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.

Mentally Tough

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“Any sort of injury is just you being mentally weak. That includes getting shot.”

 

A friend who works in a higher tier special operations unit recently said the above quote to me. It was in reference to my recent hamstring injury, but there’s more weight in these words.

Injuries can be great or small, yet it’s up to the person to decide how they’ll let their injuries affect them. There will be injuries that prevent specific activities — doing an exercise or a type of job — but the rehabilitation rate is relative to perception.

Consider two dichotomous mindsets. Two people have muscle strains that require massage to break up the scar tissue. The area is tender and painful. When the massage begins for the first person, whether administered by a friend or self, they tense up and contort their face in pain. The second person welcomes the pain calmly, knows they will endure it, but does so stoically. Their massage, rehab, and recovery will be more efficient not only because of their acceptance, but their bold mindset going into it. They don’t cringe at discomfort; they let it wash over passively.

Pain is a part of life, and mindset determines perception. The mentally weak fear pain because, well, it hurts. It’s discomforting and upsetting. The mentally strong expect pain and are ready for it. They are willing to endure and ignore it. It takes a tough sonofabitch to look at their injury and say, “Let’s roll.” Whether it’s a girl powerlifting with one leg, a girl (who I know from high school) who has lost her limbs from a flesh-eating disease, or a soldier who returns to combat after losing a leg, it takes guts.

Aimee Copeland does push-ups after losing limbs to a flesh eating disease

Pain and discomfort are relative to our situation, and we all aren’t faced with severed limbs or getting shot. But modifying our idea of pain can change our training, rehab, and life.

Again, consider two mindsets. The first approaches a difficult set of squats (e.g. 3RM, 5RM, 10RM, or 20RM) with dread and fear. They go through the motions of the set with failure as an option or possibility. The second approaches that same squat set aggressively, wanting to attack it. They are rabid; a caged, frothing animal ready to unleash hell on the bar. Which mindset do you think will be more successful?

Mental toughness in training will affect tenacity, bar speed, and completion of lifts. This doesn’t mean you should make stupid decisions on the account of “being tough”. Don’t make reckless decision, but use reckless intensity.

Mindset in rehab will be the difference between properly working structures and lack of progress. This is why Kelly Starrett tells you not to contort your face and go “into the pain cave” — it tenses your structures up and doesn’t work them properly.

Whether it’s training or rehab, embrace your pain. There is, of course, a difference between discomforting pain and injury pain. Each is a tool; the former is one that you will ignore while the latter informs you that your body is failing, even if your mind is not. People who are truly successful understand and use these pains every day. The next time you feel sorry for yourself, wincing in pain, just know that there’s a guy out there with a bullet hole in his body calmly rehabbing with reckless intensity.

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.

Olympia

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The Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition occurred this past weekend. I’m not a huge fan of the bodybuilding competitions, male or female, since it has changed so much than the “glory days” in the ’60s and ’70s, yet there are still some interesting categories that include competitors that we can learn from.

I’ve posted some videos of Kai Greene on the site before (including mentioning him in “Contraction vs. Moving Weight” and “Bodybuilding, Fact or Fiction?“). Despite his best efforts, he only placed second at the Olympia underneath Phil Heath.

Erin Stern at the 2012 Figure Olympia

If you follow this site, you know I’m a fan of Erin Stern (I’ve written about her in posts such as “Hahd Werk“, “The Enemy“, and “Getting Girls to Train — Part 2“). She seems to have a great personality, sets a good example for good year-round nutritional and training habits, and trains explosively (with track work and some Olympic lifts). Well, Erin won first place in the figure category this past weekend, so congratulations to her (video of finals is here). The figure category is a step down from the bodybuilding category — the latter consists of creepily ‘roided-out women while the former is a more natural, healthy look.

Other categories include bikini, which is a fairly new style of competition that puts less emphasis on muscle mass and seemingly has no quantifiable judging criteria (though it can be entertaining for men — video of the finals for proof). Another interesting female category is “fitness”; these competitors are judged on both their physiques as well as a fitness routine that requires impressive ability. This typically attracts shorter, athletic girls with gymnastics or dance backgrounds. 40-year-old Adela Garcia won her seventh Fitness Olympia title this past weekend (video of the fitness routines here). I’d also point your attention to Oksana Grishina, a Russian and former gymnast; her routine was pretty impressive and I’ve heard grumbling that she should have won.

Oksana Grishina is another role model for consistency and athleticism

You may wonder why this post is about physique competitions when 70’s Big makes a point to acquire physique through performance training. I think that figure and fitness competitors set themselves apart from bodybuilding since their form is the result of function (especially for the fitness competitors). We poopoo bodybuilding as a whole, but the truth is that there are many good role models to look up to — consistent and hard-training people like Erin Stern or the impressive Adela Garcia, a 40-year-old woman who can “out-athlete” anyone half her age.

