by inactivity. This is illustrated by comparing the technical running ability of the typical 16 yr old Playstation freak to that of a kid on the playground. As we get older we become less and less active and "play less". Playgrounds and furniture are used in pursuit of the opposite sex instead of playtime. This process isn't helped any by the huge growth spurt that occurs during adolescence - a time when most start to become less active and when they really need to become more active.
Another way we can detract from our reactive functions is by engaging in too much of a good thing regarding strength training without regard to function. I know I've preached about the importance of strength but now I need to qualify a couple of things here. Strength training is capable of doing some very magnificent things when it comes to improving the level of force we can take in and put out in our movements, but, used haphazardly and without attention to function, it is also capable of changing our movements from what naturally should be a reflexive dominant movement into a muscular dominant movement with the result of this being inefficient movement and injuries.
Come on man, you know much better than that:
im really really skeptical of what these guys say/claim regarding reactivity. I don't believe it. IF i was to quantify my belief in it, i'd say maybe they're 2-3% correct. Unless I see proof i'm not going to change my mind, there is a lot of bs info in training, including jump training and otherwise on the internet.
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And to add to that - what you're doing in the weightroom does not really promote hip extension and DOESN'T promote hip hyperextension AT ALL. And these two things are paramount to jumping and being athletic (and even healthy).
Could you do stuff for the actual hip extension and hyperextension in the gym? Well, yeah, you could do hip thrusts, you could do KB swings, you could do cleans and snatches.
But you could also do hip dominant plyo work (bounding, off both one and two legs) and jumping and sprinting in general. These also promote actual triple extension instead of the deceleration that occurs with squatting at the top.
So, the thing with the squat is yes, it's the best muscle builder exercise. But it's not THAT specific to jumping. It's an assistance exercise to jumping, running, sprinting etc. These are all displays of reactivity.
You don't get athletes going to a spot, taking 10 seconds to pause and take a standing vertical jump in a real life, based 100% on their squat strength. If you were training like Kingfish specifically for the standing VJ (although I don't know why, but still) - then yeah, squatting alone would kinda make sense.
But if you want to be an athlete, if you want to be able to USE all that strength in a "functional" manner - that is - jump and dunk in games, get past your defender, be able to change directions etc etc etc - then you gotta do reactive work. It's not that complicated to understand.
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It may make a small difference (say 2-5%) but that's about it. That's not a good return of investment. I know i'll get more out of squats than any of that plyomumbojumpo. It's an icing to the cake, something you do when you've tapped out from squatting. IMHO.
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It may make a small difference (say 2-5%) but that's about it. That's not a good return of investment. I know i'll get more out of squats than any of that plyomumbojumpo. It's an icing to the cake, something you do when you've tapped out from squatting. IMHO.
Translation:
"I know you're right... but I don't want to do plyo work because I suck at it and I will get depressed by my display in it. So I'd rather continue strength training and pretend nothing works, so at least I have something else to blame besides myself".
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I've tried that stuff before. Vag had me doing drop jumps. I did sprints. Regularly, 2-3x a week. For almost a year. What effect did they have? Probably nothing. But im annoyed because I can't prove that. It probably just kept me from training better and getting stronger. So that's why i dont want to muddle the waters now. So in future i can definitively say, see, i did this stupid gimmicky stuff and it didn't really make a difference.
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Todday you're right, it's internet wisdom for better or worse. Also if you take anabolics and don't lift, you still gain significant FFM and lose FM. Add weight training to it and you improve gains. It's not a stretch to say training specifically for hypertrophy maximises gains of mass when juicing, hence the BB style training popularised by users.
My argument in light of the above paragraph was just that if you're juicing then it doesn't really matter so much how you train because the effects of the supplements will take place regardless. It's not that you have to train differently when juicing, it's that you don't have to train the same as a natural. If you're natural though you need to train better/harder/whatever you want to call it/ to make gains.
Coges, im really really skeptical of what these guys say/claim regarding reactivity. I don't believe it. IF i was to quantify my belief in it, i'd say maybe they're 2-3% correct. Unless I see proof i'm not going to change my mind, there is a lot of bs info in training, including jump training and otherwise on the internet. My default stance is that it's bs unless i become convinced otherwise. I will be try it out myself at some point, but right now i dont want to waste my time experimenting with something i don't think will be effective. Later on, when i've exhausted gains from squats, i'll give other things a try. But i haven't done that yet. Not really. Until i get back to squatting near 180kg while weighing a lean 85kg, i don't have any reason to try other stuff which will probably do close to nothing. My bias is my bias, i don't make excuses for it, that's how i see it.
OK, so what you're saying from that is:
1. Reactivity can't be trained
2. Squat gains = athletic gains
3. Any other athletic training is only worth doing after achieving 2xBW squat while being lean.
Is that right? You really need to have a working definition of what 'athleticism' is in your opinion in that case, because I think we're all just getting confused. By the way, less than a year of consistent athletic training at nearly 30 might not be long enough to see significant gains. How were you measuring progress? Monthly broad jump, consecutive jumps, running vertical jump tests? Timed 100m runs? What I'm saying is, you can't just say "I didn't feel it made a difference" if you weren't objectively measuring things. Not saying you didn't, just don't remember you posting anything like that.
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Reactivity can be trained. It just wont change much, maybe 2-5%, which is not nothing, but it's not as much i'll get out of squatting. That's all. Maybe a couple of percent diff to your athleticism. Proof is there are millions of slow/unathletic guys in professional sports who never change that regardless of all the plyos in the world. It's not going to change for me. But i do know if i figure out a way to get a beast squat at a low bodyweight i'll be able to jump higher. That's all. No i wont become athletic, i'll always be slow/clunky, im ok with that, its the card i was dealt. But i will be able to jump higher of a step or two - that's going to translate well to my game. Blocking shots, grabbing rebounds, scoring inside. Dunking inside (maybe).
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Well IMO that's just a very negative view on your own state of affairs. You might just think it's being realistic but slow clunky people can become fast athletic people with smart training and commitment. I've seen it, others here have seen it, fuck, adarq himself was a slow-twitch long-distance guy before he started training for vert. There's plenty of examples and you haven't really given any convincing reason why you CAN'T be like that as well. Why not just change your journal name to 'chasing kingfish' then?
I'm sure you'll think I'm being naive and you seem pretty set in your opinion on this but there's no logical reason to hold self-limiting beliefs when it comes to athletic training. Every other aspect in life you need to be realistic, but not training. No one is going to laugh at you, you've literally got nothing to lose except realising what your actual potential is. Most people don't even scratch the surface.
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But how do we define "reactive ability"?
To me, reactive ability means the ability to:
1) Do quick consecutive jumps without too much muscle contribution (explosive muscle isometrics, tendon contributions);
2) Coordinate yourself at high speeds generating high amounts of power;
3) Generate good triple extension in a jump after a significant prestretch has occured;
4) Generate a ton of power quickly (same as 1) - quick voluntary power generation + accumulated involuntary power (tendon deformation + additional neural activation) = a high jump = a powerful movement = win);
5) Not collapse in high speed plants (quickly lock up, similar to 1)) / make use of your calves;
And there must be others but this is what came up in my head in 20 seconds.
If you can show me how squatting accomplishes 1), 2), 3), 4) and 5), then yeah, go for squatting only.
If not, but you want to focus on strength training now since it's winter anyway, then at least do a bunch of plyos/jumps before the strength work, and stop beating yourself to death with maximal failed attempts. That's all I'm saying.
Anyway, I've talked way too much already so... whatever you choose to do, good luck.
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It may make a small difference (say 2-5%) but that's about it. That's not a good return of investment. I know i'll get more out of squats than any of that plyomumbojumpo. It's an icing to the cake, something you do when you've tapped out from squatting. IMHO.
Plyomatric exercise helps use the strength you gained from the gym I.e squats, which I think is they are getting in terms of reactive training plyometrics important unless you just want be able to squat large numbers for competition only, but if you have decent squat numbers you need to do plyometrics to use the strength from squat aswell as power lifts cleans matches or hip extension exercises, just my 2 cents
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Well IMO that's just a very negative view on your own state of affairs. You might just think it's being realistic but slow clunky people can become fast athletic people with smart training and commitment. I've seen it, others here have seen it, fuck, adarq himself was a slow-twitch long-distance guy before he started training for vert. There's plenty of examples and you haven't really given any convincing reason why you CAN'T be like that as well. Why not just change your journal name to 'chasing kingfish' then?
I'm sure you'll think I'm being naive and you seem pretty set in your opinion on this but there's no logical reason to hold self-limiting beliefs when it comes to athletic training. Every other aspect in life you need to be realistic, but not training. No one is going to laugh at you, you've literally got nothing to lose except realising what your actual potential is. Most people don't even scratch the surface.
:wowthatwasnutswtf:
i don't do RVJ but that doesn't mean im plyo deficient. i do so many volumes of low-mid intensity jump drills using jump ropes and hurdles. those + the actual SVJ drills.
i consecutive double leg jump 36" hurdles 8-12 in a row. those are my favorite aside from the 2-hand SVJ dunks.
even simple 1-min set of single leg jump rople drill (front to back, and side to side) will get you stiffer in just a couple of weeks of doing them consistently.
strong plyos eventually boost your squat too. :headbang:
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You do? So you never list them then?
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I dont get it. When the chinese coach guy told me to do ankle jumps etc in 2013, LBSS & co said lol wut. And when I asked specifically for advice for improving my athleticism (Jan-April) i got absolutely nothing, even though I was willing to try out anything. But when i decide to get back to what I think I care about (squat goals), suddenly everyone piles up giving their 2c and tell me im going about things the wrong way. So excuse me if i'm a bit annoyed.
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Well IMO that's just a very negative view on your own state of affairs. You might just think it's being realistic but slow clunky people can become fast athletic people with smart training and commitment. I've seen it, others here have seen it, fuck, adarq himself was a slow-twitch long-distance guy before he started training for vert. There's plenty of examples and you haven't really given any convincing reason why you CAN'T be like that as well. Why not just change your journal name to 'chasing kingfish' then?
I'm sure you'll think I'm being naive and you seem pretty set in your opinion on this but there's no logical reason to hold self-limiting beliefs when it comes to athletic training. Every other aspect in life you need to be realistic, but not training. No one is going to laugh at you, you've literally got nothing to lose except realising what your actual potential is. Most people don't even scratch the surface.
:wowthatwasnutswtf:
i don't do RVJ but that doesn't mean im plyo deficient. i do so many volumes of low-mid intensity jump drills using jump ropes and hurdles. those + the actual SVJ drills.
i consecutive double leg jump 36" hurdles 8-12 in a row. those are my favorite aside from the 2-hand SVJ dunks.
even simple 1-min set of single leg jump rople drill (front to back, and side to side) will get you stiffer in just a couple of weeks of doing them consistently.
strong plyos eventually boost your squat too. :headbang:
Oh, sorry man, I didn't know you still regularly did that stuff. When do you fit it in with your squatting?
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Why are you getting annoyed? People are trying to help you. Would you prefer it if it was a desolate journal and you had no feedback?
Also i refuse to believe that you called for help and nobody replied. But say it happened. So what? Maybe nobody noticed it. Maybe nobody disagreed with what you said back then. Also, you seem to react too intense and defensive to all advices that deviate from what you had in mind, so that may discourage people to interfere, but that may be just my wicked perception. Who cares anyway, now people noticed and they tried to contribute.
ANYWAY, back on topic, nobody told you to not squat, not do RSR, not chase 180squat@85kg. People were trying to tell you ( i think, i can't speak for everyone ) that it would be very beneficial if you did some work to preserve some movement efficiency and 'athleticism' while pushing your squat up.
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What the heck is "RSR"?
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Russian Squatting Routine, http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Weightlifting/RussianSquatProgramGenerator.html, he did it earlier this year with great success.
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If he does that, then maybe it's cool to focus almost entirely on that. I would still do a few very low level plyos though.
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Training
FBS 1x132.5
BS 1x140, 4x132.5, 2x135, 5x125
OHP 3x60, 5x2x60
Squat notes:
Took a rep off my warmup sets and cut out a single. I like this much better. Warmup sequence was 3x100, 2x122.5, 1x132.5. Which works -- but perhaps i could progess it towards 2x125 and 1x135. And ultimately I should be looking at going from 3x100 to 2x130 as a warmup, finishing wiht a 140kg single. 120kg is just a stopgap measure while im weaker than i'd like to be.
Progressed my reps for 130kg by getting 4x132.5kg. It's possible i culd have tripled 135kg if i had attempted it before but that's ok for now. And the double was bullshit, so hard to get that 2nd rep, my form was awful and it didn't bode well for repping 125kg after that, only managing a hard 5 reps.
Upper notes:
Making 60kg my RSR inspired training weight, let's see if it works. The idea is to always use 60, and just try to build up reps and volume over time. When i've mastered it, i'll be stronger and hopefully bigger as well.
Other shit:
About 10 dunks. Skipping rope with one and two: show up a lack of something in my R leg, L leg finds it as easy as DL skips. CND: TM 7 mins @ 1incline, 8 kph. Had to stop at 7 minutes, my VMOs were cramping up like crazy.
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I dont get it. When the chinese coach guy told me to do ankle jumps etc in 2013, LBSS & co said lol wut. And when I asked specifically for advice for improving my athleticism (Jan-April) i got absolutely nothing, even though I was willing to try out anything. But when i decide to get back to what I think I care about (squat goals), suddenly everyone piles up giving their 2c and tell me im going about things the wrong way. So excuse me if i'm a bit annoyed.
don't remember the chinese coach thing but are you fucking serious about january? that's what you remember? there are pages and pages of t0ddday and raptor (and me and vag) trying to suggest things, encourage you to FOLLOW YOUR OWN ADVICE in doing dot drills and line hops and the like, writing out sample programs. go back and look.
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Ok, i'll take the advice and give it a shot. Not having much to lose since I'm not really in a position to go very far with my squats right now because i wont gain weight and my squats dont start feeling strong until i weigh 92-95kg. Like i've said, I'm skeptical about claims reactivity can be improved much, but at least i'll be able to say i tried it. Some questions below.
Which bounds shud i be doing. two leg ones? Is this vid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OkfAXjct_E) a good source to learn? Also what's good technique what should i be watching out for etc?
What else shud i be doing. im ok with trying the skipping drills KF mentioned. That's easy enuf. Btw LBSS i do the dot drills every now and then when im bored at home. Not saying i do them regularly but when i remember to, i try it out.
And im doing most of my running on the treadmill, so if there is any advice for that, in terms of what a good workout shud b, im all ears. I do it mainly for fitness but since i dont usually do anything else athletic it's better than nothing since it still involves doing something athletic..
also, i'll go the court at least 1x a week to do dunks and shoot around and do some ball handling shooting drills. Not that i think i need it. The last time i dunked was in april, and i went today and i could still dunk today even w/o warmups, which is pretty much what i expected from past experience.
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And im doing most of my running on the treadmill, so if there is any advice for that, in terms of what a good workout shud b, im all ears. I do it mainly for fitness but since i dont usually do anything else athletic it's better than nothing since it still involves doing something athletic..
I used to use the treadmill for cardio at my old gym. The max speed on the treadmill at my old gym was 24km/h so I'd try and built up the amount of time I could last at that speed for. E.g start of at that speed for 30 seconds than 35 seconds than 40 than 43 and try and work my way up to lasting for 2 minutes. The treadmill is also good for endurance just picking a moderate speed like 12km/h and jogging for 10 minutes or even just walking on the treadmill is good.
How's winter in Melbourne this year?
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And im doing most of my running on the treadmill, so if there is any advice for that, in terms of what a good workout shud b, im all ears. I do it mainly for fitness but since i dont usually do anything else athletic it's better than nothing since it still involves doing something athletic..
I used to use the treadmill for cardio at my old gym. The max speed on the treadmill at my old gym was 24km/h so I'd try and built up the amount of time I could last at that speed for. E.g start of at that speed for 30 seconds than 35 seconds than 40 than 43 and try and work my way up to lasting for 2 minutes. The treadmill is also good for endurance just picking a moderate speed like 12km/h and jogging for 10 minutes or even just walking on the treadmill is good.
How's winter in Melbourne this year?
Hey Mutombo000 welcome back. Good info. Did you mess around with the incline setting? I was wondering if it can be used to emulate hill sprints, not for any particular reason, just to see if you can do sprints without destroying legs too much for lifting, which is the main thing holding me back from sprinting regularly again. Btw maybe our treadmills are different, but i find anything over 7.5kph is challenging, lol, maybe i'm just being a pussy though and shud work up to a better speed. Winter is aite, only thing i dislike about it is that our country men can't handle a little bit of cold and resort to burning wood for heat throughout winter. Makes it unpleasant to go outside or leave a window open for fresh air. That's the only thing i hate about winter here.
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Training
FBS 1x130
BS 1x137.5, 3x127.5, 8x120 (PR)
BP 4x85, 6x80
WCU 2x89.25, 2x99.25, 1x109.25, 2x104.25, 5x94, 6x91.5
Squat notes:
Spinal erectors were torched from last workouts messy squats. Which meant everything was heavy and hard today, even warmups. Sigh. But i forced myself to do at least 130kg FS and a 137.5kg BS. I wanted 140 at least and 142.5kg ideally, but 137.5kg was a true max attempt so i didn't bother even trying 140kg from there.
It's funny, most people get their back work from doing raises/deadlifts/etc and for me, the only back work i do, is rescuing the bad squat here and there, effectively a good morning but with a weight close to a limit squat max. It gives rise to this zigzag effect where the next workout is really bad as my back recovers but after that happens, my back is then strong enough to push my squats further along from there.
Upper body:
I may be being impatient but my bench is being a real piece of shit getting back to where it was before. Stupid sexy bench press. I just wanna get 5x90 and then i'll do RSR with 90kg as my training weight.
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And im doing most of my running on the treadmill, so if there is any advice for that, in terms of what a good workout shud b, im all ears. I do it mainly for fitness but since i dont usually do anything else athletic it's better than nothing since it still involves doing something athletic..
I used to use the treadmill for cardio at my old gym. The max speed on the treadmill at my old gym was 24km/h so I'd try and built up the amount of time I could last at that speed for. E.g start of at that speed for 30 seconds than 35 seconds than 40 than 43 and try and work my way up to lasting for 2 minutes. The treadmill is also good for endurance just picking a moderate speed like 12km/h and jogging for 10 minutes or even just walking on the treadmill is good.
How's winter in Melbourne this year?
Hey Mutombo000 welcome back. Good info. Did you mess around with the incline setting? I was wondering if it can be used to emulate hill sprints, not for any particular reason, just to see if you can do sprints without destroying legs too much for lifting, which is the main thing holding me back from sprinting regularly again. Btw maybe our treadmills are different, but i find anything over 7.5kph is challenging, lol, maybe i'm just being a pussy though and shud work up to a better speed. Winter is aite, only thing i dislike about it is that our country men can't handle a little bit of cold and resort to burning wood for heat throughout winter. Makes it unpleasant to go outside or leave a window open for fresh air. That's the only thing i hate about winter here.
Yeah sometimes I used the incline but not for running just for walking. I tended not to use the incline setting very much because it always seemed to make my calves flare up.
Melbourne winter seems pretty similar to our winter so far. Just cold and wet but not many people have chimney's around my area.
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Actually that helps a lot. I'm not going to mess around with incline and just stick to 0 from now. I will build up speed and time instead. Incline prob the reason i got VMO cramps last time, and i dont need to do incline sprints anyways since im building my legs with squats. Thanks.
I watched a documentary on the first coal power station in the states, i think it was in Manhattan. Eventually they realised it was such a pollution nuisance that they decided to move future power plants far away. Which is something I wish would have extended to winter heating in 2010s where most people live. I can't remember how it was in Melbourne when i lived there, i dont remember it being bad though. I've read it costs something like 8 billion dollars in health costs just from winter heating bourne pollution. People have the option for electric or gas but still choose the inconvenient and harmful firewood option, smh. Anyway enuf ranting about that lol.
Feeling good about my lifting progress, as smashed and weak i was yesterday, i still managed to squat 130/137.5. I didn't realise it before but how much lower back strength limits my squats, not just legs, i think my legs are good for a lot more weight once my back gets a bit stronger. Next season when im playing ball, i'll def keep some back work in there, if not squats then maybe some sort of pulling exercise. Maybe as simple as lifting heavy and maintaining a regular training max. I would have done that this time, if i wasn't also cutting while training for bball. Dont think i should be cutting when going into basketball season again.
As a progress update after 6 weeks - I would have liked to b closer to 8x130 but my bodyweight really has to start moving down soon, i feel gross being fat, so i think i will force myself to start cutting real soon to get down to a leanish 84kg. I never want to have to cut more than 3kg again, it takes ages to cut 5-10kg, i end up losing my gains anyway and becoming weak. Rather do mini cuts and bulks of around 2-3kg and keep the gains.
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It may make a small difference (say 2-5%) but that's about it. That's not a good return of investment. I know i'll get more out of squats than any of that plyomumbojumpo. It's an icing to the cake, something you do when you've tapped out from squatting. IMHO.
Translation:
"I know you're right... but I don't want to do plyo work because I suck at it and I will get depressed by my display in it. So I'd rather continue strength training and pretend nothing works, so at least I have something else to blame besides myself".
Lol. I actually get the point that entropy is trying to make. But I also get why everyone is pulling their hair out with frustration trying to respond to him and help him.
A couple things.
Entropy. If you are going to make statements that have absolutely no evidence except for your personal experience then quit pulling numbers out of your ass. You have no business or no way of knowing that reactive training makes only a 2-5% difference in ability. That's ludicrous. When you make statements about numbers peoples BS meters go off and they will bring the truth to you. A look at a decent college track team in America will tell you otherwise. The coaching at Central Florida brings in a bunch of girls running 11.9 - 12.5 in the 100m. After four years and no squatting they have a bunch of women with much less squat strength running 10.9-11.3 (a massive increase in top speed).
The better translation is. I am Entropy. Despite the fact that I am really slow I have made efforts to get faster and do reactive work and FOR ME it hasn't helped. I believe I am the outlier and I can't get fast. The one thing that has worked for me is squat to bodyweight ratio which hasn't made me any faster but has increased my jump. I'm going to stick to that because it works for me.
*** Note: I don't necessarily believe the above statement is true but it is at least possible. People are different and Entropy is an individual... One thing I will say though is that it does seem really really really hard for people to get good reactive training in by themselves. I have seen people who train alone make gains in the squat rack. I have also seem them make great long endurance gains. But.... as far as top speed and reactivity... iron sharpens iron.. Without teammates it is really hard to practice proper form and make improvements. My suggestion would be of course.... join a training group. I am absolutely confused by how some of the guys on the forum insist on training alone. Maybe LA is just different but down here you can't walk around a track without seeing a training group and joining one is a piece of cake... If you just be friendly at the gym and track you should be able to get your way on a team...
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Completely agree ^^^
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I dont get it. When the chinese coach guy told me to do ankle jumps etc in 2013, LBSS & co said lol wut. And when I asked specifically for advice for improving my athleticism (Jan-April) i got absolutely nothing, even though I was willing to try out anything. But when i decide to get back to what I think I care about (squat goals), suddenly everyone piles up giving their 2c and tell me im going about things the wrong way. So excuse me if i'm a bit annoyed.
don't remember the chinese coach thing but are you fucking serious about january? that's what you remember? there are pages and pages of t0ddday and raptor (and me and vag) trying to suggest things, encourage you to FOLLOW YOUR OWN ADVICE in doing dot drills and line hops and the like, writing out sample programs. go back and look.
I think you're understating it. I went back and read Jan-April and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that entropy received perhaps the most advice anyone has ever gotten on the forum during this period. He had Raptor, LBSS, vag, T0ddday and myself commenting on all things training and nutrition-related, as well as specialist bball adivsor ChrisM giving him bauss advice on improving his game. I mean, it seemed like every post he made asking questions, there were one or two reply posts from some of the most knowledgeable members on the site.
I just can't believe he thought, at any time, that he got no help from the forum. Crazy.
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The advice was to not worry about squats, get to and stay at athletic bodyfat, maintain some baseline strength at that weight and do a lot of RFD work. That's solid advice. At the time i disagreed because for me, an athletic weight/bodyfat is stupidly light like 75kg and how strong could i be at that weight? Remember i do play basketball (sometimes lol) and how competitive could i possibly be playing a forward at that bodyweight. Terrible. Thing is i dont want to bang it down low but im always forced to because height and not having better players for those positions. I absolutely agree that if i were to somehow get adarquesque light and do a lot of RFD work, i might just maybe, become, not so slow/unathletic. I also know from experience that when i get strong (for me), i can jump pretty good even if im carrying an extra 20kg of bodyweight than at my athletic bodyweight/fat.
But ok, i'll listen for once. Lets try it your way. I'll put my squats on the side and focus on RFD and see if it can help me become more athletic. Not in any measurable sense of 100m time or SVJ/RVJ inches but in that qualitative sense of become closer in the athletic spectrum of getting ones head close to the rim on dunks and dunking it hard, you know, like in those mix tapes with those disgustingly athletic, young kids aspiring to be drafted into the league.
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Then why not try to get to that 75 kg athletic body with a low bodyfat and then start building up from there. Start to add muscle with minimal bodyfat gain (that will be difficult). But if you start from a good position of low bodyfat and light bodyweight (and get there from where you are now trying to maintain your strength as much as possible) - and work your way up to say a 80-82 kg bodyweight with a 2x squat, then you'd be a MUCH better athlete than you are right now.
The problem, obviously, is that in order to do what I'm writing in here you have to "deconstruct" yourself and build yourself up again from "zero", but where "zero" is a better place than when you first started training because now you have the strength training experience and the knowledge to do it.
This is the plan for myself, and we'll see if I'm able to do it (I have big reserves in my success but I'll try anyway).
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Training
FBS 0Fx135
BS 1x137.5, 1x142.5B, 0Fx150
CRLZ 5x45, 5x47.5 (PR), 5x45, 12x40 (PR)
CND - 10 mins TM @ 7.1kph, 100 skips
Squat notes:
Blah squats, back is still not recovered.
Conditioning notes:
Legs - calves and ankles fatigued significantly. I bet my legs aren't very stiff, maybe more time running will help me a lot.
Today is usually a rest day cause i train tue/thu/sat because of basketball. But now i decided to transition to mon/wed/fri so i can go to the court on friday nights and do some dunks. Just means ive not got enough rest but i took the hit since i needed to make the change eventually
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It wont work raptor, it's to do with leverages and form which is strength related. To get strong enough to squat with nice form using heavy weight you need enough muscle, catch 22. It's bullshit really, we've been sold a false hope. Unless steroids or genetics, it's not possible to be both strong/athletic/lean. You can choose two but only the lucky can have all three.
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It depends on how you define "strong". If you train the right way and develop the right muscles that have to do with both athleticism and "squat strength", then you should be fine.
I don't remember exactly why you don't low bar squat if you complain about leverages... but it probably has to do with you putting the "squatmorning" term out there and totally ditching the low bar squat as a "bad squat" for athleticism.
If you complain about leverages, then use a low bar squat and solve the problem.
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^lol no
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damn raptor, you are really going all in with the born again rippetoeism gospel sermoning! Im happy for you that you've found some guidance in internet coaching but give the tired propaganda a rest. low bar isn't the game changer you're making it out to be, and really fuck all of that noise, not like anyone cares much for it here.
strong, to me, is a beltless backsquat, reasonably upright for 160-180kg at a bw around 82.5-87.5kg. For someone else it might be 150kg or 200kg, it depends on the individual obv. I would like a decent front squat as well, say 150-160kg. Same bw as before. Tell me princess when did you last let your heart decide. height makes a difference as well. for a guy 5'7" say, you can be strong and jacked AF at 75kg, for me, im basically a skeleton at that weight :/ low bar isn't going to change that lol
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If you were to get at 75 kg and then start building up your strength with a low bar squat and a front squat, so that your leverages matter less, and focused on a more "clean" muscle gain, then maybe you'd get more athletic. That's what I mean.
Nobody said that a low bar squat can't be more vertical. Just ask vag and his criticism of my low bar "pretty vertical" squats, that were annoying me that they weren't "good for quad development".
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I am absolutely confused by how some of the guys on the forum insist on training alone. Maybe LA is just different but down here you can't walk around a track without seeing a training group and joining one is a piece of cake... If you just be friendly at the gym and track you should be able to get your way on a team...
believe me, i've looked. the only track groups i've been able to find around here are for distance running, or else are too far away to be practical without a car. i could join a triathlon or power lifting or olympic lifting club tomorrow. but sprinting just isn't a thing in this area unless you're in high school. the club that organizes track meets in the area has weekly track workouts but they seem to be for middle distance runners.* if i could go back to high school now i'd join the track team and just beg to do sprints and jumps even though i'm better suited to (i.e., not quite as horrible at) the mile. but i'm 27 and got my diploma 10 years ago. don't think they'd let me on the team.
the point is: LA is different.
*that said, i never got a response when i emailed some months ago asking about sprinting practice. would be worth reaching out again to see if they just misrepresent themselves on their website.
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^This. The closest ive come to finding someone to train with was an idiot who did smolov jnr with me on the bench press. BP because that's the only thing in common we could find. But i would never do that again; between the obnoxious music on the iphone or the facebooking between sets, it's far worse than training alone in terms of focus and drive.
Also LBSS i had a dream last night i went back to highschool but with all the life experience and saavy i have as an adult. Was a cool dream. No relevance just thought to mention.
edit oh and I wouldnt go by emails. No one in this country bothers returning them if you cold mail them. Phone call or go see them in person.
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Also LBSS i had a dream last night i went back to highschool but with all the life experience and saavy i have as an adult. Was a cool dream. No relevance just thought to mention.
edit oh and I wouldnt go by emails. No one in this country bothers returning them if you cold mail them. Phone call or go see them in person.
we'll see about the email. looking through the club's website again i'm actually more hopeful than i was before. will be funny if i have to eat my words. :derp:
cool about the high school dream. i often think to myself how much ass i could have gotten if i had the confidence that i do now. not that i did terribly in that department in high school, mind you. but there was plenty of room for improvement. same goes for college, really. youth really is wasted on the young. ::)
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Big glutes back then would've definitely helped now!
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I am absolutely confused by how some of the guys on the forum insist on training alone. Maybe LA is just different but down here you can't walk around a track without seeing a training group and joining one is a piece of cake... If you just be friendly at the gym and track you should be able to get your way on a team...
believe me, i've looked. the only track groups i've been able to find around here are for distance running, or else are too far away to be practical without a car. i could join a triathlon or power lifting or olympic lifting club tomorrow. but sprinting just isn't a thing in this area unless you're in high school. the club that organizes track meets in the area has weekly track workouts but they seem to be for middle distance runners.* if i could go back to high school now i'd join the track team and just beg to do sprints and jumps even though i'm better suited to (i.e., not quite as horrible at) the mile. but i'm 27 and got my diploma 10 years ago. don't think they'd let me on the team.
the point is: LA is different.
*that said, i never got a response when i emailed some months ago asking about sprinting practice. would be worth reaching out again to see if they just misrepresent themselves on their website.
I guess just because I am shocked doesn't mean what you are saying isn't possible. I haven't met training partners in the DC area (well besides LBSS) but I can tell you it is insanely easy in both LA and New York. Last time I was in New York for business I linked up with Central Park Track club and they have multiple 20 point guys and great coaches... Also, met some other athletes just at the gym and organized more training.
Perhaps searching on the internet isn't the best way? I mean I have seen PVTC and Maryland Masters track club but perhaps neither exists anymore. In LA at least it's really all about location. Most tracks/fields you will go to and their will be nothing but a bunch of kids playing soccer. But venture into the right neighborhood and find the right track and it will be nothing but elite sprinting groups and NFL combine training and an absolutely incredibly level of talent. The same is true for gyms... mostly just terrible atmospheres but we have a few gyms actually dedicated to speed and even a gym entirely dedicated to increasing your vertical jump...
I have no idea if this will work in Australia but you might have more success if you keep exploring some different tracks for training. At least in LA the best tracks are in wealthier black neighborhoods and the environment at these tracks is pretty serious and if you are interested in getting more athletic an environment like this would help astronomically. I honestly believe we could fix your bounds in about 3-5 sessions if you had our group with you to compare against vs the months it might take you to iron it out yourself.
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PVTC is the group I emailed with no response. I've had ultimate games on the field where they work out and it was all middle-distance people. I remember seeing a girl I'd gone to high school with who was a talented 5k runner and ended up running at Maryland. She was fit as hell, toasting dudes in the repeat 400s and 800s that they seemed to be doing. But I don't want to be doing 800s. If they get back to me and say, hey, actually we do have a group that does sprint training, then by god I'll get my ass down there on Monday nights. But they're the only ones. The Maryland clubs, and there are a couple although hard to tell how active they are, might as well be in New York for how realistic it would be to get to their practices sans car.
In re: fixing my bounds: I weep to think how much improvement I could make with a knowledgeable partner or coach. By god, I bet I could even run sub-13s.* If I ever get into competitive lifting I will for damn sure find a training partner and proper club because I know the value. It just isn't that easy here. Especially without a car.
* :ffffffuuuuuu:
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I have no idea if this will work in Australia but you might have more success if you keep exploring some different tracks for training. At least in LA the best tracks are in wealthier black neighborhoods and the environment at these tracks is pretty serious and if you are interested in getting more athletic an environment like this would help astronomically. I honestly believe we could fix your bounds in about 3-5 sessions if you had our group with you to compare against vs the months it might take you to iron it out yourself.
The difference, and the problem, within Australia is the lack of high school/college sporting programs in general. We don't have anywhere near the same sporting infrastructure as the US or Europe. For most kids touching weights or doing track work in high school is a rarity even if you're playing high level sport.
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I have no idea if this will work in Australia but you might have more success if you keep exploring some different tracks for training. At least in LA the best tracks are in wealthier black neighborhoods and the environment at these tracks is pretty serious and if you are interested in getting more athletic an environment like this would help astronomically. I honestly believe we could fix your bounds in about 3-5 sessions if you had our group with you to compare against vs the months it might take you to iron it out yourself.
The difference, and the problem, within Australia is the lack of high school/college sporting programs in general. We don't have anywhere near the same sporting infrastructure as the US or Europe. For most kids touching weights or doing track work in high school is a rarity even if you're playing high level sport.
Absolutely agree 100%.
In Adelaide there's 1 million people and we only have 1 track, which is probably why the fastest time in our state this year for the 100m was 10.62.
Same as basketball in Adelaide. The last time an indoor court was built was 11 years ago and that was only because the old stadium got torched in an arson attack. Most of our district clubs are playing on courts that are 30-50 years old.
In Australia unless it's Aussie rules, Rugby Union/Leage, or Cricket nobody wants to invest anything. Soccer is up and coming now but most of its growth is at the junior levels and the infrastructure in relation to the participation rate is still pretty low.
I've never been to America so most of what I see is just judged off movies and media but I've heard people get paid to coach high school football teams and people get paid to be strenth and conditioning coaches etc. at college or be track coaches. In Australia all of those positions are done by volunteers. If you want a strength and conditioning coach you'll need to hire a personal trainer haha.
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In Romania, the best court in the country for basketball is probably worse than a high school court in the USA. This for the entire country of ~23 million people.
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Training
FBS 1x133.5 (PR)
BS 1x137.5, 0Fx142.5, 1x132.5, 7x122.5 (PR)
BP 3x85, 2x87.5, 2x2x86, 2x85, 5x81
Squat notes:
137.5kg didn't feel like a 1RM so i tried my luck at 142.5kg but it was a bit too much. In hindsight shuda just gone for 140kg. Next time i'll prob do that. Btw that FS isn't a pr, not even a 2014 PR, just a cycle or local PR. If i make a global PR i'd have it in bold face.
Where to go from here? On friday i'll attempt 140+kg and try to set a PR for reps with 125kg, goal being to get up to 8x130kg by july.
Upper notes:
Wasn't up for repping 85 so did a RSR style workout of 5 doubles. Idk, i imagine if i make 90kg my training weight it will do good things for my strength, without actually doing RSR proper since it would have me using something like 80kg which is too light imho to do much for me.
My back has been hurting since last week. Im putting it down to the dunks i did out of the blue :( Hopefully it will be gone by friday cause i wanna start seriously progressing my squats.
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If im a double leg jumper, shud i still b doing lots of 1 leg jumps? Y?
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Do you want to get better at 1 leg jumps? If not I'd just stick to DL.
I don't see any benefit to training something you're not going to use.
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Well, guess it's time for him to walk on two feet from now on. Hop on the streets like a bird. No need for any unilateral stuff.
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DL-jumpers can benefit practicing SL jumps because bounding.
DL-jumping bball players can benefit even more practicing SL jumps because basketball.
Just don't overdo it , because the overload/forces in SL jumps are much higher.
Also, i just noticed this:
My back has been hurting since last week. Im putting it down to the dunks i did out of the blue :( Hopefully it will be gone by friday cause i wanna start seriously progressing my squats.
Nop, it's not the dunks, you can verify that if you ask.... entropy:
Squat notes:
Spinal erectors were torched from last workouts messy squats. Which meant everything was heavy and hard today, even warmups. Sigh. But i forced myself to do at least 130kg FS and a 137.5kg BS. I wanted 140 at least and 142.5kg ideally, but 137.5kg was a true max attempt so i didn't bother even trying 140kg from there.
It's funny, most people get their back work from doing raises/deadlifts/etc and for me, the only back work i do, is rescuing the bad squat here and there, effectively a good morning but with a weight close to a limit squat max. It gives rise to this zigzag effect where the next workout is really bad as my back recovers but after that happens, my back is then strong enough to push my squats further along from there.
8)
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Why put your back into unsafe positions with the deadlift, when you can do bad form squats and get a great spinal work?
The deadlift is just unsafe.
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Nop, it's not the dunks, you can verify that if you ask.... entropy:
Trust me, it's dunks, i always get it when i start back after a long layoff. Altho it might be squats too but idk.
Why put your back into unsafe positions with the deadlift, when you can do bad form squats and get a great spinal work?
The deadlift is just unsafe.
Just remember raptor
There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that produces the level of central nervous system activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed full squatmorning
it's worth it like l'oreal
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Well, guess it's time for him to walk on two feet from now on. Hop on the streets like a bird. No need for any unilateral stuff.
Because we all had to do SL jumps before we learnt to walk
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Training
FBS 2x126, 1x135 (PR)
BS 1x140, 1x130 (lol), 3x124.5 (lolx2)
OHP 6x3x60 (PR?)
WCU 2x91, 2x101, 2x106, 0Fx111, 5x96, 2x6x90.4
Plyo stuff - see notes;
Squat notes:
Good news is on a day i was weak af i still managed a local front squat PR. Bad news is that it's 10kg away from my alltime FS PR though I do happen to weigh 10kg less. I would like to close that gap and be within 5kg of my PR but while weighing 10kg less. Have a lot of work left to be done.
My bar speed has been so shit lately, think my CNS is battered but i dont understand y because ive been doing so little volume lately. Though have been maxing out every session i thought that wouldnt matter much. Not sure what to do from here. Being unable to rep 130kg is a deal breaker. Have to figure out a way to get myself stronger and better with reps.
I forgot to mention, ive bumped up my squat warmup from 3x100 im going to 2x126 now. I will try to progress it up to 2x127.5kg i think which is prob good for doing a single with 140kg next? Right now its hard af tho cause its pretty much my 2rm lol
Upper notes:
Surprised to see my OHP responding so well to the RSR inspired progression. I like the idea of keeping 60kg as my training weight for reps til i've mastered it. Lets stick with it and see where it takes me!
Plyomomumbojumbo bullshit:
Did about 250 skips total. Split it btw DL and SL. DJs, 2 sets of 5. and some bounds, total of 10 i think. Not sure if im doing these right but who cares it's all bullshit anyway. Oh and 5 dunks. bullshit dunks.
am supposed to drive to the basketball court and do some dunks and other plymomumbo jumbo nonsens but with how shitty my CNS is, im questioning the point. Might do it anyways. After that, fml have to do upper body work too :( And conditioning. Cant be bothered.
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Why is your CNS fatigued? Hm...
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
You thought only volume tires the CNS?
Check this out:
Legs were jelly, had no desire to front squat heavy but i forced myself to attempt a 132kg max single anyway
i had meant to do triple with 130kg but wore myself out before i could attempt them
A string of failures today when I should have done a lot better. Oh well. I prob picked the wrong weight after getting that 2nd very good triple, should have done doubles with 135kg after that, or maybe just one double and then another double with 132.5 or something like that instead of failing 2 doubles!
Im getting that dreadful about-to-hit-the-wall feeling as I aproach 120kg though
That 130 was a max effort lift though. I think i repeat it until i can get the 130kg easier
I wanted to do triples or doubles with 135-137.5kg, in reality the 135 doubles were close enough to 2RM that i had no business thinking of doing more sets
My goal from last session was to do a PR of 8x120kg today -- but -- having failed the 4th rep of 130kg
so i thought go for the 7x122.5 PR instead, and came close but failed the 7th
It's been so long since i front squatted 130kg but we're back there albeit it's a ugly grindy max right now rather than easy warmup
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That's bullshit raptor, stop believing the overtraining hype. Broz and bulgarian bros have destroyed that myth forever, they train daily and max out daily. It's volume which causes CNS fatigue not intensity :ibsquatting:
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Are you SURE they max out daily?
So if I put on my max 160 kg squat every day, which is going to be a huge grinder or a fail every now and then, I won't overtrain? Good luck with that one.
The reality is that the stronger you get, the more time for recovery you need from TRUE max attempts.
Now if you go with 90-95% of max, that's a whole other story.
Failing your attempts proves that you've gone to your true max.
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This is a dumb conversation. I've squatted 20kg more before lol. why are you telling me 140kg is my true max? It's obviously not, im just weak right now, the solution isnt to embrace that weakness and accept it (because CNS bro), rather, it's to keep at it til im stronger
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So if Adarqui suddenly decides today to start squatting again, after a lot of time off, he will say "well, I used to half squat 350 lbs+, so I will start using the same weight"?
Why don't you listen to your body and adjust your lifting according to where you are right now?
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Because pussies say/do that and im not that, lets quote rocky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoPV5dPrKs8
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entropy, although i don't like to interfere again because we come too hard on you lately, but bro, are you reading yourself?
why are you telling me 140kg is my true max? It's obviously not, im just weak right now.
This is avishek-nonsensical level material.
Come on man, max != PR, that is not arguable, it is a principle, not a theorem.
But really, i am with raptor here. You are killing your back and CNS. Not only it is deteriorating your progress ( which let's say for the sake of the argument that is false ), but you are seriously risking injuries.
Just do what raptor said, go to 90-95% intensity. You are not embracing your weakness, you are just using 5-10% less to save your CNS and back.
Do absolutely the same thing you are doing now. You will advance the same percentage and in a given time you will have gained the same weight on your 90-95%1RM instead of 100%.
No real difference for your gains , a 10kg gain in 90%RM will equal to around 9kg gain in 1RM at your poundage. It is the same gains with a huge safety belt plus feeling fresher, give it a deeper thought man.
Just trying to help :D
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I dont know. I'll give it another week and see if something changes. It may be that while my BS is 20kg below PR, my FS is only 10kg below. Which may mean perhaps that the FS is too high rather than BS being too low? Like when i was doing 150-160kg bs, my regular FS was i think 135-137.5kg while it's now 132-135kg whereas BS is absurdly low at 137.5-140. I'm really pissed of with my BS. Piece of shit isn't moving, which torments me bc i only really care about BS and FS is just a necessary distraction to keep myself honest. I dont want to back of FS yet though but perhaps i shud hold it there while my BS catches up to my previously attained regular maxes.
Btw i know where i went wrong last time. I fooled myself into thinking i had gotten stronger than i was, a 170/160/145 squat is nothing special, i was still weak. I should have been more humble and set my sights on somewhere else, esp when i wasn't even in danger of repping 140kg yet. So lesson learnt, will pay my dues and own 130-140kg for reps first, my goal being to do sets of 6 with 137.5kg before earning the right to rep 140kg and over. Btw whenever that happens, i'll automatically be good for a 180kg squat.
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dumb dumb dumb
dumb du-dumb, dumb du-dumb
dumb dumb dumb
dumb du-dumb, dumb du-dumb
dumb dumb dumb
dumb du du-du-dumb, dumb dumb
dumb du du-du-dumb, dumb dumb
dumb du-dumb, dumb du-dumb
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The Russians defined a 1RM as your best in competition, the absolute best you could achieve on the platform, with all the stress of being in front of a crowd. By some accounts, ‘meet nerves’ could add a spectacular 10% to a lifter’s numbers.
The Bulgarians used a different definition, calling for the best you can do right now, casually. No getting excited, no adrenaline rush, no elevated heart rate. No sitting in the corner listening to heavy metal for 15 minutes before hitting the lift. You just go do it, calm as you can. If you can’t hit it without getting nervous, it’s over your max for the day by definition.
I guess the advantage of the Bulgarian system is that you can make quick gains in a short amount of time. Yet long term it will lead to burnout. Remember when the Bulgarian weightlifters were at their peak in the ’70s and ’80s, they often retired early, most likely due to injury. In contrast, the Russian lifters tended to have much longer careers. Another thing to take into account was that these lifters were juiced to the grills and their whole life was literally eat, sleep and train.
That said my advice would be to pick a program you believe in, bust your ass and stick with it for better or worse (hypocritical I know).
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^This, im talking about a training max. The whole idea of a 'true max' is kind of a misnomer, like in statistics when frequentists talk about a 'true proportion' as if such a thing actually exists. A 'true max' which is contingent on months of leadup and hinges on being perfectly prepared to realise it only once and never again isn't useful for training purposes. You dont even know what your true max is, maybe you were good for 10g more, or maybe you went too heavy by 100g, who really knows, it's not important for the purpose of training which is something you do all the time not just a once off event. What we are interested in as athletes is being able to perform at a decent high level regularly.
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You dont even know what your true max is, maybe you were good for 10g more, or maybe you went too heavy by 100g, who really knows, it's not important for the purpose of training which is something you do all the time not just a once off event. What we are interested in as athletes is being able to perform at a decent high level regularly.
And that is exactly why you don't have to chase your true max every day, but a safe 90-95% is a wise choice. Anything over 85% is supposed to recruit all muscle units anyway.
Many ( if not most ) people in here train like that, going for a daily heavy -but not max- single, them back-off and do some rep work. kingfish, raptor, mutumbo, dreyth, ChrisM and so on. I did it too in my recent periodization routine ( in the strength phase, this was done to build strength, not preserve it ), here is kellyb's guidelines:
Squat: 8 x 1 @ 90% (add weight the 1st 4-5 sets working up to heavy but solid form single. Reduce the weight by 10% and perform 3-4 more sets of 1)
If you love the PR, the true max, which you do, it is ok, go for it, just do it less often, like once a week or every 2 weeks. I bet that following the buffered approach will lead to better PRs when you go for them like that.
Just 2c again.
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This ^^^
And the better you get, the less you should aim for a true max, and the more recovery you will need after a true max.
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You dont even know what your true max is, maybe you were good for 10g more, or maybe you went too heavy by 100g, who really knows, it's not important for the purpose of training which is something you do all the time not just a once off event. What we are interested in as athletes is being able to perform at a decent high level regularly.
And that is exactly why you don't have to chase your true max every day, but a safe 90-95% is a wise choice. Anything over 85% is supposed to recruit all muscle units anyway.
Many ( if not most ) people in here train like that, going for a daily heavy -but not max- single, them back-off and do some rep work. kingfish, raptor, mutumbo, dreyth, ChrisM and so on. I did it too in my recent periodization routine ( in the strength phase, this was done to build strength, not preserve it ), here is kellyb's guidelines:
Squat: 8 x 1 @ 90% (add weight the 1st 4-5 sets working up to heavy but solid form single. Reduce the weight by 10% and perform 3-4 more sets of 1)
If you love the PR, the true max, which you do, it is ok, go for it, just do it less often, like once a week or every 2 weeks. I bet that following the buffered approach will lead to better PRs when you go for them like that.
Just 2c again.
This ^^^
And the better you get, the less you should aim for a true max, and the more recovery you will need after a true max.
You guys are all hung up on this concept of a true max and a percentage of it. There is no true max and taking percentages of something that doesn't exist is a mistake upon that. Forget the 90-95% of a "true max" - that's even more meaningless. Do you seriously believe that stuff?
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True maxes are nonsensical they have nothing to do with this bullshit.
:P
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The true max is your PR.
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Can someone define true max?
Is it truthfully the max you'll ever lift? Because I'd hope to be training at 50% of it currently then.
Is it the true max for your current strength levels? Then its not really a true max IMO.
Maybe its a true max for that day? Which would make it your daily max right?
Idk about everyone here but when I go lift I just try to see how my body reacts that day. Some days are stronger than others and I adjust accordingly. As long as I progress in the long term then I know I'm heading in the correct direction. Too much thinking. Moar lifting. Lol
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Idiots. Avishek has a point even if he's being paraphrased and caricatured. Raptor before you start typing, even your saviour lord gomad would say the concept is meaningless for a novice, which pretty much goes for everyone here even King and Chris since they're weak right now. Lord gomad would say for a novice the 1rm is subject to frequent change so much so that it might well be ignored. When you are looking at really advanced guys who are programming their lifts to make say 2.5kg PRs over a period of 12 months, then maybe you can pinpoint a number as a 'true max' which is nothing more than a restatement for saying PRs are really hard to come by, so for all reasonable purposes the max can be considered a constant. Even so, it doesn't need to apply to day to day training.
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Ninja post Raptor! Lol!
If your true max is a PR then it changes. Thats not a very 'true' statement in my mind. I think worrying about a true max is just a waste of time.
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What you should care about is your failed lifts. They are above the "daily max" and they eat your CNS.
Doing lifts just because you squatted 180 kg 2 months ago and therefore that's the weight you should be squatting any time you want is just wrong.
That's why daily maxes are established (where the daily max is just a heavy single, not a 10 second grinder) and that's why you lower the weight after you are establishing that daily max.
But whatever man, do whatever you want to do.
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Let me rephrase:
1) A daily max is a "max" lift that is done in a calm psychological state (no yelling, pumping up, coffee and roid-rage). Just a calm, solid single.
2) A true max is done in the mode that is listed in between the parentheses.
If a lift is failed in a calm psychological state, then it's above the daily max and it eats the CNS like I eat Nutella when on a bulk.
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I think what entropy is referring to as there being no such thing as true max, as in the true limit of the body's capability of lifting a certain weight, so in this case that is true there is no true max, as the more you train, more protein you take the more you can increase your true max strength, which is the same as RM, just my 2c
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Exactly ^!
Lol so suppose i listen to this awesome textbook advice and say ok my true max is 140kg (lol) and then i dutifully calculate 80% of that which is 112.5kg, so i take off 20+kg off the bar straight away to be a good and educated trainee. I spend the next 6-8 weeks doing a lot of reps with 112.5kg, would i become stronger or weaker? I'll tell you for a fact i'd become weaker. So there is something missing here in all of this chatter of true maxes and percentages, and that's stronger and weaker, that's all there is to it. Either you're getting stronger or you're not. And i'm not hence all this angst :(
It's part of the conventional advice to do volume for sets of 5-8 with 80-85%. I'm not opposed but at this point i could just use RSR and say fuck that, i'm going to make 120kg my training weight and build up from 6x2x120 up to 6x6x120 over 3 weeks and last time i did that RSR1 that took me up to a 155kg squat while maxing 2-3x a week. The following time i did RSR with 130kg, 6x2x130 up to 4x6x130 which got me up to 145/160/170kg which also included regular maxing. But this time without RSR, i'm stuck at 140kg, which i believe now is because my FS is too high that it's affecting the subsequent BS but i haven't checked that by changing my FS. Idk.
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Wow... there are so many things wrong there that...
Well, good luck.
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Exactly ^!
Lol so suppose i listen to this awesome textbook advice and say ok my true max is 140kg (lol) and then i dutifully calculate 80% of that which is 112.5kg, so i take off 20+kg off the bar straight away to be a good and educated trainee. I spend the next 6-8 weeks doing a lot of reps with 112.5kg, would i become stronger or weaker? I'll tell you for a fact i'd become weaker.
How does that work? You would get stronger of course unless you lack in something, nutrition, recovery, mechanics, as well as other things, which would have to be addressed.
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BW: 86.2kg
Off day conditioning session. Felt fat lol. I took caffeine just to see if it would make me focus better on problem solving and it worked but i felt energetic and decided to squeeze in an impromptu training sesh. Hope it doesn't affect me tmr in the gym tho but if it doesn't im gonna try this sort of thing more often!
Training
CND ~ 2km in ~22 mins
Skips ~ 200 total
WCU 2x3x88
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I felt sick today, cold symptoms, didn't feel strong and even warmups were hard, like front squatting 6x60kg warmups felt like a 6RM.
BW: 86.2kg/190lb
Training
FBS 2x127.5, 0Fx137
BS 1x135, 0Fx142.5, 3x5x120
WCU 2x89.6, 2x94.6, 2x99.6, 2x104.6, 3x99.6, 5x97.1, 6x92.1
Squat notes:
The good news is ive made 127.5kg double warmup repeatable. Bad news is, i've not been able to progres my max single since i got 136kg on monday i think it was. Oh well bring on next week, looking forward to a new crack at a single PR. The alternative is to progress the double up to 130kg, that wud be cool too. Idk, will see.
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BW: 85.6kg / 188.7lb
Training
FBS 2x127.5, 0Fx132.5
BS 1x130, 1x135, 5x120, 5x117.5
BP 1x89.5
CRLZ 5x50 (PR), 5x49.5, 5x48.5, 2x10x40 (PR)
AbCr 2x12x20
AbR 6xBW, 8xBW
Squat notes:
127.5kg warmup doubles felt like 2rm for bs and fs alike. Failingg 132.5kg fs was demoralising considering I was hoping to pr 137.5kg today. 135kg bs was a shitty 1rm lift even worse cause ugly.
Feeling so weak - Weekend of dieting and being sick didn't help. I'm also due for a carb reload but not sure to take it today (day #8 of cut) or wait til weds and make it through 10 days of cutting. If i take it now, i will have a better workout weds but it will mean more cutting. take it weds and this whole week of training will be a writeoff, probably. Blah. cutting sucks. being weak sucks. FML.
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(http://i.imgur.com/RLzEBBE.png)
decided to a refeed, my fav refeed food is ofc a meatt pizza w/ bbq sauce. plenty of carbs, over 200g worth and delicious while protein and fat are about 50g each for the lot, i'm ok with the fat because i dont eat any other fat except for 3 eggs in the morning
now this shud mean i can max out PR weds! not like i wud have got lean by holding off refeed til weds, after which wud have wasted training for the week.
have 2 weeks to get lean before i leave, shud be enuf time, im starting to see faint torso definition coming in. need to add in more conditioning though to really get there but dieting makes that complex and full of pitfalls wrt gym performance.
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I will NEVER understand people posting pictures of their food. It's something beyond my understanding powers.
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like on social media? i agree.
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Training
FBS 1Fx127.5, 0Fx132.5
BS 1x137.5
OHP 4x5x60, 3x60
CND - 2km in 19mins, 2.12km in 20 mins.
Squat notes:
technically my form was immaculate on warmups with 100kg. But 127.5kg just owned me and after that i wasn't up for any more squatting. will try again friday... sigh.
bad day for lifting, just felt weak, lack of sleep last night caught up with me, maybe total of 4 hours, felt like i was awake or in shallow sleep through the night.
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Weighed in 85kg even today lol. I still have 12 days left so i cud conceivably continue dieting. I wud like to be a clear 10-12%, not there yet but i can't be very far. Maybe diet a few days then eat at maintenance and ramp up conditioning to finish the job? Idk perhaps.
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So you still planning on roiding up? That discussion kinda got lost in the recent site upgrade and you haven't mentioned it since.
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Considering i can't even seem to be a lean 85kg and i'd like to be a lean 90-95kg, yeah maybe. lol. Downside is one of the reasons i wanna be a lean 90-95 is to play basketball better and yet catch 22 i wont be able to play anymore in good conscious sucks.
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Considering i can't even seem to be a lean 85kg and i'd like to be a lean 90-95kg, yeah maybe. lol. Downside is one of the reasons i wanna be a lean 90-95 is to play basketball better and yet catch 22 i wont be able to play anymore in good conscious sucks.
Have you ever got your hormones or test levels checked?
Were you fat as a kid or previously fat?
You seem pretty strict with your diet and exercise so maybe it's an internal factor that's preventing you from being lean/losing your stubborn fat.
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BW: 85kg
Training
FBS 2x127.5, 0Fx137
BS 1x137.5, 5x122.5, 4Fx125, 5x120
BP 3x87.5, 1Fx89.5
BBALL ~ 1hr
WCU 2x96.5, 1x101.5, 2x106.5 (+20kg), 5x96.5, 6x91.5, 5x91.5, 2x5x89
Squat notes:
Use it or lose it. I lost it. I shuda maintained 136kg instead of trying to squeeze out 137.5kg. Now it's gone. My front squat has disappeared. At least im clinging on to my warmup double for now, uglier each time. But any more cutting from here and that will prob slip from my grasp too.
I'm about 1kilo bodyweight away from being kinda lean. But i'm not willing to get weaker to lose it, so not sure how to play it from here. More conditioning will do it, but then i might lose strength in the gym :(
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Have 9 days left and still fat so need to ramp things up. It's a rest day, Sunday. I'm fasting (20hrs so far) and just finished a caffeinated treadmill session - 25 mins, 2km.
i'm also going to take 200mg caffeine 2x a day, every day for the next 9 days. just to get a bit more fat loss in.
But i'm not dieting every day. maybe next sat/sun fasted like today, maybe just plain diet mon and fri but weds and thurs i'll eat at maintenance or whatever. Tuesday i haven't decided because i wanna be strong for at least 1 day.
Also have to fit in conditioning somehow and have been thinking daily fasted treadmill walk too. lol.
can't wait to be lean again :D
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Bodyweight: 84.8kg / 186.95lb
Here we go, the last week of training before my summer holiday :) Broke the 85kg barrier. Waist is a chubby 34.5". I can only hope to do so much in 8 days but lets see how we go. Not sure how to train, will probably play it by feel from here. Caffeine and diet game will be on point though. Might try 2 a days training. Conditioning is going to make or break things.
Training
Fasted TM - 15 mins, 1km
BP 2x6x80, 5x80, 4x80
FBS 3x60, 2x100, 1x120, 1x130
FBS 1x127.5
BS 1x130, 1x135, 2x125, 3x120, 2x122.5
CRLZ 5x51 (PR), 5x51, 6x50 (PR)
CRLZ 3x10x40
Squat notes:
I wasn't planning on squatting fasted lol but i thought to try lance's 2-a-day training thing where you go to a max single in the first session and then volume in the 2nd. Or something like that. Only problem was/is that 130kg felt like 1rm but it didn't make sense to try anything less than 130. Lets see how 2nd session goes! Excited! I made the modification of cutting reps down though for the first squat session. Felt aight.
Session 2 sucked. I wont be repeating this 2-a-day squatting thing again.
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7 days to go! it's my off day but i felt full of energy and went out for some sprints.
Training
CND - 5x(20s on, 20s off) sprint intervals
So far i've fasted ~23 hours since my last meal yesterday. I don't feel hungry and just came back from running. Feels good man. I should have been doing this regularly. my gymboss battery died so i had a reason not to, but i have fresh ones in now so have no more excuses. Ofcourse i'll probably get cripling doms tomorrow as im due to squat, but whatever, lets just get lean first then I can figure out how to get squat strong while staying lean. Lol.
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Do you think that fasting is more effective for fat loss than regular reduced caloric value meals?
I mean, if you are going to intake the same amount of kcals one day, say 1500, why fast? I would expect regular meals that keep you in an anabolic state more time to be better.
Is there a mechanism i am not aware of that burns more fat? Or is fasting just a way to be sure you got a bigger daily caloric deficit?
LBSS, what's your view on this?
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hey vag. benefits become apparent closer to single digit bodyfat, to get rid of stubborn fat etc. for me im about a kilo away from looking leanish as in visible abs veins and what not. apart from that, no real benefit from fasting if you're just doing a normal cut that'll do just as well. i'm also using stims like caffeine to get there sooner since i have a deadline, normally i wouldnt bother using it for fat loss either. hopefully i can wrap this up soon, think im not far from being lean enough for my purposes.
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Do you think that fasting is more effective for fat loss than regular reduced caloric value meals?
I mean, if you are going to intake the same amount of kcals one day, say 1500, why fast? I would expect regular meals that keep you in an anabolic state more time to be better.
Is there a mechanism i am not aware of that burns more fat? Or is fasting just a way to be sure you got a bigger daily caloric deficit?
LBSS, what's your view on this?
intermittent fasting has a fair amount of published and anecdotal evidence behind it. 23 hours is a lot longer than is normally recommended, but it's not like that's his normal schedule. the importance of meal timing is greatly overrated in broscience. as long as protein intake is adequate and overall caloric intake is adequate, entropy's fine.
for one thing, i know a lot of people really enjoy the fact that on IF, you can still eat big, satisfying meals. sure, you don't eat the rest of the day, but twice a day you get to chow down. feels less like starving yourself, for some people.
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LBSS, that's what i thought. It seemed to me more like a method. In the same lines of 'drink a ton of water before lunch so you won't be so hungry'. I dont get it because although i love food and eating big, i can be very consistent with any diet plan, whatever it is, fasting, many small meals, force-feeding, no prob. But i understand many people are not like that so they need their methods.
Entropy, i don't really fall for the single digits story bro, sorry. Going from 15 to 14% or from 10 to 9%, I believe that frequent meals in whatever quantities to meet your daily caloric plan is the optimal way, because of the much greater time of the day that you stay on anabolic state.
But it doesn't mean fasting doesn't work. If it is more convenient for you, i am with you. I mean if without fasting you may slip and eat more, or it is too much trouble to track nutrients and count meals and have meals too, or for whatever reasons you feel better when fasting, then you are right to choose it. In my eyes it is a ( slightly? ) less effective fat loss method but for many people it may be much more convenient and easy to keep at, so in the end they will get better results.
Carry on :D
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The stubborn fat thing is legit. It increases blood flow to stubborn fat cells or something like that. Also boosts growth hormone. It's not as simple as more frequency, more anabolic.
The main benefit for me of fasting, like i did today, close to 24hrs (like 10 mins short lol) is that i can eat most of my carbs and foods before bed and get a good night sleep. If i eat half of my food in the morning, by the time i'm in bed, my body has burned off the dinner, and im lying there sleepless and hungry as fuck. So hard to fall asleep hungry, and when you do fall asleep, it's not as deep, so the slihgtly thing will wake me up and then im hungry and sleeplessl tired going into the next day.
During the day hunger is no problem you can always use caffeine (as in ECA) or if E is banned in your country as it is in mine there are alternatives (yohimbe and another one which i actually use as of today). boom hunger gone, focus and energy plentiful. At night though, you can't use stimulants for obvious reasons, so when you're in bed, having food in your gut to keep your body working nicely is a good thing
The fasting experience story for me is still being written. If i can get lean quickly as im planning to (in a total of like 2-3 weeks off a bulk being quite fat) then i'll super happy!
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Entropy, i don't really fall for the single digits story bro, sorry. Going from 15 to 14% or from 10 to 9%, I believe that frequent meals in whatever quantities to meet your daily caloric plan is the optimal way, because of the much greater time of the day that you stay on anabolic state.
this is broscience of the purest, highest grade.
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The stubborn fat thing is legit. It increases blood flow to stubborn fat cells or something like that. Also boosts growth hormone. It's not as simple as more frequency, more anabolic.
Ah, that's what i was asking in my first post.
now it is a mechanism again, not a method. I am very interested, both about stubborn fat and even more about the GH factor. I will try to read more to it.
Entropy, i don't really fall for the single digits story bro, sorry. Going from 15 to 14% or from 10 to 9%, I believe that frequent meals in whatever quantities to meet your daily caloric plan is the optimal way, because of the much greater time of the day that you stay on anabolic state.
this is broscience of the purest, highest grade.
It is??? WTF, you are destroying my perception about diet/nutrition.
Maybe i did not elaborate enough, by 'whatever quantities to meet your caloric plans' i meant your pre-specified daily diet plan divided ( not necessarily equally ) in meals, not random calories and nutrients. So, if you were to eat 1500 kcals with 150g protein ( random example, also predetermined fats and carbs but too bored to include them in the example ), i thought that doing three 500kcal-50g meals would be anabolic-wise better than fast and eat them in one. Could be 800-60 / 350-30 / 350-60, no big fuss. But sure better than one-off. I also know that there is too much hype around the meals number, e.g. 4 to 6 meals is no real difference, but 2 to 4 is. I know that anabolic/catabolic is not a time switch, you were not 100% anabolic for 2 hours and 59 minutes and turned 100% catabolic at 3 hours and 1 minute. But i thought the whole thing works like that, the more time passes from your last meal , the more the percentage switches from anabolic to catavolic state, that well-known curve, you know it, too bored to post it. Is that a myth???
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vag: http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html
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Enlightening.
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BW: 84.4kg /186lb
6 days to go..
Waist is down to ~34.0" .. i get "lean" around 33.0" i think? i cant remember wud have to look it up when i dieted down to <75kg/165lb. Either way have a while to go yet (in terms of waist circumference not bodyweight lol)
Might do a 24hr fast again today, im really pleased with how fresh i feel today even though i did sprints for the first time yesterday, ive got no crippling doms, none in hams, quads or glutes. I can't explain that shit but im putting it down to the way i ate my whole daily intake postworkout fast.
Training
FBS 1x125
BS 1x132.5
OHP 5x60, 5x4x60
FBS 1x127.5
BS 1x130, 3x122.5, 2x5x120
AbPD 3x15
CND ~ 18 minutes running (with breaks lol), 26:30mins total time spent on TM.
Squat notes:
Gave the 2-a-day squat thing another chance. I think i picked the right weight for fs/bs singles but the last bs single felt like a 1rm so i prob erred there. My lower back is acting weird though, so that might have something to do with it too, idk what's going on with it.
decided to cut fast short at 19hrs have a meal and i'll train later tonight.
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Enlightening.
also check out this -
http://www.leangains.com/2010/06/intermittent-fasting-and-stubborn-body.html
not really sure im close to stubborn fat range but whatever
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Interesting too. I doubt i will ever reach the stubborn fat stage as he describes it though (four-and-a-half-pack abs). Most of what he says applies for other fat ranges anyway.
IF is a totally different world from the one i thought it was, i am glad i asked.
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BW: 83.7kg / 184.53lb
Scale drops again. Dont feel quite as lean as i'd like yet though :( Im gonna do some fasted treadmill walking (3x20min sessions around caffeine doses), even though i was planning on having a rest day.
update. fasted 20 hrs, did 2 fasted treadmill sessions of about 2.4km total, about 42.5mins long. And skipping rope 'bout 200 skips.
Ate 1 meal at the end of the day. 3 eggs, 2 slices wholmeal bread, a baked chicken breast, 400mL lowfat milk + 1.5scoop whey, 4x1.5g fish oil, 2xmulti vitamins, cup of cauliflower, 1tbspoon of psyllium husk powder. That's the lot. But it's only 8pm and im prob gonna get real hungry again tonight :( i couldn't wait any longer tho hunger was too much lol.
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BW: 83.7kg / 184.53lb
Have fasted: 21 hours so far. (will update this til my first meal..).
Also going to try 3 doses of caffeine (200mg) in the day spaced by 3 hours or so. This is not a great idea but i kinda messed up taking the first dose late (12pm). Should take it earlier to space them out by like 4-5 hours instead.
The good news is i'm going to do a carb refeed tonight, so hopefully i'll be able to get a good night of sleep for a change.
Planned Training:
| Session #1 | Session #2 | Session #3 |
| Fasted TM | BP | Squats (II) |
| Squats (I) | Chinups (I) | Dunks |
| Fasted TM | Chinups (II) |
| | Conditioning |
Training:
| Session #1 | Session #2 | Session #3 |
| FBS 1x122.5 | BP 3x87.5, 2x88.5
WCU 1x95
| FBS 1x125
FS 0Fx132.5
BS 1x132.5, 5x120, 4Fx122.5, 5x120
WCU 2x106.7, 5x96.7, 5x94.5,
2x5x92.5, 5x91.5, 5x90
Dunking - 3x5 ~ 20 total
Sprint Intervals - 5x(20s on, 25s off) |
Squat notes:
I did 2 sets less than i've been doing in the first (fasted) squat session, saving some in the tank, so to speak. Maybe this will help me do better in the 2nd session. So far 2nd sessions have been just awful.
After another terrible 2nd squat session i'm calling an end to this sorry experiment. Worst idea i've ever tried. Never again.
Upper body notes:
Had the idea to try doing a primer chinup session. Wasnt sure whether to attempt a last single of +15kg, but in the end I decided against it in case it detracted from tonights volume chins.
Day went well, exhausting though. Too much training. I almost did a running session on the treadmill before bed but decided against it. Carb reload was quite clean. I ate 2 wholemeal bread sandwiches consisting of a baked chicken breast i shredded up and topped with a bit of bbq sauce. After that i had 400mL of lowfat milk with a scoop of whey. Finally 4 slices of homemade vegetarian pizza. That's the lot. Not a huge carb refeed by any means, but i think it's ok since i'll do another one monday.
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BW: 84.1kg / 185.41lb
Post refeed weight goes up! I think i'm leaner than the scale or the mirror shows but im due for a whoosh sometime. If only i had more time lol. Oh well. Will try to make the best of the next 3 days.
I love how good you feel the day after a refeed. rested, fresh, no soreness. it's like the body becomes that much more efficient at recovery that a single big meal can make undo a week long tiredness and aches and pains. Good stuff.
Today i'll wait til my 2nd or so dose of caffeine/syn and then i'll do fasted TM. And i want to do a 20 min jog as well. So we'll try to get 60 minutes total on teh treadmill. Is that too much? I need a day off, been training daily this week! Either take today off or tmr. I think i'd rather take tmr off than today, i feel great today lol .. wud be a shame to waste it ;)
Training
CND ~ TM Jog.
CND ~ shopping (~1hr)
CND ~ TM walk (20 mins, 1.5km)
CND ~100 skips
AbPD 3x20
Conditioning notes:
First session was fasted running 2km in about 17 mins. Covered a total of 2.5km overall.
2nd and 3rd sessions will be fasted walks of about 20mins each around caffeine doses.
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BW:83.5kg/184.09lb
Lost a pound, looking a lot leaner but not lean enough. I need a rest day, so this will have to be it. But i'll still try to do some fasted walking through the day. Aiming to fast about 22-23 hours today, or around there abouts.
It's funny, if you asked me where i'd need to weigh to be lean, i wuda guessed 82.5kg. Now that's starting to look pretty reasonable since at 83.5kg i'm not quite there but I imagine losing a kilo should get me close to single digit bodyfat. Though that's not really remarkable since one always thinks he's one kilo away from being lean. #Fatproblems.
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BW: 82.6kg / 182.1lb
Fasted Duration: 24+hr
(http://i.imgur.com/3jHL2CV.png)
(for reference the left most point is 195lb and today's is of course 182)
lol so I got through my pre-holiday cut intact, i can't believe i've dropped ~6kg/13lb in just under 3 weeks. This time though, i held on to my muscle and strength for the most part, even building my upper body (which admittedly i had grossly neglected).
the bad news is that i'm still not lean enough :( i prob need to diet another week or so lol. we'll see how it goes.
Training
FS 1x125, 1x130
BS 1x120, 1x127.5, 1x132.5, 0Fx137.5, 1x135B, 1x137.5B, 5x120, 5x117.5, 5x115
BP 3x5x80
CND - Sprint Ints - 6x(25s on, 23s off)
AbCrunch - 15x75kg (PR; lol, these fucks are so easy for me, i need a better ab exercise and yet i know of none that work as well as these for blowing up abz)
AbPD - 2x20x37.5kg
Squat notes:
I decided to do just one squat session, which turned out to be fasted as it happens, so i had my work cut out for me. I managed a 130 fs which was a ME effort. I wanted a 137.5kg bs, though i kinda knew i was only good for 135, went for it and of course failed it. Used a belt to do shitty reps of 135 and 137.5 in consolation.
Upper notes:
Omg, that BP was deathly hard, all RPE 10 sets :o
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No updates for over a week?
Where are you entropy
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Crying in the fetal position
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No updates for over a week?
Where are you entropy
Fair. So I went to USA for the first time and even though I had kept my expectations somewhat low, I fell in love (as I tend to do lol) with the place, life and ppl. Now i'm even thinking i should move there and wish I had done that a long time ago.
In the way of training, after i left, i did some long walks around the hills in california. Found my calves surprisingly sore for the first time from just walks lol. Then eventually my dumb ass got a pair of shoes and i was able to do some running - mostly hill sprints lol, and then jogging downhill. Man it was amazing.
There was a few days in hotel gyms i messed around with dbs too, and did some chinups that was about the total of my training while there.
I fasted around 24hrs everyday, which im still not sure was a good idea or bad but it allowed me to look forward to a nice dinner every night. it allowed me to get somewhat leaner, although not much, cause the ppl i was eating with didn't have much of an appetite, so i ended up eating 2x my portions :/ all good, food was amazing.
Now we start from scratch, i weighed in at 82.5kg, not quite ripped as i hoped :/ think i will finish cutting down to just under 80kg/170lb and while doing so, work up to some modest lifts like a 130kg fronty and a 140kg backy. As usual, my gains are cinderalla like, i lose everything at the slightest provocation.
and i need to get the fuck out of this country, as much as i love it, i wasted my 20s in the wrong place..
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BW: 82.5kg
Fasted duration: ~24hrs (finished meal at 1935)
My first proper gym session in about 2 weeks worth of training sessions (5 workouts).
Training
FBS 1x120
BS 5x110
WCU 2x95, 2x100, 1x105, 5x90
CND - Sprint intervals - 6x(25s on, 22s off)
CND - TM 5km in 65 mins
Squat notes:
So my 1 rep max right now is about 120kg on squats, pretty challenging and technically imperfect so my technical max is prob like 110kg or something? Idk.
Upper notes:
I bench rel soon anyway so decided to just do chins cause i wont do them til friday. Feels ok so far.
Conditioning notes:
Sprint intervals - fasted, right now these are kicking my ass, i will repeat the same params until i'm much fitter..
fasted TM in my last session, not bad, guess this is easy cause im lighter now..
So i'm resuming cutting, well, technically i never ceased it, but i've decided to resume it aplomb because i wanna get ripped and stay it. Also making a conscious decision to keep running no matter what, i dont care if it limits my athleticism/strength/squatting - who cares, would rather be healthy and fit than strong and unfit/unhealthy.
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Bodyweight: 82kg/180.9lb
I'm due for a whoosh but this wasn't it. The fat around my hips feels squishy, so i'm expecting one soon. Will do fasted walking etc today.
Training
CND - TM 3.2km in 45 mins
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Fasted duration: 24hrs
Training
FBS 0Fx120
BP 2x80, 3x5x75
CND - TM 6km in 60 mins (ran 30 mins, walked 30 mins)
Squat notes:
Blah
I'm leaning out but the leaner i get, the fatter i think i am. Serves me right for being careless, i shud have never let my bw drift past 82.5kg. Will not repeat that mistake again..
ps. im so fkn hungry :( i have eaten like 3 small meals in 3 days. That's ridiculous right. Oh well, i'll put up with it for another 7 days to make a total of 10. Not willing to cut any longer than that. This is torture. After that i'll maintain my bodyweight for 2 weeks.
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Fasted Duration: 24hrs (to be updated)
BW: 80.75kg/178.02lb
(http://i.imgur.com/U01GQf8.png)
A milestone achieved of getting under 180lb. Still fat but starting to look leaner. Not too excited abou the scale movement cause the only carbs i had yesterday was 350mL of lowfat milk.. soo.. that means i'm just losing some water weight, prob, from lowcarbing yesterday. Even so, i was due for a woosh and it's possible i just had one? Doesn't matter, one day at a time.
Training
CND - Fasted TM - 9km
My caffeine intake atm is 800mg a day. I think i could go to 1000mg or more, but i might have to start drinking coffee. worried though that drinking coffee might disrupt fasting lol. I really wish i had some synephrine left over too :( I mean i could keep using pills just they'll run out super quick if i am taking 6 a day. Usually a 100 pill bottle would last me over 6 months. I could burn through that in just over 2 weeks at 6/day. But caffeine is cheap so i cud just order some more i guess. idk. it's not available commonly here in oz so i'd have to order from US as usual, which is a hassle. why is hassle spelt like that but hustle has a t. stupid language.
Anway here is to getting ripped in 10 days (7 days left!).
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I drink coffee whilst fasting (espresso only). Haven't had any issues. Supresses appetite which is great. Not sure if caffeine tabs do that though.
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I drink coffee whilst fasting (espresso only). Haven't had any issues. Supresses appetite which is great. Not sure if caffeine tabs do that though.
ive gone back and forth on this. just poured out a mug of green tea i made into the sink this morning lol. I think i'll stick with legit fasted rather than risk upsetting any benefit of pure fasting by taking tea/coffee. Not saying that's actually the case but it's only 7 days, might as well suck it up and just deal with hunger. also caffeine pills are also supposed to supress appetite. but there is a difference btw appetite and hunger, and im dealing with the latter atm. appetite in general is ok, no ravenous gorging while im mentally dialled in.
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I drink coffee whilst fasting (espresso only). Haven't had any issues. Supresses appetite which is great. Not sure if caffeine tabs do that though.
ive gone back and forth on this. just poured out a mug of green tea i made into the sink this morning lol. I think i'll stick with legit fasted rather than risk upsetting any benefit of pure fasting by taking tea/coffee. Not saying that's actually the case but it's only 7 days, might as well suck it up and just deal with hunger. also caffeine pills are also supposed to supress appetite. but there is a difference btw appetite and hunger, and im dealing with the latter atm. appetite in general is ok, no ravenous gorging while im mentally dialled in.
Prob best to stick with what you know.
I've never done the kind of fasting you're doing. Longest single fast is 24 hours but I normally just do the 16 hours. If I go no/low carb I'm ready to kill someone by about day 4.
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I'm mirin your willpower/devotion to your diet.
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What I don't get with fasting is - aren't you going to lose a ton of muscle? Also, aren't you going to give your body the signal of "store more fat" the next time you start eating normally?
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What I don't get with fasting is - aren't you going to lose a ton of muscle? Also, aren't you going to give your body the signal of "store more fat" the next time you start eating normally?
it depends on a lot of things. if you're fasting with a higher bodyfat (over 15%) it makes no difference what you do diet wise til you're leaner, just pick the easiest shit that works for you. but if you are approaching single digits or lower, then you need a lot of protein regardless of diet to preserve muscle.
the signal thing sounds bs btw. there are things called set points, you can reset them. but yeah, it's tricky, you have to work hard to maintain a (much lower) bodyweight. eventually it becomes normal though.
how fasting fits into this, idk, it's actually claimed fasting is more muscle sparing, somehow. i dont know or understand the mechanism they propose for that but it's interesting to me all the same. i have been fasting for about 3 weeks now and eating not much protein, i should have a lot more muscle and strength loss than i have observed so far, so im actually impressed. then again, im still quite fat so idk if that counts for much lol.
in future cuts, i think i will do a lot of conditioning just prior to a cut, to get rid of visceral fat. i have a feeling it makes cuts all that much longer because you eventually have to burn that fat off too while you could easily burn it off even if you're not cutting just by doing a good amount of cardio. for me, that means basketball, a few times a week.
also, ive decided im prob gonna do another cut after my diet break. just get down to 6-8% and get rid of all that stubborn fat for good.
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raptor, on the previous page of this journal there is an extended discussion about this topic.
TLDR version:
http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html
http://www.leangains.com/2010/06/intermittent-fasting-and-stubborn-body.html
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I'm starting to regret my actions in this cut, i didn't need fasting, shitloads of cardio etc. Yet. I was fat enough that i cuda just done a straight up caloric restriction and got the same results without the pain and suffering of what my approach was, saving that for later when i was legitimately in a stubborn fat loss stage. So i might make a few slight changes. I'll still finish this cut on Tue morning - but - i'll take it easy with the hardcore stuff, dont need it right now. Lol.
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I agree.
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Entropy, aren't you 6'4" or so? How do you consider yourself 'fat' at 6'4"/180ish lbs?
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Entropy, aren't you 6'4" or so? How do you consider yourself 'fat' at 6'4"/180ish lbs?
Todday said i have bird bones or im overestimating my bodyfat. I think the first is the right answer. I also lift lol which makes it even more ridiculous. But Chris i'm not obese or anything like that, just not lean lean..
so last night i went all out and had a slice of bread for dinner, a small cup of yoghurt and 2 cornmeal rotis. im living dangerously just above 1000kcal now.
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What I don't get with fasting is - aren't you going to lose a ton of muscle? Also, aren't you going to give your body the signal of "store more fat" the next time you start eating normally?
it depends on a lot of things. if you're fasting with a higher bodyfat (over 15%) it makes no difference what you do diet wise til you're leaner, just pick the easiest shit that works for you. but if you are approaching single digits or lower, then you need a lot of protein regardless of diet to preserve muscle.
the signal thing sounds bs btw. there are things called set points, you can reset them. but yeah, it's tricky, you have to work hard to maintain a (much lower) bodyweight. eventually it becomes normal though.
how fasting fits into this, idk, it's actually claimed fasting is more muscle sparing, somehow. i dont know or understand the mechanism they propose for that but it's interesting to me all the same. i have been fasting for about 3 weeks now and eating not much protein, i should have a lot more muscle and strength loss than i have observed so far, so im actually impressed. then again, im still quite fat so idk if that counts for much lol.
in future cuts, i think i will do a lot of conditioning just prior to a cut, to get rid of visceral fat. i have a feeling it makes cuts all that much longer because you eventually have to burn that fat off too while you could easily burn it off even if you're not cutting just by doing a good amount of cardio. for me, that means basketball, a few times a week.
also, ive decided im prob gonna do another cut after my diet break. just get down to 6-8% and get rid of all that stubborn fat for good.
Mate if you are "living dangerously" at just above 1000 cal then you're definitely cutting with no regard for muscle mass. You're treading in biggest loser type cal limits which isn't great in my opinion.
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Mate if you are "living dangerously" at just above 1000 cal then you're definitely cutting with no regard for muscle mass. You're treading in biggest loser type cal limits which isn't great in my opinion.
but, fasting? maybe it has muscle sparing benefits that are at work? idk. if i lose all my muscle in 10 days i'll regret it. but only have 6 left including today, so im not feeling too bad about my chances right now lol
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Bodyweight: 80.51kg/177.5lb
Fasted duration: 12hrs (to be updated)
(http://i.imgur.com/4rn6IMN.png)
So I finally had that whoosh :) I put it down to the nice dinner i had last night, body was like, stress gone, lets release some of this water haha
Training
to come
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fasting = muscle sparing benefits?!?!?!?!
:derp:
:uhcomeon:
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http://www.leangains.com/2011/03/intermittent-fasting-for-weight-loss.html
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I get ya guys though, i shud really be eating a lot more protein as i get lighter. Will do. I'm really regretting not picking up some boxes of quest bars while in the states. i have heard great things. Would have been handy right about now for keeping up protein intake while dieting. Oh well, next time :(
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Mate if you are "living dangerously" at just above 1000 cal then you're definitely cutting with no regard for muscle mass. You're treading in biggest loser type cal limits which isn't great in my opinion.
but, fasting? maybe it has muscle sparing benefits that are at work? idk. if i lose all my muscle in 10 days i'll regret it. but only have 6 left including today, so im not feeling too bad about my chances right now lol
I'm not saying you're going to lose all your muscle but being that far under your BMR (which would be around the 2,000 mark) is pretty drastic. I don't think the muscle sparing benefits that are touted with fasting apply when you're that far below your basic maintenance levels.
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Coges, again it depends on how lean you are. Different thing when you're 12-15 vs 6-8. For the record i believe im closer to 12-15 than i am to 6-8....
Also, 10 days, not even weeks or months, it should be ok to do it for a short period
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http://www.leangains.com/2011/03/intermittent-fasting-for-weight-loss.html
Understand the article. I may be missing some information in your situation here but the article states:
"The aforementioned studies all involve fasting, with time-intervals ranging from 18 to 36 hours. The modified ADF/CR-regimens involve one day of very low calorie intake, 300-800 kcal, followed by one day of ad libitum feeding (which means that participants were free to eat whatever they wanted)."
So super low one day with a free feeding day the next. Quite different from consecutive super low days.
Like you just said:
"Secondly, body fat percentage also matters. Lean participants lose more muscle mass than obese participants on an equal energy deficit, because body fat by itself provides a muscle-sparing effect. No need to touch the emergency funds (muscle protein) if you have money in your savings account (adipose tissue)."
I wouldn't consider you in the obese category though.
You're obviously dedicated to the cause and I commend you for it. I get 4-5 days into a good cut and am in danger of eating everything in sight. I'm surprised you can be 12-15 @80kg though. I'm estimated to be 17-18% now at 94kg. I couldn't imagine losing 14kg.
Main point is I think you're doing yourself a disservice by undergoing such a drastic cut.
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I really am a special snowflake when it comes to bodyweight. You werent here last time i did a serious cut and got down to 74kg/165lb. Even then i wasn't clearly ripped as in under 10%. So i dont think i am in danger of getting to single digits any time soon. Actually your post helps me organise my thoughts and lay out a plan for how i am getting to 6-8% bodyfat. It wont happen on this cut, certainly not in the remaining 6 days of 10. But my goal is to get real close to 10% by the end of the 10 day period ending tuesday morning. Then i'll go on a diet break. After the diet break comes another cut, this time for going from 10% to 6-8%. That's gonna be hard work obviously and i'll need to worry a lot about muscle sparing. I'll have to eat a lot more protein, like over 200g (right now im closer to 100g!).
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I really am a special snowflake when it comes to bodyweight. You werent here last time i did a serious cut and got down to 74kg/165lb. Even then i wasn't clearly ripped as in under 10%. So i dont think i am in danger of getting to single digits any time soon. Actually your post helps me organise my thoughts and lay out a plan for how i am getting to 6-8% bodyfat. It wont happen on this cut, certainly not in the remaining 6 days of 10. But my goal is to get real close to 10% by the end of the 10 day period ending tuesday morning. Then i'll go on a diet break. After the diet break comes another cut, this time for going from 10% to 6-8%. That's gonna be hard work obviously and i'll need to worry a lot about muscle sparing. I'll have to eat a lot more protein, like over 200g (right now im closer to 100g!).
That's crazy. I remember when I was at 78kg and I was soooo skinny. No legs/ass on me then which is probably responsible for 2/3 of my weight gain.
Yeah and 100g is nowhere near enough. My main priority on any given day is to eat enough protein. I get at least 180g on training days and 200+ on rest days.
If I were you, once you get around the 10% I'd focus on a slow clean bulk. You will look much better at 80-85 and 10-12% than at 75 and 6-8%. I know it's not all about looks though.
It's good timing for me though with all this talk about cutting. I'm going to Hamilton Island in just under 5 weeks and want to get from my 17-18% down to 14%. I plan to focus on eating clean and adding in met con style stuff after my training sessions. I'm shooting for 2,500 odd on training days and 1,900-2,000 on rest days.
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You being a lean 90kg at 6'4" makes more sense than me being a fat 82.5kg; yet that is reality. I dont have a lot of muscle to need a lot of protein and it's just a waste of money overeating it - but - i will be ramping it up aggressively as i get leaner.
I agree that i'd rather be 10% @ 85kg than 7% @ 75kg. But reality is, that's not going to happen. Even if i gained 5kg of muscle right now, i wouldn't be 10% @ 85kg. That's just how bodyfat goes. 10% at 75kg is 7.5kg of bodyfat. 10% @ 85kg is 8.5kg - only a kilo more but yet needing an extra 9kg of lean mass. That's why im set on getting this epic cut underway to 6-8% - and from there im gonna try to stick under 12%. bulk up to12% and i will cut back to single digits, repeat.
My plans are stepwise cut and bulk cycles to attain a lean 77.5kg, 80kg, 82.5kg and 85kg. If i'm 10% at 85kg i'll have done well but that's going to be a long process from here. And i'll prob stay weak as fk too because i dont start getting strong until my bodyweight goes up to 95kg or so..
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Yeah good points. I hadn't done the math that way.
When you lay it out that way it's a good plan. I'm hoping you can stick it out and not let ego (strength) get in the way.
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Yeah good points. I hadn't done the math that way.
When you lay it out that way it's a good plan. I'm hoping you can stick it out and not let ego (strength) get in the way.
Bodyfat is the easiest and best thing to manipulate for body comp. Consider two guys both 5'10" at 10% bodyfat but one weighs a lightweight 70kg and the second a heavy 90kg. The respective bodyfats being 7kg and 9kg. The second is only carrying an extra 2kg of bodyfat but a whopping 18kg more of lean mass. That just goes to show how little room to manouvre you have when it comes to bodyfat - a kilo loss of bodyfat makes a huge difference, whereas gaining a kilo of muscle is kinda meh.
Ego will be a problem but i know now that even if im a strong 95kg who gives a fuck when i'm that fat. So it's pointless chasing big lifts. Esp when i just wanna be healthy/fit/athletic. I'd love to be a lean 10% bodyfat at 90kg one day. But baring some amazing changes in body chemistry, i dont think that's realistic. 85kg lean seems like a solid goal for me! :) If i can achieve my old PRs from earlier this year at 95kg at 85kg, i'll be a beast for sure. And i'll look good too. If only!
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Yeah I meant I hadn't done the math for you. Massive change to go from where you are now to 10% at 85.
The whole things a minefield though
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a kilo loss of bodyfat makes a huge difference, whereas gaining a kilo of muscle is kinda meh
Um... no?
It would be so in your hypothetical example IF you completely ignore their strength levels.
But in reality, the 70 kg guy with 10% bodyfat would likely squat 130 kg and the 90 kg guy with 10% bodyfat would likely squat 200 kg, assuming they have the same structure, nervous system and squatting movement efficiency/experience.
In fact, I would argue a few kilos more of muscle mass plays a bigger role than the same kilos of lost bodyfat, since the muscle mass is able to produce 3 times its weight in additional force. Bodyfat does not reduce the load on the body by 3 times it weight, but by 1 time its weight.
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You misunderstood the context, we were talking about body comp. Nothing to do with performance though we could get into that too but it's beside the discussion above. I will say the following though - much easier to lose 1kg of bodyfat than it is to gain 9kg of muscle. That's why it's a better idea to lose that one kilo of bodyfat instead of chasing 9kg of muscle that it would take to maintain bodyfat percentage.
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Oh, then yeah, it makes sense.
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Post some pics if you can/want.
I am saying this because your perception of progress and current state is always distorted towards the worse. I remember you PRing your squat every day for a month and saying you are stalled, i remember you last year evaluating your bf at 15% and then posting a clear 6-pack that me and LBSS called 12% tops and so on. Which is ok in the end, because besides the frustration that it causes in the forum, it always leads you to motivation and gains, so if this is how it has to work, so be it :D
So in the same lines, now you are talking about being fat a couple of posts after talking about visible veins in your abs, very curious to see the reality check.
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I'm not as lean now as I was in that pic (if i'm recollecting the right one). Still a while to go til then. I have slightly more muscle mass now though but that's neither here nor there. I may post a pic next week when i finish this cut cycle, just to show where I am.
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Bodyweight: 80.28kg/177lb
Would be nice to finish this cut cycle ≤ 175lb. Not far now, but 2lb is still formidable, obviously. No training, hurt my back squatting yesterday, gutted. My legs were too fatigued from the hours of cardio ive been doing and it cost me an injury. So not worth it. Should not do much slow steady state cardio while cutting, I knew it was a mistake but i went with it anyway, trusting Lyle, but my intuition was he's wrong about slow steady being ok in volume and prefferable to regular HIIT. I will make the change from here..
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How long do you think you'll be out squatting for?
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How long do you think you'll be out squatting for?
if i feel better tmr (friday), i'll squat. but probably saturday. wont squat heavy til i'm 100% though, prob sometime next week. just rehab squats for now, lots of light reps with perfect form. sucks. i cuda just waited to squat on friday after resting my legs, but im so used to 3x sessions that i forced it
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Plan for getting down to 6-8% bodyfat
Finish this cut on weds (with a carb refeed). Hopefully i'll weigh about 175lb on weds morning. I might still fast a good part of the day, but then i'll start the refeed around training. Whatever my bodyweight is a few days after the refeed, i'll maintain for the rest of August.
During the maintenance period i'll be doing a lot of conditioning - nothing boring but try to get a few decent basketball games in a week, maybe pickup or comp, whatever comes up. This alone will get my visceral fat down. Which is good cause it means i dont have to suffer through a much more longer and painful cut later.
After maintaining my bodyweight, getting my fitness up and hopefully having some decent lifts also, i'll start another cut, probably Sept 1st. This cut will get me down from 10% to 6-8%. It wont last super long, i think 3-4 weeks is probably the longest i should do this. 2 weeks would be ideal if i can lean enough but it might not be. We'll see. In this period of course training and nutrition will have to be precise, calculate and disciplined.
Supposing things go right, i've attained 6-8% bodyfat, i'll then maintain that bodyweight/bodyfat for a few weeks. Then we bulk.
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Wanted to try out quest bars so went to the mall. Turned out to be my only exercise for the day lol. But this is good news because i could hardly walk yesterday, and today morning also but by night im starting to feel a lot better :)
So here is my entire food intake for today - after a 24hr fast -
Grilled chicken burger from HJs
1 grilled chicken patty
1.5scoop whey in 300mL lowfat milk
1 Quest bar (mixed berries)
omg im in heaven, my first quest bar ever. it was sooo good. im def making the switch to quest as my go-to desert from now on lol.
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IDK what my BF% is and I don't really concern myself with it a lot, I just eat semi clean (I love ice cream lol), lift hard, get some cardio a couple times a week and let the chips fall where they may. I just have a sneaking suspicion Entropy is underestimating himself at his height/weight.
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I just have a sneaking suspicion Entropy is underestimating himself at his height/weight.
you are not the first.
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IDK what my BF% is and I don't really concern myself with it a lot, I just eat semi clean (I love ice cream lol), lift hard, get some cardio a couple times a week and let the chips fall where they may. I just have a sneaking suspicion Entropy is underestimating himself at his height/weight.
I just have a sneaking suspicion Entropy is underestimating himself at his height/weight.
you are not the first.
If I was strong at 170-180 I wouldn't care either Chris! Same with LBSS, you guys are strong for your bodyweights. Nothing good about needing to be an obese 210 to be semi-strong and then not being able to do jack shit on the court.
LBSS is right this isn't the first time nor the last time I get called out on BMI (weight/height ratio). It doesn't bother me though, i know it's hard to believe, I wouldn't either but i know from cutting to 165lb that i was prob only 12% then, to be 6% now, idk what i'd need to weigh but i know there is more cutting ahead in my future
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Bodyweight: 79.75kg/175.82lb
Fasted Duration: 24 hrs (to be updated)
Milestone achieved, got under 80kg!
(http://i.imgur.com/omSW25W.png)
Only 5 more days to go, can i get to 10%? lets see :)
Training
FBS 3x100, 2x110, 1x117.5
BS 5x107.5, 5x105
OHP 2x57.5, 6x60, 5x52.5
WCU 2x91, 2x96, 2x101, 3x96, 5x91, 6x86
CND - HIIT sprints 6x(25s on, 22s off)
CND - 2km jog (not on a TM lol!)
Squat notes:
Back felt ok but i was still somewhat tentative - worked up to a max of 117.5kg. I have to remind myself im in the tail end of a pronounced cut, carb depleted and fasted. All things considering, maybe it's ok that i've taken around 10% off the bar. But still, it's humbling have to psyche up for 117.5kg squat- not just FS but BS as well.
Btw walking out 117.5kg felt so heavy that i realised i've got to do something about that. It's like my body is forgetting i'm capable of squatting, not just walking out, a lot more weight than that! So i'll do walkouts with both FS and BS racks with 130-150kg - just to remind my body it's capable of that and it should maintain that rigidity.
CND notes:
Idk if i pushed harder than usual or if its a symptom of chronic dieting/fasting/low carbing but i was completely destroyed by the sprints. Such a great workout! For the record i coud manage the first 3 and even the 4th sprints of about 200m fine but the last 2 really destroyed me
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almost as light as me! :D
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Why does it say "BF" 0.11 and 0.1?
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Why does it say "BF" 0.11 and 0.1?
It's body fat as a fraction.
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I don't get it.
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I don't get it.
lol what's 10%? 0.1 right. That's all it means. That's my target bodyfat percentage...
Tonights dinner was awesome. I had a roast chicken breast and spinach potatos. Soo soo good. And a protein shake also. I feel full/good now. To think i fasted all day, trained hard and then enjoyed a meal at the end of the day, and im still gonna get lean, that's a pretty good deal!
(http://i.imgur.com/Tm3KpRn.jpg)
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nice! yeah, that's the main benefit from IF as far as i can tell (having never tried it myself but read about a lot of people doing it). you still get to eat a big satisfying meal at some point, you're not constantly forcing yourself to eat less in the moment.
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Bodyweight: 79.45kg/175.16lb
Feel so energetic after yesterday's dinner. Idk why but I wanna go shoot some hoops or something at least! We'll see how it goes. 4 more days of cutting left, im not sure if i'll get down to 10% but i can't be very far either..
I'v also been reading about stubborn fat loss protocols. I may try those out next cut. Looks interesting enough. Combo of intervals and steady state cardio with supplementation like caffeine, yohimbe and L-Tyrosine. I can't get yohimbe here it's illegal but the other two are fine.
Training (SPP 1.0 protocol)
TM ~ 10 min, 1km warmup
Skip intervals 6x(20s on, 20s off)
TM - 40 mins (~3.5km)
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Last few weeks of backsquatting have made my erectors grow noticeably. Thinking I may prioritise getting a 2xbw backsquat and get it out of the way just to fill the gaps of strength in my kinetic chain. It will probably improve my chance of getting a 2xbw frontsquat having got the backsquat goal already. Incidentally, this would be adding around 12.5kg to my recent backsquat worksets so it's not a long way away by any means.
Current BS worksets 117.5kgx6 -> 130kgx6 (2bw)
Current FS worksets ~120kgx3 -> 120kgx5 (1.8xbw)
Current BW 78kg -> 75kg
Importantly getting a 1.7bw front squat is still sometime i haven't yet achieved which annoys me, especially when relative strength is a priority. My VJ and athleticism have gone up regardless though but still it's pretty embarrassing to be in the [1.6-1.7) region. I mean I have a 1.7xbw FS if my bw goes back down to 75kg but it's not there right now. So I really need to reduce my bodyweight back to baseline (~75kg) and nudge my lifts up by 2 or so reps.
This post sums up where i was a year ago. Btw the BW multipliers are 1rm estimates. Only thing is, i haven't improved since then, and possibly gone backwards :/ What happened was soon after this i got injured, lost the motivation to watch my diet while recovering and ended up weighing over 80kg which slowly drifted towards 85kg. Then i healed up, got my shit together and strung together about 3-4 months of solid training but i had to gain about 5kg and weigh 90kg/200lb for those gains. Which would be fine except, i shud have stayed below 80kg given my lean mass. So now what? Just finish the cutting to 6-8% and then get strong as possible at 77.5kg and 80kg before letting myself gain anymore weight.
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Hunger and dieting is starting to get to me. Not all the time, esp towards the end of the fast im struggling now. It doesn't even seem to be helping that i only have a few days left. But i'll persevere and see this through. Looking forward to a change in training and diet. I see more basketball, jumping, maybe deadifts in terms of lifting (im tired of squats, plus mediocre now) and maybe a lot more running...
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starting to get to me.
wat.
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starting to get to me.
wat.
Mentally?
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starting to get to me.
wat.
Mentally?
lol. i broke down. got through the stupid 24hr period, had a healthy breakfast (for dinner) of one slice of wholemeal bread, 2 eggs, protein shake. and some veges. And as i was about to knock out, my bro and sis show up with a whole load of thai food. So that was the end of that, i didn't have the mental discipline left to fight that having used all of it up during the day. Now i'll diet longer. FML..
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I'm wondering if i've just been going thru ketosis adaptation? May be just a phase and I shud just keep cuting. I like the idea of finishing this cut at a lean 77kg which means the next one will be from 77->.74 or whatever it will need to be for 6-8% bodyfat. This prob means though that im currently closer to 20% than i am to 10% or in otherwords above 15%. I think around 77kg is when i start to look lean if i remember correctly from last year's cut.
But to keep cutting from here will have to make some changes. I'll take it easier on training. Think i'll do something like this:
Monday: Squats + HIIT sprint intervals + steady state jog (about 2km), upper body work
Weds: upper body work and steady state jog
Fri: Squats + HIIT sprint intervals + steady state jog.
Take off rest days proper, no TM work on those days to save my legs and hips. And this shud allow me to continue cutting bodyfat while extending the duration of the cut to say another 2 weeks if need be. My goal is to get the scale to show 77.5kg or so, which means even if i gain a bit of water weight post-cut, i can balance that out by burning off the remaining visceral bodyfat to maintain a 77kg ish bodyweight overall.
Btw the fact i still have visceral fat is one very good reason to believe im curently above mid teens bodyfat. Both good news and bad. Means i can get a lot lighter. But bad news in that have a lot of cutting ahead yet.
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I feel like hitting my head against a brick wall when I read your journal sometimes entropy. On the one hand I admire your dedication and your willpower to stick to these 1000 calorie per day diets. On the other hand I just don't see why you wouldn't just losen up a little bit and clean bulk since this whole bulk/cut business is going around in circles.
Btw there's no way in hell that you're 'in the mid-teens bodyfat'...Even if you were in the mid teens bodyfat at 6'4 80kg you're only going to end up skinnyfat with this insistence on cutting down to a stick figure on 1000 calories a day. Find some middle ground and you'll feel a lot better mentally as well instead of feeling guilty about eating food. Plus all this stress with dieting and bodyfat is going to increase your cortisol, which has a destructive effect on testosterone.
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. On the other hand I just don't see why you wouldn't just losen up a little bit and clean bulk since this whole bulk/cut business is going around in circles.
That's exactly what im gonna do lol. Burn off all this bodyfat and then start from scratch. Gain back some bodyweight, some muscle, some nice fat (as opposed to horrible visceral or abdominal fat!) and maintain a decent level of fitness and athleticism. I'm not going to gain more than 5kg of BW at a time and even that will be done slowly and cleanly.
Btw there's no way in hell that you're 'in the mid-teens bodyfat'...Even if you were in the mid teens bodyfat at 6'4 80kg you're only going to end up skinnyfat with this insistence on cutting down to a stick figure on 1000 calories a day. Find some middle ground and you'll feel a lot better mentally as well instead of feeling guilty about eating food. Plus all this stress with dieting and bodyfat is going to increase your cortisol, which has a destructive effect on testosterone.
I actually am somewhere around 15%. I can't be sure whether it's less or more, the visceral fat still being there points to being above, but maybe im a special snowflake and i hold on to visceral fat for longer than most people, idk, it doesn't matter, i have to keep cutting. Gett rid of all this fat and start rebuilding myself from scratch.
The effect of holding on to this fat means i can never really be strong/lean/healthy. Visceral fat does some nasty things, makes you fatter when you bulk etc. Also it doesn't help t-levels not being lean (legit 10%). So i have to do this cutting for the best results moving forward.
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Bodyweight: 80kg/176lb
Fasted duration: 24hrs (ended 2010)
Training
FS 3x100, 2x112.5
BP 2x80, 1x85, 1x87.5, 5x77.5, 6x75
CRLZ 3x40, 5x45, 6x42.5, 6x40
DUNZ 2x3 (cant even grip the ball right now haha - have to use both hands to dunk)
Weak AF.
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Bodyweight: 78.7kg/173.5lb
Waist: 33"
caffeine:400mg @10am, 200mg @ 1230, 200mg @ 1430, 200mg @ 1700
h5tp: 50mg @ 1300, 50mg @1500
Laying off training is helping considerably, i no longer want to kill myself. Don't get me wrong, still pretty hard going but a lot more manageable, i can see me dieting for a while longer this way. Have set my eyes on getting down to 77kg. Have a feeling when i get there, i'll be reasonable lean as in maybe 12% or less. Idk, we'll see how it goes.
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My bet is it'll be 74kg but hopefully you can achieve 12% at 77kg.
Maybe your body's different though but for me I struggle to lose 1% bodyfat for every 1kg of weight loss, let alone 3% bodyfat for 1kg.
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My bet is it'll be 74kg but hopefully you can achieve 12% at 77kg.
Maybe your body's different though but for me I struggle to lose 1% bodyfat for every 1kg of weight loss, let alone 3% bodyfat for 1kg.
Yeah, im not married to 12% @ 77kg, more like i'm going to end this cut at 77kg when i've reached that weight regardless of what bodyfat % may be then. It's a measurable, concrete goal as opposed to bodyfat % which is abstract and unmeasurable for the purposes of progress tracking. I do anticipate a future cut needing to go as low as 72.5kg to reach my final goal, so we'll see what happens when i've got to 77.5kg, 75kg and 72.5kg. For the record my plan is to finish this cut at 77kg. Maybe the next one will go 77->74. And the last one will go 74->72.5 or something like that.
(http://i.imgur.com/G2AdE1P.jpg)
lebron right now .. inspiration for athletic cutters everywhere <3
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Haha that LeBron picture looks disturbing... like he's sick or something
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Bodyweight: 77.95kg/171.85lb
Waist: Under 33"
(http://i.imgur.com/QMhsqYC.png)
On the right track but im not too excited, 77kg is still a legit, formidable goal. I have no doubt if i get there i'll in a good place. Just not anywhere near it right now. Training to come today as well.
Training
FBS 1x118.5
BS 5x107.5, 5x105
OHP 1x57.5, 3x55, 5x53.5, 5x52.5
WCU 3x80, 2x90, 1x95, 2x100, 3x95, 5x92.5, 5x90, 6x85
Squat notes:
Having to psyche up for ridiculous light warmup weights sucks, especially when they feel like ugly 1rms and not even technical maxes for that matter. But i'm quite carb depleted, fasted and been dieting a while. These things are to be expected. Just hope i can bounce out this slump when i come off the cut.
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I hurt my back backsquatting (again). Fuck that shit. Idk why im hurting myself with such a light weight but it is what it is. It's just after the sticking point or around there. So i can't really walk right now. It means i cudnt do any conditioning today even tho it wuda been good to get a session of HIIT sprints and jogging in today!
I've decided to do a carb reload tonight. Only because if i dont do it today, i have to wait til monday when i train again, and that might be too long. Plus it will mean an especially painful training sesh on monday being so woefully depleted. This probably helps me do another week of cutting without getting too fucked up mentally. So lets do it! :)
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Not really but it's a valid statement when it comes to teh way my body has stored bodyfat. Women store bodyfat mainly in the lower body, around the hips, lower back, buttocks and chest. That's kinda how I do too. It explains why i have visible abs so early in my cuts. The idea is i'll have a six pac long before im done cutting because of this. Lets see if it holds true.
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I'm looking to order some stuff of eastbay with the 20% off on $200 order deal. Usually regret most of my nondescript online shopping decisions, so i'm looking for input before I put the order through lol
(http://i.imgur.com/mRFG1Io.png)
Spefically does it make any sense to get 3/4 length compression gear? I have no idea why you'd want those compared to full length ones? Better get 2 pairs of full length insteaad? idk.
Also need basketball shoes but my last 3 pairs have been shit so im reluctant to drop $130-150 on a pair of kd 7s or something or nike zooms and then regret it. my ideal shoe is lightweight, flexible, low top and not stupidly expensive. recommendations or suggetions welcome...
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I can't imagine there's a good reason to get 3/4 compressions unless you want some capri pants to go with your favourite pair of heels :P
The last pair of ball shoes I bought were hyperdunks. Don't know if they come in low tops or not. They're super light, grippy, hold the foot well but pretty hard on the feet. I got my last pair for $80 plus postage.
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haha, true. Im prob just gna get 1 pair, they are excluded from 20% off when i get the pair deal. I hate this site so much.
(http://images.eastbay.com/pi/06503073/zoom/nike-hyperdunk-2014-low-mens)
Also hyperdunks 2014 look so damn sexy but they dont have my size (12.5). It's possible i cud get away with 12 but i dont wanna take that chance :( $129 btw
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Yeah they look good. Yep. I have the 12 and they're a little tight on the toes. Never bothered me too much as my foot doesn't shift in them at all.
Yeah I wouldn't pay $129 on the off chance either.
You're in Vic or SA? There's a few foot locker outlets around that have some pretty crazy prices right now. In Vic there's one in Nunawading that are routinely getting newer stuff. Not ball shoes but I got the new balance vibrams for $45 in there. Might be worth checking out as you can try everything on.
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I tried on nike frees in 12s while i was in teh states and they were really tight. 13s were loose. Go figure. Im guessing that rules out the hyperdunks for me. But i've had this idea that maybe i shud be wearing 12s with really thin socks, that might work. May try your suggestion of going to my local footlocker and seeing. WA btw.
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Ok WA it is.
If they've got them try the outlet stores. Otherwise Foot Locker is ridiculously expensive.
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Shipping to Australia with Eastbay sucks huh. You need the 20% off deals just to make it feasible! My advice is get medium size tights instead of large. Unless you already have a pair of the large Eastbay ones and know what they're like, they're not that compressive. I recently got two small pairs and they fit fine for me with a 30'' waist even though it recommends 26-28'' (and I have bigger than average legs). You want them to be tight after all, nothing worse than loose tights.
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Shipping to Australia with Eastbay sucks huh. You need the 20% off deals just to make it feasible! My advice is get medium size tights instead of large. Unless you already have a pair of the large Eastbay ones and know what they're like, they're not that compressive. I recently got two small pairs and they fit fine for me with a 30'' waist even though it recommends 26-28'' (and I have bigger than average legs). You want them to be tight after all, nothing worse than loose tights.
Good tip, thanks for that. I'll get Ms. I have never worn tights before, kinda excited to try them out. I cuda got my eastbay order sent to my coz place in LA but i didn't think of it then, oh well. It's extortive how much they charge for shipping...
btw acole how do you compare compression shorts vs um full length tights? any point getting shorts at all when you can get the full ones?
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Ok WA it is.
If they've got them try the outlet stores. Otherwise Foot Locker is ridiculously expensive.
i'll see. it's usually a waste of time to go shops, they never have half sizes, and the range is so limited anyways, ive bought on some bad impulse decisions just because it was teh best available choice. Like my current pair of bball shoes are size 14. Im not a 14. But that's all i cud find at the time and i needed a pair :/
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Shipping to Australia with Eastbay sucks huh. You need the 20% off deals just to make it feasible! My advice is get medium size tights instead of large. Unless you already have a pair of the large Eastbay ones and know what they're like, they're not that compressive. I recently got two small pairs and they fit fine for me with a 30'' waist even though it recommends 26-28'' (and I have bigger than average legs). You want them to be tight after all, nothing worse than loose tights.
It used to be alright but the cost of shipping kills it.
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Ok WA it is.
If they've got them try the outlet stores. Otherwise Foot Locker is ridiculously expensive.
i'll see. it's usually a waste of time to go shops, they never have half sizes, and the range is so limited anyways, ive bought on some bad impulse decisions just because it was teh best available choice. Like my current pair of bball shoes are size 14. Im not a 14. But that's all i cud find at the time and i needed a pair :/
Yeah fair call. My wife loves to shop so I end up spending a decent amount of time there.
My worst buy was a pair of t-macs for the same reason a few years back. Needed a pair urgently and they were cheap. They were also bricks and I'm surprised I could even get off the floor in them.
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Shipping to Australia with Eastbay sucks huh. You need the 20% off deals just to make it feasible! My advice is get medium size tights instead of large. Unless you already have a pair of the large Eastbay ones and know what they're like, they're not that compressive. I recently got two small pairs and they fit fine for me with a 30'' waist even though it recommends 26-28'' (and I have bigger than average legs). You want them to be tight after all, nothing worse than loose tights.
Good tip, thanks for that. I'll get Ms. I have never worn tights before, kinda excited to try them out. I cuda got my eastbay order sent to my coz place in LA but i didn't think of it then, oh well. It's extortive how much they charge for shipping...
btw acole how do you compare compression shorts vs um full length tights? any point getting shorts at all when you can get the full ones?
Really just depends on the training environment. For instance, when I first started aths training last summer I only had long tights. Being around 35degC average when I was training, long tights were just way too hot and I got a pair of compression shorts pretty soon after joining. If you're only training indoors or in a cool climate then full length are probably better than shorts, but they're so cheap on Eastbay it doesn't hurt to throw a short pair in as well.
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man that makes me want to get some hyperdunks. they look awesome.
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It used to be alright but the cost of shipping kills it.
Missed out on that, this is my first atttempt with them
Really just depends on the training environment. For instance, when I first started aths training last summer I only had long tights. Being around 35degC average when I was training, long tights were just way too hot and I got a pair of compression shorts pretty soon after joining. If you're only training indoors or in a cool climate then full length are probably better than shorts, but they're so cheap on Eastbay it doesn't hurt to throw a short pair in as well.
thanks that helps. i went with 2 pairs of longs and one top. I figure im only going to use the top for basketball which i'll play 1x a week so that shud be enuf. With pants i'll prob be using one for lifting/running/etc and one for games, so that shud be enough for now. in future/summer i might try shorts too but dont need them for now.
My worst buy was a pair of t-macs for the same reason a few years back. Needed a pair urgently and they were cheap. They were also bricks and I'm surprised I could even get off the floor in them.
lol, paragraph to come will be fitting. i ordered a different pair of shoes, NIKE AIR VISI PRO IV. actually i bought the pair from local sports store first, they cost $100. I went to 4 stores total. Then saw them on eastbay for $55. so im gonna try return them tmr, that's almost 2x as much, and i can get all the tights stuff for free pretty much. had an epiphany that im probably best suited just wearing 12s instead of finding the elusive 12.5 (non existent in australia pretty much, half sizes end at 11.5). it's ridiculous how much better i move in a pair of 13s (i own but never wear) compared to the 14s i always use. my footwork is so much better, i can actually play the post bc it feels so much more natural backing up. now im imagining how good it will be to play in 12s. have to wear thin socks but thats cool.
man that makes me want to get some hyperdunks. they look awesome.
they sure do. i'd love to get a pair but i'd like to try them out for size first. let us know how you find them if you get a pair. also are you get lows?
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yeah i'd def get lows. high-tops are stupid: extra weight with no benefit. if i pick up a pair i'll let you know how they feel.
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High tops are probably the worst thing in human mechanics.
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loats of dunks done saturday. now have sore hip flexors and glutes.. interesting. similar soreness from what i get from backsquats..
5 mo days to go.. almost there, but im waking up during the night hungry which is not good. kinda my fault though, i had 3 eggs instead of a cup of chicken last night, not enuf pro. have to prepare better cause i need the protein now more than ever
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2 handers with ease.
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death to the tall. seriously, though, getting up pretty good there, man. looking smooth.
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Looks v good indeed. A fair bit quicker than what I remember from your last video.
Well done.
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No surprise, but you are looking a hell of a lot faster and smoother at this lower BW. Nice!
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Why don't you try some deeper plants and see what happens?
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death to the tall. seriously, though, getting up pretty good there, man. looking smooth.
Looks v good indeed. A fair bit quicker than what I remember from your last video.
Well done.
No surprise, but you are looking a hell of a lot faster and smoother at this lower BW. Nice!
2 handers with ease.
Thanks guys. If the last vid was the one where i was outdoors while weighing 96kg then yup. If it was the one from feb when i was around 90kg, then nope, i was a lot smoother/faster there, maybe from movement efficiency from dunking semi regularly. Right now this is the first time i've put on my bbball shoes since like march or something so movement efficiency is not quite there yet. The only reason im looking kinda smooth (compared to when 96kg) is because i'm almost 20kg lighter lol.
Hopefully with another 5-6kg bodyweight drop, practice and movement efficiency and some baseline strength (130kg fs and 140kg bs) i'll improve considerably.
Why don't you try some deeper plants and see what happens?
you mean how much chest dip? i just dont need much right now, the lighter i get, the less dip i need. am not thinking about my form at all while approaching the rim
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Just try it. Think only one thing "get deeper" and see what happens.
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I think you are faster now too. In that 'intermediate' video, IIRC, you were more powerful and you were getting higher too. But now you look so much lighter on your feet, you are bouncing. Ive had it happen to me too, after a small time of cutting ( including jumps practice of course ) you get the best jumps, sudden loss of weight with minimum loss of strength. As the cut continues you get more smooth, light on feet, reactive etc but eventually the jumps suffer because of the strength loss. Could be a personal thing though, cant generalize, just my n=1.
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Then try to stay light and jump endlessly. You'd be light and the TUT from the jumps will build 100% specific strength.
:D
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I'm not seeing a vid? :(
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Nope vag, i dont feel as i am even close to as fast and powerful like you said in that feb video. It's true that in jan at 96kg bodyweight i was very slow and lumbering, having neither movement efficiency or basic athleticism from being so heavy. But at 90kg in feb i was quick, explosive and had movement efficiency despite my bodyweight (by the way my lifts were mediocre by then!). Now at 78kg things are a lot easier of course but i still havent got movement efficiency. so will be interesting to see when i can get all the ducks in a row - here are things i can improve on, off the top of my head:
1. low bodyfat (currently still 15% - need to be 10% or less)
2. no movement efficiency (havent been practicing dunking regularly, first time in many months)
3. shoes are size 14 (2 sizes too big, waiting for my eastbay shipment of 12s)
4. weak as fuck (cutting for several months will do that, need to get my lifts back to a minimum casual/repeatable 130kg/140kg fs/bs warmup)
5. am carb depleted (from keto diet) as well as fasted (daily fastiing of 24hrs in place) - maybe perform better well fed, carbed up
So that's why i'm not too fussed about my current form on the jumping. I can experiment with dipping more etc later on, right not that's not a priority when there are a lot of other things probably more important to focus on first!
Also Raptor, That's not really gonna do all that much tho. Lots of skinny/light guys who never become big powerful leapers by dunking all day as lightweights. I think you have to treat it as a strength exercise. Put on a weighted vest. Add a kilo or two a week, eat like you're serious about getting strong and see what happens. Do sets of 5-6 with SVJ and drop step RVJs and focus on being explosive/powerful.
I would love to try this out btw. I imagine when i finish my cut at a lean 72kg/158lb and use a weighted vest to work my way up to dunking at a total weight of 100kg/220lb i'll be a beast at bodyweight dunking. Has anyone actually done this experiment? I'm considering dropping the money on 20-30kg worth of a weighted vest lol.
Chris, i'll have another video up when i reach my next milestone of 77kg/169lb bodyweight in a coupla days (hopefully before saturday when i finish this cut cycle).
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I've dunked with a 20-25lb belt on before. I only tried it a handful of times so I can't speak to its long term effectiveness but I will say this:
-at first....it felt like I had 20+lbs hanging off me lol, I couldn't get up nearly as high obviously.
- after 15-20 mins, my body started adjusting and I could dunk again (not as well but hey, what did you expect lol)
- I took it off after a half hour or so and for the next 10-15 mins I was FLYING compared to pre belt.
- after about a half hour tho my body readjusted (or I got tired) and I was right back around pre belt levels.
Thats repeated itself every time ive used it but like I said...its VERY sparingly. Maybe I'll bust it back out soon!
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Yeah i dont mean for using it as a potetentiating tool. By the way i wouldnt do what you did, go from weighted to unweighted, that's supposed to be dangerous for tendons. I would train it as a proper 'lift', add weight, program it, etc. And when i've reached my goal (say 5x100kg smooth/powerful dunks) i'd maintain that and just hit that set 1x a week to keep the gains. The idea is to build muscle/strength not to potentiate..
BW: 77.95kg/171.85lb
Training
FBS 2x100
FS 1x112.5, 0Fx119.5
BP 2x80, 0Fx88.5, 3x78.5, 3x77.5, 5x75
Squat notes:
Haven't recovered well from saturday dunk sesh. Regretting that now. Only positive was I managed to avoid re-injuring my back by avoiding heavy backsquats. I thought i got owned by the FS max single but i actually got it up to half-squat depth pretty quickly and easily, just didn't lock it out, though during the rep i felt completely defeated from fried hips. Will give squats another crack next session, decided to end it there to avoid burning out and ruining my chances of a successful 2nd squat session later in the week.
Feeling quite weak. Hopefully that was my last training sesh done fasted/carb depleted/fatigued. Next training sesh will coincide with a carb reload, which might even mean a poor session actually but subsequent sessions shud be good considering i'll be eating at maintenance calories for bodyweight. 2 days of rest to come and final training sesh of the week on friday, hopefully at a bodyweight ≤ 77kg.
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Oh yea I understand that, my only concern/question is wouldn't it ALWAYS be a form of potentiation? If you program it like weights it sort of make sense but wouldn't your body adjust back on a day to day basis? You'd only be wearing it for a fraction of time comparatively to your time spent at true BW. The best bet would be to wear it at all times for a few weeks?
Hell idk, with this line of thinking any lifting is just a form of potentiation. :)
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The idea is to grow muscle and acquire strength, though, not to temporarily increase performance which happens when you do the exercise. The latter isn't much use but the former will stick around. You can use that new muscle and strength all the time.
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That's true, I guess I'm just doubting the gains versus potential injury. That's like doing plyos with weight. And I don't see why the body won't adjust back quickly after you remove the weight since most of your day you'll be normal weight then for a small period you'll be heavier. Idk, Im probably over thinking :)
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I don't like a weight vest for quad dominant people. If you're quad dominant and you add a weight vest, you're going to be even MORE quad dominant in my experience. Due to that additional weight, you're going to push off using your strongest muscles even more => even more knee bend and quad overload.
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That's true, I guess I'm just doubting the gains versus potential injury. That's like doing plyos with weight. And I don't see why the body won't adjust back quickly after you remove the weight since most of your day you'll be normal weight then for a small period you'll be heavier. Idk, Im probably over thinking :)
The whole time i was thinking of myself actually while you're probably thinking of someone more generic? That's funny. But consider it from my POV. I'm tall but very light, what would i have to loose from using a weighted vest of 20-30kg when i weigh 70kg/155lb? That means a top end weight of 100kg/220lb - something i've done naturally (dunked in january with a 96kg morning bw naked, and close to 100kg with clothes and food in the PM). So that's where im coming from. And it's not like i'd suddenly put on 20kg one day, i'd build up to it, 2kg or so a week over a period of 6 months or so.
I don't like a weight vest for quad dominant people. If you're quad dominant and you add a weight vest, you're going to be even MORE quad dominant in my experience. Due to that additional weight, you're going to push off using your strongest muscles even more => even more knee bend and quad overload.
i'm not talking about anyone else but for myself. im not quad dominant at all. now what? lol.
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fwiw, what literature there is around weighted vests mostly shows that they're a good training and potentiation tool.
i have an interesting paper with a good bibliography on this if anyone's interested: "Effects of a Plyometric Training Program with and without Added Load on Jumping Ability in Basketball Players."
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Yeah I don't think it can hurt. Nothing to lose by giving it a go.
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Yea I was just thinking out loud. Kinda makes sense since you are so light for your height. Like Mutumbo said, won't know til you try!
LBSS, very interested.
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I remember when I got to the park with a weight vest on and played 3 on 3 for ten minutes or so, then took it off.
I expected to be greately potentiated, instead I was tensed up and jumping terribly.
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IIRC, kellyb said that to get potentiated you need to wear it all day, to really trick your CNS that you are heavier. Also he said that it can't be used all the time, CNS catches up with the trick. But it does work. Too bored to find the abstract now but i can if you are interested.
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IIRC, kellyb said that to get potentiated you need to wear it all day, to really trick your CNS that you are heavier. Also he said that it can't be used all the time, CNS catches up with the trick. But it does work. Too bored to find the abstract now but i can if you are interested.
yeah that's what i'm thinking of. some literature to the contrary, including that piece i referred to. YMMV, as always.
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Got a link to that paper at all LBSS?
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I missed the dunk video, got a link?
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Got a link to that paper at all LBSS?
check PM.
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Not stopping until reaching 60 kg :D
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Bodyweight: 77.2kg/170.2lb
Waist: < 32.5"
(http://i.imgur.com/aQW02Ug.png)
Didn't quite achieve my goal of being ≤77.0kg but came close. Doesn't matter, I'll get my bodyfat amount lower without dieting for a few weeks just by getting into basketball shape through training. Usually lose about an inch off my waist within the first few weeks of playing basketball again. I'm also going to be really disciplined with my diet while on break - not going to undo any of my hard work. Then I'll come back for more cutting Sept 1st, 77kg->72kg possibly over 2 cycles with a diet break inbetween.
Training
OHP 3x50, 2x55, 1x57.5, 0Fx59.5, 3x55, 3x54.5
WCU 2x92(+15kg), 2x98 (+20kg), 1x103(+25kg)
CND - 1km TM, 5x25skips with brief rest, 10min TM
FBS 1x115
BS 1x117.5, 5x110, 5x107.5, 5x105
WCU 2x81.5, 2x86.5, 2x5x91.5, 5x87.5
Circuit of 3x(10x20 HB squat, 10x20 OHP)
Circuit 1x(OHP 10x40, FS 10x40) (to fill muscles with glycogen on carb reload)
Squat notes:
Man fuck everything about training today. My arms wud not stop cramping up. Do you know how hard/impossible it is to do a front squat when your arm is cramped up? Blah. Same thign wud happen on bs as well but it's slightly more manageable.
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BW:77.4kg/170.64lb
(http://i.imgur.com/5YcJalN.png)
So a recap, on friday I did my carb refeed to end the diet and weighed in at 77.2kg/170.2lb - my lightest since last year. Next day my weight went up to 78.65kg/173.39lb. On sunday it was 78.3kg/172.62lb and on monday morning it's back to a reasonably lightweight 77.4kg/170.64lb! So i'm almost as light as I was pre-carb-refeed! Which is kinda nice. The thing is, i've actually noticed significant changes in skinfold mm on my abs (not measured just apparent) so i've had an overnight whoosh or something since sunday. Kinda cool. So from here i'm thinking I should jump into basketball aplomb, take into consideration what LBSS has levelled against me (rightly) that i'm a yo-yo-er and become dedicated to keeping a very tight watch on my BW from here onwards.
I wont be doing fasted squatting ANY MORE. I want to get back to a respectable 130kg/140kg FS/BS first and foremost, like asap and then from there i think 140kg/150kg as a lightweight will be an excellent strength and power goal. But first things first, 130/140kg!
Also since i'm training for basketball I expect to see about an inch off my waist (as has happened so many times in the past when i've restarted bball). I hope this will coincide with about 2lb off my bodyweight too without dieting it off.
Training
BP 2x80, 0Fx85, 3x77.5, 2x79.5, 3x78.5, 3x77.5, 3x76, 3x75
CRLZ 5x48.5, 10x45, 10x42.5
DUNKZ ~ 20 total
FBS 3x100
BS 2x110, 3x102.5, 6x97.5
FS 6x90
Dunk notes:
Kinda lost steam quickly..lots of misses.. I don't think i've recoverd well from friday. But still a decent session all things considering. Wore my new kicks for the first time. First time i've used that word too, feels wrong. I love them except my left toe felt constricted and subsequently sore, which makes no sense because my R foot is the one that usually gives problems. So i am prob just a 12.5 and i made a mistake getting a 12. Oh well, if i didn't have shoe problems it wudnt be me. as a result i dont think i can wear these for actual basketball. Regretting not getting 12.5s cause eastbay had em. I cud buy another pair of 13s from shitty local sports place, i still have to use my store credi from returning my last pair of the same shoes which cost 2x as much as eastbay.
Squat notes:
For the record I walked out 120kg to front squat (and i prob wud have failed it today tbh) and cud not even strart the rep. my left arm cramped up bad. So frustrated with cramping arms. My hand just now cramped while i was brushing my teeth, ffs! Have to figure out why this is happening.. so strange..
I did higher reps with FS with a light weight (90kg) and also with BS (97.5kg), just to get some volume in. I like this,might work towards higher rep PRs on squats, at least for FS, BS I need to just man up and get back to using 120-130kg for sets of 6 really.
pls dont quote this post
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Some nice dunks in there mate. You're making it look pretty easy.
I can imagine with some more practice under your belt there'll be some decent upside.
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Some nice dunks in there mate. You're making it look pretty easy.
I can imagine with some more practice under your belt there'll be some decent upside.
Thanks. I have a feeling around 75kg and strong (for a lightweight) with movement efficiency on jumping i'll be right there where i need to be. Gotta be patient though, it will come when it does, no need to force things and get injured. Give me 6-8 weeks i think!
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That's smart thinking. Just take your time and get it right.
I think you'll be a blocking monster too. You've got a great reach and nice elevation from a standstill. Would hate to be trying to put it in from the paint against you.
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Bodyweight: 76.5kg/168.65lb
Waist: 32"
Well this is embarrassing. My bodyweight went down again lol. Idk if this is just a water thing today though but i look a lot leaner than I did before and my waist is an even 32" now so perhaps. I'll also say, additionally, i've been pretty good with my diet, even going so far as weighing out M&Ms (65g lol) to make sure i wasn't getting too much fructose! Never new fructose did such bad things for bodycomp so i'll be watching that really carefully.
I dont think it's out of the question that i'll have another whoosh sometime before the end of August, the fat around my lower back on the R side is kinda marbly which usually indicates something might happen .. eventually...
I'll take it. Rest day off today, tmr i have my first bball game. Might go out and shoot some hoops and dribble the ball just to get some touch back, it's been too long since i played a game (april).
Never count calories but I did today lol. 1500 kcal for the day, not bad. i had to force myself to eat more carbs cause without the sweets i was under 100g and im supposed to hit 100g a day
(http://i.imgur.com/cRpsPYd.png)
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Btw I tried out out my new tights gear from eastbay today. Opened the top first and it looked tiny, i instantly regretted getting M size but when I put it on, it stretched just as acole said, and i'm glad i went with M. Long pants also fit really well as Ms. I'm happy. But they seem so flimsy, i hope I don't tear them too quickly lol. Are you supposed to wear them just down to ankles or do you cover the foot too? Also, do you wear them as undewear or have something underneath? Not super important just curious
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Wear them just down to your ankles. I've never seen any that are meant to cover your foot.
Depends on you? Sometimes I go commando underneath, other times I wear boxers underneath. Given you train at home probably a little less conscious than if you're going to be out and about in public.
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Ankles here as well. No clue how you do boxers underneath coges lol! I gotta do boxer briefs or I'm all sorts of pissed/agitated/grouchy due to the riding up and wedgie I get with them and boxers lol!
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Ankles here as well. No clue how you do boxers underneath coges lol! I gotta do boxer briefs or I'm all sorts of pissed/agitated/grouchy due to the riding up and wedgie I get with them and boxers lol!
Haha yeah that's what I meant. I have sports boxers/boxer briefs that I wear.
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BW: 77kg/169.8lb
Training
OHP 3x50, 0Fx55, 3x2x52.5, 3x5x50
FBS 3x100, 2x110
FS 0Fx119.5, 4x100
BS 4x107.5, 6x102.5
BBall game
OHP notes:
I failed 55 which is something i should never fail. I would hazard to guess it was from not being well recovered from monday's bp. I used to ohp like 3-4 day after bp too as opposed to with only 1 day break i've had this week. We'll see how it goes. I have a lot of room to improve on both bp and ohp so it shouldn't be a problem.
Squat notes:
Not trying to torch my legs too much. Im thinking i'll prob go for heavy and low volume on weds. volume on fridays and light on monday. plan sound ok?
Bball game notes:
Plan was to get 5 rebounds and 10 points. I got 5 boards but i went scoreless. I just didnt have the touch. Spent a lot of time on teh bench too cause i didnt wanna fk myself up too much especially while not eating a lot of food. All in all, not a bad start. Got the basketball bug! Can't wait to play next week. hopefully i can score, 10 is another matter, perhaps further down the track lol.
I wore tights. They are really cool, hopefully it will help not being stupidly sore as you get in the first game back. The only problem is my compression top kept riding up my waist. it happened during squats too. If i get another pair i will try the next size up, maybe it will be longer.. otherwise im really pleased with wearing compression gear, feels so awesome :D There was a point at the start of the game when i was playing rim protector and really doing a great job at that, felt like dwight howards in my tights. then some really bad point guard threw a pass straight into my face, like how do you even do that jeremy lin? had a bloody nose since but it happens. now i just need to improve my game and fitness which is nonexistent!
Food
M1 - 3 eggs, 1 slice wholemeal bread, 250mL lowfat milk, 1 scoop whey, handful M&Ms (postworkout)
M2 - 1/2 can coke (pre/peri workout - squats), 250mL lowfat milk, 1 scoop whey, handful M&Ms (postworkout)
M3 - M&ms pregame (about 5-6, shared them with mate)
M4 - 1 slice wmb, 1 steak, cup spinach, cup of potato & caulliflower, 200mL lowfat milk, 1 scoop whey, 1 protein bar (20g pro, 20g carb), handful of M&Ms, 2 timtams.
So i ate a LOT. Feel bit guilty about it, but it was all because i wanted to be recovered well enough from lifting+basketball and be fresh for fridays training. Going forward from here i'm not going to do M&Ms anymore. I'll go with kitkats, much easier to measure and track calories esp when I dont have a scale handy all the time, can just add up the lines. Plus I think KKs are slightly better macrowise. It's just for this week anyway, as of next week i'll prob be cutting out sweets completely but i just wanted to give my body/mind a break from dieting, mainly.
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Good job on getting through the first game. How'd you pull up?
You going to continue to train and play on the same day?
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Not too bad, maybe my recovery was really good!
As to training on weds, i don't really see a way around to it, is there one? Consider if I don't lift on weds, it means i have to wait til friday to lift after lifting monday - that's a 3 day gap btw squats/presses, feels a bit much.
Here is the rough program i'm considering, as always welcome suggestions unless they're Raptor's telling me to do half deadlifts and hip thrusts :P
Mon: BP, curls (fasted AM), Squat (PM)
Wed: OHP (fasted AM), Squat (PM), Basketball Game (night)
Fri: BP, WCU (fasted AM), Squat (PM), Dunking/pickup (night)
The volumes and intensities of these weights sessions i'm still contemplating upon. I feel as though friday is a good day to do volume squats. Weds squats might be best done low volume and heavy. Monday's squats idk, maybe medium vol but done medium-heavy?
For upper body, whatever day i do chinups, thats gonna be both heavy and volume in the same day. One of the BP days has to be volume, the other one heavy, haven't decided the order. Also leave open the possibility to move chinups from fri to monday by swapping with curls.
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BW:77kg/170lb
Training
BP 2x80, 1x82.5, 3x79.5
WCU 2x92.5, 2x97.5, 0Fx105, 1x102.5, 4x92.5
FBS 3x100, 2x110
BS 6x102.5, 6x100
FS 5x100
BS 6x100
CR 10x140, 15x170
DUNKZ - 2x6
CND - HIT sprints 5x(20s on, 25s off)
Upper notes:
Just terrible upper body performance.
Squat notes:
Tweaked my back on the bs double with 110kg. For some reason i can't use my old scheme of doing fs and bs reps in succession together anymore, it just fucks me up too much, prob because the FS are near rms now and i'm not able to do bs with the same weight very soon after. I shouldnt have done the bs reps i guess, even though i had been conservative with max singles i didn't expect to have 110kg injure me today.
Conditioning & dunking notes:
Got a lot unfitter than i was before.. if that's possible. haha. But it makes sense, it's been like 2 weeks since i did any running. Dunking was pretty shit, tried to attack the rim as if i was playing a game to make it more interesting.
Calf raise notes:
Been getting self conscious about my legs after my friend said how did your legs get so skinny? To think in january i was knocking on the door of 28" thighs. Now i hesitate to even measure, i'm guessing they'd be low 24"s, if even that. whatever. so i'll do raises, when i work up to using 230kg for 20s i'll probbb have decent calfs. right? right? fuck, whatevs. I'll just have to get used to this if im gonna become 72kg of pure punjabi muscle..
So week 1 comes to an end. It went aight. Next week i'm cutting out sweets and switch to oats.
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33 inch thighs checking in
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RnPywn7o8Ow/S-xxB_4M0QI/AAAAAAAAABk/XYVOMQcBtm4/s1600/LOMU_Jonah_19991014_GH_L.jpg)
24 inch thighs are actually really good considering your height and weight.
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^big rugby bros have such impressive thigh development. makes me jelly, always wanted that lol.
so you made me measure and it turns out my L leg is a legit 23" and um my R leg is 22.5". so fuck everything about everything, time to get some stereons. (Edit im just joking by the way).
Will be interesting to see where my thighs end up measuring when i'm done cutting to 72kg. And by interesting i mean depressing......
the height argument isnt a very comforting one, there is a guy on lyles forum who seems clueless but he has massive thighs (http://i.imgur.com/MsWgYa7.jpg) at the same height as me but he weighs around 190lb but as lean( probably much leaner) as i am now at 77kg :(
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Man those quads make his calves look tiny (the lyle guy that is).
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Here we go, last week of scheduled diet break is underway.
Training
BP 2x5x75, 4x75
WCU 5x93, 5x92, 5x88, 5x85, 5x83
FBS 3x100
FS 3x105
BS 3x107.5, 5x110B, 6x105, 6x102.5
Upper notes:
I'm about to pull the plug on fasted upper body work too for anti-progress.
Squat notes:
Was planning on taking a so-called light day but when your worksets are around 100-110kg everything is light so fuck that shit lol. I got a new belt :) its so sexy, an underground elite single prong powerlifting one - love it, first belt that actually fits me well. I just used it today to test it out, im not really employing a belt seriously til much later, shud be able to get up to to sets of 6 with 120-130kg raw daw really. But i'll play it by feel. I'll try to do a heavy set of 5 with around 115kg on weds with a belt to see if my 'program' is working..
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i like that routine, man. looks good. might want to add a couple of pulls/back exercises after your presses, though.
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33 inch thighs checking in
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RnPywn7o8Ow/S-xxB_4M0QI/AAAAAAAAABk/XYVOMQcBtm4/s1600/LOMU_Jonah_19991014_GH_L.jpg)
24 inch thighs are actually really good considering your height and weight.
Holy shit. I need me some of those! Lol
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I shud confess ive been binging on junk food the last 2 days. Not good. I can't wait til friday til i resume cutting. Need to get this cutting thing out of the way so i can start working on getting strong, muscular, fit and athletic. I feel like 77kg -> 74kg is a good goal for my next cut cycle. Any less and it wont be satisying, and longer and it will be mentally defeating.
i like that routine, man. looks good. might want to add a couple of pulls/back exercises after your presses, though.
How about some cable work like KF? might be fun too. That or barbell rows but they're not fun haha. may be i'll alternate them. i'll def do something though, thanks for the tip. Maybe even something wilder like a rack pull lol.
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Training
OHP 5x50, 3x55, 3x57.5B, 3x55B, 3x5x52.5
ROW 8x40, 8x50
FBS 3x100
FS 3x107.5
BS 3x110, 5x115B
Basketball game
Upper notes:
Good OHP day, tried using the belt but it was close to useless, think i'm between holes where one is too tight and the other one is too loose.
New exercise rows, hat tip lbss. Going to be super patient with these so i don't get frustrated and abandon them, if that means building up the volume/weight over time so be it.
Squat notes:
Yeah so i rushed through these, only did 3 sets effectively then had to drive all the way across the city for my game which sucks esp during peak hour.
Basketball notes:
I hit a jumper and scored i think twice on drives. How can i not know that for sure? Idk, the whole game is a bit hazy. My fitness is so bad that i can barely play 100% for even 1 minute. Fuck fuck fuck. But there are glimpses of good things happening on the skills side, my confidence is going up :)
squatting + basketball later
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I binged again. After the game we hit up hungry jacks (burger king for the rest of the world). I ate 3 burgers , one in a meal w/ fries and coke and 2 dessert things. 2 more days left on the diet break, so i'm just going to see it out and will assess the damage when im back into cutting and my bodyweight has stabilised, hopefully around 77kg. I'm such a fat piece of shit lol.
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Finally the diet break ends. I've learnt once again that while i'm quite good at losing weight and sticking to a diet itself, I simply cannot do the coming off a diet phase well. At my lowest during the break, i was 76.5kg post carb refeed. Right now at the end of the 2 week break, i'm a fat as fuck 78kg. So i undid my hard work. Instead of having to diet 2.5kg to 74kg from 76.5kg now i'm looking at dropping a formidable 4kg for the same goal! lol.
So here is my goal for this phase of the cut - get bodyweight to 74kg/163lb.
(http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/76/full/1309059144_1.jpg)
After and before goal photo ^
By the way 74kg isn't anything special by itself, the ultimate goal is to get to 72kg but that will take another cut cycle later down the line after another diet break (which i will get right by being even more disciplined than when dieting!).
http://www.cartoon-world.tv/rockos-modern-life-season-1-episode-1/
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rocko's modern life, what a show.
"do you know how to use that thing?"
" :raging: DO I?!?!"
:lololol:
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BW: 78kg/170lb
Training
BS 5x75, 3x77.5, 2x80, 3x76
WCU 3x82.5, 3x87.5, 3x92.5, 2x97.5, 1x102.5, 5x92.5
CRLZ 8x40, 6x47.5, 8x40
FBS 3x100
FS 3x110 (ugly as fuck 3rd rep, you weak piece of shit)
BS 3x112.5 (lol PR!!), 6x107.5 (depth was bs), 2x6x105 (better depth but i stil wouldnt stand by the last 2 reps or so).
Basketball pickup! ~ 50-60 mins?
Squat notes:
I manned up to get through these challenging sets but on the balance im ok with it even tho it shud be embarassing to work so hard for such modest worksets. I have a lot of room for improvement in both depth and weight, obviously. Have to keep working HARD.
Basketball notes:
I'm playing myself into shape, will make friday night pickup ball a regular feature until im fit. I expect it to take about 6 weeks... but i'll get there. Oh and i could barely dunk, too unfit, too smashed from squats, too fat, too weak.
Ate a LOT! carb refeed brah. Like half a 400g full size toblerone. a big bag of grain waves. That was just my first meal lol. Then for dinner half a roast chicken, rice, palak paneer. For dessert i've got a huge chocolate sponge roll cake lined up.
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rocko's modern life, what a show.
"do you know how to use that thing?"
" :raging: DO I?!?!"
:lololol:
(http://i.imgur.com/F7W4jYo.jpg)
Im so glad someone got the reference. I've only got blank responses whenever ive mentioned it. It's such a brilliant show. If you watch the first episode, they actually join a gym/spa thing to get in shape and Heffer Wolfe actually dunks and breaks the rim lol. Not unlike my present avatar and fatfuckedness :P I can't wait to be bouncy like rocko
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you just need the right jackhammer, man.
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I only had 2 slices of the chocolate sponge roll then binned it. Motherfucker was too dry, never moist as i hoped. Guess the good news is i didn't get fatter as a result.
Right so here we go, day #1 of the cut. To recap, i'm coming off a 2 week diet break which went superbly for the first week and then the wheels came off and i put on like a kilo of bodyfat over 3 days. But lets not cry over split milk. I'm playing ball regularly now so that shud help with getting and staying in shape.
The thing which i want to improve on this time around is my general activity levels. I used my phone as a shitty fitbit and it showed i average under 1000 steps a day. Which is worse than sedentary. I am not going to go crazy and aim for 10k or something, but i should really be doing at least 5000 a day i think, to help with getting my daily caloric expenditure up. My strategy with this will be to walk (fasted or whtaever) while watching SICP lectures (conveniently on youtube) on my phone. Or some other lectures - i find there are a lot of awesome lectures on youtube these days. ive never managed to get through all the sicp so that's prob a good place to start! They're about an hour each, so that shud get my steps up to 2000-3000 i think? Whatever, well see how it goes.
And finally, i'm going to be on a level of 10/10 strictness, no sugars EXCEPT preworkout - yes that means no more fasted training, that's the dumbest thing to do esp when i have some 5kg left to lose, if i was trying to strip of the last pound or something, i cud use fasted training to release catecholamines or some shit - at my level of fatness though, it's utterly pointless and self defeating. Plus i never figured out how to get the next dose of EC*( i dont actually use EC lol but that's another story) to line up with the postworkout nutrition without blunting insulin response or whatever, so im just giving up on that noise.
lets do this. hopefully i can get to 74kg (or less? i think 73.5kg or so then post-refeed i'll be a legit 74kg?) in THREE WEEKS!
Morning bodyweight today is77.1kg/169.98lb - lol. Goal weight 74kg. hopeful duration 3 weeks. I'm going to be super strict with healthy, clean refeeds friday IF I need one otherwise skip it. But i might because i'll be lowcarbing and fasting rest days (24hrs, 50g of carb).
Recap: Daily macros will be 120g protein, 50g fat, 50g carb. Total calories will be therefore b 1200 a day. This is a high limit, realistically i wont be eating that much fat but i'll allow up to 50g a day because sometimes you need to allow for tag along fats esp when cooking food or eating dairy or whatever. So some days i might eat less than 1000 cals. I'll be strict with observing the high limit though, weighing and measuring everything like a madman.
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This is a graphical summary of what happened to my bodyweight while on diet break
(http://i.imgur.com/tGqq0yj.png)
today's morning weight is the last point (which coincides to the first data point of the cut too!)
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Day #1 food & activity log
Bodyweight: 77.1kg/169.98lb
Fast ended: 1955
Fast starts: 2000.
Acitivity Logged: 5000 steps
(http://i.imgur.com/Qn6xI0n.png)
Not logged is a cup of pumpkin and spinach/ricotta i had, which is just near enough zero-calorie that it's not worth tracking. Oh and also about 4 teaspoons of salsa which is also low/zero cal. So i kinda went on the low side today. It's okay, i feel full. I have a stock pile of about 15 protein bars but i thought i dont need them just yet. Maybe have one tomorrow idk.
Im still using my phone as a fitbit. I don't trust it at all. I am thinking of getting a fitbit but hard to justify the expense..
So day one went well, now to sleep and rest up :) have to fast 24hrs til my next meal.
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Day #2 Food and Activity log
Bodyweight: 76.5kg/168.65lb
Waist: Just under 32"
So the first night was miserable, expected, sleep was very shallow, feel sluggish and tired in the morning and my skin looks awful and this is just the 2nd day lol.
Will aim for 5000 steps again but im really disliking my phone for tracking steps. i figured out the way i had it strapped to my arm (using a sweatband) on my arm doesn't work very well for counting, it hardly registers steps there. You have to hold it a certain way to count, which is quite inconvenient because i don't really wanna walk around holding my phone infront of me lol.
i'll update tonight with food and activity.
Fasted duration: 24hrs
Fast Ended: 2010
Fast started: 2040
Total steps: 4982 (fasted, i'll obviously go over 5000 by bed time though but not fasted)
(http://i.imgur.com/PTFimY9.png)
Similar eating to yesterday except no pumpkin or ricotta or salsa. Oh and i had two cups of sagh (spinach). It was yum had to have another lol. Tonight added a quest vanilla crunch protein bar for dessert. Disappointing it wasn't very good, it was ok, just not amazing for a treat like my favs which are the quest bars flavours of mixed berrries and choc brownie. Oh well, only have another 11 of these left to eat hah. By the way my carbs arent 55g, if you read the fibre column, the stupid quest bar is 20g of fibre so they're not actual proper carbs...
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Day #3 Food and Activity log
Bodyweight: 76.6kg/168.87lb
Waist: <32"
Fasted duration: 17hr
Fast broken: 1430
Fast Started: 2000
Total steps: 6000 logged
Update on fasted training: I decided to abandon fasted training because it's antiprogress and has just made me weaker with no real (fat loss) benefit
My first preworkout meal: a whey shake + 2g of fish oil, some 'fast' carbs (12 potato chips == back of bag serving size; and a 50mL scoop of coke). Crazy that is half of the daily calories ive been having so far lol. 2nd preworkout meal is just 1 scoop coke.
Right so calorieking sucks and wont let me change the names of these meals. But Breakfast is preworkout #1 and Lunch is preworkout #2 and Dinner is postworkout after the 2nd training sesh. Hope that's clear enough.
(http://i.imgur.com/68E5O01.png)
Training
FBS 3x100
BS 3x100, 6x102.5, 6x100
BP 4x77.5, 5x76, 5x75
WCU 5x92.5, 5x91, 5x90
Squat notes:
Weekend of hardcore fasting and low calorie intake made for a hard day of squatting. I was going for a light set of 6s, the last set was nice enough depth wise, that triple was bullshi depth and the 105 was prob borderline. I can squat deep ofcourse, it's just a mental/strength form/form strength/ thing right now that heavy sets are not deep enough...
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The previous days, was what you logged just the breakfast or you didn't eat anything else all day?
If so, don't you think that 600-800 kcal with under 70-90g protein is way beyond the cutting and deep into the starvation spectrum?
Or is it just a temporary sacrifice to get your bw at a given number in some ( very few ) given days? If so it is more understandable, although i still disagree.
Plans like yesterday's ( 1400 / 120 ) would serve you much better. But of course they need more time.
Protein is too low too, even 120g is still much below the 1g per BW lb.
Just a few notes, i know you know your stuff and you are aware of all that, but sometimes the outside observer notices things you don't.
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The previous days, was what you logged just the breakfast or you didn't eat anything else all day?
If so, don't you think that 600-800 kcal with under 70-90g protein is way beyond the cutting and deep into the starvation spectrum?
Yup, 24hr fast culminating in one meal of the day at 8pm. I'm not sure how many days I could pull off eating 600-800 a day but it does give a wicked caloric deficit and will get bodyweight down quickly. Is it ideal? Nope, but being fat is unideal too :P I mean short of using drugs, even dieting for a long ass time, these things will always be inconvenient no matter how you go about it. Early on a cut, while my metabolism is high, mood is good, i can get away with big deficits and less protein and (carbs/fats for that matter). But down the line it will be hard, maybe impossible to do it. Right now it's not so bad to eat less protein in particular. Later it will be necessary to eat more. I am playing it by feel. Also more protein seems to me a waste, when I was looking at cutting from 77->72kg. It means being fat enough and (low enough lbm given a lean mass of around ~70kg) that i don't need a lot. But as i get closer to 72kg, im gonna have to eat more protein for sure. I won't mind spending/eating 200g a day when im closer to the target bodyweight..
Or is it just a temporary sacrifice to get your bw at a given number in some ( very few ) given days? If so it is more understandable, although i still disagree.
Plans like yesterday's ( 1400 / 120 ) would serve you much better. But of course they need more time.
Protein is too low too, even 120g is still much below the 1g per BW lb.
I just wanna make the most of this honeymoon period. You get the best fat loss in the first week or two when metabolism is good, mood is good, motivation is heigh, strength and performance are still ok. Later that changes of course, and i will adapt my diet as required.
Just a few notes, i know you know your stuff and you are aware of all that, but sometimes the outside observer notices things you don't.
I get ya, you're right though, conventional wisdom would have me eating 300g of protein right now. Fuck conventional wisdom, i will tread my own path :)
update:
vag it occured to me why i dont agree with advice such as L.McD to eat 1.4-1.6g of protein per lb of bodyweight while cutting. For me that would mean eating 900 calories just from protein! So that means what else wud i be eating? Nothing! And so instead of eating normal meals and feeling good about my food, i would be dreading eating 200-250g of pure protein, even though it wud effectively be the same number of calories. I'm really not interested in eating so much protein, that's too much pain. I've done RFL for like 6 months over my lifetime, it's not fun,i don't want to go through that shit again, especially when i dont have to!
I function much better with a minimum amount of carb in my diet (50g cap on rest days, 100g on training days). I function better with about 35-50g of fat a day. Why would i wanna fuck around with that. IT means either eating some awful protein only diet - or having a much smaller deficit, so that means i'd be eating say 1500kcal-2000kcal a day or something like that, which will mean cutting takes much much longer. I don't see the point of that. Would rather get this whole thing out of the way asap and then move on to productive training.
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Day #4 Food and Activity log
Bodyweight: 75.9kg/167.33lb
Waist: <32"
Fasted duration: 24hr 45min
Fast broken: 2045
Fast started: 2110
Total steps: 12000 (PR!)
(http://i.imgur.com/9nGUe4U.png)
^ so i'm doing real well so far. On track to break 75kg by the end of the week. Remember my goal for this cycle is to get to and under 74kg/163lb! I can't see me cutting as hardcore as this for very long, maybe 2 weeks max, after that i'll switch to a smaller caloric deficit if I still haven't broken through 74kg.
Some changes i'm making are going to try to hit 100g of carbs on training days. And do the bulk of my fasted walking earlier in the fast as opposed to the end. Just so there is less fatigue on the body.
Day's Eats
(http://i.imgur.com/93vsgDS.png)
As usual, i'm not loging veges cause cals. But i can't describe how good sagh is right now. I cud eat it just for dessert it's that yummy. I ate like 2 cups today! I actually finished my (one and only) meal at 2100 but went to wash dishes and then had the quest bar which i finished at 2110 making my feeding window from 2045-2110 as OCD me wanted to be done by 2100 in a 15 minute long window, but it's all good, prob doesn't matter just doesn't sound as neat.
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Day #5 Food and Activity log
Bodyweight: 75.4kg/166.23lb
Waist: <32"
Fasted duration: 16hr
Fast broken: 1310
Fast started: 1930
Total steps: 6799 (to be updated)
(http://i.imgur.com/yDJg4g3.png)
Progress has been incredible so far. I'm thinking 74kg is not to far away now and maybe 73.5kg shud be the goal. But of course i cud hit a wall or something in the next week or so.
Training
OHP 3x50, 2x57.5B, 3x55B, 5x53.5B, 5x52.5
ROW 6x60, 3x70, 8x57.5
FBS 3x100, 1x110
BS 3x115 (LPR), 2x120B (LPR), 3x117.5B(LPR)
CR 10x200 (LPR), 15x140 (LPR)
Squat notes:
Dieting really sucks when warmups with 60kg are hard :( But i managed some local PRs all the same. FS wasn't there though, maybe a mental thing but i could not rep 110kg for whatever reason although i must my heart wasn't really in it either.
Calf raises:
Been meaning to do regular calf work but i skipped last week. Forced myself to do them today though. Shits pretty tough right now. I did the set with 140 as a backoff, aiming to be explosive, for once got a calf burn.. haha.
Basketball notes:
It was our first game, the first 2 weeks were grading. We won! I had a good game, had some critical plays which helped win :) Got like 3 assists, 1 should have been an assist if not for a botched easy layup! And i scored as well and played ok D. My conditioning is STILL TERRIBLE. But 3 weeks in, i expect within weeks 4-6, i'll start to build at least average conditioning. More on this in a later post.
Day's Eats
(http://i.imgur.com/OGpZaD2.png)
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Day #6 Food and Activity log
Bodyweight: 75.3kg/166.23lb
Waist: <32"
Fasted duration: 24hr:30min
Fast broken: 2000
Fast started: 2025
Total steps: 8000 fasted, 9000 total.
(http://i.imgur.com/QnwRQ9a.png)
Scale continues to move in the right direction. I'm pumped about getting close to breaking 75kg by weeks end. If you ask me where I think my current bodyfat is, i'd have to say, idk, maybe under 13% but not quite as low as 12%? Mutombo a few weeks back estimated i'd be 12% at 74kg. I THINK that at 74kg, i'll probably be UNDER 12% but i'm not 100% sure, maybe 80% sure. I am on the right track though, my skinfolds are getting smaller every day. Like crazy, losing bodyfat like a boss. Plus playing ball, getting in shape, fitter and lifting well. Training and diet is dialled in perfectly right now. Good things are happening across the board.
Day's Eats
(http://i.imgur.com/SHhcUj1.png)
Activity log:
Will try to take a legit rest day today, no 12k steps. But still will try to get at least 5k. Update so I got 8000 fasted. Pretty good i guess, without trying too hard or anything and exhausting myself.
Summary: Today was a miserably diet day - guess my body is ready for a carb refeed; luckily i have one scheduled for tomorrow! Then leptin levels will rise and i'll have an easier time over the next coupla days. Maybe. We'll see.
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It's becoming apparent that I may be a lot fatter than I initially anticipated. To achieve the goal in my sig, i may well need to get deep sub 70kg/155lb. I'm not sure there is much to be gained from attaining such an extreme bodyweight. Most imporantly though, it does mean I have to revise my notion of what is the ideal athletic bodyweight for me with a <10% bodyfat - it may well be around 70kg. That would imply I should not make too much of a fuss about getting from 75.5kg -> 73kg. I think it might even be a good goal to adopt for this cut cycle is to attain 73.0kg instead of the 74kg I had initially planned.
So that sucks to find out i'm so fat. But it does mean once i'm done cutting I could get very strong and still remain quite light since my 2014 squat PRs as multipliers of my ideal bodyweight are: >2xBW on FS, ~2.3xBW backsquat and just shy of 2.5xBW on (belted) backsquats Those are amazing ratios, especially for a guy of my height, 6'4" in shoes. 2014 might just be the most exciting year of my life in terms of physical performance and training :)
Because I anticipate this post will engander disbelief and replies of 'but how can he cut??' - i'm a really special snowflake, i wouldn't suggest the average guy my height needs to cut to 70kg. There's just something unique about my body that makes it so. At 75kg as I am, i still have plenty of fat left to lose - so it's not like i'm some skeleton right now. There is plenty of adipose left, esp on my buttocks, lower back, belly and chest. It makes sense that 70-72kg is where i might need to be, to get a full sixpac (this will probably come much earlier though) and lean legs, hips, chest and lower back. Like i've said before, i have female fat storage pattern, so i'll have a ripped torso much sooner than i will have ripped lower body. I'm not going to let that fool me into thinking i can stop cutting though. Abs dont mean shit until you are lean all over.
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Might be a naive question: have you ever had your bf% proerly checked by a professional using a bod-pod, hydrostatic weighing, DEXA scan? You seem to be basing your whole training life around estimates from the mirror test. If you don't care about aesthetics and are just trying to hit a number for athletic purposes, I don't see why you wouldn't want to know exactly what that number was. You'd only need to do it once to get a better gauge of what how your perception matches up with reality.
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Might be a naive question: have you ever had your bf% proerly checked by a professional using a bod-pod, hydrostatic weighing, DEXA scan? You seem to be basing your whole training life around estimates from the mirror test. If you don't care about aesthetics and are just trying to hit a number for athletic purposes, I don't see why you wouldn't want to know exactly what that number was. You'd only need to do it once to get a better gauge of what how your perception matches up with reality.
Bod pod won't work, dexa wont work, neither will skinfolds. The only one which would work for me is hydrostatic. The reason all of the former would fail is because they depend on models which are based on the average person. I'm an outlier. So for example skinfolds will underestimate my bodyfat because I hold most of my bf in my lower body, so they'd say compared to most men, you're really lean. But that's because they're not taking a skinfold of my buttocks lol. But in reality my bodyfat storage patterns are atypical of the normal male storage patterns. This is the same reason all those methods won't work - dexa works the same way, it uses a model with equations based on a population.
I have no idea where i'd have to get a hydrostatic measurement from here though. Not that it matters, won't change anything, i'm still going to have to keep cutting for a while yet!
Well that all sounds reasonable. Although, if your fat distribution is uneven, why wouldn't the 7 or 12 point test with calipers work? An average of all your fat zones must give you something pretty close. You could get it done by a professional, I know physios at footy clubs do it all the time. I guess I'm still having trouble comprehending that a 6'4'' trained male at 74kgs doesn't have ~10% bf.
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Might be a naive question: have you ever had your bf% proerly checked by a professional using a bod-pod, hydrostatic weighing, DEXA scan? You seem to be basing your whole training life around estimates from the mirror test. If you don't care about aesthetics and are just trying to hit a number for athletic purposes, I don't see why you wouldn't want to know exactly what that number was. You'd only need to do it once to get a better gauge of what how your perception matches up with reality.
Bod pod won't work, dexa wont work, neither will skinfolds. The only one which would work for me is hydrostatic. The reason all of the former would fail is because they depend on models which are based on the average person. I'm an outlier. So for example skinfolds will underestimate my bodyfat because I hold most of my bf in my lower body, so they'd say compared to most men, you're really lean. But that's because they're not taking a skinfold of my buttocks lol. But in reality my bodyfat storage patterns are atypical of the normal male storage patterns. This is the same reason all those methods won't work - dexa works the same way, it uses a model with equations based on a population.
I have no idea where i'd have to get a hydrostatic measurement from here though. Not that it matters, won't change anything, i'm still going to have to keep cutting for a while yet!
Well that all sounds reasonable. Although, if your fat distribution is uneven, why wouldn't the 7 or 12 point test with calipers work? An average of all your fat zones must give you something pretty close. You could get it done by a professional, I know physios at footy clubs do it all the time. I guess I'm still having trouble comprehending that a 6'4'' trained male at 74kgs doesn't have ~10% bf.
Good question. Lets take a look at the 7 sites:
(http://i.imgur.com/p847Bhk.png)
Of those my skinfolds would all be pretty small right now at ~75.5kg (i'm not 74 yet by the way!). Holding a lot of bodyfat in the lower body, specifically in my buttocks, none of those sites would correspond to that area of storage. The thigh one would not be helpful in this case cause i don't have a lot of fat in my thighs anyway.
I'm sure the female equations would put more weight on the thigh skinfold measurement and in the case of most women that probably correlates well with hips and buttocks. It's sub optimal anyway, you shud definitely make one of the sites for women be the buttocks. My thigh measurement does not correlate well at all with my behind. I'm somewhere in between the two types! Just out of curiousity, can some of you lean guys chime in and say how you hold your bodyfat? I don't imagine any of you could be in a twerking video but i could l, easily.
I did have a 7 point test done a few years ago. Twice actually, with a year apart. Both times it came back as 25% bodyfat (at a bodyweight of 100kg). So that was bullshit.
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Day #7 Food and Activity log
Bodyweight: 75.6kg/166.7lb
Waist: <32"
Fasted duration: 17hr
Fast broken: 1320
Fast started: 2100
Total steps: 6750 fasted; 6750 total (TBU)
Training
FBS 3x100
FS 1x110, 1x112.5, 1x117.5, 0Fx120
BS 1x110, 6x105, 6x112.5B(LPR), 6x110
BP 5x75, 5x72.5, 6x70
WCU 5x90, 5x92.5, 5x90
Day's Eats
(http://i.imgur.com/LgaMuh2.png)
kinda lost it by the end with those tim tams otherwise it was near enough the perfect carb reload in terms of keeping fat around 50g. All good, for next time i know to organise a lowfat dessert! By the way, how are 3 biscuits so high in fat? i noticed most sweets have excessive fats in them. Looking for a good high treat which has low fat. Let me know if you know of one..
Carb refeed day! Got in a nice ~7k steps in before breaking fast so i'm good for a bit of extra fat loss for the day.
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If I had to guess (and its a slightly educated guess lol) I carry most of mine in the "love handle" area and the upper chest. The love handles are proving very difficult to lose, they've been there since I quit playing for 2 years and just drank my way through college. The upper chest has been there since I set my PR on bench/incline bench last summer and then severely cut my upper body training back as I was getting too heavy IMO.
I take pics every few weeks to monitor progress and these two spots are consistently areas I look at as needing improvement. I'd estimate im around 12% BF currently at 182lbs. I need to get it professionally checked...haven't done that since high school when I weighed in at 160lbs lol
Edit: and upper inner thigh...really should do something about that but...im lazy.
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thanks chris! would like to hear more replies
If I had to guess (and its a slightly educated guess lol)
(http://i.imgur.com/yzAyt03.jpg)
^ this is the best test, forget dexa scams. get in front of the mirror (full length if you have one) and jump around.
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Auhnuld is the man! In that case...my pecs are straight up fat lol!
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mine, such as it is, is basically all my lower back, butt, and lower abs (classic male bicycle tire plus butt). i am in the 10-12% range, if i had to guess: clearly visible abs, a bit veiny.
i think your focus on bf% is misplaced, because it's not something you can reliably or consistently measure. or, to be more precise, not something that you trust or self-perceive in the same way from week to week or month to month. why do you care what your bf% is in the first place? your waist is small, you're close to your goal weight after consistent progress in that direction. you're a bit dysmorphic so the mirror test isn't necessarily a good one but maybe post a couple pics so you can get a second opinion on how lean you actually look?
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mine, such as it is, is basically all my lower back, butt, and lower abs (classic male bicycle tire plus butt). i am in the 10-12% range, if i had to guess: clearly visible abs, a bit veiny.
interesting responses so far.. i wasn't expecting either of those answers!
i think your focus on bf% is misplaced, because it's not something you can reliably or consistently measure. or, to be more precise, not something that you trust or self-perceive in the same way from week to week or month to month. why do you care what your bf% is in the first place?
easily explained :-
one cares about bodyfat %when one is cutting
one cares about lifts/times/inches jumped etc when one is bulking/accumulating/intensifying/.
there is a time and place for either but i'll be tracking my bodyfat even once i stop cutting.
your waist is small, you're close to your goal weight after consistent progress in that direction. you're a bit dysmorphic so the mirror test isn't necessarily a good one but maybe post a couple pics so you can get a second opinion on how lean you actually look?
yeah im close but not quite there yet. maybe 2-5kg away, exactly, remains yet to be determined. i'll keep cutting til im satisfied im lean (10% legit full six pac and lean chest, lower back and legs). my waist shud be around 31" around the belly button or just under it. Whereas if i measure at the widest its prob still above 32.5" or so. im just being consistent with the site i use though.
after cutting i'll be tracking skinfold mms consistently. no i wont be converting those to a bodyfat %, it's not necessary or accurate and not worth it except as a single number summary if i take multiple skinfolds from different sites (maybe i will, maybe just one or two sites, idk). i've ordered a slimguide caliper to replace my pos prob fake accumeasure tonight.
im not currently interested in opinions based on photos, mainly because im still too fat to really pin down (fuzzy area between 15-12%). my lower back is still fat (not like mutombo's avatar), and my ass has at least 2kg of adipose clearly so im not in danger of hitting 10% just yet. may post photos much later but prob not, there isn't really a point, ill know when i get there.. i pinch my waist regularly (usually in the mornings) and the skinfolds are consistently getting smaller so i know im on the right track.
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one does not necessarily care about bf% when one is cutting. that's my point. YOU care, and i was suggesting that maybe you could find something else to care about or use as the major benchmark, for the reasons i described.
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Left unsaid is that as you put on lean muscle you should become more efficient at burning fat as well, at least, thats been my experience.
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Shoutout to the makki di roti haha!
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one does not necessarily care about bf% when one is cutting. that's my point. YOU care, and i was suggesting that maybe you could find something else to care about or use as the major benchmark, for the reasons i described.
lol i only care about IN SO MUCH as ITS A GOAL. Not like i know what my current bf is, or what it was a week ago. It's just the target im working towards. One needs a target. On the page though i define it as a bodyweight goal (74kg for this cycle, then perhaps revised to 73.5kg and finally 73kg) but i know that bodyweight is just a reading on teh scale, what im really interested in, is carrying the minimal amount of bodyfat practically as possible so i can do an efficient mass/strength/power gain phase afterwards. I was saving a really good greg nichols (http://gregnuckols.com/2014/03/19/being-strong-is-not-an-excuse-to-be-fat-and-being-fat-is-probably-holding-you-back/) article to put up later but there might never be a better time than this. Everyone shud read it.
Please consider the environment and save the but you're not fat, you're just dismorphic knejerk posts. I quote L.McD on this:
Even at 10% bodyfat, i'm not happy. I know I'm lean, healthy, all of that. My doctor is thrilled and thinks I'm nuts to want to be leaner; so does my mom. They may not be wrong. But at 10% bodyfat, I'm simply not satisfied. The more athletic readers know what i'm talking about. Other readers may just think i'm nuts and obsessive. They may not be wrong either.
except i'm not even 10% yet. I probably would be satisfied with it if i was though.
Shoutout to the makki di roti haha!
word! haha.
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Day #8 Food and Activity log
Bodyweight: 76.55kg/168.76lb
Fasted duration: 13hr (TBU)
Fast broken: 2110
Fast started: 2150
Total steps: 6725 (fasted), 7255 total
(http://i.imgur.com/PYD7W3O.png)
^ prob the biggest post refeed rebound i've ever had! or maybe it just seems that way and i haven't really observed very carefully. idk, cool!
You get leaner just before a refeed and the next day you're much fatter again :( I bet this stops happening when you're lean enough that you'll look fairly lean even after a refeed. oh well. Weathers a bit iffy today, was planning on going for a run/walk and getting some glycogen depletion in, not really super important with my 24hr fasts but would have been nice. Also half considering going to the basketball court and doing some dunks and practice skills but not sure i can be bothered
Day's Eats
(http://i.imgur.com/Ctxe5vG.png)
and the whole thing literally on a plate:
(http://i.imgur.com/Jj3e9W1.png)
(as usual not logging zero calorie foods like sagh or salsa)
Activity log:
I did go down to the basketball court, was there about an hour and half. Did a bunch of dunks and just practiced ball handling etc.
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That article is spot on man. Better to stay athletic and gain muscle size/weight slowly than let yourself go and be stuck on repeat forever. That's why I'm always concerned with my weight even on a strength block. I'd rather only put 15-20lbs on my squat and stay lean as the end result (vertical jump) is more important than the weight on the bar.
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Day #9 Food and Activity log
Bodyweight: 75.6kg/166.7lb
Fasted duration: 24+hr
Fast broken: 2206
Fast started: 2230
Total steps: 7000 fasted, 7677 total
(http://i.imgur.com/8zikdwS.png)
Ok there we go, bodyweight is renormalising :) My goal is to get to ≤74kg by friday morning (usually my lightest day). Of course if i get there before that i won't mind either lol. But the idea is i want to be in a fighting chance of attaining 73kg by end of this 3 week cycle, and the only way that's possible is if i'm real close to 74kg by end of week 2.
Just a note - I ABSOLUTELY NAILED yesterday's diet and training! I woke up today feeling fresh, HOT (as in TEMP = GOOD, ELEVATED METABOLISM) and feeling good. So i'm just going to try to repeat exactly what i eat yesterday EVERYDAY and see if it keeps working. Maybe that extra half scoop of protein helped? Or maybe it was the 2 giant sized eggs i ate (800g dozen as opposed to usual 700g dozen?). Idk. Lets stick with it! I may also be adapted to ketosis now - and i may possibly be IN ketosis too. Who knows, it doesn't matter, i'm gonna ride this out :)
Day's Eats
(http://i.imgur.com/s7ewjxr.png)
Activity log:
Did some slow incline treadmill walking. Heard that's what hte old school bodybuilders used to get lean back in the day. It was aight i guess. I did about 35 mins in 2 sessions of 25 and 10.
Injury log:
This is embrassing. I tweaked the fuck out of my back (muscle) while tying my shoelace yesterday. Hurts a lot :/ It was a combo of wearing tights awkwardly and bending over on the chair to put on my shoes. Sucks!
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Day #10 Food and Activity log (of 21 days)
Bodyweight: 75.1kg/165.6lb (LPR)
Waist: 30.5" (PR)
Fasted duration: 21hr
Fast broken: 1930
Fast started: 2230
Total steps: 5600 fasted, 7255 total
(http://i.imgur.com/Uia0YtC.png)
^ New bodyweight LPR! I also look visually leaner, i wont say 10% but edging closer to it. Maybe i'm under 12% now? Who knows. This cut has been SO easy so far. I wonder when it will get difficult. Maybe because i'm so focused on gettng it right, it has gone perfectly. By the way while that's the first time i've got a waist measurement in the 30.0"s, i'm not putting much faith in it because waist measurements are kinda useless at the best of times, contigent on how tight the tape was etc. I put more faith in skinfolds and jiggle test which tells me there has def been an overnight change which is worth most to me.
Activity log:
1hr fasted slow incline TM
Training:
FBS 3x100
FS 1x107.5 (injury)
BS 6x102.5, 6x105
BP 3x77.5
WCU 2x97.5, 3x95
CRL 5x37.5, 5x42.5
Squat notes:
So yesterday i hurt my back while tying shoe laces. I wasn't sure to even train today but warmups felt aight and it wasn't bothering the injury. My warmup sets with 100kg felt good and looked good, piston like. I thought there is no harm going for a FS triple of 107.5kg. And on the first rep, it broke my back :( Prob lay off front squats til im healed up.
Day's Eats:
(http://i.imgur.com/JGr0mKn.png)
Ate mo protein to help heal my back injury.
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man i wasn't saying, "but you're not fat, you're just dysmorphic." i was saying, well exactly what i said: your bf% calculations are unreliable so why not pick a different target. like: clearly defined six pack even in indirect light.
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man i wasn't saying, "but you're not fat, you're just dysmorphic." i was saying, well exactly what i said: your bf% calculations are unreliable so why not pick a different target. like: clearly defined six pack even in indirect light.
I think for Entropy it would be clearly defined buttocks since that's where he stores most of his fat :trolldance:
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man i wasn't saying, "but you're not fat, you're just dysmorphic." i was saying, well exactly what i said: your bf% calculations are unreliable so why not pick a different target. like: clearly defined six pack even in indirect light.
Sorry, i get ya now. Just been a bit reflexively defensive lately having to constantly reassert my position. I agree with you though. I think implicitly I always knew it would be some objective measure I would be able to confirm as opposed to an ethereal fictitious bodyfat% measurement. Think jiggle test is the way to go. Thanks.
man i wasn't saying, "but you're not fat, you're just dysmorphic." i was saying, well exactly what i said: your bf% calculations are unreliable so why not pick a different target. like: clearly defined six pack even in indirect light.
I think for Entropy it would be clearly defined buttocks since that's where he stores most of his fat :trolldance:
No joke, I think that might even be the best suggestion i've come across. I expect to get my slimguide calipers next week from Amazon, just before my birthday. So from then on, i'll be taking daily skinfold mm measuments of chest, abs, lower back, hips AND butt. I will log the sum of these in my training log. But the one that really matters is the last one - i just have to figure out a way to reliably and consistently measure it because that's key. Haha. Ofc once i've got the measurement technique down and my bodyweight is stable, i wont need to take daily measurements but i'll still take them on workout days or whatever. Maybe the last workout of the week.
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get the skinfold site tatted on. :P
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Day #11 Food and Activity log (of 21 days)
Bodyweight: 74.65kg/164.6lb (LPR)
Fasted duration: 24hr
Fast broken: 2230
Fast started: 2245
Total steps: 5200 fasted
(http://i.imgur.com/cLgH9jD.png)
^ New bodyweight LPR again! I'm on a nice roll there. Skinfolds diminished again, there is less and less to pinch every day. So for some reason i've decided upon the goal of 161lb by the end of this 21 day cycle. I may not achieve it, or what's more, i may be satisfied with a bodyweight much higher than that, but we'll just see how it goes. Also day 11 is just past the halfway point!
Activity log:
1hr slow incline TM walk (2.5km/hr @ 8 inc)
Day's Eats:
(http://i.imgur.com/G8iaV71.png)
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Day #12 Food and Activity log (of 21 days)
Fasted duration: 13hr
Fast broken: 1300
Fast started:
Total steps:
Training
FBS 3x100
BS 2x110, 2x117.5, 1x120B
OHP 3x55, 3x57.5, 3x54.5
ROW 2x8x60 (PR)
Squat notes:
I regret the recent incline treadmill. It made squatting a lot harder that it ought to be. In saying that, at my level of bodyfat, i really have no business doing fasted cardio like that anyway because i shud be saving it for later when it comes to burning stubborn bodyfat which is NOT an issue right now, i'm just dealing with ordinary, plain vanilla fat, not stubborn fat! So will make the correction for next week - tuesday will be a legit rest day to prepare for optimum performance on weds heavy squats.
I'm not 100% sure but i may have been able to do a third rep with 117.5kg - but -- i had to hold back in case it led to injury since i'm still healing my back. But the 120kg with the belt genuinely felt hard so idk, maybe it took a lot out of me just doing the double. So we'll never know.
Activity log:
20 min fasted slow incline TM walk (2.5km/hr @ 8 inc)
Basketball game
Day's Eats:
(http://i.imgur.com/XqylLz6.png)
Day was going perfectly til postgame, went to hungry jacks. I ordered a triple cheeseburger with the cheese on the side but the guy at the counter was a noob and it took him 5 minutes to just punch it in. and of course when i checked it was the full works burger w/ cheese so whatever. but it meant i went over 1000kcal. And from there since i had the already messed up shrug mindset, i ate some extra M&ms and chips when i got home. And i didnt log (indian) scrambled eggs because have no idea of the macros lol. Anyway bad diet day, will make up for it tmr..
Basketball game notes:
I didn't attempt any FGs bc i saw much better opportunities for team mates. i had 3-4 assists and shud have had more but guys cudnt finish easy layups :( also plenty of boards. I played the full first half which is remarkable given my fitness concerns spread all over my logs the last 3 weeks lol. But something clicked today, my fitness was decent, i had the motor to play 3/4 of the game. My only regret i, i didn't do enough for us to win, we drew the game. I pulled down a defensive board with like 15 seconds left on the clock, threw an outlet pass to our guard who was 2/3 of the way down the court. And i can't remember what happened next. he either fumbled it, or it was stolen or something. We should really practice those passed. I can do a lot better firing those long passes in but i have to be conservative because im not sure if my team mates can receive one at full stretch yet. so work in progress. signs are good though.
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Day # Food and Activity log (of 21 days)
Bodyweight:
Fasted duration:
Fast broken:
Fast started:
Total steps:
Training:
Activity log:
Day's Eats:
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Day 13# Food and Activity log (of 21 days)
Fasted duration: 24 hr
Fast broken: 2100
Fast started: 2120
Total steps: 7000 fasted
Bodyweight: 73.65kg/162.37lb (PR!)
(http://i.imgur.com/tfDmb5D.png)
I would have to check my logs but im pretty sure that's the lightest i've been since a teenager or something, so it might be a legit (global) PR as opposed to a local PR. But i'm lazy so i'll just call it a LPR til im sure i've got a PR. Yep -- checked -- lightest I got last year was 165. I have bettered that now, so PR. That's crazy. I am so close to the goal and still have another 9 days left in the cut. Which is good cause it means i can definitely get some decent results out of this cycle. By the way waist is as high as 32" if i try to get a high measurement, about 31" with it kinda taut and as low as 30" tight, so what does that mean? nothing, waist measurements are useless. But my skinfolds are def diminished today - thank you basketball for the water retention losses overnight! Feels good man.
Activity log:
Cleaned the car lol.
Day's Eats:
(http://i.imgur.com/L0kdVQ4.png)
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Day #14 Food and Activity log (of 21 days)
Bodyweight: 74.9kg/165.1lb
Fasted duration: 16hr (TBU)
Fast broken: 1653
Fast started:
Total steps: 11500 fasted
Wtf is up with the scale tho? Just messing with my head, now it goes up. Whatever.
Training:
BP 1x79.5, 5x75, 5x72.5, 6x70
WCU 5x90, 3x93.5
FBS 3x100
BS 1x112.5, 1x117.5, 6x107.5, 1x115B, 6x107.5B, 6x102.5, 6x100
CR 20x200 (LPR)
OHP 6x40, 3x8x40
BP 5x60, 2x8x50 (paused)
Activity log:
Fasted slow incline TM - 1hr, 2.5km/hr, 8inc
Day's Eats:
Carb refeed day. Feel like shit though so not super excited even tho i had been looking forward to today all week. I guess that means it's a good time to take a refeed anyways so I shall.
I was just finishing up with my upper body session when my sister called and asked if i was up for going to dinner at an indian restaurant tonight. so im like, why not, im in. And then i ate 3000 calories on top of the 2400 i had already logged FML. Ive never been this full in my life. It literally hurt to drive home when the roady got bumpy lol. I wish i had some fat /friends/loved ones/ who can EAT but alas i dont. Too many lightweights in my life .. i eat up eating more than my fair share :( I'm a fat fuck in a 165 pound body.. heaven have mercy! So for an accompaniment to dessert i went with a strong coffee because i was planning of squatting later tonight. Um yeah, we'll see how that goes LOL. Carb reload failed.
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Day #3 Food and Activity log (diet break of 7 days)
Bodyweight: ??
Fasted duration: n/a
Fast broken: n/a
Fast started: n/a
Total steps: n/a
Training:
DUNKS 2x5
FBS 3x10
BS 6x105, 6x102.5
BP 6x50, 6x60
WCU 2x6xBW
CURLZ 10x30, 2x15x30
Activity log:
does nonstop eating count? lol.
Day's Eats:
everythang
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Whenever I read "entropy" I think of this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRmBChQjZPs
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Cutting summary
On this cutting cycle I'm aiming to get to <72kg/158lb starting from this morning's 80kg/175lb. I expect to lose a lot of water weight over the next few days as I get into ketosis. My diet will be a CKD with the first carb refeed after 10 days and then from there will do a refeed after 7 days. Planned total duration is around 21 days.
I mentioned earlier about tracking skifold (mm) measurements. I got my slimguide today so I can start measuring right away. This morning at my bloated bodyweight, I was getting measurements of 7mm around the LHS of my stomach. I dont know the technical/exact locations that are usually used - not really important to, just have to be consistent with whatever site i select, so i'll do some experimenting before picking one. As i mentioned in earlier posts i hold most of my fat in the buttocks, but that's not amenable to skinfold measurment - and even if it was, it's not really ideal because what we want is a site we can depend on to give a clear indication of bodyfat level (increases or decreases). This (http://www.accumeasurefitness.com/faq.html) gives a good justification:
Q:How does the Accu-Measure determine your total amount of body fat by measuring the suprailliac site?
A:Measuring the fat content at a particular site on your body to determine your total body fat is a matter of "sampling". Just as a doctor can do a complete blood profile with a small sample of blood or political pollsters can predict how the entire country will vote based on a representative sample of voters, it is possible to determine total body fat from measuring the fat content at a representative site on the body. After using underwater weighing as the criterion to determine the total body fat on thousands of men and women, experts were then able to use skinfold calipers to determine particular "sample" sites where fat content correlated highest and was most representative of total body fat; the suprailliac being one of the top sites. Keep in mind that areas of the body which have the most fat aren't necessarily the best sites to determine total body fat percentage. The best sites are those which reflect increases or decreases in proportion to increases or decreases in total body fat; thus making them a good "representative sample." (emphasis mine)
And I agree, the suprailliac is pretty easy to measure yourself and if they're right about it responding well to changes to total bodyfat levels then i might as well adopt it as the goto measurement. However, if i were selling a pair of calipers that had the novelty of only requiring one site to estimate - i might well stress how that particular site was ideal too. I'll find out myself i guess..
By the way i envision i'll be cutting down to 70kg before new years, it just remains to be seen when I start that last cut, i'm kinda dreading the prolonged dieting that lies ahead. It's no joke to drop 10kg of bodyweight!! Quite formidable right now but it's the right thing to do.
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^ i didnt fill out my day's entry yesterday. i injured my back while squatting and it threw me off my game. im so sick of getting hurt. it's not muscular this time, it was my spine again. LHS.i've had this already weeks back. Watching the video it seems my legs run out of juice (it was the 5th rep of a heavy set) and then my hamstrings give up slack and that's when i heard the pop, my knees jerked forward. Im hurting myself at the easiest part of the lift, the last 1/4 just before lockout. Frustrated with lack of progress and injuries. I love cutting but it makes me weak and brittle and leads to injuries that wouldn't otehrwise happen.
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^ i didnt fill out my day's entry yesterday. i injured my back while squatting and it threw me off my game. im so sick of getting hurt. it's not muscular this time, it was my spine again. LHS.i've had this already weeks back. Watching the video it seems my legs run out of juice (it was the 5th rep of a heavy set) and then my hamstrings give up slack and that's when i heard the pop, my knees jerked forward. Im hurting myself at the easiest part of the lift, the last 1/4 just before lockout. Frustrated with lack of progress and injuries. I love cutting but it makes me weak and brittle and leads to injuries that wouldn't otehrwise happen.
Is it safe to be lifting heavy while on a cut, as you said you are weak, so you don't have much strength as you did before the cut, so wouldn't it be wise, while on a cut, to do low intensity until once you finish cutting and then start strength training and work your way up.
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Day 13/21 of cutting
Bodyweight: 72.1kg/158.95lb (PR)
i should finish this cut at 71kg/156.5lb in 7 days time, maybe even getting just under 71kg is a possibility because there is an imminent whoosh looming. Today is carb reload day so this is my lightest day of the week.
It seems my fears are being borne out - I'm now hoping i'll be 10% @ 70kg/154.3lb rather than presumptuously taking it for granted i would be lower than 10% at 70kg. I may even need to get into the 60s to get to 10%. Will get a clearer indication next week.
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Day 13/21 of cutting
Bodyweight: 72.1kg/158.95lb (PR)
i should finish this cut at 71kg/156.5lb in 7 days time, maybe even getting just under 71kg is a possibility because there is an imminent whoosh looming. Today is carb reload day so this is my lightest day of the week.
It seems my fears are being borne out - I'm now hoping i'll be 10% @ 70kg/154.3lb rather than presumptuously taking it for granted i would be lower than 10% at 70kg. I may even need to get into the 60s to get to 10%. Will get a clearer indication next week.
That is crazy at 6'4''. What do the skinfolds say? I haven't looked back but do you think you gained any lean muscle during your last bulk?
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Skinfolds are kinda useless too so i haven't been taking them consistently since they vary so much day to day. But today i'm getting 6mm for abdominal and 5mm for suprailiac. They'll be artificially low today though and go up tomorrow post-carb-up. I didn't realise water balance affected skinfolds before I started taking measurements but they do which makes them less than ideal since water balance fluctuates day to day especially while dieting.
Idk what i gained or not in my last bulk, it was a mistake to be bulking anyhow, i should never be bulking above 75kg from what i'm (painfully) learning from my current cut..
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I think you're even skinnier than adarq was now.
6'1 139lbs compared to 6'4 154.
You'll look emaciated if you go into the 140s region (if you don't look so already).
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Not yet because I think he was 155 or so? I can't remember. But everyone is different!
I was just thinking about what acole asked about lean muscle gains. It's funny cause it confirms a theory of mine that you dont need to gain a lot of muscle to gain a lot of strength. I think i gained maybe a little muscle and mainly a lot of fat in my last bulk. But being in that caloric surplus for that extended duration of time allowed me to have excellent recovery and get stronger from my gym work. So I think this is probably what people mean when the say 'steroids help recovery' - it's not so much that they give you better recovery. Rather they allow you to eat a lot of food which facilitates the strength gains but additionally steroids allow you to to manage and deal with large surpluses without gaining much bodyfat too.
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How do you move now than "back in the day" when you were heavy? Or what are the most obvious things you notice now?
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adarq got down into the 140s.
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Not yet because I think he was 155 or so? I can't remember. But everyone is different!
I was just thinking about what acole asked about lean muscle gains. It's funny cause it confirms a theory of mine that you dont need to gain a lot of muscle to gain a lot of strength. I think i gained maybe a little muscle and mainly a lot of fat in my last bulk. But being in that caloric surplus for that extended duration of time allowed me to have excellent recovery and get stronger from my gym work. So I think this is probably what people mean when the say 'steroids help recovery' - it's not so much that they give you better recovery. Rather they allow you to eat a lot of food which facilitates the strength gains but additionally steroids allow you to to manage and deal with large surpluses without gaining much bodyfat too.
no.
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Wow, just realised entropy hasn't updated in a month...diet/training burnout?
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Wow, just realised entropy hasn't updated in a month...diet/training burnout?
yeah you got it. i forgot my password as well lol. anyway im just trying to get back to being my old athletic levels. i cant dunk right now and my squat is low as well so there isn't reallly a point in updating regularly until ive got back to a semi normal level first. hope you're all doing well. keep up the training!
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welcome back, haha.
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Welcome back mate.
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Getting impatient and demotivated. It took a long time and hard work to make 120kg a warmup weight on squats. Now it's back to being an impossible grind. And i don't see how to change that short of investing months of building up my squat. Wish there was a magic way to do it but there isn't, mediocre squatting is just the norm and takes a great deal of effort to overcome it.
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Getting impatient and demotivated. It took a long time and hard work to make 120kg a warmup weight on squats. Now it's back to being an impossible grind. And i don't see how to change that short of investing months of building up my squat. Wish there was a magic way to do it but there isn't, mediocre squatting is just the norm and takes a great deal of effort to overcome it.
i'm there with you right now. squatting 205 for sets of 6. sucks.
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Well....depends...do you want to squat big or be athletic? Obviously a big squat relative to BW is beneficial but theres so many other ways to be athletic. Look at my numbers in the weight room, they're all down from PRs (some substantially) but my vert is at PR levels IMO. Im sure im not the only example, Kilganon comes to mind reallll fast.
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Getting impatient and demotivated. It took a long time and hard work to make 120kg a warmup weight on squats. Now it's back to being an impossible grind. And i don't see how to change that short of investing months of building up my squat. Wish there was a magic way to do it but there isn't, mediocre squatting is just the norm and takes a great deal of effort to overcome it.
i'm there with you right now. squatting 205 for sets of 6. sucks.
Oh that's not far from where I am. I use 90kg for sets across too haha. Last week I got up to 112.5x6 but that's a 6RM and i noped out of 115x6 at 3 reps the following workout. And what makes this so frustrating is my memory of the sensation of using weights under 120kg is still fresh in my mind and i remember how light they were then (i think i was using 120kg for 10 reps at the time and anything under that was ridiculously easy in comparison).
Well....depends...do you want to squat big or be athletic? Obviously a big squat relative to BW is beneficial but theres so many other ways to be athletic. Look at my numbers in the weight room, they're all down from PRs (some substantially) but my vert is at PR levels IMO. Im sure im not the only example, Kilganon comes to mind reallll fast.
i want to have a big squat and i want to be athletic. Both of those are equally important. I think if i was doing windmills i'd still want to have a decent squat. And if i had a decent squat i wouldn't be satisfied unless it led to PRs on the lifetime bball mix tape.
Ideally i'd have a strong squat and then i'd focus on becoming more athletic. Like turning my attention from one important goal to another.
But my confidence is gone now. I no longer believe i have it in me to be athletic. Im just not wired that way, i haven't got the right stuff physically or mentally to be a good athlete and i was a fool to think i could train myself to becoming athletic. There is a reason why when i played cricket and faced the averge bowler my CNS was always a step too slow to hit the ball before it went by lol. And on the basketball court it's harder to tell when you're unathletic but watching tape can show you gaps in athleticism easily enuf.
Sad thing is i have to admit to myself my best days as an athlete are behind me. i peaked too late in my life but i peaked all the same even in my late 20s and what i achieved only a year or two ago is the best i'm ever going to manage.. and there isnt room there for windmills or big monster jams with two hands off the dribble in a game :(
i still think i can improve myself through training but goals are changing now .. no longer so lofty and ambitious .. i would settle for repping 120-130kg on squats while weighing 70kg and jumping 33" or whatever i was at earlier in this log.. well. we'll see..
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Maybe what you need to do is something completely different from what you have done in the past. So it doesn't feel so much like deja vu. Maybe do oly lifting. Maybe front squats and deadlifts :o Maybe single leg work. idk.
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Im too uncoordinated to do olympic lifts properly :( I'd like to but i suck at the movements. what makes me body type of long limbs good for one sport (basketball) is terrible for another (oly lifting). im not too keen on front squats, been there done that. i front squatted 3x a week for 2 years lol. im not touching deadlifts again with my history of back injuries. i dont see hte point of single limb work when im very much a double leg jumper nowadays. well. kind of. i still end up doing layups and general basketball movements off one leg which i wish i could fix because im a much better two leg leaper but i have no control over that, it just occurs subconsciously
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It happens because its the quickest way to get there. SL jumps will always be quicker. I'm also a better DL jumper but I'd say in games its easy 75/25 SL:DL jumps. Easy. Just the nature of the game.
All said....how much did you lose on this cut? BW wise...
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Probably right! It's more natural and efficient to try to side step a defender or whatever off one leg. Oh well. It means there is almost zero athletic carryover from my training to my sport lol.
I lost ... a lot.. i weighed i think just under 220 in jan. And i got down to 157.5..
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Good god man.
...I know you said you got burnt out on your cut and that's why you stopped training but you can't expect to be near where you were lifts wise after dropping so much BW! I still go back to this, its easier to start lean/light/whatever and add muscle slowly than it is to go ham then try a drastic cut. Extended cuts are depressing IMO. Not only for the mental aspect of strict dieting but watching your lifts drop some isnt great either.
I guess ive just seen more unathletic 'skinny' guys pack on muscle and become athletic than larger guys drop a ton of weight and get there. :/
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yep, chris, we've all been trying to tell him that for years now.
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Im too uncoordinated to do olympic lifts properly :( I'd like to but i suck at the movements. what makes me body type of long limbs good for one sport (basketball) is terrible for another (oly lifting). im not too keen on front squats, been there done that. i front squatted 3x a week for 2 years lol. im not touching deadlifts again with my history of back injuries. i dont see hte point of single limb work when im very much a double leg jumper nowadays. well. kind of. i still end up doing layups and general basketball movements off one leg which i wish i could fix because im a much better two leg leaper but i have no control over that, it just occurs subconsciously
Maybe take up Zumba then :P
Fair call on the oly lifting.
What I was actually trying to get at is you've done the squatting 3 times a week thing. Front and back. Maybe squat once or twice a week. Single leg work still has merits for a double leg jumper and has carry over to bigger lifts. I think you should seriously consider deadlifts. Done correctly and patiently that is. I had serious back issues for around 8-10 years (age 15 to 25). I've been able to pretty much resolve them completely with the use of deadlifts to strengthen my back.
*edit- regarding the jumping thing. I'm very much a single leg jumper but would jump off two 65-75% in games considering the position I played. Not a lot of room to take steps in a key full of players.*
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btw, tell adarqui to email/pm you your password. Who the fuck is maxent, we want entropy back!!!
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Zumba actually sounds more appealing right now than anything else :P
What I was actually trying to get at is you've done the squatting 3 times a week thing. Front and back. Maybe squat once or twice a week. Single leg work still has merits for a double leg jumper and has carry over to bigger lifts. I think you should seriously consider deadlifts. Done correctly and patiently that is. I had serious back issues for around 8-10 years (age 15 to 25). I've been able to pretty much resolve them completely with the use of deadlifts to strengthen my back.
I srsly wud love to do 1 leg stuff IF I had access to heavy dbs. I actually miss that aspect of training quite a lot having only a barbell. I will try to incoorproate one leg skips again though, i miss doing those and they prob helped stiffen my legs up a bit earlier this year when i used to do them regularly for a month or two.
i really dont find the deadlift at all appealing on any level.. its just an ego lift in my experience. and i hate it when people show off about their deadlift numbers like it means anything.. i guess im a purist that way, good squats are the only lift i respect and covet. also not sure my body type will benefit from deadlifts since i'm naturally quite good at them, they don't really do much that MY squats dont already do* (probably, if you can think of a benefit let me know?).
*edit- regarding the jumping thing. I'm very much a single leg jumper but would jump off two 65-75% in games considering the position I played. Not a lot of room to take steps in a key full of players.*
interesting. how would you you structure single leg work for me? (question open for the forum as well)
btw, tell adarqui to email/pm you your password. Who the fuck is maxent, we want entropy back!!!
hahah, cheers !
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Training
FS & BS 3x100
BS 6x90, 6x99.5, 7x97.5
FS 2x6x90
Good Morning (GM) 10x120, 10x130, 10Bx140
Calf Raise (CR) 15x180, 10x200
Partial FS 10x120
Squat notes:
I'm not able to squat to heavy for whatever reason (unrecovered? mental fatigue?) noping out at modest warmup set of 110kg warmups because it felt so heavy (lol). But 90kg is still easy so im just gonna build up some volume and get some confidence before progressing towards. Im also going to build confidence by using heavy weights for accessories like heavy good mornings, calf raises, walk outs (fs and bs racks) and partial reps.
Btw can someone convince me why the partial front squats might be a good exercise for vertical jump? I have a video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppgk3ub0380
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man it just sounds like you need a new challenge and, as always, to get out of your own head and stop beating yourself up. some ideas, all of which i'm completely serious about:
1. dancing. wish i was a better dancer. can be really good exercise, but not draining. learn how to salsa or rumba or swing or something. keep lifting in the background but dance. and start dropping some panties, if you're into that sort of thing.
2. yoga. pick a position that you can't do and work toward being able to do it.
3. some kind of aerobic shit, do a long distance swimming comp or something.
4. your idea about really high rep lifting seems like a good one. sets of 20 and plate swings and shit. work up to 100x20 squat, or 120x20.
5. build some strongman-type implements and fuck around with them. you train at home, why not get a truck tire or make yourself a sandbag or two?
6. sprint. go check out what acole was doing these past few months and just do that.
anyway you'll probably disregard all that, which is fine. just trying to think of things you could distract yourself with while still being productive.
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I srsly wud love to do 1 leg stuff IF I had access to heavy dbs. I actually miss that aspect of training quite a lot having only a barbell. I will try to incoorproate one leg skips again though, i miss doing those and they prob helped stiffen my legs up a bit earlier this year when i used to do them regularly for a month or two.
i really dont find the deadlift at all appealing on any level.. its just an ego lift in my experience. and i hate it when people show off about their deadlift numbers like it means anything.. i guess im a purist that way, good squats are the only lift i respect and covet. also not sure my body type will benefit from deadlifts since i'm naturally quite good at them, they don't really do much that MY squats dont already do* (probably, if you can think of a benefit let me know?).
*edit- regarding the jumping thing. I'm very much a single leg jumper but would jump off two 65-75% in games considering the position I played. Not a lot of room to take steps in a key full of players.*
interesting. how would you structure single leg work for me? (question open for the forum as well)
If you’re naturally good at the deadlift I think you should definitely do it then. If you can pull 2-3xbw I would argue it will only do good things for your body, your vertical and your athletic needs.
If you feel you’re already good at them then go for more difficult variations. Wide grip and snatch grip pulls, both from the floor and RDL style.
As far as being a purist, all lifts originally started from the floor didn’t they? I wonder how people managed to get the bar to their shoulders?
:trollface:
Regarding single leg work, use a barbell. Or do higher reps using your weight plates.
Realistically, and as LBSS touched on, it’s more about change and challenge than anything else. I think you could do a lot worse than to front squat, deadlift, throw in some lunges, sprints/hill sprints and plate swings for lower body. For upper body do whatever pleases you. Summer is just around the corner. Bench, ohp, chins, rows, curls etc.
I think we all tend to overcomplicate things and pretend that we’re all more special/advanced than we really are. If you just did the lifts without trying to shoot the lights out, got in some quality anaerobic/aerobic work and ate to support the training your results would be great.
Or, do what I’m currently doing. Pick 5 lifts and do them 5-7 days a week. You phone in 3-4 of the training sessions. Just get in there, do the lifts and get out. 1-2 of them you actually get the chance to struggle for improvement. It’s a nice mental refresher to not have to worry about trying to smash it every time you step in the gym. You’re just putting in the work and the results will be there.
Long post, idk if any of it makes sense but the overriding message is: don’t over think it.
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NB i had some terribly wicked upper back and lats soreness over the weekend which i am attributing to heavy fs rack walkouts and partial fs. Much more than i'd get from introducing chinups or rows or something. I shud def explore these partial and accessory exercises further. If only to build confidence but hopefully more than that also. Also present was some residual soreness in the upper body as well - chest/delts and abs too. Nothing in the lower body though.
LBSS i danced htis weekend.. :) I shud do it more often haha, for the reasons stated and more. eg better footwork and confidence would be nice.
Coges - Single leg work with barbell just sucks though. I never keep it up because it gets too annoying way before the weights ever approach anything decent. I think i lost interest last time at 60kg or so. Idk, the depth is also nothing great, like it's an above parallel squat. And using suhc light weight, it quickly seems pointless since you can do much more weight with 2 legs at the same depth so what exactly is it achieving? i like the db variants though but grip tends to be hte limiting thing there before the weights get heavy enuf to challenge legs. Also i recall mostly getting glute doms from BSS which i dont really think I need since im already PC dominant as is, and weights are only useful when they make my legs (quads) stronger rather than hams/quads. This is the exact same argument i would use for why deadlifts are of no use to me. You dont use a mainly PC dominant exercise for someone who has a need for stronger quads..
i might try higher rep front squats for a while though. the weight is light enough right at 90kg or so that i can do 6-7 reps alraedy and if i work up to say 10s, maybe it will help me grow my legs somehow. I doubt it though, because the weight is so light and it's prob just a waste of time ..
just coming back to dancing and footwork. I was watching the cavs raptors game and one of the commentors said kyrie put the defender in concrete boots. Which is how i'd describe how Anderson Varejão looks ALL the time on teh court, big, slow and lumbering. Also describes my own natural athletic state as well. I never figured out how to change that. I know im supposed to have 'active feet' - but wtf does that even mean in practice when you dont naturally have it? When i watch an athletic player, i notice several quick steps in a move (A) in a small period of time. Whereas someone slow would have less steps in the same amount of time (B). How do you go about transforming from A to B?
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FS 7x90
BS 7x97.5
BP 3x6x72.5
WCU 1x100, 1x105, 2x3x95, 3x92.5, 3x90, 5x87.5, 5x85
CRL 10x32.5, 9x37.5, 10x35
Squat notes:
Took a light day and added a rep. Looking to work up to 20x100 fs and 20x120 bs as suggested..
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some NFL linemen do ballet or other types of dance to work specifically on being light on their feet. they have to be really quick in really small spaces. and those guys are enormous, 140-150kg. not exactly the most naturally twinkle-toed population, you'd think. but they're so agile.
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Skipping is great for light feet. Maybe doing drills that mimic the movements you want to be light and quick at would help too.
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2 hours of basketball training yesterday, first itme i've balled since season ended 3wks ago. I ate 2 pizzas post workout for recovery gains. Feel ok the next day htough so it worked..? I still wish i had lifted yesterday but got home too late. Hopefully gonna have an epic lifting day tomorrow though.
coges, yeah for sure, skipping is good stuff.
i think one aspect i overlooked is when a person is 90-100kg in bodyweight (in nba case, lean at that weight), just moving around the court in an athletic fashion a lot is a good strength stimulus. all that sprinting, jumping, jostling for position, playing defence, boxing out for rebounds, etc. all of that, over a period of time with a caloric surplus prob helps grow muscle/strength in the right places? I'm not sure lifting weights is even that important for these athletes. just max effort on the court followed by good nutrition --> gains..?
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FS&BS 3x100, 2x110, 1x117.5
BS 2x120
(Belted)BS 3x120B, 1x130B, 3x127.5B
BS 6x110
FS 8x92.5 (PR?)
BS 8x100
CR 10x140, 10x180B, 15x200B
FS unracks - 2x200B (~failure), 190B, 180B, 170B
BS partials 10x170B (1 pin gap)
FS partials 10x140B (1 pin gap), 10x130 (2 pin gap)
Squat notes:
Lots of squats. I might have over done it with volume though.
Squatting 130kg for the first time since .. well.. i'd have to look it up but probably around 5-6 months or so. Belted though and only one rep so it's not really anything special (im a good 40kg off PR belted weight).
First time i felt my abs fatigued while squatting on that front squat 8 rep set lol. Interesting i guess. I didn't realise i cud build my ab strength with FS. Such a versatile lift. I bet i cud get a total body workout by just doing FS (full and partials..). Hmmm..
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Played 1hr full court basketball at training last night. Was alright. Getting fitter i guess. I'm eating a lot though to faciliate all this training im doing.. which isn't ideal but hopefully i'll get fit enough to cut back calories back to maintenance once i'm adapted to training..
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FS & BS 4x100
FS 8x95 (PR?)
BS 10x102.5
Squat notes:
Experimenting with moving my feet out a little. I've always shied away from widening my stance because narrow feels more comfortable/stable/strong - but i think in the long term it will suit me better to just man up and work up to adjusting to the new stance. I'm not in danger of being excessively wide, talking about SW here so nothing crazy.
I'm pretty sure that's a PR on the FS but if not, the next time i go for 9x95 def will be a PR. And im still eying 10x100 and 10x110 as good milestones for FS on my way to getting back to being strong. Really, 10x120 is the ideal goal for when i wanna do a bulk later on, so if i have a six pac and i'm repping 119.5kg for 10s on FS i'll be in a good place to gain some mass and push my lifts up to the next level.....
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In line with making big changes to squatting, i'm also going to do the same with jumping. Double leg jumping is useless for me because in games i never jump off 2. Not when going for a block, not when laying it up or trying to grab a rebound. The only exception is when jumping to start the game and that's cool and all but game time situations never ask for double leg jumps from unathletic guys. You simply don't have hte time to set up for a double leg situation if you're unathletic. It has to be single leg. So i'm going to ask for some help on how to go about training up for better single leg jumping and movement.
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1. more single leg jumping
2. more sprinting
3. more bounding
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http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/unilateraljump.html
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1. more single leg jumping
2. more sprinting
3. more bounding
Paradoxically i only do single leg jumps during games never in training. I guess that's why i haven't seen any concrete improvemetns in performance yet :( But i can't imagine anything more boring than doing layups in training. I guess the answer is obvious, i have to start dunking off one leg..... and....... keep working on it til it becomes natural. If i can dunk off a drive in a game it will happen off one leg. and if i can't even do it well in practice with no dfenders have no chance of pulling it off in a game with semi athletic guys (relative to me) in my way.
i really dislike sprinting because it fucks up legs and recovery. i guess i cud build up to it slowly. a little is probably better than nothing at all. i could commit to maybe a sprint session once every 2 weeks. maybe. will probably end up skipping it when it becomes a hassle haha.
never done bounds! i need a coach :(
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you don't need a coach for bounds! although it does help to have feedback. t0ddday helped me out big time with those, and acole.
for sprinting, it doesn't need to be all-out to have an effect. submax sprints can help, as well.
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But i can't imagine anything more boring than doing layups in training.
You know what's great about layups? Works on your single leg jump, some conditioning, your touch, your coordination, etc. Pretty much as sports specific as it gets.
To make them more exiting (mildy) try emulating game situations and driving from different parts of the key, baseline, etc. All the while you'll be ingraining your SLVJ technique.
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Straight layups ARE boring. Make them exciting like Coges said, add a eurostep, reverse layups, finger rolls from various angles, wrong hand layups using your body to shield the imaginary defender, or my personal favorite way to spice up a layup line....
Try to dunk the damn thing! ;)
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FBS 3x100
FS 3x110
BS 3x115
Basketball game
Squat notes;
Ok. Felt like attempting a PR set of 8 and 11 on FS and BS respectively but thought to save it for after the game.
Basketball notes:
Kinda sprained my ankle :( Not terribly i can walk ok. But it feels off. Also took a good hit to the forearm.
I tried going for higher rep squats in a 2nd session after the game and dinner but 90kg warmup felt heavy so there was prob no way i was going to PR 8x97.5kg or whatever. So all in, pretty ordinary day. Hopefully my ankle is ok though.
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FBS 3x100, 2x115 (LPR), 1x120 (LPR)
BS 3x122.5 (LPR), 1x125B, 2x130B(LPR)
FS 8x97.5 (PR)
BS 8x105
FS 10x90 (PR)
BS 12X90 (PR)
Squat notes:
Lots of volume and some PRs, so a good squat day :)
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I was messing around with assistance work when i realised how light 100kg felt and thought i could jump up with this and true enough i cud and it was easy and felt good. So i'm wondering whether i shud explore this further.
Not doing jump squats in the sense of going deep ATG and then jumping up, talking about not even dipping much at all.. because i reason, unathletic guys like me dont have the time to set up for a dip jump in a game time situation .. we have to react as quickly as possible (in our unathletic Eigenzeit) which means no dip just straight up. So if i practice jumping up with say 100kg as my SPP with minimal dip it will carry over to my game? Got nothing to lose so ima try it out.
This is prob the first time i've been excited about something in the gym for a lonnnnnng time.. hope it pays off. i have to train like an unathletic person.. it makes sense.. what works for a genuine athlete WONT work for someone like me. I shud have realised this ages ago haha.
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For training that 'reaction time' thing , i would suppose Lance's 1-2 jump squat is a good idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHfjZkOnKVM
For jump squats ROM, there is no obvious reason to go full. According to Lance, the ideal depth for 'transition/reversal' training is a little lower than the actual depth of jumping.
He was referring to half squats though, not jump ones, but his version is very similar at the transition, he allows a little freefall right before it. That could also be somewhat interesting for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoD5ditPmJo
And then we have the 'jump squats with 100kg on your back while having a back injury history' issue... :ninja:
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For training that 'reaction time' thing , i would suppose Lance's 1-2 jump squat is a good idea.
How do you reason? Reaction time is innate - It's not something that can be trained up. You're wired a certain way from birth. Probably. Maybe it's more plastic at adolescence than adulthood though but there isnt much to do about it. But accepting my reaction as is, how can I improve my game time performance given the limitation?
Consider I can do a SVJ dunk given enough dip (=time) but game time, i dont have the luxury to do that because by the time i've dipped down someone else has already beat me to the ball and has finished retrieving it while i'm just getting up. Or got the shot off before i block him. And what ends up happening is, I compensate for my reaction time and try to jump lower but quicker which means less dip. That's the part im trying to address - because if i can get up with a heavy barbell with a small or minimal dip i can def do the same, quicker and higher, sans barbell.
Im not worried about my back with this exercise because 100kg doesn't challenge my back (i do calf raises with 200kg and walk out front squats with 170kg..). I feel i can land safely with it, especially since my back is vertical non these non dip jump squats. The main concern I have is not hitting my head at hte top of my rack because i have the chinup bar and/or lat attachment in the way! I cud do them outside the rack but that makes me queasy in case something goes wrong, esp jumping 100kg without being able to dump the bar :/ So we'll see. Will be conservative and make the weight go up so i dont jump too high.
Btw i wouldnt take those coaches recommendation too literally. Your boy KB tells people do do JS with 45lb because he knows his main audience wud get themselves into trouble if left to work it out themselves. I have a friend who managed to improve his leap doing jump squats with 120kg. He hurt himself doing them too but he shudnt have been using that weight considering i doubt he cud do a proper squat with 90kg..
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The reasoning for the 1-2 jump squat is that i would suppose ( again ) that in a 'normal' jump squat you can adjust the dip, speed, time and depth, in this 1-2 variation the landing of the first jump leaves you no option, you have to reverse the freefalling and you have to do it fast, a few ms lag and your depth is off. Also i said 'i would suppose' , it was like 2c, just another thing to consider, FYI.
Your info is wrong, kellyb prescribes wave-loaded jump squats too with up to 30%RM.
Jump squats have nothing to do with heavy calf raises and front squat walkouts. Your lower back will have to deal with 100kg plus your upper body weight that are accelerated with 1G for as long as you are falling. That is huge.
And did you really mention a friend of yours that hurt his back doing heavy jump squats as an argument for not worrying about your back in heavy jump squats?
Anyway, once again, i was not trying to tell you what to do, i was offering a couple of options to consider, food for thought. It was more than clear, the first video said 'i would suppose it is a good idea', the second video said 'could be somewhat interesting for you'
And the back... :ninja:
I don't get why you get so -aggressive- defensive in your replies.
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Your info is wrong, kellyb prescribes wave-loaded jump squats too with up to 30%RM.
¼ rhythmic Jump squat with 45 lbs – 2 x 8-10
^ haha.
but regarding the suggestions, im less interested in jump squat variants that call for light weights like in the linked vids. If light weights worked why would anyone squat with anything more than 60kg? It has to be heavy enough to be useful that's why i feel these no dip squats might work for me not just cause they fit my need to use decent weight but also because they address my weakness where i dont have enough time to dip deeper during game time. imagine if instead of a deep dip, if i cud do a SVJ dunk with minimal dip. That improves me chances of getting a gametime dunk in the post or pulling a key rebound or important block. That's why i'm excited about no dip heavy jump squats ... provided they work.. but we dont know until i try so lets see
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I didn't say kelly prescribes ONLY 30%RM , you said he prescribes 45lbs, i said he prescribes up to 30%RM TOO. If i quote the %30RM prescription, i win? :P
With all this game-time thinking-vs-doing thing, i agree, totally. It is something i face all the time as a combination of being naturally un-athletic and un-explosive, as well as old.
I don't know if and how its trained, it just made a foggy sense that the 1-2 jump squat with the freefall element would be apropriate
If light weights worked why would anyone squat with anything more than 60kg?
Seriously?
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There was a guy on pendlay's forum who was doing jump squats with 140kg and everyone told him it was a bad idea. I wonder how it turned out for him.
I never got hte point of doing jump squats with a lot of dip. It seems to me that using light weight is a consequence of wanting too much depth. When i tried them, they just felt so unnatural as a movement. Plus what's the point of using all the momentum out of the bottom towards the jump? The jump itself is a seperate part and if that's what you want or need to train then might as well cut depth there. I can't help feel i'll get more carry over by using minimal dip for jump squats as well as heavy partial squats. Maybe they'll re-inforce each other and make each other better too? It's pretty exciting to explore this. i'll give it a solid 6 weeks and we'll see what it did for my game..
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For the record, i am not saying they wont work. On the contrary, it sounds good, neither too heavy or too light, most probably covering a big spectrum in the speed-strength area, as opposed to what we usually do, train at the two extremes. Hell, I've done a lot of explosive 120kg partial and/or box squats, when my full squat max was 110kg or less, i loved them.
I was just saying, be careful.
And sorry for the too long hijack.
over and out.
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jump squats are basically GPP, just a bit more specific to jumping than regular squats. the point of jump squats is not to train yourself how to jump in a game, the point is to train your leg muscles to generate more power. you can produce more power over a bigger ROM, and more power is good. the fact that you will never almost never in practice use that full amplitude is irrelevant.
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LBSS is right, the best way to jump quicker/with less dip is to go jump that way. Look at KF, he can jumpsquat a fuck ton im sure but id he curious what his vert it with almost no "dip" compared to hos normal SVJ. Id bet its remarkably lower in comparison since hes never trained for it (that I know of). And now im actually quite curious! KF...wanna try it? :)
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LBSS is right, the best way to jump quicker/with less dip is to go jump that way. Look at KF, he can jumpsquat a fuck ton im sure but id he curious what his vert it with almost no "dip" compared to hos normal SVJ. Id bet its remarkably lower in comparison since hes never trained for it (that I know of). And now im actually quite curious! KF...wanna try it? :)
KF's SVJ dip is one of the deepest i've ever seen. it's ATG. he'd jump way lower with a smaller dip, i guarantee it.
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I agree but I wonder if it can be 'trained out' per se to a quicker, shallower dip? :/
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Yeah. I wonder how good push presses wud be here also. I know L used to recommend them for athletes. I wud imagine having a kickass push press (~1.5xbw) wud do good things for no dip vert..
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2 hours playing basketball at training. Im not happy with my game on either side of the court, damn unfit and zombie like (cue ali mummy impression of foreman). Cant wait to start dunking again, i miss being able to dunk with ease.
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I feel physically exhausted but going to try train today. Im not sure if this is sustainable though, basketball training sunday and lifting monday might not be do-able for long. I just dont see a way around it unless i change my lifting schedule of M-W-F to say W-F-S which might need to be done..
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FBS 3x100
BS 15x90 (PR)
BP 3x6x77.5
Squat notes:
lite day
Upper notes:
Tried push presses. Dont think we're gonna work out. We need different things. PPs need stability and rock rolid core. I can't provide that. It wasn't meant to b.
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why would you give up on PPs that fast? if you lack stability and a rock solid core and feel that PPs challenge those, then maybe do some light PPs at least in part to help overcome those weaknesses?
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mainly 2 reasons - 1. I cant clean much and that's never going to get better with my stupid long arms. i dont know how to get into position for overhead stuff without cleaning. I know some ppl can take it out of the rack - ive tried that - it doesn't work for me. 2. on the way up, my body doesn't know how to stay put around my abs, it throws everything upwards from the waist up - including my core/back.. that just happens automatically i cant control it -> recipe for back injury eventually. and i just dont see me using a lot of weight on this lift without hurting either my shoulders cleaning the weight or my back pushing the weight up. it's just not meant for me
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Might move my workout schedules to accomodate for basketball as follows :-
Wed - Heavy squat, dunks/RFD work (jump squats etc), basketball game
Friday - Volume squat
Sunday - Light squat, basketball training
Hopefully that works better than 4 training days i've been on with back-to-back sunday and monday.
I want to start losing some weight again too. Might start tomorrow though, i need to dig myself out of this recovery hole first and as a result I've been sleeping badly.
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FBS 2x115
BS 1x120, 2x125 (LPR)
JS 2x6x100 (PR)
Basketball Game
Squat notes:
Im pretty beat up so no PRs :( I contemplated tripling 125 on bs, or 115 on fs but it wasn't to be when the penultimate rep feels like a 10 RPE. Walked out 99.5kg for a possible FS 8 rep PR - that wasn't in the cards either, felt prohibitively heavy. Next time though, i'll probably get a whole bunch of PRs provided i can recover by friday.
Did my first jump squat sesh. Not sure how i feel about them, seems gimmicky. But i'll give it 6 weeks like i said.
Game tonight to come.
Won the game! wooho. i didnt score but it was a good game all the same. prob the best win we've had against a good team :)
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too much weight. dangerous for back, low benefit. less weight, more jump.
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too much weight. dangerous for back, low benefit. less weight, more jump.
I cud post a vid of 20kg (empty bar), 60kg, 90kg and the other 100kg set but they all pretty much the same. i wasnt much for jumping today. my aim is to add 2.5kg per week from here and end up at 2x6x115kg by the end of this 6 week JS block. I don't believe this exercise will do anyhting good tbh but im gonna try it anyway. wud rather not do them if using lighter weight though, there are better ways to waste time!
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Gotta agree with LBSS. 100kg is way too much in relation to your full squat IMO. Put this way, when I do jump squats I do a weight I can do explosively and without pause. Reasons why....I do it explosively because its an explosive exercise. Thats what im trying to train right? Reasons for the no pause is a) if I can balance/handle the weight without pause then its definitely not too heavy and b) I think it helps train the 2nd jump pretty well (think rebounding/tipped balls/etc) and the eccentric is 'stronger' which should carry over more to a sports specific application. Maybe im wrong but those are my thoughts.
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i wasn't talking about your form, i was talking about how it's unsafe to do jump squats with that much weight on your back. doing them with lighter weight can have a strong potentiation effect, in addition to helping build power, but doing them with that much weight is a terrible idea.
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FBS 2x115, 1x122.5 (LPR)
BS 2x125 (=LPR), 2x127.5B, 2x132.5B (LPR)
BS 6x115 (LPR)
FS 7x99.5 (LPR or PR but who cares, shud have got 8 at least to make sure it is a PR)
BS 8x107.5 (LPR)
Squat notes:
Bit sad that i didn't have a strong squat day but ive been training a lot and fatigue has set in. So all things considered i guess it's ok. I really wanted to triple 125kg on BS and 115kg on FS but it wasn't in the cards :( oh well.
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I didnt end up lifting today but went to basketball training. Probably a good thing but my body hates me now because im rinsed and will have to lift tomorrow :(
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FBS 5x100 (LPR)
BP 6x79.5 (LPR), 5Fx79.5
Squat notes:
Not as bad as I expected, went for a 5 rep warmup set with 100kg after the usual 6x60 with FS then BS. I half heartedly walked out 99.5kg thinking of going for a FS pr set of 8 but decided against it because my heart wasn't in it..
Upper notes:
Finally failed a set of bench. Did ok for benching only once a week but i need more freq now prob to make more progress. Idk if i can commit to that though.
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FBS 2x117.5 (LPR)
FS 1x125 (LPR)
BS 1x125, 2x127.5 (LPR)
Squat notes:
I wasnt sure if i could triple 115 on fs/bs so i just decided to go for a 117.5kg double instead and got it. Didnt fail anything though 127.5kg double on BS was v. hard. Friday hopefully i can consolidate and get some more (local) PRs.
Game tonight. Feel like shit today though; life stuff.
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Wow that was a terrible game. Dirty and full of drama - the opposing team had beef with refs and it escalated to a player getting send off. And there were all kinds of bs happening on the court as well. I got frustrated and fouled out which wasn't good because we were short on bigs today. Forgetable game all around. Hopefully this lights a spark somewhere because im getting sick of ppl not coming to training or making excuses etc. It better improve from here though, i can't take a whole season of disappointment if we're going to play like this..
in other news, just as i am starting to get kinda strong (in the loosest possible sense) i have to start thinking about bodycomp and starting to cut some bodyweight. It just sucks how long it takes to get into a good rythm and when you get there, you have to ostensibly stop and get weak again. But. Im thinking maybe i can delay it for a little while? It feels like giving up not even having a repeatble 130kg front squat, not talking about PRing or anyhing - just some modest mediocrity rather than the embarassing kind. we'll see i guess.
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FBS 2x119.5 (LPR)
FS 0Fx127.5
BS 1x125, 2x130 (LPR), 6x117.5 (LPR)
FS 1x115, 8x100 (PR!)
HC 1x60, 1x70, 1x75, 0Fx80, 3x3x60
DUNKS ~ 25 total
Squat notes:
Life continues to suck but in the midst of it all i managed my first squat PR in almost 11 months. Shoutouts to LBSS for this one..
Hang cleans:
Got a little inspired by gukls PRs. But i had to remind myself why i dont do oly stuff.. im just not build for it :( still was fun..
Dunk notes:
The good news is i can dunk again! Feels so goood man. Nothing quite like the feeling of getting those first crisp dunks :) It goes to show how all the guys who said squats have nothing to do with my dunk have no idea what they're talking about. My dunk is strongly coupled with my squat. When i start getting out of mediocrity (~125kg FS) i start dunking again. It's just that simple. And to take this to the logical conclusion, my vert will be best when i get that magic 160kg FS @ 80kg bw. But im not doing the get real fat and strong and then cut and weak thing again. Have to keep my strength accumulation and fat reduction phases more manageable. So say put 10kg on my squat, then diet off 5kg. And then repeat. Not going to be greedy and try to diet my way from 100kg (in jan) to 72kg (in sept) again. That's just too much dieting all at once and conversely fattening up to 100kg just means relative strength will never be good because the cut ahead is simply too long.
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mash'allah
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mash'allah
:highfive:
i'm training like a man possessed this summer. starting today, going to finally do that sunday weights session before basketball training.
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FBS 2x120 (LPR!), 1x127.5 (LPR!)
BS 1x135 (LPR), 1Fx132.5, 6x120 (LPR), 8x110 (LPR)
Basketball training - 2hrs
Squat notes:
I remember when i used to warmup with 125kg doubles after 100kg triples on fs/bs. Now 120kg is my 2RM - and i'm happy about it because it's the first step to geting back what i've lost! :) I'm lighter now too so there is that too.
i kinda bailed on the 132.5kg double on the 2nd rep because the first one was pretty hard and i didn't think i cud safely do the 2nd so it was for injury prevention i didn't attempt coming up for the 2nd.
Finally got back to repping 120kg for reps (6!). Now to make sure i build from here rather than regressing.
Basketball training notes:
Probably one of the most productive training sessions ever. Worked really hard and now i'm so spent mentally and physically but it was worth it. I'm completely untaught when it comes to basketball fundamentals - formal or informal. Today a team mate helped me with post offense and defense. nd something clicked. I'm a beast in the post now. Lol. Can't wait to try some of this out in the game. I also had good connection with our guards, im finally killing the pick and roll and setting good picks.
Food:
(http://i.imgur.com/xtbg15V.png)
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BP 6x80 (LPR), 4x79.5
WCU 2x95, 2x100, 3x95, 5x90, 5x85
CURL 6x40 (PR), 6x40, 7x37.5
Upper notes:
Felt blah but forced a lifting session - managed a PR but it was a legit (grindy) RPE 10. I may try a RSR inspired program on BP - it worked really well on OHP before i left for US last time so i think BP RSR is worth a shot.
I cant beleev i just strict curled 40kg for 6 without warming up lol.
Food:
(http://i.imgur.com/kkrsnhC.png)
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Food:
(http://i.imgur.com/bBwWWzG.png)
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Just when I thought things were starting to go right i woke up today with my back messed up. Pain down my (left) leg which isn't good. I didn't do anything yesterday either so it just happened on a rest day because i was fine yesterday morning. Sucks. still lifted but it wasn't a good session.
FBS 2x120
FS 1x122.5B (lol)
BS 2x6x90
FS 6x80
Squat notes:
Combo of fasting (19hrs) and back probs meant i had a very shit squat sesh. I did some light sets just to keep up work capacity but my heart was broken by how hard everything was even warmups.
Food:
(http://i.imgur.com/cIhD429.png)
I'll prob be ok by friday. hopefully.
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FBS 3x100
FS 0Fx122.5 (lol)
BS 2x120, 6x110
FS 6x102.5 (LPR)
BS 6x107.5
FS 10x90 (PR)
OHP 5x58 (LPR), 4x58
HC 2x60, 2x70 (PR), 1x75 (=PR), 1x77.5 (PR!), 0Fx80, 3x3x65 (PR)
DUNKS ~ 30
Squat notes:
Weak as a kitten :( Back is feeling okay now though but my R knee has flared up which i haven't experienced since April/march. So that sucks. I probably need to organise my heavy squatting better since ligaments and joints and support structures recover much more slower than muscle. Blah blah blah blah. It's easy to progress lifts when you're eating food but when i've cut back calories my lifts plummet and it affects my motivation/mood..
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I'll take today off, no basketball training or lifting. I'm worried about my knee and dont want to create an issue out it. Tomorrow!
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FBS 1x120
FS 1x122.5, 0Fx128.5
BS 1x125, 1x130, 0Fx137.5, 1x135B, 0Fx140B, 1x137.5B, 1x140.5B (LPR), 6x120, 7x112.5
BP 6x80, 2x85 (LPR), 2x82.5, 2x80
WCU 3x94, 3x99, 3x94, 5x91
CURL 6x41 (PR), 6x42.5 (PR), 8x40 (PR)
Squat notes:
Weak front squat day :( I noped out of doubling 120kg which didn't bode well for any FS that came after that. Worked up the courage to attempt a 122.5kg double but racked it after rep 1. That sucks. But i decided to go for some heavy backsquats and that went better though i did fail my attempt at 137.5kg. Probably i would have got 137 or something? I then used a belt but failed a straight up 3 plate squat - made a PR with small change addition to 137.5kg though as i expected. So next time i'm gonna try improve on that...
Food:
(http://i.imgur.com/7eyx4pZ.png)
i didn't mean to eat 1700kcal but i forgot to factor in eggs and realised later of the omission. All good. I meant to eat more today anyway. In the tension between strength and bodycomp - im no longer choosing bodycomp. If it means less fat loss, so be it.
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FS 1Fx120
BS 2x120
FS 5x90 (paused)
BS 5x97.5 (paused)
Dunks - 30
Squat notes:
Meant to be a light day but i have the PR bug so it was hard to hold back. I am pissed off at failing 120kg double though, i feel as though i've regressed now that im not able to do it after getting it. But friday i'll prob get some solid PRs.
I'm sold on paused squats. My ego didn't allow me to do them with my mediocre tonnage but it makes sense that i'm not going anywhere fast that i should just try them out. Considering the goal is to get stronger - and they do that well, i'll be doing them with some fervour in the coming months. I still want to improve my conventional squats though but paused squats will become my main squat focus very soon.
My biggest problem right now with (front) squatting is the eccentric part. I have no idea what im doing on the way down. My body doesn't look solid at all, it's like im flopping into the lift (regardless of whether it's done slow or fast - flopping is the right word). Any pointers on perfecting the descent, Kingfisher? The shitty thing is i looked back at my form all the way to xmas 2013 and i had the same problem then too. I've probably had it for a long time and it's pretty unsafe to continue doing especially considering I've had my share of injuries.
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to fix eccentric, i'd just play around with different cues: try "shoulders back" or "abs out" or "hips between knees" or something else. try to find one or two things to focus on that help keep you tight and smooth.
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to fix eccentric, i'd just play around with different cues: try "shoulders back" or "abs out" or "hips between knees" or something else. try to find one or two things to focus on that help keep you tight and smooth.
i'll experiment. I hate this part but i guess it's a good thing because if i can fix my descent i can improve my technique and hopefully lift more weight than before..
I regret dunking today because i was only supposed to do 2x6 and i prob did 30 total. Which is stupid because i need to be fresh for friday to PR my squats :( Oh well, lets see how it goes..
2015 - this is probably the last chance i have to do some nice dunks before i get too old (31 currently). i am gonna make a push to lifetime peak my athleticism in 2015.
First order of business is 155kg (belted) BS @ 77.5kg.
happy new years yall.
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chest forward, elbows up, weight distributed between your feet, .. etc.. you should know by now.
your problem is fatigue. the muscles that keep the torso upright in a front squat does not recover as fast as the big leg/glutes muscles.
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FBS 2x100 (=LPR)
BS 2x127.5, 0Fx132.5, 1x115
FS 1x105
BS 8x90
HPC 2x70, 1x75, 0Fx79.5, 0Fx78.5, 1x78.5 (PR), 1x80 (PR), 3x3x67.5 (PR)
OHP 2x4x58.5, 4x58.5B, 5x57
1Row 2x15x20
Weighted Push Up (WPU) 2x10x20kg (PR; new exercise)
Band Glute Bridge - 3x6xOrange (PR; new ex; brutally hard!)
BW: 178.6
Squat notes:
Last workouts pause squats and dunks ruined me for squatting today. No PRs, just too fucked up. Oh well.
Hang PC notes:
Not really strong as per squats but I managed a lifetime PR all the same. Having said that i never seriously did hang variants til now. 80kg is a milestone. Next one up is 90kg which when i get will be v. cool.
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Hate to do it because i think it's a mostly useless exercise but i'm gonna start doing RDLs. Just for grip work and familiarising my body to pulling. I realised i need to do this when 90kg in my hands wanted to slip out and i know that's not going to help my hang PC when im struggling to hold on to such modest weight. So RDL work up to 140kg shud do the trick, im not going to do a lot of volume. Maybe work up to a heavy triple then do a set of 10 backoff. Maybe even rack pulls thrown in there every now and then. Just to be able to pull some heavy weight. That should be enough for my needs. I just want 100kg to feel light in my hands so i have a chance to HPC it.
Also, i over-ate this weekend. It wud never have happened if not for a wedding reception i couldn't get out of and it dominoed from there - otherwise my discipline and dedication was not even beign tested yet. I have another function next weekend but after that i shud be able to straight up diet for months. Hopefully.
Also, thanks KF, i'll try out your cues and advice and report back tomorrow. I did try a bit on friday but i was too messed up to give squats a honest shot.
My goal just to remind myself is to squat 155kg @ 77.5kg. That means losing a few more kilos and adding another 20kg or so to my squat.
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I am recalling a conversation from this weekend when a team mate who is similar height to me remarked how he weighs 102kg (!). And i couldn't believe it because he is lean as well. When I told him what i weighed and what I planned to weigh (77kg) he couldn't believe that! He started calling me anorexic for wanting to lose weight. The whole thing was surreal. The reality is two people can look similar physically but have drastically different bodyweights. The one piece of advice he gave me was to gain weight (obvious) but also to do a lot of cardio (which will mitigate fat gains). I intend to take that advice on board and make cardio whatever that is, a regular feature of training this year.
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FBS 2x120, 1x128.5 (LPR)
BS 1x133.5, 1x135B, 1x137.5B, 1x140B (LPR), 0Fx142.5, 4x127.5B, 6x120B
BP 6x80(=LPR), 1x87.5B (LPR), 3x82.5 (LPR)
DUNKS - 6xSVJ, 6xRVJ
WCU 3x98.6, 2x103.2, 4x93.6, 5x89.95
CURL 6x42, 6x44.5 (PR), 10x40 (PR)
Squat notes:
Form wasnt as good as last monday. So i'm somehow getting worse but stronger. Ugly FS local pr nonwithstanding, im not happy with anything i squatted today but at least i squatted 3 plates for the first time in forever. Now to add the next 15kg or so which will get me halfway to the goal of 155kg @ 77.5kg.
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Been dreading today all week. It's been 3 weeks since my last basketball game after a break over the holiday period. I'm usually super wrecked after the first game and this doesn't bode well for my ambitions to PR my squats on friday. I was hoping to get a good turnout but looks like we will have a basic bench so i'll have to put in lots of minutes :( Oh well. It was hard to do basketball team training with every gym etc closed and it being too hot to train outdoors. All i needed was one day a week to maintain fitness but instead i've prob gone back to starting from scratch. Maybe it wont be so bad. Anyway i ate junk last night because it felt like it might help though i regret that now because i feel bloated/sluggish instead.
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FBS 2x120
BS 6x100 (paused)
Depth jumps 2x5
HPC 3x60, 1x80(=PR), 1x85(PR)
BBall game
Squat notes:
funny story. i wasnt gonna lift today because i was late for fititng a workout at home before going to bball. But i decided to try my luck at the gym where we play games and i got a free trial. Was front squatting alright, doubled 120kg nice and deep and the oly guy doing heavy snatches nearby complimented me "nice squats' - which was cool considering he was snatching like 100kg+ for reps. I felt good and i was gonna PR 130kg. But just before i went for my set, some guy wanted the 15kg plates on my bar for his shitty 200kg deadlifts for some reason (honestly why do you need 10kg and 15kg plates for deadlifts unless it makes up a nice round number? He could just used 20s that were spare). By then the moment had passed and even though i walked out 130kg in small change, my heart wasnt in it anymore. Should have held my ground but i didn't wanna be rude since im not a regular there.
Oh and where did i get a 5kg hang powerclean PR from? I struggled getting up 80kg after failing it several times friday and on monday i hit a 5kg PR. Something about being in a gym atmosphere i guess. But it goes both ways, ie the FS story above. just remembered i gave a half hearted attempt at HPC 90kg too and got it a good way up but couldn't rack it. Funny because i was using 90kg on friday for grip work lol and now im cleaning it. Though to be fair i was hooking today so that might have helped i guess.
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My conditioning needs a lot of work. If my lifts were good enough i'd focus on it but im not happy with anything to change up right now. Blah. But i'll add a bit here and there and keep improving over time. I just know i can't cut and improve everything at the same time so something has to give :(
Oh wow my traps are sore for the first time. Must be the hang pc i did yesterday? Interesting. Btw i think the reason i got an easy 5kg pr is because the bar was a lot nicer. It spun properly unlike my pos bar..
http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/nuggets-tips-tricks-energy-system-training/
(http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/AerobicVAnaerobic1.png)
If all you do is focus on the top, you’ll never expand your base. This will ultimately limit your ability to do high-intensity work for prolonged periods of time.
On the other hand if you take the time to build a “base,†you’ll have the foundation to do more high-intensity work, when you start training it.
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FBS 2x120
BS 6x100
FS 3x105
BS 6x107.5
OHP 2x5x58.6 (LPR), 6x57.5 (LPR; GPR too?)
TKE 2x12xThick-Purple-Band
Glute bridge 3x8xOrange-band
Squat notes:
Was wrecked during the 120kg double on FS. I am not recovered from the first game of the year after a 3 week break. Will try again sunday on my 4th training sesh of the week. Yeah that's not ideal but basketball training sunday means lifting monday is an even worse prospect.
My R knee didn't feel awesome preworkout - and i spend some time pre-hab with dencorub/band wrapping etc which did good for the workout but afterwards it felt off again and TKEs helped make them good again.
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With the band glute bridge - i think since im struggling so much with this exercise, just getting 6 reps last time and 8s this week, i am slowly going from strength ->hypertrophy ->endurance. This will help my squat eventually as the muscles get stronger/bigger/enduring as I master the banded glute bridge. Pretty exciting stuff. In the same vein, doing heavy squats with a belt help my back get stronger so that also works well for assisting my conventional squat as well as front squat.
I think i've cracked the cut/bulk continuum too. I will keep my cut cycles 2 weeks long - 3 weeks max if im not losing strength/mass. But no longer. And bulk is really a misnomer atm but i shud not be gaining more than a kilo or two per month at that. As long as i repeat these cycles like this, i'll slowly get stronger and muscular over time. I still think i need to do a nice long 6 month bulk though but only if i ever manage to cut down to 70kg (6-8% bf) again which im not really up for right now esp with basketball going on.
Anyway i'm gonna finish this weekend and then do another 2-3 wk cut cycle. My goal is to end Jan sub 80kg/175lb while squatting 130/140/150 (fs, bs, belted bs) and getting halfway to decent conditioning while playing ball 2x a week.
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FBS 2x120
FS 0Fx130 (LPR attempt!)
BS 1x127.5, 1x132.5, 1x137.5B, 5x129.5B (LPR), 6x122.5B (LPR)
Bball training (2hrs)
BW: 182.76
Squat notes:
I was quite weak today I realised after 120kg double on BS felt really challenging. Nevertheless FS felt okay so i went for a 130kg attempt. I got it prob 1/4 of the way up which is promising. Not long now til i've got the 130kg milestone behind me!
BBall notes:
Good training session. Hopefully will have a good game this week for a change.
Training again tmr, didn't get around to doing bench, chins or curls so i guess i have another weights sesh tmr, making that 5 in 8 days.
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BP 5Fx81 (LPR), 3x85 (LPR), 5Fx80
WCU 3x100 (LPR), 1x105 (LPR), 2x100, 5x90
CURL 6x42.5, 6x45 (PR),12x40 (PR)
TROW 3x6x60 (PR; new exercise)
BW: 182.1
Bench notes:
Couldn't lock out the 6th rep :( But considering this is the 5th time lifting in 8 days, i'm not too upset either. I'll bench again this week on sunday so no biggey.
Misc. upper notes:
I've been doing curls without missing a session for hte last 6 weeks. And the net result is my arms are stronger now but as far as size - same 13-14" they've always been - nothing measurably changed. Though they look ok in terms of defn but i still wish i had 16" biceps that would be sick.. :(
I'm now turning my attention to my lats - i wish to beef up my upper back, it's kinda emabrassing how small my lats are. I have a decent weighted chinup but that's not doing anything for me. I toyed with rows too and that too didn't really amount to much. so if you have some suggestions for my body type (long arms) for targeting lat size pls help a brother out..
Food notes:
(http://i.imgur.com/AiAJWFt.png)
I don't have a calorie goal at the mo but today i felt like i ate a good amount of food but surprisingly the calories weren't a heck of a lot. Maybe i could just repeat this day over and over for like 3 weeks and get to my (bodyweight) goal? :)
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for curls: more volume. sets of 10-12. also add direct tricep work, either DB kickbacks or rope/cable pressdowns.
for lats: pull ups have more lat involvement than chin ups, so maybe switch to pronated rather than supinated grip. i also find that kroc rows are awesome for the whole upper back: lats, traps and posterior delts. and good for grip, too.
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for curls: more volume. sets of 10-12. also add direct tricep work, either DB kickbacks or rope/cable pressdowns.
for lats: pull ups have more lat involvement than chin ups, so maybe switch to pronated rather than supinated grip. i also find that kroc rows are awesome for the whole upper back: lats, traps and posterior delts. and good for grip, too.
Suggestions :) Yay!
Just a bit more info. My arms are mostly tricep - from a diet of close grip everythang - inc chinups, bench press (and ohp too for that matter). Not that they're huge triceps but i feel the part i need to attack is not so much triceps though since i've always targeted it and always will - just the way I do my upper body work.
I can add more volume to curls, i'll start with an extra set of 10 and see if it's enough. I usually do 2x6xheavy + 2x8-12 medium to failure for a total of around 24 reps.
I never did pullups because Rip convinced me to prefer to ego-chase chinup . Which admittedly never did little for me so perhaps it's time to venture out and give the pullup a shot. Negative on the kroc rows - feel them more in my arms. Heck there is nothing that hits my lats that I can remember. THough it might be my form...... i don't think my torso is as horizontal as it needs to be when i gave rows a shot (1arm and barbell). Is there an exercise i can do do you think which I will feel immediately in my lats as opposed to chest or arms or whatever? :s
edit. just remembered the last time i made my lats sore was actually recently, doing heavy (200kgish) front squat walkouts. Should do those again and on the regular.. hmmm..
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fair enough about triceps and the fact that you do a fair amount of CG pressing. for curls, i'd drop the heavy sets and do more volume with less weight. so like 3x12 with the same weight across all sets.
for kroc rows, if you feel them mostly in your arms, you're doing it wrong. they're designed to hit your upper back. you could also try wide-grip rows, either inverted with your bw or a weighted vest or DB in your lap, or seated cable rows. just focus on using your lats to initiate and then complete the movement. if i don't do that my traps tend to take over. ymmv.
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I'll 2nd on the rows. Drop the weight initially and get the feeling right. Parallel BB rows with no body english. 1 arm rows with the elbow out (90 degrees work well for me too). Having said that the best lat builder I have found is the deadlift :trollface:
And yeah high volume curls work well. Sets of between 15-20.
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With the heavy curls, feel like I've got TUT on my side since the (heavy) 6s are actually really challenging and take ages to complete the rep whereas a set of 20 wud be an easy 10 or so reps and then slower more TUTy reps as you go through to the end of the set. I wouldn't mind doing something crazy like a 10x10 thing on curls short term if it puts an inch on my arms! I think 15" is something I should be able to achieve in my lifetime even if 16" is out of the question.
Yeah all these rows challenge mainly my hands, arms and shoulders. BB rows additionally seem to be limited by core endurance.
Coges re deads - My back has been healthy and injury free for a while now - not a good idea to mess around with daedlifts but the temptation is always there. I just have to continue to resist the call to pull from the ground.
LBSS i'm gonna try those other variants esp the cable pull one might be just the thing for me.
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BW: 180.67
Food:
(http://i.imgur.com/1NKquY1.png)
I forgot a normal, moderate diet was an option when losing weight :P This is so easy. And I get to improve my lifts and bball game. Nice deal.
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Coges re deads - My back has been healthy and injury free for a while now - not a good idea to mess around with daedlifts but the temptation is always there. I just have to continue to resist the call to pull from the ground.
I was kind of joking re deads given your history with them. Wide/snatch grip RDLs may be an option though. Can't go too heavy given the grip but they hit the upper back pretty hard. May interfere with your recovery for FS though.
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SQ 2x120
FS 0Fx130, 0Fx140, 3x117.5 (LPR)
BS 10x110 (LPR)
BW: 180.8
Squat notes:
Didn't even bounce up 130kg FS today! But i decided to make lemonade and do negatives with 140kg. I figure having a decent negative will make the (130kg) positive possible.
BBall game tonight.
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I forgot a normal, moderate diet was an option when losing weight :P This is so easy. And I get to improve my lifts and bball game. Nice deal.
(http://media.tumblr.com/9b567fd6e4d2ba791b2aa80bd042b533/tumblr_inline_mf7xxos7T41ry4qim.gif)
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That was by far the best game i've played in 2 years! Scores were tied going into the last 5 mins and they remained that way til the end. But I got a big clutch block, steal and rebound in that order in the last minute or so to help us seal the game. Our young guard missed every 3pt today except for the game winner which he swished. We won. Feels good to win a hard game. Only downside i got in a verbal spate with a team mate but i left it on the court, i just don't think it looks good to the rest of the (young) guys when the senior ones being catty. So that's something I need to sort out for future games. Hopefully as I play better, my game will speak for me instead.
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BW: 180.56
Body not feeling amazing today but hopefully I can train well tmr. Just a note, my legs are starting to show defn. Seems i've got got a nice roll on lifting and balling going right now - i'm improving on both fronts. I still would like to end the month at 175lb but with only 2 weeks left, im not sure if it's likely without compromising progress.
At least I should get under 180 soon..
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SQ 2x120
FS 0Fx130
BS 1x130, 0Fx137.5
FS 3x118.5 (LPR), 1x115B
HPC 2x70, 0Fx80 (2 attempts)
Banded Glute Bridge - 3x12xOrange (PR)
TKE 3x15xThick band (PR)
OHP 2x5x59.5 (LPR), 5x58 (repeat next time; wanted 6 reps), 5x45 (uneven plates - 10L and 15R)
ROW 3x12x40 (PR; new exercise; WG - used Coges suggestion to use a wider grip to target lats)
Squat notes:
Had no pop outta da bottom. I have been struggling with feeling fresh enough to squat heavy; too much training i guess.
Upper notes:
Hard going ohp. I am trying to bring my weak side (R) up by doing slightly heavier weight. It's kinda annoying not having dbs. Hmmm.
Hang powerclean notes:
It must be the bar. I got an easy 85kg PR when i trained in the (non-home) gym last week but today i can't even get a 80kg warmup up. Sucks :( I might try greasing the thing next time. Or actually maybe i shud have a weekly (non-home) gym day when i can use a good bar. Hmm.
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oh man i really wouldn't recommend using more weight on one side than the other. no basis in anything other than ZOMG YOU'RE GONNA HURT YOURSELF. but that seems dangerous and unlikely to produce the desired effect.
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oh man i really wouldn't recommend using more weight on one side than the other. no basis in anything other than ZOMG YOU'RE GONNA HURT YOURSELF. but that seems dangerous and unlikely to produce the desired effect.
it's been suggested before i think for correcting imbalance by lyle but not in the context of barbell stuff. I'm also using a lighter weight. But. It's still not ideal. Im not sure what i can do right now about this problem but it's something i'd like to address for the long term
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oh man i really wouldn't recommend using more weight on one side than the other. no basis in anything other than ZOMG YOU'RE GONNA HURT YOURSELF. but that seems dangerous and unlikely to produce the desired effect.
it's been suggested before i think for correcting imbalance by lyle but not in the context of barbell stuff. I'm also using a lighter weight. But. It's still not ideal. Im not sure what i can do right now about this problem but it's something i'd like to address for the long term
yeah i mean for DBs it'd be one thing, although i would do them separately and not at the same time. the BB thing wigs me out, though.
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FBS 3x120 (LPR!)
FS 0Fx130
BS 1x127.5, 1x132.5, 1x137.5B, 1x141 (1kg LPR lol), 1x143.5B (LPR!), 1x145B (LPR!!), 5x130B (LPR!), 5x125B
Baskeball training - 2hrs
BW: 184
Squat notes:
Got a few PRs today which was kinda cool.
Im just not strong enough to front squat 130kg. So i'm gonna stop attempting it - been stuck since last week - not going anywhere with the local PR attempts; if anything going backwards. Time to build up strength via BS reps and then will take another crack at 130kg FS in a few weeks. Remember FS isn't even a main focus for me - i just wanted to make 130kg maintanable as a minimum standard before turning my attention to pushing my backsquat to 160kg which is where the magic will happen.
My bodyweight is up because basketball is kicking my ass and im compensating by eating lots. Hopefully i'll adapt to basketabll soon (weds will be my 3rd week - which is about how long it usually takes). After I get my basketball conditioning back - i'm gonna be able to put my bodyweight on the backburner and get the scale to read 175.
I should be squatting about 150-160kg then though, which will put me at a multiplier of 1.9-2.0. For the record my multiplier today is 1.7365. Which is prob close to PR levels but im not sure 100%. Once i get it to 1.75 or even say 1.8x i'll def be in PR territory though, so i'll just wait til then before calling anything accomplished.
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BW:182.32
Training upper body today. Don't feel as bad as last monday but then again i htink i was cutting last week whereas i am not right now. Also adaptation to basketball.
My lower back is nicely DOMed up today. Which always means my squats are about to get very hard and plummet - until i recover my back - which then means squats get a lot easier and better. I put it down to the last rep or two of the 5s i did yesterday - they got nice and good morninginy :)
BP 2x82.5, 3x87.5 (LPR), 4x82 (LPR), 5x80, 6x72.5 (focusing on pushing mainly with weak R side)
WCU 3x100, 1x105, 4x95, 5x90, 6x85
BP notes:
I can grind out a 3RM LPR with 87.5kg but ive seemingly lost the ability to do 6s with 80kg now. Not really happy with my bench right now but im not willing to commit to more than 1x week benching so it will have to do..
I didn't do curls today. fuck em. i gave them a chance and they didn't do anything for me. Maybe it will take 6 months or even years before they give results but that's not very appealing. I'll just do chinups and try to add weight over time. I might as well just stick to the compounds if i'm doing an exercise i hate but may do something for my arms but probably wont than to additionally do another one specifically for my arms that prob wont do anything either
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I realised the reason im not getting 130kg front squat is bc my beltless backsquat LPR is 135kg - hell 132.5kg feels precariously hard/dangerous at the same time! I've repeatedly failed 137.5kg BS attempts. I might be efficient but i'm not THAT efficient that I can get a FS of 130kg while only just BS 132.5-135kg. So that means I just need to get my raw BS up to and over 140kg first and then ill prob get the FS LPR of 130kg.
I wouldn't eve be surprised if the breakthrough happens relatively soon - im sure once my erectors are recovered i'll be able to easily progress my squat a little across the board, bs, bbs and ofc fs. If i'm right, i shud be up for a PR on friday as long as weds game and training isn't too strenuous.
But all of this aside, i am commiting myself to pushing my BS up 10kg - i feel there is no point starting to cut off a few kilos of bf when my absolute strength isn't good enough. Once im satisfied with it, i think around 160kg bs with a belt - i'll cut a few kilos to around 80kg or so - maybe a kilo or two less than that, so i can gain a little weight to there and be a strong 80kg rather than a weak one by cutting to there.
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BW: 181.44
Ok bodyweight is starting to slide back but i'm not actively cutting right now. There's 11 days left in Jan. I'm considering weighing <81kg/178.5lb by Feb first. But i'm focusing on adding 10kg to my squat - so idk, if i have to choose one, i'll go with the squats. Not saying I shud be gaining weight though. I can attempt a recomp or something or add more cardio.
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BW: 180.78
Back is still dommed up - my plan was to have an easy fresh workout of squats nothing challenging - and then hopefully be nice and recovered for friday when I can exploit the new back strength for some squat PRs. Will try to stick to it! Basketball game later tonight also. Gonna try to keep up my recent performance and improve some areas (better defence and being aggressive with the ball on offense).
FS 3x100, 1x122.5, BS 2x122.5
JS 5x60, 5x90, 5x100
Basketball game
Squat notes:
I wanted to double 122.5kg as a warmup but the first rep was pretty hard so i noped out. Considered doing a workset of 112.5kg with fs/bs but decided i wanted to be fresh for the game and called it a day after some jump squats.
Basketball game notes:
Played well but i could have played better. my handle was terrible, i turned it over. I should practice more.
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a question...; I've never got a fast break dunk. I've attempted several but i always hit the rim front. Is there a trick to it?
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a question...; I've never got a fast break dunk. I've attempted several but i always hit the rim front. Is there a trick to it?
Yes, you need to jump higher.
:P :wowthatwasnutswtf: :uhhhfacepalm:
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but i can't; its the damnedest things :( also r u calling me white?? bro.
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I suspect though have not confirmed through video that i transform into a single leg jumper in that case. And i'm not a single leg jumper by any means, so the chance of getting that dunk is prob very low. I have thought about thinking "double legs" though i dont know if i ever actually did it during the break or just thought about it after the miss
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Haha, i was just kidding of course. Anyway, imho SLRVJs are more convenient for in-game dunks in traffic, but in fast-break situation i don't see why you can't use your full easy-dunk DLRVJ potential.
At one point that i was stable at a dunkable 34'' DLRVJ ( gosh, i miss that! ), i had the same dilemma. What i did was dedicate dunk sessions to 'real' situations. I would toss the ball from one basket to the middle of the court, sprint , pick it up, dribble to the basket and try to dunk. Other scenarios too, pump-fake 3p, drive, dunk. Baseline pivot dribble, drive, dunk. And so on. I had the luxury of having 9'8'' 9'10'' and 10' rims available, so i started from the low one. When i mastered it , i moved to the 9'10''. When i mastered that too... i got injured and never jumped above 31'' ever since. FML.
To sum it up, practice makes perfect. You are not missing jump height, you are missing game-situation dunk efficiency. So practice it and you will acquire it.
2c
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^ makes sense vag. I'll add the individual practice on fridays. On weds I play games. On sunday it's team practice. Perhaps some game time situations like drives, layups, fastbreak dunks etc. Should be cool. And i can finish by doing dunks too. It's hardt o believe the last dunk session i had was on NYE. No wonder I can't dunk easily anymore.
BW: 179.13
Not sure if this is just a temporary low - or if the scale suddenly catching up to my diet but we'll see over the next few days. Good to be back under 180. Now if tomorrow I can PR my squats and hit up a solid 147.5kg bs and say a 130kg FS i'll be pretty thrilled. Can't wait! Also, my calves are sore for the first time in ages, i guess the jump squats? Interesting..
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Friday at last! My back feels okay but legs could be a bit fresher. My grip feels weak (--> proxy for CNS freshnness) so i'm prob not going to have an amazing workout but we'll see how it goes. Oh and I lubricated my barbell with Inox - will see if that helps get my (home) powerclean unstuck. Would be cool if it does otherwise i'll explore using a public gym 1x a week on days i do cleans.
Bodyweight: 179.68
Sub 180lb bodyweight sticks - in addition, i woke up looking a lot leaner - my torso is taking on that lean cylindrical shape you have when you are not fat. Also legs look bigger. Cool. I'll stick to what i've been doing, will be nice getting to my bodyweight goal while continuing to get stronger and more muscular!
Food log (http://i.imgur.com/7qjg6pi.png) for the day
Training to come
FBS 2x120
FS 0Fx129.5
BS 1x130, 0Fx137.5, 1x137.5B, 0Fx142.5
FS 1x122.5, 1x117.5, 4x110 (LPR)
BS 4x112.5
OHP 4x60 (LPR), 4x60, 5x60 (LPR)
HPC 3x3x70 (PR), 1x80 (home PR), 0Fx86
DL 6x90 (LPR; new ex)
CURL 8x40, 8x45 (PR), 10x42.5 (PR)
Squat notes:
Unbelieavably weak squats today. I should be doing 10 reps with 112.5 and i got a hard 4 and said fuck this and called it a day.
OHP notes:
60kg milestone word up.
Hang PC notes:
Lubricated bar made short work of my 70kg worksets - world of difference really. Even though i havent done PC worksets in 3 weeks. I couldn't believe it. After that i took a crack at a heavy single of 80kg suprisingly got it which is a home pr. Then thought why not go for a 1kg (anywhere) PR and put 86kg on the bar - got it up okay for a catch but cudnt get my elbows up and the rack didnt happen :/ I took several other attempts at it but they got weaker and weaker so called it a day. I probably would have got 86kg if i did it before my worksets - but im not too bothered, just happy to get back on the PC train. Lets work up to 80kg worksets now.
Deadlift notes:
I caved, im in on deadlifts after all the fuss on the forums how they're the magic exercise for basketball. And while im going to be conservative i think i might have neglected the wrong exercise after all - felt the DLs in my legs in a way i haven't felt in a while on squats - so maybe i should have been doing these all along and i sold myself short by going all in on squats. But my form is awful and im not sure how to fix it so it might not really go anywhere with these anyway.
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post vid of DL.
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BW: 179.35
I wish i was in the 79s in kilos not pounds, then i could stop cutting and just maintain <80kg while getting strong as fuck. But right now i'm not in a position to maintain a fat unathletic 81.35kg/179.35lb since i'm not close to the bodyweight goal of 79kg/175lb. Blah.
Today i have some decent doms in the upper back area, lats and tarps. Cool. Goes to show these hang pcs aren't completely useless. To think i was ruiing skipping rows yesterday but it turns out i got a good workout anyways - i'll do em on monday though after chins.
Been thinking how to be a good basketball player. we have enough height and size on my team now that i can think about taking my preferred role on the wing. I just need to have a bit more skill though cause im not good at or confident with the ball and i think ppl will yell at me if i shoot 3s. But i need to do this - i am not a post player and im sick of trying to become one esp with my low bodyweight and lack of athleticism, im not really good at it. I can shoot 3s and drive from the wings much better.
Food log (http://i.imgur.com/JAwXZav.png). I omitted the 2 bowls of icecream i ate bc idk how much they weighed. Hopefully this will get me fresh enough to PR my squats. Been stuck a while now :(
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BW: 179.02
Sunday is here and im feeling nervous about lifting. Grip is weak again :( CNS when will u b fresh?? But i'll still attempt some PRs and then get some heavy worksets in. Then go off to basketball. Though i think it's almost time for me to stop doing these heavy maxes - lately ive been failing more than i've been making.
FBS 2x122.5 (LPR), 1x129.5 (LPR!)
BS 1x134.5, 1x137.5 (LPR!), 1x140B, 0Fx147.5B, 4x132.5B (LPR), 5x127.5B
Basketball training ~ 2hrs
Squat notes:
Oh yesss, PRs. Will fill in details later, late for baskeball training. So I got 129.5kg today! Finally a front squat heavy single LPR. I'm not sure if i'll go for 130kg next in 2x15kg plates or just add another kilo to 129.5kg next time. We'll see. Also progressed my raw BS to an LPR of 137.7kg ! Form improvements were the reason for both squat PRs. I'll expand on this on a later post by the way.
I wanted to local PR my belted squat by 2.5kg, squatting 147.5kg but by then i wasn't really fresh enough - so i finished up with my 2 worksets and called it a day. I didn't get much out of the belt today - im between holes, 3rd one is kinda loose now and 4th one is too tight. Hopefully next sunday i can just use the 4th one and smash out a 147.5-150kg pr while weighing 80kg :)
Basketball notes:
That was a great training session but im spent! Now to eat loads of protein and hope im good to lift upper body tmr. Damnnnnnnnnnnnn. So smashed. My fitness is improved!! Next game is do-or-die. Not really but it has to be, cause if we are to make finals we will have to beat this team in semis. So it's important to get a mental edge on them now. We'll see.
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A huge form breakthrough on my squats today. Basically my mindset for whatever reason was to descent into a squat decelerating into the bottom position. Why? I dont know. But that's what i'd been doing perhaps because i thought the alternative was too chaotic (a divebomb). THis is a false dichotomy however. I learned that it's perfectly fine to be slow down as long as I accelerate in the last moments just before hitting bottom position. Game changer, finally got a FS local PR - finally a BS local PR - keep in mind i've been stapled to the bottom on these weights and today on a day my CNS wasnt crash hot, i still got the PRs. Great sign going forward. I can really build on this form improvement now.
So time to rest and then tomorrow another weights sesh, game and weights weds, lifting on friday and ball and weights on sunday. All while cutting the remaining 2.65lb of adipose which remains from my goal bodyweight of 80kg/176.
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Blam, triceps are sore today. I couldn't think why until I remembered all those outlet passes I threw yesterday at training, in a fast break drill. TIL. I could delay the workout til tomorrow but i've been on a good 3 week run of training every other day - not sure if i wanna break that, or lift the day before game day. Will see. Body needs rest though. My erectors on the R side have already been aching (not in a good normal DOM way either).
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BW: 179.24
BP 2x83.5, 2x88.5 (LPR), 5x82.5 (LPR), 5x80, 6x75
WCU 3x99, 1Fx105, 4Fx94, 5x90, 6x85
Upper notes:
Was weak as fuck but forced a workout anyways. I did ok but i wish i had been fresher.
Food log (http://i.imgur.com/ZRnYqBA.png)
Kinda glad I trained today. Now i have 2 sleeps to rest :) Feeling exhausted though. I am trying to convince my body if it gets rid of the next 2.5lb of bodyfat I'll give it a break and let myself eat more food to facilitate training.
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BW: 178.02 (2015 PR)
Got the <81kg milestone today (80.75). Next up is the big <80kg/176 one. Can't wait for that. I'm also stronger now so it hasn't cost me any strength or muscle, if anything i'm slightly up on mass.
Will be going to put up some shots later today to prep for tmrs game. I'm gonna treat it as my last game ever and bring everythang to the table.
Food log (http://i.imgur.com/qsyiT1v.png)
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BW: 177.58
Game day ! Gonna get a quick weights sesh in once it gets cooler. Still in the mid 30s after goign up to 40C earlier. Feel fuzzy - not sure if it's a heat thing or just poor eating today, i unwittingly fasted >18hrs; not ideal. Otherwise I prob wud have gone for some squat PRs! Anyway. We'll see how it goes.
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FBS 2x122.5
Basketball game
Squat notes:
New form improvements are making me happy. I considered tripling 122.5kg for a LPR but then said nah, better save it for whatever comes next. Turns out i just called it a day and went to the courts lol.
Basketball notes:
Ever have one of those days where everything comes together for you physically? i was an athletic beast today, doing drop step hammer dunks like they were nothing out of the blue. But unfortunately no one else on my team was hyped. We dropped a game we should have at least competed in. Blah. What a waste of a good athletic day. Wish i had just done lots of dunks on tape and shown off for guys on the internet. Oh well.
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Food log (http://i.imgur.com/7vBbsWc.png). Tomorrow, I'm gonna lift and add that extra basketball training sesh i spoke about before. Last week i was too fucked up but this week i should be better since i've been eating more. 2000 kcal to my body is like going on a feast lol. It doesn't even feel like im cutting. I swear if i was a hard 80kg i'd a lot stronger than the soft one i am right now. Oh well, give it time. Still looking to get under 80kg/176lb first. Probably wont change anything until my bw is around 79kg at which point i might just maintain. We'll see how things are by then though.
I'll triple 122.5kg front squat tmr and maybe 130kg fs (i might save it for sunday though, we'll see.). Maybe a 10 rep pr of BS with 112.5kg? something like that. Nothing crazy just get in some decent quality reps.
Oh and i've got another basketball game monday night, filling in for a mate's team, so that's gonna be crazy with basketballl back to back sunday and monday but all of this shud make me a better player so it's all good.
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BW: 179
FBS 3x100
FS 1x122.5
BS 5x112.5
HPC 3x3x72.5 (LPR)
OHP 4x60, 5x60, 4x60, 4x60, 3x60
DL 2x6x100 (LPR)
CURL 10x40, 10x45 (LPR), 10x42.5
Squat notes:
Nothing felt right today, too fucked up to squat properly. Basketball i love ya but you ruin me in the gym :(
Hang PC notes:
Just punching in the worksets. Dont feel like doing anything else. These were kinda hard but mainly because my grip was weak and i felt even 60kg challenging in my arms when i was doing my squat prehab stuff.
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BW: 179
FBS 3x100
FS 1x122.5
BS 5x112.5
HPC 3x3x72.5 (LPR)
OHP 4x60, 5x60, 4x60, 4x60, 3x60
DL 2x6x100 (LPR)
CURL 10x40, 10x45 (LPR), 10x42.5
Squat notes:
Nothing felt right today, too fucked up to squat properly. Basketball i love ya but you ruin me in the gym :(
Hang PC notes:
Just punching in the worksets. Dont feel like doing anything else. These were kinda hard but mainly because my grip was weak and i felt even 60kg challenging in my arms when i was doing my squat prehab stuff.
do you hook grip for PC?
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do you hook grip for PC?
Sometimes; but not for worksets. I figure the longer i can delay hooking the better since it will build my grip better. WBU?
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i hook most of the time out of habit now, and because im trying to build hook grip callusses.
If it's starting to effect your lift though it's probably time to start hook gripping?
and do you chalk up? chalk makes a huge difference.
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That makes sense. Better to get started accustomed by making hook grip strong. I tried hooking 120kg (for hook grip work) and it almost fell outa my hands haha. My hook is reallly bad but it made powercleans so much easier when I used the nice bar at the gym. At home, hook grip doesn't seem to help much, it almost feels like it makes things harder. Im not sure, i think cause i can't rotate the bar a little in my hands on the catch? Whereas wiht a good bar you dont need to do that so it's more comfy.
Yeah I use chalk for everythang even for curls. lulz.
By the way congrats on the crossfit date you've got coming up :P
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yeah it takes some getting used to! I did 140kg clean pulls with hook grip..pure pain. And yeah, the bar can make a difference, i normally train with lovely eliekos, but i had to use a fatter bar for a while and i literally couldn't hook grip it.
haha me too, i love the stuff. amazes me how people train without it to be honest!
and thanks haha!
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140kg clean pulls! daym. how high up are you getting those? Nice. Yeah come to think of it, ive got a thicker bar, think it's 28mm or something. It's a terrible bar; but whatever, i shud just be able to clean 100kg with it which is good enuf for my purposes. I neglected doing a hip hinge exercise for a long time and now ive got one so thankfully i'm getting some athletic gains from it. And deadlifts another new exercise for me shud assist my PC too which will be cool. I should really have been doing this all along but i went all in on squats.
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not massively high, but high enough to get under if i could front squat 140 back up. see i was the exact opposite, lots of hip hinging and neglected squats, hence my ridiculous power clean to full clean/deadlift to squat ratio! i am truly blessed with bars at my gym, a commercial gym with 8 elieko bars..ridiculous.
but yeah, no doubt you'll see massive carry over athletically from cleans and deads..especially if you already have that leg strength base from squats!
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I just find that hard to fathom! When i was stronger (and 15kg heavier lol), i was warming up with 140kg front squats and it seemed like the easy part of cleaning 140kg if i ever got there. The problem i'd have is being able to pull it up. And you're in the exact opposite situation where you can pull it up but can't squat it. Crazy! But it sounds like we're converging the same target of overall strength and power but from opposite directions. Very cool.
I think DL will help my squat a lot too as well as athleticism. Lets see where I am in a few months time. We'll compare notes then :) I should have a 90kg hang pc soon and from there getting to 100kg will be a (mental) challenge. My main motivation is not having to strip the bar so much after failing squats in the power rack if i can hang pc 2 plates a side :P
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yes very weird! 140kg is a strong front squat! whats your max?!
cleans, especially power are massively mental..i twice made 10kg jumps in my pr in one session, clearly didn't gain that much strength in a week. you may find you hit 90 then 100 the session after!
and yeah, im hoping my squatting will improve my dead even without deadlifting as my intital leg drive off the floor limits that!
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BW: 177.69 (2015 LPR)
FBS 3x122.5 (LPR), 1x130 (LPR!!!!!!!!!)
BS 1x135, 1x140B, 5x127.5B
Basketball training - 90mins
Squat notes:
Finally conquered 130kg.
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yes very weird! 140kg is a strong front squat! whats your max?!
That was when i was heavier, 15kg more than I am right now. im not at that (absolute) strength level at the mo. But i prob had about a 150kg in me, i did an easy 145kg FS as a warmup to backsquatting 170kg at that time and it wasn't a grindy max.
cleans, especially power are massively mental..i twice made 10kg jumps in my pr in one session, clearly didn't gain that much strength in a week. you may find you hit 90 then 100 the session after!
Interesting. It kinda gels with my experience. I was failing i think 75kg and once i got it, in the same workout I put up an easy 77.5kg. Today signed up to a gym thing, will try to get in there 1x a week and do cleans with a good bar. Should help a lot from here! excited.
Actually found deadlifts from friday affected my legs a lot today i didn't have enough leg strength for my usual heavy/hard squat session. So i might have to move deads up to squat day to prevent that again.
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BP 2x83.5, 2Fx88.5, 4Fx83.5
WCU 2x103.5 (LPR), 4x98.5 (LPR?)
Basketball game
Bball notes:
Filled in for my mates team. I scored my first point like 3s into the game off an OOP. And straight after that, got a look-away assist to a cutter for an easy layup. They must have thought they got a superstar lol. But i'm not all that. We drew the game. I kinda sad we didn't do better really, but a few too many turnovers cost us the game we were controlling. All good. Need to hit up eastbay for a new order of compression tights though :( I need to stop goign to to ground for loose balls, my knees are getting too familiar with the floor - grazes testify to that.
