Bodyweight - 260
Close Grip Bench -
bar x 40
135 x 15
225 x 5
275 x 4
315 x 3
365 x 2 (both paused)
385 x 1 paused
315 x 15 <------- PR
Ez Curls - 85 x 12, 105 x 6, 135 x 15
V-Bar pushdowns - 80 x 20, 100x10
Notes - Awesome session. A real +10%. Close grips were the smoke show up and down the whole ladder. 385 felt like an empty bar and I paused it for a full 3 seconds. The 315x15 was in fact a max. But that should put me around the 450 area. And that's about what I feel like right now. 445ish.
Strength Life Legacy
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse - Part 2
Weaponry and Attire -
I want to talk about some weapons you could/should have available to you when the Zombie apocalypse hits.
I could include a whole list of perfect weapons however we need to be realistic here. You probably won't have access to a Barrett .50 caliber, nor would that even be a good weapon for the Apocalypse. So let's talk about some guns and other weaponry that you might have, or that might be available to you.
Rifles -
30-06 or a 308 Rifle -
Some of the most common deer hunting rifles there are. Any sporting goods store that sells rifles will have these and ammo to boot. Good power, good range. These are better used for distance type shots, rather than up close.
AR-15 -
This is a widely owned rifle as well, but would serve very well as a close range weapon. It shoots 5.56 mm which is very common and you can equip it with about any combination of things from scopes to shotguns. Close and medium range capability is what we are looking at here.
And speaking of shotguns...
Remington 12 gauge (any type) -
You can find a Remington 12 gauge just about anywhere. Your grandad probably has 2 of em. And since he's slow, and doesn't believe in zombies well, he probably won't be needing either of them.
Handguns -
It would be easy for me to list a .45 or even the .40 cal I own. However, there are a few things I want to factor in here. In real life when you pull your weapon, adrenaline will flowing, you will be shaking, and accuracy is going to be an issue. Without a doubt the most accurate handgun I've ever shot is simply the good old six shooting Police Issue .30 special. No, it doesn't have a ton of power, but it is deadly accurate and jamming won't be an issue. My suggestion is that the .38 be your main sidearm then carry something like a .45, 9MM, or .40 cal with a high capacity clip for your secondary.
Blades, Bows, and misc -
Obviously a compound bow is an option. However there is a lot of skill in shooting head shots with a bow and arrow. Unless you are Legolas from Lord of the Rings, I say forget the compound bow. If it is a crossbow? Grab it.
If you are fighting with a knife, chances are you aren't going to make it. However a good machete could give you a fighting chance if you're close to an escape and just need a few more seconds.
Attire -
One thing that perplexes me in all of the Zombie flicks is everyones desire to run out amongst the zombie horde in regular street clothes, fully exposed to bites.
Look, it doesn't take a lot of ingenuity to come up with some simple things that, even if you are overrun, you still have some protection against being bitten.
A football or hockey helmet will protect you from being bitten on the face area.
A catchers chest protector with football shoulder pads over the top protect the torso very well.
Biking knee and elbow pads.
A catchers shin guards.
Biking gloves.
But even better, if you can find it, are the torso units you can find for off road cyclists.
You'd still be left with covering your upper thighs. Doing something as duct taping shin pads up there would at least give you something.
So to cover it all, if you don't have any weapons or any protective attire you may need to make a jaunt out to the local sporting good store/gun store and pick up a few items. Your life depends on it.
I want to talk about some weapons you could/should have available to you when the Zombie apocalypse hits.
I could include a whole list of perfect weapons however we need to be realistic here. You probably won't have access to a Barrett .50 caliber, nor would that even be a good weapon for the Apocalypse. So let's talk about some guns and other weaponry that you might have, or that might be available to you.
Rifles -
30-06 or a 308 Rifle -
Some of the most common deer hunting rifles there are. Any sporting goods store that sells rifles will have these and ammo to boot. Good power, good range. These are better used for distance type shots, rather than up close.
AR-15 -
This is a widely owned rifle as well, but would serve very well as a close range weapon. It shoots 5.56 mm which is very common and you can equip it with about any combination of things from scopes to shotguns. Close and medium range capability is what we are looking at here.
And speaking of shotguns...
Remington 12 gauge (any type) -
You can find a Remington 12 gauge just about anywhere. Your grandad probably has 2 of em. And since he's slow, and doesn't believe in zombies well, he probably won't be needing either of them.
Handguns -
It would be easy for me to list a .45 or even the .40 cal I own. However, there are a few things I want to factor in here. In real life when you pull your weapon, adrenaline will flowing, you will be shaking, and accuracy is going to be an issue. Without a doubt the most accurate handgun I've ever shot is simply the good old six shooting Police Issue .30 special. No, it doesn't have a ton of power, but it is deadly accurate and jamming won't be an issue. My suggestion is that the .38 be your main sidearm then carry something like a .45, 9MM, or .40 cal with a high capacity clip for your secondary.
 |
| Accuracy is more important |
Blades, Bows, and misc -
Obviously a compound bow is an option. However there is a lot of skill in shooting head shots with a bow and arrow. Unless you are Legolas from Lord of the Rings, I say forget the compound bow. If it is a crossbow? Grab it.
 |
| Could save your ass |
If you are fighting with a knife, chances are you aren't going to make it. However a good machete could give you a fighting chance if you're close to an escape and just need a few more seconds.
Attire -
One thing that perplexes me in all of the Zombie flicks is everyones desire to run out amongst the zombie horde in regular street clothes, fully exposed to bites.
Look, it doesn't take a lot of ingenuity to come up with some simple things that, even if you are overrun, you still have some protection against being bitten.
A football or hockey helmet will protect you from being bitten on the face area.
A catchers chest protector with football shoulder pads over the top protect the torso very well.
Biking knee and elbow pads.
A catchers shin guards.
Biking gloves.
But even better, if you can find it, are the torso units you can find for off road cyclists.
So to cover it all, if you don't have any weapons or any protective attire you may need to make a jaunt out to the local sporting good store/gun store and pick up a few items. Your life depends on it.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Training - Squats and Leg work
Bodyweight - 257
Warm up circuit - hip and ass machine 2x50, good girl and bad girl machines 3x15, calf press 1x25 with stack.
Squats - no belt no wraps
bar x 20
135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 4
405 x 3
500 x 2
515 x 1
545 x 3
475 x 3
Good Girl Machine - 120 x 8, 110 x 10
Leg Press - stack x 10
Notes - The 545 was the lightest feeling set. The 475 felt light but on the third rep I felt some tightness in my adductor that got blown out months ago so I was smart and cut it short. I did the leg press for my rep work instead.
Warm up circuit - hip and ass machine 2x50, good girl and bad girl machines 3x15, calf press 1x25 with stack.
Squats - no belt no wraps
bar x 20
135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 4
405 x 3
500 x 2
515 x 1
545 x 3
475 x 3
Good Girl Machine - 120 x 8, 110 x 10
Leg Press - stack x 10
Notes - The 545 was the lightest feeling set. The 475 felt light but on the third rep I felt some tightness in my adductor that got blown out months ago so I was smart and cut it short. I did the leg press for my rep work instead.
Some solid movements you may not be using
Ok so everyone is always searching for new movements for variety and to break up the boredom. I will list a few that work really well not just for that sake, but also for adding mass. Keep the reps high on these and you'll reap the rewards.
Rack Chins -
When I was DC'ing it, I used to these all the time. Close Grip, wide grip, underhand grip, etc. The one thing I like about them is that it eliminates the legs from the movements, so there is no momentum. Your lats will in fact be doing all of the work. When you do the setup for this, make sure that when you get to the top of the movement, your legs are parallel with the ground. That is how you know you have set it up correctly. Second, use a slow negative. Fight that shit hard.
Rack Head Press -
With this one, you sit in the back on a bench and set the pins so that when you sit down with a bar on them, the bar is like an inch or less above your head. Line the bar up so that it basically comes down the center of your body. Pressing like this is really easy on the shoulder joints and simulates the ROM more of what a DB does, but of course you are eliminating a few inches of ROM (or maybe not since I see a ton of fuckwads who cut seated db press super high on youtube). You can use this as a main movement or a finisher where you just go for a shit ton of reps. If you're having trouble adding mass to your shoulders this guy will be a good friend.
PJR Pullvoers -
MY exercise. Yes it was named after my handle at intensemuscle. I preached about how great this one was for the long head of the tricep forever. It wasn't until Kid Rok, I believe (the lifter, not the white trash guy) did em and started telling everyone how great they were that it really took off.
I still see or hear a lot of people doing them wrong however. This is NOT a PJR pullover........
This is more or less correct.........
If you want to add meat fast on the triceps, this will do it. But we WARNED, and I've told everyone this, don't go crazy on these right out of the gate. You will pay for it with tremendous soreness.
Speed Skater Squats (elevated) -
I use this exercise on pretty much everyone I train. I even used them as a main quad movement when I was doing DC (in the rotation). These will put glutes on a skeleton. And it will give you a bit of a break from loading up leg press machines with 24 plates or squatting 500 for reps. Just get some heavy db's and get a ton of reps in. Or just use bodyweight after your normal stuff and do 4-5 sets of 20. I promise you, you will pay for it. But again, there are a tremendous amount of rewards to this movement. When you do them, the hip flexor of the rear leg gets stretched, which is often a problem for most people (tight hip flexors), and then the front leg has to work independently. You'll find out real quick that one leg is a hell of a lot stronger than the other. My advice is, work the weak leg first then just match reps for the stronger leg. This way you start to get things in balance.
Seated Cambered Bar Shrugs -
I used these for a long time with good results. The only reason I don't do them more now is because I generally follow up deads or stiff legs with shrugs. So no reason to unload 1 bar to load up another one. Second, my gym doesn't have one of these bars. I have it at home, and I usually pull at the gym. If your gym has one, take advantage of it and use it.
But what I do is, I lean a little forward so that the mid back is hit hard as well. The rhomboids get worked into the picture and that's where your deadlift lockout comes from. So experiment with the straight up version here, and then work a little lean into it as well.
These 5 movements are pretty fun and work well for high rep work. This means a lot of mass in the areas they are targeting. I like to think of most of these are finishers. They shouldn't be your main movement, but you can finish the workout and do something stupid like go until you get 100 reps with X weight, and then be done. These movements work really well for that.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Training - Shoulders and Chest
Bodyweight - 255
Seated Press Behind the Neck -
bar x 30
95 x 10
135 x 10
155 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 3
225 x 10
185 x 12
Db Bench - 100's x 21, 10
Side Laterals - 25's x 4 sets of 15
Notes - Decent session. Felt good. Had a few more reps in me on the 225 press, and a lot more in me on the 185 down set. But I am usually pretty careful with this movement. As you can see, I bring it down low. None of that top of the head horseshit.
Seated Press Behind the Neck -
bar x 30
95 x 10
135 x 10
155 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 3
225 x 10
185 x 12
Db Bench - 100's x 21, 10
Side Laterals - 25's x 4 sets of 15
Notes - Decent session. Felt good. Had a few more reps in me on the 225 press, and a lot more in me on the 185 down set. But I am usually pretty careful with this movement. As you can see, I bring it down low. None of that top of the head horseshit.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff
My neck is killing me. It was doing ok until the stiff legs yesterday. Those put me back into Frankenstein mode. Thankfully we had a friend recommend the elctro stim (and I own one) and I have been using it with good success. I can turn my head again.
Heard a pretty good rant from a guy this week about how some guys in bodybuilding or powerlifting get a little success and become full on fucktard pricks. I have seen this myself, but I'm not going to start throwing people under the bus. What I'm going to say about this is two things.
One, everyone responds different to attention. Some people let their heads become swollen and think they are king shit and more important than they really are. Here is a real fact. Only about 0.000001% of the population know anyone in bodybuilding or powerlifting. So even if you achieve "fame" in it, no one still knows who the fuck you are. Second, this isn't unusual to life. I have watched people at work get promoted and do complete 180's. Become a whole new different person. Either they become an asshole or a brown noser. I have seen some guys get better, but they are rare. I appreciate people like that a lot.
