SPF Outlaw Powerlifting in Tampa

The above pictures are from the SPF (Southern Powerlifting Federation) Outlaw Powerlifting meet held in my very own hometown of Tampa, Florida.  It was my first meet, and a fun and interesting experience altogether.

Training

Training was pretty typical of what I normally do.  I kept it stress free, and used the minimal effective amount of effort at all times.  I decided to do the meet at exactly four weeks out from it, during which I hit Intensity PRs in the Squat, Bench and Deadlift (335, 245, 435, respectively).  Using that, I planned out how my attempts at each lift would go.  Other than that, I kept it normal, did more thick bar work, tested more variations on my rowing movements (added in Pendlay rows), performed more overhead barbell pressing, and more one handed deadlifting (wherein I hit an intensity PR of 205lbs per hand for several singles).  The style of one hand deadlifting I opted for was the kind you see the old timers do in the pictures where you straddle the bar.  It's far less of an annoyance to do it that way, than any other way.  The last training day before the 10 December competition was on 2 December (this tested best).  You can view my log here.

Diet

I intended to make the 181lb weight class.  So I tinkered around with and tested some ideas.  The ideas that passed with flying  colors to make weight wound up being as follows: eating once a day, training fasted (every session was trained that way) and keeping it low carb, for the most part.  Dinner was usually something along the lines of an 8 egg omelette, with cheese and onions, or some beef, or a pack of chicken legs.  Once or twice a week, something carby would test well, usually white potatoes (but never sweet potatoes, oddly) or something like that.  I used no salt, and I drank water as normal, until it was time to cut weight.

I decided to cut weight, since every other aspect of preparation was stress free.  This part was probably the most stressful, for several reasons.  On 4 December, I drank three gallons of water.  The next day, a Monday, I drank two, and on Tuesday, one and Wednesday, half.  Wednesday night I had an egg sandwich to eat, and that was it. Thursday, I had a cup of coffee in the morning and 20 ounces of water, and chewed on a few ice cubes in the day.

At about 6:30 PM, I went to a Lifestyles family fitness that happened to heave a steam room to sweat out the remaining weight (about six or seven pounds).*  The worse part about the steam room is sitting around with the naked old guys who inhabit the gym lockers, having nothing to say and staring at the clock.  I was bored shitless.  I kept going in the steam room in 5 minute intervals (it tested best).  At one point, some guy with a thick middle eastern accent came in with a bottle of water, and asked if I minded if he made it really hot in there.  He doused the walls with cold water, which caused the steam to crank up.  It got nearly unbearable in there. I asked him why he did this.  He said, "I like intense heat." Fair the fuck enough, it only helped my cause.  I left the steam room one pound over my weight according to the digital scale at Lifestyles and two pounds over weight according to the scale from home I brought with me.  I went home and ate a dinner consisting of two ice cubes and a few pieces of Lindt dark chocolate.  It made me feel a bit better, as it were.

The 85% is low in carbs and tests well often, and curbed cravings for too much bullshit during the cutting.

As a note, I saw a lot of people at Lifestyles doing dumb shit, regarding the sauna. I will be the first to admit that cutting weight like this isn't the smartest thing, no matter if Matt Kroc or a host of MMA fighters do it.  There's always a risk.  But, I saw old dudes, and normal gym goers wearing sauna suits (the vinyl kind that make you sweat like a motherfucker) inside the dry heat sauna.  And hoodies, and what not.  Please, do not emulate that kind of behavior.

The next morning, I woke up and went to the meet site, and stripped down to my underwear and made weight at 181.4lbs.  Following that, I drank a half gallon of generic Pedialyte (and felt really awesome), ate a sausage mcgriddle, a breakfast burrito, two hashbrowns and a coffee from McDonalds.  I follwed that up shortly thereafter with six slices of pizza, and for lunch, another four slices of pizza.  Throughout the day, I drank some watered down Powerade and a shitload of water.  For dinner, I ate more, and drank some more coffee, and took three servings of psylium husk fiber powder.  I felt mildly bloated (no sarcasm, it was only a mild feeling.  I think by the night was winding down, I urinated two times (though I had easily consumed more than three gallons of fluid since 9:30 am.

