[quote]LoRez wrote:
Nothing special. Some Slight Incline Bench Press layers, then some Partial Wide-Grip Upright Rows (PWUR? does that acronym work?).
[/quote]
Sounds great to me. Could be spoken as “power”.
Feels like I haven’t been over here for like a month, how’s the Va Ca, snow shoen in the alps LOL nice. I train in my garage, and it’s getting real cold lately. I’m looking for a propoane construction heater, I have like 4 eletric ones but they do nothing. I work out with a set of mechanic’s gloves 100$, but I got a guy that gets me things 
anyway they work pretty well, I can deadlift in them up to about 315, then I have to go bare handed, but by then Im sweating. Goodluck on the conditioning, dont be afraid to mash lifting and cardio togeather, people don`t realize how effective this is, I got it from training MMA guys - 5min on the elyptical, then straight to a set of heavy squats, straight to chins, back to elyptical. This type of thing really changed the way I looked at conditioning.
Beyound Brawn, lots of mixed reviews, mostly because guys donèt like the routines. Stuart follows Dr Ken Lister,s training philosophies, with two days a week, based around 20 rep squatting, but if you put the routines aside. The books written like a bible, on life long training, and muscle building, into your 60s, with chapter,s on goal setting, A whole chapter on Stuarts goal of 400lb dealift for 20reps. I donèt follow the same routines as the book, but all my knowlage base, from -food, supps, traing, injury prevention, training blocks, it all comes from Beyound Brawn, and itès all writen for life long natural trainers. He pushes natural, hardgainer training, probably why alot of guys donèt like it, but I think from what I know of you, suit your personality, and training style. 2cents. Latter
I’ve been slacking off.
Actually, I did make it to the gym. But I just used the rower, and pushed myself too hard too quickly, and ran into my damn exercise-induced asthma bullshit that left me dry heaving in the bathroom for a few minutes.
And the rest of the time has STILL been spent on cold-weather stuff. Actually, I did sprints outside for a bit, not because I wanted to do sprints, but because I wanted to test how well the clothing handled lots of activity followed by no activity – and it handled it quite well. I think it was 23 or so when I tested that.
And today I bought myself a pair of Mickey Mouse boots. They’re huge and bulbous and very warm.
So I ended up trudging about 3/4 a mile in the snow to the grocery store to get used to the weight of them, and to do some better testing of everything in a non-static environment. Again, this stuff works. It’s about 17 degrees out, not including wind chill and humidity.
Also, gloves are taken care of. I picked up some Outdoor Research trigger finger mittens from the surplus store (the USMC switched out to something else), they’re nice because they work as regular mittens, but then you can slide your index finger into the trigger finger and get better dexterity. Most of the things you do with your hands you really only need 3 points of contact anyway, not 5.
It’s only the softshell pants I need. I learned why jeans are a bad outer layer too, firsthand. In my walk to/from the grocery store, wearing a good wicking base layer underneath, the cotton absorbed enough moisture that it became stiff and tight as it started to freeze in the weather. So yeah, need something else.
And for anyone interested, the whole details of the ECWCS Gen 3 clothing system can be found here: http://coldweatherclothing.ciehub.info/ECWCS/GEN3.html
STILL, dammit, researching outdoor gear and testing things. I tested stuff the other day when the windchill in my car was somewhere between -30F and -10F. I don’t have an accurate way to measure the wind speed in my car and can’t find any research on it, but the windchill outside was already -7F. So that estimate is fine, and the stuff works.
Current gear list, nearing final stages:
- lightweight polypro top and bottom
- middleweight polypro fleece top and bottom
- middleweight polyester fleece jacket with pit zips, velcro cuffs, drawstring waist
- softshell jacket with lots and lots of pockets, pit zips, velcro cuffs, drawstring waist (Propper’s BA Softshell Jacket, and after owning it, it really is a pretty badass jacket)
- polypro neck gaiter
- wool/nylon blend balaclava with nylon windscreen between the knit layers
- middleweight wool knit glove liners
- gore-tex trigger finger gauntlet-style mittens with 100g fleece liners
- nylon/wool blend cushioned socks
- mickey mouse boots / vapor barrier boots
Mittens, glove liners, gaiter, balaclava, phone, wallet, flashlight, lighter, chapstick… these all fit in the jacket pockets.
