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Messages - maxent

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2026
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: April 09, 2016, 11:43:53 pm »
A possible injury i picked up from last time. When I unracked 190kg for calf raises last time, i was able to take it out of the rack just fine. But my new bar is fairly whippy (28mm vs 30mm of the old one) .. and ... of course racking the bar the plates were lower and i struggled to return the bar, stretched/strained my right shoulder getting it back on the rack. That sucks. The pins below are too low .. and evidently the normal ones are now too high, so next time if i ever have more than 150kg on the bar, just make sure the pins are set lower to account for bar whip.
Quote from: Raptor on April 08, 2016, 04:27:58 pm
I just bought a 5 kg med ball and a 24 kg kettlebell with less than 100 euros, years ago. I just paid 100 euros for two items I'll basically have forever, so a great investment.

I will consider it, if it shows utility beyond a few weeks use! I'm just unsure about investing in a single KB when like dumbells you may need more one pair and it's unclear which weight to go with. Thanks for the recommendation though, i'll try them today and see how it goes.

I used my TENS unit around my left hip yeterday.. and the niggles ive felt all week have disappeared overnight. That's cool. I love this thing, acole you're the man for suggesting it! I use it on my lower back regularly and im good there too  :headbang:

2027
Strength, Power, Reactivity, & Speed Discussion / Re: Fixing the Good Morning - Squat
« on: April 09, 2016, 11:31:10 pm »
I really dont agree with everyone who is telling you to do paused squats as a remedy. I've done paused squat reps in every warmup set (alternating reps) for the last 12 months.. i can nevertheless goodmorning those paused reps no problem lol. It's not going to stop you from doing that per se. But it may help with nailing the descent, ascent can still be goodmorninged though.

One thing you might want to explore is bodybuilding for assistance work to fix weak points. Don't be dismissive, russian and chinese olympic lifters use BB assistance work regularly. I found doing cable rows helped with keeping my chest position out of the bottom position of a squat, previously it would drop. Never thought doing something as simple as a cable row would help with my squat but it did. Which reinforces my thought that it doesn't necessarily have to be the quads or hams that are the culprit (they might still be weak though).

2028
Strength, Power, Reactivity, & Speed Discussion / Re: Fixing the Good Morning - Squat
« on: April 09, 2016, 12:13:16 am »
Like you said there's 2 different theories on it. 1) Quads aren't strong enough, allowing the relatively stronger PC to compensate via a goodmorning movement or 2)hamstrings are not strong enough, cant hold back angle, give up and allow hips to shoot up with the squat being completed by the quads. Which of these is true? Maybe neither.

The squat is a full body movement. If some part of the movement is affected by a weak point in your physique or strength distribution then you should get stronger there, wherever there is doesn't matter, only that you're squatting correctly at a given weight and progressing up from there while maintaining correct form. It could be anything, upper back, abs, erectors, who knows. Maybe a bit from column A and a bit from column B, ..., and a bit from Z. You nailed the causality:  "however since i can sit rock bottom in a narrow grip overhead squat and only lose my upright torso on the way up suggests it's not my problem." - this rules out mobility and suggests a strength weakness. When the weight is lighter all of the muscles in your body are more than capable of lifting the weight correctly. As you add more weight, the leverages of the lift change and the demands on the various muscles also change (not necessarily proportionally!) which places more of a burden on some muscles to compensate for a weakness in others, hence departing from textbook form.

My favourite theory is that form has a strength component to it, if you are strong enough to maintain good position throughout the movement of a backsquat in lighter weights but can't do it as it gets heavier, it means at a certain point the weight overwhelms that weakpoint. Identifying where that occurs and grooving the movement just below that weight will allow you to overcome that weakness and improve your form beyond that weight.

If I was going to fix someone's GM squat .. i'd have them work up to a heavyish single, then drop down and do volume at just below their form breakdown weight, working to increase the weight steadily over time but being patient before adding weight. Maybe master it for volume (say 6x6) before incrementing and repeating the process. What i wouldn't do is do a "normal" squat workout and then do technique work with lighter weight -- at that point fatigue has already set in and you're going to have bad form even with lighter weight.

2029
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: April 08, 2016, 12:31:22 pm »
Some observations from today's medball workout: It does NOT potentiate my jumps as Todday's ones does. However a few years ago i did use banded plate swings to potentiate myself to jump higher. I never attempted to reproduce that, because i never needed to do icing on the cake type potentiating before .. but may revisit them if i am properly peaking my vertical at some point.

