Bodyweight - 249
Leg Ext -
25x20
50x20
75x20
100x20
75x20
50x20
25x30
Fronts -
135x3x5
225x5,5
275x5,5,5
315x5,5
Squats -
315x5,5
365x5,5
405x5,5
Notes - Ugh. Total -10% session in that everything felt awkward and tight. Awkward and tight might be a good way to describe the first time being in your virgin girlfriends poonanny however, it's not how you want fronts and back squats to feel. Chalk it up to doing all the cardio and other work I have been doing.
Strength Life Legacy
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Podcast with Capt. Kirk
No intro, no outro because one is not needed.
This is a podcast with the Captain. My favorite powerlifter of all time, Kirk Karwoski.
Very little bullshit here, lots of training and eating talk, pure training shit.
There are some times when his call breaks up because a massive storm was raging but you'll survive somehow.
Some highlights -
Spent his "offseason" doing 8's
Tried to maintain explosiveness through whole training cycle (no grinding)
Ate FOOD to both grow, and get lean. Not basing his diet around shakes.
Trained 16 weeks for meet training with very few misses ever in training.
Enjoy.
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/GDasq_Hc/LRB_Podcast_-_Capt_Kirk_Editio.html
This is a podcast with the Captain. My favorite powerlifter of all time, Kirk Karwoski.
Very little bullshit here, lots of training and eating talk, pure training shit.
There are some times when his call breaks up because a massive storm was raging but you'll survive somehow.
Some highlights -
Spent his "offseason" doing 8's
Tried to maintain explosiveness through whole training cycle (no grinding)
Ate FOOD to both grow, and get lean. Not basing his diet around shakes.
Trained 16 weeks for meet training with very few misses ever in training.
Enjoy.
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/GDasq_Hc/LRB_Podcast_-_Capt_Kirk_Editio.html
Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff - Foot and heart syndrome edition
So tonight if I can get the stars aligned correctly, I should be able to get in a podcast with the great Kirk Karwoski, who has been my favorite powerlifter for quite some time. I've had a chance to talk with Kirk on the phone a few times now, and he's a really cool dude and much like myself, talks a lot. Jim Steel said we'd get along famously and so far that's been the case. I already have quite the list of questions lined up and I can tell you from the times we've spoken, it's going to be awesome. If I don't get it done, it's because Kirk is in and out a lot, however it will happen. So stay tuned.
On a dieting note, for those that are following 365 and doing the keto, let's be clear here. Fried foods are not low carb. I can't fucking believe I saw this shit more than once this week. Several times I read or saw pics of fried dishes and people talking about "low carb meals" or "no carb meals".
What the fuck?
Here is the nutritional info for Hooters chicken strips........
46 grams of carbs. This is NOT low or no carb, obviously. Most fried foods involved batter, which is full of bread crumbs and sometimes they even glaze the shit with sugar. Anything slathered in bar-b-q sauce is out as well. So I don't get why people think that ANY kind of meat is keto, because how it is prepared and cooked does matter.
Before you go spouting off about what a nutritional guru you are (which I am not, so I defer to John Meadows and Kiefer about this shit), you might to make sure that you actually know what you are talking about first. Fried foods are not a keto food anymore than tootsie rolls or bread sticks from Olive Garden are. A great way to approach keto is to shoot for zero carbs and you'll probably end up around the 20 grams per day range overall.
This vid of CT Flether has been making the rounds on the interwebs. I really like this guy. Mainly because he's obviously very stupid (he uses curse words, and I've read a lot lately that profanity obviously is a sign of low intelligence). However, what jumps out at me about this WHOLE thing, is that he avoided steroids so he could say he was natural. So what did he do instead? Ate hims some MACDonalds, and got fat as shit.
20 years of 4 big macs, 4 fries, 2 shakes, and 4 apple pies at lunch. Which put him in the ER too many times to count, and with major heart issues.
All to avoid steroids.
Let's do some MAFF!
4 big mac's = 2160 calories
4 orders of fries (super sized I assume) = 2440 calories
2 shakes = 1000 calories
4 apple pies = 1000 calories
Survey says?
6600 calories for lunch. I'm not doing the macro breakdown but we should all know it probably doesn't look like what 6600 calories from chicken breast, grass fed beef, brown rice, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes looks like.
I think it's insane, how guys will do this to themselves personally. Both with food, and drugs. The natural guy will fuck himself up to the hilt health wise with food in the "offseason" like this, and the drug user will fuck himself up to the hilt with bigger cycle after bigger cycle because whatever it was he was taking obviously wasn't the answer.
On the flip side, some people want to be the best. If sacrificing their health and well being means they have to do that, then so be it. There was an article I read a while back about Jason Taylor, former defensive end for the Phins, and all the shit he went through while playing. I linked it, however some quotes really jumped out at me.......
He had torn tissues in the bottom of both of them. But he wanted to play. He always wanted to play. So he went to a private room inside the football stadium.
“Like a dungeon,” he says now. “One light bulb swaying back and forth. There was a damp, musty smell. It was like the basement in Pulp Fiction.”
The doctors handed him a towel. For his mouth. To keep him from biting his tongue. And to muffle his screaming.
“It is the worst ever,” he says. “By far. All the nerve endings in your feet.”
That wasn’t the ailment. No, that was the cure. A needle has to go in that foot, and there aren’t a lot of soft, friendly places for a big needle in a foot. That foot pain is there for a reason, of course. It is your body screaming to your brain for help. A warning. The needle mutes the screaming and the warning.
“The first shot is ridiculous,” Taylor says. “Ridiculously horrible. Excruciating.”
But the first shot to the foot wasn’t even the remedy. The first shot was just to numb the area … in preparation for the second shot, which was worse.
He won defensive player of the year that year, by the way. Also let me add, I've had stitches in the bottom of my foot. It was incredibly excruciating.
On a dieting note, for those that are following 365 and doing the keto, let's be clear here. Fried foods are not low carb. I can't fucking believe I saw this shit more than once this week. Several times I read or saw pics of fried dishes and people talking about "low carb meals" or "no carb meals".
What the fuck?
Here is the nutritional info for Hooters chicken strips........
46 grams of carbs. This is NOT low or no carb, obviously. Most fried foods involved batter, which is full of bread crumbs and sometimes they even glaze the shit with sugar. Anything slathered in bar-b-q sauce is out as well. So I don't get why people think that ANY kind of meat is keto, because how it is prepared and cooked does matter.
Before you go spouting off about what a nutritional guru you are (which I am not, so I defer to John Meadows and Kiefer about this shit), you might to make sure that you actually know what you are talking about first. Fried foods are not a keto food anymore than tootsie rolls or bread sticks from Olive Garden are. A great way to approach keto is to shoot for zero carbs and you'll probably end up around the 20 grams per day range overall.
This vid of CT Flether has been making the rounds on the interwebs. I really like this guy. Mainly because he's obviously very stupid (he uses curse words, and I've read a lot lately that profanity obviously is a sign of low intelligence). However, what jumps out at me about this WHOLE thing, is that he avoided steroids so he could say he was natural. So what did he do instead? Ate hims some MACDonalds, and got fat as shit.
20 years of 4 big macs, 4 fries, 2 shakes, and 4 apple pies at lunch. Which put him in the ER too many times to count, and with major heart issues.
All to avoid steroids.
Let's do some MAFF!
4 big mac's = 2160 calories
4 orders of fries (super sized I assume) = 2440 calories
2 shakes = 1000 calories
4 apple pies = 1000 calories
Survey says?
6600 calories for lunch. I'm not doing the macro breakdown but we should all know it probably doesn't look like what 6600 calories from chicken breast, grass fed beef, brown rice, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes looks like.
I think it's insane, how guys will do this to themselves personally. Both with food, and drugs. The natural guy will fuck himself up to the hilt health wise with food in the "offseason" like this, and the drug user will fuck himself up to the hilt with bigger cycle after bigger cycle because whatever it was he was taking obviously wasn't the answer.
On the flip side, some people want to be the best. If sacrificing their health and well being means they have to do that, then so be it. There was an article I read a while back about Jason Taylor, former defensive end for the Phins, and all the shit he went through while playing. I linked it, however some quotes really jumped out at me.......
He had torn tissues in the bottom of both of them. But he wanted to play. He always wanted to play. So he went to a private room inside the football stadium.
“Like a dungeon,” he says now. “One light bulb swaying back and forth. There was a damp, musty smell. It was like the basement in Pulp Fiction.”
The doctors handed him a towel. For his mouth. To keep him from biting his tongue. And to muffle his screaming.
“It is the worst ever,” he says. “By far. All the nerve endings in your feet.”
That wasn’t the ailment. No, that was the cure. A needle has to go in that foot, and there aren’t a lot of soft, friendly places for a big needle in a foot. That foot pain is there for a reason, of course. It is your body screaming to your brain for help. A warning. The needle mutes the screaming and the warning.
“The first shot is ridiculous,” Taylor says. “Ridiculously horrible. Excruciating.”
But the first shot to the foot wasn’t even the remedy. The first shot was just to numb the area … in preparation for the second shot, which was worse.
He won defensive player of the year that year, by the way. Also let me add, I've had stitches in the bottom of my foot. It was incredibly excruciating.
What I'm getting at here with both of these stories is, maybe you can be a champion, and maybe you can't. Whatever endeavour you decide to undertake, genetics will be involved in playing a part in that. However, the rest is determined by how much you are willing to give up and sacrifice.
Your time?
Your relationships?
Your money?
Your feet?
Your heart?
Your life?
Who knows.
That's your call. Taylor says in that article, in the end it was worth it. Good on him that he can feel that way.
CT doesn't really say if he felt like it was worth it, but he says that you don't really have any excuses for not making the minimum effort to get better.
The difference in the two stories about being the best is that, Taylor didn't choose for his feet to be fucked up. CT chose to make decisions to fuck his health up. So I do see a line between the two stories. If you have extenuating circumstances that are completely out of your control that you have to make a choice to fight through, that isn't quite the same to me as making conscious choices that you will pay for later. It's like being condomless while the not so "clean" hot chic is begging you to bang her. You want to hit it, but you know you could pay for it later.
Again, it really all comes back to how badly you really want something, and the sacrifices you will have to make to attain it. Life is going to be filled with these kinds of decisions, and in the end everything comes back to two very simple things.
1. Priorities
2. Level of effort
#2 there will tell you everything you need to know about #1.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Training and podcast with Capt. Kirk
Bodyweight - 250
Seated Db Press
100's x 17, 10
That's it. Awful. Tired as hell.
I am scheduled to do a podcast with Capt. Kirk tomorrow night. Pretty fucking excited as Kirk has been my fave powerlifter for a long time.
Another PR story
Ran a short cycle for bench from "SLL" and hit 430 PR at a bodyweight of 203. The whole cycle I was dieting and have dropped down from about 212. *I bench wearing a SlingShot. I compete in strongman so it allows me to overload my triceps while being less stressful on my shoulders. -- Chase Karnes
First off, big congrats to Chase on the PR, and second I'm glad he's someone that is using all the principles I have written about and applying them not only in his own training but the people he's been helping.
I've never said I have all of the answers, but my experience comes from years of trial and error so I really appreciate someone else using what I've written to avoid all the mistakes I had to make in order to learn.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Training - Deads
Bodyweight - no idea
Deadlifts -
225x,2,2,2,2
315x2,2,2
375x2,2,2,2,2,2,2
405x1
515x1 <-testing p="" speed="">
Hammer Row - 3x15
Flex Shrug Machine - 3x20
notes - I haven't been posting this, but every morning I've been getting in between 30-45 minutes of steady state at the new gym. I've also been doing small sessions before that as well. So generally upright rows, good girl and bad girl machine, some curls and triceps usually in a circuit. Also some abs. So quite a bit of stuff for about 30 minutes then the 30-45 minutes of steady state at 4.2 MPH.
Deadlifts -
225x,2,2,2,2
315x2,2,2
375x2,2,2,2,2,2,2
405x1
515x1 <-testing p="" speed="">
Hammer Row - 3x15
Flex Shrug Machine - 3x20
notes - I haven't been posting this, but every morning I've been getting in between 30-45 minutes of steady state at the new gym. I've also been doing small sessions before that as well. So generally upright rows, good girl and bad girl machine, some curls and triceps usually in a circuit. Also some abs. So quite a bit of stuff for about 30 minutes then the 30-45 minutes of steady state at 4.2 MPH.
Base Building - Part 3 - Maintaining the base, improving the support to grow
In parts 1 and parts 2 of base building I outlined the reasons why you should be programming lighter than you may think you need to, and how to possibly rotate your heavy and light sessions in order to maximize recovery.
Week 2 -
Day 1 - Bench - Chest Emphasis
Bench Press - base work
Incline Press - 50% method
Db Bench Press - 350 method
Pec Deck or Flye - 100 reps
Day 2 - Deadlift - lower back ephasis
Deadlift - base work
Good Mornings - 50% method
Hypers - 350 method (bodyweight should be good here if you do them CORRECTLY)
Hanging Leg Raises - 100 total reps - this is to actually stretch the entire spine and sort of "unload" the lower back.
Day 3 - Squat - Glute Emphasis
Squat - base work
Barbell Glute Bridges - 50% method
Speed Skater/Split Squats - 350 method
Glute Kickbacks - 100 reps
Day 4 - Bench - Tricep and Biceps Emphasis
Bench - base work
Close Grips - 50% method
Db Curls - 350 method
Curls - 100+ reps
Week 3 -
Day 1 - Deadlift - Lat emphasis
Deadlift - base work
Chins - 50% method
Lat Pulldowns - 350 method
Straight Arm Pulldowns - 100 reps
One of the key components of base building is that you sort of "train to maintain" which allows for the recovery out of fatigue, and into supercompensation.
The issue becomes, like any other issue, how long can you do this and still improve?
I don't have an answer.
Everyone will be different. However I do know that the human body will adapt to most training methods or styles or stimulus fairly quickly, so it's not like I'm preaching you can go in and train lazily forever, and get big and strong as fuck.
At some point, you will have to switch gears and put some weight on the bar, and/or blast some new rep PR's. At least for a 6 week cycle. If you're feeling froggy after 6 weeks, run it for 3 more.
Since the base building principles are something done over a longer period, say 3-4 meso cycles, you will probably need to break up the rhythm a bit. A good way to do this, without overworking the main lifts, is to use the 50% method, the 350 method, and 100 rep work to improve muscularly to improve the lifts.
The seesaw effect of recovery and stimulus again -
Since fatigue just isn't about intensity loads (% of 1RM) we still must be mindful of volume, if a perceived intensity effect is throw in. Once you start doing forced reps or negatives or strip sets, you're once again introducing fatigue into the equation. Now something must give in order to still make sure that the downward curve of fatigue is still met with a sharp up curve of recovery.
This is something you saw in 365 in phase 1 using the strong-15. That the assistance work has to take a sharp turn down once the intensity load starts to rise. Likewise, now when you turn the perceived intensity up, the volume for the big lifts must take a down turn.
Just to make it easy, you can simply cut the volume in half for the big lifts, and keep the percentages the same.
So 6 sets of 8 become 3 sets of 8 on bench. 5 sets can be 2 or 3 by your own discretion.
