Mitchilich

Raven Rose; Your post is very timely for me, as I am feeling a lot of similar things. I saw it right after I made my respawn post. Lucky for me that you posted what you did, because I found those two articles someone linked above, and ended up finding Amy Clover's website, and she seems like she has some good tools for those (of us) with mental issues. You're awesome. Thanks for saying something. You've helped me.

I'm not sure where to begin. I did not expect to find myself in the Respawn section. I battle anxiety and strange 'mental blocks' that can sometimes completely derail me. When I am on a program, and everything "fits" correctly (I'll explain this in a bit), then I can go for long stretches of time. But inevitably, we tire of the same things, or we need a change. When that happens, I am crippled. Finding or devising a new program is a nightmare. There are plenty of good ones, and I know that. I know I am capable of writing my own as well. But I get so caught up in not being able to move forward. A fear of success is how I can best explain it. I.e., if I succeed, I have to expect this from myself all the time. That increases pressure, which in turn means I need to go play my console emulators or search the internet for the same things I have searched for over and over again. When I try to act on something, be it a new program I found or one I wrote, in my mind I have done it a thousand times and I am already tired of it. Also, if I only have incline bench in this program as a press, then what about my serratus anterior? Dips, Pushups... no no, not unless I get rid of inclines and just focus on one of those. It doesn't "FIT" to have both of them in one program. But for back I can do more than one thing because there are more parts to the back than the chest. << This is the kind of psychotic mess that beleaguers me when I am faced with change. It's the stupidest shit I have ever read, and I am embarrassed to post it. But it goes way beyond what I just wrote. Does anyone else suffer from this? Paralysis by analysis. Then I think I find something I might want to pursue, but it's too hard, I don't have a resource to learn it, or it leaves something out I want in it. It happens even when I get interested in more than one thing at a time. Naturally I want to do a little research, but then I'm trying to find out about Karate, telescopes, building my own laser, learning to write another programming language, solving the Cicada 3301 puzzles, or how to level a yard.... it's too much, so instead of doing any of those, I'll go play Grand Theft Auto 5. It's gotten to the point where my patience is worn out, and I even have trouble learning... or rather, having the patience to learn. Usually the way this ends is I get caught up in something else for a while, until the next crash. But I want this pattern to stop, and I want to be consistent with practice, diet, etc. I refuse to edit this. I sound like a lunatic, but that's it. That's what is going on.

Has anyone actually seen any coherent programs written for arm wrestling? I see a lot of "do this move" and "practice this" on the internet, but there is a distinct lack of actual planning. I've been thinking of maybe trying AW out, and was curious how what I was doing (basic / PL oriented) would need to change in terms of volume, frequency, all that...

Day 1 of 30 days of Yoga with Adrienne

Face Pulls (low pulley with rope handle): 5x10@30lbs Front Squat: 3x5@170 (deloaded) Fat Incline: 3x5@190 (deloaded) Monkey Bar PU: 3x5@BW Abdominal Wheel: 3x10@BW from knees DB Shoulder Press: 3x10@50's ea.

1. Front Squat w/ Handles 5x5@185 2. Incline Bench (fat) 5x5@240 3. Deadlift 1x5@270 3. Low rows - supplemental 4. BB curls - supplemental 5. Yoga Looks a lot like 5x5 still, but isn't. I'm running the Texas Method, so the load and volume will vary. I finally found a cheap solution to my squat issue. Front squats, but with parallel grip extensions. I'll post a pic later. $8 and problem solved.

1. Deadlift 5ea.@315, 295, 265 2. Fat Incline Bench 3ea.@265, then 5ea.@255, 235, 215 3. Low Rows 5ea.@230, 220, 215 5. Yoga with Adrienne (Yoga for Complete Beginners); 40 Minute version (link in video). Began Cardarine today also. 0.75ml per day (15mg equivalent).

