Squat, New Year's eve, snow storm

Went to the gym today and it wasn't pack at all.  I only had 2 hours before the gym closed, so I decided to just do my squat routine and leg curls.  

It was productive, the best I can remember so far.  

I am on a sixteen week Rickey Dale Crain's Pure Power Squat routine.  It is the most basic one and according to him, he uses it for beginning powerlifters and/or athletes that chooses to use powerlifting style squats.  

I am currently on week 13, and the routine is pretty simple.  

You have five warm up sets, progressively increasing weight (50 - 140 lbs depending on your max lift), two sets of max weight for the week, and two sets of three second pause reps.

My transition from doing Olympic style squat to powerlifting style squat has been an eye opener.

First of all, the bar placement is lower, more at the height of your rear deltoids.

Second, power comes mainly from your hips, hamstring, glutes, and lower back.

Flexibility of your shoulder, arms and wrist is crucial.  The closer the distance between two wrist, the better it is for gripping.

Strain on the wrist and elbows is pretty big, so a good pair of wrist wraps is a must.

Strain on the upper back

Strain on the lower back due to poor form.

Strain on the hips because I have never really used it for squatting.  

There are a few key points I have to remember and these are

1. Keep my upper back arch by pushing my chest out, and pulling my shoulder closer together.  This lower the strain on my lower back.
   
2. Pull my elbow up to increase stability of the bar behind my bar.
3. Always look straight ahead.
4. Get my feet stance out wide due to flexibility issues.  
5. Flex everything, from curling your toes to flexing your neck.
6. Breath deep and breath more into your stomach.
7. Push my knees out while descending.
8. When exploding up, lead with my head to prevent myself from rounding my back or doing good mornings...which mean less lower back pain.
9. Hold your breath descending and ascending till you are almost standing back straight up.  Grunting seems to help keep my body tight but I do make a lot of noise...
10. Remember to squeeze and keep my hamstrings, and glutes tight.  
11. I wear knee sleeves or knee wraps when I am doing my max weight for the week.
12. I wear a powerlifting (4mm thick) belt when I am doing my max weight and pause squat.
13. I wear Converse Chuck Taylor type shoes.  I find that flat soles and bear feet gives me more stability.  

Number 10, 11 and 12 is mostly debated.  You will find a lot of (different and opposite) opinions on wearing those equipment.  Most of those opinions are without scientific proof to back it up.  

Some swear by not wearing knee wraps unless squat 80-90% max, others say that there isn't any difference.  Same goes for the belt.

Rickey Dale Crain said that he has done it both way (40 plus years of powerlifting experience) and safety reason, he advocates people to wear knee wraps and belts regardless of weight. 

 If you have the cash, you can buy shoes specifically for squatting but expect to shell out 100 plus dollars, or you can go with the economical way which are chuck taylor's.  

There are two things I know that powerlifters (those have been doing it for years and years) will agree on are 1) Do not wear athletics shoes, air soles, gel soles etc, and 2) Do not wear combat boots.  

Remember to lift for yourself, not for anyone else or for ego.  Listen to your body and find out what works and what doesn't.

To squat or not to squat

I have been training for 4 days straight.  It is not intentional but the holidays are effecting my schedule.  I know I am overtrained because of the lack of motivation to go to the gym today.  The problem now is if I should do my squat routine one day early, which means that I will be training five days straight, or take a break on sunday and squat monday.  

Monday will be a rush because the gym will be packed and I have to go to work on New Year's eve. It was packed on Christmas eve and standing around waiting to use equipment is a big waste of time.  

I guess I will sleep on it, and maybe figure something out by morning.  

How much is too much?

So how often should you train in the gym?  

Here are some of the answer I have found:

• Three days per week, full body workout
  
• 4 days per week, split body
• 4 days per week, full body
• 5 days per week, full/split body
• 6 days per week, split body
• and so on...

You might be saying "Huh? Aren't you at risk of over training by training 5-6 days a week?"

Yes and no.

Training frequency is dependent on a few things.  

1)  What are your goals when you train?  Olympic Weighlifting?  Powerlifting? Strongman? General fitness?

Bulgarian Olympic weightlifters has been known to train six days a week, and taking the seventh day off.  Some of their programs includes two squat sessions per day.

Powerlifter on the other hand trains 3/4 days per week.  Squat, Bench, Deadlift, and maybe another day of light bench.  

2)  Your recovery rate after training.  I know some people have tremendously fast recovery rate.  They can go all out in training and after only one night of sleep, they feel fine.  I for myself, has poor recovery rate and requires at least a day off from training before I begin another session.

3) What do you do during your off days?  Do you do active recovery or typically sit around the house.  Do you go to a massage therapist?  RICE, heat, sauna, hot shower treatments?

