Tried a belt and wraps on the couple top sets of c&j. Wraps helped by giving me confidence in my wrists. The belt TOTALLY threw me off. Screwed up my cleans and made my brain freak out on the jerk because the weight FLEW up, and I wasn’t expecting it at all. I think I’m gonna stick with the Chinese weightlifting philosophy when it comes to the clean & jerk; the clean is simply the vessel that allows you to get the weight overhead, which is the goal of weightlifting. Focus should be put into the jerk when it comes it reps.
Kept using the belt on the front squats, and it made that 235 feel like child’s play. Very interesting.
Bench felt good. Nothing really to add there.
I bought an inexpensive 45° back extension because it’s one of my favourite posterior chain assistance movements, but they’re always so pricey. Really happy to finally have one. Absolutely lights everything up. Looking forward to adding a bit of weight.
2 min/4 min (work/rest), 2 sets/side (alternating sides every set) @ 24kg (53)
Single kettlebell jerk
1 min/1 min (work/rest), 4 sets/side (alternating sides every set) @ 24kg (53)
Barbell curl (21X2 tempo)
3x10 @ 70
BPA/band arm circles (rear-anchored) superset
2x25/10 forward/10 backward
Notes:
Two thumbs up for this session. My only understanding of kettlebells was hardstyle, and I had a vague awareness of sport kettlebell, but sport kettlebell is much closer to what I want to use kettlebells for. The basic premise is to do as many snatches, jerks, or long cycle reps (clean and jerk) as possible in 10 minutes. Men typical use double 32kg bells (70 pounds each roughly) for the jerk and long cycle and a single 32kg bell for snatches, while women use a single 24kg bell for all lifts. I’m just gonna use a single 24kg bell until I’m stronger and more conditioned. Not planning on competing, so it doesn’t really matter.
The BPA and arm circles A) made my shoulders feel really good, and B) totally pumped the crap out of my whole shoulder girdle more than the snatches and jerks already did.
Not much to say. Aside from dragging my ass a bit, everything moved well in this session.
Even just a couple weeks of reintroducing dedicated ab work has made my core remember how to work again. I feel much stronger and more stable on everything.
1x8 min continuous (swap sides @ 4 min mark) @ 24kg (53)
Kettlebell TGU up + bent press + TGU down
5x1/side @ 24kg (53)
Close grip chins (2111 tempo)
7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 + 30 sec eccentric @ BW
BPA/band arm circles (rear anchored) superset
2x25/10 forward/10 backward
Notes:
Extra session this week because my work schedule got shifted, so I had an extra day off this week, but only 2 days off next. Wanted to make sure I didn’t miss a session.
Despite stating “continuous”, I had to take a few 5-10 second breaks. Not quite at kettlebell sport levels yet. I also forgot to count the amount of reps I did.
The TGU and bent press complex really made my shoulders feel good.
Posting this so I can look back on it in 6 months and 1 year and see what, if any, gains/changes are made.
It’s also tough to see this a little, because I used to be very lean… 4 years ago. I was also training and teaching martial arts 4-5 days a week, bartending, weight training and running. I basically never stopped moving. I was also 25-30 pounds lighter and significantly weaker.
There’s some things I want to reclaim from that period, like my conditioning and speed, but I am happy with the strength gains I’ve made since then (somewhat), and I certainly have more muscle mass then before.
Maybe I’ll lean out a bit this summer. Who knows. Honestly, physique is very low on my priorities list.
That is a strong as hell physique. If you chase lean, it will be strong and lean, but there’s solace in knowing that fat is easy to lose whereas muscle is hard to gain. You’re earning from that hard work.
I think having 15-20% body fat is more enjoyable than being shredded. I don’t like being hungry and I’ve forced it for so long that I just can’t do it anymore. I don’t typically think of the term jacked when I see someone who is lean. Jacked is how you look right now. @littlesleeper falls in the same category. You’re in good company.
This is kind of where my mentality is regarding being lean. Sure, it looks nice, but I FEEL so much better not that I’m a little thicker. The big downside of the leanness I used to have was that I often had achy joints. Now, aside from old injuries, my body feels good. Don’t really want to give that up just for vanity’s sake.
Is this the first pic you’ve posted of yourself? Dude, looks like it’s been said, but you look good. Yeah, maybe not the leanest, but I definitely wouldn’t call you fat by any means, and you just look big and strong!
Thanks, man. Yeah, first picture. Training has always been about health and performance first, physique second, so I never felt the need to post a picture.
Listen to your body. For myself, I only have one scenario for which I need to lose weight - if my weight creeps up 10-15 lbs over time then I’ll probably do a 5-10 lb cut just to keep body fat in check. I won’t cut so much that it really affects muscle mass and I won’t go until I have a six pack. It’ll be just a little speed check to make sure I don’t put on too much insulation.
I’m currently at about 232-233 lbs. I’d like to be 225 but that’s only because it is the bottom end of my goal weight and it would give me room to cheat more in my diet. If I hit 240 then I’ll definitely suck it up and get back into the low 230s. Worst case scenario - I maintain this physique for years. Best case scenario - I sneak a little extra muscle onto my body without getting fat.
All of my worst injuries, to include my ACL, came at a time when I was at my leanest. And right now I’m actively trying to put on some bodyfat because my strength has tanked and nothing is feeling right. Universally and historically athletes and warriors have all performed their best with some fluff around the connective tissue. Lean looks cool, and SOME dudes are Mariusz Pudzianowski, but just as you’ve observed, for the rest of us mortals, strong looks strong and lean looks weak.
This is why I’m always more impressed by strongmen-type physiques than, say, bodybuilding. There’s just some kinda of instinctual reaction of “Damn, he looks strong” as opposed to a bodybuilder, when I don’t automatically have that reaction, even if they are strong (which many bodybuilders are, despite what some people have stated in the past.)
Just to flex my history nerdiness; Roman gladiators were known to be a little chunky. Still incredible athletes, but the extra fat not only acted as light layer to absorb blows, but also assisted in making cuts superficial instead of deadly. Sumo wrestlers are like this too. Incredible athletes, despite what people think. Their fat is just sub-q and acts to lessen impact.
Nailed it on all measures, to include the contrary conclusion. Gladiators were EXACTLY who I was thinking of regarding having a little fat. You see it with elite military operators too. Not a whole lot of peeled SEALs (the rhyme was too fun to not do), and those dudes are scary.
Bodybuilding has been… I want to say poisoned but that’s not correct. Bodybuilding perception has been changed by the recent addition of the board shorts divisions. The classic dudes still look strong.
The strongman type have massive yokes and that screams power. If I’ve ever seen that on a shredded physique then it’s a guy who was a power lifter or strongman who turned bodybuilder.
And then there’s genetically gifted people who use PEDs. We can’t compete with those dudes (but the industry will try to convince us we can).
