Lucas' Training Log

Heavy Weight as Anger Management

2008-09-24T15:19:00.002-05:00

First, a disclaimer: I'm not angry. But I have a friend who's in a crappy situation right now, and that made me think of how I've handled similar situations in the past.

In my sophomore year of college, I punched a door. I was in a frustrating situation and I felt helpless to resolve it. Sometimes you just need to do something stupid to release all that frustration/irritation/anger, and in my case I chose to punch a metal door. Of course, I didn't realize at the time that the door was metal, and the third knuckle of the middle finger of my right hand is now about 1.5 times as big as the one on my left hand as a result of that particular little outburst.

That was the last time I chose to punch something in frustration. I found a better way of coping: full body self-abuse in the form of a ridiculously intense training session.

Whenever I'm mad -- shallow breathing, clenched fists, tunnel vision MAD -- I head to the gym. I channel the anger and the frustration into my workout. Anger makes heavy squats go up faster, and adds a nice edge to that light-headed feeling of accomplishment after a particularly challenging deadlift.

No matter how the workout goes -- whether I crush the weights I was going for or fall short on every single exercise, I always feel better after I've lifted. I've gotten the raw emotion out of the way at least a bit and can think more clearly about the problem that caused my distress in the first place.

Besides, it's impossible to feel angry when all you're focused on is trying to make sure your rubbery legs don't give out on you and make you collapse in a heap just outside the gym doors.

Fitness and the Traveling Salesman

2008-09-10T16:34:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I'm not really a traveling salesman, but I am traveling for 3 of the 4 weeks in September for my super-cool new job. I'm halfway through week one, and I just got done paying $16.23 ($15 plus tax!) for the privilege of working out in a Gold's Gym down the road from my hotel. That's highway robbery!

But I'll probably continue to pay similar fees in my travels, since hotels don't really quite understand the concept of a "fitness room." See, cardio is but one aspect of fitness. And, in my semi-informed opinion, it's the aspect of fitness that it most easily taken care of by paying attention to the other aspects of fitness, such as strength, speed, agility, endurance, etc.

But the wonderful folks at Holiday Inn and Hilton (yeah, I stay classy on the road!) seem to believe that all of their patrons' fitness needs can be met by stuffing two treadmills and an upright exercise bike into a converted guest room. If they're feeling particularly generous, they might throw in a nice big swiss ball to do crunches on.

But I'm traveling, sleeping and eating on the company dime, so it's definitely worth shelling out $15 every couple of days for a decent workout.

Doing stuff I previously couldn't

2008-08-21T21:46:00.004-05:00

Hey Miz -- I'm alive! The new job is great, but keeping me quite busy. Thanks for checking up on me, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

The biggest difference in my training now and my work outs of a year ago stem from one simple shift in thinking. I stopped thinking about exercising as a way to lose fat and build muscle and get "healthier," and started thinking of training in terms of improving my performance.

It's a paradigm shift that came about largely due to my exposure to Crossfit and Mark Rippetoe. They're smart folks with great ideas, and I owe my renewed enthusiasm for training to them.

The really cool thing about this is that by focusing on improving the amount of weight I can lift or how fast I can run, I'm actually doing a better job of increasing muscle mass and improving my physical appearance than I was when those things were my goals. There's also a bit of an ego boost from the knowledge that I'm stronger and faster than I've ever been, and improving constantly.

Also, as mentioned earlier, I've rediscovered my passion for lifting. I get excited every time I go to the gym, because I'm always trying to do something I haven't done before. Pushing myself like that is a great feeling. It's an adrenaline rush. It can be scary, too, trying something you're not sure you're going to be able to do. But the feeling of accomplishment when you do that thing you weren't sure you could do is amazing

Stress & Training

2008-07-15T20:37:00.003-05:00

It's an interesting conundrum: the more stressed you are, the less you feel like you have the time and energy necessary to train. But at the same time, the more stressed you are, the more you'd benefit from setting aside a bit of time to get in the gym and work your ass off.

Exercise relieves stress. Even better news for the lifters, Crossfitters and LSD-haters among us, high-intensity exercise is better at relieving stress than low-intensity exercise.

I don't really have any mind-blowing analysis or earth-shattering ideas to present here. This is one of the few cases in exercise science where the experts all agree, and conventional wisdom is actually wise.

This post is just a reminder to myself and anybody else out there who may have been feeling a bit overhwelmed lately and hasn't gotten into the gym: Do it. As soon as possible. As in right now, unless you're a heart surgeon in mid-operation or a pilot in command of a transatlantic flight. (In which case you probably shouldn't be reading this, anyway.)

Get your gym shorts on, go kick your own butt and forget your worries for a while. It'll do you a world of good.

P.S. I googled the word "necessary" to make sure I'd spelled it right in this post. The very first result turned out to be quite an interesting read. Good times.

My couch fixation

2008-07-03T23:43:00.007-05:00

At dinner tonight, my mother mentioned in passing that I use the example of moving a couch a lot on this blog. (No, I don't live with my parents. They're in town for the July 4 weekend. Although free meals and laundry do sound pretty good...)

I don't have an obsession with moving multi-person seating units. I didn't even realize I was using the couch example so often until Mom called me out on it.

Moving couches just usually jumps to mind when I try to think of an example of my definition of fitness: the ability to perform daily physical activities with ease, and the ability to perform difficult but useful physical activities, period.

So I squat, deadlift and press while most other people head to the elliptical or bust out another set of bicep curls. And that's fine. Thier definition of fitness has more to do with BMI and calories burned, while mine has more to do with performance improvements and pounds lifted.

Neither is the "right" definition of fitness. I think mine's a healthier, more practical approach than the BMI crowd, but they think their definition is superior to mine. Each camp has the scientific and anecdotal evidence to back up their claims.

But I won't be asking any of those guys I see in the gym spending hours on the treadmill to help me move my couch. They'd scuff the upholstery when they dropped it.

Moving on

2008-07-01T14:49:00.002-05:00

This isn't really fitness-related, but what the hey. It's my blog and I'll go off-topic if I want to!

I accepted a new job at my alma mater today and gave my two weeks notice at my current job. I'm very excited about this move -- it's actually a minor decrease in take-home pay, but the benefits are much better and there's a strong possibility for advancement (compared to my current job, which has offers basically zero advancement opportunity).

On a fitness-related note, my new job is much closer to my current abode, so I'll be able to bike to work whenever the weather is nice. That's not nearly strenuous enough to replace picking up heavy things as my daily exercise, but it's always good whenever you're able to add a little more physical activity into your day.

Oh, and the new job also includes a membership at the campus gym. The current gym is no worse than your average Globogym, but a new and improved facility will open in about a year. From what I can tell, the new facility will be open to everyone from varsity athletes to students to staff, so I should have access to fancy things like bumper plates and maybe even o-lifting platforms!

Squat. And don't die.

2008-06-16T15:50:00.005-05:00

After my squat rant the other day, Charlotte asks:

I love lower body work. I really do. But please tell me how to do heavy squats without getting hemorrhoids. Not trying to be gross. Just saying it took a good six weeks to recover from my last 1-rep max.

She raises an excellent point. Squatting is one of the best things you can do for your body because it involves so many muscles working together to do so many things all at once. Unfortunately, this also means that if you're doing something wrong, you have the opportunity to mess yourself up in so many different ways.

So how do you squat safely? Follow my simple, patent-pending 4-step program:

1 - Learn technique.

The squat is the most technically complex of the "slow lifts." It's worth taking some time to understand exactly what you should be doing before loading up a bar and putting it on your back.

If you can afford it and can find a good coach in your area, in-person training is the best way to learn. If you can't get one-on-one training, then there are plenty of resources out there. Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe is generally regarded as the Holy Gospel of Strength Training and will tell you everything you need to know about the squat, deadlift, bench press, press, power clean and other lifts. There are plenty of useful videos out there in the inter-webs, too. I'd recommend the Squat Rx videos.

2 - Practice.

As with any physical skill, learning to squat takes practice. Use a light weight -- the empty bar works just fine -- and practice doing all the things you learned to do from your extensive study of technique.

If you have access to a video camera, tape yourself squatting and then watch it to make sure your body is really doing what you think it's doing. You can even post the video online and ask for people to critique your form -- the Crossfit Message Boards and Rippetoe's thread over at Strength Mill are two great places for this.

3 - Take it slow

Once you feel comfortable with the movement and have a reasonable degree of certainty that you're doing it correctly, increase the weight in a CONTROLLED, GRADUAL and METHODICAL way. Increase your weight by a set increment between workouts: 10 pounds at the beginning, moving down to 5 pound or even 2.5 pound increases once the weight starts getting heavier. Making big jumps in weight that your body isn't prepared for (even though you think it is) is a great way to injure yourself.

4 - Rinse and repeat

Tiger Woods is possibly the greatest golfer ever, and his swing causes golf aficionados to drool all over their Nike Dri-Fit polos. But no two swings he's ever taken were identical, and he's completely re-tooled his swing more than once.

Squatting is no different -- even when you've been doing it for years, your squat is constantly changing and you need to be constantly monitoring your form to make sure everything is going well. Once you think you've gotten the squat down pat, take occasional form check videos to make sure you're really still on track, or ask a knowledgeable coach or friend to watch you squat. "Form creep" happens to everyone, and the earlier you spot and correct the little things that start to go wrong, the better off you'll be.

5 - BONUS! A few assorted tips

Some tips for safe & fun squatting for the entire family:

Always warm up before squatting. A general warm-up to break a light sweat plus a set or two of light squats before your "work sets" will go a long way to keep you safe.

No 1 rep maxes for beginners! Hate to call Charlotte out like this, but she probably shouldn't have been doing a 1 rep max in the first place. Things WILL go wrong in a 1 rep max attempt, and you should have a good deal of experience under the bar before even attempting one. Unless you're training to compete in a strength sport, 1 rep maxes aren't really ever necessary in your training. And many competitive lifters don't attempt a true 1 rep max outside of meets, anyway.

Always have some sort of spotter handy. This can mean that you have the safety bars in a power rack or squat rack set to a height that will catch the bar if you get stuck at the bottom of a squat, or just that you have a friend who knows how to safely spot you standing by watching you in case things get out of hand.

Take the time to learn to squat safely and correctly, and you'll reap the benefits for years. Try to do too much weight too soon without learning proper form, and you might end up like this guy.

Squat, dammit!

2008-06-13T09:55:00.003-05:00

I've discussed the value of the squat before. But it's frustrating to see so many guys in the gym doing nothing but 17 variations of bicep curls and then a set or two of "bench," so please indulge me as I rant a little more about the value of the squat, and lower-body training in general.

For some reason, the American male thinks of strength as an upper-body phenomenon. If a guy wants to get an idea of how strong another guy is, he asks how much he can bench press. Or, if he's not the "interact directly with others" type, he just sizes up the guy's biceps.

But WHY? If your idea of strength can be entirely contained between the elbows and the rib cage, then you're leaving out a significant portion of the human body.

In the real world, if your legs can't support it, you can't lift it. You may be able to bench press 300 pounds, but if you've never squatted or deadlifted, you'll be exactly as useful as your 95 pound niece when it comes to moving a couch or pushing a stalled car.

And please don't try to tell me that you don't need to squat because you run, and running is all the work your legs need. That's just silly. Is 500 dumbbell bench presses with 5 pounds in each hand the same as a heavy set of 5 with 200 pounds? No. Lifting heavy weights builds strength, endless repetition of a motion that is easy when done once does not.

For those of you who don't train for strength, but just want to "look muscular," all I can do is slap you upside the head and tell you to go read up on exercise: if you want to look like an athlete, you have to train like an athlete. And that includes squats, Sonny Jim.

So, please, if you're lifting weights to get stronger, SQUAT. Or deadlift. Heck, do dumbbell lunges if you can't stand the thought of putting a bar on your back. But strengthen your legs with heavy weights, or all you're doing is trying to build a brick house on a foundation made of toothpicks.

Dude...

2008-06-13T09:39:00.003-05:00

I've sucked at this blog thing. To be fair, I was on vacation in China for pretty much the entire month of May, but I logged back on this blog and saw that my most recent post was on April 8!

A quick update on where I've been since then: I started modeling my programming after Crossfit's 3 on, 1 off schedule. I'd lift on the 1st day, do the workout posted to the Crossfit website on days 2 and 3, take a rest day, and repeat. This only lasted for about 2.5 weeks before I headed off to China, but it seemed to be greatly improving my general conditioning while still helping me build strength.

But then I went to China, and had nothing but myself and occasionally some playground equipment to work out with. I did a pretty good job of working out, averaging about 2 workouts for every 3 days I was there. But it was all bodyweight stuff and sprints, so while my conditioning improved a little, my strength definitely went downhill.

So now I'm working on building my strength back up, although I still haven't really gotten back into a steady schedule. I was intending to go with a lift-rest-lift-rest, rinse, repeat, schedule until my strength returned to previous levels, but I've let other things get in the way of that. I'll have to tinker and find a schedule that fits both my goals (get strength back!) and my life.

I generally use squats as a measure of my overall strength, and I'm scheduled to attempt 5 sets of 5 with 245 pounds for my next workout, compared to 275 pounds before I left. It's a little frustrating working with what I previously considered "light" weights but I know it'll come back quickly, provided I can actually get my rear in gear and re-establish the habit of getting in the gym.

Strangers with candy

2008-04-08T22:01:00.003-05:00

Today was a tough day at the gym. I missed or skipped 25 reps out of a possible 65 with my target weights over 3 exercises. It was absolutely brutal. It was my own fault -- I only got about 5 hours of sleep last night and I'd eaten very little all day, but it was still rough.

But it was also one of the best days I've had at the gym in a long time.

When I arrived at the gym, a middle-aged couple was using the only squat rack. I asked how much longer they had, then went and warmed up while they were finishing. They let me know when they were done, I started squatting and they went over to do some other exercises.

The squats were brutal. I only got 4 reps on my first set, then another 4, and then only 2 on my third. I was furious at myself, but I calmed down and realized that today was obviously an off day, so I dropped the weight by 50 lbs and started doing sets of 10.

After my first set of 10, the wife who had been using the squat rack before me came over and complimented me on my squats. She was impressed with the amount of weight I was squatting and the fact that I was squatting below parallel. We talked for a while about lifting -- she and her husband have been lifting weights together for over 20 years!

That little conversation was the boost I needed to get through what was, up to that point, an extremely frustrating workout. While I was busy berating myself about my poor performance, that couple was watching me work out and saw me working hard and moving a respectable amount of weight.

It's a reminder that we're always our own harshest critics. Sure, I didn't do as well as I'd hoped to do today. I failed miserably by the standards I set for myself. But the important part, the part that that nice couple saw, was that I kept working hard despite the frustration and turned what could have been a completely wasted workout into something productive, at least.

Sometimes it's nice to be able to get a glimpse of yourself from a stranger's point of view. It's even better when that glimpse shows you something better than you expected.

Exercise Crack

2008-04-03T12:17:00.003-05:00

Inspired by Mac's post today at Get Fit Slowly.

Everybody knows that they should exercise, but it seems that only a small percentage of the world population acts on this knowledge. If you're one of those who knows you need to start but just can't seem to drag yourself into the gym, try a few of these ideas to motivate yourself:

1 - Write down every reason you can think of that you should exercise. Fitness reasons, health reasons, body image reasons, social reasons, family reasons, mental health reasons, etc. You'll be surprised how long the list gets. Then write down every reason you can think of that you shouldn't exercise. When you compare these two lists, you'll see that the "should" list will be much longer. And the "shouldn't" list will consist mainly of variations on "I don't want to."

3 - Find an exercise buddy. It can be a neighbor, coworker, friend or dog, but if you have somebody who you know is depending on you to show up, lots of excuses go away.

4 - Tell people you're starting an exercise program. That way you'll be motivated because you know they'll ask you how the program is going.

5 - Read health studies. Seriously. If you keep on reading about how good exercise is for you and how eating crap and sitting on your butt will kill you, you'll want to act on that information. Charlotte at The Great Fitness Experiment will hook you up with more studies than you can shake a stick at.

6 - Give yourself a "carrot." Do you love lattes? Make it a rule that you can only get one after your workout. Had your eye on a new pair of shoes, video game, etc.? Tell yourself you can buy it if you work out 3 times a week for a month.

Once you've started exercising, tracking your progress will help keep you motivated to exercise for the long haul. Mark every day that you exercise with a big X on the calendar and keep a written record of how far you walk/jog or how much weight you lift. Seeing your progress over time can be a powerful motivator to keep on exercising!

DON'T TRACK YOUR BODY WEIGHT. Weight fluctuates from day to day and hour to hour based on a whole schmorgasboard of variables, and is a very inaccurate way of measuring fitness and health. If you must track a physical attribute, track body fat percentage. Even better, take a picture of yourself in your favorite outfit every week or so to see how much better you start looking after a few weeks/months of regular exercise.

Everybody should exercise. That includes you. So go do it.

Sad

2008-03-28T13:58:00.004-05:00

I'm saddened by what's going on over at StrongLifts. Mehdi, the author, is changing the entire forum over to paid membership. The hundreds of people who contributed to make that forum a great place for lifters, especially beginners, to go for information, help and support are now being shut out of the community they've created.

I understand that Mehdi needs to make a little cash to pay for hosting, etc. and that he eventually wants to make a living from the site. Many readers suggested adding advertisements, a donation button or a "premium" section of the website as alternatives to closing off the message board community in this way, but Mehdi summarily dismissed all of these ideas. By doing so, he's choosing short-term cash flow over the long-term growth of his site and over the interests of his customers.

I'm further disappointed by today's post on the StrongLifts blog. In it, he calls everyone who voiced their dissatisfaction with his decision "crabs":

The Crabs story.

The thing about AFCs are that they’re a bunch of crabs in a barrel. Just as one starts to lift himself out of the barrel, the other crabs will grab him and pull him back in.

AFCs are Average Frustrated Chumps. Guys who don’t get the girls and whine about it. If this sounds familiar, don’t worry it’s curable.

The people he's calling "crabs" are people who, for the most part, voiced their concern that this move would damage the viability of the blog as both a place for people to learn about strength training and as a profitable business venture for Mehdi. I'm included in this group. I'm shocked and disappointed that Mehdi chose to respond like this to expressions of genuine concern from people who really want StrongLifts to succeed.

It boils down to this: Mehdi's actions tell me that his number 1 priority is making money from his blog. Spreading good information about strength training, helping people learn and creating a supportive community are obviously second-tier goals for him.

For this reason, I am removing StrongLifts from my blogroll and will no longer be linking to any of his posts. He could care less, since I probably get something like a whopping 7 readers a month, but I'm not comfortable with promoting the site of someone who is comfortable making a move like this.

Iron Zen

2008-03-24T19:48:00.004-05:00

I'm not a very spiritual person. It's not that I don't believe we humans have a spiritual side -- it's just that I don't think about it that much. But sometimes I do.

I've heard meditation described as entering a state in which the ego is dissolved. The line between you and the world dissolves and you feel the energy of the universe flow through you.

I don't meditate, but I get that feeling sometimes, too. I get it through lifting. When you've pushed your body to its absolute limit on an especially heavy lift, or on the last rep of a particularly tough set, sometimes you push so hard that all you can see is a mass of color, and all you can hear is a high-pitched whine.

Your feet feel like roots, planted into the earth, immobile. Your body feels simultaneously like it's dissolving into the world around it and like it's permanent, immobile, legs and back and shoulders forever locked in support of the weight on the bar.

That feeling -- the complete unconsciousness of anything but the energy flowing from the world through you and into the bar, and the way that flow of energy negates your normal sense of yourself as a being independent of and distinguishable from the universe around you -- is, as the kids say these days, freakin' sweet.

I'm sure that the more scientific among us would (accurately) describe this feeling as nothing more than a brief period of semi-consciousness caused by momentarily interrupted blood flow to the brain due to extreme exertion. But those people are just killjoys. I call it iron zen.

It's why I love deadlifts and power cleans. For some reason, the heavy movements from the floor produce the intensity necessary to get this feeling much more often than squats or presses. I think that presses just aren't strong enough movements to produce the intensity necessary to reach iron zen, and I'm not yet proficient enough at squats -- during heavy squats I'm usually focusing too hard on keeping my form to give the all-out effort necessary for iron zen.

But however you reach it, it's a great feeling, it's a sign of a damn good training session (excuse my French), and it's a perfectly valid excuse for we non-spiritual folk to take a minute to think about the connection between mind and matter.

"I'm doing arms"

2008-03-13T20:46:00.006-05:00

It happened to me today. I was in the one and only squat rack at the gym (squatting, of course), when a 30-something guy in a sleveless t-shirt came up to me between sets.

"How many sets do you have left?"

3

"You mean you have 3 sets left to go?"

Yeah, you can work in if you'd like.

"Nah, thanks, I'm doing arms."

As he wandered off in search of a more bicep-friendly environment, I was left shaking my head. Besides the fact that this guy wanted to do bicep curls in the squat rack (don't get me started), the phrase "I'm doing arms" just annoys the dickens out of me.

Training only your arms is pointless. In the real world, your arms never work in isolation. Training movement patterns, not body parts, is the way to get stronger.

Instead of "arms," train pulls: pullups, chinups, rows. Instead of "chest," train pushes: bench press, overhead press, pushups, dips. Instead of "legs," train... well... legs, but use functional compound exercises: squats, deadlifts, cleans.

