There are some very odd people at the RSF.
Deficit Speed Pulls (2x45, slippers) - 225x1 for 15 minutes
Push Press - 135x1-3 for 15 minutes (including 2 strict singles at the start)
Jump to Pullup
Face Pulls - 5lbs for 100 total reps
Next time someone confronts me at the gym, I need to verify whether or not they're staff. I have no idea who that leathery old guy was, but his definition of "dropping" is clearly very different from mine.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Thursday, September 26, 2013
9/26/13
Push Pressing (and a bit of Push Jerking) with 135. Just went in and did triples, doubles, and singles for about 45 minutes to work off some steam.
Romaleos II shipping from Rogue in the next day or so, so I'll be squatting again some time next week.
http://gregnuckols.com/2013/09/27/a-few-thoughts-about-squat-depth/
This sounds familiar. I'll take a training max at some point in the next week and see where I miss; I remember losing it pretty high out of the hole in competition, so this could be relevant to me.
(Video Proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k98qNXSeD6c)
Romaleos II shipping from Rogue in the next day or so, so I'll be squatting again some time next week.
http://gregnuckols.com/2013/09/27/a-few-thoughts-about-squat-depth/
This sounds familiar. I'll take a training max at some point in the next week and see where I miss; I remember losing it pretty high out of the hole in competition, so this could be relevant to me.
(Video Proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k98qNXSeD6c)
Friday, September 20, 2013
9/20/13
Fucked around. The warmup's always the same from now on (bridges, shoulders, overhead squat), so I won't write it down. Working up will always be the same, too: Sets of 3-10 at all the lower 25/45 increments, and maybe the empty bar.
Speed Pulls (chucks, 45lb plate): 15 minutes with 225. Pulled, got water, caught my breath, pulled again. Maybe 15 seconds rest.
Push Press/Push Jerk: 20 singles with 135. Tried to keep these as push presses, but pussied out and dropped on some of them. The last 3 were done as a full set (2 push, 1 failed, 1 jerk).
Chins: 30 reps across doubles and singles. Discovered I could jump to the bar, started jumping to the bar. Discovered I could jump to the bar from the bottom of a squat, started doing that. Fun.
Walked there and back.
Speed Pulls (chucks, 45lb plate): 15 minutes with 225. Pulled, got water, caught my breath, pulled again. Maybe 15 seconds rest.
Push Press/Push Jerk: 20 singles with 135. Tried to keep these as push presses, but pussied out and dropped on some of them. The last 3 were done as a full set (2 push, 1 failed, 1 jerk).
Chins: 30 reps across doubles and singles. Discovered I could jump to the bar, started jumping to the bar. Discovered I could jump to the bar from the bottom of a squat, started doing that. Fun.
Walked there and back.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Testosterone
I'm looking into dietary ways to increase testosterone levels. Thus far, I'm getting:
1) Zinc and Magnesium are important, ZMA's not necessary.
2) Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Cabbage reduce estradiol levels
3) Garlic is awesome
4) Sun exposure or vitamin D supplementation - >2000 IU per day is ideal. Sun exposure for 30-60 minutes gives around 5-10x this and tans you up too, which is good for me because of my hilarious farmer's tan
5) Interval Training
6) Weightlifting, especially when done with high volume and short rests
7) Horny Goat Weed. Icaarin levels equivalent to roughly 900mg/day produced dramatic testosterone increases in rats. This will have to wait until I have a job; getting it from Horny Goat Weed supplements (10%) would run $50/mo, isolate powders (usually 40%) would run more like $300/mo, and the tests to see if it's having a hormonal effect are about $150 each.
8) Talking to and sleeping with attractive women. Oh, right. Talking to guys actually helps as well.
9) Winning, presumably.
10) Olive Oil (helps with cholesterol absorption)
11) Apparently caffeine right before training can help
12) More and longer cold showers/baths. Wonderful.
