Sunday, 15 April 2012
Conditioning (1)
4/15/2012
did a conditioning circuit today
50 med ball slams/50 burpees/ 50 push ups/ 50 russian twists
30 med ball slams/30 burpees/ 30 push ups/ 30 russian twists
10 med ball slams/10 burpees/ 10 push ups/ 10 russian twists'
been pretty tired lately, gonna eat more and resttttttttttttt.....
Basic Protocol
Couple guys at school have been asking me how to workout, what they should do in terms of getting more aesthetic and stronger.
So honestly it comes down to what your goals are, do you want to get bigger? Lose bodyfat? Get stronger? Become more "aesthetic"?
And after you ask yourself this question, you need to ask yourself how much are you willing to change, if you want to change a physical aspect of yourself, you need to be willing to give up your time, and other things such as certain foods. If you know you don't want to change completely, don't count on reaching that goal or standard you set for yourself.
Anyhow, onto actually working out.
Most people want to do 2 basic things: get stronger and attain aesthetics.
As beginners there are a few basic routines I would recommend:
IA's SPBR, and Mark Rippetoe's SS.
SPBR can be found: http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8050
SS can be found: http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs
Any version of each is fine, and will work. Each workout will take between 45 minutes to 90 minutes, depending on what stage you are at. Each routine has a focus of adding weight to the bar while maintaining good form, this means squatting to depth, touching chest on bench, and touching your chest on rows and keeping a straight back during deadlifts. Good form is meant to prevent injury and increase efficiency during the lifts. The main idea of adding weight to the bar is a good indicator for improvement, for most beginners this will be an easy and simple process and won't require too much effort, however after a few months of training, it will begin to get harder, and you will either progress slower or there will be something you need to change (diet, rest, etc.). Remember, if you to change something, your habits need to change.
So lastly, actually working out. So if you look at the prescribed routines, you will notice an exercise and then a rep/set scheme. So for starting strength, you have 3 sets of 5 for most of the exercises. This means 3 sets of 5 "working" sets, not warm up sets. Before you hit your working sets, you should always be warming up. Personally I always start with an empty bar, just to make sure my form is alright, and there is nothing wrong with my body. So, for example, if you are squatting 275 for 3x5 as your working sets you would do your warm ups as:
bar for 2 sets of 5
135x5
175x3
215x2
245x1
You could make bigger jumps or smaller jump accordingly. And see how the reps start to decrease as the weight becomes closer and closer to your working sets? This is to reduce fatigue before your working sets, so you can add weight properly. Doing something like:
barx10
135x10
185x5
225x5
As a warm up this would work, but by the time you hit your working sets your legs will be quite sore and pumped already. With smaller jumps, you also become more accustomed to the weight, and you aren't surprised by a big load or whatever. So during the working sets you need to maintain good form. As for the programs, if you don't like a certain exercise, or you can't do a certain exercise, try your best not to tweak it, these programs are meant for newbs and beginner trainees and have worked - there is a reason why I recommend them.
I'll do another post on diet some other time, but in terms of working out this is it.
If you follow the program, eat/rest properly and stay consistent, you will get strong and aesthetic, and people will be jealous.
So honestly it comes down to what your goals are, do you want to get bigger? Lose bodyfat? Get stronger? Become more "aesthetic"?
And after you ask yourself this question, you need to ask yourself how much are you willing to change, if you want to change a physical aspect of yourself, you need to be willing to give up your time, and other things such as certain foods. If you know you don't want to change completely, don't count on reaching that goal or standard you set for yourself.
Anyhow, onto actually working out.
Most people want to do 2 basic things: get stronger and attain aesthetics.
As beginners there are a few basic routines I would recommend:
IA's SPBR, and Mark Rippetoe's SS.