1. Deadlift 5ea.@295, 265, 245 2. Fat Incline Bench 5ea.@255, 225, 215 3. Pull-ups 3x5@BW 4. Rollouts 1x15@BWKN 5. Yoga with Adrienne (Yoga for Complete Beginners); 20 Minutes.

1. Deadlift 3x5@245 2. Incline Bench 3x5@250, 225, 200 3. Low Rows 3x5@220, 200, 180 4. Rollouts 2x7@BW very strict and slow 5. Fat Curls 1x5@75 6. Yoga with Adrienne (Yoga for Complete Beginners); 20 Minutes.

Entry 1: 1. Yoga with Adrienne (Yoga for Complete Beginners); 20 Minutes. 2. Calm.com; Seven Days of Calm, Day 1, 10 minutes. My first day of the current SL5x5 tenure was February 28th. From then until the time stamp of this post, we have: Squat* 140lbs for 5x5 --> 245lbs for 5x5 Incline Bench 175 for 5x5 --> 245 for 5x5 Row* 150lbs for 5x5 --> 215 for 5x5 Military Press 135 for 5x5 --> 170lbs for 5x5 Deadlift 240 for 1x5 --> 335 for 1x5 The asterisk means these two are tough to quantify, because I went from Barbell Rows to low rows, and my squat was all over the place. Front, back, hack, pistol... In any event, I still do want to get stronger, but I have - in my opinion - surpassed the basic level of strength that I advise people to achieve. The shoulder / upper back issue that has caused me so much tumult with my squat is one of a few things I need to begin addressing beyond just strength. I've found Yoga now as well. It is quite difficult for me, even at the beginner level, which is disturbing and inspiring. Means that I have some issues, but that I have also unlocked new challenges. I'm also getting down with the whole mindfulness/meditation thing, as well as sleep tracking. I'm high strung a lot of the time. That's bad, and another area that needs attention. I'm tracking sleep through the "sleep cycle" app, and doing the Calm.com dailies. Also, until I make that call to a local instructor, I'm using Adrienne as my instructor as linked in my entry above. I also now feel it's time to get off 5x5 and onto something else. Yeah, it's been 6 months. But it isn't the first time I have run it either. I might see my weights go down if I am going to do something that edges into goals designed more around fat loss, mobility, etc... But that's the trade-off. They'll get back up, and beyond. Of that I am sure. Plus, honestly, I am bored with 5x5.

Yoga is hardcore. I can't believe that working weights on my main lifts are in the mid 200's to mid 300's, and yoga kicked the crap out of me. I'm going to keep it up. Since the original post, I've been just following vids on YouTube and the other ilk of online video content. I did finally find a place in this <sarcasm> huge metropolis of 3,000 people I live in </sarcasm> which might have an instructor. I'll be making the call after this fourth of July weekend.

You believe correctly. It does.

Welcome to NF. A program called "Power to the People," written by Pavel Tsatsouline, is the most abbreviated strength program I am aware of. Two sets of five reps for two separate exercises. Not saying you would want to keep cycling on it forever, but you mentioned that you wanted to strength train and that you hated exercise. This routine is so short that you might find it easy to begin with empty bar weight (or bodyweight, as there is a "naked warrior" version of this as well) and just get hooked on it as a habit. As your strength increases, you will find it easier to do many other things, and you may come to like being physically active. Should help your appetite too.

Welcome Kamtastic. I'm glad you decided to participate in the forums.

1. Warm up 2. Hack Squat 5x5@245 3. Fat Military Press 5x5@170 4. Hex Bar Deadlift 1x5@345 5. Monkey Bar Pull-ups 5x5@BW w/ Varying Grips 6. Wendler Fat Grip Inclines 4x6@215 Meh. One of these times I need a burn - like an 8-12 rep range session. I have made a lot of substitutions, and am admittedly coming away from the "as written" 5x5 program. I've done this out of necessity for my own health, but I still feel adrift. Reflection required.