Saturday morning, I felt fantastic.  I went to the meet site, and ate copious amounts of cashews, and poptarts and low carb Monsters throughout the day.

The Meet 

There were a fuckload of people there, and the meet site smelled like ammonia and sports ointment.  And, not surprisingly, the mens bathroom's shitter got clogged at some point in the day.  The janitorial staff took care of it, thankfully.

I saw a lot of inspiring shit go down there.  I saw tiny women squat more than I did (even though they were geared it was still inspiring) and I saw some guys from Westside squat and bench a fuckton of weight.  Notably, one guy squatted 1080lbs, and another guy benched somewhere around 900.  The Independent team form Canada are cool bunch, and fun to talk to, and hopefully they were gracious that I pointed them to the finer strip clubs of Tampa.  Tommy Fannon of Tampa Barbell (a hardcore powerlifting gym for geared lifters) was a cordial guy, as was Jesse Rodgers (president of SPF) and together they judged well, and put on a good meet.  The only downside is that with all the equipped lifters, it took fucking forever.  I didn't stay til the end, and Tommy was kind enough to let me deadlift on the first flight so I could make the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert at 8pm (I left at 6:15pm, right after my third deadlift).

I wound up squatting at 1pm or so, and my best squat was 340 (I missed 360 due to technical aspects of the lift, will get it next time) and a few hours later, I benched and made 255.  I missed my third attempt at 265 (stalled out halfway up).  After taking a monster shit--which I saw as a good omen--after my last bench, the fourth flight went, and then deadlifting started.  I nailed all three deadlifts (405, 440, and 460) which gives me a total of 1055.  I went in hoping to get at least six out of nine lifts white-lighted, and break my training PRs, and total a thousand lbs or more.  Mission accomplished on all fronts.  (First attempt squat was 315, bench first attempt was 230).  The hardest part was the waiting.  It was a long goddamn day.  Thankfully, I had a book, and they had burgers for sale.

Observations

I saw a lot of people expend undue energy on their first attempts and at the warmup stations.  I am not saying you shouldn't warm up (if it tests well.  It didn't for me, but it did wonders for my biopsyche),  but you should conserve the energy for where ti counts.  I saw saw enough foam rolling to last a life time, and I noticed the lifters who warmed up the least typically did the best. My warmup consisted of a single squat to find my rack height (same for bench) and a deadlift of 185lbs to make sure I hadn't forgotten the movement.  I didn't forget.

I also found my current training practice of testing everything to be validated given the fact that I saw a lot of the people there competing injured, and generally moving poorly--lots of limps and stuff going on.  But, on the flip side, there were lots of healthy appearing people there too.

Sportsmanship was generally good.  The first lifter in this recording of the third deadlift flight managed to even get me amped up, and she encouraged the shit out of her fellow teammates to hit some good PRs.Everyone was encouraging, the atmosphere was positive and fun.  I will compete again.

Tips

Train your goddamn cues.  Read the federation rules, and have someone give you the cues.  Watch the youtube videos to get a feel for it.  It is heartbreaking to see someone completely fuck a lift because you blow the cues.  Train your goddamn cues.

Parallel is subjective.  Find your feds approximation of parallel, and train it.  And once you do, train the goddamn cues. 

Don't fly too close to the sun.  Pick a first attempt you can hit.  Pick a reasonable PR for your second attempt.  Go for the awesome the third time around.   Train your goddamn cues.

And don't stress.  All you're doing is lifting weights. 

*I have never had to make a disclaimer, but don't do anything I describe in this paragraph. If you fuck yourself up, well, you should have listened to this disclaimer.

