Lo/Rez Training

Training Training Logs
761

Well…ill chime in on what ive learned since switching to highbar in December.

1st thing I notice is your proportions. Skinny n long limbed. Which is known for squatting difficulties. Lets not all forget that. what works may never be conventional per say.

Ok.

  1. Heeled shoes are most used for lack of mobility and as an aid to hit depth and stay upright. I dont have the mobility issues that call for such shoes…but I tried anyways to see and after a 4 week cycle determined they only pitched me forward unnecessarily. So I dont use them.

  2. Foot angle is trial n error…but I found less of an angle better for stability and proper rebound out of the hole. Drive from the quads was stronger as I was able to screw Into the floor better…forcing my legs/knees out.

  3. stance width is similiar to above. I found less width better . I tried wide and found I felt forward allot easier. A medium/natural stance keep my legs more under me for leg drive and stability whereas widening felt hapless and leg drive did not negate the torso coming forward as much.

  4. I found squatting too fast pitched me forward. Tho speed is involved in the olympic squat. .its a negative untill your technique and strength are hand in hand w. Functionally performing the squat w such speed and staying upright.
    So- you need to build the strength n technique first…then add speed after. Doing a more controlled eccentric helped allot w. Staying upright vs. An all out decent n rebound…that usually shoots you forward. Also… atg, beltless pause squats. Lots of em. Your quads, erectors and abs should be sore the first few times. I did 10x3 of these for weeks. Best thing I ever did. This will train you to stay upright and how to fight lean. Power outta the hole will be built and your full speed squat w.o pitching forward will be built.

Def. Trial an error to figure it out man. Find your stance width and foot angle first. Once thats locked in…only now can you start programming sets/reps from the exact same setup.everytime.

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Well. From the man himself. Found this after and its exactly what I was sayin!

763

Cutting “progress”.

Two weeks ago Sunday June 1 I weighed 153.6
Today I weigh 149.9
This is ~1.4 lbs a week. Last week I went 5 days and the scale didn’t move. This is why I’m using trendlines to make decisions, not absolutes.

Subjectively there’s a fair amount of progress. I’ve not been tracking skinfold measurements for real, but the skin on my upper arms is about back to what it was before I started lifting altogether. I can still pinch quite a bit around my navel and on my lower back. There’s not much fat, in the grand scheme of things, but there’s still a long ways to go if I were targeting contest-level leanness.

The tanning has screwed with my head though. I actually had tanlines from my abs before, so when I looked down at my stomach, it “looked” like more definition. The tanning evened that out, so now flatness with a small pudge. Mirror photos show progress though.

Photo collage will be up later today.

–

Math/Calculation-wise.

I still don’t entirely understand which term means what when it comes to BMR, RMR, TDEE, TEF, etc. What I called BMR before isn’t really right.

What I track is 1) my net calories. Calories In - Calories Out = Net Calories. And 2) morning bodyweight, post-everything.

With those two numbers, I’m calculating “if I did nothing today, how many calories would it take to maintain my bodyweight”. I think this is resting metabolic rate (RMR) but I could be misusing that. I explained that math earlier so I won’t here.

And then I figure if I want to drop 1.5 pounds a week, I need to be averaging a 750 calorie deficit every day.

Current value:

  • my no-activity maintenance calories is roughly 2500-2550
  • my target daily calories is roughly 1750-1800
  • my maintenance rate calculations seem pretty stable, so it doesn’t appear I’m killing my metabolism (I’m calculating my maintenance value over a 5 day period, every day, and then looking at the trend.)

By using the net values, nothing changes when switching between EMEM and ELEL (eat more/less exercise more/less) in the Jade Teta sense, or the increase/decrease G-Flux approach in the Berardi sense.

So… the days I lift, I eat more. The days I don’t, I eat less. All that matters as far as planning is the end of the day number, and that’s where the iPhone app has been really handy. I just plug in food and plug in activity.

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Even with the same camera and the same lighting, it’s still not that consistent with all the automagical color and image adjust stuff going on. Nevermind inconsistent posing and camera positioning.

2.5 more weeks. I’m restraining from commenting too much because I’m already mindfucking myself enough. Without question, I need more mass everywhere. The real question is how long I can handle the constant voice in my head telling me I’m an idiot for doing this.

765

Fasted Incline Walking (w/amino and peptide drink and 1 serving redline)
20 minutes, 6 degrees, 3.4 mph, heart rate around 125

I’m amazed at how fast I’m adapting to the cardio. It was only last week or so that, 3 mph made my heart beat faster than this.

–

Just to get this out of the way. I joined this site almost exactly two years ago. I’ve made progress certainly, but I look at that progress and I think “really, that’s all you’ve managed to do?”. Sure, there was about a half-year gap in training, and some stupid programming, but still. Negativity over.

If there’s any amount of accuracy to the “military bodyfat calculator” on the fat2fittools site, I’m something like 11% bodyfat. That would put my lean body mass at almost the same level as my bodyweight was a year ago. That’s maybe a touch positive.

