Bulldog and Bullpup Log Part 2

Training Over 35 Lifter
901

[quote]cavalier wrote:
A couple of things really helped you:

You started training through puberty, when your body was growing anyway and you get the best gains,

You have good genetics.

Put it together, and even a sloppy program would produce terrific results. So I agree with Ed Coan - too many strong guys forget how they got there and tell people “just work harder - I got here through hard work”. Of course you worked hard, but that’s not enough - other factors are important.

The strong guy is confident he knows what works - no one gives him advice. Life is simple. But someone having problems gaining (like me) keeps grabbing advice, and drowns in it. Some people are selling you something, others don’t know - how to tell? Does this work? Does that work? If I wasn’t OCD before this, it would have made me OCD.

Bullpup has the best of all worlds: good genetics, a supportive environment, training during puberty, and good training (you). Hope he remembers Coan’s advice 10 yrs from now when Sports Illustrated interviews him.[/quote]

Cav, it’s not all about genetics so to downplay the hard work that Bulldog and BP are putting in is a disservice to them.

Are you trying to get stronger at a point of life where it’s harder to do so? Sure you are. Does that mean that you can’t get stronger? Of course not. You’re always blaming “bad genetics” for your lack of progress but that only goes so far because there’s a lot of guys here who aren’t genetically gifted but are still making progress.

Sorry for the log-jack Bulldog.

james

902

[quote]cavalier wrote:
A couple of things really helped you:

You started training through puberty, when your body was growing anyway and you get the best gains,

You have good genetics…[/quote]

Well yes, maybe the results I saw could be credited to a few of those factors. But over all the program was sound , based on the principles i set up for myself as a guide. Now was the program perfect? God No! There was things I did that I would omit now. But I would not change my basic principles.

[quote]cavalier wrote:
Put it together, and even a sloppy program would produce terrific results. So I agree with Ed Coan - too many strong guys forget how they got there and tell people “just work harder - I got here through hard work”. Of course you worked hard, but that’s not enough - other factors are important…[/quote]

Very true. other factors do play a roll on the rate of a individuals progress. Just saying, work harder doesn’t always cover it.

[quote]cavalier wrote:
The strong guy is confident he knows what works - no one gives him advice. Life is simple. But someone having problems gaining (like me) keeps grabbing advice, and drowns in it. Some people are selling you something, others don’t know - how to tell? Does this work? Does that work? If I wasn’t OCD before this, it would have made me OCD…[/quote]

Ill be honest Ive know a few strong guys. To be honest, some of them are dumber then a box of crap. I know one gentleman whom was pretty competitive on the Bench. But his actual knowledge regarding actual train was very rudimentary at best.

My best advice would be stop being so damn OCD!! If you know your being the way stop it. The best advice I think Ive ever read was this. Look at a large number are successful. Look at there training. Looking at there programs. In allot of cases they might be doing it slightly different. But look at what they are doing that is similar.From that you can get a general idea was valuable.

[quote]cavalier wrote:
Bullpup has the best of all worlds: good genetics, a supportive environment, training during puberty, and good training (you). Hope he remembers Coan’s advice 10 yrs from now when Sports Illustrated interviews him.[/quote]

That yet to be seen.

903

[quote]damutt wrote:
Again dog ur my inspiration in the strength world.[/quote]

GET A BETER SOURCE OF INSPIRATION!!!

[quote]damutt wrote:
I wish I could just get a steady 5 years in doing 6 month programs so I could get an idea of what might work. Again dog ur my inspiration in the strength world. If only I could make it mesh with everything else. I guess I’m really just looking for balance[/quote]

Honestly, yes you have to have balance in your life and not just in lifting. The fact of the matter is unless some one is a genetic freak or are on a shit load of “goodies” Developing a large amount of size/strength is a long term investment. Serious TB there is no perfect program. That’s why I talk about having established Training principles. When I hear someone say " my bench wont go up !". The first thing I want to ask are you benching and are you being consistent? See what im saying. I feel that there is to many people would just be better served just doing the actual lifting and not waste so much time worried about having the perfect program right off the bat.

