What the fuck is Biofeedback training 2: gym movement/biofeedback training log

2 Nov.

Presses:  40kg- 2 singles L/R
8 sets of 3 L/R 1x4 L/R 1x3 L/R
4692lbs of weight pressed in 19m15s

Swings: 24kg 414reps= 21942lbs moved in 39m15s

26634lbs moved in 58m30s

4 Nov.

Presses: 32kg- Left hand-4x4,4x3,4,3,2,2x3 Right hand-2x4,3,2x4,2,2x3,4,3,3x3=  6020lbs moved in 18m30s
Snatch: 16kg kettlebell  6x10 L/R, in 13 minutes 4200lbs moved
Long Cycle Clean and Jerk with a pair of 50lb kettlebells 5x5 in 18m30s 2500lbs moved

12720lbs moved in 50 minutes

7 Nov.

Presses: 40kg Left hand-ten singles Right hand-eleven singles.1848lbs moved in 17m15s
Swings: 32kg 200 reps in 15m20s 14000lbs moved
LCCJ: pair of 50's.  8,6,6,6,6 in 11m

19048lbs moved in 43m35s

8 Nov.

Deadlifts, conventional.225lbs-6, 275-3,315-2 singles, 335-2 singles, 385-1, and a pr for my conventional DL.  moved 4590 lbs in 18m30s

9 Nov.

Presses: 40kg Left hand-1,2,1,1 Right hand-1,2,1,1
32kg Left hand-4,4,4,4,3,4,3,4,4,4,4 Right hand-4,4,4,4,3,4,3,4,4,4,4   6760lbs moved in 19 minutes

Snatch 24kg Left hand, 150, Right hand 150 all in sets of ten.  15900 in 37m

22670lbs moved in 56m

10 Nov.

Deadlifts, conventional

135-2
185-3
225-5
275-3
315-1
365-1
405-1
410-1

4270lbs moved in 24 minutes.  My last max DL attempt in general was 405lbs sumo, so this is an overall PR.

11 Nov.

Presses: 32kg Left hand-5,3,4,4,3,4,3,4,3,3,4,3 Right hand- 5,3,4,4,3,4,3,4,3,3,4,3  6020lbs moved in 17m15s
LCCJ: Pair of 32kg bells- 4,3,3,3,3 2240lbs moved in 8m56s
Snatch: 32kg 5 sets of 5L/5R for 3500lbs moved in 10m12s
24kg 2 sets of 10L/10R and 5L/5R in 4m50s 2650lbs moved

14410lbs moved in 41m13s

Keep in mind, all these movements tested well, and I performed them until A. I didn't feel like it anymore, or B. They stopped testing well. Only in one instance was it B.  Also, I stopped doing movements if they started to slow, or I started using excess tension.  Whereas, I could potentially hit four reps with the 88lb (40kg) bell if I used high tension, I did not.  The first sign of more effort than I had been expending, I terminated the set.  I might have been able to hit a 415lb max deadlift, but I do not think I would have done it as safely as I did the 410lb deadlift because I would have tensed up more.

A good barometer for this is to think of each movement as effortless.  Each one should feel good, and they moment they do not, you end your set.  I did all the heavy pulls without facial contortions and what have you, and feel better for it.  Same goes for my pressing, which you can see the volume and intensity of has risen, despite not using super high tension techniques.

For my kettlebell swings and snatches I adopted what is, for me but not  kettlebell atheletes,  new breathing pattern wherein on the downswing of a snatch or swing I exhale as opposed to exhaling on the top--we call exhaling on the downswing "anatomical breathing," and exhaling at the top "biomechanical breathing."  Anatomical breathing allows for more work to be done while saving energy. 




Notice Valery Fedorenko's exhalation on the way down.  This is anatomical breathing.  This, and other different techniques I am experimenting with are helping me snatch more with less effort, and I still have a lot to learn regarding that lift.

Other than that, I like testing movements to see if they work, and I can see the progress in this log and on every workout.  I also feel better after workouts than I did, and even then I felt pretty swell.  But it's only a week, let's see how it all goes in the future.

