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ralst

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Posts posted by ralst

  1. sosso and vivalasvegans are right. People don't squat because it exactly mimics an activity in sport, they squat to get strong. And squats need to be deep to serve that purpose.

     

    Be careful with the idea of alternating half and real squats. At the very least don't consider what you half-squat to have any bearing on actual strength levels. You'll find that you can squat a LOT more high than you can to proper depth. The ego boost of the heavier weights will also probably make the idea of squatting less weight to a valid depth somewhat distasteful.

  2. I'm not much of an expert on weight loss, especially after heart surgery (!), but I can say with about 100% certainty that lifting 15lb weights for about an hour is doing exactly nothing for you. Once you're cleared for lifting, sometime in the future, Starting Strength or some variant of a progressive 5 X 5 program (ask or check Google if you don't know what those are) are extremely effective. But for now, 15lbs for an hour, is next to worthless.

     

    Sorry to only have negative input... possibly, until lifting heavier becomes an option, you could replace the current lifting with more cardio? Strength training is absolutely great, no question, but with the current restriction on your exercise and your goals, sticking to cardio might be your best option.

  3. Get off my case, nobody has ever given me detailed advice, specifically meal plans.

     

    People charge money for custom meal plans. I'm sure there's lots of people who you could pay to write you a vegan meal plan.

     

    Or you could use my Open Source Vegan Meal Plan:

     

    Breakfast:

     

    1 Lb Tofu

    1 Lb Broccoli

    Garlic

    Lots of nutritional yeast

     

    Second Breakfast:

     

    1 Loaf Vegan Bread

    1 Lb Peanut Butter

    1 Quart Soy Milk

     

    Lunch:

     

    1 Lb Tofu

    1 Lb Broccoli

    Garlic

    Lots of nutritional yeast

     

    Second Lunch:

     

    1 Lb Pasta

    1 Lb Broccoli

    1 Lb Tofu

    Sauce as desired

     

    Dinner:

     

    1 Lb Tofu

    1 Lb Broccoli

    Garlic

    Lots of nutritional yeast

     

    Dessert:

     

    1 Quart Soy Milk

    3 scoops Vegan Protein Powder

    2 Bananas

    2 spoonfuls Peanut Butter

     

    Works great. Just make sure to eat lots of snacks in between the meals so you don't go into a caloric-deficit.

  4. Thanks all.

     

    xphilx - yeah, her last deadlift was a little too light. Her goal for the next meet is to open with 225 (her last attempt at this meet). All three of us got first place in our respective divisions. But, we were all lifting unopposed

     

    As for the squat depth, well, I can't really help it. But it's nice not to have to worry about getting called on depth by the judges

  5. 1. Newspaper Man - he brings a newspaper with him to the gym to read between sets. Eg. Do 5 or 6 partial squats, read the newspaper for 10 mins... Do a few Dumbbell Bench Presses with the princess weights, read the newspaper for 10 mins

     

    I have to say that, during a particularly rough squat routine where I typically needed 8-10 minutes rest between sets, I have read the newspaper while I was resting One time I even brought in my math text book to read... I did make sure no one was around to see, though

  6. I've got one training partner who seems to like the five-fingers... but for a much less expensive, and probably better, option, squat in a flat-soled shoe like converse. Barefoot works OK as well, but isn't an option in a lot of gyms. Converse are perfect for squatting, and they make a big enough difference it's worth dropping $30 or so on a pair.

     

    Some people get by ok squatting in running shoes, but the fact that they're "squishy" is not ideal for squatting, or any weight-bearing standing exercise (like deadlifts).

     

    Marcina - any chance of getting a squat video up? Shoes might help, but it's a lot easier to give advice if I can see what's going on.

     

    - Eric

  7. Robert Schooling me on posting etiquette.

     

    http://i36.tinypic.com/2cxj3ew.jpg

     

    That is an AWESOME picture. And the caption seals it

     

    Funny, you don't look like an evil imperialist exploiter of the downtrodden... well, except maybe the hat

     

    Just kidding! Hope your knee feels better soon. Any idea what made it hurt?

