I'm a little confused about what people consider a weightlifting belt to be. I see people wearing them all the time in the gym for everything that they shouldn't be wearing them for. They're worn from the moment they walk in till they're done. WHAT? WHY?@?!11?1 >:[
I see people wearing a belt when they curl, shoulder press thing, tricep pulldowns, use dumbbells, everything else that's atrocious. This confirms my suspicion that they have no idea what a lifting belt is and what it's meant to do.
During heavy lifts there's a build up of internal pressure in your 'core' that's similar in effect to the val salva maneuver which is a natural response by your body to counter the pressure of the weight. This in a sense stabilizes or protects your spine and keeps your lower back in proper lumbar extension. I don't know why but I've seen some ridiculously stupid looking belts that are a certain width across the front then get much wider at the back. This is dumb and wrong and blasphemous. The belt acts against the abs area. Let me explain. When you're squatting heavy weight you're putting lots of pressure on your back. The point of the belt which mimics the val salva maneuver and exaggerates it is to counter this pressure and cause some stability of the spine and tightness of the back to help you lift better and safer.
If you know what you're doing you'll a) use a belt only for the right exercises, and b) only use it for heavy sets. You don't need a belt when you're curling 5lb dumbbells or walking around looking like an idiot which unfortunately I see way too often. I only use a belt for my heavy sets and even for those I technically shouldn't be. Use the belt too much and your core will under develop and not be able to counter the pressure on its own. At much higher weights though a belt is perfectly acceptable to use. I see people buy these big flashy belts walking around the gym looking like they just won UFC; I'm surprised they don't wear it on their shoulders looking like an even bigger idiot.
It's hard to explain how helpful it is, but the first time I used a belt I felt like I was still on my warm up sets when I was squatting full weight. The tightness it causes on your back is extremely helpful and can easily help you lift much more weight. A proper lifting belt and some good lifting shoes are the only real things any lifter needs. I'll talk about weightlifting shoes another time.
Squat - 405 1x3
Press - 165 1x4 (was meant to do 3, but since I'm such a baller I did 4)
Clean - 152.5 5x3
PEACE OUT
Friday, April 29, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Hello Stupider Ways to Exercise!
uhhhWhattup dumbass exercises?! I feel the need to apologize to my fellow gym goers; I was wrong, there actually are dumber ways to work out that have been omitted in my previous posts. My apologies, I didn't mean to leave out your oh so inspiring ways of stimulating your guyceps while looking like a complete tool.
Did you know that now you can stand on gym machinery to lift weights instead of the conventional sitting method. When you see, say, a seated shoulder press machine, feel free to stand on it and perform shrugs while dirtying the seat and looking like an idiot.
What happened to standard barbell shrugs? Do they not look creative enough? Why does it seem that the more atrocious you look performing a particular exercise, the more effective people think it is? I'm sorry to say that is not true.
Squat - 370 5x5
Press - 148 5x5
Deadlift - 370 1x5
Did you know that now you can stand on gym machinery to lift weights instead of the conventional sitting method. When you see, say, a seated shoulder press machine, feel free to stand on it and perform shrugs while dirtying the seat and looking like an idiot.
What happened to standard barbell shrugs? Do they not look creative enough? Why does it seem that the more atrocious you look performing a particular exercise, the more effective people think it is? I'm sorry to say that is not true.
Squat - 370 5x5
Press - 148 5x5
Deadlift - 370 1x5
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Commitment
I can tell you one thing for sure, being committed to weightlifting is not like being committed to say, working hard to get good grades. You can't go lift weights and walk out of the gym and forget about it till the next time, like you can study, close your books and not worry about it till the next time you study. The extent to which you'll make good progress starts from the moment you leave the gym.
Recovery, which is something I just wrote about, plays a huge part in how well you'll progress. And you don't recover while you're in the gym, you recover the entire time you're out of the gym. Results don't come from going to the gym once a week, a half assed diet and garbage sleeping habits. I never made progress like I've made lately without being fully committed to what I'm doing. I'm proud of the progress I made, but next to the talent out there I still have a long way to go.
