Phil Heath takes the Olympia 2013

Its been a quiet month for blogging given that thing called 'life' has gotten in the way of my normal routine. Today I had the house to myself so kicked back in the study logged into BodyBuilding.com and watched the Mr Olympia live cast. In fact an interesting Olympia given it was the first since the passing of Joe Weider who to a very large degree served as a catalyst for the whole body-building movement and sport.

I have never competed in body-building, no desire to, nor do I really follow body-building any more. However I have followed every Mr Olympia result since first being exposed to the sport back in 1983...fuck where did that 30 years go??

It's is amazing to watch the guys on stage today and see where bodybuilding is today. On reflection I think the 212 class is am interesting addition over the years and throws back to a slightly (just) more aesthetic physique. 

 I think the mid to late eighties were the golden years of the sport. Importantly the  physiques still looked attainable for the average schmuck like me. Classic looks like Labrada or Bob Paris below didn't repulse the general population and you could still identify with the look as one promoting health.

I still loved the reign of modern stars like Ronnie Coleman but probably more so for the training videos than the actual result of such a 'supplemented' look.

In was strange watching it live today and compare back to when I was a kid. In those days you were reliant on the results in the next edition of Muscle and Fitness or Flex. This would usually be 1 month or two late as there was no Internet. Right about now someone reading this is going..'no fucking Internet..no way!'

Despite the excesses the sport it still hangs in there and continues to appeal as a sub culture. For me I will probably always watch it given the link to my childhood. 

Stay Strong

Thomo

Travis Mash unloads on Rippetoe

I just finished reading a post on JTS and frankly a little non nonplussed (here it is if you haven't read it yet http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/09/18/truth-experts-part-2/. )

As a summary Travis has essentially performed a very nice character assassination of everyones favourite punching bag Mark Rippetoe. If Rip isn't fighting with Lyle MacDonald, Pendlay is taking anonymous but pointed swipes at him.

Clearly old Rip has wound Travis Mash up and he really had a few things to say. It's always kind of unseemly when coaches do that online e.g. Lyle Mac Donald versus everyone and Rip against a few. However here are my thoughts:

1. As a professional coach calling out another well known coach by name on a well respected site without talking to the individual first is far from ideal and diminishes JTS as a professional forum
2. Alluding in the article to an 'anonymous' Olympic lifting to bolster your claims is again probably less than ideal. Either man up and quote the source (we all know its likely one of two individuals) or better to refrain from using someone to anonymously support your position.
3. Suggesting someone has to have elite numbers to coach is an analogy that doesn't hold up. Because to be fair if that were the case then every red faced  hypertensioned, water bloated, geared to all fuck roid head shouldn't tell me how to program or recover because roided lifters don't know the first thing about what works programming and recovering naturally?  Can't have it both ways!
4. Similarly we could all quote bad form if we scoured the internet. I mean nobody at all worries that every MDUSA or Attitude Nation Oly lifters knees collapse inwards big time on their squats?

I frankly don't care if Rip is right.Personally Starting Strength has been  a good resource for me and to be fair its pitched at the new and clueless like me! Regardless I took the advice with a 'grain of salt', discarding what didn't work for my build/leverages and keeping what did. There is no absolutes with form, go to a true raw meet and tell me if those squats all look the same.

In fact scroll half way down Paul Carters post here and tell me if those world class lifters need  to eliminate their hip drive as suggested?
http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2013/08/thoughts-about-life-crap-training-and.html

I suspect Travis is spot on with his commentary and clearly he is passionate about great coaching I just think all this shit should be dealt with one to one not on popular training sites. The real loser in this is JTS, typically Chad Wesley Smith moderates very balanced articles but the article in question wasn't in the spirit of the site.

Stay Strong

Thomo

***post script** good to see within 48 hours Chad pulled the offending article and issued an apology re the tonality in effect suggesting he let us down for letting an article of this nature on his site. Classy response to admit he was wrong and perhaps next time it would be good to see if Travis provides something a little more moderate as I am sure we would benefit from one of his articles.

**** I had a great e-mail from Greg Nuckols , one of Travis's trainers at Mash Elite who wrote a great piece that provided a more articulate take on the whole issue  and provided a great summary of Travis's concerns.  Have a read
 http://gregnuckols.com/2013/09/19/travis-vs-rippetoe-revisited/.  ****

Lazy sunday deadlifting

Kicking back right now, 30 mins post workout guzzling the last of my protein shake and feeling pretty damn pleased with myself.

Deadlifts today and my focus was continuing to lock down my pre-lift routine. I noted in my first two comps every pre-lift preparation was different. So now I am stripping my prep down to several repeatable steps that result in me being as tight as possible and ready to lift.

For me I focus on standing in front of the bar screwing my feet into the floor and getting really tight before I reach down to the bar with tension already pulling me tight and down into the bar. Now this all sounds obvious I know but I need to have the same 3-4 steps to ensure each time I am in the right position with maximum tension.

It worked really well today and consequently had a great session. Sunday afternoon meant I had the gym to myself until a couple of the lads arrived mid session.

Gute ham raises and shoulders finished off the session So now I am all about a nice kick ass protein meal and chlling with my daughter.

Bench Tuesday and cant wait!

Stay strong

Thomo

Missing in Action

Sunday morning the sun is shining after a week of god awful rain and I have finally found 5 damn minutes to blog.

I took a break over the last 2 weeks due to some heavy work commitments but looking forward to hitting the keyboard, though my 2 year old daughter currently has other ideas.I am going to hit deadlift and military press today and if my timing works out well the gym will be completely empty for a late Sunday afternoon.

I am not sure about you but some days I prefer to bang the iron in a quiet empty gym and leave the cacophony of busy nights behind.

Annoyingly my adductor pain has kicked back in big time on squats and tends to pass over into the deadlift too. It tends to kick in as the weight gets above the 75% 1RM range and often it's triggered when I start messing with my stance etc. I am working harder than I ever have on mobility but I I think long term this issue is structural and it's something I have to manage when it arises.

Enjoy your sunday!

Stay Strong
Thomo

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