Ignoring all the “tactical” features, it’s a pretty damn functional jacket. Compared to those non-functional ones… e.g., compare to most north face, patagonia, marmot, arc’teryx jackets.
Enough of that though, training.
Last couple days I’ve done some pullups in the work gym, and mostly just been hiking around in the boots, getting used to just moving around with additional weights… and frankly… getting used to walking longer distances again. I just haven’t done much walking over the past few years at all. Not a good move, but eh, fixing it.
Tonight I lifted actual weights again.
Slight Incline Bench (from pins)
1RM Ramp: 145
1RM Clusters: 130 x 4, 4 ,4
2RM Ramp: 125
2RM Clusters: 115 x 5, 6
3RM Ramp: 120
3RM Cluster: 110 x 5
Max Reps: 100 x 9
PWUR: 110 x 5 x 8, interspersed above
It’s interesting how “lifting explosively” and “lifting maximally” can counteract each other. Some of those cluster sets I could have gotten more reps, if I simply lifted slower. However… I chose the explosive side of that coin.
I overdressed a bit, since it was 31 or so out. I’d been dressing for single digit weather.
I also had some supposedly Canadian drink called gin chaud in me. Something I read about on some mountaineering forum. Equal parts gin and water, warmed, with honey mixed in. Ok stuff actually, goes down pretty well. I actually think it bolstered my lifts just a little bit.
–
I’ve been working on my diet, but my weight’s been dropping over the past several weeks. I’ll drop over the weekends, regain during the week, drop again on the weekends.
I think milk is just going to have to be my primary tool for this stuff, since I can seem to get that down pretty well when the appetite isn’t there.
I have been getting a pound of ground beef a day in. I’ve gotten 6 eggs in a few times, but not consistently yet. I’m still playing with rice. Milk has not been consistent… just didn’t buy enough of it.
Periworkout has been consistent.
Other things. I’m reading Beyond Brawn. So far it resonates pretty well with me, and I especially like the “focus on adding 10%, then once you’ve done that, focus on the next 10%, repeat”.
Mostly though right now, my focus is snowshoe trip prep, and just general “I want to do stuff outdoors this winter” prep. So, increasing endurance, as well as learning to manage heat and cold. I’m certainly going overboard on this, but I didn’t plan the weather, and I’m shifting priorities to take advantage of this barely precedented cold spell.
I have quarterly goals for work (these are pretty general). I have quarterly goals for my personal finances (these are pretty specific). When it hits January, I’m going to add quarterly goals for my training (which will be pretty specific).
Until then, I’m just going to train as I see fit. Which means push up the incline bench numbers to build my chest, triceps and front delts. Push up my PWUR numbers to build my lateral delts. Push up my SGHP numbers to build my upper back and posterior chain. And I’m not quite sure what I’m getting out of the snatch-grip deadlifts, but eh. Do those too. If I really knew why I was doing them, I’d probably be more motivated right now, but I don’t.
And row and hike to build cardiovascular endurance. I might even consider “rucking” eventually. Simply because it sucks.
There are two main things missing from my current training. 1) squats, 2) rows. Those will both be addressed come 2014 Q1.
Hey, you got yourself a copy of Beyond Brawn, good stuff, Now you won’t have to listen to me any more, most of my base knowlage comes from that book, it’s funny because after years in the buisness, taking coarses, seminar’s, and differents lifting, training and nutrition cert’s, the base of everything I do, setting up programs for clients, comes from Brawn.
You see what I mean about being written like a bible, and it’s just so basic, it rings true. I think it’s a good fit for you, with the 20 rep squats, and natural training theme. As far as the milk, I do the same thing, when my appite is low, I just drink litter’s of milk, It’s probably going to be hard gaining weight right now, with up comming trip, and what not, but good luck. Latter
Yesterday I just worked up to a 1RM in the SGHPs. I should have done them today, but decided to bench instead since I’ve adequately recovered.
I raised the pins up another notch, since my shoulders felt a bit bad with the bar down low… and I read something in Beyond Brawn about guys with longer arms often have shoulder issues if they bring the bar too low, even with a narrow grip. My pins resolution isn’t very small, so the bar’s 3-3/4" from before. Not sure where they came up with that number since it’s not a clean metric measurement either.
