My dad was a lot tougher than I am, too. Still is probably, at 81. He was well educated, but left the life of an aeronautical engineer to go back to the country, where he did a lot of physical work every day.
I agree with you on pretty much everything, but not about the bodyweight part. It does figure into things, which is why just about every sport but sumo has defined weight classes (in sumo, everyone wrestles everyone, which is pretty cool). Even taking that into account, plenty of guys my weight can do a lot more than I can, and I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ll never have a 500# bench. I’ll keep progressing, though, and I look forward to finding out how far I can push things (get it? get it?), as I’m sure you do.
I can’t sleep tonight, and trying not to disturb the wife by reading Elmore Leonard in the bed. She is too pregnant to mess with her sleep. So instead I am catching up on DCAs log. Good stuff here, and good discussion. Figure I might as well chime in.
First off, DCA, I don’t think my strength is remarkable, but thanks for putting me in that category. But I am bullheaded, and I am always determined to progress. And I have taken a very patient, long termed road to progression. Well, so far anyway. Eat, lift, rest, repeat. But I do think I have seen the best results when I have been able to maintain structure in my life and, ergo, my lifting. But also a lot has to do with still maintaining some of my old punk rock anger from my teens. In fact I have been able to prove lately that this fuels me a long way. Recently hit a 620 bench PR, and it was far short of maximal, but I actually got some of my own music on the gym IPOD. Attitude, commitment, and a good old case of being pissed at the world can get you a lot more out of lifting I think than any specific routine.
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
I do not have remarkable strength. I consider what I’ve attained in terms of strength as the baseline capability of ANY healthy male between the ages of 16 and 50. I don’t pay attention to food or sleep to support it I just go lift whatever.
People like PeteS and maraudermeat, ecogenx, harry etc, have moved themselves into the next level which IS remarkable strength. They’ve made the sacrifices required to reach that level, changing their diets, prioritizing their days to make the attainment of such remarkable strength possible.
In a way, it’s sad that I should be considered strong, since it means that we’ve lost the idea of what basic strength is.[/quote]
Yeah I’m calling bullshit on this. This is not to say that the people you listed are not in the remarkable catagory because they are, but any objective observer would include you in that catagory as well.
I imagine if you were to take all the people listed and ran your numbers and their numbers through the Wilks formula that your lifts would show up in the same approximate range.
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
the universe doesn’t care about relative strength. The guy who lifts more weight is stronger. Period. Bodyweight don’t figger into it.
[/quote]
Ugh. I can’t buy into a concept like this or I might as well just throw in the towel. At 110 lb, I have to focus on relative strength or I just look like a major wuss.
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
the universe doesn’t care about relative strength. The guy who lifts more weight is stronger. Period. Bodyweight don’t figger into it.
[/quote]
Ugh. I can’t buy into a concept like this or I might as well just throw in the towel. At 110 lb, I have to focus on relative strength or I just look like a major wuss.
[/quote]
I’m with you. I will never being the strongest person alive. No point in lamenting it. I do what I can do and derive my high, joy, pride, whathaveyou, from getting better.
Hey Tony,
If recall you mentioned some appetite or food intake issues. I’m always challenged to eat enough. Part of it is stress. Between work, marriage, money, kids, aging parents or whatever cooking and chewing sometimes seems like too much effort.
The blender is my friend…add milk, juice, olive oil, protein powder, cottage cheese, yogourt, frozen berries or whatever you like. I haven’t done a calorie count, but I will now that I typed this, but I suspect about a 1000 calories at a shot. Generally, it is my mid-morning snack.
What I would give to have this “forgetting to eat” problem.
The old great strongmen and atheletes and soldiers were from a different era. they ate differently, and life was hard. they became hard. For instance, we all “work hard” at our jobs and in the gym, but most of us don’t do “hard work”. Farming and pick mining are hard jobs, typing is not, and neither is driving. I have been hooked on Chaos and Pain since you linked to it, and frankly, there is something to say about the insane volume done by alot of the old time guys. and most of that volume was in the work they did before they even got to the gym/field. As for the warrior part of it, I have read some shit about the Marines in WWI. Top of my list of guys not to fuck with. Again, less than 100 years ago but a totally different era. They werent just strong, they were “hard”. Most of us don’t live a life that requires us to be, or makes us, hard. we attempt to create that for ourselves, because we feel like its right to be hard. but it is no longer the stuff of everyday life, and most of the people around us don’t get it.
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
the universe doesn’t care about relative strength. The guy who lifts more weight is stronger. Period. Bodyweight don’t figger into it.