Bottom line, if you want to get somewhere in anything you need to be committed to what you're doing. Some things like weightlifting take commitment from many areas in your life, but the results in the end are worth it.
Friday
Squat - 400 1x3
Bench - 250 1x4
Clean - 147.5 5x3
Recovery, which is something I just wrote about, plays a huge part in how well you'll progress. And you don't recover while you're in the gym, you recover the entire time you're out of the gym. Results don't come from going to the gym once a week, a half assed diet and garbage sleeping habits. I never made progress like I've made lately without being fully committed to what I'm doing. I'm proud of the progress I made, but next to the talent out there I still have a long way to go.
Bottom line, if you want to get somewhere in anything you need to be committed to what you're doing. Some things like weightlifting take commitment from many areas in your life, but the results in the end are worth it.
Friday
Squat - 400 1x3
Bench - 250 1x4
Clean - 147.5 5x3
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Recovery
This is probably a topic that gets overlooked a lot in weightlifting or any form of exercise for that matter. I'd give it just as much credibility as the actual process of lifting weights in terms of its contribution to results. People often fall for the mistake in thinking that building muscle, strength or whatever is only a function of their time actually spent in the gym lifting weights. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Think of weightlifting as two parts; the breakdown of tissue (catabolism), and then the regeneration of muscle tissue (anabolism).
Time spent in the gym actually stimulating the muscles by lifting weights ends up in catabolism and lots of microtrauma in the muscle tissues. Loosely speaking, muscle tissues are torn and broken down to some degree. It's the time after that that contributes to the rebuilding of muscle mass. You build muscle when you recover, plain and simple. You can do a thousand squats and a million deadlifts, but unless you're contributing enough to your body's recovery you won't achieve crap.
The biggest factors in recovery are sleep and diet. Other things can also help and I'll discuss them later. I don't know or care which is more important; sleep or food, but without both you're not going to get anywhere. Sleep a lot, tons and tons of studies have shown that regeneration of muscle tissue happens while sleeping as well as the repair of many other cells and tissues in the body as a result of the interaction and work of thousands of hormones and cellular processes. I've had days where I slept a few hours only the night of a heavy workout and woke up trashed the next day. Then there were nights where I got 8 hours of sleep or more and I woke up feeling like new. Unless you experience it it's hard to tell the benefits of a good nights sleep.
Food is the other major factor. A solid diet high in protein for muscle tissue anabolism is very important. I supplement with Omega 3, if not for its millions of other health benefits then solely for its contribution to anti inflammation. Food is fuel for your body, if you stress your body with weightlifting and don't provide it food it won't grow and repair. I wrote a post way back about convenience; the reason it relates to this is that people often find it difficult to eat enough food because they're constantly on the go between work and school and what have you. Make food in large quantities at home and take with you for the week. It's not hard and doesn't take a lot of effort. Good snack foods to take with you when you're out are nuts, tuna, yogurt, trail mix, string cheese, fruits, veggies. All of these are whole foods with essential vitamins and minerals as well as good fats and protein which your body will need when recovering.
I said I'd mention a couple of other small things that could help; foam rolling is a good one, it helps take out the knots in your muscles by applying your body weight on a foam roller to sort of 'iron' them out. Also ice-packs are obviously a good one. I use Voltaren cream or any other muscle cream would do, just something to apply heat, one of those icey hot type creams would do.
Time spent in the gym actually stimulating the muscles by lifting weights ends up in catabolism and lots of microtrauma in the muscle tissues. Loosely speaking, muscle tissues are torn and broken down to some degree. It's the time after that that contributes to the rebuilding of muscle mass. You build muscle when you recover, plain and simple. You can do a thousand squats and a million deadlifts, but unless you're contributing enough to your body's recovery you won't achieve crap.
