It’s Hebrew - bit-ta-chon. It expresses a sense of well- being and security that results from placing confident expectation in God. I usually just tell people it means trust in God. (And no, I’m not Jewish).
Been there, tried that, don’t like it. I felt sluggish at 245+. I also didn’t look any better. The first pic is from that time. My legs and arse grew significantly but my upper body didn’t do much other than fill in the lines and reduce my definition. That’s not really the look I want.
Eye on the prize! In a few months you will either have achieved your goal or still be sitting there thinking about doing it.
I admit that my heavy clean attempt are always an adventure. The video shows what I was thinking - “Get under the bar!” I dropped too far and the weight actually crashed on the catch.
You’re very generous! You do olympic lifts so I know you can relate. Some lifts feel crisp and powerful and some turn into a disaster that’s only salvaged by brute force and stubbornness.
Amen to that. It’s why I like the power variations. They require enough technique that you feel like a badass when you nail them, but as you said, strength can still be applied to turn a miss into a success.
Your squats are fine, really, keep it up! You probably could brace harder but keep at it and you’ll conquer it
You really are powerful, that’s a very impressive clean. Especially considering that you lost a bit of power by bending your arms just before exploding up
It wasn’t my smoothest pull. I almost psyched myself out. My focus was nonexistent as I lowered the bar to my knees in preparation of the pull. I wish I could have a clear head like I do with everything under 250.
@unreal24278 I’m so far behind in that steroid thread that I forgot to reply to your previous response.
I’m 36 and I’ll be 37 this year. I wish I could say I still played basketball, but it’s a rare event. I can still play (and dunk); I just don’t have the time for it.
And about my goals… how do I put this?
I have two kids with a third scheduled to arrive in November. My goal is to add mass to my upper body because who doesn’t want that? My reality is that I’m not going to commit everything I have to achieve that. I’m still training and progressing in the right direction, but I’m taking a pretty casual approach.
I guess you could say my real goal is to keep training like I am with a teeny tiny side goal of a bigger upper body.
(Posted here since this isn’t really about that thread topic)
Fair enough, from looking at your avatar you already appear muscular. Though I suppose that’s irrelevant as you’ve specified you want more mass (even more than 240lbs?)
It’s not particularly difficult to add mass, you just need to keep eating (not processed shit and junk food, proper food). I’m not in a position to really give out advice as I’m not qualified to do so but I’d say if you aren’t getting bigger, eat more. I firmly believe gaining mass is more about diet than it is training.
Genetic makeup differs, but I’ve found its very difficult to keep fat off and lose fat once it has been accrued. My metabolism pulled a total 180 when I stopped growing. Not difficult for me to bulk up anymore, but I no longer like the bulky look and strive for a more athletic/healthy look.
Sometimes I wonder as to whether I should just try do a dreamerbulk, I could probably get up to 180-185 at 5’6ish without too much trouble. Or I could stick to my current 160ish and continually very slowly loss fat while maintaining my BW.
How many days per week so you train? Do you follow a split? Would you be willing to sacrifice cardiovascular fitness for size? What about aesthetics? Would you be willing to lose your abs for size? How many cals do you take in per day?
This is where life priorities play their part. I can grow, but my fat stores fill up quickly and I hate how I look. It quickly eliminates any v taper I have. I’m not too concerned about not having a six pack, but my fat goes to my “love handles” first.
I’m hanging around 230 lbs and I’m content with that. I’m going to add muscle at a miniscule rate so it’s really hard to intentionally gain weight without getting fatter. I was a little chubby as a kid and never had abs in college. I walked around at 240 and found my abs at 225. If I try to gain any weight then those old fat stores fill up immediately and I hate it.
I pushed my weight up to 250 in 2018 and didn’t like how I looked or felt. I did it with CT’S Simple Guaranteed Size and Strength program. The shirt version of that is an upper and lower body day. Legs was deads, squat, lunges and RDLs/cleans. Upper was bench, row, OHP, weighted pull ups and one extra lift of my choice. In hindsight, it might have been too lower body focused. My lower half grew to the point that none of my pants fit but my upper body just looked softer.
I’m just trying to be a normal person these days and training isn’t my top priority. I eat mostly healthy foods but I indulge in treats every week - sometimes just a bit of candy that the kids have and sometimes a full out cheat meal.
I appreciate the kind words and interest, but I’m good with things for now. I also know what I need to do if I want to change something.
Final day of fifth cycle. Deload next week, drop TMs back to cycle two weights, and do it again.
ELLIPTICAL
10 min, 0.73 miles
BENCH
120 x 10
170 x 5
190 x 5
215 x 3
240 x 5 with BPAs
Red x 25 x 4 sets
INCLINE BBB
150 x 10 x 5 sets with INCLINE DB ROW
45 x 1 ea x 5 sets Alternate arms with iso hold at top.
SMITH CRUNCH
55 x 15
85 x 15 x 2 with PRESS DOWN
90 x 25, 17, 13 + 13 OH band extensions
43 minutes for the lifting. Smith crunches are my new favorite ab exercise. I just hold the bar at lockout and do a crunch. No hip flexors involved. I have to put the bar over my belly button for it to work right.
I have no idea how I’m going to deload…probably just hit my TMs while super-setting with something else.
Yeah… No… I’m like @Frank_C and it instantly fills up my fat. Probably because we used to be chubby kids? And then me proper fatso. Every time I did bulk, dirty or counting meticulously, I gained fat, very little muscle. Last time, + 10 kgs, then I lose the weight and I’m sensibly the same so it’s too much disappointment. In 9 years I gained I don’t know 12-15 kgs of muscle
These look nice, I’ll definitely try them tomorrow!
Same for me. I’m done with intentionally gaining weight. At my age and training experience, I’ll be adding grams of muscle. I don’t even know how to go about gaining weight at such a low rate when my daily weight can fluctuate by five pounds.
Right now as I’m counting my cals, I have zero fluctuations, just a steady 200-100gr drop every morning. But yeah 5 lbs is brutal… But also you’re sensibly heavier so it could make sense ahah
Train so hard that you have to eat to recover? I remember you told me this last summer, which I did as I was eating like a pig and not gaining much fat, but some muscle heheh
I actually treated myself with a pizza tonight, up to 3050 cals instead of 2600. I’m still horribly crippled by soreness so i figured that maybe I could sleep better this way. Still going for 2600 + 15 min fasted cardio this week
Laying on a bench or the floor? Everything else a normal crunch (knees bent, curl partially up towards knees)? Like @aldebaran, I’m keenly interested in this exercise too.
