It’s sick how big and strong you’ve gotten having ulcerative colitis. I have a friend who has it, great lifter but when it flares up he drops 20-30 lbs and his lifts go down the drain. It’s such a bummer to have a digestive tract issue like that in a sport where eating/putting on weight is so important. So props to you for getting where you are today, I’m sure it’s something you don’t think about too much, but barely anyone who is 100% healthy gets to your level haha. Living proof that there are no excuses.
[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
[quote]alin wrote:
Very impressive figs and physique.
Apologies if this is in the wrong place, but how do you approach nutrition? What do you eat/when/etc and advice you would give please.[/quote]
No worries man! Well I like to follow a lot of the mountain dog principles. I’m a skinny kid genetically. I keep my abs without trying. I do toss in planned cheats almost daily to get my calories up. I frequent The Habit and In N Out Burger a lot lol
The bulk of my diet consists of mostly this:
chicken, steak, hamburger jasmine or basmati rice, yam, mixed greens and fruits, ezekiel bread, almond/pb, fish oil, olive oil, coconut oil, greek yogurt, kefir, protein powder, vitargo.
I’m not dieting at all so I eat junk when I feel I can afford the opportunity but usually avoid artificial bullshit and processed sugars…mostly due to a disease I have called Ulcerative Colitis. Those foods tend to piss it off. lol[/quote]
Thank you for the reply - and kudos on achieving all you have whilst having UC!!
[quote]N.K. wrote:
It’s sick how big and strong you’ve gotten having ulcerative colitis. I have a friend who has it, great lifter but when it flares up he drops 20-30 lbs and his lifts go down the drain. It’s such a bummer to have a digestive tract issue like that in a sport where eating/putting on weight is so important. So props to you for getting where you are today, I’m sure it’s something you don’t think about too much, but barely anyone who is 100% healthy gets to your level haha. Living proof that there are no excuses. [/quote]
Thanks man! Perspective plays a big role in everything. It’s a curse but I found a blessing in the UC stuff with it forcing me to pay better attention to Nutrition. I now eat to not only facilitate gains but to keep myself healthy too. I would never have cared about gut health or eating for health if I hadn’t gotten sick first.
I’ve currently been 8 months without remission of the disease and only take asacol (mesalamine) for a drug. It doesn’t hinder gains like the corticosteroids etc. Everything else is diet and herbal. 
Bench
135×15
225×10
275×5
315×5
*I?ve recently changed up my style of benching. I always tried to arch and tuck my elbows, etc. I think this is great if I?m a geared lifter?but I?m not, I?m raw. I think with my long arms and my structure that I benefit more by flaring the elbows a little more and allowing my chest and front delts to play a larger role in generating momentum off the chest and through the triceps. So far so good and it feels much more natural to do so.
Dumbbell Incline
80×10
100×10
115×10
I performed some various tricep work and some rear delt work (face pulls and wide grip cable rows) and called it a night. I?m very happy with the form tweak and my progress on the bench. I?m hoping it?s no longer going to be a weak point of mine.
I just realized copy and pasting from my website is making some of this shit hard to read. I’ll get that fixed for next time.
[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
Bench
135Ã?15
225Ã?10
275Ã?5
315Ã?5
*I?ve recently changed up my style of benching. I always tried to arch and tuck my elbows, etc. I think this is great if I?m a geared lifter?but I?m not, I?m raw. I think with my long arms and my structure that I benefit more by flaring the elbows a little more and allowing my chest and front delts to play a larger role in generating momentum off the chest and through the triceps. So far so good and it feels much more natural to do so.
Dumbbell Incline
80Ã?10
100Ã?10
115Ã?10
I performed some various tricep work and some rear delt work (face pulls and wide grip cable rows) and called it a night. I?m very happy with the form tweak and my progress on the bench. I?m hoping it?s no longer going to be a weak point of mine.[/quote]
I’ve always gotten more delt involvement from tucking more. makes the shoulder motion into more of a front raise.
For most people tucking and arching are also easier on the shoulder joint.
But, every body is different.
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
Bench
135Ã??15
225Ã??10
275Ã??5
315Ã??5
*I?ve recently changed up my style of benching. I always tried to arch and tuck my elbows, etc. I think this is great if I?m a geared lifter?but I?m not, I?m raw. I think with my long arms and my structure that I benefit more by flaring the elbows a little more and allowing my chest and front delts to play a larger role in generating momentum off the chest and through the triceps. So far so good and it feels much more natural to do so.
Dumbbell Incline
80Ã??10
100Ã??10
115Ã??10
I performed some various tricep work and some rear delt work (face pulls and wide grip cable rows) and called it a night. I?m very happy with the form tweak and my progress on the bench. I?m hoping it?s no longer going to be a weak point of mine.[/quote]
I’ve always gotten more delt involvement from tucking more. makes the shoulder motion into more of a front raise.