 If the utility of medball throws or swings for training for athleticism is determined by potentiating ability of the exercise, then Raptor might be right that swings are the way to go for me. But no reason i can't do both. Anyway, for now im happy to include throws. I don't have a pair of KBs at home, the gym has them but not sure i will continue my membership there. Still, while I have access, i may as well do them.

Finally, with my new barbell im able to do olympic lifts better .. so im gna try to get my hang powerclean over 100kg. That wont hurt my athleticism either. And i've also adopted the suggested goal of a 100kg push press.. that should be do-able within the 12-month timeframe also. However, when your only benching 100kg i dont think i have enough upper body strength to lock out 100kg overhead .. but no reason i can't get my bench up to somewhere semi-respectable like 115kg or so by then. Especially with the nicer bar which seems to be more balanced unlike the old bent one which forced me to lift asymmetrically.

Any other weightroom goals you guys can suggest? I'm summarising them below:

RDL - 10x200kg
BHT - 10x230kg
Backsquat - 180kg (>2xbw)
BP - 115-125kg
HPC - 115-120kg
PP - 100kg
OHP - 90kg??

And i think that's the lot. Can't think of any others at the moment that i'd care to set a goal on. RDLs and BHTs i should be able to achieve in a few weeks time. Backsquat will take time and ofcourse upper body lifts will take the longest.

Outside the weight room I have the following goals:
Medball throw (see above for 6kg and 10kg medball goals respectively relative to football field markings)
Weighted dunk @ 115kg
Decent 60m sprint time (concrete numbers??)
Windmill dunks, arm in rim / elbow hang dunks etc (dreaming)
suggest any more that would be useful to me

2030
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / chasing athleticism
« on: April 08, 2016, 07:19:44 am »
BS 6x70 (warmup PR; paused 135) 6x110(warmup PR; p135), 2x130 (LPR; warmup), 6x112.5(first set LPR), 6x117.5 (LPR)
BCR 12x150, 8x190
JS 8x110 (warmup PR), 8x150 (warmup PR), 8x180 (=PR; maintenance)
PP 6x62.5(PR; warmup PR too!), 6x65(PR), 7x62.5(PR)
BP 6x70 (warmp PR), 1x90
DJ 2x6x20"
MedBThr 6x5kg, 6x10kg, 6x5kg (new exercise!!; see notes)

BW: 80kg / 176.5lb

Notes:
The first workout done with my new barbell and 2x25kg plates. What a difference it made from old, bent, rusty, cheap barbell. I could actually save lifts that i would normally have failed. it feels way better out of the bottom .. world of difference. Probably got my first decent erectors workout in a long time. No fails either in a day i wasn't feeling very fresh or strong, to get a string of PRs is a great sign. This is the setup i'll use to build and achieve my 180kg squat goal within 12 months.

Apparently a decent barbell also helps with overhead lifts .. i got a push press PR straight up. Time to get strong.

I started medicine ball throws at the behest of T0ddday! Have set myself some initial goals based on the soccer field configuration and my first throws done there today:


For the record i'm about 30cm off on the 10kg goal and ~20m off on the 6kg goal.

2031
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: April 06, 2016, 10:35:22 am »
BS 2x127.5(LPR), 1x135(LPR!!), 4x117.5
Bball game

BW: 172

2032
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: April 06, 2016, 10:28:42 am »
I'll try to post more video in the coming weeks .. for you guys to check your hunches. Will be interesting to see if it matches up with the preconceptions!

Tonight i went to the rec center just to shoot around for bout 30min before the rec league games start. And i was warming up doing some dunks .. guess i must have looked ok cause this guy approached me and asked if i would play for them.. so naturally i said hell yes .. and we won. Todday mentioned Rodman above a few posts ago, it may have been in my subconscious cause i tried to play the best defence and rebounding game off my life. Went scoreless .. in true rodman fashion. Took a video during warming up

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmPvA81WPak" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmPvA81WPak</a>

lighting sucks but i didnt run any filter on it to make it easier to view. Also dont quote it cause im gna delete it to protect the privacy of the other ppl in the vid .. dont kno them but it's not cool to put it online without their permission .. i know

2033
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: April 06, 2016, 03:55:49 am »
Great stuff. If you can agree to a set of tests/diagnostics i'm more than happy to take a video doing them today or next time I train this week.