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I want to train my drop step to become faster, powerful and more explosive. Ideas? Looking for programming, technique, how to measure progress, how to improve etc. Any thoughts at all, actually. I want to be able to do game time drop step dunks. I can do them in practice pretty good but i need to be a lot faster to do them live.
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i would just start drilling it with a ball in your hand. both sides, lots and lots of submax reps that start with a dribble or two. movement efficiency/learning the skill is the first step. see, e.g., the t0ddday method that i've been advocating. don't add max effort until you can do the movement you're looking to do confidently and well.
measurement is easier with no ball because you can use amount of hand over rim as your ruler, but practicing with a ball is more, um practical.
or, just watch the dream teach lebron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH4AjDgl1Ng
or dwight howard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKaoobM5D24
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Good ideas LBSS. I'll practice today. Does a total of about 18 reps per side sound right? Thinking 3x6.
One thing im wondering about is how to deal with the defender. It's totally easy to do it without one but with one there, how do you get them off guard or get around them or bump them off their balance before finishing with a dunk. If they can keep up and stay between me and the rim, i would have to dunk over the defender and if it's a big guy, that's not gonna be a good idea cause im not that heavy/strong/quick to finsih with that much contact.
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Great videos LBSS.
I would also do heaps of submax reps. Just working on the drop step itself minus the dunk. Then for your dunk practice add in a smaller amount of reps.
As far as beating the defender the only way to really practice that is with a real defender. Check out 1:34 in the Dwight video. That strategy is probably your best bet if you're looking to dunk on someone. Baseline to avoid the other defenders and beat him before he's properly set.
If you start dunking over guys in the paint off a drop step I want some of what you're on :P
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Dunks ~ 20
Basketball game
Dunk notes:
Kinda average dunks, nothing amazing. I didn't have time to lift so i just shot around a bit before the game and did some dunks. Wanted to will myself to a windmill. I wasnt even close. It's depressing to me that at 31 this is probably as athletic as i'll ever be and if im not able to do it now, it's probably never going to happen
Basketball game notes:
Good game but a loss. I shut down their main scorer - he dropped 25 on us last time. I held him to 0 for most of the first half, and he finally got his first point, a freethrow when i sat out. But we lost. Im kinda over it though, this was the big chance to prove we belonged in this comp. We are still through to the semis, but we play the top seeded team and im expecting a loss. If we had won, we would have had a rematch with our arch-competitor - but ofc we cheated ourself out of a chance to play them in the semis after they beat us last week. Not to dwell though, im pretty annoyed with today. Didn't help i lost my contact lense while rebounding for a team mate during warmups cause someone hit me in the face lol. It was one of those days. Playing half blind while being left eye dominant didn't really help me excel the way i'd hoped.
oh well, got a (2nd) date tomorrow morning. I hope i dont mess that up too. Did okay in the first one on the weekend but i was stressed af. lets see.
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Mate you can certainly be more athletic after age 31. I was more athletic at 33 than at 31. Now that I'm 34 it's all downhill though ;D
Btw, good luck with your date. Hope it went well.
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As far as reps in drills for basketball....dont count them. Just keep going until it feels fluid or until you're a little tired, then rest. The only time ive ever seen anyone 'good' counting reps on a drill they were counting makes...on step back 3s. Just my .02.
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Yeah, the age thing is tricky. The progress curve does shift. It gets really bad after 35. You have to do more to gain less. BUT, you can still gain. I reached my athletic peak at 37. But if i had put the same work 10-15 years ago, who knows where i would be. But yeah, 31 is not much, you still have a couple of good years, hit them hard. After that, it all depends on your ceiling. How much room is there left? If you got some room, be sure you can keep progressing. You may never reach your peak but you can still improve. So if your potential is 100, and you are now at 70 or 80, yes, you can improve and go 90. If you are already at 90+, maybe that was it. One way to find out, go get it!
2c
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Sold on the lots of submax reps. Will do it :) Also spinning on the defender pinning him with your elbows on the catch to the entry pass into into post. Can't wait to try that one out..
Mate you can certainly be more athletic after age 31. I was more athletic at 33 than at 31. Now that I'm 34 it's all downhill though ;D
Maybe im just comparing to my late 20s when it seemed like it was a lot easier to make gains. I'm not seeing much improvement now, maybe just happy to reach previous levels but as far as surpassing them, not really happening.
As far as reps in drills for basketball....dont count them. Just keep going until it feels fluid or until you're a little tired, then rest. The only time ive ever seen anyone 'good' counting reps on a drill they were counting makes...on step back 3s. Just my .02.
That's a good point. Keep quality up. Sometimes get in the trap of thinking quantity is the goal. Thats kind of self defeating cause you learn to hate it, instead of looking forward to improving yourself.
Btw, good luck with your date. Hope it went well.
Thanks. it went okay but I made a few mistakes that are probably going to prevent things going further..
Vag I had no idea you were older than me! That's news to me. I thought you were like 32-33. I reckon im gonna get close to getting to that 2xbw this summer. I hit 145kg with a belt and since then i'm stronger, so maybe its gone up to 150kg now - but im also lighter. 160 @80kg is on the cards if i can keep myself on track. Life is getting in the way though. I've got a lot of other things on my mind so training isn't taking a priority at the mo.
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FBS 2x125 (LPR)
FS 0Fx131
BS 8x112.5 (LPR)
HPC 3x3x75 (PR)
OHP 3x60, 5x60 (=LPR), 4x4x60 (LPR)
DL 6x110 (LPR), 6x105
CURL 6x40, 6x47.5, 10x46 (LPR), 10x42.5
Squat notes:
Back to warming up with 125kg on FS and then BS doubles! Ofc it felt like a 2rm but whatevs.
Hang PC notes:
Came a time in the first workset when my grip was holding me back, i failed a rep, then heard Gukl saying 'jus hook it man', and so i did, and didn't fail any more reps for the rest of the workout
Food notes:
Log here (http://i.imgur.com/kudbh3f.png). I feel like i should have slightly more protein (ran out of meat today and dont feel like eating pork sausages which i dont enjoy the taste of anymore) but whatevers. I also would have liked slightly more carbs but dont feel like making pasta or something. I ate 8 eggs today again. Kingfisher mode enabled.
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Weighed 177.8 today. I'm a lot leaner now that I was last wk when I got 177 for the first time. Ive had a whoosh - no doubt thanks to the basketball ive been playing recently. I played sunday, monday, weds - and it just did amazing things to my bodycomp. Lower back, abdominal fat, even my fat ass is affected. It's kinda enlightening that I can achieve these changes to bodycomp just through bball. I kinda didn't need to do the whole hardcore dieting thing. My bodyweight hasn't changed much if at all and still such huge changes in fat loss. Hard to explain. Now feels like im about a kilo and half loss away from being pretty ripped. Can prob do it by 1st feb but im in no hurry to get there, happy to let it happen naturally while I keep getting better in the gym and on the court. Conditioning yall, it's the secret to bodycomp.
All this training though has not come without cons - I strained my spinal erectors on the RHS yesterday on the first rep of a set of ohp. I jammed up my left elbow pretty good attempting a windmill the other day. So these things are starting to add up. Would like to get injury/nag free again.
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I didn't get to lift today. too busy and too hot (reached 41C/107F). Fuck this weekend. Im gonna get weak now aren't i :( Maybe tmr. Played basketball though, 5v5, 2 hours at training. I would rather have got a quality squat sesh in though.
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the day that i strain my elbow doing a windmill will be the day that i retire from training a happy, fulfilled man.
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the day that i strain my elbow doing a windmill will be the day that i retire from training a happy, fulfilled man.
You can try a few on a 9 foot rim :D
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the day that i strain my elbow doing a windmill will be the day that i retire from training a happy, fulfilled man.
me too, bro, me too.
Makes it worse is instead of telling me 'dont think youll ever get one' ppl say, 'yea you should be able to do a mill' - smh fml - like that helps to motivate a brother. need to prove ppl wrong to have that fire to get myself there
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BW: 177.58 (2015 local PR - LPR)
FBS 2x120
BS 6x112.5
BP 3x88.5 (LPR)
WCU 2x104
Squat notes:
120kg doubles felt like 2rm. Im too messed up for this squatting shit.
Got another bball game tonight. I'm just asking for it now lol.
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the day that i strain my elbow doing a windmill will be the day that i retire from training a happy, fulfilled man.
You can try a few on a 9 foot rim :D
lol :derp:
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I had a good game. We lost by one which sucks but we dominated that game for the most part. Lost our best player to injuy at around halfway thru 2nd half. I felt like we should have won anyway. I missed an and1 opportunity layup then hit 1/2 ft on that - i guess if i had made the shot and the ft i would have helped us win. But I can live with that.
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Crazy how sore my calves are lately. Grow little mammmals grow.
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Just as I was getting in the best shape of my life, did my ankle tonight. Pretty bad. Will get an xray tmr morning and see whats up. But anyways, this sucks.
We had our semi final game today btw. I went down around 3-4 mins into the game. My team played really well, scores were 2pts within the other team (they were favourites) while we were the last seeded team into the semis. So super proud of my guys, they played extremely hard.
That's a wrap.
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sucks man. this is why i "retired" from ultimate frisbee. ankle sprains are a biiiiiiiitch.
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No good on the ankle mate. Get it checked and fingers crossed no major damage.
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Dude that sucks!!! Hope its minor!
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Well it's a week later and i'm due for an injury update. I kinda had a rough first 48hrs, which probably made things much worse but we was working on a deadline and had to spend quite a bit of time on my feet sans crutches. I did eventually get crutches though which I used for 2 or so days. Right now my ankle is all kinds of messed up but soreness has halved - xrays were clear for the most part, no fractures, just a probable tear of ligaments.
I prob have another 5-7wks ahead before recovery. I'm going to try lift today though - will do weighted chinups, bench press and if I can, some OHP. Will also test the waters with deadlifts but obviously I can't squat. Fucking sucks. It took me ages to string together months of squatting to the point where I was making good progress but now will have to start over again. But lets see what happens with deadlifts at least.
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Well it's a week later and i'm due for an injury update. I kinda had a rough first 48hrs, which probably made things much worse but we was working on a deadline and had to spend quite a bit of time on my feet sans crutches. I did eventually get crutches though which I used for 2 or so days. Right now my ankle is all kinds of messed up but soreness has halved - xrays were clear for the most part, no fractures, just a probable tear of ligaments.
I prob have another 5-7wks ahead before recovery. I'm going to try lift today though - will do weighted chinups, bench press and if I can, some OHP. Will also test the waters with deadlifts but obviously I can't squat. Fucking sucks. It took me ages to string together months of squatting to the point where I was making good progress but now will have to start over again. But lets see what happens with deadlifts at least.
That is some shit news. Sorry to hear that.
Good luck with the recovery mate.
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Go apeshit on the other leg, SL box squats / SL deadlifts / weighted pistols / BSS / lunges , become badass SL jumper. :wowthatwasnutswtf: :headbang:
Nah, be patient, heal right and nice and slow. FWIW, when i had to train through a sprain ( which was less serious than yours though but still kinda serious, kept me off ME jumping for 5-6 months ) , i remember squats were ok, DLs were the problem. n=1 obviously and every sprain is different, but when you are back on your feet, not limbing etc, try all movements with light weights and see what happens, you might be surprised.
2c
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Dude that sucks!!! Hope its minor!
sucks man. this is why i "retired" from ultimate frisbee. ankle sprains are a biiiiiiiitch.
That is some shit news. Sorry to hear that.
Good luck with the recovery mate.
Thanks. Hopefully will be able to train around it soon. But some days it feels better (i guess when i rest and ice and so on) and then the following day i'll make it feel much worse because I should have continued resting rather than taking it as a sign I am back on my feet. Im back on crutches today after yesterday being off them.
Vag I actually found my R leg really sore lately cause it's been working 2x as hard. My strong leg is the injured L one. So i guess one good thing about all of this is i'll be able to bring up my weaker leg! lol. I'll go see a physio tmr and get him to strap my ankle up. That should allow me better healing. I will try to learn from him how to DIY since I'm not interested in dropping mad $$ on physios over teh next few months.
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agree on staying clear of PTs for the most part. also, sad that less than a week after expressing my sympathy for your sprain and saying that sprains were why i retired from ultimate (and most sports, most of the time), i sprained my own damn ankle. not as bad as yours but i sure won't be squatting imminently.
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agree on staying clear of PTs for the most part. also, sad that less than a week after expressing my sympathy for your sprain and saying that sprains were why i retired from ultimate (and most sports, most of the time), i sprained my own damn ankle. not as bad as yours but i sure won't be squatting imminently.
Sorry to hear that bro. Wouldn't wish an ankle injury on my enemy - worst thing to have, so hrd to train around too. In my case the physical therapist kinda left me even more despondent than I was previously. Said I have a high grade TFL (high 2 possibly 3). Says have a long road ahead, estimated 8-12 weeks. Am crestfallen but it will give me a chance to explore other things i guess. See below.
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Weighted chinup 5x83, 5x93, 3x98, 5x93
Pullup 5x83
Notes:
Only compound exercise that isn't contraindicated at the mo. Felt okay. Didn't use caffeine didn't wanna mess around with stimulants right now. It's been 10 days since I lifted. Feeling myself getting soft and weak. Hopefully htis will stem the tide somewhat. I have given myself the lofty goal of doing a weighted chinup at 140kg in 12 weeks time. Will program it using RSR and a training weight of around 90-100kg - haven't decided exactly which. If monday comes and i can handle having a 20kg plate hanging off my waist without much trouble - then that's what it will be.
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how's your ankle? are you able to walk without limping? can you put weight on it when you stand on both feet? how's the ROM? swelling?
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how's your ankle? are you able to walk without limping? can you put weight on it when you stand on both feet? how's the ROM? swelling?
I'm on crutches for a while but right now i cud def limp okay. It would be fine til tmr when i'd know i fked up by walking so soon. Made that mistake several times already before learning not to. Just gonna use crutches and give my body a chance to heal up - no need to disrupt the healing process. ROM is kinda funny cause my foot swelled so much that at one point i cudnt even curl my toes. i can do that now that but significant swelling is still present. i can put weight on it just have to make sure to put it on the toes rather towards heels when walking.
in other news, i made it through date 3 today and she wants to see me on monday again. I must be doing something right though my self confidence has plummeted since injury. hopefully i dont mess this up from here.
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don't let the injury get you down! keep doing upper body lifting -- seated OHP could be good, and beach work. i bet that'll help, i always feel more swole and awesome after i do curls and tricep kickbacks, even though i know my arms are nothing to write home about. and keep up the pull ups, obviously. you can also do core stuff, russian twists, bw reverse hypers or supermans, any kind of crunch variation. and band pull aparts. get the juices flowing, be doing SOMETHING. it'll help immediately and down the line.
but good call to stay off it and let it heal. and i hear you on being crestfallen, that's really the perfect word for that feeling. in the immortal words of bill clinton, i feel your pain.
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Thanks LBSS. Appreciate the looking out! I woke up today magically with soreness HALVED. Only thing i did differently is the last 2 days didn't do any extra activity just rested and iced and all of that. I'm eyeing weds coming off crutches and hopefully getting started on rehab. Exciting days ahead. Good idea with the banded work. I might try that for my glutes by doing some bridges etc if my ankles allow it (maybe).
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RSR weighted chinups -- W1D1
WCU 6x2x103
Notes:
Using +20kg - really hard. I mean, i'm weak but hopefully my body responds and I can give this an honest shot.
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RSR weighted chinups -- W1D2
WCU 6x3x102 (+20kg), 8x81 (PR?)
Notes:
These are really kicking my ass - especially core! Good. Gives me a good compound exercise while im recovering from my ankle injury.
Notable milestone today i ditched crutches getting out of bed. Been off them all day. Hopefully tomorrow i'll feel better than today and so on and forth from here.
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These abz doms though!
Woke up today with the sports tape around my ankle more wrinkled than before. Good sign soreness has dissipated especially considering i was off crutches all of yesterday and my fear was swelling would return. Also it's now 2 weeks after injury. So i think things are going okay. Better than expected. But still im only limping not walking normally - and haven't got much ankle ROM. So long road ahead yet.
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WCU 6x2x103.5 (+20kg)
Orange band glute bridge 2x15 (New ex!; hat trip LBSS)
3x2x30m one leg hops (new ex; R leg only)
Chinup notes:
Damn those doms in my R tricep. But got these in somehow. Not as easily as i'd have liked but whatever.
Lower body notes:
I can do glute bridges without bothering my ankle. Here come big strong glutes lol. Maybe i can even use a plate eventually and make it harder. We'll see.
Also did one leg hops the length of the house with my good leg (R) - maybe vag is right and I can bring up my weak leg while injured. I say weak but obviously it's the strong one right now but lets see what I can get by training it. Exciting.
Now to rest over the weekend and come monday I have the challenging 6x4x+20kg day coming up and then friday's 6x5x+20kg which should be even harder. But i'm gonna give it a honest shot. Get through that week and i shud be stronger/bigger in the upper body as well as in the core which bodes well for when I come off my injury and attack the squatting with aplomb and renewed vigour. Having said that, let me walk first before i can squat :(
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WCU 2x3Fx103.7, 4x100, 3x4x98.7, 2x4x95
Chinup notes:
bullshit. i overate over the weekend meaning i was overheavy (103.7kg) for my worksets with +20kg instead of 100kg. Not that i would have got them anyway but it would have been a huge struggle if it happened. So dropped to +15kg and even that was too challenging. I guess for friday i'l try to get my bw down a bit so i can give myself a chance to do 6x5x+20kg. That seems unlikely anyway considering how hard it was to get even 4 reps today. Maybe even +15kg would be a good goal from here. Worst case sceneario i revise my 1rm goal for the end down by 10kg. Let's see.
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WCU 2x98, 2x103, 2x100.5, 2x99.25, 2x98, 2x98
Notes:
Focused on strictness. I could do a clean double with +17.5kg however i didn't like how i wasn't smoothly locking out powerfully, high above the bar. Could do that with +15kg though. bit of an experimental workout that way. Friday's 6x5x15kg seem daunting right now. But i'll give it my best. Pumped.
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WCU 1x107.5 (LPR; +25kg; strict smooth dead hang), 0Fx112.5 (couldnt lock it out; +30kg!; PR attempt)
WCU 5x97.5, 5x95, 5x93.75, 5x93, 5x92.5, 5x92.5, 7x85
WCU notes:
Just testing my maxes today before the 6x5 ... i prob had a 110kg PR in me but 112.5kg was just too hard to lockout. Still. Gives me some indication where i am at right now. Lets see if i can get my 5s in.
update 1: workset 1 5x97.5kg - +15kg was kinda challenging on first set, i couldnt strictly lock out rep 5. So im gonna try +12.5kg for set 2.
update 2: workset 2 5x95kg - +12.5kg - smooth first reps locking out powerfully above the bar; but still didnt have a 5th in me, would have to cheat to clear the bar. So that sucks.
update 3: All done, crazy. My arms have a nice pump. Grow little guns grow.
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I forgot to do an injury update at week 3 but there wasn't really anything new on day 21. Day 24 yesterday and I was walking 'normally' for the most part. The first time I could walk was actually day 23 when i went to the mall and found myself joyously celebrating privately in my own mind how 'i can walk!!'. Yesterday i even kept up with someone who walks faster than anyone else ive ever met before. I mean i couldn't keep up wiht her when i was 100% healthy and yesterday i could so that's something though maybe she was allowing for my pace.
My L calf (of L ankle injury) was cramping up during day 23's walk to the mall which i found funny but i guess it happens if you take 3 weeks off from using a muscle lol. What's the word? atrophy? i guess might be it. And after yesterday i've actually even doms lol. Anyway so now im getting the squat bug. Ive not gone this long without squatting in so long.. but i dont know how long it will be before i am good enough to squat normally. OR even squat at all. I dont feel like i have the rom for it yet :( But i haven't tested it recently, last time though even a quarter squat was out of the question so it may be a while yet.
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WCU 6x2x98 (+15kg)
Chinup notes:
Smooth, strict powerful dead hang reps. Gearing up for the last volume session of 6x6 coming up on weds. I hope I can be equal to the task.
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WCU 1x104, 0Fx114 (PR attempt), 5x99, 2x6x94, 6x91.75, 6x90.5, 6x89, 6x86.5, 6x85, 6x83
Squats 8x20 kg (LPR; BS; new exercise lol :), 8x20 (LPR; FS; new ex)
Notes:
Awful. I was too weak to do anything good with these today. Poor recovery/sleep/too heavy/ etc. I shouldn't even log those sets as above since my form was abysmal. Whatever. Partial reps are better nothing. But not a lot more. I should probably repeat the 6x6 day though.
Total reps: 59 out of 60 attempted.
Squat notes:
I get super crippling DOM cramps around rep 3. It's crazy how deconditioned my legs have gotten that even squatting the bar is so hard - by that i mean even walkign out of the gym which involved going up one step feels sufficiently challenging that i have to think about it lol.
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Went to basketball training yesterday. Put up some jumpshots. Then watched the guys play. Felt the bug and when a guy had to sit out after taking a knee to his thigh, i jumped in to sub. Was cool but my body is like 10x slower than my mind and everything feels slow motion. I haven't got ROM back yet and only 'jogged' for the first time while chasing errant rebounds haha.
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WCU 6x2x98 (+15kg)
FBS 6x60 (LPR), 3x80 (LPR)
ABRollo 2x3 (new ex; LPR; knees ROM)
Chinup Notes:
End of volume phase. next week we start doing less reps with 5x5 on monday then 4x4 friday? soemthing like that. i'll double check friday.
Squat notes:
Did my first squats in 4 weeks since i got injured. Crazy that such light weights are so hard but i know it will take a good 3-4 months to get back to where I was pre-injury.
Ab Wheel rollout notes:
I'm doing these not so much for abs as much as for erectors work. I figure I need some exercise and these have made my lower back sore in the past so they might work a treat til im back to squatting some decent weight. Which I have to believe is a good 3-4 months away.
Time to clean up my diet now since the worst of the injury is behind me. I've def put on some mass in the upper body though. But not a lot. Anyway it's something. I havent had arms this big in ever, not selling myself short either!
Milestone i got rid of the ankle tape!! foot feels stiff/glued together rom wise, but it's starting to feel more fluid as the day goes on. Also bought a wobble board. I dont think im straight up ready for wobbling but i'll work up to it as my rom improves. Rehab starts now!
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good milestones, man. glad you got a bit hyooj, impressed that you took such good advantage of the injury time.
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good milestones, man. glad you got a bit hyooj, impressed that you took such good advantage of the injury time.
thanks! when i finish the cycle of RSR, i'll get a pump on and take some flattering selfies and post them up for posterity. haha.
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Those squats destroyed me. Painful to get up or sit down on friday, sat and even sunday. Doms in quads, hams and glutes.
I still feel i need to find a good hard exercise for erector strength and mass. Maybe i'll try good mornings, if injury permits. dont think they need a lot of ankle rom? But my ankle feels worse lately. I dont think i should have used wobble board etc.
otherwise i'll try everything to attack my back. Get ready for when im 100% back and can go all in on squats but hopefully with stronger core.
Start of intense phase on weighted chinups - 5x5 today. I'm not sure what weight to attempt. I know 15kg might be too hard but i could try get a couple of sets i guess. Not sure whether to attempt a heavy single as warmup to start with. Maybe save that for friday.
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for your erectors: reverse hypers lying on a bench or couch? forgive me if i've already suggested that and you rejected it for some reason.
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for your erectors: reverse hypers lying on a bench or couch? forgive me if i've already suggested that and you rejected it for some reason.
thanks for the thoughts. forgive me for my ignorance but can that be done without specialised equipment? im sure i mentioned in the past i dont have a hyper bench thingy
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WCU 1x110 (+25kg), 5x95, 5x95, 5x100, 5x97.5, 5x95
FBS 6x60
BS 2x5x90 (LPR)
OHP 6x40 (LPR; new ex)
BP 6x50(new ex; LPR), 6x60(LPR), 12x60(LPR)
AbRollo 4 (LPR), 2x6(LPR)
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yeah you totally can. just lie on a normal bench with your hips on the edge, hold onto one of the legs, hold your legs straight, and kick those feet up.
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Skipped weds (light) workout due to travel. didnt get home til 10:30pm and had lots of stuff to do etc. Travel also meant didnt eat or rest very well either. Anyways i messed up RSR chinups. If i were to do it again i'd work super hard on maintaining my bodyweight. It fluctuated enough to wreak havoc on rx worksets. So i have to call it a failure in that respect.
I dont think i would recommend doing RSR with this exercise. Though I feel as though it may have worked if i had controlled bw better.
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WCU 2x105, 0Fx115 (PR attempt), 4x102.5, 4x100, 4x400, 4x100
FBS 3x90 (LPR)
BS 2x6x97.5 (LPR)
BP 2x6x70 (LPR), 8x70 (LPR)
AbRollo 3x8 (LPR)
WCU notes:
Was supposed to do RX of 4x4 - with 12.5kg more than my training weight of +10kg, which was 102.5kg - but there wasnt even a 4RM in me at that weight. Did some cheat af sets at 100kg. It's actually kinda true that i got weaker during this stint of RSR on chinups. At one stage i was doing sets with +20 kg and now im struggling with +15kg.
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I put on my bball shoes for the first time since injury for basketball training. Feeling like 30% out there on the court. cant jump, cant run, cant do anything good, not even quick enough for defense or rebounding. Sucks. I tried to touch the rim but couldnt reach it. Dunking feels so far away. depressing.
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WCU 6x2x96.77 (+10kg)
WCU notes:
I have turned into a huge fat mess. I need to clean up my diet but not being able to train normally has robbed me of my usual motivation. I want to throw caution to the wind and chase a 115-120kg BP (250-265lb) because i imagine that would be a lot fun and rewarding but yet i also know im not genetically gifted for that sort of thing since ive never even benched 100kg and ive been bnching for ages..
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Have the big annual bball tournament next week. I was in the best shape of my life, this would have been my best showing yet. But injury! Have thought about becoming an overnight 3pt specialist but being honest i should probably just stay in the sidelines. Don't have enough time to get in form. Sucks. I trained hard for 12 months only to fall so short.
Going to start a bench program though. Thinking i'll take a crack at specialising on bp and setting a lofty goal like 115-120kg. Should be interesting.
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WCU 3x3x105.5 (+20kg), 0Fx115(+30kg), 0Fx120(+35kg), 6x95
BP 6x72.5 (LPR), 6x72.5, 8x72.5 (LPR)
FBS 3x100 (LPR)
BS 3x102.5 (LPR), 2x6x99.6 (LPR)
WCU notes:
Got to the 3x3 RSR day .. was pretty shitty. i cant triple 20kg either but we already knew that lol. I dont think it matters though, doing a heavy single is another animal and reps dont really seem to translate. To get good at doing max single i need to do.. max single.. partials right now but as they get heavier, probably what will happen is my ability to do heavy singles will also improve and hopefully converge on the milestones of 115kg..120kg..125kg... and so on. To put in another way - when I do partials with 125kg my chance of getting 115kg goes up. And ditto with 130kg and 120kg.
Squat notes:
Squats hurt my ankle. On the 3rd rep of the 105 it was bad pain and i didn't go for more reps. This sucks but i have to learn to be patient and wait til im able to squat normally. It may be a long while and i should take the time to heal up instead of disrupting the healing process..
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WCU 2x111.8(+25kg), 2x110(+23kg), 0Fx126.8(+40kg), 0Fx116.8 (+30kg), 2x106.8(+20kg)
BP 6x75 (LPR), 6x75, 8x75 (LPR)
FBS 6x60
AbWh 3x10 (LPR)
WCU notes:
Skipped light day and took a rest instead then did the RSR rx of 2x2. Didn't happen either, cheaty as fuck both reps on the first set. Second was better but still cheat af. And that's that! RSR worksets are over, next heavy day i go for a max single PR..
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WCU 1x111.6 (+25kg; PR!!!), 0Fx115 (+30kg), 1x112.5 (+27.5kg; PR!!), 5x100 (PR), 7x95 (PR)
BP 6x77.5 (LPR), 6x77.5, 8x77.5 (LPR)
WCU notes:
It's the end of RSR weighted chinups. Testing maxes.
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FBS 3x100 (LPR)
BS 6x100 (LPR), 6x100, 6x99.5
OHP 3x6x52.5
Squat notes:
Make the bump up to 3 sets of 6 after doing 2x6 for the last 2 weeks.
No lifting for the rest of the week. Away for bball tournament interstate. Just spectating this year. Back home sunday night. Will train monday. Going to start a new program focusing on upper body. Will start with a vanilla BP/OHP alternating split - if i can get up to say 3x6x90kg on BP and 3x6x65 on OHP i'll be ready to do RSR on BP with 90kg training weight. Maybe. I will give myself 6 weeks - that should be how long I have til my foot is okay for sports.
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FBS 3x102.5 (LPR)
BS 3x107.5 (LPR), 3x6x102.5 (LPR)
BP 6x80 (LPR)
Squat notes:
Shitty form; minimal fwd knee travel. I have my ankle taped frm the weekend, that might have limited ankle rom.
I decided to do squats first today instead of upper body lifts. Not sure why, it's not like i can't progress them doing them 2nd while they're so light. But i think the idea is i'll do this for a while til my BP gets stuck then i'll be able to get unstuck for more gainz by doing BP first. Maybe. I'll see if i stick to it. While my ankle isn recovered im not really able to do much with my squat in any case so this may be a short lived experiment.
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Managed 2 days of dietary compliance, onto day 3 today. IN my experience those are usually the hardest and once i get past day 3, im usually set for a nice long period of clean eating. Will continue it, I can afford to lose a few kilo now while im rebuilding myself up from scratch.
Rough goal is to weigh 79kg with a 3x6x140kg squat and 3x6x90kg bench in 8 weeks time.
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FBS 3x100
BS 3x6x105 (LPR)
OHP 6x54.5 (LPR), 6x54.5, 7x54.5(LPR)
Squat notes:
Sore and wanted to take a light day but im forcing myself to squat my way quickly to 3x6x120kg and then i can take smaller jumps of 5kg per week.
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BP 6x82.5 (LPR), 6x82, 5Fx82
FBS 3x100
FS 3x107.5 (LPR)
BS 3x112.5 (LPR), 3x6x107.5 (LPR)
DL 6x60 (LPR; new ex), 2x6x90 (LPR)
WCU 3x102, 2x107, 5x97, 5x92, 6x89.5
BP notes:
Moved BP up to first exercise but even then 3x6x82.5kg was not realistic. Prob to be expected considering how hard 3x6x80kg was last time around. So i dropped to 82kg for set 2 and that was still an RPE 10 hard set. Failed 6th rep on the 3rd set. I'm thinking 3x6x87.5kg would be a good goal before I attempt RSR - though im fairly certain my best 6 rep set is only like 86kg so that's prob too ambitious. Hmm. Have some planning to do.
Think i'll attempt 3x6x82.5kg next time and then take 1kg jumps from there up to say 87.5kg? Then RSR with 87.5kg training weight.
Squat notes:
Back on the squat wagon - completed the first week of 3x6s. Next week this time i'll be doing 3x6x115kg!
Deadlift notes:
I realised squats wont make my back sore until i get to around 3x6x127.5kg worksets - and by then i'd have wasted valuable time not training my back. So i'm being proactive and thought to give deadlifts a try. It's possible that they'll fill in the gaps - what squats dont cover, DLs may - eg quad & erector mass and strength. Let's see. If this works out, my back will be sore tmr and this means by the time my squats get around 3x6x130kg i'll have enough back and quad strength to keep going up to 3x6x140kg - if only this works out as neatly IRL as it does on paper!
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DOMS report
Woke up with some soreness in the lower back. But i dont really feel it anymore. Will update throughout the day. It's only 2x6x90kg still, maybe it needs to get heavier before my lower back is challenged.. will see.. anyway.
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FBS 3x110 (LPR)
BS 3x117.5 (LPR), 3x6x110 (LPR)
OHP 3x6x56 (LPR)
DL 3x6x97.5 (LPR)
Squat notes:
Everything was hard/heavy. Like 20kg heavier than it really was lol.
DL notes:
I am gonna try doing 3x6 on DL 3x a week as well as on squats. I figure hte weight is light enough that i can use more volume. These really hit my quads hard, remarkably, even at htis light weight since not even squats do that as well. I wonder if i cheated myself of solid athletic gains by not doing DL all this time? But it's early days. Let me get up to 6x180kg and see if it does have a positive impact on my sports performanc! That's exciting.
Also my back isn't really challenged yet on DL - which is disappointing since i was hoping that would happen and was the main reason I included them in my program! But perhaps in a week or two they will? Just assisting quad mass and strength is good enough a reason though but erector mass and strength is super important for my future squatting ambitions. We'll see.
Had bball training last night, didnt really feel like lifting but forced it.
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Doms in calves?? Must b the dls. Hmmmm.. interesting..
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I think that the reason your back is not getting sore is that it is just too strong to be challenged yet. A back able to stay upright and tight at 120kg ATG volume squats makes sense to barely feel 90kg deads. Not saying you should add weight at DLs, i like the conservative approach. What i am saying is don't bother about back soreness, keep doing what you are, looks great.
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I think that the reason your back is not getting sore is that it is just too strong to be challenged yet. A back able to stay upright and tight at 120kg ATG volume squats makes sense to barely feel 90kg deads. Not saying you should add weight at DLs, i like the conservative approach. What i am saying is don't bother about back soreness, keep doing what you are, looks great.
i dont know about too strong to challenged. remember i got injured 7 weeks ago and did minimal training for 4-5 weeks. so i detrained a lot. But now im lifting again i think my back isn't as strong and everything is challenging including squat workouts - only my back isnt really challenged because it usually needs to get to 125kg worksets before some squatmornings make my back stronger..
but i'll stick with DL and see what happenes :)
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BP 3x6x83.5 (LPR)
FBS 3x100
BS 3x6x112.5 (LPR)
Squat notes:
Pretty hard but got them. Next time it's 3x6x115kg :)
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just benching focus lately has put some mass on my triceps.. nice. am definitely going to prioritise my upper body v. soon. Will put squats on maintenance and focus on bench press - adding 20kg to my BP will restore some semblance of balance cause my legs are much bigger than my upper body atm.
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FBS 3x100
OHP 6x57 (LPR), 6x57.5 (LPR), 6x57
Squat notes:
Havent logged because i wasnt sure but my lower back is fucked. Thought it might be some weird doms or something but nah. Prob my old herniated disc (self diagnosed) coming back. Blame it on deadlifts. Sucks. But i abandoned squats when my worksets hurt acutely just walking the bar out. Fuck this shit.
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BP 6x84.5 (LPR), 6x84.5, 6x80
BP notes:
RPE 10s - didnt have a 3rd set in me after the 2nd - i thought id for 8x80 but even 6 was a max so i ended it there.
Omitted squats on account of lower back issues. I'm taking all of these setbacks in stride. So i cant jump, squat, deadlift. It happens. I'll just focus on getting a decent BP now. 6x90kg is my goal.
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FBS 3x112.5 (LPR)
BS 3x6x115 (LPR)
OHP 6x57.5, 6x58.5 (LPR), 6x57.5
Squat notes:
Back felt better today so I squatted. Heaviest FS triple i've done since feb or something? crazy. Excited that next time i'll triple the 115kg milestone! Now see if i can get through 6x115kg worksets..
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BP 2x6x85.5 (LPR), 6x80
FBS 6x60
WCU 3x99, 2x104, 1x109, 4x99, 6x94, 6x92, 6x90, 6x89
BP notes:
Close to hitting the wall now. I am in PR territory soon as well but i dont seem me getting there unless i find a way to stay unstuck. Might go to 1/2kg increases now instead of 1kg but that strikes me as self defeating. Also i prob need more frequency as well. I want to do RSR with BP but was hoping to get closer to sets of 6x90kg first. Maybe 85kg is a good place. Or i could try doing RSR while improving the first set or two up to 87kg which would be a lifetime PR for bp.. idk.
Squat notes:
Took a light day. Walked out 100kg warmups but my back didn't like it and i said fk it, get better first then worry about squats.
Chinup notes:
The last 2 reps of the chinup 6s were cheaty but i dont care as long as it makes me bigger/stronger.
Lots of upper body volume mainly from chins. Want to make the most of this time where im not able to jump or squat to improve my upper body strength and size. I do think BP will be the best exercise to build my upper body though not chinups..
Oh and my bodyweight tipped the scales above 87kg for the first time. So i decided to diet for the next 6 weeks til im under 85kg again. But not sure if i can even commit to that because training sucks and i have little motivation. Even skipped basketball training today for the first time in 3 years.
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FBS 3x115 (LPR)
BS 3x6x117.5 (LPR)
OHP 3x6x58.5 (LPR)
Squat notes:
Reached the 115kg milestone on FS. Not super hard or heavy but form wasn't great. I am not confident to attempt 3x6x117.5kg backsquats. I think my core isn't recovered from sunday's chinups. So not sure if i'll do them today. We'll see how it goes.
Ankle milestone - squatted heavy without taping my ankle and did ankle mobility stretch presquat - doesn't hurt wrongly like it did anymore.done with empty bar not game to try weighted just yet. But this is a good start at least. Though mobility during squats today was woeful despite the mobility work. I can't really squat properly until my ankle is good which might be some more weeks yet...
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BP 6x86.5 (PR!), 5Fx86.5, 5Fx85, 3x2x85
FBS 3x100
BS 6x119.5 (LPR)
BP notes:
A rare PR sighting - BP of all things. But i'll take it. Couldnt lock out the 6th rep to make it 2x6 though but all good... lifetime weaksauce bp crew reporting.
Mid workout i decided it was time to get ready for RSR on BP. My goal is to use 90kg as my training weight - 6x2x90kg ending with 6x6x90kg on volume phase. So step 1 is get used to doing 6 sets first. I'll use 85kg for now with the goal of closing the gap to 90kg in the coming weeks. Not to say i have any business attempting volume with 90kg - but if i work hard i might come closer than if I dont try. But making my bench press worksets ≥ 90kg is priority #1 for getting out of weaksauce territory - embarassing using 80kg for worksets after all this time lol :(
Squat notes:
Back didnt feel right, aborted squats on 2nd set. I prob need to take some time off to rest and heal completely. Was considering Sunday going for 3x6x120kg milestone. Lol nah im mentally defeated by the idea of switching to 2x10kg plates which seem so much heavier on my back.. (i walked out 120kg just to see today). Oh well.
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so go lighter on sunday and try again next week! you don't have to PR every consecutive session.
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so go lighter on sunday and try again next week! you don't have to PR every consecutive session.
this might be the way i go. didnt fall asleep til 4am and wanted to wake up early to watch the clippers game. which was amazing and totally worth it. tried to nap after the game. we'll see how it goes. back feels like shit though.
i will be taking light days regularly from here. thinking Weds heavy and sunday heavy with friday light? that might work. or perhaps alternating heavy and light would work even better.
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FBS 3x100
BS 2Bx120 (LPR), 3x120 (LPR)
OHP 5Fx59.5 (LPR), 6x59.5 (LPR), 5Fx59.5, 5x60(LPR), 4x60, 3x60
WCU 3x100, 2x105, 3x100, 4x97.5, 4x95, 5x92.5, 5x91.25, 5x90.5, 5x90.25, 5x89, 5x88
Squat notes:
blah. didnt feel good enough to do 6s with anything. will try next time. I tripled 120kg though - and prob could have done another rep or two - but this gives me some confidence for next time i guess..
Provided my back feels better soon im thinking RSR with 120kg might be a good idea. I'd rather be using 140kg for RSR though but lets be serious - that's not realistic in any way shape form. But i could build up to 140kg over the next 6 months. That's realistic..
OHP notes:
Did a bit more volume than usual.
Chinup notes:
How many reps is that? i wanted to do more than last time (36). Not sure if i managed that
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2 more weeks til i can try dunking again (I hope). That will make 12 weeks i was told it would take before I could play sports again. The last 2-3 times i tried dunking it hurt like hell and i havent done so the last 2 weeks.
In the meantime i'm thinking of taking the advice i got 1.5 years ago to try transforming into a LR jumper. At the time i had managed to land some dunks LR even while weighing ~100kg, very quickly, like 2-3 sessions of practice. Now i'm a lot lighter but weaker, but i should still be able to dunk LR eventually.. right? I need a program. May just try 3x3 every other workout.. or something like that..
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T0ddday method. lots and lots of approaches from one step, then two steps, then three steps, then four. grease the groove.
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T0ddday method. lots and lots of approaches from one step, then two steps, then three steps, then four. grease the groove.
Sounds like a plan. I like how it keeps expectations in control as well. I wont feel bad about jumping low (20" ish) because i know the program will get me to 30s over time. Time to become a LR jumper! I can't dunk RL anymore because of my ankle but maybe over time i'll be a better LR jumper than i was as a healthy RL.
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BP 6x87.5(PR!), 5Fx87.5(LPR), 5Fx85, 3x3x85 (LPR)
FBS 3x100
BS 3x120, 4x120 (LPR), 3x120, 3x120, 2x120, 3x120
Dunking stuff - 3x3 - see notes (*new exercise*)
Bench notes:
Bench lifetime PR .. feels satisfying :) Couldnt lock out 6th rep of the 2nd set though to make 2x6. Benching again sunday - considering to cut volume at 3 sets instead of 6? hmm we'll see. decided to stick with RSR 6 sets and progress from doubles up to triples. Total of 25 reps with the final goal of 36 (6x6x85). Progress by any means necessary!
Squat notes:
Front squats hurt my back :( after the triple with 100kg my back was aggrieved and that persisted throughout the rest of the squat workout. i need to figure out how to fix this, im starting to worry now. Started RSR backsquats with 120 training weight today. Did 18 reps with 120kg (goal is 36=6x6x120kg eventually).
Dunk notes:
Order of the day was to get in and do some jumps at the rim with the completely unnatural and alien LR plant. I did 2x3 rim grabs after initially trying with a ball and finding them to be not even quite layups but floaters lol. Then finished off with a set of 3 with the ball - but here is the thing - my body wanted to turn it into a ME attempt, quite rightly, because it could sense that anything else was not going to work - but even doing LR plant, i felt myself trying to squeeze out some force with my L leg which should only have been the plant, oops. This bothered my ankle a little - not quite as acutely and sharply as when I've tried to do RL dunk attempts - but still disturbing a little. So this killed my confidence for wanting to dunk with LR - it just seems max effort jumps are contraindicated regardless of the plant :( Oh well. I'll continue wtih the submax rim grabs - better than nothing, right..
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BS 6x60
OHP 6x50, 4x12x20
Squat notes:
Rested my back.
OHP notes:
As with squats, gonna give my back a chance to heal.
Mobility notes:
Used wobble board for the first time. Pretty easy but i have to find ways to make it mroe interesting. This might be a good list (http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/rehabilitation-exercises/lower-leg-ankle-exercises/wobble-board-exercises) to work through. If it wasnt so long i'd paste it in and tick it off over time but it's like 2000 words. oh well.
Light workout, may not even lift heavy sunday and take the rest of the week til im healthy. I am starting to wonder if my ankle injury is partially to blame for my back problems - it's clear mobility is affected and when squatting with bad mobility, certainly possible to injure other parts of the body. Going to prioritise bench press and not stress too much about all of this lower back and ankle business for the next couple of weeks.
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So much for resting my back lol. Played basketball at training :) Was so much fun, prob the first time since Feb i've been able to play like that. I still wont jump DL off RL, esp maximally, but, i'll try next week, 12 weeks since injury. Hopefully it goes ok! i'm looking forward to it, if somewhat tentatively because i dont want to be disappointed...
Lifted before bbball, did bench press only -
BP 6x88.5 (PR), 6x87.5 (PR)
Bench notes:
Hardest bench ive ever done - on that second set, i couldnt lock it out completely and just took it back into the pins .. gave it everything but im still counting it as 6. First set was hard as fuck as well. But i said to myself i can get 2x6 i'll go to bball and not worry about doing more sets.
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BP 5x89.5 (LPR), 5x85, 5x3x87.5
SQ 6x20
BP notes:
I was supposed to OHP today but im not using that exercise because it's high risk for lower back. SO benched instead. But didn't have a PR in me today. Figures, it was only sunday i got a PR so it's too soon to get another one. I'll do volume today and try again sunday for a PR..
Total of 20 reps at ≥87.5kg and 25 reps ≥ 85kg. I'm gonna try make 87.5kg my new training weight. Have to keep working towards my main goal is 90kg worksets, no use getting too comfortable at 85kg when my long term goal is 100kg for worksets.
Ive messed my back up so much that even unracking 60kg causes pain. Good job dickhead.
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bk feels good today but i might skip squats just to make sure everything is ok. looking forward to benching sunday :) im having dreams of benching. think it's my new obsession. i wanna be using 100kg for sets of 6!
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bk feels good today but i might skip squats just to make sure everything is ok. looking forward to benching sunday :) im having dreams of benching. think it's my new obsession. i wanna be using 100kg for sets of 6!
Do you think this focus you now have on benching is paying off? I dream of having a big bench but often wonder whether it's worth the effort.
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bk feels good today but i might skip squats just to make sure everything is ok. looking forward to benching sunday :) im having dreams of benching. think it's my new obsession. i wanna be using 100kg for sets of 6!
Do you think this focus you now have on benching is paying off? I dream of having a big bench but often wonder whether it's worth the effort.
prob too early to say. If i add 15kg to my bench (85kg worksets ->100kg worksets) will it improve my athleticism in any meaningful way? i dont know. maybe it will help bc upper body strength is useful too even if not as important as lower body strength. i dont know. it remains to be seen. if i can sink 3s easily then i'll be happy.. if it helps my dunking, that would be nice too
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bk feels good today but i might skip squats just to make sure everything is ok. looking forward to benching sunday :) im having dreams of benching. think it's my new obsession. i wanna be using 100kg for sets of 6!
Do you think this focus you now have on benching is paying off? I dream of having a big bench but often wonder whether it's worth the effort.
prob too early to say. If i add 15kg to my bench (85kg worksets ->100kg worksets) will it improve my athleticism in any meaningful way? i dont know. maybe it will help bc upper body strength is useful too even if not as important as lower body strength. i dont know. it remains to be seen. if i can sink 3s easily then i'll be happy.. if it helps my dunking, that would be nice too
The reason I ask is the athletes I often admire the most have strong upper bodies. If you can get it without compromising too much on something else I think it will definitely be worth it. Think about strength in the paint and being able to push/hold bigger guys out for the rebound.
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Log from yesterday training..
BP 5x90 (LPR), 5x3x90 (LPR)
SQ 6x50, 6x60, 6x90, 2x6x100
Bball pickup 1hr
BP notes:
I went for the big 2x15kg plates milestone and could only manage 5 reps. Which was disappointing because that matches something i did for 5 reps already a while back over a year ago. But i did do a total of 20 reps with 90kg which is something? I can try progressing here to say 36-40 reps total. Then i'll be stronger. If my goal was to make 90kg my training weight for worksts - then i'm there now, i can just keep adding a rep here or there til i can do say 6x6x90kg which will be nice.
Squat notes:
i squatted. my back is fine. i feel okay. I want to do RSR with 120kg but not sure if i can attempt it yet. i'll see how i feel weds.
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bk feels good today but i might skip squats just to make sure everything is ok. looking forward to benching sunday :) im having dreams of benching. think it's my new obsession. i wanna be using 100kg for sets of 6!
Do you think this focus you now have on benching is paying off? I dream of having a big bench but often wonder whether it's worth the effort.
prob too early to say. If i add 15kg to my bench (85kg worksets ->100kg worksets) will it improve my athleticism in any meaningful way? i dont know. maybe it will help bc upper body strength is useful too even if not as important as lower body strength. i dont know. it remains to be seen. if i can sink 3s easily then i'll be happy.. if it helps my dunking, that would be nice too
The reason I ask is the athletes I often admire the most have strong upper bodies. If you can get it without compromising too much on something else I think it will definitely be worth it. Think about strength in the paint and being able to push/hold bigger guys out for the rebound.
For sure. I have noticed my forearms seem more defined, which i put down to benching. It's around my elbow where im finding the most potential for gains. Think jumpshot, boxing out, etc which involves the elbow joint. Haven't really played ball serously to see if it has any effect on my game. But hypothetically, i think in basketball it will help to have a strong upper body especially for the inside positions. it's a whole body thing, even if i had squat strength before on the opposition player, i prob didn't have enough upper body strength and you get pushed around without being strong everywhere in the body. Then again, i could do with more reserve strength to make normal, submax movements easier and more reproducible in gametime conditions. More aggression and fitness to able to play at htat level for a longer amount of time too.
Retrospectively, I hurt myself going up for a defensive rebound when i went up to grab the ball and took a bump from behind, and landed awkwardly spraining my left ankle. I don't think i'll leave my feet again in a game in that sort of situation, will just clear out defender using using strength and securely retrieve the ball once it's safe. Have to be proactive about remaining healthy.
Coming back to bench, i think for myself, a 120kg bench is an excellent goal, especially with a bodyweight of 80kg - though i do hope i can someday be a lean 85kg, im not sure if that's permissible by my genetics and build type. 120kg bench would require using 100kg for worksets - i think i can do that within 12 months time, if i work hard at it. Getting 6x100kg will be the first major milestone - i think that will correspond to a 115kg max. I am gonna work steadily towards that. Once i've got 6x6x90kg out of the way, i'll add 5kg and chase 6x6x95kg and then 6x6x100kg.
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bk feels good today but i might skip squats just to make sure everything is ok. looking forward to benching sunday :) im having dreams of benching. think it's my new obsession. i wanna be using 100kg for sets of 6!
Do you think this focus you now have on benching is paying off? I dream of having a big bench but often wonder whether it's worth the effort.
prob too early to say. If i add 15kg to my bench (85kg worksets ->100kg worksets) will it improve my athleticism in any meaningful way? i dont know. maybe it will help bc upper body strength is useful too even if not as important as lower body strength. i dont know. it remains to be seen. if i can sink 3s easily then i'll be happy.. if it helps my dunking, that would be nice too
The reason I ask is the athletes I often admire the most have strong upper bodies. If you can get it without compromising too much on something else I think it will definitely be worth it. Think about strength in the paint and being able to push/hold bigger guys out for the rebound.
For sure. I have noticed my forearms seem more defined, which i put down to benching. It's around my elbow where im finding the most potential for gains. Think jumpshot, boxing out, etc which involves the elbow joint. Haven't really played ball serously to see if it has any effect on my game. But hypothetically, i think in basketball it will help to have a strong upper body especially for the inside positions. it's a whole body thing, even if i had squat strength before on the opposition player, i prob didn't have enough upper body strength and you get pushed around without being strong everywhere in the body. Then again, i could do with more reserve strength to make normal, submax movements easier and more reproducible in gametime conditions. More aggression and fitness to able to play at htat level for a longer amount of time too.
Retrospectively, I hurt myself going up for a defensive rebound when i went up to grab the ball and took a bump from behind, and landed awkwardly spraining my left ankle. I don't think i'll leave my feet again in a game in that sort of situation, will just clear out defender using using strength and securely retrieve the ball once it's safe. Have to be proactive about remaining healthy.
Coming back to bench, i think for myself, a 120kg bench is an excellent goal, especially with a bodyweight of 80kg - though i do hope i can someday be a lean 85kg, im not sure if that's permissible by my genetics and build type. 120kg bench would require using 100kg for worksets - i think i can do that within 12 months time, if i work hard at it. Getting 6x100kg will be the first major milestone - i think that will correspond to a 115kg max. I am gonna work steadily towards that. Once i've got 6x6x90kg out of the way, i'll add 5kg and chase 6x6x95kg and then 6x6x100kg.
Yeah if you can combine your lower body strength and get the upper body strength you're after you'll do extremely well in the paint.
Also, let's not forget that if you have a 120kg max bench the old arms and chesticles won't be doing too bad either.
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Yeah if you can combine your lower body strength and get the upper body strength you're after you'll do extremely well in the paint.
Also, let's not forget that if you have a 120kg max bench the old arms and chesticles won't be doing too bad either.
Yup. I'm more excited about benching than anything else in training at the moment.. it wouldn't be so bad to become a bench only guy if my back doesn't let me get back into squatting normally. My legs look real skinny thse days though but my upper body is starting to take shape in the meantime.. still lagging behind legs but hoping to close that gap.
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BS 3x100, 2x2x120, 2x110
OHP 8x20, 8x40, 2x6x50, 10x50
Squat notes:
sunday's squats made me crampy today starting with 60kg warmups so i knew i wasn't gonna have a great time with squats. But i fought the temptation to do more - and stopped myself at 3 heavy sets - 1 of them being a 110kg double which is kinda depressing since 2 weeks ago i was up to 2x6x120kg. Squats detrain so fast. But i'm gonna be patient. This week is a prep phase for doing RSR next week. This week, I'll do whatever it takes to get me to 6x2x120kg nexst weds. Which means i'll prob add a set of 2x120kg on friday, and another one on sunday making 4x2x120kg - and then on weds i'll go for RSR #1 squats: 6x2x120kg. Or something like that.
OHP notes:
RE-instating this exercise.. gonna keep it light cause it's known to mess with my back and im nto having any of that at the mo.
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Forgot to mention. Messed around with one leg calf raises and i realised my (injured) L leg had a hard time with the raises, found myswelf losing balance when doing them on L as opposed to R which had an easier time staying balanced. Which is disturbing cause im L side dominant and that's usually the leg which would beast through unilateral exercises! So im gonna try to fix that. The connection between foot health and my back problems might exist - so im gonna try to address it indirectly by strengthening my L foot/leg and hopefully my back will be okay then.
The above argument also might go some way in addressing why i can no longer jump off 2 feet. As soon as i plant my R foot, my body is like nope nope and abandons the jump because my back feels wrecked as soon as i go into the plant.
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suggestion: SL cushion balancing for time, and then with added stimuli.
for example,
easy level
- stand on one leg on a thick cushion for time (30-60s)
moderate level
- stand on one leg on a thick cushion and do bw single-leg DLs
- SOOLOATC and do single-leg partial squats
- SOOLOATC and chest-pass a ball against the wall or to a partner
- SOOLOATC and close your eyes, for time
difficult level
- SOOLOATC and throw a ball against the wall or to a partner at a variety of angles, so the catch location varies
- SOOLOATC and do single-leg DLs but reaching out to points in a 180-degree arc on the floor
- SOOLOATC and do single-leg DLs and partial squats with your eyes closed
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suggestion: SL cushion balancing for time, and then with added stimuli.
for example,
easy level
- stand on one leg on a thick cushion for time (30-60s)
moderate level
- stand on one leg on a thick cushion and do bw single-leg DLs
- SOOLOATC and do single-leg partial squats
- SOOLOATC and chest-pass a ball against the wall or to a partner
- SOOLOATC and close your eyes, for time
difficult level
- SOOLOATC and throw a ball against the wall or to a partner at a variety of angles, so the catch location varies
- SOOLOATC and do single-leg DLs but reaching out to points in a 180-degree arc on the floor
- SOOLOATC and do single-leg DLs and partial squats with your eyes closed
Thanks. I'll add that to my rehab/mobility sequence!
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BP 5x90, 4x90, 4x90, 3Fx90, 3x90, 3x90
SQ 3x2x120
Band glute bridge 2x10xpurple
CND-TM - 1inc, 1km, 12mins (new ex)
BW: 90.5kg/199.5lb
New thing -- I'm going to be listing scale weight before my first set of lifting from here on. That includes shoes, clothes, food, etc. Not bothered enough to do morning bodyweight because im lazy and dont care enough to but i can def take a prewarmup reading without any problem from here on. I'm doing this because i've clearly let myself go since getting injured and i need some level of accountability to reign myself in and this practice will be easy to maintain indefinitely.
BP notes:
Hard. I thought 6x4x90kg might be a go, but on the 4th set i couldn't lock out the 4th rep. Anyway if i can get 6x3 +2 reps ive improved since last time's 18 reps. As hard as it's been to improve by 2 reps, hard to fathom how i could reach a number like 30 or 40! Over time it may be possible if i keep chipping away at it. Perhaps i should add a set? Suppose i work up to 10 sets from my current 6... 10x3=30 reps for instance.. that might be something i guess. I'd rather not add sets until i have to, but am tempted to try 7 with an extra double or something.
Squat notes:
That might be the last set of squats i've just done.
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Okay so unless something changes drastically i need to lay off the heavy squatting - so what else can i do instead? I don't believe unilateral stuff is any good as a main exercise, it's prob better for asssitance but that's bout it. I had the thought to look at doing Pins Into Pillars squats .. the advantage is they start ligth 50% (of 1rm) but with a lot of volume which will make legs grow. The advantage of this is i can work my legs hard while giving my back a chance to heal up since the weight is lighter. In theory this might be something that works very well for 2-3 weeks while i heal my back up to 100%. Unilateral stuff i guess i could look at too, but i hate the idea of not working at getting stronger and i don't belikeve that gimmicky stuff is psychologically satisfiyng enough to keep my keen about training. I could do with more work capacity and the 10x5 sets of PiP might just be the right stuff for getting me prepared for RSR once my back is good? Idk..
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BS 4x2x120, 2x12x20
OHP 3x6x52.5
WCU 3x100, 2x105, 4x95, 5x92.5, 6x90
DUNKS x 6 !!! (new exercise)
BW: 90kg/198.5lb
Squat notes:
Back was fucked. Did squats anyway. It's definitely my ankle which is the reason behind all this unhappiness, but i can't see anyway around it, ive tried ankle stretching and it's not enough just dont have the ankle mobility anymore, my ankle doesn't like squats and i have nothing else to say. the R ankle feels so much more fluid and free than the L and it's not even close
Dunk notes:
Landed my first dunk since going down in feb. Comeback is on..
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Box squats?
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Box squats?
Perhaps if the symptoms were related to depth but I have trouble starting from unracking the bar.. discomfort increases during the rep. The only thing that i can think of is doing lighter squats eg 60-100kg .. but for lots of volume. or single leg squats.
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Box squats?
Perhaps if the symptoms were related to depth but I have trouble starting from unracking the bar.. discomfort increases during the rep. The only thing that i can think of is doing lighter squats eg 60-100kg .. but for lots of volume. or single leg squats.
Oh. Well then yeah that's no good.
You're right though. Maybe high rep in the lower weight range is the way to go whilst you get it sorted out.
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BP 2x90, 2x95, 1x97.5, 2x90, 2x92.5, 2x90, 2x90
SQ 10x50, 8x50, 6x50, 10x50
Thick band resisted glute bridge 3x12 (LPR)
BW: 90kg/198.5
BP notes:
Light day somehow turned into a lets what i can do with 97.5kg - go figure. Im incorrigible. Weak bench day, hoping to have a solid sesh on sunday, breaking through the 6x90kg stall PR would be my first wish.
SQ notes:
No rhyme or reason, thought i should work towards 10x10x100 while im broken backed. wasn't sure what weight to start with, but as it turned out, it was decided for me when 60kg hurt and so i went with the conservative 50kg. Doing 10 sets with 50kg was definitely do-able but not sure what purpose that would have served except make me super sore and useless for the rest of the week. I'll add a set or two each time working up to 10 sets and then i should be ready to tackle 10x10x100 as a end of cycle goal.
feeling depressed about these injuries.. blah. What i'd give to squat without issues :(
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BS 2x(8, 10, 12)x70kg
OHP 8x40, 5x55, 8x40
BW: 89.8kg/198lb
Squat notes:
Though to try ladders. Total volume = 60 reps.
Tried dunking but my back was too fucked for that and the closest i came was layup.
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BP 2x90, 1x100 (PR), 5x85
BBall - 3/2hrs bball game
BP notes:
When my warmup with 6x70kg felt like a 6RM i knew i wasn't gonna realise the lofty goal of progressing from last weeks 5x90 -> 6x90(PR) - so i decided to go for a PR max single with the milestone of 100kg. Got it but pretty hard. Oh well. I was weak today as evidence by only managing 5 reps with 85kg - so all things considered i did okay. Whatever.
Squat notes:
Omitted, was late for bball. Prob would have been a shit session anyway.
Bball notes:
Fucked back meant i couldnt do any dunks during warmups, just soft as fuck layups. But being as heavy as I am now, when i drive in with a full head of steam, im damn near unstoppable by momentum. Get in there pretty easily - but i know if i was going against elite defence they'd still stop me, so i have a lot of work to do. Fitness ongoing.
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I've collected more injuries, this time my cervical spine. Jerked my head up cringefully after reading one of Raptors posts and popped my neck. Just joking but I actually did do that, and i ouldn't sleep that night, my neck was wrecked. Since then it has gotten better but it came back ohp last week. And again reappeared yesterday but today seems to better.
Need to take time off and get healthy. I may be able to bench but even that im not sure is a great idea..
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BS 6x40
FS 6x30
BSS 10x30
OHP 8x30, 2x8x40
WCU 2x5x90
Squat notes:
Taking rehab seriously, avoiding doing any rep which hurts. Gonna work on mobility and technique during injury downtime from here on. Did BSS, liked em, will continue next workout.
Training for the next 4-6 weeks will focus on corrective exercise, lots of accessory work, anything which doesn't hurt is okay. BSS, band raises, TKEs, etc, all are ok. I shan't log them because that will get tedious but rest assured im working on a lot of little different exercises. Patience is the only thing i need now.
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SQ 6x40
BP 3x90, 2x92.5, 2x90, 3x90, 8x2x90
BW: 90kg/199lb
Squat notes:
Back's feeling good :) Normally i'd take that to mean jump in and go heavy again but today i went the other way and did even less. i've lost the compulsion to try 'maintain' my strength while injured. there is no point, there are more pressing things i can do, for example, fix the asymmetry of my legs/hips at the bottom position. I think my torso is rotated and it pushes me out of alignment. If i fix that when i get back to squatting normally, i'll be able to squat more weight so it's worth taking this time now to fix it. Ive long neglected it. But i can't do this alone, i need someone to give me feedback during the rep - looking at video between sets isn't good enough for this.
BP notes:
Not sure what happened with my BP :/ 2 sundays ago i did 22 reps with 90kg with sets of reps with 3 and 4 and one 5. now im struggling to triple 90? wat's going on. anyway. I ended up doing a total of 12 sets with 90kg making up a total of 26 reps which is a PR for num reps with 90kg.
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SQ 6x40, 6x50, 3x6x57.5
Calf Raise 2x20x57.5 (LPR; new ex)
BSS 6x40 (LPR), 6x47.5 (LPR)
Thick Band Glute bridge 3x15 (PR)
Squat notes:
Conservative with weight but i increased volume a bit. Now doing 50-50% FS:BS worksets - i dont think there is anything inherently wrong with FS for my back. It's depth I have to watch out for and dedication to ultra good form should protect me as long as I remain conservative with weight. Keeping it light for another week minimum - but thinking i should extend that to 2 weeks. Just need to get healthy then i will see about strong.
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Feeling healthy :) thinking of what to do next. I figure I have about 8 weeks ahead before I can get back to lifting heavishy (3x120kg FS & 6x127.5kg BS) .. so in that time i'll be working on:
1. mobility and technique for squats
2. accessory work for squats
3. work capacity (ie being able to do lots of sets and recover from it)
4. conditioning (never really focused on this before but i have time to now)
5. bench press...
6. bodycomp (get bw around 80kg)
in no particular order ^. Weighed myself today and i was 88.5kg/195.1lb light. So that's my starting point. Wil continue to log bw before my first set of squats still. i guess i could make it a goal to weigh 80kg before my first set but that's a stronger goal than morning 80kg. Anyway it's just for now, i still think i'll be strongest around 85kg once ive gained some mass from 80kg but right now im too heavy to bother with recomp just gonna straight up cut for a while.
This should be an interesting period of training if i can stay injury free im excited about where it takes me..
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BP 4x4(PR), 3x3, 5x2 [90kg, 35 reps, 12 sets; PR]
SQ 7x40, 7x60, 7x70, 7x67.5
CND - 20 mins @ 6.1kph
BW:90kg/198lb
BP notes:
Matched my previous PR of 22 reps in 6 sets though I think i was stronger then because i did a 5 to start with. My PR for max reps was 26 on friday done in 12 sets. I beat it by doing 27 in 8 sets. And pushed it to 31 reps in 10 sets. 33 in 11 and finally 35 in 12.
Food log:
(http://i.imgur.com/jCbBTCe.png)
Fitbit log: ~10k
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Have to learn to adjust my ideas of what heavy is - 70kg is too heavy, 67.6kg was heavy and 60kg probably was heavy. All of these are ofc super light but in my present state they're all too heavy. Back didn't like what I did yesterday. Not sure i can pinpoint it to which exercise or set/rep but i think it was a FS rep where i kinda twisted at the bottom of the squat and it aggrevagated my back injury again even though i'd been feeling 100% good lately. Woke up today feeling it. To add insult to injuy i had been conservative and did less volume than i would have liked.
more bad news: that the woman i had being seeing since summer - we decided to end it today. Sucks but it happens.
(http://i.imgur.com/80BX0CF.png)
i nailed today's diet so im on a string of 2 days. If i can get past day 3, im usually set for a nice long stint so hoping for that. i just want to drop 5kg and then i'll do maintenance and/or recomp. i dont want to diet 10kg off in one go, it will destroy my motivation even more than it already is. bench press seems to be the only thing im excited about lately.
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Have to learn to adjust my ideas of what heavy is - 70kg is too heavy, 67.6kg was heavy and 60kg probably was heavy. All of these are ofc super light but in my present state they're all too heavy. Back didn't like what I did yesterday. Not sure i can pinpoint it to which exercise or set/rep but i think it was a FS rep where i kinda twisted at the bottom of the squat and it aggrevagated my back injury again even though i'd been feeling 100% good lately. Woke up today feeling it. To add insult to injuy i had been conservative and did less volume than i would have liked.
more bad news: that the woman i had being seeing since summer - we decided to end it today. Sucks but it happens.
(http://i.imgur.com/80BX0CF.png)
i nailed today's diet so im on a string of 2 days. If i can get past day 3, im usually set for a nice long stint so hoping for that. i just want to drop 5kg and then i'll do maintenance and/or recomp. i dont want to diet 10kg off in one go, it will destroy my motivation even more than it already is. bench press seems to be the only thing im excited about lately.
Sucks to hear about your lady friend. There seems to be a lot of this happening lately.
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BS 7x7x75 (PR)
OHP 3x6x50
WCU 6x89.6
BW: 89.6kg/197.5lb
SQ notes:
Okay so FS has been jettisoned. Had a pain free squat session and I feel good about getting my first Pins Into Pillars squat session (7x7~50reps). Only occured to me that this sort of program prob wont work while im eating 1500kcal a day :/ Can't have everything. Still the weights will be light for some workouts yet and by the time it gets heavy i'll be able to increase calories so it should be okay.
Sucks to hear about your lady friend. There seems to be a lot of this happening lately.
Thanks bruh. Im not sure if it's a set in stone thing or if it's salvegable. She seems pretty adamant/upset so maybe. I could have played things a lot better but spilt milk and everything.
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sucks man, +1 to what coges said. i got nothing to offer you, my own breakup is still weighing on me pretty heavily. :-X
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Fuck. Always sucks to hear and for real...its like a plague. Im gna stop posting for a few weeks out of fear! :)
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BP 3x90, 0Fx102.5 (PR attempt), 0Fx101 (PR attempt), 4x80 (paused; PR)
BS 7x7x82.5 (PR)
CR 20x90(LPR), 20x100(LPR)
Thick band glute bridge - 2x20 (PR)
Orange band X-walk - 3 sets (PR; new ex)
SVJ jumps - 3x6 (LPR; new ex)
1 leg hops x 3 (new ex)
BW: 88.5kg/195lb (LPR)
BP notes:
These weeks where i bench twice don't really seem to yield 2 good workouts. Next week is just a 1x bp week.
Squat notes:
Wow, ive made an unexpected breakthrough in technique.. will write a longer seperate post after this one. Adjusting to sets of 7... no longer getting that burn around rep 7.. feeling good. just for fun i did 8 and 10 reps for the last 2 sets. And they werent burny either.
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BS 7x7x87.5 (PR)
OHP 3x6x52.5 (LPR)
HPC 6x40 (LPR; new ex), 6x50 (LPR), 3x3x57.5 (LPR)
RDL 6x60 (LPR; new ex), 8x80 (LPR), 8x70
WCU 6x88.5, 5x93.5, 5x91
BW: 88.5kg/195lb
Squat notes:
These are getting a lot harder... but so far im handling the volume ok. That should be the last workout below bodyweight lol.. nexst up is 7x7x92.5!
Hip hinge notes:
Started back on hang pcs and added RDLs as grip assistance. Grip was challenged by rep 8 of 80kg... heh.
Thoughts - i need a hip hinge exercise. In the past I have fallen in the trap of omitting things in my lust for squat progress but i wont continue that trend any longer. have to become a generalist and explore other areas of self improvement. conditioning, bodycomp, speed, power, gripwork, hip hinge stuff, 3pt%, single leg, reactivity etc. Will strive to bring up any weak points. I'll still continue to chase a big squat but not at the cost of the others. it just means i'll have slower squat progress but as long as it comes steadily and consistently im ok with it. No reason i can't aim for something like using 130kg for worksets of 6 or maintaining a 130kg FS while weighing 80kg or less and having all of the above. imho.
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BP 3x90, 0Fx101 (PR attempt)
BS 7x7x92.5 (PR)
BW: 87.9kg/193.8lb (LPR)
BP notes:
Just too wrecked from last workout to bench. I am scheduled to ohp sunday but i'll just bench instead and make up for today.
Squat notes:
After bench i thought i was gonna have a bad time with squats and thought i might be forced to have an off day there too. But it didn't feel too bad once i got into them, thankfully and what followed was prob one of the best squat sessions ive had in months. I like what this all this volume is doing for my technique. Remind me to do a seperate post to summarise my learnings on my ideal squat form.
workout all done! have time to go play pickup at the local rec center for the first time in like 9 months!
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Feeling a lot of regret. I think with my injuries from this year, im having to acccept i'll never reach my athletic goals :( What's really annoying me is that i didn't thnk anything i'd achieved so far was worthy of filming properly. Sure i have grainy footage of some dunks taken in poor lighting and a shitty throwaway digicam that i use for gym - but i was 'saving' the good camera to film when i was consistently landing say a windmill before taking some ultraHD nicely edited footage for posterity. I kept saving for a rainy day which never came. That's what's bugging me. I have nothing to show for what i achieved..
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Yes, you should have filmed and not save for later, because you never know what will come.
Yes, maybe your athletic peak has passed and you will never reach your full genetic potential. Maybe, i probably disagree, but let's say it is a fact.
Even so, that does not mean you can not keep progressing and surpass your previous PRs.
So, for example, maybe you were built to top at 200kg squat and 40'' RVJ, but you only got to 170kg and 35''.
Well, work your ass off and get to 190kg and 38'' that is still doable.
Go get it.
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Not only did I not film here is what else I didn't do:
peak my jump using
1. a dedicated training block focused on jumping (legs were never fresh for jumping bc of training: squats or bball etc)
2. jump first and use stimulants prejumping - i always did jumping after squats, hours after taking caffeine, rarely if ever first up
2. explore plyos and reactivity training in general (never did that)
3. use banded plate swings as potentiation for jumping (ive tried this before ages ago and it gave an inch or two)
4. use good shoes (i purposely used heavier/bigger shoes for "training effect")
If i had tried all those things TOGETHER AT ONE TIME and then filmed the dunks i would have something i could say was the best i've ever been athletically. But i kept saving it for the right time..
My thoughts were to reach some major squat milestone X first then turn to the above list as the icing on the cake. Never got to that stage though and the icing just went to waste.
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BS 7x7x97.5 (PR)
BW: 87.3kg/192.5lb (LPR)
Squat notes:
Hard squats. Bothered my back for the first time too. Just when i was starting to get on a roll.. oh well.
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why are you talking about all that in the past tense?
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How old are you? Don't know why you're getting so down about this mate! Athletic training can be fun right up until you're in your 40s and your joints start to wear out. Then you can just jump on a road bike like every guy seems to do nowadays and train for fitness, or just retire. But (I think) you have ages left to go. All that's needed is for you to really fine-tune your training and physique and cut out the bullshit. You can still do all of that stuff you listed if you just let your body heal and avoid heavy squatting for awhile. Squatting is really not needed if you're training for elasticity, too much back loading. Eventually once your speed/power really fades, then you can just train more for strength/hypertrophy. I'm hoping my SVJ will be better at age 35 than 25 if I train right and take care of myself. Do you ever get proper treatment (e.g. remedial massage) for your injuries?
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Thanks acole & LBSS. I'm 31. The fact is the last 4 weeks or so, i've already tried to do those things but it feels very much like shutting the door after the horse has already bolted. The opportunity or window has closed. It's like how OKC could have won multiple championships when Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and Harden were healthy - but mismanagement meant they never did even though everyone knows they could have - it's too late now with trades, injuries and lost opportunities. Sure you could Westbrook healthy dropping triple doubles but if Durant isn't there, it's all for naught. Or without the right championship calibre coaching.
I'm just saying, my window probably has closed now. Ankle has healed but the damage done to my back isn't going away. It's just not just heavy squats, i haven't gone over 100kg in a month, i can stay away from them but when every single ME jump (which is what a dunk takes now) hurts my back acutely, it's not worth it to even try. Im pretty sure it's my spine not muscular so not sure what massages would do - sometimes they make things worse if it's spinal not muscular which probably respond better to that stuff. I have found the less i do, the better in this case. When i went overboard with SMR stuff, it didn't help at all. Better left alone which is what i've done the last couple of weeks and it's worked though jumping is out.
If it wasn't for that, i do think i could get a lot out of my body yet, just don't know if that will ever be the case now or if this is going to be chronic.
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Thanks acole & LBSS. I'm 31. The fact is the last 4 weeks or so, i've already tried to do those things but it feels very much like shutting the door after the horse has already bolted. The opportunity or window has closed. It's like how OKC could have won multiple championships when Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and Harden were healthy - but mismanagement meant they never did even though everyone knows they could have - it's too late now with trades, injuries and lost opportunities. Sure you could Westbrook healthy dropping triple doubles but if Durant isn't there, it's all for naught. Or without the right championship calibre coaching.
I'm just saying, my window probably has closed now. Ankle has healed but the damage done to my back isn't going away. It's just not just heavy squats, i haven't gone over 100kg in a month, i can stay away from them but when every single ME jump (which is what a dunk takes now) hurts my back acutely, it's not worth it to even try. Im pretty sure it's my spine not muscular so not sure what massages would do - sometimes they make things worse if it's spinal not muscular which probably respond better to that stuff. I have found the less i do, the better in this case. When i went overboard with SMR stuff, it didn't help at all. Better left alone which is what i've done the last couple of weeks and it's worked though jumping is out.
If it wasn't for that, i do think i could get a lot out of my body yet, just don't know if that will ever be the case now or if this is going to be chronic.
Mate I'm highly doubtful that your window has closed. Get yourself to a good physical therapist (massage, osteopath, physio, etc) and get them to sort you out. Personally I like osteopaths because they're a bit more whole body focused as opposed to singular area focused. Get some scans if needed and find out what you're working with. Rest will only disguise the problem and it will always return unless you find out the root cause.
If you can afford it (private health or whatever) find out who treats the Eagles or Dockers players and get in to see them. Worked wonders for me and that was how I ended a 12 year battle with severe low back pain. I ended up seeing the guys who treated Carlton FC and now have an Osteo who treats national and international water polo players.
You're in WA right:
http://www.bodylogicphysiotherapy.com.au/component/contact/contact/17-our-team/18-specialist-physiotherapists/4-chris-perkin.html
http://starphysiowa.com.au/our-team/
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Well pin into pillars comes to an end .. sad cause i was taking 7.5kg-5kg jumps pretty easily up to 7x7x97.5kg but my back wont allow me to continue, so scrapped it today. Took a huge reset and will be aiming for 10x10x100 now, starting with 7x10x45ish today. Next workout i'll go for 8x10x65kg and sunday 10x10x70. I should be able to take bigger jumps up to 82.5kg and then i'll take smaller ones of 2.5kg, probably, to give myself a chance to heal my back by the time i get to the high 90s.
BW: 87.5kg/186lb
FS 10x40, BS 10x40, FS 10x50, BS 10x50, BS 3x10x60
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BS 10x10x62.5
Squat notes:
blah
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Im closing this log today for 3 reasons
a) my injuries no longer allow me to train the same way
b) satnam drafted into the NBA
c) im changing focus to a new way
return 0;
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nah man don't do it! or are you gonna start a new log?
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nah man don't do it! or are you gonna start a new log?
Yep new log! Let me summarise this log. The problem with this whole journey was i wanted athleticism but instead i chased a big squat and didn't really make much of a dent in my lofty pursuit of athleticism. Dont get me wrong, squats went a long way from where I started athletically never been able to do a dunk until my late 20s when I made this log. Evenually I was able to do powerful dunks off a drop step or two - but squats had essentially transformed me into a double leg jumper, which is good cause it meant i could express more power that ever before, more than almost everyone i faced on the court -- i won pretty much every single jump ball at the start of the the games we played as a result.
Beyond that though the problem was i was never wired up genetically to be athletic and be able to express my power in a game situation; you never have that much time to set up and launch for a dunk of two when you're as slow as I am. I never got a single game time dunk and as far as i am concerned I never will either. I practiced drop step dunks and was pretty good at them but never had the opportunity during a game. Opposition never gives you that much room especially in FIBA rules. The only time i had an attempt at a dunk was on a fast break and this is funny - i hit the rim cause im not athletic enough. Athletic means reactive, and its no coincidence that single attempt was a one leg jump one.
Now injuries have made it impossible to squat heavy and even more jump off two - so this journey comes to an end. Not by choice, if it was up to me, i'd keep working away, adding a few kilos to my squat, dieting off the fat, and eventually hopefully getting enough strength to satisfy me to turn to reactivity. But this choice has been made for me now - i can't jump off two, i can squat heavy. Today something happened which convinced me that it was time to start something new. A new chapter begins now.
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Injury in 2015 led me to make a new journal, Chasing Reactivity (http://www.adarq.org/progress-journals-experimental-routines/chasing-reactivity/) trying something different (SL training). This phase didn't last long but I did get some SL dunks which was a PR for me. I could afford to revisit SL training sometime in the future I think, it may help my DLVJ too. But it's not a focus or priority right now.
I'm reviving this journal on Vag's request.. for 2016. So let's do that now.
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2016 Prologue
My perspective on body comp and attaining changes has somewhat changed after xmas. I was fairly active since then, clocking up to 30k steps on the fitbit on NYE for example and on average around 15k on other days. And despite the nightly drinking and eating loads of food, i still managed to get leaner or at least mitigate fat gains even though my body was no doubt primed to gain fat post-cutting. But going forward, im going to be more active in general. It will get me in shape better.
So here are my rough goals for 2016:
Heal -- heartbreak and being emotionally drained: this is the big one .. any tips?
Squat 140kg for 6 reps (or sets of doubles). Not sure how I bridge the gap with where i am currently (failing a double at 132.5kg yesterday after getting the first rep hard) but i'll just work super hard and find a way.
Continue with the medball exercises. 1x a week is good.
Get lean as fuck (<10%) and strong as fuck (2xbw RDL, 2xbw BS, 3xBW calf raises etc)
Lots more running and jumping .. i need to re-program my body to think it's that of an athlete as opposed to a sedentary person who sometimes lifts a few times a week.
That should do. I have a bball weekend tournament late march that i want to peak for .. wanna be doing easy big windmills in warmups. This is the only comp that really matters to me, it happens every year and last year i was injured :(
I think it's a good one for now. To make the leanness goal more concrete, i think i need to eventually see the scale weigh 77kg ... that would prob get me close to "lean as fuck" .. provided im also a strong 77kg as opposed to a chronically dieted down weakling.. the key will be patience .. doing it too fast will kill my strength and muscle mass.. too slow and i wont have the motivation... there is def a sweet spot to it. I can prob do a few 10-15 day cut cycles to chip away, maybe 2 of them will get me to 77kg morning bodyweight.
I haven't decided the exact strategy yet but I'd like to get my squat up and diet down some bodyfat I gained since xmas. If i do this in the wrong order, i'll prob end up weaker and smaller. So maybe i'll do a recomp for a while, then when i feel im strong enough, i'll start cutting. Bodyweight is currently under 80kg / 175lb in the mornings and about 80kg / 176.5lb with shoes, clothes and a preworkout meal.. so i'm not too heavy by any means, just not as lean and muscular as I would like at this bodyweight. I'm not going to be bulking though, don't have the low bodyfat percentage to do it efficiently -- so it would just lead to too much fat gain at this point. Just a reminder to myself to not get carried away and start eating pizzas and shit to see the weights go up easier..
To do a windmill though, i need a lot more strength .. a lot more muscle mass .. a lot less adipose ... and a lot more hard work. I anticipate my non standing vertical will be high 30s, maybe even 40" when i finally reach the goal of an easy, repeatable, powerful windmill.
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BS 3x1x132.5 (LPR), 3x1x130 (LPR), 5x117.5 (LPR), 3x120 (LPR)
BP 2x90 (LPR), 3x82.5 (LPR), 7x77.5 (LPR)
CURL 8x40 (LPR), 6x45 (PR), 8x42.5 (LPR)
BW: 80kg / 176.4lb (gym)
Squat notes:
Every single was hard. I wanted to double 132.5kg but realised it wasn't happening today.. did 6 singles. Didn't have 6 singles at 132.5kg -- but that's okay, gives me something to work towards over the next 6 weeks. 6 singles then doubles then triples .. and so on up to 6x6x132.5kg at which point I can add weight. Total volume: 14 reps (LPR). Was tempted to go for 21 reps but decided i'll work up to it over this week's squatting instead.
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Ahhhh, niceeee! Hope i wasn't too pushy? This journal is epic, so much progress, experimenting, discussion in here, and so much more to come! :highfive:
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Ahhhh, niceeee! Hope i wasn't too pushy? This journal is epic, so much progress, experimenting, discussion in here, and so much more to come! :highfive:
Nah all good.. im not that bothered by it .. i just like fresh starts haha but this is fine!
I went to a bball court for the first time since .. gosh i can't even recall... i remember the last time i played was the sunday before xmas .. looking it up, it was 20th Dec. So it's been over 3 weeks since i played ball. By the way yesterday i finally had a chance to go the docs to get my xray report which i had done on 22nd Dec. It turns out i had a fracture in my finger, a nondisplaced one. seems to be healing ok but yeah that sucks.. i guess i must have dunked too hard or something .. nah i dont think i fractured it during dunking, prob during the game. Was pretty heated.
I couldn't really dunk well today.. all thigns considered, my tomawks were weak and i wouldn't even consider them actual tomawks. but hopefully it will come back quickly... i could make an excuse and say yesterdays squatting is to blame .. doesn't matter.. have to get back where i was on the 20th.
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I'll start logging videos i watch and books and articles I read. I know this will be boring for many but i'll tag my training posts with the appropriate titles so you can easily see and read them instead!
Watching this joe armstrong one atm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKXe3HUG2l4
Im getting back into Erlang. Saw a cool sounding job advertised and i'd like to apply .. but need to refresh my erlangs first.
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BS 0Fx132.5, 2x6x100
Jump Squat 2x6x142.5 (PR), 8x80, 8x70
Push Press 6x57.5 (LPR), 3x6x60 (LPR; reintroduction)
MedBall Slam 6x6kg, 6x10kg (LPR; reintro)
MedBall Throw 6x6kg, 6x10kg, 6x6kg (LPRs; reintro)
Depth Jump 2x6x21" (LPR; reintro)
BW: ??
Squat notes:
Forced light day!
Plyo notes:
Interesting to see how my program has evolved. I decided to put all the plyo stuff on the same day instead of separating them into an upper and lower day like i had done in nov-dec. I feel that might be better, provided im fresh enough on the plyo day which ofc wasn't true today because i couldn't squat for shit.. but yeah, lets see how this works. This can occur til i start playing bball again on weds .. hopefully the team i played with last year invite me back.. i know the summer season begins in jan sometime, but dont know the exact date. havent heard anything from them yet :/ i really wanna play with them again though.
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I'll start logging videos i watch and books and articles I read. I know this will be boring for many but i'll tag my training posts with the appropriate titles so you can easily see and read them instead!
Watching this joe armstrong one atm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKXe3HUG2l4
Im getting back into Erlang. Saw a cool sounding job advertised and i'd like to apply .. but need to refresh my erlangs first.
nice! erlang is pretty dope.
love Joe Armstrong.. he's a legit beast. I also love this talk (and several others) by him. he gives it to you straight with that "old timer" yet still completely relevant perspective, ie, incredible experience.
the thesis he wrote is amazing: http://ftp.nsysu.edu.tw/FreeBSD/ports/distfiles/erlang/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf
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Glad to see you persevering... As far as some of the questions you posed.
1) I like when you say things like "Lots more running and jumping .. i need to re-program my body to think it's that of an athlete as opposed to a sedentary person who sometimes lifts a few times a week."
I cringe when you say: "i was never wired up genetically to be athletic and be able to express my power in a game situation; you never have that much time to set up and launch for a dunk of two when you're as slow as I am. I never got a single game time dunk and as far as i am concerned I never will either."
You simply don't know that? Did you have your genome sequenced and figure out exactly where this allele that makes people explosive is? Or are you just giving yourself a ridiculous excuse? All this talk about "slow" jumping is mostly nonsense. You are hardly above 6'ft and you can tomahawk. You jump close to 40'' off the ground. That is explosive. When you jump you are going just as fast off the ground as the next guy who jumps that height... The concept of a "quick" jumper is mostly myth and an inability to tell proficiency and skill from power and speed...
You and I are in the same boat in a lot of regards. We are the same age, both don't get much carryover from squats, both sprint, both are double leg jumpers and have the worst plant for dunking (I am LR and R handed you are RL and L handed), both get injured from too much ME jumping... I have played probably 50 games of pickup basketball in the last 6 months and have gotten exactly 1 in-game non-tip dunk and it came on a perfect cut around the baseline when everything lined up right. I don't even try to dunk on the fastbreak because unless the nearest guy is near half court I'm afraid I slow down too much to plant that I will get undercut or bothered enough to miss a dunk... Despite this I'm not going to make some excuse that involves me genetically unable to do something... That type of negative belief is paralyzing... I know I need to learn the opposite plant and become good enough with the ball to shield it and bring it up in a fashion where I can't get stripped on dunk attempts. I know you need to drop the negativity about how your a "slow" jumper from your head and just go nuts. Lots of ways to get over it. Get a weight vest and take it off after awhile and feel light... Go to a gym where you are alone and just scream as loud as you can and run around as fast as you can once in awhile. Get out of your head and you will realize the untapped potential you have when you let go of paralyzing ideas. Or do something that makes you feel explosive. Go do some backflips. When I'm feeling slow I go do some outdoor gymnastics where I know I have to fire quickly or I will end up on my head. Nothing like it for reminding yourself that you can move quickly...
2) As far as your diet/recomp goals. Your disciplined cutting is the stuff of legend. I've cut down to 208 from 230 while recovering my knee and your diet log is hugely inspirational. You are officially lean now. I'm not gonna tell you to bulk but I am gonna tell you to start pushing yourself in the gym. Part of the reason you feel slow is probably because you fluctuate from fat and slow and lean and depleted. Settle in at 185 and let yourself eat a bit more but reduce rest intervals and do the whole body split that I advocate... You will recomp and stay lean but you will be a stronger, more muscular, primed and explosive lean.
Despite my criticism your progress is some of the best I have seen. If I could get you out of your head you would be a great athlete to train.
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BS 6x1x132.5 (LPR), 5x120 (LPR), 5x117.5, 6x115
RDL 10x142.5 (PR), 8x145 (PR)
OHP 2x6x55, 5x55 (LPR but this is embarassing how hard tehse light sets are!)
BW: ??
Squat notes:
Hot day, didn't fancy training outside at home. instead did a free gym trial session at a nearby gym. Weak sauce but i managed to hit my goal of 6 singles at the training weight of 132.5kg. So next week i can attempt doubles? Yikes. Considering how hard the singles were, a small miracle would be necessary first. But im being a massive pussy i think, i was doubling 132.5kg while cutting hardcore in Dec so there is no reason i should be mentally defeated by repping it now as im comfort eating/binging on shitty food. I feel bad though mentally so that might be a reason why im struggling with squattings. Also doing a lot of walking maybe that's not doing great things for my legs either!
RDL notes:
My ego led me to attempt these two PRs .. got em.. not super delighted or anything, just meh.
I was supposed to do a chinup/lat pull down/cable row workout today but fuck that, i'll do it on monday, im too exhausted mentally and physically right now..
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I know ive made the same observation before but RDLs do an excellent job at working my upper back. So sore today! I remember reading about Pendlay using 405 for RDL worksets of 8 and thinking that was impressive but now i'm not so sure. Like he was an almost 1000 pound squatter at the time and prob outweighed me by a significant amount. And my goal on RDLs is worksets of 160kg soonish which is 2xbw while his were around 182.5kg worksets. It still remains to be seen how this will benefit my athleticism (via the proxy of squatting ofcourse) but i'm excited about being good at something for a change unlike squats which are a constant struggle for what i can only honestly call mediocrity.
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I'll start logging videos i watch and books and articles I read. I know this will be boring for many but i'll tag my training posts with the appropriate titles so you can easily see and read them instead!
Watching this joe armstrong one atm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKXe3HUG2l4
Im getting back into Erlang. Saw a cool sounding job advertised and i'd like to apply .. but need to refresh my erlangs first.
nice! erlang is pretty dope.
love Joe Armstrong.. he's a legit beast. I also love this talk (and several others) by him. he gives it to you straight with that "old timer" yet still completely relevant perspective, ie, incredible experience.
the thesis he wrote is amazing: http://ftp.nsysu.edu.tw/FreeBSD/ports/distfiles/erlang/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf
For many years I had his thesis printed and bound somewhere at home. I should go find it ;) That video is good but I can't help think I missed the "point" whatever it was, cause i wasn't able to watch it while giving it my complete attention. Videos can get too long I find that you drift off and get distracted and miss key bits, esp when i watch them on one tab on one screen on my PC while doing other stuff. Need to sort out my workflow. Maybe I should watch vids while doing my daily fasted walks on my phone.. less to distract you that way! I will try it tmr.
Erlang is an interesting language. I just need more practice with it. If i do a decent medium sized project with it to learn, i'll know it well. Just have to think of an idea for one. Has to be a client-server one that uses concurrency etc but i can't think of anything i'd like to make with those qualities... hmmmm. Keep talking about it, will maintain my interest! :)
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Glad to see you persevering... As far as some of the questions you posed.
1) I like when you say things like "Lots more running and jumping .. i need to re-program my body to think it's that of an athlete as opposed to a sedentary person who sometimes lifts a few times a week."
I cringe when you say: "i was never wired up genetically to be athletic and be able to express my power in a game situation; you never have that much time to set up and launch for a dunk of two when you're as slow as I am. I never got a single game time dunk and as far as i am concerned I never will either."
You simply don't know that? Did you have your genome sequenced and figure out exactly where this allele that makes people explosive is? Or are you just giving yourself a ridiculous excuse? All this talk about "slow" jumping is mostly nonsense. You are hardly above 6'ft and you can tomahawk. You jump close to 40'' off the ground. That is explosive. When you jump you are going just as fast off the ground as the next guy who jumps that height... The concept of a "quick" jumper is mostly myth and an inability to tell proficiency and skill from power and speed...
You and I are in the same boat in a lot of regards. We are the same age, both don't get much carryover from squats, both sprint, both are double leg jumpers and have the worst plant for dunking (I am LR and R handed you are RL and L handed), both get injured from too much ME jumping... I have played probably 50 games of pickup basketball in the last 6 months and have gotten exactly 1 in-game non-tip dunk and it came on a perfect cut around the baseline when everything lined up right. I don't even try to dunk on the fastbreak because unless the nearest guy is near half court I'm afraid I slow down too much to plant that I will get undercut or bothered enough to miss a dunk... Despite this I'm not going to make some excuse that involves me genetically unable to do something... That type of negative belief is paralyzing... I know I need to learn the opposite plant and become good enough with the ball to shield it and bring it up in a fashion where I can't get stripped on dunk attempts. I know you need to drop the negativity about how your a "slow" jumper from your head and just go nuts. Lots of ways to get over it. Get a weight vest and take it off after awhile and feel light... Go to a gym where you are alone and just scream as loud as you can and run around as fast as you can once in awhile. Get out of your head and you will realize the untapped potential you have when you let go of paralyzing ideas. Or do something that makes you feel explosive. Go do some backflips. When I'm feeling slow I go do some outdoor gymnastics where I know I have to fire quickly or I will end up on my head. Nothing like it for reminding yourself that you can move quickly...
2) As far as your diet/recomp goals. Your disciplined cutting is the stuff of legend. I've cut down to 208 from 230 while recovering my knee and your diet log is hugely inspirational. You are officially lean now. I'm not gonna tell you to bulk but I am gonna tell you to start pushing yourself in the gym. Part of the reason you feel slow is probably because you fluctuate from fat and slow and lean and depleted. Settle in at 185 and let yourself eat a bit more but reduce rest intervals and do the whole body split that I advocate... You will recomp and stay lean but you will be a stronger, more muscular, primed and explosive lean.
Despite my criticism your progress is some of the best I have seen. If I could get you out of your head you would be a great athlete to train.
Firstly thanks so much for that post. It means a lot. I read it and it left an impression on me because it was what I needed to hear.
I'm glad you quoted me on the in-game dunk situation. I think you are right that a big part of in-game dunking is being aggressive and attacking the rim. It kinda clicked when Kobe gave the advice to his young rookie teammate that he was attacking the rim like a lightskinned dude. Racism aside, i know what Kobe is getting at there, it's a mindset to be aggressive and go for it. But if i was to analyse my thought process, it would be, nope nope, no way am i attacking the rim with someone in the way because I don't want to risk an ankle injury by landing awkwardly or on someone etc. Still, I think I need to make that decision late late, like if there is no way I can land safely, then just find some space and go for a layup or pass out -- but if there is no reason not to finish the dunk then GO FOR IT and be fearless. I love that this single challenge for me is so key -- if I can dunk in-game (not a fast break but in a half court set) then i've accomplished something amazing (for me), a) overcoming my limitations as an athlete and b)my mental inhibitions which rule out the aggressive drive. I need to re-program my mind first, you're absolutely right. Having said that though, my speed in setup for a dunk needs to improve. As in how long I can get my 1-2 steps in before launching up. This also has a skilll component to it which I haven't exploited. I should be able to make space for myself by playing the game, taking my defender one way on the dribble and then collecting the ball last second to go the other for a dunk. That kind of thing. It's a multifacted challenge that wont be overcome with just one thing, it has to be a mastery of all of these different facets at the same time.
You know when I was playing pickup mid dec when i'd just come off my cut, I felt so fast on the court like I was faster than my mind could believe. That would have been a perfect time to attempt something but then again the pace of half court pickup is so slow with like 4v4 or 5v5 and defenders just camp around unlike game situations where people are hussling to stay on their man or cover their position on a zone. I think my chance of getting a dunk in-game will be a full court game where everyone is busy doing their thing and I'm able to get the ball and just attack the rim without going up 1v3 for example.
I do agree with your advice to pick up a bodyweight and get strong at it and not be a dieted down version of that weight but a strong version where you're eating enough to recover and train hard and aren't suffering from a diet induced performance wall. For me that should be something like my current bodyweight .. but im fairly sloppy right now.i've been eating badly lately due to life stuff and I need to shake that off and get myself back on track in eating cleaner and focusing on life ahead instead. I think around mid Dec i was close to being where i needed to be, quite leanish not ripped. Would have been good time to maintain that bodyweight and jus get strong at it. I can get back there, just need to get my shit together soon.
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BS 3x2x132.5 (LPR!), 0Fx137.5 (LPR attempt lol), 3x1x132.5
BP 2x92.5 (LPR), 5x82.5 (LPR), 5x80, 6x79.5 (LPR)
WCU 3x103.5, 6x93.5 (LPR)
CURL 8x40, 2x8x37.5
BW: 81.6kg / 179.9lb (fuck .. i let myself go quickly in the 2nd week of 2016 :/)
Squat notes:
Yay progress.. doubled 132.5kg... next time i'll go for 6 doubles :headbang:
Upper notes:
Possible injury during bench after the heavy double. Right pec feels off. I hope it's nothing but we'll see how it goes over the next couple of days.
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stop weighing yourself.
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Mirror>scale brooooo.
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stop weighing yourself.
to a certain extent but i know the slippery slope of avoiding the scale when you're letting yourself go and im gonna force myself to avoid that trap!
Mirror>scale brooooo.
I must admit i look pretty jacked (is this the right word) in the mirror.. all those carbs do make you look huge .. relatively speaking than when dieted down and carb depleted. But it's just fools gold lol
Ok i think im sufficiently disgusted with myself after sitting down and working through an entire 2L container of cookies and cream icecream last night after dinner that im ready to arrest this decline and get myself back on track to being in the best shape of my life. Starting today im making these daily changes to my habits:
- At least 10,000 steps a day with at least 5000 of those coming fasted (this gives 1lb fat loss per week provided one eats at maintenance)
- some form of cardio 3x a week (basically at the end of every training session)
- cut out pizza and icecream (should get carb intake down that way and get more fat burning in during the day)
If i can do that for a week i should be back on track and then i can go for something more ambitious .. i dont have any drugs owing to living in a nanny state, so where someone else might have used EC i'll have to just be 10% more active i guess, hence the fitbit and cardio.. lets gooooo
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so weigh yourself once a week if you're that worried about it.
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Good news is yesterday I got through day 1 successfully without pizza or icecream or chocolate... which is usually the HARDEST. But nothing is accomplished yet! Wait til day 10 before I am confident i've made a good start. I think it's round bout day 20 when i can say i'm on track so there is work to be done yet. Here are my fitbit stats for yesterday:
Total Activity: 13,676 steps / 10.51km
Fasted Activity: 8000 steps
Calories In: 2027
Calories out: 2931
Caloric Deficit: 904
I got a weight vest today. It goes up to 20kg. Unfortunately it looks quite bulky so I don't think I will use it as much in summer. Still, I guess if I distribute the weight bags inconspicuously...? but the ones on the back are def noticable lol. Wear a baggy shirt? Winter should be fine as long as I wear a hoody or a coat. Each pocket holds 0.58kg .. and im using 16 pockets atm to make a total weight of +8.6kg. I jumped on the scale and it read 91kg. I started with 10% of bw ~ 8kg so yeah.
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BS 0Fx132.5*, 6x2x102.5 (LPR; light)
JS 2x6x142.5* (PR*; see squat note below)
Push Press 6x62.5(LPR), 4x62.5, 6x62, 4x62
Depth Jump 6,6*
BW: 178lb / 80.75kg
Squat notes:
Got buried by 132.5kg while wearing the weight vest .. tbh not sure i would have got it even without the vest ... but doesn't matter, this squat day is more of a recovery one anyways.
Henceforth sets logged with a star denote done with a weighted vest.
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wait wait wait, you're trying to lose weight again? i'm confused. i thought you were trying to get strong now.
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Not longer than a week. Just to get under <80kg and then i'll maintain that while recomping and getting strong. Im not far from that .. still pretty carbed up so i think by next monday i should be there?
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Good news is yesterday I got through day 1 successfully without pizza or icecream or chocolate... which is usually the HARDEST. But nothing is accomplished yet! Wait til day 10 before I am confident i've made a good start. I think it's round bout day 20 when i can say i'm on track so there is work to be done yet. Here are my fitbit stats for yesterday:
Total Activity: 13,676 steps / 10.51km
Fasted Activity: 8000 steps
Calories In: 2027
Calories out: 2931
Caloric Deficit: 904
I got a weight vest today. It goes up to 20kg. Unfortunately it looks quite bulky so I don't think I will use it as much in summer. Still, I guess if I distribute the weight bags inconspicuously...? but the ones on the back are def noticable lol. Wear a baggy shirt? Winter should be fine as long as I wear a hoody or a coat. Each pocket holds 0.58kg .. and im using 16 pockets atm to make a total weight of +8.6kg. I jumped on the scale and it read 91kg. I started with 10% of bw ~ 8kg so yeah.
we need a weight vests thread.. i bought one a long time ago and I hate how it fits etc, very bulky.
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^That weight vest the others got looks so much cooler .. oh well!
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BW: 79.75kg / 175.82lb (LPR)
(http://i.imgur.com/VGuNCYF.png)
So scale drops below 80kg which was a shock for me.. I didn't expect to be sub 80kg so soon. But yet I don't think today's measurements counts, i think it's just a water thing tbh.. it prob goes over 80kg tmr. If it sticks though, all good. Am thinking to revise the goal of <80kg to <79kg before I start recomping.
Here is a rough strategy to get to <79kg:
1. Just diet through to 10 days
2. be active (weight vest + >10k steps/ day)
3. cardio (currently doing none)
I usually get my cardio through bball but summer season is underway and i haven't heard from my old team from last year .. so maybe they dont need my services this year :( and i dont really fancy doing my own cardio .. but i should.. blah..
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So apparently using a weigh vest with 16lb (the study said) amounts to burning a measly 30kcal more over a period of an hour while walking. This is not really worth the trouble. Would be more effective to just eat 30kcal less (so easy) and stay fresher to squat more? Why bother with this shit? I'm not sure using a weight vest makes any sense for my goals. I do feel that for example calves will get smaller/weaker on a cut due to loss of bodyweight .. and maybe the vest can help prevent that? Or it can do some other good things (for performance) but i doubt it has much of an effect on calories out. It changes TDEE not BMR cause you don't actually have +X more metabolically active tissue, it's just dead weight which only comes into play during exercise -- which amounts to a few hundred calories at most (and prob less). Or maybe it affects NEAT as well though i doubt it, cause i shake my legs when sitting, that is not affected by wearing a vest lol.
I think it's better to do unweighted aerobic exercise at bodyweight and get HR up for my goals than it is to suffer to through fasted walking with a vest.
But i am in two minds about the vest too. Imagine cutting to 75kg (say), if i maintain an effective bodyweight of 85-90kg throughout the cut, im sure by the end of the cut i'll be a far better athlete. That's my gut feel. Cause at some point when you are so light, your body prob gets a lot weaker just from not having much weight on you.. if that makes sense..
I started ec stack today. I didn't wanna deal with hunger through will power alone. I can do it wiithout but it becomes obsessive and i need to focus my mental energies towards more important things than fucking food and training.. so i'm happy to make the change. Took my first dose in teh PM and found myself feeling so full of energy somehow ended up at the basketball court .. tried dunking with the WV but couldnt reach the rim with ball in hand .. haha. It's funny though, ive def dunked while weighing 90kg even 100kg.. easily infact.. but i guess im out of shape right now and that's the main reason.. even dunking at bodyweight is far from easy.. i stil lcant tomawk .. though my one hand dunks feel really high, i havent actually video'd to check ..
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I think its much easier to just eat 30cal less. I do think, however, wearing a vest for a long time will have some nice potentiation for your vert when you take it off after cutting. Also helps with calf size.
I think you should keep slowly cutting for as long as youre able to keep your strength. Then recomp. Have you tried intermittent fasting? For me its a great way to deal with the hunger. I eat from 7pm to midnight. But you can do up to an 8hr eating window. Skipping breakfast and lunch aint so bad; if i dont eat, my appetite isnt triggered. I dont get lightheaded either since i dont have any insulin response to food when fasting. Then i go to bed on a full stomach and am still at a caloric deficit.
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I think its much easier to just eat 30cal less. I do think, however, wearing a vest for a long time will have some nice potentiation for your vert when you take it off after cutting. Also helps with calf size.
I think you should keep slowly cutting for as long as youre able to keep your strength. Then recomp. Have you tried intermittent fasting? For me its a great way to deal with the hunger. I eat from 7pm to midnight. But you can do up to an 8hr eating window. Skipping breakfast and lunch aint so bad; if i dont eat, my appetite isnt triggered. I dont get lightheaded either since i dont have any insulin response to food when fasting. Then i go to bed on a full stomach and am still at a caloric deficit.
It's ridiculous isn't. Im looking at my calories-in for the day and figuring out what to have for dinner and adding 2 slices of wholemeal bread mean +161 calories. 161! 2 slices is nothing .. and yes to get that much out of exercise would be a proper mission. This is stuff i already knew but i guess i needed a reminder how important diet is when it comes to influencing the cals in vs cals out balance. So now do i wanna be -161kcal or not? That decision seems so easy to make compared to commiting to that much exercise.. crazy.
Yeah mate, I already do IF. It's good. I try to do fasted walking which i think helps you lean out, as you get closer to and below 10%. It's kinda pointless doing it right now but im all in or nothing kinda guy so im doing it anyways. I do like the idea of going to bed with a full stomach --> good sleep --> good performance on the next days squatting as opposed to being hungry and sleepless. Even when you are asleep you dont fall very deeply. It's related to carbs as well, enough carbs and you sleep like a baby. Protein also. I'll log my food intake for today below.
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vest has other effects. if you've tracked my journal you've seen the strong potentiation effect for jumping, which is also borne out in the literature. could also help with other types of speed/explosive movement or conditioning. taking off even a comparatively light vest after wearing it for days on end makes me feel very quick and powerful. never occurred to me that it'd help with weight loss.
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DO you wear it to bed as well? Or just waking hours? And that might be why im skeptical of seeing these potentiating effects.. i haven't used it for longer than a few hours at a time and they haven't really been amazing when i took it off lol. I guess i cant really compare them because i haven't peaked my vert prior to introducing a vest. But we'll see if it has performance benefits.. i'm not really looking for those right this moment though.. have to find movement efficiency first before experimenting with all these icing-the-cake things. I do want to see my calves hold their size though. so if that happens i'll be happy with using a vest!
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Would it be annoying if i logged my food and activity daily? It wont be forever, maybe for 7 days before I stop doing daily updates? Let me know.
Food log:
(http://i.imgur.com/KgMlSf1.png)
Activity log
Total activity: 16,000 steps (~12.4km)
Fasted activity: 10,000 steps
Calories Out: 3051 kcal
Calories In: 1453 kcal
Calorie deficit: 1598 kcal
Pretty big deficit today.. woah.. and actually this is undercounting cause i used the weighted vest too. Doesn't matter, job done. Bring on tmr.
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Would it be annoying if i logged my food and activity daily? It wont be forever, maybe for 7 days before I stop doing daily updates? Let me know.
nope! go4it.
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waking hours only, but i've been wearing it 12-14 hours/day. effect is undeniable.
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waking hours only, but i've been wearing it 12-14 hours/day. effect is undeniable.
Ok. So now im not sure if i should first focus on getting back to previous levels of athletic performance FIRST. Then start the vest experiment. Maybe i'll do it in 2 phases, first one i just use it to maintain effective BW throughout leaning out. Then re-attain my previous levels of performance (=PRs, etc). Then put on the vest for the 2nd time and this time focus on reaching new PRs? That would prob work.
Imagining if i finally get a 40" vertical! :) So tantalising :wowthatwasnutswtf:
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I think it is not the right time to use hypergravity, you are currently in a 'get back at it' phase.
Just think of hypergravity as a peaking tool. Save those 2-3 inches for when they will really make the change, taking you from 37 to 40 instead of, say, 32 to 35.
Also, it doesn't have to be an all-time PR period, it is not a one-off thing. If you feel after a few weeks of strength training you want to peak and test, go for it. Later in the season, when another peaking period comes, you can use it again.
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I think it is not the right time to use hypergravity, you are currently in a 'get back at it' phase.
Just think of hypergravity as a peaking tool. Save those 2-3 inches for when they will really make the change, taking you from 37 to 40 instead of, say, 32 to 35.
Also, it doesn't have to be an all-time PR period, it is not a one-off thing. If you feel after a few weeks of strength training you want to peak and test, go for it. Later in the season, when another peaking period comes, you can use it again.
I agree with you vag that it's not the right time. I just need to convince my ego that. But i want to do everything and anything, as usual. And im my own worst enemy when it comes to training ADD and what not.
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Realizing it is (was) the biggest and most difficult part of fixing it ;) :highfive:
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To be fair, my idea of wearing the vest wasn't to jump higher .. it was to maintain mass on my legs by tricking my body into thinking i wasn't getting lighter and it should still hold on to the muscle and strength. But im not sure how effective that will be. Would make a huge difference if i could cut say 5% of my bodyweight and maintain my leg mass .. cause calves get tiny in my cuts .. in the past.. even when i lift to maintain it
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Training log:
BS 3x2x132.5, 4x1x132.5, 6x120 (LPR), 6x117.5 (LPR)
RDL 2x8x147.5 (PR)
OHP 6x58.5 (LPR), 5x58.5, 5x58.5, 4x68.5
BW: 175.93lb / 79.8kg
Squat notes:
I went to train at a nearby gym today.. thought the atmosphere might do me good to get some PRs when I prob would have failed warmups at home. But the falloff to the NY resolution crowd was palpable... so few ppl this friday compared to last week. But still, i got some inspiration anyways and managed some PRs. I failed the 4th double which would have given me an LPR.. but i did an extra single to make an LPR of 10 reps at 132.5kg. I kinda wanna blame the guy in the next rack who distracted me while i was in the set by fidgeting around on the side, but i guess im just not used to lifting with ppl moving around nearby. So progress all the same. Last friday i worked out after binging on pizza and icecream all week. This week i'm cutting hardcore.. so all things considered i did well.
RDL notes:
Freaking 60kg warmups were challengin, 100kg i had to slam back into the rack cause my grip was giving way lol. And i could only managed 2 reps with warmup at 140kg before my grip forced me to rack in a panicky fashion. Switched to hook grip for the worksets. Was not painful this week as last week was. Which is good. BUt these were harddddd as you can imagine. Done though.
Skipped the medball stuff. It seems fairly pointless while cutting to do too much shit. though i may do them when I feel like it, maybe tmr..
Food log:
(http://i.imgur.com/I0ddNrj.png)
Activity log:
Total steps: 13,255 / 10.18km
Fasted steps: 5000
Calories out: 2936
Calories in: 2679
Caloric balance: -257
If i isn't clear, i did a carb refeed. Next time i'll do a better job, +30g protein and -60g carb should be better. Hopefully tomorrow i wake up feeling like a million dollars .. and get some supercompensation of strength/mass as well.. haha. Aaaaand that's 2 weeks of training done.. so far so good bring on week 3!
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I'm giving myself 9 weeks for a serious transformation!
This is the macro plan in a nutshell:
Phase I: Day 1-10 - hardcore lowcarb IF diet + lots of fasted walking (5-10k a day) -> goal of getting to <79kg asap
Phase II: Day 11- 31 -moderate IF diet + moderate carbs (100g/day) + moderate fasting walking (5k a day) + cardio -> goal of getting to 77kg
Phase III: Day 32 - 63 - recomp IF diet + fasted stubborn fat protocol -> goal of being a lean carbed up 77kg
After 9 weeks, im just gonna maintain for a while, at least 3 weeks. Then i'll do a SLOW bulk for the next 6 months and aim to end up a STRONG 82.5kg.
I've decided to keep up the weight vest regime, will make my effective training weight 90kg throughout phase I and II. For phase III i may let it slowly drift up towards 100kg though if it makes sense to and see if i can get some hypergravity effects for my vertical provided i've reached PR levels by end of phase II, which may happen actually cause i'll be leaner and stronger and hopefully PR my vertical.
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Food:
(http://i.imgur.com/JQ9aDGJ.png)
Activity:
Total Steps: 15,280
Fasted steps: 10,000
Calories In: 1503
Calories Out: 3011
Calories Net: -1508
Good day today .. 15k steps is a decent effort .. esp since i kept the weight vest on the whole day pretty much .. so my effective bw was 90kg. This is pretty familiar now.. im not finding it such a burden.. give it a coupla more days and i imagine it will become "normal" and unnoticeable! Looking forward to that..
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BW: 174.61lb / 79.2kg
Added 2 weights to the vest, now using 19 total. That's 19x0.538 = +10.2kg. Effective weight is 90.4kg .. go figure..! Lucky I have this vest hey, otherwise after 9 weeks my legs would get super weak/small...
Not long now til im done with Phase I goal of getting <79kg. I still have 5 days left .. which means I can get closer towards the 77kg goal of phase II. Sooner I get there better, cause then i can get my lifts going and recomp some muscle!
Food:
(http://i.imgur.com/D7RFDjf.png)
Fasted duration: 22.5hrs
Activity:
Total steps: 11,737
Fasted steps: 10,000
Calories out: 2747
Calories in: 1635
Calorie Balance: -1112
Smaller deficit, i went up in carbs cause i wanted to sleep tonight .. i havent slept well lately and hoping this gets me there..
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(http://i.imgur.com/NpHrKLJ.png)
BW: 78.7kg / 173.5lb (LPR)
I reached the Phase I goal early! So that's a relief cause I'm ready to change up to a less severe regime!
Phase II: I'm gonna switch out to a moderate diet. Moderate calories, moderate carbs, moderate activity but adding in cardio. The goal is to keep dieting down to 77kg / 169.5lb. I gave myself 21 days .. that's prob still pretty aggresive but we'll see how we go. The main thing i'm looking for is being able to train more or less normally .. and this depends on sleeping well.. with carbs and cals up, it should improve those aspects dramatically.
BS 6x100
BP 6x70, 10x60
WCU 8x80, 5x96
LPD 3x12x32.5
CROW 3x15x32.5
Cardio - 15min @ 9.6km/hr (LPR; new ex!; 2km in 12:35, 2.4km in 15)
Horrrrible workout...... my knees, lower back all didn't want anything to do with squats. Even bench, my R pec told me to stop on 70kg warmups.. so yeah. fk.hit a wall pretty hard for the weekends efforts..heh.
My weight vest busted, i will return it. That's a bit of a shame, but whatever..
Did a refeed to end Phase I.. needed it .. i feel and perform awful .. so it was a good idea to do it and get on with the next phase.
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So phase II begins tmr ..
I'm giving myself 9 weeks for a serious transformation!
This is the macro plan in a nutshell:
Phase I: Day 1-10 - hardcore lowcarb IF diet + lots of fasted walking (5-10k a day) -> goal of getting to <79kg asap
Phase II: Day 11- 31 -moderate IF diet + moderate carbs (100g/day) + moderate fasting walking (5k a day) + cardio -> goal of getting to 77kg
Phase III: Day 32 - 63 - recomp IF diet + fasted stubborn fat protocol -> goal of being a lean carbed up 77kg
After 9 weeks, im just gonna maintain for a while, at least 3 weeks. Then i'll do a SLOW bulk for the next 6 months and aim to end up a STRONG 82.5kg.
I've decided to keep up the weight vest regime, will make my effective training weight 90kg throughout phase I and II. For phase III i may let it slowly drift up towards 100kg though if it makes sense to and see if i can get some hypergravity effects for my vertical provided i've reached PR levels by end of phase II, which may happen actually cause i'll be leaner and stronger and hopefully PR my vertical.
TLDR: destination 77kg / 169.5lb .. but doing it moderately!
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Ok i just smashed my head into the ceiling at home by doing an SVJ on the 2nd attempt .. hardly any warmup.. lol. Usually it's a lot harder to touch the roof than that! So i guess i have some decent latent athleticism at the moment from the weight loss / weight vest ... lifting ... ?? I wish i could go test my vertical on the court but it's Australia Day and i imagine almost every bball indoor place is closed today. Maybe outdoor court..
Oh and post refeed to end Phase I, my body normalised at sub 79kg! Which is awesome.. cause that was all i wanted.. at this point. Now to lose the next 2 kilos of adipose at a more leisurely pace albeit while getting my lifts going again :)
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At this rate, you'll end up with several new cutting goals to maintain a bodyweight of 140lbs at 6'3" lollll. You're pretty light and lean now man, start eating and squatting again. 79kg at 6'3" and you're a double leg jumper...
I know you know what you're doing, but might I would give 1 piece of advice? Don't have a specific target weight goal. At least not at such lean levels. It's 1 thing for a 6'3" 250lb guy to have a goal of 190lbs. It's another thing for a 6'3" 173lb guy to have a really low weight goal that he struggles to get to because as he gets closer, the closer he gets to being very lean and starts sacrificing muscle and strength and he just ignores this fact to reach his "goal" no matter what and end up at his target goal with significant muscle/strength loss and end up regaining a good amount of fat as he starts eating again since his body was never the type to be extremely lean.
I know you're not at that point, just saying I think it's smarter to not cut to a specific target goal at your levels, but just cut until you notice a drop off in strength/lose muscle. It's pointless from that point to keep cutting IMO for your double leg jumping goals.
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If I was single-mindedly chasing only a bodycomp goal I would keep cutting to 150. So 169.5 is already a pretty major compromise! I wont be satisfied by any means with bodycomp at 169.5. Even 165 wouldn't get me where I wanna be bodycomp wise if I did cut down to that on this occasion, which I won't be.
My plan right now is a recomp involving diet + cardio down to 77kg / 169.5kg. That would be a decent compromise for now. And then I can maintain 77kg while continuing to recomp. But if I just accepted my current bodyweight and did a bodyweight maintenance recomp from here, it would simply take too long to get lean "enough" while trying to shed those 2kg I should do-away straight away. I don't think I will cut anymore than that though. But we'll see how it goes. When the scale reads 77kg i wont be carb depleted cause im no longer doing the lowcarb thing. It's just overkill at my current level of fatness.. maybe later down the line..
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:uhhhfacepalm:
Your journal is one of the more interesting ones I have seen, in that I almost completely disagree with most of the criticism that others but also disagree completely with how you structure your training!
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BS 2x132.5, 2x6x102.5
JS 6x145 (PR)
Push Press 6x57.5, 3x63.5
Depth Jump 8x20"
SVJx5, RVJx5 (PRs)
BW: 78.35kg / 172.73lb (LPR)
Squat notes:
Shakey legs and back .. fatigue has still not dissipated.] Took a light day. Should be good by friday.
PR my RVJ and SVJ at home.. touched highest on the roof than i have before.. so that's kinda cool .. but it's been a while since i tested so it may be that i have reached similar levels since I last tested but i dont think so.. feels pretty good esp with almost no jumping since Nov.. I wish i could have an estimate for vertical inches but i cant find a way to measure .. which is really frustrating me.
I did 2 conditioning sessions today .. 10 mins at a leisurely pace of 6km/hr and 17:30mins at a pace of 9.1km/hr. Cardio is hard right now but i think that's cause im so grossly unfit and i have to push through and keep going. My goal is to get 3 km in under 20 mins first .. and then build up to 4km in under 20 mins. For my needs that's probably fit "enough".
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(http://i.imgur.com/336LXFP.png)
BW: 172.18lb / 78.1 kg (LPR)
Gonna try real hard to take a proper rest day so i can nail some PRs tmr. This whole week was a writeoff training wise -- i overreached and im payin the price for it ..
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I did 2 conditioning sessions today .. 10 mins at a leisurely pace of 6km/hr and 17:30mins at a pace of 9.1km/hr. Cardio is hard right now but i think that's cause im so grossly unfit and i have to push through and keep going. My goal is to get 3 km in under 20 mins first .. and then build up to 4km in under 20 mins. For my needs that's probably fit "enough".
For your needs that is 100x more fit than necessary. A 4km run is about 3 more km than would have an utility whatsoever for you. The lack of fitness you feel is not from a deficit in steady state aerobic respiration but rather lactate tolerance, resting respiration, and the efficiency of your alactic system to recover.
Again the thinking is good - but like the idea that your calves lose muscle on a cut (seriously you think your calves atrophy and hypertrophy on a timescale that short? Do you know how much time people spend trying to build actual tissue in calves??) - the execution doesn't make much sense...
I've told the story before but in college the basketball team used to come to the track in the fall because the coach got it in his head that running a 6 minute mile was a necessity... They had to attempt to 2-3 times a week until they got it. The starting point guard (who was one of the fittest players on the team and played about 35 minutes a game) was at one point one of only 2 players who had to still run it (the other was some 7 foot european import)... They didn't always come in during track practice so I don't know if he eventually got it but I remember seeing him run multiple ~6:20 with his teammates cheering him along until he fell off the pace around lap 6 (indoor track)... That the coach didn't take this as evidence that fitness in basketball isn't relating to mileage was really puzzling - our underpaid sprints coach used to claim he deserved the job....
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^I get ya that playing bball would carry over better but summer is stupidly popular and I should have reached out to teams earlier (maybe before xmas) .. i cant find any place to play at the moment :( It's actually starting to worry me because I don't think i will be able to get in good basketball shape (skill wise and conditioning being equally important) in time for the late march tournament. But short of doing drills and whatnot .. this is something I can tack on to the end of every gym training session. For now it will have to do but sooner rather than later I do need to get more specific!!
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(http://i.imgur.com/gFGIV84.png)
BW: 77.9kg / 171.74lb (2016 PR)
Still losing weight steadily even though im not doing the crazy fasted weighted walks + hardcore lowcarb diet. I'm well on track to get to 77kg.
Not looking forward to training today. Woke up with super red eyes, dont think ive slept ... feeling pretty beat up .. need sleep. But i will FORCE some PRs today cause i cant stand the thought of a whole week of training WASTED. So whatever the case, ima manage that!
Training
BS 2x132.5
RDL 6x60
Back fucked .. gave up and came home..
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^I get ya that playing bball would carry over better but summer is stupidly popular and I should have reached out to teams earlier (maybe before xmas) .. i cant find any place to play at the moment :( It's actually starting to worry me because I don't think i will be able to get in good basketball shape (skill wise and conditioning being equally important) in time for the late march tournament. But short of doing drills and whatnot .. this is something I can tack on to the end of every gym training session. For now it will have to do but sooner rather than later I do need to get more specific!!
Since you realize how far from optimal it is, why not make the easy modification necessary to make it far closer to optimal? Even just changing your cardio to repeated half miles w 3 minute walks would get you closer to basketball shape than what your doing... I totally understand sometimes its not convenient or feasible to train optimally - but the challenge is coming up with something we can incorp orate that will better (not best) suit our goals rather than throwing hands in air and saying "well maybe this unrelated activity will carryover!"
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^I get ya that playing bball would carry over better but summer is stupidly popular and I should have reached out to teams earlier (maybe before xmas) .. i cant find any place to play at the moment :( It's actually starting to worry me because I don't think i will be able to get in good basketball shape (skill wise and conditioning being equally important) in time for the late march tournament. But short of doing drills and whatnot .. this is something I can tack on to the end of every gym training session. For now it will have to do but sooner rather than later I do need to get more specific!!
Since you realize how far from optimal it is, why not make the easy modification necessary to make it far closer to optimal? Even just changing your cardio to repeated half miles w 3 minute walks would get you closer to basketball shape than what your doing... I totally understand sometimes its not convenient or feasible to train optimally - but the challenge is coming up with something we can incorp orate that will better (not best) suit our goals rather than throwing hands in air and saying "well maybe this unrelated activity will carryover!"
Point taken. I'll give that a try tonight! Thank you!
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^didn't end up doing any conditioning ... just felt like shit ... i htink the bad week's training got to me .. i had 2 bowls of icecream just now and im like fuck it .. what's the point. hopefully week i can get some decent quality training in .. i can deal wiht other stuff bad prolonged periods of poor training really mess with my motivation! Anyway, time to rest completely sat-sun and come back fresh next wk for some PRs.
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Reality check time. I measured and what I thought was a mid 30s PR jump is actually a legit PR of ....... 27.5". So when i've been going on about 40" i am actually below 30". That kinda sucks. I have work to do. I should probably just do that cut to 70kg but i'm not sure it's a good idea to do it in one hit. Maybe i'll get sub 75kg first and maintain that and then later down the track go 75->69kg or whatever. Do i even care bout my vertical that much? I dont think so lol. Maybe i should do it just to see what it is like being in single digit bodyfat range .. then do small bulks around there not getting too fat again.
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Reality check time. I measured and what I thought was a mid 30s PR jump is actually a legit PR of ....... 27.5". So when i've been going on about 40" i am actually below 30". That kinda sucks. I have work to do. I should probably just do that cut to 70kg but i'm not sure it's a good idea to do it in one hit. Maybe i'll get sub 75kg first and maintain that and then later down the track go 75->69kg or whatever. Do i even care bout my vertical that much? I dont think so lol. Maybe i should do it just to see what it is like being in single digit bodyfat range .. then do small bulks around there not getting too fat again.
That doesnt suck. If your dunking w a 27" jump your reach must be pretty impressive, like at least 8'4" or so... Only jumping 27" inches means that you can realistically jump 10-12"" higher w training, imagine the dunks you will be able to do? If your jump was 36" now it would be a lot less likely that you add a foot of jump height... finding weaknesses is always a positive when your goal is improvement!
Your like 6'4"? Your goal is to cut to 69kg?? Thats 150lbs! 6'4" 150 is extremely skinny - even by high jumper standards thats way too light...
Im a lot closer to agreememt with a lot of the stuff you do as far as bw manipulation when compared to the other posters... i dont have a problem with frequent weigh ins and your monitoring of bodyweight... but this is something your taking too far...
You should take your 27 inch jump into account here... you keep losing bw to jump - you think it works. But considering that your only jumping 27 inches should be evidence that your weak. Cutting bodyweight will work if your weak - weak people are not powerful at 200 or 170... but if you want to make major changes your gonna have to get strong and powerful rather than be the lightest weakling around...
Additionally if you want to get to single digit bf.... dont cut to 150. Thats the hardest way to do it. At 150 legit single digit bodyfat requires you to have about 10-15 pounds of total fat... Good luck w leptin when you go that low. If you dont have great genes for leanness your body is not gonna give up what is semi essential bf until your really weak...
Or you can be closer to 200 where you can carry a healtheir amount of bf and still be single digits... i am able to stay single digit year round simply because i have some muscle not because i have extremely low levels of bf...
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It may be that I jump higher at a rim than on a vertical test at home.. perhaps something is missing in the test eg adrenalin etc. I can't be sure about anything. I do want to arrange a VERTEC assessment sometime and get an official measurement under test conditions to compare with too. It could be that the rims in my country are all low lol. I wouldn't really rule out rim height discrepancy an explanation .. though i do know some rims which are "high" compared to all the others ive played on .. and when im dunking strongly there I feel like i am jumping high but that might just mean low 30s instead of high 20s or something, nothing special. Who knows. At some point if 40" is out of the question i can still be happy "only" getting 36" once or twice - or landing a windmill or something else equally meaningful.
Actually thinking back the only time i dunked on a rim outside Australia was 2 years ago on the Venice beach courts... i was wearing flipflops and had no warmup and dunked 2 handed .. have that on video as well.. but that's neither here nor there. Have another trip planned to the states this year .. will try to get to more basketball courts and maybe even find a vertec there .. that would be cool.. Anyway til then i would like to actually improve my athleticism considerably .. otherwise i dont really have anything to prove to myself or to anyone else
Im gna stick to the plan and cut to 77kg as the goal of of this phase. And then recomp a while at ~77kg. I do think i have an easy 2kg to lose from 77->75kg - and if i can gain some muscle while doing that recomp of 2kg i'll be a better athlete than if i just straight up keep cutting to 75kg. I wont allow myself cut below 75kg though.. at that point im better served by adding muscle than by getting lighter! So there we are in agreement.
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(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Measuring-tape.jpg/220px-Measuring-tape.jpg)
This is much cheaper that tickets to the US.
:P
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Ok.... if you read my journal you will see some posts about measuring vertical based on rims/backboard/square heights... my hughest measured jump measured relative to the square is 42" while Ive never gone over 40" w a vertec but I attribute this less to rim discrepancy and more to jumping surfaces and familiarity...
That said... some of the rims at venice beach are low... very mow. Like 9.9". In general (in the states at least) you cant trust the height of outdoor rims but indoor rims are consistent...
When are you coming to the states? Where are you going? I am a member 9f just about every gym so if you come to socalnwe can get some training in..
I agree that you probably jump more than 27" in your videos, i would say you jump aroung 30"...
77kg is 170... more than light enough... glad we compromised 😀
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BS 6x100
BP 2x90, 6x80, 6x82.5, 6x80
WCU 3x101.3 (+20kg), 6x96(+15kg), 7x88.5 (+7.5kg)
LPD 3x8x42.5
CROW 3x12x42.5
CND - 1.5km in 8:47 (call it a PR), 3km in 18:30 (call it a PR), 3.3km in 20 (call it a PR)
BW: 78.4kg / 172.84lb
Broken .. back fucked. FUCK. i cant squat :(
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Ok.... if you read my journal you will see some posts about measuring vertical based on rims/backboard/square heights... my hughest measured jump measured relative to the square is 42" while Ive never gone over 40" w a vertec but I attribute this less to rim discrepancy and more to jumping surfaces and familiarity...
That said... some of the rims at venice beach are low... very mow. Like 9.9". In general (in the states at least) you cant trust the height of outdoor rims but indoor rims are consistent...
When are you coming to the states? Where are you going? I am a member 9f just about every gym so if you come to socalnwe can get some training in..
I agree that you probably jump more than 27" in your videos, i would say you jump aroung 30"...
77kg is 170... more than light enough... glad we compromised 😀
i dont remember thinking the rim was especially low or high .. it just seemed normal .. but n=1, i only had one attempt at a dunk so who knows. and yep california! mostly socal, will def meet up with you, that's high on my list of things to do! Mid-may through to June .. but if i can arrange some work i may extend that out a few weeks while im there.
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My back feels better today! But i dont know if that means i can start squatting heavy. SO frustrating. Will go light tmr and try heavy friday? Thinking to take up sprinting now that my legs dont need to be fresh for squatting .. at least for a while anyway. We'll see how it goes.
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(http://i.imgur.com/aUvjpkx.png)
BW: 78.4kg / 172.84 lb
WL has stalled .. it seems ... weird.. but i have laid off the crazy amount of walking and my cals have been higher (2000kcal) ish .. so maybe im just not on a deficit anymore. Or water retention masking WL. Anyway. 8 days left, ima try to get to 77.0kg.
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CND - 2km in 20 mins
BS 2x6x102.5
CND - 2.25km in 20 mins
BW: 78.4kg / 172.84lb
Squat notes:
Took a light day. Back feeling better than before .. but pretty fucked up still.. cant rack the bar without pain. Next workout i'll try squatting heavy.
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(http://i.imgur.com/rVAz7xt.png)
BW: 77.7kg / 171.3lb (2016 PR)
There we go. Ok, 7 days left, ima finish the job :headbang: I've been lighter than this before of course .. but htis time i'm not carb depleted .. which should count for something. I do see myself being about 2.7kg overfat still .. but the plan for the last 2kg is still a recomp not a straight up cut.
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CND 2km - 20 mins @ 6km/hr
BS 1x132.5
RDL 6x100
BS 3x8x102.5
OHP 5x57.5, 3x2x60
CURL 3x6x40
Orange Band Glute Bridge 3x12
BW: 78kg / 171.96lb
Getting annoyed at the scale.. lol. I may be over-eating?? Need to get my shit together and get <77kg and then I can start my recomp.. getting annoyed with wasting time in no-man's land ..
ANother terrible weights session. I blame my back injury and too much running.. have to cut back.
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Food
(http://i.imgur.com/b1iHxu2.png)
I think that was prob the best carb load in terms of carb:fat and protein vals! So that was the the saving grace for the day/week. Here onwards though im forced to make some changes...
1. cut down cardio way down to 1x a week (aim for a PR over 20 mins .. with the goal of getting 4km). I wont be as lean as a result but it's okay, i can get those cardio gainz when i come off the cut and start doing mo cardio. i was just being greedy trying to get them in now .. or maybe just impatient cause i know i could diet down to 77kg and still look like a huge whale.. so subconsciously i was trying to avoid that by doing cardio in intermin so i have more impressive bodycomp.. but it's a mistake to do that cause it eats into recovery for lifting which makes me a far worse athlete. the time for cardio is when im not cutting.. lesson learnt. this applies equally to the fasted walking bs too, stick to an upper limit of 3000 steps max .. and even that is optional.. im too fat to do that fasted shit anyways.. it's overkill while im still a huge whale.
2. With less cardio legs shud be FRESHER and get my squat going up.. do more volume in the gym.. whether it's upper or lower .. more volume => more muscle/strength -> better athlete
3. Become super strict on diet. No free meals, nothing junky, just clean eating for feb or until i reach my goal, whichever comes first.
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(http://i.imgur.com/Uigw9IE.png)
BW: 76.95kg / 169.65lb (2016 PR)
Got to 77kg. Still unsatisfied with bodycomp :/ Will now start phase III - which i'd written as a recomp phase to lose 2kg more of adipose while gaining some mass and strength. Continue leaning out basically. I should really just straight up cut to 75kg but I might take that recomp attempt first.. if i'm not leaning out, i'll revise, otherwise keep going. I give myself 6 weeks to recomp. Which will bring me to the week of the big weekend bball tournament which is where i'd like to peak my athleticism for. Lets do it.
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I don't know if this is way too much effort or if you've done it and it's buried somewhere in your journal(s), but I would love to see a summary graph of how your weight has fluctuated from the start of your training until now. You could also annotate whereabouts your local and life PRs for squats/jumps lie in relation to weight changes. Might be interesting.
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I don't know if this is way too much effort or if you've done it and it's buried somewhere in your journal(s), but I would love to see a summary graph of how your weight has fluctuated from the start of your training until now. You could also annotate whereabouts your local and life PRs for squats/jumps lie in relation to weight changes. Might be interesting.
It's not too much effort, it's just hard to compare apples and oranges. For exaple last year this time i had a 130kg front squat at a 80kg BW -- in season playing bball fairly hardcore .. so that was pretty good. I jumped quite well to boot. Then i got hurt soon after there. Since then i've managed to cut down to 77kg while maintaining a BS of 132.5kg for reps .. out of season, which is different from a FS of course but im lighter, though not in fit or playing bball and i may have been stronger/muscular a year ago when i was using the FS as my staple lift. I dont front squat anymore though after hurting my back sometime mid 2015..
I am basically around 15-20% bodyfat right now and could stand to lose another 5-7.5kg of dead weight to be at an "athletic" bodyfat of 10% or less. i just cant bring myself to commit to that sort of longggggggg depressing cut. I'd get skeletal cause i juts dont have the muscle mass to pull it off .. and i realise now the extra fat mass helps fill out my frame quite a lot! 75kg will have to do for now as a lower limit. If i can stay in that 77-75kg range while getting stronger and putting on some mass, it will help my athleticism and more importantly, motivation to keep training hard. Later down the track i can do some future cutting, maybe 2 cycles to go 75->72.5 and 72.5->70kg, but idk, that's not something i wanna think about right now, too depressing..
you know as maligned as adipose is .. and i hate it .. but i have to admit it helps my training a lot more than i previously thought. having that belt of adipose around my waist is protective of my spine.. i dont know how or why .. but it helps to keep my spine safe and it's when i start shedding those layers of fat that i run into problems with my back.. it's weird to say that but i prob cant be very strong being lean cause i run into back problems and cant get stronger
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BS 6x100
Bball training ~ 25-30 mins
BP 2x92.5, 5x83.5, 5x82.5, 5x80, 5x77.5
WCU 3x100, 5x95, 2x6x90
LPD 3x8x47.5
CROW 3x12x47.5
BW: 76.95kg / 169.65lb
New beginninggs.. phase 3 recomp is underway! :ibsquatting: :ibrunning: :wowthatwasnutswtf: :ibjumping:
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(http://i.imgur.com/cZ8l48A.png)
BW: 76.6kg / 168.87lb (2016 PR)
Good start so far! If during the recomp period the scale reads 77kg-75kg i'll be happy so long as i'm getting stronger, it's all good. The only thing to worry about is if drifts above 77kg cause it would mean i'm not on a deficit and not leaning out, which would be a mistake given my high bodyfat%!
Hoping tomorrow i can squat heavy .. should have fresh legs, at least on paper since i did volume squats friday, rested completely sat-sun and didnt do any running monday :strong:
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Great job on the cut man. Strong dedication. One thing though.
Jeezus, you are not at a high bodyfat % for the 12380th time lol :uhhhfacepalm: Just cause your body/skin doesn't look and feel like marble stone doesn't mean you're at a high BF%. No way at 6'3" 169lbs, with decent strength and athleticism. I don't even need a picture of you to tell. Even single digit guys can make their fat jiggle man
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BS 6x100, 2x8x40
JS 2x8x40
PP 6x57.5, 3x58.5, 3x2x60
Depth Jump 3x7 (PR)
Squat notes:
Back fucked cant squat heavy :( Try friday.
I figured out how I hurt my back. It was the stupid pointless jumps I did on the 23rd of Jan at home. something that means nothing to me by the way.. i just got caught up in the "must jump" nonsense that goes around this forum. so annoyed with myself. A reminder to myself not to follow crowds. The real shame is i was on a real good groove .. weight loss + getting strong, with my RDL approaching 2xbw for worksets ... ( i did 8x147.5kg that week and 4x2x132.5kg on BS and due for RDL 8x150kg the following week).. with an improving squat and so on .. and i messed it all up by doing something completely meaningless .. lol.
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I figured out how I hurt my back. It was the stupid pointless jumps I did on the 23rd of Jan at home.
JS 6x145 (PR)
A super natural movement like unloaded jumps vs the monstrosity of jump squats with a 145kg barbell on your back, one of them hurt your back, guess which.
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No. I did JS on weds, lifting fine (PR) on friday including squats and RDLs. Hurt my back saturday jumping. When i jump to touch the bar on the roof it forces me land akwardly (I think on my heels instead of forefoot). It's definitely the dumb jumps. The heavy JS are safe, i dont get high enough to land on my heels. With lighter ones the landing is more risky.
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I am just trying to give you a different perspective. When we are in the zone we don't see things as clear and simple as an external observer.
This '145kg js is safe coz i land on toes, i land weird on RVJs so they wrecked my back' doesn't make much sense to me.
But hey, that may only be me. So suit yourself.
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I verified it for myself today doing a SVJ, when trying to reach as high as possible, in full extension and with my massive 27.5" vert i have exactly 0.005s to get my shit together to stick a perfect landing. This doesn't happen naturally cause there isn't that much time to switch my brain/body from focusing on reaching high as possible outstretched .. to also get my feet in order for a safe landing. It's basically how it happened, i know it cause i felt it at the time. What's annoying me is i had no use for it.. i can literally go months at a time without jumping and not lose anthign on my vertical.. even improve it.. so it was completely unnecessary! i wont repeat the same mistake again.
In order of lower back injury risk the lifts I do are SQUATS ~ RDLS < Cleans < Push Press < OHP < Light JS < .... < Heavy JS < ... Bench Press
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No. I did JS on weds, lifting fine (PR) on friday including squats and RDLs. Hurt my back saturday jumping. When i jump to touch the bar on the roof it forces me land akwardly (I think on my heels instead of forefoot). It's definitely the dumb jumps. The heavy JS are safe, i dont get high enough to land on my heels. With lighter ones the landing is more risky.
Straw. Camel. Back.
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personally, i'm not a big fan of jump squats above 30%. risk goes up significantly as the percentage goes up. we just need to make sure we don't hurt ourselves in the weight room, that's the worst.
heavy speed squats are much less risky. they are definitely safer than heavy jump squats & arguably are just as beneficial due to the emphasis on that transition from eccentric to concentric.
really sucks about your back. hope it heals up quickly.
pc!
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BS 6x100, 3x110, 2x120, 0Fx132.5
RDL 10x100, 6x60
Hip Thrust 2x8x60 (PR), 8x90 (PR)
TKE 3x20xThick Band
Glute Bridge 3x12xThick Band
OHP 3x3x60, 3x2x60
CURL 3x50, 5x50, 3x6x45
SL Calf Raise 3x21
Squat notes:
Just like that my squat evaporated.. will probably take months to get back to where i was a week ago lol. Have to find a way to train my legs and back while my back is injured.. but i dont know any.
Misc accessory notes:
Started doing hip thrusts just cause i wanted to get some decent volume in for lower body while being unable to squat or RDL.. so tried this. Not sure why but this lift is super uncomfortable .. is it because of muscular fatigue or just the pressure of the bar digging in or both? IDk. whatever.
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Maybe try to do frontsquats too? ;) For me they made a huge difference! awesome would be if you are able to do heavy hip belt squats, they take out pretty much all lowerback loading but I never stumbled across such a machine myself.. soo... Other than that, have you tried to focus on unilateral work for a while? Trap bar deads would also be a good alternative too imo and if you drop your hips low and use the low bar handles when doing them, they really fry your legs (quads)... my last idea would be to do heavy sled pushes/drags a few times a week.
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Misc accessory notes:
Started doing hip thrusts just cause i wanted to get some decent volume in for lower body while being unable to squat or RDL.. so tried this. Not sure why but this lift is super uncomfortable .. is it because of muscular fatigue or just the pressure of the bar digging in or both? IDk. whatever.
Maybe try to do frontsquats too? ;) For me they made a huge difference! awesome would be if you are able to do heavy hip belt squats, they take out pretty much all lowerback loading but I never stumbled across such a machine myself.. soo... Other than that, have you tried to focus on unilateral work for a while? Trap bar deads would also be a good alternative too imo and if you drop your hips low and use the low bar handles when doing them, they really fry your legs (quads)... my last idea would be to do heavy sled pushes/drags a few times a week.
Following up on Leonel's suggestion, you could do lunges. They are almost SL, so they'll help you get rid of imbalances, and because they are SL you won't be limited by your back. Depending on the way you do them, you could focus more on P-chain or quads, if you really work on form you can make it a super glute dominant movement.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/split-squat-technique.html/ (http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/split-squat-technique.html/)
I'm sure you know all of this lol, just throwing it out there cause a lot of gyms don't have sleds or trap bar
Also congrats on your cutting, I can't even imagine being at 169
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Thanks guys. I will try the suggestions but i'm not too optimistic. Can't do FS even when i was healthy without bothering my back.. chances are they're def out when injured. Trap bar never really appealed to me. I dont know how to use it properly without rounding my back. Not keen to revisit. BSS is not much different from BS in terms of disturbing the spine but the load is lighter so it may work better.. Will see how it goes.
I like the suggestion of the heavy sled pushing.. only prob is i dont have that piece of equipment.. though i could push a car or something? haha.
Man those HTs really wrecked my .. hips.. is that just from the bar pushing on my hips or is it a muscular thing. idk.
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I only did heavy sled pushes once before, as I unfortunately also don't have access to this piece of equipment myself, but I have to say it felt great. Soreness is minimal because of the lack of an eccentric motion but I think you can still achieve some good strength gains with it and as I said, it's pretty joint friendly for the back and knees. And let's be honest, it doesn't get any more basic than that: get behind a heavy sled, drop your hips low and just push that damn thing! If I had access to one, I would definitely make it a staple in my training program.
About the hip thrusts: It takes some time getting used to it. In the beginning it caused me a lot of discomfort/pain even with a pad... now it doesn't bother me at all despite the load being much heavier. I think this is one of the rare cases where the rule "fight through the pain" applies (if the "pain" isn't severe)
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Heavy Sled Pushes -- It does sound appealing! Yeah I don't mind the pain on HTTs.. i know my body will adapt, Wolf's Law and all. I think i'll skip the padding for a while and just let my body grow accustomed to the discomfort then I can use padding for say 140kg ->180kg .. though I dont know if i will use this lift for that long. Guess we'll see if it does good things for my athleticism .. which is exciting.. always good to find something new to try!
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I figured out how I hurt my back. It was the stupid pointless jumps I did on the 23rd of Jan at home.
JS 6x145 (PR)
A super natural movement like unloaded jumps vs the monstrosity of jump squats with a 145kg barbell on your back, one of them hurt your back, guess which.
Wait, he actually did JUMPSQUATS with 145 kg? I read that and thought "oh he changed the units back to lbs"... wait... so you're telling me... that... he... wait... what?!
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Bball ~ 30 mins
Dunks 3x5 (LPR; reintroduction)
HIIT Sprints - 5x(20s on, 20s off)
BS 6x102.5
BP 1x90, 4x84.5, 5x80
BW: 76.55kg/168.76lb (2016 PR)
Bball notes:
So hideously out of shape... was losing my breath playing halfcourt pickup for fucks sake. Dunking is all time low levels,even on such a low rim i missed the first couple of attempt before rattling in a feeble excuse of a dunk. But kept at it and got marginally better ... still really pathetic though, couldnt do any tomahawks so the decline is real and undeniable.
Conditioning notes:
Started doing sprint intervals.. figured it was time to introduce sprints.. im in terrible shape and could do with the conditioning work and since my squat is already shit there is no opportunistic cost to bare. The only thing is im still trying to lose a bit of weight so this might be biting more than i can chew in terms of recovery but whatever.
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regarding trap bar, they're easy to adapt for long-limbed dudes like you. just start with the bar up on plates or low blocks, high enough that you can assume the starting position with a neutral back.
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I mean if i had access to a Tarp bar i might even entertain using one but since I dont and i'd have to go out of my way to find one, it's really not worth talking about lol. I have used one in the past and i had issues with setting up with a flat back. It's not really the lift for me tbh, the rom isn't enough .. but i do appreciate the suggestions.
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BS 3x122.5, 1Fx127.5
JS 6x150 (PR), 8x150 (PR)
Push Press 3x6x60 (PR)
Depth Jump 3x6x20"
BW: 77kg/169.8lb
Squat notes:
Aaaaaaaand the comeback begins! I did the heavy JS because fuck cargo cultism. It's perfectly safe. Next time i'll pick my BS weights better tho. In hindsight I shuda done 125kg double but that struck me as too light so i went with 127.5kg and failed the 2nd rep. Go figure.
Upper notes:
Im going to progress push press 3x6s @ 2kg/wk. I will stall out but hopefully by then i can switch to doubles and triples and get close to a BW push press for reps by tournament time. At some point i should reintroduce medball work too but not yet, need to get my squat back up first..
Depth Jump notes:
Considered progressing from last wks 3x7 to 3x8 but decided to go the other way instead and do less volume.
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2 more weeks of scheduled dietng left. Feeling pessimistic bout reachign my goal weight of <75kg/165b by then .. but we'll see, may have an overnight whoosh at some point and bring me close. Honestly i dont get it, im looking a lot leaner in the mirror but the scale hasnt registered the losses so maybe something funny going on .. anyways, lets just see out the next 14 day and then I can revisit body comp. I know i improve my bodycomp by doing more cardio .. but not until im done dieting.
The HIIT sprints i did on monday made my quads sore (as expected) but it didn't seem to affect my squatting too badly so that's promising. And i'd be crazy to attribute it to just one workout -- but my love handles have melted appreciably the last coupla days.. so maybe it's already doing good things for bodycomp!
In other news, I only have 5 weeks left til the bball comp!!! yikes it's crept up. Not sure if i'll be ready .. i havetn played a full court bball game since dec :/ but im hoping to be in the best shape of my life by mid-to-late march.
The question is, can i get a 150kg raw backsquat at 75kg bw before the comp?? And peak my vertical and conditioning?! Even getting one of those would be amazing but all 3 seems quite unlikely. Maybe if i had 12 weeks but 5 is not enough. It doesn't seem like there is enough time esp since i'm cutting and it will take time to get on a roll once i'm done (if i'm done at some point ..).
I feel like going off the caloric deficit will give me some strength gains. Stopping the stupid fasting thing will give me some gains. Maybe i can just go balls to teh wall and get some more gainz. also maybe the hip thrusts and rdls will help indirectly too? will all of that be enough to finally reach the 2xbw BS? Idk. First things first, need to rep 140kg for a double and im no where near that at the mo.
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If sprints make your quads sore you have problems rdls and glute thrusts wont fix...
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If sprints make your quads sore you have problems rdls and glute thrusts wont fix...
oh??
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I think what he meant is, that when your quads get sore sprinting then your sprinting mechanics are flawed. Something you can't just fix doing tons of RDL's, hip thrusts because it's an entirely different movement and eventhough you will get stronger glutes/hams doing them and your activations in these exercises gets better the carryover to actual sprinting is marginal! ;)
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i dno. if you havn't done max effort short sprints in a long time, i'd expect quads (and hams/glutes if you do more than acceleration) to get somewhat sore the first time.
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^true, but they werent short sprints (~100-150m) however if i did short sprints (say <50m) with recovery, i would def have some even more pronounced and crippling quad doms .. i know that with probability 1! To be honest i wouldnt call these sprints .. i was soo out of if that day, i could barely call it a sprint .. esp after the first rep, 20s isn't quite enough recovery. felt too slow/unaccalerated to call it anything like a sprint. But i'm still interested in hearing the explanation.
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^true, but they werent short sprints (~100-150m) however if i did short sprints (say <50m) i would def have some even more pronounced and crippling quad doms .. i know that with probability 1! To be honest i wouldnt call these sprints .. i was soo out of if that day, i could barely call it a sprint ..felt too slow/unaccalerated to call it anything like a sprint. But i'm still interested in hearing the explanation.
I'm not sure the science behind it, but I never feel anything in my quads when I sprint. My hamstrings and glutes on the other hand!!!
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if ur quads are sore, chances are u are push running and not pull running -> dynamically weak hams
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if ur quads are sore, chances are u are push running and not pull running -> dynamically weak hams
sorry i dont know about running dynamics. is this the same as forefoot v heelstrike?
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if ur quads are sore, chances are u are push running and not pull running -> dynamically weak hams
sorry i dont know about running dynamics. is this the same as forefoot v heelstrike?
I'm no expert so don't take what I'm about to say as the truth. I'm sure Adarq or T0ddday can clarify better.
When you sprint, you are actually pulling the leg down via hip extension after you initiate the knee drive and bring the leg forward. So as you pull the leg down from the glutes/hams via hip extension, and you make contact with the ground, the hamstring has to be strong enough in this position to stay stiff and allow the hip extension to "continue". If it's too weak, the knee joint collapses, causing it to bend and in turn load the quads.
The quads push your body up and down, while the hip extensors pull your body forward. The push is not only bad from a leverage standpoint, but wastes energy as you are primarily trying to go forward, but wasting energy getting extra vertical. You want as little vertical force and as much horizontal force in sprinting. If this happens from sprinting, chances are you will be a very quad dominant jumper off 1 leg as well. So yeah, weak hamstrings is not favorable from a mechanics standpoint for any dynamically hip dominant activity.
But who knows? Adarq or T0ddday might come in and call me a moron and say I'm completely wrong lol
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Look i'm not really focusing on sprint mechanics right now but if this can help me become a better basketball player, im all ears. Specifically in driving with the ball in a half court set. Or fast break offense and defense. Or blocking a shot (which i invariably end up doing SL for some reason even though it's my weakest jump form)..
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Merrick had some salient points other than the push/pull explanation which is a little off... Sprinting involves pushing the ground away - not pulling your body along the track... The concept of grabbing the track (pawback) and pulling is wrong... the question is do you push with your glutes and hips or your quads...
Becoming glute aware and hip dominant will probably be the biggest positive change you make as a basketball athlete... All the talk you have about as far as your "slow cns" and plodding movement will be fixed with hip activation. Things like defensive shuffle speed are accomplished only by a hip dominant athlete... the slow brain you think you have is prpbably more of a result of your poor movement pattern that you have running than anything else...
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That's amazing. That's the first time anyone has ever told me that. Wow. Question is, How do I make these changes happen?
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Yeah this has been discussed many time by many coaches. Most recreational athletes don't have very active hips. When you are like this and you learn to use your hips for the first time, there is a world of difference in the way you move. So yes, it doesn't matter if you don't care about sprinting. It is still relevant in basketball. It's not purely about sprinting, it's about MOVEMENT.
Having said that, quads are still important as hell in basketball IMO
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BS 3x125 (LPR), 1x127.5, 2x125, 2x6x107.5 (LPR)
OHP 2x60, 1x62.5, 5x3x60 (LPR)
RDL 8x130 (LPR), 8x135 (LPR)
Hip Thrust 2x8x100 (PR)
WCU 3x100, 5x95
Thick Band TKE 2x25 (PR)
Thick Band Glute Bridge 2x20 (PR)
BW: 76.3kg / 168.21lb (2016 PR)
Squat notes:
Forced some heavy squatting even though i was supposed to just volume .. but i wanted to see if i could recover some more ground after being unable to squat 132.5kg anymore. 6 reps at 125kg or more is decent. Will work up to 12 reps. Sucks that i cant squat leave alone rep 132.5kg anymore though :(
Accessory notes:
Game changer on hip thrusts .. i realised my plates were bit small.. so i put a set of plates underneath and this made a huge difference. Otherwise it was scary ending the set cause i'd have to lower the bar to the ground and it was too far away and I worried for my back. Now i can just go straight down, easy. But these sets were brutal. If i had considered doing a 3rd set i decided against it after the 2nd, just too painful lol.
RDLs - Did heavy RDLs again for the first time since I injured my back! Now gotta work up to 8x150kg which will be 2xbw once im done cutting to 75kg. Wicked. Excited to see how this translates to athleticism once all is said and done.
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BS 3x125 (LPR), 1x127.5
BW: 76.3kg / 168.21lb (2016 PR)
Perhaps the biggest benefit to becoming hip dominant for you would be that it would allow you to give up your never ending diminishing returning quest to cut weight... Suffering from jumpers knee has caused me to drop max height jumps for awhile... one way to more safely practice is weighted jumps (yes its worth it).
I cant dunk a basketball that easily... but today i was training someone and tested my jump w an additional 40 pounds in the form of a weight vest, belt, and weighted shorts and I rattled in a ugly dunk w an effective bodyweight of 250 pounds... this wont be possible for a quad dominant athlete and is a big part to you chasing the never ending weight loss...
At some point you have to realize you are 6'4" 168.... so you are either cut OR have no muscle and specifically no hams/butt... if the first is the case then stop cutting... if the second is the case then building a bit of muscle will pay off a million times more than your diet... think about it.
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But that's confusing, i always thought I was hip dominant... so im not sure if this is me.. b/c i too was able to dunk while heavy (~220lb) .. and quite obese, it wasn't pretty, it wasn't athletic but i could do it. I always thought my quads were not strong enuf, that was why i started to front squat. And so on. Later i decided the front squats did help me but only indirectly cause the ATG FS is a great glute and pc chain exercise (for me and my build type) and it wasn't really the quad panacea i had thought it to be, and rather the BS was superior for my quads .. but i digress..
I dont think im as lean as you think i am. I get it, at my height and weight i should be quite lean. I'm actually obese though, so maybe im an outlier an exception to the rule. I do actually believe that strongly. I dont want to cut forever but i do want to cut enough to be lean and then start from scratch, building myself up slowly and staying lean and being super patient when i do right i may be able to be a lean 80kg/175lb .. but right now im an obese 168 (in athletic terms) .. and will prob be around 15% bodyfat give or take when i reach my goal weight of 165lb. Is 15% lean enough? fuck no but i will stop and take a diet break. This thing isn't going so smoothly anymore .. it's taking ages to lose weight now and i think my body needs a break from dieting. Later on when im fresh i'll tackle the next cut from 165 down to ... maybe 155 (75kg -> 70kg) --somewhere in that range i may hit 10% hopefully.
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Why don't you just post a picture?
Also T0ddday,
I don't get what you said. You are talking about a 2 legged vert and quad dominance can be just fine for 2 legged jumps. I mean there are tons of quad dominant insane 2 legged jumpers. The 2 legged jump is just fine being done quad dominantly unlike the 1 legged jump or sprint
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Cause photos dont help anything. We've been down that road on the forum. Oh you have visible abs you must be X% bodyfat where X is estimated at ~10% except I had fkn visible abs when i started cutting 10kg ago.. so either im 0% bodyfat now or visible abs dont mean anything. The thing which confounds this is i dont have typical male fat storage and im not going to take photos of my butt so this whole exercise is pointless
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Why don't you just post a picture?
Also T0ddday,
I don't get what you said. You are talking about a 2 legged vert and quad dominance can be just fine for 2 legged jumps. I mean there are tons of quad dominant insane 2 legged jumpers. The 2 legged jump is just fine being done quad dominantly unlike the 1 legged jump or sprint
No. I disagree. Anyone who gets really high off 2 feet (45+) is using speed and hip tendons. You dont store force in your quadriceps tendon to any appreciable degree. A lot of people think they are quad dominant, and some may use more quads than others but your not having your hips turned off and jumping high.
Additionally, your not gonna be 165 at 6'4" and jump high without your hips. Dieting down to insane lightness while you dont know how to use your hips does not make sense. T
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Yeah forgot you were special man. Just keep going to 155lbs at 6'4" lol
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Yeah forgot you were special man. Just keep going to 155lbs at 6'4" lol
There's 2 parts to this but only a few ppl on this forum would be able to relate to this. Those who have allowed their bodyweight to drift wayy past their setpoint (from injury induced layoffs or whatever). So i dont think i was born to have this storage pattern. There is a good quote on this if i can paraphrase it fairly, "As men get fat they take on female storage patterns" and vice versa, "as women get fat they take on male storage patterns". So as a woman gets obese she'll start to grow a protuding gut and pile on the lower back fat when women normally wouldn't store fat there. Similarly when a man gets obese he'll start to store fat in his hips/butt/thighs/chest when normally he wouldn't. This does bad things for a man hormonally too, reduces testosterone production and increases oestrogen production.
The point is if a male has "let himself go" at some point, that fat is there and it must be dieted off or whatever. And then maybe if you do it right, ie minimise saturated fat intake and overall fat intake for that matter and keep calories in check not gaining weight too quickly he will be able to gain weight in a more "normal" manner for a male, which is good.
The thing todday doesn't get and it's easy to understand if you do make a quick table like i did on this thread:
(http://i.imgur.com/ckvGB.png)
The difference between the guy who is 10% at 90kg and 10% at 70kg is ONLY 2kg of adipose. SO it's only wishful thinking to say you should "just gain some muscle" - of course you should gain muscle! But if you already more than say 2-5kg of extra adipose, you would have to gain wild amounts of muscle to nevertheless improve your bodyfat% appreciably. This is all very depressing of course but the numbers are undeniable...
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^^^ I think I have you pretty beat on the letting your bodyweight drift past its setpoint. In fact im pretty sure im forum wide champion.
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I really don't get it why you are so stubborn when it comes to achieving a certain weight. Your mental occupation with dieting and achieving "X" bodyweight or bodyfat level is pathological. I mean as T0ddday said, I saw you going through several phases where you made some decent strength gains only to kinda lose most of it during your "cuts/recomps/whatever" It's like you're complaining about a headache while repeatedly banging your head against a wall. I believe you wont get anywhere with your athletic/visual pursuit like this. And please never call yourself obese again at 168lbs and 6'4 I mean what would I be then at 6' and 210lbs? I'm really not trying to go on your nerves here or call you out... just trying to help. Stop with that dieting down to 75kg in the next 12 days then recomp for 2 weeks and go on a slow bulk up to 80kg (just an example). I mean that's just madness... eat clean, eat enough, make sure you get in all your macros and kind of let your body "decide" where it feels comfortable weight wise long term... it might be 170lbs but it might also be 185+ lbs I don't know. But I really think the whole concept of bulking/dieting is misplaced when it comes to athletic training, when you are not really too heavy/fat to be athletic, move in an efficient way. (read: you're not obese!!!) This is not bodybuilding! ;)
Pc!
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^^^ I think I have you pretty beat on the letting your bodyweight drift past its setpoint. In fact im pretty sure im forum wide champion.
True. You and mutumbo have gained the most weight in recent times. But i think you were both pretty lean in your teens and 20s. In comparison, I think i am still holding adipose from ages 14-23 -- those were the years i was pretty physically inactive & ate like crap because i didn't know any better ... sucks.. cause i cud have made amazing gains in those years if i had been more active. I really didn't start lifting til 25 and learned the wrong stuff to start with and let myself go in a big way (intentionally) topping out at 115kg / 250lb at my heaviest from "bulking up".''
2 years ago i did a pretty decent job at cutting to 163 .. however as soon as i came off that diet, i rebounded hard, eating so much junk in the space of 10 days. Lmao, i used to go to the shops and buy a box of brownie mix and make a batch and eat the entire thing in one sitting. i quickly found I had had bounced back to 175 and kept going up. My body just wasn't ready to maintain 163. I had got there too fast, via hardcore ~1000kcal/day dieting. This time around my plan is to maintain 165 for a while before attempting any future cutting .. and let my body become accustomed to new set points of bodyfat% along the way. The mistake i made previously was i had never given myself that chance to make intermediate setpoints .. and when i reached my goal weight, i was not prepared to maintain it. Maintaining lower bodyfat% is going to be my biggest challenge to come .. not so much getting there but staying there.
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I really don't get it why you are so stubborn when it comes to achieving a certain weight. Your mental occupation with dieting and achieving "X" bodyweight or bodyfat level is pathological. I mean as T0ddday said, I saw you going through several phases where you made some decent strength gains only to kinda lose most of it during your "cuts/recomps/whatever" It's like you're complaining about a headache while repeatedly banging your head against a wall.
Goals like bw are measurable and concrete but ones like actual bodyfat% values are not. Unfortunately this means i'm coupling my bodyfat% milestones to bodyweight milestones like 80kg->77.5kg ->75kg ->72.5kg ->70kg etc or in pounds 185->180->175->170->165->160->155->150. Thats how I arrived at 165 .. there is nothing to say it will correspond to any meaningful bodyfat% -- it's useful only in relative terms that losing 1kg ~ 1%bf and so 5kg ~5%bf. In other words bodyfat changes go like 20->17.5->15->12.5->10->7.5 and so on. It's a rough approximation of meaningful milestones of relative bodyfat% CHANGE not actual bodyfat percentage values that are meaningful to us (15% vs 10% for example).
I know from past experience I can afford to get down to 72kg from my current 77kg and still not be "ripped" -- which tells me i can afford to lose 5kg yet. But working backwards that means i have a surplus 5kg of adipose above and beyond my essential athletic bodyfat of ~7kg(10% of 70kg). If i do a bulk that +5kg will only increase .. and it's easy to imagine it going to +7kg. That's 7kg on top of the essential athletic bodyfat amount of 7kg. Too much fat. Good luck bulking, gains will be mostly fatty bulking from such a high bodyfat percentage.
I've talked about this in the past but there is a lot of value in getting down to ones bare "essential bodyfat" - not because that is desirable from an athletic or aesthetic viewpoint long term.. it's just a good starting point to start training and eating properly. Maintain it for a while (say at least a few weeks or months) then start gaining weight SLOWLY after getting as strong as possible at that bodyweight/bodyfat%. If i take it real slow from there and gain weight in a decent fashion (say at most gaining 0.5-1.5kg (1-3.5lb) bodyweight per month) while eating clean (oats + low saturated fat etc) and small surpluses (<+200-500kcal a day) i'll gain mostly muscle and good (male) bodyfat distribution. Obviously gaining some bodyfat as well which is okay cause bodyfat% will go up proportionally to bodyweight and you can more or less maintain your target bodyfat (say 10-12%). But if bodyfat% goes too high, cut for a few weeks and then repeat. Basically the most common advice from the bodybuilding community which has long figured this stuff out..
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It seems like you didn't even read my post. wtf is that essential athletic bf you're talking about you make up all these "fancy words" but it doesn't really make any sense at all! haha
I know from past experience I can afford to get down to 72kg from my current 77kg and still not be "ripped" -- which tells me i can afford to lose 5kg yet. But working backwards that means i have a surplus 5kg of adipose above and beyond my essential athletic bodyfat of ~7kg(10% of 70kg). If i do a bulk that +5kg will only increase .. and it's easy to imagine it going to +7kg. That's 7kg on top of the essential athletic bodyfat amount of 7kg. Too much fat. Good luck bulking, gains will be mostly fatty bulking from such a high bodyfat percentage.
I mean what's that shit you're trying to get at here...?! Don' t overcomplicate things so much!! I mean yeah weight loss is a measurable variable but at these small increments (0.5kg) the weight difference might probably just be because of daily fluctuation. I mean it's not that fucking hard. Lift weights while focusing on a good diet, getting enough protein and voila your body composition will change... I mean I know that I have to get rid of some bodyfat but I just focus on keeping up the intensity and eating more clean and eventhough I only lost a couple of lbs so far the mirror shows me that I definitely lost some fat... sorry if all this sounded a bit harsh but it seems like you are putting waaay too much thinking into this weight loss, body composition process and got obsessed with it which takes away energy you would better spend doing what is most important, TRAINING!! :D
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Btw acole thanks for the TENS/EMS recommendation. I used one for the first time last night and couldn't believe how amazing it felt .. next day im good as new .. so this is a game changer. I owe you a lot for putting me onto compression gear and now the TENS machine. I only wish i had read your post again because you suggested getting one with an AC charger, mine is just battery. But i'll prob get another one and see if i can get my health fund to cover the cost.
Also came across this book, The Lean Muscle Diet (http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Muscle-Diet-Customized-Nutrition/dp/1623364183) so far im digging it a lot, it puts maintenance first which is exactly what i'm after .. cause im good at dieting and cutting but need help in maintaining my gains once i get them. So very timely coming across it!
ANother thought i had recently .. low carb diets work a lot better for me in bodycomp change and fat loss. My next cut will def be a keto diet .. no doubt. I just hate the lack of sleep and having to piss all the time but whatever.
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It seems like you didn't even read my post. wtf is that essential athletic bf you're talking about you make up all these "fancy words" but it doesn't really make any sense at all! haha
Essential atheltic bodyfat is around 7-10kg (15-22lb) for most males. It's basically 10% of 70kg-100kg. I have a lot more than 7kg. I have something like 12-15kg which is too much. Hence i wanna reduce it to 7kg. Then i'll start gaining weight and muscle.
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Yeah you're right it's best to get your bf levels pretty low especially when it comes to sprinting/jumping etc. But the way you call it it sounds like it is "essential" to have a certain bodyfat level (10%) to be athletic. if you are higher or even when you're lower then you just gonna suck bigtime or what? I'm confused a bit but I'll gonna keep my mouth shut now... maybe I'm just too stupid to get your concepts...
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Essential fat and storage fat. As its name implies, essential fat is necessary for normal, healthy functioning. It is stored in small amounts in your bone marrow, organs, central nervous system and muscles. In men, essential fat is approximately 3% of body weight. (http://www.shapeup.org/bfl/basics1.html)
Play on words to talk about an "essential athletic bodyfat" -- which might be defined as the amount of bodyfat you need for optimal athletic performance depending on the sport. I'd guess you can look at the best athletes in a given sport to see what bodyfat% they have and it's prob a close approximation to "essential athletic bodyfat"?. I'm talking about basketball so for me 10% bf makes sense, which amounts to 7-10kg for the average player weighing btw 70-100kg but for another sport it may be different. For the average guy who wants to be athletic (run/jump well) it's prob also ~10%. I wouldn't call 10% pretty low though. Low is 6-8%.
Anyway the reason im talking about essential athletic bodyfat isn't even to do with performance .. it's to do with the maximum bodyfat amount you should have before you start gaining weight (-> for muscle gain). If you start off at 15kg of bodyfat and gain weight your gains will be mostly fat. If you start with 7-10kg of bodyfat and gain weight your gains will be more muscle and less bodyfat. it's to do with insulin sensitivity and p-ratio. Telling me to "stop cutting" and "gain muscle" is stupid because i already have 10-15kg of bodyfat and my gains will be mostly bodyfat instead of mostly muscle. I'm not interested in gaining only weight and strength. I want mostly muscle and strength together.. dont need useless bodyweight gains which aren't lean. Doesn't help my goal to be a better athlete becoming stronger and fatter.
btw i wish everyone here dishing out advice and upvotes/downvotes would stop projecting. I'm not telling ANYONE else how they should structure their diets and training. I'm talking about myself. I wouldn't apply advice pertaining to myself indiscriminately to another individual who may have very different needs than myself. i'll only ask others to do the same when dishing it out others.
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If you start off at 15kg of bodyfat and gain weight your gains will be mostly fat. If you start with 7-10kg of bodyfat and gain weight your gains will be more muscle and less bodyfat. it's to do with insulin sensitivity and p-ratio. Telling me to "stop cutting" and "gain muscle" is stupid because i already have 10-15kg of bodyfat and my gains will be mostly bodyfat instead of mostly muscle. I'm not interested in gaining only weight and strength. I want mostly muscle and strength together.. dont need useless bodyweight gains which aren't lean.
Do you have a source for this? I've been staying kind of neutral, but I'm skeptical about this. If there is a significant muscle gaining benefit to being at 10% bf, I'm sure different weightlifting communities would be all over this and everyone would be trying to maintain 10% BF because it would be inefficient to have anything more.
Also, I know you are convinced you are well above 10% bf, but have you considered getting tested or at least buying an inexpensive caliper to test yourself? Obviously people are different, but when I was at 175lbs I am pretty sure that I was below 10% bf, just from visual comparison. It doesn't seem like our strength levels are that different.
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Sure here you go, sources below. And lol, yes it is well known among the lifting community .. esp bodybuilding!
If you’re above 15% body fat (about 24-27% for women), diet first. If you can get to the 10-12% (19-24%) body fat range or so, I think you’ll be in an overall better position to gain mass. Trying to get super lean will probably end up screwing you in the long run because your body will be primed to put back fat on (and most other physiological systems are screwed up as well) when you get super lean. (http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/initial-body-fat-and-body-composition-changes.html)
The question is why, why is bodyfat percentage having such a profound impact on P-ratio. Well, there are a few easy answers. One is that bodyfat and insulin sensitivity tend to correlate: the fatter you get, the more insulin resistant you tend to get and the leaner you are the more insulin sensitive you tend to be. (http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/calorie-partitioning-part-1.html/)
You also get more testosterone production at that bodyfat % .. which is another nice bonus.
I will get a DEXA after i stabilise at a leanish 75kg. Pointless getting one now. It will tell me nothing useful. Getting one later will be purely for curiosity sake .. not anything else.
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I actually have 2 pairs of calipers.. and ones a good quality one. Never use it though. It's not very useful. I can tell when im leaning out by skinfolds getting smaller, jiggle test and not to mention mirror test. Calipers would just show diminishing skinfold measurements in mm which don't really matter. Actually, the data might be useful to see where the fat is coming off .. but it would be too much effort to track regularly .. hmmmm. But if that's what you wanna use the calipers go ahead, it will be useful. What it's not so useful for is coming up with an accurate bodyfat percentage.
Anyway. Suppose you go to the effort and take 8 site skinfolds.. then you plug them into an equation and get back a magic bodyfat measurement. That's your bodyfat percentage, right? Not quite. The equation is made from a model taken from a sample of a population .. it might be way off for a given individual, especially out of population the original sample was taken from. So for me since I know i have little in common with the average white man it wont be accurate, similar for someone of african descent or south asian descent. If someone did make a model for my race it might be more accurate for me but nevertheless it's just an estimate and doesn't have to be accurate for an individual but for most of the original population sampled. Btw this same thing applies for DEXA too which is why i dont put much stock in it either.
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Sure here you go, sources below. And lol, yes it is well known among the lifting community .. esp bodybuilding!
If you’re above 15% body fat (about 24-27% for women), diet first. If you can get to the 10-12% (19-24%) body fat range or so, I think you’ll be in an overall better position to gain mass. Trying to get super lean will probably end up screwing you in the long run because your body will be primed to put back fat on (and most other physiological systems are screwed up as well) when you get super lean. (http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/initial-body-fat-and-body-composition-changes.html)
The question is why, why is bodyfat percentage having such a profound impact on P-ratio. Well, there are a few easy answers. One is that bodyfat and insulin sensitivity tend to correlate: the fatter you get, the more insulin resistant you tend to get and the leaner you are the more insulin sensitive you tend to be. (http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/calorie-partitioning-part-1.html/)
Honestly the most frustrating thing about being in science/medicine... You put 10 years in school, years working in a top metabolism lab, hours upon hours actually doing research and understanding statistics and then someone tells you their source is some internet guru with a snarky attitude who sells books and programs and writes "sciency" sounding things... Smh...
Theirs some guy even more popular than that guy who runs an intermittent fasting site and had gall to determine the natural limits of muscle for all humans... lol. According to him no man can be under 6 feet and over 200lbs with single digit bf... (coincidentally that was as big as he could get lol). Well I guess im on drugs then cause Im just too strong. So is all of samoa....
Did you ever consider that your an individual? East indian extraction (famine resistance)? Female fat storage (possibly Kleinfelters?). Perhaps maybe very leptin resistant? Maybe you are different? Maybe your not supposed to be 10% bf. There is variance in the population. The fact that you have lost like 40 pounds and your vertical has stayed them same or dropped and only got to 27.5 is more than enough proof of this for me...
Fact is, I agree with a lot of your thinking. I think your smart to focus on getting lean first. I give similar advice. Bulking is silly for strength athletes... but if your dropping weight and your not jumping higher (and better at bw lifts) then either your doing it wrong OR you are dropping too much weight for your body...
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No i've always held the individual is different and that's the message others are missing because they're projecting their assumptions of what a person should be (based on BMI which is bullshit anyway) at a given height and weight. I'm not the one arguing against individual variation, they are!
It's common knowledge that you can improve your T-levels by reducing bodyfat % and decrease it by increasing bodyfat%. And insulin sensitivity does improve when you're leaner and it does worse when you get fatter. These things are good reasons to get lean regardless of the messenger but the main reason I believe in becoming lean first is the because bodyfat amount (in grams) will go up when you gain weight and if you start off with too much fat then you will end up too fat. To gain muscle you obviously have to gain some weight so that's unavoidable.
But yeah i'd just ask everyone to be patient and defer their criticisms until i've finished this cycle (<75kg/165lb) in ETA 10 days time. After that im going to stop cutting per se and just focus on getting stronger and gaining some muscle while staying at 75kg or less. For a while. And i'll get the DEXA scan for your edification so we can get an objective 3rd party opinion on the mystery of my bodyfat%.
I dont know if my vertical has not gone up cause i haven't focused on peaking it since i lost this weight. But of course that the next phase when i get off the cut will be to peak my vertical which should be interesting to see. I do expect PRs though, just dont know whether it will be low 30s or more than that.
TLDR: i'll update with photos in 10 days after finishing this cut. And after some weeks of stabilising at 75kg/165lb, will get a DEXA scan done.
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Aren't you retiring from vert training and stuff after your March bball tournament?
Aren't you trying to enter the tournament, being the most athletic you've ever been?
Getting anorexic while losing strength doesn't make any sense. Will the extra testosterone production help you on fast breaks? Is that it?
2 more weeks of scheduled dietng left. Feeling pessimistic bout reachign my goal weight of <75kg/165b by then .. but we'll see, may have an overnight whoosh at some point and bring me close. I know i improve my bodycomp by doing more cardio
The HIIT sprints i did on monday made my quads sore (as expected) but it didn't seem to affect my squatting too badly so that's promising. And i'd be crazy to attribute it to just one workout -- but my love handles have melted appreciably the last coupla days.. so maybe it's already doing good things for bodycomp!
I feel like going off the caloric deficit will give me some strength gains. Stopping the stupid fasting thing will give me some gains. Maybe i can just go balls to teh wall and get some more gainz. also maybe the hip thrusts and rdls will help indirectly too? will all of that be enough to finally reach the 2xbw BS?
Also, mentalities like this is never good. Looking for magic gains in every little variable. Oh I'm gonna do X and Y and Z and that should give me 3.543 inches, etc...
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From competitive bball, yeah i think im just bout done with the sport. From vertical trainign and stuff, idk, probably there too, it may not be possible to do much better than what i've achieved .. did start with a 20" vert so im not sure there is much left but diminishing returns from training. Will see though, once i stop playing bball i can explore other things like using PEDs and that may allow me to unlock more vertical gains but not really sure about going down that road tbh.
I do want to go into the tournament in the best shape of my life.. and as athletic as ive ever been. But time is not on my side and i have left too much left last minute.. (body comp, strength, peaking etc) .. so may have to settle for less than that. i'll try my best ofc but it seems pretty unlikely at this point.
the gains im looking for are from a)accessory work (rdls, hip thrusts) and getting my squat going again despite my changes of bodyweight, and b)going from a catabolic state (cutting) to a more anabolic one. Anyone who goes on a cut will lose some performance, 10% is not unusual. If coming off the cut usually will give a boost in strength and athleticism which will be cool. c)explore weight vest for peaking. and a few other things im forgetting now but i could try to peak my athleticism. The little things add up. d)stopping fasting always helps me train better.
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(http://usatthebiglead.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/118588686.jpg)
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BW: 76.15kg/167.88lb (2016 PR)
Activity:
Played pickup .. didn't want to, but felt compelled since the team is low on morale/numbers. Was fasted and lowcarbed (100g) yesterday. I wanted to and took it mostly easy but had an opportunity at a dunk under the rim and rattled one in .. my back didn't like the impact of landing but it's not too bad. IProbably should have just rested for lifting tmr .. but whatever. My fitbit already shows 5k steps for the day.. oops.
(http://i.imgur.com/sGxGY0F.png)
Food
(http://i.imgur.com/xeoCnST.png)
So much for a rest day, FML. But the food intake above will be my goto for rest days for the remaining 9 days.
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I'm no nutrition expert, but aren't you getting very low fat? It's usually recommended to get minimum 0.5g/lb of bodyweight in fat to meet hormonal needs I think
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I'm no nutrition expert, but aren't you getting very low fat? It's usually recommended to get minimum 0.5g/lb of bodyweight in fat to meet hormonal needs I think
I dont know, the fish oil shud cover the EFA requirements? THe book i was reading actually says that i might be having too much fish oil. The author suggests max 6 capsules (of 1g each) a day to avoid blood clotting (or something). I will reduce it to 6g after the diet.
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From competitive bball, yeah i think im just bout done with the sport. From vertical trainign and stuff, idk, probably there too, it may not be possible to do much better than what i've achieved .. did start with a 20" vert so im not sure there is much left but diminishing returns from training. Will see though, once i stop playing bball i can explore other things like using PEDs and that may allow me to unlock more vertical gains but not really sure about going down that road tbh.
PEDs to unlock vertical gains? Dunno about the utility of that, haven't seen PEDs benefit any male explosive athletes yet. There is this one PED called food and muscle that will do wonders for you. The idea that there are diminishing returns after the move from 20'' to 27'' is really one that is so defeatist it's actually disheartening. I would bet a lot of money on the idea that I could get you to 35''. Your extremely disciplined which is the number one untrainable thing - everything else can be fixed.
The biggest problem you have is a lack of belief and a lack of positive motivation/competition. I really don't know anything about Australia so I don't know how much you can change this but if you were in a different training environment you would be shocked to see what you could do. I hardly even dunk because my knees can't take pounding but today I trained a dunker along with a football player. Having never trained a pro-dunker before was eye-opening, a local guy whose internet name is young-hollywood came to one of our sessions to learn about speed and rehab and just seeing him jump was so motivating. I was always skeptical of internet dunkers and videos and imagined a lot of camera artistry and exaggerations about height... But this guy was no more than 5'11 and had a legitimate 50'' two footed jump. Even though I didn't plan to jump I was motivated to jump at the vertec and got some 11' 3-step vertec touches in for the first time I can remember. That of course is slightly below the guys standing vertical. Lol. The motivation a group of positive athletes has on each other really is helpful, you could unlock gains you don't know exist with the right environment - far more than what PEDs can give you.
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Off topic but... Young Hollywood can get his head higher than where i can get my fingertip :wowthatwasnutswtf:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJNJ3JlLSbo
Must have been amazing to witness such a jump live.
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There is this one PED called food and muscle that will do wonders for you.
Where can you buy these?!
Also, Young Hollywood is crazy. Nice to see pro dunkers actually getting professional training and not thinking "I didn't do anything but jump all these years so these trainers don't know shit. The secret is to just jump and dunk, fuck lifting"
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There is this one PED called food and muscle that will do wonders for you.
Where can you buy these?!
Also, Young Hollywood is crazy. Nice to see pro dunkers actually getting professional training and not thinking "I didn't do anything but jump all these years so these trainers don't know shit. The secret is to just jump and dunk, fuck lifting"
He might be the exception rather than the rule... Hes turning 30 so I dont know if the moniker fits, he goes by haneef now. He has suffered some bad quadriceps tendon tendinosis, hopefully prp and proper rehab will get him going.. Dunking constantly under 6ft takes its toll on you... He picks up information well and wants to learn training top to bottom. His training for years consisted of dunking, low hoop dunking, weighted dunking and ab work which is actually quite a good formula he figured out on his own. Really quite an elite athlete and gave me a lot of respect for a "sport" I havent really been fully respectful. We had an athlete training next to him who is a projected top 10 nfl pick at WR... that guy jumped 32" and 36" with zero technique so it really showed how high the best dunkers get...
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Off topic but... Young Hollywood can get his head higher than where i can get my fingertip :wowthatwasnutswtf:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJNJ3JlLSbo
Must have been amazing to witness such a jump live.
Certainly humbling. Im not usually the highest jumper when I jumper when I jump test athletes but Im always in the ballpark... someone who can get around a foot above your best jump is totally different story. Interestingly we discussed plants and he jumps right left and learned left handed dunking for more versatility after failing to learn to opposite plant which has me convinced its a losing effort to switch plant legs... he gave me a dunker nickname which was amusing lol
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What was your nickname haha.
That would have been so cool seeing a dunking legend up live and personal. Being in Australia and not playing organised ball I rarely ever get to see any dunkers- there's a few guys around my height who can dunk, but they can't do tricks or anything. I play with a few Sudanese guys who can stick their elbows in the ring, but they are all 6'6+ with massive wingspans so their verticals are probably around 30 inches.
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BS 2x130 (LPR; 1.70827x multiplier --PR?), 6x102.5
BBall ~ 1hr (first decent bball session of 2016)
Dunks 3x5 (1 legit tomahawk .. low rim but)
BP 1x92.5, 5x85 (LPR), 9x77 (BWxreps PR)
BW: 76.1kg / 167.77lb (2016 PR)
Squat notes:
Repped ≥130kg for the first time since 29th January when i doubled 132.5kg. Also first time i've squatted ≥ 130kg since 5th Feb when I did a single at 132.5kg. The kicker? Today was supposed to be a light day but i had something to prove to myself and got the LPR. Feels good, i know i can end this cut doubling 132.5kg at which point i'll push it up aggressively to 135-140kg double which should bring me closer than i have ever been to a 2xbw BS. Fuck yeah.
Baskeball notes:
I dont care what anyone says .. the absolute best way to get in basketball shape is 1v1 against a variety of opponents. So that's what i did after we finished playing 3v3 for about half an hour. The quick small guard and long big guy athletic guy being ideal opponents 1v1. Today i played against the latter ... he was beating me like 6-1, i brought it back to like 3-6 or something (we were going for 11) .. but then he walked away for some reason. I'm not even saying he was a better basketball player. But he's young, long (6'2"-6'5" and in shape) and he solidly beat me cause he's in waaaaaay better shape. I love it. I love getting my ass handed to me in 1v1. Motivates me to get better and better until i can beat the opponent. Hope he's there next week too.
I played bball lowcarbed which is good cause with my obese insulin resistant ass it burns a tonne of bodyfat.. i finally remembered how good this shit is in getting me lean.. watch the fat melt way in these last 9 days!!
oh and dunking was aite, i got my first tomahawk which is an LPR. Good esp while lowcarbed, it's hard to do athletic shit like dunking when carb depleted so im happy with that. I felt it though, could only do sets of 5, was done before i could attempt my 6th rep which so settled for 3x5 instead of my goto 3x6.
Bench notes:
The 92.5kg flew up! I have long arms and am in the tail end of a long cut weighing 168 doing close grip bench press only benching 1x a week. Also thought it might be interesting to see how many reps i cud do with BW and got 9 but i didn't fail. I figure when i reach my goal bw i'll be able to do more which is promising that im on the right track.
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So merrick i have to agree with you that getting down to 165 (actually ive settled on the goal of exact 164lb instead of the vague <165) is not so good for basketball. When i weigh 180-190 and I drive ppl dont wanna fuck with me and get in the way cause i have hte momentum of a steam engine and ppl will stay away. Everythign changes when you are a lightweight cunt .. they step up and challenge you on a drive cause they dont fear you in any way and welcome physical contact because they fancy their chances. Now im not even say pppl are consciously thinking about this shit during the split seconds of a basketball game, it's def subconscious but ppl do size you up in the heat of the moment and decide whether they wanna contest or not based purely on these factors. Very interesting to say the least.
Another observation i made today, on defense when i consciously slow myself down and setup for a double leg jump on defence i block the shit out of a player. WIth the important caveat the offensive player is not very good and doesn't take advantage of quickly launching a shot before you can do that Otherwise im going off SL and im beyond mediocre SL. So yeah, basketball does not in any way suit me .. im so bad at this sport ... i have no redeeming skills whatsover lol
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Food:
(http://i.imgur.com/EQtYVQi.png)
I got tired of eating chicken breast wrapped in a roti or just straight up (as in rest days) so decided to make a pizza. Surprisingly do-able and quite good with macros .. so i might make this my go-to active day meal. Extra bonus the protein content makes for a very filling pizza, after the first slice or two i felt full .. normally i can eat a fast food pizza in minutes and still be able to polish off a good fraction of another and then dessert so that was insightful .. i guess if i make clean eating my normal regime i will be able to make good use of such satiating qualities of protein.
(http://i.imgur.com/66sAR2q.jpg)
Interesting macros of the lowfat cheese was the almost zero carbs? That's interesting. I didn't know that was a thing. In australia at least it's new and im no stranger to dieting ive never come across cheese with such macros in the local supermarket. Cool!
Activity:
(http://i.imgur.com/pDvTyrV.png)
According to the fitbit i had a TDEE of around 2700.. which is cool!
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From competitive bball, yeah i think im just bout done with the sport. From vertical trainign and stuff, idk, probably there too, it may not be possible to do much better than what i've achieved .. did start with a 20" vert so im not sure there is much left but diminishing returns from training. Will see though, once i stop playing bball i can explore other things like using PEDs and that may allow me to unlock more vertical gains but not really sure about going down that road tbh.
PEDs to unlock vertical gains? Dunno about the utility of that, haven't seen PEDs benefit any male explosive athletes yet. There is this one PED called food and muscle that will do wonders for you. The idea that there are diminishing returns after the move from 20'' to 27'' is really one that is so defeatist it's actually disheartening. I would bet a lot of money on the idea that I could get you to 35''. Your extremely disciplined which is the number one untrainable thing - everything else can be fixed.
The biggest problem you have is a lack of belief and a lack of positive motivation/competition. I really don't know anything about Australia so I don't know how much you can change this but if you were in a different training environment you would be shocked to see what you could do. I hardly even dunk because my knees can't take pounding but today I trained a dunker along with a football player. Having never trained a pro-dunker before was eye-opening, a local guy whose internet name is young-hollywood came to one of our sessions to learn about speed and rehab and just seeing him jump was so motivating. I was always skeptical of internet dunkers and videos and imagined a lot of camera artistry and exaggerations about height... But this guy was no more than 5'11 and had a legitimate 50'' two footed jump. Even though I didn't plan to jump I was motivated to jump at the vertec and got some 11' 3-step vertec touches in for the first time I can remember. That of course is slightly below the guys standing vertical. Lol. The motivation a group of positive athletes has on each other really is helpful, you could unlock gains you don't know exist with the right environment - far more than what PEDs can give you.
I think that is fair about lack of belief and positivity. I'm guilty of that, and ive been told that by someone else recently too but unrelated to training. And i do agree if i could find even one person (not online) who had similar interests and wanted to train hard to improve athleticism i'd benefit from it greatly. But i think a lot of as are in pockets of isolation where we don't have the group training dynamic .. except yourself i dont know anyone else who has that here, at least that i can recall reading about in logs.
But i must say im kinda optimstic a little .. not about anythign in the short term .. that's all too daunting at the moment .. but in the medium term when ive got lean enough to start gaining muscle and strength.. i do think i can do some amazing things for my athleticism. I just have to do the hard work now and stick it out through these dark times. Sucks having to psyche up for a dunk (when not cutting it's natural like walking, cud do a tomahawk submax getting out of bed cold!) or even a lift that is usually a warmup becomes a 2RM effort that now needs psyching up.
i really wanna become the hip dominant athlete you described earlier.. still dont know how to go about it and im not in the mental state to start reading random internet training gurus either .. dont really need training ADD right now.
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I hardly even dunk because my knees can't take pounding but today I trained a dunker along with a football player. Having never trained a pro-dunker before was eye-opening, a local guy whose internet name is young-hollywood came to one of our sessions to learn about speed and rehab and just seeing him jump was so motivating. I was always skeptical of internet dunkers and videos and imagined a lot of camera artistry and exaggerations about height... But this guy was no more than 5'11 and had a legitimate 50'' two footed jump. Even though I didn't plan to jump I was motivated to jump at the vertec and got some 11' 3-step vertec touches in for the first time I can remember. That of course is slightly below the guys standing vertical. Lol.
what? :wowthatwasnutswtf:
must have been sick watching haneef jump. he's such a freak. he also has some of the cleanest/most effortless ~50's i've seen from a dunker.
The motivation a group of positive athletes has on each other really is helpful, you could unlock gains you don't know exist with the right environment - far more than what PEDs can give you.
ya environment means so much. it's not discussed enough in s&c.
if you train alone, you really need to figure out how to be competitive with your "self". it's much more of a mental war IMHO.
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BW: 75.9kg/167.33lb (2016 PR)
Visibly leaner with skinfolds diminishing around the waist (abdominal & lower back). Now my female fat storage patterns are starting to appear more prominent as my upper half of the body looks skinny/small while the lower half looks big/flabby! Moobs still unchanged though. I will have a six pac way before my chest/legs/hips/butt is lean .. which sucks cause what remains will be that hard to mobilise stubborn fat. Much much more difficult to lose in comparison to the usual male fat storage areas. So maybe hours and hours of fasted cardio needed in addition to dieting lol. That's a job for a future cut of 164 ->159 sometime after the late march bball tournament.
Finally got around to opening my replacement weight vest. MY experience with the last one was really awful so i had put it off til now. First impressions are this one is a lot better than the previous model which I returned. But i dont know if it will last long, the other one literally fell apart in a few days use. It feels more comfortable than the last. There is a weird factory smell just like with the last one which I find repulsive .. sigh. Looking on amazon, americans are really spoilt for choice, so many nice weight vests. Only cheap shitty chinese stuff available here though :( I took out half the weights so shud have about 10kg on there now (didn't count). I'll weigh and check in a bit.
effective bodyweight = 87.5kg .. feels somewhat burdensome on my legs .. haha, wonder how long it takes to adjust to it. Will keep it there for a while then work up to +20kg by tournament time to get peaking benefits (if there are any). I cant imagine dunking at this bw though so maybe it's too heavy and i should start lighter and progress it? Piece of shit sand bags. And the shoulder straps limit ROM so im not sure i could even dunk with it even if it were lighter. Oh well.
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BW: 75.9kg/167.33lb (2016 PR)
Visibly leaner with skinfolds diminishing around the waist (abdominal & lower back). Now my female fat storage patterns are starting to appear more prominent as my upper half of the body looks skinny/small while the lower half looks big/flabby! Moobs still unchanged though. I will have a six pac way before my chest/legs/hips/butt is lean .. which sucks cause what remains will be that hard to mobilise stubborn fat. Much much more difficult to lose in comparison to the usual male fat storage areas. So maybe hours and hours of fasted cardio needed in addition to dieting lol. That's a job for a future cut of 164 ->159 sometime after the late march bball tournament.
Finally got around to opening my replacement weight vest. MY experience with the last one was really awful so i had put it off til now. First impressions are this one is a lot better than the previous model which I returned. But i dont know if it will last long, the other one literally fell apart in a few days use. It feels more comfortable than the last. There is a weird factory smell just like with the last one which I find repulsive .. sigh. Looking on amazon, americans are really spoilt for choice, so many nice weight vests. Only cheap shitty chinese stuff available here though :( I took out half the weights so shud have about 10kg on there now (didn't count). I'll weigh and check in a bit.
effective bodyweight = 87.5kg .. feels somewhat burdensome on my legs .. haha, wonder how long it takes to adjust to it. Will keep it there for a while then work up to +20kg by tournament time to get peaking benefits (if there are any). I cant imagine dunking at this bw though so maybe it's too heavy and i should start lighter and progress it? Piece of shit sand bags. And the shoulder straps limit ROM so im not sure i could even dunk with it even if it were lighter. Oh well.
1. Despite all the silly things you do.... congrats on doing them. 95% of people with dumb ideas like "i should cut into the 150s at 6'4"" dont have the dedication to actually do it. You do. Then you supply us with data which I appreciate.
2. Stop making unverified claims that are easily verifiable. Its clear you have some type of body dysmorphia. Common in athletes. But do you have female fat storage and low testosterone? Are you insulin resistant? I dont know. But you could easily find out. Hell, when you come to LA you can come to my hospital and an hour we can sequence your genome, measure your free testosterone, hemoglobin A1c, and fasting glucose. My bet is your far more normal than you think.
3. 20kg is far too much weight to you. Your slow and light. Thats almost 30% of bodyweight. Studies have results at 10-15%. I like to push the envelope, so I have tested as much as 16%.... Although I think percent is far less important than adaptation. If you add a 5-10lb vest and cant jump within am inch or 2 of PR you have too much weight.
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I like to push the envelope, so I have tested as much as 16%.... Although I think percent is far less important than adaptation. If you add a 5-10lb vest and cant jump within am inch or 2 of PR you have too much weight.
interesting statement. i have gotten within 1-2" of my PR for SVJ with a 10lb vest on, but i don't think i could get that close to my RVJ PR.
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I like to push the envelope, so I have tested as much as 16%.... Although I think percent is far less important than adaptation. If you add a 5-10lb vest and cant jump within am inch or 2 of PR you have too much weight.
interesting statement. i have gotten within 1-2" of my PR for SVJ with a 10lb vest on, but i don't think i could get that close to my RVJ PR.
I might be being slightly too stringent but I think the point holds. I should also say it's your daily PR not lifetime obviously... So if you jump 40 and add the vest and get reduced to 33, it's probably not a good idea. The return is easy to calculate - it's a minimum of BW+V / BW * (Vested Jump). I state that as the minimum because usually our movement efficiency and power actually go up when we remove the vest - but that's the calculation if it didn't. Anyway, if you are a 40 inch jumper weighing 200lbs doing a bunch of training with a 10lb vest and getting no higher than 35'' you may be sorely dissapointed when you take off the vest and don't find yourself going that high...
Where your curve is depends on the individual. I actually tried really loading up one day and found my jump going down linearly with weight at 15lbs, 20, 25 to 36'', 34'', 32'', etc.... Then when I tried 45bs.... My jump plummeted. IMO better to load up and do squats or jump squats when your movement efficiency is that poor... The disadvantage of the vest is obviously load... The advantage is movement efficiency, when your jump no longer looks like a jump, there isn't much reason to do it.
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BS 1x132.5 (LPR; 1.74xbw)
JS 2x8x152.5 (PR; 2xbw)
Barbell Calf Raise 15x170 (LPR; new ex)
Push Press 3x5x62.5 (PR?)
Depth Jump 3x6x20" @78.2kg
Weighted Dunks ~ 10 @ 84.5kg (PR; new exercise)
HIIT Sprints 6x(20s on, 25s off)
BW: 76.1kg / 167.77lb
Squat notes:
Next week i'll double 132.5kg while weighing less. Can't wait!! My erectors are about to get stronger which is exciting cause i can usually push my squat up once that happens.
Upper body notes:
Figured out something about my PP technique (on locking out) which i wasnt doing before. So should be able to go for a PR of 3x6x64.5kg nxt week which will be exciting. Or maybe if im ambitious even go for 3x6x65kg tho i may not be capable of that jump. Will see.
Dunking notes:
Left home wearing the weightvest weighing 87.35kg .. could not land a single dunk. In fact, even just touching the rim was challenging enough. Went back to my car and took out some weights to what i thought was around 85kg. Then i could dunk, with some warming up and technique refinement. It's interesting how being overweight forces you to be more efficient. Then i took off the vest and did some easy tomahawks. For training effect i used my big heavy size14 shoes. Of course later on when im testing and peaked i'll switch to my better fitting, lighter bball shoes. I do think if i had one more weight i could prob have dunked at 85kg - nevermind. Next week i'll go for .. 86 or so? But the other change i want to make is dunk on the highest rim i know. That way i'll get more training effect.
Im not doing the hypergravity experiment yet by the way. waering the vest for weighted dunks on weds only. Later on i might consider wearing it chronically but not right now while im still below PR vertical levels.
Conditioning notes:
Did sprints a lot better this week! Felt good. Was a lot quicker and covered most of the ground (~125m) on each sprint. Next time slightly less rest, maybe reduce to 22s? Last week i did 5 intervals, added an interval. Going to stick with 6 from here.
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1. Despite all the silly things you do.... congrats on doing them. 95% of people with dumb ideas like "i should cut into the 150s at 6'4"" dont have the dedication to actually do it. You do. Then you supply us with data which I appreciate.
2. Stop making unverified claims that are easily verifiable. Its clear you have some type of body dysmorphia. Common in athletes. But do you have female fat storage and low testosterone? Are you insulin resistant? I dont know. But you could easily find out. Hell, when you come to LA you can come to my hospital and an hour we can sequence your genome, measure your free testosterone, hemoglobin A1c, and fasting glucose. My bet is your far more normal than you think.
3. 20kg is far too much weight to you. Your slow and light. Thats almost 30% of bodyweight. Studies have results at 10-15%. I like to push the envelope, so I have tested as much as 16%.... Although I think percent is far less important than adaptation. If you add a 5-10lb vest and cant jump within am inch or 2 of PR you have too much weight.
1. Thanks, that's quite the compliment even though we disagree fundamentally about my bodyfat% i am okay with it because I know i am an extreme outlier somehow and it's easier to believe i am exaggerating and dsymorphic than believe the less plausible possibility that i am right about my high bodyfat levels!
2. Wow that's an incredibly generous offer and i'm more than thrilled to accept! Sure thing, happy to do any test you like :)
3. Agree 20kg is too much for me. I found out today that 87.5kg was too much given my morning bodyweight is 76.1kg .. so that means i was using 15% of morning bodyweight. But here is something to consider if i use my gym weight it was around 78.2kg so was ~12% of gym bodyweight. And yet here is another thing to consider, we're probably working on the assumption that most ppl who do this experiment wil be reasonably lean (10% bodyfat), if i'm higher than that, say 15% then that shud be factored in. I guess lean body mass would be the best thing to use in that case? But if you're reasonably lean then lean mass ≈ morning bodyweight ≈ gym bodyweight so it doesn't matter too much.
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Weighted Dunks ~ 18 @ 85kg (LPR)
Pickup Bball ~ 45 mins
BS 1Fx127.5
OHP 6x3x60 (LPR)
RDL 8x140 (LPR), 6x150 (PR)
BHT 2x8x120 (PR)
WCU 3x100, 5x97.5
BW: 76.05kg / 167.66lb (blah)
Bodycomp notes:
Sucks how the scale hasn't really moved from ~76kg ... praying for the day i wake up magically low 75s / high 74s . damn :/ i need a steady stream of progress to keep me motivated. been stuck around here for ages. and to make things worse the longer i cut, the fatter i look which sucks .. makes me think i was right about needing to diet down to 70kg eventually to be lean which is what i realised last time i got in the low 70s in 2014. Anyway im just gonna keep at it and see where i end up by tournament time.
Bbball notes:
Had the bright idea do a weighted dunk workout on the high rim with my heavy oversize 14 shoes. Then i did some vestless and could do tomahawks easy. But here is the depressing thing. In dec i think when i last came here, i was doing the same dunk while weighing 85kg LOL. So pathetic, tbh tho, the rom and movement pattern with the vest might be the main reason i cant land tmhawks with the vest. Doesn't matter, just gotta keep working at it. In addition to being vestless, i was also quite a lot lighter from sweating because i did that dunk after pickup .. so that's prob another factor, weighing around 77kg (including shoes+clothes) makes it a very submax, meaningless thing.
Played pick up in the vest. Missed 100% of everything, shots and layups. i'd blame the vest but im just shit. I met one of the guys who organised the team i played for end of last year, asked him if he could let me fill in during march. he took my number but i dont really think he'll call me :( oh well, we'll see.
I realised im prob not getting any game time dunks .. as a RL jumper i want to approach from R side of the rim but as a left handed player i'm stronger offensively on the L side So im just a hot mess .. better basketball player on one side and more powerful athlete on the other!! . And im not even sure how it translates on defense, need to figure out which side im better on. It prob depends whether im facing the rim or away? If im shot blocking or rebounding it's a trade off either way i'd imagine. Any thoughts on this welcome.
Lifting notes:
On a day i failed my BS warmup of 127.5kg on the 2nd rep of a triple, i convinced and forced myself to go through with the workout anyway. In hindsight, thankfully. I got PRs across the board on RDLs and BHTs and LPR on OHP. Woooho. If my stupid bodyweight was ≤75kg that would be a 2xbw RDL set as well .. but it's fine, i'll go for 8x150 when im ≤75kg.
On barbell hip thrusts i took a 20kg jump from last week's PRs of 2x8x100 .. next wk i'll prob go for 2x8x140kg? My goal is 2x8x150kg by tournament time. Or if i can keep taking big jumps maybe even 2x8x160kg which is more pleasing cause the 2x10kg plates are more aesthetically impressive. This is either a meaningless lift that is doing nothing for me (probably) or it's helping my hip strength but like ive conjectured before .. my posterior chain is strong compared to my quads (in my humble opinion) and i need to bring up my weak point (leg strength) to become more athletic. Still, if it helps me squat more then my quads will also grow so it can't hurt. Lets just give it a chance and see what happens, ive never really done posterior assistance exercises like RDLs and BHTs .. so it's worth experimenting there even though i think my squat style already has that area covered (imho).
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I wouldnt even call yesterday's <200g carb day a refeed but today my bw spiked like a proper refeed would have triggered .. weighed 169.76lb / 77kg. FML. Just when i was thinking i need to hit a low of 74kg / 163lb by competition time! Hahah. All good. I must say the saving grace for me right now is doing weighted dunking. I can't help think it's the thing which will bridge the gap from cutting making you lighter and more athletic .. but also at the same time weaker and less powerful because dunks are less challenging. I def think i can be landing powerful dunks at a weighted 90kg by competition time at which point if i'm also decently light 75kg (ish) i shud be able to jump higher. But i do find myself thinking this is submax .. instead of "wow im getting so high" .. so that's a concern. I believe i jump to the rim as opposed to as high as possible on my dunks .. like if the rim was higher id jump higher and if the rim was lower i'd jump lower .. because my body makes the rim a target and inverse inferences how much force to generate. Is there a mental trick around this to jump higher regardless of rim height?
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Interesting... pretty wicked glute and hamstring doms .. which is something new. I must confess im pretty excited bout the prospect of sprints + weighted dunks + heavy RDLs + heavy hip thrusts + heavy backsquats + low bodyweight --> lifetime PR level athleticism??
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I've settled upon 74kg/163lb as my final goal bodyweight for this cut. Then i'm taking a diet break, no exception. I know I won't be satisfied with how lean I am and i know i wont be at 163 either but i'll stop there. Will come back for another cut later down the line in April to 72.5-70kg, depending on how low I need to go.
The reason i'll stop at 74kg is if i keep cutting too long, i'll probably succeed but when i come off the cut my hormones will be crazy and try to pile the fat back on like what happened in 2014 when i gained all the weight back in a matter of weeks through binging. This time i want to save discipline and will power and so on for the most important part of cutting -- maintenance.
So now I need to figure out how to get this shit done asap so i can stop cutting and get my body in a more anabolic environment for performance sake before the tournament. The final phase begins tmr, will weigh and start a new cycle -- probably looking at a worst case scenario of 76kg -> 74kg but we'll see how it goes. For the record today the scale read 76.3kg which is about where i've been stuck for ages. Looking at another 10-21 days of dieting. If i'm not at the goal weight i may just stop wherever i am? Will see.
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So as I expected (dreaded?) on Monday morning i am 76.05kg / 167.66lb .. call it 168 and my goal is 163 by end of March. That means I have 5 pounds to lose or 1.25lb a week .. tall order when ive already been cutting a while and weight loss has slowed down considerably.
I am suspecting something funny is going on, either i'm recomping and building muscle (lol) or water retention or smething else. I have been using food scales to measure my food intake down to the grams so either my maintenance has plummeted which may explain it. My activity levels are lower now than they were before .. just dont have the energy i had earlier in the year but im still averaging 5k steps a day and going up to 10k on active days (3x weekly). According to the fitbit for example, yesterday i had a TDEE of ~2350 and my food intake was 1500 so i shud have a 850 kcal deficit which is pretty decent and enough to show decent w/l but it just isn't happening.. weird.
Anyway the main thing is im leaning out in the mirror .. so im not too worried .. as long as lifts are going up and fat loss is occuring visually .. it's all good. Here is a summary of where i am and where i wanna be:
(http://i.imgur.com/inZSpx7.png)
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Forgive my uneducated opinion but when you cut at this rate aren't you doing so with complete disregard for any muscle you may have built?
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Forgive my uneducated opinion but when you cut at this rate aren't you doing so with complete disregard for any muscle you may have built?
it isnt that high a rate. 1lb/wk is a pretty standard rate? roughly half a kilo a week..
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Forgive my uneducated opinion but when you cut at this rate aren't you doing so with complete disregard for any muscle you may have built?
it isnt that high a rate. 1lb/wk is a pretty standard rate? roughly half a kilo a week..
Sorry mate. Was looking at the -850 cal/day part.
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BS 2x6x102.5
Thick Band TKE 2x30 (PR)
Thick Band Glute Bridge 2x20
BP 2x92.5(LPR), 5x85, 6x80, 7x77.5(LPR)
WCU 6x88.3, 7x85.8
LPD 3x8x42.5 (LPR; reintro)
CROW 3x12x42.5 (LPR; reintro)
CND - TM jog 10 mins @ 7km/hr (LPR; reintro)
BW: 76.05kg / 167.66lb
Notes:
Felt really miserable .. took ages to unrack the bar etc .. was just not there mentally .. i think it's the ketosis fog .. im not sure i shud be fucking with lowcarb diets right now.. but i know they give more fat loss.. but bad workouts just aren't worth it. Hmmm. Will refeed today and revise this low carb thing. I think when i've got under 75kg i'll just switch over to a gentle recomp - that might be a good compromise..
Took a light squat day .. will go heavy weds and hopeful i'll LPR 2x132.5kg.
Nutrition & activity notes:
Even though this is the end of the 3 week block .. and i legit have a right to have a refeed.. and i feel like shit physically and mentally, so it should be the ideal time to do one but i feel undeserving cause i didn't reach 75kg :/ ... and i know that's silly and i shud just go for it and whatever, esp when i was super strict and ate clean and trained hard for 21 days but im still uneasy about it. Already done ~11k fitbit steps just in case i was gna do a refeed that way my TDEE shud be around ~2700 for the day.
(http://i.imgur.com/VKvILw2.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/4ZE2sOa.png)
update. Compromised and had a slice of banana bread. Went up to 2300kcal for the day. Will do a proper refeed in 3 wks time. But in the meantime nothing changes until i go sub 75kg.
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(http://i.imgur.com/GwgRbTA.png)
BW: 76.15kg / 167.88lb
I'm actually really pleased with this weighing .. because it comes after a refeed! So it's possible im close to 75kg once I shed the water from the refeed. Woohoo. Lets see what happens in tmrs weighing.
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PANIIIIIIIIC!!!!!!!!
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Found myself reading a blurry scanned pdf copy of Vladmir Zatsiorsky's Science and Practice of Strength training 2nd edition. I wish i had a book copy but i can't find one that's reasonably priced online. Any other recommendations for books in this vein? I have Yessis "Explosive Plyometrics" which is easier to digest .. still a bit blurry tho haha.
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Found myself reading a blurry scanned pdf copy of Vladmir Zatsiorsky's Science and Practice of Strength training 2nd edition. I wish i had a book copy but i can't find one that's reasonably priced online. Any other recommendations for books in this vein? I have Yessis "Explosive Plyometrics" which is easier to digest .. still a bit blurry tho haha.
I got a copy of "Supertraining" which is a compilation by Verkhoshansky, Zatsiorsky, Siff off piratebay. It's insanely dense and it has a focus on training as it relates to sport. I have like 20+ pages of notes and I'm nowhere near finished... I should get back to that actually, it's very useful if your training goal is carryover for sports.
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The last two books I've read where Jim Wendler's "beyond 5/3/1" where he adds some interesting thoughts to the basic 5/3/1 method and dan john's "never let go" also a great book where he talksabout all the things he has learned during his career as a competitive discus thrower, olympic weightlifting athlete and as a coach. I definitely would recommend both of these books! They're very practical and easy/fun to read. I want to read "supertraining" but I haven't found an online/kindle version of it.Do you know where I can pick one up? 😊
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Fk, supertraining is beyond my comprehesion. Pretty sure i have the pdf somewhere too haha. I dont remember the last training book i looked at that was worth a damn though.
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BS 1Fx132.5 (rPR; 1.75xbw), 1x127.5, 2x122.5
JS 2x8x155 (PR)
BCR 15x190 (LPR)
Depth Jump 3x6x20"
Push Press 4x65, 5x64.5, 4x64.5
Weighted dunking 5x86(PR), 5x87.5(PR), 6x89.5 (PR)
CND - 10 min @ 9km/hr
BW: 75.7kg / 166.89lb (2016 PR)
Squat notes:
Damn my quads were useless .. i wonder whether it was the TKEs or somethign else? but still got a relative PR so cool. Oh and my JS warmup with 100kg was interesting.. was getting pretty good air.
Conditioning notes:
Skippped HIIT sprints, did TM running instead. See peaking thread for detail.
Activity & Nutrition:
(http://i.imgur.com/UWIgBoa.png)
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(http://i.imgur.com/qKcqmTT.png)
BW: 75.5kg / 166.45lb (2016 PR)
Ticking along ever so slowly... a lot leaner today than i have been before .. skinfolds are smaller all around which is nice.
Activity & Food log:
Calories Carbs Fat Protein Sugar
1,703 102 42 220 36
TDEE: 10,058 steps, 7.75 km, 2,651 calories
Net: 1703- 2651 = -948 kcal.
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(http://i.imgur.com/DGE6uQD.png)
BW: 75.25kg / 165.9 lb (2016 PR)
Getting close to the 75kg/165lb milestone. Can't wait to get to the next phase (recomp!!!!) once i'm done with being a consistent sub 75/165. Still aiming to be 74kg/163lb by day 21 too.
Training
Weighted Dunks @ 6 total makes @ 93.2kg / 205.5lb (PR; see notes)
OHP 2x4x60(LPR), 4x3x60
BS 1x127.5, 0Fx136, 0Fx137.5B
RDL 6x140, 6x155 (PR;>2xBW), 8x160 (PR)
BHT 8x140 (PR), 8x152.5 (PR; >2xBW)
WCU 3x100(+22.5kg), 5x97.5 (+20kg), 6x95 (+15kg)
HIIT Sprintsx6 (20s on, 25s off)
TM 10min @ 9km/hr, total of 2.6km in 20 mins
Dunking notes:
Ok body was not really willing to dunk today but i forced it anyways. And i happened to have a camera so i've uploaded a video which will also serve as my BEFORE vid .. will take an AFTER around day 21. The first 3 are my best weighted dunk makes. The rest are bodyweight ones.
Lifting notes:
More PRs on RDLs and hip thrusts. i'm finding these exercises sooo easy to progress.. it must be because i finally found something that targets my strong points (PC strength) as opposed to my weak points (my squats being limited by quads). Speaking of squats, i should have got some PRs today if not for my dead quads :( .. Will make some changes, longer separate post coming later.
Conditioning notes:
Totally forced the sprints and TM run. I knew if i didn't my cal burn for the day wud be around 2500 which is bullshit .. cause i wanted to eat more food .. so did them .. and b00m my TDEE was ~3000 kcal!! Happy about that!
Food & activity log:
Calories Carbs Fat Protein Sugar
2,396 252 40 249 94
Activity Totals: 14,939 steps, 12.11 km, 3,045 calories (TDEE)
Net = TDEE - Intake = 3045 - 2396 = -649kcal.
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my envy, it knows no bounds. two-handed tomahawk off a couple of steps.
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(http://i.imgur.com/fnnVUOM.png)
BW: 75.2kg / 165.79 (2016 PR)
I had a whoosh! I know this because i woke up twice to go the bathroom to urinate for an inexplicably long time and i realised my body finally relaxed and let go of some decent amounts of water weight. This is remarkable cause the day after a carb refeed you expect the anabolic bounce and subsequent spike in bodyweight. But that I weighed LESS than the day before is a great sign.
No more fasted treadmill walking or running anymore .. i'm done with that shit, i want a 2xbw squat and I need my quads as fresh and strong as possible not dead from meaningless fat loss junk miles. So that's the change i've made today. Still going to try get my 5000-7000 steps a day on rest days, regardless but it might be a bit hard without using a treadmill. All good.
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my envy, it knows no bounds. two-handed tomahawk off a couple of steps.
Thanks bud! It's tantalising to think i could be a bit more athletic just by wearing better shoes, not being dead from fasted walking/running etc, not to mention being on a chronic caloric deficit and a bit lighter and use a grippier slightly smaller ball. And more importantly a heck lot stronger via RDL+HTs+2xBW-BS!! I can't wait for Day 21 .. shud be in lifetime PR territory for athleticism!
:personal-record: :headbang: :ibjumping: :ibsquatting:
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go.
get.
it.
:highfive: :headbang:
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Wow.... standing dunk. I dont understand it. I can do all the other dunks. I caught oops w 40lbs vest and belt added (be 250)... took it off... i am still a good 6 inches from standing dunk. I do not understand how you make that look easy.. i swear its impossible!
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(http://i.imgur.com/oxO6APE.png)
BW: 74.9kg / 165.12lb (2016 PR!!)
The first major milestone has been achieved of getting sub 75kg. It doesn't quite correspond to the <165 milestone yet but very close to that too. Woohooo!
So ballpark i'm 6 days into a 21 day cycle with 2 weeks left to lose 0.9kg -- since 1kg = 7700 kcal, that means 0.9*7770=6930kcal to burn, which corresponds to 6930/15.0 = 462.kcal/day .. which is eminently do-able .. phew .. it was gna be challenging having a daily deficit of 550kcal-ish but im feeling more confident about hitting ~450 without the junk treadmill miles! :)
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go.
get.
it.
:highfive: :headbang:
Wow.... standing dunk. I dont understand it. I can do all the other dunks. I caught oops w 40lbs vest and belt added (be 250)... took it off... i am still a good 6 inches from standing dunk. I do not understand how you make that look easy.. i swear its impossible!
Thanks both! I think weighted dunking is a game changer for me. I've cut to low bodyweight before but I lose somethign in doing so, probably the strength component to dunking going from heavier -> lighter means each dunk is less challenging to the body in terms of strength and power. Dunks got quicker and submax-ier but that was it -- just easier, not higher -- wasn't jumping out of the gym by any means.
Now with with weighted dunking in addition to cutting i'm getting lighter but not just maintaining my strength with the weighted vest but actually increasing it since i'm going into each dunking workout weighing more, it may lead to even more pronounced athletic improvement. It remains to be seen how this plays out when i've reached my goal weight (both in morning bodyweight AND weighted bodyweight) by end of cycle. Lets watch and see!!
TBH weighted dunking AND hip thrusts AND RDLs are the most exciting thing in my training in a long time. These things are actually improving WHILE cutting which is something ive never been able to do with squats to any meaningful way. Squats go down on a cut but these other things for me are somehow improving, promise some tantalising athletic gains to come. In theory squats should be enough but in practice unless i'm consistently squatting heavy, hard to do while cutting, my (PC & dunking) strength goes down. Now i'm not limited by my squat mid-cut, i can actually work on strength (PC & dunking) outside squats which is a game changer indeed. I can't wait to see how I perform in the tournament. Hopeful.
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(http://i.imgur.com/cOTNzKs.png)
BW: 74.75kg / 164.8lb (2016 PR)
Milestones <75kg/165lb achieved. :headbang:
TO start off week 2 with a scale PR is nice but I remind myself I haven't got a full 3 weeks to peak, I mean I do, but the last week is gonna be mostly resting. I only really have this week and next week to train and diet off some adipose. After that, what's done is done, it's just a matter of reaping the rewards by resting. So yeah. Going to be aggressive and chase PRs across the board every workout. No more junk miles on the treadmill - it's either essential and worth doing or not doing at all.
Training
BS 1x133.5 (LPR; 1.78xBW PR), 0Fx135, 0Fx135B, 6x105, 3x2x122.5, 8x102.5
BP 2x92.5 (LPR; 1.237xBW PR), 3x85, 6x80, 6x77.5, 6x75
Weighted Dunks @ 95.25kg (~6 makes)
TM Run 2km in 12:55 (LPR), 3.14km in 21ish mins
Notes:
I'm cooling on weighted dunking, at least in the heavier ones ive been doing lately. It's too different to normal dunking to be almost an entirely different thing altogether. I agree with Todday that 10-15% is the sweet spot, i felt weighted dunks at around 85kg (+10-15% ish) i was still dunking in a way that resembled normal dunking, only more challenging and powerful. And when i took the vest off, i felt quicker and more powerful. Neither of those two things are true with heavier dunks ive done above 90kg. Will make changes.
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(http://i.imgur.com/58xu7KW.png)
BW: 75.2kg / 165.79lb
Decent post refeed spike ^ .. ! And ah yes, familiar post-squats soreness .. how i missed ya. Going to do some decent squat volume and then taper off closer to the comp for gainz.
I reviewed video of the weighted dunking from last night and im not sure if i wanna give up on the heavier version .. it looks a lot better than it felt. May find a compromise, one workout with +10-15% volume, 1 workout with less volume of ~+25% and of course the bodyweight dunks after each? That should cover all the bases. It's purely ego which compels me to chase a 100kg dunk if i'm honest, im not convinced it will actually help me become a better athlete tbh.
Next squat workout might be work up to a heavy single PR and then do 4x3x125kg. That should be challenging but progressive. Of course i may not be recovered enough for that by tmr so may do a light workout instead. Will play it by feel.
In general i do want to taper off volume .. esp on upper body exercises .. but i do also wanna look like i lift, which are competing goals. have to find some decent middle ground there.
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Half way point (kinda) and it's a xmas miracle! I have a full court bball game tonight!! mate asked me to fill in!! Only prob is i'm sore af from monday's squats .. but im sure i'll be fine. Saves me having to do cardio tonight which is awesome. Can't wait! Should be interesting .. :)
BS 0Fx135
JS 2x8x160 (PR)
PP 3x65 (might have done a 2nd set, cant remember)
Weighted dunks @ 97.65kg (PR; +20kg vest)
BBall game
Lifting notes:
So quads are just being annoying.. i cant lock out squats i can bounce out of the hole. FML. Like im getting the thing up to quarter squat level and i just cant lock it out?! How stupid. Otherwise i had that lift ezy.
BBall notes:
That game was crazy. high level, competitive, best competition ive ever faced. Was pretty quick .. felt like a guard, could run down the court with ease etc. But apart from defence, i dont think i had much of a role on offense.. which is understandable cause i was the odd man out .. but still. IN garbage time i had 2 dunk chances .. blew them both .. lol. so shit.
initial thoughts .. im not ready for the comp .. no way. I need more conditioning .. more skill work.. im def now quick enough to play a guard. only thing is, i need to make my team mates believe it .. i got one really nice assist (even the oppostite team applauded lol). but apart from that, i have a lot of work to do. why cant i dunk during games? my fitness wasnt bad but i just run out of juice and i cant do ME type movements like dunks in that state.
also feel fat and obese looking in the mirror.. but im not sure i have enough time to get rid off this adipose .. so no point dwelling but yeah that's something i shud sort out long term (not that i have plans to play bball beyond march).
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Interesting DOMS post my first full court game since last year -- anterior muscles of the lower leg .. i guess that comes from constantly slowing down and decelerating? That's the part i haven't covered in training when i run on the TM or do sprint intervals .. there is no training the deceleration aspect of basketball. So i'm glad i played that game cause it gave me valuable knowledge feedback on improving my training from here on. But the shitty thing is im not sure i'll be able to train well tmr cause ligaments & tendons recover slow.
Anyway this explains why basketball conditioning training involves so called suicides. It always seemed dumb to me but it covers the deceleration part well. So will add that from here on. I don't think my fitness is that bad honestly, I just need to augment it with more specific basketball work. I'm also thinking it might help to use the weight vest when i run the suicides, cause it will be make it more psychologically tenable to me cause I loathe basketball drills and think basketball training is invented by and for dumb ppl in a cargo cult fashion.
Funny how i thought just training my fitness/conditioning/energy system/ was enough to be "fit" -- i had overlooked fully half of basketball conditioning which is the slowing down efficiently part. All good, still have 2 weeks to get this done.
I am increasing calories too but will try to keep each day a deficit to achieve a recomp affect. As long as protein intake is high (200-250g) i shud be able to +muscle and -adipose. Let's see how it goes, into the last half of the peaking phase. One thought i had today is to temper my addiction to lifting .. it should give me a performance boost to lay off lifting if i can convince myself to (hard though).
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why cant i dunk during games? my fitness wasnt bad but i just run out of juice and i cant do ME type movements like dunks in that state.
A questions for the ages. Maybe it is basketball conditioning that allows for these ME movements during a game situation. It's one that's largely escaped me. May be a slight mental hurdle as well. I know I jump far higher when not thinking about dunking than when thinking about dunking.
Btw, where is your tournament?
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why cant i dunk during games? my fitness wasnt bad but i just run out of juice and i cant do ME type movements like dunks in that state.
A questions for the ages. Maybe it is basketball conditioning that allows for these ME movements during a game situation. It's one that's largely escaped me. May be a slight mental hurdle as well. I know I jump far higher when not thinking about dunking than when thinking about dunking.
Btw, where is your tournament?
Lol .. must be one of the most embarrassing moments when you get rimchecked while wide open for a dunk you'd never miss if not for being fatigued! I think we're on the right track that its a conditioning thing .. more specifically energy system related .. we'd never normally be in that state when dunking in training (at least i wouldn't)? or if you were in that state you wouldn't bother trying to dunk cause you know it would be a losing proposition and yet in a game you can't pick and choose what opportunities you will get to dunk, so when you get one and you're not able to take advantage it feels pretty devastating. After the game was over and i sat down for some minutes i went to the rim and did some dunks which told me it was a fatigue thing but hten i also missed a dunk straight after. It was pretty humiliating. It's in Brisbane.
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Anterior tibial soreness not from deceleration!
Suicides are stupid.
I know why you have trouble in game dunking.
I will add more later (remind me if i forget).
Very excited by your progress.
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BS 1x134.5 (LPR; 1.787xBW PR), 6x2x122.5(LPR)
BCR 8x140, 10x190, 10x200 (LPR)
Depth Jump 3x7x20"
RDL 6x162.5(PR), 8x170(PR)
BHT 8x162.5 (PR)
BW: 75.25kg / 165.9lb
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Woke up feeling an inexplicable desire to make a compiler. Not even sure I wanna make a new language but now i'm trying to think of a compiler i'd like to create but without any goal language.
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OHP 8x3x60 (LPR vol)
WCU 3x100, 3x3x99
LPD 2x8x47.5
CROW 2x10x47.5
CURL 8x40, 8x37.5, 8x35
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BS 1x135.5(LPR), 2x122.5, 6x107.5, 6x102.5
BP 2x92.5, 3x85, 6x80, 6x79.5, 6x77.5
Bball training
HIIT sprints 6x(20s on, 20s off @ 93.5kg)
TM run 1.5km in 10 mins @ 9km/hr (@ 93.5kg), 2km in 20 mins
Feeling pretty rough .. i rested sun-mon, but weighted vest walking on saturday gave me some weird back tendinitisisisisi that's still lingering fml.
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So i was a bit worried that the gainz from WV dunking were transient and only around as potentiating ones, to disappear if one didn't use the WV. But tonight I realised i could dunk just as well without first using the vest. That's good! Funny thing happened, there was a guy trying pretty hard to dunk while we were shooting around.. and he was getting pretty close. And i felt bad that i could dunk so easily and he seemed to get demotivated and he left. I didn't mean to discourage him and he doesn't know how hard I worked to get my gains. Speaking of which, another guy said to me, "It helps to be tall hey?" -- as if the only reason i can dunk is because im tall. I tried to enter into a raptor-esque dialogue about starting off with a natural 20" vertical but it seemed like was going to fall on deaf ears. Of course the only reason i can dunk is because im tall.. everyone knows that right? They dont know that i didn't get my first dunk until my late 20s and i tried pretty hard in my teens and 20s to dunk but i never could reach further than than just grabbing the rim which is where i was at at 16-17. He doesn't know all the hours i put into training so i could actually do this stuff .. but nevermind, people just gloss over that and are content to attribute it to things like height which i didn't have any control over.
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Once i was at the park doing jumps at the 9'10'' rim. I was touching a few inches below wrist at the time. A guy comes , he says "wanna play"? I say "nah , im just here to jump". At my break, he jumps too. He barely touched backboard. He says "can you dunk?". I say "sometimes". He asks "how toll are you"? I say 6'1''. He says "ohhhh, that explains it" with a huge relief.
PS : He was 6' or at least 5'11''!!! :uhhhfacepalm:
Another much sweeter story, at the same park. I am dunking, all the other courts are taken, a dad comes with his little daughter, they ask if they can shoot hoops at my court, i say of course, i will just do a few more dunk attempts and leave anyway. At my next dunk ( don't even remember if it was miss or make ) the little girl says "wow, congratulations mister, you are very tall!"!
I kindly thanked her. :wowthatwasnutswtf:
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true, true.
still, i'd kill for two inches more of reach.
:derp:
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Once i was at the park doing jumps at the 9'10'' rim. I was touching a few inches below wrist at the time. A guy comes , he says "wanna play"? I say "nah , im just here to jump". At my break, he jumps too. He barely touched backboard. He says "can you dunk?". I say "sometimes". He asks "how toll are you"? I say 6'1''. He says "ohhhh, that explains it" with a huge relief.
PS : He was 6' or at least 5'11''!!! :uhhhfacepalm:
Another much sweeter story, at the same park. I am dunking, all the other courts are taken, a dad comes with his little daughter, they ask if they can shoot hoops at my court, i say of course, i will just do a few more dunk attempts and leave anyway. At my next dunk ( don't even remember if it was miss or make ) the little girl says "wow, congratulations mister, you are very tall!"!
I kindly thanked her. :wowthatwasnutswtf:
That's just embarrassing for the 5'11 guy. Fair enough if he can grab rim on a regulation size rim, but to barely be able to touch backboard on a 9'10 rim ::)
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I know i left it last minute .. but i have 10 days til the comp and i need to learn how to play basketball. help!
things i need to work on
1. jumpshot
2. handles
3. defence
4. passing
in no particular order.
for my jumper today i put up some 3s from around 3/4 court .. i figure if i can make those kinda regularly i will make a normal 3pt submax. i know the usual basketball wisdom is to start close to the rim and move out but normal basketball advice is dumb and i dont see how shooting a perfect shot from near the rim helps you shoot a 3 - cause it doesn't, i know from experience lol.
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bump
Anterior tibial soreness not from deceleration!
Suicides are stupid.
I know why you have trouble in game dunking.
I will add more later (remind me if i forget).
Very excited by your progress.
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I know i left it last minute .. but i have 10 days til the comp and i need to learn how to play basketball. help!
things i need to work on
1. jumpshot
2. handles
3. defence
4. passing
in no particular order.
for my jumper today i put up some 3s from around 3/4 court .. i figure if i can make those kinda regularly i will make a normal 3pt submax. i know the usual basketball wisdom is to start close to the rim and move out but normal basketball advice is dumb and i dont see how shooting a perfect shot from near the rim helps you shoot a 3 - cause it doesn't, i know from experience lol.
Shooting 3's from 3/4 court will not help you for a normal 3 (in the short term). You need to create reliable, consistent mechanics that become automatic. IMO having a reliable shot from 15ft (free throw line distance) is much more preferable than a less than reliable 3 ball. With your height and vert you should be able to take most people off 1 dribble for a pull up shot from 15 ft.
I think the biggest bang for buck you can get in a short time frame is doing the simple things well. Good defense, movement without the ball, defensive dribbling (protecting the ball).
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I think it may help in the way that it strengthens the shooting muscles of hte arm (biceps) and once adapted, i'll be stronger and more adapted to shooting and can shoot jumpers from closer to the 3pt line easier .. atm it's a bit challenging. I'll experiment and see though. I have in the past suggested to kids to shoot closer to the rim cause they were trying to shoot outside their range and with bad mechanics but i dont think that applies to me.. my mechanics are mostly the same, it's just fatigue sets in perhaps .. and i have to expend more force/effort than necessary with more shots
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BW: 75.6kg/166.67lb
When you're eating >250g of protein a day, bodyweight does kinda go up .. just from having all that food in the gut. But i'm still endevouring to maintaining a caloric deficit for the last 9 days .. hopeful about rocking to the tournament leaner, stronger, fitter. Faster too.
As of today i'll try to spend some time at the basketball court every day. Shooting around and other skill work mainly, haven't got a structured idea for how to do this yet but i'll come up with something. Was thinking double the number of jumpers i take every time which is either dumb or exactly what i need. will see how it goes.
I'm also going to work with driving to the R while dribbling with the R hand. I'm strong going L with my L hand but i need to balance that out on the R side so i have more scoring options.
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JS 6x150 (PR), 8x150 (PR)
Aaaaaaaand the comeback begins! I did the heavy JS because fuck cargo cultism. It's perfectly safe.
I'm also thinking it might help to use the weight vest when i run the suicides, cause it will be make it more psychologically tenable to me cause I loathe basketball drills and think basketball training is invented by and for dumb ppl in a cargo cult fashion.
for my jumper today i put up some 3s from around 3/4 court .. i figure if i can make those kinda regularly i will make a normal 3pt submax. i know the usual basketball wisdom is to start close to the rim and move out but normal basketball advice is dumb and i dont see how shooting a perfect shot from near the rim helps you shoot a 3 - cause it doesn't, i know from experience lol.
Too much fuck-cargo in this journal. Doing 150kg jump squats when half the forum adviced you not to, not doing bball drills when you need to improve bball skills and building shooting mechanics the opposite way ( outside your range ) is not smart. Neither improvising or experimenting. It is plain avishek-style-stupid.
I am NOT calling you stupid, I think you are very smart. You know what i am saying.
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^tmr im gna do 170kg jump squats vag . .haha.
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Here is the thing about my jumper, it's pretty much automatic at the elbows. However. I want to extend my range out to the 3pt line and to use the conventional approach of moving out a little doesn't really do it cause no one wants to shoot long 2s, not just cause it's a bad shot but because it's subconscious to avoid it and I don't really want to learn the movement pattern which i dont want. So i extend out beyond the arc to make the 3pt line submax or more closer to the elbow jumper mechanically and in terms of effort. But im not sure if i'll be able to get a decent 3pt shot in the time frame I have. I will try though.
Today i picked up some ankle weights. +2kg. Put them on and wont take them off til 10days. It won't make much of a difference but it's something. Additionally it might help me get that 100kg dunk which may or may not mean anythign except purely an ego exercise because +20kg with the vest is still short of 100kg. Last time i drank a lot of water in lieu of 100kg and had to come home cause needed to go to the bathroom lol. I do think the best weighted dunking / running / training comes around 85-90kg which is with the last row of weights removed -- also helps ROM and maintaining a natural movement.
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If i have the opportunity, i was thinking of doing some heavy ass quarter/half squats to unstick my sticking point on backsquats. I'm not sure i have the time or opportunity to do so though. But it was something i was considering. My quads aren't fatigued as i theorised .. i think they're just stupidly weak and detrained/untrained atm .. normally my squat prob takes care of them .. however i haven't been squatting enough volume , or at least enough volume heavy.
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Here is the thing about my jumper, it's pretty much automatic at the elbows. However. I want to extend my range out to the 3pt line and to use the conventional approach of moving out a little doesn't really do it cause no one wants to shoot long 2s, not just cause it's a bad shot but because it's subconscious to avoid it and I don't really want to learn the movement pattern which i dont want. So i extend out beyond the arc to make the 3pt line submax or more closer to the elbow jumper mechanically and in terms of effort. But im not sure if i'll be able to get a decent 3pt shot in the time frame I have. I will try though.
That's kind of ass backwards though. In the time that you do have just shoot the standard 3 ball. If you start 2-3m outside the 3pt line then you have to adjust coming back in. Makes no sense. Especially if you're trying to up your game in a week.
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coges you are arguing with a brick wall that is also arguing with itself. godspeed.
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Reasoning for conditioning work before strength?
All the articles I've read from strength and conditioning coaches have explosive work into lifting into conditioning.
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BS 1x127.5, 0Fx136.5
JS 8x170 (PR), 8x180(PR)
BCR 10x190, 10x210 (PR), 10x220 (PR)
Depth Jump 2x6x20", 6x26"(PR)
PP 0Fx76, 0Fx76, 0Fx75
WD 0Fx100.5kg
CND - 1km in < 5min; 2km in ~11min, 3km in ~18min.
BW: 75.5kg / 166.6lb
Squat notes:
damn conditioning workouts ruining my squat workouts :( I couldnt lock it out. would have been a 1.8xbw PR.
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Pickup Bball
RDL 6x172.5(PR), 8x180(PR)
BHT 6x167.5(PR), 6x180(PR), 6x187.5 (PR)
WCU 3x101.9(LPR; +25kg), 5x96.9(LPR; +20kg)
OHP 3x60, 3x62.5(LPR), 4x60 (LPR)
BW: 74.5kg / 164.2lb (PR)
Not going to do a long retrospective but it really bummed me out that i couldnt PR my squat this week and my athleticism isn't impressive or even improved much. I hate that my conditioning was so dire that i needed to resort to running intervals and treadmill and so on. If I was in better shape i could just have focused on the essentials (lifts + skills) and have more athleticism to show for it than my present state. All good. After the tournament i will take some time off but then come back to finish the job. I know i can jump and run faster than this, I just got caught up in having poor fitness and being fat which unfortunately made the task of peaking much much much harder than it should have been.
Still, did okay, gonna take a few days to rest and hopefully i'll be good for the tournament. I will do a bench and guns workout during the week at some point though, if i can find a gym on the road. If I take my gym shoes i may even try to PR my push press just cause I would want Lance to be proud of me getting that BW lift but i dont think it's worth the trouble right now and i'd prob get tempted into squatting heavy which is something I dont need now. Deffo get the PP milestones later down the line though.
I do think that if i was closer to an athletic bodyfat of 10% and subsequently some kilos lighter, I would pretty much have a 2xbw squat and jump higher from the virtue of carrying less dead weight. Works in progress i guess.
On 2nd thought .. ive dropped 10kg of bodyweight and my squat is 4.5kg away from my best effort at 85kg. That's kinda good, i shouldn't be too hard on myself.
Anyway! Til next time, keep chasing those dreams!!
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Mate you should be happy with your progress and dedication to the goal.
And needless to say your RDL. 8x180!!! That's huge.
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Thanks. Long limbs help with our sport and ego lifts .. i know what it's worth (not much!). Squats and Bench/Push Press are hard af but also the most rewarding, and I was disappointed not to to PR BS and PP this time. But it's fine, i will keep working hard and get there eventually.
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I did a refeed yesterday night .. begrudgingly lol. 2800 calories, 297g carbs, 50g fat, 271g protein. Literally ate ~300g of chicken breast cold because i wanted to save carbs for icecream. And then i had 305g of cookies and cream for dessert. Was amazing. Next day expecting the scale to spike violently upwards towards 77kg and imagine my surprise when it reads 74.1kg. Yes that's the lightest it's registered in a long time. After a legit carb up. Which means i'm probably sub 74kg now -- which is my goal weight of 74kg/163lb. so i pretty much have nailed my goal on the last day.
So my plan for this week (tourno begins friday) .. keep the weighted vest on .. i can only check in 23kg .. so ima have to work out how to take it with me. My pref would be to wear it on board but i dont know how that would go across security check.,. heh. Remove the last row of weights if i'm doing any jumping .. which i think i will be doing around weds. Otherwise only do a set of 5 max with +20kg. Hoping for some hypergravity gains going into the comp.
Not going to lift much if at all .. will prob just do a bench/curls session .. and maybe push press .. but no squats. If i feel super fresh weds i may go for a squat PR because i'm addicted to squatting and need to force myself to avoid it lol. A cardio session wont hurt but nothing crazy, no intervals.. just a decent submax run will be enough. Or see next paragraph.
The only training i will be doing is basketball specific. Will be going to shoot hoops daily tues-thurs though .. just get my jumper silky smooth .. (it's already well on teh way to that).. practice some ball handling and something else im forgetting now. oh yeah, my ugly looking layups, ball fakes and driving both ways R and L. That should do it. Free throws, 3pts are all included under shooting of course. Include conditioning into my drills if possible. Just to improve that while working on skills .. but not if reduces quality of skill work.
And diet wise, im not changing it much .. will try to hit 150g of clean carbs a day .. protein around 250g and fat under 40g. That should keep me getting a bit leaner with decent recovery.
IF all these stars line up .. i will PR my vertical for sure. It only remains to be seen how high I can fly! Watch this space.
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(http://i.imgur.com/yIineJG.png)
BW: 74.1kg / 163.36lb (PR)
And this is the day after a refeed. So i'm prob going to be sub 74kg/163lb over this week! I had a legit overnight whoosh, skinfolds around my waist are noticably smaller .. which is remarkable because immediately following a carb refeed you find those skinfolds get bigger cause your body pushes water into fat cells. Awesome.
I can legit say i'm in the best shape of my life right now! leaner, lighter, stronger than i have ever been.
:ibsquatting: :ibrunning: :wowthatwasnutswtf: :headbang:
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Well done man, your dedication to your diet is fantastic. Mine is pretty much add milkshakes when gaining strength, remove milkshakes when attempting to lean out lol. Harder than it seems ha.
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Back from the tournament! We got knocked out in the semis .. but everyone thought my team shoulda won cause we had enough talent/size/etc .. ddint help our PG went 0/17 in a key game and then followed it up with 2/11 in the next .. more unselfish play .. or more competent selfish play would have got us further. I'm still upset how close i came this year to winning with the team I had. Just fell short on a few key areas, bench was non-existent .. and players like me played too many minutes .. it was death by basketball and it was wonderful. I ate too much food trying to recover .. junkiest stuff i could find .. binging for several days after friday.
(http://i.imgur.com/dMXhLw5.png)
BW: 175.9lb
This happened. just stepped on the scales and was horrified to be just under 176. Lol.
If i had gained a kilo i might have said, ok back to getting in shape. Now im more likely to just say eff it and continue the binge. lets see what happens
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BS 2x120, 1x130
OHP 3x60, 2x60, 2x60
RDL 6x182.5 (PR), 5x187.5 (PR)
HPC 3x60 (LPR; new ex), 2x70(LPR), 1x80(LPR), 1x85 (LPR; >bw PR), 0Fx90 (couldnt rack it)
BHT 8x180(PR), 6x192.5(PR), 6x200(PR)
WCU 3x104, 2x5x94
Notes:
I just did that workout .. and having written it down, it's almost nothing. Da fuk. It felt pretty challenging at the time .. but i will prob do another workout tonight with more volume. Wanna get some RDLs and BHTs in tonight to re-instate the exercises..
PC notes:
Snuck some chalk into the jetts im training at for RDLs. But i didn't get to use enough, being sly as I was, to facilitate decent grip on 180+kg .. so all things considered, i did ok but not great. I should get 8 reps instead.
Also can't do hip thrusts there, the benches base is wider than the cushion on the top. So it will rotate if you lean against it. Came home to do them. And i must say warmups felt especially easy and light and not so uncomfortable as they have been in the past. Lets see how I fare with heavier weights though.
My bodyweight continues to climb .. but it's ok, as of tmr, im back to cutting.. want to PR my backsquat ratio as first order of business.. everything else is secondary.
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Thoughts for long term training
This year I did the lightweight thing and i was still a mediocre athlete. I had lifts that most ppl my height would be happy with if they weighed 15kg more than I did. It won me nothing. I was slow and unthreatening.
Next year I want to do the other direction, try to become the Lebron version of myself. Thinking I should aim for a 180kg backsquat while weighing a lean 85-90kg. Doing weighted dunks at 115kg or more. And i want to bench 140kg. If I can do three of those things, i'll have the size and strength of a 6'3" Lebron while being able to outmuscle my opponents on the court. If i can contribute rebounds and post defence i'll be a useful player on my team. As it stands, im the ultimate tweener, useless at post offense and defence, too slow and too poor a shooter to outplay smaller guards -- im a basketball nobody. I can't contribute with my current physical attributes. But I want to change my game to become a more productive player next years comp. I was going to retire this year but i don't want to go out a loser -- next year i'll win the comp and then hang up the kobes.
So first things first, get lean as fuck, get my backsquat ratio up to 2.0 and then mass gain steadily up to a strong 85-90kg while remaining lean. Keep regular skill and conditioning work so i don't have to start from scratch again. And finally, don't go into the tournament after a long cutting cycle -- i will do the cutting now and prior to the tournament i'll be maintaining for at least 8 weeks.
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Next year I want to do the other direction
So first things first, get lean as fuck
what exactly are you changing, then?
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Long term plans don't involve cutting or weighing light. It will be make subsequent mass gain go more efficiently if i'm starting lean. Also I wont be going into "season" via a cut, it will be preceded by a maintenance period at the goal bodyweight (85-90kg).
I think i'll be doing a recomp for a long time rather than a straight up cut or a bulk. For now though, need to get back to where I was (lean 163) and then recomp.
Cliffs - 12 month plan
Cut to 74kg / 163 lb (~2 months)
Recomp to a 2.0xbw squat staying at or under 75kg/165lb (~ 2 months)
Gain strength (140kg BP, 180kg BS; > 2.0xbw) and mass up to 85kg/190lb - 90kg/200lb while staying leanish (10-12%) (~6 months)
Maintain strength (140kg BP, 180kg BS; >2.0xbw ratio) & mass (~90kg bw) (2 months)
During the above 12 months i'll play bball at least once a week and do conditioning at least once a week to maintain or improve skills and fitness. ideally i'd go into the tournament with a full season of competitive basketball just prior .. i'll try to find a team in advance this time around.
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Got a call out to fill in for a bball game tonight! If this happened regularly it wud be worth organising my training so that i'm fresh weds. I lifted yesterday but also ate loads so im ok today but in future i'll prob do better if i lift weds. Plan b is pickup on sundays, so if i lift Wed/Fri/Sun then i have the option to play pickup sunday or a game weds? Hopefully i play well tonight so they want me back again. I'm quietly confident. My captain from the comp told me to "Play big" -- which means I need to exploit my size/strength more than the way ive played .. (more timid and soft).
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(http://i.imgur.com/iCc2Vbu.png)
BW: 80.5kg/177.5lb
TDEE: 2950 kcal
Activity: 14.2k steps
Nailed day 1 well. As long as I stay under 2000kcal/day i shud be done in 8 weeks..
Game was good. We lost but it was the top team and ours was/is the bottom one, so all things considered, it was ok. I had a good practice session after the game because there was a free court. Put up a bunch of jumpers. Worked on my post moves. Dunked. Shot free throws.
Oh man wearing lowtops (kobe mentality I) is such a difference. Shot feels better and i can jump really well too. According to reviews this shoe takes some time to break in but i was happy with them new. These shoes are so much better than my last couple of pairs..all hightops. this will improve my game. Now im thinking i shud invest in a pair of highend low bball shoes (eg kobe XI elite) .. just to see if there is an even dramatic difference .. but maybe later down the line.
Need to add some more dunks to my armoury. im happy with how easily im getting up and how powerfully im throwing down.. esp at my current higher bodyweight.. which is countintuitive. I guess im not super reactive so for me this is about how strong i am and being a bit heavier helps if it means im stronger? When ive completed the transition into my lebron self, i'll prob find this to be even more true. More muscle + more strength + low bodyfat +heavy bw == unstoppable beast??
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Your dedication is 10/10 but your planning of training and movement is 1/10.
Look at your goals... You plan to hang around 160 for 4 months and then in 6 months get to 200lbs... 40 pounds of muscle in 6 months??? Are you kidding?
I get so many people asking similar questions as you - eg They are timid, weak, slow and soft and want to no longer be. The truth is even if you get a 45 inch vertical and a 2.5 bw squat you will still be slow and soft on the basketball court because you lack movement efficiency. Settle in a comfortable weight for you right now, you should feel better about this because of your recent experience jumping at a higher bodyweight... It's probably around 175lbs and then make and conquer your movement efficiency goals and you will be a good athlete. Your going to have to get faster and learn how to be an athlete and some of this unfortunately requires improvement in measures that don't come in the weight room or with a tape measure...
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Next year I want to do the other direction
So first things first, get lean as fuck
what exactly are you changing, then?
lmao
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I get so many people asking similar questions as you - eg They are timid, weak, slow and soft and want to no longer be. The truth is even if you get a 45 inch vertical and a 2.5 bw squat you will still be slow and soft on the basketball court because you lack movement efficiency. Settle in a comfortable weight for you right now, you should feel better about this because of your recent experience jumping at a higher bodyweight... It's probably around 175lbs and then make and conquer your movement efficiency goals and you will be a good athlete. Your going to have to get faster and learn how to be an athlete and some of this unfortunately requires improvement in measures that don't come in the weight room or with a tape measure...
Hmm! Lacking movement efficiency makes a lot of sense. Agree that even getting a big squat and vertical wont help without it. What would you suggest to acquire it?
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Your dedication is 10/10 but your planning of training and movement is 1/10.
Look at your goals... You plan to hang around 160 for 4 months and then in 6 months get to 200lbs... 40 pounds of muscle in 6 months??? Are you kidding?
I dont know if it's unrealistic but i expect i can gain a couple of kilos of lean mass just by eating more food and carbs. Otherwise i'll aim for 1-1.5kg/month .. so 6-9kg in 6 months? It wont be all muscle even if i try to do it right but i dont mind dieting off a couple of kilos in the end .. though hopefully i wont have to .. haha.
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Your dedication is 10/10 but your planning of training and movement is 1/10.
Look at your goals... You plan to hang around 160 for 4 months and then in 6 months get to 200lbs... 40 pounds of muscle in 6 months??? Are you kidding?
I dont know if it's unrealistic but i expect i can gain a couple of kilos of lean mass just by eating more food and carbs. Otherwise i'll aim for 1-1.5kg/month .. so 6-9kg in 6 months? It wont be all muscle even if i try to do it right but i dont mind dieting off a couple of kilos in the end .. though hopefully i wont have to .. haha.
Can you demonstrate how the body recomposition aspect of your training over the last few years has helped you further your athleticism, as opposed to what seems to be the majority consensus that your should just train consistently at a relatively stable and lean BW? Provide results to back up any claim. I'm not saying it hasn't, I just haven't been following the fine details to the same degree as you and I think it would help the discussion to fully clarify what you think about it.
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Your dedication is 10/10 but your planning of training and movement is 1/10.
Look at your goals... You plan to hang around 160 for 4 months and then in 6 months get to 200lbs... 40 pounds of muscle in 6 months??? Are you kidding?
I dont know if it's unrealistic but i expect i can gain a couple of kilos of lean mass just by eating more food and carbs. Otherwise i'll aim for 1-1.5kg/month .. so 6-9kg in 6 months? It wont be all muscle even if i try to do it right but i dont mind dieting off a couple of kilos in the end .. though hopefully i wont have to .. haha.
You can get back some water and fst by eating a bit more... but why would your body build muscle? But why are you focused on gaining weight/mass? Your not a bodybuilder... make your strength goals and achieve them. You will probably gain some weight but no reason to attempt to. Set your limit (say 200lbs) and make the goal to get as strong as you feel necessary while staying sub 205. If you get to 204 or 185 it doesnt matter...
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I get so many people asking similar questions as you - eg They are timid, weak, slow and soft and want to no longer be. The truth is even if you get a 45 inch vertical and a 2.5 bw squat you will still be slow and soft on the basketball court because you lack movement efficiency. Settle in a comfortable weight for you right now, you should feel better about this because of your recent experience jumping at a higher bodyweight... It's probably around 175lbs and then make and conquer your movement efficiency goals and you will be a good athlete. Your going to have to get faster and learn how to be an athlete and some of this unfortunately requires improvement in measures that don't come in the weight room or with a tape measure...
Hmm! Lacking movement efficiency makes a lot of sense. Agree that even getting a big squat and vertical wont help without it. What would you suggest to acquire it?
This is where you need coaching.... it would require evaluating you ro see your faulty movement patterns and correct them.... in the meantime you could master bound variations and drop your 60m sprint. Guys who run the 60m faster rsrely have poor movement efficiency
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Your dedication is 10/10 but your planning of training and movement is 1/10.
Look at your goals... You plan to hang around 160 for 4 months and then in 6 months get to 200lbs... 40 pounds of muscle in 6 months??? Are you kidding?
I dont know if it's unrealistic but i expect i can gain a couple of kilos of lean mass just by eating more food and carbs. Otherwise i'll aim for 1-1.5kg/month .. so 6-9kg in 6 months? It wont be all muscle even if i try to do it right but i dont mind dieting off a couple of kilos in the end .. though hopefully i wont have to .. haha.
You can get back some water and fst by eating a bit more... but why would your body build muscle? But why are you focused on gaining weight/mass? Your not a bodybuilder... make your strength goals and achieve them. You will probably gain some weight but no reason to attempt to. Set your limit (say 200lbs) and make the goal to get as strong as you feel necessary while staying sub 205. If you get to 204 or 185 it doesnt matter...
More weight helps because you can body up ppl better in the post heavier than light. More weight helps finishing inside through contact. At the moment i'm too easy to bump off balance on layups, because im too light but add on another 10kg and the extra momentum + strength helps with finishing close to the rim. Rebounding, defence, boxing out, all of that. I wanna contribute by 'playing big' by first being bigger and then realising it on the court. I do wanna gain mostly lean mass. Water, food in gut, glycogen == easy lean mass gains. About 5kg of those will be muscle: solid quality contractile tissue. Def do-able in the timeframe of 12 months by training hard and eating clean. I need more mass all over, legs, glutes, back, upper back, chest, arms, etc. So i have a lot of room to fill. My bench needs to go up to 140kg to get to get decent upper body development i should think. 180kg backsquat should round off my lower body development.
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This is where you need coaching.... it would require evaluating you ro see your faulty movement patterns and correct them.... in the meantime you could master bound variations and drop your 60m sprint. Guys who run the 60m faster rsrely have poor movement efficiency
I can get started on those now and keep working on them for the next 12 months. Which variations do you think would benefit me? 60m sprints idk about, how would i even measure improvements .. i imagine any improvements I measure will be mired by measurement errors? just doing them and trusting im getting better over time?
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how would you measure improvements on a 60m? uh, with a stopwatch?
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More weight helps because you can body up ppl better in the post heavier than light. More weight helps finishing inside through contact. At the moment i'm too easy to bump off balance on layups, because im too light but add on another 10kg and the extra momentum + strength helps with finishing close to the rim. Rebounding, defence, boxing out, all of that. I wanna contribute by 'playing big' by first being bigger and then realising it on the court. I do wanna gain mostly lean mass. Water, food in gut, glycogen == easy lean mass gains. About 5kg of those will be muscle: solid quality contractile tissue. Def do-able in the timeframe of 12 months by training hard and eating clean. I need more mass all over, legs, glutes, back, upper back, chest, arms, etc. So i have a lot of room to fill. My bench needs to go up to 140kg to get to get decent upper body development i should think. 180kg backsquat should round off my lower body development.
Lol, sometimes your commitment to believing what you want regardless of whether it's true is astounding... To be fair that is somewhat coupled with dedication ie very dedicated people will naturally be a little more dogmatic in their approach even when they should revise their thinking... However, you can still be pretty damn dedicated and take advice of trainers who know a bit more than you about this.
Everything you said in the above paragraph is about 95% false. What I mean by this is that I'm not disputing that their are differences in heavier vs lighter problems BUT that your ineffectiveness (eg can't body up in the post, can't finish, can't keep balance on layups, rebounds) are not going to be solved with gaining weight and could easily be solved without gaining weight. I have trained enough pro-athletes to know that value of leverage, movement efficiency, and core strength. Not sure if your familiar with American Football but there is a player than spends his offseason here by the name of Richard Sherman who is very similar to you in build - he is 6'3 186 (listed heavier sometimes but I've seen him weigh in in the offseason so if anything he is lighter in-season). He is one of the toughest defensive backs in the NFL (and a solid tackler) which is a far more physical sport than basketball. I've actually played basketball with him and I can promise you he isn't having trouble getting knocked off balance, fighting contact, doing in-game dunks, or getting rebounds due to his lack of body-weight. Bodyweight is really only important in pretty extreme collisions that are all but avoided in basketball. Right now your light and extremely weak, but don't confuse the two. I'm not even arguing that you won't get heavier as you get stronger and learn how to move. I'm just arguing that any training designed to help you gain X pounds for basketball performance is archaic is detrimental. You need to weigh enough to have enough muscle and core strength to "play strong". If that's 175lbs for you consider yourself blessed. I start feeling like I am a sleep deprived depressed heroin-addict and my strength gets completely sapped if I get under 200lbs too quickly. If I could feel non-depleted and weak at 180 I would weigh that much and enjoy my ridiculous strength to weight ratios...
If all that is too much to read: Your an athlete. Your goals must be performance and performance only. Ideally somewhat specific performance. There are skinny and light strong beasts (Richard Sherman) and their are heavy strong beasts. As you become a beast you will end up somewhere on the spectrum for body mass (probably toward the lighter side for you). Don't try to shortcut the process by focusing on goals that involve weight gain. In fact, assuming you are finally lean at 165lbs you really shouldn't have goals again that involve gaining or cutting again, 95% of an athletes time should be spent on improving... Get in enough system work and eat a good enough diet for performance and your weight will take care of it by itself. I get that you let yourself go and had to go through a painful cut... Now you have done that and it shouldn't be an issue again.
Also... Serious about that bench? 140kg is basically 315lbs. I read your log and the most I saw was 95kgx2 or less than 225. You really think your going to go from benching less than 2 plates to benching 3 plates in a year whilst spending half the time cutting??? Are you serious? Do you even think pressing weight up while laying down will help you in basketball. It won't. Make movement efficiency goals and hit them!
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how would you measure improvements on a 60m? uh, with a stopwatch?
To be fair... We don't want him to fall into the Avishek trap of looking at his iphone while running "10m" sprints in world record times...
Timing isn't trivial but if you have a smartphone and a tripod I can show you how OR if you have a friend you can just use a watch or smartphone. Self timing on less than a 150m is pretty hard with a watch.
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(http://i.imgur.com/PUvKSF6.png)
BW: 78.3kg / 172.62lb
Day 3 and i'm on track to get back in shape. I prob have more muscle this time around though. Going to keep protein above 200g/day and be ok with it going as high as 250g/day. No reason I can't recomp on my way down to 75kg/165lb.
Looking forward to training today, get to try some movement efficiency work.
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This summer I played minimal basketball going into the comp. Even less than 20 hours total over 3 months. It wasn't ideal and my movement efficiency was quite low. I get that no matter how lean, fit and strong I am, that it cannot make up for a severe lack of movement efficiency. Even when I was playing bball regularly I was still lacking movement efficiency - I guess I didn't really work on it specifically except incidentally just by playing and since my style of play isn't efficient, I never really developed it from there.
Eating clean and training hard goes a long way. And if i start at 75kg/165lb that gives me plenty of room to grow, a decent strength & muscle base to build upon and plenty of time to achieve some lofty weightroom goals (140kg and 180kg respectively) while remaining relatively lean. There is no way I can squat over 150kg or bench over 100kg while weighing that light so it goes without saying i'll be gaining weight to achieve those goals. That's the point! I want to gain some muscle lol. About 5kg of it - and it will be functional muscle because i'll be using it to perform better.
I admit a bench goal doesn't help me play better basketball, only indirectly in that achieving it, i'll have a more muscular upper body and that will help my confidence and play in the post. Same with the squat goal, it's just a way of making sure i have decent power to weight ratio & muscle mass to fat mass ratio, no use weighing 200 if i can't squat 400 .. it's just a lot of dead weight. However apart from that it doesn't help my sport - just indirectly by giving me more muscle to produce force.
To be honest i have no plan on how to bench 140kg given i haven't repped over 100kg yet. But i'll have to make some significant changes to achieve it. I wont be using a close grip as ive always done, and i'll have to setup with a bigger arch and learn to use leg drive and all those tricks ppl use to bench more. But even with those changes it's still going to be a huge challenge. My hope is to fill out my upper body -- bigger chest, back, arms, triceps, shoulders, all of that will have to grow (which is what I want!). I want to become my version of Lebron .. that's how i envision playing next year's comp .. a lot more physical -- playing bigger and aggressive and now i've added your suggestion of movement efficiency to that -- i think i will be a much better basketball player all around. I think i'm giving up on the goal of windmills and so on -- that's never going to happen .. i'm ok with just doing effortless powerful dunks around the rim if it means i actually have a chance of doing them in-game than landing windmills at some super featherweight bw while being unable to do much on the court once there are 9 other players on the court :/
I'm not going to be cutting for 12 months!! I am 172.5 today .. hopefully i can get close enough to 165 by end of april and then it's just about maintaining bodweight and getting some basic milestones out of the way (2xbw squat being the main one) before eating more food to train towards 180kg BS and 140kg BP. That's actually going to be exciting -- being able to eat enough food to actually grow some muscle and get decently strong ..without getting fat. That will be new for me.
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Depth jump 6x18"
BS 2x125, 0Fx132.5
JS 8x180 (lol)
PP 3x60, 1x70, 0Fx77.5
Depth Jump 6x18"
BP 2x90, 0Fx97.5
BS 6x102.5, 6x107.5
Notes:
Caught myself looking down in the mirror on my 132.5kg set .. threw me off balance .. not sure why i did that :/ Jump squats were just stupid. But i looked at my logs from last time i did them and i did a set of 170kg before attempting 180kg. And this time i used 4x20kgs per side, which prob explains why it felt so immovable. My mind was to put JS on maintenance but i didn't even accomplish that tbh. Just a shitty workout. Shuda just done a light recovery session and gone hard next workout day. All good. I'm still working this out after being away with lifts being out of sync.
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sorry acole, here my reply:
I pretty much got in the best of my life 10 days ago. PR my squat ratio (1.8xbw), 2.5xbw hip thrusts, 8x180kg RDLs, low bodyfat etc, dieted down to a lean/strongish 74kg. If i was only concerned wih jumping/dunking (ala LBSS) i would have taken a few days rest and filmed some dunks then but i didn't have that luxury. Instead i had to prepare for and play a gruelling basketball competition and that messed me up athletically .. i prob did too much going into last week end then ended up eating my way to recovery, which didn't really do my bodycomp any favours. If i can get back to where i was 10 days ago bodycomp wise but with better lifts i'll be in even better shape and will be able to properly peak my athleticism which would mean taking some rest and raising calories to maintenance as opposed to a chronic caloric deficit. May never get there though, it's too far from where i am at right now. I dont really wanna look any further back than 2016 though. Im more athletic now than i ever have been before which is remarkable considering im 32 and not getting any younger.. heh.
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Btw acole: I always envy how easily you can work up to decent squat tonnage after a lay-off and you have perfect form, while it would take me the months just to add a few kilo to mine and still be way lighter than say 140kg which is what i'd consider the mimimum for anyone use uses the lift with very average form. I guess you're just gifted when it comes to the lift! It's awesome. I didn't know what htat was like until i started doing hip thrusts and worked up to decently heavy weights in a couple of weeks of doing them once weekly! If squats came as easily to me, i'd have a much easier time but i guess you get more out of lifts that are harder than those that are easier? Is it a strengths & weaknesses thing?
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(http://i.imgur.com/lcW4rDZ.png)
BW: 77.85kg / 171.63lb
These first ~6lb came off pretty quickly which is a relief. I'm guessing some of the weight i put on is muscle and most is fat? Hopefully there is a decent amount of new muscle. I'm considering taking todday's advice of stopping somewhere in between where i am and where i was (171.5 and 163) and just getting strong for a while. Really tempting. But i know it's not the best idea because what will invariably happen is i'll start gaining weigth (and strength) and end up a chubby, stronger 180lb or something and then lose those gains when i cut back down to lower bodyfat Better to just do the cutting first and get it out of the way, i should think and maintain my bodyfat while gaining weight/strength later down the line.
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sorry acole, here my reply:
I pretty much got in the best of my life 10 days ago. PR my squat ratio (1.8xbw), 2.5xbw hip thrusts, 8x180kg RDLs, low bodyfat etc, dieted down to a lean/strongish 74kg. If i was only concerned wih jumping/dunking (ala LBSS) i would have taken a few days rest and filmed some dunks then but i didn't have that luxury. Instead i had to prepare for and play a gruelling basketball competition and that messed me up athletically .. i prob did too much going into last week end then ended up eating my way to recovery, which didn't really do my bodycomp any favours. If i can get back to where i was 10 days ago bodycomp wise but with better lifts i'll be in even better shape and will be able to properly peak my athleticism which would mean taking some rest and raising calories to maintenance as opposed to a chronic caloric deficit. May never get there though, it's too far from where i am at right now. I dont really wanna look any further back than 2016 though. Im more athletic now than i ever have been before which is remarkable considering im 32 and not getting any younger.. heh.
Sure, I mean, there's no denying those are good numbers. I think you hit the nail on the head though when you talk about having <20hrs or less over the 3 months leading up to the comp, and how that was affected by your body recomping and being in caloric deficit. That's just....unfeasible if you actually want to be happy with your performance on the court. Thus, the body recomp has to be achievable and wrapped up early in your 'season'. Then the focus is firstly on practice/match play, with strength being secondary. I don't think I'm saying anything revolutionary there. No one would really expect, with 1h practice/week, you could compete at a high level in a skill-based activity like bball. I think you're getting that drilled into you enough though.
Seriously, fuck age. 32-35 could be your peak years! The stuff you hear about pro athletes peaking around 26-28 athletically and skills-wise is completely irrelevant to guys like us. They have been playing and training 2x a day for 10+ years and have nothing else going on apart from sleep-eat-train-PEDs. Now, there are definitely some changes in physiology from the age of 21 to 41 (T0ddday will know much more about this than me). Your 21 yo self vs 30 yo self will probably have more potential if you started at the same time, but the difference is overrated and no one has a time machine to do a repeated measures experiment anyway. What do you think contributes to normal guys falling off from athletic endeavours around 30? Fast twitch muscles atrophying, ligaments and tendons turning to jelly....or the fact that they accumulate preventable injuries, start working more, eating like shit and having kids. I think it's the latter but that's just me. Check this out:
(http://home.trainingpeaks.com/TrainingPeaks/media/Images/Resource%20Articles/Photos/ageandperformance_2.jpg)
Look at the 40yo triathlete's legs vs the 70yo's legs. They look identical. Compare that to the 70yo fatass in the middle. Ridiculous. I know it's a different sport but there are plenty of other examples. Dr Squat set a squat world record and probably had a 40'' SVJ in his mid-40s! And so on. Forget about the age thing. Train hard, maintain your body, eat well etc.
Btw acole: I always envy how easily you can work up to decent squat tonnage after a lay-off and you have perfect form, while it would take me the months just to add a few kilo to mine and still be way lighter than say 140kg which is what i'd consider the mimimum for anyone use uses the lift with very average form. I guess you're just gifted when it comes to the lift! It's awesome. I didn't know what htat was like until i started doing hip thrusts and worked up to decently heavy weights in a couple of weeks of doing them once weekly! If squats came as easily to me, i'd have a much easier time but i guess you get more out of lifts that are harder than those that are easier? Is it a strengths & weaknesses thing?
Thanks! I appreciate it. Even though I haven't squatted heavy in awhile I've been maintaining a 'squat-ready' state by staying mobile at night. This is a really good squat mobility sequence I do with inner tubes wrapped around my knees:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbozu0DPcYI
But apart from that I think it's more to do with my leverages than anything else and previous years of muscle memory. I would rather have longer legs so I was a bit taller, even if it meant sacrificing leverage. Unfortunately Dr Naismith had to nail that damn peach basket at 10' just to spite 6 feet and under guys like me.
Hmm..again, your question is about getting 'more' out of a particular lift you're predisposed for as opposed to a bad lift. But what is this mysterious 'more' entity? Everything you do in the gym has to relate back in some way to your goals. If hip thrusting makes you more hip-dominant and that helps you stay low in the post and have a more explosive SVJ then that's great! But if it doesn't do much for you, you can get strong at it but it'll be a waste of time.
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I forgot to mention some other PRs: finally put BW over my head (push press) and also did a weighted dunk with a 20kg vest; among others im prob forgetting again. But yeah i was in a good place. Hope to return there and even surpass it!
The fact that i played so actual basketball was prob the biggest stumbling block. You can only do so much off the court (not including dunking and shoot around around alone). Next year i need to make sure im good enough to approach an existing, half decent team and want them to want me and play with them.
That's where the hard work now comes in .. movement efficiency, conditioning, skill work .. all of that has to happen now without fail, building it up gradually and early, so that come next summer i'll already be in shape and involved in a competitive league somewhere prior to going into the tournament.
I need to work on my ball handling .. build confidence with having the ball whether im dribbling it, passing or shooting i need to believe in myself to make good decisions and execute them. If you second guess youself in games, you cant expect others to believe in you (and give you the ball when you want it for example). So much work to do! But im gonna make sure these coming 12 months are filled with great growth as a basketball player not just someone who lifts and dunks once a while, and not much else!
I even bought a nice camera that does 1080p recording expecting to record my lifetimes highlight mix vid in anticipation of peaking at the tournament.. unfortunately i filled that leadup week with lots of walking around in a weighted vest .. lol. im such a spazz. rest would have done much more than last minute training ;(
tbh hip thrusts are soo easy to progress.. and it's taking so little time to get up to decent weights .. that i have nothing to lose to experiment with them and see whether or not they have any payoff to my athleticism. Contrast that with squats where ive been trying to get 2.0xbw since 2012 and never come close .. and it's not clear what payoff THAT will have/or has had/ in pursuit of it. It's frustrating but im closer to it in 2016 than ever before. Finally broke 1.8, and im sure 1.9 and 2.0 are not far once i get off the caloric deficit. Squats are so demanding on recovery .. it's not really possible to do much more than maintain (if that) when cutting. Contrast that with RDLs and hipthrusts and im setting 20kg prs each time i try (i mean i was, prob slowing down a bit now lol).
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BS 6x110(LPR), 6x115(LPR), 6x112.5
RDL 12x100 (PR?)
BHT 8x187.5 (PR), 6x207.5(PR), 7x200(PR)
OHP 3x60, 5x4x60
BW: 172.1
Notes:
Ok squats were a fuck today. Warmups with 100kg felt stutpidly hard/heavy and i was pessimistic of squatting heavy. However, i forced myself to go through the motions with lighter weight for volume instead. Each set was an RPE 10 but i'm glad i worked thru the wall.
