Expectations of Strength

The last couple of days I have been doing the blog over, as I plan to start increasing the frequency of posts here. While doing so I ended up reading a few of my old posts. I came across my very first post that I put up right after the accident.

http://extendingmyspine.blogspot.in/2012/12/this-blog-has-been-created-to-record-my.html

In it I mention that I thought that before the injury, I was "pretty strong". And then I went on to note my numbers-

"I could squat 330lbs, deadlift 400lbs and bench 250lbs, all at a bodyweight of 160lbs."

Today looking back on this I realize just how far I have come. I don't think any numbers I will ever be at will be strong enough. I am today stronger than I ever dreamed of back then, and back then I would have been happy to match my old strength again. This is where I think the accident was a boon in disguise, because it taught me to open my eyes and understand just what the human system is capable of.

I now realize strength is not as simple as an X amount of weight you can lift or your 100m time. Strength is the ability to believe and know that there is something more than what you can currently do, in every thing. It is the desire for constant and never ending self improvement. Read more books, train more, meet more people, learn new things, there is no end to what can be done to improve ourselves. The real point here is not what can be achieved or what you imagine could be possible.

The real lesson I have learnt from all this is that you have to enjoy the process of improvement. You are not doing it for the end result, but rather to do every thing that you can to make yourself better and to gain wisdom about yourself and to cherish that understanding. If you keep worrying about the outcome, you may just never get there. But as every serious lifter and athlete knows, if you focus on the little goals and enjoy the journey, you may just land up somewhere you never thought possible.

If you are interested you can see what I can currently do in the stats page. And here is what I think would be "pretty strong" at this stage. These are all 3 year goals for me now. I am sure it will change if I ever get there-

Deadlift- 230kgs for 20 reps
Squat- 230kgs for 20 reps
Bench Press- 140kgs for 20 reps
Military Press- 140kgs for 1 rep
One arm Chin up- 5 reps per arm
Vertical Jump- 30 inches
100m- 10.6s
4min mile

Sleeping Posture, Massaging your Tendons, preventing injuries and stuff

So in this post I want to talk about some miscellaneous stuff that I think is important to consider, which no one thinks about and which fits in no real category.

Okay we all make a big deal about how our posture throughout the day effects our joint alignment and muscle tonus and how improper posture can lead to pain and restricted mobility. But no one seems to consider that we spend a huge part of every day sleeping and in virtually the same posture, and this probably effects us even more than our conscious posture.

I became aware of this when a while ago I suffered a bad shoulder pull. at least it felt like it. Later I realized that it was actually a trap pull that was making pain radiate from the shoulder. A few easy sets of shoulder rotations, dislocates, and a lot of neck stretches fixed it in no time. But along the way I realized that my neck flexibility was heavily unbalanced, favoring the uninjured side. That is when I realized that I sleep on my front tilting my head to the uninjured side. This stretched that side but contracted the other. As a result something very similar to what happens to the hip flexors while sitting happened to my neck- one side was chronically tight and immobile. I started sleeping flat on my back and I have never had a problem since and my flexibility has balanced itself.

Constant stretching can only fix so much and fixing your sleeping posture will go a long way to solve the root of the problem. You can't change your work schedule, you can't change your classes in school and the desks they give you, but you can change the way you sleep and that corrects a whooping 6-9 hours of bad posture everyday. Much more than you would while trying to consciously fix your posture throughout the day.

Now basically after you fall asleep your body will revert to whatever sleeping posture it is easiest to keep falling asleep in, so that your sleep will be as uninterrupted as possible. This could be anything depending on various psychological reasons (before anyone asks I have no idea what they are). In my case I could not have a sound sleep without sleeping on my face. everyone has a position that makes them feel all comfy and sleepy. But the problem is most of these postures are based on the way your mattress is and human bodies have not evolved to sleep on such soft surfaces. Remember the modern mattress was a uncommon luxury until very recently in human history. Because of this you end up getting comfortable in all sorts of ridiculous positions.

Try sleeping for a night on the bare floor on your face. I dare you. In about an hour your body will figure out the most comfortable way to sleep on the floor is to either lie supine and straight or be in the fetal position on either side. These are also the best positions to sleep in for the joints as well.

So how do you fix this problem? You could do what I did and sleep on the floor for a couple of nights until your habit changes and then try to stick with it on the mattress by falling asleep in that position every night until the body gets used to it. Or you could get a super hard mattress and solve the problem once and for all. also if you can help it, don't use a pillow. If you do use a thin hard one.

Lets talk about tendon massage.

I see guys and girls all over the place foam rolling to no end to prevent and relive pain and stiffness, putting themselves in ridiculous positions to roll hard to get areas like the lats and the shoulders, not to mention the adductors. Why people never use the good old way of massaging themselves with their hands in their free time, I will never understand. Don't waste hours in the gym with this. Granted certain parts of the body you can't reach, like the shoulder baldes and the spine. And certain muscles like the glutes, hamstrings and quads are easier to cover with the foam roller. But beyond these, most of the stuff can be done with your hands at home. More importantly massaging yourself with your hands is more effective for 2 reasons-

1. The pressure area is smaller so you can dig deeper into the tissue. That is way tennis balls are more effective than foam rollers. Fingers are just the next step.
2. You can feel out every part of the muscle and actually get to know your anatomy and find your tendons and focus on the problem areas, instead of wasting time all over.

The first is self explanatory, so lets talk about the second. Fall all the amount of time we spend exercising and keeping notes, very few of us are actually familiar enough with our bodies to know every single thing that is unique to us, our peculiarities, our sore spots, our vulnerable areas etc. You know the difference between a masseuse and a guy with an anatomy book? He actually spent time finding all the muscles and tendons on an actual body. Once you can do that, thee is so much information about anatomy out there that you can massage yourself, and more effectively because you get time to get familiar with your body. And if your body is that important to you to exercise hard on a regular basis, you should be familiar with it as well.

This brings me to being aware of more than just muscles. You need to be aware of your tendons, joints and ligaments, because 90% of the time these are the things that really need constant massage, not the muscles. A decent rub down once a month for the muscles will get rid of most scar tissue build up in the muscles, plus the muscles recover fast. They get a lot of blood flow and the tissues are more dynamic chemically. Its the tendons, joints and ligaments that lack sufficient blood flow and are slow to recover. You know why big benchers spend time doing band pressdowns? To flush the area with blood and synovial fluid in order to help recovery. What if you just rub down your tendons with 2 fingers once a day, your ligaments with 4 fingers once in 2 days, and your joint capsules once in 3 days any way you want? The recovery rate will be much faster and pain will never linger, without fatiguing yourself with high rep movements.

Don't get me wrong, you still need to do high rep movements once in a while to mobilize the joints. But it should not become a necessity. If it does learn to find your tendons and rub them. I see several traditional forms of massage used in yoga and ayurveda that are based entirely on treating the tendons. In fact most tradition massage is based on ligament and tendon massage rather than rubbing the muscles. This is because earlier people did not use balls and foam rollers to massage themselves. Instead they used their hands and found the ligaments and tendons.

And yeah, you need a decent aerobic capacity. I don't care how big you are or how you do it but you can't be completely out of shape and expect to recover form injuries or even your training. Do something to condition yourself and you will feel much better in the long run, have lesser injuries and recover fast every time. Just one thing, don't do so much that it becomes a new source of injury, that is all. 

The ten commandments of eating

A while back a bunch of guys training under me wanted a set of rules to follow for eating in general. And they wanted something simple and easy to follow so I wrote these up. It is not for weight gain or fat loss or anything in particular. There are the rules of eating no matter what your targets are. Beyond these, if you want to lose fat or gain weight you have to play with your calorie consumption in many different ways, but that is a topic for another post. Here are the 10 commandments and 2 principles-

1. Eat 5 serving of fresh fruits and vegetables a day.

2. Reduce consumption of processed goods, table sugar, starches and baked goods to 10% of your diet. 

3. Drink 4-5 liters of fresh water a day.

4. No sodas.

5. Increase your protein intake to at least 1.5g per Kg of body weight per day. Vegetarians can easily get this by eating milk, paneer or cottage cheese, curd, beans, legumes, peanuts, almonds, walnuts and eggs. Small amounts of cretene monohydrate and BCAA supplements (3-5g a day) will ensure a healthy protein profile. Variety is the key to ensuring healthy protein consumption.

6. Restricts your carbs to whole grains and fruits. Rice, wheat, oats and daliya are good. 

7. Lesser the processing, the better the food. 

8. Eat till satiation- do not binge.

9. Always eat breakfast.

10. Try to eat atleast 3 different colors, 3 different smells and 3 different tastes each meal.

The two principles are-

1. 80%! Its impossible for anyone to follow all ten perfectly 100% of the time. As long as you strive to get 80% stuff right, the last 20% will take care of itself and you can enjoy that much anyway. 

2. Do not guess, keep a food diary and write down the 10 rules. Before you know it you will find yourself following good eating habits naturally.