[/quote]
Ugh. I can’t buy into a concept like this or I might as well just throw in the towel. At 110 lb, I have to focus on relative strength or I just look like a major wuss.
[/quote]
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
the universe doesn’t care about relative strength. The guy who lifts more weight is stronger. Period. Bodyweight don’t figger into it.
[/quote]
Ugh. I can’t buy into a concept like this or I might as well just throw in the towel. At 110 lb, I have to focus on relative strength or I just look like a major wuss.
[/quote]
The universe may not care about relative fill-in-the-blank-here. But the universe is also three-dimensional. There’s a reason why the elephant is not “King of the Jungle”.
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
the universe doesn’t care about relative strength. The guy who lifts more weight is stronger. Period. Bodyweight don’t figger into it.
[/quote]
Ugh. I can’t buy into a concept like this or I might as well just throw in the towel. At 110 lb, I have to focus on relative strength or I just look like a major wuss.
[/quote]
x2
But maybe there are different rulz for girlz. ;-)[/quote]
Guess I should also add that a war was fought over Helen, but not Hel. Although Hel is much stronger 'fer sure.
If a giant rock is rolling on top of you, it doesn’t care that you are the strongest 198 lb lifter in your class.
That said, it’s true that the universe also requires multiple abilities from its inhabitants, strength being only one and perhaps not the most important. In the example above it might be better to be the quickest 198 lb-er, for instance.
I’m all for being as strong as you can be for where you’re at, because it’s ALWAYS an advantage, I just think it should be recognized that absolute strength in the real world is more important than relative strength. Relative strength counts only in competition where there are weight classes. In fact, that’s why weight classes were created, because bigger lifters kick-ass on smaller ones - routinely.
If one can attain some level of agility and quickness to go with it, so much the better.
And the elephant is, in fact, “King of the Jungle.” Nothing but large groups of men with pointy sticks or elephant guns screws with an elephant.
And the elephant is, in fact, “King of the Jungle.” Nothing but large groups of men with pointy sticks or elephant guns screws with an elephant.[/quote]
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
If a giant rock is rolling on top of you, it doesn’t care that you are the strongest 198 lb lifter in your class.
That said, it’s true that the universe also requires multiple abilities from its inhabitants, strength being only one and perhaps not the most important. In the example above it might be better to be the quickest 198 lb-er, for instance.
I’m all for being as strong as you can be for where you’re at, because it’s ALWAYS an advantage, I just think it should be recognized that absolute strength in the real world is more important than relative strength. Relative strength counts only in competition where there are weight classes. In fact, that’s why weight classes were created, because bigger lifters kick-ass on smaller ones - routinely.
If one can attain some level of agility and quickness to go with it, so much the better.
And the elephant is, in fact, “King of the Jungle.” Nothing but large groups of men with pointy sticks or elephant guns screws with an elephant.[/quote]
Truth…
If you aren’t the strongest in the fight, better be the quickest. If not the quickest, then be the smartest.
And the elephant is, in fact, “King of the Jungle.” Nothing but large groups of men with pointy sticks or elephant guns screws with an elephant.[/quote]
Unless they get really f’ing hungry.
Note: 7 on one, it was a juvenile pachyderm and it still got away.
And the elephant is, in fact, “King of the Jungle.” Nothing but large groups of men with pointy sticks or elephant guns screws with an elephant.[/quote]
Unless they get really f’ing hungry.
Note: 7 on one, it was a juvenile pachyderm and it still got away.[/quote]
No doubt Elephants are bad-ass. I wouldn’t want a pack of lions on my back, either.
And the elephant is, in fact, “King of the Jungle.” Nothing but large groups of men with pointy sticks or elephant guns screws with an elephant.[/quote]
Unless they get really f’ing hungry.
Note: 7 on one, it was a juvenile pachyderm and it still got away.[/quote]
No doubt Elephants are bad-ass. I wouldn’t want a pack of lions on my back, either. :)[/quote]
It must feel like one of us being attacked by knife-wielding gnomes. Definitely scary and painful but not necessarily fatal.
Power Cleans (non-rotating bar)
165x3
185x2, 1x9 sets
Front Squat
235x5
And that’s all. Didn’t want to do it today, but I also wanted to do it today. Identified the neck stinger source - it’s the BTNPP. However, the pain is due to the muscle actually being used. It’s been dormant ever since I popped the biceps tendon out of its groove in the shoulder and never started up again even after the tendon was put back in place. So I’m going to keep doing them and believe that the pain will go away after a time.