Most of these line up with my plans either way. Right now my total testosterone around 11am (waking up at 10) comes in at 600ng/dL; normal for sub-25 is more like 700 (150 sigma). I'd like to get a more comprehensive set of labs in future (total, free, weakly bound, SHBG, and estradiol; total, free, and estradiol at minimum). Realistically I think I can hit 800ng/dL on waking; >900 would be excellent, but that'll take some word. If I can get it over 1,000 I'd be really, really stoked, but since the point is partly to fix risk aversion and improve my performance with girls, I suspect I'd already have all of the desired benefits by the time I hit this.
1) Zinc and Magnesium are important, ZMA's not necessary.
2) Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Cabbage reduce estradiol levels
3) Garlic is awesome
4) Sun exposure or vitamin D supplementation - >2000 IU per day is ideal. Sun exposure for 30-60 minutes gives around 5-10x this and tans you up too, which is good for me because of my hilarious farmer's tan
5) Interval Training
6) Weightlifting, especially when done with high volume and short rests
7) Horny Goat Weed. Icaarin levels equivalent to roughly 900mg/day produced dramatic testosterone increases in rats. This will have to wait until I have a job; getting it from Horny Goat Weed supplements (10%) would run $50/mo, isolate powders (usually 40%) would run more like $300/mo, and the tests to see if it's having a hormonal effect are about $150 each.
8) Talking to and sleeping with attractive women. Oh, right. Talking to guys actually helps as well.
9) Winning, presumably.
10) Olive Oil (helps with cholesterol absorption)
11) Apparently caffeine right before training can help
12) More and longer cold showers/baths. Wonderful.
Most of these line up with my plans either way. Right now my total testosterone around 11am (waking up at 10) comes in at 600ng/dL; normal for sub-25 is more like 700 (150 sigma). I'd like to get a more comprehensive set of labs in future (total, free, weakly bound, SHBG, and estradiol; total, free, and estradiol at minimum). Realistically I think I can hit 800ng/dL on waking; >900 would be excellent, but that'll take some word. If I can get it over 1,000 I'd be really, really stoked, but since the point is partly to fix risk aversion and improve my performance with girls, I suspect I'd already have all of the desired benefits by the time I hit this.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
A Declaration of Fucking Around
I've recently had some epiphanies, and one of the bigger ones is that I no longer care about powerlifting specifically. My interest is in being strong, athletic, and ripped, not in setting huge records in the big three. I'll still compete, but (in my current mindset, at least) I'm not going to bother cutting weight and won't focus on the competition lifts to the exclusion of all else the way I have been recently.
I've also realized that regardless of how well the Westside approach is working, it's taking too long per day and fucking up my shoulder.
I've got two ideas:
1) Drop the money on a renewed gym membership and go Jamie Lewis style, lifting six days per week with high intensities, short rests, and no specific prescribed lifts, capping each session at an hour. The only requirement is leg/push/pull, with merged exercises counting as two. This'd be two weeks heavy one week light (probably just calisthenics for the light week, with lots of jumping and single-leg squats).
2) Save the money and just fuck around at home with the sled, handles, trap bar, and TPB. An hour per day of sled drags, cleans, deads, farmer's walks, and chins sounds like a similarly good plan for making things go.
Either way, I'm not flat bench pressing for a while. Once my shoulder and upper back feel like they're working properly I'll go back in, but I like Pressing more than benching anyway.
Worthwhile reading:
http://www.myosynthesis.com/workouts/bulgarian-style-training
http://gregnuckols.com/2012/09/12/a-deadlift-tip-and-some-training/
http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=5786666
A few programming insights and a look at two exercises I think would be worth looking at.
The idea here is that I want to get fit and healthy rather than win competitions, so a lot of stuff will go by Starett's work and general feel. I want to win at life, not at powerlifting. This also eliminates any concern I have about going hiking, rock climbing, or anything else.
I've also realized that regardless of how well the Westside approach is working, it's taking too long per day and fucking up my shoulder.
I've got two ideas:
1) Drop the money on a renewed gym membership and go Jamie Lewis style, lifting six days per week with high intensities, short rests, and no specific prescribed lifts, capping each session at an hour. The only requirement is leg/push/pull, with merged exercises counting as two. This'd be two weeks heavy one week light (probably just calisthenics for the light week, with lots of jumping and single-leg squats).
