Well, that first design is still a bit off. You’d want some legs to come off that platform down to the ground, so that the springs compress first, before the weight starts moving.
Something more like this.
Hey Alpha! I haven’t commented much lately because I’ve been trying to limit my time on the internet. I’ve been following along though and the article you posted about bracing really helped me out.
I am, also wanting to really give your low-carb approach a try and was wondering if you had any advice. Do you just eat a lot of fats and fruit/milk when you feel you need a few carbs? I already have the 1g pro down.
Also I may have missed it, but is the competition this weekend?
Surely its easier to go buy an old car/wreck, get some handles welded to it, and practice on something close to the real thing?
Leave it out in the parking lot!
[quote]LoRez wrote:
Well, the design is still a bit off. You’d want some legs to come off that platform down to the ground, so that the springs compress first, before the weight starts moving.
Something more like this.[/quote]
If those are linear spring you can just go with chains for simplicity since they also add resistance at a linear rate.
Alpha, you make me want to be a better man. Thank you for your logs, they help keep me hungry.
Alpha,
Based on your site, you are now programming based on self-regulation and not percentages.
Do you personally like self-regulation better?
What do you feel the advantages/disadvantages of each are?
I see the benefit of percentages, but also like the flexibility of auto-regulating my training based on how i feel that day.
When self-regulating, do you still try to make sure you are lifting within a certain percentage of your 1RM? thanks.
[quote]raven78 wrote:
Surely its easier to go buy an old car/wreck, get some handles welded to it, and practice on something close to the real thing?
Leave it out in the parking lot![/quote]
Ya, I was just thinking this.
@Alpha, there are a bunch of cars in the junk yard on Gorsuch Rd. You might be able to get one for pretty cheap. You might also be able to modify it for a car walk like they do on the WSM.
Ya, Instantly think…instead of replicating the whole car deadlift. It’d be better to try and replicate what attaches to the car it’s self. I’ve never seen… but just having that implement would allow you to back a car on it (maybe your own?) and get the full effect. W.o the hardships of reserecting a working suspension … not to mention the 1500ish ? Pounds you’d need in plates???
Might be cheaper to just use shot
MinusTheColon: Hahahah thanks brother! To me, it one of of the more impressive videos I have posted in a while. But again, that is only to me! Hopefully the pauses help me get to 700 sooner than later! Thanks for the feedback brother!
MattyG: Yea man, I will eventually just buy or make a real one. I was just trying to give Punisher some ideas of how to mimic the movement.
LoRez: That is a great idea man and a really good plan! You should totally make one and get a copyright! But like I said above, I will just end up getting a real rig to practice with.
Roran: It is always appreciated when you post brother, but I can totally respect your desire to wean your way off the internet! As far as the low carb diet. To be honest, I eat enough vegetables that I never really feel the need to eat more carbs. If I am craving something sweet, I may eat some fruit, but really not much. As long as you keep your good fats, protein and vegetables high enough, I really don’t think you will feel the need for more carbs. I hope that helps man!
Raven: Yea man, I will just buy a rig. I have plenty of friends who will give me an old beat up car so that shouldn’t be a problem. Thanks for stopping in man!
Lift: Good idea man, But like I said above, I was just giving Punisher some ideas to go with. I am sure if he gets deep enough into the sport, then he will just go out and buy a rig.
kleinhound: Thanks so much for saying that brother! Comments like that keep me updating this thing every day!
Animal Mother: That was for my last block of training. Right now we are back on rotating percentages. But to answer your question, I actually like self-regulation better for my own training but I have like 2 decades under my belt, so i know my body pretty well. For less experienced people, i tend to think that set percentages will work better for longer progression. I like that with percentages, you know exactly what you are going to do that day and you can mentally prepare. For self-regulation I do the same things by setting an intent for the day. Something like a top set that I can focus the workout around.