Q and A

Question:

Dear Tejas, I read your insightful information about the pull up/chin up exercises on your blog but somehow I was unable to post a comment on the site. This is why I have decided to send a mail to you directly from here. If perhaps I have your e-mail, that would be better.

I have a question:

Can pull-up/chin-up workouts be used to correct uneven muscles on one side of the body? For instance, in a person whose muscles on the left side are slightly more built in the neck, abdominals and back as a result of improper form while using chin-ups in the past. Is it possible to use the same chin-up exercise to make some kind of correction by building up the muscles on the less built side (right side) so that they become even with the left? Can assisted chin-up/pull-up machines or lat pulldowns in the gym help in this regard or what would be your expert advice? Thanks for your comments.

Answer:

Hi,

I am really sorry it too me so long to reply, I have not been on Facebook.

as for your question, in my experience most athletes face such problems. Initially my approach on both my students and myself was to use unilateral exercises in order to correct the imbalances. While it seemed logical, it never worked out.

Ultimately analysis of the problem led me to conclude that the real reason this happens is not just because one part of the body is used more, but because we have a stronger mind-muscle connection with certain body parts (or limbs, sides etc..). Thus the only way to solve it would be to build a mind-muscle connection with the problem area.

However, years of practice of an exercise will build a habit of tapping into one set of muscles automatically. Because of this any experienced trainee will find it next to impossible to correct the mind-muscle link in exercises they are experienced in. The only logical solution is to do an exercise that is similar to the one you are trying to correct, but one you are not used to yet, preferably a regression.

Learn the new technique as if its a whole new exercise, and really master it. Do every rep with your eyes closed, focusing on an even distribution of effort among all the working muscles. Initially it will be hard, but in just a few weeks you will find your body will be able to do this automatically. Then get back to the problem exercise and you will find that the problem has been resolved.

While implementing a temporary regression to an easier technique in any exercise, in order to perfect technique and recruitment it is important to stop doing the primary variation of the exercise you are seeing to improve for that time. It is a hard but necessary pill to swallow.

In the case of the problem you are facing in pull ups, I suggest regressing to bodyweight rows. They are also called Australian Pull Ups and fat man rows. Personally I have not found either the assist machine or the lat pull down machine to be useful in this regard. They both are great in order to develop general back strength and improve general pulling power, but they wont do much to correct the problem you have mentioned, as the recruitment patterns of lat pull downs or the assist machine are dramatically different for the muscles you have mentioned.

I hope this helps.

Regards

Tejas Jaishankar

Question:

Usually when it comes to weight lifting, one would imagine too much built. But as you said, the more natural the better. What protein you used to take if I may ask? And supplements and all?And you must try and run a marathon as well.

Answer:

My principle in protein consumption is to simply get as much variety as possible. i do not use protein supplements. I eat a lot of milk, eggs, curd, chicken, pork, mutton, fish, shrimp, prawn, peanuts, paneer, almonds and walnuts. As far as supplementation is concerned I use fish oil, multivitamins, multiminerals, Gokshura, Alamaki, Ashva Gandha and vit C and E.

I used to do a lot of distance running earlier, but my strength gains would slow down when I ran more than 5K at a time. Nowadays I run 3Kms on Mondays and thursdays as fast as I can. I run 50 100m sprints on wednesdays and saturdays and I do 30-40 sprints up hills on fridays. Not really keen on Marathon running at this point, trying to increase my pressing power.

Do you compete in any sport?

Question:

My idea has always been to be fit. I involve myself in various sports. Been playing squash and leisure time soccer. Unfortunately I cannot afford more than 90 mins a day on myself. Though I would really want. I always believe the slower you do things, the better it is in long run. But ever since I have started running, that was way back in 2010, I have loved every part of distance running. Since now my idea was to complete, now I am training to compete against myself and improve on my personal best. How do you train for a marathon on a limited time budget?

And I am vegetarian

So that much pretty much sums it up

Question:

See, for all the amount of training I do, I also do not engage in more than 60 mins of exercise per day, except Mondays and Thursdays when i do 90mins each day. What you really need in order to improve is a plan which takes into account everything about your lifestyle.

Go through my blog, it has a lot of info on how to create a good training program. I have pasted the link- http://extendingmyspine.blogspot.in/2014/03/training-philosophy.html

In distance running, in my experience the best way to make progress is to utilize wave programming and then begin peaking 4 weeks before contest. Basically do strength training 2 times a week using the methods given in the post I have linked. This will conserve your joints and help build a base of performance for running. Do running 5 times a week, use interval running. Build a capacity for running and speed in your off season. Let us say you run 40 sets of 20s fast running and 15s slow running to begin with. So your training should go something like this-

Day 1- 40 sets

Day 2- 41 sets

Day 3- 42 sets

Day 4- 43 Sets

Day 5- 44 Sets

next Week-

Day 1- 41 sets

Day 2- 42 sets

day 3- 43 sets

Day 4- 44 sets

Day 5- 45 Sets

Next week start at 42 and so on.

This way you can add 1 set a week. Every month try to beat the average distance covered per set. 4 Weeks before contest start running longer and longer distances at once and start testing yourself.

Its a simple approach but it works. Just make a plan and stick with it and you'll do great! And have fun too!

Question:

My goodness!! Tejas, I just read your story in the article and also watched the video clip in the link! This is really inspiring because here I am focusing so much on the possible risks that are involved if I have to go back to serious lifting. I have lumbar scoliosis to a certain degree and I also do feel some kind of muscle tightness at the back of my neck. I have done scans for the neck and they are all okay. As for the back, I feel discomfort when I stand on both feet for several minutes. But currently, I am trying to see how I can work on my abdominals and to also do all round bodybuilding (especially back strengthening) but there is always that fear that it may cause more harm to the spine! I was actually scared for you when I watched you doing those workouts. Are you not worried a bit?

I would like to say a BIG thank you for your kind and detailed mail response. If you don't mind, I would like to have your e-mail address so that I don't bother you so much on Facebook. The mind-muscle connection you talked about really makes a lot of sense and I think I need to focus on this while working out. I will explore the use of bodyweight rows you mentioned.

Thanks a million once again Tejas and God bless you!!

Answer

Thank you so much for your kind words! I do worry about my spine when I exercise but I have found over time that you have to change your technique in order to compensate for your problems and work on your problems directly. If you do that you will be fine in the long run. You also have to be willing to accept some short term pain.

For your problems you will have to do a lot of soft tissue work on your back and neck and seriously work on building abdominal strength. If you can find an ART practitioner it would be great, but if you cant, like me, you can learn how to use a foam roller and a tennis ball to do ART yourself. You have to take ART work seriously, 5 times a week for a few weeks would be good. That's how I got back into exercise.

Mobility training is also really important to prevent pain. I do twist holds, toe touches and half kneeling hip flexor stretches every single day. I do bridges once a week. Its probably good to build a base for 3-4 months using calisthenics like bridges, pistol squats, leg raises, push ups, handstand pushups and pullups. From then on try to get into loaded carries like farmer's walks or goblet walks. Just do 5 sets of 20m twice a week and add weight evey week. In a couple of months you'll be handling half body weight in each arm.

Then the first thing you want to do is get to the stage where you can deadlift 2.25 times bodyweight. From this point on you can probably start training normally again. Get a lot of reps in with the bodyweight work, specially for the upper body, dont ignore loaded carries and do a lot of ab work using pallof presses, leg raises, planks, turkish get-ups etc.

An easy way to get the hang of the mind muscle connection is to take up Zhang Zhuang for a few weeks. Helps almost everyone. You can check out the Way of Energy by Master Lam Chen, I think its available for free online. just get familiar with the exercises, you dont really need to understand all the theory.

Once again Thanks A lot for the wishes!
Regards
Tejas

Question:

Thank you for adding me as your friend. I really appreciate it. I need your help. I want to get stronger and mascular. I'm 38 years old and don't get to workout everyday. I want to start and get stronger. I don't have broad shoulders. I would say my arms are attached very close to my neck and have round shoulders. It does not give me a wider look. By nature I am very soft and it takes long, long time before it gets toned. Few years ago, I continusely went to gym and worked for 6 months. I got stronger but never got ripped body. What kind of exercises would you recommend on a daily basis? Could I do body weight exercises to get toned?

Thank you very much.

Answer:

Thank you so much for your message! First of all your problem seems to be simple a lack of muscle mass. there is no such thing as muscle tone per say- There is only muscle size and lack of body fat. When you have reasonably developed muscles and sub-10% body fat you will be toned.

If you feel that you are naturally soft, that just means that you tend to store fat easily and do not gain muscle. In such a circumstance, there are several ways I would recommend you go about developing your body. Simply perform strength training 2-3 times a week and perform conditioning 2-3 times a week. That itself will give you great gains. A simple program if you are using weights could be-

Mon- Barbell Squats- 5X5 and 5X10 + Ab and lower back work Pull Ups- 4-5 ladders

Thu- Bench Press- 5X5 and 5X10 + Shoulder and bicep work Pull Ups- 4-5 ladders

try to add weight every week.

