Random Thoughts

My next door neighbor was recently murdered (shot) at his home and they buried him this morning. My other neighbors are in their front yard popping off firecrackers RIGHT NOW. I’m not exactly Mr. Sensitive, but damn, that seems kind of like a common sense thing to abstain from today. You know…cuz it kinda sounds like…a little like…..I don’t know…..gun shots?

Let's just pop this shit off!

Staying Lean Year Round: Don’t Be That Guy!

I was sitting around at a corner sari-sari store shooting the shit and drinking a few beers with a friend a couple of days ago and he said something that sparked a brain storming session. Unlike me, he’s a friendly guy and actually talks to people in the gym. He said some dudes in the gym were bagging on him because he’s not currently sporting a six pack. Now this is a pretty big dude and although he’s a little smooth at the moment, he still has vascular arms and obvious muscle separation just walking around in a t-shirt. So what’s the problem?

Lattimer was probably a big eater off season

I experienced a similar thing a while back when a guy commented on my work ethic and said one day I’ll be as big as him. I was confused by this comment and thought the guy was delusional, since I probably outweigh him by 50-60 pounds.  What’s the definition of big? There is a bit of a language barrier, but what I think he meant was, a low body fat cut up look. So in his mind, being a 170 pound twink with a six pack, trumps actually being big and strong.

Not big, not strong...all twink.

This is so common. An average guy in my gym is probably 130-150 pounds and a “big” dude is say in the 170-180 range. The common denominator is that most of them are circa 10% body fat lean and although they train diligently, they don’t make any noticeable changes from year to year. They want to get freakishly big and strong, but their obsession with perpetual leanness is holding them back. They will never achieve the “look” they are chasing, because they want to have it 24/7. I’ll let you in on a little secret…those freakishly huge and lean guys in the magazines only look that way a handful of times per year.

The truly sad part is that many of these guys are on steroids. I don’t have any personal experience with steroids, but I can confidently say that they are wasting their money on that shit. If you’re not eating big it’s a waste in my opinion. It’s like pumping NO into a car with an empty gas tank and expecting it to perform. Fucking stupid!

So back to my friend, our ultimate goals are different, but the process to meet our goals is basically the same.  He works on strength to facilitate mass and I put on mass to get stronger. Here’s the conclusion that we both came to; if you don’t compete, to make the best progress, you should still train like a competitor for your given sport.

Think about it, a bodybuilder might do 2 shows per year and maybe just one that they consider to be the big show. How is that guy going to structure his training? He’s going to bulk up and then lean out for the show and see what’s going on. Then he will assess his weaknesses and work on being better for the next show. He will repeat this process over and over and continue to get better and better. Powerlifting is no different except that you’re peaking for strength instead of maximal size/leanness.

This is nothing new…it’s just good old fashioned periodization. So for the guy trying to get that bodybuilding look, I think peaking 2x per year is a decent way to go. I’d try to schedule these peaks around significant events like vacations and such to add a sense of urgency.  So it would look something like this:

6-8 weeks (Strength) get stronger on the heavy compound movements and eat big

6-8 weeks (Mass) coast on the big weights, increase the hypertrophy work and continue eating big

6-8 weeks (Cutting) increased cardio and tighten up the diet to peak

2-3 weeks (Awesomeness) coast, rest, and bask in your awesomeness

So you’ll only spend 10% of your time basking in your awesomeness and that kind of sucks. The truth however, is that you will at least be legitimately strong and awesome. And unlike your gym comrades, you’ll build yourself up to actual man size.

"Chow down"

 

How NOT to squat

I have this thing called Google+1 that I use with the blog, and for some reason I started searching through it today and stumbled across this. When I saw the safety pins I was kinda wondering if they might be set a notch too high, and then I saw this travesty. I'm not some kind of “proper form” or “ass to grass” Nazi, but this is just retarded.

405x8 belt-less at 170, with this fool building it up...man, I thought I was about to see something decent...but then I was presented with this steaming pile of suck instead. I clicked on the dude's link and it turns out that he's a licensed PT, and he's peddling a system called 6 pack shortcuts. Watching him cheer this guy on like everything's cool, and presenting it like this is how it's done had me rolling my eyes so hard that I got a headache. If the dude actually went down in the hole, he probably would get stuck there on a single. After this, how can you take anything else this guy has to say seriously?

Check your egos guys...this lame ass knee bend shit is an embarrassment.

Basic Training Structure: The Foundation

I was in the gym yesterday and noticed that everyone was walking around with, and referencing, the same program. The program was issued to members by the gym, and boy what a steaming pile of dog shit. It was a standard, balls to the wall muscle mag program; you know...body part split, 2-3 body parts per day, 3-4 exercises per body part, 3-4 sets per exercise, 8-12 reps per set, and everything was arranged all randomly. Like I said, a steaming pile of dog shit program. Actually, since there is no progression plan, is not even a program...it's just a shitty printed off “routine”.

Let me hook you up with some programming, Dawg!