904

[quote]atypical1 wrote:

[quote]bulldog9899 wrote:
So my advice is this. If you’re doing something and it’s reasonable and it working and working well. Just keep doing it. Don’t overload yourself on allot of useless information. Develop principles based on what working and stick with them[/quote]

Damn this is so true. Good post.

james
[/quote]
Thanks, I tried to add some actual value to it.

905

[quote]atypical1 wrote:

Cav, it’s not all about genetics so to downplay the hard work that Bulldog and BP are putting in is a disservice to them.

Are you trying to get stronger at a point of life where it’s harder to do so? Sure you are. Does that mean that you can’t get stronger? Of course not. You’re always blaming “bad genetics” for your lack of progress but that only goes so far because there’s a lot of guys here who aren’t genetically gifted but are still making progress.

Sorry for the log-jack Bulldog.

james
[/quote]

First, Lets not allow this to get out of hand.

No worries James.

I honestly don’t take offence to what Cav is saying.

Ive admitted to the fact Ive lucked out to a certain degree regarding my potential for developing strength and size. But its no where near a freakish level. My father has only once actual lifted a weight. When he was in the service at the age of 19 he cleaned and pressed 200 at 175lbs.

Besides , I don’t feel that hes down playing any work Ive put in. I think hes just venting some of his own frustration and not necessarily at me.

Besides, I’m going to post about Genetics down the road at a latter date.

906

James, I’m just going off Dog’s own words:

[quote]
I got sorta lucky. Even though my genetics got watered down from my mothers side. I’m lucky to be descended from a line of bigger me. The gentleman in white is my eighty something year old uncle. You can definitely say he isn’t frail for his age.[/quote]

He’s also mentioned that he trained Bullpup for what, about 2 months? And then he went through a growth spurt and packed on several pounds of muscle without even touching a bar?

My point is that they’re getting real bang for the buck, and they’ve discovered the training that works for them. I agree with Dog’s observation, if you find something that works, that takes the pressure off you. As opposed to someone who hasn’t found something that works and starts analyzing like crazy to find it.

And Bulldog deserves credit for getting back into training.

(Oh, and I LOVE the bits from Young Frankenstein.)

907

[quote]bulldog9899 wrote:

Besides , I don’t feel that hes down playing any work Ive put in. I think hes just venting some of his own frustration and not necessarily at me.
[/quote]

Very true, Dog. You’re OK, I’m just naturally grumpy.

How about some more Young Frankenstein?

908
909

[quote]bulldog9899 wrote:

[quote]damutt wrote:
Again dog ur my inspiration in the strength world.[/quote]

GET A BETER SOURCE OF INSPIRATION!!!

[quote]damutt wrote:
I wish I could just get a steady 5 years in doing 6 month programs so I could get an idea of what might work. Again dog ur my inspiration in the strength world. If only I could make it mesh with everything else. I guess I’m really just looking for balance[/quote]

Honestly, yes you have to have balance in your life and not just in lifting. The fact of the matter is unless some one is a genetic freak or are on a shit load of “goodies” Developing a large amount of size/strength is a long term investment. Serious TB there is no perfect program. That’s why I talk about having established Training principles. When I hear someone say " my bench wont go up !". The first thing I want to ask are you benching and are you being consistent? See what im saying. I feel that there is to many people would just be better served just doing the actual lifting and not waste so much time worried about having the perfect program right off the bat.[/quote]

I agree 100% I just need to get in there 3 days a week and lift. Doesn’t even matter what I end up doing I just need to do it and progress. This is my goal.

910

Excellent post, espescially with regards to getting stronger in a rep range. It seems as if I found my groove getting stronger in the 5 rep range which has translated into better 1 rep maxes.

