Wilson's Strength Training: October 2014

The beginning: As a young teenager, I was inspired by my uncle to work out, so each day I would do a lot of pushups and situps. Later, my brother and I, inspired by good ol' Arnold Schwarzenegger, bought a workout bench, some vinyl dumbbells that went up to 10 lbs each, and started doing some simple bodybuilding style exercises (brocep curls?). Later, we progressed to buy an ez-curl bar and some small weight plates as well, but we were still very much training using isolation exercises.

In university, I went to the athletic center since it was right beside my residence. For most of the first 2 years, I was there every day, sometimes twice, and I was doing typical 2 or 3 day bro-splits. Again, the focus was on isolation movements. Lots of curls from different angles...etc. I typically avoided the larger compound lifts (stupidly). Didn't do squats, never heard of deadlifts, and did a lot of dumbbell chest press instead of bench press since I worked out alone and didn't have anyone to spot me. I was working towards the best weight-strength ratio I could so I was trying to stay around 130-135 lbs. In 2nd year at one point, I was doing overhead tricep pulls with a cable machine and I lost balance and it wrenched my shoulder back, which was quite debilitating. After that, I pretty much stopped consistently hitting up the gym for many years, which is a pretty big regret.

Crossfit Cindy Period: Didn't start working out again until some point during my PhD, where I got a pullup bar and started doing a lot of pullups. Specifically, I saw the crossfit "cindy" workout (15 squats, 10 pushups, 5 pullups) on ice1cube's youtube channel and started doing that. First time through, it actually made me throw up because I didn't know my limits and always believed I was quite fit. I kept doing it every day and soon, I was doing over 20 sets in the 20 minute time frame. I would sometimes even do it twice a day. I also started adding in Ab Ripper X from Tony Horton's P90X routine, and also hopped on a stationary bike for another 15-20 minutes, cycling about 7-10 km each night. I am a creature of habit, which is good for discipline and consistency, but also bad since my routine, once broken, takes a while for me to hop back in, so I went through a few cycles of doing this workout daily, then stopping for weeks to months before starting again from the ground up.

Beachbody Workouts: In 2012, I met my (to-be) wife, Danyi, and during that time, I was actually somewhat stagnant and not working out, so by the time Christmas came around a few months later, I was 160 lbs, which was (and is) significantly heavier than I've ever been..."happy fat" it was called. So 2013 New Year, I started working out again quite seriously, and I started with Shaun T's insanity program since Cheng and Jess were also thinking of starting it. It was brutal to start and my legs were constantly sore and for the first few weeks I wanted to quit every day but I pushed through and soon enough, started feeling great and looking forward to the workouts. It was during this time that my body weight dropped all the way from 160 to about 135-140, and my body fat, which I didn't measure before, was down to about 9-10%. By the 3rd month, I even started doing the hour long insanity workouts twice a day (bad idea, in retrospect). That lead to a bit of overtraining indeed. Then Shaun T's new workout "Focus T25" came out and so I started doing that. I went through that program quite quickly and started doing 3 of the workouts per day. I kept this up until December 2013 (that's a whole year of insanity/focus t25). In T25's gamma phase, weights were used (I was using cheap Walmart weights that went up to 20 lbs per dumbbell) and it really reminded me how much I missed weight training, so with my wife's support, I picked up the 50 lb Powerblock adjustable dumbbell set and a workout bench and started the beachbody "Body Beast" workout program, which focused, again, on bro-splits. This was during Christmas of 2013. I did this program for about a month and then started tinkering with it and changing it around, trying different splits.

Weight Training Reignited: I sold my 50 lb powerblocks and bought a 90 lb set at this time and I started toying with different splits. Tried going super high volume, one body part a day, tried a 2 or 3 day split, and also tried a push-pull split. One major thing I noticed as I learned more about weight training, both from reading, youtube fitness channels, and largely personal experience, is that my exercise selection kept getting shorter and shorter. When I first started, each body part had a huge list of exercises that I would do to hit it from different angles...etc. Then I'd start cutting it down more and more and upping the volume of the exercises I was finding to be more beneficial. Eventually, the number of exercises became quite short, but it was also around this time that I felt that my training was stagnating again because I was maxing out on my major lifts (dumbbell squats, deadlifts, and chest press) using the 90 lb powerblocks. As such, I had a choice to make. I could join a gym, I could upgrade AGAIN and get the powerblock expansion kit to bring it up to 125 lbs per dumbbell, or I could switch to barbell training. I chose not to join a gym because I felt that all the fitness equipment I had already would seem like a complete waste (the powerblocks, yoga mat, pull up bar, walmart dumbbells/weights, ab roller, stationary bike). Also, I liked the convenience of working out at home, according to my own schedule and timing, without having to share equipment...etc. I also chose not to upgrade the powerblocks because dumbbells can be unstable to use in certain positions, and dropping it could really ruin the floor or get myself hurt. Also, I found a squat rack, complete with safety pins, as well as a 300 lb olympic barbell set at Dick's that, combined, would cost as much as the powerblock upgrade kit, so I made the jump to barbell training the weekend of July 1, 2014.