SPBR can be found: http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8050
SS can be found: http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs
Any version of each is fine, and will work. Each workout will take between 45 minutes to 90 minutes, depending on what stage you are at. Each routine has a focus of adding weight to the bar while maintaining good form, this means squatting to depth, touching chest on bench, and touching your chest on rows and keeping a straight back during deadlifts. Good form is meant to prevent injury and increase efficiency during the lifts. The main idea of adding weight to the bar is a good indicator for improvement, for most beginners this will be an easy and simple process and won't require too much effort, however after a few months of training, it will begin to get harder, and you will either progress slower or there will be something you need to change (diet, rest, etc.). Remember, if you to change something, your habits need to change.
So lastly, actually working out. So if you look at the prescribed routines, you will notice an exercise and then a rep/set scheme. So for starting strength, you have 3 sets of 5 for most of the exercises. This means 3 sets of 5 "working" sets, not warm up sets. Before you hit your working sets, you should always be warming up. Personally I always start with an empty bar, just to make sure my form is alright, and there is nothing wrong with my body. So, for example, if you are squatting 275 for 3x5 as your working sets you would do your warm ups as:
bar for 2 sets of 5
135x5
175x3
215x2
245x1
You could make bigger jumps or smaller jump accordingly. And see how the reps start to decrease as the weight becomes closer and closer to your working sets? This is to reduce fatigue before your working sets, so you can add weight properly. Doing something like:
barx10
135x10
185x5
225x5
As a warm up this would work, but by the time you hit your working sets your legs will be quite sore and pumped already. With smaller jumps, you also become more accustomed to the weight, and you aren't surprised by a big load or whatever. So during the working sets you need to maintain good form. As for the programs, if you don't like a certain exercise, or you can't do a certain exercise, try your best not to tweak it, these programs are meant for newbs and beginner trainees and have worked - there is a reason why I recommend them.
I'll do another post on diet some other time, but in terms of working out this is it.
If you follow the program, eat/rest properly and stay consistent, you will get strong and aesthetic, and people will be jealous.
Saturday, 14 April 2012
Past couple workouts.. (9,10,11)
4/10/2012
back squat - 275 for 3x3, 242x9
press - 115x3x3x6!!, 99x6, 88x5 (paused)
row - 180 for 3x5, 143x20
static holds, tricep work
- was real busy yesterday, didnt have time, uploading video right now
4/12/2012
squatted in oly shoes for the first time
fs - 253x3x2x2 damn, 220x5x5
bench - 185x3x3x6!!154x9
pull ups - bwx10, +35x8, +70x5x5x4, bwx10
dips - x15x15, +35x8
no vid today lol
4/14/2012
good training sesh today
bsquat - 280 for 3x3! 245x10!
press - 120 for 3x3, 100 for 2x6
row - 185 for 3x5, 165x10
static holdz
curlz and tri extensionz
video uploading
Hmmmmmmmm
Hm.
I had a out of the ordinary basketball practice yesterday. I felt like I could go forever, it was a conditioning based workout, so we basically did sprints and burpees and shit for an hour, with a couple of water breaks between. Although I had a long day at school, I felt fine, I wasn't tired until after. The morning after, this morning, I was dead, my lungs were huring - it was hard for me to take a deep breath. I felt fine yesterday though.
I think its the creatine to be honest. Its been working, I am pretty happy that it is, for such a low price, its definitely worth it. I've been stretching and doing mobility work lately, I am going to do a video just to demonstrate what kind of stretching/foam rolling and massage work I do, and how you can do it as well.
I am going to train in half an hour, I am squatting/pressing/rowing. I am going for a all time PR of 280x3x3 for squats, this is going to be interesting. Will have me camera, and I will also show these new squat shoes that I received. The heel on them is raised, which allows me to sit back more effectively, preventing the minor heel lifts that I've had. I am still pretty tired though, so yeah.
In terms of diet, I have been eating a lot of everything lately, I've ditched the low carb diet thing, and am mainly concerned with just getting my protein numbers in and then eating whatever until I am full. I am hoping to bulk until 180ish, and reevaluate then to see what my goals are.
Anyways, I will post in a bit
Also, here's a vid I made from one of my previous training sessions:
I had a out of the ordinary basketball practice yesterday. I felt like I could go forever, it was a conditioning based workout, so we basically did sprints and burpees and shit for an hour, with a couple of water breaks between. Although I had a long day at school, I felt fine, I wasn't tired until after. The morning after, this morning, I was dead, my lungs were huring - it was hard for me to take a deep breath. I felt fine yesterday though.
I think its the creatine to be honest. Its been working, I am pretty happy that it is, for such a low price, its definitely worth it. I've been stretching and doing mobility work lately, I am going to do a video just to demonstrate what kind of stretching/foam rolling and massage work I do, and how you can do it as well.
I am going to train in half an hour, I am squatting/pressing/rowing. I am going for a all time PR of 280x3x3 for squats, this is going to be interesting. Will have me camera, and I will also show these new squat shoes that I received. The heel on them is raised, which allows me to sit back more effectively, preventing the minor heel lifts that I've had. I am still pretty tired though, so yeah.
In terms of diet, I have been eating a lot of everything lately, I've ditched the low carb diet thing, and am mainly concerned with just getting my protein numbers in and then eating whatever until I am full. I am hoping to bulk until 180ish, and reevaluate then to see what my goals are.
Anyways, I will post in a bit
Also, here's a vid I made from one of my previous training sessions:
Thursday, 12 April 2012
My training routine
Some of you guys have asked what exactly am I doing during my training.
So, here it is:
I don't schedule my cardio or speed or plyo work, I do those when I don't have sport practices or whatever and feel that I can recover enough to do them. In terms of practices, I have like 2-3 days of rugby and about 2-3 basketball practices combined with a game. Pretty busy, but its not too much work and because of my decent diet I can recover from them.
In terms of lifting, I do a combination of Greyskull LP and Starting Strength.
So in terms of exercise selection and workout days I do this:
Day 1
Front squat
Bench press
Pull ups
Dips
Day 2
Back squat
Press
BB row (deadlift)
grip work
So typically on day 1 I will superset dips and pull ups, I add weight to both of them. On day 2, every 6-8 weeks I will have one deadlift session, besides that I will be doing rows, in terms of grip work, I mainly do some static holds.
So rep set scheme looks like this:
For the squats and pressing, I go by a rep set scheme of 3x3, but on the last set I will go for as many reps as I can, saving maybe one rep in the tank for the next workout, obviously I don't want to be training until absolute failure each set as that would not benefit me, although from time to time I will fail a rep. Once I fail a lift, which is simply failing to do 3 sets of 3, I will attempt it between 3-4 times more, simply due to the fact that I may just need more chances at the weight or I may not be feeling well or whatever that certain day. If I still fail to hit the reps, I reset the weight by about 5-10% and start again.
The thing I really enjoy about this program, is that once I reset, its not a really bad thing since the last set I try to hit max reps, this allows me to hit new PRs and I don't view this resetting thing as such a bad thing but as a good thing. For example, just two weeks ago I hit a bench of 185x5, recently my bench stalled at 192 and due to how I was feeling, I reset the weight without giving it another try, just today I hit 185 for an easy 6 reps, which allowed me to see the progress I made. Bench has always been a shitty lift for me so yeah. It is nice hitting these PRs.
With the rowing and pull ups, I still follow a 3x5 because it is working still. I started off doing starting strength and I only recently stopped the 3x5 and switched it to the 3x3ish rep/set scheme, but I kept the same thing for pull ups. I try to hit atleast 40 reps though, in the warm ups and after I get my main set. In addition, after I hit the final set, I may do sets of 5/8/10 with some lighter weight just to up the volume or just for some more form practice in case I feel I need either of the two.
My training has worked well, I've went from a front squat of 165 for 3x5 to recently 250 for 3x3. Bench went form 145 for 2x5 to 185 3x3 (6 for the last set), and I've also hit +70 for 5/5/4 chins, and a 396 lb deadlift several weeks ago. Also, at the end of most workouts I will do some aesthetics work, probably spend 15 minutes doing some curls/tricep/shoulder work.
