An Uncommon Pursuit

Came to the end of my 10 lb tub of mass gainer mix last night. Weighed myself this morning @ 185 lbs. 1 months eating + mass gainer = 5 lbs and improved lifts at a price of $50.

Worth it.

Time to buy another tub.

[quote]skidmark wrote:
Came to the end of my 10 lb tub of mass gainer mix last night. Weighed myself this morning @ 185 lbs. 1 months eating + mass gainer = 5 lbs and improved lifts at a price of $50.

Worth it.

Time to buy another tub.[/quote]

Thats a solid investment…literally!

x 2.

Given the discussions going on in T-Cell Alpha regarding weight gain, I’m thinking to get up to 190, maintain that for a month - hopefully creating a set-point - and then move up again to 200.

It actually seems possible.

2008-10-27

Abs and GPP

Dumbbell swings to overhead
55 4x20

ab wheel
from the feet - hands line up with shoulders
1x10
from the knees - full extension
2x15

Since I doubled the distance the weight traveled, I reduced the reps by a 3rd. I’ll build the reps back up till I do 4x40.

Ab wheel is no easier, but I upped the intensity a bit by doing a set on my feet. Abs are definitely a weak point and I need to quit avoiding them.

May do ballistic step-ups later

Found this over in Strength Sports.

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_strength/i_need_some_advice_4

It doesn’t get much simpler than that. I think it’s working for him okay.

[quote]skidmark wrote:
2008-10-27

Abs and GPP

Dumbbell swings to overhead
55 4x20

ab wheel
from the feet - hands line up with shoulders
1x10
from the knees - full extension
2x15

Since I doubled the distance the weight traveled, I reduced the reps by a 3rd. I’ll build the reps back up till I do 4x40.

Ab wheel is no easier, but I upped the intensity a bit by doing a set on my feet. Abs are definitely a weak point and I need to quit avoiding them.

May do ballistic step-ups later[/quote]

Working hard even on your off days. It took me months to get on my feet with the wheel. You will probably be doing circus tricks with it in a month.

[quote]1Geech wrote:
skidmark wrote:
2008-10-27

Abs and GPP

Dumbbell swings to overhead
55 4x20

ab wheel
from the feet - hands line up with shoulders
1x10
from the knees - full extension
2x15

Since I doubled the distance the weight traveled, I reduced the reps by a 3rd. I’ll build the reps back up till I do 4x40.

Ab wheel is no easier, but I upped the intensity a bit by doing a set on my feet. Abs are definitely a weak point and I need to quit avoiding them.

May do ballistic step-ups later

Working hard even on your off days. It took me months to get on my feet with the wheel. You will probably be doing circus tricks with it in a month.[/quote]

“And in the Circus Maximus, see Skidmark do his death-defying, hernia-inducing Ab-Wheel of Fire. Younger audience members may wish to avert their gaze…”

Gotta remember that I’m lighter than just about everyone posting here so it’s not a real feat to extend out. It’s easier to lay a straw over a span than just about anything else.

Still waiting to get my adult weight…

2008-10-28
Lower and Shoulders
Deadlift
barx10
135x8
225x5
315x3
405x2
445 2x2,0 (PR Reps)
405x3

Speed Squat
225 2x3
+avg bands 3x3 (375 at top)

  • min Bands 3x3 (415 at top)
    +20lbs 3x2 (435 at the top)

Wide grip pullups
BWx5
+25x5
+50x5
+75 3x4,1x3

Shoulder circuit
Seated DB Press @ 60s and
Seated DB Clean @ 35s and
Side laterals @ 25s

Round 1: 15,12,12
Round 2: 15,12,12
Round 3: 12,12,12

Spitting, gasping, grimacing, cussing (they hurt a bunch!) during these as the pretty girls filed in right by me for their aerobics classes.

A fine sight I was.

Speed squats were not too speedy. I’d get about 4 inches off the box and the bands would really kick in. It was a grind from there until about a 3rd of the way from the top, then I could pop it. S’okay - I want the grind and they are getting me down to the box and off it quickly.

