Lifting Him up

Volume and load thoughts

I started the Starr/Pendlay Advanced 5 x 5 on Monday. While I wasn't sore, I was noticably tighter. I was perplexed as my starting weights are far lighter than what I finished my last 5 x 5 . I was thinking through this and came to the conclusion that while the weight is, for the moment, lighter, the volume is higher leading to an increased tonnage.

Let me use my squats as an example. My last Heavy Lift on the pervious 5 x 5 was 5 sets of 5 reps ramping up to 200lbs for a total tonage of 3750lbs. This was after 6 weeks of lifting on this routine. My first set of this current 5 x 5 was 5 sets of 5 reps at 150lbs for a total tonage of 3750lbs. While I am lifting 50lbs less weight per set, the increased volume raised the tonnage. This increase in tonnage taxes the body harder, causing me and my muscles to feel the work. The tonnage lowers in four weeks as I will shift back to heavier weights but less volume. That is the beauty of this periodization. If I continue on this routine, I would then shift back to an increased volume/ tonnage after week 9. The concept is interesting. You should examine your routine and consider increases (periods) of increased volume to shock you rmuscles a bit.

Routines for strength and mass

There has been an on going discussion on numerous sites about bulking or building muscle and fat. The traditional view is that you eat like crazy, work like crazy and then when you have bulked sufficiently you begin a cut to lose the fat accumulated during the bulk. There are some that advocate a "slow bulk" where you eat clean, work hard and seek to gain mass without gaining excess body fat. While I am by no means an authority, that is the direction I am heading. My current plan is to follow a carb cycling model that will allow me to loose body fat and gain muscle mass while getting stronger. I have been using some sort of a 5x5 training model for months (yes even BGB is based around a 5x5 model). For the next few weeks I am going to use a DC style rest-pause method of training. This is higher reps to failure, rest/pause and then knock out a few more reps, rest a few more breaths and then knock out a few more. Increases of weight or reps occurs each workout. Each exercise has a goal for reps, when that goal is reached, the weight is increased. You are trying to break either your rep or weight goal every workout.

Today was my first session. The focus was on the upper body. While my weights are lower than the big guys, I am learning the process. It was a fun session, that wore my arms out. I am looking forward to learning more and giving this a full try. What has worked for you as you have tried to build lean muscle mass?

Bill Starr 5 x 5

I have loved my time working through Baby Got Back. I enjoyed the gains, physically and experimenting with routine design a bit. I will go back to the routine in the future. One issue that began to glare at me was my lack of overall strength. While I was seeing body composition changes, I was not seeing the strength gains I would like to see. I was also finding my form was breaing down or horrible on the main lifts. As I have been dealing with some shoulder pain since I started the routine, I thought it might be good to take some time to work on form and strength. I decided to work through 12 weeks of Bill Starr's 5x5

Here are my first two days.

8/3/09

Heavy Day Squats
1 x 5 x 70
1 x 5 x 95
1 x 5 x 115
1 x 5 x 135
1 x 5 x 150
Bench Press - Form actually felt pretty good. I am really trying to get these down right
1 x 5 x 55
1 x 5 x 70
1 x 5 x 85
1 x 5 x 95
1 x 5 x 115
Pendley Row- While I couldn't lift as much weight as a normal row, I felt a lot better about the form with these. I did over estimate my weights a bit, so had to back off.
1 x 5 x 85
1 x 5 x 105
1 x 5 x 125
2 x 5 x 135

Thoughts on Training

I admit that I am not the most informed when it comes to weight training. I do know, however, that I have learned much in the last year that can be helpful. I have been both dumbfounded and disconcerted over the abundance of lifters offering the magic pill type of systems for only $47 or $77 if you buy all their journals and web memberships It bothers me most to find they all have the same type of marketing site. You know the one, the cheap looking website with testimonials, little information and a pop up begging you not to leave when you click out of the site.

The truth is, lifting is a lot like Biblical interpretation. There is not a whole lot that you can come up with that is new, only new ways to communicate the information. Think about it. Every good routine will include; Horizontal Pushes and Pulls, Vertical pushes and Pulls, Quad and Ham work, maybe a twisting movement and possible some isolation work. You can lift explosively or slowly, 1,3,5,10, 15 or 20 reps or a timed sequence. Most agree that 24-30 reps are optimal for muscle stimulation and muscle growth. Diet is as important as the lifting routine. About the only area we can expect any real new info is in the communication. Frankly, I am tired of horrible looking websites. If I want something new, I want new not rehashed retro theories. Where are the creative minds in training?

Okay, I am off my soapbox now.