Sprint uphill (50m) 10-20 times 2-3 times a week. You could do this immediately after workouts too.

Alternately you could do bodyweight exercises too using a similar approach of progressive overload.

Ex- Mon- Bodyweight Squats- 3X6-10 (Hard Squats) 5X15 (Easier Squats) + leg Raises X3 sets + Bridges X3 sets Pull Ups 2 Sets

Thu- Push Ups- 3 X6-10 (Hard) 5 X 15 (Easier) + handstand work + Easy bridges X2 sets + Pull ups- 4-5 ladders

Sprint uphill (50m) 10-20 times 2-3 times a week.

For more on how to perform proper progressive training with bodyweight check out my blog at- http://extendingmyspine.blogspot.in/

If you are in Delhi, you can take up training with me directly 1-2 times a week. Many athletes train less than 4 times a week and make great progress. I myself train 3 times a week.

Or you could contact me for distance coaching. I provide detailed training guides and programs, which tell you what to do till the last repetition and are very economical on time, space and logistics.

You can call me at 8826532540.

Regards Tejas Jaishankar

Why do we train?

After I won India's Strongest Man (see previous post), I was asked by a journalist why I loved training. I said I just do. She said that no one just does something, everybody has something, some external motivation that works. I thought about it for a while and said this-

"It is true that external motivation helps. Do I feel good that I am stronger than anyone in most rooms? Yes I do. And when somebody compliments my thigh development or my forearms, it gives me a kick. On the other hand, when I think about it, I would still be training if everyone on earth was dead and I was the only man left alive. I guess the reason I love training is because it is something that is your own and only yours. You develop it yourself and only you can enjoy it. And it gives great satisfaction to see your self growing in strength and as a consequence as a person- as you work at it and build something great for yourself. And few things today can truly be called your own. Much of your work and achievement is based on circumstances and others, but if you train for strength with the attitude of a lifer, you have at least something that is truly yours."

Later I though I must post this, as everyone must have a reason why they train, and I just wanted to write mine down. 

Training Philosophy

Over time and experience, every lifter and athlete will come to certain conclusions about their own training. Over time, they will come back to the same points again and again and again. Ultimately these thing must become part of your training philosophy.

Ultimately every athlete must develop golden rules and a philosophy of training that is unique to them and their experience. I think I read on Magnus ver Magnusson's blog that it takes athletes 3 years of trail and error to find their training system. I know it took me 5.

Just because you have created a training philosophy does not mean you stop learning. All it means is that you now have a foundation on the basis of which you apply what you see and understand how to filter information. Without a training philosophy you will always be confused. Over time even your philosophy will change, but some things always remain constant.

Below I have listed what I consider to be my training philosophy. There is no explanation of these, as they are unique to my experience. Some of them you may find unacceptable, some of it true, some of it might even work for you. If you can take even one point for yourself, that is good. Ultimately the point is that without a training philosophy you will be unable to know how to approach your long term goals. Without it you will not be able to create something that works for you. Over time you must have something that you can call your own, that you can use to make yourself better, something you believe in.

My Training Philosophy For Strength-

Golden Rules of Programming

1. Start too easy, and progress slowly.
2. Always train multiple qualities at a time (conjugate training). You must focus on one, but you must always do multiple things.
3. Back off every 4th week
4. Balance of stressors must be maintained- For every set introduced into your program, a set must be reduced somewhere. If you are increasing the total number of sets, food and sleep must increase to counter it.

Principles of Strength training

1. Always use basic compound movements for strength.

Small isolation movements can always be used for specific purposes, but ultimately strength is built through compound movements.

2. You must stick with the same basic movements for a long long time.

Variety only makes you feel like you are improving. learn to differentiate between when you have truly stalled with a movement and need a change and when you are just over your beginner phase with that movement.

3. You must train heavy (82-85%+) some of the time.

I recommend up to a maximum of 20% of your total volume.

4. You must train fast some of the time.

I recommend a maximum of 20% of total volume.

5. Strength is not built by just heavy and fast lifting however. Strength is built by mastering a certain level of resistance through repetitions, optimizing technique and cultivating good form, and then moving on to higher levels of resistance.

If you do not master the resistance you can currently do, how can you expect to master something you can barely do and then expect to improve from it. You have to rep out with slightly lesser levels of resistance and build proficiency at that level before moving on to the next one. Personally I work best by starting with 6 rep sets and adding reps till I get 12 reps and then add resistance and start over on barbell movements. I like 8-20 on calisthenic movements.

6. Mastery of a weight is built in a single set. Everything else is extra.

Some one who can do 225 for 4 X 5 has not mastered 225 as well as someone who can do 1 X 20 with the same, assuming both use the same form. The point here is that the minimum stimulus required to make progress is only 1 set (work set of course). Not 4 not 3- 1 set only. Now you can (and you should) do more sets depending on your objectives, but if all you want is some progress and all you care about is strength, one set is enough to keep moving- as long as it is truly hard. not to failure, but it should take some of the life out of you and you should have a progression of some sort in place, where you break repetition records and targets.

For the record, I like doing 2-3 light warm up sets, 1 explosive set, 1 heavy-ish set, 1 heavy (82%+ set) for 2 or 3 reps short of getting truly stuck, and 2 work sets of 6-12/9-20 reps, breaking repetition records all the time. A 4 set system, with 2 real work sets.

7. To build muscle you must use volume.

Cut down the reps per set by a couple and do a lot of sets.

8. Never do a certain exercise for more than one workout a week unless there is a real real reason for doing so.

9. You can only bring up one thing at a time- at least radically.

10. You can serve multiple masters at a time, but you can only do justice to one, so you better be clear what you want.

11. Mobility and flexibility work is critical.

These are abilities you lose if you dont use them. The only way to become mobile is to well, move- a lot. Do high reps of easy full ROM movements. Stretch regularly to be flexible. I have a flexibility post on the blog, based on active stretching. however do not underestimate static stretching. It lets you go through the ROM, which is a pleasant side benefit to the real point of passive stretching- you learn how to relax! And its better than nothing. If you enjoy it, do it. Foam rolling is pretty useful too.

12. Eat well and relax.

If you exercise more and want to be great you need to eat. Not supplements not junk- real food! And the more you exercise the more you need to eat, even when losing fat. Learn to relax, stretch and foam roll, calm your mind, get good sleep and dont worry. If you have psychological issues try you best to deal with them. Get therapy if you have to. Try to sleep more, engage in relaxing walks and fun activities. Keep your mind fresh and active.

13. Calisthenics works the extremities, barbell the torso.

The statement is not exactly correct- the more advanced you get the more true this becomes. A one arm push up is all about the triceps, a pushup about the shoulders and chest. A weak bench presser will feel his arms burn, a strong bench presser will feel his shoulders. (of course I am talking raw here). A pistol squat is all quads, a truly heavy barbell squat, hips and abs. Thus unlike what I believed at one time, calisthenics and barbell work are not interchangeable.

For the record my combo of exercises that does it all for me is- Deadlift, barbell squat, bench press, push up, handstand push ups, pull ups, front levers, pistol squats and bridges. Other exercises I like are the military press, dumbell rows, snatch grip deadlift, split snatch, kettlebell snatches, leg curls, bicep curls, back levers, leg raises, sit ups, dips and ham glute raises. I only use 9-12 exercises each week at a time.

About Exercises-

1. Deep Squat= Athleticism on field (think football)
2. Deadlift= Raw Strength and Power (think sprinting and strongman)
3. Bench Press= Upper body Size (Do you know a single guy who can press 300+ pounds and has a small upper body)
4, Military Press and Pull Ups- Upper body strength
5. Abdominal work= Leg Raises, sit ups and side movements. You can twist on a stability ball all you want, but a monstrous midsection needs flexion.

There you have it. I am sure many people will strongly disagree with a lot of my principles. What matters is I have principles. And the point here is to prove how much easier things are when you have one. So what are your principles?

Lessons from the Training Vault Part 3 of 3

27. Easy Exercises have great value

Never under estimate the value of real easy exercises like incline pushups, bodyweight rows and assisted squats. They teach you good form, they take the body through a full range of motion, done for high repetitions they flush the tendons and the joints with blood, they make you feel more mobile and make your joints feel great, they activate the correct muscle recruitment pattern, they prevent injuries, build mitochondrial capacity (energy), build localized muscular endurance, increase the capillarization in local muscle tissues (which helps subsequent muscle growth, which is one of the reasons why legs grow faster than arms), helps recovery by increasing overall blood flow, and can be used as a muscle sparing form of steady state cardio, by making supersets that give you no rest, but you dont push yourself. In my log, my body always felt the best and most mobile when I was doing high repetition easy exercises as a part of my warm up and cool down.

28. Infrequent, Low Set efficient workouts really help hormones and the CNS

Programs in which you push yourself in terms of intensity only for 2-3 sets per exercise, and do not do more than 2 main exercises per workout, and not do an exercise more than 2 times a week, make you feel fresh and gets rid of any staleness you may be feeling, and increases your energy and motivation. You will feel permanently pumped (in your head not your muscles) and your mind and body will always be energetic and fresh.

