September 2018 - Persistence and Tenacity

Tire Flipping Specific Adaption

Any decently strong man should have no issue flipping any tire they have access to.

I repeat : the tire isn’t big enough that you can’t flip it.

Specificity : I’ve found it matters and effects my ability to flip tyres something fierce.

Well two weeks of specific adaption later has me flipping the gym’s bigger one almost explosively (it may qualify as explosive), and for reps if I feel like switching sides back and forth.

(Space issue, sometimes you can flip it a ways, sometimes only back and forth.)

I imagine in another week or two I’ll practically be getting it over caber toss style.

Looking roughly like this, but with a tire.

At this point it’s like an ugly Yate’s row with a regrip or two depending on if it needs a bit more height before being pushed over or not.

It’s terribly easy at this point and people are still making a big deal of it.

Paraphrased :

“I’m going to flip the tire.”
“If you can flip the tire.”
“Why does everyone here make a big deal over flipping this tire?”
…I flip the tire…
“Well I guess you can flip the tire.”

Yeah, that conversation happened.

Perspective. My high school having a bigger one gave me some.

-J

Intro :

There is something effeminate in the attitudes common in most gyms.

Like :

•The discussing of injury as if it’s a badge of honor.
•The obsession over perfect programming.
•The obsession over perfect diet.
•Worrying about loss of gains.

The Worry Over Loss Of Gains :

People who lose gains when life tries to fuck with them have something very weak deep in the core of their mentality that they need to destroy and replace with inner power.

Oh this is gonna get good.

Gains don’t go away. The Gains Goblin ® ©™ is an imaginary character, a figment of the imagination in the minds of little boy lifters.

Imaginary characters like him, he’s only real if you believe in him. If you do though he’s coming to take your gains. Look he’s even reading up on how to do so.

Whatever equipment you do or don’t have access to, you can always progress forward.

All the fitness rules aren’t.

You can lose weight, significant amounts, and keep your strength.

Maybe I’ll do that cut down 70ish lbs to 185 just to prove this.

You can bulk like a motherfucker and still have calisthenic and cardio ability.

This would be me going up to superheavyweight. I picture about 330lbs.

It comes down to a matter of belief.

Would the ideal training be doing partials in a power rack at home with a blonde and redhead having loud moaning lesbian sex at the same time, in the same room?

Yeah probably, but you can still make do with pushups alone on your living room floor, or anywhere for that matter.

What equipment your gym doesn’t have doesn’t matter.

What equipment you don’t have doesn’t matter.

Calisthenics can be enough.

Calisthenics and feeders with a pair of light dumbbells can be enough.

Highly infrequent heavy training can be enough.

Working labor can be enough.

Any and all of it will work. It’s the mindset you approach it with.

Hell, a blank mind can work and does more effectively than a mind believing weak gym rules.

I’ve known plenty who’d never heard of the gains goblin ®©™ and therefore weren’t affected by his shenanigans and thievery.

If you’re not progressing, if you’re regressing. If life is blocking you access to the gym perfect for you in any capacity…

You won’t lose your gains. IF your mind is right.

The only reason weaklings lose their gains quickly is because they believe it so.

Weaklings believe in him. Coincidentally this seems to encapsulate most of fitness YouTube. #Fitspiration BLARRGH!

The body is robust. It prefers to keep strong. Want proof? Two words : muscle memory.

Your gains experience is solely on your mind.

-J

1000+ Pushups In One Set

Pushups have been such a major part of my training that I likely don’t talk of them enough.

Starting late 2014 and continuing til some point in 2016 or the start of 2017 I almost exclusively did “cheat” short range of motion pumping reps as my pushups, so the majority of the set was not to lockout.

(This was done December 14 or January 15.)

However, I got the hair up my ass to do 1000+ reps without dropping.

To count it was 1-9, 1, 1-9, 2 til 1-9, 1 the 100 mark and repeat. It made it easier for me to track where I was.

I still remember the pause at 836.

I wasn’t allowed to get up. I recall shaking my hands out one at a time, but don’t recall if I shook out legs/feet. I just know I was doing pushups and being in downward dog position for far longer than most would’ve stayed there for.

I recall just being soaked with sweat. The grey cotton shorts I was wearing being shades darker than when I’d started, hands and feet spots slick, and a sizable puddle from where the drip came off my face, smaller ones where I touched chest/had sweat drip off my torso.

Please note this was done on carpet. It was a staggering amount of sweat, and that’s coming from someone who sweats profusely, my friends having told me that I sweat just thinking about exercising.

I was at the time good for 100 good reps in a minute.

The 1000+ (I believe I stopped at 1376, yes that’s the number I recall) had a good number of strict reps thrown in as I had to get to the top to rest, and with each miniset I’d get less and less “pump” style reps as fatigue set in.

It’s been too long for me to remember how long it took. Low balling it would put it at 12 minutes minimum being all cheat reps.

I’d guess it was 18-22 minutes. At the time I still watched TV, and I recall it taking up most of the half hour between programs. (1030pm-11pm gap if you were wondering.)

At the very least it was a good experience and makes for a good story, though it was so much more than that.

What though you ask? I’ll leave that for you to discover, though I might say my chest is indestructible and cannot tire. However that is not the “secret” you’re looking for.

-J

Mismatched Plates & Squatting Heavy

I used to be super anal about making the gym as “perfectly calibrated” as possible.

I’d always match plates, and always use clips.

Over the years I stopped caring more and more, and at the gym I’m at currently there is a severe dearth of clips (a pair or two or less), and the plates are of so many manufacturers, styles, lb vs kg (an occasional 20kg among the bumpers), worness (it looked like multiple pitbulls had chewed on these ancient Eleiko 20kg bumpers I snatched with), height, and thickness that matching your plates would stop you from lifting entirely.

Hell, a few bars are 20kg even. I’m mathing these as if they’re still 45 because who wants to write 182 or 183 when any other American gym would have it be 185 in markings, but not necessarily reality as I’ll get to momentarily.

The clip thing is kinda annoying, but without them you just have to oly very much under control. (Did the weight just shift? You look and see the 10 and 5 were about to dive dive dive off the left side of a 255 jerk.) However there’s also the possibility that you may get some temporarily off a chick that brought her own. Of course spending a few bucks could also give you some to keep in your own gym bag now that you know the gym is well stocked but lacking clips (and chalk). This “problem” ain’t nothing but a peanut.

I’m having trouble finding the Ronnie Coleman picture I was looking for so just picture a picture of Ronnie Coleman with the caption “Ain’t nuttin but a peanut! Light weight!” Did it? Good, continue.

…..

Nuthin but a peanut!

Oh yeah, mismatched plates :

I laugh at how different both sides look, think back 5 years or so to trying to only use grey Ivanko 45s, laugh again, strap up, and proceed to pull.

God, if the weight isn’t even, if it’s not perfectly calibrated, and off balance some…you’re closer to using an odd object and not something ergonomically designed to be lifted.

The mismatch’ll build ruggedness and more true strength.

It’s a plus and not a minus.

And now the additional part written days later :

(Of course one prior paragraph was snuck in at this later date.)

I hit a 405 squat single today (9/19/18). I did a rep with the bar and 225 before taking it. At 225 the left side felt 15ish heavier than the right side. At “405” it felt 30ish lbs heavier than it should’ve with the same skew leftward. While most of this was written a few days back, today I lived the words, put my money where my mouth is, and found I can squat 405 or more off balance.

Most would call that rep crazy, I felt I had it under control. Unrack. Step, step, step. Breath out, breath out. Descend. I’ll know half way down to bail and stand or ride it down. Ride it down. Up. Sticking point. Get ugly. Complete. Rerack.Think about what the blonde (5’7″, fit, 30) training glutes and staring at me is thinking about.

This gym feels like I’ll hit a 495+ squat without it being priority. Squat building via bodybuilding and the Bruce Randall testing method.

Do you know what that last sentence meant?

In a Louie Simmons voice :

“You’re gonna good morning and hypertrophy the quads. We only do the lift occasionally! We’re not John Broz.”