Time to grow -
This following is a fact of lifting. At some point you will hit a ceiling for your strength potential at your current size. At that point you have to make a choice to either be happy with that level of strength, or get muscularly bigger. This requires reps, and food. Food I am not writing about today. That only leaves reps.
There are three methods I prefer to get more reps in for growth.
The 50% method - Do a set to "failure" rest 60 seconds, then do another set and try to get half as many reps at the first set. Use the big-15 programming to figure out how much to use here.
350 method - Do 3 sets of max reps with the same weight, 2 minutes rest between, aiming for 50 total reps.
100 rep sets - Pretty straight forward.
"This is f'n madness" split -
After 10-12 weeks of some boring ass base building, or you reach a point where you know you need to grow, it will be time to plug in the "madness".
I call it this because I can look at it on paper and tell you, it's going to be fucking hard. It will hurt. It will make you grow like a baby gorilla on 2 grams of tren a week if your eating and sleeping are good.
Ok so that's total embellishment for the sake of the article but if you make sleep and food the priorities outside of the gym, you will grow like crazy getting this much work in.
Ok so that's total embellishment for the sake of the article but if you make sleep and food the priorities outside of the gym, you will grow like crazy getting this much work in.
One of the things this split will do, is rotate the emphasis on what musculature is being worked on a session to session basis, so that way over the 6 weeks everything gets extra treatment.
Here is the breakdown -
3 sessions rotated
4 days a week
Rotation of what is being emphasized on for the day
For example....
Benching - chest, shoulders, triceps, biceps
Squatting - quads, glutes, hams
Deadlifting - upperback, lowerback, lats
So for 6 weeks, your standards will be to drop volume on the big stuff, get some easy work in there, and then destroy the musculature involved in the big lifts.
Let's lay this out.
Week 1 -
Day 1 - Squat - Quad emphasis
Squat - base work
Front Squats - 50% method
Hack Squats - 350 method
Leg Extentions - 100 reps
Day 2 - Bench - Shoulder Emphasis
Bench - base work
Military Press/PBN - 50% method
Seated Db Press - 350 method
Front Raises - 100 reps
Day 3 - Deadlift - upperback emphasis
Deadlift - base work
Db Rows - 50% method
Cable Rows - 350 method
Kirk Shrugs - 100 reps
Day 4 - Squat - Hamstring emphasis
Squat - base work
Squat - base work
Sumo leg press - 50% method
Romanian Deads - 350 method
Leg Curls - 100 reps
Week 2 -
Day 1 - Bench - Chest Emphasis
Bench Press - base work
Incline Press - 50% method
Db Bench Press - 350 method
Pec Deck or Flye - 100 reps
Day 2 - Deadlift - lower back ephasis
Deadlift - base work
Good Mornings - 50% method
Hypers - 350 method (bodyweight should be good here if you do them CORRECTLY)
Hanging Leg Raises - 100 total reps - this is to actually stretch the entire spine and sort of "unload" the lower back.
Day 3 - Squat - Glute Emphasis
Squat - base work
Barbell Glute Bridges - 50% method
Speed Skater/Split Squats - 350 method
Glute Kickbacks - 100 reps
Day 4 - Bench - Tricep and Biceps Emphasis
Bench - base work
Close Grips - 50% method
Db Curls - 350 method
Curls - 100+ reps
Week 3 -
Day 1 - Deadlift - Lat emphasis
Deadlift - base work
Chins - 50% method
Lat Pulldowns - 350 method
Straight Arm Pulldowns - 100 reps
Day 2 - Squat - Quad emphasis (repeat)
Squat - base work
Front Squats - 50% method
Hack Squats - 350 method
Leg Extentions - 100 reps
Day 3 - Bench - Shoulder Emphasis (repeat)
Bench - base work
Military Press/PBN - 50% method
Seated Db Press - 350 method
Front Raises - 100 reps
Day 4 - Deadlift - upperback emphasis (repeat)
Deadlift - base work
Db Rows - 50% method
Cable Rows - 350 method
Kirk Shrugs - 100 reps
Some notes and keys here to making this work -
- This is HARD training. If your eating is not good, and your rest is not of utmost importance, you will not get the most from this. Read that again and again.
- If you are fat, do not do this. Let me repeat. You need to eat to make this kind of program work. If you are fat, get your slop ass in shape first. Base build on many long meso cycles as outlined in parts 1 and 2, and drop the slop. I can't ever figure out why the hell fat guys keep asking me "should I train for mass." Isn't that what you were doing to get fat? Get lean first, so you can eat really well for the next 6-9 weeks.
- Eating means carbs. No one is going to get massive or gain mass eating no carb. If you want to do carb backloading, that's fine. If you want to eat in a traditional manner, it will work as well. Just eat carbs, but keep the diet clean. Check the LRB diet if you have no idea what that means.
- I have yet to figure out why people keep saying I'm a low volume guy. Jesus tap dancing christ, if you want to do the math on the volume in these workouts.....it's going to be in the 200-300 rep range at times. Then some guy that does 10 sets of 3 (30 reps) says some shit like "well yeah but he's low volume, and I don't get big or strong on that. I need volume." Thanks champ, math wasn't taught at your school I suppose. VOLUME is about total workload done. Not just sets. Reps fucking count as volume for the love of salamanders and all that is unholy.
- Don't ask "can I...?" Fuck. No.
- One week you bench twice, one week you squat twice, one week you deadlift twice. Again, split the volume for the big lifts in half, and maybe even program down. If I had to describe what you're doing here, use the big lifts as the initial movement as part of the workout "warm up". So all of your energy should be poured into busting ass as hard as possible on the 50%, 350, and 100 methods work.
- Cut the conditioning down to once a week for 45 minutes, twice a week for 30 at MOST.
- Shoot for rep PR's each time that workout comes around. This means again, to program a little light.
- Run through this 6-9 week cycle until you start getting crispy, AKA saying to yourself "fuck this rep shit! I need a break!" Kit-Kat time.
- I also suggest throwing in a cheat MEAL (not day) twice a week. These is a high calorie style training program, so you can dirty it up A LITTLE. Again, another reason why you need to be LEAN going into this. If you aren't (I have to always write this a few times because the fatties REALLY want to get bigger when they really need to understand they are fatties) then again, base build for months and months to find a set point with bodyfat and strength that compliments each other. This requires time and you being patient. Two things that most guys hate more than Keith Richards hates sobriety.
- After you do get crispy, do a no-deload deload, and then start with more cycles of base building with the big lifts only for a while. At this point you should be able to program quite a bit higher than you were previously if you had been stuck in a rut.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Training - Light Press
Bodyweight - 250
Incline -
barx40,10
135x15,5
185x5
225x4
275x3
315x2
370x1
225x23,13,6 = 42
Fucking awful.
Flex Row - 5x10 @ 240
Upright Rows - 5x15
Notes - The 370 single was the fastest I've ever done at that weight. I have no doubt an incredibly easy 405 would have been doable today however rep wise, boy, at about 16 reps at 225 I could feel the gas tank start to empty out. A real "wtf?" moment because the 370 felt like an empty bar. Oh well. Still 8 reps off from 50 on a bad day.
Incline -
barx40,10
135x15,5
185x5
225x4
275x3
315x2
370x1
225x23,13,6 = 42
Fucking awful.
Flex Row - 5x10 @ 240
Upright Rows - 5x15
Notes - The 370 single was the fastest I've ever done at that weight. I have no doubt an incredibly easy 405 would have been doable today however rep wise, boy, at about 16 reps at 225 I could feel the gas tank start to empty out. A real "wtf?" moment because the 370 felt like an empty bar. Oh well. Still 8 reps off from 50 on a bad day.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Training - Lights skwats
Bodyweight - 252 hahahahahaa
Leg Ext - 8 sets of 20
Front Squats - 275 x 6 sets of 5
Squats - 365 x 5 sets of 5
Notes - Didn't pull the adductor again so it was the best night of squatting in about a month. Everything felt really good.
My weight is REALLY up and I'm not sure why tbh. I'm getting cardio in every morning and I've not cheated a single bit on the diet, so my only guess is that it's just water and sodium.
Leg Ext - 8 sets of 20
Front Squats - 275 x 6 sets of 5
Squats - 365 x 5 sets of 5
Notes - Didn't pull the adductor again so it was the best night of squatting in about a month. Everything felt really good.
My weight is REALLY up and I'm not sure why tbh. I'm getting cardio in every morning and I've not cheated a single bit on the diet, so my only guess is that it's just water and sodium.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Overhead work in 365 and in general
I've gotten overrun with questions about overhead work in 365, and a TON of questions about improving overhead strength in general lately.
- In 365 for phase 1, just sub out incline press for overhead work. I personally think that incline gives you the best of both worlds, however some people just have cialis hard erections for overhead work, so there is your key. I shake my head when people write that they don't understand my loving of incline press. If you suck at incline press, you probably suck at either bench OR overheads. But if you're awesome at incline you are probably awesome at both. Again, I said probably. I'm sure that quote will get taken to the woodshed by the keyboard warriors but incline is that dark world between benches and overheads. It tends to cater to both just a little bit.
- In phase 1, do NOT program it. Just get in the work listed for incline. 5 sets of 10 reps at a weight you can get all 10 reps with, or to a top set of 10. You can mix it up too. Remember the assistance drops off with each phase so figure it out early. Or not.
- I am always mystified by guys whose bench goes up from increasing their overhead press. Have you just NOT done fucking overhead work at all? If so, that's the answer. Not that overhead work itself is the key. It's just that you made the mistake of neglecting a basic movement for too long.
- I don't think there is anything magical about standing presses compared to seated presses in terms of shoulder development or strength. In fact, I feel my shoulders working far more when I do seated press behind the neck than any other movement. Same with seated db presses. And I can do a clean and press with 275+ any day of the week, even if I haven't been doing them. Just get strong at overhead pressing in every fashion you can and you'll be fine.
- The Klokov press, while fun, destroys my mid back more than my shoulders. I personally don't recommend it for most because it really beats you up and (which can be done with a standard PBN) it has little to other to other movements I think. Again, it's fun but I don't see the application of it to other movements since other movements that don't beat you up as much, offer the same benefits.
- The glutes should initiate the initial push in the standing press. So many guys miss this. It's like leg drive in the bench. Drive with the glutes and arch the low back hard.
- At the start of the movement, should be squeezing your biceps. Not letting the bar "rest" on your triceps. So "flex" your forearms in hard at the bottom. This will take some tinkering but I made a video about it and the guys who have applied it were amazed at the difference it made. It's on my youtube channel.
- Another way to think about this, is that at the bottom you should be trying to make your palms face each other instead of just holding the weight in front of you.
- Best assistance for the overhead press? More overhead presses.
- Though I will say band pull aparts might seem to help since most guys are weak as shit in the rear delts and rhomboids since they do shit rows. So if your "shelf" is weak, the start will feel weak because the support musculature isn't strong enough to support to load as easy. So lots of upperback work can help (this seems to be a theme with pretty much every big lift doesn't it?).
- I've read a million times to "drive the head through" on standing press, but I actually feel a loss of power and drive when I do that. I've tried it a million times, and it never fails. This is one of those times where the coaching doesn't always apply to everyone. So try it both ways and see which one feels stronger to you.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff - Promises, promises
1. The check is in the mail
2. I will love you forever
3. I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
These are the three biggest lies ever told, or so the joke goes.
#2 always jumps out at me though because it makes me think of an old ex-girlfriend who used to tell me this all the time. We were both 15 or 16 at the time, so I blame it on youth, however I really believed her.
Then of course she left me for someone else three years later.
It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that her leaving me was my fault. Yes, she had cheated on me years before, but I made the decision to stay with her through that. However, I opted to never really forgive her for cheating on me, and reminded her that she cheated on me about as often as G.I. Joe reminded us that "knowing was half the battle". Which was every god damn episode.
You see, even though Lori promised me that she would love me forever (and never leave me), no matter what, every promise comes with a caveat, or a "weight".
She couldn't love me and stay with me forever when the relationship turned unhealthy and I was being a dick to her day in and day out. Eventually the weight of that promise crumbled under those things. It's not that she didn't want to break her promise, I believe. It's that she felt I left her with no other choice.
There's an old saying that goes...."Never make a decision when you're angry, never make a promise when you're happy."
These two sayings really play well together. Most often, we make our most rash decisions and choices when emotions are at a boiling point. That's the time when we break those promises or compromise our own values or things we value, because we get overrun by a stampede of estrogen or testosterone filled emotional bulls, and fly off the handle. Often times we break those promises because we're just trying to quell a fear and the response we need in order to have that done, isn't being met. So we take the easy way out, and remove ourselves from the "oath" we gave.
"Didn't you promise him/her you wouldn't do that?"
"Yeah, but you know what, they did X,Y, or Z so I don't give a fuck."
Probably a conversation you've been on both sides of at some point.
On the flip side, we often make our most bold promises to people when we are happy, or elated with them or a situation. It's easy to lose oneself in bliss and elation and start talking like a politician, promising a roof over every head and no new taxes.
The problem with breaking promises, more times than not, is that it's guided by a negative energy that we have created through experience or conditioning. And by conditioning, I don't mean with a weighted vest. Though I could use that as an analogy here.
What I mean by conditioning, is that people aren't really that different. So once you encounter a pattern of behavior with enough people enough times, you start to become aware of "what may come next". In your desperation "not to be outdone first" or "not to be fucked over first", you break your promises for self preservation.
"I refuse to let that dickhead/bitch break up with me first."
"I refuse to let that person get the better of me. So I will fuck them over before they can fuck me over!"
This is generated by the conditioning of our past, and the fear associated with reliving it.
Who wants to get fucked over, or broken up with first, or be stolen from, or have any of those things happen to them when they could just break a promise and avoid it?
The problem is, eventually you never learn how to do anything BUT wait for the negative outcome. You condition yourself to the point that you find things happening, that aren't really happening. You can't see what is really happening in front of you, because you've already convinced yourself that they are doing what other people have done. Maybe they are, but maybe they aren't and you are just jaded too.
I think more times than not, we get shaped in our youth by such actions of emotional treason, and we never completely recover from it. People often carry the burdens of past relationships and "fuckings over" well into their adulthood, and beyond, often times to the grave. Most psychologists can trace problems someone is having in life, love, and relationships all the way back to their grade school years or youth.
In a sense, we never grow up, emotionally. We know and say all the right things, don't we? We know all the little mottos and we offer up superlative advice about dealing with problems, friendships, romances, and people however our own application of said wisdom, is usually about as solid as a shit after a a healthy dose of Turbo Lax.
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| For fast, effective relief of giving up your responsibilities |
We don't want to be the one hurt, or taken advantage of, therefore we feel the need to make the decision to beat the other person to the punch, so to speak. So then what happens? That person gets conditioned to this as well, and simply repeats the behavior done to them. So round and round we go.
I understand how easy it can be to make a promise to a beautiful woman when you're looking into her eyes and have tingling sensations in your no-no parts. It's later when she pisses you off or you piss her off, that you find it so easy to make a judgmental decision that can haunt you forever.
It's the same with friends and friendship. If you live long enough, you'll undoubtedly encounter a friend or two that doesn't always have the friendships best interest in mind, and you'll part ways.