The biggest factors in recovery are sleep and diet. Other things can also help and I'll discuss them later. I don't know or care which is more important; sleep or food, but without both you're not going to get anywhere. Sleep a lot, tons and tons of studies have shown that regeneration of muscle tissue happens while sleeping as well as the repair of many other cells and tissues in the body as a result of the interaction and work of thousands of hormones and cellular processes. I've had days where I slept a few hours only the night of a heavy workout and woke up trashed the next day. Then there were nights where I got 8 hours of sleep or more and I woke up feeling like new. Unless you experience it it's hard to tell the benefits of a good nights sleep.
Food is the other major factor. A solid diet high in protein for muscle tissue anabolism is very important. I supplement with Omega 3, if not for its millions of other health benefits then solely for its contribution to anti inflammation. Food is fuel for your body, if you stress your body with weightlifting and don't provide it food it won't grow and repair. I wrote a post way back about convenience; the reason it relates to this is that people often find it difficult to eat enough food because they're constantly on the go between work and school and what have you. Make food in large quantities at home and take with you for the week. It's not hard and doesn't take a lot of effort. Good snack foods to take with you when you're out are nuts, tuna, yogurt, trail mix, string cheese, fruits, veggies. All of these are whole foods with essential vitamins and minerals as well as good fats and protein which your body will need when recovering.
I said I'd mention a couple of other small things that could help; foam rolling is a good one, it helps take out the knots in your muscles by applying your body weight on a foam roller to sort of 'iron' them out. Also ice-packs are obviously a good one. I use Voltaren cream or any other muscle cream would do, just something to apply heat, one of those icey hot type creams would do.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Or Maybe Because
You know that feeling before you start writing something where you can just tell it's going to be some of your best work. You have tons of ideas and can't wait to get at the computer to write them, be it for an essay, blog post, maybe you're working on a song. Today's not of those days. Mondays are brutal, and I don't have anything funny or smart to say.
Volume days on the Texas Method were made to let you know what it's like when people say they saw a light in a near death experience. Volume days were made to separate the boys from the men. I wasn't particularly angry at anything today in the gym (the usual gym atrocity aside), but after finishing each set I couldn't sit or stand still, I felt like taking out my post-set rage on a punching bag, and if it happened to ask my why I was so mad I wouldn't know what to say; I would just apologize to it. Maybe it's because the sets are so hard and take so much out of you, or maybe it's because squatting 370 pounds for 25 reps is not what I want to be doing at 6:30 am. Or maybe it's because the barbells in my gym are garbage, or maybe because it's 3000 degrees outside and my gym decided that AC is a luxury and should be reserved for anything greater than 3000.
Either way, volume days are not getting easier, but they're made to set you up for Friday when you lift new weights and set new records.
Squat - 370 5x5
Bench - 225 5x5 Missed the last rep. Sad days ahead..
Deadlift - 370 1x5
Volume days on the Texas Method were made to let you know what it's like when people say they saw a light in a near death experience. Volume days were made to separate the boys from the men. I wasn't particularly angry at anything today in the gym (the usual gym atrocity aside), but after finishing each set I couldn't sit or stand still, I felt like taking out my post-set rage on a punching bag, and if it happened to ask my why I was so mad I wouldn't know what to say; I would just apologize to it. Maybe it's because the sets are so hard and take so much out of you, or maybe it's because squatting 370 pounds for 25 reps is not what I want to be doing at 6:30 am. Or maybe it's because the barbells in my gym are garbage, or maybe because it's 3000 degrees outside and my gym decided that AC is a luxury and should be reserved for anything greater than 3000.
Either way, volume days are not getting easier, but they're made to set you up for Friday when you lift new weights and set new records.
Squat - 370 5x5
Bench - 225 5x5 Missed the last rep. Sad days ahead..
Deadlift - 370 1x5
Friday, April 15, 2011
4 Plates!
Today was a good day. I finally achieved the 4 plate mark and oddly enough it felt better than I thought. It's a good feeling when you know today you did something you were never able to do before.
Here's a short video of it, excuse the crappy video quality it was filmed on a phone.
