BTW, if you want to talk about it more in-depth but not here I’m more than happy to listen or discuss it with you.
Oh no please do, that’s what logs are made for.
I guess yeah I could hit that with the correct technique. But I think I’ll need to get used to it for a few weeks first.
I think my back is strong enough. Not ultra strong but strong enough. Sets of bent-row with strict form at 100 kgs. traps well i can do 180 strict with pauses no problem so it’s a non issue.
I’ve been spending so much time thinking “brace brace brace” I’ve gotten good at it. I can literally feel my lower back expand with the air, and take all the space in my belt when I use it.
Then, thinking about the “orange cue” and driving my lats as ahrd as I could. But I completely neglected two things:
Upper back/spine brancing. Very clear on my last vid. This is the main culprit.
First I’ll correct that, then I’ll see if I need to pull the slack more (I’ll try a bit though) and more hammies
I’m more concerned with being able to push as hard as I can safely than anything else. Safety first.
Sure sure but seometimes it’s hard to be patient and wait till summer to shed some of it. Pressure of instagram, of people you know, of the school, of my future job bla bla bla
Sometimes I feel I’m not doing enough you know? I’m really guilty of ego of lack of confidence there
At least, I’ve been shying away from alcohol. never more than a beer at once, and I think it helps for performance also.
It’s a thin line to walk. I don’t know what you’ve explored in the past but, nor am I qualified to give out any advice, consider if you could either:
- Decide to alternate 6-8 weeks of gaining with 2 week minicuts and keep with those weeks or
- Establish metrics for when you cut back on fat mass. Such as “when I can no longer get that pumped looked” (probably not an alternative for you), “when my waist is X inches”, “when I lose quad separation”.
Thereby giving your mind a break from subjectively evaluating your physique and instead you are reacting to objective measurements.
I think, if memory serves, @BOTSLAYER engages in the second habit.
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Part of the problem is that apart from my nooby gains, my subsequents bulks were not successful at all. Last two times I gained the most muscle were last summer (during a cut) and this summer (during a surplus sure but a little one).
Hmm yeah I think it’s best. The scale is a pooor indicator anyway. But I have weird fat dustribution. I have no quad definition at all but I have serratus and oblique very visible and veins on my mid traps! So I think it’s when my love handles are too big for my liking ahah. Right now I feel good most of the days, but I feel (maybe it’s scarring) I don’t need to get fatter to gain muscle lr strength
The less the better, in all aspects of life. Your 1 beer approach is far better than mine.
If you are natty drastically reduce your expectations and I strongly recommend Greg Doucette’s approach. (Stay lean, your body will grow if you train hard.)
If you are enhanced again greatly reduce your expectations. In this case I think you should watch Eric Kanevsky’s latest transformation where he gained something like 100lbs to add 20lbs of “stage weight” over the course of well over a year if memory serves me. He probably gained 5-10lbs of actual lean mass and his physique sucked.
Actually either case is a great example of just lowering your expectations. Eric pulled out all the stops. Lived breathed, ate, slept, BBing and that was the result. His training sucked though.
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Yes I agree 100%.
Last “bulk” I did I stopped at 6 kgs gained. Natty and been training for some time, and I had the same results with my bulks in the past: gaining 15 kgs, but there’s like only 1 of muscle lol. Since 1-2 years been trying to be much less excessive and it’s better. “Maingain” it is!
Honestly I’m just happy gaining a few hundred grams of muscle each time. Over the years it adds up (too little too slow but heh that’s the game…)
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I continue to find that the only way to make “bulking” work is to have nutrition support training rather than the other way around. As soon as the goal becomes “gain bodyweight”, the seeds of failure have been sewn. Instead, bodyweight gain must occur as a result of the pursuit of some other goal.
All of my successful weight gain phases occurred when I was NOT weighing myself. Instead, I had a training/competition goal I was pursuing, and bodyweight was gained in pursuit of that. Two were instances of having a looming strongman competition where I needed to move up a weight class (meaning the lifts were heavier than I could currently manage, so I was training harder and heavier) and the other was when I was following Deep Water and the demands of the program were so great that I NEEDED to eat and gain in order to survive.
Chasing scale weight never works well in my experience.
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I think that’s instinctly what I did during Colossus and I gained little fat only, the training was making me ravenous and I just had to eat.