Granted such an approach will only give mediocre gains, but its important to have one such program in your arsenal and come back to it once or twice a year or during times of high stress. Its a great way to keep making improvement. It will really help. Here is what I used-

Monday-
Warm Up-
1 Set of 40 Incline Push Ups
1 Set of 30 Body weight Rows
1 Set of 30 Kneeling Push Ups
1 Set of 20 Feet Elevated Body Weight Rows
Work Sets-
2 Sets of Assisted One arm Push Ups (AMRAP)
2 Sets of Towel Assisted one arm chin ups (AMRAP)
1 Set of Full ROM Handstand Pushups (AMRAP)
1 Extra Slow One arm chin up negative

Wednesday-
Warm Up-
1 Set of 50 assisted squats
1 set of 40 hip thrusts
1 set of 30 full squats
1 set of 30 45 degree hyper extensions
1 set of 3 squats with 135lbs
1 Set of 3 squats with 225lbs
1 set of 2 squats with 275
1 set of 2 squats with 315
Work Sets-
2 Sets 5-8 Squats with the max weight for that workout
1 set of 8 squats with 40lbs lesser with a full 2 second pause at the bottom
1 set of AMRAP Ham Glute Curls

Friday (this is the hard day of the week)-
Warm Up-
1 Set of 40 Incline Push Ups
1 Set of 30 Body weight Rows
1 Set of 50 assisted squats
1 set of 40 hip thrusts
Work Sets-
2 Sets of AMRAP full ROM handstand Push Ups
2 Sets of AMRAP Pull Ups with a 45lb plate
2 Sets of AMRAP pistol squats
2 Sets of AMRAP Bridges

Add abdominal work wherever you want.

29. Cleaning and Snatching is Important

Doing explosive lifts is important. Sometimes, sheer bar velocity matters, irrespective of weight. Just take a weight 50% of what you can snatch and use it as a part of your warm up for every workout. For athletes who are not Olympic lifters, the simple high split snatch is the easiest variation to learn. Its not as technical as people make it out to be, and you do not need perfect technique to use the clean and the snatch for training. Just use a light weight (35% of squat max) until you have found the technique that allows you to generate maximum power. Just get your basics right, have a first and second pull, focus on full extension and catch the weight with the elbows high in cleans and the arms straight in the snatch. You will figure the rest out over time.

It is not enough to just try to move heavy weights as fast as possible. Even resistance bands and box squats are not enough. You have to do some jumps, sprint a bit and move weights around at great speed. Throw objects, buy a shot put and practice in your backyard. Moving fast and generating power is the cornerstone of being an athlete, never lose sight of that. Its not enough to just be strong. And amazingly, you strength will increase too as you get more explosive.

30. High volume, high intensity, high frequency training works if you back off correctly

Programs like the Sheiko, Smolov, Russian Squat Assault work! Working at 4-5 times a week doing 100+ lifts at 75%+ intensity, with a average intensity between 80-85% will increase your strength and muscle size in a hurry. The only problem is you have to back off correctly otherwise all that pain and gain will be for nothing. This is where most people who do crazy programs like the smolov go wrong- They dont back off correctly, and end up experiencing a dip in strength which demotivates them. You do not have to experience this dip if you back off correctly! You can retain all your gains from such crazy training! The following are the rules for high intensity, high frequency, high volume training. Most of my analysis is based on the full 13 week smolov  I did, though I have also done the smolov jr, the russian squat assault and the blast your bench and blast your squat programs as well.

a. The actual program should never last beyond 3 weeks. In the smolov the base mesocycle lasts 3 weeks of training and 1 week test. In the intense mesocycle the last week (4th week) is overtraining and is meant to be so.
b. You are going to overreach/overtrain. Live with it. You'll recover later. Dont worry about this during the program.
c. NEVER do a true max test after the program. Most guys will do the 3 weeks, get excited about how strong they are, rest a week and go for a Max attempt. Since they are all pumped after the program they will actually go all out and lift every last pound. This throws you back into the over training zone without the super-compensation happening. As a result your strength will dip. No matter how great the program went, do not test your max until full super-compensation has happened.
d. Eat during the program- dont worry about your waist. You need to eat. And have fish oil and multiminerals while you are at it.
e. Immediately after the last workout of the program, take 4 days completely off.
f. After that do 5X5 High jumps and broad jumps every day for the next 3 days.
g. After that start a workout program that involves only 2 lifts a workout and 3 workouts a week.
h. The lift you were specializing in should be done all three workouts, but with an emphasis on being really explosive with 50-60% weights of your previous max. You need to keep doing the lift on a frequent basis to build on the groove that has been built during the program itself, but you need to allow super-compensation to occur. Explosive training will refresh the groove yet keep it alive, so that the gains become permanent. Just do 8 sets of 3 reps of the lift every workout with a 50% weight.
i. Make all your training explosive! Add standing jumping, both vertical and broad. Do clapping push ups. Do all the lifts that you do do with light weights and great speed. Other than the lift you were specializing in, all lifts should be done just once a week during the back off period.
j. After every workout do 2 sets of 40 assisted squats, incline pushups, bodyweight rows, short bridges, EZ bar curls and external rotations. Change the difficulty in order to get the required repetitions, the number of repetitions are more important than intensity. Do all the reps deliberately with good form. You should not be pushing yourself hard at all.
k. Do foam rolling and stretching before every workout.

Follow this type of training for 2 weeks. Including the initial 5 (total rest)+ 3 (jumps) days, the whole back off period will last 3 weeks. After the last workout of the back off phase (thee should be 6 workouts), take 2-3 days off and test. You will blow your old PR out of the water and it will be for good.

31. Last Attempt Best Attempt

When competing in any event, you should put your all out only in the last attempt. Just make sure you get a good attempt in before that. Too many guys try too hard too early and tire themselves out and then fail at something that should have been easy for them. Get the easy and good attempts in first.

32. Leave on a high note

This is related to the last point. In every workout it is best to always leave on a high note. If you have done your best set for the day and you dont think you can beat it, then dont. Just leave on a good note, what is important is that you showed up for the workout and did what you had to do. Anything over that is just cherry on the icing and not essential. Sometimes, when you have bad days you will not be able to do your workout properly. That is okay, but it is still important to show up. Do the set that is most important to you and do it well. Then leave. This will build confidence and optimize recovery. But more than that it will build a winning attitude.

33. Conjugate periodization works, but handling it is a lot more complex than it seems.

In a nutshell, conjugate periodization is training multiple strength qualities at the same time and using all three methods of strength training (Max Effort, Dynamic Effort and Repetition effort) in the same training period.

It works. It optimizes recovery, prevents overtraining and gets the best strength response. Unfortunately for most athletes things are not so simple. Chances are you are doing way more of each type of training than you realize. You are a shot putter- you are always doing dynamic effort. You are a rower- you are always doing repetition effort. The problem is conjugate periodization is very tricky for people who are engaging in many activities all the time. For those who can regulate their lifestyle very precisely or have defined off seasons, this is the way to go. For most ordinary people, undulating periodization is probably best.

Personally when I was doing conjugate training, I always botched it up by doing too many other activities. I simply could not find the balance.

34. Athleticism is important

No matter how strong or big you get, you always need to maintain some semblance of athleticism. It will help you move, make you recover faster and give you motor skills to handle the most complicated lifts. Just pick a couple of sports and throws and just play.

35. Nothing Beats Hill Sprints for General Conditioning and athleticism

Its two biggest advantages are its cost (free) and simplicity., Just find a steep hill 15-30m long and go at it. Run up as fast as you can, walk down and repeat. Its easy to learn, there is virtually no technique involved. The incline forces you to use good sprinting technique. It teaches you how to thrust with you hip. It teaches you to accelerate to beat the slope. It builds both the vertical and broad jump. It increases flat sprinting speed. It imbibes good running mechanics. In addition to all this it builds the calves, hamstrings, glutes and more importantly lungs and heart. Whenever I did hill sprints my lifts were more explosive, my energy was high and I could recover between sets like never before.

I would say 2 times a week is good place to start. 3 times a week is probably enough for most people. 2 sets of 5 sprints is a good place to start. 2 sets of 30 sprints (with consistent speed) makes you the king of the conditioning world.

36. Everything can be made progressive

In this blog itself we have so many examples of ways to make seemingly basic movements harder, or impossible movements easier. Sometimes the simplest approaches are the best. Want to sprint faster? Sprint up hills! Want to improve your agility? Chase a cat! Of course its not as simple as that, there are many more considerations. But sometimes we forget to do the obvious and don't understand how we can make what we are trying to achieve easier or harder.

