Squat tonight..yeh buddy!

Quiet night tonight at PTC Perth. Dazzer was in, with Plummer, coach Doyle and a few of the lads.

Tonight was Wendler squat 5/3/1 night followed by assistance bench with the Paul Carter 350 rep scheme.

Good session but admit I am still fuck assing around with my squat stance. I have put a hell of a lot of effort into working on imbalances to eliminate the good old butt wink. But its certainly slow going and though there is lots of improvement I still have a ways to go.

Tonight I stuck with more of a high bar squat and while the wink was still there I felt tight and no soreness. So for the moment I am staying put with this stance and foot placement. I am guessing I will get it just about perfect by states and then I will be fucked up again getting used to setting up in the monolift!

Dazzer was banging out big sets with 4 plates plus on the squat and while he missed a double tonight his form looked very tight and he has plenty more in the tank.

Looking forward to Saturday's bench session, just require more calories and sleep before then!

Stay Strong
Thomo

Just squat more

I read an interesting training article the other day. The crux of the approach was a 6 week squat every day routine.

Now that sounds pretty intense and by all accounts it was a full on routine. The writer's basic premise was the everyday squatting followed by NO mobility work would induce a compensatory overload in the squat. Further more neglecting the mobility work it was suggested leads to a super tight structure that actually assists the squatting.

Now the reason for discussion this article wasn't to get stuck into the writer but it just appeared one of those wishy washy articles that missed the point.

So if you squat every day you will improve your squat...ah..mmm like NO SHIT. What was interesting was the article ignored the changes in macro nutrient profile you wil likley require with the increased frequency and potential intensity of the routine.

The philosophy suggested in the article certainly aligns with Broz gym and their  concept of no such thing as overtraining. Now here is the thing this works to a point, clearly our Weighlighting brethren hit the platfrom daily to completed the same movements. However these articles allways gloss over the support mechanisms and changes required to support such frequent squatting.

I must say though the more I read the article the more compelling it gets. The idea of slugging away on just the squat and a handful of assistance  exercises is the type of simplicity that lead me to adopt Wendler.

However I shall delay the foray into every day training and squatting until well after nationals. Given I don't want to completely fry the body now that injuries are just starting to settle down.


Stay Strong
Thomo

Love Deadlifting!

Deadlifting tonight at PTC Perth...god I love deadlifting. As I mentioned previously given recent injuries I have tweaked my Wendler 5/3/1 as I rebuild my squat and deadlift.

At the moment I am running Wendler's fullbody routine 3 days a week. This is working well for me as it provides high frequency squatting to help me groove the lift. I have also amended the deadlift to run a 5x5 once again to keep the volume higher and get more reps in. I envisage pushing the 5x5 to 75% to 80% 1RM before slipping to 5x3 and then kicking in the normal 5/3/1.

I have been messing with my squat style and recently narrowed my stance, pushing a more traditional Olympic style. This has seen my adductor pain disappear so for the moment I am going to stay a little high bar and build the reps.

I am keeping assistance work simple and have been trialling Paul Carter's 350 just to mix things up. Basically this involves 3 sets to achieve 50 reps. So for example my bench press assistance resulted in 20 reps for the first set 20 for the second and 10 for the last. Doesn't matter what the split of reps is the goal is 50 for the 3 sets and only 2 mins between sets.Where this has been beneficial is it forces me into hypertrophy rep ranges for assistance and to be honest the extra reps and pump actually feel a good counter point to the low range Wendler work.

One thing I continue to be pedantic about is videoing works sets to ensure the movement pattern is spot on. Today for example I noticed I was leading with the hips a little on the first movement in the deadlift. Based on that I made some quick adjustments and the rest of the sets were tight.

Overall a good session tonight, quiet low key and quality sessions..perfect night at PTC Perth.

Stay Strong
Thomo

How to gain 6 inches on your biceps and 100 kgs on your Squat in only 1 week!

Yes the title is absolutely 100% full of crap, yet have a look at the majority of main stream lifting sites and there is always some variation on this theme: getting x result in x amount of time.

But my question is, what is the fucking hurry?? In fact it's the preoccupation with haste in most peoples programming that dooms them to failure.