So how do we break these chains and cycles of being jaded and stop being conditioned by our past?
Welllllll, let's throw out a few to practice.
1. Don't make decisions when angry.
This is what gets us in "I'm sorry" mode and "please forgive me" mode. The best way to avoid this all together is not to make a statement or decision about any relationship or problem, when you're pissed off. Especially when both of you are, because often times, you're just looking for an easy answer and the other person isn't supplying it. That's because they are pissed off too. As the saying goes "cool heads prevail". Let your head cool before you decide to make a choice, or break a promise.
2. Never go to bed angry.
Even if you have to put your problems aside, try to NOT go to bed angry at someone or let them do the same. A simple text or message of "look, we're not getting this done right now and I want to make it right. Can we talk in the morning?" is usually enough.
3. Let a wound heal
For those of you who fall into the "I like to beat a dead horse" category when comes to arguing, this is for you. Most people who do this, do so because they really want resolution immediately but aren't patient enough to let it happen naturally. So they pick and pick and pick and pick, but the problem is, sometimes you have to leave a scab alone for a while before it can really heal. The same goes for emotional scabs. You need to sometimes back off, and not "talk it to death" in order to let that wound heal. A rule of thumb that worked well for Tiff and I, was if we had an ongoing issue, we could only discuss it for 30 minutes at a certain time each day. Sounds strange, but it REALLY works. And it works fast. If you're a beat a horse to death kinda arguer, give it a try.
4. Be cool, don't be an asshole.
This one is harder to apply at times because again, as your emotions get the better of you. Don't let your demons make choices that your angels will have to pay for later. I'm always reminded of that scene in Pulp Fiction where Jules keeps telling the dude in the breakfast place "tell that bitch be cool! Say "bitch be cool!""
As I've said, cooler heads always prevail, and it's hard to keep a cool head when you won't let the temperature of a discussion or argument die down. It's ok to walk away, get some ice cream or a doughnut, and then come back and discuss it under calmer conditions. I mean, who can be pissed off eating ice cream? It's difficult. I know.
So when you feel like being an asshole the most, remind yourself not to be a little bitch, and just be cool. This will serve you well through about 99% of your problems in life and relationships with people. If you don't think so, even Moses said it............
Monday, January 21, 2013
Training - Heavy pulls
Bodyweight - not sure
4" block deads -
225x3,3,3
315x3
405x3
500x3
550x3
Elevated Stiff Legs - 385x5,5
Notes - That was it. Had some stuff I had to do so didn't get the shrugs in. The 550 triple was super fast so I feel like this is a good starting point. I will pull it for 5 in two weeks.
4" block deads -
225x3,3,3
315x3
405x3
500x3
550x3
Elevated Stiff Legs - 385x5,5
Notes - That was it. Had some stuff I had to do so didn't get the shrugs in. The 550 triple was super fast so I feel like this is a good starting point. I will pull it for 5 in two weeks.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Training - Bench
Bodyweight - high
Close Grip all reps paused -
barx40
135x15
225x5
185x4
275x3
315x2
365x1
315x8,8,6,5,3
Boy the reps really tanked starting about that 3rd set.
Curl Machine - 4x20
Notes - Didn't have much "umpf" for this session. Just ran out of gas on the reps early. No biggie. Want to be able to eventually work to 6 sets of 8 with 315 on bench, all paused.
Close Grip all reps paused -
barx40
135x15
225x5
185x4
275x3
315x2
365x1
315x8,8,6,5,3
Boy the reps really tanked starting about that 3rd set.
Curl Machine - 4x20
Notes - Didn't have much "umpf" for this session. Just ran out of gas on the reps early. No biggie. Want to be able to eventually work to 6 sets of 8 with 315 on bench, all paused.
Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff - Dead horse cat whiskers edition
I didn't train last night AND I carb back loaded two nights in a row. Tisk, tisk, tisk. How very fucking naughty of me. I was just beat down and overly fatigued, and I have found when I am like that, it's best to just rest up and go at it another day. I used to fight this because I thought it was the lazy mans attitude, and maybe it is, however after all these years it's pretty obvious I love to train and am not the lazy man, thus I listen to my body. 5 cinnamon rolls and half a box of cocoa krispies later, I went to bed and passed out quickly. Thus letting me know, my decision was correct.
As I've been posting more and more stuff on base building and quoting guys who ended up finding all the same shit I found (namely, that you don't need to train very heavy to get incredibly strong) a lot of beginners and intermediate types are asking if that would work for them. Yes and no. It can work, however as I've noted, your beginner and intermediate years are the times where you're going to benefit the most from pushing the upper limits of your intensities, because you ability to recover will be greatest. So push hard and heavy for reps during those times and take advantage of not being strong enough to have a shit ton of weight on the bar.
If you are a noob, do the "go heavy or go home" route and stop thinking you're ready for this approach and asking questions on how to implement it. I now feel Dante's pain of having to tell noob after noob that they wouldn't benefit from doggcrapp training because only advanced guys would REALLY know how to work it properly. Noobs are the god damn worst about wanting short cuts. You'd think the 20 year guy, who has slaved away would the one bitching about someone giving him a shortcut, but it's always the fucking 3 plate squatter wanting to know some shortcut. Jesus tap dancing christ.
Let me also add, that people "read" what I write, then ask....
"So how much weight should I add the next week?"
"So should I just keep adding reps until I can do 10?"
"How will I know if I got any stronger if I don't max?"
....yeah, that's how I feel.
Guys still aren't getting adding more and more weight to the bar out of their head with this approach. They literally get in a fucking panic.
"OMG how will I know if I'm stronger if I didn't add weight to the bar?"
Honestly I've been in this camp. I CAME from that camp and method of thinking, but it's evolved because I flat out don't think it's the most optimal way to train. Not once you reach the same plateaus over and over again. The body eventually tells you that you're either going to need to create more muscle mass or train very methodically for a long period without much down time. You know what that's called?
Consistency.
So how do you know if you got stronger, or if you're getting stronger? In yesterdays blog entry Sam talked about blasting through PR's by not putting weight on the bar for months and simply getting more explosive with a weight, and getting in the same amount of work, in less time. Did he get stronger? You bet.
The other very interesting point that both Mikhail and Sam made, that I can very much identify with, is that when training is explosive and you're crushing weights week in and week out, you intuitively KNOW you're stronger. It's kind of a hard thing to explain, but Mikhail even went so far to explain that you could look at a weight and it would "look" easy.
I know exactly what he's talking about, but I've just never written it down because it almost sounds like Witchcraft. However, instinctively, I know when I'm good for something. Again, I had tards on message boards tell me I couldn't know this based on what I was hitting in training......then went out and did it and of course, they weren't happy about it. Just another reason message board twats suck.
You should be able to know what you are capable of, within reason, by the way you are moving certain weights in training. This does not require maximal intensities. If you can blast 635 off the floor in the deadlift for an easy triple, 700 is pretty much in the bag. You don't need to actually pull 700 in order to be strong enough to pull 700. If that makes sense. Yes, to say you ACTUALLY pulled 700 you need to pull it, however in order to train for a 700 pull you don't ever need to actually attempt 700. This is something most American lifting methodologies have not grasped, because our egos are large, and our thinking can be small.
I think for the next installment instead of writing about the backloading portion of training like this, I may just give some bulletpoints.
So for guys that run the strong-15, I tell them to program light, and they are always amazed at how light. When they listen, they destroy PR's at the end of it, and are shocked by that, and I can't understand why. I've written this so many times, isn't the whole point of being in the gym to NOT miss lifts, and to build strength? In 9 weeks of training how many times do you think you can keep hitting 1RM PR's? Yet so many guys go in week in and week out and grind away. Then wonder why in a few weeks they stall, and go backwards. I've been writing this a lot lately, but then without fail someone will write me and tell me they did that exact thing, then completely NOT grasp the concept of training at lower intensities.
Why?
Fear. We need reinforcement that we can lift something....by actually lifting it. So if we haven't done it, we "fear" we cannot. The point of training in this manner, is to build confidence that you CAN lift it. Eventually the fear is erased. What I think happens with many guys, is that they spend so much time training near max, that they have a lot of misses. So instead of being confident in their training and the outcome that it should be giving them, they "fear" what it has given them in the past. That is, just as many misses as PR's. Think about it, if you only PR'd at meets, and rarely missed, how confident do you think you would be in your training and/or taking on new PR's in a meet? However, if you missed all the time in training, then missed in meets, why are you talking about how awesome training like that is?
I feel like I'm rambling but my point is, the longer you can train productively, the stronger you will get, and the more you will improve. The problem most guys have, is that they want everything in 4, 5, 6 weeks rather than 6, 12, 18, 24 months. Think about this, if you could train injury free without ever taking any time off, and you never missed a lift for a year and a half, and become incredibly explosive with 80% of your max for reps, would you have gotten a metric fuckton stronger? YES! Without a doubt!
Ok I've beaten that god damn horse into cat whiskers. Which means it gets at least two more installments.
I'm working pretty hard on getting a special guest for the podcast. Should be epic and it looks like it will happen. A good buddy is helping me out with this so I'm be very thankful if we can get this together.
I will be on Ironradio today to talk about the USSF with Phil. It will be available to listen to sometime during the week.
That's all folks!
As I've been posting more and more stuff on base building and quoting guys who ended up finding all the same shit I found (namely, that you don't need to train very heavy to get incredibly strong) a lot of beginners and intermediate types are asking if that would work for them. Yes and no. It can work, however as I've noted, your beginner and intermediate years are the times where you're going to benefit the most from pushing the upper limits of your intensities, because you ability to recover will be greatest. So push hard and heavy for reps during those times and take advantage of not being strong enough to have a shit ton of weight on the bar.
If you are a noob, do the "go heavy or go home" route and stop thinking you're ready for this approach and asking questions on how to implement it. I now feel Dante's pain of having to tell noob after noob that they wouldn't benefit from doggcrapp training because only advanced guys would REALLY know how to work it properly. Noobs are the god damn worst about wanting short cuts. You'd think the 20 year guy, who has slaved away would the one bitching about someone giving him a shortcut, but it's always the fucking 3 plate squatter wanting to know some shortcut. Jesus tap dancing christ.
Let me also add, that people "read" what I write, then ask....
"So how much weight should I add the next week?"
"So should I just keep adding reps until I can do 10?"
"How will I know if I got any stronger if I don't max?"
....yeah, that's how I feel.
Guys still aren't getting adding more and more weight to the bar out of their head with this approach. They literally get in a fucking panic.
"OMG how will I know if I'm stronger if I didn't add weight to the bar?"
Honestly I've been in this camp. I CAME from that camp and method of thinking, but it's evolved because I flat out don't think it's the most optimal way to train. Not once you reach the same plateaus over and over again. The body eventually tells you that you're either going to need to create more muscle mass or train very methodically for a long period without much down time. You know what that's called?
Consistency.
So how do you know if you got stronger, or if you're getting stronger? In yesterdays blog entry Sam talked about blasting through PR's by not putting weight on the bar for months and simply getting more explosive with a weight, and getting in the same amount of work, in less time. Did he get stronger? You bet.
The other very interesting point that both Mikhail and Sam made, that I can very much identify with, is that when training is explosive and you're crushing weights week in and week out, you intuitively KNOW you're stronger. It's kind of a hard thing to explain, but Mikhail even went so far to explain that you could look at a weight and it would "look" easy.
I know exactly what he's talking about, but I've just never written it down because it almost sounds like Witchcraft. However, instinctively, I know when I'm good for something. Again, I had tards on message boards tell me I couldn't know this based on what I was hitting in training......then went out and did it and of course, they weren't happy about it. Just another reason message board twats suck.
You should be able to know what you are capable of, within reason, by the way you are moving certain weights in training. This does not require maximal intensities. If you can blast 635 off the floor in the deadlift for an easy triple, 700 is pretty much in the bag. You don't need to actually pull 700 in order to be strong enough to pull 700. If that makes sense. Yes, to say you ACTUALLY pulled 700 you need to pull it, however in order to train for a 700 pull you don't ever need to actually attempt 700. This is something most American lifting methodologies have not grasped, because our egos are large, and our thinking can be small.
I think for the next installment instead of writing about the backloading portion of training like this, I may just give some bulletpoints.
So for guys that run the strong-15, I tell them to program light, and they are always amazed at how light. When they listen, they destroy PR's at the end of it, and are shocked by that, and I can't understand why. I've written this so many times, isn't the whole point of being in the gym to NOT miss lifts, and to build strength? In 9 weeks of training how many times do you think you can keep hitting 1RM PR's? Yet so many guys go in week in and week out and grind away. Then wonder why in a few weeks they stall, and go backwards. I've been writing this a lot lately, but then without fail someone will write me and tell me they did that exact thing, then completely NOT grasp the concept of training at lower intensities.
Why?
Fear. We need reinforcement that we can lift something....by actually lifting it. So if we haven't done it, we "fear" we cannot. The point of training in this manner, is to build confidence that you CAN lift it. Eventually the fear is erased. What I think happens with many guys, is that they spend so much time training near max, that they have a lot of misses. So instead of being confident in their training and the outcome that it should be giving them, they "fear" what it has given them in the past. That is, just as many misses as PR's. Think about it, if you only PR'd at meets, and rarely missed, how confident do you think you would be in your training and/or taking on new PR's in a meet? However, if you missed all the time in training, then missed in meets, why are you talking about how awesome training like that is?
I feel like I'm rambling but my point is, the longer you can train productively, the stronger you will get, and the more you will improve. The problem most guys have, is that they want everything in 4, 5, 6 weeks rather than 6, 12, 18, 24 months. Think about this, if you could train injury free without ever taking any time off, and you never missed a lift for a year and a half, and become incredibly explosive with 80% of your max for reps, would you have gotten a metric fuckton stronger? YES! Without a doubt!
Ok I've beaten that god damn horse into cat whiskers. Which means it gets at least two more installments.
I'm working pretty hard on getting a special guest for the podcast. Should be epic and it looks like it will happen. A good buddy is helping me out with this so I'm be very thankful if we can get this together.
I will be on Ironradio today to talk about the USSF with Phil. It will be available to listen to sometime during the week.
That's all folks!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Ridiculously awesome write up from Sam Byrd
This is from June of last year, however I wanted to post it up because of many of the things Sam points out here, and how much it speaks about the base building articles I have been working on.
The article comes from something he wrote on elitefts. It's here, but I wanted to point out some of the real nuggets of wisdom from Sam that I've been driving home for a while........
The article comes from something he wrote on elitefts. It's here, but I wanted to point out some of the real nuggets of wisdom from Sam that I've been driving home for a while........
- There are a few approaches I take just depending on how I feel at that point, but generally, I don't like to go very heavy very often so I try to avoid adding actual weight to the bar as long as possible.
- I like to use rep maxes rather than heavy singles because its less taxing on me and because its less intimidating. Confidence is key in this sport, as with pretty much anything else in life.
- I'm a lot more confident with a 5 rep max for a new PR than a 1 rep for a new PR.
- I avoid they heavy stuff as long as possible.
- 100% effort on every single rep- all should be fast and explosive, no grinders. If you are grinding at all or slowing down then you tried to progress too fast.
- After all those weeks crushing weights confidence is pretty high. I've performed hundreds of explosive powerful reps and not one single miss or grinder any where.
