jaer
New Member
Posts: 8
|
Post by jaer on Feb 28, 2020 1:38:48 GMT
Hello, JSF Friends!
It's been a while. I believe the last time I posted was back in July.
As you might recall, I had quit my job in May. Only to have that place of business be so desperate to keep me that they hired me on as a contractor, part time at first, but then full-time. That lasted through the annual conference in October (which was in New Orleans, so it was awesome to not miss that trip!).
You might also recall that I've had a construction project going on at my house since August 2018. My day and I were turning part of the garage into internal space: a pantry, powder room, and back door. Our one-year permit ran out in August, so we had to get a six-month extension. If we didn't finish it by February, there could be problems: They might not allow for another extension, so we'd have to get a new permit...and that means if any of the codes had changed, some of the work we had done might no longer be to code and would need to be redone. If that was insulation or plumbing, that would be a major issue.
I had an aunt pass away in June, as well. I wasn't close to her--she was a bit of a recluse. She had no husband or kids or anything, so that left my parents to deal with the estate, and because I was part time, I was devoting a day or two every week to helping with that. It sucked up most of our August and September, so we didn't have time to work on the construction.
Through November, December, and January, construction work pretty much became my full-time job. My dad was over a few days a week and some weekends, and I was doing stuff on mu own. But we managed to get that wrapped and the permit closed in the first week of February (cutting it close to be sure, but we passed with flying colors)!
I picked up a well-playing but not-many-hours gig ghost writing for the CEO of a local company. That helped eased the "expense" of me putting all my time into the construction. I didn't even look for more work then cause I couldn't take anything on: Finishing the house was top priority.
Well, the very week of the inspection, my old boss called me up with a problem: The girl they hired to replace me was leaving, and they needed someone quick. So I'm back as a full-time contractor at my old job making drastically more money and having fewer responsibilities. SOLID! I could really plan that better: I was part time when my parents needed my help with my aunt, I was off when all my focus needed to be on the house, and now that I have free time, I'm back and in a better position than I was. And still with the nice part-time writing gig!
Also during that time, I've been studying to take the National Academy of Sport's Medicine (NASM) test to becomes a certified personal trainer. I just (as in 10 minutes ago), finished the last module. I plan on spending the next week reviewing and taking the practice tests and stuff, and then take the exam on March 8 or there-abouts. My plan isn't to stay at my current job long term (it's still in a financial downward spiral and several of my friends have left or are working to leave; it's just not a viable place to commit to), but I'll probably be there a several months as I try to get my writing and fitness career plans in place. More on that another time.
As for my fitness: At the very end of June last year, Heather and I went to Mexico. Just before we left, I managed to get down to 199.8, though I'll admit I was something like 72 hours fasted at that point. Still, I hit my goal getting under 200! That didn't last, of course. But somewhere in that time, maybe in August or there abouts, I was squatting 430, benching 350, so you know, still going Jaer-level heavy on the lifts. And keeping up my runs.
Just before Thanksgiving, I entered a zero-gain "contest" at my gym. I weighed in at 217.6. I weighed out on Jan 6 at 213. Not bad for the holidays! Since then, I've continued to drop pounds. Just yesterday I weighed in at 199.4. I was back up today; water fluctuation is a biotch! I've been bouncing between 200 and about 202 for nearly a week. It's frustrating.
I'm currently doing a keto diet. I started this on 2/12, the day H had mouth surgery to remove her tonsils, her adenoids, her uvula, and had a soft palette reconstruction. She's been off week for three weeks! Poor thing. But she's feeling much better now. I picked this time to go keto because H is the carboholic between us. With our social calendar pretty much wiped to nothing for weeks and her not eating (she only started on solid foods a couple days ago), it was easy for me to go keto. And it meant I wasn't eating things she would really want but couldn't have in front of her.
I was doing a 5x5 lifting routine up until a couple Saturdays ago, when I separated some ribs during my martial arts class. I had the instructor in a headlock, and as he maneuvered to get out...pop, pop, pop! It's still a bit tender, but overall, I can move and lift and workout mostly without discomfort. Sneezing is awful.
I just this week started a new workout routine that I made based on NASM's OPT training system. I figured it would be a good way to study for the test by applying their principles, and if I'm going to be a NASM trainer, I should try the NASM system. I'll describe that in a future post, but as a heads-up: I thought it was going to be laughably easy. It kicked my ass, but in the good way.
