Archive for the ‘BodyBuilding’ Category

Its been two months since I tore my rotator cuff. Each day I get a tiny bit better but boy when I do stretches on this sucker it hurts in a way that simply isnt normal.

Never mind. Today I started using kungfu Dit Da Jow. I did not use it sooner but probably should have. By using Jow, and drinking or eating turmeric I have less pain than if I was using ibuprofen. Ginger too is great. I am also taking cissus quadrangularis. I will try DMSO for the first time in a couple of weeks.

So I pong like jow, have orange shoulders, cant bench press or lift over head.

Apart from that everything is perfectly normal.

Very good news concerning Pine Pollen & Deer Antler

I made a post some time ago extolling the use of these natural extracts. Well it seemed to fall short as while they do indeed contain an awesome profile of anabolic and health enhancing substances, oral absorbtion falls far short of making them useful. Even making tinctures using alcohol seemed to fall short. The alcohol may well extract many of the compounds but they still only pass minimally into the blood stream.

Well fortuitously I tore my rotator cuff. I developed bursitis and in the process of researching joint pain & inflammation cures I came accross good old DMSO.

DMSO is a chemical we have all heard of but many may have forgotten as I did.

DMSO is an organic solvent, largely non-toxic with many pleasant health side effects. Relevant to Pine Pollen and Antler is the fact that it transports chemicals through the skin and into the blood stream. In the case of testosterone the valid research indicates it is close to 100% absorbtion.

So if one uses DMSO instead of alcohol then you have a tincture that is better than medical hormone replacement – problem solved.

Be aware this will definitely lead to testicular shutdown so its up to you to determine a suitable administration protocol.

Also DMSO is a double edged sword. While it is non toxic it will transport any toxin directly into your blood. So if you are sloppy about how you use it death & organ damage are a definite possibility, or cancer down the track.

You must take meticulous care to use only pure compounds that do not contain any contaminants, all storage vessels and application utensils must be preferably glass.

No messing about with this stuff as the physiological effect is exacly the same as injection. FDA has all but banned it and consider why – every cannabis, meth & heroin addict would be poisoning themselves to death if it caught on.

I have never had any shoulder injury or weakness in 32 years of lifting. 3 and a half weeks back I did an 80lb weight vest session. As I put the vest on I kind of dropped it onto my shoulders in an awkward position. I noticed some minor shoulder pain but continued.

The shoulder pain is minor but has persisted for all this time nearly a month now. I knew all along it was rotator cuff when it did not go away after a couple of days. Thus I have been doing the standard things. Rest initially, I did not ICE but should have on the first & second day. Total cessation of overhead & bench press. Many exercises have zero pain such as heavy side holds with KB’s. Isometric press in a doorway. Most isometrics dont hurt. Kettlebell swings dont hurt.

What does hurt is anything overhead or behind my back. I am lucky its a level one tear only. I went to physio on Monday and he tested it out, said I have bursitis and a possible tear but my pain levels and range of motion are good.

I went for xrays and ultrasound today which revealed a small subscapularis tendon tear, bursitis and inflamation.

So I am in for a couple of months of physio – possibly a bit more to get it back to heavy overhead lifting. Certainly two months to normal use.

Lots of isometrics and rotator cuff stuff. Its surprising with this injury – which incedentally I have always feared, it hurts much less than I thought. But I only have a small tear. The ultrasound technician said most of the pain will be from the bursitis and inflamation not the tear.

Honestly it does not hurt much but I am not dumb. This is a potential disaster if the tear gets worse or comes back so I have altered my exercise accordingly.

Not the end of the world, life goes on & training goes on.

Want a simple uncomplicated workout that pushes you to the physiological & psychological brink?

Here I am with my elevation mask & 80lb weight vest.

Just put them on & walk for 40-60 minutes.

Lets face it those good at mid & long distance running are skinny little runts.

If you want to be military, particularly Army you have to be able to run and run fast for long distances. Sadly you can not do this if you are big.

You may be a far better athelete but if your BMI is high you will be a bad runner even if you are not obese but muscular. You simply can not have the best of both or all worlds. Trust me the military has been at it for thousands of years. If they had figured a way to have super muscular troops that can run 10km fast they would not be testing BMI.