The phrase "I'm doing arms" aggrivates me because it reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of this basic concept of strength training. To get strong, you must move heavy things in a way that closely mimics the movements you'd use to move heavy things in real-life scenarios outside of the gym.

Maybe I should be more understanding. Maybe I should try to offer a tidbit of friendly advice next time this happens. Or maybe I'm just a crotchety old man in training. But at least I'll be a crotchety old man capable of physically throwing those young bicep-curling whippersnappers off of my lawn instead of meekly shaking my cane at them.

Griptastic!

2008-03-11T22:25:00.003-05:00

I've been bad about blogging lately. But, fortunately, I've been good about working out. So all is not lost.

Also, reading over some posts, I think I need to change my "voice" on this blog. I'm coming off as if I'm trying to be an expert or an authority here, which I'm not. I'm a guy who loves lifting and wants to write about stuff I learn or find interesting while doing it. So I'll stick to that.

Anyhoozle, Nick at Beyond Strong recently posted a couple of videos of interviews with strongmen Andrus Murumets and Zydrunas Savickas. The interviews are great.

One thing I found to be interesting was Andrus' statement that he trained his grip by hanging from a thick bar for as long as he could. This seems brilliantly simple. Grip is one place where static strength and muscular endurance is hugely useful, and this is a simple, straight-forward way to develop that.

So I decided to implement it at the gym today. Since I train at a typical commercial gym, there are no fat bars in the gym. In fact, there's only one true pull-up bar. But I improvised a thicker bar by taking the neck pad that some folks (who I like to call "pansies") use for squats and put it over the pull-up bar.

I think it worked very well. I did sets of hanging for about 45 seconds, and my forearms were definitely working hard. The pad makes the exercise harder by increasing the diameter of the bar, and I think the fact that the pad is soft and can spin around the bar if you end up inadvertently twisting adds to the difficulty, as well. The best part was that it gave people another reason to give me those "what the hell?" looks I have come to know and love.

Grip strength is useful for everything from deadlifts to pullups to holding grocery bags and, if you're male, the all-important handshake intimidation ritual. It's also something to which I've never really devoted enough attention to, so I'll be doing these hangs and some gripper work a couple of times a week.

Failure

2008-02-26T15:48:00.007-06:00

Everybody fails. It happens. At some point, everyone will fail a class, drop a touchdown pass, get dumped, get fired or fail in some other way.

Failure happens in the weight room, too. You miss reps. You can't lift a weight that felt easy last week. You get busy and end up missing a few weeks of training. But failure is not permanent, and you can always bounce back and move past failure. Here's a few things I do to bounce back after a failure:

1 - Think about why you failed. Don't dwell on the negative or wallow in self-pity, but spend a little time trying to think logically about why you failed and what you can do in the future to succeed.

2 - Stay positive. If you let something get under your skin, it can start a downward spiral. In the weight room, you can get preoccupied with thinking about your missed reps on one exercise instead of focusing on the next one, and then end up missing reps there, too. Keeping a positive mindset prevents one failure from turning into multiple failures!

3 - Immediately take one small step to ensure future success. It doesn't matter how small a step it is -- doing something immediately that will help you overcome this failure changes your mindset and gives you a huge psychological boost. If you get fired, this small step can be anything from getting a nice tie for your upcoming job interviews to signing up for a night class that will help you with skills you need in your career. If you miss reps, it can be anything from doing a few sets of an assistance exercise to finding a coach who can help you with your form.

If all else fails, walk away on your own terms. It may just not be your day. Maybe you slept poorly or are distracted by stress at work and you just can't seem to do anything in the weight room. If nothing is going well, then admit to yourself that it's not your day and deal with it accordingly. Change a heavy day to a light day if you're missing your weights, or just wrap it up and head home to try again tomorrow. Don't ram your metaphorical head into a metaphorical wall (or your real head into a real wall) over and over if it's obviously doing no good.

Remember: failures are going to happen, they're temporary, and they're a great way to learn and improve yourself even more.

Want evidence? Check out my craptastic squat workout below, then watch this blog as I blow past these numbers over the next few months...

Training 2-25-08

Squat
F x 285
F x 285
2 x 275
F x 285

Press
3 x 155

Push Press
2 x 175

Deadlift
2 x 360

Chinups
2 x 5 x 62.5
4 x 62.5

Dips
2 x 5 x 102.5
4 x 102.5

Comments: From here on out, to minimize guesswork, I'm going to focus on improving doubles until I stall on a few lifts, then switch to singles, then to triples, etc. No more skipping around. Squats kicked my butt. I actually got a double with 285 two weeks ago and was looking for a triple here, but couldn't even get one. Drat and Blast! There's Crossfit Total meet coming up that I want to participate in, so heavy Presses are in the mix for that. New PR on Deadlift! Missed reps on Chinups & Dips, but don't foresee problems getting them back next time.

And now, a word from the experts

2008-02-24T11:10:00.003-06:00

This post is about 3 days late, and anything I wrote right now would just be a slapped-together mockery of my already questionable standards for content on this blog. So, in the true spirit of the internet, I'll just steal other people's work and post it here, thus claiming credit by proximity. Brilliant!

Here are 3 videos that I officially designate as "good stuff:"

First, Mark Rippetoe explains the bench press. The bench press is kind of a polarizing exercise among the strength training folk: some believe it's the holy grail of upper body strength, while others think it's a complete waste of time. Mark offers a good explanation of the functional utility of the bench press, as well as its limitations.

The next two come from Nash Jocic, a guy I'd never heard of until I found two excellent clips of his on YouTube the other day. In the first, he explains why the "older generation" should lift weights. In the second, he explains why women should lift. I wholeheartedly agree with his points, and the fact that he has an Eastern European accent serves to solidify his credibility.

Training 2-23-08

Squat
3 x 3 x 240

Press
3 x 3 x 125
Power Clean
3 x 2 x 150

Pullups
12, 10, 10

Comments: Light squats felt hard last week, easy this week. Also I realized that I used too light of a weight on Power Clean last week. D'oh! Pullups are progressing nicely -- bump the 1st set up to 13 next time.

Why you should squat

2008-02-22T10:03:00.002-06:00

Many people hate the squat. They're scared of it. It hurts. It's hard. They avoid it at all costs, with excuses like, "it hurts my knees," "I don't want to screw up my back" and "I like the leg press better."

But the truth is, you should squat. Are you old? Squat. Overweight? Squat. Young and still growing? Squat. Do you have bad knees? Squat. Unless you have some sort of terrible spinal condition that precludes any and all weight-bearing activities, you should be squatting in some way, shape or form.

The squat is often called the King of Exercises. This is because the squat develops strength throughout the entire body like no other exercise can. Squatting with a barbell on your back not only works your legs, but also your torso and upper body (shoulders, chest, back and arms). The muscles of your legs are the prime movers. The muscles of your torso must contract strongly to support your spine during the movement. The muscles of your upper body are used isometrically to keep the bar in position on your shoulders. This kind of large-scale muscle recruitment isn't achieved with any other exercise, with the possible exception of the deadlift.

Strength training causes your body to release testosterone and human growth hormone (among others), which help in building stronger muscle, bone and connective tissue. Generally speaking, the more muscle you use in an exercise, the more hormones are released by your body. Because the squat works so many muscles, it elicits a very high hormonal response, and thus is extremely useful in building total-body strength. If you don't squat and your bench press is stuck, try adding squats in to your routine!

There is no substitute for squatting. Leg extensions and leg curls don't even work your entire leg. Leg presses look similar to the squat at first glance, but completely remove the torso and upper body involvement, as well as minimizing the use of the hamstrings and glutes. These exercises also eliminate the flexibility and balance needed for and developed by the squat. Balancing a heavy object on your back teaches you to stabilize yourself in a way that can't be replicated on machines.

And, wonder of wonder, squats can actually help people with limited flexibility or joint problems. As briefly mentioned above, it takes a certain amount of flexibility to perform a full squat. People who are inflexible can become more flexible simply by squatting as well as they can, which will stretch out and strengthen your muscles. Flexibility and strength will quickly improve as squat form improves.

Often, people with "bad knees" or a "bad back" simply have weak knees or a weak back. These areas hurt because they don't have the muscle or ligament strength necessary to perform daily tasks (lifting, climbing stairs, etc.). Squats, correctly performed, strengthen both of these areas. Krista at Stumptous has an excellent explanation here.

Of course, the one caveat that goes with any exercise recommendation is that the exercise must be done with proper form. If you've never squatted before, start with an empty barbell and learn the technique before adding weight. There are plenty of online resources detailing proper squat form. Here's a quick rundown:

Start with the barbell securely positioned on your shoulders and kept in place by your hands, your back straight and your feet shoulder-width apart with toes pointed slightly out.
Sit back like you're descending into a chair behind you. Your back should remain straight and your knees should stay pointing out in the same direction as your toes as you sit back.
Descend until the line between your hip and knee is parallel to the floor or lower. This means that the TOP of your thigh should be parallel to the floor.
Push evenly through the heels of your feet to stand back up, being sure to raise your hips and your chest at the same rate. Raising your hips first and then your chest can lead to injury.

Squatting is hard, both mentally and physically. But make squats a staple of your routine and you'll reap the rewards.

Training 2-21-08

Squat
3 x 5 x 270
2 x 3 x 270
10 x 225

Push Press
4 x 155
2 x 5 x 155
2 x 4 x 155

Press
5 x 115

Power Clean
5 x 3 x 170

Pullups
3 x 5 x 52.5

Dips
3 x 5 x 100

Comments: Missed 4th rep on 4th set of Squats by just losing tension at the bottom. I think form is getting better, though (sitting back into the hole and using rebound in hams & glutes). And don't have Push Press down yet. Added sets on to make up for sucking on Squat & Push Press, which is ok to do occasionally, but don't let it develop into an excuse for missing reps. Power Clean tweaked my left hamstring again, but got through and it should be fine. Pullups were tough, but all legit deadhang to chin over bar. 100 pound Dips!

24 Hour Fitness - an object lession in crappy customer service.

2008-02-18T14:17:00.005-06:00

What is it with the modern corporate gym and crappy customer service? A friend of mine recently joined 24 Hour Fitness and has had a less-than-spectacular experience there.

When she joined, my friend purchased a package of 10 personal training sessions. She was assigned a trainer without having the opportunity to talk to the available trainers and get a feel for who she'd like to work with. But the trainer she was assigned to was the head trainer for that club, which must be a good sign, right?

Wrong. The guy canceled one training session only a couple of hours beforehand (24 Hour Fitness' stated policy is that sessions must be canceled 24 hours or more in advance), and just flat didn't show up for 2 other sessions. When he did show up, he sometimes had a "trainee" with him, and the two would carry on off-topic and inappropriate conversations during the session.

The final straw came when my friend tried to schedule an appointment with the trainer. She was busy with work all week, but told the trainer she'd like an appointment for Friday. The trainer responded that he was available now. My friend responded that she wasn't available now, but was available Friday or over the weekend. She never heard back.

So, extremely frustrated, my friend decided to go to another 24 Hour Fitness location. The other location said they would honor her sessions, and set her up with an appointment for her next workout.

But the new trainer at the new location didn't show! So, now completely dissatisfied with 24 Hour Fitness, my friend decided to try to get her money back for her unused training sessions.

Now the real fun begins. My friend called the original location and explained the situation to the manager. The manager said he would look into the situation and call her back. The next day, nothing. Day after, nothing. My friend called back to check in, and the manager wasn't in the office. She left a message for the manager to call her back. Surprise, surprise, she didn't hear back.

Now my friend is really pissed. So, since phone calls obviously aren't working, she decides to send a letter. She calls the gym to ask for the manager's last name (to address the envelope) and the gym's mailing address (again, to address the envelope). But she's told that they can't give out the manager's last name, and when she asks for the mailing address, the person on the phone says "I can't give you that because you asked for something else first." Are you kidding me?!

So that's where the story stands right now. My friend has left yet another message for the manager, and if she doesn't hear soon she'll have to send a letter to 24 Hour Fitness' corporate headquarters, which is kind enough to list a mailing address online.

The whole situation is absolutely ridiculous. She paid for a service, the service was not provided (or if you want to be generous, it was provided in a completely unacceptable way), and now 24 Hour Fitness is basically doing everything possible to prevent her from even finding out what her options are to resolve the situation.

It's amazing to me that these places can be as successful as they are with such poor customer service. (And don't even get me started about the equipment available in your average corporate gym. That's a whole 'nother post.) One of my secret dreams has been to open my own gym (can it still be a secret dream if I write about it on the internet?), and stories like this make me think that it can't be too hard to compete with the huge gyms. All I'd have to do is make sure the front desk employees smile at people and the trainers show up on time, and I'll be light years ahead of the competition!

Has anybody else had a bad experience with a big brand-name gym? Or a great experience? I'd be interested to know if this complete lack of interest in the customer's satisfaction is mainly a local thing or if the malaise has spread across the nation.

Training

Squat
1 x 295

Push Press
2 x 175

Deadlift
3 x 350

Chinups
3 x 5 x 60

Dips
3 x 5 x 97.5

Comments: I have a tendency to go a bit straight down on Squats, letting my knees drift forward and decreasing the ability of my hamstrings and glutes to contribute. Fix it! I feel like I'm starting to get Push Press a bit better, specifically the transition from leg drive to shoulder drive. Deadlift was nice after my grip failed me last week. (Grippers are on the way, so that should help!) Accidentally moved up by 5 lbs instead of 2.5 on Chinups, but got all the reps. Dips a bit lopsided -- work on even grip and shoulders straight ahead.

Stop me before I curl again!

2008-02-16T13:44:00.007-06:00

Ah, the bicep curl. According to my extremely un-scientific observation, it's probably single most commonly performed weight training exercise in America. The devotees of the curl have come up with dozens and dozens of variations on the basic barbell curl: ez bar curls, dumbbell curls, hammer curls, isolation curls, preacher curls, reverse curls... the list goes on and on.

The curls is so popular because many young men have the "Curls for girls" mentality. They think that building big biceps will make them look strong and attractive, and they think that curls will achieve this goal.

I won't debate the "big biceps" point. If you think that huge biceps and teensy weensy shoulders, chest, legs and back make you look great, then go for it. However, curls are not the best way to build biceps.

Why aren't curls the best bicep builders, you ask? Because they don't stimulate the bicep through its entire range of motion, they don't use heavy loads and they don't use the bicep in a functional way.

Range of Motion

The curl involves holding a weight your hands with your arms extended straight down, and then moving your forearm up until the weight comes to your shoulders. In a curl, the elbow is moved through the entire range of motion and the shoulder moves very little. This movement does not use the bicep to the fullest possible extent, since the bicep is involved in both elbow flexion and shoulder flexion (shoulder flexion is when you move your upper arm upwards and in front of you). For an exercise to work the bicep through its full range of motion, it should involve movement around both the elbow and the shoulder.

Heavy Loads

Most people can't handle much weight on curls. Even if someone does curl a lot of weight, that amount of weight is much less than that person could handle on other exercises that work the biceps. (see the list below!) In strength training, more weight lifted = more muscle built, so if we are to stimulate bicep growth, we need to use exercises with which we can use the biceps to move heavy loads.

Functionality

The curl is also not a very functional exercise. A functional exercise is an exercise that is very similar to a real-life movement and helps to strengthen and/or improve that movement. Functional movements are the most useful for adding on muscle mass and strength. Deadlifting, for example, is an awful lot like picking up something heavy off of the ground. Outside of the gym, however, you will hardly ever perform a curling motion.

So, what are some bicep exercises that work the bicep through its entire range of motion, use heavy loads and are functional? I'm glad you asked!

Chinups

Grab a pullup bar or other sturdy overhead support with a supine grip (palms towards you). Pull yourself up until your chin is above the bar. Lower yourself until your arms are completely straight. Repeat.

With a chinup, you're using the bicep to flex both the elbow and the shoulder, you're moving your bodyweight (or more, if you add weights!), and your arms are doing exactly what they'd do if you had to climb up or over something.

Bent Over Barbell Row

Keeping your back straight and your knees slightly flexed, bend over at the waist and grab the bar on the floor in front of you. Grab the bar in an overhand grip and pull it straight up towards your Xiphoid Process (that spot right above your abs, at the bottom of the sternum).

Once again, you're moving both the elbow and shoulder joints, you're using a load much heavier than you would curl, and you're performing an action that looks a lot like picking something up off of the ground.

There are a couple of other exercises that are also very helpful in building the biceps, even though they don't involve all 3 aspects mentioned above (full range of motion, heavy loads, functionality):

Deadlift

With a bar at mid-shin level, place your feet slightly narrower than shoulder width apart with the middle of the foot directly under the bar. Keeping your back straight, bend at the knees and hips to grab the bar. Your shoulder blades should be directly over the bar and your back straight. Extend your knees until the bar is above them, and then extend at the hips until you are standing completely upright.

This exercise doesn't involve any movement around the elbows and very little around the shoulders, but it works your biceps isometrically under an extremely heavy load. And exercises don't get any more functional than a good heavy Deadlift.

Press

Hold a bar on your front shoulder and chest, with your chest up and your elbows slightly in front of the bar. Press the bar directly over your head until your arms are fully extended, then return the bar to the starting position.

Yes, the press hits the triceps much harder than the biceps, but remember that the bicep is involved in shoulder flexion, which occurs rapidly in the early part of the press. Again, weights used on the press are much heavier than weights used for curls, and the Press works specifically on the shoulder flexion use of the biceps, which is usually the least-trained aspect of the bicep.

Sure, if you're big into bodybuilding, you'll need to do a few curls for that "pump." But if curls and curl variations are your only bicep exercises, your "guns" will always be more like Noisy Crickets.

For those of you who don't know what the Noisy Cricket is.

Training 2-16-08

Squat
3 x 3 x 240

Press
3 x 3 x 125

Power Clean
3 x 2 x 135

Pullups
12, 9, 9

Comments: A little stiff from sprints yesterday, especially in the left hamstring. Squats felt a bit tough for a light day -- apparently those suckers are hard no matter what. Did 80% of Push Press weight for strict Press, and it felt about right. I'm starting to really like Power Cleans. Aiming for 12, 10, 9 on Pullups next week.

Leave the gym a little crazier than when you arrived.

2008-02-15T00:29:00.003-06:00

Most trainees think like Arnold. The bodybuilder/movie star/governor was famous for his exhausting workouts. He'd go to the gym, destroy himself for a couple of hours, then have to call a friend to pick him up because he was too weak to drive home.

That kind of work ethic and willingness to push yourself to the limit of your physical capabilities is admirable. But it's not the best way to train if you're looking to gain strength.

Want supporting evidence from a dead guy? Here's a quote from "Modern Weightlifting," written by British strongman Edward Aston in 1935 (read the full text here):

In training for a weight-lifting match it must be borne in mind that hard work does not necessarily mean success (...) therefore his work requires to be chosen with care, and only those exercises given him which will fit him for his contest, without over-taxing and drawing on his reserve energy.

Translated from the old-school, this means that your exercise selection and volume should be such that you don't run yourself down. Keep the volume low enough that you can fully recover between workouts. Don't clutter your workouts with frivolous exercises -- keep them short enough that you don't run yourself down. (But make sure they're intense enough to actually do some good!)

My personal marker for a workout that hits the sweet spot between too little work and too much work is when I feel more psyched up and crazy leaving the gym than I did going in.

It sounds a little weird, but some of you will know the feeling. When your volume and weight selection are right, when you've selected the right exercises, and when you push yourself as hard as you can on every rep, you leave the gym feeling stronger than when you went in. Of course, we all know that this isn't really the case -- you are always weaker immediately after exercise than before -- but that rush you get after finishing the last heavy rep of a good workout is one of the best feelings in the world.

Training 2-14-08

Squat
5 x 5 x 265

Push Press
2 x 5 x 155
3 x 4 x 155

Power Clean
5 x 3 x 165

Pullups
3 x 5 x 50

Dips
3 x 5 x 95

Comments: The music in my gym SUCKS. It consists primarily of dance remixes of early-90's pop music. Squats felt much better today because I brought my iPod and cranked up my own music loud enough to drown out the crap. Push Press was disappointing, but I'm hoping it'll come up quickly as I get the movement down. Power Cleans felt really good. Pullups were a bit tough, but ok. Dips, as always, made me feel like a badass.

Lucas Goes to Texas!

2008-02-11T20:39:00.000-06:00

After Friday's post, I re-thought my approach to my strength training for the next couple of weeks. Per Andrew's advice, I'm ditching the timed sets idea and using my general conditioning workouts to work on my speed and power.

So what am I doing instead? I'll be using the Texas Method. Each week is basically one day of 5x5, one day of 3x3 with 90% of your 5x5 weight, and one day of heavy singles, doubles or triples.

This should be good for 2 reasons:

1 - The heavy 5x5 three times a week was starting to take a bit of a toll physically. The Texas Method should give me a bit more rest and leave me fresh enough to work hard on conditioning.

2 - Maybe I'm just a pansy, but I feel that stalling is close or has arrived for my 3 main lifts: Squat, Press and Deadlift. Texas Method should help maintain progress, albiet at a slower pace than plain ol' linear progress would.

So that's that. Today (Monday) was the first heavy workout, Thursdays will be 5x5 and Saturdays will be 3x3.

And I promise, this is the last post about my own personal workout choices for a while. On Thursday it's back to our regularly-scheduled program.