Second, some names were dropped that are people I know and am friends with. This did not make me mad. One thing I have accepted in life is that I may get along and consider dude A and dude B friends of mine. However dude A may hate dude B, and vice versa. This does not bother me. We are all different people and are wired differently, and no one said you had to like my friends if you want to be my friend. A mature person gets over this. Taking sides is for fucking 3rd graders. If dude A and dude B are mature enough, they will understand this as well and not care that I am friends with both people. If one does care, then he's the immature asshole and he's no longer got cool dude status.
It was settled on two different boards that it'd be better for me to hit 635x3 on deads than 585x8 to really be positive about pulling 700. So I'm going trust all of these 700+ pullers that that is the case. If I don't pull 700 after pulling 635x3 then....well I guess I won't have pulled 700. Shit.
So I took two days off this week. I opened my Outlook out of office assistance, and I realized I have not taken off 2 days in a row in 7 months. That's too long. You should work to live, not live to work. I'm not saying I have, but I should have had a vacation in the last 7 months and I haven't. Time just gets away from you I suppose. Stupid ass time, always trying to get away with shit.
I know that the whole Roy Nelson thing is fun for people, but I find it disgusting. If the guy was really serious he'd get in fucking shape and take his bodyfat seriously. Yeah he went the distance with Junior but he was gassed and Rogan pointed it out. he only survived because of his chin. I'll take Mir over him tomorrow night and Page over Hamill.
Oh I did sign up for a 90 minute massage at a Spa for Saturday. I hope my massage therapist is HOT! Truth is it doesn't matter, I always find once they get to rubbing on me I want to leave my wife for em.
I've done more smart shit with my training the last 6 weeks than I have in the last 2 years. I listened to my body more, upped my reps, rested when needed, and I've been rewarded with some nice gains. Now sitting at around 255-260 pounds and still wearing my same 36 pants with plenty of room. I have been haphazard in my eating here and there, but for the most part it's been the same shit over and over again. If I can stay healthy I'm almost positive a 650 no belt no wraps squat, 460-470 close grip bench, and 700 deadlift will be doable in a couple of months. Hardly world class lifts, but good for me and I'd be happy with that.
I know I have an old "friend" who checks in here from time to time. Pretty funny.
Man I hate to say it but I think gluten does in fact fuck my stomach up. I just felt my test levels drop for writing that.
I watched Pulp Fiction again the other night. I quote that movie all the time but I haven't actually seen it in a while. Sam Jackson really made that whole movie. Yeah, every scene is good. But every scene with Sam Jackson is a flipping gold mine of comedy. Without a doubt his best role ever. I also forgot just how much I hated Bruce Willis girlfriend in the movie. I'm sure she was supposed to be annoying, and she should have won an Academy Award for "most annoying bitch in a movie". I wanted him to bring that sword back from Zed's place and cut her in half with it.
I'm off today, so I can't get it through my head that its actually Friday and not Saturday. I even went to eat out breakfast this morning, so I've really been messed up since then.
Dudes should not poke other dudes on Facebook. That's gay.
I hope everyone has a great memorial day weekend. Be safe, have some good bar-b-q, and rememeber the men and women who gave their life for your freedoms.
 |
| "I DID have electro stim!" |
Heard a pretty good rant from a guy this week about how some guys in bodybuilding or powerlifting get a little success and become full on fucktard pricks. I have seen this myself, but I'm not going to start throwing people under the bus. What I'm going to say about this is two things.
One, everyone responds different to attention. Some people let their heads become swollen and think they are king shit and more important than they really are. Here is a real fact. Only about 0.000001% of the population know anyone in bodybuilding or powerlifting. So even if you achieve "fame" in it, no one still knows who the fuck you are. Second, this isn't unusual to life. I have watched people at work get promoted and do complete 180's. Become a whole new different person. Either they become an asshole or a brown noser. I have seen some guys get better, but they are rare. I appreciate people like that a lot.
Second, some names were dropped that are people I know and am friends with. This did not make me mad. One thing I have accepted in life is that I may get along and consider dude A and dude B friends of mine. However dude A may hate dude B, and vice versa. This does not bother me. We are all different people and are wired differently, and no one said you had to like my friends if you want to be my friend. A mature person gets over this. Taking sides is for fucking 3rd graders. If dude A and dude B are mature enough, they will understand this as well and not care that I am friends with both people. If one does care, then he's the immature asshole and he's no longer got cool dude status.
It was settled on two different boards that it'd be better for me to hit 635x3 on deads than 585x8 to really be positive about pulling 700. So I'm going trust all of these 700+ pullers that that is the case. If I don't pull 700 after pulling 635x3 then....well I guess I won't have pulled 700. Shit.
 |
| I did a google image search for 635 pounds and Beyonce was in there, and looked far better than a barbell so I used it instead |
So I took two days off this week. I opened my Outlook out of office assistance, and I realized I have not taken off 2 days in a row in 7 months. That's too long. You should work to live, not live to work. I'm not saying I have, but I should have had a vacation in the last 7 months and I haven't. Time just gets away from you I suppose. Stupid ass time, always trying to get away with shit.
I know that the whole Roy Nelson thing is fun for people, but I find it disgusting. If the guy was really serious he'd get in fucking shape and take his bodyfat seriously. Yeah he went the distance with Junior but he was gassed and Rogan pointed it out. he only survived because of his chin. I'll take Mir over him tomorrow night and Page over Hamill.
Oh I did sign up for a 90 minute massage at a Spa for Saturday. I hope my massage therapist is HOT! Truth is it doesn't matter, I always find once they get to rubbing on me I want to leave my wife for em.
 |
| PLEASE be my massage therapist!!! |
I've done more smart shit with my training the last 6 weeks than I have in the last 2 years. I listened to my body more, upped my reps, rested when needed, and I've been rewarded with some nice gains. Now sitting at around 255-260 pounds and still wearing my same 36 pants with plenty of room. I have been haphazard in my eating here and there, but for the most part it's been the same shit over and over again. If I can stay healthy I'm almost positive a 650 no belt no wraps squat, 460-470 close grip bench, and 700 deadlift will be doable in a couple of months. Hardly world class lifts, but good for me and I'd be happy with that.
I know I have an old "friend" who checks in here from time to time. Pretty funny.
Man I hate to say it but I think gluten does in fact fuck my stomach up. I just felt my test levels drop for writing that.
I watched Pulp Fiction again the other night. I quote that movie all the time but I haven't actually seen it in a while. Sam Jackson really made that whole movie. Yeah, every scene is good. But every scene with Sam Jackson is a flipping gold mine of comedy. Without a doubt his best role ever. I also forgot just how much I hated Bruce Willis girlfriend in the movie. I'm sure she was supposed to be annoying, and she should have won an Academy Award for "most annoying bitch in a movie". I wanted him to bring that sword back from Zed's place and cut her in half with it.
I'm off today, so I can't get it through my head that its actually Friday and not Saturday. I even went to eat out breakfast this morning, so I've really been messed up since then.
Dudes should not poke other dudes on Facebook. That's gay.
I hope everyone has a great memorial day weekend. Be safe, have some good bar-b-q, and rememeber the men and women who gave their life for your freedoms.
T-Nation Article
This article goes into more detail about what I have been preaching for a while. If you want to get big, train like a bodybuilder, not like a powerlifter. You don't get big and muscular training like a powerlifter especially in comparison to training like a bodybuilder.
I still can't believe there are people who argue with me about this.
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/why_bodybuilders_are_more_jacked_than_powerlifters
I still can't believe there are people who argue with me about this.
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/why_bodybuilders_are_more_jacked_than_powerlifters
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Training - Deadlift and back
Bodyweight - 255
hip and ass machine is broken. WTF?
leg curls, good girl and bad girl, calf press
Deads - no belt no pussy ass straps
135 x 20
225 x 5
315 x 4
405 x 3
500 x 2
550 x 5
Stiff legs off block - 455 x 8
Cybex Rows - 4 sets.
Notes - Felt like shit. Super sluggish and tired. Neck is hurting as well. Need some more deep tissue work done.
hip and ass machine is broken. WTF?
leg curls, good girl and bad girl, calf press
Deads - no belt no pussy ass straps
135 x 20
225 x 5
315 x 4
405 x 3
500 x 2
550 x 5
Stiff legs off block - 455 x 8
Cybex Rows - 4 sets.
Notes - Felt like shit. Super sluggish and tired. Neck is hurting as well. Need some more deep tissue work done.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Training - Pipes
Bodyweight - 253
Close Grip Bench - bar x 40
135 x 15
185 x 5
225 x 4
315 x 3
335 x 2
365 x 1
315 x 12
Ez Curls - 135 x 12
Rope Overheads and pushdowns - 2 sets each
Db Curls - 60's x 12, 45's x 12
Notes - Great session. Could have easily done 14 on the close grips with 315. I think I'm going to be staring down a 500 close grip bench in the next two months, and well, that feels pretty damn good.
Close Grip Bench - bar x 40
135 x 15
185 x 5
225 x 4
315 x 3
335 x 2
365 x 1
315 x 12
Ez Curls - 135 x 12
Rope Overheads and pushdowns - 2 sets each
Db Curls - 60's x 12, 45's x 12
Notes - Great session. Could have easily done 14 on the close grips with 315. I think I'm going to be staring down a 500 close grip bench in the next two months, and well, that feels pretty damn good.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Training - Squats
Weight - 256
Hip and Ass Machine - 2 x 50
Good girl and bad girl machine - 2 x 20
Calf Press - 1x25
Squats - no belt no wraps
bar x 20
135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 4
405 x 3
500 x 2
515 x 1
455 x 12
Pause Squats - 405 x 5
More Adductor Work and Calf Raises
Notes - First REAL squat workout in a while and it felt GREAT. Adductor held up, no issues and 455 felt like a damn empty bar. So long as this injury free streak can keep going I'm going to put up some nice PR's in a couple of months.
Hip and Ass Machine - 2 x 50
Good girl and bad girl machine - 2 x 20
Calf Press - 1x25
Squats - no belt no wraps
bar x 20
135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 4
405 x 3
500 x 2
515 x 1
455 x 12
Pause Squats - 405 x 5
More Adductor Work and Calf Raises
Notes - First REAL squat workout in a while and it felt GREAT. Adductor held up, no issues and 455 felt like a damn empty bar. So long as this injury free streak can keep going I'm going to put up some nice PR's in a couple of months.
Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse - Part 1
There is a saying now about science and fiction. And it is that there is no more science-fiction. Its either being created, or will be in the near future.
Well, I believe the same can apply to a zombie scenario. We have chemical weapons that are top secret and we have no idea what the fuck they can do/are capable of.
But rest assured I promise you there has to be a zombie chemical weapon. It makes too much sense, and far too many movies have been made about it. So where there is smoke, there has to be the undead.
So lets talk about a possible zombie situation shall we?
Zombie Abilities -
First off, I think that movies like 28 Days Later and the remake of Dawn of the Dead got it right. Zombies won't be these slow walking "brains" moaning limp dicks that you could outrun on a razor scooter. No, I believe that zombies, like the living, would be able to run and jump, climb, and do normal shit people can do. Now figuring out anything above a 1st grade level? No way. But, I have been around some smart 1st graders so keep that in mind. Point is, a locked door should be enough in terms of house protection. However if they come in masses, you better have more than a standard door with a dead bolt.
I do think that their speed, strength, agility would be diminished in comparison to that of the living. But at least they won't ever have to worry about deloading or suffering from CNS burnout because they have been chasing the living too much. I think their CNS got fried FOR REAL.
 |
| Maybe his CNS is fried from being chained up too long |
I also like the theory in The Walking Dead, that the zombies can smell the living and can in fact communicate with other zombies in some kind of way. In other words, they don't eat each other because they recognize each other as in fact, god damn zombies. This theme is repeated in every zombie movie, so it has to have some truth to it. Zombies know zombies, and zombies know the living. If you are the living, they can spot you like the paparazzi can spot Paris Hilton.
Initial Outbreak -
Initial Outbreak -
Ok if you are lucky enough to be in an area where news reports get to you before the zombies do, there are obviously some things you need to get in order right away.
Make the decision to stay or leave -
If you are going to stay its important to fortify your building/home, gather food, water, and weapons. After that medicine like antibiotics should be atop the list.