5 Minutes of Glory Update

After my first week of integrating 5 Minutes of Glory, I wanted to give a brief update. At first glance, the prinicipal looks easy: do as many 8 rep sets as possible, as quickly as possible, with good form in 5 minutes. After the first week, I have to say that it is not as easy as it looks. I am trying to use antagonistic sets, meaning I use movements that are opposites as part of the superset. For instance, if I do a horizontal press, I will do a horizontal pull superset with it for 5 minutes. I have found that this really pushes me. I am enjoying the short burst toward a goal, but must admit, I have failed to reach it twice. Twice I have just run out of steam at the 3 minute mark. That said, I am really enjoying the test. It is allowing me to work faster, giving me a little cardio blast at the same time. I will let you know of my results in a few weeks.

Baby Got Back 5 minutes of Glory Training

I have been reading a lot lately, probably too much on training and not enough on ministry and the Scriptures. In all of my reading I have been learning a lot about various training systems. As you read in The New Rules of Lifting, there are only so many body parts to work and so many exercises to work them. The key is to find new ways to put them under tension, stress, work or what ever other word you want to use. Through all of my reading I have been thinking about how I could shake my own training up and push some new growth. So for the next month I am experimenting.

I have enjoyed and seen gains from my time doing Baby Got Back . I wanted to keep the basic routine, but push myself in a way different than I had seen on my first 12 weeks doing BGB. I arrived at my 5 minutes of glory. It is a hybrid of Waterbury's Men's Health Huge in a Hurry , Christian Thibaudeau's HSS-100 and Charles Staley's EDT . I am superseting the 5 x 5 strength portions of BGB and then using the remaining movements in antagonistic timed supersets. For instance I might do Squats and Bench Press as a 5 x 5 superset, lifting as heavy as possible. I will then do a 5 minute super set of Bent Rows and Incline Dumbbell Press. During the five minutes I try to do as many 8 rep sets as fast as possible, with good form, in the five minutes. I use less weight as I will be doing more reps. When I reach a total of 50 reps for each exercise, I either increase time or weight.

My first day was quite a shake up. I admit that I had originally decided to do 10 minutes sets but very quickly I saw that I would struggle to do that and keep my other two goals, speed and form. The five minutes seemed like forever, but then the adrenaline kicked in and I was pumping to see how many reps I could churn out. While i worked my butt off, I had fun and felt great after finishing. I will keep you updated as to my gains over the next few weeks.

Routines

Here are some links to various routines to use in your training.

NROL  - This should be in your library

TNT Workout/Diet  - While you can get started from the website, this is another must have for your library.

Starting Strength  - again, you can get started from this site, but buy the book. You won't regret it.

Madcow 5 x5   - Many recommend this after completing Starting Strength

Baby Got Back  - This is the routine I am currently using. I like the variation, the emphasis on the back and legs and the adaptability of this routine.

When will this ever work?

Today I had an epiphany (a moment of sudden revelation or insight). I have been frustrated as I have read log after log, discussion after discussion about gains. It seemed that everyone was getting ripped and strong but me. I began my journey in November of 08 with a goal of losing weight and bringing my cholesterol numbers down. I did that in 12 weeks and set new goals; to get to 180 and get the "you have been to the gym" look.

I have watched my diet, tried to maintain a caloric deficit, worked hard. Frustration has set in, "why am I not seeing changes?" To make matters worse, I weighed myself yesterday and found I have gained almost 20 lbs. While there is a slight snugness on some of my pants, my waist line has not really changed. I am beginning to finally see some body composition changes that point to my work and have seen some strength gains. Then today, epiphany.

I realized that I was getting frustrated looking for changes that take most folks months if not years to attain. My first year on TNT I worked out with body weight or dumbbell exercises. I did not lift my first heavy weight until near the end of January 2009. The reality is that I have only been doing heavy squats and dead lifts for five months. I have been frustrated because I wasn't looking like the guys who have been training for years, and I have only been training for a few months. The lesson learned? Work hard, eat right and be patient!

Helps on various exercises

I am always trying to figure out how to train more effectively. Form is more important than weight, especially if you are wanting to avoid injury. Here are a couple of links.

Charles Staley on Squats 

Plank Progressions for Killer Abs 

Exercise Directory 

Planks

On of the most popular and seemingly easy exercises for the abs is the plank. I have to admit that I had little trouble starting this movement. As you will see in this ARTICLE , how little do I know.

Interesting Articles

Here are a few links to some interesting health related articles.

When building muscle, testosterone is an important subject. Here is an article by Dr. Jeff Volek 

Here is a link to the routine I have been using the past month. Baby Got Back 

For those of you doing NROL or NROLW, here is a link to a forum that is NROL Specific 

I recommend At Large Nutrition's  Nitrean for protein supplementation.

A pleasant Surprise

I ran my desire to get a personal trainer certification by my wife, expecting to get some questions, concerns and poo poos. I was surprised that she was not against it. She was concerned about where I would train folks and possible compromising situations. Not thrilled with the idea that I might work with "gym bunnies." Legitimate concerns.

