2011 Wrap-Up

I've had perpetual success this year. The workouts were many and my valor was undeniable. In barbell back squats. I started them in June. In Late August I got the right squat depth down. I started with 1 set of 12 reps and got to 195lb. I decreased reps and used less weight. I reset again at 8 reps of 140lb, increasing 5lb each workout and reset at 185lb. I started at 2 sets of 135lb (8, 10) and utilized low-bar position instead of high-bar, and have gotten to 2 sets of 180lb. I should break 200lb this run (Jan 2nd).

Pull-Ups, I started the year with the most experience, being able to do 100 pull-ups in one workout. I switched to using a thicker pull-up bar, which I preferred because I found thinner bars although they allowed for a better grip, it made my hands ache and feel crippled. Now with the thicker bar, it took me a few months to get my reps just as high. It lead to better forearm development. Also the bar I switched to doesn't have a close-grip available, there's a gap that forces you to take a shoulder width grip. I felt stronger with a closer grip, I believe because of the more biceps use. I hit my peak of 127 pull-ups in one session. My reps fell dramatically; my body refusing to go high rep anymore. In May, I realized my joints preferred less reps of pull-ups regardless of my favoring them. I had been getting elbow pain from the high reps, which went away with the lower reps (24-30). Having waited far too long, in October I finally accured a dipping belt that I could use for weighted pull-ups. I started with 10lb and increased by 5lb each workout, usually 3 sessions a week. I raced to 8 reps of 75lb and also hit 5 reps of 90lb. I'm not sure where to with these. I'm doing a reset, and I'm at 8 reps of 60lb, but it's proving too difficult. My chin-ups and dips follow the same routine as my pull-ups.

I found a triceps exercise I actually like - dumbbell triceps extensions. I've done 8 reps of 80lb and 4 reps 100lb. Only 2 years ago, I struggled to pick up a 35lb dumbbell. Now, everything feels like 15lb unless it's 80lb+. I've begun using heavier weight on lateral raises. I just started incline dumbbell curls and using both the abductor and adductor machines.

In Good Mornings, I've gone up and down in weight between 50-95lb. I only recently switched to bent-knee, which is allowing me to lift more weight. In bent rows, I sailed into the 100s and I'm now going past 8 reps of 165lb easily (switched to straps). In rear delt rows, I plateued at 90lb, then pushed past it to 8 reps of 120lb and I'm steadily going up.  In shrugs, I got to 12 reps of 145lb, and ended the year with 8 reps of 220lb, 10 reps of 200lb. They've become one of my best lifts. I think I'll row 200lb easily next year as well as rear delt row 200lb.

Calf Raises, I've chosen to very slowly climb up and I'm currently at 4 sets of 8 reps of 155lb. I could easily do these 300lb and have, but I'm doing a slow grind to ensure the best technique I can manage.

In Deadlifts, I started in May at 12 reps of 135lb, and I knew it would be a good life for me. I got to 6 reps of 245 before resetting to 135 again. My deadlift had been suffering because of the damage my lower back was taking from squats as well. I finished the year at 8 reps of 305lb, and will hit 315lb (3 45lb plates each side) before the year ends.

In Bench Press. I got my 1 rep max at 245lb and proceeded to fail 250lb three separate times in a row. I added decline and incline bench press, switched to 12 reps, and got stuck around 180lb. I reset twice more, topping out at 170lb. In October, I really swithced technique to a more arched back, more leg tightness, and pinning and holding my shoulders back, and more tightness in the chest. I recently have been developing my triceps use by really shifting the weight to the triceps to blow them up in lockout.

I started Military Press and got to 8 reps of 95lb before resetting. I recently pressed 8 reps of 110lb and 3 reps of 125lb. Other noteable lifts include 2 reps of 150lb Zercher Squats on the 7th time I tried them. Hack Squats have just come to my attention. I'm at 8 reps of 145lb, andI'm finding depth very challenging. I began running in October and started at 1.1 miles, then did 5 sessions of .7 miles then resumed 1.1 miles with 4 sessions, then did 1.6 miles for 3 sessions. This past Friday I ran 2 miles in 15 minutes and 9 seconds and there were moderate hills. My goal in running is to hit 20 minutes. I'm guessing it'll be 2.6 miles. Perhaps I'll aim for 30 minutes after acheiving 20 minutes. I don't want to run for hours as weight training and building muscle is my priority.

Aside from exercises, I've been continuing Muscle Control on a daily basis. I've also incorporated foam rolling into my lifestyle. I use it every day I'm not training. I just recently started using straps on all my pulling exercises (not pull-ups, not yet anyway). I gained 15lb this year to make my weight 180lb. The year before I gained 25lb (I was underweight).

My goals for next year are to hit each exercise 8 reps:
deadlift 400lb, shrugs 400lb
squat 300lb, row 300lb, calf raise 300lb
bench 275lb, rear delt row 250lb
zercher squat 225lb, military press 225lb, good morning 200lb

BLACKBERRY

Back Squats, Zercher Squats, and Deadlifts

The Evolution of My Workout Routine

I could not grasp the depth of the bodybuilding culture when I had first began seriously working out. I wasn't even aware that I was going to transition from push-up circuits to actual bodybuilding. It's been just over a year since I decided to train legs. It took me a solid 6 months of only upper body training to realize I needed to train my legs. Back then, I found a perfect harmony between push-ups and pull-ups, and coasted that way for too long. I was weary of joining a gym because I felt my strength wasn't impressive enough and that all I needed were bodyweight exercises. With them alone and no weight training, I had put on about twenty pounds of muscle. I saw no end to where I could take push-ups and pull-ups, but my body did see the end. I maxed out at 70 push-ups and 128 pull-ups. After these high numbers, my body resisted both of my beloved movements. My joints were worn and I was grossly overtrained. I attempted to reach my high numbers again, and got nowhere close to where I was at my peak. I knew I needed to make drastic change, and I did by adding bench press and curls.

