13 December 2011

SPF Outlaw Powerlifting in Tampa







The above pictures are from the SPF (Southern Powerlifting Federation) Outlaw Powerlifting meet held in my very own hometown of Tampa, Florida.  It was my first meet, and a fun and interesting experience altogether.

Training

Training was pretty typical of what I normally do.  I kept it stress free, and used the minimal effective amount of effort at all times.  I decided to do the meet at exactly four weeks out from it, during which I hit Intensity PRs in the Squat, Bench and Deadlift (335, 245, 435, respectively).  Using that, I planned out how my attempts at each lift would go.  Other than that, I kept it normal, did more thick bar work, tested more variations on my rowing movements (added in Pendlay rows), performed more overhead barbell pressing, and more one handed deadlifting (wherein I hit an intensity PR of 205lbs per hand for several singles).  The style of one hand deadlifting I opted for was the kind you see the old timers do in the pictures where you straddle the bar.  It's far less of an annoyance to do it that way, than any other way.  The last training day before the 10 December competition was on 2 December (this tested best).  You can view my log here.

Diet

I intended to make the 181lb weight class.  So I tinkered around with and tested some ideas.  The ideas that passed with flying  colors to make weight wound up being as follows: eating once a day, training fasted (every session was trained that way) and keeping it low carb, for the most part.  Dinner was usually something along the lines of an 8 egg omelette, with cheese and onions, or some beef, or a pack of chicken legs.  Once or twice a week, something carby would test well, usually white potatoes (but never sweet potatoes, oddly) or something like that.  I used no salt, and I drank water as normal, until it was time to cut weight.

I decided to cut weight, since every other aspect of preparation was stress free.  This part was probably the most stressful, for several reasons.  On 4 December, I drank three gallons of water.  The next day, a Monday, I drank two, and on Tuesday, one and Wednesday, half.  Wednesday night I had an egg sandwich to eat, and that was it. Thursday, I had a cup of coffee in the morning and 20 ounces of water, and chewed on a few ice cubes in the day.

At about 6:30 PM, I went to a Lifestyles family fitness that happened to heave a steam room to sweat out the remaining weight (about six or seven pounds).*  The worse part about the steam room is sitting around with the naked old guys who inhabit the gym lockers, having nothing to say and staring at the clock.  I was bored shitless.  I kept going in the steam room in 5 minute intervals (it tested best).  At one point, some guy with a thick middle eastern accent came in with a bottle of water, and asked if I minded if he made it really hot in there.  He doused the walls with cold water, which caused the steam to crank up.  It got nearly unbearable in there. I asked him why he did this.  He said, "I like intense heat." Fair the fuck enough, it only helped my cause.  I left the steam room one pound over my weight according to the digital scale at Lifestyles and two pounds over weight according to the scale from home I brought with me.  I went home and ate a dinner consisting of two ice cubes and a few pieces of Lindt dark chocolate.  It made me feel a bit better, as it were.

The 85% is low in carbs and tests well often, and curbed cravings for too much bullshit during the cutting.
As a note, I saw a lot of people at Lifestyles doing dumb shit, regarding the sauna. I will be the first to admit that cutting weight like this isn't the smartest thing, no matter if Matt Kroc or a host of MMA fighters do it.  There's always a risk.  But, I saw old dudes, and normal gym goers wearing sauna suits (the vinyl kind that make you sweat like a motherfucker) inside the dry heat sauna.  And hoodies, and what not.  Please, do not emulate that kind of behavior.

The next morning, I woke up and went to the meet site, and stripped down to my underwear and made weight at 181.4lbs.  Following that, I drank a half gallon of generic Pedialyte (and felt really awesome), ate a sausage mcgriddle, a breakfast burrito, two hashbrowns and a coffee from McDonalds.  I follwed that up shortly thereafter with six slices of pizza, and for lunch, another four slices of pizza.  Throughout the day, I drank some watered down Powerade and a shitload of water.  For dinner, I ate more, and drank some more coffee, and took three servings of psylium husk fiber powder.  I felt mildly bloated (no sarcasm, it was only a mild feeling.  I think by the night was winding down, I urinated two times (though I had easily consumed more than three gallons of fluid since 9:30 am.

Saturday morning, I felt fantastic.  I went to the meet site, and ate copious amounts of cashews, and poptarts and low carb Monsters throughout the day.

The Meet 

There were a fuckload of people there, and the meet site smelled like ammonia and sports ointment.  And, not surprisingly, the mens bathroom's shitter got clogged at some point in the day.  The janitorial staff took care of it, thankfully.

I saw a lot of inspiring shit go down there.  I saw tiny women squat more than I did (even though they were geared it was still inspiring) and I saw some guys from Westside squat and bench a fuckton of weight.  Notably, one guy squatted 1080lbs, and another guy benched somewhere around 900.  The Independent team form Canada are cool bunch, and fun to talk to, and hopefully they were gracious that I pointed them to the finer strip clubs of Tampa.  Tommy Fannon of Tampa Barbell (a hardcore powerlifting gym for geared lifters) was a cordial guy, as was Jesse Rodgers (president of SPF) and together they judged well, and put on a good meet.  The only downside is that with all the equipped lifters, it took fucking forever.  I didn't stay til the end, and Tommy was kind enough to let me deadlift on the first flight so I could make the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert at 8pm (I left at 6:15pm, right after my third deadlift).

I wound up squatting at 1pm or so, and my best squat was 340 (I missed 360 due to technical aspects of the lift, will get it next time) and a few hours later, I benched and made 255.  I missed my third attempt at 265 (stalled out halfway up).  After taking a monster shit--which I saw as a good omen--after my last bench, the fourth flight went, and then deadlifting started.  I nailed all three deadlifts (405, 440, and 460) which gives me a total of 1055.  I went in hoping to get at least six out of nine lifts white-lighted, and break my training PRs, and total a thousand lbs or more.  Mission accomplished on all fronts.  (First attempt squat was 315, bench first attempt was 230).  The hardest part was the waiting.  It was a long goddamn day.  Thankfully, I had a book, and they had burgers for sale.

Observations

I saw a lot of people expend undue energy on their first attempts and at the warmup stations.  I am not saying you shouldn't warm up (if it tests well.  It didn't for me, but it did wonders for my biopsyche),  but you should conserve the energy for where ti counts.  I saw saw enough foam rolling to last a life time, and I noticed the lifters who warmed up the least typically did the best. My warmup consisted of a single squat to find my rack height (same for bench) and a deadlift of 185lbs to make sure I hadn't forgotten the movement.  I didn't forget.

