[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
As long as you enjoy the diet and it works for you thats what matters. Have you ever played with higher carbs and lower fat? Just eating some leaner cuts of meat. Eggs whites and not adding in oils/butter to things and upping the carbs? But certainly not trying to push a high carb diet just wondering if you have messed around with it.[/quote]
In the past my approaches were inherently higher carb through lots of wheat but I had relatively low protein and all of my fats basically sucks balls, so really not a fair test (higher BF then I maintain now, but again, unfair test).
It just doesn’t appeal to me since:
- I would never throw away a yolk from a free range organic egg
- Eating a ton of carbs, but clean, is a massive hassle (ie. no bread/pasta, wheat makes me feel like shit anyway so I take that as a natural sign)
- I think grass fed beef is pretty much the best muscle building meat in the world (though all wild game meat is on par and leaner)
-A small amount of butter is good
-VCO is definitely good, even fatloss wise
So what it boils down to (and yes, I think about such things a hell of a lot) is if I were to contest diet next year, I would be able to switch to venison or other wild game to cut cut calories and fat without inferior quality protein. I would also be able to drop the oil/butter gradually, must likely dropping the vco last if at all for further calorie reduction. But I would also be able to lower the rice if needed and carb cycle pretty freely.
I suppose it would come down to what a potential prep coach would make me do, but in offseason mode, I believe this is absolutely a great way to eat to maximise growth/minimise fat gain, and generally just enjoy and be able to stick to my diet. Carbs are great if you have the capacity for eating endless amount of food and can handle them, but this is what I believe in (for now at least).
So I just started benching 3 days per week and you just started smolov for bench, are you benching 3 days per week as well, if so I think that is awesome haha…
And one more thing about the pic on the previous page, what kind of beer?
[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
So I just started benching 3 days per week and you just started smolov for bench, are you benching 3 days per week as well, if so I think that is awesome haha…
And one more thing about the pic on the previous page, what kind of beer?[/quote]
Bad ass. I love high frequency training. Unfortunately it’s 4x a week which is pretty rough but I’m half way through the 12 sessions now and hoping to comfortably PR after it.
The beer is San Miguel, seems to be Spain’s national beer of choice. Reminded me of Asahi over in Japan or Tiger/Singapore (not in taste, just in the fact that’s the only beer you saw anyone drinking). I’m far from a beer fan, but it actually tasted pretty good that night.
Biceps/Traps
Cross-body Hammers
21.6/48s x 10 - 23.6/52s x 10 - 25.6/56s x 6 (+1 from last week)
DB Preacher Curl (using inc. bench)
11.6/26s x 8 - 13.6/30s x 8 - 15.6/34s x 8 - 17.6/39s x 4 PR? (checking old logs = effort)
DB Alt. Curl
17.6/39s x 8 - 19.6/43s x 8 - 21.6/48s x 6… possibly PR
Reverse BB Curl
42/93 x 8 - 45/99 x 8 - 50/110 x 5 PRs
Upright Row (wider grip, for lower traps, real hard squeeze at top)
30/66 x 10 - 34/75 x 10 - 38/84 x 10 - 40/88 x 6 Default PRs
^ Keeping this movement in, could genuinely feel it really strongly in my lower trap area when I squeezed, I’ve literally never felt my back strongly there before, so this could be key for my back development.
Deadstop BB Shrug w/strong squeeze
160/353 x 3 - 165/364 x 3 - 171/377 - 175/386 x 3 PRs - 147/324 x 6 + 3 normal shrug
Was looking through my written log for old PRs, found ‘MD- amazing, never go back’ (as in Mountain Dog/JM training), ha. Fun session today, enjoyed it.
[quote]jake_j_m wrote:
[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
So I just started benching 3 days per week and you just started smolov for bench, are you benching 3 days per week as well, if so I think that is awesome haha…
And one more thing about the pic on the previous page, what kind of beer?[/quote]
Bad ass. I love high frequency training. Unfortunately it’s 4x a week which is pretty rough but I’m half way through the 12 sessions now and hoping to comfortably PR after it.
The beer is San Miguel, seems to be Spain’s national beer of choice. Reminded me of Asahi over in Japan or Tiger/Singapore (not in taste, just in the fact that’s the only beer you saw anyone drinking). I’m far from a beer fan, but it actually tasted pretty good that night. [/quote]
Fuck San Miguel… it’s all about that Cruzcampo bro
lol
P.S. Looking straight-up winged in the most recent pic man, nice work
[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
[quote]jake_j_m wrote:
[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
So I just started benching 3 days per week and you just started smolov for bench, are you benching 3 days per week as well, if so I think that is awesome haha…
And one more thing about the pic on the previous page, what kind of beer?[/quote]
Bad ass. I love high frequency training. Unfortunately it’s 4x a week which is pretty rough but I’m half way through the 12 sessions now and hoping to comfortably PR after it.
