Blonde will make you STRONG

[PokerBroker]

Just watched a 14yr Old Chinese girl squat a 170kg at 56kg body weight.  Facebook group worth following is MA Strength

[iRaise]

Just watched a 14yr Old Chinese girl squat a 170kg at 56kg body weight.  Facebook group worth following is MA Strength

I follow a few of those kind of pages. It is just crazy to watch.

Huge debate in our mentorship group about the 15year old kid that did 100 with shakey form. Place could explode if they see that.

[EvilPie]

Would love to hear Matt's thoughts in terms of what he had to sacrifice in training til failure in terms fo quality of life..

You remember me saying that I used to consume around 5500 calories a day?

Maybe that's why I never had a problem with any of this.......

asleep by 9? Too tired to go out? Miss days? Grumpy etc? Injuries from it?
 

4-5 hours kip a night was plenty. Went out every weekend except if I was dieting. Happy as a pig in s**t. Few aches and pains but physio once or twice a week put a stop to all that.

[iRaise]

Would love to hear Matt's thoughts in terms of what he had to sacrifice in training til failure in terms fo quality of life..

You remember me saying that I used to consume around 5500 calories a day?

Maybe that's why I never had a problem with any of this.......

asleep by 9? Too tired to go out? Miss days? Grumpy etc? Injuries from it?
 

4-5 hours kip a night was plenty. Went out every weekend except if I was dieting. Happy as a pig in s**t. Few aches and pains but physio once or twice a week put a stop to all that.

Did you consistently have physio? Or when you were niggling?

I used to shut myself off to try and get 'optimal gains'. Now I am way more flexible. I do find going out hard when dieting as I have zero filter when I drink. So I find that balance hard. But for the next ten weeks the plan is to curb the drinking, not sure how that will go.

I do love the 'find the balance' argument. As it is so subjective, and nobody knows if you did maximise your true potential.

[vegaslover]

The last time I did any significant lifting, pretty much gave up online poker as was falling asleep much earlier of an evening/night.

In terms of lifestyle balance I think peeps sometimes forget to take an holistic view. i.e. if you are so focused on training, other parts of your life get neglected to the point you get fed up.

Dieters classic example. Go full on healthy for a couple of weeks then realise they can't keep it up so quit, rather then augmenting their lifestyle/diet

[iRaise]

The last time I did any significant lifting, pretty much gave up online poker as was falling asleep much earlier of an evening/night.

In terms of lifestyle balance I think peeps sometimes forget to take an holistic view. i.e. if you are so focused on training, other parts of your life get neglected to the point you get fed up.

Dieters classic example. Go full on healthy for a couple of weeks then realise they can't keep it up so quit, rather then augmenting their lifestyle/diet

Small wins, always small wins. My facebook feed is literally that on repeat.

If you wanna have a chat about it, PM me and we can sort something out.

[Ant040689]

In terms of lifestyle balance I think peeps sometimes forget to take an holistic view. i.e. if you are so focused on training, other parts of your life get neglected to the point you get fed up.

Dieters classic example. Go full on healthy for a couple of weeks then realise they can't keep it up so quit, rather then augmenting their lifestyle/diet

I think I needed someone to say that. I love going intense with something, but I think it is at a detriment to other things sometimes. Going to take things easier but tick things along in the best way possible. Cheers.

I have had teammates in my footie team say that leg weights at the gym mid season is suicide and makes me feel better about feeling stiff after them. One actually said that it takes up to 4 days before he feels right after them. I think that tells me to concentrate more on plyometric, HIIT and body weight exercises for the legs (football specific stuff). Will casually do more research before landing on something and try them out. I am getting rid of leg weights at the gym for now.

[muckthenuts]

Not updated for a while but i'm still ticking along. I'm placing a lot of emphasis on increasing my pull ups at the moment. Grip is letting me down, but if i remember right i did 5 x 8 on Monday, so that was pretty cool considering i couldn't even do 1 not too long ago.

Did 5x5 85kg squats too and made sure to STRETCH before, after and in between. My legs are definitely still off limits for now but feel the DOMS a lot less. When i do break the 100kg mark i'm having a party.

[Ant040689]

Not updated for a while but i'm still ticking along. I'm placing a lot of emphasis on increasing my pull ups at the moment. Grip is letting me down, but if i remember right i did 5 x 8 on Monday, so that was pretty cool considering i couldn't even do 1 not too long ago.

Did 5x5 85kg squats too and made sure to STRETCH before, after and in between. My legs are definitely still off limits for now but feel the DOMS a lot less. When i do break the 100kg mark i'm having a party.

Good job.

I still can't do one pull up i don't think so fair play.