Training 2-11-08

Squat
3 x 275
2 x 285

Push Press
3 x 165

Deadlift
2 x 345

Chinups
3 x 5 x 55

Dips
3 x 5 x 92.5

Comments: Finding weights for heavy triples. I was surprised how close the weights were to my 5x5 weights. Squats were ok, and I know I'll get stronger at Push Press as I get more practice with it. Leg and back strength weren't the problem on Deadlift; my grip gave out on the 3rd rep. Chinups were a close thing, but Dips felt strong and were a good note to end on.

A question: timed sets & training for power

2008-02-09T16:30:00.000-06:00

I'm in the midst of re-thinking my training program for 2 reasons:

1 - I've been on this program since November, and it's probably about time to mix things up a bit.

2 - I have an outside shot at being a contestant on American Gladiators (!), and if that happens, I want to be as physically prepared as possible.

I've already determined that I'm going to switch to lifting on Monday, Thursday and Saturday with conditioning work on Tuesday and Friday. What I'm thinking about now is keeping Monday and Thursday as high intensity, low volume strength days but switching Saturday to be a lower intensity, higher volume, power-based workout.

I think that timed sets might be appropriate for this power workout. I'd select a weight and amount of time for each exercise, then see how many reps I could get done with the weight in the alloted time. For example, instead of doing 5 sets of 5 reps, I'd do 4 sets of max reps in 30 seconds. I'd make progress by trying to beat my total reps from last time. Since Power = Work/Time, I'd be increasing my power output by keeping the time the same and increasing the number of reps performed from workout to workout.

So my question is this: has anybody out there had experience with timed sets? If you have advice on the best way to use them or other ideas on training for power as opposed to strength, I'd love to hear about it!

Training 2-9-08

I did sets of 10 on Squat and Press today, partially to switch things up and partially because I just wasn't really "feeling it" today.

Squat
4 x 10 x 205
4 x 205

Press
4 x 10 x 95
9 x 95

Power Clean
5 x 3 x 160

Chinups
3 x 5 x 52.5

Dips
2 x 5 x 92.5
4 x 92.5

Comments: Lack of sleep, eating like crap and stress have been screwing with my recovery lately. I went in planning to do 5x5 on Squat, but only got 2 of my first work set, so I switched to sets of 10 with less weight. They were tough! Press was supposed to be 5x10 anyway, since I'm now rotating between sets of 10, 5 and 3 as part of the Timed Total Tonnage approach. Power Cleans felt good -- I'm getting the whole jump thing down by concentrating on stomping my feet back down after the jump. Chinups were easy. Dips felt lopsided -- I need to finish the Egoscue Method and get to work fixing my posture.

Train Movements, Not Muscles

2008-02-08T01:27:00.000-06:00

The human body is a complex machine. I'd go so far as to say that no one in the world really has a full understanding of how it works. So it's understandable that many people are confused when it comes to the best ways to exercise in order to improve the body.

One problem is that beginning lifters tend to think in terms of muscles instead of movements. They walk into the gym thinking that they need to build stronger triceps or quads or focus on some other specific muscle group. But that's not how your body works.

Your body works as a unit. No single muscle or muscle group works independently of the others, so it makes little sense to train a specific muscle or group independently.

Instead of focusing on muscles, training should focus on movements: pushing, pulling, squatting, etc. Training movements will exercise your body in the way that it works in real-life scenarios: as a complete unit working to exert force on an exterior object. This will lead to better strength gains and will actually prevent or correct many of the strength and physique imbalances that lifters typically try to fix by focusing on a specific muscle.

So what does that mean for your workout? It means forget the exercises that isolate one muscle (bicep curls, tricep pull-downs, etc.) and instead focus on the exercises that use a large number of muscles in a coordinated fashion (Squat, Deadlift, Press, etc.). These large-scaled coordinated exercises are called compound movements.

If you took two people whose muscles were capable of exactly equal amounts of force production, but one trained with isolation exercises while the other trained with compound movements, the person who used compound movements would be able to move more weight around in real-life scenarios.

Think of it this way: if you're trying to lift a couch (my favorite example!), it doesn't matter how strong your hamstrings, glutes, quads, back, shoulders and grip muscles are. What matters is how strong your Deadlift is. Why? Because the Deadlift is a coordinated movement involving all of the muscles that you'd use to pick up a couch. Not only does the Deadlift increase the strength of all the muscles used, but it also trains them to work together. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts!

Training 2-7-08

Squat
3 x 5 x 265
2 x 4 x 265

Bench Press
2 x 5 x 235
4 x 235
3 x 235
4 x 235

Deadlift
5 x 335

Chinups
0 x 100
1 x 100
6 x 50

Dips
5 x 100

Comments: My past few workouts have been too slow. Today we were filming for my American Gladiators audition stuff, which slowed it down. But overall I need to work on keeping my focus and blowing through the work with intensity. Lost reps on Squats and Bench, losing reps on Deadlift feels close. Chinups and Dips were mainly to get video for AG.

American Gladiators, Part Deux

2008-02-05T15:53:00.000-06:00

So when we last left our hero (me!), he was going to try out to be a contestant on American Gladiators. Well, here's what happened:

On Saturday I arrived at the tryout location at 8:00 a.m., as instructed. I was the 172nd person in line. I got in the building to try out at 2:30 p.m., did 19 pullups on the pullup test (max pullups in 30 seconds), then did the 30 seconds of up-downs (burpees without the jump), an agility ladder drill and 10 shuttle runs.

While I was still out of breath from all that shuttling, they ushered me into the interview. I sat down across from a casting director who asked me questions about myself and why I wanted to be on the show. Afterwards, I realized that the main point of all those silly shuttle runs was to get me out of breath right before the interview, so they could see how I'd handle answering questions when tired and out of breath.

Anyway, the interview went well and they said they'd call me back. And they did! The very next day, I got a call asking me to go in for a second interview on Tuesday.

So this morning I went to the second interview. I sat in front of a camera and answered questions based on the application I'd filled out earlier. It went pretty well, and now they want me to make a 10 minute video of my life: me at work, me working out, me chilling at home with my psychopathic cat, etc.

So that's the story thus far. I'll be feverishly working to get my home video put together before Friday of this week, so wish me luck!

Training 2-4-08

Squat
5 x 5 x 260

Press
4 x 145
4 x 3 x 145

Power Clean
4 x 3 x 160
2 x 160

Bent Over Row
5 x 5 x 175

Comments: Squat form a bit shady sometimes. Press was extremely frustrating. Had 2 attempts at last rep of Power Cleans, but missed both. Bent Over Row was the highlight of the workout!

I'll now be officially switching into "training for American Gladiators" mode, which means lifting Monday, Thursday and Saturday with general conditioning and "skill" work on Tuesday and Friday. I put quotes around "skill" work because it'll mainly be figuring out ways to practice for the silly stuff they do on the show. Should be entertaining!

American Gladiators

2008-02-01T18:46:00.000-06:00

Last Tuesday, two of my roommates and I were sitting around watching TV and shooting the breeze. Long story short, they suggested that I should try out to be a contestant on American Gladiators, we did some research, and we found out that there's a tryout nearby on Saturday. That's tomorrow!

So today I cut my workout volume pretty substantially so that I could get in the gym and move heavy stuff around without wearing myself out before tomorrow's big tryout!

From what I understand, there'll be a max rep pullups in 30 seconds test, an agility drill course, and a 40 yard dash. I have trained specifically for none of these events, but the most important aspect of the "casting call" is probably the on-screen interview with the producers.

In any event, I'm excited and I'll let you know how it goes when I get back to computer-land, probably on Sunday. In the meantime, wish me luck!

Training 2-1-08

Squat
3 x 3 x 255

Press
3 x 3 x 145

Power Clean
3 x 2 x 155

Pullups
5 x 50

Dips
5 x 90

Comments: I went in thinking that cutting the volume meant this would be a breeze. The first set of Squats convinced me otherwise. Power Cleans felt a lot better than last time. Tried to be as explosive as possible on the Pullups and Dips, as a last-minute bit of preparation for tomorrow.

Step Away from the Machines

2008-01-30T21:59:00.000-06:00

Let's get one thing straight from the very beginning: lifting weights and exercising on machines are two completely different activities. The Nautilus Bench Press machine is not equivalent to the plain ol' barbell Bench Press. If the exercise involves a stack of weights and a pin, or any sort of lever, gear or pulley, then it's NOT WEIGHTLIFTING.

I've posted once already about why free weights are superior to machines, so I won't rehash it all here. The short version: machines control the way you move, enable you to lift more weight without being stronger, increase your risk of injury, and do not build strength that is applicable in the real world.

So why do people continue to use machines? Ego. People want to be able to claim that they can "Bench" an impressive-sounding amount of weight, so they use machines for the simple reason that machines do some of the work for you, thus allowing you to lift more weight than if you used free weights.

I bring this up because Token Asian Roommate was a bit annoyed that a mutual friend claimed to have lifted more weight than TAR can. Of course, this friend was using machines. I told TAR not to worry about it, that the person used machines and that his inflated numbers were just that: inflated.

To drive the point home, we did a little experiment after our workout. We had already Bench Pressed for 5 sets of 5, but I took him over to our gym's Bench Press machine. He got on the machine, and I loaded it up with 140 pounds. He did 2 reps. I moved it up to 160 and he got 1 rep. Not too bad for a guy whose max on the barbell Bench Press stands at 115 pounds.

To further prove my point, I loaded the machine up to its maximum weight of 400 pounds and proceeded to do 5 reps. If I had 400 pounds above me on a barbell, it would crash to my chest the instant I unlocked my elbows, and I'd be headed to the hospital.

So, to conclude: working out on machines is not the same as lifting weights. The "strength" you build on machines will not translate to free weights or to real-life movements. If you're using machines now, switch to free weights. You might have to check the ego at the door and use less weight at first, but stick to free weights and you'll get stronger than you ever could by using machines.

Training 1-30-08

Squat
5 x 5 x 255

Bench
5 x 5 x 230

Deadlift
5 x 330

Pullups
12, 9, 7

1 Arm DB Snatch
3 x 5 x 70

Comments: Morning Squats again. Bleh. 4 and 5 were ugly on most sets, but they got done. Bench Press 5x5 felt easy! Solid Deadlifts, the weight came up easy. Glad to continue progressing on Pullups. Again, DB Snatch for torso strength and overhead stabilization.

Friday's a light day -- I'll keep the weight the same and go 3x3 instead of 5x5. Why, you ask? Find out on Friday!

You're in Control!

2008-01-28T22:28:00.000-06:00

When you're lifting weights, it's easy to think of it as you vs. the bar. You're trying to get an exercise done, and the bar is your enemy, trying to drag you down and stop you. But this isn't the case.

The bar (and the weight on it) does nothing. Absolutely nothing. It is not a force trying to oppose you in the completion of your movement. It's simply a piece of metal that you push and pull around in an effort to get stronger.

This may seem blindingly obvious to some of you, but the revelation that I'm not fighting against the bar when I work out came to me almost like an epiphany in the middle of a hard set of Squats the other day.

As I struggled to stand up with the bar on my back, my first thought was along the lines of "I'm not going to let this bar beat me." Then I suddenly realized that there's no way the bar can beat me. I'm not competing against it. I'm the one who put it on my back. I'm the one who controls where it goes. I'm the only active agent in the me-bar system. I'm not struggling against the bar, I'm struggling against myself. I'm fighting against the fatigue in my legs. I'm fighting against the pain in my shoulders. I'm fighting against the part of my brain that says "Heavy thing on your back! Drop it! Drop it!" I'm fighting against the ever-present temptation to just give up on a rep or a set or a workout because I'm tired or I'd rather watch TV or I just don't feel like it.

In other words, working out isn't a test of me vs. the bar. It's a test of me vs. me. Just as the workout tests my muscles, it also tests my fortitude, discipline, concentration and determination. If I fail on a rep, it's not because the bar beat me. The bar can't beat me. If I fail, it's because I let myself fail.

Of course, this philosophy can't be taken to extremes. If I went to the gym and loaded up a bar with 900 pounds, there would be no way that I could Squat that weight. That's not due to a lack of determination or a lapse in concentration. That's because I was stupid enough to load up a weight I couldn't handle.

This shift from thinking in terms of me vs the bar to thinking in terms of me being in complete control of my workout helped me finish that set, and it helps me to keep my focus on the task at hand in the gym. It brings home the fact that I'm responsible for my own workout, and that "having an off day" doesn't happen unless I let it happen.

Training 1-28-08

Squat
5 x 5 x 250

Press
2 x 5 x 145
2 x 4 x 145
3 x 145

Power Clean
5 x 3 x 155

Bent Over Row
5 x 5 x 170

Overhead Delcine Situps
3 x 8 x 45

Comments: Squats felt almost easy, probably because my previous 2 sessions were in the early AM. Lifting in the afternoon is so much better! Nothing wrong with Press, weight is just getting heavy. Power Clean form was problematic at times: I tended to want to pull with the arms when I got tired. Focusing on keeping the back locked and driving up off of the floor helps on Rows. Couldn't quite hold the top position on the last situp like I'd wanted to.

Recovery!

2008-01-25T11:07:00.000-06:00

When you lift weights, you're making yourself weaker. The act of lifting weights results in tiny tears in the muscle and a good deal of systematic fatigue, meaning that you're weaker immediately after a workout than you were immediately before. You know the feeling -- you walk into the gym feeling like you could lift an elephant, and you're barely able to hold yourself upright when you walk out.

So how, then, do you get stronger? The damage done to your muscles while working out is repaired by your body's recovery systems. And since your body is smart, it knows that it needs to repair the damage and also add a little extra muscle, since you, being dumber than your body, are going to just go back to the gym and try to tear your muscles up again in a day or two.

It follows, then, that proper recovery is as important to strength training as working hard in the gym. Yet, for some reason, it's completely overlooked by many lifters. So here's what everyone should know about recovery:

Rest

The most basic tenet of recovery is that you need enough time between workouts for your body to recover. For most folks, this means taking at least 36 hours between every session.

Think of working out as giving your body homework. After the workout, your body starts doing the homework you've assigned to it by repairing and building muscle. If you only let your body get halfway done with the homework you've already given it before assigning more, then the homework piles up and your body can't keep up. Assignments are forgotten and never turned in, and you don't get stronger or maybe even get weaker because your body can't keep up with your break-neck pace. But if you give your body ample time to complete the homework before assigning more, you get stronger.

Sleep

The rebuilding "homework" you give your body by working out is best done while sleeping. Ideally, you'd get 8-9 hours of sleep every night. This isn't possible for many people, but you should try to get as much sleep as you can.

You can also improve the quality of your sleep, and therefore the quality of your recovery, by making a few changes in your bedroom. Keep the room as dark as possible at night by covering windows and removing any devices that give off light. Unplug electronics and keep battery-powered devices out of the room. The radiation given off by TV's, cell phones, radios, and all electronic devices can negatively impact your sleep. Try to establish a regular bedtime and wake-up time. Turn off the TV and dim or turn off as many lights as possible half an hour before bedtime. Don't eat foods with a high glycemic index before bed, as the blood sugar spike will keep you up.

Eat

Your body uses the building blocks in food to build muscle, bone and connective tissue. So if you don't eat (and eat well), your body doesn't have the materials necessary to make itself stronger.

There are lots of different theories on the best foods to eat. You might need to do some research on your own to find the plan or theory that works best for you. As a starting point, here are the basic rules I eat by:

- Get at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day. Protein is the basic building block of muscle, so if you want to get stronger, you have to make sure your body has enough protein. Some protein sources are better than others, because they are more similar to the proteins found and used in the human body. In general, protein from meat is better than protein from dairy products, which is in turn better than protein from vegetables.

- Drink milk. Mark Rippetoe, author of Starting Strength, says that beginners should drink 1 gallon of milk a day to gain size and muscle. I don't drink a gallon a day, but I drink milk with every meal. Milk has a good balance of carbohydrates, fat and protein. It also contains something called Insulin-like growth factor, which has been linked to strength gains.

- Eat enough. Throw that silly old 2000 calories a day rule out the window. A better rule of thumb for active people (such as those undertaking a strength training program) would be to aim for a caloric intake somewhere between your bodyweight times 15 and your bodyweight times 18. For example, I weigh 198 pounds and I aim to eat between 3000 and 3500 calories a day to fuel my body while maintaining my weight. Track your eating habits with a tool like fitday. If you find that your weight is moving in a direction you don't like, modify your caloric intake in small steps until you get to where you want to be.

- Avoid processed foods. Processed foods have much lower nutritional value than the whole foods from which they are derived. My personal rule is based on the paleo diet: if I couldn't, in theory, walk outside, pick it up and eat it, then I shouldn't eat it at all. If you don't want to go to that extreme, just do what you can to replace processed foods with whole foods in your everyday diet. Instead of chicken nuggets, eat chicken breast. Instead of V8, eat veggies. Instead of applesauce, eat apples. Instead of twinkies, eat more apples. You get the drift.

Move

You might have heard the term "active recovery." The idea is that you move around enough to get blood pumping through your muscles and loosen up your joints, but not enough to assign further recovery "homework" to your body's recovery systems. Getting your heart rate up and moving your muscles through a full range of motion on your "off" days helps your body recover more efficiently.

Your active recovery could be anything from taking a walk to an easy 20 minutes on the exercise bike or a heavily scaled-down Crossfit workout. The point is not to let yourself be a couch potato on your off days -- get up and do something!

Proper recovery is essential to gaining strength. You can overcome a couple of days of insufficient sleep and poor nutrition by just gritting your teeth and forcing yourself through a workout, but you need to establish good recovery habits if you want to have long-term success.

Training 1-25-08

Squat
5 x 5 x 245

Press
5 x 5 x 140

Power Clean
5 x 3 x 150

Chinups
3 x 5 x 50

Dips
3 x 5 x 90

Comments: Squats were only decent, form-wise. Today's convenient excuse is that it's hard to focus first thing in the morning. Press was much better, because I had more recovery time between sets and because Token Asian Roommate was finally back in the gym and I had the "oh crap, my friend's watching so I have to do well" thing going on. Need to go into a deeper squat for the rack on Power Cleans. Chinups were easy. Dips were long overdue and felt great as a finisher.

Tone Without Bulk

2008-01-23T11:32:00.000-06:00

(Mad props to Charlotte, who asked the question that inspired this post in the comments on Monday's post.)

The common wisdom on how to achieve muscle "tone" is doing high volume work (lots of reps) at low intensity (light weight). This appears to work because, immediately after doing a workout of this nature, your muscles feel firm, even stiff.

But this immediate feeling of firmness isn't a sign that your muscles are becoming "toned." It's a sign that your muscles have used up all of their energy supply. These high-rep workouts literally tire out your muscles to the extent that they don't have enough energy to relax! The firmness you feel immediately afterwards is basically the same as rigor mortis in a corpse. That's not a good thing, and the "tone" from these workouts only lasts as long as it takes for your body to replenish the muscle's energy stores.

In fact, if you're looking for firm muscles without adding bulk, high volume, low intensity workouts are the worst thing you could do! These workouts are what bodybuilders use to build bulk via a type of muscle growth called sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which increases the volume of fluid (called sarcoplasm) in your muscles and therefore increases muscle size without increasing "tone". (fluid isn't exactly firm...)

The best way to "tone" your muscles is to do the exact opposite of what common wisdom says to do. (Isn't that always the case?) What is commonly described as "tone" can be better defined as residual tension in a relaxed muscle. A muscle's capacity for tension corresponds to that muscle's strength. (stronger contraction = more weight lifted) So to increase the amount of tension in a relaxed muscle, you should increase the amount of tension that muscle is capable of creating. (higher capacity for tension = more residual tension when relaxed) In other words, you should make that muscle stronger.

This means that you should use high intensity, low volume workouts that build strength without inducing lots of hypertrophy. Pavel (from whom most of the ideas presented in this post are stolen) recommends 2 sets of 5 reps, using a weight that you can lift 5 times (but not 6) for the first set and 90% of that weight for the second. Rippetoe's Starting Strength program uses 3 sets of 5 with the same weight on each set. In my opinion, as long as you stay below 20 total reps in 4 or fewer sets with weights above 80% of your 1 rep maximum, you're on the road to building strength and therefore "tone" without adding bulk.

Training 1-23-08

Squat
5 x 5 x 240

Bench Press
2 x 5 x 230
2 x 4 x 230
3 x 230

Deadlift
5 x 325

Chinups
13, 9, 8

Overhead Decline Situps
3 x 8 x 45

Comments: Squats are actually starting to feel easier as I approach my previous workout weight, probably just because I'm getting used to them again. Bench Press regressed from last time. D'oh! If I stall, I might try switching over to 8x3 for a while to see if I can break through. Deadlift was AWESOME. It was one of those where I grinded out the 5th rep, then walked around lightheaded for half a minute before getting what I fondly think of as that "hell yeah!" feeling of accomplishment. Happy that Chinups actually improved from before the layoff. Overhead situps for torso strength and to reinforce the "head through the window" feel of Press.

New format, muscle tidbits and training

2008-01-21T21:46:00.000-06:00

To make this blog a bit more readable, I've decided to integrate my random musings with my training log entries. That way, people who want to read my insane ramblings can do so without sifting through the training log entries. And people who want to know what I'm doing in the gym just have to scroll down to the bottom of the most recent post!

Interesting Tidbits on Muscle

I'm beginning the process of studying for my CSCS certification. Step 1 is reading a big textbook. It's kind of imposing, especially when I flip to the first page and see it chock-full of terms such as epimysium, periosteum, sarcomere, and more. I had horrifying flashbacks to high school biology class...