My desire is not to work with the fit people, but with those who are not fit but want to be. After beginning my journey, I have become burdened for those who are over weight and needing help to get in shape. I think the greater challenge is to take lump of clay and mold it into a beautiful sculpture than to take a beautiful sculpture and tweak it up a bit. I want the satisfaction of being able to look at the smile on someone's face when they look in the mirror and say, "is that really me?" To me, that is a challenge I want to handle.

Ministry and Training

I have been thinking a lot lately about my training and ministry. I look out each Sunday and see scads of people suffering from all sorts of ailments, struggling with issues related to their weight. I see people wrestling with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, chronic back pain, and a host of other issues. The Scriptures talk to us very clearly about our spiritual health but often seems cloudy when it comes to our phsyical health.

I have come to see an entirely new area of ministry I have never considered before. We talk about wholistic ministry, ministry dealing with the whole person, but often mean by that phrase, parenting skills or dating skills. What if we began "whole life" training? A focus on living out what Paul writes: 1Co 9:27* But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. Training God's people to take care of the Temple of God, that they might glorify Him and expand the Kingdom of God? I am not talking about "new age" techniques or "yoga" classes, but physical and nutritional training with a strong spiritual influence.... Just a thought.

Discipline

My wife and I were having a discussion recently about relationships, with each other, our children and God. She made a statement that hurt at first, but upon reflection is enlightening. "If you put as much discipline into everything else as you do into working out, things would be so much better." I confess, I did not like hearing that. I look upon my training as something I am doing as much for her and the kids as I am for me. I started training for health reasons and admit, I am often consumed by it. I love thinking about it, researching better ways to train and eat, creating schedules and entering statistics. I HAVE become more disciplined in this area of my life... too the neglect in some ways of other areas.

Paul writes, 1Co 9:27* But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. I have looked at my training all wrong. I was seeing it as something I do for me, for Cathy for the kids. The reality is that I am training for God. How I treat myself is a testimony of how I will treat others and God. To that end, to the degree I am disciplined in caring for my body, I should also be disciplined in caring for my mind and soul. God forbid that I should be disqualified because I cared so much for my body, that I failed to care for that which is most important, my relationship with God and then my family.

What are you doing to maintain the same level of discipline you have in the gym in every are of your life?

training log

As I am choking down my PWO protein shake, I am wondering what I just did to myself. I am drenched in sweat, my arms and legs are fried and yet, I feel like I am missing something. I fell like there is something else that I should do. Well, I will begin by posting today's training report.

Squats Today I did front squats for the first time. I loved how deep I could get, but it was very hard on my wrists. I will probably do lighter weight higher reps next time I do fronts.
3 x 5 x 125
1 x 2 x 125
1 x 3 x 125 I pushed three out

Lunges Who ever thought of dong these after Squats is a masochist
2 x 8 x 30
1 x 5 x 30

Leg Curls
2 x 12 x 40
1 x 10 x 40

Seated and Standing alternating Curls I kept hitting my legs on the first two sets, so I finished out standing.
5 x 5 x 30 - one set of my left arm I only was able to get three reps

Hammer Curls
1 x 8 x 30
1 x 5 x 30

The heat and humidity today didn't help the workout, but it dow feel good to work up a sweat instead of cranking up the heater.

Jumping Rope

I have been in search of a cardio/Tabata exercise I can do on my off days. While I have been able to jump rope, and was quite good when younger, when others are holding ropes, I have never been able to jump rope solo. Today I determined to teach myself how to jump rope. I am happy to say that I have accomplished my goal. While my consistency still needs to develop, as well as my speed, I can now jump rope. I will not begin using the jump rope tabata style for my cardio workouts.

Look for more to come.

Training Logs

I have missed a few days of logging. Here are my last two training days.

04/14/09 Training

Day two of Baby Got Back. The family is away on spring break, getting ready for daughter's wedding next month. That means I am home alone, well not quite. The new puppy came a week early so I am baby sitting. It is amazing at one minute he is as cute as any new born child and then the next minute hew is the epitome of the "terrible twos." I have quickly learned I will have to kennel him while training, after nearly dropping lots of weight when he attacked my foot during a squat.

Squats

5 x 5 x 150

Lunges

2 x 6 x 30

1 x 5 x 30

I could not get the eight reps called for.

Leg Curls

1 x 12 x 35

1 x 10 x 35

These were a new exercise for me, will add more weight next time.

Seated Alternating Curls

2 X 5 X 35 EACH ARM

Another new exercise. Can you believe I have gone so long without doing a curl? My left wrist is still hurting making this a very painful exercise.

Hammer Curls

2 x 5 x 30

Leg days drain me fast. It was warm and humid in the garage, zapping my stamina. Today is a rest day, and I am going to do just that, give this old body some rest. Hoping my Nitrean arrives today.