What did you do today?

How much do you weigh now?

 

Lower 170s

Lower 170s

 

At 6'5, I'm guessing you want to be in the 200-220 range.

Today I competed in an event down here in Charleston called "Primal Games"....basically a fitness competition trying to resemble caveman day to day life:

 

http://www.thenewprimal.com/#!the-new-primal-games

 

It was quite humbling....I'm pretty new to crossfit (3 months) and the events were tough.

 

A summary of the events:

 

Event 1 - Trail Run

 

Run for ~600-800 meters, then 25 sand bag lifts over your head full extension (35 lbs men/25 girls). After that, about another 800 meters before you run into an obstacle course (2 jumps over hay, then a 20 yard crawl under ropes like you see in football training...never ended!).

 

To finish up, about a 100 meter run to the finish line but not after jumping over two walls...one around 5'10, the other around 6'3 or so.

 

You finish with a nice 10 meter slip and slide.

 

I did it in 8:57. Fastest man did it just under 6 minutes.

 

Event 2 - Tire Pull

 

Pull a weighted tire (10 lb plate) with a rope about 20-30 yards. Once it crosses the line by you, you then take the rope on the other side and drag it back to it's starting point. Run/jog back to your original starting line.

 

As Many Reps as Possible in 3 minutes. A long ass 3 minutes, lol!

 

I believe I got 2 1/2 reps in. Best guys did like 5 to 6.....this one sucked, I felt weak and it wasn't fun!

 

Event 3 - Stone Throw

 

This one was the coolest and hardest. Starting off in front of your respective wall (men's/women's), you have to pick up an Atlas ball from the ground strongman style (95 lb/45 lb), and throw it over the side wall which is about 5 feet tall. Then you climb the wall, go around, pick the ball up from where it settled...go back to where you came from, drop it again, and repeat.

 

As many reps as possible in 5 minutes....luckily it only felt like an eternity watching others, not so much doing.

 

This one was tough. I dropped the ball a few times from the bottom....it's a lot of technique, patience, and focus to hoist a damn 95 lber up to your shoulder for the carry.

 

I got 24 reps in 5 minutes....best guys did 48-50. I'm pretty content I did that many being that I never lifted such a ball before....it's unlike anything I've ever done.

 

To do 24 wall jumps wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Helps to have done a lot of box jumps.....scaling a wall without a running start is pretty cool. Someone made an interesting analogy calling it a "jumping muscle up"...with a nice flat piece of plywood to help instead of a round bar, it seems that way.

 

Events 2 & 3 were basically strongman events.....and I'm hooked now! It's amazing how much more work is needed to have great core strength to excel at these things. The bench and bicep curls for most of these guys are probably nothing to write home about, but they totally dominated at this stuff.

 

Don't wanna hate on bodybuilding (because I like it), but a lot of it is aesthetics. Powerlifting and strongman stuff is real power!

 

Sucks being at the bottom of the food chain, but would be nice to see where another year takes me.

 

Aaron, I think you'd have fun doing this stuff.

At 6'5, I'm guessing you want to be in the 200-220 range.

 

I am 6'4 with an extremely small bone structure, and I am pretty lean at the moment.

 

edit: I dont want to be anywhere near 200lbs-220lbs when leaned out. Thats way too big and heavy for my bone structure.

Aaron, I think you'd have fun doing this stuff.

 

That all sounds pretty brutal. I would love to do stuff like that, but most of it I cant because of my back issues. Everything I do has to be pretty controlled.

I am 6'4 with an extremely small bone structure, and I am pretty lean at the moment.

 

edit: I dont want to be anywhere near 200lbs-220lbs when leaned out. Thats way too big and heavy for my bone structure.

 

I see.

 

BTW, the few pics I've seen of you....you do not look like you weigh 170....at least 190-200.

 

What's annoying with small bones (or maybe a good thing depending on how you look at it) is that you tend to look skinnier with clothes on than a bigger boned person. But when the shirt comes off, you have muscle and he doesn't.

