PR Friday: Post PR’s and training updates to comments. Mingle. Have a good time.

Continuing Weekly Challenge: Movember Fundraising: 

The 70’s Big Movember Network (including other countries) has raised $3,263 at the time of this writing. That’s purdy good, but we’re right after the halfway point in the month, and the goal this year was to raise $8,000. The approach this year was to ask as many of you to join the team as possible, and get as many donations as possible. It seems obvious, but there are about 30 members on the team who haven’t raised any money at all. Just ask your family and friends to donate $1 — literally one doll hair. If you accumulate $10 total, that will be neat. Especially if you other guys reading this join the team and raise your own $10. This cancer stuff can effect all of us; an old friend recently caught some early stages of cancer. Raising this money isn’t self serving; it’ll help people like him. Thank you for your time or effort in this fundraising.

Weekly Recap: Sunday was Veteran’s Day, and thank you to anyone generous enough to donate two bucks to two different veteran charities; showing vets that you are willing to take action for them means more than your words. On Monday Jacob Cloud posted about the women who competed at the Longhorn Open. Tuesday we talked about two good posts from Glenn Pendlay about weightlifting programming. Wednesday we dug into some of the reasoning why Misha Koklyaev was unable to represent Russia in the Olympics for weightlifting.

I replied/answered to a few posts from last week’s Q&A.

Not a single fuck was given. (Pictured: Donovan Ford. Thanks to Brian for pic)

Q&A

Connor on November 4, 2012 at 12:22 pm said:
Justin, I thought this might make an odd, yet informative question/post. It seems that I’ve run into a problem that every man runs into: the roids…not the steroids, but the hemorrhoids. I have them and they’re really fucking up my workout schedule man. I really don’t know what to do about them, so I guess I’m going to go see Dr. Jelly Fingers in a couple of days to see what he says because this shit is unbearable (pardon the pun).

So these are my questions:

Does squatting and heavy lifting cause hemorrhoids?  That’s what everyone keeps telling me and I deny it, but I really can’t attribute it to anything else. How should I go about my training until it gets healed? Squatting is pretty much out of the question when it gets irritated. Thanks for reading this man. I know it’s kind of a funny topic or  whatever, but it’s serious man. I can’t, and won’t stop strength training, which is what I’m 90% sure the doctor will tell me to do. So what is your knowledge and experience on what to do in this situation?

 

Dear Connor,

Interesting yet probably relevant topic, indeed. Let me preface this with the fact that my hemorrhoids knowledge is limited; I haven’t had them more than half my life nor have I coached anyone that has had them. I did find this article and will point out a few things along with adding some other information.

Hemorrhoids are an enlarged vein in the anus, and they can distend outside of the body. Dealing with existing hemorrhoids includes:

– avoiding putting pressure into the lower abdomen when lifting (thereby pushing it in the bully or up into the closed throat)
– stay hydrated, eat healthy fats to soften the stool (to avoid irritating the hemorrhoids)
– don’t strain when pooping
– take a sitz bath
– don’t take over the counter anti-inflammatories

The article above points out that it’s still possible to train with hemorrhoids, but you obviously want to take care to not make them worse. In order to prevent hemorrhoids, I think the best thing you can do is progress into heavy lifting when you aren’t adapted to it. Irritating the blood vessels around the anus is the result of two possible things: a) putting excessive pressure in that region when lifting or b) increasing general blood pressure when you’re not adapted to it. To avoid putting pressure towards the B-hole, take a big breath, and then try to expel it through your throat and mouth, but close the epiglottis so that no air can move through your throat. When you do this, you’ll probably feel your abdominal muscles contract and pressure in your upper body increase. If you’re not used to this, be careful using it when you are actually lifting; it’s a bit different than merely taking a big breath and holding it.

Keep in mind that the adaptation to pressure increases will probably dictate forming or irritating hemorrhoids. The guy in the article above can squat and deadlift over 700 pounds without symptoms, but you may need to work to adapt to a work load near or at your max. Oh, and obviously don’t put large pressure stresses on them when they are flaring up.

zapata on November 9, 2012 at 1:42 pm said:
brb still waiting for Justin to answer a Q&A about fucking magnets, how do they work?