So as I've been saying a while, stop training your ego, stop maxing in the gym. I am constantly telling guys to program with their everyday max in order to easily hit new goals. This is hard for a lot of guys to get their head around but the fact is, you DO NOT need to use max weights to get maximally strong.
Do you think it's a coincidence that Sam reinforced the fact TWICE that he avoids getting too heavy for as long as possible?
You'll also notice that Sam works on this "base building" for a LONG time. No deloads built in. No weeks where he has to take a down week.
- At this point Ive got between 10 and 18 weeks of foundation training under my belt.
10-18 weeks of base training. That's awesome. No deloads or down weeks or any of that shit needed. Why? Because he trains smart, and saves his big shit for meets. He builds strength in the gym, he doesn't show up acting like the cock of the walk and busts out 700-800 pound squats so he can impress people in the gym.
If Sam Byrd can stay in the 405-500 range for 3-5 months to train his squat, and he's an 800 raw squatter, why are you doing max singles, or damn near it, week in and week out?
More food for thought.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Another great write in.....
Mr. Carter-
Whether or not you read this, doesn’t matter, but I felt it appropriate to give you thanks for your writings in the LRB series. I don’t care who you are, it’s nice to feel appreciated for your work.
Dealing with a severe case of elbow tendonitis for a few months, I was on the verge of taking some extended time off from weight training to let it heal. OP, benching, & back squats routinely irritated the problem, and the typical meathead response of just lifting through the pain was just compounding the issue. The PT exercises, icing, stretching, & wrapping that I read about did nothing but dull the pain until my next session.
I stumbled onto your website a few months ago, and a quick site search led me to a warm up routine & the 100 rep strategy for alleviating the problem. Though skeptical of the results, I was willing to try anything at this point. Combining this with the lighter loads of the acclimation phase of the Strong-15, I’ve accomplished in 3 weeks what I hadn’t been able to accomplish in the previous 6 months, lift nearly pain free (I’m actually amazed it’s worked as well as it has).
So a big thanks for the ‘free’ information. I’m not sure what that advice is worth in $ amount, but considering it saved me from a possible trip to the doctor, a series of potential PT appointments, & extended time off from the gym; I’d say it’s worth a pretty penny to me. So thanks again for sharing your knowledge, it’s greatly appreciated and continually followed.
Court Grady
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Training - Overhead work....heav....errrr...light..no heavy...
Bodyweight - 247
Press Behind the Neck -
barx30
135x8,8,8
155x5
185x3
225x3
245x3
275x3
185x20
Poundstone Curls - barx100
Notes - I couldn't remember if I was supposed to go lighter tonight and do the 350 method or do my heavy stuff and I didn't want to go look so I just did both. It was supposed to be light. So next week I'll punch out some 8's with 225.
Press Behind the Neck -
barx30
135x8,8,8
155x5
185x3
225x3
245x3
275x3
185x20
Poundstone Curls - barx100
Notes - I couldn't remember if I was supposed to go lighter tonight and do the 350 method or do my heavy stuff and I didn't want to go look so I just did both. It was supposed to be light. So next week I'll punch out some 8's with 225.
Base Building Part 2
In part 1 of base building I addressed the issues of fatigue and supercompensation. Basically, managing your degree of stress and recovery is what allows you to have supercompensation (get stronger), and that's really what "progress" is.
If your training is so hard, and ran at such high percentages that you rarely allow supercompensation to take place, then basically you're literally working hard for nothing.
I made a point to mention guys I know, that train super heavy all the time and will tell you "that's how you get strong". And it is....in doses. This is the reason why in my peaking cycles you do end up in the 90%+ range for a few weeks. The weeks preceding that however, are all in the 60's, 70's, and 80's.
To borrow again from the interview with Mikhail and also a quote from Andy Bolton.....
Bolton -
The biggest reason why most dedicated guys FAIL to get STRONGER (or don't get strong as quickly as they'd like) is because they train too hard.
We've all seen these guys...
They want to max out every single week.
And this might work for a few weeks, but then the ACHES and PAINS set in, their strength starts going backwards and they sometimes end up INJURED.
When I was younger I made this mistake and I paid the price.
Maybe you have too.
Just know that very few athletes can get away with maxing out on the same exercises week in, week out.
I certainly can't.
I tried to play that game and eventually realized it didn't work for me. So I found a better way - a way that allowed me to not train as hard and still get STRONGER.
From Mikhail -
"The best method to change your plan is (and it works 100% of the time) – to cut intensity (as in weights on the bar) to around 60-70% and work on volume – reps and sets.
Forget about PRs, forget about shit like “I deadlifted 300kg today, and i am going to deadlift 350kg in half a year following this plan”, forget it.
Just cut your weights, stop going for 1RM once or twice a month. If you have a plateau, then you can say that you’re in the pit.
It takes a lot time to escape from there, and actually I am in the same place right now. Before the Worlds championships 2012 I was in the best shape, but then at some moment I forgot the need to stop and as a result I didn’t even get to a final during World championships.
So, to escape a pit of plateau you gonna do volume. Relatively little weights, and more reps. That’s it."
If your training is so hard, and ran at such high percentages that you rarely allow supercompensation to take place, then basically you're literally working hard for nothing.
I made a point to mention guys I know, that train super heavy all the time and will tell you "that's how you get strong". And it is....in doses. This is the reason why in my peaking cycles you do end up in the 90%+ range for a few weeks. The weeks preceding that however, are all in the 60's, 70's, and 80's.
To borrow again from the interview with Mikhail and also a quote from Andy Bolton.....
Bolton -
The biggest reason why most dedicated guys FAIL to get STRONGER (or don't get strong as quickly as they'd like) is because they train too hard.
We've all seen these guys...
They want to max out every single week.
And this might work for a few weeks, but then the ACHES and PAINS set in, their strength starts going backwards and they sometimes end up INJURED.
When I was younger I made this mistake and I paid the price.
Maybe you have too.
Just know that very few athletes can get away with maxing out on the same exercises week in, week out.
I certainly can't.
I tried to play that game and eventually realized it didn't work for me. So I found a better way - a way that allowed me to not train as hard and still get STRONGER.
From Mikhail -
"The best method to change your plan is (and it works 100% of the time) – to cut intensity (as in weights on the bar) to around 60-70% and work on volume – reps and sets.
Forget about PRs, forget about shit like “I deadlifted 300kg today, and i am going to deadlift 350kg in half a year following this plan”, forget it.
Just cut your weights, stop going for 1RM once or twice a month. If you have a plateau, then you can say that you’re in the pit.
It takes a lot time to escape from there, and actually I am in the same place right now. Before the Worlds championships 2012 I was in the best shape, but then at some moment I forgot the need to stop and as a result I didn’t even get to a final during World championships.
So, to escape a pit of plateau you gonna do volume. Relatively little weights, and more reps. That’s it."
So here you've got two of the greatest powerlifters in the world, both telling you that everytime they decided to get too heavy in their training, they went backwards, stalled, or got injured. This is something I have found happening in my own training more and more over the past many years. That every time I got overzealous in my poundage/programming/intensity, I got a quick run up, hit a wall, and then regressed.
After that I would often have to train for months just to get back to where I was BEFORE the regression.
After that I would often have to train for months just to get back to where I was BEFORE the regression.
What most fail to understand is, this is your body finding equilibrium in that whole fatigue/recovery/supercompensation paradigm. If you find yourself regressing (this is really just being in a state of fatigue) and you continue to train hard to work your way out of that hole, you're really just digging a deeper hole into recovery.
I've heard some guys say "well I trained back out of it." Sure I get that. That's normal. The body will eventually regulate and recover, but you'll flat line back out to where your BASE was before. Not above it. So the lifter that is all happy because he's "squatting X amount, again" really made NO PROGRESS. He's happy that he's simply back to where he was before training went to shit. Does this make ANY sense? You trained so hard that you failed to allow recovery, then you kept training through that, just to get back to where you were BEFORE you got stupid.
Makes me want to slap my forehead and say "I coulda had a V8!"
So as I wrote, you trained hard....for nothing. Maintaining your base level of strength is very easy and only requires you only get in the gym and do SOME work. Maintenance is easy, but often times guys find that just working for maintenance, actually gets them stronger. This is very, very common.
I've heard some guys say "well I trained back out of it." Sure I get that. That's normal. The body will eventually regulate and recover, but you'll flat line back out to where your BASE was before. Not above it. So the lifter that is all happy because he's "squatting X amount, again" really made NO PROGRESS. He's happy that he's simply back to where he was before training went to shit. Does this make ANY sense? You trained so hard that you failed to allow recovery, then you kept training through that, just to get back to where you were BEFORE you got stupid.
Makes me want to slap my forehead and say "I coulda had a V8!"
So as I wrote, you trained hard....for nothing. Maintaining your base level of strength is very easy and only requires you only get in the gym and do SOME work. Maintenance is easy, but often times guys find that just working for maintenance, actually gets them stronger. This is very, very common.
So why do other somewhat strong guys tell you that I'm wrong, and that you gotta train fucking super heavy and do singles and all that shit?
It's really simple. It works.
That's right, it works. There's no denying it. It does work....with a caveat. It only works for so long, and there comes a point of diminishing returns.
So the cycle works like this.
- Dude starts lifting
- Trains heavy, makes progress fast (as a noob)
- Because progress is made, feels training heavy all the time is THE WAY to go
- Gets to a certain level of strength and can say "I lift X amount of weight, so I have to be right."
- Dude is awfully enamored with his strength but fails to mention he hasn't hit any new PR's in years
- I know dozens of strong guys that fall into this category
- This is the "failing to evolve" syndrome in these kinds of guys training life cycle
So a lot of strong guys do get stronger pushing the boundaries of training hard, and the intensities. However as the REALLY elite guys will tell you, this will only work for so long. When you aren't smart enough to learn how to back off, and massage your training rather than trying to drive gains with a sledge hammer, you will make little progress, and often go backwards.
"Gaahhhhddd!!! I pulled 725 for a double last week like it was nothing! Fucking 700 was stapled to the floor this week!!! What the fuck am I doing wrong?!?!"
I wish I had a dollar for everytime I heard something similar to this.
If you are a novice trainer, I do recommend training far heavier because you're simply not going to be moving enough weight to send that fatigue curve too sharply down. Your recovery time back into supercompensation is going to be very fast. This is why noobs can do most anything, and get stronger. So train heavier, and harder, and go balls out. I also recommend novice guys train as long as they can without planned layoffs at all. Again, you're just not stressing your system enough to worry that much about recovery.
This isn't to say that new guys can't benefit from this method of thinking, I just think they are better served learning how to train as hard and heavy as possible for as long as possible. You're not going to be able to do this forever so take advantage of it while you can.
Endurance training -
Strength athletes could learn quite a bit from endurance based athletes about programming. Before someone chimes in with "different energy systems" and slow twitch this and fast twitch that, spare me. We're still talking about performance and the human body, and I've already quoted two of the strongest guys ever that also back up this evidence. So let's just get that out of the way right now.
If you spend some time researching say, a Marathon athletes training schedule you will rarely see them actually running the full 26.2 miles. Maybe a 20 mile run here and there. The entire preparation for the race is spent, you know, PREPARING to run the 26.2 miles.
So I looked through some marathon training peaking cycles and here's one I found, just for example.......
Not one time does this have the athlete actually performing at the level of the competition he/she is preparing for. The longest run is 22 miles. You know what percentage of 26.2 miles that is? About 85%. It's amazing how those same ranges keep popping up in regards to elite athletic performance. Of course, someone will bitch that "that's marathon running!" but I don't care. If we're talking about peak level strength, that requires priming the body, and peaking. You can't run around at your +10% strength level 24/7. I don't care what ANYONE tells you. It's bunk. Nor would the average marathon athletes body stand up to doing 26.2 miles every week, unless they were some freak of nature. And as we've been over before, never use exceptions to create rules.
So we see here, the endurance guy doesn't actually try to perform his/her "event" during training. So why do strength athletes?
This is what strength athletes often do in their training thoughts......."I need to be able to deadlift 500 in competition....therefore I need to deadlift 500 in training,"
This does not make sense to me. It also doesn't seem to make sense to the majority of the very elite lifters I know, because they rarely, if ever, do this. Ed Coan said he never maxed out in the gym once. EVER! Think about that. The greatest powerlifter of all time, had no idea what his best "gym maxes" were because well, he never maxed in the gym. This is pretty much an alien concept to most guys now because they have a need to know what they can do in the gym. I can't ever get a response that makes sense to me why this is, but to each his own I suppose. I always thought you should save your best ones for the meet. If you're not doing a meet, I don't see a reason to max out in the gym. Improve your 3,5,8 rep PR's. You got stronger. Continue on then.
To me, training is supposed to be something you do in order to set you up for the big dance. Your training should be something you do to make you stronger, NOT something you use to demonstrate strength. That's what competition is for. I've written this a million times, I've heard guy after guy after guy say "I hit that easy in training, I don't know why I missed it at the meet."
If you are training to hit bigger numbers, you should NOT be missing lifts in training. I mean, I have to laugh....you're STRENGTH TRAINING. Not GYM MAXING. You're training in the gym should be spent getting you stronger. This does not require you to train at 90+%.
"But Paul, you said training heavy was still important!"
It is. So let's talk about using calibration in the heavy sessions.
Calibration of heavy training -
Calibration can be used in both intensity (% of 1RM) and volume. It all depends on how you are feeling on that particular day.
So if it's a heavy deadlift day, and I plan on doing block pulls, I know I'm going to work up to top set of 3-5.
The key word here, that causes confusion, is "top". Top or even sometimes "max" doesn't really mean "limit". It just means, in this instance, "max" or "top" for that day.
"This is as heavy as I'm going to go today. This is the MAXimum amount I will use for a triple today."
One of the things I like to think about when I do that, is that I like to leave enough room to beat that set of 3-5 the next week, and that top set the week after that.
So think about that.
Week one, right out of the gate, the heavier and harder you take that "top set", the harder it's going to be to beat in two weeks when you come back to it. Guess what happens eventually? That's right, you stall for longer, and have to reset where you are.
The other part of this calibration is that if you're having a bad training sessions, you can get that snappy 3-5 top set in, do your work and get out.
So you can/should roughly have an idea of a goal for your heaviest movements as to what you'd like to hit. For deads, I work these a little differently than my squat and bench. The dead doesn't seem to enjoy being trained heavy that often, and using light/moderate poundages from the floor with a heavy block or rack pull on alternating weeks, seems to work well for me, and most.
Like so......
Week 1 -
4" block pulls or pulls from below the knee - to a top set of 3-5
Elevated Stiff Legs or Romanians - 2x5 @ 70% of what you pulled from the blocks/rack
Shrugs - to an all out top set of 8
So as you can see, the calibration takes into account that you could have either a good session, or shit one. Thus, the stiff legs are dictated by what you hit on the top set of block/rack pulls.
It's up to you to calibrate how heavy you are going to take that "top" set. Again, my advice here, is to hit something crisp the first week, so that you can come back to beat this week after week until you stall for a few weeks. You could even start at 5's, until you stall at 5's, then go to weeks of 3's until you stall there, then back off, and repeat. If you decide to just outline some simple goals, even better.