To top it off, the plan calls for 20-30 minute cardio sessions done 2x per day, EVERY DAY! For those of you that are math challenged, that's 14 cardio sessions per week. The guy that showed it to me asked me how he should diet. “Dude, you need to be eating like a horse and drinking Crisco.”

As I wrote previously, there isn't one right way to go about your programming, but you should be using your fucking brain and doing your best to go about things logically. There are so many training variables and it can get confusing, and it would take several posts to just cover the basics. So I'm just going to lay out some foundational stuff here. The variables will change depending on your goal, training age, etc., but the foundation of “normal” programming doesn't really need to change that much. Three points.

1. Focus on the big movements, do them first (and) have a progression plan for said movements

This was the thing that really stuck out when I saw the above-mentioned routine. There was no star of the show exercise. Leg day for example was something like; 3 sets of leg presses, 3 sets of squats, 3 sets of extensions, 3 sets of dumbbell deadlifts (I'm not even kidding), 3 sets of leg curls, 3 sets of seated calf raises, and on and on. It was just a random list of exercises with no progression plan. If you have a list of 12 exercises to check off and the squat is number 6 on the list, how much effort do you think the trainee will give to it? That's the fucking star of the day and no one even knows it...they just half ass 3 sets of 90lbs and continue trudging away on the 2 hour “work” session.

1. continued (Choosing the main movement)

This is easy if you want to train like a powerlifter; squat one day, bench one day, and deadlift one day. If you like to train in bodybuilding fashion, your best bet is to choose the full range compound lift that allows you to lift the most weight & it'll usually be the right answer. That pretty much means that the power lifts will make it into rotation quite a bit. But if you really like to drill your shit down to things like specific arm days, that's cool, but the same principle applies. Kick off the session with weighted dips, close grips or straight bar curls, as opposed to press downs, kickbacks, and preachers.

This goes first

and this goes last...got it?



1. continued (Progression plan)

This matters the most, but at the same time it really doesn't matter so much. How you progress doesn't matter as much as the fact that you have a progression plan in the first place. It's all goal dependent. You can progress on weight, reps, density, or whatever else as long as it's in line with your current goal. I prefer to follow a specific system, but it can be as simple as progressing on reps until you hit a specific number, then upping the weight & lowering the reps and starting over.

2. Repeated effort work

You've already done some high end work for your main lift and now you can put in more work (assistance work) on the main lift, a variation of the main lift, another main lift from another day, or something entirely different (depending on how you have your routine structured). This will be another heavy compound movement done for more sets/reps. 5X5, 5x10, etc. Again, selection depends on your goal. There will be overlap as well. Someone working on top end strength might do rack pulls after pulling from the floor, but a bodybuilder might use the same exercise to develop his upper back. Same tool for different goals. It's not as important here, but I recommend to work on progression here as well.

3. Play time

This is where everything else goes. With the main movement and the repeated effort movement out of the way, you've pretty much done 90% of the work to get bigger and stronger. So now you can go have some fun. Use this time to do all of your lighter accessory stuff (single joint stuff, single limb stuff, and the fill in the gaps training). Don't get carried away with this stuff. If your training partner is screaming and slapping you on the head before a set of tricep push downs, you're doing it all wrong. Just get a good pump and split.



The real work is already done. This kind of shit is totally unnecessary at this point.

So a schedule could look like this for a strength oriented guy:

M- Squat

T- Press
T- Deadlift
F- Bench

A bodybuilder guy might roll like this:

M- Quads/hamstrings

T- Shoulders/calves
T- Back/ biceps
F- Chest/triceps

A sample strength oriented squat day would look something like this:

Squat (programmed) say 3-5 work sets of 1-5 reps (+warmups)

Olympic Squats 5x5
Lunges 3x10
Weighted abs (a bunch)

A bodybuilding oriented leg day would look something like this:

Squat (programmed) say 3-5 heavy work sets of 5-10 reps

Romanian Deadlift (programmed) Same as above
Leg press 3x10-20
Leg extension (superset with) leg curls 3-5 sets

The rest of the days would be the same basic structure. Pick the big joint movement to get strong on, pick a repeated effort movement to support the first movement, then do the other pump up stuff. Easy-E. Both of these setups represent a decent amount of work if you are really getting after it. You don't have to hit your muscles from every conceivable angle and grind yourself into dust with 40 set workout sessions to make progress. In fact, unless you are a rank novice, that shit will almost guarantee that you'll end up going nowhere.

 

 "Don't be that guy"

Squat: Elbow, Wrist and Forearm Pain

Elbow, wrist and forearm pain are pretty common for guys that squat heavy and often. When the weight started getting heavy, I was dealing with chronic pain on a regular basis. Everything I tried failed: grip variations, bar placement variations, hand spacing variations, etc. In the end, it was a major injury that ended up fixing it for good.

I tore my rotator cuff and bicep a while back and when I reentered the gym I spent 6 months doing nothing but squats an rehab work. For about the first month I was so fucked up that I literally had to use my right hand to place my left hand on the bar. What I discovered is that squatting with the injury totally fixed my elbow pain issue. Why? Because I couldn't squeeze and push on the bar. Hell, I couldn't even move my arm.

