(Part 3) Top products from r/weightroom

Hey man, haven't seen the doc yet (plan to next month) but I've changed something that seemed to make a lot of difference.

Every time I introduced extra work to my external rotators I felt my teres minor really really tight to the point where it would bother me way too much.

Two things that have helped were:

1-) Hanging from a bar. Just seriously hanging form a bar. Shoulders completely relaxed and loose up to my ears. At first you wont feel it, but after getting used to it you'll be able to stretch further and you'll feel (or at least I did) your teres minor stretch so fucking good (the one on my left side, with the shoulder issue). It feels searing hot but without pain (as opposed to normal stretches) and my shoulder has been crackling a lot less and feeling a lot better since incorporating this and #2 which I'm about to tell you.

I encourage you to read this blog post. He talks about this book towards the end. I'm just doing a regular bar hang anywhere from 30 to 40 seconds to a total of 6 minutes a day. I started about 10 days ago doing 15 to 25s of hanging and around 3 minutes a day and was able to improve very fast.

2-) Snatch grip BTN presses (klokov press). Fuck these feel really good and I really feel like they've taught my body how to proper position and recruit my scapular stabilizers. I don't really know and at this point I'm just guessing but fuck me this has been really helping me. I feel like this guy properly communicates what I'm saying and well, u/gzcl advocates these for shoulder health as well so I'd say go for it if you can do them without pain.
I did these before but never in combination with the hanging work and I'd just end up with an extremely tight and painful left teres minor. Now shit just feels good. I honestly thought I'd need some sort of surgery or shit.

Also, don't forget to do rear delt work. I've been doing a shitload of band pull-aparts and band bilateral external rotations and I feel these really help as well (albeit not as much as the other two).

• I used to play rugby at the Division II level as a flanker, center, and hooker. Stopping playing as of last fall to focus on a powerlifting career, but plan to return in the Fall,
  
• For my strength training, I normally made it a case to implement 5/3/1 with the two day a week schedule on Monday and Wednesday, to go along with club practices on Tuesday and Thursday. I took Friday off for Saturday matches, and then performed extra mobility and recovery training on Sunday.
  
• 5/3/1
  
• Being more powerful helped me both in resiliency and in ability to tackle well. Especially in tackling ability, I found I was able to individually tackle exceptionally well, and make hard hits on larger players.

Hepburn's routines and template are based on the concept popularized by Olympic weightlifting and bodybuilding champion Tommy Kono in the 1950s, and later endorsed by famed fitness writer John McCallum in the 1960s (The Keys to Progress) and sythesized by powerlifter Fred Hatfield in the 1980s. It's a very valuable and useful concept that activates the complete range of muscle fiber types.


Craig

Author of Bodybuilding: From Heavy Duty to SuperSlow

If you want to increase your VO2 max with kettle bells I'd recommend Viking Warrior Conditioning. But the important thing is to find something you enjoy (or can at least tolerate long enough to get it done).

There is a great book called Thinking, Fast and Slow by Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman that lays out a description of the brain as having two systems.

Sytem one is fast and automatic, operating below the level of what we think of as 'consciousness.' This is what sets your walking pace, or interprets the facial expressions of others, or plays out a movement from muscle-memory. The type of information it deals in is things like 'really hard effort.'

System Two is slow, deliberate, and reflective. It's what you use to do complicated math problems, or cue a part of a lift you aren't automatic at yet. (Spread the floor!) It's also how your brain reflects on what it's doing. (I shouldn't be rude to my Mom.)

You have a finite amount of bandwidth and these systems are trading it back and forth all the time. What's likely happening when you 'blank out' during a tough set of DL is that your system one is so over-taxed that it's recruiting all the power from your system 2. When you 'came to' your System 2 turned back on.

The same thing happens when you're hiking on a trail, see a bear, run away, and only then 'feel scared' and have a chance to reflect and realize what happened. System 1 became the boss for a while during a period of extreme stress. Same as with deadlifting.

tl;dr - You are going full instinct.

Getting into meditation was the game changer for me. Especially training wise. This book is awesome. No muumuu-jumbo spiritual bs just pure physiological benefits.

https://www.amazon.com/Relaxation-Response-Herbert-Benson/dp/0380006766

Practical Programming for Strength Training is an amazing book by Mark Rippetoe.