–

More productively, I need to figure out how to work around these shoulder and elbow issues. I’m wondering if a swiss bar would let me do overhead and bench work without shoulder pain like it has for a few others. I’m going to find a triceps bar (with the parallel handles) and give that a shot to see if that helps. It’s probably too narrow of a grip for benching, but should give me a good idea for overhead work. I’ve checked 2 stores now but no luck yet. I’ll find one. Based on how this goes, I’ll consider investing in an actual swiss bar.

766

Been a couple days. I spent too much time talking on here so I took a break. Plus there was work stuff.

Sat/Sun, curls with 3min restpause

Monday
Slight Incline Bench from Pin 4
162.5 x 5, 5, 7 - elbow limited me

Curls w/3min rest pause, 20s

Tuesday - curls, same

Wednesday
BTN Press to Top of head/ears
45, 65, 95 x a few
105 x 5, 5, 9

7 Mat Pulls w/Chains
135, 185, 225, 275 x a few; 315 x 1
325 x 7 - tng

–

So, two noteworthy points.

Saw a chiropractor for the first time Monday. This stuff is pretty much voodoo to me, but he’s got a 5 week plan for me with him doing adjustments and the massage therapist doing stuff. This is covered by insurance, but it’s fairly expensive. Each session isn’t much, but 5 weeks of it 2x a week is.

Second session was Wenesday, today. And so far, my elbow feels the best it’s felt in years. My shoulders feel a ton better. I can get them back a lot further and so on.

Basically I have “upper crossed syndrome”, which really involves a whole lot of things… but tight pecs, inhibited upper back, tight neck muscles (on the front), inhibited on the back of the neck. The massage work was incredibly painful, and I have busted capillaries by my upper pecs and at the pec delt tie-in area. Subscapularis work was even more painful than that.

This is a sports-based place though: chiropractic work, massage work, and rehab. He’s the team chiropractor for the Colts, was the official chiropractor for US Track and Field at the Beijing olympics, and he has signed photos and calendars from various Olympic gold-medal athletes he’s worked with. About as legit as it gets.

The basic idea though is… the joints are out of alignment, so he puts them in alignment. Then there’s tightness and adhesions and knots that keep pulling the joints out of alignment, so the massage therapist works that out. Then there’s weakness and inhibition so there’s rehab work to strengthen the antagonists.

–

In other news, tanning is going well. Just a touch pink, but finally getting some color.

767

Wow, having a chiro, massage, and rehab all work together at once must be good. Especially if those folks know what they’re doing.

768

magick: yeah, as far as I can tell, they’re about the best there is.

–

I just now realized I said two noteworthy points. I forgot one of them.

So I was looking for a triceps bar to play with to try some neutral grip pressing and see how that felt with my shoulder. I went to 4 different Dick’s and apparently they no longer sell them. Can’t even find the one they used to carry online.

Given that, I went the DIY route to try simulating a Swiss Bar. I found a way to hook two dumbbell handles to a couple pieces of 3/4" conduit. It wasn’t the most thought out solution, and didn’t really work so great. But what I did find out was that I’d probably get some real benefit by actually owning a Swiss Bar.

I’ll get a picture up here. It was pretty hacky… but worked well enough to test things. It actually worked ok for overhead pressing, but not for benching. But loading it up wasn’t realistic. It was really just a DB press with a bit of a frame to hold them in place.

I think I’m going to bite the bullet and spend the $300 or so and get a real swiss bar. I’m just trying to decide which one. It’s probably going to be the [expensive] Elite FTS Multigrip Swiss log bar. $279 with $40 shipping. Still need to do some research.

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Kinda sorta worked

770

I’m starting to swear by Rogue’s equipment and their shipping is usually cheaper than EliteFTS.

Ground shipping is $20 (and they’re fast to the east coast anyway).

771

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
I’m starting to swear by Rogue’s equipment and their shipping is usually cheaper than EliteFTS.

Ground shipping is $20 (and they’re fast to the east coast anyway).
[/quote]

Do you have that one? Have you used a swiss bar at all?

They’re basically the same price to me. I suppose the real advantage with this one is the proper Olympic sized sleeves. I have a pair of Rogue micro-plates and they fit on one of my barbells but not the other. I’m pretty sure they’d fit on a Rogue bar though.

Rogue’s stuff is made in Columbus. Columbus is kind of a hometown to me – I mean, I moved to Indy from there – so I’m all for supporting the local economy anyway :wink:

I know Elite is in the same area, but I’m not sure if it’s made there.

772

[quote]LoRez wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
I’m starting to swear by Rogue’s equipment and their shipping is usually cheaper than EliteFTS.

Ground shipping is $20 (and they’re fast to the east coast anyway).
[/quote]

Do you have that one? Have you used a swiss bar at all?

They’re basically the same price to me. I suppose the real advantage with this one is the proper Olympic sized sleeves. I have a pair of Rogue micro-plates and they fit on one of my barbells but not the other. I’m pretty sure they’d fit on a Rogue bar though.

Rogue’s stuff is made in Columbus. Columbus is kind of a hometown to me – I mean, I moved to Indy from there – so I’m all for supporting the local economy anyway :wink:

I know Elite is in the same area, but I’m not sure if it’s made there.[/quote]

No, I don’t have it, but it’s the one I’ve been eyeballing. I’ve got a few things from Rogue (I just ordered Farmer Walk Handles actually) and I like their products.

