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Thread: Stuffed Superdud: Bumpy road to respectable lifting

  1. #521
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    • starting strength seminar april 2024
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    I totally aggree. Athletes should be bad ass. Not fat and lazy and just strong. One thing cross fit has going for it.
    Space hulk looks awesome man! Isn't there some bad ass crazy space truck game too that takes ages to play? Is that the trucker game you were talking about ? Bro! You have games pictures, where are the awesome training videos?

    Looks like my D&D group is aiming for every other weekend now. I'm stoked. Best story so far from that. My elf wizard was climbing a rope and the DM wanted to roll to see if the rope could hold me and another character. Cause DMs. I talked him out of it going "Come on, I'm an elf I weight like 90lbs sheesh"
    His response was oh, yah, I was picturing you on the rope.. which would have made sense that it would probably break with two people on it. Nevermind.

  2. #522
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    Quote Originally Posted by idlehands View Post
    I totally aggree. Athletes should be bad ass. Not fat and lazy and just strong. One thing cross fit has going for it.
    Oh yea. I'm glad we're finding some sort of middle ground these days. CF folks are focused on size and strength and not that "firebreather" crap, while the whole "I only care about strength. Fuck abs" thing is fading too in favor of cleaner eating and more prowling, and suddenly curls and shrugs aren't taboo anymore! Good times.

    Quote Originally Posted by idlehands View Post
    Space hulk looks awesome man! Isn't there some bad ass crazy space truck game too that takes ages to play? Is that the trucker game you were talking about ? Bro! You have games pictures, where are the awesome training videos?
    Space Hulk is great in how much fun it provides with just a few pages of rules. You can teach a new person to play in five minutes, and the sixteen scenarios provide a ton of replayability, especially for the human side. They also have old scenarios from the 1st and 2nd editions and you can make up your own, too.

    Quote Originally Posted by idlehands View Post
    Looks like my D&D group is aiming for every other weekend now. I'm stoked. Best story so far from that. My elf wizard was climbing a rope and the DM wanted to roll to see if the rope could hold me and another character. Cause DMs. I talked him out of it going "Come on, I'm an elf I weight like 90lbs sheesh"
    His response was oh, yah, I was picturing you on the rope.. which would have made sense that it would probably break with two people on it. Nevermind.
    Hahahah that's pretty sweet. That does remind me: with the rise in the popularity of barbell training, I'm hoping that gamers might finally move beyond the stereotypical super skinny or super fat look and start lifting. The analytical OCD-tinged personalities are a perfect fit for playing around with barbell programming and supplemental conditioning, I think. For leveling up! We can all do with +2 strength, right? And then I can make stupid jokes like "Inzer suit provides +3 modifier!" What a thrill it would be if in 2020 or so, I could go to GenCon or Origins or something and every table was a bunch of ogres bursting out of their short-sleeve collar shirts while playing Power Grid.

    Oh wait, something like this is sort of happening already, only from the other direction:
    Packers obsessed with 'Settlers of Catan' board game

    Truly a new century.


    So today was the second anniversary of the meet I missed after hurting my knee a few days prior. Coincidentally, it was also the 1st time since the injury that I was able to train pain-free (mostly). Getting hurt sucked balls, no doubt about that, but there's a silver lining too: my strength levels were stagnant (mid 300's squat and dead, mid 100s press, mid 200s bench, all for 1RMs), my technique was ugly, and I was training with an overpriced / underqualified coach whom I did not have the balls to fire. I ended up parting ways with him while I was rehabbing, and got the strength up and addressed some of the issues that led to my injury in the 1st place (my hot physical therapist said that with my weird asymmetries, the whole leg, not just the knee, was a ticking bomb), and now we're back on the progress train. Also, instead of training in a scary dungeon gym run by a sociopathic pothead, I'm in an awesome training group now (the gym even has a USAW membership flag on the wall!). Could be much worse.

    Snatch:
    "Today is a snatch day! Tell me, what is snatch?!"
    "High pull, drop under, lock elbows?"
    "Yes yes you know it now! So show me!"