There is simply no trade off or workaround. If you want to do well in the military you need to get your BMI down and increase your strength to weight ratio. So for me at 5ft 11in this would mean going down to 80-90kg and getting as strong as possible.

Clearly this is not an athletic ideal but it is a military ideal. Remember the military is an outfit that is training you potentially to die not to win a muscle man contest.

So what can you do if you are young and have instinctive yearnings to be a combat soldier but also want to be a muscle man?

Well what I would do is focus on the military objective because once you are 35-40 you will be past the expiry date anyway. Go hard, have your military career. Then when the time comes retire & change your training & physique.

Now another option is to cut to the chase. Stuff the military, pack on the muscle & become a muscle man – hell you can pay for your own gun & skydiving – right?

Its up to you – just be aware you can not do both at once.

Muscle Man can not run!!!

He can however sprint & can carry heavy loads for long distances. Could muscle man be a better soldier? Maybe but not within the institutionalized military.

Maybe he can be a better operator but not at official special forces. He can certainly be a better police officer, bodyguard, arena combat athlete or street fighter.

Also if you are too big for medium & long distance running accept that as your reality. Dont fight the flow – go with it. Take up sprinting & high intensity training.

Now take a look at these sprinters:

Those are magnificent lean physiques right?

Who the hell would not want to look & feel like that? Well stop trying to do mid & long distance. Do the hit training. Be a sprinter, bodybuilder, power athlete. You can still have a magnificent cardio-vascular system. Whats more this style of training is better for your heart & longevity than skinny man endurance training which actually causes heart muscle damage.

Muscle man is fitter than skinny man even though for certain jobs skinny man is better – including ironically being a modern combat soldier or special forces comando.

If you want to be a comando do not become a bodybuilder or a sprinter. Simple fact easy to understand. BMI may not accurately reflect your athleticism or health but it does reflect your ability to run mid & long distance.

One final point to raise is just why upper body mass seems to be beneficial for sprinters. It is extra weight to carry after all. The answer’s involve biomechanics, peripheral heart action & nerve force irradiation. So be assured that yes a bigger & stronger upper body definitely amplifies sprinting capacity – which is great.

Finally here are some links on sprint training, BMI and VO2max:

Sprint Training

Ideal Running Weight

I got a rebounder some months ago. I always used to enjoy briefly using a rebounder at the gym & I am too heavy for running much at 100+ KG’s.

So a rebounder seemed like a good idea. Many books & sites claim rebounding is as intense calorie wise as running or skipping. Well I can tell you that that is not the case unless you make it so.

I find rebounding much less strenuous than either running or skipping but having said that if you go all out it can indeed get your pulse pumping.

Main benefits: Conditioning of archiles tendons & calves, feet & shins, safe for knees & hips.

The above benefits will greatly improve your injury resistance while running & if you are big like me you just cant run too frequently without injury.

Lymphatic drainage: Yes all forms of exercise will drain your lymph but rebounding certainly seems to be particularly effective.

Cardio: The more you put into it the more you will get out of it.

The big test for kettlebell snatch is the SSST – for males that’s 200 24kg snatches in 10 minutes. RKC also has a test that is 100 in 5 minutes. Women can do the tests with 16kg.

Now those numbers represent a “pass” but some people do it with much more weight.

Snatch is tough on cardio & on the hands. Hence if you want to do well with snatch training then you will benefit from doing a lot of intense running and other similar cardio. If running is too hard on your knees you can row, cycle and jump rope.

Snatching alone won’t get you to top numbers in the snatch due to the hand damage.

So you want to take a two pronged approach as like most kettlebell work this is “strength-endurance”

For strength I recommend the Alpha Snatch program which is designed to take you up to the next level kettlebell in six weeks.
If you can snatch 50 reps in 5 minutes with a 20kg then after this program you will be able to do the same with a 24kg.

You then rest from it and do some other stuff for six weeks and you may repeat aiming for the next level up.

OK Alpha Snatch will take care of your strength approach to the snatch.

For the endurance side of things apart from a cross training approach I also recommend Kenneth Jay’s famous “Viking Warrior” program. Its a great kettlebell snatch endurance & cardiovascular program.

Now Kenneth was clearly full with great enthusiasm for the snatch when he developed this program but has since released “Cardio Code” which explains that snatch while being very good is not the absolute best exercise for cardio.