 

I know how it feels. Getting called skinny when you're not skinny!

 

That all sounds pretty brutal. I would love to do stuff like that, but most of it I cant because of my back issues. Everything I do has to be pretty controlled.

 

Shame.

 

Back issues suck.

 

I see.

 

BTW, the few pics I've seen of you....you do not look like you weigh 170....at least 190-200.

 

What's annoying with small bones (or maybe a good thing depending on how you look at it) is that you tend to look skinnier with clothes on than a bigger boned person. But when the shirt comes off, you have muscle and he doesn't.

 

 

I once heard small bones are a blessing in disguise - make your biceps look huge. I certainly ain't complaining, but having a bigger frame would probably be more my thing just because like you said you already look bigger

 

I see.

 

BTW, the few pics I've seen of you....you do not look like you weigh 170....at least 190-200.

 

What's annoying with small bones (or maybe a good thing depending on how you look at it) is that you tend to look skinnier with clothes on than a bigger boned person. But when the shirt comes off, you have muscle and he doesn't.

 

I know how it feels. Getting called skinny when you're not skinny!

 

 

 

Shame.

 

Back issues suck.

 

Appreciate the nice feedback about the pictures. I am not sure which ones you are referring to, maybe ones from last summer when I was ultra lean? It's all an illusion. The more cut up you are, the bigger you look. I went from 16% body fat to around 5% last year and lost a ton of weight in the process, and people were telling me how big I had gotten lol.

I once heard small bones are a blessing in disguise - make your biceps look huge. I certainly ain't complaining, but having a bigger frame would probably be more my thing just because like you said you already look bigger

 

They are good for some things and bad for others. The biggest issue I have found with a small bone structure is that your muscles can get too strong for your tendons/joints. Also people with small bone structures almost always have an ectomorph body type, which makes putting on muscle very hard, but losing fat easy.

 

My arms do look pretty big though. My biceps are 16.5 inches pumped and flexed. Taking my wrist (6.25in) to bicep (16.5in) ratio and applying it to an 8 inch wrist (fairly normal size for my height), I would have 21 inch guns, which is almost unheard of.

Appreciate the nice feedback about the pictures. I am not sure which ones you are referring to, maybe ones from last summer when I was ultra lean? It's all an illusion. The more cut up you are, the bigger you look. I went from 16% body fat to around 5% last year and lost a ton of weight in the process, and people were telling me how big I had gotten lol.

 

LOL....you have a good point.

 

I've lost some fat recently and I'm starting to think I look bigger too.

 

Nothing wrong with that...finally, a win-win.

Since my last post, I didn't work out for almost 2 full weeks due to traveling for work (and getting sick to boot), and vacation back in NYC.

 

During these two weeks I obviously didn't work out, and on top of that I ate whatever. I wasn't binging on junk, but I wasn't under my controlled diet either. Bread, pasta, cold cuts, rice and beans, desserts, a wedding, even some fast food....all the while, no protein shakes, no supplements, etc.

 

I step on the scale to see I gained only 1 pound....164 to 165! I was bracing for 170+, lol.

 

At first I play the pessimist....trying to rationalize what happened. My best guess was that I had to have lost some muscle and it was replaced by fat, but if I did it couldn't have been much...can't see it really. Stomach is my only gauge these days and it doesn't seem any worse than before.

 

The food had only gotten on track a few days later, and the weight has dropped at an alarming pace....the heat wave down here and consumption of water helps quite a bit for sure, but damn. Today the scale read a solid 160.0....4 lbs in a week...is there something wrong with the scale?!

 

I go to another scale and it says the same thing!

 

I guess the metabolism has gone up quite a bit and stayed there even with all the downtime. There's hope for those of us who wish to enjoy life every now and then!

 

This is good stuff as I've been trying to cut. I'm starting to feel a real sense of accomplishment as I've dropped 15 pounds over the last year and I've retained enough muscle mass for sure. There's clearly a noticeable difference that people can see, and it's starting to feel like I'm where I was at 8 years ago but more muscular.