PRs outside the gym

Since the central focus on this blog is weightlifting, with metaphors alluding to music, I figured this time around I would topsy-turvy this motherfucker.  Recently, my songwriting partner Bee and I wrote a host of new songs.  Usually, like I do in lifting, we wind up churning these things out as easily as a Catholic mother churns out kids, since they do not believe in birth control and what not.  This latest one used a little bit more than the minimal effective amount of effort, and was well worth that maximum effort we put into it.  Without further ado, I give you our band 'Bitter Paradox.'  The song is 'Polyamorous.'

Polyamorous, indeed.

Fiscally Responsible Range of Motion testing (and squat PR)

First, on Sunday 30 October, I squatted 275 for two sets of triples, followed by two sets of doubles.  As I mentioned before, this was an old 1RM.  It is clearly not anymore.  On 31 October, box squats tested well.  I hit 295 for two sets of doubles and a single.  I am pleased with this.  Here is my log, if you care enough to check my work.

Segue

In addition to using the toe touch (or any other ROM test) for your movements, you can also test other things too.  If you are skeptical about anything I said, and reading this, you will probably relinquish all credibility, if you had any at all.  However, it is probably a safe bet that you haven't tried testing anything I have said in the first place, so your absence will not matter.

For a while, my roommate and BFFL touted the benefits of baking soda as a deodorant and as a toothpaste.  Even before I made the switch, this isn't that far fetched since it is in every toothpaste brand you can find out there, and in some antiperspirants as well. 

Apparently, some people think sodium fluoride is some bad shit.  According to these sources, it has been used for a lot of bad shit, and Nazis poisoned the water with it.  Then there is Operation Paperclip (google it) and a host of other shit you can find about how bad fluoride is.

I can only go with what seems more compelling based on what knowledge I have, and my healthy mistrust of government officials and authority figures.  However, I did do a ROM test on my toothpaste I had been using and then on a box of baking soda, and the baking soda tested way better than the toothpaste--the toothpaste did not move me past my base nine.  So I ditched the toothpaste for good, and brush with baking soda now.  My teeth are whiter than ever and I drink a minimum of one coffee pot a day.  I also took up smoking again for a brief stint this year, and my teeth stayed awesome looking with the baking soda.  I have also quit smoking again, and haven't smoked in a few months. 

If you are anything like me, you might wear black shirts a lot.  You might also get this weird white caking from your antiperspirant.  Even if you use the shit that "goes on clear and won't fuck your shirts up."  If you have half a brain, you know most advertisements aren't true.  Well, those advertisements aren't. I sweat like a whore in church, and I have fucked up a lot of shirts. 
 

Needless to say, my BFFL used baking soda as a deodorant as well, since he is allergic to nearly everything, and traditional deodorants caused him an allergic reaction.  So, I tested my deodorant against baking soda, and the results were much like the toothpaste.  I have not used deodorant since.
Since the change, I have not had any fucked up stains on my shirts, and no matter how much I sweat, I do not get rank like I used to, even when I go to the gym and hit PRs like a motherfucker.  On a day where I am inactive, I can skip bathing and still not get rank, which is something I was never able to do in the past.  Needless to say, baking soda is pretty fucking cool.

And to top it off, a gigantic box of the shit costs less than a leading name brand of toothpaste or deodorant, and will last at least ten times as long.  And you don't have to go to a hippie health food store and by some overpriced "natural" bullshit that they are marketing, or listen to them yack about all the aluminum and other bullshit in the deodorants on the market (since you can find that info for free anywhere). 

Sweat inducing.

You can test about anything, I chose this subject because it has saved me a ton of money, and has made my life better in a big way.  Plus, baking soda is useful for a bunch of other shit too, like baking, or keeping your fridge smelling good, why not have a bunch of it around? It's probably as useful as water. 

What motivates you?

The other day I was conversing with a guy who likes to lift weights too.  Most of the time, when people ask me for advice, I often do not give it.  Most will not get answer they will like (either because it is not easy, it seems esoteric, or because they have to put in the minimal effective amount of effort for their own self experiment).  So I tell them this, and if I am pressed I will explain what I do, and why it might not work for them.

