aj_rock

Alright alright alright. Last pre-season game tomorrow, so now's as good a time as any. I'm gonna do a full review of everything from the past few months. Workout weights are for 5X, while pull-ups is for reps @ BW. Start Date: Nov. 19th Weight: 195 lbs BF%: around 16-17 Deadlift: 143 kg Squat: 255 Hs Bench: 248 Incline DB Press: 65 Rows: 220 Pull-ups: 8 Cardio: non-existant Going with highest achieved weights because I know once I'm done re-building from maintenance I'll be up to snuff in a week or so. End date: May 3rd Weight: 185 (-10) BF %: 12 (-4.5) LBM: -3 ??? (funny because I'm definately stronger...) Deadlift: 150 kg (+15.5 lbs) Squat: 295 (+40) Hs Bench: 268 (+20) Incline DB Press: 80 (+30 across both arms) Rows: 230 (+10) Pull-ups: 15 (+7, almost 100% more!) Cardio: I iz runnings teh circuls around teh peepulz lulululul This is all after 5.5 months of work. Unfortunately, i don't have true before pictures of me at 195, so you'll have to just make do with the afters: That being said, yesterday was my first practice back with my mates in the Hornets, and I've officially been shifted from wing to fullback. I couldn't be more excited. I think I can contribute a lot more to the offense in this position and I love nothing more than destroying kids in the open field to save tries. Of course, that also officially concludes my off-season battle log. Stay tuned for a ninja edit later after I've started up the in-season log with a report from our last pre-season game against crew. This is aj_rock wishing everyone good luck in the current challenge.

This is actually very much in line with current thinking. The story goes that blood flow ends up being one of the biggest factors in where fat depots are, but not in the way you think! You see, blood flow 'shifts' given your current activity n stuff; your body naturally contracts and expands the blood vessels to alter where blood is being directed. Drugs can also alter blood flow (some substances like yohimbine are purported to actively re-direct blood flow via receptor interactions). But anyway so high traffic sites, such as your organs, will tend to grab a lot of fat out of the blood stream when storing; they also tend to give it up easily. So you have a constantly varying yet somewhat consistent amount of fat in this area (assuming you aren't highly obese). Other areas, like the lower abdomen, or hips/thighs for women, tend to get much less blood flow. So much less, that any time these areas DO grab onto fat... it doesn't leave. Like ever. It takes a general lack of fat in other areas and some body finicking around to really get the requisite flow to those areas, and even then the loss is slow and frustrating. The point being that, once these 'hard' fat deposits are removed (or if you're an ectomorphic bastard who just never had any), an adequate diet and exercise regime can prevent them from coming back, even if you do generally accumulate body fat. Storage will go up in the high traffic areas, but the stubborn fat build-ups take much more time to accumulate. TL;DR waldo's observation is correct. Once the stubborn body fat comes off, other re-accumulated fat will tend to other areas, and it takes a long time of sitting on your butt doing nothing to rebuild the fat deposits.

Alright, so I've been pretty quiet on my own log here, despite a multitude of posts for other people. I'm in a bit of an injury quandary at the moment. Thought taking last week off from lifting/shifting to maintenance calories would help, but alas, after another pre-season game yesterday, I do indeed think I've bummed my right shoulder already. From loading combinations during rugby (impact both direct and indirect), I likely have impingement syndrome and maybe some tearing in the rotator cuff or SLAP. Nothing that I believe will prevent me from playing (s'long as I mind my presence around the forwards), but by and large the main treatment method is rest, icing, and NSAIDS (which I can't use, unless someone can find one easy on the stomach, they always give me mad heartburn ). Gonna have to do more research to see what exercises I can do. Re my usual routine: - squats, both front and back, are out. A test of the shoulder position for back squats gives pain, and front squats, given the shoulder loading, are out of the question. - Deadlifts should be ok, but I'll have to get in the gym to test this. Also, if these are ok, then perhaps DB squats/lunges n such should be ok. - No incline or military presses. Chances are I'll need to stick to machines for chest exercise as well, keep the shoulder out of the picture - chin-ups and pull-ups are out, shoulder isn't working with overhead movement. Will need to stick to rows Well, this isn't quite how I imagined wrapping up this log, but you win some, you lose some. I'll be posting pictures and average workout numbers for post and pre this off-season, and everyone can see what I've done with the 5.5 months time I've been given. It's been a blast, and look for a new in-season log popping up sometime in the next week or so. .

Do... do you always do stag flags in a nightie? Right yes errrr regardless, the form does look great, especially on the first couple reps. Keep it coming!

Shucks guys, PatG over here is supposed to be the focus Give yourself some credit though; you tell the fella what to do, the fella does what you said, the fella sees progress. That sounds like good coaching to me. If you do collect all my little rantings all over this site though, I promise to give you a % of the profits from the inevitable aj_rock'isms book that will follow.

Is true, is true. The catspaw speaks truth.

I do biological engineering, and was told by my physiology professor that I could tooooootally do med school. I was like... yeah no. Four painful years of school was enough, why do four more?

Hmm. Even as an engineer, most of that went over my head. I'm gonna have to start revising my opinion of other majors... (kidding btw. I try not to judge academic pursuits, it's just stereotypical for engineers to do that.)

With sufficient encouragement maaaaaybe I will Good to know though, sounds like that time I spent playing keeper for footie might come in handy after all...

