Rihad's log

[HST_Rihad]

Had a whole thing written out ... but just not worth it.

Fanatics can't be reasoned with

But I still have it!

Re-read it. Only a moron who believes in, I don't know, being able to gain LBM consistently without fat, would misread what I wrote as fat swapping itself into muscle.

Why lose time on searching for such "aha" type beginner goof-ups? Anyone remotely interested in basic physiology knows that "swapping fat for muscle" really means losing fat due to diet and building muscle due to exercise.

It isn't on there for it's muscle-building potential, kiddo.

Such condescending tone... And then you're saying I'm lecturing anyone.
Ephedrine is a performance enhancing drug. The simple fact that it retains more of the muscle while burning fat makes it such. And it may have bad health effects. Saying that ephedrine or ECA stack is not considered a drug makes it very probable that you've used it. I'm fine with that, it's your body.

 

[Jester]

Oh please, use an ECA stack in Australia ... ? Good luck w/that. If you're ever fortunate enough to travel, and you do visit here, for the love of God do not attempt to bring in anything remotely unlawful. We're a wonderful country, but we have the strictest drug and medicine laws in the world. The FDA in the USA takes lessons from us.

Ephedrine is a performance enhancing drug, no doubt about it, so is caffeine, so is testosterone, so is creatine. Some of these are legal, some are not. Some are allowed in competition, some are not.

Saying that ephedrine or ECA stack is not considered a drug makes it very probable that you've used it. I'm fine with that, it's your body.

- Please quote me back where I said this. What I said was;

'Ephedrine is not a breach of being a natural'.

Natural BB'ers are defined by those not using steroids, certain peptides and Growth Hormones.


Also, as a former B.Sc (Hons), double major in pharmacology and neuropharm, having worked in the pharmaceutical industry, please spare me any future talk of what is, and is not a 'drug'.

Next, don't make assumptions about me (or anyone else on here). It gives the impression that you share an IQ w/an over-ripe cucumber, and have nothing better to add to discussion than ill-conceived and moronic, false correlations.

 

[Totentanz]

You know that my "if you're bigger than Brad" is an unfortunate choice of words, of course you (or someone) may be naturally taller/wider and thus carry more muscles. That's not a concern. What I meant was the size of the muscles in proportion to the body, the body looks we're after: lean & muscular. Are you sure you would compare favourably to Brad's looks when you're down to his photoshooting bf levels? Not theoretically doing some smart math on bf levels, but actually after naturally getting down to his levels?

You are overinflating the height thing. Yes, I am rather tall but Brad says he is 5'10 - 5'11 which is only 2-3 inches shorter than me, so it is not that significant of a difference. Comparing stats, it is clear that we will look different when at the same bodyfat due to the fact that Brad has puny legs compared to me and his arms are more developed than mine. You are focused too much on looks, looks are all subjective. If you are going to go by looks then I win because I have a better beard. The numbers ARE what matter here.
The fact is that going by weight, I carry 30-40 lbs more lean mass than he does and he is just a little older and has been lifting a lot longer than I have. Adjusted for the slight height difference, which he says a few inches equals 7 lbs more lean mass, I am still carrying significantly more lean mass than he is.

 

[HST_Rihad]

Did some full ROM leg presses after declining the platform one level away from me (which was my usual set up). 160kg/352lbs x 15 nice burning sensation deep in the muscle. Today wasn't my leg press day, I simply finish my leg work with higher rep leg presses on squat days and higher rep squats on leg press days.

 

[Lol]

Did some full ROM leg presses after declining the platform one level away from me (which was my usual set up).
...

Good for you!
BTW, do you know what Brad's goals are, as far as lifting is concerned? Is he primarily concerned with keeping his six-pack all year round?

 

[HST_Rihad]

AFAIK Brad Pilon likes the way he looks and keeps his bf levels at around 12%, so it would take him not more than a few weeks to prepare for a photoshooting session, or vacation, or some special event, if need be.

p.s.: I'm not only reading his stuff... I've also read stuff by Lyle, Blade, Tom Venuto, some bits by Martin Berkhan, and of course Bryan. It's just that I like Brad's attitude towards eating whatever you want & on one's protein needs for growth much smaller than dictated by gurus like Lyle; his ideas are so different from the dogmatic mantra of "eating for size", when folks are happy to be putting on pounds on the scale, and watch their arms grow bigger & fatter. I was just like that.

