Im2manly's Journal of Non-B!tchAzzness

[ironwill2008]

(4) RANDOM THINGS I FELT LIKE DOING
CGBP: 365 x 1
BENCH: *385 x 1

Good work, especially the CG.

Also this format makes it like impossible for me to really post in my journal. *I may actually close it down b/c of how horrible it is .*

Agreed, it's a PITA to make a long post and then have to go back through it and try to straighten out all the glitches.

[scott_donald]

click advanced when doing your journal... don worry there is a huge head in the mod forums with so many issues to be solved... the enter key one is doing my nut in!!!

solid stuff... where did you loose albs on the last set!!! haha... solid stuff indeed for after a week off!!!

[im2manly]

Manly, I promise, once I start lifting again, I will squat more than you bench!

lol you better you are losing ground daily!

Good work, especially the CG.


Agreed, it's a PITA to make a long post and then have to go back through it and try to straighten out all the glitches.

Yea thanks it felt good to be moving decent weight again. *And yea trying to post your journal like you used to is big pain.

click advanced when doing your journal... don worry there is a huge head in the mod forums with so many issues to be solved... the enter key one is doing my nut in!!!

solid stuff... where did you loose albs on the last set!!! haha... solid stuff indeed for after a week off!!!

Thanks man and thanks for noticing that it said 333 instead of 335 lol my error. *And good I am glad they are taking notice, also these damn*asterisks*are killing me too!

[TheChadster08]

Good job manly. Lu isn't the only one coming after you. I may not be close now, but watch out cause I'll come up on your like a train son!!!!!

Keep it up bud.

[im2manly]

TUESDAY AUGUST 09, 2011: LOWER BODY STRENGTH

(1) SLOW AND CONTROLLED FULL HIGH BAR SQUAT:
Bar x 5
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 3
365 x 3
365 x 3*
365 x 3
365 x 3

NOTES: *These felt much better on the knees. *No bounce and if anything there was a slight pause. *I'll stick to these for now on.

(2) LOW BAR AT OR SLIGHTLY ABOVE PARALLEL WIDE STANCED BOX SQUAT:
405 x 3
405 x 1 (landed on safety rails)
405 x 2

NOTES: On the the 2nd set I raised the safety bars as I am still getting used to low bar again and It landed right on them lol so I rolled from under, recomposed my self and lifted it from a dead state so I'll count it as one rep. *Also my wrists are fuking killing me with the grip on low bar, that being said it is much easier to movie weight low bar lol. *Aside from the 2nd set the rest was touch and go sitting back as far as I possibly could.*

(3) FRONT SQUATS:
135 x 3
225 x 3
245 x 2
245 x 2
245 x 2

NOTES: *Man I hate FS. *But I am dedicating myself to doing these. *Also I can't do the clean grip. *Whenever I do the weight falls forward or I fall forward, I don't have this problem with a cross grip. *Is there any actual benefit from using a clean grip?

(4) RDLS:
315 x 3
405 x 3
405 x 3
405 x 3

NOTES: *Not to bad, still felt it in the hams. Ironwill was my motivation for these, the guy has amazing RDLs.*

(5) RACK PULLS
405 x 1
455 x 1
500 x 0
500 x 1

NOTES: LOL this workout sucked. *The only thing that I hate more than FS is possibly rack pulls. *I actually failed the 500 the first time and I was fuming mad. *So I went back and gave it another go and as it stands lol 500 is*definitely*my max. *My whole ****ing body is weird I can power clean more than I FS, I can deadlift more than I can rack pull. *When I did 495 x 1 on rack pulls I did 550 x 2 on deads pretty easily. *Perhaps part of it is that I have a lot of explosion from the floor but a weak core. *Just like FS I need to keep plugging away at these. *I believe FS + Rack Pulls = higher DL given the way I DL.*

(6) STOMACH VACUUMS:
1 x 20 seconds
1 x 20 seconds
1 x 20 seconds
1 x 20 seconds
1 x 20 seconds

NOTES: I enjoyed these. *They actually feel like they work and get my abs sore (lol I am still shocked by that). *Will keep them up ala BS.

