Want to get fit - Lets Roll in the Mud!

So when did running around in the mud become a legitimate fitness activity?

Sometimes I just scratch my shaved head and wonder what the fuck is going on here. In fact I am damn sure that at some point a starship is going to descend from the heavens and return me to the mother ship. Then I will be sitting there thinking 'ahhh that's why none of it made any sense..I'm  not one of these dopey fuckers'.

A couple of people I know are going in one of these colloquially named 'tough mudda' events. So they are madly running around at the gym cardioing the shit out of themselves preparing for this. Now my issue is not the event itself I mean if you want to run around in these, then hey whatever floats your boat. My issue is that these things like Zumba, like cross-fit become a verb that ends up being just another fad. Don't believe me, well how is the old Tai bo doing these days???

As one wise scribe pointed out this is one thing that we will look back on in 20 years and say how dumb but it persists in the short term because:

' There's a lot of money to be made making those who live in the safe confines of suburbia or cozy apartments feel dangerous in a well-controlled environment.'

I even had an ex military guy at an old client  ask me why I didn't want to step up and have a crack as it would be a great challenge. Well probably for the same reason that I don't shit my pants anymore, I grew the up.

Challenge, hmm well at some point in the next 18 months I am going to standard on a platform at a National Championship and squat down with 3x bodweight on my back in front of a panel of international judges. On that day I will achieve 9 perfect lifts and hopefully take a National record (got one already actually). That day will not be a one off event it will be the culmination of countless hours of discipline with diet and thousands of reps under the watchful eyes of teammates and coaches.

The sport is powerlifting and its been going for 40+ years and therefore ahh no I don't consider your mutual masturbation in the mud as something I really am keen on.

Yes maybe Thomo is a little grizzly today and my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek. After all its Tuesday and I haven't trained since Friday. But I truly believe these events and the almost overnight cult that springs up is another example of the short attention span of this current generation. Always seeking the next new thing whether it be an artist, club or dumb fitness event.

If you want to really feel like a bad ass then take off your dumb bandana take a shower and go fucking climb a mountain or any one of the real outdoor pursuits that require more than just a cursory weekend commitment.

Stay Strong
Thomo

Chris Papillion discusses Westside issues

Some interesting material has popped up on powerlifting watch regarding the the Westside Pro-am meet. For the few of you that haven't seen the issues surrounding the meet here is the skinny.

Essentially Westside ran a meet that had a number of records broken, once the youtube videos surfaced on the face of it there were a number of squats that looked very very far from legal that were passed easily.

Pretty soon the shit started to hit the fan on the forums with the usual assortment of Westside hatters and defenders squaring off. Now despite all the dumb shit a couple of genuine posts emerged that centred more on protecting the integrity of the sport and the impacts of shitty judging.

One of the those was from Chris Pap who I thought articulated the issues surrounding the meet with an accurate and passionate summary.

Here is the video, check out the lifts on powerlifting watch then review Chris's points below.




For me the vision is pretty damning but I will reserve my comments to similar issues at a  few local meets.

I believe powerlifting should be similar to Olympic weightlifting i.e. no fuckers on the platform, or near the platform unless you are wearing a judges shirt.

Too often I have seen morons lying down near or in front of the judges calling depth. Now I thought it was an individual sport and my belief is if you cant work our where depth is without someone calling it for you then fuck off and try something else. Oh what's that you say but with equipped gear I find it hard to work out where depth is??? So let me understand this, not only do you get 1-2 hundred pounds from the suit but you also want someone to call depth!!??

I think the sport needs to smarten the fuck up and run itself professionally. Chris Pap's rant is a good example of someone who cares about the sport and doesn't want to see it screwed up.

Stay Strong
Thomo

It's what Sam Byrd calls recovery day

Really really felt like shit this last 4 days. I suspect I have been fighting off one of the many ailments that is getting passed around though no doubt this has been exacerbated by pushing the envelope on recovery.

I have been hitting rep record after rep record on my Juggernaught template but at the beginning of last week everything started to feel heavy, much heavier than it should have. I even noticed my mood was pretty average (more so than normal!). That coupled with some particularly poor nights of sleep started the alarm bells ringing.

Therefore over the weekend I upped the calories (carbs particularly) over hydrated, and managed a couple of afternoon naps to aid the recovery process. Suffice to say starting to feel much better but I am not out of the woods yet so rather than hit the bench tonight I am taking a day off training. No active recovery just plenty of food, off to bed early and absolutely no training.

I definately feel I have programmed my everyday max too high on this template, that was despite being what I thought was conservative. Regardless I will make adjustments for the next cycle and keep pressing on.

