Sarha from Vampire Diaries
LOL, It was a fun couple of days. This really wasn’t about an acting gig, but I couldn’t really talk about it untill it was over. This was a little vacation for my girl, couple days set up to feel like big shots. My little small town girl, impressed by the big city, It was fun.
So we got this set up by some family, a trip to the studio, and a walk on roll. I owe someone big for this. We got to the studio, and the Asistant director (AD) met us, gave us a tour of the studio, an old ware house, set up so when you walked in, you swore you were in a hospital, treated my wife and I like stars, gave us a pair of chairs next to the director, introduced us to everyone, we had dinner with the cast.
Then we had our walk on part. Two stars are having a conversation at the hospital desk, and we walk up behind them and ask the nurse where our sick grandma’s room is. 5 takes, good times, then we go back to our 600$ a night room, Chelsy hotel, on the strip, spa dinner. The whole VIP trip for a night. My girl was freaked out, she’s never left the town she was born in, and we were treated like celeb’s, I owe someone big time for this.
My girl’s been working her ass off the last year or so, since I’ve been on house arrest, running my gym, and buisnesses, as well as her job at the post office. Seven years ago, she was a 19yr girl who met a guy that could get her and her friends into clubs, past the lines, and into VIP area’s lol, the old me, and then we had a daughter, and all that went away, so this was fun, it was kind of like the old days.
I could see all the people on set, wondering who we were, being trearted like royalty, in worn out jeans, and 10$ skate shoes. Good set up, but back to reality, going to do deadlift wrokout, tonight, life goes on. Oh the shows called Remedy, they’re filming season 1 right now, so it’s not on the air yet, but we’re in episode 7 when it does, most of the cast and crew, were from a show called Flash Point, it’s done filming, and this is they’re new show. Latter
Lorez, haha, it’s four cups cooked rice, I have a rice cooker, and thats what it holds. I think it works out to about 2 cups before it’s cooked. This seems to be what your hung up about, but you need the carbs, this is what everyone avoids now, carbs make you grow. It dosen’t have to be 4 cups of rice, potatos, yams, whole grain pasta, I’m actually right now in the process of swinging over to pasta form rice, but I have to use up the rest of my 50lb bag first, then I’ll switch over for awhile, just to stay sane.
A couple momnths back, when my strength wasn’t really comming. A friend of mine who’s a PLer, and a strength coach, recomened 1 pound of beef, and 4 cups of rice a day, so thats what I did, and my number’s have been going up steadily, since, but it’s alot, and it took awhile to adjust, my egg consumtion went down for a few days, until I could figure out how to squeeze it all in. Now the rice is starting to bum me out, so I’m going to switch to pasta. This is a job, just like liffting weights, training yourself to eat more, the building blocks protien-fats-complex carbs, can’t build a castle without bricks and morter.
I was listening to a pod cast, of big Stan Efferdining, he sets his watch to eat every 3hrs, mostly all red meat and potatoes, fatty red meat he says, for the extra calories from the fat. he eats 6500 calories a day, thats fucking awesome, I’ve been making sure my daily calories have been above 4000 a day, for the last 3mths, and thats almost been imposible. keep in mind, this is fairly clean eatting - no cake, surgar to a minum, no processed food, atleast to a minum. it’s hard to get this many calories from meat and potatos ( that kind of food) and he’s almost doubling what I force myself to eat. He says his teeth get sore from eatting. Guys have to wrap they’re mind around the whole FAT IS GOOD thing, because since we were kids, we’ve been told other wise, but the reality is processed foods kill people, whole eggs, whole meats, this is good for us, but once again the goverment has this all screwed up. Lots of reasons this might be ( don’t care ) But we need lots of protien, lots of fats, and the rest from veggies, and unprocessed complex carbs. This is a healthy way to eat, but difficult, and expensive way to feed a nation. Makes you wonder. Latter
I just don’t like most complex carbs. I couldn’t care less about the whole low-carb stuff… I mean I played with a nearly zero carb diet for a little over a week once, but really I just don’t like most of them.
Rice I can pretty much only do if it’s heavily mixed with some other stuff; homemade fried rice, curries, pilafs, gumbo, etc. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, I really don’t eat except the occasional mashed potatoes. And pasta is a rarity, and it usually knocks me out. 30 minutes after eating it and I’ll fall asleep hard.
Fats on the other hand I have no problem with. Peanut oil, canola oil, coconut oil, butter, shortening, lard, even beef tallow, I’ve got and eat plenty of it. The fattier cuts of steak, and chicken thighs are pretty common occurrences. Plus it helps get the calories in.
