Hey guys!  Re-intro and my routine

C

Calkid

New Member
Hey everybody!  Been a loooooong time.  It's nice to find that my account still exists.

When I first came here and made the paradigm-shifting gains I made, I was 19 and a freshman in college.  Now I'm 24 and working full-time.

Looking back, my motivations surrounding working out were very different than they are now.  I was very intimidated by Berkeley's social environment, and I fell back on weight training to give me structure and what I hoped would be a self-esteem boost from my new body.  Ironically, as I got bigger and my body more beautiful, my self-esteem did not improve.  Quite the contrary, I started to focus on perceived imperfections in my musculature.  Instead of this sexy, muscular dude, I was just a gym rat who looked at himself in the mirror all day.

It has been three years (!!) since I've lifted.  That's NOT to say I haven't worked out in the mean time.  Since I stopped posting I've gotten certified as a Personal Trainer (NASM), experimented with advanced cardio routines, and gotten really into yoga and flexibility.

I used to be all about weights weights weights, size size size.  Snarfing down so much food that I felt sick all the time, busting room-clearing farts during lecture.  Now I approach it as, I want to feel good, feel capable, and appreciate my body for the temple that it is.

Weights are now 15% of my routine.  Here's what I currently do:
-cardio - 20%  Mad max program (google "mad max cardio")
-Yoga - 30% - basic classes at my gym.  I LOVE yoga.  It shows you where you're at in overall body harmony.
-Flexibility/Postural wellness - 20% Rope-stretching and foam rolling to keep me limber
-Weights - 15% - HST all the way.
-Steam Room/Cold shower 15% - Alternate steam room for 10 minutes, cold shower 1 minute.  I do 3 reps, it makes you feel great and does wonders for recovery.

In accordance with HST principles and my own experience, here is what I would consider to be my advanced routine.

Squat x2
SLDL x1
DB Press x2
Cable pulldowns x2
Cable rows x2
DB OHP x1

That's it.  Isolation gives me nothing.  I grow the same without it, and it just fatigues me and hurts my strength on the lifts that really matter.  I'm growing like a weed with protein and creatine, and I can do all of it in 20 minutes with supersets.

Weight progression:  VERY unstructured relative to the vanilla.  I just pick a starting weight that's very low, and increment it every other workout.  I'll start doing 15 reps and drop it to 10 when I can't complete the 15 anymore.  Eventually I hit 5's, and then I milk it for strength gains.  During SD, I'm never sitting on my ***.  Quite on the contrary, I have more time for yoga and the steam room (mmm).

Anyway, I won't be posting very much. I'm super busy, and it's all been rehashed 15000 times anyway.  I wanted to let you guys know, I'm still alive and trucking.  I want to sing HST's praises.  Not only is it by far the most effective routine I've used, but I've adapted it into a super-fast, super-compressed routine that facilitates my overall fitness program.

I would encourage you guys to branch out and try new things.
-YOGA.  If you're only weight training, you're messing up your body.  Period.  Go do yoga, and you'll realize how bad it's gotten.
-Core Performance by Mark Verstegen.  It changed my workout paradigm forever, and taught me how to use cutting-edge tools like ropes, foam rollers, and physioballs to improve often-neglected areas like flexiblity, balance, and tissue pliability.

This is also by far the best and most supportive BBing online community I've been a part of.

As parting words, I would encourage you to examine your underlying motivations for lifting. What do you hope to accomplish? What drives you? Imagine that you've reached your goals. How do you feel? For me, for a very long time, weight training was a good thing done for bad reasons. I'm young -- I paid no consequences for some questionable lifts I did. But if you're older and have joint issues, or prior injuries, it's easy to pay a physical price for lifting heavily and frequently. HST is so effective, so refreshing, that it's easy to get carried away and get addicted to the gains. I urge you, keep it in perspective, listen to your body, and know yourself.

Rock on bros.
 
Awesome post. Weren't you the guy who had the same birthday as me?

As I get on in years, I am appreciating the "holistic perspective," as you're calling it, and often call into question my motivations for exercise, particularly after suffering an injury here and there.

On that note, any recommendations for yoga? I actually have a copy of DDP's Yoga for Regular Guys, but haven't made much use of it.
 
gday calkid!
great post, i totally agree with you bout everything you've said, like what our motivation is and that it's not one of looking at one with disgust or that "i don't look good... yet", them sort of thoughts. thank u very much for reminding me of that, i really focused on the negatives, whereas i've made heeeeaps of progress over the years.

i've thought about doing yoga, is it good? haha i've heard it's great, i'm not sure how yet but yeah, i'll look into that. i guess money's the main issue for me.

can i ask, do you work full-time as a personal trainer? i'm thinking of actually using the certificate III i have in fitness instructing, but i'm not sure if there is any full-time fitness instructor work round, only part-time i think...

you are an inspiration to mate, i'm fairly holistic too haha, good on ya!
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its very good that you have such a sensible attitude at such a young age.
its easy to get carried away with lifting and neglect fitness/health levels etc.

its also easy to get so anal about training weights or any other that it gets more like a job than something to enjoy/benefit from.
at the moment i am doing one heavy session a wk and four light sessions plus cardio,the heavy session is the only one that i stick to a set routine, the others i just go in and do it by feel,its great not to be stuck to a certain regime.

i am also doing more cardio for fitness levels etc.

keep posting and good luck
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Calkid, it's good to know you are doing just fine. Thanks for posting your thoughts. Some very interesting observations. What you say at the tender age of 24 becomes even more pertinent when you reach the not-so-tender age of 43 (where I'm at!).