And now you're caught up!
Jaer is sad to see JSF gone but is glad it lives on here. Great work and thanks to Mac and Philly for reaching out. It's good to be "back"!
|
|
|
Post by macdiver on Feb 28, 2020 11:37:31 GMT
Welcome.
When you mentioned the ribs on IG I was wondering if it was from Systems or a gym accident. Glad the house got finished before your permit expired. I don't know about residential codes but for commercial / industrial most of the current code changes relate to energy conservation so for us it is mostly mechanical HVAC systems, occupancy sensors, LED lighting stuff.
Good luck on your NASM tests.
|
|
|
Post by phillydude on Feb 28, 2020 13:23:50 GMT
Great news on the upcoming NASM certification. Indeed, it sounds like the employment situation recently has been a blessing.
|
|
|
Post by shamie on Feb 28, 2020 14:41:46 GMT
In your Avatar photo, your arms look huge, what is the measurement? Are you still fasting? I have to admit, I was hoping you would come back, you were good inspiration for when I was fasting. Good luck with your test.
|
|
|
Post by seltzer on Feb 28, 2020 16:47:04 GMT
Nice to see you posting here Jaer! Lots of goodness in what you just wrote and my read is that life is moving in a positive direction.
Sending good vibes for H's fast and complete recovery.
|
|
|
Post by Iroc-z on Feb 29, 2020 17:34:25 GMT
Best wishes for success on the NASM test!
|
|
jaer
New Member
Posts: 8
|
Post by jaer on Mar 2, 2020 16:47:04 GMT
"In your Avatar photo, your arms look huge, what is the measurement?" That picture was from summer, so no clue. I'm usually in the 16 to 17 inch (flexed) range when taking my biceps measurements. I'm at around 16 1/4 now. I was lifting heavier in summer and weighed more, so maybe 16 1/2? "Are you still fasting? I have to admit, I was hoping you would come back, you were good inspiration for when I was fasting. " I usually keep a daily 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m. eating range, though I have plenty of days when I end earlier or start a little later, so usually a 6 to 8 hour eating window. I still do a 24-hour dinner-to-dinner (Eat-Stop-Eat style) fast once a week. Occasionally I'll go longer. Just last week I did 42 hours; basically skipped an entire day, to last calories were 8:00 p.m. Monday and didn't consume much (little MCT oil in coffee) until noon Wednesday. So, yeah, still doing all the fasting! "Good luck with your test." Thanks, everyone, for the well-wishes! I'll let you know how it goes. Jaer thinks he'll be fine so long as the test doesn't focus too much on muscle names, specific joint compositions, and other anatomy stuff. But that should become apparent during the review work and pretests this week.
|
|
jaer
New Member
Posts: 8
|
Post by jaer on Mar 2, 2020 18:27:08 GMT
And now the workout update!
I'm actually on a pretty simple plan because I've got one Monday/Wednesday/Friday plan one one Tuesday/Thursday plan, though the T/T plan is going to get tweaked when I get back to doing my cardio class on those days. Given some of the movements we typically do, I figured it wasn't a good idea while the ribs are healing.
So, a little bit about NASM training protocols without getting too technical: the NASM Optimal Performance Training (OPT) system has five phase:
Phase 1 - Balance and Stability Phase 2 - Strength and Endurance Phase 3 - Hypertrophy Phase 4 - Maximum Strength Phase 5 - Power (explosive exercises; Crossfit stuff would fit here)
When building a program, NASM starts everyone in Phase 1. So when building a program for myself to learn the system, I decided to build myself a Phase 1 program to learn it. Phases 3, 4, and 5 are pretty well known to me and are what I would usually build a program around. I've never, as far as I can remember across nearly 20 years now of resistance training, done a program that was all Balance and Stability work.
One thing I like about the NASM training was that they recommend a year-long look at the fitness routine. I don't do that either. I build a plan for my current goals and execute it either a specific amount of time (a 6- or 8-week program for instance) or until I get bored and make a new one. I've never looked across an entire year and planned it out like March: Stability work, April: Hypertrophy, May: Maximum Strength. But it makes sense to do so.
As part of that design, NASM recommends programs move phases every 4 weeks; the phase you move to depends on a client's goals, but you can and do move up and down the list. It's not like Phase 5 is the end goal for everyone.