But, as I slowly waded through Chapter 1 in an attempt to learn all the terminology, I did glean a few very interesting tidbits that involved few enough big words for me to clearly understand:

Longer muscles can act more rapidly than shorter ones.

The basic functional unit of a muscle is called a sarcomere. Each sarcomere is a certain length, and each sarcomere is capable of roughly the same amount of contraction. Longer muscles have more sarcomeres in series. More sarcomeres in series contracting at the same time means a faster movement of the limb. (If 10 sarcomeres in series produce 2 cm of movement in a limb when firing, 20 sarcomeres would produce 4 cm of movement, and so on.) This is why long-legged people are fast: not only do they cover more ground with each stride, but they can also move their legs more quickly than someone with shorter leg muscles could.

Bigger muscles aren't necessarily stronger.

I've beaten this dead horse before, but now I more clearly understand the "why" of it: Muscles get big via hypertrophy. There are 2 kinds of hypertrophy. Kind 1 is called myofibrillar hypertrophy, and it involves the growth of more muscle fibers and therefore an increase in strength. Kind 2 is sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which involves an increase in the amount of fluid in each muscle cell, called sarcoplasm, but no growth in the contractile elements of the muscle. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is why many bodybuilders are huge, but aren't as strong as you'd think.

Pre-loading a muscle makes it stronger.

It takes time for a muscle to go from relaxed to fully tensed and contracting. So pre-loading a muscle is basically putting a demand on your muscle before you actually start the exercise, giving it that split second it needs to say "oh crap, it's time to work hard!" and get its metaphorical butt in gear. This happens automatically with free weights -- when you unrack a Bench Press or a Squat, the muscles that you use to support the weight are the same as the ones you'll be using to perform the exercise, so you're pre-loaded and ready for maximal contraction throughout the entire motion. With machines, however, there is no demand placed on your muscle until you're ready to start the movement, so you're not pre-loaded and you don't get the benefit of full contractile strength in the beginning portion of the movement.

So I lied, there were a few big words in there. But now not only do you know more about muscle, but you also know some intimidating big words to use whenever you want people to think you're smart!

Training 1-21-08

Squat
5 x 5 x 235

Press
3 x 5 x 140
4 x 140
3 x 140

Power Clean
5 x 3 x 145

Bent Over Row
5 x 5 x 165

One Arm Dumbbell Snatch
3 x 5 x 65

Comments: Still tend to Good Morning the Squats, need to watch that. One more chance to get the full 5x5 on Press before I go to Timed Total Tonnage. Power Clean was sloppier, concentrate on form. Bent Over Row felt better than before the break -- concentrating on keeping the back straight and firm helped. One Arm Dumbbell Snatch seems like a good assistance exercise to add on for both Press and Power Cleans, since it helps with overhead stabilization and hip explosion.

Training 1-18-08

2008-01-19T10:58:00.000-06:00

How important is working out to me? After today's Squats I realized I had a choice between finishing my workout and being half an hour late to my own belated birthday celebration. I chose to finish the workout (albiet hurriedly) and piss off my friends.

I didn't try to explain it to them, because they would've just thought I was silly. But working out isn't just about improving myself physically; it's also about learning discipline, commitment, how to ignore the "you can't do this" voice that lives inside everyone's head, and, yes, setting priorities. My friends are awesome and very very important to me, but I won't use them as an excuse to slack off on something that's this important to becoming who I want to be.

If you read that and you think it is silly and I'm a jerk for making my friends wait, then you very well might be right. I should've managed my time better and gotten to the gym earlier. Lesson learned. But, for me and my priorities, a complete workout > missing 30 minutes out of an evening with good friends.

Squat
5 x 5 x 230

Press
5 x 140
4 x 140
2 x 3 x 140
4 x 140

Power Clean
5 x 3 x 140

Pullups
3 x 5 x 47.5

I'm glad I got all the way through Squats, though they were harder than I would have liked. I paid a big price for my 2 week layoff on Squats, and working back up is going to take almost 2 more weeks.

Press was disappointing because I did so well on it last time. I think I shorted my rest since I realized I was running late. But my Press has been stuck for a while now, so if this turns into a stall, I'll switch to Timed Total Tonnage and see if that works.

Power Cleans form felt good after the layoff, which is a promising sign.

Pullups were a close thing on the last few reps, but I got them. Chinups with 50 lbs next week!

Lifting fast vs lifting slow.

2008-01-17T11:39:00.000-06:00

Back in November, I wrote about why you should always lift fast. I stand by that post, though I should have made it more clear that what's important isn't the actual act of moving the bar with lots of speed, but the intent to do so. You're trying to throw the bar up as fast as possible, but the amount of weight on the bar means that you can't throw it around and it's actually moving at a reasonable, controlled speed. But I digress.

Last night, I started reading Power to the People by Pavel Tsatsouline. (The cover is horrific -- whoever designed that should be fired.) One of the very first assertions made in the book is that in order to get stronger, you have to lift SLOW. The idea is that strength is a product of muscle tension. When you lift something, the contraction of your muscles is the driving force. Pavel contends that lifting slow allows you to concentrate on contracting your muscles throughout the entire movement, leading to greater gains in strength.

The idea seems to be very similar to the concept of "time under tension," where bodybuilders lift slowly in order to maximize the amount of time their muscles are contracting, in theory leading to more hypertrophy. But Pavel claims that lifting slowly will give you strength WITHOUT gaining lots of muscle mass.

This is diametrically opposed to what Rippetoe and the guys at Westside Barbell preach. My previous post about lifting fast and power production is based on Rippetoe's analysis in Starting Strength, and the Westside guys split their training up into Max Effort (as heavy as you can go, 1-3 reps) and Dynamic Effort (lighter weight, as fast as you can go) days. These guys are at the top of the game when it comes to Strength Training, and they advocate lifting fast.

I'm interested to hear what Pavel has to say about lifting speed later on in the book, though. I don't think I could ever be convinced that slow lifting is inherently superior to fast lifting for strength training purposes, for the reasons in my previous post, but I'm willing to be convinced that the occasional "slow lift" day could be useful or that a week or two of slow lifting could help break through a plateau.

Training 1-16-08

2008-01-16T10:26:00.000-06:00

Finally, my first full workout in over two weeks! And it showed...

Squat
2 x 255
5 x 235
4 x 235
2 x 5 x 225

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 230
4 x 230
3 x 230

Deadlift
4, 1 x 320

Pullups
11, 8, 6

My (somewhat optimistic) goal was to be able to get 5 sets of 5 with the weight I'd previously achieved before the layoff. That didn't happen. Squats were the worst, possibly because it was early in the morning and they were the first thing I did, and also probably because they're the lift I've been struggling on the most anyway. 230 next time and work back up to it.

I only missed 3 reps on Bench Press, which surprised me after how bad Squats were. stick with 230 and get the 5x5 next time.

Deadlifts were great compared to Squat & Bench! I got 4 good reps, took too long to reset and ended up missing the 5th. I got up from the bar, walked around in a circle, thought to myself "there's no way in hell I'm going to miss reps on all 3 exercises today," went back to the bar and got one last rep. There was about a 20 second break between the 4th and 5th reps, so I listed the 5th rep separately.

Pullups are down from 13, 9, 6 last time, but should climb back up next week. Just gotta get back in the groove on everything.

Lapalicious!

2008-01-15T22:10:00.000-06:00

I went by my new and improved gym this evening to swim some laps. I haven't swum (swimmed? swam?) on a regular basis since my freshman year of college, and I'm really looking forward to the chance to swim at least once or twice a week. In my opinion, it's the best "cardio" option out there.

But it's HARD! I'm not in as good shape as I was back in high school when I was swimming 20 laps a day. I barely made it to 8 laps. (to clarify my terminology: 1 lap = there and back, or 2 lengths)

I was aiming to do 1 lap each of breaststroke, sidestroke and crawl for 3 rounds. I got 2 full rounds, then had to stop about 3/4 of the way through my last length of crawl. My arms just couldn't pull any more. I'm a bit disappointed, but I have a starting point: next time, I'll aim for the full 3 rounds!

For a former lifeguard and swim instructor, it's humbling to realize how far I've fallen from my aquatic glory days...

Training 1-14-08

2008-01-14T22:40:00.000-06:00

Today I tried out a new gym. Since I had to move a couple of weeks ago, my old gym is now about 30 minutes away and I need to find a gym closer to my new place.

When I walked into this gym, I was disappointed. The first floor was all ellipticals and treadmills, and was open to the second floor. The second floor had more treadmills and a tiny little weight area containing a bunch of Hammer Strength machines, dumbbells up to 60 lbs and two Smith Machines. I was wholly unimpressed. I banged out an improvised workout, and walked towards the door, planning never to return.

On my way out, just to be sure, I asked one of the trainers if there was another weight area in the gym. To my surprise, he said that there was a third and fourth floor to the gym. He showed me the way up, and my faith in humanity was restored: the fourth floor contained two Squat Racks and two Power Racks. So I've found my new gym. Hooray!

Unfortunately, I worked out before I discovered the good stuff on the fourth floor. Here's what I did:

Press
5 x 5 x 135

Dumbbell Lunge
5 x 5 x 120

One-arm Dumbbell Row
5 x 60
6 x 60
7 x 60
8 x 60
9 x 60

One-arm Dumbbell Snatch
5 x 40
5 x 50
3 x 5 x 60

I'm glad I haven't regressed on Press, and was mad that I had to do the rest of the stuff instead of my planned Squats, Power Cleans and Barbell Rows. I'll get back to the good stuff on Wednesday morning.

Oh, and the first floor has an indoor pool. Lucas gets to swim laps again!

Back

2008-01-13T20:39:00.001-06:00

I've been away for a while. I just went through the busiest week of my life. I've been doing 2 things and only 2 things for the past week: working and sleeping. The week's been an odd mix of exciting, frustrating, fun, scary, infuriating, exhausting, titillating, draining, confusing and looooooooooong. But it's done, and my life should return to normal fairly quickly.

That means I'll be heading back to the gym to continue working towards my strength training goals. I'll also be emailing and calling all the friends and family members I've been ignoring for the past week. (my bad, guys!) And I'll be following up on one intriguing but slightly scary opportunity and one not that intriguing but safer opportunity. But for right now, I'm going to sleep for about 12 hours. 'Night!

Training 1-5-08

2008-01-05T00:14:00.001-06:00

I'm a bad little Strength Training gnome. I didn't get to the gym today. I have excuses ready -- we always do when we miss a workout -- but I know they're just excuses. In reality, I could have made time to lift.

I'll be incredibly busy over the next 8 days. I'll easily average 12+ hours a day at work (including weekends), I have to move into a new house and I have about 9 hours' worth of extracurricular work that I want to get done by Monday. Excuses will abound. But I NEED to get into the gym and lift at least twice during that time. No excuses -- make it happen!

That being said, I did actually get in a bit of a workout today. The gym was closed by the time I got around to it, but I whipped out my trusty dumbbells and got to work:

One-arm dumbbell snatch
10 x 10 x 30 per side

If you don't know what a dumbbell snatch is, you can view a video here. The woman in the video starts each rep from a hang. I like to go lower and touch the dumbbell to the floor on every rep.

I did 10 reps with one arm, then immediately did 10 with the other, and that was one set. I took just enough rest to catch my breath between sets. It was a good, quick workout that should help build shoulder and abdominal strength to help my Presses and Squats.

Trapezius pain from... bowling?

2008-01-03T13:52:00.000-06:00

I lift heavy weights 3 times a week. I'm the guy that my friends think to call when it's time to move a couch or TV or washing machine. But I got my ass kicked yesterday by a 16 pound ball. Let me explain:

I'm in a bowling league with my roommates and a few friends. Token Asian Roommate, who's on my team, (Our team name is "Guns and Wiggles," in case you need more proof that my friends and I are huge dorks.) has a solid understanding of bowling technique, and acts as our team coach.

Last Sunday, Token Asian Roommate and I modified my mechanics to make me a better bowler in the long run. In the short run, this means my score will suffer as I adjust and get rid of my bad habits. Apparently, it also means that my right trapezius muscle (the muscle that connects your shoulder and your neck) will hurt like the dickens after I bowl. Something about the new movement involves this muscle in such a way that it doesn't hurt or even feel fatigued while I'm bowling, but the next day I can hardly lift my head off of the pillow.

This is a weird, and humbling, reminder to me of what happens when you ask your unprepared muscles to do new things.

Here's another example: Just before Christmas, I showed three friends a simple dumbbell workout that they could use to get in better shape. We used light weights and only worked out for about 30 minutes. I thought it was a relatively easy introduction to weight training that they could build on over time.

The next day, however, each of them was incredibly sore. They were creaking around like old people because their muscles, unused to the exercises we'd done, were recovering from quite a shock.

In both of these examples, jumping into a new activity or working a new movement pattern without taking the time to build up to it led to lots of soreness. In a weird way, I'm glad that I now have the experience of my poor overworked trapezius muscle tightening up and annoying me throughout the day -- it's a little reminder of how much soreness I used to endure back when I was first lifting weights and it helps me remember to take it easy when working with people who have little or no previous lifting experience.

Goals for 2008

2008-01-02T10:02:00.000-06:00

I've lifted weights since my Freshman year in high school, and I've always enjoyed it. But since I got serious about strength training about three months ago, I've been having more fun than ever in the gym. Instead of lifting just because I like it, I'm lifting with a plan and a purpose.

So to keep that sense of purpose and give myself something to plan towards, I'm establishing some strength training goals for 2008. Some will be easier to achieve than others, but my aim is to achieve all of them by December 31, 2008.

The first goals are in the form of single-rep maximum effort lifts, in pounds:

Squat: 405
Deadlift: 500
Press: 200
Bench Press: 315

I'm also aiming to increase some bodyweight skills. These goals are in consecutive repetitions without rest:

Pullups: 25
Pushups: 50
Handstand Pushups: 10 freestanding

Right now I'm focusing on my Squat and Press goals. I want to be able to get those by the spring, and then I'll focus more on my Deadlift and Bench Press goals. I believe that the pullup and pushup goals will come naturally as a product of my current training program. I need to practice handstands at least once or twice a week to progress towards my handstand pushup goal.

If I manage to hit all of these marks before the end of the year, then I'll just come back and set higher goals.

Happy new year to everyone, and I wish you success in achieving all of your goals for 2008!

Training 1-1-08

2008-01-01T22:05:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! I'll post my goals for 2008 later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Week 6, Day 1

Squat
5 x 5 x 255

Press
4 x 5 x 135
4 x 135

Power Clean
5 x 3 x 140

Bent Over Row
5 x 5 x 165

Good Morning
5 x 135
6 x 135
7 x 135

Today's Squats felt slightly easier than last time, which is good. I think I need to work on my back and abdominal strength in order to keep my form strong as the weight increases.

Press is still frustrating. Form didn't feel quite as solid as last time, though that could have been because the weight increased. If I end up stalling at 135 or 140 again, I'll switch to a timed total tonnage program for Press.

I didn't rack as cleanly as I would've liked on every rep of Power Clean, but they were mostly solid. 145 next time.

Rows felt a little funny, like I couldn't quite get the form exactly how I want it. Could be because I haven't done them in a while.

The Good Mornings are a step towards addressing back strength for Squats. I'll do a back or abdominal exercise at the end of my workout whenever possible to help build that strength.

Training 12-30-07

2007-12-30T19:19:00.000-06:00

I went into today's session a bit fatigued and not convinced I'd do very well. The running and other stuff yesterday plus about 2.5 hours of bowling early this afternoon had me feeling drowsy and slow. But I woke up and did well!

Week 5, Day 3

Squat
5 x 5 x 250

Good Morning
3 x 5 x 140

Press
2 x 5 x 130
4 x 130
2 x 5 x 130

Power Clean
3 x 3 x 140

I thought I was done after the 2nd set of Squats, but I caught a second wind and finished strong. My 5th set was the best-feeling set of them all!

Token Asian Roommate's work sets on Squats started late, so I took the opportunity to do some Good Mornings to increase lower-back strength between his last few sets.

I think my problem with Press is that I'm trying to keep my elbows pointed forward throughout the movement, and that feels unnatural. On my last 2 sets, I started with my elbows pointed forward and let them naturally flare out a bit towards the side as the bar passes my forehead. That movement feels much more natural than keeping my elbows pointing forward, and it lets me handle more weight.

Only 3 sets of Power Cleans because the gym closed on us. I was feeling good and the day had gone well, so I moved up to 140. Since I didn't get a full 5 sets of 3, I'll stick with 140 again next time.

Why Ego is my Enemy

2007-12-29T21:56:00.000-06:00

Ego: an inflated feeling of pride in your superiority to others

Ego makes me want to lift weights that are heavier than I can handle, leading to incorrect form, injuries, and no progress.

Ego makes me too proud to ask for advice from people who know more than me, either because I'm secretly jealous of them or because I think I'm too good to need advice.

Ego makes me too proud to learn from people who know less than me, too. Just because they know less doesn't mean they don't know something I don't. Or I could be wrong in assuming they know less -- I won't know until I listen to them.

Ego makes me think that I'm special, that I can handle things other people can't. Sometimes this is true. Usually, it's not.

Ego gives me a big head. So do steroids. That means, logically, ego also shrinks my testicles. If you don't think about that one too much, it almost sounds like some sort of wise saying or something. Confucius say, "Ego shinks your testicles."

Ego prevents me from clearly assessing my strengths and weaknesses. And if I can't see myself accurately, I can't improve myself optimally.

Ego keeps me from doing everything I can to get stronger, since I already think I'm a badass.

Ego makes me a jerk. And if I'm a big enough jerk, nobody at the gym will help me out if I'm stuck under a heavy bench press.

Ego makes me dismiss the way other people train if I don't agree with it or understand it, when I should be trying to figure out why they're doing what they do and learning from it.

Ego makes me self-satisfied. It robs me of my fire, my desire to improve myself and work as hard as I can to get stronger every day.

Ego makes me scared to try new things, because I might fail at them. And failing, while great for growth and learning, is terrible for one's sense of superiority.

Ego makes me refuse to admit when something's not working. Stubbornly, I keep plugging away despite not seeing any results because I know I'm right.

Conclusion: Do my best to ignore my ego. Lift smart. Learn. Work hard. Be honest with myself. And then work harder.

Training 12-29-07

2007-12-29T21:29:00.000-06:00

Token Asian Roommate and I were supposed to go lift this afternoon. But Token Asian Roommate took longer than expected running some errands, and our planned time of 4:00 turned into 5:30. But the gym closes at 6 on Saturdays, so we rounded up the rest of the roomies and went to the park for some running, walking, pullups and dips.

The path at the park is about 3 miles around, with 4 exercise stations distributed around the path. One roomie chose to just walk around the path. The rest of us would run, then walk for a while with him, then stop at the stations and do some exercises, then run again. It was good times!

3 sets of chinups (10, 10, 10 for me)
Run .5 mile
Walk .5 mile
3 sets of pullups (10, 7, 6 for me)
Run .25 mile
Walk .25 mile
Run .5 mile
3 sets of dips on wide bars (10, 10, 10 for me)
2 sets of hanging situps with knees over bar (5, 7 for me)
Run .25 mile
Play around on 3 multi-level bars. We tried to go between all 3 without touching the ground.
Run .75 mile (Sprint last 100 yards)

Afterwards, we did some standing broadjumps over a puddle. (Yes, we're dorks.) Token Asian Roommate kicked my butt. It was a good exercise/roomie hangout time combination, and we're tentatively planning to return to the park to walk and generally goof around once or twice a week going forward.

Training 12-27-07

2007-12-28T08:42:00.000-06:00

I found out yesterday afternoon that I have to create an entire 12-page handbook from scratch by 5:00 today. Good times! It's going to be a busy day.

Week 5, Day 2

Squat
5 x 5 x 245

Bench Press
5 x 5 x 230

Deadlift
5 x 320

Chinups
13, 8, 8

Squats were a bit uneven, probably thanks to the fact that I haven't squatted in a week. I still tend to "good morning" the tough reps. 250 next time!

Finally got the 5x5 with 230 on Bench Press! The last rep of the last set was tough. 235 next time.

My form fell apart in the last 2 reps on Deadlift. My back rounded a bit and I pulled away from my body on the 4th. I need to get some grippers or something to improve my grip strength -- I feel like my grip is slipping a bit and it hurts my form.

Chinups are an improvement over last time I did them, when I got 13, 7, 6. I'll go for 13, 9, 9 next time!

Training 12-24-07

2007-12-26T23:49:00.000-06:00

This training log entry is a couple of days late. So sue me. Holidays + work have taken up most of my time over the past few days.

This was a quick Press workout, mainly to build some confidence after last Friday's debacle. It was a bit uneven, but definitely an improvement on last time.

Week 5, Day 1

Press
2 x 5 x 130
4 x 130
5 x 130
4 x 130

Then some drop sets. Basically I'd do as many reps as I could with the weight, rack it, take some weight off, and go do more reps with no rest between:
5 x 125
3 x 115
4 x 95
5 x 80
5 x 75
5 x 65
5 x 60
5 x 55
5 x 50
15 x 45

This really illustrates how training with sets of 5 trains you to do sets of 5. I couldn't have gotten a 6th rep on any of the weights from 80 lbs down to 50 without resting for a second or two first. When I got down to just the bar (45 lbs), I took a few seconds of rest between reps when needed, only racking the bar when I finally couldn't finish a rep at all.

