ExRx.net

Dude, reading that made chills run down my spine. Thanks man. That is a huge compliment.



yeah, it will wax and wane. I mean you aren't going to be 100% everyday. And remember, this is a marathon not a race. Just try and not take 4 months off all the time and you'll be fine.




Anytime.



Few things
1) I just had the blow out with my wife again about the caffeine. Such a pain in the ass. (Just thought I would throw that out there, not that anyone cares.)
2) I am not a huge breakfast person either, but... I didn't start gaining good until I got a good one down every morning. Try making shakes, anything to get food in you as early as possible. Start small, and work you way up to a liter shake for breakfast.
3) I train like garbage if I don't eat, and caffeine certainly helps me train a bit better with or without food. But without food I can't take as much, but don't need as much either. I get the "OD symptoms" at much lower doses on an empty stomach. Just don't be crazy about it, and work your way up one cup at a time until you find an amount that lets you step up your game.
4) Short answer = yes. It is awesome stuff, just don't take too much and drink a lot of water.
5) Also don't let the buzz make you feel invincible. The closer you get to 30+ the easier it is to break yourself.




ha ha, I'm not laughing at you, but you are skinny. I was the same weight at two inches taller in September of last year so, it's not that far away. (Gonna take a lot of steak & whey shakes. Milk does a body good, and gives me zits... but the weight gain is worth it.)



Absolutely.

For some reason my parallel squat is as deep as someone 3 inches shorter than I am, plus I'm pretty inflexible, which makes my squat a really slow mover. (that and I don't focus on it as much as I should.) My levers are certainly more geared toward the Deadlift, so I do that more. My squat doesn't move a lot because I don't focus on it.

So in short, do the DL first thing in your workout, and don't leave much of anything in the tank for later. But on the days were you just don't have it, where say, 185 feels like 750, don't worry either. Everyone has bad days, try and make up for it somewhere else and move on. (Last Thursday 365 felt like 500lbs, it was rough.) Just try and keep the pounds moving up.

I should put my numbers in a excel sheet and graph out the results to see what I was doing when I got my best progress... Hmmm... But alas I don't have time for that right now.

Again man, thanks. It really is cool that my journal helps someone... Wow.

Hey! I'm 6'4" and I'm about 185 these days!



And FWIW, your lifts are pretty impressive all around, man. I'm trying to catch up to you on dumbbell rows... :)

Thank you for your advice, keep progressing and I will keep you and the rest of our EXRX family posted!! Thanks man!

Thanks. The rows make me want to vomit. It's pretty cool. I have got to get my bench and OH pressing up though. My chest is okay, but my shoulders are a lagging.

And even though you are light, something tells me that you can't see your ribs. All I can think of is that kid that won Ultimate Fighter a few years back when Tito Ortiz was his coach. Can't think of his name for the life of me, but he is who I think of when you post... Tall and lanky.

Plus you could kick my ass and pwn me in any sort of endurance event, including walking from the car to the gym...

Anytime...

Keep us updated for sure.

That's because you're doing Kroc Rows. That's pretty much how they taught me to do them at DeFranco's - pull hard and fast and almost jerk the weight up. Not a big hip swing but accelerating the weight. Since you do yours the same way, I figure it's a good comparison.

I also reason that if I can start doing weights like 6 x 140#, my bench, chins, deadlift, kettlebell presses, etc. will have to go up. Either causation or coincidence, I don't think it matters.



Hahaha, you can, actually, at least my false ribs. If you look close you can see the "notch" in the right side where my floating ribs got torn from the cartilage while I was training and didn't heal correctly. But it comes from having a pretty flat chest, I look emaciated from the front and like I train from the back. :D



Kendall Grove? 6'6", fights at 185?



Hahah...but once you got there, you could pick up the car. That's got to count for something.

Yeah Kroc rows are the bomb. Plus I believe he is a CPA (don't quote me, I may just be thinking that to make myself feel better.) The man is obviously the bomb.

Plus those rows are awesome. I wouldn't give them to a rank beginner unless I knew they had enough common sense to not hurt themselves, but anyone with a few months under the bar and brains can benefit from them.

I just have to figure out what I'm going to do, my regular gym only goes up to 125lbs. The 140's were at my gym by my mom's...




Yup that's him. He seemed like a nice humble guy on the show too. I liked him a lot. Says he trains with BJ Penn. That man is an animal, so good at his job.



Hahah...but once you got there, you could pick up the car. That's got to count for something. [/quote]

ha ha, one day, one day soon.

Just make sure KPj isn't around...and do high reps. Go for like 15-20 reps or something. Take a leaf from DeFranco's Rep Day and do 3 sets of max reps.

I was next to someone training today and Joe said "Okay, next set...do 70# dumbbells, as many reps as humanly possible." It's a fun way to train every few sessions. You just go and go. Hell on the grip with rows though. The lats are willing but the hands are weak...


I've never seen TUF, but I've read about it. Haven't seen much of Kendall Grove. I love BJ Penn though. He's got so many techniques and he's so flexible, it's just fun to watch him work, win or lose. There's a video going around of BJ Penn jumping out of a pool...I'm not there yet!

Then don't do it. Seriously. When you look at your life, can you afford to waste time doing something that you hate that intensely? Stop doing treadmill. Do barbell complexes, or sled pulling, or farmer's walks, or sledge hammer stuff, or something. Treadmills aren't the only way to do cardio, they're just the way that 98% of gym-goers think you have to do it.

FREEDOM FROM SQUIRREL MACHINES!

So I guess I'll get into it, even though honestly I don't know why I bother trying to make anyone else happy.