Lets take gaining muscle as an example.So many natural guys over estimate their capacity for pure muscle gain. Though much of this has to do with the years of ridiculous hype in muscle mags and the like I cannot tell  you the amount of times I have listened to some fat fuck at about 30% body fat tell me how huge he is going to be.

Let there be no equivocation for the genetically average who don't use drugs there is a reasonably predictable limit to what you can achieve based on bone measurements and a cursory review of some of the earlier champions in the game.

There is a famous study that reviewed this in detail and many sites that discuss the results, refer to the link here for a good discussion on the topic.

http://www.weightrainer.net/potential.html

For those of you seeking to gain size reviewing these limits is useful to put into perspective the yearly gains in pure muscle that can be achieved.

As in all things related to training patience and consistent small gains will deliver results over time.

Stay Strong
Thomo

Saturday Training Rules

It's one hour before Saturday training and I am well into my mobility work at home. Funny I have states and nationals this year and shit just feels worse than ever. In November I hit PB's on everything and was feeling on top of the world. Since then every fucking thing aches and rebuilding my squat and deadlift is taking  a while.

After much research and review I think I have found the reason.....I AM GETTING OLD! Turned 43 yesterday and weird thing is I still treat training like I am 22. Seriously when I wake up the day after a deadlift season and it feels like I have been 10 rounds with Mike Tyson I am always surprised how sore I am. But fuck me it hit me yesterday that I am 43 and this shit is harder on my body.

In some ways it must be why I enjoy weekend training so much...I have more time to warm up, train at a good pace and ensure I get a good meal straight after. Even better today is much cooler than the 36+ degree days (Celsius) we have been having of late.

One closing thought. This week I accompanied one of my friends to lovely ole MacDonalds. Given Deadlift session was going to be that night I thought what the hell and joined him for some very bad fast food. What drove me insane (other than the cardboard tasting burgers) was the phenomena I observed in the cue. Everybody seemed to be waiting patiently in the cue sometimes for 2-3 minutes but stuff me everytime they got to the front of the cue..they were rendered speechless and needed 20 seconds to work out their order!! Here is a helpful thought, use the time in the cue to work out what you fucking what numb nuts!!!!

Any how back to the foam rolling and pallof presses...

Stay Strong
Thomo

Deadlift night..yeh baby!

Monday night dead-lift night...oh yeah! So for the next 5 weeks I am re-building my form and running a linear progression 5x5 on my deadlifts before I switch back to pure Wendler 5/3/1. The idea is to get some more reps into me and video every damn workout so I know my hip hinge is working and my glutes are firing.

It was a good vibe in the gym and it has been many months since I have lifted on a Monday. Lots of bodies working hard, plenty of foam rolling and good to see people sharing racks and working effectively. Paul was hammering belt squats, Wingman rebuilding with strict box squats, Perry pushing some solid benches...appears to have gotten a lot from his second Baxter bench seminar.

My deadlift sets felt good but so they should at only 60% of 1RM. What has been good about this routine so far is what Paul Carter alludes to: working within yourself but still getting the numbers and progressing. Pushed high rep good mornings for my assistance template and these felt great. I stuck to a light weight and concentrated on a really good hip hinge driving the butt back. Glad I kept it light given my damn hammies are sore as hell today.

The more I watch and learn the more I believe the average guy performs far too much volume and too high an intensity for too long during a cycle.  In fact I think the average guy has too little appreciation about the level of work required to disrupt homeostasis and therefore grow and get strong.  Clearly it's and individual thing but next cycle try staying within yourself and see how your recovery goes.

Stay Strong
Thomo

Stop buying squat shoes until you work out your mobility issue!

Lately I seem to see or hear everyone and their dog racing out to buy a shiny new pair of Romaleos 2 or similar. If you listen closely these elevated heel lifting shoes will apparently cure most ailments and hell there might just be peace in the middle east if they wore these damn shoes!!!

But guess what wearing a pair of these is just a more stable version of the old board or 2.5 kg plates under the heels. You know that board that most articles,trainers and coaches suggested you try and wean yourself off once you fixed your mobility issues. Now yes I do know that every cool Olympic lifter is wearing them but hey dipshit you are a powerlifter remember, different squat mechanics and all?????