I ended up with a wider grip, but the real fix was my arm's relationship with the bar. I wasn't squeezing the bar, I wasn't pushing the bar, I was just holding the bar and letting it ride on my back. This is so simple and looking back, I feel kind of silly not figuring it out sooner. The reason I had pain (for years) was because I was squeezing the bar and inadvertently pushing up on it. So a heavy squat was not just a heavy squat...it was a heavy squat with a heavy static press (and) a lot of that weight was getting transferred down through my arms instead of my back where it belongs.

I'm sitting around 15 months post injury and my squat has improved about 50 pounds (pain free) in that time. I know that may sound like shit for some of you guys, but gains come slower and slower as your strength increases. You stronger guys will know what I mean.

Here's my advice. First, lower your training max a little and build back up. I think this is important when you are trying to make form changes because if you are operating too heavy, you're just going to end up doing whatever it takes to get shit done. What you are trying to do, is make a specific habit change and you're going to screw it up if you're in the gym bursting blood vessels in your eyes. Don't be a knucklehead, just drop the weight a little and work on developing the habit.

Shit happens when you lift heavy...but don't be in this mode when you're trying to sort things out.

Second, quit squeezing the shit out of the bar. I'm not saying that you need to limp wrist it or anything, but quit squeezing it like you're trying to open a jar of mayonnaise. Take a firm and manly grip, but stop there and quit trying to choke the life out of the bar. The harder you squeeze, the more you will end up pushing up on the bar without even realizing it.

Last, just let the bar ride on your back. You already have control and pushing up on it isn't doing jack shit to help you move that weight. Keep everything tight and let your legs and hips move the weight.

Here's the deal. If you're squatting heavy, it will hurt and it should hurt...that's just the game. It's okay for shit to get sore and “hurt”, but if you are feeling PAIN, something is wrong and you need to fix it. And I know from experience that this shit works.

"Give it a shot...what do you have to lose but some aggravating pain?"

Philippines: Welcome to Bizaaro World!

Here's the thing...if you decide to move to the Philippines, prepare to spend a lot of time scratching your head and wondering if the whole world just lost it's damn mind. Now I'm not saying everyone does abnormal shit here, but there sure is a lot of weirdness going down. The problem is that you'll likely be in the minority when something does seem off, because it will seem perfectly normal to almost everyone else. That disconnect will wear on you after a while and you'll start to question your own perception of the world. What's normal and what's not...at this point man, I barely know.

"Really man, please get off of the car, you're gonna scratch it"

There are too many examples to mention, but here's the one I'm thinking about today. Our town had a parade a few months ago and I had our car parked in front of the office. We are on Rizal Street, so the parade is definitely rolling up our block. I hit the gym and then I took my son to McDonalds for the post training feast. Yeah, my diet is 50% crap, but in my defense, I'm really more about getting strong than anything else at this point and the more calories the better in my opinion.

Anyway, when we returned from said fine dining establishment, we found our car covered with children; standing/sitting/walking on the hood, the roof and the trunk. The parents had placed their children there to get a good view of the parade. “Really, have you lost your fucking mind?” In what bizaaro world is this acceptable behavior?

Remember when Burt said something like "right or wrong depends on where you are standing on the planet at the time"? That's one smart mofo!

In defense of my poor car, I proceeded to tell folks to get their kids off of the car and they looked at me like I just lost my damn mind...crazy. Now here's the good part. After that, we went back to the office and I told the story to our employees. One of them responded and said something like, “oh yeah I saw that...but they were only children”. There you have it...that's the point...folks just don't know any better...it really is bizaaro world, man. It's all good, it's normal. A lot of shit that is totally dysfunctional will fall into this category here. And that's just how it is...you need to learn to work with it and work around it. Because no fucks will be given here...not due to a lack of caring, but due to a completely different outlook on life.

 "Really, I don't know what to say"

Wanna Lift Big Weight? Then Fill Your Heart With Hate!

It seems like I have been telling my kid this so much lately. That's right, I'm going for the father of the year award. I know, that sounds like a seriously negative attitude, but this mantra has served me well for years. When I was a kid I remember playing a game with a guy that I absolutely detested and I smoked him; up and down and sideways. I probably shouldn't have won, but the hate that I had made me focus and really knuckle down because, “I would not let this guy beat me, no matter what”. It really works...that kind of focus can make you almost unstoppable.

This mindset is similar to what you've probably read in books about successful people. They take criticism and negativity and use it it fuel their success. So my advice to my son is, not to get upset and retaliate when people screw with you. Just use that negativity to fuel your accomplishments, because your success is the best retaliation.

Pricks at school? Screw them! Knuckle down and ace every test (feel free to rub it in).
Jerks at work? Screw them! Knuckle down and be the top salesman (or whatever you do).
Ass holes at the gym? Screw them! Knuckle down and put up a stupid big squat.

 "Because sometimes a big lift really means FU"