I also found my current training practice of testing everything to be validated given the fact that I saw a lot of the people there competing injured, and generally moving poorly--lots of limps and stuff going on.  But, on the flip side, there were lots of healthy appearing people there too.

Sportsmanship was generally good.  The first lifter in this recording of the third deadlift flight managed to even get me amped up, and she encouraged the shit out of her fellow teammates to hit some good PRs.Everyone was encouraging, the atmosphere was positive and fun.  I will compete again.

Tips

Train your goddamn cues.  Read the federation rules, and have someone give you the cues.  Watch the youtube videos to get a feel for it.  It is heartbreaking to see someone completely fuck a lift because you blow the cues.  Train your goddamn cues.

Parallel is subjective.  Find your feds approximation of parallel, and train it.  And once you do, train the goddamn cues. 

Don't fly too close to the sun.  Pick a first attempt you can hit.  Pick a reasonable PR for your second attempt.  Go for the awesome the third time around.   Train your goddamn cues.

And don't stress.  All you're doing is lifting weights. 

*I have never had to make a disclaimer, but don't do anything I describe in this paragraph. If you fuck yourself up, well, you should have listened to this disclaimer.

29 November 2011

PRs outside the gym

Since the central focus on this blog is weightlifting, with metaphors alluding to music, I figured this time around I would topsy-turvy this motherfucker.  Recently, my songwriting partner Bee and I wrote a host of new songs.  Usually, like I do in lifting, we wind up churning these things out as easily as a Catholic mother churns out kids, since they do not believe in birth control and what not.  This latest one used a little bit more than the minimal effective amount of effort, and was well worth that maximum effort we put into it.  Without further ado, I give you our band 'Bitter Paradox.'  The song is 'Polyamorous.'

Polyamorous, indeed.

01 November 2011

Fiscally Responsible Range of Motion testing (and squat PR)

First, on Sunday 30 October, I squatted 275 for two sets of triples, followed by two sets of doubles.  As I mentioned before, this was an old 1RM.  It is clearly not anymore.  On 31 October, box squats tested well.  I hit 295 for two sets of doubles and a single.  I am pleased with this.  Here is my log, if you care enough to check my work.

Segue
In addition to using the toe touch (or any other ROM test) for your movements, you can also test other things too.  If you are skeptical about anything I said, and reading this, you will probably relinquish all credibility, if you had any at all.  However, it is probably a safe bet that you haven't tried testing anything I have said in the first place, so your absence will not matter.

For a while, my roommate and BFFL touted the benefits of baking soda as a deodorant and as a toothpaste.  Even before I made the switch, this isn't that far fetched since it is in every toothpaste brand you can find out there, and in some antiperspirants as well. 

Apparently, some people think sodium fluoride is some bad shit.  According to these sources, it has been used for a lot of bad shit, and Nazis poisoned the water with it.  Then there is Operation Paperclip (google it) and a host of other shit you can find about how bad fluoride is.

I can only go with what seems more compelling based on what knowledge I have, and my healthy mistrust of government officials and authority figures.  However, I did do a ROM test on my toothpaste I had been using and then on a box of baking soda, and the baking soda tested way better than the toothpaste--the toothpaste did not move me past my base nine.  So I ditched the toothpaste for good, and brush with baking soda now.  My teeth are whiter than ever and I drink a minimum of one coffee pot a day.  I also took up smoking again for a brief stint this year, and my teeth stayed awesome looking with the baking soda.  I have also quit smoking again, and haven't smoked in a few months. 

If you are anything like me, you might wear black shirts a lot.  You might also get this weird white caking from your antiperspirant.  Even if you use the shit that "goes on clear and won't fuck your shirts up."  If you have half a brain, you know most advertisements aren't true.  Well, those advertisements aren't. I sweat like a whore in church, and I have fucked up a lot of shirts. 
 
Needless to say, my BFFL used baking soda as a deodorant as well, since he is allergic to nearly everything, and traditional deodorants caused him an allergic reaction.  So, I tested my deodorant against baking soda, and the results were much like the toothpaste.  I have not used deodorant since.
Since the change, I have not had any fucked up stains on my shirts, and no matter how much I sweat, I do not get rank like I used to, even when I go to the gym and hit PRs like a motherfucker.  On a day where I am inactive, I can skip bathing and still not get rank, which is something I was never able to do in the past.  Needless to say, baking soda is pretty fucking cool.

And to top it off, a gigantic box of the shit costs less than a leading name brand of toothpaste or deodorant, and will last at least ten times as long.  And you don't have to go to a hippie health food store and by some overpriced "natural" bullshit that they are marketing, or listen to them yack about all the aluminum and other bullshit in the deodorants on the market (since you can find that info for free anywhere). 

Sweat inducing.


You can test about anything, I chose this subject because it has saved me a ton of money, and has made my life better in a big way.  Plus, baking soda is useful for a bunch of other shit too, like baking, or keeping your fridge smelling good, why not have a bunch of it around? It's probably as useful as water. 

11 October 2011

What motivates you?

The other day I was conversing with a guy who likes to lift weights too.  Most of the time, when people ask me for advice, I often do not give it.  Most will not get answer they will like (either because it is not easy, it seems esoteric, or because they have to put in the minimal effective amount of effort for their own self experiment).  So I tell them this, and if I am pressed I will explain what I do, and why it might not work for them.

The question posed to me this day, however, was so good I decided I should write about it.  My friend asked, "How do you stay motivated?"  I will share my thoughts on this now.

First off, going to the gymnasium--especially where I train now--is an immensely positive event, and something to look forward to.  I look forward to it because my day job is monumentally boring, and involves talking to a lot of people that I normally wouldn't associate with on a regular basis.  With all these thoughts running around, engaging in physical culture gives me the chance to be thoughtless--a zen like state if you will--and it's not something that happens too often.  If I sit cross-legged for too long, I will start moving eventually and get restless.  The gym allows me time to meditate, and decompress.  Knowing I can do that any time I want is a pretty big thing for me. 