    40kgx3x2
    50x3x2
    60x3x2
    70x3x2 I missed a few here due to fatigue. For the misses, I knew right away that I did not finish the pull.
    60x3
    65x3 Missed one due to crappy focus.

    Next to me, The Girl was banging out the reps, no problem. Something like 40kg snatches for 15 triples. She's also noticeably more jacked than she was 3 months ago, much to the coaches' delight, and her's too. Coach was like, "See her! Not very strong yet, but every pull is finished and the weight moves in a perfectly straight line!"

    The good thing is, for me now, strength is not the issue, and technique comes more easily than muscles. The bad thing is, squats and deads are fun. All the more reason to hurry up and get to 100/140, so that we can start that strength cycle, I guess.

    Muscle snatch:
    40kgx3
    50x3
    60x3
    "How many sets today?"
    "For now, let's say 6 sets. We will see. Okay you do 60 already?"
    "Yes for one set. I was going to do another and then do 65x3x2."
    "Come! On! You seriously want to just stay at baby weights? Okay okay if that's what you want, that's what you want....pussy."
    "Uh...okay what should I do then?"
    "65! Then 70!"
    "Remember I missed 70 many times last time."
    "Good, so today will be a PR day for you. 65!"

    65x1

    "Okay drop it. For the other reps. 70! Don't. Miss."

    70x1 easy PR LOLOL what?

    "Better do another to be sure. Okay rest and then go!"

    70x1

    "Okay one more!"
    "Ugh..."
    "Stop complaining! Still very tiny weights!"

    70x1 RPE:10

    I don't think I've ever ground this hard for a lift before. I managed to get the barbell flipped up and my hands/elbows under it, but then bar speed went to exactly 0 m/s and I held it there isometrically for what felt like 10 seconds. Miraculously, after that eternity, it started inching up, accelerating all the way, and I was able to lock it out.

    Cuban coach: "Wait so muscle snatch same as snatch?"
    Polish coach: "Yea! 70 kilos for everything. Muscle snatch, snatch snatch, power snatch, clean and jerk, press, bench press, everything!"

    Front squat:
    70kgx5
    110x5
    120x3
    130x3,2

    The knee started getting annoyed at the end so coach told me to take it easy. 130 was embarrassingly difficult anyway, and was choking me out a little. Strength was fine, but oxygen was lacking.

    Press:
    50kgx4
    60x4x3
    70x4
    Not too heavy because my traps were already roasted from today and yesterday's upper body fun. Cleaned the bar, too, because Girl 2 was hogging to the rack doing front squats.

    Speaking of Girl 2, if The Girl is an intimidating hyper-intense bulldozer, Girl 2 is, whatever the opposite of that is. She has almost zero strength (can front squat about 80lbs) and is so slow that even when she missed a snatch today that sent her tumbling head over heads into the back of the platform, she even tuck and rolled slowly, as if some sort of special relativity applies to her. She also reflexively laughs every time she catches the bar successfully, when we all know that the bottom of a snatch is how we all find out about each other's O-faces without actually having to get naked and sweaty, right?


    Even a hottie like Nadezhda Evstyukhina isn't immune to snatch-face-itis.

    She has all the enthusiasm, flexibility, limb ratios, and technique a coach would want though so it'll be a lot of fun to see her get something like 40/60 in the next month or three.

  3. #523
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    Quote Originally Posted by idlehands View Post
    I totally aggree. Athletes should be bad ass. Not fat and lazy and just strong. One thing cross fit has going for it.
    Oh yea. I'm glad we're finding some sort of middle ground these days. CF folks are focused on size and strength and not that "firebreather" crap, while the whole "I only care about strength. Fuck abs" thing is fading too in favor of cleaner eating and more prowling, and suddenly curls and shrugs aren't taboo anymore! Good times.