Once these things are taken care of, its also important to have an exit plan in case you are overrun for some reason. If you are in your home and have a garage your car is probably going to be your exit strategy. If you drive a Prius or Smart Car or any other small environment friendly vehicle that gets good gas mileage, you deserve to be eaten for such nonsense, and I hope you and your green hippie friends die slowly and the Zombies start the eating at your feet. If you drive a large car with maximum horsepower or a giant SUV or truck, you sir are the man and should be just fine. Just open the garage doors and head on out, smashing zombies along the way.
If you don't have a garage then it will be very important that you devise some kind of zombie clearing strategy, equip yourself with protective clothing, then make haste once the clearing strategy has been implemented. This clearing strategy can be Molotov cocktails, homemade bombs or an explosion of any kind like propane tanks or such. For this reason, its also important to keep your car as close to your exit door as possible. If you can use the car as a blockade device then that's a double rainbow bonus.
Marking your house/building is also certainly a good option in case rescue/sweep teams come into your area.
Benefits of staying -
You don't expose yourself directly to zombies by being out in the open travelling
You know your environment very well, including the benefits and limitations
You know your supply limits and can plan for rationing to a degree
Chance of being rescued and being safely evacuated into a safe zone
Drawbacks of staying -
Limitation of food, water, and medicine
Chance that you are noticed/found and risk being overrun
Chance that you will not be rescued and moved into a safe zone and are suck without food, water, or medicine and are forced to leave
If you are going to leave, you had better make sure that your destination has not been overrun or that getting there has become impassable. And it better be a hell of a safe haven. You are risking everything to get there, so it had better be worth it when you arrive. A military facility is usually a hot spot, however there are issues with this as well. There will be a whole mess of people evacuating to military facilities just like you are. And with more people means a higher percentage of an infected host entering with them. This is often why military bases become overrun as well. Not because they could not fend off the zombies, but because they get overrun from within.
My own personal advice is an area where people are scarce, you have a constant water supply, you are protected by the terrain and environment, and can build or fortify a shelter there. To me, camping grounds inside a park near a creek or river is an ideal place. From there your environment would dictate to you proper escape plans, however simply crossing a wide creek or river via a line is enough.
People have lived and live in the wilderness and thrive just fine. That's without a Starbucks or a Wal-Mart.
Benefits of Leaving -
Possibility of long term shelter, food, water, and life
Getting out of more heavily infested areas (if you are in the city for example)
Hooking up with other survivors that aren't infected and increasing strength in numbers
Drawbacks of leaving -
The risk of travel and exposing yourself to infection
Lack of situational awareness for where you are travelling to
Hooking up with other survivors that are infected without your knowledge
Make the decision to stay or leave -
If you are going to stay its important to fortify your building/home, gather food, water, and weapons. After that medicine like antibiotics should be atop the list.
Once these things are taken care of, its also important to have an exit plan in case you are overrun for some reason. If you are in your home and have a garage your car is probably going to be your exit strategy. If you drive a Prius or Smart Car or any other small environment friendly vehicle that gets good gas mileage, you deserve to be eaten for such nonsense, and I hope you and your green hippie friends die slowly and the Zombies start the eating at your feet. If you drive a large car with maximum horsepower or a giant SUV or truck, you sir are the man and should be just fine. Just open the garage doors and head on out, smashing zombies along the way.
If you don't have a garage then it will be very important that you devise some kind of zombie clearing strategy, equip yourself with protective clothing, then make haste once the clearing strategy has been implemented. This clearing strategy can be Molotov cocktails, homemade bombs or an explosion of any kind like propane tanks or such. For this reason, its also important to keep your car as close to your exit door as possible. If you can use the car as a blockade device then that's a double rainbow bonus.
 |
| Won't see a lot of zombies out here |
Marking your house/building is also certainly a good option in case rescue/sweep teams come into your area.
Benefits of staying -
You don't expose yourself directly to zombies by being out in the open travelling
You know your environment very well, including the benefits and limitations
You know your supply limits and can plan for rationing to a degree
Chance of being rescued and being safely evacuated into a safe zone
Drawbacks of staying -
Limitation of food, water, and medicine
Chance that you are noticed/found and risk being overrun
Chance that you will not be rescued and moved into a safe zone and are suck without food, water, or medicine and are forced to leave
If you are going to leave, you had better make sure that your destination has not been overrun or that getting there has become impassable. And it better be a hell of a safe haven. You are risking everything to get there, so it had better be worth it when you arrive. A military facility is usually a hot spot, however there are issues with this as well. There will be a whole mess of people evacuating to military facilities just like you are. And with more people means a higher percentage of an infected host entering with them. This is often why military bases become overrun as well. Not because they could not fend off the zombies, but because they get overrun from within.
My own personal advice is an area where people are scarce, you have a constant water supply, you are protected by the terrain and environment, and can build or fortify a shelter there. To me, camping grounds inside a park near a creek or river is an ideal place. From there your environment would dictate to you proper escape plans, however simply crossing a wide creek or river via a line is enough.
People have lived and live in the wilderness and thrive just fine. That's without a Starbucks or a Wal-Mart.
Benefits of Leaving -
Possibility of long term shelter, food, water, and life
Getting out of more heavily infested areas (if you are in the city for example)
Hooking up with other survivors that aren't infected and increasing strength in numbers
Drawbacks of leaving -
The risk of travel and exposing yourself to infection
Lack of situational awareness for where you are travelling to
Hooking up with other survivors that are infected without your knowledge
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Training - Chest and Shoulders
Weight - 253
Seated PBN -
bar x 20
135 x 12, 10
155 x 10
185 x 10,10
Db Bench - 100's x 20, 15
Side Laterals - 25's x 3x12
Notes - Ok first session back since mid week. Felt good today. Virus is gone, but my neck is still jacked up from earlier in the week. I am going to replace the incline with seated press behind the neck. I have always loved these but haven't done em in a while. I tried regular military but it didn't feel good for my elbow. The PBN with a wide grip felt just fine.
I doubt I will go any heavier than 225 for reps at most on these. Same for db bench press. Going to just rep the 100's more than likely and try to increase the reps for the next 6 weeks.
Seated PBN -
bar x 20
135 x 12, 10
155 x 10
185 x 10,10
Db Bench - 100's x 20, 15
Side Laterals - 25's x 3x12
Notes - Ok first session back since mid week. Felt good today. Virus is gone, but my neck is still jacked up from earlier in the week. I am going to replace the incline with seated press behind the neck. I have always loved these but haven't done em in a while. I tried regular military but it didn't feel good for my elbow. The PBN with a wide grip felt just fine.
I doubt I will go any heavier than 225 for reps at most on these. Same for db bench press. Going to just rep the 100's more than likely and try to increase the reps for the next 6 weeks.
Andy Bolton on pulling from above the knee...
Article at elite....
http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/training-articles/partial-movement-training-for-the-deadlift/comment-page-1/#comment-53772
Andy was the one who told me what a waste of time above the knee rack pulls were for helping your pull from the floor.
All this above the knee pulling actually started with Dante of DoggCrapp, in terms of popularity. I know why that he chose that movement, as anyone that has slaved over above the knee pulls knows how sore it will make your traps. So from a bodybuilding perspective this movement might be ok for you in terms of thickening the upperback, however good old shrugs and rows will do the same. But from a powerlifting standpoint it has almost zero merit. And before someone brings up Steve Goggins, don't use exceptions for the norm.
Anyway, its an ego exercise. Leave your ego at the gym door and concentrate on doing things that will make your training more productive.
http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/training-articles/partial-movement-training-for-the-deadlift/comment-page-1/#comment-53772
Andy was the one who told me what a waste of time above the knee rack pulls were for helping your pull from the floor.
All this above the knee pulling actually started with Dante of DoggCrapp, in terms of popularity. I know why that he chose that movement, as anyone that has slaved over above the knee pulls knows how sore it will make your traps. So from a bodybuilding perspective this movement might be ok for you in terms of thickening the upperback, however good old shrugs and rows will do the same. But from a powerlifting standpoint it has almost zero merit. And before someone brings up Steve Goggins, don't use exceptions for the norm.
Anyway, its an ego exercise. Leave your ego at the gym door and concentrate on doing things that will make your training more productive.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Weekly Q&A
Haven't had one in a while (why do I call it weekly then?).
Leave a name and question.
Also, I'd like to open these things up to any questions at all. Movies, music, life, women, dogs, cats, bananas, and turtles......whatever. Have a good time with it. Just LEAVE A NAME please.
Hope everyone is having a good week.
Leave a name and question.
Also, I'd like to open these things up to any questions at all. Movies, music, life, women, dogs, cats, bananas, and turtles......whatever. Have a good time with it. Just LEAVE A NAME please.
Hope everyone is having a good week.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Training - Pipes
Weight - 247
Db Curls - 5 sets of 10
Overhead Rope Extension - 5 sets of 20
Ez Curls - 3 sets of 10 @ 115
Rope Pushdowns - 3 sets of 20
Close Grip Bench - 225 x 20,20
notes - just for fun. I am thinking I will take the rest of the week off, then go balls out for pretty much the next 6 weeks and then do some testing. I am about to bump the eating up as well, so I expect to be pushing 260 by the time the 6 weeks are up. Watch for a little bit of dirty eating in there now as well.
Db Curls - 5 sets of 10
Overhead Rope Extension - 5 sets of 20
Ez Curls - 3 sets of 10 @ 115
Rope Pushdowns - 3 sets of 20
Close Grip Bench - 225 x 20,20
notes - just for fun. I am thinking I will take the rest of the week off, then go balls out for pretty much the next 6 weeks and then do some testing. I am about to bump the eating up as well, so I expect to be pushing 260 by the time the 6 weeks are up. Watch for a little bit of dirty eating in there now as well.
Thoughts about life, training, crap and stuff
Movies - It was a weekend of nostalgia. I watched a couple of old ones, and a new one.
Revenge of the Ninja -
So I watched this movie this weekend. Or as much as I could stomach. This movie was a fave of mine as a kid. As an adult, well let's just say it falls short. Like micro penis short.
I'm stealing this review because it pretty much reads exactly how I would write it and points out every stupid thing about this flick.
 |
| Walking around in full daylight, no one notices this guy |
It opens with the massacre of Cho's family who must be taking part in a reality TV show where you pretend it's the nineteenth century. Evil ninja's for no reason that is revealed, slaughter everyone. Cho returns with his American pal (never revealed how they hooked up) Braden who has a fetish for opening art galleries and is trying to convince Cho to come to America. Ninja senses alerting him, Cho goes tearing into the evil Ninja's who politely queue up to get sliced and diced. Braden being the respectable art dealer he is, produces a colt 45. blows away a couple of ninja's who stand out in the open looking to be shot by a entrepreneur. Cho's infant son (Kane) and non- Japanese looking mother still live. Braden seizes the opportunity and badgers Cho about the gallery idea again.
Jump to America years later, we know this by first seeing the American flag and then a caption beneath that says "united states". We have an obligatory fight scene with Cho's (now piggy looking) son who defends his right to wear a bright pink pullover with some bullies who despite outnumbering him, being bigger than him, and getting some choice hits in, still get their ass kicked by this pint sized ninja wannabe. Cho seems to have prospered and has a dojo in his art gallery and even a blond bimbo with fake tits who fights in her stockings (she is Braden's girl, kind of). Braden is using the artwork to smuggle heroin in what must be minute quantities since it's inside small Japanese dolls. In a masterstroke Braden puts these dolls on display to the public. Braden is partners with the stereotypical mafia who have no fashion sense, (even for the 80's), give each other back-rubs (shudder), most of them look like they've been recruited from the local retirement home. Braden and the don squabble about business that ends with Braden threatening the Mafia for screwing him. You see Braden IS A EVIL NINJA (it's never explained how he learned to be Ninja).
Braden goes on a mafia-killing spree...dressed as a ninja in broad daylight.
He kills a guy in the toilet in less time than it took for him to duck in the stall and put on his ninja costume. Seeking information on the killings and high finance crime the Don asks a tramp in the middle of a busy street. The tramp is dispatched by a shuriken in the eye. Where Braden threw the star from (as passers-by tend to notice a guy dressed in black pyjamas and a silver skull mask) is unanswered. The Mafia Don, (now sporting a cowboy hat) has had enough and sends a white/red Indian and some goons to steal the drug dolls. The police are investigating the strange killings and one cop (who couldn't act his way out of a soggy bag) asks Cho for help.
