Category Archives: Content

The Revolution – Part 2

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Exhibit A. The way it used to be.

There was a time.

A time when manliness was an aspiration. Desired. The epitome of adulthood. A woman wanted a warm, burly embrace complete with a chest hair snuggle. Nowadays the average lass cuddles with a spidery, non-lensed glasses-wearing waif who bruises from a charlie horsed leg.

HAS THE WHOLE WORLD GONE CRAZY?

This aggression will not stand. We must rise to action. The Revolution has gained momentum; the resistance swells every day.

Your mission, brother, if you choose to accept it, is to take flannel back from the hipsters.

These vile creatures are a cancer to our withering society. They claim to be original and avoid the mainstream, yet one of their chief styles of clothing is something worn by manly men for decades. How the hell do they justify that? The result is our nation’s youth growing up to see a bunch of annoying pukes wearing “flannel”. The first decade of a child’s life is very important; their first impressions create the foundations of their mind, ethos, and philosophy. If we allow skinny hipster goobers to falsely represent a sense of manliness, then subsequent generations will aspire to be thin, incapable, and irrelevant. We cannot let this happen.

The weather grows chilly in the northern hemisphere and it is our duty as big, strong men to reset the standard. It is our density. Here are the steps to completing yet another mission in The Revolution.

1. Know thy enemy. 

Exhibit B

Ladies. Gentlemen. This is what we’re up against (Exhibit B). In your journeys you will come across a shriveled excuse for a male: the hipster. He will don the flannel, as his wont. Your goal is not to engage him in mortal combat, yet to alpha the shit out of him in a respectable manner. Enter the room with confidence and a smile; it will immediately over power his internal shoulder rotation, thoracic flexion, cervical flexion, and atlas extension. And you better believe his pelvis is posteriorily tilted.

If the enemy follows you into the room, make sure to hold the door open. After all, it’s something you should automatically do for all females, especially when you mistaken the dainty hipster for one.

If you must engage the enemy in conversation, introduce yourself with a firm, but not aggressive handshake. His limp-fished hand will tell the real story. It’ll help if your hands are weathered. You probably have accomplished this by lifting weights, but it helps if you chop wood, drink whiskey, or spend time outdoors. The hipster, for example, is not strong enough to even swing an axe.

Smile. Converse. Be polite. Be yourself. For if you act like yourself, you have already won because the hipster is trying to be something he is not. This creature wants. to. fit. in. He will do and wear anything to be a part of a group that is the pukish spawn of urban middle class poons. Christian Lorentzen of Time Out New York claims that metrosexuality is the hipster appropriation of gay culture, as a trait carried over from their “Emo” phase. He writes that “these aesthetics are assimilated—cannibalized—into a repertoire of meaninglessness, from which the hipster can construct an identity in the manner of a collage, or a shuffled playlist on an iPod” (source). They essentially think they are cooler than America — and NOBODY is cooler than America (see Exhibit C for proof).

Exhibit C. Nothing is cooler than America.

Do not try and beat the hipster at his own game (which is hypocrisy . Merely present yourself as the amiable manly man you are. It will help if you have chest hair, own at least three knives, or have recently started a fire without matches (and preferably not accidentally in a house). You don’t have to comprehend the enemy, but knowing that he aims to not conform by conforming to an irrelevant cultural style will let you conquer him with standard, old-school manliness.

2. Choosing your flannel. 

It’s very important that your flannel is not marketed toward the enemy. Don’t shop in teen or urban sections. In fact, reconsider your clothing store if it has these sections. Outdoor stores are a good start, but I’ve had success at Kohl’s and Goodwill in the past.

Note that cheaper flannel shirts are made of cotton. If you plan on doing any outdoorsy adventuring, aim to get wool or synthetic types of flannel. Cotton is death in the woods because it absorbs water and doesn’t dry quickly. It’s not manly to die in the woods alone.

Aim for the classic flannel look. Hipsters, emo kids, and skateboarders are trying to popularize obnoxious patterns and colors. Before you make your purchase, ask yourself, “Can I wear this outside in a snowy forest and not look like a fuck-head?” If the answer is no, do not make the purchase and consider burning the building down.

3. Wearing your flannel. 

Look, I don’t know anything about fashion. But I do know that you shouldn’t ever — EVER — button the top button on your flannel. Especially without buttoning the other buttons, cause then you’ll just look like Konnan from WCW. I’d also question buttoning that second button because it’s a very hipster thing to do. Why do they all do it if they all do it? I thought they were trying to avoid conformity? I guess wearing black-rim glasses, even en mass, really sticks it to the man, huh? Let your neck breathe.