    Quote Originally Posted by idlehands View Post
    Space hulk looks awesome man! Isn't there some bad ass crazy space truck game too that takes ages to play? Is that the trucker game you were talking about ? Bro! You have games pictures, where are the awesome training videos?
    Are you talking about Galaxy Trucker, the one where everyone scrambles to build their ship as optimally as possible and then everything falls apart when the try to actually use it? Some of the guys at the game night like it a lot; no one actually owns it though so I haven't gotten to try. I was actually hoping to get that too along with Space Hulk when I went to the store the other day, but apparently some guy had come by about an hour before me and bought the only copy. I have it on special order now though; will update you guys if it sees any action.

    Space Hulk is great in how much fun it provides with just a few pages of rules. You can teach a new person to play in five minutes, and the sixteen scenarios provide a ton of replayability, especially for the human side, as you're always wondering how to most optimally attack those corridors. They also have old scenarios from the 1st and 2nd editions and you can make up your own, too. The pics aren't mine though; I just stole them off BGG. Cancergirl wants to play so maybe I'll get some pics then.

    Speaking of which:
    Me: "Hey today's a new billing cycle with the coach. You want to come with and train for March? Just try it for a full month instead of getting discouraged just because you're super sore after one day."
    CG: "Eh I'd like to but I'm too busy with something else this month."
    Me: "Uh oh. What?"
    CG: "Yoga........Please don't hate me!"
    Me: "...................."
    CG: "I know it looks useless but my friend told me this place is different! She said it's a great workout!"
    Me: "Ugh...was it Sharon?"
    CG: "Maaaaaybe....why?"
    Me: "Sharon is 5'8" 130lbs and somehow 35% bodyfat anyway according to that pod test she got on Groupon. Everything is a great workout for her."
    CG: "Oh stop being so negative. Even if it's useless it's still fun and lifting is more stress than I need right now. Want to come with?! I'll get a referrer's discount!"
    Me: "How about I just give you the money and you never talk to me about yoga ever again?"
    CG: "Fine be that way."
    Me: "But feel free to wear yogapants as much as you want."
    CG: "I only use them for the class. If you're going to be pervy the least you can do is come for the free trial."
    I have never been more upset in my life.

    Quote Originally Posted by idlehands View Post
    Looks like my D&D group is aiming for every other weekend now. I'm stoked. Best story so far from that. My elf wizard was climbing a rope and the DM wanted to roll to see if the rope could hold me and another character. Cause DMs. I talked him out of it going "Come on, I'm an elf I weight like 90lbs sheesh"
    His response was oh, yah, I was picturing you on the rope.. which would have made sense that it would probably break with two people on it. Nevermind.
    Hahahah that's pretty sweet. That does remind me: with the rise in the popularity of barbell training, I'm hoping that gamers might finally move beyond the stereotypical super skinny or super fat look and start lifting. The analytical OCD-tinged personalities are a perfect fit for playing around with barbell programming and supplemental conditioning, I think. For leveling up! We can all do with +2 strength, right? And then I can make stupid jokes like "Inzer suit provides +3 modifier!" What a thrill it would be if in 2020 or so, I could go to GenCon or Origins or something and every table was a bunch of ogres bursting out of their short-sleeve collar shirts while playing Power Grid.

    Oh wait, something like this is sort of happening already, only from the other direction:
    Packers obsessed with 'Settlers of Catan' board game

    Truly a new century.


    So today was the second anniversary of the meet I missed after hurting my knee a few days prior. Coincidentally, it was also the 1st time since the injury that I was able to train pain-free (mostly). Getting hurt sucked balls, no doubt about that, but there's a silver lining too: my strength levels were stagnant (mid 300's squat and dead, mid 100s press, mid 200s bench, all for 1RMs), my technique was ugly, and I was training with an overpriced / underqualified coach whom I did not have the balls to fire. I ended up parting ways with him while I was rehabbing, and got the strength up and addressed some of the issues that led to my injury in the 1st place (my hot physical therapist said that with my weird asymmetries, the whole leg, not just the knee, was a ticking bomb), and now we're back on the progress train. Also, instead of training in a scary dungeon gym run by a sociopathic pothead, I'm in an awesome training group now (the gym even has a USAW membership flag on the wall!). Could be much worse.