37. Don't try to do too many things at once

In light of the number of things that have been said in the last 3 posts, its hard to do this, but you must understand that the body is a unit. Strength training is like economics- you have limited resources which you must use to satisfy unlimited wants. Your resources are your energy and recovery. You cannot squander it on too many things. High school athletes come to me and say- "I want to follow your reputed squat specialization program. I also want to follow the ab routine given in the truth about six pack abs. I also want to do the arm blaster i read about in some magazine. I also want to do the get ripped quick routine I read about in a blog. Since each program lasts 3 weeks, I will be awesome in just three weeks!" I don't even know where to start when telling them what is wrong with this. Remember the body is unit! Just because the legs and arms are different body parts does not you mean you can over train both. I have always paid the price for chasing more than one goal at a time. Always.

38. A real change requires a dramtic approach

I am all for slow and steady development. But sometimes when something is seriously out of place something radical needs to done to fix it. This is why I have so many base building programs in my blog- because I am always either working towards or off a specialization program. Find your weakness and attack them relentlessly for 3 weeks. Back off,go back to base building to realize your gains, cement the benefits, and prepare for the next assault. Don't do more than 2 (maximum 3 if you are beginner) such phases a year, but your training should revolve around preparing for them and reaping the benefits of them. You must and should make good and consistent improvement during your base building phases- this is when you develop your overall strength. Then find what is holding you back and destroy it and move back to an even more productive phase of base building.

Remember if the lack of something made you weak, you need to do a lot of it to compensate. For years I sucked at pull ups, barely getting 12. I tried every gradual progression method and nothing worked. Then I decided to do something serious. I followed the Major Armstrong Pull up program for 3 weeks, which involves 5-10 hard sets of pull ups 5 days a week. I hit my target of 20 repetitions and have never looked back since. And after that, somehow doing weighted pull ups as a part of a base building program become much more productive. In no time, gradual progression got me to 30 pull ups and 2 100lb weighted pull ups. But I know that if I had not taken that initial step to undergo the pull up specialization, I would have been stuck there.

And its not just pull ups. I sucked at squats- I did the smolov. I no longer suck at squats. My bench sucked- I did the blast your bench program. It still sucks but I suck a little less at it now and I am moving forward. Let me make it clear that each of these was preceded by and followed by base building phases months long. And if I did not back off correctly to reap the gains, or prepared correctly, I would have probably just overtrained like 90% people.  But the reason I know how to back of well, and know how to build is base well is because I have pushed myself to the edge enough times to know the mistakes. I am glad for every specialization routine I have ever done, even the ones that grossly overtrained me and gave little returns- because very one of them brought out the best in me and taught me something.

But never forget, base building allows you to reap the gains of such training and prepare for it. But most of it it BUILDS A BASE OF PERMANENT STRENGTH. It'll also teach you patience. And you can never have enough of that.

39. Breathing is important

You need to learn how to breathe diaphragmatically (through the stomach). It is the best way to keep relaxed and prevent the accumulation of stress. When you start breathing through your chest, you know you are beginning to overdo things (not just in training) and you need to slow down. he shorter your breaths are, the more stresses you are and need to do something about it. Every couple of days pay attention to your breathing and understand what is going on with your body. I will have a post about this later.

40. Keep a training journal- otherwise you will never be able to make objective conclusions about yourself and your own training.

Lessons from the Training Vault 2 of 3

13. Form is Critical

This one may also seem like common sense, but it is amazing how much we can cheat without even knowing it. In my notes I spent 2 years doing diamond push ups in the exact same rep range, yet my bench was improving every 2-3 months and my triceps had grown a lot. The only thing I had improved over 2 years was my form, but it was enough to make the exercise at-least twice as hard.

Good form makes real progress possible and builds focus and prevents injury. Only an idiot or an ego manic will use poor form AND BELIVE that improvement is happening. We have all seen the guy who keeps adding weight to his squat and removing inches from his squat depth who thinks he is improving. Don’t be that guy, have some standards (of movement).

With all the cheating going on nowadays and numbers being thrown about people keep trying to reach high numbers too fast and ultimately cheat to make it look like they are progressing. Believe it or not but the following lifts are legitimately difficult and are excellent lifts for a athlete from any sport other than power or weight lifting-

a.       Double Bodyweight Full Squat

b.      2.5 Times Bodyweight Conventional Deadlift with no rounding of the back.

c.       1.5 times bodyweight bench press

d.      15 Full Pull Ups

e.      20 Straight Legged Hanging Leg Raises

f.        Bodyweight overhead press with no back bend or jerk with a full ROM.

If you are finding achieving these numbers easy you are either a genetic freak or you are cheating the hell out of these movements. Take a good hard look at your form; chances are you will be embarrassed by how low your numbers really are. But humility is the first step towards training success as it exposes your weaknesses.

 

14. Do not do bridges more than twice a week

I have already spoken about how great bridges are in a previous post. If you want to find out why you should be bridging look at the archives of this blog. But there is something called doing too much of a good thing. Almost all gymnasts who started training when they were children have completely wrecked lumbar vertebra from all the bridging that they did.

Of course this is mostly due to the fact that the skeletal structure of children is just not mature enough to handle such training without detriment. Of course these are the sacrifices people make to achieve that level of skill in any field. But it is also important to understand that movements like bridging will realign the vertebra and while almost everyone needs it from time to time, realigning them all the time is only going to ruin them.

Whenever I have bridged more than twice a week, I have developed severe pelvic pain. Whenever I have bridged less than once a week I develop severe lower back pain. For me the sweet spot is 2 sessions a week, one hard and one easy. You need to find your own sweet spot that gives you maximum returns. This is not just for bridging of course.

15. Uneven Push ups (and movements) are harder than they look

Uneven variations are the movements that bridge the gap between bilateral variations (like Push ups) and unilateral variations (like one arm push ups).  The point is, if they are not hard enough, you will never be able to make it to the unilateral variations. These movements are supposed to be significantly harder than the bilateral variations. But if you just try to get your reps with these variations, you will never move forward.

A good example is uneven chin ups (one hand holding the other wrist) and chin ups. There are people who can actually do as many uneven chin ups as they can chin ups. While it’s awesome that they have such a great grip it’s also stupid because uneven chin ups are supposed to be a lot harder than regular chin ups. If it’s not harder, then there is no point doing it. You have to make an effort to put more weight on the working arm and force it to work properly. I know a guy who can do a one arm chin who can only do 10 uneven chin ups, and you can bet it’s not because he is weak.

Make uneven exercises worth it, make your form perfect.

16. I press too much

This is probably a very common problem, but there is no denying the awesomeness of raw pressing power. This does not mean you press all the time. And if you are, make sure it’s the overhead press, and be sure to do a lot of external rotator work and lots of rowing as well. And don’t forget to work on shoulder and thoracic mobility!

But even if you did all that it still does not give you the right to press all the time, at least until you know your body well enough to control the intensity and volume. Not only do you reach the point of diminishing returns, but you also eat up all your training time doing something whose application in sports is questionable at best.

17. The Ham Glute raise is the most awesome posterior chain developer I know

It works great for me and my trainees. And it may be the exercise you are looking for. It’s easy on the body as there is no external load, but if done correctly, it rocks. Perfect form is critical though- use a full ROM, do not use your arms (there are better ways to work up to your first rep which I shall discuss some other time), do not bounce your chest off the floor, don’t hyper extend your lower back, keep your abs tight and glutes tight.

When done this way, on the floor with your heels wedged under something and your knees on a towel, it will fry your calves, hamstrings and lower back. Admittedly it is a sub-par glute developer, but you won’t be worried about your glutes if you really are doing full squats the way you are supposed to.

18. Pull Ups are the Best Way to work the grip

It’s the Squat of the grip training world. Don’t even think of buying a Captain of crush gripper unless you can do 12 pull ups from a real thick bar. By the time you get to the stage where you can do uneven chin ups (one hand holding) from a towel draped over a bar, your forearms will be strong enough for any purpose short of wrestling bears. If you don’t think this is that hard, go and try just hanging from one arm from a vertically hanging dry bathroom towel. Unless you can crush a number 2 gripper chances are you will slip.

I feel it’s because static gripping seems to be a fundamental function of the human hand. And statically gripping heavy weight is very stressful, especially since you need to train forearms with relatively high volume and frequency. Hanging and gripping will only make you feel better, if anything.

19. I change routines too frequently

It’s not just about consistency with movements but you need to use the same system of exercise to get returns from it. But most people change their routines too frequently. This may be due to good and bad reasons, but at the end of the day it compromises your results. Sometimes patience is the greatest virtue.

If I look over my notes, if I had just stayed consistent for 6-7 months with any one of the dozens of programs I have used, I would be a better man today. And as my notes show, I had everything “very well thought out” every time I changed routines.

20. Nothing Beats Raw Milk for Supplementation

This is of course if you know the milk you are getting has not been treated with hormones or something.  Living in India where ‘modern food technology’ had not yet had great penetration, it makes me happy that I can drink as much milk as I want. My rule of thumb is simple- if you want to lose weight, cut out the dairy. If you want to gain some weight drink a litre of milk a day. If you work out and have an active lifestyle, 2 litres will do the trick. If you want to grow 2 shirt sizes in one summer, a gallon of milk a day. You will never think of protein supplementation again.

I do think cretene, omega 3 (fish oil), multiminerals and multivitamins are really really useful though.