The question posed to me this day, however, was so good I decided I should write about it.  My friend asked, "How do you stay motivated?"  I will share my thoughts on this now.

First off, going to the gymnasium--especially where I train now--is an immensely positive event, and something to look forward to.  I look forward to it because my day job is monumentally boring, and involves talking to a lot of people that I normally wouldn't associate with on a regular basis.  With all these thoughts running around, engaging in physical culture gives me the chance to be thoughtless--a zen like state if you will--and it's not something that happens too often.  If I sit cross-legged for too long, I will start moving eventually and get restless.  The gym allows me time to meditate, and decompress.  Knowing I can do that any time I want is a pretty big thing for me. 

One of the other motivating factors is not following a prewritten program.   I have talked to some people who think it's appropriate to kick themselves in the groin repeatedly for missing a preordained day of their program.  This certainly isn't good for your psychological well being, and when your head's fucked, you get stressed.  And I know a lot of you can attest to the fact that stress can manifest itself physically.  Which can further fuck your performance, hormones and god knows what else.  If you know you will PR any given time you lift, and you are apparently free to choose when you do so, you have released yourself from a bond, which can feel liberating and motivating.

The last part of the preceding paragraph is a nice segue into this one.  PRing every day.  Highly motivating.  If you know you are gonna be better than you were yesterday, what motivating would you not have to go and do something awesome?  And this applies to anything.  I apply it to playing instruments, reading books, and writing.  Not just lifting.

And you can literally PR in anything.  Even in intercourse.  One of the strongest motivating factors for lifting weights, for me,  is to have better sex. I am pretty sure I don't have to convince you that there might be a
a relationship between lifting weights, eating high amounts of protein, and your testosterone levels.

Imagine what a little stamina could do.

Not to mention that there is an obvious correlation between the hip extension of a deadlift/kettlebell swing.  More importantly, if you don't have to worry about whether you will be too winded to bang your significant other(s) you can stop worrying about yourself, concentrate on your sexual partner, and hopefully make it a better sexual experience. 

Besides the obvious relationship between the pelvic motions, the deadlift (and general posterior chain training) is my favorite stuff to do because it can make some really stimulating sexual positions possible.  For instance, there was a time when I could not hold a sexual partner, while free standing.  What a sad day for both of us.

What amounts to a quarter squat and and a little arm work can have a high payoff for both involved.

 If you are especially virile, you can potentially start in a missionary style of position, and go from the floor up.  This will make you feel more manly, and be pretty impressive too.

So, as you can see, sex is a pretty big motivating factor for me. 

Lastly, and I have touched on this before, the weights can be symbolic in many ways.  If there's a bar on your back, and it starts getting easier to move, this is powerful imagery.  As my squat goes up, the imagery becomes especially striking to me, and makes me realize that I can over come obstacles I face in my life.  This is perhaps the most important motivating factor of all.  Overcoming obstacles.  More often than not, you do things to get you to where you are. So it was a choice all along, so in the end you are the only one to navigate these obstacles.  Much like when you decide you want to squat heavier.  You made the choice, you better goddamn do it. 

Please, tell me.  What motivates you? And if you lose motivation often, why?

A Gym Movement Success Story (and still in the making)

Editor's Note:  A while back I was playing on my Facebook and I received a message from my old friend Aaron Musgrove.  I didn't know he read anything wrote (I don't get a lot of comments here, so it's hard to track who reads or just looks at the pictures).  The message Aaron sent me said something to the effect of how he didn't feel like a piece of shit after he lifted weights and how his stamina is better.  So, I asked to write a bit about his experience on the Gym Movement protocol. Without further ado, Aaron Musgrove.

Pete asked me to contribute. I’m honored. I decided to write about my experience with this method and let the results do the talking/raving.

I started at around 176 lbs and I could bench around 205 a few presses and I couldn’t dead lift more than 225 for a few pulls. I had no idea how to listen to my body and I was mad that x reps and x sets don’t equal the results advertised in muscle magazines.