Squats - 395 1x3
Press - 165 1x3
Clean - 142.5 5x3 (These are getting much better)
Here's a short video of it, excuse the crappy video quality it was filmed on a phone.
Squats - 395 1x3
Press - 165 1x3
Clean - 142.5 5x3 (These are getting much better)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Did You Know?
Ok maybe I spoke too soon, training at 6 am isn't that bad. I had to change my schedule around but it was worth it, getting up at 5:30 will be my new Monday routine.
It was actually a little busier than I thought today, will I ever get away from the Biceps Boys?!
I never realized there were 18 variations of every exercise, today's gym session really opened my eyes to new methods of training. Did you know you can curl:
1)while standing
2)while sitting
3)while lying on the floor with legs raised in the air
4)while squatting
5)while squatting with one leg
6)while squatting with one leg on a Swiss ball
7)while squatting with one leg on a Swiss ball while hopping with the other leg through a flaming hoop
8)while standing on a bench (this MUST have something to do with the lesser amount of oxygen higher up in the atmosphere of the room causing your lungs to work harder and subsequently relaying that effort into your biceps)
9)while texting
10)while on the treadmill
11)while casually walking around the gym carelessly swinging your arms around. It's only dumbbells in your hand, if you happen to accidentally let go of one you'll only knock someone out, no biggie.
I've been unfortunate enough to witness most of these, with the exception of the flaming hoop, although I'm sure someone's working on that as I write this. I saw one guy today repeatedly ask his personal trainer if benching works his biceps. Needless to say that got me a little frustrated, partly at the absurdity of the question and partly at his obsession with wanting to work his biceps. It made me realize how superficial fitness and exercise has become to some people.
Last Friday while doing cleans this one guy walked in front of me twice and twice he got hit with the bar. I mean you'd think the first time he walked in front of someone throwing a weighted bar in the air and getting hit with it he'd learn a lesson, but apparently I was wrong. It took him getting hit again to realize that you don't walk infront of moving barbells. He had the nerve to give me a 'ouch man that hurt' look. At that point I wanted to launch him across the room but I figured I wouldn't have enough energy to complete my set afterwards.
Squat - 365 8x3 Hard, but manageable.
Press - 145 5x5
Deadlift - 365 1x5
I ended up with some lower back pain that will hopefully clear out by Wednesday after some foam rolling tonight.
It was actually a little busier than I thought today, will I ever get away from the Biceps Boys?!
I never realized there were 18 variations of every exercise, today's gym session really opened my eyes to new methods of training. Did you know you can curl:
1)while standing
2)while sitting
3)while lying on the floor with legs raised in the air
4)while squatting
5)while squatting with one leg
6)while squatting with one leg on a Swiss ball
7)while squatting with one leg on a Swiss ball while hopping with the other leg through a flaming hoop
8)while standing on a bench (this MUST have something to do with the lesser amount of oxygen higher up in the atmosphere of the room causing your lungs to work harder and subsequently relaying that effort into your biceps)
9)while texting
10)while on the treadmill
11)while casually walking around the gym carelessly swinging your arms around. It's only dumbbells in your hand, if you happen to accidentally let go of one you'll only knock someone out, no biggie.
I've been unfortunate enough to witness most of these, with the exception of the flaming hoop, although I'm sure someone's working on that as I write this. I saw one guy today repeatedly ask his personal trainer if benching works his biceps. Needless to say that got me a little frustrated, partly at the absurdity of the question and partly at his obsession with wanting to work his biceps. It made me realize how superficial fitness and exercise has become to some people.
Last Friday while doing cleans this one guy walked in front of me twice and twice he got hit with the bar. I mean you'd think the first time he walked in front of someone throwing a weighted bar in the air and getting hit with it he'd learn a lesson, but apparently I was wrong. It took him getting hit again to realize that you don't walk infront of moving barbells. He had the nerve to give me a 'ouch man that hurt' look. At that point I wanted to launch him across the room but I figured I wouldn't have enough energy to complete my set afterwards.
