Hello everybody.
I know you guys read noob posts every day, but here is the good news:
You’re not reading a post written by a complete noob.
I know how to do the big 3, a variety of hardcore calisthenetics (One Arm Pushups, Jackknife Pushups, Rockbottom Pistols, 2 Finger Pushups…) and I know how to deal with Kettlebells.
Just a short background story:
My name is Tony. I’ve been training in martial arts since the age of 9, starting out with asian striking arts, then advancing to Jeet Kune Do and finally getting into full contact training arround age 16: MMA and Taijutsu. Those 2 martial arts have been the cornerstone of my repertoire.
I started competing in the Ring and on the mats about a year ago.(2 Grappling tournaments, 1 local Kickboxing event) But after suffering an injury of the thoraric spine in grappling training I looked back on all the things that I did and really spend some days just reflecting where I would be going if all of this continued. I suffered several minor injuries of the lumbar spine before, one of them at age 15, which was so severe that the doctors told me I would never be able to practice any kind of training again.
Lucky for me a therapist helped me to overcome the injury with the help of weight training.
Anyways. I decided that I couldnt go on training in martial arts because of the pain that I felt up from now in my spine every Stand Up or Groundfighting Session. So I resorted to the one and only think that has been my therapy, and kept me on my legs since the age of 15: Strength Training.
Now I prepared myself with a lot of knowledge during the last couple of months, I read all the books by Pavel and most of the articles written by Dan John, Ben Bruno and Chris Colucci(if anyone of them is reading this right now-thank you!!!)
It seems like weight lifting is all i want to do right now to stay healthy, but I have a couple of Questions that are not being answered anywhere. I guess you need a small collection of my PR’s and physical feats to get where I am:
Bench Press 1 RM: 77,5kg/170.5lbs
13 clean One Arm Pushups each arm
11 clean 2 Finger Pushups
Deadlift 1RM: 102.5kg/225.5 lbs
Full depht Back Sqat 1RM: 73.6kg/162lbs
9 Rockbottom Pistol Squats
21 overhand grip Pullups
354 Swings in 15 minutes with a 24kg Kettlebell
1 Get Up each Side with a 32kg Kettlebell
Because of the latest injury my spine is not yet ready to carry near maximum weights, so to stimulate the muscles enough I have to do Single Limb and Dumbell exercises.
A casual bench press will turn into a Dumbell Bench Press, Back Squats into Split Squats and Barbell Deadlifts into One Legged Deadlifts.
No I wont resort to machine training and no I refuse to join a yoga/Pilates class to “gain back flexibility and get that toned look”. As a matter of fact I can do Roadkill Splits, Front Splits, Back Bends to full depht and kiss my shins standing. Flexibility and technique concerning the lifts are not a problem so far.
I weigh in at 161 pounds, 182cm height, about 10% Bodyfat, and would like to gain about 30pounds of lean mass in 2013, as well as getting back to the basic lifts and improving my numbers in the big 3. Nutrition is not a problem: For 2 months I have been on the Anabolic Diet now and I dont drink, smoke or do drugs.
What lacks so far is the right plan, and the set/rep ranges for mass gain with these exercises.
I would like to do a simple Powerlifting Split with few compound exercises regarding my unique needs in termes of weight compression of the spine.
Thaks a lot for helping and Happy New Year