NaterMania

Well you're obviously a very dedicated person and I expect that whatever you do will be done right. Like I said, I like the idea in general. I completely agree that there are a LOT of bad treatment and bad advice dished out by the medical community, in particular wrt orthopedic surgery and nutrition. Diet recommendations for type 2 diabetes is a complete joke atm, hopefully it will turn around soon. The winds of change are blowing to some extent. The medical community in general (at least in Sweden) is moving towards more of an empowering approach with a focus on health instead of disease. But I doubt I will ever teach someone to squat in my profession.

It should also be noted that you're in the US while I am in Sweden, and there is a pretty substantial difference between the two health care systems. In Sweden patients aren't customers, which means we have more freedom to do and say what we think is best for the patient, rather than what will keep the business relationship alive. It's not a coincidence that Sweden is in the bottom quartile for statistics on prescribed antibiotics (prescribing antibiotics for sore throat with a cough is a classic example of pleasing the patient/customer in the face of pretty much all science) .

You are absolutely right, American medicine is archaic in general. Lol, I don't think you necessarily need to teach anyone to squat I'm glad you're in a more progressive place, I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to see yourself surrounded by what we have in America, in terms of how treatment is administered.

Welcome to the forum, by the way! I'm glad we've got someone like you here. I'm actually pretty interested in the differences you see between how your country practices medicine and how ours does. Not the system itself so much as the treatment options selected and how that works. System differences would be cool too though!

slizzardman said:

Update: I got perfect scores on my first three final exams!

Nice job Slizzardman! I JUST (like 3 minutes ago) turned in my AeroStructures final. It was take home and took me a solid 8.5 hours to finish, with 20+ pages of work! I have no idea what I will get on it but this final is a huge milestone. . . it is the last final in the last class that I will take at Virginia Tech! Now I have to get going on that pesky Thesis thing . . . what have been researching the past year again!?!?!

I hope I get a perfect but that hasnt happened in YEARS! Lol

Damn, that's a HUGE test. Must feel nice to have that finished

You know what sucks is that it was only 4 definitions and 2 (read as :shock: TWO :shock: ) workout problems. . . the test was out of 100 and the 2nd workout problem was worth 50 of it but it was really 90% of the work lol This had to be the 2nd most ridiculous class I have ever taken (the other 2 tests we took were about the same work wise) . . . the one that takes the cake was my High Speed Aerodynamics class, that was just insane. . . "ok class, for homework you are going to design a supersonic intake and nozzle buy hand, no computer tools allowed, basic calculator is the only thing you can use" he proceeds to give various specs the nozzle needs to have. . . everyone in class (all like 8 of us lol) just gets that blank glassy eyed look. :roll: I think he arbitrarily gave everyone a B+ in that class :wink: If you actually did decent you got an A. . . I got a B+ lol

Ya, college has been one heck of an experience!

You look like Russell Crowe, especially in one video you posted where you had more hair.

Sternford said:

You look like Russell Crowe, especially in one video you posted where you had more hair.

Thanks

13Dec2009

3 sets of 2reps, 4" hand elevated HeSPU.

5x5 3" barbell flat bench: 185, 225, 251, 251, 251. Got them all with no spot! I could have done more, too. TIme for more weight.

2 sets front lever rows, bent straddle

7 reps

6 reps

2 sets front pull, +2.5 lbs per leg

5 reps

5 reps - these were tough!

2 sets front lever pull, +2.5 lbs per leg

5 reps

5 reps

3 sets FX PPP, feet elevated. Hands pointed out to the side, middle of wrist at belly button from top to bottom. Very hard.

7 reps

6 reps

5 reps

1 set 1 rep SLS per leb, 25 lbs. Very smooth.

3 or 4 sets weighted XR pullups, I can't remember. I think 4. +70 lbs per set.

4 reps

4 reps

4 reps

4 reps - all perfect reps! This is an improvement.

3 sets XR dips:

+70 lbs - 3 reps

+45 lbs - 7 reps

+45 lbs - 6 reps. Shoulder felt funny, so I stopped. Good, full ROM.

5 sets bottom position squats

7 reps 225

5 reps 245

4 reps 265

5 reps 265

4 reps 275 - woohoo! noticeable jump in both weight and reps.

3 sets floor GHR, 5 reps per set.