 

[Lol]

In the pics I've seen of Brad he's very lean, certainly less than 12% bf, but smaller, muscle-wise, than many CrossFitters. Getting really lean is not easy, by any means, but being muscular and lean is harder, especially without the use of drugs.

A person's genetics determines just how hard this actually is. If you look at the vast majority of natural lifters who are muscular and lean you will invariably find that they have focussed on gaining weight at certain points in their lifting career and have then stripped away the fat. That's not the way Brad suggests but he isn't holding a lot of muscle tissue. He looks bigger than he is because he is lean. Put him in clothes and he will not look like he trains at all.

In your case, it may be that you have a P-ratio that is more weighted towards fat gain than the average person. That will mean that when increasing your body mass you will add more fat as you gain lean tissue than the average person.

My suggestion to you would be to get yourself down to sub-10% bf so you can see what you are dealing with and then bulk up from there. You could do that in under 6 months and you will gain a lot of valuable experience along the way. Obviously, set the goal of maintaining as much lean mass as you can. You might be surprised how muscular you look once you are much leaner.

 

[HST_Rihad]

You might be surprised how muscular you look once you are much leaner.

Agreed, it doesn't take much muscle at all to look good, provided you're lean.

As for Brad, having worked in the supplement industry in the past, he had unlimited access to all imaginable dietary supplements, and he tried eating lots of protein, this didn't help him any. It may be genetics holding him back, or what I think to be the case, lack of HST training Of course Brad used to bulk/cut like the majority of folks, while he was preparing for the contest anyway. Other folks gaining fat+muscle and then stripping away the fat until abs are visible while still holding onto the bulk of the muscle.. might be genetics, or some sort of muscle size sparing drugs, like ECA.

Some of his thoughts on gaining fat for muscle:
http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/gaining-fat-to-build-muscle/
http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/intermittent-fasting-and-bulking/

 

[HST_Rihad]

Did rack pulls today: 142kg x 5, 145kg x 5. Lifted from somewhere a little above my knees (rack hole #5 if it makes any sense). Next Friday I'll be hitting 150 kg from a little lower level. First time me holding anything heavier than 135kg. No max-stims style yet, since it was quite doable. Used a wrist strap for my left hand for a pronated grip. Decent work for legs & glutes, and excellent loading for the traps holding the barbell.

 

[Jester]

Definitely below the knee. I tried it above knee, and about knee level, and whatever notch is just below/is at the base of the ~ knee cap/patella region(those are different to be sure, but either would suffice here IMO) and the form difference is quite significant, as is the leverage and synergy of the lift.

 

[HST_Rihad]

It depends on how tall you are, I guess. For me, a loaded barbell on the floor is almost half way to my knee. So below the knee isn't that much partial for me. It is, but not quite. The measuring stick should probably be this: as low as you can go and still go 15-20% heavier than regular DL at the same work volume.

 

[Jester]

No, definitely not 'as low as you can go'. It's a 'back' exercise, you aren't aiming to get much leg involvement. Your height won't matter, because your arm length will reduce proportionately the shorter you are.

Have the bar at about the base of your kneecap, as opposed to distinctly below your knee and occupying somewhere along your shin.

And again, it's not a partial DL, in the same way that an OHP is not a partial bench press. If you want to think of it that way, then I won't make further attempts to alter your perception, but don't try and lift it as though it is a partial. It's not worth this much analysis, not really. Most fun exercise I think I've ever found. Just stack up the plates and lift.

 

[Totentanz]

If you are using your legs to get any drive on a rack pull then the form is incorrect. You should keep the legs locked and not be "squatting" the bar up so you can lock it out. Defeats the purpose of the rack pull. If you want to use a deadlift variant to hit the legs harder, the rack pull is not what you should be doing, you should instead look into deficit deads or even deadlifts from the top instead of the bottom.

 

[HST_Rihad]

It's a 'back' exercise, you aren't aiming to get much leg involvement.

It's a legs+glutes+traps+lower back+forearm exercise.

Have the bar at about the base of your kneecap

Will do that next workout. As the load isn't that heavy and I do my 5's with it no problem, I think I won't burn out this fast if I keep doing them 3 times a week.