Actually spend some time with your facility coaches and work our what your issues are. Perhaps you have poor internal rotations in your hips, maybe a weak anterior core is causing your but wink. Hell you may have a host of really nasty mobility issues that if resolved will have you squatting like Tom Platz. But here's the thing if you jump in straight away how the fuck will you know.

Now someone that trains with me is going to say, Thomo you wear Romaleos 2's when you squat. Yup you got me, guilty as charged. But here is the difference, I have spent the better part of 3 months experimenting with my stance toe position and working through a shit load of mobility issues to determine that the elevated heel is ok for me. How do I know, well getting good independent advice for a start from a sports physio and importantly countless videos of my form in and out of the shoes.

So while I am not trying to harm the Nike share price, hold off on the damn shoes until you know whether they actually are the best training intervention for your squat!

Stay Strong
Thomo

Will you always powerlift?

Will you always lift?

Of course you will, you love training and it's the best damn sport. But hey I'm not talking about now while you are at uni, or currently between jobs or single or while mum and dad are cool with you living at home. No I am not talking about will you train in your early twenties when you can head out drink piss, chase girls and still feel ok for your squat session. Nor am I talking about in your early thirties when you can still manage time and hey the extra cash means you can spend more on supplements and gear!

No I am talking about being in your forties fifties and beyond when your your test is half the level it was in your twenties, when a deadlift workout takes 10 days to recover from, when no matter how much mobility you have some shit continues to ache.

Will you always lift? Probably not, I hope you do but many of you won't, the odds are against it. See it's not how you train when you are on holidays or only doing 20 hours a week at University. It's about whether you still man up for a session after a 12 hour day and two plane flights. It's about still hitting your numbers after back to back weeks of no sleep because your new born just won't sleep. It's about doing manual labour in 40 degree heat day in day out but still getting under that fucking squat bar and giving it your all.

Training is like life, it's not about your intentions it's about your resilience: how well can you cope when shit doesn't go your way. 

So will you always lift?

Stay Strong

Thomo

Sometimes Shit Just is What it is!

Today was 5/3/1 bench, chins thrown in, some volume light squats and then I was done. As you know I love Saturday's session and this was no exception, except it was absolutely fucking hot. Though it could simply have been watching Paul and Dee go through their conditioning work!

Gotta say I love their commitment but fuck me they obviously have much better GPP than I. If I did that volume of conditioning on my off days I'd be over training in no time. For me I manage hill sprints 20 mins and mobility work and I am done 3 times a week.

When benching I worked in with Dan Rucci and he looked rock solid on sets of five at 105kg, hell the bar speed of his final two sets looked faster than the preceding 3 sets. I am sure Dan will smash his PB on bench at states and/or nationals.

Volume squats felt ok but damn it 15 years on the laptop has meant my hamstrings are shortened like mutha fucker. As Dan pointed out if you watch the video I get just near parallel and then all of a sudden its like they yank the glute under right at the insertion point. Thankfully I have seen a hell of an improvement with all the mobility work but I still shows how far I have to go!

However this does make me think that sometimes you just have to accept limitations and work around/through them. For example I love Cressey performance and Gentilicore and those guys but fuck me if I did all of the mobility work they suggest I'd have to give up work and never actually lift heavy!!

Seriously though no matter how much I work the mobility some days I have to accept that butt wink will sneak in as I squat. Shit happens, I am still going to states and nationals and I'll hoist some weight and while my squat won't be perfect it will get the job done.

By the way more plates arrived in PTC Perth this week to help fill the other 2 power racks due in shortly..grand total of 6 racks with a mono lift on the way. Seriously if you are in Perth why would you train anywhere else!!

Stay Strong
Thomo

Nice Lifting Today

Today was Wendler squat and bench assistance (bench volume at 60 %). Very happy with the squatting as I have been working heavily on improving mobility through hips and improving anterior core to eliminate or at least minimise the damn butt wink as I approach parallel. To check on progress I have been videoing sets each session and saw noticeable improvement today from my last session earlier in the week. Sooo as I said if you have form issues make sure you video the damn lift!