Cho being the concerned citizen tells them to bugger off and runs out to buy another beige pullover. Meanwhile Chief robbing-Bull and the goons have cleared out the gallery, Cho catches them in the act and a fight-scene ensues. The bad guys in this film can soak up massive amounts of punishment, still come back and produce weapons out of nowhere (like two tomahawks). After dragging Cho through two states with a van, the bad guys escape. Braden sensing his blond bimbo may not be loyal, leave's her in the care of a leering sumo sized child molester who has always wanted a blond bimbo of his own. Braden arrives at the gallery in Ninja garb, but disturbs Granny. Granny then tackles the intruder by morphing into a stunt woman but ultimately gets gutted by Braden. Killing grannies is hot work, and Braden suddenly has a compulsion to take off his mask, but pig boy Kane is up on the roof for no apparent reason. Sensing someone has seen him Braden looks up and sees Kane, but can't catch him.
Braden returns home to find the rapist he left his Blond bimbo with is trying to rape her, so he kills him. Using his magic fluorescent eyes Braden hypnotises the bimbo into capturing Kane. Meanwhile Cho discovers Granny impaled to the wall. The cop who can't act invites him to check out some ex-cons who hang out at a children's playground. The extremely camp looking ex-cons don't take kindly to being asked questions by a bad acting cop and a tiresome fight scene ensues. Meanwhile the hypno-bimbo has Kane who after failing to subdue him by laying into him with a metal pipe, simply carries him away.
The blond bimbo gives Kane to Braden who has hired another leering deviant (who refuses to wear a shirt, but really should). Braden and the henchman inexplicably leave the room letting the bimbo have easy access to a phone. Bimbo calls Cho and spills her guts about Braden only to be discovered. Braden has seen too many Bond films and instead of cutting their throats, sentences Kane and Bimbo to death by sauna and Jacuzzi. Braden realising the Mafia has his drug dolls goes off to the mafia headquarters. Cho gets out his Ninja gear, extra eyeliner and heads off to fight Braden. Both Braden and Cho make the mafia their bitches and end up fighting one another on the roof. After exhausting 50 weapons each (including a flamethrower up Braden's sleeve), Cho triumphs while his ugly kid and the bimbo escape to be reunited.
Jump to America years later, we know this by first seeing the American flag and then a caption beneath that says "united states". We have an obligatory fight scene with Cho's (now piggy looking) son who defends his right to wear a bright pink pullover with some bullies who despite outnumbering him, being bigger than him, and getting some choice hits in, still get their ass kicked by this pint sized ninja wannabe. Cho seems to have prospered and has a dojo in his art gallery and even a blond bimbo with fake tits who fights in her stockings (she is Braden's girl, kind of). Braden is using the artwork to smuggle heroin in what must be minute quantities since it's inside small Japanese dolls. In a masterstroke Braden puts these dolls on display to the public. Braden is partners with the stereotypical mafia who have no fashion sense, (even for the 80's), give each other back-rubs (shudder), most of them look like they've been recruited from the local retirement home. Braden and the don squabble about business that ends with Braden threatening the Mafia for screwing him. You see Braden IS A EVIL NINJA (it's never explained how he learned to be Ninja).
Braden goes on a mafia-killing spree...dressed as a ninja in broad daylight.
He kills a guy in the toilet in less time than it took for him to duck in the stall and put on his ninja costume. Seeking information on the killings and high finance crime the Don asks a tramp in the middle of a busy street. The tramp is dispatched by a shuriken in the eye. Where Braden threw the star from (as passers-by tend to notice a guy dressed in black pyjamas and a silver skull mask) is unanswered. The Mafia Don, (now sporting a cowboy hat) has had enough and sends a white/red Indian and some goons to steal the drug dolls. The police are investigating the strange killings and one cop (who couldn't act his way out of a soggy bag) asks Cho for help.
Cho being the concerned citizen tells them to bugger off and runs out to buy another beige pullover. Meanwhile Chief robbing-Bull and the goons have cleared out the gallery, Cho catches them in the act and a fight-scene ensues. The bad guys in this film can soak up massive amounts of punishment, still come back and produce weapons out of nowhere (like two tomahawks). After dragging Cho through two states with a van, the bad guys escape. Braden sensing his blond bimbo may not be loyal, leave's her in the care of a leering sumo sized child molester who has always wanted a blond bimbo of his own. Braden arrives at the gallery in Ninja garb, but disturbs Granny. Granny then tackles the intruder by morphing into a stunt woman but ultimately gets gutted by Braden. Killing grannies is hot work, and Braden suddenly has a compulsion to take off his mask, but pig boy Kane is up on the roof for no apparent reason. Sensing someone has seen him Braden looks up and sees Kane, but can't catch him.
Braden returns home to find the rapist he left his Blond bimbo with is trying to rape her, so he kills him. Using his magic fluorescent eyes Braden hypnotises the bimbo into capturing Kane. Meanwhile Cho discovers Granny impaled to the wall. The cop who can't act invites him to check out some ex-cons who hang out at a children's playground. The extremely camp looking ex-cons don't take kindly to being asked questions by a bad acting cop and a tiresome fight scene ensues. Meanwhile the hypno-bimbo has Kane who after failing to subdue him by laying into him with a metal pipe, simply carries him away.
The blond bimbo gives Kane to Braden who has hired another leering deviant (who refuses to wear a shirt, but really should). Braden and the henchman inexplicably leave the room letting the bimbo have easy access to a phone. Bimbo calls Cho and spills her guts about Braden only to be discovered. Braden has seen too many Bond films and instead of cutting their throats, sentences Kane and Bimbo to death by sauna and Jacuzzi. Braden realising the Mafia has his drug dolls goes off to the mafia headquarters. Cho gets out his Ninja gear, extra eyeliner and heads off to fight Braden. Both Braden and Cho make the mafia their bitches and end up fighting one another on the roof. After exhausting 50 weapons each (including a flamethrower up Braden's sleeve), Cho triumphs while his ugly kid and the bimbo escape to be reunited.
This movie made me laugh hysterically the whole time. I wasn't feeling well over the weekend so I watched this shit and I felt better. The wife was studying for finals during it and kept stopping to ask "what the fuck are you watching? This shit sounds retarded."
Good times.
8MM -
I haven't seen this film in a long long time. It came out in 99 and I think I might have seen it one other time since it came out.
This movie was far more sad than I remember. To think about some young girl being murdered on film "just because" and the awfulness around it. I really enjoyed Cage in this film because to me, he acted exactly like I think I would. Mainly from the wanting to know part. He just couldn't get his head around it. He needed to understand why a bunch of grown men would film a little girl being butchered. And by the end he was full of hatred and rage over it. This to me, seemed very believable because I woulda bashed Tony Soprano's head in full pistol whip style too.
Yeah there were a lot of things in this movie that could have been done better but it wasn't about that for me. Sometimes a movie just falls into your personal bucket. You know it isn't a top flick but something about it just strikes a chord with you. That's how this was for me.
127 hours -
I really liked this flick a lot. They didn't spend too much time on a bunch of nonsense, they pretty much got right to it. And James Franco was about as perfect as you can get in it. No over acting, he wasn't overly dramatic, and he came across as a guy you would probably know and like. It is brutal in a few scenes and is one of the few movies that made me go "Holy shit, OMG! Shit shit shit!" and curl up into a ball. You'll know what I'm talking about if you watch it.
Not a lot to write on training. I am getting over some kind of virus and felt like shit all weekend. To top that off, I slept wrong Sunday night and woke up yesterday with my neck so jacked up I could barely move all day yesterday.
I have my first teenager in the house. My oldest turned 13 this past week. It's amazing how fast life goes by after you have kids. I mean where in the hell did 13 years go?
Does anyone squat to depth in competition anymore? Even more importantly, do feds red light high squats anymore? If they do, I haven't seen it in a while. I see some shit passed now that makes my head swim. Oh yeah you can't judge depth with a video. My bad.
I don't know that there is anything more pathetic than watching a friend squirm and cry and go into the fetal position over a girl that left him or a break up. It's pathetic. Go through the pain and hurt, but have some dignity about it as you do.
Sorry this isn't a long one. As I noted, virus put me out of commission for a few days and zapped me of any humor. Will do some pipes tonight and cardio. Next week training gets taken up a fairly big notch.
Peace!
I have my first teenager in the house. My oldest turned 13 this past week. It's amazing how fast life goes by after you have kids. I mean where in the hell did 13 years go?
Does anyone squat to depth in competition anymore? Even more importantly, do feds red light high squats anymore? If they do, I haven't seen it in a while. I see some shit passed now that makes my head swim. Oh yeah you can't judge depth with a video. My bad.
I don't know that there is anything more pathetic than watching a friend squirm and cry and go into the fetal position over a girl that left him or a break up. It's pathetic. Go through the pain and hurt, but have some dignity about it as you do.
Sorry this isn't a long one. As I noted, virus put me out of commission for a few days and zapped me of any humor. Will do some pipes tonight and cardio. Next week training gets taken up a fairly big notch.
Peace!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Training - Squatting
Weight - 253
Squats -
135 x 20
225 x 10
315 x 5
405 x 10
315 x 10
Notes - Got some kind of terrible cold/virus thing and am on sudafed. I think that may have played a part in the strain that occurred on Saturday. So I just got in some light squatting and called it a day. I may take a few days off this week as well to recoup. Just kind of feels like its time.
Squats -
135 x 20
225 x 10
315 x 5
405 x 10
315 x 10
Notes - Got some kind of terrible cold/virus thing and am on sudafed. I think that may have played a part in the strain that occurred on Saturday. So I just got in some light squatting and called it a day. I may take a few days off this week as well to recoup. Just kind of feels like its time.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Training - Chest and Shoulders
Weight - 247
Incline Press -
bar x 30
135 x 15
185 x 5
225 x 4
275 x 1 - stop
Felt something twinge in my left shoulder area. This is the shoulder I have permanent AC joint separation in so every so often it gives me trouble. This felt more muscular so I terminated the set right away.
I then went to db bench press and did the 80's for 2 sets of 20 then the 100's for a set of 20. Felt fine.
Did some side laterals and pec deck after this just to make sure and the pec and all of that musculature felt fine. I may drop incline for seated press next week but we'll see. I will test it next week and see how it feels. If it feels ok I will stay light and get a ton of reps in. Everytime my incline moves back up in that 400 range something like this happens. I really think it's the incline at the gym. It's a bit too steep IMO.
Aside from that, my shoulder was not feeling "right" this morning. I did my usual warming up and then some, but it just never felt proper. This is not a set back kind of thing, just a precaution.
Incline Press -
bar x 30
135 x 15
185 x 5
225 x 4
275 x 1 - stop
Felt something twinge in my left shoulder area. This is the shoulder I have permanent AC joint separation in so every so often it gives me trouble. This felt more muscular so I terminated the set right away.
I then went to db bench press and did the 80's for 2 sets of 20 then the 100's for a set of 20. Felt fine.
Did some side laterals and pec deck after this just to make sure and the pec and all of that musculature felt fine. I may drop incline for seated press next week but we'll see. I will test it next week and see how it feels. If it feels ok I will stay light and get a ton of reps in. Everytime my incline moves back up in that 400 range something like this happens. I really think it's the incline at the gym. It's a bit too steep IMO.
Aside from that, my shoulder was not feeling "right" this morning. I did my usual warming up and then some, but it just never felt proper. This is not a set back kind of thing, just a precaution.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Training - Deadlift and back stuff
Well thanks for getting blogger working again you asshats. Sheesh.
Last night - Weight - 251
Hip and Ass Machine - 2 x 50
Calf Press - 2 x 20
Deadlifts - bar x 20
135 x 15
225 x 5
315 x 4
405 x 3
500 x 2
585 x 3
Stiff Legs on block - 455 x 10 PR
Shrugs - 405 x 8, 500 x 5, 585 x 8
Pulldowns - 2 sets of 20
Notes - I was tired, and not really feeling 100% but still hit a PR on stiff legs and the 585 triple was easy as well. I think a 700 pull is right around the corner. This would make me very happy as I have been a shitty deadlifter for so long. And a 700 pull is at least respectable.