But I have been eating a pound of ground beef a day for the past several days now – I have no problem eating it out of a bowl with a spoon, seasoned various ways, with all the fat. And I’m working up to eating a dozen eggs a day; it’s up to half a dozen a day right now.
It’s just that damn rice, lol.
@lorez i mix my rice up with beef and a shit ton of A1 and it goes down smooth a’f, just a thought
Haha, ya I here ya, the rice is bumming me out right now as well, but you need the complex carbs to grow, and get stronger, so what I do is find ways to make them eatable, sauces, and spices. The nice part about gaining is not worrying about extra calories. I use oatmeal somtimes on days where I’m having a hard time getting food in.
My daughter has the little pre flavoured packets, and I mix them two flavoured packest with two unflavoured packets, do this 3x a day atleast thats some carbs, although I think there’s lots of sugar in there. I don’t know what your total calories a day looks like, but I think even if you managed to get 1000 from carbs that would help, if the rest were from protien and fat. You can get 1000 pretty easy, even from bread, a loaf of whole grain, or even better a loaf of rye bread a day. This would probably give you lots of carbs. Egg sandwiches, beef sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches 
can’t be that hard. I’m not a diet expert, and I don’t count macros, I count a day, to see what 4500 feels like, than stay roughly with the same foods and feel, always leaning towards more, instaed of less. When it comes time to get lean, I just cut the milk and complex carbs. I tighten up pretty easy, because I’m always on the go. Believe it or not I don’t have a big apitite, I have to force myself to eat as well, and try to make ity as enjoyable as posible, so other than the eggs and beef, just find somthing you can enjoy. Putting the rice in a crock pot with beef works pretty well too, because it swells up, and doesn’t taste like rice anymore. latter
Curious, why the emphasis on ‘complex’ carbs to grow? Why would they me any more valuable or essential then sugar/simple carbs? I actually started making way more progress after ditching the low-GI/complex carbs and just eating the one’s I like and can eat in abundance.
I’m with you I don’t think it matter’s from a weightlifting point of view spidey, just from a health point of view. I feel the only way i’ve been able to get away with eating the way I do, dozen eggs, gallon milk, ground beef every day, for years, and still have good blood work.
At 40 I’m not on any colesteral meds, is because 1, I eat a shit ton of veggies and fruit, 2, I eat a shit ton of bran flakes, and fiber, and 3, I avoid surgar, simple carbs, and process food, like a plauge. Now you guys are 20yr if you want to use a gallon of ice cream a day, by all means, your young, eat what you have to to gain weight.
I think there basicaly two kinds of builds, it seems you either have a hard time putting size on, but an easy time cutting, or you have an easy time putting on size and a hard time cutting. I have an easy time gaining, my whole life, I can put on 20lbs, over night it seems if I want, but it`s hard for me to get really lean, like 6 pack lean.
Anyway Spidey, and Lorez seem to be the hard time putting on size group, so you guys have to think outside the box, and can eat what ever you want, just take in tons of calories, and try to stay inactive for a couple months, your body will adjust and start growing ( No climbing the Alps or anything) Chobbs seems to be a little more like myself, where its easier to gain weight, but I have to be careful, I dont become to sloppy, even while Im gaining I have to keep an eye, on the types of foods Im eating, surgary foods like ice cream, a week of eating ice cream at night, and Ill start to get love handles, thats my cut off. I dont mind having a bit of a belly out front, but no muffin tops, no side fat hanging over my jeans.
Thats another thing, when your bulking its personal, I tell the kids I work with, you have to live with your self, and how you look. At no time, even in the off season, should you ever be imbarased to take your shirt off, were weightlifters, and we should always be proud of that. This varies from person to person, Im at the limit, for whats exceptable for me, but some guys might go further, or not want to get this fat, its personal. I would never tell someone to get heavier if theyre not comfy, so being able to take your shirt off in public, is kind of the rule we use for bulking. The key to bulking is being able to do it for an extended period of time. Guys that bulk one month, and then cut the next, never get anywhere, so make sure your comfy, and proud of how you look ( picturing a different role model helps) Stuart McRoberts says the best gains come at 15% and this is a good rule of thumb ( although Im closer to 20% myself :) and then stay there for atlest 6mths, I like guys to bulk for a year or more if they can, and permently change the way theyre built. Ive babbled enough, and got off topic again, another time Ill talk about my health concerns with surgar, and processed foods, this is whats killing us, but people think its fat. In the mean time pretty sure a couple buckets of ice cream a day for a few months, isnt going to kill a healthy 20yr. Jim Wendler has a diet plan in his article to himself, that I remeber being pretty good, if you need more info. Latter
Thanks for the write up Jake, and yes I’m definitely in the ‘hard to put on size, easy to cut’ group. Lorez and me also seem to be non-explosive people who naturally inclined to be good at endurance sports I believe, so it’s funny how varied genetics can be.