Tis the season to be Merry. 

Are we what we do?

A long time ago I worked for a video store that is now sinking like the mighty Titanic. 

At this time, I had already been lifting weights for about a year, and was pretty into it, for all intents and purposes.  One day, I had a day off.  On my days off of work, and on some days I was to go into work, I lifted weights. 

One particular day off, I was getting up in the morning readying myself for the gym and I got a call from my work place.  They wanted to know if I could go help a store that was short staffed.   Me, ever the altruist and loving to help my fellow humans, I said, "Sure, I will get in there as soon as I can."  They said that was fine. 

After the call, I went to the gym and pumped some serious iron, returned home to bathe, and put my work uniform on and went to the store.  Then, about an hour and forty-five minutes later as I was driving to my added shift, I got a call asking where I was.  I replied that I was on the way, and that I am getting there as soon as I could.  I showed up two hours after the call. 

What was the point of this?  That my obligations within my life are my own, and a job that asks me for a favor on a day I am not required to work does not supersede whatever the fuck it is I feel like doing with my life.  I only bring this up because I there are opinions varied from my previously stated one--according to these, I should have promptly went into work, and let the gym fall by the wayside.  However, to my mind I was telling the truth when I said I would be there as soon as I could.  What are your opinions?

A lot of people use work as an excuse to get out of things that they probably should do--and indeed this is not a bad thing, as many people are very lucky to have a job these days--and in turn their jobs start to control their lives, and then we start identifying with our jobs as expressions of who we are.  One of the first questions I find being asked of me these days when I meet new young professionals is "What do you do for a living?"  

And contrary to what a lot of liberal, hippie, soy eating college students say, being identified with what you do isn't always a bad thing, provided you enjoy it.  I, for instance, view myself as a teacher in all aspects of my life.  I realized this when my roommate overheard my excitement as I was teaching someone to play a song and they comprehended what I was saying.  This is something I can get behind, as I derive pleasure from it, and the student gets knowledge as a result.  I love being a teacher so much, that it has not dawned on me to ask for a raise after two years of working, though a coworker advised I should.  I might. 

The wrong kind of work identity can lead you to beat the fuck out of a copy machine.

However, there are a lot of people who don't like what they do as much as I like doing what I do.  We have the power to change it, should we desire, but usually some sort of fear takes over and we don't.  So we fuck our identities, and stick it to something we view as meaningless and meaningful at the same time.  Leading us to a state of cognitive dissonance.  So remember, your job doesn't dictate your life, it should be the other way around.  And everything we do is impermanent, so keep that in mind as you travel forward in life. 

The Holidays, or for some people, "Hey, clean eating, go fuck yourself."

In America it's that time of year again.  The time where you hang out with family members who seldom come around because, though you might not want to, it is the "right thing to do."  That time of the year where it gets a little bit cooler outside, and all the kick ass television shows and movies start to show up on your TV screen. 

One of the best Christmas movies ever. 

It is also the time when gym memberships decline for a bit because everyone is busy with "the holidays."  Don't worry though, they have a resurgence some time after 1 January for some strange reason. 

For a lot of people the holidays mean it is now easy to eat like you're at a Roman orgy again.  I have no idea why this happens other than the fact that it is vastly easier to eat shit than it is to eat something good.   But if you have been on a decent eating plan for a while, there's no need to fuck yourself by eating nothing but shit between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

I offer you readers some simple solutions to make your holidays food filled, and not wrecking to your diet.  And if you want, you can even take Thanksgiving off from your training--I won't, as I really like pumping iron--but it is acceptable. 

A dietary transgression I frequently dream about. 

First off, if you have a body, you can exercise.  So you can still work out even when you travel. 
Second, plan how you eat.  You don't have to be nit picky about it.  I will use my self as an example, since I am dieting fairly strictly at this point in time and plan on doing so for a while. 