Everything I read online told me to do the compound exercises, but I was hesitant at first. I had been eager to squats, and first tried with dumbbells. I didn't realize it at the time, but I didn't have heavy enough weight (2x21lb dbs), nor did I understand squatting technique. This resulted in injury everytime I attempted squats. I deadlifted dumbbells as well (same weight), and was better off than squats, but still hadn't found a groove. I switched my leg training to leg press and quickly worked my way up to pressing the whole stack (200lb). I was doing too many isolation exercises and neglecting my compounds. After learning about muscle anatomy more, I added tons of exercises to my routine and created these 2 hour+ workouts, where I became overtrained, and had joint soreness, my central nervous system was always fried, as well as my grip.

I learned through reeling back my exercises, dropping them, that I had more stength and energy for the remaining exercises. This came to me like an epiphany. I realized simplicity is efficient, and that you can't focus on a large number of exercises, especially not as a beginner. I really felt like I had a great mind-muscle connection with push-ups and pull-ups that I wasn't attaining with the numerous new exercises I added. I chose very carefully which exercises to drop, leaving myself with the exercises that were most efficient and ones that I liked. Ultimately this came to me having fewer exercises and utilizing the compound exercises. I learned to barbell back squat and barbell deadlift, and recently learned more barbell leg exercises: hack squat, zercher squat, good mornings, and stiff-leg deadlifts. I started weighted pull-ups and weighted dips. For flexibility and recovery, I learned Tibetan Yoga, Hindu Yoga, Muscle Control, and Foam Rolling.

I switched from working out 3 days a week to 2 days a week. I found I was overtraining with 3 days. I've really learned to feel the power in squats. I now begin each workout with them as they are the king of exercises.

I don't believe I've said one sentence about food, but a calorie excess is necessary for muscle growth. This is my current supplement stack: controlled labs orange triad multivitamin, sci-fit kre-alklyn creatine, muscle milk protein powder, monster amino intraworkout, glycergrow preworkout, fish oil, vitamin a/b/c/d/e/k, ginkgo bilboa, supreme power (mushroom extracts), amino acid pills (before sleep) [beta carotene for a, 1000mg vitamin c].

10-26-11 Update

          I had set a goal of doing 45lb weighted pull-ups, chin-ups, and dips before Halloween, and I did it. I wasn't satisfied much with my performance. I'm going for 50lb at 8 reps each tomorrow morning. I've just rested 5 days from my last workout. The Deadlifts and parallel bar - reverse leg lifts did my lower back in. I still felt growth off the rest, so I don't even consider it injury. I'm going to try to barbell squat my body-weight for 8 reps, going below parallel each rep (170lb). It'll have been ten days since I did this routine. My recent traveling left me little time at the gym. I had the choice of wasting my energy and muscles on inferior lighter weights, or to just use the time to rest and focus on wrist strengthening, grip strength, and Muscle Control.

          With Muscle Control, I feel like I'm doing the same routine laboriously for a long duration (weeks), yet before Iknow it, my routine has changed and evolved. I hit upon different angles and have crafted new shapes in which to focus on. I've noticed that muscles are only consistent for a certain duration of time.  Your strength this week is not your strength next week. Things slowly change over time, and then they change very fast, and certain things become impossible that were once daily and nearly effortless. I believe there's an intelligence that goes along with recovering from those times. The ability to roll into other types of exercises or training methods. Your body knows things far before your mind knows them.

          Two muscle regions I had difficulty learning were the thoracic and abdominal. The same maneuver to contract these muscles applies to both. If you stand with your heels together and toes pointed out, and you place your arms horizontal and in front of you with your hands turned inward as if you were going to try and pry your own rib cage open. Lean forward slightly, and for the chest, pretend you're ripping your sternum apart horizontally, and pull apart slowly keeping tension until your arms are fully out in crucifix position, and in that pose, I close my hands and arms and end in the starting position. I find if you don't do this, your energy can abruptly leave and your tension can get cut too short. For the abs, do the same, but lower your hand to hovering over the abdominal region, and spread into a lower arm crucifix.

Weighted Pull-Ups Progression

Often in life, there are these magical moments: deja vu, out-of-body experience, omens, and curses. These things aren't scientifically true, but we experience them nonetheless. I've noticed that the future can bleed into the past, and you can prepare yourself before these type of stellar moments.

I've intended to train the weighted pull-ups for the last ten months. I thoroughly enjoy pull-ups, and having trained them for 14 months consecutively, I had varied the rep range and gotten very comfortable in them. I did go through injuries in my elbows and shoulders (rotator cuff), but I've evolved my technique and adjusted my routine so that I'm recovering very quickly. At first my goal with pull-ups was to do as many reps in one session as I could possibly do, and this was the method I employed on push-ups when I began training.

The high rep pull-ups gave a great lat pump, and they gave me a lot of mental confidence. Once I passed the 100 mark of reps in a session, each workout was so mentally draining and demanding that my body wasn't going to let me to continue that style. I capped out at 127, and was injured from it. I knew when I had recovered that high reps was too injury-prone and hard on the joints. In many exercises, you progress in weight every session, and this is great for muscle building. So I knew, after dodging buying a dipping belt for so long, I had to invest, and I did. I got the Ironmind De Riguer Dipping Belt. It's said to be able to hold 1000lb. The nylon ones I looked at couldn't hold more than 50 pounds and the leather ones not more than 100lb. It's a vouched for product, so I went for it, and it's working out great.

I've only been doing the weighted pull-ups for half a month (15 days). I started at the 10lb plate, because I figured that anything lower would be an insult to myself. I did 2-3 pull-up sessions a week, adding 5lb per session. This past Friday I did 8*35lb for 2 sets. Tomorrow I do 8*40lb for 2 sets. I'm going to go on a trip and returning Thursday to hit 8*45lb plate for 2 sets. I'm not sure where I'll cap out, but I can tell by my quick advancement in them that my strength easily carried over to these. I think it was to my advantage to do them body-weight only for so long because I've really ironed out my technique to get my chest to the bar. I haven't sacrificed any bit of my form yet, and I think that's valuable and highly efficient.