Regarding the sugar/fat thing, I think the spectrum is changing where now sugar is being vilified, just as fats were in the past. I personally ‘time’ my carbs to certain periods of the day, and feel that likely takes away a lot of the potential health risks that comes from simple carbs more often. Though I still eat a lot of veggies, fruits, and white rice.
Wow, just watched the season finaly of SOA, missed it last night because I was away, pretty crazy
And Spidey, I don’t think there’s alot of health risks from surgars, that aren’t first seen around people’s middles, high blood surgar, high blood pressure, I mean these things can be spotted years away, but people ignor them, when your young and active I don’t think there’s much worry. When your 40, with a liftime of alchol, and drug abuse, including a stroke, your over 250lbs and still smoke the ocasional ciggerette, it’s in your best interest, to start keeping an eye on your health, and what your putting in your body 
better late than never, Latter
thursday, Dec, 12/13 Deadlift cycle, week 3, day 3 6x2@80% - 80% 455=365 deficit deads 6x2@365 (21/2 deficit)
Deicit deads—leg raises
135x10-----10 leg raises after every set
225x5
315x3
365x6x2 ( belted, first time for this cycle)
Box squats ( belted)
225x5
315x5
350x5
x3
x2
350x5
x3
x2
350x5
x3
x2 ( 3 waves, 30 reps total, in less than 10min
Goodmornings------ situps
135x5-------mex10
155x5------+25x10
185x5-------+25x10
165x5-------+25x10
165x5-------+25x10
135x10-----mex20
Quick workout early this morning, loved this workout, deficit deads are becomming my favorite lower body workout, just my favorite period. gotta go see PO. Latter
So I’ve got a nice rythem going with training right now, and I plan to exploit it, for as long as I can. With deads, I do regular deads on day 1, for 6x2, then on day 5 hit deficit deads for 6x2, as long as I can match the weight on day 5 as I hit earlier in the week, I add 10-20lbs the next week for reg deads on day 1, and start the whole process again, nice.
With upper body i’m running a cycle for incline press first workout of the week, then the next upper body workout, I’m going to do CGBP, from a dead stop, with a 3sec pause, and it looks like I should be able to match, weight, and reps, with what ever I did on incline. i have a third workout for both upper, and lower, and thats where I put the work in, filling in the gaps.
Anyway i plan to keep pushing this system as long as I can, and use my two off days, as isolation work for arms, and shoulder’s. All, and all I’m loving the way things are going right now, keep pushing my deads as long as I can, and then switch back over to squats, when the deads stall. i’m not sure wheather I’d recomend this aproach to other lifter’s, hitting deads 3 x week, pushing the weights up week after week, and avoiding regular squats, for a couple months, then switching to squat 3-4 x week and not deadlifting for a couple months.
It dosen’t seem very conventional, but I’ve always struggled moving both these lifts forward at the same time. I know I’m really enjoying this type of training, so hopefully I can keep bouncing back and forth, until I get back to my magical 500, at which point I want to do a meet. My plan from the begining of the log, was to do my first meet in the spring, so I hope the stars all line up, and I end up where i want to be. latter
I was going over my training for next week, after I ate dinner,( big roast in the crock pot) I really loved the wave training for box squats this morning, I hadn’t done them with this exercise before, and it was awsome, i loaded up the bar, did 5 reps, racked it, sat down on the box, counted to 30sec, did another 3 reps, another 30sec, and than 2 more reps, took a couple min, and did the whole cycle over. I’m addicted I could have done 10 cycles of this, I could have done these all day, whatever I do from here, its going to include lots more waves, i’m hooked. Daday i’m boared, guess i better go play with my kid. Latter
Great article about keeping an open mind, so many guys now think because they’re raw lifter’s, there’s nothing they can learn from geared lifter’s. Jim Wendler spend most of his early training,( the time when he first got strong) at West Side, Louie is a genius, fact is anyone stronger than yourself has somthing to share, wheather they’re geared or raw, juiced or natural, keep an open mind Latter, enjoy
The other day, when I happened to be standing around the gym, I overheard a casual conversation about training when someone mentioned Louie. A young member who was about 18 years old exclaimed that he hated Westside and thought that Louie was an idiot. Although I laughed off the response before I set out to begin my own training, I couldn?t help but wonder what had caused this kid to form such a staunch opinion about a certain powerlifting coach.