Then it was time for RDLs .. and my upper back / lats /traps noped out, could not budge 180kg+ outta of the rack LOL. So i guess it was not in the cards today .. jsut as well.. it was the 2nd time this week i was going to do RDLs.. need to space them out .. but the reason i tried to do them today is becuase i prefer to do RDLSs on the last workout of the week. Because of the tournament induced layoff i did RDLs on tuesday but from here on, will do them weekly on sundays. I did a consolation set of 12 with 100kg which was light as fuck but i used hook grip and chalk all the same.
Hip thrusts twice in the same week were especially painful also .. 60kg warmups felt piercing on my hips. But i persevered and worked up to some PRs .. so that was cool too. From next week on, will be back to doign these weekly on sundays, to my relief.
Didn't go to the bball court in the end.. was not worth driving out and then paying $6.50 for about an hour of court of time. My camera battery was dead so that didn't help motivation.
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To be honest i have no plan on how to bench 140kg given i haven't repped over 100kg yet. But i'll have to make some significant changes to achieve it. I wont be using a close grip as ive always done, and i'll have to setup with a bigger arch and learn to use leg drive and all those tricks ppl use to bench more. But even with those changes it's still going to be a huge challenge. My hope is to fill out my upper body -- bigger chest, back, arms, triceps, shoulders, all of that will have to grow (which is what I want!). I want to become my version of Lebron .. that's how i envision playing next year's comp .. a lot more physical -- playing bigger and aggressive and now i've added your suggestion of movement efficiency to that -- i think i will be a much better basketball player all around.
I think you are seriously understating your movement efficiency shortcomings and foolishly attempting to increase your bench out of some misguided idea that adding more mass will somehow make you stronger. I don't know the level of basketball in Aus. but in the states I work with nba guys, college guys, aspiring pros, etc. and I can promise you that 95% of the basketball players who are under 200lbs do not bench anywhere NEAR 140kg but would still be much much much "stronger" than you in basketball. Additionally, no player under 200lbs squats anywhere near 400lbs. I don't think you realize the undertaking you are making with these goals that will fatigue you and waste your time. There are a million things that you could do that would bring you a greater bang for your buck than the way you are structuring your training. I realize you probably don't care what some american sprinter thinks about basketball but it does pain me to see you work so hard for so little because you don't have an understanding of sports training... If I'm annoying then carry on and I won't comment your journal again. Just for the upper body it would be 100x better for you to master plyo pushups, heavy throws, even push press makes a little sense. You have a long road to learning how to move but with your work ethic you can do it - however considering what you want even your work ethic won't overcome senseless training. Not in the least. You need to make movement efficiency goals the foundation of your training if you want to play basketball not an axillary.
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To be honest i have no plan on how to bench 140kg given i haven't repped over 100kg yet. But i'll have to make some significant changes to achieve it. I wont be using a close grip as ive always done, and i'll have to setup with a bigger arch and learn to use leg drive and all those tricks ppl use to bench more. But even with those changes it's still going to be a huge challenge. My hope is to fill out my upper body -- bigger chest, back, arms, triceps, shoulders, all of that will have to grow (which is what I want!). I want to become my version of Lebron .. that's how i envision playing next year's comp .. a lot more physical -- playing bigger and aggressive and now i've added your suggestion of movement efficiency to that -- i think i will be a much better basketball player all around.
I think you are seriously understating your movement efficiency shortcomings and foolishly attempting to increase your bench out of some misguided idea that adding more mass will somehow make you stronger. I don't know the level of basketball in Aus. but in the states I work with nba guys, college guys, aspiring pros, etc. and I can promise you that 95% of the basketball players who are under 200lbs do not bench anywhere NEAR 140kg but would still be much much much "stronger" than you in basketball. Additionally, no player under 200lbs squats anywhere near 400lbs. I don't think you realize the undertaking you are making with these goals that will fatigue you and waste your time. There are a million things that you could do that would bring you a greater bang for your buck than the way you are structuring your training. I realize you probably don't care what some american sprinter thinks about basketball but it does pain me to see you work so hard for so little because you don't have an understanding of sports training... If I'm annoying then carry on and I won't comment your journal again. Just for the upper body it would be 100x better for you to master plyo pushups, heavy throws, even push press makes a little sense. You have a long road to learning how to move but with your work ethic you can do it - however considering what you want even your work ethic won't overcome senseless training. Not in the least. You need to make movement efficiency goals the foundation of your training if you want to play basketball not an axillary.
T0dday, I think I know where Maxent is coming from in this one. I think the question needs to be, where does the average Joe (so to speak) make up for the lack of God given LeBron like talent? I think this is behind Maxent's thinking in that his biggest impact on the court will be as an "athletic beast" (feel free to tell me if I'm off the mark). I felt pretty much the same way my entire ball playing career.
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^^^yeah but the point is that the way maxent wants to go about becoming as much of a beast as he can is misguided.
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^^^yeah but the point is that the way maxent wants to go about becoming as much of a beast as he can is misguided.
That's what I was getting at. Almost everything I hear/read about becoming an athletic beast involves getting a huge squat and bench, etc. On the other hand we see NBA players almost exclusively doing single leg work, plyos, core, etc. I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle but the question is where?
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I don't know if it's the /level/ of basketball or the style? Australian basketball is very physical! Look at the aussie players in the NBA who are reknown for their physical play .. Bogut and Dellavedova regularly make the top 5 lists for dirtiest players in the league. Who else am i forgetting, oh yeah, add in Steve Adam's and the other kiwis in the league into that mix and prob some others im now forgetting are regularly picked out for being very physical. Tbh i hate this style of play but you can complain about it or you can beat it. And Australian sportsmanship is alot about winning hte mindgame. Steve Waugh was one of the better captains of the Australian cricket team and he was famed for winning the game through intimidating and sledging not just skill and play.
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To be honest i have no plan on how to bench 140kg given i haven't repped over 100kg yet. But i'll have to make some significant changes to achieve it. I wont be using a close grip as ive always done, and i'll have to setup with a bigger arch and learn to use leg drive and all those tricks ppl use to bench more. But even with those changes it's still going to be a huge challenge. My hope is to fill out my upper body -- bigger chest, back, arms, triceps, shoulders, all of that will have to grow (which is what I want!). I want to become my version of Lebron .. that's how i envision playing next year's comp .. a lot more physical -- playing bigger and aggressive and now i've added your suggestion of movement efficiency to that -- i think i will be a much better basketball player all around.
I think you are seriously understating your movement efficiency shortcomings and foolishly attempting to increase your bench out of some misguided idea that adding more mass will somehow make you stronger. I don't know the level of basketball in Aus. but in the states I work with nba guys, college guys, aspiring pros, etc. and I can promise you that 95% of the basketball players who are under 200lbs do not bench anywhere NEAR 140kg but would still be much much much "stronger" than you in basketball. Additionally, no player under 200lbs squats anywhere near 400lbs. I don't think you realize the undertaking you are making with these goals that will fatigue you and waste your time. There are a million things that you could do that would bring you a greater bang for your buck than the way you are structuring your training. I realize you probably don't care what some american sprinter thinks about basketball but it does pain me to see you work so hard for so little because you don't have an understanding of sports training... If I'm annoying then carry on and I won't comment your journal again. Just for the upper body it would be 100x better for you to master plyo pushups, heavy throws, even push press makes a little sense. You have a long road to learning how to move but with your work ethic you can do it - however considering what you want even your work ethic won't overcome senseless training. Not in the least. You need to make movement efficiency goals the foundation of your training if you want to play basketball not an axillary.
Can I please ask some questions first? I think i understand what movement efficiency is, in spirit, but what exactly are we talking about when we say movement efficiency? When i watch video of myself on the basketball court I see someone who takes a long time to complete movements .. who appears to be moving in slow motion without the tell-tale "quick feet" of a (basketball) athlete. Is this the same thing?
Plyo pushups and medball throws . prob wont help me .. i know because ive tried the throws and it honestly was the biggest waste of time, i cant name a single thing i felt i got from them except bothering my back. if we're talking about wasting time that's def one of them. The best use ive come for the medballs ive collected, so far, is making the goal of eventually dunking one off a drop step drill for next year's comp lol.
I was told push presses would build my athleticism for bgasketbll but i had a bodyweight push press (not for reps mind you) and honestly i cant say that helped me either. So i'm really not sure about all of these things anymore. All i know is muscle is real and everything else is just conjecture. Look the part and at least you can win the mind game. A 6'3 dude with a big bench and squat who can also play a bit will go further in instilling confidence in his teammates and fear in his opponents. Am i wrong? Maybe, but it's not like im denying i'm an athletic nobody in dire need of movement efficiency.. just dont think there is as much i can do about THAT as i can about working hard on my lifts and eating to grow as an athlete .. if not in appearance but in strength and power and all of that. I do know it will help my play but even if much of that is how i feel mentally that's still a win!
I would love for this so called movement efficiency .. i dont see a way to it .. it seems like the holy grail .. just an end .. descrbing what im missing instead of a means to achieve it
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Just to make it clear im not glossing over my severe lack of movement efficiency, here are teh glaring shortcomings in my athleticism as I see them (on the court):
- Moving from point A to B involves a very slow process of initiating the movement (high/long/slow reaction time), slow motion of the feet in making the movement(few longer, slower strides instead of several small quicker ones??), weird posture (round back or upright but not the low, athletic flat back stance in textbooks) and the whole thing looks very much in slow mo, like ive got cemented feet, am mired in quicksand and so on
- When it comes to jumping etc, i can move efficiently only in the penultimate stages of the movement but before then everything is slow motion
- positioning for rebounding, defence, lobs/dunks/cuts etc is non existent.. i dont move "early" enough .. im caught watching the ball or the action, reacting (which is invariably already too late to react!) to action instead of anticipating and creating action, moving earlier, either before or during the action
Is there anything i need to add to this list? please let me know!
And if that's the entire list .. then how do i fix or improve these problems. Before todday came ppl here were doing 10m sprints and stuff .. but we've gone the other direction since and done longer springs. tbh, i probably enjoyed doing those 20m sprints and miss them.. i wonder if they were better than half heartedly doing longer sprints which id ont really believe to be helping me. im pretty good on a fast break, i feel i can chase down anyone for a block.. and i can count the number of shots ive changed in fbs, even collecting transition rebounds .. however that's not wher ei need to improve.. it's the shorter distances, going from A to B where they're about 1-5m apart not the entire length of the court. Why shouldnt i be doing <5m sprints? if that's where i need the most improvement.. lol.
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T0dday, I think I know where Maxent is coming from in this one. I think the question needs to be, where does the average Joe (so to speak) make up for the lack of God given LeBron like talent? I think this is behind Maxent's thinking in that his biggest impact on the court will be as an "athletic beast" (feel free to tell me if I'm off the mark). I felt pretty much the same way my entire ball playing career.
Well, LBSS already made the point for me but I'll fill you in here. I totally disagree with this. As far as the argument that "athletic beast" is the best way for him to be as good as possible at basketball... I mean, he is a rail-thin 6'3 guy. If he wants to perform as good as possible at next years tournament then he should hire a shooting coach and become a dead-eye shooter. That's the biggest bang for your buck in basketball for all but the elite. He shouldn't be complaining about how he couldn't dunk in games but instead should be complaining about only going 5-13 from 3pt land. His "athletic beast" goal is certainly a terrible goal for being as good a basketball player as possible unless there is something I don't know about Aus bball. HOWEVER... I don't care. I'm not a basketball trainer. It's his prerogative how he wants to improve. I can't really judge him because I have played in leagues and honestly if I can't catch alley oops it's not fun for me either even if I am not as helpful to my team. I always feel a little bad playing in a league and not practicing actual basketball enough when I go 2-8 from the line in the fourth quarter... BUT, it's for fun and if he want's to make his impact as an athletic beast I won't criticize him for not maximizing his bang for his back as a basketball player and instead trying to get better in the way that's fun for him...
That said... Yeah I don't think he knows how to go about being an athletic beast.
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T0dday, I think I know where Maxent is coming from in this one. I think the question needs to be, where does the average Joe (so to speak) make up for the lack of God given LeBron like talent? I think this is behind Maxent's thinking in that his biggest impact on the court will be as an "athletic beast" (feel free to tell me if I'm off the mark). I felt pretty much the same way my entire ball playing career.
Well, LBSS already made the point for me but I'll fill you in here. I totally disagree with this. As far as the argument that "athletic beast" is the best way for him to be as good as possible at basketball... I mean, he is a rail-thin 6'3 guy. If he wants to perform as good as possible at next years tournament then he should hire a shooting coach and become a dead-eye shooter. That's the biggest bang for your buck in basketball for all but the elite. He shouldn't be complaining about how he couldn't dunk in games but instead should be complaining about only going 5-13 from 3pt land. His "athletic beast" goal is certainly a terrible goal for being as good a basketball player as possible unless there is something I don't know about Aus bball. HOWEVER... I don't care. I'm not a basketball trainer. It's his prerogative how he wants to improve. I can't really judge him because I have played in leagues and honestly if I can't catch alley oops it's not fun for me either even if I am not as helpful to my team. I always feel a little bad playing in a league and not practicing actual basketball enough when I go 2-8 from the line in the fourth quarter... BUT, it's for fun and if he want's to make his impact as an athletic beast I won't criticize him for not maximizing his bang for his back as a basketball player and instead trying to get better in the way that's fun for him...
That said... Yeah I don't think he knows how to go about being an athletic beast.
Kind of disagree. I actually think the biggest bang for buck for someone who is not a natural scorer is to get inside and do the stuff that no one else wants to do. Go where there's less competition. Everyone wants to jack up shots from way downtown or drive and pretend they're in the NBA. It's easy to capitalise on these faults and help your team in the process. I wasn't a natural scorer but managed to average nearly 15 points a game in my last 5-6 seasons or so. Most of this was done off the back of hard work inside (I was also 90% from the free throw line).
Agree 100% that the "athletic beast" part is going to be hard and potentially completely different from what Maxent expects it to be.
Quick side note. I remember every season the first 2-3 games I played I would quite easily get bumped out of position under the rim. Almost as if I was 20kgs lighter. I think there's a lot to be said for playing weekly and getting match fit.
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Kind of disagree. I actually think the biggest bang for buck for someone who is not a natural scorer is to get inside and do the stuff that no one else wants to do. Go where there's less competition. Everyone wants to jack up shots from way downtown or drive and pretend they're in the NBA. It's easy to capitalise on these faults and help your team in the process. I wasn't a natural scorer but managed to average nearly 15 points a game in my last 5-6 seasons or so. Most of this was done off the back of hard work inside (I was also 90% from the free throw line).
Well, this is digression from the topic but still interesting. You may be right as you play basketball in Australia and I don't but here at least your advice is good strategy to help in one game but not effective if you have an entire year before tournament play. In Los Angeles there are always really good "amateurs" you have to deal with because of the nature of the city (you go to karoake and the singer is excellent cause they came here to sing, a flag football league will have offseason players who are trying to make the pros staying sharp, etc). The leagues I have played in always have a few 6'8 guys who make things difficult for someone under 6' like myself. Inevitably a zone is played and when your discovered as an offensive liability you absolutely kill your team by not knocking down open shots. This is true as well at higher levels - there are about 10 guys in the NBA making it despite being offensive liabilities (eg can't knock down open 3's and jumpers) and they are extremely tall and strong (eg Deandre Jordan) and even they would be 100x more valuable if they could. Maxent is 6'3 165. I don't think this role is available for him. But again I don't know Aus bball, I just know he wants to be a beast and I'm ok with that whether it's optimal for bball or not.
Quick side note. I remember every season the first 2-3 games I played I would quite easily get bumped out of position under the rim. Almost as if I was 20kgs lighter. I think there's a lot to be said for playing weekly and getting match fit.
Good point. Yes, when we think of movement efficiency we should think of the top half of it as acquired from the game itself. He should spend about 5-6 months on basic movement but needs about equal time on the court.
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Plyo pushups and medball throws . prob wont help me .. i know because ive tried the throws and it honestly was the biggest waste of time, i cant name a single thing i felt i got from them except bothering my back. if we're talking about wasting time that's def one of them.
This comment is absolute gold and illustrates your problem better than anything else you have said. Here's story. Proper med ball throws require strong powerful glutes that can be used to rotatationally to drive you up (unlike your favorite hip thrust), coordination and core strength to transfer power, triple extension and hip-pop where you continue to fire hip extensors for far more power than a quad dominant athlete like yourself can achieve, and a strong upper body to finish the toss. Sounds like an EXCELLENT exercise for an athlete. However, a quad dominant athlete, who doesn't know how to use glutes, doesn't triple extend, and just relies on a hip hinge that is really back hinge tries than and says "wow what a useless exercise, I'll think I'll go do bench press".
This IS the problem. Movement efficiency means your need to learn HOW to move THEN get more powerful at it. Doing what you think "works" like bench means your are training movements that work with your plodding efficiency levels. It's hard work to learn how to move. But it's possible. You are going to have to find out how to use your glutes, again possible but hard. Impossible if you waste time along the way.
Look at video of both of us. We are equally lean (maybe I have a bit more fat but not that much). Your 6'3. I'm 5'11. Our upper bodies as defined your metric are not that different in strength (225 on bench is all I would bet I am capable of right now). My quads are smaller than yours. Your might be able to out squat me. But I weigh 215 and you weigh 165. Where is that weight? Primarily glutes and core and it's why med ball throws hurt your back but potentiate me to jump higher.
I was told push presses would build my athleticism for bgasketbll but i had a bodyweight push press (not for reps mind you) and honestly i cant say that helped me either. So i'm really not sure about all of these things anymore. All i know is muscle is real and everything else is just conjecture. Look the part and at least you can win the mind game. A 6'3 dude with a big bench and squat who can also play a bit will go further in instilling confidence in his teammates and fear in his opponents. Am i wrong? Maybe, but it's not like im denying i'm an athletic nobody in dire need of movement efficiency..
I mean if your suggesting that getting bigger triceps and chest will intimidate opponents that's a strange argument honestly. Why not just cut your hair and get a bunch of prison tattoos? I mean if we are gonna go for scary why not go all out? The benefit to the push press is that you can cheat. Athletic movement is basically cheating. If you can strict press 150 and push press 225 that shows you have some ability to transfer power through your core. You use bw ratios a bit too much in my opinion. If you can bench 300 pounds at 175 and diet down to 150 to achieve a 2x bw bench instead of raise your bench to 350 you have just abused the sinclair scale to make gains that are not there. Squat to BW ratio makes some sense but bragging about a bw pushpress really doesn't because you are not lifting your body. You had a 165 pushpress at 6'3. Not impressive. Push press 2 plates.
w do i fix or improve these problems. Before todday came ppl here were doing 10m sprints and stuff .. but we've gone the other direction since and done longer springs. tbh, i probably enjoyed doing those 20m sprints and miss them.. i wonder if they were better than half heartedly doing longer sprints which id ont really believe to be helping me. im pretty good on a fast break, i feel i can chase down anyone for a block.. and i can count the number of shots ive changed in fbs, even collecting transition rebounds .. however that's not wher ei need to improve.. it's the shorter distances, going from A to B where they're about 1-5m apart not the entire length of the court. Why shouldnt i be doing <5m sprints? if that's where i need the most improvement.. lol.
Were you not the one who asked "how do I time a 60m?" but now want to do <5m sprints even though they are completely unmeasurable? <5m sprints are silly because they variance overwhelms the test. You can just train your reaction time by itself. Additionally you don't go from non-moving to moving as much in basketball as you think... You go from slightly moving to moving very fast which is different. Well, maybe you don't but that's part of your problem. Nothing wrong with you doing 5m shuttles though (5m left, 10m right, 5m back left etc). Nothing wrong with L-cone drill, shuttles, broad jumps, bounds, etc. The list for you IS long. You have to pick a set of exercises to focus on where a few are measurable and a few require you to learn to move your body before you can perform well (like ball tosses). The list is REALLY long and it depends where exactly you lack your ability.
Here is what is honestly about 40% of the training we did on the weekend (not shown is a bunch of sprints, football drills, jumps, stretches, band work, band squats, core work, etc). I even included a guy we are training at the end to try to convince you of med ball tosses. He is the defensive end for the pittsburgh steelers and he is 6'5 310 pounds and he would destroy you in a 40yd dash (he just signed a 50 million deal). He is an athletic beast. Med ball tosses do not hurt his back. This isn't a training program, this is just what training for movement efficiency looks like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIhaywsuSI0
***I do want to echo what Coges said. This has to be mixed in with basketball training. I would really reccomend you basically start at 95% ME 5% bball training and slowly transition to about 70% bball training by the time of your tournament. You have to fix your glaring deficits BUT also have to figure out how to apply to to the court.
******Notice that I included a few athletes in the video. Notice at 1:20 you see some broad jump work. The first athete is hip/ankle dominant, the next quad dominant, and I'm glute dominant. Notice how the quad dominant athlete goes just around 3 yards and I don't go much farther. But then watch the next thing (3 consecutive hops). Quad dominant guy can only go about 9 yards and it takes him much longer wheras on a good day I can go 11.5 - 12 yards and go much higher with shorter time on the ground and easily go high and far and over 4 yards on last jump. It's not because I'm more "fast twitch" or more reactive or more explosive. It's cause I move differently and it's a learnable skill that you can acquire.
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man, fuck ohio state. :gtfo:
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Kind of disagree. I actually think the biggest bang for buck for someone who is not a natural scorer is to get inside and do the stuff that no one else wants to do. Go where there's less competition. Everyone wants to jack up shots from way downtown or drive and pretend they're in the NBA. It's easy to capitalise on these faults and help your team in the process. I wasn't a natural scorer but managed to average nearly 15 points a game in my last 5-6 seasons or so. Most of this was done off the back of hard work inside (I was also 90% from the free throw line).
Well, this is digression from the topic but still interesting. You may be right as you play basketball in Australia and I don't but here at least your advice is good strategy to help in one game but not effective if you have an entire year before tournament play. In Los Angeles there are always really good "amateurs" you have to deal with because of the nature of the city (you go to karoake and the singer is excellent cause they came here to sing, a flag football league will have offseason players who are trying to make the pros staying sharp, etc). The leagues I have played in always have a few 6'8 guys who make things difficult for someone under 6' like myself. Inevitably a zone is played and when your discovered as an offensive liability you absolutely kill your team by not knocking down open shots. This is true as well at higher levels - there are about 10 guys in the NBA making it despite being offensive liabilities (eg can't knock down open 3's and jumpers) and they are extremely tall and strong (eg Deandre Jordan) and even they would be 100x more valuable if they could. Maxent is 6'3 165. I don't think this role is available for him. But again I don't know Aus bball, I just know he wants to be a beast and I'm ok with that whether it's optimal for bball or not.
Yes, that role is not available. I need to contribute more than my height and length .. which isn't much because my lack of weight more than takes away the advantage if there was one present. +20kg >> +6" of reach. I might have a couple of inches of reach more on my opponent but he may have 10-30kg on me .. and im not even super athletic or quick to take advantage of that weight mismatch. I know todday will disagree but when a 6'6" and 115kg guy posts up on you, doesnt matter that you can jump 35" if he's going to use his refined post skills against you.
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I know todday will disagree but when a 6'6" and 115kg guy posts up on you, doesnt matter that you can jump 35" if he's going to use his refined post skills against you.
Given that your 6'3 and he is 6'6 your giving away a little height but not that much. Surprisingly I do agree that your ability to jump 35'' won't help much at all. The two most important variables are your strength and your refined defensive post skills vs his refined post skills. You can make up for quite a lot of weight/height with FUNCTIONAL strength (not your big bench press) and of course with extreme post skills. Don't know how old you were in 1996 but Dennis Rodman guarded Shaq and neutralized him. Dennis was functional strong as an ox, extremely skilled, and really annoying. He could jump a bit but it certainly wasn't how he succeeded in defense...
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How can anyone be 6'3 165? I don't understand. I mean it's really hard to imagine someone like that, I've probably seen in the far past one or two guys like that but they could barely stand on their feet and were slow and uncoordinated as fuck.
By the way - I've rarely seen people use their hips properly when they do backwards med ball tosses. The VAST majority of them use their arms with the hips barely doing any work. Of all the people I know, I really really use the hips. Which is weird because of all the people I know, I don't use the hips at all on the powerclean. Very interesting how this is so different.
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How can anyone be 6'3 165? I don't understand. I mean it's really hard to imagine someone like that, I've probably seen in the far past one or two guys like that but they could barely stand on their feet and were slow and uncoordinated as fuck.
By the way - I've rarely seen people use their hips properly when they do backwards med ball tosses. The VAST majority of them use their arms with the hips barely doing any work. Of all the people I know, I really really use the hips. Which is weird because of all the people I know, I don't use the hips at all on the powerclean. Very interesting how this is so different.
Well you feel like you use your hips... but how do you know that? And who are the vast majority. These NFL guys toss the 12lb ball almost 30 yards. That's impossible if you only use arms...
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iEuwMEfBWk
Here i am closer to 160 than 165. I was just under 163 i'd say. That was less than 2 weeks ago!
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How can anyone be 6'3 165? I don't understand. I mean it's really hard to imagine someone like that, I've probably seen in the far past one or two guys like that but they could barely stand on their feet and were slow and uncoordinated as fuck.
By the way - I've rarely seen people use their hips properly when they do backwards med ball tosses. The VAST majority of them use their arms with the hips barely doing any work. Of all the people I know, I really really use the hips. Which is weird because of all the people I know, I don't use the hips at all on the powerclean. Very interesting how this is so different.
Well you feel like you use your hips... but how do you know that? And who are the vast majority. These NFL guys toss the 12lb ball almost 30 yards. That's impossible if you only use arms...
Try to take the word "only" less literal than you currently are taking it. Of course they use their hips, it's not 100% arms and 0% hips, just like in my case it isn't 0% arms and 100% hips. How do I know that? Watching video and feeling the complete extension/hyperextension. Some people end their hip extension movement and then they still continue moving their arms, and then release the med ball at the moment their arms stop moving. So it's a sequence where the hips aren't doing anything and if anything, they just added some "momentum" to the arms or whatever (try not to take this literal again, you know very well what I mean). The difference in timing might be (very) small, but it's there, and it makes a difference.
In my case, and a few other cases of a friend I was training with, the timing is perfect and it looks like an Olympic lift, a continuous movement where the medball is "launched" by the hips through the hands, but most of the time what I see is this lack of timing and the overuse of the arms to throw the ball.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iEuwMEfBWk
Here i am closer to 160 than 165. I was just under 163 i'd say. That was less than 2 weeks ago!
Those dunks look pretty decent... Get you some movement efficiency for a few more steps and you will be a beast...
LOL from Raptor about how it's impossible to be 6'3 165. The formula is simple. Be 6'3. Smaller frame, lighter bones. Be extremely lean. Don't have a developed posterior chain (eg NO GLUTES). Maxent checks off on all those. Except he thinks he isn't lean. That's a lie/delusion. You don't be 6'3 165 and fat and dunk basketballs. When he get's some glutes he will fly.
Or maxent you could just become a single leg jumper and stay super light... I have seen high jumpers 6'5 155 who can clear 7'5''. Of course at that weight their two legged jumps are pretty terrible.
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Try to take the word "only" less literal than you currently are taking it. Of course they use their hips, it's not 100% arms and 0% hips, just like in my case it isn't 0% arms and 100% hips. How do I know that? Watching video and feeling the complete extension/hyperextension. Some people end their hip extension movement and then they still continue moving their arms, and then release the med ball at the moment their arms stop moving. So it's a sequence where the hips aren't doing anything and if anything, they just added some "momentum" to the arms or whatever (try not to take this literal again, you know very well what I mean). The difference in timing might be (very) small, but it's there, and it makes a difference.
In my case, and a few other cases of a friend I was training with, the timing is perfect and it looks like an Olympic lift, a continuous movement where the medball is "launched" by the hips through the hands, but most of the time what I see is this lack of timing and the overuse of the arms to throw the ball.
Interesting. I ask this because while the hips should fire it shouldn't be a hip throw OR an arm throw and some people don't get this. Using your hips really isn't the challenge. You can just move your pelvis back to forward ("hump the air") and boom you are using your hips. And the ball won't go very high at all. Just like anyone can do hip thrusts and use their hips but while it's a good strength exercise it doesn't really help to teach hip mechanics. The challenge is use your hips while throwing the ball as high as possible, you must rotate your pelvis up with your glutes. This really difficult for most people and when does correctly looks like a hip pop added on to an arm throw. The challenge of using your hips forward and backward really is only important when the legs are not together (single leg jumping and sprinting).
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Yes, that role is not available. I need to contribute more than my height and length .. which isn't much because my lack of weight more than takes away the advantage if there was one present. +20kg >> +6" of reach. I might have a couple of inches of reach more on my opponent but he may have 10-30kg on me .. and im not even super athletic or quick to take advantage of that weight mismatch. I know todday will disagree but when a 6'6" and 115kg guy posts up on you, doesnt matter that you can jump 35" if he's going to use his refined post skills against you.
BTW - I just talked to a friend who played pro-ball in Aus. He told me that in NBL they simply do not call fouls. LOL. Wow. So, if I was training you I would put you through a ton of training like you see in the clip but essentially train you like a football player since that sounds more appropriate to your country. When you visit America I can try and take you to see some of the NBA guys training but I will be afraid you will go soft...
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When he gets some glutes? Wasn't he saying that he's hip thrusting 200+ for reps? Doesn't sound like lack of glute development to me.
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When he gets some glutes? Wasn't he saying that he's hip thrusting 200+ for reps? Doesn't sound like lack of glute development to me.
The problem with using an exercise to gauge power. He can't jump more than 30'' and he is incredibly slow. Watch his dunk videos and you see a guy who has undeveloped glutes that don't fire. Hip thrusts are a good glute activator but they use a small range of motion and the load doesn't necessarily equate to power very well. I can get a good workout hip thrusting 225lbs or 505lbs - I have never "maxed" my hip thrust and don't need to. One of the biggest evaluation mistakes you can make (and usually it's self evaluation where we make it) is when we assume that an athlete can do "X" so therefore that part of the body is clearly not the problem. It usually comes from an athlete doing an isolation exercise of limited range of motion and assuming that means that muscle is not an issue. Classic example is a slow sprinter with weak hamstrings who can do something silly like a "Natural GHR" assuming that "I don't have weak hamstrings so that can't be the issue" but not realizing that using your hamstrings as a knee flexor with your knees on the floor doesn't have much to do with hamstring power or development in hip extension during a sprint. Watch an athlete move dynamically an locate where he has weakness rather than referring to a gym lift as evidence of anything.
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How do we decide I have a glute weakness and not hamstring or quad? I would say my glutes are just fine (in terms of muscular development) however .. they're not quite as ripped as the best player in the competition who at my height and about 200-220 had absolutely no bodyfat on him and could run circles around bigger slower guys or smaller quicker ones - he'd just a beast and it's the main and chief reason i've decided on a complete 12 month overhaul of my training.
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When he gets some glutes? Wasn't he saying that he's hip thrusting 200+ for reps? Doesn't sound like lack of glute development to me.
The problem with using an exercise to gauge power. He can't jump more than 30'' and he is incredibly slow. Watch his dunk videos and you see a guy who has undeveloped glutes that don't fire. Hip thrusts are a good glute activator but they use a small range of motion and the load doesn't necessarily equate to power very well. I can get a good workout hip thrusting 225lbs or 505lbs - I have never "maxed" my hip thrust and don't need to. One of the biggest evaluation mistakes you can make (and usually it's self evaluation where we make it) is when we assume that an athlete can do "X" so therefore that part of the body is clearly not the problem. It usually comes from an athlete doing an isolation exercise of limited range of motion and assuming that means that muscle is not an issue. Classic example is a slow sprinter with weak hamstrings who can do something silly like a "Natural GHR" assuming that "I don't have weak hamstrings so that can't be the issue" but not realizing that using your hamstrings as a knee flexor with your knees on the floor doesn't have much to do with hamstring power or development in hip extension during a sprint. Watch an athlete move dynamically an locate where he has weakness rather than referring to a gym lift as evidence of anything.
I agree with that. But you can't say he "has no glutes". You can say he isn't using the glutes that he already has at a pretty good level in terms of strength (yes, isolated movement strength, gym work strength, whatever) well in dynamic movements. That I can agree with. On the other hand, he doesn't seem too fast in ANY movement so I'm not sure it's the glutes' fault - it's either his desire to be fast (he is just "sleepy", "lazy" when he plays or whatever), or his CNS is slow.
We can test that if he agrees to film some "glute unrelated movements" dynamically (can't come up with an idea now) or that keyboard type test (where you press the spacebar as fast as you can for 10 seconds and see what kind of numbers you come with to test "quickness" or CNS speed). I know, silly tests, but they might provide some information (relevant or not).
Back to the glutes idea, I would do dynamic glute movements if I were maxent - KB swings (a ton of them, focusing on the "hip snap"), med ball tosses (focusing on the hip snap), double leg bounds, depth jumps for length etc. I know a lot of these things have a horizontal component in them in terms of hip action - if anybody has any idea about a vertical hip dynamic movement... I'm all ears. Maybe SVJs to rim with little knee travel and a lot of hip bend/hinge (like what Toddday was trying to do in his depth jumps videos).
Plus sprints. If I were as slow as maxent, I would say "fuck this, I will do sprints like crazy" and try different distances and give 110% effort on them. Not only are they great plyometric exercises but also train the hip hyperextension, the posterior chain dynamically, the calves dynamically, stiffen the Achilles etc, all the good stuff.
Obviously, all these besides playing actual aggressive ball (especially on defense, since you don't have the ball and can move freely, you can be quicker/faster defensively and you'll benefit from that type of multi-directional "plyo work").
These are what I feel are the most sensible things for maxent at this moment.
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When he gets some glutes? Wasn't he saying that he's hip thrusting 200+ for reps? Doesn't sound like lack of glute development to me.
The problem with using an exercise to gauge power. He can't jump more than 30'' and he is incredibly slow. Watch his dunk videos and you see a guy who has undeveloped glutes that don't fire. Hip thrusts are a good glute activator but they use a small range of motion and the load doesn't necessarily equate to power very well. I can get a good workout hip thrusting 225lbs or 505lbs - I have never "maxed" my hip thrust and don't need to. One of the biggest evaluation mistakes you can make (and usually it's self evaluation where we make it) is when we assume that an athlete can do "X" so therefore that part of the body is clearly not the problem. It usually comes from an athlete doing an isolation exercise of limited range of motion and assuming that means that muscle is not an issue. Classic example is a slow sprinter with weak hamstrings who can do something silly like a "Natural GHR" assuming that "I don't have weak hamstrings so that can't be the issue" but not realizing that using your hamstrings as a knee flexor with your knees on the floor doesn't have much to do with hamstring power or development in hip extension during a sprint. Watch an athlete move dynamically an locate where he has weakness rather than referring to a gym lift as evidence of anything.
I agree with that. But you can't say he "has no glutes". You can say he isn't using the glutes that he already has at a pretty good level in terms of strength (yes, isolated movement strength, gym work strength, whatever) well in dynamic movements. That I can agree with. On the other hand, he doesn't seem too fast in ANY movement so I'm not sure it's the glutes' fault - it's either his desire to be fast (he is just "sleepy", "lazy" when he plays or whatever), or his CNS is slow.
We can test that if he agrees to film some "glute unrelated movements" dynamically (can't come up with an idea now) or that keyboard type test (where you press the spacebar as fast as you can for 10 seconds and see what kind of numbers you come with to test "quickness" or CNS speed). I know, silly tests, but they might provide some information (relevant or not).
Back to the glutes idea, I would do dynamic glute movements if I were maxent - KB swings (a ton of them, focusing on the "hip snap"), med ball tosses (focusing on the hip snap), double leg bounds, depth jumps for length etc. I know a lot of these things have a horizontal component in them in terms of hip action - if anybody has any idea about a vertical hip dynamic movement... I'm all ears. Maybe SVJs to rim with little knee travel and a lot of hip bend/hinge (like what Toddday was trying to do in his depth jumps videos).
Plus sprints. If I were as slow as maxent, I would say "fuck this, I will do sprints like crazy" and try different distances and give 110% effort on them. Not only are they great plyometric exercises but also train the hip hyperextension, the posterior chain dynamically, the calves dynamically, stiffen the Achilles etc, all the good stuff.
Obviously, all these besides playing actual aggressive ball (especially on defense, since you don't have the ball and can move freely, you can be quicker/faster defensively and you'll benefit from that type of multi-directional "plyo work").
These are what I feel are the most sensible things for maxent at this moment.
I agree with 99% of what you said. I just don't find hip thrusts to actually be the best test of glute strength even in isolation. I believe this just from empirical evidence and the only argument I can make probably isn't that satisfying - it's just that I have seen tons of athletes who are really weak somehow able to do a lot of hip thrusts with moderate weight. The same isn't true for other compound exercises - eg if you can wide-grip bench a lot of weight your delts and chest must be strong - doesn't mean you necessarily are recruiting them dynamically -but they are developed. Maybe it's because we can make the hip thrust really hard or really easy by where we place our feet, by how high we put out shoulders on the bench, by whether or not we truly squeeze at the top of the lift. Point I'm making is it's really easy to cheat our way to big hip thrust numbers...
However, like you said it doesn't matter if he has some strength reserve in his glutes if he doesn't recruit his hips dynamically it won't help and you gave great suggestions for exercises that will force him too...
That said, to answer his question about how he knows if he has weak glutes or hamstring or quads I would tell you why this is my hunch.
1) The eye test. He hasn't posted a lot of video or pics but from what I see is an athlete with no hip pop who doesn't look like he has much glute development (simply put - small butt, no natural anterior tilt, doesn't look like a sprinter or glute dominant athlete). Of course looks are not everything.
2) The strong and weak points. While not spectacular his standing vertical is one of his more impressive feats. In fact his standing vertical dunk is almost as high as his running vertical. His vertical jumping ability is "better" than his speed. In this I mean most people who can jump as high as him are probably faster and in fact most people who can jump within a few inches of him are probably faster. Hamstring dominant athletes will usually be at one end of the spectrum (really fast but surprisingly bad at jumping) and glute dominant people in the middle with more speed than jumping ability but not extreme while quad-dominant athletes will be decent at jumping besides being terrible athletes dynamically.
3) His long history of being a sedentary fat male. Men who are active and playing sports their whole life figure out how to use glutes as a kid and stick with it. Men who spend a decade sitting at a desk and then try to play sports usually have inactive weight glutes and hips.
4) His ability to "feel" exercises. He hates med ball tosses because they only hurt his back which IMO is evidence that he doesn't use his glutes at all. Of course your right that he might have strong glutes and just not know how to use them. But I'm less convinced this is the problem - as Charlie Francis said - looks right flys right. Sure there are exceptions but usually if you have strong glutes throughout the range of motion and train a dynamic skill you will learn how to use them... Not always though...
My suggestions are similar to yours - bounding, broad jumps, etc (especially tailored to bball at the end), sprints, etc. If his broad jump is terrible it's more evidence of a glutes issue. Basically the video I posted is a incomplete summary of how he should be training. Things like your speed at defensive shuffle is going to be quite glute dominant...
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Great stuff. If you can agree to a set of tests/diagnostics i'm more than happy to take a video doing them today or next time I train this week.
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Yeah back to the hip thrust argument - there's such a big variation into what people "consider" to be a hip thrust. I was watching LBSS's videos of his hip thrust, and he uses such short ROM. When I do the hip thrusts, I go to full hip hyperextension (I try, at least), pause there for a second or two, then go all the way down. I don't go 1 cm and then back up, I go all the way down so the plates touch the ground, and then do the exercise again. Plus sometimes I feel the exercise in the lowerback, meaning I wasn't actually using my glutes properly/I wasn't getting into posterior pelvic tilt, I was trying to "back extend" - so the completely wrong movement, and also with injury potential.
Sometimes I like to just touch the ground with the plates and go straight back up, so that I maintain continuous tension in the glutes for the entire set, sometimes I rest the barbell on the floor for a second and do the next rep (maybe I'm repositioning my back on the bench etc). But there's a tremendous amount of difference in TUT (or the total amount of time it takes me to do say 5 reps) vs what I've seen around here, with 1-inch humps of the bar being called "hip thrusts". Certainly a lot less time spent per set for the same amount of reps, a lot less stretching of the glutes, a lot less range of motion etc.
This makes me think about chinups or squats or whatever - when you ask someone how many chinups they do, they might say "15". When you tell them to show you how they do them, they do 2 inch chinups (similar to 1/4 - 1/8 squats that you see the regular gym idiot do).
So yeah, it seems that we have completely different understanding of what a properly performed hip thrust is. And yeah, there's definitely variation going on depending on how you position yourself.
I remember doing the hip thrusts with Olympic lifting shoes on (I think LBSS did so, too) and they felt totally different than the same exercise without OL shoes on. I even reported that to Bret Contreras some time ago (I think he said he hasn't studied the difference).
Also, you can kind of push through the "toes" (or the front part of the foot) or through the heels. Personally, I feel weird pushing through the heels. You can also kind of pull the ground back with your feet while in that position (although that would activate the hamstrings as knee flexors, especially when the bar is resting on the floor and the hamstrings are not in active insufficiency).
So I agree, there's a ton of stuff going on with the hip thrust. I think properly performed KB swings would do a lot of good for maxent, as would depth jumps for height with a target straight overhead (this will force him to hip extend a bit more, IMO, than a regular DJ that for him would be so quad-dominant).
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I'll try to post more video in the coming weeks .. for you guys to check your hunches. Will be interesting to see if it matches up with the preconceptions!
Tonight i went to the rec center just to shoot around for bout 30min before the rec league games start. And i was warming up doing some dunks .. guess i must have looked ok cause this guy approached me and asked if i would play for them.. so naturally i said hell yes .. and we won. Todday mentioned Rodman above a few posts ago, it may have been in my subconscious cause i tried to play the best defence and rebounding game off my life. Went scoreless .. in true rodman fashion. Took a video during warming up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmPvA81WPak
lighting sucks but i didnt run any filter on it to make it easier to view. Also dont quote it cause im gna delete it to protect the privacy of the other ppl in the vid .. dont kno them but it's not cool to put it online without their permission .. i know
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BS 2x127.5(LPR), 1x135(LPR!!), 4x117.5
Bball game
BW: 172
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Maybe box squats/seated-jumps would be a good idea as hip dominant exercises for you, too.
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BS 6x70 (warmup PR; paused 135) 6x110(warmup PR; p135), 2x130 (LPR; warmup), 6x112.5(first set LPR), 6x117.5 (LPR)
BCR 12x150, 8x190
JS 8x110 (warmup PR), 8x150 (warmup PR), 8x180 (=PR; maintenance)
PP 6x62.5(PR; warmup PR too!), 6x65(PR), 7x62.5(PR)
BP 6x70 (warmp PR), 1x90
DJ 2x6x20"
MedBThr 6x5kg, 6x10kg, 6x5kg (new exercise!!; see notes)
BW: 80kg / 176.5lb
Notes:
The first workout done with my new barbell and 2x25kg plates. What a difference it made from old, bent, rusty, cheap barbell. I could actually save lifts that i would normally have failed. it feels way better out of the bottom .. world of difference. Probably got my first decent erectors workout in a long time. No fails either in a day i wasn't feeling very fresh or strong, to get a string of PRs is a great sign. This is the setup i'll use to build and achieve my 180kg squat goal within 12 months.
Apparently a decent barbell also helps with overhead lifts .. i got a push press PR straight up. Time to get strong.
I started medicine ball throws at the behest of T0ddday! Have set myself some initial goals based on the soccer field configuration and my first throws done there today:
(http://i.imgur.com/UVVbTJF.png)
For the record i'm about 30cm off on the 10kg goal and ~20m off on the 6kg goal.
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Some observations from today's medball workout: It does NOT potentiate my jumps as Todday's ones does. However a few years ago i did use banded plate swings to potentiate myself to jump higher. I never attempted to reproduce that, because i never needed to do icing on the cake type potentiating before .. but may revisit them if i am properly peaking my vertical at some point.
If the utility of medball throws or swings for training for athleticism is determined by potentiating ability of the exercise, then Raptor might be right that swings are the way to go for me. But no reason i can't do both. Anyway, for now im happy to include throws. I don't have a pair of KBs at home, the gym has them but not sure i will continue my membership there. Still, while I have access, i may as well do them.
Finally, with my new barbell im able to do olympic lifts better .. so im gna try to get my hang powerclean over 100kg. That wont hurt my athleticism either. And i've also adopted the suggested goal of a 100kg push press.. that should be do-able within the 12-month timeframe also. However, when your only benching 100kg i dont think i have enough upper body strength to lock out 100kg overhead .. but no reason i can't get my bench up to somewhere semi-respectable like 115kg or so by then. Especially with the nicer bar which seems to be more balanced unlike the old bent one which forced me to lift asymmetrically.
Any other weightroom goals you guys can suggest? I'm summarising them below:
RDL - 10x200kg
BHT - 10x230kg
Backsquat - 180kg (>2xbw)
BP - 115-125kg
HPC - 115-120kg
PP - 100kg
OHP - 90kg??
And i think that's the lot. Can't think of any others at the moment that i'd care to set a goal on. RDLs and BHTs i should be able to achieve in a few weeks time. Backsquat will take time and ofcourse upper body lifts will take the longest.
Outside the weight room I have the following goals:
Medball throw (see above for 6kg and 10kg medball goals respectively relative to football field markings)
Weighted dunk @ 115kg
Decent 60m sprint time (concrete numbers??)
Windmill dunks, arm in rim / elbow hang dunks etc (dreaming)
suggest any more that would be useful to me
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I just bought a 5 kg med ball and a 24 kg kettlebell with less than 100 euros, years ago. I just paid 100 euros for two items I'll basically have forever, so a great investment.
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A possible injury i picked up from last time. When I unracked 190kg for calf raises last time, i was able to take it out of the rack just fine. But my new bar is fairly whippy (28mm vs 30mm of the old one) .. and ... of course racking the bar the plates were lower and i struggled to return the bar, stretched/strained my right shoulder getting it back on the rack. That sucks. The pins below are too low .. and evidently the normal ones are now too high, so next time if i ever have more than 150kg on the bar, just make sure the pins are set lower to account for bar whip.
I just bought a 5 kg med ball and a 24 kg kettlebell with less than 100 euros, years ago. I just paid 100 euros for two items I'll basically have forever, so a great investment.
I will consider it, if it shows utility beyond a few weeks use! I'm just unsure about investing in a single KB when like dumbells you may need more one pair and it's unclear which weight to go with. Thanks for the recommendation though, i'll try them today and see how it goes.
I used my TENS unit around my left hip yeterday.. and the niggles ive felt all week have disappeared overnight. That's cool. I love this thing, acole you're the man for suggesting it! I use it on my lower back regularly and im good there too :headbang:
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I just bought a 5 kg med ball and a 24 kg kettlebell with less than 100 euros, years ago. I just paid 100 euros for two items I'll basically have forever, so a great investment.
Ehhh I hope it is forever. We had a 12lb medicine ball crack in half on us at practice today. Never been tossed on hard surfaces only turf, grass and sand and the ball split down the middle on a far toss...
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Some observations from today's medball workout: It does NOT potentiate my jumps as Todday's ones does. However a few years ago i did use banded plate swings to potentiate myself to jump higher. I never attempted to reproduce that, because i never needed to do icing on the cake type potentiating before .. but may revisit them if i am properly peaking my vertical at some point.
If the utility of medball throws or swings for training for athleticism is determined by potentiating ability of the exercise, then Raptor might be right that swings are the way to go for me. But no reason i can't do both. Anyway, for now im happy to include throws. I don't have a pair of KBs at home, the gym has them but not sure i will continue my membership there. Still, while I have access, i may as well do them.
Finally, with my new barbell im able to do olympic lifts better .. so im gna try to get my hang powerclean over 100kg. That wont hurt my athleticism either. And i've also adopted the suggested goal of a 100kg push press.. that should be do-able within the 12-month timeframe also. However, when your only benching 100kg i dont think i have enough upper body strength to lock out 100kg overhead .. but no reason i can't get my bench up to somewhere semi-respectable like 115kg or so by then. Especially with the nicer bar which seems to be more balanced unlike the old bent one which forced me to lift asymmetrically.
Any other weightroom goals you guys can suggest? I'm summarising them below:
RDL - 10x200kg
BHT - 10x230kg
Backsquat - 180kg (>2xbw)
BP - 115-125kg
HPC - 115-120kg
PP - 100kg
OHP - 90kg??
And i think that's the lot. Can't think of any others at the moment that i'd care to set a goal on. RDLs and BHTs i should be able to achieve in a few weeks time. Backsquat will take time and ofcourse upper body lifts will take the longest.
Outside the weight room I have the following goals:
Medball throw (see above for 6kg and 10kg medball goals respectively relative to football field markings)
Weighted dunk @ 115kg
Decent 60m sprint time (concrete numbers??)
Windmill dunks, arm in rim / elbow hang dunks etc (dreaming)
suggest any more that would be useful to me
As far as potentiation goes - do not judge an exercise by the ability of it to potentiate your ability. Judge the athlete on his ability to obtain potenitation. That said band work will always supply potentiation easiest simply because it's difficultly increases at the end range of motion. Consider barbell weighted squats vs unweighted heavy band squats. The weighted squat must be slowed as you reach lockout (unless your doing a jump squat) so motor units have to turn on at reversal and then turn off near the top. If bands are used instead of weights then the load increases toward the top and motor unit have to stay on or even turn on near the top of the range of motion just like how a jump requires you to turn on motor units as you accelerate off the floor. That doesn't mean barbell squats are inferior to band squats or do not have their place in your training - just means it's not as easy to get a potentiation effect.
I put this in acoles journal but if you are looking for other goals outside of weightroom fill out this list of abilities and you can get started on movement efficiency in a big way:
For the one footed bounds start with front foot at take off line and back foot behind it, do not run in with speed but do not do a one footed take off either. For sprint times take a video with any timing tool and film from 1st movement till chest past marker. If you have FAT times you can subtract 0.2 and list those as well. If you don't have any experience with it then try and and test yourself:
Standing Vertical Jump
Double-Leg Running Vertical Jump
Single-Leg Running Vertical Jump
Standing Broad Jump
Three Consecutive Broad Jumps
Five Single Leg Left Leg Bounds
Five Single Leg Right Leg Bounds
Five Alternating Leg Bounds
Forty Yard Dash
60 meter sprint
100 meter sprint
200 meter sprint
Flying 30 meter sprint
Full Back Squat
Parallel Back Squat
Barbell Bench Press
Standing Barbell Push Press
Barbell Deadlift
Strict Overhead Pullups till Failure
Pushups Completed in 30 seconds
Bodyweight Leg Raises till failure
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I just bought a 5 kg med ball and a 24 kg kettlebell with less than 100 euros, years ago. I just paid 100 euros for two items I'll basically have forever, so a great investment.
Ehhh I hope it is forever. We had a 12lb medicine ball crack in half on us at practice today. Never been tossed on hard surfaces only turf, grass and sand and the ball split down the middle on a far toss...
It's a Kettler ball, pretty sturdy.
This reminds of an incident with another med ball, a yellow, 3 kg medball that we took to the track back in ~2010 or so. We were tossing it up etc and it used to make this weird sound when it hit the ground.
At one point, we toss it up, it hits the ground and it explodes, and water with some sort of soap pours out of it. We laughed like crazy for 10 minutes when that happened.
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I used my TENS unit around my left hip yeterday.. and the niggles ive felt all week have disappeared overnight. That's cool. I love this thing, acole you're the man for suggesting it! I use it on my lower back regularly and im good there too :headbang:
Oh thanks mate! I forgotten I mentioned that to Raptor I think. It's not magic but I think the increased blood flow helps. There's all sorts of reps and schemes to use it but I just crank it to just below intolerable and go for 10-15mins.
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BS 1x132.5, 4x120(LPR), 2x119.5
BBall shoot-around ~ 45 mins
RDL 8x70(warmup PR), 6x110(warmup PR), 6x150(warmup PR), 15x110(PR), 12x150(PR), 6x190(PR)
BHT 8x70(warmup PR), 8x110(warmup PR), 8x150(warmup PR), 8x192.5(PR), 6x212.5(PR), 7x202.5(PR)
OHP 3x6x60, 3x5x60
Chinup 10,7,7
BS 2x8x102.5
BW: 177
Notes:
ERECTORS were not recovered from last workouts squats. So i couldnt squat any PRs :( Or dunk for shit. But interestingly enough i was able to do ok on the PC exercises.. Which makes me think there is something special about squats coupling so strongly to my dunk performance .. when my squat is supressed .. so too is my dunking .. as i found out again today when i couldnt land anything that felt even passable after dunking as good as i ever have on weds. That makes 2 bad dunk sessions in a row (fri & sunday) .. if i wasn't obsessed with squats, i'd def be jettisoning them right now for killing my athleticism .. lol.
I think if the causality goes: sore erectors + dead quads ==> bad dunks; This makes me think the reason backsquats help with my dunk is because they improve my strength in quads AND my erectors (which nothing else does by the way). And maybe Lance was right after all -- weak quads are holding back my potential as an athlete -- not as posited (lol) in my log that it's my lack of glute strength or hip dominance. Anyway im not changing anything but i do think there is a strong relationship between (my) quads and (my) dunks.
I'm really really tentative bout this .. but did a set of front squat with hte bar and got the first quad pump i have in ages. But i dont trust myself not to go full retard and start doing heavy front squats and fuck up my back which has been good for a while now. Sigh.
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Here's my game plan for the coming week. Start cutting monday .. i've let myself go trying to build some muscle but it's time to get back on track on maintaining a stable and strong 77kg bw .. which means first cutting to around 75kg then letting carbs fill me up to 76-77kg. Maintain that and just get as strong af at that bodyweight. I want a double bw squat and nothing is served by getting too heavy when i haven't even attained a 1.9x ratio!
But cutting aside, i'm getting .. not bored .. but lack of excited from all the posterior chain work ive been doing. I wanna wrap up this PC experiment with RDLs and hip thrusts and get back to building up a decent squat (>150kg repeatable weekly, to start with). This will get my leg strength close to PR levels and then i can revisit other stuff (suggestions abound on making me a hip dominant athlete .. however i'm prob gonna do that as part of a later phase.. no point messing with it while my quads are so chronically weak atm from lack of squatting). I think maintaining a 200kg RDL topset and a 220kg hipthrust topset will be good once i've got there, it goes on cruise mode and i focus on squats (=quads & erectors).
And i will try to play a bball game once a week .. if i can manage it ... otherwise on weds i'll run game-time intensity drills or osmething.. to avoid stagnation and going backwards in sports specific fitness. This will give me room to add in the drills Todday suggested for movement efficiency. Not going to do sprinting now though .. wrecks squat workouts which i wont abide!
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For the one footed bounds start with front foot at take off line and back foot behind it, do not run in with speed but do not do a one footed take off either. For sprint times take a video with any timing tool and film from 1st movement till chest past marker. If you have FAT times you can subtract 0.2 and list those as well. If you don't have any experience with it then try and and test yourself:
Standing Vertical Jump
Double-Leg Running Vertical Jump
Single-Leg Running Vertical Jump
Standing Broad Jump
Three Consecutive Broad Jumps
Five Single Leg Left Leg Bounds
Five Single Leg Right Leg Bounds
Five Alternating Leg Bounds
Forty Yard Dash
60 meter sprint
100 meter sprint
200 meter sprint
Flying 30 meter sprint
Full Back Squat
Parallel Back Squat
Barbell Bench Press
Standing Barbell Push Press
Barbell Deadlift
Strict Overhead Pullups till Failure
Pushups Completed in 30 seconds
Bodyweight Leg Raises till failure
Hey thanks for those suggestions. I will get on getting measurements on those and report back results when i have the chance.
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I used my TENS unit around my left hip yeterday.. and the niggles ive felt all week have disappeared overnight. That's cool. I love this thing, acole you're the man for suggesting it! I use it on my lower back regularly and im good there too :headbang:
Oh thanks mate! I forgotten I mentioned that to Raptor I think. It's not magic but I think the increased blood flow helps. There's all sorts of reps and schemes to use it but I just crank it to just below intolerable and go for 10-15mins.
What? What's a "TENS" unit?
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I used my TENS unit around my left hip yeterday.. and the niggles ive felt all week have disappeared overnight. That's cool. I love this thing, acole you're the man for suggesting it! I use it on my lower back regularly and im good there too :headbang:
Oh thanks mate! I forgotten I mentioned that to Raptor I think. It's not magic but I think the increased blood flow helps. There's all sorts of reps and schemes to use it but I just crank it to just below intolerable and go for 10-15mins.
What? What's a "TENS" unit?
google it dammit , it is 4 letters
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your injuries are actually helped by TENS and not just in the sense of short term pain relief?
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I used my TENS unit around my left hip yeterday.. and the niggles ive felt all week have disappeared overnight. That's cool. I love this thing, acole you're the man for suggesting it! I use it on my lower back regularly and im good there too :headbang:
Oh thanks mate! I forgotten I mentioned that to Raptor I think. It's not magic but I think the increased blood flow helps. There's all sorts of reps and schemes to use it but I just crank it to just below intolerable and go for 10-15mins.
I haven't experimented much with it, theres two different schemes on mine, on the TENS setting there are optioons for U and P and these days I just use U1 or U2. It randomised a bit but over time ive been increasing the current. Usually use it for 2x30min on my back. I haven't tried going for more intolerable and less time but that sounds interesting. Never use the "Sports" or "Massage" settings .. TENS seems to hit the spot and in particular U1.
your injuries are actually helped by TENS and not just in the sense of short term pain relief?
Not injuries but for example my lower back felt quite stiff one time, i started using the TENS and it felt better and eventually I stopped using it except as I needed it. I would use it on my calves.. too hairy tho .. but they get pretty beat up when training hard (jumping, running and lifting). I'd use it for a massage anytime i felt too sore or stiff .. not to fix an actual injury .. i dont know if i'd be brave enough to use it then!
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Raptor i tried KB swings last night. I can't do them while maintaining a flat back :/ Prob have the same issue with medball throws too. Would be cool to do a hip hinge with a flat back .. i imagine learning how will help on the court too eg when playing defence or dipping into a plant to jump? Hmmm.
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What do you mean "you can't do them while maintaining a flat back"? In what way? What's stopping you?
It sounds to me like you're the kind of guy that likes to use his back on hip-driven lifts, especially dynamically. I wonder how your hip thrusts really look like, there's a big change you're doing "back extensions" on them and not necessarily using the glutes right.
I also wonder how a deadlift looks like for you.
What weight did you use for the KB?
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Idk, i just naturally end up with a non-flat back whenever i do swings. Not sure why! I didn't note what weight i used just a light-to-medium one, didn't try a heavy one.
My glutes are actually sore today too .. so i did hit em pretty good yesterday.
Don't do deadlifts .. but my RDLs are hip hingy .. it's just swings and i guess maybe even my cleans might be the same way come to think of it .
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Yeah they look fine, however, I would emphasize the hip hyperextension part and pause in that hyperextended position for one or two seconds, with a lighter weight. You'd get a much better training effect.
Keep the dynamic movements using dynamic movements so to speak, so be explosive with KB swings and med ball tosses, not with hip thrusts. Do hip thrusts with the purpose of tension and great ROM and movement control/pace.
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I wonder what would happen if you'd try to do this:
http://www.just-fly-sports.com/plyometric-exercise-of-the-week-2-depth-jump-viking-throw-for-all-in-one-power/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzFK_C1-PhA
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^Looks legit. I dont know where I wud do it where I can do both depth jumps and medball throws behind, though. The gym roof isn't that high and at home i'd have to chuck it over the fence lol.
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I think i figured out the secret to dieting .. it's to do the "perfect" diet day and then just repeat it over and over.
(http://i.imgur.com/fmsJd4j.png)
So that's the last i'll mention on that, will check back in 3 weeks time and update.
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Summary of Todday's advice
Were you not the one who asked "how do I time a 60m?" but now want to do <5m sprints even though they are completely unmeasurable? <5m sprints are silly because they variance overwhelms the test. You can just train your reaction time by itself. Additionally you don't go from non-moving to moving as much in basketball as you think... You go from slightly moving to moving very fast which is different. Well, maybe you don't but that's part of your problem. Nothing wrong with you doing 5m shuttles though (5m left, 10m right, 5m back left etc). Nothing wrong with L-cone drill, shuttles, broad jumps, bounds, etc. The list for you IS long. You have to pick a set of exercises to focus on where a few are measurable and a few require you to learn to move your body before you can perform well (like ball tosses). The list is REALLY long and it depends where exactly you lack your ability.
My suggestions are similar to yours - bounding, broad jumps, etc (especially tailored to bball at the end), sprints, etc. If his broad jump is terrible it's more evidence of a glutes issue. Basically the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIhaywsuSI0) I posted is a incomplete summary of how he should be training. Things like your speed at defensive shuffle is going to be quite glute dominant...
I put this in acoles journal but if you are looking for other goals outside of weightroom fill out this list of abilities and you can get started on movement efficiency in a big way:
For the one footed bounds start with front foot at take off line and back foot behind it, do not run in with speed but do not do a one footed take off either. For sprint times take a video with any timing tool and film from 1st movement till chest past marker. If you have FAT times you can subtract 0.2 and list those as well. If you don't have any experience with it then try and and test yourself:
Standing Vertical Jump
Double-Leg Running Vertical Jump
Single-Leg Running Vertical Jump
Standing Broad Jump
Three Consecutive Broad Jumps
Five Single Leg Left Leg Bounds
Five Single Leg Right Leg Bounds
Five Alternating Leg Bounds
Forty Yard Dash
60 meter sprint
100 meter sprint
200 meter sprint
Flying 30 meter sprint
Full Back Squat
Parallel Back Squat
Barbell Bench Press
Standing Barbell Push Press
Barbell Deadlift
Strict Overhead Pullups till Failure
Pushups Completed in 30 seconds
Bodyweight Leg Raises till failure
Ok i wanna get started this week. Workout #1 is tmr. Many results will be artificially low cause ive never done them before. Like if was doing a bench press for the first time i'd have a really low showing even tho with a bit of practice it could be better. But better to get some runs on the board and then try to beat it over time than shy away from trying/testing them out.
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If i'm re-inventing my movement, I may need to start at the bottom, with my feet. I think spending some of my years in my formative stages of teenage hood in big clumsy basketball boots caused me to move while dragging my my heels. I've been told I run with a "heel strike. I will try strengthen my foot to support more athletic movement. Any exercises or drills I can find which will fix this will be helpful.
OH and i need to spend some time moving infront of a mirror. I realised when I cue chestup .. it tells me to be upright .. and to my body/mind, going lower into an athletic stance meant dropping the head (bent back) instead of lowering my hips by moving my butt back. If i can correct this mind-body connection and have chest up & butt out result in a lower athletic stance with a flat back, it will help with my swings, defence stance, jumping stance, etc.
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If i'm re-inventing my movement, I may need to start at the bottom, with my feet. I think spending some of my years in my formative stages of teenage hood in big clumsy basketball boots caused me to move while dragging my my heels. I've been told I run with a "heel strike. I will try strengthen my foot to support more athletic movement. Any exercises or drills I can find which will fix this will be helpful.
OH and i need to spend some time moving infront of a mirror. I realised when I cue chestup .. it tells me to be upright .. and to my body/mind, going lower into an athletic stance meant dropping the head (bent back) instead of lowering my hips by moving my butt back. If i can correct this mind-body connection and have chest up & butt out result in a lower athletic stance with a flat back, it will help with my swings, defence stance, jumping stance, etc.
First one that came to mind...
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/forefootdominance.html
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Run barefooted on track/grass. If you run with a heel strike you'll know immediately and it will hurt, and you're going to run on your toes by default. Plus it feels great for the calves and glutes :D
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Either i've become a pussy or i've got to rediscover how to push for PRs while cutting. But today was a huge disappointment in training terms. And life also, but that's not for a training log. Anyway. I did the bound stuff .. took video. It's probably not worth uploading for analysis, have a lot of room to learn the movements yet but i may do so if someone thinks it's worthwhile.
BS 1x132.5 (wanted a double, noped out after a 1RMy effort though on vid it looked easier)
WCU 3x100(LPR), 6x90
DIPS 5x100(PR), 10x90, 17xBW (pr?)
KB swings worked the entire stack from 8kg up to 6x24kg (maybe 30 total reps? idk)
some dunks to test effect of swings (they were decent, close to PRish maybe)
Bound tests things
BW: 79.1kg / 174.39
I didnt do sprints cause i dont need the disruption to squats right now.. im already doing a great job making hard work of squats on my own..
Will do RVJ/SVJ tests on friday .. along with plyos .. i think that makes sense to do them then. and i am kinda looking forward to medball throws too .. cause i watched some vid that todday put up and i think i can improve my technique a bit and get some PRs there.
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Is this (http://www.menshealth.com.sg/fitness/5-reasons-you%E2%80%99re-failing-standing-broad-jump) good info on broad jump? And can someone explain to me how getting better at these bounds variations will make me a better athlete?
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Is this (http://www.menshealth.com.sg/fitness/5-reasons-you%E2%80%99re-failing-standing-broad-jump) good info on broad jump? And can someone explain to me how getting better at these bounds variations will make me a better athlete?
ya it's decent.. it touches on most of the key points. arm swing is definitely important. We used to do lots of heavy med ball throws in addition to all of the strength/plyo work, really helped. And as they say, 'practice ...'.. you can improve your broad jump with skill training alone, so putting in the reps helps.
as for how standing broad jump will make you a better athlete?? dno, it'll help to teach you how to generate power just like a VJ will, via hip & shoulder power, rate of force generation etc. It won't really do anything magical though for athleticism.
if people weren't preparing for some kind of combine/tests, i'd use broad jump more as a measure of how training was improving overall power. I wouldn't have people perform broad jumps often at all. Actually I never had people do max effort broad jumps. We'd also be jumping over a hurdle for example, so that landings weren't deep and exaggerated. ME broad jumps can actually be VERY intense, especially when people sacrifice some form in order to attempt to get a few more inches.
Instead, I just used it as a measurement when testing every X weeks. I'd expect it (and VJ) to improve without specifically focusing on it as a skill.
We'd perform tons of movements similar to broad jumps, but not actual broad jumps, ie; hurdle jumps, multi response hurdle jumps, med ball throws with a broad jump, other forms of throws/plate swings etc.
pC!
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^thanks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hADsX-H2O5w
^this sounds like what you are describing? In an article the author defines movement efficient as being able to do 20 reps in 10s. Sound reasonable?
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^thanks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hADsX-H2O5w
^this sounds like what you are describing? In an article the author defines movement efficient as being able to do 20 reps in 10s. Sound reasonable?
I don't think that's what he is describing. Getting better at that drill will make you really good at just clearing the object which is not a good thing.
As far as the broad jump, I disagree slightly with Andrew about its utility. For combines the force you to stick the landing which results in you landing in a really deep squat. This is not useful and you shouldn't practice it. Step out of it or hop out of it. The real bang for your buck is the measurability of the multi-broad jump. You NEED to be able to travel at least 11 yards in three jumps. These won't involve deep landings and this will only be possible if you have reactive hips. However, your getting ahead of your self again, you need to learn to broad jump first and travel about 3 yards.
The broad jump itself is helpful because "slow" athletes don't know how to use their hips and gluteus. It's why you travel in the weird diagonal up on your dunks, no hip pop at extension. Learning how to use your hips to jump vertically is hard. So we start you going forward. It's much easier to use your hips in the horizontal plane than vertical... Broad jumps will allow you to get used of this and then you can translate it to jumping up. Don't worry about what the standing broad jump will do for your athleticism, your thinking too far ahead... Learn the skill. Become proficient. Then use it as a base to do exercises that will make you a much better athlete like jump, jump, dunk and many multi jump variations.
Watch one of our athletes perform 3 jumps; http://youtu.be/4JQ9Cam2ops
This athlete complains of being "slow" even though he is an accomplished 400m (47.x pr) runner. He lacks the hip elasticity and reactivity necessary for movement efficiency to make his broad jumps get longer with momentum. You can watch closely and see he goes 3 yards, 3 yards, 3 yards for approximately 9 yards total.
Now watch me poorly demonstrating the proof of concept: http://youtu.be/MOvp17LL22Q
You will notice I go just over 3, 3.5 and over 4 yard to reach 11 yards. This isn't terribly impressive of a performance but the movement efficiency is there. My hips stay high, short ground contacts and ever increasing distance from hip reactivity. Which athlete looks faster? Really ill take the athlete w a 3 yard broad jump and a 12 yard 3x jump over the athlete who can go 3.5 standing and 11 w three jumps. If you can go 11 or 12 yards in three jumps you won't be "slow" on the court. Only way to do this is to jump pretty high. But first LeARN BASICS.
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Thank you T0dday and adarqui. I meant what will the different bounds variations do for me .. not the (single) broad jump specifically .. but this seems to be the answer for the broad jump, "It's much easier to use your hips in the horizontal plane than vertical... Broad jumps will allow you to get used of this and then you can translate it to jumping up."
Does this apply to the SL bounds too -- cause aren't you more upright on those than the broad jumps .. what are they achieving in particular?
And you broadjump 10m in 3 reps .. that's pretty impressive. I have to start measuring distance for checking for improvement? Is that the case for the other bounds too:
Standing Broad Jump
Three Consecutive Broad Jumps
Five Single Leg Left Leg Bounds
Five Single Leg Right Leg Bounds
Five Alternating Leg Bounds
Distance not accounting for time. Thanks again!
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Thank you T0dday and adarqui. I meant what will the different bounds variations do for me .. not the (single) broad jump specifically .. but this seems to be the answer for the broad jump, "It's much easier to use your hips in the horizontal plane than vertical... Broad jumps will allow you to get used of this and then you can translate it to jumping up."
Does this apply to the SL bounds too -- cause aren't you more upright on those than the broad jumps .. what are they achieving in particular?
And you broadjump 10m in 3 reps .. that's pretty impressive. I have to start measuring distance for checking for improvement? Is that the case for the other bounds too:
Standing Broad Jump
Three Consecutive Broad Jumps
Five Single Leg Left Leg Bounds
Five Single Leg Right Leg Bounds
Five Alternating Leg Bounds
Distance not accounting for time. Thanks again!
Totally the case. I agree with Andrew about not trying to squeeze inches out of standing broad jump, but measurability is the name of the game. That's why I give these exercises. I would honestly take a measurable trackable test over a superior one where progress is not easily measurable.
SL bounds require a ton of strength to perform reactively. Alternating bounds require negative foot speed which will make you faster. All will make you a more diverse and better athlete and jumping on a soft surface is safer and great prep work.
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Tangentially, Todday interesting to read about your experience with changing the dunk hand so late in the game. Ive never done a dunk with my R hand before .. but ... since i am a RL plant jumper who has never got a game time dunk .. im tempted to explore dunking with my R hand! I can't palm the ball with my R hand. But never really tried to either and today I found I could work up to it by warming up to it by trying to palm my 6kg medball, then my bigger/slippier bball before attempting a normal grippier ball. Will work on my grip and try dunking with it on friday.
Part of my brain thinks does R hand or L hand matter when you can dunk doublehand? isn't that eliminating any advantage or disadvantage gained or lost by using one hand over the other? But when i think about it, my double hand dunks are done kinda L hand dominant anyway and it's possible i can gain by doing them R hand dominant? Maybe that's worth exploring. Will report back tmr if you're interesting in reading about my experience with it.
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Measured and it was just over 7m .. lol. i wouldnt say over 7.5m . so yeah, so bad. my first goal is 8.5m .. because it corresponds to the painted markers on the field. 10m would be a huge improvement and idk what 12 yards is but it's probably dream territory giving my initial showing but we'll see, i will see where hard work and consistency gets me.
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Why did someone +1 that? So bad it's amusing? Just curious hah.
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Why did someone +1 that? So bad it's amusing? Just curious hah.
Haha. I +1'd you for effort. Regardless of what you're doing or attempting to do you will always share and provide evidence of such. Hence the +1.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6YNmB653XE
cues and stuff to work on for next please??
Measured and it was just over 7m .. lol. i wouldnt say over 7.5m . so yeah, so bad. my first goal is 8.5m .. because it corresponds to the painted markers on the field. 10m would be a huge improvement and idk what 12 yards is but it's probably dream territory giving my initial showing but we'll see, i will see where hard work and consistency gets me.
That was 7m?? Just kidding. The only thing I can say is get those knees up! This type of stuff will be good for you I think.
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Plus, pause at 0:01 at your first landing and look at your head - it looks completely down. Try to look forward.
At least you're not doing this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-xncIKcFug
:trollface:
On the other hand, you keep the hips high and you look pretty bouncy:
For example, I try to force the issue and I have deep, unreactive landings, so I sacrifice reactivity and form for length, which is bad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbURq5Sb5x8
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BS 6x120(LPR)
JS 8x182.5(PR), 8x190(PR)
BCR 8x210, 16x150
JS 8x70
DJ 2x8x20"
PP 6x63.5, 6x66(LPR), 5Fx63.5
BP 1x90, 5x80(LPR), 6x77.5(LPR)
medball & bounds to come later tonight
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6x120kg backsquat and 190kg x 8 jumpsquats?!! this is getting ridiculous... how do you even do these and why on earth would you do jump squats with like 150% of your 1RM?
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6x120kg backsquat and 190kg x 8 jumpsquats?!! this is getting ridiculous... how do you even do these and why on earth would you do jump squats with like 150% of your 1RM?
Helps with supramaximal recr... wait... what am I saying here.
I can't even imagine the amount of risk involved in trying to leave the floor with 190 kg on your spine. It's just ...
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haha. i might just stop logging those jumpsquats and keep doing them secretly :ibjumping:
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I got mad PRs on the track today. Am i allowed to say track even tho ive never been on one? Anyway! Medball throw goal with the 10kg ball was achieved today! Woohoo. I measured it at 16.65m. I also PR with the 6kg at.. weight for it .. my tape measure only goes up to 30.5m .. but just inside 30.9m :wowthatwasnutswtf:
Then did loads of broadjumps trying to get my goal of 8.5m and i came very very close, may even have got it a few times .. but ... my battery had died and i cant verify with video and i might be a few cm off. This was awesome cause i was stuck at around 8m all night before i finally made progress.
Finally .. i wanted to see if i cud dunk .. and i was jumping pretty much PR territory .. (unlike last time when i said this, today was a more true statement lol). Exciting stuff. So it seems these bounds do good things for my dunk .. i didnt really expect that but there you go. Promising signs!
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Yeah, they're your secret weapon. It's basically what was missing for you to get really athletic and healthy. You will see their positive effects in the future.
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on the tosses, did you measure to where the ball hit the ground or where it stopped rolling?
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on the tosses, did you measure to where the ball hit the ground or where it stopped rolling?
I was wondering about that too .. how is it supposed to be measured? I've been doing where the ball stops rolling
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i was gonna say, those would be pretty beastly throws. but no, my understanding is that you measure from the point of first contact with the ground.
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i was gonna say, those would be pretty beastly throws. but no, my understanding is that you measure from the point of first contact with the ground.
I can't believe we're actually talking about this completely obvious thing.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s1OT6qmFys
:wowthatwasnutswtf:
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i was gonna say, those would be pretty beastly throws. but no, my understanding is that you measure from the point of first contact with the ground.
I can't believe we're actually talking about this completely obvious thing.
Lol. Well I was very impressed for awhile...
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Vids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSEEs6AwGz8
first one is 10kg (16.65m) PR and 2nd one is 6kg (30.9m) PR.
Also the best broad jump i have on video (i beat this pretty good later but fuck cannon .. )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHLvAv0tBBs
What do you guys think.. possible improvements?
Well there is a reason I told you to drill standing jumps before multiple but wth. Ok your not looking quad dominant. But oh my god.... Do you ever have a neutral back? Vid quality isn't excellent but it looks like you somehow avoid ever getting neutral for everything you do... This can literally add a foot to your vertical if you fix it.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s1OT6qmFys
:wowthatwasnutswtf:
I don't get videos like this... Why perform some exercise in a strange way to make it impressive. I mean he is doing standing broad jumps. It's not an endurance exercise and they way he is performing it shouldn't cause fatigue. The standing broad jump is already measurable. Just do a standing broad jump. It's like listing them sum of your vertical when you get 3 jumps.... Yah cool but what's your top vertical jump???
Additonlly he gets to slip forward slightly and because we measure toe heel he basically gets a one foot length advantage for two jumps which makes it less impressive. Multiple broad jumps take reactivity and require a shorter landing to facilitate it. Standing broad jump does not. 3 broad jumps are just a sneaky way to do a broad jump
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Tangentially, Todday interesting to read about your experience with changing the dunk hand so late in the game. Ive never done a dunk with my R hand before .. but ... since i am a RL plant jumper who has never got a game time dunk .. im tempted to explore dunking with my R hand! I can't palm the ball with my R hand. But never really tried to either and today I found I could work up to it by warming up to it by trying to palm my 6kg medball, then my bigger/slippier bball before attempting a normal grippier ball. Will work on my grip and try dunking with it on friday.
Part of my brain thinks does R hand or L hand matter when you can dunk doublehand? isn't that eliminating any advantage or disadvantage gained or lost by using one hand over the other? But when i think about it, my double hand dunks are done kinda L hand dominant anyway and it's possible i can gain by doing them R hand dominant? Maybe that's worth exploring. Will report back tmr if you're interesting in reading about my experience with it.
I'll be honest I never really gave it such earnest tries until I watched LBSS jump. But to me it's a godsend. You maybe eliminate some of the help when you double hand dunk but for me not all... There are days when I'm not jumping high and I can double hand dunk (jump up and dunk it cleanly w no tomahawk) but can't cleanly dunk w one hand... Which is weird.
For me at least jumping with the left hand back makes a huge difference. I just trained on vertec and easily PRed over 40" (touched 11'2") with my left hand. Didn't even feel great. In fact using the left has me doing a much more real sideways shoulders turned plant...
One thing I've always been told is I seem to need to jump higher than others to dunk. I will be able to hit my head on the backboard while someone else of the same height as me can't but can dunk easier than me... I think using the left hand levels the playing field for me. When I jump and touch w left I feel like I'm jumping maximally high and then reaching vs having my hand inside my body and worrying about timing...
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s1OT6qmFys
:wowthatwasnutswtf:
I don't get videos like this... Why perform some exercise in a strange way to make it impressive. I mean he is doing standing broad jumps. It's not an endurance exercise and they way he is performing it shouldn't cause fatigue. The standing broad jump is already measurable. Just do a standing broad jump. It's like listing them sum of your vertical when you get 3 jumps.... Yah cool but what's your top vertical jump???
Additonlly he gets to slip forward slightly and because we measure toe heel he basically gets a one foot length advantage for two jumps which makes it less impressive. Multiple broad jumps take reactivity and require a shorter landing to facilitate it. Standing broad jump does not. 3 broad jumps are just a sneaky way to do a broad jump
Exactly. Initially when I used to do 2-leg bounds (or 2-leg consecutive broad jumps, in my case) I'd be like wow look how much I gained due to reactivity! when in fact it was the 1-foot added for each bound (it didn't take me too long to figure it out, though).
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Well there is a reason I told you to drill standing jumps before multiple but wth. Ok your not looking quad dominant.
Standing jumps ... as in SVJs? Broad jump singles? :S Went back through the posts in the last few pages and all i found was this:
The broad jump itself is helpful because "slow" athletes don't know how to use their hips and gluteus. It's why you travel in the weird diagonal up on your dunks, no hip pop at extension. Learning how to use your hips to jump vertically is hard. So we start you going forward. It's much easier to use your hips in the horizontal plane than vertical... Broad jumps will allow you to get used of this and then you can translate it to jumping up. Don't worry about what the standing broad jump will do for your athleticism, your thinking too far ahead... Learn the skill. Become proficient. Then use it as a base to do exercises that will make you a much better athlete like jump, jump, dunk and many multi jump variations.
So master the broad jump. Then improve the multibroad jump. Also, jump, jump, dunk .. sounds intriguing.. !
Btw lately my lower body musculature has grown appreciably. Glutes and hams in particular are bigger and fleshier. I haven't got the big lifts to show for it though which is kinda disappointing .. but .. hopefully will get that too once i've got on a rhythm with training.
But oh my god.... Do you ever have a neutral back? Vid quality isn't excellent but it looks like you somehow avoid ever getting neutral for everything you do... This can literally add a foot to your vertical if you fix it.
Sorry about the quality. Will try take better video over the coming sessions.. still working out how .. with angle and lighting and so on. Will improve. And about my neutral back or lack of .. yeah :/ Idk .. i awlays wondered how that would help my dunk .. cause i dont have it there either.. hmm, a foot would be amazing though. Fk! How should I fix this?
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Tangentially, Todday interesting to read about your experience with changing the dunk hand so late in the game. Ive never done a dunk with my R hand before .. but ... since i am a RL plant jumper who has never got a game time dunk .. im tempted to explore dunking with my R hand! I can't palm the ball with my R hand. But never really tried to either and today I found I could work up to it by warming up to it by trying to palm my 6kg medball, then my bigger/slippier bball before attempting a normal grippier ball. Will work on my grip and try dunking with it on friday.
Part of my brain thinks does R hand or L hand matter when you can dunk doublehand? isn't that eliminating any advantage or disadvantage gained or lost by using one hand over the other? But when i think about it, my double hand dunks are done kinda L hand dominant anyway and it's possible i can gain by doing them R hand dominant? Maybe that's worth exploring. Will report back tmr if you're interesting in reading about my experience with it.
I'll be honest I never really gave it such earnest tries until I watched LBSS jump. But to me it's a godsend. You maybe eliminate some of the help when you double hand dunk but for me not all... There are days when I'm not jumping high and I can double hand dunk (jump up and dunk it cleanly w no tomahawk) but can't cleanly dunk w one hand... Which is weird.
For me at least jumping with the left hand back makes a huge difference. I just trained on vertec and easily PRed over 40" (touched 11'2") with my left hand. Didn't even feel great. In fact using the left has me doing a much more real sideways shoulders turned plant...
One thing I've always been told is I seem to need to jump higher than others to dunk. I will be able to hit my head on the backboard while someone else of the same height as me can't but can dunk easier than me... I think using the left hand levels the playing field for me. When I jump and touch w left I feel like I'm jumping maximally high and then reaching vs having my hand inside my body and worrying about timing...
I did try doing double hand dunks from the L side of the rim last night. Felt super clunky and i found myself being directly under the rim almost .. which sucks. I think i am turning them into dunks with L hand dominant which defeats the purpose of the exercise. to be R hand dominant. So will have to work on dunking with one hand. But it feels so unnatural .. and all those things you're describing as being improved with the L hand .. feel how my normal L hand dunks feel .. so idk if my R hand dunks will ever feel better than L?? I should def look into this further though. If i can increase my dunk range outside my comfort zone around the R side of the rim, it will allow me more chance of getting game time dunks .. especially when i am SO much more reactive on the L side of the court compared to the R.
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^^^ I think it's better to withhold judgement on your bounds without better quality video. But I am 95% sure I see something off that is fixable and will help you a lot.
As far as dunking, I never appreciated how complicated it was until I met actual dunkers... Maybe a KF style dunker doesn't have problems because he truly dunks two handed... But for the rest of us I think it really matters even with two hands. Here's an example - I can dunk from the left baseline with one hand or two hands in games. Driving from the right baseline I cannnot come close in practice. I can however go past the hoop and do a "semi" 360. That's because I plant LR and am right handed. Now that i dunk left handed I can do this dunk so easily and fast. There are lots of ways you get around this. One is to have your final foot plant behind your first foot, another is to do dunks where it's sensible for your last foot to plant away from the rim (say left baseline back turned opponent taking away baseline - spin and land left right going toward the free throw line and dunk. But these situations are rare. Usually, taking that final step away from the goal will make you look slow in games. It's why russell westbrook looks sooooo fast... He plants his right foot then his left taking large strides toward the goal and past the opponent and then rises up and dunks. For most of his dunks if I was in the same situation I would need another step with the right foot that didn't serve a role as far as helping me get by my man... (although now that I use left hand this isn't true).
This is the truth in most sports that involve skill/athleticism. I'm not claiming that russell westbrook isn't fast. But his otherwordly speed is a combination of his objective speed and his skill (movement style) that allows him to look like this. Are you as objectively fast? Probably not. But you look stupid slow compared to him and objectively you are not that much slower but you don't set your dunk up as effectively because you waste movement getting steps right... Fixing this AND becoming a better athlete with bounding and strength and band work need to happen in tandem for you to make a splash at next years tournament but no amount of just straight athletic improvement will make enough difference... Just watch Usain bolt in celebrity games when he dunks and tip toes his steps to do so... He looks slow. Because he doesn't know how to make dunking happen efficiently. But he is the fastest man on the planet... Clearly upping his power and speed isn't an option.
*** just want to add to my comment about why I can dunk from left baseline with two hands and not right... It is also because most of us DL jumpers use our blocking leg with some degree of hip torsion to allow us to get out glutes and quads involved in the blocking... It's slight but does effect our trajectory... So if I plant LR on left baseline this sends me turning slightly toward the center of the rim where I can put it down with two hands... On the right baseline this sends me into the backboard and I have to bring the ball up and avoid this which is impossible... Of course if you can jump as high as Kobe you can jump put the ball in your right hand, twist in the air and dunk the ball... But he is basically doing a complicated aerial move just to do a regular 1 handed dunk...
****** Also, I want to add that while the left handed dunking has really helped me - I am not super ambidextrous. Maybe more than you but certainly not totally. I can palm it with my left slightly but nothing like I can with the right... Control is an issue for me too but in my case the positive outweighs the negative. Certainly it would be better if I just planted right left but I can't seem to erase years and years of a movement pattern... My coordination is ok for some dunks but I'm sure I would have trouble if I tried an advanced dunk like BTL with the left hand and then I would have to either do like Jonathan Clark (do BTL off 1 foot or under the hoop with a 180/360 with my right hand) OR try to learn a RL plant so I could do it straight on with my dominant hand... Im hoping I can get windmills down with my left hand but that's pushing the limits of am ambidextrousness so it will take practice..
******* Finally if you want to see some extreme examples at the pro level check out john wall and jr smith. Both are right handed and jump off the right foot... This is a hindrance to JR smith who throws down some great two handed dunks but can't dunk as consistently as he should be able to while John Wall just adapted and dunks exclusively with his left hand... I personally think thats the way to go.
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THat last workout (week?) was hard to recover from. I skipped training yesterday (!!) and i'm still pretty beat up today but will force a workout. Also ate a lot of food and slept a lot .. but to no avail .. broad jumps are hard on the body huh. Using the TENS unit on my calves and hips may have made them worse .. lol.. interesting..
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BS 6x122.5(LPR), 6x122.5B, 3x2x127.5(LPR)
RDL 8x150(warmup PR), 4x192.5(PR), 10x180(PR)
BHT 8x200(PR), 2x220(PR)
OHP 3x4x60
BW: 179.9 (yikes)
lmao .. i ran out of chalk and this guy gave me some satchels of stuff .. used it and then realised it's actually anti-chalk .. it's supposed to make for a frictionless surface :/ oops.
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THat last workout (week?) was hard to recover from. I skipped training yesterday (!!) and i'm still pretty beat up today but will force a workout. Also ate a lot of food and slept a lot .. but to no avail .. broad jumps are hard on the body huh. Using the TENS unit on my calves and hips may have made them worse .. lol.. interesting..
Anything new seems especially hard on the body. For the noninitiated bounding will be really hard on tibials and all of lower leg... For me a squat day will leave me w days of soreness but bounding is hardly noticeable if volume is moderate. It's part of a warmup. You will adapt. Your not going high or far on your broad jumps and will quickly adapt. The single leg bounds are where you always need to be aware of volume constraints to recover. You will get there though.
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THat last workout (week?) was hard to recover from. I skipped training yesterday (!!) and i'm still pretty beat up today but will force a workout. Also ate a lot of food and slept a lot .. but to no avail .. broad jumps are hard on the body huh. Using the TENS unit on my calves and hips may have made them worse .. lol.. interesting..
Anything new seems especially hard on the body. For the noninitiated bounding will be really hard on tibials and all of lower leg... For me a squat day will leave me w days of soreness but bounding is hardly noticeable if volume is moderate. It's part of a warmup. You will adapt. Your not going high or far on your broad jumps and will quickly adapt. The single leg bounds are where you always need to be aware of volume constraints to recover. You will get there though.
Fair enough. I'll let my body adjust. I'm sitting here eating 300g of chicken breast in the meantime. Kill me now! I must admit some of the soreness i got was so weird .. like just under the ribs?! I didnt even know there was muscles there haha. And in general, my abdominals too: which was surprising, including obliques .. always wondered how sprinters end up with that weird muscle buildup there .. i guess i found a way to try myself! cool :)
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Post mortem on yesterdays workout .. my glutes are pretty sore. I guess that's good sign for becoming a hip dominant athlete. When my quads are strong enough to squat 2xbw AND i am hip dominant and am efficient at moving, I'll be in a good place for peaking my lifetime athleticism. That's exciting. But a lot of hard work to do yet. Speaking of BW .. it's worrying how it's drifted higher than i'd like, i'd be ok with maintaining a leanish 77kg and recomping 'round there, but it bothers me weighing more than 80kg. Need to get that in check.
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BS 6x125(LPR)
JS 8x110, 8x150, 8x180, 8x70
DJ 2x6x21"
BRoad jumps ~ 10 (before i got kicked off by soccer practice)
PP 6x64.5, 4x67(PR?), 6x65
DUNKS 3x6 (fuck off)
Med ball 3x6x10kg (PR @ 8.5m on landing)
BW: 178.5
Notes:
Proud of myself, did a set of 5 on BS and had the self discipline to leave it at that. Nothing was to be gained by forcing some meaningless PRs on squats. Saving it for track & dunking :ibrunning: :ibjumping:
On depth jumps i'm kinda meh about this exercise. I will try to increase frequency and do them twice weekly. The first one will be "intense" 2x6 off 21" and the 2nd one can be "volume" 3x8 off 12-16". That will help me separate depth jumps into strength and speed days respectively. Hopefully that gives better bang for buck.
Broad jumps .. hit a PR then had to leave immediately after. Got it on vid. Later realised i had left it on 720p and forgot to change to 1080p to get better quality. Oh well. Next time.. haha. Video below anyways.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjfCaZQIvSE
^whaddya reckon guys .. am i improving or nah?
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I think you are. For one, you look less downwards, and your back seems to be straighter. The thing that bothers me is that you don't finish the extension in the air, you don't "pull" yourself in the air completely, or extend, like a cat, extend that spine and hips, you just "jerk" it a bit and that's it.
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I think you are. For one, you look less downwards, and your back seems to be straighter. The thing that bothers me is that you don't finish the extension in the air, you don't "pull" yourself in the air completely, or extend, like a cat, extend that spine and hips, you just "jerk" it a bit and that's it.
k .. will work on those things. Thanks.
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Movement efficiency for hands/arms. Is this a thing? How to test it and/ build it? I need it there too, as I watch footage from shooting around tonight. I hate myself so much lol.
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Notes: [/u]
Proud of myself, did a set of 5 on BS and had the self discipline to leave it at that. Nothing was to be gained by forcing some meaningless PRs on squats. Saving it for track & dunking :ibrunning: :ibjumping:
nice :highfive:
On depth jumps i'm kinda meh about this exercise. I will try to increase frequency and do them twice weekly. The first one will be "intense" 2x6 off 21" and the 2nd one can be "volume" 3x8 off 12-16". That will help me separate depth jumps into strength and speed days respectively. Hopefully that gives better bang for buck.
do you have a goal overhead to reach for? ie bball rim, vertec, something? that makes depth jumping more effective & fun.. the exercise definitely becomes less meh when there's something to reach for (or even a jump matt, but no one has those).
Broad jumps .. hit a PR then had to leave immediately after. Got it on vid. Later realised i had left it on 720p and forgot to change to 1080p to get better quality. Oh well. Next time.. haha. Video below anyways.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjfCaZQIvSE
^whaddya reckon guys .. am i improving or nah?
wish you had that exact angle for when you initially performed the exercise.. because compared to your first video, looks dramatically better now. Overall it looked good. I personally prefer the style in your last jump, which is more of an "upright bounce, with less time gathering yourself on the ground".. but that's hard to do on your first broad jump. If you were doing 5-10 broad jumps, most of them would be in the style of that last jump, which is good.
As for movement efficiency for hands/arms, ya it's definitely a thing. You ever see people who are just complete spazzes with their arms/shoulders? Your arm swing looks good overall, especially on the 2nd/3rd jumps. Your first broad jump takes a while to get going, try and be more aggressive on that first jump & see what happens.
video quality was nice.. looked like a great day out.
pc!
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Movement efficiency for the arms is def a thing. But if your a basketball player it can be frustrating. Look at Raptors comments in my journal and my jumps without the ball and with it. Mastering arms is great but when you hold a basketball you might have to relearn to maximize a new non optimal arm swing...
In fact if you look at my journal that vertical was build by literally all bounding and sprinting a just a month or so of low volume infrequent vertical specific work (mostly cause my knees don't like vertical landings). So the bounding is "base" but not as "base" as squats. What I mean is bounding itself probably will add very little to your vert, but when you go back to training it you will quickly make gains. And you will have immediate payoff for other sports movements especially w single leg bounding and skater style forward bounds.
As far as your broad jumps. From what I see its 100x better than the last one but still pretty bad as far as hip extension being absent. Back is straight but no hip hyper extension whatsoever... But given that you went from a 2 out of 10 to a 7 in one week might not make sense to give you coaching yet... If you bound another meter farther next time I bet it will be because you have figured it out yourself.... Otherwise I'll give you some cues...
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@adarqui
You know that might actually restore my faith in depth jumps as a staple exercise if i had a concrete measurable goal for it. I don't have a place to do jumps at a rim (unfortunately). However. maybe i cud take a milk crate or something to the courts and try that? It wouldn't be high but portable. Or i could try rig something up at home with string. That might be fun. Hmmm! :)
I'm kinda cooling on broad jumps and medball throws. I like doing broad jumps a lot, because it's something new but i want to know how i will improve from 8.5m to 10m and possibly 11m which is what i've been set as a decent goal and dream goal respectively I think they're a good way to test an athlete .. but do they improve one? Does anything? Is it just squats all the way down .. and i just need to man up and add some plates to my PR? I hate myself again x2. But seriously, how am i gonna add 1.5m to my broadjump .. is it just going to happen by practising? Or do i need to gain some strength / muscle mass and then it will happen? This is so confusing. I stopped using the 6kg ball today though, cant be bothered measuring out that far. The 10kg is nice and easier to measure and i can track and measure landings fine on my own without a training partner, mainly cause they fall within the same range as my broadjumps on the printed markers of the field..
Thanks it was a nice day! And i prefer doing track stuff at that time .. the grass isnt wet, like it was tongiht when i did the medball throws. damn near lost one overhead which sucked cause it was slippery af. Will make the change from here on, 1080p and in daylight for bounds/throws.
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Movement efficiency for the arms is def a thing. But if your a basketball player it can be frustrating. Look at Raptors comments in my journal and my jumps without the ball and with it. Mastering arms is great but when you hold a basketball you might have to relearn to maximize a new non optimal arm swing...
In fact if you look at my journal that vertical was build by literally all bounding and sprinting a just a month or so of low volume infrequent vertical specific work (mostly cause my knees don't like vertical landings). So the bounding is "base" but not as "base" as squats. What I mean is bounding itself probably will add very little to your vert, but when you go back to training it you will quickly make gains. And you will have immediate payoff for other sports movements especially w single leg bounding and skater style forward bounds.
As far as your broad jumps. From what I see its 100x better than the last one but still pretty bad as far as hip extension being absent. Back is straight but no hip hyper extension whatsoever... But given that you went from a 2 out of 10 to a 7 in one week might not make sense to give you coaching yet... If you bound another meter farther next time I bet it will be because you have figured it out yourself.... Otherwise I'll give you some cues...
That gives me an idea. I cud use the medball and do like throws with one hand and stuff. But i'm really looking forward to finishing up with 2 leg bounds (==broad jumps?) and focusing on SL bounds. I dont wanna jump from one thing to another and be useless at everthing, want to master broad jumps first. Then i'll focus on SL. I think SL will do more for my basketball athleticism cause lets face it, someone as slow as me has to do everything SL since i'm already moving in slow motion and DL movements are just too slow at game speed. I'm a better at jumping of DL of course but most jumps on the court (all?) are done SL if i'm being honest with myself
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RE hip extension on jumps -- I consciously tried to use my "hips" during a dunk tonight .. and ... i found myself reflexively doing an air Jordan ^TM thing in the air. Is this kinda what we're getting that? I know i dont do that "leg kick" thing others do on their jumps .. i know it's supposed to help you jump higher but ive never really done it except by accident once or twice .. (i have a vid of me from last year doing it unwittingly, i can upload to illustrate). And i guess if i can do those on broad jumps i will go further? Interesting. Can't wait to try it out next time.
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I have personally found out that how much the arms are straight (or the elbow bent) matters quite a bit in jumps, of any kind. I usually like to arm swing with arms almost straight, off two legs, and that overwhelms my plant and I can't recover from that. The momentum of the arms being kept straight puts so much force into my legs that they collapse.
If I keep my elbows bent, or twist my arms to the side (like simulating an airplane) with arms straight, it's easier to recover and jump, as I plant. But I guess that's just because I'm too weak to deal with the added power straight arm swings put into my legs.
Also, a jump with the arms a little bent is quicker - to pendulate the arms around your body as they are straight takes quite some time and increases the ground contact time, from what I have personally seen in me and other people I trained with.
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^^^ your last 3 posts really confuse me to no end. You are losing faith in double leg horizontal hops because you don't think they will help you jump farther. You are also about to master them and then move on to something else? You also think they are more of a test than a exercise... You also think you need strength rather than "practice".
Seriously can you stick w a program for more than a few weeks? You won't master this anytime soon. First of all there is a big distance between broad jump and what you are doing which is double leg bounding. Best way to get better at bounding is to bound. This might blow your mind but practicing your bounds actually builds strength. You have to move away from this paradigm where you think squats make you strong and everything else is movement practice. You squat more than most guys in th nba. Almost all of them are stronger than you. Most sprinters hardly lift weights. Look at the glute, ab, back, hamstring development... You need to get better at bounding. You also need to get stronger. Both come from bounding. Right now you need to use your hips at takeoff which you don't do at all... Squatting and decelerating a weight right when you need hip extension won't help.
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I will try to clear the confusion haha. I mean for an exercise to be effective for training as opposed for testing it should be improvable .. not necessarily weekly but close enough to it. I just don't see how i improve my throws or bounds measurements regularly? I'm sure you will see all these glaring fixable faults but when im doing the exercise, i'm doing my best to better my PR .. not thinking about all the different flaws that might or might not be occurring at the instant i'm doing it. With the 3Bro -- i pretty much stalled last workout, i dont think i added a 1cm to my previous PR effort done on friday! There was improvement from day 0 sure, but beyond that, it's behaving more like a test whose performance i am replicating than a training thing which i'm improving my performance at regularly and measurably. With the medball throws they're landing in the same exact spot there's not a crater there lol. Does that make sense?
Btw at 1cm/week improvement .. i'll reach the 10m broadjump goal in ......... just under 3 years. Yikes. If i can get that to 10cm a week i would be happy cause that brings the time frame down to 3 months .. woooho!
Is this something you have to deal with as a sprinter where you might not see changes in months and then boom something happens and you get some improvement out of the blue? I feel like i'm going through the motions and without seeing the results .. it's kinda demotivating .. i'm not expecting carry over to the basketball court instantly but at least at the exercise i shud be improving to keep myself driving towards goals. I didn't realise it would be so hard to get improvements but i guess i should have expected that.
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two things:
1. you don't do exercises like bounds for their own sake. you do them because they teach your body something. you just started learning how to do them. be patient.
2. improvement doesn't have to be - and in fact rarely is - linear. you might struggle to get technique right for bounds for a while and then all of a sudden something clicks and you get a 50cm improvement all at once. you follow my journal, you know how long i was at 33-34 on my "good" days and then how suddenly that jumped up by 2-3 inches.
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I've given up on my diet, too. Tried it for 1 day and didn't see any effects.
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I've given up on my diet, too. Tried it for 1 day and didn't see any effects.
+1 looool
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He stared up into the dewy sky now littered with stars, wiped his brow and psyched himself up for his next attempt. Like magic, his quads dishibited, his glutes engaged for the first time, propelling him across the ground in 3 long bounds, he had finally set a PR behind him. How did it happen and more importantly what could he do to repeat it? He had done the same thing over and over, a thousand times before. It was a random mutation which unlocked in him a movement efficiency never before seen. Never to be seen again, he grimaced, the lens of his camera had retracted, propped on 3 shaky legs sat unevenly in the unruly grass. NO would ever believe him and the recording had cut out just as he began the rep, recalling @adarqui who had told him to be aggressive and not take so long to begin. And he repeats the insanity, expecting this time things would be different, but not today.
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He stared up into the dewy sky now littered with stars, wiped his brow and psyched himself up for his next attempt. Like magic, his quads dishibited, his glutes engaged for the first time, propelling him across the ground in 3 long bounds, he had finally set a PR behind him. How did it happen and more importantly what could he do to repeat it? He had done the same thing over and over, a thousand times before. It was a random mutation which unlocked in him a movement efficiency never before seen. Never to be seen again, he grimaced, the lens of his camera had retracted, propped on 3 shaky legs sat unevenly in the unruly grass. NO would ever believe him and the recording had cut out just as he began the rep, recalling @adarqui who had told him to be aggressive and not take so long to begin. And he repeats the insanity, expecting this time things would be different, but not today.
I just told my psychiatrist this, and he prescribed me a whole bunch of medication. Like I needed any extra ones!
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Name one exercise you improve weekly at. And don't say something like squats where you cut to 160 and lose your squat and then gain weight about your squat weekly...
If you improved weekly by 5 lbs in your squat you would add 250lbs a year to your squat.
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If you just started squats for the first time and were doing them at 3x8 (or whatever), you would be surprised if you stalled within 2 weeks! The difference is the broad jumps are ME and the squats wouldnt normally be done ME.
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BS 2x6x125 (LPR), 3x2x130(LPR), 3x127.5(LPR)
BCR 20x110, 20x150
Broad jumps, 5kg medball throws
HPC 6x50 (LPR; new ex), 6x60, 3x70, 1x80(PR; first bodyweight HPC?), 3x72.5(LPR)
HIIT sprints 6x(19s on, 20s off)
TM run - 1km in 8 mins
BW: 175.71 (LPR; back under 80kg ... thankfully!)
Squat notes:
I would have to look it up (and i wont) but pretty sure that isn't just a local PR for 6 but a global one at sub 80kg bodyweight.
Bounds notes:
PR my frustration at this exercise. Sigh
Conditioning notes:
Ok you fat cunt, time to restart conditioning work. I forced myself to do some sprints .. and something has definitely changed .. i can't say what but my movement / fluidity or something else is not how it used to be. Interesting. I'm not saying it was carryover from doing broad jumps .. but it may be? Or it cud be the hamstring/glute mass i've added .. or the PC chain exercises i've been doing? Or all of the above? Something is definitely different. I havent done sprints in like 6-7 weeks, which is the tantalising thing. I wanna see this out.
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Yeah, I mean, back when I wasn't strength training at all and just tried to touch the net, and kept on trying it, one day I touched the rim. Then one day I could dunk a tenis ball. Then one day I could dunk a volleyball. Then one day I could dunk a basketball.
Insane! I was doing the same thing over and over, maximally. Steph Curry did a similar thing with his shooting. He couldn't nail all these three pointers and just gave up on them. No need to try them, he would get 1/20 when he first tried them. No need to practice that since getting 1/20 every day is the definition of insanity. That lead to his success in the NBA, that mindset of giving up on skill-based practice.
So I totally get what you're saying.
:trollface:
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Give it a rest, compare apples and oranges and make another pointless analogy again, I dare you.
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OK, I'll try to copy you. I give up. Trying to convince you again and again is the definition of insanity.
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Anyway enough about that. Moving on. With my new bar i can try PR my hang powercleans. I'll start tonight. At least that I know i can improve over time regularly .. haha. My PR was just under 90kg i think, i can get that up to 100kg in 8wks it will be a good start. Leggo.
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Yeah, because in the bounds you were already at your genetic ceiling-level, and you couldn't have improved them anymore after doing them for 2 times. The situation is different for the power clean.
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GOD you're frustrating.
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Mate are you still after movement efficiency?
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Mate are you still after movement efficiency?
I think iam more about movement inefficiency. Might just own it instead of fighting against my core traits? I wanna see how big and slow I can really be while still dunking on fools. I'm envisioning weighing 300lb in 12 months time, superbly inefficient but also benching bodyweight. What do you reckon? Do-able?
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OHP 3x3x60
BP 2x1x90(LPR), 3x6x80(LPR)
WCU 3x103(+20kg, LPR), 3x98, 6x93, 6x88
LPD 3x8
CROW 3x8
CURL 3x8
a solid upper body workout tonight before holiday.. going to do a whole load of volume then rest/recover and growwwwwwww.
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Mate are you still after movement efficiency?
I think iam more about movement inefficiency. Might just own it instead of fighting against my core traits? I wanna see how big and slow I can really be while still dunking on fools. I'm envisioning weighing 300lb in 12 months time, superbly inefficient but also benching bodyweight. What do you reckon? Do-able?
This log is the best soap opera going around.
If only you could step out of your own head and see what everyone else sees. Keep at it mate cause you'll get there.
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I'm completely joking of course. I will keep the movement efficiency experiment on-going. I wrote in my log from yesterday's sprints that something had changed since I last sprinted (sometime mid March). So that's promising but also, it came out of the blue after I expressed my frustration from the bounds being super hard to improve and getting no sense of how on earth they could be improved either given i was pouring EVERYTHANG into every single attempt. Repeating them over and over and expecting them to change makes no sense. Raptor is stupid as usual, shooting 3s and doing a ME thing are completely different things.
Re movement efficiency (re)training, will see where it goes, if anywhere in the longer term. It's kinda disappointing that there aren't more tangible gains from efficiency training yet but if this is the first sign of change, i'm pleased with the promise for now. It's *something* at least I can say this has come out of my recent training even though cause and effect is murky and it's hard to say which thing I did in training caused the changes i observed!
But having said that, my dunking / vertical hasn't gone anywhere good. Worse actually. It's kinda meh atm, I can blame that on squats though, have ramped them up lately so that might explain it. Who knows. It's all bad. I'm not worried about that cause my dunk will prob stay the same, more or less, but if i can move better i may get game time dunks later down the track. Yeah not much to bank on but it would be amazing. Watching the playoffs and it makes me wish I could do things like this:
https://streamable.com/32vz (hey adarqui can we get these embeddable?). YOutube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m8X0juq6J4&t=228)
And ther was the play where harden gave Dwight an OOP that was just beautiful.. so much power. I never tried getting someone to OOP like this without an angle, but i'd love to now. it looks amazing. I dont know where in the hilights vid it is but if you find it please link it at the right time.
Full highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m8X0juq6J4
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Raptor is stupid as usual, shooting 3s and doing a ME thing are completely different things.
So shooting threes is not about strength and skill? Try to put an old woman or a kid to shoot from three point land with perfect form (let's assume they have perfect skill from 3-5 feet) and see what happens with their form without strength. Try to put a powerlifter shoot a three pointer - see what happens with all that strength expressed with a bad form.
To say that bounding is not about skill is ludicrous. But let's assume it's 100% about power, no skill involved whatsoever. Guess what? The same thing can be said about power cleans, squats and so on (of course all these are ALSO about skill, power cleans are a complex movement that you can do "many ways", but only the proper, optimal way will have a carry over to athleticism). Squats? The same thing - by the same token, you can do sissy squats and call them "squats" and say "it doesn't matter how I do them, they're squats, no skill involved". Or maybe you could goodmorning every squat and call them "squats". You don't need to practice proper-form squats anyway, right? Because squats are not about skill.
Same with med ball throws. You can throw the med ball using your arms and with the hips completely fixed, see how much that helps your jumping. Or are med balls also all about "power" and not at all about skill and proper movement mechanics?
Bounds are more specific to jumping than any of these shitty things that you do in the gym. Guess what? The more specific they are, the more helpful they are for someone like you, who has a hard time expressing his strength and power in bodyweight, specific movements targeted at jumping.
It's just useless trying to induce sense into you. In fact, I don't know why I'm bothering, especially after what you wrote in my log months ago. At that time I said if I had an option for an ignore button or something, I would've used it on you.
Now go get that power clean going. In 8 weeks of power cleaning you'll move much better and your bounds that you don't practice will obviously improve by themselves, because they don't depend on skill or actually practicing them at all.
PS. If in my completely retarded mental state of right now I make more sense than you, that should give you something to think about. I'm out, good luck (honest sentence, no sarcasm).
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I'm not reading all that raptor but you lost the right to have a credible opinion when you expressed that garbage earlier. Shooting 3s is a SKILL exercise which suits repetition and grooving. It's not a maximal effort it's decidedly submax. You can do thousands of them. You can't do that with an ME exercise -- MAXIMUM EFFORT, RPE 10 bounds for DISTANCE is not. They're completely different animals. And that's all im saying on that matter..
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I don't see anybody with a gun at your head forcing you to make them all ME. Do them submaximally. Submax bounds focused on movement mechanics is a SKILL exercise which suits repetition and grooving. It's not a maximal effort it's decidedly submax. You can do thousands of them.
You practice them, get better at the SKILL of bounding, and you find out that covering the same distance takes less effort. Which means your movement efficiency improved and now, with the effort that you used the first time you did them, you can cover MORE distance and therefore you jump higher.
Why can't you see them as any other exercise? Why can't you just do a test, a maximal one, and say you get an average of 2.5 meters per bound, for 4 bounds. You put 4 cones at 2 meters and practice them for shorter distances, that will ensure fluidity in the movement using the correct mechanics, instead of crashing after each one (you don't do that anyway, I do that).
Then once per week or every two weeks you can try a ME set again, see where you're at.
Anyway, good luck.
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I don't want to get involved in a long discussion here but you have to realize that improving your movement efficiency and thus performance on things like med ball throws and bounding is gonna help you way more in regards to athletiticism than improving your hip thrust or even squat numbers will. Of course does squat strength carry over to athletic performance but only if you can use this added strength in a dynamic fashion and when you move efficiently. You - like I did over and over again - seem to get stuck on the idea that you need to improve for example your squat to be a good athlete but this poses the danger that you put too much focus on the squat when your not actually a powerlifter. When your a powerlifter then yes, it's crucial to put a central focus of your training on improving the squat but with your goal of jumping higher, being more athletic it is and should be only a means to an end. I would even go as far as saying that you could become a pretty impressive athlete without ever entering a squat rack. You don't only get stronger in the weight room!
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Not necessarily true. I tried to find some studied backing up training medball throws but the study I found came to the conclusion it's a good test for athletic ability and not very good for improving athleticism. But what's a study worth etc etc, no need to rehash that tired old chestnut. Dont wanna turn this log into a debate on the pros and cons of some study, so google on your own.
These are just tests, which is cool but doing maximal effort tests as training makes no sense .. it will just lead to frustration, esp if you take it seriously (like i do). I wouldn't test my squat max every workout, so why am i testing my bounds or medball throws maxes every workout? I can understand why a shotputter wud do that (cause it's his sport) .. or someone who throws the javelin, but im not in the sport of throwing medballs or bounds .. so what gives? I'm still not convinced this is a sustainable way to train for longer than a week lol. Fine to do a test once in a while to compare where you were and where you are but that's it, not training, testing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI
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I tried to just code-rip the instagram mod real fast, and modify it for streamable.. it should work but it's breaking. Since I don't have a dev environment setup for this forum, i'll figure it out later tonight.
I should be able to get it working, doesn't make much sense that it's breaking.
pc!
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I wanna see how big and slow I can really be while still dunking on fools.
I thought you still hadn't even achieved an in game dunk?
Seriously your recent posts have just broke the record for your habit of just making things up out of thin air and adhering to these lies and dismissing others like there is any reason to... Face the facts. You jump 28 inches and are slow. Most of these people on the board have trained athletes or themselves to jump far higher but you insist on making up rules like you are the expert... Why?
An exercise has to be weekly improvable to be useful? Why? Because you said so? No. There is some utility to having athletes perform exercises that are measurable but unfortunately not all are. That doesn't make them useless. Speed bounds are amazing in developing sprinters. Primetime straight leg bounds are one of the best ways to get a quad dominant athlete to learn how to apply an accelerating foot into the ground. Primetime skips are not even measurable yet alone improvable. Yet they are very valuable. No coach would disagree.
Your ironic dismissal of raptors shooting example when you brought up squats for a beginner as an improvable exercise. Your realize that when a beginner adds weight to the squat it is all neural in the beginning. Yes. They are getting coordinated at squatting - or as you like to say "improving their skill not their strength." How ironic that you dismissed raptors example when yours was the same.
Look at others on this board that have surpassed your gains. Look at LBSS who jumped 37" and dunked a ball at 5'10. How did he do it? Ask him. Weirdly enough he will tell you he did it in large part to greasing the groove, to practicing his ME jumps over and over and over. What an idiot though... ME jumps are a test, not a exercise! There were multiple weeks where LBSS didn't even add half an inch to his ME jumps! He should have just stopped jumping and done squats and cleans and retested his jump when he was stronger right??
If you want a squat centric example look at KF. He squats a lot. His squat is hardly improvable. He will add no poundage to his squat for months just getting better at it and then cutting weight or occasionally trying to up volume or beginning jump practice where he does do reps of jumping tests. He doesn't get better week in and week out in terms of poundage but he has an effective formula for himself where he doesn't need to switch to exercises each week that make him improve.
I'm sorry to sound judge mental but your suffering from what is a classic "weak" persons syndrome. You were weak and a terrible athlete. Your learned about the gym and weights and training and now are no longer weak but you are "mediocre". The gym also gave u more confidence and you want to be buff and strong and no longer the weak guy. You think that given all the benefit the gym and training has given you that it must be the key to more gains. You can go outside and do bounds or ball tosses but your bad at this stuff and don't like doing things where you don't feel like your good. You look silly and unimpressive and there are probably 14 year old kids that could come up to you and ask you what your doing and outbound you. That sucks. Won't happen in ththe squat rack or hip thrusts. But that's EXACTLY why you should do it. You are getting free training from a great community and don't want to take the steps to become great which is disheartening for them. You are already noticing differences in your sprinting in two weeks but still are not convinced!!!!
Bottom line is you don't need double leg bounding or ball tosses. Not one bit. I've seen many great athletes developed without either exercise. But I have never seen a great athlete developed with the level of resistance to ball tosses or bounding when a coach prescribed them to them that you have!
Sometimes we outsmart ourselves as athletes. No coach is always right. But if a coach is 90% right that's exceptional. If so just follow the coach and stop wasting your cns trying to figure out what he has you doing that isn't perfect for your goals. Listen. Follow. Obey. Develop. The lack of stress you get by letting a coach design your workout and just following is worth a lot in itself.
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Sometimes we outsmart ourselves as athletes. No coach is always right. But if a coach is 90% right that's exceptional. If so just follow the coach and stop wasting your cns trying to figure out what he has you doing that isn't perfect for your goals. Listen. Follow. Obey. Develop. The lack of stress you get by letting a coach design your workout and just following is worth a lot in itself.
QFT
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lmao did you just read into a joke even though I already told Coges i wasn't serious about weighing 300lb and dunking on fools? It's hard to have a meaningful exchange here when ppl are trying their best to misunderstand you or indulge in bad debating tactics. It's normal form for raptor to be a spazz and argue like an idiot (excluding the middle, claiming some contrived counter example disproves a rule, ..., etc) but i should know better than to take him seriously in the first place. Self restraint to avoid being dragged into his childish games is definitely below PR levels right now.. haha.
But i'm not going to get into why I dont want to do maximum effort bounds and throws twice, thrice a week while already having high demands on my recovery from normal training. Everything is finiite including how much "effort" you have available for ME type things. I'm not putting all of mine into bounds and throws alone done maximally in lieu of regular training. That might be appropriate for LBSS at some stage or phase, even me, but not week in week out for months and years at a time. I'm not saying that's what i'm being sold but i dont do anything for 2 or 3 weeks at a time, i want to do it long term. LBSS knows that bout me, rest of you obivously dont but whatever. Nor do i think that would help me or anyone else already training (you can disagree with existing training, i'm sure ppl will have different ideas on what's important and what's not).
Cliffs to the last coupla pages, I didn't realise it but i was looking for a programming solution to a programming problem. I'm slowly starting to figure out how i'm gonna make it all work in terms of sustainable long term training. When I get back, I will organise it into "speed" and "strength" and also "plyo" and "dynamic" days for a lack of a better word. And if i can organise everything nicely it will work synergestically instead of at odds with itself.
Have to go, late for the airport :/ i cant believe i'm typing this shit right now .. seriously, i'm disappointed in myself for getting into this lately. Will def take a step back from talking about training so much and following my intuition more. These are things of belief and it's like arguing politics and religion and I never do those either because I'd like to think i'm wise enough to avoid it for the right reasons. Peace.
btw, i do appreciate i have to change things up quite significantly but i have alreaady been going down that path by even doing stuff like RDLs (fucking half deadlifts) and hip thrusts (mickeymouse nonsense) and track work (squat killers).. so there are germs of change already in place .. some of them for several months already! If you are expecting me to abandon my addiction to certain things (squat ratio) after chasing them unsuccessfully for years .. then you are going to be disappointed. If anything, going without achieving the goal for so long makes me re-double on getting it out of the way, rather than subsituting it for another thing (of many things I know i need but it was always a matter of prioritising on one or two rather than trying to do many other htings even more unsuccessfully).
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^^^ Forgive me for not realizing that the joke was actually a non sequitur. Maybe it's an American/Australian thing but here I might make a joke like "I want to see if I can still dunk at 300lbs" even though I clearly don't want to be 300lbs. But I can dunk. I wouldn't say "I want to see if I can still run a 4 minute mile at 300lbs" because I cannot run a 4 minute mile so that is nonsense... Instead I might say "maybe getting to 300lbs will allow me to run a 4 minute mile". Maybe it's a cultural difference, maybe your Sartre reincarnated, but my reading into your suggestion was not unreasonable for any normal person...
Great. You haven't made significant gains chasing arbitrary ratios. And now you refuse to stop chasing the arbitrary ratios that haven't paid off in any measurable athleticism. There is no reason but yourself as to why you won't jump 35 inches and will be stuck in sub 30 purgatory...
But your insistence on micromanaging your training and doing research and coming up with theory and idea will continue to take precedence...
Last point... I just got back from emotion symposium which is a great conference and we really need to not underestimate the power the belief and the brain has on our results...
You will spend your time writing the ultimate training split with "dynamic" and "plyo" days and evaluating and researching and denigrating exercises by calling RDLs half-deadlifts or what ever else you want to criticize. Your energy will go toward this endeavor and you might be rewarded w a log book that has th ultimate categorized perfect training split!!!
The rest of us... We will just follow a well thought out program designed by good coaches and tweaked by ourselves. It won't be perfect, maybe only 80% right. But we will believe in it 100% and stick to it, be patient and make ridiculous gains.
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^^^ Forgive me for not realizing that the joke was actually a non sequitur. Maybe it's an American/Australian thing but here I might make a joke like "I want to see if I can still dunk at 300lbs" even though I clearly don't want to be 300lbs. But I can dunk. I wouldn't say "I want to see if I can still run a 4 minute mile at 300lbs" because I cannot run a 4 minute mile so that is nonsense... Instead I might say "maybe getting to 300lbs will allow me to run a 4 minute mile". Maybe it's a cultural difference, maybe your Sartre reincarnated, but my reading into your suggestion was not unreasonable for any normal person...
Great. You haven't made significant gains chasing arbitrary ratios. And now you refuse to stop chasing the arbitrary ratios that haven't paid off in any measurable athleticism. There is no reason but yourself as to why you won't jump 35 inches and will be stuck in sub 30 purgatory...
But your insistence on micromanaging your training and doing research and coming up with theory and idea will continue to take precedence...
Last point... I just got back from emotion symposium which is a great conference and we really need to not underestimate the power the belief and the brain has on our results...
You will spend your time writing the ultimate training split with "dynamic" and "plyo" days and evaluating and researching and denigrating exercises by calling RDLs half-deadlifts or what ever else you want to criticize. Your energy will go toward this endeavor and you might be rewarded w a log book that has th ultimate categorized perfect training split!!!
The rest of us... We will just follow a well thought out program designed by good coaches and tweaked by ourselves. It won't be perfect, maybe only 80% right. But we will believe in it 100% and stick to it, be patient and make ridiculous gains.
+ 2
It really is quite frustrating to try and help you. It feels like flogging a dead horse... it doesn't even seem that you want to listen or acknowledge the valuable points made by different members of the forum (mostly TOddday). I mean this information given is just such a great resource but rather than using it you prefer to stick with your approach which clearly doesn't yield the best results.
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In Maxent's defense it definitely was a joke. It's called sarcasm and is definitely an Aussie thing. Such things can be lost in written format.
Either way this log has been a great resource for me so I'm kinda of the advice in here.
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I got the sarcasm I wasn't really talking about that.
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I don't see anybody with a gun at your head forcing you to make them all ME. Do them submaximally. Submax bounds focused on movement mechanics is a SKILL exercise which suits repetition and grooving. It's not a maximal effort it's decidedly submax. You can do thousands of them.
You practice them, get better at the SKILL of bounding, and you find out that covering the same distance takes less effort. Which means your movement efficiency improved and now, with the effort that you used the first time you did them, you can cover MORE distance and therefore you jump higher.
Why can't you see them as any other exercise? Why can't you just do a test, a maximal one, and say you get an average of 2.5 meters per bound, for 4 bounds. You put 4 cones at 2 meters and practice them for shorter distances, that will ensure fluidity in the movement using the correct mechanics, instead of crashing after each one (you don't do that anyway, I do that).
Then once per week or every two weeks you can try a ME set again, see where you're at.
Anyway, good luck.
I can relate to this with my jump squats routine. I do them with 20-25-30-40-50%RM at this point but served weeks doing 20-25% just to let my body get comfortable with the motion. you DO NOT need max jump height, or fastest GCT right away. wait for the motion to feel natural.. then blast off with more and more intensity.
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^Great post KF. Thanks for sharing.
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BS 5x127.5(LPR)
jump squats
depth jumps at the rim (gave up on these when i couldnt even do a SVJ dunk so it was pointless)
bball practice
bounds
PP 5x65, 3x67.5, 8x60, 7x60
bw: 179.9 (yikes)
Holiday was aight. My bad luck with the ladies continues though. Think i'll prob die of a broken heart lol.
Found out today my back is fked :/ Will set me back on lifting, see how it goes on friday. Couldnt do SVJ jumps .. my CNS was shutting everything down to protect my back. Might throw it in for the winter and come back rejuvinated by spring. But friday will tell me more. As to the cause? My theory is abs got fatigued or something (too much sitting in place in cramp during travel?), combined with reduced mobility + 4 day layoff + squats late at night in cold weather ==> back problems. Sucks.
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Vids, there was a prob with it cutting off the end, reuploaded..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkxVn_DsElY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EWz9UhrOB4
10 more days of training then i am travelling. I will prob go all in on bounds and stuff while on the road. Not sure if i'll be able to lift weights or even play basketball while abroad. Here it's not hard to train at a gym, theres casual passes etc but idk if that's the case in the states.
anyway .. im thinking i'll do 1s, 2s, 3s even upto 10s on broad jumps .. for variety .. will keep it from getting too stale. Im getting about 3m (green line above) on 1s .. so i think if i get better / reactive i shud be able to get 3s over 9m and over time maybe work towards 10m (prob not, i'm not built for horizontal locamotion as a sprinter wud be .. so my ceiling is prob closer to 9m than 10m but we'll see what happens. I really dont think this will add any to my athleticism either .. but it's ok, training can be rewarding for it's own sake, so i'm ok with not getting anything other than satisfaction from improving measurements and achieving goals.).
Lately im sure the way to achieve the specific kind of movement efficiency I need is just pouring hours and hours into moving on the court. In the past that was always something i avoided; utter boredom lol. but things are changed. Now i'm seriously focusing on becoming a better player which is a different thing than lifting weights to jump an inch or two higher without also getting quicker meant no improvement in real athletic terms and thus no carry over to basketball. Squats arent gonna make me faster .. they just make me jump higher cause i can produce more force but that's useless without a commensurate increase in speed. I wont get game time dunks, blocks or rebounds out of those vertical gains unless i get much much much faster. Movement efficiency at basketball movements will help me more than anything else. Not broad jumps, not medball throws, not squats, powercleans, ultimately these wont help. Nothing but doing the same on-court moves over and over and over and over and over will. Sounds boring :( but the results will be worth it if i persevere. I think i can commit to that. I have the motivation (winning next year), what I need now to find a way to make it sustainable and progressive over time. That's challenging though, in a different way to lifting weights .. it's "easy" but less "arousing" .. "simple" but "draining". And there is no "payoff" that's gratifying like landing a great dunk but latent in something that will happen on the sports field months later. Training if formalise it into a series of drills or workouts and just repeat them over time it will take the guess/work out of it and it becomes habit and routine? I guess that's the key.
Tbh i would like to get my lift goals and put them on maintenance .. then focus on movement efficiency for the remainder of the time. That would be ideal. But now my back is fucked up im prob going to find everything goes down the drain :( Sucks cause my legs, buttocks, back are all much muscular lately .. wont be able to keep that muscle without lifting. oh well.
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if the green line is 3m, you're getting closer to 2.5m. measurement is to the rear-most heel, not toes.
ETA: where you going in the states?
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if the green line is 3m, you're getting closer to 2.5m. measurement is to the rear-most heel, not toes.
ETA: where you going in the states?
Oh right then 2.5m it is.. damn that's depressing lol.
10 days time.. yikes, that snuck up!
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Vids, there was a prob with it cutting off the end, reuploaded..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkxVn_DsElY
Do you think you have psoas weakness or poor hamstring flexibility? On my broad jumps my feet land way in front of my body, I almost fall backwards sometimes. I think it's because I did long jump in high school.
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Yeah he doesn't pull his leg to the chest at all after he jumps... if he would do that and then reach forward he would gain so much more.
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Lately im sure the way to achieve the specific kind of movement efficiency I need is just pouring hours and hours into moving on the court. In the past that was always something i avoided; utter boredom lol. but things are changed. Now i'm seriously focusing on becoming a better player which is a different thing than lifting weights to jump an inch or two higher without also getting quicker meant no improvement in real athletic terms and thus no carry over to basketball. Squats arent gonna make me faster .. they just make me jump higher cause i can produce more force but that's useless without a commensurate increase in speed. I wont get game time dunks, blocks or rebounds out of those vertical gains unless i get much much much faster. Movement efficiency at basketball movements will help me more than anything else. Not broad jumps, not medball throws, not squats, powercleans, ultimately these wont help. Nothing but doing the same on-court moves over and over and over and over and over will. Sounds boring :( but the results will be worth it if i persevere. I think i can commit to that. I have the motivation (winning next year), what I need now to find a way to make it sustainable and progressive over time. That's challenging though, in a different way to lifting weights .. it's "easy" but less "arousing" .. "simple" but "draining". And there is no "payoff" that's gratifying like landing a great dunk but latent in something that will happen on the sports field months later. Training if formalise it into a series of drills or workouts and just repeat them over time it will take the guess/work out of it and it becomes habit and routine? I guess that's the key.
This. Isn't movement efficiency just a fancy way of saying coordination? What better way to get basketball related movement efficiency than by playing basketball.
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It's that more or less. Was watching the Atlanta- Boston playoffs series and you see these (non superstar) guys moving in such fluidity AND power, it just made it clear to me that there is no way to get that sort of movement without drilling the same moves over and over again until you've got so good at turning the intensity on and off at will. It's actually quite beautiful and I think to me that's what athleticism is really about. Not dunking, just powerful, efficient movement. Beautiful game.
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^^^ movement efficiency is not simply coordination and can't be trained simply by playing basketball. If he is weak or tight and lacks ability but plays lots of basketball he will get more efficient at moving incorrectly. Sure he will be "faster" on defense but he still won't be fast. Training movement efficiency means breaking movements down outside of the confines of the game so he can get stronger and more mobile and actually move correctly....
This change of heart away from squatting and lifting is great but like always the pendulum is now swinging too far to the other direction. Playing ball will not turn entropy into a good athlete. While squats lie far away on the specificity curve and bounds like closer but not as specific as basketball drills they all have their use.
Biggest thing you need to do is drop the word ME. I never ME bound. I bound 10 meters in 3 jumps. I never ME jump. I jump 45 inches. I never ME sprint. Start having fun with movement efficiency. Bounds, sideways hops, defensive side shuffle for time in a distance, jump across the key, get more efficient by working at a lower intensity level w higher volume.
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But also i cant "just play loads of basketball" even if i wanted to! MAYBE i can get one competitive game a week (if a team wants me .. not my situation presently :(). Maybe i can play pickup on sundays (not worth getting out of bed for really.. it's low quality). When i say doing the same thing over and over, i mean literally that, me myself and I, having a basketball, on a basketball court, doing reps of the same thing over and over. Just so we are on the same page!
And i'm happy to do every thing you've written !
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Yeah he doesn't pull his leg to the chest at all after he jumps... if he would do that and then reach forward he would gain so much more.
HOw about this .. i do a drill where i focus on high knees (height or whetever). A drill on speed. And then maybe a drill for max distance. And that way i have both bases covered, can work on different facets instead of trying to do too much at once and getting nothing accomplished at once
It's interesting adding in exercises the horizontal plane (with bounds). i never did that before ... just dunking and even those i never did them with a runup just a couple of steps at most. so yeah this is a new direction for me in training ... im a novice / newbie in the H plane.
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Well, you can do stationary knee-to-chest tuck jumps, see how difficult they feel for you/how fast and fluid you can do them?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URKY0QXuO38
That should be a premium when you broad jump. I think I personally am pretty (somewhat) good at them when I broad jump (check out my knee pull to chest after the take off):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASM8WfH_8-k
Also, check out how much I stretch out during the take off. I'm not saying I have perfect form (Toddday can chime in and critique it, since I don't have a long broad jump anyway) - but I imagine if you could replicate that more, you would get further. In your case it seems like you're using 50% of what you got (assuming you want a ME broad jump). If not, if you were doing them submaximally, then fine, but at least stick the landings, don't collapse when you land - you'll get a great training effect from that alone - knowing how to take in that eccentric force of the landing (kinda like in a forwards depth drop).
Also, these might be nice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zim4W1ij9g0
Andrew surely has a video of tuck jumps himself, but I couldn't find it.
And one more thing:
Try to do this thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAUwgrazCg4
To quote Kelly:
In contrast, strengthening the hip flexors can be advantageous for people in posterior tilt as strengthening them will put your pelvis at a position that is more advantageous to engage your glutes. See if you have sufficient strength in your hip flexors. Place one foot up on a box so that your thigh is up above parallel. Then raise the foot up and hold it for 20 seconds without bending your support leg or squirming around.
If this test is at all difficult you could probably benefit from stronger hip flexors. To strengthen them, simply incorporate that test for a couple of sets 3 days per week. Another exercise I've found very helpful for posterior tilt is something I call a "hip suck". Lie down on your back with your legs straight and touch the area where your upper thigh inserts into the hip. Next, without bending your knee, attempt to draw the hip into the socket of the hip joint. You should feel a deep feeling in the groin. Try to relax your thigh while doing this. Hold the position for 10 secs. Repeat for 10 contractions. You can also do this standing up just make sure you don't compensate by bending your plant leg and leaning sideways.
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acole did mention think high knees and the next time i did them i did try that. However, i remember the feeling of unstability in the subsequent landings .. like i wasn't able to land as safely or as well. So i thought maybe my body is automatically doing the exercise in a way that suits my build and there isn't much point in trying to do it in a different way
btw i do think i made a huge mistake in specialising in 1d.. just up and down, whether squatting of dunking or virtually 99% of all my jumps. An RVJ for me was just a way to get more out of my hips swinging thru, not using (running) speed into the jump per se. So yeah the reason im a one dimensional athlete is because that's how ive trained forever except for the odd sprint.
Speaking of sprints, yesterday i did full court fast break layup drills and it felt different from the last time i did it. Like it was submaxy even tho i was going fast i was more in control? That was new.
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If you're feeling important differences just doing silly, poor form plyo work etc, imagine what the difference would be if you were to incorporate actual good plyo work (multi-directional jumps, bounds, donkey ankle bounces, sprints).
Heck, if I were you, with a good strength base but looking slow, I would do one of the VJB novice or beginner plyo program. Whenever I did those they felt so good, and I'm more reactive than you/quicker/faster (don't take this the wrong way, I'm not trying to be arrogant here or anything).
The point is that you'd have a lot to gain from doing novice/beginner plyo work for a while, IMO. In fact, you might be amazed at the results, in your particular situation. Heck, even Air Alert could work for you.
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I mean even depth jumps are just in the V plane which ive done consistently. Now thinking imagine if i had made the switch to a variant also involving the H plane. Damn that would have been more beneficial for my weaknesses?! All good, i'll implement some of these things now..
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lol... what I say, and what you take out from it...
"Low level" plyos would be great for you - you can do a high volume of them (which is what you need, in your case) at a submax intensity.
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lol... what I say, and what you take out from it...
"Low level" plyos would be great for you - you can do a high volume of them (which is what you need, in your case) at a submax intensity.
haha. sorry. so like tuck jumps? they cool. what else? lets make a list
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Hmm but wait. I NEED more horizontal plane work. these sound like normal up and down jumps? I dont want to focus on jumping higher right now. I need SPEED, can resume working on maxing vertical once gotten faster..
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Well, speed is a manifestation of quickness combined with strength. Where strength is non needed, you have "quickness" (for example, how many spacebar key strokes can you get in 10 seconds? The best I got was 110, I think). That's quickness. Speed is a manifestation of quickness + strength, or quickness + the force to overcome your own bodyweight to express that quickness. That's it.
Now, the movements in which you express that "speed" better or worse depend on the muscle strength that these movements depend upon, your natural quickness (CNS quickness), the muscle strength ratios and your movement efficiency in that particular movement (how often did you practice it with proper form).
So if you feel like you need speed... well... why don't you do sprints while also continuing to improve the posterior chain in the gym? Other than that, all these low level plyos that I suggested are reactive in nature, but submax, so the strength part plays less importance but the "quickness" part (CNS) plays more importance (trying to emphasize low ground contact times, even if you don't get up or forward maximally).
Combine training like this with the strength you get from the weight room and you get speed.
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Well, speed is a manifestation of quickness combined with strength. Where strength is non needed, you have "quickness" (for example, how many spacebar key strokes can you get in 10 seconds? The best I got was 110, I think). That's quickness. Speed is a manifestation of quickness + strength, or quickness + the force to overcome your own bodyweight to express that quickness. That's it.
Now, the movements in which you express that "speed" better or worse depend on the muscle strength that these movements depend upon, your natural quickness (CNS quickness), the muscle strength ratios and your movement efficiency in that particular movement (how often did you practice it with proper form).
So if you feel like you need speed... well... why don't you do sprints while also continuing to improve the posterior chain in the gym? Other than that, all these low level plyos that I suggested are reactive in nature, but submax, so the strength part plays less importance but the "quickness" part (CNS) plays more importance (trying to emphasize low ground contact times, even if you don't get up or forward maximally).
Combine training like this with the strength you get from the weight room and you get speed.
Speed for a basketball player isn't about sprinting though, is it. I mean fast breaks aside, it's about going from 0 to dunk as dt -> 0 kinda thing. I'm not sure. A better word than speed might be quickness but acceleration might be even better.
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Speed is also the ability to decelerate/change directions. That's what you're also programming yourself to be better at using low level/submax plyos.
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Plyos that involve moving across the floor though! Cause i do jump squats, depth jumps and dunks already and have that plane covered (up and down). Moving across the floor efficiently is where i'm lacking. It seems you're saying quickness will carry over in any plane but it hasn't / doesn't so it has to be trained specifically. Lets not conjecture about this, it hasn't worked so something different is needed
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Why don't you do the skaters jumps that LBSS is doing? Or slalom jumps going forward? Or jumps over a knee-high rope while also going forward? Bounds. Sprints. Short distance sprints. Long distance sprints. Suicides (very basketball specific). And so on.
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much of what you think you know about training is actually mistaken. you've read some articles, you know a little bit about training, you know how to do some exercises, you know a little about diet, and your brain has made what feel like big logical connections. but those connections are mostly off. it's as if you started playing a video game where you can see part of the map, and with your imagination you have filled in the blank spaces erroneously but with a great deal of confidence. now you're trying to navigate around the blank parts and every time you reach a place that doesn't reflect the scheme that you made up, you either make a violent effort to proceed as if your mental map is correct, or else you say, "fuck that way, i didn't want to go that way anyway," and you turn around. but the treasure is on the other side of the blank part of the map! and we have an active member whose version of the map is much more complete than yours, who is willing to help you get there for free!
so, here is some unsolicited advice: stop thinking you know better. better yet, stop thinking you know anything. allow yourself to be led. your commitment and drive are unmatched on this site except maybe by adarq and t0ddday. you've made some great progress at times. but you're shooting yourself in the foot over and over. just listen to t0ddday.
or keep spinning your wheels and engaging in the world's most pointless (because, again, your premises are wrong) intellectual wankery.
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So the Zen of emptying your glass first? I appreciate the message even though it's a tad patronising. I admit I have been less than open to trying things that may help progress rather than spinning my wheels. In my defence it wasn't that I always want to avoid them forever but I wanted to achieve one or two things first before moving on to others. Am closer now than ever, for whatever that's worth.
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i didn't meant to be patronizing although i understand why it comes across that way. sorry for that. you're obviously very bright, this is not to do with your intelligence. actually i think your intelligence is getting in your way.
you don't have to empty your glass, but in my experience the quickest progress comes when i find someone i believe to be credible and i follow their advice. i still enjoy learning about training, pain management, diet, etc. but my own training has gone best when i've stopped second-guessing adarq, or t0ddday, or even kelly baggett years ago, and just done what they said.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLAxWC6mKrM
lmao trying to learn how to drive in the states from dash cam footage off youtube :wowthatwasnutswtf:
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You should search for similar footage from Russia
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You should search for similar footage from Russia
Yep, crazy!
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BS 6x110
BP 2x90(LPR), 5x82.5(LPR), 7x80(LPR), 6x81(LPR)
DIP 3x8x10kg, 8xBW
BS 7x70, 8x70
Plate swings
Medball throws 2x6x10kg (hit a PR of around 9m)
Curls
BW: 178.4
Notes:
Back didn't complain .. thankfully. But my legs were ded and i didn't force the issue by trying to do volume squats. Will do them sunday with fresher legs. That means i will skip track stuff today also. Took the medball to the park but soccer practice was on. I might do curls and more bench tonight though and maybe some recovery squats.
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I know everoyne complains about houston for various reasons but honestly I dont see what the fuss is about with Golden state either. Watched some of the series and i was sorely disappointed in both teams play. Curry is out but still, that's just one player. Def enjoyed the atlanta and celtic series so much more .. maybe more than any other series ive ever watched except for the historically great spurs dismantling miami a few years back.
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I know everoyne complains about houston for various reasons but honestly I dont see what the fuss is about with Golden state either. Watched some of the series and i was sorely disappointed in both teams play. Curry is out but still, that's just one player. Def enjoyed the atlanta and celtic series so much more .. maybe more than any other series ive ever watched except for the historically great spurs dismantling miami a few years back.
curry makes a huge difference to how fun GSW is to watch. without him GSW is still an excellent team with excellent team work. but with him, it's completely up another level. when Bulls did the 72 wins i didn't watch NBA closely and i certainly didn't understand the game as much as i have now. for GSW to start the season 24-0 and it took the last game to finally eclipse 73-9 shows how amazing the Bulls team was and how difficult it is to break it. however the reality is GSW legitly poised to better it next season as the team is just entering the prime with all key cogs booked and salary cap increase... etc.
what's the warriors about? #1 offense and pretty much #1 or 2 defense to go with it. top 2 shooters, best team work, great execution and coaching. pretty much minimal weakness. the team legitimately grew collectively and individually over the last few years and that is very rare. of course i'm somewhat biased as i grew up in sf bay. but i simply enjoy good bball. i rooted for OKC in 2011-13 but with 2 super stars the team just never really grew much. if GSW is anywhere else, i would root for another team similar to this.
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Can't figure out why i'm in a slump ... but last night this is what happened
(http://i.imgur.com/YdsyY33.png)
So yeah, this is how i un-do months of hard work in a single stroke .. sometimes.
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I'll never understand how people do this... you weigh your food on a scale or what? And if so, how come this site has the foods that you eat? And if so, how do you know what the food contains (for example, if you eat pork soup, how do you know how much meat is in it and how much it is water and vegetables?)
And so on and so forth. Seems impossible or it would probably take hours every day to make this. Not to mention foods have weird names that I have to translate.
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It doesn't have them all, i often have to fill in entries. But yeah it's mainly US-centric. Theres calorieking.com.au -- that's out of date and poorly maintained so myfitnesspal is the best choice available, even though it's pretty bad too and often crashes, esp at busy times of the day.
You weigh. I got my digital food scales a while ago and weigh everything even protein shakes( is one scoop really one scoop? ALmost never). But once oyu've done it for one day, the next day you can just copy the previous days. nd you can save meals to make it easy to load in cals for the day.
Ive tried doing it on paper but it's not as convenient. In future better technology will mean you can just scan a food item and get all the deets easily and effortlessly .. we have barcodes now but that's not what im talking about, i mean actually getting the macros off a label automatically not by looking up an item in a database..
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Yeah that would be amazing.
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Beware the variance in the macros on the labels. It is not trivial. It's almost great enough to make logging at this level sort of useless if you eat a lot of labeled food... They only way you can really log food is if your diet consists mostly of rice and chicken breasts.... Like a bodybuilder...
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Beware the variance in the macros on the labels. It is not trivial. It's almost great enough to make logging at this level sort of useless if you eat a lot of labeled food... They only way you can really log food is if your diet consists mostly of rice and chicken breasts.... Like a bodybuilder...
central limit theorem to the rescue? But i think it would be beneficial for raptor to do some tracking .. just to get an idea.
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Today i have asymmetric glute doms. On the RHS only. Not left. New exercise was the plate swings. That's kinda interesting
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Beware the variance in the macros on the labels. It is not trivial. It's almost great enough to make logging at this level sort of useless if you eat a lot of labeled food... They only way you can really log food is if your diet consists mostly of rice and chicken breasts.... Like a bodybuilder...
central limit theorem to the rescue? But i think it would be beneficial for raptor to do some tracking .. just to get an idea.
Lol... Not really the central limit theorem that you referring to...
But yeah if you residuals were normal you would be ok... But the problem is that they might not necessarily be, rather packaged my consistently miscounting macros and so you get compounding errors...
All that aside I 100% agree with you. Raptor would benefit from tracking sooo much. A lot more than you in fact. IMO the more tracking seems like a daunting pain the the ass the more you should do it... If you never have it will teach you how much you eat, what satietes you, when your actually hungry, where sneaky calories occur, etc. For a tracking vet like you it starts to become unnecessary because you have a feel for what makes you overeat or not... IMO your ballpark feel is probably good enough that you could save a bit of time and just go by feel and let yourself gain a lil muscle without tracking every calorie... The tracking gave u the discipline and understanding not to track is how I look at it... For raptor I think that and the ability to learn what submax adaptation (you too on this one) are the best changes he can possibly make!
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That trip last weekend really set me back. Injury and poor workouts and my motivation suffers, which I thought i could out-recover by eating but I should know better by now that it only helps a little and not as much.
Scale read 82.9kg / 182.8lb. ... i need to stop .. it's not worth it.
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BS 2x110 (lol), 1x130
RDL 8x110, 8x150, 0Fx192.5
BHT 8x150
Anoda bad workout. I give up lol
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Lol at my luck. I tweaked my ankle last night at home, on the doormat, leaving to drive to the petrol station :uhhhfacepalm:
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:'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
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Lol at my luck. I tweaked my ankle last night at home, on the doormat, leaving to drive to the petrol station :uhhhfacepalm:
isBad?
:'(
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Lol at my luck. I tweaked my ankle last night at home, on the doormat, leaving to drive to the petrol station :uhhhfacepalm:
isBad?
:'(
Nope! I rested it yesterday, took training off. Hoping it will be good to run/jump/lift on today. Lets see how it goes
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SO i dont know if it's the rest or what .. but holy crap do i look "jacked" lately .. upper body, legs, all of it! My shoulders and arms look bigger cold than they wud after a workout pumped. I wonder if i missed a beat in doing TOO muh training and sacrificing gains of muscle? Less is more?
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SO i dont know if it's the rest or what .. but holy crap do i look "jacked" lately .. upper body, legs, all of it! My shoulders and arms look bigger cold than they wud after a workout pumped. I wonder if i missed a beat in doing TOO muh training and sacrificing gains of muscle? Less is more?
LOL. Highly unlikely. Hate to break it to you but you didn't just put on a bunch of muscle. Nor have you ever put on much actual muscle tissue.
Rule of thumb. How you look == What you ate. How you perform == how you trained.
What I mean is if you wrote "Holy crap I was jumping out the gym today I felt soooo light - even though I took some days off training and haven't squatted n two days!... maybe less is more?"
Then my answer would be - yes. Allowing enough recovery for you to super compensate allowed you to improve your athletic ability. In this case less is more.
BUT... when you are focused on how you look in the mirror in the short term the answer almost always involves two things; salt or sugar (carbs). Look at your journal. You are perpetually eating under maintenance (this actually does sacrifice your ability to gain muscle) in your quest to not be fat and be 165... But recently you fell off the wagon and gorged and went above 180lbs. Your actually had a full gut for the first time in awhile. Now that food has moved from your gut and you are carb loaded and since you are lean this makes a dramatic difference in your appearance. Before and after pictures of bodybuilders who carb load are ridiculous. Carb loaded at low bodyfat will make you look jacked.
It's not the lack of training though (except for in so far as not training maybe lowered TDEE slightly so your effective net caloric intake was higher) - in fact it's more likely you don't train often enough to build muscle - not the other way around.
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There you go always reality checking me bro! :P
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BS 6x127.5(LPR)
Push Press 6x50, 6x60, 6x67.5(PR), 8x62.5(PR), 9x60(PR)
BW: 178.5 (LPR)
Squat notes:
Well damn, that PR came out of nowhere. I almost squatted 140kg but decided against it and put the bar back. Who gives a fuck about a sub 1.8 ratio .. meaningless and it wuda been hard af too. Gonna hit up the court and do some bounds and dunks instaed. Will tape!
went to the court and competition have restarted so there was no courts available on both stadiums. Watched a game. Did some dunks between games (3 rvj, 3 svj). By the time i got back, the lights were off at hte park. So no bounds either. Oh well. Gives my ankle a bit more rest. It's still not 100% yet.
Food
(http://i.imgur.com/YgtZRhG.png)
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Anoda bad workout. I give up lol
wait three days...
BS 6x127.5(LPR)
BW: 178.5 (LPR)
Squat notes:
Well damn, that PR came out of nowhere. I almost squatted 140kg but decided against it and put the bar back. Who gives a fuck about a sub 1.8 ratio .. meaningless and it wuda been hard af too. Gonna hit up the court and do some bounds and dunks instaed. Will tape!
:lololol:
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Interesting DOMS. Pretty decent doms in my glutes! All i did was 6 reps of a heavy backsquat. There you go.
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Shud i try to find a shooting coach while in the states? I'm feeling pretty insecure to even bother someone with my awful hot mess of a technique. not to put a fine point on it, but it's not the technique that's worrying but just my general lack of athleticism / sportsmanlike ability for somoene who would have dealt with players far far far far better. to add im actualy in a slump atm .. low esteem etc .. so it's not just a trivial thing .. stuff like this seems bigger than it should be .. anyway this is prob the wrong place for it
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Shud i try to find a shooting coach while in the states? I'm feeling pretty insecure to even bother someone with my awful hot mess of a technique. not to put a fine point on it, but it's not the technique that's worrying but just my general lack of athleticism / sportsmanlike ability for somoene who would have dealt with players far far far far better. to add im actualy in a slump atm .. low esteem etc .. so it's not just a trivial thing .. stuff like this seems bigger than it should be .. anyway this is prob the wrong place for it
Stop. Get out your head. Best shooting coach I know is in Nyc, you gonna go there? I can refer you.
Your lack of athleticism is not a problem for a coach... Your coachability might be, but your lack of ability is what a coach looks for, your actually an ideal candidate.
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I'm on a bit of a roll with eating clean. Hoping to continue it for the next 5 wks. If i can get through May while adding say 2.5kg to my backsquat and getting bodyweight under 80kg I'll be really happy. And ofcourse get better at bounds and stuff which will be my staple form of exercise while abroad.
Food
(http://i.imgur.com/avDo0t4.png)
Shooting practice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vErDL8xuF3Q
Went to shoot around. I love how if i take N freethrows, i'll find N+1 different ways to shoot them. Consistency is lacking but I think that's predominantly a strength thing, fatigue sets in, and form fluctuates erratically.
Shud i try to find a shooting coach while in the states? I'm feeling pretty insecure to even bother someone with my awful hot mess of a technique. not to put a fine point on it, but it's not the technique that's worrying but just my general lack of athleticism / sportsmanlike ability for somoene who would have dealt with players far far far far better. to add im actualy in a slump atm .. low esteem etc .. so it's not just a trivial thing .. stuff like this seems bigger than it should be .. anyway this is prob the wrong place for it
Stop. Get out your head. Best shooting coach I know is in Nyc, you gonna go there? I can refer you.
Your lack of athleticism is not a problem for a coach... Your coachability might be, but your lack of ability is what a coach looks for, your actually an ideal candidate.
Not NYC this time .. mainly the west coast. But that sounds good! 'll def ask you to refer me if i make my way to NYC some time. Probably my next trip whenever that will be..! :wowthatwasnutswtf:
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Here a coach would take only elite athletes to train. Why bother with people that don't have a great genetic ceiling (however that is being described by the coach - they all look for long legs, young age, etc). This for elite level coaching.
Otherwise, to take your money and say "ok, do 2 laps and 10 pushups and puke" - that can be done by pretty much everybody. I'm tired of "coaches", they're such fucking idiots.
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BS 6x110
JS 8x150, 8x100, 8x70
DJ 2x6x20"
Bounds (2x20m for speed, 2x20m for height, 3x9m for distance)
Med ball throw x 5
BW: 179 (dafuk)
Notes:
Thinking of hitting up the court to do some dunks. i may try the depth jump to dunks that adarqui rx .. will see .. may not get court space to do anything. Also im taking to account t0ddday's comments in acoles log bout broad jumps on hardwood as a bad idea? i think i agree, my knees didnt like that whole week after. And it's been raining, so the park is prob out too.
Honestly not sure why i bother. Dunks were so mediocre .. couldnt jump for shit.
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DOM report: calves status destroyed! L knee bugging.
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Looked over the tape of yesterdays shooting. I noticed 2 main things, 1)i shoot the ball entirely from the wrist/arms and 2)with no hip involvement. So if i was a better shooter i'd be more hip and less wrist, this would make me a better player because 1 is affected easily by fatigue whereas 2 would not be. So i can improve my shooting considerably by .......... being ......... more....... hip ...... dominant.
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Looked over the tape of yesterdays shooting. I noticed 2 main things, 1)i shoot the ball entirely from the wrist/arms and 2)with no hip involvement. So if i was a better shooter i'd be more hip and less wrist, this would make me a better player because 1 is affected easily by fatigue whereas 2 would not be. So i can improve my shooting considerably by .......... being ......... more....... hip ...... dominant.
Hips should really not be involved in shooting action. Depends on shot but if you hop or 1,2 into shot it's a little knee bend with minimal hip involvement.
(http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2014%2F0329%2Fmag_curry01jr_800x450.jpg)
Edit- I'm working on my shooting and I've found the game changers to be shooting off the index finger, keeping the follow through high and keeping the off hand high too.
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(http://i.imgur.com/oPCTJGA.png)
There is some hip action there bro, look at the angle. It's kinda why i do heavy jump squats, similar angles. Only problem is i havent learnt to harness that "strength" for shooting (or jumping and running for that matter) .. once i do, it will be easy. The prob with using that for shooting i find is the shots come off too strong, cos i haven't learnt to do less with the arms/wrists. Once i figure out how to make the release softer while being powered mainly by hips my shot will be silky smooth. Probably. I dont know.
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Yeah idk how using more hips will help. Most top shooters have a slight lean or fade on their shot which makes involving the hips harder.
Also, probably not the best picture to illustrate the idea. Looks like he's in transition and has pulled up hence the hip angle.
You don't need to do heavy jump squats for shooting. Name 1 top shooter who has tremendous leg strength. Curry? Nash? Nowitzki? Kobe? I think you're looking in the wrong areas.
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lmao . im nto suggesting turning a jumpshot into an ATG squat. I mean getting most of the contrib from closing the hip angle rather than upper body
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lmao . im nto suggesting turning a jumpshot into an ATG squat. I mean getting most of the contrib from closing the hip angle rather than upper body
Yeah mate I know that.
How much "extra" do you think you'll gain from closing the hip angle though? I still think you're looking in the wrong places for improvement.
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Either way if you get a benefit out of it then good on you. There's probably more technically sound people on here who can provide better advice though
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lmao . im nto suggesting turning a jumpshot into an ATG squat. I mean getting most of the contrib from closing the hip angle rather than upper body
Yeah mate I know that.
How much "extra" do you think you'll gain from closing the hip angle though? I still think you're looking in the wrong places for improvement.
Either way if you get a benefit out of it then good on you. There's probably more technically sound people on here who can provide better advice though
I get close to zero out of it at the moment.. but if i can get say 70-80% from lower body and the rest from wrist/arms ... maybe
to be clear i do think most good shooters get most of their contrib from lower body .. i dont mean to say they should be dipping lower .. i'm saying i shud be dipping lower .. not merely bending at the waist (dont care about that) but focusing on lowering the hips into the start of the shott
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Yeah idk how using more hips will help. Most top shooters have a slight lean or fade on their shot which makes involving the hips harder.
Also, probably not the best picture to illustrate the idea. Looks like he's in transition and has pulled up hence the hip angle.
You don't need to do heavy jump squats for shooting. Name 1 top shooter who has tremendous leg strength. Curry? Nash? Nowitzki? Kobe? I think you're looking in the wrong areas.
Looked over the tape of yesterdays shooting. I noticed 2 main things, 1)i shoot the ball entirely from the wrist/arms and 2)with no hip involvement. So if i was a better shooter i'd be more hip and less wrist, this would make me a better player because 1 is affected easily by fatigue whereas 2 would not be. So i can improve my shooting considerably by .......... being ......... more....... hip ...... dominant.
OH MAN. Ok, you should definitely not matter what you do make sure that you DO NOT work with a shooting coach. Most shooting coaches will gladly tell you that their is some magic bullet to fix your should and cause you to do even more paralysis by analysis, get in your head even more, do some strange weight room movement that you think well carryover (seriously heavy jump squats provide specificity for shooting????) and you will end up 10x worse at shooting.
Coges advice is spot on (except for the index finger thing) and you have ignored it completely and stuck to a claim you have no evidence for because... well because that's what you do.
I have worked with NBA shooting coaches, former NBA players, and the honest ones will tell you the disappointing truth that shooting accuracy unfortunately doesn't come from changes in technique. I mean just look at the great shooters of the NBA: Reggie Miller shot the ball with two hands, Larry Bird and Manu Ginobili literally through the ball into the hoop, Steve Nash heaved the ball from his chest. Magic Johnson had a set shot (and shot 90% from the line and 50% from the field) There is no technique change that makes you a better shot. What a shooting coach can teach you is the following:
1) Get a technique that is repeatable***. Usually this is going to be one without a lot of wasted movement - but again it doesn't really matter as much as it is repeatable for you. There are tricks to getting YOUR technique more repeatable (maybe the index finger cue works for Coges), I find that a quarter between the thumb and index finger helps players whose shot is not repeatable because sometimes there thumb is involved (giving a gyroball effect) and some sometimes it isn't. Of course despite the fact that most coaches don't like "thumbing" it's a problem mostly because it isn't repeated - Tim Hardaway Sr. thumbed every single shot and was a great shooter at the end of his career.
2) Practice the shot a lot. We have seen old guys with very little strength hit 100s of shots in a row by practicing OVER and OVER and OVER. If you stick with a shot technique and practice it - you too will do this.
3) Practice shots rather than shooting around. Get a rebounder and have him feed you balls that you catch and dribble and right left plant and then shoot. If you run off a lot of screens and catch and shoot then practice this. Practicing shooting a lot will make you good at shooting in practice - to make shots in games you need to actually practicing shooting off the catch/dribble (however you play).
*** Here is the exception. If you are a high level player and you shoot the ball in traffic you may need a shot that is not only repeatable but also one you can get off. This might require change to technique - but it's not for accuracy - it's to get the ball off over or before the defense comes. Again there is more than one way to solve this. Kobe Bryant has a high release point and shoots at the top of his jump (allowing him to shoot over defenders), Steph Curry has a completely non-textbook low release (textbook wise Klay Thompson's shot is far better) BUT releases his shot so fast that the defense isn't there yet. Curry, cannot back a player down, spin and then rise up over players with his shooting style (but this minor inability doesn't matter much because he has practically given up shooting two point shots).
You are COMPLETELY off base with the hips argument, think of the actual muscles involved in the shot and how different people accomplish it..
1) Look at women shoot. Completely different shot than most men. The hips and legs of women are much closer to being on par as far as strength of men... The upper body is much weaker. A lot of women shoot a truly hip-dominant shot where they pop the ball up using their hips off the ground. You do not want this shot.
2) The hips need to either rotate and provide lift or they can produce horizontal power when used in the air (sweep and sway). It's not practical or repeatable to jump extremely high on your shot (think fatigue and small spaces), so you don't need to execute maximal jumps on every shot.
The one time players do use a lot of hip action is when they shoot at the top of their jump (think Kobe Bryant rising up and shooting a turnaround from 10 feet behind the three point line). This is because if they find themselves floating very far from the hoop and they don't have the ground with which to make force they can keep the same wrist action and supply extra power by popping their hips (you have seen this - feet go forward but goes back). This does provide more horizontal force but it doesn't provide vertical force so it lowers the shot angle which makes it harder to hit. Not surprisingly players are less accurate from father away....
All except for Steph Curry that is. Steph Curry is unique in that he doesn't adjust with his hips (which by the way are far more fatigued at the end of the game than the wrists) but actually adjusts with his arms and shot angle (the farther he is the more he shoots like a weak little kid who needs to heave it up to make it). This is pretty unique and somewhat incredible but incredibly effective. It goes against shooting dogma which says only kids are allowed to shoot the ball from below their head but it sure seems currys ability to keep his hips/legs doing the same thing every time and adjusting with his arms and shot angle is far more effective than anything else...
Bottom line is I haven't seen you shoot (other than free throws) but I don't see anything wrong with your shot. If you are strong enough to shoot the ball from the three point line in and are not accurate enough you need to practice and you need to practice smart real-game shots. You need to do it over and over again and you need to settle on mechanics that are repeatable for you. If you want to release with flat hands (like Jordan) that's fine. If you want to do what the call the shooters fork (three fingers down and thumb and pinky up) that's fine, if you want to to release with thumb and index finger touching that's also fine. It doesn't matter. It needs to be form that you can get off for your position in game (some combination of quick release or release height) and it needs to be something that is mechanically not so complicated that you cannot repeat it. That's it. Then you need to practice. A lot. AND - you need to settle on a bw. Massive changes in BW will KILL your shot. Ray Allen stayed within 6 pounds of a certain weight for years and years. Going from 200lbs to 165lbs and back to 190lbs is a recipe for being a terrible shooter. Pick a weight. Stick with it. Shoot. Keep shooting. You will be fine.
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lmao . im nto suggesting turning a jumpshot into an ATG squat. I mean getting most of the contrib from closing the hip angle rather than upper body
Yeah mate I know that.
How much "extra" do you think you'll gain from closing the hip angle though? I still think you're looking in the wrong places for improvement.
Either way if you get a benefit out of it then good on you. There's probably more technically sound people on here who can provide better advice though
I get close to zero out of it at the moment.. but if i can get say 70-80% from lower body and the rest from wrist/arms ... maybe
to be clear i do think most good shooters get most of their contrib from lower body .. i dont mean to say they should be dipping lower .. i'm saying i shud be dipping lower .. not merely bending at the waist (dont care about that) but focusing on lowering the hips into the start of the shott
I get what you're saying about the start of the shot and getting lower. That's more about the hopping into the shot as opposed to a 1-2 step.
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@toddday great post.
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Good points but i still think i need to get more out of my lower body. Just wanna point out that I dont do jump squats ONLY for my jumpshot .. for everything .. assistance to my push press, assistant manager to to my jumping etc .. it's all assistance for something else, assistance to assisatnce, maybe my push press helps my jump squat .. which helps my vertical on my lying pushups
also my knees never like dipping into a jumpshot. maybe its a conditioning thing and they need to get used to that
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Re curry, i envy his wingspan, or lack of .. 6'3" is perfect for his shot. I shoot like curry except i have longer arms and my shot is garbage as a result :( mine is around 6'7" iirc
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Stephen-Curry-1170/stats/
edit, also ratios of arm segments are more favourable not just the length of the total arm
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Good points but i still think i need to get more out of my lower body. Just wanna point out that I dont do jump squats ONLY for my jumpshot .. for everything .. assistance to my push press, assistant manager to to my jumping etc .. it's all assistance for something else, assistance to assisatnce, maybe my push press helps my jump squat .. which helps my vertical on my lying pushups
also my knees never like dipping into a jumpshot. maybe its a conditioning thing and they need to get used to that
The question remains.... why???? Watch magic johnsons set shot. It may have fallen out of style over the years but it was highly accurate. You do not need to get more out of your legs to shoot accurately and tinkering with how you shoot because you don't like how it looks is a recipe for absolute disaster. I have seen it over and over and over again. Good shooters blame missed shots on bad nights, bad shooters blame missed shots on not using their legs enough or some mechanical mistake. The only shots I have seen you shoot on tape look fine. You may be a beginner athletically but your not a beginner in basketball. You have a shot. All this stuff - the leg dip, the movement, this is about rhythm and comfort - that's it. If Curry is given a completely wide open shot he might dribble once, left right and rise up in rhythm, this is HIS rhythm, you copying it won't help you.
You have to understand curry (and most nba guys) started shooting very very young. Even I started shooting seriously when I was about 7 or 8... When your that young you "shoot like a girl". You use that same hip drove that you use on a push press to get the ball to the hoop. The ball comes out of your hands as you leave the ground. This isn't good form - it's just necessary for weak little kids to get the ball to the hoop...
As you get older you no longer need to drive the ball off the ground with this massive leg drive... But what remains is the naturally rhythm and feel for shooting the ball on the rise. Some people try to train this out of kids (imo big mistake) but under no circumstances should it be trained into kids. It's just a sign of what age someone started truly working on their shot... If they were little kids they may still have this vestigial comfort the involves shooting the ball on the rise.... But this isn't hip involvement - hip involvement is observed in either shooting the ball off the ground (women and small kids or shooting the ball at the top of the jump).
You can see proof of this in the players who became great shooters despite not shooting while young... Tim Duncan, Serge Ibaka, etc. None of them shoot on the rise, they either shoot flat footed, at the top of their jump or coming down. This is fine.
I know you won't listen but if I can give you one piece of advice as a basketball player it is please don't start tinkering with your shot at this stage. Shooting is one of the toughest mind challenges their is. I know you quickly develop theories and abandon exercises and have a scatterbrained approach to athletic training (eg bounds make me sprint better - they are magic. Bounds suck I can't improve fast enough and they take away from my squat gains, glute thrusts are great, no they suck, RDLs are useless, omg what do I do, I got it figured out I need this new crazy idea and it involves losing more weight).
But despite all this the damage you can do when you adopt this mindset to shooting is far far far worse. Your coming to SoCal? Go to shot zone for a week. Still to a comfortable repeatable shot. Believe in it and don't question it. Try to make as many shots out of 500 as you can per day. You will be best if you believe in this... If you don't believe me I'll get a former NBA player to tell you the exact same thing.
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BS 6x110 (legs too shaky to do much more than a warmup :( ......)
RDL 8x150, 0Fx180, 0Fx160 ... whatevs
BP 3x90 (LPR)
WCU 3x103, 5x98.5
BW: 177.5 (LPR)
Notes:
Last workout in OZ .. flying out tonight.. pretty ordinary lol. Still thinkign bout doing some hip thrusts so i feel like it wasnt a complete waste of a training day .. but idk. Will prob hit a gym tues in LA and then off to yosemite for the rest of the week .. no lifting til the following week
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Have a great holiday mate.
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@toddday great post.
X2!
Shooting is a skill. Skills get improved through practice. Iverson was regarded as a chucker but he still averaged around 30 points a game.
Have a great holiday ;D
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I just want to clarify im not talking about a LARGE hip angle. It's actually quite acute BUT .. it's it's explosive/athletic/powerful .. think of a shallow jump squat (ignore the weight for now). IT's not deep! Think of a perfect push press, it's not a deep knee bend but a powerful controlled one to initiate the movement. THink of a jumpshot, it's not a big hip angle but a small powerful one. I'm sure we would all agree if we stated our assumptions and the limited range of the angle.
Again please dont get hung up in thinking i'm trying to go for a big dip .. far from it .. just a bigger one than i do normally .. cos that's almost upright. If you saw vid of me shooting you'd agree there is something off in that my setup and release is too upright. I can speak to other shooters mentioned who will have their peculariaties but im not a magic johnson archetype .. have more in common with the build type of most basketball players who do manage to have much nicer form. I shud be able to acquire that .. not going to accept my broken technique which is so unreliable. I get it, if you have ok mechanics, just practice loads, but im not sure i have that.
I need to compare my form to other lefties.. eg manu, harden, etc .. lefties have such nice form .. i hate mine .. self loathing lol
will try to write a proper reply later ..
@toddday great post.
X2!
Shooting is a skill. Skills get improved through practice. Iverson was regarded as a chucker but he still averaged around 30 points a game.
Have a great holiday ;D
Thank you both! :D
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Comparing a push press to a jump shot.... Smh. Sorry to be a jerk but you really just don't understand biomechanics at all. If a shot had anything to do w a push press it would travel so fast it's ridiculous. You think med ball tosses are useless of course but watch the hip pop that accelerates the ball... Now watch the currys jump shot. Notice anything in common... Neither do I because curry doesn't accelerate the ball with his hips.
You think you should shoot like players other than Magic Johnson cause your built like them? First of all aren't you built w female fat deposits? Who else shares this build? Second you think it's based on the build? Are you serious?
Why don't you just come off it and admit that you have come up w an idea. You like it. No matter what evidence disproves it you are going to stick w it. You have made one athletic advance in all your training and it came from losing fat. That's stage one. You won't get to stage two because you insist on being a biomechanics expert...
I want to stress that I'm not here claiming I know more than you about anything in particular - except that I'm a better judge of you than you are. Do you know why people don't act as their own lawyer, why they don't act as their own trainer, or why self diagnoses is a failure? We are own worst judges. That's the beauty of the forum. You can avoid the pitfalls of bad ideas... Or reinforce them. Your choice.
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lets not introduce another variable into this analysis lol. fat isn't been considered at the moment. btw the object isnt to accelerate the basketball as much as possible. they talk about a soft release, high arc, all those things are more important in an accurate shot. I did read a book on this by the way..
http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Basketball-John-J-Fontanella/dp/0801885132
not the be all and end all of shooting mechanics .. but it's a good start. theres a pdf available online on
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/
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Also the other thing to keep in mind besides practice is that shooting (just like any other skill in life) also comes down to innate ability. Look at golf and somebody like Tiger Woods. He started out playing when he was very young, but if you took 10,000 people and they all practiced exactly the same amount of times as Tiger Woods at the same age etc. and did everything he did there would be an extreme amount of variation in the sample group. Look at Shaq and his free throws as an example. Being a professional player and having world class coaches and all the resources that come along with it he still struggled with his free throws but he did improve. Basketball is a fairly simple game. Work to your strengths and just keep practicing your shooting. Getting all wound up about shooting mechanics and technique is failing to see the forest for the trees.
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lets not introduce another variable into this analysis lol. fat isn't been considered at the moment. btw the object isnt to accelerate the basketball as much as possible. they talk about a soft release, high arc, all those things are more important in an accurate shot. I did read a book on this by the way..
Lol. First of all your the one who argued that your body type or build suggested that you shoot a certain way which doesn't make sense.
Second that is EXACTLY my point. More hip drive will allow you to accelerate the ball as much as possible which isn't that goal. You have to understand what makes the hips so great. Powerful glutes, rope like tendons, a ball and socket joint to express power in many planes, stored forced and extremely powerful contraction allows a violent explosive pop of the body... Great for rebounding, your euro step, tackling a football player, dunking on somebody.... But not for shooting!
You need to become more hip dominant. But not because it's going to make you a better shooter... The hips and fine motor control are not friends. You want to use your wrists, your arms, a soft jump with the knee extensors. Don't make this even harder than it is!
Btw I promise steph curry could stand anywhere in the half court and shoot a flat footed shoot where his lower body has zero movement and make 70%. I have seen Kobe do this drill as well as Kyrie Irving and phill pressey. That's the bulk of why they are better at shooting than you. They can coordinate their hands and arms to shoot far more accurate than you. If you practice more you will become better. When are u in LA? I'm out of town a bit this were but if you are here for awhile we can link up to train.
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bump. ;/
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T0ddday did he ever get onto you about training over in LA?
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T0ddday did he ever get onto you about training over in LA?
No I never heard from the man
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Hi guys sorry i forgot my password but later remembered i also have google chrome on my phone which saves passwords across devices
Ive trained twice since coming here lol. Have got soft and weak and cant jump much but still look like i am kinda in shape
Im in socal atm.. will insta you todday if we can meet before i leave
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Back from my trip! What an incredible 4 weeks which included LA, San Franciso, Las Vegas, San Diego and last but not least, Yosemite!
I wish I could have eaten better and trained more but these things are hard to do while travelling. Squatted twice, did not bench at all, balled twice and that's about it lol. Eating out every day for 30 days, it's hard to get enough protein .. im pretty soft now .. as i mentioned above. I need to get back in shape.
Since my gym gains are all but vanished, im open to trying out things in training i wudnt otherwise, esp while rebuilding back to where I was before May. Prob have a good 3 months ahead of me before i'm in PR territory. Maybe more, that sucks but whatever.
To recap -- I can't believe i went to the game at Oracle Arena where GSW came back from 3-1 down to win an incredible WCF in 7. I was there! If KD hits a 3, and Westbrook has a better shooting night I could have seen OKC go thru to the finals. Incredible watching KD drop 40 points. He did everything he could have but GSW just played better as a team. They fully deserve to win the ring this year.
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I just wanted to make a note in passing, my 2nd time playing basketball in the states was fun. It was at CSUN, a 5v5 full court pickup game. Had a complete game of passing the ball for assists, rebounds and playing defence (game saving block!). Got props after which was really gratifying! i know it's a small sample size but i enjoy the way the game is played there. It's a lot more finesse based than brute force (in oz). It really sucked that i cudnt make friends and keep playing regularly with those guys but what can you do. I'm missing it already.
I also worked on my shooting a bit and i think i have improved on that front too. Maybe just being around good shooters, something rubs off on you? Idk. Not to say we have bad shooters here, im ny local rec league we have decent shooters too .. idk, hard to say.
oh and i cud barely dunk but i landed one between games and one guy said to me "if you could continue not doing that, it would be great" .. lol. american wit :) I thought how well that hit home cause ive almost never dunked in a game. But for the most part i didn't see much riposte.. maybe it's the way i come across but i dont get/give easy banter .. i need to figure out why because respect and recognition is nice but i want to beocme a more well rounded person in general
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Back from my trip! What an incredible 4 weeks which included LA, San Franciso, Las Vegas, San Diego and last but not least, Yosemite!
SICK!
man you didn't hit up venice beach and check out some dunkers?
I wish I could have eaten better and trained more but these things are hard to do while travelling. Squatted twice, did not bench at all, balled twice and that's about it lol. Eating out every day for 30 days, it's hard to get enough protein .. im pretty soft now .. as i mentioned above. I need to get back in shape.
Since my gym gains are all but vanished, im open to trying out things in training i wudnt otherwise, esp while rebuilding back to where I was before May. Prob have a good 3 months ahead of me before i'm in PR territory. Maybe more, that sucks but whatever.
i seriously doubt they've vanished.. once you get back on track you'll surprise yourself. 30 days is only ~2 weeks after a 2 week deload, look at it that way.. :ninja:
To recap -- I can't believe i went to the game at Oracle Arena where GSW came back from 3-1 down to win an incredible WCF in 7. I was there! If KD hits a 3, and Westbrook has a better shooting night I could have seen OKC go thru to the finals. Incredible watching KD drop 40 points. He did everything he could have but GSW just played better as a team. They fully deserve to win the ring this year.
if there was one to go to, that could be it.. the game that started the historic run.
really cool man.. glad GSW won tho :F
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Hey andrew! I did go to Venice but i didnt see any dunkers :( I played a quick pickup game which was LOL bad.. selfish team mates and bad shooting and i noped out after around 10 mins. Was funny tho. I got someone to take a video on my phone of me dunking in jeans, teh commentary makes it awesome but nothing special otherwise, i wish i was in better shape and closer to PR territory when i balled there but it was more like the opposite!
Will see how long it takes me to get back on track .. im just daunted by the long road ahead :/
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Hey andrew! I did go to Venice but i didnt see any dunkers :( I played a quick pickup game which was LOL bad.. selfish team mates and bad shooting and i noped out after around 10 mins. Was funny tho. I got someone to take a video on my phone of me dunking in jeans, teh commentary makes it awesome but nothing special otherwise, i wish i was in better shape and closer to PR territory when i balled there but it was more like the opposite!
Will see how long it takes me to get back on track .. im just daunted by the long road ahead :/
Bro, how come you never hit me up? I could have gotten you into a lot better basketball than Northridge hooping! Is that an oz thing? Acole is claiming he is gonna swing through LA - is that actually unlikely?
To all who ask about Venice beach... It's unfortunately not really a thing. The court is immortalized because of "white men can't jump" and maybe it was once the spot but I can promise you for the last ten years that Venice beach is not somewhere you go to play basketball. The rims seem a bit low so you can do fun dunks in an iconic location but when people are laying basketball it's the weird almalgam of drug addicts, tourists, and kids playing terrible pickup... Honestly there isn't much good outdoor basketball in LA - I can think of maybe two courts that are alright but for the most part outdoor hoop is a thing of the past which really sucks... I have zero complaints about life in LA and actually feel that everyone should live here for at least a bit, if for no other reason than strictly for the weather, women and the weed - and you only gotta like two of three... However the city gets a bad rap from visitors because it's not an easy place to visit. The assumed spots like Venice beach for basketball and Hollywood for nightlife often get real disappointing... Really takes a few years to learn the city but once you do it's heaven - one that I'll probably have to leave but will be kicking and screaming on my way out... Still I'm welcoming visitors before I do!
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Bro, how come you never hit me up? I could have gotten you into a lot better basketball than Northridge hooping! Is that an oz thing? Acole is claiming he is gonna swing through LA - is that actually unlikely?
I won't leave you hanging mate! Haha..I might not have as much training under the belt as I would have liked, but I'd still love to come check out your training centre and actually see a vertec in real life :wowthatwasnutswtf:
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Bro, how come you never hit me up? I could have gotten you into a lot better basketball than Northridge hooping! Is that an oz thing? Acole is claiming he is gonna swing through LA - is that actually unlikely?
I won't leave you hanging mate! Haha..I might not have as much training under the belt as I would have liked, but I'd still love to come check out your training centre and actually see a vertec in real life :wowthatwasnutswtf:
damn.. you're going to love the vertec. still probably the most fun testing/training tool i've ever used. dammit I just need to hit that next rung@#$@!$
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BS 8x20, 8x60, 6x100, 8x90
OHP 8x40, 6x50, 8x50
CHINUP 6xBW
CURL 10x20, 10x30
BW: ??
Notes:
Restarted training .. did not want to, tried to put it off but i forced myself to go thru the motions. So far so good though. I'm trying somethign different this time around. Laying off the supplements (creatine, caffeine, etc). Using the old bar. Will try to get my work cap up while im rebuilding strength and mass. I also picked up a pair of blue rehband knee sleeves. Will use all these extras after I get to a decent place, maybe a 6x130kg then add in creatine, caffeine, etc. I didnt even using lifting shoes. Need to focus on technique too. PR patience + technique ->> big squat gains later down the line.
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I just didn't have the opportunity to train properly bro, that i thought it would be a waste of time to bother you with my out of shape ass after a month of eating badly and not training. I'm insecure bout my athletic ability as it, even if i was in a PR place i'd still have reservations! But i also think my next trip wont be so regimented, i went with friends and family this time and didn't have any alone time .. which made it hard to plan to meet my friends and hang out. But now i want to get in shape and make my next trip back within 6 months .. and a priority of that will be in being in decent condition so you can help me go to the next level which ive never been able to. I want to be athletic enough to land windmills, move efficiently and i can't do that without your expertise.
Guys my life since coming back home has been crazy. I went from being sad and lonely to getting to know 2 girls, one i legit wanna marry, she's smart and cute and falling for her and another who is 23 year old and so hot and she's driving me crazy with the sexual tension btw us. I feel like i have to choose btw heart and lust and it's an impossible choice! I'm torn. That trip changed my life .. and im so hungry for life now .. i wanna PR all areas of life, personal, career, relationships etc.
I need a program for training out of this slump .. not interested in my usual thing ive always done. Open to new ideas. I want to incoorporate lifting and athletic activity like running and jumping but with a stronger emphasis on teh latter than in the past.
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I just didn't have the opportunity to train properly bro, that i thought it would be a waste of time to bother you with my out of shape ass after a month of eating badly and not training. I'm insecure bout my athletic ability as it, even if i was in a PR place i'd still have reservations! But i also think my next trip wont be so regimented, i went with friends and family this time and didn't have any alone time .. which made it hard to plan to meet my friends and hang out. But now i want to get in shape and make my next trip back within 6 months .. and a priority of that will be in being in decent condition so you can help me go to the next level which ive never been able to. I want to be athletic enough to land windmills, move efficiently and i can't do that without your expertise.
Guys my life since coming back home has been crazy. I went from being sad and lonely to getting to know 2 girls, one i legit wanna marry, she's smart and cute and falling for her and another who is 23 year old and so hot and she's driving me crazy with the sexual tension btw us. I feel like i have to choose btw heart and lust and it's an impossible choice! I'm torn. That trip changed my life .. and im so hungry for life now .. i wanna PR all areas of life, personal, career, relationships etc.
I need a program for training out of this slump .. not interested in my usual thing ive always done. Open to new ideas. I want to incoorporate lifting and athletic activity like running and jumping but with a stronger emphasis on teh latter than in the past.
Bro, no offense taken.
Some life advice though. One of the best pieces of advice was from a really successful person who told me "pride never really gets anybody anything".
I know it's easier said than done... We all athletes here and despite the fact that we have different ability levels we all want to show out as best we can! I get it. You would rather dunk train with me at your peak athleticism levels than when your tired on a trip and probably dead legged and can barely dunk. That's embarrassing for you. Would be for me too. But it's still prideful and it's still useless in the long run. I mean in a training session or two I'm not gonna make you a better athlete... But I could figure out something and send you home with some knowledge that will... There is value training even with dead legs or not in peak shape. Who knows, I could learn something from you as well.
Also understand I'm a scientist and a trainer. I didn't offer you to train because I think your an amazing athlete. I don't train people based on their ability. I want to see you train because you keep detailed logs of everything, your meticulous (to a fault even), and your driven to improve. Training you teaches me. I'd rather train you than a guy who jumps much higher but has never really trained.
Don't worry about it though, hopefully we can link up on a return visit to the states. I got a chance to train with LBSS and it was a lot of fun. The cool thing about this group of people is we can get a chance to make friends with people who are outside of our circle and learn about things other than training.... I mean LBSS is from some suburban paradise and went to the best high school in the country... I don't know people like that. Now I do. That's a good thing. And I've got to see him go from being slow and not jumping to becoming an explosive leaper. Also cool.
Don't worry too much about the women man. Your habits with training and your overthinking and massive strategic changes will punish you 100x over when it comes to women. Just talk to both of the chicks. About everything (except eachother). Do not be thirsty. You will be fine. Prioritize training over them.
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^Great advice. I kinda messed up with both girls already though. Had an argument with teh first one bout something she said which sounded casually subtle racism. And i called her out on it. Prob shudnt have, it's early days to do that. And with girl 2 i let my lust get the better of me. SO much for being not thirsty huh. she was just teasing me trying to get me to break and eventually i did. Will try to do better from here by being more focused on other things like training and coding, i dont need the distractions.
I know it's easier said than done... We all athletes here and despite the fact that we have different ability levels we all want to show out as best we can! I get it. You would rather dunk train with me at your peak athleticism levels than when your tired on a trip and probably dead legged and can barely dunk. That's embarrassing for you. Would be for me too. But it's still prideful and it's still useless in the long run. I mean in a training session or two I'm not gonna make you a better athlete... But I could figure out something and send you home with some knowledge that will... There is value training even with dead legs or not in peak shape. Who knows, I could learn something from you as well.
You got it. I think you're pretty critical of my athleticism on the best of days .. imagine if i showed up at the crest of it haha. I get why LBSS and acole wud be ok training, they're in the mid 30s from hard work or natural abiity or both .. but i had to train hard to get just over 30". You're absolutely right though.
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So mondays are great to log new beginnings. I stepped on the scales for the first time in ages and it read 80.85kg / 178.24lb in the morning. I'm off da creatine tho, so this is prob artificially low. I want to stabilise around 174 with creatine and just maintain that a while.
free styling training but going to emphasis movement .. become forefoot dominant, glute dominant, mobility, running, conditioning, al those things i always neglect but have no excuse to now that i have no lifts to maintain/PR
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Played pickup basketball yesterday. Was really good. Lots of good shooters and play. I started rusty but once my jumper started dropping i didn't miss. Blocked a lot of shots, guys bigger than me. I heard for the first time "you got long arms" as a reason for my blocks .. lol. Bonus, got asked to fill in for game on thursday. I'm gonna struggle playing full court competive but best way to get back in shape is jump in and go hard.
Ate well today, shake meal 1. 2 chicken breasts and a shake, 2 rotis, cup of rice for dinner. Low carb is killing me this time, ive gotten anxiety, dnt think fasting+low carb+EC is a great idea. Im also worried bout my first dates coming up, i hate being on EC, it makes me all panicky. But im more confident when im in good shape, have to figure out a wy out this lol.
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BS 2x6x100 (LPR)
OHP 3x6x52.5 (LPR)
CURLS 2x12x32.5 (LPR)
BW: ?? (scales stopped working, will get a new pair soon)
Notes:
Feel sick. Combo of lowcarb + EC + cold weather is making me miserable .. im regretting not eating clean the last 6 weeks..
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BW: 81.1kg / 178.8lb
higher than my starting bw of 178.2 but new scales though.
Couldn't sleep at night .. it's the EC i think. I did have a free meal last night, carby .. so i can't blame it on anything else. FML. there was a time i was adapted to EC i cud sleep like a baby. That time is not now.....
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What's EC? I looked back a couple of pages but can't find it.
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What's EC? I looked back a couple of pages but can't find it.
I think ephedrine-caffeine.
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^yup, but trying to stay somewhat discreet bout it since this is a nanny state and all haha..
BW: 81.2kg
i'm leaning out nicely .. even with bodyweight going the wrong way. I suspect a combo of starting off with a higher metabolism rate and going on a sneaky cut + EC boost -> decent fat loss off the get-go. It's what, day 5? So far so good in terms of results. But mentally it's pretty hard .. i expect that to get better as i adapt...
training and game tonight .. feelnig pretty refresh considering i havent slept much this week..
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^yup, but trying to stay somewhat discreet bout it since this is a nanny state and all haha..
BW: 81.2kg
i'm leaning out nicely .. even with bodyweight going the wrong way. I suspect a combo of starting off with a higher metabolism rate and going on a sneaky cut + EC boost -> decent fat loss off the get-go. It's what, day 5? So far so good in terms of results. But mentally it's pretty hard .. i expect that to get better as i adapt...
training and game tonight .. feelnig pretty refresh considering i havent slept much this week..
What's the nanny state? The forum? Aus? USA?
In light of EC use the "female" fat deposits do make a bit more sense...
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^yup, but trying to stay somewhat discreet bout it since this is a nanny state and all haha..
BW: 81.2kg
i'm leaning out nicely .. even with bodyweight going the wrong way. I suspect a combo of starting off with a higher metabolism rate and going on a sneaky cut + EC boost -> decent fat loss off the get-go. It's what, day 5? So far so good in terms of results. But mentally it's pretty hard .. i expect that to get better as i adapt...
training and game tonight .. feelnig pretty refresh considering i havent slept much this week..
What's the nanny state? The forum? Aus? USA?
In light of EC use the "female" fat deposits do make a bit more sense...
Haha, I'm 99% sure he means Aus:
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/welcome-to-australia-the-worlds-most-overregulated-nanny-state/news-story/49aa0a414ae87b9ef54e85b40af36b47
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/10-laws-that-suggest-australia-is-a-nanny-state-021525185.html
http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/australian-drivers-hit-with-overthetop-fines/story-fnagkbpv-1226756866106
Also, speaking broadly I think the Australian community at large are very anti-PED...we hate 'cheaters'.
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^yup, but trying to stay somewhat discreet bout it since this is a nanny state and all haha..
BW: 81.2kg
i'm leaning out nicely .. even with bodyweight going the wrong way. I suspect a combo of starting off with a higher metabolism rate and going on a sneaky cut + EC boost -> decent fat loss off the get-go. It's what, day 5? So far so good in terms of results. But mentally it's pretty hard .. i expect that to get better as i adapt...
training and game tonight .. feelnig pretty refresh considering i havent slept much this week..
What's the nanny state? The forum? Aus? USA?
In light of EC use the "female" fat deposits do make a bit more sense...
Haha, I'm 99% sure he means Aus:
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/welcome-to-australia-the-worlds-most-overregulated-nanny-state/news-story/49aa0a414ae87b9ef54e85b40af36b47
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/10-laws-that-suggest-australia-is-a-nanny-state-021525185.html
http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/australian-drivers-hit-with-overthetop-fines/story-fnagkbpv-1226756866106
Also, speaking broadly I think the Australian community at large are very anti-PED...we hate 'cheaters'.
Those articles are so on point. And i've only just guessed the headlines not actually visted the links.
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Incoming rant ... australia is a nanny state, let me give the example of driving in australia. Our freeways are nice and modern, beautiful wide, flawless roads and yet the speed limits are a hard (and harshly enforced) 100 km/hr. That's about 63 miles/hr. Imagine driving in LA on awful, bumpy, chaotic freeways where everyone is going anywhere from 75 to 85 miles/hr when the speed limit is 75, depending on the conditions of the road and the flow of traffic. In australia, it cud be a clear bright day with great visilbility and you'll have artificial traffic waves of cars bunched up closely together, cos everyone is driving at a ridiculous 60 miles/hr .. and the conditions cud easily allow a safer speed of say 110-120 km/h. Oh you want to temporarily go to 110km/hr to overtake that huge SUV so you can see the road better? Bang 200 dollar fine. Fuck everything about this stupid nanny state.
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Felt like shit the whole day .. did an impromptu carb up which helped a ton. Skipped lifting to save myself for the game. Played the game. Deferred a bit too much to team mates, going pass first instead of looking to score myself. But towards the end of hte game i said ef this, ima score, and i did. We won by 6 .. i am kinda disappointed in my performance, i cud have done better with the opportunity .. but all things considered, i'll take it. That #fill-in life heh
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Incoming rant ... australia is a nanny state, let me give the example of driving in australia. Our freeways are nice and modern, beautiful wide, flawless roads and yet the speed limits are a hard (and harshly enforced) 100 km/hr. That's about 63 miles/hr. Imagine driving in LA on awful, bumpy, chaotic freeways where everyone is going anywhere from 75 to 85 miles/hr when the speed limit is 75, depending on the conditions of the road and the flow of traffic. In australia, it cud be a clear bright day with great visilbility and you'll have artificial traffic waves of cars bunched up closely together, cos everyone is driving at a ridiculous 60 miles/hr .. and the conditions cud easily allow a safer speed of say 110-120 km/h. Oh you want to temporarily go to 110km/hr to overtake that huge SUV so you can see the road better? Bang 200 dollar fine. Fuck everything about this stupid nanny state.
Only $200? Try living in South Australia where you get fined $500 for low range speeding! SA has the lowest incomes in mainland Australia, yet we have the highest fines for traffic offences. The police here should change their name to Revenue SA because they are trying to raise revenue for our broke ass state. I almost got done speeding tonight. I was on the highway where the speed limit is 100. I was cruising along at 105-110 and there was a cop hiding under a bridge with his car parked in the emergency lane and holding a laser gun. Scared the shit out of me and I braked straight away. I was looking back in the rear view but the cop didn't put his sirens on and I didn't see a flash so I'm assuming nothing will come of it.
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Incoming rant ... australia is a nanny state, let me give the example of driving in australia. Our freeways are nice and modern, beautiful wide, flawless roads and yet the speed limits are a hard (and harshly enforced) 100 km/hr. That's about 63 miles/hr. Imagine driving in LA on awful, bumpy, chaotic freeways where everyone is going anywhere from 75 to 85 miles/hr when the speed limit is 75, depending on the conditions of the road and the flow of traffic. In australia, it cud be a clear bright day with great visilbility and you'll have artificial traffic waves of cars bunched up closely together, cos everyone is driving at a ridiculous 60 miles/hr .. and the conditions cud easily allow a safer speed of say 110-120 km/h. Oh you want to temporarily go to 110km/hr to overtake that huge SUV so you can see the road better? Bang 200 dollar fine. Fuck everything about this stupid nanny state.
Well that sounds terrible...
I live in LA and drive at the speed of the traffic or more which is between 70-85 and I have never gotten a speeding ticket in my life...
Then again I have been pulled over for no reason and handcuffed and thrown in the back of the cop car while they "investigated" cause the cop "didn't like my story."
And in Australia guns are hard to get and there are no mass shootings so that is cool....
So I assume there are pluses in minuses...
Also, I don't know the rest of the politics but I have been to Vancouver Canada and drive there many times and it sucks how the speed limit when you get there goes from 70mph to 100km/hr and is heavily enforced...
America has a lot of "spirit of the law" crimes and rules which my German friend pointed out are an avenue for discrimination. Not sure if I agree, I think it's a very complicated issue...
But as far as the speeding limit it sounds to me mostly like you guys and the Canadians are just victims of the metric system and a base 10 counting system!!!
I mean come on... 100 km/hr. What a great speed limit. 100. Such a sensible number. Why do 95 or 110 when your close to 100 it sounds like it should be the limit. We are just lucky enough to have mph where 100mph is too fast for most conditions but there is no sensible stopping point so we have 55mph, 65, 70, 75 depending on conditions...
Seems like bad luck. I'd take the trade to the metric system for other reasons. In fact I propose a trade... The rest of the world adopts Fahrenheit and admits centigrade sucks (I mean seriously centrigrade is terrible - temps are often negative and no more than 50 but for F it's perfect because ambient temperature is almost always between 0 and 100...) and Americans go metric everywhere else...
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Bodyweight: 80.5kg / 177.47lb (LPR!)
Yesterday's carb up led to a whoosh. Skinfolds smaller too. I got a lot of fat loss in a small number of days. Interesting what you can do when you sneakily go abruptly from a holiday surplus to a decent deficit! I'll take it.
Starting to get the hankering to train hard. I'm just a good program short right now though .. :/ It has to be a generalist program though .. i am detrained in a lot of areas so i dont want to overspecialise? idk.
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BW: 79.7kg / 175.71lb (LPR)
Well on track to hit goal weight of 174 in record time! Woohooo. I'm going to lay off the low carb dieting now and do it in a more moderate fashion from here on. I want to stabilise at 174 with creatine -- so i think i need to make room for bout 2.5lb before I add in creatine? SOmething like that. I dont know.
Training hard today.
BS 2x110(LPR), 3x3x110(LPR), 2x2x110
RDL 8x110 (LPR), 8x150(LPR; hook grip but nonexistent rom so doesn't count)
BP 6x70, 3x80(LPR), 6x75(LPR), 8x75(LPR)
WCU 2x102.8(LPR; +20kg), 5x97.8(LPR; +15kg), 6x92.8(LPR; +10kg)
CURL 8x40(LPR), 2x6x40(LPR)
TM - 1km in 8 mins (LPR; new ex)
Notes:
LPR squat workset volume at 15 reps. My back didn't like the latter sets, hope it's going to be ok. honestly, not sure why my spine always acts up after a break from squatting heavy..... :/ First time doing weighted chinups in like 6+ weeks!
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BW: 80.5kg / 177.47lb
Good workout and good postworkout meal --> gainz. Though scale goes up, i'm ok with it! First 7 days were interesting.. played hoops twice, lifted twice, one workout was actually decent. Got a bit leaner. I'm happy.
Next 7 days i wanna do better though, will switch to fully clean eating with scale weighted meals and increase training workload as I get back into shape. I wanna be consistently 79kg or less by day 15.
Pickup bball today.
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Here a rough summary of how my workouts are looking for the coming week:
Mon: off
Tue: Lifts
Wed: off
Thurs: plyos: depth jumps / jump squats, full court bball game
Fri: off
sat: Lifts
Sun: pickup bball
I need to figure out a way to include track work .. but idk what day wud suit. Maybe thurs? hmmm.
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Balled so hard. legit played 2-3 hours of pickup. This wll get my fat ass into shape..
i am dunking again. hit the rim bit too hard on my last attempt and now ust under my wrist has a big bruise. yikes!. so yeah, it's coming back.
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lol @t0ddday saying the speed of traffic in LA is 70-85. more like 15. ::)
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Here a rough summary of how my workouts are looking for the coming week:
Mon: off
Tue: Lifts
Wed: off
Thurs: plyos: depth jumps / jump squats, full court bball game
Fri: off
sat: Lifts
Sun: pickup bball
I need to figure out a way to include track work ..
but idk what day wud suit. Maybe thurs? hmmm.
Are you kidding? Your already doing plyos Thursday.
Monday. Tuesday before lifts. Sat before lifts. Lots of options. You gotta change your mindset when it comes to lifting though if you want to become a real athlete.
The mindset is: "oh no if I sprint/bound/jump before lifting my squat will be weaker!" Unacceptable.
First of all. Are you a lifter or an athlete?
Second. Maybe weaker but actually not much weaker because you will adapt. Assuming you squat 200kg. Maybe initially when you get in track work first that squat will go down to 180. But you will adapt and be able to lift 95% as much post track.
Third. Who cares how much you lift. Progress requires effort moreso than poundage. So if you doing track and lifting and progressing your squat from 150-160-170kg vs avoiding track and going from 160-170-180 it's the same thing. A month off track and you would "realize your gains" and squat almost as much as if u never did the track work. Basically a track work normalized lift doesn't need to be as strong - the carryover is the same and the weight is safer. Win win.
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lol @t0ddday saying the speed of traffic in LA is 70-85. more like 15. ::)
Hah. You are a tourist bro. We plan our lives and relationships around traffic here. We know better than to cross the 405 at 5pm on Friday...
Most of us have it set up so when we do drive somewhere traffic is light. Not people from the valley but that's the benefit to DTLA...
Another reason why I maintain that LA is my favorite city to live in but the worst to visit.
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haha i actually like visiting it. one of the few cities in the US i'd consider moving to after i come back from overseas.
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Here a rough summary of how my workouts are looking for the coming week:
Mon: off
Tue: Lifts
Wed: off
Thurs: plyos: depth jumps / jump squats, full court bball game
Fri: off
sat: Lifts
Sun: pickup bball
I need to figure out a way to include track work ..
but idk what day wud suit. Maybe thurs? hmmm.
Are you kidding? Your already doing plyos Thursday.
Monday. Tuesday before lifts. Sat before lifts. Lots of options. You gotta change your mindset when it comes to lifting though if you want to become a real athlete.
The mindset is: "oh no if I sprint/bound/jump before lifting my squat will be weaker!" Unacceptable.
First of all. Are you a lifter or an athlete?
Second. Maybe weaker but actually not much weaker because you will adapt. Assuming you squat 200kg. Maybe initially when you get in track work first that squat will go down to 180. But you will adapt and be able to lift 95% as much post track.
Third. Who cares how much you lift. Progress requires effort moreso than poundage. So if you doing track and lifting and progressing your squat from 150-160-170kg vs avoiding track and going from 160-170-180 it's the same thing. A month off track and you would "realize your gains" and squat almost as much as if u never did the track work. Basically a track work normalized lift doesn't need to be as strong - the carryover is the same and the weight is safer. Win win.
holy shit i got feedback! cant wait to pore over this and read it
btw im kinda proud that i figured out the traffic thing bout LA .. maybe i cud move there .. lol. i really wanna. if it doesn't work out with this girl im seeing im moving, i think.
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Here a rough summary of how my workouts are looking for the coming week:
Mon: off
Tue: Lifts
Wed: off
Thurs: plyos: depth jumps / jump squats, full court bball game
Fri: off
sat: Lifts
Sun: pickup bball
I need to figure out a way to include track work ..
but idk what day wud suit. Maybe thurs? hmmm.
Are you kidding? Your already doing plyos Thursday.
Monday. Tuesday before lifts. Sat before lifts. Lots of options. You gotta change your mindset when it comes to lifting though if you want to become a real athlete.
The mindset is: "oh no if I sprint/bound/jump before lifting my squat will be weaker!" Unacceptable.
First of all. Are you a lifter or an athlete?
Second. Maybe weaker but actually not much weaker because you will adapt. Assuming you squat 200kg. Maybe initially when you get in track work first that squat will go down to 180. But you will adapt and be able to lift 95% as much post track.
Third. Who cares how much you lift. Progress requires effort moreso than poundage. So if you doing track and lifting and progressing your squat from 150-160-170kg vs avoiding track and going from 160-170-180 it's the same thing. A month off track and you would "realize your gains" and squat almost as much as if u never did the track work. Basically a track work normalized lift doesn't need to be as strong - the carryover is the same and the weight is safer. Win win.
holy shit i got feedback! cant wait to pore over this and read it
btw im kinda proud that i figured out the traffic thing bout LA .. maybe i cud move there .. lol. i really wanna. if it doesn't work out with this girl im seeing im moving, i think.
Where are you living atm?
This is a cool article about sprinting.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/par46.htm
Oh, but f*ck sprinting. I mean, all it does is elevate intramuscular glycogen storage potential, increase insulin-stimulated glucose transport and carb tolerance. It also elevates FFA oxidation levels, partitions a higher percentage of ingested calories toward muscle, and curtails fat gain by downgrading DGAT1 activity and glucose uptake into adipocytes. This allows ATP to be saved for energy repletion rather than be "misallocated" to synthesize new triacylglycerol (TAG) in your adipocytes.
And I mean, what a joke: a few 100-meter repeat sprints with full recovery will only minimize anaerobic glycolysis, burn maybe two or three hundred calories max, and generate the AMPk activation that gets the ball rolling on all of the above, leaving you free the rest of your day off to eat and grow in the good places while your body tells your fat-deposits they're going to "get nothing and like it."
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Here is a question for you, is there a way to get thse benefits of sprinting out of a single workout. LIke minimal effective dose kinda thing? I'm not trying to become a 32 year old rookie track star lol.
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Here a rough summary of how my workouts are looking for the coming week:
Mon: off
Tue: Lifts
Wed: off
Thurs: plyos: depth jumps / jump squats, full court bball game
Fri: off
sat: Lifts
Sun: pickup bball
I need to figure out a way to include track work ..
but idk what day wud suit. Maybe thurs? hmmm.
Are you kidding? Your already doing plyos Thursday.
Monday. Tuesday before lifts. Sat before lifts. Lots of options. You gotta change your mindset when it comes to lifting though if you want to become a real athlete.
The mindset is: "oh no if I sprint/bound/jump before lifting my squat will be weaker!" Unacceptable.
First of all. Are you a lifter or an athlete?
Second. Maybe weaker but actually not much weaker because you will adapt. Assuming you squat 200kg. Maybe initially when you get in track work first that squat will go down to 180. But you will adapt and be able to lift 95% as much post track.
Third. Who cares how much you lift. Progress requires effort moreso than poundage. So if you doing track and lifting and progressing your squat from 150-160-170kg vs avoiding track and going from 160-170-180 it's the same thing. A month off track and you would "realize your gains" and squat almost as much as if u never did the track work. Basically a track work normalized lift doesn't need to be as strong - the carryover is the same and the weight is safer. Win win.
Ok, i can take these criticism on board. Lemme revamp my program tonight.
Here is what i'm considering
Mon: off
Tue: track, weights
Wed: off
Thu: plyos/dunks, basketball
Fri: off
Sat: weights
sun: pickup bball
I feel i'm not really able to do track twice a week without wrecking my knees tho. i get achy knees just from 10 mins of slow steady treadmill running ffs. lol. but i'll start with the session tuesday, and if i make it work, can addd in the saturday session?
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Here is a question for you, is there a way to get thse benefits of sprinting out of a single workout. LIke minimal effective dose kinda thing? I'm not trying to become a 32 year old rookie track star lol.
hard lmfao. srs, legit irl lmfao. dno y, just caught me.
also yes, I think you can reap benefits from "a single sprint workout" at some "wide frequency", especially if it's at maximum intensity.
ie, one (near) maximum effort sprint session per week.
i've actually changed my training drastically over the last few months, and it's somewhat related to your question.. i'm trying to approach training from more of a "minimum effective dose" angle.
ie, instead of simply adding volume & frequency to my training program, which ends up becoming more of a "brute force approach", why not actually do the opposite and remove volume/frequency, so that it's more of a "dynamic programming approach"; the dynamic programming approach being, less operations & find short cuts.. but short cuts being more related to improved performance via being more recovered, stronger CNS, etc.
so ya I think that effort is key.. it's impossible to string together 7 truly max effort sprint sessions per week. it's possible to do 2.. it's definitely possible to do 1.. that one session could potentially provide benefit, if maintained consistently (at least 1x/week) for several weeks.. if you had one "life or death" adrenaline/fight-or-flight response per week, you'd eventually be toast... just to give you an idea of a low-frequency stimulus that is too intense.
would one very submax sprint session per week result in much benefit? doubt it.
obviously, there needs to be a break in period before you can even perform (near) ME sprint sessions without wrecking yourself.. and you'd also have to be doing some other athletic "activities" during the week (like lifting/reactive work/jumps) not to detrain.
just giving my thoughts on it.
pc
I feel i'm not really able to do track twice a week without wrecking my knees tho. i get achy knees just from 10 mins of slow steady treadmill running ffs. lol. but i'll start with the session tuesday, and if i make it work, can addd in the saturday session?
slow steady treadmill might actually be more of a knee wrecker than high tempo 200's though.. plop plop plop vs bounce bounce bounce.. depends on your experience with sprinting though.. if you're plopping every stride while sprinting, then ya that will wreck your knees.
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Here is a question for you, is there a way to get thse benefits of sprinting out of a single workout. LIke minimal effective dose kinda thing? I'm not trying to become a 32 year old rookie track star lol.
A % of something is better than 100% of nothing so yes I do think you'll get some benefit out of sprinting, even if you only do it once a week.
T0ddday will probably have a different opinion but I think doing something simple, such as
5x100m max effort with full recovery
would be optimal for 1 session a week.
I get sore running on the treadmill but if you find a grass oval that has a track (not sure where you live, but there are generally plenty of these around) it will be easier on your knees as well.
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Here a rough summary of how my workouts are looking for the coming week:
Mon: off
Tue: Lifts
Wed: off
Thurs: plyos: depth jumps / jump squats, full court bball game
Fri: off
sat: Lifts
Sun: pickup bball
I need to figure out a way to include track work ..
but idk what day wud suit. Maybe thurs? hmmm.
Are you kidding? Your already doing plyos Thursday.
Monday. Tuesday before lifts. Sat before lifts. Lots of options. You gotta change your mindset when it comes to lifting though if you want to become a real athlete.
The mindset is: "oh no if I sprint/bound/jump before lifting my squat will be weaker!" Unacceptable.
First of all. Are you a lifter or an athlete?
Second. Maybe weaker but actually not much weaker because you will adapt. Assuming you squat 200kg. Maybe initially when you get in track work first that squat will go down to 180. But you will adapt and be able to lift 95% as much post track.
Third. Who cares how much you lift. Progress requires effort moreso than poundage. So if you doing track and lifting and progressing your squat from 150-160-170kg vs avoiding track and going from 160-170-180 it's the same thing. A month off track and you would "realize your gains" and squat almost as much as if u never did the track work. Basically a track work normalized lift doesn't need to be as strong - the carryover is the same and the weight is safer. Win win.
Ok, i can take these criticism on board. Lemme revamp my program tonight.
Here is what i'm considering
Mon: off
Tue: track, weights
Wed: off
Thu: plyos/dunks, basketball
Fri: off
Sat: weights
sun: pickup bball
I feel i'm not really able to do track twice a week without wrecking my knees tho. i get achy knees just from 10 mins of slow steady treadmill running ffs. lol. but i'll start with the session tuesday, and if i make it work, can addd in the saturday session?
I found that when you get into proper sprinting form the load on the knees becomes fairly minor. It's counterintuitive, I was a little worried about getting patellar tendonitis and all that when I returned to sprinting but it really took a long time for me to get any knee issues, and that was due to too much slower endurance work more than anything. Never had any knee issues when sprinting as a junior either. YMMV if you are also playing ball and doing jumps though so be wary.
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If i'm being honest, you guys are right, sprinting is actually not bad on my knees. I did find bounds to be pretty hard though, especially SL ones when i did them. However, sprinting itself on grass didn't do it, running on the TM, even regular TM walking does though! Ok, i'll add in another session.
Mon: off
Tue: track, weights
Wed: off
Thu: plyos/dunks, basketball
Fri: off
Sat: track, weights
sun: pickup bball
Does that look ok? Hope i'm not biting off more than i can chew, i want a program i can stick to for 12 weeks without breaking
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If i'm being honest, you guys are right, sprinting is actually not bad on my knees. I did find bounds to be pretty hard though, especially SL ones when i did them. However, sprinting itself on grass didn't do it, running on the TM, even regular TM walking does though! Ok, i'll add in another session.
Mon: off
Tue: track, weights
Wed: off
Thu: plyos/dunks, basketball
Fri: off
Sat: track, weights
sun: pickup bball
Does that look ok? Hope i'm not biting off more than i can chew, i want a program i can stick to for 12 weeks without breaking
nice.. go4it. 3-rest-days ftw.. now it just depends on what you do in those sessions, but regardless, you can push yourself nicely with that schedule while still getting enough recovery.
:highfive:
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BW: 177.91lb / 80.7kg
Sprints, 3x130m (i think) with 25s recovery), 1x130m (with full recovery; ME, )
BS 3x6x110kg (LPR)
OHP 3x6x55(LPR)
CURL 3x6x42.5(LPR)
Notes:
thought bout doing bounds but decided against it, lemme focus on sprints for a minute .. then i'll add in assistance like bounds? idk. For lifting, notably, switched out old bar for new bar, it's slightly heavier at 20kg vs 19.something. I'm going to make short work of getting my squat workouts to sets of 6x120kg .. maybe even 6x125kg but i do think 6x130kg while having a clear sixpack and playing bball regularly is a decent end goal .. if i can get all these things at the same time in 8-12 weeks, i'm doing great. Esp without creatine.
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I'm going to lay off the low carb dieting now and do it in a more moderate fashion from here on. I want to stabilise at 174 with creatine -- so i think i need to make room for bout 2.5lb before I add in creatine? SOmething like that. I dont know.
Esp without creatine.
So did you decide not to use creatine at all? Any reason why?
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BW: 177.91lb / 80.7kg
Sprints, 3x130m (i think) with 25s recovery), 1x130m (with full recovery; ME, )
BS 3x6x110kg (LPR)
OHP 3x6x55(LPR)
CURL 3x6x42.5(LPR)
Notes:
thought bout doing bounds but decided against it, lemme focus on sprints for a minute .. then i'll add in assistance like bounds? idk. For lifting, notably, switched out old bar for new bar, it's slightly heavier at 20kg vs 19.something. I'm going to make short work of getting my squat workouts to sets of 6x120kg .. maybe even 6x125kg but i do think 6x130kg while having a clear sixpack and playing bball regularly is a decent end goal .. if i can get all these things at the same time in 8-12 weeks, i'm doing great. Esp without creatine.
A couple things. I don't disagree too much with Mutumbos suggestion of doing something like 5x100 ME once a week being a good workout, except keep the following in mind:
#1) Keep your distances shorter rather than longer... I think your comment that you are not trying to become a competitive track star is VERY salient... So leave out the workouts that are necessary for becoming a track star that also are harder on the body. These would be the longer ME runs. Longer runs 100m - 300m at ME are going to be harder on your body and not really necessary if you don't need to compete. For me as a sprinter competing seriously in the 60m, 100m, and 200m (somewhat seriously in the 200m cause I was never good at it) I had to do a lot of 150m-300m speed endurance work which is hard on my body but really only extremely necessary for about the last 60m in the 200m (which you don't need).
Acole is right but also realize that "proper sprinting form" for you (and most of us) isn't really possible as we fatigue (and we do fatigue after 10 seconds).
So for you I would include more short sprints. Something like 5x20m, 4x40, 3x60, 2x80, 1x100m. Is a good workout for you and shouldn't be hard on your knees. I don't know why you picked 130m sprints but IMO it's those last 50m in a 130m that could be a bit tough on your knees. I'm not anti longer than 100m sprints (we have NBA guys doing an absolute maximum distance of 150m and those are not ME - 100m is the maximum ME distance), but if you include 100m-200m sprints keep them proper form by keeping intensity down...
Also, consider hill sprints. I like the idea of 2x per week - once on track/grass once on hills. Hill work is VERY easy on knees.
#2) Bounding. Bounding is great. But you are right that it's hard on your body - especially what you showed us on video - ME broad jumps on bball court. I wouldn't drop bounding - I would just look at it differently. I would keep at as part of your warmup. I would keep it like this:
Workout:
1) 3-5 strides
2) 3-5 50m mobility runs to get warm
3) 5 30m dynamic walking stretches (knee to elbow lunge, hand to heel lunge, inchworm hamstring to handstand stretch, walking leg kicks, walking hip stretch holds, etc.
4) 3-5 10yard Locked knee ankle bounds to get warmer
5) Bounding:
a) 10 broad jumps (EASY - if you have yard markers and you max Broad jump is 3 yards you could just do 10 jumps that are over 10 yards. Jump reset. Jump reset, etc).
b) Multi Bounds - EASY. Again so imagine your best 5xbunny hop is 15 yards. So just hit 12 three times with good form. Same for single leg and alternating leg. After weeks of this you can add a yard. But there are not attempts to PR necessarily (when you are feeling great I am sure you will be tempted to - but think of these as submax bounds which WILL help your vertical jump and dynamic basketball jumping and get your warm).
6) Sprint workout.
7) Stretch/Cooldown
#3) Program REST. Like Adarq said about your CNS - you gotta watch it. But one thing people forget is that it's OK to have a program that will fry your CNS after weeks and weeks of it. In fact I think that's the optimal program. You should have a program that if you did it for 15 weeks straight you will be fried. Just don't do it for 15 weeks. Think in blocks of minumum 3 weeks, maximum of 6 weeks. So you have your weights, bball, jumping, track bounding that you do... Week 1, Week 2, Week 3. Do the submax bounds and maybe during Week 3 you allow yourself to really go all out on 1 set of each (5x multi-bound, 5x multi-single leg and alternating leg bound). Get a PR. Then week 4 is OFF. If you don't want to take it off the good thing about sprinting is it's REALLY easy to deload. You can do your bounds only with straight legs to just get blood moving. If you have been doing 5x100m in 13 seconds you just back this off to 5x100m in 16 seconds and it becomes recovery and easy rather than damaging...
Programming REST weeks or deloading weeks into your schedule is far better than trying to program a workout that isn't too hard on your CNS. IMO it's better to go 105%, 105%, 110%, 60% every four weeks rather than 95%, 95% 95%, 95%. You will make better gains AND honestly 95% is too close for comfort for me... Depending on life, work, stress (with your women sounds like you got that) you might do what you think is 95% but you are actually doing 101%, 101%, 101%, 101% and like Andrew said - this WILL catch up with you and you will stagnate, get worse, get angry and worst of all get injured. We know what 60% is. We hate it as athletes. But as long as you go hard the previous three weeks think of it as just as important and also well deserved...
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#3) Program REST. Like Adarq said about your CNS - you gotta watch it. But one thing people forget is that it's OK to have a program that will fry your CNS after weeks and weeks of it. In fact I think that's the optimal program. You should have a program that if you did it for 15 weeks straight you will be fried. Just don't do it for 15 weeks. Think in blocks of minumum 3 weeks, maximum of 6 weeks. So you have your weights, bball, jumping, track bounding that you do... Week 1, Week 2, Week 3. Do the submax bounds and maybe during Week 3 you allow yourself to really go all out on 1 set of each (5x multi-bound, 5x multi-single leg and alternating leg bound). Get a PR. Then week 4 is OFF. If you don't want to take it off the good thing about sprinting is it's REALLY easy to deload. You can do your bounds only with straight legs to just get blood moving. If you have been doing 5x100m in 13 seconds you just back this off to 5x100m in 16 seconds and it becomes recovery and easy rather than damaging...
Programming REST weeks or deloading weeks into your schedule is far better than trying to program a workout that isn't too hard on your CNS. IMO it's better to go 105%, 105%, 110%, 60% every four weeks rather than 95%, 95% 95%, 95%. You will make better gains AND honestly 95% is too close for comfort for me... Depending on life, work, stress (with your women sounds like you got that) you might do what you think is 95% but you are actually doing 101%, 101%, 101%, 101% and like Andrew said - this WILL catch up with you and you will stagnate, get worse, get angry and worst of all get injured. We know what 60% is. We hate it as athletes. But as long as you go hard the previous three weeks think of it as just as important and also well deserved...
very nice! love this.
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I'm going to lay off the low carb dieting now and do it in a more moderate fashion from here on. I want to stabilise at 174 with creatine -- so i think i need to make room for bout 2.5lb before I add in creatine? SOmething like that. I dont know.
Esp without creatine.
So did you decide not to use creatine at all? Any reason why?
I just wanna get to PR territory while weighing <80kg, so i can add in creatine there and go further. Makes it harder now but possible to break some mental/physical barriers later down the track. Otherwise i think creatine is really good, makes you train harder and recover better etc. Thanks for stopping by!
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BW:80.1kg / 176.59lb (LPR)
Ok so this is the lowest ive weighed since coming home. But ive been eating like shit lately. hotdogs, meatballs, loads of chips/fries and last night m&ms. I think ive been grieving the end of a promising relationship even before it blossomed. She went MIA since the weekend and she hasnt been returning my messages. I take the writing on the wall for what it is, occam's razor doesn't permit any other interpretation at this juncture. I knida know that im not going to find someone else like her unless i leave this city for greener pastures. So it's loss in the sense of what it means in the long term. I am going to end it with the younger girl too, i dont want to lead her on, theres no future there, 9 years is a huge gap. So yeah single again. Time to turn to training to fill the void. I'm back on the chicken breast and oatmeal wagon as of today!
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BW:80.1kg / 176.59lb (LPR)
Ok so this is the lowest ive weighed since coming home. But ive been eating like shit lately. hotdogs, meatballs, loads of chips/fries and last night m&ms. I think ive been grieving the end of a promising relationship even before it blossomed. She went MIA since the weekend and she hasnt been returning my messages. I take the writing on the wall for what it is, occam's razor doesn't permit any other interpretation at this juncture. I knida know that im not going to find someone else like her unless i leave this city for greener pastures. So it's loss in the sense of what it means in the long term. I am going to end it with the younger girl too, i dont want to lead her on, theres no future there, 9 years is a huge gap. So yeah single again. Time to turn to training to fill the void. I'm back on the chicken breast and oatmeal wagon as of today!
Occam's razor is proof of nothing and even still it is useful only for matters regarding models of the physical world.
Occam's razor should never be applied for matters of the heart. She hasn't returned a few texts. Don't harass her or send her any fatalistic or final text about how she hasn't returned them and thus you assume the worst. But do assume something. Assume something that puts you both in an extremely positive light and leave it alone without finality in your head...
Assume that you are awesome and she saw that and she is awesome as well... But she is going through something or perhaps is a little apprehensive about meeting a man so amazing... Believe this. She might not text you ever again... But then again maybe she will... And when she does you need to be the positive and optimistic guy she met - this can't be faked. Don't burn bridges. Don't put this on your shortcomings or her failings as far as not being respectful and getting back to you... If she 100% didn't like you she probably would have told you rather than disappeared in fear... Be you and post great IG stuff of dunks and believe something positive and you will be surprised how it pays off...
This advice was given when I was young and was life changing for me... Had to share it with you. Do with it what u want...
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BW:80.1kg / 176.59lb (LPR)
Ok so this is the lowest ive weighed since coming home. But ive been eating like shit lately. hotdogs, meatballs, loads of chips/fries and last night m&ms. I think ive been grieving the end of a promising relationship even before it blossomed. She went MIA since the weekend and she hasnt been returning my messages. I take the writing on the wall for what it is, occam's razor doesn't permit any other interpretation at this juncture. I knida know that im not going to find someone else like her unless i leave this city for greener pastures. So it's loss in the sense of what it means in the long term. I am going to end it with the younger girl too, i dont want to lead her on, theres no future there, 9 years is a huge gap. So yeah single again. Time to turn to training to fill the void. I'm back on the chicken breast and oatmeal wagon as of today!
Sorry it didn't work out.
Props for your attitude though. Straight back into training instead of moping around feeling sorry for yourself. You'll find the right lady.
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BW:80.1kg / 176.59lb (LPR)
Ok so this is the lowest ive weighed since coming home. But ive been eating like shit lately. hotdogs, meatballs, loads of chips/fries and last night m&ms. I think ive been grieving the end of a promising relationship even before it blossomed. She went MIA since the weekend and she hasnt been returning my messages. I take the writing on the wall for what it is, occam's razor doesn't permit any other interpretation at this juncture. I knida know that im not going to find someone else like her unless i leave this city for greener pastures. So it's loss in the sense of what it means in the long term. I am going to end it with the younger girl too, i dont want to lead her on, theres no future there, 9 years is a huge gap. So yeah single again. Time to turn to training to fill the void. I'm back on the chicken breast and oatmeal wagon as of today!
Occam's razor is proof of nothing and even still it is useful only for matters regarding models of the physical world.
Occam's razor should never be applied for matters of the heart. She hasn't returned a few texts. Don't harass her or send her any fatalistic or final text about how she hasn't returned them and thus you assume the worst. But do assume something. Assume something that puts you both in an extremely positive light and leave it alone without finality in your head...
Assume that you are awesome and she saw that and she is awesome as well... But she is going through something or perhaps is a little apprehensive about meeting a man so amazing... Believe this. She might not text you ever again... But then again maybe she will... And when she does you need to be the positive and optimistic guy she met - this can't be faked. Don't burn bridges. Don't put this on your shortcomings or her failings as far as not being respectful and getting back to you... If she 100% didn't like you she probably would have told you rather than disappeared in fear... Be you and post great IG stuff of dunks and believe something positive and you will be surprised how it pays off...
This advice was given when I was young and was life changing for me... Had to share it with you. Do with it what u want...
This was exactly what I needed to hear. I don't even have to assume too much, it's pretty much true as is. Pretty amazing how a perspective can change a situation radically. Wow.
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Nailed Day 1, drank a protein shake for meal 1. Meal 2 was peri-workout 500mL gatorade. Meal 3: 1 chicken breast, shake, 4 x steamed chicken bbq buns and some sweet potato for extra carb for sleep quality.
Played bball, didn't get a call out to fill in but got a pretty competitive set of 3 pickup games. Some dunks, bout 18 total. I dunk a lot better around other ppl. When they left and i was by myself i didnt have the juice to do it, may be nutrition related too. I'm not far from PR territory .. which is surpising so soon.. but then again im not in danger of getting a PR of 40" so there's that also..
looking forward to resting tmr and then saturday ... track and weights.. weirdly looking forward to training for once.. i think i'm liking the things sprinting is doing to my body comp .. the gut i had is virtually disappearing overnight .. i'm still fat but getting lean quick.. nice..
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BS 2x120(LPR), 3x120(LPR), 4x2x120(LPR)
RDL 12x110(LPR), 10x150 (LPR)
BP 5x80(LPR)
BW: 80.7kg
Notes:
Decided to man up and start squatting heavy. Was pretty tough, struggled with almost every rep. Wanted to do a few more triples but noped out when i thought i may fail the 3rds. Incomplete workout. Was supposed to do chinups and more bench volume and also track work not to mnention dips in the park. Had to cut hte workout short cos i had to go out to a wedding function in the evening. Will try to do the remaining stuff next day..
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Had a great time last night. Life isn't too bad right now! Am sore as fuck in the erectors, glutes and hamstrings from yesterday. But will still train. I think i need to, after the excesses last night haha. Then rest day monday.
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Weddings are the best! Great food and unlimited drinks. Great way to meet new people. I got my current job through talking to a business owner at a wedding I went to a couple of years ago.
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BP 3x6x77.5(LPR)
WCU 3x104.2(LPR; +20kg), 5x99.2(LPR; +15kg), 6x94.2(LPR), 6x89.2
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Weddings are the best! Great food and unlimited drinks. Great way to meet new people. I got my current job through talking to a business owner at a wedding I went to a couple of years ago.
hah nice.
i've actually never been to one.. eek!
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Contn:
Sprints x 4
dips 2x8
then as i was waiting to get my breath back after sprints, contemplating driving to the bball courts for pickup, my phone buzzed and she asked what i was doing and i said blah and then she said there's this movie. and I just had the best date of my life. so yeah, nothing makes sense anymore. but i'll take it. surreal.
mutumbo, youre not wrong. that's how i met my ex last year. she was introduced to me by someone. adarqui .. awwy .. cant wait til you go to your first one, will expect you to log it .. ! :)
ok next week, starting monday im eatinf chicken breast and oatmeal for at least 10 days. im making too many false starts, have to see thru this thing until the scale reads a consistent 79.0 or less. Then i can go maintain if i like.
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Contn:
Sprints x 4
dips 2x8
then as i was waiting to get my breath back after sprints, contemplating driving to the bball courts for pickup, my phone buzzed and she asked what i was doing and i said blah and then she said there's this movie. and I just had the best date of my life. so yeah, nothing makes sense anymore. but i'll take it. surreal
Not surprising at all! I'm a scientist - I don't believe in most superstition or magic...
But perspective is magic. Notice how she called you when you were doing you (American saying - you were working out and becoming beast) rather than at home moping about your situation with her. Your perspective and your outlook can be heard if your voice... Sure it's probably not really magic... Probably if your feeling self pity she hears it in your voice and subconsciously feels some need to ask you something like "oh did I leave my necklace in your car? Oh no? Musta been another guy then." Instead she here's your lactate filled voice and asks you to the movies...
However if it's not magic who cares, it's far too complicated to try and model as anything else but magic, and it kinda kills it and makes it seem no fun anyway to try and think about why perspective matters, but it does. Positivity, the benefit of the doubt, and acceptance go a long long way in matters of the heart.
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I forgot to mention I did a quick bounds based drill before the sprints. It was interesting to be close to where I left off when i was doing these semi regularly .. haven't lost anything. Interesting..
But for tmr track session i'll do T0dday's workout:
Workout:
1) 3-5 strides
2) 3-5 50m mobility runs to get warm
3) 5 30m dynamic walking stretches (knee to elbow lunge, hand to heel lunge, inchworm hamstring to handstand stretch, walking leg kicks, walking hip stretch holds, etc.
4) 3-5 10yard Locked knee ankle bounds to get warmer
5) Bounding:
a) 10 broad jumps (EASY - if you have yard markers and you max Broad jump is 3 yards you could just do 10 jumps that are over 10 yards. Jump reset. Jump reset, etc).
b) Multi Bounds - EASY. Again so imagine your best 5xbunny hop is 15 yards. So just hit 12 three times with good form. Same for single leg and alternating leg. After weeks of this you can add a yard. But there are not attempts to PR necessarily (when you are feeling great I am sure you will be tempted to - but think of these as submax bounds which WILL help your vertical jump and dynamic basketball jumping and get your warm).
6) Sprint workout.
7) Stretch/Cooldown
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Contn:
Sprints x 4
dips 2x8
then as i was waiting to get my breath back after sprints, contemplating driving to the bball courts for pickup, my phone buzzed and she asked what i was doing and i said blah and then she said there's this movie. and I just had the best date of my life. so yeah, nothing makes sense anymore. but i'll take it. surreal
Not surprising at all! I'm a scientist - I don't believe in most superstition or magic...
But perspective is magic. Notice how she called you when you were doing you (American saying - you were working out and becoming beast) rather than at home moping about your situation with her. Your perspective and your outlook can be heard if your voice... Sure it's probably not really magic... Probably if your feeling self pity she hears it in your voice and subconsciously feels some need to ask you something like "oh did I leave my necklace in your car? Oh no? Musta been another guy then." Instead she here's your lactate filled voice and asks you to the movies...
However if it's not magic who cares, it's far too complicated to try and model as anything else but magic, and it kinda kills it and makes it seem no fun anyway to try and think about why perspective matters, but it does. Positivity, the benefit of the doubt, and acceptance go a long long way in matters of the heart.
I think you were right that left to my own devices, i overplan the shit out of things and the build up all but destroys the chance of a natural organic time together. So it kinda worked out well that she just asked last minute and we winged it. I thought i have to plan things down so it goes smoothly, which is true i think, you have to make an effort to have a good time, but i can learn smoething from this, that planning is good but so is spontaneity, given my tendency to overthink things.
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Just a note in passing, sprints didn't give me crazy doms like last time. So that's good. If naything i feel pretty fresh, tho maybe it's delayed yet. If i adapt and can sprint regularly without disrupting lifting and balling, i'm happy to continue regular track work, so this is a promising sign. Will know better tmr when i squat, if i can still get some decent worksets in, then ive cracked the magic mix of balanced training..
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Was looking forward to track work today. Weather is terrible though, rain forecast all day. It's winter! We are lucky on the west coast that our climate is the so called Mediterranean kind, like Socal, winters are milder and still pretty nice. Which is true, however, in a given winter week, you might get a couple of days of sunshine, in some random order, and it doesn't have to correspond to your nicely laid out program. Will see how it goes...
(http://i.imgur.com/QanuvnU.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/h2DkiEf.png)
Shud be good thurs and sat, thankfully.
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BS 3x3x120(LPR), 3x2x120
Track w/o
OHP 4x57(LPR), 4x57.5(LPR), 3x57.5, 0Fx60, 2x6x50
CURL 3x6x45 (LPR)
BW: 80.7kg
Notes:
Surprising that i cud squat okay. was expecting my erectors to nope out but they were fine. I didnt have more than 3 sets of triples in me though and the doubles were rmish. But progress is progress. Saturday i'll go for 6x3x120kg. Will stick with this weight til ive mastered it for 6x6 then work up towards 130kg.
i did longer bounds .. like 15m or osmething. my sprint work cap is improved, managed to progress to 6 intervals of 20s on and 25s rest. so i sprinted for 2 minutes. Need to do better though, performance falls off around the 3rd one.
what else, im thinking of introducing bhts back and plyos but not sure if it's a good idea or a bad one. i guess i dont have to do everything all at once. but what wud i swap out later down the line? not sure.
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So ... dunking tmr? I dont have any callout to fill in games. Can't really figure out what i wanna do training wise on thursdays. I dont fancy doing heavy jump squats or depth jumps or light squats or push presses. That wud take the fun away ... i like the freedom to just ball (if i get asked to play or theres pickup on) and do some dunks.. may just stick to that
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It's day 4 of eating clean .. so far so good. I find once i get through day 3 thru, im almost on auto pilot which is good. It's the first couple of days where i have to work the will power. Now staying the course til day 10, then i'll add in eggs and toast to meal 1, before maintaining that for another 10 days. By day 21 i shud start to resemble myself in acceptable shape.
I just wanna make a note in passing, as of yesterday ive started taking the train to work. Which is weird cos you're next to sick/coughy ppl .. and that's a bit disturbing .. but .. i walk i think about a km from the parking lot to the the train stop, then about half a km to the train stop to work. Over a period of weeks it shud add up to a bit of fat loss.. which is cool. Nothing amazing, just something. I lost my fitbit on sunday otherwise i cud measure it in terms of steps.
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It's day 4 of eating clean .. so far so good. I find once i get through day 3 thru, im almost on auto pilot which is good. It's the first couple of days where i have to work the will power. Now staying the course til day 10, then i'll add in eggs and toast to meal 1, before maintaining that for another 10 days. By day 21 i shud start to resemble myself in acceptable shape.
I just wanna make a note in passing, as of yesterday ive started taking the train to work. Which is weird cos you're next to sick/coughy ppl .. and that's a bit disturbing .. but .. i walk i think about a km from the parking lot to the the train stop, then about half a km to the train stop to work. Over a period of weeks it shud add up to a bit of fat loss.. which is cool. Nothing amazing, just something. I lost my fitbit on sunday otherwise i cud measure it in terms of steps.
Really on the fat loss? 2 miles a day RT is about 1000 cals a week...
Would not be noticeable to me as my bmr when training is between 3500 to 4500 per day and a 1000 cals per week and the additional hunger would just get lost in the noise...
But then again you log your food w bodybuilding discipline so maybe it's noticeable for you... Too much free food in my life for me to reach that standard... lol jealous if your able to pull it off.
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Oh yeah! if it's 1000kcal a week, that's 4000kcal a month, which is half a kilo worth of fat. Def noticable if i lose that much a month without dieting it off. In addition to training and diet, it all adds up to a nice decent amount. I still prob struggle to get more than a kilo of fat loss per week, being realistic given my BMR but i'll take it if i can manage 1kg/wk.
Free food is terrible for diet compliance. If i can limit the temptations around me, i have a much easier time with this stuff. Much easier not having junk food around at all. But if you are dealing with regular tests of will power, i'll lapse way more often. But you can only do so much short of being militant or a hermit.
I must say the best thing ive done in terms of training is limit lifting to 2x a week. 3x was just bad, now i feel way more balanced. It took a long holiday to break my addiction to 3x lifting AND not much else but i'm glad i took your advice to do more outside lifting. I'd have to be crazy to claim it, but seems sprinting + squatting is getting me better at squatting than just squatting alone.
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Dunks ~ 15
Shitload of 3pt shots
Game of 21
Full court game
BW: ??
Notes:
Well dunking makes no sense to me. I started off barely landing 1hand dunk ... missing most of them. And then something clicks later down the workout and i can dunk pretty good. If i was a pessimistic sort, i prob wud have gone home after that disappointing starting. So weird. THe game was ok, im just getting frustrated with being underperforming because im eternally on a caloric deficit or low carbing or both. We won the game btw but i missed 3 FGs, one was a putback (not dunk just a tip) which rolled out, then i had a backcourt steal and layup fastbreak, which i somehow missed, shud have gone for the dunk but i never think to, went with the safe layup and i have no idea how that didnt go in. Had a 3pt attempt which just rimmed out. Lol. Luckily i got some clutch blocks to save the game at the end, otherwise it was a shitshow performance from me. My friends joke that im an elite rim protector but when im on, i actually do a good job protecting the rim..
notes to self, after day 21, end this stupid cutting and just maintain <80kg while getting stronger, fitter, etc.
I shot more 3s yesterday than i have in the entire 12 months before. Im a better 3pt shooter than i thought. But during the 21 game, i missed almost every single atttempt where the shot was off the dribble. However, catch and shoot and i hit like 3 in a row. So i need to practice shooting with a guy in my face (easier said than done). my mechanics change too much.
but im super excited to reinvent myself as a shooter and defense specialist. That's my game.
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BW:80.2kg / 176.81lb (LPR; new scales)
This is day 5 and im already showing decent body recomposition ... abs and stuff are starting to show in the mirror in the mornings .. so that's good. But im still fat as fuck. Hopefully by day 10 and 21 im in a LOT better state. Then i can end this cut.
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I forgot to mention, the first person who saw me after a while said "youve got so skinny!", i shrugged it off. Then by the time the 9th person told me the same thing, i think i need to do something bout this shit.. lol. hopefully after i come off this cut, go to maintenance calories i'll look bigger .. and then there is creatine gains down the road too. Maybe. But it does motivate me to kill it in the weight room more than ever.. i need to look bigger so i get the first 'you look huge' comment since i gained 30kg back in 2009.
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Mate how much do the skinny comments kill you. I'm the same. Lost 3-4kgs and people start commenting. Only problem is to look huge in clothing I need to be 100+ no one has ever called me huge before and I've been as high as 98
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Mate how much do the skinny comments kill you. I'm the same. Lost 3-4kgs and people start commenting. Only problem is to look huge in clothing I need to be 100+ no one has ever called me huge before and I've been as high as 98
From 18-13% bodyfat when you cut you just look smaller especially in clothes. I've had the same thing happen to me. When I'm losing weight people say I look smaller :(
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Yep it's hard to avoid when you're losing weight. As someone who has a skinny fat complex already it certainly doesn't help.
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What I never understood is people having to comment on how you look. How about you shut the fuck up and mind your own business? How's that for an idea? So, when someone says anything about how I look now, I tell him that. Doesn't matter who he is.
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Mate how much do the skinny comments kill you. I'm the same. Lost 3-4kgs and people start commenting. Only problem is to look huge in clothing I need to be 100+ no one has ever called me huge before and I've been as high as 98
i know :( we have to remember everyone looks "smaller" or "small" when cutting . muscles aren't as filled with glycogen, they get deflated and look smaller. We can hope that once you stop cutting and everything fills back with carbs you look bigger...
From 18-13% bodyfat when you cut you just look smaller especially in clothes. I've had the same thing happen to me. When I'm losing weight people say I look smaller :(
true. someone in shape looks bigger without clothes than with. little consolation when 99.99% of the time you're wearing clothes though.
What I never understood is people having to comment on how you look. How about you shut the fuck up and mind your own business? How's that for an idea? So, when someone says anything about how I look now, I tell him that. Doesn't matter who he is.
i dont take it as a slight .. just ppl sharing their observations. like i said, one person says it you can go whatever. but when a dozen ppl say it, you prob shud listen and revise
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It is weird how people will gladly tell you how skinny you are (always with the tall and skinny) yet they would never say the same thing to a fat person. Just imagine that "hey, you're so short and fat. how's that working out for you?"
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That's actually true. I mean for someone who really struggles with being tall and skinny it's also pretty hurtful when you comment on it all the time yet in our society it's not appropriate to tell someone when he is really fat. I mean where's the logic in that.
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I've had a bunch of people tell me "I'm doing well" meaning "you got fat". Some even pointed to my belly. Why can't people just shut the fuck up and mind their own business. I personally do comments like these ONLY when they are positive like "hey you look bigger now" (knowing that the guy wants to look bigger), for example. But if someone gets fat or gets skinny due to factors in his life, I never ever comment. It's not my place to comment on that.
At worst, if the person brings it up saying "I'm depressed and I think I lost a lot of muscle" I'll be like "yeah you seem a big smaller, but not that much" and stuff like that.
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It is weird how people will gladly tell you how skinny you are (always with the tall and skinny) yet they would never say the same thing to a fat person. Just imagine that "hey, you're so short and fat. how's that working out for you?"
That's actually true. I mean for someone who really struggles with being tall and skinny it's also pretty hurtful when you comment on it all the time yet in our society it's not appropriate to tell someone when he is really fat. I mean where's the logic in that.
The logic comes from the fact that it's better in pretty much every aspect of life (jobs, women, money, etc) to be tall. And w the exception of a few athletes with musclerexia being skinny is usually thought of a generally good thing that comes with the territory.
So someone might ask how is your good fortune working out for you? This is completely logical. It's the same reason we don't pry into why someone is poor but we comment on people who made it as a positive thing... There is a guy I train and I always assumed was an average upper/middle class (by LA standards) guy... He showed up to the gym Sunday in a blue lambo and I definitely asked him how he came up on that - turns out he was in Google early... I wouldn't have asked about his struggles if he showed up in a bucket...
I get y'all don't like being skinny... But you can't expect society to assume your strange particular hangup when most people want what you have. I always want to be smaller and less muscular - so when I change and someone says "whoa your traps are huge" or someone refers to me as the "big guy" or says "your amazingly fast for a big guy" I cringe cause I would rather see myself as a smaller speed athlete... This is why I haven't done upper body training in years! However, since I realize this is generally thought to be a good thing I understand where they are coming from...
Reminds me of a time recently when I was playing ball and after the game there was an impromptu dunk contest... I was jumping really well and threw down one of my cleaner windmills... A 22 year old guy asked me for my age and when I told him I was in my thirties he said "OMG you must have absolutely flew in your younger days!" For some reason this made me so mad... But I just smiled and said thanks ðŸ˜.
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It is weird how people will gladly tell you how skinny you are (always with the tall and skinny) yet they would never say the same thing to a fat person. Just imagine that "hey, you're so short and fat. how's that working out for you?"
That's actually true. I mean for someone who really struggles with being tall and skinny it's also pretty hurtful when you comment on it all the time yet in our society it's not appropriate to tell someone when he is really fat. I mean where's the logic in that.
The logic comes from the fact that it's better in pretty much every aspect of life (jobs, women, money, etc) to be tall. And w the exception of a few athletes with musclerexia being skinny is usually thought of a generally good thing that comes with the territory.
So someone might ask how is your good fortune working out for you? This is completely logical. It's the same reason we don't pry into why someone is poor but we comment on people who made it as a positive thing... There is a guy I train and I always assumed was an average upper/middle class (by LA standards) guy... He showed up to the gym Sunday in a blue lambo and I definitely asked him how he came up on that - turns out he was in Google early... I wouldn't have asked about his struggles if he showed up in a bucket...
I get y'all don't like being skinny... But you can't expect society to assume your strange particular hangup when most people want what you have. I always want to be smaller and less muscular - so when I change and someone says "whoa your traps are huge" or someone refers to me as the "big guy" or says "your amazingly fast for a big guy" I cringe cause I would rather see myself as a smaller speed athlete... This is why I haven't done upper body training in years! However, since I realize this is generally thought to be a good thing I understand where they are coming from...
Reminds me of a time recently when I was playing ball and after the game there was an impromptu dunk contest... I was jumping really well and threw down one of my cleaner windmills... A 22 year old guy asked me for my age and when I told him I was in my thirties he said "OMG you must have absolutely flew in your younger days!" For some reason this made me so mad... But I just smiled and said thanks ðŸ˜.
Good points. It's amazing how our perception differs from others. I remember overestimating my brother in law's weight. He had a decent upper body especially chest and arms but was horrified that I was so far off the mark. Didn't realise at the time that he was a FFB (former fat bastard) and had worked religiously to get the weight off and keep it off and was still touchy about it after 20 years.
Like you said though I'd rather be tall and skinny than short and fat any day of the week.
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I cant wait to hear 'you must have flown when you were younger' when i land my first set of windmills!!! Motivation level: super fly for an old guy
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BW: 79.7kg / 175.71 lb (LPR!!!!)
FInally broke thru the 80kg barrier. On the start of day 6 which is nice. Last night i was freaking out that i wudnt be able to train well today because i felt like shit .. so i had roast pork, a cheese burger, protein shake and a frozen chicken microwave meal. Hopefully that was enough to get me recovered enough to LPR today, squats.
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BS 4x3x120(LPR), 2x2x120
BP 6x80(LPR), 2x6x79.5(LPR)
RDL 12x110, 10x150, 0Fx157.5 (da fuck?? it's my grip .. i cant unrack above 150kg.. why?)
WCU 4x102.9, 5x97.9, 2x6x90
LPD 2x6xwhatever stack
CRW 2x8xwhatever was on the stack
BW: 79.7kg (lpr, see previous post)
Notes:
damn that was some hard squatting. i need mo calories .. or at least get off the cut. will man up though and push thru the wall.
hurting .. im being thirsty .. i shud leave her alone but i keep trying to link up this weekend and she says she's sick. fuck this shit. is hud have just dated the 23 yaer old where the power dynamic was completely in my favour.
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Grip strength is related to CNS fatigue isn't it?
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Grip strength is related to CNS fatigue isn't it?
local or global? i dont think global. I think if i put more on the bar instead of 150kg warmup i prob get it. It's that 2nd set. My hook grip is weak though. I need to figure out how to get myself unstuck. At least i shud maintain 2xbw RDL worksets... but 180kg is a better goal given i i was almost up to 200kg around the comp..
it's my hook grip, or prob my brain going nope this shit is too heavy for you, and my grip bails.
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^^^
I can see no reason why an athlete like yourself should attempt to do 200kg RDL without straps. Especially because you are not doing 200kg RDL. Your doing 200kg DL or some ugly hybrid thing.
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No starps, hook grip is better. But i dont even have a pair nor would i know how to use them if i did. When i was nearing 200kg worksets the ROM was suspect .. but it allowed me to do 180kg backoff sets with good form and rom so i know what it means to have a 200kg max. It's what it facilitates with "lighter" weight than im interested in..
anyway ...
im grieving round x2. i swear if she contacts me today to hang out im gonna flip out
plan for the day is to shoot a whole load of 3s and play some pickup. right hamstring is pretty sore tho, mainly from bench press lol lol
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balled pickup ... lots of games .. won most of them ... i beasted .. finished up wiht a game of 21 which i won. sunk like 4 3pts .. give me some space and im hitting that shit allll day. feels good man. cudnt dunk but i dont care, id rather perfect my jumpshot wooho.
when im practising shooting 3, i'll hit the first 6 in a row, then start to miss cos fatigue. but i will improve on that as i get stronger. then i'll be hitting 8 before missing, hopefully.
i did a dream like move. not fucking hakeem, i mean the word dream. went up for a layup on the left side, drew the defender into a block, drifted thru the air and came out the the other side and laid it in around the rim. everyone was like woah, some guy said "hangtime" and i cudnt believe i pulled it off! :)
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In summer when i was preparing for the comp i could hardly get ONE game since there is so much demand for spots. But come winter and games are just propping up regularly without even me seeking them out.
THe basketball gods have been kind to me.. maybe overly so .. a guy from yesterday's pickup asked if i wanted to play tonight. "It's my rest day bro" i wanted to say but i said im in. Do you think im making a mistake? Let me know in the comment section below
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straps are great, cheap and easy to use. being preoccupied with hook grip is just dumb ego unless you're trying to compete in PL and even then training with straps makes sense a lot of the time.
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straps are great, cheap and easy to use. being preoccupied with hook grip is just dumb ego unless you're trying to compete in PL and even then training with straps makes sense a lot of the time.
im not sure. i think last time when i did RDLs i just used DOH alll the way up to 140kg worksets then i switched to hook grip and kept going up to 200kg ish. My grip kept pace. but now that im rebuilding, i prob shud have started with DOH worksets up to 150kg and then switched over? i didnt though, i just use DOH for 110kg warmups then i go to hook for the 150kg warmup. I'll figure it out, it's not too much of a hassle cos im still making my hamstrings a bit sore anyway.
but yeah i need to get myself unstuck and then stay unstuck!
BW: 79.2kg (LPR!) getting close to my goal weight of a stable post-cut bodyweight of <79kg. and it's the morning of day 8. Was thinking 77.5kg on day 21 is probably a good place to come off the cut. Then maintain and get strong as fuck. Actually when i say maintain, i mean a recomp cos i will likely still be too fat to stick at that bodyfat%. But recomp just means a smaller deficit anyway.
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In summer when i was preparing for the comp i could hardly get ONE game since there is so much demand for spots. But come winter and games are just propping up regularly without even me seeking them out.
THe basketball gods have been kind to me.. maybe overly so .. a guy from yesterday's pickup asked if i wanted to play tonight. "It's my rest day bro" i wanted to say but i said im in. Do you think im making a mistake? Let me know in the comment section below
You made the right call. Balling is always better. Just think it's conditioning work, movement efficiency, jump practice and ball practice all rolled into one.
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straps are great, cheap and easy to use. being preoccupied with hook grip is just dumb ego unless you're trying to compete in PL and even then training with straps makes sense a lot of the time.
im not sure. i think last time when i did RDLs i just used DOH alll the way up to 140kg worksets then i switched to hook grip and kept going up to 200kg ish. My grip kept pace. but now that im rebuilding, i prob shud have started with DOH worksets up to 150kg and then switched over? i didnt though, i just use DOH for 110kg warmups then i go to hook for the 150kg warmup. I'll figure it out, it's not too much of a hassle cos im still making my hamstrings a bit sore anyway.
but yeah i need to get myself unstuck and then stay unstuck!
BW: 79.2kg (LPR!) getting close to my goal weight of a stable post-cut bodyweight of <79kg. and it's the morning of day 8. Was thinking 77.5kg on day 21 is probably a good place to come off the cut. Then maintain and get strong as fuck. Actually when i say maintain, i mean a recomp cos i will likely still be too fat to stick at that bodyfat%. But recomp just means a smaller deficit anyway.
Maybe we have a different definition of what RDLs are? You are RDLing 200kg? That seems out of the world too me given your other strength levels. I have gotten my conventional deadlift up to 600lbs and still never done RDLs with more than 275, usually my RDLs were at 185-225lbs...
I mean maybe your just a deadlift and grip beast but for all the athletes I have seen do RDLs - about 50% of deadlift max is about right for work sets of 6-10 reps. I mean have you tried normal deadlifts? For a single I would imagine your at about 350kg based on your RDL.
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Ok i dont know if i ever got up to 200kg. The closest i could find looking back in my log was this entry
RDL 8x150(warmup PR), 4x192.5(PR), 10x180(PR)
on april 18th and i weighed under 180lb at the time.
so yeah it was something i was working towards but didn't get there before i had to stop training the rdl regularly. i did set myself the goal to get to 200kg though and i still think i wanna do that. i dont deadlift, not a good lift for me, risk of injury is almost 100% and im not revisiting it again, learnt that the hard way. i do think im skilled at pulling .. long arms, strong hands and leverages favouring the lift don't hurt.
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Ok i dont know if i ever got up to 200kg. The closest i could find looking back in my log was this entry
RDL 8x150(warmup PR), 4x192.5(PR), 10x180(PR)
on april 18th and i weighed under 180lb at the time.
so yeah it was something i was working towards but didn't get there before i had to stop training the rdl regularly. i did set myself the goal to get to 200kg though and i still think i wanna do that. i dont deadlift, not a good lift for me, risk of injury is almost 100% and im not revisiting it again, learnt that the hard way. i do think im skilled at pulling .. long arms, strong hands and leverages favouring the lift don't hurt.
I'm not super high on deadlifting either... But if I was knocking out 10 reps of what I call RDLs without straps at under 180 you can be sure I'd bulk to 200 and at the very least get in one legit 800lb deadlift!
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haha fair callout. I was going to upload a video but it looks like i disconnected my HDD when i plugged in my new SSD cos i didnt have enough power ports (at the time) to keep both powered. I guess i'll just have to take one when i get the 200kg PR though :)
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Day 8 is done and dusted. I had the usual shake at 3pm. Then chicken, rice, shake for dinner. I shud get to my 10 day goal weight of <79kg. And on thursday ima add eggs/toast to meal 1, which will be nice. Leaning out like you thought i wud ... call the crib, the same number same hood, its all good.
I might be training someone to dunk which is exciting .. ive never done that before. woooho.
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Day 8 is done and dusted. I had the usual shake at 3pm. Then chicken, rice, shake for dinner. I shud get to my 10 day goal weight of <79kg. And on thursday ima add eggs/toast to meal 1, which will be nice. Leaning out like you thought i wud ... call the crib, the same number same hood, its all good.
I might be training someone to dunk which is exciting .. ive never done that before. woooho.
LOL. That big lyric. I actually laughed out loud. Love it. Thanks for that...
This is gonna show how old I am but in college training camp we remixed T-pains song (I'm sprung) to "I'm sore". Lol. A lot of downtime and soreness and smelling of bengay...
I wonder if training vacays would be a good business... My friend worked for a company that did "adventure vacations". Basically you fly somewhere and a lot of the vacation is dedicated to hiking or rafting or something of the sort - kinda a cool idea so you can go on vacation and not come back fat... What if there as an adult version of a two week training camp vacation... Probably not a huge market...
LOL. Entropy as a trainer. STEP 1: DO NOT EAT.
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What if there as an adult version of a two week training camp vacation... Probably not a huge market...
this is actually an incredible idea.
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What if there as an adult version of a two week training camp vacation... Probably not a huge market...
this is actually an incredible idea.
Yeah. Agreed. If you refined the recipe down into a solution which worked well 90% of the time in a brief period of time, it would be a hit. People would flock from all around the world. Lot's of ppl with (athletic) dreams but no way to achieve them.
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A bit bout the guy, i havent got stats yet but will get some soon. He's young, raw and athletic, bout 6ft maybe as low as 5'10" im not good at judging heights. he can barely touch the rim, says he cant currently. Weighs 80kg. Strong, not fat, not skinny. Im pretty confident he'll be dunking one day.. hopefully we can figure it out!
Oh and btw new LPR on the scales, 78.8kg .. which came out of the blue on morning of day 9. So im doing well ... 77.5kg shud def be manageable within the allocated 21 days. Then im gonna stop cutting and recomp.
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A bit bout the guy, i havent got stats yet but will get some soon. He's young, raw and athletic, bout 6ft maybe as low as 5'10" im not good at judging heights. he can barely touch the rim, says he cant currently. Weighs 80kg. Strong, not fat, not skinny. Im pretty confident he'll be dunking one day.. hopefully we can figure it out!
Oh and btw new LPR on the scales, 78.8kg .. which came out of the blue on morning of day 9. So im doing well ... 77.5kg shud def be manageable within the allocated 21 days. Then im gonna stop cutting and recomp.
If he is 6 foot, strong, not fat, young and athletic....
Then he could touch the rim.
Good luck. Every project is different... This ones sounds hard.
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BS 2x3x120
OHP 6x50, 2x57.5
BW: 78.8kg
Notes:
Horrible workout. Maybe the deficit is catching up with me. Maybe it's lack of sleep. Maybe it's stress from having my heart broken (lol). Idk but that was stupid. Will try again saturday after some rest.
Skipping track as well, will go shoot some hoops and try clear my head / cheer myself up
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Well i faltered diet wise yesterday. For meal 1 i had a shake. Meal 2, 2 chicken breasts, 3 naans. Which was fine, but then i had a protein bar for dessert .. and it didn't satisfy, so had some 4 anzac cookies .. with a glass of milk. Im not sure if that killed my deficit, but it prob did. So might have to do an extra day of cutting or something. Guess it works out cos i can do a refeed on saturday when i train...
Scales read 78.8kg / 173.7lb which is maintaining steady from the LPR from yesterday. 77kg seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. Then maintain and recomp: get strong, add creatine eventually. Repeat.
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A few things are coming up this month in terms of training/athleticism that i wanted to make a note of;
1. The team im filling in with has a big game tmr night .. against hte top team in the league, i guess it's a key game, im not too excited, just another game to me but i have some aggression against life to outlet against .. so watch this space
2. The young kid i 'discovered' a few years back is coming back home around mid july for a few weeks before he flies out to the states for his future career .. that's exciting. I wanna test myself against him, he's pretty good .. 6'5" athletic, sharpshooter. last time i balled with him was in xmas, and he dunked on me which was the first time anyone has done that
3. Playing for anotehr team on monday nights .. maybe .. apparently they have bigs already so i can play on the perimeter. which is exciting cos i was recruited for my 3pt shooting ability .. a first. I'm going to make sure i put up a shitload of 3s before monday. on this vein, if im a 40% shooter i shud take 5 3ptas to make 2 a game. That seems a lot ... i usually take one, and if i miss then i dont shoot again .. if i even take one so yeah 5!
4. i really should stop cutting if i wanna put in some decent performances above. the interesting thing is for the first time in my life im happy to skip lifting just to peak my vert .. and now i think i am already ready to put cutting on hold to peak too. This is huge .. i may just have PRs on teh horizon cause im willing to allow myself the chance to put bball first over everything else..
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4. i really should stop cutting if i wanna put in some decent performances above. the interesting thing is for the first time in my life im happy to skip lifting just to peak my vert .. and now i think i am already ready to put cutting on hold to peak too. This is huge .. i may just have PRs on teh horizon cause im willing to allow myself the chance to put bball first over everything else..
(https://media4.giphy.com/media/KAS81mpeo9kkw/200.gif)
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BW: 79.1kg (+0.3kg .. da fuk)
But i look "leaner" for whatever that's worth. Anyway i've decided 77kg or bust and then maintain that while recomping .. with or without creatine .. that's my "Athletic" bodyweight, no more, no less. But that's a strong 77kg .. not a dieted down one. Which means i wanna be carbed up, creatined up, PR'ing up at that bodyweight.
So another 10 days more of cutting starting today but will be adding eggs and toast to meal #1 on sunday onwards. Lets go. bball tonight. Feeling pretty refresh. shud be able to dunk.
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BW: 79.1kg (+0.3kg .. da fuk)
But i look "leaner" for whatever that's worth. Anyway i've decided 77kg or bust and then maintain that while recomping .. with or without creatine .. that's my "Athletic" bodyweight, no more, no less. But that's a strong 77kg .. not a dieted down one. Which means i wanna be carbed up, creatined up, PR'ing up at that bodyweight.
So another 10 days more of cutting starting today but will be adding eggs and toast to meal #1 on sunday onwards. Lets go. bball tonight. Feeling pretty refresh. shud be able to dunk.
Could be water retention?
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Yeah, it's possible. I wasn't to worried cos hte overall trend is downward. Actrually im happy when my bw is higher on training days .. its almost like im wearing a weight vest :P
Speaking of which .. can yuo guys convince me that it's ok to maintain say 79-80kg bw for training sake, if it makes me a better athlete from working harder or whatever carrying that dead weight around? Im obsessed (i realise) attaining goals that i don't consider whether or not it's the best thing in the first place to chase them.
i do promise i'll keep eating clean and maintain or improve bodycomp by playing bball at a higher level. I mean instead of walking around on defence, fly around trying to chase boards or set picks or whatever the situation demands. That's really hard on recovery but it also makes you fitter and in better shape. I can't do both play at 10 rpe and cut, it has to be a choice.
game tonight was good. we lost which sucks but everyone gave me props. i played the entire first, took a few minutes off the start of the 2nd and we lost the lead (bout 10 points worth). the momentum shifted and we never got back into it .. i needed a rest and i wanted to let the other guy play some, but i realise it may have cost us the game. i need to be fitter.
and yes mutumbo im leaner so bodyweight is just a herring .. my abs/ribs are starting to show pretty definingly( no such word).
forgot to mention i had a quality dunk session, got my 3x6 dunks in. then did some max effort ones. total dunk attempts were prob around 36 today. good amount of volume.
diet wise ate 2 chicken breasts for dinner. some rice. a protein shake. done. meal 1 was the usual shake. im adding eggs and toast on sunday as mentioned.
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BW: 78.3kg / 172.6lb (LPR!)
Goal weight is 77kg but realistically in 10 days i'd be LUCKY to be 77.5kg. Will see how it goes, can't predict these things anyway.
Hungry af .. i want food .. the 1 shake im having during the day after fasting 14-20 hrs is not enough. Just 2 more days tho, then i can a proper meal for breakfast.
I am thinking of eaitng more food today so i can get a squat PR tmr. I haven't got a squat PR since last saturday so that's concerning..
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Speaking of which .. can yuo guys convince me that it's ok to maintain say 79-80kg bw for training sake, if it makes me a better athlete from working harder or whatever carrying that dead weight around? Im obsessed (i realise) attaining goals that i don't consider whether or not it's the best thing in the first place to chase them.
I think you know the answer when you start talking about dead weight. Not sure it's helping anyone. Maybe an offensive linesman but I'm not sure that's one of your goals ;D
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lol .. i just need a wicked argument convincing me to stop cutting ;)
interesting to note that my glutes on the LHS are sore af froom yesterdays dunk workout.
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Another bad workout, ive beocme overtrained :(
BS 3x120
curls
going to rest the rest of the weekend and try again monday
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no you haven't.
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no you haven't.
ðŸ‘ðŸ¾ðŸ‘ðŸ¾ðŸ‘🾠ðŸ‘ðŸ½ðŸ‘ðŸ½ðŸ‘ðŸ½
Lol. LBSS speaks true!
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I dont get why hamstrings and glutes are so beat up.. maybe that transformation to glute dominant athlete already happened and now im suffering the consequences... :( just kidding. but really, thats what's holding back my squat at the moment.. dead hamstrings. cud that dunk workout have caused it?
i binged big time last night .. pizza + 4 icecream drumsticks (australian sized ones not american - there is a big diffrence lol) and a bag of shitty cheesy snacks. feeling refresh otherwise. looking forward to starting the new week..
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tested my vertical .. didn't ball today .. post refeed weighed 80kg! still got up though. ate a lot today as well. back to clean eating monday .. and hopefully squat prs to come.
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That dunk looked so easy.
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^^^seriously. i want you to learn a proper arm swing so we can see how high you're really capable of.
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I can't yet do tomahawks .. so have some room to get back to previous levels. But i'm worried bout my squat disappearing. Will try to force things today. I'm doing 20 reps with 120kg even if it's singles..
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So crossroads ... embrace non-existing squat and go all in on athletic stuff like bball/sprinting/dunking ... or take a step back and try to get my squat going? Which way do I go? I just wanna get to repping 140kg and put it on maintenance .. not asking for too much am i? I mean i am, that's adding 20kg to my squat while not gaining any weight .. but maybe i could work harder/smarter/etc...
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So crossroads ... embrace non-existing squat and go all in on athletic stuff like bball/sprinting/dunking ... or take a step back and try to get my squat going? Which way do I go? I just wanna get to repping 140kg and put it on maintenance .. not asking for too much am i? I mean i am, that's adding 20kg to my squat while not gaining any weight .. but maybe i could work harder/smarter/etc...
Asking too much??? nah lol.
I say embrace it. Not sure it has to be either/or though but you can still gradually push the squat and embrace the athletic stuff. You don't have much to lose. Or, you can do what you've been doing which is pushing the squat, stall, still be unhappy with your athletic stuff and have to start all over again anyway.
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I know i can get to repping 130kg while weighing between 75-79kg .. cos i was there in the summer. Maybe i cud get close enough to 140kg, as my bw -> 80kg, bs->140kg. I will prob just see how i go in the workout today. if it sucks then i'll forget squatting a while and just do lots of athletic stuff. i usually take these things too hard and get upset when i stall out. Part of me wants to find out what happens when i stop lifting and just focus on jumping, i think i will PR?
bw: 79.8kg today btw .. not bad after a weekend of binging.
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Does it have to be one or the other though? Surely there's room for both.
Btw, it sounded a bit harsh when I said you stalled all the time. You've made huge gains but like you said you go a bit hard in just one area.
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Does it have to be one or the other though? Surely there's room for both.
Btw, it sounded a bit harsh when I said you stalled all the time. You've made huge gains but like you said you go a bit hard in just one area.
dont worry it wasnt harsh, i know you're right. btw im starting the new less harsh diet today.. meal 1 is not just a shake, it's that and 3 eggs and toast, that shud get me unstuck a bit .. hopefully. if i can do that for 3 weeks i'll be stronger and leaner and more muscular .. so im confident there's good things to go come in the rest of july.
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So crossroads ... embrace non-existing squat and go all in on athletic stuff like bball/sprinting/dunking ... or take a step back and try to get my squat going? Which way do I go? I just wanna get to repping 140kg and put it on maintenance .. not asking for too much am i? I mean i am, that's adding 20kg to my squat while not gaining any weight .. but maybe i could work harder/smarter/etc...
Keep up the bball/sprinting/dunking because that's the stuff you want to be good at. Squatting is just a means to an end. When I ran my fastest I didn't even squat or lift I was just really light and used to play sports a lot. Sport-specific is what makes you good at the sport. Getting into the mindset of thinking about your squat is making you sound like a powerlifter and honestly the biggest advantage of the squat is really the standing vertical jump.
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So crossroads ... embrace non-existing squat and go all in on athletic stuff like bball/sprinting/dunking ... or take a step back and try to get my squat going? Which way do I go? I just wanna get to repping 140kg and put it on maintenance .. not asking for too much am i? I mean i am, that's adding 20kg to my squat while not gaining any weight .. but maybe i could work harder/smarter/etc...
Keep up the bball/sprinting/dunking because that's the stuff you want to be good at. Squatting is just a means to an end. When I ran my fastest I didn't even squat or lift I was just really light and used to play sports a lot. Sport-specific is what makes you good at the sport. Getting into the mindset of thinking about your squat is making you sound like a powerlifter and honestly the biggest advantage of the squat is really the standing vertical jump.
thanks for the advice. you and todday are managing to drag me along, kicking and screaming, away from my obsession with liftng. i still cant believe or understand why my glutes are so damn sore and it's been 9 days since i had a proper squat/rdl session -- which btw-- wasnt even that hard -- and so the soreness is coming just from dunking and bball. that's crazsy to me. it cud be im transitioning into glute dominance which is a new direction for me, dripping with potential and excitement. we'll see how it goes!
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i say this as the most squat-obsessed wannabe dunker in the history of this forum: fuck squatting. do what mutumb000 said. you can still do it, but stop trying to push your numbers on it. you're strong enough to get up just fine.
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^lol. Fair enough. I'm convinced. I went to shoot around yesterday even though i decided it was going to be a rest day, it only extended to skipping lifting, not basketball. I hate how i have to rediscover how to shoot every time i get on the court. It's like that movie, 50 first dates, i go through the motions until eventually it clicks, but by then fatigue has set in and i can't continue for very long anyway. kinda annoying..
bw is stabilised at 80kg btw.. which i was hoping wud be closer too 79kg once i came off the diet. so yeah will keep posting that and make sure it stays at or below 80kg i guess
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How often do you play/practice/etc cause I feel exactly the same way. I play once a week and may get another shoot around in if I'm lucky. Every time I play I get some rhythm by the end of the session and then I start all over again next time.
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Pretty often bro, i balled sunday, tuesday, thursday, sunday and then yesterday. It just takes me some time to find the rhythm and once i do it's all swishes but until then i can't get anything going .. frustrating.
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BS 6x110(LPR lol), 4x120(LPR!), 2x125(LPR), 2x122.5
BP 2x6x80 (LPR), 5Fx80
bball ~ 2hrs (a few dunks but mostly jumpers)
BW: 80kg / 176.4lb
Notes:
On a day when 70kg warmups were hard/heavy .. i didn't wanna be a pussy about this ..and forced some RMish local PRs. I had no idea what reps or weights to attempt .. but i knew 6x3x120kg wasnt in the cards. I'm ok with this. Next time i'll progress it a little and then some more the following session.
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I shoot better on RHS of the rim .. even though i'm left handed. This actually is new cos i think it used to be the other way around. So something has changed. I can't figure out what. but im better off specialising on one side and mastering it?
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what you are best at, without a doubt, is overthinking your own weaknesses.
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Pretty often bro, i balled sunday, tuesday, thursday, sunday and then yesterday. It just takes me some time to find the rhythm and once i do it's all swishes but until then i can't get anything going .. frustrating.
Haha ok I've got nothing for you then. Only the boring stuff like doing 1 hand set shots to begin your practice.
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I shoot better on RHS of the rim .. even though i'm left handed. This actually is new cos i think it used to be the other way around. So something has changed. I can't figure out what. but im better off specialising on one side and mastering it?
I'd say this would be common. I'm a better shooter from the LHS of the rim and I'm right handed.
Go to your strengths if you can but you don't want to be unable to or not confident enough to shoot from the LHS so work on both.
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what you are best at, without a doubt, is overthinking your own weaknesses.
Lol.
Pretty true. Although ironically you might be overthinking and under thinking at the same time which is even more dangerous...
We have tested all level of players.. And if you do catch and shoot practice from anywhere where you other doesn't matter for accuracy... The only exceptions is if you are close enough to bank off glass or if your "distance" is NBA three and then corner threes are a lot closer...
What does affect accuracy is dribbling and defense. For myself if I am passed the ball or in a game have time to pull up do a dribble with my left hand while I step with left then right foot and pull up (referred to as a dribble 1-2 by shooting coaches) then I'm a lot more accurate... Now in a game if I'm moving toward my right I can do this but not the other way... Switch the footwork and it gets hard...
Point is - it's footwork not placement that matters...
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Set shots are something i cue myself to avoid at all costs. . I have a tendency to turn game shots into set shots and come up short lol
When you say lhs or rhs doesn't matter in catch and shoot is that because a good shooter can adjust to either side not that the mechanics are identical. Like i have two different feels and techniques depending on which side. Have to consciously bring the ball closer to my head on rhs wing 3pt shot
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Btw is all the 3pt shooting possibly making my glutes sore? !
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When you say lhs or rhs doesn't matter in catch and shoot is that because a good shooter can adjust to either side not that the mechanics are identical. Like i have two different feels and techniques depending on which side. Have to consciously bring the ball closer to my head on rhs wing 3pt shot
Yep. Catch and shoot should be identical. The mechanics are exactly the same and should not change depending on the side.
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When you say lhs or rhs doesn't matter in catch and shoot is that because a good shooter can adjust to either side not that the mechanics are identical. Like i have two different feels and techniques depending on which side. Have to consciously bring the ball closer to my head on rhs wing 3pt shot
Yep. Catch and shoot should be identical. The mechanics are exactly the same and should not change depending on the side.
But they do .. lol.. like handedness matters, i shoot with my left so it will look different coming out of the hand depending on which way the ball is going. I need to simplify things but right now i have a long list of rules to go thru to get a shot off depending on a bunch of factors... it reminds me of when i was learning common lisp and i had this tenous mind model of how things worked and as i learned more, i added some bits but mostly removed a lot of misconceptions
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funny about catch and shoot .. i dont really ghet to practice it much, only in the if you get it in you get it back kinda way in shooting with other ppl. dont have someone to rebound for me ... im working on that, if i i can arrange that i will have better quality shooting sessions.
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When you say lhs or rhs doesn't matter in catch and shoot is that because a good shooter can adjust to either side not that the mechanics are identical. Like i have two different feels and techniques depending on which side. Have to consciously bring the ball closer to my head on rhs wing 3pt shot
Yep. Catch and shoot should be identical. The mechanics are exactly the same and should not change depending on the side.
But they do .. lol.. like handedness matters, i shoot with my left so it will look different coming out of the hand depending on which way the ball is going. I need to simplify things but right now i have a long list of rules to go thru to get a shot off depending on a bunch of factors... it reminds me of when i was learning common lisp and i had this tenous mind model of how things worked and as i learned more, i added some bits but mostly removed a lot of misconceptions
Nah it shouldn't. When you release the ball you should be square to the basket (shoulders that is) so it doesn't matter where you are on the court. How you get square is a different matter and that's maybe where you're at. It's easier for you to get square on the RHS than the LHS so the shot feels different.