Deadlift, Bench Press, Pull-Ups, Chin-Ups, and Dips

This Week's Workout Routine

Muscle Control And Weighted Pull-Ups

After a year of doing pull-ups, I've finally purchased a dip belt. I should have transitioned long ago, but I avoided the task. At one point I had tried holding a dumbbell between my legs, but it didn't feel right, and I was discouraged to try weighted again. During the year I did pull-ups, I varied the rep and set ranges. My highest pull-up session was 127. I blew out my rotator cuffs a few times, but I've been healed for some time. I learned high-rep pull-ups and dips are too tough on the joints, regardless of your available strength and endurance. When I realized this, I lowered my total reps, and focused on slowing my technique and perfecting it. I evolved my pull-up to end in a very high position with my chest to the bar. I feel this works my mid-back well.  Dips, when I first started, wrecked my shoulders. I had to drop them for some time, and when I resumed them, I no longer sank below parallel in the down position.

I'm very excited for the weighted pull-ups, chin-ups, and dips. In the past, I've neglected very formidable exercises like the five main compound lifts: deadlift, squats, overhead press, rows, and bench press. I chose not to do them at the time because I didn't know the correct technique or the effectiveness of the muscles used in them. Although intrinsic, sometimes you know you're hitting upon the right path, and I'm at a full sprint down this one. Gains are inbound, and are starting already. I don't perform any flys for my chest, and instead rely on decline, incline, and flat bench press. Just from having the past two sessions of dips, I can see my inner chest more cut than it's been since I was last doing dips several months ago. I'll also be relying on the dips for my triceps. I see the weighted pull-ups and chin-ups enlarge my lats and especially my lower lats, which have only really popped recently. Two things I hadn't thought about on weighted pull-ups are my biceps and forearms getting extra strain. I've been bracing my forearms , keeping them from getting knotted up. I read that chinning biceps can be a bad thing because you spend so much time in the full contraction and not the other angles. Though, I'm not putting too much stock into that problem if it is even one.

I must mention my progress on Muscle Control. I've just completed my second month of it, but it feels like a much closer friend than that. I have been doing muscle control daily and sometimes twice daily consistently without fail. I have attained more control over my traps, especially the upper traps, which I couldn't flex beforehand. My intercostals are under my control as well as my serratus anterior. I don't have a full abdominal vacuum, but I'm advancing my control of the transverse abdominal. I'm feeling it easier to contract my abs. I have fine-tuned my lats a bit more. I can more easily put them at odd angles without soreness. My left forearm flexors have really started to take shape and fill out. I can tell my calves are filling out and getting cut. With the last leg exercise in the Muscle Control directory, I've begun noticing my quads take shape. Earlier today, I performed divebomber push-ups, and it being an agilty-demanding exercise, my form has always improved, but today I noticed myself able to keep tight hamstrings and calves throughout them in the up position. My biceps are visibly showing the two separate heads at certain angles. Rows are feeling more compact with my lats very tight and assuring.

ZOMBIE

Push-Ups

Muscle Control - Eugen Sandow

Eugen Sandow, the other found of Muscle Control, was a strongman born in 1867. After reading his books and the concepts he wished to express, I can say that he seems to be more of the intellect between Max Sick and himself.

They were both inspired by the Greek statues of the museums in Europe to build their bodies to their fullest potential. Max Sick was born a runt, a small, weak child. His training seemed to be more personal than Sandow's style. Sandow seemed to have more confidence and he was more of a legend, whereas Max Sick was not as much caught up in the fame and money. I find it very odd how many times Max Sick tries to dispel past rumors of things he may have said. It's very fishy sounding as if he was more so trying to change history to fit his current mindset. Who knows, but I wouldn't waste any valuable text in my biography trying to deny things. Max Sick never seemed to be in the right place at the right time during his life. Also, I'm sure his lack of English helped isolate him from culture and the world. I think Max knew that he didn't get to reach out to the world as much as he may have wanted. It seemed like in his later years he had regret.

Sandow on the other hand, seemed very interested in educating the people of his times, and even women at that. His writing style is very gentlemen-like, showing his charisma and confidence. There are things I found I disliked about him though. In his writing, he is often promoting his own weight-training accessories and apparatuses. I suppose you could say in defense that back then there wasn't as much training devices or gyms, and so perhaps his inventions were useful, but looking at them, they are so gimmick-like and just cheesy.

His exercises that I ran across in his writing were largely 1-handed lifts. The bent press was very heavily favored, which involved picking up a barbell off the ground and raising it above your head with 1-hand. An interesting biceps move is that he would pick up a heavy dumbbell off the ground and bring it into a biceps curl, like a heavy snatch.

I'm curious to try these 1-armed lifts. There are two 1-armed exercises I'm familiar with and they paint opinion on the matter of heavy 1-armed lifts. 1-Armed push-ups require a large surge of strength and they wear you out. I can do about 8 reps on 1-arm, but I find it to be more of a strength move than something to build muscle. The other I have in mind is 1-arm pull-ups. Again, you won't be able to do enough to work the muscle. Also you're really jeopardizing the shoulder of the single limb that you use as well as the wrist and elbow. Max Sick was injured in his last performance on stage, by attempting to make a heavy 1-armed lift. His shoulder was injured. In theory, it sounds like a marvelous idea to work each arm so hard individually, but it's playing with fire. On one hand, if you trained each arm individually with heavy weight, you may think that when you do use both arms, you could lift far more weight than if you only trained 2-arm exercises, but I'm not sure that's the case.