The beer is San Miguel, seems to be Spain’s national beer of choice. Reminded me of Asahi over in Japan or Tiger/Singapore (not in taste, just in the fact that’s the only beer you saw anyone drinking). I’m far from a beer fan, but it actually tasted pretty good that night. [/quote]
Fuck San Miguel… it’s all about that Cruzcampo bro
lol[/quote]
lol i should stop pretending i have any beer knowledge, didn’t spot that beer on ibiza at all, but I’ve never really done mainland spain
& much appreciated, just trying to get the mass to have back like yours now!
lol funny how you drank the Philippines’ national beer there
[quote]jake_j_m wrote:
[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
[quote]jake_j_m wrote:
[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
So I just started benching 3 days per week and you just started smolov for bench, are you benching 3 days per week as well, if so I think that is awesome haha…
And one more thing about the pic on the previous page, what kind of beer?[/quote]
Bad ass. I love high frequency training. Unfortunately it’s 4x a week which is pretty rough but I’m half way through the 12 sessions now and hoping to comfortably PR after it.
The beer is San Miguel, seems to be Spain’s national beer of choice. Reminded me of Asahi over in Japan or Tiger/Singapore (not in taste, just in the fact that’s the only beer you saw anyone drinking). I’m far from a beer fan, but it actually tasted pretty good that night. [/quote]
Fuck San Miguel… it’s all about that Cruzcampo bro
lol[/quote]
lol i should stop pretending i have any beer knowledge, didn’t spot that beer on ibiza at all, but I’ve never really done mainland spain
& much appreciated, just trying to get the mass to have back like yours now![/quote]
I was completely kidding about the beer man- I studied abroad in Southern Spain a couple years ago and we just ended up going for Cruzcampo because it was cheap and good for beach drinking. I think the only thing I saw that was cheaper was just called ‘cerveza’ haha. Not surprised that Cruzcampo didn’t make an appearance at Ibiza
[quote]fr0IVIan wrote:
lol funny how you drank the Philippines’ national beer there[/quote]
When you search San Miguel on google it comes up with “San Miguel ibiza” as a suggestion, had no clue it wasn’t just Spanish haha!
Guess what I did today? Dat’s rite bro, bench pruss
Smolov Bench, W2, D3
Bench
88/194 x 4 - 88/194 x 4 - 88/194 x 4 - 88/194 x 4 - 88/194 x 4 - 88/194 x 4 - 88/194 x 4 - 88/194 x 3 + 1 (rest <30 secs. for last rep)
Weight still easy, just nagging bicep pain that’s making it at all difficult. I know “how to PL bench” now and it for sure cuts my ROM down a lot, but I still haven’t worked out my best leg positioning for max leg drive or best amount of arch FOR ME PERSONALLY. Nor have I truly worked out my ideal grip width or level of elbow tuck (I seem to prefer to hardly tuck when I’m using a relatively wide grip, as I am at the moment). Would really appreciate having a PL coach right now to tell me which was best for me but I will just have to use common sense and keep experimenting until I nail it.
You’re obviously stronger then me, so take my advice with a shot of whiskey. lol
But I’ve worked diligently on my Bench form, because I’m built like a spider, so I’m REALLY not built for it. The best thing I did, regarding foot placement and grip width (and I know this is going to sound stupid, but hear me out. lol), was I pushed a truck. lol
I had to help my step-dad push a truck in neutral, and when I was done, I realized that, when I naturally had to push as HARD AS I COULD, I took note of the hand spacing, and the fact I got my legs really ‘under’ me. I then messed around with pushups, to see what felt ‘strong’, and it really helped a lot. Also, foam rolling the shit out of my hips and lower back, so I could angle my hips ‘down’, really made a difference. lol
[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
You’re obviously stronger then me, so take my advice with a shot of whiskey. lol
But I’ve worked diligently on my Bench form, because I’m built like a spider, so I’m REALLY not built for it. The best thing I did, regarding foot placement and grip width (and I know this is going to sound stupid, but hear me out. lol), was I pushed a truck. lol
I had to help my step-dad push a truck in neutral, and when I was done, I realized that, when I naturally had to push as HARD AS I COULD, I took note of the hand spacing, and the fact I got my legs really ‘under’ me. I then messed around with pushups, to see what felt ‘strong’, and it really helped a lot. Also, foam rolling the shit out of my hips and lower back, so I could angle my hips ‘down’, really made a difference. lol
[/quote]
Pretty cool, and any and all advice is taken into consideration. It kind of vibes with my feeling of just trying to follow whichever foot placement/bar path feels “most solid” when experimenting set to set, rather then just going with the exact form Tate or whoever recommends. Recent bench press articles on Chaos & Pain blog were great for showing how individual the bench press is as a lift. I could do with foam rolling regularly again too.