Slight Incline Bench from [higher] Pins
1RM Ramp: 158
1RM Clusters: 140 x 6, 5, 5
2RM Ramp: 135
2RM Clusters: 120 x 11, 125 x 7
3RM Ramp: 130
3RM Cluster: 120 x 7
Max Reps: 110 x 10
PWURs
8 x 7, interspersed above
I took a break to make some coffee between the 2RM ramp and clusters and was gone longer than expected. I think that’s part of why that first cluster set was so high.
The higher pins made benching different. I think it took some focus off the chest and moved it to the front delts. Not a horrible thing, just something to pay attention to as far as imbalances. Namely, I might need to start doing some targeted rear delt work beyond the SGHPs. Otherwise, my shoulders felt pretty good with the pins set higher… although my right elbow was hurting a little more than normal (it always hurts though).
After doing some thinking, I decided maybe I should do some dedicated rear delt work too, especially since my shoulders aren’t feeling 100%. I guess I said that yesterday (I just reread my entry).
I just tied a few knots in a rope – a big one for the middle, and two loops for my hands – stuck it over my bedroom door and shut it on it. Instant TRX setup for doing those TRX Face Pulls like Jake does. I like the way those feel.
So, TRX Face Pulls
Did several sets of 7-10 last night, and again this morning. My hands are the limiting factor at this point, since I just used some jute rope I had sitting around. It’s a little rough on the hands.
Then tonight I did a ruck march with a 25lb plate in a backpack and heavy boots. Most of it was in snow, some of it over hills, but overall it sucked. 2.44 miles in about 45 minutes. ~18:30 pace.
According to the guys who actually have to do this stuff, the “target” time for these is 13-14 minute pace for flat terrain, and 14-15 for hilly terrain. And that’s with a real rucksack weighing 55-80 lbs or so. Lots of respect for the special ops guys who can do that.
Did I mention they sucked? Yeah. My back, shoulders, legs. But, it’s what I needed.
SGHPs or SGDLs tomorrow if my shoulders and legs are feeling fine. Bench if they’re not yet ready.
A pic for the non follower’s :), nice work Lorez, you can slip your hands through the loops, like straps, so your grip isn’t the limiting factor, and try and keep your elbows high for as long as you can, before letting them drop to get more reps. I’m using a pipe in the pic, but I usually just hold the ends of the strap. (Tow strap, with hoop stitched in each end, 8$ at local auto parts store, growth in rear delts ‘‘PRICELESS’’) this ones 4ft, but I have 4 different lengths, because the longer the rope, the more resistance. latter Goodluck !
Your setup looks so much nicer than mine. Mine could double as bondage paraphernalia, lol.
SGHPs
1RM Ramp: 160
1RM Clusters: 145 x 7, 7, 7
3 Chinups.
I got tired really quickly, and my shoulders weren’t feeling so great, so I cut it short. Still a fair amount of work. Probably tired from yesterday.
Bench tomorrow (wed) with rowing intervals if I get around to it, SGHPs the next day (thurs), Bench Friday (and rowing?), SGDLs Saturday before getting on the road to Missouri.
I’m going to bring stuff so I can go rucking in the woods and snow by the lake house. That’ll give me something to do in a place without any equipment at all.
I ment to mention, your having trouble with getting enough carbs, or finding somthing you like. Have you tried navy beans, I buy 900g bags for a couple bucks, and boil up the whole bag on Sun, takes a couple hours, then put them in tuper wear in the fridge. They have no taste on they’re own, just white little beans. i mix them with yogurt and fruit in the morning, salad dressing and spice for a lunch, and tomato sauce for a dinner.
If you cook them right, they have a nice texture, and you can eat them with anything, they really have no flavour, and take on what ever you mix them with. I eat a bag a week ( 900g) I’m looking at a pack right now, it’s 1 cup=200g - 660 calories - 120g carbs - 44g protien, ands 44g fiber, a super food really, and tastes like nothing, just a thought.
I think I mentioned them a while back, once they’re cooked and in the fridge, you can mix them with anything - eggs, pasta, beef, whatever. Everyone brags up kidney beans, but I don’t like the taste, these I can eat, and no I don’t get farts from them. Anyway just a thought. Goodluck
I’ve been doing a lot of hard thinking about where I am and where I want to go.