    Snatch:
    "Today is a snatch day! Tell me, what is snatch?!"
    "High pull, drop under, lock elbows?"
    "Yes yes you know it now! So show me!"

    40kgx3x2
    50x3x2
    60x3x2
    70x3x2 I missed a few here due to fatigue. For the misses, I knew right away that I did not finish the pull.
    60x3
    65x3 Missed one due to crappy focus.

    Next to me, The Girl was banging out the reps, no problem. Something like 40kg snatches for 15 triples. She's also noticeably more jacked than she was 3 months ago, much to the coaches' delight, and her's too. Coach was like, "See her! Not very strong yet, but every pull is finished and the weight moves in a perfectly straight line!"

    The good thing is, for me now, strength is not the issue, and technique comes more easily than muscles. The bad thing is, squats and deads are fun. All the more reason to hurry up and get to 100/140, so that we can start that strength cycle, I guess.

    Snatch high pulls:
    90kgx3x6

    I am able to yank the 90s well above the requirement for a snatch if I finish the pulls. Coach gave me crap about how the high-pulls are fine, but then when I know I have to get under, the whole thing falls apart. Ehhh.

    Muscle snatch:
    40kgx3
    50x3
    60x3
    "How many sets today?"
    "For now, let's say 6 sets. We will see. Okay you do 60 already?"
    "Yes for one set. I was going to do another and then do 65x3x2."
    "Come! On! You seriously want to just stay at baby weights? Okay okay if that's what you want, that's what you want....pussy."
    "Uh...okay what should I do then?"
    "65! Then 70!"
    "Remember I missed 70 many times last time."
    "Good, so today will be a PR day for you. 65!"

    65x1

    "Okay drop it. Forget the other reps. 70! Don't. Miss."

    70x1 easy PR LOLOL what?

    "Better do another to be sure. Okay rest and then go!"

    70x1

    "Okay one more!"
    "Ugh..."
    "Stop complaining! Still very tiny weights!"

    70x1 RPE:10

    I don't think I've ever ground this hard for a lift before. I managed to get the barbell flipped up and my hands/elbows under it, but then bar speed went to exactly 0 m/s and I held it there isometrically for what felt like 10 seconds. Miraculously, after that eternity, it started inching up, accelerating all the way, and I was able to lock it out.

    Cuban coach: "Wait so muscle snatch same as snatch?"
    Polish coach: "Yea! 70 kilos for everything. Muscle snatch, snatch snatch, power snatch, clean and jerk, press, bench press, everything!"

    Front squat:
    70kgx5
    110x5
    120x3
    130x3,2

    The knee started getting annoyed at the end so coach told me to take it easy. 130 was embarrassingly difficult anyway, and was choking me out a little. Strength was fine, but oxygen was lacking.

    Press:
    50kgx4
    60x4x3
    70x4
    Not too heavy because my traps were already roasted from today and yesterday's upper body fun. Cleaned the bar, too, because Girl 2 was hogging to the rack doing front squats.

    Speaking of Girl 2, if The Girl is an intimidating hyper-intense bulldozer, Girl 2 is, whatever the opposite of that is. She has almost zero strength (can front squat about 80lbs) and is so slow that even when she missed a snatch today that sent her tumbling head over heels into the back of the platform, she even tuck and rolled slowly, as if some sort of special relativity applies to her. She also reflexively laughs every time she catches the bar successfully, when we all know that the bottom of a snatch is how we all find out about each other's O-faces without actually having to get naked and sweaty, right?


    Even a hottie like Nadezhda Evstyukhina isn't immune to snatch-face-itis.

    She has all the enthusiasm, flexibility, limb ratios, and technique a coach would want though so it'll be a lot of fun to see her get something like 40/60 in the next month or three.
    Last edited by stuffedsuperdud; 03-10-2015 at 02:40 AM. Reason: Talking about Galaxy Trucker with idlehandzZz

  4. #524
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    You've mentioned the below a few times. It's really dawning on me that this is true to some extent, even if I am nowhere near the level of you guys in the gamer aspect, I do enjoy some RPG's, and some of the same dynamics are at play to be sure. Just like I've always liked natural sciences, and playing around with variables (reps, sets, rest, programming, energy intake etc.) and then seeing the different outcomes is a big part of the iron game to me.