[-Lucifer]

Is there any actual benefit from using a clean grip?

I don't know. The hardcore people will call you a cheater/pussy and tell you to use a clean grip. I think you should use whatever grip you want that lets you do fronts comfortably.

[dopamine72]

I*literally*just spent a good 7 min typing out a few paragraphs of clean grip. Then the "oh snap" BS came up and erased everything. Phuck this im out. Talk to me tomorrow if you wanna know the benefits of clean grip.*

Edit- And good work too bro.*

[im2manly]

I don't know. The hardcore people will call you a cheater/pussy and tell you to use a clean grip. I think you should use whatever grip you want that lets you do fronts comfortably.

Yea the clean grip feels so much more stable.*

I*literally*just spent a good 7 min typing out a few paragraphs of clean grip. Then the "oh snap" BS came up and erased everything. Phuck this im out. Talk to me tomorrow if you wanna know the benefits of clean grip.*

Edit- And good work too bro.*

lol thanks bro and I'd love for you to try and post it a again. *Perhaps start off by typing in word?

[Ironlife]

Nice box squat weight there big guy, now with rackpulls i think you must just have a very dominant lower body in terms of leg strength and as a result your rack pull weights suffer as the main leg drive is almost made redundant when compared to conventional deadlifts. I read a bit about this recently. Some people are different like Big MM he has no trouble with rack pulls around 500+ but getting it off the ground with that weight can be a real challenge for him.

[Juggernaut0]

Nice skwats man

[im2manly]

Nice box squat weight there big guy, now with rackpulls i think you must just have a very dominant lower body in terms of leg strength and as a result your rack pull weights suffer as the main leg drive is almost made redundant when compared to conventional deadlifts. I read a bit about this recently. Some people are different like Big MM he has no trouble with rack pulls around 500+ but getting it off the ground with that weight can be a real challenge for him.

Yea I think you are right man, i do love my leg drive...just wish I had the lower back strength to go with it :/

Nice skwats man

thanks bro!

[Ironlife]

Manly mate, in your opinion what do you think is more valued in a good lockout? Glutes or upper back strength>

[im2manly]

Manly mate, in your opinion what do you think is more valued in a good lockout? Glutes or upper back strength>

for me it's lower back, I may try to bring my glutes more into it though.

[im2manly]

TUESDAY AUGUST 16, 2011: LOWER STRENGTH

(1) HIGH BAR FULL SQUATS:*
135 x 4
225 x 4
315 x 4
365 x 4
385 x 2
405 x 2 * (+2 reps + 20lbs!!)**

NOTES: Awesomeness. *I was laying in bed contemplating whether I'd even go to the gym or not. *Jesus I can only imagine what I could do when I actually felt like going!

(2) LOW BAR BOX SQUATS:
405 x 2
425 x 2
460 X 2 (+2 reps, +20lbs!)

NOTES: *These felt awesome and really hit my PC and hammies hard! And I got a pr! (*NOTE: These aren't all time PRs, rather recent prs as in the last year). *Pretty damn happy .

(3) FRONT SQUATS:
225 x 2
275 x 1
275 x 1
275 x 1

NOTES: Thanks in large part to hit my abs hard, these felt much lighter! The only problem is that the bar would slip and be on my neck causing me get very light headed. *DOPE - PLEASE TELL ME THE BENEFITS OF A CLEAN GRIP OVER A MIXED GRIP. *AND THE PROPER WAY TO LEARN THE GRIP. *THOX. But these did feel much more natural, lulz what a awesome day!

(4) RDLS:
315 x 3
405 x 3
455 x 2 (+50 lbs)

NOTES: Technically a pr as I have never gone this heavy. *And for the first time I actually really felt the right muscles working (i.e. not the lower back) which is perhaps why I was able to move much more weight. *lol I Have no idea why today is like PR central.

(5) RACK PULLS
405 x 3
495 x 2*+1 rep!!
505 x 1 +10 lbs!!