One of the other motivating factors is not following a prewritten program.   I have talked to some people who think it's appropriate to kick themselves in the groin repeatedly for missing a preordained day of their program.  This certainly isn't good for your psychological well being, and when your head's fucked, you get stressed.  And I know a lot of you can attest to the fact that stress can manifest itself physically.  Which can further fuck your performance, hormones and god knows what else.  If you know you will PR any given time you lift, and you are apparently free to choose when you do so, you have released yourself from a bond, which can feel liberating and motivating.

The last part of the preceding paragraph is a nice segue into this one.  PRing every day.  Highly motivating.  If you know you are gonna be better than you were yesterday, what motivating would you not have to go and do something awesome?  And this applies to anything.  I apply it to playing instruments, reading books, and writing.  Not just lifting.

And you can literally PR in anything.  Even in intercourse.  One of the strongest motivating factors for lifting weights, for me,  is to have better sex. I am pretty sure I don't have to convince you that there might be a
a relationship between lifting weights, eating high amounts of protein, and your testosterone levels.

Imagine what a little stamina could do.
Not to mention that there is an obvious correlation between the hip extension of a deadlift/kettlebell swing.  More importantly, if you don't have to worry about whether you will be too winded to bang your significant other(s) you can stop worrying about yourself, concentrate on your sexual partner, and hopefully make it a better sexual experience. 

Besides the obvious relationship between the pelvic motions, the deadlift (and general posterior chain training) is my favorite stuff to do because it can make some really stimulating sexual positions possible.  For instance, there was a time when I could not hold a sexual partner, while free standing.  What a sad day for both of us.
What amounts to a quarter squat and and a little arm work can have a high payoff for both involved.
 If you are especially virile, you can potentially start in a missionary style of position, and go from the floor up.  This will make you feel more manly, and be pretty impressive too.

So, as you can see, sex is a pretty big motivating factor for me. 

Lastly, and I have touched on this before, the weights can be symbolic in many ways.  If there's a bar on your back, and it starts getting easier to move, this is powerful imagery.  As my squat goes up, the imagery becomes especially striking to me, and makes me realize that I can over come obstacles I face in my life.  This is perhaps the most important motivating factor of all.  Overcoming obstacles.  More often than not, you do things to get you to where you are. So it was a choice all along, so in the end you are the only one to navigate these obstacles.  Much like when you decide you want to squat heavier.  You made the choice, you better goddamn do it. 

Please, tell me.  What motivates you? And if you lose motivation often, why?

09 October 2011

A Gym Movement Success Story (and still in the making)

Editor's Note:  A while back I was playing on my Facebook and I received a message from my old friend Aaron Musgrove.  I didn't know he read anything wrote (I don't get a lot of comments here, so it's hard to track who reads or just looks at the pictures).  The message Aaron sent me said something to the effect of how he didn't feel like a piece of shit after he lifted weights and how his stamina is better.  So, I asked to write a bit about his experience on the Gym Movement protocol. Without further ado, Aaron Musgrove.



Pete asked me to contribute. I’m honored. I decided to write about my experience with this method and let the results do the talking/raving.
I started at around 176 lbs and I could bench around 205 a few presses and I couldn’t dead lift more than 225 for a few pulls. I had no idea how to listen to my body and I was mad that x reps and x sets don’t equal the results advertised in muscle magazines.
I now weigh around 189 lbs, I can press around 275(mostly on Mondays and Tuesdays) and I can pull 295 2-3 (mostly on Saturdays) and I don’t read muscle magazines.
I realize that this isn’t a lot of information, but it is more than I ever got from a magazine and way more that I ever did in 4 1/2 months of training until puking, making shit faces, buying supplements or whatever new gimmick was on the menu.
What I do: I wake up and eat. I walk into the gym and walk on a treadmill or something else like that for like 10-15 min. Then I think about what I want to do today. I think about executing that movement and feeling my muscle contract. I take into consideration how I feel, what I did last time I was here and then I make a totally random choice. I can consider whatever I want and think about it all day, but the answer will come from my body. Let’s say I feel like I can dead lift the world today. So I’m going to test dead lifts.

I do a stretch test for a solid baseline and then I simply execute that movement. Now I test again, did I respond well? Let’s say no, I did not respond well. I find that for me I test better on the opposite of whatever  didn’t test well. I didn’t do well with dead lifts so let’s try pressing something. Wow, shoulder press tested great!! Now I shoulder press until I don’t respond well. Next I might try leg extensions, just kidding (that’s for Peter).

 Mondays and Tuesdays I almost always test well with pressing and especially well every 4th week (by this I mean that I actually see a notable difference in the amount of weight I end with. I can actually see my strength increase coming and look forward to it). Saturdays I test great on pulling type movements. Knowing what days I typically test well could have an effect on how I respond as I am thinking about these movements well before I get to the gym.
Essentially I threw out everything I had ever been told and thought and started from scratch using this protocol as my basis. I am sure that I did some things wrong or even differently than I was supposed to or whatever, but the shit changed my life.
I actually promoted this system ( I like calling it a system) to other people, which is a first. I never told people to get this issue of that magazine, or check out this guy’s website or suggested a particular supplement. I would however tell people what routine I was using or what supplement I was on at the time, but only if asked. This I feel strongly enough about to actually push on people like cheap dope at a fair.
Example:
Dickhead: what the fuck are you doing?
Me: I’m testing this movement to see what exercises I will do today
Dickhead: bewildered look
Me: I explain the system to the dickhead
Dickhead: yeah well how much longer have you got on this rack because I need to do curls
Me: you need to try this shit, because rack curls are for dickheads and assholes. I used to do rack curls and everyone though I was a dickheaded asshole for doing it
Dickhead: rants about his “guns” and offers to test anything I can think of and that it wont matter because he is jacked and gonna suck today’s dick
Me: ok let’s see about some chest pressing (my strongest exercise for whatever reason)
Dickhead: let’s do it
We both test, I test well and he does not. I suggest that he goes with what his body says and he laughs. We continue to press while my weight goes up consistently, and his peaks quickly and begins to go back down. This asshole admits he is there is “something” to this and says he is gonna have to try it. I like to think I saved this asshole a lot of money and pain. I ran into this dickhead about two months later and he attributed big gains to using this system. He also says that rack curls test well, much to my disapproval.
I have also showed this to just about everyone I know at my gym. Some people claim it is bullshit, some say it works while others are indifferent. I would say that everybody responds differently and that this is the most effective way I have ever found to see how my body responds. I promote this system and encourage it whenever I get a chance. I intend to use it FOREVER. Thanks Peter.