Sure, our end goal or training methods are different, but there is still a lot we can learn from these women. Erin Stern, for example, stays quite lean year-round with healthy eating — something that’s incredibly difficult mentally and physically. She commits herself to excellency not only in the gym, but outside of it. That is certainly a lesson that we, male or female, can benefit from. I can think of worse female role models than hard-working women who eat right and set goals.

We can all learn something from Erin Stern’s work ethic

 

Q&A – 44

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PR Friday is a celebration of training. Get active in the 70’s Big community and talk about your training. If you aren’t “as strong as everyone else”, it doesn’t matter. We all started somewhere. Post training updates or the week’s PRs to the comments.

The Weekly Challenge was directed at women and was a photo contest. I neglected to post about it on social media, and therefore there were zero entries (despite one gal putting a submission for the manly contest!). Nevertheless, this will make me rethink gender fairness for contests in the future.

Next Week’s Challenge: Cook at least one meat-based meal in the crock pot. Post the recipe to next week’s PR Friday comments.

Week In Review: Monday started with a female post about muscular imbalances. It’s relevant to guys, but it’s common for females to have muscular limitations in their training. On Tuesday I provided a progression and programming parameters for someone who wants to train for a GoRuck Challenge, though most of the advice applies to backpackers and hikers too. On Wednesday I posted a video that shows and corrects the three common mechanical faults with the press. I’ve also started consultations back up and have talked to some very cool people, including a Scot and Australian in the same day (I wish I had a cool accent).

Q&A 

Chad H. asks:
Hey Justin, couple of questions for the Q&A:1. Is there any marker to determine when would be a good time to switch to the TM Split? Just when you feel like it?

2. Think it’s possible to push up both the Press and Bench every week? I know you give a couple of scenarios in the TM Advanced but I’m talking Bench and Press Volumes and Intensities on the same day.

3. I’ve been hearing a lot lately about doing a single heavier than your workset weight as part of the warmup so as to make the workset feel lighter. Any thoughts (specifically doing these on Volume and Intensity days)?Thanks

 

 Dear Chad,

1. Typically when things slow down in a linear progression. Should the linear progression be run until it’s a life destroying affair that renders the lifter useless for a week or so after their final workout? Probably not. As you know, I did that, and I don’t recommend that people do it anymore. However, if there have been several resets, and the lifter gets to the same weight every reset, then yeah, they are probably due for a programming transition (assuming there aren’t extraneous factors like technique or recovery that are causing this).

2. Hmm. I think it would be possible for an early stage intermediate. I’m not a fan of the “alternate the weekly emphasis from press to bench” in stock TM programs. Chad is referring to how in The Texas Method: Advanced I provide many template examples of how to do both in the same week, though usually one day is “press day” while the other is “bench day”. But if someone were going to do try and get volume and intensity work with both exercises, they would probably need to only use a 3×5 for the Volume Day, and doubles or triples on the Intensity Day. Press may need to come first (since it’s less invasive than benching), but that would depend on what the trainee considers more important (perhaps their order could be alternated every week?). The second movement on the Intensity Day could be several sets of doubles instead of triples to avoid inducing any more fatigue on the muscles that would be there from the preceding exercise. Perhaps both lifts could just use doubles so that the total number of reps are lower for better Intensity progress? It’s interesting, and I’ve never done it, but I kind of like it for early stage intermediate and TM users. Or at least I like it better than the stock recommendation of alternating the lifts every week.

3. Doing a single before the work set would provide a neurological effect of making the work set feel lighter, but I would not recommend this. There is still a physiological effect of getting a rep at a higher intensity. If I had Chris, Mike, or AC do this, then they would have less in the tank for their scheduled session, and it may even throw off the weekly stress. By getting a higher intensity rep on the Volume Day, it’s applying a different adaptive stress than what I’m going for. I see this being problematic for them.

Now, if we’re talking about people who are focusing their training on lower intensity with more volume or reps, then it may not matter. Yet, someone in this position would be a) lesser advanced or b) training just to maintain strength or muscularity within the context of their goals. If someone were regularly working to lift heavy weights every week (as in a Texas Method), I don’t see this being helpful and potentially being harmful. There’s a reason volume and intensity are fluctuated for raw, un-drugged lifters.

Besides, the warm-ups are supposed to appropriately neurologically prep the lifter. I would assume that some proponents of this method may not warm-up properly. Some of them probably warm-up fine enough, yet their program may not be finely tuned where a higher intensity single will disrupt progress.