It is said that in bodybuilding, function should follow form. As Sandow said, breathe with your nasal passage and not your mouth as the mouth is only to be used for chewing and swallowing. We as humans are shaped with symmetry. We have two arms, eyes, ears, legs, feet, hands, lungs, etc. It makes sense to use both arms when lifting something heavy. As well as using both legs when squatting with weight on your back.

Looking back, 1-handed strength feats are more impressive than two-hand. It surely enables higher grip strength in each hand. Sandow mentions the importance of researching human anatomy and all of the muscles. He mentions that in sports, the athletes use certain muscles favorably, and that the athlete who trains the entirety of the body will benefit the most as their strength reserves will be greater. Although Sandow even claims that he has studied human anatomy more than any man, I'm not sure I take his word for it. I was disappointed that in all of his writings, he doesn't seem to every speak of muscles. He doesn't refer to them by name, nor he does explain how they work or any sort of detailed information.

It's funny how Sandow says that the information he had access to, like the anatomical books, weren't available to past generations. And Sandow is from 109 years ago by year of 2011, and it's not as if every citizen has Sandow's physique. Sandow knew people to be lazy. There are athletes who bring their body to its prime and then they stop the sport and they become fat from lack of exercise and good nutrition. Throughout history, physical education seems to be something cherished and then ignored, and it can flip between those two, but often falls in the ignored category.

I'd like to look at this question of why people don't exercise modern day. Ignorance seems to be a word in itself that can cover every reason. Your average citizen these days has knowledge of many things, but the knowledge is often from media outlets, who are able to spin things any way they please. People grasp knowledge from TV shows, movies, and music. You hear a statement about a subject, and you've never heard this statement, and you are grateful you've learned something, and you retain it, but who's to say that knowledge is correct? People are often guilty of not citing sources and not investigating for their own benefit. Again, people are lazy. They want to partake in the least amount of input and be rewarded with the greatest amount of output. People often say, "I don't have time," or, "Why do I need the strength and muscles of a bodybuilder?" As far as time goes, you spend on time on the things you want to spend time on. And as for needing strength, as Sandow put it, a well-embodied man implies a well-embodied mind. It is easy for the mind to become cloudy, and it is easy for the body to become poisoned. I cannot imagine a scenario where a human would not want to be a better version of himself.

Muscle Control

Max Sick and Eugen Sandow were known for founding the usage of Muscle Control. They were strongmen from the 19th century. There are many pamphlets and articles written by these muscle control masters. For reading, I recommend this and for just the exercises of Muscle Control - this.

Briefly put, Muscle Control is about the ability to flex a muscle in both the contracted and stretched position, and the ability to relax a muscle in both the contracted and stretched positions.

I had read on this topic a decade ago, and although I was impressed by the concept, I didn't get further than 1-2 practice sessions. At the time, my anatomical knowledge of muscles was lacking, and so it was harder at the time to visualize the muscles, and how to enter the contracted and stretched positions.

I separate the body in 15 muscle groups, starting from head to toe: traps, shoulders, biceps, triceps, forearms, mid-back, pecs, lats, abs, lower back, glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, and tibilias anterior. There are more groups to work as well like face, neck, fingers, and intercoastals.

Above is Max Sick. I performed the entire routine of exercises in the pdf above, it's titled 'Short Table of Muscle Control Exercises'. I didn't really know what to expect with these exercises. Having learned 40+ yoga poses, and after studying human anatomy with its terms for limbs having certain orientation, I found it easy to read the descriptions and mimick the poses.

The body is split into the head, neck, shoulder, arm, thorax (chest), back, abdominals, and legs. Within those, there are subdivisions, like the tongue, eyes, teres, serratus, intercoastals, scapula, lats, spinae, traps, pelvis, biceps, crachialis, brachioradialis, fingers, forearm, triceps, gastrocnemius (calves), toes, glutes, hamstrings, quads, and tibilialis.

If you don't know where the muscle is located or how it is shaped, you should look it up and familiarize yourself with it, also how it contracts and stretches. I recommend not skipping any of the exercises, no matter the difficulty. Some examples of the advanced technique is asymmetrical control, like only one side of the abdominal, or one side of the traps, back. You also separate the trapezius into its three sections: low (which covers shoulders) and touches spinae, mid, and high. You can feel the blood rush into the targeted muscle groups when contracting and isolating the muscle.

I was very impressed with the Muscle Control exercises. I could feel strength and power in the poses. It's really just a list of ways to contract the muscles from the ideal angle. So although I find it very helpful, and I plan to use it for a long time, I also don't think that it's without flaw. Culturally, in the 19th century, the abdominals, intercoastal, and serratus were all highly prized over the pecs, back, or limbs. One of the main exercises back then was the bent press, which is a barbell lift with one-arm while bending at the waist, emphasizing the oblique and midsection. It's a beautiful move, but looks to be dangerous as is any one-limb feat.

Max Sick wasn't interested in weight lifting. He valued Muscle Control. Weight lifting was an outlet for him to show the results of his Muscle Control ability and power. He was also a gymnast, and he used chains to perform on in front of audiences, much like gymnasts with rings. His physical measurements were:
5ft 4½
145 pounds
neck 16"
chest 45"
thigh 23"
calf 16.75"
forearm 13"
biceps 16"

He ate in a caloric deficit, claiming he didn't require much food. Water was taken in small amounts. If you look further into Muscle Control, you'll see the stomach vacuums being recommending with warm water and cold water at times. It is possible to control digestion by means of isolating parts of the abdominal in a rhythm. Other techniques allow you to relax and slow your pulse and heart rate, forcing carbon dioxide out of the bloodstream, breathing at a very slow rate with long breaths. Lastly, Max Sick believed the brain could be controlled as well using the Muscle Control techniques, by being able to send neurons and thought impulses. He was a firm believer in resilient, unwavering, unstoppable willpower.

