Scholi

"you wot ?" - It's hard to explain

...Science? Hey all, I just finished reading "The Protein Book" by Lyle McD. Great read! But in the latter part he mentions that strength athletes who waint to gain weight should generally avoid steady state cardio. And I recall from his website (www.bodyrecomposition.com) the same advice, but for HIIT. Now I wonder why is that? Is it always true? Obviously, both activities burn calories. Additionally, at least steady- state also utilizes BCAAs. But that shouldn't be a real problem considering that you can just increase daily caloric intake and consume an extra amount of BCAAs (e.g.through a whey shake) before training. Next, cardio also increases Protein synthesis albeit the outcome is different tissue (mitochondria vs hard muscle). But again, more calories and Proteins will take care of that. And additional protein stores in the body (very energy efficient ones even) can't be a bad thing, right? All right, maybe the additional exercise does hamper recovery and hence impairs the actual weight training? Ensuring adequate carbohydrate intakes during and after exercise should take care of that issue for the most part. I don't know about muscle tissue damage and as to how much impact it has on actual performance. Iirc it is even a potential stimuli for muscle growth. I don't know of any other issues that could influence recovery (or lack thereof) either. But consider that many athletes manage a high workload and frequency shouldn't be the issue here at all. Remember I'm talking about one hour (if at all) of endurance based training once a day, couple times a week. Am I just oblivious to something here ? Any explanation is welcome, the more sciency the better! (On a side note, does anyone know what impacts hiit training has on the body? In terms of what's going on inside of my body afterwards. Also complexes and field games.) P.S. Did I place this Thread right?

First time going down to 1rep (I stick with 3reps per set usually). I hit 120kg on the Squat in my 11th set (30 minutes squatting, yeah) and 220 pounds on the bench. The dude I asked to spot said it was all me, haha. Anyways I'm happy with those numbers for now and didn't want to push it since I did those lifts yesterday already =D and I'm not looking to injure my shoulders. Next max is going to be the deadlift on sunday most likely (For the record @82kg bw, Squat with belt)

shoulder with chinups work the lats. I've heared that bridges are also a good back workout (done as a movement)

I'm not sold on it thus far... But then again I skipped the PS3 and didn't miss it that much so I might just buy that at some point when it gets cheaper. Right now I've still got enough PC games to play for a long time. Seriously I can't keep up with them So if at all I'll get myself a Ps3 (or maybe even xbox360) in the near future or I'll save my money for the steam hardware which looks more interesting too me. Or is the PS4 really worth buying for someone like me? I didn't really follow its announcement

I read somewhere that it's not ideal to start from dead hang. I support this as I feel pain when doing so. But it might be just me To become stronger I feel like iso holds on either the top/mid or dead hang position help. And more obvious, additional weights help

If you have the possibilities to, do them fairly often every day. Back on my vacations I'd do 1-5 pullups every hour or so. I'm toying around with isometrics and weights right now so I'll assume that did a fairly good job. In your case, do your pullup progression (excentric only?) as often as possible and stay low rep. If that's not an option I'd still do them everytime you hit the gym and in the beginning. Got me worked up from 6 to 8

write down your numbers, start to stare awkwardly and focuss on the next set. Or stare awkwardly and think about your next meal. Or your weekend plans. Or just stare at the girls like a creep

done some more pushups, pistols and pullups (with neutral grip for some change) on monday also been to a gym and did imitate a friend's routine. Chest/Back/Core - Split. It looked something like 3x12 with 20 secs rest. Abound 10 exercises per body part. But we were done after a good hour It was way too much volume for me with too little rest (compare to the training I did for the past month). He does it 5x/week with 3 additional slow cardio sessions or something similiar insane iirc. Damn. Now I'm feeling sore for the second day.

friday 6th sep 8:30 3pushup feet elevated - 3pistol to chair - 3chins 10:10 3pushup f.e. -2pistols to bed - 3chins 13:10 3pushup f.e. - 3 pistols to chair - 4chins 14:50 4 -3 -3 16:00 4 -3 -3 iso´metric hold top position 17:20 3 one arm pushups with second hand on a table - 3 pistols to chair - 3 chins iso hold mid total: 21 pushups - 19 pistols - 19 chins, 18 "secs" hold Sat 7th sept 12:36 2 one arm pushups assisted - 3 pistols to chair - 3chins 14:06 3 - 3 - 3 iso low3 18:50 3 - 3 - 3 iso mid7 20:15 3 - 3 - 2 iso top3low3 total: 11 heavily assisted oap - 12 pistols to chair - 11chins, 42secs iso Sunday 8th sept 09:50 4 - 3 -4 11:20 3 - 4pistols rock back to chair - 4chins iso 3top3mid 12:40 3 - 4 - 3 iso 3mid3low 14:00 3 - 3rb - 4- 3 - 3rb - 3 iso 3top3low 17:30 3 - 3 - 3top567 total: 19 push - 20 pistols - 21 chins hold 78 Also did some moderate headstand work today and jumping rope: max both feet: 50; max left foot 28, max right food 18; some changing work and doubles. I've never been even decent at rope skipping. hence those odd numbers