-J

Grip Tip : Focus On The Middle Finger

Finger pulling, the archaic continental corollary to arm wrestling used the middle finger.

One finger lifts (also quite archaic) use the middle finger most often.

There’s a reason for this, your middle finger is your power finger.

Squeeze each of the four fingers into your palm. You’ll feel the most meaty section and the largest percentage of the forearm activate when doing this with the middle finger.

(This may be part of the reason hook grip functions how it does… anatomically advantageous.)

Whatever the overhand deadlift variation, be it a regular barbell or an axle, when focusing on pulling through the middle finger, and focusing my power through it’s wrap around the bar and pressing it into my palm…that’s when I hit overhand PRs.

We’re so disconnected from the physical as a society that simply wrapping our hands around a thin barbell is something so foreign to us that we don’t know how to do in the best manner.

9/19/18 : I pulled 365 doh (double overhand) without chalk in a humid environment.

The truth of the middle finger and it’s grip power, something I’d known instinctively for a while, finally came to words.

That rep was completed due to pulling through the middle finger, in a chi like manner focusing on pressing the tip of the middle finger into palm, and feeling the forearm engage.

(You want to squeeze through the middle finger. This is best understood in practice using a pinch grip.)

Peace,

-J

“Stupid Strength Saturday™” Sessions

Anyone who knows me in the real world, and quite possibly has seen some of my YouTube stuff will realize that my strength is odd compared to most.

The fact that :

•Injury – never happens
•Recovery – insanely fast
•Heaving/Cheat Reps- I’m far better at heaving/cheat reps than using strict form, and get more out of this style than most.
•Traps-way stronger than most.
•Core/Abs- bulletproof, very thick, I’ve never worn a belt.
•Cold Reps/No Warmups Necessary – likely cause I’ve done stuff demanding so much tension.
•Odd Objects/Weird Angles-way better here than most, and as compared to my own barbell lifting.

I believe what I’m calling “stupid strength saturdays™” is a large factor here in all of the above traits.

For two years at this commercial gym (oddly only infrequently at the more powerlifting oriented gym) like clockwork I’d go in on Saturday, sometimes also Sunday, and with another optional session in this style mid week go in and do partials in the gyms slightly uneven footed and only power rack.

It’d definitely be partial squats, started at pins anywhere from ¼ to ½ reps (usually top ⅓ to ¼), followed by shrugs in the strapped up heaving manner.

Sometimes I’d RDL as heavy as possible to a top set of 5-8 before the partial squats, and sometimes hit a full range 90%+ 1rm single to end the squatting.

At the time the partials were always back squats, it took me til the powerlifting oriented gym years down the road to discover that I love front squat partials, usually I’d work up to a top weight of 3-5 reps and then do about 10 sets at that weight with the occasional back off set of 10-20. Sometimes I’d do rep challenges like go for 50 partials with my full range 1rm as fast as possible. I’d always be doing some serious old school weight room work.

Sometimes I’d run the heavy pulling variant from shrug to rack pull to hand and thigh lifts as the weight increased, as well as sometimes superset in an oly variant, usually the power snatch, between sets of the heavy exercise.

These sessions could be bonkers from the outside looking in.

I’ll admit this was my college age self inspired primarily by the chaos and pain blog to do shit that I’ve never seen anyone else doing. I had a blast, and didn’t view it as a chore. In fact I can’t recall training that I ever enjoyed more. It paid dividends in a rugged whole body strength severely lacking in most.

I did this type of thing last Saturday at a bodybuilding gym, and this is kinda me getting amped up for a heavy marathon session tomorrow.

Right now I’m doing infrequent weight room sessions. If I stick to it I’ll write about it soon enough.

If I stick to ~2 sessions a week I’ll still likely end up with at least 5 hours gym time, and quite possibly even 10 hours weekly.

Will my frequency itch stay scratched by PT, walking, improv, and more? We’ll see.

I know I’m moving up levels physically right now. I can feel it.

Give the described style of session a try. Hell, even add more to it.

Whole body & heavyweight marathon session here I come.