Last night - Weight - 251
Hip and Ass Machine - 2 x 50
Calf Press - 2 x 20
Deadlifts - bar x 20
135 x 15
225 x 5
315 x 4
405 x 3
500 x 2
585 x 3
Stiff Legs on block - 455 x 10 PR
Shrugs - 405 x 8, 500 x 5, 585 x 8
Pulldowns - 2 sets of 20
Notes - I was tired, and not really feeling 100% but still hit a PR on stiff legs and the 585 triple was easy as well. I think a 700 pull is right around the corner. This would make me very happy as I have been a shitty deadlifter for so long. And a 700 pull is at least respectable.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Mismatched training ideologies
No big introduction. You'll get it.
HIIT and Low Carb - Horrible fucking combo.
"I have an idea, I'll starve my muscle of fuel, then ask them to do anaerobic training. I love catabolism!"
Doing sprints and hills and sledge hammer work and all sorts of shit like that works great for burning fat, but the point of it is to actually jack the metabolism so that your BMR in increased for the day. In other words, you burn more calories doing nothing for the rest of the day than you usually do, because of the interval work. The problem is with guys who lump in HIIT with low carb. This is a terribly combination. If you notice, even low carb guys replenish glycogen with a post workout drink or meal. But you're supposed to do similar work with sprinting and stuff, on low carbs? Dumb. Enjoy losing hard earned lean mass.
If you're going low carb, do steady state cardio. It's not very taxing and since you are probably already in a calorie deficit from going low carb, you don't need a ton of it. 30-45 minutes 3-4 times a week at a solid pace will work fantastically.
Geared style training for raw guys -
With training geared to mimic shirts and suits, you end up training to top portion of each lift. Box squats unload the quads, board presses train the lock out, too much tricep work, too much hamstring work, too much assistance and not enough emphasis on quads, shoulders, back, and the bottom portion of the lifts.
Yes I know that some guys have benefited from geared style training but I won't waiver from the fact that they would be much better off training the big 3, and focusing on the strengthening the bottom portion of the lifts rather than doing shit like reverse band work.
Getting big and lean -
You can't. One requires a calorie surplus, the other a calorie deficit. Some novice types can pull this off at first for a little while, but that's about it. Make up your mind which one you are doing and just go after that. When you're done, go after the other one. Again, you can't serve two masters.
Getting strong and building endurance -
This one isn't happening either. The more cardio and conditioning you add in, the more strength you're going to lose, unless you balance your strength training down in such a way that you are just trying to maintain what you had. I've seen guys recommend that a guy train just as much to maintain strength during a hard conditioning phase, as when he was training just for strength alone. This is full retard. And if someone tells you this ignore them.
When I am in a conditioning phase or trying to drop fat I narrow down lifting to twice a week. And there are times I've matched PR's doing this. This means strength levels are still doing really good. I have never been able to train 3+ times a week while also doing tons of conditioning, and been able to maintain strength. After a while the body is just going to decide what energy source gets precedence. During a lot of hard conditioning, it will be that. So the smart choice is to trim training down to bare minimum levels, and focus on just keeping what you can. Doing a shit ton of lifting during these times makes no sense.
This goes the same for guys who are in a sport. Trim lifting down to twice a week and practice that sport.
Using powerlifting to gain mass -
I had a dope tell me once that "I don't want to do bodybuilding style training for mass, I gain mass on powerlifting training." This asshat hadn't gained any quality weight in years he would later tell me. He just did not like bodybuilding style training. He said he did not feel "athletic" when he did it (WTF does that mean?).
Lower reps will build some mass, but not like medium to high reps as heavy as you can go. It's not even close. Yes, if you are eating a shit ton the scale will move but is it quality? No. I know, I've done it. I've talked to a shit load of guys who have done and we all said the same thing. It's not a good route to go. If you want quality mass you have to eat good and train in a bodybuilding style manner. Go as heavy as you can, with medium to high reps. The guys I find that complain about this the most, are the fat lazy guys that only want to do singles and doubles. There is no real mass to be had there in comparison to what heavy high rep work will do for you.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Training - Bench and pipes
Bodyweight - 251
Close Grips -
bar x 30
135 x 20
185 x 8
225 x 8
275 x 17
225 x 15
Ez Bar Curls - 155 x 6,6
Notes - Blugh what a shitty session. No one to blame but me. I was tired but I had a client cancel their workout last night, so I moved it to tonight, but she had to move it again to tomorrow night. Well I was tired as shit, but I didn't feel like trying to get the workout in for tomorrow all the while having to be flexible with her time. So I just went ahead and went down into the basement and got it done. Yes, it was terrible. Next week will be better.
Close Grips -
bar x 30
135 x 20
185 x 8
225 x 8
275 x 17
225 x 15
Ez Bar Curls - 155 x 6,6
Notes - Blugh what a shitty session. No one to blame but me. I was tired but I had a client cancel their workout last night, so I moved it to tonight, but she had to move it again to tomorrow night. Well I was tired as shit, but I didn't feel like trying to get the workout in for tomorrow all the while having to be flexible with her time. So I just went ahead and went down into the basement and got it done. Yes, it was terrible. Next week will be better.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Training - Squatting
Bodyweight - 247
Squats - body x 30
bar x 20 x 20
135 x 10
225 x 10
315 x 5
365 x 5
405 x 5
455 x 5
405 x 10,10
Notes - Solid squatting session. Everything was super light and I coulda done 455 x 10-12 pretty easily but I am being slow and steady as to not injure myself again. Working good.
Squats - body x 30
bar x 20 x 20
135 x 10
225 x 10
315 x 5
365 x 5
405 x 5
455 x 5
405 x 10,10
Notes - Solid squatting session. Everything was super light and I coulda done 455 x 10-12 pretty easily but I am being slow and steady as to not injure myself again. Working good.
Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff
So I walk into my work breakroom the other day. This guy that works here goes in right before me. This guy always has on a leather vest that reads "Harley Davidson" or "Vietnam Vet" on the back. He's got a big gray beard and always has this look of "I'm ready to piss razor wire!" on his face at all times.
We walk into the break room and on the table there is a box of "fruity snacks". He looks into the box, and then his face visibly turns to disappointment. He picks up the box and throws it in the trash.
Look, you can't live your life by leather vest standards, and also be disappointed if you miss out on fruit snacks. God dammit you can't. You can be a vet, or ride a harley, and be upset that you missed out on fruit snacks. But you CANNOT wear leather fucking vests everyday that screams how proud you are that you ride a Harley and served in The Nam, and be disappointed that you missed out on fruity snacks. It's just a rule.
This is a cool ass story. Dude saves his Porsche with a floating parking spot. Rich people eh?
http://gizmodo.com/#!5798604/ingenious-owner-saves-rare-porsche-from-flood-with-floating-parking-spot
A list of compiled quotes from Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg during UFC matches......
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/95532-the-best-of-joe-rogan-mike-goldberg-part-one
I've been laughing at the media about all of the warnings they have before they show the pics of the people killed in the Osama raid. "Warning, these pictures are graphic!" No shit Sherlock. I mean, do people think you should people with tons of bullets and candy comes out? No, it's bloody and nasty. Plus, do these people at MSNBC and shit know what people see on the internet? I mean have they ever heard of two girls-one cup? Or the shit Wendler sends me? I mean, most people have seen this shit already on the net at some point unless they never venture outside of pbskids.com. I do laugh thinking about someone sitting at home with a weak stomach that has never seen shit like this, and then the MSNBC guy goes "Warning, these images are graphic" and it cuts to the pics, and that person starts blowing chunks all over the place.
Yes that makes me laugh.
So I'm in the work breakroom this week filling up my half gallon water "cup" and these two ladies I work with ask if they can feel on my muscles. I am fine with this and say yes. But, as they are doing so I think to myself "what a double standard we have in society and the workplace." If a female co-worker walked into the breakroom with her boobs hanging out, and I'm like "WOW! Looking good with the jugs! Can I feel em?" I'd lose my job and get slapped with a law suit. Women can get away with asking men if they can touch and feel on them. Again, I'm not complaining nor do I mind, however I do mind when a woman bitches about the double standard for sex. That a man who bangs a bunch of women is known as a stud, and a woman who bangs a bunch of men is known as a whore. Well, that's just how it is ladies. Don't sleep with a bunch of men and you won't be called a whore. Seems simple enough (ducks the objects thrown at me by my women readers).
Yes it seems like I have funny stuff happen in the workplace break room. Maybe I should go in there more often.
I think that the chest pains I was having may have been caused by Jack3d. Which really sucks because it's by far the best workout stim I've ever used. I'm going to lay off of it for a while and see if they subside. If so I will use it sparingly. We all know this stuff isn't FDA regulated so the truth is, you never really know what you're putting in your body. I find it funny that so many guys will take shit right off the shelf, not knowing what's really in it, but have all sorts of fears about putting anabolics into their body when we have 60 years of research behind them.
Don't you hate it when you go to a site and you're reading an article, then 3/4 of the way through the article you realize that the whole thing is based around selling something off of that site? This is the case with most mainstream lifting sites in my opinion. It's difficult to find information that isn't geared around selling you something. So how reliable is the advice when you know it's slanted to make you think you need to buy this supplement of piece of equipment? When the training protocol is built around making a supplement the foundation, what if you don't have that supplement? Then the training protocol is worthless. Wow, so thanks for sharing nothing with me asshat. This is another reason why I harp on just using basic movements and bullshit weak point training. If you can do 500x10 on stiff legged deadlifts you don't have a weak posterior chain. If you can do dips with 200 pounds for 10, your triceps aren't a problem. So why do you need all sorts of special shit in order to get bigger and stronger? You don't.
On the flip side, I can't recommend the Animal Flex enough. My elbow is the best it has been in years. Yes, I have figured out rehab for it better than before, but I honestly believe that the Animal Flex has been huge in getting me over the hump. And you just take 1 pack a day so no showing pills down your throat all day long like Keith Richards.
So I took the fam to see Thor. Awesome awesome flick. Loved it. Even better than I thought it was going to be. There was a really nice underlying message to the movie. The action was great, and when it did slow down there was a fair amount of comedy to keep things light and interesting. Definitely worth a look see at the movies.
I talked to an old friend yesterday that I haven't spoken to in forever. We ended up getting around to talking about lifting and he asked me about my lifts. I told him I'd like to squat 650, bench 450-460, and deadlift 700 this year at some point. He proceeded then to tell me if I remembered so-n-so and I said yeah. He then told me that one time he was in the weight room and said guy comes in with his girlfriend and proceeds to load up the bench to 450 and asked him for a spot. He says sure and then he tells me he goes to press it and he can't get it. But instead of asking for help, he lowers the bar back down to his chest, pauses for a minute then presses it right up. This is perhaps the biggest bullshit story in the history of bullshit stories I've ever heard about lifting outside of the guy telling me that his dad benched 700 pounds (this was back when only Arcidi and Ken Lain had done it). So let me get this right. This teenager I grew up with comes into the gym, loads up 450 (I don't remember anything about warm up sets which was a key to me that the story was bullshit), lowers it and can't press it to lock out. But instead of calling for the spotter to aid him, he says "no, don't touch it" and lowers it back to his chest, where I suppose he received gamma radiation at that moment, and then presses 450 back to lock out with no problem.
As if this story was not bullshit enough, he then asks me if I remember another guy. I say yes. Then he tells me that this guy is one of the biggest guys around town now (he was a stick back in the day), and he was in the gym some time back and benched 450 for 2 with his feet up. Making him a 500+ bencher easily. I then say "wow is the town full of 450 benchers?" 450 pound bench presses aren't common. Not even in raw powerlifting. But my old friend has everyone benching 450, which just happens to be the number I should/could hit later this year if I do a meet. This folks, is a combination of a war story ("I used to lift too" "my son is as big as you") and small town horseshit.
What's funny is, the small town I grew up in is full of stories like this. But even funnier is that I've never once witnessed any great feats of strength or shit like that. It's always just some myth about a guy. I've heard more crazy stories about the guys I grew up with than you can imagine. Guys taking 2x4 shots to the head then wiping the floor with 17 guys in a fight afterwards, beating up 100 cops, just all sorts of small town big headed bullshit. I do know for a fact that a friend of mine benched 580 at one point in a competition but I'm not sure if it was raw or shirted, and yes that fucking matters.