[iRaise]

In terms of lifestyle balance I think peeps sometimes forget to take an holistic view. i.e. if you are so focused on training, other parts of your life get neglected to the point you get fed up.

Dieters classic example. Go full on healthy for a couple of weeks then realise they can't keep it up so quit, rather then augmenting their lifestyle/diet

I think I needed someone to say that. I love going intense with something, but I think it is at a detriment to other things sometimes. Going to take things easier but tick things along in the best way possible. Cheers.

I have had teammates in my footie team say that leg weights at the gym mid season is suicide and makes me feel better about feeling stiff after them. One actually said that it takes up to 4 days before he feels right after them. I think that tells me to concentrate more on plyometric, HIIT and body weight exercises for the legs (football specific stuff). Will casually do more research before landing on something and try them out. I am getting rid of leg weights at the gym for now.

Ok leg weights mid season is suicide is clearly ridiculous. That is ALL relative.

If I started playing football now, do you think it would be a good idea for me to stop training legs? NOOOO.

What I would do is understand my progression would be far from linear as my recovery would suffer, until I adapted at least.

Recovery is key. Absolutely key. If I was confident I could recover, I would absolutely go for progress.

Recovery normally takes about 4-7 days for everyone, but you build up your pain/discomfort tolerance, so you just don't feel it. I think getting rid of weights in so stupid on so many levels. Redirecting your efforts sure. Trying not to race to max out the leg press yeah, but how do you intend to maintain muscle mass (THE THING THAT HELPS ATHLETES) if you aren't doing the very thing that got it for you?!?! Off season is the time to go harder for sure, to get rid of it is so illogical.

Having said all that, HIIT, plyo, BW stuff are all amazing uses of your time. So that is not to say don't do them. But what happens when you get to good and plyo jumps? You either go higher or ADD WEIGHT. What happens when a BW squat is too easy? More reps or ADD WEIGHT.

You should be totally holistic, I am using the phrase #BeYourOwnRoleModel lately, but you have to be smart about it.

I hate being specific with someone I don't know, but the more I read from you, the more certain I get you just don't understand recovery or you just can't do it? You are now going to make the decision to take away strength because of a recovery issue and join 95% of gym goes, when you are in a thread with people that have done it for years.

Went off on a huge rant then but deleted it, but please think things through. Every time you put something in your program and you don't know why, you are wasting time. I have no idea where you live, but strongly, strongly recommend you get a coach who can help you here. Or you are gonna be taking snippets from Menno's/Dr Cardiologist and its only a matter of time before you quote me Dr Aseem Malhotra.

Getting a coach will give you that holistic approach, it may be a good idea to reduce weights, NOT BECAUSE SOMEONE SAID IT WORKED FOR THEM, but because your coach can go,

'well listen Ant, you are trying to smash out 150 on the leg press 4 weeks into lifting, you are on 80g of protein and 1500kcals. Do you understand how much energy that takes, how much CNS that recruits, I think it is best to drop it to 80, gain some confidence and slowly build up.'

 
Ooops, ended up ranting.

[Ant040689]

In terms of lifestyle balance I think peeps sometimes forget to take an holistic view. i.e. if you are so focused on training, other parts of your life get neglected to the point you get fed up.

Dieters classic example. Go full on healthy for a couple of weeks then realise they can't keep it up so quit, rather then augmenting their lifestyle/diet

I think I needed someone to say that. I love going intense with something, but I think it is at a detriment to other things sometimes. Going to take things easier but tick things along in the best way possible. Cheers.

I have had teammates in my footie team say that leg weights at the gym mid season is suicide and makes me feel better about feeling stiff after them. One actually said that it takes up to 4 days before he feels right after them. I think that tells me to concentrate more on plyometric, HIIT and body weight exercises for the legs (football specific stuff). Will casually do more research before landing on something and try them out. I am getting rid of leg weights at the gym for now.

Ok leg weights mid season is suicide is clearly ridiculous. That is ALL relative.

If I started playing football now, do you think it would be a good idea for me to stop training legs? NOOOO.

What I would do is understand my progression would be far from linear as my recovery would suffer, until I adapted at least.

Recovery is key. Absolutely key. If I was confident I could recover, I would absolutely go for progress.

Recovery normally takes about 4-7 days for everyone, but you build up your pain/discomfort tolerance, so you just don't feel it. I think getting rid of weights in so stupid on so many levels. Redirecting your efforts sure. Trying not to race to max out the leg press yeah, but how do you intend to maintain muscle mass (THE THING THAT HELPS ATHLETES) if you aren't doing the very thing that got it for you?!?! Off season is the time to go harder for sure, to get rid of it is so illogical.

