palindrome emordnilap's Library tagged weightlifting →  View Popular

Question:
What’s your #1 goal? Right now. Do you have one?
Statistically, you probably don’t. But if you do, here’s
what I’d like to have you consider: how important is that goal
to you? Have you arranged your entire life in a way that supports
your accomplishment of that goal?

I certainly haven’t (in the case
of the 315 pound power clean).

This article is primarily meant to
inspire some self-analysis - not to provide hard and fast answers.
However, if you’d like some avenues to pursue some serious
reflection, here are a few:

1. Develop self-reliant behavior
- create the mindset that all of your limitations are self-imposed
(because they almost certainly are)

2. Get out of your comfort zone,
and find a way to enjoy it. When your stomach is growling because
you’re hungry, think "Perfect! This is what I need to
experience if I’m going to drop that extra bodyfat!"

3. Find out what works, and then
do more of it. Find out what’s derailing your efforts,
and do less of that.

4. Cultivate dissatisfaction.
After all, that’s why you’re where you are now - you’re
satisfied with it

5. Seek out and cultivate empowering
personal relationships. The people you spend the most time with
have a profound effect on your life. Make sure it’s a profoundly
POSITIVE effect.

Loads should be earned, not assigned.

To say that you "should"
perform 6 sets of 2 with 242 pounds during next Wednesday's bench
press workout is absurd. It's fine to use those numbers as a goal,
but you have no way to predict your functional capacity on a future
date. If you've over-estimated your capacity, you risk over-extending
your adaptive resources and/or injuring yourself as you stubbornly
try to complete your assignment. Conversely, if you under-estimated
your capacity, you might lose the chance to hit a new PR, or at
the very least, you'll under-train your bench presses for that workout.

On any given workout, a superior performance
(at least in the case of trained individuals) indicates a high functional
capacity, and it's an indicator that the previous training cycle
has produced good results. It's time to "strike while the iron
is hot" as the saying goes.

Inferior performance, on the other
hand, indicates inadequate recuperation from previous workout loads
and suggests the need for rest, not work.

Here is the tried-and-true injury rehab method for muscle-belly injuries we got from Starr and that has worked for years better than any other method I've ever used. It also works well on orthopeadic injuries in general, and should be tried before anything more elaborate is used. Wait 3-4 days until the pain starts to "blur",which indicates that the immediate process of healing has stopped the bleeding and has started to repair the tissue. Then use an exercise that directly works the injury, i.e. that makes it hurt, in this case the squat. Use the empty bar and do 3 sets of 25 with perfect form, allowing yourself NO favoring the injured side. If it's ready to rehab you will know by the pain: if the pain increases during the set, it's not ready, if it stays the same or feels a little better toward the end of the set, it is ready to work.



The NEXT DAY do it again, and add a small amount of weight, like 45 x 25 x 2 , 55 x 25. Next day, 45 x 25, 55 x 25, 65 x 25. Continue adding weight every day, increasing as much as you can tolerate each workout. It will hurt, and it's supposed to hurt, but you should be able to tell the difference between rehab pain and re-injury. If you can't, you will figure it out soon enough. This method works by flushing blood through the injury while forcing the tissue to reorganize in its normal pattern of contractile architecture.

After 10 days of 25s, go up in weight and down in reps to 15s, then to 10s, and finally to fives. During this time do NO OTHER HEAVY WORK, so that your resources can focus on the injury. You should be fixed in about 2 weeks, squatting more than you hurt yourself with.



This method has the advantage of preventing scar formation in the muscle belly, since the muscle is forced to heal in the context of work and normal contraction, using the movement pattern it normally uses. The important points are 1.) perfect form with 2.) light weights that can be handled for high reps, 3.) every day for two weeks, and 4.) no other heavy work that will interfere with the system-wide processes of healing the tear.



It is also very important through the whole process of healing the injury that ice be used, during the initial phase after the injury and after the workouts. Use it 20 on/20 off, many times a day at first and then tapering off to morning, after the workout, and before bed. Ice is your best friend in a muscle belly injury, holding down inflammation and fluid accumulation ("swelling") while at the same time increasing beneficial blood flow through the injury. But DO NOT USE ICE MORE THAN 20 MINUTES AT A TIME. More than that can cause more damage than it repairs.



This may actually be the most useful post on this entire little forum of mine, and if you use this method exactly you can save yourself many weeks of lost training and long-term problems with muscle-belly scarring. Try it and see.

Step 1: Tuck your feet underneath you

Step 2: Roll your chest up

"Fat loss is an all-out war. Give it 28 days — only 28 days. Attack it with all you have. It's not a lifestyle choice; it's a battle. Lose fat and then get back into moderation. There's another one for you: moderation. Revelation says it best: 'You are lukewarm and I shall spit you out.' Moderation is for sissies."

— Dan John, legend

Complex A

Bent Over Barbell Row

Hang Clean

Front Squat + Push Press Hybrid

Jump Squat (bar on back)

Good Morning

Complex B

Romanian Deadlift

Hang Clean + Front Squat + Push Press (combo lift — perform one rep of each in series)

Reverse Lunge (alternate legs)

Complex C

Deadlift

High Pull (onto toes)

Squat Clean (clean the bar from the hang and then drop into a full squat on the catch)

Military Press (strict)

Jump Lunges (switch legs) — Insert my evil laugh here!

Working out by yourself can be done, but it is going to be that much harder
for you to “survive.” Survival may mean fat loss, muscle gain, a bigger bench
press, or whatever “survival” may be for you. If you have been going at it
alone, try and find a different training environment where you have a support
structure, where you are held accountable for missing a workout or not
pushing it as hard as you could on every set.