Hey! Sorry your game got cancelled (I didn't even know until I showed up for ours).Seems like we keep missing each other by a couple days :/ Relevant note about your dad: If he's anything like my parents, I'd suggest not having him come to watch games. Parent always seem to freak out when they see the contact I think 3x per week lifting is pretty ambitious, considering you're already practice + game for 3 days of the week. Re: the passing. Get the motion of the pop pass down before you start worrying about the spin pass. Considering that you probably won't have to pass further than 5-7 meters most time, that'll get you up to par without worrying about the niceties of spinning it out.

I've seen it said before that hangovers are primarily caused by dehydration. As such, strong beers will dehydrate your body faster than lite beers. All is fixed with a gatorade 2 before bed though (well, IMO )

Alright, post weekend update: Hornets played Beach in a single pre-season match Saturday instead of the three games (womens + I & II mens) due to number issues. Seconds played 40, then firsts played 40. Our seconds essentially got a pile-drive into the ground, but that's not unexpected, playing vs a regular playoff contender. When we put our firsts on, however, game was tied at 2 tries apiece after 40 (no kicks). Not too shabby. I had a great game, right-side winger. Beach liked to kick, and I got a chance to field a couple. Since practicing with the blues, my vision and the 'options' I feel I have available to me at every step seems wide open. One thing to work on, and that's contested fielding. At this level, I'm much more likely to have someone contesting me for a kicked ball, which I am not used to in any way, shape or form. Will need some work. Sunday we had another practice with the Blues, and I'm reaaaally sore in general following that. I wasn't selected for the New York match, so no moe practices there for a few weeks. Light workout yesterday, trying to keep everything from stiffening up: DB BP: 2 X 15 X 40 Pull downs: 2 X 15 X 110 Inc DB BP: 15 X 35 OH DB: 15 X 25 Rows: 2 X 15 X 90 Pistol squats: 10 X each leg OLSLRD: 10 X 40 each leg Still kinda sore n such today; you kids should see my face. Got a nice shiner on the left eye that got me weird looks from my prof yesterday. Ah well. Will get around to doing post cut pictures once my face has prettied up a bit.

Maybe I'll post... *click* *refresh*

Can confirm, Waldo is apparently a psychic wizard. o_O Might need your help doing my football lottery picks next season...

Living in toronto, I can say the #1 plus about this city is the sheer multitude of craft breweries up here. Next exam is in eight days for me so.... brb getting a pint.

Romanticized concept... I like how eloquently that puts my exact feelings on the topic.

One day we'll have a pint over it. One day.

I volunteer as proof-readerrrrrrrr

it doesn't help when you spend a fair amount of time hurt/busy with other things. You've also spent a lot of time looking for a schedule that fits your lifestyle, which also hasn't been super static over the last couple years. Trust me, it took me a couple years of messing about before I figured out something that works myself...

Well, at 200 pounds, losing 5 lbs would mean a net mass loss of 2.5%, more than enough to make an impact on ease of locomotion. It's weird yeah because most of it is water, but I've seen the same thing, especially in the vertical jump; I add an extra inch between day 1 and day 8 of a cut.

I'm mildly jealous. I just e-mailed my thesis to my prof without so much as a how'd'you do Either way, congrats! Can't wait for the video (which I assume you performed in costume for)

I gave up a loooong time ago on ever making the snap crackle pops go away :/ a couple separations will do that to them I hear... It's usually that internal/external rotation that buggers up too. So overhead presses end up feeling fine, dips are the worssst and bench might be tolerable.

It's more like my relatively weak posterior chain is finally falling behind to the level that it impacts the rest of the activity. Basically, it can't keep up no moe. Yesterday, kept things a little lighter, right shoulder is feeling a bit tweaked: HS BP: 248 X 9, 8 Pull-ups: 10, 9 Squats: 225 X 11, 9 Inc DB BP: 65 X 10, 60 X 10 T-bar Row: 175 X 10 X 2 OLSLRDL (one-legged, stiff-legged, romanian deadlifts): 40 X 10, 60 X 10 I think I'm going to include those in most workouts from now on. fancy pants dinner tonight. Om nom nom.

Keep in mind that there ARE different types of hypertrophy. Strength training gets you this; that would be <=8 reps per set, your heavy compound squats n bench n OL's n stuff. Not very fast growth, but dense, hard muscles. BB training gets you this; that's generally seen as 12+ reps per set, and causes what is termed 'energetic growth'. What you are growing is the muscles capacity for unabated, unaided activity (aka it doesnt need to pull as much glycogen from the liver because the energy requirements are local), but they're also soft and squishy and not terribly strong. Not saying that sarcoplasmic growth isn't warranted in some situations (lot of mixed sport players will do SOME amount of this because you NEED to meet energy demands on game day), but the recent trend has been to more or less avoid sarcoplasmic training entirely in favor of only doing myofibrilic training. And just in case you think I'm leaving a rep-range out, both the 8-12 range AND isometric body holds tend to encourage a bit of both. Strength requirements to do BW in unusual poses are high, but you also try to max out hold time.

I'd say, nothing wrong with thinking like a rugger... when you're allowed to tackle them. Good to see you're having a positive effect on the younger generation though! Never'd run a 10k. It's bad enough that I get roughly 5k in every time I do those damn circuits. I personally think that anything higher is pure insanity, if done voluntarily.