Tim's Journeyman Log

[tim290280]

Bulkboy: I'm 182cm, like in my stats sheet. I know what you are saying about stubby hands, but lets face it, if your grip is in some way limiting your training (i.e. you can't grip as much as your deadlift) then you have a weak point. So ignoring a weak point, and it is ignoring since it still limits you, will only lead to problems in the long run.

I know I come at this topic from a different perspective, as I am after strength and health first and foremost. I am not about getting huge, or swole, or about big numbers, or ripped to the bone. I'm the guy that will insist upon squatting ATG without a belt even though I could add 50kg to the bar and just rep out at parallel. As a result I'm likely to still be training when I'm 80, not just in my teens and early 20's.

JB: I've got a few goals and general aims. Over the past year I've added about 5kg and really thickened up my upper body. I like being 88kg but I really think I need to be a little leaner and more like 85-86kg. I've also added some decent balanced strength, to the point where I can do "new" exercises and use comparitive weights (for example recently used DB incline bench at a commercial gym, after not having used DB's in a year and was able to lift as much as I could use on a BB).

My weakpoints are my hamstrings and calves. My hammys are weak due to my knee injury and the subsequent graft harvest and difficulties rehabbing. Now 3yrs after my knee opperation my knee is feeling good. My hammies I have been training first on leg day and have seen some good results with a mixed strategy. My calves I'm just training instead of neglecting. I also don't have the best delts and have had a recurring shoulder problem. I'll continue to work on this, but my lateral delt development is likely to remain limited.

Stength wise I want to be doing the following:
Front Squat 1.5xBW for reps
Back Squat 2.0xBW for reps (both ATG no belt)
Deadlift 2.5xBW for reps
Bench 1.5xBW for reps
C&J 1.5xBW
Snatch 100kg
Chinup/pullup/Dip BW+50% for reps

Long term I want to be healthy and able to keep training. I'd like to be doing this when I'm 80. The routine and the like has really just got to fit around my life and work. I was going to compete in a weightlifting comp at some stage, but I'm going to have to be able to approach things differently (which requires changes to my work schedule). I would also like to get on stage in fake tan, oil and a thong; should be able to get some sailor money tucked into it..... No seriously I would like to have a shot at a BBing comp, but I'm in between weight categories and at 182cm I'd really need to compete at ~90kg. Problem is that I'd need to bulk up and I think I'm a bit heavy at the moment. Unless of course I just took it as a challenge and not something I was trying to win.......

 

[Bulkboy]

interesting goals and approach tim always fun to see someone with a different mindset than myself, keep posting stuff

anyways, about going ATG instead of paralell on squats and this leading to longevity. ive heard the exact opposite, that going below paralell fucks up ur lower back and knees. care to explain why you think going to ATG is beneficial?

 

[Johnny Bravo]

interesting goals and approach tim always fun to see someone with a different mindset than myself, keep posting stuff

anyways, about going ATG instead of paralell on squats and this leading to longevity. ive heard the exact opposite, that going below paralell fucks up ur lower back and knees. care to explain why you think going to ATG is beneficial?

I saw an article on T-Nation.com about going ATG Vs. Parallel and it was a bit more stress on the knees when going ATG but when you went parallel the stress on your hips was increased almost 1000%.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

JB: I've got a few goals and general aims. Over the past year I've added about 5kg and really thickened up my upper body. I like being 88kg but I really think I need to be a little leaner and more like 85-86kg. I've also added some decent balanced strength, to the point where I can do "new" exercises and use comparitive weights (for example recently used DB incline bench at a commercial gym, after not having used DB's in a year and was able to lift as much as I could use on a BB).

My weakpoints are my hamstrings and calves. My hammys are weak due to my knee injury and the subsequent graft harvest and difficulties rehabbing. Now 3yrs after my knee opperation my knee is feeling good. My hammies I have been training first on leg day and have seen some good results with a mixed strategy. My calves I'm just training instead of neglecting. I also don't have the best delts and have had a recurring shoulder problem. I'll continue to work on this, but my lateral delt development is likely to remain limited.

Stength wise I want to be doing the following:
Front Squat 1.5xBW for reps
Back Squat 2.0xBW for reps (both ATG no belt)
Deadlift 2.5xBW for reps
Bench 1.5xBW for reps
C&J 1.5xBW
Snatch 100kg
Chinup/pullup/Dip BW+50% for reps

Long term I want to be healthy and able to keep training. I'd like to be doing this when I'm 80. The routine and the like has really just got to fit around my life and work. I was going to compete in a weightlifting comp at some stage, but I'm going to have to be able to approach things differently (which requires changes to my work schedule). I would also like to get on stage in fake tan, oil and a thong; should be able to get some sailor money tucked into it..... No seriously I would like to have a shot at a BBing comp, but I'm in between weight categories and at 182cm I'd really need to compete at ~90kg. Problem is that I'd need to bulk up and I think I'm a bit heavy at the moment. Unless of course I just took it as a challenge and not something I was trying to win.......