4) Nutrition.  Good nutrition allows the body to easily replenishes depleted resources.
Creatine, amount of proteins, carbs, fats, amino acids and even steroids can have an effect on how fast you recover.

5) How much sleep do you get per night?  Eight hours is an ideal number to shoot for.  

So how do you determine if you are ready for another day of training.   When you wake up in the morning, take your rest pulse.  If it is above normal, you are due for another day of rest/recovery.  Also, you have to listen to your body.  Is there deep muscle pain?  Is your motivation starting to slip?  Look for signs that can lead to over training.  

I am currently on a powerlifting routines, and I train for 4 days.  Squat, Bench, Deadlift, Light bench and 3 days of rest (sitting around, eating, sleeping).  4 days seems to be gold for me, at least for now.  

The lack of respect to overtraining...no pain, no gain right?

According to wikipedia, " Overtraining occurs when the volume and intensity of an individual's exercise exceeds their recovery capacity. They cease making progress, and can even begin to lose strength and fitness. Overtraining is a common problem in weight training, but it can also be experienced by runners and other athletes." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining

After I started out a new weight training regimen after a long seditary lifestyle, I was going to the gym 5-6 days a week, almost 3 hours per day.  I was pretty much doing a full body routine.   

I mean, hey, I am young, I am drinking caffine before/after workout, I feel find.  No pain, no gain right?  

Then I began to feel irritable, and depress.  I started thinking, "after slugging out for so long, how come I am not losing weight, and becoming leaner!"  I was eating properly, six meals a day, meeting the carb and protein requirements, downing supplements like a can of coke.  

It just got worst.  Everything just bothered me to the point where I felt angry for no reason.   By this time, I should have said to myself "hey, something is wrong, I better back off a bit on my training."

Well, because of my hardheadness, and ego.  I refused to give up.   Muscle soreness became deep pain, my joints started to creak, and I started to lose sleep.  

It wasn't until I was sitting in my car, and saying "screw this, I quit, I am not going in anymore." My motivation at that point was at an all time low.  So I took the day off, went home and went to bed.  

I woke up the next day, and already I notice a difference psychologically, and physically.  I felt better.  So I took another day off, and all the pain went away, and I felt cheerful.

So that was my experience with overtraining but I was lucky because I could have suffered a severe injury by continuing it.  

So what are the typical signs of overtraining?

• irratability
  
• deep muscle soreness/sorness that will not go away
• lack of motivation
• lost of sleep
• angry for no reason
• depress
• alway tired no matter how much coffee or sleep you had
• elevated resting heart rate

These are just a few but the most common.  

So how do you know if you are about to overtrain?  Well, the best way to gauge it is when you wake up, you take your heart rate.  If it is above normal, then you should take another day of active recovery and/or avoiding the gym.  

The other way to find out if your muscle soreness is "deep" muscle soreness.  "Deep" muscle soreness is usually very painful and will not go away even after you warmed up.  An example: If it took you ten minutes to climb a 20 step stairs, then thats deep muscle soreness...

Introduction

I have been wading through magazine, books, journals, dvds and many other publication out there about weightlifting, powerlifting, nutrition, supplements, injury prevention and so on.  

What I have found are and will try my best to answer some of these questions:

1) some magazines contradict each other...for example: one magazine will say "Over training is bad!" and the other "Over training is bad but good if you want gain".  Who should you believe?

2) Supplement ads, so many and all of them saying the same thing "We are better than the competitors! We will give you 50% more muscle, 350% more strength..." Which supplements should you take?  

3) Confuse about nutrition? About diet? More carbs? More protein? More fats? Amino Acids? Vitamins?   

4) What about weight training routines/programs?  High volume, High intensity? Low Volume, High intensity? To cardio or not?  5x5? Six days a week training vs 3 days a week? Over/under training?

5) Warm up, resting, stretching, sleeping and so on...

I am not an expert in these fields but I have research, tried, failed, succeeded, and most important learned for my experience.  

Hopefully, you will take the time to read through it, make CONSTRUCTIVE 
criticism, and share your opinion.

Lastly, when in doubt, KEEP IT SIMPLE!  

Everyone is different

This is probably the least emphasize point when one is ready to embark on the Iron journey:  

Not everyone is physically and psychologically the same.  

Each individual will response to a training regimen, a nutritional regimen, supplementation differently, and each individual has to adjust his/her program specifically to find that right frequency to lose, to gain, to grow, to be stronger and healthier.  

Think about it, if company XY or diet plan zk is so successful in giving huge number of customers great gains or lost in weight, wouldn't you think most of us will be using it and be healthy by now or be like the next Arnold?

So if one program is not giving you result, don't sweat it, just find another program to suit your need.  

Be flexible, be knoweledgable and be patience.