28 September 2011

Mind into Matter

As many of you may know, should you still actually read this, I test what I do, regarding movements.  As I explained before over here, you can set some nice PRs every day with this protocol.  Based off something another movement member by the name of Darryl and I spoke of, I decided to run an experiment for two weeks.

The idea, as I interpreted it, amounted to the testing of our thoughts.  So, for instance, I would go to the gym, and think about the movements I wanted to do.  I would test the idea.  Then I would test the weights, by merely thinking of them.  I expect to lose half of my readership after this post, but the results from this experiment at this point are pretty swell.

I initially toyed with this, and then second guessed myself by actually testing the weights and loads to use properly.  Shortly over two weeks ago, I abandoned all second guessing and did what ever tested well by way of thinking. 

Of late, I have been squatting, and box squatting and doing good mornings on a regular basis, and the PRs since testing in this manner, have been better than they were before, though it does seem that box squatting is helping my regular squat, along with the good mornings.  Observe:


Here is a graph.  Shouldn't be too hard to figure out.  Back on 29 July, my best Box Squat was four sets of two with 225, fast forward to 21 September, and I have doubled the reps with 225 and still did it in under eight minutes.  My 1RM was 275, last time I checked, and when I started this, 225 seemed heavy.  Sometimes, however box squats do not test as well as regular squats.


23 July, I managed four singles with 245 in five minutes, roughly.  19 September, I hit 2 triples, and 3 doubles in under eight minutes with the same weight.  The proud moment was yesterday, when I hit two sets of five and a bunch of sets of four with 225 (bar kept slipping as I got sweatier, otherwise I would have had all sets of five).

Part of the magic must be due to the good morning.  I have not really ever done them, but they keep getting easier every time I do them.  I now do them regularly, and lately the squats, box squats and good mornings are all synergistically climbing. 

When I first stepped under the 245, I was goddamn terrified, but the second time it was pretty easy.  Compared to when I did 135 back in August, it is all way easier.  25 August, the day after my first good morning session, my abs were on fire.  Now, they don't get sore.

Around the week of 7-12 September, I started testing merely the thought of the movements, and I believe this process saves me a shit ton of energy--as I do all the movements with the best thought tested weight right off the bat, sans a proper warm up.  I also believe the PRs are greater, and more prevalent in all movements.  Whereas, before I wouldn't PR in everything, I am now PRing in every single movement in a training session.  I think this might well be one path to the realization between the mind and body's interconnection.

More on this process to come, and how you can implement it to testing other non movement types of things, like food, people and toothpastes and deodorant.

30 August 2011

How I Unfucked Myself: Guest Post from Dan Comp

What's up, ladies? My name is Dan and I am a close friend of young Peter Baker. You know, the kind  where you have both seen each other naked on more than one occasion and outside of the gym showers. Anyways, I was asked to share my story about a little medical condition I suffered from which kept me out of the gym for 9 months. I think it would be best to start from the begining of my gym endevours.

In late 09' I deceded to no longer be a pussy and join the rest of the men in the gym. I had little to no knowledge of proper techniques so I asked Mr. Baker to train me. (and for a nominal fee, he agreed). We started off with the basics, you know, bench press, curls (for the girls), barbell rows, weighted dips, and pullups. All was going swimingly at first, I was gaining serious strength and mass in a faily short amount of time. Unfortunately, 6 months into my new routine I started having issues with my stomach. I found it very difficult to keep food down. At first, I figured this was attributed to a high level of stress so instead of going to a certified Medical Practitioner, I thought it was best to wait it out. Have better decisions been made? Probably. About a month into it, I started to see specialists. Unfortunately, they had no answers either. By month three, I had lost all hope. I lost all the weight I had put on, and all the strength I had gained. This continued for 6 more months when I finally found a Dr. (one where their office  was not located in the back of a station wagon) who diagnosed me with "gastroparesis". What this is, is an inability to properly digest food.

Long story short, I am on an asshole load of medication but back in the gym. I just hit my one year mark in the gym and had some massive improvements in both size and strength. I currently go to the gym 6 times a week becasue I am no pussy. I go, and I lift heavy fucking weight which was entirely against the Dr's recommendations. Why? Because I don't care. I felt 100 times worse not in the gym, than I did throwing up. I think that getting into a balls out workout routine actually has helped. It reminds me everyday that I am in control of what effects me and what does not. Somedays I still wake up and feel just balls terrible, but I fucking suck it up and go anyways.
Life is too short to be a bitch. 


Editor's Note:  Dan provided me with some of the most enjoyable times I had at our former place of employment, and we were constantly getting reprimanded due to saying offensive things.  At one point, a coworker quit because of our ribald humor.  I call it a win.  Dan is currently finishing up his criminology degree at the University of South Florida, and intends to be a US Marshal.

22 August 2011

How to get Staqt on a Budget

Hello, friends and detractors.  It's been a long time since I have posted anything.  The way I see it, is that I haven't had any inspiration since my last post in May, and would rather post something worth a fuck, than waste your time and my time.  I have left the music store full time, and moved on to another job that I don't like as much, but will allow me to have a steady income that will allow me to eat a decent amount of food and do some responsible things.

That said, for the first time in a long time I am a member of a gym that isn't a part of my university.  Prior to this past Friday, and since I graduated last August I had to be extremely charming, deceitful and deft to gain access to gyms continually for free.  Sometimes it was a royal pain in the ass, but I managed to do it because I like to lift so much.  Having access to a shitload of kettlebells also makes life a lot easier as well. 

My new home. They don't give a shit that I have chalk, and the clientele range from normal people to competitive Bodybuilders and powerlifters, and even some roid users.  
That is my new home.  In addition to them not giving a shit about chalk, they also have a monolift, a veritable cornucopia of bands and chains, and a platform for deadlifting, and a box that will allow me to box squat slightly below parallel.   All in all, I am glad to be at a gym and not looking for free passes all the time and not eating much food.  For those of you in a bind financially, I will tell you how to cheat the system both diet wise, and Iron wise. 

In order to get the most out of your lifting, you have a few different options.  Option one would be to go to college, spend thousands, and use their gym for free and maybe learn some cool shit in the mean time.  For those who can't, you have other options.  Get good at handstand pushups, and save up for kettlebells, for starters. 