 

BTW, another reminder that food is everything....I've passed up a few dudes in the gym, physique wise. They all still kick my ass in most of the workouts as they've been working out longer, but their bodies should be better than they are. My guess is the food is off and/or they are more of the "skinny" types that don't have much muscle.

 

 

 

 

Since my last post, I didn't work out for almost 2 full weeks due to traveling for work (and getting sick to boot), and vacation back in NYC.

 

During these two weeks I obviously didn't work out, and on top of that I ate whatever. I wasn't binging on junk, but I wasn't under my controlled diet either. Bread, pasta, cold cuts, rice and beans, desserts, a wedding, even some fast food....all the while, no protein shakes, no supplements, etc.

 

I step on the scale to see I gained only 1 pound....164 to 165! I was bracing for 170+, lol.

 

At first I play the pessimist....trying to rationalize what happened. My best guess was that I had to have lost some muscle and it was replaced by fat, but if I did it couldn't have been much...can't see it really. Stomach is my only gauge these days and it doesn't seem any worse than before.

 

The food had only gotten on track a few days later, and the weight has dropped at an alarming pace....the heat wave down here and consumption of water helps quite a bit for sure, but damn. Today the scale read a solid 160.0....4 lbs in a week...is there something wrong with the scale?!

 

I go to another scale and it says the same thing!

 

I guess the metabolism has gone up quite a bit and stayed there even with all the downtime. There's hope for those of us who wish to enjoy life every now and then!

 

This is good stuff as I've been trying to cut. I'm starting to feel a real sense of accomplishment as I've dropped 15 pounds over the last year and I've retained enough muscle mass for sure. There's clearly a noticeable difference that people can see, and it's starting to feel like I'm where I was at 8 years ago but more muscular.

 

BTW, another reminder that food is everything....I've passed up a few dudes in the gym, physique wise. They all still kick my ass in most of the workouts as they've been working out longer, but their bodies should be better than they are. My guess is the food is off and/or they are more of the "skinny" types that don't have much muscle.

 

I forgot about this thread lol.

 

You are right, working out is just 1 aspect of your physique. Your food and genetics play a much larger role.

 

Today I set a new pullup 1 rep max record. 160.5lbs added to my body weight (173lbs at the time) for a total of 333.5lbs or 192.77% of my body weight. I have a goal to reach 200% in the next couple of months. Would love to be 170lbs and 1 rep max 170lbs added to me.

I forgot about this thread lol.

 

You are right, working out is just 1 aspect of your physique. Your food and genetics play a much larger role.

 

Today I set a new pullup 1 rep max record. 160.5lbs added to my body weight (173lbs at the time) for a total of 333.5lbs or 192.77% of my body weight. I have a goal to reach 200% in the next couple of months. Would love to be 170lbs and 1 rep max 170lbs added to me.

 

Stop slacking!

 

Congrats on the new record....it never gets old, seriously.

 

How long do you think it would take you to do 30 chest to bar pull ups? It took me about 5 and a half minutes I think....

 

 

Stop slacking!

 

Congrats on the new record....it never gets old, seriously.

 

How long do you think it would take you to do 30 chest to bar pull ups? It took me about 5 and a half minutes I think....

 

Dunno, never tried those really. I need to work on those if I want to increase my muscle up max to beyond 10.

 

Current dead hang, pullup/muscle up records as of today.

 

max weighted pull up: 173lbs bw + 160.5lbs = 333.5lbs (192.77%)

max pull up bw reps: 32

max pull up reps w/+45 lbs: 20

max pull up reps w/+100 lbs: 9

max pull up reps w/+135 lbs: 3

fastest time for 100 pull ups: 10 min 6 sec

fastest time for 100 pull ups w/+45 lbs: 18 min 38 sec

max muscle up bw reps: 10

Question for all of you:

 

How flexible are you?