Compounding on doing what works I believe you have to do what you like as well. I know there are certain necessities that you must do to progress, but I believe you have to enjoy yourself as well. Simply put if I didnt like to test my strength and lift weights I wouldnt do it, I would find another way to achieve physical health and happiness. There are too many internet warriors that think lifting should be enjoyable…fuck that I do it because I love it and enjoy it. So I may add some isolation movements are stray from a program a bit, but like you said Bulldog you have to find your own philosophies about lifting and your own program that works.

Ive only been lifting seriously for about 10 years, and correctly for 5 so I got a ways to go but I can feel you on your own philosophy…

BD IMO you should start posting these words on a blog site such as Blogger or Word Press, your limiting your exposure by just doing it on here…these posts are super meaningful and would do well through an outlet such as that.

911

[quote]damutt wrote:

I agree 100% I just need to get in there 3 days a week and lift. Doesn’t even matter what I end up doing I just need to do it and progress. This is my goal.[/quote]

Exactly. Progress is the name of the game. Not matter how small the progress is. As long as your just a hair better then the day before.

912

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
Excellent post, espescially with regards to getting stronger in a rep range. It seems as if I found my groove getting stronger in the 5 rep range which has translated into better 1 rep maxes…[/quote]

then obvious that range is money for you.

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
Compounding on doing what works I believe you have to do what you like as well. I know there are certain necessities that you must do to progress, but I believe you have to enjoy yourself as well. Simply put if I didnt like to test my strength and lift weights I wouldn’t do it, I would find another way to achieve physical health and happiness. There are too many internet warriors that think lifting should be enjoyable…fuck that I do it because I love it and enjoy it. So I may add some isolation movements are stray from a program a bit, but like you said Bulldog you have to find your own philosophies about lifting and your own program that works. .[/quote]

I didnt want to say so in the original post. But yeah you have to enjoy this crap. Other wise it becomes nothing more then drudgery. As I said before this stuff is a long term thing if you want to reach a certain level. Besides you got to love it or be mentally unstable , since no sane person would do this crap for physical health. As I tell my wife I don’t lift all this weight for my actual health. I do it because I enjoy it and the process itself. My enjoyment has been someone less since Ive been back at it. This is due to the fact that Ive been feeling trapped by doing programs by the letter that haven’t completely jived with my own principles. Like I said, as long as a persons principles aren’t to far off the beaten patch and there productive its all good.

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
Ive only been lifting seriously for about 10 years, and correctly for 5 so I got a ways to go but I can feel you on your own philosophy…[/quote]

After 10 years even if it hasn’t been all productive, you have had enough hands on to actually develop your own thoughts regarding training.

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
BD IMO you should start posting these words on a blog site such as Blogger or Word Press, your limiting your exposure by just doing it on here…these posts are super meaningful and would do well through an outlet such as that.[/quote]

I wouldn’t go that far… Right now, this is nothing more then a outlet express my true thoughts which Ive kept to myself. Along with working to improve my writing skills. I’m not looking for any attention. I’m just happy right now being a hack in my small corner of the over 35 crew.

913


2/18/12

Squats: Bar x 3 x 10
135 x 2 x 10
210 x 5
260 x 4
315 x 3
370 x 2
435 x 1
370 x 6…Mentally ,I just wasn’t up for it.

I shut it down. I knew it was going to be a crap session. Physically and mentally I was just sluggish as hell

914

2/19/11

Treadmill: 3.3 mph @ 2.5 % for 37 minutes.

I got a surprise yesterday. On my heaviest squat yesterday I went ahead and put on my Lever belt. It was
somewhat loose. Pretty soon ill will have to get out a screw driver to readjust it.

915

3264×2448 2.02 MB

^^ I would like to present the two new additions to the Bulldog family.

916

Congrats on the loose belt. If that belt is an Inzer then a dime works very well (found this out at the gym, luckily I had some change in my bag).

Nice additions.

james

917

Those 100’s would screw up my math

918

Those 100’s would screw up my math

919

I totally agree about the important part being the actual lifting and not the program itself. Almost everyone will make gains even if they don’t follow a particular template if they are consistant about lifting something.

I love the 100lb plates.

920

Nice plates.