Aw Lex sad puppy dog face!
You’re being too hard on yourself, and worrying too much about what others think. But I do it too, I’m doing it less and less the older I get, because it doesn’t help me in anyway. I think some people can get motivated by it, but it just demoralises me so I HAD to stop.
You look nothing like a beast (slap slap). But its ok to feel this way, feel it but just let it go, doesn’t mean that any of what you think/feel is actually truth.
lula - thanks! i’m pretty excited myself 
germanone - so far i’m really enjoying them. can’t believe i didn’t discover bench press much sooner. even the squats… i’m looking forward to them.
patch - yep! great to have a buddy on board
ironcross - yeah, it doesn’t look like much work. was surprised to learn it is 3 sets of 5 rather than 5x5 even. will need to get used to taking a bit longer with my warm-ups to make sure those work sets really count!
puff - i never benched because i was never interested. i kinda wrote it off (with curls) as what the brotards get up to. never saw any need for it for me because push-ups are work. but now… the whole arch aspect really interests me. so much more skill and flexibility involved than i thought. if i’d have understood that before i would have got into it much sooner.
snap - i think bench is your nemesis the way that front squats are mine. because of injury. hopefully we will be rehabbed one day so our nemesis becomes our favorite thing to do. or at least a funner thing to do than it seems to be right now. you have been making some great progress with yours!!
sbmart - you can’t fit in just a teeny tiny bit of benching? seems a shame to not do the thing you love the most.
nimain - i’ve only been able to see my top set of abs once in my lift. a few months after i just started at the gym. when i was still working machine weights and i was doing some pretty intense (for me) cardio every day (trying to get a 5k distance out of the AMT in 30 minutes on setting 7). i really am skinny fat… thought for a bit that maybe the top ab was visible… but no, i think it is a rib 
i think… i still have chicken legs i think they are better than they were… but i think they are still too scrawny. still… my plan is to try and lean up a bit for spring / summer and then next autumn i’ll get stuck into trying to do a proper lower body growth bulk.
kimba - thanks. or those of us who aren’t citizens of the welfare country in which we reside lol. i just wish i could keep studying… but that isn’t really an option for me. will be nice to get a proper job and not be so broke, i guess.
minimal - yep, BB presses. trying to get the hang of avoiding my face while getting the bar back over my traps for the lock out.
nadia - i’m wondering whether the smoking might be interfering with the muscle building. not properly absorbing the relevant nutrients or something. the more i tell myself this kinda stuff the more likely i am to quit anyways…
masch - `press’ is overhead press. i’m doing bench press too, though (bench in workout A and press in workout B). shocked at how weak my press is since i started focusing on push-pressing. benching more than i press already
skinny fat, what? all i see in the vids is a pretty dang strong and fit looking girl.
aw, thanks minimal. i think… sometimes i am really too hard on myself. i think it comes from my not doing a bunch of stuff that i really know and believe i should be doing. old self destructive habits go away so slowly… um… i spent much of my teenage years and early 20’s just kind of wanting to curl up and die, really. this whole thing of asserting your existence and taking pleasure in your physical existence is really very new to me. old habits die slow.
TRAINING (sorry about my rants…)
didn’t really feel like going. went anyway. had an AWESOME!!! session.
SNATCH - ooh i’ve missed you! i got some shoes (sbmart - i found the merrell shoes you reccommended for work! like them a lot! sole nice and bendy which encourages me to stretch out my feet while wearing them, but a bit more padded underfoot than my vibrams). i also got some gel inserts for my Oly Shoes. stomp. Stomp! STOMP!!! damn, what a difference!!! i did some flying around the bar!!
worked up to 3 misses @38.5kg.
went back to the bar and did some drills… adding weight up to 30kg…
finally starting to understand what masch and andy mean by monkey arms and keeping the elbows out to guide / allow the bar to stay in close to you at the top of the pull! i got some shoulder mobility stuff to be doing!
CLEAN AND PUSH / SQUAT JERK -
getting better at beating the bar down into the clean (rather than riding it down). practiced my upright catch position and hitting that. not too bad, just need some practice. worked up to 35kg and got it a couple times. starting to push-jerk rather than 1/4 squat-jerk, though, because i’m too chicken to get my ass down under the weight. i think getting under it (in a 1/4 squat solid catch position) needs to be trained rather than happening automatically. i’ll tend to catch without elbows locked out rather than let the weight push me down. so… need to practice.