I was able to go to around 45 degrees with a straight body, and then bend forward to touch my nose to the ground. Man, these hurt like hell! I think that statics done close to the end of straight body ROM are a very good idea to increase ability. I will be experimenting with this idea.

4 sets 3" thick barbell curls

5 reps - 95 lbs

5 reps - 105 lbs

4 reps - 115 lbs

4 reps - 115 lbs - MAN, these blast the grip and wrist/elbow flexors.

4 sets 5 reps 3" thick barbell deadlifts

LOTS of rest pause here, the curls KILLED IT! AGAIN! I did better though

2 sets body levers, +2.5 lbs per leg.

9 reps

7 reps. These. Hurt. A. LOT. It was fun

Immediately went home, filled the tup with cold water, and submerged in it for 10 minutes. First 5 are with legs and lower back in, second five are legs bent with my upper body submerged to the base of the skull. My chest is too thick to get my pecs under the water, but my shoulders, core, hips, and arms are all submerged. It feels amazing! I love it Just about no soreness the next day And my joints don't hurt

Good workout How's the walking going?

I hear often about thick bar movements. Is that for the purpose of grip development, or something along the lines of joint? I'm wondering how that works.

There are a couple of reasons why thick bar movements are so important.

One, the object's center of gravity gets moved further away from the body. This is because of the thick grip, and accomplishes two things. One, the force it takes to move the object becomes greater in non-vertical planes of movement because the lever is extended. That's less important than the extra motor groups that become enervated when lifting thick bars. Because a) the bar is much thicker and b) the center of gravity is not conveniently within the grasp of the palm, a) more muscles, from the hands to the shoulders, are forced to work to stabilize the load and b) more motor units within the primary movers are activated, for the same reason.

You end up developing not just the ability to move large weights with the primary movers, but the ability to control a heavy unstable object. The thick bar will roll right out of the hand if the wrist is not actively engaged at all times, whereas the thin bar can literally sit on the heel of the palm, which is essentially on the wrist and upper arm bones. The thin bar requires almost no wrist activation, which creates a limiting factor: wrist strength. If you can't control an object, you can't move it. The thick bar forces the simultaneous development of not just the primary movers but also the auxiliary muscles responsible for wrist stability, hand strength, thumb strength(often neglected), forearm strength, shoulder stability, etc. Thick bar bench, reverse curls, and barbell curls make you truly strong because they develop functional strength in the wrists and forearms, as well as making the bigger muscles work harder than they are used to.

When you go back to a thin bar you can see the progress immediately. But, why bother? Just stick with the thick bar. Develop strength that you can actually use in real life. Thin bar benches are almost worthless by comparison. With thick bars you gain both joint stability AND grip strength. These translate into useful strength, which should be the goal of any trainee. It seems supremely stupid to me to spend years in the gym and not have the ability to move objects in the real world.

Razz: My walking has been nonexistent until today, I'm going back to the treadmill in an hour or so Not exactly perfect It's ok though! I do look a little leaner.

I saw modified curl in Zatisorsky's book (science and practice of strength training), with wich you still have a great downforce at te top of the ROM. I hope you understood me :oops:

I'll have to check it out, I haven't read that one Thanks for telling me!

14Dec2009

Walking! Well, I did an hour of walking. First 50 minutes were at 15 degrees and 2.0 mph. The last 10 minutes I reduced to 13 degrees at 2.0 mph for something of a cooldown. I burned 706 calories. If I had stayed at 15 degrees I would have burned 745 calories. Anyways, afterwards I worked out a little.

4 bw front pulls and 4 bw front lever pulls on fingertips as one set.

2 reps SLS per leg with 25 lbs, felt smooth and easy.

3 sets of 5 reps 3" barbell reverse curl, 55 lbs. DAMN, these are hard! I can do 45 lbs at least with a dumbbell! These are almost all thumb At least, that's what's holding me back right now. We'll see how that goes over the next few months. There was some strongman a long time ago who could reverse curl his bodyweight of like 240 or something crazy like that with a thick bar, 2 or 3 inches, so I'll see if I can get close to that. He had, get this, 18 inch forearms. HOLY CRAP. That's the size of my biceps fully flexed lol! I'd better keep eating my spinach!

I did a single feet elevated planche lean, pretty good angle, wrists at least at umbilicus. Probably a 15 second hold.