With self-regulation I definitely do NOT stay in any percentages. I just try to add 5-10lbs each week in a linear progression, always making sure to keep 1-2 reps in the tank. But this is also why I only run 5 weeks blocks in a given rep range for self-reg. If I go longer than that without mixing up rep ranges then I tend to either hurt myself, stall out or even go backwards. Like i said, I know my body very well and I can usually tell when it is time to switch things up.
There is no secret rep/set scheme or program out there that is magic and works better than anything else. It ALL works. The common theme among people who get better is that they show up every day and try to be better than they were last time. Then eat, sleep and do it again for years on end. Don’t worry too much about getting it right. If you are int his for the long haul, do it all. Take 10 weeks and hit percentages as hard as you can. Then 10 weeks of self-reg. Then 10 weeks back in percentages. If you made 10lb increases every 10 weeks for 5 years just think of where you would be.
If you even look at logs on this site, the people who post daily and hardly ever miss workouts make amazing progress and everyone wants to now how they did it. The secret is that they just showed up and worked their ass off every day, ate good food and payed attention to their recovery. Getting in great shape is a very easy thing to do, but there are no short cuts…That is why most people never get to where they want to be. Sorry for the rant man, That wasn’t directed at you, I know you are doing the work, I just had to get that off my chest.
usmccds: That is a great idea man! But one of my sponsors is in auto-stuff, so I can get a car anytime I want. It is the rig that I need to buy…Which I am going to. I was just trying to give Punisher some advice and all of this stuff came out hahahahaha! You still need to make it over to my gym sometime brother!
Barbedwired: Yea man, Like I said above, I will end up buying one. I was just trying to give Punisher some advice. Thanks for stopping in man, nice PRs this past month BTW!
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“Never say that you can’t do something, or that something seems impossible, or that something can’t be done, no matter how discouraging or harrowing it may be; human beings are limited only by what we allow ourselves to be limited by: our own minds. We are each masters of our own reality; when we become self-aware to this: absolutely anything in the world is possible.
Master yourself, and become king of the world around you. Let no odds, chastisement, exile, doubt, fear, or any mental virus prevent you from accomplishing your dreams. Never be a victim of life; be it?s conqueror.” --Mike Norton
FRIDAY, 20MARCH2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 2/Day 5
Just cutting weight…
3 Mile Ruck
200 Burpees
3 Mile Ruck
Thank you, that does help! I think last time tried low carb I wasn’t really eating many vegetables. If you don’t mind me asking, what does a days worth of veggies look like for you?
Thank you , sir !
Thanks Alpha for the detailed article! Applied it to my squats and it really helped out keeping the integrity of my back on triples and fives , though I do find it difficult to get a good breath of air and fill my belly as I delve into higher rep squats ( I.e breathing squats)… Do you suggest the use of a belt on these?
Oh and that conditioning sounds absolutely brutal…
Hope the best in your upcoming comp!
I just jumped onto that “how to mimic a car deadlift” bandwidth. I’m actually pretty impressed at the creativity around here.
Thanks for the detailed article on the breathing and bracing. I’ve done plenty of deep breathing into both the chest and the diaphragm, but I’d never considered pulling/pushing the air even further down toward the groin. Was able to get quite a bit more air in doing it that way. I’ll have to give that a shot next time I’m lifting heavy.
Roran: Well, it really depends if I am away on travel or not. If I am home and able to prep and cook the way that I want to, then I will generally get at least 1 full serving of vegetables with each meal, I usually eat 6 meals a day, so it would look something like this:
Meal 1: Protein shake, LOTS of good fats, serving of superfood or 3 big handfuls of raw spinach
Meal 2: Some sort of dead animal, lots of food fat, 2 Cups of broccoli.
Meal 3: More dead animal, good fats, peppers, onions, green beans
Meal 4: Protein shake, good fats, raw carrots, celery, peppers
Meal 5: Something that once had a face, good fats, asparagus, Butternut squash
Meal 6: Protein shake, LOTS of good fats, raw broccoli, raw carrots, raw celery, and usually another handful or 2 of raw spinach.