NOTES: *This is another shocker. Even after putting my lower back through all those squats and RDLs I was able to pullout another PR . *Let me put this in context, when I had deadlifted 550 x 2 I think I racked pull 455 for 2 very difficult reps. *I think my DL may be well north of 600 now, which would be flippin' awesome. *My program has really worked amazingly well for me, couldn't be happier with the results . *IDK when I'll actually DL (since I haven't for over a month) but picking up the 405 and 455s to put back on the rack felt like air after the RDLs. *Sorry got distracted, by yea I think I may max sometime next week on all the big 3 just to see where I am at .

(6) STOMACH VACUUMS:
1 x 20 secs
1 x 20 secs
1 x 20 secs*
1 x 20 secs
1 x 20 secs
1 x 20 secs

NOTES: Thanks to BS for this, one of the few ab workouts that I can feel working and so simplistic!

(7) CARDIO
GEAR UPS (jog 20 yards, all out sprint for 30 yards) x 4
GEAR DOWNS (All out spring 20 yards then jog 30) x 4

NOTES: Felt good to do some real outdoor cardio. *Can't stand indoor cardio.

OVERALL: Awesome day when I Didn't even feel like getting out of bed let alone lifting! . *LOL I literally laid in my bed for almost an hour convincing myself that "I deserved a day off" and other pussy shiit. *Soooo glad I Didn't!!

[NimbusCloud]

i am not Farley or Dope but i found just stretching the wrists the way Rippetoe suggested and holding stuff in the clean grip improved it alot. if you want some advice on how to hold the bar cross grip without it hitting your neck like that let me know. i had that problem too for a while. BTW, excellent weight today across the board!

[pezking7p]

Nice improvements on squats manly sir!

When FSing with any grip, the bar should be touching or pushing on your neck, but it shouldn't be terrible or knocking you out. Are you trying to keep all your fingers on the bar? It could be you're pushing it against your neck with your fingers, I just use 1-2 fingers and use just the tip (*wink*). Could that be it?

For stretching just get in the clean grip as much as you can, and stretch wrists and triceps too.

[-Lucifer]

(1) HIGH BAR FULL SQUATS:*
405 x 2 * (+2 reps + 20lbs!!)

In b4 ILO says, 'That's the same as a 200 lb guy squatting 315'. Solid work overall, Mr. Stone.

[im2manly]

i am not Farley or Dope but i found just stretching the wrists the way Rippetoe suggested and holding stuff in the clean grip improved it alot. if you want some advice on how to hold the bar cross grip without it hitting your neck like that let me know. i had that problem too for a while. BTW, excellent weight today across the board!

I do the cross grip, so I'll take any advice you can give. They just say that cross grip is better idk exactly why though.

Nice improvements on squats manly sir!

When FSing with any grip, the bar should be touching or pushing on your neck, but it shouldn't be terrible or knocking you out. Are you trying to keep all your fingers on the bar? It could be you're pushing it against your neck with your fingers, I just use 1-2 fingers and use just the tip (*wink*). Could that be it?

For stretching just get in the clean grip as much as you can, and stretch wrists and triceps too.

Well like I said I just do cross grip. maybe it's jsut lack of wrist flexibility.

In b4 ILO says, 'That's the same as a 200 lb guy squatting 315'. Solid work overall, Mr. Stone.

Thanks man pretty happy with it!

[mm55]

Sick workout big guy. Congrats on the 500 million PRs set lol. Lemme get this straight, you DL considerably more than you rackpull?

[im2manly]

Sick workout big guy. Congrats on the 500 million PRs set lol. Lemme get this straight, you DL considerably more than you rackpull?

Thanks man. I rack pull about 75-100lbs less than my DL. If you also want your mind blown, I can basically powerclean the same, if not more, than my front squat. From what I have researched this is probably because I have stronger quads to ham/pc ratio. IDK what my sumo DL is but I am sure it is considerably less than my conventional narrow stance DLs.

[dopamine72]

Clean grip will prevent the bar from slipping. It will most likely feel awful at first, and HURT, but after about 5 FS sessions it will feel better. Once I got to 10 it felt very comfortable and natural.

You will want to focus on keeping the bar as close as possible to you, thus giving you the most leverage available. You will also want to focus on keeping elbows up and IN. In is important. Your grip should be a little wider than shoulders and hands should not touch shoulders. Play around with all that and find what works best and feels the most comfortable. You'll kind of wanna puff your chest up to create a shelf for the bar to lay on as well. But do not over accentuate it. Try and be as natural as possible.