I did two sets of dip support leg lifts on the dip bars, up to 45 degrees above horizontal. 8 of those and then a 5 second flat tuck planche per set.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I AM GAINING WEIGHT!!! All muscle baby! Kick ass! I'm looking hOOg A few people who haven't seen me since I started walking told me that I look way bigger, so I went to the scale and I was 4 lbs heavier! Holy mother of god. 4 lbs in two weeks. NOT counting any fat I lost, which admittedly probably wasn't much since I only walked twice. When I pinch my skin folds are much, much thinner than they were though. I'll do a video update soon. I did zero the scale to be totally sure, and my weight went to 230 instead of 232, only a 2 lb gain. So it's from a 2-4 lb gain of muscle! Sweet! At least one pound of that is just in my shoulders I think.

slizzardman said:

He had, get this, 18 inch forearms. HOLY CRAP. That's the size of my biceps fully flexed lol! I'd better keep eating my spinach!

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I AM GAINING WEIGHT!!! All muscle baby! Kick ass! I'm looking hOOg A few people who haven't seen me since I started walking told me that I look way bigger, so I went to the scale and I was 4 lbs heavier! Holy mother of god. 4 lbs in two weeks. NOT counting any fat I lost, which admittedly probably wasn't much since I only walked twice. When I pinch my skin folds are much, much thinner than they were though. I'll do a video update soon. I did zero the scale to be totally sure, and my weight went to 230 instead of 232, only a 2 lb gain. So it's from a 2-4 lb gain of muscle! Sweet! At least one pound of that is just in my shoulders I think.

For him, a thick bar must be like what skinnies like me think of a regular bar.

Congrats on the gains! You're a beast!

Thanks Havoc!

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Second update on the walking.

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Pseudo planche push ups and planche lean video Tell me what you think!

17Dec2009

30 minutes of freestanding handstand practice in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

18Dec2009

P90X Stretching routine. Feels GREAT.

19Dec2009

Kettlebell work: 72.5 lbs

2 sets per arm 15 swings, back to back with no rest! This was tough, I was blasted by the last set.

2 sets 6 snatches per arm

2 sets 10 cleans per arm

20 minute rest, then the gym!

Deadlifts

6 reps 295

4 reps 365

3 sets 4 reps , 445 lbs.

Front Pulls, full lay, +2.5lbs per ankle.

2 sets 5 reps

Front Lever Pulls, full lay, +2.5lbs per ankle.

2 sets 5 reps

Weighted ring dips: Rings anchored 32 inches apart, 5-6 foot straps, +50 lbs.

4 sets of 4 reps. These were much harder with the wider ring base. On the 4th rep of each set I couldn't even lock my elbows

Pseudo Planche Pushups: Feet were elevated 12-14 inches, hands sideways, wrists slightly below umbilicus(belly button).

8 reps

6 reps

7 reps

5 TUT reps, 50X1 Holy crap, these were SO HARD!

Body Levers, +2.5 lbs per ankle

8 reps

5 reps

6 reps

4 reps

20Dec2009

Warm up: Cartwheels, handstand walking, lunge thrusts, senders.

Work out:

3 sets of Handstand Wall Runs:

19 shoulder touches per arm

15 per arm

12 per arm

4 sets of SLS, 4 reps per leg, +25 lbs, performed on a bench! TUT, 4 seconds down, 1-2 seconds pause at bottom, explode up.

2 sets 5 reps Front Pulls, +5 lbs at ankles.

2 sets 5 reps Front Lever Pulls, + 5 lbs at ankles.

3 sets Natural Leg Curls: My friend says I only get to like 75 degrees, starting from 90, before I pike at the hips. It feels like so much more!!! So, I invented a move at the bottom to help me. First I do an isometric hold at 75 degrees for as long as I can. Then I pike forward at the hips and touch my forehead lightly on the ground. Then I lift my forehead an inch and extend out as far as I can, and then come back. I do this several times. I think this will lead to excellent progress in gaining ROM in this movement. I want at least 60 degrees of ROM!

3" Barbell deadlifts, 185 lbs.

2 sets 10 reps, rest pause.

Set 1: 5, re-grip, 3, 5 second pause, 2.

Set 2: 4, re-grip, 3, 10 second pause, 2, 15 second pause, 1.