Dear zapata: 

http://science.howstuffworks.com/magnet1.htm

patrick87 on November 9, 2012 at 4:55 pm said: 

QUESTION: During weighted chins I’m noticing that my right shoulder/chest touches the bar considerably earlier than my left side. I’m only doing barbell excercises – no dumbbell or other one-sided lifting work – and always check that I’m in the middle of the bar. What does it mean and how do I counter this problem? Is it muscle
imbalance or is my posture screwed up?

Dear patrick87,

I can’t say for certain what the issue is without seeing it. The likely culprits are a lack of mobility or poor posture. You could also have some strength or musculature imbalances. I’d try and figure out which of these you think it is and deal with it appropriately. In the mean time, try to touch both shoulders at the same time (you may have to cue the opposite side to lead the way).

 

First rugby game ever last night. We won, absolutely dominating what has long been considered the best team in the league. And the coach declared me “man of the match.” I haven’t felt so proud in a long time.

 

QUESTION: I have heard that NSAIDs can cause damage to the intestinal lining and tax the liver, but let’s be real now, after the beating I took last night, fish oil and mobbing aren’t going to cut it for getting me back into playing condition within a week, and definitely not enough to get me ready to squat on Monday. I know from past experience that NSAIDs have helped me get rid of problems in two days that fish oil and mobbing hadn’t solved in weeks. Is there anything wrong with taking ibuprofen for a day or two for a quick fix? If not, what are my options for getting myself healed quickly?
Note: I eat (mostly) paleo (I include dairy and potatoes fairly regularly) and take tons of fish oil and vitamins, and drink lots of water. The areas that are most hurt right now are my right shoulder and both of my quads. Last time I had tissue bruised this badly it took two weeks to feel better. I don’t have that kind of time anymore. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

PR Friday – You know the drill. Post your PR’s. Talk about training. If you’re new, stop giving advice (this isn’t the CrossFit Discussion Board).

Last Week’s Challenge was to sign up for the Movember team. I want to sincerely thank everyone that has donated, especially those of you who donated $1 — a single doll hair. One doll hair may not seem like anything, but if everyone reading this did it, we’d destroy our goal.

Next Week’s Challenge: I hate asking people to donate, but if you have not donated, a doll hair will be appreciated; every doll hair counts. Please don’t feel pressured into donating 10, 20, or 50 doll hairs (some have). It is not embarrassing to donate a single doll hair; it’ll bind you to this community and I’ll do my best to help you if you should ever need it. Donate here. Thank you again.

Weekly Recap: The female post was a delightful discussion on whether obese female athletes do more harm than good. The first post of the Shoulder Health series focused on posture. If you’re wondering why there weren’t other posts this week, it’s because I’m working on some books. And yes, the second newsletter will come soon. Thanks for your patience.

Q&A — The last couple Q&A’s have been a bit weak, but this one is a real SLOBBER KNOCKER.

I read your post about wanting more questions, so I thought I’d shoot you this one. I am a 19 year old girl weighing 115 lbs and I have scoliosis with 22° of magnitude. I’ve decide to join the revolution and have been squatting my dick off for the past month. However, my back gives me some trouble when I squat. The muscles can sometimes become very tight and its pretty painful. I’m currently back squatting 5×5 at 85 lbs. I squatted in high school for volleyball before my scoliosis really became a limiting factor in my work outs. I’m also unable to dead lift due to back pain. Should I try another lift or is there a different way I should be squatting? Other than squatting and dead lifting, I don’t have any experience with olympic lifts. Any ideas or recommendations you have would be great!

Thanks,

Lauren

 

Dear Lauren,

Welcome to the Revolution! Your scoliosis is unfortunate, but there are a few things you can probably do to help. Are you squatting 5×5 regularly? Have you done a 3×5? Does the pain change depending on the amount of volume?

I coached a woman in her 30s that had some rotational scoliosis. I wrote about her in “The Texas Method – Part 1” (this was a post, which is different than the book). I said:

I’ve had a trainee increase on a LP, yet had pelvic asymmetry (rotational scoliosis in the lumbar) to the point where a 3×5 volume three times a week was giving her problems. Instead, we switched to a TM set up; the volume 5×5 (and lower weight) allowed us to work on positional issues as well as conscious neurological innervation, and the intensity day of heavier weight allowed us to push the weight up without worrying so much about the technique.