Elite is good too, no doubt, I just find them to be a bit more pricey usually because of the shipping. Often times with Rogue you can get heavy items shipped for free through their 3 ships free promotion. If I’m not mistake the deadlift platform I bought from Rogue was shipped free.

*I’ve used a swiss bar, but only a few times. It’s way down my list of gym equipment to buy. A lot of people love them though.

773

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
*I’ve used a swiss bar, but only a few times. It’s way down my list of gym equipment to buy. A lot of people love them though. [/quote]

So what’s on your list? I’d guess a SSB is pretty high given the amount of discussion in the last couple months.

I’m sort of at the point where I don’t want to spend much to expand the gym right now, and just figure out how to make better use of what I have. Although that’s mostly because I’m moving to the West Coast in a couple months and would rather have less stuff and more cash on hand, “just in case”.

That said, the only reason the neutral grip bar is even on the radar is because I’m trying to find something to work around my elbow issue on benching and my shoulder issues for pressing.

Although with just 2 visits to the chiro and 1 with the massage therapist, things seem to already be quite a bit better. There’s still another 9 sessions left with each of them. If that’s the case, I might not even need to get that bar.

On the other hand… using it to train for log pressing seems kinda fun…

774

[quote]LoRez wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
*I’ve used a swiss bar, but only a few times. It’s way down my list of gym equipment to buy. A lot of people love them though. [/quote]

So what’s on your list? I’d guess a SSB is pretty high given the amount of discussion in the last couple months.

I’m sort of at the point where I don’t want to spend much to expand the gym right now, and just figure out how to make better use of what I have. Although that’s mostly because I’m moving to the West Coast in a couple months and would rather have less stuff and more cash on hand, “just in case”.

That said, the only reason the neutral grip bar is even on the radar is because I’m trying to find something to work around my elbow issue on benching and my shoulder issues for pressing.

Although with just 2 visits to the chiro and 1 with the massage therapist, things seem to already be quite a bit better. There’s still another 9 sessions left with each of them. If that’s the case, I might not even need to get that bar.

On the other hand… using it to train for log pressing seems kinda fun…[/quote]

Ya I feel ya on working around pain. Hopefully you get that squared away soon.

My list:

  1. Yoke
  2. GHR
  3. Log
  4. Stand Alone Bench (probably the Westside one on Rogue)
  5. Stone Molds
  6. Plyo Boxes
  7. Pulling Blocks
  8. Full Set of DBs through 150
  9. Jerk Blocks
  10. SSB
  11. Swiss Bar
  12. Rower
  13. New Rack (I bought a cheaper 2x2 that get’s the job done)

That’s probably all the big stuff. I could always use more bumper plates and various accessories.

775

I just want a texas deadlift bar and plates you fancy ass mothafuckas

776

[quote]PlainPat wrote:
I just want a texas deadlift bar and plates you fancy ass mothafuckas[/quote]

Yeah I just want a Squat rack with holes at 1-inch increments all the way up.

777

On the topic of cheap swiss bars, this guy is pretty legit

http://www.blackwidowtg.com/Swiss_Bar_Football_Bar_p/bar-swiss.htm

That said, I honestly found the swiss bar pretty underwhelming, and I think it’s due to the lack of rotating sleeves. You think it’s going to feel super awesome and solve all your problems, but really, it’s just ok when it comes to neutral grip stuff in my experience. Unracking is kind of a bitch with it, and it’s difficult to really pull the bar apart due to your hand angle. I really like it for variety’s sake, but as far as speciality bars go, there are a few more I’d place about a swiss bar.

In your specific situation, a quick fix may be something like a shoulder saver/bench boards.

778

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]PlainPat wrote:
I just want a texas deadlift bar and plates you fancy ass mothafuckas[/quote]

Yeah I just want a Squat rack with holes at 1-inch increments all the way up. [/quote]
I just wanna be ripped, tan, and vascular.

779

[quote]chobbs wrote:

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]PlainPat wrote:
I just want a texas deadlift bar and plates you fancy ass mothafuckas[/quote]

Yeah I just want a Squat rack with holes at 1-inch increments all the way up. [/quote]
I just wanna be ripped, tan, and a big booty hoe. [/quote]

780

[quote]LoRez wrote:
Given the article today: Squat form check. Sorry about the angle. I’m still trying to figure that one out.

What do you see? I could really use some help.

Personal notes: it may not make sense to go so deep, since my lower back does actually round toward the bottom. Overall, my lower back still seems too mobile… pretty arched up top, slightly rounded at the bottom, not at all “tight, stable”. While I could get my elbows more under the bar, upper back stayed stable. Speed looks fine.

(I can’t believe how much it looks like that weight leans me forward though. I could definitely use another 50 pounds of bodyweight.)[/quote]
I’m late, but I’d say don’t crane your neck back so hard. Pack it instead as in pull your head back while keeping your chin at the same angle instead of lifting your chin up. Otherwise, no real issues.