I now weigh around 189 lbs, I can press around 275(mostly on Mondays and Tuesdays) and I can pull 295 2-3 (mostly on Saturdays) and I don’t read muscle magazines.

I realize that this isn’t a lot of information, but it is more than I ever got from a magazine and way more that I ever did in 4 1/2 months of training until puking, making shit faces, buying supplements or whatever new gimmick was on the menu.

What I do: I wake up and eat. I walk into the gym and walk on a treadmill or something else like that for like 10-15 min. Then I think about what I want to do today. I think about executing that movement and feeling my muscle contract. I take into consideration how I feel, what I did last time I was here and then I make a totally random choice. I can consider whatever I want and think about it all day, but the answer will come from my body. Let’s say I feel like I can dead lift the world today. So I’m going to test dead lifts.

I do a stretch test for a solid baseline and then I simply execute that movement. Now I test again, did I respond well? Let’s say no, I did not respond well. I find that for me I test better on the opposite of whatever  didn’t test well. I didn’t do well with dead lifts so let’s try pressing something. Wow, shoulder press tested great!! Now I shoulder press until I don’t respond well. Next I might try leg extensions, just kidding (that’s for Peter).

 Mondays and Tuesdays I almost always test well with pressing and especially well every 4th week (by this I mean that I actually see a notable difference in the amount of weight I end with. I can actually see my strength increase coming and look forward to it). Saturdays I test great on pulling type movements. Knowing what days I typically test well could have an effect on how I respond as I am thinking about these movements well before I get to the gym.

Essentially I threw out everything I had ever been told and thought and started from scratch using this protocol as my basis. I am sure that I did some things wrong or even differently than I was supposed to or whatever, but the shit changed my life.

I actually promoted this system ( I like calling it a system) to other people, which is a first. I never told people to get this issue of that magazine, or check out this guy’s website or suggested a particular supplement. I would however tell people what routine I was using or what supplement I was on at the time, but only if asked. This I feel strongly enough about to actually push on people like cheap dope at a fair.

Example:

Dickhead: what the fuck are you doing?

Me: I’m testing this movement to see what exercises I will do today

Dickhead: bewildered look

Me: I explain the system to the dickhead

Dickhead: yeah well how much longer have you got on this rack because I need to do curls

Me: you need to try this shit, because rack curls are for dickheads and assholes. I used to do rack curls and everyone though I was a dickheaded asshole for doing it

Dickhead: rants about his “guns” and offers to test anything I can think of and that it wont matter because he is jacked and gonna suck today’s dick

Me: ok let’s see about some chest pressing (my strongest exercise for whatever reason)

Dickhead: let’s do it

We both test, I test well and he does not. I suggest that he goes with what his body says and he laughs. We continue to press while my weight goes up consistently, and his peaks quickly and begins to go back down. This asshole admits he is there is “something” to this and says he is gonna have to try it. I like to think I saved this asshole a lot of money and pain. I ran into this dickhead about two months later and he attributed big gains to using this system. He also says that rack curls test well, much to my disapproval.

I have also showed this to just about everyone I know at my gym. Some people claim it is bullshit, some say it works while others are indifferent. I would say that everybody responds differently and that this is the most effective way I have ever found to see how my body responds. I promote this system and encourage it whenever I get a chance. I intend to use it FOREVER. Thanks Peter.

Mind into Matter

As many of you may know, should you still actually read this, I test what I do, regarding movements.  As I explained before over here, you can set some nice PRs every day with this protocol.  Based off something another movement member by the name of Darryl and I spoke of, I decided to run an experiment for two weeks.

The idea, as I interpreted it, amounted to the testing of our thoughts.  So, for instance, I would go to the gym, and think about the movements I wanted to do.  I would test the idea.  Then I would test the weights, by merely thinking of them.  I expect to lose half of my readership after this post, but the results from this experiment at this point are pretty swell.

I initially toyed with this, and then second guessed myself by actually testing the weights and loads to use properly.  Shortly over two weeks ago, I abandoned all second guessing and did what ever tested well by way of thinking. 

