Stu, just wanted to say new avatar looks great. Look at those rear delts! Shit man.
And you already have some quad/ham separation coming in, can’t wait to see how you do.
[quote]
To jump all the way ahead to the last couple of years,… Mighty Stu, suffers some weird forearm chronic inflammation, and has a difficult time doing standard overhand chins. Sure my back could take it, hell, I was strapping a plate around my waist with a chain to make it more difficult, but the pain in my arm was getting horrible. I knew most people couldn’t get good back contractions simply because they allowed their biceps to do too much of the work (usually unknowingly). So one day, I decided to try to simulate a wide grip chin, but completely eliminate my arm movements (at least most of my bicep contractions). I stood in the center of the Cable X-over station, grab the handles, and then stepped backward about a foot. Looking slightly up at the ceiling, and bending my knees just a bit, I squeezed my scapulae together as controlled, and tightly as I could… until my mid back was fully crunched up, and my elbows hadn’t bent much more than a couple of degrees.AFter my first set, I realized I had stumbled upon something great. My weights started going up, and I kept this as the first exercise in my back sessions at least 9 out of 10 times. If you think you’re having trouble developing your back, start with these (don’t worry about the weight, just focus on your back, and on not contracting your biceps), and then go do some bent over rows. I guarantee you’ll send me a hateful email the day after[/quote]
Wow, this is exactly what I did one time too, and after a little experimentation, this is number one favourite thing I do to prime my back for other back-day excercises.
I decided that I liked a decline instead of an incline on this. I felt the burn in behind my scapula and down my lower traps, where I had never felt it before.
Everyone SHOULD TRY THIS. It is awesome.
Great minds think alike, ey, Stu? 
Fantastic idea on the back workout Stu. I’m going to have to give that a try.
i normally lurk, but im gonna come on out of my cave to say that this is some great advice, especially for the back. i just tried the cable x-over followed by bent rows this morning and it is exactly what i needed.
Okay, glad to hear that my suggestions and ideas are being received so well. It is funny that sometimes people will stumble upon the same answer to a problem on their own. Necessity is the mother huh?
So what else should I talk about… supplements, dietary approaches,… I don’t want to rehash anything that I’ve already detailed on my contest prep thread, but I’ll answer anything you guys have questions about (again, it’s a compliment that so many guys were even interested in what I do / have done)
S
This thread is pure gold.
We’re privileged in that we get The Mighty Stu’s secrets for free!
The Might Stu is a mighty classy and knowledgeable guy when it comes to the bodybuilding endeavor. On a side note he’s always reminded me of a buff eighties era Roger Daltrey (The Who) especially now in his dieted down pics.
D
[quote]Dedicated wrote:
The Might Stu is a mighty classy and knowledgeable guy when it comes to the bodybuilding endeavor. On a side note he’s always reminded me of a buff eighties era Roger Daltrey (The Who) especially now in his dieted down pics.
D[/quote]
Now imagine if Roger actually sported a physique like Stu’s!
That would have been a powerful stage presence!
[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
Dedicated wrote:
The Might Stu is a mighty classy and knowledgeable guy when it comes to the bodybuilding endeavor. On a side note he’s always reminded me of a buff eighties era Roger Daltrey (The Who) especially now in his dieted down pics.
D
Now imagine if Roger actually sported a physique like Stu’s!
That would have been a powerful stage presence!
[/quote]
[i]Whoooooo is Stu?
Who-who? Who-who?
Whoooooo is Stu?
Who-who? Who-who?
Who the fuck is STU?[/i]
LOL!! Right on!
Stu is gonna kick their ass, then bust out into “Teenage Wasteland”
Thanks for your time man. Great stuff.
What kind of carbs in particular are you making sure you get? I would imagine simple carbs PWO, but throughout the rest of the day what does it typically look like on training and off days? Lots of whole grain like rice, quinoa etc etc?
[quote]GVkid wrote:
What kind of carbs in particular are you making sure you get? I would imagine simple carbs PWO, but throughout the rest of the day what does it typically look like on training and off days? Lots of whole grain like rice, quinoa etc etc?[/quote]
Normally, when I’m not dieting, I won’t think twice about incorporating some sort of pasta in my daily meals. Usually, I do like whole wheat pasta, tri color rotini, spinach fettachini, and this past year I started getting quinoa at trader joes.
While my normal diet isn’t carb excessive by any means (simply because aside from the gym, I realize that I am not a very active individual), I certainly don’t freak out and try to avoid them at all costs. I will say that I’m not big into using rice or potatos, simply because they’ve never been a favorite of mine (I don’t think there’s anything wrong if you prefer either for your own intake).
By the same reasoning, I actually LIKE oatmeal, and will eat it most mornings with my breakfast, with some Metabolic Drive mixed in when dieting, or with natty PB mixed in and a turkey and cheese omlette when I’m not.
Now, being in the midst of a contest diet, I choose to get all of my carbs from veggies and oatmeal. The veggies, all green, I pretty much use a ‘filler’, so that I’m not as hungry on my low intake days, and also hoping to keep “things moving” internally. The oatmeal is chosen because of the satiety factor.
Sure I could eat a 1/2 cup of pasta and get my 45g of carbs, OR I could eat 1/2 cup of oats, made with a little extra water to fluff it up, and only get 27g of carbs but feel more full when I’ve finished eating. Since I started logging my diet, I’ve made several ‘exchanges’ in food choices simply for the satiety results. Any time you can get less cals with more volume, its usually a good thing (although the reverse should be held in regard when you’re trying to bulk up!)
