Old School

Training
1

So I took a month off after I benched 130lbs and pulled 200lbsx5 to learn more about running from a marathon trainer, as my cardio was in the crapper (didn’t really do it for a year). My goal is still to run a 6 minute mile, and in the last week I ran a 7:35 for 1 mile and 24 minutes for a 3.1 mile run. I’m still planning on running about 3 days a week.

What I found, though, was that running lowers my immune system. In the last month I’ve been sick twice and woke up from my 3.1 mile run yesterday feel sick again today. Previous to this month I hadn’t been sick in over a year (during the time where I was eating a shit ton and just lifting).

Today I had my first session with an “old school” trainer who specialized in powerlifting and body building (he’s competed for years in both, trained about 15 winning body builders, and I don’t know how many powerlifters). I wasn’t sure what old school meant, but after today’s session I’m thinking it refers to his tendency to assign exercise as punishment (which I kind of enjoyed. No wonder I was a difficult child. I guess attention is attention), and belief that lifting heavy is what the world is about. I like both of these qualities, and had much more fun working with him than the previous trainers I’ve done sessions with. In a nutshell, our session was about brief discussions and getting as pissed off as possible during a lift.

I’m starting this journal to record what I learn from him during our next 12 sessions, as I believe it’s going to be valuable and I’ll want to refer back to it when training others.

Today’s lessons (things I didn’t already know):

  1. I need to explode off of the ground for my deadlift.
  2. Heavy back extensions are very useful. Must figure out a way to go heavier than 45lbs.
  3. It’s okay to let go of perfect form when working with lighter weights and focusing on the back pull.
  4. Need to eat 30-40 grams of easily digested protein (whey, egg whites, and shrimp were his recommendations) every 3-4 hours I’m awake. Am making a diet right now.

PS I also powercleaned 130lbs, which is probably the thing I’m the most proud of considering that I started over a year ago barely being able to clean the bar.

2

you mean hyper extensions?

I hold a fixed bb across my shoulders… today I did 3x10 with a 40lb’er…try it!

oh and hi.

3

Hi Oleena. I’m excited to follow your progress on your awesome new training program.

4

[quote]mom-in-MD wrote:
you mean hyper extensions?

I hold a fixed bb across my shoulders… today I did 3x10 with a 40lb’er…try it!

oh and hi. [/quote]

Yes and I will.

5

[quote]Oleena wrote:
2. Heavy back extensions are very useful. Must figure out a way to go heavier than 45lbs.
[/quote]

Good mornings.

6

Hey Oleena, good to see you around. What are your plans - are you thinking about competing or something?

7

Good mornings. Yep. I think they’ve helped drive my DL numbers up.

Old school coach. That’s what I have. Except for #3. What’s the reasoning behind that?

8

[quote]kpsnap wrote:
Good mornings. Yep. I think they’ve helped drive my DL numbers up.

Old school coach. That’s what I have. Except for #3. What’s the reasoning behind that?[/quote]

Great question, and that’s actually what I came on here to make a note about today.

The reasoning is that you have to be feeding your body as much protein as possible for it to recover, and the only way to pack that much into your body is to give it the minimum processing time with the maximum absorbing proteins. I was hesitant about this one, but have been doing it for the last three days. In addition, I eat a huge meal before bed.

I discovered that this works REALLY well. First of all, he demolished my back during our first workout. The next day I wasn’t sore, but I couldn’t bend over past 20degrees without falling over. Picking up a 20lb db for a client was a trial. The next day (yesterday) I was 75% better, still with no pain (a little in my hamstrings). I also went for a 3 mile hill run. Today my back feels great, although my glutes are sore (probably from the run).

However, IMO the absolute best thing about eating the way he recommended is that you’re constantly hungry even though you’re eating massive amounts of food. In the past, I’ve always had trouble finishing meal plans at the end of the day. Not an issue with this one.

9

[quote]skyel7 wrote:

[quote]Oleena wrote:
2. Heavy back extensions are very useful. Must figure out a way to go heavier than 45lbs.
[/quote]

Good mornings.[/quote]

Agreed. I was looking for a way to up the hyper extension in particular, although I know that romanians and good mornings do the trick as well.

10

It’s okay to let go of perfect form when working with lighter weights and focusing on the back pull.

^^^ This is #3.

I totally get the protein thing. I eat tons of it myself.

11

[quote]kpsnap wrote:
It’s okay to let go of perfect form when working with lighter weights and focusing on the back pull.

^^^ This is #3.

I totally get the protein thing. I eat tons of it myself.[/quote]

When I was doing the romanians, he had me bend my back a little (using about half the weight I would for a deadlift), and pull with it. This meant that my form wasn’t straight, and I was working my lower back more than my glutes. It sucked balls and I don’t think I’d do it with anyone with back issues.

12

Wow. I wouldn’t advocate that. Hmmm.

13

[quote]kpsnap wrote:
Wow. I wouldn’t advocate that. Hmmm.[/quote]

I never have, but I’ll see what it does. So far, it seems to have just made me feel weak for 4 days.

14

Just be careful with the back. There are many exercises to work the back that don’t require bad form.

15

this looks fun.

16

I’m not sure, but I think strongmen train like this. It seems fine in a supervised environment though.

17

[quote]owlie wrote:
I’m not sure, but I think strongmen train like this. It seems fine in a supervised environment though. [/quote]

lol. I’m sure I have the recovery capabilities of a strongman! (that might have been sarcastic)

My back still isn’t 100% nearly a week later. I feel stronger in other ranges of motion, except bending straight over. On Friday I’m going in for my second workout with him (it’s going to be squats), and then heading on to a 4 day vacation to the town I’ll be moving to for college. If this next workout is anything like the last I’m going to be laughing@myself as I fall down everywhere while on my first 4 days off straight in over a year.

18

[quote]kpsnap wrote:
Just be careful with the back. There are many exercises to work the back that don’t require bad form.[/quote]

I totally agree with you, and I’d never train anyone like this. However, for better or worse, I’ll try anything once, especially after seeing the results others have gotten. I probably will never train anyone like this even if I pull up 300lbs next week, though.

19

Has anyone else ever lifted so hard they started their period again?

This happens surprisingly often for me.

In other news, I decided based on form and how wrecked my back was that the trainer I’m working with might not be the best person to learn PLing from. He is well known for BB, though, so on my next session I told him I was interested in competing in a show.

The session quality improved from that point on. The first thing he did was break out an anatomy chart and give me a chest workout while explaining how we were hitting it from all angles (and where those angles were connected). It was much better, from what little I know about BBing, than the DLing workout.

Right now he has me on a 6-day a week split:

chest
back
shoulders
triceps and abs
biceps and calves
legs

with about 15-18 total sets of 10-15 reps for the major body parts and 12-15 for the others. The tempo varies depending on the lift and how far into the session we are. At the beginning he has me lifting as heavy as possible using the fastest tempo I can, near the end he throws in pause reps, one and a half reps, and basic tempo work using exercises that target more specific muscles.

His recommendation for diet is extremely low fat and lower carbs leading up to a show. However, I wouldn’t be competing until March 2011, so I don’t see the point of not eating healthy fats/carbs and thereby limiting my gains right now.

Also, I just started the precision nutrition system. My thought on it so far is that I had far more energy when I was eating carbs all day long. Eating 40% fat and less than 25% carbs for 5 meals a day makes me feel like I have a constant hangover.

Honestly, I don’t see what the problem is with eating fruit and beans whenever I want.

PS. I know this unexpectedly turned into a BBing log, so if someone switches it into that category, or someone in powerful women takes offense, I understand.

20

COOL!! I’m kinda jealous :slight_smile: