Think again.Seriously, you better.

Cross Training Part 2

2009-04-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

Part 1, we were on the surface of everything, the simple routines for cross training.

Now since you have already gotten the hang of a reasonably short form of circuit. Why don't we spice things up a little bit.

Just a few hours ago, me and a few mates went out to the park for some ass-kicking training and this is what I had in store for them.

10 burpees

50 m sprint

10 pushups

15 kneetucks

jog to start position without any rest

10 burpees

50m sprint

15 kneetucks

6-8pullups

jog to start position

It may sound like a piece of cake, but wait till you are halfway there. You will then notice the intensity increasing automatically especially on the burpees where you literally struggle to complete the final 5 of the first circuit. Try to complete at least 2 circuits without cheating.

As you progress, you would soon find out that completing 4 circuits is a piece of cake. Now the freuqency of this workout may vary especially when you look at crosstraining as an acessory workout day. I would recommend 1 session per-week if you are into any form of oly,strength or even bodybuilding. But if you just do crosstraining entirely, then 3 sessions a week would give you maximum results

Now, when you have already reached a level where you regard the above circuit program as a stale one, it is obviously a time to move on to another level of cross training.

Sandbag are always considered as odd objects but it would certainly do wonders in crosstraining

The sort of training would change a little. We are now using materials like a sandbag and a decently sized tire. The previous workout scheme, I would regard them as the Bodyweight routine where you play around with nothing but just your bodyweight, so the resistance would just lay around a 1:1 ratio. When you start adding things like sandbags, you add resistance, hence increasing the workload and the most important thing, maximum total body recruitment AND it also hits the core real hard

I will post a photo of my home-made sandbag real soon, so stay tuned.

Try this

Sandbag Get Ups

Sandbag Cleans

You could also try some other sandbag movements like the sandbag high pull and catch or just do one of the basic movements like resting the sandbag on your shoulder and get some cardio done. Get creative ! Try many combinations, you may also fine some useful resources on youtube as well.

Cross-training is proven to produce good results. If you are just looking into getting rid of those unnecessary gut or to just even increase the level of your conditioning. You would not just get quicker, but leaner and the dream physique that you psych your ass for is just a sprint away.

Good Luck

Truth About Cross Training Pt 1

2009-03-31T21:24:00.000-07:00

We all have lots of faith in cardio, heck even more than we have in our own religion. We think that cardio is the best solution to all. Fat loss, muscle gain and everything else your grandma has in her marketing bag.

But what if it actually is pretty much true?

What if CARDIO could actually assist you on the goals eg; strength etc.

Ever heard of cross fit? cross training? I'd personally call it the 4am training. Why? Because thats the best time I believe to commit yourself to crosstraining.

How does cross training help in strength oriented goals?

A very good example ; ME. I have issues with starting lift offs on my deadlift. Reason so is because I don't have ANY starting speed. So then I decided to seek help through the internet wandering around till I read an article on Cross-Training ( well thanks to people around me as well )

And then I started of with this simple routine ;

10 burpees, 50m sprint, 10 pushups .

10 diamond pushups, 50m sprints , 10 kneetucks.

I did that for 6 times and when I went home I pat myself on the back; It was one hell of a workout @ 4am that is.

After 4 weeks of cross-training. I got back to the gym, and I had an off the ground 180kg deadliftt and it was upp uppppppppppppppppppppp and lockout 180kg and that point of time i weigh approximately 69kg.

And I went to squats , Did 150kg and then attempted 160kg parallel and I got it through.

Later on, I decided it was time to take another break , approximately 4 weeks after lifting. (Notice that i dont bench?)Talk about why later.

I got abit more creative during cycle 2 of my conditioning. Managed to get a manila rope, some weight plates, cones and a decent dumbell.

So this is what I did, an ass kicker especially the day before you did a lower body workout.

Shuttle Sprints

Dumbell Snatches

Pullups

Knee Tucks

Notice the lower body dominant workout ; the dumbell snatch and the shuttle sprints. While the knee tucks work pretty much on the abdominals, the pullups are however the total upper body movement which at an intense pace would benefit the upper body alot for the fact that mine is really really not at par compared to the lower body ( See why i don't bench )

This time, I had some weights on the snatches, more towards generating additional explosive movments rather than going weightless/bodyweight throughout . Variation :)

See you in part 2.