Pretty small turnout tonight but being Thursday not unusual as most of the PTC crowd stick to a Mon, Wed, Frid template. Big Mike was in, Perry pushing out some nice deep squats, Mike's sister running through her routine and Dee was in with some nice back squats going on. Trying to convince Dee to lift at states and though she is resisting I'm still twisting the arm. Dee is one of the hardest workers in the gym and looks like she is keen to ramp that up even further with 2 weeks off from work.

Wendler bench saturday and I much prefer the pace of weekend sessions especially when I can space quality meals around my session without the hassles of work!

Until then....

Stay Strong
Thomo

Dumb shit I see in Gyms

Just another Monday installment of dumb shit I see in gyms:

1. testing rep maxes blindly.... yes Dazzler I'm talking to you!!
2. doing mobility or static stretches that reinforce the postural limitations you currently have i.e goblet squatting in the bottom position with a very sick butt wink 
3. wearing Olympic lifting shoes but not checking first to see if your structure actually requires you to wear them...because squatting with a 1 inch plus wedge heel does change the mechanics and loading dumb ass!
4. not checking your form with a video replay
5. not having chins in your program....get your ass on the bar and do a rep fat boy!

Stay Strong

Thomo

Peptides...what is all the shit about!

Unfortunately I have had the misfortune to be listening to the almighty shitstorm that has erupted due to one of our professional football teams having allegedly had athletes taking peptide injections.

Now forgetting the overall issues around drugs in sport I am absolutely gobsmacked by such a fucking beatup that has been in the local media this week. What shits me to tears is the absolute hippocracy of the individuals coming out of the woodwork. On a single day I read three opinion pieces by authors who were shaking there head earnestly condoning the peptide issue but heres the thing about these 3:

1. the first author was the coach of a disgraced white Australian sprinter who lost his career when he tested positive to roids. It was widely known in the gym they attended (of which I was a member) in the eighties that this coach was the man to see for gear
2. the second was a local rugby player now trainer who I saw many a time off his tiny at a local pub hitting on every woman who went past
3. The final piece was by a former professional footballer who is now a commentator and in his playing days (prior to the drug testing) used to like a fair old snort of white powder up his nose for recreation purposes

So there we are all of these grade A shitwits coming out of the wood work with there questionable ethics commenting on substances they have no idea about.

So lets do a quick summary of peptides gleaned from pub med and a few of my favourite researchers:

• the peptides in question aim to target Growth Hormone (GH)
• they focus on a signal to release GH (GHRP) and regulate to release a large amount when a pulse is detected (GHRH)
• the evidence suggest that GHRH does nothing and GHRP does something, but not much
• As a good coach of mine indicated the peptides stimulates Ghrelin the opposite of the anti-obesity hormone leptin
•  Ghrelin stimulates, cortisol, decreases insulin sensitivity and an increase in appetite so 1 out of 3 isn't bad lol

Now here is the thing to be 'effective' requires 5-10 injections a day (based on review of literature available) and the overall effect on GH is questionable  Interestingly those who generally source peptides won't have much of an idea of there baseline GH value because most trainers don't take the time to get the bloodwork done. 

Bottom line everyone settle the fuck down, as a supplement peptides do sweet fuck all generally and for every bodybuilder that reckons they gained a fuck load on them I will show you a guy who didnt measure his body composition before and is just fucking guessing!

Stay Strong

Thomo

Does training leave you shattered

 Intensity is a training variable that I really struggled to manage early on in training. The common assumption in many gyms is that unless you are going 'hardcore' you aren't really training. As a consequence I often finished each session physically stuffed, struggling to haul my ass home. Primarily this was because I didn't understand that the greater the intensity the shorter session and lower volume of work that must be undertaken.

What I subsequently learnt was that intensity is only one of the variables to be managed by a training program. Fortunately I am a little smarter these days and focus on completing my prescribed reps and my programs assiduously reflect a volume and duration that is commensurate with the intensity I have planned for that session or micro cycle.