20 minutes AMT a little less intense than yesterday as pennance for smoking lots today
1x60 second unweighted plank. 2x60 seconds 15kg plank. done. happy. will take vids tomorrow! bench and squat! yay!!
The Merrell Trail Glove? I got the New Balance Minimus but was thinking of buying the Trail Glove as well. And I also got some insoles from a running store for my Oly shoes as well. Of course, they didn’t fit because in the old Do-wins, apparently you can’t take their insoles out… it’s built in or some shit. Maybe I just have to rip 'em off.
aw. thanks andy (blush).
vids tomorrow… then honest feedback on my physique would be appreciated, actually. not that i care (sniff) except that… well… of course i do.
yeah my oly shoes are tight now with the inserts in. i managed to squish my feet in, though. i couldn’t get the ones that are in there out. i don’t think they are inserts so much as a covering for the wooden block heel.
i put off inserts for my oly shoes for so long thinking adding squishiness would undermine the point of them. but i’m stomping faster into a tight bottom position because it feels more comfortable for my heels. so it is definitely helping.
needed black dress shoes for the catering work i do. really wanted the minimus - but can’t pull that off for work. i went with these (off to find a pic)
http://www.shoesuperstore.com.au/shoe-brands/merrell-arabesque-leather-black
i’ll admit i don’t love the look of them… but it is more important that my feet are comfortable to train.
ah I see (regarding the insoles). I broke my left foot some years ago and now it has lost some of its arch. I was reading this pdf: http://www.biggerfasterstronger.com/uploads2/08_JanFeb_FlatFeet.pdf
so I decided some insoles would be necessary.
“Although Joubert says there are
medical conditions that require the
continual use of orthotics, generally
they should be used in sports that may
require additional support, such as
weightlifting or hockey. An optimal
approach is to use orthotics, if needed,
during sports practice and competition
and then use postural insoles with your
regular footwear.”
Hi Alexus,
Im looking foward to seeing how you go with your new training program. I do lots of sets of 5 aswell.
You should really quit smoking. Replace smoking with almonds and gum.
And I think you loook pretty hot in those videos you have poster previously. I like brunettes.
Good luck.
From your fellow-fucked-up-ankle buddy.
theBird
tweet tweet
quitting will give you the lungs you need to improve your conditionning.
Bulking in winter is classic. when get there really hit the single leg work such as split squats, lunges and step ups. Also some isolations like leg extensions, ghr. Ass work like cable pull throughs and hip thrusts and finally good old squats and deads variations. I decided to focus on legs these past few months with great result using these exercises.
used to be top heavy with long undefined legs. not good for squating but I did manage to add some decent size.
At this point, you have to post pictures so that you’ll get some objective feedback on your physique issues. You are an trustworthy reporter, and I mean that in the nicest possible way.
andy - yeah, i think that orthotics may well be justified for people with structural problems. i’m a bit ambivalent about how much feet should be rehabbed (as much as possible) so orthotics aren’t needed vs how much feet should be supported by orthotics. rehab can indeed take time, though. i’m rehabbing mine as much as possible but still really appreciate squishy shoes for comfort sometimes.
bird - thanks
nimain - yeah, i’m sure i’d have better luck getting through sets of 5 without resting between reps if i quit. i got the idea of winter bulking and summer leaning out from dan john. things are a bit harder in the southern hemisphere with the big food holidays (christmas and new year) during the summer… but it still seems to make a lot of sense. i have a bit of trouble with one legged exercises because my balance is so bad. i’ll see about doing higher reps more bodybuilding style next winter.
kimba - not sure why but photobooth seems to have vanished off my OS. that means i can’t take pics. i think i can derive a pic from a vid… but it is a bit of a hassle.
took vids of my lifts today. turns out i don’t look anything like i thought i did (surprise). of course my baggy pants hide my chicken sticks, but still, i don’t look bulky the way i thought i did. i would like to see my abs one day. just for the novelty of it all. but for now… i’m okay with where things are at, i think.
