Seminar Hangover

“Mmmm…can you smell it?”

It is the night after our barbell seminar in Wichita Falls, and we are all a bit burned out. 20 hours of material will do that to you. There were a lot of great people at the seminar, and I hope to see most of them again (I demanded that a few of them make a return soon). If any of you who attended are reading this, feel free to give your thoughts on the seminar.

On Friday, someone from JP’s gym posted a link from his website. It is written by one of his female trainees, and can not only give us dudes an insight on female training, but can also be an interesting read for the ladies. The article can be found here, and here is an excerpt:

Armed with the confidence that only strength can bring, I ate with reckless abandon. I immediately blew past my previous sticking points and hit PR, after PR, after PR… a 50-pound deadlift PR instills confidence in the milk like nothing else! About six weeks into this “gaining” cycle, I competed in my first powerlifting meet. With my first official lifts under my belt, I paused to take in the moment. I was in awe of the progress I””d made in such a relatively small period of time, and I recognized that without the simple dietary additions of milk and meat, this rate of strength gain would not have been possible. I had arrived at a much-awaited turning point. The realization that my new found strength was the result of a carefully executed strategy allowed me, for the first time in a long time, to believe I was capable of changing my body. I had successfully escaped my obsession with body image and in the process, managed to reverse the longstanding misconception that I””m stuck with my body as it is. Confident and inspired, I was ready to take my training to the next level. Or so I thought…

Discuss.

———-

Here is a video of my pal Brian who I have been training for a few months. Brian is on the weightlifting team, and will either lift in the 94 or 105 kg class (he was about 205 when he started, now he is accidentally 216, so we have to figure it out before the meet in January). I have Brian on a linear progression type program that includes the Olympic lifts, so he squats twice a week. Recently he started practicing football twice a week for a “semi-pro” football team (or whatever you call it, Brian). In other words, he is doing two strength workouts, two weightlifting workouts, and two practices a week, and still making progress. Friday he squatted 495x5x3, and here is a video of the third set:

30 thoughts on “Seminar Hangover

  1. geeeeeze, nice lift. i gotta get into a place like that. my gym sucks, i need hard asses yelln at me the whole time

    In case anyone was curious, Rip and I are both coaching/yelling in the video.

    –Justin

  2. Back from the field, and boy is it good to eat or what! I only managed to lose 3 pounds (207 to 204) because although MREs aren””t as good as say a smoked brisket, they are still high in calories and somewhat tasty. I did rucksack squats and presses and a shit ton of pushups. Hey, what””re gonna do, right? Anyway, good to be back.
    I love the article that was posted. I mean, that””s the bottom line. You must first get your mind right and then your eating and lifting will get where it needs to be.

    Welcome back. Gotta do what ya gotta do with what ya have. Where were ya?

    –Justin

  3. Hey Justin,
    I was at the seminar this weekend. Never got to work in one of your groups though. I was the tall skinny guy with the Amarillo group. Anyways it was a great weekend, with tons of info and great coaching. And you actually get coaching on the lifts under ACTUAL weight! No PVC in sight! Cant wait for the new three day format. Im signed up for the one in Wichita Falls again in February. Rip said I need to gain 40 pounds by then. 250? No one tell my girlfriend. Haha. She thinks the 20 Ive gained so far was enough…Anyways thanks to Rip and Justin and the rest of the crew for a great weekend. Time for second breakfast if Im gonna reach 250…

    Second breakfast — like the hobbits in Lord of the Rings. Yeah, you need to keep growing, because you have a tall enough frame. Looking forward to seeing you in Feb. Oh, and your she’ll adapt.

    –Justin

  4. Will be in Wichita Falls tomorrow

    I better see you lift Brian, that was sweet.

    You should catch him squatting on Tuesday — I think he will be doing 500x5x3. If not, he will squat again Friday.

    –Justin

  5. 2 quick questions:

    1. Always thought 3 x 5 is 3 sets of 5 reps. Have I had it backwards this entire time?

    No, you are correct. If you are going to write it in your log, it would look like the weight x number of reps lifted x number of sets. Thus Brian squatted 495x5x3, which is three sets of five.

    2. Entered the USAPL even in Charlotte. I lift in reeboks right now (flat soled), and plan to buy shoes. Justin/others, can you send a link of what you lift in and recommend?

