kyle,

lololol. You guys need to stop pwning me

I've had no problems keeping recovery going/progress up so far. If I ever stop, I'll eat more and accept whatever fat accompanies it. I wanna get strong dammit, cutting can come later.

Btw I was too lazy to foam roll yesterday pwo, and now my anterior hip flexors are sore as **** again. Ok I take the hint, foam roll religiously, no lip service.

Yeah, recovery is my biggest concern, especially when combined with athletics. Since I've overcome my fear of being fat (which I already am), it's been a lot better.

Combining:
-Regular foam rolling and dynamic stretches
-Regular attention to wrist weight and SPRI band work for my shoulders
-Static stretching and yoga in the evenings
-Eating > 4000 calories/day (I try to, anyway - sometimes I fall short when I don't drink enough milk)

I haven't had any problems with recovery. Even after my bone-crushing 5RM DL of 365.

That recent post made me go weigh myself since I've been avoiding it. Last time I weighed in (3 weeks ago?), I was 261.0 lbs (in the morning). Today I'm 254.0 lbs, and that's at night with food in my stomach and water retention.

Proof that you can eat a large pizza (had one today), Wendy's (had a burger and two chicken sandwiches), and milk (sadly only drank 16 fl oz. today) and not become too obese!

To be serious about the weight thing.

My goal with regards to body fat is to be around 10-11% (AND be strong). You can disagree about that but whatev, that's what I want and it's obviously possible.

I'm probably at 16% now. So eventually, at some point, I'll have to cut.


Anyone got any ideas on what the best approach is? Finish novice phase first, cut down, progress into intermediate? Cut earlier? Cut later? I'm definitely flexible, as long as my bf is down goal around June next year.

Edit: And by "best" I mean if it matters when I cut or not. In my head it sounds most wise to finish the novice phase first, but I can't really explain why.

Can I jump in here and ask about this foam rolling business? Nothing about it or recovery in the FAQ that I can find. Any resources someone can link me to? Because I just started doing squats this week and the recovery has really been a bitch.

if there is someone you know in real life (trainer or not) that knows how to squat, see if they can help you initially. it would have taken me forever to learn how to "sit back" (to get the hips/ass out) on the descent if it wasn't for anklebreaker helping me in person using the box squat method. it took him 15 minutes to teach me the technique, where it might have taken me a very long time to learn via the internet. just trying to save you some time and frustration, though you might be the type that learns quickly via internet, i dunno.

are you eating a lot and getting lots of sleep? make sure those two are checked off first because i figure that foamrolling - while beneficial - would be lower in the heirarchy for effective recovery.

this is one of the foamrolling links: http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_a...44261362.hydra

there is a giant pdf somewhere that goes through each technique. i think it's by cressey too. if you google, you can probably find it.

Thanks derosnec. I've been digging a lot since I posted that and found that link as well as a few others in past threads. You make a really good point about the eating and sleeping thing . . . probably not since I don't eat that much and I just moved in with my gf and she's a nurse (weird schedules) so my sleep hasn't been amazing. But this isn't my log, so I'll leave it at that and focus on eating, and then perhaps the foam as you suggest. Thanks again.

Unfortunately, I don't know anyone irl that knows how to squat. I tried breaking at the hips at home here now and could see the difference in the mirror so excited to try to implement tomorrow. That is, if this nagging pain in my left elbow disappears...hrmphf. Guess I'm stuck with trying to learn and posting here.


Levarkin,

check http://www.robertsontrainingsystems....SMR-manual.pdf for a free e-book on self-myofascial release. Must admit I've only followed the exercises in the link dero posted so far myself.

As someone who didn't eat enough to recover/advance in weight properly, I gotta say this can't be emphasized enough. Not enough food = guaranteed no progress.

Thanks man. I never would have thought of that if not for this forum.

Hurray, my first injury!

Like i described in the last log entry, got hurt last time.

Today, my upper arm felt fine, but yesterday and to a much lesser degree today I felt some pain in my elbow. Looking at anatomy drawings I'd say it's possibly the brachialis, but not sure. Pain was situated right in the middle part of the elbow joint, "deep" inside.

Anyway, started with the warm-up sets on the squat and felt the pain increase somewhat. Worked up, and after the last warm-up set the elbow, and now part of the upper arm as well, was painful. Not a sharp pain, but constant and radiating. Tried a reduced work set but had to give it up after one rep, and pain was now pretty intense.

So I skipped the rest of the session, there was no way I'd be able to finish anything. Got some ice for the arm.

FWIW the pain started after the first squat work set last time. At the time it was very dull, then got way worse with the 2nd work set.

I've been foam rolling my triceps as well as my biceps. I noticed the Cressey article about foam rolling doesn't contain any exercises for the biceps...is there a reason for this perhaps?

The pain is more dull now, but it's pretty constant and radiates upwards almost to my shoulder. Anyone got a clue? What to do, how to treat it?

Edit: on a scale of 1 to 10 where 5 is pain immediately after stubbing your toe hard and 10 is breaking your arm, pain was 5 right after work set and probably a 2-3 now, one hour afterwards.

i can give you no help because i can't even fathom how your arm could end up hurting when you're squatting


i've had tight shoulders before due to weird grip/bar placement but never tight bi/elbow pain.

Go see a physical therapist/sports therapist imo.

I had some shoulder pain when I was benching. Obv I thought "there goes my rotator cuff, FML", but a visit to the PT reveals that my bicep was causing the issue. He taught me some stretches and the pain went away.

Just find a good one that knows his ****.

I know what your talking about not knowing when cut. I don't know if what I'm doing is best, but I'm lifting and increasing as much as I can and eating a lot while doing GOMAD, and will cut sometime before summer and cut all summer long. Then as soon as summer ends, eat eat eat and increase the weights and start all over again, at a much higher level, of course. I think other people follow this cycle as well.