If you have any other questions just let me know, I'd be happy to answer them.
So, here it is:
I don't schedule my cardio or speed or plyo work, I do those when I don't have sport practices or whatever and feel that I can recover enough to do them. In terms of practices, I have like 2-3 days of rugby and about 2-3 basketball practices combined with a game. Pretty busy, but its not too much work and because of my decent diet I can recover from them.
In terms of lifting, I do a combination of Greyskull LP and Starting Strength.
So in terms of exercise selection and workout days I do this:
Day 1
Front squat
Bench press
Pull ups
Dips
Day 2
Back squat
Press
BB row (deadlift)
grip work
So typically on day 1 I will superset dips and pull ups, I add weight to both of them. On day 2, every 6-8 weeks I will have one deadlift session, besides that I will be doing rows, in terms of grip work, I mainly do some static holds.
So rep set scheme looks like this:
For the squats and pressing, I go by a rep set scheme of 3x3, but on the last set I will go for as many reps as I can, saving maybe one rep in the tank for the next workout, obviously I don't want to be training until absolute failure each set as that would not benefit me, although from time to time I will fail a rep. Once I fail a lift, which is simply failing to do 3 sets of 3, I will attempt it between 3-4 times more, simply due to the fact that I may just need more chances at the weight or I may not be feeling well or whatever that certain day. If I still fail to hit the reps, I reset the weight by about 5-10% and start again.
The thing I really enjoy about this program, is that once I reset, its not a really bad thing since the last set I try to hit max reps, this allows me to hit new PRs and I don't view this resetting thing as such a bad thing but as a good thing. For example, just two weeks ago I hit a bench of 185x5, recently my bench stalled at 192 and due to how I was feeling, I reset the weight without giving it another try, just today I hit 185 for an easy 6 reps, which allowed me to see the progress I made. Bench has always been a shitty lift for me so yeah. It is nice hitting these PRs.
With the rowing and pull ups, I still follow a 3x5 because it is working still. I started off doing starting strength and I only recently stopped the 3x5 and switched it to the 3x3ish rep/set scheme, but I kept the same thing for pull ups. I try to hit atleast 40 reps though, in the warm ups and after I get my main set. In addition, after I hit the final set, I may do sets of 5/8/10 with some lighter weight just to up the volume or just for some more form practice in case I feel I need either of the two.
My training has worked well, I've went from a front squat of 165 for 3x5 to recently 250 for 3x3. Bench went form 145 for 2x5 to 185 3x3 (6 for the last set), and I've also hit +70 for 5/5/4 chins, and a 396 lb deadlift several weeks ago. Also, at the end of most workouts I will do some aesthetics work, probably spend 15 minutes doing some curls/tricep/shoulder work.
If you have any other questions just let me know, I'd be happy to answer them.
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Lately
This is a video I made regarding macro nutrients.
I sound retarded speaking to the camera but the information is there, give it a look, and tell me what you guys think. But yeah, I give a primer on proteins/carbohydrates/fats, I know there is some information that isn't too clear and could do better, also my speaking needs some help but those aren't the issues.
Anyway, I've been quite busy again lately.
Had my physics test today, could have been better but meh, I did well for how much work I put in. I wasn't expecting anything spectacular.
Rugby has been going well lately, its been a lot of fun, and its really nice how a lot of my close friends are playing as well. It feels nice having a role on the team also, and its a good way to just hang out with my friends. Training has been going well, I picked up some creatine lately, and after doing some sprints and medicine ball throws, I feel like its starting to kick in, I feel really explosive and powerful on my sprints, and I feel like my endurance is lasting. I really enjoy the feeling of being sore and just a bit tired all the time, its a nice feeling.
Cause of my sports I've been foam rolling a lot lately, to prevent injury and increase recovery, I am too lazy to do it sometimes but I know I need to since it is really beneficial. I will do a video sometime on my stretching/rolling routine sometime for those who are interested.
But thats it for now, got rugby and training tomorrow, and some homework to do still.
Easy, thanks for reading!
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