SOUR FRUIT

20 pull-ups/20 chin-ups

RED GRAPEFRUIT

Barbell Routine

CHOCOLATE

Headstand Push-Ups

I've had the free-standing handstand push-up as a goal for a while. In progressing towards them, I started with holding handstands and one-leg push-ups as vertical as possible. The next step I took is what is in this video - headstand push-ups. To qualify as a handstand push-up, you're hands must be elevated so that your head can sink into a full range of motion. I'm going to up my reps in headstand push-ups before attempting the goal. I started with 5, but had to take a break due to a sore left shoulder. I've done 2 reps the last two times.

I have a few routes to take - I could head towards free-standing headstand push-ups or start into handstand push-ups against a wall.

Logging Information

Statistics are very valuable. Too many people rely on remembering things. If there is one constant in the world it is the fallibility of the human mind. We can go about life making false claims that we can remember everything and that we don't make mistakes, but you can benefit from acknowledging your own ignorance. When a human uses their memory to recall something, they are not reaching into reality's past, instead they're reaching into whatever they can remember (which won't be much), and often times they extrapolate without even knowing. This can be avoided though. We don't have to rely on what we can remember. We can rely on facts and evidence in the form of written down information.

Even if you had an excellent memory and you could recall all of the reps, sets, and weight for each of your exercises, you're still unable to view all of that information at the same time. It's not as if you could paint a beautiful graph inside your mind and easily navigate through it. For that, we have things like Microsoft Excel.

I attempted to use Excel early on, and it was very useful for making formulas that could spit out my next routine based off patterns. Through doing this, I realized that many of the formulas I used became skewed over time, and so I could see whether I had a weak or strong formula. I'm not currently using Excel for that ability any longer, but I'm glad to know it exists.

Currently, I use Excel to see all of my exercises, how long I've been doing them, what other exercises I was doing at the same time, what weight, reps, sets on everything. It's a lot of information. Before putting it all into Excel, I kept about a dozen notepad files with huge strings of information, and it was very inefficient to view all the information at the same time. I currently have 47 different exercises in my Excel sheet. It is also easy to add notes to Excel in each individual box so that I can give myself a little context on why I did how many resp, sets, and weight for any specific exercise. I have color-coded the backgrounds of the boxes according to date.

I also have a sheet in Excel on the same document for 'food' that tells me the serving size, calories, sodium, protein, carbs, and price of food products that I eat regularly. Another sheet I have is strictly for 'stats'. For that, I analyzed the Exercise Log (my main sheet) and made comparisons of the different time periods: which supplements I was taking, what gyms I was going to, whether I was training cardio or not, whether I was training yoga or not during these time periods, etc..

The last sheet I have in Excel is for my 'Daily Routine'. By looking at my 'Ex Log', I can very easily and quickly assemble my next routine, after doing this, I'll make a hardcopy of my Daily Routine and bring it to the gym with me. After the gym, I log all my reps and weight, along with any notes I want to make that are fresh in my mind. So as you can see, I have the one Excel file that covers everything, and I can easily e-mail it to myself (it's 40kb) so I can have it any location.

Muscle-Ups

Pull-Ups are a feat for many because they do not know how to contract or activate their lats.

Muscle-Ups are difficult to understand in concept. It's a pull-up followed by a dip. Being able to do both pull-ups and dips doesn't automatically allow you to perform muscle-ups.
I intentionally keep strict form with all of the exercises I do, so when I saw so many people performing muscle-ups with a swinging motion, it unnerved me. I realize now that the swing is essential to the technique.

Imagine an egg tied to a string. If you held the egg in your right hand and the string in your left hand, when you release the egg, it will swing to the left, hang airborne for a second and it will swing to the right. When the egg gets it's second hang time, this is where you would explosively pull yourself upwards for the muscle-up.

Essentially you are utilizing your body's momentum to send yourself atop the bar. It's important to conceptualize the pivot point you will be rotating with. The navel is the pivot of the human body. A human who jumps off a cliff will rotate around their navel. Imagine if the human had anvils for hands, they would rotate around the anvils as the weight imbalance would shift the pivot point from the navel to the anvils.

Likewise, with the bar because your arms are locked out, the bar is your pivot point. The idea of a muscle-up is to revolve around the bar so that you're atop the bar. If you attempt a muscle-up without a swing, you would pull yourself into the bar opposed to atop it. When you do a muscle-up, you are throwing your body in a half circle, you start below the bar, you finish above the bar.

OOZE

Through The Looking Glass

Four months ago I switched from working out at 7am to 4pm, and what I noticed is that when I was working out early in the morning, I didn't have much time being conscious before my workout started. I would eat a slice of bread and drink a cup of coffee, then start. I actually like mornings, but there was hesitance in my mind on some mornings. I noticed I was more suspectible to morning nausea than I thought I was. At the time I was performing very high rep push-ups. This required immense mental strength. And unfortunately, when you require such a high level of willpower, determination, and heart, it's not always going to be attainable.

Working out can be described as putting your body under stress as if you're facing eminent danger that could kill you. It's only logical that if you place your body and mind under stress so consistently that there will come a day when your body and mind choose to not perform. It's like The Boy Who Cried Wolf. It's very easy to see myself bench pressing far too heavy a weight and pushing it off the hooks, and having it slip out of my grasp and crush my neck, killing me. Why wouldn't it happen? I push weight on a regular basis. I don't give the weight the warranted respect. My mind may be retracing the day's events. And out goes my life. No chance for another breath of air, or the ability to improve my technique, or analyze why I failed the workout session. I have something to counter this though.

When I began working out at 4pm, I realized just how much daytime there was before my workout. Before, I was rolling out of bed, eating light, and immediately into my routine. Now, I was waking up, and I still had 10 hours before my session. You can load yourself with carbs, sugar, fruit, anything you want, and you can see how well it works. Those 10 hours gave me a new factor to play with. One thing I noticed, that was a tremendous help, is collecting my strength throughout the day.