I tried 205, and I got it to my knees before I lost my grip! That's a big improvement from getting it about a half inch off the ground

3" barbell curls, 115 lbs:3 sets 4 reps! No rest pause, no spot! Kick ASS!

3" barbell reverse curls, 55 lbs. Very, very tough. I still use a little momentum, but I feel good doing them I am working on slowing it down. I do a slow descent. I got 65 lbs pretty easy with momentum, but it's more like a clean, so I went down to 60, and that was too heavy as well. Looks like it's 55 lbs for a while.

2 sets Rings support, rings anchored 32 inches apart. I did some planche holds and front lever holds, they are MUCH harder with the wide rings

I also did some false grip hangs, I have a VERY short range of motion in false grip pull ups but I can do them now! It's hard when you're heavy. I can almost do the muscle up transition, I just don't have my weight forward enough. I was just playing, but I seem to actually be very close to doing a slow muscle up. THAT will make for a good video

1 set of 4 body levers, +5 lbs. These hurt! Abs need more work capacity It will come. I'm doing some controlled over-training again, in case you can't tell from the increased frequency and volume.

2 sets of pseudo planche pushups: One with hands wide on floor, one with more of a planche hand position and feet elevated by 12 inches. 5-6 reps each.

It appears I have a 28 inch vertical, or so, at least. I took a tape measure with me to check how high the angle iron I shot my front pull video on was, and it was 23 inches above my fingertips. I can hit close to the bottom of my palm heel with both hands so that means a 28-30 inch vertical. Not bad for not training it

2 tuck back lever holds: 10 seconds each.

2 sets flat tuck front lever rows: TOUGH on the wide rings. 5 reps each set.

2 sets weighted pull ups, 70 lbs: Ok, it was stupid to do these after all the grip work I got 3 reps each set, with 2 more after a short rest on the second set. I just couldn't hold on to those damn rotating handles

I did some basic moves with my chest expander #4, 120 lbs of resistance. I mauled them all, it's so easy now! I can't believe it was such a challenge just a few weeks ago.

21dec2009

Well, I did a few long strap ring supports, 1 false grip pull up, and 2 sets of 3 yewkis, and 1 set of 4 reverse yewkis. My forearms are toasted. It's time for some rest

22Dec2009

I will be walking today. And stretching. That's it! Probably

23Dec2009

I did NOT stretch much or walk at all yesterday. I DID walk today, 40 minutes at 13 degree incline, 2.0 mph. This is much better, I think. I still burned 460 calories or so, but it feels much better. I think that at my size and conditioning level the 15 degrees is just too much.

2 sets 10 seconds advanced frog stand on floor, left elbow hurt slightly during second set. I will be diligent about heating several times per day for the next few weeks. I want to get this elbow pain behind me.

One 15 second freestanding handstand. This is the first time I have ever balanced so well. I was totally catching my balance with just my hands, shifting from palm heel to first knuckle as necessary. Very exciting

1 set sissy squats to get blood flowing

a few reps of PPP, showing a friend. Just some really light active recovery, over all.

I'll be going through a 3 day active recovery cycle to get ready for a real workout, it'll be interesting to see what I can do

First off, my shoulder feels great. I've learned some new things about stretching my shoulders that has allowed me to really move along with my recovery. My elbows are still coming along, but it's under control. I'm pretty happy about my overall progress as far as my recovery goes.

I have completed my 3" barbell!This is, in my heavily biased opinion, the best homemade tool I have ever made, along with my NLC/GHR/body lever platform. I'll be posting guides for these soon enough now that I have finished them and have my own digital camera!

My active recovery consisted of a little bit of bodyweight work, one day of walking, some planche leans, a few pull ups, and chest expander work. I can pull 190 lbs of resistance apart with nearly straight arms, pretty damn good. The chest expanders are really helping my shoulders a lot, and I can officially endorse these as one of the best recovery tools I have ever used, as well as a fantastic way to develop my shoulder strength! They are good for strength training as well as recovery work.

Here are my workout updates:

29Dec2009

3 sets HeSPU, floor with no hand elevation. I've decided that with my shoulder instability issues I am better off working these until I get 5 sets of 5 with a minute rest or so between sets.

4, 4, 3. I only did 3 sets because this is a big workout.

5 sets of pull ups. These were mostly to warm up for the weighted pull ups, but they also let me assess my overall shoulder girdle.