    The analytical OCD-tinged personalities are a perfect fit for playing around with barbell programming and supplemental conditioning, I think. For leveling up! We can all do with +2 strength, right?
    I'm unsure what an elf mage would do with +2 strenght, though. Isn't it a dump stat for them?

  5. #525
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    It's a bummer that CG is choosing yoga over the iron. Ah, well. OTOH, I did yoga for a couple of years with Squat Queen, and I sort of got into it. Not that I would stop lifting and return to the mats, but it was a decent way to spend an hour with the wife, followed by scotch and sushi...

  6. #526
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    .
    Last edited by stuffedsuperdud; 03-11-2015 at 12:50 AM. Reason: oops

  7. #527
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    Quote Originally Posted by DV View Post
    You've mentioned the below a few times. It's really dawning on me that this is true to some extent, even if I am nowhere near the level of you guys in the gamer aspect, I do enjoy some RPG's, and some of the same dynamics are at play to be sure. Just like I've always liked natural sciences, and playing around with variables (reps, sets, rest, programming, energy intake etc.) and then seeing the different outcomes is a big part of the iron game to me.

    I'm unsure what an elf mage would do with +2 strenght, though. Isn't it a dump stat for them?
    Idlehands is now obligated to make his elf as jacked as possible and then post session reports in his log. Also, I'm going to a gaming convention in May and the plan is for a few of us to go in some sort of Conan/viking/caveman/Mongol/whatever cosplay and then play as many super-nerdy Eurogames as possible (Imperial, Power Grid, Puerto Rico, Agricola, one of those 18xx games, etc.) while making no mention of our costumes. This miiiight be a way to help put to rest that nerd-meathead divide without going into the "Have you heard of our lord and savior Mark Rippetoe?" thing and to have some fun while we're at it.


    Quote Originally Posted by Oldman View Post
    It's a bummer that CG is choosing yoga over the iron. Ah, well. OTOH, I did yoga for a couple of years with Squat Queen, and I sort of got into it. Not that I would stop lifting and return to the mats, but it was a decent way to spend an hour with the wife, followed by scotch and sushi...
    Heh. It could be worse, right? I had a boss who once said, "Wait, so it's a room full of girls in skimpy clothes and you're somehow not interested?" It motivated me to go to one of those nasty hot yoga places, because hey, gotta go full-retard, right? Turns out, when people say "great workout" what they really mean is "I have heatstroke!" I didn't mind the smell so much as it's not any different from any black iron gym, but it was kind of surreal to have it coming from cute girls, and it occurred to me that even the best of us are just stupid apes, I suppose. Huh. Guess I had a zen moment or something back there without even knowing?

    CG will be back, I think. Since starting to train here about 4 months ago, I've leaned down from about 235lbs to about 220lbs and dropped some pants sizes, all the while setting PRs (in some lifts...heh...can't have it ALL now can we?) and more or less eating whatever I want. My squat is a bit saggy at the moment, but I suspect it'll come back quick as soon as I get back on a TM-ish program, and I doubt it'll take 15lbs of bodyweight to get back to the 400+ club. CG has been taking notice and this is the sort of thing she responds to, so hopefully, when my ripped-to-shreds 185lb body comes in, she'll be back onboard.



    Who woke up comically sore today? This guy. My upper back was completely roasted from all the pulls and overhead work yesterday. Gonna get yoked by summer, right?

    So I did:

    Power clean + jerk 1+3
    40kgx1x2
    50x1
    60x1x2
    70x1x2
    80x1x2

    Power clean + jerk 1+1
    90kgx1

    Clean and jerk
    100x0 pressout
    100x1
    105x1
    110x1 Ties PR

    Coach was amused. Last time I attempted 110, I still had a bad rack and the bar just fell off while the Cuban coach's daughter successfully lifted the same weight at 63kg BW and no testosterone. This time, the right elbow was a bit shaky but overall acceptable. Wooo.