In fact, the more I thought about it, the more confused and upset I got. This kid had been training less than a year, he had received no formal education in strength and conditioning (nor had he received an informal education in strength and conditioning), and he had accomplished nothing in the sport himself. He had also never trained anyone who accomplished anything in the sport, had never met Louie, had never been to Westside, and had never even read Westside Book of Methods (or any other book for that matter). From my perspective, he shouldn?t even have an opinion. He should be a blank slate?an empty sponge soaking up as much information as possible and then slowly starting to form an educated opinion.
But I guess when you?re 18 years old that?s not quite how your mind works. I know it?s not how mine worked. So, I began thinking off all the things I thought I knew when I was younger?before I realized how wrong I really was. I remember Dave Tate talking about the continuum of learning. It starts with a period in which you don?t know anything, then you learn a little and you think you know everything. Then, as you begin to learn more, you realize how much you really don?t know.
Sometimes realizing you really don?t know shit can be a major ego hit and can throw a monkey wrench in your internet trolling skills. However, if you can get over that little hump, you can set yourself up for long-term success. Here are several methods you can utilize to help take you from Mr. Know-It-All to a legitimate strength and conditioning scholar.
- Read one article a day from a different author.
One of the biggest mistakes I see people making is clinging onto every word a specific author puts out because he/she was the first person to ?show them the light.? This blind commitment tends to lend a person to shut down any conflicting information as blasphemy. Yet, the fact of the matter is that there are many roads leading to Rome and we just don?t have all the answers yet.
Conflicting opinions and methods can still yield great results, and the best way to strengthen your own training theories is to challenge them. This method can also be applied to books that you read. If you find an author you really enjoy, by all means read as much of his/her material as you can, but also expand your search for knowledge to other authors as well.
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Spend as much time around people bigger, stronger, and smarter than you.
Being a big fish in a small pond is great?until you get dropped into the ocean. I remember going to my first powerlifting meet and seeing guys hitting my maxes in the warmup room. Most top-level guys had some help along the way and are willing to pay that forward?if you?re willing to listen. This is one of the many reasons I look forward to the Learn to Train seminars. There is such a concentrated amount of strength and knowledge in a single place that you don?t have any choice but to learn. -
Coach someone.
The greatest learning opportunity out there is the chance to teach what you already know to someone else. This will challenge how well you really know whatever material you are presenting, and it will challenge you to become more malleable in your methods. It is easy to read a study and think, ?I am going to do everything like this, this, and this??until you are thrown a curveball and none of what you studied applies. Hands-on application of knowledge is the best method for testing how well what you learned really works. The gym is your laboratory. -
Stay away from the following:
Self-Proclaimed ?Gurus?: a qualified person shouldn?t have to proclaim himself, he should have plenty of people who do it for him
People who don?t practice what they preach: no one likes the science nerd who tells you how to get 21-inch guns but only has 10-inch arms himself. On a similar note, don?t just be a meathead, be a smart meathead.
People trying too hard to sell you something: usually these are the same people as the self-proclaimed gurus. We all try to make a living off our knowledge, but the trainer who is more like a used car salesman is someone to stay away from.
People who have the ?secret?: the secret is work hard and don?t be a dumbass (in the gym and in life). Anyone telling you something different is an asshole.
Greg Glassman: that dude is crazy.
Be quick to listen and slow to open your mouth. When you do, be able to solidify what you say with real-world evidence and you will go a long way with making friends and furthering your own knowledge.
Good post man, a kid with no experience can not criticize proven method’s. Those guru’s irritate the shit out of me as well. Training with stronger people is one of the biggest keys to progression.Coaching is great as well force’ s you to tweak and find out what works for someone else were all built differently, good post.
In 20+ years in this sport, i’m constantly reminded that I don’t know shit, thats a tough pill to swallow, and then I get on a thread, and a 19yr kid claims to know it all, has it all figured out, haha. I’ve been training myself and others, i’ve been taking seminar’s, and certificate’s, I’ve been reading books, mags, and internet article’s, for all these year’s, and it just becomes a data base, I’m only scatching the surface.