2034
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: April 06, 2016, 12:56:38 am »
How do we decide I have a glute weakness and not hamstring or quad? I would say my glutes are just fine (in terms of muscular development) however .. they're not quite as ripped as the best player in the competition who at my height and about 200-220 had absolutely no bodyfat on him and could run circles around bigger slower guys or smaller quicker ones - he'd just a beast and it's the main and chief reason i've decided on a complete 12 month overhaul of my training.

2035
Basketball / Re: Will the Golden State Warriors lose in the 2015-2016 regular season?
« on: April 05, 2016, 04:48:50 am »
http://i.imgur.com/8xKdMcm.gifv

FRom tonight ^

2036
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: April 05, 2016, 04:35:14 am »
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iEuwMEfBWk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iEuwMEfBWk</a>

Here i am closer to 160 than 165. I was just under 163 i'd say. That was less than 2 weeks ago!

2037
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: April 04, 2016, 11:32:29 pm »
Quote from: T0ddday on April 04, 2016, 06:43:03 pm
Quote from: Coges on April 04, 2016, 08:44:33 am
Kind of disagree. I actually think the biggest bang for buck for someone who is not a natural scorer is to get inside and do the stuff that no one else wants to do. Go where there's less competition. Everyone wants to jack up shots from way downtown or drive and pretend they're in the NBA. It's easy to capitalise on these faults and help your team in the process. I wasn't a natural scorer but managed to average nearly 15 points a game in my last 5-6 seasons or so. Most of this was done off the back of hard work inside (I was also 90% from the free throw line).

Well, this is digression from the topic but still interesting.  You may be right as you play basketball in Australia and I don't but here at least your advice is good strategy to help in one game but not effective if you have an entire year before tournament play.  In Los Angeles there are always really good "amateurs" you have to deal with because of the nature of the city (you go to karoake and the singer is excellent cause they came here to sing, a flag football league will have offseason players who are trying to make the pros staying sharp, etc).  The leagues I have played in always have a few 6'8 guys who make things difficult for someone under 6' like myself.  Inevitably a zone is played and when your discovered as an offensive liability you absolutely kill your team by not knocking down open shots.  This is true as well at higher levels - there are about 10 guys in the NBA making it despite being offensive liabilities (eg can't knock down open 3's and jumpers) and they are extremely tall and strong (eg Deandre Jordan) and even they would be 100x more valuable if they could.   Maxent is 6'3 165.   I don't think this role is available for him.   But again I don't know Aus bball, I just know he wants to be a beast and I'm ok with that whether it's optimal for bball or not. 

Yes, that role is not available. I need to contribute more than my height and length .. which isn't much because my lack of weight more than takes away the advantage if there was one present. +20kg >> +6" of reach.  I might have a couple of inches of reach more on my opponent but he may have 10-30kg on me .. and im not even super athletic or quick to take advantage of that weight mismatch. I know todday will disagree but when a 6'6" and 115kg guy posts up on you, doesnt matter that you can jump 35" if he's going to use his refined post skills against you.

2038
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: April 04, 2016, 12:07:37 am »
Just to make it clear im not glossing over my severe lack of movement efficiency, here are teh glaring shortcomings in my athleticism as I see them (on the court):

- Moving from point A to B involves a very slow process of initiating the movement (high/long/slow reaction time), slow motion of the feet in making the movement(few longer, slower strides instead of several small quicker ones??), weird posture (round back or upright but not the low, athletic flat back stance in textbooks) and the whole thing looks very much in slow mo, like ive got cemented feet, am mired in quicksand and so on

- When it comes to jumping etc, i can move efficiently only in the penultimate stages of the movement but before then everything is slow motion

- positioning for rebounding, defence, lobs/dunks/cuts etc is non existent.. i dont move "early" enough .. im caught watching the ball or the action, reacting (which is invariably already too late to react!) to action instead of anticipating and creating action, moving earlier, either before or during the action
Is there anything i need to add to this list? please let me know!
And if that's the entire list .. then how do i fix or improve these problems. Before todday came ppl here were doing 10m sprints and stuff .. but we've gone the other direction since and done longer springs. tbh, i probably enjoyed doing those 20m sprints and miss them.. i wonder if they were better than half heartedly doing longer sprints which id ont really believe to be helping me. im pretty good on a fast break, i feel i can chase down anyone for a block.. and i can count the number of shots ive changed in fbs, even collecting transition rebounds .. however that's not wher ei need to improve.. it's the shorter distances, going from A to B where they're about 1-5m apart not the entire length of the court. Why shouldnt i be doing <5m sprints? if that's where i need the most improvement.. lol.