Clean grip on fronts will have carryover many other olympic lifts. It will help greatly with form and technique. My hang clean and power clean form improved VERY well after I got used to FSing with CG.

With crossarm grip it takes a while to set the bar up properly and begin the exercise. Even then the bar can still slip. With clean grip you can immediately get under the bar and FS without having any problems. It will save you time, its more efficient as far as leverages go, it will allow you to progress faster, and it has carryover to other lifts.

I can snap under the bar in less than a second and start squatting now.

Its a no brainer. Push through the initial pain of the first few sessions and eventually it will feel natural and good. Then you'll try crossarm grip and it will feel HORRIBLE.

Awesome PR's bro. Wish I could squat

[im2manly]

alrighty dopa thanks for the advice!

[mm55]

Thanks man. I rack pull about 75-100lbs less than my DL. If you also want your mind blown, I can basically powerclean the same, if not more, than my front squat. From what I have researched this is probably because I have stronger quads to ham/pc ratio. IDK what my sumo DL is but I am sure it is considerably less than my conventional narrow stance DLs.

wow man that's nuts. I'm the opposite on the rackpulls lol. Well I guess you're very strong off the floor an weaker at lockout. Continue to work thos rackpulls!

[im2manly]

wow man that's nuts. I'm the opposite on the rackpulls lol. Well I guess you're very strong off the floor an weaker at lockout. Continue to work thos rackpulls!

Yea man I amextremelyfast off the floor in all exercises. I am very good at that start of thing, where you need to explode very quickly in a short period of time. I think alot of it also have to do with having a weak core, and since doing some direct work I have really noticed a positive change.

[dopamine72]

You start doing the Ab-Wheel 2x a week and you'll have a gnarly front squat.

Let me know if you need me to be more detailed. If you are able to do a standing one at your size, you'd have a 4 plate FS I bet.

[im2manly]

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 17, 2011: BACK & SHOULDER HYPERTROPHY

(1) STANDING STRICT OHP:
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 4
275 x 0

(2) PUSH PRESS:
275 x 1
275 x 2
315 x 1

(3) DEAD ROWS BENCH GRIP:
225 x 3
315 x 3
315 x 3
365 x 3

(4) D.B. SHOULDER PRESS:
100 x 4
100 x 4
85 x 12
85 x 10
85 x 8

(5) NARROW GRIP HAMMER PULLDOWN*PWO
230 x 8
230 x 8
230 x 8

(6) WIDE GRIP LAT PULL DOWN:
150 x 12
165 x 10
180 x 8

(7) STIFF ARM PULL DOWNS:
30 x 10
60 x 10
90 x 4

(8) NARROW GRIP SEATED ROW:
210 x 8
230 x 8

(9) SEATED D.B. LATERAL RAISES
25s x 12
25s x 12
25s x 10
25s x 10

(10) FACE PULLS SS BENT OVER CABLE FLYES:
30 x 12, 30 x 8
30 x 12, 30 x 8

(11) ROTATOR CUFF TURN OUTS:
10 x 5
10 x 5
10 x 10

(12) RC TURN INS:
10 x 10
10 x 10
10 x 10

(13) SHRUGS:*PWO ONLY
180 x 20
180 x 20
180 x 30+

(14) HAMMER NARROW GRIP ROWS*PWO ONLY
180 x 25+

[The Shoeless Wonder]

how fuking long did that take?

[im2manly]

how fuking long did that take?

lol almost 2 hours. I used very short rest periods though. For examples, shrugs was less than 30 seconds between sets, just enough to recover. The laterals were about 30 seconds. The longest was (1) - (3).

[dopamine72]

Wow...

Would love to see a video of that 315 PP.

Good sh*t!!!

[im2manly]

Wow...

Would love to see a video of that 315 PP.

Good sh*t!!!

Thanks man, pp are always a crowd pleaser, I think I may have the 300 x 2 somewhere on here (don't remember). The only problem I have w/ standing presses is that it fuks w/ my wrists :/