Month: June 2021

June 2021 Flow – Properly “Deadlifting” In The Smith Machine :

If you’re going to pull in the smith machine pull from knee height.

Treat it as a rack pull, not a deadlift.

I’d also suggest using snatch grip, because snatch grip is better.

Always. Better.

Use the movement to bodybuild, don’t try to be a powerlifter here.

No one cares the #p in a smith machine.

It’s a smith machine.

I am set on making planet fitness work for me, it’s my personal challenge.

I love the fact so many view it as a limited place.

I love the fact most of the staff does, lifting instead at other gyms.

Love that!

I feed off of such bullshit, I’m the king of improv, of making pf work.

The “deadlifting” advice above suddenly makes it so that heavy pull is on the menu at pf.

I’ve benefitted, and I’ve been thanked for it.

Persistence & Tenacity

June 2021 Flow – Lightly Weighted Calisthenics W/ Progressive Overload :

It strikes me as how the body gets used to calisthenics real easily, it could get used to slightly weighted calisthenics just as well.

Try that out as an experiment.

…..

Do high reps regularly, but do them weighted ever so slightly.

Then add a bit, but keep those reps in the stratosphere.

Eventually you’ll be doing pushups for sets of 50 with a person, even an impressively large person or two small humans, standing on your upper back.

Persistence & Tenacity

June 2021 Flow – Burpees As A System Reset :

Burpees function as a system reset.

Whatever it is – give yourself ten minutes, drench yourself in sweat, get down, pushups, STAND (back) UP enough times – and the world is right.

Don’t overlook burpees – their value is immense.

You’ll be covered in sweat, able to wring out your shirt, and in a great place – euphoric, uninhibited.

Persistence & Tenacity

June 2021 Flow – Exercise By The Four Count :

Exercise by the four count sends me somewhere else – a place where I do better…by being militant minded.

I didn’t think I would do chins that day, had been making excuses, went to the bar anyway (the key) – 1,2,3,1, 1,2,3,2… – I got 10 four counts. My chin wouldn’t have cleared another time.

Before counting that style with that set I thought I’d stop at 15 reps tops.

Counting by the 4ct in the moment I expected 12-13, 24-26 reps when my PR is 22.

10 4cts – 20 reps was muscular failure.

That surprised me, I didn’t expect to fail there, I was expecting a PR, I PUSHED TO FAILURE having seconds prior been wishy washy about even doing one set.

All by switching how I counted reps.

Man doing 4cts is a training mentality hack!

Pyschologically with the 4ct I’m…

Better.

Persistence & Tenacity

June 2021 Flow – “5x Harder”

He hung with me for a bit past 15 sets, me doing 20s, him 10s.

He tapped before 20 sets in, and went to use the cables. I’m not holding it against him.

I expect any dude could do 20×20 pushups with me.

400 reps.

*could

It’s a heart check.

I learn about you when we do so, I’m judging you – your work ethic, your mental, the self talk I pick up on, I’m judging.

I can talk anyone past their perceived limits.

Some you get out of their heads, and immediately they get a 300-500% performance increase.

It’s way past the PR sets you hit putting on a show for the cute chick staring and trying not to be obvious about it.

That there’s maybe doubling the effort.

“Baby, you’re about to watch a 240+ man hit 20+ chins”.

And I do so!

He and I talked later – I went past the 20×20, I did over 500 in the gym, plus another set at home on the day.

He was saying to me “500 pushups, that’s why you’re jacked”, and that’s the truth of the matter.

Everyone could be jacked, big, strong, fit.

Genetics don’t matter 99.999% of the time.

The .001 where it may matter is at most in the olympics, and at the top level of professional sports.

Even then I don’t buy the hype.

Do the work. You’ll get jacked.

Who’s to say there’s a difference between you and him!

So many google prison fitness, jacked inmates, and similar – it’s a famous topic among gym circles and in the lifting corner of the internet.

How do they do it?

It’s not a secret.

Go be physical all day long, eat so that the body will only be at it’s peak.

“Starving” puts you into pure instinct.

“Survival mode” is where the true transformations and peak performance is at.

On my feet all day, rocking the day after day sunburn, NOT EATING – oh man! am I making gains.

The body is just sucking the fat off, while I’m getting stronger.

Physical all day + gym daily + a few liquid calories (gatorade, fruit juice, milk)+ one evening meal = leaner and leaner, stronger and stronger, properly outgoing, social, deep voiced, short sleeping – peaking/improving performance AS IS NATURAL! Natural – as God & nature intends.

Go do a few hundred pushups.

Go hit chins daily.

Work on your feet in the sun.

I see the error made by those inside for work, who go straight to the remote or the console!

Get outside, get physical.

You’re not even pushing.

All I do is a medium effort.

How I started my pushups at 14?
That was life or death in mentality!

You can go at least 5x harder, do 5x more, and make 5x the progress!

Persistence & Tenacity

6/4/21 – In Life & Fitness Show Up :

The key to the gym, as in life, is to show up.

I see these couples, 50+, that go for walks daily, probably an hour a day…and they’re far healthier than the majority society wide.

Normal health.

Normal health isn’t hard to achieve, plus it’s the simplest thing to maintain.

Just do the work.
Do the work.

That’s it!

You can be jacked on calisthenics and walking.

There are no excuses.

The equipment you need, all of it, to be healthy, strong…and happy – is inside you.

Simply spend an hour or two each day committed to your health.