2039
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: April 03, 2016, 11:27:47 pm »
Quote from: T0ddday on April 03, 2016, 08:34:25 pm
Quote from: maxent on April 01, 2016, 12:19:34 am
To be honest i have no plan on how to bench 140kg given i haven't repped over 100kg yet. But i'll have to make some significant changes to achieve it. I wont be using a close grip as ive always done, and i'll have to setup with a bigger arch and learn to use leg drive and all those tricks ppl use to bench more. But even with those changes it's still going to be a huge challenge. My hope is to fill out my upper body -- bigger chest, back, arms, triceps, shoulders, all of that will have to grow (which is what I want!). I want to become my version of Lebron .. that's how i envision playing next year's comp .. a lot more physical -- playing bigger and aggressive and now i've added your suggestion of movement efficiency to that -- i think i will be a much better basketball player all around.

I think you are seriously understating your movement efficiency shortcomings and foolishly attempting to increase your bench out of some misguided idea that adding more mass will somehow make you stronger.  I don't know the level of basketball in Aus. but in the states I work with nba guys, college guys, aspiring pros, etc.  and I can promise you that 95% of the basketball players who are under 200lbs do not bench anywhere NEAR 140kg but would still be much much much "stronger" than you in basketball.   Additionally, no player under 200lbs squats anywhere near 400lbs.   I don't think you realize the undertaking you are making with these goals that will fatigue you and waste your time.  There are a million things that you could do that would bring you a greater bang for your buck than the way you are structuring your training.   I realize you probably don't care what some american sprinter thinks about basketball but it does pain me to see you work so hard for so little because you don't have an understanding of sports training... If I'm annoying then carry on and I won't comment your journal again.   Just for the upper body it would be 100x better for you to master plyo pushups, heavy throws, even push press makes a little sense.   You have a long road to learning how to move but with your work ethic you can do it - however considering what you want even your work ethic won't overcome senseless training.  Not in the least.  You need to make movement efficiency goals the foundation of your training if you want to play basketball not an axillary.

Can I please ask some questions first? I think i understand what movement efficiency is, in spirit, but what exactly are we talking about when we say movement efficiency? When i watch video of myself on the basketball court I see someone who takes a long time to complete movements .. who appears to be moving in slow motion without the tell-tale "quick feet" of a (basketball) athlete. Is this the same thing?

Plyo pushups and medball throws . prob wont help me .. i know because ive tried the throws and it honestly was the biggest waste of time, i cant name a single thing i felt i got from them except bothering my back. if we're talking about wasting time that's def one of them. The best use ive come for the medballs ive collected, so far, is making the goal of eventually dunking one off a drop step drill for next year's comp lol.

I was told push presses would build my athleticism for bgasketbll but i had a bodyweight push press (not for reps mind you) and honestly i cant say that helped me either. So i'm really not sure about all of these things anymore. All i know is muscle is real and everything else is just conjecture. Look the part and at least you can win the mind game. A 6'3 dude with a big bench and squat who can also play a bit will go further in instilling confidence in his teammates and fear in his opponents. Am i wrong? Maybe, but it's not like im denying i'm an athletic nobody in dire need of movement efficiency.. just dont think there is as much i can do about THAT as i can about working hard on my lifts and eating to grow as an athlete .. if not in appearance but in strength and power and all of that. I do know it will help my play but even if much of that is how i feel mentally that's still a win!

I would love for this so called movement efficiency .. i dont see a way to it .. it seems like the holy grail .. just an end .. descrbing what im missing instead of a means to achieve it

2040
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: April 03, 2016, 11:08:39 pm »
I don't know if it's the /level/ of basketball or the style? Australian basketball is very physical! Look at the aussie players in the NBA who are reknown for their physical play .. Bogut and Dellavedova regularly make the top 5 lists for dirtiest players in the league. Who else am i forgetting, oh yeah, add in Steve Adam's and the other kiwis in the league into that mix and prob some others im now forgetting are regularly picked out for being very physical. Tbh i hate this style of play but you can complain about it or you can beat it. And Australian sportsmanship is alot about winning hte mindgame. Steve Waugh was one of the better captains of the Australian cricket team and he was famed for winning the game through intimidating and sledging not just skill and play.

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