John's GymBod workout log

I did the silly electronic thingy that measures BF% and it said 16.8-17.2% which I think is not even close. Or at least I hope it's not.

It's not. Those things usually give much higher (inaccurate) results than the other tests. Hydrostatic immersion is the best measure, but way too expensive for most of us to use on a regular basis. ~~~ and congrats on the PR!

See if a gym around you has a BodPod. DEXA may be available at a college somewhere but it's probably pretty expensive.

Hey,

Man are you okay? I hope!!

Is your training going on?

Hey All,

Yes, I am still training! The seminar was awesome and I am pooped. I got a ton out of it and it was worth the amount of traveling. I will post more stuff soon.

Looking forward to hear about the seminar!!!

Just a quick update: I have dropped down to 178lb recently with no loss significant loss in performance. I was feeling a little laggy yesterday but I haven't been sleeping very well recently.

Still waiting to get time to log all my routines of late.

WIZedlCInmE

I am down to 175.8lb My sincerest thanks to Ido and Robb Wolf.

Sorry for not updating the books yet.

Great work and much improved from your earlier clips! Congrats on weight too.

Thanks Akrajen!

You keep amazing me with your progress! Congratulations on the weight and really nice improvements!

Took this week off of Steady State and decided to do some CF wods to mix it up. Broke my past PR in Dianne (11:??) and did it RX'd in 7:13. I think I can do better still My HeSPU weren't perfect (arched back) but they weren't really bad either and I did sumo DL.

I am going to start another cycle of steady state after this week but there will be a slight interruption at week 4(?) because I am going to Otakon. They got a gym so maybe I will still be able to do something while I am there.

I am going to take my Kettlebell class today. WoD is 30 C&J for time.

Long time no post,

I am on cycle #4 now and really feeling much more flexible. I implemented a ladder into my routine (1,2,3,2,1) and pair each set with appropriate static holds just like before. This is very tough for me, even at week 4, because of the intense volume increase. Looking back, I probably should have cut the time on the static holds down 1-2 seconds on a few of them. Other days feel pretty easy and I throw in my extra dynamic work for my vanity lifts and support work (shoulder girdle stuff, biceps, wrists, etc.)

My straddle sit has much improved along with my HS, horizontal pushing, OAC, MSH. My back lever is really tough right now, trying to do a full back lever for so many sets can wear on me. No shooting pain or anything, just really hard to get quality sets repeatedly.

Dropped a bunch of fat and lost about 2" on my legs, which I am honestly fine with. I am craving some back squatting so I might play with it and test a PR or just implement it into my routine. Still doing straight up Paleo with no artificial sweetener and only cream for dairy. I take in about 12 fish caps per day.

Considering my extra volume from martial arts, I should really increase my sleep... Showed up to train today and just felt spent. Ran through my warmup (always makes me feel better) and just did a few handstands. Gonna catch up in training tomorrow. I can feel it's time for me to start fiddling with my routine more, things are getting very specific with what I can and can't do because of my facility and my abilities. I feel like doing more explosive stuff but I need to find places to do it.

Bouldering (which I just did the other day... felt great), Pk, juggling are on my list of things to do for fun while the weather is still nice.

Will post more videos/pix in the near future.

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(copy of the sidebar)

I took clips from 3 different days and merged them together.

I still have to work on a few things: alignment of my HSPU (of which I may go back to HeSPU and just work for slightly higher reps and work the full hold at the end), the curve in my lumbar in the back lever and planche work, and the depth of my hips in the front lever. My next training cycle will focus on combining movements together (linking them) and my main goals are a longer freestanding handstand as well as the back and front lever. I have a back lever but there is still slight arch in my back. When I prone my grip it's not as hard so naturally I have been supinating my grip.

On my new training cycle I would like to have a day devoted to P-bars, one to floor, and one to rings and I will just see what I can get done with roughly the same volume. I am going to try to simplify my training but up the duration a bit, especially with my handstand work which is currently complementing my training. I plan on doing about 8 weeks and dropping the volume on the 4th and 8th. If all goes well I may continue to 12 weeks.

To go back in time a bit: I know I haven't updated in a while. My last cycle was mostly composed of ladder sets which kicked my ass. I did the complementary static work and the increase in the static hold volume (by sets increasing to 5 instead of the normal 3) seemed to put a little too much volume on my rotators. I am currently nursing my left shoulder and it is almost back to full capacity. I think if i had calculated more accurately on my previous cycle I could have avoided this overuse injury. Live and learn.