My workout schedule will be a bit funky for the next couple of weeks. I'll work out tomorrow (Thursday) and Saturday, doing the normal Wednesday and Friday routines. Then I'll do some maxing on Monday and/or Tuesday to get baseline numbers to compare with my goals for 2008. (coming soon to a blog near you!) Then it's likely that work and life craziness will force me to shuffle workouts around over the next 2-3 weeks in order to try to get in 3 per week.

Training 12-21-07

2007-12-22T14:27:00.000-06:00

I have about half a dozen posts written for this blog that I haven't yet posted. I'll start posting them soon.

Week 4, Day 3

Squat
5 x 5 x 240

Press
Absolute and utter failure. See below.

Power Clean
5 x 3 x 135

Pullup
3 x 5 x 47.5

Dip
3 x 5 x 90

My shoulders haven't yet gotten used to the low bar position in Squats. I've rubbed the skin off of my shoulders over the posterior deltoids (where the bar rests), so it hurts to get into position. As a result, I'm tensing up too much and I'm feeling a nerve-y tingling in my left arm during my sets. Being slightly stupid and even more stubborn, I'm not letting this stop me. But...

... it might be affecting my Press. This should have been a deload day. I was supposed to do 5 sets of 5 with 130 pounds, 10 pounds lighter than my work weight a week ago. I couldn't even get 3 reps on the first set. My form was absolute crap. I couldn't keep in line at all. It was terrible. I was amazingly pissed off (I'm still pissed off about it just typing this), but managed to keep myself from punching or kicking any gym equipment in frustration. (Which is good, because then I'd have had a bad day in the gym and a broken hand or foot.) I'm heading home on Saturday, and will press every day -- light one day, "heavy" the next -- to work on getting the form back.

Power Clean form is slowly coming along. I'll start adding weight once I can bang out a perfect set of 3 on the last set.

Pullups were satisfactory. Just keeping pace with Chinups on the weight is starting to get hard. 50 lbs next week with Chinups, then 50 lbs the week after with Pullups.

I finally got the 3x5 with 90 lbs on Dips! That was exciting. According to Token Asian Roommate, a fellow-gym goer who was on a nearby machine was watching me with a quizzical expression when I moved the plates over to the dip station, then gave me a "What the hell? He can't do that!" look when I loaded the plates on my belt and got into position, then shook his head and resumed his workout after I successfully completed my first set. I'm glad I can be entertaining to my fellow gym patrons!

Training 12-19-07

2007-12-19T10:00:00.000-06:00

Apparently, lifting in the morning has the potential to kick my butt. I haven't eaten as well as I could or should have for the past few days, I haven't gotten quite enough sleep, and I'm stressed out by work and home stuff. Hopefully if I fix these things going forward I'll have more success with the Wednesday morning workouts.

Squat
3 x 5 x 240
2 x 240
3 x 240

Bench Press
4 x 230
2 x 5 x 230
4 x 230
3 x 230

Deadlift
5 x 315

Pullups
13, 9, 6

A friendly observer came by after my 4th set of Squats and let me know that I apparently start to Good Morning the bar up when I get tired and/or am about to fail. My hips rise faster than my chest and I have to pull the bar back up with my hips and lower back. On the last set, I thought "chest up" and it helped a lot.

Bench Press was disappointing, especially since I've been at this weight for a while. Give it at least one more workout to get the 5x5.

I jumped more than I'd planned to on the Deadlift. I was upset at failing on Squat and Bench Press, and I wanted the ego boost that moving up to 3-plate Deadlifts would give. 5th rep was a bit ugly and the grip on my right hand was starting to give out, but it got all the way up. 320 next time.

Added 1 Pullup to my total from last time. Last time was 12, 8, 7. Stick with aiming for 13 and 9 on the first 2 sets and get up to 7+ on that last one!

Training 12-17-07

2007-12-17T23:13:00.000-06:00

A well-intentioned guy at the gym approached Token Asian Roommate and I as we were Pressing and advised us to go from the top of our heads to just before lockout to better "work our shoulders" and not give the muslce a break or "push the range of motion too far." He was a really nice guy and only wanted to help us out, so I told him I was grateful for his advice, but I was going to keep on Pressing all the way from my chest to full extension overhead. I'm not quite sure if we made a new gym friend or just convinced this guy that we're a couple of punk kids who don't know what we're talking about. If we made a new friend, maybe we can eventually convince him that full range of motion is a good thing!

Week 4, Day 1

Squat
5 x 5 x 235

Press
5 x 5 x 125

Power Clean
6 x 3 x 135

Bent Over Barbell Row
4 x 5 x 165
4 x 165

I figured out low bar position on Squat! The high bar had been feeling a bit unbalanced as the weight increased, so I decided to give it a go and found the bar position on my posterior deltoids almost instantly. I'm psyched -- using this position should help keep my form good and my base strong as the weight increases. 240 next time.

Beginning of a Press deload here. Tried to focus on form, and it was a bit inconsistent. I want to do some overhead situps tomorrow to get that "pushing through" feeling that I should have at lockout down.

Power Clean was also inconsistent. For the first 3 sets I was trying to avoid re-scraping my leg (no blood on the bar, please!), so form suffered. The next 2 sets were much better because I focused on keeping the bar close to my body. Racking on the last set suffered thanks to fatigue. Keep it at 135 until my form is better.

The first 3 reps on all sets of Bent Rows were good, and the last 2 were usually questionable. Fatigue builds quickly for me on these, apparently. Get that 5x5 next time!

Weekend Headstands

2007-12-16T22:57:00.000-06:00

I'm trying to learn how to do a freestanding handstand and, eventually, a handstand pushup. So to start off, I did some headstands. Since this is, after all, the digital age, I videoed my attempts and posted two of the videos on YouTube:

Here's a video of me trying an assisted headstand off of my bed last Wednesday (note the super cool pile of laundry). And here's a video of me doing a freestanding headstand today (note the spectator on the couch).

Good times!

Training 12-14-07

2007-12-15T10:53:00.000-06:00

Finally, a Friday workout that went the distance!

Week 3, Day 3

Squat
5 x 5 x 230

Press
3 x 5 x 140
2 x 4 x 140

Power Clean
5 x 3 x 135

Chinup
3 x 5 x 47.5

Dip
2 x 5 x 90
4 x 90

I think I went lower than in the past with Squats and my back was more vertical. This is good, as long as I didn't tuck my tailbone under like I sometimes do. I should have somebody around to watch my form on Monday, so I'll know more then. But they felt a lot easier than Wednesday, and I'm heading up to 235 next time.

3rd time I failed on the Press, and I'm pissed about it. 10% deload to 125 and work back up from there.

Power Cleans were still a bit sloppy. I once again ripped the scab off of my shin on the second set, so I think I might have been holding the bar a little too far away on subsequent sets in an effort to avoid getting blood on the bar. I need to just go buy some gauze and athletic tape to cover that scrape with until it heals all the way. On form, remember -- it's a JUMP!

Looking at the ceiling helps me involve my back a bit more on Chinups. 50 pounds next time I do weighted Chinups.

Dips got a bit better, too. I anticipate getting the full 3x5 next Friday.

The Difference Between Strength Training and Bodybuilding

2007-12-14T12:33:00.001-06:00

Many people seem to think that lifting weights is lifting weights is lifting weights. That's not the case. There are lots of different weightlifting protocols -- the 5x5, the "gym rat" 3x10, HIT, etc. Each protocol produces a different effect in the trainee, and each protocol can be sorted into 1 of 2 general categories: Strength Training and Bodybuilding.

To understand these categories, we must understand the goals of each. In Strength Training, the goal is to get stronger. To put it more precisely, the goal is to increase the amount of weight that you can lift for a single repetition. This is achieved by increasing the power production capacity of muscle fibers and by improving the ability of the nervous system to recruit those fibers.

In Bodybuilding, the goal is to increase the visible amount of muscle on your body. This is achieved via hypertrophy (the process by which the body creates new muscle cells and/or increases the size of existing ones) and by reducing body fat.

There is some overlap in these two goals. In the process of building strength, you will begin to appear more muscular. In the process of building muscle, you will start to get stronger. But the two are not the same.

There are a number of easily noticeable differences between Strength Training and Bodybuilding programs:

Rep range:

To build strength, you need to lift heavy weights, weights that you won't be able to lift for a whole lot of consecutive repetitions. This means that most Strength Training programs will use sets of no more than 8 repetitions. Most commonly, you'll see sets of 5 or 3, and more advanced Strength Training Programs often call for heavy singles (sets of 1 rep).

For hypertrophy, you want to cause as much muscle fatigue as possible. This means more reps with lower weights. For this reason, most bodybuilding programs will use sets of at least 8 reps, often going as high as 20 or "to failure," which means as many reps as you can possibly do with the weight.

Exercise selection:

Strength is most efficiently built through movements that mimic real-world actions: picking things up, pushing things around, etc. This means that Strength Training programs rely heavily on compound movements: complex movements involving more than one joint. Examples would be the Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Overhead Press, Power Clean, Bent Over Row, Pullup, etc.

In competition, bodybuilders are judged on a set of criteria that include muscle definition, proportion, etc. For this reason, bodybuilders often try to isolate specific muscles in order to precisely manipulate their physique. Isolation and machine exercises such as tricep pull-downs, preacher curls, pectoral flys, leg extensions and calf raises are often found in a Bodybuilding program.

Programming:

Your body works as a unit. When you pick up a heavy box, you're using almost every muscle in your body. Therefore, Strength Training programs usually train the whole body in one workout, though some Strength Training programs use a split in which the upper body is worked one day and the lower body is worked the next. Your body needs time to recover from these kind of large scale workouts, so Strength Training programs usually involve 3-4 workouts per week.

Because they want to fatigue a specific muscle or muscle group as much as possible in order to induce maximum hypertrophy, bodybuilders often only work out one specific area of the body (chest, back, shoulders, triceps, biceps, abs, legs, etc.) per day. Therefore, Bodybuilding programs are often designed so that the trainee works out 5-7 days a week, working a different area of the body every day. Bodybuilding programs don't have as many rest days built in because each workout stresses only a small area of the body, creating less systematic fatigue and necessitating less recovery time.

Not all programs are created equal. It's important to define your goals and pick a program that matches those goals. If your main goal is to pump up your "beach muscles," pick a Bodybuilding program. If you're training for a sport or you just want to be the strongest guy you know, follow a Strength Training program.

Training 12-13-07

2007-12-13T22:28:00.000-06:00

Was planning on doing some light jogging and then overhead situps today, but those plans changed and instead I decided to time myself on a 1-mile run.

1 mile run for time
6:31

Not anything very impressive, but not too bad considering that the last time I timed myself on the 1 mile was in high school, when I was running a lot more than I am now, and that time was right around 6 minutes. I'll time this again sometime in January and see if there's any improvement.

The situps got cut off because my parents called right after I was done with the mile and I ended up talking to them for about half an hour. By the time that was done, I was cooled off so I decided to call it a day.

Step Away from the Scale

2007-12-12T19:57:00.000-06:00

To many Americans, health and fitness have a lot to do with bodyweight. People who are concerned about their health go to Weight Watchers meetings, or to a LA Weight Loss Center. They watch The Biggest Loser for inspiration, and tell their friends that their goal is to drop 10 pounds by New Year's.

The fitness industry and mainstream media are fixated on weight and, as a result, so is the average gym-goer. This makes sense from the fitness industry's point of view: weight loss or gain is an extremely easy metric to track, and since the average American is overweight, marketing your gym or program or product as a weight-loss tool is a good way to make it attractive to a lot of people.

For the average gym-goer, however, weight should not be the primary measure of progress towards "fitness" or "health." Here's why:

Other indicators are more important.

Measures such as body-fat percentage, blood pressure, and your lipid profile (cholesterol and triglyceride levels) are all more important to overall health and wellness than bodyweight and, like bodyweight, they can all be impacted positively by exercise. They're not as heavily emphasized in the fitness industry or the media for the simple reason that they're harder to track. You need calipers or a hydrostatic scale to estimate body-fat percentage, one of those arm-squeezing devices and a stethoscope to measure blood pressure, and a blood test to assess your lipid profile.

Weight and body composition aren't the same thing.

When people say they want to lose weight, they usually mean that they want to lose fat. In fact, many people think that losing weight and losing fat are the same thing. This is NOT true. If you lose fat, you will also lose weight, but it is possible (especially for men) that eating better and exercising will lead to fat loss AND weight gain. This is because exercise builds muscle, which weighs more than fat.

Which would you prefer?

Also, you can lose weight without losing any fat at all. Some fad diets and diet pills have the single effect of dehydrating you, leading to the loss of "water weight," but absolutely no reduction in fat levels or body-fat percentage.

Weight loss doesn't move you towards a specific fitness goal.

If you're obese, you need to get rid of some of your excess fat in order to be healthy. But "losing 20 pounds" isn't really anyone's fitness goal. Someone might SAY that losing weight is his or her goal, but if you press further, you'll discover that his or her real goal is to be able to walk up the stairs to the apartment without getting out of breath, or to look great in that wedding dress, or to have "six pack" abs. Losing fat might be a step towards achieving these goals, but weight loss for the sake of weight loss is useless and can be extremely unhealthy.

So I say to you, step away from the scale. Instead of focusing on how much weight you've gained or lost this week, focus on how your clothes fit and on your energy level throughout the day. Instead of setting your goal as "losing 5 pounds," aim to shave 10 seconds off of your time on the 1-mile run or add 5 pounds to your Squat. Ignoring the scale and instead concentrating on other measures of fitness and health will have a beneficial long-term effect on your health, and will, ironically, make it easier to lose that fat.

Training 12-12-07

2007-12-12T09:23:00.000-06:00

My first morning workout by my lonesome. Token Asian Roommate got screwed over by a coworker last night and had to work until the wee hours of the morning, so he was sleeping in. New Workout Buddy said he'd be there but didn't show, which marks the 3rd Wednesday in a row he's done that. I could blame my sub-par performance on that, but that's a pansy excuse. Training partners or no training partners, I have to be responsible for getting my work done in the gym.

Week 3, Day 2

Squat
4 x 5 x 230
4 x 230

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 230
2 x 4 x 230

Deadlift
5 x 305

Chinups
13, 7, 6

I shouldn't have missed that last rep on Squats. I wanted to make it a great rep, so I went low and couldn't get up out of the hole. 230 again on Friday and I'd better make it the best 5 sets of 5 I've done thus far.

Got one less rep on Bench Press than last time. That's not good. Get the 5x5 next time, dangit!

Deadlift was the one lift on which I met my goal for today. The 305 felt good, but heavy. I think it's time to start 5 pound increases instead of 10 pounds. 310 next time.

Chinups, like Bench Press, regressed. Last time I did Chinups for reps, I got 12, 9, 8. That means I got 3 fewer reps this time than last time. Stick with aiming for 13 on the first set and get the next 2 sets up.

Training 12-11-07

2007-12-11T20:10:00.000-06:00

Today, New Workout Buddy and I had an appointment with one of the trainers at the gym. New Workout Buddy was entitled to a free workout as a part of his recently acquired gym membership, and I was invited to tag along.

The trainer was a nice enough guy, probably a year or two younger than me (!), and claimed that he was going to put us through a Crossfit workout. I was a bit skeptical going in. He had us do some circuits:

~20 yard famer's walk with dumbbells = 75% bodyweight
5 pushups to dumbbell rows
10 box jumps, 14 inch box
~ 20 yard farmer's walk with 75% bodyweight
25 rope jumps
15 ez-bar curls, 45 pounds

I completed 4 rounds of the circuit, then we rested for a couple of minutes before doing one last round.

I left the workout with mixed impressions. The farmer's walks, box jumps and rope jumps were solid ingredients -- functional, taxing and good for use in a metcon circuit such as this one. The pushups to dumbbell rows seemed a bit silly, but harmless. It doesn't seem like they're going to do much for your upper body strength, but they're an interesting way to add a twist to the conventional pushup and row movements and maybe work your stabilizing muscles in a new way. The ez bar curls, however, were completely out of place in a "Crossfit" workout. (Perhaps a post on why curls are largely useless is in order...)

So could I make a better circuit? Well, I obviously think I could. So here's my attempt at modifying this circuit to create a solid Crossfit-style metcon workout for beginners. It wouldn't really be very different from what he had us doing:

3 rounds, for time:
~20 yard farmer's walk with 75% bodyweight
5 pushups (from knees, if necessary)
10 box jumps, 14 inch box
~ 20 yards of lunges
25 rope jumps
5 jumping pullups

I'd make it 3 rounds for time to keep the intensity high and to set a benchmark. You could then repeat the workout after a couple of weeks of training to demonstrate progress with an improved time.

In any event, it was an interesting workout, and it wasn't taxing enough to create any problems with lifting tomorrow morning.

Training 12-10-07

2007-12-10T22:49:00.001-06:00

I watched a lot of videos at the Crossfit website about handstands today. I'm thinking it would be fun to try to develop some gymnastics-type skills, maybe starting with the handstand. It kind of fits with my goal of increasing Press strength, and it would be a neat thing to be able to do. Maybe I could even work my way up to a handstand pushup!

Week 3, Day 1

Squat
5 x 5 x 225

Press
3 x 5 x 140
4 x 140
5 x 140

Bent Over Barbell Row
4 x 5 x 165
4 x 165

Power Clean
5 x 3 x 135

Squats are definitely getting more difficult, but form is staying strong and I'm even getting incrementally lower each workout as my hamstrings stretch out a bit. 230 next time.

I added 2 reps on Press with 140. I probably didn't take enough time between the 3rd and 4th sets. Full 5 x 5 next time!

I'm liking the Pendlay rows. I feel like the form is easier to maintain when deloading on the floor between reps, and it's a better exercise all around. Get the 5 x 5 next time.

Power Clean form is still a little bit sloppy. I'll stay at 135 until I feel comfortable with the form.

In Defense of the Deadlift

2007-12-10T15:17:00.000-06:00

The Deadlift is one of the most misunderstood exercises in the history of strength training. People think it's dangerous. They say that you'll mess up your back by doing it. Many corporate gyms won't even allow you to Deadlift. And if you do Deadlift as a regular part of your training regimen, you'll inevitably be approached by at least one person who "knows" that the Deadlift is dangerous and tries to convince you to give it up.

First, let's address the safety issue. Compared to other recreational sports, strength training has an incredibly low rate of injury. People think of soccer, for example, as being safer than weight lifting, but participants average 6.2 injuries per 100 hours of playing soccer versus 0.0035 injuries per hundred hours of weight training. Even badminton has a higher rate of injury than weight training, with 0.05 injuries per 100 hours of play.

Now think about the safety of specific lifts. If you're going to get injured while lifting weights, it's probably going to happen when you're trying to lift too much weight and you lose control of the bar. A Bench Press would be the worst lift for this to happen on, since a loss of control means the bar crashing to your chest, and possibly remaining there if you have no spotters or bad spotters. If you go too heavy on a Deadlift, on the other hand, all you do is drop the weight. A worst-case scenario would be the weight rebounding off of the floor and smacking you in the shin.

So with the Deadlift's potential for catastrophic injury now realistically assessed as being very close to 0, we address the issue of "messing up your back." Yes, your lower back will probably be sore after a workout involving Deadlifts, but only in the way that your chest is sore after a workout involving Bench Press. A correctly executed Deadlift will NOT injure your back. Ever.

The only way to injure your back by Deadlifting is to perform the lift incorrectly, in which case you're not really doing a Deadlift, after all. In a correct Deadlift, your back stays straight throughout the entire movement while you lift the weight by extending at the knees and hips. If your back stays straight, you can't hurt it. Period.

Since correct form is the most important factor in safely Deadlifting, you should learn all you can about correct form. Read online articles. Watch video of correctly performed Deadlifts. Ask a personal trainer who has a Powerlifting or Olympic Lifting background. If you're serious about strength training, buy Starting Strength and read it cover to cover. Do whatever you need to do to feel confident in your form. If you have the equipment, periodically video yourself performing the Deadlift so you can check your form. You can even post the video online and ask for feedback on your technique.

"You Deadlift like a girl." "Thanks!"

The Deadlift is an extremely useful lift that has gotten a bad rap thanks to idiots like this guy. Correctly executed Deadlifts are one of the best ways to build strength in the series of muscles known as the "posterior chain": glutes, hamstrings and back. They also teach you how to correctly and safely pick up heavy objects from the floor. The Deadlift is an extremely useful exercise for everyone from the 17 year old who wants to get stronger for sports to the 70 year old who just wants to be able to perform everyday tasks without pain.

Training 12-8-07

2007-12-08T18:24:00.000-06:00

Worked my way up to full Power Cleans today! Form seemed pretty good, though I can't be certain without anybody to watch.

Power Clean
5 x 95
3 x 5 x 115
5 x 3 x 135

Box Jumps
Sets of 10, starting at 1 foot and increasing by 2 inches each time:
10 x 12"
10 x 14"
10 x 16"
10 x 18"
10 x 20"
10 x 22"
10 x 24"
10 x 26"
10 x 28"
10 x 30"

Overall, a good dynamic workout. Jumping rules!

Training 12-7-07

2007-12-08T00:29:00.000-06:00

Second week in a row that the Friday workout's been a bit rushed due to evening plans. It's all good, though; the workout went well and the evening was highly enjoyable.