Bootcamp now in .my

2009-03-31T21:08:00.000-07:00

The question is are there anyone of you who are actually fans of military style training.

If you are, log on to BOOTCAMP MALAYSIA

Unfortunately, the trial week was recently over and they would be back probably 3rd quarter of May. I was part of the trial, and all I got to say is this....

HOOYAH !

Setting realistic goals

2008-12-02T19:39:00.000-08:00

We all have goals in life. We all want to live a good one, escape any form of problems/issues. However to overcome a problem, we have to set goals. REALISTIC ones. Setting a goal plan would do everyone good. Making gradual progress is better than making instant ones. The question is HOW?

Looking their very best is everyone’s desire. But to achieve the status of looking good would be something very subjective. How do you want to look good? Physically? Mentally? Or BOTH? I’d like to stress out the importance of patience as well. To yield something out of nothing is unrealistic. You don’t need a jump start. All you need is a pencil and a book, or electronically a blog.

Okay, let us just ramp things up with a typical 6 week program.

	WEEK 1	WEEK 2	WEEK 3	WEEK 4	WEEK 5	WEEK 6
Weight
BMI
Waistline
Chest
Arms
Thighs

A typical weight loss table.

Now, losing two pounds a week is REALISTIC. However, there are various types of approach on weight loss. Some people even devote themselves to crash diets. Others run till the leave their fist sized heart behind. Some even starve themselves till they end up in the emergency room. Strike that out if you are thinking of doing something like that.

I got something planned for you. To kick start weight loss, DIET is king, then the workout follows. Assuming that you aren’t conditioned generally, pushing you into an intense crossfit session for the first time would be totally insane. All I’m asking you to do is to cut down on the excessive calories. This is where a journal comes in handy.

This is the current situation, you weigh 165 pounds and your BF% is a whopping 22%. How do you start? You have never been to the gym, probably once or twice, curled a few reps and you left for

A simple workout program would just do the trick

Workout A	Workout B
Dumbbell Squats	Bulgarian Split Squats
1 Hand Medicine Ball Pushups	Dumbbell Chest Press
Dumbbell Presses	Plate Raise
Swiss Ball Crunch	Hanging Leg Raise

This is how the workout goes :

Workout A – Monday , Workout B – Tuesday , REST , Workout A – Monday, Workout B – Tuesday

As you progress throughout the 6 weeks of training, you would come to a point where it gets easy. Increase the intensity, lift the figures and include some cardiovascular movement in between sets eg; jumping jacks, burpees. Do not rush the progress. REMEMBER ! PROGRESS GRADUALLY.

Try to get in some variations eg; Replace dumbbell squats with barbell squats or box squats.You could also replace the Med Ball pushups with Dips. You know what works best. For now I believe I can save you some money that you will eventually spend on a Personal Trainer.

Skip that for now, let`s take a look at a simple diet programme

You probably overate for the past few years. Assuming that you throw in an average of 2800 calories a day, once again REDUCE THE CALORIES GRADUALLY. We’ll start by reducing 300-400 calories.

Meal 1 ( Breakfast )	2 pieces of toast, 2 tsp of sugar free jam, 1 tbsp of natty PB, 2 whole Omega -3 eggs	450 calories
Meal 2 ( Snack )	I tbsp whip cream, 1 ¼ cup of mixed nuts, 1 scoop of whey	300 calories
Meal 3 ( Lunch )	8oz of ground beef, ½ cup of broccolis 3 oz of sweet potato	550 calories
Meal 4 ( Snack )	1 can of tuna in water , 2 tbsp of PB, 1 tbsp of Mayo Lite	380 calories
Meal 5 ( Dinner )	8 oz of chicken breast, 1 cup of spinach	430 calories
Meal 6 ( Pre Bed Snack )	2 cups of milk 1 scoop of whey + ½ scoop of cassein	400 calories

A sample of a diet, it may differ in terms of calories especially when you cook it with seasonings etc

Do not count your macros distribution just yet, try to get in the right food first. The key of having the best diet is filling in the best meals in you, experimenting is the best way of finding out.