I hope everyone had a great weekend. Monday sucks.
We walk into the break room and on the table there is a box of "fruity snacks". He looks into the box, and then his face visibly turns to disappointment. He picks up the box and throws it in the trash.
Look, you can't live your life by leather vest standards, and also be disappointed if you miss out on fruit snacks. God dammit you can't. You can be a vet, or ride a harley, and be upset that you missed out on fruit snacks. But you CANNOT wear leather fucking vests everyday that screams how proud you are that you ride a Harley and served in The Nam, and be disappointed that you missed out on fruity snacks. It's just a rule.
 |
| Fruity Snacks Prohibiter |
This is a cool ass story. Dude saves his Porsche with a floating parking spot. Rich people eh?
http://gizmodo.com/#!5798604/ingenious-owner-saves-rare-porsche-from-flood-with-floating-parking-spot
A list of compiled quotes from Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg during UFC matches......
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/95532-the-best-of-joe-rogan-mike-goldberg-part-one
I've been laughing at the media about all of the warnings they have before they show the pics of the people killed in the Osama raid. "Warning, these pictures are graphic!" No shit Sherlock. I mean, do people think you should people with tons of bullets and candy comes out? No, it's bloody and nasty. Plus, do these people at MSNBC and shit know what people see on the internet? I mean have they ever heard of two girls-one cup? Or the shit Wendler sends me? I mean, most people have seen this shit already on the net at some point unless they never venture outside of pbskids.com. I do laugh thinking about someone sitting at home with a weak stomach that has never seen shit like this, and then the MSNBC guy goes "Warning, these images are graphic" and it cuts to the pics, and that person starts blowing chunks all over the place.
Yes that makes me laugh.
So I'm in the work breakroom this week filling up my half gallon water "cup" and these two ladies I work with ask if they can feel on my muscles. I am fine with this and say yes. But, as they are doing so I think to myself "what a double standard we have in society and the workplace." If a female co-worker walked into the breakroom with her boobs hanging out, and I'm like "WOW! Looking good with the jugs! Can I feel em?" I'd lose my job and get slapped with a law suit. Women can get away with asking men if they can touch and feel on them. Again, I'm not complaining nor do I mind, however I do mind when a woman bitches about the double standard for sex. That a man who bangs a bunch of women is known as a stud, and a woman who bangs a bunch of men is known as a whore. Well, that's just how it is ladies. Don't sleep with a bunch of men and you won't be called a whore. Seems simple enough (ducks the objects thrown at me by my women readers).
 |
| This is workplace acceptable |
Yes it seems like I have funny stuff happen in the workplace break room. Maybe I should go in there more often.
I think that the chest pains I was having may have been caused by Jack3d. Which really sucks because it's by far the best workout stim I've ever used. I'm going to lay off of it for a while and see if they subside. If so I will use it sparingly. We all know this stuff isn't FDA regulated so the truth is, you never really know what you're putting in your body. I find it funny that so many guys will take shit right off the shelf, not knowing what's really in it, but have all sorts of fears about putting anabolics into their body when we have 60 years of research behind them.
Don't you hate it when you go to a site and you're reading an article, then 3/4 of the way through the article you realize that the whole thing is based around selling something off of that site? This is the case with most mainstream lifting sites in my opinion. It's difficult to find information that isn't geared around selling you something. So how reliable is the advice when you know it's slanted to make you think you need to buy this supplement of piece of equipment? When the training protocol is built around making a supplement the foundation, what if you don't have that supplement? Then the training protocol is worthless. Wow, so thanks for sharing nothing with me asshat. This is another reason why I harp on just using basic movements and bullshit weak point training. If you can do 500x10 on stiff legged deadlifts you don't have a weak posterior chain. If you can do dips with 200 pounds for 10, your triceps aren't a problem. So why do you need all sorts of special shit in order to get bigger and stronger? You don't.
On the flip side, I can't recommend the Animal Flex enough. My elbow is the best it has been in years. Yes, I have figured out rehab for it better than before, but I honestly believe that the Animal Flex has been huge in getting me over the hump. And you just take 1 pack a day so no showing pills down your throat all day long like Keith Richards.
 |
| Awesome shit |
I talked to an old friend yesterday that I haven't spoken to in forever. We ended up getting around to talking about lifting and he asked me about my lifts. I told him I'd like to squat 650, bench 450-460, and deadlift 700 this year at some point. He proceeded then to tell me if I remembered so-n-so and I said yeah. He then told me that one time he was in the weight room and said guy comes in with his girlfriend and proceeds to load up the bench to 450 and asked him for a spot. He says sure and then he tells me he goes to press it and he can't get it. But instead of asking for help, he lowers the bar back down to his chest, pauses for a minute then presses it right up. This is perhaps the biggest bullshit story in the history of bullshit stories I've ever heard about lifting outside of the guy telling me that his dad benched 700 pounds (this was back when only Arcidi and Ken Lain had done it). So let me get this right. This teenager I grew up with comes into the gym, loads up 450 (I don't remember anything about warm up sets which was a key to me that the story was bullshit), lowers it and can't press it to lock out. But instead of calling for the spotter to aid him, he says "no, don't touch it" and lowers it back to his chest, where I suppose he received gamma radiation at that moment, and then presses 450 back to lock out with no problem.
As if this story was not bullshit enough, he then asks me if I remember another guy. I say yes. Then he tells me that this guy is one of the biggest guys around town now (he was a stick back in the day), and he was in the gym some time back and benched 450 for 2 with his feet up. Making him a 500+ bencher easily. I then say "wow is the town full of 450 benchers?" 450 pound bench presses aren't common. Not even in raw powerlifting. But my old friend has everyone benching 450, which just happens to be the number I should/could hit later this year if I do a meet. This folks, is a combination of a war story ("I used to lift too" "my son is as big as you") and small town horseshit.
 |
| Doesn't everyone bench 450? Oh wait that's only 375ish. 450...375, what's the difference? |
What's funny is, the small town I grew up in is full of stories like this. But even funnier is that I've never once witnessed any great feats of strength or shit like that. It's always just some myth about a guy. I've heard more crazy stories about the guys I grew up with than you can imagine. Guys taking 2x4 shots to the head then wiping the floor with 17 guys in a fight afterwards, beating up 100 cops, just all sorts of small town big headed bullshit. I do know for a fact that a friend of mine benched 580 at one point in a competition but I'm not sure if it was raw or shirted, and yes that fucking matters.
I hope everyone had a great weekend. Monday sucks.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Training - Chest and Shoulders
Bodyweight - 250
Incline Press - bar x 30
135 x 15
135 x 5
185 x 4
225 x 3
275 x 2
335 x 1
275 x 15
Db Bench Press - 100's x 20
Side Lateral Machine - 144 x 13, 120 x 13
Conditioning - 30 minutes fast walking on the track.
Notes - Feeling a little better than the past few days but still not 100%. Didn't push the top single on the incline because I have found when I don't feel 100% and try to push heavy singles I fuck myself up in some kind of way. So, I played it smart and did what I'm supposed to be doing, and relied on my back off set and that paid off. My incline is sitting right around 400 right now, so I'm pretty much back where I was a year ago before all the injuries started setting in. My goal for this cycle is to hit 295x20 on close grips and 275x20 on incline. That should put me in the range of 460 on close grips and 430-440 on incline. I think this is decent pressing strength and I'd be pleased with that.
Incline Press - bar x 30
135 x 15
135 x 5
185 x 4
225 x 3
275 x 2
335 x 1
275 x 15
Db Bench Press - 100's x 20
Side Lateral Machine - 144 x 13, 120 x 13
Conditioning - 30 minutes fast walking on the track.
Notes - Feeling a little better than the past few days but still not 100%. Didn't push the top single on the incline because I have found when I don't feel 100% and try to push heavy singles I fuck myself up in some kind of way. So, I played it smart and did what I'm supposed to be doing, and relied on my back off set and that paid off. My incline is sitting right around 400 right now, so I'm pretty much back where I was a year ago before all the injuries started setting in. My goal for this cycle is to hit 295x20 on close grips and 275x20 on incline. That should put me in the range of 460 on close grips and 430-440 on incline. I think this is decent pressing strength and I'd be pleased with that.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Training - Deadlift and back stuff
Bodyweight - 247
Hip and Ass Machine - 2 x 50
Deadlifts - bar x 20
135 x 15
225 x 5
315 x 4
405 x 3
500 x 2
565 x 3
Stiff Legs on box - 455 x 8
Shrugs - 585 x 5,5 500 x 16
Notes - Felt like complete dog shit. Was sick at my stomach in the parking lot and almost talked myself into going home. Glad I didn't. Ended up having an ok session but I really had to gut this bitch out. Still the 565 triple was like nothing and it's hard to be steady on deads right now as nothing feels heavy on the bar. Instead of repping 500 on the first set of shrugs I did a couple of low rep sets first then went back to it, to see if I could get to 20 as fast as possible but I was just shot. Energy was gone. Still I'd rate this an 80%er.
Hip and Ass Machine - 2 x 50
Deadlifts - bar x 20
135 x 15
225 x 5
315 x 4
405 x 3
500 x 2
565 x 3
Stiff Legs on box - 455 x 8
Shrugs - 585 x 5,5 500 x 16
Notes - Felt like complete dog shit. Was sick at my stomach in the parking lot and almost talked myself into going home. Glad I didn't. Ended up having an ok session but I really had to gut this bitch out. Still the 565 triple was like nothing and it's hard to be steady on deads right now as nothing feels heavy on the bar. Instead of repping 500 on the first set of shrugs I did a couple of low rep sets first then went back to it, to see if I could get to 20 as fast as possible but I was just shot. Energy was gone. Still I'd rate this an 80%er.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Training - IHOP
So I skipped training because I haven't had a lot of sleep for the whole week, was feeling like crap, and was talked into going to IHOP for blueberry pancakes by the better half.
Custom Omelette - spinach, turkey bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes
Stack of blueberry pancakes
Two dog turds (turkey sausage)
I felt tons better after this and thought "Hmmm I could train!" but I think I'll try to get in bed early tonight and deadlift tomorrow.
I think I've done about the best job of listening to my body for the last month or so than I ever have before. Not pushing it when I don't feel good, and going damn hard when I do. Keeping the reps high, letting the joints heal up, I've really dialed it in the last month or so and I'm damn happy about it. The last couple of years of training have been frustrating and I feel like I'm not just saying "be smart" anymore, I actually am. I guess I can learn a few things.
Custom Omelette - spinach, turkey bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes
Stack of blueberry pancakes
Two dog turds (turkey sausage)
I felt tons better after this and thought "Hmmm I could train!" but I think I'll try to get in bed early tonight and deadlift tomorrow.
I think I've done about the best job of listening to my body for the last month or so than I ever have before. Not pushing it when I don't feel good, and going damn hard when I do. Keeping the reps high, letting the joints heal up, I've really dialed it in the last month or so and I'm damn happy about it. The last couple of years of training have been frustrating and I feel like I'm not just saying "be smart" anymore, I actually am. I guess I can learn a few things.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Gettin sweaty - Warming up on pressing days
So if you've read 2 articles by me on here you know that my elbows are like that of a 97 year old man that spent most of his life punching trees and jackin it. In other words, they hurt and ache quite a bit. Especially on pressing days and the day after.
But over the last few months I have figured some things out that have helped me enough that I can now press semi heavy twice a week.
Before I start talking about warming up on pressing days I want to address the shoulder and elbow problems that veteran lifters deal with. I will address some of the problems behind those pains and how I have worked around them to keep getting bigger and stronger.
I also hope younger lifters or guys new to lifting pay attention here and don't take this lightly.
Skull crushers - This used to be my most favorite exercise for triceps. Now if I think about doing them my elbows hurt. Some time back Matt Kroc tore his tricep doing them, and I've know several other guys that tore their triceps doing them.
