Just letting everyone know that during my final year exams, i will be posting a tip of the day on twitter
@RobStrength
https://twitter.com/#!/RobStrength
Exams end May 18th and I will resume more in-depth posts then. Ive been working on some pretty cool stuff, at least in my opinion. I hope you guys will like it.
Once again, it is late and I spent 11 hours at the library so this is short and informal.
Books on TRAINING and GAINING Weight:
SUPER SQUATS by Randall Strossen, PhD
This book is one of the original books to look at the 20 rep squat program and how to eat during it. It provides a very spartan outline of what Dr Strossen suggests to get big and strong. Squat, Chest Pulls, Rest, Milk. Repeat.
Better Than Steroids by Dr Willey
A book that is just what the name suggests. Ways to get body builder big without anabolic supplementation.
The Purposeful Primitive by Marty Galllagher
A really good book with lots of info on training. It is definitly not in the same category has the above but it does have some nuggets in it that you have to dig out.
The so called "Dr Squat" due to his contributions to the movement and his educational backing. His website is full of information on squatting and how to incorporate into a weight gain program.
70s Big - All your weight gain humor and advice in friendly, non-pc packages
No list on squats and weight gain would be complete without a mention of Justin Lescek and his website 70's big. A Rippatoe desciple, the archives here provided me with lots of "information" and "motivation" when i was trying to put on the pounds.
One more website worth a mention is Chaos and Pain. I am not going to link to it here becuase it is innapropriate. Severly so. The posts are full of a combination of naked women, X rated GIFs, blood, guts, bondage and slasher pictures BUT the information that is posted on the website is very valuable. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! The site is flagged by blogger, would get an X rating in theatres, but the dude knows what he is talking about and puts up some really good information. NSFW NSFW
Oh yeah. and regionals were posted. My athlete is ready. And damned im proud of him. 1 week from today he hits it hard.
Its late. Ive studied all day. Not in the mood to wright a massive post.
These are meals that I hate when I put on the weight. Remember, these plans are for WEIGHT GAIN with potential risk for negative health effects. You are warned.
Breakfast #1:
4 Large Eggs
2/3 Block Mature Goat's Cheddar
2 Pieces English Thick Cut Bacon
Large Glass of Whole Goats Milk
Calories: around 1,500
Lunch: Paleo Risotto
1 head grated cauliflower
1lb Chicken Thighs
1 Cup Olives
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
Assorted Vegetables
Glass of Milk
Mango + Berries
Calories: around 1000
Post WoD:
1 litre Whole Goat's Milk
600 Calories
Post Post WoD:
1 block of cheese
8oz Blue Berries
1,000 Calories
Post Post Post WoD:
1 litre Milk
600 Calories
Dinner:
12oz Ribeye
6oz Sweet Potato Mash
1 Can Coconut Milk
Calories: around 600
Post Dinner Shake
1 can mushed pumpkin
Coconut Milk
Coconut Flakes
1 Raw Egg
Vanilla
Cinnamon
20g Protein Powder
Calories: roughly 500
Calories Total: 5,800
That is a MASSIVE day and is tough to repeat day after day. But it is an idea. Remember. Gaining weight is tough. Especially when you are not trying to use any supplements and trying to avoid processed carbohydrates. However, sticking with it will reward you in strength and a larger frame to then work with. Once i peaked at 190, i then went back down to about 175 over the next 3 months but the strength kept going up.
Wednesday Training:
Warm-up
20 reverse hypers
20 static crunches
20 kb swings 40kg
3x
Strength
Press Banded Dumbell
12x3 @ 14kg DB + super mini band
Shrugs
-40kg x 10 (50 total)
Monkey Bars
-with 16kg KB single bar (forward/backward)
-hanging 28kg KB normal monkey bars 1 length x 2
To continue with the theme of the gaining weight, I am going to look at the THIS for THAT debate that many people ask questions about while trying to get big and strong.
Dairy vs Coconut products
To put it simply, Coconut is just calories that can only take the place of the calories in dairy. Also, coconut milk has a lot less calories per palatable amount than dairy.