but i’d love some feedback on my lifts if people have any criticism / advice / suggestions.
work sets as follows:
low bar back squat
bench
deadlift
these were done in my oly shoes with a big heel raise.
tried some with barefeet in the last set just to see how low i could get my hips without them. not low enough, i think.
lol @ the beginning of the deadlift video. you guy, he goes, you go, he goes…
haha. well locking out in synch with gym randoms would be weird.
you’ve got some lovely arm definition.
squats - I would say arch your lower back hard to lose the butt wink
deads - your hips shoot up when it gets heavy (your last set). Focus on keeping your legs and ass in the game.
I do the same thing all the time, keeping my butt in the lift allows for much heavier lifts over time.
Nice work…I wish I had your form with my lifts!
Alexus: You look tall, but not big at all. You do have lovely definition in your arms, which suggests to me that you are likely pretty lean all over. I would suggest that the much of the weight that you have gained is functional.
I understand how you could feel big though. I often feel that way at work. People who don’t train in my eyes appear to be either skinny or fat, and I have the mindset that I’m bigger than the skinny people–including the skinny men. It’s probably not true. There aren’t many people that I’m bigger than. But that’s certainly my perception.
I think your form looks good. You are so damn controlled on those deadlifts though. Let some aggression out. Pull violently my dear! And drop that weight. It’s a one way lift.
you look great alexus are you pulling sumo for dl’s? I’d say you might try arching a bit more for squats–this being said i have a problem doing that myself at times :{
I bet it wouldn’t take much to see abs on you at all–you look pretty lean to me!
nimain - thanks very much for your feedback. i do indeed have the dreaded buttwink on the squats i’m trying my best to maintain my lumbar arch but it does seem to get pulled out a bit near the bottom. hoping that more practice with the movement will help stretch things out a bit or recruit things better or whatever it is that is required there. i wonder if i could stop a little higher? my aim is to uncontroversially break parallel and lift as much weight as i can!! i really am determined not to make things any harder than they absolutely need to be with my squats. i’m tired of being weak.
i’ll take more vids soon to check i’m not cheating depth and hopefully my buttwink will have improved. also going to try and work harder to break from the hips and sit my butt back.
yes i agree that my hips are rising too soon on the deadlifts dammit. really did think that snatch pulls would have sorted that out. looks like i should stick with 60kg (second last set) for a few more sessions and do my damnedest to keep my hips down. not much hope for my legs growing if i don’t use them. also i need to be careful about overtraining my back.
matty - i’ll happily trade you (all faustian-like) my form for the weights you can lift
nadia - er… when nimain said it i thought she was delusional (no offence) but two people… hmm… i thought my arms looked kinda sausage like and was actually surprised at the lack of definition in the vids. feel like i carry fat on my upper arms as well as my belly. but yeah, i don’t look as bad as i feared i did so that was kinda cool. think doing so much overhead work is really good for the shoulders / delts, too. so i’ll take the compliment and thanks very much to the both of you.
it is weird that feeling bigger than feeling. even when one knows one isn’t. i wonder if it is a hangover from shooting up first around puberty. not quite sure what it is about. feeling a bit better about things now, anyway.
yes, i’ll start dropping the deads. good idea. i will get to being aggressive with them… but first i want to try and get used to keeping my hips down. once that is more automatic i’ll start yelling i’m sure. realized that what i’ve missed most about deadlifts is the high feeling i get from them. used to get it from heavy (for me) powercleans, too. it really does feel like a massive methamphetamine flashback rush. boom. endorphins or something. sometimes my vision goes, even. not every time. just sometimes. might have something to do with my breathing or whatever. can’t figure it out but it sure is very addictive.
brute - i’ve never tried pulling sumo. pulling conventional. feet slightly narrower than squatting and toes pointing forwards. i think i might be about 5kg away from visible abs. i didn’t have them at 60kg… i don’t know. still, i guess they say that most guys don’t have visible abs when they are in the position to do good for the muscular growth thing so i suppose that is even more true for women. i’ll have a go at leaning out a bit come spring (and deal with having chicken sticks for legs). then next year… my aim is to get serious about nutrition to try and do a proper bulk / cut.