Skullies put your elbows in a very precarious angle. So when you have to overcome to inertia from the bottom, the stress is transferred directly to the joint, and that stress is also shared by the tendons of course. You may be able to do these for years without pain, but for the majority of people they will eventually lead to elbow problems. I used to scoff at "old guys" who told me this. I feel like a fool now for doing so. I could have saved a lot of wear and tear on my elbows by heeding that advice and dropping skulls in favor of more elbow friendly movements. But I was young and knew more than they did, so I didn't. And I paid for it, just like they said I would.
Wide Grip Benching - The fastest and best way to make sure you eventually wreck your shoulders is to keep on doing your benches wide. I don't even mean ultra wide either. I separated my shoulder in football twice, and now have permanent AC joint separation that cannot be fixed. However even before then just a few years of benching with a wide grip kept my shoulders sore and hurting almost constantly. I knew tons of other guys that had the same complaint. Yet we kept on doing it. It wasn't until a few years ago, that my bench crept back up to 400+ constantly and my shoulder pain went away. The reason why is because I switched to a close grip and quit benching wide. Now my shoulders never bother me, and I've had no pec issues either. Because the pecs don't get overstretched with close grips, the chances of injuring or tearing the pectoral is also significantly reduced. And just personal preference I am not as impressed with some guy gripping the bar out damn near the collars to do a belly bench as I am with someone like Konstantinov's who does a clean close grip with 50 pounds less.
Yes you will bench less at first, and you may not have the same ceiling for strength that you had if you stay wide grip. But it's better to shave 10 pounds off your bench, and be able to bench injury free on a consistent basis, than bench more every once in a while but struggle to stay healthy.
Biceps - One thing I've never understood about some powerlifters is the complete neglecting of biceps work. The secondary function of the biceps is to help stabilize the elbow and shoulder when you press. That seems pretty important. I hate training biceps, and always have. I neglected training them because of that, not because I didn't think they weren't important. I believe that the lack of training for my biceps probably played a part in my elbow issues as well. Remember that you always need balance, and if you are always pressing heavy, that elbow extension needs some elbow flexion to balance everything back out.
Warming up for benching and pressing of various types -
The first thing I do when I walk into the gym for a bench or pressing session, is make my way to the dumbbell rack and pick up a light pair of DB's like the 20's and start doing supinated db curls. I make sure to really turn my pinkie over as far as possible. This will help to stretch out the forearm and get everything warmed up in there.
After that I sit down, and do palms up wrist curls with my wrists on my knees. The important factor I learned here is, you want to go very slow and deliberate on the negative portion of the movement. After a set of 12-15, I turn my hands over and do palms down wrist curls. Again, I make sure to go very slow on the negative. This was the difference in my elbow pain getting better. I had been doing all sorts of forearm work to help my elbow problems, but it did not get better until I was told by a PT to go slow on the negative. This made a dramatic difference in just a few weeks.
After this I will grab a 5 pound plate and do regular ol l-flyes for my cuff. Usually 20-30 reps per side. Then I will go over to the pushdown machine and get a rope and do 20 or so reps with it to get my elbows warm.
I repeat this 3 or 4 times before I do my first set of empty bar benching or inclines. I used to have to do a lot of rotator cuff stretching before I benched or inclined but since I bench with a close grip only now, I have been able to eliminate that and have had no shoulder pain.
Before I bench or incline I do a lot of reps with the empty bar (even tho this isn't always noted in my training log because it looks boring). But several sets of 20-50 are done to get everything lubed up (heh).
So the routine now generally looks like this -
Db Supinated Curls - 3x15-20
L-Flyes - 3x20-30
Palms down wrist curls - 3x12-15
Palms up wrist curls - 3 x12-15
Rope Pushdowns - 3x15-20
Empty Bar Pressing - 3-4 x 20-50
A quick overview of warming up, and staying injury free are.....
But over the last few months I have figured some things out that have helped me enough that I can now press semi heavy twice a week.
Before I start talking about warming up on pressing days I want to address the shoulder and elbow problems that veteran lifters deal with. I will address some of the problems behind those pains and how I have worked around them to keep getting bigger and stronger.
I also hope younger lifters or guys new to lifting pay attention here and don't take this lightly.
Skull crushers - This used to be my most favorite exercise for triceps. Now if I think about doing them my elbows hurt. Some time back Matt Kroc tore his tricep doing them, and I've know several other guys that tore their triceps doing them.
Skullies put your elbows in a very precarious angle. So when you have to overcome to inertia from the bottom, the stress is transferred directly to the joint, and that stress is also shared by the tendons of course. You may be able to do these for years without pain, but for the majority of people they will eventually lead to elbow problems. I used to scoff at "old guys" who told me this. I feel like a fool now for doing so. I could have saved a lot of wear and tear on my elbows by heeding that advice and dropping skulls in favor of more elbow friendly movements. But I was young and knew more than they did, so I didn't. And I paid for it, just like they said I would.
Wide Grip Benching - The fastest and best way to make sure you eventually wreck your shoulders is to keep on doing your benches wide. I don't even mean ultra wide either. I separated my shoulder in football twice, and now have permanent AC joint separation that cannot be fixed. However even before then just a few years of benching with a wide grip kept my shoulders sore and hurting almost constantly. I knew tons of other guys that had the same complaint. Yet we kept on doing it. It wasn't until a few years ago, that my bench crept back up to 400+ constantly and my shoulder pain went away. The reason why is because I switched to a close grip and quit benching wide. Now my shoulders never bother me, and I've had no pec issues either. Because the pecs don't get overstretched with close grips, the chances of injuring or tearing the pectoral is also significantly reduced. And just personal preference I am not as impressed with some guy gripping the bar out damn near the collars to do a belly bench as I am with someone like Konstantinov's who does a clean close grip with 50 pounds less.
Yes you will bench less at first, and you may not have the same ceiling for strength that you had if you stay wide grip. But it's better to shave 10 pounds off your bench, and be able to bench injury free on a consistent basis, than bench more every once in a while but struggle to stay healthy.
Biceps - One thing I've never understood about some powerlifters is the complete neglecting of biceps work. The secondary function of the biceps is to help stabilize the elbow and shoulder when you press. That seems pretty important. I hate training biceps, and always have. I neglected training them because of that, not because I didn't think they weren't important. I believe that the lack of training for my biceps probably played a part in my elbow issues as well. Remember that you always need balance, and if you are always pressing heavy, that elbow extension needs some elbow flexion to balance everything back out.
Warming up for benching and pressing of various types -
The first thing I do when I walk into the gym for a bench or pressing session, is make my way to the dumbbell rack and pick up a light pair of DB's like the 20's and start doing supinated db curls. I make sure to really turn my pinkie over as far as possible. This will help to stretch out the forearm and get everything warmed up in there.
After that I sit down, and do palms up wrist curls with my wrists on my knees. The important factor I learned here is, you want to go very slow and deliberate on the negative portion of the movement. After a set of 12-15, I turn my hands over and do palms down wrist curls. Again, I make sure to go very slow on the negative. This was the difference in my elbow pain getting better. I had been doing all sorts of forearm work to help my elbow problems, but it did not get better until I was told by a PT to go slow on the negative. This made a dramatic difference in just a few weeks.
After this I will grab a 5 pound plate and do regular ol l-flyes for my cuff. Usually 20-30 reps per side. Then I will go over to the pushdown machine and get a rope and do 20 or so reps with it to get my elbows warm.
I repeat this 3 or 4 times before I do my first set of empty bar benching or inclines. I used to have to do a lot of rotator cuff stretching before I benched or inclined but since I bench with a close grip only now, I have been able to eliminate that and have had no shoulder pain.
Before I bench or incline I do a lot of reps with the empty bar (even tho this isn't always noted in my training log because it looks boring). But several sets of 20-50 are done to get everything lubed up (heh).
So the routine now generally looks like this -
Db Supinated Curls - 3x15-20
L-Flyes - 3x20-30
Palms down wrist curls - 3x12-15
Palms up wrist curls - 3 x12-15
Rope Pushdowns - 3x15-20
Empty Bar Pressing - 3-4 x 20-50
A quick overview of warming up, and staying injury free are.....
- Move your grip in for pressing. This will save your shoulders and pecs.
- Do bicep and forearm work and be serious about it. Your elbows will thank you for it.
- Do cuff work but keep it light and deliberate.
Great article from Rippetoe on squatting deep
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/when_it_comes_to_squats_easier_doesnt_work
If you go to the live spill take notice of what he says about deloads. Why the hell would you "plan" a deload?
Music to my ears.
If you go to the live spill take notice of what he says about deloads. Why the hell would you "plan" a deload?
Music to my ears.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Training - Pipes
Weight - 247
Close Grip Bench -
bar x 50
135 x 15
185 x 8
225 x 6
275 x 18
225 x 15
Ez Curls - 135 x 12
V-Bar Pushdowns - 70 x 18,6,5 rest/pause
Db curls - 50's x 16
Notes - Tired tonight and ran out of gas pretty fast but the bench felt the lightest it has since I started the mass building cycle. I think I'll hit 275 x 20 in the next couple of weeks and be ready for 295 for reps. 80% er.
Close Grip Bench -
bar x 50
135 x 15
185 x 8
225 x 6
275 x 18
225 x 15
Ez Curls - 135 x 12
V-Bar Pushdowns - 70 x 18,6,5 rest/pause
Db curls - 50's x 16
Notes - Tired tonight and ran out of gas pretty fast but the bench felt the lightest it has since I started the mass building cycle. I think I'll hit 275 x 20 in the next couple of weeks and be ready for 295 for reps. 80% er.
Thoughts about life, training, crap and stuff
Well as noted, OBL is dead. I still think it's funny that we have aluminum hat wearers that think that our own government was behind the WTC's coming down when OBL took credit for everything, and the fact that scientists and engineers have debunked every conspiracy theory there is about it. But some people just want to hate the government I suppose. I wish we had less government for sure, but anyone that believes our own government was behind the towers coming down needs a straight jacket. And please don't send me any links about the tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theories. I've read them all. They are retarded. I wonder how many of the tin foil hat wearers will also say that Bin Laden is not dead?
My musical taste lately has softened a bit. This is not unusual for me. I go through phases where I prefer shit that sounds like someone threw baby goats into a blender and times where I prefer almost "rock radio" type shit. So what I'm saying is right now Foo Fighters and older Disturbed and shit like that is more appealing to me right now than my usual cache of speed/death/black metal. I have a fairly wide and eclectic range of musical tastes so what I'm digging at the moment can REALLY vary. I can't imagine just listening to one genre almost all the time.
Training is really going awesome. It's been refreshing to back off the weight on the bar, and get a lot of reps in. I also feel like this may keep me injury free for a while. The last week or so the lighter lifting got me to thinking about my doggcrapp days and I realized I was pretty much injury free during that time and my reps were always high. On pressing my first set was usual failure at around 15-18 reps. On legs it was higher. I gained a ton of mass like this, and I was never beat up like I have been the last couple of years. The only thing I am going to stay somewhat heavy on will be the triples I am doing with the deadlift at the moment. How heavy I am going to push them I don't know. I will probably go off of PI (perceived intensity) and if it gets too high, I will back off. I am mainly using it as a primer for the stiff legs off of a box and those are doing nicely. I think that 500x8 could be doable for stiff legs in the next couple of months.
The other thing about this training is that I haven't worried so much about weight on the bar in comparison to working harder than I had been, and busting out rep PR's. I have a great feeling about this transferring over to my top singles after I am done with this phase.
I'm not really a George Carlin fan but I love this bit by him because I hate the Go Green/Save the Planet bullshit I have to hear about now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01ed-IMeV5E
UFC 129 was a great card, until the main event. After GSP took that eye poke/gouge you could tell he wasn't the same. And Jake Shields as the best guy GSP has ever fought? I've seen plenty of Jake Shields fights and I've never been impressed with the guy. Yeah I know he beat a lot of guys but his stand up is beyond atrocious and unless he can get a guy to the ground he really has no way to finish anyone. BJJ guys with no stand up ability bore and annoy me. You know the saying about BJJ guys getting hit right? So true.
I can tell you that I didn't watch 1 minute of the NFL draft this past week/weekend. I think the league is full of the greediest MF'ers in the United States outside of the people involved in the fall of the bank and mortgage industry. You have 100 million dollars in your bank, and your gripe is what?