    AC and I lift in VS Athletics. The heel is too high for me to deadlift in, but there is a new pair of shoes coming out of Rogue Fitness that will have a half inch heel. Rip has a pair and they are just right. AC did fine in his shoes at the meet he did last month, although they are not conventional powerlifting type shoes. Get something though.

    –Justin

    Thanks.

  6. jgalon – yeah SS is 3 sets of 5. I”d image 5×3 would be better suited for heavier lifting shown here (or simply a typo :))

    Just been down to Costco btw and got a load of meat,veggies and nuts – gotta keep the stalling at bay!

  7. Justin

    You mentioned that Brian is on two strength workout and two weightlifting workouts. Are the weightlifting workouts his oly lifts? And does he do those on seperate days from his strength days?

    Thanks

    You pretty much repeated exactly what I said, good sir.

    –Justin

  8. Nice lift Brian! Looking forward to hopefully getting involved in a seminar with you guys soon.

    Side question, someone asked this last week and not sure if it got answered. What is a good weight goal for shorter guys? Im 5””7″ and currently weigh in at 186 at 15%BF. Before Starting Strength I was 160 at 11% Bf. Current lifts..DL 375x5x1, BS 330x5x3, Press 180x5x3, Bench 255x5x3. I know their is no perfect answer but I feel 200 might just be too heavy for my 5””7 frame. Ideas?

    I will deal with this soon.

    –Justin

  9. Great job Brian, that””s really impressive.

    I posted this in another thread, but I think it was too late for it to get much attention:

    What do you guys do to warm-up for squats prior to the warm-up sets?? I use an exercise bike for 5 minutes at a light pace, then I generally do the squat stretch where I get down in the bottom of the squat position and push my knees out with my elbows and hold it for 20-30 seconds two or three times, and even after all that I still can”t seem to squat with an empty bar! I need about 25 pounds per side before I can really do them properly it seems like. Is that just tight hamstrings still?

    You are fine. My friend cliff is the same way. We like to use the rower at our gym for a general warm-up, then squatting as the specific warm-up. Some guys will not warm up, or get pushed down into their squat without a little bit of weight. I would not worry about it.

    –Justin

  10. Brian, think about how much better life would be if you were14lbs heavier. That is not far from your current weight anyways. I am only a few inches taller than you at 235lbs, and I am working on gaining more. Perhaps I am crazy, but 200lbs seems like a good weight for your height.

  11. I was about an hour east of Charlotte, NC. I am stationed out of Fort Bragg, NC which is about 2 hours east of where I went. Man, it was good to be back in the gym today. By the way, do you know when those shoes from Rogue Fitness are coming out? I desperately need to get a pair.

  12. @ Chris,
    I row on a C2 for 5 minutes on setting 3 and then I do about 20 incline situps to get the hips stretched and then I do the squat stretch you described and start squatting with the bar and so on and so forth…

  13. Thanks for hopefully addressing the shorter guys Justin. I have no problem being 200 lbs. However, I feel like in order to hit 200 I will be pushing 20% BF, and that seems inefficient.

  14. I read the article on Greyskull and I can relate with what she said about body image. My training history shows this.

    When I was in college, I played lacrosse and hit the weights with the team. It was a disorganized waste of time, and I pretty much went through the motions…but I did like the way it made me look.

    Upon graduation, I stumbled upon a thing called “natural bodybuilding” and hired a “natural bodybuilder” as a trainer. So basically from the ages of 21-27 I was a natural bodybuilder. Aka “all show no go.” I actually did pretty well though and won an overall in my last year competing…but I was obsessed with the look…UNTIL…
    I developed some wicked tendinosus in my right patella from all the leg presses, and front squats due to quadricep obsession. My ortho doc told me I should never get under a load again. I made the decision to not listen to him and knew that I needed to get stronger. After a slew of bad training decisions in 2008, in the beginning of 2009, I forgot about “the look” and the switch flipped that I needed to get stronger. I haven”t turned that switch off since.

    I used to be a 6% bodyfat year round 175 lb weakling. Now I”m 242, going on 265, stronger than I”ve ever been and feeling damn good. Now I say, “Tendinosus, What tendinosus?”

    I”m going to be 29 in January, and I am going to continue to dedicate my last year of training in my twenties to getting 70s BIG!!

    Flip the switch!

  15. Im interested in doing linear progression including the olympic lifts aswell is there any possibility you could help me out in how i should go about doing this?

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