Topic Recap

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Last night was the first weekly 70’s Big Chat. As of now, the normal schedule will be on Sunday evening (but I’m going to have a vote off for Tuesday vs. Sunday evening — see end of post). I typed non-stop for almost two hours straight to answer questions on various topics.

I don’t claim to know everything about strength and conditioning (because I don’t), but I know a decent amount about the human body. The knowledge of anatomy, biomechanics, and gross physiology compounded with critical thinking allows me to help most people that read this site. The majority of them are still relatively new to lifting and aren’t advanced powerlifters who squat 650+ and have been training for a decade. That’s okay because highly advanced and experienced powerlifters are rare relative to the amount of lifters who frequent the internet.

In any case, I’m able to help beginners or intermediates in different aspects of training, even if it’s only giving an opinion on their given situation. If the issue isn’t cut-and-dry, like squat mechanics, then I’ll be sure to insist that it’s merely my opinion.

There were several cut-and-dry topics such as, “Why does my back hurt when I squat?” The chatter provided a video, and it was easy to say that the chest wasn’t raised, the knees weren’t shoved out, and he was going way too deep, thus his lumbar spine rounded under a load. It makes sense that his back hurts, and I’m sure he’ll do a pretty good job of correcting his faults even though I (or anyone else) am not coaching him in person.

Other questions were about things that I don’t know much about, such as the Greyskull linear progression. Greyskull Barbell is a training facility owned by my friend Johnny Pain around Philadelphia, PA. In any case, I hadn’t seen this linear progression, but I liked it a lot. I didn’t read the topic thread, but people kept asking me about the comparative advantages/disadvantages to a linear progression like Starting Strength. The most important thing I’ve noticed is that when some guys gain 40+ pounds, they get a lot of muscle on their legs and torso, yet their arms and neck are left looking thin. The Greyskull linear progression includes curls, body weight chins every day, weighted chins, neck harness work, and some other things. I haven’t seen JP in a while, but when I did, establishing a yoke was important. I was asked what the neck harness was for, and I had to repeat that it was for “Fucking Yoke”. There’s more to the Greyskull LP, but the four major factors are: 1) two days squatting, one deadlifting, 2) presses come before the squats and pulls, 3) the last work set is done for as many reps as possible, and 4) there are some additional movements to help build muscle without causing too much systemic stress. I like it, and see it as a good transition after the early stages of a more bare linear progression. Check out the thread to learn more about it. Also, JP knows his shit and I support anything he says. Bony for president.

There were some injury related questions too. Basically the trend that I see with injuries is that most lifters don’t know how they originated and don’t know how to deal with them. I won’t elaborate too much, but usually injuries that don’t have an explanation (i.e. you didn’t twist your ankle, your knees or hip flexors are starting to feel sore) are caused by either a form fault or accumulated work and stress. The form fault could be blatant or subtle, and the accumulated work could be a clear case of overtraining or just an indication of needing a back off period. If you are or were a skinny guy, gaining a lot of weight is going to have a profound change on your body. If you haven’t been lifting for the past ten years (including silly lifting in high school), your joints and structures will be in a different stage of adaptation, and may get a little irritated as you progress. It’s up to you to either figure out what is the cause (form or stress), and figure out how to deal with it (whether you do that alone or asking someone). If I can help through the chat, I’ll be happy to do so.

There is some kind of benefit that most people can receive from participating in the chat. I learn a lot by helping people, and hopefully the people I help get something out of it (that’s what they say, at least). It was a good time, and I look forward to the next one.
Note: The next one will probably have AC, Chris, ShrugThug, and Mike in it if you wanted to chat with them. They are all pretty weird in their own way.

[poll id=”17″]

28 thoughts on “Topic Recap”

  2. is there like a log or something somewhere so people who are busy in the evenings can go back and read through what was said?

    Umm…not from last night. I can do that in the future.

    –Justin

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  5. I vote Sunday, because I need to do something besides watching the Cards and Skins.

    I also have a question that can’t wait. Brent, is monster truck racing a sport?

  7. Question for any who care to answer…

    The high school that I coach at currently employs the BFS strength program with our kids.

    I have done Rip’s Starting Strength in the past and have been doing 5/3/1 for the last 8 months – and I am partial to either of these programs over BFS.

    Basically, we coach high school kids and I am looking for some comparisons or any experience with high school kids in any of these programs. Trying to start a discussion/pick some brains on the subject…

    Thank you, and any input is appreciated!

  8. I think that the question for the poll should have simply stated “When should we chat every week?” because adding the preference for Tuesdays could have influenced voters.

  9. Good chat last night. We need more girls next time. Renee and I shouldn’t be the only ones representing. Sorry for telling you to fuck off, Yosh. I am not sorry for telling high bar back squats to fuck off, though.

  10. …how tired was I earlier? I’ve been one of the people who keeps backing Tuesday, and I somehow voted for Sunday and even posted a comment saying I was disappointed in people who chose Tuesday…yes, I’m a moron.

    Go Tuesday.

  12. I’m dropping in from my usual lurking to say thanks for linking to the Greyskull LP. My presses are lagging behind my squat and deadlift, in relative terms. I’ve gotten quite a meaty lower half but not as much development around my chest and arms. The Greyskull LP is pretty much exactly the re-prioritization I’m looking for. I was already planning to do deadlifts and bench press today, so I switched the order and stuck some curls in between. (If Johnny Pain is giving me permission to do curls, I should do some damn curls.) Now I’m sitting here eating fried eggs and drinking milk and feeling my yoke enswolerate. Maximum jackage cannot be far off.

  17. Glenn has more input into my training than anyone. In fact, his exact words to me were, “Tamara, you should never do a low bar back squat again.” That does not mean I have to like high bar back squats. I can still tell them to fuck off. I can tell anyone or anything I want to fuck off.

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  24. @Eric – Get to work. I expect dozens of girls at the next chat. They should obviously be scantily clad and covered in glitter. Justin should do his part by making it a video chat.

    @rpbrown – You should really jump on the Tamara is awesome bandwagon. All the cool kids are doing it.

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  27. Voted for Sunday evening both times. Unfortunately this means I probably will never be able to participate, as I coach Tuesday and then train in the evening, whereas all anyone should be doing on Sunday is sitting on their ass watching football. Oh well.

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