That is just a basic idea of what a day’s worth of food would look like for me. I hope that helps you out brother!
barbedwired: You got it boss!
gvaldes: I recommend a belt any time you feel the need to brace really hard. In fact that is all the belt is made to do - give your stomach something to push out against. That s why I tell people not to synch their belt down as tight as they possibly can, because it won’t allow you to get a full belly full of air and force your breath into the upper part of your lungs. This will cause rounding of the upper back and collapsing of the torso. That is the opposite of what you want during a squat.
Personally, if I am doing a set of MORE than 8 Squats, it is usually pretty light (60% and below.) I think it is too difficult to keep proper form on high rep, heavy squats so I generally steer away from them. The exception is during conditioning. But at that point, the weights are always light. I never use a belt during conditioning. Thanks for the kind words man, I really hope this clarified a little bit for you.
LoRez: Yea man I am too. People came up with some really great ideas! And I am glad to hear that the article helped you think of bracing a little bit differently. It has made a HUGE difference for me. When i was doing my normal bracing, anything above 520lbs felt absolutely brutal. Just changing to what i wrote in that article made anything under 630 Feel easy. For me, it has been all about getting the air where it needs to be, then flexing my abs “outward” to create that shell. I hope it works for you man!
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Today is the first day of the water gorge…I really hate doing this. Today will be 2.5-3 gallons, same for tomorrow. I am literally peeing every 10 minutes. Did a good bit of hiking in the mountains today just to burn some calories. Nothing training wise. Tomorrow will be some cardio and form work on a coupe of the events. But really the next few days will be nothing but trying to get 100% received and cutting the weight.
Alpha, how much weight are you having to cut? Also, my eating is fairly similar to yours as “something that once had a face, good fats” and vegetables. Lets me know I am doing something right.
Ecchastang: Well, as of yesterday it was 13lbs (17lbs at my heaviest last night) but now on the second day of the water gorge, I am down to 235, so just 5 more. The only issue is that I will be working solid starting tomorrow until I go straight to the weigh-ins on Friday, so I need to make sure my weight is pretty close today/tomorrow because i won’t get the chance to sweat any out before I step on the scale. I should be just fine. i was a little bit stressed when I hit 247 last night, but the water manipulation seems to be working. Thanks for asking man!
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“Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” --Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses”
MONDAY, 23MARCH2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 3/Day 1
CONDITIONING - 30, 20, 15, 10 Reps of
Dimel Deadlifts @ 225lbs
Kettlebell Swings
Double Unders
STRENGTH
Just hit about 8 Rounds of Yoke. Only worked up to 630.
Then a few Banded speed deadlifts
Then I rucked for about 45 minutes
NOTES:
- Just trying to move around to burn some calories and keep my CNS “awake” while not running myself down at all.
- Currently my diet looks like this:
5 Protein shakes throughout the day. All with fish oil and ground flax.
a LOT of chia seeds in 3 gallons of distilled water throughout the day.
and one meal at night consisting of fish/steak and as many vegetables as I can stomach.
-Feel good and body feels rested, just need the day to get here!
Did today’s workout with some of the kids at work…they didn’t know what they were getting into. I wasn’t able to make it on Sunday, but I’m going to be at the contest Saturday for sure man!
Alpha DUDE! Just checkin in man, I’m looking forward to your contest results! Also, and this is just me but at the start of the contest I think you need to mimic CT Fletcher and tell everyone “Which one of you motherf#ckers is coming in second?! 'Cause all you motherf#ckers know I’m winning this shit!”…joke…Good luck man I’m on the edge of my seat for the results!
Alpha, much respect to you for competing despite a crazy work schedule. All those “lift to a max” events sound like the perfect kind of horrible for you! Looking forward to seeing your results.