     

    And btw, food pics lately look very tasty.

  8. Out of curiosity is there a reason why the isolation is detrimental?

     

    I do feel that lately I have been over working slightly was on 6 days a week dropped down to 5 and now to 4. 2 days I only do 5 x 5 on squat, bench, overhead and deadlift. The other 2 days were for direct back/shoulder/chest and biceps/triceps.

     

    I am thinking of moving to a 3 day a week workout all 5 x 5 and see where that gets me. However for some reason I just feel that I will be neglecting my arms which I do enjoy working out.

     

    The isolation work is bad because, coupled with the compound lifts, it's placing too much stress on your body, without contributing anything to your strength. Bench and Overhead is all you'll need for a long time for your arms and shoulders to grow. Doing a decent amount of volume on those two lifts (like the 5 X 5 program) is a recoverable stress. Your body adapts to the workouts by getting stronger. Throw in a bunch of curls, tricep extensions, flies, and delt raises, and it's much more likely that you're doing too much work.

     

    The fact that you've been doing what sounds like large amounts of volume and not seeing strength gains is an indicator you're doing too much. By cyclying in overhead pressing along with the bench and ditching the upper body isolation, you should have a manageable (read: effective) workload while actually spending the same or more time doing the most effective lifts, those being benching and overhead pressing.

     

    Moving to a 3 day/5X5 workout plan would be, in my opinion, a great idea. Looking at your current 4-day routine, I would think you'd do much better with a 3 day full-body plan. Right now you're doing 2 5X5 days, which is great, with 2 extra days seemingly aimed at overworking your upper body So again, ditching those last two days and subbing in another 5X5 day will net you more of the good stuff (compound lifts) and less of the stuff unnecessarily wearing your body down (isolation)

     

    So, there's nothing exactly wrong with isolation lifts, but they're basically like spending your training energy and recovery ability in exchange for virtually nil. Since you are squatting, pulling, and pressing, I can only assume you want to get big and strong. And at this stage (and really, every subsequent stage of training) you need the big, compound lifts to get there.

     

    Not sure what to tell you about working out your arms... they're going to be bigger if you go from repping a 165 bench to repping 200. If you go from cable curling 30 pounds to 35 pounds...not going to make as much of a difference.

  9. It's hard to see yourself from the side while squatting in front of a mirror. Although without a video, you can still see better than I can from here - but perfect and heavy rarely coexist, and having an experienced pair of eyes checking your form under load is a lot different than watching yourself in the mirror. I speak from experience, as squat form was something that took me ages to get mostly right.

  10. Follow Marcina's advice. But replace the dropped second day of benching with overhead strict press, 5 X 5. Overhead strength complements benching strength nicely.

     

    Drop the incline db presses, and the cable curls too (just because). I would actually try the above sequence - bench 5 X 5, press 5 X 5 - alternated every workout. So the first week you'll bench/press/bench again, the second week you'll press/bench/press again, and so on.

     

    While doing this, stop the isolation work on your triceps/biceps/shoulders. You're only benching 165 for 5, you don't need isolation work - you need to be benching 200+ for 5.

     

    Also, though it should go without saying, be sure to eat lots.

     

    Am I being to hard on myself and is this just one of those exercises that take alot of time to build up?

     

    The bench is going to improve slower than the squat and deadlift. But if you're steadily not making any progress now, that's not going to add up to anything in the future - you need to make small, but consistent, gains.

     

    Should I be doing more chest exercises than the 3 I'm doing now?

     

    I think I pretty much answered this above, but most definitely no. You need to be doing less chest exercises, not more.

  11. Sorry I can't be of more help, but I think it's very possible there is something off with your squat form leading to the pain. Having a trainer check your form is good, but if the trainer doesn't know what a proper squat looks like (all too often the case) then it isn't of much help.

     

    Any chance you could get a video of yourself squatting posted up?

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