Of late, I have been squatting, and box squatting and doing good mornings on a regular basis, and the PRs since testing in this manner, have been better than they were before, though it does seem that box squatting is helping my regular squat, along with the good mornings.  Observe:

Here is a graph.  Shouldn't be too hard to figure out.  Back on 29 July, my best Box Squat was four sets of two with 225, fast forward to 21 September, and I have doubled the reps with 225 and still did it in under eight minutes.  My 1RM was 275, last time I checked, and when I started this, 225 seemed heavy.  Sometimes, however box squats do not test as well as regular squats.

23 July, I managed four singles with 245 in five minutes, roughly.  19 September, I hit 2 triples, and 3 doubles in under eight minutes with the same weight.  The proud moment was yesterday, when I hit two sets of five and a bunch of sets of four with 225 (bar kept slipping as I got sweatier, otherwise I would have had all sets of five).

Part of the magic must be due to the good morning.  I have not really ever done them, but they keep getting easier every time I do them.  I now do them regularly, and lately the squats, box squats and good mornings are all synergistically climbing. 

When I first stepped under the 245, I was goddamn terrified, but the second time it was pretty easy.  Compared to when I did 135 back in August, it is all way easier.  25 August, the day after my first good morning session, my abs were on fire.  Now, they don't get sore.

Around the week of 7-12 September, I started testing merely the thought of the movements, and I believe this process saves me a shit ton of energy--as I do all the movements with the best thought tested weight right off the bat, sans a proper warm up.  I also believe the PRs are greater, and more prevalent in all movements.  Whereas, before I wouldn't PR in everything, I am now PRing in every single movement in a training session.  I think this might well be one path to the realization between the mind and body's interconnection.

More on this process to come, and how you can implement it to testing other non movement types of things, like food, people and toothpastes and deodorant.

How I Unfucked Myself: Guest Post from Dan Comp

What's up, ladies? My name is Dan and I am a close friend of young Peter Baker. You know, the kind  where you have both seen each other naked on more than one occasion and outside of the gym showers. Anyways, I was asked to share my story about a little medical condition I suffered from which kept me out of the gym for 9 months. I think it would be best to start from the begining of my gym endevours.

In late 09' I deceded to no longer be a pussy and join the rest of the men in the gym. I had little to no knowledge of proper techniques so I asked Mr. Baker to train me. (and for a nominal fee, he agreed). We started off with the basics, you know, bench press, curls (for the girls), barbell rows, weighted dips, and pullups. All was going swimingly at first, I was gaining serious strength and mass in a faily short amount of time. Unfortunately, 6 months into my new routine I started having issues with my stomach. I found it very difficult to keep food down. At first, I figured this was attributed to a high level of stress so instead of going to a certified Medical Practitioner, I thought it was best to wait it out. Have better decisions been made? Probably. About a month into it, I started to see specialists. Unfortunately, they had no answers either. By month three, I had lost all hope. I lost all the weight I had put on, and all the strength I had gained. This continued for 6 more months when I finally found a Dr. (one where their office  was not located in the back of a station wagon) who diagnosed me with "gastroparesis". What this is, is an inability to properly digest food.

Long story short, I am on an asshole load of medication but back in the gym. I just hit my one year mark in the gym and had some massive improvements in both size and strength. I currently go to the gym 6 times a week becasue I am no pussy. I go, and I lift heavy fucking weight which was entirely against the Dr's recommendations. Why? Because I don't care. I felt 100 times worse not in the gym, than I did throwing up. I think that getting into a balls out workout routine actually has helped. It reminds me everyday that I am in control of what effects me and what does not. Somedays I still wake up and feel just balls terrible, but I fucking suck it up and go anyways.
Life is too short to be a bitch. 


Editor's Note:  Dan provided me with some of the most enjoyable times I had at our former place of employment, and we were constantly getting reprimanded due to saying offensive things.  At one point, a coworker quit because of our ribald humor.  I call it a win.  Dan is currently finishing up his criminology degree at the University of South Florida, and intends to be a US Marshal.