So this is the general approach to take:

1: Use “Alpha Snatch” to increase your snatch specific strength. Its is only a short workout so you can still do all othe your other regular strength & fitness training with minor adjustments.

2: Use a “Viking Warrior” style regimen to increase cardio & snatch endurance when not doing “Alpha Snatch” – this is done with less weight.

3: Use “Cardio Code” to increase your cardiovascular fitness above and beyond what snatch training alone can do for you.

The end result after 6-12 months will be super performance in the snatch for both strength & endurance.

OK this post will be blunt (no pun)

I grew up in a small town called Kaikohe in the north of New Zealand. A small farming community with a population of around 4000. Not far from one of the most beautiful tourist resorts in New Zealand, the Bay Of Islands.

My town was rough, a town with high unemployment, domestic violence & drug use.

When I was 12 I was abducted off the street & nearly murdered by a paedophile. My family busted up a year later after years of turmoil & domestic violence. Not perpetrated by my father I might add.

So around the age of 14 I began to drink regularly & heavily. I would drink until paralytic at least once a week & pop packets of painkillers. I was having nightmares every night & in a great deal of emotional pain.

I made friends with some oddball bad characters. One was an old irishman who used to give me and all my mates free grog.

Essentially I became a part time street kid at 14. All my older siblings left after my parents divorce & I was left with my younger sister and abusive mother. It was sheer hell. At around 15 after a year of serious drinking I added cannabis to the mix and began hanging out with a bunch of hard core dope smokers.

These guys were 10 years my senior. They were my best mates. Made me feel safe & we had a lot of fun.

One of them was a convicted rapist. He and 3 others had raped a woman in a car. He used to tell us all about it, how he ripped her pubic hair out, punched her repeatedly in the vagina while they held her down etc. He did time for that. He was as mad as a shit and it paid not to piss him off.

Another one was a nice guy, very shy & soft spoken. But he had schizophrenia and when he had a psychotic break he would become violent and try to stab people. One time his parents left him to look after the house while on holiday. He burned the family home to the ground.

Another had been inside and had “Hang Loose” tattooed across his forehead and chin. A friendly nice guy who enjoyed having punch ups while drunk.

So there were a bunch of these guys, heavies & dope growers that became my best friends when I was 15 years old. Trust me I was every bit as bitter & crazy as them at the time.

At this stage I became in love both with a girl that I couldn’t get & with a drug that I could get.

I was given an ounce of weed per day to smoke – that’s a very large amount of Cannabis – about the same as a tobacco pouch.

Some time it was just leaf, often head – often extremely potent weed.

At first I was obsessed with Cannabis. I loved it. I would smoke my ounce, get pissed on whiskey and tequila, my mates & I would go to parties, beat people up etc.

All my mates were doing the same. This was our world.

Once they robbed the liquor store and we had free flagons of gin & rum for weeks.

I was totally stoned & drunk for an entire year.

I smoked more Cannabis at the time than any of them & I was only 15. Marlies, Pipes, Numbers, Doobies.

I became insane.

After 2 months of smoking I needed more and more to get high. What once took a joint now took a bag.

I was on a roller coaster. I would awake in the morning deeply depressed, often cry, I was so lonely with all my great friends, no family.

My memory was gone, hell after a few months I didn’t know the month or the season – all I know was there was a session tonight, and a party.

But it wasn’t fun anymore. I had loud tinnitus 24/7. I also had kind of visual tinnitus – blobs of psychedelic aura’s floating around before my eyes 24/7. My eyes were extremely light sensitive.

My weight dropped to 6 stone. That’s about 80lbs & I used to wear 4 shirts & jeans all the time to hide my skeletal appearance.

I also used to hallucinate. The voices, yep I dont wanna talk about that but Cannabis does cause hallucinations when you smoke enough and combine it with alcohol & painkillers.

About the voices I can tell you this. I had real loud tinnitus & real loud voices in my head for a very long time. I knew if I told the doctor or anybody I would be off to the nut bin. So I told nobody – that was my little secret.

Essentially after living like this for a year I was near the end. Either death, the nut bin or go straight were my only options.

I decided to go straight.