 

I'm talking about hip, ankles, lower body flexibility...the stuff that literally separates the men from the girls (and the one time the girls have the edge).

 

I've been trying to get this lower body flexibility for a few months now and it's been tough. Primarily this issue comes up for squats...I pretty much cannot do an overhead squat of any real weight because of it. My back squat is ok (~200 lbs), but until I get the flexibility down it won't reach big, big #s.

 

Stuff like yoga helps but I've been lazy with it. Training for power, muscle and cardio endurance comes by showing up to the gym but flexibility seems to require it's own thing.

 

As much as I'd like to ignore it, looks like I can't.

My newest accomplishment. Btw these are 10 x harder than muscle ups.

 

Never tried with one arm and the other arm hanging, but headed to the gym right now for back and might give that a quick shot.

 

I'm sure I'll come back and say, "no way.". Lol

Never tried with one arm and the other arm hanging, but headed to the gym right now for back and might give that a quick shot.

 

I'm sure I'll come back and say, "no way.". Lol

 

Yeah, not gonna happen lol. What I did is a true one "arm" pullup. When you hold the bar with one hand and hold your wrist/forearm with your other hand that's called a one "hand" pull up. Not even close to the same difficulty.

Yeah I'm good at the "hold the other wrist" kind. Will report back on the true "one arm" variation.

Amazing shoulder workout today. Doing back tomorrow, but between sets, I went over to the pull up bar and tried the one arm.

 

Didn't happen. Lol

Amazing shoulder workout today. Doing back tomorrow, but between sets, I went over to the pull up bar and tried the one arm.

 

Didn't happen. Lol

 

Hehe, I figured as much. Everything always looks easier when you see a video of someone doing it. I did that (watched videos) with muscle ups and with 1 arm pullups. And when I went to try both for the first time, I massively failed, lol.

 

I havent really done a workout just for shoulders before. What all did you do?

 

 

I vary it a lot with small changes in angle or exercise, but my basic workout is 3-4 sets with 8-12 reps of each:

 

Front dumbbell raises - rotate thumbs downward at the top or bicep grip

Lateral dumbbell raises - rotate thumbs downward at the top (think pouring a pitcher of lemonade)

Rear delt - use chest flye machine and sit facing it

One arm standing db press or barbell push presses

Upright rows

Shrugs

 

I do abs about 3x a week and today was one of those days. Started with a 3 mile run at 6.5mph on the treadmill. That was that.

Hehe, I figured as much. Everything always looks easier when you see a video of someone doing it. I did that (watched videos) with muscle ups and with 1 arm pullups. And when I went to try both for the first time, I massively failed, lol.

 

yep, it wasn't pretty...

I vary it a lot with small changes in angle or exercise, but my basic workout is 3-4 sets with 8-12 reps of each:

 

Front dumbbell raises - rotate thumbs downward at the top or bicep grip

Lateral dumbbell raises - rotate thumbs downward at the top (think pouring a pitcher of lemonade)

Rear delt - use chest flye machine and sit facing it

One arm standing db press or barbell push presses

Upright rows

Shrugs

 

I do abs about 3x a week and today was one of those days. Started with a 3 mile run at 6.5mph on the treadmill. That was that.

 

Sounds like a good shoulder workout. I dont do alot of direct shoulder work anymore.

 

I miss running. Cant run as much as I would like to because of back issues. It was really helpful when I needed to burn a bunch of calories in a short period of time. I would just go out and run 6 miles, burn 1000 calories, and feel great afterwards.

I do a fair amount of "shoulder to overhead" lifts to work out shoulders. Basically cleaning a loaded bar off the floor up to neck level....from there, lifting to overhead, arms locked out, bring it back down to neck and repeat.

 

Using a quick dip of the legs (when you are about to lift it overhead) to get some hip drive, it's called a "push press".

 

Far more comfortable to me than doing a shoulder press sitting down on a chair, and much safer too.