Reply With QuoteSeriously, what in the hell are you talking about?Originally Posted by Justin Shive
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Unique Situation - Pilot's Life
I am in a bit of a unique situation and need some feedback and ideas as I transition some lifts to intermediate programming.
First, I'm 41 years old and have now been through a modified NLP (I'll explain in a minute) and am currently doing a modified Advanced Novice program using the phone app.
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 175 (I started skinny fat around 153)
Squat: 280
Deadlift: 355
Press: 125 (had a should dislocation a decade ago and this has always been my weak lift)
Bench: 176
My situation is unique in that I am a pilot who works a schedule roughly equating to 7 days on, 7 days off. It varies somewhat and I could be home for anywhere from 5 to 14 days straight and gone up to 9 days. It averages to 7 on, 7 off. I know my schedule up to 2 months in advance so I can program plan somewhat...
I never missed a lift day when I was home during my NLP. Interestingly, I had an exercise specific genetic workup done a couple years ago and they found that I genetically recover from heavy lifting (fast twitch) significantly slower than the average male. This explains previous failures of the NLP when I attempted it about a decade ago when I didn't travel. So despite this NLP being punctuated by forced rest periods of usually 5-7 days I made continual progress. I made sure to limit the long rest by lifting the last possible moment before going to work and the first possible moment getting home. But I also ensure a minimum of 48 hours rest and tried to make 72 hours the norm.
A couple months ago I transitioned to the Advanced Novice program which definitely drove further gains by adding that light Squat day. Based on squat bar speed (I video all my sets) I think I will need to transition my squat to intermediate type programming soonish (maybe a couple/few weeks, we will see how things go).
So with the constraints mentioned above I need to figure out what type of programming change I can make with the squat (and other lifts eventually). I was considering a medium, light, heavy day type programming with the heavy day the day before I go to work so I can take advantage of the rest.
Note, because I'm sure someone will ask, I fly no set route so I rarely am able to find a barbell gym I can lift at on the road. Most hotels don't have barbells, but I know which ones do so I can sometimes work a light Squat day or something in on the road, but it's rare.
Appreciate any ideas or thoughts!
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Seriously, what in the hell are you talking about?
✓ Member
wildhealth.com
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Point being that once I placed extra emphasis on extra recovery time, which is apparently needed for me genetically, I made progress without the failures I had a decade ago. Which, looking back, I think was from improperly short recovery times.
TMPHBITEU
What does this have to do with your genetics?
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It drove home the importance of recovery which I had improperly applied, for whatever reason, previously. Certainly wasn't the point of my post though, I'm trying to solve the issue of intermediate programming for lifts around my flight schedule.
✓ Member
Justin, you may want to consider how this company is correlating genetic information with their recommendations. This company's website looks very polished and scientific, but it is worth questioning how their claims would even work. How precisely would one experimentally determine a correlation between genetic markers and rate of recovery from strength training? What kind of studies would be needed? Then consider whether such studies would be likely to be conducted meaningfully, knowing what we know about how poorly conducted most exercise physiology studies are.
I'll add that the facts that this company has blog articles like "The Future of Fitness: A Physician’s Take on Electro-Muscle Stimulation Training", and that they have some affiliation with an expensive supplement company that sells products with names like "Diabenil" and "Phytoprofen", names evocative of actual, established pharma products are not especially confidence-inspiring.
Since you've found empirically that you need higher than average recovery time between training sessions, then a purported genetic analysis isn't where I'd point you first - I'd point you to The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe . The genetic claims are a red herring.
With your professional schedule, the first three questions will be constantly in trouble, but as the saying goes, what are you going to do, not train? You're looking at smaller jumps, more repeated numbers (like the two steps forward, one step back approach, depending on the length of your layoffs), and so on. The 22 pounds of BW you've gained is a great start, but being 175 at 5'7" still isn't doing you any favors, either. The more disruption you have with one or more of the stress and recovery factors, the more you have to lock down the others to minimize the loss.
Dr. Santana and Mr. Jones had a recent episode on their Weights and Plates podcast about advanced programming that might be of help to you, too.
TMPHBITEU
Recovery is important for everybody, regardless of genetics. The genetics-thing sounds like bullshit to my experienced ear.
✓ Member
Yes, recovery is, it just didn't occur to me a decade ago that I personally could not lift every other day and properly recover like I thought I should.
Oh some of the genetics thing likely is BS or too much emphasis can be placed on the theories. The data I got from it I consider theories to be proven or not through empirical data gathered through further personal experience.
The data did finally get me to have the epiphany moment as to what I could be doing wrong... And when I looked back through my training logs from over a decade ago I realized, "hey, maybe I wasn't recovering like I thought I should be", based on how and when I failed, so I decided to test the theory by better managing my recovery time (longer) and being careful when increasing stress on this attempt at the NLP and beyond. It has made a huge difference. It's likely that a coach would have caught this.
Completely agree with the skepticism, whether right or wrong, the data I got helped me figure out what I could be doing wrong and when tested in real life I have empirically proven through failure and success that I require more than average recovery between lift sessions. It never occurred to me previously that I couldn't lift every other day and recover properly. The genetic testing was helpful in that it gave me an idea of what I could be doing wrong. Yes, I could have figured this out with a coach or on my own, just hadn't until now.
When I did the testing two years ago they weren't selling any products, in fact all supplements they recommended were not brand specific and they gained nothing from me buying them or not. I make no recommendation regarding their service now. I just know it finally pointed me in the right direction on a couple things that have turned out to be true.
I will check out that recent episode. There is a Starting Strength Gym Podcast on intermediate programming that Nick D did about a year ago. It is very good, I've listened to it about four times now to catch details that could help.
I am working on my weight, I started skinny fat so I'm working to slowly add weight. I suspect I'll be around 185 by the end of the year.
My deadlift is still progressing nicely with the one session of 5 reps per week, so I think that lift has a bit to go before I need to make a change. Press and bench are still going up fine.
I think I'll be forced to make a change for squat first. My thinking is when I stop being able to add weight to the bar using this advanced novice programming I will make very small changes at a time to keep progress moving. Nick D mentioned potentially only going up on set 1 and then set 2/3 would be 90% drop sets. Keeping the light days in between. So I may try that, but eventually I think Medium, Light, Heavy days for Squat will be what I move to, maybe with a few more tweaks before... Does this make sense? Ideally because of my work and recovery constraints it would seem that I should apply the most stress just prior to the longer recovery period while I'm away at work.
Am I thinking about this correctly?
Member
Wild indeed. Don't give any more money to these people. Figure out your own shit by trying things and making adjustments as you go. You already know yourself better than they do. Spend your money on steaks.
I'm wondering: is there really not a Planet Fitness or YMCA or something that has a gym near every major airport, or at least every city that has an airport? Can't you get one or maybe two global gym memberships that would serve you in at least half of your layovers? This 7 days of no training every other week is a dog that won't hunt.
Also, recovery is about more than just time. There's food for instance. And sleep. And also food.
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