HST has been brilliant for packing on some lean body mass but then what to do? Well, for me, I'm now much more interested in functional strength and cardio fitness. Flexibility is also much more important to me now than it has ever been. I still have a few strength goals to attain (500 dead, 400 squat, 300 bench and 200 press) but once I have those in the bag (or as many as possible) I'd much rather focus on getting lean and more athletic again.

Interestingly, my flexibility is now much better than it was when I started weight training a few years ago now but I still have a long way to go and I am focussing on it more now. I do think you have to be careful with flexibility though; pushing it too far can apparently weaken joints which would be a bad thing especially as one grows older.

It certainly helps to learn about how your body's skeletal system and musculature work together, how to select suitable exercises to accomplish your goals and learning proper form in those exercises. Oly lifts require flexibility and a great deal of skill to get right when the loads are heavy. Gymnastic moves are great too. This kind of thing is much more interesting to me now than it was a few years ago.

The ideas behind Crossfit 'fit' with the way I want to go with my training now - although I'll be doing my own variations and incorporating HST principles in my workouts rather than following their WODs. Eg. I like the idea of using rings for muscle-ups (my rings should be here today), getting better at the Oly lifts, doing more sprinting and 400m work as well as good old heavy squats, dips, bench, rows, chins and presses in all their variations.

I have proved to myself that it is possible to get bigger and stronger but in order to keep growing I have to eat more and more, something that I find hard to do and which I don't really have time for (if it wasn't for milk I would have found it very hard to hit 224lb).

Once I have achieved my strength goals (hopefully, this winter) I will return to a leaner Lol and attempt to maintain as much strength as possible while improving in all the other aforementioned areas.
 
To mikeynov and Simon: I hope I didn't portray myself as a yoga expert! Far from it. I'm halfway between beginner and intermediate. Like, I can put both legs behind my head and palm the floor, but basic stuff still challenges me. Nothing makes me feel better than yoga though. It's almost... post-coital in that you're tired and relaxed, but happy and alert.

Where to do it? Hopefully your gym offers classes. I workout at 24-hour fitness currently. They offer decent classes. I'd recommend experimenting, try all the yoga classes you can make it to that are conveniently timed, and then pick your favorite instructor and stick with him/her. Every class of every instructor is totally unique.

I suppose it's possible to start from scratch in a self-directed way. I know people who have done it. I can't do it personally. I like to be told what to do
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I also find that a lot of the side benefits I enjoy are limited to classroom settings:
-my favorite instructors have very hypnotic voices, it helps me relax, and zen out
-there are attractive, spandex-wearing young ladies who tend to be mellow, new-agey types ;)

If your gym doesn't offer yoga, there are some yoga-only studios with decent rates. The SF bay area and Los Angeles area (2 places I've done most of my yoga) have low-cost or even free yoga for the masses. Google it, who knows.

To Simon -- I actually did try to make it as a personal trainer. It was a very instructive experience, and the reality of training was very different from my expectations.

When it boils down to it, if you're getting started as a PT, you're a salesman more than a trainer. I interviewed and learned about PT-ing at both Bally's and 24-hour fitness. IT'S A SALES JOB. You are 100% responsible for building your client base, and the way you do that is by running free "assessment" visits they offer to new members, and prospecting the floor during business hours hitting on people.

The people who make it really well as personal trainers have spent huge amounts of time and energy to build client bases, and gain experience. It's like any sales job, 20% of the people make 80% of the money, and many more people quit than are successful. It's really not about what you know as how reliably you can get clients to show up.

If you think I'm trying to discourage you, you're right
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It sucked ***, and when it boils down to it, the pay isn't that good unless you slug it out in the industry for long enough to go independent.
 
Calkid, just echoing Lol's comment, have you looked at Crossfit? They preach the whole diversify thing with workouts that involve strength, endurance, speed, flexibility... I'll be looking into it myself soon.
 
I would like to 1000% echo Calkid's sentiments regarding personal training as a career.

I have been personal training the past year as a means of generating cash, and my experience has basically been identical.

If you go into personal training thinking that your knowledge or even coaching ability will allow you to be a successful trainer (in the financial sense), you may be sorely disappointed. The people succeeding financially in the business are, first and foremost, salespeople, and very good at sales.

If you are not comfortable being borderline pushy with people, or really "convincing" people that they need your services, you may wish to seek an alternate profession.