A shirt is optional, but if you forego the under shirt make sure that you have chest hair. Unless they look like pubes. If they look like pubes then chicks aren’t gonna want to snuggle it. Actually, let’s just make a rule that you have to bench 300+ in order to wear flannel without an undershirt. It’ll set a good example for the kids and ensure there’s enough pec for lady cuddling (you don’t have to like cuddling for a woman to nuzzle your chest, just pretend that you do).

Exhibit D. Aim to be mistaken for the Brawny Man.

The best way to wear flannel is to role the sleeves up to right below the elbow. This allows you to tease nearby females with your forearm power, but it further establishes the stark difference between you and a hipster. Most hipsters will have bony protrusions coming out of their flannel arm holes. If you are concerned by a lack of forearm development, then promptly throw in several thousand reps of hammer curls a day. By having rippling steak forearms, you’ll fit the archetype of “man” or “lumberjack” — you know, the things that flannel-wearing emits. This is what we want and need; your flannel presence should be memorable. Not “memorable” in the sense that you drink so much whiskey that you flip tables after standing on them while air guitaring, but if someone refers to you as “The Brawny Man”, you did your job. You want people to go home and say, “God DAMN did that guy look manly in that flannel.” They should either a) want to look like that or b) want to find and romance a dude that looks like that. The latter applies to females, but if it’s two consenting dudes then I guess that’s cool too.

Fight the Good Fight

Remember, every time you clothe yourself in the morning you make a statement. Do you want that statement to say, “I will conform to how skinny, no-lifting puke-faces are shaping modern society”? Or will you say, “God damn it, I’m a man”? We shall take back America.

Join The Resistance — WEAR FLANNEL!

 

Ode To Bacon

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Ode to Bacon
by Tom Vale

Light the burner, woosh,
the pan clatters to the grill.
Unwrap the paper, treasure awaits inside.
Black and silent burns the pan, this witches cauldron about to perform magic.
In mere moments, the silence turns to sizzling, cracking, popping.
The aroma wafts up, intoxicating,
but only a false phantom of the true blissful taste which awaits.
Turning, browning, crisping.
The anticipation is agony, an exercise in patience and restraint.
It is time, the tongs lower in and victory is pulled out.
Lowered to the plate like a newborn.
It is time.
You are mine.
Bacon.

Q&A – 45

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PR Friday gives you the opportunity to post your training updates or weekly PR’s and chat with other readers.

The Weekly Challenge asked you to cook at least once with your crock pot and post your recipe to these comments.

Next Weeek’s Challenge:

Week In Review: Monday was a quick post about some of the Mr. Olympia results, and focused on the female competitors who show consistency in their training. Tuesday discussed the importance of “back” in Olympic weightlifting; reading that post could save your penis. Yesterday was a post on mental toughness in rehab and training.

Q&A

nadavegan asks:
Also, a question on exertion headaches. I read the post about passing out, but didn’t see any mention of headaches. I had a pretty serious one a few weeks ago, and I was wondering if anyone else has experienced them?

Dear nadavegan,

Exertion headaches are not the cause of passing out (the post talks about how increases in vessel pressure or occluding the vessels can result in a white out). Exertion headaches in lifting are typically the result of irritating the neck muscles. This is one reason why I coach people to keep their cervical spine in neutral alignment (i.e. I do not have them look up on squatting or deadlifting, and I don’t ever cue “head through” on jerks or presses). Weirdly straining the neck can create a headache based on muscle attachment sites in the skull. Aside from learning to have neutral cervical spine position, massaging the neck muscles after training may help.

A reader noted how the headaches were severe enough to visit the doctor and have an MRI done. It seems that these guys are developing the headaches by deadlifting for as many reps as possible. Note that you shouldn’t be allowing your form to break down into a shitty deadlift; it opens up various structures to injury, including the spine. When going for reps, aim to maintain proper technique (even if this means failing at an earlier rep range). You’ll get better work on the muscles, prevent injury, and not learn bad habits.

 

This is my first PR friday. Low back soreness more than usual from the squatting, is this normal when transitioning to TM from LP?

 

Dear farvahgc,

I’m glad you asked this, because this is pretty common. General low back soreness on a linear progression should NOT be there. It is an indication of doing too much work and probably not recovering. I would expect to see this from people who are deadlifting every other workout (which should only be done for a few weeks at most in people beginning to lift for the first time ever) or squatting three times a week.