Nice deadlifting weight. I know you’re not looking for one but you’re ready for another meet.

“And in the Circus Maximus, see Skidmark do his death-defying, hernia-inducing Ab-Wheel of Fire. Younger audience members may wish to avert their gaze…”

I’ve been afraid to start up with mine. When I was younger I could run out 20 reps, get up the next morning and run out 20 more and not feel them.

I suspect that I’d be in the ring of fire pain wise if I tried that now. How did you work up to use it safely?

[quote]Elaikases wrote:
“And in the Circus Maximus, see Skidmark do his death-defying, hernia-inducing Ab-Wheel of Fire. Younger audience members may wish to avert their gaze…”

I’ve been afraid to start up with mine. When I was younger I could run out 20 reps, get up the next morning and run out 20 more and not feel them.

I suspect that I’d be in the ring of fire pain wise if I tried that now. How did you work up to use it safely?[/quote]

um - I didn’t really. I guess the other ab work I’d been doing was sufficient to prepare for this wheel of agony. Mostly weighted planks and leg raises.

I’m also just working from my knees mainly which stresses the upper abs more than the lower. When I do it from my feet I can’t fully extend, but it seems to hit the lower abs pretty good.

[quote]ecogenx wrote:
Nice deadlifting weight. I know you’re not looking for one but you’re ready for another meet.[/quote]

Thanks, eco. I was actually wanting a triple and I considered for a moment doing one on the first set, but my back was still tired from the sumos session before last.

I had a sty in my eye too.

And my left big toe hurt.

Did I mention hemorrhoids? Nah - I didn’t have those…

Guess it’ll have to wait till next DL day.

I’ll be ready for another meet after I can press 285 for a double from a dead start off the chest. Hopefully I’ll accomplish that in about a month.

[quote]skidmark wrote:
2008-10-28
Lower and Shoulders
Deadlift
barx10
135x8
225x5
315x3
405x2
445 2x2,0 (PR Reps)
405x3

Speed Squat
225 2x3
+avg bands 3x3 (375 at top)

  • min Bands 3x3 (415 at top)
    +20lbs 3x2 (435 at the top)

Wide grip pullups
BWx5
+25x5
+50x5
+75 3x4,1x3

Shoulder circuit
Seated DB Press @ 60s and
Seated DB Clean @ 35s and
Side laterals @ 25s

Round 1: 15,12,12
Round 2: 15,12,12
Round 3: 12,12,12

Spitting, gasping, grimacing, cussing (they hurt a bunch!) during these as the pretty girls filed in right by me for their aerobics classes.

A fine sight I was.

Speed squats were not too speedy. I’d get about 4 inches off the box and the bands would really kick in. It was a grind from there until about a 3rd of the way from the top, then I could pop it. S’okay - I want the grind and they are getting me down to the box and off it quickly. [/quote]

Great session, Skid, lots of top-quality lifting through-out.

About bands, there is something for which I have been unsuccessful in finding a quick explanation. Perhaps everybody else just knows the simple answer: What does a band resistance rating such as “25-80 lbs.” (e.g., APT blue band, no. 3, width 1 1/8 inches) actually signify?

Does this mean, at the low end, that 25 pounds of applied force is required to stretch the band at all beyond its relaxed state? At the high end: 80 pounds of applied force is needed to stretch the band what percentage of its relaxed length, hence representing what maximum? Or what?

Obviously there will be variances in individual bands from the rating that may change over the life of the band. I ask rather because I am curious about how much precision there is in the ratings beyond a rule of thumb ‘hard, harder, hardest’ approach.

The question first came to my mind the initial occasion I used a band DLing, just to see what it was like. After first thinking at the top of the pull ‘this does not feel like 70 kgs (bar and plates) plus 55 kgs thereabouts = 125 kgs thereabouts in my hands’, and then reflecting that, of course, 125 kgs (bar and plates) lifted has a wholly different feel, I wondered how to best estimate what the band might actually be adding at the top, and realized I did not know.

Can you dispell my ignorance?

