medman

Anyone here tried it? What you're opinion of it? I've been planning to take up a martial art this summer for fun, and the 3 frontrunners have been Muy Thai, BJJ, and Krav Maga. KM seems easier to learn, and doesn't require nearly as much flexibility (I don't know if I could ever get my knee to the head of a taller person in a Muy Thai clinch), but it also lacks much of the "art" side of martial arts. Just wondering if anyone has anything interesting to say on the subject

Dude, not only is your figure herculean, but that improvement in your legs (in 3 MONTHS??) qualifies as epic. You could literally trace the borders of the 3 vasti in your quads with a magic marker, they're so clearly defined. EDIT: Thanks to vegimator for pointing out the diet/training blog in his signature!

Hey man, just wanted to offer some encouragement as someone who started stronglifts around the same time as you (started the 1st of february). I was wondering...why are you increasing weight with each set rather than warming up and then doing your 5x5 at a constant weight? I looooove red lentils by the way, I bet that soup kicked ass!

I respectfully disagree. I think doing things like encouraging someone to give up meat for a day can, for example, show them that it's possible, or even easy, to incorporate into their own lifestyle. As for giving up "other uses of animals" - how could someone (for example) give up leather or wool for a day, when they already own those things? Throwing away a pair of leather shoes is a far greater waste of an animal than wearing those shoes until the end of their lifetime. I don't see anything wrong with encouraging people to spend a day exploring a meatless lifestyle...it might convince someone they could make the change. Keep in mind there are vegans out there who do not take a philosophical approach to the lifestyle. My brother won't eat animal products, but doesn't have an issue with buying leather shoes because, in his experience, the non-leather alternatives wear down much faster, require more frequent replacement, and are often made of petroleum byproducts (he has a more environmentalist than animal rights approach to his veganism).

I know what you mean about getting conflicting advice. The best thing in my experience is to try different peoples' recommendations (given that they know what they're talking about) and find the best fit for you. I had several weightlifting friends who brought me to the gym to "bulk me up" in undergrad. One of the pushed me so hard on chest/triceps one session that I pulled both triceps tendons. That was one of the things that scared me away for a long time. I've had far more success with stronglifts than with anything I ever tried before...it was just a matter of finding what worked for my body. High reps, low reps, compound, isolation...I think everyone's body "likes" certain things better, and it's a matter of finding what works for you personally. I'd increase the deadlift for sure, I'm positive you could handle it. And consider trying stronglifts, my squat and deadlift have increased about 60% in two months compared to what I was doing when my bodybuilding friends were taking me to the gym to do their programs.

I think you might be focusing too much on isolation exercises for someone whose goal has been to gain mass. When I used to do isolation exercises, I never gained any significant amount of weight (which is why I gave up on weight training for a few years). Coming back to it with Stronglifts (all compound lifts), I have gained about 10 pounds in 2 months, with minimal change in body fat. It also seems to me that you could have benefited more from increasing your weights more often. I see you're deadlifting 130 now, and you were deadlifting 130 on February 1st. Especially since you were able to squat 180 (sorry to hear about your knee), I don't see any reason you couldn't have worked your way up to over 200 lbs on deadlifts by now, and pulling big weights on your deadlift would add a lot of thickness to your back and your entire posterior chain. If you have that issue with your hands getting sweaty, you could use chalk or even straps (though at this weight it would be best to just work on grip strength and use chalk), though doing high weight, low rep deadlifts would in and of itself improve grip strength. I'm just trying to piece this together from what information you've included in this journal, but I think a major culprit might have been that you weren't increasing the load frequently enough to progress well.

So are these 1RMs? 3RM? 5RM?