This topic of collecting your strength is very metaphysical sounding. It doesn't seem very biologically possible. I gravitate to logic and critical thinking before I venture into abstract territory, which looks like the ground I'm entering with this subject. That said, I don't find it entirely incomprehensible. As humans, our minds are without a doubt the most important part of our bodies. Having biceps and hamstrings, and being bipedal are not essential to what makes us human. We have the most evolved frontal lobe of the brain. It allows us to think creatively and abstactly.

Our thoughts are directly related to what manifests in reality. It's more likely that I'll take a plane to New York if I make that a goal of mine, whereas if I never set the goal, and never thought of visiting New York, it's safe to say there's a smaller chance I would go there. Likewise if I see a pretty girl I want to talk to and I never approach her, I would never get a chance to talk to her. So there's definitely a connection between thoughts and reality. When I look at someone with low self confidence, I can practically see the ceiling above their head they've imposed on themself. It's sad, like a dog with a collar who's chained to a tree. He can move five feet in any direction, and that's it - like a prison cell. But alas there's hope. Every man doesn't walk around with the same level ceiling over his head. I've waived impositions on myself. I have studied the abstract. I have indulged in it in fact.

The idea related to the work out is to collect your energy and strength throughout the day for the actual lifts. As I said, I'm unsure of how this works physically, but it seems to work, and not by placebo effect. I visualize the exercises I'll be performing later in the day. When I say visualize, it's very easy to take that notion and just have a thought bubble appear above your head, where you can see yourself bench pressing the weight you plan on pushing. But I mean more than just visualizing, I mean for you to actually be there in your mind and feel the weight in your muscles. Practice pre-loading your muscles. For example, you can do a biceps curl with no weight in your hand, and use tension to create resistance. By visualize, I mean more than just using sight, but actually feel the exercise.

What's cleaner, a premeditative action, or a spontaneous action? Granted, premeditative actions can result in more nervous energy. But I find long-term planning far more successful than short-term planning. Even if we're talking about 10 hours versus 15 minutes. I find my workouts to be faster and more efficient when I collect my strength beforehand throughout the day. There's simply less time that I'm wasting energy on thinking about what I'm going to do. There's less distractions, and in genereal less errors. Because of the time spent focusing and visualizing and collecting energy and strength, my willpower becomes impregnable, and without effort. Welcome to autopilot - GoblinCore style.

TOXIN Yoga

One-Leg Hammy Leg Ball Curls and Straight-Leg Deadlifts

Yesterday, I discovered a new hamstring/glutes exercise. It's a variation of the hamstring ball curl. Only use one leg on the ball, and keep the other straight up. I'm not sure why it took me so long to see it. The initial problem I had with the hamstring ball curl, and others I showed the exercise to, was that you're not able to efficiently add weight. I always performed it with a 45 plate on my lower stomach, but that wasn't nearly enough resistance. Stacking a second 45 plate made the exercise too unwieldy, like doing push-ups with plates on your back. The second plate would slide around and there was an added danger that it might slide into your jaw or facial area.

Performing the one-leg hammy leg ball curl is actually more dangerous than the standard version. All of your weight is held by only one limb. It puts so much pressure on that limb that it's easy to hurt yourself. You could pull a muscle if you're not paying attention and not tensing your body in preparation for it. I only did 13 reps with each leg, using the 45 plate, and it felt great, whereas using two legs, I was doing 145 reps.I've noticed that when switching to one-leg or one-arm exercises, the pressure is greatly amplified for the limb on the ground. It's an important factor to acknowledge. For example, if you attempt to do a 2-finger push-up, you could sprain a finger.

The other exercise I've started performing recently is the straight-leg deadlift aka stiff-leg deadlift. This variation of the deadlift prioritizes the hamstring and glutes. I've read that going heavy on the straight-leg deadlift activates the glutes more. I certainly feel the stretch in my hamstrings when performing them, but my glutes seem to overtake the majority of the work. I've only performed them with dumbbells as I've found the hamstring stretch to be better when reaching lower to the ground to pick the weight up versus a barbell that would stand much higher off the ground. I initially wanted to start incorporating Good Mornings, and I might in the future, but I dislike how rounded the back stays in good mornings, and that you don't straighten your back. I prefer flexing my lower back and standing upright after each rep. It enforces my posture and keeps my lower back stiff and strong feeling almost like a corset or tightly strapped belt. I'll try a one-leg straight-leg deadlift. It sounds like a very efficient way to utilize lighter weight.

Yoga Refined and Advanced One-Leg Push-Ups

After two weeks of performing the 5 Tibetan Rites and the 27 yoga poses I adapted, I feel I have a solid base, and I'm not struggling to maintain any pose. I was originally going to switch over to the 5 Tibetan Rites and the 26 Bikram poses, but I found myself wanting to drop certain poses, and I found myself attached to some of prior poses I learned. The end result of my conceptualizing is The 5 Tibetan Rites and 37 poses, taken from the yoga mat and Bikram. Over time, I plan to incorporate new poses.

I wonder about the spirituality aspect of yoga. I try to give it my respect, but I'm not convinced either a soul or chi exists. I'm still researching those fields.

I'm having difficulty using the same technique for one-arm push-ups for each arm. I tend to use more shoulder on my left arm, and on the right arm, my abs twists in a painful manner. I'm continuing them as I find the one-arm push-up an incredible feat, and it appears to be a useful exercise. I like that I can only perform a few, and that I'm able to output my strength so quickly. It's efficient and saves time. I'll update with my progress on it. I'm currently doing 2 sets of 3 reps per arm. I know I can do more, but they're very taxing, and they would affect other exercises I perform.