4 regular, 4 wide, 4 regular L, 4 wide L, 5 Chin ups. ROM from dead hang to chin over bar, 2" bar, explode up and 3-4 seconds down. Pause at top and bottom.

I experimented with one set of an opposing movement for handstand wall runs, which I call deadhang bar runs They are actually really good! I got the idea and played with them, and I have to say that they were fantastic! I only did one set.

Next was thick bar bench. 5 reps per set of 185, 225, 253, 253, 253. Pretty good! One or two more workouts of this and I'll go up a few more lbs.

Front pull +10-12 lbs, not quite sure how much!

3 reps full lay, 2 reps half lay

4 reps full lay, 1 rep half lay - WOW. These were super tough.

Front lever pull +10-12 lbs.

5 reps full lay

5 reps full lay with just 5 lbs. SO MUCH EASIER! I went down because these were tough on my elbows with heavier weight.

3 sets RTO(at dead hang) weighted pull ups, +70 lbs.

3 reps full ROM, 1 rep half rom.

3 reps

3 reps full ROM, 1 rep half rom.

1 set PPP, 7 fast reps. Felt VERY strong here.

3 sets SLS

4 reps +25 lbs

4 reps +25 lbs

3 reps +35 lbs

2 sets of 4 reps, GHR/NLC progression

2 sets of inverted situps

10 reps

9 slow reps

1 set 4 reps HLL, back against a pad. MUCH harder this way! 4 was a serious challenge and I still didn't do perfect ones.

31Dec2009

What better way to bring in the new year than to work out!

3 sets handstand wall runs! Better form this time.

22 touches per side

17 touches per side

15 touches per side

I can't wait to see how much better my shoulders feel, just the last workout made a massive difference.

I tried the wall handstand presses, I barely did 2 sets of 2 reps in a tuck press. I couldn't believe how hard that was!

Wide ring supports: RTO, hands about 10 inches from my hips, rings set around 40 inches apart, 6-7 foot straps. SUPER HARD!

3 sets 10 seconds. Very tough on the elbows, great conditioning!

Weighted ring dips: rings 21 inches apart, 6-7 foot straps.

5 reps 50 lbs

6 reps 55 lbs

5 reps 55 lbs

7 reps 65 lbs

7 reps 110 lbs, parallel dip bars. This was honestly easier than the heavy set of ring dips!

4 sets of deadlifts, 446 lbs.

4 reps

4 reps

4 reps

4 reps. 2 minutes rest per set. Pretty easy! I'll do 450 next time.

I had to leave for a dinner after this, so I didn't get to finish.

I totally forgot to soak in the cold water after the 31dec workout and I was sore as HELL today! WOW. I'll not forget that again

Well, I've been bad about logging this past 10 days.

About 4 days ago I did 4,3,2,1 HSPU on the floor with fairly short rest periods, and I did bottom position squats up to 5 reps of 285 lbs. That's a PR so far!

Been doing 15-20 second assisted tuck/flat tuck planche work. I took a cheap tool belt and put it through one handle of my chest expander #4 and then hung that off of my parallel bars. It gives 77 lbs of assistance in the current setup. This allows me to work my elbows in the right position without using full bodyweight, while still working the balance I need! It is wonderful.

Today I did handstand wall runs, deadlifts, FX PPP, and a muscle up! My first muscle up!!!

HS wall runs: 17 reps per shoulder, 12 reps per hip(yep, did it to the hips), and 15 reps to the hips(per hip). This last set was slower, I held each OAHS for 1 second on the wall. Very tough on the shoulders, I love it!

Deadlifts: 456 or 457, I don't know, lbs for 3 sets of 4 reps. It feels like I will master this weight pretty quickly. I didn't even have chalk and I did this pretty easy. Next time will be 4 sets of 4.

FX PPP: 12 reps, 15 reps, 8 reps, 7 reps.

Muscle up: 1 slow muscle up at the beginning of the workout after a warm up of some slow handstand walking and holds, pull ups, dips, and some crouched sprint starts.

CONGRATULATIONS on the muscle up Once you get one you will soon have 5, that was my experience at least.

How's the walking going?

It hasn't been, really. Everything has been so busy that it's been hard to even fit in regular workouts! Now that school has started things are more evenly paced and I'll be getting that going. Sorry

Ah i see, well first priorities first