Had a day of PRs today! Morning weight 131.8 lbs Squat: 5x5 @ 160lbs (121% BW, tied PR from 3 days ago) Overhead Press: 5x5 @ 80lbs (PR, 61% BW) Deadlift: 1x5 @ 175lbs (PR, 133% BW) Pullups: 1x10, 1x7, 1x5 @ BW (PR) The squat was a repeat of the PR weight from 3 days ago, but I feel I used some body english on a couple of reps last time, and wanted to get my form hammered out before I go up in weight. I feel I did really well this time in terms of keeping good, controlled form throughout all the reps, and will be increasing to 165 next session. My overhead press surprised me. 2 weeks ago, I had just finished deloading after failing 3 times at 70 lbs. After deloading, I nailed the 70 and 75 lb presses on my first attempts, and today, got my full 5x5 at 80! I'm really happy about that, since the press is my weakest lift and a 10 lb improvement in 2 weeks is proportionally a bigger improvement than I hoped for (figured I'd fail at 75, deload, make it, then fail at 80). I've suspected that the 5 lb increases I was going with on deadlift was leaving me unchallenged. When chewy told me they used to recommend 10 lb increments, that sounded much more reasonable. In any case, I was feeling great and went for a 15 lb increase this session to make up for lost time (don't worry, I won't make a habit of it). I nailed 175 with perfect form and am confident that I will be able to pull 185, 195, and then 205 on my next 3 deadlift days. 205 seems like an intimidating number, but this 175 today didn't even feel like a challenge (I definitely had to work for it, but compared to my squats it felt like child's play). The pullups were my first time nailing 10 reps on the first set. I already knew my chinups and neutral grip pullups were ready to start weighted sets on, and this seals the deal. I will start adding weight and cycle doing [chinup, neutral grip pullup, pullup] with each weight (since to me that represents easy, medium, and hard), then add 5 lbs and repeat the cycle. I also ran into an ex-girlfriend today at the gym who commented on how much bigger I look than when we went out

Man, every time I open this thread, I get hungry. Fantastic looking stuff!

I only buy bottled water when I'm out, don't have my own bottle with me, and need to buy a drink (in other words, I only buy it when my only alternatives are sugary drinks, which are also bottled!).

This is very similar to some muffins I tried making, though I think I had some wheat bran in there, and possibly some whole wheat pastry flour (though I can't quite remember if I'm thinking of the right recipe on that one). I'll have to try these!

This is true with certain limitations. Yes, losing a significant amount of weight, whether it's through starvation, bizarre diets, liposuction, etc, will improve your LDL, blood sugar, and blood pressure. While I don't know exact numbers, I'm certain a huge proportion of obese fad dieters had poor diets to begin with (e.g. high cholesterol, high saturated fat, low fibre). If they were eating too many calories, but sticking to an otherwise well-balanced Mediterranean diet, for example, I'm certain that going on atkins wouldn't provide as much of an improvement in their tests, because the benefits of losing weight would be balancing against the change from a high quality, high-omega, low saturated fat diet to the atrocity that is atkins. So the effect of eating a reduced quantity would be more apparent when the quality of the diet hasn't decreased. If the quality of their diet increased in addition to reducing quantity (e.g. from a steady diet of McDonalds to a portion-controlled vegan diet), they would see a greater improvement. Long story short: losing weight increases insulin sensitivity, which has a downstream effect of improving your lipid profile (LDL:HDL ratio, etc). So losing weight will always in and of itself improve your numbers. Decreasing quantity and increasing quality of your diet are the two ways to improve your numbers...for many, the fad diet isn't a decrease in quality, so the quantity effects are pronounced.

Good luck Robert! You've done so much for the community, and I really hope this book both brings you success and helps change the views of people out there. I know I'll be picking up a copy for sure. Also, is there a way to order the book directly vs through a bookstore? I'd rather have my money go straight to you rather than partly to Indigo or Amazon or whatever!

Oh, them's fightin' words! I saw you posted 160 for 1RM squat...that's crazy impressive! I just managed 160 for my 5x5 and was dizzy after each set. Also, I see you've deadlifted 175...that's wicked! I've only done up to 160 so far because I'm trying not to add weight too quickly, but I don't feel I've come anywhere near failure yet so I'm attempting 170 tomorrow with a short-term goal of 200 by the end of the month! Oh, and I think between what you've lost and what I've gained, I now outweigh you by like 3 pounds . I'm totally up for some friendly competition though .

Good job getting the body fat down! I can only imagine how impressive it is to see you lifting so huge at 5'1"! PS I just saw your message on my log...you're right, we're at similar body weights and strength levels! Is this the first time you've done an organized lifting program? Are you taking any supplements? I'm totally down for the friendly competition/being online gym buddies

These are some kickass numbers! I don't know if I'm remembering this right, but are you 5'1"?

