Blarg's Training

[Blarg]

I think I may have figured out why I had that day that I felt totally exhausted and could barely stay awake even after a full day's sleep, even though I wasn't sick at all. It ties into what I just wrote in Scott Styles' workout thread in a discussion about setting PR's after feeling really weak. Wanna and I noted that happened to both of us, and Scott said it never did to him, and he wondered why.

I have a hyothesis why.  I think it's a neural thing.  Your CNS taking the brakes off muscle inhibition after being shocked by an especially hard work-out.

I remember the first time I started doing aggressive negs on the #2, after doing smooth-out negs only, when I was still finding it extremely hard to move the #2 even in the sweep.  I felt like the #2 really showed me who was boss that night, and the next morning I felt really weak.  But, that next day I closed the #2 MUCH further than before, like half an inch further, and got much better on the #1, which was my goal gripper at the time and which I had never closed.  That single night's work seemed to inexplicably make my strength take a huge leap. 

This has seemed to be repeated with me.  It happened just recently when I was doing aggressive negs on the #3, which I really had no business doing, as I couldn'tt even reliably close the #1, though my performance on the #2 had much improved..  Ater a really brutal work-out that left me feeling very weak the next day, I set my new PR of getting the #2 down to 1/8 of an inch, when before half an inch was a very good day for me.

Again, I think it's that shock to the nervous system that tells it, "You HAVE TO perform!  Or this dude is going to DESTROY YOU!"

I don't know that it can be sparked by endurance events, no matter how hard.  But my holds haven't had that effect at all.  Just the super-maximum absolutely crazed aggressive negatives on a gripper way above my ability.  Maybe it's all about triggering the CNS and tricking it to give the okay and cancel the usual level of protective muscle inhibition.

It's already making me think of getting a gripper harder than a #3 when I change my goal from dominating the #1 to closing the #2.  Maybe it's not as necessary with a gripper as hard as a #3, but I want to find out.  I'm going to keep up investigating this notion of truly shocking the hell out of the CNS with efforts well beyond what I'll be capable of for a long time, and see how it turns out.  Even though I'm concentrating on dominating the #1 now, I'm still going to blast my hands with gut-busting attempts to do whatever I can on the #3.  If I'm correct about this, and I keep working hard while avoiding injury and eating and resting right, etc., I should continue to make much quicker gains than I would by training more moderately.

By the way, I think this is in line with the essence of what seems to me to be one of the key KTA ideas -- that you won't get strong quickly by doing what you're capable of until you do it better and better, but by fighting like hell to do stuff that's way beyond what you're capable of.  For KTA, that means training on a gripper that's a level above the one you want to close, but I think the principle can be extended to going nuts on a gripper that's even harder than that.  Working at least part some part of your work-out, some number of times per week, on a gripper you have no business even coming near.

It seems somewhat self-regulating to try, too.  It's one thing to try to recover from aggressive negs on a #2 if your goal is a #1, but messing around with a #3 means much more trauma and probably the weak hands the next day, and probably a need for greater recovery time.  I know I haven't been able to play with the #3 two days running, and haven't wanted to.

I had been doing heavy deadlifts and also gripwork way beyond my ability. You can read the post above this where I was posting about weird vascularity popping out; I was really pushing myself hard on multiple body parts(the deadlift does that all by itself) multiple times per week. I think that huge CNS stimulation from the deadlifts plus from the overkill on the grippers did it. In fact, on one of the days where I recently made a big leap and a new PR, I had started the day weak as a kitten, the weakest I ever felt in grip, and then after deadlifting(big CNS stim), my hands were strong and I made the PR. I think I was unlocking the CNS's protective inhibition by really hard work, but too much and too often. So it caught up to me.

What's that mean to my grip work? Getting the CNS primed by doing deads or other work that massively stims the CNS(like squats) will likely make me much stronger in gripwork either that same day or the next. That doing so may leave me feeling weak the next day, but that training can still reveal that I'm actually well above my normal strength that day. And finally, that while stimulating the CNS this way can lead to great gains, it can also lead to a crash sooner or later. Not a long-lasting one, but a useless, exhausted day like the one I just recently had. The CNS seems to have its limits, and can only be trifled with so much.

