Edit: Oh, and there's also a theory that says that building up more slowly will allow you to go further in the end, and make your gains less likely to recede if you take time off.
Sounds like Maffetone
Edit: Oh, and there's also a theory that says that building up more slowly will allow you to go further in the end, and make your gains less likely to recede if you take time off.
Ha, still at it Chris, decloaking at will!Sounds like Maffetone
So it's become a kind of powerlifting plan based on doubles, with lots of assistance thrown in. Interesting. I suppose any decent strength-training plan boils down to something like that: 3-8 big, compound lifts, and then somewhere between a little and a lot of assistance.Falling behind on the log, I made a minor change to the program. The shoulder is doing much better so I am going to start benching on Friday in the same method as the squat and DL and micro loading it. Benching was affecting my DL on Monday's and switching it with CGBP or Inc bench should help limit that.
As Rippetoe has maintained, strength is the most general adaptation, useful in just about everything else: http://startingstrength.com/articles/rippetoe/physical_therapy_fraud.pdf
So it's become a kind of powerlifting plan based on doubles, with lots of assistance thrown in. Interesting. I suppose any decent strength-training plan boils down to something like that: 3-8 big, compound lifts, and then somewhere between a little and a lot of assistance.
Know what you mean, the flu bug and then busy-ness and a lack of motivation have set me back. It's been two full weeks now without a full workout. I'm still sore from Wednesday's squats. Hopefully today's session will go well and get me back on track. Funny how different life feels when the exercise routine is interrupted. I think it even effects my perceptual abilities--just not as sharp or attuned.Yeah basically power lifting, sorry about the belated response I have been out of it for a week. I was thinking about doing the bench in 3's eventually but I think I over did it last week and roughed up my shoulder a bit. The press doesn't affect my squats, but the bench is more of a heavy lift for me.
Hopefully I can get things back on track next week, looking forward to running again!
Yah, getting back to it last week, I noticed the hamstring soreness from squats too.5k easy trail run - my hamstrings were sore from the squats again. Funny how they get more sore from squatting light weight than DL'ing heavy?
Trying to get caught back up on my workouts so hopefully by Monday I will be able to deadlift, Wednesday squat and Friday bench. Hopefully I can get an extra workout in sometime this week. Not sure what happened with the weight... shit. Back to no booze again. This dieting crap is depressing.
Jumped ahead 5 kgs accidentally on the deadlift, went up easy however. I will start the micro loading again from here instead of 126kgs. Funny how gaining a few pounds makes the lifting much easier.
Yah, getting back to it last week, I noticed the hamstring soreness from squats too.
Today, oddly enough, I'm sore in my sternum and front ribs from rowing yesterday, weird. Or was it the assisted pullups? Can't escape the principle of specificity I guess.
Dieting sucks. I can't do deskwork when I'm hungry. My goal is to convert the fat into muscle, not necessarily lose it, and I'm starting to lose weight finally. Frequent, full body workouts, mixed in with aerobic conditioning, are much easier for me than dieting and get about the same results, weight-wise, but much better results in terms of health and looks. I have been cutting out carbs at dinner though, and I don't worry too much about "peri-workout" nutrition any more. I think the necessity of protein shakes and all that is really overblown for the casual lifter.
I don't know if it's the extra body weight or simply the fact that your body is well-fueled but most seem to agree that it's hard to gain strength while dieting. I do like to eat a lot of protein on my lifting days, but then I back off a bit on my aerobic days. Instead of carb-cycling, I guess I protein-cycle.
In general, I don't think the body is nearly as fragile or sensitive as some health/nutrition/fitness writers would have us believe. I think once again it's a problem of translating out of high performance regimens, where a lot of principles/protocols/parameters are developed, to more modest general fitness regimens. The human body will adapt to within 80 percent of its genetic potential for strength/health/beauty with fairly simple training and nutrition, it seems to be. Only when someone wants to get up to that 90-100 percent of potential do all the little tweaks matter.
That said, I do think working in some more assistance lifts will improve my overall fitness and may have some carryover to the main lifts as well.
Anyway, getting back to it this week, and feeling great as a consequence. Like Sid says, it doesn't take long without exercise before I start to feel crummy.
BTW, almost ran yesterday . . .
Yah, similar to you, I have trouble giving up my pre-dinner bottle of beer, or my glass of wine with dinner, or three to four beers when I watch the Vikings Sunday nights on Tivo. But it can be done and would definitely help. I'm not sure I subscribe to the "alcohol = empty calories" theory though. Seems like it could be another one of those health/fitness/nutrition myths based on some flimsy study or an incomplete understanding of all the complex physiological interactions involved. I dunno, but dammit, I deserve a nice, cold IPA at the end of the day.Agreed food/drink is my biggest vice and it seems when I try to diet and feel hungry, the worse rebound mistakes I make. So I guess back to the sensible approach of snacking frequently on healthier foods. Yeah I think supplements are kind of overkill except for convenience. I still like my protein shakes but even being a vegetarian I really see very little difference between using them and not. Mostly its more of a satiation effect.