Sounds like some good goals and aims, dude. So what do you want to do the most, weightlifting or BB? You could do both of course.
Just feeling of standing on stage is awesome and you really get hooked and forget ALL about how much dieting sucks and that cardio can go to hell.

 

[Hypocrisy86]

Awesome goals Tim. i assure you can get there !!!

 

[Big_Guns_Lance]

Great goals tim on the exercise and as far as that long term goal of stepping onstage, thats great

 

[tim290280]

interesting goals and approach tim always fun to see someone with a different mindset than myself, keep posting stuff

anyways, about going ATG instead of paralell on squats and this leading to longevity. ive heard the exact opposite, that going below paralell fucks up ur lower back and knees. care to explain why you think going to ATG is beneficial?

Thanks dude.

I actually tore my acl, grade 2 pcl and mcl, and had a partial meniscectomy on my right knee. So when I was learning to walk again I had a lot of time to read up on the science of squatting.

When you introduce stress to the knee in form of quadriceps loading you have two mechanisms, anterior loading (leg ext, etc) or compressive load (squat, etc). Anterior loading has huge amount so strain on all the ligaments of the knee through all the ROM, with the peak at lockout. On the squat we find that the peak ligament forces are not on the acl past about 100 degrees of flexion, pcl forces remain relatively constant and at 80% of max are roughly equivilent to a leg ext (remember the lower loading ability of this in the relative 80% of max).

You also have compressive forces and shear forces at the knee meniscus. These forces in squatting are higher at lower knee angles then drop then raise again as you go deeper. The measured forces max out at about 5Mpa (I think those were the units) at 140 degrees of flexion, much lower than the >21Mpa needed for damage. These forces are also transferred around the knee differently dependant on the angle of the shin. The more upright the shin then less knee forces, but this transfers the forces 100x greater to the hip and lower back. So a neutral position is best.

In terms of the depth of squatting somewhere between 125 and 145 degrees is best for the knee. But this has to be taken in respect to the lower back and hip mobility. Basically you cannot go deeper than your hip mobility allows lest your back round and transfer even greater forces to the spine (all shear the worst kind). I've worked on my mobility as part of my rehab so it isn't as much of an issue for me but it could be for others yet to gain the mobility.

 

[tim290280]

Sounds like some good goals and aims, dude. So what do you want to do the most, weightlifting or BB? You could do both of course.
Just feeling of standing on stage is awesome and you really get hooked and forget ALL about how much dieting sucks and that cardio can go to hell.

I currently get more out of weightlifting and it fits better with my lifestyle. Having said that though I would be looking at a weight class, so there is no reason that I can't do both. I just think the BBing goal has been pushed back since I started playing footy. Footy consumed more time, got me injured and unable to play again, plus limited my ability to compete in BBing.

Plus I live in the country, so that is a little prohibitive at the moment to competing, but I hope to relocate in the next year or two and this opens the door. I've heard that doing a good show and getting the pics are well worth it. I have a light frame so I will carry more muscle at the same weight than others at my height, but I'm also likely to be up against guys 6" shorter (although nothing like a Front DB Biceps over their heads to make them look small!).

Hypo: Thanks dude. I'd say life is what is getting in the way of the competing but it can't hold me back from the other goals. Competing will just have to wait a little.

Big_guns_lance: Thanks dude. I think by having that long term goal as well as the short term ones keeps you focussed. I won't suddenly have a beer gut (easy to do in the country), I won't suddenly decide to thin down, etc, etc.

 

[Rocky]

Good to see you back in the log section wih your words of wisdom and goals as ever looking excellent.

 

[tim290280]

^ thanks Rocky! Good to see you've been keeping up those heavy ass dips!!

I was on the road this week for work. Presented at a conference a bit of research we did end of last year and did a radio interview. I was also on the organising committee so only had two chances to train. On the plus side it was at my old gym which they have recently upgraded with DB's now going up to 60kg in 2.5kg increments!!! Apparently the manager is a little/short asian guy that is into his BBing. I never thought of him as strong enough to use 60kg DB's, but I guess he wants a stronger crowd to train with.

Anyways what I did:
Monday:
Overhead squat 80kg
Front Squat 120kg
SLDL 120kg
Clean (only one rep to re-rack bar) 120kg
1 legged Leg press 6 plates
1 legged Hammy curl 30 (whatever the hell "30" is in kg or lb or drams)
Calf raise on leg press 8 plates
Hammy 1 legged back extension (reps)

Thursday morning:
DB Incline bench 47.5kg
DB Flat bench 55kg (only one set, had to take advantage of DB's)
Chins BW+30kg
Cable row 110kg (supposedly)
Close grip bench 110kg
Tricep ext 10 (whatever "10" is)
Preacher Bicep curl 35kg
Chins
Dips

I loved training in a gym for a change! Got me caught up on crappy technique, commercial radio, and gym neophytes. I was amazed at the guys that were benching while I was close grip benching; they were using about half what I was, yet they used the same weight on the isolation exercise I did. Bearing in mind the extra 3-4" on my arms and I wasn't fussed, but illustrates just how little isolation exercises benefit your physique.