But, the interesting thing is that it can be trifled with so much in the first place, and that I think I've found out how. And perhaps I've also received a warning not to have too many successive hyper-intense work-outs unless I want to pay a price in a day of exhaustion that seems to have come from out of nowhere for no reason. This seems to be self-regulating if you're stimulating the CNS with exercises for the same body parts, because you'll be too sore to repeat things too quickly. But with two different body parts, you may not realize just how far you've pushed your CNS until you get a sudden surprise.

Anyway, that's what's passed through my mind regarding these curious things I've experienced lately. It seems to tie curious events together in a coherent, sensible way.

[pdoire]

Maximum effort as much as humanly possibly..staying just this side of injury always triggers gains...first CNS adaptation followed by strength gains from muscle growth and ligament and tendon strengthening.

KTA says you are going for the 3 and can close the 2..then use the 4 for negs. It is that same strategy that applies...maximum all out effort.

There are those that say well you are not strong enough..just try the Elite...poppycock!!

When I was doing KTA to close the 3...I had my ISG set at 375 lbs pressure for negs...and I used a 4 occasionally.

I believe the enormous shock and the bodies ability to keep trying to catch up is what brings the great gains that we all hear about.

Great training to maximum intensity..brings great gains!

Edited August 10, 2005 by pdoire

[Blarg]

One armed push-ups: 7 sets of 5 reps each arm, felt very strong

One legged squatss: 7 sets of 5 reps each leg; felt weak

Grip work: a few warm-ups on the Trainer and #1 that felt very weak. Then extensive crush attempts on the #3 with it braced against my leg, for both hands, then two sets of 3 reps of aggressive negatives with it each hand. Then a few aggressive negatives, squeezes, and holds on first the #2, then #1, and finally 2 rapid sets, cheated when necessary, of 10 on the #1 and 2 rapid sets of 12 on the trainer. All the right veins were popped out on my wrist, so I done good.

Finally three sets of simply opening my palms and fingers as wide as possible to work the extensors almost to exhaustion. Happened sooner than I thought, and was suprrisingly hard.

Finally, a couple of light sets of military presses with my kettlebell and four sets of tricep extensions with it. As always, my reps are at 5 per set, and I just increase the sets if my energy is fine.

[Blarg]

Yesterday -- complete rest day

Today -- complete rest except for grippers

Grippers: damn I felt so weak. Everything was extra hard. Did some warm-ups on the trainer and #1, and then many close attempts on the #2 and #3, and a bunch of aggressive negs. Often my strength seems to ramp up and I'm strong by the end of a session, but not this time. Ended with some squeezes on the trainer just to get some blood flushing in. All in all, still a work-out, but shorter than usual and feeling weak throughout. Bah.

Oh well, thighs still sore from squats the other day, so I know I'm still putting out the work. Those one-arm push-ups are leaving my shoulder stiff as hell, but it's not sore anymore. Lower back is super-stiff, too, mostly from deads. The squats get it a bit, but it's the deads that really do it. Still, sore or not, it's deads tomorrow.

[Blarg]

Pissed off at feeling so damn weak, so added lots of reps on the trainer and some more on the #1, bringing in a bit of the "volume school of thought". Heck, if I can't do well on the hard, I'll do well on the soft.

I felt some "ouch" twinges in the tendons on the inside of my palms that did NOT feel right. Hands feeling good and sore now. A sort of justice was done.

[BigT]

Pissed off at feeling so damn weak, so added lots of reps on the trainer and some more on the #1, bringing in a bit of the "volume school of thought".  Heck, if I can't do well on the hard, I'll do well on the soft. 

I felt some "ouch" twinges in the tendons on the inside of my palms that did NOT feel right.  Hands feeling good and sore now.  A sort of justice was done.

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get some good rest and then let me hear them gripper handles grind buddy

[Blarg]

Workin' on it!