Like I told someone a couple days ago, I changed my squat stance recently, because of a TV show I watched on down hill sking, the program was showing how the hips conect to the hamstrings, and I learned somthing new, imagine that. here’s one for everone to think about, every time I sit down to fuck around on my computer, (TNation) I have a seminar or pod cast playing on my computer in the back ground.
Type weight lifting, or Pling seminar into you tube, and all of Dave Tate’s, Louie Simmons, Matt kroc, Branndon Lilley, just to name a few, all theyre seminars are on you tube if you dig around, so while your fucking around on FB, or here on your log, you can be learning. This is a good one to start with 2000 elite fitness strength seminar I think theres about 40 you tube vids for this one seminar, and its just one seminar. It`s a journey, and more knowlage, is more power, but you have to have an open mind. Latter
Friday Dec. 13/13 Shoulder isolation day ( fast pace, 30min workout)
shoulder tri set - seated at the end of a bench
rear latteral – side latteral-- arnold press ( weights never get set down between moves)
25x 10 - 10 - 10
25x 10 - 10 - 10
25x 10 - 10 - 10
25x 10 - 10 - 10
25x 10 - 10 - 10 ( shoulder`s were on fire, from second set on )
up right rows - clean grip, 3 sec hold at nipples
95x15
95x15
95x15
95x15
95x15
Shoulder tri set
front plate raise----- TRX face pull----dips ( no rest between moves)
25x20 - mex20 - mex20
25x20 - mex15 - mex10
25x20 - mex15 - mex10
thats it, fast and furious, no heavy weights, just shoulder pump. This workout serves two purposes, 1, it gets me to have a rest day, because with out these two days, Id go right back to heavy training, and 2, I dont have to worry about squeezing in arm, and shoulder work throughout the week, I can just focus on my PLing workouts. Its refreshing, and a break mentaly, to just walk in the gym, and do a bunch of pumpming stuff, not worry about breaking records and PRs
. This workout takes a half an hour, and in no way effects my recovery, just pumpnig. Latter
My son was here this morning, after 20yrs, he finaly broke down and asked me to help with his training it’s funny, but it’s a father son thing, he always wanted to do it his way, but his bench and squat have been stuck for a long time now, so he asked me this morning to write out and explain the 531 layout we use in the gym, basing everything off of real max singles, once a month.
I think he’ll do well with it, if he can just eat enough, and push himself hard enough. We don’t live close enough togeather to train with each other, but this will have him training alot harder, so we shall see. latter
Nice! I’ve been getting my 14 year old in there too… he loves basketball though. Keep us in the loop on his training too!
Well have to see how he makes out, but I just put him on the version of 531 I was using at the start of this log, same one I use with the kids at the gym, only I wasnt doing any singles day, when I first came back, due to equipment, and because I was feeling fragile. Its mainly just running 531 without the 90% buffer, we start with 1s week first, ramp up to the heaviest single you can get, dosen`t matter if you fail, just take the atemp before the fail, and use that as your 1Rm for the next four weeks (cycle) so after youi get a max single, drop 10lbs, and get 5 more singles.
Then the next week, do 5s, so ramp up to 85% of 1RM and do a set of 5, then drop 10lbs and get 5x5. the next week 3s week, same thing, ramp up to 90% get a set of 3, then drop 10lbs and get 5x3. The last week 10s, ramp up to 50% and get 5x10. The next week start the cycle over, ramping to your heaviest single, idealy, atleast, 10lbs heavier than last singles day.
My young kids can usually get 20-25lbs,( on lower body lifts) but it depends. Anyway thats what hes going to follow, he basicly knew the layout, from being around the gym, he just wanted me to write it out for him, I know his bench is stuck at exactly 215, thats been bugging him. He hjasnt been able to get 225 for almost a year, so well see how this program helps him. Hes squatting about 350, and I know his deads at 405, because he called me from the gym when he got it, a couple months ago. hes built just like I was at that age, 185 at 6ft so pretty skinney, but hes an MMA guy, and he fights me when it comes to gaining weight, busy kid, between Mau tai, Ju jits, and school, plus a full time job working nights at Wall mart. I dont know where he squeezes the gym in, but he does, so well see. We talk atleast once a week, and he reads my log from time to time, so mabey he`ll get an acount, and keep us posted. Thats the jist of whats going on with him. I missed my arm workout today, no biggie, just a day off, and back to heavy deads tomorrow. Latter