As far as PWO, I used to do what most folks do and drink my PWO carbs. I’ve never used Surge, simply bacause of teh cost issue. being very honest here, I don’t lead a very lucrative lifestyle, and my food bills are probably more than most people would spend. I keep my supplements pretty basic, so I used to just drink a cup of apple juice after training, and then follow it with some whey.
The problem this presented was that I would train at night. I worked in midtown manhattan, and wouldn’t get home
until after 7pm. After walking my dog, and driving to the gym, my stomach was churning horribly. Eventually I started bringing something to eat on my train ride home each night, which helped, but after training, even though I had ingested a good breakdown of macros and cals (and knowing I would be eating a solid meal an hour later), my stomach felt so empty it was painful.
One day I decided to eat a bowl of frosted flakes cereal, thinking it was the worst decision in the world, but somehow rationalizing it in my hunger-clouded brain that it was PWO so it was okay. I kept this up until I had finished the box (a few weeks), and noticed that in addition to feeling a little better, I wasn’t as sore the next day, and even looked a little fuller.
Now, I’m certainly not suggesting that sugar cereal is a better choice than a high quality PWO supplement, but at the time, it just all came together in a positive way for me. POssibly it was because I was ingested more cals than I had been with a cup of juice, possibly it was because of the milk i added to the cereal, possibly it was all in my head. I kept the sugar cereal + whey shake for a couple of years, until at some point I realized that I needed to cut back my evening cals.
When I actually measured how much cereal I was eating, there was no way I could keep it uner 40g of carbs and still maintain the nice ‘full’ feeling I usually enjoyed. I happened to stumble upon an old magazine where Tom Platz mentioned how he would snack on poptarts for extra calories, explaining how they were low in fat. Well, I knew enough at the time I realize that most low fat foods had a good amount of carbs in them.
Sooooooooo I started using pop tarts for my PWO carb source, and have been ever since (probably the last 5 years). They average about 200 cals, with about 30-40g of carbs, and while not all simple sugars, they’ve served me quite well with a nice whey shake + extra leucine on the side 
Certainly, pop tarts aren’t health foods by any stretch of the imagination, but in certain instances, I think we can get away with a little more than most people would have you believe.
If I told you how many ‘kids’ at my gym now eat poptarts after they train, you’d laugh your ass of.
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Tex Ag wrote:
Can I train without a partner? Of course I can, and I often do, but having a good person you can count on, to always get yourback, to be honest in appraisels, and to be helpful in suggestions is priceless… That and he’s the guy who gets to apply my Pro-Tan before my show -lol
S
[/quote]
Thanks for the response.
Stu, one important question if you will:
What’s your favorite flavor of Pop-Tart?
So, Pop Tarts + Photosynthesis = The Mighty Stu?
Did I get that right?
[quote]elusive wrote:
So, Pop Tarts + Photosynthesis = The Mighty Stu?
Did I get that right?[/quote]
He’s not telling us about the carrotz
Stu, thanks for taking the time to type this out. I love reading this kind of stuff and I find it really fascinating seeing how you’ve changed things over the years. I’ve been following your ‘countdown’ thread too.
One thing I know I would be interested in seeing (if you have any?) is some pics of what you were like at the beginning. Either before or when you first started training.
It would be cool to see some ‘befores’ from someone who actually has some decent ‘afters’.
Lol, well, There aren’t too many flavors of pop tart I would turn down, except of course Strawberry, which I’ve never been a fan of (which I feel guilty about, because everyone else seems to love strawberries!). Lately, I’ve been just a fiend for the Brown Sugar N Cinnamon one. Although I also appreciate the finer flavorful nuances of the S’mores, frosted blueberry, and if you can track them down (and freeze them!), the chocolate mint!
My Mother used to always buy the frosted cherry, which I rarely see anymore. The regular Cherry is good as well, and I’m sure some will wince at this, but you can put some peanut butter on it and it just goes great together!
LIFT AND EAT: I’ll try to dig up some old pics if I can. I’m not much of a photo album guy, and most of the pics I’ve collected over the years are probably in my parents basement out on Long Island. I will remind anyone paying attention that I started college weighing 152 lbs, and stayed about that weight until I hit the weights at age 20. I was one of those guys who THOUGHT I was in great shape because I had a little arm definition and some hint of abs. I didn’t realize that I was just not fat. Anyway, here’s the only pic I have on my current computer desktop that’s not some meathead-shot from the last 5 years or so. I was such an adorable kid, what the hell happened?! -lol
S
I’m with you on the poptarts man, I love them. I definitely prefer the dessert ones more though, the fruit ones aren’t as good.
so you only have 1 poptart after working out? seems like it would be less filling than the cereal
I’ve been having reeses cereal PWO actually and haven’t noticed any negative results so thats been a nice treat since I love cereal.
I normally only allow myself one poptart PWO. On a couple of occasions during my contest prep, when I absolutely have to get a higher carb intake once every 6 days, I’ve had two at a time, but I wouldn’t make a habit of it. The whole point of PWO carbs is to get an insulin spike, reduce cortisol and all sorts of ‘chemical BS’. In my specific case, I train at night, so it’s already 7pm when I’m having my PWO feeding, and there are only so many hours left in the day.
I prefer to front-load my daily calories simply because I know I’ll be moving around all day, and even though I have no problem eating before bed, I’d hate to have such a huge meal that I feel all bloated before bed. Also, even though I have my PWO Carb+Whey feeding, I still have a full meal an hour later, and then either a shake, cottage cheese, or something high in protein and maybe fats right before bed (usually around 10), so if I eat a ton of calories PWO, I won’t be hungry to put down two more feedings over the next few hours.
S