Tim's Journeyman Log

[tim290280]

After a weekend spent putting a ceiling up at my brothers "new" house I pushed my training schedule back a day from Monday to Tuesday. Still didn't feel particularly inspired to train.

When I feel this way I click onto my BBing videos on the computer, and some of the training pics. Usually Tom Platz's 500lb for 23 reps gets me fired up. This time around it was a photo of a pretty impressive weightlifter.


With this dose of inspiration I pulled on my shoes, grabbed my barbell and headed for the japanese sand garden (in winter its the lawn). C&J warmups were a breeze, the test came when I put BW on the bar. After last weeks easy efforts on the clean, I knew that the thing I really needed to work on was the jerk (and front squat, more on that later). As I get tired, especially when supersetting with SLDL's, the jerk lacks the push and drop under to nail it every time. A lot of this is just psycological, and telling myself what needs to be done helps get back under the bar.

To get the bar back to the power rack I cleaned and walked it over, before lining up the front squats. There was a time in my rehab that there was only a 10kg difference between my front and back squats. Well no longer. Its been awhile since I did them and I'm still getting the "bar rolling off shoulders" problem rather than the "Oooo my legs are on fire". So I did them weightlifting style (which is much harder on the wrists), and the problem lessened, but so did the blood flow to my hands......

Incline bench and chinups continue to be a tail-end effort. So little energy left, so I expect so little progress from this pairing. Though I have decided to add a volumising set to them, just to do some higher rep sets for the upper body. I finished with my wrist roller, some band triceps, and inner biceps. The inner biceps was a completely different feeling, and I'll need that to balance out the overloading of the long head from everything else.

 

[Banshee20]

Nice job Tim! I really enjoyed reading about your session...when I read it, it flowed kinda like poetry. Like that "when the iron rides high" poem. I know that sounds cheesy but its true! Glad your training is going well.

Repped!

Banshee

 

[Glex]

Dude, where'd you get my picture?

I hear ya on the front squats. I tried the wrist strap idea and couldn't get it to work right. I saw a harness for front squats and I really want one now.

 

[FOOTBALL FAN]

that pics mental what was he doing a flip??lol good luck with your olympic lifts il be sure to keep an eye out for your log its entertaining to read

 

[tim290280]

Banshee: Thanks, I'm a frustrated writer at heart. One day I'll actually sit down and write some of the ideas I have. At least I know that in the meantime my free-flow writing is getting the desired message across.

Glex: Wow you competed at the Athens Olympics!!!
I only read about the straps for front squats, so I'm as stumped on how to get them into position too. I'm thinking Dave Draper's front squat device is looking good.

Football: I think thats the Greek lightweight guy that set the world record celebrating. I've got another pic of him jumping in the air after dropping the weight, he gets some serious air! Just shows how athletic these lifters are.

Thanks all for stopping by and sharing in the journey!

Tonight will be snatches, bench, rows etc, and tomorrow I'm possibly taking a free pass to a "Power Yoga" class at the missus' gym.

 

[tim290280]

Global warming has struck again. My nice summers days have been transformed into cool, windy, and had me training in a long sleeve shirt. I was feeling a bit off, so I decided things should be mixed up a bit. I decided to barefoot my workout.

The snatches are feeling good, but like the jerk, I'm not pulling myself under the bar quick enough and deep enough. I'll work on that with some snatch dips (basically stand with bar on shoulders, then drop under it with no movement of the bar downwards).

The benches sucked the big one. My form was sloppy, and my second set was far better than my first, all with a weight I'd found 'easy' the week before. Fortunately my rows didn't suck, and were interesting to do without shoes on. Something about gripping the ground with your toes that makes your whole body feel conected.

Finally the lunges and hammy curls were hit, and hit hard. I did a couple of high rep sets to finish off after the intitial sets. Now amazingly my calves were feeling a pump from the lunges. Digging into the ground (read shock absorbing foam flooring) and keeping me stable, I felt as if training legs with shoes on was a bit of a crime. I did a bit of band work between sets for arms and scaps, and some pinch grip work, just to allow myself to recover between the 20 rep sets. So rare that I do that many reps that every now and again I need to do it.

After this session, I have to say that while I made the most of it, I am probably due for a back off week soon. The stress of running out of funding and having to get part time work to support this thesis/science habit is getting to me.

 

[DelgadoMon]

Goin old school with the whole barefoot thing, glad it worked for you, mabye you should start working out without shoe from now on and didnt your feet get cold??

 

[tim290280]

Thanks for stopping by Delgado!