Basically, if you are replacing dairy with coconut, you lose the deeper hormonal affects that dairy has on GH (growth hormone) and IGF (Insulin-like Growth Factor): the two biggest weight gainers in the body. There is a reason why infants get 100% of their calories from milk and then proceed to double their body weight every few months. High quantities of dairy stimulate the Pituitary gland to produce GH and IGF and help you gain weight.
This reaction is hormonal and cannot be replicated with any other form of food. Therefore, you just wont get the results without dairy supplementation.
And honestly, who wants to chug coconut milk all day? I like coconut but that grosses me out.
Goats Diary vs Cows Dairy
Is there a difference other than taste? Yes there is. Goat's Milk is lauded has less inflammatory on the digestive system than cows milk and my own experience agrees with this statement. There are several documented instances of children who are lactose-intolerant to be able to drink goat's milk over cow's milk. However, this could be due to goat farms more likely being hormone and anti-biotic free compared to cow farms.
Is there a difference on growth potential? I have no idea. But when i gained 20kg it was all on Goats Milk and about 1/2 goats cheese and 1/2 cows cheese (GOOD CHEESE)
Starchy foods vs Fruit
What should you feel your meals with? The best answer is as many of both as you can. I did NOT rely on many of the starchy potatoes when i did it, i limited to sweet potatoes and fruit and not that much. It was truly a dairy crazy 6 weeks.
However, if giving the choice, does it matter? Yes and no. As you probably know, starchy foods like potatoes are composed of mainly glucose while fruit is mainly fructose. There are differences in terms of GI and GL per food based on the glucose or fructose contents on such foods but dairy has such a high GL that it doesn't really matter.
Eat what is palatable. I find this to be tropical fruits over starches most of the time. They are also easier to carry around with you.
Nuts vs Oils
What is a better source of fat when gaining weight? There are lots of factors involved to start with. For one, nuts are slightly legume-ous and therefore cause some inflammation along with high levels of omega6-9. However, health is kind of the back burner now remember?
High doses of oils does not suit with many people. A simple stool check (yeah) after a meal full of coconut oil will show you your ability to digest oils. Too much oil will mess you up. Too little oil will be wasted opportunity of calories. Find a middle ground on testing on oils.
When you need to add fat to a meal and are at a lose for oil or coconut or avocado etc, I will tend to lead towards almond butter when I am trying to gain weight. In smaller qualities, I am a fan of peanuts (personally), however, when I am eating in such large qualities and am stuffed anyway, almond butter is better for me. Figure out what works for you.
Hope this helps you get massive just like you have always wanted. later in the week we will talk about training.
Tuesday Training:
12x2 Boxsquat w/ 100kg + 35kg band tension, resting 45 seconds
15x1 Deadlift w/ 160kg resting 15-30 seconds
Reverse Hyper + 40kg KBS Complex
Pull-Ups
TIPS and TRICKS p3 – GAIN WEIGHT edition
This popped up on I Am…Paleo the other day:
Guys I need some ideas on how to gain weight. Of course in a healthy, Paleo manner. Suggestions?
First, we need to address a few things. Is it possible to gain weight in a healthy, paleo manner? I think it is ridiculously tough if not impossible if you are a CROSSFITTER on PALEO. You might put on some muscle now and then, but chances are you will get leaner, smaller…but stronger, a joy of crossfit.
Back to my comments recently on GOALS. What are your current goals?
1) Stay as healthy as possible?
2) Slowly, if not a futile attempt at gain weight?
3) Be the best crossfitter at the moment?
4) Be a better crossfitter down the road?
5) Git big and strong?
If your answer is a combination of predominately 4 and 5 and a little hesitancy at 1 at definitely not 2 and 3, then I suggest you follow these tips and tricks:
TIP #1
Understand that paleo and big time weight gain don’t go together. There is a reason we tell those leaning out to avoid certain foods. It would only make sense to eat them then right?