[quote]1Geech wrote:
skidmark wrote:
2008-10-28
Lower and Shoulders
Deadlift
barx10
135x8
225x5
315x3
405x2
445 2x2,0 (PR Reps)
405x3

Speed Squat
225 2x3
+avg bands 3x3 (375 at top)

  • min Bands 3x3 (415 at top)
    +20lbs 3x2 (435 at the top)

Wide grip pullups
BWx5
+25x5
+50x5
+75 3x4,1x3

Shoulder circuit
Seated DB Press @ 60s and
Seated DB Clean @ 35s and
Side laterals @ 25s

Round 1: 15,12,12
Round 2: 15,12,12
Round 3: 12,12,12

Spitting, gasping, grimacing, cussing (they hurt a bunch!) during these as the pretty girls filed in right by me for their aerobics classes.

A fine sight I was.

Speed squats were not too speedy. I’d get about 4 inches off the box and the bands would really kick in. It was a grind from there until about a 3rd of the way from the top, then I could pop it. S’okay - I want the grind and they are getting me down to the box and off it quickly.

Great session, Skid, lots of top-quality lifting through-out.

About bands, there is something for which I have been unsuccessful in finding a quick explanation. Perhaps everybody else just knows the simple answer: What does a band resistance rating such as “25-80 lbs.” (e.g., APT blue band, no. 3, width 1 1/8 inches) actually signify?

Does this mean, at the low end, that 25 pounds of applied force is required to stretch the band at all beyond its relaxed state? At the high end: 80 pounds of applied force is needed to stretch the band what percentage of its relaxed length, hence representing what maximum? Or what?

Obviously there will be variances in individual bands from the rating that may change over the life of the band. I ask rather because I am curious about how much precision there is in the ratings beyond a rule of thumb ‘hard, harder, hardest’ approach.

The question first came to my mind the initial occasion I used a band DLing, just to see what it was like. After first thinking at the top of the pull ‘this does not feel like 70 kgs (bar and plates) plus 55 kgs thereabouts = 125 kgs thereabouts in my hands’, and then reflecting that, of course, 125 kgs (bar and plates) lifted has a wholly different feel, I wondered how to best estimate what the band might actually be adding at the top, and realized I did not know.

Can you dispell my ignorance?[/quote]

Maybe not. But I can spell dispel…harharhar!

I trust not that which is printed on the web sites. If I want to know what that band is doing I wrap it around a DB and attempt to stretch it to the length that I will use it, trying to get the db off the floor. When the DB doesn’t get off the floor I know within 5 pounds how hard that band pulls at that length. That’s what I did for the quadded minis just before deadlifting with them.

Best I could do.

I missed my last deadlift rep attempt at the knees yesterday - an unusual situation for me. In the past, if I got it off the floor I could lock it out.

I think that the sumos and the box squats are taking care of the pull off the floor fine. I need to do rack pulls now for higher reps at or slightly above the knee and focus on getting the hips to the bar quickly.

A way you could test the bands is to hang them from something, then put various weights in them and measure how far the band stretches. Within certain limits, the stretched length should be a linear function of the weight being hung.

[quote]Carl Darby wrote:
A way you could test the bands is to hang them from something, then put various weights in them and measure how far the band stretches. Within certain limits, the stretched length should be a linear function of the weight being hung.[/quote]

Well, that’s just…scientific.

[quote]skidmark wrote:
Carl Darby wrote:
A way you could test the bands is to hang them from something, then put various weights in them and measure how far the band stretches. Within certain limits, the stretched length should be a linear function of the weight being hung.

Well, that’s just…scientific.[/quote]

Hmm, maybe you’ve been at a high altitude too long. :wink:

2008-10-29

GPP/Recovery and abs

Butt circuit
BW squats followed by
BW reverse lunges (right and left)
30,10,10
30,10,10
30,10,10

pullovers
70x10,10

Ab wheel rollouts (on knees)
20,15+5 (paused)

Didn’t get to do this until after 11PM what with all the driving around and feeding people plus being husband/daddy/homework Nazi.

Hope I can get to sleep.