21. Consistency in Flexibility Works

While this may seem like common sense, consistency does not just work with strength training, it also works with flexibility. The primary reason you are tight and inflexible is because you never made your body adapt to a consistent flexibility stimulus. Just pick 3-4 dynamic stretches and active stretches and do them along with every workout. Every single workout. Before you know it you will be more flexible than you ever have. Remember, flexibility is not something you gain, but something you lose. Any 2 year old baby can sit in a rock bottom squat. Almost no 17 year old can. And the reason is because they were not consistent with using that ROM. Regularly put your body through a full range of motion (ROM) and you will be flexible.

On a side note, guys who use a full ROM in all their exercises rarely get tight.

22. Too many sets don’t work on a consistent basis

Things like ladders (1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3), or many sets with low reps only work for some time for me. At some point you are either going to have to cut down the number of sets by increasing the weight or increasing the reps, depending on your objectives. In fact the purpose of high set low rep approaches is to enable you to handle more weight per set or set rep records. Such an approach can definitely help you break out of a training rut, but it won’t last long.

Just to clarify when I say high sets, I don’t mean 5 or 8 sets. I mean doing 10 to 20 sets per exercise with 70% + weights. After a point you just burn out. At some point it is important to move back to working towards and backing off from 2-3 hard sets of each exercise per workout.

23. Pressing Requires High Volume but not that much intensity

To press a lot you must press a lot. This old expression is as true today as it was when it was first uttered. But you do not need great intensities to improve your pressing. In fact anything 65% + will improve your pressing power. You may or may not respond to high frequency training, but high volume is critical for pressing, as muscle mass in important for pressing. Bodybuilders with great legs may or may not have impressive squats, but guys with bug arms, shoulders and pecs always bench a lot. In fact a grossly obese person can probably bench press a lot more than you can, even if you have the same or more lean body mass as him. Also the pressing groove needs to be worked pretty often for your CNS to increase your strength.

24. Uneven Towel Chins are no good for pull ups in general

I have personally experimented with and tried on a lot of other guys, the uneven towel chin up. It seems like great idea on paper- Your grip can’t handle holding your entire bodyweight while you move up and down so make it uneven by using a hand-spacing on a vertical towel. Except the grip becomes even more of a factor and you just can’t pull to one side to make it uneven. It’s great for grip and bicep development but it does not do squat for your chinning ability per say.

25. Laying off the Deadlift works- If you are consistent

What this means is, it’s probably not a great idea to deadlift every third day, especially if you are good at it. It just beats up the body too much. But on the other hand it’s too valuable an exercise to omit. For me the balance is dead lifting once in 2 weeks, with a lot of RDLs, one leg dead lifts, one arm dead lifts, good mornings and hyper-extensions the rest of the time.

Of course if you are a natural squatter you need to layoff the squat and deadlift a lot. Plus do a lot of Bulgarian squats, pistol squats, front squats, goblet squats, overhead squats and jumping squats the rest of the time. You need to find your balance.

26. Once a week training works- with consistency

You do not need to train 4 times a week or even twice a week. You can make decent progress with just one workout a week if you are consistent with it, keep trying to beat the record books and work hard. Of course this workout has to be minimalist, but a couple of good things happen when once-a-week training in this fashion is used. You always recover and somehow you are able to make progress every single workout. And somehow you never need a back off cycle and Periodization becomes obsolete. Let me be clear here, you will not make the same progress you would make if you work out 3-4 times a week and periodize in some fashion, but if you just stick with this one system, you can still make great progress.

If you do this, just make sure you use the double progression system. For those unfamiliar with this mother of all progression, you pick an exercise you can do for a certain number of repetitions (say 3) and keep using the same weight till you can do a certain target number (say 6) and then increase the weight and go back to the same number. Never have more than 4 hard sets per exercise. But make it hard, because you only work out once.

I did the following workout once a week for 4 straight months. And I gained 8 pounds of muscle, and my strength increased by 10-20% on all lifts and that is saying something about the value of such an approach.

Clean and Press

2 warm up Sets

2 Hard sets of 3-6 (3 is the starting rep range, 6 is the target)

1 Hard Set of 6-12 high Incline Presses

Full Back Squat with heels flat

No Warm up as Cleans have been done

2 Hard Sets of 5-8

2 Hard Sets of Ham Glute Raises

Weighted Pull Ups

2 Hard Sets of 5-8

1 Set of As many as possible Chin Ups

1 Hard Set of 6-20 Barbell Rows to the lower Abdomen with the forehead on a bench

Finisher

Deadlift a weight and farmer’s walk it for 100-200m twice

That’s it! It would last about 40 mins and it had everything I could have really asked for. And I made more than decent progress.

Lessons from the Training Vault 1 of 3

I recently finished the Base Mesocycle of the Smolov, and I have been going over my training journal for the past few days. After a lot of analysis I have come with with a list of 40 conclusions (purely coincidental number) I have come to about myself. Some of them are only relevant to me, but many can be applied by everyone. So I thought it might be useful to list out what I have learnt on ground.

1. Back off every 4th week

I think its the simplest form of periodization there is. Invariably my energy and results will diminish after the 3rd week of any training system. I find that when I push myself on that 4th week, the next few weeks go terrible. But if I happen to layoff or take it easy, the next 3 weeks go great. I feel if I had just voluntarily backed off every 4th week I would have made much more progress. I also feel that the reason why I (and most people) do not back off automatically is because the 3rd (or preceding) week is always the best training week, so I get carried away.
The length of the cycle differs from person to person, but everyone has a cycle. Just find the 5-8 days your training goes the best. That is probably when your good cycle ends and you need to layoff.

2. There is an exercise specific response to high frequency training

If you train any one exercise more than 3 times a week, you will get really good at that exercise, provided you control and volume and intensity correctly. But, that is about all that will happen. If you are doing that exercise for some other purpose than to get better at that particular exercise, it won't help you.
For example, if you squat to become faster at running, than high frequency squatting programs will not help you run faster. At best they set the stage for later improvements in running, but as such all it will do is improve your squat. When you do too much of something, all that happens in that you become good at that one activity. If you are a powerlifter and have some value to be gained by increasing your squat poundage by itself, then go ahead.

However such programs do increase muscle mass if you back off correctly (this will be discussed in a later point). At the end of the day, your strength does increase, and if you correctly try to develop the abilities you are targeting (like running) later, with minimal to no performance of the exercise you are using (like the squat), then there is a chance that you will see great gains. This is provided, however you can avoid the dip in strength that generally follows such high frequency programs (once again shall be discussed in a later point).

3. Consistency is important for long term progress

If you want to get good at something, you will have to do it consistently. I found the exercises I made the most progress in were never the ones I worked hardest at, but the ones I was most consistent with. Always and every time. Even infrequent, low intensity consistency will reap some results. But consistency is paramount.

4. Variation keeps away injuries

This is the counter to the previous point. One of the main reasons I have never had any real training related injuries was not because I did not train hard enough, as I have been pushed by some very brutal coaches, but because I always had a lot of variations in my exercises. This prevented overuse injuries and movement specific injuries. This is another reason I like calisthenics, because progress in calisthenics is essentially about moving to harder and different variations of the same exercises.

5. My abdominal endurance is directly related to my posture

There was a time in my notebook I could do a 15min plank. And I never had a single incident of upper  back, lower back, hip or shoulder pain. In the middle I went down to only being able to do a 1 min plank. I was hurting all over, Today I can do 5-6 mins. And I have hardly any pain anywhere.

6. Do not max out on singles, doubles and triples

Performing a true max single, double or triple on a regular basis will crush you and destroy you faster than accidents. Do not get me wrong, singles, doubles and triples are great. But you do not have to do them with 95% + loads all the time. Do 85%, maybe a 90%. Work hard, but don't destroy yourself.

7. I respond well to low frequency in upper body pushing and pulling movements

Probably specific to me.

8. Exercising Multiple Times a day is okay- as long as every session has a specific and different objective.

I find that every time we train, we need to have a specific objective for that session. Sometime the number of sessions does not matter. Having different objectives for each sessions in the same day is probably something specific to me, as I have seen people respond to exercising the same qualities multiple times a day as well.

9. When my progress slowed my Max effort was not hard enough and my rest was not good enough.

Basically you need to swing to extremes to make progress. When you work you need to go all out, and when you rest you need to rest properly. And its not about the fatigue you feel while working out, but the concentration and intensity you put into your work set. If you are not at your peak for that set, you are not going to improve. At the same time, if you don't relax enough and rest, its not going to happen either.

10. I tend to do too many sets at too high an intensity and when I do, it leads to no good.

I think this is the problem with 90% of the strength training world.

11. Single set intensity trumps everything

This is in accordance with point 9. And it gives some credence to HIT, though I do not believe in taking sets to absolute failure. That being said, I do not think a lot of sets are needed to make progress. I feel that ultimately it is the intensity and effort that is put into your peak set that counts. And when you are not putting a good effort into your main set (or worse yet you don't have a main set) you do not make progress. Everything else beyond that set should either be preparation for that set or should work on weaknesses. Anything beyond this only eats into your recovery and makes you tired. And its easy to do 10 sets at 80% of your effort. Sure, it will make you sore and miserble for the next few days (or weeks), but its doable at that moment. But it takes much more to put your 100% effort into the set you are on, and making that set count. And you know what, you won't be sore and you will actually feel better and more energized later.