Week 2, Day 3

Squat
5 x 5 x 220

Press
2 x 5 x 140
3 x 4 x 140

Pullups
3 x 5 x 45

Dips
5 x 90
4 x 90
3 x 90

Squats are getting more and more comfortable. I really felt the work today, but that was at lest partially due to the short rest between sets. Two plates on Monday!

I think I could've gotten the 5th rep on the 3rd set of Press if I hadn't waited too long at the bottom after the 4th rep. Stay at 140 and get at least 1 more rep next time!

Got all 3 sets of Pullups, so I'm moving up to 50 pounds on Chinups next week.

Dips were a bit optimistic with 90 pounds after Pressing. I think I'm going to switch the program up and keep Bench on every Wednesday and Dips on every Friday.

You'll notice no Power Cleans -- again due to time. Tomorrow I plan to head to the gym and pratice my form all the way up to performing my first real Power Cleans! Hopefully it'll go well.

Strength Training for Seniors

2007-12-07T16:47:00.000-06:00

Many older folk think of Strength Training as a young person's pursuit. It's true that there are more young people lifting weights than there are elderly lifters, but that doesn't mean that the senior citizens among us shouldn't be lifting. In fact, the opposite is true. Lifting weights offers many benefits to its age-advanced practitioners:

Increased strength

This one's pretty obvious. If you lift weights, you'll get stronger. If you're stronger, you can more easily perform everyday tasks such as carrying groceries, cleaning dishes, even tying your shoes.

Improved bone density

Bone responds to weightlifting in much the same way as muscle. As you place progressively heavier loads on your bones, they respond by becoming stronger and more dense. In fact, Strength Training can help prevent osteoporosis and may even help decrease its effects.

Increased flexibility

Many people think of flexibility as muscle "looseness," which isn't necessarily the case. What we experience as being flexible or inflexible is really just our body protecting itself. Any time you move a certain appendage or joint beyond the normal range of motion that it experiences in everyday life, your brain sends a message saying, "Warning! Possible danger! Protect yourself!" and your muscles tighten in response. Lifting weights helps your body re-learn to use its entire natural range of motion, thus increasing your effective flexibility.

Reduced blood pressure

Yes, your blood pressure increases slightly while you're lifting weights, as it does during any strenuous activity. However, weight training decreases resting blood pressure and therefore decreases the risk for and severity of cardiovascular disease.

Less pain

In addition to strengthening your muscle and bone, weightlifting also strengthens your tendons, ligaments and joints. This can decrease pain caused by arthritis or other joint conditions.

Improved mood

It's long been known that exercise can help alleviate depression, and this includes Strength Training. The feeling of accomplishment and increased independence that comes from becoming stronger and better able to perform everyday tasks as a result of Strength Training can improve anyone's mood.

Easier recovery

Whenever you lift weights, you're putting your body under stress. Your body reacts by using its recovery systems to repair the damage caused by this stress and strengthen the affected tissues and structures. These recovery systems are the same recovery systems that would repair your heart after a heart attack or mend a broken bone, and by using them regularly via Strength Training, you're keeping them sharp and ready to quickly repair any injury you might sustain.

Elderly people who want to take up Strength Training should proceed carefully -- consult a doctor and find a trainer or a supervised Strength Training program that you can attend. Make sure you're executing all the exercises in your program properly, start with a light weight, and add weight progressively in small increments as you get stronger. A properly planned and executed Strength Training program will give you all of the benefits listed above with very little chance of injury. So get to it!

Training 12-6-07

2007-12-06T22:36:00.000-06:00

Today turned into my "cheat" day for food. The office went out together to Chuy's for lunch, so I had a really tasty Southwestern Enchilada, complete with rice, beans and dozens of tortilla chips. After dinner, I had a cupcake in celebration of my friend's birthday. But I had time to get to the gym after the festivities for a quick workout, which was a pleasant surprise!

Crossfit WOD

"Michael" - scaled down
3 rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
20 back extensions
20 situps

I ran on the treadmill, and each 400 took between 1:30 and 1:40. Didn't keep a total time, though, as I didn't have a watch. By the end I felt tired but not wiped out. My back and hips felt tight, so I did some hip circles and hip flexor stretches afterwards to get loose.

If you're wanting to get into Crossfit, either as a full-time workout or a way to spice up your current routine, use the scaled Crossfit WOD's posted on the Brand X Martial Arts forums. Even if you think you're in great shape, start off at the "Buttercup" level. Crossfit is the kind of thing that looks easier on paper than it actually is.

Weight Lifting eBook

2007-12-05T12:32:00.000-06:00

Mehdi over at StrongLifts.com has published his first eBook, the StrongLifts 5x5 eBook. He lays out his StrongLifts 5x5 program, shows the logic behind the program and explains how to perform each of the lifts. It's a great resource for anybody who's interested in getting into strength training, and it's free. If you're wanting to start lifting weights, download the eBook, read it, and use it as your first training program.

The eBook is available for free to anybody who subscribes to the StrongLifts blog. And, to be honest, if you're interested in reading the eBook, you'd be interested in pretty much everything on the website, so subscribing is a good idea anyway.

Training 12-5-07

2007-12-05T11:53:00.000-06:00

Lucas no like mornings. But Lucas like lifting weights. It all evens out, Lucas guesses.

Week 2, Day 2

Squat
5 x 5 x 215

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 230
2 x 4 x 230

Deadlift
5 x 295

Pullup
12, 8, 7

Squats are starting to get heavy. My warmup reps were CRAP, since it was early and I was stiff, but the work sets had good form. 220 next time.

I was supposed to do weighted Dips today, but I'm a moron and forgot the dip belt. The first set with 230 felt pretty hard, and I was surprised that I got a full 3 sets before I failed any reps. 230 again when I next do Bench. (Just looked at my log and realized I didn't even get the full 5x5 with 225 last time. D'oh!)

Token Asian Roommate looked at my Deadlift form, and I have a bad habit of bringing my hips up a bit before the bar comes off of the ground. I need to work on that. But despite my inefficient form, 295 felt relatively easy. 305 next time.

Last week, I did Chinups for 12, 9, 8 reps. So this week I got 2 fewer reps, but with Pullups, which are a bit harder for me. I'll take it, I guess.

Training 12-3-07

2007-12-03T22:04:00.000-06:00

I'm liking 3 days a week working out. I don't feel run down at the end of the week like I did when I lifted 4 days a week, and today I was almost giddy with excitement at getting back into the gym.

Week 2, Day 1

Squat
5 x 5 x 210

Press
5 x 5 x 135

Jump Clean
6 x 5 x 45

Bent Over Row
5 x 5 x 160

Only moved up to 210 on Squat after an exchange with Mehdi on the StrongLifts.com Forum made me realize that smaller jumps would keep my focus on form and help me avoid stalling. Form was still good. 215 next time.

Last time I tried 135 on Press, I tried for 2 workouts, never got the form right, and ended up hurting my back. This time it was a breeze, relatively speaking. 140 next time.

Power Clean learning is coming along well. I think jump cleans again on Friday, then take some time over the weekend to try out the full Power Clean. Right now I'm inconsistent; some reps are great, and on others I bang my collarbone or neck with the bar.

Bent Over Row was ok, but I'd lost some steam during the break provided by Power Clean learning. I think I'll move Bent Over Row to just after Press until I'm comfortable enough with Power Cleans for them to be a real work exercise.

Smith Machine shenannegans

2007-12-03T12:23:00.000-06:00

edit: I'm aware that the formatting of this text SUCKS. I'm not a big fan of Blogger's text editing tools, and though I know enough HTML to go fix it, it would take too much time. I've tweaked it enough to be mostly readable. Leave a comment if you have problems with it.

There's a Smith Machine in virtually every commercial gym in the Western World. Some consider this a sign that the Smith Machine is a worthwhile and valuable piece of exercise equipment. This is not the case. Remember those vibrating belt machines from the 1950's or so? They were in every gym in the US, and they did absolutely nothing but make you jiggle while standing still. (See picture at the bottom of this post.)

The Smith Machine is in exactly the same position: widely used, easily recognizable... and completely useless.

"But wait," you say, "I've heard that the Smith Machine is a great way to do Squats, Bench Press, and other exercises when you don't have a spotter."

NOT TRUE. Like any machine, the Smith Machine is inferior to free weights in many ways:

Safety

Many people think that the Smith Machine is a safer alternative to barbell exercises, but this is not the case. The Smith Machine might feel safer, but the fixed bar path actually makes many exercises more dangerous.

The most obvious example is the Bench Press. With free weights, there are a number of ways to get out of a failed rep without a spotter. In a worst-case scenario, when the bar is on your chest and you absolutely cannot lift it off, you could lean to one side until the weights fell off to free yourself. If the same situation arose in a Smith Machine, the bar is held in place, so your only option is to scream for help and/or wait to die as the weight slowly crushes you. Your call.

Some people think Squatting is safer in the Smith Machine, as well. This guy probably used to think so, too:

This wouldn't have happened with free weights, because he would've felt his balance shifting when the weight was too far forward and compensated by taking a step forward.

Injury

The Smith Machine's primary characteristic is that it removes the need to stabilize the weight while lifting. This means that the stabilizing muscles that you would normally use through a range of motion are not used and therefore are not strengthened. This leads to strength imbalances which can, in turn, lead to injuries.

In extreme cases, the primary movers can become so strong in relation to the stabilizing muscles that they contract with enough force to literally tear those stabilizing muscles. To return to the Bench Press example, the pectoral muscles could become much, much stronger than the stabilizing muscles in the shoulder, leading to recurring shoulder injuries. Not a good thing.

The Ego Boost

The Smith machine will artificially inflate your numbers. If you regularly perform your Bench Press workout with 155 pounds with free weights, you can easily add another 30-50 pounds on in a Smith Machine. Conversely, if you bench 155 in a smith machine, you'll have problems lifting 125 with free weights.

Strength built with free weights translates readily to movements done in the Smith Machine. Strength built on a Smith Machine does NOT translate to free weights, or real-world strength.

Look, we're exercising!

Uses for the Smith Machine

Despite what I've said above, the Smith Machine is not completely useless. It makes an excellent adjustable chin-up bar (scroll down to Step 2) or inverted row station, and the loons over at T-nation thought up a few more uses, as well.

A good rule of thumb for using the Smith Machine: if the exercise involves you moving and the bar staying still (chin-ups, inverted rows, etc.), then you can use the Smith Machine. If the exercise involves the bar moving at all (Squat, Press, Bench Press, Deadlift, etc.), then STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM THE SMITH MACHINE.

Training 12-1-07

2007-12-01T14:10:00.001-06:00

Went to the gym to make up for not getting in any Power Clean practice yesterday. A nice way to pass the time on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Hang Clean
3 x 5-10 x 45

Clean Jump
3 x 5-10 x 45

Jump Clean
5 x 5-8 x 45

Deadlift
6 x 135
6 x 185
2 x 5 x 225

On the Power Clean learning stuff, I did each set to 5, then did a couple more until either I did one rep where I thought the form was really solid, or I reached 10 (8 on Jump Cleans). The light Deadlifts were to keep the blood moving through and check form. Everything felt good.

Training 11-30-07

2007-11-30T23:13:00.000-06:00

Token Asian Roommate and I blasted through this workout in about 50 minutes from walking into the gym to walking out, since we had a dinner with some friends to go to. As a result, the Power Clean learning was dropped from the workout. I think I'll head to the gym for an hour or so tomorrow to practice hang cleans and jump cleans and and do some light Deadlifts.

Week 1, Day 3

Squat
5 x 5 x 205

Press
5 x 5 x 130

Chinups
3 x 5 x 45

Squat form is staying solid as the weight increases. One bad rep today -- 3rd rep of the last set. But even that rep was way better than what I was doing on every rep a short 3 weeks ago. 215 next time, again with the qualifier that I immediately go back down if form struggles.

Press was also solid. Overhead situps yesterday helped me feel the sensation of really pushing my torso through while locking out overhead, which I think helped. 135 next time.

Doing only 3 sets of Chinups across lets me use a bit heavier weight. I'll try 45 on weighted Pullups next week, then 50 on Chinups the week after.

Training 11-29-07

2007-11-29T21:00:00.000-06:00

Did a little bit of nothing at the gym today. New Workout Buddy wanted to lift, so I spotted him and did a couple of really light sets of Squats and Bench Press to get the blood moving. Then I did some light work that was worth actually writing down:

Overhead Situps (decline)
3 x 10 x 45

Good Mornings
2 x 10 x 45

Elliptical
10 minutes

Overhead Situps are exactly what they sound like -- situps while holding a weight overhead. It should help build ab strength to help support me on Press.

Good Mornings are a posterior chain exercise in which you place the bar on your shoulders in a Squat position, keep your back straight and bend from the hips until your back is parallel to the floor.

Was a good light exercise. I'll get as much sleep as possible tonight after the Cowboys game and I should be feeling good for the weights tomorrow afternoon. Woot!

Training 11-28-07

2007-11-28T10:04:00.000-06:00

Worked out before work, as I'll have to do on every Wednesday. Getting up early is a little rough, but about halfway through Squats I began to feel alive, and by the end of the workout I was feeling fully awake and ready to face the day -- a full 20 minutes before I'm usually even awake!

Week 1, Day 2

Squat
5 x 5 x 195

Bench Press
4 x 5 x 225
4 x 225

Deadlift
1 x 5 x 285

Chinups
12, 9, 8

Squat form was a bit rougher than usual at first, probably because I'd only been awake for half an hour and was still tight. It got much better as the sets went on, and my very last rep was the best of them all. I need to remember to take more time warming up for my next morning workout. 205 on Friday, if the form stays solid.

Missed the last rep of Bench Press, but only by a hair. I stalled about halfway up, but a light spot from Token Asian Roommate was all I needed to get past that point and finish the rep. I'm only benching once every other week, so I'll stay at 225 when it next rolls around.

Deadlift felt good at 285. I like one heavier work set better than sets across for Deadlift. 295 next time.

Chinups for reps were harder than expected, probably since I haven't done them in a while. This is my baseline, so aim for at least one more rep next week.

Training 11-27-07

2007-11-27T22:17:00.000-06:00

Generally, I let my hair grow out until I look like one of the Beatles and my hair is constantly in my eyes. Then I shave it all off. My Mom doesn't like it very much when I shave it all off. She says my hair looks good long. My hair's been getting very long lately, so I shaved it all off this afternoon. Sorry, Mom!

4 x 400 meter sprints, 1 minute rest between
9:50

Calf Raises
3 x 10 x 150

Spinal Decompression Hangs

When I came in, I was planning to do a heavily scaled down Michael, but I wimped out because I didn't want to draw stares by leaving a treadmill running while going back and forth between the treadmill, the back extension station and a situp mat.

I remembered a WOD from the Crossfit main page that was basically four 400 meter sprints, so I did that on the treadmill instead. I went all out on the last 2 sprints, which might not have been the best idea since this was supposed to be a light workout between lifting days. D'oh!

Training 11-26-07

2007-11-26T23:28:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving vacation is over, and I'm as unmotivated as ever at work. On the plus side, I'm learning that I really really do enjoy this whole physical fitness thing -- reading, learning, doing and teaching anything and everything to do with fitness and, more specifically, lifting weights. I'm feeling more and more confident that I want to do something like this professionally after I quit my current job.

First day on the new program, and an additional friend was added to the stable of occasional workout partners. Good times!

Week 1, Day 1

Squat
5 x 5 x 185

Press
5 x 5 x 125

Hang Clean (learning)
3 x 10 x 45

Bent Over Row
5 x 5 x 155

As previously discussed, Squats are starting off light and the focus will remain on preserving PERFECT form as the weight advances. The form was damn good with 185, and I'll move up to 195 next time. If form struggles on the first set, though, move back down.

Press was just a 5 pound backoff from the last time I did the exercise (over 2 weeks ago), but it felt easy. A good sign! Move up to 130 next time.

Hang Cleans were for learning purposes, as the first step in progressing to the Power Clean. I think I did pretty well. Token Asian Roommate struggled, and New Workout Buddy was getting the hang of it by the end. Next time I'll move on to Jump Cleans, and the other two might as well, depending on how they do at Hang Cleans to start.

I'm doing Bent Over Rows like Pendlay Rows -- complete deload on the floor between reps, which makes the movement harder because you lose the elastic bounce out of the bottom of the rep. I don't want to advance too fast on an exercise I'm only doing as assistance once a week, so 160 next time.

Overhead Press & Squats Galore

2007-11-26T22:04:00.000-06:00

A disclaimer to begin: this program is a work in progress. I'll probably be revising it as time goes on. I might even come back and edit this post to reflect any such revisions.

First, my goals:

Press my bodyweight (~200 lbs)
Squat double my bodyweight (~400 lbs)

After reviewing some numbers and estimates online, I've decided that the first goal might be a bit of a stretch, but I'm sticking with it. "Shoot for the moon; even if you miss, you'll land among the stars" and all that crap. The second should be attainable, especially since my Squat form is now officially BADASS.

So how am I going to get there? With the following unnecessarily complicated two week program:

Week 1
M: Squat (5x5), Press (5x5), Power Clean (5x3), Bent Over Row (5x5)
W: Squat, Bench (5x5), Deadlift (1x5), Chinups (3x failure, unweighted)
F: Squat, Press, Power Clean, Chinups (3x5, weighted)

Week 2
M: Squat, Press, Power Clean, Bent Over Row
W: Squat, Dips (5x5, weighted), Deadlift, Pullups (3x failure, unweighted)
F: Squat, Press, Power Clean, Pullups (3x5, weighted)

Note that if a set & rep scheme is listed once for an exercise, that scheme is used for all iterations of that exercise unless otherwise noted. Thus, all Squats are for 5x5, all Power Cleans are for 5x3, etc.

Now for some explanation of the reasoning behind the madness:

I'm Squatting 3 times a week because if you don't Squat 3 times a week, you're a pansy. And also because Squat has been the least trained of the core exercises for me over the past few years, so I need to get my reps in to get the weight up.

I'm Pressing heavy twice a week, with Bench and Dips alternating on Wednesdays. This is because My focus is obviously on improving Pressing strength, but I also want to at least maintain my Bench and Dip strength. Plus, I think that working in a variety of pushes will help keep my Press progress from stagnating.

Deadlifting heavy once a week is plenty to get stronger on that lift from what I've read (and experienced), so Wednesday morning is Deadlift time! Power Cleans on Monday and Friday to work the posterior chain and help overall power development. The first few weeks will be learning the exercise with the progression outlined in Starting Strength, since I'm brand new to Power Cleans.

Pullups/Chinups are great assistance exercises for the Press, and I originally had them programmed on every day, but I added in Bent Over Rows for the same reason I added in Bench and Dips -- variety and warding off stagnation.

I'll be doing metabolic conditioning workouts from Crossfit on Tuesday and Thursday, quite heaviliy scaled down at first. I won't be aiming to push myself as hard as those Crossfit guys generally do, at least at first. It's more to keep above a minimum level of GPP ("General Physical Preparedness") and keep the habit of getting into the gym as often as possible. Oh, and to freak people out by doing weird Crossfit things at the gym.

So that's the plan. Modifications will be made as the necessity for doing so becomes obvious, and will be noted on this blog. If you, o random denizen of the internet, have any thoughts or ideas about how I could improve this, please leave a comment!

Training 11-24-07

2007-11-26T09:39:00.001-06:00

I'm back from the annual Thanksgiving Family Reunion. It was good times -- I slept in a converted box car decorated with way too much railroad paraphernalia and ate disgusting amounts of yummy food. Surprisingly, I didn't do too bad of a job of sticking to my eating rules. (I refuse to call it a diet, dammit!)

On Saturday, I decided to freak out my relatives by doing some Tabata intervals. 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off for 4 minutes per exercise with 1 minute or less of rest while switching between exercises. I didn't keep very good track of my totals, but I recorded my lows:

Pushups
low: 6 girl pushups (pitiful!)

Dumbbell Deadlift
(30 pound dumbbell in each hand)
low: 10

Situps
low: 10

Sprints

I was wiped out by the time I got to sprints, and the last few felt like sprints but looked more like slow-motion zombie shuffles. I know this to be true because apparently some of my relatives saw me running from their windows and asked me if I had a good jog. D'oh!

Training 11-22-07

2007-11-22T18:25:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Spent today with my roomates & some of their family, my aunt, uncle & cousines, and my grandmother. Good times!

Went to the gym for some more maxing and general messing around.

Bench
1 x 255
1 x 275

Squat
Form work up to a good form double of 225

Pullups
17 consecutive

Bench was about what I was aiming for, though 285 would've been nice.

Squat form is coming along nicely, though a try with 275 went straight down without any chance for me to push back up. I think I just wasn't ready for it, but I didn't want to try again for fear of losing my resurgent form.

Like Bench, 17 pullups is pretty good and around what I was aiming for, but I would've been happier if I'd broken 20. Maybe next time!

I'm about 80% sure what my new program next week will look like. I'll finalize it over the weekend and write it up later.

Training 11-20-07

2007-11-20T22:25:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving vacation is officially beginning. I'm typing this while sitting in a living room filled with me, my 3 roommates, 3 siblings of said roommates and 1 father of said roommates. It feels like a long college weekend!

Some light work and max deadlift today:

Press
Various light weights to get the blood flowing (didn't keep track at all)

Squat
Form work -- I'm starting to get it!