To get your barbell and dumbbell lifting on, the first step would be to find all the gyms in your area and make a comprehensive list of them.  Second, scour the internet for coupons to these gyms.  Most of the chain gyms, like Lifestyles, Anytime fitness, et. al. have week long trial memberships.  Usually, they will have what you need to get your essential lifts in, but they will just be lame enough to shoot down a pushy salesman with a barrage of reasons why you shouldn't join the gym. 

Some of the bigger cities will have the same gym within minutes of either side of where you might live, making it twice as easy to lift for a period of a few weeks, for free. 

Some places will have you enter an email address, and if you can get a few email addresses to your name, then you can get day passes that way.  If you are in the Brandon, or Plant City area, I know you can get away with this for at least five day passes at Fitness for $10.

Another option would be to get some friends.  Once you attain friends, make sure at least one of them has a membership to UFit.  Most of their plans allow for a free guest.  Which is good for you, provided you and your friend can be reliable on meeting times. 

Another trick that worked for me, more often than not, was to keep my student ID.  It wouldn't scan, but the staff at USF often it attributed it to their machines fucking up.  I was also able to get in free with friends, by virtue of being an instructor at USF kettlebell.  I might still go back occasionally, because their plates were very good for curling. 

Now, onto diet tips for when you have only enough money to go to a job that pays you just enough to get there and back.  The key thing is to not buy bullshit.  As much as I love Poptarts, you will be better off buying a dozen eggs, in lieu of the pastries. 


Speaking of eggs, I normally don't promote a lot of vegetarian things, but opting toward a lacto-ovo style of eating is definitely cost effective.  You can even buy good quality eggs for under three bucks a dozen at Publix, and still manage to eat enough to get your protein requirements. 




Other good sources of protein, and something I've grown quite fond of include Chobani Greek Yogurt.  Don't be a pussy, eat it by the quart.  One quart of plain Chobani Greek yogurt yields 92 grams of protein and is under three bucks for the quart.  If you want to get real clever, make your own yogurt and save more money.  I have not done it yet, but I plan on it soon. 

Other fat and protein sources I enjoy are Planters unsalted mixed nuts.  One can yields about a thousand calories, and if my memory serves me correctly, 72 grams of protein.  

And, if you are not a vegetarian, opt for meat with the bone still in it.  It's cheaper, and adds more flavor.  My favorites include lamb, and chicken thighs. Both are cheap as fuck, and taste great and have great fat to protein ratios. 

I realize that the better part of this post comes across as me being an asshole.  And not only does it come across that way, but it would be a true statement.   I, however, do not give a fuck and don't feel too bad about using an offered free membership to a gym that will wind up fucking over some consumer later on in life, or using facilities that took a shitload of my money in the past.  If you have a high moral standard, get really good at bodyweight exercises or stay sedentary. 

Sometimes I think about what would happen if she and I got together with a quart of Chobani yogurt, red wine, and about ten hours to kill.





19 May 2011

Gym and Life PRs

So, this set I got four of these pull ups on.  For the first time.  Monumental PR


It was fairly easy.

I also PRed here via a certain rhythmic spot, and playing this piece with less tension (at the time) than previous.  Now, tension is less.




Enjoy, champs.

11 May 2011

A Deadlifting Chronicle

I deadlift a lot.  Some of the best moments of training lately have been occurring with this particular.  I have pulled 12 times since 11 April.  Starting from 5 April, here is my progress:

5 April 315 for 8 sets, totally 14 reps  in 06:55
12 April 295 8, 16, 07:35
14 April 365 5, 5, 04:17
19 April 315 8, 20, 12:55
20 April 275 5, 25, 09:13
21 April 225 4, 25, 05:47
26 April 385 4, 4, 08:35
28 April 405 5, 5, 09:30
02 May 225 5, 38, 08:15
03 May 225 6, 43, 11:45
05 May 405 2, 3, 02:15
10 May 225 7, 47, 11:25
11 May 315 4, 20, 10:00

No reason for this to be here.


I am pretty proud of the fact that I can hit a double with 95% of my 1RM, now.  In a short amount of time.  Also note that I went from doing doubles with 315, to now doing sets of 5.

Observe how I do this with no fuss:



This is the third set of 4.  The last set stopped testing well, so I cut it.  Same goes for all the others.  I don't intend to fully max out any time soon, but at any rate the lift feels and performs better almost every time I test it. 

10 May 2011

The ultimate (mis)conception

Ultimate Warrior
I talk about Gym Movement a lot.  Why? Because to, unlike the jury for the OJ case, evidence and proof beyond a reasonable doubt matters to me.  It apparently does not matter to many modern day physical culture practitioners,* many of whom blindly go about spending hours in the gym, doing the same cycle of things over and over. 

Too often in life, we don't get to do what's actually good for us at that point in time, though a lot of the time the external forces have the best intentions.  Standardized tests, parents telling you what to do in college, TPS report deadlines.  You name it.

For me, the greatest thing Gym Movement has to offer is the ability to do what I want, freely and know it's gonna be purely beneficial for me.  Like a child playing, as it were.  With movement testing, I can expand my limits to accomplish way more than I have ever done, I don't make excuses for not training because with the ability to do so much compared to before, and I can genuinely enjoy myself.  I can go to the gym, test my movements, do them whenever it goddamn suits me, and know that they will be the best thing I can I can do for myself at that time of training.

I daresay it is so powerful, that it becomes a sort of transcendental meditation, wherein I can forget about external forces (other than the weight) and concentrate on my own (and most important) internal force.   I can PR everyday, and be in a completely thoughtless and zen like state while doing so.  Speaking of PRs, I have now hit 95% of my 1RM for a double.  Based on my training, next week it should be a triple.  You owe it to yourself to be enlightened.   The ultimate misconception is as follows:  the movements you do to make you better in any facet should not be drudgery, they should be physically and mentally liberating since they should be completely based off what is best for you at a point in time.  



*I use that term loosely.

04 May 2011

More ways to maximize your effectiveness as an instructor

Peter Berger: Sociologist who extrapolated the secularization thesis--in short, the idea that societies move away from religion through modernization and with influence from reason. 
In Part 1, I did not cover the following issue.  It deserved its own post.  But first, a prelude.

The guy in the picture, Peter Berger, wrote The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion in 1967.  He outlined a popular belief in something.  For him, this belief was what sociologists of religion call the "secularization thesis."