For most people tucking and arching are also easier on the shoulder joint.
But, every body is different. [/quote]
Yea this is one of those things where I just never felt comfortable. I felt weak and awkward trying to bench the “correct” way. So I started just doing what felt right and figured I would change it up as necessary from there. I came across an article by Dan Green I believe and he talked about using a little more flare and bringing the bar higher on the chest as a raw lifter.
Time will tell…you know how it is. I may have one style now, gain 10lbs on my frame, then have a different style lol
Your deadlift techniques looks extremely simple: just get into position and pull. Have you always deadlifted this way or arrived there after some experimentation?
Will be following good luck
[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
Yea this is one of those things where I just never felt comfortable. I felt weak and awkward trying to bench the “correct” way. So I started just doing what felt right and figured I would change it up as necessary from there. I came across an article by Dan Green I believe and he talked about using a little more flare and bringing the bar higher on the chest as a raw lifter.
Time will tell…you know how it is. I may have one style now, gain 10lbs on my frame, then have a different style lol
[/quote]
I tend to agree. I’ve hit my all-time best with slightly different technique, although I still arch a lot and tuck consistently. I have a different approach to packing the shoulder that I picked up from Thibaudeau. If you can find where he talks about it, it’s interesting. Essentially it’s much more about shrugging up into your shoulders and less about tamping them down with flaring the lats.
I realize there’s a mountain of writing here though, so I’ll try to find it later when I have more time. Gotta roll to an appointment and the gym after.
Due to that minor hamstring pull weekend before last I’ve not logged my leg or deadlift workouts…well…because I haven’t done any powerlifting. I, more or less, have just been stretching and utilizing the weights for bloodflow and nothing more.
BUT! The blessing in disguise is that I got to use that time to hit some extra bench and overhead sessions.
BENCH 350x1 recent PR
*my gym pr is 385 and my meet pr is 355…I’m feeling very good about my strength and form tweaks on the bench. PR’s HERE WE COME!
[quote]Maiden3.16 wrote:
Your deadlift techniques looks extremely simple: just get into position and pull. Have you always deadlifted this way or arrived there after some experimentation?
Will be following good luck[/quote]
I’ve played with my form quite a bit but I’d be lying if I told you that deadlifting doesn’t come natural for me.
I have a slightly narrow stance, fill my belly with air and squat in the bottom position. I feel my quads break inertia from the floor and then allow my glutes/hips to meet the bar instead of thinking to pull with my back. That’s really about it.
So I guess I’ve always pulled that way but in the past couple years I’ve really become aware of form and technique to get my hips/glutes to fire correctly etc.
I always try and pull dead stop too and hit perfect form on every lift. I believe with the sport of powerlifting that repetition (like any sport) leads to more of a “reaction” on the platform when you are lifting. The less you have the think about how to lift when you’re on the platform the better lifter you become imo.
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
I tend to agree. I’ve hit my all-time best with slightly different technique, although I still arch a lot and tuck consistently. I have a different approach to packing the shoulder that I picked up from Thibaudeau. If you can find where he talks about it, it’s interesting. Essentially it’s much more about shrugging up into your shoulders and less about tamping them down with flaring the lats.
I realize there’s a mountain of writing here though, so I’ll try to find it later when I have more time. Gotta roll to an appointment and the gym after.[/quote]
I’ve been playing with what to do with my traps. When I shrug my shoulders feel more stable but I notice a huge load on my pecs. The bodybuilder in me fears tearing a pec lol Lately I’ve been pulling my traps together without shrugging up too high. But I’m not sold on doing it 100% the way I am now. I’m still playing with it.
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
I tend to agree. I’ve hit my all-time best with slightly different technique, although I still arch a lot and tuck consistently. I have a different approach to packing the shoulder that I picked up from Thibaudeau. If you can find where he talks about it, it’s interesting. Essentially it’s much more about shrugging up into your shoulders and less about tamping them down with flaring the lats.
I realize there’s a mountain of writing here though, so I’ll try to find it later when I have more time. Gotta roll to an appointment and the gym after.[/quote]
I’ve been playing with what to do with my traps. When I shrug my shoulders feel more stable but I notice a huge load on my pecs. The bodybuilder in me fears tearing a pec lol Lately I’ve been pulling my traps together without shrugging up too high. But I’m not sold on doing it 100% the way I am now. I’m still playing with it.
700x1 Strapped DOH Deadlift. Went for the double and failed. Hit 500x11 shortly after.
590x1 raw squat
went for the double and failed.
I then went for 405x20. I had it but on rep 14 I tweaked something in my right adductor/groin area and it has put me out for the past 10 days or so. I hope to heal in time for the meet…if I don’t I will still do the bench only or something. 
Also I didn’t like the “stay calm” from the oly lifter. This is powerlifting we rage the fuck out…at least I do anyways 
lol