I usually train in shoes, but I took them off for the day. Its the middle of summer here, so even though it wasn't a normal hot summers day, it was still warm enough to train without getting cold feet (LOL).

I'm going to try it again with squats, especially if I have a back off week. I used to train without shoes on squats when I was new to lifting. I was copying the pictures I'd seen of Arnie and Dave Draper training legs.

 

[Tunen]

I used to do quite a lot of snatch dips and they rule! I got a great feel for hitting the bottom position. Do you do snatch squats as well?

Training bare-foot huh? Don't you need heels for some of the moves?

20 reps??? On bench or what? (yes, I'd still like som e numbers )

 

[Pickle]

haha "i felt as if training with shoes on was a bit of a crime" I know how you feel. I hate most gyms shoes on policy. If i could go shoeless i would.

 

[tim290280]

I used to do quite a lot of snatch dips and they rule! I got a great feel for hitting the bottom position. Do you do snatch squats as well?

Training bare-foot huh? Don't you need heels for some of the moves?

20 reps??? On bench or what? (yes, I'd still like som e numbers )

I need to get myself down under the bar so I'll be starting to do a lot of these moves on off days (advantage of just having a bar setup on the rack in the backyard), or as warmups (greese that groove).

I'm training on my japanese sand garden (I.e. the grass dies off at the begining of summer) so having a bit of angle forward isn't really and issue. I can just dig my toes in a bit. I don't think I'll do the weightlifting stuff without shoes again though, need to be a bit more stable.

The 20(-30) reps were for band work on arms, external rotor work, and the last set of lunges and hammy curls. I do tend to drop 15kg off the bench and rows though and hit a submax set for ~10-12 reps. So its not a drop set (which would be pushed to failure), rather a pump set.

haha "i felt as if training with shoes on was a bit of a crime" I know how you feel. I hate most gyms shoes on policy. If i could go shoeless i would.

Completely! There are some times when no shirt and no shoes just feels better when training. Most gyms are dead against that. When I used to train barefoot, I only got away with it because my training partner was a bouncer, and mates with the manager (no one was going to argue with him!!).

 

[Glex]

I've never trained shoeless, but I bet it's glorious

 

[Natureboypkr]

I've never trained shoeless, but I bet it's glorious

You should try it you'll fell just like THE OAK himself?

 

[tim290280]

Originally Posted by Glex
I've never trained shoeless, but I bet it's glorious
Originally Posted by Natureboypkr
You should try it you'll fell just like THE OAK himself?

Actually it's better than cumming!

For my birthday my parents bought me a suit. We went into a menswear store and started to look around. Now I know my measures; height, weight, girths, all fairly accurately. Especially with doctors and physios pulling out the tape to measure me up while I was injured, they were all impressed......

So I was a little suprised with my suit. You walk into a store and an attendant gives you a glance and shows you to a rack of jackets. I look at the size and say "Actually my chest is bigger than that." Sure enough he measures me up and thats what the tape said too, except he says "No that's about the right size, though some may be a better cut in a larger size."

And he was right. All that hard work to have an extra couple of inches on the chest had not translated into a bigger suit size. Why? Well its not about the chest its about the way the suit sits, how it gathers, and thus hangs. So unless I was chasing one of those gayish 4-5 button suits then the chest size wasn't as important as the way it sat around my waist. In fact that was the main difference in the fit between the size I got (42") and the size I thought I should have (44"). Same with the pants, but that was due to the thighs and butt. "Much easier to take a waist in on a bigger size of pant than get the pants to sit right on thick legs." (Attendant quote).

So what does this mean? Well it means that since I have reached roughly the size I mean to maintain for life, that any subtle changes will not affect the way the suit fits. So short of me ballooning up out of my 180-190lb weight range then I have that suit thing sorted.

"But then why are you training Tim?" Well, take my warmup for deadlifts last night, cleans. I just love that feeling of power getting 110kg to the shoulder. Then the deadlifts and pullups double, what better way to know that nothing can stand in your way when you can lift anything off the ground and climb over any obstacle?!

"Ok you like lifting, but don't you have goals?" Well yes, I want to get stronger, obviously. I have very little respect for physical weakness. I grew up on a farm where muscles came from hard labour and being strong. Its part of my no wraps, straps, or belts stand, your physique is a display of your power, not something you have to bandage together to display. Thats why my rack lockouts and grip work felt good to followup such a big double of deads and pullups.

"But this is bodybuilding: What about physique goals?" Of course I'm not 100% happy with bits and pieces. I've had a chunk cut out of my hammy to stitch my knee together, so my hammys really need some extra work, which is why I was doing single leg stiff-leg deadlifts. My biceps kinda lean inwards, due to poor balance between the heads, so the finisher of curls with a wide grip came into play.