 

Michael L.
Hey Justin, I had to workout with suboptimal weights for my latest intensity day. Weighed all the plates on a scale, some of them were accurate with less than half a pound difference, but some of them were off. 45’s weighed 40 lbs, the 35’s weighed 30 etc.Anyway, I made up for the difference in weight, and I think because I had to use steel instead of the bumpers I’m used to it messed everything up. Squat and press were hard, but I got through them. Deadlift I only got 2 out of my 3 reps.

27 Male 235 lbs

For reference, today I did the following:Squat: 375×5
Press: 182.5×5
Deadlift: 460×2 (wanted 3)

Should I repeat the same deadlift next week when I’m back to the bumpers I’m used to? Switch to 2’s? Or move up? This is my 4th week on the Texas Method. Before this, I did 5-3-1 for 10 cycles, before that Smolov, before that Starting Strength, before that Crossfit. I have both eBooks so if there is a section you can point me to that works as well.

Thanks!

Dear Michael,

Your volume is at 84% of your Intensity Day and you’re only in week 4. Typically the “cap at 85%” applies to 3×5 as opposed to 5×5. This means that the volume is higher than it probably should be at this point.

I think that you started with weights that were too heavy on both the Volume and Intensity Days, especially since you are coming from 10 cycles of 5/3/1. Given that all of your plates were dicked up, you need to account for that in the progression (especially if bar weight is 5, 10, or 15 pounds different). If you are returning to a non-crappy gym with better equipment, then do what you can until then. Otherwise, do not increase your Volume Day and try and let the Intensity Day increase. Since your ID is hard already (as a result of you picking weights that are too heavy), it may take a weeks to normalize. If you think that the Intensity Days should not be hard, then you are probably doing too much volume (since you are doing a 5×5 and just came from a lower volume program like 5/3/1, a 3×5 on Volume Day is probably more appropriate).

Lastly, if you have both books, then review the Intensity Day rep schemes. There are plenty of options you can transition to with clear instructions on how to use them. That means that you could probably use triples, or doubles, or another approach to allow you to hit get decent intensity work in.

 

Brian45 asks:

What are your thoughts on this uncoordination regarding movement patterns? and how to address it (especially in a group setting) without holding back other kids that pick up things faster?

 

Dear Brian45, 

This is where the art of coaching a group comes in. CrossFit does a pretty good job of teaching their coaches to take the group through the progression of a movement together. This allows you to get some eyes on people during the progression. If someone has an issue, you can cue them simply enough. If it’s really bad, then you may or may not have the time to correct it, depending on the severity and length of time the correction would take. In such a case, continue the group’s progression, and you can focus a bit more on that person once the individual portion starts (if there is such a portion).

The effectiveness of this process is dependent on the quality of simple, concise progressions to achieve the goal of a given movement. Rippetoe’s teaching method of the power clean differs from USAW’s power clean progression, but it’s incredibly simple (I taught a 65 year old cyclist to power clean in about three minutes in Rip’s gym). This particular power clean is good for general strength and conditioning, but may not be the best for Olympic weightlifting. On the weightlifting side, Pendlay’s progressions for snatch and clean are very simple and concise as well, yet they put different emphasis on the movement. In other words, the Rippetoe power clean puts an emphasis on jumping whereas the Pendlay clean/snatch puts an emphasis on proper positioning for optimal weightlifting.

The above paragraph’s tangent provides two examples of good progressions that are simple, concise, and accomplish the intended goal. If you lack a progression, you’re not setting up the trainees for success. If the progression is poor, then you’re only going to make it difficult from a mental or physical standpoint.

 

wayniac asks:

Justin, I posted this question under another topic and I’m hoping you’ll give me your thoughts: Do you think that a male having a 5rm that is a higher percentage of their 1rm could be a symptom of low testosterone? When I was younger (25-29) I used to be able to use the (reps x work-weight x .0333)+work-weight = max for bench and come really close. Now that I’m older (37), I’m finding that I can’t bench what my reps at 225 would suggest under that formula. One other fact is that I used to test my max relatively regularly and stopped doing that for a very long time. So, my question is basically: Am I turning into a woman, or do I just need to start lifting more at higher percentages of my max? Have you ever seen this before?

 

Dear wayniac,

Short answer: yes, probably. As males age, their testosterone levels decrease. It’s part of life, and it does not mean you’re turning into a woman. Sure, there could be a variety of factors that are inhibiting your lifting ability, but you know that each five year aging period will result in decreased recovery capabilities. This isn’t just because of the number of years you’ve been alive, but the physiological effect of aging, and lower testosterone does occur.

I’m not going to pretend to know much about aging and hormonal supplementation, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing to consider for men getting into their 40s. Testosterone is what makes a man a man, and when it goes down, tons of health issues erupt. I’m not even referring to performance, but health, and nobody is going to look after you other than you. Just a thought.

If anyone has anything to add or information to provide, throw it in the comments.