Stay Strong

Thomo

Knees out when squatting

Today is bench day for me however I wanted to share a little bit about my progress on the squat. While my numbers have increased really well this year I am still far from happy with my squat form. There are a couple of things I have really been focusing on:

1. Staying tight, really, really tight. This means upper back tight, posterior chain really switched on
2. Exploding from the bottom i.e really activating all the fibers and driving like a somofabitch out of the hole
3. Getting foot position right.

Number 3 has occupied me considerably in the last few weeks. I found over the last year as I watched really good lifters, that their setup was perfect. Whereas I have lacked consistency in this all year. Each foot position and movement has been subtlety and sometimes not too subtlety different.  

In the past I have struggled for depth however rereading Starting Strength re hip positioning and remembering Dan Johns great cue that you 'squat between your legs' (duh I know) I realised I was a little too wide in my stance and that I hadn't locked down my set-up.

I have been working on this hard for the last 3 weeks going back to basics, even to the point of chalk marking my foot position so that each session is the same. The second element of this work has been understanding my decent. I am a raw lifter with relatively long femurs so the equipped notion of a large sit back in the squat just doesn't work. 

Part of unlocking the puzzle of my decent has been to work on tracking the knees out more. The idea of cueing the knees out is a pretty common mantra but like a lot of newbies I struggle to contextualize it. A video that helped it recently was the one above by Brett Contreras which is excellent in actually showing what is meant by pushing the knees out. Importantly it shows for a non equipped lifter that you need to narrow your stance a little to get it right.

Very simple but maybe the video will help you too.

Stay Strong

Thomo

RIP Christopher Lane

Power-lifting requires a level of self absorption to achieve great results. Inherent in the sport is a commitment to discipline across several elements, training, recovery, diet, GPP etc. More than many sports this can drive a level of focus that sometimes elevates training above other aspects of an individuals life. However this single minded focus can sometimes lead to a lack of clarity.

This morning was just another morning for me. I moved quietly through the house, kissed my sleeping family goodbye and drove to work. As I passed through darkened streets at 5:00 am I was lost in thoughts of the day ahead, trading conditions that are tough, client calls to make: a million different thoughts as I began to order my days activities. Then I heard the news that a young Australian baseballer, Christopher Lane, in the US on scholarship was shot dead in a random attack by three teenage lowlifes.

It's sobering and sad that someone else's misfortune provides such a jolt of clarity. I won't dignify the refuse of society that did this by dwelling on them. I am hoping that at some point soon these teenagers will find true torment and terror themselves behind bars.

The focus should be on Christopher Lane and his loved ones. At this moment a loving family is grieving the loss of a son, a girlfriend mourning the loss of a soul mate, a future extinguished randomly.

At these moments, what template you run doesn't matter, what PR you will hit at the next Nationals is insignificant. It can all be extinguished in an instant.

I like to think that what defines us is our empathy, the connection we can have as a society during moments of  sadness and tragedy.

So on this Monday stop for a second, think of Christopher Lane, celebrate  his short but meaningful life. Then go about your business, hopefully wiser remembering that this time is all we get and it can be taken from us so quickly and randomly.

Rest in Peace Christopher Lane....

Stay Strong
Thomo

Glute Ham Raise Rules

One of the key changes I have made in my training is to be diligent about performing the best assistance work that targets my key weaknesses. Quite simply this means targeting my hamstrings and overall posterior change. Genetically I have crap hamstrings and since I gave up running years ago what I did have fell into neglect.

Now the first order of business has been to add GHR's straight after squats and deadlifts. When I first tried these I couldn't get a single rep. But since starting Juggernaught I have been doing 3 sets of 8 with the purple band. Last night as I pushed through sets I simply let go of the band and kept powering on with the reps.

Even better I have finally noticed some growth in the hamstrings and lots of soreness in the glutes. These aren't fun to do but I think proficiency on GHR's really help squats and deads.

They key though is to work these at least 2-3 times a week and once you get some skill you can starting pumping out the reps, add weight and watch your wheels grow!

Stay Strong
Thomo

Friday nights alright for..Deadlifting

Saturday morning brings exquisite  post deadlift soreness, though thinking about it, it is most likely second day soreness from squatting on Wednesday. Regardless I had a bloody good session last night hitting another rep record at 70% 1RM.

On this template I am being very consistent in pushing through the sets to keep my work rate high. Consequently I charged through my six sets of five on deadlift and I'm getting out of the gym on time far more often.

As I have said before the longer build up on Juggernaut feels really good. I haven't missed a planned rep yet and the high volume, higher reps and faster work rate have made a real difference to my training.

Felt quite busy at PTC Perth last night with a few of the guys running their templates for Wild West and if rumours are correct at least a few of the guys have been invited to ProRaw.

Well the rest of the day brings the normal routine of chasing my two year old around which is surprisingly good active recovery.

Looking forward to bench on Monday!

Stay Strong
Thomo