Well at first I ditched my friends which was very difficult. I went back to school and after a year I actually passed university entrance. I doubled my body weight in the first six months.

I think I probably doubled my IQ in this time also.

It was extremely, extremely difficult. Like a paraplegic learning to walk again.

But I was still topping up in the piss & drugs once a month I would get totally smashed which kept me from withdrawal.

Finally after this tough but amazing year of recovery – with zero intervention or support – it was time to go totally clean forever.

I did it in an isolated shack on a farm out in the sticks. The old booze doesn’t like to let go of a man. It makes you pay a price, same for the codeine & opiate pain killers and of course the THC.

I had a psychotic break big time.

I kept it secret from everybody but it was pretty obvious things had been up for some time.

I gave up Nicotine, caffeine, codeine, cannabis & alcohol all at once so I guess it was to be expected.

I can tell you that I was not rational, I was paranoid & obsessed with a crazy notion which I totally believed in. Like a huge conspiracy that I rationalized. You dont need to know the details because none of them were real.

After two months of drug and alcohol withdrawal, extreme rage, anxiety and stress, I came to an epiphany.

I had actually been insane for two months. It was all wrong – a delusion caused by the drug dependency wearing off & my neurotransmitters returning to a normal balance.

Quite a profound personal experience but that was the turning point & in the months that followed I remained abstinent and eventually by the age of 19 I was fine.

So that’s what Cannabis did for me. Everybody that I smoked it with was mad.

Many of them went on to become some of the worst drug dealers in New Zealand. Some died violently.

Most are still mates with rapists and convicts. They are scum still & I am not.

If you choose to smoke cannabis I am better than you.

I and those like me are better human beings. As I did these things as a child my respect for adult drug users & proponents is zero.

Your word is worthless. Your opinion meaningless.

Isometrics should not be revisited – Its should be done everyday.

Way back at the age of 16 I was actually anorexic at six stone & close to my current height of 5ft 11in. I had a bad drug & booze problem so when I cleaned my act up I took up bodybuilding.

My first ever course was – You guessed it “Charles Atlas” Dynamic tension isometrics. I followed that up with the Dan Lurie course & barbells but kept up with the isometrics.

Well it’s not hard to double in body weight when you are that skinny & that is exactly what I did from six to twelve stone in six months.

Those were tough times for me but by the time I was 19 my head was straight & I was on the right path in life.

However at some point I ditched the Isometrics. Bummer.

It’s a bummer because Isometrics are just as important as Isotonics and back in the sixties they were probably considered more important.

You see the initial research revealed a 5% weekly gain in strength from isometric exercise. That’s compounding so just google up a compounding interest calculator & you can see what it will do for you.

Say for me one arm pressing my 70lb kettlebell – I should be able to press 114lb after a ten week cycle.

Heres a good calculator http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/compound_interest_calculator.htm

Now that’s respectable but if I do another ten week cycle & get the same progress it calculates to 185lbs and that is phenomenal.

A 5% compounding weekly gain is the absolute max you could wish for but even 2% per week non compounding is a decent gain over 10 weeks. I’m sure that if you have never trained isometrics or have not done so seriously in a long time, and you put super effort into it, you will get the top results on your first cycle.

Isometrics are best done daily – every day of the week. Keep them within the hormonal window 40 – 90 minutes.

Now you wont continue to get a 5% increase for eternity. You can expect that for 6-10 weeks only.

You need to use periodization with your isometrics. Should you just do isometrics on a 2 months on 2 months off cycle? Or can you cycle static & dynamic isometrics?

The static isometric cycle would be low duration high intensity – dynamic long duration lower intensity, I am referring to the actual isometric contractions.

The static isometric cycle would coincide with a strength or power focussed isotonic cycle.

In this way you should be able to do isometric training every day of the year. Isometrics also compliments & accelerates flexibility – just study the Thomas Kurz material for full programs.

Your dynamic isometrics can include Harry Wang’s Dynamic Strength style training & Sanchin, even bodybuilding posing routines. You would do this stuff while cutting and doing more muscular endurance type isotonics.

So it seems to be a two month cycle can be introduced give or take.

During those dynamic periods cardiovascular and muscular endurance can be enhanced and fat can be burned off. During the static phase massive strength gains can be made.

I’m going to give it a serious shot.