Nice about the running, almost means the motivation is there. I did a walk run thing today and I rather enjoyed, and it went at a pretty good overall ultra pace. Maybe give something like that a try? I signed up for a couple of 100k's next spring. Looking forward to doing a couple of events. I am definitely going to stick with only running events this time around.
That's pretty good insight about the regimens. I think there is some merit to focusing on certain weak areas with assistance but yeah is it necessary? Maybe to get your weakness up to a certain level but beyond that, like you said the 80% is plenty.
I have kind of come to that conclusion with the back work. I'm really getting the notion that relatively easy, but slower reps make my back feel developed and solid of the lifts but also for running. The heavy reps just seemed to irritate my spine and muscles, and cause a lot of interference with my other lifts.
Kinda fun: http://symmetricstrength.com/
Doesn't quite follow the Iron Ratio, but it's close on the four main lifts.
For a lean(ish) body weight of 210, it would view as symmetrical the following, based on my 1RM PR of 160 lbs on the OHP:
DL: 382
SQ: 330
BP: 245
OHP: 160
Chin-up: 9 reps
P-RW: 200
Most importantly for me, this brings down the Deadlift to Squat ratio to 1.16:1 instead of 1.25:1, which makes my current projected 1RM DL much more practicable. In fact, I think I have it, based on a Squat 1RM of 298 and Monday's DL attempt at 245, which I probably could've completed. My 1RM BP, at 260, is still way too strong, and Squat and Pullups are still my two weakest lifts, so more of the same, programming-wise. Sometime in February, if all goes well, I should have these numbers for everything except the Pullups, and, of course, the lean bodyweight of 210 . . . I'd be happy with 230-235 by then. Then in May sometime, I could have the 1000-pound powerlifting total, maybe earlier if I were to liberate the BP from the ratios . . . nah, I'm enjoying the structural balance and having eliminated my shoulder issues because of it.
So throwing down the gauntlet to Abide. It may be taking a lot longer than anticipated, but the 400-pound DL challenge, and the 1000-pound total, are still real possibilities.
What's wrong with your road bike? I don't know much about the bike market, I've mostly been shopping for accessories since taking up cycling again. One thing you might consider, if you have the discretionary income and yet are able to keep the four young'uns clothed and fed and properly toyed, is one of those bikes that has internal gears in the rear hub and a belt instead of a chain. I've heard they're a lot less maintenance, but I don't know what the price difference would be. I'm also pretty used to my mountain bike handle bars with the extensions on the inside, so I don't know what it would be like going back to the drop-down style handle bars. I kind of like to sit up more and look around. I'm not going fast enough to care about aerodynamics.Hey Lee, I have had enough with my road bike and am looking into purchasing some type of touring bike for my commuter bike and for some long rides. Any suggestions?
http://www.bikester.nl/386510.html
http://www.bikester.nl/kona-sutra-toerfiets-heren-grijs-384711.html
Yeah, it will be interesting to see what sort of programming you have in store for the coming year. I think I already have a good idea about how I will continue. Being able to do conventional or nearly conventional deadlifts and work with heavier weights has me really excited. On this forum, you guys see me talk a lot of numbers, but the structural balance or symmetric strength idea in practice is yielding very zen-like workouts. I'm getting better and better at intuiting how the system of pulleys and levers is working, and if its well-coordinated. Each lift becomes a piece of the larger puzzle of making it all work with both strength and grace. And I think that sensation is only really possible with a full-body workout. The body-part split routines are too mechanistic, and miss, I think, some of that feeling of an organic whole.Ha first you sell me on the microloading scheme and now this! I'll have to layout the whole schematic over the next 4 week and 8 week cycle to see where I am at. Although my 90kg squats are getting a bit heavy now?
What's wrong with your road bike? I don't know much about the bike market, I've mostly been shopping for accessories since taking up cycling again. One thing you might consider, if you have the discretionary income and yet are able to keep the four young'uns clothed and fed and properly toyed, is one of those bikes that has internal gears in the rear hub and a belt instead of a chain. I've heard they're a lot less maintenance, but I don't know what the price difference would be. I'm also pretty used to my mountain bike handle bars with the extensions on the inside, so I don't know what it would be like going back to the drop-down style handle bars. I kind of like to sit up more and look around. I'm not going fast enough to care about aerodynamics.
Anyway, let us know what you end up with.