And again, it's not a partial DL, in the same way that an OHP is not a partial bench press. If you want to think of it that way, then I won't make further attempts to alter your perception, but don't try and lift it as though it is a partial. It's not worth this much analysis, not really. Most fun exercise I think I've ever found. Just stack up the plates and lift.

How can this be? Rack pulls is simply the upper portion of your DL.

 

[HST_Rihad]

If you are using your legs to get any drive on a rack pull then the form is incorrect. You should keep the legs locked and not be "squatting" the bar up so you can lock it out. Defeats the purpose of the rack pull. If you want to use a deadlift variant to hit the legs harder, the rack pull is not what you should be doing, you should instead look into deficit deads or even deadlifts from the top instead of the bottom.

I'm confused. This is the rack pull I'm talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MLLp0G8R8w&t=40

if you want to keep your legs straight at all times, fine, it's still rack pulls, partial SLDL.

 

[HST_Rihad]

Got very extensive DOMS on my upper back, some on glutes and some on leg biceps (although the last one can also come from partial leg curls too) today after yesterday's 145kg x 4, 147kg x 6 rack pulls from the knee level. Did all 6 reps non-stop, there's no need to go so heavy as to employ rest-pause or cluster singles or doubles for mass. I used wrist straps on both my hands because calluses on my palms make holding the weight a painful experience.

 

[HST_Rihad]

Finished my 12-week cycle today. Previous working weight in kg shown in parentheses.

Leg press 300х5х2 partial + 240х10 decent ROM (280х5х2) alternated with Parallel squats 95х5 (haven't done for a year)
Incline bench press 70х3 (75х3)
Leg curls, #bricks 14х5 or 15х5 partial (13х5)
Chin-ups BW+27.5х5 (BW+25х5, but dropped some BW, thus more or less same load) alternated with Seated rows 95х5 partial (85x4 decent ROM)
Lying 1-arm rear delt work 15х10 partial (8.5х10)
Shrugs 135х5 (127х5х2) + rack pulls (3rd rack hole at knee level) 152х7 pronated grip with wrist straps
Bicep curls 47х3 or 52х4 cheated negatives (47х2 or 50х5 cheated negatives)
Tricep pushdowns all 14 bricks х 15 (14х10) now going to do CGBP bending my elbows within the plane of the body 50х6х2
Calf raises BW+60х13 negatives (lift w/ 2 legs, lower w/ one).(BW+116х12х2 two legged)

My BW dropped from the beginning of the cycle (03/VI) by more than 3 kg, still I haven't lost strength (except in in bench press due to shrinking in chest size and the resultant increased ROM), and yet added in strength in some of the lifts.

I loved doing the rack pulls. I think in a year or a year and a half, I can reach 200x5 without a rush, and I won't be too far away from 200 kg (440 lbs) classic DL off the floor, which considering my estimated BW of 70-75 kg (155-165 lbs) at that time wouldn't be bad at all.

 

[HST_Rihad]

Some more shots, after 11 day SD and two initial 10-rep workouts.

 

[Jester]

1. Ditch the sunglasses. It just looks ridiculous. Further, if you aren't wearing them in videos you upload, they're quite unnecessary.

2. Right bicep bigger than left ... ? Confirm?

3. Doesn't look markedly different to the last shots. You don't seem to be gaining much atm. Still on your cut?

 

[HST_Rihad]

1. Ditch the sunglasses. It just looks ridiculous. Further, if you aren't wearing them in videos you upload, they're quite unnecessary.

The videos are taken using a cheap old 2mbps mobile phone I'm using, you can hardly see anything on them anyway
But these are high-def face close-ups! Maybe I will some other time

2. Right bicep bigger than left ... ? Confirm?

Yup. It sure looks so, although I've never seen a point in measuring the smaller arm. Also, left leg looks bigger than right.

3. Doesn't look markedly different to the last shots. You don't seem to be gaining much atm. Still on your cut?

I'm still dieting, of course. More than that, I went on a holiday (to Istanbul/Turkey) for the 11 days of SD and binged away uncontrollably with whatever I came across: doner-kebabs, pizzas, burgerkings, sweets, etc etc sometimes overeating by 2-3 times the amount I normally ate on a diet. Added about 1.5kg BW, +2cm waist. Just thought I could commemorate this point in time