Meal Replacement

If you are on the go, I would recommend some home made protein bars, if you do not have time, try to opt for MRPs . They do cost you abit, so its best to not excuse yourself to grab a MRB in a store. Try to make one. It saves you some money.

Give yourself six weeks, and you will reap the benefits of hard work.

Cheat Meals

I get questions on cheat meals occasionally. Cheating once or twice a week wouldn’t be an issue. It does play a role in stabilizing your metabolism. This benefits in a way where you wouldn’t encounter any form of yoyo effect. Just don’t get too bloated.

Supplements. How do they help?

2008-11-29T07:57:00.000-08:00

Over the months, I noticed 1 very obvious attitude. The lack of independence, I'm referring to natural food independence.

Does this meal breakdown sound very familiar?

Meal 1

1 scoop of whey

Meal 2

2 scoops of MRP

Meal 3

2 scoops of whey + 1 scoop of creatine

Meal 4

2 scoops of MRP

Meal 5

2scoops of whey + 1/2 scoop of casein protein

Tons of us are on these sort of Meal Breakdowns. Come month end, you'd probably be frustrated at maximal peak, for one simple reason ; NO RESULTS.

Snack things up with a tbsp of peanut butter every meal

There is an undeniable truth beneath this whole issue where we rely our heart and soul for the magnificent tub ; Protein Powders, Casein Protein , MRPs and every single other sort of supplements. This may be the food of the future when major development throughout the world which concedes natural food resources eg ; farms etc.

They deserve justice, but not too an ultimate extend

I'd throw in some realistic ideas on how to get started with natural food. This is what I'd do. Marinade your chicken breast (other cuts are fine) enough to stock things up for a week. Bake your potatoes, grill your dead meats, all enough for a week. Some simple recipes would give you a head start. I'd recommend spinach or any form of greens every meal if possible. It may start to taste like grass to you but it'll go a long way. Nuts are good, they contain various anti-oxidants which promote monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and packed with a whole good load of fiber and protein.Slab on some natty peanut butter on a wholemeal spread. How good does it sound?Occasionally slab on some sugar free jam to jive things up. Being in Malaysia has always been a challenge for good zen clean food. Try to blend in, get natural food from your local supermarket. You'd probably live an extra 3-5 years if you eat dead clean but you'd subtract the amount spent and it'll probably get back to square one , you'd die 3-5 years earlier just because of financial issues caused by all the overrated packs of organic food. The key of eating good food is enjoying preparing them, get creative and start cooking. For a start, I'd personally like Tuna and Natty Peanut Butter with a shot of Mayo Lite.

30 grams of protein per can. You can never go wrong with tuna!

Now lets revamp

Meal 1

4 pcs of wholemeal bread, 2 tbsp of Peanut Butter, 2 cups of Milk

Meal 2

Chicken Breast, Fist of Spinach and some cheese

Meal 3

Tuna in water, 2 tbsp of Peanut Butter and 1 tbsp Mayo Lite

Meal 4

Mixed Nuts , Prunes

Meal 5

Grilled Lamb , Baked Potatoes

Pre Bed Time

1 scoop of Casein

Does that sound a little bit better?
You don't need an archive of pots and pans to get things started

The famous stacks of supplements ; Whey Protein, Creatine, Fat Burners, and other cash blowing supplements. The definition of supplements tells it all. It will only supplement your system, not replace your daily meals. Obviously when you are on the go, I would very much encourage you to drag along a bottle of shake. Whey protein is just another form of protein blend which digest in a very short period of time. We would probably gulp one down right after a training session while being paranoid of loosing muscle mass if a trainee doesn't consume whey. I'd say skip those paranoid mentality, get some real food in. Go tweak your freaky diet. Don't claim its hardcore. Even a female porn star needs something WAY more than such radical breakdown of meals. Get some real food in and THEN start considering supplements. The general ones are very much recommended eg; Fish Oil and Multivitamins. Remember! Supplements only WILL HELP if you combine them with good natural REAL food.

Kachinngggg !!!!

At this point of time, you will get all sorts of reasonings. The famous ones ; "Time constrain", " Laziness " . Well if you want to transform yourself into someone better both physically and mentally, start of with un-lazying.

So you have been whining on fat loss?