If you aren’t already doing it, I highly recommend ending pressing workouts with a high rep set of light, slow hammer curls. I’ve got some nagging pain in my right biceps that pops up due to pressing and doing that definitely helps me to at least not injure it any worse.
[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
If you aren’t already doing it, I highly recommend ending pressing workouts with a high rep set of light, slow hammer curls. I’ve got some nagging pain in my right biceps that pops up due to pressing and doing that definitely helps me to at least not injure it any worse.[/quote]
I will give it a whirl, it might help it hold up while I finish up smolov jr. at which point I get a nice full week to recover before max attempts.
Yeah, today sucked.
Smolov Bench, Week 2, Day 4.
Bench
93/205 x 2 - 93/205 x 3 - 93/205 x 2 - 93/205 x 2 - 93/205 x 2 - 93/205 x 1 - 93/205 x 1 - 93/205 x 1 - 93/205 x F
14 out of 30 reps and literally failed so was unable to make up the volume. The last 4 singles all felt like goddamn 1rms. Jesus christ I suck at benching. My bicep pain didn’t even feel too bad today either. Benching is really starting to piss me off. Disillusioned with even doing a PL meet if I can’t sort it out. I will see this last 4 sessions out best I can anyway. Something needs to change if I’m to have a non sucky bench though. Badly. /rant
Getting beefy. I’m positive it’s not as bad as you think.
[quote]jake_j_m wrote:
Yeah, today sucked.
Smolov Bench, Week 2, Day 4.
Bench
93/205 x 2 - 93/205 x 3 - 93/205 x 2 - 93/205 x 2 - 93/205 x 2 - 93/205 x 1 - 93/205 x 1 - 93/205 x 1 - 93/205 x F
14 out of 30 reps and literally failed so was unable to make up the volume. The last 4 singles all felt like goddamn 1rms. Jesus christ I suck at benching. My bicep pain didn’t even feel too bad today either. Benching is really starting to piss me off. Disillusioned with even doing a PL meet if I can’t sort it out. I will see this last 4 sessions out best I can anyway. Something needs to change if I’m to have a non sucky bench though. Badly. /rant[/quote]
5/3/1 for like a year? It’s boring as hell but it’s consistent and works.
[quote]jake_j_m wrote:
Yeah, today sucked.
Smolov Bench, Week 2, Day 4.
Bench
93/205 x 2 - 93/205 x 3 - 93/205 x 2 - 93/205 x 2 - 93/205 x 2 - 93/205 x 1 - 93/205 x 1 - 93/205 x 1 - 93/205 x F
14 out of 30 reps and literally failed so was unable to make up the volume. The last 4 singles all felt like goddamn 1rms. Jesus christ I suck at benching. My bicep pain didn’t even feel too bad today either. Benching is really starting to piss me off. Disillusioned with even doing a PL meet if I can’t sort it out. I will see this last 4 sessions out best I can anyway. Something needs to change if I’m to have a non sucky bench though. Badly. /rant[/quote]
Don’t beat yourself up bro. Was it just an ‘off day’, or do you think the bicep may just be taking it’s toll?
@spar: Weights going up, bigger then ever, blah. Hopefully I finish this programme on a higher note and actually PR afterwards to make it all worth it.
@rattler: I’ve spent quite a lot of time on 5/3/1, I don’t mind the programme, but my squat and bench pretty much didn’t move whilst I did it (my deadlift went up, but it comes easily to and I believe 5/3/1 is worst for improving deadlift 1rm out of all the big 3). I prefer the idea of really focusing 100% on speccing lifts (ie. high frequency). With that said I think a programme that had me benching 2x a week or 3x a week rather then 4 might be the future for me with regards to specifically improving bench press. Squatting I feel 3x a week was optimal and far preferred the intense phase to the base phase, contrary to most peoples feedback on the programme.
@spidey: A bit of both I’d say. Weight is on the up, had a day’s worth of food in me, good nights sleep before etc. etc. So I’m inclined to say off day but perhaps the accumulative shoulder/bicep/chest fatigue is really hitting home now. I did have very similar problems last time I tried this programme but I reasoned my bench form had improved enough to make it work. Evidently, whilst it is far more “PL like”… it is still not optimal for me. I’m convinced I would have over 250 bench within 1 hour of working with Dave Tate, lol.