Larry's Ramblings: Learn from each other

During a recent session in the gym and through a couple of conversations on Twitter, I posed a question to my friend Greg. Now I consider Greg one of the more astute observers of bodybuilding. He enjoys the sport while not being a competitor. Greg is also a semi-retired powerlifter. I posed the quandary of,

"With the advent of Mountain Dog Training and raw lifting becoming more and more popular and guys on the platform looking more and more like bodybuilders or just Hoss in general, is the line between bodybuilding and powerlifting blurred."

His answer is one that got me to thinking. Both sides have been guilty of going to extremes and putting people in a box. Training wise and diet wise. Now while I will say both have their own set of nuances that make them unique, there is more in common and in myself and Greg's opinions (as fans of both sports) there is a tremendous crossover there that is being missed by both sides.

What has powerlifting learned from bodybuilding

Here is something to think about. Raw lifting is coming on strong. Lets just cut the bullshit and admit it. It's going to take up a large part of powerlifting now and with raw lifting your muscles are your suit. It's what protects you. So what is happening? Guys are putting more hypertrophy based training in with their "power" training and becoming more muscular. And guess what? People are kicking ass. Brandon Lilly, Dan Green, Eric and Ernie Lillibridge are examples of what extra muscle can do for lifts. And none of these guys are fat. especially green.

What are powerlifters learning from bodybuilders? How important it is to have some variety so you aren't beat to shit. Yes, the main lifts are important and you do have to do them, but theres nothing with doing variations of lifts to get the desired effect, a bigger total.

Lots of lifters are doing sets of 10 and 20 plus. Brandon Lilly posted a video of him not to long ago handling 405 for 20. On of his trainees just hit a squat at 25 plus pounds above her bodyweight for 30 reps. When you do things like that, you aren't fat. I myself have used FST-7 when I want to get a bit more blood in the muscle. I've also used it as an active recovery tool.

For years lifters have been eating ho-ho's and other bullshit in an effort to get bigger for competing. Lo and behold that approach came with a myriad of health problems down the line. So what are lifters doing now? They are eating pretty big whole food meals and cutting down on their intake of crap. Nutritional ratios are not as strict as bodybuilding, but some structure is there now

Why bodybuilding is a bit behind in the learning curve

Now what can bodybuilders learn from powerlifters. For one, theres an opportunity to learn how to periodize your training. Why cant you have a block of time where you throw in power cleans or speed squats? Will that hurt you if NEVER TRIED IT? No one is asking you to have a high level of ability with the shit, but it never hurts to try.

I also think that most bodybuilders have missed the boat in trying lower rep ranges with a higher load but for more sets. Whats wrong with doing 80% of your one rep max for sets of 3 or 5? Is there a rule that says there won't be any growth from that. We all know that 8-12 reps seems to work best sometimes, but put some weight on the bar and do those low rep sets. Everywhere I go, I keep hearing "I don't train heavy. This is bodybuilding, not powerlifting."

That may be true, but most who train like shit in the gym, look like shit on stage.

Do some heavy pulling, and quit bouncing your rack pulls and deadlifts. Put a pause on it. Pull it from a dead stop. Thats how it's supposed to be done and if you load up the bar with a bunch of weight and it's at knee level, then you really should just drop the weight, quit being a pansy and pull from the floor for reps. Because you're getting nothing out of your "rack bounces"

I look at guys like Antoine Valliant and see the crossover. Besides Johnny Jackson (who I think is just a dead lift specialist) Valliant is paving the way for a guy who can get onstage and on a platform. He squats, benches and deadlifts. Uses bands and chains and has a killer physique that recently won him a pro card. So don't give me the line that you cant do this or that. If you're not injured, then learn how to warm up and pre-habilitate so you can do the things others aren't doing.

Closing.

For years its been this dumb ass divide and people have profited off of it. Magazines have, supplement companies have and even to a point some coaches who will not have their clients do basic exercises and instead have them perform mostly machine training. Don't be stupid. Weed through the bull.

I have to hand it to guys like John Meadows who is bridging the gap between powerlfiting and bodybuilding. Just because we have different goals, doesn't mean we can't drink from the same water fountain.

So stop being elitest.

Bodybuilding Journalism

Bodybuilding Journalism

First off, I love the sport of bodybuilding. I think it’s a great endeavor that anyone can get in and it’s for sure had a positive effect on my life. 