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funny about catch and shoot .. i dont really ghet to practice it much, only in the if you get it in you get it back kinda way in shooting with other ppl. dont have someone to rebound for me ... im working on that, if i i can arrange that i will have better quality shooting sessions.
Yep this is the hard part about solo practice. I end up bouncing the ball off the end of the court sometimes or other times just spinning it back to myself.
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Well this glute soreness hasn't subsided .. it's almost painful today. i'm almost sure it's to do with shooting practice now. It's the only "change" that cud explain it...
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BW: 79.5kg
skinfolds are smaller overnight. This is the leanest ive looked in a long while .. even though the scale has registered lower values last wk, im in better shape. It's a carb thang. I am prob 1.5kg away from looking in 'very good' shape if i dieted that off, but im not concerned about that right now. Would rather get as strong and muscular and fit as possible instead while focusing on basketball than looking leaner. But i do want to look leaner too.
game tonight, i want to beast. thinking of adding a 3rd lifting session, just upper body tho, ohp and chinups? idk, we'll see
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I guess as a compromise i could aim to weigh 79kg almost every day .. but recomping and if my bodyweight gets lower than than (eg 78.5kg) i cud eat a bit more. I dont really wanna get too light cos it's fools gold.. being lighter makes you feel more athletic but you're not really.. things just become submax and i get complacent. Harder moving around heavier but it makes you a better athlete. i want to rep 160kg on the backsquat eventually which will mean i can weigh up to 80kg .. but lean. not fat as i am now.
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If you're feeling strong at 79 and you can tolerate a recomp then do it. I'm at 91 and want to get to 87-88 but am happy to let volume dictate that as I seem to be losing around the waist anyway.
Also, if you feel stronger at that weight then what's a cpl of kg anyway.
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If you're feeling strong at 79 and you can tolerate a recomp then do it. I'm at 91 and want to get to 87-88 but am happy to let volume dictate that as I seem to be losing around the waist anyway.
Also, if you feel stronger at that weight then what's a cpl of kg anyway.
i was doubling 125kg as a front squat warmup on this bodyweight (the previous warmup set was 100kg) ... now it's my BS 2rm lol. So i'm pretty weak in historical terms .. however .. i know in that space of 79-81kg i can be pretty strong .. but right now im not lean enough to justify maintaining 80kg if that makes sense
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Ok i'll embrace my adipose weight vest and use it to get stronger/fitter/powerful .. but i shud still be getting 1.5-2kg fat loss over 4 weeks .. im THAT fat still, but if i can replace some of that with muscle my bodyweight will stay more or less the same, maybe as low as 77.5kg. Not goign to talk any more about this .. i think that's the resolution lol
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Alright then. Go get it!
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^yup! :)
i went to shoot around at lunch time .. plan was to go for 50 3pt makes. only managed 25. I'm a disgrace lol. Will go back later before the game to get the remaining 25. I did notice when i switched to a roll the ball to myself thing, i got the makes easier. SO hopefully i can explore that to better quality solitary workouts from here...
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well that was the worst game of basketball in recent memory. pretty sure i went scoreless. i had a better showing in a pickup game prior to the game but my mind and body did not want to play a competitive full court game today. i'm disappointed in myself.
side note, i took some good confident shots off the catch in the pickup game. didnt make them but they felt good. did not do that in the match..
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i missed everything even free throws.. lol. oh and to add insult to injury i lost my contact lense halfway thru the game .. to be honest that's probably a game i shud have predicted given how shitty i felt today in practice. all good, this makes me wanna work harder.
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79.3kg / 174.8lb (LPR)
I'm starting to think something holding me back in life is my mind. Time to fake it til i make it
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79.3kg / 174.8lb (LPR)
I'm starting to think something holding me back in life is my mind. Time to fake it til i make it
This is the great equalizer. As the Henry Ford saying goes "whether you think you can or you think you can't- you're right"
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79.3kg / 174.8lb (LPR)
I'm starting to think something holding me back in life is my mind. Time to fake it til i make it
This is the great equalizer. As the Henry Ford saying goes "whether you think you can or you think you can't- you're right"
I like the quote told like this better:
There are two kinds of people in this world. Those that think they can and those that think they can't. Both are right.
My favorite Henry ford quote:
"The American people can have a car of any color they want as long as it's black"
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BW: 79.6kg
went up a bit, binged this weekend .. but i shud be good for a good 12 week run now, all i have going on is writing code, lifting weights and balling. No mo emo. Lets go.
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Well fuck. skipped lifting this weekend and after resting yesterday and eating loads, i went to ball today. And beasted. I had more dunk attempts in the pickup games i played today than game dunks tries my whole life combined before that. I missed some good dunks .. holy shit one was on a big guy and i almost dunked on him!!!! my wrist was in the rim and somehow the ball didnt go in but i almost dunked on someone!!!! then i landed my first one and it was so defiant .. everyone decided it was time to end the game, they said dont know what the score is but that's enough lol. The whole situation was so organic and natural .. everyone nodded in acceptance.
i realised what was different about the make from the misses.. in game time dunk situations you're trying to rush the dunk .. which is understandable .. however it's a FUCKING DUNK .. you have to allow yourself to reach peak height .. and trying to rush thru the move will result in misses... so paradoxically the secret to dunking in games .. for me at least .. is to take it slow ONCE IM IN THE AIR. but of course into the move you wanna do it as fast as possible. Im prob gonna get more dunk attempts in games now..
btw the only reason i was so fresh was rest and eatin .. so ya .. if i priotise basketball good things do happen .. not just a theory it's tested true. i think i had a total of 6 dunk attempts in game which is a workout in itself
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Forgot to mention when i was dunking between games i got up .. got a really sweet tomahawk felt so good ... wish i had it on video but also i dont care, prob wasnt as good as it felt lol
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Great stuff. Good to see you getting some validation from your efforts.
Also, nice on the in game dunk too. Must have felt unbelievable.
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Great stuff. Good to see you getting some validation from your efforts.
Also, nice on the in game dunk too. Must have felt unbelievable.
I dunked with both hands and pulled myself up to make the moment last longer. Felt amazing. I think now i figured out the reasons for the misses, i will get more makes next time. More attempts too, when om fresher im quicker, enough to setup for dunks. So exciting. Longer post incoming when i find a keyboard.
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Everyyy single game dunk ive ever attempted (i mean competitive games) and theres only been a few 3 or 4 attempts total, i got rim checked hard AF. it never made sense why i cud dunk 100% and easily in practice or in rest times in games -- but i was missing dunks during games. WHy?? you'd think with teh adrelenenin i'd fly even higher etc. But like ive realised, it's cos im rushing the dunk once im in the air, i wasnt waiting to reach the apex of the leap before throwing down! it makes so much sense now but it never occured to me previously..
yes yesterday i got loads of attempts but it's pickup .. where the defense is much easier .. but that's ok, if im dunking easily in pickup games i can transfer that to one or two makes in teh right situation during competitive games.
and who cares about dunks in games? i do! it's like that saying where something doesnt matter unless you're not getting any then it's everything. when you've never got your first dunk then getting a dunk is everything. that might be your first dunk ever in the case of acole or lbbs or my first game dunk ever .. it's the same thing practically cos you've never done it and you know what it means to finally bridge the chasm ..
part 2 is where i describe what went right in terms of training and mindset to precicipate this progress
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recap of my current state. im not the leanest ive ever been (im practically obese). im not the strongest ive ever been (ive been weaker only when i weighed under 75kg and im at ~80kg right now. reminder im 6'3" barefoot...). im not the fittest ive ever been (was losing my breath in 1/4 court pickup games ffs). im not as balanced ive ever been, between running and jumping, not sprinting regularly (prob 3 weeks since i last sprinted) or dunking regularly (movement eff) or lifting regularly.. only just got my first legit tomahawk yesterday. in terms of lifetime peakineess this is pretty average. im also the oldest ive ever been. mental state isn't great either .. mood below average..
but yesterday i nevertheless made some decent PR level progress. and the only thing i can think of is that i layed off the squatting. only lifted once last wk, and it was tuesday. only balled once and it was thursday. rested friday and saturday and balled sunday. saturday was a shocking day in life terms .. so all things considering.. it was amazing that sunday i balled so well
from here on im thinking 3 days of HARD HIGH QUALITY sessions per week is the way to go. no more stupid submax shit in a fatigued state, it has to be quality .. not worth doing unless im kicking ass. this goes for basketball, sprinting, bounds, squatting, dunking whatever.
tues: lifting
thurs: bball skill workout OR if feel 100% fresh -- dunking workout / conditioning /play a competitive game
saturday: lift OR /
sunday: pickup bball (if i feel fresh from resting saturday)
and that's it, no more no less. but i gotta make sure i go haard TUES .. get squat or bench PRs, get some quality food in, grow some muscle, lose some fat. rest is important so i can keep performing at a high level when im not resting. and keep recomping. 77.5kg but with more muscle is a good measurable goal.
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It's funny when you talk about a dunking mindset. I've never thought about dunking during a game except on the fast break or from a tip in (my only in game dunk ever). This changed for me last week as I felt super energetic during the game but I know it will take while to actually attempt in traffic dunks. I like your mindset though on not rushing though. Also, it probably clicks and you get the feeling once you actually do it for the first time.
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and who cares about dunks in games? i do! it's like that saying where something doesnt matter unless you're not getting any then it's everything. when you've never got your first dunk then getting a dunk is everything. that might be your first dunk ever in the case of acole or lbbs or my first game dunk ever .. it's the same thing practically cos you've never done it and you know what it means to finally bridge the chasm ..
Thank you for thinking of the shorter guys! I for one appreciate it.
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Yep! you got it coges, it's all in the mind, if you think you have enough time you can make it work, overthinking or mentally defeating before even trying is how you never dunk in trafffic. Speaking of, i know you need a good pass and a decent cut and window to make it happen but i do think if you put yourself in situations where it can happen, that it can be a reality. So today i had a game, i wont go into it too much but in the last few seconds of the game, big guy on my team was on a fast break, defender on him,1v1, he goes for a layup or dunk (i cant remember) and he misses, the defender getrs the rebound, game over. Motherfucker i was right there behind him, all he had to do was do the typical pass to the trailing player and i wud have thrown that down hard ... i prob even take on the defender and dunk on him cos he had his back to me .. and he was under the rim, omg .. i said to him bro i was right htere, and he said usually no one follows me on a fasta break .. so he didn't bother looking .. whatever, gutted i missed a chance to get my first game time dunk.
i got a nice alley oop and a pinpoint no llook pass into a player right under the rim, it was beautiful .. even the other team were in awe.. i played well. not many minutes but im happy for a day i didnt wanna ball at all
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and who cares about dunks in games? i do! it's like that saying where something doesnt matter unless you're not getting any then it's everything. when you've never got your first dunk then getting a dunk is everything. that might be your first dunk ever in the case of acole or lbbs or my first game dunk ever .. it's the same thing practically cos you've never done it and you know what it means to finally bridge the chasm ..
Thank you for thinking of the shorter guys! I for one appreciate it.
Agreed... It's also height and competition dependent... I'm not trying to look down on entropy... But at his height (6'3'' - 6'4'') in most of the circles I play in it's more of an embarrassment not to be able to dunk than it is to be a badge of honor to be able to dunk. It's sort of like a question someone will ask a guy of that height (can you dunk?) and if the answer isn't yes it's a shameful sign of being a poor athlete... The 6'3 guy throwing self lobs between every game of pickup to barely throw one down is not well liked where I play...
However... most of those 6'3'' guys who "can dunk" don't actually get dunks in games. IMO at that height if you want to do something impressive you can either become a show-dunker (BTL, 360's, etc) OR actually throw down in games. When a player of any height gets a nice in game dunk you have to take your hat off to them... Show dunking is cool but it's not gonna make you a better player - so adding in game dunking to your resume is a must!
I'm just under 6' so at lower levels people are impressed by my ability to dunk and ask me to dunk outside of game situations and on a good day I can throw down a windmill or 180 but it's nothing like dunking in traffic in a game... At higher levels most everyone approaching 6ft can do something resembling a dunk but few actually dunk in games... I can't down non-in-game dunks because TBH I'm simply not that good at them and I'm sure if I could do BTL dunks I would do them all the time... But my athleticism and strength is to the point where I far more enjoy my ability to dunk in a game than try and do some dunk I miss 4 out of 5 times over and over again - since I dunk with just 1 step I can do things a lot more impressive in a game than not in a game...
Yep! you got it coges, it's all in the mind, if you think you have enough time you can make it work, overthinking or mentally defeating before even trying is how you never dunk in trafffic. Speaking of, i know you need a good pass and a decent cut and window to make it happen but i do think if you put yourself in situations where it can happen, that it can be a reality.
This is one of my favorite things about dunking... If you get good enough dunking without speed you can actually use it to become a better player.. When I was very first able to dunk it was all I wanted to do and it made me much worse at basketball... I could barely dunk off one foot and I neglected practicing my game and instead just wanted to dunk... When I would play I would try to dunk in games but I needed such a far run up that my only chance was a extreme fast break and I would cherry pick to try to get the chance and usually miss the dunk...
However, if you can dunk off two feet with just a few steps and try and get in game dunks you realize how much easier it is to get dunks off the cut... The first dunk I got on somebody was where a player drove left around the elbow and I circled around him and he dropped it off behind him to me as I cut to the hoop and and rose up and dunked on the help... Realizing that this was basically the way to get dunks made me start moving without the ball and stop playing as much one-on-one type ball in games... Dunking has both ruined my ability and revitalized my ability to play basketball..
Really all dunking is cool... I'm biased partially cause i am so terrible at throwing self-lobs (thinking of paying Andrew to fly out and give me a lob clinic lol) but for now I really favor the in game dunk...
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Holy shit i'm so tired of telling people 'wait til i get in shape' and giving tenous ETAs '12 more weeks'. I want it NOW! Yes i'll jump higher, move quicker, last longer at full tilt and ball harder, it will happen, im just getting impatient now lol. I forgot to mention yesterday i got complimented for my effort to get open and cut for some easy baskets. I think the guards appreciate it when their forwards give a fuck and dont just camp at and wave for the ball at the elbow. It's more exciting when you're being proactive about things ... i love it. THe scary thing is im getting so good at finishing now even with contact, i still score, i know the fouls rarely get called when you're perceived to be a 'big' (nevermind im lighter than average on the court lol) but ive taken it on myself to finish even if somoene swipes hard at me.
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i know the fouls rarely get called when you're perceived to be a 'big' (nevermind im lighter than average on the court lol) but ive taken it on myself to finish even if somoene swipes hard at me.
This is great. I've taken the stance that I'm almost playing schoolyard ball where no one calls any fouls and just focus on finishing regardless. That way if you get a call it's a bonus but you don't worry about trying to draw a foul and just make the play.
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BS 5x120(LPR), 1x127.5(LPR)
BP 6x70, 1x90(LPR), 1x80 (yikes), 8x60
CURL 5x50(LPR), 2x6x48.5(LPR)
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so i dont know where that 120x5 LPR came from ... i found 70kg warmups felt heavy on my back cos it's been 10 days since i had a bar on my back. But i still forced an LPR even tho 110x6 was a ME effort as a warmup. FML. I wanted to triple 127.5kg, so you can imagine how that went..
anyway, big news, that kid i talked about .. ive got a basketball date with him tmr, we're shooting around. I dont know if will be 'fresh' enough but ive put down a double KFC burger with loads of chips, 2 drumsticks and im gonna have a shake too. will try get some dunks on tape ... shud be fun.
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Ima eat a bit more til the next squat workout then i'm back to cutting, i shud be able to progress towards 135kg backsquat for reps without gaining weight or rather while losing it ... i think. Then i'll allow myself to go up a bit to rep 140kg. Just a passing thought, i know it's crazy to plan out things like this but im too fat too weak, too skinny to squat 140kg for reps without gaining some muscle..
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BW: 81.2kg / 179lb!
holy shit .. how did that happen? I know ive been eating more lately but this is unexpected to say the least :o Time to watch the diet bit more closely .. wanna get back under 80kg asap.
balling in a few hours.. bit of squat specific soreness but otherwise i feel ok. will be interesting to see if i can get up. with food and clothes and shoes i prob go lose to 85kg? weighted dunk time. if i can throw down some big tomahawks at my heavier bodyweight it will be a good workout in itself so ima embrace it
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Well that was interesting.. we played 3 games of 2v2 and i won 2 of them. wud have won all 3 but my conditioning gave way and i kinda played like shit anyways, but good enough to win. have some vid, wasnt fresh enough to dunk convincingly.. still. if we play again this weekend, im gonna rest, otherwise i guess i'll lift saturday? will see how it goes. i wanna peak ON VIDEO with the young wolf before he leaves
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here is what it looks like for the rest of the week...
fri: off
sat: lift (if not balling sunday)
sun: ball (if didnt lift sat)
mon: rest (prob but i may ball if i didnt ball sunday)
need to peak, need to lose this extra deadweight ive gained this week from eating junk everyday .. i wasnt logging but life stuff blah blah
want to get my squat at 130kg for reps then peak athleticism, then repeat, something like that
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here is what it looks like for the rest of the week...
fri: off
sat: lift (if not balling sunday)
sun: ball (if didnt lift sat)
mon: rest (prob but i may ball if i didnt ball sunday)
need to peak, need to lose this extra deadweight ive gained this week from eating junk everyday .. i wasnt logging but life stuff blah blah
want to get my squat at 130kg for reps then peak athleticism, then repeat, something like that
lmao at my plans. fri being off didnt happen.the young wolf asked if i wanted to shoot around and only shoot around. then proceeded to run us throgh the most exhausting bball workout ive had ever, lol. i was gone within the first few sets, then we did another 20 lol. so yeah, well laid plans..
but i must say it's nice to be training with a basketball prodigy. if i worked this hard all the time i'd actually be a much better pllayer. im not saying 10% better, maybe as much as 30% or something significant. after he leaves, i have to find another training partner willing to work as hard or harder and keep it up.
in the meantime im gonna put lifting on a hold, rest saturday, sunday either we ball hard and skip monday. or rest sunday and ball out monday. that's the last window to train with him. fuck.
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BW: 79.5kg / 175.3lb
That's bettter, im ok with weighing that much .. lol. Ate a ton last night, force feeding myself the following: double cheeseburger, grilled chicken burger, 2 magnum icecreams and a whey shake. Pretty sore but not half as bad as expected. phew. I wanna 'peak' athletically at pickup tmr. Think i will do a squat and bench session prior to ball though? Just cos if i dont lift then, it may be a while before i do, maybe weds if i also ball monday. so we'll see how it goes. Thing is i cant do half measures, will prob force some PRs if i do lift wjhich will hurt performance on the court probably
but my body comp is going the right way even eating all this food to sustain training ... i feel bad i wish i was still shedding bodyfat at a higher clip but it's a temporary trade off
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i put up more shots yesterday and the last 4 weeks combined than i have in like 10 years before that excluding the month. crazy. but hopefully once my muscles get stronger and adapted i'll be a more reliable shooter. right now once fatigue sets in my form goes to naught and behaves erratically. more strength and mass in the right places (upper body mainly) will help a ton. i shud be aiming to curl 60kg for reps in the weight room this quarter. go for that kobe bicep size .. like 16-17" wud be real nice. anyway pipe dream (ha) aside, i do need more endurance than size. i can shoot with decent form from the free throw line to the rim on the other side of the court, teh guys were remarking how effortlessly i can shoot from distance with just upper body .. so endurance will be more useful to me than size tbh but both are good
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i put up more shots yesterday and the last 4 weeks combined than i have in like 10 years before that excluding the month. crazy. but hopefully once my muscles get stronger and adapted i'll be a more reliable shooter. right now once fatigue sets in my form goes to naught and behaves erratically. more strength and mass in the right places (upper body mainly) will help a ton. i shud be aiming to curl 60kg for reps in the weight room this quarter. go for that kobe bicep size .. like 16-17" wud be real nice. anyway pipe dream (ha) aside, i do need more endurance than size. i can shoot with decent form from the free throw line to the rim on the other side of the court, teh guys were remarking how effortlessly i can shoot from distance with just upper body .. so endurance will be more useful to me than size tbh but both are good
Decent form on the full court shot? Video it. That's more impressive than a 45 inch vertical.
Lol at the curl goals.
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i havent seen my own form, it's what they said, prob exaggaration on their part tho but i dont need a big run up like most ppl do around there.. maybe. when i shoot from half court i have trouble taking enough off that the ball doesn't clear the top of the backboard .. i do think it's a great warmup tho, makes 3s feel submax afterwards. also think using a heavy ball does the same thing, potentiation or whatever.
i got sick :( and to make matters worse, i binged on junk food. i didnt do a long postmortem on the two girls i was seeing this winter but cut a long story short, last saturday it all blew up and i lost my chance with both. so being sick and stuff is just the icing on the cake. really wanted to peak for pickup today but i had to struggle just to get out of bed .. lol
hopefully i can train tmr, i wanna go hard on squats and or bball ... lets see how my body goes recovering from this cold (?) or flu (?) or hwatever this is
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Well that was a nighmare .. fuck me. but comeback begins again. i lost a lot of weight, havent trained at all, spend sat-tue in bed and finally feel ok enough to train
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BW: 78.3kg / 172.6lb
BS 6x70, 6x110
OHP 6x50
shooting session (what a shitshow)
Notes:
when your warmup feels like an RM after the first 2 reps and you still have another 4 to go. awesome.. building from scratch is so great!!! I prob wont be fully recovered for a while ... got no energy after these sets .. feel exhausted
cud hardly put up a 3pt attempt without straining .. lmao .. airballed a few ... gave up
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BW: 78.1kg / 172.2lb (LPR)
so i think that's the lowest ive weighed since summer or something. if i can't train normally yet i can still diet normally i guess, time to finish the job and get to 77kg?
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BW: 77.4kg / 170.6lb (LPR)
getting close to breaking into the 160s ... so that's something. decided to go play pickup and it was a lot better than thursday. it's coming back but im still playing like complete shit so nothing to celebrate either. my shots were falling a lot better though.
trying to force myself to lift but my heart isnt in it and it's cold as fuck
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BW: 77.4kg / 170.6lb (LPR)
getting close to breaking into the 160s ... so that's something. decided to go play pickup and it was a lot better than thursday. it's coming back but im still playing like complete shit so nothing to celebrate either. my shots were falling a lot better though.
trying to force myself to lift but my heart isnt in it and it's cold as fuck
Don't you live in WA? It can't be too cold there.
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it can be pretty cold! ive lived in melbourne and perth both and spend time in canberra for work. Most of the time perth is nice but when it's cold, it's pretty cold. The soil is desert and at nights it cools down pretty quick. I used to train in the evening/pm and that's nicer in summer and really harsh in winter. Perth still has an identity crisis about it's winters .. heating is uncommon and ppl dont really do double glazing, etc. I think it needs it though cos those cold nights and mornings are just as harsh as any other place where those things are common
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Yeah good point. Forget about the desert factor. I just imagine Perth being 20 during the day and it being awesome to train in.
Canberra would be the worst no doubt. It's bad in Melbourne at the moment but still 4-8 overnight which isn't too bad.
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BS 6x112.5(LPR), 2x122.5(LPR)
BP 6x50(LPR), 6x70(LPR), 6x75(LPR), 8x60(LPR)
CURL 3x6x50(LPR)
Notes:
Progress is slow but it's coming back. My goal is to rep 140kg @ 77kg. Long way from there yet.
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BW: 78.5kg (yikes)
i need to stop eating the icecreams ... but im not ready mentally to go all in on protein, just yet. I dread eating a whole chicken a day .. nothing is quite as intimidating to think about doing that day in day out .. lol. i can promise to stop eating sweets tho?
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Mate I woke up at 95kgs this morning :o I am taking creatine now but still I was <92 2 weeks ago.
Ice cream is good tho isn't it?
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Mate I woke up at 95kgs this morning :o I am taking creatine now but still I was <92 2 weeks ago.
Ice cream is good tho isn't it?
lol .. icecream is good .. i think i can make it work pschologically when im either gaining weight or maintaining. good hard training session followed by a bowl of icecream is no problem. but being in a state of being unsatisfied with my bw .. it's not helping things at all
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man i love ice cream.. but i actually don't miss it - haven't had it in a while. I think what I don't miss the most about it, is the sugar crash I get from it. I can't eat a small amount. I basically have to down a pint. That seems to be the only thing keeping me from eating it now.. so I don't crave it as much anymore, because of that.
;/
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man i love ice cream.. but i actually don't miss it - haven't had it in a while. I think what I don't miss the most about it, is the sugar crash I get from it. I can't eat a small amount. I basically have to down a pint. That seems to be the only thing keeping me from eating it now.. so I don't crave it as much anymore, because of that.
;/
Ice cream is my favorite food. By far. Really gotta avoid it get lean but to stay alright I find the trick is just not to buy it and bring it home. Buying quarts of ice cream is just a recipe so I will stand just just having a few spoonfuls with the freezer open and eat about 1000 calories...
Luckily (or unluckily) there is a really great ice cream place right next to my house - my balance is to eat ice cream from there... A double scoop is probably around 400 calories but it's finite and it's delicious and then its gone.... Bring it home and that discipline is just not natural...
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Lol .. we got an icecream recovery support group going ... nice. My fav is cookies and cream by streets, they had it at $4.95 for 2L at the major supermarketchains in AU for a while. I cant find it any my local coles anymore and since i dont shop at whoolies, ive gone without it for a year or so. I cud sit down and eat the whole thing in one sitting. I think my record is 2 in one night. I ate 4L of icecream in a night.. no wonder im fat. I dont bring tubs home anymore .. i know how that ends. So instead i bring home 4 packs of magnum, usually almond which is my fav by far. The calories are pretty high tho cos they have more fat but at least the damage is capped. I have been icecream free for 1 day so far. If i can get that to 10 days, i'll prob have some body comp changes to report. Have more room to improve from there too ..
One think i really miss from the states is the amazing frozen yoghurt places ...we dont get those here. I'd kill for some nice toasted cocounut but the aussie flavours are just meh .. they dont do it for me at all
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BW: 78.4kg / 172.8lb
Have gym and bball game today. This shud get me a little leaner .. i wanna get back into the 77kgs asap .. that felt progressive unlike being in the 78kgs. Bball is the missing thing though, when im balling regularly it gets me leaner and fitter and i desperately need that after the sickness induced layoff. if i cant get it from bball i need to restart the sprints .. or both really, but im grossly unsatisfied with everything. my lifts, my conditoning, athleticism, name it. The only thing going for me right now is being kinda light but even that's threatening to disappear if i dont start eating cleaner..
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BS 6x115(LPR), 1Fx125
OHP 4x52.5(LPR)
BW: 78.4kg / 172.8lb
Notes:
Proper 6RM effort with that warmup LPR .. even good morning the 6th. Awesome. Stalled the double at 125kg, lost it forward out of the bottom ..that sucks, will try again saturday. Shud get 6x117.5kg and 2x125kg LPRs .. but it makes it intimidating to think i cud progress from there considering i'm so far from 2x130 and 2x140 and cutting is going to make things super hard from here. Sucks.
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Game was good. We won easy. i got some sick blocks. That elite rim protection!! :headbang: didnt score but didnt take any FGAs so it's moot. Starting to feel it, was able to dunk today after like 2 week break... woooho. Just need to diet off the last 1.5kg of adipose and get my squat up by 15kg. Easy! Then i can peak and PR my vert ...
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BW: 78.9kg (yikes)
Have been sweets free for 2 days in a row. Tryna get that to 10...
Pretty sore today .. took a good hit to my left elbow yesterday warming up against someone by playing 1v1. it's pretty tender today, hope it heals quickly.
Have got asked to play for a (good) team in sept. Will try to get myself in shape by then, i wanna get off to a flying start and cement my place as a key player / starter. That's exciting. Need to be in good shape before that, so im just working on skills closer to game 1
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Messed up yesterday badly .. diet wise ... and other stuff. Shud have ttrained today but ima skip and try on sunday instead. Not happy but going to use this to redouble my effort. I need to stop wasting time/money/effort by doing things half heartedly.
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BW: 78.8kg
BS 1x120, 3Fx117.5
Bball - 2hrs
upper body gym
tryna train today. weather is good so far, may be able to do sprints as well... hope it holds up
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BW: 77.9kg
back under 78 for the first time since getting sick. thougth i was at 79kg given the last week's readings but there ya go. It means i have one kilo less than i thought i had to lose.....
was thinking bout goals, and if im maintaining 79kg it means i need to -4kg adipose and +5kg lbm to end up at a lean and strong 80kg which is my end goal. If it's more like -3kg that makes the job easier... but not really, im gna have to dig deep to get to 77kg.
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BW: 78.9kg
that was short lived lol. Kinda binged last night .. blah.
Training today ..
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BS 6x110, 3x117.5, 2x6x100
BP 6x70, 6x77.5(LPR), 6x75, 7x70(LPR)
RDL 8x110(LPR), 8x120(LPR), 6Fx127.5(LPR)
BHT 8x70(LPR; ex reintro), 8x110(LPR), 10x117.5(LPR)
CURL 3x6x55(LPR)
Notes:
i did more squat vol than i have been for a while. I think that's the key forward.. need to be doing a lot more reps .. but i had to take some weight off. that's ok, volume will build work capacity which i can then use to lift more weight later down the line. make no mistake, i know until im repping 130kg for sets of 6, im weak as a kitten
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BS 6x110, 3x117.5, 2x6x100
BP 6x70, 6x77.5(LPR), 6x75, 7x70(LPR)
RDL 8x110(LPR), 8x120(LPR), 6Fx127.5(LPR)
BHT 8x70(LPR; ex reintro), 8x110(LPR), 10x117.5(LPR)
CURL 3x6x55(LPR)
Notes:
i did more squat vol than i have been for a while. I think that's the key forward.. need to be doing a lot more reps .. but i had to take some weight off. that's ok, volume will build work capacity which i can then use to lift more weight later down the line. make no mistake, i know until im repping 130kg for sets of 6, im weak as a kitten
damn these doms in glutes, hams and lats/tarps. forgot how goood these rdls/bhts were ... miss u. lets never grow apart again pls
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BW: 78.9kg/173.9lb
Kinda heavy lately ... been eating more food tryna get my lifts going. I know, but as long as i stay under 79kg it's ok. I do have to get to 77kg eventually tho but lemme get out of noman's land and closer to PR territory before finishing the job. I have developed an irrational fear of hunger .. esp at nights, my mind is that if i am hungry i wont sleep and if i dont sleep i wont be able to PR.. local PR that is...
Bball and lifting today .. exciting to see how i go .. thinking off adding back that plyo session i used to do on game days.. served me well before .. we'll see how it goes today
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BS 4x117.5(LPR), 0Fx127.5
Partial BS 5x130, 5x140, 3x150, 2x180 (PRs; new exercise)
PP 6x50(LPR; new ex), 6x60(LPR), 5x62.5(LPR)
BW: 78.9kg as above
Notes:
started doing partial squats ... this shud be an interesting experiment! also restarted push presses. i wanna do depth jumps, jump squats and sprints but tryna not bite more than i can chew. tho i really shud do those things for balance. will figure it out.
game tonight .. ive convinced myself i can skip sprints etc if i go hard af in games .. so will try to move around as much as possible as quickly as possible etc.
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not going to do a post game writeup of a stupid rec league game but i tried to do what i said above .. to mixed results. got some decent blocks and some sweet assists but i still think i shud make the room for sprinting. Even tho i loath them for killing my legs for other training maybe i can benefits even a little bit from it ... if nothign else, fitness/conditioning to ball harder for longer. tho if that's my aim i shud just play lots of games of 21 1v1 and 1v2 .. that gets me fit like nothing else
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Success, quad doms! :headbang:
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BW: 78.4kg / 172.8lb
Ive started eating 2 chicken breasts a day as of yesterday. No more fucking around. Wanna get this done asap.
Training today.. gnna be good
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BW: 78.4kg / 172.8lb
Ive started eating 2 chicken breasts a day as of yesterday. No more fucking around. Wanna get this done asap.
Training today.. gnna be good
nice.
kinda like GOMAD but probably healthier.
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^Thanks, will do good things for body comp :)
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BS 4x117.5, 2x122.5, 1Fx120, 3x6x102.5(LPR)
Sprint Intervals - 6x(20s on, 20s off; LPR; new exercise)
OHP 3x6x52.5(LPR)
LPD 3x8(LPR; reintro)
CROW 3x10(LPR; reintro)
WCU 4x91, 4x86, 4x80
Orange Band Resisted Bridge 3x12 (LPR; reintro)
BW: 78.4kg/172.8lb
Notes:
I wanted more than 4 on 117.5 but could only match last workouts LPR. It's too damn hard :(
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BW: 78.9kg /
Kinda did a refeed last night so that would explain the 'spike'. But I look leaner for what it's worth. So when i shed this water weight im prob closer to 77kg than i have been in a while.
Not as sore as i expected. I thought i'd be a zombie today haha. May go pickup :) But sometimes these doms creep up on ya through the day and over 48hrs so that may still happen.
I'm thinking ive got a nice mix of training going now. Have included all these new exercises and im hitting PC/quads/bball/jumping/upper body/explosive/etc. Am dialed in on nutrition too and sticking to my 2cbpd thing as well. The only change im making is cutting out fast food / processed food in the next week. Wanna get rid of this gross hourglass shape asap before season starts mid sept.
Watch this space! In the future i wanna do more including:
- shorter sprints with more recovery
- boudns and stuff and throws (to make t0ddday happy)
im on track to curl 60kg for worksets which is good news for my girly 12" arms! quads may just grow now with partial squats hitting them pretty good. recovering ground on PC as well. Want to be repping 200kg for RDLs and BHTs. Squats are fucking embarassing right now but im convinced im on the right track with doing lots more volume. backoff sets of 6x6 for a start then i need to be using that amount of volume with heavier weight 120-130kg instead of ~100
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ya I imagine that is good for 12" arms.. my biceps are probably ~12", they are weak af.
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ya I imagine that is good for 12" arms.. my biceps are probably ~12", they are weak af.
obviously im not gna be doing 60kg curls with 12" arms haha .. they're gna be cheat curls .. but i did worksets of 55kg last wk and next workout im going for 57.5kg worksets. 60kg is just around the corner. Once ive mastered it for cheat curls .. i can prob do strict ones with say 50kg. And cheat curling 70kg prob get me to strict curl 60kg. I'm just being honest here .. the idea is when im doing strict 60kg curls i will prob get close to 15" and over which would be amazing :)
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ya I imagine that is good for 12" arms.. my biceps are probably ~12", they are weak af.
obviously im not gna be doing 60kg curls with 12" arms haha .. they're gna be cheat curls .. but i did worksets of 55kg last wk and next workout im going for 57.5kg worksets. 60kg is just around the corner. Once ive mastered it for cheat curls .. i can prob do strict ones with say 50kg. And cheat curling 70kg prob get me to strict curl 60kg. I'm just being honest here .. the idea is when im doing strict 60kg curls i will prob get close to 15" and over which would be amazing :)
ah..
3" to your bicep would be alot of MEAT.
that's one thing we never see people talk about here.. one plate curls and such. 135 lb. that's pretty damn beast. not many people into grip training. I used to love grip training (before dunking). Had CoC grippers, nails, sledge hammers, and I have a farmer's walk implements, 2" and 3" thick bar. lmao.
i focused on curls at one point, did 'safe singles' and cheat variations.. really helped. but i'd get that crazy wrist pain on occasion, feels like shin splints in your wrists. absolutely hated that.
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BS 4x117.5, 2x122.5, 1Fx120, 3x6x102.5(LPR)
Sprint Intervals - 6x(20s on, 20s off; LPR; new exercise)
OHP 3x6x52.5(LPR)
LPD 3x8(LPR; reintro)
CROW 3x10(LPR; reintro)
WCU 4x91, 4x86, 4x80
Orange Band Resisted Bridge 3x12 (LPR; reintro)
BW: 78.4kg/172.8lb
Notes:
I wanted more than 4 on 117.5 but could only match last workouts LPR. It's too damn hard :(
Cool workout. I would recommend you drop the LPD for ZFDs and do fewer sets of WCU and mix in PXQs.
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ya I imagine that is good for 12" arms.. my biceps are probably ~12", they are weak af.
obviously im not gna be doing 60kg curls with 12" arms haha .. they're gna be cheat curls .. but i did worksets of 55kg last wk and next workout im going for 57.5kg worksets. 60kg is just around the corner. Once ive mastered it for cheat curls .. i can prob do strict ones with say 50kg. And cheat curling 70kg prob get me to strict curl 60kg. I'm just being honest here .. the idea is when im doing strict 60kg curls i will prob get close to 15" and over which would be amazing :)
ah..
3" to your bicep would be alot of MEAT.
that's one thing we never see people talk about here.. one plate curls and such. 135 lb. that's pretty damn beast. not many people into grip training. I used to love grip training (before dunking). Had CoC grippers, nails, sledge hammers, and I have a farmer's walk implements, 2" and 3" thick bar. lmao.
i focused on curls at one point, did 'safe singles' and cheat variations.. really helped. but i'd get that crazy wrist pain on occasion, feels like shin splints in your wrists. absolutely hated that.
Yeah, getting your arms to grow w curls and cheat curls is sooo hard especially when your remaining as light as entropy is. Shoot even when you gain weight it's really hard to add inches to biceps... The bodybuilder formula seems to be massive calories and massive volume, both of which don't really make sense for a power athlete. I feel like lower body hypertrophy is much easier to achieve while doing vert training even at lower body weight because of the natural volume one gets... The only way I find to see any growth to the upper body without completely changing your training is to do semi explosive compound exercises. My traps grew and stayed big from heavy power cleans. I think heavy weighted close grip chins are a million times more effective than curls for an athlete who wants some arm mass...
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BW: 78.9kg /
Kinda did a refeed last night so that would explain the 'spike'. But I look leaner for what it's worth. So when i shed this water weight im prob closer to 77kg than i have been in a while.
Not as sore as i expected. I thought i'd be a zombie today haha. May go pickup :) But sometimes these doms creep up on ya through the day and over 48hrs so that may still happen.
I'm thinking ive got a nice mix of training going now. Have included all these new exercises and im hitting PC/quads/bball/jumping/upper body/explosive/etc. Am dialed in on nutrition too and sticking to my 2cbpd thing as well. The only change im making is cutting out fast food / processed food in the next week. Wanna get rid of this gross hourglass shape asap before season starts mid sept.
Watch this space! In the future i wanna do more including:
- shorter sprints with more recovery
- boudns and stuff and throws (to make t0ddday happy)
im on track to curl 60kg for worksets which is good news for my girly 12" arms! quads may just grow now with partial squats hitting them pretty good. recovering ground on PC as well. Want to be repping 200kg for RDLs and BHTs. Squats are fucking embarassing right now but im convinced im on the right track with doing lots more volume. backoff sets of 6x6 for a start then i need to be using that amount of volume with heavier weight 120-130kg instead of ~100
Lol thanks for the mention! But when you say season is starting I'm not sure if I'd recommend adding much bounding at this point... I mean I don't know what season is... If it's once a week games or something or practice and games multiple times a week... If it's the latter... I'd focus on keeping non basketball work to be pretty low impact... It sounds like your getting pretty good at basketball and from what you post this seems to be a big priority - I wouldn't want you to sabotage that...
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BS 4x117.5, 2x122.5, 1Fx120, 3x6x102.5(LPR)
Sprint Intervals - 6x(20s on, 20s off; LPR; new exercise)
OHP 3x6x52.5(LPR)
LPD 3x8(LPR; reintro)
CROW 3x10(LPR; reintro)
WCU 4x91, 4x86, 4x80
Orange Band Resisted Bridge 3x12 (LPR; reintro)
BW: 78.4kg/172.8lb
Notes:
I wanted more than 4 on 117.5 but could only match last workouts LPR. It's too damn hard :(
Cool workout. I would recommend you drop the LPD for ZFDs and do fewer sets of WCU and mix in PXQs.
lmfao. :goodjobbro:
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BS 4x117.5, 2x122.5, 1Fx120, 3x6x102.5(LPR)
Sprint Intervals - 6x(20s on, 20s off; LPR; new exercise)
OHP 3x6x52.5(LPR)
LPD 3x8(LPR; reintro)
CROW 3x10(LPR; reintro)
WCU 4x91, 4x86, 4x80
Orange Band Resisted Bridge 3x12 (LPR; reintro)
BW: 78.4kg/172.8lb
Notes:
I wanted more than 4 on 117.5 but could only match last workouts LPR. It's too damn hard :(
Cool workout. I would recommend you drop the LPD for ZFDs and do fewer sets of WCU and mix in PXQs.
lmfao. :goodjobbro:
lol .. lat pull downs, weighted chinup (or curl depending on your perspective), cable row :P but point taken i can just write it out to be clearer than abbreviate
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BW: 78.9kg /
Kinda did a refeed last night so that would explain the 'spike'. But I look leaner for what it's worth. So when i shed this water weight im prob closer to 77kg than i have been in a while.
Not as sore as i expected. I thought i'd be a zombie today haha. May go pickup :) But sometimes these doms creep up on ya through the day and over 48hrs so that may still happen.
I'm thinking ive got a nice mix of training going now. Have included all these new exercises and im hitting PC/quads/bball/jumping/upper body/explosive/etc. Am dialed in on nutrition too and sticking to my 2cbpd thing as well. The only change im making is cutting out fast food / processed food in the next week. Wanna get rid of this gross hourglass shape asap before season starts mid sept.
Watch this space! In the future i wanna do more including:
- shorter sprints with more recovery
- boudns and stuff and throws (to make t0ddday happy)
im on track to curl 60kg for worksets which is good news for my girly 12" arms! quads may just grow now with partial squats hitting them pretty good. recovering ground on PC as well. Want to be repping 200kg for RDLs and BHTs. Squats are fucking embarassing right now but im convinced im on the right track with doing lots more volume. backoff sets of 6x6 for a start then i need to be using that amount of volume with heavier weight 120-130kg instead of ~100
Lol thanks for the mention! But when you say season is starting I'm not sure if I'd recommend adding much bounding at this point... I mean I don't know what season is... If it's once a week games or something or practice and games multiple times a week... If it's the latter... I'd focus on keeping non basketball work to be pretty low impact... It sounds like your getting pretty good at basketball and from what you post this seems to be a big priority - I wouldn't want you to sabotage that...
I think i will be playing 1x a week but possibly 2x if i keep playing with my current team (not sure .. it's pretty bad lol). We'll see. And yeah practice 1x a week on top. It's a long season, 15wks .. so if it turns out we are a shit team i may not take it that seriously but i am hoping it will be decent because it's prob the best competition ive played in .. so that's exciting. I need to do a lot of work though, get in shape, work on my skills... not much time left (mid sept).
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So yesterday pickup i went for a stupid block against this super tall guy (he's like 6'7-6'8") on a jumpshot and landed awkwardly on my left ankle.I hate that i even went for a block that way, it's so easy to get called for a foul if you make it a habit to lunge at the shooter. I shud go straight up. Stupid stupid.
I taped it up before sleeping and took it off in the morning .. feels ok to bear weight but i havent tested ROM. hoping i can train more or less normally tmr though.
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BW: 78.9kg /
Kinda did a refeed last night so that would explain the 'spike'. But I look leaner for what it's worth. So when i shed this water weight im prob closer to 77kg than i have been in a while.
Not as sore as i expected. I thought i'd be a zombie today haha. May go pickup :) But sometimes these doms creep up on ya through the day and over 48hrs so that may still happen.
I'm thinking ive got a nice mix of training going now. Have included all these new exercises and im hitting PC/quads/bball/jumping/upper body/explosive/etc. Am dialed in on nutrition too and sticking to my 2cbpd thing as well. The only change im making is cutting out fast food / processed food in the next week. Wanna get rid of this gross hourglass shape asap before season starts mid sept.
Watch this space! In the future i wanna do more including:
- shorter sprints with more recovery
- boudns and stuff and throws (to make t0ddday happy)
im on track to curl 60kg for worksets which is good news for my girly 12" arms! quads may just grow now with partial squats hitting them pretty good. recovering ground on PC as well. Want to be repping 200kg for RDLs and BHTs. Squats are fucking embarassing right now but im convinced im on the right track with doing lots more volume. backoff sets of 6x6 for a start then i need to be using that amount of volume with heavier weight 120-130kg instead of ~100
Lol thanks for the mention! But when you say season is starting I'm not sure if I'd recommend adding much bounding at this point... I mean I don't know what season is... If it's once a week games or something or practice and games multiple times a week... If it's the latter... I'd focus on keeping non basketball work to be pretty low impact... It sounds like your getting pretty good at basketball and from what you post this seems to be a big priority - I wouldn't want you to sabotage that...
I think i will be playing 1x a week but possibly 2x if i keep playing with my current team (not sure .. it's pretty bad lol). We'll see. And yeah practice 1x a week on top. It's a long season, 15wks .. so if it turns out we are a shit team i may not take it that seriously but i am hoping it will be decent because it's prob the best competition ive played in .. so that's exciting. I need to do a lot of work though, get in shape, work on my skills... not much time left (mid sept).
Yeah... If it is really intense then I wouldn't recommend adding much reactive work to your program especially if your going to insist on lifting heavy as well... Especially not for 15 weeks... Something like this would be best IMO:
2x a week games
1x a week practice
1x a week weights heavy
1x a week weights light
1x a week sprints
1-2x a week shoot around and basketball specific jumping
I mean considering a game is basically an intense workout... Your quickly at 5-6 workouts a week without an bounding in earnest... If you like bounding nothing wrong with utilizing it in your warmup and going submax (you will still get better doing this) but one thing you have to learn is priorities as an athlete. You can't prioritize everything but you don't have to drop everything, you can continue to lift but you can put things on pause or maintenance... All good multifaceted athletes learn this. In the long run this is key. For example if your max squat is 405, you can keep a lot of strength getting in the gym a couple times a week and working up to an easy explosive 315-365 and still become the athlete you want to be... But you can't curse yourself for missing PR attempts of 410... You can treat bounding like this as well...
The basic idea is that you have to warmup before you train so why not get better at something at the same time... Say you want to do some vertical training or lifting or ball... You could jog and break a sweat and be ready... Or you could do a bunch of hops and high volume alternate leg plant jumps and then get into it...
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Thank you. I will do submax jumping and bounding, better than nothing and probably better than trying to do too much or too little!
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Thank you. I will do submax jumping and bounding, better than nothing and probably better than trying to do too much or too little!
I wouldn't drop max jumping. I would if your goal was simply basketball, but let's be honest your goal isn't truly to be the best basketball player that you can be - that might entail becoming mastering the comer three - your goal is to become the best dunking basketball player possible!
Games are great but to keep your bounce up I would prioritize over all things (even squats) your ME jumps during the season... Games jumps are not truly ME. You could use submax double leg bounds and some single leg jumps (for example single leg jumps across the key) as part of your warmup for your vertical ME jumping sessions on a basketball court. I wouldn't do submax single leg bounds on hardwood though...
Get in at least one and maybe two jump sessions in per week. Something like 20-30 vertical or one step jumps (can be dunks) and 10-20 max approach jumps in. Don't do all of them as dunks because you want to increase your max leap without a ball to push up your ceiling.. You could for example do head to rim or head to backboard attempts if their isn't a hard to reach object available in the gym...
As far as submax single leg bounds - use them as part of your warmup IFF you make it to a track or field for some sprint work. For you I would prioritize alternate leg bounds here. Remember short max sprints are still somewhat submax for you - but long sprints need to be slow to keep them useful for recovery rather than detrimental...
You have the right idea. Just remember for your goals, when your in bball season and work capacity is limited due to gameplay your priority list should always include ME vertical jumps, followed by maintenance weight training, followed by recovery runs and sprints.
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Watched olympics tonight... saw some 200m heats .. holy moly are these some beautifully built human specimens. I couldnt stand watching olympics before, too much shitty swimming .. but finally saw real olympians and it was impressive af. those massive legs .. and that's on the females lol. how. i want that. time to do some squats ;(
i ate 1 shake for meal 1. and for dinner i had 250g of chicken breast, 1 shake, and 500g of khichri which is a rice/lentil dish .. delicious but i have no idea about the macros... oh well doesnt matter
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BS 6x110, 2x6x107.5, 6x105
BP 4Fx79.5(LPR), 5Fx78.5(LPR), 5x77.5, 6x72.5
RDL 8x130(LPR), 4x140(LPR), 8x140(LPR; hook)
BHT 8x140(LPR), 8x147.5(LPR)
CURL 3x6x57.5(PR)
BW: 78.4kg
Notes:
Next squat volume workout (on saturday) i want to try for 2x6x110 and 3x107.5kg. Then i can tackle 6x6x110kg the following week.
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Watched olympics tonight... saw some 200m heats .. holy moly are these some beautifully built human specimens. I couldnt stand watching olympics before, too much shitty swimming .. but finally saw real olympians and it was impressive af. those massive legs .. and that's on the females lol. how. i want that. time to do some squats ;(
i ate 1 shake for meal 1. and for dinner i had 250g of chicken breast, 1 shake, and 500g of khichri which is a rice/lentil dish .. delicious but i have no idea about the macros... oh well doesnt matter
That's the thing that's 1000x better about being a sprinter than a basketball player...
Your female counterparts are beautiful and much more capable training partners! Helps that their isn't a different sized ball.
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Watched olympics tonight... saw some 200m heats .. holy moly are these some beautifully built human specimens. I couldnt stand watching olympics before, too much shitty swimming .. but finally saw real olympians and it was impressive af. those massive legs .. and that's on the females lol. how. i want that. time to do some squats ;(
i ate 1 shake for meal 1. and for dinner i had 250g of chicken breast, 1 shake, and 500g of khichri which is a rice/lentil dish .. delicious but i have no idea about the macros... oh well doesnt matter
That's the thing that's 1000x better about being a sprinter than a basketball player...
Your female counterparts are beautiful and much more capable training partners! Helps that their isn't a different sized ball.
lol .. i just flipped over from watching the australian women's basketball game to watch 100m women's hurdle heats. and i love basketball .. and im sure watching women's basketball is pleasing in a technical sense but idk but wud rather watch impressive athletes instead .. i know the aussie team has some kind of savant who is scoring 50pts in games or something but whatevs. it's amazing to me that these girls are running 12.xs times in hurdles when most ppl cudnt run 12s without the hurdles!!
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Did a pretty good job beating up my legs the last few workouts ... hoping im fresh enough to smash some quarter squats on thursday though. If my ankle feels better im going to play a game in the evening and may try some dunks or play it safe and leave dunks for sunday. That way i can get more healing in and prob do a refeed saturday so i'll be heavier sunday and it can be a weighted dunk workout. The problem with this plan of course is that i intend to do 6x6 squats on saturday and sprints (ankle willing) so legs wont be fresh .. will see how it goes. I will tape my ankle tonight as well, seems to have helped heal so far!
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BW: 78.4kg
holding a stable bodyweight despite my efforts...
suprisingly not sore today. my body has responded and adjusted to volume .. it can handle a lot more than this and im glad my work capacity has improved a lot this week. ankle feels better. hoping i can play and dunk tomorrow.
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BW: 77.8kg / 171.5lb (LPR)
Some scale change finally .. cannot wait to finish this cycle.. i want to maintain <77kg once i come off it.
Training + bball game tonight..
BS 6x110, 3x120(LPR), 1x124.5(LPR)
Partial BS 6x140(PR), 6x150(PR), 6x170(PR)
Push Press 6x50, 5Fx60, 2Fx62.5, 2x6x57.5
JS 8x75(LPR), 8x57.5
Notes:
Struggln with squatn .. 110x6 is NOT a warmup right now it's a legit 6RM. Fk. I useda do these paused warmups .. how far i've fallen. Progressing my partial squats, i think 6s make sense .. though im willing to hear why 8-10 might be better? i guess i'll master it for 6s and then revisit, no point trying too many variables.
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Damn that was a really good game. Close one. We just lost it in the end. I played well but a few fouls i shudnt haev commited. Wonder if that cost us the game. Maybe it did. Doesn't matter. It's so hard to play with dead legs ... but i know that when i come off this squat volume i'll beast so iit's fine, patience for now.
Had a revealation today. Went to ball calm and unaroused. Normally im walking wired up and jacked up on stimulants and dunking energy. Diid not do try any dunk attempts. I know that just gets me more and more wiired up. It's so bad that when im in that state ii cant even do fine motor stuff like shoot a jumpshot. If i shoot one then i will overcompensate and airball or miss the top of the backboard lol. Basketball is a game i shud play completely sedatively (spell check says nah but this shud be a word) .. ive lways this problem.. before a big game like a final or a comp i will be so wired up i cant sleep etc. it's just bad news.
noticed some track olympians being completely relaxed before their races.. which was suprising considering they sometimes have athletes getting popped for doing stims priior. i guess ii know what i have to do now. leave dunking for either after the game or another day. game day shud be about playing well, dunks unless submax take away from skill
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Did a refeed last night, ate like 4 bread rolls on top of dinner. Wasn't planned but at least it was clean..
anyway next mornining..
BW: 78.3kg
which is pretty promising .. if i shed a kilo of water weight .. and if i dont, it means ive got work to do yet .. at least dieting off another 1.3kg so yeah.
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I woke up thinking I need to start doing TKEs .. whenever ive done them in the past they've made my legs look more impressive. Not sure if it's cause or effect though. Probably what happens is when my knees start to feel sore and buggy i start doing TKEs and the reason my knees felt sore and buggy is cos im doing volume with heavier weight which is what made my legs bigger. But anyways, im goiing with my subconscious on this ..
Also need stronger feet. Last 2 times i played basketball i sprained my Left ankle and Right ankle respectiively. Part of me beliievs this is due to the extra training iive been doing ... dead legs from squats and sprints and stuff not being as fresh but also my feet not recovering as quickly (yet) .. so need to figure out a game plan on this .. hate buggy ankles .. miss having perfect health just before sunday :(
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Had a revealation today. Went to ball calm and unaroused. Normally im walking wired up and jacked up on stimulants and dunking energy. Diid not do try any dunk attempts. I know that just gets me more and more wiired up. It's so bad that when im in that state ii cant even do fine motor stuff like shoot a jumpshot. If i shoot one then i will overcompensate and airball or miss the top of the backboard lol. Basketball is a game i shud play completely sedatively (spell check says nah but this shud be a word) .. ive lways this problem.. before a big game like a final or a comp i will be so wired up i cant sleep etc. it's just bad news.
noticed some track olympians being completely relaxed before their races.. which was suprising considering they sometimes have athletes getting popped for doing stims priior. i guess ii know what i have to do now. leave dunking for either after the game or another day. game day shud be about playing well, dunks unless submax take away from skill
Find whatever works for you. More often than not I have a red bull before a game. Caffeine doesn't really affect me that much but it's become part of my routine and doesn't affect me negatively. I also get into my zone/zen state/flow when I'm slightly pissed at the other team and play much better as a result.
If being calm works for you then do it. I disagree on the dunking thing though. I think the main benefit of dunking when we play is the intimidation factor for the other team. I don't see too many guys here in Aus outside of the real high levels dunking before or during games and it certainly puts the thought in the other teams mind that you are better than the average player. Whether or not that is actually true, perception becomes reality.
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Had a revealation today. Went to ball calm and unaroused. Normally im walking wired up and jacked up on stimulants and dunking energy. Diid not do try any dunk attempts. I know that just gets me more and more wiired up. It's so bad that when im in that state ii cant even do fine motor stuff like shoot a jumpshot. If i shoot one then i will overcompensate and airball or miss the top of the backboard lol. Basketball is a game i shud play completely sedatively (spell check says nah but this shud be a word) .. ive lways this problem.. before a big game like a final or a comp i will be so wired up i cant sleep etc. it's just bad news.
noticed some track olympians being completely relaxed before their races.. which was suprising considering they sometimes have athletes getting popped for doing stims priior. i guess ii know what i have to do now. leave dunking for either after the game or another day. game day shud be about playing well, dunks unless submax take away from skill
Find whatever works for you. More often than not I have a red bull before a game. Caffeine doesn't really affect me that much but it's become part of my routine and doesn't affect me negatively. I also get into my zone/zen state/flow when I'm slightly pissed at the other team and play much better as a result.
If being calm works for you then do it. I disagree on the dunking thing though. I think the main benefit of dunking when we play is the intimidation factor for the other team. I don't see too many guys here in Aus outside of the real high levels dunking before or during games and it certainly puts the thought in the other teams mind that you are better than the average player. Whether or not that is actually true, perception becomes reality.
I agree with Coges that planning to never dunk is unfortunate because there is nothing like an in-game dunk...
However... you are on to something...
You clearly have learned some tricks as far as dunking and bodyweight and stimulation... As you are stating the mindset of "peak jumping" and "peak basketball skill" do not go together. Not at all.
You are calling it submax which I don't agree with - consider it sub optimal. If you want to be the best basketball player you can be you have to get used to the fact that you are going to have to settle into a suboptimal amount of vertical that you play basketball with...
One of your tricks is carb-cycling and mini-starvation. That's fine and good but a basketball player should never ever use the word refeed! When Ray Allen became one of the best shooters in the world he maintained a bodyweight that was in a range of 2-3 pounds. You are not doing this at all!
That's fine and good for peaking for competition. What you are doing is done by many high jumpers and long jumpers - they cut carbs and hardly eat and even take diuretics like calcium citrate that don't show up on drug screens for important competitions. Dropping 10 pounds in a week can be the difference between jumping 7'5 and jumping 7'8. This is what you have realized.
But high jumpers don't constantly do this like you do because it's a terrible state to be in all the time to make long term gains. Figure out what you have learned for peaking and use it sparingly when you get to a dunk contest - cut carbs, cut water, stim out, use hypergravity and jump as high as you can. But you can't exist in that state if you want to be good at basketball. I have done similar things, cut weight, used the weight vest, taken it off and been able to get ridiculous in game dunks at my height.... They are very impressive.. But if I play full court ball with competition in this state I basically run the fast break, play defense, rebound and cut to the hoop for dunks... I don't try to get pretty or do stepbacks and even reverse layups become hard because I don't know my jumping ability well enough to time things...
You can either relegate yourself to being that athletic role player or dedicate yourself to basketball which requires a stable bodyweight (you are saved by not having muscle so you have little glycogen and your refeeds are only a few pounds - if I cut and refeed it can be 20lbs over night...) and a stable level of stimulation... In the long term not being glycogen depleted is what is going to help you lose the female body fat stores, build muscle and become a better player...
That's not to say you can't dunk in this state... It's just suboptimal... You will still get moments where you are bouncy and feel great in games, they just will have to come to you and won't always be there. This is a choice you have to make - be the best at basketball and make long term gains or keep worrying about cutting weight and peaking vertical constantly.
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the word you were looking for is "sedately" :lololol:
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BS 6x110, 4x117.5, 6x110, 6x107.5, 6x105
Sprints 100m x 5 (best time was 13:80; PR new exercise)
OHP 5x55, 4x55, 3-4Fx55, 6x50
Weighted Chinup 3x6x91.5(LPR)
Lat Pull Down 3x8
Cable Row 3x12
BW: 78.6kg
Notes:
Ded. Stood under the bar for like 5 minutes contemplating doing a 5th set with 102.5kg but i couldnt unrack it.. just too daunting. Thought to 'save' it for sprinting or something but im not sure if im gna do that anyway .. the weather is good though.
Anyway why the fuck cant i beat 4x117.5 .. the 4th rep is decidedly ugly that i decide against trying 5th but maybe i shud just do the ugliest make i can to progress. idk.
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Started doing sprints proper .. not that interval stuff but all out ME sprints with plenty of recovery inbetween. I like it. First imrpessions are that i run out of juice in the last 5-10m? That's prob a fitness thing but otherwise i was surprised i could manage even that. Last wk i did 6x100 but wiith 25s rest and that was tough to get under 20s times. My best time was prob better today, the rep before the 13:80, but i pressed the wrong button on the gymboss. Next time i'll remmeber to take a stopwatch.
questions ...
what shud i aim for in terms of a goal for summer for measurable improvements? What can i hope for?
and im doing sprints to build reactivity, right? lifting weights to build strength/mass ... and practicing dunking/jumping to build movement efficiency/skill .. is this correct?
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Had a revealation today. Went to ball calm and unaroused. Normally im walking wired up and jacked up on stimulants and dunking energy. Diid not do try any dunk attempts. I know that just gets me more and more wiired up. It's so bad that when im in that state ii cant even do fine motor stuff like shoot a jumpshot. If i shoot one then i will overcompensate and airball or miss the top of the backboard lol. Basketball is a game i shud play completely sedatively (spell check says nah but this shud be a word) .. ive lways this problem.. before a big game like a final or a comp i will be so wired up i cant sleep etc. it's just bad news.
noticed some track olympians being completely relaxed before their races.. which was suprising considering they sometimes have athletes getting popped for doing stims priior. i guess ii know what i have to do now. leave dunking for either after the game or another day. game day shud be about playing well, dunks unless submax take away from skill
Find whatever works for you. More often than not I have a red bull before a game. Caffeine doesn't really affect me that much but it's become part of my routine and doesn't affect me negatively. I also get into my zone/zen state/flow when I'm slightly pissed at the other team and play much better as a result.
If being calm works for you then do it. I disagree on the dunking thing though. I think the main benefit of dunking when we play is the intimidation factor for the other team. I don't see too many guys here in Aus outside of the real high levels dunking before or during games and it certainly puts the thought in the other teams mind that you are better than the average player. Whether or not that is actually true, perception becomes reality.
I *think* you shud be able to switch it on and off. If there is an aggressive switch, you dont wanna go to it 100% of the time during a game. Can you be aggressive on defense going for a block? Or rebound? Yes! But will you be aggressive when you catch the ball going into a jumpshot? Probably not. Being able to switch on and switch off is prob the most useful ability. Also being able to switch off after the game is important. Good athletes can go from alert and switched on and off at will and into parasympathetic mode after the game. Is this a trainable quality? I believe in one's ability to control the mind with discipline and dedication over a prolonged period of working at it. Def need to explore this more.
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I agree with Coges that planning to never dunk is unfortunate because there is nothing like an in-game dunk...
However... you are on to something...
You clearly have learned some tricks as far as dunking and bodyweight and stimulation... As you are stating the mindset of "peak jumping" and "peak basketball skill" do not go together. Not at all.
You are calling it submax which I don't agree with - consider it sub optimal. If you want to be the best basketball player you can be you have to get used to the fact that you are going to have to settle into a suboptimal amount of vertical that you play basketball with...
An in-game dunk would be amazing. But it's not happening any time now. My legs are just not quick enough. Ive accumulated enough fatigue that my reaction time is long and there is no way i can get a game dunk. Too slow. If you guys remember last month i described getting like 5-10 dunk atttempts in a pickup game ... i can get back there -- it was bc i was focusing mainly on bball and my reaction time was low from not being too fatigued. So I dont mind passing up the opportunity because it's not realistic to dunk. A few times in the last few weeks ive found myself thinking if i was fresher right now, i'd be trying to dunk. Instead i find by the time i gather and collect myself the defender is in my face and the dunk window closed. It's a milliseconds thing .. diff btw being able to dunk in-game and having the defender swarm you before you can even start the dunk.
What i was talking about was dunking during warmups. Usually you try to get yourself 'going' by dunking just before hte game.. throwing down some before tipoff. That's what im avoiding. First off all, it's so dumb when you cant play well after setting yourself up apart by being able to dunk. So that's one of the reasons im going to stop. I'd rather get underestimated and play well than overestimated and play like shit. Dont care about winning or losing the mind game, i only care about how i perform relatively to my ability and getting too wired up hurts my game more than it helps. Being calm goes a long way. But you can still play well .. just being patient and calm waiting for the defender to commit to the shot before going for the block .. or boxing out the dangerous man etc. Making good sound decisions is more important than being overstimulated and not thinking (is this related to flight or fight?).
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That's not to say you can't dunk in this state... It's just suboptimal... You will still get moments where you are bouncy and feel great in games, they just will have to come to you and won't always be there. This is a choice you have to make - be the best at basketball and make long term gains or keep worrying about cutting weight and peaking vertical constantly.
Hmmm... but think when you've been dunking regularly that you can do it first thing in the morning getting out of bed cold .. when you're in that state, a dunk (just a basic one) is submax. And like doing a layup. I think its fine to dunk like that cos it doesnt overstimulate you. But going for the biggest tomawawk you can muster and hitting the rim hard -- that will def jack you up your CNS .. lol.
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One of your tricks is carb-cycling and mini-starvation. That's fine and good but a basketball player should never ever use the word refeed! When Ray Allen became one of the best shooters in the world he maintained a bodyweight that was in a range of 2-3 pounds. You are not doing this at all! That's fine and good for peaking for competition. What you are doing is done by many high jumpers and long jumpers - they cut carbs and hardly eat and even take diuretics like calcium citrate that don't show up on drug screens for important competitions. Dropping 10 pounds in a week can be the difference between jumping 7'5 and jumping 7'8. This is what you have realized.
I absolutely agree with you that you can't play at your best (or even close to it) when you're doing these tricks. There isnt really a place for it in-season if you care about winning. Doing it to get to a peak is fine but not as a long term strategy even if it's always intended as a temporary one (once i get to X i will stop .. ).
But high jumpers don't constantly do this like you do because it's a terrible state to be in all the time to make long term gains. Figure out what you have learned for peaking and use it sparingly when you get to a dunk contest - cut carbs, cut water, stim out, use hypergravity and jump as high as you can. But you can't exist in that state if you want to be good at basketball. I have done similar things, cut weight, used the weight vest, taken it off and been able to get ridiculous in game dunks at my height.... They are very impressive.. But if I play full court ball with competition in this state I basically run the fast break, play defense, rebound and cut to the hoop for dunks... I don't try to get pretty or do stepbacks and even reverse layups become hard because I don't know my jumping ability well enough to time things...
You can either relegate yourself to being that athletic role player or dedicate yourself to basketball which requires a stable bodyweight (you are saved by not having muscle so you have little glycogen and your refeeds are only a few pounds - if I cut and refeed it can be 20lbs over night...) and a stable level of stimulation... In the long term not being glycogen depleted is what is going to help you lose the female body fat stores, build muscle and become a better player...
I love all those tricks. They're amazing. But they're staying firmly in the toolbox! I wanna see how far i can with just basics. For example right now im not using creatine. Just simple dieting and training hard. Once ive gotten somewhere i feel is decent i will employ the tricks .. but i dont think i am using them right now. When i say a refeed it deosnt mean ive been restricting carbs especially a lot otherwise .. it just means i eat MORE carbs after or during heavy training days. i say heavy to mean active not necessarily weights related. so on a day i lift weights, run sprints, maybe dunk etc i will eat more carbs. That's not a refeed as such in the context of a cyclical lowcarb diet. But im abusing the terminology all the same so i apologise for the confusion...
Right now im getting in shape and adding mass to my body and also getting leaner ... so ive got a good thing going. Will ride it as long as i can. Then peak (use some tricks you mentuioned). I know it's not goign to last, eventually you have to pick and choose one but for now im able to improve several areas simultaneously.
really hoping sprints will help me though..
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I love all those tricks. They're amazing. But they're staying firmly in the toolbox! I wanna see how far i can with just basics. For example right now im not using creatine. Just simple dieting and training hard. Once ive gotten somewhere i feel is decent i will employ the tricks .. but i dont think i am using them right now. When i say a refeed it deosnt mean ive been restricting carbs especially a lot otherwise .. it just means i eat MORE carbs after or during heavy training days. i say heavy to mean active not necessarily weights related. so on a day i lift weights, run sprints, maybe dunk etc i will eat more carbs. That's not a refeed as such in the context of a cyclical lowcarb diet. But im abusing the terminology all the same so i apologise for the confusion...
Ehhh... Well the level of "tricks" I described was pretty maximal... But say I described a 10/10 bodyweight/diet manipulation protocol for peaking... I'll admit your not there... But, my point is that your at a 5/10 which is still too high for long term progress...
Right now im getting in shape and adding mass to my body and also getting leaner ... so ive got a good thing going.
really hoping sprints will help me though..
If your truly simultaneously doing those things then you are just a natural beast. Not saying it's impossible... Just saying at your current level (your no longer a beginner) it's hard to imagine... I do see you repeatedly failing on adding weight to your squat - you don't think a restrictive diet is holding you back here?
That said... I think you should do one of two things... If your pretty busy in life... Keep at what your doing... IMO weekend warriors or people who can't train as often need to be on the most restrictive of diets and they can still progress with limited training although it will be slow...
However, if you have the free time I think you are ready for what I call "training camp transformation". This is what you should do if you want to add in sprinting in earnest. Basically... Up the work to more than you think you can handle - overreach to a ridiculous degree on all movements that are not extremely reactive AND up that calories. For a lean athlete like yourself calories are pretty much steroids if you work hard enough to deserve them... Add in sprint volume, lifting frequency, etc while adding calories and you won't gain fat and will become a beast... It does take time out your day but if your at a point in life where you can do this or have an upcoming point in life where this is possible you won't regret blasting for 4-8 weeks at ridiculous volume... Basically, I would describe your athleticism like a skinny high school football player who is starting college football the USA. Seeing what happens when those kids go through summer workouts and get to add college food ad libitum is pretty amazing... Come in at 6'3 ~170 and come out at 6'3 ~185 and jumping higher, running faster, being way stronger... You could do this but it would involve training 1-2 times a day at pretty high intensity...
Also... At least in the states women REALLY seem to prefer 6'3 190 over 6'3 170... First level of body discrimination for women is height (short guys don't get love) and second is density (skinny dudes struggle)... So that might help you in other aspects of life.... Although, despite the happiness I would get seeing you post about your success with the ladies... It's about 1% of what I would get if you would post your first windmill dunk... So yeah forget that... Women will probably distract you anyway. Carry on.
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Had a revealation today. Went to ball calm and unaroused. Normally im walking wired up and jacked up on stimulants and dunking energy. Diid not do try any dunk attempts. I know that just gets me more and more wiired up. It's so bad that when im in that state ii cant even do fine motor stuff like shoot a jumpshot. If i shoot one then i will overcompensate and airball or miss the top of the backboard lol. Basketball is a game i shud play completely sedatively (spell check says nah but this shud be a word) .. ive lways this problem.. before a big game like a final or a comp i will be so wired up i cant sleep etc. it's just bad news.
noticed some track olympians being completely relaxed before their races.. which was suprising considering they sometimes have athletes getting popped for doing stims priior. i guess ii know what i have to do now. leave dunking for either after the game or another day. game day shud be about playing well, dunks unless submax take away from skill
Find whatever works for you. More often than not I have a red bull before a game. Caffeine doesn't really affect me that much but it's become part of my routine and doesn't affect me negatively. I also get into my zone/zen state/flow when I'm slightly pissed at the other team and play much better as a result.
If being calm works for you then do it. I disagree on the dunking thing though. I think the main benefit of dunking when we play is the intimidation factor for the other team. I don't see too many guys here in Aus outside of the real high levels dunking before or during games and it certainly puts the thought in the other teams mind that you are better than the average player. Whether or not that is actually true, perception becomes reality.
I *think* you shud be able to switch it on and off. If there is an aggressive switch, you dont wanna go to it 100% of the time during a game. Can you be aggressive on defense going for a block? Or rebound? Yes! But will you be aggressive when you catch the ball going into a jumpshot? Probably not. Being able to switch on and switch off is prob the most useful ability. Also being able to switch off after the game is important. Good athletes can go from alert and switched on and off at will and into parasympathetic mode after the game. Is this a trainable quality? I believe in one's ability to control the mind with discipline and dedication over a prolonged period of working at it. Def need to explore this more.
I agree that you can't be aggressive the entire game. It's the aggressive mindset that gets me in the zone even though I won't be aggressive on every move. For me that mindset is the difference between 2 and 20 points and getting 5 or 15-20 rebounds.
As far as getting into parasympathetic mode as soon as possible check out the Wim Hof breathing method. Does this beautifully.
http://highexistence.com/the-wim-hof-method-revealed-how-to-consciously-control-your-immune-system/
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Todday I am sold on your program. Work is bit crazy right now but give me a couple of weeks and im 100% in. Also i've started talking to a really promising girl as of yesterday and im gna try not mess things up like last time by being overkeen and killing her interes by ceasing to be a challenge. We have good chemistry and things are positive .. she ticks my boxes .. is smart, educated, decent and nice and i even find her attractive which is rare for girls i wanna marry as opposed to date. Will post here before i make any major moves as a sanity check!
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BS 6x110, 6x112.5(LPR), 6x110, 6x110, 6x107.5 (volume LPR at 30 reps)
BP 5x80(LPR), 5x79.5(LPR), 5x77.5, 6x75(LPR)
RDL 8x135(LPR), 6x140(LPR), 10x150(LPR; hook)
BHT 8x150(LPR), 6x160(LPR)
BW: 77.6kg / 171.1lb (LPR!)
Notes:
Last night before going to bed i caught myself in the bathroom mirror while changing and i looked suddenly ripped ... cud see my abz and striatations around my torso clearly .. so i knew something had happened. Today the scale registered and skinfolds are smaller too. Im not far from getting to 77kg now. Just have to keep trainign hard and eating clean. Also sprint regularly.
Forced myself to do a 5th set of 6. It's aite, it was messy but i got it. I want to do 5 sets of 6 above 110kg (2 big plates a side milestone for me) on saturday. Then the following week i can go for the big 6x6!
In another news, we're playing the top ranked team on thursday night. Mean whle im gonna be coming off a volume workout while cutting and working long hours. Shud be interesting. I may not take it too seriously cos injuries can happen and i odnt need that shit right now
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Got too late and i didnt get a chance to do curls.. was due to crack the big 60kg milestone ... lol.. will try fit it in next workout. Grow little mammals grow!
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Yesterday's eating:
1 shake, grilled chicken burger from hjs
1 52g mars bar
250mL gatorade
1 shake
2 chicken breasts
triple cheeseburger from hjs (-2 slices cheese)
3 slices of pizza (2 chicken)
1 52g mars bar
1L of cookies & cream icecream
Loads of protein. Prob 250-300g? not sure bout calories but i prob went over maintenance there .. but since i was carb depleted it prob didn't matter fatloss wise. Anyway .. next refeed is saturday.
next day bw was 78.6kg (i think .. memory is hazy) .. so that's promising .. i usually gain a kilo of water weight following a refeed.. which means im on track to stabilise round 77kg ...
Today's eating (regular rest day meals)
fast til 5pm then have a shake
9-10pm i'll have 2 chicken breasts and a shake, some carbs (prob bread)
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what's HJS?
shakes, grilled chicken burger, triple cheeseburgers, pizza, and cookies & cream icecream.
solid. ;f
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what's HJS?
shakes, grilled chicken burger, triple cheeseburgers, pizza, and cookies & cream icecream.
solid. ;f
Hungry Jacks which is our version of Burger King)
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^haha thanks Coges.
Startna come off that refeed .. 78.1kg / 172.2lb today. It's been like 3 weeks or more since i dunked (!!). I am thinking i shud force myself to try, just to see how bad ive gotten? Will try.
Have training scheduled today and possibly a game tonight ... shud be a good day ...
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BS 4x120(LPR), 1x125
¼BS 6x150(warmup PR), 5x180(PR), 8x160(PR)
JS 6x70, 6x100(LPR)
Push Press 3x6x62.5(LPR)
BW: 78.1kg
game to come
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Game was bomb. We played the top team. Lost by 12 points in the end but the whole time i thought we were winning! score doesnt tell the full story tho, we kinda let it get away from us in the last 5 minutes, ppl werent playing defense and it made me sad. lol. im going to play every game as though we're winning, makes me more positive! We had 5 and they had 8 players. No subs for us. I was flat out protecting the rim. Got a few bs foul calls so i had to turn it down in teh 2nd half but we were right in there at the half, outscored them even. Ran out of steam though ... i had 2 fg attempts and made good on both .. set a load of screens for our shooters .. they were ono fire tonight ... thankfully otherwise it could have been a one sided carnage. Im pumped, will meet them again, hopefully in the finals and they're going to lose...
i played really well... im happy, prob the best game ive played this year. And that's with all this squat fatigue while cutting. Can't wait to peak!!!!!!!!!!
love the quarter squats btw .. oh and i landed my first dunk in 3 weeks, it barely rattled in, my ankle complained so i didnt tempt fate. it will take time to get to 100% so i will be patient
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BW: 77.9kg (!!!)
So this is prob the leanest ive been since summer, i think. Still fat tho but im on the right track. I have the pressing thoughts:
1. building up my squat without regular dunking is a terrible thing
2. i shud jump regularly so squat gains convert / carry over to dunking
3. make hay while the sun is out (or while im still a fatty) - 'weighted' dunking will help me which is what this layer of adipose around me serves as
wont go crazy and do loads of dunks all at once, will gradually build up to it. but will def do a few tmr (sat) and maybe sun if i play pickup
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BW: 77.9kg (!!!)
So this is prob the leanest ive been since summer, i think. Still fat tho but im on the right track. I have the pressing thoughts:
1. building up my squat without regular dunking is a terrible thing
2. i shud jump regularly so squat gains convert / carry over to dunking
3. make hay while the sun is out (or while im still a fatty) - 'weighted' dunking will help me which is what this layer of adipose around me serves as
wont go crazy and do loads of dunks all at once, will gradually build up to it. but will def do a few tmr (sat) and maybe sun if i play pickup
No 2 is the key from what I'm now realising. Just think how good you'll be if you jump regularly as you're getting stronger and leaning out!
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BW: 78kg
Maintaining ~78kg it seems but im leaner .. so i guess i can complain but it means ive gained muscle while getting leaner ;) Not a bad deal. Weather is not great today, cold and wet. I really wanted to sprint :( May do dunks instead
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BS 6x110, 6x117.5(LPR!!; finally), 2x6x112.5(LPR), 2x6x110
OHP blah blah blah
BW: 78kg
Notes:
As i get my first hard 6x6 squat volume workout in almost 2 years, i wanted to make a note in passing that i dreamt Lance came back and posted in my log. I PR'd my vertical the followind day just from being hyped. Damn.
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Rain ruined my saturday training :( Fuck it. i'll try again tmr. Here is the plan if things go accordingly:
0. weighted chinups, lat pull downs, cable row, 60KG CHEAT CURLS
1. 100m sprints
2. dunks (if legs permit)
3. pickup
all of that shud be do-able so long as the sun comes out.. .
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Quarter squats are helping my backsquat!!!!!!!!!! My finishing strength on backsquats has improved incredibly. Im snapping them out piston like once ive gotten past the sticking point. Today my hamstrings were DED .. even warmups with 70kg indicated that much, however, so good is my glute/quad strength now i can still knock out a 6rm effort explosively (thanks to quarters). Fuck dogma .. fuck all that stupid 'ATG or nothing' bs .. it's complete nonsense.
Here is the plan for the next 8 weeks. I want 6x6x127.5kg @77kg bodyweight. I wont settle for 4 sets or 5 sets with 1 done with a belt. 6x6x127.5 @ 77kg rawdog .. no belt no wraps no creatine, no gomad, just balls. A complete list of lifts:
6x6x127.5kg bs @ 77kg
200kg bht worksets
180-200kg RDL worksets
180-200kg quarter squat worksets
After 8 weeks, the following things will still be available, unused in my toolbox: 1. creatine, 2. belt, 3. knee sleeves, 4. stimulants like synephrine and L-tyrosine and 5. Not cutting and even gaining weight.
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Going from 117.5kg x 6 to 127.5kg 6x6 in a matter of 8 weeks is just completely unrealistic imho unless you just came back from a major injury. And as T0ddday already mentioned before, the romanian deadlift is definitely not an exercise (if done correctly) which is supposed to be done for worksets of 200kg+... that doesn't make any sense... even less so when you never deadlifted that much with a normal conventional setup.
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Challenge accepted!
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Haha... that's the spirit. I mean I'm glad if you would prove me wrong. But you won't... especially considering that you plan to do this while being very conscious about not gaining or even losing bodyweight. Whatever... we'll talk again in 8 weeks. ;)
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Quarter squats are helping my backsquat!!!!!!!!!! My finishing strength on backsquats has improved incredibly. Im snapping them out piston like once ive gotten past the sticking point. Today my hamstrings were DED .. even warmups with 70kg indicated that much, however, so good is my glute/quad strength now i can still knock out a 6rm effort explosively (thanks to quarters). Fuck dogma .. fuck all that stupid 'ATG or nothing' bs .. it's complete nonsense.
Here is the plan for the next 8 weeks. I want 6x6x127.5kg @77kg bodyweight. I wont settle for 4 sets or 5 sets with 1 done with a belt. 6x6x127.5 @ 77kg rawdog .. no belt no wraps no creatine, no gomad, just balls. A complete list of lifts:
6x6x127.5kg bs @ 77kg
200kg bht worksets
180-200kg RDL worksets
180-200kg quarter squat worksets
After 8 weeks, the following things will still be available, unused in my toolbox: 1. creatine, 2. belt, 3. knee sleeves, 4. stimulants like synephrine and L-tyrosine and 5. Not cutting and even gaining weight.
Going from 117.5kg x 6 to 127.5kg 6x6 in a matter of 8 weeks is just completely unrealistic imho unless you just came back from a major injury. And as T0ddday already mentioned before, the romanian deadlift is definitely not an exercise (if done correctly) which is supposed to be done for worksets of 200kg+... that doesn't make any sense... even less so when you never deadlifted that much with a normal conventional setup.
Yeah sometimes this journal veers off into such self-congratulatory contradictory nonsense that it is hard to understand whether he is serious...
Like I'll read one post where he says "I'm looking ripped, I'm seeing abdominal striations from this highly restrictive diet."
Then the next post is "any dunk I do counts as a weighted dunk because I'm wearing this massive adipose layer around my gut."
This type of bipolar self-image of ones body is scary, tbh.
And there is am very little understanding of what a toolbox is for a jumper... He lists a lifters toolbox! The toolbox way of thinking does make sense but he has it completely backwards... Knee sleeves and a belt don't help you jump high - they make lifting safer... You don't save them up if you need them.
For god sake, you also don't save up creatine... High jumpers CUT creatine to shed body weight to peak their jump... They don't avoid creatine during an 8 week lifting block!!! I don't understand this backwards thinking at all... Do you want to jump high or lift heavy? Make a decision... Trying to handicap yourself to add a ton of weight to your squat in 8 weeks is pointless... If you wanna get to 127.5 x6x6 then just get there. Get there as fast as possible. Your an athlete. Make you strength gains quick cause they detract from other stuff... What are you saving all that stuff in your toolbox for? Clearly not jumping... It's to lift more? So you plan to handicap yourself and still achieve this squat goal and wreck you back cheating on RDLs and get to your goal and then... Break out your toolbox and... Squat more? Ok cool.
I think you could really benefit from the forum most of anyone by actually posting data... I think it would help with your strange dysmorphia and contradictory statements...
For example - you claim your looking ripped and striated. I don't believe you. You claim your fat and have a layer of adipose that needs to go. I don't believe you. I could be wrong but at most I'm wrong about one of those things. At best I'm right and your wrong on both claims and a picture is worth a thousand words. Post a pic of video.
Sometimes you claim your getting up super high and you claim a high vert even though you legs never look high in dunk videos. Other time you claim your max vert is like 26" inches. Probably somewhere in between. Video a height check. Bang your head on the rim or backboard or touch top of square or something... Get it on tape...
You claim an workset RDL of 440 pounds.... This equates to a conventional deadlift of 650+. No way you can do this (approaching 4x bw and 3x bw for RDL) and are anything close to slow at sprinting... Speaking of... How slow are you... I have no idea...
Biggest problem with your training is I can't really give advice because depending on the day you sound like a fat amatuer or a highly trained world class guy... Again I don't believe either and I'm sure your in between but I really don't know where...
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CHEAT CURLS 3x6x60(PR!)
some dunks
some pickup bball games
Sprints 6x100m(best tyme 14:08 PR; stopwatch)
LPD/cable row/band glute raises to come tonight
BW: 77.7kg / 171.3lb (LPR)
Notes
got the curl milestone out the way. now will add a 2nd arm workout but do them strict in that workout, maintain cheat curls tho
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first one is on a high rim (> 10ft)
2nd one is on a normal rim (10ft). the 2nd vid is taken at rim level btw
btw if you guys wanna follow me, pls go ahead, @maxentr0py (its a zero not an Octopus)
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As always it's impossible to tell cause and effect ....... BUT ...
i felt so 'quick' today playing ball .. was easily blowing past defender at will ..
may blame it on the sprints from last saturday?
Putting 1 + 1 together to make 3, i wonder if i can get that same bouncy feeling while sprinting after I did bounds for a while and training my PC in the weight room --> even more quickness and speed in games? Maybe.. It's all tantalising :)
Happy with training, am leaning out, getting stronger, getting fitter, getting quicker and covering all the bases (lifting, running, jumping and sports) all at once without neglecting anything. Bring on the next 8 weeks.. so pumped..
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ya i saw that 2nd one on my phone today when i wokeup.. jaja. really nice. that's a perfect camera angle too. did you have someone filming on the bleachers?
As always it's impossible to tell cause and effect ....... BUT ...
i felt so 'quick' today playing ball .. was easily blowing past defender at will ..
may blame it on the sprints from last saturday?
Putting 1 + 1 together to make 3, i wonder if i can get that same bouncy feeling while sprinting after I did bounds for a while and training my PC in the weight room --> even more quickness and speed in games? Maybe.. It's all tantalising :)
Happy with training, am leaning out, getting stronger, getting fitter, getting quicker and covering all the bases (lifting, running, jumping and sports) all at once without neglecting anything. Bring on the next 8 weeks.. so pumped..
nice!!
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Yep he was just sat there playing on his phone listening to music and i aksed him and he obliged. Worked out well that way. I felt more bouncy earlier when i dunked .. was my hand in the rim pretty deep but that clip was taken after playing about 5 pickup games so fatigue had accumulated a little. Still fun though. I am a lot fitter now .. wud not be able to touch the rim after doing 6x6 squats thhe previous day.
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BW: 78.4kg
yikes, spike up, thats 2 refeeds in a row so i guess it makes sense that i woke up looking bloated af.
Days eating
(http://i.imgur.com/WFmzQlE.png)
rest dayy ... then going hard tmr .. 6x6 squats + PC assistance shud be good
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BW: 78kg / 172lb
Seems im maintaining this bodyweight but getting leaner so whatevs. But i do need to see the scale read 77kg EVENTUALLY and sooner rather than later.. cos then i can stop this riduculous fasting on off days (see prvious post for a sample of an off day's eating.. i'll fast alll day and have a shake at 5pm).
Trainin today. I really really wanna add anothe sprint session per week. i feel like i shud be doing either shorter sprints (60m?) or intervals, maybe even 3 different sessions of 60m, 100m and ~100m intervals. Will figure it out, have to remember better to improve everything simultaneously than over-specialise in any one thing .. for now, it's all GPP.
Need more dunking as well but im working on fixing that too..
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BS 6x112.5, 4Fx120(LPR), 5x2x120(LPR)
BP 6x80(LPR), 6x79.5, 6x77.5, 6x75
RDL 8x137.5(LPR), 6x142.5(LPR), 10x152.5(LPR; hook)
BHT 8x150, 6x170(LPR)
BW: 78.0 / 172
Notes:
Didnt have a 6x6 in me today, not enough rest since saturday 6x6 and sunday bball .. lol. but it's ok, i can do them once a week and do something else tuesdays, like heavy 6x2x120kg today .. will work that up to um .. 6x2x127.5? something like that i guess.
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BW: 79kg (yikes!)
That was a dirty AF refeed last night. I finished off the icecream in teh freezer and then ate a whole load of banana bread. That was after eating dinner lol. I once figured out that a day like this costs 4 more days of dieting. The opportunistic cost is the extra days of dieting to make up the deficit and the days to diet offf the extra fat gained. So yeah not good. But hopefully it will get me back on track training-wise .. cos i was starting to struggle a little.
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BW: 78.1kg (woohoo)
This is the LEANEST ive been since March! Jiggle test confirms diminished skinfolds. I'm getting it done. But 77.0kg continues to evade me. All good, i can't complain that im not losing weight when im clearly leaning out -- it just means i'm replacing fat with muscle which cant be that bad ... hah.
trainin 2 day, beautiful day, wish i cud sprint but i need my legs fresh for saturday. May do it anyway. Game tonight also. Will do my first dunk workout in over a month .. aiming for 6 sets of quality dunks - doubles or triples with decent recovery.
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BS 6x110, 2x110B, 2x122.5B, 2x127.5(LPR), 0Fx132.5B
QBS 6x150B, 6x190B(PR), 8x170B(PR)
PP 6x63.5(LPR), 5Fx63.5
JS 8x70, 8x110(LPR)
BW: 78.1kg / 172.2lb
Notes:
last squat workout took its toll. cud not hope to PR so i thought to experiment with the belt and it was pretty awesome. I'm prob going to use a belt on thursdays from here, quarter squats respond well to it as did the heavier belt BS.
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THere ws no game (The other team didnt show up) so we played 3v3. Was a good run. Got about a dozen dunks total (maybe). Not bad, decent effort. Keen to peak in around 3 weeks, have orded a new weight vest too .. shud be interesting to see where i end up
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BW: 79kg (yikes)
Post refeed last night. Kinda sad, my childhood friend passed away yesterday, he battled drug abuse but it finally won. Couldnlt sleep, just reminiscing all the memories.
I didnt plan on it but ive settled into an EOD refeed fashion which is cool for sustaining progress, but i know deep down i can do without them too. Maybe once a week is good. Will sort it out for next week, this one has been too crazy
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Sorry to hear about that mate. Horrible when we lose people so young.
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Sorry to hear about that mate. Horrible when we lose people so young.
+1, i've talked about it on here before but my youngest brother struggles with drug addiction and i worry all the time that he's going to take that one fatal dose. sorry for you and for your buddy's family that he's gone.
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really sucks man :/
sorry to hear.
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:( Sorry for your loss!
I hate drugs. I grew up in a low socioeconomic area and half my friends ended up involved with drugs. When I was in high school I lost a friend to an overdose. He took fantasy and had a few beers (alcohol + fantasy is a lethal combination) and he went to sleep and suffocated in his own vomit. My friends that haven't passed away have just wasted their potential by being drug fucked or locked up. Ice especially is pretty much an epidemic in Australia atm. It's such an easy drug to get addicted to, but people are just either ignorant or peer pressured into trying it socially and it spirals downwards from there.
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Bad way to go :( Most of my friend group in high school did dope
One of these former friends just got out from a rehab center. I talked to him over facebook, it's painful as hell. No matter what conversation I would try to strike up, it would always come back to his wanting to commit suicide and having nothing to live for. It's so hard not being able to do anything for someone you care about.
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BS 6x112.5, 5Fx120(LPR), 2x6x115(LPR), 2x6x112.5(LPR)
Sprints 6x100m
OHP 4x57.5, 4x57, 4x57.5, 3x3x47.5
Weighted Curl up 3x5x96.6, 2x5x91.6
Lall pulldowns 9,8,8
Cable row 12,12, 12
strict curls 2x8x30(LPR; new ex)
BW: 79kg
Notes:
Good squats, all things considered ... i'll take it.
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Thanks guys. i lost touch with him when my family moved houses and i was thinkign how we were around then best mates, he lived 2 doors down the road. We used to have impromptu backyward dunk contests, play video games, listen to music, all of that stuff. spend a lot of time together. he may be the best friend i ever had. I remember when he started doing harder stuff when we were changing after PE class and a needle fell out of his backpack. I knew deep down he was on a bad path but i wonder if i hadnt moved, if i had the sense to say something to him then whether it would have had an effect. maybe i cud have told him i loved him and didnt wanna see him hurt. But as it is, didnt say anything at all, i just let him be. He never forced drugs on me, when others tried to peer pressure me he'd stick up for me and say no he doesn't do that stuff. I never tried to rekindle with him .. i thought we had noting in common anymore .. but i still remember all the good things bout him, how he lived his life without bound, jumping off roofs, surfing, he never walked almos always on a scateboard, one which im happy that i had given him. such a waste of a life .. he was charismatic, good looking, decent, clever, funny, down to earth and a great friend and i will miss him. Drugs suck.
BW: 79.1kg
Ate a ton yesterday. I think ive got it out of my system. will be doing refeeds on saturday only, esp since im only doing squat volume then and tues will be less voluminous. Btw im in love with Mcdonalds hamburgers limited time promo of $2/each. I had 4 of them yesterday. Each time i go, I have 2 of them with extra meat and they're just so amazing i cant describe it. love the little onion and lack of cheese which i dont have to worry about macros. I think for my birthday (mid sept) i'll have like a dozen of them or something after training haha.
Need more fitness, think i will add a session of running on the treadmill .. once a week shud be better than noting just for covering GPP. Also keen to do bounds ... will fit them in this week. Happy with the balance ive got in training!
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Giving myself 2wks to peak. I wont get 40" - i know that. I dont have enough 'stuff' accumulated to warrant that. But. If i do peak, it will be interesting to see where i can reach. The milestones mid sept are birthday/start of basketball season/finals of the current lax league are all pretty much the sme time together. I am not in shape yet, missing is fitness, a bit more strength and mass, a kilo or two of extra adipose than necessary and almost no skills whatsover. I cant even shoot a reliable 3 anymore, i havent practiced it since i got ill.
so will do the following things in the next 2-3 wks:
- continue to build my squat towards 6x6x127.5
- add a session of treadmill running (1x, 20mins / week)
- keep cutting towards 77kg (with 1x weekly refeeds on saturdays)
- add some quality dunking sessions (at least 1x a week of around 20-40 reps)
- peak around mid sept (for dunking/bball athleticism if it wasnt clear haha)
- use a weighted vest but be smart about it this time .. dont need to go crazy, weighted dunks around 85kg while remaining powerful is better than heavier but with too weird form to resememble/carry over to normal dunking
think that's the lot .. and oh yeh, i was thinking if i wanna strict curl 60kg i shud cheat curl 75kg or something, so will keep working on that too
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BW: 78.3kg (!!)
This is the leanest ive been in ages even tho the scale doesn't register it, my skinfolds do. I didn't realise it but Mr Olympia this year is the same weekend as the milestones mentioned before. It's funny how motivating it is to see progress, makes me wanna work harder and get it done. But if i had looked softer / fatter / heavier today, i wud have been like fk it, but instead now im more dialed it than ever. Wanna peak by my birthday weekend for mr olympia / finals / start of summer season in the best league ive ever played in. Exciting times ahead.
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A note on gear. I think my squat will benefit from using knee sleeves more than others b/c i have small knee joints and calves and hamstrings (near the knee). In comparison my thighs are HUGE. So as the weight gets heavier my squat overwhelms my knees but if i can use knee sleeves, while it wont get much assistance the way pls get out of wraps, i will still benefit from more stability provided by the sleeves, if that makes sense. Never used a pair of sleeves tho, so idk if this bears out irl. anyway, am not touching them yet but something for later. But the discrepancy btw my upper and lower leg is stark and it does suggest i will benefit from them.
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BS 6x110, 6x3x120(LPR)
BP 3x6x80(LPR)
DUNKS ~ 15 including weighted dunks (+10kg; ~92kg)
RDL - aborted
BHT -skipped
CHEAT CURL - meh
BW: 78.3kg
Notes
When every single warmup was hard af .. im happy i got my planned worksets in. Woohoo.
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I like the new vest, it almost feels like im not even wearing it (!) .. which i dont understand cos when i got my first one back in march it was a burden wearing it even with like 10kg. maybe it's cos my back is stronger now and i dont have a problem with +10kg? idk. the cons of this vest are that i CANNOT wear it in public discreetly. maybe with a big baggy hoody but maybe not even then. i dont know how im going to be able to use it outside lol. another downside is i cannot shoot or dunk 2 hands with it on :( so that means it limits the use .. but one hand movements (dunks, blocks etc) shud be ok. not that i cud wear it in a pickup game tho.
was able to dunk wiithout any problems at 81.4+10kg .. around 92kg total weight ..even tho initial unweighted dunks were challenging, i got enough movement efficiency quickly and was able to improve through the workout
i was thinking how do i make weighted vest training useful for me for vertical .. shud i be doing jumps w/o a ball but at a target or something? i might rig up a makeshift vertec i can PR every week and therefore improve ..
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just don't do what i did last winter and accidentally wear it into a secure government building. foolproof recipe for embarrassment.
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just don't do what i did last winter and accidentally wear it into a secure government building. foolproof recipe for embarrassment.
lmao. story time?
here is a vid
?taken-by=maxentr0py
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just don't do what i did last winter and accidentally wear it into a secure government building. foolproof recipe for embarrassment.
wut?? eek. ya it looks like a bullet proof vest. daaamn!
i always leave my knife in the car when going into a building or voting area etc.. i hate not having it on me though. feel naked.
just don't do what i did last winter and accidentally wear it into a secure government building. foolproof recipe for embarrassment.
lmao. story time?
here is a vid
?taken-by=maxentr0py
you're wearing a vest here? can't even tell. damn. good vest i guess.
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No vest there mate. It's quite prominent. Will post video soon
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if i had a 98" reach i could almost get my elbow in the rim.
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if i had a 98" reach i could almost get my elbow in the rim.
that would be amazing
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BW: 79.2kg (!!)
reminder i want 6x6x127.5 @ 77kg ... not 6x6x112.5 @ 79kg .. you fat fuck
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The best lift im not doing must be rack pulls ... irealised after failing my RDL workset last night (my grip gave way) and i cudnt rack pull the bar off the pins .. . felt impossibly heavy, unmovably. so now i just gotta figure out a way to program these bitches in .. they will do wonders for me. also i switched back to the old bar. it's thicker and better for hook grip
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if i had a 98" reach i could almost get my elbow in the rim.
Now now, as the good lord says: thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's standing reach. Or something like that.
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Got decent quad doms .. hamstrings are also sore but that's not new lol. it is remarkable that my quads be sore since they were completely fresh after the weekends 6x6 squats + sprints. i think my first weighted dunks are telling me something useful, im a quad dominant jumper ... being able to put on a 10kg weight vest and land dunks on the same day means the quarter squats etc have been working in getting my jumping muscles stronger. so my hunch that i need more quad (mass & strength) is gaining confidence.
game tmr and mo squatting (bs, belted bs, quarter squats, jump squats) followed by dunks and a game .. yikes.
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BW: 78.4kg (thats better)
feel pretty fresh, just a bit tender lower back but otherwise ready to beast training. will update
BS 6x120(LPR!), 2x125B(warmup LPR), 2x130B(LPR)
QBS 8x160(+10kg,+2reps), 8x192.5(PR; +2.5kg, +2reps), 8x172.5(+2.5kg)
Push Press 2x6x65(LPR)
JS 2x6x110(LPR)
Notes:
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Watching my friend's dunk video on insta, i noticed how he has a strong leg kick to initiate his dunk. I still to this day have zero kick in mine. Am i leaving inches on the table?? how do i fix this
edit. im watching it more closely and he begins his dunk with the leg kick and arm swing (from the bottom) simultaneously. obviously this is an self oop. maybe i need to practice lob dunks cos then i can have more freedom to work on my technique. lbss has mentioned i dont use arm swing eiother(?) so idk. i have room to improve
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I don't understand, is this a single leg thing? Can you post it?
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I don't understand, is this a single leg thing? Can you post it?
check pm
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Oh I see. Proper arm swing is definitely important, but that sort of midair butt kick movement won't actually give you any extra meaningful height. Any leg swing/kick back momentum happens after he leaves the ground, so there's nothing to act against. I guess it's similar to the hitch kick in long jump, which doesn't give you any added force off the ground or height but is the preferred technique probably for optimal landing position by stopping excessive forward rotation (to my knowledge, I don't know of any studies comparing the main landing styles but pretty much everyone hitch kicks at the top).
But I think what you're getting at is is this sort of movement correlated with better jumps/better jumpers? Usually you see pretty explosive guys doing it. Hand-waving here but maybe it's a by-product of strong hamstring/glute contraction in the plant/take-off.
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Hmmm. So what do you suggest. Shud I do more jumps without a ball to get a more efficient technique? I'm def starting to suspect the ball and the rim being the culprits in holding me back in mediocrity. I realised that in the accelerometer thread. You guys can get a good workout by jumping at the rim b/c getting a palm over the rim is 30"+ palm touch but for me an SVJ to the rim is only 22" and a wrist touch is a nothing special 27" or whtaever. If i have ambitions of cracking 40" - then jumps at the rim wont mean anything unless im touching deep down my arm but this isn't as really a good workout cos you dont jump up to touch a target with your forearm (who does?) - it works better when you're tryina touch a target with your hand. I get that now. Unless i figure out a way to make a rim 12" higher, it wont be a good workout. But i shud be doing more jumps without a ball (and not talking about jump squats or depth jumps) - so how do i make a good workout with these restrictions? The reason i wanted a device to measure my vertical was to get feedback so i can PR my leap in a workout and get better at jumping over time.
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I'm def starting to suspect the ball and the rim being the culprits in holding me back in mediocrity.
Lol
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I'm def starting to suspect the ball and the rim being the culprits in holding me back in mediocrity.
Lol
it's a conspiracy :lololol:
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Ok the good news ...
bw: 78.6kg (post refeed PR!!)
so if my calculations are correct, im withing 600g of my goal weight of 77kg -- assuming that i gain 1kg of water weight post refeeds. Last night i ate a ton of carbs in tryna get myself recovered for saturday's marathon 6x6 squats + and other shit including sprints, bhts, chinups, cable rows, lat pull downs, curls.... :o yikes.
im going to make some changes though. this is the last week of fasting during rest days. i find at work i cant focus and the hunger is starting to get to me. i cud add in l-tyrosine but im not sure i wanna go down that path? well. so i will start to stop the longer fasts next week during rest days. and also add more calories (a shake is too little lol) ... but i still wanna see the scale read 77kg the day i wake up to squat 6x6x127.5 -- this just means i have to be stricter on active days (cut out the sugar) and take a longer term approach to seeing scale changes (order of 3 weeks at a time?). ok lets get it done.
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Hmmm. So what do you suggest. Shud I do more jumps without a ball to get a more efficient technique?
Yes!
I realised that in the accelerometer thread. You guys can get a good workout by jumping at the rim b/c getting a palm over the rim is 30"+ palm touch but for me an SVJ to the rim is only 22" and a wrist touch is a nothing special 27" or whtaever. If i have ambitions of cracking 40" - then jumps at the rim wont mean anything unless im touching deep down my arm but this isn't as really a good workout cos you dont jump up to touch a target with your forearm (who does?) - it works better when you're tryina touch a target with your hand. I get that now. Unless i figure out a way to make a rim 12" higher, it wont be a good workout. But i shud be doing more jumps without a ball (and not talking about jump squats or depth jumps) - so how do i make a good workout with these restrictions? The reason i wanted a device to measure my vertical was to get feedback so i can PR my leap in a workout and get better at jumping over time.
Sure that makes sense, for you a better target would be distance from the top of the square or alternatively, head to the backboard. Both have set heights and are more in your range. Or use the best accelerometer you can get, I wasn't trying to completely badmouth those vert devices in the other thread, they just don't really add much value but if money is no object and they can at least give you a consistent measure then go for one of those.
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Hmmm. So what do you suggest. Shud I do more jumps without a ball to get a more efficient technique?
Yes!
I realised that in the accelerometer thread. You guys can get a good workout by jumping at the rim b/c getting a palm over the rim is 30"+ palm touch but for me an SVJ to the rim is only 22" and a wrist touch is a nothing special 27" or whtaever. If i have ambitions of cracking 40" - then jumps at the rim wont mean anything unless im touching deep down my arm but this isn't as really a good workout cos you dont jump up to touch a target with your forearm (who does?) - it works better when you're tryina touch a target with your hand. I get that now. Unless i figure out a way to make a rim 12" higher, it wont be a good workout. But i shud be doing more jumps without a ball (and not talking about jump squats or depth jumps) - so how do i make a good workout with these restrictions? The reason i wanted a device to measure my vertical was to get feedback so i can PR my leap in a workout and get better at jumping over time.
Sure that makes sense, for you a better target would be distance from the top of the square or alternatively, head to the backboard. Both have set heights and are more in your range. Or use the best accelerometer you can get, I wasn't trying to completely badmouth those vert devices in the other thread, they just don't really add much value but if money is no object and they can at least give you a consistent measure then go for one of those.
No you're right, jump and stretch for a distant target is the most natural way to get the body to figure out how to jump higher and higher. But if rim is too low, then yes top of square is a better height to aim for - but it's not a good target and neither is head on backboard (really?!) - these are terrible targets to aim for. I'm gna figure this out. Have something in mind .. will see it through and report back.
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Hmmm. So what do you suggest. Shud I do more jumps without a ball to get a more efficient technique?
Yes!
I realised that in the accelerometer thread. You guys can get a good workout by jumping at the rim b/c getting a palm over the rim is 30"+ palm touch but for me an SVJ to the rim is only 22" and a wrist touch is a nothing special 27" or whtaever. If i have ambitions of cracking 40" - then jumps at the rim wont mean anything unless im touching deep down my arm but this isn't as really a good workout cos you dont jump up to touch a target with your forearm (who does?) - it works better when you're tryina touch a target with your hand. I get that now. Unless i figure out a way to make a rim 12" higher, it wont be a good workout. But i shud be doing more jumps without a ball (and not talking about jump squats or depth jumps) - so how do i make a good workout with these restrictions? The reason i wanted a device to measure my vertical was to get feedback so i can PR my leap in a workout and get better at jumping over time.
Sure that makes sense, for you a better target would be distance from the top of the square or alternatively, head to the backboard. Both have set heights and are more in your range. Or use the best accelerometer you can get, I wasn't trying to completely badmouth those vert devices in the other thread, they just don't really add much value but if money is no object and they can at least give you a consistent measure then go for one of those.
No you're right, jump and stretch for a distant target is the most natural way to get the body to figure out how to jump higher and higher. But if rim is too low, then yes top of square is a better height to aim for - but it's not a good target and neither is head on backboard (really?!) - these are terrible targets to aim for. I'm gna figure this out. Have something in mind .. will see it through and report back.
Well that's a terrible dismissal of a perfectly good suggestion tbh. You're 6'4'' right? Every source I can find (this site and elsewhere), plus my own measurements put backboards somewhere between ~9'4''-9'6'' from the ground...so getting hair on it would be 36-38''. Sounds like a great target for you.
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What i mean is that i dont like the idea of jumping to touch the backboard that high up (top of the square).. it's really unnatural a target to jump for. But i would like to be able to get a touch that high, it corresponds to a 36" jump for me, from memory, which is a great goal in itself
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Be cool and make your own ghetto vertec like me. Literally took me like an hour to make it once I figured out a good place to put it and how it would move around. Every once in a while I read about one forum member or another struggling to measure reach or not having a good target etc. and I laugh in my head at your pleb struggles. :P
I'll take a pic and edit it into this post later today, but it's nothing special. I'm sure you can make a different design to fit your environment/needs, especially if you put some time into it.
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Be cool and make your own ghetto vertec like me. Literally took me like an hour to make it once I figured out a good place to put it and how it would move around. Every once in a while I read about one forum member or another struggling to measure reach or not having a good target etc. and I laugh in my head at your pleb struggles. :P
I'll take a pic and edit it into this post later today, but it's nothing special. I'm sure you can make a different design to fit your environment/needs, especially if you put some time into it.
sounds nice! and to be honest, i may need that .. cos i dont think i can wear my weightvest out .. people get very concerned. if i can set something up to do weighted jumps at home and PR them regularly that would be really nice. i can have another way to PR my vert on a bball court (working on that atm).
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you dont jump up to touch a target with your forearm (who does?)
adarq did that for years and is back to doing it again. and for those of us shorties who can't dunk reliably highest-touch is one of the (if not *the*) main training tools.
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OHP 2x2x60, 4x3x60
BS 6x120, 5x3x120(LPR)
BW: ?
Notes
house renovations and my home gym being out of commision means i had to join a gym. sucks. but on a day where i wanted to skip everything, i forced a pretty hard workout of squats. im sorry to anyone who had to witness my horrible squat mornings .. it's not you it's me. i only slept 4 hours, etc etc.
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that was yesterday. i had the worst diet fail i can remember. at one point i was eating junk food just to see if i could. the last thing i remember eating is a bacon and egg mcmuffin and a chocolate top icecream cone ... at 11:54pm. yikes. fasting today tryna detox and try get back on the wagon. here i am 1 week out from the mr olympia and im eating mcdonalds, kfc, kfc again and then mcdonalds again in that order .. in one day .. interpersed with choclates
didnt do sprints yesterday .. or bhts or curls .. so i cud maybe try do them today. will see. also didnt do cable rows or lat pull downs or weighed chinups .. i really shud have tho, mighta grown some muscle but the day was a complete writeoff. anyway enough venting
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that was yesterday. i had the worst diet fail i can remember. at one point i was eating junk food just to see if i could. the last thing i remember eating is a bacon and egg mcmuffin and a chocolate top icecream cone ... at 11:54pm. yikes. fasting today tryna detox and try get back on the wagon. here i am 1 week out from the mr olympia and im eating mcdonalds, kfc, kfc again and then mcdonalds again in that order .. in one day .. interpersed with choclates
Why do you think you do this? I understand it's probably only partially a conscious decision and some of it is psychological/mental. I'm lucky in that I never feel the urge to binge on food despite how well training/life is going. But I can't help but wonder how much better you'd be performing if you smoothed over these extremes (obsessive weight tracking <--> food binging).
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that was yesterday. i had the worst diet fail i can remember. at one point i was eating junk food just to see if i could. the last thing i remember eating is a bacon and egg mcmuffin and a chocolate top icecream cone ... at 11:54pm. yikes. fasting today tryna detox and try get back on the wagon. here i am 1 week out from the mr olympia and im eating mcdonalds, kfc, kfc again and then mcdonalds again in that order .. in one day .. interpersed with choclates
Why do you think you do this? I understand it's probably only partially a conscious decision and some of it is psychological/mental. I'm lucky in that I never feel the urge to binge on food despite how well training/life is going. But I can't help but wonder how much better you'd be performing if you smoothed over these extremes (obsessive weight tracking <--> food binging).
One of the best points you can make. Manipulating body weight becomes addictive and it's long term causing failure...
The reason Acole doesn't understand it is because he doesn't constantly fast...
But this pattern is a really bad trap and it's really unhealthy... Basically it is days where you don't eat jump well at this light body weight. You probably take caffeine or stimulants and this feedback about performance has you floating high and more motivated to stay on your starvation diet...
Eventually you fall off the wagon... This refeed mindset is destructive... Invariably the binge usually comes on a rest day or a bad training day, when you lack the positive reinforcement from gym performance and eat far too much... You go hyperphasic and your reward system, leptin signaling, and insulin sensitivity gets really thrown... This is supported by new research... Your starvation diet causes you to lose muscle, your refeeds trigger fat storage, you end up skinny fat!
Seriously... If you could make this change you wouldn't be stuck below a 30 inch vertical or wherever you are. You have been saying for years that you have to diet this adipose off... Maybe you do. But you haven't. Give up. Think of it as a one kilo weight belt.
The formula is simple. If your fat. Get unfat. I don't know if you are "fat". And I don't know what unfat is for you cause it varies... But. Fat doesn't work. So laser focus on getting not fat is what you need. Don't worry about pushing up your squat goals or anything... Just get unfat. This isn't a multi year project. This is a few months for everyone who isn't obese.
At some point your unfat. K. Now stay there. Make it a goal to weigh the same every morning or night. Stabilize. Make that your weight. Train here. Achieve here. If you up the workload you may gain a little weight or lose a little weight. Fine... But it's not the goal. Stay here for 90% of time.
Then you have a competition? Running the 40yd dash at your combine? Need to peak. Break out the diruetics, caffeine, salt and water manipulation, fasting, etc. Get dangerously lean for a few weeks. Take some homo erotic pics like scooby did. Send them to chicks. Peak. Jump 45 inches on a vertec. Run a 4.4. Do your best.
Then go back to being the not starved and not dangerously lean version of yourself that you stay st 90% of the year.
I hate to keep getting on you but this is the formula for all successful athletes.
1) focus primarily on weight loss when out of shape/fat after injury, layoff, etc
2) 90% maintaining stable bw and making gains
3) cutting and manipulating body weight sparingly for championship events
You decide where you are. I think your lean enough. I think your at step 2. Where Acole, LBSS, kingfish, almost everyone on the board is and should be. When you watch KF dunk videos he is in stage 3. But it's rare.
But I don't know. Maybe your on step 1. If you insist you are then you are. So give your self a time limit. You weigh 77 kilos and truly believe optimal non fat for you is 75? You know better than anyone. So give yourself a time limit. 4-6 weeks. Get under 73 kilos (gotta get to 73 to stabilize at 75). Go for it. Don't cheat your diet and don't make training goals that require calories).
After those 4-6 weeks of you fail or win move to step 2.
Just my two cents.
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that was yesterday. i had the worst diet fail i can remember. at one point i was eating junk food just to see if i could. the last thing i remember eating is a bacon and egg mcmuffin and a chocolate top icecream cone ... at 11:54pm. yikes. fasting today tryna detox and try get back on the wagon. here i am 1 week out from the mr olympia and im eating mcdonalds, kfc, kfc again and then mcdonalds again in that order .. in one day .. interpersed with choclates
Why do you think you do this? I understand it's probably only partially a conscious decision and some of it is psychological/mental. I'm lucky in that I never feel the urge to binge on food despite how well training/life is going. But I can't help but wonder how much better you'd be performing if you smoothed over these extremes (obsessive weight tracking <--> food binging).
One of the best points you can make. Manipulating body weight becomes addictive and it's long term causing failure...
The reason Acole doesn't understand it is because he doesn't constantly fast...
But this pattern is a really bad trap and it's really unhealthy... Basically it is days where you don't eat jump well at this light body weight. You probably take caffeine or stimulants and this feedback about performance has you floating high and more motivated to stay on your starvation diet...
Eventually you fall off the wagon... This refeed mindset is destructive... Invariably the binge usually comes on a rest day or a bad training day, when you lack the positive reinforcement from gym performance and eat far too much... You go hyperphasic and your reward system, leptin signaling, and insulin sensitivity gets really thrown... This is supported by new research... Your starvation diet causes you to lose muscle, your refeeds trigger fat storage, you end up skinny fat!
Seriously... If you could make this change you wouldn't be stuck below a 30 inch vertical or wherever you are. You have been saying for years that you have to diet this adipose off... Maybe you do. But you haven't. Give up. Think of it as a one kilo weight belt.
The formula is simple. If your fat. Get unfat. I don't know if you are "fat". And I don't know what unfat is for you cause it varies... But. Fat doesn't work. So laser focus on getting not fat is what you need. Don't worry about pushing up your squat goals or anything... Just get unfat. This isn't a multi year project. This is a few months for everyone who isn't obese.
At some point your unfat. K. Now stay there. Make it a goal to weigh the same every morning or night. Stabilize. Make that your weight. Train here. Achieve here. If you up the workload you may gain a little weight or lose a little weight. Fine... But it's not the goal. Stay here for 90% of time.
Then you have a competition? Running the 40yd dash at your combine? Need to peak. Break out the diruetics, caffeine, salt and water manipulation, fasting, etc. Get dangerously lean for a few weeks. Take some homo erotic pics like scooby did. Send them to chicks. Peak. Jump 45 inches on a vertec. Run a 4.4. Do your best.
Then go back to being the not starved and not dangerously lean version of yourself that you stay st 90% of the year.
I hate to keep getting on you but this is the formula for all successful athletes.
1) focus primarily on weight loss when out of shape/fat after injury, layoff, etc
2) 90% maintaining stable bw and making gains
3) cutting and manipulating body weight sparingly for championship events
You decide where you are. I think your lean enough. I think your at step 2. Where Acole, LBSS, kingfish, almost everyone on the board is and should be. When you watch KF dunk videos he is in stage 3. But it's rare.
But I don't know. Maybe your on step 1. If you insist you are then you are. So give your self a time limit. You weigh 77 kilos and truly believe optimal non fat for you is 75? You know better than anyone. So give yourself a time limit. 4-6 weeks. Get under 73 kilos (gotta get to 73 to stabilize at 75). Go for it. Don't cheat your diet and don't make training goals that require calories).
After those 4-6 weeks of you fail or win move to step 2.
Just my two cents.
Lol at the bolded paragraph. Some of your best work there T0ddday.
I sit in pretty much the same situation with bingeing. I also happen to intermittent fast and potentially abuse caffeine. This sounds like such a stupid question and nutrition 101 but how would you advocate someone eats who has these issues and wants to train multiple times per week (mornings and evenings)?
*Edit- Moreso if you've seen what works for pre-workout, post-workout, pre-game, morning training, etc.
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that was yesterday. i had the worst diet fail i can remember. at one point i was eating junk food just to see if i could. the last thing i remember eating is a bacon and egg mcmuffin and a chocolate top icecream cone ... at 11:54pm. yikes. fasting today tryna detox and try get back on the wagon. here i am 1 week out from the mr olympia and im eating mcdonalds, kfc, kfc again and then mcdonalds again in that order .. in one day .. interpersed with choclates
Why do you think you do this? I understand it's probably only partially a conscious decision and some of it is psychological/mental. I'm lucky in that I never feel the urge to binge on food despite how well training/life is going. But I can't help but wonder how much better you'd be performing if you smoothed over these extremes (obsessive weight tracking <--> food binging).
One of the best points you can make. Manipulating body weight becomes addictive and it's long term causing failure...
The reason Acole doesn't understand it is because he doesn't constantly fast...
But this pattern is a really bad trap and it's really unhealthy... Basically it is days where you don't eat jump well at this light body weight. You probably take caffeine or stimulants and this feedback about performance has you floating high and more motivated to stay on your starvation diet...
Eventually you fall off the wagon... This refeed mindset is destructive... Invariably the binge usually comes on a rest day or a bad training day, when you lack the positive reinforcement from gym performance and eat far too much... You go hyperphasic and your reward system, leptin signaling, and insulin sensitivity gets really thrown... This is supported by new research... Your starvation diet causes you to lose muscle, your refeeds trigger fat storage, you end up skinny fat!
Seriously... If you could make this change you wouldn't be stuck below a 30 inch vertical or wherever you are. You have been saying for years that you have to diet this adipose off... Maybe you do. But you haven't. Give up. Think of it as a one kilo weight belt.
The formula is simple. If your fat. Get unfat. I don't know if you are "fat". And I don't know what unfat is for you cause it varies... But. Fat doesn't work. So laser focus on getting not fat is what you need. Don't worry about pushing up your squat goals or anything... Just get unfat. This isn't a multi year project. This is a few months for everyone who isn't obese.
At some point your unfat. K. Now stay there. Make it a goal to weigh the same every morning or night. Stabilize. Make that your weight. Train here. Achieve here. If you up the workload you may gain a little weight or lose a little weight. Fine... But it's not the goal. Stay here for 90% of time.
Then you have a competition? Running the 40yd dash at your combine? Need to peak. Break out the diruetics, caffeine, salt and water manipulation, fasting, etc. Get dangerously lean for a few weeks. Take some homo erotic pics like scooby did. Send them to chicks. Peak. Jump 45 inches on a vertec. Run a 4.4. Do your best.
Then go back to being the not starved and not dangerously lean version of yourself that you stay st 90% of the year.
I hate to keep getting on you but this is the formula for all successful athletes.
1) focus primarily on weight loss when out of shape/fat after injury, layoff, etc
2) 90% maintaining stable bw and making gains
3) cutting and manipulating body weight sparingly for championship events
You decide where you are. I think your lean enough. I think your at step 2. Where Acole, LBSS, kingfish, almost everyone on the board is and should be. When you watch KF dunk videos he is in stage 3. But it's rare.
But I don't know. Maybe your on step 1. If you insist you are then you are. So give your self a time limit. You weigh 77 kilos and truly believe optimal non fat for you is 75? You know better than anyone. So give yourself a time limit. 4-6 weeks. Get under 73 kilos (gotta get to 73 to stabilize at 75). Go for it. Don't cheat your diet and don't make training goals that require calories).
After those 4-6 weeks of you fail or win move to step 2.
Just my two cents.
agree with coges. epic post. one of soooo many.
as for how this relates to me currently (and briefly).. i'm definitely not trying to lose fat/bodyweight anymore. If it happens out of a byproduct of my training, i'll take it.. but I definitely have to eat enough to make sure my running sessions are high quality. I'm at the point now where I can't cut calories at all, or I really feel it and my training gets wrecked. I'm eating just enough prior to my morning run so that I don't die or cramp .. which is basically just a warmup run for my evening session. After that run, i'm getting in alot of calories & hydration, trying to feel very strong for my evening session - in order to really push myself. So far so good.. If I do eat way more than usual, it's on a complete rest day.. but i'm definitely not junking it up.
pc!
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lmao .. what happened here, seems awesome tho, will read properly later. shame of the weekend behind, tryna get back on track this monday morning. what a shitshow. my legs look massive but im sure it's just carbs. stepped on the scales and it read 80.5kg so i guess that tells you all you need to know how sunday went ..yikes.
just a note in passing, the squat mornings from saturday made my glutes SOO sore.. which was kinda suprising but i'll take it..
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Todday, i think we're on the same page. I wanna settle on 77kg, anything less than that is too light/weak/frail .. anything above 79kg is to heavy to justify. I'm gna keep cutting til i have a stable 77.0kg reading daily. Maintain that for a long ass time while maximising squat ratio. I have a more detailed plan which looks something like this ...
Optimise organism = maxent, subject to constraints:
{
77kg ≤ bw < 80kg
127.5x6x6 ≤ squat ≤ 140x6x6
8% < bodyfat ≤ 12%
30" < vertical ≤ 36"
225g < protein ≤ 300g
50g ≤ fat < 85g
100g ≤ cho ≤ 300g (daily vs refeed)
1800kcal ≤ calories ≤ 3000kcal (daily vs refeed)
1 ≤ refeeds ≤ 2 (per week)
1 ≤ games ≤ 2 (per week)
gravity = 9.81
reach = 98"
height = 6'3"
}
Test model against:
windmill= true/false
triple double = true/false
bicep size > 15"
in t=10wks then every 12wks after that.
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Optimise organism = maxent, subject to constraints:
{
77kg ≤ bw < 80kg
127.5x6x6 ≤ squat ≤ 140x6x6
8% < bodyfat ≤ 12%
30" < vertical ≤ 36"
225g < protein ≤ 300g
50g ≤ fat < 85g
100g ≤ cho ≤ 300g (daily vs refeed)
1800kcal ≤ calories ≤ 3000kcal (daily vs refeed)
1 ≤ refeeds ≤ 2 (per week)
1 ≤ games ≤ 2 (per week)
gravity = 9.81
reach = 98"
height = 6'3"
}
Test model against:
windmill= true/false
triple double = true/false
bicep size > 15"
in t=10wks then every 12wks after that.
good stuff :highfive:
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15" biceps is an interesting tertiary goal, i kind of like it as long as it doesn't mean you switch to doing nothing but curlzzz for your upper body.
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15" biceps is an interesting tertiary goal, i kind of like it as long as it doesn't mean you switch to doing nothing but curlzzz for your upper body.
stay tuned for this wks mr O weekend, im going to put up some scooby iinspired pics to show off my consistent curling of once a fortnight for the last 6 wks. Dont mean to spoil, but i may be dangerously close of finally getting outta 12" bicep club
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BS 2x125(LPR), 2x127.5(LPR), 4x2x125(LPR)
BP 2x6x81(LPR)
game
rdl 8x110, 12x110(hook)
BW: 300 pounds of pure waste of space
Notes:
Remarkably i ws able to squat anything at all after saturdays squatmornings. Usually the universe wont allow me to do that for at least a week .. so that's new. My thoughts are from here to step the 6x2 tuesday squat workout by 2.5kg or 2kg or whatever i can manage with the goal of getting it to 6x2x140kg at which point if my bodyweight is 77kg i can add creatine and surplus calories to the mix. But lets not get ahead of ourselves.
my first game with the new team ... in a good comp .. kinda mellow about it all, just wanna see how it goes without any expectations going in. I have my finals with my old team on thursday, i dont know if will be 'peaky' but maybe. i may just stick to my workout and lift before the game lol.
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competition is legit. i was gone by minute two or three. no fitness. players are all really good and im easily the weakest player on the court! the best news is that the scoring system is easy to understand and so i dont mind sitting on the bench and doing that compared to other comps.
positives, im playing on dead legs and training fatigue .. a few moves i got stripped on, i prob pull off if i was fresher. so theres that, but there is always that, it's not good enough. i shud be playing well even fatigued .. i cant rely on that
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Todday, i think we're on the same page. I wanna settle on 77kg, anything less than that is too light/weak/frail .. anything above 79kg is to heavy to justify. I'm gna keep cutting til i have a stable 77.0kg reading daily. Maintain that for a long ass time while maximising squat ratio. I have a more detailed plan which looks something like this ...
I agree that we aren't as far off as I make it seem. It's less that we are in total disagreement and moreso that you insist on being hyperbolic in your description of how fat you are and how extreme your refeed/binges are. Overall your making progress and that's what matters... However...
My thoughts are from here to step the 6x2 tuesday squat workout by 2.5kg or 2kg or whatever i can manage with the goal of getting it to 6x2x140kg at which point if my bodyweight is 77kg i can add creatine and surplus calories to the mix. But lets not get ahead of ourselves.
I do believe that the training philosophy espoused above is non optimal for an athlete at your level. I would describe you as a moderately well trained, lean, drug free, relatively strong athlete. Sure you haven't maximized and sucked out every drop of your strength potential for your bodyweight yet... But your also no beginner. Beginners can easily have goals that you list above, the more advanced you are the harder it is... Basically when we think of adding weight to a compound movement that we are already efficient in (like the squat), there are three ways we can manipulate our diet while try to get stronger.
1) The "Rippetoe method". Eat everything. Squat. You will get huge, strong, and fat. You can lose the fat later. This method works. Really well. Surplus calories are better than steroids. It's great if you want to be a heavyweight lifter, hate being small, etc. Maybe useful for hardgainers starting out who just can't seem to get unstuck at a plateau. But personally I don't like it for athletes I don't like it for you. Athletes who do this always end up getting strong and losing speed/jumping-ability while they get huge... Then they go through the battle of having to lose a lot of weight to try to "uncover" their gains from the new strength - which should in theory work... If everything is perfect. In practice it looks more like: Max squat of 300 at 175. Go crazy and get a max squat of 410 at 220 by eating your ass off. Your squat to bw ratio goes up. But you can't jump. Now cut. Get stuck at 200lbs and unable to get below it without your squat getting poundage shrinking quickly... Make a few errors, some injuries, and don't do it perfectly and you end stuck at 200lbs squatting around 350 and being a slower athlete who can't jump as high...
2) The "maxent" method. Constantly try and lose weight. Make gains while cutting as a fat beginner. Become an intermediate athlete. Still make goals that involve new PRs at lower bodyweights. Totally possible. Not most efficient.
3) The middle ground. First get lean. Whatever, lean is for you. You wanna be sub 80kg, so you make a goal of hitting 77kg. Try to maintain your squat when you reach that goal. When you are lean and have achieved this... Stop thinking about your bodyweight AND start thinking about your diet! Is this hard? Yes. But it's a million times more efficient. You get to 77kg. You now eat a consistent diet (no binges!) that will allow you to get stronger. You fuel yourself at a level optimal for you. You tell yourself, I am going to eat at approximately maintenance level +5% and I am going to achieve a squat of 150kg in 12 weeks of this. I'm not going to binge at all. I'm also not going to look at the scale. Most importantly I'm not going to binge, see 82kg and then fast for two days to get back to 79 kilos. I'm eating might fuel level of optimum nutrition and getting stronger. Twelve weeks later you will squat 150kg. How much will you weight? Maybe 78kg? Maybe 79-82kg? Can't be sure, but you will weight the optimal amount for adding functional strength quickly. After this you can do this again. Eventually this to will stop working if your a natural athlete and squat strength is only increasable with method (1) - at this point most athletes are strong enough though. If you do this multiple times and get a stronger squat at 85kg, you can always cut weight - but not with a goal of also gaining strength - with a goal of maintaining at squat single at some level (90-95%) of max. It's basically what kingfish does and it's the most successful way to get relative strength as a drug free athlete. Slow small gains in weight while pushing up lift strength and volume (not bulking), maintenance of low volume (singles) in lifts while cutting...
Note:
The squat numbers I used were all made up. Don't be offended if your maxes far exceed my examples! Sorry for the length of the post - basic premise is this. You have a goal to increase your strength AND volume while you plan to also lose weight. I understand it's not much. A few kg in bw and a few kg more in squat... However, making a plan to be able to do greater volume at more weight in the future while weighing less than you currently do now is usually not the most productive way to plan for the longterm... That's it.
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Lol at the bolded paragraph. Some of your best work there T0ddday.
I sit in pretty much the same situation with bingeing. I also happen to intermittent fast and potentially abuse caffeine. This sounds like such a stupid question and nutrition 101 but how would you advocate someone eats who has these issues and wants to train multiple times per week (mornings and evenings)?
*Edit- Moreso if you've seen what works for pre-workout, post-workout, pre-game, morning training, etc.
Thanks for the compliment - humor makes things more fun for sure.
As far as your questions, first thing to answer for yourself is whether you want to lose significant body weight...
Second thing is to own your relationship with caffeine. A few years ago I would have told you to quit/cut back. However research shows that's not necessarily your only option. You basically have two choices....
1) Quit it for a while and return to using it only extremely infrequently...
2) Own it. Jesse williams (high jump world champion is a caffiene lover - he drinks diet red bull, black coffee, caffiene pills, etc. probably 500-600mg daily). Dose it out and use it. Studies don't show long term risks... Have 100-200mg in morning. Have another dose before workout. Slightly smaller dose before evening squat workout, etc. Will you habituate? Somewhat. You won't get crazy amped. But you will be able to go to sleep. Your appetite won't be totally suppressed and then rebound the next day when you don't have caffeine... Force yourself to eat on it. This will help you stop the binging -
For two a days the diet plan would be basically - wake up, small food, caffiene, morning workout, 1-2 moderate meals, low dose caffeine, evening weight workout - optional post workout meal or snack.
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^^^ thanks mate. Have responded in my journal to avoid further hijacking of Maxent's log.
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BW: 80.1kg ...
it still crazy to me how i was finally getting in the low 78kgs / high 77kgs and now im back over 80kg ... kinda bummed out how quickly i gained the weight. to be honest the binges are only part of the problem .. i was eating to make up for life stuff .. if it wasn't mentioned .. but im going to try avoid repeating that again.
i think i need to jettison the prolonged fasting (18hrs) though. it's unworkable. i just sit there on my desk thinking about how hungry i am and counting the hours til i can eat. Not good. i would like to be able to focus and work. so the plan is there, get back on track towards 77kg then eat 2-3 meals a day while making them nutritious and training supportive
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BW: 80.1kg ...
it still crazy to me how i was finally getting in the low 78kgs / high 77kgs and now im back over 80kg ... kinda bummed out how quickly i gained the weight. to be honest the binges are only part of the problem .. i was eating to make up for life stuff .. if it wasn't mentioned .. but im going to try avoid repeating that again.
i think i need to jettison the prolonged fasting (18hrs) though. it's unworkable. i just sit there on my desk thinking about how hungry i am and counting the hours til i can eat. Not good. i would like to be able to focus and work. so the plan is there, get back on track towards 77kg then eat 2-3 meals a day while making them nutritious and training supportive
it's funny though, how if we're on some kind of fasting diet/nutritional plan that makes us really hungry, that by not eating we are perhaps displaying "discipline".. but in the same respect, if we're tired and don't take naps and/or aren't getting enough sleep, it's a problem.
I guess in general if we're starting to eat healthier & in smaller portions, but become very hungry, that is more along the lines of being disciplined to clean things up.. but for ~18 hour fasts/IF etc ... is it really discipline at that point? or are we simply not listening to our bodies?
being very hungry just sucks.
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BW: 80.1kg ...
it still crazy to me how i was finally getting in the low 78kgs / high 77kgs and now im back over 80kg ... kinda bummed out how quickly i gained the weight. to be honest the binges are only part of the problem .. i was eating to make up for life stuff .. if it wasn't mentioned .. but im going to try avoid repeating that again.
i think i need to jettison the prolonged fasting (18hrs) though. it's unworkable. i just sit there on my desk thinking about how hungry i am and counting the hours til i can eat. Not good. i would like to be able to focus and work. so the plan is there, get back on track towards 77kg then eat 2-3 meals a day while making them nutritious and training supportive
it's funny though, how if we're on some kind of fasting diet/nutritional plan that makes us really hungry, that by not eating we are perhaps displaying "discipline".. but in the same respect, if we're tired and don't take naps and/or aren't getting enough sleep, it's a problem.
I guess in general if we're starting to eat healthier & in smaller portions, but become very hungry, that is more along the lines of being disciplined to clean things up.. but for ~18 hour fasts/IF etc ... is it really discipline at that point? or are we simply not listening to our bodies?
being very hungry just sucks.
i agree that you shud listen to your body but homostatis is not necessarily good for performance, esp when you have a long way to go from where you are and where you want to be athletically. 18hr fasts suck though. esp after doing them for a long time .. well a couple of months anyway
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my strategy for cutting weight quickly wud be something like this, loads of protein, low carb (within reason, enough to train well etc)), 18hr fasts, max duration 10-15 days, do it strictly and honestly and then stop. after a while it really does get overwhelming from a life perspesctive
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BS 6x122.5(LPR;+2.5kg), 2x130B(LPR;+2.5kg), 2x135B(LPR;+5kg)
QBS 8x162.5(LPR;+2.5kg), 8x197.5(LPR; +5kg)
JS 6x110
Push Press 2x6x66(LPR)
BW: 80.3kg (i think, maybe it was 80.4kg though)
Notes:
Wasnt sure where to do an abbreviated workout or not with the final tonight but i just did it and cut the last set of quarter squats. lol. I switched to the thicker bar for quarter squats .. so much better, i can actually unrack and rack the bar at correct height instead of having to use the lower hole, which is necessitated by the newer bar which is flexy as fuck. I think a lot of lifts which need heavier weight (>150kg) i shud prob just use the older bar. it sucks but it sucks less cos it's stiff and holds its shape well which feels better on the back.
just a note in passing, my form is really bad right now .. but i want to get somewhere half decent before turning to volume with lighter weight to sort out form and get stronger. im gambling a bit here .. it shud be ok, i think doubling 140kg with a belt with shit form will get me strong enough to use 127.5kg for volume, and if i am patient with that, i shud be able to correct form sufficiently to advance towards my year end goal of 6x2x150kg .. (yes this is the first time im nentioning it). And finally this is my ultimate squat goal -- 6x2x160kg @ 80kg before the 2017 tournament during easter break.
will do a quick push press, jump squat sessh before the game. idk if i mentioned but we sneaked into the finals as the weakest team.. 4th seed, playing the unbeaten 1st seed. so it's going to be a difficult game but lets see how we go.
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Lost another finals lol. i wont retrospect too much, but suffice to say my run of selfish guards going hero mode and missing everything cost yet another championship. gutted. i played outta of my mind tho.. on to the next season!
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:trolldance:
forgot to mention, warmups i thew up the biggest tomahawk for the winter. i cant tell whether it was b/c i jumped high or i hit hard, or both, but it felt amazing. so even with all this squat induced fatigue. sprained ankle last wk etc and my inflating bodyweight, i can still get up to near enough PR levels. or i shud i say local PR cos i prob jumped higher in the summer when i was a lot lighter but pretty cool
may schedule a dunk session and tape soon
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BW: 80kg
but im fatter so nothing to celebrate. After my birthday weekend im gna need to get under 80kg and stay there.
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BW: 80.4 (sad face)
damn it renovations continue to disrupt my saturday trainings :( i didnt sleep much more than a few hours .. they came in pretty early and that was the end of my restorative supplementation. Just did a strugglesome ohp workout where i did the slowest hardest to lock out triple ever .. i prob wud have given up on it but i didnt wanna in a public gym setting.
ohp 2x60, 2x3x60, 4x2x60
BS 6x6x120(LPR!)
WCU 3x5x98.2kg, 3x5x93.2kg
shud i try rest up tongith and then crack squats tmr? i dont like to delay workouts tho .. it just makes for a chaotic week tryna catch up. will see how we go..
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BW: 80.4 (sad face)
damn it renovations continue to disrupt my saturday trainings :( i didnt sleep much more than a few hours .. they came in pretty early and that was the end of my restorative supplementation. Just did a strugglesome ohp workout where i did the slowest hardest to lock out triple ever .. i prob wud have given up on it but i didnt wanna in a public gym setting.
ohp 2x60, 2x3x60, 4x2x60
shud i try rest up tongith and then crack squats tmr? i dont like to delay workouts tho .. it just makes for a chaotic week tryna catch up. will see how we go..
smart decision says yes.. training addicted athlete says no. :ninja:
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BW: 80.4 (sad face)
damn it renovations continue to disrupt my saturday trainings :( i didnt sleep much more than a few hours .. they came in pretty early and that was the end of my restorative supplementation. Just did a strugglesome ohp workout where i did the slowest hardest to lock out triple ever .. i prob wud have given up on it but i didnt wanna in a public gym setting.
ohp 2x60, 2x3x60, 4x2x60
shud i try rest up tongith and then crack squats tmr? i dont like to delay workouts tho .. it just makes for a chaotic week tryna catch up. will see how we go..
smart decision says yes.. training addicted athlete says no. :ninja:
lol yup. guess which i went with?
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spoilers .. we need a spoiler tag :P
Notes:
I went on and did it, first set went ok, did a 2nd and next you know im thinking i can do 6 sets of this mfka even tho i only intended 2 sets and rest 4s if i cud manage those. My lifetime PR is 6x6x122.5 BUT i did that with creatine and close to 90kg bodyweight and my old bar was like 19.x something not 20kg -- this time i used a proper 20kg bar AND 2x25kg plates so it's in some sense more legit .. anyway. i destroyed it and i still weigh 80kg! will post video tmr). Ive also done 4x6x132.5kg but again that awas with creatine and a bodyweight close to 96kg .. this time i weighed a whopping 15kg less so there is that..
but im so happy with my workout on my birthday eve .. i think ive unlocked some inner switches for working hard and pushing thru barriers ..ive revised my goal of 6x6x127.5kg to 6x6x130kg .. that will be more satisfying and i can do it within the same timeframe as mentioned earlier, hold me to it!
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Aight some thoughts from last nights squats ...
You know you had a good squat session when you have instant VMO soreness. Not talking about next day hamstring DOMs .. i mean VMO soreness right there and then. That's really cool.
I think of 6x6x130kg as a good intermediate goal but lets be clear .. 6x6x140kg is the main goal. That shud get me strong enough to single 4 plates. If not, close enough to anyway. And that's 'enough' strength for a basketball player. More than enough. Plenty. Enough to get my vertical in that 35-40" region - i have to believe.
New day, eat clean, train hard, add weight, get fit, do dunks, do sprints, do curls, get hard, shoot the 3 ball, make friends be happy. The squats are my staple the one thing i worship above all else but balance is just as important and i wont neglect conditioning or jumping. Todday , im sold, i will eat more food to sustain progress. I have tried the cutting forever approach, time to for a change. Not going to gain weight though, will mantain 77-80kg bodyweight but that's plenty of room to gain some muscle and lose some fat without getting to heavy or light. I like the sweet spot of hovering at ~80kg. That's the last time i'll talk about this, im focusing on my training goals instead.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBYu3m_gAfg
just saying that last wk this was my 6RM and this week i did it for 6x6 .. so no form nazism please ..
so you can see my bar speed is pretty good .. i lock out pretty strong now. thanks to quarter squats. there was a time when i cud bounce up an ATG frontsquat around 150kg but i cudnt lock it out. No one suggested it and it never occured to me, but using quarter squats back then wud have helped me become a beast squatter then.
so im a fan of partial squatting .. best asssitance ive tried in a long time. will keep up the experiment going, i think i can get a lot more out of them, this is just the tip of hte iceberg
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Nice work!
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Nice work!
x2
great stuff man. looks good. :ibsquatting: true 6RM to 6x6 in a week is solid. Just getting more confident with heavier loads on your back can make a huge difference in itself .. If it feels lighter on your back (because of halfs/quarters), then that can be a huge mental boost.. and those partial ROM squats are still targeting the same musculature. win win.
partial rom squatting (done safely) ftw.
also your white-text spoiler technique was solid yesterday, lul.
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Nice work!
x2
great stuff man. looks good. :ibsquatting: true 6RM to 6x6 in a week is solid. Just getting more confident with heavier loads on your back can make a huge difference in itself .. If it feels lighter on your back (because of halfs/quarters), then that can be a huge mental boost.. and those partial ROM squats are still targeting the same musculature. win win.
partial rom squatting (done safely) ftw.
also your white-text spoiler technique was solid yesterday, lul.
That's always the way I feel after lifting. If I'm warming up 85kg will feel 'heavy' but after I lift heavier e.g 110kg and drop back down to 85kg it feels lightweight.
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hmmm interesting. im not sure if im gaining confidence from using heavier partials per se, esp cos i do them once a week and i do them at the end of hte workouts so i dont get that CNS potentiating effect that ppl sometimes employ (eg walk out 10% more than workset then workset feels easier). i may use that trick down the line but dont really need it yet. my big bag of tricks is well stocked (creatine, knee sleeves, stimulants, etc) and i will only use them sparingly. i wanna see how far i can go without employing them
it is interesting to think about these things, for instance when i started doing heavy partials it felt like they were quite harsh on knees, now i dont feel that at all even with the weights much heavier than when i started doign them. but what i find is that full squats, though a lot lighter, can be harder on knees .. haha. so that goes against conventional wisdom that full squats easier than partials on knees :wowthatwasnutswtf:
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BW: 80.1kg (yay)
after the excesses of the weekend behind me, it's good to see the scales return to my baseline. I wont say exactly what yesterday's weighing was but it was 82.x something, yikes. so this is a relief.
question for the wise audience here ..
i have 2 options for today,
1. PEAK: do an easy weights session and take advantage of my non-sore, well recovered state atm, try go beast at my evening game (it's my 2nd game and i didnt make a stellar first impression with the season opener last wk)
2. go hard on squats and keep putting the emphasis on long term results and hope for an okay game /dunks
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BS 2x127.5(+2.5kg), 2x130(LPR; +2.5kg), 2x132.5(LPR), 1x135(LPR), 3x130(LPR), 2x2x130
BP 3x6x82.5(LPR)
BBall game
a few dunks (PR levels .. if not beyond, see post following this one)
BW: 80.1kg
Notes:
Decided to stick with the usual thing for tuesdays and not try anything crazy. its' been working so i just went with stepping up the doubles. last second decision to go for 135kg and did the first rep then eventually after some time passed, i put the bar back without attempting a 2nd rep cos i wasnt sure i wud get it and im not trying to fail. then tripled 130kg .. just to feel i accomplished something today lol. salient observation: i squat WAY better infront of a mirror. I realised that after finding the first 6 sets awkward but i sunk the 7th one pretty good even tho it was hard, i felt it was a better squat. So will make a mirror a permanent feature from here
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First the game, that team we just played is easily the best team ive ever faced. They cud all shoot and they did, around a 70% clip. Dude was taking NBA 3s and swishing them at over 80% lol. Like half a dozen at least. Wow. Such a strong comp, i love it. We lost and the benchmark is clear .. have a shitload of work to do as a team, tbh im not sure we can match them but at least individually i think i can rise up to the challenge.
After the game i wanted to do some dunks quickly before the next game started .. and i attemped i think 2 dunks. Easily the best dunks ive done on that court. But i think it's not a regulation height which fucks me off cos how do you know you're not just jumping good instead of great? But i felt like i was closest to the rim ive ever gotten.
so then i thought to try acoles dumb suggestion of tryna touch the top of the square. it's dumb cos the mechanics for jumping for that corner are completely different to anything you'd ever do athletically .. it's an awkward angle and target to say the least. But i touched so high up that a team mate commented in disbelief. So that might be worth something .. i was maybe 2 inches or 3 inches off the top of the square. Like i said, it's possible that i can actually jump high enough to touch a height equivalent to the top of the square .. if i was jumping at a better target like a high rim or something. Oh well. i need to figure this shit out, it's frustrating me not having a measurable way of checking how high im getting up
but omg .. after playing a game to jump that high is just amazing .. im more than convinced ive got the right mix of training going right now.. it's yielding impressive gains. only downside right now is my left ankle does not like these me jumps .. it may be the shoes actually.. stupid kobes dont have enough dorsiflexion and i think that's ruining my jumps
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I forgot to mention, a team mate who saw my dunks and jumps said, completely unprompted, i think you jumped 36". so that's another data point. however, i doubt that's a very qualified one .. it's just interesting he said that number ;P. i told him with my reach 36" corresponds to the top of the square (of which i was short) but i do think my jumps for the corner are inefficient so they're underestimating my true vertical. probably. it's all conjecture really. who cares.
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so then i thought to try acoles dumb suggestion of tryna touch the top of the square. it's dumb cos the mechanics for jumping for that corner are completely different to anything you'd ever do athletically .. it's an awkward angle and target to say the least. But i touched so high up that a team mate commented in disbelief. So that might be worth something .. i was maybe 2 inches or 3 inches off the top of the square. Like i said, it's possible that i can actually jump high enough to touch a height equivalent to the top of the square .. if i was jumping at a better target like a high rim or something. Oh well. i need to figure this shit out, it's frustrating me not having a measurable way of checking how high im getting up
What??? Oh wait you're right: T0ddday looks really cramped and awkward jumping at the square here. Imagine how high he can really jump!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqAUeEHudb8
To restate, I never claimed it's the 'perfect' method you're looking for, it's just good enough to get an estimate. If you want to measure a milestone vertical then find a vertec. You were asking about easy ways you could measure your jump and I know you're at the courts a lot so it seemed obvious. But honestly if you don't like it then just move on and forget I ever said it. Don't worry, I won't make the same mistake again.
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I didnt mean it that way. I just dislike the method but it has a few things going for it: 1.i can do it during/games when adrelenin kicks in and you perform better, 2. it needs no special equipment. but it just doesn't feel right, i dont think im jumping normally when i reach for the backboard as a target. if there was a line extending along the square to te end of the backboard i think i'd prefer that but there isnt and you dont get that feedback from actually seeing the corner. hmmmmmmmmmmmm. maybe i cud put up a sticker in line and jump for that? i'll try that actually. it reminds me of raptor saying he jumps higher with a ball in hand than without, b/c he trained his body to be maximally efficient in a dunk attempt. i think im the same
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todday is different to me tho i cant tell you why exactly. maybe my arms are longer and it affects the way i setup for a jump. his arms are essentially vertical on touch there, mine are oblique, which def affects touch height. maybe im just tryna avoid hitting myself on the backboard .. and reflexively avoiding the backboard, im not sure, you just have to believe me it's not a great target. but i think im over it, i'll stick to the only measurable goal that matters, getting my squat to milestones XYZ. measuring jump and run is just too much trouble to do reliably
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Nice squats!
Sorry I haven't posted the pic of the diy vertec, I keep forgetting :huh:
You guys can get a good workout by jumping at the rim b/c getting a palm over the rim is 30"+ palm touch but for me an SVJ to the rim is only 22" and a wrist touch is a nothing special 27" or whtaever. If i have ambitions of cracking 40" - then jumps at the rim wont mean anything unless im touching deep down my arm but this isn't as really a good workout cos you dont jump up to touch a target with your forearm (who does?) - it works better when you're tryina touch a target with your hand.
Wouldn't a wrist touch be 30"? If you're 22" away with standing reach and your hand is 8"
I know you said touching the rim with your wrist is not the best target, but if you hit the rim with a little bit of force, it will leave a slight red mark on your wrist (not hard enough to injure yourself obviously). If you use your thumb to measure you can estimate how far the red mark is from the crease of your wrist, which should give you a measure of height with maybe .25"-.5" margin of error.
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last i checked (a few years back mind), i cud get bout 1/4 the way up my arm .. and it wasnt really feasible to check where it touched after, not sensitive enough there on the arm. cud use vid if that's possible (not really during game setting). i dont care for that test anyway. you know would what be cool, a device you could stick to the side of a bacboard, like an arrow with a suction cup, and then try to pull it down
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Lol at acole. Yeah touching the backboard is a completely unathletic movement... Did you see that horribly unathletic movement that lebron did in the finals where he chased the ball down and pinned it against the backboard... useless move. Wonder if he can do something athletic like grab a suction cup?
The chase down block. Robbing a home run. Jumping near a wall is just not an athletic manuever...
Not to maxent. Just like your foray into bounding... just cause you suck at something or feel awkward at it that doesnt make the movement completely unathletic and useless... it makes you unathletic...
Your excuses simply don't make sense... you have a harder time touching the backboard cause of your longer arms??? Actually it's harder w short arms, watch my last jump, I have to lean my head back to not hit it on the backboard - the longer your arms the less you have to do that...
Speaking of... why not hit your head on the backboard. Most are around 1 ft at most. That's a 33 inch vertical. Measure it. Seriously taking a data point from a guy who gave you a 36 inch vertical by sight????
Ok are you joking? Vertical isn't some hard to quantify trait that you need to trust an expert eye on. Hit your head on backboard. Hit your head on rim. Invest in a tape measure. Use your camera to time it and convert to find your jump... a million ways yet your don't do it...
Cause once you do it it counts... stop basking in the glory of maybe 36" and just make a measurement... I get what your doing... I did it when I unretired from sprinting... avoiding meets and getting data about my speed from things like "stronger than before in weight room... I practiced w a 10.2 guy and hung w him, coaches say I look like a 10.4...
This is all BS. Comforting but dishonest...
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said it before and i'll say it again: god you're a weird dude. how do you come up with this shit?
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tbh im more intrigued by ideas i feel strongly about (positive or negative).. so just cos i hate something doesn't mean i wont eventually fall in love with them and vice versa (front squats and half deadlifts aka rdls) but whatevs .. ya'll over-reacting. why can feynman call an idea dopy or dumb and still engage it but without implying any judgement of the person who said it. acole put me onto TENS units and for that im ever grateful but apologises all round.
confession; im not dealing well with coming off this diet. my appetite is insatiable, i want to keep eating and eating .. not good.
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Measuring your vertical when you jump way to high for the rim:
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tbh im more intrigued by ideas i feel strongly about (positive or negative)..
as are most people...
so just cos i hate something doesn't mean i wont eventually fall in love with them and vice versa (front squats and half deadlifts aka rdls) but whatevs .. ya'll over-reacting. why can feynman call an idea dopy or dumb and still engage it but without implying any judgement of the person who said it. acole put me onto TENS units and for that im ever grateful but apologises all round.
can't speak for others but i was specifically referring to your bizarre assertion that touching the backboard is "different from anything you'd do athletically". that doesn't make sense! not even a little bit of sense! i am very curious how that thought formulated itself in your head!
confession; im not dealing well with coming off this diet. my appetite is insatiable, i want to keep eating and eating .. not good.
sounds very unpleasant.
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BW: 80.8kg
The problem isnt im driving, the problem is im texting
BS 6x127.5(LPR), 2x135B(+5kg), 2x140B(LPR; +5kg)
Quarter BS 8x165(+2.5kg), 8x200(PR!; +2.5kg)
Quarter Barbell Jump Squat 8x70, 6x110, 6x120(LPR)
Push Press 2x6x67.5(LPR)
Notes
Aw yis, today was a revelation workout. I figured exactly how mirror has helped me squat better .. it's to do wiht bottom position and pushing knees down. If you dont have that feedback you may not notice you're not loading up the quads by that subtle knee push down at the bottom. And the upshot? I PR my 6rm by 5kg and and doubled 140kg with a belt BUT for the first time in my life -- i didnt squat morning a heavy belted squat. Magic. I owe it all to the quarter squats. If anyone guessed the solution to squatmornings is bringing up quad weakness (that guy from strength theory is the only one who said it ime)) -- give tyousrelf a medal, spot on.
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I absolutely agree about entropy being a weirdo and a master at creating non-existent obstacles to sabotage himself and spin his wheels while pissing everyone in the forum. :-*
That said, i am 100% with him in those two:
1) Jumping for the square is weird. Is it unathletic and useless as he said? Hell no. But it is weird, i could never sync a ME RVJ with a backboard touch, the contact ( and the knowledge of it ) always screwed my mechanics. Maybe for no reason but it did, bottom line i stopped doing backboard touches very early because i could not achieve my highest touch that way.
2) If you touch the rim below your wrist, it is very hard to know where you touched by feel, there is literally zero sensitivity, you can't know if it was 2 or 3 or 5'' below your wrist. Furthermore, when i was able to get wrist above rim , i also had a very hard time syncing the highest touch moment with the rim touch moment, i always tended to have the peak a little earlier and touch the rim on my way down. Still , you don't need a special device. Set up a cam at the rim line and record your rim jump, then you can see how much below the wrist the rim was at your peak. You can even use watches or tight wristbands to mark specific heights down your forearm for better visual analysis/estimation. You don't need to have it at rim height to be accurate. Bringing the cam high helps with distortion but not THAT much, as long as it is at a normal height and far away the distortion will be minimal. You want to minimize the angle, so distance works just as well as height.
:lololol:
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Can i just disagree that im a weirdo though but nice post vag :highfive:
(also if you suggest an idea to me and i say 'that soudns cool, i'll try it' chances are i'll never get aroudn to it .. haha.)
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why not just use a type of paint that can be rubbed off, paint the rim with it or with any sort of ink or coloured liquid and then measure to see how much above the wrist the rim touched. :pokerface:
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why not just use a type of paint that can be rubbed off, paint the rim with it or with any sort of ink or coloured liquid and then measure to see how much above the wrist the rim touched. :pokerface:
You win the prize for most complicated solution to the simplest problem.
I still maintain that Maxents strange whining and humble bragging about how he can't measure his vert cause he is just soooo damn high is not something we can solve by giving him tools... I think he secretly doesn't want to...
He's been given a billion solutions, wrist, backboard, using his head, recording with his phone and using physics - goddamn his name was entropy 5*(fall time)**2 is a pretty simple way to know your jump height in meters!!
The Kebeya video I posted is literally the highest two footed jumper I have ever witnessed in person. Higher than anyone by far. When I'm jumping well I'm in the air for an extra beat - this guy is in the air for an extra two beats... truly nuts. He measures using his head and the backboard...
As far as vags point... Two things. Thanks for admitting that just cause you aren't good at something that doesn't make it unathletic... second... interesting that you can't get up on the backboard, I think it's cause u use your left hand... What I have noticed is this:
1) If I want to be as generous as possible to myself when measuring my two footed running vertical I need to jump on hardwood, w a vertec, LR plant, and left handed touch. I can get up far far higher like this...
2) However, this is rarely available. So I can do an alternative.
1) I can jump for the square. If you notice the video acole posted of me, I do a left handed square touch and a right handed, the left handed is significantly shorter. That's because when you do LRL you touch w your hand "behind your body" which makes the contact of the backboard a really hindrance ok your jump. When you jump LRR you touch with your hand reaching up in front of your body and are barely affected.
But I just said my best jump is LRL but I have to do square jumps LRR. Ok, so you got me I guess I can't truly do a ME jump for the square... but who cares. It's about testibility. The square is 11'4-11'6. My reach is 7'9. If I really need to satisfy my ego I can post "hey guys, touched the bottom of the square today which is 44.5 inch jump (43" + 1.5 inch bonus because it's non optimal and I could have touched on object that high w a LRL jump)...
2) Additionally I can measure my vertical w my head. I bang my head against the backboard. I have never hit my head on the rim. I have grazed my hair on it when my fro was pretty big and have seen it on tape. I know that if I legit hit my head on rim it's 49 inch jump cause I'm just under 6' in shoes. If I increase my vertical and am fearful of the rim I can always put a foam roller on top and hit that... I tried it but I was a legit 4-5 inches away as it sits on top of the rim and so it was too hard of a target for me to aim for at my jumping level... I would have to improve to even go for it as. Target...
Is head touching optimal? Not at all. I have a 7'8.5 reach... if I cheat like people do on a combine it's 7'7. If I go fairly it's closer to 7'9. If I truly dislocate my shoulder to stretch as hard as possible with momentum and swing (like I do in the air) it's probably more like 7'11... I can't really do this with my head... so, again I could give myself a bonus inch or two for any object I touch w my head but that isn't really necessary because the bottom line is:
All you need is measurability!!! IMO the most impressive gains on the board belong to KF and LBSS. Two dudes who do not fuck around when it comes to measurability.
KF doesn't even mess around with anything but standing vertical jumps cause there is too much variation and risk. Sure he dunks but only cause he thinks it looks cool. He makes no claims from dunks but just does standing vertical jumps to a vertec on hardwood and posts clear video. He doesn't say "hey guys how high did I get up? He says that's a 38" inch jump. He gets feedback for how big he jumps in repeatable testable way.
LBSS posts look like: 15 ME jumps, best 37", worst 32, mean 35, variance 3", coefficient of variation of 0.2, Cauchy distributed, moment generating function estimates gamma.
This is good data! LBSS can take this data and know when he jumps well, poorly, etc.
This is the sad thing about maxent being afraid to test his vertical... in the end all the excuses hold him back. This is a jumping board, not a squatting board. Jumping workout data would allow him to train 100x better even if it's just off by a consistent two inches cause he is doing an absolutely unathletic maneuver like touching the square!
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Am i taking crazy pills or is the idea of smashing ones head against anything (be it backboaerd or rim or the roof of a 20ft building) not at all enticing?!
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why not just use a type of paint that can be rubbed off, paint the rim with it or with any sort of ink or coloured liquid and then measure to see how much above the wrist the rim touched. :pokerface:
lmfa0o@#@!
why not just use a type of paint that can be rubbed off, paint the rim with it or with any sort of ink or coloured liquid and then measure to see how much above the wrist the rim touched. :pokerface:
You win the prize for most complicated solution to the simplest problem.
I still maintain that Maxents strange whining and humble bragging about how he can't measure his vert cause he is just soooo damn high is not something we can solve by giving him tools... I think he secretly doesn't want to...
He's been given a billion solutions, wrist, backboard, using his head, recording with his phone and using physics - goddamn his name was entropy 5*(fall time)**2 is a pretty simple way to know your jump height in meters!!
The Kebeya video I posted is literally the highest two footed jumper I have ever witnessed in person. Higher than anyone by far. When I'm jumping well I'm in the air for an extra beat - this guy is in the air for an extra two beats... truly nuts. He measures using his head and the backboard...
As far as vags point... Two things. Thanks for admitting that just cause you aren't good at something that doesn't make it unathletic... second... interesting that you can't get up on the backboard, I think it's cause u use your left hand... What I have noticed is this:
1) If I want to be as generous as possible to myself when measuring my two footed running vertical I need to jump on hardwood, w a vertec, LR plant, and left handed touch. I can get up far far higher like this...
2) However, this is rarely available. So I can do an alternative.
1) I can jump for the square. If you notice the video acole posted of me, I do a left handed square touch and a right handed, the left handed is significantly shorter. That's because when you do LRL you touch w your hand "behind your body" which makes the contact of the backboard a really hindrance ok your jump. When you jump LRR you touch with your hand reaching up in front of your body and are barely affected.
But I just said my best jump is LRL but I have to do square jumps LRR. Ok, so you got me I guess I can't truly do a ME jump for the square... but who cares. It's about testibility. The square is 11'4-11'6. My reach is 7'9. If I really need to satisfy my ego I can post "hey guys, touched the bottom of the square today which is 44.5 inch jump (43" + 1.5 inch bonus because it's non optimal and I could have touched on object that high w a LRL jump)...
2) Additionally I can measure my vertical w my head. I bang my head against the backboard. I have never hit my head on the rim. I have grazed my hair on it when my fro was pretty big and have seen it on tape. I know that if I legit hit my head on rim it's 49 inch jump cause I'm just under 6' in shoes. If I increase my vertical and am fearful of the rim I can always put a foam roller on top and hit that... I tried it but I was a legit 4-5 inches away as it sits on top of the rim and so it was too hard of a target for me to aim for at my jumping level... I would have to improve to even go for it as. Target...
Is head touching optimal? Not at all. I have a 7'8.5 reach... if I cheat like people do on a combine it's 7'7. If I go fairly it's closer to 7'9. If I truly dislocate my shoulder to stretch as hard as possible with momentum and swing (like I do in the air) it's probably more like 7'11... I can't really do this with my head... so, again I could give myself a bonus inch or two for any object I touch w my head but that isn't really necessary because the bottom line is:
All you need is measurability!!! IMO the most impressive gains on the board belong to KF and LBSS. Two dudes who do not fuck around when it comes to measurability.
KF doesn't even mess around with anything but standing vertical jumps cause there is too much variation and risk. Sure he dunks but only cause he thinks it looks cool. He makes no claims from dunks but just does standing vertical jumps to a vertec on hardwood and posts clear video. He doesn't say "hey guys how high did I get up? He says that's a 38" inch jump. He gets feedback for how big he jumps in repeatable testable way.
LBSS posts look like: 15 ME jumps, best 37", worst 32, mean 35, variance 3", coefficient of variation of 0.2, Cauchy distributed, moment generating function estimates gamma.
This is good data! LBSS can take this data and know when he jumps well, poorly, etc.
This is the sad thing about maxent being afraid to test his vertical... in the end all the excuses hold him back. This is a jumping board, not a squatting board. Jumping workout data would allow him to train 100x better even if it's just off by a consistent two inches cause he is doing an absolutely unathletic maneuver like touching the square!
lmfao!@$)(!@)$!@)(
also, Kebaya has probably shown us the best use for a foam roller so far.. absolutely ridiculous. The first jump in that video you linked, side angle, is absolutely incredible.. he is getting up ridiculously high. :wowthatwasnutswtf:
Am i taking crazy pills or is the idea of smashing ones head against anything (be it backboaerd or rim or the roof of a 20ft building) not at all enticing?!
it's scary at first but once you do it, it's actually kind of fun.. it's not like you'd be hitting it that hard, especially if it's some variation of a 10' backboard. I actually hit my head on a few signs at a shopping mall, that was less fun, but still fun.
fwiw, here's a few backboard jumps I did:
(https://scontent-mia1-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/296530_10151039249576778_208244124_n.jpg?oh=bef5526b8149f5ad2d49c8fbaee71626&oe=58827175)
(http://i.imgur.com/KgQG2.png)
i remember the first time i hit my head on that first backboard (which is a much lower pad/backboard, goes down further). It really took me quite a few attempts because I was somewhat scared to hit it, then when I finally hit it, was not very eventful. Didn't hurt at all, the pad is thick and when you're hitting something so near you're peak, the physics of it doesn't make it too intense (i don't think).
I was never able to hit the second backboard (second pic). I should have tried more, I would have liked that footage/pic.
I also created a head-height vertec at some point which was pretty fun.. I was just trying to hit some copper stick which didn't scare me at all. I used that in my backyard for a while.
I definitely prefer wrist height touches though.. if hitting your head on something is kind of scary, there's some inhibition you have to fight through.. There should be no inhibition on a wrist/hand height jump though, and it's pretty accurate - ESPECIALLY if you are recording.. there's obviously +- 2" of error or so, depending on where you jump, if your arm is angled etc.. but you can get a very good estimate using this measurement, that's what i'd go with.
And to what T0ddday said about holding yourself back ... it's definitely a legit concept. For myself, I hold myself back by not testing certain running distances 100% etc.. Once I start thinking about it, I can psyche myself out and all of that weird mental crap. It's pretty similar to not testing vert. As athletes we need to crush that shit.
pc!
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Am i taking crazy pills or is the idea of smashing ones head against anything (be it backboaerd or rim or the roof of a 20ft building) not at all enticing?!
Yes. You seem to have a lifetime supply of crazy pills. As Andrew said - anywhere near peak jump height you are moving extremely slowly through the air... You can't smash your head on something you have to jump high for... it seems a little scary... you can do what I did before I realized this and wear a beanie at first but soon you realize it's just a head tap and it feels super awesome and floaty to hit objects with your head...
Backboards vary but most are padded... find one that isn't super low (around 8 inch at most). You are 6'3 so touching that with your head would be a 37" jump. Go for it. If you post a video of yourself smashing your head at a 37" jump in the near future I'll pay your medical bills!
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I guess i'm just not wired that way, i have done my fair share of ceiling head jump touches ..which is softer. but a backboard seems too solid a target to aim for.. we're not goign to agree bout this haha. i hurt my cervical spine last year and it sucked. i dont want to bother it again ever, esp with a meaningless vertical test.
last night i did go to the court to do some dunks and i noticed on the side beam supporting the hoop/backboard complex, i cud mark out a milestone that corresponds to 36" and 40" respectively and try to touch it. however, i have no idea how i wud go about measuring it. tape seems too unreliable unless i use string with a weight suspended at the bottom. will look into it .. maybe the best alternative yet. i cud mark out 28"-32"-36"-40" milestones along the beam, it's slanted so it can be done.
i just wanted to report that i did 2 dunks and on the 3rd my ankle noped out and i couldnt jump anymore. sad. may need to fix it up before resuming jumping proper.
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BW: 80.7kg
today im kinda bloated so i'll take this measurement without much fuss. tmr is my last volume session for this cycle, after that im going to take it easy on the eating and just add mad weight for a bit, then PEAK my vert before starting a new cycle. It shud be the last time i use baby weights (<130kg) so that's an important milestone to pass. hoping to eat and sleep well and come in for 5x5x127.5kg without much fuss.
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BS 6x5x127.5 (PR)
OHP 6x4x60(LPR)
WCU 5x5x99.3(PR; 84.3kg+15kg)
BW: 80.8kg / 178.1lb
Notes:
Yup thats a lifetime PR at 127.5kg. I've done 5x5x127.5kg before (with old bar so slightly under that load irl) when i weighed around 92-95kg at the time and im not 100% (tried to look it up in the logs) but i may have used a (velcro) belt for some of those latter sets. Anyway, i smashed it by doing 1 more set, all rawdog. So i can start to write PR instead of LPR now. Fuck ya. vids up on my insta if you're interested.
just wanna give a shoutout to Leonel .. there was a moment when the 6x110kg warmup felt heavy/hard that i may have wussed out but i remembered i had some ppl to prove wrong! I havent decided what my worksets will be next saturday, either go for 5x5x130kg or 5x5x132.5kg depending on how ambitious i am. I know i need to be at 5x5x150kg @80kg eventually, so there's no point dwelling instead of making progress towards that milestone. It's 2 cycles away btw, 6x6x132.5 <-> 5x5x140 and 6x6x142.5 <-> 5x5x150. I'm almost ready to start the 6x6x132.5kg cycle.
Confession: I havent sprinted in forever. I must admit that it's prob the only thing which i noticed carry over to my basketball ability. I felt i cud accelerate and drive so much quicker when i was sprinting regularly. It must be a staple of my training. However. Bad weather and daunting workouts has meant it has fallen by the wayside. In future i think i need to dedicate an entire block to sprinting. And an entire block to conditioning. My conditioning is probably the weakest part of my organism right now and (probably forever). Lifting might hellp me jump but it does almost nothing for my edurance and conditioning which is super important for the stupid aerobic sport of mine.
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BS 6x5x127.5 (PR)
BW: 80.8kg / 178.1lb
Notes:
Yup thats a lifetime PR at 127.5kg. I've done 5x5x127.5kg before (with old bar so slightly under that load irl) when i weighed around 92-95kg at the time and im not 100% (tried to look it up in the logs) but i may have used a (velcro) belt for some of those latter sets. Anyway, i smashed it by doing 1 more set, all rawdog. So i can start to write PR instead of LPR now. Fuck ya. vids up on my insta if you're interested.
sick!!
i don't see teh vids? link em` !!
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I'm impressed. Strong work. :ibsquatting: :lololol:
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BS 4x2x137.5(LPR), 1Fx137.5, 0Fx137.5
BP 6x85(LPR), 3x5x85(LPR)
Game
SVJ dunks 2x5 (i can do these without bothering ankle so yah)
Notes:
Last wk 135kg was my training max / LPR single. Today i used 137.5kg for double worksets. If i could have arranged the day better i prob get all 6 sets! But it's ok, next wk i'll get 6x2x137.5kg then i can tackle 6x2x140kg the following tuesday, an important milestone.
Game tnite .. am kinda meh about basketball right now. I dont fit into this team. they dont feed me the ball enough and i dont know what role im filling .. im kinda disappointed tbh. One of these days im gna just go get mine and dominate but it may have to wait yet.
oh and benching tells me what i shud heed, my hamstrings are weak af, you know you have a weakness when you cant bench sets of 5-6 without hamstrings cramping up with what is modest weight. Im also learning that my back strength is non-existent via failed bench sets that need returning back to the rack, if i had a stronger back i'd find it ez to re-rack failed benches. So def will dedicate some time to pulling off pins to improve my back strength. will help my squat eventually lolzsy.
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Real talk, i tested my vert against the rim before the game and cud only manage just under the wrist which is what 29"? something like that iirc, but i think i did svj on that jump, maybe im misremebmering, it cant be more than a drop step anyways. later i was able to jump higher, i think, maybe, given i was doing svj dunks, or maybe not, maybe im just super efficient at svj dunk lolz. anyway fk it. my legs are torched after that game, did a lot of running, im treating bball game as a conditioning workout so it's not a complete waste of my time. trnya be the first one to sprint back on d, etc. fk evertything bout this game tho. it's a ms game, and with my level of accumulated fatiue and lack of efficiency / athleticism im pretty mediocre to say the least at hte game of tbasketball. dont care, dont care, not even bothered.
feel fat, unathletic and useless. need to start sprinting again. at least i have an excuse, weather is complete shit
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BW: 81.6kg (yikes)
been thinking while im in 130kgs, it's an opportunity to become more all-rounded. add in conditioning (sprint intervals), maybe max sprints too, focus on skills, all that stuff ive neglected. it will allow me to lean out and become more athletic and when i get to 140kgs, i will either be adapted and be able to continue them or maybe put them on maitenance in which case i wont regress while building up towards 5x5x150kg. do think that until ive mastered 150kg for 6x6, im not going to get any permanent changes to my organism, this just temporary peakiness that will come and go. need to make some new setpoints, so that if i come off a holiday or something i can quickly get back to using 140kg worksets and prob start off around 120kg from a layoff.
having said that, another part of me wants to get out of 130kgs asap cos it's nomans territory.
im relishing the challenge to do more with less, lets see how it goes. starting tmr.
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BS 3Fx130, 0Fx142.5B
Push Press 2x6x68.5(LPR), 5x70(PR)
Notes:
Was a dream of my mine to use 2x25kg plates for push presses and today i thought to try it, having never got a single rep before with them and was able to do 5?! I may have been abble to do 6 but i stopped at 5 just cos i was so stunned. So cool. If i make this a new setpoint from here i'll be happy
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On another note, i clearly over-reached on tuesday. I have not recovered from those heavy doubles at 137.5kg. But the flipside is when i do eventually recover, i'll be a bit more of a beast than i was previously. So that's something to look forward to, as i try to keep up spirits. Been devoting myself to recovery, smr, mobility, all that stuff. Wearing full body compression gear today as well haha. i have been wearing compression tights all the time (day/night) but today also wearing a top, which i hate, cos it feels constricting but whatever, as long as it helps recovery a little, it's okay.
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BS 6x5x130(PR)
OHP 5x5x60(LPR)
Weighted Chinup 3x5x100(+15kg; PR i think)
BW: 83.2kg (full blown obesity status acquired .. i dont even care .. fk it)
Notes:
Pretty hard but i got them all in. wooho.
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??? VMO is a big muscle.
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According to RSR proper:
6x6x120✓ -> 5x5x127.5✓ -> 4x4x135 -> 3x3x142.5 -> 2x2x150 -> 1x157.5
6x6x130 -> 5x5x138.125 -> 4x4x146.25 -> 3x3x154.375 -> 2x2x162.5 -> 1x170.625
6x6x140 -> 5x5x148.75 -> 4x4x157.5 -> 3x3x166.25 -> 183.75
6x6x142.5 -> 5x5x150 -> 4x4x160 -> 3x3x170 -> 187.5
last wk i did 6x5x127.5 which shud translate to slightly better than 4x4x135. But i didnt try 4x4 cos it's meaningless and i absolutely suck at repping heavy weight for low reps. Instead i added 2.5kg to my volume workout and went for 6x5x130kg. Got it, so next wk i will go for 6x6x130kg - which shud in theory allow me to do 5x5x137.5kg on paper but bear in mind last week i couldn't get more than 4 doubles at 137.5kg, failing the 2nd rep on the 5th and the first rep on the 6th. And it destroyed me utterly for the remaining week, very difficult to recover from. Yes i dont think im respecting RSR proper, it has recovery workouts which im not doing and im also playing basketball which doesn't help recovery. So something has to give, maybe i can be good for 5x5x135kg if i get the 6x6x130kg? we'll see how it goes.
My overall goal is 5x5x150kg and i couldn't care less about the intermediate milestones, as long as it gets me towards that end, i dont mind what worksets i attain or attempt as long as it's getting me closer to the goal.
Im also making a change, thanks to the weather being awful every single saturday, im giving up on training saturdays and moving to a sunday/tuesday/thursday schedule. This allows me to play bball 3 times a week, with games tues and thurs, and pickup sundays. And i can skip the shitty run of wet/cold/windy/miserable saturdays that have plagued me for months. watch as next saturday is picture perfect and sunday is not. lol.
I just don't get how for example you could go from 140 6x6 to 148.75 5x5 to 157.5kg for 4 sets of 4 in a matter of a few workouts... that just doesn't seem like a logic periodization to me. For someone with quite some experience with squats being pretty efficient in this movement it doesn't seem doable to me... but then again I'm probably just a big wuss.
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trying to compare yourself to entropy is a fool's errand.
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trying to compare yourself to entropy is a fool's errand.
It is indeed depressing to anyone who respects your truly exceptional talents to see you of late apparently spending a great deal of time on shallow, negative polemics that contribute almost nothing in the way of real knowledge or deep truths to the subject matter they deal with. Instead of utilizing your major talents in the difficult business of discovering new viewpoints, and new understanding and techniques, you make a spectacle of yourself indulging your minor talent for innuendo and derogation. There are occasions on which it is desirable for a person with an outstanding reputation to devote some effort to pointing ·out the flaws ina significant proposal. But it is fatuous to waste time attacking one so weak that it can be demolished by high school debating tactics that avoid serious consideration of fundamental issues and deal only in hostile innuendoes, unsubstantiated arrogant opinions, and trivial nitpicking.
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Hey man I'm sorry if I've been hurting your feelings and being a jerk. You are, in fact, inspirational to me in your commitment and consistency. You also baffle me, and lately my response to that bafflement has taken the form of little one-liners instead of actually trying to engage with you. Engaging with you can be frustrating because you're so stubborn. But that's not a good enough reason to be a hater, so, apologies. I'll save the snark for mattyg if he ever comes back and tries to start defending Trump again.
The last comment, about people trying to compare themselves to you being foolish, was meant as a reflection of your unpredictability and iconoclasm, not as an insult.
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shit bro, i feel sheepish, i saw your reply on my phone waiting in the drivethru. meant to delete this when i came home from work but got side-tracked. i really appreciate you said that though, it's beyond cool. there's no ill feeling here only respect. lets get it done. ive worked so hard to get to this point where i am right now, to push past previous stumbkling blocks after multiple setbacks (injury, life, etc), im brimming with optimism for what's to come in the next few months.
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BW: 82.6kg / 182.1lb
Heading in hte right direction. i'd be ok weighing 82.5kg to rep 140kg worksets. It's not justifiable for 130kg worksets tho.
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BS 6x2x137.5(LPR)
BP 2x6x87.5 (LPR), 5Fx87.5, 3x3x87.5
BW: 82.6kg
Notes:
Last wk i got utterly destroyed by 137.5kg, managing 4x2 and 1F, 0F in 6 sets and took the entire week to recover lol. Today i progressed to 6x2x137.5kg and if im being exact, i tested myself against 140kg with the 2nd double so all things considering, im stronger than i was a week ago. Bad news is that the 140kg double was pretty damn hard and broke down my form, so it's a reminder that i need to get out of the 130kgs asap, it's still baby weight territory. It does make me wonder whether i'll be strong enough to attempt 6x2x140kg next tuesday? or shud i try add reps. not sure.
game tonight .. if i was meh about it last week, im goign towards couldnt give \a fuck about it with a large side of disdain. it's this new team, they take it soo seriously when they're not even that good and they don't realise i have other priorities (lifting, work) than basketball. oh well whatever. im half thinking of recruiting someone to play in my stead while im focusing on becoming a beast. i do hope to transition back to basketball ofcourse once the transformation from unathletic to athletic has occured..
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aite so im weighing 85kg and i dunked on court 1 which is the proper rim, slightly higher prob regulation. my ankle complained but not too much. so i will test again in a week. game was decent, i spent a lot of time on the bench. played some minutes tho, got an and-1 which i converted and a block. thats about it lol.
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^^ from LBSS's reply & maxent's reply to his reply, everything is cool.
trying to compare yourself to entropy is a fool's errand.
It is indeed depressing to anyone who respects your truly exceptional talents to see you of late apparently spending a great deal of time on shallow, negative polemics that contribute almost nothing in the way of real knowledge or deep truths to the subject matter they deal with. Instead of utilizing your major talents in the difficult business of discovering new viewpoints, and new understanding and techniques, you make a spectacle of yourself indulging your minor talent for innuendo and derogation. There are occasions on which it is desirable for a person with an outstanding reputation to devote some effort to pointing ·out the flaws ina significant proposal. But it is fatuous to waste time attacking one so weak that it can be demolished by high school debating tactics that avoid serious consideration of fundamental issues and deal only in hostile innuendoes, unsubstantiated arrogant opinions, and trivial nitpicking.
but wow god damn what a post. I feel like saving that and using it in case I want to make someone feel bad about a post on a forum/facebook etc. scathe factor 9001. :wowthatwasnutswtf:
that's definitely overboard when you look at it from the perspective that LBSS does respect you, your consistency, your hard work etc.. (as you basically mentioned in your last reply to him). when I read his comment I personally didn't perceive it as an insult - seemed more directed towards your tendency to flip the script, go off on tangents, focus on things that many perceive to be insignificant (certain bodyweight goals etc).. stuff like that.
but that same stuff could also be said about me. It's hard to compare people's training to my own. Both my dunk training & now my run training are very unconventional. I usually end up in a spot after lots of trial and error, which often doesn't make sense to most people. For example, with dunking -> high frequency (multi-day sessions) of squatting + high rep squatting etc.. For running; High frequency (multi-day sessions) + low volume + no long runs to improve my 1-mile/5k times. I'm also testing a theory with this low volume approach. I've also had very low bodyweight goals for both training phases (~145 lb. for dunking), (~140 lb. for running/sprinting).
As far as bodyweight goals go, maybe having a goal of ~140 lb. and still being at 149 lb., is simply a way to keep me around ~149 lb? Maybe if I had a goal of 149 lb., i'd be more liberal with my eating, and get to ~155 lb. Regardless, i'd love to get to ~6-7% bodyfat @ 140 lb. and see what happens to my sprinting/running.. It could potentially be futile, or, it could be my optimal structure.. Not sure yet. I know when I was dunking way back, I felt amazing @ 145 lb.. was flying off 1-leg too.
It can be hard to compare people to overanalyzer/experimenters.. we do lots of dumb stuff, but also some good stuff.. The key is to surf that "good stuff" wave once we find it.. :F :ninja:
pc!!
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I just wanted to write down on the remarkable present situation where im able to say i squatted a PR while weighing much less (15kg/30lb less) than when I set the record broken and im not even doing them in a high state of arousal (like with stimulants, psyching up, or other such tricks which i'd rather not disclose lol). Im not supplementing creatine. Not using a belt (save for 2 sets of 2 reps per week as assistance) or any other gear (sleeves etc). And most of all, im doing it while playing my sport regularly. Im sure when i set those PRs i was all-in on lifting. So that's kinda cool. In season PRs given all of the above is pretty sweet. This is just groundwork though, the real results/achievements will happen when i use 150kg for worksets of 5x5 and eventually 6x6. That by year end would be amazing.
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I just wanted to write down on the remarkable present situation where im able to say i squatted a PR while weighing much less (15kg/30lb less) than when I set the record broken and im not even doing them in a high state of arousal (like with stimulants, psyching up, or other such tricks which i'd rather not disclose lol). Im not supplementing creatine. Not using a belt (save for 2 sets of 2 reps per week as assistance) or any other gear (sleeves etc). And most of all, im doing it while playing my sport regularly. Im sure when i set those PRs i was all-in on lifting. So that's kinda cool. In season PRs given all of the above is pretty sweet. This is just groundwork though, the real results/achievements will happen when i use 150kg for worksets of 5x5 and eventually 6x6. That by year end would be amazing.
sick! :headbang:
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^^ from LBSS's reply & maxent's reply to his reply, everything is cool.
trying to compare yourself to entropy is a fool's errand.
It is indeed depressing to anyone who respects your truly exceptional talents to see you of late apparently spending a great deal of time on shallow, negative polemics that contribute almost nothing in the way of real knowledge or deep truths to the subject matter they deal with. Instead of utilizing your major talents in the difficult business of discovering new viewpoints, and new understanding and techniques, you make a spectacle of yourself indulging your minor talent for innuendo and derogation. There are occasions on which it is desirable for a person with an outstanding reputation to devote some effort to pointing ·out the flaws ina significant proposal. But it is fatuous to waste time attacking one so weak that it can be demolished by high school debating tactics that avoid serious consideration of fundamental issues and deal only in hostile innuendoes, unsubstantiated arrogant opinions, and trivial nitpicking.
but wow god damn what a post. I feel like saving that and using it in case I want to make someone feel bad about a post on a forum/facebook etc. scathe factor 9001. :wowthatwasnutswtf:
that's definitely overboard when you look at it from the perspective that LBSS does respect you, your consistency, your hard work etc.. (as you basically mentioned in your last reply to him). when I read his comment I personally didn't perceive it as an insult - seemed more directed towards your tendency to flip the script, go off on tangents, focus on things that many perceive to be insignificant (certain bodyweight goals etc).. stuff like that.
FYI, it's from a 1970s exchange between John Backus and Edsger Dijkstra about some high level programming shit, which is probably why it seems really out of context:
https://medium.com/@acidflask/this-guys-arrogance-takes-your-breath-away-5b903624ca5f#.lw8wqxtdx (https://medium.com/@acidflask/this-guys-arrogance-takes-your-breath-away-5b903624ca5f#.lw8wqxtdx)
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I just wanted to write down on the remarkable present situation where im able to say i squatted a PR while weighing much less (15kg/30lb less) than when I set the record broken and im not even doing them in a high state of arousal (like with stimulants, psyching up, or other such tricks which i'd rather not disclose lol). Im not supplementing creatine. Not using a belt (save for 2 sets of 2 reps per week as assistance) or any other gear (sleeves etc). And most of all, im doing it while playing my sport regularly. Im sure when i set those PRs i was all-in on lifting. So that's kinda cool. In season PRs given all of the above is pretty sweet. This is just groundwork though, the real results/achievements will happen when i use 150kg for worksets of 5x5 and eventually 6x6. That by year end would be amazing.
In addition to my last post, the following day i'm 82.6kg but looking leaner AND i feel a lot better recovered than expected considering last tuesdays 137.5kg doubles destroyed my back so much i cudnt even walk without wincing .. but since then an adaptation has taken place and im ready to tackle the rest of this cycle's milestones (6x6x130, 6x5x137.5kg in the next 2 volume sessions and and 6x2x140kg next tuesday). Def sprinting thursday too, think i can handle it now, recovery wise.
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^^ from LBSS's reply & maxent's reply to his reply, everything is cool.
trying to compare yourself to entropy is a fool's errand.
It is indeed depressing to anyone who respects your truly exceptional talents to see you of late apparently spending a great deal of time on shallow, negative polemics that contribute almost nothing in the way of real knowledge or deep truths to the subject matter they deal with. Instead of utilizing your major talents in the difficult business of discovering new viewpoints, and new understanding and techniques, you make a spectacle of yourself indulging your minor talent for innuendo and derogation. There are occasions on which it is desirable for a person with an outstanding reputation to devote some effort to pointing ·out the flaws ina significant proposal. But it is fatuous to waste time attacking one so weak that it can be demolished by high school debating tactics that avoid serious consideration of fundamental issues and deal only in hostile innuendoes, unsubstantiated arrogant opinions, and trivial nitpicking.
but wow god damn what a post. I feel like saving that and using it in case I want to make someone feel bad about a post on a forum/facebook etc. scathe factor 9001. :wowthatwasnutswtf:
that's definitely overboard when you look at it from the perspective that LBSS does respect you, your consistency, your hard work etc.. (as you basically mentioned in your last reply to him). when I read his comment I personally didn't perceive it as an insult - seemed more directed towards your tendency to flip the script, go off on tangents, focus on things that many perceive to be insignificant (certain bodyweight goals etc).. stuff like that.
FYI, it's from a 1970s exchange between John Backus and Edsger Dijkstra about some high level programming shit, which is probably why it seems really out of context:
https://medium.com/@acidflask/this-guys-arrogance-takes-your-breath-away-5b903624ca5f#.lw8wqxtdx (https://medium.com/@acidflask/this-guys-arrogance-takes-your-breath-away-5b903624ca5f#.lw8wqxtdx)
lol, thanks for the link!
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^^ from LBSS's reply & maxent's reply to his reply, everything is cool.
trying to compare yourself to entropy is a fool's errand.
It is indeed depressing to anyone who respects your truly exceptional talents to see you of late apparently spending a great deal of time on shallow, negative polemics that contribute almost nothing in the way of real knowledge or deep truths to the subject matter they deal with. Instead of utilizing your major talents in the difficult business of discovering new viewpoints, and new understanding and techniques, you make a spectacle of yourself indulging your minor talent for innuendo and derogation. There are occasions on which it is desirable for a person with an outstanding reputation to devote some effort to pointing ·out the flaws ina significant proposal. But it is fatuous to waste time attacking one so weak that it can be demolished by high school debating tactics that avoid serious consideration of fundamental issues and deal only in hostile innuendoes, unsubstantiated arrogant opinions, and trivial nitpicking.
but wow god damn what a post. I feel like saving that and using it in case I want to make someone feel bad about a post on a forum/facebook etc. scathe factor 9001. :wowthatwasnutswtf:
that's definitely overboard when you look at it from the perspective that LBSS does respect you, your consistency, your hard work etc.. (as you basically mentioned in your last reply to him). when I read his comment I personally didn't perceive it as an insult - seemed more directed towards your tendency to flip the script, go off on tangents, focus on things that many perceive to be insignificant (certain bodyweight goals etc).. stuff like that.
FYI, it's from a 1970s exchange between John Backus and Edsger Dijkstra about some high level programming shit, which is probably why it seems really out of context:
https://medium.com/@acidflask/this-guys-arrogance-takes-your-breath-away-5b903624ca5f#.lw8wqxtdx (https://medium.com/@acidflask/this-guys-arrogance-takes-your-breath-away-5b903624ca5f#.lw8wqxtdx)
lol, thanks for the link!
x2.. LMAO!@#@!#@!
thanks acole.
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BW: 82.2kg / 181.22lb
Accidentally lowcarbed yesterday. my bad, couldnt get deep sleep. If i had realised it, i would have eaten more carbs! It was not intentional, lowcarbing fkn sucks for performance.
think i have legit gained a kilo or more of adipose though. wud like to trim it off and get back to seeing 80.x on the scale before attacking the next cycle.
Training and bball tonight, new season with my old team from wiinter, did not really wanna commit to that but my friend wanted to play competitive bball again and i said ok, i got you, play with my old team. of course he's already flaking on the first game so i bet he wont even play in the end lol.
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BS 3x137.5(PR), 1x142.5(LPR)
Partial Jump Squats 6x110, 6x130(LPR)
Push Press 6x69.5(PR), 5Fx69.5
Sprints 6x(~100m: 20s on, 25s rest; LPR reintro)
Jumps at high target (PR; hit palm)
RDL 8x70(LPR; reintro), 10x110(LPR)
Cable row 2x12xstack(LPR; reintro)
CURL 8x30(LPR; reintro)
BW: 82.2kg
Notes:
I wanted to rep 142.5kg after that triple with 137.5kg but it was pretty fkn hard. For the first time it was my legs which got jelly-like, not my core, makes sense tho, that basketball i played tue (game + pickup) will do that. plus as per last post, poor sleep and accidental lowcarb, so al things considerd, it wasnt too bad. I wanted to rep 140+ with a belt, walked out 147.5kg and noped out, legs (esp knees) didn't want any of that..
maybe jumps, sprints later? think the game is a forfeit, not enough players, i dont mind, didnt really wanna play lol
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I like your progress lately but pls stop with these 110-130kg jump squats... that can't be healthy.
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I like your progress lately but pls stop with these 110-130kg jump squats... that can't be healthy.
no probs .. im not doing any plyos atm and my ankle doesn't like dunking so im tryna do some sort of reg wkly jumping at least, not in love with these by any means.
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i think i will skip sprints.. im afraid of wrecking myself for squatting 6x6x130kg on sunday if i add some unknown disruptive variable by introducing sprints all of a sudden :/ i really hate this situation .. fuck the weather for ruining my routine i had build up. part of me thinks i ca make it work if i eat loads but im not trying to gain weight anymore, alreaady too heavy/fat at this bw to justify that
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i think i will skip sprints.. im afraid of wrecking myself for squatting 6x6x130kg on sunday if i add some unknown disruptive variable by introducing sprints all of a sudden :/ i really hate this situation .. fuck the weather for ruining my routine i had build up. part of me thinks i ca make it work if i eat loads but im not trying to gain weight anymore, alreaady too heavy/fat at this bw to justify that
Weather permitting you should do some sprints.
Remember 130kg is fkn babyweight!!! Kill it. You got this whether you sprint or not.
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+1 to what LBSS said, how much do you really want it.
I remember when it used to rain on the field I ran on and I just couldn't let the weather dicatate my running, and it rained heavy, so I went out and just pushed myself to do it, its happened alot for me.
Rain is the average weather in britain but if you want it bad you will be motivated by your determination to train in the rain and will push you.
lol there was also this other time when I used to squat tyres in my garden and it rained heavy, I went outside with long sleeve t-shirt and I would squat and then I would hold a big container over my head when recovering then put it away and start and when I finished it was still raining and then I went inside lol. Good times.
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+1 to what LBSS said, how much do you really want it.
I remember when it used to rain on the field I ran on and I just couldn't let the weather dicatate my running, and it rained heavy, so I went out and just pushed myself to do it, its happened alot for me.
Rain is the average weather in britain but if you want it bad you will be motivated by your determination to train in the rain and will push you.
i think i will skip sprints.. im afraid of wrecking myself for squatting 6x6x130kg on sunday if i add some unknown disruptive variable by introducing sprints all of a sudden :/ i really hate this situation .. fuck the weather for ruining my routine i had build up. part of me thinks i ca make it work if i eat loads but im not trying to gain weight anymore, alreaady too heavy/fat at this bw to justify that
Weather permitting you should do some sprints.
Remember 130kg is fkn babyweight!!! Kill it. You got this whether you sprint or not.
cheers! done. weather is gorgeous now, ive got no reason but inertia to avoid them.
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BW: 82.7kg
legs fine post sprints reintro, but doms are still possible so will see how it goes. ate a ton of fastfood last night in lieu of good nutrition, didnt realise i was outta chicken late night and had to resort to: 2 double hamburgers from mcdonalds, triple cheeseburger (minus cheese) from hjs, double grilled chicken. oh well, bit bloated but done. today i will be proactive and eat entire chicken, prob the same tmr, wanna be recoverd by sunday for 6x6x130kg..
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Something's changed in my mindset. Getting 'used' to weighing more. It's part of that buzz you get when you're getting bigger and stronger and you are inclined to overlook bodyfat% in favour of PRs. However, i'll strive on keeping a sane outlook about things:
pros of weighing more -- it's like wearing a weight vest, everything is stronger as a result of training with this bw, feel bigger/stronger
cons of weighing more -- harder on joints, recovery etc when running, jumping, balling, bodyfat is easy to gain, very hard to lose
so i have to keep a balanced perspective on all of this. next two weeks are still using 130-137.5kg volume worksets so i have no reason to go gain weight since this are baby plates still. The two volume workouts of 6x6x130kg and 6x5x137.5kg i can eat more around them, but that's 2 weeks worth of clean eating and possible bf% reduction possible if i do it right. i can gain a bit of muscle and lose a bit of fat and become a lot stronger. The traing goal is just to earn the right to use 140kg for worksets, not to gain weight.
In other news, now that ive added sprints, i'll find it easy to just repeat them. the hardest part for me is always adding stuff cos im super conservative but one i do, things usually become routine, so im happy about that. Have covered the 5 key areas of : running, jumping, lifting, balling and clean eating - give it time and it will pay off. Athleticism here i am ;)
Also cabel rows are amazing assistance which i shud keep doing reg. ive coupled them with rdls and together they will reinforce each other. the only 2 things missing are prob medball throws and barbell hip thrusts but tryna not to make workouts too long. also, im happy to focus on push presses, i dream of putting up 100kg by year end but to get there i obv at least need to be able to bench that much lmao. that's a pipe dream.
recovery recovery recovery, gna use the tens unit heavily, constrast showers, compression gear all of that. but i couldnt sleep with my cmpression pants last night, it's getting too warm to wear them to sleep ..
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BW: 82.7kg
legs fine post sprints reintro, but doms are still possible so will see how it goes. ate a ton of fastfood last night in lieu of good nutrition, didnt realise i was outta chicken late night and had to resort to: 2 double hamburgers from mcdonalds, triple cheeseburger (minus cheese) from hjs, double grilled chicken. oh well, bit bloated but done. today i will be proactive and eat entire chicken, prob the same tmr, wanna be recoverd by sunday for 6x6x130kg..
I see you're not a fan of cheese :P
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lol .. it's like when a fatty orders a big McMeal but goes for the diet coke. Actually that's me, i get coke zero and sans cheese. I do like cheese, just tryna keep the protein to fat ratio better :)
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BW: 82.8kg (yikes)
But skinfolds around my lb are kinda small so i dont mind are actually pretty huge lol. Prob just water. I drank a tonne of it yesterday.. not sure what's going on in my body. actually, i my have overdosed on zinc/magnesium the last 24hrs..
Feel vindicated switching away from saturday training, storms, etc. the run of horrible saturdays continues!
gonna get my recovery on in preparing for tmrs 6x6 squats. thinking of a light workout.. active reccovery, maybe go up to 70kg warmups? not sure and a single with 110kg? thats what i did last week and it seemed to 'work'. one day i will squat everyday too.. ha.
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BS 6x132.5(=PR), 3x6x130(LPR)
OHP 3x60, 4x60, 3x60, 2x62.5, 0Fx65, 3x60
Weighted Chinup 3x3x105(LPR 85kg+20kg), 6x95(+10kg; LPR)
BW: 82.7kg
Notes:
For the record i did a 5th and 6th set of 5 and 4 reps respectively. I'm not counting them cos the depth wasn't to my standards. Overall you could say i failed, since my goal was 6x6 and i only manged 4x6. Try again in a week.
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BW: 83kg (LPR!)
Kinda pregnant tho so it will prob go back to 82kgs. Decent doms in erectors, i think that's new, i dont remember that for a while. Expect squat performance to go relative down then absolutely up once recovered, which will be cool.
New goals:
short terms: 6x6x137.5kg @ 80-82.5kg
mid term: 6x6x142.5kg @ 80-82.5kg
end-o-year: 6x6x150kg @ 80-85kg.
Not cutting, not gaining weight, just recomping from here.
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1/10
bw: 83kg
Gna log my food intake for the next 10 days to stay accountable..
Eats
1600- 2 chicken breasts, 300mL r.f milk, 60g whey, chicken noodle thing(500 kcal, 11p, 6f, 47c)
2200 - 165g beef, wholmeal bun, 4 beef chipolatas, 2 small hotdog buns, whey shake as before
good clean eating today, will repeat the same shit every day from here, pls call me out if i falte
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Please correct me if I'm off here, but based on 6x132.5kgs being an all-time PR, your 1RM atm is probably around 150kgs now, maybe 154-55 but prob closer to 150 (for example, I squatted 155 1RM after getting to 135x6 - you might be better or worse than me with your real-life 1RM effort...but IMO 6RM is probably overestimates 1RM slightly). You really think going from lifting 150 once right now to lifting that 36 times in a session in less than 3 months is realistic with minimal BW changes? An advanced lifter with a history of back issues? It might be possible maybe....you do get good squat gains from these sort of routines, because you're consistent. Prove me wrong, but personally I think you'll stack on more weight when you get close just to meet the numbers you've set yourself followed by the usual extreme fasting. As many people have said in this journal, this is unlikely to make you a better athlete without the rest of the program. You're skipping sprints and ball because you need the recovery to train for 6x6@150? :uhcomeon:
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Please correct me if I'm off here, but based on 6x132.5kgs being an all-time PR, your 1RM atm is probably around 150kgs now, maybe 154-55 but prob closer to 150 (for example, I squatted 155 1RM after getting to 135x6 - you might be better or worse than me with your real-life 1RM effort...but IMO 6RM is probably overestimates 1RM slightly). You really think going from lifting 150 once right now to lifting that 36 times in a session in less than 3 months is realistic with minimal BW changes? An advanced lifter with a history of back issues? It might be possible maybe....you do get good squat gains from these sort of routines, because you're consistent. Prove me wrong, but personally I think you'll stack on more weight when you get close just to meet the numbers you've set yourself followed by the usual extreme fasting. As many people have said in this journal, this is unlikely to make you a better athlete without the rest of the program. You're skipping sprints and ball because you need the recovery to train for 6x6@150? :uhcomeon:
... and here we go again... but I think you're absolutely right
It seems that his admirable work ethic and consistency comes with quite a bit of stubbornness
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Thanks mate. 6x130 -> 1x150 sounds about right! My training max (last wk's) was 142.5kg - however i did a triple with 137.5kg just prior to that attempt. It may be closer to 150kg sure, i just haven't got the practice with 'heavier' weight to test a real max .. also not really important cos im not a PL and i dont train to produce a competive 1rm. You're right that a single set of 6rm isn't worth much, but i can almost guarantee i get 6x6x130kg this sunday. I don't think that's materially much different from 4x6x130 (with one set that was +2.5), but i will be a bit stronger/bigger as well and i wont try the 132.5kg. If 6x6 goes through ok, it shud allow me to tackle 137.5kg for six sets of 5 the following sunday tho.
I do think my max will be in the range 160-170kg when im wrapped up with this cycle (130x6x6 and 137.5x6x5), within 2 weeks. Reluctant to project out further than 2 weeks. Let's see how it goes...
You guys have to trust me this is working .. my legs are thicker and meatier. tmr i will tackle 6x2x140kg which will equal my PR i set at the start of 2015 when i weighed 97kg. yikes.
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BS 2x140, 1Fx140
BP 5x90(LPR!), 4x3x90(LPR)
BW: 82.5kg
Notes:
lol.. erectors felt okay going into this workout but after the first set i got crazy doms all of a sudden. the bright side, i used 140kg after my last warmup with 110kg with no intermediate sets. was really relaxed tho, even had prince playing cos i didn't wanna do the psyche up thing. erectors are defo torched, so much so, it was a huge mental burden to strip the bar and put the big 25kg plates on the rack lmao. I guess this was to be expected tho, not sure i'll be recovered by thursday either, so now im at the mercy of erectors.
if i was going to make a coaching call, it may be that tuesday squats shud be a light variant with a focus on recovery and form and go heavy thursdays, volume sundays. maybe i can try another week before introducing any programming changes
poor legs, they dont get a good workout while my stupid back recovers. half considering sprints in the interim, i dont think i can use dunks tho, usually erector doms contraindicate dunking ability
have a game tonight as well and i need to man up and bench a PR too ...yikes
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Game good, won, played well, had a dunk opp but got swarmed by defenders fouling me :( i complained it was dirty but mostly because it could have been that much elusive First Game Dunk. Hit both fts tho, while saing i didnt want them, lol. Dunked suprisingly ok as well given my torched erectors. I think i can break 36" this week cause since im offline on the squats til my lower back is back, it will allow some fatigue to dissipitate, giving a chance to test a peaky jump. Ankle by the way is ok ;)
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holy shit, forgot to mentuioin something that happened towrads the end of the game, i had the ball, i shook the defender by jab stepping right, and then hit a turn around step back jumper at the buzzer. Hit it, and held my shooting arm up like i was kobe. It may be the greatest thing ive ever done on a basketball court .. lmao. turned around and walked off to the tune of that gangsta song in my head. i felt embarassed how cool it was. i wish someone taped it :(
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2/10
eats
1000 - 300mL r.f milk, 60g whey, 165g beef, wholemeal bread bun
1500 - peri workout gatorade (250mL)
1900 - peri workout gatorade (600mL) & 30g whey
2200 - 2 chicken breasts, 60g whey, 300mL rf milk, 1 large turkish bread thing, 4 beef chipolotas, 1 cup rice & rajman beans
done, so clean eating. had to forcefeed that 2200 meal, didnt really feel hungry, games always have that effect. tbh logging doesnt help me be compliance, the causality is the other way around, when im dialed in nutritionally, im more likely to log food, it doesn't really flow the opposite way. still i'll keep doing it for the 10 days.
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You eat about 250-300g of protein a day.... why? That just makes for a very expensive urine imho.
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Not sure about 300g but it's at least 200-250g yup. Not everyday, but im gna try get that much in this 10 day window. recomp is the order of the day, it will help build muscle while shedding fat. I need to get the scale to read 80.xx before i tackle 140+kg volume worksets in about a month
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Leonel it's totally possible that protein helps him with satiety, so even if he's pissing a lot of it out (he is), if it's a short-term surge he's probably not damaging his kidneys.
Still, entropy, you should double-check protein levels with your doc the next time you go for a checkup, if you want to continue eating that much per day.
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Pretty sure the body wont waste nutrients like that! Any food energy source is good energy regardless of whether it's coming from amino acids or lipids, it will find a use for it. If my overall caloric intake is below maintenance, i'm not wasting anything on a cal deficit.
Tbh theres only 3 variables to manipulate, fat grams, protein grams and carb grams. im keeping fat low (~50g) so that leaves carbs and protein, i can manipulate carbs to facilitate protein sparing (more carbs you eat, better nitrogen balance etc) but protein needs go up cos a)training and b)protein requirements when on a deficit. Like i said, it's temporary, i can't stand eating roast chicken and normally dont bother with beef, so im not gna be able to maintain this forever even if i wanted to (and i dont).
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BW: 82.5kg
Feeling pretty sore. Hopefully i can get 6x2x140kg squats tmr and feel like this week wasnt a waste of training. Also have a 2nd game for this wk on thursday with my old team
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a coupla thoughts
1. eat for the body you want, not the one you have
2. 110kg warmups now feel how 70kg warmups used to feel. or how 100kg warmups felt when i was a bigger and fatter and stronger me
i may bump my warmup slightly, maybe to 115kg once im using 140kg worksets, not now tho. i feel like that's the way forward. what i can normalise as a regular warmup that i do every squat session is prob an important part as any acute PRs one sets. Maybe more. I imagine that when im using 150-170kg worksets for volume then 140kg will feel the way 110kg feels now.
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Eats (3/11)
1600 - 2 chicken breasts, shake, beef slider
2300 - 250g beef, 3 wholemeal bread, 1 cup rajma, shake
yikes, ive already had over 3L of fluid today and will prob reach 4L by end of day. Hot day and i insisted on wearing full body compression gear for recovery.
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BW: 82.5kg
backs a bit stiff, right vmo, left hamstring are sore. i took a hit to the hamstring in tuesdays game. what its worth, look leaner but scale hasnt registered yet, hopefully by end of week
BS 3x2x140
Push Press 6x70(PR), 7x70(PR)
Bball game
injury on the 62.5kg push press warmup .. neck/cervical spine area .. yikes. sad
eats 4/12
1330 - wholmeal bun, 165g beef, slice swiss cheese, shake
1530 - periworkout gatorade (30g)
2300 - burger as before, 4 chipolatas, shake
done
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Starting ro recover frm sundays but not there yet :/ wtf is beastie boys? google play let me down today. usually the songs are at best inspirational but otherwise non offensive. Was stripping the bar when beastie boys came on and overwhelmed my senses with what i can only descibe as evil noise and milleseconds later, i cut my hand on the sharp edge of my plates tree. google play, we need to talk. thumbs down.
i looked it up and actually my previous PR is 4x2x140kg. I prob wud have got it today but id rather be recovered well for sunday than not, so deferred to recovery than forcing a meaningless PR
i thought it would be an easy game .. but we actually played a really good team. one of the guys ive seen play the top league finals at the other stadium .. i actually backed him down into the post and scored on him .. my only bucket but was kinda sweet cos he's bigger and stronger than me. tbh i think he was trying to play within himself cos he's too good for this comp and he cud get thrown out. I am really disappointed with myself, you always wanna play your best against good competition and i must confess iw as completely shithouse. spent as much time on the bnech as i cud but we were outsized and outplayed by a bigger more athletic team with chemistry. these are junk miles that i doint need, they dont help my athleticism or sports specific ability .. i wish i had passed on the season but we're here now.
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1. eat for the body you want, not the one you have
Dunno, if this is original given your propensity for unearthing amazing rants from the nethers of the internet without citation... But... It's pretty decent thinking, looks like your finally getting ahold of pretty sound diet principles!
If I may quote myself from an earlier response to your journal...
1) The "Rippetoe method". Eat everything. Squat. You will get huge, strong, and fat. You can lose the fat later. This method works. Really well. Surplus calories are better than steroids. It's great if you want to be a heavyweight lifter, hate being small, etc. Maybe useful for hardgainers starting out who just can't seem to get unstuck at a plateau. But personally I don't like it for athletes I don't like it for you...
2) The "maxent" method. Constantly try and lose weight. Make gains while cutting as a fat beginner. Become an intermediate athlete. Still make goals that involve new PRs at lower bodyweights. Totally possible. Not most efficient.
3) The middle ground. First get lean. Whatever, lean is for you. You wanna be sub 80kg, so you make a goal of hitting 77kg. Try to maintain your squat when you reach that goal. When you are lean and have achieved this... Stop thinking about your bodyweight AND start thinking about your diet! Is this hard? Yes. But it's a million times more efficient. You get to 77kg. You now eat a consistent diet (no binges!) that will allow you to get stronger. You fuel yourself at a level optimal for you. You tell yourself, I am going to eat at approximately maintenance level +5% and I am going to achieve a squat of 150kg in 12 weeks of this. I'm not going to binge at all. I'm also not going to look at the scale. Most importantly I'm not going to binge, see 82kg and then fast for two days to get back to 79 kilos. I'm eating might fuel level of optimum nutrition and getting stronger. Twelve weeks later you will squat 150kg. How much will you weight? Maybe 78kg? Maybe 79-82kg? Can't be sure, but you will weight the optimal amount for adding functional strength quickly...
Looking at your recent posts... I see your squat is climbing... And you have let your bodyweight slide up to 82-83kg... Looks like your doing method #3.
Nice job. Eating to allow yourself to build strength rather than eating to build strength (method #1) or starving yourself to constantly get leaner (method #2). Remember, only exceptions to this are someone who has been traveling and working but not training and let themselves go a bit (like myself) who should suffer through some method #2 or someone wants to get bigger at all costs and should use method #1 (ie a weight-class athlete like a boxer or lifter who wants to move up a class or a football player changing positions from linebacker to lineman or cornerback to strong safety who is willing to lose relative strength in favor of bulk and absolute strength)...
Since your a dunker/basketball player lets hope you never fall for the trap of method #1 and lets also hope you stay injury free, lean and diligent such that you don't have to do method #2 again! Lets keep seeing you moderately gain small amounts of bodyweight while getting WAY stronger... Just make sure to add some real measurables besides squat that you can push up during this time!
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BW: 81.9kg (LPR!)
Aw yis .. skinfolds down, scale down .. i'll take it :) Settings PRs and getting in shape at the same tyme.
Injury report: better than expected, i shud be ok in a coupla days i think. it's barely noticable now...
1. eat for the body you want, not the one you have
Dunno, if this is original given your propensity for unearthing amazing rants from the nethers of the internet without citation... But... It's pretty decent thinking, looks like your finally getting ahold of pretty sound diet principles!
If I may quote myself from an earlier response to your journal...
1) The "Rippetoe method". Eat everything. Squat. You will get huge, strong, and fat. You can lose the fat later. This method works. Really well. Surplus calories are better than steroids. It's great if you want to be a heavyweight lifter, hate being small, etc. Maybe useful for hardgainers starting out who just can't seem to get unstuck at a plateau. But personally I don't like it for athletes I don't like it for you...
2) The "maxent" method. Constantly try and lose weight. Make gains while cutting as a fat beginner. Become an intermediate athlete. Still make goals that involve new PRs at lower bodyweights. Totally possible. Not most efficient.
3) The middle ground. First get lean. Whatever, lean is for you. You wanna be sub 80kg, so you make a goal of hitting 77kg. Try to maintain your squat when you reach that goal. When you are lean and have achieved this... Stop thinking about your bodyweight AND start thinking about your diet! Is this hard? Yes. But it's a million times more efficient. You get to 77kg. You now eat a consistent diet (no binges!) that will allow you to get stronger. You fuel yourself at a level optimal for you. You tell yourself, I am going to eat at approximately maintenance level +5% and I am going to achieve a squat of 150kg in 12 weeks of this. I'm not going to binge at all. I'm also not going to look at the scale. Most importantly I'm not going to binge, see 82kg and then fast for two days to get back to 79 kilos. I'm eating might fuel level of optimum nutrition and getting stronger. Twelve weeks later you will squat 150kg. How much will you weight? Maybe 78kg? Maybe 79-82kg? Can't be sure, but you will weight the optimal amount for adding functional strength quickly...
Looking at your recent posts... I see your squat is climbing... And you have let your bodyweight slide up to 82-83kg... Looks like your doing method #3.
Nice job. Eating to allow yourself to build strength rather than eating to build strength (method #1) or starving yourself to constantly get leaner (method #2). Remember, only exceptions to this are someone who has been traveling and working but not training and let themselves go a bit (like myself) who should suffer through some method #2 or someone wants to get bigger at all costs and should use method #1 (ie a weight-class athlete like a boxer or lifter who wants to move up a class or a football player changing positions from linebacker to lineman or cornerback to strong safety who is willing to lose relative strength in favor of bulk and absolute strength)...
Since your a dunker/basketball player lets hope you never fall for the trap of method #1 and lets also hope you stay injury free, lean and diligent such that you don't have to do method #2 again! Lets keep seeing you moderately gain small amounts of bodyweight while getting WAY stronger... Just make sure to add some real measurables besides squat that you can push up during this time!
yep doing method 3 is working really well. im hoping to get the lifting gains out of the way so i have an ENTIRE summer ahead to just work on peaking athleticism. I do not want to be cutting and trying to push up my lifts during the summer AND playing bball .. it's too much and i end up being a master of none. Right now im sacrificing game performance for gym gains but once ive fnished up with repping 150kg for sets of 5-6 reps i'll put it on maintenance and focus on other areas, including skills but esp the other things you've advised to focus (throws, agility/quickness drills, bounds, sprints, ...) for athleticism specifically. exciting times ahead ;)
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Can't recover for shit without eating more food. Wanted a begrudging 6x6x130kg, failed the first set on rep 6. At bw of 81.8kg for what it's worth, im sad now. guess recovery hasnt happened yet
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BW: 82.2kg
ate a ton yesterday, including a 2L tub of icecream! So all things considered, its fine. getting impatient tho. overreached and recovery hasnt occured
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BW: 82.2kg
ate a ton yesterday, including a 2L tub of icecream! So all things considered, its fine. getting impatient tho. overreached and recovery hasnt occured
..............
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macros for the icecream: 1611cals, 43g pro, 43g fat, 270g carb
i cud easily eat more tbh .. icecream is sooo good
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(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/a4/68/33/a46833c3fabca5643bea83cf754830d3.jpg)
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you are under a lot of stress to be craving so much carbs. take it easy before you bloat up, get heavy and lift weaker. then you go mental. ;)
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BS 3x2x140, 4x1x140
BP 3x90
BW: 82.1kg / 181lb
Notes:
That's double digit volume with 140kg . a PR .. yay. But it took me 7 sets and 4 singles to do it which is nothing to celebrate. Progress is progress tho. That last single felt decent, not defeating but i felt stronger after, so im on the right track, just have to keep chipping away and give my body a chance to adapt to this 'heavier' weight. I will eventually use the same 140kg for sets of 5-6 reps but right now even getting 4 doubles is an unmet challenge...
Game tonight, im going to try to spend as much time on the bench as possible. last wk i did too much and it cost me squat progress, not repeating that blunder.
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you are under a lot of stress to be craving so much carbs. take it easy before you bloat up, get heavy and lift weaker. then you go mental. ;)
kinda interesting to think that if i had got the worksets in, i prob dont eat as much lol. but the fact that i failed, psychologically that was a trigger to 'eat mo' to 'get recovered for next time'. it's self regulating that way, i dont really go crazy and binge when im dialed in and getting my written sets in. in fact that whole week, i ate clean .. and sunday was my 'carb' day which i took advantage of but yeah, if i was doing that everyday, i would def be in a world of trouble the way you say.
im at crossroads tho ..
i can eat to progress my lifts up to where i need them to be ?x6x150kg or i can get my bodycomp where it needs to be, but not both at the same time. it's hard enough making squat progress when eating more food, and i guess it's impossible to do it when eating less (to lose bodyfat). begrudgingly i can accept staying at 82kg if it means i can progress to 150kg worksets ... well. we'll see. the crux of the problem is that squats attack different parts of the body organism. last week it was my erectors which got torched tf and since that happened, my legs didnt get the training they needed, so they aren't getting stronger in the meantime. so suppose i get my back recovered now im still stuck with weaker legs for a while, but it will be another weakness that shows itself (eg hamstrings holding back angle out of the bottom). it's a shitshow .. squats are a GREAT test of overall organism strength but such a poor builder of it (FOR ME) cos of my build, i have to do things piecemeal. hammer my quads with heavvyt quarter squats gets my leg strength up but then i have to wait til my core (erectors and abs) catch up before i can progress the squat and so on. it's frustrating to say the least..
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It seems counter-intuitive but I think the mind is just wired like that. It's easier to be disciplined, train hard, lead a good lifestyle etc. when you're at the top of your game. It's when injuries and setbacks occur when the mental demons and temptations slip in. That's why mindset is such a huge deal and can make or break athletes.
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It seems counter-intuitive but I think the mind is just wired like that. It's easier to be disciplined, train hard, lead a good lifestyle etc. when you're at the top of your game. It's when injuries and setbacks occur when the mental demons and temptations slip in. That's why mindset is such a huge deal and can make or break athletes.
isnt that the damnest thing. theres a lesson to be learnt there, im not sure what.. haha
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Interesting feedback frm bench presses. felt hard as fk, i could only manage a triple with 90kg after using it for 5,3,3,3,3 last tuesday. So something is def afoot, i think it's systematic overreaching ... cos i didnt do any upper bodywork since thursday (due to injury). my right pec was acting up .. but not sure why either .. hmmm. doesn't matter, dont care about upper bdoy right now, just need to get my shit together and squat 150kg for 5-6s and then i can focus on other stuff.
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Game was good. Won again, played okay. Afterwards did some dunks, holy shit, it felt like i was putting my arms into the rim when doing tomahawks. Not celebratory tho, it was court 2 and the rim height is suspect (to me). but it does give a tantalising glimpse into what's lying under the surface. there are latent gains of athleticism to be had..
300g beef, 150g whey, 600mL milk, 200g chicken breast. had some rice, bread, chickpeas, and pasta during the day including gatorade. pretty clean eating but a lot of food.
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BW: 82.4kg
Aw man, im not happy that i missed ohp and chinups on sunday and bp yesterday. Not good. I need upper body work just as badly as if not more than lower body. But the sunday omissions were bc i know those exercises cud have caused reinjury that i picked up doing push presses thursday, which btw was perfectly avoidable if i hadn't been such a dickhead and gone from 20kg warmups to 62.5kg without an intermediate set .. usually id do 50kg in between thought i was now strong enough to go to from 0 to 60 real quick and bang, injury. will do push presses tmr tho, will warmup nicely and go for some PRs. i could have got 8x70kg last wk but i settled for 7x70kg. I really want to get my push press somewhere decent, at least 90-100kg would be super coo
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Good news is that i finally got legs doms after a while .. so ive got that going, luckily legs recover fairly quick given adequate recovery/sleep/carbs. Lets see what i can squat tmr, im quietly confident now that my back has adapted to 140kg, i can now use the backsquat to task my legs .. woohoo..
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BS 8x2x140(PR)
Push Press 6x72.5(PR)
Bball game
BW: 82.2kg / 181.2lb
Notes:
This is a special workout .. got the 6x2x140kg milestone .. which is a PR by 2 sets, my previous one was 4x2x140kg @ 98kg bodyweight. Incidentally at my current bodyweight these are honest 1.7xbw raw, beltless worksets which is a sign im slowly dragging myself out of mediocrity. Then i decided to do 2 more extra sets, to make 6x2x140kg become a submax workout, suitable for a recovery workout on tuesdays from here; a total volume of 16 reps which is a volume PR, my previous one was I think 3x5x140kg with a belt at a bodyweight of 110kg ish. So im doing okay, no longer comparing myself to a better version of me, i AM a better version of me.
Summary of my squat progress the last 2 weeks:
(http://i.imgur.com/fu3UzVN.png)
vid going up on @maxentr0py for officiality
have a game tonight .. and push presses hopefully no reinjury, will warmup carefully.
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BW: 81.8kg
gave myself headaches thru the night. only realised that I may have overdosed on minerals ..have to spread it out during the day, otherwise feel okay. I'm not cutting but i think being under 81kg (<80.5kg is okay) and using 140kg for worksets is a nice place to be for now. That's ~1.75xbw but in terms of ratio, i dont really think i shud be using 80kg as the bodyweight -- 85kg makes more sense as my ideal bodyweight, where im maximally strong AND athletic..
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BS 3x3x140 (PR), 3x140(questionable dept on the 3rd rep tho), 2x140, 0Fx140
OHP 6x3x60 (LPR; reintro)
Weighted Chinup 3x3x104.5 (+20kg; LPR, reintro)
Glute Band bridge 8,12, 12 x Orange (medium thickness) (LPR; reintro)
BW; 81.5kg (LPR in quite a while)
Notes:
Fml, i was thrown off my game by guests coming over as I was doing the 4th set .. didnt recover from there. im annoyed, on a better day i get that set fine and im not wasted to do 2 more, but that's wishful thinking perhaps. Nevermind.
Btw ive never tripled 140kg raw before .. and i did it for 3 maybe 4 sets, while weighing 81.5kg! it's a glass half kind of day though. My dick hard for 3 plates (=150kg) and i dont like to be defeated so early but progress is progress.
Summary of Battle: 140kg vs me, TKO by 140kg. Til next time.
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I need mo assistance to address my fkn spine, it's jelly like, and not strong enough. I dont even mean erectors, i mean spine spine. So going to start doing heavy rack pulls. That will also help with my core strengh which is lacking. And maybe it will help my upper body stability in the rack position for squats. Plus heavy assistance work for legs (calf raises, quarter squats, rdls, etc). Then maybe i can progress my squat properly instead of this ad-hoc fashion. Will start today.
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Best accessory exercise for this problem imho: back extensions. Since I've started doing them my back/core has never been a problem again during squats.
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Best accessory exercise for this problem imho: back extensions. Since I've started doing them my back/core has never been a problem again during squats.
sounds perfect. will look into sorting out a gym membership since i dont have this piece of equipment! i think the closest i have is the ab wheel, which i shud really start using but ive been a pussy cos it can really torch you when you start off
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Best accessory exercise for this problem imho: back extensions.
x2 back extensions are so underrated :headbang:
Since I've started doing them my back/core has never been a problem again during squats.
:headbang: :headbang:
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Best accessory exercise for this problem imho: back extensions.
x2 back extensions are so underrated :headbang:
Since I've started doing them my back/core has never been a problem again during squats.
:headbang: :headbang:
Thanks fellas. I picked up a back extension bench tonight. Feeling pretty good.. got a nice deal for it :) Here is the amazon link (https://www.amazon.com/BodyCraft-F670-Hyper-Extension-Roman-Chair/dp/B000MQTS14) .. Listed as $350 USD on amazon got it for $90 AUD which is about $69 USD and it looks pretty much new! So now i gotta figure out how to program it.. i guess i will start conservative and build up .. woohoo, hope it works.
photo
(http://i.imgur.com/bx5xFow.png)
shud i use it flat or 45 degree? And how many sets / reps to start with? I will do it after squatting 3x a week, sound ok?
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Best accessory exercise for this problem imho: back extensions.
x2 back extensions are so underrated :headbang:
Since I've started doing them my back/core has never been a problem again during squats.
:headbang: :headbang:
Thanks fellas. I picked up a back extension bench tonight. Feeling pretty good.. got a nice deal for it :) Here is the amazon link (https://www.amazon.com/BodyCraft-F670-Hyper-Extension-Roman-Chair/dp/B000MQTS14) .. Listed as $350 USD on amazon got it for $90 AUD which is about $69 USD and it looks pretty much new! So now i gotta figure out how to program it.. i guess i will start conservative and build up .. woohoo, hope it works.
photo
(http://i.imgur.com/bx5xFow.png)
damn that looks like sturdy. looks like a really nice one..... sick.
I got one way back that turned out to be too flimsy, so I can't really use it.
shud i use it flat or 45 degree? And how many sets / reps to start with? I will do it after squatting 3x a week, sound ok?
start with 45 deg .. do ~3 x Almost-Failure to start with .. just nice and controlled reps, not over-arching your back .. keep the spine neutral, glutes/lower abs activated etc.. really squeeze teh glutes at the top.
and ya after squatting is fine.
:headbang:
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BW: 81.1kg (LPR!)
I don goofd .. im tryna recover betetr but then i go and do lowcarb and cant sleep and it sucks but at least the scale registered. tbh i think i need to be sub 81kg at all times, so my plan seems to becoming get under 81kg consistently daily. then slow recomp down to 80.0. That will mean when i go to maintenance calories i'll get a nice performance boost but in the meantime training will become a lot harder. Tbh bodyweight goal aside, i just wanna get my abs back and then it will be fine to maintain bodyweight or bodyfat% whichever, i dont mind.
fk i hate being in bed late and unable to sleep but hungry af .. it's my punuishment for getting fat tho, i just gotta make sure this is the last time i go thru this torture.
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BS 2x142.5(PR), 1x145(LPR)
BP 3x90, 10x70
Bball game
BW: 81.1kg
Squat notes:
Low back kinda stiff but i didn't feel like doing 6x2x140kg "recovery" - went for some PRs. Walked out 150kg but put it back to my credit, it would have been a fail considering how hard that 145kg went up. Noting that 142.5kg is 1.757xbw and 145kg is 1.7879xbw, shud be in the 1.8s soon, and this cycle aims to end just under 1.9 worksets.
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BW: 81.1kg
Im pretty confident i'll be in the 80.xx's soon.. like any time this week. So my goal is to maintain <81kg while adding some 20kg to my 6x2x140kg PR by year end. Think that's doable, it will be like losing 2.5kg of bodyfat and gaining 1.5kg of muscle to end up a lean and strong 80kg. Can then maintain that and focus on peaking athleticism proper. Things that kill performance are lowcarbs, fasting, basketball. Im willing to do away with the first 2 once ive got under a consistent 81kg.
From there basketball, i think i will switch to a 10 day cycle. Either play Tue or Thurs, but not both in the same week. That way im still maintaining some reg gameplay but not in a disruptive way to training. In fact im struggling to come up with any reason to even play competitive full court bball given my goals, the returns just aren't there and im solely playing to be a team player etc, but other ppl are happy citing injuries that might not even exist and missing games so i dont see why i am being so commited tbh. And tue night games are kind of shitty cos now im achoring the D and im still an 80kg guy playing against big strong white guys who grew up on a diet of steak and AFL and im just risking injury trying to compete on an unequal playing field. Plus ive mentuioned this before but the game here is very physical, which i dont give a fuck about right now cos id rather stay healthy than risk a rolled ankle or something..
I love half half court bball, takes away the fitness angle. im such a better plyer on the half court than full court, fitness wise im gna have to put in hours running to play competiively at next years tournament. But right now im laser focused on squat goals.
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Things that kill performance are lowcarbs, fasting, basketball. Im willing to do away with the first 2 once ive got under a consistent 81kg.
From there basketball, i think i will switch to a 10 day cycle. Either play Tue or Thurs, but not both in the same week. That way im still maintaining some reg gameplay but not in a disruptive way to training. In fact im struggling to come up with any reason to even play competitive full court bball given my goals, the returns just aren't there and im solely playing to be a team player etc, but other ppl are happy citing injuries that might not even exist and missing games so i dont see why i am being so commited tbh. And tue night games are kind of shitty cos now im achoring the D and im still an 80kg guy playing against big strong white guys who grew up on a diet of steak and AFL and im just risking injury trying to compete on an unequal playing field. Plus ive mentuioned this before but the game here is very physical, which i dont give a fuck about right now cos id rather stay healthy than risk a rolled ankle or something..
^^^ this!
I am thinking the exact same thing. Looking to play ball every 2 weeks. Especially when you're expected to do all the dirty work under the rim.
Also, when you talk fasting are you talking about daily fasting (16-20 hours) or longer fasts (24+)? I usually fast for 16 hours daily but am trying to get my head around eating breakfast again.
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Things that kill performance are lowcarbs, fasting, basketball. Im willing to do away with the first 2 once ive got under a consistent 81kg.
From there basketball, i think i will switch to a 10 day cycle. Either play Tue or Thurs, but not both in the same week. That way im still maintaining some reg gameplay but not in a disruptive way to training. In fact im struggling to come up with any reason to even play competitive full court bball given my goals, the returns just aren't there and im solely playing to be a team player etc, but other ppl are happy citing injuries that might not even exist and missing games so i dont see why i am being so commited tbh. And tue night games are kind of shitty cos now im achoring the D and im still an 80kg guy playing against big strong white guys who grew up on a diet of steak and AFL and im just risking injury trying to compete on an unequal playing field. Plus ive mentuioned this before but the game here is very physical, which i dont give a fuck about right now cos id rather stay healthy than risk a rolled ankle or something..
^^^ this!
I am thinking the exact same thing. Looking to play ball every 2 weeks. Especially when you're expected to do all the dirty work under the rim.
Also, when you talk fasting are you talking about daily fasting (16-20 hours) or longer fasts (24+)? I usually fast for 16 hours daily but am trying to get my head around eating breakfast again.
Yeah, i was only going to play Tues but my mate convinced me to do Thurs cos he was looking to get back into playing and i thought i'd help him out. Lmao, he's never goiing to play a single game .. always makes excuses, so flaky. Im gna try to get out of Thurs, it's ok to play once a while, for social reasons but thats about the only thing. I also know that as summer ramps up it gets pretty hard to get games cos demand goes down and supply goes up .. so i dont wanna burn bridges. Last year going into the tournament i had almost no game time experience, so it's important to keep up relations that i can get reg games closer to the easter tournament.
I fast on rest days(4x) about 18-20hrs? usually have my first meal after 1600-1700. Active days(3x) i will fast less, eating around 1200-1300. Fasting sucks so much. I def think if i commit to 10 weeks of clean eating, i cud even eat breakfast and still get my goals of being a leanish strong 80kg. So fasting is overkill, as is lowcarbing etc. Lowcarb sucks so much for performance, it's a double killer in that you cant sleep so recovery goes down, and performance goes down because you feel sluggish etc. But i also know that for someone with my body (ie overfat), carbs are not good. When im leaner i'll handle carbs like a champ and i can just beast in the weightroom or court while eating carbs for fuel and recovery. If i do that now tho, it's just gna gonna end up making me fat ..
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Things that kill performance are lowcarbs, fasting, basketball. Im willing to do away with the first 2 once ive got under a consistent 81kg.
From there basketball, i think i will switch to a 10 day cycle. Either play Tue or Thurs, but not both in the same week. That way im still maintaining some reg gameplay but not in a disruptive way to training. In fact im struggling to come up with any reason to even play competitive full court bball given my goals, the returns just aren't there and im solely playing to be a team player etc, but other ppl are happy citing injuries that might not even exist and missing games so i dont see why i am being so commited tbh. And tue night games are kind of shitty cos now im achoring the D and im still an 80kg guy playing against big strong white guys who grew up on a diet of steak and AFL and im just risking injury trying to compete on an unequal playing field. Plus ive mentuioned this before but the game here is very physical, which i dont give a fuck about right now cos id rather stay healthy than risk a rolled ankle or something..
^^^ this!
I am thinking the exact same thing. Looking to play ball every 2 weeks. Especially when you're expected to do all the dirty work under the rim.
Also, when you talk fasting are you talking about daily fasting (16-20 hours) or longer fasts (24+)? I usually fast for 16 hours daily but am trying to get my head around eating breakfast again.
Yeah, i was only going to play Tues but my mate convinced me to do Thurs cos he was looking to get back into playing and i thought i'd help him out. Lmao, he's never goiing to play a single game .. always makes excuses, so flaky. Im gna try to get out of Thurs, it's ok to play once a while, for social reasons but thats about the only thing. I also know that as summer ramps up it gets pretty hard to get games cos demand goes down and supply goes up .. so i dont wanna burn bridges. Last year going into the tournament i had almost no game time experience, so it's important to keep up relations that i can get reg games closer to the easter tournament.
I fast on rest days(4x) about 18-20hrs? usually have my first meal after 1600-1700. Active days(3x) i will fast less, eating around 1200-1300. Fasting sucks so much. I def think if i commit to 10 weeks of clean eating, i cud even eat breakfast and still get my goals of being a leanish strong 80kg. So fasting is overkill, as is lowcarbing etc. Lowcarb sucks so much for performance, it's a double killer in that you cant sleep so recovery goes down, and performance goes down because you feel sluggish etc. But i also know that for someone with my body (ie overfat), carbs are not good. When im leaner i'll handle carbs like a champ and i can just beast in the weightroom or court while eating carbs for fuel and recovery. If i do that now tho, it's just gna gonna end up making me fat ..
Yeah good point. There's heaps of games available where I am but I'm starting to feel like I play better/more athletically when I play every second week. Given that's what I'm trying to achieve it makes sense to do that. I have guys like that in my team too. A few guys went to the US for 6 weeks then got back and went to NZ for a few weeks and now 1 guy is in Japan and we have the GF tonight.
I think clean eating is the key. I'm a binge eater from way back and think the best way forward would be just eating cleanly and regularly. Pretty much like how people used to eat.
Lowcarb does suck and I have to admit I'm not good at it at all. I remember hearing a Poliquin quote though saying "you need to earn your carbs till you have dick skin on your stomach" (thickness that is, not actual dick skin- that'd just be weird). Seems kind of appropriate when you think about it.
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Oh man I know that feeling. We were in the finals (month or so back) and of course PG was away. Sucks :/ One of these days im gonna be in a important game where my whole team is present and healthy lol. It hasn't happened yet. But yeah, if other ppl aren't that dedicated, i don't see why we shud be. Tbh it's more fun when you're playing on your terms, showing up week in week out to box and rebound while someone else takes 99.99% of the shots doesn't really excite my inner basketball player. I do it of course, i set the screens, protect the rim, do what i can, and watch as players worse than me shoot cos they're shorter lmao. I sometimes think i would be a better basketball player if i was just under 6ft but same strength/weight. Only cos i'd be able to play more freely instead of being typecast into a role im not suitable. But enough complains, i know every F/C basketball plyer thinks he a better pointguard lol .. it's just true in my case :P
Im def on the clean eating wagon, this is my 3rd week and once i go past that 21 day mark, im usually on automatic. Haven't touched chocolate etc. Have cut out fast food. I eat clean, nutrition meals. I hate it though. I have to forcefeed myself chicken breast (yuk) every rest day even tho ive fasted say 18hrs, i dont find it appetising. I dont have a healthy relationship with food .. im either eating everythang (bad) or nothing but clean .. moderation seems like something alien. But i agree with with poliquin, you have to earn the right to eat carbs. Theres a scientific basis for it, (p-ratio insulin sensitivity etc) behind it. Im looking forward to getting close to 80.0 and just recomping with moderate carbs and protein. High protein sucks .. cant handle it long term, it kills my love for food, i guess that's the point tho lol
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BW: 81.0kg (LPR)
Any day now i'll see the scale read 80.xx but it wasn't today! I ate >200g carbs yesterday cause i wanted to have a good squat workout for the week. Look and feel pretty fat tho, sucks, but it tells me what i already knew that allowing my bw to drift towards 85kg is a mistake when im not even a lean 80kg. All good, looking forward to ending the year on a high note training wise.
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Im def on the clean eating wagon, this is my 3rd week and once i go past that 21 day mark, im usually on automatic. Haven't touched chocolate etc. Have cut out fast food. I eat clean, nutrition meals. I hate it though. I have to forcefeed myself chicken breast (yuk) every rest day even tho ive fasted say 18hrs, i dont find it appetising. I dont have a healthy relationship with food .. im either eating everythang (bad) or nothing but clean .. moderation seems like something alien. But i agree with with poliquin, you have to earn the right to eat carbs. Theres a scientific basis for it, (p-ratio insulin sensitivity etc) behind it. Im looking forward to getting close to 80.0 and just recomping with moderate carbs and protein. High protein sucks .. cant handle it long term, it kills my love for food, i guess that's the point tho lol
Ha. Yeah what is moderation??? That's something I'm working towards.
You seem to be doing all the right things so keep at it and I'll try to follow your example ;D
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BS 2x2x142.5(PR)
Back Extensions ~ 3x12
Push Press 4x73.5(PR)
BW: 81.0kg (LPR; see my previous post)
Squat notes:
Spine fucked, bailed on the workout on the 3rd set when standing there i felt unstable and unsafe.
Back extensions notes:
So dont count the first sets, i didnt have enough ROM. 3rd set i went for full rom. Will build up from here. I like this exercise a lot. I found that by varying the tension i can work either my back or my hamstrings. Lol at my left hamstring tho .. why is it so sore asymmetrically afterwards? interesting..
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BW: 81kg
Anyyyyyyyyy day now lol.
So post first back extensions next day thoughts, wow, my back feels not just relatively good to how i expected it to... but really good in absolute terms. Im kinda suprised to say the least, i wasnt expecting to notice a change so soon since introducing them. Lets see how they go over time .. excited
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more doms, glute ones, dont think ive had this kind before, that i can recall in recent memory. and right hamstring. Yes yes yes gains :wowthatwasnutswtf:
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back extensions ftw. :strong:
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/4a/6f/6f/4a6f6f6a16e2b8b8aca26e8cdcb186cb.jpg)
(^ just some random pic)
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Damn I would definitely spot her on these back extensions. :lololol:
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BW: 80.8kg (goal of <81kg achieved!!)
I only ate 1 meal last night but it seemed to do the trick. Was with a friend going thru something difficult so food took a backseat, got home around 8pm and had my dinner-breakfast. Now im gonna try to stay under 81kg and above 79kg for Nov-Dec while getting my squat up to 6x2x160kg. If i can do that at 80.0kg it would be perfect but no one can expect such exactness from bodyweight tbh.
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I didnt log yesterday's workout b/c it was aborted but im getting really sad that the one thing holding me back from my squat goal is my spine problems. Might just lean out a bit and focus on other shit until i can start squatting properly ahgain
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BW; 81.2kg
May focus on conditioning and accessory work, quarter squats + back extensions for a while while maintaining squat and leaning out. Plan?
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another aborted workout, i almost went for a 150kg single but put it back, my heart and mind were absent. Im taking this week pretty hard, think events from last week have drained me. I dont know how you even deal with that situation, im putting training on the back burner, think i will opt out of bball games for a while too. will post back if i get my mojo back
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another aborted workout, i almost went for a 150kg single but put it back, my heart and mind were absent. Im taking this week pretty hard, think events from last week have drained me. I dont know how you even deal with that situation, im putting training on the back burner, think i will opt out of bball games for a while too. will post back if i get my mojo back
Hey mate. Sorry to see you're dealing with shit again. Certainly makes it hard.
Is there anyway to get more light and shade to your training? It seems like it's a bit all or nothing. Try and keep your toe in the water so you don't slide back to far. Your mojo is probably closer than you think
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BS 2x140, 1x140
BP 1x90, 8x72.5
2 sets jump rope (@ 95kg)
Game
sprint intervals 6x20s on 25s off (@95kg)
treadmill run - 8 mins @ 8km/hr (incline of 10 for first few mins then 5 degrees @ 95kg)
BW: 82.0kg
Notes:
And another comeback begins......
focusing on conditioning now
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BW:81.8kg
Woah feeling pretty beat up but i dont mind .. not doing the daily hypergravity thing this time, just on training days 3x a week. Btw im not finding any potentiating affects this time around .. kinda disappointing! Then again im dunking more or less the same now at 85kg as when i weighed 75kg so i can't complain tooo much. Relying on conditioning to make body comp changes more than diet, im not doing the fasting or the restrictive dieting anymore. Eating clean nevertheless. Found out a staple of mine (mac and cheese lol) has transfats, so ima finish the box and then stop eating that stuff
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Daym, i havent paid much attention to elections leadup .. hoping deep down the US would make the right choice but now it seems that wont happen .. what a shitshow
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Daym, i havent paid much attention to elections leadup .. hoping deep down the US would make the right choice but now it seems that wont happen .. what a shitshow
Couldn't believe it... to have such a man on the top of this country is scary... even as a non-american. I'm kinda curious to see what he does about his «wall» though... I mean this idea alone makes him a big joke.
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An observation after the running, today i found while walking barefoot i was more forefoot dominant. it's like my body has figured out how and filled the strength/technique gaps. im thinking it was the treadmill incline running that did it. interesting..
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BS 6x110 (with vest), 6x110 (no vest)
Push Press 6x62.5
Back Extensions 3x12 (PR)
RDL 8x70, 8x110 (kinda weird how there was no rom on these .. couldnt figfure out why, dont care)
Cable row 3x8
Jump rope with vest, about a 100 reps total
BW: 81.8kg
Notes
My squat form is so confounding .. not sure what happened to it but im going to be patient here and try build back to where i was a fwe weeks ago. I wonder why im strugglling with upper body lifts .. maybe since i stopped eating a shitload of meat, my creatine from diet has gone down? thats the only thing i can think of .. cos i failed the first rep with 70kg and even 50kg felt heavy on warmups ..
no game tonight, i still wanna shoot but not sure i can be bothered. shud do some running too on the tready
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I remember when i first used a weight vest, it was the most amazing thing. Put it on do some dunks, take it off, do some dunks wow. But since then i havent been able to recreate that same effect. Wearing it chronically seems to be far less effective than using it acutely just for potentiating. It seems the potentiating effect all but dissapears when you wear it longer, during the day. Oh well. Im still going to use it more or less the same way i have been the last coupla days since i first put it on. Incline treadmill and sprints may get my fitness up .. maybe build strength/reactivity in the lower legs which is an area im sorely lacking. But apart from that, i have zero expectation of jumping higher from using the vest. Though i am excited about being more forefoot dominant when i do the incline weighted running .. that may help my RVJ eventually which would be amazing. That effect too disappeared after the first day though lol. So idk, i prob need more frequency?
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Ha finally got DOMS from the back extensions! after 3 sleeps. Im considering a few things. I want to play the easter comp at a lean 85kg .. but to be a lean 85kg i must first be a lean 80kg. To be a lean 80kg .. i shud gain some muscle, cos if i cut to 80kg now, i wont be lean.
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BS 6x115 (LPR; warmup +5kg), 6x120(LPR), 8x110(LPR)
OHP 6x50, 3x60 (ran out of time)
bball practice
weighted dunk @95kg (LPR)
BW: 82.2kg
Notes:
Squat comeback continues. Thought reall hard about a 3rd set but i didnt wanna fk up my back so went with caution and did a backoff set with 110kg. I want to build up volume slowly with light weight and do the odd heavy triple to realise gains. That might be a better strategy long term than trying to build up volume with limit weights like 140kg+. Tho it must be said i was doing very well getting 8x2x140kg @ 82kg before life got in the way. Nevermind.
practice was cool. someone hooked us up with a gym key and we balled in this sweet gym to ourselves .. i put up some weighted dunks but someone complained bout the vest when guarding me so i took it off. otherwise i was going to play with it on for a bit longer.
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BW: 82.5kg
Im ok maintaining 82.5kg for now. But while focusing on conditioning i shud see some body comp changes even if bodyweight stays stable while I eat enough to recover and progress. Looking forward to building up some work capacity which will carry over to fitness on the court. I guess if i was to set a year end goal for bodyweight it may be a lean 80kg? Though i may end up being a strong 85kg, im not too sure how it will work out, i just wanna get some gains, can always cut later.
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interesting that your experience with the weight vest is that chronic use is less effective. the one published study i've seen on weight vests and potentiation found the opposite, i.e. that acute potentiation (wearing it to warm up and then taking it off) was minimal to nonexistent, but chronic potentiation (wearing it around for days at a time and then taking it off after warming up) did have a significant positive effect. my own experience was of the latter.
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interesting that your experience with the weight vest is that chronic use is less effective. the one published study i've seen on weight vests and potentiation found the opposite, i.e. that acute potentiation (wearing it to warm up and then taking it off) was minimal to nonexistent, but chronic potentiation (wearing it around for days at a time and then taking it off after warming up) did have a significant positive effect. my own experience was of the latter.
I think it's totally explainable by adaptation. When i used it as a potentiation tooll (unwittingly) ... it actually worked as advertised .. cns inhibitation etc. But wearing it chronically made those things disappear b/c my CNS can figure out when the vest is off and resumes inhibition to protect the body. i still remmeber how it felt when i first took off the vest acutely . the first time i used it, i was flying around the court whether dunking or driving .. most amazing thing ive ever experienced out of training. Now if i take off the vest almost nothing changes in terms of speed, cns just changes gears smoothly and it's almost if nothing changed had i not even worn the vest
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weird. exact opposite for me. wearing it around and warming up with and then taking it off felt like putting on rocket boots. got like a 2" boost on DLRVJ, which is like 6%. pretty big effect, for me the difference between getting high enough to dunk and not. just wearing it to warm up had no effect.
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I just wanted to make a note that my thighs are looking pretty big... im not even squatting much at the moment. it's my lower legs which i need to grow tho .. look like a chicken lmao
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weird. exact opposite for me. wearing it around and warming up with and then taking it off felt like putting on rocket boots. got like a 2" boost on DLRVJ, which is like 6%. pretty big effect, for me the difference between getting high enough to dunk and not. just wearing it to warm up had no effect.
i actually did that experiment yesterday. landed a very hard ME effort dunk at 95kg .. took off vest, took a nice break of about 5 mins. Then tried to dunk unweighted. And actually jumped lower than i used to get without usinbg the vest. But there is a confounding variable. My left ankle niggle kicked in and it inhibits vertical. I wish i could fix it. I may need to start addressing it with strategic taping .. it's the back of my ankle btw .. does anyone have any experience managing and rehabing that particular injury?
edit, ok maybe im wrong about the injury .. it cud be something else like achilles tendon ..y ikes :/
http://sma.org.au/resources-advice/injury-fact-sheets/achilles-tendon-injuries/
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BS 6x120(warmup LPR)
BP 1x90, 8x75
Back Xtn 3x6x93.6(+10kg vest; PR)
BW: 81.5kg (LPR)
Notes:
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BS 6x120(warmup LPR)
BP 1x90, 8x75
Back Xtn 3x6x93.6(+10kg vest; PR)
BW: 81.5kg (LPR)
Notes:
When you say warm up LPR is the 120 your first set or are you building up to that weight?
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I did 6x120kg after 6x70(2x25kg plates). My last warmup set is usually 6x110kg which i do every squat workout. figure if my topsets are gone down, i might as well start working harder on the other end.
In other news i think i got myself out of bball games on tuesdays on account of my achilles. Now to do the same for thurs..
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I did 6x120kg after 6x70(2x25kg plates). My last warmup set is usually 6x110kg which i do every squat workout. figure if my topsets are gone down, i might as well start working harder on the other end.
Cool cool. I just had this vision of you rocking up to the squat rack with 120 on it and busting out 6 reps cold.
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ok while im rehabbing my achilles ... im going to do a few things
1. get a scan done (ultrasound) and see the extent of the damage. i would like an MRI but i dont think its possible in australia without dropping a lot of money
2. stop doing stuff things that disturb the achilles, which means no more dunking for a few months. i am going to play it safe and put the weight vest away for now too
3. more upper body work
4. get the squat goal of double bw for reps out of the way.. ive never broken 1.8 leave alone 1.9 or 2.0 and i am aiming to rep 2.0
5. skill work: revamp my jumpshot mechanics and get decent ball handing. the only way im goign to enjoy basketball again is to play on teh perimeter but right now im not as skilled there as i'd like to be to displace others
6. lbbs says i have no arm swing on my dunks. what im realising now is that i have no arm swing period. even when walking i dont use it and i wouldnt be suprised it's why i look so robotical and mechanical on the court as well. going to tape myself doing various athletic things and see if i can improve my form
7. i need to ride a bike or something for fitness cos i dont think running is a good idea while my achilles isnt healed ... though i dont remember any discomfort frm running per se .. i think it's only the dunks which cause the problems and i can def go without dunking
8. keep doing the back extensions and i want to reintroduce heavy partial squats. i havent done them in a while cos my back, but i need to bring them back
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weird. exact opposite for me. wearing it around and warming up with and then taking it off felt like putting on rocket boots. got like a 2" boost on DLRVJ, which is like 6%. pretty big effect, for me the difference between getting high enough to dunk and not. just wearing it to warm up had no effect.
i actually did that experiment yesterday. landed a very hard ME effort dunk at 95kg .. took off vest, took a nice break of about 5 mins. Then tried to dunk unweighted. And actually jumped lower than i used to get without usinbg the vest. But there is a confounding variable. My left ankle niggle kicked in and it inhibits vertical. I wish i could fix it. I may need to start addressing it with strategic taping .. it's the back of my ankle btw .. does anyone have any experience managing and rehabing that particular injury?
edit, ok maybe im wrong about the injury .. it cud be something else like achilles tendon ..y ikes :/
http://sma.org.au/resources-advice/injury-fact-sheets/achilles-tendon-injuries/
back of the ankle where? on the heel?
i've had lots of weird heel/achilles aches, always freaks me out to the max.. i'd personally try refraining from activities that exacerbate it, rather than experimenting with taping etc.. but i'm overly cautious when it comes to the achilles.
so my initial advice is rest.. rehab would be calf raise variations (forefoot slightly elevated for more ROM, double leg, feet straight/internally rotated/externally rotated) and then eventually single leg.. also some very light mobility exercises for the ankle, but definitely not forcing ROM, letting it sink in naturally.
also an extremely important factor when it comes to achilles aches & such is making sure you properly warmup.. if you ever skip out on a warmup, you're running the risk of things getting worse.. that's been my mistake on several occasions.
pc!
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ok while im rehabbing my achilles ... im going to do a few things
1. get a scan done (ultrasound) and see the extent of the damage. i would like an MRI but i dont think its possible in australia without dropping a lot of money
2. stop doing stuff things that disturb the achilles, which means no more dunking for a few months. i am going to play it safe and put the weight vest away for now too
3. more upper body work
4. get the squat goal of double bw for reps out of the way.. ive never broken 1.8 leave alone 1.9 or 2.0 and i am aiming to rep 2.0
5. skill work: revamp my jumpshot mechanics and get decent ball handing. the only way im goign to enjoy basketball again is to play on teh perimeter but right now im not as skilled there as i'd like to be to displace others
6. lbbs says i have no arm swing on my dunks. what im realising now is that i have no arm swing period. even when walking i dont use it and i wouldnt be suprised it's why i look so robotical and mechanical on the court as well. going to tape myself doing various athletic things and see if i can improve my form
7. i need to ride a bike or something for fitness cos i dont think running is a good idea while my achilles isnt healed ... though i dont remember any discomfort frm running per se .. i think it's only the dunks which cause the problems and i can def go without dunking
8. keep doing the back extensions and i want to reintroduce heavy partial squats. i havent done them in a while cos my back, but i need to bring them back
also just be careful that you're squatting isn't putting too much extra tension on your achilles.. for example, if I didn't elevated my heels, I feel much more tension on the back of my heel as my achilles stretches, so I have to be much more careful without my heels elevated.. stuff like that. Basically just make sure you're not forcing your achilles to bear too much load/overstretch in these weightlifting movements.
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weird. exact opposite for me. wearing it around and warming up with and then taking it off felt like putting on rocket boots. got like a 2" boost on DLRVJ, which is like 6%. pretty big effect, for me the difference between getting high enough to dunk and not. just wearing it to warm up had no effect.
i actually did that experiment yesterday. landed a very hard ME effort dunk at 95kg .. took off vest, took a nice break of about 5 mins. Then tried to dunk unweighted. And actually jumped lower than i used to get without usinbg the vest. But there is a confounding variable. My left ankle niggle kicked in and it inhibits vertical. I wish i could fix it. I may need to start addressing it with strategic taping .. it's the back of my ankle btw .. does anyone have any experience managing and rehabing that particular injury?
edit, ok maybe im wrong about the injury .. it cud be something else like achilles tendon ..y ikes :/
http://sma.org.au/resources-advice/injury-fact-sheets/achilles-tendon-injuries/
back of the ankle where? on the heel?
i've had lots of weird heel/achilles aches, always freaks me out to the max.. i'd personally try refraining from activities that exacerbate it, rather than experimenting with taping etc.. but i'm overly cautious when it comes to the achilles.
so my initial advice is rest.. rehab would be calf raise variations (forefoot slightly elevated for more ROM, double leg, feet straight/internally rotated/externally rotated) and then eventually single leg.. also some very light mobility exercises for the ankle, but definitely not forcing ROM, letting it sink in naturally.
also an extremely important factor when it comes to achilles aches & such is making sure you properly warmup.. if you ever skip out on a warmup, you're running the risk of things getting worse.. that's been my mistake on several occasions.
pc!
Hi! Not the base of the heel/sole but back of the ankle. It feels fine today as expected after 2 sleeps, but if i go and do sme dunks tonight it will trigger the thing again. I wont dunk today though! Or at all for a while. But it remains to be seen what other training i can do around it. Will take your advice to do the rehab work, thank you. I am also suspecting footwear to be a possible culprit, Kobe's might be causing the problem.
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BS 6x122.5(warmup LPR)
Partial BS 6x150, 8x180, 12x160
Push Press 6x60
Bball game
HIT sprint intervals
Back Xtn 3x10x10kg vest (PR)
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BW: 83.2kg (PR)
Been eating poorly so weight has gone up. But hoping to reset today.
I do think since i stopped doing partial squats my super snappy lockout has all but disappeared. So i do think i need to get my quarter squat up somewhere PR'ry and then put it on maintenance rather than stop doing them altogether, which doesn't work, evidently since I lost the benefits conferred. It remains to be seen if using back extensions + quarter squats while practicing a set or two of backsquats regularly i can progress past my previous squat PRs without focusing on BS itself.
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BW: 82.5kg
holy moly .. back's stiff today .. i wasnt expecting that, thinking i'd adapted to back extensions but there we go.
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BW: 81.5kg (!!)
Yeah idk why my bodyweight is fluctuating so erratically but i had all but convinced myself weighing 82.5kg with abs was a good goal for me ha.
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BS 6x125 (warmup LPR)
OHP 3x60
sprint intervals
bball practice
BW: 81.5kg (As above)
Notes:
I cant bring myself to do more sets .. whatever.
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Yesterday's basketball training was amazing. I was consciously practicing my arm swing while doing normal movements when i realised why I look so robotic and unnatural on the court ... it's b/c no one ever coached me to initiate movement with the shoulders! So for example, when cutting a better basketball player would initiate the movement top down .. for me it was always bottom only .. i think .. which is why i was and am slow to begin moves. Catching an oop or trying a windmill probably needs this more than anything else. I wonder now that if i had stronger upper body and was actually using my whole body strength in movements if i'd be more athletic? Well, we shall be explore this further but it certainly is exciting to say the least...
i wore my running shoes and tried one dunk, hurt, so im not sure if change of shoes fixes my achilles ... :(
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BW: 82.4kg
Happy that im skipping training/bball today. Body is pretty beat .. giving myself some much needed rest.
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BW: 81.2kg (??)
something funny going on .. i think my body prefers to have a higher fat intake??
i want to add hip thrusts, rdls, bounds and medball throws. some or one of these made me experience that amazing sprint workout last summer where i felt super bouncy and i never figured out what caused it. since im not doing any of these atm .. im not sure which one to try and im not really keen to commit to all of them..
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BS 6x120, 4x127.5, 2x2x127.5
BP 1x90, 8x77.5(LPR)
SPRINTS w/ 10kg weight vest - 6x40m
sprint intervals 6x20s on, 20s off
Back Xtn 3x12x10kg vest(PR)
BW: 81.2kg
Notes:
I used todday's suggestion to do bounds as a warmup .. but i ran into a hitch in that it causes pain in my left ankle and lower back. so i diid them submaxily which i think is ok, may even serve as rehab or at least a diagnostic that im getting healed up .. can leave them out tho.
40m sprints were fun! i found a sweet place to run near my place. has lighting and marked in 10m intervals which are really useful .. i picked 40m cos a bbball court is what 24m? so these shud make those seem easy peasy. my best time was like 6:21 on the stopwatch but i hate the thing cos half of the time i dont trigger it right. i tried using my phone camera but i dont have a tripod and who really cares so early in the season .. i do want to see measurable progress tho
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K, not paying lipservice to sprinting anymore .. i'm going all in .. but i dont care for bodyweight sprinting .. weigh vest sprinting allows me to believe this is a productive use of my training that may get me fitter, leaner, stronger, bigger, etc. That may or may not be true but i believe it and that's the most important thing is because apart from squats, i dont think there is anything else i can say the same. I now imagine myself as a beast, weighing 85kg soaking wet and running 40m in 5s or so with a 10kg vest. That's a goal that i find exciting as a journey and destination. I still want a double bw squat for reps but with my issues with lower back, i am willing to put it aside and find something just as meaningful to me ...
dont see the point of playing meaningless basketball games eveyr week either. i dont enjoy it and i dont imrpve as an athlete or as a player. pickup on weekends is better. so i'll just do that. maybe closer to easter tournament, i'll play more games but only if im playing as a SF on the perimeter. cant get myself excited about C position on 2-3 zone and being all but absent on offence. no more. if there aren't at least 2 dudes bigger than me on a team, im declining cos ill just get pulled into the same old shit as an underweight C and ive never had much success or enjoyed it. tbh it actually regresses me as a player. i get more steals and interceptions playing on the wing .. and i get to sprint more which i enjoy rather than jogging up and down half heartedly.
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No offence mate but I see weighted sprinting going pear shaped pretty quickly.
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No offence mate but I see weighted sprinting going pear shaped pretty quickly.
im not worried about injuries ... at worst it will be a waste of time but i dont think that will be the case, maybe i'll grow my calves finally
edit, i actually disagree. comparing sprinting with weighted sprinting, it feels safer than running ME at bodyweight .. i feel out of control and less powerful. with the vest i feel more in control and powerful. i will focus on speed at some point, but rather work on acceleration and power since i find it more appealing than speed or vertical. when i land my first windmill i want to do it off a dropstep .. haha. if i only cared about speed or vertical id cut to 70kg but im not going to get under 80kg again.
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No offence mate but I see weighted sprinting going pear shaped pretty quickly.
im not worried about injuries ... at worst it will be a waste of time but i dont think that will be the case, maybe i'll grow my calves finally
edit, i actually disagree. comparing sprinting with weighted sprinting, it feels safer than running ME at bodyweight .. i feel out of control and less powerful. with the vest i feel more in control and powerful. i will focus on speed at some point, but rather work on acceleration and power since i find it more appealing than speed or vertical. when i land my first windmill i want to do it off a dropstep .. haha. if i only cared about speed or vertical id cut to 70kg but im not going to get under 80kg again.
Power and acceleration vs speed and vertical. Two sides of the same coin no?
I'm just thinking you'll fuck up your sprinting mechanics. Where's the carry over in that?
Maybe you feel more powerful cause you're slower with the vest on and it requires more strength for you to move?
Anyway, good luck mate.
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They're related but different qualities. One's speed and the other one is rate of change of speed. I enjoy the feeling of running sprints with a 10kg vest. It feels like you're accelerating. Yes it cud be b/c they're slower and so you can focus on the activity more. I'm not overly worried about sprint mechanics .. it's not pretty to start with, not sure it can get any worse .. but perhaps, even if it did, doesn't matter, im not a sprinter nor do i care about my mechanics for the most part. Additionally i know is my legs and glutes are sore af today and if i eat enough i shud grow some mass. being heavier, fitter and powerful is more appealing but unlike with squats where it means getting fatter which i can't abide. Im keen to find more interesting exercises for the summer .. if you guys have any suggestions for developing power/acceleration pls suggest away.
thanks though .. im excited to see how this will go over the next 6 wks
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https://www.t-nation.com/training/5-drills-that-are-better-than-the-prowler
some interesting ideas here .. hill sprints w/ and w/o vest alternating. i acn do that at the asme place, i think it's about 25m
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I've never done weighted sprints with a vest but they sound cool. In rugby pre-season in the past we have done weighted sled sprints, which is definitely a lot more enjoyable than doing 3km jogs and fitness circuits.
I agree with you as well for sprinting mechanics. Just run the way you normally run. Unless you're a professional sprinter where every millisecond counts you'll get a lot more bang for your buck just focusing on putting in 100% effort. Hill sprints are great as well.
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I've never done weighted sprints with a vest but they sound cool. In rugby pre-season in the past we have done weighted sled sprints, which is definitely a lot more enjoyable than doing 3km jogs and fitness circuits.
I agree with you as well for sprinting mechanics. Just run the way you normally run. Unless you're a professional sprinter where every millisecond counts you'll get a lot more bang for your buck just focusing on putting in 100% effort. Hill sprints are great as well.
Thanks :highfive:
i have a vid of my sprint form with one of the 40m sprints from last night on @maxentr0py if anyone's interested. i see myselff swinging my arms .. what else is there to form? it's not like i can change it, it's just how it is, not concerned about attaining some new form right now unless someone's gna coach me or something
I figure ive weighed 90-115kg before .. it's not crazy to run with a vest while weighing 80-85kg. i hate cheating myself into thinking im getting fitter/faster/athletic when all ive done is dieted down and got lighter and im stil the same mediocre athlete ive always been. at least this way i feel like im doing something challenging towards becoming the athlete i aspire to be (lean and powerful at 85-90kg). i am also willing to bet my vertical not only will not go down, it will remain the same as it always has been. who gives a fk about 30" vertical ..when you're a skinny af 75kg .. but i can live with a 30" at 85kg .. that feels more psychologically pleasing
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BW: 81.7kg
played a game last night, not ideal since i trained weds and am scheduled to train today as well. sore and tired, havent been sleeping well either. good signs from the game tho that i felt quicker on my feet ... and i think it's part mental part from training w/ sprints.
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BS 4x127.5
Push Press 6x62.5, 4x70, 2x70
Medball circuit
CND - 1km in 6min, 1km in <8min
BW: 81.7kg
Notes:
Im soo soft ... ugh i hate my bodycomp
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BS 4x130(LPR), 2x2x130
Quarter BS 2x12x165(PR)
OHP 3x3x60(LPR), 2x8x47.5 (maybe i did 3 sets, idk doesnt matter)
CURL 3x6x40 (LPR; reintro)
Back Xtn 3x12x20kg (PR; 10kg vest + 10kg plate)
BW: 81.5kg
Notes:
Squats were suprisingly good, esp warming up with 130kg after 6x70kg.. im not sure that's a sound strategy tbh but it felt like a good goal for today anyway. I thought about doing more squats but decided i'd rather focus on quarter squats b/c my bar speed on lockout was poor and it tells me i need to spend some time building up my quarters then things will be smoooth and snappy on normal squats.
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BS 5x130(LPR warmup!), 3x130, 1Fx130, 3x130
BP 6x70(LPR; used 25kg plates) 1x90(LPR; used 25kg plates), 8x80(LPR; 25s too)
Hill sprints x 6 (+10kg vest, PR; new exercise!)
HIIT sprints x 6 [+10kg vest, 20s on, 25s recovery)
Back Xtn 3x12x25kg (+10kg vest, 15kg plate; PR)
BW: 81.7kg
Notes:
Reporting the first back pump from doing back extensions .. i guess it wasn't challenging enough til today? pretty sweet. but i only have another workout left before i max out on 20kg plate .. so not sure what to do next. i have 25kgs but they're physically too big to hold).
oh and hill sprints are amazing. i dont know yet what benefit they will provide but i enjoyed them and look forward to making them a regular feature in my training. yay.
Oh and i just want to make another note in passing. I was covering around 100m on the sprint intervals which is nothing special i know -- but -- id struggle to get that on intervals w/o a vest and i did that with a vest. so in some sense im fitter and more athletic? pretty cool. i dont now what ive done to get tot his point but i will keep doing it and not change anything and see where it leads over long term
edit, actually, asking for advice here ... shud i adjust recovery down from 25s? or increase on from 20s? which is better for my needs? lemme know..
2nd week of skipping tue night bball games. wish i had done it sooner, what a waste of potentially good training. oh well, not looking back, time to put in some decent quality work.
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BS 5x130(LPR warmup!), 3x130, 1Fx130, 3x130
BP 6x70(LPR; used 25kg plates) 1x90(LPR; used 25kg plates), 8x80(LPR; 25s too)
Hill sprints x 6 (+10kg vest, PR; new exercise!)
HIIT sprints x 6 [+10kg vest, 20s on, 25s recovery)
Back Xtn 3x12x25kg (+10kg vest, 15kg plate; PR)
BW: 81.7kg
Notes:
Reporting the first back pump from doing back extensions .. i guess it wasn't challenging enough til today? pretty sweet. but i only have another workout left before i max out on 20kg plate .. so not sure what to do next. i have 25kgs but they're physically too big to hold).
you could always use a barbell or ez-curl-bar .. holding it - not placed on your back. I used to do that with I think up to 115 lb for my heaviest.. but just need to be careful obviously.
could also use some good bands too maybe .. never used bands for back ext tho.
regardless, caution/safety are #1 when overloading something like a back extension (or goodmorning, rdl, deadlift, etc).
oh and hill sprints are amazing. i dont know yet what benefit they will provide but i enjoyed them and look forward to making them a regular feature in my training. yay.
they recruit more MU's. it's more of a strength dominant effort for the entire duration, rather than a brief strength effort (initial accel) then extremely fast contractions w/ more contribution from tendon.
so more MU's recruited at lower velocity, good for muscular development while not overtaxing the CNS + tendons + ligaments etc.
Oh and i just want to make another note in passing. I was covering around 100m on the sprint intervals which is nothing special i know -- but -- id struggle to get that on intervals w/o a vest and i did that with a vest. so in some sense im fitter and more athletic? pretty cool. i dont now what ive done to get tot his point but i will keep doing it and not change anything and see where it leads over long term
edit, actually, asking for advice here ... shud i adjust recovery down from 25s? or increase on from 20s? which is better for my needs? lemme know..
reduce the rest interval slightly or add more volume.. if you increase intensity you're going to have to increase the rest interval.. but if you keep intensity the same and try to drop the rest interval a few seconds, that's potentially doable.
2nd week of skipping tue night bball games. wish i had done it sooner, what a waste of potentially good training. oh well, not looking back, time to put in some decent quality work.
nice! :highfive: fuq bball! jk jk.
pc!!
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BS 2x130
Push Press 5Fx70(LPR), 4Fx70
Chinup with vest 2x6
Bball game
BW: 81.something
Notes:
Mood low. Not talking sexual just in gen. My tue team have a semi final but im considering not going, dont really care but i feel like that's bad form on my part. What do you guys reckon? I figure i'll be spent by training and play under the weather and it's not really beneficial to them or me
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you should go. if you feel like dogshit at the game you can say that and bail.
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Agreed. No harm in going down. Set some low expectations and see what happens.
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BS 5x130(LPR warmup!), 3x130, 1Fx130, 3x130
BP 6x70(LPR; used 25kg plates) 1x90(LPR; used 25kg plates), 8x80(LPR; 25s too)
Hill sprints x 6 (+10kg vest, PR; new exercise!)
HIIT sprints x 6 [+10kg vest, 20s on, 25s recovery)
Back Xtn 3x12x25kg (+10kg vest, 15kg plate; PR)
BW: 81.7kg
Notes:
Reporting the first back pump from doing back extensions .. i guess it wasn't challenging enough til today? pretty sweet. but i only have another workout left before i max out on 20kg plate .. so not sure what to do next. i have 25kgs but they're physically too big to hold).
you could always use a barbell or ez-curl-bar .. holding it - not placed on your back. I used to do that with I think up to 115 lb for my heaviest.. but just need to be careful obviously.
could also use some good bands too maybe .. never used bands for back ext tho.
regardless, caution/safety are #1 when overloading something like a back extension (or goodmorning, rdl, deadlift, etc).
oh and hill sprints are amazing. i dont know yet what benefit they will provide but i enjoyed them and look forward to making them a regular feature in my training. yay.
they recruit more MU's. it's more of a strength dominant effort for the entire duration, rather than a brief strength effort (initial accel) then extremely fast contractions w/ more contribution from tendon.
so more MU's recruited at lower velocity, good for muscular development while not overtaxing the CNS + tendons + ligaments etc.
Oh and i just want to make another note in passing. I was covering around 100m on the sprint intervals which is nothing special i know -- but -- id struggle to get that on intervals w/o a vest and i did that with a vest. so in some sense im fitter and more athletic? pretty cool. i dont now what ive done to get tot his point but i will keep doing it and not change anything and see where it leads over long term
edit, actually, asking for advice here ... shud i adjust recovery down from 25s? or increase on from 20s? which is better for my needs? lemme know..
reduce the rest interval slightly or add more volume.. if you increase intensity you're going to have to increase the rest interval.. but if you keep intensity the same and try to drop the rest interval a few seconds, that's potentially doable.
2nd week of skipping tue night bball games. wish i had done it sooner, what a waste of potentially good training. oh well, not looking back, time to put in some decent quality work.
nice! :highfive: fuq bball! jk jk.
pc!!
Thanks for the ideas. I do have bands so i cud try that. Thought about getting a ezcurl bar but i cant find one for a decent price but i think that's the way forward, normal oly bar is just too cumbersome to hold in place! Also when do you think i shud try changing from 45 deg to 25? or keep with 45 for longer? I dont want to be impatient and wreck progress i cud get from 45 for a long time before changing up. One thing that might work is alternating workouts b/c if i do them twice a week, there is room for variety on the 2nd workout of the wk.
Will adjust my rest period down on the intervals tmr :headbang:
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Hve been thinking when i should get back into dunking but my gut feeling is to play it safe for a bit longer. Maybe i'll start dunking again in 2017. But perhaps i cud do submax jumps or some other kind of jumps that dont bother my achilles in the meantime. IM not sure which tho. hmm.
Agreed. No harm in going down. Set some low expectations and see what happens.
you should go. if you feel like dogshit at the game you can say that and bail.