Just to be clear, when I am saying per set effort here it could be inensity (weight), or setting rep records, or maximum acceleration, depending on the objective of the session.

12. Anything that cannot be handled for 5 reps with questionable form on your best day, is probably too hard a weight to use during training.

It seems like common sense but it is just amazing how many times I have done this and how many times people do this.

Mind Control For Training

During a conversation in the comments section in one of my posts, the issue of mind control came up. I have been wanting to do a post on it for a long time, so here it is. I have attached a link to the conversation if anyone is interested- http://extendingmyspine.blogspot.in/2013/01/reps-and-sets-for-strength.html

Before we understand the vast tradition of mind control, it is important to understand the cultural and sociological background behind all of this. Almost all human culture can roughly divided into "civilized" and "un-civilized". The defining factors behind civilization is-
1. Settled society
2. Demarcation of duties
3. Plenty of food
4. Right to private property
5. Civilization likes to preserve itself using methods like patriarchy, government and religion.

Barbaric Cultures are defined by-
 1. Constant movement
2. Tiny groups
3. Food has to be found and hunted
4. Strongest keeps the goods.
5. Ultimate freedom for everyone.

A good way to understand the differences between them is to understand their methods of measuring success. In any civilization, the person with the greater goods is more powerful. Thus by default a civilized society is a materialistic society. On the other hand, the most successful barbarian is the one who is successfully alive and well and is getting stronger. Strength is the measure of success- not just physical but emotional, spiritual and psychological. Ultimately a weakness in any one of these things could destroy you. Thus a barbarian is essentially self obsessed- self improvement is their prime concern.

From this rudimentary understanding it is easy to see why all real philosophical bodies of knowledge originate with either barbaric or ascetic cultures.

Therefore what we must understand is the all "philosophical" systems created in civilization are more sociological than spiritual. In essence almost every god or system of gods that exist in various civilized cultures are basically man's rationalization of the fear of the unknown. The primary purpose of these entities is to reward the good and punish the bad. Thus its easy to see that the primary purpose here is to bring order to society by having a higher law giving authority (and a more powerful) than the government.

In contrast almost all philosophical systems rooted in nomadic cultures are primarily obsessed with explaining the universe. This is better understood by the fact that there is no real god or gods the way Christians understand the concepts. For example, the Christian god is all powerful and supreme. On the other hand in Taoism there are almost a hundred thousand gods but not one of them means squat. All of them can even be killed by humans if you were strong enough. It is also an interesting insight into the strongest and the best will prevail philosophy- even being a god does not mean you stop learning and getting stronger, because someone out there will kill you. Another way of looking at it is that with enough hard work everyone can become a god. Even the greatest overseer of the universe (in Taoism), the Jade Emperor, is subject to the winds of change. For example when the legendary monkey king Sun Wukong attacks heaven the third time, he literally pees in his pants and runs to Gautama Buddha for help. And the monkey king was a simple mortal, who really worked his ass off.

The three philosophical systems that are relevant to us as training systems are the Original Vendantic tradition (Hinduism is an amalgamation of the vedas, the bhagwath gita and the bhakti movement- its a lot more Civilized if you know what I mean), Taoism and Bhuddism. The basic construct of all three is similar- the universe itself is the ultimate force, there is nothing behind it per say (Taosim has the Tao which is like the force from Star Wars, but in actuality it is not an energy field as much as a principle that governs the universe, which is again common to all three traditions). Therefore I will get into the examination of only one- the Vendantic Tradition. This is because I am the most well versed in this tradition.

First of all, the vedas were written by the Aryans before the came to India. It is a nomadic piece of work. Before we get into it, let us understand that we must give the vedas the respect they deserve (from a scientific point of view) as whatever the theories are and we don't know if they are true, the math works out. We do not know how they arrived at this figure, but the vedas date the (current) universe at 16.4 Billion years. Please keep in mind that this dating has an entire kalpa (stage) before the expansion of the universe (a.k.a the big bang), which we will get into. If you exclude that kalpa and count from the big bang, the age of the current universe according to the vedas is 13.5 billion years. Modern estimates place the universe as 13.77 billion years old, give or take 37 million years. Its obvious that the theory at least works out the math with extraordinary accuracy. Both Taoism and Buddhism give similar figures. Contrast this with the Old Testament, which dates the age of the universe as 12,000 years. Its almost mind boggling that the ancients were able to think in terms of such large numbers.

According to the vedas (and Taoism and Bhuddism), the Principle of the universe is Duality. Everything has a duality to it. It is the only principle of the universe, the only thing that is constant. In your actions it manifests as Karma (what goes around comes around). In mechanics its newton's laws. In physics its the conversion of energy to matter and matter to energy (E=MC Square). In physiology it is the negative feedback loop. In cosmology its the theory of a cyclical universe. The Vedic assertion is that this principle is all there really is and to truly understand and realize this is in fact to get Bodhisattva (Ultimate Understanding). To be the principle itself is to overcome all your "physical" limitations, that is Moksha. A lot people understand it as leaving your physical self, but this is not essential to the theory. What it means is that your abilities are beyond all limitations, as you have learnt how to apply the knowledge of your Bhodisattva, which of course is ultimate knowledge. You may or may not go beyond your physical self, depending on the path you have chosen to achieve moksha. Nirvana is to integrate with the universe because you have become one with yourself and the duality within you to a degree that you have created a singularity. Thus you are now truly one with the universe and this is the achievement of the understanding of the duality behind duality- the singularity.

All three traditions prescribe various ways one can reach the previous levels. All depend upon an understanding of duality, through some form of its practical application. It will suffice for us to examine one of the most acceptable ways of doing so- physical culture. In all three traditions there is a huge body of literature focusing on enlightenment through exercise. In simple terms, the body is also governed by duality. Thus to understand your body and to be one with your body, is to understand duality- which is enlightenment. To master your body you must master duality which is Moksha or your ascension to a god like status. Thus exercise is an intensely spiritual experience in all three traditions.

To understand how to do this, let us first examine an obvious way of "training" duality- to simply meditate on it. Ths practise is called Zazen by zen practitioners and is the conerstone of Zen Practice. In fact some say Zazen is Zen. You sit n a cross legged posture with your spine straight and you focus on your breathing. That is all. You hold the universal mudra in your hands as you do so. The idea is smple- breathing is in itself and in every way an expression of duality. If you keep paying attention to it, so much so that all other thoughs stop, you will begin to understand duality. Interestingly the purpose of Zazen is to NOT be dualistic. It goes back to the duality of duality, that is to understand it and be it, you must not be dualistic. Its difficult to explain unless you practice it, but can be roughly explained as "Being in the Moment".

Let us examine what happens when you are in the moment during your Zazen practice. You are aware of you breathing exactly as it is happening. Therefore, since your mind is not in the future nor in the past, you are not controlling your breathing, you are simply aware of it. But you are aware of both your breathing, your mind and what is called your larger mind. At this instant you are aware that you have inhaled and that you are going to exhale. Keep in mind you are not controlling your breathing, you are simply observing t. You know you are about to exhale, not because you are thinking ahead (for then you would be controlling it) but because your larger mind tells you so (through sheer instinct). This happens because your larger mind is aware of the duality behind breathing. But if you were to pay attention to that duality, you would no longer be in the moment, and you would once again not be dualistic. Thus the only way to be dualistic is to not be dualistic.

Another way of looking at it s that being in the moment enables you to see the future, through the medium of your larger mind. In martial arts, this manifests as being so much in the moment, that you can predict your opponents movements, just by observing him. Your response is also automatic and appropriate as your larger mind tells you what to do.

In the context of exercise, being in the moment enables you to know what the effects of what you are doing is going to be, which enables you to know what to do, in order to get the best results. The practice of exercise makes you familiar with the principle of duality, which in turn gives you an understanding of your body. This allows you to be more familiar with your body, which allows you to be in the moment during your exercise (and over time in your entire life), which once again facilitates the same. Over time, you will be duality and realize it, achieving Bodhisattva.

Thus the real realm of mind control from our point of view is to achieve such a degree of "being in the moment" (a.k.a focus) that we are able to train perfectly for our purposes. I use a simple progression to teach people how to get started (you can't call yourself a master until you have, you know, ascended).

First of all, no music no distraction during your workouts. Try your best to focus on both the movement of the joints and the contraction of the muscles as you exercise. Do this for 4-5 weeks after which you move on to step two.