If you are experiencing low back pain during your linear progression, even general soreness, then reduce your training load temporarily and re-evaluate your program. If you are squatting 3x/week, then modify one of the days or bring it down to two. If you are deadlifting more than once a week — or doing pulling work more than twice a week (to include power cleans, power snatches, RDLs, etc.) — then bring the deadlifting down to once a week and the pulling work to just two times a week. Things like weighted back extensions are fine, but accumulating a lot of squat and deadlift work throughout a week will create a recovery deficit, causing soreness, and then eventually an injury (usually some kind of tweak). Don’t let this happen.

snommisjay on  said:

Bs 340×5 intensity, 290 5×5 vol
Bp 195×5 intensity, 175 5×5 vol
Dl 400×5, mp 115 5×5 vol

5’8 167lb 27yo

2 questions:
1. Can anybody link me to the diet recommendations for texas method with conditioning? I hear it is similar to paleo.

2. I work 24 hr shifts. I have implemented texas method on a 9 day cycle to match my work days (1 out of three days, lifting on the day before work, and resting the day after). Day 1 volume day. Bs bp/mp and a couple accessories. Day 2 power snatch or clean and conditioning all out. Day 4 light day. Day 5 conditioning interval oriented. Day 7 Lifting intensity day. Bs bp/mp dl. Day 8 conditioning all out or sustained effort. Day 9 rest.

Can anyone comment on what i might expect from stretching the week and adding conditioning?

 

Dear snommisjay:

First, your volume work is a bit high for a sustained Texas Method program despite you elongating the progression. The squatting volume is at or a bit above 85%, and the recommendation is that the average weight on 3×5 Volume Day should stay under 85% of the weight used on the Intensity Day. You are at that limit with a 5×5, so I would expect things to not work well soon. Also, your bench volume is almost 90% of your bench intensity. Again, this is not something that I recommend on this program. The Texas Method: Part 1 will clear this stuff up and explain why. The book also talks about using conditioning. The basic tenet is that if conditioning is interfering with your recovery — especially for the Intensity Day — then it should be reduced or removed. Placement and type of conditioning is imperative when on a strength program. The conditioning days I see being a problem are on Day 5 (after your light day and two days before your Intensity Day) and Day 8 (which is the day after your Intensity Day and two days before the next Volume Day). If you have to modify one, it may be Day 5, but run it this way and see how you do.

As for the diet recommendations, you will need to eat adequate amounts of protein and calories to supplement your program and goals. Doing this with higher quality foods will yield better results in the short and long term. I am working on something that will detail nutrition for various goals, so keep an eye out for that.

Jonas asks:

I´ve got a question i hope you could answer. I´m reading the “Fit” book chapter on mulit element fitness, and trying to use the “decision tree” on p. 175 to decide what kind of intensity to use in my endurance traning after lifting weights. Right next to my gym we have a 400m running track so i figure it´s time effective to use it. I also need the running. My question is this: would this be a sufficent breakdown of the intensity “zones” with regards to trackrunning?

Tabata: 20 sec all out run, 10 sec pause –>
Short max effort: Running hard for less than 5 min.
Long max effort: Running hard for less than 10 min.

Thank you for the 70s big community and traning philosophy btw. It´s intelligent, down to earth and lots of fun. That´s more than can be said for most of the other strength training websides.

Dear Jonas, 

Your break down is decently accurate. Just remember that high intensity conditioning is relative to what the person is currently adapted to. In the book it details how 15 minutes of speed walking is enough for a de-conditioned person. Note that in FIT it provides a recommended type of conditioning relative to the volume and intensity of the lifting.

As you read in my chapter, Tabata running (on an inclined treadmill) is the most stressful kind of conditioning  I’ve done 20 seconds of running and 10 seconds of rest outside before (in the middle of a south Georgia summer), and it is very hard. I recommend sticking to the 10 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest structure when outside.

As for the short and long max effort sessions, running in those time frames could work, but they may not achieve an intensity high enough relative to your capability. A short max run could be sprinting an 800m while a long max run could be running a mile for time. Doing those efforts as fast as possible are certainly stressful, but just keep in mind that combining running with other activities can up the stress. Also note that running is best improved through interval training, and the total time of an interval session will last longer than 5 or 10 minutes. You could remove the rest periods and just add up the total running time in an interval workout to see if it will fit in the 5 or 10 minute limit. But since you have the book, you have plenty of examples on how interval training can be conducted, including how it can be used relative to the lifting session. Note that running is much harder after heavy squatting, deadlifting, or posterior chain work.