Problem right now is that training, and training intensity and volume is very random with lockdown so I’m conflicted ahah
I have lifting goals for when it’s over so then I guess yeah I’ll eat to support them.
In terms of muscle building I have really little ahah. Only my legs and chest gained significantly in recent times. Don’t think I’ll gain much more in the future. BUT I think that in terms of strength, I have much more to gain
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You know, it is really enlightening to learn that accomplished guys like you also have to actively work on remembering to brace and not always do it.
Not always bracing enough/correctly is a sin, I am very much guilty of. (Trying hard to improve that though, because as you said; Safety.) Thank you for sharing!
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Initial reaction was to say I’m not accomplished at all, but I’ll just say thanks!
I think what caracterizes great lifters is that they never think for granted and always try to improve. Even among top powerlifters with decades of training, they’ll work on technique…
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08/11
Run
Nothing serious or hardcore today, just being in the nature and having fun. Walked a lot, then warmed-up with a jog while talking on the phone. Total run maybe 30 minutes. in total, 1h10 of activity and 700 cals burned lol. Talked a lot with friends, it was really enjoyable.
Here’s are today’s thoughts (it’s long).
Woke up today at 6:45. So early for me, but I’m used to my new way of living now, and I like it! Old me would have probably woke up at 8:30 and rushed to work ahahah.
Anyway, for whatever reason, I was stressed about hair loss. I think i have been listening to too much More Plates More Dates videos. Never thought much about it, because I have asian genes, not much balding in my family. But well, apparently you never notice it until you’ve lost like 30% of your hair something like that. And I’m 30 ahah.
Hard to see in pic, but yeah I have still pretty much all of my hair. Maybe a bit of temporal loss? Anyway I was stressed about it. decided to buy some ketoconazole shampoo and use it every other day, just to be proactive. This should put my mind at ease for a while.
Why stress about it in the end? I’ve thought about it today. We accept to accept and love ourself, but there’s also the dichotomy of being accepted by other beings, because we are a social animal, in a society. I often feel I haven’t accomplished much, because what it is perceived as socially respectable, I don’t have it (a career, money, my own place).
Well I do, I have my physique. Just today again at noon, my boss (a woman) made another sexual comment about me. Constantly being judged for my good look and well built physique, called “Mr Muscle”, sexual innuendos and touching by bosses lol.
Sometimes it’s respect, by people who know the struggle and hard work of iron. But yeah sometimes I feel it’s the only thing I have you know. So It’s probably why I car like that about my physique.
Sure I’m super intelligent, I have a crazy memory and have a godlike general knowledge, but this not much useful, and certainly often disregarded by society. In fact it always pissed off my last two exes that I knew so much stuff, and would always win in knowledge games. In business school I was nicknamed wikipedia, Jimmy Neutron or Malcolm. But over time I have come to try and distanciate myself from my brainiac type, because it was not accepted.
So yeah, I’m trying to blend in. I think I overthink too much ahah. Like with the ladies. My friend says I have a beta mindset in the body of an alpha Chad. It’s true, I talked once to two girls at the same time and I felt bad ahahah. Just like right now. Added some girl on IG from a mutual acquaintance, send her a shitty emssage, she answers and that’s it. Why don’t I put my brain on off mode and just do what I want to do and grow a pair for once, be courageous because I know for a fact I have nothing to lose and it doesn’t matter. My sister was hearing me talk and she was saying the same, go for it, you can have anyone you want. But I still am a bit afraid, and a bit cowardy ahahah
Anyway, I still feel sometimes I lneed recognition. Honestly I just want to do a cut and go do some photoshoots again. Even though I did it, and it was never what I really wanted, but I guess it still feels good. It’s like, I have nothing to prove, but I want to prove everything.
Enough rambling, I’m going to study anatomy. I’m so motivated for everything right now! Diet and working out and working!
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Think we have all been there, it can be a big step to put yourself out there - vulnerable to rejection.
Sometimes it helps to think of like “what is the worst thing that could happen?” She could be not interested - which would mean that you would not get the result you wanted.
But that is where you are already, (by not taking the leap), so that would at worst be a neutral outcome, yes?
Or she could perhaps laugh, be scornful or something like that. But that would reveal her as inconsiderate and unkind and thus not really worth pursuing. And then you would have learned that before becoming involved - which probably would be a good thing and kind of a positive outcome.