Spend half the time doing calisthenics, the other half walking.

Easy peasy.

Simple.

Just do it.

Persistence & Tenacity

How To Calculate The Bench Press Equivalent Of Weighted Pushups :

Early on in my training I saw numbers between 60% and 70% of your bodyweight called the bench press equivalent poundage of a pushup.

Most sources said either ⅔ or 65% bw.

I call that difference negligible, and use them when I calculate the bench equivalent of my weighted pushups.

The Equation :
bw x .66 + x

a graphic which agrees which my assumption – add the weight on the upper back as straight weight (found image and added to post much later)

x is the number of pounds on the upper back, I just straight lump sum add it to the pushup equation since the resistence is centered at my scapula directly across from the chest, the prime mover.

Who says you need a barbell to get the training effect of heavy benching?

Persistence & Tenacity

June 2021 Flow – Make Light Weights Heavy :

I hold my last rep of overhead squats at lockout, using the improv bar, a long count of standing glute flex…

Doing these types of things, going out of your way to get pumps from making light weights feel as if they’re heavy…

You get strong as if the light weights are heavy.

I’ve come to love training at planet fitness. The “limitations” that others perceive – I view making it work as a personal challenge.

I’m committed, I’ve been committed to making it work.

I thrive.

I thrive!

Everything comes down to mindset, pf works for me – I DECIDED!

I don’t see any limitation there.
I’ve committed to making it work.

Chins, unweighted, weighted, for high and low reps.

Loads of pushups, some weighted.

DB C&P – the 75s every day – the rep count keeps getting higher.

Improvising overhead squats.

Full body every day.
No days off.

Commit to being strong wherever you train with whatever you have for equipment.

I have.

You get a lot making light weights heavy. You needn’t chase numbers. You can milk what you have for forever.

Gains are a guarantee.

6/1/21 Gym :

Chins :
5 x bw

Weighted Chins :
1 x bw + 25
1 x bw + 45
1 x bw + 70
1 x bw + 90
11 x bw + 25

Stronger grip is necessary to make the +70 and +90 really solid. I basically jumped to the bar on those two sets and pulled as fast as possible. The speed up was impressive, but the negatives too were fast down.

I was hyped up to “what was I thinking” (linked below), and maybe to “pouring up” by pimp c on either the +90 or the 11 rep set.

Sing a line, timing the song well, jump to the bar, smoke the rep!

Keeping a hurry up pace up with the dude who trains weighted chins with me training with me.

BW+90? That’s something like a chin up as a 340lb fat man.

I’m that strong.

Today’s Amp Up Music :

Overhead Squats :
3×10

DB C&P
8 x 75s

That’s a PR, the Sig Klein challenge is close. I had to search to find a second bell, that was funny, normally I never have to go looking for the 75s.

Mantra Pushups :
10 sets

10 sets of pushups, bringing you into the mid 200 to 300 total reps area is a very solid standby.

I use this as a standby, I’ll go to the gym to get out of the house, and get this done when I’m not particularly feeling the gym.

Five sets or so in, and I’ll be hyped to be at the gym, and I’ll do full body like the usual.

Today was almost an off day.
I had pushups to do, and didn’t realize till after I’d done the overhead squats that May PT wasn’t required today.

The Mirror :
I look better in the mirror.

Calories are fairly low. Activity is high. I keep training. Diet is whatever sounds good, just not huge in calories.

I like the change I’m seeing, I’m strong, and feel good.

I expect abs this summer. Probably around 230lbs while very strong.

6/1/21 Flow – Rep For Rep & A Scoring Handicap :

What you and a training partner do in competition needn’t be even steven.

You can scale the weight used to make it interesting.

A couple days ago a buddy bowed out of going rep for rep on db c&p with me even though I was at the 75s, telling him to take the 50s when he thought it was an even steven challenge.

“Dude, scaling is fine. I want it to be interesting” I say.

“Dude, I have to be mentally prepared to go face to face with you in training, not now, another time” he said to me.

Yesterday I met, hit it off, and ended up trained with a dude – another dude who my gut instinct, and experience thus far tells me is game.

Gameness is the #1 trait to have in training partner(s).

My buddy who bowed out, I train with him because aside from this one strange exception (you don’t have to want to train what I do 100% of the time) – he’s always game.

The dude last night?

We each banged out a rapid fire 3-4×10 pullups rotating grips each set, then he was game for rep for rep on db c&p.

Fuck the scaling, and fuck the handicap – they’re irrelevant details.

I’m 80-100lbs heavier than the guy, it was scaled me with the pair of 75s, him the 35s, he’d been out of the gym for awhile – the real value is in how we faced each other – I go one, you go one, I go two, you go two, and so on.

1-5-1 pyramid at the end of a fairly long high volume session?

I got immense value from that.

By myself I’d not have done another 25 reps floor to overhead, I’d probably have done 5.

Put in lots of work and it’ll work.

I’m getting to where when I got the Sig Klein challenge it’s not going to be an effort, it’s just something I do daily.

12 reps like that. Right now 5 ain’t a thing in that manner. So 5 becomes 6 becomes 7…and I’ll be doubling the challenge rep count in the near future.

No matter the circumstances 15+ chin ups is baked in. Psychologically it’s powerful to know I’ll hit 30, that 50 is within my sights in my realm of reality.

The potential for greatness is in everyone, individual greatness is all in the positive actions you do, and the negative actions you don’t.

Persistence & Tenacity