Incidentally, I am a terrible salesperson, though I think I am a reasonably competent trainer/coach. Non-shockingly, I am presently looking for alternate means of employment.
 
About 10 years ago i got my first gym membership at Gold's gym for like a whopping 300-400 bucks a year. It came with 2 free sessions with a personal trainer. I took advantage of them but i had no plans whatsoever to go any further as it was something like $50 a hour with this guy. The next 3 or 4 times i went to the gym this dude was hounding me trying to get me to buy time with him. It made me so uncomfortable in there that i never went again and stopped working out alltogether for about 9 years. In my current gym i treat them like car salesman, I dont even respond back with a hello.
 
Calkid

Nice to see you posting again after an eternity of absence! Excellent post by the way and something I'll definitely give a try too.

Always thought my body has gotten stiffer as I get older and stronger, nothing wrong with keeping it flexible and having the approach you now do.

Needless to say that your way of training completelly fulfils my newest training phylosophy, "simplify and win" which since I started the thread has over 12,000 hits, it is nonetheless the best, quickest way of reaching your pinnacle and also the least of time wasters in the gym.

And what's more I love the way it raises eyebrows amongst the other gym rats, who painfully toil away each day, not knowing any better!
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haha yeah, i'm not thinking of getting into personal training but more so just being a gym instructor (just working in a gym) for the time being. i just see SO much terrible advice being given, i don't want to manipulate people, i want to get people started on the right track, offer correct advice and teach to them how to reach in and achieve their goals for themselves.
 
I noticed some talk about crossfit in this thread. I'm coming off of 6 months "pure crossfit," in that I worked their 3 on 1 off schedule, strictly adhering to the mainpage WOD (workout of the day). After some initial improvements in my general "fitness," I became quite overtrained. All of my lifts dropped off dramatically (for example, my 425 DL from Jan 08 dropped to barely 385 three weeks ago).

Now, I have gleaned some great benefits from the idea's behind crossfit. For those of you on the board who are thinking about working some CF-type training into your routines, how are you planning on doing it?

I believe I want to get back into an HST cycle, but don't want to totally give up all of the metabolic conditioning workouts from CF.

If anyone's got any ideas on how to kind of "merge" the two, I'd love to hear it. My ultimate goal for the next phase of training is to improve strength, power, and conditioning. Now, I know HST is a "hypertrophy routine;" however, I've always made really great strength gains using HST. Just trying to figure out how to put together a program that uses HST principles for 3-4 days/week, while incorporating some crossfit metcon (metabolic conditioning) workouts into the week. The workouts I will choose will be brief and intense (5-15 minutes). No marathon workouts here. Probably 2 classic CF metcon workouts plus one spring workout. I just don't want them to really adversely affect my strength training.

Any ideas?
 
Killroy,

Re a blend of HST and Crossfit:

Yeah, I think it is doable but obviously there is some conflict of interest. I am cutting at the moment so I'm using Crossfit metcon style workouts to burn some cals and improve my cardio fitness, but I'm only doing them twice a week. Three days a week I am doing heavier training more akin to an HST cycle (although, because I'm cutting I'm sticking in the 10 and 5 rep ranges).

I'm doing something like this:

Mon: HST
Tues: Crossfit
Wed: HST
Thurs: Rest
Fri: HST
Sat: Crossfit
Sun: Rest

(So far so good, but if I find this gets too much as my calories drop off further I might switch to an HST day, followed by a CF day, followed by a rest day, and repeat that.)

Unfortunately, I have a few injuries right now which are messing with my heavier HST days. As I'm new to Crossfit type workouts I'm having to take a bit more time than I would like while my cardio fitness improves. Instead of doing WODs I just pick a CF workout (like one of the 'girls') from the list depending on how my body feels on the day.
 
Lol,

Your approach actually seems to be what a lot of people are doing who have switched from "pure crossfit" to a more progressive, strength-based routine still utilizing crossfit workouts.

There have been a number of interesting threads on a few different sites regarding this, such as the CF message boards, performancemenu.com forum, and a forum over at strengthmill.net.

One common theme I've seen is that when people are switching to a strength biased routine, the CF workouts they include are very short and intense. Either modify the WOD to keep it under 15 minutes, or, like you said, simply pick and choose a WOD, or better yet, make up your own, that is brief and intense.

Most advise to stay away from "chipper" workouts - those WODs where you have to "chip" away at the reps to complete the workout. An example of this would be "Angie," which involves 100 pullups, 100 pushups, 100 situps, and 100 squats, all done for time. A better choice would be "Fran," 3 rounds of 95 lb thrusters alternated with pullups for 21 / 15/ 9 reps, for time.

Anyway, I like your setup. The only thing I'd like to add to my routine is a running day. I'm just going to alternate the interval-like run each week, moving from 10x100m to 8x200m, to 4x400m, to 1 mile for time, and back again...

Anyway, still tinkering with it....
 
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