I am rambling a bit here, perhaps, but the point I try to make is that sometimes thinking of something one finds daunting, in a different perspective, can make a difference.
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Yes you are completely right. I was totally rambling ahah. I’m a big believer in going out of our comfort zones. Been doing it for 2 years maybe? It’s hard but honestly it’s always been rewarding in the end. I even dared to frontly ask a girl out this summer, she already had someone but it went very well and she was flattered, and I actually felt so good because I had dared ahah.
When I was a kid, I used to be afraid of caling the doctor. Well you know what, I dared and we chatted some time. Really fun. Maybe nothing will come out of it but at least I feel good knowing I tried, that I’m capable of it, and it was a fun moment
09/11 - Density training: compressed rest times
A. Squat 6 RM, 1’45 rest, 6 RM, 1’30 rest, 6 RM, 1’15 rest, 6 RM, 2’ rest, original 6 RM
Weight 130-120 kgs
B. Leg press machine 8 RM, 1’30 rest, 8 RM, 1’15 rest, 8 RM, 1’ rest, 8 RM, 45" rest, 8 RM, 2’ rest, original 8 RM
Weight 145-135 kgs
C. Goblet squat with feet touching, ATG, 10 RM, 1’15 rest, 10 RM, 1’ rest, 10 RM, 45’ rest, 10 RM, 30’ rest, 10 RM, 15’ rest, 10 RM, 2’ original 10 RM
Weight 50-40 kgs
D. Leg extension 15 RM 30" rest x 5
Let’s just preface, it has been 5 hours, and my legs are WRECKED. Since I finished this, covered in sweat, my whole legs are sore as hell.
Squats were brutal AF. Slept not even 5 hours this night, couldn’t fall asleep. Last rep was the best though… I was once again bending a bit forward, caught my breath and focused. Super braced, super quick and stable! I don’t know why I can’t be braced like that all the time. I think that once again we precipitate too much instead of focusing on techniques.
We can see I have knee cave (that’s the first set, at 130, not real 6 RM but I had a bit of soreness from yesterday.). So I watched some Squat university video. I’m going to practice bare footed foot and knee stability and coordination exercises to stop my valgus.
Rest of the session… really, really hard. The most brutal was the goblet squats with 40 kgs. Last set I had to find every inch of energy in me. Probably wouldn’t have finished if people weren’t shouting at me! Would have made Meadows proud.
Leg extension brutal as always. I’m so famished and tired FFS. Olympic weightlifting is going to be such a hassle tomorrow lol I won’t use heavy weight for sure
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It’s hard to put this into words without it seeming critical but it’s merely an observation. When you get personal, you seem to distance yourself from what you are saying by way of laughter and a drastic change towards a very cavalier attitude (haha’s).
You had a long stint of (clinical?) depression. You’re clearly intelligent. You say intelligence isn’t welcome but I’d encourage you to seek out circles where it is. Not necessarily to the exclusion of your other social contexts but as an addendum so that you get the chance to express the full breadth of your identity. Long-term that seems healthy.
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He seems to prefer the “ahaha”, for the record. Makes me question if it’s a real laugh or not 
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Really a good back bro
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Get more air between reps. Seems chesty. Suck it deep into your stomach. Nose first then mouth. Better brace. Will allow you to slow down and focus on your knee cave.
In France we laugh like that lol just like jajajaja in spanish or xaxaxaxa in russian!
I geuss I had never noticed, but yeah when I write I very often do this. And it’s most likely I don’t share these doubts, lifting and life problems elsewhere than here so yeah.
Certainly. But I’m a bit special I’d say. My mother says I probably have asperger or something lol
Yes I’ve seen several people mention that. Through the nose will certainly help me. But I’m really trying to have a belly breath. Maybe because of adrelanine/distraction/the fucking mirror I don’t focus enough on my breathing
I can slow down, but I wanted to try because certain times when I faster it was much easier. But it was probably because of better bracing and all. For now slower seems the better solution. Need to do it right slowly correctly before fast, like the o-lifts
I heard your exhales but I didn’t hear your inhales. Anecdata but the strongest lifter I’ve seen enough times IRL to try and learn shit I even hear his glottis close. Good braces seem to me as an audible affair. @guineapig @Pinkylifting correct me if I’m wrong