View All Posts: Fazc
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| » BWLA membership = bullshit (Go to post) | 14-02-2007 @ 11:52 | ||
Originally posted by Rick... The BDFPA don't seem to have any NW activity either, sadly. NW BDFPA is actually pretty good. My brother and I have competed nearby a few times. Les Pilling rarely checks his email though  The guy to speak to is Mark Haydock about the NW stuff, he's from nearby Preston. Also Mark Norton from Sheffield seems to be taking care of most stuff now, he'll be another one. The emails etc are at bdfpa.co.uk Faz | |||
| » Bench programmes (Go to post) | 14-02-2007 @ 00:46 | ||
Post Edited: 14.02.2007 @ 00:48 AM Originally posted by Olly...If you dont know if its relevant or not right it down, the fact that you dont know it isnt probably means it is. ... Also, make sure you give everything a good go, experimentation doesnt give you the right to become a chronic routine changer.  Bang on. I write down everything in my logs. I used to even write down stuff about my sex drive, of course since i've always been a raging ball of testosterone I don't bother with that anymore. However even that info was useful in judging when I was edging towards overtraining.The second point too, give the routine a couple of months then evaluate. Originally posted by Rick...One thing I've never really done is the sort of sub-max-effort work that any of these routines would have me doing early on, and I've also never done as much volume as any of them would have me on. I think one major reason my bench has improved over the last year or so is that I'm doing more work than I was, and that needs to be taken further. Obviously i'm biased, but i'd suggest the 5x1, 5x5 routine. I come from a similar lifting background to you, being involved in HIT, THG and HGRT. This kind of training really set me free. I've always been happy to go all out in a sessions, but I used to hit walls really bad. Overtrain to the point of making myself sick, and twitchy. I tried the Coan routine, the Wave routines, Smolov, Smolov Jr, the +50 Bench routine but it was just too much of a change to what I KNEW worked for me. As such, those routines never worked for me and I did give them a damn good try. When I finally started to implement the deloading weeks I found I could go pretty much all out and do a considerable amount of volume, with the guaranteed rest every 3rd of 4th week. My joints and my strength got better and better. I remember it took me 4-5 years to hit a 180kg Squat, then 200kg came 2 months later! Usually the singles are done with as much weight as I can manage too, this see's me on the Bench for about an hour or more most Mondays. Which is how I can get around the work hard and long problem, I tend to rest a lot, or superset lat and bicep work to rest my press muscles. Not a huge Bencher myself, but after years of stagnating on a sub-100kg Bench this kinda of stuff has worked well for me. I just don't have enough experience, then, to know what is a good idea and what isn't. Not a bad thing! You know what has worked for you in the past. More than many can say. | |||
| » Bench programmes (Go to post) | 13-02-2007 @ 00:45 | ||
Post Edited: 13.02.2007 @ 00:52 AM Originally posted by Rick...What do you think? What do you do? What worked best for you? And, summing it all up, what would you do if you were me. Nice suggestions by Olly as always. The wave loading is nice, and the cycles can work well for some. I have always preffered going all out, then deloading and found progress better that way. Soooo, what i'd ask is for you to take a look through your training log and identify what type of routine generally gives you better results. Do cycles work for you? Do you get better results from going all out, most of the time? or is there something else? Also, look at what assistance you need. I know for me, I absolutely must have shoulder work as a priority. If thats out I will stagnate. So an automatic choice for me is to Bench heavy one day and then Press heavy the other. Couple of questions there then. 1) What type of routine has shown better progress for you in the past? 2) Has any particular assistance exercises, proven very beneficial for you? It's not a definite answer yet, as i'm not a fan of cookie-cutter routines. They always seem to mess up. What i'd suggest if you were dead set on the Coan routine is to rework the poundages yourself, start from the end and work backwards so you can work a reasonable goal. Faz | |||
| » Thick Bar Training (Go to post) | 12-02-2007 @ 00:32 | ||
Originally posted by Olly... Even a few holds though will get your grip up pretty quickly! When I was competing in Grip comps a few years back, my thick bar routine would be mostly short range pulls and holds in the rack. Stuff which wouldn't tax my regular routine much. A couple of timed holds, working upto a set number of seconds, then adding weight works well. I preffered shorter times than most, going for a solid hold of 10-15 secs, then adding weight. Faz | |||
| » Tuna and Orange Juice Shake (Go to post) | 09-02-2007 @ 03:19 | ||
| Tuna and Juice? Pah, that's luxurious extra calories! Tuna and Diet Coke, for proper masochism. | |||
| » Gears of WAR (Go to post) | 31-01-2007 @ 09:07 | ||
Originally posted by Boar... thats it fazc mate, one of my pals at work has a level 59 blood elf and apparently they have only been 'out' a short time Impressive! He can't have much time to work! It's the only computer game I've ever played since way back with Mario Kart on the Snes. Probably play WoW too much now | |||
| » Gears of WAR (Go to post) | 31-01-2007 @ 06:24 | ||
| This?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_of_War I quite like WoW myself, any WoW-nerds here? | |||
| » front squat foot positioning (Go to post) | 26-01-2007 @ 23:47 | ||
| Thank you, kind sirs! | |||
| » psyching up for a big lift (Go to post) | 26-01-2007 @ 23:46 | ||
| I find going nuts in the lifts that I am very, very comfortable with usually serves me well. I know with Squats, my form is where I want it to be. I can pysche up and i'll perform better. But with Benches, Presses and usually Deadlifts there's still too many form pointers to remember for me. I'll most likely worsen my performance if I psyche too much for those. | |||
| » Tonights Videos (Pulling) (Go to post) | 25-01-2007 @ 04:25 | ||
Post Edited: 25.01.2007 @ 04:29 AM Joni pre-pull!!You're getting a lot of slack in your shoulders. I like the idea of getting your hips nice and low, but make sure you give the bar a little pre-pull to set everything into place. You can see from the video's as you pull, your shoulders aren't tight and you've slack in your arms. So, you're losing a lot of power and speed right from the beginning. It's not enough to get low, you gotta get low and stay tight. Pre-pull, pre-pull! | |||