TIP #2
Understand that overall “health” will step down a step or two. I am NOT ASKING FOR A MAJOR DROP OFF in health. Just for “optimal” health to be placed on the back burner. 6 months of pseudo primal weight gain can be fixed very shortly once you get back on a healthier diet.
TIP #3
Meal structure throughout the day. Understand when you are going to eat the largest meals. When I gained 40lbs in 6 weeks I had a HUGE breakfast, normal lunch, HUGE post wod and HUGE dinner. That suited me. Play with it. Find what suits you.
TIP #4
Ease onto dairy and then go gung-hoe. I used Goat milk and goat cheese for most of the 6 weeks because I was coming off 10 months strict paleo.
What does gung-hoe mean? 3 Litres (roughly 3/4 gallon) and about another 1,500 calories from cheese. Yeah. That’s a lot. I tried to have a 40-60% calories form paleo, 60-40% calories from Dairy. It needs to happen.
TIP #5
Find as many other ways for calories as possible because you want to share some of the load from dairy. Shots of oil and putting lots of oil on your food works for some (not so much for me on the shots). Lots of tropical fruit or startchy vegetables are a good way to get some more solid food into your system.
So those are Monday's tips and tricks on gaining weight while follwoing pseudo-paleo. The rest of the week will have more things to digest.
Rudy and Laura came and visited this weekend. It was pretty cool. Ill talk about that later.
Weekend Training:
Friday - Snatch 1rm and Clean & Jerk 1rm
Saturday - 4 scored bouts of exercising.
Things that Anger me:
Seen on the live stream chat for California Strength Weightlifting:
Andrew Bermudez Glenn I was told that hanging cleans can cause hyperextension to the spine if you do it Mid thigh.
He clearly read this the other day on Poliquin’s website. He was not “told” this. He read it on a website. He does not have secret access to secrets. Don’t act like it.
Rudy from Outlaw CrossFit is in town this weekend for the Outlaw Training Camp. Should be a fun time having that mofo over. It will be interesting to see how the British style of questioning everything and humour treats him.
At the moment, im putting together a pretty exhaustive post on my experiences gaining weight as a crossfit/paleo guy.
Until then, here are a couple completely non-CF videos I liked:
Today I will look at the four jump ropes that I have used over the past few years.
1) The Buddy Lee Aero Speed Jump Rope
This was the first jump rope I ever really used. I recieved it as a gift and I learned double unders on it. Failed to do double unders at UK 2010 Sectionals at Mildenhall Air Force Base the vacant field outside Mildenhall. I used it all the way up thourgh Wod 1 of the 2011 Open.
I loved that rope and it really came in handy plenty of times. I was pretty consistant with it as well. However, after progressing in my skill, I found that I couldnt get the rope going as fast as I wanted. Therefore, I ordered the Again Faster Rope.
Conclusion - A great jump rope for intermediates who like the parallel handel. Not fast enough for my style though. But it is plenty fast for others. And others with different style can get it going faster.
2) The Again Faster Revolution Rope
The Again Faster Rope. I could not believe how much faster this was then the buddy lee (based on my style of skipping). I immediatly fell in love with the perpendicular junction of the rope and handle.
If you are a fan of the perpendicular handle, this is definitly a jump rope that I would try out since the rope is light weight (you do not tire easily). Also, the cable does not leave some of the insane whip marks that other ropes will leave.
However, I started to get some problems with my double unders around January 2012. As I looked for solutions, I realized I wanted something a bit heavier or just try something different. I used the Again Faster Rope at London Throwdown where I had some issues. Any way, it provided well enough for me to recieve 2 other ropes in the prize package: the Cyclone and the Cross Gym.
Conclusion - My favorite rope for close to a year. I love the perpendicular handles and the feel of the handles. Would suggest as a rope for anyone who is intermediate-advanced.
3) The Cyclone Speed Rope
The best part of this rope is that you can get it customized with colors and word of choice. Mine is black on black and says "Coje Lo" on the handle. I hope no one takes the saying seriously though.
The rope is a good rope. Really really fast the faster you go. It has straight handles/rope so it is good for practicing tricks in that sense. However, it is too light for me to practice cross-overs etc.