Will go. If it's a shitshow, will take off my shoes and peace out. Think that will be more satisfying given the horrible experience of playing this season, never thought ppl cud be so selfish and not want to pass til i played with this team. Cant wait to get back into sunday pickup instead and find the joy of the game again!
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BS 5x130, 3x132.5(LPR)
Accessory BS with hip circle etc
OHP 4x4x60(LPR), 3x3x60
Weighted Hill sprint x 12 (PR; +6 reps since last time)
Weighted Sprint intervals 6x[20s on, 20s off; PR -5s recovery]
Back Xtn 3x12x30(PR; 10kg vest, 20kg plate)
Curls 3x8x30kg
Weighted crunches 2x12x20kg (wanted 3 sets but i started cramping up pretty bad while resting after the 2nd set so i decided to end it there)
BW: 82.2 (i think, this was a weird reading i expected it to be low 81kg but there you go).
Notes:
Well fuck me, i wanted 6x130kg but i put the bar back when my bar speed was sooooooooo low. I can bounce the mfas up just fine, it's lockign them. I explain it quite easily tho, in lieu of fat loss i'd been doing a bit of fasted walking with teh weight vest which does fatigue my vmos especially. I should not do that if i care about my squats, which i do. There is a place and time for fasted walking with a vest but i think it's prob when you're eating enough food to recover for fresher squat workouts, not my present situation.
Good workout. I could do more because i knew i am done with basketball .. yes, not playing another game this year!
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BS 5x130
Bball final
BP 2x90(PR), 1x92.5(PR by mistake lol), 7x82.5(PR)
BW: 81.8kg i think
Notes:
Well that was heartbreaking.. we lost the finals by 1 basket in the last seconds of the game. and i was the reason. In bounds play near the half court, i look for someone to pass too but the two guys closest to me are stationary and wud have yielded a steal & fastbreak. Guy across the court was closer to the basket so he was saferb/c we cud get 3-4 defenders on him on a turnover. but he too just stood there instead of cutting straight for a layup connect. I went for him crosscourt, he got the ball stolen or inteceprted and they got a layup .. we lose. motherfucks have zero bball iq, im sad.
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That's shit man. Don't beat yourself up though. It's hard playing with guys who don't know how to move on the court.
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That's shit man. Don't beat yourself up though. It's hard playing with guys who don't know how to move on the court.
I checked thefinal score and it was 52-53. Someone was saying the scorer messed up and we actually should have been up by at least 2pts. I also can't figure out how on one play i went for a fastbreak layup and the ref didnt give a call even tho the dude hit me pretty hard. I asked him wtf and he said, 'if anything i shud have called a charge'. lmao a charge on a fastbreak where we were both moving? k. Anyway the next play down the court, they naturally get a fastbreak foul call on barely a touch. I guess these things are just luck but im not missing a layup on a touch foul. I keep replaying it in my head and think what if i went behind the back before the finish or something, just to avoid contact b/c i know im not getting any foul calls but it's weird to think as an offensive player you're trying to avoid contact :/
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I went and got a doctors referral to get an ultrasound done on my achilles. He wrote plus or minus stereoid injection if i need it from the scan. anyone know much about them? do i have to stop training after getting one or how does it work. Hopefully i can get this sorted out tho, i want to start dunking again .. it's been a month since i last had one
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Just tell him to also inject some in your quads and you'll be fine :wowthatwasnutswtf: :uhhhfacepalm: sorry couldn't resist.
I feel you on the ref call randomness, it is so frustrating, but you gotta build your mindset that this is how it will always be at the low level leagues. Adapting to it is not a bad choice, that's what i used to do, play smart. Other choice is just ignore it and play your game, in the long term statistically you will have equal wrong calls for or against you.
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Good call on playing it like you're not going to get a call. Im def taking that into my mindset if i play again (not sure). TBH it was a pretty good game from me, i blocked a few shots that changed the complexion of the game. i got stops, rebounds and scored all the shots i took. they werent driving while i protected the rim, scoring from jumpers. So all things considered, id take it. I cant help think a simple cut from 1 one of those dudes would have won us the game but i cant control that. i wonder if i shud have tried something gimmicky like throw the ball into a defender to get another out of bounds call... oh if only my mind had calculated all these things at the time! :)
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One thing which i'd like to be able to do is run the fast break well. Like leave the defender in the dust. im working on my sprints now so that shud help, in addition to getting my legs stronger and becoming fitter and in better shape. plus im not really eating enough to perform at 100% right now. Maybe if i fix my achilles, get myself into decent shape and PR my lifts/sprints and eat optimally for performance, i can run a decent fastbreak. #goals
Having said that, i dont think practicing sprints will carry over by themselves unless i actually practice running with a ball, im sure the mind body connection with a ball needs to be accounted for too
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Havent logged the last 2 sessions i think, oh well nothing happened. Couldnt do shit but im going to try get back on track this week. Its been rough recovering lately .. but im starting to figure out a plan to get out of this funk for a lack of a better word.
Sunday
BS 4x130, 2x137.5 (LPR)
Weighted Hill Sprint 3x6
Back Xtn 3x12x35kg (but i lost count on the last set so i might have shorted a rep, will repeat)
BW: 81.5kg (LPR)
tried using a bar to load the back extension but it simply does not work, cant hold it in place .. sad, really was falling in love with this exercise but it's limited in a big way by how to load it. oh well.
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Big weekend of eating, poorly, all the shittiest no nutrition food, but going to start over today
BW: 82.5kg
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tried using a bar to load the back extension but it simply does not work, cant hold it in place .. sad, really was falling in love with this exercise but it's limited in a big way by how to load it. oh well.
hold plate to chest, hold barbell in row position, get better at holding the barbell on your back. lots of options.
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tried using a bar to load the back extension but it simply does not work, cant hold it in place .. sad, really was falling in love with this exercise but it's limited in a big way by how to load it. oh well.
hold plate to chest, hold barbell in row position, get better at holding the barbell on your back. lots of options.
thanks, im ok with holding plates, my largest one is 25kg and i used it sunday. i considered i could hold 2x20kgs since the 25kg is physically thicker but i havent tried it. not sure i could pull up 2 plates into position tbh. but ideally a bar type loading would be beft cos it wud be essentially infinitely loadable. til i tried it, and i pulled up 40kg to my chest while tryna keep my elbows out of the way b/c they will hit the handles otherwise, it's almost impossible. andrew suggested a curl bar but im not sure that will make any difference really not that ive tried it but i havent got one and i dont want to unless i know it will work
i have seen the pendlay guys use the barbell in squat position but they have spotters and i obviously havent got a way to get in and out of place with a bar on the back.
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BS 5x130, 6x120
Weighted Sprints 6x40m
Sprints 6x40m
BP 2x92.5(LPR), 6Fx82.5(aw man wanted 8, got 7 last week)
BW: 81.1kg (LPR)
notes:
Think i picked up a bug from airport food. or maybe im dehydrated. really hoping im not sick though. i have some goals to accomplish man cant wait for illness.. btw i got the scan back for my foot if anyone wants to see i will post it but it's pretty depressing cos they dont really know wahts going on.. and doc didnt seem to wanna go to bat for me and refer an MRI ..
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I cant figure out what happened to my erectors mass.. it's almost all but gone. it's not like my squat has suddenly disappeared, im still maintaining 130kg for reps etc. The only exercises that i havent been doing are weighted chinups and rdls .. cud they be the reason? shud really start doing them again if thats the case, i miss having bigger erectors, prob the only bodypart i had good development on. may be that i do less squatmornings these days too
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Played a game today, wasnt planning to but it was a team mates last game with the team so i was obliged to go. I checked into the game with 4 mins to go, scored 4 points off 2nd chance rebounds i pulled down. Final score was 51-52. I cant help lose games by 1 point it seems lol. Team mates were saying why didnt i check in sooner, but i dont really like subbing off players unless someone wants to go off.. we prob win that game tho if i played more minutes. Pretty cool game.
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BS 5x130, 2Fx137.5, 6x110
Push Press 5x5x70(PR)
Back Xtn 3x11x40(PR)
BW: 81kg
Notes:
So sunday i binged and didnt train. Today im back on eating clean and i trained. FML. I imagine if i put all those calories from sunday into today? I might actually grow some gains. Oh well, im a disgrace. But on the plus side, i was starting to get pretty lean, i think sunday i weighed 80.7kg or something? I really did think i could end the year at an even 80.0kg. Now i dont know. We'll see i guess.
Fuck back extensuions though. Such a limited exercise, i tried putting 40kg on my back and getting into place but the position felt so unnatural and precarious and i only later realised why. cos you cant use your hands to grab the handle if shit goes wrong. and the whole idea of doing a row and holding the bar to the chest is terrible in practice though excellent in theory, just takes too much effort to hold 40kg in the back extension bench, leave alone do reps of back xtns. i used 2x20kg plates, i guess with my weight vest that gives a max loading of 50kg with the exercise, then im moving on to other stuff, prob barbell stuff
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Kinda excited to see how it goes specialising on push presses. I gave equal time to bench/press/push press and got nothing much out of it in return. but now i'd like to focus on PP and get a nice milestone lift like 5x5xbodyweight and 100kg for a single. Will be cool to chase a goal that i actually find attractive on upper body lifts for a change.
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BW: 82.7kg (!!)
not even a proper refeed but okay. interesting doms tho, i actually got oms in my right triceps straight away from the 5x5x70 push presses. But my whole upper back inc tarps and lats are sorea as well chest. so this is good news. want to have a best push press now .. it's sexy af
my ankle has been getting better from rest and dare i say, wobble board exercises i did on the weekend. i have a theory on this but lets see how it plays out over the next few weeks. imagine if i can dunk again pain free.. that would be so amazing
forgot to do weighted crunches yesterday, was hoping to grow some abz for when i get lean for vanity but it's not really a priority, my abs grow super fast whenever i do the crunches tho .
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BS 6x130(PR), 6x122.5
BW: 81.6kg
Notes:
What the fuck .. i finally progress my squat but had to cut the workout short to deal with some family bs fml. I was going to do a couple of sets of 6 after this and then bench. Oh well. So this is a PR while cutting, while fasting daily and without creatine. I reckon if i go to maintenance cals and jettison fasting and increase carbs, i shud be looking at +5-7.5kg? Creatine shud def take me close to 6x140kg. But im extrapoloating like a mf and its worthless to theorise, only thing that matters is actual results. I do think im on the right track tho, i can be a stronger and leaner 80kg for sure, still fkn obese so theres room to gain strength and mass at 80.0kg.
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Kinda got food poisoning or something, but im starting to recover now. Hoping to be 100% for sunday's workout, wanna do some quality bench work. Oh and i def shud sprint tmr as well, it's been what 10 days since my last session? soemthing like that. yikes.
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Really regreting not fitting some decent volume sessions during xmas .. i just got fat af and have to be forever cutting rather than starting 2017 at a lean 80kg which i was pretty much dialed in for prior. Whatevs. Forced a workout today, idk what i weigh, will look at it when i get back after holidays.
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BS 3x130, 5x6x110 (mighht have done six sets but i lost count)
Back Xtn 3x10x40 (PR but i think a couple of these sets were short of 12 reps, forget where the rep ends lol)
Will try to do an upper body workout tomorrow then im doing an epic road trip to melb lolzy ... no training prob til sometime when i get back home
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When are you going to be in Melb? I'm away for the next week but if you're here in mid Jan it would be a shame if you, me and Acole didn't at least catch up.
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When are you going to be in Melb? I'm away for the next week but if you're here in mid Jan it would be a shame if you, me and Acole didn't at least catch up.
x2, definitely keen for that if it works.
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When are you going to be in Melb? I'm away for the next week but if you're here in mid Jan it would be a shame if you, me and Acole didn't at least catch up.
x2, definitely keen for that if it works.
Flew back yesterday! I wasn't going to be around mid jan :/ Stepped on scales this morning with some trepidation, expecting some setbacks but was surprised to see the scale read 79.xx before stabilising on 80.0kg! Which is or was my goal weight for end of 2016 .. so i managed to do okay given the circumstances of plentiful of food and little activity over the 31st-10th period. But im prob a bit fatter than id like and less muscular than id like so it's bitter sweet. Still, back into it today. Wanna get to 79.0kg leanish and squat 6x130kg warmups again then add ccreatine etc and try get 6x140kg@80kg. Want a decent push press, around 5x90-100kg would be dope. And when my foot is healed, go hard on conditioning... that sets the agenda for the year..
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When are you going to be in Melb? I'm away for the next week but if you're here in mid Jan it would be a shame if you, me and Acole didn't at least catch up.
x2, definitely keen for that if it works.
Flew back yesterday! I wasn't going to be around mid jan :/ Stepped on scales this morning with some trepidation, expecting some setbacks but was surprised to see the scale read 79.xx before stabilising on 80.0kg! Which is or was my goal weight for end of 2016 .. so i managed to do okay given the circumstances of plentiful of food and little activity over the 31st-10th period. But im prob a bit fatter than id like and less muscular than id like so it's bitter sweet. Still, back into it today. Wanna get to 79.0kg leanish and squat 6x130kg warmups again then add ccreatine etc and try get 6x140kg@80kg. Want a decent push press, around 5x90-100kg would be dope. And when my foot is healed, go hard on conditioning... that sets the agenda for the year..
100kg push press x 5 would be pretty beast.
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Right?! I started off with a pretty cynical view of the exercise but Lance put the idea of doing sets of 5xBW in my head and im finding just chasing that has opened my mind to the potential for this exercise. If i do a decent PP session i get sore everythang from lats to chest to triceps and shoulders. It really is the compound upper body exercise for someone like me. Minimalism is the name of the game and i think going into a gym and doing a decent squats and push press workout is an excellent recipe for attaining efficiency and quality in the weightroom. Add in sprinting and jumping and you've got all bases covered. Still have a thing for back extensions so i can make that my accessory lift in addition to dips. May not do more than that for the next 6 months.
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BS 2x2x130(LPR), 3x6x110(LPR)
Push Press 6x50, 0Fx70
Bench 6x70(LPR), 0Fx90, 3x80(LPR), 5x77.5(LPR), 6x72.5(LPR)
Back Xtn 3x8x50(PR)
BW: 80.0kg (LPR)
Notes:
lmao got owned by 130kg fml .. that 2nd rep was ugly af .. but will keep chipping away from here and getting back on track. 6x130kg under 80kg bodyweight as a warmup is prettttty tantalising as a goal so im gna work harrd for that. the quality of my sets with heavier weight is so different from ligther weight tho, i get a strong bounce with ligther weight and i dont have a bounce to speak of with 130kg or more. but quads are def detrained significantly, my bar speed sucks even on 110kg reps .. tho i can bounce those up pretty good, locking out is excruatingly slow. also hamstrings arent as strong at holding back angle out of the bottom. these are all things to be expected coming back from a layoff tho
my plan to go all in on push press ran into trouble when i failed warmups with 70kg, idk if i can do these as frequently without waving volume or intensity or something, still, i guess i can get some neural gains from doing them every workout? well, as a consolation i did bench instead .. and im now thinking i shudnt stop benching altogether, if any lift has to go, it's prob ohp tbh
went conservative with back xtn, though i was tempted to do more sets, i stopped at 3x8, will try add reps or sets from here, since ive maxed out by using weight vest + 2x20kg plates, though it may be possible to use 1x25kg plate and 1x20kg but 2x25kg is prob too bulky.. anyway, i can progress reps/sets so it doesn't really matter too much
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Right?! I started off with a pretty cynical view of the exercise but Lance put the idea of doing sets of 5xBW in my head and im finding just chasing that has opened my mind to the potential for this exercise. If i do a decent PP session i get sore everythang from lats to chest to triceps and shoulders. It really is the compound upper body exercise for someone like me. Minimalism is the name of the game and i think going into a gym and doing a decent squats and push press workout is an excellent recipe for attaining efficiency and quality in the weightroom. Add in sprinting and jumping and you've got all bases covered. Still have a thing for back extensions so i can make that my accessory lift in addition to dips. May not do more than that for the next 6 months.
x 2
Pushpresses are one of my favorite exercises... I even get sore quads from doing them.
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Right?! I started off with a pretty cynical view of the exercise but Lance put the idea of doing sets of 5xBW in my head and im finding just chasing that has opened my mind to the potential for this exercise. If i do a decent PP session i get sore everythang from lats to chest to triceps and shoulders. It really is the compound upper body exercise for someone like me. Minimalism is the name of the game and i think going into a gym and doing a decent squats and push press workout is an excellent recipe for attaining efficiency and quality in the weightroom. Add in sprinting and jumping and you've got all bases covered. Still have a thing for back extensions so i can make that my accessory lift in addition to dips. May not do more than that for the next 6 months.
x 2
Pushpresses are one of my favorite exercises... I even get sore quads from doing them.
haha, i wouldnt be surpised tbh. i just find the exercise fascinating. huge technique component to it. but a spazz like me suck at it b/c im not very explosive or coordinated, but someone like our gukl can chuck up 120kg like it's nothing even tho he prob doesnt even lift (bench etc). pretty interesting puzzle to crack, it's v. daunting to figure out how im gna add 30kg to my pp ... any ideas?
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When are you going to be in Melb? I'm away for the next week but if you're here in mid Jan it would be a shame if you, me and Acole didn't at least catch up.
x2, definitely keen for that if it works.
Flew back yesterday! I wasn't going to be around mid jan :/ Stepped on scales this morning with some trepidation, expecting some setbacks but was surprised to see the scale read 79.xx before stabilising on 80.0kg! Which is or was my goal weight for end of 2016 .. so i managed to do okay given the circumstances of plentiful of food and little activity over the 31st-10th period. But im prob a bit fatter than id like and less muscular than id like so it's bitter sweet. Still, back into it today. Wanna get to 79.0kg leanish and squat 6x130kg warmups again then add ccreatine etc and try get 6x140kg@80kg. Want a decent push press, around 5x90-100kg would be dope. And when my foot is healed, go hard on conditioning... that sets the agenda for the year..
Hey mate. Shit that we missed you. Maybe next time.
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Defo, im doing a few trips over the 6 months so im sure we can fit in a training sessh next time. you guys have some nice gyms there too! Im jealous. Went to a Derrimut and it was dope.
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Apparently ive been doing push presses wrong?? The proper way to rack is similar to a FS rather than the OHP rack i'd been using. Read it's more mechanically advantageous to take a FS rack. So will try that next time. Another thing I read is programming advice suggesting 5x5 ohp, 3x5 power press and 3x5 bench press on the usual m/w/f split .. interesting.....
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Defo, im doing a few trips over the 6 months so im sure we can fit in a training sessh next time. you guys have some nice gyms there too! Im jealous. Went to a Derrimut and it was dope.
Yeah the Derrimut gyms are sick. I have one 10 mins from my place and it's only $5 for a casual visit which is nuts for the type of gym it is.
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Defo, im doing a few trips over the 6 months so im sure we can fit in a training sessh next time. you guys have some nice gyms there too! Im jealous. Went to a Derrimut and it was dope.
Yeah the Derrimut gyms are sick. I have one 10 mins from my place and it's only $5 for a casual visit which is nuts for the type of gym it is.
So jealous.. haha. I would kill for a gym like that here in Perth. We have 'good' gyms but they're retardly expensive and crossfit boxes much more so, plus you have to deal with crossfitters so it's not worth it. Anytime fitness is the best bet :/
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BS 1x130
FS 6x20, 6x40, 6x60, 6x70, 6x90
OHP 5x5x50
Chinup 2x8xBW
CURL 3x8x30
BW: 79.8kg (LPR!)
Notes
Oh man i was all sorts of messed up squatting, just not recovered from last squat sesh. DId a very maxy 130kg single and noped out of lighter sets of 110kg and even 100kg. Had a thought to try front squats and i must say it was like finding love at first sight. I remembered how much i loved this exercise .. funny i havent done then in years but i had good form so somehow i must have got some permanent adaptations from my previous stints of the exercise. I did put 100kg on the bar for a final set but had to rerack it twice, first time cos my forearm was cramping (lol) and the 2nd because it felt heavy and challenging to rack. THe only reason i thought to do FS though, was Pendlay suggetsing if you can't FS/BS a good amount, you're going to be a shit power presser. . so..
oh and i did try doing power presses with a FS rack .. i just dont get how you go from a FS grip to a OHP grip during the rep? And then how do you reset while bringing the weight down while simulatneously bouncing into a catch? Shit feels weird .. i dont think i will be able to lift as much with this new setup .. so the claims of a mechanical advantage seem rather dubious. I need a coach or someone who knows what im talking about here ://
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BS 1x130
FS 6x20, 6x40, 6x60, 6x70, 6x90
OHP 5x5x50
Chinup 2x8xBW
CURL 3x8x30
BW: 79.8kg (LPR!)
Notes
Oh man i was all sorts of messed up squatting, just not recovered from last squat sesh. DId a very maxy 130kg single and noped out of lighter sets of 110kg and even 100kg. Had a thought to try front squats and i must say it was like finding love at first sight. I remembered how much i loved this exercise .. funny i havent done then in years but i had good form so somehow i must have got some permanent adaptations from my previous stints of the exercise. I did put 100kg on the bar for a final set but had to rerack it twice, first time cos my forearm was cramping (lol) and the 2nd because it felt heavy and challenging to rack. THe only reason i thought to do FS though, was Pendlay suggetsing if you can't FS/BS a good amount, you're going to be a shit power presser. . so..
oh and i did try doing power presses with a FS rack .. i just dont get how you go from a FS grip to a OHP grip during the rep? And then how do you reset while bringing the weight down while simulatneously bouncing into a catch? Shit feels weird .. i dont think i will be able to lift as much with this new setup .. so the claims of a mechanical advantage seem rather dubious. I need a coach or someone who knows what im talking about here ://
Well if you're using a true FS rack you'd have to transition in a strict overhead press, but imho it doesn't make much sense.. that makes more sense if you're wearing wrist wraps and doing c&j's. Trying to strict press with a FS rack/grip is weird, if you can find some videos of that, post.. but I don't think you'll find many videos of it - so i think you might be taking it 'too literally'.
Here's a video by our fearless leader Mark Rippetoe, just posting it for fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnBmiBqp-AI
IMHO, don't overanalyze this.. If you can find a coach at some point to critique your form in person, do that when the time comes.. but until then, moo-weight!
pc!
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BS 1x130
FS 6x20, 6x40, 6x60, 6x70, 6x90
OHP 5x5x50
Chinup 2x8xBW
CURL 3x8x30
BW: 79.8kg (LPR!)
Notes
Oh man i was all sorts of messed up squatting, just not recovered from last squat sesh. DId a very maxy 130kg single and noped out of lighter sets of 110kg and even 100kg. Had a thought to try front squats and i must say it was like finding love at first sight. I remembered how much i loved this exercise .. funny i havent done then in years but i had good form so somehow i must have got some permanent adaptations from my previous stints of the exercise. I did put 100kg on the bar for a final set but had to rerack it twice, first time cos my forearm was cramping (lol) and the 2nd because it felt heavy and challenging to rack. THe only reason i thought to do FS though, was Pendlay suggetsing if you can't FS/BS a good amount, you're going to be a shit power presser. . so..
oh and i did try doing power presses with a FS rack .. i just dont get how you go from a FS grip to a OHP grip during the rep? And then how do you reset while bringing the weight down while simulatneously bouncing into a catch? Shit feels weird .. i dont think i will be able to lift as much with this new setup .. so the claims of a mechanical advantage seem rather dubious. I need a coach or someone who knows what im talking about here ://
Well if you're using a true FS rack you'd have to transition in a strict overhead press, but imho it doesn't make much sense.. that makes more sense if you're wearing wrist wraps and doing c&j's. Trying to strict press with a FS rack/grip is weird, if you can find some videos of that, post.. but I don't think you'll find many videos of it - so i think you might be taking it 'too literally'.
Here's a video by our fearless leader Mark Rippetoe, just posting it for fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnBmiBqp-AI
IMHO, don't overanalyze this.. If you can find a coach at some point to critique your form in person, do that when the time comes.. but until then, moo-weight!
pc!
this made my day lmfao!
you are right, i kinda put 1+1 together and got 5, you dont need a FS rack per se, just more FS than OHP. So like i def still need to move closer in that spectrum towards FS but -- the sweet spot is prob somewhere in between? Did some reading and it's supposed to be more like the jerk rack .. and you do kinda rotate your grip during the rep to bear upwards on the bar -- just subtly in a way it's controller. so i can let my elbows drop a lil to facilitate a better, smoother exchange. I could be talking shit though, this is just what i got from reading stuff on the internets haha
in oother words i was def mechaniacllyy disadvantaged taking a ohp rack cos it meant your elbows have to travel a greater distance. but the antidote isnt to go to the other extreme of a fs rack, that's too little travel and not enough room to rotate grip. does that make sense?
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BW: 80.3kg (post refeed)
INteresting post front squat reintro doms ... my left hip area. I havent got soreness like that from ordinary backsquats. I def think this exercise has a lot of potential, esp for hypetrophy cos of the stretch reflex. Just gotta figure out how to use it along with backsquats. Really wish i was maintaining a 130x6 bs while experimenting with FS, wud have been interesting to see how it affects carry over etc, since my BS is detrained, it's hard to figure out what gains to assign to FS vs retraining BS back
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Keep getting dragged into playing basketball .. have resisted so far. havent been on the court since early-mid dec or something and my foot feels better nowadays but i haven't really tested it -- nor do i want to reinjure it because ive been carrying this for a while already. Guess i just gotta start saying no .. but part of me thinks what if i can play painfree now and im all healed up .. hmm
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I wish I had a social team. I'm sick of playing street ball I want to play organised again but just in a social level comp.
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I wish I had a social team. I'm sick of playing street ball I want to play organised again but just in a social level comp.
it's cool when you find a team you enjoy playing with and you fit in well. this season im having to manage cos the previous captain moved and i really dont fancy chasing up fill-ins etc every wk. wud rather just fold the team and find another team where im just showing up semi-regularly as a player, when i feel like it. i think what got to me is being commited to 2 seasons last year where i wasnt enjoying the game. longggggggggggg seasons, killed my interest. I remmebmer thinking pickup would be less hassle and more fun and i would improve my skills more cos id have more scoring chances. maybe thats still the way to go tbh.. hmm.
having said that, exactly a year ago i was struggling to find any team to play for that summer cos i needed gametime to prepare for the easter comp .. but i only got one or two games that whole season and it wasnt enough. sigh
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BW: 79.7kg (PR; im not looking at 2016 weighings anymore, so any PR is a from here)
Still dont know how ima fix my push press grip issues. I have been messing around trying to figure out but i find that if i have the bar in the FS rack, the bar is closer to my fingertips than it is my wrists, and of course the ideal ohp grip is close to wrist. So like fine you let the bar roll towards the wrist as much as you can while keeping elbows up .. it's still unnatural and you have to constantly change the grip every rep, like twice, once during the rep then again on the catch? eventually ill figure it out but not enjoying it lol
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BS 1x130, 5x115
Power Press 4x60, 2x70 (i think), 5x60, 5x60
BBall game
BW: 79.7kg
Notes:
didnt have much of a good time with weights, my squat sucked (i still dont know why, i think hamstrings and quads? maybe even lower back?) were not recovered yet
my power press experiments didnt bear out either. i think bar speed is really good with a FS rack, but, the whole rotating the wrist mid rep is just stupid and unworkable, im not going to do that. Found a compromise, i take the bar out in my usual grip, similar to ohp .. and then rotate my elbows as much as i can upward, and then rest the bar on the clavicle, then i can kinda get my usual performance. bar speed is lower though. you cant win it all. maybe it's ok, it just means i need to dip lower to get a stronger kick to make up for the inefficiency and it works my upper body harder rather than grip. i guess it could be some white usa conspiracy to spread misinformation about this grip stuff, i read about it for the first time on t-nation so im just gonna make a small change and keep goiing the way i was prior
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I might have missed something earlier but what's with the grip issues on your push press? I tried to find a Klokov video that I saw a few years back on technique but here's a hookgrip vid of him push pressing up the to 185 of something. Grip and setup seems fairly straight forward.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJeWms-6-2Q
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Thanks for sharing that vid, i hadn't seen it before. Dimitry's push press is exactly what ive been looking at so it's interesting you linked him. haha.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdN1Sg4j-Sk
this is what i was viewing but your video is better cos it shows the issue. watch his wrists, they're bent at the top of the lift. This is necessary for their sport but im not not built for OL and im trying not to wreck my wrists not to mention i press way worse with bent wrists than straight. So do this experiment, take an empty bar out with your usual ohp grip, wrists are straight, that's ideal for pressing. But what's ideal for throwing the weight up in the air is closer to a FS rack. it just means you either finish the rep with bent wrists or you try to rotate your grip once it's launched to press it up
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Dimitry is built for this though, look how short his arms are .. he's got not issue with this lift. Look how shallow his dip is. Guys like us with basketball builds dont fare so well, my wingspan is 6'7" and even tho im experimenting with widening grip and rotating elbows higher i still wont have a good time with this lift or anything with the bar overhead smh. I do think i made life a lot harder for myself by sticking to a close grip on everything, begnch press, ohp, etc. So now im going to try going a bit wider to lift more weight
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Yeah now I see what you mean. I am hyper mobile so my wrists can comfortably sit in that FS racked position but playing with elbow position and width may be the key. I'm weak as shit overhead so probably best not to take advice from me anyway haha
Kind of related but there's a brilliant video of him teaching the push press and telling the guy not to throw his head forward as the bar goes overhead. Guy throws his head forward and Klokov hits him in the face. Brutal but fucking hilarious. (tried and cannot find it found it)
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the forum tries to embed it and obv it wont work cos it's private but here is the link (https://www.instagram.com/p/BMCJmBJDyvaOKF7A21qt051ou7cpc9-uAtOIv00/?taken-by=klokovdl) in case you are reading this log and wanted to see the vid. Makes me want to learn russian so bad just so i can understand him lol.
some random insights that occured during this week which deserve mention, the first and foremost is
a. i played my first game of bball on tuesday night and my foot was fine .. touchwood ... it could be that i haven't really tested it yet but it held up as good as can be expected.
b. while exploring power press technique, im considering widening my grip on the bar .. and also .. my foot width. i realised i could benefit from this even in things like walking .. not to say i have analysed myself walking on video or anything but this led me to realise i could benefit while playing basketball and say dribbling with slightly wider stance.. it makes so called defensive stance easier .. not to mentiion proper dribbling etc on offense. im prob guilty of having feet too close in most movements inc sports and def lifting
c. have decided that from feb, im going to commit to 11 months of non-cutting. even if im fat (and i am), i will just accept it and try to get as strong as possible without getting fatter.
d. i will prob go back to doing heavy jumpsquats as main explosive exercise, push presses are not the answer i wanted. that or i will teach myself to do the classical lifts, but considering im such a spazz when it comes to easier movements maybe that's just a dead end lol
e. conditioning, conditioning conditioning, as soon as im confident my foot is healed, im going all in on sprints and general running
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c. have decided that from feb, im going to commit to 11 months of non-cutting. even if im fat (and i am), i will just accept it and try to get as strong as possible without getting fatter.
:goodjobbro:
d. i will prob go back to doing heavy jumpsquats as main explosive exercise, push presses are not the answer i wanted. that or i will teach myself to do the classical lifts, but considering im such a spazz when it comes to easier movements maybe that's just a dead end lol
:uhcomeon:
e. conditioning, conditioning conditioning, as soon as im confident my foot is healed, im going all in on sprints and general running
:ibrunning:
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I mean it's not first choice .. but the other option ive heard about is the (btn) power press. Considering i have hurt my cervical spine twice .. im kinda wary about dropping a bar on my back and missing and hitting my neck or c-spine. it's picking a poison ;(
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BW: 79.5kg (PR; AM)
BW: 78.2kg (PR; PM)
since i fast all day, it's interesting to compare these two readings .. which is more true? hard to say, but i guess if i am consistent and measuring the same time every time, then the first one is more true.
Played my 2nd game of basketball tonight. Was good. But on one block i really extended myself to swat the ball .. i got so high on my follow through i hit somewhere on the backboard, the guy i was tryna block let out a gasp .. but i knew it was a mistake cos my foot felt a slight twinge. It's fine now .. i guess .. but it does mean i should be more conservative about my comeback to jumping... lesson laernt, no dunking or big block attempts for a few more weeks!!!
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BW: 79.2kg (PR; AM)
am keeping an eye on my left hip, i wonder what caused this flare up .. or maybe it's only there cos im noticing it and if i didnt notice it would be just normal? idk. maybe front squats i did last week are the reason cos i go deeper on them. hoping for a good squat sesh today, i havent had a decent one in ageeeees, or 10 days
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BS 1x130
FS 6x100(LPR), 2x110(LPR)
Back Xtn 8x55(PR), 2x8x60(PR)
BP 6x70, 0Fx100, 1x90(LPR), 5x80(LPR), 6x79.5(LPR), 6Fx75
CURL 3x8x40*
BW: 79.2kg (PR)
Notes:
Why the fuck is my backsquat being so shit? I was doing 6x130kg before xmas and now it's my 1rm. FML. I can bounce up just fine just have no juice to lock out and it took ages to finish the rep. I did front squats as a consolation but they were shit too, form sucked and i think i tweaked my back too. 2 more days and then im done with fasting.
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You should get a squat vid from your next session, maybe there's some issues we can see.
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Saw your back ext vid. Is there any way to rig it so you are doing them in your rack? That way you could use a barbell and set the safety pins to take the weight once you're done. When I was looking for the Klokov video there was one of him talking about them and warning of holding the weight in front due to the rounding of the back and shoulders. Anyway, food for thought. Not sure if actually possible.
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Saw your back ext vid. Is there any way to rig it so you are doing them in your rack? That way you could use a barbell and set the safety pins to take the weight once you're done. When I was looking for the Klokov video there was one of him talking about them and warning of holding the weight in front due to the rounding of the back and shoulders. Anyway, food for thought. Not sure if actually possible.
That's a really cool idea. If i could figure out how to load it with a barbell i could progress it indefinitely and i think i would benefit from that immensely.
the diff btw holding it on your front and back has been brought up. i think i read somewhere that having the plates on the front means you can 'cheat' by letting the weight go closer to your stomach or something? I do find the ROM is limited by using bigger and bigger plates so that's also a reason why i'd like to do load it on the back instead. Andrew suggested using a ezcurl bar but i couldn't pull the trigger on it without knowing if it would actually be better than trying to hold a bar to the chest (impossible), which is also what lbss suggested. I do get frustrated running into these limitations otherwise im really excited about this exercise and want to see where it goes once im moving some decent weight.
The ex klokov does is horizontal (0 degree), i think i prefer 45s for now but i can adjust my bench to i think 25 and 0, but im trying not to modify too many variables at a time. Will by doing that long term though.
Also im not against rounding my back .. i want that at the bottom of the lift actually .. that's how you work the lower back rather than just glutes/hams .. will put up a video with better / fuller rom next week when i do them with 20kg plates which are low profile compared to the thick 25s i used in that vid
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You should get a squat vid from your next session, maybe there's some issues we can see.
i honestly think it's two things, CNS fatigue and hip flexors being torched from reintroducing basketball. That sport is so bad on the body im going to try to limit it as much as possible .. i still want to be a beast on the court but my body cant take much more on court milleage, it's just too destructive. The reason it might not be CNS, my bench was actually ok, so that suggests it may just be hips -- which btw- when i started doing bench even 20kg warmups were killing my hip flexors lol. So hopefully my squat will respond soon once i re-adapt to basketball
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Is it a better idea to get my bench press semi-respectable (repeatable 100kg for reps) before properly chasing a 5x100kg power press? It feels like that's a better strategy than hoping somehow i will add 30kg to my PR of 5x70kg. i dont really think i care about my push press PR right now .. i just wanna clean up the form so it looks less shit and then maybe i can focus on increasing it. thoughts welcome?
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iirc OHP translates to bp better than the other way around. depends on your goal. sounds like that has to do with push press, so i'd say just focus on that. if you're worried about form, do less weight for more reps and don't let yourself go to even volitional failure until you're more confident.
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iirc OHP translates to bp better than the other way around. depends on your goal. sounds like that has to do with push press, so i'd say just focus on that. if you're worried about form, do less weight for more reps and don't let yourself go to even volitional failure until you're more confident.
bench is below PR levels (5x80, 1x90 atm, bests are 6x90, 1x100)
ohp is below PR levels (6x50, bests are 6x6x60)
so i could conceivably just bring both of these up simultaneously however once i get there, it will be easier to keep bp going than ohp which will stall. tbh even bp stalls for me :( but one thing i could change is moving away from using close grip. I haven't made that change yet b/c there's no point changing til ive got to previous PR levels.
The powerpress program given by glen is mon: 5x5 ohp, weds: 3x5 pp, fri: 3x5 bp which seems to be making the ohp the main driver of the push press, im ok with that program, similar to what you've sug gested. however considering i can get spend forever getting ohp worksets back to 60kg, i know a quicker route is to take 60kg and just start with say 6 doubles and then the following week 6 triples and so on forth. Tbh if i was going all in ohp, id focus on getting my worksets to 70kg .. i think that would drive my pp and bp too. Shud i just do that? lol
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progress won't be perfectly lateral regardless of which you choose. if you go with doubles to triples you'll still stall and get frustrated. if you want to get better at push press, do mostly push press. or, listen to pendlay because he's an actual expert.
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progress won't be perfectly lateral regardless of which you choose. if you go with doubles to triples you'll still stall and get frustrated. if you want to get better at push press, do mostly push press. or, listen to pendlay because he's an actual expert.
Here is the source (http://bastardolifters.blogspot.com.au/2009/12/koklyaev-push-press-power.html)
it doesn't end at doubles and triples, progress goes 6x2 one week, then 6x3 the following ... up to 6x6 by the 6th. I actually got there once even when i was cut to sub 75kg! THat was a year ago and i think partially it was b/c I had accepted a mediocre squat and i had more recovery resources available? im in a similar position now with my squat decided to vanish so i may just priotise upper body instead of freakign otu and getting down, im sure squat will come back eventually ..
tbh, now that im on the ohp 5x5 wagon, im even tempted to just stick with it and see where THAT goes .. heh, which is what i did today!
have decided though that while my push press is WiP .. i will consider using the btn variant as my strength builder if that one is easier to do technically correctly and if teh normal one ever gets good enough technically i can just switch over, otherwise no harm done ive got a decent compromise in the btn variant. It's not as sexy but 100kgx5 btn power press is still an okay goal to work towards
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BS 0Fx130
OHP 5x5x52.5(PR)
BW: 79.1kg (PR)
Notes:
Squat is clusterfuck. Now ive added a lower back injury to the mix so that's exciting too lol. Did some sets with 70kg, clarance has inspired me to revisit paused squatting... but that's neitehr here nor there. Hip flexors just WONT recover .. does anyone have any insight on this shit? I diagnosed this properly by doing a set of glute bridges with the orange band and sure enough hip flexors were screaming from rep 1 lol.. to put this in perspective, i can usually do sets of 15 with the thick band if i bother to do the exercise so yeah .. sucks
ohp was a struggle .. did the 5x5 tho. was tempted to do chinups or osmething but i decided next workout is better cos i can pair them with push presses. im not sure my logic is sound but i figure since that push presses torch my lats so i need em fresh for ppand then i can finish them off with chinups ..
and that was it, shithouse workout but exciting that it's day 1/10 til im done cutting for THE YEAR.
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i understand how the programming is supposed to go, my point was that you tend to get discouraged and distracted as soon as you stall and that it doesn't matter which program you choose, you'll still stall at some point. just pick one and stick with it.
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Re: hip flexor recovery. Are they fatigued or just tight as shit? I would be hitting them with some serious stretching which will help with recovery and may take away the screaming. If you tell me they're flexible I would seriously doubt it. Nothing to do with you personally but I was the same for years. Yeah they're flexible...until you stretch them properly. Give this one a go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHwyBHS6MQs
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i understand how the programming is supposed to go, my point was that you tend to get discouraged and distracted as soon as you stall and that it doesn't matter which program you choose, you'll still stall at some point. just pick one and stick with it.
Good point. I am looking around for ways to stay as unstuck for as long as possible to make this process work well for months and months. Just ordered some 4x0.25kg plates so on lifts like ohp i can now make 1/2kg jumps .. already had 1/2kg plates for 1kg jumps. And my plan is get +5kg thru these plates, then the following workout use 2x2.5kgs (essentially repeating the weight from the previous week) before using change plates up to the 10kg boundary, and repeat. If i do stall, use a reset and just take it in stride.
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Re: hip flexor recovery. Are they fatigued or just tight as shit? I would be hitting them with some serious stretching which will help with recovery and may take away the screaming. If you tell me they're flexible I would seriously doubt it. Nothing to do with you personally but I was the same for years. Yeah they're flexible...until you stretch them properly. Give this one a go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHwyBHS6MQs
they're fatigued .. if they were just tight i wouldnt even care cos as long as my squat looks and feels fine, i dont care about mobility per se. And if you see vid of my paused squats, i look pretty damn good, not just for a basketball player build! so im not too bothered. But if stretching can help make those tiny muscles stronger then im keen to do that as well?
Startna form a theory of what happened. That workout i was unable to bs, I introduced front squats torched my already fatigued hip flexors. maybe cos at the bottom of an atg front squat they're maximally stretched. So that kicked it off. Then the following week i start playing basketball, 2 games that week, coming in with torched hip flexors, throw in the basketball (which i think does mess with hip flexors) and boom .. recipe for dead hip flexors. more front squats last week and im still playing catchup with recovery. something like that
is there a strategy to do paused squatting effectively? reps and sets? asking for a friend :P
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they're fatigued .. if they were just tight i wouldnt even care cos as long as my squat looks and feels fine, i dont care about mobility per se. And if you see vid of my paused squats, i look pretty damn good, not just for a basketball player build! so im not too bothered. But if stretching can help make those tiny muscles stronger then im keen to do that as well?
I'd still give the stretch a go. It will cost you 5 minutes of your life and you can decide to pursue it further from there. My hips feel incredible after doing these stretches and whether my hip flexors are "torched" or tight is irrelevant. Maybe stretching will help with their recovery.
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they're fatigued .. if they were just tight i wouldnt even care cos as long as my squat looks and feels fine, i dont care about mobility per se. And if you see vid of my paused squats, i look pretty damn good, not just for a basketball player build! so im not too bothered. But if stretching can help make those tiny muscles stronger then im keen to do that as well?
I'd still give the stretch a go. It will cost you 5 minutes of your life and you can decide to pursue it further from there. My hips feel incredible after doing these stretches and whether my hip flexors are "torched" or tight is irrelevant. Maybe stretching will help with their recovery.
no probs .. i dont mind doing them, i stretch my hips reg, i dont mind adding another ex to the mix. uploading my pausaed squat to insta atm, check it out
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they're fatigued .. if they were just tight i wouldnt even care cos as long as my squat looks and feels fine, i dont care about mobility per se. And if you see vid of my paused squats, i look pretty damn good, not just for a basketball player build! so im not too bothered. But if stretching can help make those tiny muscles stronger then im keen to do that as well?
I'd still give the stretch a go. It will cost you 5 minutes of your life and you can decide to pursue it further from there. My hips feel incredible after doing these stretches and whether my hip flexors are "torched" or tight is irrelevant. Maybe stretching will help with their recovery.
no probs .. i dont mind doing them, i stretch my hips reg, i dont mind adding another ex to the mix. uploading my pausaed squat to insta atm, check it out
Just had a look. Your squats look good mate. They pretty much always do.
Pls don't think I'm saying your squat is off or something by suggesting tight HF. I just know for someone who has supposedly loose HF (told to me by numerous physios, osteos, etc) I have benefited a lot from these stretches. Apparently a lot of this has to do with years and years of trauma that these muscles cop.
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I wonder how long it would take me to pause backsquat 160kg (@80kg) if i started training it. Does daily squatting make it more achievable or less? What have I got to lose..
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Summing up the Diet to Gaining
Bring calories to estimated maintenance minus 10% (14-16 cal/lb – 10%)
Maintain dietary protein initially at 1.2 g/lb LBM
Raise carbohydrates to a minimum of 150 g/day
Keep dietary fat lowish
Reduce aerobic exercise
Eliminate metabolic training
Increase volume of heavy work but with submaximal weights
Sample Transition Phase Diet
So let’s say our lifter finished their diet with a 10 pound fat loss. They are now 170 lbs with 153 lbs LBM and 17 pounds of fat.
170 lbs * 15 cal/lb = 2550 calories – 10% = 2300 calories target.
Protein will be 153 lbs * 1.2 g/lb = 183 g/day. At 4 cal/g this is 730 calories.
Carbohydrate will be set at 1.5 g/lb or 255 grams/day. At 4 cal/g this is 1020 calories.
2300 calories – 730 calories – 1020 calories = 550 calories from fat. At 9 cal/g this is 61 grams of fat.
So the diet break diet will be 2300 calories, 183 grams of protein, 255 grams of carbohydrate and 61 grams of fat
which is 30% protein, 45% carbs and 23% fat.
src: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/transition-phase-between-dieting-gaining.html/
Plan for coming off this cut in 7 days time. Numbers magically work out to my goal weight of 77.5kg ish. Of course i havent yet broken 79kg in the AM but it cud happen in 7 days, right. right?
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(http://i.imgur.com/Qql37Yj.png)
I plugged in my daily intake for a typical day this week and to my surprise i was already close to maintenance .. lol lol .. explains why my fat ass is still fat tho. one change i can make in feb is add an extra egg to breakfast. And i need to figure out a way to eat a 2nd meal without going over 2300kcal.
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Skipped training today, too fkn hot and i had to wake up early for an airport trip so sleep was interrupted. im ok with htis, i think i will take 3 days rest between training sessions in this last week of the fat loss phase. happy australia day, my least favourite day of the year ... not before the new movement against it, i just dont like it cos nationalism makes me uncomfortable
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BS 6x110, 6x110(paused 1st rep), 8x70(paused), 8x90(paused)
BP 3x5x80
Back Xtn 3x8x65(PR)
Back Xtn 12x10(25 degree; PR)
BW: 78.7kg (PR)
Notes:
Still cant squat for shit, made hard work of 110kg,, feels like how 6x130kg used to feel 5 weeks ago. Im such piece of shit, i lose 2kg of weight and take 20kg off the bar, good job dickhead.
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BS 6x110, 6x110(paused 1st rep), 8x70(paused), 8x90(paused)
BP 3x5x80
Back Xtn 3x8x65(PR)
Back Xtn 12x10(25 degree; PR)
BW: 78.7kg (PR)
Notes:
Still cant squat for shit, made hard work of 110kg,, feels like how 6x130kg used to feel 5 weeks ago. Im such piece of shit, i lose 2kg of weight and take 20kg off the bar, good job dickhead.
Your posts scare the shit out of me. I injured my back over a month ago and haven't squatted since then and had to cut most leg workouts cause knee pain started coming up, and I've also steadily been losing weight. When these injuries finally pull through I'm probably going to be squatting 225 again :(
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Yesterday i went off-diet. I usually fast til 6-7:30pm but was with family at lunch time and even tho the food seemed clean, im not sure bout calories, it was mostly meat and rice, so theoretically it's all good but i dont like change of routine and anyway by midnight i had lost willpower and i found a column of M&Ms and demolished id say about 2/3 of it. maybe.
just weighed myself now and the scale read 78.0kg .. which is a PR but keep in mind it's 5pm rn so it's not an AM PR, i didnt get an AM reading today .. but if my AM reading is 78.0 or less id be pretty delighted to achieve my goal. This is day 1/4 of the remaining cut -- i wonder if i should keep dieting but while im good at dieting and i could do another 14 days, the problem is dieting, it's coming off the diet and staying at the same leanness. Plus i dont think i could ever be happy with how lean i am. Im leanish right now but still fat - it's conceivable another 2 weeks of dieting would leave me with a similar assessment. Tbh, i need to stop dieting and focus on getting myself anabolic, or at least not catabolic to get some weight on the bar.
yeah we'll see how it goes, hopefully i can get sub 78.0kg on thurs morning and stop cutting for 11 months. taht would be ace.
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(BS 5x110 (alternating paused reps starting from 1st rep), 1x120(Paused; PR)
OHP 4x55, 4x54.5, 3x56, 2x57.5, 3x56, 2x57, 3x55
Incline Bench 8x40, 10x40, 2x50, 5x60
CND - TM jog, 1.5kfm @ 8km/hr, ~11mins
BW: 79.0 (da fuk?)
Notes:
Was conservative with squats .. have decided to chase the 2xbw paused milestone .. wishful thinking considering i havent ever done with or without a belt or a pause or whatever but im willing to try it because of something lyle mcdonald said about maintaining intensity on the bar while cutting. well i cant do that since my squat has vanished but i can make reps a lot intensier via paused so maybe that will do the trick. tbh it shws up my weakness pretty well in that i cant lock out for shit so perhaps now i can address it better than without a pause
um i tried inclined bench for trhe first time. it may be the exercise which gets my upper body training on track cos it felt completely different from the other 2 presses (overhead and flat bench). but the reason i nevre used it cos i dont have a way to fail safely. the incline bench wont fit inside the rack and so that makes the exercise more challenging to execute alone..
and yea i think im not going to bother with push presses anymore .. it's a quality exercise, just not for my build tbh. the btn variant is too weird to do heavy, again thanks to my build. so will just stick to the presses.
hoping to be consistent with the treadmill work, for health benefits if nothing else but i am hoping it gets me in better shape.
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Fuck this shit though, smh benig 6'3" and obese at 79kg after years of training. I'm def going to try taking PEDs this year. Just have to make sure im cclose to my genetic potential before i do.
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genetic potential for your height is 100-105kg lean. you have a big 25% room for improvement.
keep grinding buddy.
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genetic potential for your height is 100-105kg lean. you have a big 25% room for improvement.
keep grinding buddy.
I'd kill to be 85kg lean. 100kg would be amazing. I just cant even imagine but then i look up before and after transformations for first time users of similar height and they go from like 80kg to 95kg and look amazing and meanwhile ive been working my ass off all these years and still havent' made any noticable gains.
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BP 5x82.5(PR), 4Fx82.5
BS 6x110(p135; PR), 1x125(PR), 2x6x110
Back Xtn 3x8x70(PR)
Back Xtn 12x10x35deg (PR)
TM 2km in 13:25min (2 incline, 9km/hr; PR)
BW: 78.4kg
Notes:
Mid warmup on the squats i was thinking, too weak, not enough sleep, etc; maybe skip and try again tmr. But then i forced myself to go through with it b/c id rather rest the next 2 days. Glad I did cos i got some PRs. The 125kg pause was interrrrrrrrrrrrresting. My body figured out how to do that kick start our KF does out of his paused squats. I didn't even have to think about it it just happened naturally. My lockout is my weakpoint. I have a video, i would love some feedback. My theory is that embarassingly weak quads are holding me back from locking out reps I can squat otherwise. Like it would be one thing if i was getting stapled out of the bottom but instead i hit a sticking point and then it gets ugly, you know? Along with this ive been considering that if i do my paused squats with a weightlifting shoe, yeah temporarily i'd be a worse squatter -- but -- perhaps that would drag my quads up, screaming and complaining in the long term. Maybe it would put me in a better position to leverage quads. Maybe im just talking shit cos i always go back to my flat heel shoes cos i feel and squat way better in them. Anyone wanna humour me on this topic?
Progressed my back extension with 10kg vest and 3x20kg plates. Now what? Holding 3x20kg plates is a challenge, my grip was giving way on the latter reps. So i guess I could just stick with this weight and master it first, potentially working up to 3x12, while i figure out a way to load them further than 70kg. Honestly i am taking 5kg PR weekly jumps on this exercise, im no where my potential .. and i think eventually they'll actually start benefiting me but right now i dont think im getting anything out of them in terms of carryover to squatting. Oh along with this, the set i did with 35degree -- i found that i could literally wrap my arms around the 10kg plate. Why? cos my legs get short enough to allow FULL range rom on this exercise. I think adarq suggestion along with a change to 35degree and even 0 degree will get me where i wanna be (moving mad weight with full rom). That's pretty tantalising!
Finally, i erred with conservatism on bench press volume. I had to drop my sister off at the airport and i rushed 2 sets of bench presses, unfortunately failing the 5th rep of the 2nd set. I wanted 3x5x82.5kg but it's okay.
Oh and ive decided to set myself a HARD goal for conditioning - i think working up to 12km/hr for 10 minutes, at least once a week, is a wicked goal. And once I get there, it will go on maintenance, maybe i will toggle it upwards 0.1km/hr per week or something because lyle says you can improve fitness incrementally forever unlike sprint intervals and i think that would be a good thing for me considering im a terrible athlete in terms of fitness. Yes sprints will be added to the mix soon, probably this coming week but long term I dont think i will be able to improve sprints as much as running long term, which is okay too.
In terms of tradeoffs, i think i can still aspire to have a 1.9xbw paused squat at 77kg. Im still fat as fuck at my current 78.5kg so if i shed some adipose and add some lean tissue, yeah, i can improve my paused squat from 125kg to 140kg for 1.9x, right?
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BS 2x6x92.5(All reps paused; PR; i couldnt/didnt pause the last rep of 2nd set though)
OHP 2x57.5, 5x5x52.5
Incline Bench 2x62.5 (PR i think), 3x5x57.5(PR), 4Fx57.5 (lol couldnt lock out the damed rep)
Jump rope ~ 200 reps
TM run - 2km in ~12mins, (PR @ 10km/hr, 2 incline)
BW: i think it was 78.6kkg from memory? doesn't matter
Notes:
Watched clarence do a set of 5 paused squats with 250kg. Decided i can start doing paused sets instead of alternating ones. I know from experience that 110kg is too heavy to do as prettily paused reps and 125kg is downright ugly (see my insta) - but i wasnt sure what i could do for reps as heavy as possible? I know ive done 70kg easilyy but i decided upon 92.5kg, went okay actually, considering my lower back was TORCHED af from saturdays training - so i can prob work up to pretty sets of paused reps with 100kg-ish? From there i will take sensible jumps. I want to get up to 180kg worksets paused one day, but theres no cheating now, have to be honest and keep my form super nice and chase those long term kingfisher gains.
what else can i say, i failed 65kg incline bench lol lol, without safeties it's scary. my memory was i did a set of 8 with 60kg last week? so i shud be able to do 65kg for some reps right? well no. anyway, i will progress up from 57.5kg, next time go for 5x5x60kg and then take smaller jumps. i just wanna get up to 70kg asap cos that will benefit my pressing exercises acrossing the board to move to the bigger 25kg plates.
forced a 1km/hr PR on my treadmill run. Im ok with it, it was very very hard but i wasnt as destroyed afterwards as i was last time with 9km/hr. I want to get up to 12km/hr and then im happy maintaining but til then, gonna focus on this as my main conditioning.
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This is prob the least successful cut ive done. And i was trying to figure out why. I think it's b/c i didn't lowcarb.
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This is prob the least successful cut ive done. And i was trying to figure out why. I think it's b/c i didn't lowcarb.
Without wanting to read through your entire journal, have you ever had a 'successful' cut? What defines it?
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This is prob the least successful cut ive done. And i was trying to figure out why. I think it's b/c i didn't lowcarb.
Without wanting to read through your entire journal, have you ever had a 'successful' cut? What defines it?
yes several of them have been successful but this one relatively less. success is reduction in bodyfat% or positive body comp change
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This is prob the least successful cut ive done. And i was trying to figure out why. I think it's b/c i didn't lowcarb.
Without wanting to read through your entire journal, have you ever had a 'successful' cut? What defines it?
yes several of them have been successful but this one relatively less. success is reduction in bodyfat% or positive body comp change
It might have seemed like an obvious question but I was thinking you need to have a performance aspect associated with a successful cut. I feel I've said it a bit here but body recomp-ing isn't much use unless it has tangible benefits down the road performance-wise. Otherwise you're just a bodybuilder. So I wouldn't think you could grade a cut as successful or not until you've done some training/testing. It's dangerous to assume that because you lose x% bf that you'll gain y% performance. I think you know all this but you always seem to get down when body recomp-ing doesn't go the way you wanted. [/$0.02].
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This is prob the least successful cut ive done. And i was trying to figure out why. I think it's b/c i didn't lowcarb.
Without wanting to read through your entire journal, have you ever had a 'successful' cut? What defines it?
yes several of them have been successful but this one relatively less. success is reduction in bodyfat% or positive body comp change
It might have seemed like an obvious question but I was thinking you need to have a performance aspect associated with a successful cut. I feel I've said it a bit here but body recomp-ing isn't much use unless it has tangible benefits down the road performance-wise. Otherwise you're just a bodybuilder. So I wouldn't think you could grade a cut as successful or not until you've done some training/testing. It's dangerous to assume that because you lose x% bf that you'll gain y% performance. I think you know all this but you always seem to get down when body recomp-ing doesn't go the way you wanted. [/$0.02].
i get ya, wasn't really looking at performance though. im not sure then, like i stumbled across a page from my log from 2013 when i cut to sub 75kg and i was using similar weights on my squats to now. more or less. But this time im heavier but not much stronger. dont track numbers for running and im not training vertical at the mo, so no real markers of athleticism to compare against which is ok, just disappointed in current level of leanness more than anything
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This is prob the least successful cut ive done. And i was trying to figure out why. I think it's b/c i didn't lowcarb.
Without wanting to read through your entire journal, have you ever had a 'successful' cut? What defines it?
yes several of them have been successful but this one relatively less. success is reduction in bodyfat% or positive body comp change
It might have seemed like an obvious question but I was thinking you need to have a performance aspect associated with a successful cut. I feel I've said it a bit here but body recomp-ing isn't much use unless it has tangible benefits down the road performance-wise. Otherwise you're just a bodybuilder. So I wouldn't think you could grade a cut as successful or not until you've done some training/testing. It's dangerous to assume that because you lose x% bf that you'll gain y% performance. I think you know all this but you always seem to get down when body recomp-ing doesn't go the way you wanted. [/$0.02].
i get ya, wasn't really looking at performance though. im not sure then, like i stumbled across a page from my log from 2013 when i cut to sub 75kg and i was using similar weights on my squats to now. more or less. But this time im heavier but not much stronger. dont track numbers for running and im not training vertical at the mo, so no real markers of athleticism to compare against which is ok, just disappointed in current level of leanness more than anything
OK for apples to apples comparison I've been lowcarbing the last 48hrs. Interesting how it's affected me so far. Couldn't fall asleep but eventually did for a few hours. Got up around 8, hunger has vanished even tho I've had a single shake and a homemade (lean) burger in ~40 hrs. Skinfolds seem smaller and scale registered a PR, pm anyway, at 77.1kg. I have a game tonight but will ride the bench as much as possible. Stopping the cut in 3 days on Sunday. Will do a proper write up
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how's your hydration been during the fast?
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how's your hydration been during the fast?
Similar id say given it has been cold and we weather so haven't been asv thirsty but that's a good point hydration might be different. Actually I haven't been pissing out water like crazy which might suggest I'm still holding water
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Fk tempted to keep cutting now lol lol. Low carb is a game changer
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Game was okay, i was surprised how quick i felt with the ball dribbling around on the side before the game. and i couldnt figure out what possibly would have made that happen? maybe jump rope. idk. im so over training like a bodybuilder/powerlifter tho, will be doing a variety of exercises whenever i feel like it, without worrying about not wrecking my muscles for a scheduled lifting session. to a point anyway. like it makes no sense to avoid doing pushups or jump rope cos you have to squat or bench that day or the following day or what have you, it's just a recipe for mediocrity.
kept up the low carbing, thought about doing a refeed tonight so i can sleep well for lifting tmr, but id rather just lowcarb today and tmr and then do the lifting on saturday on the last day of this cut, go hard and then refeed and bang job done, anabolic rebound etc
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will be doing a variety of exercises whenever i feel like it, without worrying about not wrecking my muscles for a scheduled lifting session. to a point anyway. like it makes no sense to avoid doing pushups or jump rope cos you have to squat or bench that day or the following day or what have you, it's just a recipe for mediocrity.
^^^ this. I'm beginning to think work capacity is king. Once you get over that initial adaptation period it will help you in the long run (that's what I keep telling myself anyway :D)
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will be doing a variety of exercises whenever i feel like it, without worrying about not wrecking my muscles for a scheduled lifting session. to a point anyway. like it makes no sense to avoid doing pushups or jump rope cos you have to squat or bench that day or the following day or what have you, it's just a recipe for mediocrity.
^^^ this. I'm beginning to think work capacity is king. Once you get over that initial adaptation period it will help you in the long run (that's what I keep telling myself anyway :D)
for real. i walked up a staircase today that ive gone up hundreds of times (maybe less tho lol) for the first time in a while and i felt unusually strong and stable. cross training has it's benefits. the sprints, weighted ones, etc, bball on hard court, treadmill work, i think it's made my joints stiffer. dont feel as beat up after a game now either!
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BW: 77.75kg (PR; AM)
Finally broke 78 in the morning. But lets be clear, this is likely an artefact of low carbing not like i lost mad fat overnight. So my goal was to be 77.5kg by end of diet, which is today and tomorrow. I can realistically get there considering im still holding water etc. Whatever the scale reads tmr, that's what im going to try maintain off-diet. I think i can be a strong 77kg. And i should be a lean one at 77kg before I start gaining weight (down the line)
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will be doing a variety of exercises whenever i feel like it, without worrying about not wrecking my muscles for a scheduled lifting session. to a point anyway. like it makes no sense to avoid doing pushups or jump rope cos you have to squat or bench that day or the following day or what have you, it's just a recipe for mediocrity.
^^^ this. I'm beginning to think work capacity is king. Once you get over that initial adaptation period it will help you in the long run (that's what I keep telling myself anyway :D)
for real. i walked up a staircase today that ive gone up hundreds of times (maybe less tho lol) for the first time in a while and i felt unusually strong and stable. cross training has it's benefits. the sprints, weighted ones, etc, bball on hard court, treadmill work, i think it's made my joints stiffer. dont feel as beat up after a game now either!
right on. :highfive:
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Back after a week holiday in Singapore and Thailand. Was pretty cool if not exhausting. Haha. I actually got into the best shape of my life (category 2017) on Sunday morning. And then eventually holiday mood won out and i started eatingkeemore and more. All good. So gna try get back to where I was. I picked up a fitness band, cos i think those things really helped me achieve better results when i used them while cutting. In fact im using everything ive learnt to make this as successful as possible:
0. Fasting 18hrs a day
1. using EC stack
2. using low carb dieting
3. using activity monitoring (6-12k steps per day)
4. cardio
5. and of course being super rigid and strict to my diet
so day 1/10, i weighed in at 81.0kg (!!). Don't have a bodyweight goal right now, it's too depressing to think of that haha. I just want to be leaner, stronger, faster, fitter. I am gonna focus on the goal of running 2km in 10mins on the treadmill first and foremost and once i have achieved that (with incline of 1 or 2), will put that on maintenance and bring up vo2max via sprint intervals and whatnot. in fact i will start sprints today and commiting to 1x a week. And loads of fasted walking. After 10 days, go to maintenance a while and then do another 10 day cycle. But that's it, 20 days of cutting and no more.
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glad you got into the holiday mood because the food in singapore is UNREAL in my admittedly limited experience. did you go to one of the mall dim sum places?
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glad you got into the holiday mood because the food in singapore is UNREAL in my admittedly limited experience. did you go to one of the mall dim sum places?
yeps! i ate so much hahah but also walked a ton so it evened out. didnt get real fat, i think that's the way to do it. bkk was also raell good for food, was there during valentines and it really was a special place .. they get it right without even trying. also, the hottest chicks there arent even. how does that work?
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BS 5x110(PR; paused), 0Fx127.5kg, 6x3x110(PR; paused, failed 1 rep tho when i hit the pins, will lower them from here on)
BP 4x83.5(LPR), 2x85(LPR)
Back Xtn 3x9x70(PR; 10kg vest+3x20kg)
Back Xtn 2x12x30(PR; 35 degree, 10kg vest + 20kg plate)
CND - 2km in 3 sets (so bad but i was spent from lifting)
Total jump rope for today ~250reps
Total activity: 12k units at 2125 (goal met)
BW: 81.0kg (LPR heaviest 2017)
Notes:
Suprisingly good squat day. I'll take it. I wanna master 110kg for volume paused before adding weight (prob go up to 120kg). Happy with training considering all ive had today is 2 shakes. Im doing a proper PSMF atm, not fkn around, just straight up keto with minimal fat (just fishoil).
re jump rope -- im going to try to measure this with my activity monitor cos counting reps messes up my performance loll. so if i take a reading before and after, that shud be a good way to measure how many units i did? thoughts? i dont have to be super accurate just a way to make sure im improving over time and doing a decent amount of work.
Cardio was shit ... but it's ok, i think i need a dedicated training day to get my goal of sub 5 min per km pace. which might be thursdays, im happy to just lift 2 days a week tbh, as long as they're quality sessions. will see.
bring on day 2, will try to get 6k units/day of fasted activity around EC doses for the next 2 days, "rest" days. no actual training tho. just keep the fat burning going..
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«just straight up keto with minimal fat» lol that's one of the biggest contradictions in itself I've read on this forum so far.
A ketogenic diet is high in fat moderate in protein and very low carbs.
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«just straight up keto with minimal fat» lol that's one of the biggest contradictions in itself I've read on this forum so far.
A ketogenic diet is high in fat moderate in protein and very low carbs.
psmf is zero carb, zero fat, high protein. kinda a keto diet on steroids, or a pure keto diet. i had rice and beans for dinner tho, wanted to recover from training today, carbs help. but tmr and monday, i'll go for psmf macros. tuesday, prob ckd macros, weds & thurs, psmf, and finally saturday's training session i think i may force a refeed cos i dont wanna have a bad workout. im still going to abstain from eggs for the whole 10 days though. the only fat im eating is in the fish caps and whatever is in extra lean meat & what i use to cook it.
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BW: 79.7kg
Waking HR: 64
Activity: ~10,000
bball (shooting and pickup)
Down a kilo overnight. good thing tho is im a lot leaner this time around than when i cut to sub to 80kg last time. Hoping to get sub 78kg by day 10 but that might be too optimistic. Gna give it my best shot.
Wud do more fasted walking but it's hot here today (35C) and dont really feel like moving ha
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Why mess around with psmf? It's a risky diet even for the short-term. Technically you're meant to meet with a GP every two months to monitor kidney health. This is straight from a 2014 review*:
The PSMF is indicated only for adults with a body mass index (BMI) of at least 30 kg/m2 or a BMI of at least 27 kg/m2 and at least one comorbidity such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, obstructive sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, or fatty liver.12
If you're 80kgs/193cm then you have an approximate BMI of 21, and yes, BMI is flawed, you're skinny fat and all that. It's still a huge gap from what's recommended. Have you ever tried just eating a standard diet for training athletes (1.3-1.7g protein/kg BW, ~50-65% carbs, ~10% fat etc., surplus vits/minerals from vegetables, fruit etc) and eating 200-500 calories under maintenance?
*http://www.mdedge.com/ccjm/article/96116/diabetes/protein-sparing-modified-fast-obese-patients-type-2-diabetes-what-expect (http://www.mdedge.com/ccjm/article/96116/diabetes/protein-sparing-modified-fast-obese-patients-type-2-diabetes-what-expect)
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There is nothing wrong with a standard moderate deficit diet but im sick of #forevercutting and want to get it out of the way asap. Did the slower approach since Nov anyways, not like i wasnt patient but im keen to stop cutting now. The PSMF generates big deficits and gives the most fat loss in the shortest amount of time, that's good enough for me, esp for 10 day cycle. Will do another 10 dayer later down the line when im good and ready and then no more, ever..
also think it works better somehow, teaches my body to utilise bodyfat stores more efficiently than plugging along at a moderate cal/carb diet. but a huge missing piece in all of this is how ive neglected cardio as a way to get leaner and stay lean. thats the key once im done with these 20 days. people just give all this bad info out by simplifying too much (cals in vs cals out, etc). the point of cardio isnt the tiny amount of cals you burn during the exercise, nor is it about afterburn (which is also neglible) or whatever, it's about teaching your body to use bodyfat stores for energy -- which is what happens when you make cardio a regular feature of training. i caught on too late on to that :( but transforming your body into a machine for better utilising bodyfat for energy is what im hoping to achieve long term. i just want to do the hard work now in these 10 day super cuts via diet and then finish the job via training long term.
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BW: 79.1kg
Waking HR: 63 (PR)
Activity: 6000 units
Down ~1kg overnight .. i love how rapidly this thing is working. Maybe i can get <78kg by day 10. Didn't do zero carb last night, im still pretty fkn sore from saturday's training so i thought i should help recovery a bit and had rice and beans. Aiming for 1.5xbw in protein. 5 scoops of whey, 300mL lowfat milk and 1 cup rice & beans shud get me to ~120g.
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BW: 78.4kg
Activity: 9300 at 2123
Waking HR: 59
Sleep: 1hr:14min deep sleep, 3hr:50min light sleep (feel like shit lol)
TM walking: 20 mins
Finally .. a training day. As of today I am a gym member for 7 days, will use the rower mainly but also perhaps db.
Training / Activity
C2 Rower 5mins / 730m (PR; new exercise)
OHP 5x5x52.5
DB OHP 6x20, 5x22.5, 4x22.5, 5x20
C2 row 5min / 800m (PR)
BS 3x110(p13)
Jump rope ~ 500 reps (PR)
TM run 0.8km @ 12.5km/hr(PR), 0.9km @ 11km/hr, 1.0km @10.5km/hr
Notes:
Mental fog is heavy but im keen to get thru today and punch in the clock. While running my heart rate went crazy, hovered over 160bmp and got up to a max of 214!! so idk, either im really unfit or theres measurement error or both.
Nutrition
After that shocking squat sesh, i decided to refeed. Total food intake for the day: ive had 6 scoops of whey, 45g of powerade powder, 300mL lowfat milk, 2 roti, cup (or more) rice, cup (or more) red beans, 1 mcdonalds hamburger w/ extra patty. That's the lot. Shud get me nice and recovered by tmr.
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Mental fog is heavy but im keen to get thru today and punch in the clock. While running my heart rate went crazy, hovered over 160bmp and got up to a max of 214!! so idk, either im really unfit or theres measurement error or both.
Of course your HR would have nothing to do with the PSMF I guess :ninja:
I don't want to sound like a prick and half the time I'm not sure I even know what I'm doing but seriously mate, you start a no carb/no fat diet, have a shitty workout and then go and smash some maccas to make yourself feel better. Because #recovery. Stop thinking in terms of 10 day cuts and mini cuts and mini bulks and whatever else. It's so frustrating to sit here and see you spin your wheels. You say you're unathletic/obese but I call bullshit. You've got great ability, dedication, super long arms and when you train and eat in a sane fashion you get great strength gains too. Fix your relationship with food first and everything else will take care of itself.
(yes I realise this is a case of pot/kettle given how I train but fuck me it's so frustrating to see someone else do it)
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BW: 78.3kg
Activity: 6000 @ 2200
Waking HR: 58 (PR)
Post refeed weighing of 78.3kg on the halfway point of this cycle is pretty good. I shud expect to be in the 77kgs anytime by the next 5 days. I think i will look leaner and weigh less tmr morning after the refeed water comes off.
Nutrition
Meal 1 - 75g whey in water
Meal 2 - 90g whey in 300mL lowfat milk, steamed veges.
done, that shud be around 120g of protein.
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Thoughts on Coges' post or.....?
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Thoughts on Coges' post or.....?
maybe later .. i have no energy rn for human interactions lol
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Mental fog is heavy but im keen to get thru today and punch in the clock. While running my heart rate went crazy, hovered over 160bmp and got up to a max of 214!! so idk, either im really unfit or theres measurement error or both.
Of course your HR would have nothing to do with the PSMF I guess :ninja:
I don't want to sound like a prick and half the time I'm not sure I even know what I'm doing but seriously mate, you start a no carb/no fat diet, have a shitty workout and then go and smash some maccas to make yourself feel better. Because #recovery. Stop thinking in terms of 10 day cuts and mini cuts and mini bulks and whatever else. It's so frustrating to sit here and see you spin your wheels. You say you're unathletic/obese but I call bullshit. You've got great ability, dedication, super long arms and when you train and eat in a sane fashion you get great strength gains too. Fix your relationship with food first and everything else will take care of itself.
(yes I realise this is a case of pot/kettle given how I train but fuck me it's so frustrating to see someone else do it)
preach
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BW: 77.5kg (PR!)
Waking HR: 54 (But the very first reading i took was like 47, couldnt replicate that and eventually the readings were about 60)
Activity: 10k
Yesterday i did 2 shakes and no solid food. Today and tmr i will do the same thing but on friday nigth im gonna eat carbs so i sleep better and LIFT well saturday. Then sunday and monday can be all shakes too. Paradoxically last night my activity meter registered some of the best sleep ive had yet at around 2hrs of deep sleep! So that's interesting, not waht i'd expect at all.
I have that stupid basketball game tonight .. and i cant get out of it this week :( going to try to stay on the bench, saturday's squats take precedent and i must conserve recovery resources.
well fk, i played the game after breaking my 19hr fast with 75g of whey in water an hour before the game. i still havent eaten a solid meal since i think tuesday night. literally felt suicidal driving to the court .. couldnt focus, my mood was shit. after the game im buzzing off a high. i cant explain it, i guess something about competitiveness turned on switches in my brain and suddenly things dont seem so bad lol.
edit been talking to this girl online for about a week, kinda my type and we've had good banter. Tonight after the game on said high, I mentioned have gone to Ikea and Myer over instagram DM to look for something and she said i love ikea, and i said we should go. you miss every shot you dont take. i prob wasnt gna ask her out any other time but im kinda glad i took the opportunty when it came up. she didnt say flat out no but it wasnt a yes, more of a polite no, 'time is a commodity, my friend'. would be dumb to try again i think? I wish she'd said yes tho, oh well, let me salvage some pride and move on
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BW: 76.2kg (PR)
Holy shit i can actually sleep now!!! I think i passed thru the wall yesterday. Im on the other side now and things are a lot smoother. Woke up feeling rested. Mentally the fog has cleared. I saw a whoosh on the scales and in the mirror, im not as obese as i was yesterday and ive shed some water weight. Gna finish the 10 dayer strong. :headbang:
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ikea is a weird first date, man. maybe ask her on a more traditional first date.
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ikea is a weird first date, man. maybe ask her on a more traditional first date.
yeh you right. i didnt meet her on some online dating app tho. knew her irl kinda thru acquintances so i cant just ask her out straight up, would be a bit akward if she declined. but nevermind, at least i wont waste more time now. also girls will agree to something just to go out wiht you and then change the venue/activity to suit them in my experience .. it's saying yes thats' important not so much what you initially propose doing
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ikea is a weird first date, man. maybe ask her on a more traditional first date.
yeh you right. i didnt meet her on some online dating app tho. knew her irl kinda thru acquintances so i cant just ask her out straight up, would be a bit akward if she declined. but nevermind, at least i wont waste more time now. also girls will agree to something just to go out wiht you and then change the venue/activity to suit them in my experience .. it's saying yes thats' important not so much what you initially propose doing
ah, then yeah best to be careful. a friend of mine is dealing with a related situation right now: crushing on/flirting with her neighbor but needing to play it real slow and make super sure he's interested before she makes a move because he lives literally 20 feet away from her. don't want to create an awkward-elevator situation if you don't have to
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BW: 76.1kg (PR)
Total Activity: 10k units
BS 2x110(p1; yikes), 3x100(i think i paused 2 of these), 6x90, 8x70
BP 2x3x85(LPR)
Back Xtn 35deg 2x15x35kg(PR; vest+25kg plate)
Prowler push - 10 reps with 100-20kg
HIIT C2 rower, 6x20:20
TM run 3km total in 2 sets: 1km @ 10km/hr, 2km @ 7.5km/hr
Notes:
good workout, except the shitty squats. gna have dinner (rice and beans yay) and get some quality rest. sunday and monday are the last 2 days of this 10 day cut, ima try to get in decent amounts of fasted walking in and burn some extra adipose. Has been a successful cut dare I say, although i do wish i had better squats but it's understandable considering all the extra codnitioning i did.
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BW: 76.7kg
Activity: 6000
Small bounce on the scales after the small refeed. I wonder where i'll end up by end of this cycle. Didn't sleep super well tho, was super humid and that no doubt affects recovery but otherwise feel pretty refreshed. Gna try get activity to 6k but nothing crazy last minute.
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Nice job on the weight loss
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Nice job on the weight loss
thanks!
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BW: 77.1kg
Activity: 6500
Scale read high but im not bothered, im leaner so it will catch up soon enough. Couldn't sleep for some reason but i feel reasonably refreshed. Last dayyyyyyyyyyyyy lesgooo. Im just gna try get 6k of activity (my baseline for this 10 day cycle) and will fast throughout til around 10pm - have one meal, dinner and that's it, the last meal. Then refeed + training tmr.
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(http://i.imgur.com/JFM8h4r.png)
Phases
14 day cut (cycle 1) (in progress, day 12/15)
10 day maintenance break
10 day cut (cycle 2)
10 day maintenance break.
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Bodyweight: 76.4kg
Activity: 7500
Decided to extend the cycle to 14 days. I think now that im in the zone with zero/zero dieting, it's worthwhile riding it out for a bit longer.
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Bodyweight: 75.7kg(PR)
Activity: 5000 (hopefully i can make 6k by midnight tho)
Getting there .. startn to see ab veins .. but nothing to celebrate cos still have ways to go. Training today.
BS 2x110(paused), 2x2x110, 6x70(paused)
OHP 3x3x53.5, 2x5x50
Notes:
DIdnt get a chance to do cardio but i decided to extend to 15 days and that way i can do a refeed sunday and not worry about skipping cardio. Looking forward to ending this cut now, startna get hungry tho it might be all this pizza around me ;(
Nutrition notes:
I had some lean beef in the fridge that was going bad so i made 250g worth of a burger. Didn't have bread but my bro was having pizza and i used 2 slices as a bun lol lol. tried half heartedly to scrape some cheese off one slie, but whatever, who cares, it's 16g of fat, i can burn it off.
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BW: 75.8kg
Activity: 9105
Played bball and it was amazing. Last thurs i went from a diet induced suicidal to bliss from the game. Today was a similar bliss though i wasnt that low to begin with but end up a similar contentment. I love bball <3. Im actually playing okay too considering im carb depleted, havent eaten in 20hrs (did have a pregame whey in water shake tho) and on the tail end of a 15 day severe PSMF. I'll take it.
adarq i set up a standing desk today. using a stool atm but it's one of those keep you actively sitting ones, tho i will be doing a bit of standing too. Hopefully makes me healthier and maybe even in better shape loll
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Bodyweight: 75.6kg(PR)
Activity: 5100
Didn't sleep well but i think i had a whoosh though i havent stepped on scales yet, the skinfold on my right lowerback seems to have got less squishy. Usually happens after bball when dieting that i release some water weight during the game or maybe it's just hormonal cos it registers overnight. Anyway. Sunday can't come soon enough.. wanna take a break.
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Bodyweight: 75.4kg(PR)
Activity: 3710 (2205)
Supposed to fly out to NYC yesterday, long story short, i didn't get on that plane. Also should have been there for a mate but i didnt have the energy to do that either. Today was one of the harder days on this cut but ive got thru the day and had dinner so just need to sleep and it's done, 15 days. Training and refeed tmr - planning it out in my head atm.
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Bodyweight: 75.6kg
Activity:
Slept 3hrs deep sleep .. i'll take it! Feeling pretty weak tho, but ima try fast out the morning and then preworkout meal before training. Tonight ive decided my final meal more or less, just clean eating, carbs + protein. Training will go balls to the wall and take advantage of the anabolic rebound. Bodyweight isn't a PR but it's okay .. bread will help lose weight lol lol
Preworkout Meal 1(1230)
4 slice wholemeal bread w/ strawberry jam and tiny amount of butter (max of half a teaspoon total)
2 scoop whey (60g) & 300mL lowfat milk
1 banana
Preworkout Meal 2(1340)
1 scoop gatorade (15g sugar)
Periworkout Meal 1-2(1430-1630 & 1730-1930)
1scoop whey(30g), 3scoop gatorade (45g)
Preworkout Meal 3(1700)
4 slice bread with jam and peanut butter
1 scoop whey(30g)
Postworkout Meal 2(2130-2230)
2 burritos w/ rice, beans, lowfat sour cream, some cheese, 250g chicken breast
1 mcflurry (this was a disappointing .. it was the thing i'd been looking forward to for ending this cut which led to..)
1 chocolate lolipop (lol) and 6 M&Ms
done.
Training
BS 2x110(paused), 3x6x110
BP 2x86(LPR), 2x87.5(LPR), 2x85, 6x70
Back Xtn 3x12x40(PR; 35 deg)
Chinup 2x6xBW (max effort lolz)
cant decide whether i wanna do cardio or not :/
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re: NYC, damn dude, everything okay?
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30 day Plan
10 day diet break #1 (Currently day 0/10)
10 day cut #2
10 day diet break #2.
(http://i.imgur.com/bWoZIrz.png)
Already planning the 2nd cut. Going to order high strength cayenne pepper capsules to maximise fat loss. Will be super strict, PSMF macros from day 1. etc. Apart from that, I don't really have anything else to change except I won't be doing a lot of cardio while on the cut. Maybe just 2 sessions on training days is enough to maintain my fitness levels.
During the diet breaks, the main thing is to improve fitness and strength concurrently while maintaining bodyweight. To this end, daily weighing and logging to keep myself accountable. No eating junk food, keep it clean for 10 days straight with a free meal on the last training day to look forward to.
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BW: 77kg
Activity: 4000
Calories: ~5000
Lol .. pretty heavy but i dont look too sloppy. Slept like shit tho, too many calories have that affect. Tonight shud be better. Hoping to stabilise around <76kg on the break. Lets see what tmr brings. Aiming for 6000-7000 units of activity on non-training days and 10k on training days. EOD training schedule. Coming off EC as well. This shud prob mean I have to adjust my maintenance caloric intake to something conservative like 1900-2000? EOD refeeds. That shud get me thru the next 10 days nicely. Lets see how it goes.
Worked thru a 1L tub of Sara Lee Ultrachocolate icecream. It was not a good day for maintenance. Lol.
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BW: 77.2kg
Activity:
Training today. Looking forward to having a good workout
didnt work out but asked to fill in a basketball game. played the full thing without subbing off. good run. can anyone remember the last time i dunked? i think it may have been end of october or something? crazy i havent tried since then, not really, afraid of injurying myself
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re: NYC, damn dude, everything okay?
eh, naw man .. kinda broken .. but whatever, im tryna be positive haha
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OHP 6x2x55(LPR), 3x50, 7x40, 6x40
Bball game
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BW: 78.4kg (i think)
BS 2x110(paused), 6x3x110
BP 1x88.5, 8x60, 8x67.5, 8x70
Back Xtn 3x12x50(PR; 35 deg)
TM - 3km in 3 sets of 1.5km, 0.5km and 1km
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BW: 79.1kg (yikes)
Activity: 6000
Haha, another 10 day cut, lets go. This time im jumping straight into PSMF macros from the get go. I wont dwell on how my diet break went (real shit) but hopefully I can learn from this one and do it better next time. The key lesson is I can't go from straight up dieting to straight up maintenance - i will try ramping up from a deficit to maintenance over 7 days next time i come off a cut, i think that will suit me better psychologically. Im still starting from a better place on this cycle (79kg) than I did in the previous one (81kg) so I guess it's not exactly wheel spinning but it feels like that nevertheless.
I've restarted the weight vest experiment. Maintaining 80+kg bw at the moment (+5kg). Feels like nothing but I guess that's a good thing. As I get lighter, i'll add blocks to the vest and maintain 80+kg. I feel that's what I should be aiming for long term so it's a good idea to avoid getting too comfortable in the mid 70kgs which is where im heading in the short term.
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Bodyweight: 76.7kg
Activity: 6000
Struggled to sleep hungry on the first night but i feel okay.
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Sorry coges, i never got around to replying to your post. But here is an outline of what im tryna do:
To be a lean 85kg first be a lean 80kg. To be a lean 80kg first be a lean 75kg. To be a lean 75kg first be a ...? Somewhere along the way i'll find myself a lean 'something kg' to stop cutting. Then maintain bf% a while to create a new bf% setpoint. Finally start working up patiently towards a lean 85kg. The initial cutting process may go on for a while, possibly needing to weigh as low as 70.0kg (carb depleted) but once it's done im not forever-cutting anymore.
The milestones i'm looking for in order are:
1) lean upper body & upper back (not there yet)
2) lean abdominals (neither)
3) lean lower back (not even close)
4) lean lower body (far away)
I haven't even reached the first step yet :/ From experience I could get to around 2.5ish by cutting to <72.5kg - but that was with creatine but at that point i had no fat on my upper back by the jiggle test. I never reached 3 and 4 but that's where I wanna be, lean lower back gets me 'lean enough' though for my purposes, not sure I would keep going to 4 tbh.
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Sorry coges, i never got around to replying to your post. But here is an outline of what im tryna do:
To be a lean 85kg first be a lean 80kg. To be a lean 80kg first be a lean 75kg. To be a lean 75kg first be a ...? Somewhere along the way i'll find myself a lean 'something kg' to stop cutting. Then maintain bf% a while to create a new bf% setpoint. Finally start working up patiently towards a lean 85kg. The initial cutting process may go on for a while, possibly needing to weigh as low as 70.0kg (carb depleted) but once it's done im not forever-cutting anymore.
The milestones i'm looking for in order are:
1) lean upper body & upper back (not there yet)
2) lean abdominals (neither)
3) lean lower back (not even close)
4) lean lower body (far away)
I haven't even reached the first step yet :/ From experience I could get to around 2.5ish by cutting to <72.5kg - but that was with creatine but at that point i had no fat on my upper back by the jiggle test. I never reached 3 and 4 but that's where I wanna be, lean lower back gets me 'lean enough' though for my purposes, not sure I would keep going to 4 tbh.
I understand where you're coming from mate. I do think there's a disconnect between your goals and your behaviours but that's just my 2c. You're super determined though I'll give you that.
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lean 75kg at 6'4.. what is this.. bone and skin?
you need some more muscle mass buddy. it also helps you burn calories faster. good luck.
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Sorry coges, i never got around to replying to your post. But here is an outline of what im tryna do:
To be a lean 85kg first be a lean 80kg. To be a lean 80kg first be a lean 75kg. To be a lean 75kg first be a ...? Somewhere along the way i'll find myself a lean 'something kg' to stop cutting. Then maintain bf% a while to create a new bf% setpoint. Finally start working up patiently towards a lean 85kg. The initial cutting process may go on for a while, possibly needing to weigh as low as 70.0kg (carb depleted) but once it's done im not forever-cutting anymore.
The milestones i'm looking for in order are:
1) lean upper body & upper back (not there yet)
2) lean abdominals (neither)
3) lean lower back (not even close)
4) lean lower body (far away)
I haven't even reached the first step yet :/ From experience I could get to around 2.5ish by cutting to <72.5kg - but that was with creatine but at that point i had no fat on my upper back by the jiggle test. I never reached 3 and 4 but that's where I wanna be, lean lower back gets me 'lean enough' though for my purposes, not sure I would keep going to 4 tbh.
I understand where you're coming from mate. I do think there's a disconnect between your goals and your behaviours but that's just my 2c. You're super determined though I'll give you that.
There is no understanding it mate, it's not up for reason or logic. When i come off these cuts my body fights back super hard and tries to pile the weight back asap. I can't even pretend that it's something i can deal with, im not sure it's in me, just hormones overruling everything. If cutting is hard, coming off the cut without undoing everything is 1000x harder :/ This coming diet break i'm going to need a solid plan to get through it without failing
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lean 75kg at 6'4.. what is this.. bone and skin?
you need some more muscle mass buddy. it also helps you burn calories faster. good luck.
pretty much nailed it. the extra fat i have above 75kg just fills me out to look more human but otherwise im the same person underneath lol. if i accept this state of affairs it means i have to figure out a way to burn more calories with less muscle mass, otherwise my maintenance requirements are low, eg like 1700-1900kcal a day. Maybe cardio always has to be a feature of my training to make up for the shitty genetics whether im trying to gain mass or not
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The biggest looming problems ahead are a)staying lean once i become lean via diet, and b)dealing with low calorie intakes as a long term necessity while im so light/lean. The source of these is the diff between someone naturally lean (Any of the naturally athletic dudes on this site, eg mutumbo/kf/acole/lbss/coges_ vs someone dieted down (ie just me). Someone naturally lean doesn't have the problems I do of having the appetite & hormones of an obese person while being 6'4" & lean 75kg (hopefully not even lean 75kg yet lol). Suppose i achieve that, then maybe loads of drugs to get up to 85kg without being fat. B/c im not sure i can overfeed with my hormonal profile without just getting fat. Never really done a CLEAN BULK tho, or one with good amounts of cardio; but that's a solution im not sure i can manage again with my profile..
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Bodyweight: 76kg
Activity: ~3k + unknown units while balling (they made me take off my band :( during games)
Training today. I might play a game tonight but it's against a good team with no sub, and im not sure it's a good idea .. so lemme think..
BS 1x120kg(paused), 5x90(paused)
OHP 2x57, 3x2x57.5, 2x57, 1Fx57
Game
done. prob played one of my best games yet .. i was getting mad assists .. felt great. havent i told yall im a big point guard? bout time the world came around to the idea :P
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The biggest looming problems ahead are a)staying lean once i become lean via diet, and b)dealing with low calorie intakes as a long term necessity while im so light/lean. The source of these is the diff between someone naturally lean (Any of the naturally athletic dudes on this site, eg mutumbo/kf/acole/lbss/coges_ vs someone dieted down (ie just me). Someone naturally lean doesn't have the problems I do of having the appetite & hormones of an obese person while being 6'4" & lean 75kg (hopefully not even lean 75kg yet lol). Suppose i achieve that, then maybe loads of drugs to get up to 85kg without being fat. B/c im not sure i can overfeed with my hormonal profile without just getting fat. Never really done a CLEAN BULK tho, or one with good amounts of cardio; but that's a solution im not sure i can manage again with my profile..
unless you have taken a full blood test to prove your wacked hormonal profile, i believe the stress of dieting is just making you mental. :D
relax.
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The biggest looming problems ahead are a)staying lean once i become lean via diet, and b)dealing with low calorie intakes as a long term necessity while im so light/lean. The source of these is the diff between someone naturally lean (Any of the naturally athletic dudes on this site, eg mutumbo/kf/acole/lbss/coges_ vs someone dieted down (ie just me). Someone naturally lean doesn't have the problems I do of having the appetite & hormones of an obese person while being 6'4" & lean 75kg (hopefully not even lean 75kg yet lol). Suppose i achieve that, then maybe loads of drugs to get up to 85kg without being fat. B/c im not sure i can overfeed with my hormonal profile without just getting fat. Never really done a CLEAN BULK tho, or one with good amounts of cardio; but that's a solution im not sure i can manage again with my profile..
unless you have taken a full blood test to prove your wacked hormonal profile, i believe the stress of dieting is just making you mental. :D
relax.
i want to believe dedication and discipline is enough to overcome it .. because that's our common credos but i have to confess it's not that simple in practice bc when i start overfeeding, its hard to stick to that 500kcal surplus a day solely from oatmeal, for 6 months straight or whatever. Now it sounds like im making excuses but you guys dno .. it's hard man :) i need to try it though. plus do cardio to keep fat loss to a min.
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Bodyweight: 74.95kg (PR; finally broke the 75kg milestone)
Activity: 8200 (2325)
It seems playing basketball does make me shed water weight but now im thinking it's prob cos basketball serves to deplete glycogen reserves for me. I thought straight up 20-24hr fasts with zero carb meals for 2 days and 2 nights would do the trick but my body doesn't seem to burn carbs like that for no reason, good to know. ALso means if i wanna PED my basketball, i shud be well fed in carbs pre/peri game. Which i knew from experience but this is additional proof. So 7 days to go, ima do this perfectly and hopefully get lean enough that i dont have to do more dieting..
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Bodyweight: 74.8kg(PR)
Activity: 7400
Seems to be holding steady below 75kg. W/ hydration, weight vest (5kg) & clothes i'm 81.5kg, haven't needed to increase loading yet. Game tonight..
BS 0Fx125(paused), 1x122.5(LPR), 3x100(paused; LPR?), 5x97.5(LPR)
Game
Notes:
Haven't been lifting thursdays but i thought i should try squatting heavy just to see. I reckon if I wasnt fasted i cud prob have got that 125kg tbh.
game was ... awful. we played down to the opponent, ended with the lead for the first time in the last coupla seconds and of course we couldnt hold on to the ball and they drew the match. lmfao. i didnt get involved in the offense as much which didn't really motivate me much but i still dont think i played well.
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Bodyweight: 74.8kg(PR)
Activity: 7400
Seems to be holding steady below 75kg. W/ hydration, weight vest (5kg) & clothes i'm 81.5kg, haven't needed to increase loading yet. Game tonight..
BS 0Fx125(paused), 1x122.5(LPR), 3x100(paused; LPR?), 5x97.5(LPR)
Game
Notes:
Haven't been lifting thursdays but i thought i should try squatting heavy just to see. I reckon if I wasnt fasted i cud prob have got that 125kg tbh.
game was ... awful. we played down to the opponent, ended with the lead for the first time in the last coupla seconds and of course we couldnt hold on to the ball and they drew the match. lmfao. i didnt get involved in the offense as much which didn't really motivate me much but i still dont think i played well.
Why not?
Were you in the wrong positions to receive it or were you not demanding it?
I get the lifting though. I try and avoid eating on an empty stomach. The only thing worse then eating on an empty stomach is lifting after you've eaten too much and don't have the time to digest.
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Why not?
Were you in the wrong positions to receive it or were you not demanding it?
It was like I was a step behind on each play. When I cut, it wasnt noticed but i made the right plays when I had the ball. A few times where I would have got assists the player didnt finish. I find I feed off energy from playing well offensively on the other end too. Maybe it was just luck but there werent many rebounds b/c i wasnt in the right place for them. I think the game was just anomalous.
I get the lifting though. I try and avoid eating on an empty stomach. The only thing worse then eating on an empty stomach is lifting after you've eaten too much and don't have the time to digest.
I'm def making life harder for me training wise by doing fasting on training days. Dont see that a long term issue tho, this is just while cutting but it affects my performance. A meal 3 hrs before seems to be my sweet spot. And best is when i eat the first meal earlier in the day and then lift later in the afternoon, that's not something ive experienced in a while.
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Bodyweight: 74.6kg (PR)
Activity:
I updated my sig with the game plan. Any thoughts? If I want to be lifting 120kg for warmups/paused worksets/anyday anytime/etc (as a new strength setpoint), I think it's time to start progressing towards it from my current setpoint of 110kg. So tmr, I have to choose what a bump to take, 112.5kg or 115kg? Not sure, feel 112.5kg is a given, 115kg would be challenging tho but it makes sense.
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Bodyweight: 74.5kg(PR)
Activity: 8810 (2359)
Wow scale really lagging on that weight loss tho. But i know one of these days it will drop overnight smh. Anyways, training today. Volume on squats, back xtn and bench then finish with cardio. I checked out a sweet gym today, im hoping to start next wk. They got everything I need and i can use my Nike Romaloes there which i havent touched since i put them away a few years ago cos my home gym floor would ruin the sole. But now im sold on solid paused squats done perfectly, this will help.
BS 3x115(LPR; p1), 2x3x112.5(PR), 1x3x111, 2x3x110
BP 1x89.5(LPR), 8x72.5(LPR), 7x80
Back Xtn 8x55(PR; 35 deg w/ plates only), 2x12x55(PR; 35 deg, plates & vest), 12x30(PR; 0 deg, vest & plate)
CND - 1km @ 10km/hr
Notes:
In hindsight i wish i had done some more squat volume but i must confess each set of triples was like a 3RM, so i was pretty torched for squatting by the end and didn't wanna court injury, esp in the dark without having a reflection to check my form.
BP my warmup with 50kg felt real nice and then 70kg warmup was a struggle but i somehow did the slowest hardest lockout on the 89.5kg lolz. might be a PR (relative bw ratio?) but who cares about such light weight so im not even gna bother looking it up. Have to keep grinding.
Back xtn, i dropped 3 plates on the first set, decided to vest up for the next 2 sets. I was sliding down the bench tho on the 35 deg, so i think that's one downside compared to the 45 deg where your feet are locked firmly in place by the foot rest. SO ya, i thought to try 0 degree, which is the most challenging but it also has the benefit that you wont slide (being horizontal). SO i think i will prob use 45 deg and 0 deg from here on, though i havent done 45s in a while now.
And cardio was a casualty from that lifting sesh, i forced myself not to skip but a couple of minutes in and i knew there was no way iwas getting 3km (~15 mins) and not only that but even 10 minutes seemed too much so i did 1km (~6mins) and said that'll do for now. Making it a habit never to skip cardio, it's basically low level plyos and so beneficial for athleticism, i wish i never neglected it but i bought into all the bs against it. Never again.
Nutrition:
Make a last second decision to go harder in the gym but allow myself a mini-refeed and extend the diet out to 14 days. Additionally i wont do that 7 day cut cycle i was gna do after the short (7 day) diet break. Think doing that would be counterproductive esp since i have that big bball weekend comp mid April and im running out of time to get myself in peak form. I will prob benefit from going into the comp without cutting for the first time in recent memory. Will post more on this though!!
This is what I ate extra on top of my usual daily intake:
30g carb from gatorade
30g of whey
1 cup rice, 1 cup rajma beans
2 tortillas (mission lowfat ones - 72g carb total)
1 slice light swiss cheese
1 teaspoon light sour cream
Done, that was pretty satisfying. I considered having a bedtime snack of PB&J sandwiches with the shake but decided against it cos i know i prob wont be satisfied with 2 slices and i was already around 190g of carb for the day so that's enough really. Now I shud look forward to some rebound gains .. woohoo.
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Bodyweight: 75.2kg
Activity: 7000+
Refeed worked from that weighing, 7 mo days of cutting, lesgo.
Holy shit i felt miserable today :( fuckn low carb man, like started from scratch. Stupid body, you know how to keto, stop messing wit me
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Bodyweight: 75kg
Activity: 8000+ units
Rest day. Gna try to walk my way to some decent FL tho.
Found out something disappointing, my basketball season effectively ends this week :( Cos we didnt make finals (in either team), no more games after tue and thurs. That means I have 2 weeks off before the easter weekend comp. I can deal with one week break (will just practice) but 2 is much. Hopefully can sort something out for that 2nd week. It annoys me that I played a shitload of basketball this summer of pointless games but when I really need to get match time experience, I run out of season lol. Typical.
Thinking of taking up drinking coffee or tea or something, i'm going to make some long term changes to the way I see food & drink. If can learn to enjoy a cup of tea much more instead of say a chocolate bar, i can keep the fat from piling back on once i come off cutting.
Got some no sugar hot chocolate powder. It tasted better with whey than just hot water, but with whey i have to be careful not to curdle from the heat otherwise it tastes off. So will experiment and get the formula right. Also tried plain cocao with whey in cold milk and it wouldnt even mix but im not sure that was that nice but i will see if its an acquired taste
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Thinking of taking up drinking coffee or tea or something, i'm going to make some long term changes to the way I see food & drink. If can learn to enjoy a cup of tea much more instead of say a chocolate bar, i can keep the fat from piling back on once i come off cutting.
Coffee is a wonderful thing. Can definitely replace a meal as it's an appetite suppressant. That's if you can get away with black coffee or if you're happy with the half a cup of milk thrown in.
Not completely unrelated my go to meal the last two months has been greek yoghurt. Throw your protein powder in, some berries and popcorn. Yes popcorn. Top with granola or cacao nibs if you're feeling frisky. Sounds weird but is delicious.
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Thinking of taking up drinking coffee or tea or something, i'm going to make some long term changes to the way I see food & drink. If can learn to enjoy a cup of tea much more instead of say a chocolate bar, i can keep the fat from piling back on once i come off cutting.
Coffee is a wonderful thing. Can definitely replace a meal as it's an appetite suppressant. That's if you can get away with black coffee or if you're happy with the half a cup of milk thrown in.
Not completely unrelated my go to meal the last two months has been greek yoghurt. Throw your protein powder in, some berries and popcorn. Yes popcorn. Top with granola or cacao nibs if you're feeling frisky. Sounds weird but is delicious.
Yah I think low cal is okay, doesn't have to be zero. But obv there is no room for Starbucks sized desserts masquerading as beverages on a sensible diet (~2000kcal/day) for me. Will try your yoghurt idea.
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Bodyweight: 73.9kg (PR)
Activity:
BS 0Fx127.5, 1x110, 6x90
OHP 0Fx58.5, 0Fx57.5, 4x52.5, 5x5x50 (inc 1st warmup)
DB OHP 3x6x20
EZ CURL 2x10xwhatever was on the bar (like 10-20kg?)
Sprint 3x80m (PR; new ex)
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Bodyweight: 74kg
Activity: 7847 (2344)
Yikes, glad this thing is winding down, im ready for a change up. I miss being able to run and jump well, which is impossible on these diets.
feel suicidal today.. fk this shit, better be worth it by the end :(
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Sub 74kg at 6'3 and feeling suicidal... hmm better diet down some more. I really don't understand your reasoning behind this... given you seem to be a pretty intelligent guy.
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Bodyweight: 74kg
Activity: 7847 (2344)
Yikes, glad this thing is winding down, im ready for a change up. I miss being able to run and jump well, which is impossible on these diets.
feel suicidal today.. fk this shit, better be worth it by the end :(
That's not good!
The usual advice is for skinnyfat people to clean bulk as muscle helps burn calories. As the late ZYZZ said 'abs on a skinny person are the same as big tits on a fat chick- they don't count'. The dieting is probably fucking up your metabolism as well. I'm preaching to the choir here but you should start a clean bulk with a moderately high protein intake and add some more volume into your lifting. At the moment your going backwards. Your athleticism is suffering, your strength has plunged, and you could well drop down to 70kg and still not be lean enough to meet your satisfaction. Surely you wouldn't want to drop down below 70kg (154lbs) at 6'3!!!
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Sub 74kg at 6'3 and feeling suicidal... hmm better diet down some more. I really don't understand your reasoning behind this... given you seem to be a pretty intelligent guy.
The most common statement in this journal: maxent is a smart, hard-working guy, why does he do this crazy shit?
Let's stop making excuses for him. He might be intelligent, but he's obsessed with all the wrong aspects of athletic training.
For years, the most knowledgeable forum members have tried to convince him that:
- he has some degree of body dysmorphia;
- he needs to stop obsessing over intractable 'hormonal imbalances' and accept that he's just a bit fatter than your average athlete (nbd btw);
- following these extreme fasting diet cycles to cut a bit of fat is counter-productive to long-term athletic gains.
They have all failed. I'm at the point where I really don't know why I would waste my time posting any more on this journal except that I'm worried about his mental health.
Just read this sample page from FOUR YEARS AGO:
http://www.adarq.org/progress-journals-experimental-routines/chasing-athleticism/msg84160/#msg84160 (http://www.adarq.org/progress-journals-experimental-routines/chasing-athleticism/msg84160/#msg84160)
Nothing has changed except that maxent is older, probably weaker and definitely less athletic than he could have been with the same training effort redirected. Now he can't run or jump on this diet.....that's OK though because it's only 'short-term'. Unfortunately as soon as a bit of adipose goes back on, it'll be back to pmsf and no meaningful training volume. He can talk about long-term planning for muscle gain and setting strength baselines while getting to x% bf all he wants....he's been doing it for well over four years.
Again, I always say these things with the caveat that I want him to succeed and be proven wrong. Happy to put ideas forward but not if it's just falling on deaf ears constantly.
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Let me just put this number out there, 72.5kg. That's where I am coming to but I was avoiding mentioning it here because I expected it would cause some consternation. Haha, so much for that. There's a whole host of factors to weigh up, constantly making compromises and trade offs and trying to balance things out is exhausting.
FWIW it's not too hard to understand cause and affect. I was struggling yesterday b/c sleep was impaired and b/c i over reached with the overhead presses and reintroduction of sprints. But i'll adapt, more or less.
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Man... you are 5" taller than I am and weigh 15 (FIFTEEN) freaking pounds less! Granted...I carry a bit more weight than an average jumper (I think) but youre forgetting 1 really important thing here:
It takes muscle to move weight up. Jumping requires strength. Youre killing yours routinely!
My advice (take it or leave it). Fuck the scale. Fuck the mirror. Go LIFT. Get strong. Eat halfway clean and let your body balance where its comfortable. THEN work on RFD and shit.
There isnt really any magic too it but trying to be the type of athlete you're not is counterproductive. You've tried being strong and heavy and youve tried being light and relatively weak, both failed. Find the happy medium man and get this shit done.
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Mutumbo, i'm not skinny fat. I'm just fat. And skinny. But not skinny-fat, there's a diff. Will be lean after i lose a few more kilos (somewhere between 75 and 70kg bw) and then im done cutting. Wont take long, im not wasting time with this stuff, have a wicked deficit going (1 meal a day, 140g of protein, zero fat, zero carb). Plus taking all the supplements and averaging over 6k units of activity a day. Cost of this PSMF is training suffers, cant jump or run fast, will put up it with in the short term but it's not something I have to live with it longer than the duration of the cut. If I have to weigh 70kg to be lean then so be it, it's not my desire to be that light but i'll play the (genetic) cards ive been dealt, no complaining lol.
acole I appreciate the advice, it's good generic advice. I'd give the same advice in your position. It just so happens that it is not fit for purpose. I'm an individual and individuals need tailored advice, that's where the difference arises in practice.Not saying someone else my height should be 70kg but I have to be. I wish i was a lean 90kg like Coges but wishing doesn't make it so. So i'll diet down to whatever low bodyweight (prob in the interval 72.5kg - 70kg), maintain that bodyfat level for a while then try to get up to a lean 80kg. Maybe with steroids, I think I will have demonstrated the right to take them in that case, it's not cheating it's levelling the playing field if i have to take drugs to ONLY weigh 10kg less than someone else athletic my height (eg Coges). But i'll try it naturally first (ofc).
Chris, dont get hung up on the height thing tho. Unless you're comparing someone low to mid 5ft with someone mid to high 6ft, we're practically the same organisms. It makes sense to scale out bw with height but not always, there are limitations, im def in the category where it doesn't make sense to.
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Bodyweight: 74kg
Activity: 8k + game steps not counted since band was off
Training today. Started taking Cayenne(500mg) as a thermogenic, will be interesting to see how it performs. It suggested with food but I took it on an empty stomach. If i tolerate it will ramp up to 3x daily..
BS 1x120(paused), 5x100(paused), 6x92.5(paused)
Game
Game was okay, season's done, no more games left to play unless I can sort out fill-in positions (doubtful), im gna have to make do with just practice (alone) & pickup. Not ideal preparing for easter weekend comp but it's just how it goes.
I used 4x25kg plates to load up 120kg for the first time today, that's a milestone. This is how it begins, gna make this a setpoint as per sig. I did the same for 110kg when i got my first pair of 25s, now with 2 pairs I will normalise 120kg just the same as 110kg became warmup ezy eventually.
I expect to have a big scale movement sometime soon (hopefully). Kinda constipated (low carb problems lol). And from here on, if i wake up sunday morning and im not happy with what I see on the scale/mirror then I may just keep dieting. Or take the break as planned, whatevs.
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Mate thanks for using me as an example of someone you think is lean. I currently weigh between 89 and 90 and estimate myself between 13-15% bf on any given day. The way I look varies that much it’s not funny. 7-8 years ago I was 75g dripping wet. Little to no muscle tone and was repeatedly told I was skinny but I felt fat. I had no bulk at all in the upper body. I got my bodyfat done twice and was sub 12% both times but looked like I was in the 18-20% range. I’m carrying more fat now but far more muscle too and the difference is night and day. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy eh.
Btw, you are not a unique snowflake. You are not the only one who has ever had issues trying to lose fat and gain muscle from a disadvantaged starting point. It’s comforting to think you’re all alone and the world doesn’t know what you’re going through cause it gives you an out. The real story is you have body dysmorphia and a bad relationship with food.
Look at your IG post from October 2016 when you dunked shirtless post game. You are not cut but you are certainly not fat. I would say you look athletic and wiry and in the 15-16% range. You weighed 81.8kg and had just squatted 8 sets of 2 @ 140kg for a raw, beltless 1.7xbw squat. That same day, and I quote, you said “i dont really think i shud be using 80kg as the bodyweight -- 85kg makes more sense as my ideal bodyweight, where im maximally strong AND athletic..†3 days later you go low carb and state you’re trying to get under 81 and recomp to 80. Some days I look in the mirror and think I’m a fat fuck and other days I look ripped. I then tell myself to shut the fuck up and get on with my day. Makes life so much easier.
As Acole said, everyone here wants to see you succeed which is why we keep posting shit in your forum and trying to get through to you. Take what you will from all these posts but one thing is clear and that is you need some change. What’s the worst that can happen?
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Good post. Last time i got my bf% checked (11 pt caliper), i weighed 100kg and they said I was an even 25%bf. lol lol. By that measure, i shud be 0% bodyfat right now :D. I was hoping the price of DEXA wud come down here but it's still around $100 and it's not worth the paper it's printed on but id like to take one just for a joke. I reckon it would come back with something consistent with my BMI tho, dont have much faith in the method of testing bf, just rough approximations at best.
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Bodyweight: 73.4kg(PR)
Activity: 6000+
So the last proper day of the cut. Tmr is a refeed/training day and im planning on having tacos :headbang:
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Bodyweight: 73kg (PR)
Activity:
Training & refeed today.
BP 0Fx90, 7x75(LPR), 7x73.5, 7Fx70
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Bodyweight: 73.6kg (!!)
Activity:
Last nigth is a bit hazy but I ended up a reception party I didnt know about beforehand and lets just say unlimited food and drink for someone who hasnt eaten in 14 days is either the best combination or the worst; depending on your perspective. Lol. But i'm eyeing finishing off the job and getting to 72.0kg 70.0kg and then ending this #forevercut. Lesgo.
Suprised to weigh only 73.6kg post feast tho, i will prob reach 72.0kg a lot quicker than one might expect from yesterdays 73.0kg? Will see. Didnt get a chance to do lower body yesterday, so will do that today and sprint and cardio hopefully, then back on the diet monday.
Ive added +2kg to my weightvest also, +6kg was starting to feel too light. Now at +8kg, will maintain this here since this is 10% of eventual goal weight (80kg @ 10%bf). That leaves 2kg unused for now.
I must say it feels amazing to have a good night sleep, somehow my alarm didnt go off and i woke up around 1pm, catching up on some much needed rest and recovery. Normal bowel movements, feeling not-suicidal / lethargic, it's ace. Got that to look forward to in addition to being ripped at the end of this process.
BS 3x117.5(PR; p1), 3x117.5, 2Fx117.5, 2x115, 2x117.5, 1x117.5, 1x115 , 6x90
Back Xtn 3x12x40(PR; 0 deg, 2x20kg plates)
BS 3x6x70 (paused)
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Bodyweight: 76.7kg (i think)
Activity:
Hit the icecream pretty good last night, think im all carbed up now
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BS 2x120(LPR), 1x120, 0Fx120, 6x100
OHP 5x50, 2x57.5, 3x52.5, 5x50
Bball game
Notes:
Haven't recovered yet from last session squats but i wanted to do 6x3x120kg and it didn't happen. May just adjust expectations for now, can chase 120kg later when lean.
I played a game where I was the best player on the court and I only scored 2 points. Im not sure what the fuck is wrong with me but im a terrible basketball player. I passed up shots to hit team mates with assists which went begging. Like imagine if Lebron played with some scrubs and was finding the open man who couldnt hold the ball, except im not lebron by any means. So bad.
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I played a game where I was the best player on the court and I only scored 2 points. Im not sure what the fuck is wrong with me but im a terrible basketball player. I passed up shots to hit team mates with assists which went begging. Like imagine if Lebron played with some scrubs and was finding the open man who couldnt hold the ball, except im not lebron by any means. So bad.
Don't stress about it mate. You play that way by habit. I do the same.
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I played a game where I was the best player on the court and I only scored 2 points. Im not sure what the fuck is wrong with me but im a terrible basketball player. I passed up shots to hit team mates with assists which went begging. Like imagine if Lebron played with some scrubs and was finding the open man who couldnt hold the ball, except im not lebron by any means. So bad.
Don't stress about it mate. You play that way by habit. I do the same.
I'm pass first but being a 'little' more selfish would do wonders for my game. Just aren't wired that way tho!
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Bodyweight: 77.5kg (yikes)
Activity:
Legs feel fresher but im starting to look pretty sloppy again, arresting the decline. I find my memory was failing me as well which was as interesting, perhaps my brain functions better off on low carbing, idk. For example I had a face in mind (that i came across recently) and I couldnt think where I know it from. Which wasnt the first instance of such a failing. I'd drive to the shops and start wondering why I was ther and what i was supposed to get. Weird.
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Having this idea of trying to have a dunk session but my heart isn't really in it. I have had 2 dunk attempts since Sept, both of them at the end of the last 2 games i played (garbage time basically). I didnt cleanly land either but. I do think my foot is healed. I dont know if dunking will reinjure it. I also dont think i will be able to jump very high anyways since im not lean or strong or both.
I want a good project, thinking of making a compiler for my language. I haven't got any ideas for languages yet tho .. so idk, but i just want something to hack on this weekend and the next couple of weeks.
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Ha! I got my first dunks in 6 months. Funny thing is i'm pretty much in the same place I was prior to injury. I have zero movement efficiency for jumping .. havent done jumping at all (esp off 2 legs) since sept. I put it down to squatting. I shud never have doubted it but getting my squat ratio up is prob the only thing which will improve my vertical. Oh well, no more self doubt.. got work to do.
Also did some sprints, 6x50m max effort, then finished with 6x100m(20s each) intervals with 20s rest.
So the training recipe is easy frm here, get leaner, get stronger, get fitter and practice dunking and sprinting. hopefully that will be enough for some sort of peakiness to my game come easter.
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BW: 78.2kg
Why are my abs so sore today though. Dunking / sprinting? I also did some bounds just to see if i could do them painfree and I could. Interesting.. !
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BW: ?
Activity: 8600
BS 3x3x117.5, 2x117.5, 1x117.5
Back Xtn 12x50(PR), 2x8x50, 15x25
ate way too much, way too much.
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BW: 79.9kg
so i gained 7kg in 7 days. Im a disgrace. lol
BP 1x90(LPR), 6x77.5(LPR), 5x76, 6x70
Chinup 3x6xbw
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BW: 79.9kg
so i gained 7kg in 7 days. Im a disgrace. lol
LOL!
Don't worry bro most of it is probably just water weight. My weight can fluctuate 2-3kg in a day depending on the time of the day, how much I've eaten, and how much I've sweated etc.
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BW: 79.9kg
so i gained 7kg in 7 days. Im a disgrace. lol
LOL!
Don't worry bro most of it is probably just water weight. My weight can fluctuate 2-3kg in a day depending on the time of the day, how much I've eaten, and how much I've sweated etc.
You're right. Ive been pissing all day, woke up twice in the late morning to go to the bathroom. I reckon ive gained a decent amount of fat too though. Maybe 2-3kg :/ what really perplexes me is last saturday i had a better workout after 2 weeks of hardcore dieting (24hr fasting, 1 meal a day, zero carb, zero fat) than i did this saturday after a whole week of icecream! it's like my body struggled to adjust to increased calories and carbs. To be fair a lot of those carbs were sugar so maybe more toxic than if i had got them from oatmeal or something. Still, what's done is done haha.
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BW: 78.2kg (87.4kg w/ vest)
Activity:
Gna try rest today but hopefully I can swing a game to play tmr. Plus lifting. The sprints induced leg (mainly quads) soreness finally seems to have subsided, nice.
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So acknowledging that sports performance is just as much about how you think & perceive yourself and the game as it is about physical ability, i think i'd like to play at my heaviest bodyweight this time around, just for a change. I usually go super light and then get bodied around, sure it makes (warmup) dunking a piece of cake but it's not like that ever amounted to a game dunk. In reality, im more likely to dunk in-game when feeling powerful & agressive at a heavier bw.
My idea is to go on the creatine for the comp. Also ima be carbed up for once. But the thing which worries me right now is whether i have enough fitness. I havent been keeping up with the cardio .. and im not sure i have enough time to fix that. Sigh. It really sucks that i keep making the same mistake in preparing, just neglecting cardio. In hindsight i shud really be devoting an entire training block to building up my conditioning to a high level off-season, and hten maintaining that year-round. But ive never been strong enough or athletic enough to warrant changing focus away from those things towards improved conditioning.
Maybe a leanish morning weight of 77.5kg which equates to 80kg game time would be a good place to aim for by day 13?
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So acknowledging that sports performance is just as much about how you think & perceive yourself and the game as it is about physical ability, i think i'd like to play at my heaviest bodyweight this time around, just for a change. I usually go super light and then get bodied around, sure it makes (warmup) dunking a piece of cake but it's not like that ever amounted to a game dunk. In reality, im more likely to dunk in-game when feeling powerful & agressive at a heavier bw.
My idea is to go on the creatine for the comp. Also ima be carbed up for once. But the thing which worries me right now is whether i have enough fitness. I havent been keeping up with the cardio .. and im not sure i have enough time to fix that. Sigh. It really sucks that i keep making the same mistake in preparing, just neglecting cardio. In hindsight i shud really be devoting an entire training block to building up my conditioning to a high level off-season, and hten maintaining that year-round. But ive never been strong enough or athletic enough to warrant changing focus away from those things towards improved conditioning.
Maybe a leanish morning weight of 77.5kg which equates to 80kg game time would be a good place to aim for by day 13?
Even moreso in a game like basketball, which is about skill. The best way to get your fitness up is by playing as many basketball games as you can preferably organised games, but even pick up is better than just going on a treadmill or whatever for cardio.
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So acknowledging that sports performance is just as much about how you think & perceive yourself and the game as it is about physical ability, i think i'd like to play at my heaviest bodyweight this time around, just for a change. I usually go super light and then get bodied around, sure it makes (warmup) dunking a piece of cake but it's not like that ever amounted to a game dunk. In reality, im more likely to dunk in-game when feeling powerful & agressive at a heavier bw.
My idea is to go on the creatine for the comp. Also ima be carbed up for once. But the thing which worries me right now is whether i have enough fitness. I havent been keeping up with the cardio .. and im not sure i have enough time to fix that. Sigh. It really sucks that i keep making the same mistake in preparing, just neglecting cardio. In hindsight i shud really be devoting an entire training block to building up my conditioning to a high level off-season, and hten maintaining that year-round. But ive never been strong enough or athletic enough to warrant changing focus away from those things towards improved conditioning.
Maybe a leanish morning weight of 77.5kg which equates to 80kg game time would be a good place to aim for by day 13?
Even moreso in a game like basketball, which is about skill. The best way to get your fitness up is by playing as many basketball games as you can preferably organised games, but even pick up is better than just going on a treadmill or whatever for cardio.
ideally it would be both games + practice + pickup + cardio. but season ended 2 wks ago in my league and ive been lucky to get a game last wk but not sure if i will this one and next. will try to arrange 1v1 against some good players, maybe even 1v2; 21 games, that will help fitness. failing that it has to come from the treadmill and sprint intevals etc :/
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Bodyweight: 77.8kg
Activity:
Training today. I look like shit, smh, shud have accepted 73.0kg as a new set point but i was unsatisfied with it and now im nowhere near it anymore either :(
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a suggestion, not a new one: stop thinking about your bodyweight at all. no more targets. focus on being the basketball player you want to be, and eating nutritious food, and let the rest flow from that.
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a suggestion, not a new one: stop thinking about your bodyweight at all. no more targets. focus on being the basketball player you want to be, and eating nutritious food, and let the rest flow from that.
I'm not thinking about bodyweight. 73kg corresponds to the leanest ive been in a while, nothing more nothign less. It's the bf% at 73kg i was/am referring to..
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a suggestion, not a new one: stop thinking about your bodyweight at all. no more targets. focus on being the basketball player you want to be, and eating nutritious food, and let the rest flow from that.
I'm not thinking about bodyweight. 73kg corresponds to the leanest ive been in a while, nothing more nothign less. It's the bf% at 73kg i was/am referring to..
then i amend my suggestion to: stop thinking about your bf%.
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Bodyweight: 77.8kg
Activity: 8000+ (good!)
Training today. I look like shit, smh, shud have accepted 73.0kg as a new set point but i was unsatisfied with it and now im nowhere near it anymore either :(
BS 5x110, 2x6x90(paused)
Dunks & shooting around
Hill sprints 2x6
Notes:
Meh, wasnt really up for anything good trainign wise but i punched in the bare min. Got some dunks down on hardcourt but it wasnt the higher rim so idk if it's worth anything. I shud prob test on a high rim next time to see where im at. Also didnt have weighed vest to use for sprints, but that's okay cos it was the first time doing them since last yr.
Really wish i cud eat everything to recover and train better but instead of i have to content with tasteless chicken breast lol. Fucking dickhead.
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how cud i forget to mention. something in my jumpshot form clicked today, i was using a wrist cocked action which was giving me great accuracy (around 90%) .. so if this is a permenant improvement i might not be a complete shit bball player after all.
One thing i need to get right this year is tapering off the lifting/weight vest/rest of training closer to comp. last comp a year ago, i was completely fatigued :( and instead of being super athletic i was just okay. stupid weight vest. i wore it too much in hindsight. no one ever told me you're supposed to take it off when peaking for something? anyway this time i'll be conservative.
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a suggestion, not a new one: stop thinking about your bodyweight at all. no more targets. focus on being the basketball player you want to be, and eating nutritious food, and let the rest flow from that.
I'm not thinking about bodyweight. 73kg corresponds to the leanest ive been in a while, nothing more nothign less. It's the bf% at 73kg i was/am referring to..
then i amend my suggestion to: stop thinking about your bf%.
idk. i dont have the motivation rn to do a 14 day PSMF w/ 24hr fasting on 1MAD which wud get me to 73kg or so. But supposing i did that, then i'd have another 3kg to diet off to be 10%bf. Which is prob another 21 days of similar hardcore dieting. Why would i accept my 15-20% bf rn as something to live with as an acceptable state of affairs? It's just a recipe for great mediocrity. I will finish the job, i just dont know when, life is about to get real busy until mid june so yah, fuck it. I fucked up. And i might not get another chance which is what's saddening.
i dont really have a choice tho, if i focus on lifts or dunking or conditioning or whatever - it just means im delaying the inevitable cut, and when i get around to doing that cut any gains gained from those other phases wud vanish, it's pointles,s surely you can undrestand that
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Have you had your BF% checked?
I think youre going about this all backwards. The dieting youre doing wont help much hecause youre killing muscular gains as well. Yes your BF% goes down but so does your strength relative to BW. Building muscles burns fat as well dont forget that. I second LBSS. Stop thinking of BF, scales and mirrors. Lift heavy. Go jump and play. Eat clean but for gods sake do EAT. And let the pieces fall where they may. i think youll be pleasantly surprised.
Edit: I say this because as an athlete... I see more harm in manipulation of BW than anything else. You will find a happy medium but you have to let your body get there thtough training and eating clean (not starving yourself). BW manipulation seems to be something a bodybuilders need more than athletes.
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If you eat enough protein you don't lose the muscle (just the strength which can come back later). But building muscle needs calories and if you start from an initial high bodyfat level, it will go up not down while gaining strength/mass. Now you end up in a worse situation even if you do gain some muscle your overall bf% is higher and you're relatively weaker. No win.
The better formula is diet down to 10% (say). Maintain it a while (hard for me). Then mass gain patiently up to goal weight (80-85kg for me) while maintaining or not straying far from goal bodyfat (10%). Not sure I can get up to lean 85 or 90kg without drugs tho but I'm sure gna try get to a lean 80kg without them.
Most ppl don't understand that someone who is 10% at 70kg and someone else who is 10% at 90kg have only 2kg of fat separating them. Diff between 10% at 70 and 100, yup only 3kg If you can afford to lose 5kg of fat, you're too heavy. I can afford to lose more than 5kg :(. For what it's worth to justify carrying an extra 5kg bodyfat, I would need to weigh 120kg at the same bf. That's basically what you guys are suggesting to be ok with having the same amount of bodyfat as someone who weighs 120kg. And yes I test my bodyfat ALL the time, i habitually pinch my skinfolds around my waist all the time and can tell when im getting fatter or leaner. That's the best bodyfat test I know of.
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Thats based on the old myth that you cant lose fat AND gain muscle. Pretty sure its been debunked scientifically and ive personally seen 2 guys that Ive trained in the last 3 months (both already in decent shape as they are hoopers) lose weight and gain muscle. Their tested BF% went DOWN even tho they gained 4 and 6 lbs respectively.
Edit: (more info) both started off in the high teens/low 20s BF %. The one at 18% is now around 14% and the one at 22% is now at 19%. True its not drastic but its measurable results (7 point caliper test) in only a few months. Yes they initially dropped weight for the first 2 weeks then stabilized then gained but the entire time their body comp had noticable changes.
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it's possible, but not major changes to either muscle mass or fat mass take place in a recomp. ive done it by forcefeeding myself a chicken (only breast meat) every day. bf mass reduced, muscle mass went up slightly, bf% went down. I cant bring myself to do that experiment again, but even if i did, i need to be realistic. It wont recomp -7kg adipose +Xkg muscle mass. If i can afford to drop 7kg of bodyweight, recomping isn't the solution. Maybe if i was only 1-2kg overweight i cud do a recomp, 7kg is too much to recomp
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/reducing-body-fat-percentage-by-gaining-muscle-qa.html/
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Bodyweight: ?
Activity: 6000
Started loading creatine today. Hopefully will be fully kicked in by day 14 (tournament day). Bumped pepper dosage to 5x500mg. Gna keep adding 500mg every night as I tolerate it.
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Bodyweight: 77kg (86kg w/ vest)
Activity: 12k+ (great!)
Maybe i'll recomp for a while tho.
OHP 2x57.5, 2x59.5(LPR), 0Fx60.5, 2x57.5, 2x58.5, 2x57.5, 0Fx57.5
Dunks ~ 20 (including weighted ones on the high rim, LPR)
Bball practice
BS 3x110(paused, LPR?), 6x100
DB OHP 6x20, 4Fx22.5, 6x20
Notes:
Didnt sprint but it's okay, next time. Just got caught up playing bball and i wont apologise for that given the need to get in shape for the tournament.
Bumped Cayenne caps to 6x500mg, 3g i think is what i recall reading in a study. However, i hope i can tolerate it b/c my stomach kinda felt off today. Am i being a pussy, is 3g a lot or nah? I love spicy food so idk i thought i had decent tolerance. Ok i checked and on examine.com they mention 10g, so i need to work up to 20 of these bitches. lmao.
Had shakes and chicken and rice. will treat myself to some PB&jam toast for dessert yay.
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Bodyweight: 76.5kg (88kg with vest)
Activity: 7500+
Added 2kg to the vest to max out at 10kg. I think it's time to adjust to that then use it for training tmr including sprints etc. Will refeed also tmr. Not sure how long creatine takes to kick in but if adds some body weight and increased carbs (& calories) do also, but i lose some adipose in the next 7 days.. where do i end up on the scales? I think 77.5kg is reasonable? So long as it's a strong and leanish 77.5kg i shud feel pretty good about my athleticism for the tournament.
So had 2g, 2g and 3g of cayenne in 3 doses today. handled it ok but it's weird taking it fasted, feel sick but you can def feel the warmth.. maybe i'll adapt. 7g total, shud be up to 10g soon(20 caps)/day.
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Some random thoughts & observations .. please discuss
1. My midsection startna looking somewhat solid.. i think the abz doms after reintroducing sprints may be related. you look at sprinters and they got those weirdly jacked obliques, i wonder if this is why lately i look less soft or fluffy or whatever lephumism fat ppl use. Anyone have any insight on this re their own experience?
2. watched video of me shooting around and i noticed when i shoot hte ball my feet are very close. i also suspect it's not too dissimilar when im dunking. does this mean im leaving athletic performance or accuracy on the table by not widening out slightly (not much, i mean r/n im maybe my feet are 6 inch apart. thoughts on this pls
3. i missed a beat by not fitting in some sort of hip hinge in my training. training economy and what not. Missing RDLs i think. need them as a staple i think for a lack of a pull, esp now that i dont do chinups either and my lats and upper back respond well to heavy rdls
4. holy shit creatine has been a godsend .. i rem how sore i'd get after playing bball a lot and it's made a diff to use dat celltech, will go off it after the comp tho but eventually i will come bakc on it when ive earned the right to use it..
5. reminder to try coges suggestion for icecream replacement tmr for the refeed. i cant with a straight face touch icecream ever again, it's too highly addictive, esp now that ive developed a taste for conneisur which is likke the only decent icecream you can get in the country .. i miss america
6. ALso thinking of getting a GHR or a gym membership with one, cos back xtn doesn't seem to have enough ROM in it after watching the Klokov 70kg vid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuHJYKUapZw)again, i feel it's not apples to apples comparison what I did with my 75kg set..
the rom is so sexy on this exercise .. even with zero degree and unweighed, i cant do this ROM on my back xtn bench while holding plates .. and ive discussed how using a bar doesn't work (never ruled out the ez curl bar idea b/c i cant get my hands on both things at the same time :bench & bar) .. anyway i digress
7. any one wanna help me write a tapering program for the next 7 days? i managed to arrange a game for monday. so will train and lift monday. then was thinking take tues and weds off and train thurs (light). peaky saturday?
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Bodyweight: 76.1kg
Activity: 9000
Training day finally!! I wanted to aim for something like 12k units of activity again but didnt sleep so idk if it's a)do-able or b)good idea. We'll see i guess. smh
Gna try do something special with back xtn tonight. Also have to bench/sprint/dunk. Yikes.
BS 3x120, 2x120, 3x120, 6x2x120
BP 1x90, 5x80, 5x78.5, 5x78, 6Fx72.5
Back Xtn 10x50(PR), 6x75(PR!!), 10x50(=PR)
Notes:
20 reps with 120kg, i think that's a good indication of im on the right track with my signature goal.
Wanted to dunk and sprint but the court was taken by some hoodlums and by the time i went to another court (Which was too dark i thought would be lit) and came back to the first court, my body had got cold. Even just an unweighted jump at the rim felt rusty in the quads, decided it wouldn't be a good session and bailed.
Food:
(http://i.imgur.com/kZ7jpks.png)
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Eats some vegetables, dude.
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Eats some vegetables, dude.
when i do i dont log zero cal foods but yah
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Bodyweight: 76.3kg
Activity: 10.5+k
Cayenne: 12g (PR!)
Rest dayyyyy, feeling pretty refresh tho! Thanks refeed. If there is some postrefeed water thing going on maybe i will be a bit lighter real soon? idk, lessc. Gna go back to sleep now tho. If i feel up to will go ball in the afternoon.
im still stuck on parsing while working on my programming language. lol. hopefully i can get that done today and move on to more exciting parts.
decent enuf day, navigated the potential obstacles in socialising by judicious use of diet soda and quest bars. Played some ball then went out with friends and ended it with hacking on my parser while watching a sunset at hte beach. good good.
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Bodyweight: 76kg
Activity:
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Bodyweight: ?
Activity: 7000
rest .. turned out an invitation to play a game tonight. i played one last night and it was awful. thught rest would be better. tmr im gna train hard af tho.
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Bodyweight: 76.1kg
Activity:
BS 4x120(PR; w/ 4x25kgs), 3x115(paused; PR)
OHP 3x57.5(LPR), 0Fx60.5, 3x55, 6x52.5
WCU 5x93.7(+15kg), 2x103.7(+25kg), 5x88.7(+10kg)
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Bodyweight: 76.8kg
Activity: 13.5k+ (oops; so much for rest.. haha)
I did a refeed last night .. pretty decent one, around 300g of carb/protein. Woke up looking pretty ripped so i must have nailed it. Had 4 scoops of icecream too haha. SO today im gonna do a proper rest. Tmr i will put up some shots, do a LIGHT workout and rest and shud be roughly peaky for saturday? Lets see. I shouldnt touch the fucking weightvest but ive made a deal with myself to limit weight to 6-7kg max.
I hit a PR of 36" on a vert test yesterday. Funny thing is i havent done a vert check much at all, maybe once about 3-4 years back. ANd i havent jumped at all seriously in 6 months due to injury. So i reckon if i get my ducks in order, im a 40" jumper. Have a vid on insta in any case.
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36" is no joke mate. Nice work!
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36" is no joke mate. Nice work!
Thanks! I have room for improvement so i'm not getting too excited.
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Yes, 36'' vert is impressive on it's own, at your height and reach it gets... scary. Congratulations and keep it up!!! :highfive:
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Faaarrrrk 36 inch vert you jump higher than me now :o
Can't wait to see some trick dunks coming :headbang:
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Yes, 36'' vert is impressive on it's own, at your height and reach it gets... scary. Congratulations and keep it up!!! :highfive:
Thanks vag :) Only thing scary about me is the mediocrity to athleticism ratio but i'll take it.
Faaarrrrk 36 inch vert you jump higher than me now :o
Can't wait to see some trick dunks coming :headbang:
Need way more vertical reserve to do anything significant. But recently ive been thinking ive got to practice on low rims (and use size 6 ball if it helps) to get technique down before moving onto regulation rims. It's not important right now, 40" is more critical to success than anything else but will start doing the occasional low rim session just for fun.
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Bodyweight: 76.5kg
Activity:
I kinda messed up with those weighted chinups. I know they torch my abs a lot but i did them anyway and ive had pretty sore abs to the point where it limits mobility. Feel better today than I did yesterday. Im gna try ice and rest and so on. Smash the protein and hope one more sleep gets them recovered enough for my first game tmr.
Otherwise, 76.5kg is a pretty damn perfect reading, what I may have expected and hoped for but not achieved perfectly another time. This means with some food and water in my gut im a leanish 77kg, adding clothes and shoes and maybe 79-80kg. Which is a decent weight for me where I can still play okay in the post. I dont want to spend much time in the post wrestling big dudes who have 30-40kg on me on D especially, hopefully can just play C and protect the rim and let someone else bang it out with the bigs.
Anyway, going to try real hard to limit activity to 6k today. Yesterday i messed up and broke my device's PR at 13.5k+ units. Im incorrigible...
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omg, im so hyped from that weekend. Will do a proper update at some point but right now i just cant wait to get back into training hard.
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BW: 77.4kg
Activity:
Legs finally recovered enough to feel like training. Not sure what I will emphasise tho, some thigns 'fun'. Low rim dunking with a 6 ball might be it? Maybe focus on sprinting and/or running?
Something different. Hmm...
BS 2x117.5(PR; paused), 2x122.5(PR; 25s), 2x125(PR; 25s), 2x120
Calf Raise 15x160(LPR; new ex)
BP 6x70, 1x80, 8x60, 8x67.5
RDL 8x70(LPR), 8x100(LPR), 8x110(LPR)
Dunks and shit (~20 of them)
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Finally took the plunge and added back RDLs. First impressions were the medball felt lighter in my hand when i did some jumpshot micking with the 6kg medball. I will be adding exercises piecemeal as I go along into winter, next is prob cable rows which I find beneficial for maintaining chest position at the bottom of a squat. Cool. Also did some throws with the medball and low rim dunks tried to do a windmill with the 6 ball, landed it but idk, it doesnt look anything at all like a wmill so idk.
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Bodyweight: 78.5kg
Activity:
Interesting doms post reintroduction of RDLs. Erectors and abz. I do think rather than replace back extensions RDLs will compliment them nicely. Gna keep my form and rom strict and full and see where it takes me. Also explosive.
Today i will fast and PSMF most of the day but will eat around 130g of carbs at night. Just wanna recomp for now. Ate two tubs of icecream over Monday night and Tuesday morning - i have decided to break up with icecream, it's too hard to moderate so will just not have any from here on.
I dont really care about my shitty dunking -- but -- i havent got any movement efficiency for jumping rn, not having dunked regularly since something like august. Cud build it up back but i feel satisfied in knowing just squatting will maintain and improve my vertical that i dont even need to do ANY jumps at all. But ai good dunk session is actually a great conditioning workout, so thats prob a good reason to do it. I did notice yesterday on the court i was able to accelerate rapidly on drives. Seems my body is pretty athletic in that sense right now .. not sure why tho but if i can incorporate that into my drills hopefully i can maintain and build acceleration for free for when i get back into basketball proper in the summer.
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i have decided to break up with icecream, it's too hard to moderate so will just not have any from here on.
:P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzTNsFcbdmI
Man that sucks! I did the same thing and the next time I had connoisseur ice cream I couldn't believe how sweet it was. The sugar content was off the charts. I did find this stuff https://www.facebook.com/powtein/ (https://www.facebook.com/powtein/) at NQR of all places recently for $3-4 a tub. Pretty nice as a substitute.
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i have decided to break up with icecream, it's too hard to moderate so will just not have any from here on.
:P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzTNsFcbdmI
Man that sucks! I did the same thing and the next time I had connoisseur ice cream I couldn't believe how sweet it was. The sugar content was off the charts. I did find this stuff https://www.facebook.com/powtein/ (https://www.facebook.com/powtein/) at NQR of all places recently for $3-4 a tub. Pretty nice as a substitute.
I did that after laying off my previous goto (Streets Cookie & Cream). Used to go tubs of it at a time (2L ones). After discovering Connoisseur Chocolate Brownie, I tried the streets and no lie, i had one or two scoops and put the entire thing in the bin. It was just too sweet. Just plain sugar, yuck. Maybe the next step in the evolution is to make my own icecream with the right macros.
Re the healthy variants, i actually have a tub sitting in the fridge but I can't bring myself to try it, mainly cos i think i will hate it and it cost $15 for a small tub. Will see if i can find your recommendation, $4 is much better..
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i have decided to break up with icecream, it's too hard to moderate so will just not have any from here on.
Man that sucks! I did the same thing and the next time I had connoisseur ice cream I couldn't believe how sweet it was. The sugar content was off the charts. I did find this stuff https://www.facebook.com/powtein/ (https://www.facebook.com/powtein/) at NQR of all places recently for $3-4 a tub. Pretty nice as a substitute.
I did that after laying off my previous goto (Streets Cookie & Cream). Used to go tubs of it at a time (2L ones). After discovering Connoisseur Chocolate Brownie, I tried the streets and no lie, i had one or two scoops and put the entire thing in the bin. It was just too sweet. Just plain sugar, yuck. Maybe the next step in the evolution is to make my own icecream with the right macros.
Re the healthy variants, i actually have a tub sitting in the fridge but I can't bring myself to try it, mainly cos i think i will hate it and it cost $15 for a small tub. Will see if i can find your recommendation, $4 is much better..
Yes we did that too. Started with Streets them moved to Connoisseur. You should make your own, or maybe a variant of it. I've made the avacado mousse in the past and it's pretty tasty.
I've had the protein sorbet that's $9 for a 200ml tub but I just can't bring myself to buy it anymore. Just way too expensive. Only problem with somewhere like NQR is their stock changes so much. They do have a "health food" isle now though with protein bars and powders and stuff.
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If Connoisseur made smaller tubs (500mL) and sold them in supermarkets, I would still be okay, I would only keep one around and know it's ok to have it once a week as a refeed following volume day squats etc. But 1L is just too much. I know you can get smaller ones at petrol stations but they dont stock my fav flavour so it's not a solution, plus they're expensive. I think NQR is Vic only :/ but i'll try doing some research and see if i find an alternative.
Just saw Woolworths is doing these atm for $3.99
(https://wowpmediaaas.azureedge.net/content/wowproductimages/large/830356.jpg)
i might try it.. size is right, price too. but i doubt it's as good lol
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Actually check out Coles. They have their own brand of gourmet style ice cream. The pistachio swirl is awesome
(http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/3/g/3/3/s/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.10iv57.png/1411081071873.jpg)
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Haha, theres just too many different options, i can never risk trying something different that might not be as good as one of my favs. Would like to try the coles ones though. The Harry's option was actually okay, i had it tonight. I dont think it displaces Connoisseurs but it can do the job. The only thing which turned me of was reading the ingredients list and it mention some glucose syrup (corn), eh, why not just real food man. smh.
Just want to mention in passing that i have some decent hamstring soreness. RDLs seem to be doing the trick. Nice.
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Haha, theres just too many different options, i can never risk trying something different that might not be as good as one of my favs. Would like to try the coles ones though. The Harry's option was actually okay, i had it tonight. I dont think it displaces Connoisseurs but it can do the job. The only thing which turned me of was reading the ingredients list and it mention some glucose syrup (corn), eh, why not just real food man. smh.
It's definitely a slippery slope. I'm amazed I managed to avoid buying any talking about it this much.
A lot of Aus foods have largely avoided the corn syrup in the past but I've noticed it more and more which is just shocking.
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Haha, theres just too many different options, i can never risk trying something different that might not be as good as one of my favs. Would like to try the coles ones though. The Harry's option was actually okay, i had it tonight. I dont think it displaces Connoisseurs but it can do the job. The only thing which turned me of was reading the ingredients list and it mention some glucose syrup (corn), eh, why not just real food man. smh.
It's definitely a slippery slope. I'm amazed I managed to avoid buying any talking about it this much.
A lot of Aus foods have largely avoided the corn syrup in the past but I've noticed it more and more which is just shocking.
I think my initial plan of cold turkey is still the most likely to succeed. The whole moderation thing will never happen. Last night I took 4 5-htp capsules to curb my cravings to finish off the rest of the icecream supply. Better not have any around i think :/ 5htp did the trick tho, didnt crave anymore. Phew. I worked so hard to get kinda leanish, i can undo it is so easily with a few days of prolonged binging ...
on that note, i may go read the ingredients list of the Conneiseur choc brownie, if it's unnnatural enough, that will convince me to stay away. hopefully..
Possible mitigation strategies
1. increase training volume
2. start doing loads of cardio
3. stop
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Haha, theres just too many different options, i can never risk trying something different that might not be as good as one of my favs. Would like to try the coles ones though. The Harry's option was actually okay, i had it tonight. I dont think it displaces Connoisseurs but it can do the job. The only thing which turned me of was reading the ingredients list and it mention some glucose syrup (corn), eh, why not just real food man. smh.
It's definitely a slippery slope. I'm amazed I managed to avoid buying any talking about it this much.
A lot of Aus foods have largely avoided the corn syrup in the past but I've noticed it more and more which is just shocking.
I think my initial plan of cold turkey is still the most likely to succeed. The whole moderation thing will never happen. Last night I took 4 5-htp capsules to curb my cravings to finish off the rest of the icecream supply. Better not have any around i think :/ 5htp did the trick tho, didnt crave anymore. Phew. I worked so hard to get kinda leanish, i can undo it is so easily with a few days of prolonged binging ...
on that note, i may go read the ingredients list of the Conneiseur choc brownie, if it's unnnatural enough, that will convince me to stay away. hopefully..
Possible mitigation strategies
1. increase training volume
2. start doing loads of cardio
3. stop
I think you're spot on with just stop being the easiest to maintain. I did that with sugar and alcohol and lost fat so easily it wasn't funny. Went back on them for a few weeks and back at square one.
Also, just think, if you stop and increase your training volume and cardio. Hello shredville!
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Yep, have to make the task as easy as possible. Testing my willpower constantly is not a good way to tip things in my favour. Success can happen, it just becomes less and less unlikely. I'm better off being 100% strict and clean than trying to balance conflicting goals. But this is only temporary, when im done cutting (WHEN??) I wont have to deal with this shit b/c I wont even crave this stuff anymore. Will start over on sunday. I think i have found that to be the best day to do it after volume saturday.
Thinking of switching my language over from C to Rust, mainly cos I started using a higher level language (Racket) for implementation because I was having trouble getting correctness leave alone grappling with the C induced issues of memory management etc. But having got it correct in Racket now I was gna go back to reimplement in C - just realised I'd miss closures, and looked into it and Rust has them so I can use them instead of trying to do without them in C. I'm just such a bad programmer that the right choice of language makes the difference between getting shit done and reasonably ok, and not ..
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Bodyweight: 79kg
Activity: 9k
Nutrition: clean
So a bit of a background, this is effectively where I will start to eat and train like KF, day in day out discipline with an eye for long term gains. Roughly a calendar year til next Easter. Will do daily weighings and logging of activity, maybe even start charting it (not essential but i could do a graph in my sig.). I have a 36" vert to start (vid src/proof: @maxentr0py) but 42" is what I want by day 345.
Training
BS 2x120(paused;=PR), 3x120(paused; PR), 2x120(paused), 3x3x120
Back Xtn 3x12x60(PR; 2x25kg+10kg vest)
Sprints 6x150m (PR; new ex)
Notes:
Didnt squat at home, renovations rendered gym unavailable. Wasnt sure if id be able to do a decent workout at the gym cos they dont have a powercage and i am not confident squatting out of the rack. But, i did, and i got some decent sets in. I wanted a triple PR to start with and racked it at 2 cos of gym dickheads either side of me threw me off :/ Then did a triple the following set when I had a better vibe. And another paused double. Finished it with some unpaused sets. Then went to the courts to do some jumps, wasnt happening, came home.
Ok, fk it, im commiting to sprinting every workout. Hill sprints if I cant be fucked, submax otherwise and ME at least once a week.
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Can you just post that vid here? Don't have IG.
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Can you just post that vid here? Don't have IG.
cud do but then i gotta hide it after and it's just a hassle. arent we all on insta these days? i only started using it when i saw andrew, gukl, todday and coges use it. but will do.
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just post it as unlisted?
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Bodyweight: 78.5kg
Activity: 13.3k (PR; oops)
Kinda sore in the posterior chain as expected... but i have to do upper body lifts then go down for some pickup. Wud rather rest but this is a social thing so ima do it.
BP 1x90
Bball pickup (pretty high level effort ..)
BP 3x5x80(LPR), 5x77.5
WCU 4x5x90 (ish; used +10kg vest so idk)
Did you guys see the vids then? I took it down before sleeping so idk if you did.
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Bodyweight: 79.1kg (lol)
Activity: 10.4K
Yesterday was one of those days which changes everything. Playing pickup with my mate was a game changer. He's 6'6" about 115kg and he blocked the shit out of me on a drive from behind, aka lebron james. I have work to do. Want to be a lean 85-90kg playing against him and holding my own. So um, if you had to add 40kg to your paused squat workset, how wud you do it? Asking for a friend.. haha.
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So um, if you had to add 40kg to your paused squat workset, how wud you do it? Asking for a friend.. haha.
Easy answer:
http://www.adarq.org/progress-journals-experimental-routines/kingfish/
And that is not playing smartass, kingfish has shown how extremely simple it is to do it. No rocket science at all.
-Eat too make gains. Not cutting, not bulking, not re-compositioning... just fueling the machine you want to make work good.
-Get a shitload of protein and creatin in your body daily.
-Squat volumes. KF didn't wake up one morning with a 475lbs paused squat. He got it up there with 5x8 if i remember well. And those 8s were not really eights, they looked more like 8x1 clusters.
-Repeat with inhuman motivation and dedication till kingdom comes.
-Kingdom does come.
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^Great post vag. I think the most important message there is you need to eat to facilitate your training, not the other way around.
Didn't see the vid max. I wasn't aware I had to be monitoring your journal 24/7! Can you just PM me the link?
Edit: I just signed up to IG. This better be the best 36'' video I've ever seen.
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Bodyweight: 78.6kg
Activity: 7785 (2352)
Soreness: Hamstrings, lats, forearms
Finally training dayyy. Mate asked to fill-in last night and i was super tempted but training today would have been compromised so i passed it up. Thinking i shud start doing 45 degree back extensions again as my second back xtn workout of the week instead of just 1 per week with the 0 degree. The reason i say that, i think i had good glute development when i did the 45s + sprinting a few months ago. In any case im doing RDLs now so hopefully I have all bases covered now.
BS 1x120(paused), 5x100(paused), 6Bx100(paused), 6x90(paused)
RDL 12x120(PR), 10x120
Hill sprints 5x30s (awesome; felt very explosive/powerful on first 2. but during the 4th rep i felt performance gone down and it didnt come back up)
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Bodyweight: 79.6kg (yikes)
Activity:
Soreness: traps (!), hams, quads, lats
Well im happy with the results so far in that ive gotten stronger and put on some muscle. But along has come some fat and the eating for performance thing is a bit too openended. It wont end well, i can see me getting up to mid 80kgs moving some okayish weights but having 10kg excess fat to to lose, not that keen on that situation.
Looking at my sig goals, hopefully i can get the ohp one (60kg worksets) this week. Bench is the one lagging, squats are already there more or less. Then i shud just get htat 10% out of the way. We'll see tho.
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Well that was a pretty good vid. How'd you measure it?
Just my opinion but I don't like the way you drop down from your paused position, it's loading the the lumbar spine in flexion, which is not great if you can avoid it. Also a bit of squat morning on those heavy attempts but I guess you know that. I have no doubt you can get to 42'' in a year but you gotta watch the back!
Well im happy with the results so far in that ive gotten stronger and put on some muscle. But along has come some fat and the eating for performance thing is a bit too openended. It wont end well, i can see me getting up to mid 80kgs moving some okayish weights but having 10kg excess fat to to lose, not that keen on that situation.
Deal with that when it comes and you want to peak. T0ddday has given you great advice for that stage over the years throughout this journal. Without the muscle gains on those chicken legs of yours, you won't sniff 42'' regardless!
Yesterday was one of those days which changes everything. Playing pickup with my mate was a game changer. He's 6'6" about 115kg and he blocked the shit out of me on a drive from behind, aka lebron james. I have work to do. Want to be a lean 85-90kg playing against him and holding my own. So um, if you had to add 40kg to your paused squat workset, how wud you do it? Asking for a friend.. haha.
That should not be a game-changer. Putting 40kgs on your back squat will not stop that. Anything happening to you from behind on the court is awareness and body position. It's the same as when you get stripped from behind after you drive past someone and they tap the ball out behind your back: in the absence of extreme speed gains, you have to get your body between the ball and the defender to stop that happening. Same with getting blocked from behind. Get your body in the way so they can only foul, or reverse it. You can dunk easily with your current vertical and height, so why not make those open layups --> open dunks or unblockable finger rolls at the rim? That's pure skills practice, one dribble layups from the 3-pt line, nothing weights will do for you there. On top of that, everyone, including LeBron, gets blocked from behind occasionally, but they'll go hard at the rim the very next play. It's nothing to get one shot blocked in a whole game ...unless you let it affect you mentally.
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Well that was a pretty good vid. How'd you measure it?
(http://i.imgur.com/rpkFUAD.png)
Thanks! My measurement is crude but here is how it works, i have a 98" reach (say), so 22" gets me to the rim (120"). So rim touches below fingertip + 22" gives my vertical inches. A 40" vertical corresponds to touches around the elbow joint (22"+18"). And based on that a couple of inches above is 36" or more. Using this 36" is kinda conservative and i'm prob a bit higher but measurement error aside im okay with working with a starting value of 36" and 40" will be more definitive though when I achieve it.
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i would give a year of my life to have a 98" reach.
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Well that was a pretty good vid. How'd you measure it?
(http://i.imgur.com/rpkFUAD.png)
Thanks! My measurement is crude but here is how it works, i have a 98" reach (say), so 22" gets me to the rim (120"). So rim touches below fingertip + 22" gives my vertical inches. A 40" vertical corresponds to touches around the elbow joint (22"+18"). And based on that a couple of inches above is 36" or more. Using this 36" is kinda conservative and i'm prob a bit higher but measurement error aside im okay with working with a starting value of 36" and 40" will be more definitive though when I achieve it.
And my reach is 98" too :'(
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i would give a year of my life to have a 98" reach.
wow!
And my reach is 98" too :'(
reach bros :highfive:
lbss it's not all it's cracked up to be .. noodle arms means wearing compression gear my arms look like some kind of effiminate tightrope walker
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lbss it's not all it's cracked up to be .. noodle arms means wearing compression gear my arms look like some kind of effiminate tightrope walker
lol. in your defense, that was a great movie.
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTMxNTk3NDY1NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDk0ODg3MQ@@._V1_UX182_CR0,0,182,268_AL_.jpg)
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Bodyweight: 78.4kg
Activity: 10k (good)
Soreness/Injury: n/a
Gonna try to nail down nutrition towards baseline requirements, aiming for 1x weekly carb refeeds saturdays. I cant really justify doing refeed quantity carb intake (~250g) daily. So yah. Eventually maybe EOD refeeds on training days (3x weekly) will be okay but rn 1x a week is fine. Daily intake of 150g carb baseline. Rice and pasta confuses me, need to start weighing that shit.
Training
Not enough sleep but thinking I still have a squat PR or two in me followed by some dunking/jumping.
BS 4x120(paused; PR), 2x125(paused; PR), 2x120
OHP 6x2x60(LPR)
Sprints 2x5x45m
Notes:
I was okay with the 4x120kg but the 2x125kg one gm pretty good on the 2nd rep. So yah, idk if that was a good idea but im gonna try to do some cleanup before attempting ≥125kg. I can prob do a cleaner double next attempt which would be the first step. Im alright with the odd squatmorning acole but in this case i know it's gna destroy my erectors a lot. Hopefully not too much that i cant do my next squat volume session in 48 hours. Only good thing about accidental squatmornings is that they do wonders for erectors once recovered.
Didn't do any dunks, ran out of time and motivation lol. I havent dunked/jumped in a proper session for a while now. but now i think that's not a bad thing, ha. its just i can jump outdoors anytime but doing a dunk session there seems like a bad idea now since it triggers my jumpers knee on my R leg which is otherwise fine, even doing dunks indoors. and finding a free indoor court is just too much hassle after workouts.
Intersting with the sprints that i find myself slowing as i reach the end of the sprint but I realised i cud in fact accelerate and speed up. It's prob doing that which teaches my body something new and useful.. anyway. so far ive stuck to my promise to sprint every tyme.
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Alright I must have missed the boat... i dont see an IG vid :(
So post up ya IG so I can follow :)
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Alright I must have missed the boat... i dont see an IG vid :(
So post up ya IG so I can follow :)
@maxentr0py .. feel free to follow :)
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Bodyweight: 79kg
Activity:
Injury/Soreness: Surprisingly little. Tad in erectors, faintly in quads
Flat surface sprints usually cause me a good deal of soreness, esp max effort ones. Adapting to sprinting? Makes it less likely to skip them.
Today is 7 days since I last had icecream. lol. Feel obese; Kinda bloated. regretting that week i spent binging on icecream. Never again. Need to get back to where i was immediately after the comp, pretty leanish.
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Today is 7 days since I last had icecream.
This is awesome! Keep it up mate.
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Bodyweight: ??
Activity: ~13k
Injury:Soreness: n/a
Training
BS 2x3x120(paused;PR), 2x120(paused), 3x3x120
BS2 1x120(paused), 2x6x90(all but one rep paused lol)
BP 1x90, 1Fx90
Back Xtn 6x70, 8x70, 2x12x50
Hil Sprints 3x30s
Well was a crazy weekend. Now to get some much needed R&R.Took vag advice and have been taking shitloads of creatine and protein. I just finished snorting some now before bed. lol.
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Bodyweight: 79.8kg (!!!)
Activity:
Injury/Soreness:
Scales actually started at 80.0 before settling on 79.8kg. Yikes. But im am ok with this today. Yesterday i was wearing a pair of jeans which i had to tighten up with a belt cos they were so loose. I mean that's situation normal i cant wear any trousers without a tight belt but as i gain weight i usually start needing one less. And in my car if i put the sun visor down it pretty much covers most of my face. I think the combination of these suggest decent glute hypertrophy without being too much of a fat fuck. That's an optimistic reading. I'm still kinda obese tho objectively :(
After this weekend hopefully ive done enough to cement my OHP, BP and BS at 60/90/120. But bench worksets are far from 90, just singles; i havent even repped 90 which is pretty far from my PR levels where ive done doubles and triples and even 5s with 90kg. So i think i need to start addressing my lagging BP then put lifts on maintenance at 60/90/120 worksets and do some major bodycomp surgery shedding 5-7.5kg of adipose to stabilise at 10% bf.
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One thing i keep coming back to is how bouncy i felt during 1 sprint session a year ago. I was doing stuff like hip thrusts, heavy rdls, bounds, etc in training. One of more or possibly a combo of these, or weight vest training; made me that springy/bouncy. I wanna refind that same bounciness. But frustrating i cant pinpoint which caused the effect :( This may become a theme of this log in the coming months. No change of plan tho, sig remains sacrosanct. Im thinking 5x5x60 and 5x5x90 on ohp and bp needs urgent attention. I'm prob already capable of getting that for squats, nott paused mind you though that might be a good goal.
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Bodyweight: 79.9kg
Activity:
Injury/Soreness: n/a
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Bodyweight: 78.7kg
Activity:
Soreness/Injury: n/a
Training
BP 3x5x82.5(LPR), 2x85(LPR), 2x87.5(LPR), 1Fx90, 1x89.5
Paused BS 2x120, 3x112.5, 6x97.5(PR), 8x95(PR)
RDL 6x120(new warmup), 8x130(meh), 8x110
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BW: 79.8kg
Activity:
Misc:
I didnt even need to do a proper refeed given the minimal volume of training yesterday. But nevertheless I kept eating and eating carbs. It was just bread too. I wasnt even craving it either which is weird, i felt full and still ate another 300g of bread :/ So will try to makeup for it the rest of the week
to add to this, i think one thing which throws me off is bad training days. couldnt grip the bar for rdls, didnt have 5x5 in me for bp. squats i didnt really care about but couldnt even do weighted chins.. just programming issues mainly i think. rdls after bp doesnt seem to work but the other way around might be better? idk. will try.
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12/345, 13/245?
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my browser autofills the subject heading with old titles, which is cool if it actually remembered the last ones used not ones from a year ago lol. so it's just easier to do numbers now without scrolling thru the history of titles and editing it. edit, so 13/345 is day 13 of this 345 day cycle where i want to be by next easter
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my browser autofills the subject heading with old titles, which is cool if it actually remembered the last ones used not ones from a year ago lol. so it's just easier to do numbers now without scrolling thru the history of titles and editing it. edit, so 13/345 is day 13 of this 345 day cycle where i want to be by next easter
Ha. Ok cool.
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Bodyweight: 80.8kg
Activity: ~10k
Misc:
Paused BS 4Fx120(PR), 2x125, 1x127.5(PR), 1x122.5
Dunks ~ 20
OHP 2x3x60(LPR), 3x2x60
Paused BS 6x100, 8x100(PR)
DB OHP 10x20(PR)
Sprints 5x50m (pretty good)
Notes:
Getting better at paused squatting. Unfortunately getting worse at recording my paused squatting. Missed the 4Fx120 and the 2nd set of dunks, one which felt real good.
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Mate your dunks are looking good. You should throw a few reverse dunks in the mix. I'm sure you'd get them pretty easy too.
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Mate your dunks are looking good. You should throw a few reverse dunks in the mix. I'm sure you'd get them pretty easy too.
Will try :)
I'm kinda lost for ideas for dunking training. I was thinking of building up my movement efficiency back to regular dunking levels and then just putting dunks more or less on maintenance and focus on other things, eg max rim touch jumps. The reason is, once i get pretty efficient at dunking, it no longer serves as a jump exercise b/c i dont need to jump very high to dunk and my body doesnt even bother trying to. Which is not good for training...
Yesterday i also did a dunk or two off one leg and i was getting around PR levels on those, which i think is good cos SL dunks are more likely in a game situation on a cut/drive? Idk.. I still want game time dunk and it's never happened but i need to figure out some drills for practising possible game time dunks. One i really like is D.Wade's drive, spin and drop step dunk. Let me link it below. Could I turn this into a drill?
https://streamable.com/4xk7
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Bodyweight: 80.9kg (yikes!!)
Activity: 15K (PR!!)
Misc:
Ok, this is as a heavy as I want to see the scale read while i'm still chasing baseline (sig.) goals. Lol. I'm not going to go on a PSMF lowcarb cut today for the next month but will start watching my diet closer :) Would be ok weighing 80kg or just under as long as my abs start coming back. I think for training it's helpful to be a bit heavier than too light tbh.
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Mate your dunks are looking good. You should throw a few reverse dunks in the mix. I'm sure you'd get them pretty easy too.
Will try :)
I'm kinda lost for ideas for dunking training. I was thinking of building up my movement efficiency back to regular dunking levels and then just putting dunks more or less on maintenance and focus on other things, eg max rim touch jumps. The reason is, once i get pretty efficient at dunking, it no longer serves as a jump exercise b/c i dont need to jump very high to dunk and my body doesnt even bother trying to. Which is not good for training...
Yesterday i also did a dunk or two off one leg and i was getting around PR levels on those, which i think is good cos SL dunks are more likely in a game situation on a cut/drive? Idk.. I still want game time dunk and it's never happened but i need to figure out some drills for practising possible game time dunks. One i really like is D.Wade's drive, spin and drop step dunk. Let me link it below. Could I turn this into a drill?
https://streamable.com/4xk7
If you can work on dunks that are likely to happen in game situations. For me there's be three main dunks that I would see happening in most games. 1) The fast break. Need plenty of practice at dunking off the dribble at full speed or receiving the pass and going straight into your take off. 2) The cut/drive. Like you said, more likely to happen off 1. 3) the drop step. For me this is the perfect dunk for you given the way you dunk. Drop step from the post past your opponent and bam. Whether or not you spend any time in the post is probably the main issue.
Man pick any Wade dunk and you've got me.
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Annnnnnnnnd I hurt my back. Lol. After bball went to the shops bought some stuff, everything was okay, i was PR my activity at 15k, feeling good and getting out of the car I stepped akwardkly and boom, something happened. Back been stiff since :(
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BW: 81.2kg
Activity: 9K
BS - skip (injured)
BP 3x2x90, 4x1x90
Paused BP 5x5x70(PR)
CURL 6x6x40, 3x5x40
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Mate your dunks are looking good. You should throw a few reverse dunks in the mix. I'm sure you'd get them pretty easy too.
Will try :)
I'm kinda lost for ideas for dunking training. I was thinking of building up my movement efficiency back to regular dunking levels and then just putting dunks more or less on maintenance and focus on other things, eg max rim touch jumps. The reason is, once i get pretty efficient at dunking, it no longer serves as a jump exercise b/c i dont need to jump very high to dunk and my body doesnt even bother trying to. Which is not good for training...
Yesterday i also did a dunk or two off one leg and i was getting around PR levels on those, which i think is good cos SL dunks are more likely in a game situation on a cut/drive? Idk.. I still want game time dunk and it's never happened but i need to figure out some drills for practising possible game time dunks. One i really like is D.Wade's drive, spin and drop step dunk. Let me link it below. Could I turn this into a drill?
https://streamable.com/4xk7
If you can work on dunks that are likely to happen in game situations. For me there's be three main dunks that I would see happening in most games. 1) The fast break. Need plenty of practice at dunking off the dribble at full speed or receiving the pass and going straight into your take off. 2) The cut/drive. Like you said, more likely to happen off 1. 3) the drop step. For me this is the perfect dunk for you given the way you dunk. Drop step from the post past your opponent and bam. Whether or not you spend any time in the post is probably the main issue.
Man pick any Wade dunk and you've got me.
Good point about in game dunks... I'm a much better in game dunker than show dunker and you forgot the easiest one... the tip dunk!
For me the dunks that easiest in game dunks are in order:
1) tip dunk
2) drop step
3) looping down the lane trailer cut
4) fastbreak
Fast break dunking is surprisingly hard for a two footed jumper. I have gotten them in games on one foot in the far past but now I don't really go for dunks I'm the break. A couple reasons why. First the penalty for a missed dunk is too great. If the game is competitive it's inexcusable to miss a dunk when your alone on the break while I missed drop step dunk is excusable. Second is that specific training is very hard. You can drill drop step dunks over and over and it's pretty much exactly what happens in games but every fastbreak is unique and your steps and approach variations will take inches off your jump. For that reason I go for graceful layups on the break and save the dunks when they are less anticipated
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Welcome back @T0ddday
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Welcome back! One reason I'm far from a gametime dunk, b/c as a left hand player with a RL plant, im 90% likely to be facing a defender who is well prepared to neutralise my drop stop dunk attempts. So on the right block where I like to post up, if I drop step to the rim unless ive bodied the defender pretty good, it's just easier to slip in a layup or another graceful type move rather than power. OTOH I can spin better on a drive from the left block but then im out of luck for a RL plant with a L finish. lol. Just mix of factors multiply the degree of difficulty. Can 100% your observations on fast break dunks. My spin on the R block is slowwwwwwwww af tho but I can still beat the defender who doesn't know how to defend a good left handed post player which is suprisingly common. I actually have great post presense for an undersized PF. I can score at will on the R block. If the defender is a lot bigger than me then i'm beating him with speed. If he's smaller, im going thru him no probs.
In future i expect two things can help my dunking ability in games. Just being bigger and stronger and overwhelming the defender with power, getting them out of position then drop stepping them. Will be there in 345-15 days :P
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Welcome back! One reason I'm far from a gametime dunk, b/c as a left hand player with a RL plant, im 90% likely to be facing a defender who is well prepared to neutralise my drop stop dunk attempts. So on the right block where I like to post up, if I drop step to the rim unless ive bodied the defender pretty good, it's just easier to slip in a layup or another graceful type move rather than power. OTOH I can spin better on a drive from the left block but then im out of luck for a RL plant with a L finish. lol. Just mix of factors multiply the degree of difficulty. Can 100% your observations on fast break dunks. My spin on the R block is slowwwwwwwww af tho but I can still beat the defender who doesn't know how to defend a good left handed post player which is suprisingly common. I actually have great post presense for an undersized PF. I can score at will on the R block. If the defender is a lot bigger than me then i'm beating him with speed. If he's smaller, im going thru him no probs.
In future i expect two things can help my dunking ability in games. Just being bigger and stronger and overwhelming the defender with power, getting them out of position then drop stepping them. Will be there in 345-15 days :P
As far as the drop step goes I'm the same as you (actually opposite RL-RH which is the same) but one advantage I have is that my spin move is much much better on left block so it's a bit more natural... if you LRL and spin better on left block then you truly are the worst of all possible combinations lol. Ouch.
Two things to work on other than getting a faster spin to avoid the defender completely.
Work on a drop step where you don't actually face up completely. This requires the dunk to have a bit of turn, so it's a drop step spin and the dunk has about a 80 degree spin in it. This allows you to protect the ball and even use your lead hand to fight off the defender (and even push off slightly for a boost). If you have a trainer parter it's best to practice w them - practice your spin, gather, protect and push off w your lead arm on their shoulder... hard to get this perfect but when you do you can get truly nasty dunks...
The other thing to work on (now that I have given up learning opposite plant) is using your non dominant hand... for you if you can start integrating your right hand you will be shocked how easy you can get right handed dunks on the right baseline... not only is the ball protected but you can dunk w the ball behind your body which is sooooo easy... it's a world of difference. You can keep soooo much more speed in your jump because unlike LRR or RLL dunks where you have to dunk the ball "down" to not hit the back rim and miss the dunk you can throw it in at a much flatter angle... I'm no lefty and my father sucks but it's still far easier for me.
I'm assuming that since you are a natural lefty that like most left handed people you probably have a good degree of ambidextrousness and would take to this well...
It's funny how in game dunking is so opposite of perceived difficulty... people rate my dunks as more difficult and impressive when I do left handed, two handed, or drop step rotating dunks... when really the first dunk I ever did was two handed and the "easiest" dunk (all alone single handed right hand dunk) is actually still damn hard to pull off....
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Work on a drop step where you don't actually face up completely. This requires the dunk to have a bit of turn, so it's a drop step spin and the dunk has about a 80 degree spin in it. This allows you to protect the ball and even use your lead hand to fight off the defender (and even push off slightly for a boost). If you have a trainer parter it's best to practice w them - practice your spin, gather, protect and push off w your lead arm on their shoulder... hard to get this perfect but when you do you can get truly nasty dunks...
Sounds v. interesting!!! When I practiced a spin into a drop step I found I had to do the spin real slow to get good groove into the plant for a jump. But I will practice what you've described, it seems subtly different from that. I find hte biggest challenge is not breaking the rules (travelling) while setting up for the dunk.
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Bodyweight: 80.9kg
Activity:
Misc:
Woke up feeling normal. I think my back is fixed!! :wowthatwasnutswtf:
Hopefully tuesday I can go HAM on some heavy volume paused squats before flying out for my bro's wedding on weds. Gonna try make up a decent sink for incoming calories .. i will try eat clean etc but feasts are unavoidable.
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Bodyweight: 81.6kg
Activity:
Misc: weirdness in my lhs of lower back, like doms but not quite, idk
kinda binged last night, had kfc, pizza, cheesecake etc for dinne. will try stay clean today.
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Work on a drop step where you don't actually face up completely. This requires the dunk to have a bit of turn, so it's a drop step spin and the dunk has about a 80 degree spin in it. This allows you to protect the ball and even use your lead hand to fight off the defender (and even push off slightly for a boost). If you have a trainer parter it's best to practice w them - practice your spin, gather, protect and push off w your lead arm on their shoulder... hard to get this perfect but when you do you can get truly nasty dunks...
Sounds v. interesting!!! When I practiced a spin into a drop step I found I had to do the spin real slow to get good groove into the plant for a jump. But I will practice what you've described, it seems subtly different from that. I find hte biggest challenge is not breaking the rules (travelling) while setting up for the dunk.
This is exactly why you don't want to do the spin move slow! If you execute it quickly and get a dunk nobody will notice your traveling... There is sort of an unwritten rule here that if a short guy drop steps on somebody.... nobody dares call travel... The only leagues that do are the same ones which will give you a technical foul for dunking - you don't want to play in those leagues anyway...
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BW: ?
Activity:
Misc: flu symptoms, back seems okay tho
BS 5x120(PR), 2x127.5(PR), 1x132.5(PR)
Paused BS 3x122.5(PR), 3x120, 1x120
Calf raise 12x160, 2x15x120
Back Xtn 2x12x50, 15x25
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Work on a drop step where you don't actually face up completely. This requires the dunk to have a bit of turn, so it's a drop step spin and the dunk has about a 80 degree spin in it. This allows you to protect the ball and even use your lead hand to fight off the defender (and even push off slightly for a boost). If you have a trainer parter it's best to practice w them - practice your spin, gather, protect and push off w your lead arm on their shoulder... hard to get this perfect but when you do you can get truly nasty dunks...
Sounds v. interesting!!! When I practiced a spin into a drop step I found I had to do the spin real slow to get good groove into the plant for a jump. But I will practice what you've described, it seems subtly different from that. I find hte biggest challenge is not breaking the rules (travelling) while setting up for the dunk.
This is exactly why you don't want to do the spin move slow! If you execute it quickly and get a dunk nobody will notice your traveling... There is sort of an unwritten rule here that if a short guy drop steps on somebody.... nobody dares call travel... The only leagues that do are the same ones which will give you a technical foul for dunking - you don't want to play in those leagues anyway...
lol .. ok this is a game changer. does it help or nah if you receive the entry pass into the post into a jump stop in selling the travel. i dont think i pass for short in our leagues very much, sometimes but not often. i think i get none of hte benefit of the doubt from refs for being 'big' tho im usually and probably one of the lightest on the court .. smh. for now..
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I want those Harden / Kobe biceps tho. lol. That's +1kg/arm maybe?
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I want those Harden / Kobe biceps tho. lol. That's +1kg/arm maybe?
C'mon man. You should be aiming for Malone :D
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I want those Harden / Kobe biceps tho. lol. That's +1kg/arm maybe?
C'mon man. You should be aiming for Malone :D
Haha maybe id revise the goals if considering
(http://i.imgur.com/rsjH06P.png)
but i think kobe/harden are more apt w/o :uhhhfacepalm:
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I want those Harden / Kobe biceps tho. lol. That's +1kg/arm maybe?
C'mon man. You should be aiming for Malone :D
Haha maybe id revise the goals if considering
(http://i.imgur.com/rsjH06P.png)
but i think kobe/harden are more apt w/o :uhhhfacepalm:
Hahahaha.
Yeah probably a wise choice. Low bf, decent shoulders and half decent arms and you'll look like a good baller.
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I want those Harden / Kobe biceps tho. lol. That's +1kg/arm maybe?
C'mon man. You should be aiming for Malone :D
Haha maybe id revise the goals if considering
(http://i.imgur.com/rsjH06P.png)
but i think kobe/harden are more apt w/o :uhhhfacepalm:
Hahahaha.
Yeah probably a wise choice. Low bf, decent shoulders and half decent arms and you'll look like a good baller.
On the same page! Will help my post play a ton not having wiry arms. Idk why I never stopped to reconsider the 'train the biggest muscles' back/legs myth but someone with my build can def put on 2.5kg of mass on there and i plan to do just that.
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Bodyweight: 81.6kg
Activity:
Misc:
BP 1x90, 2x5x83.5(LPR), 4Fx83.5
Paused BP 5x75(PR), 5x73.5, 3x5x72.5(PR)
Notes:
If paused benching is for benching what paused squatting is for my squat, then this is a change I am going to benefit from immensely. Next time i'll go for 5x5x75 and progress them from there.
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On the same page! Will help my post play a ton not having wiry arms. Idk why I never stopped to reconsider the 'train the biggest muscles' back/legs myth but someone with my build can def put on 2.5kg of mass on there and i plan to do just that.
Is that a myth? Not sure how much functional use you can get out of slightly bigger arms since arm muscles are proportionally way smaller than leg and torso muscles. For basketball specifically though. I don't really know the rules of basketball but in frisbee you can't stiff arm people and can only box out with your body so that takes out a lot of the benefit of having larger arms. Don't really see larger arms carrying over to athleticism either.
Really curious to see thoughts on this because I don't do lifting for arms except shoulders but it would be a thing to throw in occasionally if it does carry over to sport. Also, do people do any sort of more low-rep strength/fiber recruitment lifting for arms? My buddy who's a bodybuilding coach said people generally don't do that because the muscles are smaller and tear easier
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It's fine just unqualified. Like all rules of thumb you shud know when to break them. In my case it's a point of weakness not having enough mass in my arms and upper body in gen so I have to revise my dedication to back and legs. Have got pretty decent erector development from an obsession to squatting and I havent even scratched the surface. Thighs are much bigger than arms. So a bit of balance is required! I do think it will help my post play in basketball. I wouldnt necessarily say it's useful for a guard as much.
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Bodyweight: 81.3kg
Activity:
Misc:
Not sleeping so good but I do want to get my bw back around 80.0kg, maybe will start chipping away at that slowly.
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On the same page! Will help my post play a ton not having wiry arms. Idk why I never stopped to reconsider the 'train the biggest muscles' back/legs myth but someone with my build can def put on 2.5kg of mass on there and i plan to do just that.
Is that a myth? Not sure how much functional use you can get out of slightly bigger arms since arm muscles are proportionally way smaller than leg and torso muscles. For basketball specifically though. I don't really know the rules of basketball but in frisbee you can't stiff arm people and can only box out with your body so that takes out a lot of the benefit of having larger arms. Don't really see larger arms carrying over to athleticism either.
Really curious to see thoughts on this because I don't do lifting for arms except shoulders but it would be a thing to throw in occasionally if it does carry over to sport. Also, do people do any sort of more low-rep strength/fiber recruitment lifting for arms? My buddy who's a bodybuilding coach said people generally don't do that because the muscles are smaller and tear easier
You'd actually be surprised how much upper body strength matters in basketball. Especially for play in the key, mainly the tussle for rebounds and holding position. I played last night and the amount of times arms get tangled when vying for position when a shot goes up is immense. I had both arms being held during most contests last night. Now you might just say it should be a foul but most refs let that stuff go and it's the stronger player who comes out on top. Another factor is holding onto the ball during plays. I know that I'm far better when the upper body is strong than when I'm just doing mainly lower body work.
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You'd actually be surprised how much upper body strength matters in basketball. Especially for play in the key, mainly the tussle for rebounds and holding position. I played last night and the amount of times arms get tangled when vying for position when a shot goes up is immense. I had both arms being held during most contests last night. Now you might just say it should be a foul but most refs let that stuff go and it's the stronger player who comes out on top. Another factor is holding onto the ball during plays. I know that I'm far better when the upper body is strong than when I'm just doing mainly lower body work.
Yup! Australian game is also more physical. In my exp USA bball is more fitness and grace and we're more grit and grind here. i didnt even raelise how much effort I was expending in the post (offense mainly) but it's become 2nd nature and effortless now. A big part of is having to deal with much bigger/stronger dudes guarding me that I just have to pour in so much force into my movements that I am not even aware how close to a ME type effort it is. It's a pretty cool adaption and i cant wait to have the same sort of ME output but with 10-15kg more weight on my frame and just taking fools to the rim next summer. Ive had flashes of it this summer gone but next summer i wont be a 77kg dude anymore. Can't fkn wait. Also like Coges mentions, our refs swallow the whistle when you're a bigger dude so you're expected to finish thru contact without any calls so you better have some meat on your arms to deal with that. YOu can make excuses or you can train hard and make up the difference and thats the approach im taking now.
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Work on a drop step where you don't actually face up completely. This requires the dunk to have a bit of turn, so it's a drop step spin and the dunk has about a 80 degree spin in it. This allows you to protect the ball and even use your lead hand to fight off the defender (and even push off slightly for a boost). If you have a trainer parter it's best to practice w them - practice your spin, gather, protect and push off w your lead arm on their shoulder... hard to get this perfect but when you do you can get truly nasty dunks...
Sounds v. interesting!!! When I practiced a spin into a drop step I found I had to do the spin real slow to get good groove into the plant for a jump. But I will practice what you've described, it seems subtly different from that. I find hte biggest challenge is not breaking the rules (travelling) while setting up for the dunk.
This is exactly why you don't want to do the spin move slow! If you execute it quickly and get a dunk nobody will notice your traveling... There is sort of an unwritten rule here that if a short guy drop steps on somebody.... nobody dares call travel... The only leagues that do are the same ones which will give you a technical foul for dunking - you don't want to play in those leagues anyway...
lol .. ok this is a game changer. does it help or nah if you receive the entry pass into the post into a jump stop in selling the travel. i dont think i pass for short in our leagues very much, sometimes but not often. i think i get none of hte benefit of the doubt from refs for being 'big' tho im usually and probably one of the lightest on the court .. smh. for now..
Well you don't have to be the lightest guy on the court lol.
I think as far as selling the travel a bit - it comes down to personal preference and ability.
For me I can spin really quickly from left to right - if I take a "crab dribble" and slip in an extra step to rise up and dunk the ball NOBODY notices. Another easy time to drop step dunk is off a rebound - very hard to see if you actually traveling when you grab the rebound, bounce it once, take a couple steps and dunk.
I think it's mostly about small spaces. I have gotten *one* dunk in my life that I can remember in an actual competitive game where I drove past my man from the three point line, accelerated to the hoop and dunked the ball. It was a day I felt really bouncy and I was in denver (maybe altitude lol?). Besides, that I just can't get my steps right when I build up that much speed - I often "feel" high enough to dunk but when I actually go for it it's really likely I will do an obvious travel. The solutions to this are (a) dunk with my left hand and (b) use small spaces to dunk in games - cutting baseline, drop steps, etc. They allow you to have a step pattern drilled and they allow you to be a little more fast and loose with the traveling rules IMO.
While I am admitting that what I am advising is almost surely a travel.... and I have been very likely guilty of this crime myself.... I hold out a tiny benefit of the doubt that maybe it's not really.... I mean who is to say when your steps begin on a gather, corralling a rebound, receiving a pass, etc... It's not just getting away with cheating - it's relying on ambiguity. On the other hand if you drive by your man down the key and blow by him EVERYONE can see that third step you took to show off and dunk and they will call it....
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On the same page! Will help my post play a ton not having wiry arms. Idk why I never stopped to reconsider the 'train the biggest muscles' back/legs myth but someone with my build can def put on 2.5kg of mass on there and i plan to do just that.
Is that a myth? Not sure how much functional use you can get out of slightly bigger arms since arm muscles are proportionally way smaller than leg and torso muscles. For basketball specifically though. I don't really know the rules of basketball but in frisbee you can't stiff arm people and can only box out with your body so that takes out a lot of the benefit of having larger arms. Don't really see larger arms carrying over to athleticism either.
Really curious to see thoughts on this because I don't do lifting for arms except shoulders but it would be a thing to throw in occasionally if it does carry over to sport. Also, do people do any sort of more low-rep strength/fiber recruitment lifting for arms? My buddy who's a bodybuilding coach said people generally don't do that because the muscles are smaller and tear easier
IMO he is conflating upper body strength with muscle mass.
Upper body strength in basketball is real. But it's not about adding 2.5kg to the arms. Anecdotally Tim Duncan was referred to as far physically stronger than dwight howard. Now some of that could be toughness, some of it could be core and leg strength masquerading as upper body strength, etc - but the point is a well timed quick "push'" from a guy like Tim Duncan or even Chris Paul will be shockingly forceful. Some of these guys are really strong and you are not going to achieve that functional strength just doing squats. However, you probably aren't going to get it from doing bicep curls either. It's just like how some boxers are knock out artists and some go the distance every time... Also some look buff and some don't.
I don't know about frisbee but I would bet that in most sports with any contact (basketball, frisbee, etc) you are cutting yourself short if you completely neglect all upper body training in favor of squats. There is a benefit to expressing strength with your upper body and you can improve this in the weight room. Don't know if you arms need to get 2.5kg** bigger though.
** I also don't know where that number comes at all.... The average entire 160lb mans arm weighs less than 10 pounds. That's the entire arm. Adding over 5lbs to your arm would make them comically big unless you also add about 50lbs to your body which we know entropy is averse to doing...
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Speaking of adding 2.5kg haha. I just came back from the weekend of my bro's wedding and i stepped off the scale this morning at 82.0kg .. yikes! I managed to strain my abz while laughing from watching someone fall on the dance floor. So karma. But hopefully i can train with it no probs. I want to thank Todday for opening my eyes about the travel being more of a guideline to manipulate to my advantage than some sacrosanct firm rule. yea I might get called for a travel but if it ends in a dunk does it matter? I need to start rethinking my approach given the new information ive got in the last coupla posts.
Could dwell on how ive set myself back training/body comp wise the last week or two but instead im just gna go and train hard and see where it goes in a while
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Bodyweight: 82kg
Activity:
Misc:
BP 2x3x90(PR), 2x2x90
BP2 1x90
Paused BP 3x5x80(PR)
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You'll be repping 2 plates on the bench in no time :headbang:
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You'll be repping 2 plates on the bench in no time :headbang:
That would be amazing. Seriously dedicating myself to upper body now.
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You'll be repping 2 plates on the bench in no time :headbang:
That would be amazing. Seriously dedicating myself to upper body now.
In all seriousness this is closer to the mindset you should take. Right now you have an over obsessive mindset lower body strength - (eg thinking that you MUST add X kg to your squat etc) and a strange mass-based approach to upper body work.
From your journal it appears your a basketball player first - your second love is strength training. For lower body weightlifting realize that your build is highly influential for how much strength you can express - the optimal build for basketball is actually the one that is the worst for both the squat and the benchpress. This is why it's important for most athletes to use both the squat and a deadlift variation rather than fixate on squatting as much as someone else. With your build you should focus on getting your squat + deadlift to a reasonable level - 4x bodyweight is pretty great for a basketball player. After this your should focus on more specific lower body work.
While I don't love the bench press for upper body work at least it's a measurable quantity so I commend your for building it. I'd rather see you track your heavy pullups, standing press, weighted crunch as a way to measure upper body functional strength - then focus on some challenging mobility/strength exercises - can you do 5 reps of single leg deadlift to overhead press (leg off the ground the whole time, arm in opposite hand) on both legs with 30kg?
Your comments about upper body strength got me to do some asking about what NBA guys do. I asked an NBA trainer and it's a lot of heavy core, standing presses (no laying bench press at all) in the offseason and then it's a ton of band and cable work all year long. I might be guilty of making an appeal to authority fallacy (if the NBA guys do it then it MUST be right) but the thinking for the strength program there is that laying movements like bench press don't involve core/legs which is still the engine driving upper body power - and while standing presses and pulls are an improvement they still involve vertical pressing (because well - gravity) where a basketball player needs horizontal plane work. It is a compelling argument, albeit one that sounds a bit too over-specific for me - but it could be worth a try. What I have seen them doing is a lot of work where they have a weighted vest attached to a band which pulls them in a certain direction WHILE the doing upper body band work. For example. You are standing at the free throw line with a band pulling you back toward three point line, you have bands in one or both arms. You have to take a strong plant step against resistance to the top of the circle and the perform a quick standing horizontal press with one arm while remaining strong against the band resistance... Maybe ridiculous - maybe the secret to rebounding and post strength?
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With your build you should focus on getting your squat + deadlift to a reasonable level - 4x bodyweight is pretty great for a basketball player.
:o :o :o
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With your build you should focus on getting your squat + deadlift to a reasonable level - 4x bodyweight is pretty great for a basketball player.
:o :o :o
With my build that's interesting as a goal. I think i cud walk into a gym and deadlift 140kg without training and it takes me a few weeks to get that up to 160-180kg max.. just long arms and a steady diet of squatmornings/back extensions/ make for good erector development for pulling. lets see tho, my thought is do lifts you're bad at because they hit your weakness rather than ones you're good at. the goal you've given is still the same as trying to attain a bigger squat b/c that's where im weak while the deadlift just gives me room to be worser at squatting
4x80kg = 320kg, if 50/50 split on DL/SQ id need 160/160 but say i have 140/180 .. yeah that's do-able. What do you reckon? Shud i add DLs? with back problems ive always avoided DL cos i hurt myself putting the bar down tho. Can you amend this to use RDL instead of DL please? I like RDLs better b/c i can do them without injury issues
While I don't love the bench press for upper body work at least it's a measurable quantity so I commend your for building it. I'd rather see you track your heavy pullups, standing press, weighted crunch as a way to measure upper body functional strength - then focus on some challenging mobility/strength exercises - can you do 5 reps of single leg deadlift to overhead press (leg off the ground the whole time, arm in opposite hand) on both legs with 30kg?
yea this shud b easy. it would be more challenging with just one arm but i cant do that with 30kg. wil try today
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While I don't love the bench press for upper body work at least it's a measurable quantity so I commend your for building it. I'd rather see you track your heavy pullups, standing press, weighted crunch as a way to measure upper body functional strength - then focus on some challenging mobility/strength exercises - can you do 5 reps of single leg deadlift to overhead press (leg off the ground the whole time, arm in opposite hand) on both legs with 30kg?
While i appreciate the discussion lower body I do think this topic is more important. Paused squatting + heavy back extensions + RDLs + sprints + calf raises seem to have solved the lower body problem for me. But where I really need advice is upper. My mobility there is poor (i move robotically above the waist), my strenght is low, my muscle mass is least in the upper body etc. So i welcome input there especially.
I am ok emphasising ohp over bp. i do like and am good at weighted chinups. But these lifts dont really move themselves. If i wanna get them going i can focus on bp and the carry over happens. i PRd my weighted chinup recently without even using the lift in ages just from BP alone. And at the time my OHP was mediocre too. So i think BP does things to me that increase overall upper body strength in a way these other 2 lifts dont. But im a terrible bencher. I have variable form, in a given set of 5 reps each one might be slightly subtly different etc. I dont have balance or symmetry and have to work hard on that. DBs help though.
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Bodyweight: 82.3kg
Activity:
Misc:
BS 3x5x120(PR), 3x120, 5x120
Back Xtn 2x12x60, 12x35
CURL 3x5x45, 2x5x42.5
Calf Raises with barbell (120-200kg)
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Bodyweight: 83.2kg
Activity:
Misc:
Yeah im getting too heavy and fat. But life sucks r/n and ive been comfort eating.. i should stop but i havent been able to.
I just want to make a note that my one leg stability is NOTICABLY improved lately. So that's good but i cant figure out what caused that. Could be anything ive added or changed recently including rdls/hill sprints on concrete/one leg calf raises/or just calf raises in gen/.
Today my hamstrings are really sore. I dont really get that from squats but i guess i did an okay amount of volume yesterday and if you add in the back extensions it's not out of the ordinary.
Will train/lift/ball tmr. If im heavy im dunking too :ibjumping: I mean im dunking anywy but it feels more productive to dunk heavy :P
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Bodyweight: 83.8kg
Activity:
Misc:
If I have a good training day today I will return control to my inner beast. If i have a bad one, it will continue the decline. I will have a good training day.
OHP 3x60, 6x2x60, 1Fx60
BS 2x120, 2x130(PR), 1x140(PR), 3x120, 6x110(PR)
DB OHP 10x20(PR?), 5x22.5, 7x22.5
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https://streamable.com/2jiuv
i drilled some of todday's dunk advice .. any feedback?
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I just want to make a note that my one leg stability is NOTICABLY improved lately. So that's good but i cant figure out what caused that. Could be anything ive added or changed recently including rdls/hill sprints on concrete/one leg calf raises/or just calf raises in gen/.
More fat = center of mass shifts around less = better balance+stability
Can't find the source for this but I've seen it at least a few times
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https://streamable.com/2jiuv
i drilled some of todday's dunk advice .. any feedback?
:personal-record: :personal-record: :personal-record:
Looking good mate haha
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Bodyweight: 83.3kg
Activity:
Misc:
Happy the scale is moving back haha. Im no where as strong enough to justify being THIS heavy. YET. Gna treat myself to cheesecake when i break my fast for the day around 4pm.
Yesterdays OHP workout was wrecked when my R rear delt/tarp was strained from the stupid calf raise set i did with 200kg. Basically my bar is flexy as fk and when i was putting it back into the rack ofc it bend so much that to get it into the pins i had to strain and thats how i ruined my ohp workout for the week. Nevermind.
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Bodyweight: 83.5kg
Activity:
Misc:
Gym closes at noon smh and it's a rainy day, dont really fancy being outside squatting in 15 degree weather ........ but ...... i will have to. Really wish i cud squat at the gym today tho.
BS 2x125
Paused BP 5x5x80(PR)
Weighted Chinup 3x5x95.5
Cable row 3x15(pr; new ex)
Lat Pull down 2x8(pr; new ex)
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Bodyweight: 83.6kg
Activity:
Misc:
Aite, new week new me. Gna start getting lean today. lol
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BW: 83.8kg (yikes)
Activity:
Misc:
My activity levels are down with winter. I tried to make up with it with treadmill but i guess i found it affected squats. So idk. Just have to work around it i guess. Lifting today.
BS 2x125, 2x2x130(PR), 2x125, 2x127.5, 3x127.5(PR)
OHP 6x3x60(PR)
BS2 3x5x122.5(PR)
Back Xtn 3x12x50
Notes:
blah squats, on the last rep of the the last set of ohp, tweaked my neck. good job dickhead. also those 3x5 squats were just done in anger, form was shit, and i failed to realise i wasnt wearing a vest when i did back extensions, only 50kg not 60kg. so this was a forgetable training day. on and ontowards
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Bodyweight: 84.4kg (2017 PR!)
Activity:
Misc:
Remember that time i got fat as fuck to squat 120kg? yep good job once again haha. Not sure why i keep repeating my mistakes over and over but here we are. Last time was repping 140 for 8x2 at 81.8 or whatever it was, while rn it's just a max single so im definitely improving /s
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Bodyweight: 84.1kg
Activity:
Misc:
I need to get a dunk session in today. Maybe sprints too. Yeahhhhhhh
BS 3x130(pr; warmup pr also), 2x132.5(PR), 2x130, 1x130, 1x135, 1x140
BP 3x3x90
Paused BP 5x82.5(PR), 2x5x82
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Isn't your limiting factor quads for squats? What are your thoughts on doing some supplementary quad work to expedite squat progress?
Also, I'm interested in throwing in some paused variations to change it up a bit. What benefit do you think you get from doing the majority of your squats with a pause?
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Bodyweight: 84.3kg
Activity:
Misc:
Gonna try get my 6-8k units of activity in today, turning into a fat slob.
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Bodyweight: 84kg
Activity:
Misc:
Trying to decide what sort of training to do today. I think if i switch to MWF then i shouldnt do volume today. But. That's what i was originally gna do so what else? I could try rep out 130+kg, sprint, dunk, ohp and that would be a decent effort.
BS 2x132.5, 2x135(PR), 2x132.5, 3x2x130
RDL 6x120, 6x110
OHP 6x4x60(PR)
Back Xtn 2x12x60, 15x35
1 hill sprint (lol)
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Bodyweight: 84.2kg
Activity: ~6k
Misc:
Trying to start a diet again today. Lol. I also thought i'd get some cheecake today so who knows how this will go.
I kinda stumbled into a decent diet day. Good start. But my legs are bit sore tonight, so im not sure if i shud rest tmr or train. will see how i feel in the morning.
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Bodyweight: 82.8kg
Activity:
Misc: R thigh doms
Um so yeah i was just thinking to myself yesterday i shud be looking at 82.5kg as an upper limit for getting my 5x5x140kg@80kg milestone and today i wake up not far from 82.5kg. Nice. Considering im now halfway to repping 140kg (latest pr is 135kg double), im too heavy already lol.
The working plan is to:
1. get 5x5x140kg@80-85kg,
2. maintain 5x5x140kg for 3 weeks to make a new strength setpoint
3. Cut bw to 80kg while maintaining the 5x5x140kg.
4. Maintain bf% for 3 weeks to make a new bodyfat setpoint
At which point i will be able to chase a new goal (say 5x5x150kg @ 82.5kg).
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Bodyweight: 83.3kg
Activity:
Misc: faint VMO doms otherwise fresh
I look leaner today than yesterday and as lot leaner than the day before that so strangely. But i'll take it.
Training
BS 2x135(warmup PR), 1x140
Dunks ~ 15 horrible attempts
Paused BP 5x5x82.5(PR)
BS2 5x5x125
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Bodyweight: 84.5kg(PR)
Activity: ~9k
Misc: quads, hams, glutes, 'ceps, chest
This is the heaviest ive been this year. Idk, i ate a lot last night so it's prob just cos of that. Not worried.
I didnt actually reach a deficit today. Just was too sore and i wanted to make sure i wasnt too messed up to train well tmr. Just one day wont hurt. right?
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http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/perth-basketballer-pulls-out-gun-at-social-game-over-referee-decisions/news-story/1080bb085be52e6712e47bad91163948
Haha so anyone who has played bball here would not be at all suprised at this.. :uhhhfacepalm:
Wow. That's heavy. WA must be a different scene than here. We have arguments with the refs but shake hands at the end of the game and leave it there. Having said that there's probably some areas of Melbourne I'd rather not play social ball in.
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Bodyweight: 84.5kg(PR)
Activity: ~8.5k
Misc: quads, hams
Looks like 84.5kg stuck. oops.
OHP 4x60, 3x2x62.5(PR), 1Fx63.5, 3x2x62.5
BS 2x137.5(PR; warmup PR as well), 2x140(PR), 2x132.5
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Bodyweight: 84kg
Activity:
Misc: no doms so far, yay
Cant wait to train tmr. Gna beast. Will try get my R&R perfect today.
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Have been thinking to take a break from even thinking about cutting. Just gna do a lot of running, jumping, etc instaed of diet. I'm burned out from that cutting shit.
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Bodyweight: 83.7kg
Activity:
Misc: no doms but didnt sleep great
So im not sure what sort of squat to attempt. Possibly 6 triples with 132.5kg though 130kg might be cleaner and more attainable. Or maybe i shud be aggressive and try 6x3x135kg and hope i can get that lol. idk.
BS 1x130
BP 3x90, 1x97.5, 1x100(PR)
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i couldnt squat but i benched 100kg today for the first itme in my life. PR.. :personal-record:
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i couldnt squat but i benched 100kg today for the first itme in my life. PR.. :personal-record:
Nice!
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i couldnt squat but i benched 100kg today for the first itme in my life. PR.. :personal-record:
:headbang:
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Well what a crazy week. Did not train at all.. i thought i could sneak in a workout or two but nope, sisters wedding week was too hectic. Indian weddings do tend to be a prolonged affair. Now im plump and drained post feasting but im gna try get back into things!!
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Bodyweight:
Activity:
Misc: back fucked, played backyard cricket and forgot i wasnt a lefthand fast bowling sensation the way i used to be in my youth smh
BS 5x127.5, 3x127.5, 2x130
Paused BP 6x70(warmup PR), 3x3x85(PR)
Back Xtn 15x20, 12x20
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Havent weighed myself in a while (maybe 2 weeks?). But i think the scale will read 85kg or more. I am ok with it, strangely. But i cant let myself gain weight r/n. Will just train hard by running and jumping (i mean dunking PRishly at this weight) and let my body figure it out. If nothign else i'll get some muscle/strength from doing sports movements at heavier bodyweight. Im no longer fixating on being a lean 85kg tho, think lean 90kg is a gooder goal. but my lift ratios have to improve considerably before im in a position to gain weight. For now, just stick to cleanish eating and get my lifts up. Will aim to get a paused BP of 5x5x100kg (hopefully a 120kg single or 2 big plates a side). And 5x5x150-160kg squat? not focusing on squats right now. my phsique will benefit more from upper body mass than low.
now I'm confused :lololol:
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Bodyweight: 84.9kg
Activity:
Misc:
Yeah around 85kg. Fatter but i may have a bit more muscle, tiny more. Would be interesting to play bball and see if it helps in the post. Turned down a chance to fill in a game on monday, was just too exhausted. Will start running and get some body recomp without dieting while remaining heavy! And dunk some tomahawks again, it's been a while.
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Bodyweight: 84.9kg
Activity:
Misc:
Training today, will update.
OHP 2x60(LPR), 2x63(PR), 2x64(PR)
BS 2x130, 1x142.5(PR; w/ belt)
OHP 2x60
Seated DB OHP 6x22.5kg, 5x25kg(PR i think)
OHP 2x60, 2x60
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Was trying to think of how to plan to weigh a lean 90kg. Maybe something like this:
Get BS 5x5x140 & Paused BP 5x5x90 at 85kg or so. Maintain for 3 weeks. Cut to 82.5kg., maintain for 3 weeks.
Go for BS 5x5x150 and Paused BP 5x5x100kg at 87.5kg. Maintain for 3 weeks. Cut to 85kg.
Go for BS 5x5x160 and Paused BP 5x5x105 at 90kg. Maintain for 3 weeks. Cut to 87.5kg.
Go for BS 5x5x170 and Paused BP 5x5x110 at 92.5kg. Maintain for 3 weeks. Cut to 90kg. Done.
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Dude you're overthinking it. Why not train hard and to perform whatever you need to perform? Not a rhetorical question. Actually why not? I ask myself the same question all the time and I can't find a good enough answer as to why I don't do this.
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Dude you're overthinking it. Why not train hard and to perform whatever you need to perform? Not a rhetorical question. Actually why not? I ask myself the same question all the time and I can't find a good enough answer as to why I don't do this.
if i rephrased it as gain 5kg of bw to add 10kg to the bar, then diet off 2.5kg of fat; repeat. it wouldn't seem that overthinky .. ha
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I also havent been taking creatine during the layoff and im not sure if theres any point going back on it. Maybe later down the line, idk, i have some awesomely mediocre ratios atm that it seems pointless. Anyway.
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Dude you're overthinking it. Why not train hard and to perform whatever you need to perform? Not a rhetorical question. Actually why not? I ask myself the same question all the time and I can't find a good enough answer as to why I don't do this.
if i rephrased it as gain 5kg of bw to add 10kg to the bar, then diet off 2.5kg of fat; repeat. it wouldn't seem that overthinky .. ha
Sounds much better haha. Reading it back my post sounds a bit harsh which wasn't the intention.
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Dude you're overthinking it. Why not train hard and to perform whatever you need to perform? Not a rhetorical question. Actually why not? I ask myself the same question all the time and I can't find a good enough answer as to why I don't do this.
if i rephrased it as gain 5kg of bw to add 10kg to the bar, then diet off 2.5kg of fat; repeat. it wouldn't seem that overthinky .. ha
Do you think +5/10kg to BP/squat is equal to 2.5kg of muscle? Also are you planning on doing a more bodybuilding oriented program? Your current workout logs seem a lot more powerlifting oriented and I think it will take a really long time to build 10kg muscle with them. In fact 10kg muscle seems kind of ridiculous. That's more muscle than I've built since I started lifting like 4.5 years ago and most of that is newbie gains
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Bodyweight: 84.6kg
Activity:
Misc:
You now those doms after the first squat workout after a layoff. The kind that kick in on the warmup sets of the next workout? I still managed to squat heavy despite them but those doms need to go away now, i have a volume squat session planned for tmr. Will try tricks like icing etc.
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What cardio are you not getting/trying to get?
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Bodyweight: 85.2kg
Activity:
Misc:
BS 6x100, 2x130, 0Fx145(lol)
RDL 6x100, 6x120, 6x110
1arm rows machine
pickup bball
pickup cricket
dead
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IMO, just do sprint blocks for cardio. Its fast, not steady stste so you dont adapt, and shreds fat.
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Bodyweight: 85.2kg
Activity:
Misc:
New week, new me. Watch this space..
BS 3x130, 2x132.5, 3x132.5B, 2x132.5B, 3x130B, 2x130B
Notes:
didnt get a chance to bench or sprint or .. you get the point. lol. So i did 15 reps with 130kg+. I need that to become 5x5x140kg asap. Intermediate step may be to go for something like 5x5x135kg?
I did get my fresh start on the nutrition front though. Now i just have to replicate it n+1 and so on.
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Bodyweight: 84.3kg
Activity:
Misc:
Now that im off creatine and planning on hitting 6k units of activity daily, i shud see the scale move towards 82.5kg hopefully. Need to start doing cardio too to help with that.
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Bodyweight: 84kg
Activity: 4300 (at 2025, unlikely to go over 5k)
Misc:
Struggling to make 6k units on off days but today is a training day. So shud be do-able. If the weather holds up maybe some running. Failing that, it may be time to dust off the old treadmill
Paused BP 3x3x85, 2x86(PR), 2x87(PR), 2x88(PR)
Partial BP 5x80, 5x80 (i think)
BS skip (between gym memberships)
Plate goblet squat bullshit 3x6 or so
CND - TM 10 mins ~1km (PRRR)
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Bodyweight: 84kg
Activity:
Misc: see below
off day
Partial BP made my pec sore af. Idk why doing partials has that affect but i think it's isolated or kept the tension on pecs and limited contribution from triceps? The reason im doing these, i was watching some videos of good benchers training and they dont fully lock out etc so i thought to try it.
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Bodyweight: 83.9kg (PR!)
Activity: 10k (PR!)
Misc:
Joined a new gym for 6 months. Going to be training with a partner for the first time in my life. Need a program now.
Training
BS 3x3x132.5(PR), 3x3x132.5B(PR)
OHP 6x2x60
Hill sprints 2x6x20m(PR; new ex)
Back Xtn 3x8x60 (PR; new ex)
Training with a partner is awesome. We sprinted even tho i prob would have skipped it otherwise. I missed RDLs this week but i havent figured out how to fit them in with back extensions. I think i will get back to 15s with 60kg then maintain and just do RDLs followed by maintenance back xtn.
Nutrition
Did well dietwise this week also, 5 days clean eating. gna treat myself to a cheat meal for the week. dessert - 2 eggs and a slice of swiss cheese on toast, done.
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Bodyweight: 83.8kg (PR!)
Activity:
Misc: So far no sharp doms but the day is young
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Bodyweight: 83.9kg
Activity:
Misc:
I am in two minds whether to train today, or take it off and go hard tmr.
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Bodyweight: 84.3kg
Activity: ~8k
Misc:
Scale goes up but look leaner. Finished the first week of eating clean successfully. Aiming for 3 weeks before i consider anything accomplished on that front. Training today.
Training
BS 6x2x135(PR)
Paused BP 3x86(PR), 3x87(PR), 3x88(PR), 3x3x85
RDL 7x120, 6x125(PR; new ex)
CURL 2x8x30(PR; new ex)
CND - 1.39km in 10 minutes (PR)
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Bodyweight: 84kg
Activity: 5k
Misc: So far no real doms to speak of
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Nice work. Looks like it's coming together nicely.
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Bodyweight: 84.6kg
Activity:
Misc:
Trianing
OHP 2x60, 1x64, 0Fx65, 0Fx64.5
Jump rope
Bball shot around and do some shitty dunks
BS 1x142.5(PR)
Seated DB OHP 6x25, 0Fx30(lol sauce), 4x27.5(partials tbh), 8x22.5(pr, probably)
done
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Bodyweight: 83.6kg
Activity:
Misc:
Off day. Resting up for tmrs squat PRs :)
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Bodyweight: 83.8kg
Activity: 7700
Misc:
Couldnt sleep, dont know bout PRs but will give it a shot. Weather sucks so sprinting seems unlikely but i may do it anyway
BS 3x2x137.5(PR), 3x2x137.5B(PR)
Dunks 2x6
Incline DB press 8x20, 5x30(PR)
Sprints 6x100m
Back Xtn 2x10x60, 12x50
Chinup 3x5xBW
Notes:
So the dunks were all single hand ones but one. Im rusty at jumping/dunking but i really wanted to be landing some tomahawks. Will keep trying over the next few jump sessions to get that down.
The belt, i have to say is a gamechanger. I did a very difficult, id say 2rm set with the 3rd double. Put on a belt and did another 3 doubles. So if the goal is challenge my legs with heavy weights; im doing that now, even tho as a squat purist id ofcourse like to be doing picture perfect deep ATG paused reps sans belt - pragmatism here is the order of the day b/c it allows me to continue to build leg strength albeit with some technical dirtiness. But rather that than clinging to a misguided obsession for purity using light weights which leave my legs unchallenged.
2 days back on eating clean, will try to get that to another 10 days now.
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Bodyweight: 83.8kg
Activity:
Misc: lats, hams
Resting this weekend, raining outside. pretty much perfect for netflix and chill but activity will be low.
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Fargo, stranger things, daredevil, narcos
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Bodyweight: 83.5kg
Activity:
Misc: right hamstring is sore, left one aint. i wonder why
more rest. ready for some prs tmr
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Bodyweight: 83.7kg
Activity:
Misc:
Training
BS 3x3x135(PR), 3x135B, 2x135, 1x135
RDL 8x120, 4x130, 8x125h, 8x110
BP 6x3x85
DB BP 3x8x25
Cable row 2x12x35, 12x40
curl 2x5x40
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Bodyweight: 83.7kg
Activity:
Misc: first erector doms in ages yay
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Bodyweight: 83.4kg
Activity: 6000
Misc: erectors still sore af
Training
Paused BS 2x6x70
45deg Back Xtn 8xbw
C2 row 450m in 3 mins
Run 1.5km in 10:26 (PR?)
45deg Back Xtn 10xbw
done
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Bodyweight: 83.6kg
Activity: 5000
Misc: none
-
Bodyweight: 84.1kg
Activity:
Misc:
waiting for my lower back to recover so i can squat normally :/
BS 2x140, 1x140
OHP 6x3x60
Seated DB OHP 3x8x22.5
Bike 10mins at 3 effort setting
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Bodyweight: 83.9kg
Activity:
Misc:
-
Bodyweight: 84.1
Activity: 6500
Misc:
BS 2x140, 1x140B
Depth Jump 3x6x12" (new exercise)
Hill sprints x 5 (1 done with vest at 97kg)
Back Xtn 12x60, 10x60, 12x50, 15x25
Chinup 3x6xBW
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Bodyweight: 84.3
Activity: <3000 (yikes
Misc: calves doms (!!)
resttttttttt
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Bodyweight: 84.6
Activity:
Misc:calves still and left knee soreness
resttttttttt
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Bodyweight: 84.4
Activity: 6000
Misc: body beaten up pretty good
Training tonight but will prob do a recovery session.. will see.
Training
Paused BS 5x90, 5x100
Paused BP 5x4x85(PR), 3x85
DB incline Press 4x6x27.5(PR)
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Bodyweight: 84.1
Activity: 2000 steps
Misc: left heel plantar fasciitis seems to be improved from yesterday
Rest
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Bodyweight: 84.2
Activity:
Misc: left heel plantar fasciitis
gna get some squat PRs today one way or another
BS 0Fx140, 2x127.5
Paused BS 3x110, 2x120, 5x105, 5x102.5, 3x5x100
Jumps x 50
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Bodyweight: 84.5
Activity:
Misc: sore af lol
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Bodyweight: 84.7
Activity:
Misc: lower body still really sore esp adductors
IM starting to harden out a bit. Thinking i can be leanish at 90kg now and eyeing 100kg to be strong. But patience is still the key, im too fat to gain weight in a sloppy fashion, recomping as ive been doing around 84kg seems to be the way to go for a while yet. But it's boring eating. Training today.
Training
Paused BS 2x120
Partial BS 8x150, 8x170, 8x180
OHP 4x60(PR), 4x60, 3x60, 4x60, 3x60, 3x60
RDL 8x120, 5x130(PR), 8x132.5H(PR), 6x140H(PR), 6x150H(PR), 8x122.5
DB OHP Seated 3x8x25(PR)
Notes:
Yeah so fuck it, im doing partial squats now because otherwise my quads are gna detrain while my body is not responding with proper recovery for heavier squats. Hook grip is coming around for RDLs im back to 150kg now, shudnt be long before i get my topset to 2xbw (3 red plates yay). Just a shithouse workout tho, didnt do chinups or back extensions this week or sprints or touch a basketball. Nice. Mainly because i was holding back to prompt a better squat session which never came anyway, no more of that tho, will just do lighter squats and train normally, if its a good squat day great otherwise no opportunistic cost paid in vain. Fuck squats tho.
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Bodyweight: 85.1
Activity:
Misc:
woo back above 85! rest.
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Bodyweight: 84.6
Activity:
Misc: Some soreness in tarps and upper back
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Bodyweight: 84.5
Activity:
Misc:
Training today. Will try squatting heavy, failing that, 5x5x107.5kg paused shud do.
BS 2x125, 2x137.5,
Paused BS 2x5x107.5(PR?), 3x107.5(done, injury)
Notes:
And the run is over, my back broke today, im prob out for a while. we'll see how it goes but it seems bad.
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Bodyweight: 84.5
Activity:
Misc:
Training today. Will try squatting heavy, failing that, 5x5x107.5kg paused shud do.
BS 2x125, 2x137.5,
Paused BS 2x5x107.5(PR?), 3x107.5(done, injury)
Notes:
And the run is over, my back broke today, im prob out for a while. we'll see how it goes but it seems bad.
damn wtf?
you've posted similar things before .. and seemed to heal up quick. hoping that's the case here.. but posts like this are always worrisome.
:/
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x2. Heal up quick mate.
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damn wtf?
you've posted similar things before .. and seemed to heal up quick. hoping that's the case here.. but posts like this are always worrisome.
:/
thanks fam. this seems to be different to that time but that was bad too and it healed quickly. i cant even wash my hands in the bathroom sink cos it's around my knee height and i have to bend down to reach the tap. one of my pet peeves is how bathroom setups are in this country but its only a minor nuisance for someone healthy. struggling to get dressed too. will see how it goes over the next couple of days, hopefully heal up quickly but it's scary
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back has gotten better, time to start over again. fuck my life.
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BS 8x20, 6x40, 6x50, 6x70
Paused BP 3x5x85(PR), 2x4x85, 3x85
Incline DB 4x30(PR?), 2x7x27.5(PR), 2x10x20
some curls
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back has gotten better, time to start over again. fuck my life.
well that's good news!! maybe cut out the paused squats for a while.. they are effective but obviously more risky than a normal squat.
I personally cut out paused squats, REA squats, jump squats, barbell lunges, front squats (loved those for vert, but they wrecked my upper back quite a few times) etc back when I was verting. Sometimes you just get to the point where it's like, fu*k the fancy stuff, pure basics.
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back has gotten better, time to start over again. fuck my life.
well that's good news!! maybe cut out the paused squats for a while.. they are effective but obviously more risky than a normal squat.
I personally cut out paused squats, REA squats, jump squats, barbell lunges, front squats (loved those for vert, but they wrecked my upper back quite a few times) etc back when I was verting. Sometimes you just get to the point where it's like, fu*k the fancy stuff, pure basics.
THe first 2 days there was almost no change, was a struggle doing normal everyday things, getting out of bed was a struggle etc. But last night somehow it felt a lot better so i thought i could train today. And so i went for it. Was going to go cautious and see what made things feel better what made things feel bad. I found goblet squats were the only lower body exercise which helped. everything else i tried (rdls, squats) made it worse. So im going to avoid those things now and stick to goblets. It gives me a chance to priotise upper body work, which will allow me from going too crazy from frustration with my back.
As to what happened. I still dont know. i have video of every rep i did on weds when the injury occured. The first double with 125kg went fine, technically crisp, no problem. The double with 137.5kg was mostly clean, not even dirrty, but i felt something off on the 2nd rep. And i racked the bar. Dropped down to 107.5kg and did volume. First set went okay. 2nd set i switched to my nike shoes which have a WL sized heel, more depth but okay. Next set things went bad around rep 2, and even tho i did 3 reps that set and they were fine technically crisp, i was done.
I think it's a disc issue but possibly muscular too. left hand side of my lower back. I cant figure out which tbh. I'll give a shotout for the useful doctors in this country who will tell me to take ibuprofen and fuck off out of their office with no answers. i cant really figure it out unless i drop $1500 by getting an MRI privately on my own volition but since they wont refer them, i know from past experience. Sucks but without scans etc i have zero clue what actually happened :(
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Bodyweight: 83.7
Activity:
Misc:
Rest today. so far back's feeling okay... comeback is on.
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Bodyweight: 84.7
Activity:
Misc:
Back bit stiff but will go train and see how it goes
BS 6x70, 3x100, 6x80
RDL 6x60
45 deg back xtn 2x12
Notes
Hard to describe how pointless that workout was lol. last workout at least i got some bench pressing done but today while resting upper, i had absolutely nothing to do. i even loaded up 120kg on squats to test where im at recovery wise but the risk was too great and i dropped to 100kg to test with that instead.
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Bodyweight: 84.7
Activity:
Misc:
Back bit stiff but will go train and see how it goes
BS 6x70, 3x100, 6x80
RDL 6x60
45 deg back xtn 2x12
Notes
Hard to describe how pointless that workout was lol. last workout at least i got some bench pressing done but today while resting upper, i had absolutely nothing to do. i even loaded up 120kg on squats to test where im at recovery wise but the risk was too great and i dropped to 100kg to test with that instead.
Actually having some back issues myself, pounded out some cardio, 400s and upper body today. Tomorrow I'll be doing more cardio, iso's, and agility/technique work. Dunno if any of this stuff would be helpful for your training goals but just throwing some ideas out there. I had what was supposed to be a minor QL strain maybe half a year ago and I kept trying to get back in it too early and it ended up dragging the injury out into a problem that lasted over a month. Better safe than sorry
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Bodyweight: 84.7
Activity:
Misc:
Back bit stiff but will go train and see how it goes
BS 6x70, 3x100, 6x80
RDL 6x60
45 deg back xtn 2x12
Notes
Hard to describe how pointless that workout was lol. last workout at least i got some bench pressing done but today while resting upper, i had absolutely nothing to do. i even loaded up 120kg on squats to test where im at recovery wise but the risk was too great and i dropped to 100kg to test with that instead.
Actually having some back issues myself, pounded out some cardio, 400s and upper body today. Tomorrow I'll be doing more cardio, iso's, and agility/technique work. Dunno if any of this stuff would be helpful for your training goals but just throwing some ideas out there. I had what was supposed to be a minor QL strain maybe half a year ago and I kept trying to get back in it too early and it ended up dragging the injury out into a problem that lasted over a month. Better safe than sorry
i had a QL strain too, waaaaaay back when i was initially learning about lifting (before becoming ex sci major).. wrecked it.. took a long time to heal, that injury sucked.
and ya the only thing i'd say you really need to be careful of, is getting into that mindset of like, being "angry" and trying to just "beat squatting as if it's some kind of war".. honestly it seems like you get into that mode.. personally, avoid that mindset at all costs. If you find yourself doing that, switch up the session immediately and AELS. Easier said than done, but, I think that mentality is really self destruction.. So just be careful with it maxent.. don't go to war with the bar in the context of overcoming an injury etc. Odds are with the bar. :/
peace!
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Actually having some back issues myself, pounded out some cardio, 400s and upper body today. Tomorrow I'll be doing more cardio, iso's, and agility/technique work. Dunno if any of this stuff would be helpful for your training goals but just throwing some ideas out there. I had what was supposed to be a minor QL strain maybe half a year ago and I kept trying to get back in it too early and it ended up dragging the injury out into a problem that lasted over a month. Better safe than sorry
ya that sounds like a good deal if you can do those things without disturbing your injury. I cant really think of anything that's painfree for me, yea potentially upper body stuff but say even getting in position with dbs for bench press, is hard to do with a back injury. Can say the same for jumping or running stuff. I dont know. plus you cant tell which is pain you can ignore and train through and what you should safely avoid.
i had a QL strain too, waaaaaay back when i was initially learning about lifting (before becoming ex sci major).. wrecked it.. took a long time to heal, that injury sucked.
and ya the only thing i'd say you really need to be careful of, is getting into that mindset of like, being "angry" and trying to just "beat squatting as if it's some kind of war".. honestly it seems like you get into that mode.. personally, avoid that mindset at all costs. If you find yourself doing that, switch up the session immediately and AELS. Easier said than done, but, I think that mentality is really self destruction.. So just be careful with it maxent.. don't go to war with the bar in the context of overcoming an injury etc. Odds are with the bar. :/
peace!
working super hard to keep myself on teh right side of AELS. i felt hyped today for some reason but decided to err with caution. I think im listening to my body, if a set feels wrong i will def stop there and do something else. so far i have stuck to that, it's what day 9, i think i shud be okay to train normally soon.
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BW: 85kg (!; the daily pizza/chips/chocolate have caught up with me)
Activity: 7k (good)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 1/84
BS 5x107.5(PR; since injury; stopped there, i will save it for next workout)
OHP 2x60 (heavy as fuck wtf ; aborted .. will repeat next workout)
Some jumps .. PR the highest touch in the gym but sad to find out it's only about 30" which is depressing but still it seems so high to tuoch that pipe and i never was able to until today so idk i'll take it. and i might have jumped off LR plant unless my brain overruled me in the ME attempt and went RL i should get video tbh).
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Added a daily 'Dietary compliance' field to my daily log template. My current goal is 12 weeks (84 days) unbroken while focusing on upperbody. So long as I eat clean i shud be able to make some progress for the first time focusing on bench/ohp/chinup/curls/dips/etc for a good block of 12 weeks.
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adarqui gave me a hint on my depth jump video i posted on instagram and i tried to implement more arm swing and i must say the one rep i nailed it on, it really felt good and different. Will be doing more of these now with the new technique improvements.Thanks for the tip!
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adarqui gave me a hint on my depth jump video i posted on instagram and i tried to implement more arm swing and i must say the one rep i nailed it on, it really felt good and different. Will be doing more of these now with the new technique improvements.Thanks for the tip!
hah np!
Actually having some back issues myself, pounded out some cardio, 400s and upper body today. Tomorrow I'll be doing more cardio, iso's, and agility/technique work. Dunno if any of this stuff would be helpful for your training goals but just throwing some ideas out there. I had what was supposed to be a minor QL strain maybe half a year ago and I kept trying to get back in it too early and it ended up dragging the injury out into a problem that lasted over a month. Better safe than sorry
ya that sounds like a good deal if you can do those things without disturbing your injury. I cant really think of anything that's painfree for me, yea potentially upper body stuff but say even getting in position with dbs for bench press, is hard to do with a back injury. Can say the same for jumping or running stuff. I dont know. plus you cant tell which is pain you can ignore and train through and what you should safely avoid.
i had a QL strain too, waaaaaay back when i was initially learning about lifting (before becoming ex sci major).. wrecked it.. took a long time to heal, that injury sucked.
and ya the only thing i'd say you really need to be careful of, is getting into that mindset of like, being "angry" and trying to just "beat squatting as if it's some kind of war".. honestly it seems like you get into that mode.. personally, avoid that mindset at all costs. If you find yourself doing that, switch up the session immediately and AELS. Easier said than done, but, I think that mentality is really self destruction.. So just be careful with it maxent.. don't go to war with the bar in the context of overcoming an injury etc. Odds are with the bar. :/
peace!
working super hard to keep myself on teh right side of AELS. i felt hyped today for some reason but decided to err with caution. I think im listening to my body, if a set feels wrong i will def stop there and do something else. so far i have stuck to that, it's what day 9, i think i shud be okay to train normally soon.
nice!
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BW: 84.8kg
Activity:
Misc: woke up painfree for the first time
Diet Compliance: 2/84
Gna go put up some jumpers today, ive been missing the court. Rest day though.
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BW: 84kg
Activity: ~8k (good!)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 3/84
Training tonight, hoping to be strong and get some progress..
BS 5x107.5, 5x110, 5x107.5, 2x5x105
OHP 3x3x60, 5x2x60
DB OHP Seated 8x20, 10x20, 5x22.5, 8x20, 8x20
RDL 7x120, 6x155H, 8x125H
Back Xtn 12xBW, 2x15x25kg
Notes:
My ROM on RDLs was low, it's ok tho, i think my CNS is protecting my back. Will get ROM good over the next couple of sessions, until then im not calling anything a PR etc.
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i loook soo skinny in the gym mirrors its deflating lol. really makes me wanna get my bodyweight up to 95kg. Hmm. If only i wasn't fat id go for it :/
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i loook soo skinny in the gym mirrors its deflating lol. really makes me wanna get my bodyweight up to 95kg. Hmm. If only i wasn't fat id go for it :/
the cure for me, regarding physique, has always been "big legs". If my legs are big, I seem to not care about what's going on with my upper body.. big legs also imply i'm more powerful etc. so it's almost like a primal switch you can flip in your brain.
I took several physique selfies when I was dunking, being lean felt good but, knowing my legs were disproportionally big felt even better. I didn't take any physique selfies when I was running... got skinny all over, didn't enjoy it (physique-wise) that much.
high rep moderate intensity squatting makes legs big real quick.. plus it's a lighter load on the spine which is cool.. just can't let form break down obviously.
regardless, some occasional bodybuilding style sessions where you try and pump everything up to the max isn't a bad thing.. it's actually pretty fun and might help.. trick: only look in the mirror after that session.. :) :ninja:
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regardless, some occasional bodybuilding style sessions where you try and pump everything up to the max isn't a bad thing.. it's actually pretty fun and might help.. trick: only look in the mirror after that session.. :) :ninja:
THIS
I feel like a fucking monster checking myself out in the changing room after an upper workout. If I could always look the way I do with my upper pump I would put uppers on permanent maintenance
Also maybe you've just got body dysmorphia and compare yourself to the enormous guys in the gym. When I'm socializing with friends they seem to think I'm big despite the fact that I see myself as pretty skinny. Can't be too different for you, we're similar weight and my weight is mostly in the legs anyway
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the cure for me, regarding physique, has always been "big legs". If my legs are big, I seem to not care about what's going on with my upper body.. big legs also imply i'm more powerful etc. so it's almost like a primal switch you can flip in your brain.
Interesting! My thighs (and hams/glutes) are my biggest muscles but if in a gym im prob wearing shorts and compression tights and all i will see is my proportionally skinny calves and tiny VMOS lol. Calves and VMOs really need to come up for me. I think if I was leaner i'd look bigger too the way you describe below:
I took several physique selfies when I was dunking, being lean felt good but, knowing my legs were disproportionally big felt even better. I didn't take any physique selfies when I was running... got skinny all over, didn't enjoy it (physique-wise) that much.
Yah theres a sweet spot to aesthetics i think. IF i get my bodyweight up to 95kg i'll look bigger cos i will be bigger but obviously a lot fatter but in clothes you still look huge. Conversely being lean even if you're really light you look bigger because the muscles having definition give the illusion of size.
high rep moderate intensity squatting makes legs big real quick.. plus it's a lighter load on the spine which is cool.. just can't let form break down obviously.
holy shit i think we're on the same page about this, im just not build for heavy squatting. But volume can get me stronger and bigger and that might be the way to go long term. To be honest, even powerlifters etc taper off volume to recover before attempting maxes whereas I think i didnt do that b/c i was autoregging which works fine until it doesn't and you get broken by lifts that should not have tasked you so much.
regardless, some occasional bodybuilding style sessions where you try and pump everything up to the max isn't a bad thing.. it's actually pretty fun and might help.. trick: only look in the mirror after that session.. :) :ninja:
mirrors everywhere at the gym hard to avoid them. I actually get phsyched out when i use bigger dumbells like 30kg ones cos the image in the mirror looks comically skinny holding those in my hands i just get deflated before the set. but thats ok i shud just work with volume and not covet heavier and heavier, esp when dbs go up by 2.5kg and 5kg from last week and i shud really be mastering a given weight before going up
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regardless, some occasional bodybuilding style sessions where you try and pump everything up to the max isn't a bad thing.. it's actually pretty fun and might help.. trick: only look in the mirror after that session.. :) :ninja:
THIS
I feel like a fucking monster checking myself out in the changing room after an upper workout. If I could always look the way I do with my upper pump I would put uppers on permanent maintenance
Also maybe you've just got body dysmorphia and compare yourself to the enormous guys in the gym. When I'm socializing with friends they seem to think I'm big despite the fact that I see myself as pretty skinny. Can't be too different for you, we're similar weight and my weight is mostly in the legs anyway
mirror at home might be more honest cos im happy with that size. but gym ones may be vanity ones to make you look skinner? idk. but it makes sense that im comparing myself to the skinny guy in the mirror and conversely the guys around me look massive cos reality doesnt have the vanity field.. heh
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BW: 83.8kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance:
Back feels okay today. On that road to recovery!
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Looking into improving my testosterone levels. Anyone have any tips?
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Looking into improving my testosterone levels. Anyone have any tips?
nothing other than taking steroids makes enough of a difference to matter.
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Looking into improving my testosterone levels. Anyone have any tips?
nothing other than taking steroids makes enough of a difference to matter.
Lifestyle changes definitely can make enough of a difference to matter somewhat, no?
they matter for reasons other than raising testosterone levels.
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Looking into improving my testosterone levels. Anyone have any tips?
nothing other than taking steroids makes enough of a difference to matter.
Lifestyle changes definitely can make enough of a difference to matter somewhat, no?
they matter for reasons other than raising testosterone levels.
#badadvice
Sleep and stress are testosterone killers. Fucking with your metabolism is too. Increase vitamin D and raising your good cholesterol can increase T as well.
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Looking into improving my testosterone levels. Anyone have any tips?
nothing other than taking steroids makes enough of a difference to matter.
Lifestyle changes definitely can make enough of a difference to matter somewhat, no?
they matter for reasons other than raising testosterone levels.
#badadvice
Sleep and stress are testosterone killers. Fucking with your metabolism is too. Increase vitamin D and raising your good cholesterol can increase T as well.
i agree that sleeping well and managing stress are good things to do. i also agree taht a healthy diet and making sure you have all your micronutrients in order are good. is the main operative reason they are good because they shift you from being, at a given time, like 40%ile but within normal test range to 60%ile but still within normal test range? i highly doubt it. one should definitely do those things anyway, though, because they make a big difference, just likely for other reasons.
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Looking into improving my testosterone levels. Anyone have any tips?
nothing other than taking steroids makes enough of a difference to matter.
Lifestyle changes definitely can make enough of a difference to matter somewhat, no?
they matter for reasons other than raising testosterone levels.
#badadvice
Sleep and stress are testosterone killers. Fucking with your metabolism is too. Increase vitamin D and raising your good cholesterol can increase T as well.
i agree that sleeping well and managing stress are good things to do. i also agree taht a healthy diet and making sure you have all your micronutrients in order are good. is the main operative reason they are good because they shift you from being, at a given time, like 40%ile but within normal test range to 60%ile but still within normal test range? i highly doubt it. one should definitely do those things anyway, though, because they make a big difference, just likely for other reasons.
Agreed that you should do them just because and that how much of a difference it'll make will obviously vary. I would still do it as any increase should make a difference.
I'm a case in point though. Don't have low T but it was lower than expected. Vit D was also low and I was getting pretty shitty sleep along too. Brought the D up to doctor approved levels (big note here that a lot of people would suggest if you're active and heavily active then dr approved levels are way too low anyway), got the sleep to resemble almost normal levels and started eating eggs, avacado, etc. 20% improvement in my T levels in 8 weeks. It may just be me but these things are easy fixes and I would have taken even 5% difference. This was 3-4 years ago now and I'm sure the levels would be in much better shape now too.
The only caveat here is measuring T levels, free etc, and getting a doctor to do it. I'm due for another round of tests so will get them to include again so I can compare.
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Ive doubled my vitamin D intake now and I think i'll stick to that until the end of winter. I dont eat enough dietary fat i think, my daily intake is around 40-50g a day. Will try eat 4 eggs a day, that will take it up to 20g of dietary fat from egg. Need more perhaps but maybe from a different source. Olive oil? I already use it for cooking eggs. But not like im gna do olive oil shots so idk how to 'eat' more of it. Another change ive made as of today is to stop using handwash. I became somewhat of a hygiene freak a few years ago and i think it may have affected my T levels. Will use a bar of soap even tho it's messier and not as convenient. I have the bases covered for micronutrients already so there isn't much to change on that front. Sleep/ Stress though could improve. Finallly activity levels need to go up, think 6000-8000 units a day minimum and 8000-10,000 on training days. Training every other day also. Maybe even look at 2-a-day training sessions again. i actually found that helped my squat when i tried in may. Any other ideas?
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Hand wash and t levels? i've never heard of that.
also is vitamin d, vitamin d3?
it was on the news this year. the FDA even came down on these products. Look it up. I prob wash my hands like 30-50 times a day so i wouldn't be surprised it if's affected me hormonally :/
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BW: 84.3kg
Activity: 8000 (good!)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: yes 4/84
Going to give EOD training another shot. Will explain why later. Training tonight.
BS 6x70, 3x90
BP 6x50, 6x70, 6x60
Jumps (some depth jumps some Max effort RVJs).
Notes:
ive put up my best jump on insta. estimate it around 35" but welcome criticism on the accuracy of that estimate. I dont want to get excited tho, cos a)im not able to replicate this with a LR plant and b)kinda out of shape for jumping/bball jumping at a not-lean 87kg. Will keep working at it and see if i can get it to a touch below the the wrist which should be high 30s and 2-3" below the wrist will be 40".
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Ive doubled my vitamin D intake now and I think i'll stick to that until the end of winter. I dont eat enough dietary fat i think, my daily intake is around 40-50g a day. Will try eat 4 eggs a day, that will take it up to 20g of dietary fat from egg. Need more perhaps but maybe from a different source. Olive oil? I already use it for cooking eggs. But not like im gna do olive oil shots so idk how to 'eat' more of it. Another change ive made as of today is to stop using handwash. I became somewhat of a hygiene freak a few years ago and i think it may have affected my T levels. Will use a bar of soap even tho it's messier and not as convenient. I have the bases covered for micronutrients already so there isn't much to change on that front. Sleep/ Stress though could improve. Finallly activity levels need to go up, think 6000-8000 units a day minimum and 8000-10,000 on training days. Training every other day also. Maybe even look at 2-a-day training sessions again. i actually found that helped my squat when i tried in may. Any other ideas?
Coconut oil, avacado and nuts are my main sources of fat outside of eggs.
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Hand wash and t levels? i've never heard of that.
also is vitamin d, vitamin d3?
it was on the news this year. the FDA even came down on these products. Look it up. I prob wash my hands like 30-50 times a day so i wouldn't be surprised it if's affected me hormonally :/
wait, so do u mean like joy soap, palmolive washing detergent affects people hormonally just on skin contact?
I want to see the science behind it. Why does Triclosan mess with hormones? Or is it some kind of a propaganda because of the bacteria accimilation.
Not sure how much credence you place in Poliquin but he's a big advocate of avoiding these types of things:
http://main.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/1437/15_Simple_Steps_to_Prevent_Hormone_Disruption.aspx
http://www.strengthsensei.com/top-10-androgen-killers/
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Ive doubled my vitamin D intake now and I think i'll stick to that until the end of winter. I dont eat enough dietary fat i think, my daily intake is around 40-50g a day. Will try eat 4 eggs a day, that will take it up to 20g of dietary fat from egg. Need more perhaps but maybe from a different source. Olive oil? I already use it for cooking eggs. But not like im gna do olive oil shots so idk how to 'eat' more of it. Another change ive made as of today is to stop using handwash. I became somewhat of a hygiene freak a few years ago and i think it may have affected my T levels. Will use a bar of soap even tho it's messier and not as convenient. I have the bases covered for micronutrients already so there isn't much to change on that front. Sleep/ Stress though could improve. Finallly activity levels need to go up, think 6000-8000 units a day minimum and 8000-10,000 on training days. Training every other day also. Maybe even look at 2-a-day training sessions again. i actually found that helped my squat when i tried in may. Any other ideas?
I'm all about the canned sardines in olive oil. They don't taste as gross as just about every other canned meat and have hella protein and good fats including a bunch of omega-3's.
I think high fat/low carb diet is pretty healthy. From personal experience when i eat high fat and save carbing for important events i have really good general well-being. Could just be placebo though.
Reading "Grain Brain" right now which is a little controversial because it pretty much says all carbs are not the best, especially for brain health. Main claim It makes that I'm interested in is ADHD improvement. It also mentioned libido improvement which I'm guessing could be associated with T levels. I'm only a few chapters in so still pretty skeptical but reviews are decent and people say low carb/high fat has helped them a lot with various issues although the authors explanations for why this diet works are questionable at times
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BW: 84.1kg
Activity: 6500 (okay)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: Yes; 5/84
Rest today, will try get 6000-8000 units though.
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Coconut oil, avacado and nuts are my main sources of fat outside of eggs.
i think id reflexically avoid nuts because i dont know about exact calories and they're kinda dense, but i guess that's more paletable when you're trying to get more fats. Same for avacado. I've cooled on coconut oil after reading an article saying it's the most high in cholesterol, the article recommended olive oil or something else.
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellbeing/nutrition/coco-nuts-the-argument-against-coconut-oil-has-gone-too-far-20170712-gx9p02.html
had the idea to try stirfrys .. hmm
Phenom yea i dont like that low carb propaganda. Im open to eating more fat but the proponents go full retard and recommend 3 slices of bacon and 3 eggs as healthy and i just nope out. having said that, i cud prob benefit from more fat not so much less carb. idk?
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yo! re: our DJ technique convo on IG. I just unprivated some DJ videos, this one shows what I was talking about pretty well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bukCCeb-UH8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8UqPUW0KOA
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BW: 83.7kg
Activity:
Misc: Added Creatine today (see below)
Diet Compliance: 6/84
2 weeks since injury. Thinking to try heavy today
BS 3x120(PR since injury lol), 1x130(PR since injury), 5x117.5(PR since ..)
BP 2x85(WHAT THE FUCK), 1x95(slowest rep ive done ever)
Lots of jumps
Hill sprints x 3 (PR; reintro)
Notes:
Going heavy for the first time since getting hurt went okay. I did a triple with 120kg, possibly could have done more reps on that first set but decided that was pretty good for now. Then did a heavy single of 130kg, again could have repped it but decided that was good enough for today. Finally decided to be conservative and go for a heavy 5rep set at 117.5kg, went okay too.
Ive decided to introduce creatine. I went back and forth but i think it's better if im on it while im trying to do a lot of things simulantanously (get leaner, get heavier, get stronger, get fitter, get more athletic). I will cycle off it eventually but for now it will benefit me more given how much im trying to fit in recovery wise. Tbh the thought of weighing 87.5kg in the morning and 90kg in the gym while having my fat 6-pack and jumping PR territory sounds kinda nice right now.
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yo! re: our DJ technique convo on IG. I just unprivated some DJ videos, this one shows what I was talking about pretty well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bukCCeb-UH8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8UqPUW0KOA
Wicked! Will incorporate the arm swing ive seen in your vid. I think you are doing them off a higher box so you actually start and complete much of the arm swing process while in the air! which is really interesting. I think my box is around 12" so I cant really get too much into the arm swing process but i should be able to get aleast the raising of the arms infront of me done in the air? Or try to get more than that? What do you think?
Re: Box height, there are other boxes (higher ones) but i thought to master the technique with the lowest one before trying higher ones. But now you've got me wondering whether i'd be better off using one I can do a proper armswing while in the drop phase.
ALso watching your SVJ vid im realising i dont use any arm swing in my SVJs. Imagine if i can PR my SVJ today by working on that. Will take vids.
edit. postworkout:
I think i finally got a 'good enough' depth jump and wow, even tho box is ONLY 11" (i measured today), it felt really intense. I guess this is why people say depth jumps are intense. i thought they were too easy (even with 30" jumps i did in the past..) and people were vastly overselling the shock to the body angle. Interesting. So it's fun to do jumping workouts. I did some depth jumps, then i tried jumping for a max touch RVJ and i sucked. Then i went back, did some kettlebell swings working up to the heaviest bell they have (28kg), after that i tried some more jumps and was back to touching the vent territory. FINALLY got touches with my new LR plant .. they're really faint touches though but still progress! i cant help thing i can get more out of the LR plant, as of now, it still feels submaxy, even the arm swing doesn't look as smooth or aggressive enough. not sure why, i know it's a different movement altogether in how my hips and stuff go thru the jump but ya hoping something clicks, prob need to try a few different things. Today i thought i could be more straight on with the target rather than approaching from side-on. I think with RL plant side-on makes sense but with LR i have to modify to straight on etc.
Also i prob did my first windmill dunk .. hypothetically, if it counts without a hoop cos i was jut messing around with a medicine ball at the gym trying to get the movement down. Also the hoop wud prob need to be around 100" high cos i finish the movement on the ground. haha. just gotta figure out a way to jump higher while doing it and also bring my arm around quicker :o
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Coconut oil, avacado and nuts are my main sources of fat outside of eggs.
i think id reflexically avoid nuts because i dont know about exact calories and they're kinda dense, but i guess that's more paletable when you're trying to get more fats. Same for avacado. I've cooled on coconut oil after reading an article saying it's the most high in cholesterol, the article recommended olive oil or something else.
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellbeing/nutrition/coco-nuts-the-argument-against-coconut-oil-has-gone-too-far-20170712-gx9p02.html
had the idea to try stirfrys .. hmm
Phenom yea i dont like that low carb propaganda. Im open to eating more fat but the proponents go full retard and recommend 3 slices of bacon and 3 eggs as healthy and i just nope out. having said that, i cud prob benefit from more fat not so much less carb. idk?
Man don't believe that shit. It's the AHA for Gods sake!!!
Either way, coconut oil or olive oil. Either are good. I generally have more olive oil myself anyway.
Nuts are a tough one and if you're concerned about the cals then don't bother. 100g of cashews is 600 cals or something like that. Borderline ridiculous.
Also, I eat 4-6 eggs daily and they're so good. Nothing to be afraid off there.
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BW: 83.3kg
Activity: 6000 (ok)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 7/84
Rest
I thought to try eating chicken thigh over breast but i didnt even enjoy it, way too fatty :/ will go back to breast. also found this sweet hazelnut chocolate spread that's 97% less sugar. It tastes pretty good, not sure if it has a place in my daily but i enjoyed that immensely.
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Coconut oil, avacado and nuts are my main sources of fat outside of eggs.
i think id reflexically avoid nuts because i dont know about exact calories and they're kinda dense, but i guess that's more paletable when you're trying to get more fats. Same for avacado. I've cooled on coconut oil after reading an article saying it's the most high in cholesterol, the article recommended olive oil or something else.
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellbeing/nutrition/coco-nuts-the-argument-against-coconut-oil-has-gone-too-far-20170712-gx9p02.html
had the idea to try stirfrys .. hmm
Phenom yea i dont like that low carb propaganda. Im open to eating more fat but the proponents go full retard and recommend 3 slices of bacon and 3 eggs as healthy and i just nope out. having said that, i cud prob benefit from more fat not so much less carb. idk?
Man don't believe that shit. It's the AHA for Gods sake!!!
Either way, coconut oil or olive oil. Either are good. I generally have more olive oil myself anyway.
Nuts are a tough one and if you're concerned about the cals then don't bother. 100g of cashews is 600 cals or something like that. Borderline ridiculous.
Also, I eat 4-6 eggs daily and they're so good. Nothing to be afraid off there.
What's up with eggs and cholestrol? I've heard conflicting info out there.
There is absolutely no link between eggs and bad chol. It was a study from years ago that has taken years to die. I remember in Australia there was one funded by the dairy board who would just promote cereal over eggs. Obviously if you have chol problems then there may need to be care taken as eggs do contain cholesterol though.
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My concern isn't that cholesterol raising fat is bad as much as it's which other fat other than saturated fat (and fish oil) is beneficial which one could add to a daily diet. Btw this purified refined MCT rich coconut oil seems super interesting. Coges have you tried to source it in aus?
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BW: 83.3kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 8/84
Going to squat it out today! Something crazy, watch this space.
BS 10x5x110(PR!!)
RDL 8x120, 8x160H(PR), 8x150H
Back Xtn 2x12x50(PR), 10x50
Notes:
I was thinking of going for 6x5x110 and then i did 6 and thought i can do one more, and eventually i thought i can do a 10th set and there we are. My new mod 100 program is born. Yay. Next time it will be 112.5kg mod 100 sets of 5, ie 12x5x112.5 then 15x5x115 and so on up to 20x5x120kg.
Skipped upper body b/c i didn't think id be able to do a quality session today.
Nutrition:
Ate 5 eggs and some chicken breast cooked in olive oil. So i shud be good for optimal testosterone nutrition ha.
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I dont get hwy my bodyweight went from 85kgish to 83kgsh since i started eating more fat esp when i was thinking of going from 85kg->87.5kg steadily lol. It's okay tho, will be patient and get there eventually and then 90kg. Creatine may alredy be working .. i felt so good in the gym today, just felt i could keep going all night. Nice. SO far so good. My mood is better too. I think test levels are improving slightly already since i cut off handwash and started eating more fat.
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My concern isn't that cholesterol raising fat is bad as much as it's which other fat other than saturated fat (and fish oil) is beneficial which one could add to a daily diet. Btw this purified refined MCT rich coconut oil seems super interesting. Coges have you tried to source it in aus?
Have seen it at chemist warehouse for about $19. Seems like good enough value. Haven't actually tried it yet. Definitely an interesting option though and I know Ross Edgley is a big proponent of using duel fuels (carb/protein and fat/protein) for training so might be worth a shot.
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I don't think you should stress about this fast. In the case of obesity any significant weight loss will result in improvement for health markers across the board. Just focus on that and you'll be a lot healthier.
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What he said ^^^
Coges-- If eggs doesn't raise bad cholesterol (meaning it raises good cholesterol) than why would I worry about it raising my "cholesterol". I ask this because you said:
There is absolutely no link between eggs and bad chol. It was a study from years ago that has taken years to die. I remember in Australia there was one funded by the dairy board who would just promote cereal over eggs. Obviously if you have chol problems then there may need to be care taken as eggs do contain cholesterol though.
I'm not a doctor. I don't know the ins and outs but your body is more complex than just eat this or don't eat that. If you have cholesterol problems then like maxent said, focus on some weight loss and maybe don't smash 6 eggs a day to get there. Idk
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BW: 83.7kg
Activity: 7500 (good)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 9/84
Surprisingly not all that sore today. Wicked. Thank you creatine/increased dietary fat/test levels for that. I also had a fair bit of bread last night too so a shoutout to carbs as well. This is what it must feel like to be a young male again. lol. Looking forward to training tmr im sticking to the EOD training schedule, hoping to finally get in a quality upper body session in since 7 days ago when I did that volume ohp session.
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volume!!!!!!!!!!!!
was expecting you to be more soar from that 8/4 session. :ninja:
yo! re: our DJ technique convo on IG. I just unprivated some DJ videos, this one shows what I was talking about pretty well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bukCCeb-UH8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8UqPUW0KOA
Wicked! Will incorporate the arm swing ive seen in your vid. I think you are doing them off a higher box so you actually start and complete much of the arm swing process while in the air! which is really interesting. I think my box is around 12" so I cant really get too much into the arm swing process but i should be able to get aleast the raising of the arms infront of me done in the air? Or try to get more than that? What do you think?
Re: Box height, there are other boxes (higher ones) but i thought to master the technique with the lowest one before trying higher ones. But now you've got me wondering whether i'd be better off using one I can do a proper armswing while in the drop phase.
ALso watching your SVJ vid im realising i dont use any arm swing in my SVJs. Imagine if i can PR my SVJ today by working on that. Will take vids.
edit. postworkout:
I think i finally got a 'good enough' depth jump and wow, even tho box is ONLY 11" (i measured today), it felt really intense. I guess this is why people say depth jumps are intense. i thought they were too easy (even with 30" jumps i did in the past..) and people were vastly overselling the shock to the body angle. Interesting. So it's fun to do jumping workouts. I did some depth jumps, then i tried jumping for a max touch RVJ and i sucked. Then i went back, did some kettlebell swings working up to the heaviest bell they have (28kg), after that i tried some more jumps and was back to touching the vent territory. FINALLY got touches with my new LR plant .. they're really faint touches though but still progress! i cant help thing i can get more out of the LR plant, as of now, it still feels submaxy, even the arm swing doesn't look as smooth or aggressive enough. not sure why, i know it's a different movement altogether in how my hips and stuff go thru the jump but ya hoping something clicks, prob need to try a few different things. Today i thought i could be more straight on with the target rather than approaching from side-on. I think with RL plant side-on makes sense but with LR i have to modify to straight on etc.
stick with the lower boxes until the form is really ironed out .. you can still get alot out of an 18" box. 24" boxes are a nice step up from 18's, could probably utilize those for a while & not even need to think about 30's or 30+ .. Alot of people jump the gun and go 30+ right from the start, even try things like 42"... 30" is pretty much the optimal height for most trainees, so don't even let it enter your head to experiment with 36, 42, etc.. If someone wanted to use such box heights, they should be doing depth drops not depth jumps.
in summary, 18's mostly for "regular training", 24's to prep for 30's, 30's for a period/phase where DJ is basically the dedicated movement (ie a progression over a few months of 4x5, 3x10, 4x8, 4x10 - but this is advanced).. so 18's could be used whenever, for pretty much all healthy athletes.
the one thing you'd have to be careful with, is your back ... 30" DJ's especially, are spine crushers. Doesn't seem like it but, your spine absorbs a shit ton of force. So, all the more reason to stick to 18's for the most part.
Also i prob did my first windmill dunk .. hypothetically, if it counts without a hoop cos i was jut messing around with a medicine ball at the gym trying to get the movement down. Also the hoop wud prob need to be around 100" high cos i finish the movement on the ground. haha. just gotta figure out a way to jump higher while doing it and also bring my arm around quicker :o
word!
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BW: 84.4kg
Activity: 8500(PR! good)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 10/84
Feel more sore today than yesterday, esp hams. But i am gonna do a light lower body session and try for a bench one. lets see how it goes.
BS 2x120, 2x6x90
OHP 6x2x60
Chinup 3x6xBW
DB Row 8x25, 8x30, 8x35
Treadmill walk 30 mins
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BW: 84kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 11/84
Man gaining weight is HARD when you're eating clean. lol.
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BW: 84.6kg
Activity: 8000
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 12/84
Squatting heavy today :ibsquatting: AND jumping high :personal-record:
BS 2x120
Jumps
Jump rope
Prowler push x 5 reps
Squatted neither heavy nor jumped high lol. oh well.
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BW: 84kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 11/84
Man gaining weight is HARD when you're eating clean. lol.
Aren't you like 6'3? I wish I was on a bulk. Just eat lots of steak, sushi, and meditteranean and south american food, it's so tasty and better than western tasty foods. Such as kabobs, spanish rice, fish/chicken tacos, etc
Yep. I wish i was bulking. Not lean enough to do that tho. Best case scenario for now is rate of muscle gain is equal to rate of fat loss. I hate meat so i have to forcefeed myself chicken breast every night for dinner :(
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Oh! So i figured out why i had a bad time in the gym today. Squats were out and looking at the video of my jumps and kb swings -- i realise it's cos my abs were fkd from last workouts chinups reintroduction. This manifests as bent back on swings and jumps and of course weird squats. Haha. Shud be good for a repeat next workout :)
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FIsh isnt an improvement on the appetite front. IM just tryna get to a decent place bodycomp wise and then cut down on meat to once or twice a week. But for now im eating plenty of protein from a variety of sources (dairy, eggs and chicken breast).
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BW: 85kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 13/84
Rest day. Finally hit the 85kg milestone. Ive hit it before by eating pizzas every day but that doesn't count, this is from eating clean.
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BW: 84.7kg
Activity: 9000
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/84
Squating heavy and jumping high. weather looks good for sprints too
BS 3x125(PR since injury), 1x132.5(PR since injury), 1x137.5(PR since injury), 5x122.5(PR since injury)
Paused BP 2x90(PR), 5x2x87.5(PR)
DB incline BP 8x25, 8x25, 10x25(PR)
Jumps
Hill sprints x 5 (PR 2 more reps than last week)
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Man I don't know how good you are at BBALL, and I believe you are still in your 20s, but with the strength and physique you have, you could certainly play professional BBALL outside of the USA, I'm not sure where you live. overseas pays really good too. i could NEVER play pro bball no matter how much i practice or how much bball iq, coordination, i have....
That would be a dream come true. But i think at 33 almost 34, it's unlikely to happen. Would be aamzing for sure!
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Man I don't know how good you are at BBALL, and I believe you are still in your 20s, but with the strength and physique you have, you could certainly play professional BBALL outside of the USA, I'm not sure where you live. overseas pays really good too. i could NEVER play pro bball no matter how much i practice or how much bball iq, coordination, i have....
you don't know how good he is at bball but he could certainly play pro bball outside the US?
made me lolz. :D :trollface: :ninja:
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BW: 84.3kg
Activity: 9000
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 15/84
Surpisingly sore free today. But i realised last night ive been over-eating by about 500kcal so im gna cut down a bit. Rest day.
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Meant to ask this for a while, but what is 'activity' measuring exactly? Kcals seems way high, and if it's steps, why not say steps?
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Meant to ask this for a while, but what is 'activity' measuring exactly? Kcals seems way high, and if it's steps, why not say steps?
yep steps! but like if i do jump rope or something it will still count something but they aren't technically steps. skips? so whatever it's calculating through the day, that's what im calling units of activity. it's just a magic number that comes out of the band which i use to measure my activity. I hit 9k today which is good for a rest day. kcal would be nice but theres no good way to measure that without using fancy lab things like doubly labelled water
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BW: 84.9kg
Activity: 8000
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 16/84
Here we go, the big squat volume day. Not sure how to structure it though. Was thinking two sessions but we'll see.
BS 2x120, 1x132.5, 7x5x112.5(PR)
BS 8x5x112.5(PR)
Notes:
Knocked out the first squat session. Thought about doing back extensions and RDLs like usual but i think better to be rested up and fresher for the 2nd session. As a compormise i'll do back extensions as a warmup for the 2nd session that way i dont have to leave it late to do them. As it happens im gonna head down to the gym around 11pm anyways, shud be interesting taking caffeine late.
2nd session went okay. Ive decided to jetison back extensions and RDLs altogether on squat volume day. I wanna try them on heavy squat day, that way they wont interfere with overhead pressing on light squat days if that makes sense. My upper back/traps get wrecked too much from RDLs and it messes up ohp. Programming problems galore
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Ok this is the sort of program im envisioning (will test to see if it's workable in real life!)
EOD training with no recognition of the 7 day week.
Day 1: Volume squats
Day 2: Rest
Day 3: Light recovery squats, volume OHP (barbell & seated DBs)
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: Heavy squats, JUMPS (depth jumps and max attempt RVJs for PR), RDLs, Hill sprints, Back Extensions
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Medium squats (to shake off cobwebs from heavy day), volume Bench(barbell paused variant and incline dbs)
Day 8: Rest
Repeat x forever.
I think if i can make this work, it will do wonders for me..
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HIGH REP NATION.
routine idea looks good but it will undoubtedly change, it always does. good stuff tho.
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BW: 84.5kg
Activity: 6000
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 0/68
Not sure why but i thought id have some icecream "for recovery" but i think its dumb because i get less nutrients this way. im not trying that again
soreness in glutes mainly but also adductors. quads not so much. confirms my theory that light squats dont do much if anything for legs :(
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HIGH REP NATION.
routine idea looks good but it will undoubtedly change, it always does. good stuff tho.
ya already i just noticed one issue which may affect me is that after volume squats, my core will be pretty beat to be able to do ohp well the next workout. But, i cant really find a way to fit in anywhere else so it will have to do..
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BW: 85.6kg (PR!)
Activity: 9000 (good)
Misc: Adductors
Diet Compliance: 1/67 (new week new me)
Recovery BS 6x70, 6x90, 6x90
OHP 6x2x62.5(PR), 4x57.5, 4x55, 5x55
Chinup 5x95(PR;+6.25kg), 5x94(+5kg), 5x94(+5kg)
Seated DB OHP 3x10x20(PR)
Jump rope
Notes:
The rust came off as i went thru the workout. Felt pretty fresh on the jump rope. But i didnt try doing a full on jump workout, that wud wreck me for weds heavy squats and proper jump session. I may have overdone the OHP volume, we'll see how it goes
-
BW: 85.2kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 2/67
Maybe i could lean out a little and stay at 85kg before pushing for 87.5kg though. Im kinda chubby now :/
-
BW: 85kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 0/65
Heavy day yeahhh.
BS 3x120, 2x132.5(PR since injury), 1x140(PR since injury), 3x130(PR since injury), 5x127.5(PR since injury)
RDL 8x170(PR)
Jumps (hit a PR of over 35, maybe as high as 37.5" - see insta for vid)
Hill Sprints x 6 (PR +1 rep)
Back Xtn 3x8x60(PR since injury)
Notes:
Comeback is on.
-
should post the vert vid you posted on IG .. that was a pretty sick jump.
-
BW: 84.7kg
Activity: 6500
Misc: None
Diet Compliance: 2/65
Did eat clean yesterday. I maybe a little more bread but that's better than icecream. So gna try to put together another 2 week period of unbroken compliance. With the one refeed after volume squat day per week. or 8 day week.. haha.
should post the vert vid you posted on IG .. that was a pretty sick jump.
Thanks. Link. (https://www.instagram.com/p/BX2-BoIhXP6xrx5Fvn9VngWDqO8Rqv01nu6Zg00/)
The shoes im wearing there are adidas crazy light boost's which are shit for jumping in because they're heavy and bulky but great for training in because of the boost cushioning. I will prob jump higher in Kobes on hardwood as opposed to the rubber gym floor. Plus with a better windup will gain a little from that. But dont feel ready to jump on a court just yet, too out of shape, whale like. i am afraid i'll barely touch the rim and lose confidence. Maybe later down the line. For now im ok jumping in the gym at 88kg. Getting that up to 90kg will be an exciting milestone on the gym scales.
Feel suprisingly unsore today. Was expecting way worse but thankfully my new program is starting to feel right. The only hitch was the chinups torched my core a bit and i was wondering if it would kill heavy squats but it didnt thankfully. I need more ab work in any case so i wont stop doing them.
-
BW: 84.7kg
Activity: 6500
Misc: None
Diet Compliance: 2/65
Did eat clean yesterday. I maybe a little more bread but that's better than icecream. So gna try to put together another 2 week period of unbroken compliance. With the one refeed after volume squat day per week. or 8 day week.. haha.
should post the vert vid you posted on IG .. that was a pretty sick jump.
Thanks. Link. (https://www.instagram.com/p/BX2-BoIhXP6xrx5Fvn9VngWDqO8Rqv01nu6Zg00/)
The shoes im wearing there are adidas crazy light boost's which are shit for jumping in because they're heavy and bulky but great for training in because of the boost cushioning. I will prob jump higher in Kobes on hardwood as opposed to the rubber gym floor. Plus with a better windup will gain a little from that. But dont feel ready to jump on a court just yet, too out of shape, whale like. i am afraid i'll barely touch the rim and lose confidence. Maybe later down the line. For now im ok jumping in the gym at 88kg. Getting that up to 90kg will be an exciting milestone on the gym scales.
Feel suprisingly unsore today. Was expecting way worse but thankfully my new program is starting to feel right. The only hitch was the chinups torched my core a bit and i was wondering if it would kill heavy squats but it didnt thankfully. I need more ab work in any case so i wont stop doing them.
That's a damn nice jump. I'm jealous lol. Also of those RDL's, did you work them up with progressive overload or are they a result of other exercises you used to do a lot, or maybe your proportions are better for them? Your squat is pretty P-chain dominant I think so that must carry over a lot
:strong: :strong:
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BW: 84.9kg
Activity: 15k (PR!!)
Misc: None
Diet Compliance: 3/65
Benching tonight and meeting a friend to put up some shots. we may have dinner later but hoping to eat clean today. Im on a nice run now.
BS 6x110, 6x100
Paused BP 3x2x87.5
Bball
Paused BP 6x2x87.5, 5x75, 5x72.5, 5x70
Incline DB a few sets . .shitshow cos the bench was different from last time and i didnt realise it until id already wasted a few sets lol
DIP 3x5xBW (i did 3 sets to begin with that were shit ROM because again someone had changed the config from last time and it threw off my ROM)
Notes:
Lol so ive always noticed starting playing ball gets me lean/in shape so quickly and if you look at my activity level for the day at 15k, that might be a reason why :P
-
BW: 84.9kg
Activity:
Misc: None
Diet Compliance: 3/65
Benching tonight and meeting a friend to put up some shots. we may have dinner later but hoping to eat clean today. Im on a nice run now.
Going to go shoot some hoops?
Yes mate, first time in months. My friend is like 6'6" and so naturally talented. we're both out of shape but holy shit he was getting some huge blocks tonight. Last time we played, he blocked me on a layup so hard i stopped playing ball since then. lol lol. ive been blocked before but not like that. And then I vowed to gain some weight to match up better with him the next time we played. he's like 270, just a big frame but athletic. Not in the sense of being able to dunk, but quick to move around and can jump well off 1 foot. Im going to try get him in shape, we've made plans to train together this summer. can't wait.
-
BW: 84.7kg
Activity: 6500
Misc: None
Diet Compliance: 2/65
Did eat clean yesterday. I maybe a little more bread but that's better than icecream. So gna try to put together another 2 week period of unbroken compliance. With the one refeed after volume squat day per week. or 8 day week.. haha.
should post the vert vid you posted on IG .. that was a pretty sick jump.
Thanks. Link. (https://www.instagram.com/p/BX2-BoIhXP6xrx5Fvn9VngWDqO8Rqv01nu6Zg00/)
The shoes im wearing there are adidas crazy light boost's which are shit for jumping in because they're heavy and bulky but great for training in because of the boost cushioning. I will prob jump higher in Kobes on hardwood as opposed to the rubber gym floor. Plus with a better windup will gain a little from that. But dont feel ready to jump on a court just yet, too out of shape, whale like. i am afraid i'll barely touch the rim and lose confidence. Maybe later down the line. For now im ok jumping in the gym at 88kg. Getting that up to 90kg will be an exciting milestone on the gym scales.
Feel suprisingly unsore today. Was expecting way worse but thankfully my new program is starting to feel right. The only hitch was the chinups torched my core a bit and i was wondering if it would kill heavy squats but it didnt thankfully. I need more ab work in any case so i wont stop doing them.
That's a damn nice jump. I'm jealous lol. Also of those RDL's, did you work them up with progressive overload or are they a result of other exercises you used to do a lot, or maybe your proportions are better for them? Your squat is pretty P-chain dominant I think so that must carry over a lot
:strong: :strong:
thanks!! On that workout, a dude in the gym paid me a compliment saying i was a Kangaroo. Lol lol. ive never had that before so it was nice. The RDL is just .. idk, i'll put a video before we go any further so you can assess ROM etc. but i will say a year ago or so i was doing 200 for like 4 reps (i wanted 6 but didnt get them) and the remarkable thing was my bodyweight was 75kg/169lb at the time. So now that ive gained some weight im hoping i can stay unstuck to around 210kg. Maybe i will top out around there, 220kg would be amazing down the road once i hit my goal weight of 92.5-95kg soaking wet.
Edit. vid (https://www.instagram.com/p/BX8r8q-hOGeXY4bu-ncxfEL6730VpTukXVhxjw0/)
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BW: 84.7kg
Activity: 6500
Misc: None
Diet Compliance: 2/65
Did eat clean yesterday. I maybe a little more bread but that's better than icecream. So gna try to put together another 2 week period of unbroken compliance. With the one refeed after volume squat day per week. or 8 day week.. haha.
should post the vert vid you posted on IG .. that was a pretty sick jump.
Thanks. Link. (https://www.instagram.com/p/BX2-BoIhXP6xrx5Fvn9VngWDqO8Rqv01nu6Zg00/)
The shoes im wearing there are adidas crazy light boost's which are shit for jumping in because they're heavy and bulky but great for training in because of the boost cushioning. I will prob jump higher in Kobes on hardwood as opposed to the rubber gym floor. Plus with a better windup will gain a little from that. But dont feel ready to jump on a court just yet, too out of shape, whale like. i am afraid i'll barely touch the rim and lose confidence. Maybe later down the line. For now im ok jumping in the gym at 88kg. Getting that up to 90kg will be an exciting milestone on the gym scales.
Feel suprisingly unsore today. Was expecting way worse but thankfully my new program is starting to feel right. The only hitch was the chinups torched my core a bit and i was wondering if it would kill heavy squats but it didnt thankfully. I need more ab work in any case so i wont stop doing them.
That's a damn nice jump. I'm jealous lol. Also of those RDL's, did you work them up with progressive overload or are they a result of other exercises you used to do a lot, or maybe your proportions are better for them? Your squat is pretty P-chain dominant I think so that must carry over a lot
:strong: :strong:
thanks!! On that workout, a dude in the gym paid me a compliment saying i was a Kangaroo. Lol lol. ive never had that before so it was nice. The RDL is just .. idk, i'll put a video before we go any further so you can assess ROM etc. but i will say a year ago or so i was doing 200 for like 4 reps (i wanted 6 but didnt get them) and the remarkable thing was my bodyweight was 75kg/169lb at the time. So now that ive gained some weight im hoping i can stay unstuck to around 210kg. Maybe i will top out around there, 220kg would be amazing down the road once i hit my goal weight of 92.5-95kg soaking wet.
Edit. vid (https://www.instagram.com/p/BX8r8q-hOGeXY4bu-ncxfEL6730VpTukXVhxjw0/)
I think my best is around 295 3x8 but I go about halfway down the shin. Do you feel your hamstrings stretch and load up from that ROM? That's usually the cue I hear for RDL's. But I guess how much your hams stretch also depends on pelvic tilt.
Don't get me wrong though, now that I think about it this ROM is closer to stuff like sprinting and SL jumping, maybe even DL jumps which is good. Definitely going to experiment with RDL in the future.
-
BW: 84.9kg
Activity:
Misc: None
Diet Compliance: 4/65
Not too sore but im not sure if i'll be able to do a good volume squat day tomorrow. Hopefully. Going to eat and rest and see how it goes.
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I think for the RDLs, you need to drop weight and improve RoM, you'll get a lot more out of it. Halfway down shins is right ^. Keep the chest up, that should help lock your lower back. Great training lately mate.
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BW: 85.1kg
Activity: 7500
Misc: None
Diet Compliance: 5/65
Hip flexors bit sore but volume day looms. Gna split it into two sessions again. Lets see how this goes lol
BS1 8x5x115(PR)
BS2 8x5x115(PR)
Notes:
First pickup bball in months did a number on me. Bball just wrecks my fascia from the foot up, I was beaten up. I had all but decided to skip lifting today and get an extra day of rest but an afternoon nap made me feel better and i decided to go for it. Tbh i wasn't fresh enough to do any decent squat workout but im satisfied i can still manage 16x5x115 even in this state. The downside is from set 1 i struggled to get a clean 5th rep on every set. Not happy with form. Next week i'll go in better prepared and get some quality sets in. Technically crisp and volume = win.
TLDR: stuck to the EOD regime by forcing a hard workout of volume squats. Next week volume day - be fresh and nail every rep.
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BW: 85kg
Activity: 8000
Misc: R knee a bit wonky
Diet Compliance: 6/65
Rest.
Ended up doing a lot of walking. It was just a beautiful night for it. Goes to show how much my work capacity has improved lately. Nice.
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BW: 84.9kg
Activity: 9500 (good)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 7/65
Recovery lower body & ohp training to come tonight.
Recovery BS 6x90, 6x90, 6x80 (Some paused reps for form work)
OHP 2x60, 2x1x65(PR), 0Fx67.5, 4x57.5, 4x5x55,4Fx55
Chinup 3x98(PR+10kg), 3x5x93(+5kg), 4x93, 5x91.5
DB OHP a few sets dont remember details
Jump rope
Masai hops 3 sets
done
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BW: 85.2kg
Activity: 7500
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 8/65
Rest.
Entropy, I remember you went from semi-weak and "fat and furious" like myself, to strong and lean. How did you do it? I am trying to go thru that process right now and I would appreciate some tips from you.
If i remember correctly, you lost a decent amount of fat and still gained a ton of FS strength.
lol. Good times. I prob would suggest taking a long term view on this. do 12 week cycles where you focus on fat loss, then take a break from dieting while shifting to maintaining your bodyweight but focusing on performance, then diet some more, continue until you're satisfied. Don't try to slog thru a huge cut in one long cycle, it's hard to stay motivated.
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BW: 84.7kg
Activity: 11.5k (great)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 9/65
Heavy day tonight..!
BS 3x120, 3x132.5(PR), 1x142.5(PR), 1x145(PR), 5x130(PR)
RDL 8x120, 8x180H(PR)
Jumps
Hill Sprints x 7 (PR; +1 rep)
Back Xtn 3x10x60(PR)
Notes:
Good lifting day. Ok jumping day. Did one great jump but a lot of so so ones. It's ok. I need to stop myself getting obsessed with jumping right now, it will drive me crazy with my perfectionist tendencies. Actually got a back pump for the first on back extensions.. not sure why? it's only 10s for now, ive done close to 15 at this weight.
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BW: 85.2kg
Activity: 8500
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/55
Rest. If my friend wants to put up some shots i'll go down but otherwise im cool.
I went to put some shots up and it was a mistake. got pulled into a pickup game and one dude was talking mad shit and i shrugged it off didn't lose my calm but i wanted to block him out of the city and i wasnt fresh enough to do anything. got one but he called foul smh. Came home pissed off (at myself for being shit) and binged on chocolate lol lol. start over tmr. just wait til im finished transforming into lebron. i will get my revenge haha
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BW: 85.1kg
Activity: 10,000
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 1/55
Chest day!
Recovery BS 6x70, 6x90, 6x80
BP 2x3x87.5(PR), 1Fx89.5(PR), 2x88.5(PR), 1Fx87.5
Paused BP 5x72.5, 4x5x70
BP incline DB 10x20, 10x20, 8x20
Dips 5x6xBW
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BW: ??
Activity: 10,000
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 2/55
No such thing as rest days. Ended up playing outdoor ball with my friend running thru post drills. No big deal right? He's just one of the few guys who makes me feel like spud webb in the NBA. Im achy and sore .. concrete life lol. Yea squat volume day tomorrow, good job dickhead!