Feeling like crap lately, for an odd collection of reasons. First and foremost is my lower back has felt incredibly stiff and very sore, and laying off deadlifts isn't helping; in fact it's feeling worse every day. It even hurts when I sit around doing nothing, and takes the wind out of my sails a bit in general. Heh, what can I say, back pain makes ya not want to even move. Kinda makes ya feel like an old man too. Another thing getting me down is the last few work-outs I've felt weak, and I've felt kind of tired and listless throughout the last few days, too. And my soreness in my back and hands has made me reluctant to work out, which is a great mood elevator for me. And then I go all critical on my ass for being a wuss. But the truth is, I want to work out; I'm just kind of scared of injury and that maybe I really hurt my back more seriously than I know with those deadlifts.

But for the first time in ages, I took 3 aspirin, and wow, it really made me feel better! Usually aspirin has almost no effect on me too. So I got up and did a work-out. But no deadlifts! Not for a while. One-legged squats will take their place until I stop feeling pain in my low back.

One-armed push-ups: 7 sets of 5

One-legged squats: 7 sets of 5

This weird squat where I grab the edge of a door and lean way back, then kinda kneebend down so my ass is close to the ground and come up that way, body leaning way way back, but not falling over because one hand is on the doorframe: 2 sets of 8.

Nice thing about today's work-out that was really welcome for me psychologically: I felt strong! What a relief! Coming into work-outs feeling weak is a real drag, especially if it doesn't go away, and I was really happy to get out of that rut.

I think I'm losing flexibility in my shoulders from those OAP's. I have to work more stretching into my routine.

That high-volume business in my last gripper work-out really hit my right hand hard, so I won't do anything with my right hand for grippers today, and will just do some light work on the trainer with my left hand. Blasting my hands really hard like I am doing lately is definitely something I feel I'm riding a bit of a dangerous edge with, so I have to be careful. I think if I trained less hard I could train every day with more confidence of not being injured. But I'm making progress, and my goal is just building up a foundation, so I guess I shouldn't sweat it too much. I wanted to skip KTA until I built up a base to go at it with, so I should be happy doing just that. If I wanted to beat the living crap out of my hands even more than I'm doing, I would have just jumped into KTA in the first place.

But, there's time for that.

It seems so many of my work-outs have a big psychological component. Oh well, I guess that's good because it means at least I give a damn.

[Blarg]

Warm ups on the trainer and #1, again disappointed to again feel weak. Some squeezes on the #3, but felt so weak I did most of my hard work on the #2 today. Finished off by doing about 80 on the trainer with either hand. Definitely got the blood pumping and the lactic acid paying a visit.

Then I used the stretchbands to do some wrist curls. Did three sets of 8 on the 50 lb. band and 2 sets of 5 on the 75 lb. band. Then did some front leveraging work, 2 sets of 8 on the 50 and 2 on the 75.

Went back to the #2 and found myself strong on it! That prompted me to do another 30 on the trainer with each hand. That goofy round circle that looks like a vein or something popping up on the outside of my right forearm in high relief. I suppose it's a good thing, but frankly it looks alarming. Fingers a little sore, forearms feel good and tight. Funny, gripping work seems to plump the forearms almost all the way up to the wrist, including a long area that normally seems to have no muscle at all, only tendons leading to the hands. I should get measuring tape sometime for a lark to see what the size difference is before and after working out, because that part especially looks like it belongs to someone else's body after a good work-out, not mine.

It's funny, my grip is always so much stronger after warmed up, and typically notably stronger after working out other bigger body parts. Maybe I should be looking to take advantage of that more and scheduling grip work right after regular work-outs.

[BigT]

Warm ups on the trainer and #1, again disappointed to again feel weak.  Some squeezes on the #3, but felt so weak I did most of my hard work on the #2 today.  Finished off by doing about 80 on the trainer with either hand.  Definitely got the blood pumping and the lactic acid paying a visit.

Then I used the stretchbands to do some wrist curls.  Did three sets of 8 on the 50 lb. band and 2 sets of 5 on the 75 lb. band.  Then did some front leveraging work, 2 sets of 8 on the 50 and 2 on the 75.