I decided to take this all to heart and create a program based on their general sports performance enhancement, so a cycle that looks like this Phase 1 > Phase 2 > Phase 3 > Phase 2 > Phase 3 > Phase 4
And thus did I start Phase 1 last week. Despite never having done this work, I assumed it would be easy. I'm an experienced lifter. This was low weight, high rep work. I chose variables to make to tough, and yet I still thought I'd probably be bored and thus would "graduate" out of this phase after only 2 weeks or so just because I'd find it too easy.
WHOA BOY was I wrong.
Here's the routine I'm doing:
M/W/F I timed myself for the first time on these today, so I have a little extra data.
Elliptical: 10:00 interval work.
Circuit 1: High-to-Low-to-High Plank w shoulder touches: 15 Single Leg DB chop: 15# 15 reps each arm Box Jumps: 15
I rest 0 - 60 seconds between exercises. The circuit takes about 6 minutes. I rested 1 minute between rounds. I only do two rounds of this.
Circuit 2: Single-leg DB Romanian DL to Curl to OHP: 20#, 15 reps each side Push-ups hands on stability ball: 15 DB Renegade row: 15#, 15 reps each hand (alternating) DB OHP seated on stability ball: 15#, 15 reps One-leg DB curls: 25#, 10 reps each leg Overhead tricep ext lying on stability ball: 25#, 25 Squat on BOSU ball: 15
The circuit takes about 10 minutes. I try to rest 0 to 60 seconds between exercises. I rested 3 minutes between rounds. I do 3 rounds.
I am soaked with sweat and gasping for air at times on this routine.
Yes, that is a lot of either balancing on a ball or standing on one leg. Like the first exercise, I stand on one leg and bend to a ROM DL, then stand, curl the DB, then press it overhead, all in one motion with a foot off the floor...except when I teeter and have to put my foot down to catch myself. The curls, I stand on one leg, do 10 10 DB curls (both arms at the same time) and then switch the balance leg and do another 10 curls.
I have seen other people do one-leg work like that before, or seen people standing on the BOSU ball, and thought, "Man, what a gimmick!" Kind of changing my mind on that!
The temp is supposed to be 4 seconds on the concentric, 2 seconds on the hold, 1 second on the eccentric. My plan for Wednesday and beyond is to lower the curl and tri ext weights to 15 to focus on that tempo. I have the tempo on other stuff, but 25# is too heavy to go that slow.
Alright, that seems like enough of a good ol' fashion Jaer text wall. I'll describe my Tuesday/Thursday work next time.
Jaer also designed a Phase 1 plan for H. Much less ambitious/masochistic than that one. She starts it this week; I'll report back how hers goes.
|
|
jaer
New Member
Posts: 8
|
Post by jaer on Mar 4, 2020 18:42:28 GMT
And now, my Tuesday/Thursday "routine." I view these days as cardio more than a strength workout, but I like resistance training cardio, like Clean and Presses or the Evil 8 complex. If I'm going to just do long, steady-state cardio, I'll go for a run. Which I have been sticking to about one a week through winter. I'll get some more in when the weather is warmer and it stays light out longer.
Here's the basic plan I've landed on after a week of experimenting; it's what I did yesterday:
Elliptical: 10:00, level 8; no intervals - this is just a warm-up
Circuit: Single-Arm Kettle-Bell Swings: 16kg, 30 ea Medicine Ball Throw to Wall: 10x10, 12x10, 15x10 (reverse next round) Medicine Ball Twist Side Throw to Wall: 10x10 each side, 12x10 each side, 15x10 each side (reverse next round) Medicine Ball Soccer Throw (Otherwise called Slams): 25x25 Rest & Repeat
Tabata Battle Rope: Alternating Wave, Claps, Figure 8s, Jumping Jacks - that cycle twice through is one tabata round; rest 1 minute or so, do it a second time.
I do the circuit 4 times through. My gym has targets on the wall; when I do the throw to the wall, I toss from the chest and then catch as it returns. When using the 10# ball, I aim for the third target up. Maybe 10 feet? When I use the 12# ball, I aim for the second. When I use the 15#, the first, which is a little bit above head height, and I'm 5'10".
When I do the twists, I just aim for chest height or thereabouts. It's more about explosively throwing and dynamically catching.