Yesterday, I tried a new style of push-ups. I have been doing one-leg push-ups for the last 5-6 months. They're not very difficult. People can typically do them on their first try. I like them though because you're making the push-up even more of a compound exercise by having your lower half carry your weight on one leg. Though, I've heard you shouldn't put weight on your feet with push-ups so that your upper body is more taxed. Clearly, there are options.

The new method is a one-leg push-up with the hovering leg higher in the air, as straight and as high as you can manage. This technique works the lower half of your body extraordinarily more than regular one-leg push-ups. I could feel my glutes, quads, and hamstrings being worked. In fact, prior to even attempting these, I performed about 3 one-leg squats aka pistols on each leg as my body sort of foreshadowed the strength and the tension necessary for the advanced one-leg push-ups. I held on to a railing minimally as I did them as I haven't trained them yet. The inspiration for this style of push-up came from performing the locust position in yoga.

Though I admit I've seen one-leg push-ups done this style with the leg raised, it's usually not raised that high. The style I like is with the hovering leg as high as you can lift it. One thing I immediately noticed is that my push-up went from a horizontal position to more of a vertical position. I'm not entirely sure what to make of this. The more vertical you perform a push-up, the more triceps and shoulders you work, and the less you use your pecs. I tend to favor pecs over shoulders, but as of today I'm resuming the bench press. I started benching in the middle of November till the start of January, starting at 155lb max and ending at 215lb max. I know I have nothing but room to grow in benching technique.

Enter Yoga

I was hesitant about yoga until recently. My main experiences with it in culture were the TV show Dharma and Gregg from '97-'02, and Dhalsim from Street Fighter. I didn't understand the importance of flexibility or stretching back then.

After beginning to incorporate power breathing, I started looking into yoga and Chinese Qigong, which is Hindu in origin. I gravitated towards The Five Tibetan Rites. They're said to have many health benefits when performed regularly. I've found the 5 rites to aid in my abs and back flexibility.

I'm looking to memorize the 26 Bikram poses, . but currently, I'm doing these 27 yoga poses that are printed on a yoga mat I purchased.

I'm performing The 5 Rites, followed by the 27 yoga poses above, morning and evening every day. I've only been doing this for 4 days, but I can see the value in yoga like I never had before. I plan on switching to The 5 Rites and Bikram poses in a month's time. You can increase the number of reps you do in the 5 Tibetan rites until you get to 21 reps.

Power Breathing

I learned power breathing specifically for lifting heavy weights. At the time, I was using 35lb dummbells, and at the time, a 35lb dumbbell was very heavy for me to pick up. I wasn't sure how to get the weights off the floor without hurting myself. I studied the concept of deadlifting, which involves arching your lower back, pushing your chest out, and shoulders back, and standing up naturally with perfect posture. When you deadlift, you don't use your arms for strength, you use your lower back and hamstrings (back of leg). Using a deadlift to pick up the 35lb dumbbells made me exert less strength and energy to pick them up and be ready for my exercise. But I needed something more - power breathing.

I liken power breathing to Superman blowing a gust of wind that can send people tumbling backwards. One thing that probably helped me immensely in power breathing is that before I adapted the technique, I was the opposite. I didn't breathe at all during working out, or I'd breathe very little. I did so because I felt I didn't need to breathe so hard, and I felt embarassed to breathe so loudly in front of other people. But I've grown beyond that ignorance and shame.

I noticed a few months into my push-ups that best pecs (chest muscles) became very inflated after doing my push-ups. And a few hours after the push-ups, my pecs would deflate quite noticeably. This happened every workout. I get huge and inflated, then afterwards I deflate and no longer look as impressive. Looking in the mirror, I could tell that when I breathed in with a long breath, my chest would fill with air, and when I exhale, my chest deflates. At the time, I was taking photographs of myself after every workout for future comparison and analyzation. I noticed that when I posed for the photographs, if I held my breathe, my muscles inflated and looked bigger. At first I was only taking these large breaths to inflate my chest, but soon after, I noticed I was using this same breathing technique when I did a bicep (arm) pose. Inhaling was inflating my muscles. I read an article on breathing that explained to me that you don't have to breathe air through your chest, you can breathe through your back. And it sounded bizarre to me because I didn't think I had ever breathed through my back. Some stretching positions, especially on the floor, cause you to breathe through your back. I also noticed that when I posed for a back photo, that my back would inflat when I breathed into it. My traps (upper back) would swell and look every impressive.

While I was in the midst (months) of doing push-ups, and no other exercises, I read everything I could find that was related to push-ups (I still do this today), and I realized that I was breathing at the wrong part of the push-up. I thought, how could this be? i do so many push-ups, how could I be doing them wrong? But I was. You should always inhale on the easy part of the exercise (the negative), and exhale on the hard part. So for push-ups you inhale as you lower yourself downward and exhale as you push yourself up to locked position. When I adapted my breathing to this style, it felt great, and more natural. I was breathing incorrectly for so long (month) that I was so overjoyed to breathe correctly, that I was loudly and forefully breating in and out. When I'm in the low position for push-ups, I exhale, breathing outwards as if my breathe alone is making me rise to the locked out arm position.

Afraid of hurting my back, whenever I went to lift anything over a pound, I would (and still do) exhale as I lift the object. Over time with using this technique and getting stronger from my workouts in general, it became easy to lift the 35lb dumbbells. And now at the gym I can lift 60lb dumbbells the same way, with no effort. I just exhale and in one swift movement, I yank it off the ground, and exhale as I yank the other off the ground. No injury, no wasted strength or energy.

Pull-Ups is another exercise that I learned I was breathing incorrectly in. The correct way is to exhale when you pull yourself up, and inhale when you lower yourself to a dead hang. Using the correct breathing method, I was able to be more explosivein power and strength. I never understood why people working out grunt or why Karate guys yell after throwing every punch, but it makes sense now. There's more power in their movements. It's the same thing when you watch a boxing match or MMA, you here quick, short exhlaes with every strike they throw.