In the future I plan on working on opening my chest a lot more using korean dips and increasing my straddle and front splits. Also, I would like to drop another 8lbs. Current weight is about 172lb on average.

Squeeze your butt and abs at the HSPU!!! And if you squeeze maximal your but as you can I guarantee you, your hips in the fornt lever will be in line.

Thanks Gregor, I definitely need to clean up my form on those. My upper body is still too weak to handle a straight line for 3 reps but 2 is ok. Time to change the routine.

Hey everyone,

No, I'm not dead. I haven't posted in a while because of the relevance of my training to these forums... but I guess we kinda skew the boundaries anyway. I have some journal logs...

12-24-09

In the last few months of training I have seen much improvement in my performance, and have revealed a lot of my current weak points.

No surprise, my barbell lifts went down (one of the reasons I haven't been posting is because I thought no one would be interested in my barbell lifting). From the beginning of my strength training, I had always incorporated barbell lifting into my routine, and over time, realized the value it had in my goals for training. Recently, with my new integration of raw squats and box squats (box squats to prepare for the raw), I saw an amazing uptick in my posterior chain development, which I had thought was already pretty developed... at least proportionately. This lead to new awareness of my posterior chain.

On other notes; I practice wall handstand alignment 1-2x per week for 10 minutes total work (a la Coach's WOD) I have been using a 5 second progression every week with the 4th week backing off to 20s at a time for up to 600s total work. Nearly every day, I perform some form of dynamic warmup, joint flexibility, prehab and static stretching (which I would like to replace with active stretching, less reliant on gravity) I do prehab both prior and post workout but I prefer most of my prehab prior. I train 3-4 strength sessions per week, which I will be cutting down to 3, and 1-2 sessions of HS work will become 2-3. I have also been having fun doing some of Ido's floreio drills. I suck at it, but I like it and I am seeing progression. I am not sure if I ever mentioned this in the past but, I still take martial arts 2-3x per week. Unless we spar, I don't really consider the level of intensity to match my other sessions. Typically, my instructor only puts us through 15 minutes of warmup and conditioning prior to our skill work.

In my free time, I beat Half Life 2 recently...

01-02-10

Thoroughly satisfied with my execution of technique in the conventional deadlift, raw squat, and overhead press... not so much for the floor press. I plan on switching to dips after this cycle of the Wendler "5/3/1", floor press will become a repeated lift post main compound work. I also have ideas for combining my gymnastic body plan with the 5/3/1. I have been doing a lot of thick bar chins and curls (*gasp, curls) to bring up my weak biceps. I have also been doing elastic tricep extensions.

Without further ado, here are some clips of my training:

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Did 295lb x 21 reps on the deadlift

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Always cool with updates wether it be free weights or bodyweight. Videos aswell, and good you aren't dead

Very inspiring string of videos. Is good to see the progress over the last year. Checked out you myspace and love the wolverine Vs Hulk artwork, awsum! lol

Hey guys,

Don't know if anyone has seen these but I will post anyway (in chronological order)

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I competed on 5-15-10 and won gold in the USAPL raw men's open at 184.5lbs in the 198lb weight class. Totalled 442 kilos, 972lbs. Squat 319lb, bench 270lb, deadlift (sadly) 383lb. I locked out 470lb in the deadlift but it went back down about 1 inch before I locked it.

Made me realize I need to increase my wide arm strength and my arms. Can't I just cut and paste muscles from my legs to my arms?

Congrats on the gold!

What happened to your squat, I am surprised to see it so low! If you never do any bottom position squat work you may want to look into it! Start at parallel, and go up. You can accomplish the same thing by having a 5 second pause in the bottom position. That is enough time for all the elastic energy to fade, and anything you do will be a straight push. You'll probably be using around 20% less than your competition max as the base for your bottom position max. They will help you a lot if you aren't using them, and if you are then you already know how important they are!

Congratulations! you should keep updating your log

slizzardman said:

Congrats on the gold!

What happened to your squat, I am surprised to see it so low! If you never do any bottom position squat work you may want to look into it! Start at parallel, and go up. You can accomplish the same thing by having a 5 second pause in the bottom position. That is enough time for all the elastic energy to fade, and anything you do will be a straight push. You'll probably be using around 20% less than your competition max as the base for your bottom position max. They will help you a lot if you aren't using them, and if you are then you already know how important they are!

My right glute/hip area aches and I took an 8 month hiatus from heavy barbell stuff. I will really be working this though. Thanks!

Oh, that sucks man! You're going to have a great total in a year! I'm just getting back into lifting too, I'm doing morning lifting work with evening gymnastics. We'll see how that goes!