At this point of the Ketogenic diet, I cheat one or two times a week and refeed myself with clean foods on Saturday and Sunday.  What if, let's say, I timed a cheat meal to coincide with Thanksgiving day? Lo and behold, my glycogen gets replenished and my leptin levels too. And maybe I can have some turkey the next day.  Why the fuck not? It's Ketogenic friendly. 

Moreover, one can be overly pedantic and carry their bland, skinless, and weakening chicken breasts in a tupperware container on days like these--there are stories of it happening floating about somewhere.

My personal chef.  She sucks at cooking, oddly enough.

This kind of behavior can be as bad as fucking your diet in the ass by eating bullshit.  Half the fun of eating is eating with friends and family and talking shit to each other about who knows what.  If you alienate your food choice, your family might as well look at you like a leprous pariah for A. Turning down good family fun and food and B. Being a pretentious asshole.  If John Berardi can get down on a cheat meal the serious of the serious dieters and weightlifters should be able to as well.  Shit, there is even an anabolic effect to them.  So hang with your family and don't be an alienated dickweed. 

Here is how it will go down for me: I will probably cut down to one cheat a week or more before Thanksgiving day.  I will undereat a lot on the Wednesday before, and taking my cue from Ori Hofmekler (who talks about the good of overeating followed by undereating in The Warrior Diet) I will eat my face off on Thanksgiving day.  I will then eat lightly the following day (resuming my ketogenic dieting) and go back to normal, thereafter.  I will repeat this for Christmas, and my birthday in January.  Eat, drink and be merry, friends. 

Biofeedback Training: What the fuck is it?

Moments ago, I got off the phone with Adam Glass.  What was supposed to be a 30 minute call, turned into 90 minutes of information of epic proportions. 

Adam was a former proponent of a strength training philosophy that held to the belief that to yield greater strength gains, one must maximize tension, and use corrective exercises to fix fucked up movement patterns.  According to the claims on his site, using biofeedback training can fix all of your movement patterns without foam rolling, hours of mobility work, and static stretching.   The rationale being that if you listen to what your body is telling you, you cannot go wrong.  Sounds pretty good. 

Another idea is that we are looking at exercise as merely movement.  We perform a movement--let us say a deadlift--and we try to get better at it by testing it.  If the movement debilitates your range of motion, at that time it is not good for you to do.  If you push through it, you will "fuck yourself up," to quote Adam directly.  So, we test what moves well at that time, and get better at it.  When we use tension unnecessarily it slows us down and fucks up our movement.

One of the reasons this appeals to me is because it gels well with what I teach a lot of my students who strive to get better at playing guitar.  My main quote is, "you have four goddamn fingers.  Why wouldn't you use them all?"  That said, it allows for better movement on the fretboard.  Makes you more efficient, and able to do more.  So with biofeedback training, we strive for the same thing--effiency, so that we might make use of what we have to yield greater gains. 

If you follow symbolic logic, you will recognize this as working toward the same conclusion--betterness via looks, performance, etc.--with an input of a different premise.  And if you will remember your DeMorgan theorems, this happened all the time.  A different premise can yield the same conclusion, so the idea here is not far out.  Either way, I am going to detail my progress on here fairly often, and I think my progress will be good. 

In case you forgot your DeMorgan theorems.

Videos: Hilarity, and more.

I have a lot of free time on my hands these days since I have graduated college.  I watch a lot of shit on youtube as a result.  Here are some videos I particularly enjoy, feel free to discuss some of them, as some of them can (in their own way) raise some questions.


Is this video merely funny? Or does it let insecure people stay insecure and reinforce stereotypes?  I think both.  I laugh my ass off every time I watch this, and think of how sad it is that it reinforces a stereotype of a musclebound black guy and a frightened white woman--the same stereotype that got the KKK popular years back.  I admire the guys mind muscle connection with his pecs, as well.


Easily one of the best commentaries on steroids today.  Not really much to say about it. 

