Circle K Bananas

You ever wonder why you're doing something?  Walk into a room and forget what you went in there for?  Aimlessly stroll through the supermarket with no clue what you needed?  I have.  You have.  Don't lie to me now.

For a while thats kind of how I felt with my training.  I knew what I had to do.  I knew how I had to do it...but I found my self just trying things for the fun of it.  Results?  Did I get results?  Absolutely, positively not.

Personally, I feel that without a well programmed routine your training will go nowhere and stall out.  Thats not just a feeling, thats truth.

In my last post, I mentioned that my training partner and myself were embarking on a journey in the land N.O.V. and for a few months we are hitting Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program extraordinarily hard.  And we recently finished our first four week cycle.

Both of us put up some great numbers.  Very pleased but not satisfied with the results.  We both feel very full and Jay feels (and looks) like he has put on some size.  My body fat percentage has gone down and I feel strong.  First time I can say that in a while.

The Boring But Big template was the weapon of choice.  The basic premise of the template is:  you use a primary lift for your 5/3/1 (strength) program, then you use a secondary lift for hypertrophy followed by calf and ab work on leg day and tri, bi, and back work on upper body day.

Like I said earlier, I was pleased with results, but felt like it left some body parts lagging a bit.  So, we just reprogrammed our lifts, changed the assistance work and now we're back at it.

Some of the best numbers I hit were:  a STRICT standing military press 180 pounds for a set of 5, deadlifted 355 for a set of 6, a 285 pound bench for 7 and a 325 pound squat for a set of 10.  I was very pleased with the squats.

I have always considered the squat to be my hardest lift.  Technique is so crucial and for the longest time my squat, to be kind, stunk on ice.  Not to mention, like most guys in their late teens and early twenties, train three things when they hit the gym.  They are - in order of importance mind you - biceps, chest, abs.  To play it safe they may even work in another biceps day.  Gotta get the guns bro!

Now that I feel my squat has gone just slightly above sub par, it is slowly becoming one of my favorite lifts.  Not that my numbers are monstrous,  but I have been feeling very strong when the bar is on my back, and that speaks volumes.

Speaking of volume, the music that most people listen to while they workout is crap.  Thats why I thought I would give you a list, a top 5 if you will, of the songs that I listen to when I have a big lift to get done, or some real troublesome assistance work that just wont let you breathe.

There is really no particular order to these, I like them.  They seem to help me when I lift.  If you can't get work done with these songs, I really don't know what to tell you...I just cant believe that some people lift listening to Adelle...I'm looking at you Farley.  So here they are:

1)  Pantera - I'm Broken
This is my original do work song.  Pantera is one of my favorite bands of all time.  This song is just filled with so much anger and makes you want to crush something...makes me want to crush iron. 

2)  Hatebreed - Escape (Die Hard Edit)
When Hatebreed covers Metallica, it's a good day.  I have had some of my best lifts to this song.  Deadlifts especially. 

3)  Staind - Not Again
Let me be blunt.  I don't like Aaron Lewis.  I think, for a while, he was softer than fresh dog poop, but when this album came out, he gained a lot of respect with this crushing little ditty.

4)  Rosella - Bullet Proof
I found this song on an EFS motivational video.  It is by a relatively unknown band, which I am quite fond of, and most of it is sang through a walkie talkie.  You cannot put a price tag on that. 

5)  Clutch - The Regulator
This song is slower than most.  I usually leave this song on repeat when I'm warming up for a big lift.  For some reason it just puts me in the zone before going absolutely BANANAS!!!

Which leads me to my closing point. Buy your bananas at your local Circle K.  They are almost always ripe, and you can get about 17 of them for about a buck.

Trust me on this one, besides Jason, I eat more bananas than a starving monkey.

Stay strong.

-Brann

Stalling in the Diet, Reformatting Lifting Routine & Leg Day Hell

Well, kids, this is my first entry, hope it comes out as well here as it looked in my brain.



Stalling in the Diet
I've started my journey towards my first bodybuilding show.  I have to tell you, that even thought I've only been "living the lifestyle" for a few months now, I have to say that I'm addicted to it (we'll see how I feel about that when I'm two weeks out from the show).  I love it.  And I'm very lucky to have the support from my friends, my family and especially Kate, she does have to live with me after all. 

The first few months of the diet - which is the hardest part - I saw great success.  I lost over 20 pounds, over 6 percent in body fat an well over 5 inches off my waist.  Huge success for me.  Then it happened.  It smacked me in the face HARD.  I hit "the wall". 

For anyone who has ever hit a wall in their training, diet, what-have-you, you know what it's like.  Its a very sobering experience.  I've hit many a wall in my training before.  And being relatively young and actually quite stupid, I just backed up and rammed face first into it again.  Eventually one just has to stop and take a look at what their sticking points are.  I'm learning to do that in my training, and with the help of my nutritionist Mike, I'm learning to do that with my diet too.

I tell clients all the time not to get frustrated.  I guess it's easy to say when you're on the other side of it.  But doing what he does and being as good at it as he is, Mike played with my diet and to quote him:  "going to have you get strong, perform high for two weeks and then really diet down."  Game face bro.

Reformatting the Lifting Routine
So strength training is where it's at for me.  I love it.  I would linger in the realm of heavy triples and singles and spend hours in the gym only doing a few things.  That was fun, and I was putting up some decent numbers, but the problem was it wasn't great for symmetry.  Nor was it good for the high volume training that I needed to do.  So for a few weeks starting back in August I took a break from Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program, which I highly recommend for anyone to try if their goal is to get strong.  It's simple, effective and easy to use.  Who doesn't want that?

Enter John Meadows and Mountain Dog Training.  I've never met John.  I've never met Jim Wendler either.  But both their programs have left me in a sweaty heap on the floor. 

Mountain Dog Training, in a nutshell, is a hypertrophy based program that maximizes muscle growth, but focuses on saving your joints and giving you a vicious pump.  It does what it claims. 

After suffering through several weeks of this savage training (if you want to try this, look for the article that John was featured in in April 2012 Muscle & Fitness, has a very easy to follow beginner's type workout) I was talking with Jason, and be both decided to go back to 5/3/1.  We want to put on some muscle size and gain some strength back in our "off season". 

Jason, for those of you who don't know is my best friend.  He is the man who talked me into all this insanity, but he is also the man who is helping me every single step of the way.  He hooked me up with Mike and is the craziest workout partner anyone could ever ask for.  Jason also just took 1st Place in the Novice Class at Granite State Open back in October.

So long story short, Jay and I have started 5/3/1 this week, and I'm anxious to post all the results.  Keep an eye out folks.

Leg Day Hell
So since I haven't finished my first week of 5/3/1 I'll show you what 75 minutes of Leg Day Hell looks like.  This was the last high volume, hypertrophy based leg routine I did looked like.  I'd like to tell you that it wasn't hard at all, and that it was easy.  I'd be lying.

Seated Leg Curl (3x10 warm-up) 4x10 working
Squats 135x8, 225x8, 275x8, 315x8, 315x8
Leg Press 135x8, 225x8, 315x8, 405x8 then strip set 10 of each weight pyramid down
Leg Extensions 4x8
Walking Lunges 3x30

I didn't put the weight I used for the curls or extensions because no one cares. 

Hope you enjoyed the read.  Til next time...