I vary these so on round 1 and 3, I throw the light weight first, the medium, then the heavy. Rounds 2 and 4, I do the opposite. This means when I'm tossing the light ball, I'm already fatigued. It's difficult to hit the third target every time.
For the soccer throws, I squat, pitch up the ball with my hands on the sides of the ball, rise and lift the arms above my head with enough force that I release the ball to reposition my hands on the top of the ball, and then slam it to the ground with just my arm strength. It's a killer cardio move!
The circuit takes about 5 to 6 minutes (interestingly, according to current, albeit limited, data, rounds 1 and 3 seem to take about 30 seconds longer!). I rest for 2:00 between rounds. I was doing some other light-weight cable stuff, too, but I dropped that to shorten the workout time. There's only one spot in the gym to throw the balls at the wall, though, so I sometimes need to so something to stall until people move from that area, but it's usually clear in the morning when I go.
I created this program in reaction to some of the principles I learned during my NASM course. It's one of those "No duh, that totally obvious!" things, but something I hadn't considered:
All move is based on a main muscle group moving the limb and another group "resisting" the movement. During a bench press, the pecs (and other muscles) are pushing the bar but the lats (and other muscles) are resisting that motion by extending. They create a stop-point via counter tension. At the bottom of the bench, the pecs are free reign to push, but as the bar goes up, the lats length and start adding resistance, just like a resistance band. This idea was well known to me because we talk about this all the time in systema: When you throw a punch, you start losing force if you extend your arm too far because the lat is tense. It's better to get in close and use short punches, about half of the full extension of your arm, rather than striking at the full arm's length.
So that was Known. This was the interesting'new/n-duh part: Because the arms can only go so far before muscles and ligaments would tear, and the body is really good about not accidentally doing stupid things like that and damaging itself, as we do a bench press, our body naturally decreases the speed and force of the press. At the bottom, all good, we're moving that sucker full tilt. At the top, we start slowing down. If we didn't slow down, we would end up tossing the bar. With a squat, same thing: No slow down, we would end up doing a squat jump. Which are things we totally can do if we want to...but I think all of us are smart enough to know we shouldn't be tossing barbells out of our hands on bench presses nor doing squat jumps with a loaded bar on our shoulders. OUCH! Save the jumps for jerks and snatches!
All of this means, we rarely train the full extension of muscles at full speed. Enter throwing around medicine balls. By throwing the ball at the wall, I'm engaging my chest muscles similar to a bench press, but doing it explosively to launch the ball, and I'm using a consistent force from the isometric phase (when the ball is loaded against my chest) through the concentric phase (as I toss the ball away) until I fully extend my arm. I'm now training my lats to offer less resistance at the extension and training my joints to handle the explosive force.
Not to mention the dynamic nature of the training in that my body is in a different position every throw and has to stabilize through every catch. I'm sure everyone here is aware of the progression of stabilization, where in a weight machine only allows movement in one direction, so it is the most stable movement and requires the fewest stabilizers to use. A barbell has more "wiggle" to it, so requires more stabilizing and activated more muscles. Dumb bells even more so (which is why I could bench 325 on a barbell but only 120s on the DB). Throwing and catching a ball...there's even less of a set pattern in the movement than there is a DB presses!
This is also really good for my systema punches because it means instead of training my arms to slow down (as I do during a bench press), I'm now training them to have a consistent speed through the range of motion (though I still want that to be short).
I also like that I have a few different circuit patterns to my week:
10-13 minute work session, 3 minute rest (M/W/F lifting circuit) 5-6m work, 2m rest (T/T Medicine ball circuit) 4-5m work, 1m rest (M/W/F core/balance/plyo circuit) 1m work, 1m rest (M/W/F cardio intervals) 20s work, 10s rest (T/T tabata rounds)
And of course the running, when I might go 20 or 30 minutes before needing a minute or two to walk it out a bit.
Jaer has never trained like this before. It feels good!
|
|
|
Post by macdiver on Mar 5, 2020 12:32:10 GMT
Although it seems obvious now, I had never considered the role of the opposing muscle group in slowing and stopping a movement. Thanks for the insight.
|
|
|
Post by seltzer on Mar 5, 2020 18:54:48 GMT
Although it seems obvious now, I had never considered the role of the opposing muscle group in slowing and stopping a movement. Thanks for the insight. Totally agree. After being informed, obvious, but no so much before.
|
|
|
Post by M@ on Mar 5, 2020 21:28:55 GMT
This idea was well known to me because we talk about this all the time in systema: When you throw a punch, you start losing force if you extend your arm too far because the lat is tense. I don't get this, though, from a fighting or a resistance training perspective. - When you're throwing a punch (not jab), the overwhelming majority of the force should be coming from the ground: Namely your legs driving into your hips, and your hips driving into your torso. The small muscles of the arm add a little more force but mainly brace the impact point (i.e. your fist) and deliver the kinetic energy that you've built up through your core1.