In 1999 the same man compiled a collection of essays in The Desecularization of the World and essentially changed his mind regarding the secularization thesis.

Does this make Berger a bad person?

One of the most important things a person can do as a teacher of any kind is to not be so held down by your beliefs that you stagnate and prevent intellectual, physical, or general personal growth.  One common counter argument is that since you now have a different viewpoint, at some point you must have been full of shit.

Full of shit is a relative term.  For example, Berger's Canopy I mentioned is old and not with his current belief system.  But it has many other concepts and theoretical components that we can draw from (and that we use constantly in the field of religious studies) that it will most likely outlast the more recent work.  Nonetheless, he changed his mind and at a given point of time, was using what he had to its utmost potential and working within his limits.  But he was open.

Now, to a personal example.  A friend of mine was once an atheist.  He converted to Messianic Judaism (Judaism that believes Jesus to be Messiah).  He was talking to his spiritual advisers and they told him to read the Torah in context.  Upon taking it contextually, he dropped the belief that Jesus was messiah and is now following what many of you know as traditional Judaism.  Had he not been willing to change, he would most likely be in a state of spiritual despair because his beliefs--hard and fast--would not be reconciling with his new found knowledge.

Being flexible with your belief systems can typically make you a happy person.  Training patterns, stock markets, weather, learning curves, Hollywood movies, and what have you are all cyclical, with no linear progression of always getting better.  When those things we can control get rigid--learning curves, training patterns--we plateau and decline.  Beliefs are the same way.  There are a variety of ways this happens in religion that I will not get into publicly, but suffice it to say, it is happening all the goddamn time.



To the left, is Malcolm X.  Many of you probably do not know much if anything about this guy.  Most I encounter had no idea he was a religious person, much less a Muslim.  Most I encounter assume he was a violent guy and the absolute antithesis to Martin Luther King Jr.  The picture to my left was taken at a point in his life where his house had been firebombed and was receiving death threats all the time. 

Briefly, Malcolm X started out as a thug, became a minister in the Nation of Islam (for the love of god, don't gloss over the links I post, or you will miss valuable meaning), and then went on to become a Sunni Muslim after he made his Hajj.  As early as 1958, Malcolm X started speaking toward the path he would follow (many will disagree with this, but if you read the speeches, it is evident) and his belief system was growing.  He was not wholly the "black militant separatist demagogue" he was painted to be.  The symbolic act of Hajj along with a letter to his wife culminated in his change in belief, wherein he was going to make it a point to work with other civil rights leaders, and not against them.  His change led him to his unfortunate death in 1965.  Had he stagnated--and his biographies show this--he would have probably went crazy, for boxing himself into beliefs he wasn't willing to change.

I use these stories as an (hopefully) effective way to illustrate the value of flexibility in your belief system.  After all, hopefully you exercise flexibility in other areas of your life to where you aren't so dogmatic that you are fucking yourself right to the ground.

As an instructor, if you are flexible with your beliefs, your students will question you, and you should encourage that. When you get questioned, you will find yourself exploring new pathways, you might even learn from them--I learn new things from my more prodigious students all of the time, most of which I would not have known of or bothered to find out about had it not been for them.   I, for one, do not agree with everything I have once posted on this very blog you read.  I also do agree with older stuff, but for different reasons now.  Don't be afraid to change your mind, and all facets of you will grow.

Did you really think I would leave you hanging?

26 April 2011

Misconceptions demystified

At long last, here is the aforementioned video I promised. 



You may have questions about this, and that is OK.  It seems, at first, counter productive.   But I and many others will assure you it is not.  

Some things I did not cover, I will address now.  If a given movement does not test well, you can test a variation.  For example, yesterday I didn't get the desired test result for a deadlift.  One handed deadlifts tested better, so I did them.  Today, pull ups or chin ups did not test well, but staggered grip pull ups tested the best.  You can vary an exercise a lot, and they are bound to test better or worse, depending on your own biomechanics. 

If a given movement doesn't test well, do it's opposite.  The other day I demonstrated this protocol to some people.  Pressing overhead did not test well for them, but rows did.  I then got asked if I was a "fucking wizard." 

Follow the test.  I haven't done normal squats for a while, because squats with my heels elevated have tested far better than any other variation. 

You WILL get a PR every day.  Write your shit down.  You WILL get better at getting better. 

Another note on logging progress:  Write your start and stop times.  Density is important.  Charles Staley knows this.  Measure your volume.  These are where the PRs come in.  Questions are welcome. 

19 April 2011

Ways to maximize your effectiveness as an instructor.

I am not a certified fitness instructor.  But according to Frankie Faires, I am a fine motor athlete--also called a musician.  That being said, I teach other people how to be a fine motor athlete, and I have dabbled in teaching people the protocols of Gym Movement, to a degree of success, as I mentioned previously. 

I don't know how many of you reading this teach anything, or ever plan on it, as a profession, but there comes a point in our life where we all wish to impart a certain amount of knowledge to another person or group of people.  

I wonder the things she could teach me

One thing you must be able to do as a teacher is convey a single idea in several different ways.  Scenario one:  You are trying to teach someone how to deadlift and not fuck their entire back up.  You have several different ways you can do this.  The first option is to say, "Pick the bar up off the ground."  Some will do it pain free, with this instruction.  The next option would be to say, "Look straight, shoot your ass back, grab the bar, and stand up."  Others will respond to this very well.  A third way to do the same thing would be to say, "Flex your hips, and keep your shins slightly angled, stand about four inches away from the bar, alternate your grip, look straight and stand up."  Still, some people will respond to this very well. 


Some of the factors that determine the effectiveness of your instruction include (but are not limited to) the following: Age, education, and experience with the given task being discussed.  Not to mention the propensity for Aural or Visual stimuli.  


Powerful Visual Stimulus.  This would not work for a blind person. 

While you must be adept and conveying things in a variety of ways, you must also learn to whittle each way down to the minimal effective amount of explanation. I talk about this a lot regarding training, and musicianship, but it applies to everything.  You can spend a good chunk of time instructing someone to do anything, like our example of the deadlift.  There will come a point where you (and the student) will get tired of you talking.  And they will have to experience the sensation for themselves.  Your job is to get them there with minimum fuss, and minimum bullshit.  Learn to use the minimal effective amount of communication.