In her case, she had low amounts of pain when the week’s total work load was high (i.e. when we did a 3×5 three times a week). We were able to work on her technique with a lower weight on Monday’s 5×5, did some work with a 3×5 (depending on how she felt) on Wednesday, and really pushed the weigh on a heavier set of five on Friday.

Whether or not this applies to you, I don’t know. I would first suggest to stop doing the 5×5, especially if you’re doing it two or three times a week. You could try varying the volume/intensity throughout the week like I mentioned above. That might give you varied work to progress, but not pound you with work across the whole week to give you soreness. Feel free to send a video of your squats and I can check them for mechanical faults — if you’re doing something goofy then it’ll exacerbate the anatomical assymetry from the scoliosis. You may even need to cue something to work against existing assemetry in your technique.

All of that being said, if you still get pain from a 3×5 or the 5×5/3×5/1×5 Texas Method style approach, then I would stick to weights that do not cause pain and use assistance exercises to try and balance it out (in addition to the lighter squatting). Immediately start doing side planks after every training session, and more frequently if you have time. A chiropractor told me of a study (don’t know how good it was) that showed some improvements in scoliosis by doing side planks. Do them for 30 seconds three times on each side. If you cannot deadlift, see if RDLs work. See if you can do back extensions, and then see if you can weight them (hold a plate in your arms). Once you use these movements regularly, see if you can do lighter deadlifts and try to incorporate them back into your routine (only do them once a week, and if you need to do sets of three instead of five, and don’t do multiple sets at work set weight). Let us know how it goes. Oh, and are you low bar or high bar squatting?

Justin,

I have been reading and following 70’s big since you were at Rip’s gym in Texas.

I need some help on how to coach at a Oly meet. There have been several write ups on the site about lifting meets but not something specific about the coaches role ect.

My athlete got an invite to the Outlaw open in California. The first event is a Oly meet (his first as an athlete and my first as a coach.) I was hoping that you could point me in the right direction to reading material on how to warm up/starting weights/ ect.

Anything would be of great help.

Thanks,

Joel

 

Dear Joel,

I mentioned in my original response to you that there are some posts on weightlifting meets as well as coaching at powerlifting meets (Nationals, The Arnold, etc.). This response will just point out the basics.

1. Open with something that is a definite good lift. You want to build confidence in your lifter, especially on his first snatch of his first lifting competition. Realistically it should be something he power snatches; something he can hit if his balls fall out of his singlet mid-rep.

2. Don’t worry about PRing. This sounds counter-intuitive, but both of you should learn that what you do in the gym is irrelevant; meet PRs are different. The goal is to get the best out of your lifter on that day. That should mean going 6/6 and maybe matching some gym PRs. If he can set an overall PR, all the better, but having a good meet should be the focus.

3. Have a plan. Create a written plan on what you’d like to hit. Do this by opening low. If he balks and thinks the opener is too low, slap him in the face and yell, “YOU’RE IN MY WORLD NOW, GRANDMA.” Talk about what will happen if something bad happens. If you planned accordingly, then something bad could happen and he should still hit the opener (e.g. the aforementioned scrote episode). If the rep was very hard, then don’t make a 5kg jump, make a 2 or 3kg jump. Sometimes reps can appear hard as the result of something easily fixable, so you can make the projected jump and merely make a correctional cue. In general, don’t make more than a 5kg jump (unless you’re doing his last warm-up on the platform or something). I like to write out a best and worst case scenario — a low and high end projection. That way you don’t have to think about the next attempt when the judges are waiting for it.

4. Make sure he has all of his gear. Sure, he’s probably an adult, but I’ve had people go to the weigh-in table without their federation membership card. Shoes, socks, singlet, knee sleeves, belt, tape, membership card (if relevant), etc. — make sure it’s all there. Get a back up pair of shoe laces. This can probably be done with a phone call the night before unless you guys are having a sleepover.

5. Get him warmed up on time. This is an underrated thing for a new coach, but he shouldn’t be warmed up too early or too late. That means you count the attempts of people before him. If it’s a good meet, they’ll project this on a screen. If it’s a small meet, go look at the attempt cards over the judge’s shoulders. If you don’t know how they function, then go and talk to them about it before hand and have them teach you (the cards run up and down snake style). Each attempt before your guy will be about a minute. He probably wants to hit his last warm-up a few minutes before the actual attempt, so 3 or 4 attempts out. Keep in mind that some lifters may do all three of their attempts before your guy even opens. Factor in the possible attempts and adapt to the situation. This is mainly relevant for the openers since you won’t need to do any warm-ups after the opener. If you warm him up too early or he has to wait a long time between attempts, he could hit a light rep in the warm-up room (e.g. at nationals a few years ago when I was doing around 155kg on CJ, I did a rep in the back at 100kg).