| » The internet armchair warrior strikes again..... (Go to post) | 25-01-2007 @ 04:21 | ||
You dumb bas***d, 2x50kg a 20kg bar and 2x2.5kg. Haha! Nice lifting. Though let's see yer game face, i'm sure that was a smile in there | |||
| » Joni Good Mornings (Go to post) | 24-01-2007 @ 10:10 | ||
Originally posted by Joni... cheers for the comments mate! I got all kinds of feedback when i asked around on other boards... Ah I haven't seen those. This board and one other private lifting board is all I visit these days. If the comments were about depth or leaning forward more, i've gotten them too. Aside from the obvious height difference, you and I are built quite similarly. My form (which resembles yours) is good for me for 2 reasons: 1) It closely approximates the Squat. If I leant forward anymore, I can see it wouldn't have as much benefit. 2) It's safe! Go deeper, or lean forward more and you're placing a lot of strain on your back quickly. Due to the way the leverages work, a little more forward immediately translates into a LOT more poundage. So yeah, carry on mate. Push them hard. The lifts feel ok on my back, but i am just being extra cautious because of my history of back injuries. Good! I remembered you saying about your back problems sometime last year. Interestingly I also used to have bad back problems when Squatting. The GM and the strict RDL were two things i used to strengthen my weak back. Now it's one of my stronger area's and back strength isn't really an issue anymore. Good luck Joni! | |||
| » Joni Good Mornings (Go to post) | 24-01-2007 @ 02:45 | ||
| Joni: Nice form, looked good. Looked deep enough for me. You're pushing your hips through well, good effort mate. If all is good, then I would push those as heavy as you can. How do they feel on your back? | |||
| » front squat foot positioning (Go to post) | 24-01-2007 @ 02:23 | ||
Post Edited: 24.01.2007 @ 02:31 AM Originally posted by Rob... I understand the relevance of the front squat as assistance to the back squat and DL; what I'm trying to point out is that I don't think the stance of it can vary that much to target different muscles significantly. Ah good! It's been a while since i've done the internet discussion thing, was afraid i'd totally lost ya there. Short answer, yes the stance can target different muscles very significantly, although that's not the only factor. Key to note is what I said about movement mechanics. The body will always opt for the strongest path, when pushed. This is the classic beginner thing of elbows flaying out when Benching, or butt rising too quickly when Deadlifting thing. Certain muscle groups overpower others and dominate the lift. This is precisely why we do assistance exercises, to bring the weaker muscles groups back in line, so our form is safer and more efficient. How this relates to the Front Squats. If we choose a familiar and comfortable set up, like myself. Feet out wide, butt going down and back and then continue to push hard without getting time to acclimatise to the new form, it's very, very easy for the body to revert back to it's strongest movement path. This does nothing to benefit us. (This is what I mean about Squatting similarly to Front Squatting). What we need in an assistance exercise usually is to lower the weight right down, and start from scratch. In this example, close stance squats done as upright as possible and as deep as possible for the most knee flexion (if its safe). Building up slowly so you can concentrate on maintaining the form you want to build your weak areas, rather than what the body is used to. Again, like Olly said earlier, he's noted this in good Oly coaches. It's not just pointless theorising. ...sometimes we perhaps do assistance work that detracts from the point and will be useless all things said and done? Sure. The point of stuff like this though, is to evaluate what you're doing so that doesn't happen. People ask how I can make that kind of progress in the Squat in such a short time or just have the lifts I do at my bodyweight. It's not that I was inheritantly strong, I was very weak when I started. But a lot of is to do with thinking about my weak points and addressing them sensibly. I have very few assistance exercises in my routine, because everything is accounted for to the goal of helping my powerlifts. It's this type of evaluation that helps me to do that. | |||
| » front squat foot positioning (Go to post) | 23-01-2007 @ 01:20 | ||
Post Edited: 23.01.2007 @ 01:27 AM Originally posted by Rob... Thus one wonders how different it actually is on the different muscles given this. Perhaps, but that's not quite my point. As i've noted above my Front Squat did nothing for my regular Back Squat as the movement mechanics were too similar. You've seen my video's, I tend to use a lot of back and hams, I Front Squat in the same manner. This won't help me address strengthening my quads for the Back Squat. So, I abandoned it altogether and took the Leg press. However my point was that if someone was to do an assistance exercise, he would have to make the lift different enough to target the muscle intended. A close stance squat done Oly style, is literally miles away from my Back squat form and i'm sure might help me. You have to look at it in a more individual basis. Btw - Consider this also: My strongest bench grip is quite close, a close grip bench to strengthen my tri's would do very little for me. Again, individual basis. I can understand your logic perfectly in the instance of the bench press and the close grip bench press for example (i.e. bringing up your triceps if they are the weakness). Ok good, what we're saying isn't really that different. So, why is it that for the Bench/Close grip bench you can understand the logic. Yet for the Front Squat/Back Squat you can't. The exercise performance perhaps? Again, individual basis. Now extend that example above to encompass the fact that we're all very different and can have varying weak points and style's of exercise performance. Consider this example. Someone isn't getting the neccesary quad work from his back squats, he Squats wide and uses a lot of back. He needs extra quad work from assistance to aid his Squats and his Deadlifts. What possible alternatives would you recommend and why? One more point, is doing things like this sometimes a bit like telling Beckham to start practicing free kicks with his left foot? You've completely lost me there, mate. | |||