-J

Just Work In

(I wrote this a long time ago, but the other day seeing a bodybuilder sitting on the benches for 20 minutes wearing straps and staring at all the in use lat pulldown machines reminded me of this draft which I recall having initially wrote after offering the work in to a mean mugging bodybuilder chick. Enjoy.)

It baffles me how rare it is for people to work in with each other.

Whether it’s someone who’d rather stare at you and their wanted piece of equipment instead of speaking up, or the people who react hostilely and say no to the requests (do they own the gym?), the shit baffles me.

In reality you could fit at least a half dozen at any machine at the same time. Your rest periods generally allow for that many. Supersetting? They’re in and out while you’re at the other exerise. Even different attachments and settings are simple enough to work around.

Now squat racks can get tricky. Unrack height is a big deal. However I’ve worked in with some girl (actually 2 or 3 times, different chicks, multiple gyms) probably 4 inches shorter than me, one because I wanted to finish exercising and both racks were taken, and two I’m ok with low unrack heights. In fact I’m more comfortable with and used to the lower unracks.

Machines? I once waited about 5 minutes, saw the 2 only talking, asked to work in, NO, okay waited a few more minutes, one set in that time span, and during their next long rest period worked in. One didn’t give a shit, the other held a grudge for like 8 months and refused to do his last set with me around. The funny part is, my set easily fit into their rest periods see how 99% of the time the rest period allows for anyone wanting to to work in.

I’ll offer the work in, colloquially “just work in dude” when I catch the people mean mugging from a short distance when that machine (or all of that machine) is taken.

It will be a gym policy of mine and I’ll likely have it spray painted in giant letters on my gym walls “Just Work In”. I don’t care for the money enough to pander to shitheads and assholes.

I’d rather build either an uninviting ghetto gym or a place truly with a friendly atmosphere. The middle grounds of gyms are where the bullshit occurs. And true story: there’s nothing like your spotter making drug deals on his bluetooth as he spots you, occasionally baffling the other side of the line by yelling such things as “all you”. I’m dead serious about this too. I liked that gym. A dirty locker room, oddly stocked with tp, the floors sticky to the touch of your barefeet, a clientele that was (at least on the male end) 50% felons, plenty of weights and squat racks, terrible benches, and the cost $10 a month.

I’d trade most gyms for that one, though I’ve also lifted at better.

-J

Perception : On Frequent Squatting

I’ve always been more of a “leg lad™” than a bench bro, maybe that’s why leg day, full body training, and/or Bulgarian squatting never bothered me.

I liked training legs, I count the deadlift as working them, and find leg work to be the most bang for your buck among exercises per chunk of training time.

I noticed a correlation between bigger deadlift and more sprint speed. With stronger legs and hips I became more athletic.

Okay, frequent squatting :

Most view such things as insane, something you can’t possibly recover from. I’ll admit I’m likely far more willing than most to run myself into the ground, and get a (likely bizzare) satisfaction about pushing myself under adverse circumstances. Hell, it feels good (at least to me) when everyone else’s response to my training is how they “couldn’t do that”.

(Pinnacle anecdote off the top of my head was while working labor doing a 3 month squat every day phase, pulling an all nighter and jump squatting 405 at about 5am the day after a long ass shift, as the 2nd of 3 sessions in the 24 hours immediately following the long shift.)

Be advised :

It doesn’t take long to work up to lifetime PRs or near them on a daily basis.

3 weeks.

If you’re not getting to ~90%+ 1rm as your “daily max” within 3 weeks you’re likely either already at a massive powerlifter style wide stance squat, you’re purposely easing in slow, that or your issue is a matter of effort…lacking effort.

2 things :

1. Why can’t you be part of the elite?
2. Oly lifters squat massive amounts daily.

Squatting more like a weightlifter is far more conductive to frequency than wide at least as I’ve found so far. You may tread differently.

Get a little crazy, after all that’s what the gym is for. Substitute Caveman Activity!

Written out of disgust at some recent article by a CSCS certified trainer making a big deal out of his month of daily squatting.