Bottom line is understand the variables you have programmed in to your routine. Too often I see programs built up with the usual primary lift, assistance work and conditioning. However while the absolute weight may be programmed in the relationship between the overall intensity and volume of the session is ignored or forgotten. Similarly the individuals capacity for work is also ignored. Often multiple conditioning (GPP) sessions are added to the mix to increase the individuals work capacity however these again eat into recovery and often aren't factored in.

I read a good article on EliteFts a while back from a powerlifter who outlined his first routine when he started training at Westside Barbell under the legendary Louie Simmons. What struck me was how little volume there was each session including the conditioning work. Importantly he made the point that the ability to handle greater volume and therefore ramp up the intensity was built over several years (read 3) not months.

So have a good look at your training, do you finish each session feeling spent and completely exhausted. Maybe take a closer look at your volume, intensity and duration for the natural average guys looking to get big and strong more is often less!

Stay Strong
Thomo

Squat depth...don't flex your spine!

Day 2 today, Wendler bench, assistance squat and chins. Another one of those perfect Saturday sessions, few people in the gym , light music and just the rythmic crunch of olympic plates hitting the rack.

Bench is feeling very good, particularly now that I have focused on upper back work. As a consequence I  feel much more innervation of the middle back as I lift and therefore much tighter. Still need to work on foot placement as tight hip flexors amongst other things are effecting my ability to get in an optimal position.

Since I have come back from injury I have dropped weight on both deadlift and squat enormously so that I can focus on working on my weak points without reinforcing the poor form that would come from pushing too heavy a weight. However during rest between sets today I witnessed a great illustration that you should never 'trust' how your lift is feeling rather always get objective evidence in the form of a video.

I overhead one of the guys suggesting that he had issues around the squat etc and that he was really working into some good form. Interestingly watching his sets it appeared the exact opposite was the case, his squat form had some obvious technical issues when going for depth.

From watching today it appears he has very tight hip flexors and perhaps his stance is a little narrow. Overall he sets up ok but as he squats back and approaches the limits of his flexibility (approximately 2 inches+ above parallel) the fun begins. This is where it gets nasty, as he pushes deeper his hips stay above parallel and he goes into a pretty nasty spinal flexion that results in him being completely curved forward in the spine. This impacts his hip drive out of the hole not to mention the danger for his spine full flexed with a loaded  barbell (yes and before you say that the stone lift in strongmen comps requires rounded back lifting, that is an event specifically trained for where the flexion is controlled and the back is conditioned!)

The problem he has is that when spinal flexing for that last couple inches of depth it often feels like you are actually getting a good deep squat. I know as I had this problem myself. It's quite insidious and unless  you actually video it you are none the wiser or as in this picture have someone spotting you to check....

Thankfully I picked up on it quite early through taking videos of my squat and have been working on my tight points ever since. In fact since I have been back training I have been videoing 1-2 sets of every squat and deadlift session weekly. That way I can't get to far out of alignment without picking it up. In fact I can point out a good 3-4 issues with each of my major lifts but each video they are getting better.

So the point of this post is that there is no excuse in this day and age of phones and tablets to be unaware of shit form. Even more importantly if you have shit form and you video it make sure you acknowledge it (be objective) and get the fuck on with fixing it.

Stay Strong

Thomo

Changing jobs...changing training programs

I have been crazy busy the last week especially since I managed to quit my job and start a new role all in the space of 5 days!  Despite the chaos the change got me thinking of the similarity between satisfaction in training and satisfaction in a professional role.

In my case I was offered a role and the key elements were in place:

1. ethical owners, who live their values
2. a good team supporting the business
3. opportunity to grow in the role

All things being equal these are the fundamentals for me and I struggle to commit if they aren't in place.

Similarly with training it doesn't matter how good a training template is, if it doesn't align with your style then it just won't get the job done because you won't commit to it long term. While this sounds pretty damn simple it's surprising how often it is forgotten when programming training. 

That's why I stick to Wendler 5/3/1, I like the split, the assistance template gives me plenty of options and the frequency works. Similarly guys I train with have their favourite templates and stick to that.

Just remember you favourite routine has to adhere to the general principles of progression and management of intensity and most importantly it has to be delivering results.

Stay Strong

Thomo