The straight handles just werent perfect for me at the time. So after trying to get used to it for a month, I cut the Cross Gym rope down to size.
Conclusion - A very fast, very light rope. If you want to customize your rope, this is a high quality rope to use. For people who like a light and fast rope.
4) Cross Gym Revolution Rope
The Cross Gym revoulution Rope is my absolute FAVORITE at the moment. It has perpendicular handle like the Again Faster rope but it is a steal cable so it moves incredibly fast + the has increased momentum behind it with increased weight (Newtonian Physics...dayum).
I find it easier to keep it moving becuase of the increased weight of the rope and Cross Gym has made the handles top-notch as well.
However, since the rope is steel, it whips you pretty bad. I would only suggest this rope to someone who has their double unders or is not afraid to be whipped.
Conclusion - A perfectly weighted perpendicular handle rope. Steel cable limits the use to advanced to expert jumpers who arnt afraid of a little pain.
Tuesday Training
Work up to a heavy triple - Strict Dumbbell Press, superset with 10 barbell roll outs
then
10x3x5
3 strict press at 28kg dumbbells (61lbs)
5 parellel grip pull-ups
Then
4 x 10 Kettlebell Bench 2x20kg
4 x 10 Kettlebell Pull Over 20kg
A few days ago I purchased The Robb Wolf Paleo on a Budget book and am looking forward to reading it. However, for the time being, I will show you how I stocked up on meat at Whole Foods, London Kensington.
It was a pretty succesful run becuase I talked myself out of buying the ribeye or the prime cut for a whopping 22 quid per Kilo ($18 per lbs roughly) and settled on the:
Sirloin Fillets
Frying Steak
Bavette (Churassco)
Shin of Beef
Sirloin Patties
Pork Loins
Salmon
Chicken Thighs
Tukey Steak (most expensive actually)
overall, i figure that it broke down to $3-5 a pound for Grass-Fed Free Range British beef, poultry and sustainaly raised fish.
This post was originially posted about 20 months ago. I still feel that it is a good representation of my philosphies on the paleo diet as well as cold, hard facts. My writting style has improved a little bit (i hope) but feel that this is a good post to put up today.
WHAT IS THE PALEO DIET?
What is it? The paleo diet is the diet we evolved as hominoids to eat. Our genetics have been modified ever so briefly over the past 200 MILLION years that have allowed us to walk erect, run, breath as we do, digest what we do, and most importantly from a social-evolutionary biologists perspective, socialise (As our brain got bigger, our social circle got bigger, allowing more teamwork, hence survival). 200 million years is a long time. 10,000 years is a short time. What is the significance of 10k? That is the most basic estimate of the first domestication of cereal grains in the fertile crescent, rice in the orient, maize in meso-america and others like barley/rye in Asia etc. So, genetically, Homo sapiens ARE NOT CAPABLE OF EATING THIS FOOD. IT IS POISON in some senses, AND NOT NATURAL in others. We are however, genetically inclined to eat lots and lots and lots of animal products with the occasional gathered vegetable, fruit, nut or seed. How much animal? Recent studies have shown that many hunter(gatherer) tribes in Africa or South America ate about 80% of their calories from saturated animal fat and about 20% from animal protein and +/- 5% depending on the season for both and the inclusion of fruits (much different fruits back then).
So you might ask, what the fuck can i eat? In a perfect world, all one would need would be lots of grassland and cows. You would live off the marrow, brains, sweatbread, testicles, liver and would cure the meat for those long treks through the rangeland in search of cows to kill for next time. Is this a perfect world? No. We compensate by sourcing our meat from lean cuts or grassfed farms (fatty acid balance, google it, or read Robb Wolf's new book - The Paleo Solution). Also on the protein front is fish. In this day and age, wild fish is over. 2009 marked the first year in history humans consumed more fish and shellfish from aquaculture (farming) than from wild fisheries. I know Mark Sisson, Loren Cordain and some other condemn aquaculture due to the feed being made up of grains. Well im gonna be blunt, too fucking bad. Aquaculture is the only way this planet can survive and not all fish are farmed equally. Tilapia is a vegetarian so properly done farmed tilapia will have a natural grassfed diet (hows its practiced in China) and good fatty balance. 30% of fish are being caught or harvested for fish meal, which is the predominate food source of South American aquaculture. Sisson and Cordain just assumed that all aquaculture was rubbish and corn fed salmon. But Ill tell you what, 5/6 salmon labelled Wild Caught and sold in NYC markets were genetically tested and found to be farm raised, and the 6th salmon escaped from a farm at a young age. Do some research, find a good fish farm, and support it. Aquaculture is the future. Tangent over.