Deadlift
1 x 275
1 x 315
1 x 355

I really wanted at least 365 on Deadlift, but didn't quite get it. I just couldn't get it off the floor. 355 is respectable, though.

The real happiness from this workout comes from the fact that I think my Squat form is on the rebound! Knees pointed out wide over the toes, sit back to at or barely below parallel, and come straight back up. Mainly, just think, "knees out, back straight." Focusing on those two seems to help everything else stay right -- I get to right about parallel, my knees stay over my toes, my posterior chain stays involved, my upper back and chest stay right, and I go straight down and back up. It's like magic!

Training 11-19-07

2007-11-19T21:56:00.000-06:00

The first of three mess around/max out days leading up to Thanksgiving break. Woot! I took my time, did plenty of warming up and made sure I was fully rested between all sets/attempts. I've only recorded the successful tries below -- if I tried a weight and didn't get the rep, it's not written here.

Squat
3 x 3 x 225
3 x 3 x 205

Press
1 x 135
1 x 155
1 x 160

Chinups
1 x 55
1 x 65
1 x 80
1 x 90

Form is still the limiting factor on Squat, I think. But it's getting better. I need to keep my knees pointed out over my feet, sit back instead of down, keep my lower back straight and concentrate on using the posterior chain from the bottom.

A note on terminology -- I'm switching to the terms used by Rippetoe in Starting Strength: Overhead Press = Press and Underhand Pullups = Chinups. I'm happy with both maxes here. 155 felt relatively easy on Press, but I couldn't even get 165 above my forehead. I might need to work some partials at some point in the future. We'll see how it goes.

I really wanted 100 lbs on weighted Chinups, but on two seperate tries I got about 60% - 70% up and was stuck. I'll get it yet!

Lessons Learned Thus Far

2007-11-19T12:24:00.000-06:00

I've learned a lot since I started actually recording my workouts and trying to learn as much as possible about lifting three months ago. Looking back, it's almost comical how little I knew when I started. I'm sure that, 3 months from now, it'll be comical to look back on how little I know right now. But here are a few of the highlights of what I've learned:

1 - Lifting weights doesn't build muscle. Recovery builds muscle.

That's the biggest mistake I made when starting out in September -- I took a 3-day a week program, looked at my schedule and said "4 days a week works better for me," and proceeded to transform a well-organized program into something that almost ran me into the ground on a couple of occasions.

Working out tears up your muscle and makes you weaker than you were before. Your body then repairs the damage and adds a little more muscle and strength on top (supercompensation). It is this rebuilding process makes you stronger, and if you don't give it enough time to occur between workouts, you'll end up overtraining to some degree.

Maximize your recovery between workouts by spacing your workouts 24-72 hours apart, eating right (pay special attention to getting enough protein -- roughly 1g per pound of bodyweight per day) and getting plenty of sleep.

2 - For strength in non-elite athletes, isolation is basically useless.

Want to get strong? Stop the bicep curls. Now. Seriously. Put those 30-lb dumbbells down and do some pullups. If you want to get stronger, you have to use compound exercises that work multiple joints and muscle groups, because that's the way your body is designed. In the real world, bicep strength isn't important -- pulling strength is. Tricep strength isn't important -- pushing strength is.

Isolation exercises work muscles in a way that you'll never actually use them -- alone and without regard to strengthening the rest of the musculature that would contribute to pushing, pulling, lifting, dragging or carrying heavy stuff. Compound movements work all muscles involved in a certain motion in the proportion to which those muscles contribute to that motion. That leads to a high level of balanced, functional strength.

3 - You are what you eat.

We exercise buffs rarely admit this publicly, but what you eat is possibly more important than how you exercise when it comes to how you look. If you want to look like a fat slob, eat like a fat slob: twinkies, doritos, cheesburgers, etc. If you want to look like you're fit, eat like you're fit: veggies, fruit, lean meat, whole grains.

Diet also has a big impact on performance. If you want to be as "strong" as Kate Moss, eat like Kate Moss: celery, water, water, celery and water. If you want to be as strong as a powerlifter, eat like a powerlifter: meat, eggs, milk, and veggies.

Yes, it's important to train hard in order to get stronger or look better. But if you don't give your body the right "raw materials" to use in recovery (see #1), then your results will be less than optimal.

4 - A training partner is essential.

I don't have a regular, every-day training partner. And I don't mind it -- I like being able to do my own thing in the gym and not worry about keeping someone else happy. But I do have a roommate who trains with me once or twice a week, and having him there has been invaluable to my progress. He keeps an eye on my form, helps keep me motivated, and keeps me honest when I'm tired and start trying to cheat a little bit on the last few reps.

If you can't get somebody to work out with you at least some of the time, invest in a video camera. Video a few of your workouts so that you can see what you're doing and spot any weaknesses or technique flaws. Post the videos online and ask for tips or advice. It'll act as both motivation and a chance to learn.

5 - I love this crap.

I thought I liked working out before, when I did so with no real plan and with no real attention to what I was doing. But now that I'm learning as much as I can, keeping track of what I'm doing and trying to make educated, practical decisions about what I need to do in order to improve, I'm having twice as much fun as I was before. Seeing my progress (or lack thereof) and finding ways to improve or fix problems is an incredibly satisfying experience for me.

Based on what I've learned over the past months, I'll be starting a new and improved program next week. I'll be lifting 3x a week instead of 4, so I'll have adequate recovery time between sessions. I'll be refining my exercise selection in order to meet specific goals and hopefully facilitate slightly shorter, more intense workouts. I'll be adding some general conditioning twice a week in the form of Crossfit.

Early this week, I'll test some maxes and goof around. I'll do whatever I can figure out for workouts while traveling for Thanksgiving. Then next week the fun starts! Here's hoping that I've got a better grip on what I'm doing this time than I did last time!

Training 11-17-07

2007-11-19T10:06:00.000-06:00

I was in Memphis for the weekend, so I didn't have a chance to get a normal lifting session. On Saturday, however, I went to the hotel gym, grabbed some 20 lb dumbbells and did Tabata Thrusters.

The Tabata protocol is simple but intense: 20 seconds of exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated 8 times for a total of 4 minutes (2 minutes 40 seconds of work, 1 minute 20 seconds of rest). If you want to get a hard workout in really fast, try it. I spent a total of about 12 minutes in the gym -- 5 minutes warming up, 4 minutes of Tabata, and 3 minutes sprawled on the gym floor sucking air afterwards.

Here's how I did (It was my first time, so don't laugh):

Tabata Thrusters
40 x 10, 10, 10, 9, 7, 6, 5, 5

Total reps: 62
High:10
Low:5

Not too shabby for a first try, I think. I lost a couple of reps on the last 2 sets because I was so wiped out that 10 seconds of rest time wasn't enough for me to put down the dumbbells, take a step to the right, jot down my reps for that interval, take a step back to the dumbbells and pick them back up.

This week will be a "whatever I feel like doing" week, and then the training routine will be changing after Thanksgiving. I'll even set goals! More on that today or tomorrow.

Training 11-15-07

2007-11-15T23:19:00.000-06:00

The Day the Squats Died...

A

Squats
4 x 205
2 x 5 x 205
3 x 205

Squats - focus on form!
3 x 7 x 135

Bench
5 x 5 x 225

Deadlift
3 x 5 x 275

Pullups (underhand)
2 x 5 x 40
4 x 40
2 x 3 x 40

Squats were just plain terrible. Even when I got a full set of 5, the form was atrocious. I've decided to go all the way back to the beginning, a la Starting Strength. I started with an empty bar, and added weight in 10-pound increments until I got to a weight where my form was not absolutely, 100% perfect. I then did 2 more sets at that weight, and called it a day.

From here on out, that's what I'm going to do. Focus on form above all else, gradually increase the weight ONLY as long as I can do so with perfect form, and drill it into my head. Also, no more Front Squats for at least a few months, until I get the motion of a perfect Back Squat burned into my mind and body for all eternity.

Bench was solid, only arched on the last rep of the last set. Also kept my head off the bench for most reps, which is good. 235 net time!

Deadlifts were ok, but the back rounded on the 4th and 5th reps of the last 2 sets a bit. Could be because my glutes and hamstrings were already worn out from so many Squats. 275 again.

I used up all my time on Squats, so I only had 8 minutes before the gym closed for pullups. Rest was minimal, so I expected to lose a few reps compared to last time. Stay at 40 for now, and I should be able to get all the reps next time, with adequate rest.

Good Carbs!

2007-11-14T10:34:00.000-06:00

I didn't lift yesterday. I forgot that I had a meeting after work until 8, and I'd already arranged to go out with friends at 8:30, which if I hadn't had that silly meeting, would have given me plenty of time to go home, work out and shower. D'oh!

But it's not all bad. I'll get a bit of rest, which I'm beginning to suspect is the missing element in my current program. Hopefully the extra rest will help me fix my Squat problems on Thursday.

Since I have no workout to report, let me ramble for a bit about nutrition. A few months ago, I was of the opinion that nutrition was unimportant and what really mattered was working hard in the gym. Boy was I wrong. Working hard in the gym matters. A lot. But nutrition is probably even more important.

Since about a month ago, I've been basing my diet on the paleo diet. The basic idea is this: only eat things that, in theory, you could go outside, pick up off of the ground (or out of the water) and eat. This means that pretty much all meat is ok, most veggies, fruits, and nuts. But no bread, pasta, potatoes, legumes, dairy or processed food.

Some people would call this a low-carb diet. I disagree. It's not a low-carb diet, it's a good-carb diet. Let me explain what I mean by this.

From the time I was a kid up until I took bread, pasta, etc. out of my diet, I would become very emotionally and psychologically unstable if I was hungry. If I hadn't eaten in a few hours, I was either on top of the world or I hated it. Something as small as stubbing my toe or thinking about having to go to school the next day could send me from one end of the spectrum to the other in seconds. I learned to control it by eating often and making sure that I always had food close to hand. My stomach literally controlled my mood, and to an extent, my life.

Now I realize that this pattern was the result of a post-carb crash. Traditional high-carb foods such as bread, pasta, rice and potatoes cause a big spike in blood sugar after you eat them. Most of my meals would be full of whole grains, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc., which would spike my blood sugar levels and make me feel good for a couple of hours. Then, as my body released insulin, my blood sugar levels would plummet and I'd be moody. Since I started avoiding these foods, I've noticed that my mood is much, much less dependent on the state of my stomach, because I avoid blood sugar spikes and the lows that come after them.

So what makes the carbs from bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc. "bad" and other carbs "good?" Well, the good carbs, those that come from veggies, fruits, nuts, milk, etc., promote a slow, long-lasting boost in blood sugar levels instead of the spike that comes from eating the bad carbs found in bread, pasta, etc.

A carb source's status as "good" or "bad" is determined by its rating on the glycemic index:

Low glycemic index = slow, long-lasting blood sugar boost = good
High glycemic index = fast blood sugar spike = bad

Following a diet that has a relatively low glycemic index has been shown to reduce the likelihood of diabetes, heart disease, obesity and other conditions. Also, you avoid what I call the "after lunch nap syndrome," where you feel lazy and tired after meals. By getting my carbs from fruit, veggies, nuts, and other low glycemic index sources, I've found that my energy level stays higher throughout the day, I no longer get moody when I haven't eaten, and I don't get tired in the afternoon or early evening like I used to. I'm not eliminating carbs; I'm just being picky about my sources.

So this isn't a low-carb diet because I'm not trying to minimize the amount of carbs I eat. Instead, I'm cutting out carbohydrate sources with a high glycemic index, and only eating the good carbs. On this diet, I average 170-200g of carbs a day, which, while it is below the 271g recommended by the USDA, is more than enough to keep my body properly fueled. (I personally don't think much of the USDA's dietary recommendations, anyway, but that's another post.) As a result, I feel better, I'm healthier (I think), and my stomach no longer controls my mood. I call that a win.

Training 11-12-07

2007-11-12T22:33:00.000-06:00

Monday, Monday, Monday. On the plus side, I'm taking the day off on Friday and getting a most-expenses-paid trip to Memphis this weekend! Beale Street, here I come!

A

Squat
2 x 5 x 215
2 x 215 (lost tension in posterior chain)
5 x 215
3 x 215 (just failed)

Bench Press
4 x 5 x 225
4 x 225

Deadlift
3 x 5 x 275

Pullups (overhand)
3 x 5 x 40
2 x 4 x 40

Squat was disappointing. There's got to be something about the form that I'm just not getting. While talking about it with Token Asian Roommate, I developed a suspicion that I might be trying to bring my hips forward and under myself at the bottom of the rep when I get tired. I need to focus on keeping the hips back and pushing straight up. 215 again until I get it right!

Bench Press is coming along nicely. Form is pretty easy, so all I have to think about is getting set, getting tight and going fast. Was really close to the last rep on the last set. Should be able to get it next time!

Deadlift was seeming to push back with the heavier sets, so I'm back to working 3 sets of 5, at least for now. Form was iffy on the last rep, but I should be able to get 285 next time.

Pullups are also coming along. Underhand is easier than overhand, so I should be able to get a full 5 sets of 5 next time.

Overall, I was really fatigued towards the end of this workout. I was getting a headache, and had a tingly feeling almost like a pinched nerve from the front of my left shoulder down to the pinkie of my left hand. It's a good sign that I'm working hard, but I'm glad I'll be mixing stuff up with a new program in a couple of weeks. I'm thinking that should help with the fatigue and hopefully give my numbers a boost.

Training 11-9-07

2007-11-10T02:09:00.000-06:00

Just finished a late evening of poker with the roomies and friends. Making this posed based on my notes from earlier this evening. Must... sleep...

A

Squat
5 x 5 x 205

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 225
3 x 225
4 x 225

Deadlift
5 x 135
5 x 225
3 x 5 x 275

Pullups (underhand)
3 x 5 x 40
2 x 4 x 40

Squats were pretty solid. I notice that my form gets better when I feel like there's someone watching me, so I have to do it right. So just always assume that people are watching me critically, so I'll do it right! 215 next time.

Bench Press was better, though I couldn't convince my spotter for the last set not to touch the bar. I got the first 3 100% on my own, I think I got number 4 on my own, and though I didn't really feel him pulling up, I think the 5th rep wouldn't have happened without him. That's why I only counted four.

Deadlift is pushing back against being trained heavy very often, which is what I'd heard would happen. I need to start learning Power Cleans so I can alternate between the two.

Pullups are progressing. Hopefully I'll get a full 5 sets of 5 next time.

Why you should always lift fast

2007-11-08T20:37:00.001-06:00

There are a lot of different ideas out there about lifting speeds. Some people tell you to lift slow, some say lift fast. Some particularly power-mad coaches will even try to prescribe the exact amount of time for the eccentric (lowering) and concentric (raising) portions of the lift, as well as the amount of time you should pause between each.

The slow rep or precisely timed methods might work for advanced bodybuilders who have decades of high-level training under their belts and who don't care how strong they are as long as you can see the definition in their pecs. For anyone other than a professional bodybuilder, there is one speed you should go: fast.

Why should you go fast? Power. Whip out your old high school physics book, and you'll find the following equation:
We can tell from this equation that the longer you take to perform a given task (the "work" part of the equation), the less power you are producing. So a lifter who takes 1 second to complete a rep of with 200 pounds is producing much more power than a lifter who takes 3 seconds to complete one rep with the same weight.

So it takes more power to lift faster. Using more power in your workout means you're building more power. Simple enough.

Why should I care about power, you ask? I'll tell you why. Power is basically the real-world application of strength. Pure strength is isometric, when you're exerting force but nothing is moving. Power is dynamic, when you're exerting force to accelerate or decelerate an object. So while pure strength might enable you to hold 300 pounds overhead, you'll need lots of power to move the weight from the floor to overhead.

There's another reason you should lift fast. Lifting weights at a certain speed builds strength at that speed AND ALL SLOWER SPEEDS. Train fast and you'll be able to lift heavier weights slow. Train slow, and you'll still be able to lift slow, but you won't be building power like you would lifting fast.

Now a bit of qualification: don't pick a super light weight and throw it around as fast as you can. You should lift fast, but controlled. Never lift so fast that you're in danger of throwing the weight away from you or your form breaks down. If you can go that fast, you're not using enough weight! You should lift like you're trying to throw the bar up in the air, but if you find that you're actually almost succeeding in doing so, add some weight to the bar.

Training 11-8-07

2007-11-08T20:24:00.000-06:00

For some reason I'm inordinately excited about the upcoming Will Smith movie entitled I Am Legend. I like Will Smith as an actor, and the previews I've seen lead me to believe that the plot will be interesting, unusual (for Hollywood) and provide plenty of opportunities for shooting things, jumping off of buildings, etc. Anyway, I discovered today that this is actually the third cinema adaptation of a novel by the same title by Richard Matheson. After a quick post-workout meal, I'm headed to Half Price Books to see if I can snag a copy.

B

Front Squat
2 x 5 x 185
3 x 185 (leaned forward and dropped the weight)
2 x 5 x 185

Overhead Press
2 x 5 x 130
3 x 130
2 x 4 x 130

Bent Over Barbell Row
5 x 5 x 165

Dips
5 x 5 x 80

Overhead Press Lockouts
2 x 4 x 135
2 x 3 x 135

Front Squat form is still occasionally iffy, as evidenced by the drop in the third set. Fix it! Keeping my focus on pressure in the chest and abdomen and moving fast is helping. Breathe in at the top, NOT while moving down.

Overhead Press is advancing slowly. I sucked on the 3rd set, got pissed off about it, and did better on the last two. I need to get pissed off beforehand, so the sucking doesn't happen. Keep tight and shrug the shoulders at the top.

Bent Over Barbell Row still hurts my right wrist. Not sure what the deal is. Form was a bit loose, but try 170 next time.

Dips were solid. 85 next time. Go fast.

I want to bring up my Overhead Press Strength, and my stick point on failed reps is just above my head, where the triceps take over for the shoulders as the main movers. Working some heavy lockouts (set pins in squat rack just above head, press from pins to top) once or twice a week should help.

Training 11-6-07

2007-11-06T22:33:00.000-06:00

Had dinner tonight with my friend from work and a couple of other folk. It was highly enjoyable, and contributed nicely to my "Lucas being more social" project. Woot!

A

Squat
5 x 5 x 195

Bench
2 x 5 x 225
4 x 225
2 x 5 x 225

Deadlift
5 x 135
5 x 185
5 x 225
5 x 275
1 x 325

Pullups (overhand)
2 x 5 x 40
3 x 3 x 40

Squat was best when I focused on going all the way down, going fast and pushing as hard as possible. Think about the up when going down and think about the 5th rep when doing the first. Try 205 next time, but if it compromises form, move back down.

Bench was a bit artifically enhanced. I asked a guy to spot me on the last 2 sets, and I told him not to touch the bar unless it looked like I was going to drop the bar b ack on my chest. It didn't work, and he touched the bar as soon as I lost even a little bit of bar speed. On the plus side, it made me go as fast as possible, which helped. Same as with Squat: stay tight, go fast. 225 again next time.

Deadlift was disappointing. My legs felt a bit weak going in, but still, only getting 1 rep with 325 after previously getting a triple on two different occasions is disappointing. I need to keep the pressure up in my chest and abdomen. That should help next time.

Pullups were ok. A bit of short rest, since I was running late for dinner. 40 lbs underhand next time.

Training 11-5-07

2007-11-05T21:42:00.000-06:00

Today was a mediocre day at work, but a good day overall. I'm trying to make a conscious effort to be more friendly and open to meeting people. In the past, I'd head into the grocery store, almost completely ignore the people around me, get my food and go home. Today at the store, I made an effort to notice the people around me and give them a friendly smile. A small step, but I felt good about it.

B

Front Squat
5 x 5 x 185

Overhead Press
4 x 130
5 x 130
3 x 130
2 x 4 x 130

Bent Over Barbell Row
4 x 165
4 x 5 x 165

Dips
5 x 5 x 75

Still doing the Crossfit Warmup beforehand, and it makes those Front Squats slow and painful. But I got a full 5 sets of 5 with 185, which I wasn't sure I'd be able to do after the warmup. I initially tried the clean grip, but it just didn't feel right, so I went back to the cross-arm grip. Form got better in the later sets. 185 again next time to solidify the form.

I had form problems on Overhead Press and Bent Over Barbell Row, which explains why the reps jumped around on those exercises. On Overhead Press, I need to focus on keeping my base stable: squeeze the glutes and abs, and keep the shoulderblades back and tight. I think I can get a full 5 sets of 5 next time if I do that. For Bent Over Barbell Row, focus on pulling back with the shoulder blades. I have a tendency to come a bit upright and shrug on the last rep of a set in an effort to get all the way up, and I need to fix that.

A full 5 sets of 5 with 75 lbs on Dips! Nothing will get you noticed in the gym like adding weight to what are usually bodyweight exercises. Guys who could snap you in half start to think that maybe you're not a complete weakling after all. 80 lbs next time.

Progress Thus Far

2007-11-04T22:00:00.000-06:00

I've been feeling frustrated by my apparent lack of progress over the past few weeks, and I've been considering switching things up. I'm trying to decide between staying with my current program, switching to an "intermediate" program such as the Texas Method or Bill Starr's 5x5, or doing a ME Black Box Crossfit program. So, before making this decision, I decided I should take a look at the numbers so far.

A quick rundown:

Squat weight increased from 205 to a best of 225, but I failed to move up to 235 and am in the midst of a deload. Front Squat moved from 165 to 205, but once again, I'm currently deloading after failing spectacularly with 205 the workout after I first got it.