Reminder - Westside vs. The World is available to rent today for $4. (or $5 if you want to see Louie Simmons in glorious HD)

> our refusal to even attempt to exercise the rudiments of reading comprehension is becoming uninteresting. Can you enlighten me on where you've cited peer-reviewed research supporting the validity of your particular methods?

This is such a weird comment thread / criticism.

I'd pick up a copy of this if you're confused.

Nothing that gzcl is doing or saying involves re-inventing concepts of strength training, and I don't think he's making that claim, so I think the onus is on you to point out why you think that this wouldn't work, not him to point out why it would...

My routine is:

• Neutrogena Men Skin Clearing Face Wash 2x daily description here
  
  
• Neutrogena Men Skin Clearing Shave Cream 1x daily description here
  
  
• Neutrogena Men Razor Defense Post Shave Lotion 1x daily description here
  
  I've always had minor (read: annoyingly persistent but not awufl) trouble with acne even though I'm 24, but since I started lifting heavier and following my routine my face is 100% clear. If I miss a few days in the gym I break out a bit.

Squats, deadlifts, power cleans/olympic lifts, depth jumps (assuming you're already strong) and, of course, sprints.

IMO, the NSCA's Developing Speed and Kelly Baggett's Vertical Jump Bible are both great resources on the topic (the latter is more specific to jumping, but there's a lot of crossover to sprinting).

Gray Cook's book Movement covers everything you just described. That, combined with Kelly Starrett's Becoming a Supple Leopard and you're set. One more book I recommend, Travell and Simons' The Trigger Point Manuel.


This is just skimming the surface though. A thorough understanding of kinesiology, anatomy, and physiology, while not required, will help you understand the theory behind the human body.

The beginner program link listed in the FAQ basically recommends Starting Strength.

Read it and do what it says. You'll need an olympic bar, some plates, power rack, and a bench.

Amazon are listing a DVD option?

This is out of the first few pages of Anatomy Without a Scalpel by Kilgore. Not verbatim, but a 'normal' proportioned reference body is...

• Body is 8 'heads' tall.
  
• Pubic bone is 4 'heads' tall, so half your height.
  
• Bottom of your knee (right below kneecap) is 2 'heads' tall, or half the height of your pubic bone.
  
• Arm span is equal to height. (That's part of what Vitruvian man was showing.)
  
• Elbows at same height as belly button which is 5 'heads' tall.
  
  From there you can tell if...
  
  
• You have relatively long/short torso/legs if you pubic bone is not at half your height.
  
• You have relatively long/short femur/calves if the bottom of your knee isn't half your pubic bone height.
  
• You have relatively long/short arms if your arm span is not equal to your height.
  
• You have a relatively long/short humerus/forearm if your elbows aren't at about the same level as your belly button.
  
  As far as how that applies to each of the powerlifting lifts, well you guys can argue about that.
  

For most of my summers between college I used variations of Eric Cressey's programming, mainly his book Maximum Strength. I was an early intermediate at this point and saw around a 50-80 lb total gain each time.

Generally you're looking at 4-day a week upper/lower splits with a large amount of Westside influence. I'll give a general overview of the weekly lay out and some example reps.

First Lower Training Session

• Squat variation: Moderate to low repetitions (5x5 or 6x4) or maximal effort (7x1 > 90% 1RM)
  
• Speed deadlift (8x2 or 10x1 @ 50-70%)
  
• Single Leg
  
• Posterior Chain
  
• Core Variation #1
  
  First Upper Body Training Session
  
  
• Bench Press variation: Moderate to low repetitions or maximal effort
  
• Dumbbell or Barbell Press
  
• Vertical or Horizontal Pull
  
• Scap/External Rotators
  
• Core Variation #2
  
  Second Lower Body Training Session
  
  
• Squat variation: Moderate repetitions (4-5x6) or speed work (8x2 @ 50-60%)
  
• Rack Pull or Speed Deadlift
  
• Single Leg
  
• Posterior Chain
  
• Core Variation #3
  
  Second Upper Body Session
  
  
• Bench Press variation: Moderate reps or speed work
  
• Close Grip variation or Dumbbell Overhead Press
  
• Horizontal or Vertical Pull
  
• Light Horizontal Pull
  
• Scap/External Rotators
  
  There's exceptions all over the place of course but this is a good general impression. There's also quite a lot of mobility work and SMR paired together with heavier movements in such a way that you can work on both without interference with your lifts.

Sounds frustrating. Have you tried this book?

Or if that's too much money, maybe this video?