Eggs, preferably cage free/free range. Organic means nothing in terms of eggs. I know Cordain and Wolf request Omega-3 enhanced eggs, however, i have some reserves because the Omega-3 flax seed provides as been found to lead to stimulate prostate cancer in men, and flax is used to get the omega-3 content up in chix eggs. Just be wise.
Next on the list is vegetables. Try and get what is in season and the darker and leafyer the better. Some fruit is fine, try and stick to berries since almost all other fruit has been so manipulated by man so that it is too sweet for our pancreas to give a low insulin spike. Nuts and seeds are additives in my persepective. Try to limit them to maybe a small handful or 2 a week. I know, crossfitters love to live off almonds. I dont like it. Too much else (omega imbalance, clogging of the digestive system). Instead lets get our fat from oils like olive, avocado, coconut and the hard versions so anything coconut is a go, avocados and olives. Remember, a good diet of grassfed cow should use lots of cow fat and fish fed carnivorous fish fat.
So thats what I eat, what about..? Easy rules - is it 1 ingredient and from an animal? Is it a vegetable? If it is a fruit, will I only eat a little and pair is with veg and meat? Can I limit the nuts and seeds? All herbs and spices are fine. All tea and coffee is fine if you brew it your self or get proper brewed coffee/espresso/tea from a cafe.
Meals? Combine a 3-12oz meat with as much vegetables as you want and as much fat as you want or need. Amounts are too varied for here.
So thats that, know what are the exceptions?
Calories - I am an intense athlete. i train hard. I m busy. I do not have time to create 5 to 6 nice sized meals a day. I can mass cook sometimes. How do I deal with this? I add dairy. I love dairy if athletic performance is your goal. I think 1L of GRASSFED WHOLE MILK (RAW if you can) is great for postworkout. 1L of whole milk is a good amount to give you a bit of a boost. However, Blair Morrison taught me that high quality cheese is great too. I will eat a nice block of cheese a few times a week for an easy 1000 calories. Whole milk and cheese is also the way to gain weight and get strong if you are not lactose - intolerant.
Calories with out dairy - Im sorry, but you just gotta eat eat eat. Every time you pass the fridge, involuntarily eat 3 hard boiled eggs and 4 shots of olive oil. Just do it. It is tough. But if you train hard to get strong, dont let yourself down by not eating and sleeping.
Working out? If you are a CrossFitter or similar, the 0-30minute post met-con workout time is when you can have that fruit if you want. Or a sweet potato, or yam, and for me, 1L whole grassfed milk with 50g Isopure protein powder (0 carb) and a large sweet potato.
LONG workouts - If by long you mean ironman, read Loren Cordain's Paleo Diet for athletes. If you mean long as in 1h or 2h so very little mid-way fueling, keep the post workout to what you can handle. Smoothies, raisons, applesauce, a little protein.
Lift to your body type:
A few months ago, I was posting a few videos of Donny Shankle and Mario Martinez (see below). The question that was raised was why do some elite olympic lifters such as these lift with bent arms?
The answer is that it suits their body type.
The follow-up question, doesnt lifting with bent arms ruin efficiency?
The answer: Not if you start with bent arms locked into place.
The reason why Donny and Mario lift/lifted with bent arms is that their longer arms and shorter torso made it so that if they lifted with straight arms, they bar placement into the 3rd pull would put them at a physically disadvantageous position (there is more of a back story to Mario, but that is why he kept the bent arms).