The minimal effective amount, again, will vary from student to student.  This will also vary based on your education level.  If you don't have a good vocabulary, get one.  Read a dictionary.  Don't say something with four words that can be said with two.  Unless you have to.  These are all things to test. 

The most important thing you should do as a teacher is two fold.  The student must be willing to question everything you say, and you must encourage them to do so.  You must also be able to support what you believe and what you teach.  The other is to let them create something themselves.  Give them the tells to do what they do safely, and let them go until it gets too hard.  And repeat.  This is the same way I lift when I lift.  it is something to test in life.  I do whatever I want (based on my goals) and once it becomes hard, I chill out.  I repeat it.  The same applies for instruction.  

In conclusion, learn a variety of ways to communicate a concept, do it with the minimal effective amount of effort, and encourage the student to question you and run their own test. 

Why the hell not?

12 April 2011

Immaculate (mis)conceptions: Shit that I couldn't do before, but can do now

 Read the first part

I stopped posting  my training log on here because I rarely get comments on it and I don't think most people give a shit.  Plus, I have a program I use to track my training, and I like it.  I will however share some recent things about my training in an attempt to clear up other misconceptions.

It's a volume race

I didn't bring this up last time, so I will address it now.  Looking at the logs of others who follow Gym Movement, it is really tempting to say that this might be true.  And, I suspect some people might adopt this way of training because of the volume they can potentially reach after a while of training this way.  But the truth of it is, the less you beat the fuck out of yourself, the more you can do.  In every fitness book around someone says, 'to press a lot, you must press a lot.'  A true statement, and with this system, you allow yourself to press--or perform any other movement--whenever the time is, and for how long the time is right.

That said, I like pressing so much, and I do it so often because it tests so well, my shoulders girdle is two inches greater in measurement than it was on 10 February.  All because I am at a point where I can do a lot of shoulder work.

Gratuitous, but awesome
What I am doing as of late

I have access to barbells and dumbbells around two days a week.  On those two days, I will usually go in and do several varieties of deadlifts, squats and bench presses, some military presses with dumbbells, some rows,dips, pullups, high pulls, and anything else I feel like.  I do this two times a week, and sometimes a third if I can get to the gym.

Sometimes on the same day, or other days I will do a lot of kettlebell work.  Usually in the form of snatching--doubles, singles, whatever-- and pressing, push pressing, or long cycle clean and jerks.  I usually follow this up with some sort of sprinting.






Some cool shit I can do now

8 Tactical (thumbless, pronated grip) Pull-ups
Tactical Pull-ups with 25lbs strapped on to me for a few reps
Chin-ups with 35lbs of weight strapped on to me
With pronated grip, I can deadlift about 335lbs
Dips with an added 135lbs of weight
Plate Curls with a 25lb plate for 7 reps--if you have never tried them do it, and understand the challenge they possess.
Pistol Squats
Handstand Pushups
135lb EZ bar curls

And generally, an amount of training volume I never thought I would wind up doing in my life. 

Utterly Gratuitous

Conclusion

I don't force myself to do anything now, and I believe I am truly reaping the benefits of this type of training.  You can test literally anything you feel like--even sprinting, as I tend to do to the chagrin of my other meatheaded friends.

If you train this way, you will take your training to new heights, as I and many others have done.

24 March 2011

Immaculate (mis)conceptions

It seems to me that a lot of people who strength train spend the same amount of time, if not more time on the internet talking about weightlifting and god knows what the fuck else regarding moving to look better, and feel better.  Which is fine, obviously I spend my fair share of time on the internet too.

That said, sometimes when I am in the gym, and sometimes when I'm fucking off on the internet, or sometimes when I am in God's gym, someone will inevitably ask me a question.  Some of these questions are as follows: "Why do you touch your toes after each set?" "What's the chalk for?"

Sometimes, I don't get questioned at all.  "You're doing your bench press wrong," as I am doing a reverse grip bench press. "What muscle does that isolate," as I do a deadlift.

Depending on how esoteric or exoteric the answer is, I will respond accordingly.  This is where the misconceptions begin.

The Toe Touch













I do not touch my toes after each set to stretch and get more flexible.

The toe touch is a test.  The better or worse it is, dictates whether I perform the movement, or not.  It is a range of motion, and it either decreases, stays the same, or increases.  I promised a video, which I will deliver.  In the mean time, look hard and you can find it on at least three other websites of the top of my head.  Dig through my comments on other posts to find the links until I post a video.

Abandonment of Written Programs

The premise behind pre-written programs is that they will get you better.  And they can, but will they lead you to your  best performance? However, if you took two people with the same competition max, and put them on a given program, their gains will not be identical, and in some instances they might not be close.  The smarter of strength coaches know when to break away from what's written based on how the client feels, and any number of variables.  Gym Movement is an extension of this.

Furthermore, periodization is not abandoned.  It's individualized.  For instance, my Long Cycle Clean and Jerk as of late tests fairly light during the week--16, or 24 kg pairs, and every week, I test a pair of 32kg bells.  So far, based on the trends, Volume and Density increase on the Long Cycle weekly, with the heavier pair of bells.  Adam Glass once tested his long cycle for thirty something days, and it got better.  Different progress, for different people, with different goals.

My double kettlebell snatch, has an alternating pattern of low volume, then high volume every time I test them.  If I were to test them (which I will do later), based on the trends I would likely experience a volume based PR. *

In conclusion, do you have to throw out your copy of Enter the Kettlebell?  No, not really.  However, you can take something that works for a good amount of people a fair amount of time, and tweak and test things and make it work pretty fucking well for you all of the time.  It might mean not going up to five ladders on your "Heavy day."  Tough shit, comrade.

"PR everyday is a crock of shit." 

This one is going to need some extrapolation.  Since I plan on competing in powerlifting soon, intensity PRs are pretty important.  But that is not what strength is.  I don't think Valery Fedorenko would be considered weak by any means, even though all he did to get his world records was jerk a couple 32kg kettlebells over his head for ten minutes and accumulate over one hundred reps.  Just something to think about.

In my mind, feats of strength are relative, in awesomeness.  It's awesome when Ed Coan Deadlifts 800lbs.  It's also awesome when some skinny beanpole does a one arm chin-up.  Both impress me.

The metrics for PRs are as follows:  Volume, Density and Intensity.  If you read this, and weight lift with a degree of seriousness you, should know what these are.