On the light days, I am simply starting with 50% for 5 sets of 3. That's 50% of the meet goal at this point (725) for 50%. If I am overshooting that then I will know later because this will eventually ramp up into the high 70% range. But not higher. Remember, you're still pulling heavy every other week from the blocks or rack.
For squat and bench "heavy" days, it's more defined. Now because front squats are my priority right now, I'm simply programming using 70% and 80% of my EDM (everyday max), which I programmed in as 405, which is stupid easy and something I could easily do for a set of 5 at the moment. So think about how light my "work" sets are.
To just keep it simple, on the heavy front squat days I do 3 sets of 3-5 at 80% (325) then just add 90 pounds (415) onto that and do 3-5 sets of 5 with regular squats. Pretty simple.
In contrast, on the light days I use 70% (285 but I just slap on 275) and slap on a mere 50 for squats. Remember, it's a LIGHT day. It should be a session where you got the work in, but by no means was it taxing. You should feel better after the workout than you did before it.
For bench, it's 85% of my EDM (I figured in 425) so 365. Bench I think, responds a little better to higher programming than squats and pulls as far as reps go. On the "heavy" days it's 3 sets of 3 all paused. If I am feeling good, I will go ahead and do another set or two of triples.
On the light days, it's 75%, so 315 for 3 sets of 8, and if I am feeling good and blast all these reps I add in 3 sets of 5 after that, and maybe even 3 sets of 3 after that. ALL reps paused. This will build tremendous bottom position strength.
I actually alternate my heavy and light bench sessions. So you end up only benching "heavy" once a month. Because every other week I do inclines via the 350 method, and then the next week I do a "light" bench day. The next week is incline, then the "heavy" bench session.
That's really the very basic outline of the light and heavy days.
So to lay it out for you based on what I wrote in part 1 including intensities -
Week 1 -
Day 1 - Heavy Pulls
Block or Rack Pulls (mid shin and below the knee) - to top set of 3-5
Elevated Stiff Legs - 2x5 @ 70% of block/rack pull
Shrugs - top set of 8 all out
Day 2 - Light Squats
Leg Ext - 8x20
Fronts - 5x5 @ 70%
Squats - 3-5x5 @ +50 of fronts
Day 3 - Light Press
Incline Press - 350 method @ 225
Light shoulder and bicep work
Week 2 -
Day 1 - Light Pulls
Deadlifts - 5-8 x 3 @ 60%
Rows - 350 method
Shrugs - 3x20
Day 2 - Heavy Squats
Leg Ext - 8x20
Fronts - 3-5x3-5 @ 80%
Squats - 5x5 @ +90 of fronts
Day 3 - Heavy/Light Bench (these get alternated)
Bench - 3x8, 3x5, 3x3 @ 75% or 3-5x3 @ 85%
Reverse Grip Bench - 3x20
Curls
Some pointers
So I looked through some marathon training peaking cycles and here's one I found, just for example.......
Not one time does this have the athlete actually performing at the level of the competition he/she is preparing for. The longest run is 22 miles. You know what percentage of 26.2 miles that is? About 85%. It's amazing how those same ranges keep popping up in regards to elite athletic performance. Of course, someone will bitch that "that's marathon running!" but I don't care. If we're talking about peak level strength, that requires priming the body, and peaking. You can't run around at your +10% strength level 24/7. I don't care what ANYONE tells you. It's bunk. Nor would the average marathon athletes body stand up to doing 26.2 miles every week, unless they were some freak of nature. And as we've been over before, never use exceptions to create rules.
So we see here, the endurance guy doesn't actually try to perform his/her "event" during training. So why do strength athletes?
This is what strength athletes often do in their training thoughts......."I need to be able to deadlift 500 in competition....therefore I need to deadlift 500 in training,"
This does not make sense to me. It also doesn't seem to make sense to the majority of the very elite lifters I know, because they rarely, if ever, do this. Ed Coan said he never maxed out in the gym once. EVER! Think about that. The greatest powerlifter of all time, had no idea what his best "gym maxes" were because well, he never maxed in the gym. This is pretty much an alien concept to most guys now because they have a need to know what they can do in the gym. I can't ever get a response that makes sense to me why this is, but to each his own I suppose. I always thought you should save your best ones for the meet. If you're not doing a meet, I don't see a reason to max out in the gym. Improve your 3,5,8 rep PR's. You got stronger. Continue on then.
To me, training is supposed to be something you do in order to set you up for the big dance. Your training should be something you do to make you stronger, NOT something you use to demonstrate strength. That's what competition is for. I've written this a million times, I've heard guy after guy after guy say "I hit that easy in training, I don't know why I missed it at the meet."
If you are training to hit bigger numbers, you should NOT be missing lifts in training. I mean, I have to laugh....you're STRENGTH TRAINING. Not GYM MAXING. You're training in the gym should be spent getting you stronger. This does not require you to train at 90+%.
"But Paul, you said training heavy was still important!"
It is. So let's talk about using calibration in the heavy sessions.
Calibration of heavy training -
Calibration can be used in both intensity (% of 1RM) and volume. It all depends on how you are feeling on that particular day.
So if it's a heavy deadlift day, and I plan on doing block pulls, I know I'm going to work up to top set of 3-5.
The key word here, that causes confusion, is "top". Top or even sometimes "max" doesn't really mean "limit". It just means, in this instance, "max" or "top" for that day.
"This is as heavy as I'm going to go today. This is the MAXimum amount I will use for a triple today."
One of the things I like to think about when I do that, is that I like to leave enough room to beat that set of 3-5 the next week, and that top set the week after that.
So think about that.
Week one, right out of the gate, the heavier and harder you take that "top set", the harder it's going to be to beat in two weeks when you come back to it. Guess what happens eventually? That's right, you stall for longer, and have to reset where you are.
The other part of this calibration is that if you're having a bad training sessions, you can get that snappy 3-5 top set in, do your work and get out.
So you can/should roughly have an idea of a goal for your heaviest movements as to what you'd like to hit. For deads, I work these a little differently than my squat and bench. The dead doesn't seem to enjoy being trained heavy that often, and using light/moderate poundages from the floor with a heavy block or rack pull on alternating weeks, seems to work well for me, and most.
Like so......
Week 1 -
4" block pulls or pulls from below the knee - to a top set of 3-5
Elevated Stiff Legs or Romanians - 2x5 @ 70% of what you pulled from the blocks/rack
Shrugs - to an all out top set of 8
So as you can see, the calibration takes into account that you could have either a good session, or shit one. Thus, the stiff legs are dictated by what you hit on the top set of block/rack pulls.
It's up to you to calibrate how heavy you are going to take that "top" set. Again, my advice here, is to hit something crisp the first week, so that you can come back to beat this week after week until you stall for a few weeks. You could even start at 5's, until you stall at 5's, then go to weeks of 3's until you stall there, then back off, and repeat. If you decide to just outline some simple goals, even better.
On the light days, I am simply starting with 50% for 5 sets of 3. That's 50% of the meet goal at this point (725) for 50%. If I am overshooting that then I will know later because this will eventually ramp up into the high 70% range. But not higher. Remember, you're still pulling heavy every other week from the blocks or rack.
For squat and bench "heavy" days, it's more defined. Now because front squats are my priority right now, I'm simply programming using 70% and 80% of my EDM (everyday max), which I programmed in as 405, which is stupid easy and something I could easily do for a set of 5 at the moment. So think about how light my "work" sets are.
To just keep it simple, on the heavy front squat days I do 3 sets of 3-5 at 80% (325) then just add 90 pounds (415) onto that and do 3-5 sets of 5 with regular squats. Pretty simple.
In contrast, on the light days I use 70% (285 but I just slap on 275) and slap on a mere 50 for squats. Remember, it's a LIGHT day. It should be a session where you got the work in, but by no means was it taxing. You should feel better after the workout than you did before it.
For bench, it's 85% of my EDM (I figured in 425) so 365. Bench I think, responds a little better to higher programming than squats and pulls as far as reps go. On the "heavy" days it's 3 sets of 3 all paused. If I am feeling good, I will go ahead and do another set or two of triples.
On the light days, it's 75%, so 315 for 3 sets of 8, and if I am feeling good and blast all these reps I add in 3 sets of 5 after that, and maybe even 3 sets of 3 after that. ALL reps paused. This will build tremendous bottom position strength.
I actually alternate my heavy and light bench sessions. So you end up only benching "heavy" once a month. Because every other week I do inclines via the 350 method, and then the next week I do a "light" bench day. The next week is incline, then the "heavy" bench session.
That's really the very basic outline of the light and heavy days.
So to lay it out for you based on what I wrote in part 1 including intensities -
Week 1 -
Day 1 - Heavy Pulls
Block or Rack Pulls (mid shin and below the knee) - to top set of 3-5
Elevated Stiff Legs - 2x5 @ 70% of block/rack pull
Shrugs - top set of 8 all out
Day 2 - Light Squats
Leg Ext - 8x20
Fronts - 5x5 @ 70%
Squats - 3-5x5 @ +50 of fronts
Day 3 - Light Press
Incline Press - 350 method @ 225
Light shoulder and bicep work
Week 2 -
Day 1 - Light Pulls
Deadlifts - 5-8 x 3 @ 60%
Rows - 350 method
Shrugs - 3x20
Day 2 - Heavy Squats
Leg Ext - 8x20
Fronts - 3-5x3-5 @ 80%
Squats - 5x5 @ +90 of fronts
Day 3 - Heavy/Light Bench (these get alternated)
Bench - 3x8, 3x5, 3x3 @ 75% or 3-5x3 @ 85%
Reverse Grip Bench - 3x20
Curls
Some pointers
- For the love of GOD please do not ask "when should I add weight?" Milk the fuck out of the poundages you settle in with on the bar. Sam Byrd said before he starts adding weight for a meet cycle he stays with 5x5 @ 425 (60%) until he can blast every rep as powerfully as possible. So in other words, just because you get your 3 sets of 8 (you may not at first) doesn't mean you need to add weight on the bench! I haven't moved up on front squats in like 2 months. I don't need to. I'm still milking 275 at this point.
- You can constantly be working on moving weights with greater and greater force, until it's just silly ridiculous. And then, do it for 2 more weeks. This is not a quick run up or peaking cycle. This is BASE BUILDING. You don't need to add weight every session in order to increase that. Get stronger by learning how to apply more and more force to the weight you already have on the bar. And 60-85% is PLLEEENNNTTTYYYY!!!!
- In part 3 I'm actually going to lay out how I will implement carb backloading into this training paradigm so that you can train hard as fuck, be strong, and keep fat accumulation to a minimum. This part is going to look pretty cool actually.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Training - Light Pulls
Bodyweight - 247
Hypers - 5x10
Deadlifts -
225x,3,3,3
315x3,3
365x3,3,3,3,3
Yates Rows - 225x15,15,15
Seated Cambered Bar Shrugs - 315x20,20,20
Notes - Been up since 4 a.m. and did cardio early so I was pretty pooped by the time I did this. Also, my low back still isn't quite 100% from two Saturday's ago. So I cut the reps short on the rows. Either way, good start to my first real week of off-season meet prep.
Hypers - 5x10
Deadlifts -
225x,3,3,3
315x3,3
365x3,3,3,3,3
Yates Rows - 225x15,15,15
Seated Cambered Bar Shrugs - 315x20,20,20
Notes - Been up since 4 a.m. and did cardio early so I was pretty pooped by the time I did this. Also, my low back still isn't quite 100% from two Saturday's ago. So I cut the reps short on the rows. Either way, good start to my first real week of off-season meet prep.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Training - Light Press with rep PR
Bodyweight - 248
Incline -
barx40,20
135x10,5
185x4
225x4
275x3
315x1
225 - 350 method @ 25,12,9 = 46
225x25 is a PR, thank you very much.
Upright Rows -
65x15
85x15
115x15
Notes - Nice to hit the PR. Couldn't get the curls in but can do that tomorrow. Headed out to a charity event at Strength Guild
Incline -
barx40,20
135x10,5
185x4
225x4
275x3
315x1
225 - 350 method @ 25,12,9 = 46
225x25 is a PR, thank you very much.
Upright Rows -
65x15
85x15
115x15
Notes - Nice to hit the PR. Couldn't get the curls in but can do that tomorrow. Headed out to a charity event at Strength Guild
Friday, January 11, 2013
Base building - Part 1
I'm all out of snappy names lately, so I'm just going to call this Base Building because it's centered around your everyday max (sound familiar?) and simply working with volume at lower percentages within that range, in order to build your foundation.
This is needed by everyone. However, the way I am going to lay it out, is for guys who already have a decent foundation, and are ok with increasing their base slowly, and methodically.
This is the kind of training you're going to want to be doing well outside of training for a meet, though we can easily ramp it upwards. Essentially it's the primer. It improves your base strength and working capacity. It is not meant for driving strength up fast, but at a more steady rate, with limited needs in the way of "deloading" or layoffs. That's what the strong-15 and peaking cycles are for. The downside to those things, are of course, the "fall off the cliff" as I like to write about. The faster you ramp strength, the faster you have that downslide after you peak, and the further you fall down it. That's the ebb and flow of training. You harder you push that stimulus curve, the higher the supercompensation curve and then the bigger the slide back down becomes.
Go ask someone who ran one of those super duper squat specialization programs, hit a PR, only to find themselves back where they started a few months later, or even regressed. That peak cannot be held, and the higher you push the peak, the steeper the recovery curve becomes. Part of recovery sometimes, is regression. To give another example of this, think about a time where you were hitting PR's left and right for a few weeks, feeling awesome, then you have two or three -10% sessions and then get "burnt" and need to take a lay off. That isn't you getting weaker. That really makes no sense. It's just that people talk about recovery, but then never see fatigue as part of it. Indeed, it is.
The best I have seen this explained is in this handy dandy article right here.
The graph I like best there is the last one.
All your base are belong to us...
If you look at the line running straight across, that's "base" level strength/fitness/ability. The line ascending there isn't a sharp line upwards. It moves moderately upwards. This is what good base building should look like on a curve. There is fatigue, but it is not incredibly great, and then there is compensation, and supercompensation after recovery from fatigue. The less sharp the curve is, the more you increase your base, or foundation, level of strength. You not "peak", but you improve gradually, and consistently.
This is the kind of training that will build a foundation that does not go away very easily, and does in fact, make you stronger without "testing" strength, or having to demonstrate it. I know this, because I've been testing these theories out for months now, and it has worked fabulously. Funny enough, as the months went by the more information I found that was backed by this kind of training by a lot of very strong people.
I will say this, training this way probably has a lot to do with where you are in your training life. When I was younger, I trained very hard and heavy 99% of the time. Constantly pushing for limit rep PR's and going balls out. At almost 38 now, and with around 25 years of lifting under my belt, I don't really want to train that way anymore. Nor do I think I would hold up under it for very long mentally or physically. That's not me being "weak", it's just that my body doesn't do as well with that style anymore, and eventually I dread training. Not a place you want to be for solid and sustained progress.
For beginners and intermediates, I really suggest you learning some of these things, and pushing boundaries and the envelope. Your 90-95% range isn't going to be as taxing for you as it is for an advanced guy. Neither will pushing the perceived intensity or volume. You will need to play a bit to figure some of these things out. That's a big part of lifting, and too many people want to be hand held.