I've had some discussions on boards about some of my takes on things pointed out to me, and I find them all very interesting. The most common one I hear people bitch about is my dieting advice. This has to be from people who don't read my articles or thoughts with any kind of context. If I am talking about eating everything under the sun, including candy bars and chocolate milk and shit like that, that's for really really skinny guys with super fast metabolisms that cannot gain weight. This is also not some shit I made up. This is something I have used in real life on real life super skinny guys that couldn't gain weight. Getting a guy to learn how to eat like there is no tomorrow is hard. It's pretty much impossible to do with clean foods. If you've ever tried to get in 4500-5000 calories clean, then you know what I'm talking about. It's a fucking chore. And guys who don't eat enough as is, aren't going to eat bland food all day long. They won't. And they won't gain weight. So you take a guy like this, and you feed him everything he likes to eat that has enough protein, carbs, and fat in it, and you go from there. On the flip side, if it's a guy/gal that is lean, but has a solid foundation of muscle, I do go with mostly clean eating for mass gain. So I'm not sure what the bitching is about. That I myself am not lean enough? My pic below is current and I'm 250 pounds at a legit 12% bodyfat. I am not a bodybuilder. And even if I were, my conditioning in the offseason would be about what it is now. So again, I don't understand the complaint. I will never get to that ultra shredded state because there is no reason to. What would that do for me? Not a damn thing. It won't make me stronger, and I will never step on stage and do a bodybuilding competition. So getting below 9-10% bodayfat doesn't serve any real purpose for me.
I've also come across lots of the "weak point brigade" people bitching, and well, I just laugh. Guys were setting records for decades doing side laterals, pushdowns, and leg extensions as their assistance work. Now guys that are weak as shit spend all their time trying to find every perfect weak point fixing exercise. Then wonder why their main lifts don't move very much. I do think it is important to get strong as hell on 5-8 basic exercises but getting specific about weak points isn't really required. If you can stiff leg 500x10, do t-bars with 300x20 and chin with 100 pounds around your waist you don't have any "posterior chain" weakness issues. If you can overhead press 300 for reps and do dips with 200 extra pounds, you don't have shoulder or tricep "weak point" issues. So then guys will say "oh it's about weak points within the movement". Here is a fucking news flash from the city. THOSE ARE ALWAYS GOING TO EXIST. You can't get rid of them and they will be there every single time you fail at a weight you aren't strong enough to lift yet. So guess what? Get stronger. Yeah, it's that simple. If you used a movement that helped you make a lift you had been missing, all you did was get stronger. You didn't fix a "weak point". It's like some people can't get their head around this. If you put enough weight on again, you'll miss a lift in that SAME SPOT again. Sheesh.
When my wife graduates from radiology I'm getting a Viper. Like, that day. I'm just sayin.
I still haven't figured out why I see raw guys doing box squats. And I've heard every excuse under the sun as to why, and none of them still make any fucking sense. As I have said before, if you do them low to where you don't pause on the box but barely touch it, fine. But sitting on the box and taking the quads out of the squat is utterly retarded. I love it when I see some article titled something like "Learn how to squat" and it's nothing but box squatting. Well, when the fuck do you learn how to squat? I agree that the box squat is a decent tool for a beginner trainee who needs to learn how to squat, but I take the box away after three or four weeks.
Getting strong with your bottom strength is where its at. I still see so many guys utilizing geared training shit for raw training. If you are a freak and can run with that by all means, more power to you. But if you're not, you're going to find out eventually, that protocols based around geared lifting aren't worth two shits on a rainy Monday for raw lifting. I feel the same way about Chuck Taylor shoes for squatting. Who the fuck came up with this? My foots slides around in that god damn shoe like I'm ice skating. Not only that, if you squat with a medium or close stance, there is no heel. There is a reason virtually every Olympic lifter in the world uses shoes made for squatting, uh, and they all have a heel.
And speaking of squatting, I usually squat in cargo shorts or something like that to give my hips a little support. Last night at the gym I sunk that 455 for the first rep and totally blew out the back of my short. I mean Incredible Hulk ripped em. I did the second rep and racked it. Thought about it for a while, and said screw it and finished my squat workout with my ass hanging out the back the whole time. I'm not sure if anyone even noticed. I don't know if this is good or bad.
My musical taste lately has softened a bit. This is not unusual for me. I go through phases where I prefer shit that sounds like someone threw baby goats into a blender and times where I prefer almost "rock radio" type shit. So what I'm saying is right now Foo Fighters and older Disturbed and shit like that is more appealing to me right now than my usual cache of speed/death/black metal. I have a fairly wide and eclectic range of musical tastes so what I'm digging at the moment can REALLY vary. I can't imagine just listening to one genre almost all the time.
Training is really going awesome. It's been refreshing to back off the weight on the bar, and get a lot of reps in. I also feel like this may keep me injury free for a while. The last week or so the lighter lifting got me to thinking about my doggcrapp days and I realized I was pretty much injury free during that time and my reps were always high. On pressing my first set was usual failure at around 15-18 reps. On legs it was higher. I gained a ton of mass like this, and I was never beat up like I have been the last couple of years. The only thing I am going to stay somewhat heavy on will be the triples I am doing with the deadlift at the moment. How heavy I am going to push them I don't know. I will probably go off of PI (perceived intensity) and if it gets too high, I will back off. I am mainly using it as a primer for the stiff legs off of a box and those are doing nicely. I think that 500x8 could be doable for stiff legs in the next couple of months.
The other thing about this training is that I haven't worried so much about weight on the bar in comparison to working harder than I had been, and busting out rep PR's. I have a great feeling about this transferring over to my top singles after I am done with this phase.
I'm not really a George Carlin fan but I love this bit by him because I hate the Go Green/Save the Planet bullshit I have to hear about now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01ed-IMeV5E
UFC 129 was a great card, until the main event. After GSP took that eye poke/gouge you could tell he wasn't the same. And Jake Shields as the best guy GSP has ever fought? I've seen plenty of Jake Shields fights and I've never been impressed with the guy. Yeah I know he beat a lot of guys but his stand up is beyond atrocious and unless he can get a guy to the ground he really has no way to finish anyone. BJJ guys with no stand up ability bore and annoy me. You know the saying about BJJ guys getting hit right? So true.
I can tell you that I didn't watch 1 minute of the NFL draft this past week/weekend. I think the league is full of the greediest MF'ers in the United States outside of the people involved in the fall of the bank and mortgage industry. You have 100 million dollars in your bank, and your gripe is what?
I've had some discussions on boards about some of my takes on things pointed out to me, and I find them all very interesting. The most common one I hear people bitch about is my dieting advice. This has to be from people who don't read my articles or thoughts with any kind of context. If I am talking about eating everything under the sun, including candy bars and chocolate milk and shit like that, that's for really really skinny guys with super fast metabolisms that cannot gain weight. This is also not some shit I made up. This is something I have used in real life on real life super skinny guys that couldn't gain weight. Getting a guy to learn how to eat like there is no tomorrow is hard. It's pretty much impossible to do with clean foods. If you've ever tried to get in 4500-5000 calories clean, then you know what I'm talking about. It's a fucking chore. And guys who don't eat enough as is, aren't going to eat bland food all day long. They won't. And they won't gain weight. So you take a guy like this, and you feed him everything he likes to eat that has enough protein, carbs, and fat in it, and you go from there. On the flip side, if it's a guy/gal that is lean, but has a solid foundation of muscle, I do go with mostly clean eating for mass gain. So I'm not sure what the bitching is about. That I myself am not lean enough? My pic below is current and I'm 250 pounds at a legit 12% bodyfat. I am not a bodybuilder. And even if I were, my conditioning in the offseason would be about what it is now. So again, I don't understand the complaint. I will never get to that ultra shredded state because there is no reason to. What would that do for me? Not a damn thing. It won't make me stronger, and I will never step on stage and do a bodybuilding competition. So getting below 9-10% bodayfat doesn't serve any real purpose for me.
I've also come across lots of the "weak point brigade" people bitching, and well, I just laugh. Guys were setting records for decades doing side laterals, pushdowns, and leg extensions as their assistance work. Now guys that are weak as shit spend all their time trying to find every perfect weak point fixing exercise. Then wonder why their main lifts don't move very much. I do think it is important to get strong as hell on 5-8 basic exercises but getting specific about weak points isn't really required. If you can stiff leg 500x10, do t-bars with 300x20 and chin with 100 pounds around your waist you don't have any "posterior chain" weakness issues. If you can overhead press 300 for reps and do dips with 200 extra pounds, you don't have shoulder or tricep "weak point" issues. So then guys will say "oh it's about weak points within the movement". Here is a fucking news flash from the city. THOSE ARE ALWAYS GOING TO EXIST. You can't get rid of them and they will be there every single time you fail at a weight you aren't strong enough to lift yet. So guess what? Get stronger. Yeah, it's that simple. If you used a movement that helped you make a lift you had been missing, all you did was get stronger. You didn't fix a "weak point". It's like some people can't get their head around this. If you put enough weight on again, you'll miss a lift in that SAME SPOT again. Sheesh.
When my wife graduates from radiology I'm getting a Viper. Like, that day. I'm just sayin.
I still haven't figured out why I see raw guys doing box squats. And I've heard every excuse under the sun as to why, and none of them still make any fucking sense. As I have said before, if you do them low to where you don't pause on the box but barely touch it, fine. But sitting on the box and taking the quads out of the squat is utterly retarded. I love it when I see some article titled something like "Learn how to squat" and it's nothing but box squatting. Well, when the fuck do you learn how to squat? I agree that the box squat is a decent tool for a beginner trainee who needs to learn how to squat, but I take the box away after three or four weeks.
Getting strong with your bottom strength is where its at. I still see so many guys utilizing geared training shit for raw training. If you are a freak and can run with that by all means, more power to you. But if you're not, you're going to find out eventually, that protocols based around geared lifting aren't worth two shits on a rainy Monday for raw lifting. I feel the same way about Chuck Taylor shoes for squatting. Who the fuck came up with this? My foots slides around in that god damn shoe like I'm ice skating. Not only that, if you squat with a medium or close stance, there is no heel. There is a reason virtually every Olympic lifter in the world uses shoes made for squatting, uh, and they all have a heel.
And speaking of squatting, I usually squat in cargo shorts or something like that to give my hips a little support. Last night at the gym I sunk that 455 for the first rep and totally blew out the back of my short. I mean Incredible Hulk ripped em. I did the second rep and racked it. Thought about it for a while, and said screw it and finished my squat workout with my ass hanging out the back the whole time. I'm not sure if anyone even noticed. I don't know if this is good or bad.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Training - Squatting
Bodyweight - 249
warm up - hip and ass machine 2 x 50
calf press - stack x 30
good girl and bad girl machine - 3 x 20
Squats - no belt no wraps
bar x 20
135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 4
405 x 3
455 x 2
405 x 2
315 x 1
225 x 30
Adductor Machine - 2 x 20
Notes - Adductor felt super tight tonight after 455. I figured a down set wouldn't be too bad but both 405 and 315 felt bad. I didn't tear it again, no pop or injury however I was smart and didn't push it. So I did a down set with 225 x 30 and more adductor work and lots of stretching. Better to live another day than to try and win a losing battle. Sucks too because 455 was retardedly fast and easy. Would have been good for 10 with that alone.
warm up - hip and ass machine 2 x 50
calf press - stack x 30
good girl and bad girl machine - 3 x 20
Squats - no belt no wraps
bar x 20
135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 4
405 x 3
455 x 2
405 x 2
315 x 1
225 x 30
Adductor Machine - 2 x 20
Notes - Adductor felt super tight tonight after 455. I figured a down set wouldn't be too bad but both 405 and 315 felt bad. I didn't tear it again, no pop or injury however I was smart and didn't push it. So I did a down set with 225 x 30 and more adductor work and lots of stretching. Better to live another day than to try and win a losing battle. Sucks too because 455 was retardedly fast and easy. Would have been good for 10 with that alone.
Osama Bin Laden dead
Worthy of a post all to itself.
I'm glad he's dead, I hope he rots in the 9th circle of hell and that every other terrorist or terrorist sympathizer joins him.
I'm glad he's dead, I hope he rots in the 9th circle of hell and that every other terrorist or terrorist sympathizer joins him.
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