Squat - 365 8x3 Hard, but manageable.
Press - 145 5x5
Deadlift - 365 1x5
I ended up with some lower back pain that will hopefully clear out by Wednesday after some foam rolling tonight.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Train Smart
Squats - 390 1x3 These felt good today, glad I'm approaching 400. Ballin!
Bench - 252.5 1x3 Was meant to do 2 reps but managed to get a third in.
Clean - 140 5x3 MUCH happier with these.
I reset the weight on cleans a couple of weeks ago to figure out a few technical things, and let me say that was the a very good decision. They felt much lighter today than 140 and racking the bar on my shoulders now comes much easier. I focused on raising my hips at the same rate as the bar rises off the floor, and instead of trying to pull the bar off the floor, it helps to think of the movement as trying to get under the bar as quickly as you can by throwing your elbows out. Those two pointers helped A LOT. Moral of the story, train smart, even if it means sucking up your ego and dropping the weight, it'll help in the long run rather than lifting heavy weight with bad form and risking injury.
Until I can do this, I have not succeeded as a weightlifter.
Bench - 252.5 1x3 Was meant to do 2 reps but managed to get a third in.
Clean - 140 5x3 MUCH happier with these.
I reset the weight on cleans a couple of weeks ago to figure out a few technical things, and let me say that was the a very good decision. They felt much lighter today than 140 and racking the bar on my shoulders now comes much easier. I focused on raising my hips at the same rate as the bar rises off the floor, and instead of trying to pull the bar off the floor, it helps to think of the movement as trying to get under the bar as quickly as you can by throwing your elbows out. Those two pointers helped A LOT. Moral of the story, train smart, even if it means sucking up your ego and dropping the weight, it'll help in the long run rather than lifting heavy weight with bad form and risking injury.
Until I can do this, I have not succeeded as a weightlifter.
City & Colour
Every once in a while I'll hear a really good song or discover a new artist that really clicks with me. It's not easy to describe but the best I can do is like saying they write music that is exactly what you want to hear, all the time.
Since I discovered Dallas Green of City & Colour I've completely raised the bar for my standards of music. This guy probably has the most beautiful voice I've ever heard; mellow, soft, and full of emotion. In my opinion his first album 'Sometimes' was the best one so far. It took him ten years to write and after hearing the album you can tell why. He's grown a lot as an artist and his style has changed drastically over the years. 'Sometimes' was a purely acoustic album; the next one 'Bring Me Your Love' was slightly more upbeat. He brought in a drummer and bassist and recorded the album in a very pure way; just instruments and microphones, no major sound editing, just a really intimate feel to the music.
That was about 4 years ago, he's been busy with his band Alexisonfire in the meantime working on a couple of new albums. His third album which comes out this June is called 'Little Hell', and so far he's released one single called 'Fragile Bird'. If you hear any song from 'Sometimes' and compare it to this one, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. I almost wasn't sure if this was him when I first heard the song, and to be honest it'll have to grow on me, it didn't do much for me the first couple of times I heard it. But as all artists grow, they sometimes change their sound, for better or worse, you decide.
Here's a sample from each album:
Todays jim session to be posted later.
Since I discovered Dallas Green of City & Colour I've completely raised the bar for my standards of music. This guy probably has the most beautiful voice I've ever heard; mellow, soft, and full of emotion. In my opinion his first album 'Sometimes' was the best one so far. It took him ten years to write and after hearing the album you can tell why. He's grown a lot as an artist and his style has changed drastically over the years. 'Sometimes' was a purely acoustic album; the next one 'Bring Me Your Love' was slightly more upbeat. He brought in a drummer and bassist and recorded the album in a very pure way; just instruments and microphones, no major sound editing, just a really intimate feel to the music.
That was about 4 years ago, he's been busy with his band Alexisonfire in the meantime working on a couple of new albums. His third album which comes out this June is called 'Little Hell', and so far he's released one single called 'Fragile Bird'. If you hear any song from 'Sometimes' and compare it to this one, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. I almost wasn't sure if this was him when I first heard the song, and to be honest it'll have to grow on me, it didn't do much for me the first couple of times I heard it. But as all artists grow, they sometimes change their sound, for better or worse, you decide.