Barbell Training: Even using dumbbells, I had ascertained that squats, deadlifts, and chest press were the major 3 exercises, and of course, this would carry over to barbell training. I also started following a lot of strength/powerlifting athletes on youtube and facebook, and also started reading up a lot more, reading books like Starting Strength, Practical Programming for Strength Training...etc. along with numerous online sources. In deciding which novice program to start with, I found myself interested in a combination of Starting Strength and Stronglifts. I liked the idea of 5x5 (since I was always someone who didn't know when to quit and tend to think more is better --> stupid idea) but I thought some of the suggestions in the Stronglifts program were downright silly. Things like starting with the empty bar and increasing by 5 lbs every workout was ridiculous for someone who had already been strength training for a while. I also didn't like the idea of deadlifting 1x5 once a week. Furthermore, I felt that although these programs emphasized the Big 3 lifts, they neglected other parts such as the upper back. As such, I made some modifications and personalized a program which I playfully named "Yu Lift":

Workout A (Big 3): Squat 3x5, Bench Press 3x5, Sumo Deadlift 3x5, (Optional: Ab Roller 3x10)

Workout B (Accessory): Shoulder Press 3x5, One Arm Row 3x5, Pullups 50x, (Optional: Farmer's Walk 10 laps of 40 yards)

The program consisted of a 2 day rotating split. The first day (workout A) consisted of the Big 3 Powerlifts: Squat, bench press, and deadlift. Initially I did 5x5 until it started to become too much, particularly with 5x5 deadlifts, so I have now reduced it to 3x5. Also, I added 3x10 ab roller as an optional exercise, since as ab exercises go, this was the one I felt would help the most in terms of bracing the core, whereas many of the other ab exercises like crunches actually put the spine into flexion, which is the opposite of what I wanted to train the core to do, for the purposes of performing the powerlifts. Workout B was for the accessory exercises, which are the delts and upper back mainly. For these I used dumbbells to work the stabilizing muscles more and as an option, time and energy depending, I would add in Farmer's Walk since it's about the most functional exercise ever and I can use it to improve my grip strength and try to keep some of my conditioning up (I have actually ignored this for a while actually...)

I've been trying to work with this program for the past few months but have had many setbacks. I was diagnosed with hip impingement, especially on my right hip, which gave me a scare that I wouldn't be able to squat anymore. I also started feeling some tendonitis in my elbows after heavy squatting, and as of last week, I somehow injured my intercostal muscles so haven't been able to brace the core much at all. It's been quite frustrating dealing with all these setbacks and injuries but the good that can come of it is it has really forced me to work on getting my technique, particularly my squat technique down to something that works for me personally. I have been messing with my squat form A LOT to try to find what is comfortable for me and doesn't aggravate the hip. I tried many different squat widths, different directions of toe pointing, knee break, hip break...etc. and as of now, I think I have settled on a squat form that doesn't seem to aggravate the hip impingement and also doesn't seem to put too much strain on the spinal erectors with heavier weights. My form now is a low bar back squat, with a relatively close, full grip on the bar (using wrist wraps to prevent tendonitis), a wide stance (150% shoulder width), toes pointed out at about a 30-45 degree angle, with a subtle knee break that really loads the hips so the shins stay virtually vertical and perpendicular to the floor. I also fix my gaze straight ahead instead of down, and I pack my neck back after taking my breath since this helps keep my torso more upright (at a 50 degree angle) and decreases the possibility of back rounding or leaning too far forward. I mainly try to model my squat after Ed Coan, Dan Green, and Jonnie Candito.

The cues I follow for my squat are now as follows:

1) Tight upper back; squeeze the bar and pull down to engage the lats
2) Lock knees and flex glutes
3) Deep breath into diaphragm, pushing rib cage down and out (into belt) --> Pack neck back to help maintain upper back tightness and prevent rounding
4) Fix eyes straight ahead
5) ECCENTRIC CUE: FLEX GLUTES, EXTERNALLY ROTATE HIPS (screw feet into floor), BRACE CORE --> subtle knee break while pulling hips back and down, weight on heels, keep shins vertical --> forward lean will happen naturally
6) Rebound out of the hole and HIP DRIVE up by pushing the butt up while also pushing upper back into the bar (to prevent rounding and hips rising too fast and turning into a good morning)
7) FLEX GLUTES to thrust hips forward to finish movement

I believe I have found comfort in the wide stance squat because it helps limit my depth to just below parallel (legal IPF depth), which is good since going lower, particularly ATG, really causes a lot of impingement. Also, it's possible that the angle of impingement just isn't affected as much when my stance is wider. With narrower stances or toes pointed forward, the impingement was definitely very present. Also, as mentioned, before I would look somewhat downward, which lead to more forward lean and upper back rounding with heavier weight, which then put a lot of stress on the spinal erectors. I also used to use a false grip, but that was not helping with the elbow tendonitis and also prevented me from gripping the bar, which means my upper back isn't as tight. I also tried doing a distinct hip break like Alastair MacNicoll, but that always felt somewhat less stable as a starting position, but then doing a knee break like Alex Kang also meant I was utilizing less of my posterior chain and also reaching much lower depth, which would cause impingement. In the end, by heeding Ed Coan's cues and watching Coan, Green and Candito squat over and over again, I came to my current squat form. For my own purposes, it is important for me to remember Omar Isuf's cues of flexing the glutes and externally rotating the hips before initiating the eccentric component of the squat. By externally rotating the hips, I can follow through with a smooth, stable squat without any clear hip/knee break...etc.

I have also toyed with conventional vs sumo deadlifts and as of right now, I am stronger in a conventional position, though I think I will try sumo again at the same stance width as my squat in hopes of greater carry-over between movements. However, I am on hold until my intercostal muscles heal up more, so I am hoping to start my program again come Monday, Nov 3, 2014.

Wilson's Strength Training

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

My Fitness Background Thus Far (From the beginning to October 29, 2014)