Went back to the #2 and found myself strong on it!  That prompted me to do another 30 on the trainer with each hand.  That goofy round circle that looks like a vein or something popping up on the outside of my right forearm in high relief.  I suppose it's a good thing, but frankly it looks alarming.  Fingers a little sore, forearms feel good and tight.  Funny, gripping work seems to plump the forearms almost all the way up to the wrist, including a long area that normally seems to have no muscle at all, only tendons leading to the hands.  I should get measuring tape sometime for a lark to see what the size difference is before and after working out, because that part especially looks like it belongs to someone else's body after a good work-out, not mine.

It's funny, my grip is always so much stronger after warmed up, and typically notably stronger after working out other bigger body parts.  Maybe I should be looking to take advantage of that more and scheduling grip work right after regular work-outs.

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keep going...that #2 knows your coming

[pdoire]

It's funny, my grip is always so much stronger after warmed up, and typically notably stronger after working out other bigger body parts.  Maybe I should be looking to take advantage of that more and scheduling grip work right after regular work-outs.

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I always found this to be the case for me also.

[Blarg]

Reverse curls, regular curls, hammer curls, with the stretch bands.

Wrist curls, formulator type reverse curls, and front lever with the bands.

Trainer x3 each hand, #1 x 3, #2 x 6 attempts, then #2 for heavy negatives 2x3, #3 x3 squeezes and then #3 for 2 x 3 heavy negatives, #2 for 2x3, #1 x 3, and 5x10 on the trainer each hand.

[Blarg]

Pistols 7 sets of 5

One armed push-ups 6 sets of 5

Doorway lean-back squats -- 4 sets of five

My left leg is really a lot weaker than my right leg. The difference is starting to be visually really noticeable, too.

Someone's comment in another thread about doing negatives in regular weight-lifting made me think I should try to incorporate some of those into my pistol routine for my left leg.

Pistols feel totally different for my left foot. I'm also less flexible with my left side -- very hard to keep my heel on the ground without practically rolling backward. I feel like I'm getting some confidence and strength back in my right leg at last, and like I'm stepping out of what I'd consider mere "rehab" and more into the arena of building some real strength and size. But my left leg feels miserably far behind in that regard. I've gotta fix the discrepancy somehow, but I'm not willing to let my right leg idle, to do it. I'll have to figure out how to get some more strength and smoothness into my left leg's pistol groove. Too late today, but next time, I'll try some negatives from different heights. Maybe they'll promote more hypertrophy, more strength, or both. Anything is fine. This is starting to feel silly.

Still have that weird hernia like feeling in my upper right side, under the ribs, that I got about a week ago. It hurts to do a sit-up, or cough, or do anything that builds up pressure in my abdomen. Also, to bring my right arm back, as in doing a row. I dont' know what's wrong, but I'm hoping it eases up. It has maybe just a hair from last week, but not very much at all, even though I've been resting out of fear of it. We'll see, I guess. I was a little scared to try the work-out today, or any grip work-outs, because of the indirect strain they cause by tensing the abdomen, even if there was no direct effect. I managed fine, but am not sure when I'll do my next gripper work-out. I tend to tense my whole body really hard when I do those, and don't want to make things worse, especially if it really is some kind of weird upper thoracic hernia and not just some pulled intercostals or something.

[Blarg]

Lots of gripper work, extensor bands, and 3 sets of wrist curls to finish up.

[Blarg]

Yesterday:

Pistols 8 sets of 5

OAPU's 7 sets of 5

That weird hernia like thing felt like it was almost gone yesterday! I was sooooo happy, and I was able to work out more easily. It's been holding me back because I was afraid something nasty(ier) would happen.

Then after sleeping, I woke up and it was back again. (sigh)

Ordered an adjustable kettlebell from USKettlebells.com, in a package deal with two of Steve Kotter's DVD's, Full KOntact Kettlebells 1 & 2. They're martially-oriented kettlebell exercises, and his site has a few of them shown -- they look very cool. Really looking forward to them. Also, to the kettlebell. It can be adjusted from 35 to 70.5 pounds, which is great because I only have one KB now, and it's a 16 kg. I need something heavier.

I'm also thinking of trying to see if I can do something like pinch grips on it somehow.