Bench Press has gone nowhere but down. My bests in workout weight (225) and volume were both achieved on day 1. I just worked through a deload to try to get back there, but haven't yet matched my first day totals. Sad. Overhead Press started at 125 and I actually made it to 135, but then hurt my back. Now I've worked back up to 130.

Deadlift has seen nice improvement, probably because I've never done it before. Started at 225 and can now rep 275. I even have done two triples of 325 thus far. Bent Over Barbell row has increased from 145 to 165, but form is still problematic and I may need to do a second deload to fix it.

Pullups and Dips have gone from bodyweight to successful 5x5's of 35 and 70 lbs, respectively. They seem to still be advancing, too, as I expect to best those weights by 5 pounds within the next week for Dips and 2 weeks for Pullups.

I'm frustrated by my progress on both kinds of Squats, Bench and Overhead Press, have been doing well on Deadlift, Pullups and Dips, and am still trying to find my groove on Bent Over Barbell Row. Physically, I think I look better than I did before starting this program. I didn't take pictures, but I'm pretty sure that I've added some size and definition.

But strength is what I'm going for, and I just haven't gotten the results I want. A working Squat of 225, Deadlift of 275, Bench of 220 and Overhead Press of 125 are ok, but not the results I was looking for. The Squat is particularly disappointing, though that's probably to be expected since I'd neglected my lower-body training for so long.

For now, what I'll do is hit this program as hard as humanly possible for two and a half more weeks. I'll try to blow through my deloads and push as hard as possible to get the weight up as much as I can on every single lift before Thanksgiving.

I also noticed, looking over my log, that I'm on the verge of falling back into the trap of giving myself a free pass for missing reps or not giving 100% intensity with the mindset that I can do more reps to make up for it. Fix that, go hard for two weeks, and re-evaluate at Thanksgiving.

A full breakout of the important numbers is below. "Work weight" refers to the amount of weight I have on the bar when doing my work sets. "Volume" refers to the total weight lifted for the workout (sets x reps x weight). "Best work weight" refers to the heaviest weight with which I completed a full 5 sets of 5. "Best volume" is just the highest single-day volume thus far.

Squat
Starting work weight: 205
Starting volume: 5125
Most recent work weight: 195 (deload)
Most recent volume: 4875
Best work weight: 225 (10-2-07)
Best volume: 5625 (10-2-07)

Front Squats
Starting work weight: 165
Starting volume: 4125
Most recent work weight: 175 (deload)
Most recent volume: 4375
Best work weight: 205 (10-25-07)
Best volume: 5125 (10-25-07)

Bench Press
Starting work weight: 225
Starting volume: 5625
Most recent work weight: 225
Most recent volume: 4275
Best work weight: 225 (9-10-07)
Best volume: 5625 (9-10-07)

Overhead Press
Starting work weight: 125
Starting volume: 3125
Most recent work weight: 130
Most recent volume: 2730
Best work weight: 130 (9-25-07)
Best volume: 3250 (9-25-07)

Deadlift
Starting work weight: 225
Starting volume: 3375
Most recent work weight: 275
Most recent volume: 5475
Best work weight: 275 (11-1-07)
Best volume: 5475 (11-1-07)

Bent Over Barbell Row
Starting work weight: 145
Starting volume: 3625
Most recent work weight: 165
Most recent volume: 4125
Best work weight: 165 (11-2-07)
Best volume: 4125 (11-2-07)

Pullups
Starting work weight: Bodyweight
Starting volume: 34 reps
Most recent work weight: 40
Most recent volume: 760
Best work weight: 35 (10-26-07)
Best volume: 875 (10-26-07)

Dips
Starting work weight: bodyweight
Starting volume: 57 reps
Most recent work weight: 75
Most recent volume: 1800
Best work weight: 70 (10-25-07)
Best volume: 1800 (11-2-07)

Training 11-2-07

2007-11-04T21:47:00.000-06:00

Friday was an interesting day. I did a half-day at work (to make up for working last Saturday), and then drove to Austin to hang out with some friends. In between, I had about 30 minutes to squeeze in a workout.

B (abbreviated)

Front Squat (deload)
5 x 5 x 175

Overhead Press
4 x 130
5 x 130
3 x 4 x 130

Bent Over Barbell Row
10 x 130
9 x 130
8 x 130

Rest was definitely a factor in this workout. I was trying to get as much into my 30 minutes as possible, so rest was cut short. I think I could've gotten a couple more reps on Overhead Press if that hadn't been the case. Overall a decent effort for a short day.

Oh, and I ran a 5K on Sunday. Chip time of 27:24. Not bad considering I haven't run in a while and we did a 1-mile warmup beforehand.

Training 11-1-07

2007-11-01T22:25:00.000-05:00

I've been doing some thinking about updating or changing my program. It feels like I haven't made much progress on any lift except for those that are new to me (Deadlifts, weighted Pullups and Dips). I'll go back and look at the numbers, then figure out what to do.

(Crossfit Warmup beforehand! Woot!)

A

Squats (deload)
5 x 5 x 195

Bench Press
5 x 225
2 x 4 x 225
2 x 3 x 225

Deadlift
5 x 135
5 x 185
5 x 225
2 x 5 x 275

Pullups (underhand)
5 x 40
2 x 4 x 40
2 x 3 x 40

I'm re-figuring out form on Squats. I think I'm going to go back to high bar. I just can't get a stable, comfortable position with a low bar. The main thing, as Token Asian Roommate pointed out, is to keep my palms on TOP of the bar and my wrists flat, and create a solid platform for the bar on my shoulders. I did that on my last two sets, and it felt much better.

On the first two sets of Bench Press, I tried to keep my head off of the bench as advised in Starting Strength. It made me feel much less stable, and those sets were, honestly, crap. I abandoned the head thing and just focused on staying tight and pushing hard, and the last three sets felt much better.

This was the sub-max day for Deadlift. Next time I'll go back up to 325 and shoot for 4 reps there.

Pullups were hurried because the gym was about to close and, on top of the short rest, I was probably already a bit fatigued from teh pullups in the warmup. 40 lbs overhand next time, shooting for at least as many reps as today.

Training 10-30-07

2007-10-30T20:41:00.000-05:00

Today I did the CrossFit warmup before my workout. As promised of CrossFit stuff in general, it looked easy on paper, but I was sweating and out of breath by the end of the 2nd round (of 3 total). Anyway, I think I'm going to make it a habit to start off with the CrossFit warmup. It'll be a step towards building a better conditioning base and, eventually, moving to doing the CrossFit WOD and maybe one lift afterwards.

B

Front Squat
5 x 205
2 x 205
3 x 205
4 x 205
2 x 205
10 x 135

Overhead Press
2 x 5 x 130
2 x 4 x 130
3 x 130

Bent Over Barbell Row
5 x 5 x 165

Dips
4 x 5 x 165
4 x 165

Pull-down crunch
(sets of 10) 72, 96, 120, 144, 156, 168

Front Squats, like Squats yesterday, were disappointing. It's frustrating to suck when I know I can do better than this. Looks like deload here, too. 195 on Squats and 175 on Front Squats, then hopefully moving up quickly.

Overhead Press actually regressed from last time, too. It would be easy to blame my sub-par performance on being tired from the warmup. But no excuses. 5 x 5 next time. Period.

Did a bit better on Bent Over Barbell Row. Still need to get the form down, and focus on getting the bar all the way up to my chest.

Dips were good, and I might have been able to get the last one if I'd just pushed a little harder. ARGH. Frustrating workout overall. I'll get it next time.

Training 10-29-07

2007-10-29T21:35:00.000-05:00

A

Squat
5 x 235
4 x 235
5 x 225
4 x 225
3 x 225
15 x 135

Incline Bench Press
5 x 5 x 175

Deadlift
5 x 135
5 x 185
5 x 225
5 x 275
3 x 325

Pullups (overhand)
5 x 5 x 35

Overhead Walks
5 x 2 lengths x 60

Time to admit that I need to deload on Squats. Down to 195 next time, then work back up.

All the benches were taken today, including any and all freestanding flat benches that we could've moved to the power rack or used for dumbbell press. Incline felt good, though. I used some of the tips for bench from Starting Strength -- shoulders back and together, press with feet, set the grip with the thumb, etc.

Was hoping to get 4 reps of 325 on Deadlift today, but no such luck. The mixed grip felt more lopsided than it did last week. Next time I'll top out with 2 sets of 275 -- all the stuff I've been reading seems to suggest that going heavy on Deadlift twice in a week is a bad idea.

Pullups were strong. Keeping the hands at about shoulder-width stops the elbows from hurting with the overhand grip. 40 lbs underhand next time.

Token Asian Roommate and I alternated on the Overhead Walks. I walked across the cardio studio and back, then when I got back to the start point, he went. When he got back, I went, etc. This was a great exercise, but I need to move up to 70 or 80 lbs next time.

Training 10-26-07

2007-10-26T23:01:00.000-05:00

The haunted house yesterday was pretty fun, actually. Not really scary at all. It was well set up, but all of the actors were high school kids and on average they probably weighed 130 lbs. A few of them were really good at hiding around corners or behind posts and jumping out and surprising you, though.

A

Squats
5 x 235
2 x 235 (failure on 3. Now I'm pissed)
5 x 225
5 x 230
5 x 235

Jump Squats
3 x 10 x 135

Bench Press
5 x 5 x 220

Speed Bench
1 x 15 x 135

Deadlift
5 x 135
5 x 185
5 x 225
5 x 275
3 x 325 PR!

Pullups (underhand)
5 x 5 x 35
6 with bodyweight (fast as possible)

Overhead Walks
5 x failure x 60

Second workout in a row that I've failed on 235 lb Squats. The Lucas was angry. The weird thing is that I got 5 reps of the same weight 3 sets later. I think I need to do some auxiliary work to help out the squat speed, hence the Jump Squats directly afterwards. Contrary to the name, you don't actually jump. You just push up as fast as possible, as if you were trying to jump (if the weight is too light, you'll actually end up jumping sometimes).

Bench Press is starting to get challenging. 225 next time. To keep with the speed theme, I did a set of Speed Bench afterwards. Similar to Jump Squat, you basically try to throw the weight up as fast as possible.

I decided to try a new approach to Deadlift, working up to a single heavy set instead of doing 3 sets of 5. 315 is good enough to be my first PR on Deadlift! I had to use a mixed grip on the last set. It markedly improved my strength -- not having to worry about grip slipping helps a lot on the heavy sets. I think I'll continue to use the mixed grip on the top heavy set going forward. Try for 4 with 315 next time.

I feel stronger with underhand pullups than I do with overhand, and they place less stress on my elbows. I'll use 35 lbs next time again for the overhand.

Overhead Walks are exactly what they sound like. I took two 30 lb dumbbells and walked back and forth in the cardio studio at the gym while holding them overhead. I walked until I felt like I couldn't hold them any more -- either 2 or 3 trips across the studio this time.

Training 10-25-07

2007-10-25T22:58:00.000-05:00

I've agreed to go to a haunted house with a friend tonight. I'm not sure what to think -- I scare easily in movies but can handle more gross/gory stuff in real life than most. I'm not quite sure where this experience will fall along the real life/movie spectrum, and I haven't been to a haunted house since I was in middle school. This should be interesting.

B

Front Squat
5 x 5 x 205

Overhead Press
3 x 5 x 130
2 x 4 x 130

Bent Over Barbell Row
3 x 5 x 165
4 x 165
5 x 165

Dips
5 x 5 x 70

Seated Cable Crunches
4 x 5 x 96
15 x 60

Spinal Decompression Hangs
2 x 30 sec
5 x 20 sec

Front Squat from was ok. Really need to focus on staying back over my hips and pushing from the heels. I bent forward on 3-4 reps, so 205 again next time and fix it.

The narrower grip and squeezing the glutes makes Overhead Press much better. I'm about back to where I was before hurting myself, and I think I'll be able to progress pretty quickly. Hopefully a full 5 sets with 130 next time!

Form is best on Bent Over Barbell Row when I really focus on pulling with the shoulder blades from the bottom of the movement. 165 until I can do that consistently.

Dips felt strong. I had to struggle a bit for that 5th rep on the 4th and 5th sets, but I got it so I'm up to 75 lbs next time.

Seated Cable Crunches are where you sit backwards on the Lat Pull-down machine, hold the bar behind your neck and pull down with your toso like a sit-up. They're a good exercise because you have to pull hard all the way through the motion, as opposed to a sit-up, where the movement gets easier towards the top because you're moving the weight vertically instead of horizontally. I need to strengthen my core to help out with Squats, so I should do these more often.

Couldn't hang as long on Spinal Decompression Hangs. Disappointing. I'll just keep at it, though, and it should improve.

Training 10-23-07

2007-10-23T22:40:00.000-05:00

Back at home today. Back to work, too, which is unfortunate. But the weather's turned cool -- 40 degrees at sunrise tomorrow! It's a nice change of pace, but I know that after a week or two of this I'll be ready for summer again.

A

Squat
5 x 235
2 x 235 (fail on 3)
3 x 5 x 225

Bench Press
5 x 5 x 215

Deadlift
3 x 5 x 265

Pullups (overhand)
2 x 5 x 35
3 x 4 x 35

Weighted Decline Situps
4 x 10 x 35 (plate on chest)

The ego got impatient with my Squat advancement and decided to try 235. First set was actually pretty good. I like the lower bar placement on my shoulders, and keeping my feet a bit closer together and making sure I break with my hips (hips move first, not knees) helps on form. I think I'll try 235 again next time.

Bench Press was solid, but my right wrist (been bad for a while), shoulder (tweaked it yesterday when stretching, I think) and elbow (stuck between bad wrist and bad shoulder) all ached a bit. If my shoulder feels better next time, move up to 220.

Deadlift form felt better today, but I don't want to rush it. 265 again next time. On the plus side, I felt like I got a lot of work in and it was the best Deadlift session I've had thus far.

Using the dip belt for Pullups was good. I didn't have to worry about holding a dumbbell between my feet -- I could just pull! 35 lbs underhand next time.

Training 10-22-07

2007-10-22T14:09:00.000-05:00

I'm writing this from my parents' house, using their old school dail-up internet connection. I might as well be writing on a typewriter by candlelight!

B

Front Squat
5 x 5 x 195

Overhead Press
5 x 5 x 125

Bent Over Barbell Row
3 x 5 x 165
2 x 4 x 165

Dips
3 x 5 x 70
2 x 4 x 70

Overall, today was ok but my focus was a bit lacking. I can blame it on working out in a strange place under weird time constraints, but really I should be able to focus and work hard no matter the situation.

Front Squats were solid -- I only broke form twice and that was a concentration issue rather than a physical stress issue. I should move up to 200 or 205 next time.

Overhead Press was right at my limit. My rest was a little short, and I barely got the last rep of the last set fully extended. I'll try 130 next time. The form was good and I only felt the knot in my back once, after the 4th set. No place to do spinal decompression hangs, but I'll resume those when I get back to my regular gym.

Bent Over Barbell Row is still tough on the form. I need to bring somebody with me to the gym next time so I can have them watch what I'm doing.

I used a dip machine for dips. Basically it's a dip belt attached to a pulley that's connected to the weight stack. It was only in increments of 10, so I used 70 lbs of resistance. My dip belt should be waiting for me at home, so I think I'll use it to try 70 lbs again on Thursday.

No ab work or jogging today. Mom, who had been walking on the treadmill, was waiting for me to finish, and I need to get on the road so I can get home before it gets too dark.

Training 10-19-07

2007-10-19T20:30:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I'm off to the parents' house for the weekend. I'll be there on Monday, too, so I'm already thinking of ways to get in my Monday workout with the equipment I have there. It might involve sawhorses. I'm excited.

B

Front Squat
5 x 5 x 195

Overhead Press
5 x 5 x 120

Bent Over Barbell Row
5 x 5 x 160

Dips
3 x 5 x 65
2 x 4 x 65

Spinal Decompression Hangs
4 x 30 sec

Rotary Torso Machine
3 x 10 x 120 (per side)

Spinal Decompression Hangs (again!)
2 x 30 sec

Front Squats were much better than last time. Only really leaned forward on 2 reps. Hopefully just once more at 195 and then I'll be able to move up.

It starts getting dangerous for my back when I get a weight where I almost stick halfway up on Overhead Press. I'm about at that point now, but I think the Spinal Decompression hangs will help. Form held, so up to 125 next time.

I lost form at the top of a few reps on Bent Over Barbell Row. Like with Deadlifts yesterday, I think I need to stretch the hips and hamstrings to get better form.

I finally reached a weight where I couldn't get a full 5 sets of 5 on weighted Dips! I'm not completely sure if it was purely the weight, or the fact that holding a dumbbell that heavy between my feet is hard. I should have my dip belt by next week, so that'll help.

And I finally found a place to do Spinal Decompression Hangs! The pullup bars at the gym are too low, so my feet touch the ground. But the frame that holds the new punching bags is just high enough. I can't use my straps (the frame is rectangular), and I can only hold for 30 seconds at a time right now, but that should improve with time. Walking out of the gym today, my back felt SO MUCH BETTER than it has in the past two weeks.

Training 10-18-07

2007-10-18T21:04:00.000-05:00

I read an article about The Odyssey Years, a newly defined (and actually fairly new) life stage which I am currently experiencing. It was an interesting read, and served as a kind of reassuring validation that I'm not a weirdo or a crazy person for not having yet completely figured out what I want to do or who I want to be. One thing I think I know: I want lifting and physical fitness to be a part of my life from here on out.

A

Squat
5 x 5 x 225

Bench Press
5 x 5 x 210

Deadlift
3 x 5 x 265

Pullups (underhand)
5 x 5 x 30

Decline Bench Overhead Situps
5 x 7 x 60

Squat form was better than last time, but I felt like I still could've gotten more out of it. I think I gave up on the form before I should've, and I had a sticking point on the way up, about where my thighs were parallel with the floor. Next time I'll work on strict form and pushing straight up through that sticking point.

A bit of wrist discomfort on the right side with Bench Press, but not too bad. On the last 2 sets, I focused on going down slow and pushing up as fast as possible, and that made it harder. 215 next time.

Still rounding my lower back a little bit on Deadlifts. I should do some hamstring and hip stretches on my off days, as that might help me get low while keeping my back straight.

Almost didn't get the last rep on weighted pullups, but I got there. Moving up to 35 lbs next time!

Training 10-16-07

2007-10-16T20:58:00.001-05:00

Life is complicated, even when it's going well. Lifting is simple. When I screw up (like I did today on Front Squats), I can usually find a factor that caused the failure, make a note of it, and try to fix it next time. As long as I do that and work as hard as I can on every workout, I'll succeed in the gym. Life ain't like that. The point about working hard for success is still applicable, but pinpointing weak spots or finding solutions to problems is much, much more complicated. But I'm working on it!

B

Front Squat
3 x 5 x 195
3 x 195
5 x 185

Overhead Press
5 x 5 x 115

Bent Over Barbell Row
5 x 5 x 155

Dips
5 x 5 x 60

Treadmill Jogging
20 minutes (2.1 miles)

Glutes glutes glutes! I missed after the 3rd rep of the 4th set on Front Squat, and it was because I wasn't focusing on form and on squeezing the glutes. Fix that next time!

I focused on not hyperextending my back on Overhead Press (again with the glute squeezing!). It felt good, but I'm still not 100% on the form. I'm only going to move up 5 lbs so I can keep from re-injuring my back. 120 lbs next time.

Form was ok on Bent Over Barbell Row, but not perfect. It actually got better in the later sets, as I got back into the groove and could really feel the pull originating in the shoulder blades. I think I'll move it up to 160 next time.

I really need a dip belt. I could barely hold on to the 60 lb dumbbell between my feet. But the dips themselves were good, so I'm up to 65 lbs next time, provided the feet can hold it.

I've decided to do some light cardio/jogging 2-3 times a week. I'll aim for once on the weekend and once or twice after my workouts, in place of the ab work.

Training 10-15-07

2007-10-15T21:47:00.000-05:00

I got excited for this workout this afternoon. Maybe I'm weird, but the thought of hitting the heavy weights again (well, heavy for me, at least) got me really pumped up and happy.

A

Squat
5 x 5 x 225

Bench Press
5 x 5 x 205

Deadlift
3 x 5 x 265

Pullups (overhand)
5 x 5 x 30

Turkish Get-ups
4 x 3 x 30 (per side, alternating)

I worked my rear off on Squats. Form broke down and I ended up doing a bit of a good morning on about 1 rep per set. I think it's just some rust from the off week. The knees felt good. 225 again next time!

I need to focus on gripping the bar hard on Bench Press. Don't worry about getting the bar close to my wrists -- just grab it comfortably, squeeze the hell out of it and push. I'm going to move up slowly -- 210 next time.

I actually set the bar down on the ground between reps on Deadlift, as I read you're supposed to. It made it harder! I barely managed to keep my back straight, so I'll do at least one more workout at 265 to get the hang of it before moving up.

I got all 5 reps on each set with 30 lbs on weighted pullups, but I just BARELY got my chin over the bar on the last rep of the last 2 sets. 30 lbs underhand tomorrow.

I like the Turkish Get-ups. Doing them in the Karate studio was clutch -- the floor is padded in there and much easier on the knees. Next time, I'll try for 5 sets of 3 with 30 lbs, then I'll work up to 5 sets of 5. Once I've got that, I'll start adding weight.