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this is true but im trying to train my ability to train even in suboptimum state. the days of doing only lifting and nothing else to preserve recovery didn't really serve me very well. im a better athlete now in that i can do more things in training without needing perfect sleep/rest to make it work. work capacity isn't just how much work you can do in a workout but also how much work you can do while not fresh and also how much work you can do and do other things very soon after without needing a lot of rest in between. i think. in the past i couldn't do as much work in a workout but i def couldn't do it in a compromised state and now i can, which is cool. will keep training that ability, i think there's more there for me to attain. Exciting stuff. PRs aren't just weight on the bar but also the amount of work you can do.
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this is true but im trying to train my ability to train even in suboptimum state. the days of doing only lifting and nothing else to preserve recovery didn't really serve me very well. im a better athlete now in that i can do more things in training without needing perfect sleep/rest to make it work. work capacity isn't just how much work you can do in a workout but also how much work you can do while not fresh and also how much work you can do and do other things very soon after without needing a lot of rest in between. i think. in the past i couldn't do as much work in a workout but i def couldn't do it in a compromised state and now i can, which is cool. will keep training that ability, i think there's more there for me to attain. Exciting stuff. PRs aren't just weight on the bar but also the amount of work you can do.
yup.
this is true but im trying to train my ability to train even in suboptimum state. the days of doing only lifting and nothing else to preserve recovery didn't really serve me very well. im a better athlete now in that i can do more things in training without needing perfect sleep/rest to make it work. work capacity isn't just how much work you can do in a workout but also how much work you can do while not fresh and also how much work you can do and do other things very soon after without needing a lot of rest in between. i think. in the past i couldn't do as much work in a workout but i def couldn't do it in a compromised state and now i can, which is cool. will keep training that ability, i think there's more there for me to attain. Exciting stuff. PRs aren't just weight on the bar but also the amount of work you can do.
Yep definitely. and it showed last night in the fight; mcgregor was more youthful and prob stronger and just as in shape, but come the 9th round, his arms were like strings while mayweather was still throwing like its the 3rd round. Something about mayweather's mind to body connection is different.
one thing people need to realize too though, is Floyd is a FREAK. He's that 40 year old guy you see at a 5k who dusts everyone, dropping an insane time. Olympic athlete, boxed his entire life, has so much experience that he doesn't "worry" in a boxing match such that worrying causes more stress & fatigue. He's "as cool as a cucumber". But the amount of work he's put in over the years, dwarfs Conor by several orders of magnitude. Conor is only 29, Floyd has ~8 more years of hard work he put in, fighting at the elite level. So although it seems like youth was on Conor's side, it was actually more of a detriment. His "youth" is an extreme experience disadvantage since he's crossing over from MMA to Boxing.
so, as much as it is important for Conor to achieve elite level ability to recover, round after round in a high paced boxing match; trying to do such a thing "for the first time" in a massive event like that, is absolutely impossible. He could have become the world's best 12 x 3 minute runner and Floyd would have figured out how to drag him into deep waters that Conor has never experienced before.
so back to maxent & just training in general .. our failures over time & staying consistent, teach us alot. Training hard for so long, that experience is important. And think about how much we're still learning even 10 years later in some cases... At the highest levels, everything comes down to "mastery". It's usually the smallest little details that pay out the most.
peace!
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Great post. Should we make a separate thread for this discussion? I'd be interested in getting more insight on work capacity. I think it's one of the reasons i never had a great physique is b/c my work capacity lagged behind and i didn't get the hormonal profile / adaptations that an elite male athlete would have got out of training. Less blame on genetics more on poor work capacity. Lemme know i'm happy to make it!
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BW: 86.2kg (PR!)
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 1/52
BS 9x5x117.5(PR)
BS 9x5x117.5(PR)
Notes:
First session out of the way, i wrapped it up in about an hour, just under. Will rest a bit, eat and then go back for sesh 2. It wasn't easy but i managed. Hopefully 2nd one isnt too bad. Btw i felt a bit of a dick doing this volume session at peak hour at the gym. I prefer when they fall on weekends..
2nd session was brutal but i dont feel as dead after as i did in the first. Now to recover..
-
BW: 86.2kg
Activity: 6500
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 2/52
Cutting down on carbs today until next volume day when i can refeed.
-
BW: 86.5kg(PR)
Activity: 10k (great)
Misc: Left knee sore
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 3/52
Lol i honestly did not expect my bw to stabilise above 86kg so quickly but there we go. Recovery squats and ohp to come tonight.
Recovery BS 6x90, 6x100
OHP 3x60, 1x65, 1x67.5(PR), 2x65, 3x1x65, 4x57.5, 5x5x55
WCU 3x99.5(+10kg; PR), 3x5x94.5(PR; +5kg), 2x5x92(+2.5kg)
Jump rope
Masaii hops
Seated DB OHP 12x20(PR), 10x20, 8x20
Notes:
It's probably nothing but my left knee is worrying me a little. ive never had any problems with it, so it's strange that it feels off today. Will keep an eye on it.
I also wanna mention that i messed aroudn with tarp bar deadlifts today. Some kids left the bar loaded and i played around with it a bit. Felt okay. i still find setup confusing and im not sure i can do the lift properly off the floor every rep for that reason, but at least RDLs with it wud be worth trying. interesting..
Also the jump rope .. today was different. I was able to go really quick for some reason. What caused it?
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Jump rope imo is horrible for pure athleticism. Better to just work on fast footwork alone and calf jumps alone than do all that hopping with a rope.....
why horrible? it's a good tool.. for "heavy footed" people, it can really help them get light on their feet. it's great for general coordination, fitness (cardio), body comp (burning cals), learning rhythm, learning to relax, shoulder speed/power/endurance, and can actually get quite intense/complex. There's all kinds of low level reactive exercises you can do with it, just hopping on one leg exclusively for X reps then the other is decent for reactive strength. Sure you could do that without the rope, but the rope also helps force you in some pretty good positions & helps you keep it submax when that's appropriate.
jump rope = great tool IMHO. i'd mostly use it for body comp & conditioning .. for boxing I used it for that, and to help with hand speed/shoulder conditioning. You can definitely tell the difference in the ring/on the bag/on the mitts before/after you get really good at jumping rope.
pc
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According to Yessis, the fast feet thing is a myth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsSlyKwHbdM). All those ladders etc are a waste of time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOiOCZB0HJE).
I like jump rope because it has an upper body component and i need some kind of upper body speed work and i noticed my basketball game improves when i implement regular jump rope. Think timing for dribbling, blocking, etc.
Ive been looking for an upper body plyo execise and i haven't found one yet. I dont really find anything useful about medball stuff. Todday tried to convince me they're useful but i couldn't really observe and improvements came from throws etc. The closest is this drill (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8BbNS5HM6o) from calstrength which is doing pushups from 3 plates on the floor. never tried it and it looks boring so idk .. cant be bothered lol. There's kettlebell swings but i cant quite get them right wtih bands and without im not sure how useful it is apart from the hip hinge. just not happy with them
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BW: 86.1kg
Activity: 10k
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 3/52
Rest.
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BW: 86.3kg
Activity: 11
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/52
Heavy day tonight and get to jump on a bball court for the first time in ageeeeeees
BS 3x120, 3x135(PR), 1x150(PR!), 2x132.5
RDL 8x120, 8x190H(PR)
Tarpbar DL 2x5x120(PR; new exercise)
Jumps
Hill sprints x 9 (PR; +1 rep)
Back Xtn 12x60(PR), 12x60, 10x60
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Super excited about how the tarpbar is showing me a huge weakness. I don't have the leg strength to move these modest weights, im pumped that by using the very exercise which has exposed this weakness will correct that imbalance. Turns out i have weak legs cos i can't get these things off the ground without a lot of difficulty. And if i had strong legs then i wouldnt be struggling with such light weights in what is a quarter squat position, right? Happy about this discovery. This is how i get across the 35->40" chasm, it wont be backsquats it's tarp bar DL.
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According to Yessis, the fast feet thing is a myth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsSlyKwHbdM). All those ladders etc are a waste of time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOiOCZB0HJE).
I like jump rope because it has an upper body component and i need some kind of upper body speed work and i noticed my basketball game improves when i implement regular jump rope. Think timing for dribbling, blocking, etc.
Ive been looking for an upper body plyo execise and i haven't found one yet. I dont really find anything useful about medball stuff. Todday tried to convince me they're useful but i couldn't really observe and improvements came from throws etc. The closest is this drill (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8BbNS5HM6o) from calstrength which is doing pushups from 3 plates on the floor. never tried it and it looks boring so idk .. cant be bothered lol. There's kettlebell swings but i cant quite get them right wtih bands and without im not sure how useful it is apart from the hip hinge. just not happy with them
You haven't tried repeated med ball bounces against the wall for speed? It's great. I never really liked throwing them overhead either tbh. A shot put is better.
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According to Yessis, the fast feet thing is a myth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsSlyKwHbdM). All those ladders etc are a waste of time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOiOCZB0HJE).
I like jump rope because it has an upper body component and i need some kind of upper body speed work and i noticed my basketball game improves when i implement regular jump rope. Think timing for dribbling, blocking, etc.
Ive been looking for an upper body plyo execise and i haven't found one yet. I dont really find anything useful about medball stuff. Todday tried to convince me they're useful but i couldn't really observe and improvements came from throws etc. The closest is this drill (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8BbNS5HM6o) from calstrength which is doing pushups from 3 plates on the floor. never tried it and it looks boring so idk .. cant be bothered lol. There's kettlebell swings but i cant quite get them right wtih bands and without im not sure how useful it is apart from the hip hinge. just not happy with them
I think you misunderstood the points he was making in his videos. In the first one he's saying that fast/agile feet come from hip movement. Doesn't mean that how fast you move your legs is unimportant, just that it's mostly power of the hips rather the ankles that determines that. But I'm sure ankles shouldn't be overlooked either
In the second one he even says that "agility ladders can be a useful tool". He doesn't explain how but the key is focusing on footwork as you would use it in-game - hard explosive plants rather than mowing through them for max foot speed. But even quick feet can be a good drill for core control and coordination or even just learning the proper body movement and beating it into your head through repetition.
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BW: 86.2kg
Activity: 8.5
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2
BS 6x100, 6x110
BP 2x90(PR), 2x89.5, 2x89.5, 2x88.5, 2x88.5, 5x75, 5x73.5, 5x74.5, 5x73.5, 5x73.5
Dips 5x98.5, 4x5x93.5
DB incline BP 8x20, 7x70, 7x70, 8x15
Curls
Notes:
That weekend was a complete and utter diet fail. Im going to start over tmr. I just wanna mention that my hams were kinda sore yesterday so maybe the tarp bar deadlifts is telling me not only is my leg strenght non-existent but so are my hams undertrained/weak. who knows tbh. i just see a lot of tarp bar deadlifitng in my future!!!
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Re the movement efficiency posts by acole and FP .. would it help if i ran thru a ladders drill and a medball sequence and put up a video on instagram? Cos i know it will look horrid as im a big slow lumbering dude who has no movement efficiency but im also very skeptical about being able to change that by doing ladders. I think it's more of a test than a builder. which is my default position for things i dont fancy doing :P
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Re the movement efficiency posts by acole and FP .. would it help if i ran thru a ladders drill and a medball sequence and put up a video on instagram? Cos i know it will look horrid as im a big slow lumbering dude who has no movement efficiency but im also very skeptical about being able to change that by doing ladders. I think it's more of a test than a builder. which is my default position for things i dont fancy doing :P
I agree for the most part about ladders being a good test for a developed adult. For young kids i'm sure ladders themselves provide more benefit: exposing children to all kinds of intense movements & teaching them how to progress, gets ingrained into their nervous systems. As adults, not so much.
As an adult, getting really good at agility ladders will probably just make you better at ladders, I doubt you'd get much transfer to a sport from it. However, ladders themselves are probably a great warmup. Just like how jump rope is a good warmup - if you can't jump rope like normal, you're still not "awake yet", so slowly working it in and getting your nervous system firing w/ a good feedback mechanism (like the rope itself), is a great way to tell if you are ready to start more intense training. Seems somewhat similar for ladders, it can give you some good feedback whilst not taxing you at all.
IMHO, one of the best ways to improve footwork/agility in sport is to improve overall conditioning and play more sport/practice sport specific drills. Improving fitness is paramount because if you can stay fresher longer, need less time to recover between efforts, give more effort without dying, and last longer, it'll help keep the "domino effect going" & allow you to improve the quality of your movements per session.
A good analogy is boxing (since we're talking about it alot lately). If one gets tired after 3 rounds on the heavy bag (3 minute rounds, 1 minute rest), but your session is 8 rounds, you're going to have reduced quality for 5 rounds. Improved fitness considerably + improved recovery time = more quality rounds on the bag. Once one then hits 8 quality rounds on the bag, they can then start focusing on more advanced work/rest related ratios, like throwing more punches per round in some sessions, throwing less but more intensity, throwing more with more intensity, etc. All of this has fitness/conditioning at it's base, because if that suffers, one isn't going to be able to hold up their hands properly during/after a punch - ie throwing a hard punch but also protecting yourself when you throw it. If you're too tired to protect yourself when throwing a punch, all of those reps add up and ingrain those faulty motor patterns, leaving one more vulnerable in an actual bout. So similar to "footwork" and such, someone looking in from the outside could just think this athlete "doesn't have it" as compared to a more elite boxer, when instead it could be attributed to mastery of core fundamentals in combination with better overall conditioning & attention to those details.
So improving fitness to allow for more intense/better quality training sessions/competition seems to be the desired "loop" that feeds into itself, IMHO.
dno just some quick thoughts & some rambling.
pC!!
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I agree with ladders being a good warmup but playing your sport/sport drills being the real area where you improve agility. Ideally you would just do footwork drills without ladders but those can be hard to figure out, quantify progress and get the motivation to do that cause you can't tell if you're improving and what to do exactly. Might be a little easier for bball cause there's a lot more definite knowledge about the footwork used than Ultimate.
I still believe you can see direct carryover to sport if you closely replicate sport movements w/ agility ladder. The big ones for Ultimate are crossover+icky, you alternate those, add in accelerations, moving backwards, different body leans, different hip rotations, planting far vs close from your body, hips low vs hips high, cues for explosive plant/fast feet/fast arms/stable torso and you have tons of variations most of which might carry over to game but will definitely tell you something about your mechanics.
Even if ladders aren't the greatest sport specific footwork training tool, I think they are a good diagnostic tool for figuring out flaws in your mechanics and trying to fix them. From my last session I took a bunch of notes, main points being:
-When I try to accelerate out of a backwards icky -> crossover my arm drive gets mixed up and I'll drive my right knee forward along with my right arm. I'm off balance + slower acceleration
-I don't keep my torso stable enough and tend to hunch over forward which puts me at a disadvantage moving backwards, makes it difficult to make a hard change of direction because I overcommit my unstable torso which is hard to recover from
-There's a very technical component to rotating your body and accelerating simultaneously which is what you have to do when doing crossovers.
I guess for basketball you can just set up a 1v1 and play for hours which would be good defensive footwork practice. For Ultimate you can't really do that and make a game out of it, you also tend to not notice your mechanics.
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BW: 86.2kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 1/1
Rest. Decided to start doing some cutting on rest days. Just as damage mitigation for this weekend... i still wanna get to upto 87.5kg but leaner than i am right now.
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BW: 86.4kg (PR)
Activity: 10
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 2/2
Squat volume day with 120kg. Yikes.
BS 10x5x120(PR)
BS 10x5x120
Notes:
First session done. It was challenging when the weight is heavy enough that you really have to strain and focus and there's the usual gym crowd doing weird shit like the girl next you on the smith machine doing one leg glute kickbacks, a guy right behind you, "spotting" his gf on squats etc. sucks. the 2nd session shud be better hopefully but sometimes the cleaners come and that's just as bad.
2nd session wasn't easier but i got it done somehow. But that's a PR for total reps at 100 in 2 sessions of 10 sets of 5 rep sets of 120kg. Now tme to recover and plan what to do next.
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5 sets of 10 x 120 kg? wow :ibsquatting: :highfive:
I read it differently:
10 sets of 5x120kg.
Regardless props on the :personal-record:
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5 sets of 10 x 120 kg? wow :ibsquatting: :highfive:
10 x 5 afaik.. hah. maxent is so "different" with his sets/reps sometimes that you feel like you're reading it backwards.
5 sets of 10 x 120 kg? wow :ibsquatting: :highfive:
I read it differently:
10 sets of 5x120kg.
Regardless props on the :personal-record:
ya
good stuff!
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Thanks all! Not sure where to go from here. On one hand that i was able to go from last volume day of 18x5x117.5kg to 20x5x120kg i shud be able to now progress to 20x5x122.5kg but another thought i had was to reset and add reps working up to 20x6x120kg which will be reps=weight as a milestone. Not a big deal and im not sure if it will even be a good idea to do a lot of volume with higher reps cos fatigue accumulates faster that way. Hmmmm
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BW: 86.2kg
Activity: 9.5
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 3/3
Feel fat as fuck today lol. Took some green tea and caffeine and gna try get 5k activity while fasted before eating my first meal.
Took more green tea and caffeine in the evening after i noticed i can barely see my abs. was this something that happened overnight or did i just notice? idk. but ima try get them back lol..
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Predictably yesterday's green tea + caffeine regime is going to become a daily thing until i get a bit leaner. I may even add a 3rd dose but 2 for now. Even added Cayenne pepper caps to the mix today. I just dont want or need weigh 90kg and be obese smh.
I saw my friend on sunday for the first time since we decided to join the gym and train together since something like july and he said i look like ive lost weight(!) Not sure what to make of that. But convinced that if i was actually a lean 90kg .. people woudn't say im jacked/strong/big etc they'd just say im skinny. So that's my goal, to be a skinny 90kg..
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BW: 86.5kg(PR)
Activity: 11.5
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 4/4
ohp & recovery squats tonight.
Recovery BS 6x70, 6x90, 6x100
OHP 2x60, 2x65, 1Fx66, 0Fx68.5(PR attempt), 5x56, 5x57, 5x57.5, 5x57, 5x57, 5x57
Chinup 5x90.3, 5x95.3, 5x95.8, 5x96.3, 5x94.8
Jump rope
Seated DB ohp 3x10x20
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I saw my friend on sunday for the first time since we decided to join the gym and train together since something like july and he said i look like ive lost weight(!) Not sure what to make of that. But convinced that if i was actually a lean 90kg .. people woudn't say im jacked/strong/big etc they'd just say im skinny. So that's my goal, to be a skinny 90kg..
The hardest part of being tall. Most tall guys I know who look kinda jacked are 92-95 at <10%. If natural that is. There are a few tall heavyweights at my gym who are j-j-j-jacked but I suspect they're not without assistance.
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BW: 86.5kg(=PR)
Activity: 10
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 5/5
Rest. Detox. I think ive gotten fat but also kinda water retenty as well? Idk. Doesn't matter.
Did 8 act fasted. Ate after 19 hr fast.
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What does diet compliance numbers me (xx/xx)
so if i do 5 days of compliance in a row that's 5/5, if i go off diet for 2 days it's 0/2. The 0/X days are bad
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BW: 86.6kg(PR)
Activity: 12.5 (great)
Misc: Abz sore (bad)
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 6/6
Heavy day + jumps. watch this space!
BS 3x120, 3x137.5(PR), 1x157.5(PR), 3x132.5
RDL 9x120(PR), 8x200(PR)
TbarDL 6x70, 2x6x120(PR), 8x70(PR)
Jumps and jumprope
Hill sprints x 10(PR;+1 rep)
Back Xtn 3x12x60(PR)
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BW: 87kg(PR)
Activity: 11 (good)
Misc: erectors bitterly sore, hamstrings bitingly sore
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 7/7
Omg i was not expecting the scale to read 87kg!! But on the nutrition front, ive been eating clean for 7 days (including today). Gna do the rest fast walk thing. But just for the record this fasted walking thing is going to start if it hasn't already affect my training. The fatigue accumulates and by using caffeine everyday im losing sensitivity. So that sucks. But it's my fault for getting fat :/
Good news is the weather is nice and warm now that we're in spring time. I can def average at least 10 units a day from here on. No excuse not to. Except maybe compromising training but i just need to do away with teh fasted stuff - because remember im fat/obese that it's overkill. IF i was on the cusp of 8% maybe it would make a difference but right now my insulin resistance is my friend, relax on the fasted nonsense.
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0.5kg change day to day could be anything, man. you know that.
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0.5kg change day to day could be anything, man. you know that.
True. Even repeat measurements after the display goes off on the scale will fluctuate by like 0.2kg. And if i have a glass of water one morning but not the other one it will explain it too. I try to keep things similar every time though and usually my bw is really stable day to day and if a change happens i dont register it unless it repeats several days in a row. Also the scale will usually vary by discrete units like some numbers are more likely than others which i think is a sensitivity thing for the scale.
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Nice job on the squat PR!
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BW: 86.3kg
Activity: 10 (good)
Misc: hamstrings still sore, erectors seem fine after I used the TENS for about 4hours on various parts of my back yesterday night.
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 8/8
Recovery BS 6x112.5(PR), 6x102.5
Paused BP 5x75, 5x77.5(PR), 5x77.5, 5x77, 5x77, 5x75
Weighted Dips 6x6x99kg(PR; +10kg vest)
Incline DB BP 10x20, 9x20, 9x20
Curls 3x15x17.5
Notes:
So next workout is a big volume squat session and i struggled getting 112.5kg up for reps so that's an indication of where my recovery is atm after that brutal heavy day. Hoping for the RR gods to shine on me over the next 48hrs.
I made the switch to using a weight vest on bw exercises. It's just that much harder than hanging weights off my waist and harder is good. Im close to that 100kg mark with the vest on. Oh and every time now im doing upper body, i curl. I need to grow some arm mass to progress my perpetually stuck ohp and bp.
Nutrition notes:
Got inspired by the cool photos adarqui has been posting of food on insta and i made some colourful tasty postworkout meals lately. Ive been feeling so full .. the extra fibre really does make a huge difference. Loving it. For dessert been making delicious fruit smoothies (fresh whole strawberries inc leaves, fresh blueberries, banana, whey, milk) that are just amazing. Will start instagramming them too
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BW: 86.3kg
Activity: 10 (good)
Misc: hamstrings still sore, erectors seem fine after I used the TENS for about 4hours on various parts of my back yesterday night.
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 8/8
Recovery BS 6x112.5(PR), 6x102.5
Paused BP 5x75, 5x77.5(PR), 5x77.5, 5x77, 5x77, 5x75
Weighted Dips 6x6x99kg(PR; +10kg vest)
Incline DB BP 10x20, 9x20, 9x20
Curls 3x15x17.5
Notes:
So next workout is a big volume squat session and i struggled getting 112.5kg up for reps so that's an indication of where my recovery is atm after that brutal heavy day. Hoping for the RR gods to shine on me over the next 48hrs.
I made the switch to using a weight vest on bw exercises. It's just that much harder than hanging weights off my waist and harder is good. Im close to that 100kg mark with the vest on. Oh and every time now im doing upper body, i curl. I need to grow some arm mass to progress my perpetually stuck ohp and bp.
Nutrition notes:
Got inspired by the cool photos adarqui has been posting of food on insta and i made some colourful tasty postworkout meals lately. Ive been feeling so full .. the extra fibre really does make a huge difference. Loving it. For dessert been making delicious fruit smoothies (fresh whole strawberries inc leaves, fresh blueberries, banana, whey, milk) that are just amazing. Will start instagramming them too
hah nice! ya i was about to say, where's teh photos?!
and ya, fiber is king. :headbang:
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Nice job on the squat PR!
Thanks. But it's one of those things i wish i had lost the battle b/c i'd rather win the war. It's gna disrupt my training i think, so far it hasnt but lets see how i go tmr. Hopefully recovered well enough to continue progress..
hah nice! ya i was about to say, where's teh photos?!
and ya, fiber is king. :headbang:
haha. they're coming. fibre was confounding my last few scale readings i think but it's started to even out.
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BW: 86kg
Activity: 10
Misc: hip flexors sore from bp
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 9/9
Will try to make today a proper rest day. I need to nail tmrs volume squats and need to be 100% on my game to get thru it.
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9/9 days diet compliant, thats pretty good.
It's ok. need to get to PR it(>14) and 21 days is where I need to go before it sticks as a permanent habit..
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BW: 85.7kg (!!)
Activity: 12 (good)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 10/10
Ok so scale is starting to look good ha ha. I think if i work hard and finish this cycle without gaining much weight i will be close to the 85/170kg mark on bw/bs. But that's just the talk of a dreamer, i need to demonstrate it otherwise its an empty claim.
Today's volume day. Yikers.
BS 10x5x122.5(PR)
BS 10x5x122.5
Notes:
First session behind me im looking forward to teh 2nd (not). If i was to say more about the session, i feel im stronger this time around than 8 days ago when i did 20x5x120kg .. but with the caveat that im more fatigued today going into the workout. So all things considered, i think i should be able to improve for the next volume day.
Ha ha 2nd session was a clusterfk. These two dudes messing around benching on the smith machine next to me wrecked my focus. I think i need to find a better gym. Honestly. When someone is training well near you it inspires you and focuses you more. When people are doing lame shit it just takes away. My mind needed to be 100% on the reps to get thru the workout and any distraction really threw me off :/ Anyway. So what do you when you're 13 sets in out of 20 and just failed the 5th rep? I decided to try using a belt and powering thru and for the 20th set i did an extra 6th rep to make up for the failed one :D.
I just wanna say 4 days ago i got my ass destroyed by heavy day, i wasnt ready for a volume day in no way but i made do. From experience I know after a day like that i need OVER 7 days and sometimes more to recover and resume progress on a program. But nevertheless I went for it and just did the hardest squat day of my life even so. That's probably the silvering line here. My work capacity / mental game is peaking. I shud be ok for 125kg volume next week as long as i fare better with the heavy PR on sunday. Please please recovery gods help a brother out.
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BW: 86kg
Activity: 11 (good)
Misc: So far no doms but i know that may well change ..
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 11/11
Rest...
Less than 200 days left! Yikes. Im neither lean, strong nor fit. Need to do better.
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Went to buy chicken breast. Came back with that and a memory foam contour pillow and a foam roller. I must admit i was skeptical about having a foam roller. It seems useful already. It's a 3-in-1 thing with a magic stick in the middle and a softer core roller that you can use. I would never buy these things but i felt i owed it to myself to tilt the recovery ducks in a row and give myself a fighting chance to make it thru this program with dying.
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BW: 86.2kg
Activity: 12.5 (good)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 12/12
Feeling pretty good. Training upper body today and recovery squats.
Recovery BS 6x100, 6x100, 6x90 (i think)
OHP 3x60, 1Fx65, 5x5x58(PR)
Chins 3x5x98(PR; switched to +10kg vest), 8x87.5(PR)
Seated DB OHP 3x10x20
Curl 3x15x20(PR; cheaty last couple of reps on the lsat one, who cares)
Notes:
Friend wanted to go to another gym so i went with him after my squats and it was a mistake. it was a real piece of shit. i went cold and decided to nope out and try again later tonight at my normal gym. Idk what i expected but training with a partner is a big fail for me whenever ive tried :/
I was cautious about chinups today, last time they beat my abs so much that it affected my heavy day training which was a cascade of bad that led to a horror volume workout etc. So i was conservative and did 3 heavy sets and then rested a bit and then did a set of 8 unweighted. Hoping my abs are fresh on sunday.
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BW: 86.5kg
Activity: 10
Misc: Abz kinda sore by night :/
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 13/13
Resttttttttttt. Asked my friend to come over and help me setup my home gym now that the weather is warmer i can train at home again. but im not sure if it's gna happen. will see. Tmr is the last workout before i turn 34. Yikes. Half thinking of digging up that thread of 'peaking' tricks and try get a 36" jump out on vid, esp since tmr is a heavy/jump day.
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French contrast is the best short term peaking out there
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French contrast is the best short term peaking out there
Keen. I'll read about it now and edit this post with what i find
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BW: 85.7kg
Activity: 12.5
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 14/14(PR)
Here we go. Heavy day! Last training session at 33 y/o.
BS 3x140(PR), 0Fx160(lifetime PR attempt)
SVJ PR!!! RVJ PR!!
BS 5x132.5(PR), 5x135(PR)
RDL 10x120(PR), 8x210(PR; hooked)
TDL 8x90(PR), 8x100(PR)
Hill Sprints 4(PR; +10kg vest), 4(unweighted)
BackXtn 12x60, 12x60, 10x60
Notes:
First session out of the way. I bailed on the 160kg at quarter squat position. My weaksauce quads just can't look out what my glutes and hips can bounce out. This is frustrating but i know now with the tarpbar filling the gap (training the portion of quarter squat from dead stop) i will FINALLY address this weakness. Anyway! Im gna go back for the 2nd sesh later tonight!
2nd session was dope. Killed every set i attempted. PR for daysssss. It still seems unbelieavable to me but the only exercise which causes my legs to fatigue or get a burn .. is ... freaking tarp bar DL. And im using such modest weights too. So maybe i got it wrong all along. To get stronger legs i needed to ...... DL .. all that time spent obsessing about my squat nevertheless left my legs weak. lol. So awesome to discover that after all this time. All along I hammered my strong point instead (glutes & hams) of my weak point(quads). Now we know. Having said that, i need way more reserve PC strength to make up for my shit build for squatting. So im gonna keep progressing EVERYTHANG .. but now also my weaknesses which i wasnt hitting before.
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First session out of the way. I bailed on the 160kg at quarter squat position. My weaksauce quads just can't look out what my glutes and hips can bounce out. This is frustrating but i know now with the tarpbar filling the gap (training the portion of quarter squat from dead stop) i will FINALLY address this weakness. Anyway! Im gna go back for the 2nd sesh later tonight!
2nd session was dope. Killed every set i attempted. PR for daysssss. It still seems unbelieavable to me but the only exercise which causes my legs to fatigue or get a burn .. is ... freaking tarp bar DL. And im using such modest weights too. So maybe i got it wrong all along. To get stronger legs i needed to ...... DL .. all that time spent obsessing about my squat nevertheless left my legs weak. lol. So awesome to discover that after all this time. All along I hammered my strong point instead (glutes & hams) of my weak point(quads). Now we know. Having said that, i need way more reserve PC strength to make up for my shit build for squatting. So im gonna keep progressing EVERYTHANG .. but now also my weaknesses which i wasnt hitting before.
Man you have to get your autocorrect sorted. ;D
Awesome progress though.
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Happy birthday btw. May all your jumps match or exceed your age.
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Happy birthday btw. May all your jumps match or exceed your age.
thanks! The tarp thing is from the old internet forum i cant remember which, either Power & Bulk or Irongarmx where they'd always mispell it. Never learned anything else from there tho
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BW: 85.6kg
Activity: 10.5
Misc: quads and hams
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 15/15(PR)
Made it to year 34 this morning (PR) and yesterday was my strongest day ever so far so good.
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Happy birthday btw. May all your jumps match or exceed your age.
thanks! The tarp thing is from the old internet forum i cant remember which, either Power & Bulk or Irongarmx where they'd always mispell it. Never learned anything else from there tho
Haha ok cool. I just assumed you were updating from a phone and it was auto correcting.
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Happy birthday btw. May all your jumps match or exceed your age.
thanks! The tarp thing is from the old internet forum i cant remember which, either Power & Bulk or Irongarmx where they'd always mispell it. Never learned anything else from there tho
Haha ok cool. I just assumed you were updating from a phone and it was auto correcting.
i assumed he didn't know how it was spelled, but, i also had part of me that thought he was spelling it that way on purpose for fun .. kinda like how people spell "the" -> "teh" .. hah.
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BW: 85.7kg
Activity: 12.5
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 14/14(PR)
Here we go. Heavy day! Last training session at 33 y/o.
BS 3x140(PR), 0Fx160(lifetime PR attempt)
SVJ PR!!! RVJ PR!!
BS 5x132.5(PR), 5x135(PR)
RDL 10x120(PR), 8x210(PR; hooked)
TDL 8x90(PR), 8x100(PR)
Hill Sprints 4(PR; +10kg vest), 4(unweighted)
BackXtn 12x60, 12x60, 10x60
Notes:
First session out of the way. I bailed on the 160kg at quarter squat position. My weaksauce quads just can't look out what my glutes and hips can bounce out. This is frustrating but i know now with the tarpbar filling the gap (training the portion of quarter squat from dead stop) i will FINALLY address this weakness. Anyway! Im gna go back for the 2nd sesh later tonight!
2nd session was dope. Killed every set i attempted. PR for daysssss. It still seems unbelieavable to me but the only exercise which causes my legs to fatigue or get a burn .. is ... freaking tarp bar DL. And im using such modest weights too. So maybe i got it wrong all along. To get stronger legs i needed to ...... DL .. all that time spent obsessing about my squat nevertheless left my legs weak. lol. So awesome to discover that after all this time. All along I hammered my strong point instead (glutes & hams) of my weak point(quads). Now we know. Having said that, i need way more reserve PC strength to make up for my shit build for squatting. So im gonna keep progressing EVERYTHANG .. but now also my weaknesses which i wasnt hitting before.
that is pretty much the definition of a "PR fest" .. was awesome scrolling down my IG feed and seeing "PR", then another "PR", then another "PR", and one more "PR".
:personal-record: :personal-record: :personal-record: :personal-record:
and turns out, there's even more PR's, not video taped. lmfao.
happy birthday man.. keep riding this wave dude, straight up beast mode.
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Yeah similar to that and hodl in bitcoin communities :D Like an inside joke but it takes on new meaning on the very fact that's it's an in. Guys i have reconsidered my assessment that weak quads are to blame. Greg K makes the argument that the hardest part of the squat is at the bottom of the squat up to about parellel and quads are responsible. So what muscle group takes over from half to quarter? Regardless of how you dice it up, i find i have found a weakness (being shit at tarpbar) and by hammering it hard i shud hope it carries over to my sticking point on the squat. Idk what else to do whether or not the reasoning is sound, if it works that's all that matters
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BW: 86kg
Activity: 11.5
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 16/16(PR)
New philosophy, write code everyday. I started on the adarq log posting android app i talked about a week or two ago. Will be writing it in Kotlin. Was going to get it started last night before midnight but i realised i dont even remember my forum password. So idk, maybe make a new account but no excuses #writecodeeveryday. Training today, upper body and recovery squats
BS 2x120
Paused BP 5x5x80
Recovery BS 2x120, 2x6x115(+2.5kg from last time)
Incline DB BP 6x22.5, 8x27.5(PR), 8x30(PR), (i i may have done a set after this but i cant remember for sure)
Weighted Dips 5x104(PR; 10kg vest + 5kg plate), 5x104(same deal), 3x5x105(PR; vest + 6kg kettle)
Curls 8x30, 8x35, 8x35
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Nice work on the :personal-record:
Your journal is highly motivational...I need to step my squat game up and catch up to you. Deadly work brother.
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Give us more details about the SVJ/RVJ PRs??? :ibjumping: :highfive:
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Give us more details about the SVJ/RVJ PRs??? :ibjumping: :highfive:
The SVJ pr is b/c first time ive touched the vent pipe in the gym on a svj jump. It's 30" to do that. It's prob also like the 2nd or 3rd SVJ ive done at a high target in the last 3 months though.
The RVJ i touched higher but hard to tell relatively how high to the pipe to estimate. I'd say maybe a hopeful 35".
Not putting a lot of stock on these jump PRs currently, ive been jumping less lately which will change once ive finished the high vol squatting phase! Then i'll do proper peaking and arrange a jump session on a bball court which should help me jump a lil bit higher b/c it's really awkward windup at the gym (kinda like a hockeystick shaped run up).
Vids:
svj (https://www.instagram.com/p/BZIwIuBhWmTCBk1bXpD-T3Fmh6RjV-OfME9srA0/)
rvj (https://www.instagram.com/p/BZI67iqB1ctiJA7gO_-vWd_K3thYKgXZXr9XAQ0/)
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BW: 86.2kg
Activity: 13.5 (!!)
Misc: sore quads/hams, hips, erectors
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 17/17(PR)
Rest. Tmr is the squat volume with 125kg for sets of 5 milestone. Yikes...
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nice job on the PRs, as everyone said. you are giving up inches on your SVJ by not swinging your arms harder.
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nice job on the PRs, as everyone said. you are giving up inches on your SVJ by not swinging your arms harder.
oh shit good catch. you should have seen my depth jumps when i started i wasnt using my arms at all (not even swining them) and adarqui helped me with that to the point where i was using them a lot more but still not quite here. Will try on SVJ when i do them next time. thanks!
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Decided i dont want to do a long cut down the road. Going to start chipping away at some of this plump by making small changes which will add up over the long term. Adding bitter orange to my caffeine and green tea fasted walking protocol and bumping up daily act from 10 to 12. That shud be around a 10-20% boost to metabolic rate and will show up positive changes over the timescale of months. Ofc im going to stay eating clean, i even picked up some sweet potato today which is a first for me. Turns out the bodybuilders solved this nutrition for bodycomp problem a long time ago, bout time i followd their lessons...
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What's the idea behind the fasted walking? Does it really do much if daily surplus/deficit is not where it needs to be?
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What's the idea behind the fasted walking? Does it really do much if daily surplus/deficit is not where it needs to be?
it really depends on the situation. But even being in a deficit isn't enough sometimes. Like take ChrisM pretty athletic and lean but he might have some fat stores in his chest and lower back that just wont go away. Even in a correct diet with a deficit, the body holds on to these 'stubborn' areas hard and to get it to use them for energy you can use tricks like fasted walking with Caffeine+green tea. In my case it's way overkill and there's plenty of nonstubborn fat around for the body to use more readily
in teh surplus situation you wanna keep the fat burning metabolic pathways active so your body still knows how to use fat for energy even tho you're prob eating a lot of carbs around training, you can keep your fat burning adaptations active by doing cardio during bulks. this is the part ive never got right but im being super bodybuilder like obsessive now to get it right
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Decided i dont want to do a long cut down the road. Going to start chipping away at some of this plump by making small changes which will add up over the long term. Adding bitter orange to my caffeine and green tea fasted walking protocol and bumping up daily act from 10 to 12. That shud be around a 10-20% boost to metabolic rate and will show up positive changes over the timescale of months. Ofc im going to stay eating clean, i even picked up some sweet potato today which is a first for me. Turns out the bodybuilders solved this nutrition for bodycomp problem a long time ago, bout time i followd their lessons...
cottage cheese and anything that taste like cardboard.
you can eat oats (the longer to cook, the better) in case you go apeshit and must get some carbs in.
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BW: 86.1kg
Activity: 10
Misc: right VMO sore, right calf, tarps, upper back..
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 18/18(PR)
Volume squat day. gulp. Going to try chill with the fasted stuff and give myself a fighting chance of completing the workets by going in well fed (oatmeal & sweetpotato thanks kf!) ready to get 20 sets of 5x125kg split into 2 sessions.
BS 10x5x125(PR)
BS 10x5x125
Notes:
First session was pretty good quality. Hoping for a repeat tonight. Im gna have some postworkout sweet potato and chicken breast and rest a bit. I even switched my food scales from metric (grams) to whatever gives ounces to feel closer to the bodybuilder ethos of measuring everything in weird oz units ha ha
2nd session was death. im ded
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BW: 86.1kg
Activity: 11
Misc: sore quads, hams, glutes
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 19/19(PR)
Something's different. I ate so much (and yet clean) food yesterday i wonder if it triggered something? like a signal to the body to release water from (energy) empty fat cells? idk. i look 'leaner'. Obviously cud be in my head but i swear it's legit, my love handles have like halved overnight. Skinfolds are def smaller. Even the the jiggle test confirms it, way less jiggle. Maybe 18 days o clean eating just suddenly had an effect and ive gone from fat to fit (kinda)? Btw only weighing 86.1kg after yesterdays eating def means ive lost 'something else' otherwise it would be like 87.x something today.
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BW: 86.3kg
Activity:
Misc: erectors lhs as a big knot, bicep tendons pretty beaten up the last couple of days (have been icing / tens which helps)
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 20/20(PR)
Upper body training and tecovery lower body today.
BS 2x120, 6x100
OHP 4x59.5
Chinup 6xBW
BS 2x120, 6x100
OHP 4x5x58.5, 4Fx58.5, 3x58.5
WCU 4x(vest+2.5kg), 4x(vest+1.25kg), 4x(vest+0.5kg = 100kg), 6x88.5 (BW)
Seated DB OHP 15x12.5, 15x15, 15x12.5
Curl 20x12.5, 15x17.5, 5x45(cheat kurls), 10x12.5
Notes:
Quick first session. hoping to be stronger for the 2nd one tho, i wasn't going to get my worksets in in teh first..
2nd session was awful too. couldnt do jack shit. whatver, will get it next time.
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BW: 86.9kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 19/19, 0/1, 1/1
Diet fail last night, ate an entire bag of corn chips lol after having a bad training day. Starting over today, so crazy to fail on day 20 and close to the magic 21 day mark but i think that's ok, now i can redouble and start over even more stricter.
Resting today, heavy day tmr. Going for 160kg squat again.
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BW: 86.5kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 19/19, 0/1, 2/2
Back on the diet, woke up feeling okay. Need to get my shit together and get some solid training in today!
BS 2Fx142.5
BS 4x137.5(PR), 2x137.5
Notes:
Wanted to +2.5kg the 3x140 PR i set last time. Failed the 3rd rep though, similar failure mode to the 160kg for those who saw that on my insta. Gna go back for 2nd session latre tonight but i feel week today. I think i messed up during this week and it's cost me. First mistake was a stretch i did on tuesday which is best done with a partner. My back hasn't felt right since. 2nd i messed up reading this stupid daily squatting literature (hello training ADHD) which led to me explore the stupid idea of a training minimum (i picked 120kg). I shouldnt have done those doubles with 120kg during the week, they achieved nothing and didnt allow me enough rest to be fresh for PRs today. So disappointed with that. But anyhow
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BW: 86.5kg
Activity: 10
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 19/19, 0/1, 1/1, 0/1, 1/1
I was too beat up to do my usual heavy workout. Did no jumps, sprints, rdls or back extensions. It's fine, ive been trying to serve too many masters at once. It's time to focus on getting my squat volume worksets where they need to be (+15-20kg) so i am strong enough to get the 2xbw/175-180kg squat.
I have noticed i dont even have the core or leg strength to rep 102.5kg on the trap bar DL. Not sure what i can do about that though. If i focus on training abs my squat workouts will suffer. So as a compromise i will focus on squats and then at the end of the workouts i'll do some abs.
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BW: 86.5kg
Activity: 8.2 (bad)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 19/19, 0/1, 1/1, 0/1, 2/2
Yesterday was tough. I was really tempted to go binge but i managed somehow. Day 1 is always the hardest i feel. Anyway safely behind me. Training today.
Recovery BS 6x100
Weighted Dips 5x108(PR; + 10kg vest, 8kg kb), 2x6x108(PR)
Recovery BS 2x6x102.5
Paused BP 5x81, 5x81, 4Fx81
Notes:
Didn't bench. Maybe later tonight. Did stick to recovery suitable lighter weights. Still feels weird to do such little work in the squat rack but i decided if i wanted to do more squats i could do them later tonight.
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Fucking hungry today. Ive eaten all my daily intake for the day and im still starving. If i wasn't gifted with these genes for storing fat i'd def go to town on some icecream or something
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Fucking hungry today. Ive eaten all my daily intake for the day and im still starving. If i wasn't gifted with these genes for storing fat i'd def go to town on some icecream or something
You crave ice cream when you're hungry?
i wasnt craving ice cream per se but it would have done the job. Last night tho, i just popped a 5htp and it did its thing and i was good. All that time spent cutting has given me a tool box full of solutions lol.
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BW: 85.7kg (PR)
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 19/19, 0/1, 1/1, 0/1, 3/3
Proper rest day today to gear up for tomorrows volume with 5x127.5kg. Oh and this is the lowest ive weighed in a while. Actually believe it too cos all skinfolds etc are smaller and i look leaner. My concern is that with the time im going to spend specialising on squats, i may get fatter. But have to be vigilant. I'm ok not getting any leaner while accumulating squat strength, i just dont want to get fatter while doing so. That's much less unclear.
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BW: 86.1kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 19/19, 0/1, 1/1, 0/1, 4/4
Been a rough 18 hours. Started getting headaches lst night didnt know why. Woke up knowing why, head still aching, i was having withdrawals from caffeine. lol. such a dumb move to go cold turkey yesterday.
BS 10x5x127.5(PR)
BS 10x5x127.5
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(https://i.imgur.com/VqGPQgG.png)
The 1st postworkout meal was sweet potato and chicken breast. I'm going all in on the clean eating as you can see..
KF what do you think (https://www.instagram.com/p/BZoZlCrBeQvG9pSLxiQ9LB9abQY8fA7zHDOq940/)? Day's food intake (https://i.imgur.com/Hn3Ksef.png).
Well i did it; that was the last volume workout in the 120s. Next week will do 20 sets of 5x130kg which is a nice milestone b/c it will also correspond to 1.5xbw for volume. Btw the scale didn't register but i was around ~85.5kg today which is just short of 1.5xbw so i was a bit annoyed to read 86kg but who cares really. Like not tryna give TMI but just trust me on this, I know im closer to 85kg than 86kg in reality.
My game plan from here on is to give myself a fighting chance of surving the journey to 140kg volume worksets. Going to get rid of any extra stuff. Will prob put upper body weight lifts on maintenance. Do only the essentials (1 brief sprint workout, 1 brief jump workout) and not do any stupid fasted walking/cutting and go caffeine free on rest days to save my CNS. Probably stop doing any deadlift variants or back extensions unless i feel up to it. I'm going to struggle to get 10k units of activity but that's ok. This is temporary and once ive made 140kg a setpoint for volume, i can focus on conditioning and bodycomp and get some nice athleticism out of it.
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Do you regularly have 210g of protein shakes!?!?!? :motherofgod:
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Do you regularly have 210g of protein shakes!?!?!? :motherofgod:
on volume squat day sure, it went like this:
meal 1 (noon): 2 scoops
periworkout (4pm): 1.5 scoops
periworkout (9pm): 1.5 scoops
dinner (1am): 2 scoops
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BW: 86.5kg
Activity:
Misc: quads (esp vmos) sore af (!!)
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 19/19, 0/1, 1/1, 0/1, 5/5
Rest. Caffeine free but i wish i cud take some, ddidnt sleep much/well
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Is that pasta meal tasty like does it have decent salt in it?
oh yes, i dont spare any salt. like my nutrition coach says, salt is prison creatine (https://youtu.be/ooGLzqDGd0w?t=349).
usual fat lose dosage for caffeine is 600mg = 200mgx3, eg 9am/1pm/5pm. i dont get sides from being on caffeine, just going from 600g to 0g those headaches i mentioned on the first day
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Is that pasta meal tasty like does it have decent salt in it?
oh yes, i dont spare any salt. like my nutrition coach says, salt is prison creatine (https://youtu.be/ooGLzqDGd0w?t=349).
"prison creatine" = good shit. :ninja:
lmao that is disgusting af.. but if ur trying to get big, makes sense.
i was literally eating a big quarter, beautiful watermelon while i was watching that nasty shit. hahahaha.
also, his new intro video is really good..
usual fat lose dosage for caffeine is 600mg = 200mgx3, eg 9am/1pm/5pm. i dont get sides from being on caffeine, just going from 600g to 0g those headaches i mentioned on the first day
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BW: 87.5kg (huge PR)
Activity:
Misc: adductors/abductors sore, triceps/biceps, hams
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 19/19, 0/1, 1/1, 0/1, 4/4, 0/1 1/1
Active recovery lower body & ohp/chins tonight.
Recovery BS 2x6x102.5
OHP 3x5x59.5(PR)
WCU 3x104(PR), 5x100(PR), 2x6x91(PR)
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Thinking about cardio. What shud i be doing for fat loss / body comp etc. I have to admit jumprope isnt the answer, i just mess up too much and it's annoying when you can't string together a few longer unbroken sequences of jumps. Don't really fancy treadmill or bike, i can't add any more leg fatigue to my already fatigued legs.. idk. Rowing sucks too.
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Thinking about cardio. What shud i be doing for fat loss / body comp etc. I have to admit jumprope isnt the answer, i just mess up too much and it's annoying when you can't string together a few longer unbroken sequences of jumps. Don't really fancy treadmill or bike, i can't add any more leg fatigue to my already fatigued legs.. idk. Rowing sucks too.
If you're a power athlete, the answer to this question is almost always tempo sprints (IMO, of course).
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Completely ignorant of tempo sprints but i'd like to learn more
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Here's a decent expression of how tempo sprints work: https://www.charliefrancis.com/blogs/news/test
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Thinking about cardio. What shud i be doing for fat loss / body comp etc. I have to admit jumprope isnt the answer, i just mess up too much and it's annoying when you can't string together a few longer unbroken sequences of jumps. Don't really fancy treadmill or bike, i can't add any more leg fatigue to my already fatigued legs.. idk. Rowing sucks too.
ya man, mess ups can definitely reduce the effectiveness. sux :/
Thinking about cardio. What shud i be doing for fat loss / body comp etc. I have to admit jumprope isnt the answer, i just mess up too much and it's annoying when you can't string together a few longer unbroken sequences of jumps. Don't really fancy treadmill or bike, i can't add any more leg fatigue to my already fatigued legs.. idk. Rowing sucks too.
If you're a power athlete, the answer to this question is almost always tempo sprints (IMO, of course).
+1
Here's a decent expression of how tempo sprints work: https://www.charliefrancis.com/blogs/news/test
nice reference! such a weird blog link for the tempo info though. almost as if it was the first article they put on that blog & were testing it out. just found that funny.
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BW: 87.3kg
Activity:
Misc: biceps/triceps tendons, quads, erectors, lats
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 19/19, 0/1, 1/1, 0/1, 4/4, 0/1, 0/1, 1/1
Rest
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Completely ignorant of tempo sprints but i'd like to learn more
The Charlie Francis approach is to use it as active recovery, so if you have a nice footy oval nearby you could just do something like: [run half:slow jog half]^4-6x on your rest day after a dynamic warmup (your choice). The run part should be up on your toes with strong arm swing but not too crazy, ~7 RPE. The slow jog should be essentially walking pace. That would shred the fat off and actually doesn't tire you out for the next workout as much as you'd think, once you've done two or three sessions.
Once you get more advanced you can either do more laps or go a bit harder, lots of room for progression. Also, if you have a sled at your gym, that's another good option for HIIT.
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BW: 87.3kg
Activity: 11.3 (good)
Misc: biceps/triceps tendons, quads, erectors, lats
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 19/19, 0/1, 1/1, 0/1, 4/4, 0/1, 0/1, 2/2
BS 3x122.5, 3x142.5(PR), 5x137.5(PR), 5x135
RDL 8x212.5(PR)
Jumps (masaii hops, depth jumps, barbell squat jumps, rope work, some rvjs; reintro of jumps since 16 days)
Hill sprints 3xBW, 3x100(+10kg vest), 3xBW (reintro since 16 days)
Back Xtn 8x60, 12x60, 12x60 (PR; these are done with the ezcurl bar from now on, no more vests/plates to chest; reinto since 16 days )
Notes:
One of my best workouts ever. Even on the PRs i felt i had another rep in me. But i didn't do anything that took too much out of me. Stayed fresh. Stayed strong throughout the workout. Notably i had 2 full meals before the workout (i never do that normally etc). A few promising things happening, my squats are getting stronger and stronger even for limit weights, im holding form well (form strength is something ive always lacked, esp when the weight gets heavy). I can always do pretty reps with light weight but my form deterioriated with heavier weights, that's starting to sort itself out now. I decided to not bother doing a heavy single with 160kg. I figured if i get it, it's prob gonna be ugly and exhausting and wreck the rest of the workout. If i fail, it will destroy my morale. So better to just do weights not too far from my volume worksets. Heavy singles will come later down the road when im stronger (ie 10-20kg heavier volume worksets). In the meantime no one cares about 160 (as stirnger bell says about 40 degrees).
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stringer bell reference, lol. stringer played too many sides, got-got. as far as training goes, that probably means stay focus and loyal to the task at hand. :ninja:
great work man.
and ya to figuring out when to fuel up. need to find a solid/reproducible meal timing/content plan for different types of sessions, if that means some big meals before heavy lifting, then do it.. just alter your diet around it, if you need to.
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Completely ignorant of tempo sprints but i'd like to learn more
The Charlie Francis approach is to use it as active recovery, so if you have a nice footy oval nearby you could just do something like: [run half:slow jog half]^4-6x on your rest day after a dynamic warmup (your choice). The run part should be up on your toes with strong arm swing but not too crazy, ~7 RPE. The slow jog should be essentially walking pace. That would shred the fat off and actually doesn't tire you out for the next workout as much as you'd think, once you've done two or three sessions.
Once you get more advanced you can either do more laps or go a bit harder, lots of room for progression. Also, if you have a sled at your gym, that's another good option for HIIT.
Thanks acole. There are loads of ovals etc around. Nearest one is usually used for soccer most nights but it's no biggy to find another one, esp since im driving to the gym and there are more around there. this is my training schedule (for the last, wanna say 8-10 weeks it's been?): I train every other day (EOD)
Day 1: Volume squats
Day 2: rest
Day 3: upper body (ohp & chinups), recovery squats
Day 4: rest
Day 5: Heavy lower body (squats, rdls, back extensions, max jumps, hill sprints)
Day 6: rest
Day 7: upper body (bench, dips), recovery squats
Day 8: rest
Repeat
So i would be tacking the tempo workouts onto days 3 and 7. I can start tmr (day 7 in the schedule). Real easy/light and add reps as i handle it ok? Just to be clear what distance should i use?
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stringer bell reference, lol. stringer played too many sides, got-got. as far as training goes, that probably means stay focus and loyal to the task at hand. :ninja:
great work man.
Thanks! Stringer complaining about 40 degree days corresponds to me overthinking anythina bout anything right now. I just need to shut up and do work. No more training ADD, reading random stuff, lots of insta videos etc. Just need to put in some solid work and get my squat worksets to 150kg for 5s at 90kg soaking wet and keep chipping away slowly at the damn adipose in the meantime.
and ya to figuring out when to fuel up. need to find a solid/reproducible meal timing/content plan for different types of sessions, if that means some big meals before heavy lifting, then do it.. just alter your diet around it, if you need to.
Yeah honestly. What a revelation. Not like i didnt know i coudl do better from eating more. But i think a holdover of the thinking from my cutting days where eating bulk of calories postworkout was a maintstay to improving partitioning / recovery etc .. but i have to give myself the best chance of doing quality work now, no fasted gimmicks holding you back
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BW: 87.1kg
Activity: 6 (bad lol)
Misc: left elbow complaining (about yesterdays zercher back extensions i think),
Diet Compliance: 14/14, 0/5, 9/9, 0/2, 4/4, 0/2, 19/19, 0/1, 1/1, 0/1, 4/4, 0/1, 0/1, 3/3
Rest.
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Completely ignorant of tempo sprints but i'd like to learn more
The Charlie Francis approach is to use it as active recovery, so if you have a nice footy oval nearby you could just do something like: [run half:slow jog half]^4-6x on your rest day after a dynamic warmup (your choice). The run part should be up on your toes with strong arm swing but not too crazy, ~7 RPE. The slow jog should be essentially walking pace. That would shred the fat off and actually doesn't tire you out for the next workout as much as you'd think, once you've done two or three sessions.
Once you get more advanced you can either do more laps or go a bit harder, lots of room for progression. Also, if you have a sled at your gym, that's another good option for HIIT.
Thanks acole. There are loads of ovals etc around. Nearest one is usually used for soccer most nights but it's no biggy to find another one, esp since im driving to the gym and there are more around there. this is my training schedule (for the last, wanna say 8-10 weeks it's been?): I train every other day (EOD)
Day 1: Volume squats
Day 2: rest
Day 3: upper body (ohp & chinups), recovery squats
Day 4: rest
Day 5: Heavy lower body (squats, rdls, back extensions, max jumps, hill sprints)
Day 6: rest
Day 7: upper body (bench, dips), recovery squats
Day 8: rest
Repeat
So i would be tacking the tempo workouts onto days 3 and 7. I can start tmr (day 7 in the schedule). Real easy/light and add reps as i handle it ok? Just to be clear what distance should i use?
Yeah I think that'd work well to try it day 3 and day 7. Local sports ovals are good but tricky because there's no fixed dimensions they have to adhere to for any particular sport. You might have to estimate a bit, but running around half the perimeter of an average AFL field should be around 200-250m, which would be a good distance for you. Or you could run goalpost to goalpost, which would be around 100-120m, and walk/jog back. You'll have to approximate it a bit if it's not a standard aths track. I hope it works for you!
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BW: 87.1kg
Activity: 86.7kg
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Training upper body and recovery lower body.
Recovery BS 2x6x105 (+2.5kg from last week)
Paused BP 3x5x82.5(+1.5kg from last week)
Weighted Dips 3x5x111 (PR, 21kg; 10kg vest + 10kg kb + chain)
Jump rope
IDBBP 3x12x20
Curls 3x5x45 (PR)
Tempo sprints 3x(100m run, 100m jog back) (PR; new ex)
Notes:
I thought about doing more sets of bench but fuck bench press. Piece of shit lift has been a total waste of time, im done with giving it any more attention than it deserves. On to dips and they were rally challenging for the first time -- i wanted to use a 9kg kettlebell but there wasnt one between 8kg (from last week) and 10kg so went with 10kg. It also prob didnt help that i only did 3x5 last time instaed of more sets (i reduced volume intentionally on upper body lifts to priotise squats) but i will add more volume now that i know bench press is gna be reduced volume from here on.
Tempo sprints i actually came home and was gna get out of the car and thought nah i better do it, dont wanna waste acoles time. So went back literally was done in 5 minutes and back home. I started conseratively. At first i thought this is kinda silly but by the 2nd round i felt a nice pump in the hamstrings and realised this could actually benefit me more than i realised in terms of recovery. So exciting stuff, first straight sprints ive done in months (only did hill ones). Nice.
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BW: 87.2kg
Activity:
Misc: Lats (?!)
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Proper rest today. Have a milestone volume sesh tmr with 130kg. I'll withhold judgement but my legs feel different today than they would normally. But though it could change thru today, im quite happy about the recovery benefits of tempos. Will make them a permanent feature of my program.
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BW: 87.1kg
Activity: 86.7kg
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Training upper body and recovery lower body.
Recovery BS 2x6x105 (+2.5kg from last week)
Paused BP 3x5x82.5(+1.5kg from last week)
Weighted Dips 3x5x111 (PR, 21kg; 10kg vest + 10kg kb + chain)
Jump rope
IDBBP 3x12x20
Curls 3x5x45 (PR)
Tempo sprints 3x(100m run, 100m jog back) (PR; new ex)
Notes:
I thought about doing more sets of bench but fuck bench press. Piece of shit lift has been a total waste of time, im done with giving it any more attention than it deserves. On to dips and they were rally challenging for the first time -- i wanted to use a 9kg kettlebell but there wasnt one between 8kg (from last week) and 10kg so went with 10kg. It also prob didnt help that i only did 3x5 last time instaed of more sets (i reduced volume intentionally on upper body lifts to priotise squats) but i will add more volume now that i know bench press is gna be reduced volume from here on.
ya F bench, dips > bench.
Tempo sprints i actually came home and was gna get out of the car and thought nah i better do it, dont wanna waste acoles time. So went back literally was done in 5 minutes and back home. I started conseratively. At first i thought this is kinda silly but by the 2nd round i felt a nice pump in the hamstrings and realised this could actually benefit me more than i realised in terms of recovery. So exciting stuff, first straight sprints ive done in months (only did hill ones). Nice.
right, it's definitely not a waste of time: not everything has to hurt, be all out, etc.. nice relaxed speed intervals = good for the CNS.
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BW: ??
Activity: 10
Misc: hamstrings, knees
Diet Compliance: 1/1
BS 10x5x130(PR)
Olympic BS 10x5x120(PR)
Notes:
Im such a dickhead for not being up for this day's volume workload. Mentally i was fine, physically i was not. FML. Somehow i managed to do 10 when i was ready to go home at 5 sets. I think i still have the (mental) courage to rock up for the 2nd session at midniught but considering how brutally hard every rep felt (physically) idk if ican do another 50 of them. Anyway fuck me for not being fresh enough to actually achieve my goals.
Compromised, dusted off my (unused) pair of Nike Romaleos II and decided to change up and do something different. Did very hard 10 sets with the oly shoes. Im not even saying they're legit oly style squats any more than my prettiest ones with my normal shoes - but potentially it's slightly deeper (not much more) and more upright (not much more there either). Fuck it tho, this exposes a huge weakness in that my abs and erectors have to work 100x harder to stabilise for whatever reason, the extra heel just makes squats that much harder for core. So hopefully it will hit a different area than normal squats and my normal ones will benefit. Hopefully. Anyway. I did something!!
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BW: 88kg (PR)
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Rest day. I now weigh more than Kingfisher i think? Haha. Considering 90kg as my ceiling, i was hoping to be a lot closer to 140kg volume than 130kg at 88kg. Guess i have to be smart about this now. Worst case scenario tho, i dont mind going over 90kg as long as i can trim it off later and end up 90kg soaking wet with a 180kg squat. Anyway let's not project too far into the distant future.
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that kingfisher tho.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/%E2%99%82_Common_Kingfisher_%28Alcedo_atthis%29_Photograph_By_Shantanu_Kuveskar%2C_Mangaon%2C_Maharashtra%2C_India.jpg)
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BW: 87.1kg
Activity: 86.7kg
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Training upper body and recovery lower body.
Recovery BS 2x6x105 (+2.5kg from last week)
Paused BP 3x5x82.5(+1.5kg from last week)
Weighted Dips 3x5x111 (PR, 21kg; 10kg vest + 10kg kb + chain)
Jump rope
IDBBP 3x12x20
Curls 3x5x45 (PR)
Tempo sprints 3x(100m run, 100m jog back) (PR; new ex)
Notes:
I thought about doing more sets of bench but fuck bench press. Piece of shit lift has been a total waste of time, im done with giving it any more attention than it deserves. On to dips and they were rally challenging for the first time -- i wanted to use a 9kg kettlebell but there wasnt one between 8kg (from last week) and 10kg so went with 10kg. It also prob didnt help that i only did 3x5 last time instaed of more sets (i reduced volume intentionally on upper body lifts to priotise squats) but i will add more volume now that i know bench press is gna be reduced volume from here on.
Tempo sprints i actually came home and was gna get out of the car and thought nah i better do it, dont wanna waste acoles time. So went back literally was done in 5 minutes and back home. I started conseratively. At first i thought this is kinda silly but by the 2nd round i felt a nice pump in the hamstrings and realised this could actually benefit me more than i realised in terms of recovery. So exciting stuff, first straight sprints ive done in months (only did hill ones). Nice.
Niec work mate. Yeah I guess if you haven't sprinted for awhile it can feel a bit odd. Hopefully you can see some benefits after a few sessions.
Your squatting form is looking great! Impressive volume.
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BW: 87.4kg
Activity: 10
Misc: Hamstrings sore af
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Training: upper & recovery lower.
Recovery BS 2x6x105
OHP 6x4x60
Chinup 2x111.5(PR; +21.5kg), 3x106.5, 3x104, 3x101.5, 6x90, 8x90(PR)
Shoulder press machine 3x12x20 (PR; new ex)
Jump rope
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that kingfisher tho.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/%E2%99%82_Common_Kingfisher_%28Alcedo_atthis%29_Photograph_By_Shantanu_Kuveskar%2C_Mangaon%2C_Maharashtra%2C_India.jpg)
haha. Incidentally in that 24hr period i ate a PR 9 eggs. Well on the way to KF status :headbang:
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BW: 87.8kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 4/4
Rest.
This is prob the freshest ive felt in the legs in ages. Back is a bit stiff / immobile but i think it will be good for tmr. Hope my abs are too. And slight bit of soreness ni the R adductors which i shud stretch away i think.
im full of shit, legs are pretty sore actually lol. all good
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BW: 87.8kg
Activity: 9.2
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 5/5
Heavy lower body day today. Lets go.
BS 3x125, 3x145(PR), 5x140(PR), 5x137.5, 5x135
RDL 8x125(PR), 8x215(PR; hook)
Depth Jump 3x5x17" (PR; reintro)
Hill Sprint 3xBW, 3x100(+10kg), 4xBW
Back Xtn 3x12x65(PR;+5kg from last week)
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My body wasn't up for it but i had this hope i would pull off 3x5x140 on heavy day and then progress it 2.5kg per week from there on up to 150kg. The plan ran into a hitch b/c it was unfortunately a rather weak day. but i still punched in some PRs. Next time i will prob take a crack at 3x5x140kg and take it from there.
I must say one good thing about doing depth jumps is that it gives you a program for jumping instead of freestyling random rvjs and getting frustrated because your obese whale ass can't touch some distant dreamy target like 36". So im happy to just rock up do my 3x5s and move on. If it works it works, if it doesn't at least it won't affect my motivation.
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How do you like back extensions as a low back supplement? do you do pure back bends so it isolates low back or some hip hinge too for general p-chain? I was trying out good mornings and stiff leg dl's but like neither one for low back
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I must say one good thing about doing depth jumps is that it gives you a program for jumping instead of freestyling random rvjs and getting frustrated because your obese whale ass can't touch some distant dreamy target like 36". So im happy to just rock up do my 3x5s and move on. If it works it works, if it doesn't at least it won't affect my motivation.
How would you assess if the depth jump program is working?
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How do you like back extensions as a low back supplement? do you do pure back bends so it isolates low back or some hip hinge too for general p-chain? I was trying out good mornings and stiff leg dl's but like neither one for low back
I think they're essential (for me). I need a great deal of surplus back strength to save the squat (esp the last rep/s of a limit set). The only hitch was i was stuck on 60kg for like 6-9 months b/c i couldnt use any more weight on these (2x25kg plates and 10kg vest). Now ive got the ezcurl setup, i can load it indefinitely. Honestly need to get it to around ~120kg before i think i have enough surplus back strength for my squat goals. They hit everything in the PC, glutes, hamstrings and erectors. When i did them with plates to the chest i even fatigued upper back but ezcurl is way better. I have a video (https://www.instagram.com/p/BaHo0hShnebRjinyGcFVBXReQqpmRQYbsmDNNE0/) of my latest set. 2nd week using the ezcurl. Going to be conservative taking 5kg jumps from here but i dont think i will get stuck for a while doing 12s. Eventually will see reps lowered to around 5 but keep progressing up to 120kg.
My weak points isn't erectors/PC - it's 1a. quads and 1b. abs. I dont train abs because ab fatigue kills the next important workout :( But eventually i need to. The good news is my abs grow so QUICKLY once i add abwork, like within 10 days they will blow up. I just can't fit them in yet. Heavy days are already too daunting because fo the amount of work i do. And volume days are too long as it is. Unfortunately i can't do anythign about quads .. still searching for that fix.
I must say one good thing about doing depth jumps is that it gives you a program for jumping instead of freestyling random rvjs and getting frustrated because your obese whale ass can't touch some distant dreamy target like 36". So im happy to just rock up do my 3x5s and move on. If it works it works, if it doesn't at least it won't affect my motivation.
How would you assess if the depth jump program is working?
For my purposes im still trying to get my technique right. Working on the bits of pieces @adarqui has pointed out (earlier arm swing, stiff landing ankles etc). When ive got that down and jumps feel solid i'll be happy. I won't know if it's working until later down the line when it's time to test my jump. Btw im running out of time to get in shape with 170 days left, this is the most unfit ive been having not played ball all year. I decided to focus on strength and took a break from playing ball in the winter.
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BW: 87.7kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 6/6
Im too fat to get complete rest days. Will try to get 10 activity but it's ok if i don't get it.
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There's no possible way that you are doing RDL's with 215kg for 8 reps and strict form. Otherwise you would be deadlifting at least 250kg or possibly more. I did 170kg for 5 reps on my top set on RDL's last week and I'm able to deadlift 200-210kg or so. Your numbers don't add up.
Even holding 215kg without straps and just hook grip for 8 reps is hard to imagine. Your grip strength must be out of this world.
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I did 8x170kg (https://www.instagram.com/p/BX8r8q-hOGeXY4bu-ncxfEL6730VpTukXVhxjw0/) back in August..
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^ Come on, that was not neg-worthy. Not the worst RDL form I've ever seen by a long shot. I posted this at the time he put that up originally, could definitely use more depth for full hamstring development, but it's still moving a lot of weight with a straight back and good hip drive.
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^ Come on, that was not neg-worthy. Not the worst RDL form I've ever seen by a long shot. I posted this at the time he put that up originally, could definitely use more depth for full hamstring development, but it's still moving a lot of weight with a straight back and good hip drive.
not worth getting turnt up about an assistance exercise. coach says i shud keep progressing it up til 230kg (https://youtu.be/nkqqUcsxhWE?t=20) and then my grip shud be decent enough to get quality worksets in with 170-180kg with plenty of ROM. That's the hardest part of this lift and it's prob the reason why ppl dont do them heavier b/c they can't hold on to the bar thru the set without losing control. for what it's worth the REASON i do RDLs has nothing to do wiht hams. I do it for a heavy pull for back work. it does get upper back pretty sore which i like. Plenty of hamstring work already not including squats, back extensions and sprints do a decent job. My squat is already pretty PC dominant (unfortunately) and i do a ton of those.
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it's definitely more of a "half RDL", similar to how we have half squats. It could have it's place, and people are going to respond to lifts like this differently, so if it helps/feels like it's working, by all means I say go for it.
JUST MAKE SURE you take all of the ego out of it.. don't get caught up in the weight numbers for partial rom lifts like that, especially if the bar can get away from your body. If you feel anything weird in your historically "tweakable" back, kill the ego with fire and lower the weight. AELS. So all i'm saying here is, just pay more attention to safety with a lift like this, just like you would with a quarter squat for example.
you have been riding a beast mode wave for quite a while now, great stuff.
peace!!
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BW: 87.6kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 7/7
Upper and recovery lower today.
Recovery BS 2x6x107.5(+2.5kg)
BP 3x5x85
Dips 3x5x113.7(PR; +23kg, 10kg vest, 12kg kb, 1kg chain), 8x101(PR; just vest), 2x10xBW(PR)
Curls 3x5x47.5(PR)
Jump rope (good)
DBIBP 12x17.5
Notes:
I did a fair bit of upper body volume knowing it's probably the last time i do that for a while. Im gna cut volume down on upper body across the board for the remaining 3 (8 day) weeks from sunday. Just focusing on getting squats to the 140kg volume milestone. It's going to get really hard and i can't afford to fail because i used my recovery resources on something else.
-
BW: 88.2kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 8/8
Rest rest
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^ Come on, that was not neg-worthy. Not the worst RDL form I've ever seen by a long shot. I posted this at the time he put that up originally, could definitely use more depth for full hamstring development, but it's still moving a lot of weight with a straight back and good hip drive.
not worth getting turnt up about an assistance exercise. coach says i shud keep progressing it up til 230kg (https://youtu.be/nkqqUcsxhWE?t=20) and then my grip shud be decent enough to get quality worksets in with 170-180kg with plenty of ROM. That's the hardest part of this lift and it's prob the reason why ppl dont do them heavier b/c they can't hold on to the bar thru the set without losing control. for what it's worth the REASON i do RDLs has nothing to do wiht hams. I do it for a heavy pull for back work. it does get upper back pretty sore which i like. Plenty of hamstring work already not including squats, back extensions and sprints do a decent job. My squat is already pretty PC dominant (unfortunately) and i do a ton of those.
Fair enough.. I mean there is certainly a place for partial rom exercises and variations in training and if you feel like you benefit more from doing them that way that's fine. Sorry if I came across like a total db. In my opinion it's just a bit misleading if you list them as RDL's and then you see this huge amount of weight and it somehow doesn't make that much sense. Would still be interesting to see how much you can do on a normal conventional deadlift though. It seems like you really are very p-chain dominant. Keep up the awesome progress!
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^ Come on, that was not neg-worthy. Not the worst RDL form I've ever seen by a long shot. I posted this at the time he put that up originally, could definitely use more depth for full hamstring development, but it's still moving a lot of weight with a straight back and good hip drive.
not worth getting turnt up about an assistance exercise. coach says i shud keep progressing it up til 230kg (https://youtu.be/nkqqUcsxhWE?t=20) and then my grip shud be decent enough to get quality worksets in with 170-180kg with plenty of ROM. That's the hardest part of this lift and it's prob the reason why ppl dont do them heavier b/c they can't hold on to the bar thru the set without losing control. for what it's worth the REASON i do RDLs has nothing to do wiht hams. I do it for a heavy pull for back work. it does get upper back pretty sore which i like. Plenty of hamstring work already not including squats, back extensions and sprints do a decent job. My squat is already pretty PC dominant (unfortunately) and i do a ton of those.
Fair enough.. I mean there is certainly a place for partial rom exercises and variations in training and if you feel like you benefit more from doing them that way that's fine. Sorry if I came across like a total db. In my opinion it's just a bit misleading if you list them as RDL's and then you see this huge amount of weight and it somehow doesn't make that much sense. Would still be interesting to see how much you can do on a normal conventional deadlift though. It seems like you really are very p-chain dominant. Keep up the awesome progress!
hey thanks appreciate the looking out. let's put the curiousity out the way, i cant deadlift for shit. when i do the usual oly stretch (bar over knees pushing down) i struggle to lift the 90-100kg off pins to put on my knees. it feels hard/heavy even tho it's super light. I probably could be good at deadlifting due to my long arms if i accept rounding my back but pulling off the floor always fucks up my back badly and i just avoid doing the lift completely. Tarpbar might be a workaround -- however -- i stalled early on those at around 105kg and that's just a glimpse into my messed up training situation. I can obviously pull a lot more than 105kg, when i started off doing them i started with 120kg (2 reds per side) and while it was super easy for me, i realised i wasnt pulling with a flat back and reset back to 70kg before stalling at 105kg, cant break it off the ground cos my quads are not just weak they're embarassingly weak. squats dont help either unfortunately. i gambled way hard on squats and the payoff hasnt come at least for leg strength.
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BW: 87.9kg
Activity: 12
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 9/9
BS 10x5x132.5(PR)
Olympic BS 10x5x122.5(PR)
Notes:
Well that was fun. Ha. Gna go back for 2nd sesh in a bit. update. 2nd sesh was good. First set was brutal but the magic thing about volume is the body works super hard to figure out how to get thru the workout without dying through neural grooving. Subseuqently I find form fixes itself (counter to the usual claim about 'ingraining bad form' the opposite happens, you just find things getting more and more efficient as you go thru the workout). Additionally I found this week unlike the last week when i did olympic squats for the first time that my spine, abs and knees weren't taking such a severe beating -- so hopefully that means my organism is adapted and now stronger from both squat variants.
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BW: 87.7kg
Activity: 7
Misc: Glutes, calves(!), vmos, ..
Diet Compliance: 10/10
Rest
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BW: 87.9kg
Activity: 12
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 9/9
BS 10x5x132.5(PR)
Olympic BS 10x5x122.5(PR)
Notes:
Well that was fun. Ha. Gna go back for 2nd sesh in a bit. update. 2nd sesh was good. First set was brutal but the magic thing about volume is the body works super hard to figure out how to get thru the workout without dying through neural grooving. Subseuqently I find form fixes itself (counter to the usual claim about 'ingraining bad form' the opposite happens, you just find things getting more and more efficient as you go thru the workout). Additionally I found this week unlike the last week when i did olympic squats for the first time that my spine, abs and knees weren't taking such a severe beating -- so hopefully that means my organism is adapted and now stronger from both squat variants.
yeah exactly about the form .. sure some manual override cues can really help, but in general, the body wants to make things the easiest/more efficient possible for itself. I personally like the natural adjustments the nervous system makes in these situations.
that's pretty awesome about how you felt.. that kind of work you're putting in signals to your body that hey, the environment around me has really changed, and it's not getting easier, so adapt.
peace!!
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BW: 87.9kg
Activity:
Misc: hams and adductors
Diet Compliance: 11/11
Upper training and lower recovery tonight.
Recovery BS 6x2x107.5
OHP 6x5x60(PR)
Chinup 3x110.5(PR; 8kg kettle + 10kg vest + chain), 3x105(vest + 2.5kg), 3x102(vest), 2x8xBW(91ish kg), 3x5xBW
Shoulder press machine 3x10x30 (PR; +10kg from last time)
Jump rope
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recovery squats (https://www.instagram.com/p/BaWdCVsh3pms_86NHU-gEI5fAeadnjoeZFL6H00/)
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recovery squats (https://www.instagram.com/p/BaWdCVsh3pms_86NHU-gEI5fAeadnjoeZFL6H00/)
beautiful.
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recovery squats (https://www.instagram.com/p/BaWdCVsh3pms_86NHU-gEI5fAeadnjoeZFL6H00/)
beautiful.
thank you sir.
What is your max you think? Cause 133kg in 10 sets of 5 is pretty crazy.
lol. can we revisit this in about a month's time? im just getting started in the tail end of this high volume program. no point getting distracted by 1rms right now. Volume will build up my strength and i can worry about testing once ive build enough to give myself a reason to test a max. It wouldn't be very illuminating to test now and it would ruin my program for the other stuff im supposed to do on that training day.
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yeah exactly about the form .. sure some manual override cues can really help, but in general, the body wants to make things the easiest/more efficient possible for itself. I personally like the natural adjustments the nervous system makes in these situations.
would you like to conjecture what sort of things this approach can work well with?
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BW: 88.6kg
Activity:
Misc: R knee
Diet Compliance: 12/12
Rest..
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Yes of course, i didn't know you are in an intense volume phase and didn't have a good idea of your max yet, should not be thinking about that as it can be a distraction right now.
I think I'm going to try a 10 set of 4 - 6 at really heavy weight some time to see how that works out.
I know that 3 or 4 x 8-10 rep at heavy weight is grueling. Especially the 1st and last sets..... last sets i start to shake on like the 2nd rep from body stress.....
dont do it heavy straight away. start light and and build up over it slowly over time. i began around 105kg and added 2.5kg every week for a few months. the first couple of weeks were brutal, like i couldn't sleep my body was really overwhelmed by the stress. now it's adapted and deals well with it but be careful. you dont wanna get injured.
my abs are torched from yesterdays ~40 chinups. i knew that would happen but im hoping i'll be recovered in time for heavy day tmr? yea lets see.
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BW: 88.6kg
Activity:
Misc: R knee
Diet Compliance: 12/12
Rest..
rest sessions need more thumbs up!! :ninja: :ninja:
i like seeing when people on here post "rest", instead of just letting it slip by.. obviously there's not much to post, but it's also kind of a good message to yourself, that resting is significant and important. I've been saying alot recently that "it's harder to rest than it is to train", which is the damn truth. It takes discipline to shut everything off for a day, recover, and come back stronger the next.. resting is harder than 1RM attempts :D
the sports "psychology" of it, is becoming more important to me.
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BW: 88kg
Activity:
Misc: R knee
Diet Compliance: 13/13
BS 3x125, 3x147.5(PR), 5x142.5(PR), 5x140, 5x137.5
RDL 8x130(PR), 4x170H, 6x220H(PR)
Depth Jump 3x6x91kg @ 17" box (PR for volume and weight)
Hill sprints 3xbw, 3xvested, 4xbw
Back Xtn 3x12x70(PR; +5kg)
Notes:
Okay heavy day. I took it one set at a time and finished everything off. Now to recover.
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BW: 88.3kg
Activity:
Misc: R knee (better but still)
Diet Compliance: 14/14
Restttttttt
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Saw a physiotherapist about my right knee and she gave me the all clear. Said i just need to do foam rolling and stretching and there was nothing wrong with it structurally. phew. Said my right leg was/looked/seemed very tight in comparison to the left.
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BW:
Activity:
Misc: R knee (betterer but still)
Diet Compliance: 15/15
Upper training and recovery lower today.
Recovery BS 2x6x110(+2.5kg)
BP 3x5x86
Dips 3x5x115(PR; +24kg, 10kg vest + 14kg kb + chain), 10x101(PR; vest only), 15xBW(PR)
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BW: 88.3kg
Activity:
Misc: R knee (is fine!!!)
Diet Compliance: 16/16
Mobility: No
Rest....
Added a new daily category for mobility. I think i need to make a new habit for this
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BW: 88.2kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 17/17
Mobility: T
BS 10x5x135(PR)
Oly BS 10x5x125(PR)
Notes:
It's done. Now to recover.
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BW: 88.9kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 18/18
Mobility: T
Rest.......
Will spend some quality time with the foam roller and the TENs but so far surprisingly no (D)oms?
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BW: 88.9kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 18/18
Mobility:
Rest.......
Will spend some quality time with the foam roller and the TENs but so far surprisingly no (D)oms?
adapted. :ninja:
the stuff you're doing reminds me of how I adapted to high volume squatting .. the adaptations were just insane, ie no DOMS after heavy 20's several days in a row, and jumping great the next day. FWIW, I like the more sane frequency you're on - my high freq + high volume + heavy squatting stuff was a bit psycho, but the adaptations were mindblowing nonetheless.
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BW: 90.8kg (wtf!!)
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 19/19
Mobility:
Recovery lower & training upper today. But what is going on with the scale though. For what it's worth i dont look that different ... haha.
Recovery BS 2x6x110
OHp 5x60, 4x61, 9x50
Chinup 3x101(vest), 6xBW
Shoulder press machine (last time i do this, ithink it's rubbish)
Lat pull down
Cable row
Jump rope
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BW: 88.9kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 18/18
Mobility:
Rest.......
Will spend some quality time with the foam roller and the TENs but so far surprisingly no (D)oms?
adapted. :ninja:
the stuff you're doing reminds me of how I adapted to high volume squatting .. the adaptations were just insane, ie no DOMS after heavy 20's several days in a row, and jumping great the next day. FWIW, I like the more sane frequency you're on - my high freq + high volume + heavy squatting stuff was a bit psycho, but the adaptations were mindblowing nonetheless.
i think it's part adapted, part nutrition has been great (overkill even) and part doing foam rolling just after the workout and the day later and so on. its funny cos in reality today i had prob one of the weakest days i can remember in 3 months of training. So muscular fatigue is just one piece of the puzzle. My CNS is obviously not as recovered as my muscles.
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BW: 89.2kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 20/20
Mobility: T
Rest.
I just want to point out this was the first day my right knee felt as good as new (or as my left knee feels). Huge relief! Turns out it was solved by foam rolling and mobility work. Great.
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BW: 88.1kg
Activity: 9 (good)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 21/21
Mobility:
Heavy day tonight. I'm a twat though i did fasting and low carbing and skipped a meal (1 of 2) yesterday so will be a brutal workout today but my self belief is strong now that i think i can get thru any workout in this program without failing. Nike Metcon 3s arrived today. Will do a review soon.
BS 3x125, 3x150(PR), 3x145(5RM PR attempt)
Depth jumps 2x6
RVJ jumps
Hill sprints 1xbw, 2xvest, 3xbw
Back Xtn 2x12x75(PR)
Notes:
Yelp! Self belief is not a substitute for preparedness. I needed both. I failed today's squat program by not being fresh enough for getting the required 5x145, 5x142.5 and 5x140kg worksets. It's ok, will try again in 8 days time but now it's time to optimise for performance above all.
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BW: 88.4kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 22/22(PR)
Mobility:
Rest but will do about 3.5 units fasted act with caffeine and green tea. Goal for the day is 6-8 units total.
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BW: 88.6kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 23/23(PR)
Mobility:
Recovery lower & upper training tonight
BS nothing
BP 5x87.5
Dips 10x101, 16xBW
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BW: 88kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 24/24(PR)
Mobility: T
Rest. Ive had a horror training week after the last volume day. It didn't help i tried to fat loss. That was a huge mistake but brought on by seeing the scale nearly 92kg and that was crazy. Tmr is volume with 137.5kg so hopefully im recovered for that but considering i couldn't even squat the bar yesterday im not sure.
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BW: 87.8kg
Activity: 12.75
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 25/25(PR)
Mobility: T
Volume day! And my lowest weighing in a while. Ha
BS 10x5x137.5(PR)
Oly BS 10x5x127.5(PR)
Notes:
it's done. In 8 days we do it again for the last time! Now to recover. Vids on instagram as usual.
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Just curious do you breathe out consciously during the rep? I found out today i squat better when i hold the breath from top thru the bottom and almost up to the top again. I probably release the breathe just as i lock out the last 1/3rd. Is this similar to your experience?
on non heavy reps, i can hold my breath throughout the down and up and a relaxed exhale at the top.
strong exhale on heavy reps on the concentric the moment you win the rep already. you can add some manly grunts to it for more effects to psych yourself on PR volume runs.
don't be the hissing snake bro. so annoying. :pissed:
Thanks KF -- that clears up a lot for me. I'm confident it will let me hit the next level by incorporating this info. I'm pretty sure i was releasing the breath too early on heavier/harder reps and i suspect it was killing my power on the rep. I may have been doing it to grunt but grunting too early makes no sense if you're leaking power, better saved for when you've past the sticking point and the rep is almost won and grunting it out like the icing on the cake to seal the deal, more psychological to lock out hard than anything else and affirm your victory over the weight. It's a controlled burn til the work is mostly done to prepare you for the rest of the set. I like that.
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BW: 88.4kg
Activity: 5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 26/26(PR)
Mobility: T
Rest
Literally had to forcefeed myself for dinner, my 2nd meal for the day today. I was full even before i cooked it. But jsut like the body doesn't really wanna do 20 sets of 5 with what feels like a 5rm, you have to do some things that you'd rather not, if your goal is to become something more than your normal self. It's these 48hrs around volume day that determine how prepared i am for the next volume day more than anything else so proper nutrition is paramount.
side note: I can't wait to come off the squat program and focus on bball, i miss bball so much.
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BW: 89.2kg
Activity: 8.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 27/27(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
I always look and weigh the worst on the first recovery day after volume i think, prob b/c of carbs loaded up maximally? Interesting. Feel gross but i know it's not permanent lol. Anyway. Recovery lower & upper body tonight.
Recovery BS 2x6x110 (great)
Maintenance OHP 2x5x60
Maintenance Chinup 2x6xBW(91kg)
I did three notable things today, i incoorporated KF's form advice on breathing and ive added a category for Skill work on the daily template which can mean anything from dribbling a basketball or shooting freethrows or whatever related to my sport. This way i can mark when im not neglecting SSS work. And thirdly i've put upper body work on maintenance because now is no time to serve too many masters.
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As a sidenote i've decided using the weight vest for any sort of athletic power movement (sprinting or jumping) is a bad idea. I got some good gains out of using it in the past but i need to realise i was a 159-169 dude back then and being 190-200 and using a weight vest might not be the best idea. The last 2 injuries ive got, the ankle/achilles one i suffered for about 9 months last year which didnt heal forever til like march this year and recently my right knee issues stem from using the weight vest, i realised after it flared up again when i did the hill sprints last week. It's one thign for someone who has a bigger frame using the vest even heavy eg Todday doing it at 220 but my wrists, knees ankle joints are small even tho im tall, im not meant to carry a lot o weight on this frame. So safer better than sorry than jumping at 225 or more.
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BW: 89kg
Activity: 8.3
Misc: erector doms, hams, etc
Diet Compliance: 28/28(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest. Will try get some fasted caffeine+green tea walking in for some fat loss
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BW: 88.5kg
Activity: 9.3
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 29/29(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Heavy day. But with a difference this week, im going to do maintenance on non-squat assistance exercises. Skip the weighed hill sprints because they mess up my knee. Try to be active af to make fat loss a possibility. And of course squat PRs. Gives me a chance to try out the new breathing protocol on heavier squats which is exciting.
BS 3x127.5, 3x152.5(PR), 0x160
Depth jumps 2x6
RVJ jumps ~ 15-20
Hill sprints 3xBW
Back Xtn 2x12x80(PR)
Notes:
Nothing translates evenly for me. Need to master volume with 140+ before i can rep 150kg cleanly. Sucks. But these are the cards ive been dealt. Just have to work my way up with volume. I didnt have a 5RM in me after the triple but i thought i could see how 160kg feels and bail on it if it got messy, and i did bail but i bailed a fraction of a second kinda late (which i think is a bad thing). Scraped my knees pretty good hitting on the platform, auchies. In the past, I cud control down the bail with lighter weight but as it gets heavier, things need to change. yea dont worry about riding it down for dropping it a couple of inches lower just bail asap. I only later realised out of the gym the right move would have been to drop to 147.5kg and maybe try for 4 reps would have been a PR and i bet i could have even got that today. Im such an idiot lol.
Warming up for jumps and the 22-24" inch sign felt like a max effort jump. Just one fo those days.
But just wanna say in the middle of htis squat high vol program where im jumping on average 1.5 times a month, fat as FUCK and with a far from ideal runup due to the gym setup, im doing okay. I will improve later down the line, this is just to maintain my athleticism until im done with the squat program.
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those jumps you did looked really good, and those shoes looked great to jump in, adarq approved from what I see.. :ninja:
your jumping should sky rocket when you start jumping more, and potentially reduce some of this fatigue by lowering the volume drastically and potentially just getting in some more non-MAX efforts, more frequently. Not sure how you are planning to transition, but you could easily handle more squat days after doing a routine like that, as long as you drop the volume & still do "heavy" sessions but, more of a focus on non-aggressive/non-amp'd up ones, so you're in the "training max territory" and not the "true max territory".
pc!!
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those jumps you did looked really good, and those shoes looked great to jump in, adarq approved from what I see.. :ninja:
your jumping should sky rocket when you start jumping more, and potentially reduce some of this fatigue by lowering the volume drastically and potentially just getting in some more non-MAX efforts, more frequently. Not sure how you are planning to transition, but you could easily handle more squat days after doing a routine like that, as long as you drop the volume & still do "heavy" sessions but, more of a focus on non-aggressive/non-amp'd up ones, so you're in the "training max territory" and not the "true max territory".
pc!!
Thanks! The shoes are def my fav. If they ever reduce the weight down it could be GOAT but they're light enough for me that i dont really mind. Love them.
The plan is to finish up high vol (20 sets) adventures this coming week then start taking sets off each week. Thinking take off 2/2 the first week to 16 sets and then 14 the following week etc. That way as i release some fatigue, i benefit by getting a bit stronger each week as well. I can start doing more submax jumps once i feel like i can handle more training load as I go along? For summer i want to put my squats on maintenance (on say 5x5x150kg) and peak my athleticism / fitness / bball.
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BW: 88.9kg
Activity: 7.6
Misc: erectors
Diet Compliance: 30/30(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest but will be actively trying to recover and getting around 8 activity.
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Bad luck about the 160 (352lbs) failing but congrats on the 152.5x3 PR. Honestly if you were fresh and didn't hit the 152.5x3 prior to attempting 160 I believe you would have got 160 easily. Theoretically with a 152.5x3 your 1RM for the squat should be around 167.5 or even 170 on a good day. The way I calculated that is most people's 3RM for a bench, squat or deadlift usually equates to a 1RM of 3RM +10%.
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Bad luck about the 160 (352lbs) failing but congrats on the 152.5x3 PR. Honestly if you were fresh and didn't hit the 152.5x3 prior to attempting 160 I believe you would have got 160 easily. Theoretically with a 152.5x3 your 1RM for the squat should be around 167.5 or even 170 on a good day. The way I calculated that is most people's 3RM for a bench, squat or deadlift usually equates to a 1RM of 3RM +10%.
thanks mate! i kinda only wanted teh 160kg if it was submax, you know? like if it was a true 1rm, i dont want it b/c i know it would have been ugly af and it wud have wrecked my recovery for the rest of the week, which would disrupt my usual squat program. So i wasn't really looking for a make at that price. I did an ugly af 157.5kg (as in it was up on my insta for a few minutes before i decided it was too shameful lol) back when my volume worksets were (i think) 122.5kg for 5s. So i know i can always get an ugly PR around 160kg but i want something im proud of .. if i get an ugly 1rm max and im ashamed of it then i can't expect anyone else to care either if the person who cares the most doesn't even care for it. I have a lot of work to do. My dream, maybe not realistic is to hit 180kg this summer while making it a 2xbw milestone. I dont know if that's in the cards THIS summer but i will try my best to get volume worksets around 150kg to give myself a fighting chance..
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Bad luck about the 160 (352lbs) failing but congrats on the 152.5x3 PR. Honestly if you were fresh and didn't hit the 152.5x3 prior to attempting 160 I believe you would have got 160 easily. Theoretically with a 152.5x3 your 1RM for the squat should be around 167.5 or even 170 on a good day. The way I calculated that is most people's 3RM for a bench, squat or deadlift usually equates to a 1RM of 3RM +10%.
thanks mate! i kinda only wanted teh 160kg if it was submax, you know? like if it was a true 1rm, i dont want it b/c i know it would have been ugly af and it wud have wrecked my recovery for the rest of the week, which would disrupt my usual squat program. So i wasn't really looking for a make at that price. I did an ugly af 157.5kg (as in it was up on my insta for a few minutes before i decided it was too shameful lol) back when my volume worksets were (i think) 122.5kg for 5s. So i know i can always get an ugly PR around 160kg but i want something im proud of .. if i get an ugly 1rm max and im ashamed of it then i can't expect anyone else to care either if the person who cares the most doesn't even care for it. I have a lot of work to do. My dream, maybe not realistic is to hit 180kg this summer while making it a 2xbw milestone. I dont know if that's in the cards THIS summer but i will try my best to get volume worksets around 150kg to give myself a fighting chance..
Loving your success lately and this is an awesome attitude to have. I think you're like me and ugly reps have sent you in the wrong direction in the past.
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Bad luck about the 160 (352lbs) failing but congrats on the 152.5x3 PR. Honestly if you were fresh and didn't hit the 152.5x3 prior to attempting 160 I believe you would have got 160 easily. Theoretically with a 152.5x3 your 1RM for the squat should be around 167.5 or even 170 on a good day. The way I calculated that is most people's 3RM for a bench, squat or deadlift usually equates to a 1RM of 3RM +10%.
thanks mate! i kinda only wanted teh 160kg if it was submax, you know? like if it was a true 1rm, i dont want it b/c i know it would have been ugly af and it wud have wrecked my recovery for the rest of the week, which would disrupt my usual squat program. So i wasn't really looking for a make at that price. I did an ugly af 157.5kg (as in it was up on my insta for a few minutes before i decided it was too shameful lol) back when my volume worksets were (i think) 122.5kg for 5s. So i know i can always get an ugly PR around 160kg but i want something im proud of .. if i get an ugly 1rm max and im ashamed of it then i can't expect anyone else to care either if the person who cares the most doesn't even care for it. I have a lot of work to do. My dream, maybe not realistic is to hit 180kg this summer while making it a 2xbw milestone. I dont know if that's in the cards THIS summer but i will try my best to get volume worksets around 150kg to give myself a fighting chance..
Loving your success lately and this is an awesome attitude to have. I think you're like me and ugly reps have sent you in the wrong direction in the past.
Yup! I just reviewed the video of the fail and i was pretty relaxed during the rep even during the bail, i just wasn't going to force it that day b/c on the back of my mind was i can't mess myself up too much when i have to do 10x5x140kg in a couple of days time. When i compare it to the 3x152.5kg i was really aggressive on those b/c that was programmed PR for the day. 160kg was just an after thought cos i didnt think i could get a 5x147.5kg PR with how i felt. The right move would have been go for 4x147.5kg instead of the 0x160kg though. I find squat mornings are bad for recovery, it used to take me over a week to recover from a dirty goodmorning rep but these days i can do better than that but i'd rather not make my program a lot harder than it needs to be. In that vein ive been eating more carbs, esp before bed b/c i know better sleep gives better recovery and carbs are my friend. Not like im eating tons of carbs now but adding a banana to my whey/berry smoothie and an extra piece of bread to an already baseline intake goes a long way.
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BW: 88.7kg
Activity: 8.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 31/31(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Active recovery lower & maintenance upper body today.
Recovery BS 2x6x112.5(+2.5kg; good)
Maintenance Semi-paused BP 5x87.5
Maintenance Dips 17xBW(92kg; PRish)
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You can't spam your own journal haha.
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BW: 89.3kg
Activity: 7.7
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 32/32(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Legit rest today; last high volume day tmr.
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BW: 89.3kg
Activity: 11
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 33/33(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Got that sick feeling just prior to the volume session. But all things considered my prep has been good this week and today i even had 2 meals before the session. So lets see how it goes, brb.
BS 6x5x140(PR), 4x140, 3x140, 2x140, 2x140
Notes:
I only managed 6 sets of 5! I should have done a 7th set of 5 and gone home but i reasoned out of the ugly 5th rep and bargained to attempt another pretty 4 sets of 4 instead, which didn't happen either - bird in hand etc. Nevermind. Im going to fucking repeat this workout next week and crush it for all 10 sets of 5.
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You got this :headbang:
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BW: 89.5kg
Activity: 11
Misc: Erectors pretty beat (ha)
Diet Compliance: 34/34(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest. But see below post.
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BW: 89.9kg
Activity: 7
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 35/35(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Recovery lower & maintenance upper. Might restart the tempo sprints but make them like tempo tempo tempo sprints to start with ha
Recovery BS 2x6x115(+2.5kg, good)
Maintenance OHP 2x5x60
Maintenance Chinups 8xBW
Band resisted Goblet KB squat 8x10, 8x20, 8x32 (PRs; strong!; new exercise, good for stability at the bottom of the squat. highly recommend)
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BW: 89.7kg
Activity: 10+
Misc: R knee niggles
Diet Compliance: 36/36(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest but will put up some jumpshots in the PM with a friend
my dumb ass ended up playing pickup for a coupla hours on concrete. i have to squat heavy tmr. good job. ha ha
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BW: 89.1kg
Activity: 13.1 (!!)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 37/37(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
More bball today and heavy training. Please dont break body, please..
Bball practice
BS 3x127.5, 1x155, 1x160(PR), 4x147.5(PR)
submax jumps
maintenance hill sprints x 5
Back Xtn 10x90(PR)
Notes:
Bball really beats the shit out of me when i get back into it :( But i said F it im going to lift whatever happens. Finally cracked the 160kg milestone. Only happened because i did the first rep of 3x155kg PR attempt and thought nope nope that was too hard to rep out another 2 times. So racked it and felt fresh and strong enough to go for 160kg. It's done. The only shitty thing was the 4th and last rep of that 147.5kg - yup hella squatmorninged it :/ so erectors will be fried af the next couple of days. Hopefully recovered for the last high volume sesh on thursday though.
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Nice!!!
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BW: 88.6kg
Activity: 7 (ok but should ≥8 everyday i think)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 38/38(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day. Im happy to be 88.5kgish for now, been cutting thiis whole week so about time the scale showed up. Bball really does do a number on my body in a variety of ways. Hard on the body but the benefits to bodycomp are noticeable quickly too. Waist is getting tighter etc. Cud just be it makes me happy which leads to reduction stress and water retention? I think i stay cutting until the last high volume day (thursday) - and then eat hard to recover then stay maintenance a while. I'm thinking it's okay to allow my bodyweight to drift up towards 91kg and try get my BS 5rm to 5x160kg - as per KF advice. I will keep it below 91kg for psychological reasons though, dont wanna be freaking out if i wake up 92kg or something. And keep getting in better shape by playing ball regularly now, im running out of time at 139 days to tournament time.
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BW: 88.5kg
Activity: 10.3
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 39/39(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Getting leaner. Training recovery lower & maintenance upper tonight.
Recovery BS 6x117.5(+2.5kg, good), 6x120(+5kg; ok)
Maintenance Semi Paused BP 5x88.5
Maintenance Dips 15xBW(92; maybe 14, idk)
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Irrelevant with that choice, when you say AxB , is it sets x reps or reps x sets? Is 10x5 10 sets of 5 reps or 5 sets of 10 reps?
Also, FWIW, KF's volume sessions were 5x8 ( 5 sets of 8 reps ), where those 8 reps were all out, looked more like a short-break MSEM cluster of 8 singles ( without the un/re-racking ).
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Irrelevant with that choice, when you say AxB , is it sets x reps or reps x sets? Is 10x5 10 sets of 5 reps or 5 sets of 10 reps?
Also, FWIW, KF's volume sessions were 5x8 ( 5 sets of 8 reps ), where those 8 reps were all out, looked more like a short-break MSEM cluster of 8 singles ( without the un/re-racking ).
sets x reps .. isnt that how we read it X sets of Y reps haha. Can we just normalise the nomeclature please? i never say 5 reps of 10 sets irl smh
10 sets of 5 reps of 140 (i did 5555554322 last week only getting 6 sets and partial sets from there on, could have done 7 and gone home if i forced the 5th rep of 7th set tbh).
the pros and cons of repeating are:
pros: repeat 140 and have nicer form from here on as i progress each week by 2.5kg (and taper down in number of sets per week)
cons: waste 2-3 weeks getting back on track
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BW: 88.5kg
Activity: 3.8 (!!)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 40/40(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Legit rest today. Volume tmr. When you've eaten clean and trained for 40 days in a row and still look like a fat piece of shit ha ha and still have another 140 to go.
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BW: 89.5kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 41/41(PR)
Mobility:
Skill work:
Volume day. Been a rough night .. too humid and dealing with some shit. But i can't wait to squat.
well i tried but i couldnt get through the first workset, put the bar back after 2 reps and came home. not sure what to do next
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BW: 87.8kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 42/42(PR)
Mobility:
Skill work:
Uh so i guess i'll rest today and train tmr but not sure whether to do another attempt at volume day or if i'd mess that up too. life's getting in the way
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BW: 88.5kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 43/43(PR)
Mobility:
Skill work:
At least my bodyweight went up today. But im still pretty stressed so life is probably just going to wreck all the hard work ive done over the last 6 months. Hate that it takes me the longest time to get into making progress and then it can just vanish.
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BW: 88.7kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 44/44(PR)
Mobility:
Skill work:
Played pickup for a bit on concrete. Not sure if i'll lift tho
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BW: 88.5kg
Activity: 4.3
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 45/45(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
New week new me. Im currently still dealing with some family issues and managed to get a chest infection too .. but comeback #991 here we go.
Recovery BS 2x6x120 (PR)
Maintenance OHP 2x5x60
Maintenance Chinups 5x100, 5x95
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BW:
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 46/46(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day. Not sleeping well. Chest getting better. Hopefully tmr i can put in a quality training session.
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BW: 87.8kg
Activity: 5.8
Misc: chest cold
Diet Compliance: 47/47(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Training today but i dont know if i shud try heavy day or volume day - having missed both of those week :/ I don't think i'll be able to do either tbh but lets see.
BS 3x142.5, 2x150, 5x2x147.5(PR)
Notes:
I think while im still a bit sick sets of 5 are out. Just dont have the endurance for that shit right now, my respiratory system struggles to allow more than 3 reps. So i aborted the volume sets of 5 with 142.5kg and thought to start a RSR inspired cycle of 6 doubles at 150kg. It was ugly, dropped to 147.5kg - still ugly, goodmorning AF out of every single 2nd rep. I think my abs were torched from the chinups (like that's never happened before). But i was not going to leave the gym being defeated by 142.5kg again so fuck it, lets do this now - go for a clean 6x2x150kg next time and try to add a rep every week. Different way to get to 5x5x150kg but i think it will work too. I really should have done 5x147.5kg on monday but life got in the way and now im getting beaten by doubles .. that's demoralising but hopefully i'll get better.
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BW: 88.7kg
Activity: 5.3
Misc: chest cold
Diet Compliance: 48/48(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Resting fully today. Gave my erectors an hour on the TENS last night, foam rolled a bit. Ate plenty protein. I think im getting better at recovery too and adapting to heavier squatting gone wrong. But the day's still young, doms cud sneak up on me lol. This will be the 3rd week playing ball in a row so i shud start seeing my brain and body coming in harmony on the court. I'll know i have got it back when i start getting blocks again .. that's when i know i have the timing going. Haven't got a block yet, not even close.
I didnt eat chicken tonight either. fuck it. so sick of chicken breast. i havent enjoyed eating dinner in months, bro left me 3 slices of pizza and it was heaven. so deprived lol.
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BW: 88.5kg
Activity: 8.3
Misc: erectors sore/stiff,
Diet Compliance: 49/49(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Lower recovery & upper training today. Should probably have eaten chicken breast last night .. maybe my erectors would be fresher today. ha ha
Recovery BS 2x6x120
BP 5x90
Dips 1x123.5(lol rom tho), 5x112, 8x100, 12xBW
jump rope
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BW: 88.5kg
Activity: 2.4 (lol)
Misc: vmos sore
Diet Compliance: 50/50(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Legit rest. Going hard AF tmr with lifting and 3 hours of bball training.
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BW: 90kg
Activity: 12.3
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 51/51(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
2 hours Bball training (pretty good!)
BS 2x150, 1x150
Band Resisted Goblet squat
fked around with some BSS squats (using a kb i dont know if i hold it right, ie in the right hand etc)
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Lifting heavy after a hard bball session isn't gna happen. I got screwed today tryna accomodate some dudes who wanted to train early .. but of course they never even showed up so the opportunitstic cost was my squatting which is annoying af. Next time lift then ball. The 150kg was a 2rm, broke me next set i couldn't even get 1 cleanly, it was ugly af. I wanted 6 doubles. Will try again next week.
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BW: 88.7kg
Activity: 5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 52/52(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Legit rest. Need it.
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fked around with some BSS squats (using a kb i dont know if i hold it right, ie in the right hand etc)
A good way to do it (assuming it's just for assistance work) is to do half the reps holding the KB between your legs and the other half holding it on the outside of your lead leg, then switch legs. Good for balance/stabilisers.
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fked around with some BSS squats (using a kb i dont know if i hold it right, ie in the right hand etc)
A good way to do it (assuming it's just for assistance work) is to do half the reps holding the KB between your legs and the other half holding it on the outside of your lead leg, then switch legs. Good for balance/stabilisers.
Sounds good. might be time for me to look into SL training now. I'm not seeing any transfer from DL training to my game and i dont think it will come even if i get my squat to 2xbw/180kg. Might be worth aiming for 1.9x/170kg for this summer and get my SLL/conditioning/skill up and i bet that will have a better transfer to on-court performance.
I also had another thought, i havent tried using a belt wtih the new breathing protocol. I think i can prob get a good 7.5kg to 10kg boost off the belt now without compromising form (which is where i lost out with the belt before - belt use leads to worse form). Just something to explore on a bad training day i guess when i have nothign else to lose.
edit. to add to this, on sunday i actually tried to dunk and i got some nice dunks. Not sure if it was Adrenalin or what but at >90kg bw (gym) i got a tomahawk ...with no dunking in the past what 6 months? so that was surprisingly. usually it takes a while to get the movement efficiency going for that. But im not talking about vertical leap per se .. i can get up at the moment yes .. i still cant ball for shit b/c im far too slow to do anything in the heat of hte moment
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BW: 89kg
Activity: 6.7
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 53/53(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Supposed to be a lower recovery & ohp/chinup day. May go for 6x2x150kg tho and do the recovery day on thursday instead. Will see. edit. knees felt rusty, didn't think i cud do a heavy workout, did the recovery one with a twist, see below.
Recovery BS 2x6x120, 6x120B
OHP 5x60, 6x60, 5x60B
Chinup 5x102(+10kg), 5x100, 6xBW(92)
Notes:
I think i *may* be right about using a belt. 3rd set which was 1 more than i'd do on a recovery day felt nice and strong esp locking it out (legs like the belt). So will be explorign using the belt not in lieu of beltless squatting -- but in addition to beltless squatting as assistance. Yay.
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Just for those who might be interested, discussion with KF prompted a breathing protocol which works as follows, take a breath at the top of the rep (hold it deep) into the bottom fo the squat continue to hold it out, as you approach the lockout you can release with a grunt. This did wonders for my limit squatting but i wondered how it would behave if we introduce a belt into a mix. That's a new variable but i experimented with it today with one set - i found that i could do the same breathing protocol except - with the belt i added something extra, hold the abs tight, take a breath continuing to hold the abs tight then take more of a breath while retighten abs more to max out intrabdnominal pressure. Then do the rep as normal holding the breath and tightness thruout the rep just into lockout. As long as form remains good (it never does in the past with my squat - belt wrecks form) - it *shud* allow me to add maybe 5-10kg to my beltless squat. Maybe good enough to get that 2xbw THIS summer as opposed to winter.
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BW: 88.9kg
Activity: 3.5
Misc: abz sore
Diet Compliance: 54/54(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. Sore abs => bad news for heavy day tmr :/
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BW: 89.2kg
Activity: 10.3
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 55/55(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Feel reasonably fresh today. Ready for a training day of PRs :headbang:
BS 2x2x150(PR), 5x2x150B(PR)
Notes:
Legit dont think i had more than 3 doubles in me today at 150kg. But i did 2 and decided to try the belt and it was so fucking easy to get the 3rd double that i just went with it from there and did the rest of the workout with the belt. Tried for a triple on the 7th set and got it but it was super ugly esp last rep - and you know when i did that triple i felt i had another rep or two in me with that shitty form. Goes to show how much the belt 'helps' if there was any doubt. My belt isn't even that good, it's a flimsy leather one. Not a thick competitive lifter one. That's ok for now. Not trying to be a competitive cheating powerlifter ha.
Fuck it though, need to clean up form but for now im happy that i did 15 reps with 150kg that i wouldn't have got otherwise. First you do it dirty. Then you do it clean. The goal remains to get 5x5x150kg sans belt with good form - the belt bridges the gap between the 140kgs and 150kgs for now which is something ive always struggled with on that plate boundary.
Last minute i decided to wear compression tights even though it's hot af right now and i dont really wanna wear them -- but i think it helps with proprioception( the capacity to feel the position of a joint in space as sensed by the central nervous system). I think eventually i'll use my blue rehband knee sleeves too for this purpose and ditch the tights. Fuck it, i was dealt a shitty hand in genetics for strength and power need to make up for my skinny joints and slow ass CNS lol. Don't think it's cheating either b/c the goal is to get stronger legs and as long as training helps with that it's all good.
-
Experimenting with weight vest again. I ordered one which i can wear underneath my clothes more discreetly. And it's only 5kg so that limits my training ADHD induced tendency to go OTT with weight (lol when i used to have a 20kg one!). Feels comfy on. Def will do a hypergravity ting at some stage (now?). With it on and with shoes and clothes it puts me over 95kg.
When i was reviewing footage of basketball training - by far the most glaring issue im seeing on tape is how slow my feet move relative to everyone else on the court. Any drills i can add to help with that?
-
fwiw the most effective use of the vest for me was in peaking, to wear it around all day for a week, including workouts, and into warm ups on the day i wanted to peak. then take it off and jump. best jumps came under those conditions.
-
fwiw the most effective use of the vest for me was in peaking, to wear it around all day for a week, including workouts, and into warm ups on the day i wanted to peak. then take it off and jump. best jumps came under those conditions.
Makes sense. I shall do the same when it comes to peaking! Not currently tryna peak - im still trying to recover ground from the training setback ive gone thru the last couple of weeks. Went from 10 sets of 5 with 137.5kg to 6 sets of 5 with 140kg to zero sets of 5 with 142.5kg. Combo of life/sickness and general fatigue. And not that i was in any position to peak even before. Definitely sometime in 2018 - hopefully early feb at the latest but considering ive decided im unable to cut bodyfat b/c im still so damn skinny (fat) .. i dont know if i'll even get there tbh. Fat athleticism peaking doesn't really excite me ..
-
BW: 89.2kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 55/55(PR)
Mobility:
Skill work:
Feel reasonably fresh today. Ready for a training day of PRs :headbang:
BS 2x2x150(PR), 5x2x150B(PR)
Notes:
Legit dont think i had more than 3 doubles in me today at 150kg. But i did 2 and decided to try the belt and it was so fucking easy to get the 3rd double that i just went with it from there and did the rest of the workout with the belt. Tried for a triple on the 7th set and got it but it was super ugly esp last rep - and you know when i did that triple i felt i had another rep or two in me with that shitty form. Goes to show how much the belt 'helps' if there was any doubt. My belt isn't even that good, it's a flimsy leather one. Not a thick competitive lifter one. That's ok for now. Not trying to be a competitive cheating powerlifter ha.
Fuck it though, need to clean up form but for now im happy that i did 15 reps with 150kg that i wouldn't have got otherwise. First you do it dirty. Then you do it clean. The goal remains to get 5x5x150kg sans belt with good form - the belt bridges the gap between the 140kgs and 150kgs for now which is something ive always struggled with on that plate boundary.
Last minute i decided to wear compression tights even though it's hot af right now and i dont really wanna wear them -- but i think it helps with proprioception( the capacity to feel the position of a joint in space as sensed by the central nervous system). I think eventually i'll use my blue rehband knee sleeves too for this purpose and ditch the tights. Fuck it, i was dealt a shitty hand in genetics for strength and power need to make up for my skinny joints and slow ass CNS lol. Don't think it's cheating either b/c the goal is to get stronger legs and as long as training helps with that it's all good.
Nice work!
-
BS 6x120(w/ nike metcons + 5kg vest), 6x120(w/ normal shoes + 5kg vest), 6x120(no vest), 8x120B(no vest, with belt)
Depth Jumps with vest
RVJ x 3 with vest
RJV x 6 no vest
Back Xtn 10x95(PR)
done
Notes:
A day of experimenting. While i def can swuat with the vest and with metcons' shoes It's not ideal. I dont think i'll ever do another lift wearing the vest unless it's for loading up for chins or dips or something. It just changes form with how the bar sits on the back etc. Metcons are far inferior to squatting in my normal shoes. I used the belt on my last set and went for 8, cud probably have got 10 if i rested longer between reps. Derp.
-
BW: 89kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 56/56(PR)
Mobility:
Skill work:
Rest. May put up some jumpers tonight though if the court is available, hasn't been past weeks b/c of uni exams.
-
BW: 89.3kg
Activity: 7.3
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 57/57(PR)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Upper body & recovery lower today.
Recovery BS 6x125K, 8x130BK(PR)
BP 5x90, 6x90(PR)
Dips 12xBW(91)
Notes:
New nomenclature, B for belt, K for knee sleeves.
I asked someone to spot me on bp and explained only help me if i get stuck on my chest. He grabbed the bar halfway up on the 6th rep. Didn't get a spot on the 2nd set .. i knew i had 6 in me lol.
-
Ok why did no one tell me how much of a diffrence a belt+knee sleeves can make? On a recobery day 6x120kg is usually pretty challenging .. i did 8x130kg today with the belt and knee sleeves. And i had a couple of reps in me if i really wanted to go for a RM. Game changer. Not saying i will use gear everytime from now on.. but the benefits are clear .. my knees dont feel as beat up even though i used 10kg more for 2 more reps. Damn.
-
BW: 89.7kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 58/58(PR)
Mobility:
Skill work:
Bball training this morning/afternoon. Really wish i could just rest though. Ate 3 meals. hopefully fresh enough to squat tmr but basketball is killing my gains man.
-
BW: 90.8kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
Starting the diet counter over again after that weekend. Feeling okay, training today, want a PR number of raw doubles with 150kg. Going to be interesting considering i lifted saturday, balled sunday and it's monday and im gna go for squat PRs. But like Todday once said, it's not about hitting PRs when you're fresh .. it's about making progress when you're in the middle of a hard training block. That's more valuable to an athlete. Because let's face it, from here on it doesn't get easier. More basketball but i still have a ton of PRs to get in the weight room. Just have to make it work.
BS 2x150, 5x2x150BK
Notes:
turns out training 3 days in a row wasn't a good way to get squat PRs. Sadness. But i did 6x2x150 .. hopefully friday i can do better and go for like 6x3x150kg.
-
Here's a little motivation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BNP126zgPU
-
Here's a little motivation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BNP126zgPU
ronnie is a treasure.
-
BW:
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Totally messed up dietwise. Started with 3 macaroons, 1 snickers frozen icecream thingy. Next had 2 snackboxes from HJs with nuggets/chips. Finished with a pizza and half a box of maltesers. Got that out of my system. I think i was grieving the end of something.
-
BW: 90.7kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
Starting over dietwise. Recovery lower & upper training today.
-
BW: 90.7kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
Starting over dietwise. Recovery lower & upper training today.
one day isn't a problem tho, seems like you needed it.
jelly of that ice cream snickers thing tho.. think I know what you're talking about.. has caramel inside right? lol.
-
I continued to fall off the wagon yesterday but surprisingly even when i did/do, i always felt/feel in control. It's a different sort of state to when i fell in the past where it was completely of my control. Like im willingly relinquishing myself as opposed to being driven by hormonal demons. Prob because in the past if i have been dieting for a while and im lean then the hormones are stacked against me and the body's gna try to pile the weight back. Interesting stuff to experiment with. Maybe im just better off weighing 90kg b/c i wont have any major diet setbacks b/c they're limited to when and how i choose to reassert control over my caloric balance.
So a few things ive noticed, my activity tracker band broke. And without it, i feel i have been less inclined to stick to the plan. I need to get a replacement sorted out soon.
Not to dwell in this .. not interested in that, just wanna get back on track. Today is a good day, combo of training and PRs will help me get there!
-
BW: 90.2kg
Activity: 4
Misc: lower back acting weird
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
BS 6x3x150KB(PR)
-
I continued to fall off the wagon yesterday but surprisingly even when i did/do, i always felt/feel in control. It's a different sort of state to when i fell in the past where it was completely of my control. Like im willingly relinquishing myself as opposed to being driven by hormonal demons. Prob because in the past if i have been dieting for a while and im lean then the hormones are stacked against me and the body's gna try to pile the weight back. Interesting stuff to experiment with. Maybe im just better off weighing 90kg b/c i wont have any major diet setbacks b/c they're limited to when and how i choose to reassert control over my caloric balance.
So a few things ive noticed, my activity tracker band broke. And without it, i feel i have been less inclined to stick to the plan. I need to get a replacement sorted out soon.
Not to dwell in this .. not interested in that, just wanna get back on track. Today is a good day, combo of training and PRs will help me get there!
this is really great to hear.
-
BW: 89.8kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility:
Skill work:
Rest..
-
BW: 91kg (yikes)
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility:
Skill work:
Bball, recovery lower, upper body training.
Bball training (90 minutes - grueling post work)
BS 6x130KB(warmup PR), 8x132.5KB(PR)
BP 6x70, 1x90
Notes:
Couldnt lift before bball. Still somehow managed a 8 rep PR on 'recovery' day. Playing with the 1rm calculator, 8x145kg ->180kg. Gives me smething to shoot for over the next couple of months.
-
BW: 90.6kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest and Recover.
-
BW: 89.9kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Not sure whether to do an extra day of rest and "cutting" and train tmr, or do a medium squat day. will see how i feel.
Rested. will go for a squat PR tmr
-
BW: 89.4kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training today.
BS 3x2x150K(PR), 3x2x150KB
Dips 10xBW(91), 17xBW(PR)
Drop step dunk practice (in gym)
Notes:
why is 150kg so hard? And i really regretted having bought a piece of shit TENS unit which doesn't fucking work and my back is not happy lately because it turns out foam rolling is not a good substitute to the relatively high quality TENS massage. Fuck KOGAN as a staff, label and crew. If you are googling for Kogan TENS - DONT BUY IT.
-
BW: 89.4kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training today.
BS 3x2x150K(PR), 3x2x150KB
Dips 10xBW(91), 17xBW(PR)
Drop step dunk practice (in gym)
Notes:
why is 150kg so hard? And i really regretted having bought a piece of shit TENS unit which doesn't fucking work and my back is not happy lately because it turns out foam rolling is not a good substitute to the relatively high quality TENS massage. Fuck KOGAN as a staff, label and crew. If you are googling for Kogan TENS - DONT BUY IT.
haha.
googled "FUCK KOGAN", not what i expected.
-
BW: 89.5kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: right gluteus area weird soreness (i think that's from the drop step spin dunks)
Diet Compliance: 4/4
Mobility:
Skill work:
Rest! Volume squatting 150kg tmr. Yikes..
-
BW: 89.5kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 5/5
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training tonight! Knees and lower back a bit sore. I will take an extra day's rest and train tmr..
-
BW: 89.7kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 6/6
Mobility:
Skill work:
Not enough sleep. Feel tired AF.
BSKB 4x150, 4x150, 4x150, 4x150, 3x150, 3x150
Notes:
One of those days where every rep was a fight. I just love making things as hard as possible for myself by dieting thru the week trying to get lean while hoping to PR volume at 150kg. Dickhead. Wanted 6 sets of 4x150kg. Managed 4, the 4th rep was super ugly.
The weaksauce guys lifting in the smith machine adjacent to me staring at me killed the vibe. I get self conscious and i cant focus on the lift and it throws off my form and then it's just messy and i lose the plot. I thought to approach them before the set and go hey sorry for being obnoxious but this is hard and i need to yell and grit, dont take offense. But actually talking to randoms at the gym is obnoxious enough because who does that? So you find them staring at the weird al quada training camp transplant straining away in their pretty little white gym and you know they're thinking wtf is this guy doing gtfo.
Need to start looking for a new gym for summer. I hate it so much when the atmosphere ruins the session b/c you need everything right to not die..But rant aside, i did okay, 22 reps is a PR at 150kg. Next time i'll get 24 fo sho.
-
BW: 89.7kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 6/6
Mobility:
Skill work:
Not enough sleep. Feel tired AF.
BSKB 4x150, 4x150, 4x150, 4x150, 3x150, 3x150
Notes:
One of those days where every rep was a fight. I just love making things as hard as possible for myself by dieting thru the week trying to get lean while hoping to PR volume at 150kg. Dickhead. Wanted 6 sets of 4x150kg. Managed 4, the 4th rep was super ugly.
The weaksauce guys lifting in the smith machine adjacent to me staring at me killed the vibe. I get self conscious and i cant focus on the lift and it throws off my form and then it's just messy and i lose the plot. I thought to approach them before the set and go hey sorry for being obnoxious but this is hard and i need to yell and grit, dont take offense. But actually talking to randoms at the gym is obnoxious enough because who does that? So you find them staring at the weird al quada training camp transplant straining away in their pretty little white gym and you know they're thinking wtf is this guy doing gtfo.
Need to start looking for a new gym for summer. I hate it so much when the atmosphere ruins the session b/c you need everything right to not die..But rant aside, i did okay, 22 reps is a PR at 150kg. Next time i'll get 24 fo sho.
note to self: if I ever need to defeat maxent in something, stare at him and he'll fold. :ninja:
bro. they were probably mirin`. and even if they weren't, need to get that stuff out of your head. That kind of stuff is a huge component of this strength/power/athletic journey, not sure why everyone keeps forgetting that! Our minds look for ways out, to go back to being comfortable. Your whole perception of that situation could simply have been your subconscious finding a way to get you to quit or push yourself less. I'm not saying it's easy to overcome, but I am saying you need to recognize it when it happens, and try to actively defeat it, or it will defeat you - like it seemed to.
Based on what you typed, I would imagine you didn't try to battle those thoughts - you gave in to them, without even realizing you had a chance to battle, and you let them inhibit you.
Mental game PR's are harder to measure, but that seems like one you can work towards for sure.
Finally, you also bottled in your emotions because of those around you. That's fine to do, but expect performance to drop. So, if you are not OK with performance dropping, do not cage the animal. Again, you let (potentially, perhaps misperceived) other people's weakness, make you weak. Just think about that: you didn't yell/grunt/express your true emotion because of someone else's weakness -> it's like an X-Men weakness superpower they used on you, and you folded.
NO FILTER.
I'm optimistic that you will handle this differently in future sessions! :D
peace!!
-
I am kind of the same, that's what stopped me from going to gym since I left college. But now I go in because my goals are too important to me to let others stop me from getting them, they can get a look to their hearts content. I just come to do my stuff no matter how awkward it may look, keep looking guys, what you are witnessing is the process to greatness and also when I am lifting and they are watching I'm thinking "I'm strong and powerful, be in awe of my greatness". :ninja:
But outwardly i'm just really a shy guy. :ninja: and focus on my goals. just my 2 cents.
-
Also remember I have lots of experience with this, I consider it part of my training. I don't care if the queen or pope is around, if i'm competing or training, i'm expressing my emotions without filter. Lots of people thought I was absolutely batshit (in person & on the net) when I was into dunking - i'd talk to myself, yell, grunt, curse (tried to suppress if kids around).
This is a great example of a situation where I could have let people get in my head, considering I had like 10+ people making fun of me. Also, I regret wearing those stupid shirt sleeve hat things, look so stupid. Beanie would have looked rugged:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H4hIStRrLs
^^ Anyway, didn't know any of those people. Hissing after like every dunk attempt, but almost landed my best ever "windmill" in that session & hit a few really nice dunks.
Anyway, no filter:
Part of this whole process seems to be figuring out how to slowly uncage the animal within us. Inhibition is evil.
:ninja: :ibjumping: :ibsquatting: :ibrunning: :ibcycling: :wowthatwasnutswtf:
-
BW: 89.7kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 6/6
Mobility:
Skill work:
Not enough sleep. Feel tired AF.
BSKB 4x150, 4x150, 4x150, 4x150, 3x150, 3x150
Notes:
One of those days where every rep was a fight. I just love making things as hard as possible for myself by dieting thru the week trying to get lean while hoping to PR volume at 150kg. Dickhead. Wanted 6 sets of 4x150kg. Managed 4, the 4th rep was super ugly.
The weaksauce guys lifting in the smith machine adjacent to me staring at me killed the vibe. I get self conscious and i cant focus on the lift and it throws off my form and then it's just messy and i lose the plot. I thought to approach them before the set and go hey sorry for being obnoxious but this is hard and i need to yell and grit, dont take offense. But actually talking to randoms at the gym is obnoxious enough because who does that? So you find them staring at the weird al quada training camp transplant straining away in their pretty little white gym and you know they're thinking wtf is this guy doing gtfo.
Need to start looking for a new gym for summer. I hate it so much when the atmosphere ruins the session b/c you need everything right to not die..But rant aside, i did okay, 22 reps is a PR at 150kg. Next time i'll get 24 fo sho.
note to self: if I ever need to defeat maxent in something, stare at him and he'll fold. :ninja:
bro. they were probably mirin`. and even if they weren't, need to get that stuff out of your head. That kind of stuff is a huge component of this strength/power/athletic journey, not sure why everyone keeps forgetting that! Our minds look for ways out, to go back to being comfortable. Your whole perception of that situation could simply have been your subconscious finding a way to get you to quit or push yourself less. I'm not saying it's easy to overcome, but I am saying you need to recognize it when it happens, and try to actively defeat it, or it will defeat you - like it seemed to.
Based on what you typed, I would imagine you didn't try to battle those thoughts - you gave in to them, without even realizing you had a chance to battle, and you let them inhibit you.
Mental game PR's are harder to measure, but that seems like one you can work towards for sure.
Finally, you also bottled in your emotions because of those around you. That's fine to do, but expect performance to drop. So, if you are not OK with performance dropping, do not cage the animal. Again, you let (potentially, perhaps misperceived) other people's weakness, make you weak. Just think about that: you didn't yell/grunt/express your true emotion because of someone else's weakness -> it's like an X-Men weakness superpower they used on you, and you folded.
NO FILTER.
I'm optimistic that you will handle this differently in future sessions! :D
peace!!
I am kind of the same, that's what stopped me from going to gym since I left college. But now I go in because my goals are too important to me to let others stop me from getting them, they can get a look to their hearts content. I just come to do my stuff no matter how awkward it may look, keep looking guys, what you are witnessing is the process to greatness and also when I am lifting and they are watching I'm thinking "I'm strong and powerful, be in awe of my greatness". :ninja:
But outwardly i'm just really a shy guy. :ninja: and focus on my goals. just my 2 cents.
yup! well said & a good example of the process/evolution one goes through.
and everyone's emotions won't be the same, ie some people don't yell etc.. but the key is, whatever you "feel", let it out, do not suppress/inhibit.
emotional & psychological inhibition, leads to performance inhibition. :ninja:
-
BW: 89.7kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 6/6
Mobility:
Skill work:
Not enough sleep. Feel tired AF.
BSKB 4x150, 4x150, 4x150, 4x150, 3x150, 3x150
Notes:
One of those days where every rep was a fight. I just love making things as hard as possible for myself by dieting thru the week trying to get lean while hoping to PR volume at 150kg. Dickhead. Wanted 6 sets of 4x150kg. Managed 4, the 4th rep was super ugly.
The weaksauce guys lifting in the smith machine adjacent to me staring at me killed the vibe. I get self conscious and i cant focus on the lift and it throws off my form and then it's just messy and i lose the plot. I thought to approach them before the set and go hey sorry for being obnoxious but this is hard and i need to yell and grit, dont take offense. But actually talking to randoms at the gym is obnoxious enough because who does that? So you find them staring at the weird al quada training camp transplant straining away in their pretty little white gym and you know they're thinking wtf is this guy doing gtfo.
Need to start looking for a new gym for summer. I hate it so much when the atmosphere ruins the session b/c you need everything right to not die..But rant aside, i did okay, 22 reps is a PR at 150kg. Next time i'll get 24 fo sho.
Yeah I know all about trying too hard at the gym and people being a-holes about it.
But I try to talk to at least 1 person at the gym every time I go, usually when I see them doing unconventional exercises or oly lifts with good form etc. and talk about technique or favorite lifts or something. You're missing out by trying to tune everyone out.
-
BW: 89.7kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 6/6
Mobility:
Skill work:
Not enough sleep. Feel tired AF.
BSKB 4x150, 4x150, 4x150, 4x150, 3x150, 3x150
Notes:
One of those days where every rep was a fight. I just love making things as hard as possible for myself by dieting thru the week trying to get lean while hoping to PR volume at 150kg. Dickhead. Wanted 6 sets of 4x150kg. Managed 4, the 4th rep was super ugly.
The weaksauce guys lifting in the smith machine adjacent to me staring at me killed the vibe. I get self conscious and i cant focus on the lift and it throws off my form and then it's just messy and i lose the plot. I thought to approach them before the set and go hey sorry for being obnoxious but this is hard and i need to yell and grit, dont take offense. But actually talking to randoms at the gym is obnoxious enough because who does that? So you find them staring at the weird al quada training camp transplant straining away in their pretty little white gym and you know they're thinking wtf is this guy doing gtfo.
Need to start looking for a new gym for summer. I hate it so much when the atmosphere ruins the session b/c you need everything right to not die..But rant aside, i did okay, 22 reps is a PR at 150kg. Next time i'll get 24 fo sho.
:( :( :(
On a positive note congrats on the 22 reps of 150kg.
With regards to the people at your gym block them out. Try and think positive. Often people stare because they are secretly mirin. For me I use people staring at me as positive motivation. If I think they're hating on me I use that as motivation as well "like fuck you I'm going to lift this weight and I don't give a fuck if you think I look like I can lift it or not".
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/40/e3/5b/40e35bf2ac52fbe3fa6ebcb66a534e82--a-sheep-a-lion.jpg)
-
BW: 91.8kg (PR!)
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 0/1 (failed, ate only 2 meals and they were fast food)
Mobility: F
Skill work: T
Played bball fasted (except for some whey in water) and it was brutal w/o carbs. I thought i could just play it easy but it got competitive b/c we had some good match ups. Great. FINALLY starting to get some blocks .. not exactly PR level for me in terms of shotblocking but it's starting to come back nicely. My CNS was quite laggy though, i was messing up 9/10 layups but i kept trying i just couldn't finish properly which is totally a timing thing. Positives were getting a great workout in fitness terms.
-
BW: 88.7kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. Slept loads. New week, new me.
-
BW: 89kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility:
Skill work:
BSKB 6x130, 8x135(PR)
OHP 2x4x60
Chinup 2x5xBW(92)
-
BW: 90kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
Rest.
-
BW:
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Played ball for about 2 hours. Was gruelling. I skipped lifting as a result. Ate pizza for lunch, nandos for dinner and pizza for bedtime snack. Got it out of my system as the last day of the diet break.
-
BW: 90.1kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
Here we go, 100 days of eating clean and training hard AF. Will take some before pics.
-
BW: 89.3kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training today. Going to give squatting 6 sets of 4x150kg another crack. Haven't been sleeping well and life isn't being kind r/n but i wanna get off to a good start.
BSKB 2x150, 1x170(PR)
Notes:
Life got in the way. Couldn't rep out 150kg so i went for a heavy single PR.
-
BW: 89.3kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training today. Going to give squatting 6 sets of 4x150kg another crack. Haven't been sleeping well and life isn't being kind r/n but i wanna get off to a good start.
BSKB 2x150, 1x170(PR)
Notes:
Life got in the way. Couldn't rep out 150kg so i went for a heavy single PR.
Nice! 10kgs away from double bw. I know you're on the rep train right now but does that make you feel a lot closer to your goal?
-
BW: 89.3kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training today. Going to give squatting 6 sets of 4x150kg another crack. Haven't been sleeping well and life isn't being kind r/n but i wanna get off to a good start.
BSKB 2x150, 1x170(PR)
Notes:
Life got in the way. Couldn't rep out 150kg so i went for a heavy single PR.
NIICE!!! :highfive:
-
NIICE!!! :highfive:
thanks! gewtting there!
Nice! 10kgs away from double bw. I know you're on the rep train right now but does that make you feel a lot closer to your goal?
180kg/2xbw is the goal for the summer but i dont want to give myself long to do it because im probably around 2/10 as a basketball player right now. Spending the winter solely n the weight room has not done wonders for my basketball ability but i am stronger at squatting. It seems getting old is hitting me hard on the court at 34, im even slower than i used to be which was never that fast haha. so yeah 10kg or 6% more weight seems hard r/n because i know how hard it to put 10kg on the bar. But im trying to convince myself yesterday was a day when i was too weak to rep out 150kg - and i could nevertheless put up 170kg. Maybe on a stronger day i will be say 5% stronger -- and -- i intend to get my volume worksets around 5x5x155kg which shud be sufficient to get the 2xbw/180kg milestone??
-
BW: ?
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/3
Mobility: F
Skill work: T
Shot around with a friend. Somehow forgot it was a rest day and did some dunks. Which meant i overcompensated afterwards and ate badly to try 'make up' recovery. This pattern is destructive.
-
BW: 89.4kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
Seems im starting over diet wise every day or every other day. Even when im in the 'zone' during the day i can wreck it by bedtime. Something to keep an eye on. If my body feels up for it i will attack volume today again but otherwise maybe rest and try tmr? Idk.
-
BW: 90.1kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: no
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
BSKnee Sleeves & Belt 2x150, 3x155(PR), 5x2x155(PR)
Back Xtn 20xBW
Notes
Haven't been to the gym since saturday. Life. Took andrews advice and unleashed the animal in me, felt more and more normal as the workout went on. I think im ok with one or two persons training around me in isolation. But when there is a group especially youths, i feel they'll judge me more? Is that weird? Anyway. Started a new cycle with 155kg. Im gna try get some 25 reps with it in 5-6 sets by adding a rep each week. 150kg for volume was not happening, it just got away from me mentally and physically somehow.
-
BW: 92.4kg (dafuck?!!)
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: no
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Shot some hoops with friend. was cool, chill. Im starting to put together a non broken jumpshot in the twilight of my career as a basketball player. good job.
-
BW: 90.1kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: no
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
BSKnee Sleeves & Belt 2x150, 3x155(PR), 5x2x155(PR)
Back Xtn 20xBW
Notes
Haven't been to the gym since saturday. Life. Took andrews advice and unleashed the animal in me, felt more and more normal as the workout went on.
nice!!
I think im ok with one or two persons training around me in isolation. But when there is a group especially youths, i feel they'll judge me more? Is that weird? Anyway.
if there's any group of people you should care less about judging, it's youths. lmao. it can be annoying when they are acting like little giggly twats, but really, it's probably better if they are too afraid to judge you.. :D
Started a new cycle with 155kg. Im gna try get some 25 reps with it in 5-6 sets by adding a rep each week. 150kg for volume was not happening, it just got away from me mentally and physically somehow.
dope @ 155kg. :ibsquatting: :ibsquatting: :ibsquatting:
-
BW: 90.2kg (phew!)
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Training today & bball training tonight.
BSKB 8x140(PR)
OHP 5x60
Chinup 6xBW
BBall ~ 2 hours
-
I think im ok with one or two persons training around me in isolation. But when there is a group especially youths, i feel they'll judge me more? Is that weird? Anyway.
if there's any group of people you should care less about judging, it's youths. lmao. it can be annoying when they are acting like little giggly twats, but really, it's probably better if they are too afraid to judge you.. :D
You're right. But why do i care so much lol. I just remembered we went to watch a movie and these teen giggly twats were not enjoying the movie (Downsizing) and they ruined the experience for us by talking shit and laughing and giggling constantly throughout the film. :pissed:
-
BW: 92kg (what a coincidence tho)
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility: T
Skill work:
Legit rest today, need it.
-
BW: 90.5kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: no
Mobility: T
Skill work:
Decided im not going to eat out in the new year. Mainly because it went from being a legit treat to something ive been doing so often that i dont even enjoy it anymore. I think if i go back to my hermit lifestyle i will find it to become a pleasure again once or twice a month or so.
Basketball is killing my gains. We trained this morning for about 3 hours .. im sore af and i have to hit the gym tonight. Now turns out we're gna be doing conditioning at 5 AM on wednesdays - the only day i cud prioritise squats.. so im so close to getting that 180kg squat and now basketball is encroaching on my training and im not sure i can figure it out..
-
BW: 90.8kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: no
Mobility: T
Skill work:
New year, new me. Lol lol. But came up wiht a list of things to done within 90 days:
1. eat clean / dont eat out (once every coupla months is ok)
2. write code everyday
3. squat 2xbw / 180kg @ 90kg
4. get fit af (never been fit in my entire life)
5. get abs back
6. ball out at comp in 90 days time
7. be present (get off social media etc)
8. 2 (red) plate BSS squat
9. get the arranged married ive been avoiding my entire life
10. 40" vertical
lets go.
rest day today tho.
-
BW: 90.8kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: no
Mobility: T
Skill work:
New year, new me. Lol lol. But came up wiht a list of things to done within 90 days:
1. eat clean / dont eat out (once every coupla months is ok)
2. write code everyday
3. squat 2xbw / 180kg @ 90kg
4. get fit af (never been fit in my entire life)
5. get abs back
6. ball out at comp in 90 days time
7. be present (get off social media etc)
8. 2 (red) plate BSS squat
9. get the arranged married ive been avoiding my entire life
10. 40" vertical
lets go.
rest day today tho.
I like that list. Especially numbers 1, 4 & 7.
How is number 9 going to work out? Do you just hit the switch and say I'm in? Have you met the girl before?
-
BW: 90.8kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
Ideally i wud have liked to lift weds but wit the 5am conditioning session im not going to be fresh enough to do justice to using 155kg for reps. So... will try today. Not try, will do 6x3x155kg today. Then get some sleep, wake up early conditioning etc. Rest Thursday. Let's see how it goes. YOLO.
BS 2x160, 2x160, 1x160
BSS 2x8x20
BP 6x70
-
BW: 90kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: no
Mobility:
Skill work:
Well that 5am conditioning session was an unmitigated disaster. i prob slept like an hour or so before my alarm went off at 4:20am. Felt like throwing up etc.
The new thing i want to mention is the BSS made my R glute sore. So that's really cool. Watch this space. I got almost zero carryover from squatting to my game so far. Will be intersting to see if SL training brings some court-gains to the table..
-
I think im ok with one or two persons training around me in isolation. But when there is a group especially youths, i feel they'll judge me more? Is that weird? Anyway.
if there's any group of people you should care less about judging, it's youths. lmao. it can be annoying when they are acting like little giggly twats, but really, it's probably better if they are too afraid to judge you.. :D
You're right. But why do i care so much lol. I just remembered we went to watch a movie and these teen giggly twats were not enjoying the movie (Downsizing) and they ruined the experience for us by talking shit and laughing and giggling constantly throughout the film. :pissed:
i went to see the last jedi in islamabad right before leaving for the holidays and a kid in the row ahead of us literally took a call at one point. i smacked him on the shoulder and hissed at him to stop, which he did.
-
BW: 90.2kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
Resting today. Bball and lifting tmr, need to get my batteries recharged overnight. Expecting to get my new activity monitor soon so i can start logging activity again
-
I like that list. Especially numbers 1, 4 & 7.
Thanks! It hasnt happened yet .. im still eating out every day lol lol. But im working up to that state where i'll get fed up of myself and just go 100% for a long ass time. Being fit is definitely the best way i can improve my health and athleticism. If i was to put it in terms of vertical, im prob at a 12" vertical equivalent in fitness terms. To compete i need to be thinking of 28" so i can 'dunk'. Social media ive been doing well so far, input just have that training instagram which i use as a training log .. check it once or twice a day and im up to date. Easy.
How is number 9 going to work out? Do you just hit the switch and say I'm in? Have you met the girl before?
It's a slow process .. like setting the trajectory of a ship, you make a decision and it takes ages for anything significant to happen sometime down the line. Basically said yes to initiating the process, saw a photo she looks cute, sounds good on paper (educated etc). Now my people will do due diligence and see if everything checks out regarding her story. If that happens eventually we'll meet and take it from there. Could be months later. Im not sure it's better or worse than conventional dating, just different. So far im happy with it because conventional dating is so stressful and this has basically none of that so far. To give you an idea with what im comparing, ive been trying to 'meet' a girl off instagram for about a month and she keeps being flaky and indecisive and yet she seems 'interested' - but ive long lost interest because she's just not able to meet and we live in the same city. So at least the initial part compares favourably. Also if someone signs up for an arranged thing, they're probably serious and not just playing the field. Have ended up in a fair few of dating situations where they've just made you a 'backup' option while they continue to not commit to a relationship. That's prob killed my interest more than anythign else in conventional dating - smething seems promising - goes no where.
-
I think im ok with one or two persons training around me in isolation. But when there is a group especially youths, i feel they'll judge me more? Is that weird? Anyway.
if there's any group of people you should care less about judging, it's youths. lmao. it can be annoying when they are acting like little giggly twats, but really, it's probably better if they are too afraid to judge you.. :D
You're right. But why do i care so much lol. I just remembered we went to watch a movie and these teen giggly twats were not enjoying the movie (Downsizing) and they ruined the experience for us by talking shit and laughing and giggling constantly throughout the film. :pissed:
i went to see the last jedi in islamabad right before leaving for the holidays and a kid in the row ahead of us literally took a call at one point. i smacked him on the shoulder and hissed at him to stop, which he did.
good for you. i feel like kids take advantage of people being too polite and get away with being inconsiderate.
-
I just wanna point out a funny situation going on right now. Im basically too fat for my lifting belt. It's on the last hole and super tight so it's actually making lifting harder and form not as technically good. So i've got to shed a bit of girth to make it work better. Just something to point out. Lifting with the belt is not that helpful right now but if i dont use the belt i'll get injured because my movement pattern has already changed to a belted one rather than my old raw one.
-
BW: 90.9kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training and bball tonight. Going to be aggressive around hte rim and not try to pass unless im overplayed.
BS 6x142.5(PR)
OHP 3x60
Chinup 6xBW
Basketball training
-
BW: 90.5kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
Rest. Need it..
-
BW:
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility:
Skill work:
Bball training (3-4hrs)
BSKB 8x142.5(PR)
BP 8x70, 6x80
Notes:
As shown in instagram, my belt has a new hole punched in lol lol. And even though it was slightly on the loose side, it really allowed me to lift better than the previous hole which was FAR too tight and didnt allow a big breath into the stomach. Now the belt is slightly loose but i still managed a 8x142.5kg -> 177kg emax effort after bball training earlier in the day. Next week is the big 8x145 -> 180kg emax milestone. Im 12 weeks out, i think doing okay so far.
-
BW: 90kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest.
-
BW: 90.3kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
After 2 days of rest im ready to attack 160kg again, this time will do more than 5 total reps.
BS 2x150, 1x160
BSS 2x6x70kg (PR)
OHP 5x60, 4x60, 4x60
Chinup 6xBW
-
BW: 90.9kg
Activity: ? (no fitness tracker)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Rest, yesterday was a complete training and diet writeoff. i didnt even update the log.
BSS make my glutes and hams so sore. would not have expected that but even though it's less weight (than squats) and less ROM (than squats) - it seems to hit the post chain better? Ive set myself the goal of 2 plate (120kg) BSS but right now im not sure i can do that safely because it's hard to setup for BSS. It's a very akward exercise. And what really seems to be troubling right now is asymmetry where one leg is much easier to BSS than the other one one (that knee shakes and wobbles and i feel unstable).
-
BW: 90.1kg
Activity: 0
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Got the new activity monitor. Lifting + bball tonight.
-
BW: 90.3kg
Activity: 0
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
I prob did around 12k units of act yesterday, i say that b/c i didnt start tracking until around 4pm and i made around 10k nevertheless. Doesn't matter, had KFC after basketball. Im pretty much self sabotaging at this point. My mate actually pointed out my gut at training last night, not good. So that's a warning bell i needed to hear.
Got my first in-game dunk, was 4v4 pickup so not quite legit but team mate hit me with the pass and i was open and i dunked it. Felt like i was moving in slow mo lol lol.
-
BW:
Activity: 16k (lol)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Never going to get used to these morning sessions. I fell asleep around 2 and woke up at 5. heading down to bball training now and i got 145x8kg squats in the PM smh.
BBall training ~ 4 hours
BS 6x145(PR)
Notes:
In my head i think i had a 7th rep in me but it would have been ugly. I did not have 8 though. But 7 would have destroyed me .. so i put the bar back for another day. Did 16k units of act before i went to the gym so that's a lot of milleage for an old out of shape guy for an 8rm attempt which would have equalled 180kg e1rm. Next fucking time tho, it's falling for sure.
-
BW: 90.4kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Legit rest days Mon-Tue. I'll train weds next. New week, new me, no more fast food.
-
I wonder if i have a 40 inch vertical in me now if i peak? Close to a 180kg / 2xbw squat. FAT as FUCK. Haven't practiced jumping. Will be interesting to get in shape and see..
-
BW: 91.1kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Might train today actually. I ate a lot of bread yesterday. Diet aint happening but i grow more and more disgusted with myself so there is hope i'll turn it around soon
-
BW: 90.4kg
Activity: 0
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training tonight.
BS 2x150, 2x145
Notes:
felt weak, came home. sucks
-
BW:
Activity: 0
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Rest
-
BW: 90.5kg
Activity: 0
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Recovery lower & upper and bball today. Maybe a chance to get back on the wagon.
BS 3x120, 6x100
Notes:
Gym renovated, it sucks now. Need to find a new one next week.
-
BW: 90.5kg
Activity: 0
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Recovery lower & upper and bball today. Maybe a chance to get back on the wagon.
BS 3x120, 6x100
Notes:
Gym renovated, it sucks now. Need to find a new one next week.
What did they do? Add more machines?
-
BW: 90.5kg
Activity: 0
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Recovery lower & upper and bball today. Maybe a chance to get back on the wagon.
BS 3x120, 6x100
Notes:
Gym renovated, it sucks now. Need to find a new one next week.
What did they do? Add more machines?
moved everything around and sold the platform (the only one in the gym) i used to squat on. yea no idea, wtf. lol.
-
BW: 90.2kg
Activity: 0
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Rest
had a few beers .. shold have stayed at home and watched netflix but bro wanted to go to the golf course and we met up with some friends there. was a nice day but i feel like shit now
-
BW: 90.5kg
Activity: 0
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Recovery lower & upper and bball today. Maybe a chance to get back on the wagon.
BS 3x120, 6x100
Notes:
Gym renovated, it sucks now. Need to find a new one next week.
What did they do? Add more machines?
moved everything around and sold the platform (the only one in the gym) i used to squat on. yea no idea, wtf. lol.
That's so annoying. I'm lucky that when my gym does something it only adds to the gym and doesn't take away. We got a rope climbing machine the other day. Need to try that one out.
-
BW: 90.5kg
Activity: 0
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Recovery lower & upper and bball today. Maybe a chance to get back on the wagon.
BS 3x120, 6x100
Notes:
Gym renovated, it sucks now. Need to find a new one next week.
What did they do? Add more machines?
moved everything around and sold the platform (the only one in the gym) i used to squat on. yea no idea, wtf. lol.
That's so annoying. I'm lucky that when my gym does something it only adds to the gym and doesn't take away. We got a rope climbing machine the other day. Need to try that one out.
went to about a dozen gyms around my area, cant find one which allows me to squat on a platform without being inside a cage. sucks. i just got used to teh freedom of using bumpers on a platform and now i have to go back to shitty flooring (rubbery) and/or squatting inside racks which mess up my form. oh well, i'll stop bitching and relearn to squat (again). serves me right for getting used to a good thing.
-
BW: 90.5kg
Activity: 0
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Recovery lower & upper and bball today. Maybe a chance to get back on the wagon.
BS 3x120, 6x100
Notes:
Gym renovated, it sucks now. Need to find a new one next week.
What did they do? Add more machines?
moved everything around and sold the platform (the only one in the gym) i used to squat on. yea no idea, wtf. lol.
That's so annoying. I'm lucky that when my gym does something it only adds to the gym and doesn't take away. We got a rope climbing machine the other day. Need to try that one out.
went to about a dozen gyms around my area, cant find one which allows me to squat on a platform without being inside a cage. sucks. i just got used to teh freedom of using bumpers on a platform and now i have to go back to shitty flooring (rubbery) and/or squatting inside racks which mess up my form. oh well, i'll stop bitching and relearn to squat (again). serves me right for getting used to a good thing.
Hahaha. The minute you get comfortable they take it away.
-
Hahaha. The minute you get comfortable they take it away.
might be a good thing. maybe i can change focus now to something else.. idk. BBall team developments, PF dropped out. This dude is 6'8", 105kg athletic AF. But now it changes my plan to come off the bench as a 4. B/c it means there is a missing starting F. Im not as good inside (both sides of the court) as the other 2 so it looks like im going to play SF. Been working on my jumper. Sucks. Because i was in ok shape for a fat/strong PF. Im hideously out of shape for a wing. People who flake absolutely ruin the experience of playing basketball.
-
BW: ?
Activity: 17k (@ 1930)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: no
Mobility:
Skill work:
Bball training 4hrs
BS 3x120, 6x130KB
-
BW: 90.4kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest
-
Hahaha. The minute you get comfortable they take it away.
might be a good thing. maybe i can change focus now to something else.. idk. BBall team developments, PF dropped out. This dude is 6'8", 105kg athletic AF. But now it changes my plan to come off the bench as a 4. B/c it means there is a missing starting F. Im not as good inside (both sides of the court) as the other 2 so it looks like im going to play SF. Been working on my jumper. Sucks. Because i was in ok shape for a fat/strong PF. Im hideously out of shape for a wing. People who flake absolutely ruin the experience of playing basketball.
Might be the best way to get into shape. Give yourself no choice but to. Also, the quickest way to learn is on the court.
-
BW: 89.9kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Basketball training and lifting today
BBall training
BS 2x150(KB
OHP 5x60
Chinup 6xBW
-
BW: 90.6kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Goign to take 2 days rest inclkuding today
-
BW:
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: no
Mobility:
Skill work:
going to the gym, going to give 180kg another go without a fucking rack to walk the bar back into it, im just gna drop it.
BS 2x135, 3x145, 2x155, 1x145, 2x6x125
RDL 8x70, 8x100, 6x120 (PR; new exercise)
Dips 8xBW
-
Started doing RDLs and i found i had waaaaaaay more ROM than when i stopped doing this exercise some 3 months ago. Cant explain what build up my strength this way while i was not doing the exercise. If my grip was stronger i prob would be using a lot more weight straight away. Interesting..
-
I want to do EOD training but it doesn't always line up with basketball days (friday and sunday). But EOD def works better for me in the weight room. So idk. Think it's time for me to give up on getting a 180kg squat this summer. I can't hope to do it in-season, the basketball just kills my gains and im serving two masters and getting fat and out of shape as a result because i thought by eating more i can make it work but it doesn't seem to have helped and in the meantime i've got soft and weak and even more out of shape. Went for a walk with my bro 2 days ago and i was losing my breath climbing a hill. we're talking about a walk not even running. Even if i wanted to continue focusing on squatting i have no gym to train at right now, my old one membership expires on teh 19th of feb but it completely sucks now .. i have to squat on rubber with ppl walking behind me in a high traffic area or turn to the side and walk the bar 10m to squat on the platform and then turn right and WALK it back which is shit for PRs or doing sets of hard squats..
Rough plan for the next 9 weeks (64 days):
Eat 100% clean and recomp down to 87.5kg / 192.5lb to play a reasonably in-shape wing
Focus on basketball skill (3 pt shooting, wing defence etc)
Put squat on maintenance (175kg 1rm)
Start doing conditioning 3-4x a week (not including bball)
Regain lost strength and mass in the upper body and back (i neglected this to specialise on squats)
Peak for athleticism around week 9 (but not necessarily vertical; mainly fitness and quickness is more useful in basketball than 2 leg vertical which is 99.99% useless)
-
BW: 91.1kg
Activity: 9k
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest.
-
BW: 92kg
Activity: 14.3
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Bball training and lifting today.
Bball training
BS 3x120, 6x120, 6x110, 6x100
BP 6x70, 10x60
Dips 3x8xBW
Pushups 3x8xBW
-
BW: 91.5kg
Activity: 11
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest
-
BW: 91kg
Activity: 9
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 4/4
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
bball and lifting today
Jumpshooting practice
BS 6x120, 10x132.5KB(PR)
OHP 8x50, 6x60, 3x60, 2x60, 2x60, 2x60, 2x60
Chinup 2x6xBW
Notes:
Was supposed to be a light day but warmups with 120kg felt not hard and i thought maybe i could try a PR but i didnt think i could get 8x145kg. Thought i could reset and go for 10s and picked 132.5kg which i got without needing stims or psych up for any rep. This is good, im squatting on rubber (not platform) on a light day and getting a PR, 1rm calculator says 10x135kg ->180kg. So lets aim for that next week.
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missed the in-game dunk before. i think you should make a bigger deal about that! :highfive: :ibjumping:
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missed the in-game dunk before. i think you should make a bigger deal about that! :highfive: :ibjumping:
hopefully better things to come soon if i get in shape. lets see
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BW: 90.8kg
Activity: 13
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 5/5
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest
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BW: 90.6kg
Activity: 11.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 6/6
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
BS 6x120, 3x135KB, 3x157.5KB(PR), 4x145KB, 5x135
Notes:
I wanted a PR and i decided to go for 3x157.5kg. Got it, next time will go for hte big 160kg milestone for a triple. 1rm calculator suggests i need to triple 170kg to be a 180kg squatter? That seems out of my reach i think considering how hard the 170kg single was when i did it in december and i struggled to do doubles with 160kg in january.
I ate half a pizza with my brother for dinner. Ate clean the rest of the day and only had one meal so i think my calories are still fine. But once a week i will allow it, im going to try be a flexible athlete not a zealot.
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BW: 90.8kg
Activity: 11.8
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 7/7
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest. may shoot tho
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I have nothing to add here atm, but I like how following your journal reminds me of how many days until my Easter holiday :D.
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I have nothing to add here atm, but I like how following your journal reminds me of how many days until my Easter holiday :D.
that is fantastic :highfive:
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BW: 91kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 8/8
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
I think i will rest today and train hard (=PRs) tmr. Scale went up but i look leaner. My hope was to get <89kg on this cycle. Not sure how im gna do that when the scale goes up. lol. lol.
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BW:
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 8/9
Mobility: F
Skill work: T
Bball shooting practice / post work
BS 6x120, 6x100
BP 5x80, 5x80, 5x80
Dips 8xBW, 8xBW, 8xBW
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horry shiet, you are 6'3 and maxing out at 175 kg?
Not sure what my current max is b/c i havent tested a max in a while (december) and when i did it was after bball training earlier that day and i managed a 170kg single b/c i couldn't rep 150kg for volume that i was going to do that day. Im stronger now but not sure how much stronger. Hoping to find a new gym so i can start a new cycle and get 180kg by end of summer while getting my abs back..
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BW: 90.9
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
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BW: 91
Activity: 8
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Squat PR today would be nice but idk R hamstring kinda achy.
BS 6x120, 10x135KB(PR), 6x100
Notes:
My erectors were STILL not recovered but i decided to force a PR despite 120kg warmup being heavy on my back and it suggested my spine wasn't really up for squatting any PRs. I GM the last couple of reps (vid on insta) .. but all things considered, on a fresher day i would have nailed them. So lets just take it as a good effort on a bad day and build on it from here. Will improve next week.
(https://i.imgur.com/RT3SRns.png)
So this is good info, estimated 1rm is now 180kg. I want to get my 10 rep PR to 140kg, then i will be more confident about that 180kg max. And even more accurate will be PR 8x150kg which is what I want to attain asap and maintain into the comp.
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i think the further away your rep range gets from singles the less accurate it is as an indicator of 1rm. fast hit 315*10 and his highest single is 395.
dont see a lot of higher rep ranges in your log, you might be deficient there. those higher reps might be where a lot of the gains are at, so its good that youre changing it up
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i think the further away your rep range gets from singles the less accurate it is as an indicator of 1rm. fast hit 315*10 and his highest single is 395.
dont see a lot of higher rep ranges in your log, you might be deficient there. those higher reps might be where a lot of the gains are at, so its good that youre changing it up
yea truth. Ive done 8x142.5kg which is around 315lb. I was due to go for 8x145kg which is e1rm of 180kg but i only managed 6. I could have done 7 but i didnt wanna do ugly rep. I shud have done it though. After that i dropped down to 132.5kg last week to do 10 rep PRs. Today i did 10x135kg. In a couple of weeks, 10x140kg would be nice but i dont use it to estimate 1rm, just it shud bring me closer to 8x150kg which if i get it, i have to believe it will be a definite 180kg max. FWIW when i did 170kg i was /only/ doing sets of 4 with 150kg. So im not very good at low rep sets but i do seem to be in the ballpark
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BW: 92.2 (PR!)
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility: T
Skill work:
Rest
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BW: 92.4 (PR!)
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 4/4
Mobility: T
Skill work:
Gym & bball training. Not sure what kinda training to attempt. cud go heavy, or volume or recovery & upper.
BS 6x120, 1x150KB, 3x160KB(PR)
OHP 5x60, 5x60, 4Fx60, 3x60, 3x60, 3x60
Strict Dead hang Chinup 3x5xBW
Curls 3 sets
Depth Jump 6x10", 6x18"
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Looking at video of my depth jumps .. holy shit i have a mediocre vertical now. What happened to the guy who was jumping 36" in winter? I'm sad, did i get distracted that badly by life gettign in the way that i accomplished nothing? TO add to this i went from doing around 15 weighed dips and having okay upper body strength to nothing. Not good..
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BW: 91.6
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 5/5
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. My fat ass needs more cardio but muh squat :uhhhfacepalm:
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BW: 91.5
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 6/6
Mobility:
Skill work:
Rest or go volume? idk
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BW: 91
Activity: 10.8
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 7/7
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Volume lower, volume upper, put up some shots.
Recovery session in the afternoon (wont go into details just random stuff with medball and weighted vest)
BS 6x120, 6x132.5KB, 6x130KB, 6x127.5KB
BP 3x5x82.5
Dips 3x10xBW(93ish)
Depth jumps 2x6
Notes:
Erectors not fresh enuf to squat well. Good training day, mix of running, jumping, lifting and crying
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BW: 91
Activity: 10
Misc: legs pretty beat (nice)
Diet Compliance: 8/8
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest
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BW: 91
Activity: 10.8
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 7/7
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Volume lower, volume upper, put up some shots.
Recovery session in the afternoon (wont go into details just random stuff with medball and weighted vest)
BS 6x120, 6x132.5KB, 6x130KB, 6x127.5KB
BP 3x5x82.5
Dips 3x10xBW(93ish)
Depth jumps 2x6
Notes:
Erectors not fresh enuf to squat well. Good training day, mix of running, jumping, lifting and crying
???
Also, what does KB mean? Not kettlebell ofc.
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??
Sorry was just using poetic license ha. It was not even that bad, just good to have a jump/run/lift training day for a change!
Also, what does KB mean? Not kettlebell ofc.
K=knee sleeves
B = belt
ive pretty much done every set with sleelves since i started using them, it just makes that much of a diff on how knees feel after squatting that i was a fool not to use them earlier. To think i did 20 sets of 5 without them in winter when i cud have just started using knee sleeves sooner. Yikes!
Belt i havent done any heavy lifting than the 160kg single PR without wearing a belt. I think i can still lift without one but my movement pattern has changed to one that would be dangerous done heavy without belt. I can still do a crisp clean highbarish set of 6 with 120kg which is my heaviest warmup before i put on a belt though.
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BW: 91.3
Activity: 11.2
Misc: bad sleep (low carb ting)
Diet Compliance: 9/9
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Recovery BS 6x100
Shot some hoops
Run 1km in 7 mins 19 seconds (PR; new exercise lol)
Slam ball slams 3x10
Notes:
Note to self, when shooting a basketball .. a small dip to initiate the shot seems to set me up better for good mechanics than not. Don't forget this next time..
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45 day plan:
IM cutting to <90kg then i will stop cutting and recomp at <90kg while tryna get a 180kg BS and my fitness level from 20kg (empty bar) to like 100kg for reps. Don't listen to the guys on this forum who could take months off and come back and rep 100kg easy peasy tell you about what it takes to get in shape.. they are in better shape without training than you ever have been in your entire life
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45 day plan:
IM cutting to <90kg then i will stop cutting and recomp at <90kg while tryna get a 180kg BS and my fitness level from 20kg (empty bar) to like 100kg for reps. Don't listen to the guys on this forum who could take months off and come back and rep 100kg easy peasy tell you about what it takes to get in shape.. they are in better shape without training than you ever have been in your entire life
lol what's that in reference to? ;d
get it.
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BW: 91.2
Activity: 10.6
Misc: bad sleep (low carb ting)
Diet Compliance: 10/10
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. Made it to 10 days of clean eating. Have nothing measurable to show for it yet.. but skinfolds 'seem' smaller but yet without the accompanying weight loss it's not real. Low carb + water retention can mask fat loss tho.
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BW: 91
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 11/11
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training today. Want a squat PR..
BS 6x120
OHP 4x120
Notes:
Apparently doing all that fasted walking killed my quads (esp my rright leg) and i couldn't get thru warmups without struggling. Didnt think i could do fucking 10 reps with 140kg. Maybe next time
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BW: 90.3
Activity: 13
Misc: left side back feels off
Diet Compliance: 12/12
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest. Finally the scale moves and skinfolds go down as well. THink i had a a whoosh. More cutting til i go sub 90kg then stop. I want a PR tho. Lol.
Mate wanted to ball. So we balled for hours. I put up like 500 shots. Not really but it felt like it. Reps reps reps amirite? Fuck.
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BW: 91.3
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 13/13
Mobility: T
Skill work:
Rest. Got the first night of sleep after i ate carbs last night. omg what a game changer it is to do so. back feels fine. I feel refresh. Going to rest. Only thing which sucks is the scale went to the 91s :/ maybe just carb supercomp tho, im not worried, dont think im fatter..
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BW: 91.5
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 14/14
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Balled all morning. Played pickup. My back is fucked. It happened getting of the car. Good bye gains. Good bye athletiicsm. Looking forward starting from scratch for the 1000,00th time :headbang:
BS 6x120
BP 3x5x85
Notes:
Cut depth on squats but only did one set, will try again tuesday if my back feels better.
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BW: 90.7
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 15/15
Mobility:
Skill work:
Rest. back feels okay. Hoping to train tmr.
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Been taking 600mg of caffeine and 1200mg of green tea daily for like 10 days straight. I think it's time to taper off and build up some sensitivity again. Pretty sure any fat loss effects no longer exist now i've abused it. Will not go cold turkey, reduce it and skip it on rest days. Hopefully will allow me to sleep better which will get thru this fat loss stall ive got >90kg. Lets see.
In the long term i need to simplify things and get the most out of just a baseline of good diet + sound sleep hygiene and training before adding any supplements. Not sure it will allow me to get the most athleticism but since im not peaking any time soon i dont need to do much more than that.
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BW: 90.7
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 16/16
Mobility:
Skill work:
More rest.
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BW: 91.2
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 17/17
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training today. PRs would be nice
BS 6x120, 1x150
OHP 5x60, 5x60, 3x60, 3x60, 3x60
Chinup 2x5x100, 6xBW
Depth jumps 3x5
Hill sprints 2x8
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BW: 90.6
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 18/18
Mobility:
Skill work:
Rest. My HR was elavated for about 6 hours after i ran those sprints. Now im not sure if it was the sprints or if it was the depth jumps (done from the high box) or both and/or taking L-tyrosine with caffeine. But holy shit i was lying in bed and my heart was still pumping away. Even this morning the effect is slightly there.
ALso at the track yesterday, tehre were 4 young guys sprinting in a group, running 200s. One of them had massive legs and he was just blowing the others away. It made me wonder if i can maintain my leg size/strength just by doing more running and jumping? Right now squatting is on the backburner b/c i messed up my back so im looking to take a break from heavy squats for a bit
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if your back is holding you back from squats, be careful with sprinting. back-intensive movement.
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if your back is holding you back from squats, be careful with sprinting. back-intensive movement.
true. im screwed..
btw not sure what's going on with my heart. im starting to worry. cud be caffeine withdrawals but ive never experienced it this way before. i can deal with the headache, but heart symptoms are really unusual
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BW: 90.2
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
My waking HR was 109. It's been high since weds night. Im going to go see a doctor
-
BW: 90.2
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
My waking HR was 109. It's been high since weds night. Im going to go see a doctor
Good idea mate. Best to get it checked. What's your resting HR?
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BW: 90.2
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
My waking HR was 109. It's been high since weds night. Im going to go see a doctor
Good idea mate. Best to get it checked. What's your resting HR?
it's between 50 and 70 now. but long story short i had to go to hospital (gp send me there) b/c there was a problem with my heart shown on the ECG, showed a flutter pattern. GP called me an ambulance and i spent a night at the hospital. Magically my heart went into sinus in the morning and they discharged me that day. Im on beta blockers and blood thinners now so i cant play contact sport anymore. No basketball for 5 months. Cardiologist wants to do an ablation. Im not sure i want that but he knows better i guess. so idk. never had surgery before.. bit scary.
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BS 6x120, 6x130KB
BP 3x5x87.5
Chinup 2x5x101(+7.5kg), 5x99(+5kg)
RDL 6x120, 6x132.5H
Back Xtn 15xBW
Notes:
Decided to go train today, i was getting depressed from all the resting since weds. Went ok. Just easing myself back, not going too hard. RDL is kinda a shitty exercise for me, may jettison tbh. Did find my heart rate elavated during the squat sets which i guess is expected. Came home and measured and my BP was 73/117 with pulse of 70. So seems okay.
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BW: 90.2
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
My waking HR was 109. It's been high since weds night. Im going to go see a doctor
Good idea mate. Best to get it checked. What's your resting HR?
it's between 50 and 70 now. but long story short i had to go to hospital (gp send me there) b/c there was a problem with my heart shown on the ECG, showed a flutter pattern. GP called me an ambulance and i spent a night at the hospital. Magically my heart went into sinus in the morning and they discharged me that day. Im on beta blockers and blood thinners now so i cant play contact sport anymore. No basketball for 5 months. Cardiologist wants to do an ablation. Im not sure i want that but he knows better i guess. so idk. never had surgery before.. bit scary.
glad you went to the doctor, man. my uncle died suddenly of an undiagnosed heart condition at 31-32 years old, when i was a baby. scary shit. take care.
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BW: 90.2
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
My waking HR was 109. It's been high since weds night. Im going to go see a doctor
Good idea mate. Best to get it checked. What's your resting HR?
it's between 50 and 70 now. but long story short i had to go to hospital (gp send me there) b/c there was a problem with my heart shown on the ECG, showed a flutter pattern. GP called me an ambulance and i spent a night at the hospital. Magically my heart went into sinus in the morning and they discharged me that day. Im on beta blockers and blood thinners now so i cant play contact sport anymore. No basketball for 5 months. Cardiologist wants to do an ablation. Im not sure i want that but he knows better i guess. so idk. never had surgery before.. bit scary.
glad you went to the doctor, man. my uncle died suddenly of an undiagnosed heart condition at 31-32 years old, when i was a baby. scary shit. take care.
Yeah good on you for getting it checked. Training is tiny in comparison to your health.
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BW: 90.7
Activity: 6
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Light day today
BS 6x120, 6x100
Band resisted kb goblet squat 8x33kg
pushup 16xbw
CND - 15 mins on xtrainer
Planks 2x30s
Notes:
Going to focus on core b/c my planks are really bad for some reason, around 15s i am already struggling. Anything less than 60s is considered below average which is pretty illuminating. I dont think it's the best exercise or test but it's something i suck at so it's worth bringing up just to see if it helps. Will add weight as well to make it more challenging over time.
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BW: 90.2
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
My waking HR was 109. It's been high since weds night. Im going to go see a doctor
Good idea mate. Best to get it checked. What's your resting HR?
it's between 50 and 70 now. but long story short i had to go to hospital (gp send me there) b/c there was a problem with my heart shown on the ECG, showed a flutter pattern. GP called me an ambulance and i spent a night at the hospital. Magically my heart went into sinus in the morning and they discharged me that day. Im on beta blockers and blood thinners now so i cant play contact sport anymore. No basketball for 5 months. Cardiologist wants to do an ablation. Im not sure i want that but he knows better i guess. so idk. never had surgery before.. bit scary.
wtf. fuck man.
as for cardiac ablation etc -> 2nd & 3rd opinions for sure.
I've had some pretty scary heart palpitations as well, but 3 years ago, before I quit that job that had me pulling all nighters & just stressful af.. I'd try going to sleep and my heart would be racing, felt like I was going to have a heart attack. Happened quite frequently towards the end, thought I was going to die. Unlike you (i'm not as smart), I didn't go to the doc or anything, instead I just quit my job ehh. I mean it helped, haven't had those symptoms since I "recovered" from that environment (I imagine some damage was done though). But I have had some weird heart stuff throughout my life. One thing I get on occasion is that massive "jolt": like out of nowhere, usually when lying down/resting, a massive jolt. I went to a few docs when I was younger to figure it out, they said I was fine but they didn't really do much investigation other than a few scans/tests. I personally don't think that's very normal, but who knows. I haven't had one of those in a while, but last week I had one. Only way I can explain it is, probably a shock from one of those AED devices. ehh. Btw, i've also had crazy high waking HR's, even when being in great condition. In fact, if i'm going to have a racing HR now, it'd most likely be in the morning after getting TOO MUCH sleep. It feels as if my body is 'forcing me to wake up'. Doesn't happen often though.
Anyway, really **hoping** you don't have to get any operations or anything like that. Who knows, the stuff you're experiencing right now could be related to other factors, and once those are addressed, might not need an op .. that's why i'd get a few opinions first. I mean, i'd personally want to figure out if it's potentially the caffeine or some other supplementation you're taking, or work/life/stress etc before getting an op, but obviously you'd want the help of some docs to figure that out -> not just do it on your own.
peace man!
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Shit! Is it atrial fibrillation or just some random fluttering? Sounds like AF. My dad had that. It's gonna be fine as long as you stick to the guidelines. Whatever it is, my best wishes and hopes for a good outcome on this, as we say here 'may it be passing by'.
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BW: 91
Activity: 7.2
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 0/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
BS 6x120, 2x150, 3x147.5
OHP 2x5x60
Dunks 3x6 (see notes)
Dips 3x8xBW
Notes:
I had the thought to use a six ball to practice dunks and oh man it was so much fun. i can actually land dunks clean with the 6 compared to my old gripless, slightly oversided 7. i tried with the 7 first actually failed. there were some ppl and kids around when i got there and they said hey can you dunk? show us. and so i tried and missed teh first one. After they left i switched to the 6 and suddenly i was doing sets of 6 dunks ALL clean within 35 seconds or so. It's sick. Good way to build up efficiency i think. I got it wrong in the past by trying to make things as hard as possible (big clumsy oversized shoes, ball, weight vest etc) when sometimes you benefit more from making things easier. anyway.
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Thanks guys, i really have no idea WHY this happened to me. Doctors dont seem to be interested in why, just what which they are happy to know cos it's apparently an easy fix and they can move on to the next patient..
Saw my GP today, no reason other than i thought i could get another ECG but he wasn't really interested lol. I didnt press him, i was just hoping he'd suggest it himself but he wasnt going to and towards the end of the consultation he's like anything else i can do for you? And i said so you're not gna do an ECG? And he laughed and said na. We went thru my paperwork from the hospital and he made a note of what drugs they'd put me on etc.
The only thing i could get out of him was a referral for a chest xray. which i never planned on getting i just said so what if i have undiagnosed asthma and he said nah but you can get a chest xray? and im like ok. Not sure if i'll get one but he was surprised the hospital didnt do one already. He's a good bro but was a bit disappointing because i wanted to see what his ECG machine would read b/c i felt like i had been having ATF again. Did not fancy going to wait for hours on a friday night at ED again so i said ef it, yolo and went to gym. Good session but there is def something offa bout my heart and im not sure what is going on. I was actually getting a bit of chest pain but right now i dont know if it's real or just psychosomatic. Oh I had an echo done yesterday which might reveal if there is something structually wrong. Results shud come next week cos we have a public holiday monday.
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BW: 90.2
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility:
Skill work:
My waking HR was 109. It's been high since weds night. Im going to go see a doctor
Good idea mate. Best to get it checked. What's your resting HR?
it's between 50 and 70 now. but long story short i had to go to hospital (gp send me there) b/c there was a problem with my heart shown on the ECG, showed a flutter pattern. GP called me an ambulance and i spent a night at the hospital. Magically my heart went into sinus in the morning and they discharged me that day. Im on beta blockers and blood thinners now so i cant play contact sport anymore. No basketball for 5 months. Cardiologist wants to do an ablation. Im not sure i want that but he knows better i guess. so idk. never had surgery before.. bit scary.
That's not good! Hopefully they work out what's wrong with it and you can go back to playing basketball.
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BW: 91.5
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility: T
Skill work:
Training today.
BS 6x122.5, 6x132.5, 6x130, 6x127.5
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BW: 91.6
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training today.
BS 6x122.5
BP 3x5x90
Chinup 3x105, 5x100
Dips 5x105, 5x115, 5x105, 6x100, 6x100
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BW: 91.8
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Training today. Squatting heavy and dunking in the evening, shud be fun.
BS 3x152.5, 5x147.5(PR)
BBall / dunks
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BW: 91.7
Activity: 8.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training today. Going to give EOD training another shot, only b/c my off days are too sedentary and id like to become more active on average
BS 6x125 (new EOD min set)
OHP 5x61, 5x60, 5x60
Chinup 5x100, 5x100, 5x100, 5x93.5, 5x93.5
Cardio total 30 mins
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BW: 91.3
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. Had another episode of flutter yesterday and i think it's still active b/c i woke up with a HR in the 70s before taking beta blocker. Will start looking for ECG machines on ebay. Guess i need one since even an ablation is considered palliative.
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BW: 91.7
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
BS 6x127.5, 6x137.5B, 6x135B, 6x132.5B
Back Xtn 20xBW
Notes:
Those darn chinups did a number on my abs (100% foreseeable). Bit of a shit squat session as a result. Still, okay all things considering. My lower back not happy from squatting with subopt form with fatigued abs tho.
Heart notes:
I've been in AFL since sunday night btw, it's currently tuesday night, so im in AFL for 48hrs and counting. Feel disillusioned with medical field, im going to vent about that if i can be bothered tomorrow.
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Heart notes:
I've been in AFL since sunday night btw, it's currently tuesday night, so im in AFL for 48hrs and counting. Feel disillusioned with medical field, im going to vent about that if i can be bothered tomorrow.
Please do. I'm very confused about the heart situation - I've seen you upload basketball vids to IG, and I thought you weren't supposed to be doing that :huh:. Tbh, with the prospect of a cardial ablation on the horizon, I thought you'd be taking it easy, not training as normal?
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BW: 91.8
Activity: 12 (good)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 4/4
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Recovery BS 6x125
BP 5x92.5, 5x92.5, 4Fx92.5
Dip 3x5x115(+20kg; PR), 13-14xBW(93ish)
Notes:
As rough as my back felt yesterday, i was okay squatting my new EOD warmup of 6x125kg. Did not have 3 sets of 5 of BP anymore with 2.5kg jumps. Next time i'll switch to smaller jumps.
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BW: 91.7
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
BS 6x127.5, 6x137.5B, 6x135B, 6x132.5B
Back Xtn 20xBW
Notes:
Those darn chinups did a number on my abs (100% foreseeable). Bit of a shit squat session as a result. Still, okay all things considering. My lower back not happy from squatting with subopt form with fatigued abs tho.
Heart notes:
I've been in AFL since sunday night btw, it's currently tuesday night, so im in AFL for 48hrs and counting. Feel disillusioned with medical field, im going to vent about that if i can be bothered tomorrow.
any update? hope you are doing ok .. i mean I see your latest workout so I assume you're doing ok.
Heart notes:
I've been in AFL since sunday night btw, it's currently tuesday night, so im in AFL for 48hrs and counting. Feel disillusioned with medical field, im going to vent about that if i can be bothered tomorrow.
Please do. I'm very confused about the heart situation - I've seen you upload basketball vids to IG, and I thought you weren't supposed to be doing that :huh:. Tbh, with the prospect of a cardial ablation on the horizon, I thought you'd be taking it easy, not training as normal?
basically, x2.
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BW: 91.8
Activity: 13 (good)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 6/6
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
BS 6x132.5(PR?), 2x155B, 2x147.5B
RVJ jumps ~ 20
Notes:
Not sure why but i wasn't recovered enough to progress my topsets. Wanted 3-4 at 155 and 6 at 147.5kg, got no where close to that. Maybe that first set exhausted me too much? Not sure, prob didnt help tbh.
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sorry i never got around to venting and ive since run out of fucks to give. i finally got an appointment with the cardiologist for the 23rd of this month then i called to confirm and i was told it's been moved to 6th april. i also dont know what the waiting list situation is like for the ablation procedure. did the clock start when i had flutter and went to emergency and saw the cardiologist or does it start after i see the specialist next? I dont know.
I do have another vent in me. went for a walk with my brother and the dog yesterday night. It was late and walking by the park (not inside it mind you) a dog came out of no where. a blueheeler. would not leave us alone was interested mainly in my dog which was already beginning to be afraid of the much larger energetic dog. about 10 minutes later the owner finally came around and i yelled at him 'wheres your fucking leash'. When he got closer i realised he was an older man. I felt like such a dickhead and ive been disappointed in myself. The right course of action would have been to take the leash of my dog and tie up the loose dog and wait for the owner but i was starting to panic cos it was getting impatient and jumping up (i was holding my dog) and i wasnt able to think clearly.
if he was a younger man i would have been ok with my reaction but realising i had yelled an old man and didnt even apologise (it felt somehow inappropriate because the mistake was mostly his but my reaction was also inexcusable). When he caought up he was calm and started telling us about his dog being just a puppy (8 month old) but like you can't tell that from looking at him, i imagine it's close to maturity. Was a beautiful dog in hindsight. fair enough you're training it off leash but at night where you cant see it and it gets away from you? not cool. if we had walked away it woud have followed us and he would have lost it for good probably
i later realised if it had bit me (not sure if it would have but it was starting to get more aggresive) i prob die or some shit being on blood thinners and maybe bleed out. which is another thing im annoyed about right now .. i dont like being on these drugs..
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BW: 92.3
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 8/8
Mobility:
Skill work:
Upper & recovery lower. New gym.
BS 6x127.5
OHP 4x62.5, 3x65, 4x62.5, 3x62.5, 6x50
Chinup 5x100, 3x105, 5x100
bb rows & curls
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BW: 91.6
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training & bball today hopefully.
Dunks ~ 12 of them
BS 6x135(PR), 6x147.5B(PR), 5x145, 4x140
EVJ Jumps~ 20 max effort
Notes:
Had the briefest amount of time to dunk before the indoor soccer started but i wanted to get the movement pattern down for tomahawks. Would be nice to peak for easter even if it just means doing dunks during warmups and waving a towel on the bench during game time. One more proper squat session to go (prob sunday i think or if i take an extra day rest, monday? will prob go sunday tbh). I'll also do a light jump session on friday and then go for intensity on sunday (like high depth jumps and/or weighted dunks etc).
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Hey guys if you could read my peaking plan pls give any feedback you might have.
Weds: did volume squats (see previous workout) and jumps
Thurs: rest
Friday: recovery lower body squats & upper body training (bench and dips), shooting practice, light dunks
Sat: rest
Sun: PR squats (prob be 150kg for 5-6 reps and raw 137.5kg for 6), dunk session including weigh vest
Mon: rest
Tue: recovery lower, ohp & chins, shoot some hoops, light dunks
Weds (in sydney): rest
Thurs (in sydney): light workout (better to skip this than to do anything but light)
Friday-sunday: peak (40" vert??)
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That looks fine, but it would be good if you could clarify whether you're medically cleared to do this sort of training atm, because your last answer did not clear that up at all. I know I'm nagging, but AFL isn't something to mess around with (my dad had it recently).
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That looks fine, but it would be good if you could clarify whether you're medically cleared to do this sort of training atm, because your last answer did not clear that up at all. I know I'm nagging, but AFL isn't something to mess around with (my dad had it recently).
bro i have no idea to be honest but i eased myself back into it and i feel completely normal these days. My GP was wondering the same thing (about exercise) when i saw him after getting discharged from hospital. I told him what the discharging doctor (not the cardiologist, just the lady who happened to be there after shift changed an hour earlier) said when i asked if i could go back to the gym and she had said, "just dont go dropping any plates on yourself" and i actually did go to to the gym that very day but did a light workout 6x20kg and 6x70kg. Progressively did more each time and now i feel i can handle a regular workload. Her concern was, i imagine, to avoid chances of internal bleeding which is still the only risk im dreading b/c of taking blood thinnning medication. I asked the cardiologist in the like 30 secs of time i only saw him during his rounds "do i need to make any lifestyle changes?" and he said no, it's just annoying but not life threatening. so yolo?
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That looks fine, but it would be good if you could clarify whether you're medically cleared to do this sort of training atm, because your last answer did not clear that up at all. I know I'm nagging, but AFL isn't something to mess around with (my dad had it recently).
bro i have no idea to be honest but i eased myself back into it and i feel completely normal these days. My GP was wondering the same thing (about exercise) when i saw him after getting discharged from hospital. I told him what the discharging doctor (not the cardiologist, just the lady who happened to be there after shift changed an hour earlier) said when i asked if i could go back to the gym and she had said, "just dont go dropping any plates on yourself" and i actually did go to to the gym that very day but did a light workout 6x20kg and 6x70kg. Progressively did more each time and now i feel i can handle a regular workload. Her concern was, i imagine, to avoid chances of internal bleeding which is still the only risk im dreading b/c of taking blood thinnning medication. I asked the cardiologist in the like 30 secs of time i only saw him during his rounds "do i need to make any lifestyle changes?" and he said no, it's just annoying but not life threatening. so yolo?
Well that sounds OK I guess. Personally I'd just be waiting to get a check-off from the cardio when you see him properly. This is completely anecdotal/observational, but a specialist seeing dozens of patients in a shift can potentially be pretty cursory with their recommendations. But it's your call and you know your body. Good luck with the peak, I was seriously bummed out to think you'd miss out on the great training year you've had.
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That looks fine, but it would be good if you could clarify whether you're medically cleared to do this sort of training atm, because your last answer did not clear that up at all. I know I'm nagging, but AFL isn't something to mess around with (my dad had it recently).
bro i have no idea to be honest but i eased myself back into it and i feel completely normal these days. My GP was wondering the same thing (about exercise) when i saw him after getting discharged from hospital. I told him what the discharging doctor (not the cardiologist, just the lady who happened to be there after shift changed an hour earlier) said when i asked if i could go back to the gym and she had said, "just dont go dropping any plates on yourself" and i actually did go to to the gym that very day but did a light workout 6x20kg and 6x70kg. Progressively did more each time and now i feel i can handle a regular workload. Her concern was, i imagine, to avoid chances of internal bleeding which is still the only risk im dreading b/c of taking blood thinnning medication. I asked the cardiologist in the like 30 secs of time i only saw him during his rounds "do i need to make any lifestyle changes?" and he said no, it's just annoying but not life threatening. so yolo?
Well that sounds OK I guess. Personally I'd just be waiting to get a check-off from the cardio when you see him properly. This is completely anecdotal/observational, but a specialist seeing dozens of patients in a shift can potentially be pretty cursory with their recommendations. But it's your call and you know your body. Good luck with the peak, I was seriously bummed out to think you'd miss out on the great training year you've had.
Hope your father is doing well now. Was it his first episode? If you have any good questions for me to ask my cardiologist when i see him please let me know. Im reading a paper right now which suggests that doing an ablation for AFL can lead to AF. Still doing my research on it all!
Thanks about the good wishes. Im imagining getting my elbow at the rim lol lol. In reality im prob closer to 30" than 40" but a boy can dream.
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BW: 92kg
Activity: 15.8
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 4/4
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Training & bball today hopefully. Upper & recovery lower.
Bball
BS 6x130
BP 3x95, 3x93.5, 3x90
Dips 5x115(ish; +25kg), 14xBW
Notes:
Argh. not sure if i will be able to hit PRs on sunday, this was no recovery day lol.
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That looks fine, but it would be good if you could clarify whether you're medically cleared to do this sort of training atm, because your last answer did not clear that up at all. I know I'm nagging, but AFL isn't something to mess around with (my dad had it recently).
bro i have no idea to be honest but i eased myself back into it and i feel completely normal these days. My GP was wondering the same thing (about exercise) when i saw him after getting discharged from hospital. I told him what the discharging doctor (not the cardiologist, just the lady who happened to be there after shift changed an hour earlier) said when i asked if i could go back to the gym and she had said, "just dont go dropping any plates on yourself" and i actually did go to to the gym that very day but did a light workout 6x20kg and 6x70kg. Progressively did more each time and now i feel i can handle a regular workload. Her concern was, i imagine, to avoid chances of internal bleeding which is still the only risk im dreading b/c of taking blood thinnning medication. I asked the cardiologist in the like 30 secs of time i only saw him during his rounds "do i need to make any lifestyle changes?" and he said no, it's just annoying but not life threatening. so yolo?
Well that sounds OK I guess. Personally I'd just be waiting to get a check-off from the cardio when you see him properly. This is completely anecdotal/observational, but a specialist seeing dozens of patients in a shift can potentially be pretty cursory with their recommendations. But it's your call and you know your body. Good luck with the peak, I was seriously bummed out to think you'd miss out on the great training year you've had.
Hope your father is doing well now. Was it his first episode? If you have any good questions for me to ask my cardiologist when i see him please let me know. Im reading a paper right now which suggests that doing an ablation for AFL can lead to AF. Still doing my research on it all!
Thanks about the good wishes. Im imagining getting my elbow at the rim lol lol. In reality im prob closer to 30" than 40" but a boy can dream.
Yeah first and hopefully last. He had a cardioversion done - apparently the cardio called his own number on that one as AFL is a bit trickier to fix with that method compared to other methods like drugs or ablation. He was just working way too hard (50h weeks, DYI jobs on weekends, and 3-4h sleep, aka stubborn old man syndrome) so that plus a decreased load seems to have done the trick, fingers crossed. It's good to at least know what options might be presented to you and the pros/cons of each. Good luck with it, and definitely get a second opinion if what they recommend doesn't sound right.
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Good advice. I shall keep it in mind. Thank you.
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BW: 91.6kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Bball training (~2-3hrs)
BS 3x137.5, 2x150B, 0Fx180B(PR attempt)
Notes:
bball killed my legs, i had no plan for what to squat, wanted 6 with 137.5kg but it felt maxy and i racked it after 3. Thought to do a PR of 5 reps with 150kg, put it back after 2 cos i thought nah, will just try a heavy single. I could have gone for a sensible PR attempt of say 172.5kg or 175kg or even 177.5kg as a reach. Nah ef that, the cute girl i have a crush on was watching so i went for 180kg, knowing full well that 150kg for reps had just defeated me lol lol. Failed it but it made me wonder why i dont try heavy single PRs more frequently. I bailed it pretty cleanly and on a better day i can see it going up all the same.
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BW: 91.6kg
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Last training day at home. Bball & lifting later tonight.
BS 2x140, 2x150
Bball training
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BW: ?
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
BS 6x120, 6x100
OHP 6x50, 2x60
BP 6x50
Chinup 3xBW
Notes:
Exhausted, but time to start back
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BW: 91.3
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Rest. Damn i got fat lolz. Not sure whether to enjoy a couple more days off diet or start taking the whole long term health thing seriously.
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BW: 91.1
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training today.
BS 6x137.5(PR), 1x150B, 6x100
Notes:
Picking up where i left off in March, i want to get a repeatable min of 6x140kg every other day.
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BW: 90.7
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training today. Saw my cardiologist this morning..
BS 6x140(PR), 1x147.5, 1x152.5B, 6x110
BP 5x85
BBall (off hand layups practice and shooting)
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BW: 90.6
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
I dont know if i'll do EOD training longterm but right now it doesn't seem like a bad idea while im rebuilding back to previous levels. Train today. May ball but will see.
BS 1x150(EOD min. PR), 6x132.5
Bike - 15 mins
TM - 1km
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BW: 90.7
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training today. Saw my cardiologist this morning..
BS 6x140(PR), 1x147.5, 1x152.5B, 6x110
BP 5x85
BBall (off hand layups practice and shooting)
How'd you go? Anything further?
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BW: 91.1
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance:
Mobility:
Skill work:
Training today
BS 2x140, 1x152.5, 4x135, 6x107.5, 6x105, 6x102.5, 6x102.5, 6x100
Notes:
Legs weren't really up to squatting heavy but i still progressed my heavy single. My reasoning is that i need to make the repeatable EOD min of 150kg lighter/easier and the only way to do that is to squat a fair bit heavier than 150kg on a regular basis. Will go for 155kg on saturday and then progress it +2.5kg every 8 days.
Wanted to do a volumeish session and did so, albeit with ligth weight but i have a good feeling about it, the form is easy good, which i like. Will see if that works rather than beating myself up with heavier but not so perfect form.
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BW: 90.8
Activity:7
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work:
Rest. Why did it suddenly get so difficult to lose weight. Esp wit the stakes being as they are.
Rough plan for a cut
Say im 91kg and i need to weigh 87.5kg max and give it at most 6 weeks to achieve. The min rate i'm looking at is 0.5kg/week or a daily deficit of 530kcal. Estimate my TDEE at ~2500kcal, i need to limit daily intake to a maximum of 2000kcal.
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BW: 90.6
Activity: 8.1
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Upper body & recovery lower + cardio + bball today.
BS 6x120, 1x150, 6x132.5
OHP 4x60, 1x65, 2x62.5, 2x60, 2x60
Chinup 2x5xBW(93.5)
Bike 15 mins
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BW: 90.5
Activity: 9
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Will put up some shots tonight but it's a rest day.
shots was good.
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BW: 90.8
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 4/4
Mobility: T
Skill work:
Training today. Doc gave me the go-ahead to stop taking my meds. Said i could just stop but i'll taper off b/c i dont wanna get any rebound sides from discontuining the beta blocker. Hopefully i'll lose about a kilo of fat ive put on since on these two months.
BS 6x120, 1x155, 1x160B
Paused BS 6x100 (PR; new exercise)
Back Xtn 12x50(PR; new ex)
Notes:
Did chinups last workout and today my abs were not fresh enough to do pretty squats. did an ugly 160kg but all things considered i'll take it. This might be the most trivial observation for a frequent squatting program .. but ive got some sort of accumulated fatigue goign on which means 160kg which ive done for a triple a month or two back felt heavy AF almost supramax today for a single. Im okay with that. As i adapt (abs from chinups and body from regular heavy squatting) i'll get better at this whole thing.
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BW: 90.7
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 5/5
Mobility: T
Skill work:
Rest. Watched the end of the portland game, that block was pretty good.
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BW: 89.7
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 6/6
Mobility: T
Skill work:
Finally saw a <90kg scale reading for the first time in a while. Nothing to get excited about until i get consistent sub 90kg readings though. Im locked in on the goal of 87.5kg so it doesn't even matter really until i get to 87kg. Training today. Got my Alivecor device, i stuck it to the back of my gym phone so i can use it regularly to take readings whenever i feel like it. Kind of cool b/c you get a nice clean ECG anytime so i can monitor myself without needing to go to a doctor
BS 6x120, 1x150
BP 6x70, 5x87.5, 5x87.5, 5x85
Dips 5x100, 5x100, 5x100, 5x92.9, 5x92.9
Curls
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BW: 90.6
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 7/7
Mobility: T
Skill work:
Rest. Made it to 7 days eating clean. Has become routine. Good. Letter for surgery appointment arrived. Thought i'd closed that chapter now im revisitng the decision. I feel like there has ALWAYS been something off about me in that during games i cant perform well. I always put it down to 'bad conditioning' but it makes sense that there was something deeper to it that i hadn't accounted for. But being out of shape right now im not sure if the surgery will fix the right problem or another one. That's frustrating. The treasure at the other side of this gamble would be suddenly being able to play at a higher level and become the athlete i never was. But the 60% chance of developing Afib is scary if i do proceed with the surgery.
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BW: 89.9
Activity: 8
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 8/8
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training today.
Fasted Bike - 15 mins (HR 100ish)
BS 6x120, 1x150, 5x135, 5x132.5, 5x130, 5x127.5, 5x125
Paused BS 6x107.5
Bike - 15 mins (HR > 100)
Notes:
The bagel i was gna eat was only 52g carb so had 2, this means today became a carb up b/c i didnt wanna under-eat carb. I think it's ok, after squat volume it will help recover and progress. Rough estimate is 300g carb for the day.
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BW: 90.4
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 9/9
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. Post refeed only weighing 90.4kg is exciting. Wonder what i will stabilise to the next couple of days.
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BW: 90.3
Activity: 10
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 10/10
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Training today. Never had this much trouble losing weight before? I see some ppl on google report weight gain (like 12kg in 3 weeks) on rivaroxaban. Which is most probably just internet bullshit and you cant rely on any of it but I haven't seen that sort of change but i look and feel fat af so maybe there is something to it. If it's just water then it doesn't matter but im not sure. Anyway, im eating clean and doing everything right so wont change anything for now.
BS 6x120, 1x150
Bball - 10 mins
OHP 4x60, 2x62.5, 4x60, 4x60
Chin 6xBW(92.5), 5x100, 6xBW
Bike - 20 mins
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BW: 89.9
Activity: 7
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 11/11
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. Switching to EOD on half dose of bisoprolol, skipping today, will take it tmr and until i run out (about a week).
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BW: 89.9
Activity: 5.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 12/12
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Visibly leaner today even tho weight is stable. Training today.
Bike - 20 mins (Fasted)
BS 6x120, 1x150, 1x157.5, 2x150B
Paused BS 6x110(PR i think), 5x120(PR)
Max Effort RVJ jumps ~ 15 of them
Bike Intervals - 5min (30s on, 30s off)
Bike - 20 mins
Back Xtn - 12x70kg
Notes:
Legs were not interested in squatting heavy today as i discovered when the 150kg EOD min felt heavier than it should on a day you want to push a max single. But i managed 157.5kg all the same, was put off by a dude walking by at just the right time as i was gna do the rep. Thanks dude. Then thought i could get a rep PR with 150kg with a belt and just no, not today im afraid. I remembered Lance advice to do something else for a PR on days like this and thankfully paused squats fit the equation just right. If i want to continue progressing my single weekly i need to figure out a way to go to heavy days fresher though, maybe skip the fasted cardio earlier in the day?
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BW: 89.9
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 13/13
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. One of these days im going to wake up sub 89kg but ive been stuck at 89.9 as a floor for what seems a long time.
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BW: 90.3
Activity: 7.2
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training upper and recovery lower today.
BS 6x120(p0), 1x152.5
BP 5x90, 4Fx90, 5x88.5
Dips 5x103(+10kg), 5x105(+12kg), 5x107(+14), 5x109(+16), 8xBW(91.1)
Bike - 8.5km in 20 minutes
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BW: 89.9
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. Not sure if im getting fitter or it's just tapering off the BB but i dont find myself breathing so much doing things. Can't wait to finish up. Had a scare yesterday when i had to roll the bar down my body b/c the safety pins no longer suit me (ive gotten fatter :@) and it led to some bruising/soreness .. which i was worried about internal bleeding and anticoagulants. Yikes. But it was okay. Just waste of a night and subsequent day, went to hospital at 12:30am came home at 3am and didnt fall asleep til 5.
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BW: 89.9
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. Not sure if im getting fitter or it's just tapering off the BB but i dont find myself breathing so much doing things. Can't wait to finish up. Had a scare yesterday when i had to roll the bar down my body b/c the safety pins no longer suit me (ive gotten fatter :@) and it led to some bruising/soreness .. which i was worried about internal bleeding and anticoagulants. Yikes. But it was okay. Just waste of a night and subsequent day, went to hospital at 12:30am came home at 3am and didnt fall asleep til 5.
Man that sucks. Glad you're ok though.
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BW: 89.9
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. Not sure if im getting fitter or it's just tapering off the BB but i dont find myself breathing so much doing things. Can't wait to finish up. Had a scare yesterday when i had to roll the bar down my body b/c the safety pins no longer suit me (ive gotten fatter :@) and it led to some bruising/soreness .. which i was worried about internal bleeding and anticoagulants. Yikes. But it was okay. Just waste of a night and subsequent day, went to hospital at 12:30am came home at 3am and didnt fall asleep til 5.
Man that sucks. Glad you're ok though.
Thanks but it was nothing lol. Surprised it took me this long to have an 'incident', but almost 9 weeks in, it tells me i dont wanna be on meds, it doesnt suit my lifestyle .. esp at 34. Cant wait to stop taking them, only have 4 doses left of the bb that im taking on training days, then i will stop the anticoagulant maybe a week after that. So looking forward to being drug free..
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BW: 89.9
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Reset the diet compliance counter, i had chocolate+popcorn yesterday while watching Isle of Dogs(btw if you love dogs you must watch this film i loved it!) and just wanna get back to 100% clean. Training today .. volume squats. Think im solidly under 90kg but this is prob the leanest ive felt lately tho obviously the last workout failed bench with pins set at my normal indicate otherwise.
Fasted Bike 7km in 20mins
BS 6x120(p0), 1x152.5, 1x145
Bike 8km in 21mins
Notes:
I weighed myself after gym and i was sub 90kg and at the gym i was around 91.3kg which means i MAY not be very far from the goal of 87.5kg as my weight ceiling if all of this is not transient. I base this on the observation shoes+food+drink+clothes add about 2.5kg to my morning bw.
Today was a tough day in the gym. Could not rep 145kg, i wanted to do doubles b/c i didnt think i could do a proper 5x5 day. The cardio might be part of it but im addicted now so i wont stop lol. I didnt push the issue, will try again saturday is all.
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BW: 90.1
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. May put up some shots today
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BW: 90
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training. Did some calculations and im considering an RSR squat cycle with 145kg raw. That's 80% of 180kg. But since i train EOD im not sure i'll be using it every other day tho. or will i? Hmm.
BS 6x120(p1), 1x152.5, 2x145, 5x1x145
Bike 10km in 19:33 (PR)
Bike 10 min cooldown
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BW: 89.8
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest.
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BW: 90
Activity: 8.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training today
BS 6x120(p0), 1x152.5
OHP 4x60, 6x2x62.5
Chinup 3x101(+8kg), 4x101, 6xBW(92)
Bike - 8km in 20mins
Curls 5x5
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BW: 89.5
Activity: 6.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. Scale breakthrough .. only 2 kg to the goal of 87.5kg.
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I returned my Alivecor. I enjoyed using the device but for $200 AUD it was a ripoff. Ordered an oximeter and it came yesterday .. cost about $30 off ebay and im much happier with it. I always had an optical reader on my wrist band but those things are USELESS and i dont consider it any better than a random number generator given a localised seed.
(https://i.imgur.com/Zu4eu45.png)
Can use it at the gym etc without any issues that i had with the alivecor esp when active (between bouts). I checked my HR after the heavy squat and my HR was 145 immediately after the set. Used it while doing exercise bike and i saw i was in that 100-120 bpm range for the ride. Looking forward to friday when i'll use it for basketball training and wednesday when i do HIIT intervals on the bike. Eventually i wanna start sprinting regularly too but the last time i did them it didnt go well so im going to keep working on my heart and lungs til i feel im ready to get back to track work. Exciting stuff.
I made a thread about it elsewhere but basketball is pretty heavy on the heart, most of the game is played at 85% of max HR. Or between 160-180 bpm for most male players. Im probably on the higher side (and more so) cos my Adrenalin jacks up like crazy during games. To be an athletic basketball player i needed to do a ton more conditioning preparation than most ppl b/c im slower and unathletic compared to the majority of players. Lifting gives me a strength surplus but the missing part of my training was i badly needed a fitness surplus to give me a competitive edge given my limitations as an athlete.
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BW: 89.4
Activity: 10
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training today.
BS 6x120(p0), 2x140, 1x152.5, 1x160
RVJ Jumps ~ 15
Bike 10km in 20 mins
Bike 10min warmdown
Back Xtn 12x75, 3x5x90
Notes:
When the 140kg double felt maximal what chance did i have for squatting 160kg? I managed but it was messy AF. This equals my raw PR from december but back then i did it on a platform whereas this time it was rubber. Form was cleaner then, unacceptable this time. Used knee sleeves, didnt back then. Not happy about my shithouse squat. i just didnt have the abdominal strength to lock out the rep without getting folded over and goodmorning the rep. Not sure what i can do about that, my lack of ab strength is severely restricting squats and i'd say even overhead exercises like pressing.
Not jumping as high as i was last winter. Not even close. What i could SVJ back then im struggling to equal of a max effort RVJ! What happened? Getting old? Fat? Something else?
Pushed the envelope on the bike. My HR hit a cosy 175 in the sprint phase (first 5 mins) and i kept it above 165 for the entire 20 minutes. Feeling okay. Keep improving from here.
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BW: 90
Activity: 8.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 4/4
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. Is it time for EOD ab work?
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Mate, if I had to recommend one thing to you for your training right now it'd be the Pallof press and its many variants. I've become a big fan of anti-rotational core exercises. I've been doing a lot of it in lieu of just hammering the abs with crunch-style exercises and I've felt a lot stronger through the core when squatting, plus I don't get left-side back pain/sciatica as much either. YMMV but couldn't hurt to do it EOD.
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Mate, if I had to recommend one thing to you for your training right now it'd be the Pallof press and its many variants. I've become a big fan of anti-rotational core exercises. I've been doing a lot of it in lieu of just hammering the abs with crunch-style exercises and I've felt a lot stronger through the core when squatting, plus I don't get left-side back pain/sciatica as much either. YMMV but couldn't hurt to do it EOD.
sounds good, i'll try them out today. In the past when ive tried weighted/cable crunches, ive respond really well, abs get bigger etc but i dont know if that did anything for strength b/c i dont think i benefited from it apart from aesthetically. Will add more variety this time.
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BW: 90
Activity: 13.7
Misc: spinal erectors sore af
Diet Compliance: 5/5
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Training today, recovery lower, bench press and bball
BS 6x120(p0), 1x152.5
BP 3x90, 6x1x95
Bball (full court pickup game for about 40 mins)
Dips 5x5 (BW(91)+14, 20, 16, 10, 6)
Abz - rotational stuff (good!; new ex)
BIke - 8km/20mins
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BW: 89.8
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 6/6
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. Today marks the first day i will be drug free. FInished up with the meds last night. Feels good man.
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BW: 89.9
Activity: 9
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 7/7
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training today
BS 6x120(p0), 1x137.5, 1x152.5, 6x100, 6x100
Bike - 10km in 30 mins (35% resistance)
Notes:
I hit a sticking point during the EOD minmax! Was a bit scary, but i had it. Just didnt have juice in my legs to make as smooth as usual. That didnt bode well for my plans for a decent squat session but i decided i'll just wait til the next workout.
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BW: 89.5
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 8/8
Mobility: T
Skill work:
Rest. Dawned on me that the weight i gained since Feb wont magically disappear now that the conditions which favoured its accumulation no longer exist. One way process :/. Need to figure out a way to diet off 2kg so i can take a break from cutting, keep in mind im already eating right and exercising so it may need to be some exogenous change.
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BW: 90
Activity: 10.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Supplement: 3x(200mg caffeine + 400mg EGCg; 4 hours apart)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training today. Going to give myself 28 days to get to 87.5kg. Will abuse caffeine/green tea/fasted walking/cardio etc to get it done. Lets go..
BS 1x120(p0), 2x135, 1x152.5, 2x145
Bike - some intervals (not really see notes)
incline treadmill walk - 20 mins (12-16 degrees, 3.5km/hr-4km/hr)
OHP 4x60, 2Fx62.5, 2x63.5, 2x63.5, 1x62.5
Chinup 3x102(+10kg), 2x104(+12kg), 1x106(+14kg), 3x100(+8kg), 5xBW(91.something)
Bike 8km in 22mins (37%)
Notes:
For bike intervals I need to take my gymboss next time. using the bike clock doesnt work for intervals i found because it stops when i stop pedalling so i cant 'technically' rest and keep counting ). Bit annoying that. Also this is a new thing for me to obsess about because the concept of poewr on the bike gives me a measurable way to increase my power over time.
Nutrition
Im cutting carbs a bit to 200g today. i found if i drop to 200g, i cant sleep properly but i think that's just something i need to deal with b/c above 150g i should be sleeping well, just need to adapt. Macros for the day are 200g c/40g f/160g p or something around there, not exact. I was actually hungry today, which is something i need to get used to because if im not hungry then im prob not a deficit lol lol.
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BW: 89.4
Activity: 8.9
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Supplement: 3x(100-200-100mg caffeine + 400mg EGCg; 3-4 hours apart)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest
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BW: 89.0
Activity: 12.2
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Supplement: 3x(200mg caffeine + 400mg EGCg; 4 hours apart)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training today.
BS 6x120(p0), 2x137.5, 1x152.5, 6x100
RVJ Jumps ~ 20
Bike 9km in under 20 mins (@40%)
Anti rotational abs
Notes:
Today i felt real good warming up .. everything went up strong with nice form. And then the fucking 152.5kg felt like i'd suddenly been transported to Jupiter with a huge g. Not sure what that was about. Maybe cos the double with 137.5kg took out some? That's bullshit though but in these dark days of cutting who knows. Fuck.
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BW: 89.1
Activity: 13
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 4/4
Supplement: 3x(200mg caffeine + 400mg EGCg; 4 hours apart)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest. Looks like 89kg is my new me? okay.
Did ball some, played 1v1 with a dude at the basketball court.
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BW: 88.2
Activity: 7.5
Misc: noticing some weird tendony thing on my left hamstring (.. maybe take it easy on the bike frequency?)
Diet Compliance: 5/5
Supplement: (400mg EGCG, 200mg caffeine - AM, 200mg caffeine PM)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Is that a whoosh? I got 3 different readings from the scale when i saw the 88.2kg, then 88.4 and 88.5kg. I'll still with the first one cos i usually only go by the first. But what a shock! Training today.
BS 6x120(p0), 1x152.5
BP 2x90, 1x97.5, 5x1x96
Dips 5x112(+20kg), 5x120(+28kg;PR!), 5x125(+33kg;PR!), 5x112, 8x100(+8kg), 8xBW(91ish)
Bike 10km in 30 mins
Notes:
Squats are starting to get hard .. now im afraid of failing my EOD minmax but it went up today. Dips for reps seem to be able to drive my bench press singles. Didn't really anticipate that but lets see how far it takes me?
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BW: 88.7
Activity: 8
Misc: felt hamstring tendonitis thingy this morning while in bed
Diet Compliance: 6/6
Supplement: (400mg EGCG, 100mg caffeine - AM, 100mg caffeine - PM)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest.
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BW: 89.2
Activity: 11.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 7/7
Supplement: (200/400 CEGCG 8:30am, 200mg C 3:15pm)
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Training day.
BS 6x120(p0), 1x152.5, 5x127.5, 5x125, 5x122.5
Bike intervals 6x15s on, 45s rest
Back Xtn - 3x5x95kg(PR?)
Recovery/Tempo Sprints 6x60m (reintro)
Bball hoops - see notes
Notes:
Some thoughts. Daily max squatting doesn't work. I have been doing EOD minmax squatting of 152.5kg for almost 8 weeks now and it's not getting easier at all. Im regressing not even maintaining..
So today was a perfectly sunny autumn day in paradise (West coast represent!) and i thought to do some tempo sprints after training to cool down. Remember the last time i did sprints i ended up in hospital (!!), so ive been a bit afraid to run. but tempos are alright. So happy to have some sort of athletic activity that i can incorporate at the end of training days as a warm down.
Finally i found out my local bball court at the park has a brand new rim with a net and now it's a joy to shoot on. Makes that sweet swishy sound! i'll take a vid on insta next time. It actually looks lower than it used to be for some reason, i'd guess it's about 9'9"? Haven't measured. But i think in the past when i was better at dunking it's because i did a ton of dunking on this rim and somehow that volume and movement efficiency made me a much better dunker even despite it being a low rim. I used to catch self lobs etc on this rim and crush them and i havent done that in years.
ANother thing can you guys help me pick the right sort of interval periods for training my conditioning for the purpose of becoming fitter FOR basketball? How many reps?
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BW: 89.5
Activity: 10.7
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 8/8
Supplement: (100/400 CEGCG - 9am, 12pm; 100/30 CpS -5pm)
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day
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Was showing off about my low HR on instagram yesterday. Today i realised i was bragging about something that was probably a symptom of hypothyroid. lol. lol. At the end of the 28 day cut, im going to get a thyroid test done.
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BW: 89.4
Weight Vest: 5kg
Activity: 12.2
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 9/9
Supplement: (200/400 CEGCG - 0800, 1200), 4g cayenne - 1400, 200mg C - 1730
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Morning Temp: 36.1
Training day.
BS 6x120(p0), 1x152.5, 8x100
OHP 4x60, 2Fx62.5, 1x65, 0Fx67.5, 0Fx66, 1x65
Chinup 3x105(+14), 2x107(+16), 1x111(+20), 6xBW(90)
Bike - 7.5km in 20 mins @ 37%
rotational band stuff
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Was showing off about my low HR on instagram yesterday. Today i realised i was bragging about something that was probably a symptom of hypothyroid. lol. lol. At the end of the 28 day cut, im going to get a thyroid test done.
Good to get it checked.
Do you think, with the current issues you have been experiencing that dropping 400mg of caffeine daily is going to help you out? I don't know how serious your heart condition was but this doesn't really make sense to me.
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Was showing off about my low HR on instagram yesterday. Today i realised i was bragging about something that was probably a symptom of hypothyroid. lol. lol. At the end of the 28 day cut, im going to get a thyroid test done.
Good to get it checked.
I had a test done in feb when i went to hospital for flutter. But since then i haven't had one but it showed i was subclinical hypo. I think if i get it done again i'll be defo clinical hypo b/c the previous test was done in the evening and i wasn't completely fasted etc. Interesting to read tho that green tea has been conjured to reduce thyroid activity by about 50%. Now im not sure if that was done on humans or just animals but it might be related because in feb i'd been taking EGCG 1200mg a day for about 10 days straight prior to the week of the episode.
Do you think, with the current issues you have been experiencing that dropping 400mg of caffeine daily is going to help you out? I don't know how serious your heart condition was but this doesn't really make sense to me.
No caffeine of that amount seems to be bad for my sleep which is definitely a major reason i had flutter in feb. I tolerate 200mg a day fine, 400mg and up (600mg if i take it 3x a day) seems to cause sleep issues which sets me up for having another episode. But being fat is worse, long term. I need to get lean and then figure out how to fix my thyroid issues and then hopefully i can address the heart stuff. It's all mess.
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Was showing off about my low HR on instagram yesterday. Today i realised i was bragging about something that was probably a symptom of hypothyroid. lol. lol. At the end of the 28 day cut, im going to get a thyroid test done.
Good to get it checked.
I had a test done in feb when i went to hospital for flutter. But since then i haven't had one but it showed i was subclinical hypo. I think if i get it done again i'll be defo clinical hypo b/c the previous test was done in the evening and i wasn't completely fasted etc. Interesting to read tho that green tea has been conjured to reduce thyroid activity by about 50%. Now im not sure if that was done on humans or just animals but it might be related because in feb i'd been taking EGCG 1200mg a day for about 10 days straight prior to the week of the episode.
Do you think, with the current issues you have been experiencing that dropping 400mg of caffeine daily is going to help you out? I don't know how serious your heart condition was but this doesn't really make sense to me.
No caffeine of that amount seems to be bad for my sleep which is definitely a major reason i had flutter in feb. I tolerate 200mg a day fine, 400mg and up (600mg if i take it 3x a day) seems to cause sleep issues which sets me up for having another episode. But being fat is worse, long term. I need to get lean and then figure out how to fix my thyroid issues and then hopefully i can address the heart stuff. It's all mess.
There's fat and then there's fat. I doubt you're proper fat that's going to give you health issues long term though. Lean/fit and health don't always go together too well.
I tolerate caffeine really well but still have issues when taking higher doses in one hit. Had a monster energy drink the other week. 220mg in one hit and I was seeing stars. Admittedly it was in the afternoon and I'd already had 3 coffees for the day.
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I can't tolerate caffeine too well anymore. Think I messed myself doing those fasted + black tea runs. I was even getting a little "dizzy" after drinking coffee at work. Pretty weird.
Caffeine has wrecked my sleep but also knocked me out. Getting amp'd up on caffeine, then training hard (even a short session), then coming home and just can't stay awake/passing out.
not sure if normal.
Anyway, fu*k caffeine. Cutting dependencies feels good. Our last dependency to cut is oxygen. :/
also ya, 9.x% is solid.
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There isn't really a benefit to taking it heavily for me. I'll turn into a zombie, wont be able to function normally if i take it heavily (600mg/day) every day for a while. The best thing i found for caffeine was limiting to 600mg/week, 200mg per training day. But whenever ive needed to cut weight i end up taking a lot more caffeine often. When it comes to health, i definitely believe caffeine is in some way protective. But too much, like any medicine can fuck you up more than it will help.
I think in Feb i might have overdosed on green tea b/c i was taking 1200mg of EGCG for about 10 days prior to the week of. Then i went cold turkey tuesday. Weds preworkout i had caffeine and L-tyro and induced flutter. My working theory though none of my doctor friends will buy it (lol) is that i set myself up for a perfect storm of coming off EGCG which had been suppressing my thyroid and then taking l-tyro preworkout which temporarily spiked my thyroid just enough to mess with the heart. And boom, arrythmia. But doctors say if that was the case then i wouldn't have tested sublclinical hypo on friday. So my theory kind of runs into aground there according to them.
The stimulant effects of caffeine away pretty quickly with frequent use, as you guys know well. My plan long term is to to back to 3 training sessions a week, and take 200mg caffeine on those days only. Then it works and it wont disrupt sleep. Win win.
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BW: 88.2
Weight Vest: n/a
Activity: 12
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 10/10
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG - 0900, 1300(with vit C), 1700 ; 4g cayenne - 1500, 2115
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Morning Temp/HR: 36.6/63
Rest day.
Notes:
I have noticed that my resting HR seems to go down to 50-55 bpm after i take caffeine. Wonder if that's cardioprotective? But ofc it's also unusual b/c it's supposed to be a stimulant etc. Idk. But interesting. Also there is no real reason to think a low resting HR is a good thing. IF anything from what ive read, it means there is more time between beats for some weirdness to happen (eg a rogue signal going out).
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lower HR is generally good, until it gets too low (<= low 30's). 40's-50's is probably optimal. just means you are more efficient. too low and it means you might have desensitized it.
as for caffeine making your HR lower, not sure. it almost always makes mine higher. I really try to avoid it as much as possible now. My best races/workouts have all come without caffeine. Though, my best dunk sessions came with caffeine. I think it helps me more for sprint/explosive efforts, definitely not aerobic. I've had it completely destroy my aerobic abilities several times. So I try to avoid it now, seems like a problem.
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lower HR is generally good, until it gets too low (<= low 30's). 40's-50's is probably optimal. just means you are more efficient. too low and it means you might have desensitized it.
That's not true bro. Not in general re health. Endurance athletes having low resting HRs but this does not make them healthier, for example when it comes to the heart, if anything it predisposes them to biochemically signalling problems like arrythmias than the general population. The risk goes up b/c the time between heart beats is longer, then errant signals that arise somewhere else (not from the natural pacemaker) can mess with the normal beating of the heart. But if your HR is more normal, then there is less of an opportunity for that to happen b/c the normal signal will come more often. That's how i understood it. Also low HR can be a sign of underactive thyroid (i think in my case this is part of it).
as for caffeine making your HR lower, not sure. it almost always makes mine higher. I really try to avoid it as much as possible now. My best races/workouts have all come without caffeine. Though, my best dunk sessions came with caffeine. I think it helps me more for sprint/explosive efforts, definitely not aerobic. I've had it completely destroy my aerobic abilities several times. So I try to avoid it now, seems like a problem.
If you rarely consume caffeine and then you have once in a while then i can expect it to increase HR. But if you have it regularly, maybe b/c it makes your heart work more efficiently too (thus lower resting HR?). Im not sure but ive noticed it decreases mine. I think your observations are explained by being more sensitive to caffeine that it reduces performance with too large a dose? smaller dose prob wud help performance while you're not sensitised to it
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lower HR is generally good, until it gets too low (<= low 30's). 40's-50's is probably optimal. just means you are more efficient. too low and it means you might have desensitized it.
That's not true bro. Not in general re health. Endurance athletes having low resting HRs but this does not make them healthier, for example when it comes to the heart, if anything it predisposes them to biochemically signalling problems like arrythmias than the general population. The risk goes up b/c the time between heart beats is longer, then errant signals that arise somewhere else (not from the natural pacemaker) can mess with the normal beating of the heart. But if your HR is more normal, then there is less of an opportunity for that to happen b/c the normal signal will come more often. That's how i understood it. Also low HR can be a sign of underactive thyroid (i think in my case this is part of it).
so, if you are a dedicated athlete, you'd want your resting HR to be the same as someone who trains maybe 1/10th or 1/100th as much as you? not going to happen. Training hard, often, and for considerable time is going to lower your resting HR. It's an adaptation that's unavoidable. It implies efficiency: if the heart needed to beat more, it would -> but it doesn't, thus efficiency (less fat tissue usually, greater capillary density, greater stroke volume). The only way to keep it from happening is to stop training as hard and/or as long. It happens to boxers, futbol players, tennis players, runners, sprinters, cyclists, etc. People who train "too hard" for "too long" may actually shorten their life span, but the averages for dedicated athletes that i've seen, is greater than sedentary folks.
regarding signaling problems & arrhythmias, there isn't some trend of this happening to athletes that i'm aware of. Some dedicated athletes may drop dead "early", or suffer heart problems and such later on in life, but I don't recall it being any more likely than people who don't exercise seriously.
Also, your idea of "low" might be skewed. 50 is "low" compared to the avg of ~60. And the avg of 60 is for a barely active lifestyle. So how would 50 be low in that context?
If you move around all day like humans were meant to, there's no way your avg resting HR is going to be 60+. If it's 60+ and you are highly active, then it is probably more related to weight, or even diet. 40's-50's is optimal. < 40 is where it starts getting to be a problem. <= 30's is where it gets dangerous. But that's if it's like that pretty much every day, at rest. That's when it could indicate that those whatever-they-are-called receptors have been desensitized. If they are desensitized too long, they can become permanently damaged.
as for caffeine making your HR lower, not sure. it almost always makes mine higher. I really try to avoid it as much as possible now. My best races/workouts have all come without caffeine. Though, my best dunk sessions came with caffeine. I think it helps me more for sprint/explosive efforts, definitely not aerobic. I've had it completely destroy my aerobic abilities several times. So I try to avoid it now, seems like a problem.
If you rarely consume caffeine and then you have once in a while then i can expect it to increase HR. But if you have it regularly, maybe b/c it makes your heart work more efficiently too (thus lower resting HR?). Im not sure but ive noticed it decreases mine. I think your observations are explained by being more sensitive to caffeine that it reduces performance with too large a dose? smaller dose prob wud help performance while you're not sensitised to it
i was sensitized to caffeine when it destroyed my stomach.
now, my GU packets with caffeine is 20-40mg, which is nothing. Even that can cause my RPE to shift negatively.
IMHO, if you're not getting caffeine from "natural sources", and instead in artificially high concentrations, probably not the best thing if you're worried about your heart. Have to be careful, especially with supplements that are full of junk.
pc!
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so, if you are a dedicated athlete, you'd want your resting HR to be the same as someone who trains maybe 1/10th or 1/100th as much as you? not going to happen. Training hard, often, and for considerable time is going to lower your resting HR. It's an adaptation that's unavoidable. It implies efficiency: if the heart needed to beat more, it would -> but it doesn't, thus efficiency (less fat tissue usually, greater capillary density, greater stroke volume). The only way to keep it from happening is to stop training as hard and/or as long. It happens to boxers, futbol players, tennis players, runners, sprinters, cyclists, etc. People who train "too hard" for "too long" may actually shorten their life span, but the averages for dedicated athletes that i've seen, is greater than sedentary folks.
Training affects athletes hearts different ways. Efficiency is good but to a point, it can be bad if you get too efficient lol. I think for endurance type athletes the adaptations that happen are not so good for health, eg enlarged left ventricle. Another thing observed in such athletes is scarring of the heart which in addition to low resting heart rate can cause signalling problems. What happens is the scarred tissue/cells emit errant signals that propagate thru to the rest of the heart between beats and this leads to arrhythmia. The left hypertrophy causes other problems but i cant remember what they were now, it just isn't a desirable adaptation.
Normal for NBA athletes is 60. I can't find the source now but i remember reading it when i was looking into basketball and the heart. Other sports will have different values but i was suprised at 60 for what i thought was a pretty heavy aerobic sport.
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so, if you are a dedicated athlete, you'd want your resting HR to be the same as someone who trains maybe 1/10th or 1/100th as much as you? not going to happen. Training hard, often, and for considerable time is going to lower your resting HR. It's an adaptation that's unavoidable. It implies efficiency: if the heart needed to beat more, it would -> but it doesn't, thus efficiency (less fat tissue usually, greater capillary density, greater stroke volume). The only way to keep it from happening is to stop training as hard and/or as long. It happens to boxers, futbol players, tennis players, runners, sprinters, cyclists, etc. People who train "too hard" for "too long" may actually shorten their life span, but the averages for dedicated athletes that i've seen, is greater than sedentary folks.
Training affects athletes hearts different ways. Efficiency is good but to a point, it can be bad if you get too efficient lol. I think for endurance type athletes the adaptations that happen are not so good for health, eg enlarged left ventricle. Another thing observed in such athletes is scarring of the heart which in addition to low resting heart rate can cause signalling problems. What happens is the scarred tissue/cells emit errant signals that propagate thru to the rest of the heart between beats and this leads to arrhythmia. The left hypertrophy causes other problems but i cant remember what they were now, it just isn't a desirable adaptation.
Normal for NBA athletes is 60. I can't find the source now but i remember reading it when i was looking into basketball and the heart. Other sports will have different values but i was suprised at 60 for what i thought was a pretty heavy aerobic sport. And anyone who carries more mass, no matter how fit, will have a higher RHR than if they were lighter.
Every "intense" sport which mixes aerobic/anaerobic will result in heart rate lowering. And most sports have a higher aerobic component than we realize, especially in training. NBA athletes might be 60 because they are far taller than average people.
LV hypertrophy happens in every sport, to the extent that it happens with marathoners, obviously not as much.
Right like I said, too efficient is basically <= low 30's, ie 35, 32, 28 etc. That's dangerously low because it could be more of a sign of desensitization than simply efficiency.
Scarring of the heart is different than a low resting HR. Scarring may happen when endurance athletes push hard, for too long. Especially if they take PED's and such. A big component to all of this is drug use, "jacked up" supplement use etc. If you want scarring, take substances that allow you to push much harder for much longer. If you don't want scarring, listen to your body (and you'll be at less risk). Applies the same for PED/supplement use in any sport. The things we have access to now allow us to train harder more frequently, that's a problem. And for endurance athletes, it could effect their most important muscle.
Bottom line. If you drop weight, RHR lowers. If you get more fit, RHR lowers. If you don't train, RHR rises. If you gain weight, eat bad, smoke, RHR rises.
The heart, unless it's desensitized by "overtraining", beats enough as it needs to, to distribute blood throughout the body. The resting HR any of us have, is the optimal one because if it were any less, we'd be passing out, and if it were any more, we'd be jumping out of our skin. Obviously people who have experienced heart conditions/issues fall into another category.
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BW: 88.4
Weight Vest: 5kg
Activity: 16.1
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 11/11
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG - 0730 (w/ vit C), 1130 (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 1g cayn), 400mg EGCG (w/ vit C, 5g FO, 4g cayn) - 1140, C - 1715
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Morning Temp/HR: 36.6/57
Training day.
BS 6x120(p0), 1x155
Paused BS 3x127(PR), 6x115(PR)
Dunks ~ 10 attempts
Notes:
Read a study saying green tea supplementation might work better with fish oil and vitamin c. Going to try it. Tried adding cayenne to my fasted stack but i think 1g is a bit much, maybe drop to 500mg and see if that feels better tmr.
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BW: 88.0
Weight Vest:
Activity: 12.2
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 12/12
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayenne) - 0800, 1200, 1600; 1.5g cayenne - 1400, 2000
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Morning Temp/HR: 37.1/56
Rest day.
Notes:
Didn't have any cayenne with dinner, i think it's messing with my heart, like angina or something. Will try use sensible doses today. Interesting to note how my body temp went up this morning after eating more carbs yesterday (on a training day they go up to 190g).
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BW: 87.7
Weight Vest: 5kg (93.3)
Activity: 15
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 13/13
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayenne) - 0800, 1200; 1.5g cayenne - 1400, 300mg Caffeine - 1645
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Morning Temp/HR: 37.2/56
Training day.
BS 6x125(p0), 1x152.5, 6x105
BP 2x90, 0Fx100
Dips 5x105(+15kg: 10kg kb, 5kg vest), 5x115(+25kg; 20kg kb), 3x128(+38kg: 28kb + 5kg plate), 14xBW(89), 8x105(+15kg)
Tempo sprints x 6 (with vest)
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BW: 87.6
Weight Vest: 0
Activity: 15
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 14/14
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayenne) - 07300, 1130, 1600; 1.5g cayenne - 1430, 2030
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Morning Temp/HR: 37.1/63
Rest day.
Thought to try my lifting belt out now that ive lost a bit of weight and it fits perfectly on the 2nd hole (actually it's the legit last one, but i had made another one when i got fat). It feels so much better right now, real strong and stable. If i wasn't cutting i bet i could get some great squatting in right now but i will have to wait for another week or two.
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It may not be worth tracking b/c i have only a week left on this cut but i just thoguht of a really good morning stat to track - how many steps on my band at waking. My reasoning is, if ive slept well thru the night, then i'll have zero steps b/c i didnt wake up to go to the bathroom etc during the night. IF i woke up, i prob didnt have uninterrupted sleep.
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: 0/37/60/88
Weight Vest: 5 (93.5)
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayenne) - 07300, 1130; 1.5g cayenne - 1330, 2000; 200mg Caffeine, 30mg p-syn (preworkout)- 1530
Activity: 15
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 15/15
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day.
BS 6x122.5(p0), 1x152.5, 5x130B, 5x115, 5x112.5, 5x110, 5x110
Back Xtn 3x5x97.5(PR)
Pallof presses
Notes:
Its a bit silly of me but all the fasted walking with the vest killing my legs and core for squats. Im struggling to get the EOD minmax up and it's getting messy af even from warmups with 120kg. I haven't failed a rep yet though. I looked up what a pallof press is again and saw that i was doing the wrong exercise all along (so called wood choppers). So did actual pallofs today for the first time and i was getting rotated with my orange band lol lol. Could do yellow okay though. Then the next set i tried orange and saw some improvement. But i need to set up my home gym up, so i can do this symmetrically b/c i feel i wasn't getting the best workout on my right side in my current setup at home. That part of this anti rotational stuff turns me off the exercise because i feel like im too retarded to do an equal amount of work on both sides without doing something subtly different on the other side than the first.
The other thing i should say is I did a carb refeed tonight. I estimate around 270-300g carbs total. Fair bit of sodium .. so shud be interesting to see what happens on the scale tmr!
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It may not be worth tracking b/c i have only a week left on this cut but i just thoguht of a really good morning stat to track - how many steps on my band at waking. My reasoning is, if ive slept well thru the night, then i'll have zero steps b/c i didnt wake up to go to the bathroom etc during the night. IF i woke up, i prob didnt have uninterrupted sleep.
lol.. that's good. nice.
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: 0/37/65/88.6
Weight Vest: 0 (89)
Skinfold(mm): pec(9), sup(13), ab(14), lb(24) - sum(60)
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayenne) - 0700, 1100, 1500; 1.5g cayenne - 1600, 2000;
Activity: 16.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 16/16
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
Going to take daily skinfolds for practice til i got the technique down and then take them the morning of volume squats when i usually eat more carbs.
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Training day.
Notes:
Ive started doing pushups regularly .. nothing crazy just set of 5-10 through the day. Im finding that it's a good diagnostic because it reveals i have a huge weakness somewhere. I looked it up and apparently average is 25 pushups and excellent is 45. I bet i couldn't even do 25 so i have work to do getting mine up to something respectable. My theory is that pushups are hard for me because of a lack of core strength and endurance. Need to train to correct the weaknesses and increase fitness so this will be a good test to keep an eye on.
I'm on the push ups bandwagon too. They expose flaws if you have them and can be loaded or made more difficult so easily.
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I'm on the push ups bandwagon too. They expose flaws if you have them and can be loaded or made more difficult so easily.
I like it. I need to find someone friendly to put a plate on my back at the gym on chest day. Any other way to make it harder?
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: 25/36.9/52/88.1
AM skinfold(mm): pec(11), sup(9), ab(13), lb(24) - sum(57)
Weight Vest: 5 (93.80)
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayenne) - 0700, 1100; 1.5g cayenne - 2000;
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 17/17
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day.
Notes:
Ive started doing pushups regularly .. nothing crazy just set of 5-10 through the day. Im finding that it's a good diagnostic because it reveals i have a huge weakness somewhere. I looked it up and apparently average is 25 pushups and excellent is 45. I bet i couldn't even do 25 so i have work to do getting mine up to something respectable. My theory is that pushups are hard for me because of a lack of core strength and endurance. Need to train to correct the weaknesses and increase fitness so this will be a good test to keep an eye on.
I think throughout randomly cranking out a few sets throughout the day is a good idea. I might do that with pullups. Also really surprising that your bench is pushing 2 plates and you can't do 25 pushups. You ever do higher rep ranges for bench? But then I suck with higher bench rep ranges and I'm pretty good at pushups, so who knows. Definitely agree that hitting your weaknesses is a good strategy for quick overall improvement
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I dont think it's from a lack of upper body strength, honestly. I can close grip 100kg and i do heavy dips (my recent PR is 127.5kg for a triple - which was +38kg from memory) BUT i suck at pushups. It's defo core strength/endurance. And i know that becuase i suck at doing planks too lol lol. I struggle to get over 20s .. i mean i can push it to a shaky 40s by really straining but 20s is when it starts getting hard, you know? I haven't actually tried an all out set of pushups because i have no reason to do something like that, im not trying to fatigue/injure myself doing a pointless test b/c there is always a hard upper body in the gym around the corner to be fresh for..
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A 20s plank????? Just judging from your other lifts that seems extreme to me, that's probably the weakness you should be hitting hard. Sometimes stuff just doesn't make sense, how do you make it through a bball game which has like constant active core involvement and have a shaky 40s plank. Damn
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A 20s plank????? Just judging from your other lifts that seems extreme to me, that's probably the weakness you should be hitting hard. Sometimes stuff just doesn't make sense, how do you make it through a bball game which has like constant active core involvement and have a shaky 40s plank. Damn
Thought i'd get the big lift goals first before focusing on other areas. Never got the big lift, never got around to focusing on the other areas...
I think focusing on just squatting has made certain aspects of my core strong, eg my erectors are probably way stronger than most ppls who have similar lifts. Next volume day im doing 5x5x100kg on horizontal back extensions. It's a weird imbalance. A heavy diet of squatmornings has build up my erectors but done little for my abdominals it seems
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I'm on the push ups bandwagon too. They expose flaws if you have them and can be loaded or made more difficult so easily.
I like it. I need to find someone friendly to put a plate on my back at the gym on chest day. Any other way to make it harder?
You can put the plate on your own back. Just get into a kneeling position and chuck it on there. Requires a bit of practice but isn't too hard.
Heaps of ways to make them harder though. Mainly through hand position (lower towards waist is harder) and then doing them on rings. Then you can start doing archer push ups (one arm out to the side) and even things like pseudo planche push ups. Skip to about 3 mins in this video for the progressions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvgp8R0fbWg
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: 25/36.9/52/88.1
AM skinfold(mm): pec(11), sup(9), ab(13), lb(24), sum(57)
Weight Vest: 5 (93.80)
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayenne) - 0700, 1100; 1.5g cayenne, 400mg egcg - 1400; 1.5g cayenne only - 2030; 300mg Caffeine - 1700
Activity: 15
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 17/17
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day.
BS 6x122.5(p0), 1x152.5, 5x117.5
OHP 4x60, 1x65, 1x67.5(PR i think), 0Fx70(red plate lifetime PR attempt, see insta)
Chinup 1x105(+15kg; 5kg vest, 10kg kb), 1x115(+20kg bell; dont count it, not strict), 2x100(+6kg), 5x95
Bike power test up to 16mins (good)
Notes:
Ive started doing pushups regularly .. nothing crazy just sets of 5-10 through the day. Im finding that it's a good diagnostic because it reveals i have a huge weakness somewhere. I looked it up and apparently average is 25 pushups and excellent is 45. I bet i couldn't even do 25 so i have work to do getting mine up to something respectable. My theory is that pushups are hard for me because of a lack of core strength and endurance. Need to train to correct the weaknesses and increase fitness so this will be a good test to keep an eye on.
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: 56/36.8/55/88
AM skinfold(mm): pec(11), sup(10), ab(15), lb(21), sum(57)
Weight Vest: 0 (88.5)
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayenne) - 0700, 1100, 1500; 1.5g cayenne 1600, 2000;
Activity: 20 (PR?)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 18/18
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest day.
Notes:
Shot some hoops while fasted around 24hrs and did a ton of steps. I estimate i burned about half a pound of adipose for that 24hr period..
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: 15/36.9/61/87.4
AM skinfold(mm): pec(9), sup(10), ab(16), lb(25), sum(60)
Weight Vest: 5 (93.2)
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayenne) - 0800, 1200; 2g cayenne, 400mg EGCG 1400; Caffeine 250mg, 30mg p-syn, taurine teaspoon, berocca tab - 1700
Activity: 20
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 19/19
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day.
BS 6x122.5(p0), 1x155
Paused BS 3x130(PR), 6x117.5(PR)
Farmers walk 6x69kg (5kg vest, 32kg kbs; PR new exercise)
RVJ Jumps ~ 20 (some with vest)
Notes:
All that talk in Coges log got me thinking about weighted vest training. Played with my 10kg one while doing fasted walking inthe AM and ended up going OTT and using plates to do farmers walks. I might have found my new obsession. It fits the bill - an endurance / strength exercise that involves the upper body .. hell the whole body really. Perfect.
Did one good jump with the vest. Not sure how high. But i may post it on insta.
Squatting was brutal. But that was the last heavy day while dieting. Only one workout left, monday's which is an eod minmax day and chest. Thinking i shud do a refeed but maybe i will do it wednesday. lets see.
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: 54/37.3/63/87.2
AM skinfold(mm): pec(12), sup(12), ab(19), sum(43), lb(16)
Weight Vest: 0 ()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0900, 1300, 1700; 1.5g cayn - 1500, 2000
Activity: 15.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 20/20
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
took skinfolds on the rhs of my body. so cant compare past measurements anymore. i cant think of any site where i feel confident that im taking a decent accurate measurement, it's too much error, but especially lower back - which unfortunately is where i hold the most fat. Maybe it will get more accurate as i lose weight though,i can see measurements being easier to take with smaller skinfolds than 25mm which is ridiculous.
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: 0/37.3/53/87.5
AM skinfold(mm): pec(14), sup(6), ab(16), sum(36), lb(14)
Weight Vest: 5kg (93)
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0615, 1000; 1.5g cayn - 1200, 2000, Caffeine 300mg - 1500
Activity: 20
Misc: ab fatigue
Diet Compliance: 21/21
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day.
BS 6x122.5(p0), 1x152.5
BP 6x70, 2x90, 1x98.5, 0Fx105(Lifetime PR attempt; couldnt lock it out)
Dips 5x42(PR; 89.5bw), 5x20, 6x16, 6x14, 8x10
Notes:
The conditioning work ive been doing lately (daily pushups / farmer walks etc) has paid off nicely for upper body. I pause benched that 98.5kg (which is a pause pr come to think of it) and i just couldn't lock out the 102.5kg but if i wasn't cutting maybe it goes up.
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: 0/37.4/59/87.4
AM skinfold(mm): pec(10), sup(10), ab(16), sum(36), lb(15)
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0745, 1145, 1545; 1.5g cayn - 1400, 2000
Activity: 15
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 22/22
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
Those skinfolds seem to be heading in hte right direction, 3 weeks of dieting behind me. Time to finish the job.
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: 0/37.1/63/86.5
AM skinfold(mm): pec(10), sup(8.0), ab(16), sum(34)
Weight Vest: 5(92.1)
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0900, 1300; 1.5g cayn - 1400, 2000; 300/30 CpSYN - 1730
Activity: 17.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 23/23
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day.
BS 6x123.5(p0), 1x153.5, 4x128.5, 5x125, 5x122.5
Back Xtn 6x100, 6x100, 8x100, 20x15
Notes:
Did i lose a kilo overnight? Nah. Usually the lightest day of the week because it's the morning of the carb refeed day which is the longest since the last one.
Ok it was a good idea on paper but it doesn't really work in practice. I had though i could add every kilo ive lost on the scales on to the bar. Not sure why, but the relationship isn't 1:1. Maybe i'll try 1:2. Sorry for the ugly squats ive subjected ppl to on insta!
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: 0/36.9/63/87.3
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(14), ab(15), sum(36)
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0645, 1045, 1445; 1.5g cayn - 2000
Activity: 12.5
Misc: maybe im coming down with a cold :(
Diet Compliance: 24/24
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
Post refeed morning weighing/skinfold feels like im getting there but not quite yet there.
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: _/37.6/65/_
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 1130, 1530, 1830;
Activity:
Misc: running a fever
Diet Compliance: 25/25
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Forced rest day. Got a cold. My streak of consecutive EOD squatting heavy ends today!
BS 6x20, 6x70, 8x20
OHP 6x20, 6x40
Notes:
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: _/37.2/68/85.5
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0830, 1230, 1630; 1.5g cayn - 1400, 2000
Activity:
Misc: running a fever
Diet Compliance: 26/26
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: _/37/63/85.5
AM skinfold(mm): pec(8.0), sup(10), ab(18), sum(36)
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0800, 1200, 1630(+100mg caffeine); 1.5g cayn - 1400, 2000
Activity: 5.2
Misc: fever seems to have subsided
Diet Compliance: 27/27
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day.
BS 6x120(p0), 1x142.5
OHP 6x50
Chinup 3xBW
Bike - power test @ 37% for 10 mins (from now on just assume power test unless otherwise stated)
Notes:
And yet another comeback begins..
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: 37/36.9/55/85.5
AM skinfold(mm): pec(8.0), sup(12), ab(16), sum(36)
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0600, 1000, 1400; 1.5g cayn - 1600, 2000
Activity: 7
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 28/28
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
Still cutting pretty hard, i havent eaten eggs in months. miss them. lol. On rest days, around 20hrs of fasting, i have some whey in water. 4 hrs later, I eat my 1 solid meal and that's it for the day.
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AM steps/temp/hr/bw: 0/37.8/64/84.9
AM skinfold(mm): pec(8.0), sup(8.0), ab(17), sum(33)
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0730, 1130; 1.5g cayn - 2000
Activity: 7
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 29/29
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day.
BS 6x120(p0), 1x152.5
Paused BS 2x132.5(PR), 4x120
Jumps
Bike PT - 12 mins
Notes:
Dropped below 85kg .. visibly leaner. Not quite there yet but signs are promising. With the ab skinfold, the fold was so big before that it was harder to measure accurately, as i get leaner, paradoxically im getting higher albeit more accurate measurements. If that makes any sense?
I messed up my left hip doing one of the jumps. Im so pissed off about that b/c i dotn even believe in doing these jumps and i might have hurt myself doing something pointless :pissed:
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AM temp/hr/bw: 36.9/_/85
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7.0), sup(15.0), ab(16), sum(38)
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0800, 1200, 1600; 1.5g cayn - 2000
Activity:
Misc: left hip, right hamstring
Diet Compliance: 30/30
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
Damn this cold wont go away will it. wake up in the middle of the night every day drenched in sweat etc. Broke my oximeter yesterday after gym i noticed the two pieces had separated. It couldn't handle the wear and tear from being in a gym bag i spose.
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AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/85.8
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0930, 133; 1.5g cayn - 2000
Activity: 7.6
Misc: right thigh
Diet Compliance: 31/31
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day.
BS 6x120, 1x147.5
BP 6x70(paused), 2x90(paused), 0Fx100
Dips 8xBW, Pushups 8xBW
Notes:
not sure if it's cause ive been wearing glasses but just seeing myself in the gym mirror psyches me out. i look so alien thin right now .. not sure what's going on. And i feel just as weak.
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AM temp/hr/bw: 37/_/_
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0900, 1300, 1500; 1.5g cayn - 2000
Activity:
Misc: right thigh
Diet Compliance: 32/32
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
Thankfully my left hip and right thigh seem fine. Those jumps were just hard on me because i was using the stupid crossfit shoes with no cushioning for the first time and also i was taking an akward runnup. Still got the cold but i think the fever part is over at least, now just the gross runny nose / sneezing / etc. It doesn't help the temperature last night was like 5 degrees and im not sure what it hit this morning but it's kinda cold, we dont build our houses here for cold (central heating etc is doesnt exist).
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Notes:
Thankfully my left hip and right thigh seem fine. Those jumps were just hard on me because i was using the stupid crossfit shoes with no cushioning for the first time and also i was taking an akward runnup.
Wow, so you soured on the Metcons? I'm surprised to hear that they lack cushioning. I think they are the perfect jumping shoe.
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Notes:
Thankfully my left hip and right thigh seem fine. Those jumps were just hard on me because i was using the stupid crossfit shoes with no cushioning for the first time and also i was taking an akward runnup.
Wow, so you soured on the Metcons? I'm surprised to hear that they lack cushioning. I think they are the perfect jumping shoe.
i feel like when i was using them previously i had become well conditioned for jumping. my mechanics were probably better on landing. That prob still happens if i jump in my normal spot trying to reach the high target but because i was jumping at another place with a really cramped runup i changed my mechanics enough to cause the awkward landings. But i do prefer to jump in normal bball shoes for training effect and only use the metcon for PRs. Also i didnt get as much out of them on the basketball court which i found interesting when i had peaked my jump earlier last year..
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AM temp/hr/bw: 37/_/_
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0900, 1300, 1500; 1.5g cayn - 2000
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 32/33
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Another rest day! Ate a tub of icecream lol. Wasn't worth it, gna start the clock over tmr :)
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AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/84.9
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0930, 1330, 1730; 1.5g cayn - 2000
Activity: 8.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day
BS 6x120(p0), 1x145, 5x125, 5x122.5, 5x120, 5x117.5
Back Xtn 3x6x102.5(PR), 20x25(20kg plate, 5kg vest)
Notes:
I got sick and my squat vanished. If i ever needed a reason to take drugs this is it. Basically worked my ass off for a whole 12 months, didnt miss a session, put in loads of work and all i have to show for it is nothing. Time to order some Clen & Tren cos eat clean train hard dont work. just kidding tho
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your squat didn't vanish, your confidence did. :ninja: don't let these little oscillations (from things like illness) fu*k you up mentally.
fwiw, drugs would just make all of this 1000x worse. imagine your squat vanishing on drugs? which it could.. especially if you've been sick etc. Sounds like a complete train wreck mentally.
also you don't look alien thin.. lol.
if you're feeling weak alot lately, might need to switch up the program slightly & also check diet, ie have some goto strength foods (for me that's steak or lots of chicken wings etc).
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your squat didn't vanish, your confidence did. :ninja: don't let these little oscillations (from things like illness) fu*k you up mentally.
fwiw, drugs would just make all of this 1000x worse. imagine your squat vanishing on drugs? which it could.. especially if you've been sick etc. Sounds like a complete train wreck mentally.
also you don't look alien thin.. lol.
if you're feeling weak alot lately, might need to switch up the program slightly & also check diet, ie have some goto strength foods (for me that's steak or lots of chicken wings etc).
i dont think it's just mental but ive def lost muscle and strength. to gain it i had to overfeed myself up to a plump 91-92.5kg (~95kg gym weight) which i wont be doing again b/c of health. drugs might be the only choice i have left if i still wanna achieve my goals.. but idk if i care that much right now. thanks tho
-
AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/85.6
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0800, 1200, 1600; 1.5g cayn - 1315, 2000; 15g BCAA -1315
Activity: 12.7
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
-
AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/84.9
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0930, 1330, 1730; 1.5g cayn - 2000
Activity: 8.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day
BS 6x120(p0), 1x145, 5x125, 5x122.5, 5x120, 5x117.5
Back Xtn 3x6x102.5(PR), 20x25(20kg plate, 5kg vest)
Notes:
I got sick and my squat vanished. If i ever needed a reason to take drugs this is it. Basically worked my ass off for a whole 12 months, didnt miss a session, put in loads of work and all i have to show for it is nothing. Time to order some Clen & Tren cos eat clean train hard dont work. just kidding tho
maybe the fact that youve trained so consistently is the problem. everybody recovers differently and life stresses and sickness factor into fatigue too, try taking like a week off. i know i felt pretty weak when my training frequency was really high. maybe your squat isnt gone but youre just not at your best
also isnt lyle's area of specialization body recomp? might be good to read up some of his stuff, maybe you missed something thats dragging you down
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My best explanation is that i have overachieved strength with the amount of muscle of mass i have (low). And when i gain small amounts of muscle mass i gain a lot of strength but in the same way when i lose a small amount of muscle mass i lose a lot of strength. We're talking 10-20kg in either direction. I see guys in the gym with tons of muscle mass but low strength who are underachieving (in strength), even if they lost some significant amounts of muscle they would not suffer much if any loss in strength since they had a reserve. I don't have that luxury b/c at any given point im usually maximising what i can attain. Drugs will help me level the gap. I'll be able to bring my muscle reserve up and with my work ethic / dedication, gain impressive amounts of strength. Would not make me a drug cheat tho. Another dude my height and bf% would have 5-10kg extra muscle than me even before, just from having a better hormonal profile. Still have to get in slightly better shape, i will get that thyroid blood panel done which ive been delaying and maybe a DEXA scan as well to see my bf% measured..
-
AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/85.4
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0915, 1315; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 15g BCAA -
Activity: 11.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day.
BS 6x120(p0), 1x147.5, 6x100
OHP 6x50, 2x60, 1x62.5, 0Fx65
Chinup 2xBW(87.5), 1x101.5(+14kg), 1x107.5(+20kg), 3x97.5(+10kg), 5xBW
DB OHP 10x20
Bike - 20 mins
Notes:
Squat still remains vanished. Im losing hope :/ I think ive identified the principal reason: quad mass wasting. I find i can bounce the squat up pretty well but then i hit the sticking point HARD and i have no drive left to finish the lift. Subsequently, i fold over at the waist allowing my hamstrings to loosen, unlock the knees, then i can complete the lift using my superior erector strength. This is obviously a technical failure b/c i should not be doing squats this way if my goal is (and always was) to train for leg strength. Now what? In the past i got my leg strength up using a belt and doing heavy squats. It's mentally defeating to put on a belt to do hard AF reps with what i was previously repping raw and yet im not able to do much better than that with my current levels of quad strength. No idea how to go about fixing this..
-
AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/85.3
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 0
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0800, 1200, 1600; 1.5g cayn- 1400, 2000; 30g BCAA;
Activity: 16.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 4/4
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
Didnt really go into deep sleep, not sure why(maybe late workout yesterday ..). BCAAs are a game changer. I wish i had tried them sooner because it was the one thing which would have made intermittent fasting actually work well for me. That Martin guy made it seem like it was optional but now im convinced IF done right must involve BCAAs, at least as far as cutting is concerned.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/84.9
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 5kg
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0745, 1145; 1.5g cayn- 1400; 40g BCAA;
Activity: 14.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 5/5
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day. Heavy day!
BS 6x120(p0), 0Fx153.5(1.8xbw PR attempt)
Paused BS 3x132.5(PR)
BS 3x132.5B, 3x130, 3x130B, 3x130B
ME Jumps ~ 10 or so
Bike - 20 mins
Notes:
Finally failed a squat! It was a good run. I think it was april that i last failed a rep. Woooho. But i think part of it was i chose not to complete a dirty rep. The positive to take from today's workout was i felt i was able to challenge my legs for the first time in ages. Hopefully this will get my squat going again. Belt helps for this as well. Great. Watch this space.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/85
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 5kg
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0800, 1200, 1600; 1.5g cayn- 1400; 40g BCAA;
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 5/6
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
Decision made that i'll end cutting end of June. If July 1st, i'm 12% or 18%, that's where i'll stop. Going to get dexa body comp scan and thyroid function test same time as well.
edit. Actually if the dexa is above 15% i keep dieting til i have lost enough weight to be 15% or less and then stop.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/85.8
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 5kg
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0910, 1315; 1.5g cayn- 1400; 40g BCAA;
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day.
BS 6x120(p0), 1x137.5(p)
BP 2x90, 1x95, 5x80, 5x77.5, 5x75
Dips 5x14, 5x20, 5x16, 5x14, 5x12
Notes:
-
AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/85.6
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest:
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0910, 1315; 1.5g cayn- 1400; 40g BCAA;
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
-
AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/85.9
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 5kg
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0900, 1700; 1.5g cayn- 2100; 300mg Caffeine, 30mg P-Syn - 1300; 40g BCAA;
Activity: 12.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day.
BS 6x120(p0), 1x140(p; PR), 5x127.5, 5x125, 5x122.5, 5x120
Back Xtn 3x6x105(PR)
Oly BS 5x115, 5x120, 5x117.5, 5x117.5
Back Xtn 20x20
Notes:
Ate 197g carbs, 215g pro. About 5g of of dietary fat but i did have an additional 11g of fish oil tho.
-
squat without pause is not a paused squat.
-
squat without pause is not a paused squat.
there's a pause .. it's just too short to see from video
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37.1/_/85.7
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 5kg
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0745, 1145, 1535; 1.5g cayn- 2100; 35g BCAA;
Activity: 12.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
140c, 160g pro, 26.2g fat (+11g from fishoil)
-
squat without pause is not a paused squat.
there's a pause .. it's just too short to see from video
lol
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37.0/_/85.2
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 5kg
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0800, 1200, 1600; 1.5g cayn- 2100; 40g BCAA;
Activity: 12.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day.
BS 6x120(p0), 1x130p, 1x145
OHP 3x60, 1x65
Chinup 3x14(101.5), 1x20(111.5), 5x10(97.5)
Seated DB OHP 10x20
-
squat without pause is not a paused squat.
there's a pause .. it's just too short to see from video
lol
Haha yeah I think the point of a pause squat is to pause for at least 1s which would be visible on video. Maybe adjust for a longer pause next time.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37.3/_/_
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 5kg
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0730, 1130, 1530 ; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 40g BCAA;
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 4/4
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day
-
squat without pause is not a paused squat.
there's a pause .. it's just too short to see from video
lol
Haha yeah I think the point of a pause squat is to pause for at least 1s which would be visible on video. Maybe adjust for a longer pause next time.
every squat is a pause-squat.. i think you're failing to realize the absolute genius of it. :ninja: :trollface:
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here are some paused squats:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awnDPAwGwiU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoxMyMXckFk
what you are doing in those IG vids is a good normal squat.
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i didnt watch those videos but i dont think an exaggerated pause is by any means necessary for doing a pause squat. The notable thing is that you slow down the eccentric intentionally and for a brief moment reach close to zero speed then continue the rep - nb, this is a continuation of the eccentric bc that kick you see at the bottom is a downwards motion before the reversal occurs. The key thing to keep in mind is that the pause itself happens before the eccentric completes
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i didnt watch those videos but i dont think an exaggerated pause is by any means necessary for doing a pause squat. The notable thing is that you slow down the eccentric intentionally and for a brief moment reach close to zero speed then continue the rep - nb, this is a continuation of the eccentric bc that kick you see at the bottom is a downwards motion before the reversal occurs. The key thing to keep in mind is that the pause itself happens before the eccentric completes
lol @ "close to zero speed." what you are describing is a normal controlled squat. in your videos you are clearly still using the stretch-shortening cycle and any slowing on the eccentric is just slowing, not a pause. and that's fine! they're good squats! but calling them paused squats is flat-out inaccurate. at the end of the day it doesn't matter, it's just irritating. fwiw i intentionally posted videos with a short pause rather than an exaggerated pause.
like, the other day donald trump jr posted a video of himself half-squatting 300 pounds and claiming it as a squat PR. 300 pounds is a solid amount of weight for a middle-aged man to have on his back. good for him! but what he does with it is not a squat even if he says it is, or he meant to do one.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37.1/_/84.5
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 5kg
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0830, 1630; 1.5g cayn- 2100; 40g BCAA; 300/30 CpSyn - 1230
Activity: 9.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 5/5
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day.
BS 6x120(p0), 1x142.5p(PR), 2x135p(PR), 3x135B, 3x132.5B, 3x130B
Jumps
Bike - 20min
Notes:
That's got to be the hardest squat workout ive done in ages. Each rep was a struggle and they all sucked for technique. I also think my heart is acting up but im still waiting for my new oximeter. Edit, ok figured out how to get the HR sensor on my phone working. It read 78bpm. Phew. Maybe it's low blood pressure altho i measured 80/120 postworkout and that seemed normal enough. idk.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37.0/_/84.4
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 5kg
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0830, 1230, 1630; 1.5g cayn- 2100; 40g BCAA;
Activity: 14.7
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 6/6
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
Last night i was reading about taurine depletion in the liver when using some drug and i thought hey those symptoms sound like what ive been experiencing (without using the drug obviously) and i took some taurine and i felt better. I wonder if that's all it's been..
160p/160c/30f
-
Thought this was interesting:
The effect of acute and chronic exercise on steroid hormone fluctuations in young and middle-aged men.
The current study demonstrates that this training intervention may help increase steroids hormones in middle-aged men and counteract the negative effect of age on TT and free testosterone.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29378227
Sprint interval running increases insulin sensitivity in young healthy subjects.
In conclusion, sprint interval running improves insulin sensitivity and cholesterol profile in healthy subjects, and sprint interval running may be more effective to improve insulin sensitivity than continuous running at moderate intensity.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22540332
Remember todday mentioning this in my log ages ago. Would be interesting to get before and after T testing with sprint training. Defo wanna see what i can achieve while natural before i get too old.
-
^^^
Beautiful music in my ears, thanks for sharing!!!
-
AM temp/hr/bw: /_/83.5
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(9), ab(15), sum(31)
Weight Vest: 5kg
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0730, 1130, 1530; 1.5g cayn- 2100; 40g BCAA;
Activity: 14.68
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 7/7
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day. Dont feel like training today, not enough sleep.
Notes:
Ok so it seems ive had a whoosh, overnight lost a lotta weight. Skinfolds down too (not that ive been tracking with calipers but i feel them regularly by pinching with fingers). This gives me a lot of confidence that im now sub 20% bf. My goal is to get DXA'd at 15% or less. I think i can make it. The cut ends day 21. Dexa on day 22. Another 2 weeks lesgo! Im pumped.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: /_/83.9
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 5kg
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0730, 1130, 1530; 1.5g cayn- 2100; 40g BCAA;
Activity: 12.1
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 8/8
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Volume day. And because i skipped the EOD workout yesterday (recovery lower, volume upper) , i will combine both upper and lower volume today. Going to carb up and grow some muscle.
BS 6x120(p0), 1x135p, 1x142.5, 1x130, 3x127.5, 5x125, 5x122.5,
Oly BS 5x120, 5x117.5
Back Xtn 3x6x107.5(PR)
BP 1x90p, 5x75, 5x77.5, 5x80, 5x77.5
Notes:
Couldn't work out why the vol squats were so damn hard today compared to last week's but i looked up my log and saw last week i had that huge weekend of gluttony. Whereas this time i ate even less than on a normal dieting weekend. So. I'll take it. I also wanna make a note that today was the first time when i lifted up my shirt at the gym bathroom and saw someone who wasn't obviously obese looking back. Im still fat but i dont look like im over 20% bf..
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37/_/83.5
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 5kg
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 500mg cayn) - 0815, 1215, 1615; 1.5g cayn- 2100; 40g BCAA;
Activity: 8.187
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 9/9
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day
Notes:
Well that was unexpected to weigh 83.5kg after eating 300g carbs yesterday. Look leaner too which is unusual for a post-refeed morning. Anyway dont care, just wanna finish the cut. Destination not journey.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37.1/_/83.2
AM skinfold(mm): pec(8.0), sup(9), ab(14), sum(31)
Weight Vest: 5(89.3)
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0730, 1130, 1530; 1.5g cayn- 2100; 40g BCAA;
Activity: 15.47
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 10/10
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Recovery training day
BS 6x120(p0), 1x135p, 1x142.5
Bball shootup
Notes:
Day 10 milestone down, well on track to get in shape by day 22. I think i can be DEXA by end of diet at 15%. ive seen some impressive changed in body comp over the last couple of days. Altho the skinfolds suggest ive been losing fat from sites other than chest/trunk .. so i look kinda comical. Real skinny limbs from elbow/knees down. Fat af in the middle.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37.1/_/83.2
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 5(89.3)
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0800, 1200, 1600; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 40g BCAA;
Activity: 13.7
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 11/11
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day
Notes:
Booked a dexa bodyfat scan (15th July). End of diet is the previous Sunday(8th). Kinda excited.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37/_/83.0
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 5()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0800, 1200, 1600; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 40g BCAA;
Activity: 12.2
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 12/12
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day
BS 6x120(p0), 1x145p(PR), 1x137.5p, 2x135B, 6x100
OHP 2x60, 0Fx65, 1x63.5, 2x60
Chinup 1x32(116.8kg), 4x16(100.80)
ME RVJ Jumps ~ 10
Bike - 20 mins
Notes:
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37/60/82.4
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 5(88.1)
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0830, 1230, 1630; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 40g BCAA;
Activity: 13
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 13/13
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day
Notes:
Look at that scale reading!! So unexpected.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37/64/82.6
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6(89)
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0800, 1200, 1600; 20 cl - 1005; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 50g BCAA;
Activity: 15
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 14/14
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day
Notes:
Really struggled to get thru the day, quite severely glycogen depleted. Felt hypoglycemic the entire day. Forced myself to keep moving to get 15k units of activity. Ded. GOod thing carb refeed tmr..
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37/64/81.8
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6(89)
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0800; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 40g BCAA;
Activity: 12
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 15/15
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training day. Volume squats. Volume bench.
BS 6x120(p0), 1x140p, 5x130, 3x127.5, 4x125
Oly BS 5x120, 5x117.5, 5x115
BP 5x70, 5x82.5, 5x80, 5x77.5
Back Xtn 3x6x110(PR)
Notes:
Took 300/30 C-Psyn preworkout I and 200/1.5g C-L-tyro preworkout II. Haven't touched L-tyro since Feb but i didnt wanna take any more caffeine and thought i'd give it a shot. Bit of a risk but seems to be okay.
Kind of did a refeed. Maybe hit 200g if im generous with carb values. Maybe as low as 185g if i didn't. Can't be bothered because i reached my 8pm feeding window so whatever. If i didn't hit the spot, i'll just have to wait for another week..
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 36.8/62/82.3
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0800; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 40g BCAA;
Activity: 15.25
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 16/16
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
So ive been talking to a girl for about a week. She is gorgeous, smart, funny and seems into me as well. She wants to talk on the phone (we've spoken once for about an hour but that's not enough for her) but my mind is mush from the daily 24 hour fasts and long cut ive been on. Told her to wait til sunday but she's getting impatient and thinks i'm strange. Was thinking of extending the cut a bit longer til the DEXA scan. Not sure. My mind isn't that clear..
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 36.8/62/_
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0800; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 40g BCAA;
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 16/16
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
So ive been talking to a girl for about a week. She is gorgeous, smart, funny and seems into me as well. She wants to talk on the phone (we've spoken once for about an hour but that's not enough for her) but my mind is mush from the daily 24 hour fasts and long cut ive been on. Told her to wait til sunday but she's getting impatient and thinks i'm strange. Was thinking of extending the cut a bit longer til the DEXA scan. Not sure. My mind isn't that clear..
Dude talk to the girl. Eat carbs if you need to. Get some pre-workout into you if required. There are more important things in life than cutting fat and a "gorgeous, smart, funny and seems into me as well" girl is one of those things.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 36.7/_/81.2
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0845, 1245, 1630; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 45g BCAA;
Activity: 13.3
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 17/17
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Recovery training day.
Bball training
BS 6x120(p0), 1x137.5p
Bike - 20 mins
Notes:
Looks like my metabolism is starting to tank. Half a degree drop is about 5% reduction in metabolism, so im looking at about 10% drop in the last couple of days. Will defo end this diet as scheduled if this doesn't recover but my sleep lately has been awful so maybe it's because of that. Anyway.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 36.8/62/_
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0800; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 40g BCAA;
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 16/16
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
So ive been talking to a girl for about a week. She is gorgeous, smart, funny and seems into me as well. She wants to talk on the phone (we've spoken once for about an hour but that's not enough for her) but my mind is mush from the daily 24 hour fasts and long cut ive been on. Told her to wait til sunday but she's getting impatient and thinks i'm strange. Was thinking of extending the cut a bit longer til the DEXA scan. Not sure. My mind isn't that clear..
Dude talk to the girl. Eat carbs if you need to. Get some pre-workout into you if required. There are more important things in life than cutting fat and a "gorgeous, smart, funny and seems into me as well" girl is one of those things.
x2. carb up.
and next post, metabolism is starting to tank. ;/
pc
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37.3/64/82
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0830, 1230, 1630; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 45g BCAA;
Activity: 15.8
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 18/18
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
I think i temporarily forgot how to use my thermometer or something but back to a decent waking temp again. Phew.
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AM temp/hr/bw: 37.3/_/80.8
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0830, 1230, 1630; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 45g BCAA;
Activity: 16
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 19/19
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Training (heavy) day. Dropped sub 81kg for the first time. Looks like im gonna finish this cut around 80kg which would be nice and round a number.
BS 6x120(p0), 0Fx147.5p(PR attempt), 1x137.5p
OHP 2x60, 1x63.5, 2x62.5, 2x60
Chinup 2x20(103.5), 1x32(115; PR?), 5x10
Dunks / Bball practice
Notes:
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Dude talk to the girl. Eat carbs if you need to. Get some pre-workout into you if required. There are more important things in life than cutting fat and a "gorgeous, smart, funny and seems into me as well" girl is one of those things.
I think she's losing interest. I feel ... im not sure about it all. I think i need someone less maintenance right now but i dont know, my mind is not all here right now so i cant figure out if ive made a mistake or if it's salvageable. She seems to get upset if i dont text her often (i wont call her at all which she's not thrilled about) but i have nothing to say (mind is blank) and she's taking it to mean im not that into her (but i am). Will try to talk to her on sunday if she's still up for it
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Dude talk to the girl. Eat carbs if you need to. Get some pre-workout into you if required. There are more important things in life than cutting fat and a "gorgeous, smart, funny and seems into me as well" girl is one of those things.
I think she's losing interest. I feel ... im not sure about it all. I think i need someone less maintenance right now but i dont know, my mind is not all here right now so i cant figure out if ive made a mistake or if it's salvageable. She seems to get upset if i dont text her often (i wont call her at all which she's not thrilled about) but i have nothing to say (mind is blank) and she's taking it to mean im not that into her (but i am). Will try to talk to her on sunday if she's still up for it
I'm no relationship expert and can't even comment on dating given I've been married for so long but seriously mate you think she's high maintenance because she wants you to actually talk to her and gets upset if you don't text her often. I honestly think you should read your post back to yourself out loud just to hear how that sounds and then ask yourself why she thinks you're not into her.
Today is Friday. If you like her maybe you give her a call today and actually talk to her. Like, for reals. You might be amazed at what happens.
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Coges, the adarq.org relationship expert.. :D :ninja: but srs I agree w/ his posts.
Also, unrelated, but not sure I like the pause squats where you pause, then go down and back up. i dno just be careful with that. people usually pause at the bottom then go right up. Don't see what you're doing very often: people pausing, then dropping lower after the pause to go back up. I personally would pause at some depth, then go right back up, no trying to trigger stretch reflex to give you a boost out of the hole. Just my 2 cents on it tho.
:ibsquatting:
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I disagree there bitches just ruin your life mijo
dont put them on a pedestal
if cutting makes u happy then cut
just do u mijo!
if shes real she will understand.... if not then on to the next :headbang:
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Dude talk to the girl. Eat carbs if you need to. Get some pre-workout into you if required. There are more important things in life than cutting fat and a "gorgeous, smart, funny and seems into me as well" girl is one of those things.
I think she's losing interest. I feel ... im not sure about it all. I think i need someone less maintenance right now but i dont know, my mind is not all here right now so i cant figure out if ive made a mistake or if it's salvageable. She seems to get upset if i dont text her often (i wont call her at all which she's not thrilled about) but i have nothing to say (mind is blank) and she's taking it to mean im not that into her (but i am). Will try to talk to her on sunday if she's still up for it
she seems too demanding.. to each their own but i dont need that in my life i wouldnt wish that on anyone. focus on your training....
and u dont "need" someone less maintenance right now. you dont "need" anyone mijo. just focus on you. if someone less maintenance comes along thats cool too... if not..rock on :headbang:
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I disagree there bitches just ruin your life mijo
dont put them on a pedestal
if cutting makes u happy then cut
just do u mijo!
if shes real she will understand.... if not then on to the next :headbang:
This is everything that is wrong with the world today. I know I sound old and I am but what the fuck? Really? All these bitches out there just ruining your life are they?
If she's "real" she will want a real man who can actually talk to her, who will give her the time of day, who will put her first . That doesn't make you weak.
*Southpaw- this is nothing personal against you as I don't know anything about you or your personal/relationship history. I find the attitude towards women in your comments abhorrent though.
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put her first? do they have children together? Sounds like he barely knows her.
The way I feel about it(and I'm sure many people may disagree as I am not one to conform to conventions) is that if I have a goal or vision then the person I am with or in this case not even with but just talking to will support it and understand(if they are good for me.. if they dont understand then they arent for me). I've witnessed firsthand all too many people drop their dreams and change their lives completely for women and in so many cases it has not worked out for the best. I dont have an "attitude" toward women I treat everyone i meet with respect. I just dont believe in putting someone I just met on a pedestal especially if I have other aspirations they could get in the way of especially if they are demanding.