Here's a sample from each album:
Todays jim session to be posted later.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Misery - that should define today's training session. I decided to see what it's like to work out before work, at 6am, and it was a horrible, horrible experience. I tried squeezing in a 1.5 hour workout in an hour. Rest times were cut in half and a general look of death took over me.
Nothing major today, other than discomforting leg pain while sitting at work. Would it look weird if I brought my foam roller and rolled around on the floor during lunch? I say no. Maybe people will learn a thing or two about muscle recovery.
Squat - 355 5x5
Bench - 220 5x5 Missed my last two reps, but that probably has something to do with the half assed rest period I took.
Deadlift - 360 1x5 Felt a bit better
Nothing major today, other than discomforting leg pain while sitting at work. Would it look weird if I brought my foam roller and rolled around on the floor during lunch? I say no. Maybe people will learn a thing or two about muscle recovery.
Squat - 355 5x5
Bench - 220 5x5 Missed my last two reps, but that probably has something to do with the half assed rest period I took.
Deadlift - 360 1x5 Felt a bit better
Sunday, April 3, 2011
After two days of starting a new job I can already tell this will affect my lifting schedule. I'm used to lifting around mid-morning-noon, so my only options now are very very early morning, or late evening.
Given that I hate crowds, I'll probably end up going in the morning when it's nice a quiet and I can resume my barbell launching across the room to amuse myself during rest periods. It will also give me a break from the usual gym atrocity since it hits its peak around afternoon-ish when people are done work. My energy levels are also highest in the morning so that should help.
I haven't had much experience yet but I anticipate lots of sitting down in this job, so I'm pretty sure I can begin to expect a stiff back after some time. Luckily I'm not in a job that requires too much moving, otherwise I would have told them in the interview that DOMS would affect my ability to do a good job.
Hopefully a little walking around and stretching every so often will help. Be aware of whether or not you slouch, I'm sure we all have a tendency to do this. Stretch your legs out to avoid constantly having your quad muscles flexed and it should avoid some unwanted strain.
Either that or engage in some awkward looking stretches during lunch to keep yourself moving and the blood flowing through your muscles. I just might resort to this if sitting for hours on end becomes unbearable.
Given that I hate crowds, I'll probably end up going in the morning when it's nice a quiet and I can resume my barbell launching across the room to amuse myself during rest periods. It will also give me a break from the usual gym atrocity since it hits its peak around afternoon-ish when people are done work. My energy levels are also highest in the morning so that should help.
I haven't had much experience yet but I anticipate lots of sitting down in this job, so I'm pretty sure I can begin to expect a stiff back after some time. Luckily I'm not in a job that requires too much moving, otherwise I would have told them in the interview that DOMS would affect my ability to do a good job.
Hopefully a little walking around and stretching every so often will help. Be aware of whether or not you slouch, I'm sure we all have a tendency to do this. Stretch your legs out to avoid constantly having your quad muscles flexed and it should avoid some unwanted strain.
Either that or engage in some awkward looking stretches during lunch to keep yourself moving and the blood flowing through your muscles. I just might resort to this if sitting for hours on end becomes unbearable.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Foam Rolling Friday
I've been constantly bombarded lately with so much gym atrocity that I'm starting to question why I even go there, and maybe it's me who goes for the wrong reasons. Let me explain. I walk in, warm up, and get to work. I usually occupy a very small area around the squat rack since most of what I do can be done using only that.