 

[Big_Guns_Lance]

Nice workout man, those front squats were great and those close-grip presses just awesome

 

[Bulkboy]

impressive all over man, all the presses stand out, specially being able to close grip bench 110, thats strong shit. front squats are damn good too i would really appreciate it if u took time to write up the reps and stuff too though

 

[Braaq]

Great strength bro, what research did you do that you talked about on the radio?

 

[tim290280]

Big guns lance: Thanks dude, I'm happy with both of them considering the time off I've had.

Bulkboy: The close grip was surprising actually. I put the extra 10kg down to the better bench at the gym than the one I have at home. Just that little bit more stable and thus I press better. I didn't include the reps because I was doing it from memory after I got back from the trip, but the 110kg close grip was around 8 reps, the front squat I only remember hitting the rack in the bottom position on every rep which made me pull up before I intended to.

Braaq: It was a international collaboration for a ruminant nutrition trial that I ran the end of last year. Looking at starvation adaptation and the related blood markers and muscle proteomics. Now I just have to right the thing up......:crymeariver:

 

[tim290280]

Ok last night I was meant to train legs. It was cold, the air was dry, my tonsils were feeling swollen and it had rained earlier. So I was feeling about as much like training as a fat person staring at a choice between the couch and the treadmill. Of course I didn't want to make my flu symptoms spark up again, but I also didn't want to add any new words like "pussy" or "wimp" to my vocabulary.

It has been awhile since I have done anything resembling cardio, let alone done a circuit style workout. My idea of cardio is to jump rope in between sets of real work, or take the dog for a run. So this was something different for me. I started off by doing the good old pullup, no kipping, no stopping. Then straight into the pushups, then I grabbed a plate and did some "bodyweight" squats, then to finish off a quick set of single leg SLDL's with a light dumbbell. This left me a little puffed, but my heart was pounding in my neck. I assume it had migrated to my neck in order to escape out my mouth if I made it work any harder. It could have also assumed that moving closer to my head would allow it the perfect opportunity to pump more blood to my head so that I would use my big brain to figure out that this cardio thing was not a good idea.

Well I didn't really care for my change of heart position. I did my second circuit. By this time I was feeling light headed and like I really needed to eat something so I could throw it back up. Due to the inefficiency of this I just decided I'd try and spit the foul taste out of my mouth and continue to pant. Wonder how long it will be until I do another circuit?

Circuit:
Pullup BWx20
Pushup BWx30
Squat BW+20 x20
1 Leg SLDL BW+12 x15
Panting BWx100
Pullup BWx20
Pushup BWx30
Squat BW+20 x20
1 Leg SLDL BW+12 x15

 

[Skeptic]

Thanks Arcane; good to be back.

The question becomes though: have you always had a strong grip or did your grip just develop well because you never used straps?

Skeptic I know that grip can take awhile, but the thing is the best grip strengthener is the really heavy work. Deads, farmers walks, anything with a thick bar, grippers are all good and the straps used on any of them just limit you in the long run. And lets face it, we want big deadlift numbers to be strong, not so that when we actually have to be strong we have to run and get our straps and gloves and belt and maybe a blanky.

Ive thrown away the straps... my problem with it was that my back developed faster than my grip, but it wont happen anymore

nice work on the circuit man even though it sounds like you had a rough time haha

 

[Pickle]

lol panting by 100. vid of the chins?

 

[tim290280]

Skeptic: :imcoolurnot: You are now a man!

Pickle: No vid of it, but then again I haven't downloaded the last lot of pics and vids of training off my camera yet. I would like to get a vid but the missus seems to like being inside in front of the heater at the moment

Ok standard upperbody day last night. All weights in kilograms.

Upper:
Warmup

Bench
Bar x?
60x5
100x5
110x3
120x3
120x3
120x3

Thick bar dumbbell row
60x5
70x3
70x3
70x3

Pushup
20x15
20x10

Rope fatman (think of a reverse pushup/fatman pullup/inverted row, that instead of using a BB you hold onto a rope and pull out and back)
BWx8
BWx8

Rope tricep ext (ditto above)
BWx8
BWx8

BB bicep curl
50x6
50x3
40x8

Soundtrack: Guns 'n' Roses, Nightwish, Poison, Edenbridge. Licensed under Tim's iPod records.

 

[Skeptic]

lol @ poison.... Epic.

 

[tim290280]

lol @ poison.... Epic.

Because I don't want nothin' but a good time :mf_emoticon_psychot