If you keep your arms slightly bent (i think 15˚ is the max found by russian science, but science is sometimes wrong, and who knows the difference between 14.7˚ and 15.3˚ anyways) but LOCKED INTO PLACE from the beginning, you will NOT LOSE ANY POWER AND EFFICIENCY in the pull (according to G. Pendlay in person).
If you have access to a good weight lifting coach, suggest it, try it, see what happens. Remember, you have to keep the arms locked or you risk bicepital tears, tendonitis or a projectile ulna. Try it out light and work your way up.
Blow up your lats to injury proof your Kips:
What do i mean by this statement? I am referring to lats ability to stabilize the shoulder during kipping pull-ups (Butterfly or Regular). The lats are synergistically connected to the glenohumeral joint (shoulder) and any affect on them can be felt through the shoulders. Similarly, the lats can be used to help hold your shoulders in place while you kip. Try this out for me:
Stand up tall. Reach up as high as you can with both arms. Completely stretch out.
Pertend that you are holding a pull-up bar. Look how far away it is.
Now, with arms still full extended, suck your shoulders back down to your body with your lat muscles.
Notice how close the pull-up bar as become.
Not only have you shortened the distance that you have to travel, but you have reduced the crazy jerky centripical pounding that kipping can put on the shoulders.
The negative of this is that you need really strong lats. But work on that (through special pull-up drills) will make you much better at toes 2 bar and muscle ups as well. A little hard work gets you injury proof shoulders, a shorter pull-up, better at toes 2 bar, and better at muscle ups - worth it.
Use corrective squats to fix a squat:
There is a common notion in CrossFit that repitition under guidance will get you better at everything. If your squat sucks, practice your squat. I say there is a faster way.
Locate the problem of your squat, and find the corrective squat to fix the squat.
In essence, you are still holding true to the principle that to fix something, you have to practice it. But we are also breaking it down. Now, this is a lot easier to read then it is to practice. There are a hell of a lot of issues and then exponentially more corrective squats that you can do to fix them. Some of the ones that I have used are wide squats to fix knees caving in and kettlebell squats to fix my Sucia stance (ass back too much).
Those of you training out of IACF/CFG/CFVB/CFSM/CFCG might have noticed an increase in strange exercises a little bit over the past few months. It is the implamentation of some of these fixer squats to aid everyone. However, there are lots and lots and lots of correctives, and the only way to learn them all is to experience it with a knowledgeable coach.
One of Louie's squat fixes:
Work on more than your bench when you bench:
The final tip of the day regards shoulder stabilization again. If you watch power lifters bench, the only go as far as they have to. Watch any video and you will see they avoid pushing their shoulders forward since it increases ROM and decreases weight, the two things powerlifters are seaking to avoid.
Look at a properaly taught turkish get-up. You keep the shoulder activated in the front of the shoulder the whole time. This causes a significant amount of work to be done by the shoulder stablizers. Even though this seems like the K* DB position, the purpose is to work the stabilizers through full range of motion. Doing a turkish get-up with the shoulder back is tough, but it defeats the purpose of strengthening the shoulder.
Put the 2 together. During future benching, when you reach straight arms, fully extend your shoulders by squeezing together your chest at the top of the bench. Hold at the top for a 3 count in a controlled position and you will get much work done on improving your shoulders to help you bench heavier.
Wednesday Training
Trip to Printers Row CrossFit, The Foundry - Chicago
Got to work out with fellow Divided we Fall Champ Jon Colborn at his new home. He is doing well and is getting fit and ready to compete at regionals with WCCF.
Snatch Complex
3x Through @ each weight
1 Power Snatch
1 OHS
1 Snatch Balance
1 Hang Squat Snatch
1 Squat Snatch
115,125,135. 125 unbroken. Lost the grip on 135. Maybe with chalk it was unbroken.
SSP Conditioning
5 Front Squats 225lbs
15 Kettlebell swings 32kg
10 Burpees
2 min rest, 3 rounds
all splits under 1:17 for me and 1:33 for Jon Colborn.
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