Keep up the awesome work! I'd love to hear what you recorded as well.

Just did. That's much more reasonable than I was expecting given the original post.

chrisjs is totally right. Pointing to other vitamins and saying that proves taking vitamin D is useless is retarded. You can check your vitamin D levels, and a repeat blood test after supplementation can prove that taking the pills worked. Vitamin D deficiency has some good, strong data to support its link to things like osteoporosis and prostate cancer. So if the vitamin D pills have corrected the deficiency, and the deficiency has been strongly linked to a number of health problems, it stands to reason that vitamin D supplementation has helped you.

Took a bit of a break from squatting, and felt great going into today's workout. I've kept up with it, though (I just haven't been posting in this log each time...I figure it will be more interesting if I just post every week or two to show my progress). Squat: 5x5 @ 160lbs (PR, 121% BW) Bench Press: 5x5 @ 115lbs, failed on the last 2 reps of the last 2 sets and needed my spotter to help me get them done. Pendlay Rows: 3x5 @ 95lbs, I feel I'm getting better at keeping myself from using any hip drive Weighted Dips: 3x5 @ 20 lbs (PR, damn near killed me to get that last rep done) Helped a random guy out who was doing deadlifts for the first time and was rounding his back like crazy. I spent the day working in the Pain Clinic, so I felt this could be one disc herniation nipped in the bud I'm disappointed that I didn't get my full 5x5 on bench, but I feel confident that I can get this weight done without needing to deload. Up next...170 lb deadlift! I can't wait to hit 200...

Thanks for all the suggestions! The hip issue really feels like it was due to weakness and poor flexibility. It makes sense that my least-trained muscles would cause me trouble first. After taking some time off, I set a new PR today of 160 for my 5x5, but I felt my form was a bit shaky on the last set so I plan to repeat that weight and work on tightening up my form. The knee (tendon) issue seemed to subside with rest, so I think I'm just going to monitor it and take breaks when I feel it's getting worse. I should try to find a way to get some videos so I can have my form critiqued. I feel my 5th rep doesn't have as good form as the first 4, since I'm getting pretty winded and dizzy by that point. On my very last rep today, I wasn't as controlled on the way down and ended up basically doing a full squat, which nearly killed me to complete. I managed, but my gym buddy said I was definitely unstable on that one, which I believe.

It could also just be abdominal fat (some people store more visceral fat, even without much being under the skin). Another issue could be poor tone in the tranversus abdominis- this muscle is often overlooked in ab training, but is important for flattening out the stomach.

So, my StrongLifts progress is going well, and I've added multiple inches to my legs with it. But there are a couple of nagging issues that make me wonder if squatting every 2-3 days is risking an overuse injury. My knees have been kinda stiff and sore between sessions, right above the knee which makes me suspect it's tightness in my quadriceps tendons. I have also been having a bit of pain/fatigue type feeling in my hip flexors. I've taken a week off from squatting, and both issues have lessened in severity, but I'm wondering if I'm being given a warning that I'm at risk of injuring myself. Alternatively, it's also possible that these are just the result of working these parts of my body hard for the first time in my life. I'm still making lightning fast strength gains, and I'm eager to continue, so I was hoping I could get the opinion of some of you experienced squatters out there - should I keep pushing ahead, or take some more time off from squatting?

Thanks strawberryriddick, fir that excellent post. As for the "there's no such thing as a complete protein" and "look at how huge cows get on grass" comments, consider this: different organisms have different metabolisms. A cow can get calories from grass; you cannot (they have bacteria in their guts with the enzyme cellulase, we do not). Likewise, our "essential" amino acids are only essential because we lack the enzymes to make them ourselves. There are other animals which do possess these enzymes, and others still that may lack the ones that we have.

I'm not so sure about this. Ephedrine works this way, by causing your adrenals to release larger amounts of catecholamines (adrenaline and noradrenaline). Caffeine basically works by enhancing the action of the normal amount of adrenaline that you produce (it inhibits the breakdown of the second messengers produced in response to adrenaline). There have been studies which show doctors make fewer mistakes on long shifts when they take caffeine. There have also been studies which showed benefit to weight lifters. Caffeine is a tool which can have significant benefits, but it can also cause physical dependence. It's a double-edged sword.