This makes me remember why I used to like professional wrestling.  However, given my current job as a guitar instructor, I get to deal with a lot of youngsters.  And some of the shit they will tell me is absurd, in many cases.  From my experience, telling a kid not to do something is worse than telling them not to be an idiot about it.  I wish, when I was in my teens, that the advice I got was sensible.



I like this because, according to an attendee, she got three white lights on the lift.

There ya go.  Four videos to amuse you for the day.

Deadlifting Nuances, or more about your lats.

Recently, I was deadlifting, as it is one of my pastimes.  Recently, as was stated in the last post, I had some wonderful deadlift pointers imparted to me. 

Staggered grip=a grip that won't fail on a max pull.

These pointers include such things as, "wedging yourself between the bar and the ground,"  With this cue, you use your hips to bring your head up, as explained by a friend of mine.  This is a wonderful cue to maximize leverage, and another is to push the floor to either side with your feet, as if you were going to make a chasm beneath you.  

Pretty sweet drawing I found of Mount Doom.  Inside, there is a chasm, and it is the only one that can destroy the precious. 

After reading this article, I opted to go for practicing my deadlifts with a pronated grip because it is more symmetrical and "what you'll find is the more you pull double overhand, the more weight you can use. If you're used to failing at 225, give it a few weeks and you'll be up to 315," according to Jim Smith. It also feels less awkward and doesn't hurt my wrist, as opposed to the staggered grip.   

One of the reasons I think it allows more weight is because it is easy to engage the lat muscles--it's easier to break a stick, bend a piece of metal, or "break the bar" for a bench press or deadlift when you have a pronated grip. 

Recently, I was deadlifting with a pronated grip, and since I am still practicing it and am new to it, my grip started to go, and I switched to a staggered grip.  Immediately, I felt weaker.  The reason being is because I couldn't engage my lats well enough to do anything.  As I said earlier, if the grip is staggered, it's harder to bend the bar. 

This last nuance I stumbled upon myself, and it overcomes the lack of lat involved in a staggered grip:  when using the staggered grip, squeeze the shit out of the bar and try to move your hands closer together.  The friction will not allow it, your lats will be engaged, and you will feel stronger. 

A special visit from Master RKC Andrea DuCane

Recently, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge certification course was held in Orlando, Florida.  Being close to Orlando, some friends and I made it a day and went to receive some free training from the newly minted RKCs, and pick up some kettlebells. 

While there, I was fortunate enough to meet a great number of knowledgeable and personable people, including Franz Snideman RKC, and Pavel Tsatsouline, both of whom helped me out with my deadlifting form and technique.  I was also fortunate enough to meet Brett Jones, another very knowledgeable RKC, who also gave me advice on short steel bending.  I also got to meet Dragon Door CEO John DuCane, and his wife Andrea and daughter, Nicole.  All wonderful and knowledgeable. 

Prior to this, Andrea DuCane agreed to come out the USF Kettlebell Club in Tampa, and give our club an informal seminar, wherein she gave us information on flexibility, mobility, and lastly, the kettlebell swing--the most important of kettlebell drills.  Why is the swing in important? For those who do not know, it leads to other drills, like the snatch, and the clean and jerk, and if you practice swinging, and make it a point to do many swings, you will give your heart a good workout, and your deadlift numbers will rise. 



She spoke of much, but some key points emphasized are as follows:
1. When deadlifting, think of lifting with your glutes. Squeeze them, hard.  You will feel stronger merely thinking about this one thing.
2.  Think about having a long spine, so that it will stay straight, and not snap in half.
3.  Stay rooted in the earth--a good way to do this is to grip the ground with your toes.
4.  Squeeze the glutes at the top of the swing forcefully, and be aware of flexing your quadriceps at the same time.
5.  If you are in doubt about any of these, revisit your deadlift with a kettlebell and emphasize gluteal contraction. 
6.  Stretch your hip flexors so that they will open up, and you will automatically feel stronger. 


In conclusion, Andrea's aptitude for teaching conveyed all of these items far better than I am to you, and if you ever get the chance to have her for a seminar, it will definitely be a wise move, and you will be stronger for it.