So I did this exagerrated powerful breathing for maybe 5 months now, and I've noticed that I don't breathe nearly as loud as I used to, and I attribute this to myself using power breathing without breathing so hard in and out. Often time you can use a mental cue to remember something. For example, if I'm trying to remember the number 27, and I just keep chanting 27 in my head, I might forget the number, but if think in my head that 27 is 30-3, then the 27 number becomes much easier to remember because I can just recall, 30-3 = 27. In the same sense, breathing hard in and out cues my muscles to tense and be prepared, and after using the technique for so long, I'm gradually not needing to breathe so hard to enjoy the same benefit.

To conclude my ventures with power breathing, I'll end with the technique I've developed that I believe causes massive muscle growth. I've noticed through all of my workouts in the past year, that sometimes when I do push-ups, everything just feels right. I don't feel weak in any areas, the exercise is easy for me, and I can feel my muscles using all of their strength. I didn't attain that perfection every workout though, and I never knew what put me in that ideal place. I think I know what the trick is now. It applies for any exercise you're doing. I observed a bodybuilder in my gym who was the biggest guy in the entire gym. His best attribute being his traps. I watched him around the gym here and there for the past 2 months, and I was trying to figure out exactly which exercise he was dong to build his traps, which are bigger than any other humans. I believe the exercise that did it was flys. He sits down and does the flys with very lightweigh dumbbells (maybe 15lb) and the motion his body followed was very fluid and he literally looked like a fish swimming in the sea. He was getting maximum contractions (muscle shortening) to maximum muscle lengthening. It's the full stretch that a muscle can reach both ways.

Push-Ups especially, you're pumping blood throughout your body. You can actually pump up your muscles. That's exactly what that big bodybuilder was doing. It's literally like having sex - in-out, in-out. It's like slamming your dick into pussy. Pull out, push in, pull out push in. Think of it like a washing machine. Repeatitive movement from point A to point B, point A to point B. Fall into the rhythm of it. Clear your mind, and let your body perform. Each rep should be done at the same consistent speed. No fast rep, slow rep. Instead, every rep should be the same speed. A good analogy of this technique is a fish swimming. If you think about a bird flying in the air, they flap a few times and ride the currents. We don't want that. We want to be the fish, slapping your tail side to side, forcing your body to pump forward through the water. I've used this technique in push-ups and pull-ups, and I know it can be used with any exercise once you nail the technique down. The key to building muscle is to put your mind on autopilot, fall into rhythms, and simply perform. Don't think about your day so far, don't think about the rest of your day, don't think about money, friends - nothing. The only thing in your head should be the numbers for that set you're doing. Don't even worry about the next set or whatever exercise you're doing next. Be in the moment, and let your body respond and let your body make any corrections you may need to make in the exercise. Everything should feel right. If your left elbow or right shoulder is hurting, your technique is probably off. You shouldn't feel anything but your muscles burning.

1-Arm Push-Up

I took some tips from Pavel Tsatsouline on the 1-arm push-up. He describes the process of working your way up to it. I think there's a mental barrier to break as well. It's a lot of weight on one arm. I try to keep my shoulder, pec, elbow, and wrist all vertically in sync.

I spent a week and a half attempting it before succeeding. I found elevated surfaces and gradually put my hand lower, even used a ladder to graduate one rung lower as I adapted to the weight, and became confident in the strength to perform it. I'm currently able to do 5 reps on each hand twice a workout. I'm increasing the amount by 1 rep per workout.

Inverted Shrugs, Vulture Flys, and 270lb Calf Raises

Log Update 20110325

362 push-ups
_____304 1-leg push-ups
_____12 1-arm push-ups
_____50 divebomber push-ups
127 pull-ups
_____34 chin-ups
_____41 wide chin-ups
_____19 pull-ups
_____29 parallel chin-ups
_____4 hand assisted 1-arm chin-ups
9x50lb dbs flys, push press, hammer curls, zottman curls, shrugs
18x50lb tricep extensions

Day prior:

100x45lb hamstring leg ball curls w/fitness ball
40x200lb leg press
10x35lb leg extensions (1 set)
32x265lb calf raises (barbell)
30 inverted shrugs (1 set)

Log Update 110227

Tomorrow: Upper Body Routine
232 1-leg push-ups
32 divebomber push-ups
82 pull-ups
11x45lb dbs flys, push presses, hammer curls, zottman curls, shrugs
15 dips

Tuesday: Lower Body Routine
120x45lb hamstring leg ball curls
55 second ab hold
44x200lb leg press
10x70lb machine leg extensions
12x35lb leg extensions (1 set)
36x230lb calf raises (barbell)
45 inverted shrugs

Valentine's Day Eve Update

I joined a gym for heavier dumbbells. Tomorrow's routine is:

204 push-ups (112 1-leg, 72 Wide 1-leg, 20 Divebombers)
75 pull-ups (19 chin, 19 Super W pull-ups, 12 pull, 13 W chin, 12 parallel)
16x45lb dbs flys, push presses, hammer curls, zottman curls, shrugs
30 dips
20 inverted shrugs

I'm finding it easy to channel intensity at the gym. New supplements I'm taking are Glycergrow, Kre-Alkalyn, Fish Oil, Greens Supplement (veg and fruit), and Monster Mass.

Tuesday, my leg routine is as follows:

85x45lb hammy leg ball curls
75 second ab, quad hold on dip bars
60x170lb leg press
30x50lb machine leg extentions
12x35lb db leg extention (1 set)
55x205lb calf raises
25 inverted shrugs

Log Update 110107

214 push-ups (one-leg, decline one-leg, wide one-leg, triangle, divebomber)
100 pull-ups (167lb bw)
1x185lb bench press
25 skullcrushers (25lb dbs)
25 flys, push presses, hammer curls, zottman curls, shrugs (35lb dbs)
15 wrist rolls (10lb)