The Importance of “Back”

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There are two dichotomous styles of weightlifting. One is sort of a relic of the past and puts an emphasis on jumping the bar up while the other focuses on efficiently getting under the bar. In “Jump/shrug vs ‘Catapult‘” I briefly discussed the differences between these techniques. The primary difference is that if the bar is jumped vertically, the lifter and bar become “floaty”, making it difficult to have an efficient turnover to rack the bar. The “get under” method sets the lifter up to not only have greater turnover speed, but to use more efficient mechanical positioning to maximize their force production.

The key is that the “get under” method is necessary for lifting loads that are significantly greater than body weight. Personally I can tell the difference between the two methods; I was taught to use the jump method and have taught myself the “get under” technique, though I’m probably not perfect. I’m lifting the same PR loads weighing 15 pounds lighter and without back squatting for a couple of months. The “jump” method is good for general strength and conditioning (especially with non-lifting sport athletes), but it’s less efficient when trying to lift the most weight (i.e. Olympic weightlifting).

This post isn’t meant to be a full biomechanical analysis of the “get under” technique (that can come later), but the technique’s starting position and execution better produce a stretch reflex on both the quads and hamstrings. This not only allows these muscles to produce force maximally, yet makes the bar-lifter mechanics more efficient. For example, if a person is snatching significantly more than their body weight, then manipulating the bar-lifter center of mass is important, but it’s not as simple as making the bar “go up” vertically.

There are two standard cues used after the initial motor pathway of the lift are learned: “bar back” and “finish in the heels”. Keeping the bar back prevents it from swinging forward, disrupting the delicate bar-lifter system. Even slight alterations to center of mass with very heavy loads will create exponential mechanical problems that result in a failed lift. Finishing in the heels ensures that the lifter doesn’t put an emphasis on “up”, prevents the lifter from floating, and sets them up to transfer into their heals in the bottom of a snatch or clean. It also facilitates the finish “arched back” position — a necessary difference to snatch or clean heavy loads.

To keep the bar back, a lifter will actively need to extend their shoulder joint (if the elbow is straight, shoulder extension pushes the wrist behind the body — see the “Anatomy Motion Explained” video for a review). This same thing occurs on a deadlift to prevent the bar from swinging forward, but it’s absolutely critical in the Olympic lifts. It’s the difference between a good lift and a bad lift. For some, it can be the difference between a good lift and annihilating their dugan and coin purse. Observe what happens when the bar isn’t kept back:

Okay, this might be an extreme example. My arm length may facilitate nut crunching, but leaving the bar out front changed the mechanics to bring the bar into my body at a different trajectory. Let’s look at the same problem on the snatch from earlier in the same training session. I had not snatched 130 in a while, and I was feeling good in warm-ups that particular August day. You’ll see that I miss 130 three times in a row. You’ll also see that it seems like I easily complete the lift, and then it falls forward. It’s because my lack of “keeping the bar back” puts the bar in a slightly forward position — maybe by a few  centimeters — and results in a missed lift. I even spiked my adrenaline for the second and third lifts to no avail. Finally, on the fourth attempt, I focused on keeping the bar back and made a good lift with significantly lower adrenaline levels.

As a side note, look how different the mechanics are from this video. Yikes.

I learned why keeping the bar back was important by missing a doable snatch three times in a row and smashing my sausage on a clean. Most of you probably won’t be able to discern your problems on the spot, so I suggest watching the Pendlay teaching progressions on Cal Strength’s website and routinely executing the basic cues (like “bar back” and “finish in your heels”). Your beef bugle will thank you.

3 Press Fixes

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Whenever I teach and coach the press at seminars, the same faults show up.

1. Grip width
2. Wrist position
3. Elbow/shoulder position

It’s a little difficult to discuss this without a visual aid, so I made an explanation video below after a press workout. Starting Strength does a good job explaining grip width, but for some reason people usually use too wide of a grip. I first wrote about proper wrist position on the SS forums in 2009, and it still is a common fault. Basically the bar needs to be over the heel of the palm instead of back in the hand or fingers. Lastly, over the last couple of years I’ve put more of an emphasis on maintaining proper external rotation during the press as it will distribute the force application through the full muscle bellies of the triceps and anterior deltoid. If these three flaws are present, then it will inhibit press progress. If you are doing these three things wrong, then it will behoove you to accumulate several weeks of work with lighter loads to develop and train the musculature through proper mechanics and range of motion.

Other pressing related sources:

Better Push-Ups video, external rotations role in push-ups and benching
The Lats While Benching article, discussing the anatomy of external rotation during benching
Internal Rotation Post, showing some MWOD fixes for internal rotation
Pressing a Dead Horse post, talking about some programming, but general methods of improving the press.