Having said all that, HIIT, plyo, BW stuff are all amazing uses of your time. So that is not to say don't do them. But what happens when you get to good and plyo jumps? You either go higher or ADD WEIGHT. What happens when a BW squat is too easy? More reps or ADD WEIGHT.

You should be totally holistic, I am using the phrase #BeYourOwnRoleModel lately, but you have to be smart about it.

I hate being specific with someone I don't know, but the more I read from you, the more certain I get you just don't understand recovery or you just can't do it? You are now going to make the decision to take away strength because of a recovery issue and join 95% of gym goes, when you are in a thread with people that have done it for years.

Went off on a huge rant then but deleted it, but please think things through. Every time you put something in your program and you don't know why, you are wasting time. I have no idea where you live, but strongly, strongly recommend you get a coach who can help you here. Or you are gonna be taking snippets from Menno's/Dr Cardiologist and its only a matter of time before you quote me Dr Aseem Malhotra.

Getting a coach will give you that holistic approach, it may be a good idea to reduce weights, NOT BECAUSE SOMEONE SAID IT WORKED FOR THEM, but because your coach can go,

'well listen Ant, you are trying to smash out 150 on the leg press 4 weeks into lifting, you are on 80g of protein and 1500kcals. Do you understand how much energy that takes, how much CNS that recruits, I think it is best to drop it to 80, gain some confidence and slowly build up.'

 
Ooops, ended up ranting.

I like the rants, its the only way i can communicate

Thanks for it. I am generally quite ignorant (research alone online can be convoluted with terrible advice so sometimes i get baffled) of what to do that i will be best getting a coach, but a part of me airing my problems is to find solutions and you've answered some questions there.

The point on pain/discomfort tolerance is the big big issue i think i was overlooking. I am fine when i have only two days break away from leg or upper body day to go again, if it is only gym work i am doing even though i still feel it a little from the previous session. Where i was having issue was, when i would do more football style training only two days after leg day i felt as if i was more prone to injury. You've said that could be because i am going too hard, and that is a fair point, and i am already on the protein game to up it soon.

I think the issue was merging two types of training i have never merged before in my life. I have never had serious regular gym sessions run concurrently with football style training and i think i made a mistake with integration and I have panicked, thus thinking i should only concentrate on one.

I am with you on getting a coach, I think that is ultimately what is needed, but for now I will stop wasting time and be more knowledgeable before throwing my toys out of the pram. Cheers for that, because I was going to drop weights altogether and I remember thinking with football training that despite being a little stiff I felt quicker than i ever have done and that is probably down to my thighs being bigger than i am used to. I suppose it is all a learning curve, always willing to learn and appreciative of your comments.

[iRaise]

The problem definitely may have been doing to much, I said this in my client group today. Just be consistent, even if its under achieving, you HAVE to get used to being consistent. We can raise quality once you are used to doing X every week. People fail because they stop, inconsistency is a sure fire way to stop.

Just do like 4 training hours and be active at other times. I am guessing here but footy training once a week, match day, 2 weights session. Whole body sessions. Eat well and sleep and you cannot go wrong with that.

[iRaise]

Quick update:

Deadlifts Sunday were below bar, probably need to re think rest days for that one. Maybe add some kcals from a rest day in the morning.

1x5 160kg
3x6 140kg but felt pretty hard.

Went for 4x6 160, oh how wrong I was.

Doing 4x6 Chins, and looking to add some weight every week.

Threw up the 34kg for 4x6 on the incline bench, which was a nice surprise. Pretty pleased with that one, never been a strength of mine, and I really try to work on technique to not make it either a flat bench by arching so much or a shoulder press by having the movement path too high.

Front squats are on plan for Thursday, they felt tough last week. 4x6 is the plan, not sure what weight yet.

Training still fun though, diet is a real test. Getting pretty hungry, and starting to nibble more on carrots/blueberries which is all good so far, but once a nibbler always a nibbler, so going to try and crush that before i'm 4 packets deep in custard creams contemplating the point of life.

Walking around 35-40 ins a day, which is pretty decent and been getting loads of podcasts in, so learning/thinking at a pretty quick rate. Noticed a far few things changing in my coaching style which is definitely for the better so really pleased with that.

Other than that, trying to be nice and boring and keep consistent. Hopefully I can keep it up for the next few weeks.

[Eso Kral]

I managed all 4 sessions last week plus the squeezed in one on the Sunday when we were back from Slovakia so had a really active week what with the school runs which we walk 3/4 mile each way twice a day.

Even though I was at a trade show for most of the day I still got up and did the 6am sesh this morning on coffee and some porridge feeling good throughout and am really motivated at the moment actually enjoying the program (not sure I will as it gets harder in week 5-8 and 9-12)

Legs tomorrow...

[zerofive]

Not heard from Eso or Harvey since leg day...