What other people do:
-Walk in
-stroll around the entire gym in their clothes and sunglasses (incase anything like 'The Book of Eli' happens, they're ready)
-scan the area for people they know or will pretend like they know
-stand around said people catching up and being a general dumbass, causing trouble and getting in people's way
-go down stairs to the changing room while making eleven hundred pit stops on the way because the gym decided to place an entire shopping mall between the main entrance and the men's changing room
-model for the mirror while changing and catching up on the news on the strategically placed TV incase hair gel prices suddenly drop and they need to invest
-change into their gym clothes that are bought from shops along the lines of Gucci, D&G and Burberry
-walk back up to the weight room and spot someone they know at the other end of the room
-go ask them about their grandmother
-walk back to the weights and for some reason this kills me every time I see it, but they almost 'test' the free weights, like THE NUMBERS AREN'T RIGHT THERE, and they grab them to see which ones feel heavy today making their way along the entire rack. What is the thought process behind this?
-get right into their work sets without warming up because warming up is not how ballers do it
-flex around in the mirror after each set while putting on their 'don't even look at me wrong' face
-after a total of 55,000 sets of an accumulated 720,000 reps (which for the math-impaired equals 13.09 reps per set and I didn't need a calculator cos I read in some BS magazine that thinking about the gym works my brain biceps) they will go give their fellow gym-goers some useless advice they read in a magazine about drinking g0r|lla-jAck3DPoW3rZzZ-XtrRem33-4000 because it gives them super pumpzzz before the gym and of course the most important part is it's all backed by SCIENCCCCE so it must be right. Please, spare me.
Anyway, this was todays work out:
Squat - 385 1x3 Decided to go for triples for intensity since it will let me focus on depth and form.
Press - 165 1x2 Was meant to be a single but I was able to get one more. Ballin!
Clean - 137.5 5x3 Remember I dropped the weight a while ago? It has helped a million fold, my form has improved a lot and I'm finally learning to rack it on my shoulders properly.
I got a foam roller yesterday and I must say this thing is amazing. Apart from looking kinda awkward when using it, it is very useful and I would definitely recommend it to anyone involved in any kind of physical exercise. Here's a video I refer to when using it:
What other people do:
-Walk in
-stroll around the entire gym in their clothes and sunglasses (incase anything like 'The Book of Eli' happens, they're ready)
-scan the area for people they know or will pretend like they know
-stand around said people catching up and being a general dumbass, causing trouble and getting in people's way
-go down stairs to the changing room while making eleven hundred pit stops on the way because the gym decided to place an entire shopping mall between the main entrance and the men's changing room
-model for the mirror while changing and catching up on the news on the strategically placed TV incase hair gel prices suddenly drop and they need to invest
-change into their gym clothes that are bought from shops along the lines of Gucci, D&G and Burberry
-walk back up to the weight room and spot someone they know at the other end of the room
-go ask them about their grandmother
-walk back to the weights and for some reason this kills me every time I see it, but they almost 'test' the free weights, like THE NUMBERS AREN'T RIGHT THERE, and they grab them to see which ones feel heavy today making their way along the entire rack. What is the thought process behind this?
-get right into their work sets without warming up because warming up is not how ballers do it
-flex around in the mirror after each set while putting on their 'don't even look at me wrong' face
-after a total of 55,000 sets of an accumulated 720,000 reps (which for the math-impaired equals 13.09 reps per set and I didn't need a calculator cos I read in some BS magazine that thinking about the gym works my brain biceps) they will go give their fellow gym-goers some useless advice they read in a magazine about drinking g0r|lla-jAck3DPoW3rZzZ-XtrRem33-4000 because it gives them super pumpzzz before the gym and of course the most important part is it's all backed by SCIENCCCCE so it must be right. Please, spare me.
Anyway, this was todays work out:
Squat - 385 1x3 Decided to go for triples for intensity since it will let me focus on depth and form.
Press - 165 1x2 Was meant to be a single but I was able to get one more. Ballin!
Clean - 137.5 5x3 Remember I dropped the weight a while ago? It has helped a million fold, my form has improved a lot and I'm finally learning to rack it on my shoulders properly.
I got a foam roller yesterday and I must say this thing is amazing. Apart from looking kinda awkward when using it, it is very useful and I would definitely recommend it to anyone involved in any kind of physical exercise. Here's a video I refer to when using it:
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