2008-11-24T21:43:00.000-08:00

Whatever that is going to be written below doesn't come from me. It is a compilation of whatever I feel that works. I'm not actually all into fat loss, leaning more towards conditioning for the time being. However, I would strongly plant my stance on these few training templates.

Credits to rosstraining.com , kirksman, jib, and of course the internet and my willingness to get up as early as hell daily to get some ass kicking training in.

And so you don't actually have time to train. You'd probably whine around and start to annoy others on your situation. I got this from rosstraining.com. Its called the fatigue challenge. I have modified this a little to suit my preferences. It may differ on your particular goals. If you have any inquiries , feel free to drop a line.
______________________________________________________________________________
Dual Sequential Fatigue Challenge.

Sequence 1
10 Burpees
50m Sprint
Clapping Pushups ( You can always sub this with Hindu Squats, or Jumping Lunges )
Jog back to start position

Sequence 2
10 Diamond Pushups
50m Sprint ( Changing this to shuttle runs would be interesting )
Knee Tucks ( Timed WoodPlanks would be cool )
Jog back to start position

Starters could probably aim for 2 of every sequence. Try and time yourself, if you ever enter the vomit zone, go ahead and throw out. I don't see a problem with that. Just don't mess up :)

___________________________________________________________________________
Well, you have gym membership but you probably want to lay off from pulling your max or whatsoever, This would provide you an ass-kicker.

I call this the 10s - credits to kirksman

10 dumbell clean and jerk
10 chinups/pullups AMAP if you can't hit 10
10 jumping alternate lunges
10 renegade rows AMAP if you can't hit 10

Repeat 5 times. Rest in between circuits, not sets.

I wouldn't add anymore rope skips or any intense cardiovascular movements. This will tax you out ALOT. Don't forget to bring some isotonic drinks but don't overdo it.

______________________________________________________________________________
These training templates aren't mine, I modded them a little to suit my needs and goals. So if you would like to change them in any form, please do and credit respectively. I wouldn't talk much on diet wise while doing circuit. Everyone deserves some good food. I'd try to stay away from refined food, not strictly. Going on immediate aggressiveness on diets isn't the best way to go about things. Move on gradually One word of advice, do not overload yourself with a pre-workout meal while doing Circuit/Conditioning/HIIT. Go light, you may by all means extend your meal portions on Post-Workout.

If this is your first time following such methods. Please start of slow. Don't push it, or you may end up in an emergency room .

Enjoy training and stay away from drugs :)

Shahzeeq

Let's Resume Training.

2008-09-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

The workload that I am having is substantially high. Bare in mind that I'm not a full time athlete, I don't have a coach, the coach is the internet if that counts. A friend is also a coach if that also counts. I'm beginning to understand the whole purpose of westside. Well there are a few arguments that I have in mind but let's just put that aside and get back into business. How's training? How's my training? Well, if micro-weights are in your OK list, I could pull 162.5kilos with a lockout. Who gives a shit about lockouts. Oh yes, I got the hang of the whole powerlifting squats. It may not look like what your skinny-ass personal trainer teaches you in the gym, your ass may not touch the ground, but it ain't as simple as it looks.
Wait, does this sound familiar? Who gives a shit about the amount of weights or the form " It's not how much you can lift, it's how much you look like you can lift " -quoted by some kukululu bodybuilder ( oh yes he is huge ).

So, if i'm a 200pounder jackass who could only deadlift 100pounds but apparently I'm a genetically gifted “mesowhatthefuckidontgiveashitmorph”. Does it make me a great athlete. Nahhhhh.....

Now listen up scrawny people wanna be brawny bodybuilder. I have a mate, he's a good mate. But he never listens. Why? All he wants is some chest definition, some hooked up fucked up looking abs and of course, the famous huge bulge on the arms, the “sacred” biceps.

He might be the genetically gifted type. But he's lift figures are stagnant. He wants to even try taking up steroids. May I leave the next 10 minutes of atmospheric noise for you folks to have a good laugh?