My physique has now developed the basic shape I want. It’s taken awhile to get things going in the right direction. While the 20-rep squat program(s) I did had me making progress in several regards, the physique changes weren’t quite what I wanted. Likewise for the other things I’d tried.
I now think I’m closing in on the basic framework of lifts that will work for me to get me where I want to go. Things seem to be targeted how I want them, and so now it’s time to just buckle down in the kitchen and start focusing on size. I now have the basic shape, I just need to make it bigger.
A few months ago I talked about wanting to lean out a little bit. I’ve managed to do that while growing some. The actual scale weight hasn’t really moved over that time period. This wasn’t necessarily intentional… but it’s what happened.
I’ve made a few mistakes since I started training. One of them was neglecting the bench press, because I just didn’t like the look of droopy overdeveloped pecs. It’s the same mistake as “I don’t want to lift heavy weights because I don’t want to look like Ronnie Coleman”. Bad move. One of them was thinking my shoulders were good enough to do behind-the-neck presses. I didn’t have issues with them for several months, but I pushed the ROM a little too far one time, and I’m still dealing with the results of that one session today.
Everything else was just trying different things out and finding what didn’t work for me. I don’t really consider those true mistakes.
The target look I’m working toward is hard to find examples of. But it comes down to this. A physique that emanates power by focusing on a strong V from the shoulders to the waist. Significant width and thickness at the top, narrowing down to the waist. Even the arms should show a similar hierarchy, where the deltoids show the most size, followed by the upper arm, followed by the forearm.
There are plenty of examples of large arms with relatively smaller shoulders. CT is one example where while he has both large shoulders and large arms, I think his physique would be far more imposing with larger deltoids. Not to say that his shoulders are small at all. Some of zraw’s older photos where his delts were massive, relatively, are a good example of what I’m talking about. His newer photos have shown major growth in his arms, but to me, I think he’s lost some of that look of power since his shoulders look smaller, relatively.
So bringing this back to me, it means an primary emphasis on upper chest, front/lateral/rear delts, and upper back to build both width and thickness. Then a secondary focus on upper arms and lower chest. Lats will certainly contribute to the v-taper, provided their development is in line with shoulder width.
From a lower-body standpoint, I’m good with the posterior chain development I’ve gotten from the SGHPs and SGDLs, both in glutes, hamstrings and even calves.
At this point, I’m pretty pleased with the balance of development everywhere, it’s just time to start focusing on growth while retaining that balance.
Right now training wise it’s looking about like this:
- SGHPs for upper back, glutes, hamstrings
- SGDLs for upper back, midback, glutes, hamstrings, lats
- PWURs for lateral deltoids
- TRX face pulls for rear delts and general shoulder health (it’s amazing how much better my shoulders are feeling after just a few days)
- Back squats and/or front squats for legs and overall power, coordination, balance
- Some row variation for lats and biceps; probably will start with Pendlay rows due to their explosive nature
- Slight incline bench for chest (emphasizing upper chest) and triceps
While my arms and legs are small, they seem to be growing in proportion at this point, so I’m not going to focus on any dedicated isolation work yet. In a few months I’ll reevaluate.
On a not-physique note, I’m going to put some real work into cardiovascular stamina too. I only did that ruck march/walk once, and it was horrible, but I liked what it did for me mentally. I have a feeling something like that will become the basis for LISS (low intensity is arguable with a pack on your back…). And the rowing works very well for HIIT. So, keep those up a couple times a week.
I think that covers it.
Slight Incline Bench from Pins (4-5")
1RM Ramp: 165
1RM Clusters: 145 x 8; 150 x 4, 4
2RM Ramp: 140
2RM Clusters: 125 x 7; 130 x 5
3RM Ramp: 135
3RM Cluster: 120 x 7
Max Reps: 115 x 10
PWUR:
115 x 10 x 8
TRX Face Pulls:
Lots of sets mornings and nights of 10-15 reps per set. I won’t be commenting on these from now on out. Just assume I’m doing them regularly unless mentioned otherwise.
I had my head in the game this time. PR on the slight incline.
Next time I think I’m going to bring the incline up a notch; too much emphasis is going to the lower chest and not enough to the upper chest. Shoulders actually feel a bit better flared than tucked which is interesting. This time I emphasized the trap shrug too and that made my shoulders feel a lot more solid. I did have to warm up my right elbow… I’ve been just using a 5 lb plate and doing overhead extensions taking it straight up, about 30 reps today.
