Category: Mindset

“Today is front squat, power clean, and some type of pressing,” I think as I walk in.

Now it’s early am, I hadn’t slept, was tired, but had a medium sized meal in me. I feel like I need to shit (cause I ate junk food), but can’t. No matter, the gym’s mine.

Okay, I’m supposed to clean, 255 for either 5×2 or 4×3. I completely go off plan skipping the warm up, and attempting to up my cold clean max from 260 to 265.

1st rep?
High pull so damn close.

Reset grip, slowly now, explode, catch. Got it. Drop, high pull the next rep missing what would have been a double PR.

No matter 265 for almost 2 (265×1.9) says “I can get past 275 today”, I’m thinking I’ll hit a new PR.

On with 285.

1st rep?
High pull, and I change the song.

Repeat 4-6x.

Damn it!

Strip it down to 225, clean it into the rack.

One front squat single, I’d lost my pop, and the mental on the cleans.
(Mental can matter a ton on cleans.)

Sit there for a while listening to some depressive country, then grab a pair of 35lb kettlebells.

Bottoms up press, both hands for 2 at the same time. So you know bottoms up presses are hard as hell using both hands, you can’t stabilize your wrists nearly as well.

I can rep a 50lb or 24kg kettlebell in my right hand alone, and get at least 1 rep with a 40 or 45 in my left, but together 35lb per hand is a near limit set.

I did very little work in this session, failed more reps than I completed, and going in thought I’d PR, didn’t, and lost interest in the workout big time.

You’re not going to win every session. Some workouts are shitty. At least I got in there though, and at times that’s the most important thing.

We have off days, and we have PR days. I’m getting close to the 315 clean. 285 will happen within a week should I max out again.

-J

The Sumo Bulk Tweet

This was originally a Mike Cernovich tweet, and it’s something that has stayed in my mind over the years. I’m expanding on it slightly, and would like to see this experiment ran.

The premise:

Take a natural and have them bulk like a sumo wrestler. Have them eat copious quantities of food, and throw reason out the window. Allow them to get big, and strong…. and fat.

6′ seems a reasonable height to base off of, it seems like a height more lifters than not are around.

So what are normal weights for the 6 footer?

• ~170 if really lean and/or scrawny
• 185 if lean but normal
• 200 if bigger and lean
• 220 anywhere from normal to kinda lean(the kinda lean guy here is huge)
• 250 if bigger and normalish in bodyfat %, not fat, but not lean
• Heavier when fat (Obviously gear changes these equations)

Now the idea here is to bulk past that reasonable 250 mark, up to at least 300. Since we’re talking 6 footers I’m even inclined to say up to 325 (maybe even past 325, I’ve met a 6’1″ 360lber who used to be in pro sumo, was normalish in bodyfat %, and had the largest muscular legs I’ve ever seen on a human).  Keep athletic, never quit movement while doing this, but we want to add far more mass (both muscle and fat) than would normally happen in a reasonable manner.

I want you conditioning, training all the time, and eating even more.

Once you’ve got heavy naturally comes the twist. Diet down while ON gear. Run your first cycle as part of the weight cut.

The idea here is to let the anabolics keep your body more anabolic so as to keep more muscle mass (that you built naturally) on you than you would if you were to cut naturally.

The tweet’s premise was “would this allow you to semi-naturally hold more lean muscle mass in a lean state than would pure natural status”. Think for a second, how did you build that muscle? Why would the cutting cycle have you lose that mass?

Being I have no experience with gear past other’s anecdotes this is pure guess work, but my brain says this would work, AND be far healthier for you in the long run, while only needing that one cycle.

Why couldn’t you be a lean 275 or  small 308 with 50+ lbs of fat on you, cycle+cut, and end as a lean 275lber+ at the end?

Food for thought.

Other Stuff (semi related)

• Could you through mindset and breath work get the effects of anabolics? With or without having been on?  The Savage Lifestyle says it can with mindset(although after having been on prior), and Wim Hof with his breathing method says you can tap into the whole host of your body’s CNS capability. My opinion? You can.
• When your test is up, you feel better. Hornier, more confident, more capable. Better all around.
• Corollary to the last: By going and getting shit done you can quite quickly force the feedback loop to High T.
• Masculine endeavors raise your Test levels naturally. Male environments (more rare in this feminine faggy society, but still out there, or something you can build check Operation Werewolf) be they work, prison, a gym, MMA, whatever it may be cause you to damn near overnight harden up mentally…and physically. Since starting the labor I’ve seen some upper body growth that seems like the stimuli wasn’t enough to cause it.
• How much of growth is test related? Like I said with the last one, I’ve seen upper body growth that doesn’t fully make sense…until you factor in that life has my test levels up right now. That growth wasn’t from stimulus as much as it was from heightened masculinity, higher testosterone levels.
• I’ve heard of guys admit they are on gear or TRT who barely exercise, admit they aren’t that strong currently, yet look damn good, in their opinion purely by the high dose of test in them.
• I still don’t give a shit whether you use or not, I’ll always view the work put in as the most important factor, like the above said they’re weak but look good when relying on the test with no training.