It’s fucking squats not trench warfare. You’re participating in a hobby, it ain’t hard.

Like that old time strength writer said after while being in his 70s and having just 20 rep squatted an NFL player into the dirt…”Squats? Squats are easy.”

Perception.

-J

30 Pullups With Some Muscle Ups Thrown In : A Gym Dream

Wow! Another awesome physical performance…in a dream.

A few years back it was something like 100 pullups off of a cage in prison like I’d seen in some Jason Statham movie.

Last night I was doing pullups a few stories up off of some military obstacle course apparatus. A set of 30, and in it I looked similar in size, only slightly leaner. I was counting it, breaking it up into multiple sets of 5, and was in disbelief at how easy it was, how far I was going.
About 18 reps in I was pulling myself higher than nipples over the “bar” (technically beam due to it being a climbing tower), and at 25 reps in started doing muscle ups hitting them on the 26th, and 27th reps, failing the muscle up on rep 29, and finishing the 30 with another muscle up success.

I often have dreams where I do amazing things physically. It’s like my subconscious is showing me the possibilities that I truly hold physically.

Humans are meant to naturally perform awesome/have awesome physical abilities.

-J

Perception & Strength : Today’s Tire Flipping Anecdote

They see me flip the tire and make a big deal of it.

It’s a group of 3, I’d guess mother, 17 year old son, and I’m not sure who the other woman was as she was too old to be daughter/sister, and too young to be the mom (which would now leave the question who’s the older woman). This other one while exercising with them was leading them, maybe a hands on trainer?

Anyway the trainer one was first to make a big deal of it. Asking me what it weighs and similar.

“I don’t know, but my high school had a bigger one for the football team”.

I try to explain that flipping this one back and forth is nothing. Truly it’s not, in the strength world, nor to any healthy male.

I told them that when I practiced it I got be flipping them very explosively using the aforementioned school’s tire for as much as 15-20 in a row.

Then : bigger tire x 15-20 in a row.
Now : tire not as large x a few sets of 2-4 singles

I was looking at the group and thinking the 17 year old male could do this. It’d be hard, but well within the realm of possibility for him.

If you can lift the tire high enough to prop a knee under it, then you can grind that motherfucker over. Hell the tread wasn’t even worn thin on them, advantageous tires that they are.

My 5’9″ 165lb non lifting buddy got the high school’s bigger tire over after a few days (spread over a month) of using the smaller one, my having told him to wedge the knee, and his being willing to fight for it.

It was like watching the continental version of a tire flip. I’d guess he struggled for 15-45 seconds on his 2nd or 3rd attempt, that rep grinding it up high enough to barely prop it on the knee and then fighting from there.

The 17 year old could get the tire today if he only tried, and was willing to fight.

The story seems to be that it’s a bodybuilding gym. No one sans an occasional passing by strongman flips the thing. While I’m not a competitive strongman my sense of play brings me to try my hand at rocks, implements, logs, and similar whenever the opportunity presents itself.

(Like the time I stood a ~200lb waterlogged log on end, brought it out of the water, reshouldered it having tipped it on end now on land, and almost locked out the terribly unwieldy “staggered neutral open palm grip 2 hand push jerk from right shoulder”.)

I have the advantage of a few years ago going to the field and progressing from struggling to prop it on the knee to flipping it via grind to flipping explosively to flipping explosively for reps with a larger tire.

I’m out of practice, but I still know how to fight against something unwieldy and not ergonomically designed for human lifting.

(My strength is always more impressive outside of chrome ergonomic gym settings.)

I can go back in the memories to seeing my buddy fight and succeed with that larger tire and to my rep out set with a larger tire.

That tire today ain’t shit…to those with a different perception.

I’m likely going to be the oddball at this gym too as I’ll likely end up flipping the tire down and back, maybe (and it sounds crazy yet doable to me at this point) loading the tire from parking lot onto the loading dock…by hand. Maybe I’ll stack the tires atop each other first. Maybe I’ll do all of it combined. Flip the bigger tire down and back , then load both tires on the loading dock whilst stacking them one atop the other.

Perception. It makes a huge difference.

-J