- When you're operating against resistance to build muscle, you're getting as many - or more - microtears on the extension as the flexion. Stretching the muscle is important for both maximizing the contraction as well as working the muscle in the eccentric portion of the movement2.
1 What my kickboxing instructor told me when I was 14. 2 I watched Generation Iron 3 and dude at the science place was talking about the eccentric microtears.
|
|
jaer
New Member
Posts: 8
|
Post by jaer on Mar 6, 2020 1:51:48 GMT
This idea was well known to me because we talk about this all the time in systema: When you throw a punch, you start losing force if you extend your arm too far because the lat is tense. I don't get this, though, from a fighting or a resistance training perspective. - When you're throwing a punch (not jab), the overwhelming majority of the force should be coming from the ground: Namely your legs driving into your hips, and your hips driving into your torso. The small muscles of the arm add a little more force but mainly brace the impact point (i.e. your fist) and deliver the kinetic energy that you've built up through your core1.
- When you're operating against resistance to build muscle, you're getting as many - or more - microtears on the extension as the flexion. Stretching the muscle is important for both maximizing the contraction as well as working the muscle in the eccentric portion of the movement2.
1 What my kickboxing instructor told me when I was 14. 2 I watched Generation Iron 3 and dude at the science place was talking about the eccentric microtears.
Your first point: Yeah, that's my bad for not being more clear: We don't punch like that in systema. We can, but most of our punches are close, short work, coming from the elbow or the shoulder. We don't have a stance. We don't twist at the hips. If we can strike during movement (like with a step or while twisting), we do, but we don't plant our feet and get that kind of full body work. Or rather we don't rely on that. It's a very flow style. We actually practice punches from positions of disadvantage, like on one leg or lying on the ground. The point is to make you punches effective anywhere, any time, even if your sliding on ice. Your second point: Systema is all about relaxation. A relaxed strike is more powerful than a tense one. It sinks deeper. Extending the harm tenses the lats; the tension begins at about the midway point and increases as you extend. Muscles are like tension bands used for working out: The further they stretch, the more tense they become. Yes, this tension on the lats during a workout can increase their strength because you are working the muscle, getting the microtears as you say. This doesn't mean that the tension created in the lats isn't deceleration the push of the pecs. In fact, the very fact that antagonist muscles (lats) get these microtears when the agonist muscle (pecs) is at work shows the antagonist is applying counter resistance. If it didn't counter that effort, it wouldn't tear. To better show my point, I'll go through the motion of a bench. At the bottom of the press, when the bar is on my chest, the lats are shortened, the pecs are lengthened. I contract the pecs to start the push. When I get halfway up the push, the lats pass neutral and start to stretch; like a rubber band stretching, this starts adding a little backward pull to the push. By the time I'm at the top of the press, arms extended, my lats are now fulled stretched and applying even more backward resistance. The "drag" of the lat extending is slowing the power in my punch. I'm at max power at the midline, before the lat starts stretching. So I'm not saying it's bad the lats work when the pecs do. I'm just saying that work adds a counter drag to the forward motion, reducing power. Jaer hopes that makes sense. Cause your points were very well presented.
|
|
jaer
New Member
Posts: 8
|
Post by jaer on Mar 9, 2020 17:50:12 GMT
Continued with my lifts through the week. Didn't hit the gym on Saturday. Did hit a happy hour event with friends but kept to hot wings and vodka-club sodas, so I didn't kick out of keto. Ran yesterday, an 11-minute mile average (which includes the bathroom breaks!) over 6.5 miles. Good run.
Took my NASM personal trainer test today. Passed.
Doesn't give a score, though. Wonder if I could find it?
Jaer is now a certified personal trainer! Time to start looking for continuing ed credits....
|
|
|
Post by macdiver on Mar 9, 2020 17:58:18 GMT
Congratulations
|
|