-J

It seems what qualifies as “old” keeps getting younger and younger.

A guy no more than early 30s telling me how he’s doomed to a lifetime of low recovery and injuries. I told him that shits all mental.

See I came up reading more “old time” lifting sources (and some “crazy” modern ones), no mentions of rhabdo, overtraining, and whatnot, just advice, successes, and possibilities.

Anecdotes such as Bruce Randall’s ULTRA FAST losing of weight, a man pulling either 700 or 800lbs cold in street clothes upon walking into the gym having just jumped off the train he hobo’d his way across the country on, Jack LaLanne’s exploits, and the one that popped into mind talking to that guy yesterday:

The old man squatting with the NFL player.

See that guy in the gym yesterday was saying how he’s doing no lower body due to having strained either his abductors or adductors.

An insane squat story seems relevant.

An old time great (John Grimek) was hanging around inside the gym.

In walked a local NFL player, who being big and strong, yet wanting to lift with a partner asked if anyone would squat with him.

All and sundry replied no, except the old man now in his 70s.

The NFL player laughed but welcomed the old man thinking he’d squat him into the dirt.

The NFL player started off with low reps, but the old man took the first warmup set to 20, and suggested the football player match him.

A testosterone challenge, and thinking how many sets of 20 could an old man really do the next set was 20 reps for each.

NFL player during warmups: “Damn this is hard”.
Old Man: “Up the weight”.

315.
315 x 20 reps.
It’s hard but something I feel all can accomplish. “Natty”, “hardgainer”, “weakling”, or whatever, you can at some point hit 315×20. Hell I just did.

Back to the story: 315 on the bar. The NFL player either didn’t make the 20 or decided no more after one set here. The old man….5×20 at 315.

The NFL player asked him “How can you do that, I’d never be able to and I’m in my prime”

The old man’s reply “Squats are easy”.

Age is no limit. Sure building the base comes easier at earlier ages, but it can be done at anytime.

Just because you’re x years old doesn’t mean you can’t be robust, jacked and injury free. 70 year old men have outworked prime of their life NFL players. What can you do?

-J

Lately I’ve been picking up day labor for some much needed quick cash.

Carrying shit for long hours is something that is just different than the gym.

Very quickly you’ll realize why laborers often have far stronger hands than lifters, and why many laborers are built quite wiry.

Being on your feet all day long, moving uncalibrated moderate to heavy shit, and having a lot of time under tension while resting very little will do that to you.

A lean body, with disproportionately overgrown forearms and hands.

The hands need and respond well to all the weird stimulus, and mentally you’ll have no choice to get tougher as the work is hard….far harder than the gym, while your warm ups and stretching are non-existent.

Quickly you’ll realize that pain, the hurt kind is just temporary, it’ll go away. (Remember I don’t get injured, your results may vary.)

Labor will test your commitment to the gym. Will you puss out of it, or will you go hit it anyway?

I can already tell that doing this will solid my hand strength right up, from getting good to STRONG.

It’s too soon to tell whether this will have me lean out or not.

Do I want to do this for life? No, but right now it has its benefits:
Mental toughness, hand strength, cardio, and cash.

Time to squat, the big guy ball n’ thigh sweat chafe from that 12hr doesn’t matter…if you don’t let it haha.

Get it!

-J

A neat trick I’ve been using during calisthenics is this:

While doing something relatively easy like a pushup or a Hindu squat I’ll visualize a similar movement pattern like a bench press or a squat, but with a weight far heavier than my 1rm.

Sometimes every rep has the visualization, and sometimes only the last rep of the set.

Visualizing the harder exercise makes the calisthenic both easier and more effective.

You get into a zen place where the reps fly past easily, yet the pump,the activation in the muscles is far more than if you were just banging out the reps.

You hear of visualization for athletes, I never fully got it until a few nights ago doing my pushups in the aforementioned style.

As far as training is concerned this is esoteric stuff.

It goes along real well with isometric and dynamic work.

This may be part of Tai Chi/ Chi Gung style’s benefits…. Visualization.

I’ve done stuff like this in the past when I had no gym access, and little equipment.

This type of practice allows for rapid strength gain by turning off regulators in our body be they physical or mental.

Think of it this way; it’s been shown that visualization alone can cause the muscles involved in the visualized act to fire, so why not combine this with movement?

Doing this causes a compounding effect.

Think of the uses, and applications.

Landmine work while visualizing breaking jaws with Tyson like blows.

The strength that can be built with little to no equipment.

Hell, you’re so dialed in, and so focused that it’ll even be less wear and tear on the body.

There’s definitely something to visualization. It’s not some looney thing that doesn’t work. It may seem looney, but it does work.

Give it a fair shot. Next time you’re doing pushups visualize benching 405+.

It’s a cool sensation. You’ll like it.

-J