Begin getting familiar with your body and learn how to be aware of every little thing in your body. I teach people to do this through the practice of the Wu Chi position. Any Tai Chi practitioner will show you this position or you could download (for free) and read The way of Energy by Master Lam. It gives a very good description of the basic standing meditations. Basically the objective in Wu Chi is to stand like a tree, absolutely immobile, standing in a natural and perfectly balanced position, with you mind "rooted" into the ground (you have to feel you have roots growing from under your feet into the ground, nourishing you). You don't have any thoughts because trees don't think. You just stand there being aware of your body, yourself, your breathing and your roots. In order to focus on the breathing properly you will have to learn to breathe through your stomachs, but most athletic people will find that they already do this. You will find that over time, this is actually an extremely active position- you will literally feel your cells growing, you energy growing, your blood flowing, your nerves firing, your breathing, your strengthening everything. After a while it becomes incredibly forceful. In addition this practice seems to increase hormonal recovery by leaps and bounds. I am not sure why, but I think it is because it creates an optimal environment for adrenal hormones to be produced and it relaxes the mind.

After you have practiced Wu Chi for at least a year, you may, if you like learn the 24 forms Tai Chi movements. This will teach you how to pay attention to your body during movement. Otherwise you could just directly start with using basic exercises with light weights (initially) and retaining this kind of awareness during your exercise. Over time you will be able to do it naturally and smoothly with even the heaviest weight.

The greatest champions in every field (not just sport) ultimately reach this stage in their work, whether they call it Wu Chi, being in the moment or duality or the mind body connection or french fries. Take a look at any video of Dimas lifting or Arnold posing or Jordan dunking and you can see it in their eyes that they have got it. And when you have something like Wu Chi, which have time and time again over centuries taught people how to reach this state, you must use it. Even the monkey king (who attacked heaven) was supposed to have trained 3 hours daily using Wu Chi. You may use Zazen instead. But you must be doing atleast one. Wu Chi and Zazen are like the Squats and deadlifts of the mind control world- if you want to be truly world class, there is no better way to get there. They are the basics. If you want to pursue Zazen, I recommend Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginners mind. Read as much as you can, but just start practice.

If anyone ever takes up Zazen or Wu Chi training and you ever want to discuss it, please comment below.

An Approach to Strength

The last few weeks, I have been doing a lot of studying in terms of Physiology. I always studied a lot, but of late its getting to the point of an obsession.I have had these phases before, but never so intensely.


It started with the quest for ultimate recovery methods. As expected, western research is woefully inadequate on the matter. I turned to Russian research and found a lot more info, but to be honest, no real conclusions. It would seem that the capacity to recover is a skill in itself, the exact components of which no one really knows. Thus, we are unable to break it down and understand how to get better at this skill. Presumably, the one who would master this skill, could make the fastest progress.


In the end of my research I came to the following conclusions about recovery-

1. Sleep seems essential for it.

2. Muscle recovery happens while you are awake.

3. For the most part, Endocrinol and neural recovery also happens while you are awake.

4. Nobody really knows why we need to sleep.

5. Nobody really knows what causes fatigue.

6. Nobody really knows why you hit strength barriers.


Don't get me wrong, I learnt a lot during this time. But I learnt more from what we did not know, than what we did know.


So I decided to approach the problem from a different angle. I asked myself the question- Why do we need to recover in the first place? Because a strain has been put on our system, and the energy needs to be restored. More importantly from our point of view, some kind of super-compensation is required in order to deal with the work load. This super-compensation happens in 2 forms- hypertrophy and strength increase.


This theory would have us believe that an endless progressive cycle would lead to endless gains. But we all know this to not be the case. Interestingly, gains in strength are not directly proportional to hypertrophy. Other than the fact that increase in the size of the muscle fibers themselves (not sarcoplasmic hypertrophy) will lead to some increase in strength, there seems to be no real relation or rather no constant. In fact, empirically, after about the first 50 pounds of muscle mass, (generally) the amount of strength added for each pound of increased muscle mass would be lesser than the weight of the muscle itself. This explains why after a certain point, people can continue to increase their strength only by adding increasing amounts of bulk, assuming that that is the only way they are seeking to improve strength.


It is worth noting that most Russian research on the topic, and current western research, seems to indicate that the greatest factors effecting strength are functional rather than structural. This means that beyond a point, strength can be increased more fruitfully by focusing on functional adaptations, like increased neuro muscular drive, increased connective tissue strength, better stretch reflexes, more muscle fiber recruitment and more efficient utilization of skeletal leverages. Adding muscle mass beyond this point seems to take away from the overall efficiency of the body. This, and not to mention a lot more research seems to indicate that there may be an optimal level of hypertrophy, beyond which increase in size takes away from the abilities of the body.


In this case it is important to understand that strength as such would be best defined, in the context of this topic, as the amount of force that can be produced in certain movements by the body, relative to body-weight  Thus beyond and below this optimal hypertrophy point, the strength to body-weight ratio declines.


What is interesting to observe is that even those athletes who train strictly in order to increase proportional strength, like gymnasts or olympic weightlifters (in weight classes) , undergo SOME hypertrophy and structural changes, along with increases in strength, even while they focus their entire training on increasing strength through functional adaptations. It would seem that this increase in muscle size is the minimal amount required in order to support the increase in proportional strength. Thus, every increase in weight for these athletes, assuming they train using only functional methods, would get them closer to their ideal body-weight  This is of course assuming they are fairly lean and do not increase body fat levels, and their training in focused on simply moving more resistance (barbell or body-weight  relative to their body-weight  Thus once they reach this size, more increase in size would not occur, as increases in strength cane be increased to a more efficient degree, through functional training beyond this point.


What is important to observe at this point is that it seems fatigue is one of the pre-requisites to dramatic increases in size. It is well documented that heavy loads, lifted to failure or rather forced to be lifted for extra reps, leads to incredible growth. But what is more interesting is that the increase in strength from this hypertrophy is never anywhere as much as the increase in strength from the same level of hypertrophy in someone who never tried to push for size gains i.e never went close to fatigue. Of course such a person would not gain size anywhere as fast as the first person, but this goes to explain why bodybuilders and olympic lifters of the exact same weight are never even in the same league of strength.


This is further borne out by the fact the largest and the strongest (proportionally) muscles in almost all mammals are the ones that are least used. This would suggest that the phenomenon of increase in strength is more of a learning curve, than a size curve. Essentially the body must learn to get stronger, and must make the structural changes required to support the higher levels of tension. This is why hypertrophy is required to increase strength, just not as much as we think.


The fact of the mater is, if we hypothetically divorced ourselves from lifting poundages and defined strength as the ability to move the body, we would practice moving the body in harder and harder ways to get stronger. Thus, we would be focusing on learning movements, like learning an art, or dance. Any bodily changes are a welcome side effect, but the objective would always be strength (i.e movement). If you can maintain this thinking even with barbells, then you have the same mind as an olympic lifter.


Seen from a cost benefit analysis, hypertrophy being the cost and strength being the benefit, it would seem that doing the minimum required, in order to increase strength would be the best way to learn the skill of strength.


Thus when we cut down the intensity and workload of each session to the bare minimum required to make progress, we can keep practicing the skill of producing power- i.e strength (in certain movements of course), without fatigue stopping us. Think about it- if strength were treated just like mastering an art, you would never encounter fatigue in the first place, for recovery to be an issue. And just like an art, you grow stale only when you over practice it- as then your mind grows stale from it.


Hence it would seem that if intensity and workload per session were reduced to the minimum required to make any progress, and the frequency of practice regulated to prevent mental boredom and overdose from the movements, all the laws of training we take for granted wont apply. Periodization wont be necessary, and over training will never happen.


Thus it would seem that the best way to get out of fatigue, over training and a strength barrier is to simply never to get into them in the first place. Never train to fatigue, treat your training as practice and not working out and master strength like you would master playing the guitar.


I am not suggesting what I am saying here is necessarily true. I have after all come to these conclusions only recently. But I feel we might be on to something here.


So as a personal experiment, from today on-wards I am going to limit my strength training to the minimum amount required to make any progress. I will not train more than 6 movements- I pick push ups, pull ups, handstand push ups, bridges, squats and leg raises. I will focus on mastering only one lift- I choose the pull up. The ultimate objective would be the one arm chin up for several reps. Everything else will be reduced to the absolute bare minimum level required to make progress , or at least what amount in my experience allows me to make some progress.

In this case 3 heavy (rep range 2-6 with a weight that allows 4-8) sets per exercise a week, 3 medium sets a week, performed on 2 different days.

The pull up I will train as and well I feel like doing them. I will limit my practices to one set a session, just enough to practice it, with as many reps as can be performed in perfect technique with perfect control and contraction, never going beyond 8. The intensity will fluctuate constantly, just like mastering a song, and the long term objective would be to graduate to harder steps. (see the post on pull ups). I may perform no sets of pull ups a day, or a may do 10, depending on how fresh I am and how motivated I feel. Since I will never be going anywhere close to muscular fatigue, the main factors controlling frequency of practice will be my mental and nervous state.

Always, as many times as can be done, with a fresh, charged and enthusiastic mind- without ever training on the nervous edge.


I will use this approach for sometime, and lets see how it works out. Anybody else who may want to try this system may try it too, but please keep a record and we can correlate our data.