I disagree there bitches just ruin your life mijo
dont put them on a pedestal
if cutting makes u happy then cut
just do u mijo!
if shes real she will understand.... if not then on to the next :headbang:
This is everything that is wrong with the world today. I know I sound old and I am but what the fuck? Really? All these bitches out there just ruining your life are they?
If she's "real" she will want a real man who can actually talk to her, who will give her the time of day, who will put her first . That doesn't make you weak.
*Southpaw- this is nothing personal against you as I don't know anything about you or your personal/relationship history. I find the attitude towards women in your comments abhorrent though.
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put her first? do they have children together? Sounds like he barely knows her.
The way I feel about it(and I'm sure many people may disagree as I am not one to conform to conventions) is that if I have a goal or vision then the person I am with or in this case not even with but just talking to will support it and understand(if they are good for me.. if they dont understand then they arent for me). I've witnessed firsthand all too many people drop their dreams and change their lives completely for women and in so many cases it has not worked out for the best. I dont have an "attitude" toward women I treat everyone i meet with respect. I just dont believe in putting someone I just met on a pedestal especially if I have other aspirations they could get in the way of especially if they are demanding.
I disagree there bitches just ruin your life mijo
dont put them on a pedestal
if cutting makes u happy then cut
just do u mijo!
if shes real she will understand.... if not then on to the next :headbang:
This is everything that is wrong with the world today. I know I sound old and I am but what the fuck? Really? All these bitches out there just ruining your life are they?
If she's "real" she will want a real man who can actually talk to her, who will give her the time of day, who will put her first . That doesn't make you weak.
*Southpaw- this is nothing personal against you as I don't know anything about you or your personal/relationship history. I find the attitude towards women in your comments abhorrent though.
Now this I agree with, pretty much. I think we're coming at a similar argument just from different perspectives. If you have worthwhile goals and you're chasing them then you need to choose how you factor outside influences into your life. That I totally agree with.
My original point to Maxent was that if you like a girl, she has good qualities and she's into you then you should make an effort towards her. That doesn't mean he needs to drop everything and just focus on her. I'm sure he's capable of both. I agree that he doesn't need to put her on a pedestal but as far as making communicating with her a priority how much time and effort does that really take? I would imagine not enough to detract from whatever his other goals are.
Also, as a side point I would think there's a certain caloric trade off that can be acquired by being in a new relationship that might just offset any carbs that are required to get you through a few early relationship conversations.
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AM temp/hr/bw: 37.4/_/80.4
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0845, 1230, 1630; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 45g BCAA;
Activity: 13.4
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 20/20
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
Thinking Coges advice might be appropriate. I've done well on this cut, losing almost 10kg in something like 6 weeks or something crazy like that (will look up properly later when im done) but it doesn't look like im going to be able to finish the job even if i diet for a week longer (up to the DEXA). The DEXA is a hard cap - i def wont do a single day's of cutting after the scan because i want to go immediately to maintenance. So as a compromise i may just take a smaller deficit, add more carbs back, shorter fasts (12-14hrs) and restore some sort of mental acuity so i can give myself a chance of getting the girl. I think that's a fair compromise at this situation. When i look in the mirror I see someone with abs etc but i still have central obesity .. that will take another cut down the line, i cant get it done in the next 7 days so i won't stress it.
I was planning on discontinuing the caffeine and green tea tomorrow but i think if i do that, i'll gain some water weight (which i would have lost initially by doing the 3x(200/400) - caffeine/green tea combo every day. i'll basically go from 600-700mg of caffeine a day to 600mg a week - will def gain some water discontinuing the diuretic (caffeine). Maybe just run the CEGCG combo til the dexa? then stop the day after?
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southpaw coming from the pespective of a single man, you can't get too enamored with any one girl until you're actually together. it's just bad to build up hopes to have them dashes, that can destroy you (it shouldn't but that's what we're trying to avoid). Shooters shoot, don't get too invested in any move, it may not pay off. Looking at my squat pause pr attempt, i failed but did i really fail? gotta look at both imposters equally (success or failure), don't get too caught up on the moment .. just keep going, luck is what happens at the intersection of preparedness and opportunity. i def agree with coges that when you find someone you are really into you need to maek an effort and i haven't done that in this situation. But i see it from southpaw perspective that if you try too hard it will kill the situation before it begins, you have to play it calmly though im currently missing self confidence (low test probably) to get this right. need to take my shot and see how it goes. im not doing that yet .. today or tmr i'll call her and see if i can win her over. her guard is high and im tird of being judged by the consequences of other men but it is what it is .. i think i packed enough cliches into this post lol
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37.3/_/80.5
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1.5g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0830, 1230, 1630; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 20g BCAA;
Activity: 15.6
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 21/21
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
Made it to day 21 in one piece. Supposed to call the girl today but she's disappeared off whatsapp .. only gives one word answers .. and im gonna look needy if i keep trying to talk to her. so i'll just let her be. i think i messed it up .. oh well. At least i will have abs :wowthatwasnutswtf:
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I take back everything I've said previously. Abs are far more important :D
-
priorities!!! 8) 8)
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 37.3/_/80.2
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1.5g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0830, 1230, 1630; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 20g BCAA;
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 22/22
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Volume day.
Training:
BS 6x120(p0), 0Fx142.5p, 6x100
BP 1x90, 5x80
Dips 17xBW
Notes:
I wont do a proper refeed today. Save it for next monday, day after the dexa scan. Think that makes more sense. But here we go, final week.
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AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/80.4
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1.5g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0900, 1300, 1500; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 20g BCAA;
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 23/23
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
80.4kg post refeed gives me the hope/goal of ending this cut sub-80kg post-refeed on the final one. And then my job in the maintenance break will be simple - stay under 80kg.
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AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/80
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1.5g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0930, 1330, 1730; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 20g BCAA;
Activity: 10.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 24/24
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Recovery training day.
BS 2x120(p0), 1x140pB
Bike - 20mins
Notes:
Hit the magic 80.0kg milestone today. Never would have expected that when i started this cut like 8 weeks ago but there you go. 4 more days, going to give myself some room to grow under 80kg now, lets aim for like sub 79.5kg monday morning.
140p@80 is a 1.75xbw pr, albeit first time ive done pause squats with a belt.
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193 -> 176 in 2 months.... Wow. Thats wild. I bet you are shredded now. I want to do something similar for my tourney in early september, any advice? Literally 193 right now, if i was 176 with even close to my current strength and peaked athleticism i feel like i would be unstoppable. Do you think you are faster + better verts than you were a month ago?
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193 -> 176 in 2 months.... Wow. Thats wild. I bet you are shredded now. I want to do something similar for my tourney in early september, any advice? Literally 193 right now, if i was 176 with even close to my current strength and peaked athleticism i feel like i would be unstoppable. Do you think you are faster + better verts than you were a month ago?
i was too ashamed to take before photos but i wish i had now. have videos on insta though so can kinda do side-by-side comparison. i think i started around 200 and im 176 now. if it was for getting the flu i bet i would have a bit more strenght and muscle and cud have got some lifetime PRs for vertical. but still happy with the results. want to peak vert in the 2 weeks following end of diet. so far i haven't seen any great promise of vertical gains tho. i mean i was hitting PR level on vertical at 95kg in feb at about 35" .. and in the last few weeks im struggling to get 32" with a 5kg vest. still lets see what happens when i increase calories to maintenance and let some fatigue dissipate (i do daily weight vest walking which does tire out the legs chronically).
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AM temp/hr/bw: 37.3/_/80.1
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1.5g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0830, 1230, 1630; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 20g BCAA;
Activity: 10.5
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 25/25
Mobility: T
Skill work: F
Rest day.
Notes:
I think ive lost inches overnight .... but scale didn't register. water retention prob. doesn't matter. the end of the tunnel is starting to show.. 3 days left after today
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AM temp/hr/bw: 37.3/64/79.9
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1.5g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0800; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 20g BCAA;
Activity: 17 (!!)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 26/26
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Heavy training day.
BS 2x120(p0), 0Fx147.5B, 2x130B, 3x125, 2x122.5
OHP 3x60, 1x65, 2x62.5
Chinup 3x20(102.5), 5x10(92.5)
Back Xtn 3x6x112.5(PR)
Bball training
Notes:
Broke bw <80kg for the first time. Nice. Looking forward to my last training sesh on the cut.
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ah nice!
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AM temp/hr/bw: 37.1/66/79.8
AM skinfold(mm): pec(), sup(), ab(), sum()
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1.5g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0900, 1300, 1700; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 20g BCAA;
Activity: 20.5 (PR?)
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 27/27
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest day.
Notes:
Dexa tmr. i look dramatically leaner this morning.. im confident i'll be sub 15% now. Going to do as much fat loss as possible this weekend because monday on is maintenance break.
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even odds you come in under 12% :lololol:
amended: 70% you're under 15% but question the dexa's accuracy, 30% you're over 15%.
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AM temp/hr/bw: 37.3/_/79.7
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(7), ab(11), sum(25)
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 200/400 CEGCG (with vitc, 1.5g fish oil, 1g cayn) - 0900, 1300, 1700; 1.5g cayn- 2000; 20g BCAA;
Activity: 10.6
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 28/28
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest day.
Notes:
Heading down for the dexa in a bit. Went to bed thinking yea no, 15% might be wishful thinking - im prob in the 15-20% range but hopefully in the lower end. Lets see anyway! lol.
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even odds you come in under 12% :lololol:
amended: 70% you're under 15% but question the dexa's accuracy, 30% you're over 15%.
Measured at 13.4% bodyfat
edit. ignore my original post i misread the numbers
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even odds you come in under 12% :lololol:
amended: 70% you're under 15% but question the dexa's accuracy, 30% you're over 15%.
I got 14.2% lol. suprising. Means i have 65.8kg lean mass and 10.9kg fat mass. well .. there we go.
no questioning the dexa? crap, i should have stuck with my original prediction. :P
what does this knowledge change for you?
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AM temp/hr/bw: 37.3/64/79.5
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(7), ab(11), sum(25)
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 300/30 C-Psyn (preworkout)
Activity: 7.2
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 29/29 ( Diet break - 1/1)
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Volume day.
Training
BS 5x120(p0), 1x132.5p, 5x117.5, 5x115
Oly BS 5x112.5, 5x110
BP 6x70p, 1x90, 5x80, 5x77.5, 5x77.5
Dips 5x20(101.9), 4x20, 4x16, 4x12
DB incline press 8x15, 8x17.5
Notes:
Got blood tests done this morning. Feeling pretty average because i limited carbs yesterday and im due for a refeed, thankfully, doing that today. So yea maybe im more glycogen depleted than i thought. i could not do a 5th rep for the life of me. Struggled on every single set to get 5.
Pretty awesome carb up, almost ate an entire loaf of bread. Maybe went a bit too high on fat tho. All good.
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AM temp/hr/bw: 38.3/64/80.9
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(7), ab(11), sum(25)
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement:
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest.
Training:
n/a
Notes:
No caffeine today. Shud be interesting! Wasn't got a pretty good headache in the evening and it stayed until i fell asleep. Ate a package of cookies and some chocolate. Not proud of it but long story short, that girl i mentioned earlier, i managed to keep her interest for another week but yesterday night she texted to say take care. Have not dealt well with it, she was probably the one but i wasn't present and blew the chance.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 36.9/64/81.4
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(7), ab(11), sum(25)
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement: 150mg caffeine preworkout
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Recovery training day.
Training:
BS 0Fx120(actually failing a warmup set on the first rep .. da fuck??), 6x100, 6x90, 6x90
Bike - 20 mins
Notes:
-
AM temp/hr/bw: 38.3/64/80.9
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(7), ab(11), sum(25)
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement:
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest.
Training:
n/a
Notes:
No caffeine today. Shud be interesting! Wasn't got a pretty good headache in the evening and it stayed until i fell asleep. Ate a package of cookies and some chocolate. Not proud of it but long story short, that girl i mentioned earlier, i managed to keep her interest for another week but yesterday night she texted to say take care. Have not dealt well with it, she was probably the one but i wasn't present and blew the chance.
damn that sucks.
dno about "the one" tho.
-
Notes:
No caffeine today. Shud be interesting! Wasn't got a pretty good headache in the evening and it stayed until i fell asleep. Ate a package of cookies and some chocolate. Not proud of it but long story short, that girl i mentioned earlier, i managed to keep her interest for another week but yesterday night she texted to say take care. Have not dealt well with it, she was probably the one but i wasn't present and blew the chance.
damn that sucks.
dno about "the one" tho.
thanks bro. i think she was more 'the one' than any other girl before her, if that makes sense. She's 32 so she had no time to play games i guess and i was thinking of taking it slow but she's not willing to waste time on someone she might feel is not that serious. Grieving today.. watched my goto michael scott dealing with heartbreak in the Office which always cheers me up with how OTT he is about it all. And i shouldn't take life so seriously. But then the cold realisation sets in that i waited aimlessly for about 2 years since the last girl i was actually interested in marrying and it might be a long time til the next one comes. I just can't bring myself to invest emotionally in these things anymore .. i feel i self sabotage cos i have a protection mechanism that prevents me from falling and getting hurt etc
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AM temp/hr/bw: _/67/82
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(7), ab(11), sum(25)
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement:
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest day.
Training:
Notes:
-
Notes:
No caffeine today. Shud be interesting! Wasn't got a pretty good headache in the evening and it stayed until i fell asleep. Ate a package of cookies and some chocolate. Not proud of it but long story short, that girl i mentioned earlier, i managed to keep her interest for another week but yesterday night she texted to say take care. Have not dealt well with it, she was probably the one but i wasn't present and blew the chance.
damn that sucks.
dno about "the one" tho.
thanks bro. i think she was more 'the one' than any other girl before her, if that makes sense. She's 32 so she had no time to play games i guess and i was thinking of taking it slow but she's not willing to waste time on someone she might feel is not that serious. Grieving today.. watched my goto michael scott dealing with heartbreak in the Office which always cheers me up with how OTT he is about it all. And i shouldn't take life so seriously. But then the cold realisation sets in that i waited aimlessly for about 2 years since the last girl i was actually interested in marrying and it might be a long time til the next one comes.
ah damn.
I just can't bring myself to invest emotionally in these things anymore .. i feel i self sabotage cos i have a protection mechanism that prevents me from falling and getting hurt etc
know the feeling!
regardless, nothing wrong with any of that as long as you "learn from it". maybe at least think about what you would do/not do next time a similar situation comes around, just prepare a bit more for future scenarios (if they mean something to you, which it seems like they do).
pc!
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AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/81.8
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(7), ab(11), sum(25)
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement:
Activity: 6
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Training day. Supposed to be 'heavy' but considering i failed a warmup on rep 1 i have no expectations about what i'll be capable of. But thinking of starting sprints today.
Training:
BS 3x120(p0), 1x132.5, 1x125
Paused BS 5x100, 5x102.5, 5x107.5, 5x105, 5x102.5, 5x107.5B
OHP 6x2x60
Chinup 3x16(100.5), 3x12(96.5), 4x8(92.5)
DB OHP 8x20 and curls
Bike - 20 mins
Tempo sprints x 6
Notes:
-
AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/81.3
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(7), ab(11), sum(25)
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement:
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 2/2
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest day
Training:
Notes:
Back a bit sore. im not sold on paused squats for reps tbh.
-
AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/81.8
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(7), ab(11), sum(25)
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement:
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 3/3
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest day
Training:
Notes:
Haven't yet got any legs doms, strangely enough.
-
Hey mate, have you ever run an oly program?
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Hey mate, have you ever run an oly program?
nope. that would be cool though. are you thinking about it?
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Hey mate, have you ever run an oly program?
nope. that would be cool though. are you thinking about it?
Yep. I've started incorporating a little bit in and really enjoy it so want to do more.
I thought with your squat being what it is you could capitalise on that and get the side gains for vert as well. I remember gukl being surprised how high his vert was after not jumping for ages.
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Hey mate, have you ever run an oly program?
nope. that would be cool though. are you thinking about it?
Yep. I've started incorporating a little bit in and really enjoy it so want to do more.
I thought with your squat being what it is you could capitalise on that and get the side gains for vert as well. I remember gukl being surprised how high his vert was after not jumping for ages.
i think i def wanna run an oly program. but ive learnt my lesson from trying to self-learn lifts. had to unlearn a ton of shit cos of the bro-science introduction to lifting i had. lol. so hopefully i can do someday, esp when i get tire of normal gym stuff (already there only thing keeping me going back is not having reached the goals)
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AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/82.3
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(7), ab(11), sum(25) (last updated on dexa day)
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement:
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Lower body volume day
Training:
BS 6x120(p0), 1x135p, 5x115, 5x115, 5x112.5, 5x110, 5x107.5, 5x105, 5x105, 5x105, 5x105
Back Xtn 3x115(PR), 4x115(PR), 5x115(PR)
Notes:
Didn't wanna do upper volume after that exhausting squat sesh, maybe some other day.
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that is a lot of squats. how long did it take?
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that is a lot of squats. how long did it take?
5 minute rests, took about 80 mins total.
btw just wanna point out i got my bloods back from last week (day after ending the cut) and apparently im still hypothyroid. so that sucks. it explains why i get so fat when i gain weight. also why cutting is harder for me than most ppl (but i just work harder i guess) .. shitty genes..
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that is a lot of squats. how long did it take?
5 minute rests, took about 80 mins total.
btw just wanna point out i got my bloods back from last week (day after ending the cut) and apparently im still hypothyroid. so that sucks. it explains why i get so fat when i gain weight. also why cutting is harder for me than most ppl (but i just work harder i guess) .. shitty genes..
what about hormone replacement?
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that is a lot of squats. how long did it take?
5 minute rests, took about 80 mins total.
btw just wanna point out i got my bloods back from last week (day after ending the cut) and apparently im still hypothyroid. so that sucks. it explains why i get so fat when i gain weight. also why cutting is harder for me than most ppl (but i just work harder i guess) .. shitty genes..
what about hormone replacement?
doc still wants to monitor it ofr another couple of months. he's pretty conservative on treatment which i respect. but it's will be like 8 months since i first got the diagnosis so im getting a bit impatient but whatever..
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AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/82.1
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(7), ab(11), sum(25) (last updated on dexa day)
Weight Vest: 6()
Supplement:
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest day
Training:
Notes:
Not too sore for the most part except noticed my right glute is more sore. I think these volume workouts help bring balance to my body because doing less reps and you can just depend on your stronger muscles (on the lhs of my body) but with a heavier workload you need the weak side to bring something more to the table.
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btw page 300.
:goodjobbro:
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AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/82.4
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(7), ab(11), sum(25) (last updated on dexa day)
Weight Vest: 0()
Supplement:
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Upper volume day
Training:
Recovery BS 2x120p
BP 1x90, 5x82.5, 5x81, 5x81
DB BP 5x5
Dips 5x5
Notes:
Looking forward to benching today
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AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/82.5
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(7), ab(11), sum(25) (last updated on dexa day)
Weight Vest: 0()
Supplement:
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: 1/1
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Rest
Training:
Notes:
Looks like ive gained all the weight back while on the diet break. ha
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AM temp/hr/bw: _/_/_
AM skinfold(mm): pec(7), sup(7), ab(11), sum(25) (last updated on dexa day)
Weight Vest: 0()
Supplement:
Activity:
Misc: n/a
Diet Compliance: nope
Mobility: T
Skill work: T
Heavy day
Training:
BS 3x120p(warmup pr), 1x140p, 4x125p(PR?)
Oly BS 5x120(pr)
OHP 6x2x60
Chinup 3x16, 5x12, 5x10(95)
DB OHP 3x8x20
Notes:
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I enjoyed sprinting tonight. Pity the grass was wet tho.
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Final cut pro log (21 day)
BW / HR / Temp / Act
Day 00 - 84.3kg / ? / ? / 8.2
Day 01 - 83.3kg / / ? / 16
Day 02 - 82.3kg / ? / ? / 13.5
Day 03 - 81.1kg / ? / ? / 16
Day 04 - 80.7kg / ? / 37.4 / 12.5
Day 05 - 80.5kg / 72 / 37.3 / 10
Day 06 - 80.4kg / ? / ? / 10
Day 07 - 80.0kg / ? / ? / 10 (refeed)
Day 08 - 80.6kg / ? / ? / 12.5
Day 09 - 80.2kg / ? / 37.6 / 12.8
Day 10 - 79.7kg / ? / 37.5 / 11.6
Day 11 - 79.5kg / ? / ? / 10
Day 12 - 79.4kg / ? / ? / 10
Day 13 - 79.4kg / ? / ? / 11(*)
Day 14 - 79.2kg / ? / 37.6 / 10.5 (refeed)
Day 15 - 79.2kg / ? / ? / 11
Day 16 - 78.8kg / ? / ? / 11.5
Day 17 - 78.8kg / ? / ? / 10
Day 18 - 78.9kg / ? / ? / 10
Day 19 - 78.9kg / ? / ? / 12.5
Day 20 - 79.0kg / ? / ? / 16
Day 21 - 79.0kg / ? / ? / 12.2
Avg. Act goal: 10-12.5/day. Bf% goal: 8-10%.
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Finishing up the cut today. I'd say im about 10% now. Give or take half a percent. But im in that no-man zone of not lean enough to bulk nor muscular enough to keep cutting. I look like shit, disgusting really. Nevertheless ive decided to spend a few weeks (maybe 3) reverse dieting up to caloric maintenance while increasing aerobic activity (specifically sprinting, basketball, gym bike and stairs machine). Will cut out stimulants during this phase to a minimal of 500-600mg of caffeine per week. Also reducing daily act by 25% to 7.5 a day.
The goal is to end up around 9% during this reverse dieting phase. Then i may do a brief 7-10day cut to 8%.
Had breakfast just now, haven't done that in ages. Oatmeal :) Also ive been sprinting regularly lately which im really enjoying. Definitely will keep that up. And i played basketball for the first time yesterday in months. IT was fun..
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BW / HR / Temp / Act
Day 00 - 84.3kg / ? / ? / ??
Day 01 - 83.3kg / ? / ? / ??
Day 02 - 82.5kg / ? / ? / ??
Day 03 - 82.5kg / 62 / 37.2 / ??
Day 04 - 83.0kg / 64 / 37.1 / 6
Day 05 - 82.8kg / 64 / 37.3 / 1
Day 06 - 82.7kg / ? / ? / 7
Day 07 - 82.6kg / ? / ? /
Day 08 - 82.5kg / ? / ? / 6
Day 09 - 82.3kg / ? / ? / 6.5
Day 10 - 82.3kg / ? / ? / 6.75
Day 11 - 82.1kg / ? / ? / 7
Day 12 - 82.3kg / ? / ? / 5 (w/ bike cardio)
Day 13 - 81.9kg / ? / ? / 6
Day 14 - 82.1kg / ? / ? / 6.75
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Got some nice muscle and strength gains in that block. Have also implemented depth jumps and sprinting regularly now. Will try get a bit more while keeping bw constant for a bit longer before changing focus.
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One last cut (for the last time)
BW / HR / Temp / Act
Day 00 - 84.6kg / ? / ? / 11.5
Day 01 - 83.5kg / ? / ? / 13
Day 02 - 82.5kg / ? / ? / 12.5
Day 03 - 82.3kg / ? / ? / 12.5
Day 04 - 82.3kg / ? / ? / 10.5
Day 05 - 82.2kg / ? / ? / 6.5
Day 06 - 81.3kg / ? / ? / 8 (w/ 1hr cardio not counted in act)
Day 07 - 80.1kg / ? / ? / 11
Day 08 - 80.6kg / ? / ? / 9 (w/ cardio)
Day 09 - 80.8kg / ? / ? / 9.5 (w/ cardio)
Day 10 - 80.1kg / ? / ? / 10.7
Day 11 - 80.3kg / ? / ? / 14.5
Day 12 - 79.7kg / ? / ? / 11
Day 13 - 79.6kg / ? / ? / 9.9
Day 14 - 79.2kg / ? / ? / 14.5 (w/ cardio)
Day 15 - 79.1kg / ? / ? / 11.4
Day 16 - 79.0kg / ? / ? / 14
Day 17 - 78.8kg / ? / ? / 14
Day 18 - 78.4kg / ? / ? / 16.1
Day 19 - 78.3kg / ? / ? / 12 (refeed)
Day 20 - 79.1kg / ? / ? / 10
Day 21 - 78.0kg / ? / ? / 4.3 (w/ cardio)
Day 22 - 77.6kg / ? / ? / 10
Day 23 - 77.3kg / ? / ? / 11.2 (w/ cardio)
Day 24 - 77.7kg / ? / ? / 15.7
Day 25 - 76.8kg / ? / ? / 14 (w/ cardio)
Day 26 - 76.9kg / ? / ? / 14.5
Day 27 - 76.1kg / ? / ? / 12.7
Day 28 - 76.5kg / ? / ? / 16
Day 29 - 75.6kg / ? / ? / 15
Day 30 - 75.6kg / ? / ? / 10.7
Day 31 - 75.1kg / ? / ? / 8 (refeed)
Day 32 - 77.4kg / ? / ? / ? (refeed)
Day 33 - 79.3kg / ? / ? / 11.8
Day 34 - 77.4kg / ? / ? /
7th oct
Kinda miss doing regular posts but i like the clarity of having one post im updating to summarise where i'm at. Anyway the last two weeks of training have been amazing. Very different from what i'm used to. Finally gave up my addiction to backsquat and im focusing more on conditioning and fitness. Squat didn't take long to give up on me too so the feelings are mutual haha. But im enjoying pushing myself hard in a different way than i used to with the barbell. Lots of intervals as well as the staple of longer steady state cardio. I use plain sprints, aerodyne machine and c2 rower for intervals. bike for longer cardio. and weighted vest walking as a daily staple.
My goal right now is to lifetime PR my leanness end of october, hoping to get a lean chest and lower back but dont think i'll be able to achieve that though im gna try my best. Sometime this year If i get lifetime fit then i will be able to play full court competitive basketball properly for hte first time in my life b/c ive never been able to achieve even average fitness for a basketball player before. But that will take long term conditioning work which ive already fully commited to. Mainly because ive never worked at it and obsession with squats/vertical did make that worse b/c id try to optimise training for strength and didn't leave much room for other things.
27th oct
First time doing a 2 day refeed and wow. Not sure i wanna do that again. Lol. Back into it now for the final 3 weeks.
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Damn. Man you're down to 76 now. How are you feeling/looking?
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Damn. Man you're down to 76 now. How are you feeling/looking?
yep! i expect to be 75kg this week sometime. Feeling good. Looking .. worse? It's b/c the fat ive lost makes the remaining fat stand out more. But hopefully along the way once that too is gone then i'll look lean. It appears i need at least 2 weeks of dieting but beyond that i have no plans as yet. Will prob end up sub 75kg though.
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Damn. Man you're down to 76 now. How are you feeling/looking?
yep! i expect to be 75kg this week sometime. Feeling good. Looking .. worse? It's b/c the fat ive lost makes the remaining fat stand out more. But hopefully along the way once that too is gone then i'll look lean. It appears i need at least 2 weeks of dieting but beyond that i have no plans as yet. Will prob end up sub 75kg though.
Yes this is a complete mindfuck! You lose fat and initially look worse. Same thing happens to me. You're bloody close now though.
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Messed up that refeed badly. Was trying something different (refeed over several days) and it just didn't work well. Sucks cos i was mentally in control prior to that experiment. Time to start over. It turned into a 10 day binge. I'm going to start over lol.
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BW / HR / Temp / Act
Day 00 - 81.2kg / ? / ? / ? (6th Nov)
Day 01 - 79.8kg / ? / ? / ?
Day 02 - 78.5kg / ? / ? / ?
Day 03 - 78.2kg / ? / ? / ?
Day 04 - 77.8kg / ? / ? / 7 (cardio)
Day 05 - 77.1kg / ? / ? / 8 (cardio)
Day 06 - 77.8kg / ? / ? / 7
Day 07 - 77.5kg / ? / ? / 6
Day 08 - 76.8kg / ? / ? / 9 (cardio, refeed)
Day 09 - 77.2kg / ? / ? / (refeeD)
Day 10 - 79.2kg (refeed)
Day 11 - 79.8kg (refeed, 17th Nov)
Day 00 - 81.3kg / 9.5 (cardio, 18th Nov)
Day 01 - 80.1kg / 7.5 (cardio)
Day 02 - 78.9kg / 6.5
Day 03 - 78.6kg / 7.5
Day 04 - 78.8kg / 9 (cardio, refeed)
Day 05 - 78.9kg / 10.5 (cardio)
Day 06 - 79.0kg / 9 (cardio)
Day 07 - 79.2kg / 12 (cardio, 200g carb)
Day 08 - 79.4kg / 11 (cardio)
Day 09 - 79.2kg / 11.8 (cardio, refeed)
Day 10 - 80.2kg / (cardio, 28th Nov)
Day 00 - 82.1kg / 10.5 (cardio, 29th Nov)
Day 01 - 80.6kg / 10 (cardio)
Day 02 - 80.1kg / 10 (cardio)
Day 03 - 79.8kg / 10.5 (cardio)
Day 04 - 79.5kg / 12 (cardio)
Day 05 - 79.5kg / 13 (cardio)
Day 06 - 79.5kg / 10.5 (cardio)
Day 07 - 79.3kg / 11.5 (cardio)
Day 08 - 79.3kg / (cardio, refeed, 7th Dec)
Day 09 - 79.9kg / (cardio, 8th Dec)
Day 10 - 79.3kg / (cardio, refeed, 9th Dec)
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*scratch buffer*
3 more days of cutting and im done. It will make 21 days where ive done daily cardio and daily pause squatting. Today i made the decision to end the pause squat experiment. It hasn't done much for me at all, if anything, it's made me a worse athlete. i haven't been able to jump 32" in 6 months .. which is round the same time i started doing pause squats. It's a shit exercise for athleticism. Something about normal squats where the stretch reflex / rebound / reversal which carries over waaaaaaay better to jumping. Like in the past when i didn't do pause squats, even having done zero jumping in training (or testing for that matter), i'll go test my vertical and easily get a 32" in my first session and PR it over a few weeks. In comparison with paused squats ive been trying my best but i can't even get close to 32" which is something i can't abide any longer. The other choice im making is to shift away from using oly shoes, cos it means i squat less weight when i use the nike romaloes, and im not strong enough to be giving myself pointless handicaps at the juncture.
i looked up my log and last year around this time i did 10 sets of 5 with 130kg with dowins. Then came back for another 10 sets of 5 with romaleos. Which tells me the dowin squats are good enough to build decent strength for romaloes but it doesn't seem the other way around. anyway.
(https://i.imgur.com/pKtsRPF.png)
charlie francis bit i came across
so today is the last day of my never-ending cut. lol. i still can't jump 32". so im not sure what happened, did i just get old over the last 6 months? cos i was hitting 32" with a weight vest back in june and now i can't even get close to 32.. " . damn
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My goals for the rest of dec:
- get vertical back over 32" (my PR is probably ~36" but that seems a galaxy away now)
- maintain bw (~79kg and def keep it under <80kg)
- get daily squat max to around 150kg
Summer 2019 - 12 week goals
Running:
- tempo/long run at 10 km/hr for 60 mins (10km)
- medium run at 12 km/hr for 40 mins (8km)
- fast run at 15 km/hr for 20 mins (5km)
Lifting:
- 170kg raw squat @ <85kg (no belt)
Jumping:
- 40" vertical.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.1kg (10th dec)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 23/23 days
Daily Run: 22/22 days
Basketball skill work:
Training
AM Fast run 5km in 22:15 (intervals of ~ 3min each)
PM squats
Notes:
Ordered a GPS watch in case i start running outside. I'm prob going to do the majority of my running on the treadmill at home though. But i found a track about 25min drive that I can go occasionally and there is a nice road track around a lake near my place where they also hold weekly parkruns which i can go if the weather permits. We'll see. I have no idea how my running on the treadmill will translate to running on other surfaces? Might do a test some time but right now im too unfit to bother really.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.1kg
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 22/22 days
Daily Run: 21/21 days
Basketball skill work:
Training
Fast run - 4x5min intervals of 1km each @ 12km/hr
Notes:
Ordered a GPS watch in case i start running outside. I'm prob going to do the majority of my running on the treadmill at home though. But i found a track about 25min drive that I can go occasionally and there is a nice road track around a lake near my place where they also hold weekly parkruns which i can go if the weather permits. We'll see. I have no idea how my running on the treadmill will translate to running on other surfaces? Might do a test some time but right now im too unfit to bother really.
Any major high schools around your area or Little Athletics Clubs? You may be surprised and find a track closer than 25 minutes away.
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Any major high schools around your area or Little Athletics Clubs? You may be surprised and find a track closer than 25 minutes away.
Apparently there are only two in the entire state? But the article is from 2007 and they were talking about building one in Rockingham which is far away from the city. Pretty shocking. Seems most clubs just run on grass. 25 minute drive every 10 days might be okay? but right now im just embarrassed by lack of athleticism to be seen at a proper track lol so i need to address that first anyway. What do you recommend, is it worth trying to join a club or would i just be a bother at this point? I don't just feel slow i look slow. In the past when i felt fast i probably still was actually slow to look at but now it's much worse.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.1kg (10th dec)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 23/23 days
Daily Run: 22/22 days
Basketball skill work:
Training
Notes:
Ordered a GPS watch in case i start running outside. I'm prob going to do the majority of my running on the treadmill at home though. But i found a track about 25min drive that I can go occasionally and there is a nice road track around a lake near my place where they also hold weekly parkruns which i can go if the weather permits. We'll see. I have no idea how my running on the treadmill will translate to running on other surfaces? Might do a test some time but right now im too unfit to bother really.
welcome gps watch squad, it's a game changer :ninja: :highfive: :headbang: :ibrunning:
i dont think treadmill will translate too well, but you never know. i imagine if you were already proficient in road running, that treadmill could be swapped in/out etc. but, going from treadmill to roads/track could be rough.
very curious to see how it goes tho!
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welcome gps watch squad, it's a game changer :ninja: :highfive: :headbang: :ibrunning:
i dont think treadmill will translate too well, but you never know. i imagine if you were already proficient in road running, that treadmill could be swapped in/out etc. but, going from treadmill to roads/track could be rough.
very curious to see how it goes tho!
thanks! not sure when it will arrive cos i got it from o/seas but hopefully not longer a week or two. Super excited about it for some reason. I thought of getting an arm band for phone but that doesn't really get me that excited lol. if anything sold me was your cool insta photos of your watch runs which convinced me :highfive:
today's speed run i was using 13.5km/hr and i found that if take longer strides i could run a bit easier. so i think my technique on the treadmill isn't quite as efficient as it might be on the road. i think on the treadmill ive been taking shorter strides to keep up with the speed of the belt? not sure. i have long legs so it's possible that either road or treadmill, but not both are more optimised for my body. will be intersting to test when i get the chance. but right now i have no way of measuring on the road which is why i haven't bothered to try running outside
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no way of measuring on the road
watch plus map?
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no way of measuring on the road
watch plus map?
the times ive tried to sprint with my phone i always end up dropping it along the way. that's on grass but if i drop it on road it's prob gna break.also not sure if the gps wud work if it's in my pocket
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If pause squats are the least athletic kind of squat then on the other side of the spectrum, belted squats have to be the most athletic kind. With a belt the contraction at the bottom of the squat is more forceful and powerful. Not sure if this is new info for anyone here but it certainly didn't occur to me until i thought to try a belt yesterday and i found that i had to drop the weight back to down to 70kg warmups because the bounce was too powerful w/ the belt. Then i worked my way up the weights to my previous weight that i'd been using in teh same workout without a belt as i learned to harness the power out of the hole. pretty interesting stuff. so i'd suggest to anyone who cares about athleticism, use the belt brah.
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Any major high schools around your area or Little Athletics Clubs? You may be surprised and find a track closer than 25 minutes away.
Apparently there are only two in the entire state? But the article is from 2007 and they were talking about building one in Rockingham which is far away from the city. Pretty shocking. Seems most clubs just run on grass. 25 minute drive every 10 days might be okay? but right now im just embarrassed by lack of athleticism to be seen at a proper track lol so i need to address that first anyway. What do you recommend, is it worth trying to join a club or would i just be a bother at this point? I don't just feel slow i look slow. In the past when i felt fast i probably still was actually slow to look at but now it's much worse.
I wouldn't join a club I would just use the grass tracks. All you need is a decent grass track with all the linings. Running on grass is also easier on the joints.
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welcome gps watch squad, it's a game changer :ninja: :highfive: :headbang: :ibrunning:
i dont think treadmill will translate too well, but you never know. i imagine if you were already proficient in road running, that treadmill could be swapped in/out etc. but, going from treadmill to roads/track could be rough.
very curious to see how it goes tho!
thanks! not sure when it will arrive cos i got it from o/seas but hopefully not longer a week or two. Super excited about it for some reason. I thought of getting an arm band for phone but that doesn't really get me that excited lol.
running with a phone + arm band sucks. :D
if anything sold me was your cool insta photos of your watch runs which convinced me :highfive:
lool nice. :highfive: :ibrunning:
today's speed run i was using 13.5km/hr and i found that if take longer strides i could run a bit easier. so i think my technique on the treadmill isn't quite as efficient as it might be on the road. i think on the treadmill ive been taking shorter strides to keep up with the speed of the belt? not sure. i have long legs so it's possible that either road or treadmill, but not both are more optimised for my body. will be intersting to test when i get the chance. but right now i have no way of measuring on the road which is why i haven't bothered to try running outside
my advice: don't get in the habit of messing with your stride. it takes a long time, and tons of setbacks, to figure out it's NOT something you should think about when running. if you mix up the paces etc, and simply think about going faster or slower, it'll take care of itself.
but ya, your stride freq is probably higher & stride length shorter, on a treadmill.
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If pause squats are the least athletic kind of squat then on the other side of the spectrum, belted squats have to be the most athletic kind.
not following that logic.
belts make any squat "less athletic" imho. potentially safer yes, more athletic, no.
imho, learning to brace without a belt is much more athletic.
With a belt the contraction at the bottom of the squat is more forceful and powerful. Not sure if this is new info for anyone here but it certainly didn't occur to me until i thought to try a belt yesterday and i found that i had to drop the weight back to down to 70kg warmups because the bounce was too powerful w/ the belt. Then i worked my way up the weights to my previous weight that i'd been using in teh same workout without a belt as i learned to harness the power out of the hole. pretty interesting stuff. so i'd suggest to anyone who cares about athleticism, use the belt brah.
u gon play sports with the belt brah? artificial bracing in the weightroom, real world bracing outside of it. doesn't sound like the best formula to me, never liked that idea.
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I would have agreed with you strictly from a purist perspective b/c the squats go something like:
text book paused ATG FS -> text book paused ATG BS -> ... -> belted barely parallel lowbar squat
but purity aside, what's best for athleticism? it need not be the exact same thing.
belts help with IAP yes but that's not all they're doing. They also help the leg muscles contract harder (hams, quads, glutes). That part might be cause or effect (im not sure) but the effects all put together are helping train the lower body to contract more forcefully. Now with the belt the torso also has greater time under tension AND finally for most ppl the belt helps exactly where the squat gets hardest (the sticking point) which is about halfway up. The belt allows you to continue producing force at that very point to help complete the lift (more time under tension). It's basically a way to make the squat more efficient. The IAP alone might be worth the price of admission but if that's all it was achieving it's not why it's a more athletic way to squat. I'm still a squat purist but from a holistic perspective, training with a belt a will get you more gains and that's a good thing. Training with a belt and without a belt offer good synergy because there is a carry over there. All of this will be proven if i can get my vertical back to 32" now that i've started using a belt.
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I would have agreed with you strictly from a purist perspective b/c the squats go something like:
text book paused ATG FS -> text book paused ATG BS -> ... -> belted barely parallel lowbar squat
but purity aside, what's best for athleticism? it need not be the exact same thing.
belts help with IAP yes but that's not all they're doing. They also help the leg muscles contract harder (hams, quads, glutes). That part might be cause or effect (im not sure) but the effects all put together are helping train the lower body to contract more forcefully. Now with the belt the torso also has greater time under tension AND finally for most ppl the belt helps exactly where the squat gets hardest (the sticking point) which is about halfway up. The belt allows you to continue producing force at that very point to help complete the lift (more time under tension). It's basically a way to make the squat more efficient. The IAP alone might be worth the price of admission but if that's all it was achieving it's not why it's a more athletic way to squat. I'm still a squat purist but from a holistic perspective, training with a belt a will get you more gains and that's a good thing. Training with a belt and without a belt offer good synergy because there is a carry over there. All of this will be proven if i can get my vertical back to 32" now that i've started using a belt.
i don't know how it'll prove it tho.. you had your vert up to like ~36" without belt squatting? i recall you getting way up not so long ago .. during/after your first few real bouts with high frequency heavy squatting.
if belt gets you to 38-40", i'll wear one for one set.
:D
if anything, i feel like your nutritional/bodyweight fluctuations/cuts have more to do with your vert going down than your squatting/belt etc. those fluctuations are rough physically and mentally. if you are lifting hard and eating alot, yet still lean, you'll perform at a much higher level on avg.
pC!
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I used the belt real sparingly last summer. I was doing 20 sets of 5 of squats and i think one or two workouts (out of months of training) i used the belt for the last couple of sets - but for the majority of that high volume phase i did no belted squatting. I didn't even use knee sleeves. No gear at all. So it worked well. At the end of the summer i started using a belt for my recovery days and i was getting easy 10 rep sets with 120kg which i progressed up to 132.5kg. I did a set of 8 with 142.5kg too which was my PR. 6x147.5kg. And that put my est 1rm with the belt around 180kg. Though i only managed a 170kg belt squat and my beltless squat PR remained 160kg. So at the higher end of weights the game is different but nevertheless i was able to build a decent amount of surplus strength which the belt allowd me to exihibit. That's one way to use the belt, more in line with the thinking that you train hard without something and then add it at the end for something extra. But using a belt for a good amount of time during training - that's something ive never actually tried yet..
in terms of athleticism teh causality isn't so clearcut. I think it comes down to strength reserves. When i ended the high volume phase last summer i had enough reserve strength that i didn't need to use a belt in training to develop. However was that the most efficient way to acquire that athleticism? Kingfisher might never use a belt or do squats with a bounce but he has enough reserve to be able to do 2xbw squats for longish sets of several reps with a belt (if he ever used one). For him training with hard mode (paused, no belt etc) makes sense because he might not want to use 200kg+ weights every day in training. But if he was solely interested in athleticism it would be a different ball game.
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Not to belabor the point but i think i understand the objection against belted squatting for optimal athletic gains - it's a syllogism of the form:
- powerlifters use lots of gear. powerlifters are not athletic - ergo gear does not build athleticism and it may detract from it
and i understand that perfectly well. But lets stop and think about hte typical powerlifter. They've probably never jumped (or sprinted or done anything remotely athletic) in their life. It's a sport which self-selects for those who don't have the skill or talent for actual athletic activity. Powerlifters are the rejects of the athletic world, those who can't athlete, powerlift. Huge generalisation i know but it's probably mostly true. Weightlifters are the gifted athletes among strength sports. Mediocre weightlifters are usually mediocre athletes.
Powerlifters train for minimal depth and do the slow lifts in an especially slow manner, agian, not what im talking about. If you use a belt and grind out every rep from start to finish with borderline depth, that's not going to build athleticism anymore (or less) than a straight up pause squat san belt. To get the athletic benefit out of the belt you want adequate depth AND a strong rebound which is faciliated by wearing the belt.
If you took the average person and trained them with a belt keeping in mind depth and bar speed you'd see more athletic gains than if they were using relatively lighter weights with no belt and/or paused (two extremes). the former would give the best carryover and the latter the least.
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i doubt the carryover is as sensitive as you think no matter which way is "more athletic." squats are GPP for everything but squatting. belted, not belted, high bar, low bar, whatever. if you're getting stronger then they're working.
EDIT: also, yeah, sprinting with phone sounds like a bad idea. i thought you were talking about taking up jogging, in which case measuring a course on google maps takes a few minutes tops and you can carry a stopwatch or wear a cheap watch.
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no way of measuring on the road
watch plus map?
i tried it this morning. i lost my battery about 20s into the run(my 'gym' phone has no back lid!). then i had a nice run of about 6 minutes before i ran out of road (But i was ded also). i managed to get speed of around 15km/hr which i couldn't sustain but it was so much fun. just very very different from treadmill running. wanted to pace myself to run 5km without breaks and i failed at that, gps kept dropping out and that killed my buzz when the phone announced that. it was hot and im not sure i'd wanna do that very often in the summer :/
think mutumbo's suggestion of running on grass might be the way to go. just need to get my shit together and find a nice place to run in the evenings where ppl are't walking their dogs etc
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Bodyweight(AM): 83.0kg (11th dec)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 25/25 days
Daily Run: 24/24 days
Basketball skill work:
Training:
AM Fast run ~ 5km total
PM squats 6x97.5, 6x107.5, 3x117.5, 2x127.5, 1x130 (paused the first rep on all these),
PM belted squats 1x130, 1x132.5, 1x135, 10x107.5
Notes:
First road run was fun albeit hard to adjust to not having a set pace. I can't wait to get my watch. Will do more running outside for sure.
Daily squatting is starting to 'work'. FINALLY. I attribute it to including the belt in the last workout. Spooky how quickly it has given a benefit. The bar now feels like a feather on my back which i think is a consequence of the belt accelerating adaptions due to the increased IAP. I did a set of 10 with 107.5kg today and it fit inside a single insta clip so i did it at a good pace (no crazy rests between reps). I think the running has helped my body's ability to recover not just between training sessions but even between reps? Missed out on all those benefits of cardio all this time. What's funny is that my paused beltless has gone up too, did a top single with 130kg today for the first time in months. Nice. I'm definitely on the right track with this hybrid training mixing up the different factors.
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Bodyweight(AM): 81.5kg (12th dec)
Diet compliance: 1/1 days
Daily Squat: 26/26 days
Daily Run: 25/25 days
Basketball skill work:
Training:
AM Warmup run 1km
AM Fast run 2x[11min, 2km, 10.9 km/hr] (PR)
PM Squat 6x100, 6x110, 3x120, 2x130 (paused 1st rep on all these)
PM Belted Squat 1x130, 1x137.5, 10x110
PM OHP 6x50, 2x57.5, 5x52.5, 5x52.5
PM Chinup 3x12, 3x8, 5xBW
PM Back Xtn 12x(Band, 20kg plate)
Notes:
Been neglecting upper body lately, went for a full body workout for a change.
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Bodyweight(AM): 81.7kg (13th dec)
Diet compliance: 2/2 days
Daily Squat: 27/27 days
Daily Run: 26/26 days
Basketball skill work:
Training:
AM Long run - 8.56km in 60 mins (PR)
PM BS 6x100, 6x112.5, 3x122.5, 2x130 (paused 1st reps)
PM Belted BS 1x132.5, 1x140, 4x120, 11x111
PM Speed run 4x400m
Notes:
Got the GPS watch and tested it out with some 400m repeats on grass. I took Mutombo's advice and found a nice marked out park in my area. Fresh lines and all. Was a bit self conscious at first cos they were doing some kind of social function at the club which overlooks the field.
My fastest one was at 4:03 pace which i struggled to maintain i must confess. I was actually feeling great until around 300m when i just hit a wall and slow down a lot. Does this tell you guys im really unfit?? If i had done another 400m repeat, i would have done a total of 2km but i didn't realise that at the time. So if my goal is to run a sub 20 5k, then it's probably never going to happen considering i can barely maintain a 4 min pace for 400m lol. Did anyone think i was this badly out of shape? Any words of wisdom welcome!
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.3kg (14th dec)
Diet compliance: 3/3 days
Daily Squat: 28/28 days
Daily Run: 27/27 days
Basketball skill work:
Training:
AM medium run 6.66km, 40 min @ 10 km/hr (PR)
PM BS 6x100, 6x115, 3x125, 1x130 (paused 1st rep on all these), 1x132.5
PM Belted BS 1x135, 1x142.5, 10x112.5
PM BP 8x40, 6x50
PM Dips 8xBW
PM Sprints 2x400m; 10x100m tempos
Notes:
Got really frustrated at my gym today. I walked out my max and i was about to squat it and this girl starts to head down to the weight tree just behind me. It's not her fault, the gym staff are clearly to blame for setting it up so badly but i aborted the rep and put the bar back angrily. A few minutes later i tried again and got the rep but it was a bad rep. So i can't max out at this gym, i need to find another one real soon. Losing patience at how long it's taking me to get to where i was earlier in the year when i was maintaining a 150kg EOD max raw. Now im struggling to put 142.5kg up with a belt? Sucks.
Finally i did some track works again tonight ... thought to try tempos.
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Bodyweight(AM): 81.7kg (13th dec)
Diet compliance: 2/2 days
Daily Squat: 27/27 days
Daily Run: 26/26 days
Basketball skill work:
Training:
AM Long run - 8.56km in 60 mins (PR)
PM BS 6x100, 6x112.5, 3x122.5, 2x130 (paused 1st reps)
PM Belted BS 1x132.5, 1x140, 4x120, 11x111
PM Speed run 4x400m
Notes:
Got the GPS watch and tested it out with some 400m repeats on grass. I took Mutombo's advice and found a nice marked out park in my area. Fresh lines and all. Was a bit self conscious at first cos they were doing some kind of social function at the club which overlooks the field.
My fastest one was at 4:03 pace which i struggled to maintain i must confess. I was actually feeling great until around 300m when i just hit a wall and slow down a lot. Does this tell you guys im really unfit?? If i had done another 400m repeat, i would have done a total of 2km but i didn't realise that at the time. So if my goal is to run a sub 20 5k, then it's probably never going to happen considering i can barely maintain a 4 min pace for 400m lol. Did anyone think i was this badly out of shape? Any words of wisdom welcome!
one suggestion: for your harder efforts, run more by feel than by looking at the watch .. then look at the watch afterwards (at the end of the lap, or after the workout etc). use that feedback to tweak what you felt. if you look at your watch going fast, you're going to be alot less relaxed, run alot harder than you should, etc.. first put the distance in your head, that you are about to run, then take off but gradually, staying loose and just "going hard" but whatever "hard" is relative to that endpoint or lap distance you put in your head.
for slower runs, you can look at your watch right away. as long as it's relaxed, you can work on pacing etc by getting feedback from the watch.
so ya, don't get real-time feedback from your watch initially, unless it's just like a short stride or something (~50m) .. hard efforts w/ watch feedback, can be rough. have to get used to it.
you'll probably make some solid improvement over the next few months if you keep it up .. you might be surprised.
pc! :ibrunning:
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one suggestion: for your harder efforts, run more by feel than by looking at the watch .. then look at the watch afterwards (at the end of the lap, or after the workout etc). use that feedback to tweak what you felt. if you look at your watch going fast, you're going to be alot less relaxed, run alot harder than you should, etc.. first put the distance in your head, that you are about to run, then take off but gradually, staying loose and just "going hard" but whatever "hard" is relative to that endpoint or lap distance you put in your head.
Thank you, that's solid advice! i will keep that in mind.
for slower runs, you can look at your watch right away. as long as it's relaxed, you can work on pacing etc by getting feedback from the watch.
today was the first time i looked at the watch while running 400m repeats and i saw for the first 200m i was doing a really fast pace (for me) of 3 min something. But as i progressed thru the run around 300m i could see my pace begin to fall off to around 4 mins. it was pretty illuminating cos you know intuitively that you're slowing but to see the numbers really solidifies it for me. by the way, the way i feel on the last 100m - that's exactly how i play 99% of full court basketball games (yes only competition no pickup). so does this give any sort of notion on how to structure training to improve my game fitness?
so ya, don't get real-time feedback from your watch initially, unless it's just like a short stride or something (~50m) .. hard efforts w/ watch feedback, can be rough. have to get used to it.
on the 100m tempos i noticed the watch was nailing the 100m distance as i finished them, which was nice to see cos i had concerns about accuracy.
you'll probably make some solid improvement over the next few months if you keep it up .. you might be surprised.
im pretty much PR every single time i train (daily -- morning treadmill runs and evening track). but the frustrating part is my present fitness is prob a lot lower than what most basketball players would begin with (with no training). i dont even believe my training will actually really achieve anything about my bad fitness, think it might be genetic but if it does, i'll be super delighted to be surprised.
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Bodyweight(AM): 81.6kg (15th dec)
Diet compliance: 4/4 days
Daily Squat: 29/29 days
Daily Run: 28/28 days
Basketball skill work:
Training:
AM Fast run - 20 min @ 11.5km/hr (PR)
PM BS 6x100, 6x117.5, 3x127.5, 1x130 (paused 1st reps), 1x135; Belted BS 1x137.5, 1x140, 11x115(PR)
PM Back Xtn 14xBW[+band, 20kg plate]
PM Tempo run - 10x100m @ 20s
Notes:
First squat PR in a looooooooooooong time lol. Even tho ive done 10x132.5kg before, it's the first time i've done 11 i think; i'll take it. Joined a new gym! But access card did not work today, so will prob need to wait til monday to get that sorted out.
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I jusg want to do a quick post on daily training as ive hit the 4 week mark today. Every morning i've done a treadmill run and a max squat session at lunch time. Last 2 days ive added an evening track session as well. Daily training is probably the best program for someone like me (=hard gainer). It's been freeing to just take every day as just another day, there are no special days in training which you dread or worry about 'recovery' since you train daily, every day is just another day. You don't worry about recovery because your body just normalises being recovered. In a way what daily training has achieved that is most valuable is being very good at recovery. All those years babying my body in lieu of recovery just seems to be a huge waste of time in comparison because it turns out recovery is something trainable too.
In terms of gains, my warmup squat sets look super smooth, technically crisp and bar speed is incredible. I reach a point in every workout where things slow down and form begins to deteriorate, if someone else was more disciplined and patient then they could do more work under that threshold but i've got a timeline to adhere to so i've been pushing the envelop past that point every day.
The most impressive thing so far is probably the development of lower leg strength and size which i attribute to daily running. Avoiding cardio seems to be the biggest mistake of all now, not only does it help recovery in a big way but it also helps develop the lower leg musculature which lifting never did.
In terms of actually getting fit, 4 weeks in, im still i'd say way below average for someone who plays sport. But im also holding a lot of water (due to chronic bad broken sleep) so when i figure out how to start sleeping better, i'll probably find my bodyweight drops and i'll be a bit closer to average fitness. Far away from PRs in the weight room still.
Lets see what the next 4 weeks bring!
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Bodyweight(AM): 81.6kg (15th dec)
Diet compliance: 4/4 days
Daily Squat: 29/29 days
Daily Run: 28/28 days
Basketball skill work:
Training:
AM Fast run - 20 min @ 11.5km/hr (PR)
PM BS 6x100, 6x117.5, 3x127.5, 1x130 (paused 1st reps), 1x135; Belted BS 1x137.5, 1x140, 11x115(PR)
PM Back Xtn 14xBW[+band, 20kg plate]
Notes:
First squat PR in a looooooooooooong time lol. Even tho ive done 10x132.5kg before, it's the first time i've done 11 i think; i'll take it. Joined a new gym! But access card did not work today, so will prob need to wait til monday to get that sorted out.
Nice work!
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Bodyweight(AM): 81.6kg (16th dec)
Diet compliance: 5/5 days
Daily Squat: 30/30 days
Daily Run: 29/29 days
Basketball skill work:
Training:
AM Hard run 3x5:40 repeats of 1.33km @ 12.5km/hr for a total of 4km (PR)
PM BS 6x100, 6x120, 3x130 (paused 1st reps), 1x137.5, Belted BS 1x145, 12x117.5(PR)
PM BP 5x70, 3x80, 1x90, 6x75
PM Dips 3x6x20
PM Back Xtn 1x15(+20kg, bands)
PM Tempo run 10x100m @ 20s with walking recovery
Notes:
So it's annoying having my squat run and run run off by one. lol. im just going to pretend i didn't do one day of squatting to start with and that way i'll have the same number of days at 30 starting tmr. Long term it will make it easier.
That hard run was brutal. I'm realising why the (lifting biased) internet hates cardio so much lol. it's easier doing a hard set that's over in a minute, minute-and-half max than the hellish torture of sustaining a hard pace. I wanted to die/quit all thru that run.
Nice work!
Thanks. I really appreciate the support, esp with the track suggestion. I'm really enjoying it :highfive:
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Bodyweight(AM): 81.6kg (16th dec)
Diet compliance: 5/5 days
Daily Squat: 29/29 days
Daily Run: 29/29 days
Basketball skill work:
Training:
AM Hard run 3x5:40 repeats of 1.33km @ 12.5km/hr for a total of 4km (PR)
Notes:
So it's annoying having my squat run and run run off by one. lol. im just going to pretend i didn't do one day of squatting to start with and that way i'll have the same number of days at 29. Long term it will make it easier.
That hard run was brutal. I'm realising why the (lifting biased) internet hates cardio so much lol. it's easier doing a hard set that's over in a minute, minute-and-half max than the hellish torture of sustaining a hard pace. I wanted to die/quit all thru that run.
lol. running can be very brutal.
nice relaxed running should be enjoyable tho .. not sure how anyone can hate it, other than just being "bored". but if people get bored so easily, i question that. :D
Nice work!
Thanks. I really appreciate the support, esp with the track suggestion. I'm really enjoying it :highfive:
nice!
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So are we the only ones in the 600mg or more caffeine per day club? You, Kingfish, and me? Sometimes I feel like I need 500 mg caffeine just to make it to the gym.... this can't be good.
when i was dieting down i was using 600mg a day. Down to 500mg since now i use 200mg for the morning run (which does nothing, it's just habit.. i don't even feel anything but i believe it might help me perform/recover better slightly). For the squat session at lunch i use 300mg. Again don't really get anything out of it but if i didnt use it i'd perform worse so ya i just take it. My idea was to drop down after cutting but im trying to get my lifts to somewhere respectable first..
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.0kg (17th dec)
Diet compliance: 6/6 days
Daily Squat: 30/30 days
Daily Run: 30/30 days
Basketball skill work:
Training:
AM Run, 1km warmup, 3km in total of 15 minutes with a 2min rest in between at 12.2-12.7km/hr
PM BS 6x100, 6x122.5, 3x132.5 (paused 1st reps), 1x140, Belt BS 1x147.5
PM BS 6x100, 1x120
PM Run ~ 500m in the park
Notes:
Ok treadmill running is fools gold. I'm delusional if i think it means anything in the real world. But the alternative isn't outdoor running, it's no running. Better than nothign right? I just can't bring myself to commit to pounding the concrete in the summer heat. lol. Trained in the evening at my new gym just up to a 120kg single and i called it a day to go run, but i didn't really do anything, just find it so demotivating that i can't even maintain a 6:00 pace in the real world as opposed to the fake world of the treadmill. What a waste of time.
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you just got into it but you're demotivated. lool. not good. stop stressing the clock.
as for heat.. run outside at night?
i don't get why you'd expect the treadmill to translate much.
- treadmill running = you're keeping up with something that's forcing you to move
- real running = you're pushing yourself entirely
- in racing, there's a bit of the 'keeping up with something' effect
as for treadmill running being fools gold ... ya sure, if you're trying to equate it to real world running. but, it's definitely running, so it is still improving qualities important to running. it just doesn't translate directly, so you have to do real runs to realize any gains you'd get from the treadmill. some elites swear by the treadmill .. it's a small percentage, but some find it very effective. they do crazy runs on there.. but then they also hit the roads etc.
Mo Farah has tons of clips of himself on the treadmill. He does some long runs on there (15-20 miles and such).
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you just got into it but you're demotivated. lool. not good. stop stressing the clock.
lol i was running very relaxed/slow and just couldn't believe that even at that slowish pace of 5:something i was struggling to reach 500m .. talk about a reality check! It seems i've barely started to crawl when i thought i was well on my way to run :o
as for heat.. run outside at night?
just might have to start doing that imho. either that or super early in the AM?
i don't get why you'd expect the treadmill to translate much.
- treadmill running = you're keeping up with something that's forcing you to move
- real running = you're pushing yourself entirely
- in racing, there's a bit of the 'keeping up with something' effect
i literally didn't think the disparity would be that huge. It's almost like there is zero carry over. The only thing i can think of is if you use the treadmill to work at the limit of your ability it might be training CV system but in a really unique way which won't transfer to real world running. So i think the only way treadmill running can help you is you already have a good amount of real world running training and the treadmill just keeps, in LBBS words, 'the embers burning'.
as for treadmill running being fools gold ... ya sure, if you're trying to equate it to real world running. but, it's definitely running, so it is still improving qualities important to running. it just doesn't translate directly, so you have to do real runs to realize any gains you'd get from the treadmill. some elites swear by the treadmill .. it's a small percentage, but some find it very effective. they do crazy runs on there.. but then they also hit the roads etc.
said it even better. you nailed it
Mo Farah has tons of clips of himself on the treadmill. He does some long runs on there (15-20 miles and such).
yea actually it was from watching mo's video about treadmill running that i thought i was on the right track. thanks mo, you gave me false belief :( treadmill running probably just acts as some kind of recovery for him and not much. i have to start from scratch now. any ideas? my first goal might be to actually run a km in the real world and then try to improve on the distance/time over time? any suggestions?
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.1kg (18th dec)
Diet compliance: 7/7 days
Daily Squat: 31/31 days
Daily Run: 31/31 days
Basketball skill work:
Training:
AM Run 1.5km - 09:17 at 06:04 pace (PR), TM run 1.5km in 7 mins @ 12.9km/hr.
PM BS 6x100, 6x125(paused 1st), 1x140, Belt BS 8x120
PM Back Xtn 17xBW(+20kg, band)
PM Run 2.5km - 15 mins at 05:55 pace (PR!)
Notes:
My first real world run ever, lol. I find the TM run to be more challenging to CV system but the real world run more challenging to my muscular system, if i can put it that way
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i have to start from scratch now. any ideas? my first goal might be to actually run a km in the real world and then try to improve on the distance/time over time? any suggestions?
ah, since you put it that way, yea I definitely have some advice:
just relax and go run around. don't look at your watch much. instead, use it to record your activities. dissect the data afterwards. run harder some days. run lighter most days. sometimes do a short run. sometimes do a longer run. run strides at the end of most runs, just a few pick me ups for ~50m to finish with the nervous system firing. don't worry much about intervals now, ie if you want to do intervals, do it by feel: run hard for a bit (pick a spot from point A to B), then jog rest until you want to run again, repeat. do more runs outside than on the treadmill.
it's simple.. if you take an over analysis approach to it, you're going to be depressed, because running isn't easy, because the clock most always wins. let a gentle consistent approach improve your fitness for as long as possible. if you take this approach, you'll make more progress than trying to take a "2.5 lb added to the bar each week" approach, it's much more difficult with running. so be consistent and let it come. eventually you'll know when to do sharper workouts, ie very specific workouts & such targeting specific qualities, but right now it should be a very simple approach.
seriously, that's my advice.
:ninja:
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i have to start from scratch now. any ideas? my first goal might be to actually run a km in the real world and then try to improve on the distance/time over time? any suggestions?
ah, since you put it that way, yea I definitely have some advice:
just relax and go run around. don't look at your watch much. instead, use it to record your activities. dissect the data afterwards. run harder some days. run lighter most days. sometimes do a short run. sometimes do a longer run. run strides at the end of most runs, just a few pick me ups for ~50m to finish with the nervous system firing. don't worry much about intervals now, ie if you want to do intervals, do it by feel: run hard for a bit (pick a spot from point A to B), then jog rest until you want to run again, repeat. do more runs outside than on the treadmill.
it's simple.. if you take an over analysis approach to it, you're going to be depressed, because running isn't easy, because the clock most always wins. let a gentle consistent approach improve your fitness for as long as possible. if you take this approach, you'll make more progress than trying to take a "2.5 lb added to the bar each week" approach, it's much more difficult with running. so be consistent and let it come. eventually you'll know when to do sharper workouts, ie very specific workouts & such targeting specific qualities, but right now it should be a very simple approach.
seriously, that's my advice.
:ninja:
I took your advice to heart and went for an evening run tonight. Didn't feel like doing another shitty track workout (tempo sprints around a circular track seem to have bothered my right glute and it was getting pretty painful). So i went to the local lake and just ran along the bike path, not looking at the watch just trying to stay at a comfortable pace. It was nice and pleasant and the surroundings were beautiful. I think this is the right way to go. When i finished the run i looked at my watch and saw i run a sub 6 minute pace for the 2.5km (which is what i decided to go for today). Not bad! And i ran within myself so i think i can do a bit better, cos in the last 600m i went a bit faster and saw my pace was around 5:something which i felt i could sustain once i'd warmed up. I think my initial attempts at outdoor running were taking too much to heart how hard it was to maintain a 'good' pace at the start, but if i was properly warmed into it, i prob could do a lot better i just need to be patient and let my body guide me thru the run.
TLDR: AM treadmill runs for cardio and PM lake run = win.
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i have to start from scratch now. any ideas? my first goal might be to actually run a km in the real world and then try to improve on the distance/time over time? any suggestions?
ah, since you put it that way, yea I definitely have some advice:
just relax and go run around. don't look at your watch much. instead, use it to record your activities. dissect the data afterwards. run harder some days. run lighter most days. sometimes do a short run. sometimes do a longer run. run strides at the end of most runs, just a few pick me ups for ~50m to finish with the nervous system firing. don't worry much about intervals now, ie if you want to do intervals, do it by feel: run hard for a bit (pick a spot from point A to B), then jog rest until you want to run again, repeat. do more runs outside than on the treadmill.
it's simple.. if you take an over analysis approach to it, you're going to be depressed, because running isn't easy, because the clock most always wins. let a gentle consistent approach improve your fitness for as long as possible. if you take this approach, you'll make more progress than trying to take a "2.5 lb added to the bar each week" approach, it's much more difficult with running. so be consistent and let it come. eventually you'll know when to do sharper workouts, ie very specific workouts & such targeting specific qualities, but right now it should be a very simple approach.
seriously, that's my advice.
:ninja:
I took your advice to heart and went for an evening run tonight. Didn't feel like doing another shitty track workout (tempo sprints around a circular track seem to have bothered my right glute and it was getting pretty painful). So i went to the local lake and just ran along the bike path, not looking at the watch just trying to stay at a comfortable pace. It was nice and pleasant and the surroundings were beautiful. I think this is the right way to go. When i finished the run i looked at my watch and saw i run a sub 6 minute pace for the 2.5km (which is what i decided to go for today). Not bad! And i ran within myself so i think i can do a bit better, cos in the last 600m i went a bit faster and saw my pace was around 5:something which i felt i could sustain once i'd warmed up. I think my initial attempts at outdoor running were taking too much to heart how hard it was to maintain a 'good' pace at the start, but if i was properly warmed into it, i prob could do a lot better i just need to be patient and let my body guide me thru the run.
TLDR: AM treadmill runs for cardio and PM lake run = win.
there we go. now that sounds alot better :ninja: :highfive: :ibrunning:
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.1kg (19th dec)
Diet compliance: 8/8 days
Daily Squat: 32/32 days
Daily Run: 32/32 days
Basketball skill work:
Training:
AM Run 3km, 16:48, 5:30 pace, 145HR, 125cm stride, 145 step freq (PR)
PM BS 6x100, 6x127.5, 1x142.5, Belt BS 9x122.5
PM Refresh UB: OHP 6x40, 3x50, Chinup 5xBW
PM Run 2.5km 13:58, 5:33 pace, 149 HR, 145cm stride, 146 step freq
Notes:
Went for my first proper day run. It was hot and almost difficult. I think evening runs will be my go-to thru the summer but i may be playing basketball tonight so i went for an AM one today.
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Just making a note that my bodyweight is a bit higher than i'd like it to be. I've been eating to recover from daily training but i don't think my hormonal levels have yet recovered from the 6-8 fucking months of cutting i did this year. So just need to be careful for a while before they go back to normal and i can start to eat more food. Making the tough decision to cut out the daily bowl of pasta ive been having every night as a treat after dinner. I'll add it back maybe mid january or so when im closer to PR levels on my lifts.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.0kg (20th dec)
Diet compliance: 9/9 days
Daily Squat: 33/33 days
Daily Run: 33/33 days
Basketball skill work: T
Training:
AM run 2x1.75km run - see notes (PR)
PM BS 6x100, 2x120, 6x130(paused 1st reps), 1x140, 1x145, Belted BS 10x125
PM OHP 6x50, 4x57.5, 3x60, 5x50
PM Chinup 0x85(BW), 3x10, 5x5.
PM Back Xtn 19xBW(+20kg, band; PR)
Evening Ez Run 1.5km - 09:30, pace 06:17
Notes:
I split my AM run in half with a short stop in between instead of the U turn i'd been doing. So then have to wait for the watch to get a GPS fix and as soon as it did, i started the lap back. The interesting thing is it allows me to look at my watch and check the statistics for the two halves:
1/2: 1.75km - 09:34, Pace 05:23, HR 143, step freq 146, stride 122cm
2/2: 1.75km - 08:50, Pace 05:00, HR 135, step freq 146, stride 127cm
so im a lot faster in the 2nd. It would suggest if i was better warmed up for the first lap i'd have better overall times. But It was quite hot again this morning and even running 200m is hard work and you don't wanna do superfluous running that doesn't 'count'. Maybe in time i'll be able to afford a warmup run prior? Right now i'm struggling to just do the main run that i can't really think about adding a warmup. It would seem I run better in the morning than evening so im not sure what that's about considering evenings are much more comfortable conditions. Still, seeing rapid improvements in the sense that this was my 4th real world run ever. I also wanna point out I wore my new Adidas Ultraboost Uncaged shoes(DA9163) for a test run. Pretty great for a first wear. I think i'll make them my main training pair. Later down the line I'll look to find a pair i can use to PR my (trail road) run. Suggestions welcome.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.0kg (20th dec)
Diet compliance: 9/9 days
Daily Squat: 33/33 days
Daily Run: 33/33 days
Basketball skill work:
Training:
AM run 2x1.75km run - see notes (PR)
PM BS 6x100, 2x120, 6x130(paused 1st reps), 1x140, 1x145, Belted BS 10x125
PM OHP 6x50, 4x57.5, 3x60, 5x50
PM Chinup 0x85(BW), 3x10, 5x5.
PM Back Xtn 19xBW(+20kg, band; PR)
Evening Ez Run 1.5km - 09:30, pace 06:17
Notes:
I split my AM run in half with a short stop in between instead of the U turn i'd been doing. So then have to wait for the watch to get a GPS fix and as soon as it did, i started the lap back. The interesting thing is it allows me to look at my watch and check the statistics for the two halves:
1/2: 1.75km - 09:34, Pace 05:23, HR 143, step freq 146, stride 122cm
2/2: 1.75km - 08:50, Pace 05:00, HR 135, step freq 146, stride 127cm
so im a lot faster in the 2nd. It would suggest if i was better warmed up for the first lap i'd have better overall times.
yup makes sense. that's the way it normally goes. unless you're running too hard from the getgo (ie race-life, or going too aggressive in a workout).
But It was quite hot again this morning and even running 200m is hard work and you don't wanna do superfluous running that doesn't 'count'. Maybe in time i'll be able to afford a warmup run prior?
nah.. you're just too "afraid" to run super slow. probably ego-ish etc. most people have that "issue".
my warmup pace is like 9:XX-11:XX min/mi, i look like a 90 year old man........... lmfao.
to warmup, go CRAZY slow and throw in progressively more intense short strides, until you are ready to go.
for speed workouts, I like to do:
- 1 mile very light (9:XX-11:XX min/mi)
- 1 mile with progressively more intense strides at 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75
- 0.5-1 mile extremely light
- crank
for light workouts:
- 1 mile very light (9-11 min/mi)
- pick it up slowly
Right now i'm struggling to just do the main run that i can't really think about adding a warmup. It would seem I run better in the morning than evening so im not sure what that's about considering evenings are much more comfortable conditions.
you might just be a morning runner. it's real. i'm an evening runner.
it can also fluctuate, and it's trainable.
Still, seeing rapid improvements in the sense that this was my 4th real world run ever. I also wanna point out I wore my new Adidas Ultraboost Uncaged shoes(DA9163) for a test run. Pretty great for a first wear. I think i'll make them my main training pair. Later down the line I'll look to find a pair i can use to PR my (trail road) run. Suggestions welcome.
nice!!
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It's funny cos ive tried the force myself out at a shuffle to warm up . But it seems my body is more 'efficient' at longer strides, so it ends up feeling not just unnatural at a glacial pace, but also not easy? last night's run i kept myself at a slowish pace thinking it would be more enjoyable (06:17 /km) and it was still fairly challenging. Morning runs just feel like torture every second, whether im warming up or running at my limit (which happens pretty much 99.0% of the time). During i just tell myself this isn't something i wanna do ever again. On the drive after the run i'm like i did it, bring on tmr. lol.
This morning i did a 500m warmup. It was prob the hottest morning run i've done. I wasted my winter doing stupid lyle mcdonald shit when i could have been making the most of those awesome conditions for getting into running shape! fuck that guy. but i digress. i jogged slowly out, then I walked a bit, sprint a bit (strides?), jogged a tiny bit more, and then when i hit 500m i just stopped. looked at my watch and this was the data for that 'run':
0.51km - 02:44 - pace 05:16"
so i have to some figuring out to do but i think any warmup is better than no warmup so i'll figure out what it takes my body to feel ready to go, which i dont have an answer for yet.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.2kg (21th dec)
Diet compliance: 10/10 days
Daily Squat: 34/34 days
Daily Run: 34/34 days
Basketball skill work:
Training:
Morning Warmup run 0.5km, Hard run 2x1.9km (see notes; PR)
Lunch BS 6x100, 2x120, 6x132.5(paused 1st reps), 1x140, Belt BS 8x127.5
Evening Ez run - 2.5km - 16:21, pace 06:31
Notes:
Morning run notes:
1/1 1.9km - 09:37 - 05:01 pace
1/2 1.9km - 09:46 - 05:06 pace
The heat killed me in the lap back. yikes. But progress in that i ran further. I was bargaining during the run saying, just do 250m more than last time and wasted all this mental energy calculating what that would mean for my goal etc. 2km just felt too far to lap tho. Maybe tmr. Falling in love with the adidas ultraboosts .. it's like wearing a sock more than a shoe. So nice.
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It's funny cos ive tried the force myself out at a shuffle to warm up . But it seems my body is more 'efficient' at longer strides, so it ends up feeling not just unnatural at a glacial pace, but also not easy? last night's run i kept myself at a slowish pace thinking it would be more enjoyable (06:17 /km) and it was still fairly challenging. Morning runs just feel like torture every second, whether im warming up or running at my limit (which happens pretty much 99.0% of the time). During i just tell myself this isn't something i wanna do ever again. On the drive after the run i'm like i did it, bring on tmr. lol.
there's no such thing as a longer stride shuffle.. :D
nah.. even the best runners in the world know how to shuffle. you're probably used to landing with foot further out in front of you, ie reaching out a bit. in a very light shuffle/trot, you land directly underneath you, just nice and relaxed. it's just a very limited ROM movement, ie, very short stride length, low stride frequency.. just really relaxed & gentle.
warmups should start out like that imho.
This morning i did a 500m warmup. It was prob the hottest morning run i've done. I wasted my winter doing stupid lyle mcdonald shit when i could have been making the most of those awesome conditions for getting into running shape! fuck that guy.
lool wuut.
but i digress. i jogged slowly out, then I walked a bit, sprint a bit (strides?), jogged a tiny bit more, and then when i hit 500m i just stopped. looked at my watch and this was the data for that 'run':
0.51km - 02:44 - pace 05:16"
so i have to some figuring out to do but i think any warmup is better than no warmup so i'll figure out what it takes my body to feel ready to go, which i dont have an answer for yet.
right it's something you'll need to learn about yourself.
just think of it like warming up soup.
ur soup. how would you heat up soup? u just throw the soup into a burning hot pan over incinerating fire? or you pour the soup into a pot, put it on the stove, and heat it up slowly. what if the soup is frozen? or just cold? or already warm af.
running and jumping is like that .. some days you need bigger warmups etc, some days - less so.
i've always been a fan of a progressive warmup. with jumping, i'd start out with dribbling, then go to layups, then work on very light jumps, trying to get sometimes millimeters higher per jump .. exercising lots of control, trying to take my CNS by the reigns. eventually working up to harder jumps from short run-ups, then harder jumps from nearly full run-up, then near max full run-up, then max full run-up etc.
i do the same thing with running.
also, for strides, they are ~20-100m .. i personally like them around ~20-50m, let's say 5-10s. 100m is too long for me, it's an actual effort.
and nah it's not a sprint. it's running, just fast running. but not sprinting.
u want to maintain running form, or the form you're basically aiming for during your actual run. and like i said before, it's progressive. ie, slow 30m stride, moderate 30m stride, bit faster than moderate 30m stride, fast 30m stride etc.
pc!
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Noted! One thing i didn't mention was when i do a shuffle it seems to bother my R glute more. Even walking back this morning was painful. Longer/faster strides seem not to? I do have to figure out what's going with that glute. I feel what made it worse was doing sprints with my crossfit (hard sole, zero cushioning) sprints until i stopped using those completely. It was getting really bad at the end of the sprints when you slow down, something to do with braking? Not sure..
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Noted! One thing i didn't mention was when i do a shuffle it seems to bother my R glute more. Even walking back this morning was painful. Longer/faster strides seem not to? I do have to figure out what's going with that glute. I feel what made it worse was doing sprints with my crossfit (hard sole, zero cushioning) sprints until i stopped using those completely. It was getting really bad at the end of the sprints when you slow down, something to do with braking? Not sure..
ah damn. ya be careful.
try to avoid accumulating tweaks early on. don't want to push through things like that, causing them to become chronic. especially early on.
also for shuffles/trots, remember that even just a 30-45 min trot is a great form of running itself. very slow relaxed running still benefits, especially if you need recovery .. those are great for recovery. my speed is usually much better after a very relaxed slow run day.
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Noted! One thing i didn't mention was when i do a shuffle it seems to bother my R glute more. Even walking back this morning was painful. Longer/faster strides seem not to? I do have to figure out what's going with that glute. I feel what made it worse was doing sprints with my crossfit (hard sole, zero cushioning) sprints until i stopped using those completely. It was getting really bad at the end of the sprints when you slow down, something to do with braking? Not sure..
ah damn. ya be careful.
try to avoid accumulating tweaks early on. don't want to push through things like that, causing them to become chronic. especially early on.
also for shuffles/trots, remember that even just a 30-45 min trot is a great form of running itself. very slow relaxed running still benefits, especially if you need recovery .. those are great for recovery. my speed is usually much better after a very relaxed slow run day.
i followed your recommendation for tonight's ez run. didn't bother my glute and i felt like shit before the run and really great afterwards. sort of a recovery run. beautiful. thanks!!
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Noted! One thing i didn't mention was when i do a shuffle it seems to bother my R glute more. Even walking back this morning was painful. Longer/faster strides seem not to? I do have to figure out what's going with that glute. I feel what made it worse was doing sprints with my crossfit (hard sole, zero cushioning) sprints until i stopped using those completely. It was getting really bad at the end of the sprints when you slow down, something to do with braking? Not sure..
ah damn. ya be careful.
try to avoid accumulating tweaks early on. don't want to push through things like that, causing them to become chronic. especially early on.
also for shuffles/trots, remember that even just a 30-45 min trot is a great form of running itself. very slow relaxed running still benefits, especially if you need recovery .. those are great for recovery. my speed is usually much better after a very relaxed slow run day.
i followed your recommendation for tonight's ez run. didn't bother my glute and i felt like shit before the run and really great afterwards. sort of a recovery run. beautiful. thanks!!
ah nice. good work!
ya light running like that is very important and very beneficial. lots of people run "too hard, too often", it's probably the most well known issue in the running/endurance community.
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Bodyweight(AM): 81.7kg (22th dec)
Diet compliance: 11/11 days
Daily Squat: 35/35 days
Daily Run: 35/35 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: Ez TM run - 6km - 45:12, 07:32 pace
Noon: BS 4x135, 1x142.5, Belt BS 6x130
Dips 12xBW
Back Xtn 15x(40kg, bands)
Evening: Run 5km, 28:10, 05:36 pace (PR; distance, 5k time)
Notes:
Another hot day. I'm going to to the ez run in the AM and try push in the PM run for a change. Can't be bothered going out in 43(!!) degree heat just to torture myself. Hopefully this means my lunch squat session will benefit too, cos im knocking on the door of PR territory and suprisingly weigh as little as 81.7kg (?!). I may well have expected to read 83.x something today as i did a refeed last night but it was the first night of unbroken sleep ive had in months - so my theory that i'll lose a bit of water anytime i manage a good night of sleep came true.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.1kg (23 dec)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 36/36 days
Daily Run: 36/36 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon:
Evening:
Notes:
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.1kg (23 dec)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 36/36 days
Daily Run: 36/36 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM Run 6km, 36:15
Noon:BS 3x135, 2x137.5, 1x140, Belt BS 7x130
Back Xtn 16x(40kg, bands)
Evening: Run 5.5km, 32:15, 05:48 pace (PR; distance)
Notes:
Sadly that's two squat workouts ruined by 'couples who train together'. They end up RIGHT next to me and i just feel self conscious cos i dont want to demasculate the invariably weak little dude who is with his woman and you're just trying to hit a PR and need to be mentally dialled in and aggressive. I have no problem being aggressive if the dude is training alone, or if it's two women, or a strong dude and a woman, but something about the combination of a weak guy trainer with his gf just kills my mood. I feel like if i act aggressive i'll be making him look bad infront of his woman so i just lose the mental battle out of politeness. Sucks cos before they showed up the gym was practically empty, as soon as i get to my last warmup before the first workset, (both days) the couples show up and then i gotta watch the weak guy balance plates around me in my peripheral because he's not respecful enough to wait for the guy lifting heavy to finish his set. Might say something next time, like you girls are killing it.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.1kg (23 dec)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 36/36 days
Daily Run: 36/36 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM Run 6km, 36:15
Noon:BS 3x135, 2x137.5, 1x140, Belt BS 7x130
Back Xtn 16x(40kg, bands)
Evening:
Notes:
Sadly that's two squat workouts ruined by 'couples who train together'. They end up RIGHT next to me and i just feel self conscious cos i dont want to demasculate the invariably weak little dude who is with his woman and you're just trying to hit a PR and need to be mentally dialled in and aggressive. I have no problem being aggressive if the dude is training alone, or if it's two women, or a strong dude and a woman, but something about the combination of a weak guy trainer with his gf just kills my mood. I feel like if i act aggressive i'll be making him look bad infront of his woman so i just lose the mental battle out of politeness. Sucks cos before they showed up the gym was practically empty, as soon as i get to my last warmup before the first workset, (both days) the couples show up and then i gotta watch the weak guy balance plates around me in my peripheral because he's not respecful enough to wait for the guy lifting heavy to finish his set. Might say something next time, like you girls are killing it.
Change your attitude brother! Instead of feeling sorry for someone for being weak and not wanting to 'show them up', you should lift even bigger to inspire and motivate them.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.1kg (23 dec)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 36/36 days
Daily Run: 36/36 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM Run 6km, 36:15
Noon:BS 3x135, 2x137.5, 1x140, Belt BS 7x130
Back Xtn 16x(40kg, bands)
Evening: Run 5.5km, 32:15, 05:48 pace (PR; distance)
Notes:
Sadly that's two squat workouts ruined by 'couples who train together'. They end up RIGHT next to me and i just feel self conscious cos i dont want to demasculate the invariably weak little dude who is with his woman and you're just trying to hit a PR and need to be mentally dialled in and aggressive.
i just don't get how in the world you'd think you are "demasculating" him.
he's got a woman. he's probably good.
I have no problem being aggressive if the dude is training alone, or if it's two women, or a strong dude and a woman, but something about the combination of a weak guy trainer with his gf just kills my mood. I feel like if i act aggressive i'll be making him look bad infront of his woman so i just lose the mental battle out of politeness. Sucks cos before they showed up the gym was practically empty, as soon as i get to my last warmup before the first workset, (both days) the couples show up and then i gotta watch the weak guy balance plates around me in my peripheral because he's not respecful enough to wait for the guy lifting heavy to finish his set.
toxic ^^ :(
Might say something next time, like you girls are killing it.
wtf?
please don't do that. that would be unbelievably disrespectful.
also, doing stuff like that doesn't always turn out the way you think it will.. you never know who you're dealing with in life.
Bodyweight(AM): 82.1kg (23 dec)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 36/36 days
Daily Run: 36/36 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM Run 6km, 36:15
Noon:BS 3x135, 2x137.5, 1x140, Belt BS 7x130
Back Xtn 16x(40kg, bands)
Evening:
Notes:
Sadly that's two squat workouts ruined by 'couples who train together'. They end up RIGHT next to me and i just feel self conscious cos i dont want to demasculate the invariably weak little dude who is with his woman and you're just trying to hit a PR and need to be mentally dialled in and aggressive. I have no problem being aggressive if the dude is training alone, or if it's two women, or a strong dude and a woman, but something about the combination of a weak guy trainer with his gf just kills my mood. I feel like if i act aggressive i'll be making him look bad infront of his woman so i just lose the mental battle out of politeness. Sucks cos before they showed up the gym was practically empty, as soon as i get to my last warmup before the first workset, (both days) the couples show up and then i gotta watch the weak guy balance plates around me in my peripheral because he's not respecful enough to wait for the guy lifting heavy to finish his set. Might say something next time, like you girls are killing it.
Change your attitude brother! Instead of feeling sorry for someone for being weak and not wanting to 'show them up', you should lift even bigger to inspire and motivate them.
^^ this x 1000.
also, would probably be better not to even think about inspiring/motivating this guy. instead, there could be some good stuff one could learn from him. who knows.
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(https://i.imgur.com/Cx7FX6s.png)
This is kinda what bothers me about it
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Bodyweight(AM): 83.1kg (24 dec)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 37/37 days
Daily Run: 37/37 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:Long TM Run 60min, 8.08km, 7:26 pace (PR; distance)
Noon:BS 5x133.5, 1x137.5, 2x140B, 8x130B
Back Xtn 17x(40kg, bands)
Evening: Run 5km, 30:50, 06:09 pace
Notes:
Chance of getting a PR is very slim .. i think i need perfect conditions for that to happen (eg no one else in the gym or on other side where the dbs are). I just can't go for limit strength sets w/ ppl around me. The gym has a massive wall of full size mirror in front and i see pretty much the entire gym floor (except the db area) in my peripheral and it just inhibits my ability to dial in for a PR level focus. Just have to wait for hte right moments i guess, i can't do much else. Oh well.
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(https://i.imgur.com/Cx7FX6s.png)
This is kinda what bothers me about it
i dont get it?
what's mansplaining have to do with it? confused.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.3kg (25 dec)
Diet compliance: 1/1 days
Daily Squat: 38/38 days
Daily Run: 38/38 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:TM Hill Run 6km - 3°x10min, 4°x10min, 5°x10min
Noon:BS 5x135, 1x140, Belted BS 3x140, 5x135
Back Xtn 17x(40kg, band)
Evening: No run - had to go to a xmas thing (sad)
Notes:
I was getting bored of the same old thing every day so i decided to change the incline variable. No reason why TM training can't actually be harder or better than real world training if you use it properly. I always use an incline of 1 but today i went up to 5 and then in 2.5min intervals, dropped down to 0 while increasing speed up to 12km/hr (from an initial 7km/hr), for the last 2.5 mins just to see how it 'felt'. If i was going to go for a TM PR i'd prob struggle to get it at speeds over 12km/hr. Not sure if that's because i'm not fast enough OR if my TM is not really good at speeds higher than 12km/hr (sub 25 pace), cos my feet start slipping. Might be shoes or the motor struggling (it's just a home one not a fancy commercial one). Tbh it would be a good idea to one day do a run on the gym treadmill just to see how different it is, it may be i'm capable of more than i am at home.
Some other observations and thoughts from the TM hill run:
1- dropping from 5° to 4° felt so much easier than subsequent changes although i was obviously then increasing speed more so that might have something to do with it
2. If there is some kind of limit to my TM around 12km/hr then maybe instead of trying to get faster i should try to do more work at speeds around 11km/hr but with greater and greater inclines? That might translate to more training effect than trying to get to 15km/hr (4:00 pace) on this treadmill. However i may just be unfit/slow as a possiblity, im not sure
3. Watched a video on TM/RL running and the person claimed wind resistance becomes an issue at higher speeds IRL whereas on a TM you don't have that problem. The wind resistance is greater for taller guys than smaller ones. Maybe i shud aim for a sub 20 on the TM first, possibly on another TM tho. My old gym had those natural ones but whenever i tried them i found them very difficult lol so i never liked them for some reason
I realised last night ive ran 25km in the last 48hrs which is prob more than i had in my entire lifetime before this daily training experiment started. The 'gains' have been incredible, albeit not the PR kind (yet). I wake up feeling refreshed and energetic, recovery is nothing short of amazing. In the past after a 'hard' workout, i'd be completely destroyed for the rest of the week. Now it's just almost if it didn't happen because it's a daily occurrence so the body just deals with it as per normal. Not having the distinction between 'rest' days and 'workout' days has some downsides (in lifestyle terms) but in terms of effectiveness, it's nothing short of amazing. As i do more running my body comp seems to be improving as well, something to watch. It kind of makes sense tho, whenever i started playing basketball after a break, the first few weeks/months always saw rapid changes to body comp which i now understand is prob from being 'active' for a couple of hours at a time, albeit at a low pickup intensity, which is where my running seems to be heading lately. Maybe mimicking that same effect. Having said that, im not sure if the longer, slower runs ive been doing will actually help me achieve my running goal (sub 20 5k) .. i could be just wasting my time doing lots of slow kms for all i know. May need to do at least one or two hard runs in a week to just make sure i'm still making progress on that front. Thinking of possibly doing a saturday park run this weekend to find out but idk if it's worth it at my present stage of fitness.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.5kg (26 dec)
Diet compliance: 2/2 days
Daily Squat: 39/39 days
Daily Run: 39/39 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:TM Hill run - 2°,~40min, 6km
Noon:BS 3x137.5(paused 1st; PR), 2x140, 5x140B
Dips 3x8x16
Back Xtn 19x(40kg, band)
Evening:Run 6km, 36:01, 6:01 pace (PR; distance)
Notes:
Another hill run .. this time i kept the speed at 9km/hr and a 2 degree incline, still a pretty good workout. I finished the last km at around 12-15km/hr and sure enough my R foot started slipping .. so not sure if i can blame the motor but at least around 12km/hr i can maintain the pace even with an incline, i guess i will keep cranking the incline over time and hopefully it will translate to faster flat times.
Another good squat day, loving how quiet the gym is around this time of the year .. calm before the storm. im slowly starting to gain some confidence i'll be able to get out of baby weights soon, anything lower than 140kg is nothing accomplished. 140-150kg volume is where i need to be. Anything sub 140kg just doesn't translate to heavy singles in my experience. last summer when i was using 137.5kg for 10 sets of 5 and going up to 140kg just dropped me down to like 6 sets of 5, the change really is that dramatic. And after that 140kg i i couldn't even do a couple of sets of 5 at 142.5kg, but in any case all i managed was a very difficult 160kg single - that's it, not even 20kg more than my worksets. So i know ive accomplished almost nothing so far, the real work is about to begin to get my max singles around 165-170kg (2xbw).
Evening run was freaking gorgeous ... like wow. I kinda knew it would be today because it was a beautiful day but i didn't wanna carry a phone with me so i cud take some photos. Wish my running shorts had a zipped pocket for a phone.
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It's a bit disingenuous to claim a 137.5kg triple is a PR just cos i did the first rep paused lol. But it's not really possible to compare past PRs anyway. cos the past ones i did at my old gym, the older ones, were done on a (really great, solid, firm) platform but latter ones were done on gym rubber flooring. Whereas at my new gym all my lifts are done on a hard platform. That's one variable. Another is the older ones were done sans knee sleeves (or belt) and subsequent ones were done with knee sleeves. And some PRs were with a belt, on the platform and others were with a belt and no platform. Other variables are i did some of them at a bw of 89-92kg .. and i weigh 10kg less now. Another variable is im doing daily training whereas back then i was prob only doing 1 or two hard squat workouts a week etc. Yet another variable is i did zero cardio probably for the majority of my past training and now im doing lots of running, esp before lifting. So the line is blurry if you're trying to fairly compare old PRs and current lifts. Nevertheless here is a rough list of notable PRs that i'd like to surpass:
BS 10 sets of 5x137.5kg @ 87.8kg
BS 6 sets of 5x140kg @ 89.3kg
BS 160kg single @ 89.1kg (no sleeves, no belt, platform)
BS 170kg single @ 89.3kg (sleeves, belt, platform)
BS 6x137.5kg @ 91.3kg (sleeves, no belt,, no platform)
BS 6x147.5kg @ 91.6kg (belt, sleeves, no platform)
BS 8x142.5kg @ 91.3kg (belt, sleeves, platform)
BS 7 doubles at 150kg @ 89.2kg (no belt, no sleeves)
BS 6 triples of 150kg @ 90.2kg (belt, platform)
BS 10x135kg @ 91kg (belt, sleeves, no platform)
BS 3x160kg @ 92.4kg (belt, sleeves, no platform)
The closest one im at currently is prob the beltless 6x137.5kg .. which is kind of a meh PR anyway lol. But i'd like to get it soonish.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.1kg (27 dec)
Diet compliance: 3/3 days
Daily Squat: 40/40 days
Daily Run: 40/40 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:TM Hill Run - 3°, 6km, 34:04, 05:41 pace
Noon:BS 3x140(paused 1st; PR), 6x140B
Back Xtn 20x(40kg, bands)
Evening:Run 7km, 42:14, 06:01 pace (PR; distance)
Notes:
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.9kg (28 dec)
Diet compliance: 4/4 days
Daily Squat: 41/41 days
Daily Run: 41/41 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:TM 5k time trial - 26:06, 05:13 pace(PR)
Noon:BS 3x120, 2x140, 1x140, Belt BS 1x142.5, 1x145, 1x150, 2x142.5, 2x142.5
Back Xtn 12x(60kg, band)
Evening:Run 1.53km, 9:20, 6:06/km
Notes:
- Lol. Just when i think i've made some progress and got an e1rm of 2xbw my bw goes up like a kilo overnight. Alright bro.
- I am not sure if i want to treat tmr park run as a race. Ended up doing the morning run as a time trial even tho i meant to do a taper and go easy today but i started doing a hill at 4deg for the first km, 3 deg for the 2nd km and then 1 for the next one. Did the last 2km with a zero incline just to see but i cranked the speed up a little to simulate a race. It wasn't an easy run as a result but it's okay. I'll prob skip the evening one now and just race tmr.
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nice. don't worry about it much. just have fun, you'll like it.
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nice. don't worry about it much. just have fun, you'll like it.
lol. i dont know. i think if i set off to get a PR i'll struggle to figure out how to pace it properly cos if i go too hard i'll not be able to maintain my pace but yet if i go out too slow i won't be able to make up the time if i say do 5:30-6:00 for the first km. Pretty sure if i set out at 5:00 pace i'll finish up doing the last couple of km at 6:30.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.5kg (29 dec)
Diet compliance: 5/5 days
Daily Squat: 42/42 days
Daily Run: 42/42 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM Long Run - 9.38km, 62:30, 06:40 pace (PR; distance, time)
Noon: BS 3x120, 2x140, 2x140, 2x140, Belt BS 2x142.5, 2x142.5, 2x142.5
OHP 6x40, 6x50, 3Fx60, 5x57.5, 6x55
Chinup 5x10kg, 6x8kg
Back Xtn 6x100kg(no band)
Evening: Track Run - 6km, 37:26, 6:13 pace
Notes:
- I prob ended up eating less carbs than i should have yesterday. had really bad sleep and throughout the night my left knee was hurting when i got up to walk to the bathroom like 3-4 times. that's carb related cos if i dont get enough my sleep quality deteriorates since my body is used to a baseline amount of carbs for energy thru sleep.
- So decided not to go to the park run cos i didn't feel my knee was right for running on the road today.
- When i straighten my leg in a seated position i feel pain at the bottom of my knee joint. Google seems to think it's jumpers knee or something?
- Did some foam rolling nonsense etc but once i started warming up for my run it felt okay. weird, so yea just tightness?
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Okay okay andrew you won me over. I'm gna focus on getting my long run to 15km/90min, I wasn't a believer at first but i've come around to the idea that you build an aerobic base first then focus on speed / 5km time PR etc. Just gna work on that now. Did 62:30 min today, at 9km/hr, will add 2:30min each time and increase the speed every other time by 0.1km/hr. Eventually wanna be doing 90 min run at 10km/hr for a total of 15km. After that i'll switch up focus for doing 400m repeats on the track and just getting fast af and getting that sub 20 PR.
If i think about it, the most glaring weakness in my preparation for basketball was a lack of aerobic fitness. The years of lifting weghts prob did good things for my anaerobic but without an ability to express it gametime i was never able to demonstrate my athletic gains. I might have a 36" vertical but my subpar aerobic fitness meant i cud never get a game time dunk etc.
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good move not doing the park run if your knee was bugging.
ive had bottom knee hurt from running a few times .. but also had it during jumping.
when i get that, it's usually i'm doing way too much work. same for my lateral knee tendinitis-ish feeling which comes occasionally.
Okay okay andrew you won me over.
cool hah. i never tried to convince you of high frequency long runs tho :D
I'm gna focus on getting my long run to 15km/90min, I wasn't a believer at first but i've come around to the idea that you build an aerobic base first then focus on speed / 5km time PR etc. Just gna work on that now. Did 62:30 min today, at 9km/hr, will add 2:30min each time and increase the speed every other time by 0.1km/hr. Eventually wanna be doing 90 min run at 10km/hr for a total of 15km. After that i'll switch up focus for doing 400m repeats on the track and just getting fast af and getting that sub 20 PR.
how often is this long run? usually they are once a week, with shorter runs throughout the week (speed work, tempo, medium-long, recovery).
i would definitely not try to add distance/pace so frequent, if i'm reading it correctly. have to be careful.
be careful trying to add intensity so often. my advice is still, learn to go by feel. some days you can run longer, some days you can't. if you keep it relative, you'll probably stay fresher.
nice @ ~62min run today!
If i think about it, the most glaring weakness in my preparation for basketball was a lack of aerobic fitness. The years of lifting weghts prob did good things for my anaerobic but without an ability to express it gametime i was never able to demonstrate my athletic gains. I might have a 36" vertical but my subpar aerobic fitness meant i cud never get a game time dunk etc.
yea maybe. aerobic fitness is underrated. in fact people hate on it similar to calf raises.
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Well if you look at my log ive been doing 10+km running a day for a while now. it's only been split over 2 session (morning and evening) - but nevertheless that's the volume ive been working with. 15km in one session would be crazy if i just decided to do it off the bat but ive been building up to it. Having said that, you're right i need to make sure i don't get carried away and get hurt. But i don't also wanna spend over a month getting up to 15km, need to do it soonish and then i can change up focus cos i still haven't really touched a basketball since last summer (that's what 9 months ago?) so im not gna become a ful time runner and take it slow and steady either. Need a plan. My last long IRL run was 7km at 6:01 pace and i prob cud maintain that for a another km or two but to double my distance is a bit of an ask. Might have a better chance to do it on the TM tho cos it takes pacing out of it. When i did that 7km run i went close to 7min pace for the first (3.5km) lap and then as it got dark and i was hearing kangaroos scurriying around in the dark i went sub 6 on the return lap which was not great from an injury prevention perspective (form sucks when i go faster for longer runs). But it's pretty crazy cos i i dont even look at my watch while doing the run and at the end my pace was IDENTICAL to the 6.5km run i did before the 7km (a day earlier).
I have 3 disparate and competing goals: (5km sub 20, 170kg bs @ 85kg bw, 40" vertical) and the one i havent mentioned explicitly but is the whole underlying point of all of this - to become the rec league lebron james. Still a fat skinny dude so im not gna get any of those until i get in shape i must confess. not many out of shape guys get any of these goals at my height weight - im undermuscled, overfat, over-tall for my bw. On the court im usually the least fit guy so my fitness has always been a problem. My intuition tells me to knock of one or two of these goals then put them on maintenance and focus on the remaining one (or vice versa - knock out one, then maintain and focus on the other two).
Interesting to see this from my Garmin Connect app:
(https://i.imgur.com/fJfE86i.png)
maybe this isn't so interesting after all, we're all relatively better than the average (sedentary?) person.. that's not who you shud compare with. still, wonder what everyone else here thinks about that ^
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New found respect for acole/todday/mutombo. Ran 6km on the track tonight and it was brutal. Much harder than road running i found for the following reasons:
- big empty field means you get get hit by the wind pretty hard .. when running with it, it almost doesn't feel like it's there but when you're running against it, it's v hard. doesn't help that my city is considered one of the windiest in the world
- when not running straight against the wind, the curved bits are challenging, i felt it in my erectors pretty good .. not sure if that's just cos im new to running around the track or if it's normal? btw halfway (3km) i turned around and ran the opppostie direction to see if it would feel better/easier, not sure if it made any difference tbh
- i think the road surface is faster to run on .. grass prob slows you down, didn't think it would be this significant tho
- if i ran during teh day the sun and the wind wud be even harder. i prefer my trail run a lot more, get some wind cover and shade .. it's more pleasant overall
- i ran a 6:13/km pace tonight compared to 6:01/km yesterday on my usual trail one. so if i was gna go for a 5km PR, it prob wont be on the track unfortunately, just too slow.
big respect to ppl who actually put up with all these factors and run better/faster on the track .. im in awe of your dedication.
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rec league lebron james lmfao.
nice. get it.
Well if you look at my log ive been doing 10+km running a day for a while now. it's only been split over 2 session (morning and evening) - but nevertheless that's the volume ive been working with. 15km in one session would be crazy if i just decided to do it off the bat but ive been building up to it. Having said that, you're right i need to make sure i don't get carried away and get hurt. But i don't also wanna spend over a month getting up to 15km, need to do it soonish and then i can change up focus cos i still haven't really touched a basketball since last summer (that's what 9 months ago?) so im not gna become a ful time runner and take it slow and steady either. Need a plan. My last long IRL run was 7km at 6:01 pace and i prob cud maintain that for a another km or two but to double my distance is a bit of an ask. Might have a better chance to do it on the TM tho cos it takes pacing out of it. When i did that 7km run i went close to 7min pace for the first (3.5km) lap and then as it got dark and i was hearing kangaroos scurriying around in the dark i went sub 6 on the return lap which was not great from an injury prevention perspective (form sucks when i go faster for longer runs). But it's pretty crazy cos i i dont even look at my watch while doing the run and at the end my pace was IDENTICAL to the 6.5km run i did before the 7km (a day earlier).
I have 3 disparate and competing goals: (5km sub 20, 170kg bs @ 85kg bw, 40" vertical) and the one i havent mentioned explicitly but is the whole underlying point of all of this - to become the rec league lebron james. Still a fat skinny dude so im not gna get any of those until i get in shape i must confess. not many out of shape guys get any of these goals at my height weight - im undermuscled, overfat, over-tall for my bw. On the court im usually the least fit guy so my fitness has always been a problem. My intuition tells me to knock of one or two of these goals then put them on maintenance and focus on the remaining one (or vice versa - knock out one, then maintain and focus on the other two).
Interesting to see this from my Garmin Connect app:
(https://i.imgur.com/fJfE86i.png)
maybe this isn't so interesting after all, we're all relatively better than the average (sedentary?) person.. that's not who you shud compare with. still, wonder what everyone else here thinks about that ^
even if the garmin vo2max number is inaccurate, you'll notice that the vo2max improvements seem accurate. when that number goes up, your fitness is usually up as well.
as for which of the 3 goals to knock off first, i'd say 5k & squat - you can do both. those will both help the rec league lebron james goal. the 40" vert goal will "interfere" with everything, since it will need all the attention. if you can get your RVJ up to 35" more frequently, while still improving your fitness/strength, it'll be better than going for the 40". get there first, then re-evaluate when to attack 40" etc.
New found respect for acole/todday/mutombo. Ran 6km on the track tonight and it was brutal. Much harder than road running i found for the following reasons:
- big empty field means you get get hit by the wind pretty hard .. when running with it, it almost doesn't feel like it's there but when you're running against it, it's v hard. doesn't help that my city is considered one of the windiest in the world
- when not running straight against the wind, the curved bits are challenging, i felt it in my erectors pretty good .. not sure if that's just cos im new to running around the track or if it's normal? btw halfway (3km) i turned around and ran the opppostie direction to see if it would feel better/easier, not sure if it made any difference tbh
- i think the road surface is faster to run on .. grass prob slows you down, didn't think it would be this significant tho
- if i ran during teh day the sun and the wind wud be even harder. i prefer my trail run a lot more, get some wind cover and shade .. it's more pleasant overall
- i ran a 6:13/km pace tonight compared to 6:01/km yesterday on my usual trail one. so if i was gna go for a 5km PR, it prob wont be on the track unfortunately, just too slow.
big respect to ppl who actually put up with all these factors and run better/faster on the track .. im in awe of your dedication.
when you run outside you always have to adjust for the elements.
going into headwinds is ~50% harder/slower than using the tailwind.
it'd probably be less windy in the early morning.
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Maybe i shud just embrace it, do my training harder and then when it comes time to PR i'll move to more forgiving conditions and get some notable results!
as for which of the 3 goals to knock off first, i'd say 5k & squat - you can do both. those will both help the rec league lebron james goal. the 40" vert goal will "interfere" with everything, since it will need all the attention. if you can get your RVJ up to 35" more frequently, while still improving your fitness/strength, it'll be better than going for the 40". get there first, then re-evaluate when to attack 40" etc.
Def think the 40" is the most out there of these goals. To jump well, from what i've read (working thru charlie francis book atm) you need to have periods of rest/recovery and then it just 'happens' .. but with my training load it's prob going to be a miracle to do it just as part of training along the way. You're right 35" while fit/strong is actually a better goal for me. I just wrote 40" cos it's just one of those holy grail things you think would be nice to have but my emotional attachment isn't all there, and actually just needing 22" to dunk, i don't need 40" - a good reserve is important so i can be fatigued etc and still pull of a game time dunk - of course. It's true 35" will prob be better for rec league lebron james if it means i don't need to specialise only on vertical at the detriment of strength and fitness.
Ok i'm talking too much and not doing enough, time to just put in the work.
Looking into the vo2 max of basketball players, it ranges from 50-60. I'm off the charts in a bad way. I need to be on the other side though, and by that i mean over 60 to have some sort of reserve to make up for my natural limitations. If my garmin is reporting 49 then i need it to show 61 sometime this summer. it might coincide when i get all my goal ducks in a row.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.0kg (30 dec)
Diet compliance: 6/6 days
Daily Squat: 43/43 days
Daily Run: 43/43 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: Long TM Run - 65:00, 10km, 6:30/km (PR; dist, time)
Noon: BS 3x120, 2x140, 2x142.5, 2x140, Belt BS 2x145, 2x142.5, 2x142.5
Back Xtn 6x100kg(bands; PR)
Evening: Evening Running - 1.5km total (see notes)
Notes:
- Ate more carbs last night and suprisingly scale goes down to 82.0kg. I'll take it.
- Really wanna start playing pickup ball on sundays again but i can't displace running or squatting so no room for it just yet :/
- On the morning run I pushed the last km at sub 6 pace to get 10km even tho it was going to be just short today at 9.1km/hr
- Evening run was not another slow af 5-6km around the track - decided to mix it up and ran a fastish 1km at around 5min/km then did 100m strides. I ran a 15sec stride which i found unbelievable. I'm not supposed to be this fast? Two things happened which blew me away today - on the 2nd stride i realised the glute pain i'd been having when running 'fast' was actually being caused by my strides being waaaaaaay too long - and funnily enough i'd read some theorising about cadence on reddit today about how to improve cadence if it's low (mine is around 145). so i put 1+1 together and decided to pump my arms ... faster? like a lot faster .. turns out the whole time i was over-striding AND my arms were barely moving at all. Once i fixed that, i was flying, checked my watch and my jaw dropped. The second most notable thing is how 'short' 100m feels now, it used to be a grind to finish it at the pace i started but i was pretty much speeding up i felt throughout. My endurance at this short distance and speed is very much improved from the long slow running. How does that even make any sense? Strides are so much fun - for the first time in a while i left the park feeling better than when i got there. This might be my new evening format!
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Maybe i shud just embrace it, do my training harder and then when it comes time to PR i'll move to more forgiving conditions and get some notable results!
as for which of the 3 goals to knock off first, i'd say 5k & squat - you can do both. those will both help the rec league lebron james goal. the 40" vert goal will "interfere" with everything, since it will need all the attention. if you can get your RVJ up to 35" more frequently, while still improving your fitness/strength, it'll be better than going for the 40". get there first, then re-evaluate when to attack 40" etc.
Def think the 40" is the most out there of these goals. To jump well, from what i've read (working thru charlie francis book atm) you need to have periods of rest/recovery and then it just 'happens' .. but with my training load it's prob going to be a miracle to do it just as part of training along the way. You're right 35" while fit/strong is actually a better goal for me. I just wrote 40" cos it's just one of those holy grail things you think would be nice to have but my emotional attachment isn't all there, and actually just needing 22" to dunk, i don't need 40" - a good reserve is important so i can be fatigued etc and still pull of a game time dunk - of course. It's true 35" will prob be better for rec league lebron james if it means i don't need to specialise only on vertical at the detriment of strength and fitness.
Ok i'm talking too much and not doing enough, time to just put in the work.
Looking into the vo2 max of basketball players, it ranges from 50-60. I'm off the charts in a bad way. I need to be on the other side though, and by that i mean over 60 to have some sort of reserve to make up for my natural limitations. If my garmin is reporting 49 then i need it to show 61 sometime this summer. it might coincide when i get all my goal ducks in a row.
you can definitely bump it way up by then. consistent mileage will do it.
the highest i got mine (on my garmin), was 69 - RHR was also low 30's around then, bodyweight ~138-140 lb. Was putting in ~100 miles a week around that time. After that, transitioned into peak speed and PR'd 400m, 800m, 1km, mile, and 2 mile.. all vo2max related. Generally, the watch wasn't lying. My vo2max went from ~55 to 69 in about 10 months.
Bodyweight(AM): 82.0kg (30 dec)
Diet compliance: 6/6 days
Daily Squat: 43/43 days
Daily Run: 43/43 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: Long TM Run - 65:00, 10km, 6:30/km (PR; dist, time)
Noon: BS 3x120, 2x140, 2x142.5, 2x140, Belt BS 2x145, 2x142.5, 2x142.5
Back Xtn 6x100kg(bands; PR)
Evening: Evening Running - 1.5km total (see notes)
Notes:
- Ate more carbs last night and suprisingly scale goes down to 82.0kg. I'll take it.
- Really wanna start playing pickup ball on sundays again but i can't displace running or squatting so no room for it just yet :/
- On the morning run I pushed the last km at sub 6 pace to get 10km even tho it was going to be just short today at 9.1km/hr
- Evening run was not another slow af 5-6km around the track - decided to mix it up and ran a fastish 1km at around 5min/km then did 100m strides. I ran a 15sec stride which i found unbelievable. I'm not supposed to be this fast? Two things happened which blew me away today - on the 2nd stride i realised the glute pain i'd been having when running 'fast' was actually being caused by my strides being waaaaaaay too long - and funnily enough i'd read some theorising about cadence on reddit today about how to improve cadence if it's low (mine is around 145). so i put 1+1 together and decided to pump my arms ... faster? like a lot faster .. turns out the whole time i was over-striding AND my arms were barely moving at all. Once i fixed that, i was flying, checked my watch and my jaw dropped. The second most notable thing is how 'short' 100m feels now, it used to be a grind to finish it at the pace i started but i was pretty much speeding up i felt throughout. My endurance at this short distance and speed is very much improved from the long slow running. How does that even make any sense? Strides are so much fun - for the first time in a while i left the park feeling better than when i got there. This might be my new evening format!
ahhhh nice!
yea 100m shouldn't feel long.. i mean at max effort, yes, but not at stride effort etc (which is more basketball specific - never hitting an ME sprint like that on a basketball court lol).
arms are extremely important for speed. over-striding is always the devil.
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you can definitely bump it way up by then. consistent mileage will do it.
the highest i got mine (on my garmin), was 69 - RHR was also low 30's around then, bodyweight ~138-140 lb. Was putting in ~100 miles a week around that time. After that, transitioned into peak speed and PR'd 400m, 800m, 1km, mile, and 2 mile.. all vo2max related. Generally, the watch wasn't lying. My vo2max went from ~55 to 69 in about 10 months.
Those are really nice improvements. Good stuff. I too believe the watch. For the reason that ive read someone doing a proper lab study and comparing it with the garmin and they were very close. And also for training sake it's enough just like you said, to see relative improvement regardless of the error. Wonder how close i can get to 61 by end of summer (around 55 days). My comp is in 100 days so i have time but i dont want to be working on fitness (or strength or athleticism) after summer, just ball.
yea 100m shouldn't feel long.. i mean at max effort, yes, but not at stride effort etc (which is more basketball specific - never hitting an ME sprint like that on a basketball court lol).
I think even running tempos i struggled the last 20-30m in teh pst. But my memory might be faulty. So im not saying i was doing ME before and im not doing ME now. Well who knows, im self reporting which is always going to be suspect - but also it might be the wind. I will find out as we go thru summer whether or not im actually fitter at 100m (or shorter or longer distances) which is exciting for me cos ive done zero work at shorter distances and to see the CARRY over from the longer runs, that's really EXCITING i must admit.
arms are extremely important for speed. over-striding is always the devil.
my glute pain is pretty much fixed now that ive focused on form (cadence seems to put everything else in order automatically). I think when my R leg gets lazy (from fatigue) i start messing up stride (longer and longer) and that smashes my glute. I did find that when i came off those runs and did hip flexor stretches it made it feel better too, so between form changes and fitness, im pretty confident i can start doing faster runs. See my next log ..
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PC power supply died, got a new one but im just going to start logging from today not the days past.
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Bodyweight(AM): 82.7kg (2 Jan)
Diet compliance: 2/2 days
Daily Squat: 46/46 days
Daily Run: 46/46 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: Fast TM run 5km, 24:36 (PR), 4:55/km)
Noon: BS 4x120, 2x140, 1x147.5, 7x127.5(PR), 8x122.5(PR)
Back Xtn 17x60kg(bands; PR)
Evening:
Notes:
- So far new year training has been good, gym's been fine. Maybe my mental attitude was unnnecessarily antagonist after all. Just doing work, not destroying myself by pushing limit reps/weights anymore (as of today lol)
- Was running late, didn't have time for a long run or even a medium one. Went for a 5km time trial aiming to go sub 25min. Got it.. Next up is the 22:30 milestone. The fitness is def coming along, much more managable to run this PR than the time i went for sub 28" and almost killed myself every second of the way. I did push the speed to max on the last 500m otherwise i was just going to break 25 (maybe 6-10s under).
- As much as i loved track work in the evening - after running those strides i could not sleep the entire night. CNS must have been too jacked up. So i dont think i'll be doing any sprinting in teh evening. Which means if i do sprinting it will be after squatting IF i still have some energy/time left and the weather permits. That's a probable no. Also im old and my body is struggling with 3-a-day training so im just gonna stick to 2 sessions for the foreseeable future if im being honest.
- If KF reads this, daily squatting and that part of the back where the bar rests - mine is kinda swollen now (day 46 of daily squatting) - does it .. uh get better? for a while it actually legit hurt but now it's just a bit swollen not so painful.
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Bodyweight(AM): 83.1kg (3 Jan)
Diet compliance: 3/3 days
Daily Squat: 47/47 days
Daily Run: 47/47 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: Recovery TM run - 4km, 26:05
Noon: BS 5x120, 2x140, 1x150, 7x130(PR), 8x125(PR)
Dips 12xBW
Back Xtn 18x60kg(+bands, PR)
Evening:
Notes:
- Did a recovery run this morning. Want to go for a long run tmr morning so i thought i'd go a bit easy today. For what it's worth it was still really ... difficult for some reason, maybe because of yesterdays PR 5km trial.
- Ok with allowing bw to go up now, for some weeks i want to get (a lot) stronger. I'm at 1.8xbw daily max today (if 150kg sticks as a repeatable max that is) and i need to get 170kg to be as maintanable/repeatable not just an ephemeral max. My feeling is that as long as i'm within 1kg of my goal weight (85kg), i can always drop the kilo in a couple of weeks when I'm done. So Anything under 86kg is ok but i intend to end summer at a lean 85kg. I'll be gaining weight slowly in any case, maybe a kilo a month so will play it by feel as time goes on.
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Bodyweight(AM): 84.1kg (4 Jan)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 48/48 days
Daily Run: 48/48 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: Long TM Run - 750m (lol)
Noon: BS 6x120, 2x140, 1x152.5, 7x132.5(PR), 8x127.5(PR)
BX 19x60kg(+bands, PR)
Evening: Pickup ball
Notes:
- Been eating a lot of fibre (beans) lately. Not concerned about the rapid increases in bw, it will drop just as easily but for now it will be good for my body to familiarise itself with weighing more, for training effect..
- Body wanted nothing of a long run this morning. My calves just noped out and when i got off the TM i couldn't even walk. I prob should spend some time warming up but when you're going for 70 minutes you dont wanna do a minute extra. Maybe you do though. Maybe. Oh well
- Ended up going to eat dinner with some friends after pickup ball. That was a massive mistake. They outweigh me by 20-30kg but my appetite is much bigger. I ended up eating too much pizza and KFC. Just a bad idea to eat ad limitum with these guys. Will never do that again. I just can't trust myself in that sort of situation.
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.3kg (5 Jan)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 49/49 days
Daily Run: 49/49 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: Run 8km
Noon: BS 6x120, 3x140, 1x157.5, 8x130(PR), 10x120(PR)
BX 20x60kg(+band, PR)
Evening:
Notes:
- Going to try go for a long run this morning again, lets see
- First run in Pegasus 35's .. i like them. Might make them my defacto outdoor running shoe. Dont know if they're faster than adidas ultraboost uncaged but they felt good so i'll just use them. Ultraboosts for treadmill cos they're not going to get as dirty (no other reason really).
- Morning run was a trail one but i stopped to visit a friend halfway so i wasnt technically running 8km non-stop .. doesn't matter it's just junk miles anyway
- Think im coming down with a cold .. should not have shared that meal with those pigs last night lol.
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Time for a deload? Thinking of starting a new cycle. More work with less weight but more reps. Starting tmr. Haven't figurd everythi9ng out but will experiment a little. Keep things fresh.
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Time for a deload? Thinking of starting a new cycle. More work with less weight but more reps. Starting tmr. Haven't figurd everythi9ng out but will experiment a little. Keep things fresh.
starting to have a change of heart (overnight lol). looks like my cold has dissipated. now im considering the benefit of doing the next 50 days squatting > 150kg. im incorrigible. but it may well make the gains 'stick' if i can maintain 150+kg chronically. but what i cant do is keep increasing the weight every time, like i'd been doing up til now. so maybe a compromise.. squat a clean 150kg daily, if it gets super easy along the way, i can revisit but for now i still with 150kg for the top single and then do work in the high rep range.
Here is a rough idea of what i wanna achieve by day 100 at 85kg bw or less:
BS 8 x 145-150kg (no belt)
BS 3 x 160kg (no belt)
BS 10 x 140kg (no belt)
BS 15 x 125-135kg (no belt)
Higher rep goals mostly but i want to start progressing my triple up as well. I don't want to be doing heavy singles greater than 150-160kg tho, i think that's a bad idea. Any in terms of fitness, well ive kind of lost my mojo with the daily running. Not sure why but i might need to regroup and find a way to get that 15km / 90 min long run goal out of the way so i can focus on speed (which is what i really want to but haven't earnt the right to train for yet).
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Bodyweight(AM): 84.3kg (6 Jan)
Diet compliance: 1/1 days
Daily Squat: 50/50 days
Daily Run: 50/50 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: Ez TM Run - 30 min, 4km
Noon: BS 6x120, 3x142.5, 1x150, 10x122.5(PR)
Dips 3x8x20kg
1 arm farmers walks for QL
BX 10x70(+band, PR)
Evening: Hoops workout
Notes:
- Hot morning, not sure what kind of run i'll do. Maybe an EZ one..
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Bodyweight(AM): 83.7kg (7 Jan)
Diet compliance: 2/2 days
Daily Squat: 51/51 days
Daily Run: 51/51 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM Run 5km, 30min
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x150, 3x145, 10x125(PR)
BX 12x70(+band, PR)
Evening:
Notes:
- 3 days of eating clean and bw looks better.
- Another hot morning smh. Next time it's a cool one i'll go for a nice long run, promise..
- The whole idea of 'easy running' seems to be fantasy. no part of running right now is easy, even warming up i just wanted to give it up 5 minutes in. I think basketball reintroduction is competing with the same neuromuscular system resources as running and while my CV isn't been challenged .. the former is at the limit. My running goals might not be realistic for in-season unless some drastic adaptions to basketball occur over the next couple of weeks to facilitate cross-training. If something doesn't work itself out i might need to do my cardio another way (rowing or cycling perhaps) b/c running is just too similar and demanding to basketball and vice versa
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The whole idea of 'easy running' seems to be fantasy. no part of running right now is easy, even warming up i just wanted to give it up 5 minutes in.\
Mate I can speak from experience here that it does in fact get easier. Not sure I ever got to the 'easy running' part but once I got past the first few minutes it got a whole lot easier.
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The whole idea of 'easy running' seems to be fantasy. no part of running right now is easy, even warming up i just wanted to give it up 5 minutes in.\
Mate I can speak from experience here that it does in fact get easier. Not sure I ever got to the 'easy running' part but once I got past the first few minutes it got a whole lot easier.
Not sure if it gets easier but it gets managable but if your mindset is that 'this should be easy' then you'll be defeated even before you start. I think that's where im struggling with atm, cos if you go into a run thinking this will be the hardest thing then you can deal with almost anything running wise. But if you go into it expecting ease then you're not going to be prepared for it and it will be a slog. It's kind of how you frame it. When im squatting i expect every rep to be hard and it usually is that hard but you get it done. If i expected it to be ez then i'd never get thru it because it's not the right mental frame to complete the exercise
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Bodyweight(AM): 84.2kg (8 Jan)
Diet compliance: 4/4 days
Daily Squat: 52/52 days
Daily Run: 52/52 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM Run 5km 28:36
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x152.5, 3x147.5, 10x127.5(PR)
BX 13x70kg(+Bands, PR)
Evening:
Notes:
- Bit of a carb up last night.
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The whole idea of 'easy running' seems to be fantasy. no part of running right now is easy, even warming up i just wanted to give it up 5 minutes in.\
Mate I can speak from experience here that it does in fact get easier. Not sure I ever got to the 'easy running' part but once I got past the first few minutes it got a whole lot easier.
Not sure if it gets easier but it gets managable but if your mindset is that 'this should be easy' then you'll be defeated even before you start. I think that's where im struggling with atm, cos if you go into a run thinking this will be the hardest thing then you can deal with almost anything running wise. But if you go into it expecting ease then you're not going to be prepared for it and it will be a slog. It's kind of how you frame it. When im squatting i expect every rep to be hard and it usually is that hard but you get it done. If i expected it to be ez then i'd never get thru it because it's not the right mental frame to complete the exercise
it's different with heart muscle (and capillary density). it responds well to very relaxed, low intensity, longer duration (30+ minutes) running.
45 minutes is my sweet spot for very light runs which still improve my aerobic capacity, without stressing me at all.
if you can walk at an easy pace, then you can run (albeit slowly) at an easy pace. for strong/elite runners, their slow pace looks very fast. that's why people get confused. an elite runner can jog 6:30 min/mi pace for example, at like absolutely no effort.
most running should be easy. the mistake most people make is not realizing how easy, easy, really is.
my preferred pace for most easy runs is 9:30-10:30 min/mi for 30-90 minutes. that's very slow.
if you take your squat mindset to running, then you are a sprinting, not running.. :D
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The whole idea of 'easy running' seems to be fantasy. no part of running right now is easy, even warming up i just wanted to give it up 5 minutes in.\
Mate I can speak from experience here that it does in fact get easier. Not sure I ever got to the 'easy running' part but once I got past the first few minutes it got a whole lot easier.
Not sure if it gets easier but it gets managable but if your mindset is that 'this should be easy' then you'll be defeated even before you start. I think that's where im struggling with atm, cos if you go into a run thinking this will be the hardest thing then you can deal with almost anything running wise. But if you go into it expecting ease then you're not going to be prepared for it and it will be a slog. It's kind of how you frame it. When im squatting i expect every rep to be hard and it usually is that hard but you get it done. If i expected it to be ez then i'd never get thru it because it's not the right mental frame to complete the exercise
it's different with heart muscle (and capillary density). it responds well to very relaxed, low intensity, longer duration (30+ minutes) running.
45 minutes is my sweet spot for very light runs which still improve my aerobic capacity, without stressing me at all.
if you can walk at an easy pace, then you can run (albeit slowly) at an easy pace. for strong/elite runners, their slow pace looks very fast. that's why people get confused. an elite runner can jog 6:30 min/mi pace for example, at like absolutely no effort.
most running should be easy. the mistake most people make is not realizing how easy, easy, really is.
my preferred pace for most easy runs is 9:30-10:30 min/mi for 30-90 minutes. that's very slow.
if you take your squat mindset to running, then you are a sprinting, not running.. :D
I think i made some progress understanding wtf is going on with my schizophrenic running lately. This morning treadmill run, I start warming up at 6km/hr which is the lowest of the hotkey speed buttons that are not a walk (it goes 3, 6 then 9). So every 15s i increase the speed by 0.2-0.5km/hr .. usually only 0.2km/hr after teh getting up to around 7km/hr. I take about 5 minutes to work up to 9.2km/hr which is a 6:30ish pace. And at 5 minutes in im like, yea this sucks, my right calf is complaining and ive got a crazy pump (on R leg mind you) and i just want to stop and quit running for good and say it's not for me. Mo farah's warmup sucks. Im prob better off going from zero to 10km/hr than this. tbh.
Around about 10 minutes if i stick around ive bumped the speed up to 10.2km/hr or so, now suddenly my form changes (im still not srue if form is now better or worse at slower speeds?) but running is easier the faster i go. So it almost seems like if im going anything below a speed my form is inefficient/unsustainable. Above that speed and im fine, i can run better/longer and now im tasking my cardiovascular system instead of my mental system.
It's almost as if i can do a long tempo at 10km/hr but trying to stay below that speed and it's torture. And of course it's a fine line because if i cross say 11km/hr now it's hard work but it feels more productive all the same. It's a struggle for me to maintain 12km/hr which is just a 5 minute pace. It's almost as if when i started doing these longer/easier runs i just got weaker (mentally) and im no longer challenging myself with hard runs but instead im torturing myself with slower runs. I think from here on it makes zero sense to do any more long/slow running. If what you say is true that longer runs build fitness better then i should just do that but not run, bike or row instead. I think that will suit me because because i can't seem to figure out the sweet spot of running slow enough without having form/mindset problems.
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The whole idea of 'easy running' seems to be fantasy. no part of running right now is easy, even warming up i just wanted to give it up 5 minutes in.\
Mate I can speak from experience here that it does in fact get easier. Not sure I ever got to the 'easy running' part but once I got past the first few minutes it got a whole lot easier.
Not sure if it gets easier but it gets managable but if your mindset is that 'this should be easy' then you'll be defeated even before you start. I think that's where im struggling with atm, cos if you go into a run thinking this will be the hardest thing then you can deal with almost anything running wise. But if you go into it expecting ease then you're not going to be prepared for it and it will be a slog. It's kind of how you frame it. When im squatting i expect every rep to be hard and it usually is that hard but you get it done. If i expected it to be ez then i'd never get thru it because it's not the right mental frame to complete the exercise
it's different with heart muscle (and capillary density). it responds well to very relaxed, low intensity, longer duration (30+ minutes) running.
45 minutes is my sweet spot for very light runs which still improve my aerobic capacity, without stressing me at all.
if you can walk at an easy pace, then you can run (albeit slowly) at an easy pace. for strong/elite runners, their slow pace looks very fast. that's why people get confused. an elite runner can jog 6:30 min/mi pace for example, at like absolutely no effort.
most running should be easy. the mistake most people make is not realizing how easy, easy, really is.
my preferred pace for most easy runs is 9:30-10:30 min/mi for 30-90 minutes. that's very slow.
if you take your squat mindset to running, then you are a sprinting, not running.. :D
I think i made some progress understanding wtf is going on with my schizophrenic running lately. This morning treadmill run, I start warming up at 6km/hr which is the lowest of the hotkey speed buttons that are not a walk (it goes 3, 6 then 9). So every 15s i increase the speed by 0.2-0.5km/hr .. usually only 0.2km/hr after teh getting up to around 7km/hr. I take about 5 minutes to work up to 9.2km/hr which is a 6:30ish pace. And at 5 minutes in im like, yea this sucks, my right calf is complaining and ive got a crazy pump (on R leg mind you) and i just want to stop and quit running for good and say it's not for me. Mo farah's warmup sucks. Im prob better off going from zero to 10km/hr than this. tbh.
Around about 10 minutes if i stick around ive bumped the speed up to 10.2km/hr or so, now suddenly my form changes (im still not srue if form is now better or worse at slower speeds?) but running is easier the faster i go. So it almost seems like if im going anything below a speed my form is inefficient/unsustainable. Above that speed and im fine, i can run better/longer and now im tasking my cardiovascular system instead of my mental system.
It's almost as if i can do a long tempo at 10km/hr but trying to stay below that speed and it's torture. And of course it's a fine line because if i cross say 11km/hr now it's hard work but it feels more productive all the same. It's a struggle for me to maintain 12km/hr which is just a 5 minute pace. It's almost as if when i started doing these longer/easier runs i just got weaker (mentally) and im no longer challenging myself with hard runs but instead im torturing myself with slower runs. I think from here on it makes zero sense to do any more long/slow running. If what you say is true that longer runs build fitness better then i should just do that but not run, bike or row instead. I think that will suit me because because i can't seem to figure out the sweet spot of running slow enough without having form/mindset problems.
I think that will suit me because because i can't seem to figure out the sweet spot of running slow enough without having form/mindset problems.
your subconscious is just designing ways for you to quit doing it.
if you have mindset problems going really slow, then that's the issue you need to work on right there.. the discipline to overcome a "mindset problem" while going super slow.
if you can walk without mindset problems, then you can run very slow without mindset problems.
running could be a great way for you to tame some of these things going on in your head. one of the most important aspects of endurance/conditioning is the ability to suppress quit signals, ignore them completely, or just deal with them.
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sorry that was per km pace not miles. I dont know what a mile is :wowthatwasnutswtf:
i can do real world running at slow pace better but on TM it's harder getting a good warmup b/c it's locking you into a speed at all times. but lately running any pace just doesn't seem feasible .. im not sure why, my calf starts bugging out. it might be an over-use thing going on
Thought about it more and im pretty sure running has been good to me but ive reached the point of diminishing returns with it very quickly b/c of competing recovery resources. Something like limiting my daily running to 5km but trying to improve speed will help me more. To get fitness i won't get it from running but perhaps from a workout like the following:
- Treadmill run (or road if i run to the gym) 30 min (at around 5-6min/km pace)
- Row 30 min (for a given HR goal even tho i don't trust these gadgets for that .. will figure it out somehow)
- Bike 30 min.
That's a 90 minute 'long' cardio workout without the problems of trying to do a long run at a too slow pace that the total mileage is embarrassingly low (like 10-12km). It has better carry over to bball because the running is more specific to the way i feel during games (ded lol) and with the cross training of the rowing for upper body and bike to take fatigue out of beating up joints that running more would entail. win win?
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Bodyweight(AM): 84.4kg (9 Jan)
Diet compliance: 5/5 days
Daily Squat: 53/53 days
Daily Run: 53/53 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: Fast TM run - 5km total (see notes) @ 4:46/km pace
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x155, 1x150, 10x130(PR)
BX 14x70kg(+band, PR)
Evening:
Notes:
- First TM run at the gym. I just wanted to check it out, in theory it should be better because of A/C and better commercial treadmill. In practice it was okay but nothing great. Ran 1km at 12.5-12.6km, shoe lace came undone, did it up and ran another 3km at 12.6km/hr (4:46/km). Took a rest for a minute and did another km just faster (4:27/km) than my current race pace goal of 4:30/km. Done. Hard run, but, feels more productive than wasting my time with pointless runs i'd been doing too much of with no concept of progression. I need to know every thing i do in training has a purpose and running lost that along the way when i got seduced by slow running. The idea you can do it easier and get benefits sounds good on paper i must admit. It's prob fine for runners who just need to autoreg and limit their training intensity. It doesn't apply to me because im not a runner with that problem.
- Reconsidering whether it was my aerobic ability or my anaerobic ability that limits my performance in basketball. What if i have got it wrong and my aerobic fitness was fine the whole time but i needed to focus on anaerobic? These harder fast runs are probably better for training both though, so that's another plus point.
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good point.
you should probably get an oxygen desaturation mask & hit the battle ropes hard for 3 x 30s.
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good point.
you should probably get an oxygen desaturation mask & hit the battle ropes hard for 3 x 30s.
if you want strong conditioning, you'll want to improve your aerobic base. there's plenty of ways to do that. running slow+long/frequently isn't the only way, but it's one of the best, easiest, and most effective. it's so easy that it's hard. people want to feel like they worked out hard, it's black magic that jogging for 1 hour real slow can improve your conditioning. but it's not black magic, it targets the heart, which responds very well to such long duration low stress activities -> every beat is a rep. the goal is to run easy (conversational) that the heart fills with as much blood as possible per beat, causing it to adapt to pump more blood per beat, at any exercise intensity.
plenty of "fit moms" & crossfit folks work out hard every day for example, but can't handle a game of basketball. training like that is easy.. :/
overanalysis can be a real problem. i'm all for you figuring it out tho.. so, find something that works & get results. but saying you've reached diminishing returns or something isn't for you, after only a few weeks .. plus saying you need to "see a progression" etc, is a little frustrating.
brb yelling at kingfish for not progressing his daily squatting to 800 lb by now..
i think he's a good example.. find something you can do daily, and just do it. don't switch shit up often, don't do all kinds of weird crazy cool shit, just pick a few things and do it daily, to perfection. if you can run hard daily, go for it. but most people can't.
in addition to that, normal "basketball people" play basketball daily, that's their daily squatting, or their daily running.
pc!
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running has been good to me but ive reached the point of diminishing returns
C'mon man.
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good point.
you should probably get an oxygen desaturation mask & hit the battle ropes hard for 3 x 30s.
if you want strong conditioning, you'll want to improve your aerobic base. there's plenty of ways to do that. running slow+long/frequently isn't the only way, but it's one of the best, easiest, and most effective. it's so easy that it's hard. people want to feel like they worked out hard, it's black magic that jogging for 1 hour real slow can improve your conditioning. but it's not black magic, it targets the heart, which responds very well to such long duration low stress activities -> every beat is a rep. the goal is to run easy (conversational) that the heart fills with as much blood as possible per beat, causing it to adapt to pump more blood per beat, at any exercise intensity.
plenty of "fit moms" & crossfit folks work out hard every day for example, but can't handle a game of basketball. training like that is easy.. :/
overanalysis can be a real problem. i'm all for you figuring it out tho.. so, find something that works & get results. but saying you've reached diminishing returns or something isn't for you, after only a few weeks .. plus saying you need to "see a progression" etc, is a little frustrating.
brb yelling at kingfish for not progressing his daily squatting to 800 lb by now..
i think he's a good example.. find something you can do daily, and just do it. don't switch shit up often, don't do all kinds of weird crazy cool shit, just pick a few things and do it daily, to perfection. if you can run hard daily, go for it. but most people can't.
in addition to that, normal "basketball people" play basketball daily, that's their daily squatting, or their daily running.
pc!
This ^^^
Coming from someone who's not a runner but tried to join the "squad", running slow is an absolute mind fuck. It's embarrassing, there's no ego to it and sometimes you can be confused with someone who broke into a fast walk. It absolutely works though.
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Ok lemme summarise what i'm actually trying to claim here. I think (internet?) running dogma has behind it two driving beliefs:
- mileage per week (more is better)
- slow long runs (slower is better)
and im finding that this running dogma has some underlying assumptions which are not explicitly stated but once accounted for make it infeasible for me:
- it presupposes you're mainly a runner which necessarily entails BEING an actual runner
-- training only running,
-- having a runners build (light)
these assumptions don't apply to me (anymore?) and teh heavier and weight trained (powerful etc) i get the further i go from these principles because lots of mileage while training other things (daily squat max, basketball in-season training, ) just don't see it working out. It also doesn't suit me pyschologically because if training economy is at a premium (and it very much is) - i dont have the training time for following orthodox running good practices above..
gotta go, but im not saying orthodox running isn't the right way for a runner. im claiming it's unworkable for me having tried it and finding it doesn't suit me. i was running pretty much intuitively to start with but now im going to go back to that....
Plus andrew all your arguments for long slow running - i just hear do bike / rowing instead, much less beating up of joints and easier to fit into normal (not solely running) training!
edit, but the thing which really cofnuses me about the dogma is the idea that 'longer runs' build fitness but these people intentionally leave out what they mean by long - is it duration? is it miles? if it's both then sorry i can't do it. you'd make every beginner run LONGER just because they're slow runners initially. how does that make sense? if it's only duration then why dont you fucking say so? why so vague? useless. now if it's duration if i take 2 hours to do a 8km run say, does that 'work' when i cud have done 5km in 25 minutes and gone home. im sure a good running coach woudl be able to answer my questions and even help me out but im kinda done trying to unravel running dogma (my youtube recommendations are like 99% running spam now which im already sick of). tbh im not sure these ppl have any secret sauce about running, their advice comes from ppl who are doing the same thing over and over and it's not clear what part of that advice is good and what just works because doing anything a lot will work ..
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Coming from someone who's not a runner but tried to join the "squad", running slow is an absolute mind fuck. It's embarrassing, there's no ego to it and sometimes you can be confused with someone who broke into a fast walk. It absolutely works though.
just don't understand the point bro. why spend an hour doing something you could get done in less than half the time. and if you're just going for distance then at my version of SLOW SPEED it would take literally 2 hours or more. I can understand mo farah doing a long run of 2 hours and doing like a good fraction of a marathon. at my slow speed i would be there all day to get to 10km .. no sense made whatsoever
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Today i was too weak to squat a 3RM of 150kg (got 3x147.5kg yesterday) and im prob gonna put it down to the hard run this morning eating into my performance. However the funny thing is i was able to progress my 10rm just fine, getting 10x130kg which is a lifetime PR (and the 127.5kg was the same yesterday and so on forth). Plug in the 1rm calculator app on my phone and it says i shud have a 172.5kg max - lol yea alright, that's why i racked 150kg after the first rep cos i didn't think i would get a clean 2nd leave alone a 3rd. So what's going on? It's just the same thing we've been talking about -- the illusion of progress / productive training by doing something easier just to say you're making progress even tho there is almost zero translation between longer sets and runs to shorter more intense ones. I buy in to the longer rep sets though, cos it's nice to make progress regularly even if it's just fools gold to take it for anything other than what it is. something holistic would just make regular PRs as part of training and the problem with longer runs (and being specific here duration) just runs into the same problem that as you increase speed it becomes harder, so where is the progress?
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sorry that was per km pace not miles. I dont know what a mile is :wowthatwasnutswtf:
i can do real world running at slow pace better but on TM it's harder getting a good warmup b/c it's locking you into a speed at all times. but lately running any pace just doesn't seem feasible .. im not sure why, my calf starts bugging out. it might be an over-use thing going on
Thought about it more and im pretty sure running has been good to me but ive reached the point of diminishing returns with it very quickly b/c of competing recovery resources. Something like limiting my daily running to 5km but trying to improve speed will help me more. To get fitness i won't get it from running but perhaps from a workout like the following:
- Treadmill run (or road if i run to the gym) 30 min (at around 5-6min/km pace)
- Row 30 min (for a given HR goal even tho i don't trust these gadgets for that .. will figure it out somehow)
- Bike 30 min.
That's a 90 minute 'long' cardio workout without the problems of trying to do a long run at a too slow pace that the total mileage is embarrassingly low (like 10-12km). It has better carry over to bball because the running is more specific to the way i feel during games (ded lol) and with the cross training of the rowing for upper body and bike to take fatigue out of beating up joints that running more would entail. win win?
counterpoint: you should not be embarrassed by the speed your body needs to work at! everyone has to start somewhere. you are, despite all your second-guessing and overanalysis, a patient and diligent person. i really think that you're best off starting with no ambition other than to just get consistent with running easy. on that note i'll contradict adarq a little bit: if 9-10 kph is the easiest pace for you and slower paces are harder, that's okay. do what feels right and mix things up later. over time i believe you'll get more out of running 30+ mins at 10 km/hr consistently than trying to force 90 minute cardio complexes.
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I spose it's the cognitive dissonance of internalising all these maxims:
- more miles more good
- slower is good
and if you accept them as is - then for a beginner it's saying do something impossible because you have to get a lot of miles and yet you're being told to do it very very very slowly (in an absolute sense). you can't do both. you can do more miles but you are already slow to begin with. take andrew's pace for his 45 min long run, that's not far from my tempo pace. i can see how it would work for him to do a submax run at that pace and still get enough miles in.
unpickling another assumption is prob that you're better than average a runner (starting out or whatever) from the get-go and able to get a reasonable amount of weekly mileage strictly observing the above maxims. I watched one video where the guy suggested getting a weekly mileage of 100 miles (i think that's around 160km but idk) - but lets figure out what that averages to per day, 22km? even half that is way too much (and i did that for a while) - the only way i could get 10-15km/day was doing two-a-days and i don't think that was sustainable (for me).
but yea im glad i thought to write all this stuff cos it didnt make sense to me and now having written it all out i can see why, the rules are mutually contradictory. literally doesn't work unless you're already a runner and in which case you don't need any rule to tell you how to structure your training..
if someone could tell me how to get to my running goal of a sub 20 5k while doing at most 5km/day then i'd be happy to listen. obviously orthdox running would have me doing 50-100km a week and yea that's not my thing not right now .. maybe in the winter (i actually would love to do a winter of just focusing on running)
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they're only dissonant if you have an unrealistic time table and targets. slower is good, at first, when your body is just getting used to running, getting in the habit and feel of it. i spend months in 2017 running much too hard and too short for my fitness level. even elite runners spend most of their time running at "slow" paces, although as adarq pointed out what's slow for them might be very fast for you and me. but they point is they are (1) freaks and (2) the product of years of patient training.
more mileage is good but that is relative to where you're starting. 100 miles a week is extremely high.
you probably can't run under 20:00 for 5k without getting up over 50 km/week, or never running longer than the target distance. but given where you're starting from, you'd probably benefit a lot from far less than that. and, much like squatting, the benefits may not show up overnight, but they do show up eventually. last spring, i played ultimate for the first time since the previous fall when i hurt my shoulder. in the interim i'd been running 25-40 km/week, no speed work or anything, and doing no other exercise to speak of. at the end of the second or third point i was startled to realize that i wasn't winded. i was, in fact, in much better aerobic shape than i'd been a few months earlier. take that for what it's worth.
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But it doesn't shift the dissonance. If i'm at low miles (because athletic background) b/c im slow then it would make sense to progress my speed, no? And yet of the the various variables that's one you're being told to go backwards in.
Literally all of my objections amount to this, is it ok to do a 40 minute run where you're only getting 5km of distance covered? how does this help make me a faster runner? also if you look at basketball studies, the average HR for a player over the entire match (including dead periods) is 160-180bpm. So would it make sense to do more training closer to that range than say 140. I know what the argument is for long slow running (if you accept it and even if i did) it runs into a wall cos weekly mileage wud be so low to not offer much benefit to faster runs. tbh i can see how it 'could work' if you were sufficiently fast then going submax you can still get a decent amount of km done
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but the worst thing is indecision, so yea lemme just do it a different way. i think that's more fun anyway to work it out on your own and find your own path. i followed orthodox advice when it came to lifting and it took doing a crazy daily squat experiment to make some progress that i just don't find much faith in orthodox training advice, no offense to anyone .. i can see the limitations for how well it can work for someone who is not the ideal candidate. i'll stop just short of calling it nonsensical tho.
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Today i was too weak to squat a 3RM of 150kg (got 3x147.5kg yesterday) and im prob gonna put it down to the hard run this morning eating into my performance. However the funny thing is i was able to progress my 10rm just fine, getting 10x130kg which is a lifetime PR (and the 127.5kg was the same yesterday and so on forth). Plug in the 1rm calculator app on my phone and it says i shud have a 172.5kg max - lol yea alright, that's why i racked 150kg after the first rep cos i didn't think i would get a clean 2nd leave alone a 3rd. So what's going on? It's just the same thing we've been talking about -- the illusion of progress / productive training by doing something easier just to say you're making progress even tho there is almost zero translation between longer sets and runs to shorter more intense ones. I buy in to the longer rep sets though, cos it's nice to make progress regularly even if it's just fools gold to take it for anything other than what it is. something holistic would just make regular PRs as part of training and the problem with longer runs (and being specific here duration) just runs into the same problem that as you increase speed it becomes harder, so where is the progress?
For the squat if you have a theoretical max of 172.5kg based on 130kgx10 reps but struggle with 150kg it's probably because you're not used to lifting the heavier weight. Your body adapts to what you train it at. If you started practicing heavy singles and also worked on doing half squats with 200+kg to get used to the weight on your back I wouldn't be surprised if you came close to 172.5kg in a couple of months. However, in rare circumstances you might be an anomaly where you're just great at being able to push out 10 reps. When I first started lifting I was mentored by one of my mum's friends who was a bodybuilder. He could easily rep out 12 reps of 120kg on bench but would struggle with benching anything 140kg+ because he was used to doing 8-20 reps with short rests (<1 minute) between sets.
Edit- Congrats on the :personal-record:. As for running I think you should just experiment and do what you think is best. If your goal is to run 5km in sub 20 then get used to running for 20 minutes and keep increasing the speed.
To run 5km in 20 minutes or less you need to be running at 15km/h (4:00 minute 1km speed).
https://www.depicus.com/swim-bike-run/pace-conversion-chart
Atm you can't run that fast so start off running at 10km/h for 20 minute.
The next session try running at 10.3, 10.6, 10.9 etc. If the 0.3 intervals are too much reduce it down to 0.2 or even 0.1. Once you stall you can start doing other things like adarqui suggested e.g. speed work and longer runs.
Just my opinion (I have no distance running experience!!!).
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Today i was too weak to squat a 3RM of 150kg (got 3x147.5kg yesterday) and im prob gonna put it down to the hard run this morning eating into my performance. However the funny thing is i was able to progress my 10rm just fine, getting 10x130kg which is a lifetime PR (and the 127.5kg was the same yesterday and so on forth). Plug in the 1rm calculator app on my phone and it says i shud have a 172.5kg max - lol yea alright, that's why i racked 150kg after the first rep cos i didn't think i would get a clean 2nd leave alone a 3rd. So what's going on? It's just the same thing we've been talking about -- the illusion of progress / productive training by doing something easier just to say you're making progress even tho there is almost zero translation between longer sets and runs to shorter more intense ones. I buy in to the longer rep sets though, cos it's nice to make progress regularly even if it's just fools gold to take it for anything other than what it is. something holistic would just make regular PRs as part of training and the problem with longer runs (and being specific here duration) just runs into the same problem that as you increase speed it becomes harder, so where is the progress?
For the squat if you have a theoretical max of 172.5kg based on 130kgx10 reps but struggle with 150kg it's probably because you're not used to lifting the heavier weight. Your body adapts to what you train it at. If you started practicing heavy singles and also worked on doing half squats with 200+kg to get used to the weight on your back I wouldn't be surprised if you came close to 172.5kg in a couple of months. However, in rare circumstances you might be an anomaly where you're just great at being able to push out 10 reps. When I first started lifting I was mentored by one of my mum's friends who was a bodybuilder. He could easily rep out 12 reps of 120kg on bench but would struggle with benching anything 140kg+ because he was used to doing 8-20 reps with short rests (<1 minute) between sets.
Edit- Congrats on the :personal-record:. As for running I think you should just experiment and do what you think is best. If your goal is to run 5km in sub 20 then get used to running for 20 minutes and keep increasing the speed.
To run 5km in 20 minutes or less you need to be running at 15km/h (4:00 minute 1km speed).
https://www.depicus.com/swim-bike-run/pace-conversion-chart
Atm you can't run that fast so start off running at 10km/h for 20 minute.
The next session try running at 10.3, 10.6, 10.9 etc. If the 0.3 intervals are too much reduce it down to 0.2 or even 0.1. Once you stall you can start doing other things like adarqui suggested e.g. speed work and longer runs.
Just my opinion (I have no distance running experience!!!).
The pacing is easy on a treadmill. If you're worried about treadmill running being non-specific to actual running do it on an oval if you have a stopwatch/additional tech equipment you can replicate the strategy by adjusting your pace.
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For the squat if you have a theoretical max of 172.5kg based on 130kgx10 reps but struggle with 150kg it's probably because you're not used to lifting the heavier weight. Your body adapts to what you train it at. If you started practicing heavy singles and also worked on doing half squats with 200+kg to get used to the weight on your back I wouldn't be surprised if you came close to 172.5kg in a couple of months. However, in rare circumstances you might be an anomaly where you're just great at being able to push out 10 reps. When I first started lifting I was mentored by one of my mum's friends who was a bodybuilder. He could easily rep out 12 reps of 120kg on bench but would struggle with benching anything 140kg+ because he was used to doing 8-20 reps with short rests (<1 minute) between sets.
My 'program' lately has been start with 120kg, do it for a given number of reps (started with 6). then increase the weight each time for the same reps. when i got up to 132.5kg i stall usually, reset back to 120 and add reps, work up again. did it for 8s and now 10s. So far ive got this up to 10x130kg. I think 12 or 15 would be mastering 120kg. My hope is that eventually i'll be able to rep 140kg a lot better. Ive never been able to do more than 5 even when i was able to do 10 sets of 5 with 137.5kg in one workout. so 1rm estimates aren't accurate but that's okay it's progress and eventually if i can 10x150kg i'll be able to do an ez 170kg single (maybe). that's on paper. The easier/lighter i can make 120kg (2 red plates a side), the better i'll be trying to squat heavy for a max rep eventually.
Edit- Congrats on the :personal-record:. As for running I think you should just experiment and do what you think is best. If your goal is to run 5km in sub 20 then get used to running for 20 minutes and keep increasing the speed.
it's weird how that works. i did a 'long' run at 9.1km/hr for 65mins which was my PR. Tried to improve on it by going up to 9.2km/hr and 67.5min and just hit a wall hard, couldn't break 30 minutes. was trying to work up to 10km/hr on the longer run for 90 minutes, turns out i can't seem to make progress on both speed and duration. My PR for 5km is 24:36 and seems pretty daunting to try get that down to 20.
i dont have a problem with treadmill running. initially going from TM to real world was jarring but after a couple of real world runs they're pretty much interchangeable which was a relief.
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But it doesn't shift the dissonance. If i'm at low miles (because athletic background) b/c im slow then it would make sense to progress my speed, no? And yet of the the various variables that's one you're being told to go backwards in.
Literally all of my objections amount to this, is it ok to do a 40 minute run where you're only getting 5km of distance covered? how does this help make me a faster runner? also if you look at basketball studies, the average HR for a player over the entire match (including dead periods) is 160-180bpm. So would it make sense to do more training closer to that range than say 140. I know what the argument is for long slow running (if you accept it and even if i did) it runs into a wall cos weekly mileage wud be so low to not offer much benefit to faster runs. tbh i can see how it 'could work' if you were sufficiently fast then going submax you can still get a decent amount of km done
the answer to the question i bolded is, "yes, if that is a moderately challenging effort for you." low intensity steady state cardio is a tick or two above walking; you should be able to have a conversation with someone but not without having to catch your breath once in a while. if you're really overweight or have emphysema, then maybe walking is the quickest you can do, in which case covering 3 km in 40 minutes is ok. building aerobic capacity makes you faster for sports by, among other things, improving your body's ability to recover from bursts of effort. that was what i noticed during my ultimate game last spring: i wasn't necessarily any faster at max speed, but i could reach max speed -- and change direction quickly -- more times over the course of multiple points. that made a big difference in my capacity on the field.
i think you're making a mistake that a lot of people do, myself included, which is assuming too direct a correlation between two different data points. you think "basketball is played at 160-180 bpm, jogging gets me to 140 bpm, therefore maybe jogging isn't an optimal way to train for basketball." but jogging and basketball are different activities, and jogging can absolutely help build physical capacities that improve your ability to do specific training for and to play basketball. it's GPP. same as squatting: there isn't a 1:1 relationship between squatting and basketball ability, to claim one would be silly. but getting a bigger squat has carryover into speed and jumping and boxing people out. jogging has carryover into not getting winded as easily during gameplay.
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LBSS, quick recap:
1. i told him to play more full court basketball
2. he says he can't etc
3. he came up with some running stuff, which was basically 2x/day, but lots of hard running
4. i told him to do most of his runs slow/relaxed, not looking at pace, for ~30 minutes or so, then try to get 1-2 hard sessions in per week
5. he said running was making his squat feel amazing, best thing ever, feels so strong/good etc
6. treadmill vs road vs grass stuff
7. diminishing returns after 2 weeks, slow running isn't for him
8. slow running is dogma
9. he needs to feel like he can progress each workout etc, so running might not be for him
10. he'll stop short of calling it nonsensical
11. he says part of the fun is figuring it out for yourself, which i can identify with
i wrote the brief recap because i saw a devil's advocate comment. i forget exactly what, but it was related to pace etc.
i told him not to worry about the watch, pace, etc.. don't worry about how slow he looks compared to others.
tbh, i think he has problems going that slow because of "ego". maxent has made some comments which elude to that.
i run very slow, most often. even slower than old ladies, who can sometimes pass me. doesn't bother me one bit. so i'm definitely someone who has seen the benefits of running very slow/relaxed. thing is, for me it works best at ~45 minutes or so (and adds more benefit the longer i go). for maxent, it would probably work great at 30 minutes.
so, if he was enjoying his 2x/day running, or even every day running, he should be going hard 2x/week, with the rest of the sessions slow & relaxed .. occasionally throwing in some short strides or ending with them, if he wanted. that'd be my advice.
he wanted to go faster like every workout/week etc, but it just doesn't work that way with running.
i'll stop just short of calling it nonsensical tho.
nice. because calling something nonsensical, while not knowing much about the subject, would be well - nonsensical.
:ninja: :uhhhfacepalm:
also you asked if it's mileage or duration .. i told you several times, it's duration! don't worry about miles.
every single one of my runs, i simply write "1 hour" , "2 hours", "3 hours", "30 min", "45 min" etc.. i don't even write the mileage.
if you write the mileage, it makes you run too fast.
running to improve general fitness is very simple. you've already overcomplicated it like crazy. i mean that's not good to do in itself, but to do it with this confidence of calling the time tested basics "nonsensical" and "dogma" is just ridiculous. when it comes to conditioning you're self admittedly clueless, so chill with those "attack words" lmao. you know alot more about lifting/diet etc .. but conditioning is a completely different paradigm, takes a long time to learn/master. it's not easy. and the hardest aspect to learn about it, is how simple it is, yet how hard it is to perform the simple basics. the basics are hard to perform because they are so simple. they aren't shiny or amazing.
bottom line.. to build a strong foundation, one needs to improve their work capacity specific to the total duration of efforts, and total duration per week, per month, per year. etc.
peace!
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i think you're making a mistake that a lot of people do, myself included, which is assuming too direct a correlation between two different data points. you think "basketball is played at 160-180 bpm, jogging gets me to 140 bpm, therefore maybe jogging isn't an optimal way to train for basketball." but jogging and basketball are different activities, and jogging can absolutely help build physical capacities that improve your ability to do specific training for and to play basketball. it's GPP. same as squatting: there isn't a 1:1 relationship between squatting and basketball ability, to claim one would be silly. but getting a bigger squat has carryover into speed and jumping and boxing people out. jogging has carryover into not getting winded as easily during gameplay.
^^ :highfive:
very well said.
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@adarq: yeah i've been following the dialogue. i think the problem is less ego than maxent's general tendency to overanalyze and assume the things he does know relate much more strongly than they probably do.
same problem avishek had, which is funny considering maxent's recent use of "nonsensical." (check my sig if you haven't in a while :P)
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For what it's worth, it's prob cos i'd been listening to too many ppl. Like cicirunner on youtube and Vo2maxproductions who stress the miles. not sure if anyone, not even andrew had explicitly mentioned duration as the key variable while limiting distance on the longer run. No one says you have to do 'X hours' per week they all talk about '100 miles' per week
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For what it's worth, it's prob cos i'd been listening to too many ppl. Like cicirunner on youtube and Vo2maxproductions who stress the miles. not sure if anyone, not even andrew had explicitly mentioned duration as the key variable while limiting distance on the longer run. No one says you have to do 'X hours' per week they all talk about '100 miles' per week
I think that's your main problem right there. Listening to runners giving advice on becoming a runner when you don't want to be a runner. I think Andrew has possibly the best advice here. Not just given his ability and knowledge as a runner but also his understanding of basketball as well.
Also I think it's worth noting that the aerobic system takes years to truly maximise whereas the anaerobic system takes far less time (weeks to a couple of months).
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LBSS, quick recap:
1. i told him to play more full court basketball
2. he says he can't etc
3. he came up with some running stuff, which was basically 2x/day, but lots of hard running
4. i told him to do most of his runs slow/relaxed, not looking at pace, for ~30 minutes or so, then try to get 1-2 hard sessions in per week
5. he said running was making his squat feel amazing, best thing ever, feels so strong/good etc
6. treadmill vs road vs grass stuff
7. diminishing returns after 2 weeks, slow running isn't for him
8. slow running is dogma
9. he needs to feel like he can progress each workout etc, so running might not be for him
10. he'll stop short of calling it nonsensical
11. he says part of the fun is figuring it out for yourself, which i can identify with
i wrote the brief recap because i saw a devil's advocate comment. i forget exactly what, but it was related to pace etc.
i told him not to worry about the watch, pace, etc.. don't worry about how slow he looks compared to others.
tbh, i think he has problems going that slow because of "ego". maxent has made some comments which elude to that.
i run very slow, most often. even slower than old ladies, who can sometimes pass me. doesn't bother me one bit. so i'm definitely someone who has seen the benefits of running very slow/relaxed. thing is, for me it works best at ~45 minutes or so (and adds more benefit the longer i go). for maxent, it would probably work great at 30 minutes.
so, if he was enjoying his 2x/day running, or even every day running, he should be going hard 2x/week, with the rest of the sessions slow & relaxed .. occasionally throwing in some short strides or ending with them, if he wanted. that'd be my advice.
he wanted to go faster like every workout/week etc, but it just doesn't work that way with running.
i'll stop just short of calling it nonsensical tho.
nice. because calling something nonsensical, while not knowing much about the subject, would be well - nonsensical.
:ninja: :uhhhfacepalm:
also you asked if it's mileage or duration .. i told you several times, it's duration! don't worry about miles.
every single one of my runs, i simply write "1 hour" , "2 hours", "3 hours", "30 min", "45 min" etc.. i don't even write the mileage.
if you write the mileage, it makes you run too fast.
running to improve general fitness is very simple. you've already overcomplicated it like crazy. i mean that's not good to do in itself, but to do it with this confidence of calling the time tested basics "nonsensical" and "dogma" is just ridiculous. when it comes to conditioning you're self admittedly clueless, so chill with those "attack words" lmao. you know alot more about lifting/diet etc .. but conditioning is a completely different paradigm, takes a long time to learn/master. it's not easy. and the hardest aspect to learn about it, is how simple it is, yet how hard it is to perform the simple basics. the basics are hard to perform because they are so simple. they aren't shiny or amazing.
bottom line.. to build a strong foundation, one needs to improve their work capacity specific to the total duration of efforts, and total duration per week, per month, per year. etc.
peace!
That was a great recap!! This morning run something clicked. i was doing what should be on paper an easy run and it felt not easy. Just like every run in the last couple of weeks, when ive complained that there is no such thing. But what i wasn't understanding or whatever is that every run has a background level of discomfort. And the mind is a liar sometimes. always? Slow doesn't mean enjoyable or lack of discomfort. I guess i got thrown by the idea of a run being enjoyable etc, which would imply ...on first glance a lack of discomfort. But the body doesn't work like that. It's like you go a bit harder or a bit longer and the body releases more some ephinephrines and this throws off your idea of pain/discomfort, now something that you might have just found uncomfortable could become enjoyable cos the hormones are flooding through your blood. Like you might be working harder but it feels less painful. Maybe the whole time you were describing something that is objectively easy on paper (eg slow pace) without realising i was understanding it to be in an epistemological sense. I start off even run (even every easy run) with great discomfort .. i want to quit because it's v. uncomfortable .. the longer the run is supposed to be the stronger the desire to abandon it because the discomfort seems insurmountable for that long a time, especially at the beginning when the finish is the farthest away.
and this might be a good place to say that whatever ive been doing actually probably has worked and worked really well. when i started this experiment of daily running some 8 weeks ago i had no running background in my entire lifetime before it. Now im doing a 12km run in 75 minutes and i cut it short cos i didn't wanna get my long run goal today so i have something to look forward to progressing next time. but whatever that means .. the thing is i wanted to quit 5 minutes in. 6 minutes in. 10 minutes in. maybe around 15 minutes i was bargaining, im almost at 2.5km, that's a good milestone for an ez run, end it now. and then my shoe lace got undone and i said not again nike, mo farah your shoe sucks. so i ran another 30 minutes. at 45 minutes i tied my shoe lace and decided to break my long run PR of 65minutes. But somewhere i was thinking i cud prob even do 90 tbh .. something changed around 45 minutes .. running just got ........ easy? effortless. maybe it was cos i increased the pace to a sweet spot (9.7km/hr) but i felt i cud run all day .. form just felt right .. it clicked. and yet the initial discomfort had gone. so if i was doing easy runs the presence of discomfort didn't make them any hard - what made a run hard was .. i dont know .. objectively it might be HR or something like that which isnt what ive been paying attention to. so i'll just stick the course now. lol.
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For what it's worth, it's prob cos i'd been listening to too many ppl. Like cicirunner on youtube and Vo2maxproductions who stress the miles. not sure if anyone, not even andrew had explicitly mentioned duration as the key variable while limiting distance on the longer run. No one says you have to do 'X hours' per week they all talk about '100 miles' per week
I think that's your main problem right there. Listening to runners giving advice on becoming a runner when you don't want to be a runner. I think Andrew has possibly the best advice here. Not just given his ability and knowledge as a runner but also his understanding of basketball as well.
Also I think it's worth noting that the aerobic system takes years to truly maximise whereas the anaerobic system takes far less time (weeks to a couple of months).
ya really looking forward to doing speed work. doing intervals. doing all that cool stuff. but i haven't earnt the right to it just yet, got to put in the time and build my base up
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Bodyweight(AM): 84.1kg (10 Jan)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 54/54 days
Daily Run: 54/54 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: Long TM run - 75 mins, 12km total, 6:15/km pace (PR; minutes, distance)
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x152.5, 8x132.5(PR), 13x120(PR)
OHP 5x50, 3x60, 5x57.5, 7x55
Chinup 5x12kg, 6x10kg
BX 15x70kg(+band, PR)
Evening:
Notes:
- Perfect cool morning for a long run, took advantage. Was like 22-24 degrees C. The notable thing about htis run was i ran the last 10 minutes at above my long run goal pace of 10km/hr. And it feels like ive gone down a cup size which i didn't expect considering how much weight ive gained. ive gained weight and got leaner? that's cool.
- Started a new micro cycle at 13 and 8 reps of 120kg and 132.5kg respectively. Gna build up to 15x130kg and 8x140kg concurrently this week.
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.0kg (11 Jan)
Diet compliance: 1/1 days
Daily Squat: 55/55 days
Daily Run: 55/55 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: Slow Run - 7.65km, 49:50, 6:31/km pace
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x152.5, 10x132.5(PR), 14x120(PR)
BX 10x80(+band, PR)
Evening: Full court pickup game ~ 1hr
Notes:
- While i wanna gain weight i didn't think i'd hit 85kg so soon. Increasing bw for another 18 days including today. Still unsure what my upper limit shud be, i feel 86.5kg is prob a good place to end, from there can cut to 85.0kg in a couple of weeks max. Any longer cutting and i'll get weaker and lose muscle, so 86.5kg for now. Then again maybe 87kg would work too cos you lose some glycogen easily and cutting 1.5kg of fat is do-able once that happens. Will see.
- Kinda regretted the morning run but i wasn't sure if i'd get nice conditions like this again for a while this summer so went for it. I know cardio will help keep bodyfat down down while putting on bw but it's a fine line before you start eating into recovery and gains. Lets hope i find a nice balance.
- I worry if lots of slow running is not just making me even slower as an athlete. When i look down and see how my feet are moving glacially it just seems weird af ha.. i feel like im some old man jogger. lol. But signs are promising i felt kinda quick in my first basketball session of the season last friday.
- I haven't been logging but today my cadence was 149 which is what ive found my 'faster' runs to be. It probably started around 145 for slow jogs so ive made very modest improvements. Need to do a lot better but will be interesting to see what it is for a fastest GPS run, just to compare. Unfortunately i haven't got the records to check against. Next time i do one, i'll keep an eye at cadence.
- I went so long (~11 days) between ohp/chinup workouts that by the time i did it (yesterday) my body had detrained those muscles and my abs were torched today. weakened core is bad news for squatting so it was a subpar squat session. Forced it all the same. Hopefully the rest of the week will be better.
- I went to put some shots up tonight and got invited into a full court pickup game. Was craze. These philipino guys .. a few of them are good ballers too but the rest are meh. Lots of cherry picking and almost every second basket was transition fast breaks. I welcomed it cos i wanted to run lol. Suprisingly my fitness held up okay .. but i did find myself winded after a few bouts (i was actually trying to play hard on both sides of the court). Maybe that's where the interval training will help?
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A few things i wanted to put into a separate post. Cadence. Cadence. Cadence!
Forget running for a second. I have really terrible cadence even for walking, I realised tonight. And ive always marvelled watching pros playing in the NBA, why their feet move so quickly when they're just doing normal movements around hte court. Bad cadence it turns out (from what i've been reading) plays a huge part in injury causation and good cadence helps to prevent injury. Something about taking the load of the joints and putting it more on the muscular system. After my first bball session in 6 months or so last weekend i felt my body was beaten up pretty good. Not as bad as it used to be in the past on the first game back mind you but still very noticeably.
But putting one and two together .. when playing pickup tonight i focused on cadence and just moving my feet quicker. They say you should think high knees .. and it felt comical at first but i could see it working.. i took my watch off and i doubt it cud track basketball anyway but now i wish i had some kind of footpod to track cadence just to see measurable improvements over time. The really interesting tho was afterwards i didn't feel beat up as i would normally .. and it's still just my 3rd session of the season so it's not like ive adapted to basketball already, just cadence seems to have helped a ton.
So im going to try to make some changes .. like walking out of the basketball court my normal cadence is so slow and leisurely but if i actively try to improve it then i scuttle along more purposely. I would like to see how that translates to basketball over time. I would like to see how it translates to life in general. Maybe it's the simple changes we make which have the most benefit.
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A few things i wanted to put into a separate post. Cadence. Cadence. Cadence!
Forget running for a second. I have really terrible cadence even for walking, I realised tonight. And ive always marvelled watching pros playing in the NBA, why their feet move so quickly when they're just doing normal movements around hte court. Bad cadence it turns out (from what i've been reading) plays a huge part in injury causation and good cadence helps to prevent injury. Something about taking the load of the joints and putting it more on the muscular system. After my first bball session in 6 months or so last weekend i felt my body was beaten up pretty good. Not as bad as it used to be in the past on the first game back mind you but still very noticeably.
But putting one and two together .. when playing pickup tonight i focused on cadence and just moving my feet quicker. They say you should think high knees .. and it felt comical at first but i could see it working.. i took my watch off and i doubt it cud track basketball anyway but now i wish i had some kind of footpod to track cadence just to see measurable improvements over time. The really interesting tho was afterwards i didn't feel beat up as i would normally .. and it's still just my 3rd session of the season so it's not like ive adapted to basketball already, just cadence seems to have helped a ton.
So im going to try to make some changes .. like walking out of the basketball court my normal cadence is so slow and leisurely but if i actively try to improve it then i scuttle along more purposely. I would like to see how that translates to basketball over time. I would like to see how it translates to life in general. Maybe it's the simple changes we make which have the most benefit.
yup.
I worry if lots of slow running is not just making me even slower as an athlete.
don't.
When i look down and see how my feet are moving glacially it just seems weird af ha..
it's weird now, but from an evolutionary perspective, it was normal.
i feel like im some old man jogger.
so do i.
lol. But signs are promising i felt kinda quick in my first basketball session of the season last friday.
nice.
roughly:
my recovery runs & slow runs are ~150-165 SPM.
my moderate pace is 170-185 SPM.
my race SPM for 5k through half marathon, is ~190 SPM.
my race SPM for 1km to 1 mile, is ~200 SPM.
my race SPM for 200m is ~210-220+ SPM.
i do the vast majority of my running at 150-165 SPM, ie old man jogger level.
i get in ~1-2 sessions per week (including a possible race) at the 190+ SPM level.
i rarely hit 210-220+ SPM. but i can whenever i want.. and when i do, i can go 17-18.x mph.
the human body has different energy systems, meant for different survival/hunting scenarios. improving all of them is important, but they each have different frequencies in which you can make improvement. when you train one quality "really hard", it can improve to the detriment of other qualities - but that's mostly CNS related IMHO, everything recovers (or potentially overshoots) with taper/recovery periods. that's why slow running for example, is meant to actually be very slow. if every session is leaving you stale, then it would tap into recovery/strength gains. so, truly going slow/relaxed for recovery sessions (which still yield aerobic benefits) is very important. hitting it harder 1-2x/wk is fine and won't tap into anything. hitting it hard every day will make you stale as fu*k.
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I always find as I get heavier when i drive the ball, i become more and more unstoppable. My momentum just thrives on heavier bw. And even when lightweight, I remember in university days my friend remarking 'you're like a steam engine' cos i was hitting so hard (weighed lightweight too). He was much stronger than me but when driving the ball i would able to generate a lot of power nevertheless. So becoming actually heavier and more powerful and practising my driving i think i can become pretty much unstoppable. My problem is i intinctually shy away from contact .. which negates one of my abilities .. and because of that, the defender can neutralise me by guiding me away from the goal cos i'll keep taking off the accelerator lol. I need to reprogram myself to embrace the contact cos more than likely im winning that battle almost every time. If it's a much bigger heavier guy im going to be a bit quicker, and get him to achor himself momentarily to allow me to make a move around him. if it's a smaller guy he'll bounce off me. Why shy away? Just something I need to consciously work on. I am playing today will try to get as much contact as possible.
Oh and yea and cadence. Woke up and just shuffling around the house and i drag my heels pretty much always. It gives me a weird gait, i never knew just thinking pick up my knees would fix that. Will keep working on it and make it habit and then hopefully it will carry over to the court and track as well.
Old man joggers lol. No problem, i'll keep that in mind, just let the body internalise the most appropriate speed for the activity at hand. But i must tell you, i don't think my cadence ever gets above 160. Now i want to go to the track and just do some all out 200m sprints and check the cadence and see if i'm right about that. If it turns out i have low cadence regardless of the type of run - any drill you can recommend welcome
i bet if anyone here actually saw me move in real life they could suggest changes that would make huge differences to my ability as an athlete just by observing. I really regret not taking up todday's offer to train with him back when i was in LA.
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.1kg (12 Jan)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 56/56 days
Daily Run: 56/56 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM Run - 30 mins, 5km, 06:00/km pace
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x152.5, 8x135(PR), 14x120
BX 12x70kg(+band, PR)
Evening: Half court pckup - 1.5hrs
Notes:
- Ate 3 slices of pizza last night so restart the diet counter. TBH it's really hard to eat enough to recover from my huge training load, 100% clean but still let me be honest with my logging
- Couldn't get the 15th rep. A couple was lifting next to me and i had apologised in advance in case i was loud (they were really cool about it all haha) but when i got to the 14th i felt it was hard enough that i wasn't sure if i might just fail a 15th rep. I think most of my problem was i felt super self conscious about being a weird guy at the gym making a lot of noise etc. Was a bit self conscious, maybe if they weren't there i could have waited a bit to get my breath back and gone for a 15th. New plan is drop the weight to say 112.5kg and just go for even higher reps and then build back to 120kg once i've got the adaptation for long sets.
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But i must tell you, i don't think my cadence ever gets above 160. Now i want to go to the track and just do some all out 200m sprints and check the cadence and see if i'm right about that. If it turns out i have low cadence regardless of the type of run - any drill you can recommend welcome
there's no way you won't get above 160 SPM on a 200m sprint.
I really regret not taking up todday's offer to train with him back when i was in LA.
yup. :derp:
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.1kg (12 Jan)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 56/56 days
Daily Run: 56/56 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon:
Evening:
Notes:
- Ate 3 slices of pizza last night so restart the diet counter. TBH it's really hard to eat enough to recover from my huge training load, 100% clean but still let me be honest with my logging
i ate ~2,500 kcal of milk chocolate almonds today.
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there's no way you won't get above 160 SPM on a 200m sprint.
Guess i'd have to find out! Morning run step freq was 151 today btw (that's just for the last 4km, the first km was just a warmup at v. slow speed and i didn't start the watch until end of warmup). I was checking it intermittently and it was around 155 .. but i think i must have had periods where it dropped below 150 to average 151. That would be super interesting to track, step freq thru the entire run.
I really regret not taking up todday's offer to train with him back when i was in LA.
yup. :derp:
Dont think i was willing to receive the advice i needed at that time. To be clear if i had got it from him personally i probably would have embraced it but the whole thing about the teacher and the glass full thing applied, i hadn't emptied my glass at that point. And that's what I needed before I even reached out for his hand. The point i am now .. ive tried the things I believed to be true and not having seen the results i started revisiting and revising my approach. hence the running emphasis when i had never run before etc. I think i still have his old posts of what he wanted me to do at the time (sprint focus) and i just didn't wanna change up focus from squatting. btw squatting never went anywhere until i started doing daily squatting and i would never have done that either.
That leads me to another strand, if daily squatting works so well .. what can i do for daily training the upper body? Im not goign to be able to do it now i don't think but at some point. Daily dips? Daily curls? Which exercise? Pushups?
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.1kg (12 Jan)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 56/56 days
Daily Run: 56/56 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon:
Evening:
Notes:
- Ate 3 slices of pizza last night so restart the diet counter. TBH it's really hard to eat enough to recover from my huge training load, 100% clean but still let me be honest with my logging
i ate ~2,500 kcal of milk chocolate almonds today.
lol. if i had any junk food i prob would eat it too. chocolate almonds are just great though. my sister brought some Haigh's from adelaide when she last visited and i ate the entire thing. They have really great rocky road too which I always look forward to but it's seasonal. In general, just try to stay away cos i know myself too well. The other night i went to watch a movie with my brotehr and i ate an entire large poporn and a bag of maltesers. We were sharing but he'll have his bit and i end up over-eating cos my appetite is endless. Not good. So much salt.
This was a summary of what i ate after bball last night:
- 2 mcdoubles (just cos i knew i wouldn't get enough protein) on drive home
- like 2 cups of chicken breast worth of chicken curry
- 2 cups rice
- 4 roti + 1 cup dhal
- 1 cup allu methi (potato fenugreek)
- 150mL egg white
- 2 scoops whey
- 250mL reduced fat milk
- a mango
- 3 slices of pizza
- 1 diet pepsi
i think that's the lot
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Pickup was good. I got my first big block today .. which is usually a good sign my timing is coming back. Not sure it's ever happened just start of week 2 of restarting bball so that was cool. I still haven't tried dunking but i don't want to be a dunker anymore .. want to be respected for my game not some parlour trick i can happen to do because i squat way too much and it's only a 22" inch jump to touch the rim. I may do a dunk session at some point but right now just getting back in shape is priority #1.
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there's no way you won't get above 160 SPM on a 200m sprint.
Guess i'd have to find out! Morning run step freq was 151 today btw (that's just for the last 4km, the first km was just a warmup at v. slow speed and i didn't start the watch until end of warmup). I was checking it intermittently and it was around 155 .. but i think i must have had periods where it dropped below 150 to average 151. That would be super interesting to track, step freq thru the entire run.
I really regret not taking up todday's offer to train with him back when i was in LA.
yup. :derp:
Dont think i was willing to receive the advice i needed at that time. To be clear if i had got it from him personally i probably would have embraced it but the whole thing about the teacher and the glass full thing applied, i hadn't emptied my glass at that point. And that's what I needed before I even reached out for his hand. The point i am now .. ive tried the things I believed to be true and not having seen the results i started revisiting and revising my approach. hence the running emphasis when i had never run before etc. I think i still have his old posts of what he wanted me to do at the time (sprint focus) and i just didn't wanna change up focus from squatting. btw squatting never went anywhere until i started doing daily squatting and i would never have done that either.
i def understand the "glass not empty yet" concept.
That leads me to another strand, if daily squatting works so well .. what can i do for daily training the upper body? Im not goign to be able to do it now i don't think but at some point. Daily dips? Daily curls? Which exercise? Pushups?
daily calisthenics (unloaded) or alternating daily push/pull resistance training.
upper isn't meant for "daily pounding" like lower is, and has smaller muscles. can't train it with heavy external resistance daily like the lower body, IMHO.
can def alternate push/pull tho, with rest days inserted as needed.
if you walked on your hands you'd be able to do daily overhead press, etc. that's my perspective on it.
if you did daily bodyweight stuff, you'd still need to use a variety of exercises. ie pushups/pullups one day, dips/chinups the other.
my 2 cents.
pc!
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daily calisthenics (unloaded) or alternating daily push/pull resistance training.
upper isn't meant for "daily pounding" like lower is, and has smaller muscles. can't train it with heavy external resistance daily like the lower body, IMHO.
can def alternate push/pull tho, with rest days inserted as needed.
if you walked on your hands you'd be able to do daily overhead press, etc. that's my perspective on it.
if you did daily bodyweight stuff, you'd still need to use a variety of exercises. ie pushups/pullups one day, dips/chinups the other.
my 2 cents.
frankly i think the russians might have got it right in the first place. when you focus on fundamental GPP / movement with young athletes you fix a lot of things that unlock the body's ability to maximise performance. If i had had an athletic coach growing up and i had a backgroudn of competitive sport / training i prob would have been in a far better position to achieve the most out of my body even if i never stepped foot inside a gym. I think my cadence being so bad meant i didn't get enough lower limb development, not enough glute work, inefficient movement meant i was never challenging my body the right way to become more optimal at athletic movements. Probably just doing pushups (as opposed to nothing) would have got upper body development most of the way there. Just found that when i dabbled in a daily pushup regime some months ago my bench actually got super easy even with my previous 1rm type weights. Weight training is definitely not always the answer or even a good answer if you haven't paid the dues with more humble, lets say fundamentals.
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In my case even if weight training did give some apparent 'gains' .. it came without 'fixing' the bad movement. And one without the other means you can't really translate those gains into sports. Fixing the fundamentals might even have been enough alone. Lol. Too late now though, lemme get the daily 170-180kg squat max ability and if in that time i can get my cadence heading in the right direction i'll be able to peak my lifetime athleticism for like a week before i get too old and the wrong side of 35 :headbang:
Here is a program i found online i'm going to try out:
(https://i.imgur.com/FivIqxb.png)
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.5kg (13 Jan)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 57/57 days
Daily Run: 57/57 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: Skipped run
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x152.5, 0x137.5, 15x110(PR)
Evening: Track - 6x100m wind assisted strides
Notes:
- Ok basketball needs to chill. I can't keep eating this much food just to recover from bball added to my training load. Need to get food intake and bodyweight in control.
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.5kg (13 Jan)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 57/57 days
Daily Run: 57/57 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon:
Evening:
Notes:
- Ok basketball needs to chill. I can't keep eating this much food just to recover from bball added to my training load. Need to get food intake and bodyweight in control.
if basketball is your main goal, why would it ever need to chill? basketball should take priority over everything else.
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Notes:
- Ok basketball needs to chill. I can't keep eating this much food just to recover from bball added to my training load. Need to get food intake and bodyweight in control.
if basketball is your main goal, why would it ever need to chill? basketball should take priority over everything else.
i had my first bad squat workout today. was due for 8x137.5kg .. bailed on the first rep halfway down, just didn't feel right, my legs/back were buckling. I didn't even break parallel just put the bar back and went wtf lol.
Basketball is the main goal but i have to treat it like Charlie Francis treated his athlete's track workouts - when performance/quality starts dropping, stop and leave. Basketball played earnestly is very much just as demanding as any track workout, you're pushing high HRs and every second involves acceleration .. which is probably even more intense than just more or less maintaining some constant velocity like sprinting. It's brutal if you play D hard and then work hard on offense too. I might cap my basketball sessions at 1 hour max .. i can play longer but just turn into a catch and shoot corner 3 guy and pickup the slowest/smallest guy on the other end. Something like that. Prob getting a lot fitter but the cost (recovery) is just too much, joints take a hell of a beating from basketball. I hate that aspect of the sport, it's prob the most unhealthy sport i can think of..
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.9kg (14 Jan)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 58/58 days
Daily Run: 58/58 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM Run - 9km, 62:37, 06:58/km pace
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x155, 16x112.5(PR)
Evening:
Notes:
- Still a bit beat up from the weekend's basketball. Hoping i can resume normal training today..
- It's probably goign against common wisdom but im going to explore higher rep PRs for a while. Just wanna see what it can do for me. So the next few weeks might be about progressing to 15-20 rep PRs even though my stated goal is a heavy single of 170kg .. i think i need to see what reps do towards that goal.
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.8kg (15 Jan)
Diet compliance: 1/1 days
Daily Squat: 59/59 days
Daily Run: 59/59 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x155, 12x125(PR), 17x115(PR)
Track 5x100m strides
BX 13x80kg(+band, PR)
Evening: Run - 5.18km, 32:31, 06:15/km pace
Notes:
- Woke up feeling not so beat up. Quietly hopeful of recovery..
- One of those days where i was not sure which PR attempts to pick but somehow nailed it.
- Didn't run in the morning .. life kind of got in the way but also I couldn't be bothered. Im going to cheat (daily running count) sometimes by doing track sessions in lieu of actual running (sprinting is just too damn easy compared to running.. not even close)
- Was windy af - i was going to take a video of the flags waving but who cares. Saw the weather report said it was 35km/hr winds .. not sure if anyone in Perth has ever had a decent track workout with the prevailing conditions of this place .. i bet not unless it's like 100m and you're not running against the wind half the time.! I did a warmup 400m and it was exhausting. Seriously wtf.
- lol .. was sat at home at 8:30pm and thinking i could probably do that run now .. and i thought about it and the idea that i'll get fat af if i skip cardio just pushed me over the edge. but more than that, i think i felt like i 'had' to run. i guess im a runner now :welcome:. (btw ive been re-teaching myself swahili and i just missed the chance to use the word karibu which i read today after lunch. this gives me an idea. maybe andrew can become swahili buddies with me if he's that inclined? can i refer to the man in the 3rd person like that or is it rude? guess we'll never know)
- Good day of training over all. At some point i need to bump my daily single up but 157.5kg last time i tried it felt like a real max grind. i'll wait til next week.
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.8kg (15 Jan)
Diet compliance: 1/1 days
Daily Squat: 59/59 days
Daily Run: 59/59 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x155, 12x125(PR), 17x115(PR)
Track 5x100m strides
BX 13x80kg(+band, PR)
Evening: Run - 5.18km, 32:31, 06:15/km pace
Notes:
- Woke up feeling not so beat up. Quietly hopeful of recovery..
- One of those days where i was not sure which PR attempts to pick but somehow nailed it.
- Didn't run in the morning .. life kind of got in the way but also I couldn't be bothered. Im going to cheat (daily running count) sometimes by doing track sessions in lieu of actual running (sprinting is just too damn easy compared to running.. not even close)
- Was windy af - i was going to take a video of the flags waving but who cares. Saw the weather report said it was 35km/hr winds .. not sure if anyone in Perth has ever had a decent track workout with the prevailing conditions of this place .. i bet not unless it's like 100m and you're not running against the wind half the time.! I did a warmup 400m and it was exhausting. Seriously wtf.
- lol .. was sat at home at 8:30pm and thinking i could probably do that run now .. and i thought about it and the idea that i'll get fat af if i skip cardio just pushed me over the edge. but more than that, i think i felt like i 'had' to run. i guess im a runner now :welcome:. (btw ive been re-teaching myself swahili and i just missed the chance to use the word karibu which i read today after lunch. this gives me an idea. maybe andrew can become swahili buddies with me if he's that inclined? can i refer to the man in the 3rd person like that or is it rude? guess we'll never know)
- Good day of training over all. At some point i need to bump my daily single up but 157.5kg last time i tried it felt like a real max grind. i'll wait til next week.
i dont get the swahili statement. lol. im too lazy to learn another language. :ninja:
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i dont get the swahili statement. lol. im too lazy to learn another language. :ninja:
Fair enough. I thought you might wanna learn from your insta and love for Kenyan running. I'm the same, i'll prob find the reality of learning gets too tedious once the initial hype has worn off. But daily training has kinda opened my eyes on what you can accomplish by just doing a little bit every day, it just seems to 'work' even if you're not working very hard every time. Last night run i looked at my watch and around 4km i was maintaining a 5 min/km pace .. submax .. which is what my fast runs used to be like .. though it's been forever since i've done one of those outside. That's with a full days worth of eating and drinking and shoes clothes im prob around 87.5kg i'd say. So a lot heavier than when i started off with a gym weight of 82kg. It seems the fitness benefit of just punching the clock regularly and getting those easy miles in without straining seems to be the key. I've even found it affecting the way i do squatting now .. im finding that by building up higher number of reps with lighter weight that as i progress those sets the heavier weights are easier to rep and i guess that's the secret .. to just rep more with more over time. Really regret sticking to lower reps for most of my training .. it just doesn't work as well to be a bit more patient and build up reps instead even though it's not as sexy as pushing limit weights.
This is a round about way of saying im going to try the daily approach to other things including:
- learning a language (swahili and maybe swedish)
- writing code daily
- maths daily
and that's all i got for far but im going to keep looking for things to apply the same approach to that i've always wanted to get good at
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.7kg (16 Jan)
Diet compliance: 2/2 days
Daily Squat: 60/60 days
Daily Run: 60/60 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x100, 1x155, 12x127.5(PR)
Dips 3x8x24kg, 15xBW
Evening: Run - 5km, 34:52, 06:57/km pace
Notes:
- Going to start eating more in the morning so i can eat less food at night, especially carbs. Have been having too large meals at night and it affects sleep quality and quantity. Also metabolism is slowest at night so it's not optimal. Better to get the food in while metabolic rate is higher.
- Went 10 days since last dips workout. Good bye abs .. i feel them pretty torched already .. squat tmr will be brutal.
- Right first day of pushing calories away from dinner without eating less. Lets see if it leads to better results (recovery, sleep etc).
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Ok, 2 upper body workouts in 20 days is kind of bullshit. I'm not going to change anything anytime soon but in about 12 days i'll shift focus away from squats and to lower body. If i've learnt anything about my training is that i tend to get obsessed with one thing to the detriment of overall balance and that for 2019 i'd like to be mr 85% .. good or okay at all things, bad at nothing. In the past i focused on lifting but nothing on conditioning, i've done something to address that but now to re-address balance upper body training needs some love too. It will give me a nice change of pace too, keep things fresh.
to add a few other neglected things to this list:
- vertical jump work (depth jumps, jump jumps, etc)
- sprint work
- track assistance (bounds etc)
- basketball skill work (shooting, dribbling, post moves, etc)
Also I think i need a sports massage badly. Might get one every 6 weeks or so. my last one was terrible, just before xmas, wanted to see what my health insurance would cover (hardly anything it turned out, maybe $20 and i paid the remaining $45 or so). I need to make sure i find a good place next time. thought i'd go to a proper professional one in dec and the guy was so bad .. like weak af .. ive had the best massages from little tiny ladies with pointy elbows at random chinese massage parlors in sydney and bangkok, so going to try find one of those instead of a white dude with a certificate. But ive prob been to some decent physios over the years, just can't be bothered with that. The guy pretty much carried out a boring conversation for the entire hour and i just want some peace and quiet and lots of pain, you know? Anyway.
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.6kg (17 Jan)
Diet compliance: 2/2 days
Daily Squat: 61/61 days
Daily Run: 61/61 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM Run 5km, 35 mins
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x155, 20x110(PR)
QL assistance - 1arm kb carries
BX 14x80kg(+band, PR)
Evening:
Notes:
- Body feeling a bit beat up.
- Was informed today im expected to play the 4 position. This is not great news .. i was prepping to play as a lean athletic 85kg. Not sure I can even play as a PF without being undersized. Any advice?
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Was informed today im expected to play the 4 position. This is not great news .. i was prepping to play as a lean athletic 85kg. Not sure I can even play as a PF without being undersized. Any advice?
What's the general competition like at the 4? When I've played the 4 and 5 are still relatively short (6-6'5) so being a lean 85 would not be so much of an issue. If you're looking at the 6'6-6'9 range then yeah you might need some more cushion for the pushin
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Was informed today im expected to play the 4 position. This is not great news .. i was prepping to play as a lean athletic 85kg. Not sure I can even play as a PF without being undersized. Any advice?
What's the general competition like at the 4? When I've played the 4 and 5 are still relatively short (6-6'5) so being a lean 85 would not be so much of an issue. If you're looking at the 6'6-6'9 range then yeah you might need some more cushion for the pushin
Not that much taller than that. But most guys would be 90-110kg range and average around 95kg i'd say. Also im pretty bad at pushing ppl out, i know that's prob a leverage thing .. but it could be my upper body being too weak. Dont have a clue what im doing in the post either lol.
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So im finding these longer sets of BS are not that challenging for the legs but they're pretty damn hard on the support structures. My erectors are singing and i feel all kinds of core discomfort during them. Which is exactly the point. Squats need to be heavy to challenge legs. Lighter squats don't do that. But by doing lots of reps you build the base which will eventually be used to use heavier weights later down the line that /do/ challenge the legs. What im trying to say is ive seen not much if any leg size increases or even strength for that matter. I hope im not gambling too much, my intuition says it's ok to master 120kg for 20 first then i'll be in a better position to tackle 15x140kg which would probably be enough to get my daily 170kg. Maybe i'll need to actually progress to a 8 or 10 rep 150kg set though before i can realise it. Im running out of time and patience with the daily squatting .. 11 more days of weight gain before i have to cap my eating. So not sure if i can pull this off. Going to treat each squat session as a valuable opportunity to do something special imho.
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Was informed today im expected to play the 4 position. This is not great news .. i was prepping to play as a lean athletic 85kg. Not sure I can even play as a PF without being undersized. Any advice?
What's the general competition like at the 4? When I've played the 4 and 5 are still relatively short (6-6'5) so being a lean 85 would not be so much of an issue. If you're looking at the 6'6-6'9 range then yeah you might need some more cushion for the pushin
Not that much taller than that. But most guys would be 90-110kg range and average around 95kg i'd say. Also im pretty bad at pushing ppl out, i know that's prob a leverage thing .. but it could be my upper body being too weak. Dont have a clue what im doing in the post either lol.
imo boxing out is all leg and hip strength so you should be golden. If you get your leg across in front of them and push your hips (bum) back into them they simply can't jump over you. I normally play at 90kgs and I just go super aggressive on the boards. It's surprising how many guys just expect to be able to get rebounds.
Post play sucks. First thing is most guards hate giving it to you in the post so that's the biggest battle. You only really need 2/3 moves max though. A turn around jumper, a drop step and then a turn and face move. I like the turn and face then either a straight up bank shot or the pump fake 1 dribble lay-up/dish. A guy I used to play with had the best drop step spin. 9/10 he would go baseline with 1 dribble and finish over the help. I'm making it sound way more simple than it is though haha.
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imo boxing out is all leg and hip strength so you should be golden. If you get your leg across in front of them and push your hips (bum) back into them they simply can't jump over you. I normally play at 90kgs and I just go super aggressive on the boards. It's surprising how many guys just expect to be able to get rebounds.
Good stuff! Can you go more into the strategy of being super aggressive? I find when the shot goes up im just watching the ball thru space while it makes it way to the rim. It's like my legs find that to be the best time to sneak a bit of rest while the ball is up in the air :uhhhfacepalm: that's part of being super unfit for basketball so i know i have terrible habits of conserving energy but i know it's a bad one. This is a new realisation too :uhhhfacepalm:
Post play sucks. First thing is most guards hate giving it to you in the post so that's the biggest battle.
As someone who 'thinks' like a guard but happens to be too tall to play one, i think they're not willing to put that pass to the ground when what they think is a bad situation (in their mind a guy turned away from the basket with a guy right on top of him while both are stationary is a bad decision because they're a guard and to them a good situation is having the offensive player moving while there is some space between the defender and they can see daylight. Guards are just fucking stupid though, it's the ultimate projecting what is good for you but not necessarily good for someone else.). Last week at pickup I was literally posting up on a guy who was too slow and weak to guard me in the post and im all but begging for the ball but the guards are like nah it's better in my hands than his. lol.
You only really need 2/3 moves max though. A turn around jumper, a drop step and then a turn and face move. I like the turn and face then either a straight up bank shot or the pump fake 1 dribble lay-up/dish. A guy I used to play with had the best drop step spin. 9/10 he would go baseline with 1 dribble and finish over the help. I'm making it sound way more simple than it is though haha.
Yeah agree. I want to work on my spin off the defender with a nice amount of contact to make space because that's something i can pull off with my length and speed against someone relatively heavier, bigger and slower. The problem is as you describe even getting the ball in teh frist place
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Bodyweight(AM): 86.3kg (18 Jan)
Diet compliance: 3/3 days
Daily Squat: 62/62 days
Daily Run: 62/62 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM Run 6km, 46 mins
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x157.5, 12x130(PR)
Evening:
Notes:
- Every morning run i swear this is the last one, im done running. lol
- Well thanks to the kids at the gym today for the inspiration. They were goofing around like kids do and it just annoyed me (which i embraced) and channeled my anger at getting firstly a heavy single of 157.5kg (wish i had gone for 160kg tbh to equal my lifetime raw PR) but especially the 130kg one. This isn't sustainable, i wont be able to find that kind of inspiration every time but today a)i needed it, b)it was there). Im finding it hard to just turn on the intensity like i'd been able to til now. Now i need to find it externally. At least today I did.
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these long slow runs are building the base for heavier efforts. just like light squats to build the base for heavy reps.
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these long slow runs are building the base for heavier efforts. just like light squats to build the base for heavy reps.
beautiful analogy. agreed!
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.9kg (19 Jan)
Diet compliance: 4/4 days
Daily Squat: 63/63 days
Daily Cardio: 63/63 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x160(=PR), 15x120(PR)
Evening: Pickup bball ~ 1/2 court, ~1.5 hours
Notes:
- So with 10 days left of this weight gain phase im not sure what i want to end up. Maybe <87.5kg? <87kg? Not sure. Lets just eat to recover and deal with whatever i end up weighing.
- been feeling really blue today .. didn't sleep much, just low. i went for a 160kg max and got it, on a better day i prob would have got it easier than how hard i made it look. All good.
- Went hard in bball .. and skipped running in the morning, was a fkn 41 degree celcius day, yea no thanks. Change of template: daily running -> daily cardio will allow such substitutes from here
- I had a big chocolate waffle cone after bball with a friend and bought some subway cookies on the way home to eat for dessert lol. The cone was literally melting too fast for me to eat, dm/dt > de/dt was crazy hot. Only 10 days of weight gain and i didn't get to eat enough but ate junk, what a waste. It's the worst choice, just get softer but not stronger or harder.
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.8kg (20 Jan)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 64/64 days
Daily Cardio: 64/64 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x155, 3x112.5(lol)
Evening: Run 5.5km, 41:40, 07:30/km pace
Notes:
- Didn't get to eat properly yesterday so reset the counter. 9 days remaining of surplus. Feeling pretty beat up from basketball but that's to be expected. Another 40 degree day(cue stringer bell), not sure i'll run. Maybe something ez in the evening if it gets cooler.
- The crossfit couple was training next to me today. killed my buzz again. lol. I did the single and was going to go for a 21 rep PR with 112.5kg .. waited like 10 minutes then 15 minutes then 20 minutes for them to finish their crossfit workout. finally realised it wasn't gna happen and just went for it and 3 reps in i realised id gone cold and today was a write off.
- Basically we dont have bumper plates at the gym. They're colour coded like bumpers but they're hard plastic (polyuthrane iirc). These geniuses were dropping them from overhead and it made a loud bang. It didn't clue them in that they had double collared each side of their bars .. maybe just maybe this would lead them to reconsider but idk. Jackasses.
- I went for an evening run. It was probably the first proper slow run ive ever done. And im glad Andrew and LBSS convinced me to do them cos i prob would stop running altogether because of how hard training/recovery is atm and yet something like this is easy to fit and do regardless of whatever is going on in life. It's not forever, eventually i'll have the luxury to do faster running, whenever that will be, i dont know.
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Good stuff! Can you go more into the strategy of being super aggressive? I find when the shot goes up im just watching the ball thru space while it makes it way to the rim. It's like my legs find that to be the best time to sneak a bit of rest while the ball is up in the air :uhhhfacepalm: that's part of being super unfit for basketball so i know i have terrible habits of conserving energy but i know it's a bad one. This is a new realisation too :uhhhfacepalm:
Haha I know exactly what you mean. Watching the shot is ok but you need to find a body. Create some body contact and get in front or besides someone. With your reach and your vert you should be able to out rebound most guys. Also most guys are horrible at boxing out and will hate when the pressure is put on them. Even if you can’t complete the rebound just try and keep the ball alive on offense or clear it on defence.
As someone who 'thinks' like a guard but happens to be too tall to play one, i think they're not willing to put that pass to the ground when what they think is a bad situation (in their mind a guy turned away from the basket with a guy right on top of him while both are stationary is a bad decision because they're a guard and to them a good situation is having the offensive player moving while there is some space between the defender and they can see daylight. Guards are just fucking stupid though, it's the ultimate projecting what is good for you but not necessarily good for someone else.). Last week at pickup I was literally posting up on a guy who was too slow and weak to guard me in the post and im all but begging for the ball but the guards are like nah it's better in my hands than his. lol.
When I played at my highest level I was a no. 3 swingman and played that slashing/cutting role. I would sometimes have to post but I still think that movement is best even for a 4 or 5. Low to high/high to low/wing to wing/etc. Seems to get their attention a little more. Still sucks though and if they don’t want to give it to you then you’re stuck. The other thing I do when I play with guys like that is to set on the ball screens so they have to move and make a play. Then roll or pop and give them options. This is also why I play so aggressively on the boards as that gives me control over some of my own shots.
Yeah agree. I want to work on my spin off the defender with a nice amount of contact to make space because that's something i can pull off with my length and speed against someone relatively heavier, bigger and slower. The problem is as you describe even getting the ball in teh frist place
Yep. It’s an ongoing battle.
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Lately i've been watching Ben Simmons play. He will drive into the middle and then just turn his back while still driving and backing down his defender and then make a move to score. I think i can kinda do that but not sure how it would against a zone, probably need pretty decent handles to do it without picking up my dribble and come in on an angle . Been trying to practice a little in pickup but the (really shit) guards hold the ball too much so i don't get much practice. Plus they won't give me the ball at the top cos they think i should be inside to collect their rebounds instead :). It's only recently i've realised you have to treat the guards like they're children and just out-alpha them and demand the ball from them at all times, til they earn their your respect and can handle it more. I think i need a pass first guard because im a pass first forward so the ball moving around is my ideal thing because it's not going to die in my hands but it usually does in theirs. Like i'd happily pass the ball back to the same guard who just passed it to me, even straight away just to keep the ball flowing. Really weird but power games are everywhere in life you don't get to opt out just because of some belief in equality lol. Guards and forwards aren't equals, we look down on them :wowthatwasnutswtf:
I think i understand what kind of player you are, the bouncy rebound magnet close to the rim. Im not that guy. Even when i can outreach the defenders around me for rebounds for put backs (not dunks) i seldom finish them cleanly cos it's just so unnatural to me to play that role. But nowadays i try to be more patient and get the defender to bite and just finish with some contact but moving for a clean shot. It seems to open up my game to have a bit more patience and just go against my natural instincts and im enjoying that growth so far.
I need to be more aggressive but i just don't wanna seem aggressive. Is that possible?
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.7kg (21 Jan)
Diet compliance: 1/1 days
Daily Squat: 65/65 days
Daily Cardio: 65/65 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x155
OHP 5x60, 5x57.5, 8x55
BX 11x85B(PR)
Evening: Slow run - 5.21km, 35:49, 06:52/km pace
Notes:
- Going to try do an upper body workout today if the body is willing
- Another bad squat day smh. the funny guy with the beard from the hangover was using the rack i usually use. Technically he wasn't even using it, just outside the rack doing 60kg deadlifts between 30kg bench and cable row complexes .. so another wasted workout. And to add insult to injury cos i used the other rack, my form was wack and im pretty sure the depth of my 155kg was suspect but it felt ridiculously easy that i could have repped it. Not that i would care because it didn't feel like a honest rep. The PT have scribbled advertising copy all over the mirror infront of this rack and it throws off my form as does just everything else feeling different. I might have even scrubbed it out but the manager guy who already doesn't like me (i get the feeling b/c on my first day at the gym i walked in flipflops and he had a go at me saying do you have shoes? i told him i did and since then we've been aloof with each other because it was completely unprovoked for him to not just wait a few minutes to see if i was going to train in flipflops). today he would just take the opportunity to start an argument if i wiped off the mirror, so i wasn't feeling like it was worth it today. After that i thought id wait til my usual rack got free and he did eventually move on but by then i'd gone cold and just couldnt be bothered anymore. I had a good run until recently and now i just cant string together 2 good days of training ha
- And just in case i needed the reminder, got some casual racism today .. must be australia day weekend coming up..
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Lately i've been watching Ben Simmons play. He will drive into the middle and then just turn his back while still driving and backing down his defender and then make a move to score. I think i can kinda do that but not sure how it would against a zone, probably need pretty decent handles to do it without picking up my dribble and come in on an angle . Been trying to practice a little in pickup but the (really shit) guards hold the ball too much so i don't get much practice. Plus they won't give me the ball at the top cos they think i should be inside to collect their rebounds instead :). It's only recently i've realised you have to treat the guards like they're children and just out-alpha them and demand the ball from them at all times, til they earn their your respect and can handle it more. I think i need a pass first guard because im a pass first forward so the ball moving around is my ideal thing because it's not going to die in my hands but it usually does in theirs. Like i'd happily pass the ball back to the same guard who just passed it to me, even straight away just to keep the ball flowing. Really weird but power games are everywhere in life you don't get to opt out just because of some belief in equality lol. Guards and forwards aren't equals, we look down on them :wowthatwasnutswtf:
I think i understand what kind of player you are, the bouncy rebound magnet close to the rim. Im not that guy. Even when i can outreach the defenders around me for rebounds for put backs (not dunks) i seldom finish them cleanly cos it's just so unnatural to me to play that role. But nowadays i try to be more patient and get the defender to bite and just finish with some contact but moving for a clean shot. It seems to open up my game to have a bit more patience and just go against my natural instincts and im enjoying that growth so far.
I need to be more aggressive but i just don't wanna seem aggressive. Is that possible?
My play honestly depends on how fit I am. Fairly out of shape like right now I'll stay close to the rim or even be lazy and hang on the outside for a few possession to get my breath back. Fully fit and I'm more of that cutting/driving player who will still go hard on the boards. I haven't had a jump shot the last few years so I've really been limited. If you can shoot then you're so much more valuable and shouldn't be limited to the post.
You can be aggressive without being aggressive. I'm not an aggressive person but am an aggressive player. Don't know if that's what you meant.
Btw, not sure if you've seen these podcasts. Really interesting episode:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY80mZ9xTC8
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Thinking about starting the daily upper training soonish for a change of pace and an effort to restore balance to my training/body. Im leaning towards ohp as my exercise. Only because i can just do it after squats and not have to find a bench etc. It seems relatively simple an exercise to master technically and would be cool to get a milestone like 90kg or something just from greasing the groove and all that neural high freq stuff. I've noticed lately my abs have blown the fuck up .. ive always had good ab development but that was the upper quadrant or whatever, now i can feel the rest of my abs just as prominently - i'd attribute this to the higher rep squatting. And it's not just cosmetic, I haven't done an OHP workout in like 11 days, today i did ohp 5x60kg out of the blue, so it's not like i've trained up my upper body for it (i seldom do upper body, like 2x a month), just can put it down to a stronger core from higher rep squats
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Bodyweight(AM): 86.5kg (21 Jan)
Diet compliance: 2/2 days
Daily Squat: 66/66 days
Daily Cardio: 66/66 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x120, 3x150, 1x162.5(PR), 15x122.5(PR)
BX 12x85kg(+band, PR)
Evening: Bike - 20 mins
Row - 20 mins
Notes:
- Right onto the remaining 7 days of gaaaains, then time to lock down caloric intake.
- I manned the the fuck up and went for a lifetime heavy squat max PR - only 2.5kg but i got it. It was a toughie. Not sure im much stronger than a 162.5kg despite what the 1rm calculators would have you believe, im not even close to a 170kg leave alone 180kg squat. Thas life. It may well be that instead of aiming to be a 85kg athlete i shud be aiming for something like 83.5kg instead. Which is fine, i mean there is no reason why everyone must fit into neat weight class categories like 85kg or 105kg or whatever, you know? So i'm the best at 83.5kg - just embrace it. Feels like a cop out tho.
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with OHP just be very careful of your shoulder (obviously). lot of little muscles in there that get stressed out very easily.
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with OHP just be very careful of your shoulder (obviously). lot of little muscles in there that get stressed out very easily.
i think that's a real concern. but lifting dogma also says smaller muscles recover the fastest. maybe it's not even the muscles that we should be worried about but ligaments and tendons? i have no idea to be honest, i'll be conservative and see how it goes. if it's not working then bail on it and do something else.
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Got the first good night of sleep in what feels like MONTHS. I'm trying to do a posthoc analysis of what variables I changed yesterday which led to this phenomenon. Here is a rough list of vars:
- Took a ton of L-glutamine before bed (around 17.5g cos i took a bigger heap on the 2nd spoonful; usually around 10-15g total)
- Ate oats a couple of hours earlier (maybe digesting this is something you don't want too close to bed? Not sure tbh)
- Ate more calories but spread out more during the day
- Didn't run (lol .. running better not be killing my sleep or else) and did bike and rowing as cardio last night
- ??
Feel refreshed af .. not as sore and beat up as usual. Interesting.. watch this space. going to try replicate the good variable whichever it is (or the mix)
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Bodyweight(AM): 87.3kg (22 Jan)
Diet compliance: 3/3 days
Daily Squat: 67/67 days
Daily Cardio: 67/67 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x120, 2x152.5
Evening:
Notes:
- A day after i decide I need to weigh 83.5kg to be optimal as an athlete, ofc I tip the scales at 87.3kg (!) . loool. 6 more days of gains .. :wowthatwasnutswtf:
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Woah. Struggle squats! Looks like i did a fantastic job destroying my spinal erectors yesterday with that 150kg triple, 162.5kg PR and 15x122.5kg PRs. So now im at hte mercy of lower back recovery which in the olden days would take me a full week to occur. Today i was able to rep 152.5kg so in some sense ive got more than partial recovery already but it's probably not enough for what i had in mind for the next 6 days (PRs every day lol). In hindsight i prob should not have tried to make the move towards 160kg just yet but it would have been nice to be putting 160kg on a daily maintenance so all things considered it was worth a shot, just didn't work out.
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Woah. Struggle squats! Looks like i did a fantastic job destroying my spinal erectors yesterday with that 150kg triple, 162.5kg PR and 15x122.5kg PRs. So now im at hte mercy of lower back recovery which in the olden days would take me a full week to occur. Today i was able to rep 152.5kg so in some sense ive got more than partial recovery already but it's probably not enough for what i had in mind for the next 6 days (PRs every day lol). In hindsight i prob should not have tried to make the move towards 160kg just yet but it would have been nice to be putting 160kg on a daily maintenance so all things considered it was worth a shot, just didn't work out.
still f$kd up. did a recovery workout yesterday with the empty bar lol. Abs still ded today. But tmr im going to just go for a PR. Lesson is don't mess with too heavy weights, it costs valuable training time and sets progress back
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Bodyweight(AM): 88kg (26 Jan)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 70/70 days
Daily Cardio: 0/0 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x120, 3x152.5, 15x125(PR)
Evening:
Notes:
- Last big squat session for the summer done.
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Bodyweight(AM): 86.7kg (28 Jan)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 72/72 days
Daily Cardio: 0/0 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 5x120, 1x150
Evening:
Notes:
- Being cautious and just trying to find a new normal
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Bodyweight(AM): 88.3kg (4 Feb)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 79/79 days
Daily Cardio: 0/0 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM Run - 15 mins, 1.8km
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x150, 6x142.5(PR)
OHP 8x40, 6x50, 2x60, 1x62.5, 1x65, 7x55
Evening: Run 3km, 21:06, 07:04/km
Notes:
- Wow i got fat af. :wowthatwasnutswtf: Time to mount a mini come back
- I must admit not running has made running feel good again. My feet feel springy and meaty, the rest from running has done me wonders even though fitness has gone, i was doing a 150-160bpm HR on a 7/km pace lmao, used to be low 130s for that. But learning from my past experience with daily running, I prob overdid it before by marrying myself to daily running, not falling into that trap again .. less is more
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Bodyweight(AM): 88.0kg (5 Feb)
Diet compliance: 1/1 days
Daily Squat: 80/80 days
Daily Cardio: 1/1 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM Run - 20 mins, 2.7km
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x150, 6x145(PR)
OHP 8x40, 6x50, 2x60, 1x65, 1x67.5
Dips 12xBW
Evening: Run 5km, 32:53
Notes:
- Im doing daily upper training, today will be the 4th day. The idea is to eventually balance out my weight training because i've emphasised lower body over upper body training til now. If daily training can do for my upper body what it has done for lower, i'll prob end up athletic 85kg around Easter: upper newbie /memory gains + daily training + cardio + 170kg ish squat = win.
- So ive been on only 100mg caffeine preworkout for 10 days now and being htat it is day 80 of daily squatting, i'd previously been taking 300mg caffeine preworkout for a few months - which is to say 100mg is barely even noticable in this context. im basically getting these recent PRs in a state of low arousal: exogenous or endogenous. I'd put it down to daily training .. it's quite remarkable really.
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Bodyweight(AM): 87.4kg (6 Feb)
Diet compliance: 2/2 days
Daily Squat: 81/81 days
Daily OHP: 4/4 days
Daily Cardio: 2/2 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM run 3km, 20min
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x155
OHP 8x40, 6x50, 2x60, 1x65
Evening:
Notes:
- Priority to go sub 87kg asap .. then I need to stay no further than 1.5kg away from goal bw of 85kg. Otherwise i won't be able to get there in time for the comp. Not currently cutting just eating clean and doing the cardio thing.
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Bodyweight(AM): 87.4kg (7 Feb)
Diet compliance: 3/3 days
Daily Squat: 82/82 days
Daily OHP: 5/5 days
Daily Cardio: 3/3 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM run 3km, 20 min (94kg: +5kg vest, PR)
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x152.5
OHP 6x52.5, 2x60, 1x65
Evening:
Notes:
- Well one caveat of daily ohp is the unanticipated wrecked abs. they're really torched by daily training including squats and ohp. but overall it's probably something i need to put up with because it will carry over well to my sport. perhaps..
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Bodyweight(AM): 87.0kg (8 Feb)
Diet compliance: 4/4 days
Daily Squat: 83/83 days
Daily OHP: 6/6 days
Daily Cardio: 3/4 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 3x120
Evening:
Notes:
- Alright .. hopefully i'll be around the 86.5kg mark by day 8 of clean eating.
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Bodyweight(AM): 87.3kg (9 Feb)
Diet compliance: 5/5 days
Daily Squat: 84/84 days
Daily OHP: 7/7 days
Daily Cardio: 4/5 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x152.5, 5x147.5(PR)
Evening: BBall shooting session
Notes:
- Stuck in a bad place. Not eating enough to train and recovery properly. Not lean enough to eat more. FML.
-
Bodyweight(AM): 87.3kg (9 Feb)
Diet compliance: 5/5 days
Daily Squat: 84/84 days
Daily OHP: 7/7 days
Daily Cardio: 4/5 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x152.5, 5x147.5(PR)
Evening: BBall shooting session
Notes:
- Stuck in a bad place. Not eating enough to train and recovery properly. Not lean enough to eat more. FML.
easy to get out of that tho.. eat enough to train hard & recover. IMHO, never sacrifice that, *ever*.
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Bodyweight(AM): 88kg (10 Feb)
Diet compliance: 6/6 days
Daily Squat: 85/85 days
Daily OHP: 8/8 days
Daily Cardio: 5/6 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x152.5, 6x135
OHP 8x40, 6x55, 2x60, 1x65
Evening:
Notes:
- loss of direction .. not good enough at anything, too many areas to address.. can't afford to focus on any in particular
- doing smoething everyday is a good way to not enjoy it anymore. i dont enjoy daily ohp .. and if im going to do an exercise i dont enjoy, maybe something like bench would be better? not that i miss flat bench, but my pecs are gone so maybe my body misses bench even tho i despise bench press
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Bodyweight(AM): 87.6kg (11 Feb)
Diet compliance: 7/7 days
Daily Squat: 86/86 days
Daily OHP: 9/9 days
Daily Cardio: 5/7 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning: TM Run - 5km, 28:17
Noon: BS 7x120, 1x152.5, 7x137.5(PR)
OHP 8x40
Evening:
Notes:
- Made it to a week of clean eating. Now it should be more or less automatic from past experience. Going to try get it to 20 til im confident it's permanent.
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Bodyweight(AM): 87.4kg (12 Feb)
Diet compliance: 8/8 days
Daily Squat: 87/87 days
Daily OHP: 10/10 days
Daily Cardio: 5/8 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 7x120, 1x152.5, 7x140(PR)
OHP 8x40, 6x57.5
DB incline BP 8x20, 8x25kg (new exercise)
Dips 12xBW(90kgish)
Evening:
Notes:
- Realising im completely sedentary except when im doing exercise. Will try to keep an eye on daily steps and get my average step count per hour up. Exercise step count is not enough .. it has to come from an absence of inactivity + exercise to get some favourable changes in bodycomp and fitness. That's def an area i can address from here. It can be anything, dribbling a ball, going for a short walk, shadow fighting, shooting hoops, even just socialising etc
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Bodyweight(AM): 87.4kg (13 Feb)
Diet compliance: 9/9 days
Daily Squat: 88/88 days
Daily OHP: 11/11 days
Daily Cardio: 5/9 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 7x120, 1x152.5, 7x142.5(PR)
OHP 8x40, 6x60(PR)
Evening:
Notes:
- Good run of squat PRs even when limiting food. Long it may continue
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Bodyweight(AM): 88.1kg (14 Feb)
Diet compliance: 10/10 days
Daily Squat: 89/89 days
Daily OHP: 12/12 days
Daily Cardio: 5/10 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 7x120, 1x152.5, 7x145(PR)
OHP 8x40
Chinup 5xBW
Dips 13xBW(PR?)
Cool down ~ 10 mins (deep slow breathing etc)
Evening:
Notes:- Might be time soon for the next reset, i need to build up some reserve reps to tackle the end goal of 150kg for 8. Then i'll put this on maintenance.
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Bodyweight(AM): 88.1kg (15 Feb)
Diet compliance: 11/11 days
Daily Squat: 90/90 days
Daily OHP: 13/13 days
Daily Cardio: 5/11 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 7x120, 1x152.5
OHP 3x62.5
DBOHP 8x25
Dips 14xBW(PR?)
Evening:
Notes:- smh 88kg is too damn heavy
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Bodyweight(AM): 88.1kg (16 Feb)
Diet compliance: 12/12 days
Daily Squat: 91/91 days
Daily OHP: 14/14 days
Daily Cardio: 6/12 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 7x120, 1x152.5 7x147.5(PR)
OHP 8x40, DBOHP 8x20
Dips 16xBW(PR)
Evening: Run ~ 5km
Notes:- goign to try force a cardio session .. feels it's been ages
- Tested my vertical today. I got a clean 25" .. holy shit daily squatting fucking sucks for vertical lmao .. or i got old. o both?
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squatting and jumping are very different.. :derp: need to jump more if you care about it.
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squatting and jumping are very different.. :derp: need to jump more if you care about it.
in my n=1 experience squatting and jumping are the same. i could go months without jumping and as long as i was squatting i'd be able to jump 5% within my previous levels. If i practice jumping movement efficiency will bring back the remaining 5%. Past experience. But i haven't got over 32" in a year so it might be that i just got old
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Bodyweight(AM): 88.1kg (17 Feb)
Diet compliance: 13/13 days
Daily Squat: 92/92 days
Daily OHP: 15/15 days
Daily Cardio: 6/13 days
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 1x120, 1x140
OHP 8x40,
QL assistance (pallof presses & 1arm suitcases)
Evening:
Notes:- Took a recovery day - knees were beat af. Did a paused 140kg and loaded up 150kg but decided against it in the end, would have been too draining
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Bodyweight(AM): 88.4kg (18 Feb)
Diet compliance: 14/14 days
Daily Squat: 93/93 days
Daily OHP: 16/16 days
Daily Cardio: 6/14 days
Daily Act: 6.5
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 7x120, 1x155
OHP 8x40, DBOHP 5x27.5
Dips 8xBW
Chinup 6xBW
Evening:
Notes:- Right well .. i think time to do that final reset. Im considering going down to 12x132.5kg PR today and then progress up to 150kg. Not sure if i'll be able to get 12 though, but let's see. I just need a couple of reps reserve to get 8x150kg at the end. If i add 2.5kg every session i should be back up to 150kg in a week. lol.
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Bodyweight(AM): 88.1kg (19 Feb)
Diet compliance: 15/15 days
Daily Squat: 94/94 days
Daily OHP: 17/17 days
Daily Cardio: 6/15 days
Daily Act:
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 7x120, 1x155, 12x132.5(PR)
OHP 4x61
Evening:
Notes:- Am sick of squats. I have yet to see any benefit whatsover from daily squatting apart from being better at squatting (marginally) and plenty of downsides. This has been a huge disappointment so far.
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you PR nearly every workout. also, training is about overreaching and then supercompensating while you back off. i bet if you gave yourself a bit of time off you could hit a huge PR. it's why i've been secretly hoping for KF to sign up for a PL comp and actually take a few days off for once. i bet he could hit 600.
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you PR nearly every workout.
tons of PR's. his use of "marginal" seems inaccurate, afaik.
also, training is about overreaching and then supercompensating while you back off. i bet if you gave yourself a bit of time off you could hit a huge PR.
jump pr, dno - unless he jumps more.
seems like when he's jumping more, jumps are decent. remember lots of vids of him really getting up, and that was during the daily squatting experiment.
as for big squat PR, ya I imagine so. but, maxent's diet fluctuates so much that it risks keeping him in "limbo", IMHO. i still don't really get it. I mean if I were maxent i'd be trying to achieve the lower body of an NFL defensive back/sprinter -> huge glutes/quads/hamstrings. The diet fluctuations are constantly in conflict with that, in my opinion. Put slabs of mass on the lower body, it'll make you ripped all over & improve relative strength/power.
i mean that's what i'd be obsessed with if i was into dunking/jumping/basketball performance. my legs were huge back when I was doing daily squatting/heavy high rep squatting etc. i was more ripped back then than from running. just so much more lean mass to feed.. even though I was still only ~145-150 lb.
it's why i've been secretly hoping for KF to sign up for a PL comp and actually take a few days off for once. i bet he could hit 600.
he def can get the cali squat record lol.
Notes:- Am sick of squats. I have yet to see any benefit whatsover from daily squatting apart from being better at squatting (marginally) and plenty of downsides. This has been a huge disappointment so far.
seems like you're putting too much hope into the squat itself. it's just a daily anabolic stimulus, which also heavily targets the anti-gravity muscles.
i mean i always personally thought of it as "taking my vitamins". I used it to increase aggressiveness, leg strength, leg mass, etc. But then I got my jumps/sprints/reactive work in etc, to tie it all together.
pc!
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Bodyweight(AM): 87.8kg (20 Feb)
Diet compliance: 16/16 days
Daily Squat: 95/95 days
Daily OHP: 18/18 days
Daily Cardio: 6/16 days
Daily Act:
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon:
Evening:
Notes:- had a head ache since last night
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you PR nearly every workout. also, training is about overreaching and then supercompensating while you back off. i bet if you gave yourself a bit of time off you could hit a huge PR. it's why i've been secretly hoping for KF to sign up for a PL comp and actually take a few days off for once. i bet he could hit 600.
i dont think we (ppl who train daily) see it the same way as people who train less frequently. the idea of 'taking a few days off' just becomes unthinkable, it becomes habit in a way you can't really understand until you've done it, compulsive even. ive been compelled to go and squat (heavy) even on days ive felt rough, sick, days ive checked myself out of hospital (lol) and logically it would have been beneficial to skip. And what good is that kind of peaking .. to jump higher, what if you don't even get much benefit .. you lost valuable training time for something you worked hard to build/maintain. But in it and itself ive definitely lost the belief for squatting i previously held .. if you practice it you get good at it and that's about the extent of it, have not seem benefits outside the squat platform.
it reminds me of a conversation we had in this log where todday told me something i didn't agree with. That the only valuable gains that come out of squatting are the ones which involve putting on muscle. And that's it, if there is no hypertrophy .. there is no benefit outside squatting. He ...... was right. In my experience daily squatting doesn't work because i think it actually limits hypertrophy (and even possibly more than that it reduces muscle mass?!) but you get good at squatting so logically you believe if im getting good at squatting more weights for more reps then i must be on the right track. Not srue about that now. It's just neural conditioning, over-specialising in the worst possible way to give the least possible benefit from a GPP perspective.
seems like when he's jumping more, jumps are decent. remember lots of vids of him really getting up, and that was during the daily squatting experiment.
really can't remember how that felt. it was a year ago i was still getting up .. i would step on the gym scales at 95kg and i coudl still hit 36" jumps .. that's basically rec league zion level compared to what im at now .. strugglign to get 27" (below palm touch on the rim). not even close to 27" .. 25" if im being generous. at that time i wasn't doing daily squatting, dabbling with eod squatting BUT with the caveat i had build my strength up with HIGH volume .. once a week high volume workouts of 10-20 sets of heavy 5s .. that worked better i think because it put more muscle on my body .. daily squatting has not done that at all, in fact i'd suggest the opposite .. the body gets so efficient that it can do more with less. I think even back then i wasn't in danger of putting on slabs of muscle .. there is a natural limit to that and ive probably far surpassed it already.
would do anything to get another tomahawk dunk. another 36"+ jump. but just don't see it now ..
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you PR nearly every workout. also, training is about overreaching and then supercompensating while you back off. i bet if you gave yourself a bit of time off you could hit a huge PR. it's why i've been secretly hoping for KF to sign up for a PL comp and actually take a few days off for once. i bet he could hit 600.
i dont think we (ppl who train daily) see it the same way as people who train less frequently. the idea of 'taking a few days off' just becomes unthinkable, it becomes habit in a way you can't really understand until you've done it, compulsive even.
it's called discipline. if you want to peak, you have to rest.
if you can't take a few days off then you're not training for performance, you're just training to keep a streak going etc. the cool kids can't take days off. people who are obsessed with actually getting results can.
ive been compelled to go and squat (heavy) even on days ive felt rough, sick, days ive checked myself out of hospital (lol) and logically it would have been beneficial to skip. And what good is that kind of peaking .. to jump higher, what if you don't even get much benefit .. you lost valuable training time for something you worked hard to build/maintain.
if you think taking a few days off to "recover for some peak jumps" will have a detrimental effect on your performance, then you're sadly losing the psychological battle.
you're saying things a noob would say, no offense.
But in it and itself ive definitely lost the belief for squatting i previously held .. if you practice it you get good at it and that's about the extent of it, have not seem benefits outside the squat platform.
it reminds me of a conversation we had in this log where todday told me something i didn't agree with. That the only valuable gains that come out of squatting are the ones which involve putting on muscle. And that's it, if there is no hypertrophy .. there is no benefit outside squatting. He ...... was right.
i doubt he'd agree with that. i'm sure he'd agree that neural-gain lifting has it's place.
In my experience daily squatting doesn't work because i think it actually limits hypertrophy (and even possibly more than that it reduces muscle mass?!) but you get good at squatting so logically you believe if im getting good at squatting more weights for more reps then i must be on the right track. Not srue about that now. It's just neural conditioning, over-specialising in the worst possible way to give the least possible benefit from a GPP perspective.
you're out of your mind.
daily squatting limits hypertrophy? reduces muscle mass? what the fuck?
cutting calories prevents hypertrophy.
you cut calories more than you squat.
seems like when he's jumping more, jumps are decent. remember lots of vids of him really getting up, and that was during the daily squatting experiment.
really can't remember how that felt. it was a year ago i was still getting up .. i would step on the gym scales at 95kg and i coudl still hit 36" jumps .. that's basically rec league zion level compared to what im at now .. strugglign to get 27" (below palm touch on the rim). not even close to 27" .. 25" if im being generous. at that time i wasn't doing daily squatting, dabbling with eod squatting BUT with the caveat i had build my strength up with HIGH volume .. once a week high volume workouts of 10-20 sets of heavy 5s .. that worked better i think because it put more muscle on my body .. daily squatting has not done that at all, in fact i'd suggest the opposite .. the body gets so efficient that it can do more with less. I think even back then i wasn't in danger of putting on slabs of muscle .. there is a natural limit to that and ive probably far surpassed it already.
lol @ natural limit. you aren't even close to any natural limits.. and that's a compliment.
if that works better than maybe get back on it.
just stop doing all this recomp shit. stop cutting. that approach is so toxic to athletic performance.
heavy lifting & obsession with skinny-fatness / calorie cutting don't usually work well together.
eat to grow but train so hard that you can't become a blob, it's a simple formula.
i'm pointing out nutrition because it's important not to sabotage lifting by calorie cutting. it seems to be a theme.
would do anything to get another tomahawk dunk. another 36"+ jump. but just don't see it now ..
you'd do anything other than jumping frequently, apparently. lol. :ninja:
just my 2cents/trying to help.
pc.
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But ive never done jumping more than 1-2x a week. Most of the time it was even less than 1x a week! Once a month even. .. so ive never needed high freq jumping before, why do i need to start that now? it doesn't make sense! Also i've never done peaking before .. i never take time off to 'rest' and 'supercompensate' on purpose .. if it happend it was by accident not something i did on purpose and so it's never been something ive needed to jump high. My previous jump PRs all came as part of normal training not something i created via peaking. I do remember one time (end of 2015) i was on holiday so i wasn't lifting .. and i did some jumps that felt really high which i couldn't understand why but it probably was a rest thing .. my point is that was never a feature of my training before. if i was trying to peak for 40" say, it would be one thing. I'm talking about levels i previously attained regularly in training.
I do think there is something to the idea that as you get mroe efficient you need less muscle mass to achieve the same result. High freq is def gonig to optimise neural efficiency which might mean there is less stimulus to create hypertrophy. i dont care about studies im just reporting my experience right now
the calories thing is a red herring. every day i get at least 200g protein, at least 150-200g carbs .. that's daily. now im not eating much more than that but obviously i ate more along the way to go from the 82.5kg i started with to end up the 88kg i am now! the only stupid thing about that is that when the weights were light i could afford to eat a lot more and now the weights are heavy and i can't afford to eat as much as i did back then. if daily squatting had worked i would have enough muscle to get my goal (2xbw) but it never delivered on that :(
i havent started cutting yet! That would be the first part of peaking though, which i plan to do. It's delayed for now but i will have to diet off about 3kg to get to 85kg. Not started on that yet, still haven't got enough squat gains to warrant doing that just yet. 150kg for 8 im hoping will be good enough to give me a 170kg squat then i can diet off a couple of kilos to 85kg bw maintaining the 170kg. That's peaking .. not something i can do right now. If i were to do it now .. i'd prob end up being a sub 160kg squatter and miss the goal. On paper i need to be a 180kg+ squatter before i begin a cut so i can still hope to have a 170kg squat in me after cutting
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Just to be clear for all us folks reading this, including me. Is the goal to be a good squatter or to jump higher and be more athletic?
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Currently it's to get to a maintainable 170kg daily max at 85kg bodyweight and switch focus to athleticism. I think getting to a daily 162.5kg minimum with the ability to (but very seldom) squat 170kg while weighing 85kg is within my grasp if i can get to rep 150kg for about 8 reps. For what it's worth my daily minimum is currently set at 155kg and my rep best is 7x147.5kg. Just need to close that gap then move on from squats (finally).
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Currently it's to get to a maintainable 170kg daily max at 85kg bodyweight and switch focus to athleticism. I think getting to a daily 162.5kg minimum with the ability to (but very seldom) squat 170kg while weighing 85kg is within my grasp if i can get to rep 150kg for about 8 reps. For what it's worth my daily minimum is currently set at 155kg and my rep best is 7x147.5kg. Just need to close that gap then move on from squats (finally).
So to be categorical, you want to be a good squatter. Once you're a good squatter you want to become athletic.
We've defined a good squatter (your words) as a repeatable daily max of 170kg at 85kg. What is your definition of athleticism?
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There's no contradiction.. im claiming daily squatting doesn't seem to do much for athleticism and may possibly limit it and at the same time i do want to become more athletic but not right now, too busy finishing off a goal (that i previously believed to have a benefit but no longer subscribe to that belief). I'm too close to just give up. It's more just to do it than for any benefit that may come but has not yet shown itself.
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Bodyweight(AM): 88.2kg (21 Feb)
Diet compliance: 17/17 days
Daily Squat: 96/96 days
Daily OHP: 19/19 days
Daily Cardio: 6/17 days
Daily Act:
Basketball skill work:
Morning:
Noon: BS 7x120, 1x157.5, 12x135(PR)
OHP 8x55(PR?)
Evening:
Notes:- Right well im never going to do cardio as long as the squats are this hard .. but i may start doing the daily walks again, better than nothing.
- I've decided to man up and make 157.5kg my daily min max from here on .. i figure anything above 152.5kg feels hard so might as well go for something closer to the goal of a daily 162.5kg minmax. Bar speed was good .. so i'd say my 1rm is closer to 175kg now and probably above that cos it didn't feel like a 90% 1rm. Anyway...
- the app on my phone says 12x135kg -> 188kg max ha.
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There's no contradiction.. im claiming daily squatting doesn't seem to do much for athleticism and may possibly limit it and at the same time i do want to become more athletic but not right now, too busy finishing off a goal (that i previously believed to have a benefit but no longer subscribe to that belief). I'm too close to just give up. It's more just to do it than for any benefit that may come but has not yet shown itself.
Mate you mistook my post for sarcasm. It was a legitimate question regarding athleticism. I asked myself the same thing recently and was surprised at my answer and how that lined up with my training practices.
I'm all for chasing that goal you've been chasing so long. Looks like you're closer than ever.
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There's no contradiction.. im claiming daily squatting doesn't seem to do much for athleticism and may possibly limit it and at the same time i do want to become more athletic but not right now, too busy finishing off a goal (that i previously believed to have a benefit but no longer subscribe to that belief). I'm too close to just give up. It's more just to do it than for any benefit that may come but has not yet shown itself.
Mate you mistook my post for sarcasm. It was a legitimate question regarding athleticism. I asked myself the same thing recently and was surprised at my answer and how that lined up with my training practices.
I'm all for chasing that goal you've been chasing so long. Looks like you're closer than ever.
sorry i just understand what im saying and what im doing are two opposite things. if i truly believed this is a lost cause (daily squatting & squatting itself) i prob would stop and do something else. that cognitive dissonance is very real. And yea you got it, it's just about finishing what i started .. ive put too much into this one persuit to turn away after so long
re athleticism, it's something you recognise when you see it. and when someone lacks it you see it. i watched some kids games last friday while waiting for a court and there was a 14 year old kid (i imagine) jumping out of the gym, sprinting all over the court and just beasting in every possible way. that's an athlete. he's a (not tall) white kid but he tried to go for a put back dunk in a game .. that's a FAR better athlete than ive ever been or will become haha
an easier question is what does athleticism mean for me? that would be maximising my fitness, strength to power etc .. very dumb, very gym oriented qualities which are the vestige of the mediocre. or in other words, play a game where you can win at something that doesn't matter
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There's no contradiction.. im claiming daily squatting doesn't seem to do much for athleticism and may possibly limit it and at the same time i do want to become more athletic but not right now, too busy finishing off a goal (that i previously believed to have a benefit but no longer subscribe to that belief). I'm too close to just give up. It's more just to do it than for any benefit that may come but has not yet shown itself.
Mate you mistook my post for sarcasm. It was a legitimate question regarding athleticism. I asked myself the same thing recently and was surprised at my answer and how that lined up with my training practices.
I'm all for chasing that goal you've been chasing so long. Looks like you're closer than ever.
sorry i just understand what im saying and what im doing are two opposite things. if i truly believed this is a lost cause (daily squatting & squatting itself) i prob would stop and do something else. that cognitive dissonance is very real. And yea you got it, it's just about finishing what i started .. ive put too much into this one persuit to turn away after so long
re athleticism, it's something you recognise when you see it. and when someone lacks it you see it. i watched some kids games last friday while waiting for a court and there was a 14 year old kid (i imagine) jumping out of the gym, sprinting all over the court and just beasting in every possible way. that's an athlete. he's a (not tall) white kid but he tried to go for a put back dunk in a game .. that's a FAR better athlete than ive ever been or will become haha
an easier question is what does athleticism mean for me? that would be maximising my fitness, strength to power etc .. very dumb, very gym oriented qualities which are the vestige of the mediocre. or in other words, play a game where you can win at something that doesn't matter
I completely understand how you feel about athleticism and I came up with a similar answer to you. It's not a quantifiable set of numbers which makes it kind of annoying. There's a girl in my daughters gymnastics class so she'd be 5-7 years old. She runs like a punt returner and has that inbuilt agility, speed and coordination. It's just there.
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Yep, even in the NBA draft you'll have athletes giving comparable numbers but the eye sight test will favour a given athlete over the others. Some things are trainable but do not express themselves in a way we'd recognise as athletic. It's a stupid game, no longer trying to play it .. ha. It prob helps cos my vertical is now closer to 25" than 35" :headbang:
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Bodyweight(AM): 88.9kg (25 Feb)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 100/100 days
Morning:
Noon: BS 7x120, 1x160, 12x137.5(PR)
OHP 15x40(PR?)
Evening:
Notes:- Haven't been daily logging but today i felt good enough to go for a PR and got it. Has been a rough couple of days of no PRs .. knees being beat up .. back being fatigued, abs being dead etc etc but today i felt recovered enough from that brutal 12x135kg of last week that i though to progress it.
- I also made the decision to bump the daily max up to 160kg to coincide with day 100 of daily squatting.. it went okay, i feel confident i can maintain that from here
- Got really fat .. im close to heavy weight status (90kg) and it's a bad thing when my athletic bw is sub 85kg. sucks
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Sometime this week i'm going to for the 12x140kg PR and then im done with strength accumulation. Will be switching up to lower reps (not straight away but building up for it) to see what i can peak up. It prob ends at 150kg for 8 reps. Somewhere along the way i need to lose about 4kg of weight .. and i need to practice full court basketball without actually playing full court basketball. Really tempted to just say fk it, it's not happening this year.. i haven't got the same prep i had last year when we were actually playing ball regularly .. at least up to february. I can't even find a place to place half court pickup this year, im practising alone and it takes me 30 minutes to put up 30 shots lol.
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Bodyweight(AM): 88.7kg (27 Feb)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 102/102 days
Morning:
Noon: BS 7x120, 1x165(PR)
OHP 12x50(PR)
Evening:
Notes:- Wanted to do some dunks after so i cut the workout short by the time i drove to the basketball stadium stuck in traffic, i was cold and lost the motivation, didn't even get out of the car just drove back. Next time i'll just go to the closer court, lol, wanted to try a different location for some reason. I should have jumped today though, at least once a week would be nice
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Well im stupid. I weighed 89.8kg today .. starting a diet lol
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Bodyweight(AM): 89.8kg (1st March)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 104/104 days
Morning:
Noon: BS 7x120, 1x170(PR), 8x140(PR)
OHP 10x50
Evening:
Notes:- So summer is over as of yesterday. I decided to go for my summer goal of a 170kg squat .. it went ok. But probably cost me a rep or two of the actual workset with 140kg. That sucks, i could have forced the issue and ground out two more but at the cost of being too beat up to train normally after today.
- I went to the court straight after and did some jumps hit probably halfway up on my palm which is around 25" or so. That's disappointing. My friend asked if i can do windmills now .. no.. not even close. After spending teh eintire summer focusing on squat ive got nothing to show for it except being fat and slow and can't jump
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Great job with the Squat PR. A great start to your goal of wanting to squat 170kg. What sport specific training are you doing in line with the squatting to help with the athleticism.
Good luck with the dieting aspect of it.
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Bodyweight(AM): 89.8kg (1st March)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 104/104 days
Morning:
Noon: BS 7x120, 1x170(PR), 8x140(PR)
OHP 10x50
Evening:
Notes:- So summer is over as of yesterday. I decided to go for my summer goal of a 170kg squat .. it went ok. But probably cost me a rep or two of the actual workset with 140kg. That sucks, i could have forced the issue and ground out two more but at the cost of being too beat up to train normally after today.
- I went to the court straight after and did some jumps hit probably halfway up on my palm which is around 25" or so. That's disappointing. My friend asked if i can do windmills now .. no.. not even close. After spending teh eintire summer focusing on squat ive got nothing to show for it except being fat and slow and can't jump
that's a solid PR, squat looked beast.
too bad you jumped after hitting a 1RM squat PR, and made yourself depressed.
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Down to 88.8kg today. I didn't do anything just daily fluctuation. Hopefully i'll go sub 88kg without much fuss then i can start actively dieting down. I feel like when i've recovered from yesterdays squatting (back a bit stiff, erectors a bit sore, etc) i'll be a 170kg+ squatter just from recovering. And if i keep working towards 8x150kg as part of peaking i'll be able to met the 2.0 multiplier along the way as bw heads towards 85kg. As it stands 170kg without the 85kg bw is nothing to celebrate ..
Andrew do you think if i was fresher i'd jump higher? Hopefully you're right.
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Andrew do you think if i was fresher i'd jump higher? Hopefully you're right.
yes. if serious, questions like this from training veterans surprise me.
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What sport specific training are you doing in line with the squatting to help with the athleticism.
Nothing concrete yet, thinking i need to restart doing cardio. As far as athleticism, i havent done sprints in months. Nor been able to jump or dunk seriously. So gradually introducing all of these things is the way to go, starting monday?
Good luck with the dieting aspect of it.
Looks like i have about 3.5kg to lose .. which feels more manageable than 5kg. Have just under 50 days to get there though. Yikes.
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Andrew do you think if i was fresher i'd jump higher? Hopefully you're right.
yes. if serious, questions like this from training veterans surprise me.
but .. you do realise if i was fresher and jumped 32" say, i would feel pretty disappointed still even though it would be a pretty huge improvement. My point is, if i was resting and getting 40" that would be one thing. To get levels i previously could get any day just thru training normally after peaking ...... is not ideal
the problem right now is i can't do a proper jump session because im either too fatigued from squatting or i've got to stay fresh for an upcoming squat workout. it's a bad place to be for jumping. i just need to keep making progress tho. something is better than nothing. The other issue is by the time i get to the court, im too hungry .. jumping needs carbs like crazy .. and for whatever reason, body doesn't tap into glycogen for dunking workouts .. weird thing. i'l have no energy to jump. yea i could eat but im fat :(
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Andrew do you think if i was fresher i'd jump higher? Hopefully you're right.
yes. if serious, questions like this from training veterans surprise me.
but .. you do realise if i was fresher and jumped 32" say, i would feel pretty disappointed still even though it would be a pretty huge improvement. My point is, if i was resting and getting 40" that would be one thing. To get levels i previously could get any day just thru training normally after peaking ...... is not ideal
you're not going to get to 40" by rarely ever jumping.
the problem right now is i can't do a proper jump session because im either too fatigued from squatting or i've got to stay fresh for an upcoming squat workout. it's a bad place to be for jumping. i just need to keep making progress tho. something is better than nothing.
proper jump session.. just jump before your squat workouts. that's what you should have been doing for months. that's what any vert-obsessed person does.
i can't even begin to comprehend the idea of wanting to improve X and never performing X. you claim you have vert goals but you aren't jumping. and when you do jump, you set yourself up for failure? if you cared about vert you'd jump often.
The other issue is by the time i get to the court, im too hungry .. jumping needs carbs like crazy .. and for whatever reason, body doesn't tap into glycogen for dunking workouts .. weird thing. i'l have no energy to jump. yea i could eat but im fat :(
jumping doesn't need carbs like crazy. that's ridiculous. it's one small anaerobic effort. it probably uses 1 calorie.
you can't be hungry though, that's a rule for anything athletic.
it's hard to cool down after a heavy workout then try and jump. it's also hard to jump when you just PR'd a 1RM.
you just aren't doing what you need to.
jump or sprint before nearly every squat session, and eat good. it's so simple. but no you want to do one thing without the other, then see if it works like magic, then make some serious gains in the one thing you're focusing on, then sabotage yourself through fatigued jumps and dieting.
i mean just stop trying to "know so much" or have all of these answers, and just do what any obsessed athletic noob would do: jump often, lift often, and eat good.
i guess it's frustrating from an outside perspective, because it's hard to watch you continue to mention vert numbers, but rarely ever jump, then make all kinds of progress in squat, then get frustrated with the scale and start dieting etc. you're in a wicked cycle. break out of it.
/2cents
pc
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Exactly what adarq said.
If you want to be good at jumping you should jump. If you are trying to improve your strength to transfer to a higher jump you have to incorporate one day at least dedicated to jumping and plyometrics and do some jumps before lifting because you want to maintain the muscle memory and keep your from forgetting how to jump, prob is some technical term. But lifting without jumping your body will lose that fluidity and memory of how to jump as efficiently as it could before lifting. Just my 2 cents.
Never stop doing the movement you are trying to improve.
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With dunking, i feel hypoglycemic after one or two attempts. and im not in a position to be able to take workout nutrition. Right now being on the basketball court is 'cardio time' so im not trying to lose any fat loss benefit that it confers by trying to perform better. If i just shoot around my HR will be around 110. If i push the pace i can get it up to 140. it's like cardio that i can do for hours. Not sure i even want to be getting in the habit of sipping gatorade on the basketball court, that will mess with my heart .. sugar is def poison for me and at 25g a day of it during gym sessions (shake) im not able to add any more without risking bad health. I find when i start eating more junk (ie sugar and fat) my mental and physical wellbeing goes down and im at risk of getting arrhythmia problems. I've literally sworn off chocolate/cookies/cakes/sweets completely .. not just for a bit but never again just to stay out of hospital..
daily squatting makes my knees feel shit .. all the time.. now. it doesn't seem to matter if im resting or not .. ive tried 3 days of 'recovery' and i still haven't got them feeling good. it makes it hard to justify doing jumping tho when even light recovery squats are too much to make knees feel normal. may have signed a deal with the devil with this thing that i wish i could run back :/
If i was complaining about a 25" vertical last week .. then what do i say about last night w hen i was lucky to get 12" i couldn't even touch the rim .. was getting the net about halfway. and that's with 'rest'. so yea this is not about trying to train for a 40 without jumping. this is about trying to get back to 30
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With dunking, i feel hypoglycemic after one or two attempts. and im not in a position to be able to take workout nutrition. Right now being on the basketball court is 'cardio time' so im not trying to lose any fat loss benefit that it confers by trying to perform better. If i just shoot around my HR will be around 110. If i push the pace i can get it up to 140. it's like cardio that i can do for hours. Not sure i even want to be getting in the habit of sipping gatorade on the basketball court, that will mess with my heart .. sugar is def poison for me and at 25g a day of it during gym sessions (shake) im not able to add any more without risking bad health. I find when i start eating more junk (ie sugar and fat) my mental and physical wellbeing goes down and im at risk of getting arrhythmia problems. I've literally sworn off chocolate/cookies/cakes/sweets completely .. not just for a bit but never again just to stay out of hospital..
daily squatting makes my knees feel shit .. all the time.. now. it doesn't seem to matter if im resting or not .. ive tried 3 days of 'recovery' and i still haven't got them feeling good. it makes it hard to justify doing jumping tho when even light recovery squats are too much to make knees feel normal. may have signed a deal with the devil with this thing that i wish i could run back :/
If i was complaining about a 25" vertical last week .. then what do i say about last night w hen i was lucky to get 12" i couldn't even touch the rim .. was getting the net about halfway. and that's with 'rest'. so yea this is not about trying to train for a 40 without jumping. this is about trying to get back to 30
Dude your log makes me sad sometimes. And angry but mostly sad. I also leave it to last out of every log cause it's my daily dose of drama. Far be it for me to tell you how to train or what to do but seriously dude, take an unsentimental view of yourself and your training. It also might be worth handing the reigns over to someone else for a while.
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Bodyweight(AM): 89.0kg (5st March)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 106/106 days
Morning:
Noon: BS 7x120, 2x155, 8x142.5(PR)
OHP 10x20
Evening: Jumps x 20
Notes:- oddest thing .. i pretty much had to teach my body how to jump higher today essentially from scratch. and once i did i went from 25" to 30" to 32" in one session. Had to go pee real bad (outdoor court) so left it at that. But i don't do so well using my forearm as a target. My body will only jump high enough for my hand to hit the target :/ Turns out there's jumping and then there is jumping. The latter is like the former except on a different gear .. maybe taps into strength more.. it's so weird. i still can't dunk but at least i got my jump back to baseline (32"). if i can get my bw closer to 85kg, i'll prob be in the 35-36" ballpark. Fuck that though, seems the new bw of 89-90kg in the morning has become permanent.
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Played 1v1 today with this over weight 62 year old white man. he beat me both games .. lol. prep is going great
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Hey mate. I remember you always talk about how you have slow feet when you play. Everything I've read and heard recently talks on hip flexor strength as the key to quicker feet. Could be some pretty cheap gains for you. (L-sit, leg raises, cable pull ins, etc).
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Hey mate. I remember you always talk about how you have slow feet when you play. Everything I've read and heard recently talks on hip flexor strength as the key to quicker feet. Could be some pretty cheap gains for you. (L-sit, leg raises, cable pull ins, etc).
interesting. i'll look those exercises up. i dont mind adding extra accessory work so i'll def try incorporate some of these. thank you
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Played 1v1 today with this over weight 62 year old white man. he beat me both games .. lol. prep is going great
Come on mate. You should know better than to mention race like this.
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Played 1v1 today with this over weight 62 year old white man. he beat me both games .. lol. prep is going great
Come on mate. You should know better than to mention race like this.
yea you're right. i wanted to write something else but i thought it would be too doxy and made it more vague. maybe should have just stuck with human male.
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Can someone explain why i could do 147.5kg for 7 reps a couple of weeks ago but now im struggling to progress 8s from 140kg when i managed 12x137.5kg and a 170kg single since i did that 7x147.5kg. To make matters worse ive specialised in a bad way on stufpid f&*Kn squats and been completely sedentary and eating like a godamn fatty to boot.
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Played 1v1 today with this over weight 62 year old white man. he beat me both games .. lol. prep is going great
you got "demasculated" :trollface:
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Can someone explain why i could do 147.5kg for 7 reps a couple of weeks ago but now im struggling to progress 8s from 140kg when i managed 12x137.5kg and a 170kg single since i did that 7x147.5kg. To make matters worse ive specialised in a bad way on stufpid f&*Kn squats and been completely sedentary and eating like a godamn fatty to boot.
the ebbs and flows of human performance.
it's possible that you're still not recovered from the 170kg PR.
additionally, your knees seem to be jacked up & your fitness seems awful. i'd personally dial back squats considerably until your knees feel good. your knees shouldn't be hurting/achy from daily squatting (or squatting in general) like you mentioned a few days ago - that's probably a sign that something has gone wrong.
pc
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Played 1v1 today with this over weight 62 year old white man. he beat me both games .. lol. prep is going great
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZxhoJeURk8g/hqdefault.jpg)
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Played 1v1 today with this over weight 62 year old white man. he beat me both games .. lol. prep is going great
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZxhoJeURk8g/hqdefault.jpg)
i wish. that would be less humiliating. first game he beat me fair and square, i think he was up 8 to 2. i got up to maybe 6 but he won that one. no joke, he has 2 moves, he moves slow af and i know every time what he's going to do and yet i couldn't stop him. beware the man who has practiced 2 moves 1000 times compared to the guy who has practiced 1000 moves twice. or whatver the saying is. 2nd was i tried a bit harder (but not too much cos it would be unfair) .. i could beat him straight driving to the hoop but that's nothing to be proud of .. im half his age and i hate when i play against young guys who burn you from the perimeter if you get too close .. or they hit 3 after 3 on you cause why not (the game gone changed). he won 12-10 .. i had several game points but i couldnt hit my jumpers. He can't shoot by the way. Im not sure but this has really put me in a spiral .. lol. the game may have passed me by in a big way. i think i was the athletic guy who could score easily but is no longer athletic and has no skills (aka old man game) to make up for it
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Can someone explain why i could do 147.5kg for 7 reps a couple of weeks ago but now im struggling to progress 8s from 140kg when i managed 12x137.5kg and a 170kg single since i did that 7x147.5kg. To make matters worse ive specialised in a bad way on stufpid f&*Kn squats and been completely sedentary and eating like a godamn fatty to boot.
the ebbs and flows of human performance.
it's possible that you're still not recovered from the 170kg PR.
additionally, your knees seem to be jacked up & your fitness seems awful. i'd personally dial back squats considerably until your knees feel good. your knees shouldn't be hurting/achy from daily squatting (or squatting in general) like you mentioned a few days ago - that's probably a sign that something has gone wrong.
pc
re knees, i think it was the daily heavy squatting (for me that was 157.5kg-170kg) daily last week. since i laid off heavy singles knees feel okay. I rested completely today, only did 2 sets with the empty bar and came home. Going to go hard tmr .. i may not get to 8x150kg after all .. ive run out of time and squats are taking too long to recover and progress now, might just accept where im at now and change focus????????
another thing i forgot to mention .. lately my knee sleeves feel very tight around my legs. i wont speculate on why that is .. but it's definitely noticeable now. funny when i started daily squatting i used to chalk my knees and the insides of the knee sleeves so they wouldn't slide around lol. they were just that loose, esp after using them daily and i didnt know how to care for neoprene so i machine washed and sun dried them a few times before realising that ruins the material. now i dont need to use any chalk and i cud probably use more mobility if anything but even when my legs get sweaty they stay stuck in place.
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Bball update!
I played 1v1 with a 52 year old HUMAN, much more skilled the 62 year old who defeated me a few days ago (ie the old man game of the meme above). I'm sure if he didnt have such an impressive tan he'd still be really good. 52 year old though. I was able to win but he was much better at basketball. he was sinking 1 handed 3 pointers and posting me up without any trouble. but my jumper was on and he even complimented how nice my form was. i did drive on him a few times just to practice and i cud do that with ease .. now i wanna try against younger guys lol. I posted him up once and i must have stronger than i think cos i cud man handle him. Also the funny thing is he was wearing a Manu Ginobili singlet so im sure he has a soft spot for us lefties .. we do look pretty i know .. come to think of it he didn't contest a single of my jumpers .. no wonder i hit them all. anywayyyyyyy
altho i will add that apparently he had been playing since 11am .. and i got there around 4pm .. so all things considered .. i was fresh and he was spent. i still suck .. but i suck a little less than i did a few days ago.
tldr: from losing to a 62 yaer old .. i beat a 52 year old 3 days later. this is progress ..
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Starting peaking tmr (monday).
Something like:
- daily cardio (basketball or running)
- regular jumping
- maintain or improve lifts
- gradually reduce carbs and keep everything else the same for now
bw: 88.9kg today .. not sure what my 'target' bw is but it's at least under 87.5kg though realistically it won't be very close to 85kg i needed to be ..
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Bball update!
I played 1v1 with a 52 year old HUMAN, much more skilled the 62 year old who defeated me a few days ago (ie the old man game of the meme above). I'm sure if he didnt have such an impressive tan he'd still be really good. 52 year old though. I was able to win but he was much better at basketball. he was sinking 1 handed 3 pointers and posting me up without any trouble. but my jumper was on and he even complimented how nice my form was. i did drive on him a few times just to practice and i cud do that with ease .. now i wanna try against younger guys lol. I posted him up once and i must have stronger than i think cos i cud man handle him. Also the funny thing is he was wearing a Manu Ginobili singlet so im sure he has a soft spot for us lefties .. we do look pretty i know .. come to think of it he didn't contest a single of my jumpers .. no wonder i hit them all. anywayyyyyyy
altho i will add that apparently he had been playing since 11am .. and i got there around 4pm .. so all things considered .. i was fresh and he was spent. i still suck .. but i suck a little less than i did a few days ago.
tldr: from losing to a 62 yaer old .. i beat a 52 year old 3 days later. this is progress ..
reading "I played 1v1 with a 52 year old HUMAN" makes me chuckle. it looks so weird.
I guess you can technically drop "HUMAN" since it's implied. If you play a POLAR BEAR, then it makes sense to include it. lmfao.
"I played 1v1 with a 52 year old"
"I played 1v1 with a 52 year young"
"I played 1v1 with a person"
"I played 1v1"
:ninja: :lololol:
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Maybe we should leave species out of this :pokerface:
ive got THE ab doms ... did nothing to cause it.. could it have been the jump session??
Also i forgot to mention, as per the discussion to go for no hope dunk attempts in Coges log .. i did actually try to dunk in that last 1v1 i mentioned .. the ball slipped out of my hand!! It makes sense that a one hand dunk would be more likely to be available but it's a harder dunk to relaibly complete with my weak sauce grip. And my opponent was distracted by some cute blonde girl who was negotating the coffee she'd won by winning a bet (her hitting a 3) .. so it doesn't really count .. but i still went for it. Fumbled it like a twat. Ive always fumbled every single dunk attempt in game so this is nothing new .. but i went for it .. so as long as i keep trying i might figure out the rest and land an in game dunk
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Played 1v1 today with this over weight 62 year old white man. he beat me both games .. lol. prep is going great
Come on mate. You should know better than to mention race like this.
yea you're right. i wanted to write something else but i thought it would be too doxy and made it more vague. maybe should have just stuck with human male.
I played 1v1 with a 52 year old HUMAN, much more skilled the 62 year old who defeated me a few days ago (ie the old man game of the meme above). I'm sure if he didnt have such an impressive tan he'd still be really good. 52 year old though.
Maybe we should leave species out of this :pokerface:
OK OK, I get it's not cool to be pious about casual/inconsequential racism, and it's funnier to make jokes about SJW sensitivities and that...I am just interested that you (who has mentioned they've experienced racism IRL in Australia) would trivialise what I said before. I was surprised you were disappointed to lose against someone whom you described as old, fat and white, as if it were the trifecta of basketball ineptitude - but maybe I shouldn't be surprised? I am honestly interested in your views on it given your racism experience (something I haven't experienced) and being what I consider a well-informed, well-educated person.
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I think you were right to call me out. Given the background information available to someone neutral reading, the call out was justified, no argument there whatsoever. The state of knowledge at hand can lead to two different viewpoints where both can't be true but somehow the viewpoints are logically valid given different background information. It's like when you say something unexpected to someone and they say 'that is random' to make that statement, but if they knew the full state of your mind at that point, it would no longer be random because they'd see the chain of thought that led to that statement being uttered.
The question of racism here is of the same quality of background knowledge and i hate to say it, 'intent' (which i think is regrettably known to be abused for excusing racism) matters. If the trio of 'old' 'white' 'fat' are qualities being used to diminish the person in question then it would be racism, i agree. However I would not say i meant the 'white' in a pejorative sense here, if whatever race that person was i would have written it the same way and not have it reflect on that person's basketball ability. I have used it in that sense before but it was a positive way (the 14 yo athletic white phenom i described a few weeks ago in a youth league). That's still racism but positive or whatever.
In general, I don't have a problem personally talking about race casually, yeah we're all equal in theory but in practice im probably not afforded that kind of luxury of a viewpoint, which i think is something another Australian might take for granted (and that would be a good thing). I don't want to live with some kind of delusion that race doesn't matter or exist because that would lead to unrealistic situations otherwise. Or rude awakenings. It's nice to believe you're just another person most of the time, maybe even someone 'normal' but then you'll run into a small amount of racism and find it deeply troubling unless you've cultivated a resistance to racism being able to hurt you. I have to keep race in the foreground because otherwise racism is just too crushing when it happens, kind of like maintaining a level of immunity to it is required to function.
If you knew the person i was talking about, the 62 year old, he's a feature of the local pickup scene for years. The man is almost an institution, a playground legend. He's almost loved here. I honestly admire the man and i would even say i find his love for the game infectious. He hasn't got athleticism or even skill but he loves to play basketball and everyone just humours him but not having played with him in a year or two, i was surprised how much better he has got .. or perhaps how bad i have gotten at the same time, and how troubling i found it to be beaten by him .. not beacuse he's white .. but because he was really really bad .. like just terrible and now he was absolutely demolishing me. And having said that, it'snot like he's suddenly now a good player .. he's still bad .. but he beat me bad. But i couldn't have even tried to beat him in a competive sense .. i have a bit too much respect for him as a opponent to humiliate him? i dont know, it wasn't a competitive situation, i played with restraint but i'd expect to beat him easily even without trying. I'd never say he's bad because he's white .. it's not a factor (in this case). If his race was relevant that would be different. I guess if i was to flesh this out fully .. a 62 year old brown man or black man .. that would not make it any different in my eye, the age and fatness would be the main thing here.
Also i'm not good at dealing with racism .. but ive been trying to dispower it .. maybe it's a complex thing that needs way too much nuance to be careless like in this case.
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Bodyweight(AM): 89.1kg (11 March)
Diet compliance: 2/2 days
Daily Squat: 112/112 days
Daily Cardio: 0/0
Morning:
Noon: BS 7x120, 2x157.5(PR)
OHP 10x20
Evening: Hill Run - 1.5km, 10 min
Walk 40 min.
Notes:- Ok restarted daily cardio.My HR was 175 at 1.5km .. i just decided to stop there .. i could have kept going of course but i didn't want to be up all night because my CNS was fried from going too hard on day 0 .. shows how quickly you lose fitness huh .. 175 for a 6:30/km pace .. yikes.
- The 157.5kg double was a mistake. I should have taken a recovery day but ive got the 24hr holter on and i wasn't sure if i could fit in a workout before i have to return it tmr. I couldn't decide what workset to do after the 120kg warmup .. which mde my legs feel sore all of a duden, so i prob wouldnt be able to do a proper workout tmr, anyway, so i thoght i might as well make this the workout
- Couldn't decide between a)leaving, b)repping 150kg for a reps PR, or c)Progressing to a 157.5kg double
- Then some guy decides to just setup for rack pulls (on the outside) on the same rack i am using on the inside. i told him i only had 2 sets (he never asked me first) left and he said ok and just left the bar there? take a hint im not asking im hinting you to get out of my personal space lol. It's not ok to just jump into someone's rack without even saying hi. Then i had to ask him to remove it because it was unsafe to have a bar behind me if i fail a set. After that i felt amped up and went with 157.5kg even tho i prob shud have just left the gym at that point. If he had just asked me first i'd have happily given him the rack and just left because the universe decided for me, but people are so inconsiderate. OR maybe i'm the inconsiderate one for doing daily squats/ohp and people are sick of me? it messed with my head .. shitty day of training.
- It was the ugliest 2 reps ive done in a long time .. so bad .. i dont even count it as a PR tbh
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Bodyweight(AM): 89.4kg (12 March)
Diet compliance: 3/3 days
Daily Squat: 113/113 days
Daily Cardio: 1/1
Activity: 17500
Morning:TM Run, 2.5km, ~16:55 min
Noon: BS 8x50, 8x70
OHP 10x50, 10x40
Evening: Hoops - shooting around and 2 1v1 pickup games
Notes:- Played 1v1 against a 18 yo .. we split 2 games. It's so hard defending short guys .... it's almost impossible lol. Anyone 5'10" or so you can keep D up hip to hip .. but shorter guys than that .. they just vanish into the ether and teleport near the rim
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Some interesting DOMS - right hamstring. I'd say it's from the run i did the other day.
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I think you were right to call me out. Given the background information available to someone neutral reading, the call out was justified, no argument there whatsoever. The state of knowledge at hand can lead to two different viewpoints where both can't be true but somehow the viewpoints are logically valid given different background information. It's like when you say something unexpected to someone and they say 'that is random' to make that statement, but if they knew the full state of your mind at that point, it would no longer be random because they'd see the chain of thought that led to that statement being uttered.
The question of racism here is of the same quality of background knowledge and i hate to say it, 'intent' (which i think is regrettably known to be abused for excusing racism) matters. If the trio of 'old' 'white' 'fat' are qualities being used to diminish the person in question then it would be racism, i agree. However I would not say i meant the 'white' in a pejorative sense here, if whatever race that person was i would have written it the same way and not have it reflect on that person's basketball ability. I have used it in that sense before but it was a positive way (the 14 yo athletic white phenom i described a few weeks ago in a youth league). That's still racism but positive or whatever.
In general, I don't have a problem personally talking about race casually, yeah we're all equal in theory but in practice im probably not afforded that kind of luxury of a viewpoint, which i think is something another Australian might take for granted (and that would be a good thing). I don't want to live with some kind of delusion that race doesn't matter or exist because that would lead to unrealistic situations otherwise. Or rude awakenings. It's nice to believe you're just another person most of the time, maybe even someone 'normal' but then you'll run into a small amount of racism and find it deeply troubling unless you've cultivated a resistance to racism being able to hurt you. I have to keep race in the foreground because otherwise racism is just too crushing when it happens, kind of like maintaining a level of immunity to it is required to function.
If you knew the person i was talking about, the 62 year old, he's a feature of the local pickup scene for years. The man is almost an institution, a playground legend. He's almost loved here. I honestly admire the man and i would even say i find his love for the game infectious. He hasn't got athleticism or even skill but he loves to play basketball and everyone just humours him but not having played with him in a year or two, i was surprised how much better he has got .. or perhaps how bad i have gotten at the same time, and how troubling i found it to be beaten by him .. not beacuse he's white .. but because he was really really bad .. like just terrible and now he was absolutely demolishing me. And having said that, it'snot like he's suddenly now a good player .. he's still bad .. but he beat me bad. But i couldn't have even tried to beat him in a competive sense .. i have a bit too much respect for him as a opponent to humiliate him? i dont know, it wasn't a competitive situation, i played with restraint but i'd expect to beat him easily even without trying. I'd never say he's bad because he's white .. it's not a factor (in this case). If his race was relevant that would be different. I guess if i was to flesh this out fully .. a 62 year old brown man or black man .. that would not make it any different in my eye, the age and fatness would be the main thing here.
Also i'm not good at dealing with racism .. but ive been trying to dispower it .. maybe it's a complex thing that needs way too much nuance to be careless like in this case.
OK, I understand where you're coming from a lot better now. I won't analyse it all in-depth but there's some really interesting insight here. Thanks for sharing.
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Bodyweight(AM): 89.1kg (13 March)
Diet compliance: 4/4 days
Daily Squat: 116/116 days
Daily Cardio: 2/2
Activity: 10
Morning:
Noon: BS 8x20, 8x20, 8x50
OHP 10x20, 8x40, 3x57.5
Incline DB BP 15x15, 12x20
Dips 10xBW, 10xBW
Chinup 3xBW, 3xBW
Evening: Weight vest walk - 30 min
Notes:- Didn't run today, want fresh knees for tmr's squats
- 5kg vest walking keeps my HR at 100bpm.. maybe more weight will get it closer to 2xResting HR?
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So might start to make some diet changes .. i have 37 days til comp day, will start boiling my eggs in the morning and reduce the quantity to 2 eggs from 3. Not a huge change but over the scale of 37 days it should help. Also will be keeping daily activity at 10,000 steps or more. Which won't happen unless i go for walks or running or basketball.
More jumping .. jumping with the vest ... forget about dunking esp with the vest that's stupid .. better to just potentiate with the vest using max effort jumps then try with a ball
Squatting will be trying to master 150kg for volume ... it's time to switch over to heavy weights and see what i can do athletically with whatever muscle ive build (lol).
Start sprinting. Always hard to start these cos the first sessions will give massive doms but i need to ease into this asap otherwise i'll miss the boat
conditioning has to come from hard running (20 min max) or intervals. i will start the intervals soonish .. this week....
im too heavy .. will need to actively drop some kilos. 86.5kg would be realistically amazing if i can get it but im not sure if it's attainable in this timeframe while trying to do all of the above..
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So might start to make some diet changes .. i have 37 days til comp day, will start boiling my eggs in the morning and reduce the quantity to 2 eggs from 3. Not a huge change but over the scale of 37 days it should help. Also will be keeping daily activity at 10,000 steps or more. Which won't happen unless i go for walks or running or basketball.
More jumping .. jumping with the vest ... forget about dunking esp with the vest that's stupid .. better to just potentiate with the vest using max effort jumps then try with a ball
Squatting will be trying to master 150kg for volume ... it's time to switch over to heavy weights and see what i can do athletically with whatever muscle ive build (lol).
Start sprinting. Always hard to start these cos the first sessions will give massive doms but i need to ease into this asap otherwise i'll miss the boat
conditioning has to come from hard running (20 min max) or intervals. i will start the intervals soonish .. this week....
im too heavy .. will need to actively drop some kilos. 86.5kg would be realistically amazing if i can get it but im not sure if it's attainable in this timeframe while trying to do all of the above..
Can I make a suggestion?
More basketball. 37 days till comp isn't that long. Work more basketball. Work your jumper and pick 2-4 moves that you think will be your go to and get them to a level where they're automatic. I would go with 2 post and 2 off the dribble. IMO that will give you a greater outcome when the comp rolls around. Still try to be an athletic beast but just don't forget about your ball skills.
*Edit- Also, as a lefty you should try and take advantage of this. Especially in post play with your turn around jumper.
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This is solid advice. I think i will need to make a list of moves and i can pick the 2 moves i'll go with for off-the dribble and for in the post? Let me put some up on insta and you can tell me which one has more chance of a)mastery and b)effectiveness.