I'm going to keep tinkering, enjoying and achieving for many years to come. I love to lift. I love the results. I love sharing my experience/s and knowledge. I also love knowing that I can keep doing this for the rest of my life, as long as I don't forget the mistakes of my past, and progress.

 

[Line]

Great post, and an interesting read as always...I was particularly struck by this:

I have very little respect for physical weakness. I grew up on a farm where muscles came from hard labour and being strong. Its part of my no wraps, straps, or belts stand, your physique is a display of your power, not something you have to bandage together to display.

I was curious awhile ago why you saw things like straps/belts as crutches that too many people use and I sensed some pride in your response about not using them. To be honest, I didn't grow up on a farm but I understand to a good degree your thoughts about necessary physical strength (I've moved furniture for a few years now).

Honestly, good post explaining your views on training and your goals. I think something very few guys in here look into is at what point are they going to be more health oriented than simply improving their physical appearance. Kudos for achieving that already.

 

[Pickle]

you do one legged stiff leg deadlifts? I do bodyweight exercises that work like a balance thing for me where i just stand on one leg keep it straight and go palms to the floor. I cant get past 10 reps(with no weight) without losing concentration and tumbling a bit. How do you go on them?

 

[PUMBA]

Good luck with your weightlifting goals mate, I wish you all the luck.

I also grew up on a farm but I guess I look at Belts etc etc as tools, it's like how Shearers now use slings on there upper bodies, they no less hard core mutha f#*%#@ as far as thier workload, they are just ensuring quality of life after the working days are over.

So for me, wraps, belts and straps are there to keep me in the game and when the playing/competeing days are over, I'm not a walking car wreck.

I know with time you can build yourself up slowly to overcome most of these things but hey, who has time or patience these days.

Good luck anyway mate, have you thought abot powerlifting as well. just a thought?

 

[tim290280]

Cheers Line. I think sometimes knowledge and id get tied up tightly, so while I believe something and can back it up doesn't mean that it is 100% applicable to anyone else, as Pumba pointed out.

Good luck anyway mate, have you thought abot powerlifting as well. just a thought?

Good points to back up my stuff! On the PLing thing, I have thought about it, but have always been disparaged by the equipment, and the lack of raw competitions (locally). I'll never be anything special at either PLing or WLing (state level) so the one that I think I'd enjoy competing in more was the one I thought I'd give a go at.

you do one legged stiff leg deadlifts? I do bodyweight exercises that work like a balance thing for me where i just stand on one leg keep it straight and go palms to the floor. I cant get past 10 reps(with no weight) without losing concentration and tumbling a bit. How do you go on them?

Bodyweight work is a great thing that I never appreciated fully until I did my knee. I got into the single leg stuff due to the massive atrophy (thus strength and size differences) of my legs. This allows balance and coordination, which you lose with atrophy and injury, and also strength with mobility and balance. So after 1.5yrs on the single leg stuff I'm doing them all weighted for 10-15 reps (dependant on week of cycle, this week was 10x35kg) without any really balance issues. Although I keep an upright support within arms reach just in case!

Next week will be a backoff week; so taking 10-20% off the bar and doing similar reps, maybe more sets.

Also have to start hunting down a part time job (if the job I've been offered is actually only a 15 month contract, and not permanent). I'm thinking I might pick up something at a gym in the evenings, which could prove interesting.

 

[Glex]

Gah, I have trouble with suits. May you never have to buy one again.

I was doing some single-leg work directly after I rolled my ankle really bad for that same reason. My right calf has always been much larger than my left, and after I rolled my left ankle the problem got worse.

I think I stopped doing the single-leg work because it was scary; I could still move a lot of weight with my calf but it was still obviously recovering (took almost a year to feel fine, and now two years later there's still a very slight size difference in the ankles). I would often have to intervene with my right leg to make sure I wasn't going to redo the injury. So for safety's sake I went purely to double-leg work until it got better (BW raises probably would have been OK and in retrospect I definitely should've done those).

Then I completely forgot about doing single-leg calf work until I read your post on Tunen's wall and told Line we were doing them (he moaned for a while and then agreed). I'm going to try and incorporate single-leg a lot more and see if that helps even out my calves finally. Thanks for the inadvertant help!

 

[tim290280]

^^ No probs! I did my ankle playing footy. I taped it up and it eventually got strong enough to run around on without tape. So I know what you mean about unstable at the ankle.