So short story long time:

My wife went away for a few days last week. It was finals week for me. I was run down, stressed out with little sleep and I drank my face off Saturday night. (I took a 16oz glass of Jameson and would take a sip, and fill it back up with diet coke until it was gone. Then I drank 4 or 5 beers.) So this coupled with the low carb diet I've been eating, the fact milk bloats me and makes me breakout, and it being 90+ degrees in my house when she came home last Wednesday I looked like $h1t. And she kind of freaked out.

Now I have gained 50lbs since 9/01/08. 180 at 6'0" to 230lbs, and it wasn't all fat. It wasn't all muscles either. I am constantly giving my wife a hard time that she never notices my progress, well being away for a week allowed her to notice, and she was freaked out by the look on my face. I have been cutting calories to keep my fat gain in control anyway, as it was about to get out of hand. (I will be going back to full on gaining soon though. I want to be bigger and stronger.)

So she decided to do a little internet research about my diet and flipped out that I was destroying my kidneys. 3 stupid wasted hours at work I spent fighting with her over text and email about this she finally calmed down. It didn't help that my FAT mother in law that eats 80% carbs & my FAT sister in law told her how unhealthy my diet was. (Gee no one cared when I was 220 and FAT at our wedding, but now that it's 230 and jacked they are concerned? Hmmm, sounds like jealously to me. I HATE JEALOUS IGNORANT FAT PEOPLE!) My stupid mother said the same dumb bull$h1t to her, and my mom is also fat and knows ZERO about nutrition. (Oh and gee thanks Mr. F that told my wife I was "Lifting too much too soon." As if that statement makes any sense in the flipping world. His idea of PWO nutrition is a god damn beer, and he is telling my wife how I should lift? Please.)

Everything is good now, but I decided to throw in some brisk walking to further cut some fat, to put her mind at ease a bit. (Because honestly, if my face was fatty and red form the heat she wouldn't have flipped. So if I cut up a bit she will calm down, I know it.)The brisk walking fits into my split the best, and at this point is the simplest way to cut some fat without eating too much muscle. Actual running/sprinting is too much impact for me, and Complexes will cause too much overlap in my split, sled hammers and walks also will cause overlap. I don't want to change too much of my split either because it's working. The walking was a panic decision, probably not the best, because like you said, I hate it. BUT alas I started it, now I have to give it some sort of opportunity to work.

Thanks for listening, and if any of this doesn't make sense, I will clarify. I'm just tired of people putting me down for accomplishing something. It was cool the first few times, but now, it is rather annoying. Now that my wife is involved and listens to fat people I'm totally pissed. I'm going to link this youtube so my wife can understand why she needs to stop listening to fat people about MY exercise and diet.

Wow.....not sure what to say. Sucks not having support. Most of the comments I have gotten....90% or so...have been positive. And of all people, my Mom is my biggest supporter. She is in her mid 60's, and seeing a nutritionist/trainer, and actually lifting weights! I was floored when she told me that.....squats are in her routine too....amazing! She was a tad concerned about the amount of weight I was lifting at first, but after talking to her trainer, she is behind me 100% and agrees with everything I have learned here. I went to visit several months ago and brought my "supplements" with me and made shakes in the morning for breakfast.....now she does that with her trainers blessing. I dunno...just find it funny she is one of the few that totally gets what I am doing. My Dad freaks when I tell him I have benched 205 and DL 255....lol. "Too much!" he says. Banker girl commented on how much weight I push and pull......but that was mostly out of curiosity. She does like the way I look naked though....so I have that going for me.... Most of the negative comments have been about me not eating bread, pasta, grains, potatoes, etc. "Why no carbs?" everyone says....lol.

I have been tossing around cardio for a month or so, but I just don't get the fact that if I am increasing calories for recovery/training, why would I want to burn them doing cardio. ?? I am set on eating for the rest of this year, hopefully gain, then do a cut.

Anyhow....let us know how it goes....I'd love to see how it works for you.....good luck!

People are very supportive to my face, outside of my mother who is jealous that she can't stay committed to exercise.

It is behind my back that true colors shine. I guess I'm not as small as I feel.

At least my wife spoke with me about her concerns rather than bash me behind my back.

I can't wait to get to 260lbs and hear the AAS accusations fly, although they have already started.

That's tough, but I understand. I don't want to post details but I've some, uhm, unhelpful support too. Cutting weight alone caused lots of discussions I didn't need to have. I stubborned through them but it wasn't fun, and it eats at you when you feel silent criticism of what you're doing when you need all the support you can get to get through.

Stick with the walking for now, but yeah, find some way to gently get across "I'm following in the footsteps of people who are where I want to be." And that if you want to be strong and lean, you listen to strong and lean people not the sedentary overweight types. Success leaves a trail. You don't ask drunk people how to be sober, do you? Or pasty skinned guys like me how to tan, right?

Anyway, treadmills aren't the best tool for the job. Find some place outside to walk, at least you get to see the scenery and meet some neighbors. :)

Wow. Didn't think I'd trigger something like that. Sorry for hitting you in a sore place, but I'm glad I gave you the opportunity to share all of that. It sucks when you do your best to do the right thing, and other people misunderstand. You are right that often their criticism is just a reflection of their own fears, guilt or jealousy.

I'm one who needs to be doing more cardio. I just hate the machines. I always feel sorry for folks who hate it too, but feel they have to do it. So, hey! Do what you feel you need to do for now, but keep looking for more fun ways to accomplish the same thing.

Maybe if you loaded the complexes fairly lightly, they wouldn't interfere with your main lifting.

As to mixing complexes having an effect on your main lifting, keep the weight lmoderate. It won't. Trust me, I've been mixing for several years now. They can be used as a finisher for a main workout, or in separate sessions as HIIT cardio
Tim