Do a program "as is" the first time around, or even the second time around. If you think you can make changes to improve it FOR YOU, do so. That's what becoming a better lifter is about.
If you have a good base under you, this kind of training may suit you very well.
Here are how some of these things are being laid out in my training since I'm pretty far out from the meet still.
Priorities -
Front Squat
Deadlift
Bench
Press Behind the Neck
Secondaries -
Abs ( you must say this in a Jersey accent....you know you just did in your head...ahhhhbs)
100 rep work for pre-hab (curls, leg curls, front raises)
Rows - 350 method
That's really it. I have narrowed training down even further because well, every year I do that, I get a little better. Squats are in there as well, they are just taking a back seat to front squatting at the moment.
So how to implement base building?
Mainly through manipulating the usual factors of training.
- Recovery
- Intensity
- Volume
- Frequency
That's training in a nutshell.
Heavy/Low - Light/High
One of the reasons I think the LRB template worked so well for people, is because it didn't ask you to go into the gym, and crush, kill, destroy yourself workout after workout. For a lot of guys this is how you end up dipping further and further into that fatigue area, and then flat line back out of it, instead of benefit from it over the long haul.
So as I am massaging these ideas, I am still using heavy days with lower volume, then the next week using lower percentages, with higher volume.
Heavy is still "relative" and can change greatly from a day to day perspective. You need to be able to be "ok" with where you are at on a given day rather than trying to force what isn't there.
Read that a few times, and think about it. Ok, I'll give an example instead.
Last week you pulled 500 for a triple, and it was solid, but it was a really good day. You go in to pull today and you can barely get 500 for a single. Did you get "weaker"? Of course not. It's just that the "curve" is still in the recovery state. I feel like this is what a lot of guys call "CNS burnout". However their failing there is relating it to the movement itself, and not the body as a whole. "Hey brah, you've been deadlifting too much so you need to switch movements in order to avoid CNS burnout." /facepalm
The body itself has not recovered. It wouldn't have mattered if you were benching or squatting or doing lat pulldowns. Until the body has curved out of that state of fatigue, you're not going to experience the upward trend that is "strength improvement".
I feel like this is one reason the LRB split really worked so well for so many people. It asked you to train heavy once or twice a week, then get in your base level work once or twice a week on the opposing week, so that the dip into fatigue didn't really get deeper.
So expanding on this idea is what has been shaping my "offseason" training ideas. I have evolved the LRB split into something slightly different, and more specific for getting ready for this meet. So where the LRB split, is a general split, what I am doing now is slightly more geared for powerlifting performance in the offseason.
Still training heavy -
I don't think you can get away from heavy training. I know as I've presented these ideas to people that may think I have. But it's not the case. It's that the ideas are ever evolving and so is the philosophy. I do think that most guys overuse heavy lifting far too much, then brag about their gym lifts, never really being honest that they haven't hit a PR in years or gotten past a certain point because they already think they are "strong". They refuse to develop new ideas because hey, they pull or squat or press X amount, and that's "pretty good" so obviously what they do works.
But if you haven't improved in the last 6 months, year, or even two years......it's not working anymore.
There should be a mix weekly of still stressing the body harshly, and then allowing it to recover, and massage progress along steadily as well. Finding this balance can be tricky, which is why I haven't just laid everything out yet.
What I have found, I think, is that a nice balance across two weeks works very well. Most guys think it terms of 7 days, but I've found that thinking across 10-14 days is better because you can distribute the volume, intensity, frequency, and recovery in a more even fashion.
Such as......
Week 1 -
Day 1 - Heavy Pull/Lower Volume
Day 2 - Light Squat/Higher Volume
Day 3 - Light Press/Lower Volume
Week 2 -
Day 1 - Light Pull/Higher Volume
Day 2 - Heavy Squat/Lower Volume
Day 3 - Heavy Press/Higher Volume
If you want a day to overhead press, you could fit that in as well. Just minimize what else you're doing. In other words, if you're overhead pressing, JUST overhead press. That's it for the most part. Just manipulate the volume.
Week 1 -
Day 1 - Heavy Pull/Lower Volume
Day 2 - Heavy Overhead Press/Higher Volume
Day 3 - Light Squat/Higher Volume
Day 3 - Light Press/Lower Volume
Week 2 -
Day 1 - Light Pull/Higher Volume
Day 2 - Light Overhead Press/Lower Volume
Day 3 - Heavy Squat/Lower Volume
Day 4 - Heavy Press/Higher Volume
From a general high level overview, this is how the template could be laid out. So even in the 4 days a week split, you only have 2 heavy days, and 2 light days.
I personally like the first split best because you end up with only three heavy sessions over two weeks, and those will have calibration built into them. Which I will talk about later.
On the heavy pressing weeks, you actually do MORE volume and on the light weeks, LESS. I have a reason for this however (which I already hinted at) but I'm not going to go into it until Part 2........
Part 2 will cover -
Calibration on "heavy" days
Manipulating Volume on light days
What you may have been doing that is hurting your main movements in regards to assistance work
Curving intensity ranges upwards over a period of time
I hope err'body has a great weekend.
This is needed by everyone. However, the way I am going to lay it out, is for guys who already have a decent foundation, and are ok with increasing their base slowly, and methodically.
This is the kind of training you're going to want to be doing well outside of training for a meet, though we can easily ramp it upwards. Essentially it's the primer. It improves your base strength and working capacity. It is not meant for driving strength up fast, but at a more steady rate, with limited needs in the way of "deloading" or layoffs. That's what the strong-15 and peaking cycles are for. The downside to those things, are of course, the "fall off the cliff" as I like to write about. The faster you ramp strength, the faster you have that downslide after you peak, and the further you fall down it. That's the ebb and flow of training. You harder you push that stimulus curve, the higher the supercompensation curve and then the bigger the slide back down becomes.
Go ask someone who ran one of those super duper squat specialization programs, hit a PR, only to find themselves back where they started a few months later, or even regressed. That peak cannot be held, and the higher you push the peak, the steeper the recovery curve becomes. Part of recovery sometimes, is regression. To give another example of this, think about a time where you were hitting PR's left and right for a few weeks, feeling awesome, then you have two or three -10% sessions and then get "burnt" and need to take a lay off. That isn't you getting weaker. That really makes no sense. It's just that people talk about recovery, but then never see fatigue as part of it. Indeed, it is.
The best I have seen this explained is in this handy dandy article right here.
The graph I like best there is the last one.
All your base are belong to us...
If you look at the line running straight across, that's "base" level strength/fitness/ability. The line ascending there isn't a sharp line upwards. It moves moderately upwards. This is what good base building should look like on a curve. There is fatigue, but it is not incredibly great, and then there is compensation, and supercompensation after recovery from fatigue. The less sharp the curve is, the more you increase your base, or foundation, level of strength. You not "peak", but you improve gradually, and consistently.
This is the kind of training that will build a foundation that does not go away very easily, and does in fact, make you stronger without "testing" strength, or having to demonstrate it. I know this, because I've been testing these theories out for months now, and it has worked fabulously. Funny enough, as the months went by the more information I found that was backed by this kind of training by a lot of very strong people.
I will say this, training this way probably has a lot to do with where you are in your training life. When I was younger, I trained very hard and heavy 99% of the time. Constantly pushing for limit rep PR's and going balls out. At almost 38 now, and with around 25 years of lifting under my belt, I don't really want to train that way anymore. Nor do I think I would hold up under it for very long mentally or physically. That's not me being "weak", it's just that my body doesn't do as well with that style anymore, and eventually I dread training. Not a place you want to be for solid and sustained progress.
For beginners and intermediates, I really suggest you learning some of these things, and pushing boundaries and the envelope. Your 90-95% range isn't going to be as taxing for you as it is for an advanced guy. Neither will pushing the perceived intensity or volume. You will need to play a bit to figure some of these things out. That's a big part of lifting, and too many people want to be hand held.
Do a program "as is" the first time around, or even the second time around. If you think you can make changes to improve it FOR YOU, do so. That's what becoming a better lifter is about.
If you have a good base under you, this kind of training may suit you very well.
Here are how some of these things are being laid out in my training since I'm pretty far out from the meet still.
Priorities -
Front Squat
Deadlift
Bench
Press Behind the Neck
Secondaries -
Abs ( you must say this in a Jersey accent....you know you just did in your head...ahhhhbs)
100 rep work for pre-hab (curls, leg curls, front raises)
Rows - 350 method
That's really it. I have narrowed training down even further because well, every year I do that, I get a little better. Squats are in there as well, they are just taking a back seat to front squatting at the moment.
So how to implement base building?
Mainly through manipulating the usual factors of training.
- Recovery
- Intensity
- Volume
- Frequency
That's training in a nutshell.
Heavy/Low - Light/High
One of the reasons I think the LRB template worked so well for people, is because it didn't ask you to go into the gym, and crush, kill, destroy yourself workout after workout. For a lot of guys this is how you end up dipping further and further into that fatigue area, and then flat line back out of it, instead of benefit from it over the long haul.
So as I am massaging these ideas, I am still using heavy days with lower volume, then the next week using lower percentages, with higher volume.
Heavy is still "relative" and can change greatly from a day to day perspective. You need to be able to be "ok" with where you are at on a given day rather than trying to force what isn't there.
Read that a few times, and think about it. Ok, I'll give an example instead.
Last week you pulled 500 for a triple, and it was solid, but it was a really good day. You go in to pull today and you can barely get 500 for a single. Did you get "weaker"? Of course not. It's just that the "curve" is still in the recovery state. I feel like this is what a lot of guys call "CNS burnout". However their failing there is relating it to the movement itself, and not the body as a whole. "Hey brah, you've been deadlifting too much so you need to switch movements in order to avoid CNS burnout." /facepalm
The body itself has not recovered. It wouldn't have mattered if you were benching or squatting or doing lat pulldowns. Until the body has curved out of that state of fatigue, you're not going to experience the upward trend that is "strength improvement".
I feel like this is one reason the LRB split really worked so well for so many people. It asked you to train heavy once or twice a week, then get in your base level work once or twice a week on the opposing week, so that the dip into fatigue didn't really get deeper.
So expanding on this idea is what has been shaping my "offseason" training ideas. I have evolved the LRB split into something slightly different, and more specific for getting ready for this meet. So where the LRB split, is a general split, what I am doing now is slightly more geared for powerlifting performance in the offseason.
Still training heavy -
I don't think you can get away from heavy training. I know as I've presented these ideas to people that may think I have. But it's not the case. It's that the ideas are ever evolving and so is the philosophy. I do think that most guys overuse heavy lifting far too much, then brag about their gym lifts, never really being honest that they haven't hit a PR in years or gotten past a certain point because they already think they are "strong". They refuse to develop new ideas because hey, they pull or squat or press X amount, and that's "pretty good" so obviously what they do works.
But if you haven't improved in the last 6 months, year, or even two years......it's not working anymore.
There should be a mix weekly of still stressing the body harshly, and then allowing it to recover, and massage progress along steadily as well. Finding this balance can be tricky, which is why I haven't just laid everything out yet.
What I have found, I think, is that a nice balance across two weeks works very well. Most guys think it terms of 7 days, but I've found that thinking across 10-14 days is better because you can distribute the volume, intensity, frequency, and recovery in a more even fashion.
Such as......
Week 1 -
Day 1 - Heavy Pull/Lower Volume
Day 2 - Light Squat/Higher Volume
Day 3 - Light Press/Lower Volume
Week 2 -
Day 1 - Light Pull/Higher Volume
Day 2 - Heavy Squat/Lower Volume
Day 3 - Heavy Press/Higher Volume
If you want a day to overhead press, you could fit that in as well. Just minimize what else you're doing. In other words, if you're overhead pressing, JUST overhead press. That's it for the most part. Just manipulate the volume.
Week 1 -
Day 1 - Heavy Pull/Lower Volume
Day 2 - Heavy Overhead Press/Higher Volume
Day 3 - Light Squat/Higher Volume
Day 3 - Light Press/Lower Volume
Week 2 -
Day 1 - Light Pull/Higher Volume
Day 2 - Light Overhead Press/Lower Volume
Day 3 - Heavy Squat/Lower Volume
Day 4 - Heavy Press/Higher Volume
From a general high level overview, this is how the template could be laid out. So even in the 4 days a week split, you only have 2 heavy days, and 2 light days.
I personally like the first split best because you end up with only three heavy sessions over two weeks, and those will have calibration built into them. Which I will talk about later.
On the heavy pressing weeks, you actually do MORE volume and on the light weeks, LESS. I have a reason for this however (which I already hinted at) but I'm not going to go into it until Part 2........
Part 2 will cover -
Calibration on "heavy" days
Manipulating Volume on light days
What you may have been doing that is hurting your main movements in regards to assistance work
Curving intensity ranges upwards over a period of time
I hope err'body has a great weekend.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Training - Light Squats
Bodyweight - 248
Leg Ext -
25x20
50x20
75x20
100x22
75x20
50x25
25x25
Making some progress here.
Fronts -
225x5
275x5,5,5,5,5
Squats -
325x5,5,5,5,5
Notes - Ok so the adductor still feels a little poor, so I had to "muscle" everything to keep it from firing. I don't know if that makes sense, but I can squat, and basically not bring the adductors into play as much and switch to quads if I concentrate on it. Yes yes, I know the adductors still stretch however my "normal" squat lets me stretch them out more and fire harder out of the hole. Tonight I had to "quad" it more.
I haven't done any "back" squats for a while, and 325 felt heavy on my back. Yes, that's pathetic, but the neat thing was, the fronts make the concentric portion look like an empty bar. Yes, it's 325 but I can already tell a difference in the way my squat feels from all the fronts I have been doing. Which is nice.
The fronts will stay a staple. Tomorrow I will lay out some of the ideas I have been toying with a little further, and show you how this week and next week lays out. I think you will find it interesting.
Leg Ext -
25x20
50x20
75x20
100x22
75x20
50x25
25x25
Making some progress here.
Fronts -
225x5
275x5,5,5,5,5
Squats -
325x5,5,5,5,5
Notes - Ok so the adductor still feels a little poor, so I had to "muscle" everything to keep it from firing. I don't know if that makes sense, but I can squat, and basically not bring the adductors into play as much and switch to quads if I concentrate on it. Yes yes, I know the adductors still stretch however my "normal" squat lets me stretch them out more and fire harder out of the hole. Tonight I had to "quad" it more.
I haven't done any "back" squats for a while, and 325 felt heavy on my back. Yes, that's pathetic, but the neat thing was, the fronts make the concentric portion look like an empty bar. Yes, it's 325 but I can already tell a difference in the way my squat feels from all the fronts I have been doing. Which is nice.
The fronts will stay a staple. Tomorrow I will lay out some of the ideas I have been toying with a little further, and show you how this week and next week lays out. I think you will find it interesting.
Dorian Yates interview on London Real
The dudes from London Real shot me over some info about their interview with Dorian Yates. I thought everyone might be interested in this......