Thanks for your reply! The barbell I'm speccing is a standart one that is listed with up to 200kg weight use. The plates thus fit with my current db. If I look to the 50mm versions, the olympic bars, a decent one would cost 150€ which is quite a lot. But the weights are the same pricing so I'll think about it. Also, there is one listed as black oxid - ball bearing (up to 450 kg) and one chrome, needle roller bearing (up to 400kg) They're of different steel, I guess that makes the difference, but do you know something about the bearing and the coating? There's also an explanation to the max load for different exercises, eg bench press up to 450kg and squat up to 200kg but I don't know how that would translate to the standart bar. It probably doesn't allow for a lot of progress lol The rack looks like this: I have a chinip "bar" (you have to stick it onto the doorframe) that allows shoulder width (or closer) chins and pulls. I wouldn't want to do weighted chins with it however Isn't it possible to do chins from the barbell on the rack? I can remember someone saying that. We do have some TRX straps (or whatever) that come down from the ceiling, if that's what you mean. My dad uses them but I could never figure out what to do with them. For that matter, we also posses a 16kg kettlebell I could use. Btw, I'd mainly do squats, bench press, deadlifts, sitting military press. I haven't touched techniques like clean, snatch etc nor do I plan on dropping the weight. As for chalk, I haven't thought about that. I don't think it's that important (yet)

Hey, as my gym membership comes to an end in little more than a month I'm becoming more positive that it would be best to get some stuff and start lifting heavy, at home. Now, are there any specifics I have to pay attention to? I've been looking around on internet shops and found some nice gear but I'm not really sure what to look out for. The bench of my desire is adjustable in 3 different heights, 4 different positions (making it suitable for flat bench press, incline and even decline! ) with a max loadabilty of 250kg (conside my bw at roughly 80kg and that's more than enough for some time). The pricing should be fine with 80€ The squat rack is 87x120cm and 7x adjustable in the height between 100 and 170cm, weight 25kg itself and has a loadability of 350kg. There are also 3 holder on lower positions and you can put keep your weights on a mounting. Price 140€ and gummi feet. A 187cm barbell with 30mm. I don't have a lot of space but I was told that a long bar is important if you want to rack up weight. 30€ A neck pad 14€ a chair mat that covers the space where I'd lower the weight ~20€ regular weights 130kg; 170€ I already have some dumbbells with up to 15kg weight that would fit. The overall price would be little more than an other year in the gym and probably more worthwile. Are there things I have to consider purchasing these articles that I'm not aware of? It might be wort mentioning that my max bench press is roughly 85kg, with the deadlift at 80kg and the squat at 100 (although I have to go lower again to get better form). There's probably some imbalance between my lifts, I started squatting and dl-ing quite late. Thanks for any input, I can't provide links to these articles right now so I made the description. And sorry if there will be some inconvenience with the kg/ cm data

Honestly, I haven't seen any improvements for myself. If there are any they are minor and thus hard to notice. If you play video games on a competetive level, there are far more important things anyway that you should concentrate on, from muscle memory (consistency achieved through hourless gaming sessions) and knowledge about the game itself to seemingly unrelated things like proper nutrition (I always have a bottle of table water next to my PC , sleep, etc. If you want to link his competetive nature to fitness, maybe start right there. Make him build healthy habits that he can carry over to his gaming sessions. If he's keen on the learning proccess you can make something out of strength programming that might be useful for him, also. However, I can't really link those two from a physical viewpoint other than reducing stress and health benefits in general.

Here is an advise from Pavel's book "The naked warrior": "Reduce the discomfort with a counter stretch between sets. Kneel on a reasonably soft surface such as grass, a mat, or a carpet. Flex your wrists, lock out your elbows, and place your hands on the deck, the palms up and the fingers facing back. Carefully lean forward and stretch your wrists for five seconds. Repeat for a couple of sets. As your ligaments get stronger you may try your pushups in that position. As an option, the fingers may point in towards each other. Strive to get a complete elbow extension. Build up slow! If your wrists just cannot handle the hyperextension imposed on them by regular pushups, here is a different course of action: Switch to pushups on your fists. They will force your wrists to get stronger without overstretching. At the same time the whole exercise will be harder, thanks to an extended range of motion. Harder and safer. "

As for exercises, I prefer pen and paper ,or, as I have a very bad handwriting, to print a sheet with the exercises in order. That way I can fully concentrate on the exercise itself and write down the number of reps, sets, weight or whatever in the pauses