My traps were pretty sore overall. They were used heavily during the bench, and heavily during the PWURs.
Good session though. Now time to get back to the office.
[quote]AnytimeJake wrote:
I ment to mention, your having trouble with getting enough carbs, or finding somthing you like. Have you tried navy beans, I buy 900g bags for a couple bucks, and boil up the whole bag on Sun, takes a couple hours, then put them in tuper wear in the fridge. They have no taste on they’re own, just white little beans. i mix them with yogurt and fruit in the morning, salad dressing and spice for a lunch, and tomato sauce for a dinner. [/quote]
I haven’t tried these.
I was thinking about it today, about what complex carbs I actually do eat. I eat bread with sandwiches when I actually eat lunch somewhere. That’s about it normally.
But I’ve had junk food and snack food out of my life so long, I’d forgotten that I used to just down bags of Doritos whenever I bought one. Certainly it’s not the best food in the world for you, but 140 calories, 16g of carbs, 8g fat, 2g protein per serving. 2 servings in a normal snack bag, 12 in the party size bag.
I’m considering adding them in as an additional carb source, just to see what happens. If I get decent results, I’ll probably migrate to something a little “better”, but I think it’s worth a shot for awhile. The ingredients seem decent; corn, cheese, whey and flavoring with nothing particularly questionable.
One more session to go tomorrow before I leave. I was at the office too late to get any training done at home – I moved everything in my office down the hall. When I got home, it’s too loud to lift in my garage when there’s people living both next door and above it. Played around in the office gym a bit, trying to see how much of an incline their treadmills go, and I thought about trying to do squats without a rack. (And I JUST NOW remembered I could have just steinborned it.) Did a few 135lb SGDLs for fun, but they didn’t feel right in my shoulders.
My calves have grown! I measured them tonight, and they’ve both grown 1/2" since the last time I measured. I blame the high pulls.
When I get back from vacation, I’ll do another set of measurements and pictures. It’s been awhile since I’ve done that. Preliminary measurements don’t show a whole lot of change, but I know for a fact that I’m leaner and denser and thus more defined. And it’s becoming clear how useless measurements are as far as how your physique looks. A lean 16" arm looks different than a not-lean 16" arm, and even one lean 16" arm looks different than another, depending on how it flows with the overall look and how balanced the development.
Too much talking.
I raised the incline up a bit now, with the higher bars, and this is just right. 2-1/2 to 3" off my chest, hits my upper and lower chest great. 30 degrees-ish, so probably 15-20 with however much I end up arching.
Mild Incline Bench from Pins
1RM Ramp: 150 (with many many double and triple sets in there… not 2s, but 1,1s)
1RM Clusters: 135 x 3, 4, 3
HDL: 105 x 1 x 5,4,3,2,1
Going to take a bit to get used to this new incline (shoulder positioning, proper tension, etc.). But judging by the pump itself, this seems to be just right. Somewhere between 50/50 and 60/40 upper to lower chest.
I wasn’t really planning on lifting much when I went out there. I just did a halfassed version of one of the old layer setups with an HDL. That HDL set was rough and not in the good way.
I decided not to travel today. Christmas shopping, packing, R&R, then driving tomorrow. I feel like I can finally relax for a bit.
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
You’re going to be sore when you squat again.[/quote]
No kidding.
Just trying to see where I was… and I dumped the bar at 215. Lol.
It’s been 5 months since a squat workout, which was 210 x 20.
So if I’m going to do 5x5 on these with a linear progression, where would you start? 80%? 70%?
EDIT: did 175 x 3 x 5. Adding 5 or 10 next time around.
[quote]LoRez wrote:
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
You’re going to be sore when you squat again.[/quote]
No kidding.
Just trying to see where I was… and I dumped the bar at 215. Lol.
It’s been 5 months since a squat workout, which was 210 x 20.
So if I’m going to do 5x5 on these with a linear progression, where would you start? 80%? 70%?[/quote]
I know that feel lol. Dumping 500 didn’t feel too good for the skin on the back of my neck.
70% sounds good to start with since you want to do two things. One, complete the scheme, which you can’t do with straight sets if you start too heavy. Second, gauge rpe to determine a slope for progression.