Overall your job is to get him ready by counting attempts and give him attempts he can hit. That’s the minimum. If you have an effect on arousal levels (chilling him out, amping him up, etc.), then that’s better. Keep in mind that too much adrenaline in weightlifting can cause a new lifter to forget a cue and mess up. Only cue one thing at a time, and feel free to do so when he’s on the platform (e.g. “heels” or “chest up” as he’s adjusting his grip for the jerk).

broseph on November 2, 2012 at 5:06 pm said:
Dude, I was cereal when I asked what you bring for food when spending multiple days in the wilderness. Like, several pounds of jerky? Pemmican? A gun and knife?

Dear broseph,

What I take is dependent on how I’m getting there; do I have my truck? Packing it in? How long? If I have the truck, I’ll obviously have more stuff, but I don’t like the “not camping” style of camping where there’s a camper, generator, and home luxuries. Anyway, I might bring meat to cook on the fire with other refrigerated stuff like beer (PBR is solid with a camp fire) or fruit. A couple weekends ago I had scotch in the truck, so that was swell. Otherwise I’ll have jerkey, dark chocolate almonds, protein bars, and stuff like that. I try and get high calorie stuff so sometimes I’ll have candy and trail mix. I end up losing a little bit of weight when camping because I sort of conserve water and food in case something bad happens. But now that I have a 20L water can (thanks Marotta) I’m not worried about that with truck camping). I’ve never actually had pemmican but I definitely want it now.

I carry a Glock 26 and two knives on my belt or pockets. I always have my GR2 from GoRuck with me, so in that I’ll have water, food, 2 compasses, water purifying tablets, a Lifestraw, fire starters (mag, Exotac, matches), another knife, camp axe, spare mags, foot care stuff, first aid stuff, ponchos, emergency blanket, multi-tool, maybe extra layers depending on the weather, and a few other things. It just depends on what I’m doing. I’ll be getting some new guns and will probably want to carry a .45 in the woods and have a shotgun in the truck. Obviously I think carrying a weapon in general is necessary, but especially when out in the woods.

brian45 on November 2, 2012 at 5:50 pm said:
Question for Justin: I was doing my 5rm for front squat and on the video I noticed a slight rounding at the back in the thoracic (plus a bit of butt wink from my depth once below parallel) I understand some mobility at the shoulder would help this but on my last set I backed off and used a 15? box and my back position was much better. Do you have any recommendations and what are your thoughts on using the box? Thanks.

 

Dear brian45,

The thoracic extension is your fault. You need to lock that shit in place. That’s one of my fundamental cues for squatting (others would be “knees out” and full depth). Lift your chest in your chin and keep it there. I’ll be doing a video eventually about this. The front squat makes it difficult to keep thoracic extension, by make sure your elbows are “up and in”. Putting them “in” puts the shoulder into external rotation and therefore facilitates thoracic extension. If your elbows flare out to the sides when you are front squatting, you’re allowing them to internally rotate and thus flex the thoracic spine. So stop it. Obviously thoracic and shoulder mobility will play a role in this. If your internal rotators are tight, they will prevent you from getting externally rotated. Work on it.

As for the lumbar flexion (“butt wink” — fucking hate this term), you are docked 100 points for not searching the site, you fucker (“The Butt Wink“). Special Forces are not in your future. If you aren’t shoving your knees out when squatting, then it’ll allow for a flexed lumbar. If you are shoving them out and it still happens, you may be going too low. If knee shovage and depth are good, then your mobility is poor; work on it. AND A GOOD DAY TO YOU, SIR. (couldn’t find a video on YouTube, about 1:10 here)

snommisjay on November 2, 2012 at 6:07 pm said:
I understand that herschel walker never really lifted. How did he become so jacked and powerful?