THAT BEING SAID……

Some who write for other sites and try to discredit one of the sports top professionals is kind of ridiculous in my opinion. I get that bodybuilding is a gossipy industry (thats another blog post all together) but to write a whole article based on assumption of an individual you only see on a limited basis is the very thing thing we need to avoid in the business.

If people like it or not, once you put words to paper (or screen) and it get puts out there, you become a journalist even if you didn’t have formal training for it, so all of us in the industry need to act accordingly.

1: No heresy  if you get a tip, follow up as best you can. If the tip doesn’t pan out or said pro or guru is tight lipped, then you really can’t break it as breaking news. And no anonymous  sources. Don’t even come to me with “ol boy heard this” or “Ol boy heard that”. I don’t get a name, I aint reporting it.

2: It ain’t about you, even in an editorial: I’m guilty of this but after I wrote one piece where I made it about me, I realized that it should’ve been more about the competitors. Seriously  it makes you look like a dick. 

3: Quit assuming what people do: We don’t know a persons mindset and what makes us qualified to do so?

4: Don’t assume, I cant say this enough.

The piece I read was sensationalism. Unless your’e a beat reporter, and with a person everyday and tracking their every move, then stay away from the sensationalistic and accusing pieces. 

Musings of a late night gym rat/insomniac

Training:

It's going decent. Not bad for what will be an extended offseason. I knew going into the semester with me being on academic probation (more on that snafu), training was number two on my importance list. I only did what I needed or was able to do some days. Amazingly I kept up with it and even hit some pr's.

Squat:

I's using the Juggernaut Method to get some size on and to get some reps in. Right now I'm in the 8's wave and about to enter the second week of it. Not sure what my training max is, but it's very conservative. I'd say about mid 300's. I'm getting better at staying tight and using my hamstrings and glutes and not my lower back to squat with.

Bench:

I've been hitting a lot of incline presses and they've been paying off. Recently hit 315 for a few reps and that was good and I believe that was also a PR. I'm not sure. Rotating between incline DB, incline press and flat press. I used it during the summer and it went well. Hell, just this past Wednesday I hit a pr on incline db with 110 lb dumbbells for 15 reps, so i must be doing something right.

Deadlift:

I usually love to pull.........for low reps, but now I'm doing sets of 5+ so my love affair with them is kind of closing up. Tough to pull for reps, but the shit puts muscle on. I've been doing double overhand strap deads, trap bar deads and now I'm trying to decide if I want my third exercise in the rotation should be sumo deads or deficit deads. I want to make it similar to my bench workouts in that I have my main movements and I rotate them, then follow up with assistance work.

Life:

I consider life is school right now. For those of you that don't know, this past Spring at UNL, I failed every class except for one, which was my reporting class, and I was left with a 1.3 GPA. Why? No idea........I fucked up like G-Money did in New Jack City. Is it important now? No. God's way of helping people is to give them a support system which they can draw strength from and be given advice straight, with no chaser after. And thats what i have. Now some of you may pass judgement and roll and your eyes and say "Oh, he should be doing well, he's older and blah, blah, blah", but I say this to you..............I don't really give two narrow shits what you think. I made my mistake, owned up to it, and made the corrections I need. Two more finals that I will pass and i'm off this shit and can move towards something that I havent done since elementary school. Make the honor roll. I'm better than what I have been doing and now it's time to turn shit up a notch.

I have no explanation for my academic performance other than I was just lazy.

Moving Forward:

I'm glad the semester is coming to a close as a lot of stress will be off me until school starts back up. I'm  glad I can catch up with some friends, some good food, and some good Chicago living. I love my city for all it's faults, but we really have to do better. There is so much potential and promise being taken away from us that it's crazy.

One thing thats been on my mind has been the post election banter. Team Obama was happy, Team Romney wasn't. My beef is this......what happened to making a better YOU regardless whose in office. I'm no fan of politics and I don't really trust people who dig themselves into and become elitist with their views and not realize there is a grey area. But I mean damn.....if you're a Romney supporter and you're still butthurt over the election, get over it. It's done. If your'e an Obama supporter, he's not the super savior........so lay of it.

Now with all that soul bearing, updating, and mini political rant that I'm sure no one will care about, it's time for some Christmas music. Listen to some motherfucking Bing Crosby!



I'll bring us some figgy pudding, I'll bring us some figgy pudding...................

What the fuck is figgy pudding?


Later