We have an exclusive 90 minute interview with Professional Bodybuilder and 6 time Mr. Olympia winner Dorian Yates who sits down with London Real to discuss how his "High Intensity Training" techniques changed the sport, the specifics of his steroid use and its effects, how he psychologically reinvented himself after his abrupt retirement in 1997, and his thoughts on conspiracy theories, psychedelics, and cannabis.
We have an exclusive 90 minute interview with Professional Bodybuilder and 6 time Mr. Olympia winner Dorian Yates who sits down with London Real to discuss how his "High Intensity Training" techniques changed the sport, the specifics of his steroid use and its effects, how he psychologically reinvented himself after his abrupt retirement in 1997, and his thoughts on conspiracy theories, psychedelics, and cannabis.
Sounded interesting and I thought you guys might want me to throw this up for you. When they get me the vid for it I will post it up.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Fuck your forum
I don't often do the rant thing, however I feel like it's appropriate and timely right now. There may be more profanity in this post than usual. I also hope you're sitting down. This is obviously not for my readers and fans who give me a tremendous amount of support. In fact, I hope my "voice" speaks loudly for you if you have grown tired of the same shit.
It's been quite the week for introspection, laughs, and shit that just makes you flat out say "what the fuck?"
I've said many times that the internet is both a blessing and curse, and the dichotomy of it all is that while it gives wise people a voice, it also gives fools a voice as well. The simple minded, the dogmatic, and the proverbial chest thumping keyboard warriors who love to sit on message boards or forums and sling bytes of shit like Greg Maddux used to sling heat, they all get a "say". Whether or not it has merit or bears truth is entirely inconsequential.
This paradox does not escape me. I've been told my writing is both touchy-feely and "macho man" all in the same week. Maybe I'm the touchy-feely Macho Man!
"Ooooohhhh yeahhhhhh, what a beautiful butterfly."
Hey....make up your fucking mind.
Or how bout that I made up my mind long ago. I've written hundreds and hundreds of articles, answer hundreds of questions a week, all free of charge, many times following up. No matter how trivial or redundant. I freely give. I legit enjoy helping someone progress and achieve things they thought not possible. In life, in lifting, any way that I can.
If you don't respect me as a man, lifter, or human being, that is your fault. Not mine. It's not my job nor requirement to meet your standards. Nor is it your job, to meet mine. There will be times when I do what did a few weeks ago, and raise money for the Emilie Parker foundation, or talk about how I "feel" about shit. There may be times when I voice my displeasure in the overly effeminate "males" of today.
I don't have to live my life, or my writing, in a vacuum.
If you need to find someone different to emulate or look up to, then by all means do so. If you don't like my training principles or methodologies that's fine. Find ones that work for you, and don't waste my time arguing about it. If part of your day is spent on a message board whining about something I blogged about, well, sucks to be you.
From two of my closest friends this week about this shit............
There is a reason to stay off 99.99% internet forums. They are a waste of time, bandwidth, and energy that could be applied elsewhere. Generally just full of a intermingled mix of the lowest form of life. The internet keyboard warrior. Big fingers little everything else. - Phil Stevens
if you don't want to be criticized...say nothing, do nothing, be nothing. I stand by my statements last night about the twats of the world. - Jim Wendler
I write my thoughts on a blog about the life I've lived, my thoughts about training, being a father, husband, friend, and a man. I put myself out there. I don't hide behind a pseudonym giving no qualifications about my ability to speak on things. Neither do the two guys quoted above.
I've said for a long time that I will probably never hold any world records in powerlifting. Nor if I did, would I crow about what fucking king kong I was because of it, and develop a superiority complex due to it. I would be proud of achieving such a goal, do a Borat styled "high five!" and say that my principles served me well.
It's because I care far more about what my kids, wife, and friends think of me in that context of their life, than that other shit. The day I let weight on the bar define me as a man is the day I fucking lost. Period.
You lift more weight than me. That's awesome. Do you want a medal or the chest to pin it on?
Doesn't
Mean
Shit
To me
There is always someone stronger than you. Even if you're Ed Coan, someone out benched you, or out squatted you, or out deadlifted you, just at some other bodyweight more than likely. Go watch the video where Efferding talks about setting the new 275 total. He said after he told Coan that, Coan told him "what did (Scott) Weech do?"
See, it didn't matter to Coan what the weight class was. Stronger, was just stronger. Someone else was stronger. And someone else always will be.
So if that's the basket you are putting all of your "life eggs" into, then you have LOST. You can't win. Not that you won't, but you CAN'T.
On the flip side, if you haven't done SHIT, i.e. competed, trained people, done seminars, put your time in, or even thrown up some videos (that are real, mind you), and you're on a board or forum talking shit about someone who does those things, what does it say about you? It says that you're either a jealous asshole or incredibly insecure in your current situation, whatever that may be. More than likely, you're just a dickwad "know it all" that wants to argue to make himself feel empowered somehow. I mean seriously, I had a 170 pound asshat tell me that Poundstone curls "could not work for size" when they took my arms up 3/4" of an inch in about 6 weeks. I don't need to expound on how idiotic it is, that I would be put into a position to even argue with this assbag. Maybe I'm the idiot here for finding myself in such a position. However I often feel the need to "educate" people on the how's and why's of the shit I do. I have found that this often serves me no purpose other than to get drug down to their level of childish bantering/arguing, because they were never really looking for answers in the first place.
Maybe it's my fault. Maybe I should stop that? Because I know. I know what it means to be that asshat on the other end of things. Arguing for the sake of arguing.
This is not a behavior exclusive to lifting by any means. A long time ago I posted on some football boards too, and the shit slinging in there can go on for days, weeks, or months as posters cherry pick stats and try to act like real life General Managers of professional sports teams. Claiming that THEY have all the fucking answers. Not that coach or general manager who has spent three quarters of his life sitting in a dark film room dissecting every minutiae of plays, players, and tendencies about the other team or how to run a professional sports franchise.
No, no, no you there, Mr. Armchair Quarterback/GM/Coach/Talent Scout.....you're the smart mother fucker here. You're the one that has all the answers to having that golden draft where every pick is a hit, and every player is hall of fame bound before he puts on his baseball hat at the draft. You've got that shit narrowed down better than anyone. Even better than guys that have devoted every minute of their life to it. You pick apart every failure they have made, talking about what idiots and dumbshits they are behind some name like "BILLS-PUT-BOOT-2-ASS" or something similarly clever. Look at you, Mr. Football Genius, you. Why the fuck are you working down at the Exxon station with all that golden and exquisite football knowledge?
Truth is, I was that guy at one point as well. Oh and then I grew the fuck up and realized what a waste of time it was to argue trying to change the mind of someone that was every bit as stubborn as I was in their stance.
People will go to the ends of the Earth to "win" arguments that cannot be won. I mean, for the love of God, I had a guy make a video using fake weights to "prove me wrong" about barbell rows. He easily could have written, "well, I disagree and here is why..." and generated some intelligent discussion. However lots of people often aren't out to obtain wisdom or generate intelligent discussion. They are usually out to find enablers to let them know how right they are, and tell you how wrong you are because it runs counter to what they like. And they will do ANYTHING and argue ANYTHING to PROOOVE they are right. Even when something cannot be proven, and the party they are arguing with has zero intentions of changing their mind.
When I told this cock biter that made the video with fake weights that I'd buy the dinner of his choice if he could out total me at the Nationals he side stepped it like a bitch. So did another blow hard that showed up to talk shit this past week. You know why? Because it's easier sit back and stroke your shaft about how you're the cock of the walk, but then when it comes down to the nut cutting not everyone likes to deal with reality. Let me add, I'm hardly saying I'm the cock of the walk either. But granted that I'm healthy, and can afford it, I will travel and compete once or twice a year. I coach guys each year, I write articles, I put up videos, I compete. I DO. I don't brag about shit behind a fake fucking name. Even if my accomplishments aren't worth the cost of stamp that you wouldn't write home about, they still exist. They are tangible.
There are a shit ton of guys that I respect in the strength field, that I have some lift I can best them in. Does that mean anything? Not a god damn thing. I want to learn from those guys, just like there are guys stronger than I am, that have learned from me.
One of the best traits about Eric Lilliebridge is that even though he's going to go down as one of the greatest powerlifters ever, he still asks me my opinion about shit, and is open to hearing it. Even at times when he doesn't ask and I offer, he's receptive. That's why guys like that get better. Because even though they have all the tools, they don't close off the most important thing you can use in your training.
Your brain.
Fucking enablers -
A while back someone was pissed that I used Coan and Karwoski as examples of guys that got super fucking strong using some basic periodization.
"You can't use those guys as examples! Genetics!"
"Oh I'm only supposed to use weak people to support my belief in training methodologies?"
I've never understood this.
One particular argument that used to always make me laugh was when I talked about the simpleness of this kind of training, and the people who hated it would respond with "well guys that are super freaks can train that way, but normal guys can't train like that and progress. They have to do other shit."
This left me dumbfounded time and time again.
So how is it, that the genetic monsters always ended up training that same way over and over again for the most part? If all the great ones had just known about your "everyday man training" or methods using all sorts of complicated scheming to get strong, they would have been even better?
The entire argument behind this, is that the weak of mind and body often do not want to recognize it. They believe that there is SOMETHING they could do, that would make them elite, and do so very quickly. This is why it can't be simple. It can't be! If it were simple, then it would require me to look in the mirror and say, "there is no magical training solution. It's really......just.......you."
But that's too fucking hard, isn't it? It's just too fucking hard to say the shortcoming is with the man in the mirror. No, no, no it has to be that I just haven't found that perfect god damn scientifically backed training method that will make me the bastard child of The Hulk and Thor by next week.
Let me let you in on a little secret. Lots of guys DON'T do the main lifts, with straight weight, because it exposes them as weak fucks. Yes. Fact. You know why a guy adds bands, and chains, or does EVERYTHING BUT BENCH, SQUAT, PULL, AND OVERHEAD with straight weight? Because those things are easily measured. You know that a 500 bench is good. That a 700 squat and pull are good. But if I can't do those, I'll just say I have eleventy billion pounds of band tension.......with 225 on the bar. Because that's eleventy billion 225 pounds. Which is a world record in every way possible.......except that I can't do 4 bills in straight weight.
"That's bullshit. I train with accommodating resistance because I am weaker at the blah blah blah point in the ROM blah blah blah" vomit vomit puke puke.
No one EVER got weaker, by getting stronger with straight weight. I know, that statement is just retarded crazy, but no one ever got weaker.......by getting stronger on basic shit. I know lots of guys that got weaker on basic shit by getting too fancy though. Oh yes, I do.
I'll give you an example of said bullshit.
I had a guy I was helping with training for a while that had been stuck in a rut something awful. He fought against everything I told him to do, of course. Totally wasted my time on everything I suggested to him. He told me "I hate going into the gym and JUST squatting every week."
Again, I was dumbfounded.
"What the fuck is it you want to do then?"
"Well, I want to box squat one week, and then do some chains or bands the week after that, and then maybe some SSB squats."
"Which of those are you doing at your meet?"
"....................."
That's right. Nothing. He just didn't want to do the very thing that was going to help him the most. Just go into the gym and squat, squat, and squat. There had to be something outside of that "hard work" shit that was going to make his squat soar, get his house paid off early, and put hot chics on his crotch.
Of course he bombed at his meet, and I stopped helping him because he thought he knew better. People always do.
A few years later, he e-mailed me and said his training had taken off. That for the first time in years he was progressing again.
"I stopped fucking up, and I ended up doing all the things that you had been telling me to do. All the things I didn't want to do, and found every reason not to do them. But that's what I needed. I'm sorry I was a stubborn asshole."
So you see, what people REALLY want to do is say "I think that singles will make me strongest! They have to! Because that's what I want to do! Now tell me that's the truth no matter what!!!"
When you don't, they get pissed off, and find every reason to tell you that you are an asshole or an idiot, during which time they have gone on a fact finding mission that proves their stance is right all along.
If it was right all along and you knew this, why the fuck were you arguing in the first place? Why weren't you just in the gym kicking ass with it? Hmmmmm..........
This is pretty much the attitude I find over and over again from guys who live to argue. They just want to be told that what they WANT to do, is the right thing to do. Not that they should be doing is THE RIGHT THING, and that those can be very different things.
One of the things I eventually figured out about all of these genetic mutants, was that one of the factors that played a part in them getting to where they were, was that they had better instincts than most as well. Instead of skirting around the issues, they welcomed the hard work, the progression, the journey, and the ability to grasp what had merit and what did not, very easily. They didn't spend time on message boards arguing about why shit would, or would not work or the merits of it. They DID shit in the gym. Part of what led their training down certain paths, was that they actually had to figure shit out, and put in the work. That meant sticking with something for a while, and not belaboring on and on about it with other fruitcakes that lifted half the weight but argued four times as much, trying to figure out if it worked or not.
No, they actually did the shit. They did the shit. They did.....the shit. They did it. The shit.
I loved seeing people talk about all the ways the 100 rep stuff wouldn't work and had no merit, blah blah blah then watching story after story roll in where guys elbow pain disappeared and their biceps blew up, or how the front raises made their shoulder pain disappear.
Was awesome.
These were the guys who just saw an idea, and thought "fuck it, let's try it." and rolled with it. They didn't need to have 69.8% of some forum agree that it's worthwhile. They just gave it a shot, and then were able to give an educated opinion about it, and benefit from it.
When I got off of forums for the most part (though not all together, which is what this article stems from) many years ago, and tuned out the bullshit, my training ideas grew because I wasn't handicapped by allowing my ideas to be shit on by other people who live for nothing more than to tear you down.
The internet is a great tool and yet the biggest bane of the sport. The forums are places where key board tough guys rip apart the greatest lifters in the sport without having any idea what it is like to be on the other side of their comments. -- Matt Kroc
If you want to grow in training knowledge and as a man, stop being part of the "participation generation" and just go do work. Develop a training methodology that resonates with you, gets you better, doesn't let you avoid the hard work, and keeps you on course. I don't care if it's my program, or 5/3/1, or Joe Bob's hand me down bench, squat, and dead routine. But keep an open mind, don't be dogmatic, and don't be a chest thumping blowhard regardless of your accomplishments. There is always someone who did more, or who will do more, who may have because they were far more flexible in their thinking.
How many message boards do you think that Coan, Karwoski, Kaz, Zakk Wydle, Adrian Peterson, Ray Lewis, Michael Jordan, Georges St. Pierre, Neil Peart, etc go to, to make sure what they are doing is met with acceptance?
I don't expect everyone to agree with me, my thoughts, my training methodologies, politics (I have those? I think I do, I just rarely talk about them), taste in music, art, TV, or women. My point of being "here", writing (which is something I love more than lifting) on this blog, and helping people is because after more than two decades I really enjoy helping guys out. I find it funny how words can resonate with people in such different ways. The same fat kid that latched onto my philosophies that loses 100 pounds and finds a new way in life is forever grateful. Some other guy can read the same piece and go "that Paul Carter is a douchebag."
Amazing.
You'd also be surprised at how many guys write that kind of shit that also claim to be your "friend". I know who my friends are. They don't talk shit about me because anyone who is a friend of mine I treat with respect, dignity, honor, and love and you can ask any of them that.
If your life isn't a reflection of what you want it to look like, tearing people down won't get you where you want to be any faster. I've never seen negativity breed and multiply anything except dysfunction, hate, jealousy, rage, ineptness, and strife. If that's what you want to surround yourself with, don't expect a lot of success in any endeavor you plan to engage in.