Now let me bonk out the importance of squats and deadlifts. Well, it may not be the safest exercise out the as claimed by our trainers in Nike outfits with fancy shoes, it is the best ever type of workout to develop maximum total body strength. Spend endless hours curling your momma out but believe me to a certain point, it’s going to hit a plateau and you are going to drop training and say this “Training is too simple, I'm done with it. It’s too easy for me to bulk up but I'm having trouble cutting " Ha-ha, bullshit isn’t it. It doesn't take a smart ass to discover the silly elements in that.

While there may also be debates on the differences of front squats, back squats, box squats, split squats. Let's just put our heads back in line for the back squats first shall we? We always argue about the amount of muscular development while squatting and some even shit on you saying that you may get blood poisoning (some jokers call it blood clotting) caused by placing the bar on the back of your neck.

While I actually could proceed on rubbishing the characters of mankind all day long, a little technique simplified would just do the trick.

Well, throughout the development of power lifting and weightlifting, the squat stances have evolved throughout the glorified days of the particular athlete. Pretty obvious in this issue where the first narrow stance deep squat was populated in both power lifting and weightlifting for total quadriceps and lower back development, meanwhile using the hamstring and gluts as a support. When Westside and other powerlifting associations made the wide stance, where the main parts of the lower body were used are the gluts and hamstrings and changing the whole stance to totally wide and the whole body posture was also evolved within. While it may sound odd for you squat newbie out there.

Powerlifitng Stance Squats – Wide Stance

This is how it sounds without a visual, ass out, chest out; breathe within the mid section and squat right down till parallel. You may however encounter several people with an ego jacked up way above the sky which includes me and you reading this article squatting below parallel. Ya aren’t going to gain an extra point for squatting bellow parallel. Plain raw ego folks. Squat 1000lbs and then tell me about it.

Weightlifting Squats – Regular/Narrow Stance

Weightlifters have developed abnormal flexibility, allowing them to squat below parallel. Many do ask why? Simple because of their stance, the tougher part gets in the way when you are squatting on a wide stance. Weightlifters are simply phenomenal for 1 only reason, their flexibility.

It is and will always be an issue whenever we see trainees squat above parallel. Ever bother asking them why on living hell ? They just don’t have the balls to go parallel and below, being afraid of injury which would stall them from training and they’ll eventually face major muscle mass deficit.

This is why pure powerlifiting programs and weightlifting programs which includes necessary accessory work have been looked into rather more compared to the regular fitness programs. While any sane human being on earth would rather go on regular fitness programs for their self-proclaim well being and ditch the squats completely by either replacing them with Smith Squats, Leg Presses, Leg Curls and a million more.

Well that’ll make us insane. Period

Some recent updates.

2008-08-15T20:46:00.000-07:00

Over the years, I have noticed that there isn`t any sports specific website locally. The closest that comes to your head would be LYN H&F section which is full of bullshit these days. And so Kirks,JIB and I came up with an idea or I shall call it a change. We will open up a website which is basically a Powerlfiting & Olympic Lifting specific. Well I`m not saying that I want domination on both these sports but any other related sports are welcomed. The only issue is we want the website to be informative and not full of crap/shit like " Should I drink Milo before sleep? " , " Im screaming in my sleep, what is wrong with me? " and the garbage goes on. We would be delighted if we could have contributors that would bring good to the site.

Phase one isn`t up yet. Domain would be purchased very soon and we`ll get the forum up in no time. We are also considering in selling merchandises, bringing in some flex bands etc. I personally feel the bands in Malaysia is very overpriced.Right now, the only thing we have in mind is selling t-shirts which would probably bring up the sales a bit and give it a good kick start.

On my training side, I have been hitting a mini-plateau thanks to the inconsistency of training, lack of variation and food I guess. The conventional deadlift is still jammed up at 160kilos but it isn`t as tough at it was before. I am having some weak issues on the glutes and hamstrings. I just have to find what is good for me and not. I am still considering going on dynamic for a week just to work up the speed and stuff.

Website will be up soon. Stay Tuned.