 

Dear snommisjay,

Because he’s a gods damn genetic freak, man! I’ve talked a bit about this in “Play the Hand You’re Dealt” and “What’s Your Excuse?“. Basically there are people out there who are so athletic, so naturally physically talented, that they can do amazing things in spite of stupid training. For example, Walker has stated he’s done a thousand push-ups and 3,500 sit-ups a day in addition to an 8 mile run. He also is apparently a vegetarian who eats one meal a day and mostly east bread and soup. The obvious answer is that this guy is part alien, a total fucking non-human. Did you guys know he played in the USFL before the NFL and rushed for 2,411 yards in his third and final season there? Then he played in the NFL for 13 seasons. Dude is and was impressive. He also talked about making a comeback to the NFL at 50 years old but said he’d only play for two teams — because a 50 year old running back has the option to play wherever he wants (eye rolling). Anyway, he’s an interesting cat — read his wiki page. Herschel Walker is the epitome of what it means to be a freak, plain an simple.

themurr on November 2, 2012 at 7:06 pm said
I have a question. I ran the this:https://ultrahike.com/ a month or so ago, 26 miles, 6000 ft of elevation change, took me 7 and a half hours and was absolutely fantastic (best post race party ever). For future events of that sort I’m wondering how I should structure the lifting in the weeks before and how quickly I can get back into the swing of things after.

 

Dear themur,

Sounds like a serious event. As for incorporating your lifting into your training, it should function like any strength and conditioning program for an athlete. There is an off-season, a pre-season, a season or peak, an event (in your case), and then a recovery period. I’m not going to create a comprehensive plan, but your strength training frequency will be highest in the off-season and then will decrease as you get closer to the race. With the exception of the last one or two weeks before the race, you can still strength train twice a week, though you can modify what you do (e.g. A – squat/pull-ups, B – press/RDL). Total amount of exercises as well as volume would decrease as race date neared. Furthermore, you program structure will be dependent on what your weaknesses are. Off season might only include one long run a week at a steady pace to maintain structural adaptation to long distance running — I don’t know, it depends on you and what you need. But now you have a general plan.

This next thing isn’t necessarily a question, but it’s a comment a friend made to me about the Couch Thread. I thought it was funny enough to save and now I’m posting it here:

On a side note- I read the post about crossfit the other day, and the “CF white papers” lead me to the Couch thread- holy fucking shit. The Crossfit community had better not be granted actual recognition as a sect of humans at some point, because that shit is going down as a hate crime. The amount of whiny, bitchy, holier than though shit on that thread is UNREAL. The guys hating on Crossfit (and everything else, in general it seems) makes them actually sound like the CF community. It’s arguing on the internet in an epic fashion. It’s like the battle of 5 armies for assholes in their mom’s basement. (That’s right- a Tolkien reference). It’s like watching one realm of fucking dungeon and dragon geeks going after Twilight followers, with an outside interest being taken by Trekkies. Unbelievably entrancing. Seriously, I’ll bet I went through 150 pages of this nonsense, I can’t stop.

PR Friday allows all lifters, great or small, to discuss their triumphs and failures with like-minded folks. Get involved in the comments.

Last Week’s Challenge asked you to eat as many animals as you can in a meal or day.

Next Week’s Challenge: Do rows at the end of each training day. See what happens. Read this post by Dr. Hartman for a refresher on why.

Week In Review: Monday’s female post focused on getting your lady friends into the gym any way you can because it provides a gateway to health or interest in lifting. Tuesday introduced the second mission of The Revolution; take flannel back from the hipsters. Yesterday I showed you how I have run into plenty of Brent look-a-likes, but be sure to check out Brent’s new shirts.

Q&A:

Joel, from this Q&A asks:

Quick question: I have been experiencing achy elbows lately, especially my right one. I’m not doing anything different that I am aware of, but mobbing and stretching them seems to do nothing. I’m guessing it is probably the beginnings of tendinitis and it may stem from grip width during low-bar squatting, but it never ever bothers me until I’m outside of the gym doing random stuff. The most painful thing is gripping a full glass with my (right) arm fully extended and the pain gets worse if I were to dump the glass out to the right. What would you recommend I do to diagnose/fix this issue and prevent it from happening in the future? I know a recent vid of my squat would probably help immensely, but I never film myself since I train foreveralone.jpg in a globo…so I will work on getting one asap.