I need to figure out how to use the jump stop to get some spacing to go into a dunk. Also i need to do some low rim dunking with the size 6 ball to get the movement pattern down. Right now i can't even do a two hand dunk leave alone a tomahawk. This isn't because i can't jump (can still hit a 35" rvj apparently) but because i dont know have the movement efficiency down to do it? Legit if i can get a couple of dunks in game .. it will have a psychological effect that hopefully will help my team. Just a session or two if i can fit one in will get me that back and then i don't have to do anymore dunking specific workouts hopefully.
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Bodyweight(AM): 88.8kg (14 March)
Diet compliance: 5/5 days
Daily Squat: 117/117 days
Activity: 12
Morning: WV walk - 15min
Noon: BS 7x120, 5x2x150
OHP 10x20, 10x40
Evening: Basketball ~ 90mins
Notes:- My back isn't really recovered yet but i did 5 doubles with 150kg .. i couldn't do more than 2 reps today. Not recovered enough. But squatting heavy like this .. this is what will make me athletic guys .. because now my legs are actually being challenged by squats .. before today it was probably just glutes. Glutes makes u faster but i jump higher when my quads are stronger and now they're going to start doing some work ha ha
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Basketball report ..
i played with some 16 yo kids .. we played king of the court to start with .. i was feeling so athletic .. just flying around doing whatever i wanted .. they weren't very athletic and they're small, weak and slow so i didn't find it at all challenging. I got bored. One of the games i went up to dunk on one of htem .. and he said 'im scared .. dont wanna get dunked on' .. and i just felt bad like stop being a bully. If i could actually dunk in game obviously i wouldn't be trying against kids.. it's just practice but nevertheless i decided to just switch it off cos it wasn't fair. To be honest i was also winded lol. We played 2v2 after that and one of the kids was really out of shape .. fat guy .. gave up playing d so the game died otherwise it was pretty fun.
After that i played 4v4 with some asian guys .. one guy had a very good crossover, he crossed me up real good. And then he drove and finished, i felt like a helpless ogre. Next time he crossed me up again and he got cocky and pulled up for the shot, i recovered and blocked it, got props for my d. im not that easy to beat on the perimeter .. long arms and i can jump (sometimes). ha. the highlight was i got the ball baseline and i had programmed myself that if i get a small window im going up . i dunked it. they were all in awe. if they knew me, they'd even more impressed cos ive never ever dunked in a game lol. but it was pickup okay and these guys hardly play d .. so lets not get carried away
still im being more aggresive now attacking the rim, if get a good pass im just thinking start a quick move and go up.
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i dunked it. they were all in awe.
ive never ever dunked in a game lol.
deserves the :personal-record: treatment IMHO
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Not sure what happened but my knee has felt off yesterday and today. I dont know the language to describe it exactly but if i do the following:
1 stand up straight
2. raise my knee slightly
3. raise my foot up towards my butt
4. straighten my leg
and something gets stuck in the knee
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Not sure what happened but my knee has felt off yesterday and today. I dont know the language to describe it exactly but if i do the following:
1 stand up straight
2. raise my knee slightly
3. raise my foot up towards my butt
4. straighten my leg
and something gets stuck in the knee
damn dude. hope it's nothing.
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Not sure what happened but my knee has felt off yesterday and today. I dont know the language to describe it exactly but if i do the following:
1 stand up straight
2. raise my knee slightly
3. raise my foot up towards my butt
4. straighten my leg
and something gets stuck in the knee
damn dude. hope it's nothing.
i made it worse yesterday morning by 'testing' it. i think it started when i did that first treadmill run. Just giving it a bit of rest, it felt better today morning. And im not trying to bother it. I really hope i can train normally soon. But need to be careful from here. Just going to focus on upper body. I need training as my outlet otherwise i'll lose my mind. But if i focus on adding some kilos to my ohp or dips i'lll be fine. Hopefully.
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This is solid advice. I think i will need to make a list of moves and i can pick the 2 moves i'll go with for off-the dribble and for in the post? Let me put some up on insta and you can tell me which one has more chance of a)mastery and b)effectiveness.
I need to figure out how to use the jump stop to get some spacing to go into a dunk. Also i need to do some low rim dunking with the size 6 ball to get the movement pattern down. Right now i can't even do a two hand dunk leave alone a tomahawk. This isn't because i can't jump (can still hit a 35" rvj apparently) but because i dont know have the movement efficiency down to do it? Legit if i can get a couple of dunks in game .. it will have a psychological effect that hopefully will help my team. Just a session or two if i can fit one in will get me that back and then i don't have to do anymore dunking specific workouts hopefully.
Mate congrats in the in game dunk. I know it's only pick up but that's a huge step towards more in game dunks. Also hope the knee recovers as quickly as possible.
Over the weekend I was thinking about what moves I would focus on if I was you. I would go with a hesitation dribble into a layup or pull up jumper. If you can get this quick there's not too many people (normal players) who will stop you from getting past them. You can then add the crossover, step back, etc once you are more confident. I would suggest that if you have a hesi with a pull up and a cross over you will destroy most social (even A grade) players.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql9AYz0rwpY
*disclaimer- not a great video but gives you the basic idea in case you aren't aware.
For the post I would get your turn around jumper (back to the basket move) and then once face the basket jumper. Add in a pump fake every now and then, 1 dribble and finish with a dunk :D
Seriously though, you're a left with a high shooting action and you can jump. There shouldn't be too many people who can stop you in the post with your jump shot.
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Those shud be within my abilities. I didn't really expect to be injured at htis point so timing has been bad. But i feel pretty good now so im looking forward to training normally starting tmr. Learning exp but it was a combo of not keeping up the daily heavy squatting, which i think keeps me from getting in too much trouble ha ha. It keeps me fatigued enough that i don't do 'too much'. The problem was i playing ball on hard wood with my hard soled shoes and i also threw in some max attempt jumps including with the vest. And on the same day i had done 5 doubles of 150kg .. which shouldn't be an issue if i was trained for doing several sets of heavy doubles but i wasn't. Also lifting and jumping and all that has taken a toll on my right leg, it's beaten up my right calf too much and i think that's where this is all going wrong for me.
If i do jumping i need to work on using a LR plant more.. jumping off my L leg as SL training .. etc. The double leg rvj off RL plant is just brutal on my R leg. Especially when i weigh more than 90kg in the gym. At 35, i can't do all my jumping that way, it's just asking for trouble. And respect the weights, respect the hard surface, don't jump so much .. just try to get coordination down etc.
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Those shud be within my abilities. I didn't really expect to be injured at htis point so timing has been bad. But i feel pretty good now so im looking forward to training normally starting tmr. Learning exp but it was a combo of not keeping up the daily heavy squatting, which i think keeps me from getting in too much trouble ha ha. It keeps me fatigued enough that i don't do 'too much'. The problem was i playing ball on hard wood with my hard soled shoes and i also threw in some max attempt jumps including with the vest. And on the same day i had done 5 doubles of 150kg .. which shouldn't be an issue if i was trained for doing several sets of heavy doubles but i wasn't. Also lifting and jumping and all that has taken a toll on my right leg, it's beaten up my right calf too much and i think that's where this is all going wrong for me.
If i do jumping i need to work on using a LR plant more.. jumping off my L leg as SL training .. etc. The double leg rvj off RL plant is just brutal on my R leg. Especially when i weigh more than 90kg in the gym. At 35, i can't do all my jumping that way, it's just asking for trouble. And respect the weights, respect the hard surface, don't jump so much .. just try to get coordination down etc.
Yeah man that's a lot of work in one day from not doing much.
With the jumping you should jump off all plants. Check out Chris's log for his experience in doing that. Getting balanced will be much more profitable for you. You don't need to jump that often though.
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Bball update!
I felt real good today after resting a whole week since my last bball session where i messed up my R knee. I played a game of 21 against 2 guys .. which is nice cos you get better defence, at least on paper, if they both try that is. I took a couple of 3s and hit them all, pulled up inside the 3pt line off the dribble a few times and connected them all. Felt unstoppable. If they overplayed me i was able to get past them otherwise my jumper was locked on. A couple of drives (just to check). Was dominating easily, my score was 11 and the others were around 3 or 4. I got one huge block which ifelt bad about .. one of those volleyball type blocks. Initially i was thinking to dunk but one of the guys said something about just dont dunk on me which killed my motivation .. cos i work better thinking im an underdog and to have someone think i was capable of dunking on them just deflated me cos im no where that level. But i did find the best way to do it would be to cross someone up at the top and then use that space to attack the rim. Otherwise i just dont see how you can make the space to setup for a dunk???????? Obviously game time if your'e facing a zone you're almost never going to have that chance :( esp when you're a 4
Messed around with the LR plant today. It feels ........ amazing when you connect on a dunk but if you miss it feels really .. out of control? But this is the proper way to jump and when i view the video it looks more correct so im just gonna have to get used to it. I wish i was getting a bit more height on the jump but it was a good start today. Need to make it smoother and seemless. I've pretty much realised im a much better player operating on the L side of the rim .. even in a postup i can get my shot off much easier .. i can drive much easier ... i can score much easier .. it's my space .. but ive always done my jump training.. like 100% on the R side, which doesn't translate to game space where I'm just too unathletic on the R side to use the training gains.
I couldnt really grip the ball .. it was a hot sticky day .. humid af .. and i didnt get much sleep either which meant my CNS was weak which meant my grip was weak. I couldnt even grip a size 6 which i took with me just in case the 7 was too big today.
So just need to keep working on making the plant more natural. Right now it feels like a waste of time doing something where im much more limited in compared to my PR level jumps. But RL jumping never got anything except being a warmup dunker .. if i can't apply my jumping to game time then what good is it? May just be that by sticking to the LR plant i can eventually carry it over to games cos im much stronger on the L side and it might just be what gets me in the right positions for a gametime dunk.
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So im running out of time to get in shape, i decided i'd start actively cutting now. Will maintain my squat at a hopeful 160kg daily. I'm not there yet, will be going for a 157.5kg single today. Daily cardio (ofc), at least 10k steps/day .. reduce calories .. try to ball everyday. That's the plan. Bodyweight is 88.8kg and the goal is to see the scale read sub 86kg by end of cut. Hopefully that happens in less than 3 weeks cos i need some time (a week at least) to recover from cutting before the comp (28 days to go). Sub 86kg is ideal case. Just cause psychologically it will feel good to see it read 85.x kg which is close to my ideal bw of 85kg. In reality i should be happy with anything under 87kg given the limited timeframe.
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Bodyweight(AM): 88.6kg (22 March)
Diet compliance: 0/0 days
Daily Squat: 122/22 days
Activity: 14
Morning: Shooting, 30 min
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x140, 1x160
OHP 8x50, 6x57.5
Evening: Run/Walk -5km
Notes:- That 160kg was too heavy, im not sure how it went up (not cleanly and yet the guy nearby complimented my form, i told him it was dirty! and he said but you have good form. ok?). The whole thing is worthy of a rant i'll enter below.
- Morning bball is a bad idea .. i just dont feel like going too hard in the mornings .. i dont want to stress my joints etc too much. is this dumb? Im not sure. Evening ones post lifting i can go more hard no problem
- Finalllly did my first outdoor run in what must be like 2 months. damn. i was flying .. i did the first km in sub 5 min/km pace .. and for a while i was maintaing 3:xx/km pace which is insane. I think if i trained for it i def cud get a 22:30 now .. it just feels more attainable than it used to be. ANDD i was running against the wind too and i didnt eat carbs during the day .. i was fasted except for a shake in the morning. So pretty exciting stuff on that front ..
- Ive taken a pretty big caloric deficit .. just want to finish the cut asap .. now im thinking max 14 days.
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Bodyweight(AM): 88.0kg (23 March)
Diet compliance: 1/14 days
Daily Squat: 122/122 days
Activity: 13
Morning: BS 1x140, 1x157.5
OHP 8x50, 6x57.5
Noon: Bball - 90 mins
Evening: Sprint session
Notes:- this was an insane day of training, i didnt eat my first solid meal til 10:30pm.
- Couldnt sleep, friend wanted to ball with me at noon so i rushed a lift session in the morning which was a struggle, esp fasted because i didnt have time to eat .. i did take some BCAA's just for something.
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Bodyweight(AM): 86.9kg (24 March)
Diet compliance: 2/13 days
Daily Squat: 122/122 days
Activity: 8.5
Morning: 30 min cardio (bike & rowing)
Noon: BS 1x140
OHP 8x40
Evening: Walk - 20 min
Notes:- really rough weekend .. going to try recover and not do much
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Bball session yesterday was really frustrating. We played 3v3 and 4v4. It was very competitive. My body let me down, i was like 3 steps behind my brain. Kept getting stripped or not being able to even start a move properly. I think that's lack of sleep, no food, etc but still, got me down.
So im down to 86.9kg and it's only the morning of the 3rd day. I am cutting carbs v. heavily to drop the glycogen so my body can start using fat preferentially for energy. Just hope i can maintain my strength and muscle. It should be fine if i eat enough protein but yesterday i just didnt get time to eat enough meals. I was one shake short which is shit cos it's 60g of pro that i obviously need.
So ive lost a bit of water now and im starting to look not so bad .. which means its a sign to increase protein to increase the chance of muscle & strength retention. Optimistic of ending the cut somewhere with a better squat ratio and fitness/bodycomp. That's going to be close to my lifetime peak. But taking it a day at a time.
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Hit 86.6kg today. Back is stiff, perhaps it's a spinal thing i think rather than erectors? Im prob going to cut it short to 7 or 10 days now. Not sure. Need some rest, haven't been sleeping well at all.
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Bodyweight(AM): 86.1kg (26 March)
Diet compliance: 5/10 days
Daily Squat: 128/128 days
Activity:
Morning:
Noon:
Evening: BS 2x8x20, OHP 8x20
Notes:Goign to train hard today. Lets see how it goes..
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.1kg (27 March)
Diet compliance: 6/10 days
Daily Squat: 129/129 days
Activity:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x140, 1x152.5
OHP 5x55
Evening: Dunk session!
Notes:- Ok im now v. close to my goal weight but kinda glycogen depleted, so need to do a bit more yet.
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Had my first dunk session of the season. Was pretty decent. Put some vids up on insta. I checked my bw and i was around 87.5kg. So i think comp time i'll be around 87.5kg court weight, which is hopefully decent for playing a 4. I wish i was playing a 3, i'd fucking dominate. lol. But im just going to contrbute as much as i can as a 4, i guess i'll play less minutes but try to go harder? Not sure. Im not fit. I want to start conditioning.
Oh and i wanna say with the RL plant i have to do tomahawks in a peculiar way, the ball ends up cocking with my R hand which makes sense doesnt it since that's ideal for a RL planter? If i just switch to dunking everything with two hands then RL plant is fine so long as i can be R hand dominant when i dunk with two hands. Something to try next time, approach the rim from the L side and try tomahawks from there. I'll also try both sides of the baseline to see which feels good.
But it's amazing how easy dunking gets when you lose a little weight!! Im tempted to prolong the cut to 14 days now lol lol. But the downside is then i can't train as hard and something will lose out (sprinting/running/conditioning mainly). So that's not a good compromise considering my biggest weakness, like 99% is my bottom of the barrel, fitness. Anytime im playing ball im easily the least fit person on the court. It's to do with my lungs i think. NOt sure.
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Bodyweight(AM): 84.9kg (28 March)
Diet compliance: 7/10 days
Daily Squat: 131/131 days
Activity:
Morning:
Noon: BS 3x120, OHP 8x20
Evening: Pickup - 90 mins
Sprints session - 15 min
Notes:Forcing the cardio issue now. Will do a longer run today w/ vest cos weighing 84.9kg is too light to mean anything once i come off the diet and add carbs back. - Pickup was horrible. I forgot to pack my singlet in my gym bag and had to play in a tight tshirt which threw my shot off completely. I missed 99% of all my shots, made one jumper. fucking lol. Did get 1 dunk but i wasn't trying to do too much today.
- My friend had us doing down hill sprints with the wind. was fun as fuck. he says it will make me faster?
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Im tempted to prolong the cut to 14 days now lol lol. But the downside is then i can't train as hard and something will lose out (sprinting/running/conditioning mainly). So that's not a good compromise
:goodjobbro: :lololol: :almostascoolasnyancat: :headbang: :highfive: 8) :ibrunning:
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dunks were nice! :ibjumping:
Im tempted to prolong the cut to 14 days now lol lol. But the downside is then i can't train as hard and something will lose out (sprinting/running/conditioning mainly). So that's not a good compromise
:goodjobbro: :lololol: :almostascoolasnyancat: :headbang: :highfive: 8) :ibrunning:
haha. :lololol:
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Weather is PERFECT nowadays for running outside and yet i haven't been. Need to fix that asap. Also i meant to ask you guys .. do my chances of a gametime dunk (in traffic) increase if i can take off further from the rim? I've looked at my videos and i always jump inside the circle. I feel like it's very hard to get that close to the rim without attracting defenders, esp with the ball. Thoughts?
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Weather is PERFECT nowadays for running outside and yet i haven't been. Need to fix that asap. Also i meant to ask you guys .. do my chances of a gametime dunk (in traffic) increase if i can take off further from the rim? I've looked at my videos and i always jump inside the circle. I feel like it's very hard to get that close to the rim without attracting defenders, esp with the ball. Thoughts?
It depends if you can still reliably dunk further out from the circle. What's your max dunking range?
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Weather is PERFECT nowadays for running outside and yet i haven't been. Need to fix that asap. Also i meant to ask you guys .. do my chances of a gametime dunk (in traffic) increase if i can take off further from the rim? I've looked at my videos and i always jump inside the circle. I feel like it's very hard to get that close to the rim without attracting defenders, esp with the ball. Thoughts?
It depends if you can still reliably dunk further out from the circle. What's your max dunking range?
ok ive never actually tried to dunk from further. Now that might be something i need to try!
But ive been thinking about this and actuaaaaaaaaly in full court competitive games i can barely get the 22" vertical to just hit the rim with a missed dunk inside the circle, im dreaming thinking about taking off further away as if i have that option during games (my vertical drops about 40% thanks to my shitty CV).. ha ha.
Might be a good 'training exercise' though to dunk from further?
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I played basketball today for 2 hours. It was brutal, im approaching glycogen depletion and it's pretty miserable trying to do anything intense for more than a couple of reps. Nevertheless it was a productive session.
i worked on my euro step. I think im playing it safe by avoiding landing the final step (i finish before the last foot lands) to avoid being called for travel but if i do take it, it will make it a pretty effective move perhaps. I tried to use it 1-1 but it just doesn't happen cos the defender is always in too good a position. I think it's prob better in the flow of the game, maybe in transition where you've got a defender who is just ahead of you but you're trying to shake him? Not sure.
might tell a story. we were playing king of the court, just startd to. the other guy went first, new guy sunk a 3. he came off, i went on, new guy sinks a 3, i come off, other guy comes on. Guy sinks another 3. He comes off. Now i know what to expect.. so i give him plenty of room so he thinks he can get his 3 off .. and i went straight up and blocked the shit out of it. Lol. I felt bad .. but he didn't hit another 3 after that
we finished up with a game of 3v3 to 21. I didnt try score, just was facilitating. Wasn't really up to it tbh .. my body was underfueld having not eaten in 16hrs. All good though.
so day 8 of the diet so far. im thinking of compromising, diet for a bit longer but add carbs back to allow better training? Not sure not sure.
My worry right now is im too heavy to play without running into high HR problems which usually happens in full court, competition games. IF i do everything perfectly, like calm myself down (i get too freaking amped up), eat clean (no sugar), sleep well, have no stress/anxiety off court .. maybe i can still contribute. But i dont feel confident being able to do it around 87.5kg court weight .. i wish i was sub 85kg :/
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Bodyweight(AM): 84.8kg (30 March)
Diet compliance: 9/10 days
Daily Squat: 133/133 days
Activity:
Morning:
Noon:
Evening:
Notes:- knees a tad sore, might rest them today and go hard tmr
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Weather is PERFECT nowadays for running outside and yet i haven't been. Need to fix that asap. Also i meant to ask you guys .. do my chances of a gametime dunk (in traffic) increase if i can take off further from the rim? I've looked at my videos and i always jump inside the circle. I feel like it's very hard to get that close to the rim without attracting defenders, esp with the ball. Thoughts?
It depends if you can still reliably dunk further out from the circle. What's your max dunking range?
ok ive never actually tried to dunk from further. Now that might be something i need to try!
But ive been thinking about this and actuaaaaaaaaly in full court competitive games i can barely get the 22" vertical to just hit the rim with a missed dunk inside the circle, im dreaming thinking about taking off further away as if i have that option during games (my vertical drops about 40% thanks to my shitty CV).. ha ha.
Might be a good 'training exercise' though to dunk from further?
Yep. Also, you could probably dunk from farther out with a running SLRVJ...but if you're losing a lot of inches with an SLRVJ vs DLRVJ, it might not be any better.
Specific 'dunk conditioning' could be good too: rep your most successful game dunk with short rest, until your vertical drops off, with the aim of beating the total dunk number next session. It's not that much different from just getting your cardio in, but it would give you more confidence to go for it when you're tired in a game.
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My SLVJ is v. modest, maybe 25-27" max in ideal conditions. I wouldn't trust it (game time) tbh. But i get you, it's a bit quicker for game time speed, best left for naturally athletic people not weight trained ones like me.
Watching the recent manu ginobili retirement video NBA put up on youtube and one of the scenes has coach pop saying something like 'keep shooting. follow thru, keep shooting. be brave and aggressive' and i think that's the kind of mindset i need to dunk in games. Im so scared of contact, when i shouldnt be, cue walter white 'i am the danger' .. i was guarding someone today and i gently swiped at the ball while he drove full steam into the middle but he said i pushed him! i was back peddling and playing it soft to avoid fouling. If i was actually being physical .. i think it would be a different matter altogether.
i got to tell you guys, baskertball was amazing. I felt so strong and powerful .. i wore the vest for 90% of the time, i only took it off for the last game to 11, cos one dude got injured and i'd got cold and i just thought that's enough training for today, lemme have some fun. I was doing SVJ dunks with the vest on like it was nothing, the rim doesn't even give that much and i was hitting it hard enough to pull it down. The vest makes it impossible to take jumpers, but i can still do jump hooks and stuff. So i dont mind not shooting. Got some massive blocks, even with the vest on.
it got really heated and competitive cos one guy was playing very aggressive defence on me. ive got bruises on both of my arms, one of them is swollen and ive got popped blood vessels on the other arm. Thing is i was wearing a vest, i have been cutting pretty hard for 9 days (1 meal a day) and im low carbing and glyocogen depleted. but htis motherfucker was something else. i posted him up and he fouled me everytime, i didnt call it, just kept playing thru it all. he was calling ticky tacky fouls (not on me but others). afterwards we sat down and hd a chat, turns out he played pro ball .. motherfucker is 40 years old and still dunking (he's a personal trainer or something so in really good shape). he made that session intense af. I do think if he was guarding me like this in a proper game he'd have long fouled out. But it's got me down .. the guy went like 90% on 3pt shots .. (these islander team i watched on monday said something like 'i hate the way they (another team) play, it's just faggot shooting' - and i can so relate to that. it's boring when you're playing against a team just putting up shitton of jumpers. i called him out eventually said are you afraid to come into the paint (cos i was protecting it) and he was just pulling up for jumpers off screens. weak mans. But fair enough, that's the game i get it. im not quick enough to play him close on the perimeter cos he'll burn me and there was no rim protection with me out. Did eventually get one of the guards to d him up and that took him off the game. Because he'd have to score over me in inside. So he was now settling for runnign jumpers. But guards are not that bright, they dont know how to guide a player into a trap with a rim protector .. so he was still getting layups on these guys and im like wtf bro, just bring him towards me so we can trap him and i'll block his ass ha ha. He was really good, easily one of the better players ive played against skill wise. I do wonder how i'd fare in better conditions.
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Bodyweight(AM): 84.2kg (31 March)
Diet compliance: 10/10 days
Daily Squat: 134/134 days
Activity:
Morning:
Noon: BS 3x120, OHP 2x8x20
Evening: Bball ~ 90 min
Notes:- Ok today im legit gna rest lol. But lets see
- Played 2v2 pickup against a really good tall dude. thing, lean, athletic, was flying around the court, had an insane 2nd jump, would rebound his miss before i could even get off hte ground. i couldnt stop him without fouling. Not good for my ego. Not sure even if i was carbed up and fresh and no vest i could keep up with him to be honest. im just a very mediocre athlete afterall
- Alright that's the end of the low carb phase. adding them back tmr
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Weather is PERFECT nowadays for running outside and yet i haven't been. Need to fix that asap. Also i meant to ask you guys .. do my chances of a gametime dunk (in traffic) increase if i can take off further from the rim? I've looked at my videos and i always jump inside the circle. I feel like it's very hard to get that close to the rim without attracting defenders, esp with the ball. Thoughts?
It depends if you can still reliably dunk further out from the circle. What's your max dunking range?
ok ive never actually tried to dunk from further. Now that might be something i need to try!
But ive been thinking about this and actuaaaaaaaaly in full court competitive games i can barely get the 22" vertical to just hit the rim with a missed dunk inside the circle, im dreaming thinking about taking off further away as if i have that option during games (my vertical drops about 40% thanks to my shitty CV).. ha ha.
Might be a good 'training exercise' though to dunk from further?
Yep. Also, you could probably dunk from farther out with a running SLRVJ...but if you're losing a lot of inches with an SLRVJ vs DLRVJ, it might not be any better.
Specific 'dunk conditioning' could be good too: rep your most successful game dunk with short rest, until your vertical drops off, with the aim of beating the total dunk number next session. It's not that much different from just getting your cardio in, but it would give you more confidence to go for it when you're tired in a game.
It's kind of depressing to think about but 90+% of all dunks are outside the circle unless you're a big guy with reach (6'7+). The worst thing is that this is man to man as well so if you're playing in Aus where most teams play zone it will make it even harder to get an opportunity. The way I see it you're best chances in order are- fast break, put back, cut without the ball, drive with the ball, post move.
So yeah your chances will increase immensely if you can dunk from outside the circle. You need speed too for that which I think is the biggest factor.
*Edit- watch Olympic ball games. You see how even the US struggle for in game dunks against the zone defense. It's all big guys and fast breaks.
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You nailed it. Im leaning towards the post move one. But i realise it's like 50-50% it will be called offensive if the ref sees i bumped the guy a bit too hard :P. Basically spin off the defender while giving him a nice solid bump with the arm held rigid making contact above the elbow. Hope to have him off balance enough to get daylight for a jam.
Not athletic enough for a drive dunk.
Not athletic enough for a putback.
Not athletic enough to take off outside the circle.
Fast break dunk if we have a 2-1 situation and the team mate throws a lob over the defender i might be able to get it
i havent mentioned this yet but im realising a huge problem is that im a goofy jumper (RL plant, left handed). when i post up on the R block, i can surely turn on my right leg but the mechanics are wrong for finishing a dunk with my left hand bc when you finish the turn im out of position for leaping forwards. it's like doing a SVJ dunk (from further out) than i would normally doing a SVJ dunk. Maybe i should drill SVJ dunks from further out though. I never thought of that, i guess cos SVJ you tihnk straight up and down. But yea SVJ dunk from further out which means you have to propel yourself forward might be an option if i can drill it successfully.
But one thing ive been thinking of .. if I post up on the L block, yea it's not as comfortable because i have to catch the ball with my right hand .. and i'd have to plant my left leg first. But that's if i turn towards the middle. If i turn the other way (towards the baseline) .. and plant R leg first then finish with two hands with right hand dominant, maybe that's my best chance of getting a game time dunk. the problem is it will expose the ball to the defender and im not sure i can post up all that well on the R block since i have to catch / dribble with my non-dominant hand. I've yet to practice this dunk .. ive been waiting for the next dunk session .. hopefully tomorrow. If I can do this dunk as well or (*gasp*) better than from the R block then im going to get some dunks this year. (update, yea all of this conjecture turned out to be fruitless, i tried it out tonight.)
Specific 'dunk conditioning' could be good too: rep your most successful game dunk with short rest, until your vertical drops off, with the aim of beating the total dunk number next session. It's not that much different from just getting your cardio in, but it would give you more confidence to go for it when you're tired in a game.
I can dunk all day acole, it's only a submax jump for me to do so. Things change dramatically in a full court competitive environment. todday once told me to do a dunk drill where i go coast to coast, dunk, then repeat. That's a really unnatural workout for me .. b/c i dont really dunk with a long run up .. it's usually 2-3 steps from well inside the elbow line when i practice dunking .. never dunked starting from beyond the arc. but now that i think about it. maybe i should just come to a stop at the elbow and then dunk. lol. let me try that!
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Bodyweight(AM): 84.3kg (1 April)
Diet compliance: 11/11 days
Daily Squat: 135/135 days
Activity:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x152.5, OHP 6x50
Evening: Post dunk drill
Notes:- Seeing the doc today to get my results back for the 24hr holter & echo
- Did a carb up .. was pretty successful i'd say .. didn't eat any junk (ie fatty or sugary) just carbs and protein. Lets see what the scale bounces to tmr
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Got the results back, echo was normal. 24hr holter was interesting, says my average HR was 79 BPM, minimum was 45 BPM (sleeping) and max HR was 188 BPM, which according to the time, i think was during ........ squats?! thats interesting cos i went for a run in the evening and i expected my HR to peak then, my watch reported around 175 from memory.
I think this means daily squatting isn't healthy. I prob wont continue this once i've reached my goal.
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bizarre interpretation of interesting but ultimately not critical data. come on, man, the daily squats have led to big strength gains and you're two-hand tomahawking the ball. yes you need to improve your cardiovascular fitness but hitting 188 BPM during a near-max effort activity makes perfect sense! it's fine!
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You nailed it. Im leaning towards the post move one. But i realise it's like 50-50% it will be called offensive if the ref sees i bumped the guy a bit too hard :P. Basically spin off the defender while giving him a nice solid bump with the arm held rigid making contact above the elbow. Hope to have him off balance enough to get daylight for a jam.
Not athletic enough for a drive dunk.
Not athletic enough for a putback.
Not athletic enough to take off outside the circle.
Fast break dunk if we have a 2-1 situation and the team mate throws a lob over the defender i might be able to get it
i havent mentioned this yet but im realising a huge problem is that im a goofy jumper (RL plant, left handed). when i post up on the R block, i can surely turn on my right leg but the mechanics are wrong for finishing a dunk with my left hand bc when you finish the turn im out of position for leaping forwards. it's like doing a SVJ dunk (from further out) than i would normally doing a SVJ dunk. Maybe i should drill SVJ dunks from further out though. I never thought of that, i guess cos SVJ you tihnk straight up and down. But yea SVJ dunk from further out which means you have to propel yourself forward might be an option if i can drill it successfully.
But one thing ive been thinking of .. if I post up on the L block, yea it's not as comfortable because i have to catch the ball with my right hand .. and i'd have to plant my left leg first. But that's if i turn towards the middle. If i turn the other way (towards the baseline) .. and plant R leg first then finish with two hands with right hand dominant, maybe that's my best chance of getting a game time dunk. the problem is it will expose the ball to the defender and im not sure i can post up all that well on the R block since i have to catch / dribble with my non-dominant hand. I've yet to practice this dunk .. ive been waiting for the next dunk session .. hopefully tomorrow. If I can do this dunk as well or (*gasp*) better than from the R block then im going to get some dunks this year. (update, yea all of this conjecture turned out to be fruitless, i tried it out tonight.)
Go the post move and go hard. If the refs are half decent they won't call an offensive foul. I used to get called for a few but only on drives and in leagues where they have no semi circle rule which completely sucks. I just walked through (no ball and in my office) the L block spin to the baseline move. Seems like it could work in a game. I would lean towards a one handed finish to give you some extra height and an arm to fend off any potential defensive help.
Also, don't write off the put back. I've been in a position more times than I care to remember to put back missed layups and shots. My only in game dunk is a put back too. Most guys forget to box out too so it leaves you with more opportunity.
In regards to Todddays full court dunk suggestion I think that's a killer and would be great. It's the one thing that when you get an open court in a game it's all on you so if you are confident you'll definitely have a higher chance of dunking.
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Go the post move and go hard. If the refs are half decent they won't call an offensive foul. I used to get called for a few but only on drives and in leagues where they have no semi circle rule which completely sucks. I just walked through (no ball and in my office) the L block spin to the baseline move. Seems like it could work in a game. I would lean towards a one handed finish to give you some extra height and an arm to fend off any potential defensive help.
I've started drilling a spin dunk off the block. I need to keep the defender honest and have him in two minds that i could go towards the baseline, so ive got that counter as well. I figure i'll give him a couple of jumpers off hte glass there and then i'll spin on him. Or another way i could set it up is make it seem im going baseline (faced up before initiating the dribble) then take him baseline before spinning on him. THe benefit of this is it gives you ab it more extra momentum/speed going into the dunk. Basically what wade does below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLJTwaOZ7Gs
Also, don't write off the put back. I've been in a position more times than I care to remember to put back missed layups and shots. My only in game dunk is a put back too. Most guys forget to box out too so it leaves you with more opportunity.
ok i may try to drill it. will get someone to put up some shots and try put them back. ive never done one before, i usually dont have that much height when i get apuback so i end up finishing with a jump hook (in the air)
In regards to Todddays full court dunk suggestion I think that's a killer and would be great. It's the one thing that when you get an open court in a game it's all on you so if you are confident you'll definitely have a higher chance of dunking.
im on it. will do it today!
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.5kg (2nd March)
Diet compliance: 12/12 days
Daily Squat: 136/136 days
Activity:
Morning:
Noon: BS 6x120, 1x140, OHP 6x50
Evening: Post drill
Notes:- Post carb rebound to 85.5kg is a good sign. Lets see how it goes the rest of the week. NO MORE FASTED TRAINING! CARBS ARE BACK ON THE MENU BOYS ETC.
- Gym weight was a perfect 87.5kg! So i pretty much nailed my cut. Just going to maintain bw now and improve fitness and performance.
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Go the post move and go hard. If the refs are half decent they won't call an offensive foul. I used to get called for a few but only on drives and in leagues where they have no semi circle rule which completely sucks. I just walked through (no ball and in my office) the L block spin to the baseline move. Seems like it could work in a game. I would lean towards a one handed finish to give you some extra height and an arm to fend off any potential defensive help.
I've started drilling a spin dunk off the block. I need to keep the defender honest and have him in two minds that i could go towards the baseline, so ive got that counter as well. I figure i'll give him a couple of jumpers off hte glass there and then i'll spin on him. Or another way i could set it up is make it seem im going baseline (faced up before initiating the dribble) then take him baseline before spinning on him. THe benefit of this is it gives you ab it more extra momentum/speed going into the dunk. Basically what wade does below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLJTwaOZ7Gs
Also, don't write off the put back. I've been in a position more times than I care to remember to put back missed layups and shots. My only in game dunk is a put back too. Most guys forget to box out too so it leaves you with more opportunity.
ok i may try to drill it. will get someone to put up some shots and try put them back. ive never done one before, i usually dont have that much height when i get apuback so i end up finishing with a jump hook (in the air)
In regards to Todddays full court dunk suggestion I think that's a killer and would be great. It's the one thing that when you get an open court in a game it's all on you so if you are confident you'll definitely have a higher chance of dunking.
im on it. will do it today!
Nice. That spin move may actually work well against zone d and could give you the option of posterising someone if yet get enough momentum.
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Yea if there is a big lumbering there and i have some decent momentum on me, i'll go up anyway (think pop's "be brave, be aggressive"). I find it easier mentally, to deal with dunking on a big than a small guy. With a small guy my natural instinct to protect my body takes over because you dont want to miss a dunk and go over the top of someone. Especially when they vanish from field of vision once you're in the air and that's scary! With a big they remain in your field of peripheral vision so you can figure out if and how you need to bail last second, if that makes sense. Yes i understand im talking about something ive never actually done lol but ive experienced these feelings when aborting dunks in traffic during games.
One hand finish is probably going to my goto. Only problem is grip. Some days my grip is so good i can bounce and catch the dribble easy and other times the ball just seems bigger. I know this is a CNS thing, days of weak grip and fatigued CNS go together. Wish i could have a grip surplus so i could even grip the ball on bad days. A guy at the courts last week suggested gripping med balls to work on grip.
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Yea if there is a big lumbering there and i have some decent momentum on me, i'll go up anyway (think pop's "be brave, be aggressive"). I find it easier mentally, to deal with dunking on a big than a small guy. With a small guy my natural instinct to protect my body takes over because you dont want to miss a dunk and go over the top of someone. Especially when they vanish from field of vision once you're in the air and that's scary! With a big they remain in your field of peripheral vision so you can figure out if and how you need to bail last second, if that makes sense. Yes i understand im talking about something ive never actually done lol but ive experienced these feelings when aborting dunks in traffic during games.
One hand finish is probably going to my goto. Only problem is grip. Some days my grip is so good i can bounce and catch the dribble easy and other times the ball just seems bigger. I know this is a CNS thing, days of weak grip and fatigued CNS go together. Wish i could have a grip surplus so i could even grip the ball on bad days. A guy at the courts last week suggested gripping med balls to work on grip.
I'm starting to think of this like the 4 minute mile. Seems like such an impossible task but I bet once you get your first one there will be plenty to follow.
Yeah working grip is a great idea. I'm also working on dunking without palming. Palming is the reason I've missed so many in game attempts and getting the hand more over the ball and actually dunking instead of placing it in the rim I think is a huge key to more success.
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I get the same feeling. I have missed all my game dunk attempts b/c i didnt control the ball into the hoop. so gripping or double hand dunking is what my situation calls for. I think you're more naturally athletic so you'd be able to finish the dunks i usually miss b/c the ball isn't stuck to my hand well so i just end up missing it. Now you've made me wonder about what I do different in-game vs training to miss dunks, i rarely if ever miss them in training. Might be rushing the finish. Maybe i jump differently so the ball isn't in the same position. Something like that.
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.6kg (3rd March)
Diet compliance: 13/13 days
Daily Squat: 137/137 days
Activity:
Morning:
Noon: BS 3x120, OHP 8x40
Evening: Post work
Notes:- Going to do a light day and go hard tmr
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.5kg (4 March)
Diet compliance: 14/14 days
Daily Squat: 138/138 days
Activity:
Morning: CND - full court baskets - 40mins
Noon: BS 1x157.5
Evening:
Notes:- Wet windy day, was really planning on going for a nice hard run. Will still make it work
- I just did full court layups/jumpers for sets of 21, 41 and 51 makes, alternating baskets after a make. Took about 40 mins .. HR hit 175 on the first set! pretty decent workout .. will become my goto from here
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.1kg (5 March)
Diet compliance: 15/15 days
Daily Squat: 139/139 days
Activity:
Morning:
Noon: BS 3x120, OHP 10x20, Dips 10x26.5
Evening: Dunks
Notes:- Ok so finally today something clicked. If i stick with RL plant, then a proper jump would be from the L side of the rim. But obvviously whenever i tried that in the pst it felt wrong because duh, im left handed. However if i dunk it with two hands, right hand dominant, now suddenly i can do a ........ drive dunk off two legs. I landed a few .. felt good. But i didnt get too many chances cos the court got busy.
- Potentially if i can make the RL plant with double hand (right dominant) natural .. and practice it more and get better, i'll probably be able to get a game-time dunk because im much much quicker off the dribble from the left of the rim
- Next observation, since i have done 99% of my dunking from the R side of the rim with a RL plant .. the proper way would be a LR plant with the L hand. I didn't get around to trying this but i think i always faltered in the past when dabbled with changing things up .. i'd do LR plant but from the L side. It didn't feel natural at all. Now i know that was because it would be trying to dunk across my body just not ideal. So need to spend some time doing LR dunks with the L hand from the R side of the rim.
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Bodyweight(AM): 84.8kg (6 March)
Diet compliance: 16/16 days
Daily Squat: 140/140 days
Activity: 24,000 (PR!!)
Morning: Run 2x12.5min (4km total, 1 min rest)
Noon: BS 5x120, 1x140, OHP 8x40
Evening: Basketball ~3hrs
Notes:- I need to confess osmething .. i kept cutting .. not as hard but nevertheless i wasnt satisfied with a carb up 85.5kg .. i know that 85.0kg carbed up is ideal, so i kept going. But ive promised myself today is the last day and i need to switch over to carbohydrate based metabolism if i have any chance of performing well at the comp. It's going to be brutal, 6 full court competitive games in one weekend.
- That morning run was brutal .. i did it with the vest and my HR went up as high as 180 and whenever i looked at my watch it was in the 170s. I felt fine but i wonder if it's because a)im unfit, b)trying to do a carb based activity without carbs, c)vest makes that much of a difference or all of the above.
- Basketball was awful, played full court scrimmage on a team who play toegether at rec league, who were just doing full court shooting practice.passing to each other but not to me. cunts did not pass the ball to me once in the post. It was such a missed opportnity cos the guy who was guarding me in the post was a really good defender so i'd love to have gone head to head. I played the first 15 min with a vest. It was very demanding but im training to be able to play 10 mins nonstop as my team has told me im expected to play 30 mins a game. I stopped playing defense eventually just used it as a conditioning workout. Pickup after that was fun though, see below
- After ball came home and took teh dog for a walk. end of day ive hit a PR 24k steps for the day. I only ate one meal as well.
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why are you running with the vest on.
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why are you running with the vest on.
training economy. running is a luxury, i can't really justify. but if i put on a vest and get my HR up near max and put in a solid 25 mins, then that's a good simulation of the kind of cv load i'd face in games. OFC in games you also have to do sprints and cuts and stuff, so it's just a baseline, i need a larger reserve
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I think this warrants a seperate post but :personal-record: :personal-record: :personal-record: :personal-record:
i got my first proper in game dunk in a half court set off a post up against 2 defenders. OMG!!!!!
quick background, we played 1.5hrs full court scrimmage, 5v5. That was shithouse. Then after that i got pulled into a 4v4 half court game. Big guy playing man defense on me, i asked him his height and weight (a bit premediatory? lol) and he said 6'4", he didnt get to reply the weight but he must be 100kg, solid build. I post him up and he moves me out of the key with ease. Like c'mon, im a 170kg squatter and this guy is just brushing me aside like yesterdays news. It kinda kills my buzz cause i was thinking i wanna get a dunk.
So anyway about 30 mins in and ive got a few blocks on him, i feel he's softened up. i get a postup on the right block. I give him a left shoulder fake, he bites! i spin, power dribble and go up. He's recovered and trying to block me and meanwhile a smaller defender has come into the middle and put his hand up, but im already commited to the dunk. Bang. i come down, everyone is like wtf! i dunked on two guys off a post up.
I wish i had it on video. im just the kind of nerd who would tape a fucking pickup game on the off chance i get a dunk. but nah, im not even that lame. doesnt matter, i still know it was legit. Now im regretting it, would be cool to get my first proper postup dunk on video. Ah well.
oh and i had a fast break dunk on the full court scrimmage but i rimmed it out. i didnt grip the ball. it was old and no grip but still i should aleast try. hit the rim so hard ive got a purple bruise on my figer. go figure. if i ever go for a fast break dunk again im gonna make sure ive got it palmed otherwise it's going to be a miss.
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A+ :highfive: :highfive: :highfive: :highfive: :highfive:
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Bodyweight(AM): 84.7kg (7 March)
Diet compliance: 17/17 days
Daily Squat: 141/141 days
Activity:
Morning: shooting practice
Noon:
Evening:
Notes:- damn scale just wont budge hey. sucks.
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It occured to me check back in my (paper) logbook to what i was doing earlier this year when i was at a similar bodyweight. By the way ive logged everyday and the notebook is now full, not sure if i'll bother getting another one. But nevertheless I had done 14x120kg squats. I probably was able to do 8 reps with 55kg ohp without training for it. Training is ultimately futile .. im pretty sure ive achieved nothing overall. A dieted down 85kg as i am now is much weaker than the carbed up 85kg i was in january. Fucking lol.
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I think this warrants a seperate post but :personal-record: :personal-record: :personal-record: :personal-record:
i got my first proper in game dunk in a half court set off a post up against 2 defenders. OMG!!!!!
quick background, we played 1.5hrs full court scrimmage, 5v5. That was shithouse. Then after that i got pulled into a 4v4 half court game. Big guy playing man defense on me, i asked him his height and weight (a bit premediatory? lol) and he said 6'4", he didnt get to reply the weight but he must be 100kg, solid build. I post him up and he moves me out of the key with ease. Like c'mon, im a 170kg squatter and this guy is just brushing me aside like yesterdays news. It kinda kills my buzz cause i was thinking i wanna get a dunk.
So anyway about 30 mins in and ive got a few blocks on him, i feel he's softened up. i get a postup on the right block. I give him a left shoulder fake, he bites! i spin, power dribble and go up. He's recovered and trying to block me and meanwhile a smaller defender has come into the middle and put his hand up, but im already commited to the dunk. Bang. i come down, everyone is like wtf! i dunked on two guys off a post up.
I wish i had it on video. im just the kind of nerd who would tape a fucking pickup game on the off chance i get a dunk. but nah, im not even that lame. doesnt matter, i still know it was legit. Now im regretting it, would be cool to get my first proper postup dunk on video. Ah well.
oh and i had a fast break dunk on the full court scrimmage but i rimmed it out. i didnt grip the ball. it was old and no grip but still i should aleast try. hit the rim so hard ive got a purple bruise on my figer. go figure. if i ever go for a fast break dunk again im gonna make sure ive got it palmed otherwise it's going to be a miss.
:ibjumping:
sick man. congrats! :highfive:
that's probably going to happen more frequently now, i mean it's obvious from the recent IG clips that you could be bam'n it on people in games.
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I think this warrants a seperate post but :personal-record: :personal-record: :personal-record: :personal-record:
i got my first proper in game dunk in a half court set off a post up against 2 defenders. OMG!!!!!
quick background, we played 1.5hrs full court scrimmage, 5v5. That was shithouse. Then after that i got pulled into a 4v4 half court game. Big guy playing man defense on me, i asked him his height and weight (a bit premediatory? lol) and he said 6'4", he didnt get to reply the weight but he must be 100kg, solid build. I post him up and he moves me out of the key with ease. Like c'mon, im a 170kg squatter and this guy is just brushing me aside like yesterdays news. It kinda kills my buzz cause i was thinking i wanna get a dunk.
So anyway about 30 mins in and ive got a few blocks on him, i feel he's softened up. i get a postup on the right block. I give him a left shoulder fake, he bites! i spin, power dribble and go up. He's recovered and trying to block me and meanwhile a smaller defender has come into the middle and put his hand up, but im already commited to the dunk. Bang. i come down, everyone is like wtf! i dunked on two guys off a post up.
I wish i had it on video. im just the kind of nerd who would tape a fucking pickup game on the off chance i get a dunk. but nah, im not even that lame. doesnt matter, i still know it was legit. Now im regretting it, would be cool to get my first proper postup dunk on video. Ah well.
oh and i had a fast break dunk on the full court scrimmage but i rimmed it out. i didnt grip the ball. it was old and no grip but still i should aleast try. hit the rim so hard ive got a purple bruise on my figer. go figure. if i ever go for a fast break dunk again im gonna make sure ive got it palmed otherwise it's going to be a miss.
:ibjumping:
sick man. congrats! :highfive:
that's probably going to happen more frequently now, i mean it's obvious from the recent IG clips that you could be bam'n it on people in games.
x2. This is awesome news.
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Bodyweight(AM): 86.2kg (9 March)
Diet compliance: 1/11 days
Daily Squat: 141/141 days
Activity:
Morning:
Noon:
Evening:
Notes:- My R knee was swollen yesterday and today as well. Ive been trying to rest it but not sure what's bothered it
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.2kg (11 March)
Diet compliance: 33/33 days
Daily Squat: 145/145 days
Activity:
Morning:
Noon:BS 3x120, OHP 8x20
Evening: Bball shooting
Notes:- A week to tipoff .. im close to my ideal bw ... knees feel better. hard training today and saturday then rest up.
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Not sure if I've asked this before but is this the Melbourne comp or a local one?
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Not sure if I've asked this before but is this the Melbourne comp or a local one?
Nah you haven't, Melb. I literally might have peaked a week ago. Now i can barely squat my warmups or dunk. Lol.
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Not sure if I've asked this before but is this the Melbourne comp or a local one?
Nah you haven't, Melb. I literally might have peaked a week ago. Now i can barely squat my warmups or dunk. Lol.
Cool. We should catch up while you're here. Even just for a coffee.
Nah man have confidence. I saw your latest IG post. Shot is looking good. You'll be fine.
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Bodyweight(AM): 86.2kg (12 March)
Diet compliance: 34/34 days
Daily Squat: 146/146 days
Activity:
Morning:
Noon:BS 6x120, 0Fx152.5, OHP 6x50
Evening: Bball shooting/dunking
Notes:- Yikes, finally failed a squat, first time since i joined this gym sometime last year!.
- Played a pickup game of 2v2 with some kids, i blocked the bigger taller kid a few times (they expected me to be slow and awful i spose?)- i was wearing my vest as well. Each time i blocked him one of the smaller kids would say 'no no no' in an indian accent. Casual racism is great. I didnt really care at the time, but in another universe i would taken my vest off and dunked on them, just wasn't that bothered. They complimented my game all the same, so it wasnt meanspirited but still bad form.
- Icing my knee just in case it gets swollen again. Have to be proactive about this stuff. Hopefully i have one more solid training session (thinking sunday?) ahead.
- then i'm going to focus on R&R Mon-Thurs to peak up for the tournament which runs Fri-Sun. Really hope they have breakaway rims at the comp cos ive been spoilt AF lately with the nice breakaway rims we've got these days here in Perth, such a pleasure to dunk on. I expect melbourne to have them too hopefully.
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Not sure if I've asked this before but is this the Melbourne comp or a local one?
Nah you haven't, Melb. I literally might have peaked a week ago. Now i can barely squat my warmups or dunk. Lol.
Cool. We should catch up while you're here. Even just for a coffee.
Nah man have confidence. I saw your latest IG post. Shot is looking good. You'll be fine.
id like that. i'll send you a dm on insta! :highfive:
also i did the full court coast to coast dunk drill. i could get 5 reps in before i died of cardiovascular overload. 6 if you include the first dunk starting from half court (i dont!). I did several sets of 5s. Actually a great workout. I wish i started doing it sooner! next time if i hav ea chance i'm going to take a puff of the inhaler .. i have one lying around b/c i thought i might have undiagnosed asthma but i never actually tested my theory out. would be interesting to repeat the drill but with using it.
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coast to coast layups is a great warm up for jumping as well IME.
sucks about the racist kid.
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Not sure if I've asked this before but is this the Melbourne comp or a local one?
Nah you haven't, Melb. I literally might have peaked a week ago. Now i can barely squat my warmups or dunk. Lol.
Cool. We should catch up while you're here. Even just for a coffee.
Nah man have confidence. I saw your latest IG post. Shot is looking good. You'll be fine.
id like that. i'll send you a dm on insta! :highfive:
also i did the full court coast to coast dunk drill. i could get 5 reps in before i died of cardiovascular overload. 6 if you include the first dunk starting from half court (i dont!). I did several sets of 5s. Actually a great workout. I wish i started doing it sooner! next time if i hav ea chance i'm going to take a puff of the inhaler .. i have one lying around b/c i thought i might have undiagnosed asthma but i never actually tested my theory out. would be interesting to repeat the drill but with using it.
don't do that plz, thnx. see a doc.
using an inhaler for athletic performance vs saving your life, is.. not a good idea.
2cents.
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I dont really agree with that haha. Is steph curry now using contacts, athletic enhancement? Yea. is it a big change, nah. But for someone who can't see very well (like you and me) contacts are going to have more than a neglible difference. But if you gave everyone contacts they'd not benefit nearly as much as someone who needs them.
I think if i repeat the drill and get 6 reps (b/c i expect +1 rep from adaptation) that's my baseline. If using the inhaler takes me to 10-12 then i need to figure out why i'm getting such a large benefit compared to what most ppl would get, maybe +1-2 rep since they've reported it hasn't shown performance benefit in studies. Read that on wikipedia last night so i dont know much about it at all. For performance athletes in running sports where every ms counts, maybe that's enough to change the result but still fairly minor in the big scheme of things.
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coast to coast layups is a great warm up for jumping as well IME.
sucks about the racist kid.
Yea i think the biggest benefit is it it's training to do stuff while moving fairly fast, eg pull up for a shot. dunk. in a way it's athletic training proper .. need to implement more full court work in general b/c it makes everything more challenging and more gamelike.
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Bodyweight(AM): 85.9kg (13 March)
Diet compliance: 35/35 days
Daily Squat: 147/147 days
Activity:
Morning:
Noon:
Evening:
Notes:- Thinking rest the knees today and do a final hard training session sunday. Any suggestions on what to incorporate for tomr? Thinking a squat, a dunk and full court conditioning.
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coast to coast layups is a great warm up for jumping as well IME.
sucks about the racist kid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHRZrCvYXQw
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nice! i counted 8? not sure if that's easier or harder without having to dribble the ball up. Probably way harder lol. But i'd rather do the sprint and dunk, but prob only get like 2 or 3 reps. Now i need to find some friends.
edit. If you think about it it's 8x30m = 240m sprint, where you dunk and change direction every 30m. The kind of metabolic demands are way different to anything else. But for someone like me who struggles to run fast over a straight 200m then this is a brutal workout indeed.
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just gonna add my $0.02 to adarq about not using an inhaler for short-term athletic performance. the comparison with contact lenses is spurious.
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I don't disagree. I'm just trying to figure out what's wrong with me. If the inhaler has little benefit then i don't have to persue it any further. If it has massive benefit (to me) then it would suggest i could benefit from treatment. But from what i've read so far (just cursory googling) it has little benefit in terms of performance enhancement.
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just gonna add my $0.02 to adarq about not using an inhaler for short-term athletic performance. the comparison with contact lenses is spurious.
and you'd have to go to an optometrist to get "fitted" properly for contacts.
unless maybe you're maxent. then you'd just go pick up a random pair of contacts see if they help. :ninja:
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Haha actually i used to go to the optometrist regularly and my numbers were always in flux and deteriorating with time. I stopped going like 10 years ago and since then my vision has been stable at the same numbers. So there is something to DIY your health.
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I don't disagree. I'm just trying to figure out what's wrong with me. If the inhaler has little benefit then i don't have to persue it any further. If it has massive benefit (to me) then it would suggest i could benefit from treatment. But from what i've read so far (just cursory googling) it has little benefit in terms of performance enhancement.
it's not worth finding out whether or not it benefits you, unless you consult a physician first.
additionally, inhalers can increase heart rate & can have side effects during exercise. IMHO, given your HR history, it's not worth experimenting with unless you are under proper supervision - even if it's just done "once" during some basketball drills. going from <never using one> to <trying it out during intense physical exertion> also seems like a bad way to experiment with it.
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Do you see the problem with that though? In a clinical setting i'm not going to exhibit any symptoms. You telling me if James Harden walked into his primary care physician office and said yo i need treatment he'd get it? Doc will take one look at you and say you're in good shape and healthy and you should get going.
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i see the problem with you setting up some cookie cutter hypothetical response from a doc, to justify using an inhaler, rather than seeing if you actually need one by seeing the right people (ie not googling it).
Do you see the problem with that though? In a clinical setting i'm not going to exhibit any symptoms. You telling me if James Harden walked into his primary care physician office and said yo i need treatment he'd get it? Doc will take one look at you and say you're in good shape and healthy and you should get going.
well he'd probably be right. and if that's all he says & you're not impressed, find a better doc.
what'd docs tell you about your heart?
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Do you see the problem with that though? In a clinical setting i'm not going to exhibit any symptoms. You telling me if James Harden walked into his primary care physician office and said yo i need treatment he'd get it? Doc will take one look at you and say you're in good shape and healthy and you should get going.
you serious? how do you think doctors diagnose asthma? guessing?
also, the eye doctor example some anti-vaxxer logic. went to eye doctor, eyes changed from time to time per administered tests, stopped going to doctor, eyes stabilized per your own perception, ergo not going to doctor stabilizes eyes. of course! it makes perfect sense. or perhaps your eyes stabilized because that's what happens when people get older. or perhaps they have gotten worse but because it's happened gradually and only slightly over time you don't perceive it.
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None of us have any idea about any of this. Im willing to investigate though.
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Do you see the problem with that though? In a clinical setting i'm not going to exhibit any symptoms. You telling me if James Harden walked into his primary care physician office and said yo i need treatment he'd get it? Doc will take one look at you and say you're in good shape and healthy and you should get going.
you serious? how do you think doctors diagnose asthma? guessing?
also, the eye doctor example some anti-vaxxer logic. went to eye doctor, eyes changed from time to time per administered tests, stopped going to doctor, eyes stabilized per your own perception, ergo not going to doctor stabilizes eyes. of course! it makes perfect sense. or perhaps your eyes stabilized because that's what happens when people get older. or perhaps they have gotten worse but because it's happened gradually and only slightly over time you don't perceive it.
i swear antivaxxer is the new nazi germany in internet arguments? im aware that eyesight stabilises with age. However, both of my siblings continued to go the optometrist and kept getting hte numbers increased over time. I chose not to because the last time i was given a new script, i got a pair of glasses made and they were giving me headaches. I went back and returned them and ordered glasses online according to my old numbers and i was happy. Been happy since, eyesight is as good as i can remember it being. Yea if at any stage in those years i went to get checked i bet my numbers would be different. But if you keep changing them then you keep changing them. I'll stop short of calling it a scam but it surely is that in some sense.
Also we're talking about something OTC. It's not necessary to have a script to get an inhaler here. I also dont see everyone using one at the rec leagues, it's not conferring any advantage to the majority of folk. Only those who need it wil benefit. Knowing doctors like i do, mine would hear my n=1 experiment and listen to it intently b/c it gives valuable info for making an informed decision. Its exactly like a test except i'd be taking the initiative because we don't really prescribe tests under stressful exercise readily. Ive never had one done yet, doctors don't see the need. That's just the way it will go, you're healthy, you're fine, don't worry about it. Next. They don't have the time to fully investigate any one patient, they prob can't even tell you your name 5 minutes after you leave the room and they don't have a chart handy. It's a system that requires doing your own homework to get the maximum benefit.
I mentioned James Harden cos he's an example of an elite basketball player who has a known history of asthma. I bet if he was to go to a doc they'd say he's HEALTHY AF and as far as the doctor goes, that's good enough to call next. They're not interested in solving problems outside of actual pathologies for the most part.
Also have a read here you jackasses:
https://thorax.bmj.com/content/56/9/675
Effects of inhaled salbutamol in exercising non-asthmatic athletes
RESULTS Neither endurance time nor post-exercise bronchodilation were significantly different between the treatments. Metabolic parameters were affected by exercise but not by treatment.
CONCLUSIONS Inhaled salbutamol, even in a high dose, did not have a significant effect on endurance performance in non-asthmatic athletes, although the bronchodilating effect of the drug at the beginning of exercise may have improved respiratory adaptation. Our results do not preclude an ergogenic effect of β2 agonists given by other routes or for a longer period.
it literally only works for ppl with asthma and (see article below) not in a performance sense. simple test proposed here seems to have triggered your kneejerk reflex Anti PED response .. check your assumptions..
Inhaled salbutamol does not affect athletic performance in asthmatic and non-asthmatic cyclists.
CONCLUSIONS:
The inhalation of salbutamol induced a significant increase in resting lung function in EVH+ and EVH- athletes but this improvement in lung function did not translate to improved exercise performance. Salbutamol had no discernible effect on key ventilatory and exercise parameters regardless of EVH challenge outcome.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24100289
So it doesn't even improve performance in asthmatic athletes.. so much for all this beat up
To add to this i have a team mate who used to be treated for asthma when he was younger. He's now pretty fit and doesn't use any medication. But there is got to be a mechanism there for the treatment helping ppl overcome this long term. So the way LBBS has called it 'short-term' might not be the case. I've read James Harden used to use the inhaler during college games, but i dont remember hearing about it after he got into the NBA. there may be a mechanism there where ppl gradually adapt to better (read normal) lung function over time.
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it literally only works for ppl with asthma and (see article below) not in a performance sense. simple test proposed here seems to have triggered your kneejerk reflex Anti PED response .. check your assumptions..
to be clear, none of my previous statements took the anti-ped angle (you did). nor did LBSS's iirc. my statements echo'd the bold statement, ie you're considering taking something you probably don't need, in an environment of high exertion.
you're justifying using it to improve performance, because you think you may have some kind of asthma. a doctor will tell you if you do or not.
Galen Rupp is a known asthma sufferer. Surely doctors don't tell him he's too healthy for asthma medication etc.
https://www.rxwiki.com/feature-article/olympian-galen-rupp-suffers-asthma-and-allergies
simple test proposed here seems to have triggered your kneejerk reflex Anti PED response .. check your assumptions..
it triggered my "dont do dumb as fu*k stuff kneejerk reflex".
weird how you say "check your assumptions" when you're assuming (or something?) that we're taking an ANTI PED angle. kinda ironic.
the angle is: find out if you actually have some kind of asthma instead of experimenting with inhalers.
apologies if my replies bug you, just expressing my concerns with going down that road.
brb taking insulin before this long run. :trolldance: :ibrunning:
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Salbutamol doesn't cause long term adaptions, tonnes of people just grow out of asthma. The other mainstay of treatment for asthma is corticosteroids which, unless you actually have asthma it probably isn't a good idea to take. If you actually think you have asthma... Go get tested, young people die of asthma. Also your comment about James harden walking into the doctors symptom free.. You don't have to be having an asthma attack for it to be detected!
David Beckham is another famous pro who has asthma, occasionally see him pitch side with an inhaler. Is it cold where you are? Exercise and cold can both trigger bronchoconstriction which is actually quite noticeable for me (I don't have asthma).
If you don't have asthma as others said, an inhaler isn't going to do much for you other than jack up your heart rate.
FWIW salbutamol is pretty harmless (unless you have an arrhythmia or something) in med school we actually did spirometry experiments and they let us use salbutamol to do experiments on each other.
Talking of PEDs, I'm currently working on a renal medicine ward... Everyone is on EPO. The temptation is strong. (I'm kidding).
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Salbutamol doesn't cause long term adaptions, tonnes of people just grow out of asthma. The other mainstay of treatment for asthma is corticosteroids which, unless you actually have asthma it probably isn't a good idea to take. If you actually think you have asthma... Go get tested, young people die of asthma. Also your comment about James harden walking into the doctors symptom free.. You don't have to be having an asthma attack for it to be detected!
David Beckham is another famous pro who has asthma, occasionally see him pitch side with an inhaler. Is it cold where you are? Exercise and cold can both trigger bronchoconstriction which is actually quite noticeable for me (I don't have asthma).
If you don't have asthma as others said, an inhaler isn't going to do much for you other than jack up your heart rate.
FWIW salbutamol is pretty harmless (unless you have an arrhythmia or something) in med school we actually did spirometry experiments and they let us use salbutamol to do experiments on each other.
Talking of PEDs, I'm currently working on a renal medicine ward... Everyone is on EPO. The temptation is strong. (I'm kidding).
good info.
and ya he's had heart "issues", arrhythmias and such. that's why i think it's a really bad idea to play around with, especially to experiment with it during exercise.
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Tried it out (salbutamol) today and im not sure it was a success. Literally saw a big white puff rise out at the top so im not sure if it even ended up going in my lungs lol. Felt feelings of anxiety and dread but that might be unrelated cos i was running late and trying to plan my Final Training Session. Literally made no progress on the lebron 8 dunk challenge, i actually went backwards but that was probably because my body just wasn't up to it today. Was having trouble just dunking without even the running. In the evening i went for a run with the vest and suprisingly my HR was sub 150 .. even though im just as heavy as last time i did this, and today i was going up hill as well. Maybe the wind was cancelling that out. Idk. Don't think the inhaler had any effect at this point since i took it in the morning (around 11am) and ran around 7pm. Weather was cool though, so that might be why my HR was lower since most of my running was done in warm/hot conditions previously.
Not sure if i'll bother my doctor about getting a test unless im sure i will get a positive test, he'll just think im a hypochondriac or something and i dont wanna have to deal with that. Tbh i suspect i def am likely to have it b/c as long as i can remember my endurance has been awful. Even when i was very lean and light i still had the same issues. Was a weak swimmer. etc. It's been a feature of my life for so long, i just dont think anyone would have noticed, not my parents who probably never even heard of asthma and who else would have noticed or cared?
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Bodyweight(AM): 86kg (15 March)
Diet compliance: 37/37 days
Daily Squat: 148/148 days
Activity:
Morning:
Noon: BS 3x120, 1x140
Evening: Shooting practice
Notes:- Right calf is bugged out. I need to figure out what's wrong with it, might be compartment syndrome b/c it seems to get worse if i pull my socks up.
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Tried it out (salbutamol) today and im not sure it was a success. Literally saw a big white puff rise out at the top so im not sure if it even ended up going in my lungs lol. Felt feelings of anxiety and dread but that might be unrelated cos i was running late and trying to plan my Final Training Session. Literally made no progress on the lebron 8 dunk challenge, i actually went backwards but that was probably because my body just wasn't up to it today. Was having trouble just dunking without even the running. In the evening i went for a run with the vest and suprisingly my HR was sub 150 .. even though im just as heavy as last time i did this, and today i was going up hill as well. Maybe the wind was cancelling that out. Idk. Don't think the inhaler had any effect at this point since i took it in the morning (around 11am) and ran around 7pm. Weather was cool though, so that might be why my HR was lower since most of my running was done in warm/hot conditions previously.
Not sure if i'll bother my doctor about getting a test unless im sure i will get a positive test, he'll just think im a hypochondriac or something and i dont wanna have to deal with that. Tbh i suspect i def am likely to have it b/c as long as i can remember my endurance has been awful. Even when i was very lean and light i still had the same issues. Was a weak swimmer. etc. It's been a feature of my life for so long, i just dont think anyone would have noticed, not my parents who probably never even heard of asthma and who else would have noticed or cared?
fwiw. light & lean can help *but* it doesn't indicate anything about heart & lung ability. plenty of light & lean people out there with 0 cardio/fitness.
also regarding asthma, feels like you're trivializing it a bit. people who get asthma attacks and such, definitely know they have a problem. it's not only during exercise, they can be just sitting around and out of nowhere be unable to breathe. obviously there's different levels to it.
Notes:- Right calf is bugged out. I need to figure out what's wrong with it, might be compartment syndrome b/c it seems to get worse if i pull my socks up.
damn sucks. i don't mess with pulled gastrocs. pulled soleus ya, but not gastroc. be careful w/ it.
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Idk compartment syndrome was just something i came across on youtube when searching about shin splints. And the reason i made the connection is b/c i was contemplating getting some calf compressions but i realised it wouldnt really help b/c simply pulling socks up mades it worse, which sounds like what compartment syndrome is like (compression of fascia). still, ive had this for a long time now. it started when i started running from memory. That seems to be the trigger, altho doing high volume squatting can also seem to induce it as well. Now it's just seemingly gotten worse.
It's manifesting itself in squats, my right leg just seems weaker now. Im favouring the left a lot during squats b/c the right just seems to not be able to handle the load. It probably doesnt help i do my jumping with planting right leg either, which puts a ton of stress on it. and sometimes i think maybe the problem is upstream b/c the entire right leg just seems weirdly tight/immobile .. like from glutes and adductors down .. prob just need some decent rest.
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Bump.
How'd the tournament go?
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Does entropy usually take a posting break after the Easter tournament? Hope he's having a good deload and refreshing himself. He seems to put a lot of pressure on himself for this event.
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I havent been able to train since i stopped logging .. along the way while training for the comp, i had picked up a knee injury, right knee was swollen etc. im still not sure what it is, ive been resting it and havent trained on it and still hasn't healed. Possibly torn ligaments.. still not sure which but today i had an MRI done so hopefully i can get some sort of closure soon. Waiting for the results .. they said by weds next week. Before this i had an ultrasound and xray done which came out clean. I was told the mri could take an hour and i was surprised when 15 mins in the guy came into the room and said you're done. I asked him that was short? And he said you held still and didnt move. Im just the kind of guy who would brag about how long his MRI took :personal-record:. Was v. peaceful lying there with the gentle droning of the MRI machine, i wish i had been there longer but oh well.
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that sucks man. hope there's no serious damage.
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x 2 man. Fingers crossed.
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awful to hear man. :/
hope you're ok & the results aren't serious.
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Best wishes from me too. Injuries are horrible!
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Thanks guys. I just got the MRI back. Good news is i know what's wrong. Bad news is it sucks. It doesn't look like it's treatable or fixable in any way. When doc told me it hit me like a huge wave of sadness realising i've probably trained myself into this and i can't train myself out of it. Ive worn out the cartilage in my knee and the loose bits get stuck and cause the soreness, weakness, loss of stability ive been experiencing. It all adds up, amazing how a single can tell you so much. Not sure what i will do for health now .. i needed to do more cardio now i dont know if i can.
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:ffffffuuuuuu: :ffffffuuuuuu: :ffffffuuuuuu: :ffffffuuuuuu: :ffffffuuuuuu: :ffffffuuuuuu: :ffffffuuuuuu: :ffffffuuuuuu:
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swimming?
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Thanks guys. I just got the MRI back. Good news is i know what's wrong. Bad news is it sucks. It doesn't look like it's treatable or fixable in any way. When doc told me it hit me like a huge wave of sadness realising i've probably trained myself into this and i can't train myself out of it. Ive worn out the cartilage in my knee and the loose bits get stuck and cause the soreness, weakness, loss of stability ive been experiencing. It all adds up, amazing how a single can tell you so much. Not sure what i will do for health now .. i needed to do more cardio now i dont know if i can.
Just worn out cartilage or arthritis too? There's a lot you can still do to help yourself. Maybe start by getting a few opinions on what you can do to help and strengthen the area.
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Thanks guys. I just got the MRI back. Good news is i know what's wrong. Bad news is it sucks. It doesn't look like it's treatable or fixable in any way. When doc told me it hit me like a huge wave of sadness realising i've probably trained myself into this and i can't train myself out of it. Ive worn out the cartilage in my knee and the loose bits get stuck and cause the soreness, weakness, loss of stability ive been experiencing. It all adds up, amazing how a single can tell you so much. Not sure what i will do for health now .. i needed to do more cardio now i dont know if i can.
absolutely sucks man. really hoping you can bounce back from this eventually.
any plans yet on maybe a second opinion? looking at potential cartilage repair techniques/operations? you mention it's not fixable in any way, but there might be some options out there.
your last statement is important: "Not sure what i will do for health now". Sounds like you're dealing with some major stuff right now, so it might be hard to focus on health, but it might be more important now than ever. I imagine the last thing you'd want to do is "let yourself go" and get out of shape + put on tons of weight, which would put more stress on your knee(s). I mean you could still focus on nutrition, potentially still do some "cardio" via walking or swimming/pool workouts (like LBSS mentioned), just anything you can find under pain threshold which could facilitate healing/strengthening/health benefits as well. You could also strengthen upper body, core, and even legs - but i imagine you would want to avoid "knee bends" under load (ie avoiding squats, lunges etc). You could still potentially do RDL's eventually, calf raises, upper, core, etc. BUT, you're going to have to drop the "aggressive approach to strength/performance training" and instead do everything safe, controlled, light-moderate and literally everything under pain threshold (not pushing through any pain), at least for a long while. toning down the hyper-aggressiveness will help you make less mistakes that could further injure you.
these moments suck and they can seem like there's no way out, but if you slowly re-focus on health itself, there's alot you can do and it'll help you keep your sanity. this stuff is awful & happens to many athletes, but the resulting "tangents" can sometimes be very rewarding.
hope you're doing ok man.
peace!
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Updates! So that first MRI was not great. It was done with a only 1.5T machine at a small lab, and the radiologist who wrote the report on it diagnosed on a particularly blurry image. When i went to see the GP to get the report, she freaked me out made things were seem far worse than they actually were. But thankfully she had written a specialist referral and so I could finally see an expert, 3 months after injury, i'd finally get to see someone who knew about treating knee injuries. The GPs had just wasted my time with pointless scans and 'resting' which only made my leg muscles completely detrained and inhibited and ultimately did nothing to actually address the root of the problem. I wanted an MRI from day 1 but they simply would not do do one, it took a miracle to even get one in the first place (as i described earlier).
The ortho was looking at the MRI when i walked in and he said, yeah this isn't the best image, im not sure really sure I see what the radiologist had reported etc. I explained how i hurt myself 3 months ago but i couldn't see him until now. He was annoyed that it took that long to do an MRI.
He looked over my knee a bit and reassured me that i was going to be fine then finally said, we'll get you to do another MRI. At the hospital with a 3T machine. And the radio techs and radiologists were top notch at the hospital as opposed to the local lab near my place. This was what I was hoping for when i walked in to see him because to my eye, the image looked blurry too and i was hoping for a 3T MRI. But the catch was i had to wait 6 weeks till i saw the ortho again to get the MRI report. He thought PT would help me that's why he suggested 6 weeks. In the meantime he had told me to see a physiotherapist, to restore function to my leg muscles which had stopped firing (my quad pretty much disappeared), which i went to once and decided it wasn't going to be worthwhile. She had me do random weird exercises using the rope pulldown, that assume you're the typical sedentary person who needs 'core strength'. I was especially disappointed because i was told she works with AFL athletes but i guess when you're dealing with young elite athletes, they must practically must heal themselves. All she needed to do was touch my abs to see i have no lack of ab development, it's not easy to stabilise heavy squats as a taller dude without a lot of core strength, the leverage just makes it impossible not to have impressive core development. Yes i had told her i had a history of heavy weight training.
So 6 weeks later i would see the ortho again, i had taken NSAIDs since i first saw him at his advice, he said taking the NSAID and training would work better because it would let the body break the pain-muscle-inhibition cycle and allow me to gradually restore function to the muscles that had become dormant. It sounded good in theory but the problem was, my knee was still fucked up. So while his trick worked, the swelling in my knee went away significantly that it wasn't too dissimilar to my left knee , the pain remained at certain movements but i could start training again with some discomfort, eg at the bottom of a squat it hurt. Fully extending the leg with resistance hurt. So i stopped trying to rehab it, because i could tell the problem was just not going to be be fixed with exercise.
I walked into his office for the 2nd time and he was looking at the 2nd MRI. This is much better he said. I had reviewed it prior to seeing him and i could agree. The detail was amazing, jaw dropping. It picked up 3 bits of loose cartilage 3mm big, etc. He said do you want to continue with conservative treatment or do you want to do surgery? I blurted out surgery! He said i thought so. So 3 days later im getting the first surgery of my life. The whole thing took less than 9 minutes, they gave me a usb thumb drive of the whole thing. What i got was basically one of those cleanup surgeries NBA players get. A knee arthroscope. 2 days later i was off crutches, 3 days i was walking more or less with a normal gait. 2 weeks later i was off the NSAIDs and pain free doing exercises which previously hurt etc.
I've started rehabbing now .. but weirdly my leg muscles are not really responding to training. They wont activate properly .. when i do the leg extension machine, my R leg is half as strong as the L leg. it starts shaking uncontrollably even with light weight on the exercise. But at 4 weeks post, i can squat pain free now. I still haven't got full rom back though, but close to it. Apparently it takes about 6 to 8 weeks to restore normal function post .. something to do with synovial fluid taking that long to go back to normal.
tldr: things are on the up
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that sucks, but ultimately rules. glad to hear things are improving, finally. :highfive:
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that's great news man!
so what's the plan going forward? going to take it easy for a while - or a long time?
pc!
Updates! So that first MRI was not great. It was done with a only 1.5T machine at a small lab, and the radiologist who wrote the report on it diagnosed on a particularly blurry image. When i went to see the GP to get the report, she freaked me out made things were seem far worse than they actually were. But thankfully she had written a specialist referral and so I could finally see an expert, 3 months after injury, i'd finally get to see someone who knew about treating knee injuries. The GPs had just wasted my time with pointless scans and 'resting' which only made my leg muscles completely detrained and inhibited and ultimately did nothing to actually address the root of the problem. I wanted an MRI from day 1 but they simply would not do do one, it took a miracle to even get one in the first place (as i described earlier).
The ortho was looking at the MRI when i walked in and he said, yeah this isn't the best image, im not sure really sure I see what the radiologist had reported etc. I explained how i hurt myself 3 months ago but i couldn't see him until now. He was annoyed that it took that long to do an MRI.
He looked over my knee a bit and reassured me that i was going to be fine then finally said, we'll get you to do another MRI. At the hospital with a 3T machine. And the radio techs and radiologists were top notch at the hospital as opposed to the local lab near my place. This was what I was hoping for when i walked in to see him because to my eye, the image looked blurry too and i was hoping for a 3T MRI. But the catch was i had to wait 6 weeks till i saw the ortho again to get the MRI report. He thought PT would help me that's why he suggested 6 weeks. In the meantime he had told me to see a physiotherapist, to restore function to my leg muscles which had stopped firing (my quad pretty much disappeared), which i went to once and decided it wasn't going to be worthwhile. She had me do random weird exercises using the rope pulldown, that assume you're the typical sedentary person who needs 'core strength'. I was especially disappointed because i was told she works with AFL athletes but i guess when you're dealing with young elite athletes, they must practically must heal themselves. All she needed to do was touch my abs to see i have no lack of ab development, it's not easy to stabilise heavy squats as a taller dude without a lot of core strength, the leverage just makes it impossible not to have impressive core development. Yes i had told her i had a history of heavy weight training.
So 6 weeks later i would see the ortho again, i had taken NSAIDs since i first saw him at his advice, he said taking the NSAID and training would work better because it would let the body break the pain-muscle-inhibition cycle and allow me to gradually restore function to the muscles that had become dormant. It sounded good in theory but the problem was, my knee was still fucked up. So while his trick worked, the swelling in my knee went away significantly that it wasn't too dissimilar to my left knee , the pain remained at certain movements but i could start training again with some discomfort, eg at the bottom of a squat it hurt. Fully extending the leg with resistance hurt. So i stopped trying to rehab it, because i could tell the problem was just not going to be be fixed with exercise.
I walked into his office for the 2nd time and he was looking at the 2nd MRI. This is much better he said. I had reviewed it prior to seeing him and i could agree. The detail was amazing, jaw dropping. It picked up 3 bits of loose cartilage 3mm big, etc. He said do you want to continue with conservative treatment or do you want to do surgery? I blurted out surgery! He said i thought so. So 3 days later im getting the first surgery of my life. The whole thing took less than 9 minutes, they gave me a usb thumb drive of the whole thing. What i got was basically one of those cleanup surgeries NBA players get. A knee arthroscope. 2 days later i was off crutches, 3 days i was walking more or less with a normal gait. 2 weeks later i was off the NSAIDs and pain free doing exercises which previously hurt etc.
I've started rehabbing now .. but weirdly my leg muscles are not really responding to training. They wont activate properly .. when i do the leg extension machine, my R leg is half as strong as the L leg. it starts shaking uncontrollably even with light weight on the exercise. But at 4 weeks post, i can squat pain free now. I still haven't got full rom back though, but close to it. Apparently it takes about 6 to 8 weeks to restore normal function post .. something to do with synovial fluid taking that long to go back to normal.
tldr: things are on the up
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that sucks, but ultimately rules. glad to hear things are improving, finally. :highfive:
thanks!
that's great news man!
so what's the plan going forward? going to take it easy for a while - or a long time?
pc!
just use training for better health and wellbeing. no more hard training that's for sure, my body has told me it's not up to that anymore. bit of cardio, bit of weights, probably stay away from sport, see what happens. i did start to get used to not exercising .. it wasn't that bad just felt myself getting out of shape (wish they'd figure out a way out of that!). found i had more time and energy for more intellectually stimulating activities .. turns out heavy training makes you dumber .. i just couldn't think as well when i was constantly fatigued from training. But i had done it for so long i didnt even know there was a better normal. finding balance would be nice.
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Hey mate. Glad to hear you're on the way back.
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Good to hear mate. So was your knee otherwise looking good apart from the three small cartilage fragments they took out? Because that doesn't sound too bad for long-term function, especially if you heal up well and play it smart easing back into exercise. If it was from the lateral meniscus area, then those lesions could *maybe* even heal a bit (glucosamine sulfate is probably the only supp worth taking to help with that, if you're not already).
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Good to hear mate. So was your knee otherwise looking good apart from the three small cartilage fragments they took out? Because that doesn't sound too bad for long-term function, especially if you heal up well and play it smart easing back into exercise. If it was from the lateral meniscus area, then those lesions could *maybe* even heal a bit (glucosamine sulfate is probably the only supp worth taking to help with that, if you're not already).
Thank you. On the 2nd MRI they saw a possible subtle margin tear at the horn of the meniscus. But im about 90% sure after the op, one of the surgeons came up to me and told me they didn't do anything to my meniscus because it was just fine. Which at the time, i was glad to hear because i've heard some bad stories about meniscus repair! He also mentioned that i had a lot of stuff going on under the knee cap, which makes sense, i think because i had those loose bodies moving around and i had been very active that month of the comp, so they must have done some damage? but im pretty hazy about it all because i had just come out of anesthesia. So i'm going to see the ortho again at some point just to get a clear idea of what they actually did on the day. I've reviewed the video and i did see them scraping bits of my cartilage, maybe smoothing it out, idk will find out.
re healing, i did read that there is apparently therapeutical benefit from leaving loose bodies in the knee for a while, maybe a year, cos they have a healing effect. Then remove them i guess? I didnt know that before i had the surgery, usually overthink and over research everything but this time i just went by blind faith. So hopefully i got some good healing out of hte 5 months i had them around. The surgeon who operated on my is top notch, really accomplished. The first time i went to his office, at the top private hospital here, i felt out of place, he has a shoe polishing machine, a gold sign, etc. he got his degree from cambridge (the proper one). He's published a lot of papers and he reviews journals, i got lucky finding him.
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that sucks, but ultimately rules. glad to hear things are improving, finally. :highfive:
thanks!
that's great news man!
so what's the plan going forward? going to take it easy for a while - or a long time?
pc!
just use training for better health and wellbeing. no more hard training that's for sure, my body has told me it's not up to that anymore. bit of cardio, bit of weights, probably stay away from sport, see what happens. i did start to get used to not exercising .. it wasn't that bad just felt myself getting out of shape (wish they'd figure out a way out of that!). found i had more time and energy for more intellectually stimulating activities .. turns out heavy training makes you dumber .. i just couldn't think as well when i was constantly fatigued from training. But i had done it for so long i didnt even know there was a better normal. finding balance would be nice.
that's a good plan right there.
as for getting dumber w/ training, i feel like that's worse with lifting. also can feel it if you're running 2x/day etc. i've definitely experienced it.
semi frequent low intensity exercise should be fine tho.
health #1
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It seems silly to log modest workouts like this, but im going to all the same. today i did the following:
BS 6x50, 6x60, 6x70, 8x40
Leg Extensions up to 8x60kg DL and 8x20kg SL (with R leg only)
30" step ups 20xBW
And tho it doesnt seem like a lot of work, i was toast. lol. still good to get runs on the board, and everything was painfree. The 70kg squats were a struggle, im favouring my L leg too much, the imbalance / detraining of the R leg is very much the reason.
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OHP 6x45, 6x50, 6x48.5, 6x47.5, 6x46, 6x45
BS 2x8x20
Chinup 6x3xBWish
DB OHP 3x8x20
Cable Row 3x8x50
Curl 3x8x30
Bike - 10 mins
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BS 6x50, 6x70, 6x77.5
RDL 8x70, 4x8x80
BX 3x8xPurple Band
Bike - 12.5 mins
Notes:
Legs were toast .. didn't know why but now ive thought about it a bit and i think it must have been from the bike lol. I'm squatting 77.5kg with really bad form, like it's a GM squat. Da fuck. I forgot how hard i worked to get a nice looking squat and it's fairly disappointing how quickly it vanished once i stopped squatting for a while. There was a big guy at the gym repping 120kg and i just sat and watched in awe. I used to be able to rep that for a warmup everyday and my PR was like 18 reps. Now it just seems like another life. ha!
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Bench day is the only day when it feels i'm lifting 'heavy'. Now the funny thing is what feels heavy is actually 60kg. I usually do paused (in the past) but now i think i will do nonpaused until i get it up to 90kg then i can do the paused variation for a change.
BP 6x50, 6x62.5, 6x65, 6x67.6, 6x65, 6x62.5
Dips 8x5kg, 8x7.5kg, 8x5kg, 8x2.5kg, 8x1.25kg
DBBP 5x22.5, 5x6x20
Pallof Pr 5x8x40
Cutl 6x32.5, 6x35, 6x32.5, 3x6x31
Row 7.5min, Bike 7.5min
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BS 6x50, 6x60, 6x70, 6x80, 8x50
Right Leg Press 3 sets. Right leg Leg Ex 3 sets
R leg BSS 8xBW, 12xBW, 12xBW
Bike 15mins
Notes:
Was very disappointed with the squats, im not really improving and i think it's because the L get is getting stronger and stronger and R leg is just being overwhelmed and not really participating at all. Bi leg exercises are making the imbalance worse not better. The day after my L leg will have the doms and the R leg has none.
Did some machine exercises and they were just disappointing as usual, i think they're good way of testing and exhibiting imbalance but don't really do anything about addressing it. Just the form is different between L and R, and L can benefit from those very exercises whereas R just struggles and from that struggle little is gained.
But then there was a revelation. I tried a BSS just while sat on the boxjump box and did a BSS while holding on to the side of the rack. And suddenly I felt my R leg being challenged in a way it hasn't been before. So i rigged up a strap configuration overhead for balancing and did some sets of BSS with the L elevated on the box. Started to see veins in my R leg, got a good leg workout and i think the BSS is going to become my goto staple for rehabbing from here on. Exciting.
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Tuesday
OHP 6x47.6, 6x50, 4Fx51, 4x50, 3x50, 3x50
Chinup 3x5xBW (with a band lmao .. having to use bands to do 5s with bw is disgraceful. the guy next to me was embarrassed to witness such a pathetic sight. BUT I USED TO do 5s with 20kg! humbling)
Rowing - 12.5min, Bike - 12.5min
Thursday
There was something special about the box setup last time but because i couldn't replicate the same movement last night. That was a bummer. However was able to squat better.
BS 6x50, 6x60, 6x70, 3x85, 6x75, 6x72.5, 6x70
RDL 8x70, 8x90, 8x87.5, 8x87.5, 8x85
Bike - 15 mins
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BP 6x50, 6x65, 6x68.5, 6x67.5, 6x67.5, 6x67.5
Dips 3x8
DBBP 8x20, 8x17.5, 8x17.5
Curl 3x8x35
Bike 15 min
Dips are kind of nonsense, not consistent enough on depth.
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Monday
BS 6x70, 4x87.5, 6x80, 6x77.5, 8x75, 8x72.5
BX 12xGreen Band (3 sets)
Bike - 20 min
Wednesday
OHP 6x50, 4x52.5, 5x51, 3x5x50
Chinup 5xBW(w/band), 3xBW(w/band), 2xBW, 2xBW, 1xBW
Pallof Pr 3x8x60
1arm Row 8x20, 8x30, 8x25
LatPullDown 3x8x35
Row 3x8x50
Row - 15 min, Bike - 15min
Friday
BS 6x70, 3x90, 5x87.5, 6x82.5, 6x80, 8x77.5
Ab situp 8xBW, 12xBW
Bike 22.5min
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Sunday
BP 6x70, 6x70, 6x70, 2x75, 1x77.5, 6x62.5(paused), 8x60(paused)
Dips 3x8xBW
Situp 45deg 12xBW, 12xBW
Bike - 20 mins
Managed to go a whole week without eating fries, pizza or sweets. Been off sweets for ages (months) but fries were a daily thing lately. Good to shake that. Now to make it stick.
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Tuesday
BS 6x70, 3x92.5, 2x97.5, 1x100, 6x87.5, 6x85, 6x82.5
BX - 3x15xBW (w/ band)
Bike - 25 mins
I dont think i'll ever get used to struggling to rep these worksets lol. Memory effect is nil.
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Thursday
OHP 6x50, 2x55, 0Fx57.5, 4x52.5, 5x3x52.5
Chinup 6x3xBW
KB row 3x8x16kg
Neck exercises ~ 10 sets
Row - 17.5min, Bike 20min
Started training my neck lol.
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Saturday
BS 3x92.5, 2x100, 1x102.5, 6x90, 6x87.5, 6x85
Bike - 27.5min
Did technique work on squats, deep, paused reps with the bar to finish off the squats. I think that is what made my right glute sore today. Which suggest in some sense it may be 'rehabbing' whatever is broken about my squats right now? Will see.
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Monday
BP 6x50(paused), 6x72.5, 6x71, 5Fx71, 6x62.5(paused)
Dips 10xBW, 8xBW, 8xBW
Bike 20min
Got a reality check on my bench ambitions. Apparently unless i take creatine and guzzle gatorade during workouts, im incapable of benching a set of 71kg without failing. And to add insult to injury i didn't bother setting safety pins (for 70kg which used to be a warmup) so i failed it on top of my chest and had to wiggle my way out .. no one seemed to notice which somehow made it worse. I had hoped i could just cruise up to my old worksets 2.5kg/week thanks to the memory effect. No such thing exists it seems. Wish i spent all that time injured on upper body, i prob would have something decent to show for the last 6 months instead of failing warmup weights lol. Or at least just maintain something .. blah. All good, just have to start from scratch i guess.
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Weds
BS 3x97.5, 3x6x70(paused)
BX 3x12xThick band
Bike 30 min
The core demands of paused squats are immense. Not just muscular strength but mobility, stability, technique and cns. So ive decided to start over and do it slow and steady via paused squats. The depth on my previous workouts are very questionable and there is no honour is doing ugly 90kg squats anyway. So might as well do it right.
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how's the leg rebalancing coming along? you dropped BSS as soon as you picked them up, but might be a good idea to do some unilateral stuff?
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Friday
BS 2x8x20, 8x40
OHP 6x40, 6x50, 3x55, 1x57.5, 0Fx60, 2x2x55, 3x4x52.5
Neck Exercises 3x8x10kg
KB row 3x8x20kg
LPD 3x8x40kg
Row 20 min
Bike 10 min
Notes:
That workout almost killed my interest in training. It took 3 hours from walking into the gym and walking out. To do what? Lift mediocre weights and accomplish nothing. What is even the point? Why am i doing this when i could be doing anything better with my time. So over training when the only reason i used to enjoy training was to chase that ever elusive progress or the idealistic 'goal' which you never ever came close to reaching. And then life would get in the way, maybe an injury or some other setback in life - then start over. It's madness. I know my genetic limits are very close so it's not really something I can realistically change either. I used to believe i could make up for it with hard work but that's just nonsense because limits are real.
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how's the leg rebalancing coming along? you dropped BSS as soon as you picked them up, but might be a good idea to do some unilateral stuff?
hard to say, i think it's gotten better gradually. ive been going for daily walks in the evening with the dog which i think has helped probably hte most. initially i'd get my r knee buckling randomly but lately it hasnt done that! And as far as lifting, squats look less assymetric than they were initially but .. i have made some changes, stopped using rehband sleeves, which i think becuse they wrap around the knee so snugly, it wasnt good with my r knee still having some swelling. may switch back later when the swelling is completely gone to see. but for now im using these neoprene sleeves which are very thin and flimsy, but they don't seem to affect ROM. So how much of is is that ive rebalanced and how much is it that im not using the rehbands? hard to tell without testing. i should probably do that. and also test with the uniltaterally leg machine exercises. I didn't do BSS again becuase the 2nd time it seemed to hurt my knee more than work out my quads. so i thought avoid it, it's def to do with the setup of the box, there is a magic arrangement which allows me to work out painfree but i hvent figured it out, did accidentally get it right the first time i did the BSS that time though!
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Saturday
BS 6x70, 2x100, 3x6x72.5(paused)
Bike 32.5mins
Wanted a triple with 100kg, managed a very difficult double with form breaking down on the 2nd. It's almost as if i never did any squatting before the way things feel now. Good news is the hips niggle ive been having seems to have subsided since yesterday. I think i just bothered my hip by doing deep paused squats out of the blue last workout.
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Monday
Run ~ 2.5km
Friend was visiting from NZ and we shot some hoops outdoors and then went for a run by the beach in the evening. It felt actually pretty good. My conditioning wasn't bad and knee didn't hurt. I was going at a slow pace and being deliberate about form. My first time running since something like April! Now im going to try very hard not to get addicted to running but i want to think about maybe commiting to 1x a week? My addictive personality will take over and i'll be running 10km/day again and that wont be good for me. Halp.
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Just had a 'wow i did that?' moment. In the summer (~9 months ago), I was capable of squatting 150-180kg every day while being fit enough to run 5km every day (minimum) and i could jump 36" and play ball with perhaps the most skill ive ever had. I was in a way 'in the best shape of my life'. And I didn't make enough of a fuss because i thought greater things were just down the next turn (if i hadnt got injured that was probably true). And all of that at 6'3" 90kg while being 35 years old. I did achieve something great. I have nothing to show of it now but i did that!
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Tuesday
BS 6x40, 6x50
BP 6x70, 2x75, 2x75, 2x75, 3x72.5, 3x72.5, 3x72.5
DB BP 6x20, 6x22.5, 6x20
Dips 3x8xBW
Neck 3x12x12kg
Found a way to setup the neck harness with a cable pulldown for a different neck exercise so i'll be doing those from next time as well. Skipped cardio for the first time because i went for a run yesterday and i didn't feel like doing 2 days in a row.
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Thurs
BS 6x70, 1x90, 2x100, 3x6x75
Abs have been very torched, to the point where i woke up with crazy spinal weirdness which didnt go away until i stretched my abs. not sure why, dips? bench? anyway squats are not getting any easier. im not sure what to do about it, but having to rest 10 minutes to squat 75kg just makes no sense. going to try find a good physiotherapist..
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Saturday
OHP 6x50, 3x55, 6x3x52.5
Chinup 5xBW, 4xBW, 4xBW, 4x3xBW
KB Row 3x8x24kg
Row - 10mins
Kind of have started trying to lose some fat, nothing major just so i can add in creatine and still be around 85kg. R/n im between 86-87.5kg in the gym. So could afford to drop a few kilos before i get to my goal weight.
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Monday
BS 3x100(*PR!!), 6x92.5(*PR!); Paused BS6x77.5, 6x77.5
Bike 35min
Finally managed to triple 100kg. I was seeing stars lol. I'll note it as a star PR because this is a new me now. Got through day 2 of cutting. I think 15 days where i'll end it.
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Tuesday
1.5km, 12 min run (PR!)
I only took one bag with me when walking the dog and needed two, so i decided to go for my now regular tuesday evening run lol after the walk. It was just around the block, just over 1.5km. It took me ...... 12 minutes. i'm a disgrace to every kenyan. Not good. I think i'm going to try chase gukl to a sub 20 5km. It's brewing. Not like from 0 to 100 but i'll aim to hit it by end of summer (~early march). What do you guys think?
But the run felt good, i think in the past if i just did a random run out of the blue, i'd be ded in like 2 minutes. Somehow i can manage 12 without running for over 7 months. So the running i did this summer somehow has made some permanent adaptions? Or it could be the consistent (albeit ez) work i've put on the bike. Not sure. Either way im not starting from scratch which is a huge relief.
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It was just around the block, just over 1.5km. It took me ...... 12 minutes. i'm a disgrace to every kenyan. Not good. I think i'm going to try chase gukl to a sub 20 5km. It's brewing. Not like from 0 to 100 but i'll aim to hit it by end of summer (~early march). What do you guys think?
Well that escalated quickly. It is exactly double the speed of what you did and for 2.3 times longer distance.
Sub 20 5K is no joke. I realized it when i was doing 500m intervals. I was going all out doing a little over 2 minutes. Then after some time i broke the 2 minutes barrier. I was finishing at 1:57 or so, dead legs, heart rate over the top, feeling i want to faint. And then it struck me, a sub 20' 5K is to do this thing 10 times in a row. Doing a distance at 20' 5K pace and then counting how many times you gotta repeat it to achieve it makes you realize the difficulty magnitude of it, the hard way.
That said, of all people in here, your dedication and commitment in a training plan ( and consequentially the progress towards the goal ) has no match. March seems to soon to me but id guess you can get it in a year or so.
If this non-smoking progress continues going that well, i'll race you to it lol. My goal is next October.
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Well that escalated quickly. It is exactly double the speed of what you did and for 2.3 times longer distance.
Sub 20 5K is no joke. I realized it when i was doing 500m intervals. I was going all out doing a little over 2 minutes. Then after some time i broke the 2 minutes barrier. I was finishing at 1:57 or so, dead legs, heart rate over the top, feeling i want to faint. And then it struck me, a sub 20' 5K is to do this thing 10 times in a row. Doing a distance at 20' 5K pace and then counting how many times you gotta repeat it to achieve it makes you realize the difficulty magnitude of it, the hard way.
I remember having similar experiences when i was running regularly, a pace of sub 5:00 was hard to maintain for longer than a km. I don't think i went sub 5 for longer than half a km. I'd be surprised if i ever did but i dont remember seeing it. But you know what i prob did it once or twice but it would have been high 4 if i did. Having said that, i did go sub 25 min for 5km, albeit on a treadmill (lol) and remember thinking 22:30 was the next milestone to tackle, so 20 in a real world run was certainly not close to achievable by any means given my training experience so far. So i'm going to start aiming for that sub 25 real world first and if i figure out a few things maybe 22:30. 20 is probably dreaming. haha. no longer using a treadmill for running it's stupid, im 75% my knee problems started because i was doing a lot of treadmill running, it just leads to RSI because you're not giving yourself enough variety and it was the start of my knee flareup problems, i'd feel it as soon as i started using the treadmill and i guess that the warning sign i should have taken seriously. My reasoning back then was mo farah runs so many hundred miles on a TM so its' ok for me, yeah no bad reasoning. So lots of goal post revising but it means yeah, lets start with sub 25 and then 22:30, maybe along the way i'll be know what my actual limits are. To be honest running is one sport which benefits from being as light and lean as possible and if i got down to 77.5kg again i'm sure i could break 22:30 real world just by being as fit as i was in the summer when i would have weighed 90+kg. It's comparing apples and oranges but the organism is the same.
That said, of all people in here, your dedication and commitment in a training plan ( and consequentially the progress towards the goal ) has no match. March seems to soon to me but id guess you can get it in a year or so. If this non-smoking progress continues going that well, i'll race you to it lol. My goal is next October.
thank you! lets race. Stay off the smokes and i have work to do!
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Friday
BW:82.4kg (Day 5/21)
BS 6x80, 2x95, 1x105, 6x80, 6x80
RDL 8x40, 8x50, 8x60
BSS 2x8xBW
Cutting going well, low carbing sucks though but so far so good. Aiming to go sub 80kg by end of the 3 weeks and then im going to focus on maintaining that bw and get in the best shape at that bodyweight.
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What is your 1 rm approx right now at 82 kg curious?
no longer playing that game im afraid. had to break up with squat haha
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Nice laid out. I have the same 'plan'. Im stuck at 25 for a year now, but it looks like smoking was the limit. I'm sure i can break it now, probably push 24 in a good day. Then next stop 22:30, then 20. I don't truly believe i can do 20 lol, but as you said it's a nice dream, so let's chase it! :highfive:
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Sunday
BW:81.9kg (Day 7/21)
BS 6x40, 6x55
OHP 6x50, 3x53.5, 2x56, 3x55, 3x53.5, 2x52.5, 3x53.5, 2x52.5, 2x52.5
Chinup 6x3xBW
Bike 10 min
Note to self, keep form strict and every rep feels more rewarding. No more dirty reps ever.
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Tuesday
BW:82.4kg (Day 9/21)
BS 6x82.5, 4x95, 1x107.5, 6x82.5, 6x82.5
Didn't do cardio b/c my knee was niggling and i thought better be safe and rest it.
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Thursday
BW:82.4kg (Day 11/21)
BP 3x70, 3x76, 3x76, 3x76, 3x75, 3x75, 3x75
Dips 2x12xBW
Back has been MESSED up a whole week. It's equal parts dieting, not eating enough protein, not stretching abs enough and general stiffness / malaise.
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Saturday
BW:82.2kg (Day 13/21)
BS 6x85, 6x93.5, 6x87.5
Run 2.78km in 18:31 (@06:39/km)
Feels like the scale has hit a hard brake around 82kg considering i broke it early in the first week im not sure what to make of it all but nevertheless ive leaned out noticably. However this is also accompanied with the usual sense of dread of 'damn why did i get so fat .. and there is nothing left there except skin, bones and fat'. To make matters worse ive got a holiday in ~10 days and im not lean enough to stop cutting but i do better mentally being heavier.
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Sunday
BW:81.9kg (Day 14/21)
I've decided a new training goal, try to dribble a ball for 10hrs per week. Thinking min 15mins/day and some days i'll do it for a couple of hours. Not saying i want to play basketball again but im done trying to be a rec league lebron, i only really enjoyed playing a guard and i think im a natural PG because i love to create for others and im a pretty decent passer and can usually hit the right person at the right time when i see the opportunity. My friend told me to work on my handles so i guess that's what im going to do next!
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Monday
BW:82.2kg (Day 15/21)
BS 6x40, 6x62.5
OHP 6x50, 3x53.5, 5x3x52.5
Chinups 3x5xBW (cheated the last couple of reps)
Last week of cuttin, here we go! According to my watch im averaging 6hrs of sleep per night. Would like to improve that now that ive checked the numbers, it's as bad as I thought.
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Wednesday
BW:82.0kg (Day 17/21)
Leaner but heavier. That's all haha.
BS 6x87.5, 6x95, 6x90
Run - 3.75km
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Thurs
BW:81.0kg (Day 18/21)
Finally got that big scale change. Going to finish this week strong, it's been very miserable.
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Friday
BW:81.3kg (Day 19/21)
BS 6x62.5
BP 3x70, 3x76, 3x77.5, 4x3x76
Dips 8x5kg, 8x2.5kg, 8xBW
Neck 3x12
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Saturday
BW:81.1kg (Day 20/21)
Kind of adapting to low carbing. I'm considering taking creatine early but my plan is to wait til later. I do think creatine is THE killer supplement now having tried without it. It doesn't just give rapid increases in performance and size - but training with creatine long term is where the real gains lie. Most studies probably don't take that into account though. It allows you you to consistently train and recover better and over an extended period of time, it really pulls you away. Similar argument prob for preworkouts like caffeine. I managed to get by on 100mg of caffeine per day when i was training hard but i could have gone the other way and approached 800mg like KF to really get the most out of my organism. Nevertheless for now im going to stay off creatine and will be tapering off caffeine to between 0-100mg, come end of cut.
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Sunday
BW:81.3kg (Day 21/21)
BS 6x90, 6x96, 6x90
Every rep was brutal. Need carbz soon halp. Was thinking of going for a run but didn't in the end. Feeling a bit beat up. Ending the cut with a refeed on the next workout.
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Tuesday
BW:81.2kg (Day 22/22)
OHP 6x50, 3x53.5, 4x3x53.0, 3x53.5
Chinup 5x5xBW(cheated the last reps tbh, when did i get so bad at chins)
Well that will do it. Another successful cut and i know that because i went from 2D to 1D. Going to add some carbs, water and food weight and hopefully will fill out a bit for the holiday next week. Got pretty bad anxiety / depression through this cut, that was the hardest part, hunger wasnt an issue, nothing else really just felt really miserable. If i cut again im thinking maybe the 2nd week of Jan? Not sure, will see.
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Wednesday
BW:81.2kg (Day 0/0)
Post refeed only weighing 81.2kg is surprising. But i'll take it. I think Dec will be a write off for training b/c i'm away from wednesday and i come back mid Dec then get my wisdom teeth removed. Depending on how that goes recovery wise, my goal will be just to keep myself in the same sort of shape i am now and pick up from there when im back to 100%. Tapering off caffeine starting today, going from 600mg/day to 200mg today, and 100mg tmr.
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Friday
BW:81.2kg
BS 6x92.5, 6x97.5, 6x92.5
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Saturday
BW:82.2kg
BS 6x47.5, 6x70
BP 6x67.5, 3x76.5, 3x77.5, 3x78.5, 3x78.0, 3x77.5, 3x77.5
Incline DBBP 3x6x22.5
Dips 6 sets (6-8 reps)
BSS ~ 6 sets of 8
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Monday
BW:81.0kg
Last squat session (next workout will be a recovery one so it doesnt count) tonight. Kind of daunting .. the big 100kg. lmao. BuTiUsEdToWaRmUpWiTh150kg (shutup no one cares i know). It's hot but im going to try get in a run as well. Lets see how we go.
BS 6x95, 6x100(*PR)!, 6x95
Run - 5km - 31:04 (*PR!)
a couple of star prs ... i'll take em. So hard but feels good after the fact.
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Sunday
BW: 81.8kg
BS 6x70, 3x90, 1x100, 0Fx120
OHP 6x50, 3x52.5, 6x50
BP 6x70, 1x80, 5x72.5, 6x70
Chin 3x5xBW
Dips 3x10xBW
Neck 2x20x10kg
Run - 5km ~ 32min
Quick workout before getting my wisdom out tmr. Hoping recovery doesn't take too long and i dont detrain a lot more than i have already. Lets see.
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Tuesday
BW: 81.3kg
BS 6x70, 1x90, 2x100,
OHP 6x40, Push Up 3x8xbw, Curls 3x8x20kg
Walk - 10k steps for day
Light workout day after having 4 wisdom removed. Dentist was a star so no pain or discomfort but his drug protocol could use some work. Mf wrote me a script for Oxycontin .. that stuff is nasty, i threw up my dinner. Not taking anymore and as it happens, i didnt need any pain relief leave alone something that powerful.
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Tuesday
BW: 81.3kg
BS 6x70, 1x90, 2x100,
OHP 6x40, Push Up 3x8xbw, Curls 3x8x20kg
Walk - 10k steps for day
Light workout day after having 4 wisdom removed. Dentist was a star so no pain or discomfort but his drug protocol could use some work. Mf wrote me a script for Oxycontin .. that stuff is nasty, i threw up my dinner. Not taking anymore and as it happens, i didnt need any pain relief leave alone something that powerful.
daaamn @ oxy after wisdom's. they prescribe that stuff too easily.
i remember having otc pain killers after wisdom's, like advil or something.
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daaamn @ oxy after wisdom's. they prescribe that stuff too easily.
i remember having otc pain killers after wisdom's, like advil or something.
kind of annoyed, i had no idea because my family picked up the scripts and i never actually saw the script (it was after the op), but it just makes me shake my head. i didnt even remember taking the oxy just saw i googled 'side effects' aroudn when i threw up. i was already off my mind with the drugs they gave me during the op so it was unncessary. And in addition to that i have been given two boxes of codapane Forte 500/30(paracetemol, codeine) which i haven't touched. why do i need so many pain killers? it's over kill. i would have understood saying here is a script IF you need it but just take panadol. so i have 3 boxes of painkillers i havent touched basically but im not really at risk of opioids so no harm done.
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daaamn @ oxy after wisdom's. they prescribe that stuff too easily.
i remember having otc pain killers after wisdom's, like advil or something.
kind of annoyed, i had no idea because my family picked up the scripts and i never actually saw the script (it was after the op), but it just makes me shake my head. i didnt even remember taking the oxy just saw i googled 'side effects' aroudn when i threw up. i was already off my mind with the drugs they gave me during the op so it was unncessary. And in addition to that i have been given two boxes of codapane Forte 500/30(paracetemol, codeine) which i haven't touched. why do i need so many pain killers? it's over kill. i would have understood saying here is a script IF you need it but just take panadol. so i have 3 boxes of painkillers i havent touched basically but im not really at risk of opioids so no harm done.
ya man it's crazy.
and good that you threw it up and stayed off em`. not worth taking unless in some true extreme pain i'd guess. seems too risky.
recover quick!
pc!
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Thursday
BW: 80.9kg
BS 6x70, 3x90, 2x100, 5x3x90
OHP 6x40
Run 2.5km @ <6:00 pace, 2.5km ~ 6:00pace
Well im going to start taking running a bit seriously. tried to push a sub <30 pace and managed the first half but i had nothing left in the take. took a minute or so to relock the GPS then ran back at just over the goal pace. I've handicapped myself right now with mostly liquid diet and reduced carbs .. hopefully when i start eating normally i can shave a couple of minutes. But for what it's worth im starting the season at at a supra 30 pace .. which gives me a LONG road ahead to the holy grail of sub 20.
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Saturday
BW: ?
BS 6x70, 2x90, 1x100, 0Fx110
OHP 5Fx50, 3x52.5, 8x3x50 (10 sets)
Chinups 6x5xBW, 4x3xBW (10 sets)
DB OHP 10 sets
Curls 10 sets
kind of went ott with upper body, just trying to grow some mass in one workout. lol. was too weak to lift anything so just did tons of volume.good news is im done with the drug schedule finished my last antibiotic last night. didnt take the nsaid (my stomach had been hurting the last couple of days) or any pain killers. had a dull pain since but nothing crazy. just prefer being drug free. want to rebuild my gut flora now.
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Monday
BW: 80.4kg
Actively trying to get sub 80kg by end of year. Then add creatine and repeat. I'm too weak/fat/unathletic to justify weighing above 80kg so that's the first thing. No one running a 30min 5km at 80kg deserves to weigh that much, need to earn it.
BS 4x90, 4x100, 4x4x90
Long run - 7.5km in around 53min
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Monday
BW: 80.4kg
Actively trying to get sub 80kg by end of year. Then add creatine and repeat. I'm too weak/fat/unathletic to justify weighing above 80kg so that's the first thing. No one running a 30min 5km at 80kg deserves to weigh that much, need to earn it.
lol i like that mentality. :ibrunning:
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Tuesday
BW: 79.5kg
To log the first sub 80kg morning bw of the season. Made it clutch, will keep drinking egg white and whey shakes for meal 1 for the rest of the year just to make it stick but i think i can look to introduce creatine in 2020 and then get back under 80kg with creatine and carbs. A plan!
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Weds
BW: 78.3kg
Got a killer bench session planned for tonight. Can't wait.
BS 2x92.5, 5x2x90
BP 6x70, 3x75, 3x77.5, 3x76.5, 3x76, 3x75.5, 3x75
Dips 6 sets of 8-10
Neck 3 sets, including 21x10kg
Didn't have the juice to do more than 3 reps with my workset weights, just not enough glycogen. So i did some super hard triples and then ate a bunch of carbs
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Weds
BW: 78.3kg
Got a killer bench session planned for tonight. Can't wait.
:headbang:
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:headbang:
[/quote]
Thanks! the plan was there but it didn't really happen that way. was too glycogen depleted! next time hopefully. the way things are going im naturally doing a CKD where i eat lots of carbs about one day a week and medium carbs on other workout days and minimal on 'rest' days. it's kind of working, getting leaner and stronger so will stick with it for a while. basically im close to my goal weight more or less (77.5kg) so not in a rush to for pure fat loss or in a position to go on a caloric surplus. recomp is what is it.
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Friday
BW: 78.4kg
Squats and a run today hopefully if time permits.
Edit. Didn't train in the end
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Saturday
BW: 77.5kg
BS 5x90, 5x100, 4x5x90
Well that was brutal and ugly. I'm thoroughly ashamed but there is nothing else I can do but keep working hard. It was late, skipped the run.
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don't let training make u ashamed. fu*k that shit. relax & have fun.
pc!
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don't let training make u ashamed. fu*k that shit. relax & have fun.
pc!
so true. i started creatine yesterday (monday) so im hoping it will kick in about a week and i'll find it easier to recover, train and progress. hopefully! happy new year.
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Monday
BW: 77.8kg
Recovery BS 6x2x90
OHP 10 sets, 3x5x50, 7x4x50
Chins 10 sets
Did a carb up and started creatine with dinner. i will continue 'cutting' for a week to offset any weight gain from the creatine. Then diet break and make some training progress for about 3 weeks.
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Wednesday (1/1/2020)
BW: 77.8kg
Squats & running tonight.
BS 3x90, 1x105, FS 6x40, 6x50, 6x60
Run 2.5km in <15mins, 2.5km > 15min
Plan for the rest of summer
Sometime next week (hopefully early) i want to see the scale hit sub 77kg. That's the signal to stop cutting, do a carb refeed and go on a diet break where I maintain my bodyweight for 3 weeks while focusing on training improvements across the board in running and lifting. A concrete goal is to squat 120kg for a single and run a 25min 5km by the end of the break. After 3 weeks, resume cutting to 75kg. Stop there and aim to end the summer at a lean, athletic, fit 77.5kg. That's my genetic/natural max bodyweight and i will never forget it again.
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Thursday (2/1/2020)
BW: 77.8kg
Man i must admit front squats might have revived my interest in squatting. maybe i need to refollow my old path which included FS, using oly shoes, sleeves, belts, etc to get to where i was in april. All of those helped before so they might do the same now. But FS has me exicted. may stick to one BS workout a week, one FS one and two recovery ones.
here is a breakdown of my 250m splits for last night
1st 5:11 1:18 98 --- 6â–² 0â–¼ +6 0
2nd 5:09 1:17 135 --- 0â–² 2â–¼ -2 0
3rd 5:33 1:23 150 --- 0â–² 9â–¼ -9 0
4th 5:37 1:24 150 --- 4â–² 1â–¼ +3 0
5th 5:44 1:26 152 --- 2â–² 2â–¼ 0 0
6th 5:44 1:26 151 --- 1â–² 6â–¼ -5 0
7th 5:46 1:26 151 --- 1â–² 2â–¼ -1 0
8th 6:04 1:31 150 --- 2â–² 1â–¼ +1 0
9th 6:15 1:34 149 --- 9â–² 0â–¼ +9 0
10th 6:30 1:37 148 --- 12â–² 0â–¼ +12 0
seems performance fell off in the 3rd 250m considreign it was a pretty steep downhill. so for short term progress im going to try get as many of these 250m splits close to 5:00 pace. i also want to mark out this run so i can visually see whether im on pace or not.
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Friday (3/1/2020)
BW: 77.6kg
bother just realised I forgot to take creatine yesterday, not quite a habit just yet. Bench tonight.
Recovery BS 6x2x90
BP 6x70, 1x77.5, 1x80, 2x75, 3x72.5, 5x70, 5x70
Dips 3x8x10, 10xBW
Another bad bench session but at least I got BW. For a single. And made it hard 😩
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Saturday (3/1/2020)
BW: 77.7kg
I decided that in 2020 i'd do double digit reps on daily pushup sets. So i'd been doing 11s. But now creatine and lightweight status is upon me, i think 12s make more sense.
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Sunday (5/1/2020)
BW: 77.7kg
Big squat day today (6x6) but not feeling all that great physically. lets see how it goes. also forgot creatine again last night. but ive def gained some weight cos im stabilising >77.5kg.
BS 6x6x90
That was brutal but i made sure to remain super stiff into the descent and didn't exhale until the last 1/3rd of the rep. Technique improvements are welcome but this should NOT be that hard all the same, im sure my PR for 6 reps at a lower bw is 130x6kg @ 77.5kg so i have work to do yet.
Did a massive carb reload tonight.
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Monday (6/1/2020)
BW: 79.5kg
wooo that massive refeed has me gaining 2kg overnight! :headbang:. Next up is the big 5x5x100kg milestone. in two minds whether to start a diet break or do another week to get sub 77kg. will go by feel
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Weds (8/1/2020)
BS 6x2x90
OHP 6x50, 4Fx50, 5x5x50
Chinup 5x5xBW
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Friday (10/1/2020)
BS 3x5x100, 3x5x97.5
Progress is nice but hard to believe how challenging these squats are. No longer banking on creatine .. just have to accept this is the new normal.
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Friday (10/1/2020)
BS 3x5x100, 3x5x97.5
Progress is nice but hard to believe how challenging these squats are. No longer banking on creatine .. just have to accept this is the new normal.
You're making progress. It always feels hard when you're coming back from where you used to be.
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Sunday (12/1/2020)
Recovery BS 6x2x90
BP 6x70, 5x72.5, 5x75, 5x72.5, 5x70, 5x70
Dips 10x10kg, 10x7.5kg, 10x6.25kg, 10xBW
Nothing good about this workout, shitty form on the bench, questionable depth on the dips..
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You're making progress. It always feels hard when you're coming back from where you used to be.
i havent really made any progress .. it just seems that way because i started 'conservatively'.. and then ran into stalls much earlier than i should have .. and im still struggling with the reality that that is the new status quo. maybe in 6 months i'll look back and be in a better place but right now im working too hard for too little to show for it
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Tuesday (14/1/2020)
Recovery BS 6x2x100 (PR,+10kg)
Run/Walk - 30 mins
I was planning on doing 6 sets of 5 at 100kg. That become a recovery, my heart was acting weird and i didn't push the agenda. It started after i took 100mg of caffeine. 100mg the entire day. Nothing makes sense except i had a terrible night of sleep and have been kinda stressed out today. Seems those latter two things in addition to weighing 83.something in the gym. I thought as long i was <=85kg i'd be safe but im wrong.
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Thursday (16/1/2020)
Recovery BS 6x2x100
OHP 6x6x50
Chinup 8x5xBW(non full ROM on the last 2 reps of each set)
Jump rope
I can understand why i detrained lower body but why am i struggling to rep 50kg on ohp. 2 more days of diet break. it was a trainwreck tbh.
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Saturday (18/1/2020)
BS 6x5x100
Jump rope
Pendlay rows
So wasn't feeling very strong going into the first set of squats and the first set was ugly i might have decided to do triples. But form improvements led to hitting the goal of 6x5x100. I think the combo of working with FS and eating a lot helped. But it doesn't seem worth the cost. Still, progress is progress.
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Just had a 'wow i did that?' moment. In the summer (~9 months ago), I was capable of squatting 150-180kg every day while being fit enough to run 5km every day (minimum) and i could jump 36" and play ball with perhaps the most skill ive ever had. I was in a way 'in the best shape of my life'. And I didn't make enough of a fuss because i thought greater things were just down the next turn (if i hadnt got injured that was probably true). And all of that at 6'3" 90kg while being 35 years old. I did achieve something great. I have nothing to show of it now but i did that!
I get that feeling as well even though I'm 29 but I feel like I have the body of a 39 year old. I took being able to run 11 second 100m for granted when I didn't have any issues with my achilles and wasn't an overweight slob. However, besides sharing a few race results on adarq.org I have no records of them. I was also able to dunk everyday when I was healthy at 5'11, which is a reasonable achievement. Yet instead of videoing my dunks all I have is one shitty youtube video of dunking on an outdoor court. Same as being able to deadlift 5 plates with minimal deadlift training. I took all of that for granted.
I want to get back to where I used to be. This time I'll appreciate the journey more and get more video footage. Tomorrow is promised to nobody.
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Just had a 'wow i did that?' moment. In the summer (~9 months ago), I was capable of squatting 150-180kg every day while being fit enough to run 5km every day (minimum) and i could jump 36" and play ball with perhaps the most skill ive ever had. I was in a way 'in the best shape of my life'. And I didn't make enough of a fuss because i thought greater things were just down the next turn (if i hadnt got injured that was probably true). And all of that at 6'3" 90kg while being 35 years old. I did achieve something great. I have nothing to show of it now but i did that!
I get that feeling as well even though I'm 29 but I feel like I have the body of a 39 year old. I took being able to run 11 second 100m for granted when I didn't have any issues with my achilles and wasn't an overweight slob. However, besides sharing a few race results on adarq.org I have no records of them. I was also able to dunk everyday when I was healthy at 5'11, which is a reasonable achievement. Yet instead of videoing my dunks all I have is one shitty youtube video of dunking on an outdoor court. Same as being able to deadlift 5 plates with minimal deadlift training. I took all of that for granted.
I want to get back to where I used to be. This time I'll appreciate the journey more and get more video footage. Tomorrow is promised to nobody.
thanks for this. it resonates with me quite well. i remember when i hurt my foot pretty bad i swore i would get a video of my dunks etc just in case i have another setback. went out and bought a nice camera (4k?) just for this purpose. but ofc it just sat in my drawer 'saving' it because The Time To Use It never came. the funny thing is when i bought the camera i actually was capable of a legit 36" but i though it was nothing and 40" was the only thing worth getting on tape. i always thought the best was yet to come and it never did. maybe it never will, that's the lesson in it all. maybe the right thing was to do what adarqui did, just have a lot of fun and record it all along the way . knowing you're on a journey to find your limits is what we should have been documenting not the ephemeral peak that never came or came but we didn't acknowledge their significance because we become fixated on something that you haven't even attained (yet).
but in all this gloom i think i found some inspiration .. from all places .. the recent joe rogan podcast w/ pavel. pavel might just have reignited my interest in training .. got a lot of good ideas from him that i really would love to try out. something different .. something old .. something that i haven't tried in the same way. do recommend that podcast to you as well, it's worth a watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm0GNWSKzYs
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Monday (20/1/2020)
Recovery BS 6x2x100
BP 6x70, 5x77.5, 5x76.5, 5x76, 5x75.5. 4Fx75
Dips 15x5kg, 14FxBW, 14FxBW
I liked the pendlay rows from last time. i like the idea of chasing a goal like 100kg pendlay rows. And pavel has me convinced i need to incorporate kb training. Esp some kind of dynamic hip hinge exercise. kind of exciting lol.
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Thurs (23/1/2020)
BS 6x6x100
SL Rehab - BX 3x10xBW, LX 3x10x20kg
Squats ugly .. which is ok since dirty reps seem to build erector strength which later converts to cleaner form with a stronger back. Will try to do rehab on my R leg more consistently starting today.
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Saturday (25/1/2020)
Recovery BS 6x2x100
OHP 6x50, 4Fx55, 2x57.5, 2x57.5, 3x55, 3x55, 3x55
Chinup 6x2xbw
KB Complex (swings & rows)
the kbs are like a breath of fresh air.
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Monday (27/1/2020)
BS 5x5x107.5
Having to take 10 min rests for these.. ha.
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Been a rough week, i'm thinking of throwing myself all into training again because it's a good distraction but i remember back that even after taking 3 months off my knees were still beat up after the stupid daily squatting thing (and running) and i don't want to revisit that again :wowthatwasnutswtf: having said that, i can't help think that for the first 75 days or so i saw the best results and even though i made marginal improvements over the next 75, it was the best time to stop. so maybe i could do THAT. but daily training is hard to modulate .. too easy to dig too deep a hole, i dont mean in what you can do day to day, i mean the long term consequences.
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Wed (29/1/2020)
Recovery BS 6x2x100
BP 6x70, 5x79.5, 5x79, 4x79, 5x78.5
Dips 16x5kg, 15x5kg, 15xBW
Pendlay Row 8x50, 8x55, 8x55
Good session.
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Fri (31/1/2020)
BS 5x112.5, 5x112.5, 5x115
1A KB swings 3 sets x 16kg
Jump rope
These were brutally hard squats but it's kind of cool that in dec i did a very difficult max at 115kg and now i've repped it for 5 after 2 ME 5x112.5kgs. Tapering off volume now and going to try end this cycle at 5x120kg in the coming non-recovery squat sessions.
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Sun (2/2/2020)
Recovery BS 6x100
OHP 6x5x55
Chinup 5x5xBW(84.3kg)
1KB Swing - 1 set
KB Row 3x12x16kg
Not sure where the OHP progress came from but it was very welcome after stagnating for a looooong time.
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That was a great lat workout, got doms. seems volume + full rom on chins finished with kb rows seems to do the trick.
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Tue (4/2/2020)
BS 2x5x117.5, FS 10x75
1KB swing 3x30s on, 60s off intervals
Jump rope
Bike - 10 mins
The KB swings are my kind of cardio but the lack of steady state is glaring. So i'm going to try mix it up between running, rowing, kb intervals and bike. That will keep things interesting and fresh without courting RSI. Next non-recovery squat session is the big 5x120kg milestone.
I've realised that i haven't got any goals in mind with FS and that's why im not really doing them regularly. So something like 20x70kg, 20x90kg and 20x100kg are something i can work towards.
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Thurs (6/2/2020)
Recovery BS 6x2x100
BP 5x5x80, 3Fx80
Dips 15x5kg, 14x4.5kg, 14xBW
Pendlay Row 3x8x60
CND - Jump rope intervals, 1KB swing intervals, 7.5min row, 7.5min bike
Notes:
I asked someone to spot my last set of bench and told him not to touch the bar but ofc he grabbed it after i had already pushed past the sticking point of the 4th rep so it was pretty much already in the bag, te bar was slowed but i had it! Might have failed the 5th but i never got a chance to.. all good .. i prob should have expected that about 90% of the time when you ask for a spot lol. He even warned me by getting right on top .. like relax bro, it's 80kg, no one is going to die here. But it doesnt matter what you instruct ppl, instinct and prior learning from watching bros spot each other kicks in regardless! sorry for the rant.
2 training days of cardio in a row. Going to try get that up to a full week.
Training goals are 60/90/120 for OHP/BP/BS worksets and i need to come up with a reasonable conditioning one but i can't think of one..
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Sat (8/2/2020)
BS 5x120, FS 10x80, 12x70
KB swings 24kg
Run ~1km
Suprisingly i did ok with the 120kg .. first time since probably april last year i've repped 2 reds. form was ok but the last rep was not nice. still. FS im realising i might need to drop the weight even more to get 15-20 reps cos right now i just dont have the endurance to do more than 12. next time should i go for 50kg or 40kg?
the run was scary. i was stupid and ran into 40km/hr winds and went too fast and afterwards i went to the shops to get some snacks and stepped awkwardly and felt something off in my knee. but it seems to be ok now though i was limping for most of hte night.. need to be smarter than just doing my first run in a while at 85kg. stupid.
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Mon (10/2/2020)
Recovery BS 6x2x100
OHP 6x55, 6x55, 5x56, 5x55.5, 5x55, 5x55
Chinup 6, 6, 6, 5, 5, 5 x BW
KB row 3x8x24kg
Only could do 2 6s with 55, wasnt recovered enough.
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Wed (12/2/2020)
BS 2x120, 1x130, 2x122.5, 2x125, 2x120, 2x120, 2x120
KB swings 24kg
Row 7.5min, Bike 7.5min
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Fri (14/2/2020)
Recovery BS 6x2x110
BP 5x6x80, 5x80
Dips 15x5kg, 14x5kg, 14xBW
KB swings
Row 8:30, Bike 8:30
Notes:
On the last set of bench i knew i most probably didnt have a 6 in me (the previous set's 6th was a very very slow and grindy max effort) so i asked someone to watch over me in case i failed. Made him stop like 5m away and insisted only if i fail, and which he found confusing cos he was no doubt thinking is this guy for real, who doesn't know how to spot a bench? and ofc, the first 4 went up smoothly, 5th slowed down a bit and i didnt want to deal with someone interveing so i just stopped the set at 5 instead of attempting a 6th rep. lol. i miss my old gym which had a safety setup ..
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Fri (14/2/2020)
Recovery BS 6x2x110
BP 5x6x80, 5x80
Dips 15x5kg, 14x5kg, 14xBW
KB swings
Row 8:30, Bike 8:30
Notes:
On the last set of bench i knew i most probably didnt have a 6 in me (the previous set's 6th was a very very slow and grindy max effort) so i asked someone to watch over me in case i failed. Made him stop like 5m away and insisted only if i fail, and which he found confusing cos he was no doubt thinking is this guy for real, who doesn't know how to spot a bench? and ofc, the first 4 went up smoothly, 5th slowed down a bit and i didnt want to deal with someone interveing so i just stopped the set at 5 instead of attempting a 6th rep. lol. i miss my old gym which had a safety setup ..
I don't think I could ever go back to a gym without a power rack these days. 100% about the spotters as well. Years ago when I trained at Fitness First (they are now called Goodlife) there were no power racks and whenever I wanted to bench heavy I'd need a spot. Half the time the spotter would assist me when I was trying to grind it out.
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I don't think I could ever go back to a gym without a power rack these days. 100% about the spotters as well. Years ago when I trained at Fitness First (they are now called Goodlife) there were no power racks and whenever I wanted to bench heavy I'd need a spot. Half the time the spotter would assist me when I was trying to grind it out.
so true. it's so nice to have a good bench setup though. the rack im using has safeties but they're not very finely adjustable, there isn't a setting where i can bench and fail safely. im either touching the safeties on reps or the rail is too low to fail safely. in addition to this, the way the rack is setup, you have to take the bar out on an awkward angle and at the top of the rep you can't be exactly 90 deg with the bench because you'll clip the top of the bench pins. it's horrible. and finally the flooring is rubber so not as good as a stiff floor (really good benchers can lift 180kg for reps on rubber but overachieving weakos like me struggle with small details like that).
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Sun (16/2/2020)
BS 6x3x120
FS 8x85, 15x60, 20x45
KB swings
Row 10min, Bike 10 min
Notes:
110kg is too heavy for recovery, i struggled with every rep on the BS. Next time i'll drop back to 100kg. FS did a number on my abs, got decent ab doms from it. Think high rep front squats are a great assistance. They're probably redundant when you go heavier and lower in reps because BS is superior since you can use more weight in the BS? Next time i'll try 40kg and aim for 25-30 reps then build up to 20x100kg.
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Tue (18/2/2020)
Recovery BS 6x90, 6x100
OHP 6x6x55 (PR?)
Chinup 3x5x3.25kg, 3x6xBW
Pendlay Row 3x8x65 (shit form, repeat?)
Row 12:30, Bike 12:30
Notes:
So no one really has time to do 6 sets of recovery squats every time. I thought to drop the weight and do more reps and less sets. I managed to get 6x6 on OHP. Made some friends at the gym. A PL guy asked me about squat shoes and i said i'll bring my romaloes next time for him to try and see if they help him. He trains hard so it's nice to make a connection like that.
Pendlay rows i went 2 weeks between sessions so i prob should have reset back to 60kg. my setup was off, next time use lifting shoes to do them.
Going to clean up my diet and get daily activity to 7.5k units. And cardio regularly (bike/row on training days, walking on rest days). Basketball is knocking again, im tempted. As a rule, any time i do 6x6 in any exercise (squat, bench or ohp) i will eat more carbs on that night. this should self regulate body comp and allow me to get stronger and leaner, as long as cardio is there i'll be fitter as well. that's the goal.
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Tue (18/2/2020)
Recovery BS 6x90, 6x100
OHP 6x6x55 (PR?)
Chinup 3x5x3.25kg, 3x6xBW
Pendlay Row 3x8x65 (shit form, repeat?)
Row 12:30, Bike 12:30
Notes:
So no one really has time to do 6 sets of recovery squats every time. I thought to drop the weight and do more reps and less sets. I managed to get 6x6 on OHP. Made some friends at the gym. A PL guy asked me about squat shoes and i said i'll bring my romaloes next time for him to try and see if they help him. He trains hard so it's nice to make a connection like that.
Pendlay rows i went 2 weeks between sessions so i prob should have reset back to 60kg. my setup was off, next time use lifting shoes to do them.
Going to clean up my diet and get daily activity to 7.5k units. And cardio regularly (bike/row on training days, walking on rest days). Basketball is knocking again, im tempted. As a rule, any time i do 6x6 in any exercise (squat, bench or ohp) i will eat more carbs on that night. this should self regulate body comp and allow me to get stronger and leaner, as long as cardio is there i'll be fitter as well. that's the goal.
Do it!
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Do it!
I was asked to fill in a game last night and i was like nope, give me a week notice so i can get some reps in, havent touched a ball in a year. but i know once i have that first game, the thrill will take over. right now im spending 3 hours (!) in the gym to get through these high volume workouts, im hoping to cut that down to an hour and have more energy for ball once ive got 60/90/140 on ohp/bp/bs. right now im at 57.5/82.5/120. i mean training not even playing, just going to the courts now seems kind of daunting since ive been away so long
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jumping in late to join the complaining about bad spotters. it isn't that fucking hard to spot without touching the bar inadvertently: you just stand there, in position, and pay attention. if the bar stops or starts to go down you reach out and grab it. not rocket science.
also glad you really seem to be not just on the mend but getting into the swing of things the last couple weeks. be really careful about returning to basketball, though. like maybe start with one pickup game. such a different kind of challenge for your body and brain. would be easy to let the thrill take over and then overdo it and get hurt. happened to me back when i used to play ultimate.
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jumping in late to join the complaining about bad spotters. it isn't that fucking hard to spot without touching the bar inadvertently: you just stand there, in position, and pay attention. if the bar stops or starts to go down you reach out and grab it. not rocket science.
true it is that simple but their understanding of 'don't touch the bar' is that when the lifter seems to be struggling, that's where you are allowed to tag in and help out. i kind of get it, you've asked someone to watch over you (even if it's not in the sense of lifting the weight for you) so they feel obligated at some point to be useful, so when the chance arises that you're struggling, they might not know you can very much grind through a hard slow rep on your own and instead they feel they should give you just a little help (in their mind). which is what we don't want lol. you can try to explain the difference between 'dont help me but if i fail get the bar up', but i find ppl will nod and still not get it. ive been on the other side where people have asked me to spot them and then im in that weird place of not knowing what to do because if i don't touch the bar and 'help them out' then i was a shitty spotter (in their perspective) .. so you kind of have to do some mind reading to know what ppl really want out of the spot. when ppl asked me to spot their backsquats i just chill back cos if they get stuck as long as they're not complete spazzes about it and failing out of control, i can jump in and help them get bar back in the rack if they're got stuck.
btw, i dont even ask them to help if the bar goes backward, i dont think that would be easy for someone new to watching you to figure out when the bar is going down. i just say if i fail it on my chest, help me put it back in the rack. sounds simple but it hasnt worked yet, ppl will stick jump in too early. next time if there is a spare bench i can just go through a mock failure to illustrate what i mean with an empty bar? might be the best way. but they may still feel obligated to help outside of the simulation because there are real weights involved.
also glad you really seem to be not just on the mend but getting into the swing of things the last couple weeks. be really careful about returning to basketball, though. like maybe start with one pickup game. such a different kind of challenge for your body and brain. would be easy to let the thrill take over and then overdo it and get hurt. happened to me back when i used to play ultimate.
good point. im going to start very conservative, just put up some jumpers, maybe play 3pt line pickup. but i dont think i can play basketball again, whenever i have tested SL strength in the gym, with easy SL jumps, my R leg is pretty much useless at this point, i cant even do basic one leg hops of it for more than 6", for someone who does 99% of game time moves off R leg, and i was always a very mediocre slow athlete to begin with, this is prob a death sentence for my basketball life. but i might be able to turn into the catch and shoot guy i always wanted to be lol.
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Thu (20/2/2020)
BS 6x100, 4x120, 4x120, 3x120(injury)
BSS(kb) - 8x12x4kg
Row 15min, Bike 15 min
Ankle mobility
Notes:
Something was very off tonight. To start with i pulled the empty bar so hard on BS warmups it left the rack and hit my head. That's never happened before. Then when i was doing my 3rd workset of squats, this kid was goofing around me and it threw off my focus and i kind of messed up the bottom of my lift. Tweaked my back pretty good. i felt some spine stuff popping, so i know it's not muscular unfortunately. back feels stiff now but i dont know if this is a bad tweak or something that will go away quickly. sucks. in hindsight i wasnt recovered enough to do another hard BS workout so soon after sunday's. i should have done 6 doubles with 120kg but i learned that the hard way.
but it's fine, i think i need to take this lesson seriously, my R leg needs to get stronger, i was favouring my stronger L side heavily on most of the heavy reps tonight, if i didnt get hurt today, i prob wouldn't have stopped to focus on rehabbing my R leg back up to symmetry. So will focus on that from here on, it will pay off long term. im also going to see a podiatrist and try get an orthothic soles cos i think that's a big reason for why my R knee takes such a beating. That and probably my shitty ankle mobility on my R foot which is prob due to ankle injuries from basketball (ive started focusing on mobility, used the band resisted stretch tonight for 2 minutes, will do that regularly until i feel ive improved R mobility enough).
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but it's fine, i think i need to take this lesson seriously, my R leg needs to get stronger, i was favouring my stronger L side heavily on most of the heavy reps tonight, if i didnt get hurt today, i prob wouldn't have stopped to focus on rehabbing my R leg back up to symmetry. So will focus on that from here on, it will pay off long term. im also going to see a podiatrist and try get an orthothic soles cos i think that's a big reason for why my R knee takes such a beating. That and probably my shitty ankle mobility on my R foot which is prob due to ankle injuries from basketball (ive started focusing on mobility, used the band resisted stretch tonight for 2 minutes, will do that regularly until i feel ive improved R mobility enough).
I know I'm biased but seriously check out @kneesovertoesguy on IG. The split squat is incredible for evening up single leg strength and increasing ankle mobility. That and a reverse deadmill has my knees feeling like a million dollars. I hate seeing people injured mate and would love to see you getting back on the court.
Also, be wary of orthotics. It's a bandaid approach that caused so many ankle injuries for me in the past. YMMV though.
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I know I'm biased but seriously check out @kneesovertoesguy on IG. The split squat is incredible for evening up single leg strength and increasing ankle mobility. That and a reverse deadmill has my knees feeling like a million dollars. I hate seeing people injured mate and would love to see you getting back on the court.
thanks im on it, will check it out. so far the BSS seems to have given me wicked doms in my R glute (which is the leg i did them with) AND wicked doms in my L quad (which is the leg i didnt do them with). i dont care about working out my glutes so it's paradoxical to find the wrong leg sore. im too lazy to do equal amounts of reps with both legs. giving them 6 weeks though.
Also, be wary of orthotics. It's a bandaid approach that caused so many ankle injuries for me in the past. YMMV though.
i was just going to use the orthotic in squats to see if they make it easier on my R knee, just curiousity mainly, see how it modifies form. But i will keep in mind your experience when it comes to anything else. when i look at my BS from behind angle, one of my hips is lower which i think is to do with one foot being longer or maybe to do with my foot / ankle.
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Sat (22/2/2020)
BS 6x50, 6x70, 8x50
BP 6x80, 6x2x85
Dips 3x15x5kg (PR)
Row 15min, Bike 15min
KB swings 20x24kg (pr; first time recording reps)
Ankle band stretch - 2:30
Notes:
Not a bad session. i was going to repeat for 6x6x80kg on bp (only did 5 on the 6th set last time) but the first set felt so hard that there was no way i was getting another 5. So decided it was a good time to progress the weights instead and do less reps. Happy with that arrangement, cos it means volume goes reciprocally with ohp rather than identically. this should work better from here on.
rehab squats were good, i did load up 90kg, my back told me not to be stupid because it felt heavy (that's the nervous system disengaging out of something potentially dangerous). so next time i'll progress it a little, and eventually i'll be back to normal heavy weights but with a rehabbed R leg. That's the silver lining. And a chance to bring my conditioning up which im enjoying.
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I know I'm biased but seriously check out @kneesovertoesguy on IG. The split squat is incredible for evening up single leg strength and increasing ankle mobility. That and a reverse deadmill has my knees feeling like a million dollars. I hate seeing people injured mate and would love to see you getting back on the court.
thanks im on it, will check it out. so far the BSS seems to have given me wicked doms in my R glute (which is the leg i did them with) AND wicked doms in my L quad (which is the leg i didnt do them with). i dont care about working out my glutes so it's paradoxical to find the wrong leg sore. im too lazy to do equal amounts of reps with both legs. giving them 6 weeks though.
I get wicked doms from the split squats. I'll pm you a link to some vids of him talking through the information. I sometimes feel like I'm going backwards with these things but when I start jumping and running pain free without fear of my knee collpasing it's incredible.
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Mon (24/2/2020)
Recovery/Rehab BS 6x50, 6x70, 6x90, 6x100
KB swing 3 sets of 25x24kg(PR)
Jump rope 4 sets of 30s (w/ 60s rest)
Row 17:30, Bike 17:30
Run 13min (slow ez)
Notes:
Something LBSS mentioned is actually spot on, somehow ive lucked into a perfect storm of training which has left my knees feeling wonderful. I think it might be part finally squatting heavy enough to actually challenge my leg, especially the dormant R one. Maybe it's the ankle band rehab stuff. Maybe it's the KB swings. Maybe it's BSS i did. But whatever it is, has left my knee feeling good, my conjecture is i've lucked into hitting the right muscles somehow and that's got them firing again which takes stress of the joint. Not a superstitious person but hope im not going mess it up by saying this lol
ive thought of other factors i didnt mention, i stopped using fucking knee sleeves this week. i realised it might be a problem because i felt better without them when doing rowing and ive found squats is the same way also. another factor might be doing rowing/bike which works out both sides equally well (maybe). so yeah somewhere in one or teh combination of all these is giving me a magic result.
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Wed (26/2/2020)
Recovery/Rehab BS 6x50, 6x70, 6x90
OHP 6x5x57.5
Chinup 6x5kg, 2x10kg, 1x15kg, 7xBW
Row 22:30, Bike 22:30, Row 07:30
Notes:
I havent been logging but i do 7:30 of warmup split on the rower and bike to start every session. So a total of 60min of 'cardio' today. Which is a good baseline to maintain if i can manage it. OHP was a huge struggle, first set was a max effort grind to get the 5th rep, 2nd set just as bad, was bargaining to drop the weight but the caffeine kicked in and i was able to get there somehow and do all 6 sets.
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Fri (28/2/2020)
BS 2x110, 2x115, 2x112.5, 2x110, 2x110, 2x110, 2x110
BS (blue knee sleeves) 1x110, 8x100, 12x90
BSS 20xBW(w/ blues)
Row 15:00, Bike 27:30, Row 10:00
Notes:
I got it wrong last time, it's not that knee sleeves are bad for rehab, the opposite, they're good because they enable proprioception. In fact that's exactly what you need post injury because those muscles became inhibited and we need to start using them again!
My original reason for ceasing my rehband knee sleeves was because of hte swelling in the knee joint, it made the knee sleeves very tight, too tight, which didn't help with rehab, it was messing up rom and very painful as well because the knee was already feeling sore. However now that swelling and soreness has subsided, using knee sleeves makes for better rehab because it allows the muscles around the knee joint to trigger better because you feel them activate with the sleeves. It's actually amazing, they just load automatically and feel very strong and stable once you feel the knee tightening up. Before my knee would wobble but with the sleeves the muscles kick in and hold the knee in place.
I did a set of BSS to check my theory and sure enough i was getting decent quad burn for a change! Actually this explains why that time i did BSS ages ago and found it too be good for rehab for the same reason but couldn't reproduce it again after that - because i didnt use knee sleeves subsequently, well i did, but just cheap flimsy neoprene ones which don't really give any proprioception benefits. Thinking back after i injured myself last year and saw the physiotherapist, she said dont bother with knee sleeves. She didn't know what she's talking about but yet she trains and rehabs pro AFL athletes smh. Proprioception is king - dont listen to anyone who tells you otherwise, especially two bit physios who don't know anything anyways.
So i could try do the 'save it later' thing but nah, lemme just use them from next workout on and get back to where i was a year ago. Aim is to use 2 reds as a new training weight from next time on. I should also use the belt to get my core back on track, cos right now it's stupid weak. maybe i'll use it for backoff sets in the interim.
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Sun (28/2/2020)
BS 6x2x120
BP 6x3x85
Dips 2x15x7.5kg
Row 27:30, Bike 25:00
Notes:
I alternate between sets of bench and recovery BS but 120kg doubles on a recovery day is actually very challenging. Next time recovery squats will not be this heavy and should wait for normal squat days, this was a one off to use knee sleeves! Bench is very hard now, im not sure how i get 4s next week.
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Sun (28/2/2020)
BS 6x2x120
BP 6x3x85
Dips 2x15x7.5kg
Row 27:30, Bike 25:00
Notes:
I alternate between sets of bench and recovery BS but 120kg doubles on a recovery day is actually very challenging. Next time recovery squats will not be this heavy and should wait for normal squat days, this was a one off to use knee sleeves! Bench is very hard now, im not sure how i get 4s next week.
Either rest a bit longer between sets or don't alternate squats between your bench to conserve your energy for bench ;D
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Tue (3/2/2020)
BS 4x3x120
Row 25:00, Bike 30:00
Notes:
Tweaked my back again on the 4th set :( Not as bad as last time. My abs and erecttors are too weak, maybe even hamstrings. need to start doing assistance exercises. need to be smarter with weight choices.
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Thu (5/2/2020)
Rehab/recovery BS 6x90
OHP 5x57.5, 3x60(injury)
Row 37:30, Bike 37:30
Notes:
Well fuck me. I messed up my cervical spine today doing ohp with 60kg for the first time in a year. It's not like i wasn't 'warm' i did a 5 with 57.5kg. Learning two things, (a)im a skinny undermuscled guy who really has no business using heavy weights and b) if i do use heavy weights when not eating enough food or doing a lot of cardio i'll get injured.
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Thu (5/2/2020)
Rehab/recovery BS 6x90
OHP 5x57.5, 3x60(injury)
Row 37:30, Bike 37:30
Notes:
Well fuck me. I messed up my cervical spine today doing ohp with 60kg for the first time in a year. It's not like i wasn't 'warm' i did a 5 with 57.5kg. Learning two things, (a)im a skinny undermuscled guy who really has no business using heavy weights and b) if i do use heavy weights when not eating enough food or doing a lot of cardio i'll get injured.
Hopefully the injury isn't too serious and you'll be able to bounce back quickly.
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Thu (5/2/2020)
Rehab/recovery BS 6x90
OHP 5x57.5, 3x60(injury)
Row 37:30, Bike 37:30
Notes:
Well fuck me. I messed up my cervical spine today doing ohp with 60kg for the first time in a year. It's not like i wasn't 'warm' i did a 5 with 57.5kg. Learning two things, (a)im a skinny undermuscled guy who really has no business using heavy weights and b) if i do use heavy weights when not eating enough food or doing a lot of cardio i'll get injured.
Hopefully the injury isn't too serious and you'll be able to bounce back quickly.
thanks!! first night was agony couldn't even get out of bed, only could sleep flat or facing the right side. next night was painful but i took some painkillers which helped. today it seems almost back to normal!
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Thu (5/2/2020)
Rehab/recovery BS 6x90
OHP 5x57.5, 3x60(injury)
Row 37:30, Bike 37:30
Notes:
Well fuck me. I messed up my cervical spine today doing ohp with 60kg for the first time in a year. It's not like i wasn't 'warm' i did a 5 with 57.5kg. Learning two things, (a)im a skinny undermuscled guy who really has no business using heavy weights and b) if i do use heavy weights when not eating enough food or doing a lot of cardio i'll get injured.
Hopefully the injury isn't too serious and you'll be able to bounce back quickly.
thanks!! first night was agony couldn't even get out of bed, only could sleep flat or facing the right side. next night was painful but i took some painkillers which helped. today it seems almost back to normal!
That doesn't sound too good but the fact that it feels almost back to normal is a positive.
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That doesn't sound too good but the fact that it feels almost back to normal is a positive.
60kg feels very challenging compared to the 50s. 5x57.5 warmup prior didn't make it feel any better. im thinking i need to get closer to 60kg using smaller plates (eg up to 59.5kg) before attempting it again. and once i get there i should do a warmup with 60kg with a double. i stupidly went for a triple and that's when my shit snap citied :9. given how ugly the first two reps were, i deserve to be injured for what i did..
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Sat (7/2/2020)
BS 6x100, 2x115, 2x112.5, 4x2x110, 13x90
BSS 12x8kg(3 sets with R leg, 2 sets with the L leg)
Row 42:30, Bike 45:00
Notes:
I was stupid to go from 100kg training weight up to 120kg even though i had ended the 100kg cycle with a 5x120kg, i was greedy and hurt my back twice as a result (3rd time if you include the cervical one last time). 115kg would have been better but now im paying for it being injured and dropping to 110kg. So good job there!
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Ive not got a way to track HR but when rowing id be suprised if it goes over 120bpm. Bike now im averaging 135-140bpm. This is to say my staples of rowing and bike are no longer sufficient for challenging heart & lungs. I can increase the difficulty on the bike but the problem is, it's already challenging for my legs (and insufficiently challenging for CV system). need to find a solution :/
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Mon (9/2/2020)
Recovery BS 6x2x110
BP 6x4x85kg (failed the last set on the 4th rep though)
Dips 15x10kg, 15xBW
Conditioning - Jump rope & KB swings
Assistance - KB side bends, ab leg raises, incline bp
Notes:
BP was hard af. got pinned on the last rep of the last set (obviously). waved at one guy but he just watched me lol. another guy was in the middle of the set and came over but he wasnt strong enough to take it off my chest and i was too weak to help him. eventually he lifted one side up enough for me to crawl out. how embarrassing. i hate bench press.
That will do pig, that will do. Recomping from tmr on using fat loss supplements..
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Worth making a note that BSS with 8kg kbs got my HR so high that it was like doing intervals. And just 12 rep sets did that with such a modest weight. yeah im definitely off the squat bandwagon now, fools gold. There's way more variety in god's gym than bs. Ive still got sore quads and glutes and hams .. altho it remains to be seen if i can progress them well, already i feel that it's overloading my (rehabbing) R leg and i need to consider dropping the weight but i also know just increasing the weight will work just as well when i ever want to drop down later. may consider doing backoff sets with less weight to hit all the bases.
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Mon (9/2/2020)
Recovery BS 6x2x110
BP 6x4x85kg (failed the last set on the 4th rep though)
Dips 15x10kg, 15xBW
Conditioning - Jump rope & KB swings
Assistance - KB side bends, ab leg raises, incline bp
Notes:
BP was hard af. got pinned on the last rep of the last set (obviously). waved at one guy but he just watched me lol. another guy was in the middle of the set and came over but he wasnt strong enough to take it off my chest and i was too weak to help him. eventually he lifted one side up enough for me to crawl out. how embarrassing. i hate bench press.
That will do pig, that will do. Recomping from tmr on using fat loss supplements..
Damn!
That's happened to me before at my old gym where there was no power rack. At the time nobody helped so I ended up just rolling the bar off down my stomach to my hips. After that experience whenever I was going heavy I would always ask somebody for a spot.
Does your gym have a power rack to bench in?
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nope no power rack setup.
I can't even roll it down my body because there is no where to roll it to after getting it to the hips! unless you can pick up bw off your hips while seated (i dont think i could right now). ive done that at the gym when no one else was around. the pins just are too low .. :/
if im going to bench seriously i have to consider getting a 2nd gym membership just for bench day. but cant really be bothered with that! someone suggested using incline bp since my chest is pretty much untargeted by flat bench and i only end up working triceps which can be worked out well with dips etc..
but maybe i should just switch to dps and do more incline bb now im kind of stuck
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Tue (10/2/2020)
Daily Activity: 10k
Bball - 20 mins (new!)
Notes:
felt like putting some shots up and surprisingly even though i havent been on the court in a year, my touch was pretty good. seems the work i put in last year has made some persistent adaptations which is wild. i was afraid i'd be starting from scratch but im not, more like .. i dont know 80% feels like it? my leg feels good, i did a couple of layups and felt smooth and fast. i know that's just self perception and on video i'd look like im in slow-mo but it felt good.
with bball im making a rule to leave while im enjoying myself. if i turn it into a chore then i'll quickly lose interest again.
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Wed (11/2/2020)
Daily Activity: 9k
BS 6x3x110, 15x90
Jumps 5 sets of 3 reps (hit the target on the 2nd rep of the last set!)
Run - 20 mins
Notes:
The highlight today was the jumps. I haven't done any jumping in a year. And was super surprised to see how good my vertical still is. If i was to attribute it to anything, it would be the KB swings. I think the hip work is the best reason why i'm still capable of jumping, lets be both conservative and generous somehow, 30 inches? My squat is obviously not the reason considering my PR with 110kg is 20 reps and im using it for sets of 3. So i'd look elsewhere and i think it has to be the hip work. Good to know..
The run was ok, i just need to be consistent now, im thinking 60min cardio workouts per day with 20min each between rowing, bike and running.
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Fri (13/2/2020)
Daily Activity: 6k
Recovery BS 6x2x110
OHP 6x2x59kg
Chinup 5x5kg, 8xBW
DOHP 12x20kg, 12x17.5kg
Notes:
What a shit workout .. but got it done. no cardio, was too exhausted. im completely drained by life right now. i prob shouldnt even be going to the gym with the whole covid-19 thing tbh. i was thinking train fri/sun nights when gym is quiet and fix in a sneaky workout during the week either tue or thurs depending on whichever is quieter at the gym (i'll check google). or dust off my home gym but once you've used a proper gym it's hard to go back to shitty garage gyms.. it's just too inferior.
i had somewhat of a revelation today. i had made a conscious decision to use big 25kg plates to make workouts harder (it's easier to use lots of smaller plates than less big ones) but ive never actually tried the other way around. today after finishing my normal recovery squats with the usual plate loading (red and blue), i did a rep with 2x15kgs(yellow) .. and then alternating between pairs of green and yellow. made it all up to equal the training weight of 110kg and it felt so much better than using a red and a blue. im such a fucking twat. when i did that PR with 3 reds a side, if i had just made it up with greens and yellows i bet i get 180kg easier than 170kg in all reds. lost opportunities! for prs it would be interesting to do that.
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Sun (15/2/2020)
Daily Activity: 13k
BS 6x4x110, 10x100
Long run - 60min
Notes:
Gym weight was 82.5kg today, im pretty carb depleted but forced a long run even feeling under the weather. 9 more days of cutting.
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Tue (17/2/2020)
Daily Activity:
Recovery BS 6x2x110
BP 3x85, 2x87.5, 1x90, 8x75
Dips 3x12
Notes:
Bench seems to have stalled pretty hard, went backwards. was set to do 6 sets of 5s with 85kg, but i would have failed it when the first set felt so hard, stopped at 3 reps. Will be setting up the home gym back up soon.
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Thu (19/2/2020)
Daily Activity: 6k
BS 6x5x110
Jumps 5x3
Notes:
Huge struggle with squats. what is depressing is during my last cycle i managed 5x5x107.5kg. That was sans knee sleeves and now im using knee sleeves to make hard work of 6 sets of 5 with pretty much the same weight. i could argue that im doing it while carb depleted and while not having had any carbs the whole day before the workout etc etc (only have 30g gatorade with the peri-workout shake) but im not really convinced. shit should be a lot easier smh. Next squat sesh i'll carb up though, no other way to progress to 6x6x110. Then i need to swap over to home gym bc of covid-19.
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Sat (21/2/2020)
Daily Activity:
Recovery BS 6x2x110
OHP 2x59.5, 5x2x60, 7x53.5
Chinup 5x6.2kg, 5x5.75kg, 5x5kg, 8xBW
DBOHP 12x20kg
Notes:
End is in sight, finishing cutting in 3 more days.
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is australia a month behind the rest of the world? or are you for some reason logging with a month-long lag? :trollface:
(you're writing dates with "2" in the months position)
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oh true, i was copy pasting from the previous day and not changing the mont :wowthatwasnutswtf:.
in other news gyms are banned as of today, so im gna miss my first training session in ages
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oh true, i was copy pasting from the previous day and not changing the mont :wowthatwasnutswtf:.
in other news gyms are banned as of today, so im gna miss my first training session in ages
Have you still got the home gym? I'm so thankful mine is setup.
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oh true, i was copy pasting from the previous day and not changing the mont :wowthatwasnutswtf:.
in other news gyms are banned as of today, so im gna miss my first training session in ages
Have you still got the home gym? I'm so thankful mine is setup.
it's in the garage.. i need to pull it out but i cant be bothered .. i should have kept it in a state of repair (for a possible end of world situation) but now everything is rusted and dusty and cluttered up haha
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oh true, i was copy pasting from the previous day and not changing the mont :wowthatwasnutswtf:.
in other news gyms are banned as of today, so im gna miss my first training session in ages
Have you still got the home gym? I'm so thankful mine is setup.
it's in the garage.. i need to pull it out but i cant be bothered .. i should have kept it in a state of repair (for a possible end of world situation) but now everything is rusted and dusty and cluttered up haha
Haha dude get it out. You'll feel so much better.
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Fri (27/3/2020)
Daily Activity:
BS 2x115, 2x112.5, 4x2x110
Notes:
A week since i trained, got pretty weak. Weird squatting without a mirror, you get used to it and it's really hard to do it without. if i train earlier in the day i can kind of catch a reflection off the glass door but not at night like tonights squats. Thanks coges for encouraging me to setup again, turned out pretty good in the end, not as bad as i imagined it..
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Sun (29/3/2020)
Daily Activity:
BS 2x100
OHP 6x50, 0Fx57.5
Chinup 5xBW, Pushups 8xBW
Notes:
I miss two consecutive workouts and my body decides it doesnt need to remember how to recover from squats anymore. Squats are the biggest fools gold ever. Was hit with pretty decent doms during warmups and decided to leave it before i hurt myself. starting over from scratch again i spose.
Guys about home gym training, im the only dipshit in my gym and I dont do any rackpulls or deadlifts so my bar isn't getting beaten up as badly as in the public gym where there are ppl dropping bars doing rackpulls onto pins (ive seen it, you've seen it, it happens). dipshits dropping deadlifts onto plates (ive seen it) etc. this isn't good for the bar. but my home bar feels sooo good on my back .. i wonder if it's because it's straight and undamaged? if i was able to take my bar into a normal gym, i'd be able to squat better automatically just b/c it's straight. it's day and night. ofc at home i have to deal with a sloping floor (because of water flow in case of rain etc), squatting on uneven pavers etc. im in half a mind to rip it all up and concrete it with zero elevation. that woudl be my dream gym floor.
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Mon (30/3/2020)
Daily Activity:
BS 6x50, 6x70, 3x100, 2x110, 1x115
BP 6x50, 6x70, 2x80, 1x85, 6x75
Notes:
predictably, im tempted by the daily training thing again .. mostly b/c ive detrained and im somewhat impatient to get back to where i was before gym closed down. i must say the straight bar hypothesis seems to be taking on greater evidence, it's even more noticeable on bench press. ok i need to fix the floor and i think if i can do that i'll have a somewhat ideal gym experience as i can expect. That's kind of exciting.
Re daily training - how do i lay out daily workouts?
Day 1: Lower body focus & upper maintenance / warmup (both bench & ohp)
Day 2: Lower body maintenance / warmup & upper focus (alternate between ohp and bench)
this way im squatting, benching and pressing every day. how to fit in cardio im not really sure, but it will prob go on the lower body focus day.
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Tue (31/3/2020)
Daily Activity:
BS 6x50, 6x75, 3x100, 1x115
OHP 2x8x20
Run 15mins
Notes:
haaa that initial phase in daily squatting where the bar starts to feel super heavy even when it isnt. eventually you'll push thru the wall but today wasn't it. got a run in .. i like daily training if it's going to be short and sweet.
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Wed (1/4/2020)
Daily Activity:
BS 6x50, 6x75, 3x100, 2x110, 1x117.5
OHP 6x40, 6x50, 3x55, 2x57.5, 1x60, 6x52.5, 8x50
Chinup 6xBW
Notes:
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Thu (2/4/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 5/5 days
BW: 82.3kg (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x75, 3x100, 2x112.5, 2x117.5, 8x97.5, 10x90
BP 8x40, 9x57.5
Notes:
progress is good but im eating like a damned fool .. need to do better. it's hard to figure out how much you're eating without food scales and knowing what goes in stuff but it looks like ive been undereating b/c i feel miserable
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Fri (3/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 6/6 days
BW: 82.4kg (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x75, 6x95, 3x110, 1x117.5, 1x120
BP 6x50, 6x70, 6x77.5, 2x82.5, 1x87.5, 7x75
Chinup 8xBW*(last rep wasn't full rom tho)
Notes:
It's starting to come around, im starting to adapt to daily training. Just gotta be patient and put in the work and let's see where im at in 3, 6,9 and 12wks time. New thing is to be realistic and set my daily act goal at 5k steps. Anything between 5-7.5k is good but a sensible minimum must be respected - and i'm making that 3.5k. As long as i average 5k a day, i should stay in ok shame, just dont want to take nasty fat loss supplements again. I took green tea extract this week and omg it makes me feel terrible. The number of times i've bought it and then thrown it out only to buy it again much later is prob n=3 now. This stuff is nasty.
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Sat (4/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 3.5
Daily Training: 7 days
BW: 82.1kg (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x75, 6x95, 3x112.5, 3x117.5, 1x122.5, 8x102.5, 10x92.5
OHP 8x20, 8x35
Notes:
Yea not too sure about these 'heavier' sets. it's like you want to do a honest workout but at the same time im kind of terrified of hurting my spine on the heavy sets. hopefully it will self resolve.
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Sun (5/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 3.5
Daily Training: 8 days
BW: 82.6kg (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x75, 6x95, 3x112.5, 1x120, 1x125
OHP 6x40, 6x50, 3x57.2, 2x60, 2Fx58.5, 7x52.5, 8x51
Chinup 5x5kg, 8xBW
Notes:
Squats are starting to clean up. But my lack of food prep is killing my gains .. i ate a cup of pasta and a shake for dinner tonight. can't be bothered wrestling fools for some chicken breast. whatever.
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the 125 you posted on insta looked really good, fwiw.
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the 125 you posted on insta looked really good, fwiw.
thank you! it's only 1.5xbw and it's a single but right now i'll take it!
edit. ps, lbbs saw your recent story, your girl has a really great voice and her urdu is impeccable, she sounds completely native in the chorus if i closed my eyes. really impressive!
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Mon (6/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 3.5
Daily Training: 9 days
BW: 82.5kg (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x75, 6x100, 3x115, 2x120, 1x127.5, 8x105, 10x95
BP 8x40, 8x57.5
Run - same as last time somehow ended up taking 5 minutes longer lol
Notes:
I did 'too much' with the heavy squats yesterday and on lower body focus day today i struggled as a result. So make sure next time i don't over-do it on upper days. But nevertheless im progressing. Tbh it's worth trying to make a 120kg squat a daily thing but i prob shouldn't have done a local PR with the 125kg on an upper focus day but i felt strong and went for it. Today i felt weak but i went for it because i had to. Maybe if i hadn't yesterday i'd have felt stronger on the lower body day, which is what you'd want.
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Tue (7/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5.5
Daily Training: 10 days
BW: 82.7kg (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x75, 6x100, 2x115, 2x120, 1x122.5
BP 6x50, 6x70, 6x79, 2x85, 1x88, 7Fx75, 8x72.5
Notes:
Added a preworkout sandwich which bumps my gym weight up a tad. It helped but i prob didnt time it very well, cud have trained sooner after taking caffeine, instead i ate a sandwich an hour after caffeine then started lifting. will experiment to get the timing right.
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Wed (8/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 11 days
BW: 82.9kg (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x80, 6x105, 3x120, 1x130, 2x122.5, 6x110
OHP 8x20, 8x25, 8x37.5
Run - 15 mins
Notes:
Had a meeting at 2000 and it was 19:44 when i left home rushing to get my run around the block in which took 20 mins last time. was fun racing the clock. i enjoyed that competitive aspect
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Thu (9/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 12 days
BW: 82.8kg (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x80, 6x105, 2x120, 1x125
OHP 6x40, 6x50, 4x57.5, 2x60, 0Fx62.5, 8x52.5, 9x50
Chinup 5x7.5kg, 8xBW
Notes:
New daily minimum is 125kg on backsquat. OHP was a struggle. I'm constantly hungry, every night i lie in bed awake, hungry and miserable. it's been that way for i want to say 4-6 weeks? something like that. but im too fat to eat more and so im stuck in this no man's land of not eating enough to function well.
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Fri (10/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 13 days
BW: 83.1kg (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x80, 6x105, 3x120, 1x132.5, 8x107.5, 12x97.5(belt)
BP 8x40, 8x57.5
Slow run around block ~20min
Notes:
Abz pretty beaten up. that set of 8 with 107.5 was ugly and brutally hard. didn't feel up to doing the set of 10x97.5 after that, walked it out, was heavy, felt deflated and put it back. Then thought to try a belt instead of ending the workout and it worked, not just a placebo .. i really want to explore cycling belt training with my normal raw.
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Sat (11/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 14 days
BW: 84.1kg (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x75, 6x100, 2x120, 1x125
BP 6x70, 6x80, 3x85, 1x88.5, 7Fx75, 8x73
Pullup 6xBW
Notes:
been binge/comfort eating thru the blues, need to shake it off
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Sun (12/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 15 days
BW: 84.1kg (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x75, 6x100, 3x120, 1x135, 8x110, 10x100
OHP 8x27.5, 8x37.5
Run - 2.75km, 17:18, 06:15/km pace
Notes:
Pulled out the new GPS watch for the first time (my old one died last year) and timed my standard run around the block. Surprising to find it's only 2.75km and im in such bad shape that 15 minutes seemed like a good goal lol. Yeah got work to do.
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Mon (13/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 6
Daily Training: 16 days
BW: ? (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x75, 6x100, 3x120, 1x127.5
OHP 6x50, 4x57.5, 2x60, 7Fx53, 9x50, 10x47.5
Chinup 5x10kg, 8xBW
Notes:
Bumped the daily min up by 2.5kg to 127.5kg and added a rep to the 120kg warmup set.
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Tue (14/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 6
Daily Training: 17 days
BW: ? (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x75, 6x100, 3x122.5, 0Fx137.5, 1x127.5, 10x102.5, 15x90(belt)
BP 8x40, 8x57.5
Run - 17min
Notes:
I've fallen into this trap where squat workouts are very hard mentally and to recover from and so i'm trying to make up for it by eating junk, which is a mistake in the first place but especially when im going to undo all my hard work to have got leaner. so a new plan is since im around day 20 now, it's time to focus on something else for the next 20 day block.
over the years ive tried it all, oly squats, front squats, pause squats etc. but i haven't seriously tried belted squats. i did use them initially before i knew what i was doing with horrible form but now it will be with better technique. this will stop me from burning out by trying to chase my old maxes which im far from (tonight i failed 137.5kg and i can easily see myself getting injured if i keep this up).
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Wed (15/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 18 days
BW: 84.6kg (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x75, 6x100, 3x120, 1x127.5
BP 6x75, 5x82.5, 1x90, 7x77.5, 8x73.5
Pullup 5x2.5kg, 6xBW
Notes:
trained earlier and having a reflection really makes my squats feel stronger, it helps nail the bottom position which keeps everything locked in. i need to do that regularly. still set on using the belt for the next 20 day block. not 100% sure i'm going to set it up but on lower body emphasis days, i want to do a workset with the belt every time.
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a strong squatter on lyle mcdonald's mean forum swore by standing ab pull-downs for squatting core strength. he did 'em with bands and cables both, iirc. n=1 but something else to consider if you're concerned about your core.
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a strong squatter on lyle mcdonald's mean forum swore by standing ab pull-downs for squatting core strength. he did 'em with bands and cables both, iirc. n=1 but something else to consider if you're concerned about your core.
did always like those ab exercises, they make abs bigger that's for sure, i never noticed what effect they had on squatting but something to try. thanks.
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Fri (17/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 20 days
BW: 84.8kg (no shoes)
Recovery BS 6x50, 6x75, 6x100, 3x120, 1x130
OHP 6x50, 3x58.5, 2x61, 8x53, 10x50
Chinup 5x11.25kg(shit form though, repeat), 8xBW
Notes:
Drained but new block here we go. Was pretty ambitious to bump daily min to 130kg but just cos it's a challenge now doesn't mean it will be in a week, so lets stick through the dark times and see what happens.
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sorry to bother you guys but im doing a project for grad school and im conducting some kind of user experience surveying. The app i've chosen is for runners. you're probably already using garmin connect (etc)? my question is what sort of features would you like to see in a running app, if any, or what would you remove that exists in your current app but you've never found useful? apart from features what do you look for in a running apps (bare minimum) in terms of user experience? any other feedback welcome. thank you.
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Sat (18/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 2.5
Daily Training: 21 days
BW: 85.2kg (no shoes)
BS 6x75, 6x100, 3x127.5, 1x132.5
Back Xtn 12xBW
Notes:
I was lucky not to get injured today. That 100kg warmup felt precariously dangerous. Didn't end up doing anything after the 130kg single though i did load up 107.5kg then 110kg, then 95kg then 90kg then 85kg. Just wasnt feeling it today. Weird day.
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sorry to bother you guys but im doing a project for grad school and im conducting some kind of user experience surveying. The app i've chosen is for runners. you're probably already using garmin connect (etc)? my question is what sort of features would you like to see in a running app, if any, or what would you remove that exists in your current app but you've never found useful? apart from features what do you look for in a running apps (bare minimum) in terms of user experience? any other feedback welcome. thank you.
i don't have as many complaints about the garmin app as i do about their web interface, which is astoundingly bad and almost completely useless.
the main feature i'd like to see in the app is to be able to review the workout by distance, not just time. as it stands, you can look at minute-by-minute pace, elevation, and HR, but not trace any of those against where you were at in a run. mapmyrun kind of allows that (online, not in the app) but still not very well.
i'll keep thinking about it.
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Damn that's an awesome idea! breaking down splits by distance, kind of how an engineer can look at a signal in the time or frequency domain depending on whichever is more insightful can be very enlightening, it makes sense a runner would like to view the same run in different domains. I'll think about it some more too.
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Sun (19/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 2.5
Daily Training: 22 days
BW: 84.6kg (no shoes)
Maintenance BS 6x75, 6x100, 3x120, 1x130
BP 6x75.5, 5x84, 1x91.5, 7x78.5, 8x75
Pullup 5x5kg, 7xBW
Notes:
After 3 weeks of daily training with eod upper body workouts, my right bicep/tricep is getting pretty beaten up, which is a good thing cos i'm left handed and it's a sign the right side of the body is being worked hard to catch up. This even applies to my right quad and hamstring! overall, im struggling, squats have hit a hard wall, every rep is hard now, not sure if that is something to train through or back off, lets give it a couple of workouts and reassess
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Mon (20/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 22 days
BW: 84.2kg (no shoes)
BS 6x75, 6x100, 3x122.5, 1x130
BX 15xBW
Run - 2 laps (5km)
Notes:
My body is not dealing with daily squats all of a sudden im not recovering. Those 130kg singles might be the reason, maybe im being too damn greedy doing it every day? But afterwards even walking out the bar with 87.5kg feels heavy and my abs/core/spine just nope out. In hindsight im thinking this is a waste of a training day, surely it's better to drop the daily max and do some worksets than keep the max where it is and be unable to do any work afterwards.
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so back off for a few days.
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so back off for a few days.
if you mean from the heavy singles? i have been backing off volume, the last 2 squat focus days i only did the heavy single and no worksets after that, not by choice just by being drained. But tonight let me try dropping down on the maintenance single.
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Tue (21/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 22 days
BW: 84.1kg (no shoes)
BS 6x75, 6x100B, 3x120B, 1x127.5B
OHP 8x27.5, 8x37.5
Notes:
Used a belt but i've done something to my right quad, maybe just need to foam roll (i never do that stuff but i'll start now).
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i meant either total rest or at least a break from squatting. give your body time to supercompensate and not get injured.
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Wed (22/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 25 days
BW: 84.8kg (no shoes)
BS 6x75, 6x100, 3x120, 1x127.5, 20x77.5
BX 17xBW
Notes:
Well i was super cautious and decided it was time to reset, so i'm doing 20s now after the daily max. But it might not have happened, i did the set of 75kg which felt a lot harder than it should have a right to. Then i thought what harm will it do to for the 6x100kg, which went okay better than expected. At that point i could have ended the workout and listen to LBSS, or just do the daily maintenance 3x120 and 1x127.5? My wil power is gone and i cant make decisions very well, so i just thought to do the the routine thing. Now im noticing my back is quite sore and it might be the back extensions coming into play, interesting enough, even though they're just bodyweight and i used to do like 20 reps with +100kg! So lets see what happens in the next couple of workouts, signs are promising though that backing off the top single and volume has got me unstuck
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Thu (23/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 26 days
BW: 84.0kg (no shoes)
BS 6x75, 6x100, 3x120, 1x127.5
OHP 6x50, 3x59, 2x61.5, 8x53.5, 10x50.1
Chinup 5x12.5kg, 6x6.25kg, 8x1.25kg, 8xBW
Notes:
Come on abs, it's time to recover now, i got goals to reach.
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Fri (24/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 27 days
BW: (no shoes)
BS 6x75, 6x100, 3x120, 1x130, 6x112.5, 12x92.5, 21x72.5
Notes:
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Sat (25/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 28 days
BW: 85.3kg (no shoes)
BS 6x75, 6x100, 3x120, 1x127.5
BP 6x76, 5x85, 1x92.5, 7x79.5, 8x76
Pullup 5x6.25kg, 7xBW, LPD 15x20kg, Curl 10x10kg
Notes:
Even though my squat is gone, upper body is coming around slowly. Think the back extensions have helped if that makes any sense, b/c my hamstring endurance is tested by longer sets of bench press, today i had no issue with hamstrings so that's a good sign. I should also mention prob the hardest part of the bench max single is unracking the bar .. getting off the chest is not so hard in comparison, just one of those quirks of benching alone i guess.
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Sun (26/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 29 days
BW: 85.5kg (no shoes)
BS 6x75, 6x100, 6x115, 3x122.5, 1x130, 13x95
BX 20x10kg
Slow Run - 60 min / 7.75km
Notes:
I'm considering doing the supercompensation thing but i still dont know why someone like me would do it, because im not trying to peak for a comp or a PR or anything like that .. so why do it? I mean in terms of regular training, say even daily training, is there a place for such peaky manoeuvres? Suppose by going for supercompensation i actually end up being stronger/bigger whatever beyond the short term, then it's worth it but im not sure if that's something that happens when you rest? by that i mean not to artificially hit a higher peak right after, but as a way to become stronger long term. in my experience whenever i back off, say from injury or life getting in the way, i never end up stronger .. you end up having to take 2 steps back
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Sun (26/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 29 days
BW: 85.5kg (no shoes)
BS 6x75, 6x100, 6x115, 3x122.5, 1x130, 13x95
BX 20x10kg
Notes:
I'm considering doing the supercompensation thing but i still dont know why someone like me would do it, because im not trying to peak for a comp or a PR or anything like that .. so why do it? I mean in terms of regular training, say even daily training, is there a place for such peaky manoeuvres? Suppose by going for supercompensation i actually end up being stronger/bigger whatever beyond the short term, then it's worth it but im not sure if that's something that happens when you rest? by that i mean not to artificially hit a higher peak right after, but as a way to become stronger long term. in my experience whenever i back off, say from injury or life getting in the way, i never end up stronger .. you end up having to take 2 steps back
Isn't the idea of peaking to peak, lower the weights and then peak again at a higher peak in the future. Peak and repeat. Then you can peek your peak at a later date and be impressed by how much you've peaked. :D
Seriously though what's the long term plan for the daily squatting? Was talking to a guy I used to ball with who's strong AF and he used to squat everyday. He said it was ok short term but found that once he stopped squatting everyday he lost his strength pretty quickly compared with other progressions. Small sample size but still got me thinking. Also reminded me of all the bros at my old gym who squat 4+ plates and are only concerned about aesthetics but still jump higher than I do lol.
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If i did a peaking thing to squat 140kg i'd be pretty embarrassed for myself .. i never did it once for when i hit my PRs last year all the way from 140kg to 170kg .. it was just regular training everyday, nothign fancy. I did a good honest workout every day. If im going to start doing 'peaking' to just squat 140kg, one, i dont care about peaking to squat 140kg (lol) but also two, and then what, immediately after, how do i go back to normal training from there?
i do agree with you friend, my goal was just to spend 50 days or so and getting quickly closer to where i was before getting hurt. Like a daily 150kg. And then switch to every other day. But when i ran the daily squat experiment last year my observation was yea it works remarkably well but it had diminishing returns beyond around day 100. in days 50-75, i had achieved most of the gains and should stop there b/c otherwise the joints just take too much of a beating. Last time after day 150, even after complete rest for 3 months, my joints were still not recovered. Never again. Day 100 is the absolute limit.
my goal with daily squatting is just get back to squatting 150kg ish and then focus on something else
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If i did a peaking thing to squat 140kg i'd be pretty embarrassed for myself .. i never did it once for when i hit my PRs last year all the way from 140kg to 170kg .. it was just regular training everyday, nothign fancy. I did a good honest workout every day. If im going to start doing 'peaking' to just squat 140kg, one, i dont care about peaking to squat 140kg (lol) but also two, and then what, immediately after, how do i go back to normal training from there?
i do agree with you friend, my goal was just to spend 50 days or so and getting quickly closer to where i was before getting hurt. Like a daily 150kg. And then switch to every other day. But when i ran the daily squat experiment last year my observation was yea it works remarkably well but it had diminishing returns beyond around day 100. in days 50-75, i had achieved most of the gains and should stop there b/c otherwise the joints just take too much of a beating. Last time after day 150, even after complete rest for 3 months, my joints were still not recovered. Never again. Day 100 is the absolute limit.
my goal with daily squatting is just get back to squatting 150kg ish and then focus on something else
Yeah I agree 100%. If you're going to peak it needs to be for something reasonable and not just a wasted training day. You've still got 3 weeks to get to 150 though. Completely doable.
I'm almost glad I can't play ball or do martial arts at the moment though. Given me much more time to focus on getting those lifts up.
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Mon (27/4/2020)
Daily Activity: 5
Daily Training: 30 days
BW: ? (no shoes)
BS 6x75, 6x100, 3x120, 1x127.5
OHP 12x20kg
Notes:
Took a recovery day and didnt do upper body. I'm sick of the fatty i've become, time to clean up diet in a big way. If it means i have to be less ambitious with training, so be it, no point getting fat just to make progress in the gym.
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Tue (28/4/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 31 days
BW: 85.4kg (no shoes)
BS 6x75, 6x100, 3x120, 1x127.5
OHP 6x50, 3x59.5, 1Fx62, 8x54, 10x51
Chinup 3x15kg, 5x11.25kg, 7x5kg, 8xBW
LPD 15x21.25kg, Cable row 15x20kg, Curl 15x20kg
Notes:
I noticed something is off with my right hip, which is prob why my form has been strange the last couple of weeks. It clicks when i do side leg swings, cos the adductors (or abductors) seem to be too fatigued or something. need to get to the bottom of this before i get hurt, but it's why my squat bottom position has been so erratic .. with variable rom every rep/set
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Wed (29/4/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 32 days
BW: 84.9kg (no shoes)
BS 6x75, 6x100, 4x122.5, 1x132.5, 10x107.5
BX 20x15kg
Notes:
Last squat sesh for the month. I've started doing unracks with supramax weight .. just to remind my spine what we used to do back in the good old days in 2019.
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Thu (30/4/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 33 days
BW: 84.8kg (no shoes)
BS 6x75, 6x100, 3x120, 1x127.5
BP 6x75, 4x86, 1x94, 7x80, 8x76.5
Pullup 5x7.5kg, 8xBW;
LPD, Cable row, Curl: 15x22.5kg
Notes:
After years of afraid of sucking at pullups, im now doing them regularly on bench days. Starting to put a few things together, i noticed if i engage my right lat more, i can lock out a rep easier. Also doing regular assistance with pulldowns, cable rows and curls. If my squat is gone, it's ok, time to grow some upper body muscle and look like i actually lift!
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Fri (1/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 34 days
BW: 85.6kg (no shoes)
BS 6x50, 6x80
OHP 8x20, 10x20
Notes:
Started super-compensation! Worst case, nothing happens, i end up giving myself a little break and can come back with aplomb, mentally rejuvenated. Best case, i get stronger etc and come back to even bigger daily min/maxes. I'm a little excited because ive never peaked, never not even once. I regret that ofc, there were times i was prob capable of a 2xbw squat or a 40" vertical, or gametime dunking/beasting, but my obsession with training prob cost me those elusive peaks because i never backed off to peak. Time to try something different! Over may i'm also going to address rehab with SL exercises Coges put me onto but i got distracted with squats (as per usual). And it's time to jump to bigger plates, daily 110kgs is a step back to where i was last year where i was using 6x120kg to warmup every day.
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My goal is to be a lean 85kg. I want to play basketball once covid subsides, i didn't realise i took it for granted that basketball would always be there, but now i can't play i want to, human nature i guess. So will spend the winter training hard to get to that 85kg ripped goal. in june i'll do a 3 week cut to get closer to 80kg (prob not getting there). Then gain to 82.5-85kg and cut, repeating that cycle as many times as needed until im lean and strong at 85kg. I want to play against guards, im done trying to compete with bigs, with my size and strength, i can bully any guard. if that's the only way i can dominate the game i want to dominate, not just sit on the bench watching worse players outplay me cos they're bigger and fatter and im not as good at being big and fat.
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Sat (2/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 35 days
BW: 85.5kg (no shoes)
BS 6x50
OHP 2x8x20
Notes:
Continuing the supercomp. My plan is to start increasing the weights tmr, will do a 70kg topset. I messed aroudn with split squats and yea there is something there for sure, my right leg really struggles with just the empty bar. so make that a staple and lets see if it can sort out my right quad issues. my theory is that while my glutes and hams have bounced back, quads are not on the same level of progression. bi squats allow you to compensate for it b/c the other legs/muscles can take over it seems.
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Sun (3/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 36 days
BW: 84.0kg (no shoes)
BS 2x8x20
OHP 2x8x20
Notes:
tapered off caffeine as well, 100mg yesterday, 0mg today. will start going up in weights tmr. not sure this was worth it .. i feel weak and sluggish .. but that's also because im trying to clean up my diet and probably undereating now.
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Mon (4/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 37 days
BW:
BS 6x60, 6x80
OHP 2x8x20
Notes:
Change of plan. Going to focus on upper body and rehab lower body properly. I notice my right glute and hamstring are both significantly weaker in fact, unlike what i had reported. So going to add in RDLs, single leg back extensions, etc, in addition to SL work like split squats. Will still do squats but not stress progress anymore. BP is going to take focus i think.
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Tue (5/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 38 days
BW:
BS 6x60, 6x80, 5x110
OHP 2x8x20
Notes:
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Wed (6/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 39 days
BW:
BS 6x60, 6x80, 3x110, 2x122.5, 1x130
OHP 6x40, 6x50
Split Squat (SS) 8x20
Notes:
The Split squats make the right quad feel good. Whatever they're doing, im liking, do them daily. OHP felt stupidly hard and heavy. The backoff week has been abject failure .. i think it's because daily training gains vanish super quickly. It makes me think daily training only works if you can keep doing daily training, which seems to be a bad thing. It's better to take gains from a weekly session which last better long term. I'm def off the daily training bandwagon, it's dumb.
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Thu (7/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 40 days
BW:
BS 6x60, 6x80, 3x110, 2x120
Split Squat (SS) 8x20, 8x27.5, 8x30
Notes:
Kind of excited about SL training. I'm keen to see the payoff down the road.
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Fri (8/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 41 days
BW:
BS 6x77.5, 4x107.5, 2x120, 1x130, 15x90
SS 8x32.5, 8x35
BP 6x75, 6x82.5, 2x87.5, 1x92.5, 6x80, 7Fx77.5, 8x72.5
Pullup 3x10kg, 5x7.5kg, 5x5kg, 5xBW
LPD, Cable Row, Curl: 15x25kg
Notes:
Interestingly .. today it wasnt so difficult for the CNS to do the split squats, last time my HR was high just from 20kg ones but today my HR was much more relaxed, come to think of it, the same is true for that 15 rep set on BS, which would normally become cardioish. In between i also tried to do some walking lunges which i liked as well, so will do those regularly too. BW is unknown, battery died on scales.
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Thu (7/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 40 days
BW:
BS 6x60, 6x80, 3x110, 2x120
Split Squat (SS) 8x20, 8x27.5, 8x30
Notes:
Kind of excited about SL training. I'm keen to see the payoff down the road.
Interesting thinking about the payoff. For me the absolute payoff of this type of training is the ability to train and play pain free which allows more progress.
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That's got to be up there for sure. At the moment i'm only using SL training on the R leg which was my injured / operated / rehabbing one. If i can bring it up to symmetry with the L i'll be happy. When they're equally as strong, i'll prob be a better squatter and DL jumper and SL jumper (i almost only jump off R). But will be interesting to see if it allows me to go past my previous athletic levels b/c i prob had some sort of imbalance even before the injury as well. Now i'm also curious what would happen if i use SL training on my stronger L leg as well, make it even stronger? Maybe.
I want to do a few things actually in addition to SL training, explore the alternative plant LR and SL jumping off L which are both things i've scarcely done, just for balancing out. Some jumping training like bounds (especially SL but DL too) are so much fun compared to normal training it's fun to mix it up. But when i talk about payoff im wondering if can improve all these from SL training. Maybe, maybe not
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Sat (9/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 42 days
BW:
BS 6x75, 6x95, 4x110, 2x120, 1x130
BSS(R) 8x20, 8x27.5
Notes:
I added the reverse deadmill drill as a warmup since yesterday. I do 3 mins highest incline walking on the TM then go to failure on the reverse deadmill, i experimented with incline and i still dont know which is more beneficial 0 incline or max? Wasnt feeling like doing split squats today (the right foot doesnt like being flexed so much) so tried BSS and what do you know, BSS seems to be way harder. I worry about balance tho cos if i stack it with a bar that would be a wreck! Also i experimented with adding an extra warmup set because i was finding 100kg to 110kg is too challenging to be called a warmup. Adding the 95kg made it less challenging but i still am not strong enough to warmup with 110kg .. so need to experiment some more there also.
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Sun (10/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 43 days
BW:
BS 6x75, 6x92.5, 5x105, 2x120, 1x130
OHP 6x50, 2x57.5, 2x60, 6Fx54.5, 6x55, 6x54.5, 7x52.5, 8x51.5
Chinup 1x17.5kg, 3x10kg, 5x5kg, 5x2.5kg, 5x1.25kg, 6xBW
LPD, Crow, Curl 15x27.5kg
Notes:
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Mon (11/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 44 days
BW:
BS 6x75, 6x92.5, 6x102.5, 4x112.5, 3x120, 1x127.5
Notes:
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Tue (12/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 45 days
BW:
BS 6x75, 6x90, 6x107.5, 5x115, 3x122.5, 1x130, 16x92.5
BX 17x25kg
Notes:
I pushed the agenda today, i kept the initial warmups technically clean but the latter reps of the sets from 107.5kg onwards were dirty. It's ok i think, it's better to be dirty and get stronger than stay mediocre forever. I'm patient but day 45 and still struggling to use 100kg+ for reps makes no damn sense, maybe what's missing is my old intensity?
Also im making a note that there is something missing between where i am and where i want to be with BSS. Let me explain, my knee wobbles even with the empty bar. So there is some stability missing that i need to readdress before i can use BSS to make my right leg muscles stronger which i think it does just well but it doesn't do anything for the stability issue. What exercises do i need for htat? I have no clue :(
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Wed (13/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 46 days
BW:
BS 6x75, 6x90, 6x102.5, 3x120, 1x130
BP 6x75, 5Fx83.5, 3x87.5, 7x77, 8x70
LPD, CRow, Curl 15x30kg
Notes:
feeling blah
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Thu (14/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 47 days
BW:
BS 6x75, 6x90, 1x107.5, 1x117.5
Notes:
bargained and did some paused reps instead of bailing on workouts
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Fri (15/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 48 days
BW:
BS 6x75, 6x92.5, 1x110, 1x120
Notes:
more paused bargaining haha
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Ordered some cells for the scales. I went too long between bench sessions and now i'm about a month or so weaker. My knees have told me to stop with the daily heavy squatting nonsense, even if the weight isn't really heavy. Programming wise it wil be something like
Day 1: Upper body (alternate between bench and ohp)
Day 2: Rest (active recovery with the empty bar)
Day 3: Lower body (alternating BS/BSS and running / jumping)
Day 4: Rest (active recovery)
Repeat.
If that gets me progressing and feeling good about training i'll be happy. Daily training is the worst thing to do, high freq gains vanish very rapidly. I see that now, it can happen within a day or two of not training. I want gains that last even if they come slower. I'm ON that mindset now after spinning my wheels for the last 3 months and making zero progress.
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Tue (26/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 1 days
BW: 87.9kg (!!!!)
BS 2x8x20, 8x40, 6x55
BP 8x20, 8x30, 6x40
Notes:
Scales are back and while i expected to see say 86.xx something and be disappointed about THAT imagine finding out i'm 88kg. Yikes.
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Wed (27/5/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 2 days
BW: 85.1kg (!!!!)
BS 17x95, BX 20x25kg
Notes:
Exams are stressing me out and im not getting much sleep. Need to be careful with all the caffeine im taking and the previous factors mentioned, im giving myself a good chance of arrythmias. my heart rate was so high after that set of 17x95 that it took a good half an hour to come down below 100bpm. But thankfully it did. So that puts me exactly 20kg away from my lifetime PR of 17x115kg.
But on the bright side somehow the scale read 85.1kg today .. that's good! I finally found a diet secret that seems to be a huge gamechanger. Coles now sells these 500mL MCT enriched coconut oil bottles for like $11. Taking 10g twice a day is letting me reduce carb intake heavily while suffering no consequences whatsover, which is profoundly cool.
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Mon (1/6/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 0 days
BW:
BS 6x70, 6x90
OHP 6x50, 6x56, 8x54.5
Chinup 6xBW
Notes:
missed several sessions cos of uni but going to try do better
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Wed (3/6/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 3 days
BW:
BS 6x75, 6x90, 1x120
BP 6x75, 7Fx77, 9x70
Pullup 5xBW
LPD, CROW 15x35kg, 12x35kg
Notes:
Bench has stalled hard .. but i am going 10days or more between sessions so that's expected.
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Wed (10/6/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
BS 8x40, 8x60, 6x75
BP 6x55, 6x72.5, 7x77.5, 10x70
Notes:
Got a bench in! made progress. doing abbreviated workouts while in exams. but i have to share some news with my squats. i bought a pair of reebok (crossfity) type lifting shoes last year, at the time i was lifting seriously so i didn't really try them except the first day when i got them i swapped them on during my regular daily squats and i noticed they were squishier and i didnt think they were as good. well this time around i was thinking of sparing my normal shoes from wear and tear by swapping to the reeboks. and imagine my suprise when i found it made my squats feel better, my knee feel wonderful and my form became much improved. it was almost as my old shoes had worn out in a way which put a great deal of stress on my right knee .. and just not using them fixed that instantly. really cool stuff. also i found i was never really squatting right in the first place, my core was engaged but not fully in a way it should be. the upshot of it is that on video my squats now look like acole's .. amazing transformation. downside is im a newbie again, now using 70-90kg for worksets but it's okay :)
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need to start logging again, got too occupied with exams to keep up logging but i tried to train once a while. now im going to get back into it again, hoping to get my upper body program on track.
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Thu (25/6/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
BS 8x40, 8x60, 8x80
BP 6x55, 6x72.5, 6x77.5, 6x75, 8x70
Pullup 2x5xBW
Notes:
Got some runs on the board. I'm booking a tattoo session (a first one), for my birthday, thinking of getting something on my biceps, as motivation to train my upper body hard.
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you should get this: :lololol:
i love having tattoos but i'm glad i waited so long to start getting them (was 29 when i got my first one). i think i'll go in for my third once covid calms down here. thought about getting it in london but the thing i want to get is super tied to where i grew up so seems more appropriate to get it done here.
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Thu (25/6/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
BS 8x40, 8x60, 8x80
BP 6x55, 6x72.5, 6x77.5, 6x75, 8x70
Pullup 2x5xBW
Notes:
Got some runs on the board. I'm booking a tattoo session (a first one), for my birthday, thinking of getting something on my biceps, as motivation to train my upper body hard.
Nice. What are you getting?
Meanwhile I have my first one booked for the second week of July.
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you should get this: :lololol:
i love having tattoos but i'm glad i waited so long to start getting them (was 29 when i got my first one). i think i'll go in for my third once covid calms down here. thought about getting it in london but the thing i want to get is super tied to where i grew up so seems more appropriate to get it done here.
What was your first one and what are you planning to get?
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you should get this: :lololol:
i love having tattoos but i'm glad i waited so long to start getting them (was 29 when i got my first one). i think i'll go in for my third once covid calms down here. thought about getting it in london but the thing i want to get is super tied to where i grew up so seems more appropriate to get it done here.
What was your first one and what are you planning to get?
first one is on the inside of my left bicep: a representation of the folds in a paper airplane i learned to make in preschool. looks like an origami diagram, but rectangular. it's a reminder to play and be imaginative and open-minded, and to revere good teachers like the guy who taught me that particular way of making airplanes. second one is on my left ankle: five interlocking circles (around one axis, not like the olympic rings), which my brother and parents all got after my youngest brother died a couple years ago. it commemorates him and the fact that our family of five is no longer intact except in ourselves. both pretty simple geometric designs.
the third is going to be a cross-section of the bedrock underneath the neighborhood where i grew up and am sitting right now. it'll be based on one i found by the maryland geological survey, just grayscale/fine-line rather than colored.* only thing that's holding me back right now, other than covid, is deciding where to put it. it's between wrapping it around my right thigh, right-side ribs, or right bicep/forearm.
*https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Prodesc/proddesc_277.htm (the second drawing down in the middle, the one that looks like a bar. if you zoom in, you'll see georgia ave and piney branch rd: i grew up right in between those two.)
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Fri (26/6/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
BS 8x40, 8x60, 8x75, 8x90
Run ~ 2.5km
Notes:
Weather was good and i couldn't resist going for a run along the beach. was pretty nice, should do that more often (i know i always say that but)
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Sat (27/6/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
BS 8x40, 8x60
OHP 8x40, 8x50, 4x54, 8x50
Chinup 2x6xBW
Notes:
Yeah my body isn't used to doing ohp workouts so frequently but going 10 days between ohp or bp is not good for progress, but in the meantime i'll need to adapt to more frequent upper training.
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you should get this: :lololol:
i love having tattoos but i'm glad i waited so long to start getting them (was 29 when i got my first one). i think i'll go in for my third once covid calms down here. thought about getting it in london but the thing i want to get is super tied to where i grew up so seems more appropriate to get it done here.
What was your first one and what are you planning to get?
first one is on the inside of my left bicep: a representation of the folds in a paper airplane i learned to make in preschool. looks like an origami diagram, but rectangular. it's a reminder to play and be imaginative and open-minded, and to revere good teachers like the guy who taught me that particular way of making airplanes. second one is on my left ankle: five interlocking circles (around one axis, not like the olympic rings), which my brother and parents all got after my youngest brother died a couple years ago. it commemorates him and the fact that our family of five is no longer intact except in ourselves. both pretty simple geometric designs.
the third is going to be a cross-section of the bedrock underneath the neighborhood where i grew up and am sitting right now. it'll be based on one i found by the maryland geological survey, just grayscale/fine-line rather than colored.* only thing that's holding me back right now, other than covid, is deciding where to put it. it's between wrapping it around my right thigh, right-side ribs, or right bicep/forearm.
*https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Prodesc/proddesc_277.htm (the second drawing down in the middle, the one that looks like a bar. if you zoom in, you'll see georgia ave and piney branch rd: i grew up right in between those two.)
That's very cool. Sounds like there's a ton of meaning in each of your tattoos.
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Fri (10/7/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW: 83.5kg
BS 8x20, 8x40
BP 8x40, 8x50, 8x60, 5x70, 5x72.5, 5x75, 5x72.5, 5x70
Notes:
isacomeback.
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Sat (11/7/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
BS 8x20, 8x40, 8x50
Notes:
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Sun (19/7/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
BP 6x6x70
Notes:
I'll just log bench workouts. Next time will go for 7x7. Goal is to get something like 10x10x70 before i add some weight.
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Wed (18/7/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
OHP 8x40, 6x50, 6x52.5, 7x50
DB OHP 6x20, 8x17.5, 12x15
Chin 3x2xbw
Notes:
Assistance to bench ..
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Fri (31/7/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
BP 7x7x70 (PR; failed last rep though)
Notes:
I found 60kg bench warmups not easy, so i thought today was going to be another writeoff but somehow i managed 6 sets of 7. On the 7th set, i failed the 7th rep. Gutted. That would have been a lifetime PR. i mean it still is, but it would have been a proper one. So i think 8x8x70kg is ways away yet. Not sure what to attempt next time?
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suprisingly, got whole body doms from that bench session, i didn't do anything else (for a while too) and today my right hamstring is still tender (cramped on the last rep), glutes, abs, and ofc shoulders, chest etc.
I reviewed video which i took of the last set and i noticed my lower body is kinda shaky. will try to get that down next time. enjoying training again, upper body will prob give me the best returns, in life terms, i wish i had done it earlier, i might look like i lift sooner. can't wait to get big!
wonder how long it will take to recover, hopefullly not as long as last time, but that itme i was doind daily training and i dont think that's as effective for upper body.
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Thu (6/7/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
OHP 6x50, 3x5x52.5, 2x5x50
Chinup 3x5xBW
DB OHP 3x12x15
Notes:
Assistance to bench day done
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Stepped on the scales at home before showering today and it read 81.8kg. Gym weight with shoes, clothes, 2 meals is consistently around 85-85.5kg.
Have been carb cycling, where around the bench workout day, i ramp the carbs up the day or two before, and keep it up for a few days after, then taper off carbs til the next bench day (~10 days later). The idea is to eat enough carbs around bench to allow progress but the rest of the time i'm leaning out. On paper it should work, in reality it shouldn't, but let's see.
Need to mentally dial it in to go for the bench day, thinking weds, going to try for 8 sets of 7 with 70kg, since 8x8x70kg is too big a leap from last time's 7x7x70kg (with failed last rep).
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Tue (12/7/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
70kg BP - 8,8,8,8,7,5,4,3
Incline DB BP 12x15,12x17.5,12x15
Row 3x12x40kg
Notes:
endurance fell off rapidly after set 4..
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Sun (16/7/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
OHP 5x52.5, 4x5x51, 5x51
Chinup 5x5xBW
DBOHP 12x17.5, 12x20, 12x17.5
Notes:
assistance to bench day, done
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Fri] (21/7/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
BP 6x8x70(PR)
IDBBP 12x22.5, 12x22.5, 8x25, 9x22.5
Curl 2x12x35
Notes:
Finally a legit honest to goodness, lifetime bench PR, no failed reps. That last rep was a max effort, i had to yell to get it up, sorry to the ppl around me but it had to be done! Next time i'll go for sets of 9 reps. Cycle goal is 5 sets of 10, then i can add weight.
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:highfive:
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Solid benching bro!
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thanks guys! i haven't been logging but i bench daily now .. but only one day in 10 with weight on the bar, usually it's just the empty bar or 5-6kg dbs. im not sure if it's helping neurally or what. pushups would be better but i tend to get carried away and over-do it,and then i cant lift in the gym. going to take the scenic route and aim to hit 10x10x100 in a year or so!
i do static holds on the dips bars and when i do, i start shaking like a leaf. so i know i've got a lot of weaknesses atm, but for now just happy to focus on improving my bench. eventually will cycle different exercises. keep things fresh.
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thanks guys! i haven't been logging but i bench daily now .. but only one day in 10 with weight on the bar, usually it's just the empty bar or 5-6kg dbs. im not sure if it's helping neurally or what. pushups would be better but i tend to get carried away and over-do it,and then i cant lift in the gym. going to take the scenic route and aim to hit 10x10x100 in a year or so!
i do static holds on the dips bars and when i do, i start shaking like a leaf. so i know i've got a lot of weaknesses atm, but for now just happy to focus on improving my bench. eventually will cycle different exercises. keep things fresh.
Hey mate. What's your thinking behind 10x10@100?
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Hey mate. What's your thinking behind 10x10@100?
hey coges, good training lately! 10x10x100 feels like a good end goal, i dont think my body type can handle more weight than 100kg so it's an upper limit on weight .. but i'm also more interested in reps so 10 seems like a good upper limit on reps. 10 sets is just for symmetry to complete the 10x100 haha. If i get 10 sets i'lll probably have close to my maximum amount of hypertropy which is the primary goal of benching in the first place.
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research showed that people were making better gains on 5x10 than 10x10 due to the excessive volume - YMMV :)
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Hey mate. What's your thinking behind 10x10@100?
hey coges, good training lately! 10x10x100 feels like a good end goal, i dont think my body type can handle more weight than 100kg so it's an upper limit on weight .. but i'm also more interested in reps so 10 seems like a good upper limit on reps. 10 sets is just for symmetry to complete the 10x100 haha. If i get 10 sets i'lll probably have close to my maximum amount of hypertropy which is the primary goal of benching in the first place.
Hey mate. Thanks!
10x10 is full on but if you can bench 10x10@100 you'll be a beast. I saw Sebastian Oreb did 5x5@200 on the weekend and it was insane.
Are you going to peak and change your volume during that time?
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I think the goal is to get to the point where i can use 100kg for sets, even if it's just doubles. And then just stick with the same weight but try add a rep each workout. Eventually getting to 10x10. To get to 100kg i will be going thru different stages of mastering intermediate weights. The currrent goal is 5x10x70kg, after that i'll start over with 75kg until i've mastered that for 5x10. Then start over with 80kg. Will take a long time!
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Wed] (26/7/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
OHP 5x53.5, 5x53, 4x52.5
Chinup 3x5kg, 5x3x2.5kg (87.5kg bw)
DBOHP 3x12x20kg
Notes:
Assitance to bench day done. This is the last day i combine 'lats' and shoulders. I think the old time bodybuilders were right about separating these things out. Im so over full body nonsense now. But the trouble is if i add an extra back day, then im already going 10 days between bench, 10 days between ohp, 10 days between squat. So now what, 14 days between? stupid.
i definitely need an exclusive back day. Here is why, i have dated girls with more (upper) back development, i have no muscle on my back except my erectors. i always do chinups etc right at the end after doing ohp which means im too fatigued to actually do a great job with back exercises at that point. There are lots of exercises i just dont have time for if im doing full body workouts (im talking about lat pulldowns, cable rows, rack pulls etc). so if i have a separate day to dedidate to back i'll not only enjoy it from having something different but also actually give my back exercises a honest chance to be effective. opportunstic cost may be squats, they're going right to hte bottom of my priority list.
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Monday (31/7/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
BP 6x75, 6x77.5, 6x75, 5x75, 5x75, 5x75
Notes:
Well, wasn't feeling up to doing 9s .. 6x60kg warm felt heavy/hard. so i decided to jump to 75kg .. and start a new cycle. Feeling pretty deflated with gym
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Sat (5/8/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
OHP 6x50, 5x53.5, 5x54, 5x53.5, 5x53, 6x53
DB OHP 3x8x22.5
Notes:
Shoulder day .. no back. looking fwd to doing the back day!
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First back day was a disaster in the sense that i could barely do a single bodyweight chinup! turns out there is a reason i usually do them on ohp day, b/c it fatigues some of the same muscles that make it hard to do chinups on a separate workout following the ohp workout.
However, in other aspects it was a success because i got to spend some quality time with the T-bar setup. Did a few sets of T deadlifts (which seem to suit me quite well.. my form is clean and it feels good). And i didn't really do T-bar rows but i feel like that would be something i'd benefit from as well. Today i've got some doms in the the upper back area. Which is a good sign. Guess a compromise from here on would be to do chinups on ohp days but do T-bar work on back day.. and i can throw in some other back work like cable pulls. Still working it out as i go.
Worked up to 3 plates on the tbar for 8 reps, (that's 3x20kg not 140kg lol) .. that was quite challenging but i got it done.
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Tue (8/9/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
BP 6x77.5, 6x77.5, 6x77.5, 5x77.5, 4Fx77.5, 3x77.5
IDBBP 3x8x25kg
Dips 3x8xBW
Notes:
next week im going to try for 6x6x77.5kg and if i get it, will go up to 80kg and start a fresh cycle. Started doing dips because i think they help balance things out and i'll have benefit from keeping them around than not.
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Sat (12/9/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
OHP 6x50, 5x54, 5x54.5, 5x54, 5x54, 5x54, 7x54
DBOHP 6x25, 6x25, 6x25
Chinup 5xBW, 5xBW
Notes:
assistance to bench day, was pretty good, upper body is starting to fill out a little. its starting to get warmer so will be looking at adding running and sprinting to the mix once the hips feel good.
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Mon (14/9/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
BS 6x70, 6x87.5, 6x90
T-DL 8x40kg, 8x60kg, 12x80kg
T-Row 3x8x40kg
Slant Ab situp 2x15xBW
KB Shrug 2x20x28kg
Notes:
back workout. i wanted to do back extensions and cable rows, but was too drained at the end. next time
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Thu (24/9/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
OHP 6x50, 5x54.5, 5x55, 5x55, 5x54.5, 5x54.5, 6x54.5
DBOHP 5x27.5, 7x25, 9x22.5
Chinup 6x3xBW
Notes:
Assistance to bench day, it's been 12 days since the last one? im never going to make progress at this rate.
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what got in the way of working out?
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what got in the way of working out?
getting old? im not sure, i go to the gym every day but most workouts are just 20 mins on the bike, empty bar squats/ohp/bp and im out. then with the rotation of squat, bench, ohp and back days, it goes around 10-14 days between the last day the same workout was done.
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Sat (26/9/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
BS 6x3x90
T-bar DL 8x85, 8x90
T-bar row 8x50, 8x55
Notes:
Had to rush out and skipped ab work
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what got in the way of working out?
getting old? im not sure, i go to the gym every day but most workouts are just 20 mins on the bike, empty bar squats/ohp/bp and im out. then with the rotation of squat, bench, ohp and back days, it goes around 10-14 days between the last day the same workout was done.
Man why so long between proper sessions?
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Man why so long between proper sessions?
Good question. i dont know. after such a 'proper session', i usually go several days (sometimes 3-5) til the next one, b/c ive become quite conservative and dont tackle another proper workout til i feel i've recovered or maybe it's a mental thing... i havent really thought about it. it's also a consequence of not having a set program that has me doing X on day Y.
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Mon (28/9/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW:
BP 3x82.5, 3x85, 3x82.5, 3x82, 3x81.5, 3x81.5
Incline DBBP 7x30, 9x27.5, 11x25
Dips 3x12xBW
Notes:
This was a rough session as expected because my last proper workout was 2 days ago and given the recent discussion i thought to try pushing the issue.
i should make a note here that today i weighed 91kg in the gym. this is obviously cause for concern given my history. it's not like i havent started a new me thing every monday, 1st of hte month, birthday etc, i just dont have the follow through anymore. kind of demotivated by lack of progress over the last 18 months.
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Man why so long between proper sessions?
Good question. i dont know. after such a 'proper session', i usually go several days (sometimes 3-5) til the next one, b/c ive become quite conservative and dont tackle another proper workout til i feel i've recovered or maybe it's a mental thing... i havent really thought about it. it's also a consequence of not having a set program that has me doing X on day Y.
I was actually doing a similar thing recently. Mine was two things. No program and no motivation. I got a shot in the arm though recently. My wife asked me what my max deadlift was. She trains crossfit and is starting to get an idea of what actual strong people can lift these days. I told her it was 180 and, I kid you not, she was like "oh....I thought it was more like 200" haha. Part of me was thinking 180 is good (which it is) but the other part of me was thinking what I was capable of if I actually put in some consistent long term effort.
You need to get back on it mate. You're thinking about your lack of progress but think about what you are capable of and what you can still get after.
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Fri (1/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW: 91.5kg
OHP 6x50, 5x55, 5x55.5, 5x56, 5x55, 5x55, 6x55
DBOHP 3x8x25
Chinup 6x4xBW
Notes:
Assistance to bench day, okay. Was too drained to do anything more after the chins, barely got thru them at all.
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I was actually doing a similar thing recently. Mine was two things. No program and no motivation. I got a shot in the arm though recently. My wife asked me what my max deadlift was. She trains crossfit and is starting to get an idea of what actual strong people can lift these days. I told her it was 180 and, I kid you not, she was like "oh....I thought it was more like 200" haha. Part of me was thinking 180 is good (which it is) but the other part of me was thinking what I was capable of if I actually put in some consistent long term effort.
Yes!! Those are the kinds of motivation you need to push to the next level. I haven't got anything like that atm, i used to train to become the rec league Lebron but that seems an eternity ago now.
You need to get back on it mate. You're thinking about your lack of progress but think about what you are capable of and what you can still get after.
been doing this week, so far so good. not sure how long i can keep it up but it feels do-able, if difficult. i guess i got a little too comfortable, staying out of that 'very uncomfortable' place you need to be to push to the next level. i dont know if im ready for all that yet, but gradually ramping it up, maybe i can get there again. thanks for the motivation!
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Sat 3/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW: <91.5kg>
BS 6x4x90
T-bar DL 6x60, 8x80 (small handles), 8x100kg(large handle)
T-Bar row 3x8x60kg
Cable Row 3x12x50kg
Notes:
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Sat 3/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW: <91.6kg>
BP 6x4x80
IDBBP 0x32.5, 8x30, 8x30, 10x27.5
Dips 3x12x2.5kg
Notes:
Fatigue is def a factor now, but im still progressing thankfully. I couldn't get the 32.5kg dbs up lol. is there a trick to it? im doing a kick thing but i still cant start the set. i feel like if i could start the set i'd get at least a couple of reps but since i cant, it's fail. Do ppl get spotted into place on this or what? im just too weak? is there an exercise i can do to improve my 0th rep?
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What is IDBBP?
With the dumbbells I place them on my knees and heave them up. The heaviest I've gone lately is 36kg with db's and it's harder getting the db's up then doing the first couple of reps!
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sorry, incline db bench press. i think i could get them up on flat bench because the kick can be stronger using the knee, but i only do flat barbell bench and incline db bench, there is hardly any kick on the incline db bench.
i wouldn't mind doing flat bench db work but then workouts will end up too long (they already are)! but maybe that's the answer? if so it willl have to wait, need to get my barbell bench somewhere respectable (90kg worksets) before i switch up. for assistance db flat is kind of redundant but incline gives more variety/stimulus .. so i thought?
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There is carry over between flat bench and db bench, but if you want to get strong at db bench you'd be better off just focusing on db bench over bb flat bench. One of my old team mates from rugby has bad shoulders so he can't do anything over 100kg on flat bench because it puts too much pressure on his shoulders. Yet he can rep out 50kg dbs.
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clean them to your shoulders and then sit?
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lol, i'll post a video on insta and see if you can check my form for the setup
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Thu 8/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW: 92.1kg
BS 6x5x90
Notes:
Forced myself to do a squat session .. wasnt feeling up to it. not sure what happened but now that first couple of reps above 70kg, really feel rough on my knees, they wobble around. i wonder if that's a sign i should just stop squatting.
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Sat 10/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW: 92.1kg
OHP 6x50, 5x56, 5x56.5, 5x57, 5x56, 5x56, 7x56
DB OHP 9x25, 9x25, 8x25
Chinup 6x5xBW
Notes:
If im using 55kg ish for barbell ohp, it doesn't make sense to jump to 27.5kg db ohps even though i know i can use it for at least one set of 6 reps .. i will stay with 25kg for now.
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Wed 14/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW: 93.1kg
BP 6x5x80
Incline DB BP 6Fx27.5, 6x27.5, 6x27.5, 6x27.5
Dips 11Fx5kg, 9x3.75kg
Notes:
Getting quite plump .. need to spend a month or so cutting but im no-man's land on strength goals, still ways away from the 60/90kg worksets on OHP and BP. Story of my life
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Fri 16/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW: 93.1kg
BS 6x6x90
Horizontal Leg press 4 sets
Notes:
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ive gained some muscle which im happy with but a ton of fat. starting a new thing tmr
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Sun (18/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW: 94.1kg
OHP 6x50, 5x57, 5x57.5, 5x58.0, 5x57.5, 5x57, 6x57
DBOHP 10x25, 8x22.5
Chinups 2x5xBW, LPD 3 sets
Notes:
That's the last workout of the unplanned 'bulk' which was about 3 months long. i went from 85kg to 95kg bodyweight with some modest increase in strength (5kg on ohp, 10kg on bench) .. for health reasons im going to stop gaining weight now.
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Mon (19/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW: 93.6kg
Bike 20 mins, Row 5 mins,
Recovery KB squats (2 sets), Split squats (2 sets, Back Extension (2 sets), Bench (2 sets) etc
Notes:
I didn't realise how much i have dreaded barbell squats .. it's fine when it's heavy because the thrill of pushing hard makes up for it but otherwise i despise them. KB squats are quite pleasant and i enjoy how much nicer the form is automatically without even doing anything special (mobility, stretching etc). The hardest stumbling block was giving up on the idea of daily squatting as if that's anything good .. now im enjoying not doing them having skipped 2 days of them in the last 6 months of daily training (!).
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Tue (20/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW: 93.0kg
Bike 20 mins, Row 5 mins,
Recovery/Deload BS 6x2x90
T-bar DL 6x100, 8x110
T-bar Row 10x40, 8x50, 8x45
Cable Row 3x12x60kg
Notes:
Not super satisfied with this back day, the t-bar DLs handles are too high and if i dont use them it's a bit too low, but will max it out (can take upto 120kg i think) then probably start over with a variant that doesn't use handles .. or switch to another exercise
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Thu (22/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW: 94.5kg
BP 6x6x80
Incline DBBP 3x8x30
Notes:
Cycle with 80kg is over, next session will go 5x5x82.5kg and then start a new one.. (with 85kg or 87.5kg if i am being ambitious!).
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Just wanted to make a note that i did some basic google searching and found that the optimal angle for incline bench is around 15-30 degrees. I thought bigger angle == better but it actually puts more stress on shoulders than chest which wasn't the goal. last night used the lowest angle on the bench before it's flat (i think it's around 20-30?) and today my chest is sore, even tho i skipped dips .. so i think something's clicked. The next improvement i can make is with ROM - i need to touch my chest on each rep, then i'll get more out of the exercise .. i can see it training the zeroth rep on heavier dbs ..
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Sat (24/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training:
BW: 94.4kg
BS 5x5x100
Leg Press 3 sets, Smith Calf 3 sets
Notes:
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Mon (26/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 0/0
BW: 95.2kg
OHP 6x50, 5x57.5, 5x58.5, 5x57.5, 5x57.5, 5x58, 6x57.5
DB OHP 3x6x27.5
Chinups 5,5,5,4,3,3
Notes:
bar speed on ohp was very good .. 60kg seems closer now. But the downside is my protruding stomach .. so another attempt at eating clean etc started. im pretty sure i've been compromising because i want to avoid getting stalled but that's just laziness, if i sleep and eat better, it should be possible to continue making progress without the extra fat. right
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Wed (28/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 0/0
BW: 94.4kg
BS 6x2x105
T-bar DL 8x120kg, Row 3x8x40
Cable Row 12x65, 10x65, 12x65
Notes:
couldn't fit +5kg on the bar for T-bar from last time so went up 10kg instead to 120kg, maxing it out. Probably the first time i felt my erector work, which i think suggests that T-bar DL is a very poor man's DL. I wish my gym had a Trap bar, it may be what i need to work my back without dealing with setup issues on conventional deadlift.
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Fri (30/10/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 0/0
BW: 94.4kg
BP 6x5x82.5
Incline DBBP 7x32.5, 6x32.5, 10x30
Dips 8xBW
Notes:
Was supposed to get 5x5x82.5 but i did an extra set. Not sure what to do next, whether to try 5x5x85kg or just jump to 87.5kg and start a new cycle, or stay at 82.5kg and go for 6x6. The decision might be made for me cos im going to start cutting, moderation isnt working, i need a hard reset and a cut can def reset habits in a major way.
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I would jump up to 87.5 ;D
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I would jump up to 87.5 ;D
yeah! it's tempting, sometimes i'll try do the hard thing (usually volume milestone) and if i find I cant, i will jump in the weights and start a new cycle as a compromise.
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Sun (1/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 0/0
BW: 95.4kg
BS 6x3x110
Seated Calf Raise - 4 sets (new exercise)
Notes:
The seated calf raise is something i wish i had tried out before, my calves were on fire! i was supposed to 107.5kg or 105kg but i felt like 'going heavy' so went up to 110kg (red+blue). not sure i will stick wiht it, form wasnt great but lets see.
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Tue (3/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 0/0
BW: 96.4kg
OHP 6x50, 5x58.0, 5x59, 3x5x58.0, 7x58
DB OHP 3x6x27.5
Chin 6x3xBW
Notes:
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Thu (5/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 0/0
BW:
T-bar DL 8x120kg
DL 5x6x70kg
Cable Row 3x10x70kg
Notes:
'Back' day .. i miss not having to do back work because i squatted heavy .. but now im having to do these extra exercises which im not good at all .. deadlift setup is bad .. i dont know how to put the bar down safely .. i have a bruise/swollen knee which im not sure is from bumping my knee or something else
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Sat (10/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 0/0
BW:
BP 6x6x85
Incline DB BP 5x35, Dips 10xBW
Notes:
Next time i am deciding whether to go for 6x6x85 or try for 5x5x87.5kg. leaning towards the former b/c it will improve my chance of getting the 5x5x87.5kg the following workout.
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Mon (9/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 0/0
BW:
BS 4x110, 5x4x107.5
Notes:
Forced a workout .. tough couple of days
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you're got pretty long legs, might be worth doing rack DLs? if you're not trying to compete and the exercise is just to build legs and back/shoulders, then who cares if they're off the floor?
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you're got pretty long legs, might be worth doing rack DLs? if you're not trying to compete and the exercise is just to build legs and back/shoulders, then who cares if they're off the floor?
trying to build legs / backs / shoulders is the main goal and competing never. i can see me running a 5k sooner than entering a PL comp .. which would never happen unless it's squat or bench only or something and i feel i could be competitive (not realistic). what put me off rack dls is whenever i contemplated them in the past i thought i was cheating on ROM which is something i still have a huge hangup about for some reason (i think it's hammered into you when you start lifting that partials = bad). i will try them this week and report back. thank you for the suggestion.
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yeah i hear that about getting "partials are bad!" drilled in early on. even though i've been on here for almost the whole time that i've been lifting weights and adarq is the king of partials, so i should have known better. at any rate, "strength training is GPP" is a higher law than "partials are bad."
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Wed (11/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 0/0
BW: 95.6kg
OHP 5x58.5, 5x59.5, 3x5x58.5, 8x58.5 (PR!)
DBOHP 5x27.5, 6x27.5, 4fx27.5
Chinup 5 or 6 sets (lost count) of 4 reps x BW
Notes:
An OHP PR .. it must be years since i hd one of those. Not a bad workout all things considernig, am grieving hte loss of beloved dog since yesterday, she was 16, lots of great memories, was the sweetest dog, full of curiousity til the end. will miss her
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Wed (11/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 0/0
BW: 95.6kg
OHP 5x58.5, 5x59.5, 3x5x58.5, 8x58.5 (PR!)
DBOHP 5x27.5, 6x27.5, 4fx27.5
Chinup 5 or 6 sets (lost count) of 4 reps x BW
Notes:
An OHP PR .. it must be years since i hd one of those. Not a bad workout all things considernig, am grieving hte loss of beloved dog since yesterday, she was 16, lots of great memories, was the sweetest dog, full of curiousity til the end. will miss her
Congrats on the PR but condolences on the loss of your dog. That sucks mate.
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Fri (13/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 5/5
BW: 95.4kg
Rack DL 6x40, 6x60, 6x75, 6x105, 6x120
T-bar row 3x10x40
Cable Row 3x10x75kg
Notes:
Just like that, i've strung together 5 days of clean eating. Rack DL .. were interesting, certainly better than off the floor. lets see how well i can progress them.
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Sat (15/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 7/7
BW: 96.1kg
BP 5x6x85, 5Fx85
Incline DB BP 3fx35
Dips 3x10xBW
Notes:
Failed the last rep of bench press .. bit embarrassing .. but i just ran out of juice .. my right hamstring cramped etc. all things considered it was a solid effort on a day i felt even warmups heavy. it took so much out of my upper body that i could only manage 3 reps with 35kg. i'd have to check but id done sets of 6-8s or something like that previously?
and i just want to make a note in passing that the rack pulls made my hamstrings v sore. good stuff.
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Tue (18/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 9/9
BW: 95.5kg
BS 5x110, 5x107.5, 4x5x105
Calf 3x10x30
Notes:
the rack pulls def affected squats .. it may work itself out with time but i had the sorest hams and adductors afterward the squats. interesting stuff. I will go for 6x6x105 next time!
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glutes are v. sore. how can that be, i dont remember that happening from just squats. it seems the combo of adding the 'heavy' and then squatting made that happen. prob the first time in ages ive been excited about weights.. no more cutting .. i have about 10kg of fat to lose but if i lose it now i wont be happy b/c i have 10kg of muscle to gain.
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Thu (1/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 11/11
BW: 96.3kg
OHP 6x50, 5x59, 5x60, 3x5x59, 6x60
DB OHP 6x27.5
Chinup 6x5xBW
LPD 1 set
Side bends 12x20kg, 12x24kg
Cable crunch 1 set
Notes:
getting close to the goal of 60kg ohp worksets.
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Sat (21/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 13/13
BW: 96.3kg
Rack Pull 6x100, 6x120, 6x130, 1x140, 8x125
T-bar Row 3x10x40
Cable Row 3x8x80
Notes:
I went one two pins lower this time around. There is only one pin below. Surprisingly my form looks good now.. seems using pins has taught my body how to do the exercise. can try one pin lower next time.
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bw has stabilised since i started eating clean .. im finishing 2 weeks today. if i get to day 22 it will become more or less automatic. keen for that. trying to get the body recomposition from cardio .. ive bumped the bike difficulty setting from 8 to 9 which is challenging .. gets my HR around 130-140bpm. Also meaning to start running but since recovery is so strained atm .. im not sure where to slot it in .. it makes sense to put it into leg or back day - but - those days are already gruelling training wise.
kind of drawn to the idea of playing pickup but it's still covid and i dont really want to risk my loved ones. will wait it out
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Mon (24/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 15/15
BW: 96.4kg
BP 5x5x87.5
Incline DBBP 6-8x32.5, 8x30
Dips 10,8,7F x 5kg
Notes:
I think that 5x5 is a PR but im not 100%. doesn't matter, will be going up to the 90kg goal weight next time and starting a new cycle.
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Wed (25/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 17/17
BW: 96.0kg
BS 6x105, 6x102.5, 4x6x100
Calf Raises x 3 sets
KB side bends 3 x 15 x 24kg
Notes:
Well that was brutal. Finding a new baseline for squatting after adding heavy pulls and harder cardio. Was supposed to go for 6x6x105 had to drop down to 100 to get sets of 6s across. will just assume i started a new exercise. it goes to show how easily you can fool yourself into thinking you're doing well with squats when you dont do any pullingn or cardio ....
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re: cardio, maybe try incline walking on the treadmill? that's something i know lyle used to recommend for bodybuilding. boring but you could, like, read a book.
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re: cardio, maybe try incline walking on the treadmill? that's something i know lyle used to recommend for bodybuilding. boring but you could, like, read a book.
Second this. Walking is my favourite cardio right now. Walk the dogs and listen to a book. Great idea.
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Thanks guys. I don't like treadmill walking b/c i find it more challenging/fatiguing for legs than heart and lungs. The fatigue adds up chronically b/c i end up doing htem daily and it eventually becomes overwhelming.
I should do more walking outdoors though, Coges, I have some really nice parks close to home but i rarely go these days. Will do it for the insta likes maybe lol
With the bike i can work my heart and lungs pretty good each time. What i could do though, on days i lift lower body - save the cardio for the end. Cos that way it wont disrupt the lifting too much. I can still do them prior on upper days?
Im slowly introducing treadmill running however. Last week i did a 5 minute run (lol) and it completely destroyed my right calf (!!) .. i was getting that pump/fatigue. will bump up to 10 mins this week, and gradually work up to 20 mins a week. At ~100kg bw it's pretty challenging doing any running ...
i also want to add in HIIT .. but im easing myself into it by just doing harder bike work because that has to be the staple. Im hoping HIIT will take a couple of inches off my waist ..it usually does that very quickly when i add it in (thru pickup basketball which mimics intervals kinda).
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Fri (28/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 19/19
BW: 97.2kg
OHP 6x50, 5x59.5, 5x60.5, 3x5x59.5, 7x60(PR)
DB OHP 5x27.5, 5x27.5, 8x25
Chinup @ 100, 6x3x2.75kg
LPD 3 sets
Notes:
draining workout .. and it got too late and i went to get fast food (HJs), the girl threw in free onion rings, nuggets, fries and i been good for about 3 weeks, so it's ok once a while but it was unplanned. i feel a lot better these days from eating clean.
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Sun (29/11/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 21/21
BW: 96.6kg
Rack DL 6x100, 6x120, 5x135, 5x140(hook), 1x150(hook), 8x130
T-row 3x10x41.25kg
Cable Row 6x85, 3x8x85
Notes:
LBSS came through with that tip .. im loving this exercise. I even had a gym bro check my form and he said he was happy with my back .. he said i go a bit forward at the start of the exercise but apart from that my back looked solid. I found last workout at 140kg my brain was getting the signal from my grip that it was too heavy and i could barely budge the bar so i thought to try hook for the heaviest sets and it worked well. Kind of exciting .. want to hit some major milestone by year end .. 170kg? 180kg? something like that would be cool.
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Tue (1/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 23/23
BW: 96.6kg
BP 6x70, 3x88.5, 6x2x90
Incline DB BP 3x10x30
Dips 3x10x7.5kg
Notes:
Went up +1kg from last weeks 5x5x87.5kg - and it was not going to happen .. so started a new cycle with 90kg.
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Thu (3/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 25/25
BW: 96.6kg
BS 3x110, 3x112.5, 3x115, 3x112.5, 3x110, 6x110
Calf Raises (smith was taken did them with barbell which i had like zero rom .. weird how age does that to you)
Bike 25mins @ 10 (PR)
Treadmill Run 7:30
Notes:
lifted before doing cardio, that works better than the other way around.
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Calf Raises (smith was taken did them with barbell which i had like zero rom .. weird how age does that to you)
Mate that's not age. Surely no one gets range on a calf raise just using a barbell. There's no way to balance that properly.
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i'll choose to believe that coges, thank you. i wish i had video of when i used to do them years back .. used to use a lot of weight and i dont remember rom being a problem. to be fair i might have been doing them with shit rom but now i cant even lol.
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Sat (5/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 27/27
BW: 97.5kg
OHP 6x50, 5x60, 5x61, 4x5x60
DBOHP 3x8x25
Chins 6x3x2.5kg
Notes:
That was hard ohp day.. even warmups. Was a struggle to even get any one rep
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Mon (7/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 29/29
BW: 97.5kg
Rack Pull 6x100, 6x120, 6x140, 6x145(hook),1x157.5(hook), 8x135
T-row 3x10x42.5
Cable Row 3x8x90
Notes:
I didnt do daily cardio yesterday for the first time in months .. just been feeling a small to medium level of anxiety the last 3-4 days and i thought it might be time to back off a little .. it was nonstop .. day or night .. its scary b/c that's how it feels when i go into flutter but i feel fine today. will work on the self care. meditation, sleep hygiene, etc. just need to make a plan for it
i just want to point out the majority of the pulls were done wrong .. i checked the video and my back was rounded and ugly af. i think in the previous sessions i'd used the side mirror to check my back wassetup flat before pulling .. but during this workout there were a bunch of youths obcuring the view. it seems if i use the mirror in the warmup sets i kind of can do without it but if i dont use the mirror at all in the warmups it leads to horrible pulls throughout.
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Wed (10/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 31/31
BW: 97.3kg
BP 6x70(paused), 9x3x90
Incline DB BP 3x8x32.5
Dips 3x8x10kg
Notes:
The rows (mainly cable, i think) on back days are beating up my upper back enough that it's siginicantly affecting bench presses on bench day. So instead of RPE 8-9 each rep feels like RPE 9-10.
Also i just want to point out that i havent seen any upper chest growth. which means in the past when i did have some muscle up there, it was from a different source, maybe cos i used to mostly paused benching? im doing everythign else the same (incline dumbell presses, dips) otherwise, the only other thing it could be is flat db bench perhaps but i feel like that's more or less redundant when doing dumbell incline bench and barbell flat but i could be wrong.
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Fri (11/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: 0/0
BW: 97.8kg
BS 1x120, 1x130, 6x2x115
FS 8x40, 8x50, 8x60
Treadmill Run - 20 mins
Notes:
So the DOMS from those heavy pulls finally caught up with me yesterday. had crazy erector doms all day and the squats were brutal .. lol .. i literally used to be able to do 20 reps with 110kg and now im making a meal out of 115kg doubles! so funny. but it's a new world, new normal with heavy pulls in the mix im no longer a squat specialist .. which is a good thing imho .. deadlifts deserve to be a staple in all around general training more so than squats which i think are more for athleticism (and im not an athlete anymore).
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Sun (13/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 97.8kg
OHP 6x50, 5x60.5, 5x61.5, 4x5x60.5
DBOHP 3x6x27.5
Chins 6x4x3kg @ 98.3kg (bad rom on the latter reps of last two sets)
Notes:
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Tue (15/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: n/a
Rack DL 6x120, 6x145, 6x150(hook), 1x165(hook), 8x140
Cable Row 3x8x95
Notes:
Skipped the T-rows .. i think they're a low quality exercise .. as soon as i increase the weight from 40kg to 42.5kg the balance is thrown off and then i feel like im on my toes. will do proper rows eventually but right now im focusing on DLs. I noticed reviewing the video (please check insta) that i set up with a flat back but by the time i break the bar off the ground my hips go up to where there should be and yet my chest remains where it was previously - so i think i should just set up at where my body wants to be then my chest will be in the correct place relative to my hips? on theory that's what i have come up with .. no idea if it works out in practice.
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Thu (17/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 98.3kg
BP 6x70(paused), 2x80(paused), 6x4x90 (failed the last rep of the 6th set)
Incline BP DP 8x32.5, 8x30, 8x27.5
Dips 8x12.5, 7Fx12.5, 8x11.25
Notes:
life's been getting in the way, was very tempted to delay the workout for tomorrow but i know that tmr will be even more draining so i pushed it thru tonight. next time sets of 5! Dips i will go for 11.25kg and and take 1.25kg jumps .. 2.5kg was too big a jump and i was struggling to get the 8th rep.
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Sat (19/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 98.3kg
BS 3x120, 1x132.5, 5x3x115
FS 8x50, 5x70, 5x80
Notes:
Leg day too a long time, was late to go for a run, but i did one 3 days ago so i dont feel bad about skipping.
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Mon (21/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.0kg
OHP 5x61, 5x62, 3x5x61, 6x61
Chinup @ 99.5kg: 4x3.5kg, 5x5x0.5kg (~100kg)
DB OHP 3x6x27.5
Notes:
What a disaster. Mondays are super busy and i had to wait ages for the cable rack thingy to do chinups. OHP is getting hard AF - i struggled to do every rep (it feels like i say that a lot lately).
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Went for a walk for the first time in months which involved going uphill first i was finding it as easy as i usually do going downhill. the last time i walked regularly i prob weighed sub 85kg .. early in the pandemic .. so regular bike work + lifting seems to have done good things.
i meant to mention on sunday i went to put some hoops up and i was finding shooting pretty easy . i think the upper body emphasis on lifting has done wonders for my shooting even without any practice or movement efficiency etc.
i should probably also mention none of my pants fit me anymore and im not about to admit defeat and start buying 38" waist pants again. if i can end the summer fitting into 32" again (which with vanity sizing isnt anything super ripped or anything) while maintaining my 60/90/120 ohp/bench/squat worksets while running and biking regularly i'll be happy.
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Wed (23/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.1kg
Rack DL 6x120, 6x150, 6x155(hook), 1x175(hook), 8x145
Jumps 3xSVJ, 3xRVJ, 3xRVJ, 3xRVJ(max effort)
Cable Row 3x8x100
Run - 1 lap - 20mins
Notes:
A guy in the gym saw me jumping and he was impressed (no idea why i doubt i was getting more than 24") and we got talking and he said he was injured last year playing AFL and he rehabed his quad using single leg squats holding kbs. he showed me how and i foudn them really challenging. So im going to try do them regularly as a rehab because my R (rehabbing) leg still hasnt reached parity with the good leg. I find R hamstrings were slacking off in the last deadlift set which throws form off. maybe when im fresher i can do them better because R hamstring contributes evenly? My other theory was maybe hook grip confounds my form because the set with 150kg actually looked clean and the subsequent 155kg set hook was dirty.
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Fri (25/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.3kg
BP 5x90, 5x90, 4Fx90, 4x90, 4x90, 3x90
Incline DB BP 8x32.5, 10x30, 10x30
Dips 3x8x11.25
Notes:
Seems ive hit a wall on the bench after making regular progress every week, this time i could only manage 2 of the scheduled 6 sets of 5. Need to dig deeper to find something for next time, will try to sleep and eat better etc to give myself a fighting chance to get thru all 6 sets.
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The previous back day i think affected my bench day. My grip wasnt as strong (thanks to deads), hamstrings were fatigued (DLs again), and upper back (from cable rows?).
Speaking of DLs, i think my set down is problematic. I can do the RDL part just fine but after that lowering the bar means rounding my back. I think the usual thing to do on DLs is let the weight free-fall while you hold it gently from knee-down - but i cant do that because it will bend the bar (dropping onto pins) .. or make a loud noise. So turns out rack pulls helped a lot but not enough .. cos ideally i would be pulling off blocks so i can finish the reps cleaner. So should i bring my own blocks? I dont even know where i'd find blocks 6" high (or whatever the height is, i haven't measured).
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Sun (27/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.1kg
BS 4x120, 0Fx140, 5x4x115
Jumps ~ 3 sets
Notes:
140 was ambitious .. couldn't finish it, should have gone for the 2.5kg jump to 135kg but it was the last squat session of the year how could i resist breaking out a 2020 pr
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Tue (29/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.5kg
OHP 5x61.5, 5x62.5, 3x5x61.5, 6x61.5
Chinups 6,6,6,5,5
DB OHP 3x7x27.5
Notes:
Progressing still but when do the muscles start growing?
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Thu (31/12/2020)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.6kg
Rack DL 6x155, 6x160(Hook), 1x180(Hook)
Jumps, SVJx5, RVJx5(RL), RVJx5(LR), MEx5, MEx5
Cable Row 3x8x105
Notes:
Damn i look so slow and jump so low these days. But it was only march when i could still get up to a reasonable vertical .. now im 15kg heavier .. it's pretty sombering. I dont really care about vertical but that's a huge dropoff.
Also hugely experimented with DLs after all my thoughts, i do think i had a big reality check. I tried to pull off the floor after the heavy single and was conservative going for 140kg - couldnt budge it off the floor lmao -so i dropped to 120kg and i think i got one or two reps (or zero, i cant remember now) - finally managed to pull a few reps at 100kg. Talk about fool's gold ..
the reason i wanted to pull from the floor? i can drop the bar on the set down .. and hopefully avoid the injury risk of my very ugly setdown, since rack pulls cant be dropped (shouldnt be dropped).
the saving grace is that pulling from the floor .. as hard as it is, i felt it very much in the legs .. so since i actually want to work on my legs more (without squatting more), will be spending more time pulling from the floor. in the meantime, i think i will stop doing hooked sets because it throws form off .. and just progress with normal grip at the rate of 2.5kg/week.
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2021 synopsis
coges is right on instagram, it's time to start working on getting leaner. i will clean up my diet and commit to running 2x a week while doing the recomp thing for a while. And then cut to say sub 95kg.
Right now im in noman's land on strength (115kg squat, 62kg ohp, 90kg bp) .. so if i start cutting now i'll end up achiving nothing. need to get those numbers to around 120/62.5/92.5 worksets, and maintain it for say 3 weeks, before i can start a cut, so i can have a chance to maintain them.
For now staying under 100kg and getting stronger, faster and fitter is a good idea.
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2021 synopsis
coges is right on instagram, it's time to start working on getting leaner. i will clean up my diet and commit to running 2x a week while doing the recomp thing for a while. And then cut to say sub 95kg.
Right now im in noman's land on strength (115kg squat, 62kg ohp, 90kg bp) .. so if i start cutting now i'll end up achiving nothing. need to get those numbers to around 120/62.5/92.5 worksets, and maintain it for say 3 weeks, before i can start a cut, so i can have a chance to maintain them.
For now staying under 100kg and getting stronger, faster and fitter is a good idea.
I'm right there with you mate. I'm doing a full reset though. Jan -> March = Shred city haha
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Sat (2/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.3kg
BP 5x90, 5x90, 5x90, 4Fx90, 4x90, 4x90
Incline DB BP 8x32.5, 10x30, 9x30
Dips 8x12.5, 7Fx12.5, 8x12.5
Notes:
For the first time i got 4 reps across on all sets of benching 90kg. I actually felt strong attempting the 5th rep of the 4th set too, which was cool, but just couldn't finish the rep. So progress is coming, albeit not at the regular 1rep/week i was maintaining til i hit 5s. At this rate it will take sometime to get 6 sets of 6, but once i get there, i think it will be a pretty big milestone.
I have been reducing carbs (and increasing protein via nandos) on 'recovery' days (ie. eod) which might be affecting performance slightly on training days - but - it's worth it to lean out a little while still progressing (maybe slowly). im not ready to begin a cut until i've actually devoted myself to at least 12 weeks of regular running (2x a week, maybe a session of intervals etc)
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Mon (4/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.2kg
BS 5x100, 5x120, 1x135, 5x115, 5x115, 5x115, 5x115, 6x115
RVJ Jumps - 3 sets (3-5 reps)
Notes:
Squats are no fun. Finishing the 115kg cycle with next wks 6x6x115. I should really be doing front squats but then i'll be too drained to jump. I was running late so didnt run (ha). It's ok, im going to give myself another 2 weeks to get my jumps going again before just maintaining them and focusing on RUNNING!
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Wed (6/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.6kg
OHP 5x62, 5x63, 4x5x62
Chin 3x6xBW
DB OHP 2x8x27.5, 0Fx27.5
Notes:
ohp is getting real .. need to dig deep next week for the 62.5kg milestone
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Fri (8/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.0kg
Rack DL 6x160, DL 8x100
Cable Row 3x8x110
accessory - kb side bends, kb rows etc
Notes:
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Sun (10/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 98.7kg
BP 5x90, 5x90, 4Fx90, 1x95, 0Fx102.5(PR attempt)
DB BP 5x35, 7x30, 7x30, 7x30
Dips 3x15kg
Notes:
Bench hit a wall .. i probably should have got that 3rd set of 5 - but in desperation i was experimenting with variables (shoes) and it prob cost me that rep. So after that i decided the workout was a write off and tried to go for a lifetime bench PR. It wasn't going to be the day. But the silver lining was finally giving flat db bench a chance, i think it's a better accessory than incline db bench i'd been doing all along. I found the 35kg very challenging in a good way, my right arm struggled massively to get 35kg up, which means my strong L has been carrying the barbell bench and im limited on bench by the weak R side. So hopefully som time doing flat db bench will fix that. I think it's just a better exercise overall, i've got very little if any chest hypertrophy from barbell bench. DB flat probably gave me the mass i used to have but no longer do.
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Tue (12/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.0kg
BS 6x6x115
Pogo jumps 3x5
Notes:
Squats looked a lot better than they felt. I do not want to be doing 6 sets of hard backsquats every week .. but i dont want to do more than one squat workout a week either. For now, i'll stick to this but i want to focus on running and by the time im done with the squats i have no energy left to do anything else.
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Thu (14/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 100.0kg
OHP 5x62.5, 5x.63.5, 4x5x62.5
DB OHP 3x30, 6x27.5
Chinup 3xBW
Lat Row machine 3x8x32.5kg
Notes:
Still making progress on ohp
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Sat (16/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.8kg
DL 6x115, 4x125, 6x162.5(rack pull)
Jumps
Cable Row 3x8x115kg
Accessory (kb side bends etc, cable crunches)
Notes:
Trash workout. My pulls look hideous .. not sure why. R hamstrings gave way on the 4th rep of the 125kg. I need to reset and clean up form and be disciplined about it, even if it means lifting baby weight for the next 3 months.
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Sat (17/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.8kg
Run 25min
Notes:
Logged the first run of the year. was just around sunset so was bitten by mosquitos on the way back. will go a bit earlier next time. i ran a 165-175bpm heart rate pretty much after the first 5 mins, but strangely i wasnt only sweating a little even tho it was pretty warm. i think im fitter than my horrible pace would suggest .. just not used to running b/c it's a new exercise but the regular bike has made me kinda fit i think, at least not starting from scratch levels of unfit. will log every run onto insta from here, just to build up some consistency.
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Mon (18/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 100kg
BP 5x90, 5x91, 5x90
DB BP 8x32.5, 8x35, 10x32.5
Dips 3x8x16.25
Curls 3x8x35
Notes:
I had the bright idea of going gym earlier but when my bench day this week coincides with the rest of the world's chest day - ie monday, was literally just waiting around for 90 minutes before a bench was available. i had warmed up etc and then just waiting and waiting. But still got it done. Flat db bench is very promising .. i have a good feeling it will fix everything wrong with my upper body training.
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in other news, i have a 42" waist. but if i cut now i will end up in the same situation im always going to be in unless i grow some muscle before cutting. so need to stay fatter for a while longer til ive broken into PR territory, esp on upper body. there's still hope that running will take off inches without actively cutting. and also intervals etc, which always do magic for me when i start it. for now i'll try commit to running regularly.
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Tue (19/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 100kg
Bike 20 mins @ 12 difficulty
Notes:
Dont usually log bike rides but i bumped the difficulty up to 12 from 11. A couple of months ago i was using 9, so i've made some considerable progress. But interestingly my HR still didn't go over 150bpm, which i thought might happen with the bump from 11. Will try make 12 the new normal from here on. I think running and also strength training has made me better at bike, which was surprising, because i used to make a meal out of level 10 in the past and now i can maintain 12 for 30 minutes.
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Wed (20/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 100kg
BS 5x120, 5x120, 5x120, 3x120, 3x120, 3x120
ME Jumps 3, 2, 1
Notes:
Was scheduled for 5x5 but i decided to scrap it and start a new cycle with 120kg early, with the goal of 6x6x120kg in 3 weeks time. After that i will progress 5x5s weekly.
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Fri (22/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.3kg
OHP 4Fx63, 4Fx64, 3x65, 0Fx70, 1x67.5, 7Fx60
DB OHP 6x27.5
Lat Row Machine 3x8x35
Lat Pull Down 8x35, 8x35, 12x35
Notes:
Wow, finally failed a press session! Just decided to call it and tested some heavier weights for fun. Otherwise it was a writeoff. It's my right arm, it's too weak. My strong L side was powering thru reps when the R would stall, which tells me that I'm a 65kg presser on the left and maybe a 50kg presser on the right. Why today hit the wall, prob because i've been pushing my R side harder (with the new flat db benches, arm assistance etc) and this overtrained the R side. Just have to be patient while it catches up then i'll be ready to tackle the next stage.
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Sun (24/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 98.8kg
DL 6x117.5, 3x127.5, 3x140, 1x150, 8x150(Rack)
Jumps 3xSVJ, 3xRVJ, 3xME
Cable Row 3x8x120
DB Side bend 20x35kg
Notes:
Nonsense workout except DLs went better this week. I seem to have forgotten which pin i used to use for rack pulls, i think i need to go one pin lower. And i had no plan so i ended up doing 8x150 for some reason. But was surprised i could pull 150kg clean - first time doing heavy singles from the floor, the 140kg triple was supposed to be a heavy single and then i could rep it, so i thought to try 150kg. Getting better slow.
The 120kg cable row was just one of those pointless milestones where i rowed the entire stack. Each week ive gone up by 5kg and it's unreasonable to expect that kind of progress on such an exercise. So about 3 weeks ago i started cheating more and more and this week it was complete cheating lol. but the goal is to row the entire stack strict one day, so i'll reset a bit, improve rom, max out and repeat.
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Mon (25/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: ?
Run - 31 minutes, 4.5km
Notes:
Made a huge leap from last week, dropped a minute on my average pace. Not bad for starting the 2nd week of running. Would be nice to be 6min or so by end of week 6!
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Tue (26/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.0
BP 5x90.5, 4x91.5, 4x90.5, 1x100(=PR)
DB BP 3x8x35(PR)
Dips 3x8x17.5
Curl 3x8x36
Notes:
Damn, i regret not trying for 90.5kg for all three sets, may have got it. Next time will go for that. But once again, my bench day coincided with the kiwi crew and they bench one after other and there is like 6 of them - so i was kinda cold by the time i got the bench. Next time, i'll just assume we'll end up benching together and save the preworkout for when i get a free bench lol. But all of this can only help so much, the real issue is at my level, it's almost impossible to progress smoothly without a signicant caloric surplus, something i can't afford at my 41.25" size.
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Thu (28/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 98.6
BS 6x5x120
Jumps 3xSVJ, 3xRVJ, 2xME
Notes:
Brutal
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BP 5x90.5, 4x91.5, 4x90.5, 1x100(=PR)
:headbang: :highfive: :strong: :personal-record:
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BP 5x90.5, 4x91.5, 4x90.5, 1x100(=PR)
:headbang: :highfive: :strong: :personal-record:
haha, kind of, still hard to get too excited about benching bodyweight :). the interesting thing is im doing it without being as muscular as i have been in the past .. so hopefully i can do a bit better than this once i figure out why
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Fri (29/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW:
Run - 5km / 38 min
Notes:
First run with Asics Novaboost. Amazing cushioning .. lived up to the hype. I got them on special and im glad i bothered. Easily my fav shoe now but once im in shape i can probably do better times with my Pegasus 34. Did the first km in 6 min pace .. i didnt think i had that in me but the shoes just felt so good and maybe the carb up from last night's pizza helped too. By week 6 i want to be capable of sub 5 pace on a max effort .. that would be cool.
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Sat (30/1/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 98.8kg
OHP 4x63, 3x65.5, 2x65, 2x65, 1x68.0, 0Fx69.5, 6x60
DB OHP 8x25, 8x25
Row Machine 8x37.5, 8x37.5
Notes:
Another terrible OHP session. How did i manage 6 sets of 5 with 62.5kg and then fall off the cliff at 63.0kg? same old story, right bicep is fked ..
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Covid lockdown this week, no gym. Home workouts .. might take a deload and hope for some super comp. probably not though. lol.
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Mon (01/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: ?
DL 6x120, 5x130, 5x140, 3x150, 1x160
BB Row 3x12x40kg
Notes:
Home workout, DLs went ok. bench on weds without dbs but i'll make a workout out of it somehow but friday's squats are the most concerning cos even if lockout ends 6pm friday - idk when they will open gyms.. might be a while .. lets see what happens.
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Mon (02/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 98.8
Run 5.5km
Notes:
Wore Adidas. Running with a mask is v. hard .. my heart was pounding like crazy, HRM showed 190bpm when i average 165 and max out 175bpm normally. Hopefully the last time i do one with the mask if the lockdown ends friday..
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Wed (03/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 98.5
BP 6x70, 2x85, 3x92.5, 2x95, 4x2x92.5, 3x10x60
Curl 6x40, 3x8x37.5
Notes:
Bench at home is way different. I used my crossfit shoes for bench, felt okay. not sure if it's better or worse than dowins, will use them at the gym next time. i can probably use them to spare wearing out dowins at least on bench days. maybe even ohp days?
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Fri (05/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99kg
BS 2x120, 2x125, 2x127.5, 2x130, 2x127.5, 2x127.5, 3x127.5
Notes:
Gyms opened this evening .. got in and it was pretty full for a friday night, usually it would just be me. Everyone wearing masks. Turns out lifting with a mask is also challenging, i couldn't take a full breath easily without sucking the mask into my mouth. which cost me abdominal tightness. There was no way i was getting 6x6x120kg today - so just did some heavy doubles with the goal of starting a new training cycle at 125kg.
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Fri (07/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99kg
OHP 2x60, 2x65, 1x67.5, 0Fx70, 5x60, 8x55
DB OHP 4Fx27.5, 8x25, 10x22.5
Row Machine 8x40, 8x38.75, 8x37.5
Notes:
Switched to a higher rack instead of hang cleaning my ohp. Just because I want to do heavy singles and it won't really count if i hang clean them. And wow it was so much harder. Also mask kills it. So over it, 14th cant come soon enough hah.
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Tue (9/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 98.7kg
DL 6x100, 6x120, 6x142.5, 5x152.5, 1x167.5, 1x170
Cable Row 5x100, 8x80, 8x75
Notes:
DL with the mask was brutal, esp in the earlier sets i was dying to get some air into my lungs .. annd my mask blowing up and down looks like im a blowfish haha. done tho.
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170 from the floor? Well done mate. I can see 200 coming soon.
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170 from the floor? Well done mate. I can see 200 coming soon.
yep! from the floor, i stopped doing rack pulls a while ago .. but im glad i started with them because they taught my body to do them right. i still had a learning curve from the floor, mainly because i didnt have the strength to break the bar off the floor correctly unless it was v.light, but a couple of sessions later im happy with them. i love it! fav exercise right now
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Thu (11/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.5kg
BP 2x90, 3x92.5, 3x95, 3x92.5*, 2x92.5, 2x93.5, 2x94
DB BP 8x37.5, 8x35, 10x32.5
Dips 8*x20, 8x15, 8x15
Notes:
Damn ..that was a hot and cold workout. had good elements, the starred bench set is cos i put hte bar back after 2 reps b/c i could swear i must have misloaded the L side since it felt so heavy. but i hadnt, so i jumped back and did a 3rd rep but it doesn't technically count as a triple. My bench is a shitdown as usual. will go for 6 triples next week.
didnt do db or dips last week because of the lockdown (closed gyms) so was a bit of a feeling wortkout to see where im at, next week will do 3x8x35 on db bp and 3x8x17.5kg on dips. Then resume normal progression from there.
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Sat (13/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.2kg
BS 2x120, 3x125, 3x127.5, 3x125, 3x125, 3x125, 3x125
Notes:
last workout with the mask. was a struggle. need to dig deep to progress from triples to sixes over the next 3 weeks.
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Mon (15/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.2kg
OHP 2x60, 3x65, 0Fx70, 1x68.5, 6x60, 8x57.5, 8x55
Row Machine 3x8x38.75
LPD 5x10x35
Notes:
So for heavy singles, just go from unrack into the rep without moving back. For reps, step back first.
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Wed (17/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.8kg
DL 6x120, 6x150, 5x155, 1x175
DJ 6xblue box, 6xred box, RVJx3, 6xred box, RVJx2,
Notes:
Wow doing depth jumps instantly retaught my CNS how to organise properly for jumping. Normally i would feel sluggish into the jump and not setup properly for the plant / landing .. felt more natural with the potentiating. Maybe this is how i recover my normal jump? I am still struggling to touch 32" though, which is no doubt because of being overweight. but depth jumps give me hope for now.
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Thu (18/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW:
Run - 6.5km
Notes:
Yesterday's DLs gave me some wonderful doms in the upper back, tarps, mid back, etc. Great bang for buck exercise. I had made the conscious decision to drop the cable exercises cos they were beating up my R bicep (i think tendon?) too much and it's cost me the ability to do chinups etc regularly, which i've almost stopped doing since my R bicep took such a beating from machine work.
Ive settled into a good grove with running now - once a week is the sweet spot, ive replaced the second run with a sprint session - did hill sprints (didnt log them though). that will give better bang for buck than just two running sessions, plus i enjoy the variety which keeps things more fun and fresh.
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Fri (19/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.5
BP 2x93, 2x95.5, 2x96.5, 4x2x95
DB BP 3x8x35
Dips 3x8x17.5 @ 99.8kg
Notes:
BP felt v. difficult, i erred with that warmup set of 93, it should be 90 but i didn't want to start off the session by being conservative, in hindsight, that's exactly what you want for a good warmup. so next time warmup with a 90kg double and then go for broke for the 6 doubles, im thinking progress by 0.5kg. Nothing crazy, just steady progress would be nice.
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Sun (21/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.5
BS 6x4x125
Notes:
did 6 sets of 4 with what felt like my 3RM lol. next week will have to find a way to progress to 5s. I think my PR is something like 135kg for 15 reps or something in one set back in 2019? but squatting only once a week and still progressing is way different to squatting dailly and beign able to do crazy PRs anytime i felt like it. so i'll take it.
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Mon (22/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.5
Hill sprints 2x5 (w/ 5kg vest)
5x200m sprints (w/ 5kg vest)
Notes:
if you asked me after my runs whether i was fit i'd say yes, b/c i'd be hardly sweating and i would get my breath back so quickly, even being obese af (42" waist) but that's b/c ive been doing steady state cardio consistently for about 6 months. and almost zero anaerobic conditioning. and yet that first set of hill sprints kicked my ass and showed i have lots of room for improvement to make to my fitness. that made me really happy b/c there's newbie gains to be had. whereas steady state improvements obviously aren't coming regularly (tho they are coming along too).
for next time, im going to structure the workout something like this:
1x5 hill sprint
2x5 hill sprint (w/ vest)
2x5 200m sprint (w/o vest)
it's a mistake to sprint with the vest b/c it beats up my R knee too much, i was just being lazy and didnt want to walk back to the car to drop it off.
oh and 200m sprints show how unfit i am cos i cant sprint 200m presently. my pace hits a wall around 150m.
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Tue (23/2/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99.5
OHP 2x60, 2Fx65.5, 3x65, 1x69, 6x60, 7x58, 9x55
Shoulder Row Machine 3x8x40
Notes:
still trying to recover some kind of momentum after my ohp ran into a wall following the 6x5x62.5 workout! i wanted to skip the machine and do chinups but my bicep wasnt having it -- will just do the machine for a while and see if it leads to anything, have nothing to lose...
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this log is making me itch for a vaccine so i can lift weights again. i'm looking at an apartment today that is less than a block from my old gym. if i end up signing the lease on it...oh baby. fixin' to do starting strength for the first time in a decade.
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this log is making me itch for a vaccine so i can lift weights again. i'm looking at an apartment today that is less than a block from my old gym. if i end up signing the lease on it...oh baby. fixin' to do starting strength for the first time in a decade.
do it! i envy you cos you'll enjoy it a lot more having not lifted in a long time. plus you also make solid progress rapidly so it's exciting to follow along :ibjumping:
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i haven't logged in a minute (as the kids say). i tweaked my back doing deadlifts. to be fair i think the main reason was life stress etc ruining sleep and recovery and also the first time i did sprints wrecking my muscles and nerves .. so all of that combined just made the conditions perfect for a a
back injury. and ofcourse being a stupid caveman i never even considered backing off so here we are. i dropped the bar after the 3rd rep of 152.5kg. i'd done 5x155kg last week so it's not like it was easy, i was going for 6x152.5kg, 5x157.5kg and 177.5kg - bailed the workout on the first set.
good news is, i rested one day, did nothing for the entire day for first time in like 8 months.
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Thu (4/03/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 99
OHP 3x60, 2x66, 1x70(PR), 2x65.5, 2x65, 7x60, 8x57.5
Shoulder Row Machine 3x8x41.25
Notes:
i didnt log a few workouts but i've restarted from tonights. i have put 70kg overhead before, im pretty sure i have done it with a clean before .. while weighing like 77.5kg .. but today i did for the first time straight from the rack, which had evaded me for a while.
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Tue (9/03/2021)
Daily Activity:
Daily Training: n/a
BW: 98.2
BP 6x3x90
DB BP 2x8x35
Dips 2x8x17.5, 12x2.5
Notes:
got sick of being so fat, trying to drop a kilo in a week.
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i stopped logging, but still kicking ..
will start logging again but i just wanted to report im closing in on the first milestone of 95kg bodyweight, weighed 96.2kg im the gym in the last two weighins. was 96.5kg in the bathroom scales before i ran today. i started 2021 at 100kg, so i'm doing okay .. if i hadn't injured my back would have a pretty sick deadlift to show for it as well but im happy just being healthy and training regularly!
have managed to get 12 runs in this year .. aiming for a total of 52. so far so good.
my sister and bro in law and kid are visiting for easter break. bro in law said he ran 10km last week at a sub 6/km pace .... i askked him what he weighed and he said 90kg. So he's kind of where i want to be - 90kg bodyweight and sub 6/km pace 10km. so i pushed my pace a bit today and ran one of my best times this year at 11km in 6.72/km pace! also was chasing a few ppl on the trail .. one of them was a little fat lady who kicked my ass .. i am such a disgrace to the sex.
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Wow my password still works.. haha
so as update, currently 85kg soaking wet and can run a sub 60min 10km without trying too hard. I PR'd 10km last week at 56:06 and yesterday i PR'd my 5km at 26:44. The week before that i ran my fastest 1km at 5:07. The interesting thing is i've build this fitness just by consistently running 1x a week. I don't want to specialise on anything, just think that's fool's gold, so i try to progress everything gently on a 1x weekly schedule.
I have about 1.5kg of straight up fat to diet off and then i will do a recomp, try gain some of muscle mass/strength back which i lost while dieting down to 85kg from the pandemic heaviest of 100kg.
Lifting goals are 60/90/140/180 for sets of 5 on ohp, bp, bs, dl. I'm currently at 57/84/102/142.5kg - i had a 3 week holiday so that set me back on lifting but not in a rush to get back to previous levels quick.
In terms of training, i intend to add interval training as the weather gets warmer and im eating more food to recover. I think by using HIIT i can get my 5km time closer to ultimate goal of 22:30 and 10km to 50:00. Not in a rush to get there though, want to enjoy the journey.
Will update hopefully in 6 months
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I'm a month early or a year late but here we go - update time! Was reading the logs and got inspired by AGC's kid vertec thing. I have been dabblign in jumping again recently after about 5 years off and i think the vertec might be the thing that gets me back in the logs :headbang:
weight training wise, won't go into the usual boring lifts but keep it to the lifts i am excited about right now. finally made some progress on bench press. tripled 100kg for the frist time which was a milestone. I'm now resetting back to 90kg ish and trying to master that for 8 reps then progressing up from there. I got 7x87.5kg last time, 90kg hopefully this week. Also started doing barbell rows - set myself a lofty goal of 8x100kg in the next two months time. I'm on 77.5kg atm - not bad considering i've never done them.
i let myself go massively this year, i'm about 10kg too heavy right now at 97kg, after maintaining a healthy/strong 85kg for two years, so that sucks but it's a starting point. not actively dieting, just trying to get a routine of eating well and training well first and then can revisit.
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welcome back! :lololol:
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Nice to see you back mate. Where's your squat at nowadays?
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welcome back! :lololol:
Nice to see you back mate. Where's your squat at nowadays?
Thank you both! Right now i'm at 100kg worksets (4 sets of 5) for BS and 5x95kg for FS. I'm aiming to progress 2.5kg per week. I dont think i'm eating enough to progress squats right now - so they've been stuck a while.
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I've recently returned to basketball after a 10-year break. I'm training hard and joined a rec league that starts soon. This week, I filled in for a game and discovered a mental shift. I used to be insecure and hesitant on the court, but I'm now more confident and focused. To improve my fitness, I've started interval training in addition to that I'm also running to build an aerobic base. My goal is to be able to sustain high-intensity effort for longer periods, which will benefit my basketball game.
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Sunday - 91.6kg bw
Treadmill run - 8.5km - 51:20 @ 6:02/km
HR was way too high, not sure what exactly it was since I don't trust the watch measurement of 168bpm average but my HR strap battery died prior to the run. Next time go a bit longer, going to cap it at an hour though.
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Monday - 91.7kg bw
BS 5x107.5, 2x120, 1x127.5, done
One of my worst squat sessions in a long time. But very valuable because of the knowedge gained. What's happened is I can squat heavy, but then my knee cartilage is done. And i have to wrap it up. I can't even squat light after that, it's just 15 years of squatting has won away what I was born with. I think it's a OA at work, i had a doctor warn me about that in 2019 when I had my first and only serious knee injury. It seems I have to accept that now, i cant just ignore it anymore.
GPT tells me to do higher reps with lower weights, i will give that a shot. But def need to stay away from heavy squats now.
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Wed - ? BW
Game day! Second game back, I was able to fill in again for the same team. Only catch, we only had 4 players. I'm not in shape so playing a full court game (which i could barely do even 10 years younger and 15kg lighter) without going to the bench was a huge challenge. But my training seems to be working! The itnervals ive been doing have already shown great promise. I handled it much better than expected. I logged this one with a HRM: Please give me your insights:
(https://i.imgur.com/exLhIKM.png)
I never ever hit those peaks in my normal training. Like running a hard threshold run might have me maxing out around 190-200 - but 230 is wild. It goes to show that i have an aerobic base but it's not why i'm unfit for the sport - it .. must .. be anaerobic??
Game was good. I took a few shots (last game i only took one and airballed it and it was only because i wanted to force it to have that checkmark that i attempted a shot). made most of them. Got a block or two, a few rebounds. TOO MANY turnovers, turns out shooting around like I do once a week does nothing for making you connect well on passes with an actual player lol. So i will need to get more reps in for that.
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Thurs 91.8kg bw
OHP 5x59, 5x60, 5x59.5, 5x59
DOHP 4x27.5, 5x27.5, 4x27.5
Chinup - 10kg: 6, - (then pullups) 6, 6, 6
Friday 90.7kg bw (new low!)
DL 6x70, 6x90, 6x120, 2x140, 1x160, 1x172.5, 4x155, 7x145
RDL 8x70, 8x100, 8x122.5
Row 8x70, 8x82.5, 8x97.5
FS 6x60, 6x75, 2x90, 1x107.5, 5x95
Made it to day 50 of dietary and training compliance. I'm only 700g overweight from my goal lol
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Saturday ? bw
Bball training - shot around some, will be the last session on that court.
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Sunday - ? bw
Pickup for 90 minutes
Was a great vibe, never hooped at this court before. We played full court games, hardly a minute to rest between games, didn't come off the court. It's great cardio! This will probably displace my weekly 10k run, i think that is a fair compromise unless i find a way to squeeze that in through the week sometime.
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I can't even squat light after that, it's just 15 years of squatting has won away what I was born with. I think it's a OA at work, i had a doctor warn me about that in 2019 when I had my first and only serious knee injury. It seems I have to accept that now, i cant just ignore it anymore.
GPT tells me to do higher reps with lower weights, i will give that a shot. But def need to stay away from heavy squats now.
Sorry to hear that man. I've never thought heavy squats at low reps would contribute significantly to knee cartilage wear. I have barely kept up with sports injury stuff, but I would think that running, playing bball - activities with lots of repetitive knee loading - would be worse long-term for cartilage loss. Is it bad after playing ball?
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Yeah, AGC you nailed it. The culprit was too much full court basketball. Since then i've stopped the sunday full court pickup and i'm starting to feel better. I squatted 90kg for a single yesterday (it felt like a max lol) - but compared to three weeks back when even the empty bar was too hard for 1 rep, i'm on my way back. Long term I just need to get back to my playing weight of 80-85kg and staying there. No more full court basketball except the weekly game on wednesday. Speaking of, today is the first one - which is exciting. Will update this post after the game.
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https://assets.firstbeat.com/firstbeat/uploads/2015/10/FFW609US05-171.pdf
I'm trying to work through this and learn a few things about energy systems. The goal is to improve my conditioning by being smarter and training better. I haven't got much training room to implement something new except the one sprint day i'm planning to add which I have avoided until I got in better shape (<90kg which is where I am at now)
Monday
Incline dumbell bench + dips
Tuesday
Squats + back extensions
Wed
Basketball game
Thurs
OHP, Dumbell OHP and Chinups/pullups
Friday
Gym session: Deadlifts, RDL, Barbell rows
Track: Sprints / HIIT
Court session: followed by half court pickup or shooting practice
Saturday
Bench, DB bench, curls
Sunday
Treadmill run 1hr
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I posted this on insta but i'm going to write something here as well. I'd love to get back to dunking again. It's a far cry, now it's a max effort to touch/grab the rim. I feel very slow and sluggish and look even worse. Backsquat is non-existent. It's a new challenge for me to increase vertical without the usual tools (squats). The first port of action is to get to 85kg bw, that will probably the most effective way to achieve the goal. But in the meantime I can also add some exercises which get me along the way while i'm dropping 5kg. Low level plyos (small box) + and regular jump session is what i'm thinking so far.
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We had a bye this week, i found a game to fill in at the last minute - felt so good to have the chance to ball. The team was really cool, they were willing passers to me which I really enjoyed, but the usual problem of someone jacking up a shot seconds into the offence still applies. I dont know why people force shots, isn't it better to just move the ball around a bit even if you do end up jacking up a shot, at least you explored other possibilities first. Speaking of offense, i took zero shots - not one. I got a few nice assists, a few blocks, a few rebounds. It was my kind of scoresheet, i just haven't got the juice to play well on both ends - my conditioning only allows one of the two. But thats a cop out, I still had a few chances to take on the defence and I just passed out to the open man. Lol its' the right decision but the guy i was passing to was open for a reason.
Made some progress in rehab, i started doing some knee prehab stuff, it felt quite good, promising stuff.
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Cool thing happened on sunday, i forced myself to do a sprint session. Not even planned or scheduled but I knew if I don't force the issue i'll just keep skipping sprints forever. SO i did it, and then having overcome that inertia decided I should sprint not just 1x a week but, let me sprint again tomorrow and thursday and ... yeah. lol. Figuring out yourself is half the battle.
I also did some jumps today and i was just maybe 2 inches short of the above goal which seems so out of reach. Sprinting man, it works. Also watch this space.
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Disrupted training and nutrition the last 10 days. I got some nice jumps in last week, i'm hoping to see it continue. The trick was to use a lower target which somehow lets my body organise itself in a better way than for a really high one which i was not having great movement with. Sort of like the low rim dunk version of gym jumping?
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Reading this log is frustrating. I was so dedicated for years and years but completely a zealot which cost me dearly. People would give great advice and i'd not take it because of an unshaking zeal to stick to my core beliefs, whether or not it was justified, I lost out on easy gains. The main one was being a mediocre basketball player because I thought We Are Smart and Can Train better, obsessing over squats and not putting in the time to improve my conditioning in a specific way.
This last week was the first time I actually trained intentionally to become better at my sport. I could enter a paragraph but a picture will do far better than I could say in words:
(https://i.imgur.com/Wl3aAoc.png)
I was wrong, running a 10k at constant speed, a week, does almost nothing to make me better at basketball. Yes it works my heart and lungs, yes it means i have an aerobic base but it doesn't reproduce the constant change of velocity (ie. change of speed or direction or both, ie. acceleration, ie, accelerating and deceleration) entailed in a typical game. I would have accepted the logical reasoning but my mind was closed off and i never took conventional wisdom. So what you see in that photo, is me doing an hour long workout, running back and forth across a soccer field (parallel to the goal). To add insult to injury it was a zone 2 and i fit in some sprints as well - which is what the people tell you to do anyway. lol, so much more complete a session that i've ever done. Ok that was week 1, let me do this for 3 weeks then 6 and see how it translates to the game. I've never scored over 10 points, i suck but it's because of conditioning and bad confidence as a result of that.
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I nearly jumped 30" - then life happened. Starting over now, but at a more maintainable pace.
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I can't even squat light after that, it's just 15 years of squatting has won away what I was born with. I think it's a OA at work, i had a doctor warn me about that in 2019 when I had my first and only serious knee injury. It seems I have to accept that now, i cant just ignore it anymore.
GPT tells me to do higher reps with lower weights, i will give that a shot. But def need to stay away from heavy squats now.
Sorry to hear that man. I've never thought heavy squats at low reps would contribute significantly to knee cartilage wear. I have barely kept up with sports injury stuff, but I would think that running, playing bball - activities with lots of repetitive knee loading - would be worse long-term for cartilage loss. Is it bad after playing ball?
update time. i turned this around in the last year and i am trying to understand how. i think it was a number of thing but it must diet, i've been eating consistently about 350-400g of vegetables a day and about 150g of fruit. cut out junk completely for the most part. my body has responded well to that. ive also been supplementing with glucosamine.