Fitness and Nutrition VIII

I think you were just stressed.

Take it when you've been calm and relaxed for a while. The 120/80 is probably closer to your normal.

 

There's no better traps builder than good ol' conventional deads.

 

Shrugs would like a word with you

Farmers too

 

@Mrb1p would you take test by itself or in combination with arimidex, clomid, hcg, etc?

What about the lateral pulldown?

 

I have no idea what I would take, but I wouldnt go for anything crazy. Id have to be more informed.

Lat pulldowns are obviously a good overall hypertrophy tool for the back but theres nothing like straight shrugging for the depth of muscle IMO.

 

Ive skipped legs for like two times in two weeks (2/4 sessions) and god going back to full volume is absolutely killing me. Its crazy how fast de-training hits me.

 

Do you guys do cold baths?

I actually always take cold baths during heat waves, helps a lot for récupération and also makes you forget it's hot out there for the next hour and half after the bath.

I took one this winter after jiu-jitsu, bad idea to do it with cold water coming out of the frozen ground, couldn't do anything for the next hour.

 

I don't have a bath but I do cold showers just because my ass is boiling all the time

 

I take cold showers. I don't feel good about wasting all of that water.

 

Do cold showers really help though?

 

To cool down? For sure. But otherwise I doubt it, and Im not sure its really scientifically proven that cold bath help either

 

Isn’t hot and cold together needed to be therapeutic? Like the Finns who love to alternate cold showers and saunas, I think that’s been proven to be beneficial.

 

I know that when I go at my father's place and I do cold pool and then hot spa, it feels really great.

I can tell that I took cold baths after going back to squatting and I wasn't soar at all.

 

I went to a naturopathic doctor a few years ago; she recommended ending a shower with a few seconds of cold water. The hot-cold thing. She was extremely good-looking so I assumed she was onto something.

 

I wonder if her genes played a role in her good looks.

 

Solid reasoning.

On a separate note:
Thoughts on sports massages to help alleviate hamstring issues? Got a half marathon coming up and it's bothersome to run on a tight hamstring.

 

For massage, use a foam roller.

But personally, I find stretching is best - I mean min 30 mins everyday good stretch - for tight hammies.

 

It only occurs to me afterwards that my sarcasm isn't always clear in writing.

 

You wouldn't be the first man to be "persuaded" to do something by an "extremely good looking"woman.

 

I knew that you were joking, I was just goofing off.

 

Helen of Troy comes to mind.

 

@Mrb1p

Thought you might be the guy to ask.

I've recently started taking my weight training more seriously than ever before. But I've only been doing core and upper body. I've put on more than 10 pounds of muscle in a pretty quick time frame, so I've had to obviously add legs.

I've got about an hour a day to spare.

What is my best work rest split. How many days off should I take. I've been doing upper body every other day and like I said I've had great results but I'm frustrated with the addition of leg day i maybe can't do upper every other day?

Any advice appreciated

 

@HBDay

Well that would depend on a lot of things. Mainly, what are your goals ? General health? Strength ? General good looks ? Getting better at lifting or what ever ?

You have a few alternatives really and it's really a case by case situation.

Mainly you'll want to choose between centering your training around
A) Movements (Squat, bench, dead, OHP, Clean, Jerk, Snatch, etc. (Generally used in lifting sports or to get stronger, but still great IMO for general health, muscle building.)
B) A body part. (Typical bro-split that encourages muscle growth at the expense of the rest.)
C) A push/pull/legs day
D) A crossfit style training where you train movements and incorporate cardiovascular training and what not.

Personally, I'm a big advocate of A. Training movements and getting better (Not only stronger, but better technically.) yields, IMO, the best results of all. Why ? Basically better neuromusclar pathways, better technique, stronger body, and barbell training is IMO the best muscle builder. Also, getting stronger on a movement gives you something to look up to, instead of just looking at the mirror and chasing the pump, chasing that big PR is always motivating, at least, to me. It can be hard to motivate yourself at the same time, because when you chase PR's, you're mostly training harder than when you chase that dere pump.

If this isn't what you're looking at and what you care about is just looking good (Again, IMO, the better choice is still A), but you can have adequate results with bro splits or push/pull training too.

So you either organize your days as
Monday tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundaY
A) Squats Bench Off Deadlift Bench Off/Squat Off
B) Legs Pec/Tri Back Shoulder Off
C) Push pull Off Leg Push Off Off
D) Xfit off Xfit off Xfit Off Off

when you've chosen what you'd rather do, we can talk exercises, MRV, Rest days, etc.

If you want the simplest approach, push/pull/leg is probably the one to go with, its also the easiest to navigate as it requires only 3 days and its simple to understand.

 

On another note, Im stagnating in squat and Bench but Ive never felt so strong on my deadlift. I think I benefit from reduced volume for deadlifts but my bench and squat suffer. Im so slow out of the hole on squats. Even at 225 my speed out of the hole is painfully slow. I can still hit double that weight or so, but god Ill need to work on that really hard.

 

Intermittent fasting what you think?