Speed Talk

2008-07-26T06:50:00.000-07:00

Since today is also my Dynamic Effort day on Westsides, I will go on a brief later on how my workout went. Let`s just talk about attitude for the time being ( haven`t you noticed that I talk a lot about attitude, face the fact, people around me have issues ) Me being the one and only guy in the gym who trains on powerlifting principles usually attract a lot of shit talk. Pardon that. See, I wanted to work on my Squats today on a DE movement. This is how the incident occurred. Apparently my gym isn't broke but they only have ONE squat rack and oh yes if you would want to count in the SMITH MACHINE as a rack, then fuck you. There was a reasonably sized guy who was hogging the squat rack, but hey thats fine with me, you can fuck the bar if you want to. But this is the funny part, he has a fucked up form and so knowing me who have lots of respect for people approached him and said this " Excuse me, but I think your form is wrong, you are bending your back way too much, you shouldn't even have to " He looked at me from head to toe and said this "Are you sure? " And I kindly replied " Yes, you will screw your back up " . With tons of arrogance in him he ignored and continued squatting an ass to ground fucked up form on a 210lbs for 1 rep. I grabbed a sip and came back to him and asked " Can we share "
He bluntly replied saying that he is using it. Dude, can`t you share .........and so it goes on....we all know how it ends

Now you see, I know the amount of Testosterone is probably spiking in everyone at the gym, but hey brotha! I need to squat too. So, the word of the day is ARROGANCE and STUPIDITY = FATAL

I wanted to at least write about something today but this is all the shit that I can get down at the moment.

And so this is how the workout went today :

Snatch Deadlift

3 x 10

Good Mornings

6 x 6

Stiff Legged Deadlifts

8 x 6

AB Work

Weighted Ball Crunches

Simple, but this is the most tiring one ever, which is good.

I will try to write a short compilation article based on Westside Barbell on Speed Training on the next writeup.

The Personal Record Day

2008-07-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

And so the title explains it all. But let`s just not get to that yet. I have been looking into a few business opportunity which is lifting related of course. I had intentions with Jib to get in the flex bands, Captains of Crusher and some foam rolls. Unfortunately there was no reply yet from the supplier. However if anyone of you readers do know ways and means to get hold of those item at wholesale prices, please feel free to drop a comment.

I always have this perception in my head, it does not matter if you are gifted genetically as so bodybuilders claim to lift big. I see these excuses in the forum, public and even at the gym. They claim to be genetically "unblessed" which results in unimpressive figures. I am talking in a powerlifting shoe. I have been training strength for less than a year. Let me make a point here , I am not blessed with any sort of cut, I do not have hard rock abs, absolutely puny little arms, tell me about the shoulders, pathethic !. Well I ain't bragging for the proud right now, I am bragging to prove a point that no matter who the hell you are out there, you can lift big, you might not have a ripped physique like those super clean bodybuilders out there, but you may one day slap their ego real hard and give them a piece of slob right at their face.

I finally managed to break my PR which lasted for a month or two @ 140. It was a 145, a 5kg increment , failed on 150kg. I am going to give it a break for a month before I pay a visit back again.

I`ll be back tomorrow for a short writeup on a few issues. Cheers . Peace and happiness to all.

The Truth : Personal Trainers . An Overview

2008-07-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

See, I always had this whole bad perception when it comes to Personal Trainers aka Personal Training. Simple, they provide funky programs. My heartiest apologies when the handful of REAL personal trainers are being affected. Let`s see, how long does it take to be a certified personal trainer? 1 month? 1 year ? Funny isn`t it when becoming a personal trainer is pretty simple these days. You probably need to have some enthusiasm in fitness, decent physique and some basic PR skills.

I once went to a commercial fitness center in the vicinity and realized that there were so many personal trainers that you somehow doubt their eligibility in providing proper methods/routines etc. Now I am asking you to be in a customer who knows nuts about fitness, yet there are still people who fall for these people and might probably end up with a depression or minimal weight loss, make it worse for men who wants to loose fat end up loosing muscle mass as well.

Training in a commercial fitness center myself, I noticed that it is extremely rare to meet really good trainers. One reason, its overpopulated. Even a skinny malnourished guy could be a personal trainer these days as long as he has passion. I seriously wonder what the hell is going on. Do we need such amount of PTs. Oh yes and they cost a bomb. Ain't cheap.

It takes years to be a truly qualified PT. You need to know the bits about everything. From anatomy to PR. Oh yes, did I mention the bold wannabe looking PT's . Annoying as hell it seems, these people are the ones who get the most clients. They do not entertain members who don't pay for their service. Surprised? Don't be.