Briefly, Intensity can be calculated as a percentage of a one rep max, or a percentage of your max reps.  If you go balls to the wall and and can do 200 snatches non stop, in ten minutes, and you decided to do 100 snatches in ten minutes, the intensity would be 50%.  Clear?

Volume is the amount of weight lifted.  Using our example, 200 snatches with a 24kg bell is 4800kg.

Density is volume in time.  4800kg moved in a 24kg snatch in ten minutes, is less dense than the same volume moved in nine minutes.

Furthermore--and somewhere on the internet is an article Frankie Faires wrote stating what I am about to state--progress is not linear, and you will not PR in the exact same shit, in the exact same way every day.  We'd all be herculean gods if that were the case.  Whereas, I did a shit load of sets in my Long Cycle on Sunday, I might not do more sets, the next time, but the density might be better.  Or I will do my sets of Long Cycle, not PR and PR in a military press.

Is this a manipulation of what a PR is? No, however it is an expansion on the traditional definition of a PR which was always looked at from a point of view of intensity. 

How can you lift weight with no tension? 

I see many faces like this in the gym. 


 If you lift something heavy, you will tense up to a degree.  The idea--and what leads to being able to do our best every day--is to use the minimal effective amount of effort.  This means not cinching your asshole shut, and not hissing like a snake on a 24kg kettlebell press.   This premise teaches us how to not be tense all the time, as we generally do gym movements to get better at life movements.  Try not being so tense and using the minimal effective amount of effort next time you lift.  You will feel better after--maybe not psychologically, at first, because you don't feel exhausted like a whore who just got gang banged by ten guys.  Physically, you will feel better.  By the way, shit faces and other weird faces waste monumental loads of effort.  Case in point, a friend of mine told me that she was able to do her movements far better and for longer when she stopped the face making. 
Does anyone want to feel this way?








Here's an anecdote from my personal experience.  It also ties in to following written programs.  I used to follow certain aspects of written programs.  Much to my chagrin, I was uncomfortable at times, and struggled to make progress.  Using quality tested movements, testing variants, and testing my form, my progress has gone up in the movements I perform.  Before I adopted the Gym Movement protocol, I pulled muscles in my back several times from deadlifting--usually following bad internet advice and not trying to figure my own shit out.  Now, it has not happened at all, thankfully.  Quality movements reduce the risk of fucking your shit up.  Movements using the minimal effective amount of effort and that test well will make you better. Daily. 

Brittany Dailey

Pain and the Movement

Will WilliamsAdam Glass, and others relieved a shit ton of pain using the GM protocol.  I was not ever in a shit ton of pain.  So I have no experience with this, but the articles on both of their sites are filled with valuable information.

That said, it is not a cure all.  You can still get injured.  Notably, if you play sports, you can get fucked up there.  You should not be getting fucked up with training.  But, with anything there is a risk involved.  Frankie talked about this in a forum post I read recently.  You can still get injured, doing what you do.  You can get injured banging your significant other, testing an unloaded movement, or deadlifting 225lbs.  What the aforementioned people have in common though is that the GM protocol helped absolve them of their long standing fuck ups.  Read more about them on the links.

Movement Bias

I mentioned this in my review  and I feel as though it needs restating.  You don't always do the movements you are good at.  You can test them, and they will not always test well.  And what have we learned thus far? That we do the best quality movement.  It might not always be something you're good at, but the sky is the limit.  Things to note, do contra specific movements they will do wonders for your goal movements.  There's a reason why rows or pull-ups test well when a press won't.  There's a reason why hip extending movements test well (imagine keeping your bicep flexed eight hours a day.  This is what your hips go through while sitting at work).
The carry over is that the more good shit you do for yourself, the better you will get in everything.

The other question you must ask yourself is "why have I been told to do these movements?"  You can take the advice of anyone, but you can also test it for yourself.  For instance, my friend has a deficient left trap muscles.  God knows how he got it, probably from masturbating with his right hand only, and sitting at a computer most of his life.  Through testing his movements--lots of pulling motions and partial rep presses, he can now fully press about half his body weight, which equates to a 32kg kettlebell. 70lbs, for you novices to the metric system.  If you continue to do movements you only are good at, they will stop testing, and they will not make progress.  After that, you are forcing gains, not allowing them, and that is counter intuitive.

Working hard vs. Working smart

This goes along with use of tension, but deserved its own category.  The things we do in the gym are pretty fucking challenging sometimes.  But they are never something that could potentially break us badly.  Like, working to failure, getting exhausted and what have you.  Stopping when effort looms its head is the way to work smart.  You can get more done this way, than gassing yourself out on your training.  Save the effort for the competition.

Things to watch out for to avoid too much effort include breathing patterns, movement cadence, and tension.  When the breathing pattern changes, stop if you cannot correct it.  When the Cadence slows, and you cannot correct it, stop.  When you start to use excessive tension--shit faces, asshole clamping--stop your set.  You will allow yourself to do more.  And doing more of something better is smart.   

Joint Mobility/Foam Rolling

The premise behind joint mobility and corrective exercises can be confusing.  And it can be summed up by saying that if you do something that is good for you, you don't need to correct it.  So, test big movements instead of small movements.

The problem arises when people have literally fucked themselves into a shitty state of moving.  Gluteal amnesia, tight hip flexors, and what have you can limit your movement patterns.  These are instances where you can test mobility exercises.   For me personally, fucking with Indian Clubs tests well, and I enjoy it, so I do it from time to time.

Gluteal Amnesia? I think not
While on the subject of micro and macro movements, we must start with what we have.  If joint mobility tests well for you, and you can't do much else, do it.  It will be beneficial.  Frank Berean--follower of GM protocol--went for a decent amount of time not doing military presses because only rows (a contraspecific movement) were testing well.


 

The Ultimate Conclusion

 You can do whatever the fuck you want to do. If you have a doubt, or a question about any of this, test it.  You have nothing to lose by testing a movement, or any of your gym practices.

Work towards your goals.  If your goal is to squat more, eventually you're going to have to squat.  Same for Olympic lifting.  You will have to do it eventually to get better at it.  Just do them when they test well.  And find variations to test.  Use the path of least resistance.  Make the difficult look easy, and the easy look effortless and you will be on the path to perpetual progress every day.




*Sure enough, I was right.  I took a break from writing and trained more, and got a volume PR.