    At the next platform, The Boy was easily snatching his way up to 80kg, his PR. Coach has him try 85 and he nailed it nbd. At 90, he missed it 2x and then got it on the 3rd. 10kg PR? Not bad.

    Coach was like, "Hey you're 1kg away from Stuffy. Want to try 95?" He missed 95 badly and that was it.

    Coach then said, "Hey he did 70kg muscle snatch for three singles yesterday. Can you do it?"

    Dude did 70x1 no problem, and then tried it for a double, missing the 2nd rep. He also tried 75 and missed that too.

    So I guess we're all tied up....

    All this left the coach in a pretty good mood and he let me skip the planned hang snatches. Thank goodness, too, because during snatch warmups, the bar felt really heavy and I couldn't press it at all from the Sotts position.

    Play-around-squats:
    I front squatted yesterday and will probably have to do it again tomorrow, so this was just to keep some blood moving. I did:

    20kgx10
    60x5
    110x5
    125x5, all paused
    with the hot new personal trainer mirin'

    Coach is a PIMP, by the way. A straight up pimp. While I was resting he was doing a bunch of dumbbell exercises "because I need to get big! Look strong, feel strong, be strong!" The owner came over to me and whispered, "Hey iono what's come over him. He's been here for over a year now and this is the first time I've seen him touch a dumbbell."

    Well it turns out, the trainer girl and the small group she was working with were ALL giggling with him as he caught his sick pump, and he was trying to hit on all of them at once. If anyone was going to pull off the five-way, six if his pre-MILF wife is down, it was THIS GUY. Eventually the clients dissipated, but the trainer stuck around and was shamelessly trying to cop some feels. I asked him to train me how to do that, but he just said, "What? I'm not doing anything!"

    Prowler:
    200lb load x 40m x5, low handles there, high handles back
    I tried to keep the rest to 1:00, but allowed myself something like 1:30 between sets 4 and 5. I was also unable to run with it and just sort of fell into it for the whole trip. Kicked my ass.

    I must have been slightly dehydrated or sweated out too much K+/Na+ or something, because when I got back to my apartment, I felt a slight twinge in my groin/hammie as I got out of the car. My cute neighbor was out front getting her mail so of course, being the piece of shit that I am, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to creep on her.

    Well, Jesus must have had other plans because the twinge exploded into a full-on cramp and I was left doubled over in pain. She laughed nervously, made a stupid "Man you're working out too hard!" joke and escaped. I have to be the first human on Earth for whom working out actually reduces significantly his success with women.
    Last edited by stuffedsuperdud; 03-11-2015 at 12:29 AM.

  8. #528
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    Reading your log is like a good spin-off series to MopeilityWOD.

  9. #529
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    Why not yoga and iron? they are not mutually exclusive. I like a nice restorative class on Sundays to recover.

    I love hot yoga. Excuse to be in a room nearly naked with a group of nearly naked women. What's not to enjoy? Certainly helps my posture too.

  10. #530
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by ChasingCurls69 View Post
    Reading your log is like a good spin-off series to MopeilityWOD.
    Heh. Bront Kum over there can snatch 100 and CJ like 130 at maybe 70kg BW; he also squatted like 210 at a USAPL meet. I'm also pretty sure he's much smarter than me, or at least is more insightful regarding our human failings. I am a cheap whiny imitation at best.

    Quote Originally Posted by idlehands View Post
    Why not yoga and iron? they are not mutually exclusive. I like a nice restorative class on Sundays to recover.

    I love hot yoga. Excuse to be in a room nearly naked with a group of nearly naked women. What's not to enjoy? Certainly helps my posture too.
    CG got me a free trial so I might get into it, actually! When I did hot yoga before, several years ago, I wasn't training much and the whole thing felt like a giant waste of time and water, but now that I'm stiff and sore all the time, it might be useful. Klokov says we're all supposed to sit in a steam room 1-2x a week, right?

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