There was an incident when I was squatting a reasonable amount of load and a PT came up to me and said. " You shouldn't squat too low, you are going to hurt your back " . I replied politely "Thanks but I'm fine " . Well I should have just bluntly shut him off by saying something like this "I squat low because my ego shoots up so high that I need more momentum to explode up " . LOL.

This is just an overview, I don't want to get all detail in here, but please be a little smarter than a mule. It`ll do you good.

I forgot, some figures for my M.E Bench :

Incline Bench ( Close Grip )

40kg x 1
50kg x 1
60kg x 1
70kg x 1 ( Fail )

Bench is still weak, am targetting at least 75kg of close grip in 2 months max.

My first few days on Westside.

2008-07-16T06:05:00.000-07:00

If you are still lost on what Westside is , here is the link : Westside Simplified

I had to change the routine to suit my lifestyle , and so Monday was the D.E ( Dynamic Effort ) and Tuesday was the M.E ( Max Effort ).

This is how Monday turned out, I must admit it was an extreme slap on the ego letting everyone watch you benching 50% of you repetition max which in my case is 70kilos. Some figures

D.E Bench

35 kg x 3 x 8

Triceps Pushdown ( Without compromising form, I went on 6 repetitions for a couple of sets )

Barbell Military Press

40 kg x 6-8 x 5

I actually realised that my weights dropped quite abit, which right now I am still being positive about.

And this is how Tuesday turned out

Max D.E

Sumo Deadlift

60kg x 1
100kg x 1
120kg x 1
140kg x 1
160kg x 1 ( Max PR )
180 x 1 ( Failure )
180 x 1 ( Failure )
180 x 1 ( Failure )

Back Extension x 4

Some abdominal work which consists of Hanging Leg Raises and Knee Raise

My hips and lower back gave up after the 160kg pull. However I still pulled 3 sets of doubles on a 140. Pretty glad that I still managed to pull 160 eventhough it is my FIRST time pulling a deadlift Sumo style.

Westside and the mentality.

2008-07-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

And so I started the Westside Routine credits to Jib, Kirks, and Dave Tate of course for this super-cool routine.

But before i talk a whole lot more on this, I would just take a few or probably more lines to talk about mentality against, low reps and powerlifting programs. See, I train in a commercial gym where fitness trainers are typical trainers. They often charm you with funky programs, 30 minutes cardiovascular exercise on the threadmill, stepper, and bike. They say you will loose weight. STOP right there. I am not saying that this isn`t true. You will loose "WEIGHT". I`ll get back to this some other time. Now what I am trying to point out here is this. Before that I`ll give myself a pat on the head for Sumo Deadlifting 160kg , with a " I don`t know if i got it right " type of form. Getting back, while I was pulling a 160 kg, a fellow trainer ( reasonably sized ) came up to me and said, " Hey bro, do you mind putting the weights back after you are done, people might get hurt" . I certainly said a ." For Sure ". Now thats all good besides it sounds a little gay on both sides. I had this goosebumps when everyone was giving me the worst ever version of stare, I bet in their head something like this was going on " Why is he deadlifting a close grip in between his legs; Why is he pulling 1 rep ? ; He is not going to get any form of muscle mass I bet; Man! this guy is crazy, he is going to injure his back, he should use lower weight and more repetition." There are tons more, believe me.

Now, I don`t have issues against fitness people, man, I myself love going for crossfit. But sometimes to an extend where it annoys you, you just feel like giving a whole load of cow shit to them. But, lets put it this way, I`m a very neutral person. As much as I respect Olympic lifters for their technique, as much as I feel humbled by the amount of power and strength power lifters have, as much as I feel envious on the physique that bodybuilders posses, I have this belief; REALISM,VARIATION and the most important thing is FUN. If you have fun doing a bodybuilding routine, please do so. If you love Oly, please feel free to teach me the proper technique * a 2 second grin * (credits to kirks for giving me tons of insides on the truth about Oly, i`ll tell you who is Kirks someday, awesome bloke) and if you love powerlifting, share your secrets on your hulky power (JIB is another bloke who posses phenomenal upper body power). But a handful of these people exist around me, which is very frustrating.

Lets make this community regardless if you are some physique freak etc a better place to lift.