2) Save the money and just fuck around at home with the sled, handles, trap bar, and TPB. An hour per day of sled drags, cleans, deads, farmer's walks, and chins sounds like a similarly good plan for making things go.
Either way, I'm not flat bench pressing for a while. Once my shoulder and upper back feel like they're working properly I'll go back in, but I like Pressing more than benching anyway.
Worthwhile reading:
http://www.myosynthesis.com/workouts/bulgarian-style-training
http://gregnuckols.com/2012/09/12/a-deadlift-tip-and-some-training/
http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=5786666
A few programming insights and a look at two exercises I think would be worth looking at.
The idea here is that I want to get fit and healthy rather than win competitions, so a lot of stuff will go by Starett's work and general feel. I want to win at life, not at powerlifting. This also eliminates any concern I have about going hiking, rock climbing, or anything else.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Diet Again
http://gregnuckols.com/2013/09/02/carbs-at-night-make-you-lean-so-do-big-breakfasts/
I decided I'd stick with the old plan, so this isn't relevant yet - I may migrate over to carb-nite, actually, given how similar they are - but longer-term, I have a feeling this lays out a fairly decent (and sustainable) approach:
Large, high-fat, high-protein breakfast
Meals between as necessary, big focus on not training on an empty stomach
Low-fat and 120-150g carbs in the evenings
It seems like this would be ideal for easy weight maintenance (large breakfast for basic fullness and carbs in the evening to supposedly adjust the leptin schedule); it's clinically-backed and looks both convenient and healthy.
I decided I'd stick with the old plan, so this isn't relevant yet - I may migrate over to carb-nite, actually, given how similar they are - but longer-term, I have a feeling this lays out a fairly decent (and sustainable) approach:
Large, high-fat, high-protein breakfast
Meals between as necessary, big focus on not training on an empty stomach
Low-fat and 120-150g carbs in the evenings
It seems like this would be ideal for easy weight maintenance (large breakfast for basic fullness and carbs in the evening to supposedly adjust the leptin schedule); it's clinically-backed and looks both convenient and healthy.
Monday, September 2, 2013
2013-09-12 Deadlift Day
Redoing the keto run for diet; the whole thing got kinda fucked from a weekend of baking and hanging out at the frats. Sleep's been bad too.
I'm going to exercise more self-control and not let this happen again. The diet's easy enough to stick to, so it's not like I have a good excuse.
Deadlift -
135x10
185x10
225x10
275x6 (hook, 5 mats)
335x5+3 (straps, 5 mats)
335x1 (hook, 5 mats)
I didn't scratch my legs up this time, so I think there are technical problems here.
DB Row -
40x10x5
RDL -
185x10x5
Decided that I've probably been majoring in the minors on this.
Front Squat Hold -
295x30, 30, 30, 20, 30
My upper back is now part of the limit here; mobility time.
BTNBPD - Mini*15x2
BPD - Mini*15x2
BER - Micro*12x2
FPull - Mini*12x2
Conditioning - Walked to Berkeley Bowl and then interval jogged to Sigma Pi (roughly 1.5 miles of intervals). I'm going to run for conditioning more - rowing's nice, but my running capacity is embarrassing right now.
I'm going to exercise more self-control and not let this happen again. The diet's easy enough to stick to, so it's not like I have a good excuse.
Deadlift -
135x10
185x10
225x10
275x6 (hook, 5 mats)
335x5+3 (straps, 5 mats)
335x1 (hook, 5 mats)
I didn't scratch my legs up this time, so I think there are technical problems here.
DB Row -
40x10x5
RDL -
185x10x5
Decided that I've probably been majoring in the minors on this.
Front Squat Hold -
295x30, 30, 30, 20, 30
My upper back is now part of the limit here; mobility time.
BTNBPD - Mini*15x2
BPD - Mini*15x2
BER - Micro*12x2
FPull - Mini*12x2
Conditioning - Walked to Berkeley Bowl and then interval jogged to Sigma Pi (roughly 1.5 miles of intervals). I'm going to run for conditioning more - rowing's nice, but my running capacity is embarrassing right now.
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