I’ve also been hitting a wall with the Texas Method, which I’ve been running strictly for 4 months now after buying your book in June – No real PRs in, like, 3 weeks. I’ve been feeling good, mobbing, and eating like a horse (at least getting 1g protein/1lb BW) but just not feeling any stronger. Is it time to get advanced with my TM template (I’m hesitant to do this since I haven’t been on it that long), or just change up some of the set/rep schemes for now? Some numbers:

5’5” – 175lb – 33y.o.

VD SQ – 295x5x5
OHP – 120x5x5
BP – 185x5x5

ID SQ – 365×5
OHP – 140×5
BP – 205×5
DL – 395×3

I can’t say it enough, but thank you so much for all of your help thus far, Justin – You’re advice has proved invaluable and I can’t wait to see how much better and more useful in general you can make these aging and broken human beings – – Keep it up! (sorry for the novel, btw)

-Joel (aka. blister)

 

Dear Joel, 

Good to hear that your wife is doing better (he explained this in the e-mail, but I omitted it for space). Once you guys get back from the vacation, get on a regular exercise regime — start with at least 2x/wk with other days for walking (have dogs?).

Regarding your elbow, I’d first assume that your squat grip is what is irritating it. This is actually quite common. You can see some discussion on this from Q&A – 27 and Q&A – 28 (just ctrl+F “grip”). Improve shoulder mobility and grip position on the squat and do some soft tissue massage up and down stream from the area of injury. The former will fix the underlying problem while the latter can help treat the issue itself.

Regarding your lack of progress on TM, your volume squat work is only about 80% of your intensity squat work, so you can actually stand to increase the volume a bit more. I’d say stick with the 5×5 and increase the weight a bit and see what happens on that particular lift. As for the other lifts, there isn’t a whole lot of info here to go on, but your bench volume is 90% of your intensity bench work, and that is a bit high. Either reduce it down to a 3×5 on the Volume Day or reduce the weight overall. Your presses are also a bit weak, and in this type of situation I usually like to recommend weighted pull-ups once or twice a week and later adding rows into the mix as well. Filling out the upper body strength and musculature helps drive the presses, but also be sure to check out this press video (the elbow positioning is important while benching too, these videos may help: one and two):

Lastly, you need to eat more protein than just 1g per pound of body weight. Check out this “PROTEIN” post, but I would add 50g on top of what you currently get. I suspect that you’ll start making progress after a week straight of the additional 50g (the new intake needs to be chronic, not a “sometimes” thing).

More in a bit.

PR Friday is a joyous day where we congregate like Vikings at a wooden table and discuss the week’s training. Join the discussion in the comments.

Last Week’s Challenge was kind of goofy, but it entailed going up and down some monkey bars. I’ll give the guy who did the most a discount to one of the books.

Next Week’s Challenge: Eat as many animals as you can in a meal or day. If you’re working with different cuts of the same animal, point that out.

Week In Review: It was a short week due to adventuring and drinking a lot of beer last week (before that trip I created a few posts to auto-post but didn’t really have a computer for a bit). The “Limited Training” post provided some ideas for guys that have a lack of time or equipment but still want to get a decent training session in. The “Manly Deeds” was just a recap from a few weeks ago of some of the amusing deeds they did, but I wanted to highlight how taodoju helped a mentally handicapped girl in the gym. Since I’ve grown up with a handicapped brother (and lots of different kids at various programs), I thought it was a very nice thing to do. Don’t be afraid to say hello to these boys and girls; they and their parents will probably appreciate it.

Next Week’s Preview: Two things will hit you in the face next week. The first will be a continuation of The Revolution, but winter style. The second will be the restart of 70’s Big  Radio, a podcast. Stay tuned.

Q&A

Gurdeep S. asks:

Rip is now teaching the press w/ dead stop every rep but using reflex off of hips forward to initiate each rep (here) I currently press with a bounce in similar fashion to this video of AC.

Rip claims at the end of this vid that you can handle more weight in this newer way than the bouncing style because of more muscle mass involved. Is this true? I could see that there may be less chance of the bar getting forward with the newer way taught because of the exaggerated hips forward to initiate every rep. Whereas, with the bouncing style the most exaggerated hips forward initiation will occur on the first rep. Does it matter?

 

Ritchie S. asks

Competed in a comp on the 6th, took a week off like you advise in the 2nd Texas method ebook, back at the gym today and feeling very weak, is this normal? How should I be implementing the TM after the week long break.Thanx