To quote John Mcclane.... if you're not a part of the solution, you're a part of the problem.
Stop being part of the keyboard tough key crew. Start being part of the solution. I'm not from the government, but I am here to help. If that makes me a douchebag, then douse me down with vinegar.
Let me add that the irony in all of this, is that this post will be linked on some forum where the butthurt over it will be tremendous.
It's been quite the week for introspection, laughs, and shit that just makes you flat out say "what the fuck?"
I've said many times that the internet is both a blessing and curse, and the dichotomy of it all is that while it gives wise people a voice, it also gives fools a voice as well. The simple minded, the dogmatic, and the proverbial chest thumping keyboard warriors who love to sit on message boards or forums and sling bytes of shit like Greg Maddux used to sling heat, they all get a "say". Whether or not it has merit or bears truth is entirely inconsequential.
This paradox does not escape me. I've been told my writing is both touchy-feely and "macho man" all in the same week. Maybe I'm the touchy-feely Macho Man!
"Ooooohhhh yeahhhhhh, what a beautiful butterfly."
Hey....make up your fucking mind.
Or how bout that I made up my mind long ago. I've written hundreds and hundreds of articles, answer hundreds of questions a week, all free of charge, many times following up. No matter how trivial or redundant. I freely give. I legit enjoy helping someone progress and achieve things they thought not possible. In life, in lifting, any way that I can.
If you don't respect me as a man, lifter, or human being, that is your fault. Not mine. It's not my job nor requirement to meet your standards. Nor is it your job, to meet mine. There will be times when I do what did a few weeks ago, and raise money for the Emilie Parker foundation, or talk about how I "feel" about shit. There may be times when I voice my displeasure in the overly effeminate "males" of today.
I don't have to live my life, or my writing, in a vacuum.
If you need to find someone different to emulate or look up to, then by all means do so. If you don't like my training principles or methodologies that's fine. Find ones that work for you, and don't waste my time arguing about it. If part of your day is spent on a message board whining about something I blogged about, well, sucks to be you.
From two of my closest friends this week about this shit............
There is a reason to stay off 99.99% internet forums. They are a waste of time, bandwidth, and energy that could be applied elsewhere. Generally just full of a intermingled mix of the lowest form of life. The internet keyboard warrior. Big fingers little everything else. - Phil Stevens
if you don't want to be criticized...say nothing, do nothing, be nothing. I stand by my statements last night about the twats of the world. - Jim Wendler
I write my thoughts on a blog about the life I've lived, my thoughts about training, being a father, husband, friend, and a man. I put myself out there. I don't hide behind a pseudonym giving no qualifications about my ability to speak on things. Neither do the two guys quoted above.
I've said for a long time that I will probably never hold any world records in powerlifting. Nor if I did, would I crow about what fucking king kong I was because of it, and develop a superiority complex due to it. I would be proud of achieving such a goal, do a Borat styled "high five!" and say that my principles served me well.
It's because I care far more about what my kids, wife, and friends think of me in that context of their life, than that other shit. The day I let weight on the bar define me as a man is the day I fucking lost. Period.
You lift more weight than me. That's awesome. Do you want a medal or the chest to pin it on?
Doesn't
Mean
Shit
To me
There is always someone stronger than you. Even if you're Ed Coan, someone out benched you, or out squatted you, or out deadlifted you, just at some other bodyweight more than likely. Go watch the video where Efferding talks about setting the new 275 total. He said after he told Coan that, Coan told him "what did (Scott) Weech do?"
See, it didn't matter to Coan what the weight class was. Stronger, was just stronger. Someone else was stronger. And someone else always will be.
So if that's the basket you are putting all of your "life eggs" into, then you have LOST. You can't win. Not that you won't, but you CAN'T.
On the flip side, if you haven't done SHIT, i.e. competed, trained people, done seminars, put your time in, or even thrown up some videos (that are real, mind you), and you're on a board or forum talking shit about someone who does those things, what does it say about you? It says that you're either a jealous asshole or incredibly insecure in your current situation, whatever that may be. More than likely, you're just a dickwad "know it all" that wants to argue to make himself feel empowered somehow. I mean seriously, I had a 170 pound asshat tell me that Poundstone curls "could not work for size" when they took my arms up 3/4" of an inch in about 6 weeks. I don't need to expound on how idiotic it is, that I would be put into a position to even argue with this assbag. Maybe I'm the idiot here for finding myself in such a position. However I often feel the need to "educate" people on the how's and why's of the shit I do. I have found that this often serves me no purpose other than to get drug down to their level of childish bantering/arguing, because they were never really looking for answers in the first place.
Maybe it's my fault. Maybe I should stop that? Because I know. I know what it means to be that asshat on the other end of things. Arguing for the sake of arguing.
This is not a behavior exclusive to lifting by any means. A long time ago I posted on some football boards too, and the shit slinging in there can go on for days, weeks, or months as posters cherry pick stats and try to act like real life General Managers of professional sports teams. Claiming that THEY have all the fucking answers. Not that coach or general manager who has spent three quarters of his life sitting in a dark film room dissecting every minutiae of plays, players, and tendencies about the other team or how to run a professional sports franchise.
No, no, no you there, Mr. Armchair Quarterback/GM/Coach/Talent Scout.....you're the smart mother fucker here. You're the one that has all the answers to having that golden draft where every pick is a hit, and every player is hall of fame bound before he puts on his baseball hat at the draft. You've got that shit narrowed down better than anyone. Even better than guys that have devoted every minute of their life to it. You pick apart every failure they have made, talking about what idiots and dumbshits they are behind some name like "BILLS-PUT-BOOT-2-ASS" or something similarly clever. Look at you, Mr. Football Genius, you. Why the fuck are you working down at the Exxon station with all that golden and exquisite football knowledge?
Truth is, I was that guy at one point as well. Oh and then I grew the fuck up and realized what a waste of time it was to argue trying to change the mind of someone that was every bit as stubborn as I was in their stance.
People will go to the ends of the Earth to "win" arguments that cannot be won. I mean, for the love of God, I had a guy make a video using fake weights to "prove me wrong" about barbell rows. He easily could have written, "well, I disagree and here is why..." and generated some intelligent discussion. However lots of people often aren't out to obtain wisdom or generate intelligent discussion. They are usually out to find enablers to let them know how right they are, and tell you how wrong you are because it runs counter to what they like. And they will do ANYTHING and argue ANYTHING to PROOOVE they are right. Even when something cannot be proven, and the party they are arguing with has zero intentions of changing their mind.
When I told this cock biter that made the video with fake weights that I'd buy the dinner of his choice if he could out total me at the Nationals he side stepped it like a bitch. So did another blow hard that showed up to talk shit this past week. You know why? Because it's easier sit back and stroke your shaft about how you're the cock of the walk, but then when it comes down to the nut cutting not everyone likes to deal with reality. Let me add, I'm hardly saying I'm the cock of the walk either. But granted that I'm healthy, and can afford it, I will travel and compete once or twice a year. I coach guys each year, I write articles, I put up videos, I compete. I DO. I don't brag about shit behind a fake fucking name. Even if my accomplishments aren't worth the cost of stamp that you wouldn't write home about, they still exist. They are tangible.
There are a shit ton of guys that I respect in the strength field, that I have some lift I can best them in. Does that mean anything? Not a god damn thing. I want to learn from those guys, just like there are guys stronger than I am, that have learned from me.
One of the best traits about Eric Lilliebridge is that even though he's going to go down as one of the greatest powerlifters ever, he still asks me my opinion about shit, and is open to hearing it. Even at times when he doesn't ask and I offer, he's receptive. That's why guys like that get better. Because even though they have all the tools, they don't close off the most important thing you can use in your training.
Your brain.
Fucking enablers -
A while back someone was pissed that I used Coan and Karwoski as examples of guys that got super fucking strong using some basic periodization.
"You can't use those guys as examples! Genetics!"
"Oh I'm only supposed to use weak people to support my belief in training methodologies?"
I've never understood this.
One particular argument that used to always make me laugh was when I talked about the simpleness of this kind of training, and the people who hated it would respond with "well guys that are super freaks can train that way, but normal guys can't train like that and progress. They have to do other shit."
This left me dumbfounded time and time again.
So how is it, that the genetic monsters always ended up training that same way over and over again for the most part? If all the great ones had just known about your "everyday man training" or methods using all sorts of complicated scheming to get strong, they would have been even better?
The entire argument behind this, is that the weak of mind and body often do not want to recognize it. They believe that there is SOMETHING they could do, that would make them elite, and do so very quickly. This is why it can't be simple. It can't be! If it were simple, then it would require me to look in the mirror and say, "there is no magical training solution. It's really......just.......you."
But that's too fucking hard, isn't it? It's just too fucking hard to say the shortcoming is with the man in the mirror. No, no, no it has to be that I just haven't found that perfect god damn scientifically backed training method that will make me the bastard child of The Hulk and Thor by next week.
Let me let you in on a little secret. Lots of guys DON'T do the main lifts, with straight weight, because it exposes them as weak fucks. Yes. Fact. You know why a guy adds bands, and chains, or does EVERYTHING BUT BENCH, SQUAT, PULL, AND OVERHEAD with straight weight? Because those things are easily measured. You know that a 500 bench is good. That a 700 squat and pull are good. But if I can't do those, I'll just say I have eleventy billion pounds of band tension.......with 225 on the bar. Because that's eleventy billion 225 pounds. Which is a world record in every way possible.......except that I can't do 4 bills in straight weight.
"That's bullshit. I train with accommodating resistance because I am weaker at the blah blah blah point in the ROM blah blah blah" vomit vomit puke puke.
No one EVER got weaker, by getting stronger with straight weight. I know, that statement is just retarded crazy, but no one ever got weaker.......by getting stronger on basic shit. I know lots of guys that got weaker on basic shit by getting too fancy though. Oh yes, I do.
I'll give you an example of said bullshit.
I had a guy I was helping with training for a while that had been stuck in a rut something awful. He fought against everything I told him to do, of course. Totally wasted my time on everything I suggested to him. He told me "I hate going into the gym and JUST squatting every week."
Again, I was dumbfounded.
"What the fuck is it you want to do then?"
"Well, I want to box squat one week, and then do some chains or bands the week after that, and then maybe some SSB squats."
"Which of those are you doing at your meet?"
"....................."
That's right. Nothing. He just didn't want to do the very thing that was going to help him the most. Just go into the gym and squat, squat, and squat. There had to be something outside of that "hard work" shit that was going to make his squat soar, get his house paid off early, and put hot chics on his crotch.
Of course he bombed at his meet, and I stopped helping him because he thought he knew better. People always do.
A few years later, he e-mailed me and said his training had taken off. That for the first time in years he was progressing again.
"I stopped fucking up, and I ended up doing all the things that you had been telling me to do. All the things I didn't want to do, and found every reason not to do them. But that's what I needed. I'm sorry I was a stubborn asshole."
So you see, what people REALLY want to do is say "I think that singles will make me strongest! They have to! Because that's what I want to do! Now tell me that's the truth no matter what!!!"
When you don't, they get pissed off, and find every reason to tell you that you are an asshole or an idiot, during which time they have gone on a fact finding mission that proves their stance is right all along.
If it was right all along and you knew this, why the fuck were you arguing in the first place? Why weren't you just in the gym kicking ass with it? Hmmmmm..........
This is pretty much the attitude I find over and over again from guys who live to argue. They just want to be told that what they WANT to do, is the right thing to do. Not that they should be doing is THE RIGHT THING, and that those can be very different things.
One of the things I eventually figured out about all of these genetic mutants, was that one of the factors that played a part in them getting to where they were, was that they had better instincts than most as well. Instead of skirting around the issues, they welcomed the hard work, the progression, the journey, and the ability to grasp what had merit and what did not, very easily. They didn't spend time on message boards arguing about why shit would, or would not work or the merits of it. They DID shit in the gym. Part of what led their training down certain paths, was that they actually had to figure shit out, and put in the work. That meant sticking with something for a while, and not belaboring on and on about it with other fruitcakes that lifted half the weight but argued four times as much, trying to figure out if it worked or not.
No, they actually did the shit. They did the shit. They did.....the shit. They did it. The shit.
I loved seeing people talk about all the ways the 100 rep stuff wouldn't work and had no merit, blah blah blah then watching story after story roll in where guys elbow pain disappeared and their biceps blew up, or how the front raises made their shoulder pain disappear.
Was awesome.
These were the guys who just saw an idea, and thought "fuck it, let's try it." and rolled with it. They didn't need to have 69.8% of some forum agree that it's worthwhile. They just gave it a shot, and then were able to give an educated opinion about it, and benefit from it.
When I got off of forums for the most part (though not all together, which is what this article stems from) many years ago, and tuned out the bullshit, my training ideas grew because I wasn't handicapped by allowing my ideas to be shit on by other people who live for nothing more than to tear you down.
The internet is a great tool and yet the biggest bane of the sport. The forums are places where key board tough guys rip apart the greatest lifters in the sport without having any idea what it is like to be on the other side of their comments. -- Matt Kroc
If you want to grow in training knowledge and as a man, stop being part of the "participation generation" and just go do work. Develop a training methodology that resonates with you, gets you better, doesn't let you avoid the hard work, and keeps you on course. I don't care if it's my program, or 5/3/1, or Joe Bob's hand me down bench, squat, and dead routine. But keep an open mind, don't be dogmatic, and don't be a chest thumping blowhard regardless of your accomplishments. There is always someone who did more, or who will do more, who may have because they were far more flexible in their thinking.
How many message boards do you think that Coan, Karwoski, Kaz, Zakk Wydle, Adrian Peterson, Ray Lewis, Michael Jordan, Georges St. Pierre, Neil Peart, etc go to, to make sure what they are doing is met with acceptance?
I don't expect everyone to agree with me, my thoughts, my training methodologies, politics (I have those? I think I do, I just rarely talk about them), taste in music, art, TV, or women. My point of being "here", writing (which is something I love more than lifting) on this blog, and helping people is because after more than two decades I really enjoy helping guys out. I find it funny how words can resonate with people in such different ways. The same fat kid that latched onto my philosophies that loses 100 pounds and finds a new way in life is forever grateful. Some other guy can read the same piece and go "that Paul Carter is a douchebag."
Amazing.
You'd also be surprised at how many guys write that kind of shit that also claim to be your "friend". I know who my friends are. They don't talk shit about me because anyone who is a friend of mine I treat with respect, dignity, honor, and love and you can ask any of them that.
If your life isn't a reflection of what you want it to look like, tearing people down won't get you where you want to be any faster. I've never seen negativity breed and multiply anything except dysfunction, hate, jealousy, rage, ineptness, and strife. If that's what you want to surround yourself with, don't expect a lot of success in any endeavor you plan to engage in.
To quote John Mcclane.... if you're not a part of the solution, you're a part of the problem.
Stop being part of the keyboard tough key crew. Start being part of the solution. I'm not from the government, but I am here to help. If that makes me a douchebag, then douse me down with vinegar.
Let me add that the irony in all of this, is that this post will be linked on some forum where the butthurt over it will be tremendous.
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