Alan Thrall is Wrong About Almost Everything

[JimRussel]

I think the problem is you got big arms just from compounds

Yeah, there’s a difference between having “big” arms and having arms that look proportional on your body.

I do dips 3x/week, once weighted, and DB curls 2x, one straight and one hammer. Aesthetics, elbow health, and bench have all benefitted.

 

[wufabufa]

Yea dude! Do one of the unlimited permutations of 5/31 and show those Rippetoe nuthuggers whose boss around here!

You mean a program that's highly customizable for individual needs and can be scaled accordingly depending on your skilled training, recovery, and many other variables in any given week?? Sounds way better than developing Lennyism by drinking a gallon of milk everyday and neglecting direct arm work as prescribed by Ripple Tits.

 

[JimRussel]

You mean a program that's highly customizable for individual needs and can be scaled accordingly depending on your skilled training, recovery, and many other variables in any given week?? Sounds way better than developing Lennyism by drinking a gallon of milk everyday and neglecting direct arm work as prescribed by Ripple Tits.

HYUP DRAHVE

 

[wufabufa]

HYUP DRAHVE

 

[ROcknrollracing]

You mean a program that's highly customizable for individual needs and can be scaled accordingly depending on your skilled training, recovery, and many other variables in any given week?? Sounds way better than developing Lennyism by drinking a gallon of milk everyday and neglecting direct arm work as prescribed by Ripple Tits.

the only reason I’m responding to this is because I applaud your effort to sound smarter than you are

 

[wufabufa]

the only reason I’m responding to this is because I applaud your effort to sound smarter than you are

To be honest you set the bar pretty low. I look like Nobel Laurate compared to you.

 

[JimRussel]

the only reason I’m responding to this is because I applaud your effort to sound smarter than you are

Did you quote yourself here?

 

[ROcknrollracing]

I was being serious he should do 5/3/1 because basically any program out there is more or less 5/3/1.

We all do 5/3/1 even Jesus did 5/3/1.

 

[JimRussel]

I was being serious

so was I, brah

 

[Smato_rules]

I was being serious he should do 5/3/1 because basically any program out there is more or less 5/3/1.

We all do 5/3/1 even Jesus did 5/3/1.

I wasn’t a big fan when I did it years ago, but admittedly only did it for a couple of weeks and went back to linear. But I want to actually get good at other shit and get stronger, and also feel like shit eating too much. Hell i remember seeing an article on the ss forum saying to eat a sheet cake a day in order to drive up stalled lifts. It’s fucking stupid. Then again even hlm was too much for me these days so I must be a real bitch, as I once got to squatting 435 for my three work sets of five just doing the lp. Need steroids or some shit plz help

 

[NurseKnuckles]

Three sets of DB curls twice a week would take you a total of about 12 mins, including generous rest times between sets.

Even MADCOW has curls.

 

[DoomPatrol]

yeah, so just start that from day 1 lol...

But on day one you don't really know what your actual weakpoints would be and your time is better spent nailing down technique than curls. It's like having a beginner sports athlete do advanced drills when they haven't mastered the basics yet. At some point they will need it, but their time is better spent on something else at the moment.

Me!

At one point I was a lean 200lbs (maybe195lbs. Going off memory) at 5'10/11 and had 14 inch arms. I looked awful. My deadlift was 230kg (500lbs), bench around 120kg (265lbs) and squat maybe was 170kg, but I can't remember. I've built my arms up to 15 inches now, but people still comment on how small my arms are compared to my legs. I wish I did more more arm work at the start. Takes minutes and doesn't eat into recovery at all.

I think the problem is you got big arms just from compounds, so assume everyone else can as well.
This is the problem with people having strong opinions on how everyone should train (Rip!). People have got big and strong in many different ways.

I don't even do just compounds. I do isolation. I didn't when I was a beginner, and with a 500lb deadlift and a 265 bench at 200lbs I wouldn't say that's a beginner.

 

[ROcknrollracing]

I wasn’t a big fan when I did it years ago, but admittedly only did it for a couple of weeks and went back to linear. But I want to actually get good at other shit and get stronger, and also feel like shit eating too much. Hell i remember seeing an article on the ss forum saying to eat a sheet cake a day in order to drive up stalled lifts. It’s fucking stupid. Then again even hlm was too much for me these days so I must be a real bitch, as I once got to squatting 435 for my three work sets of five just doing the lp. Need steroids or some shit plz help

That article wasn’t meant for everybody just so you know. I don’t know why everybody thinks to this day that RIp wants everyone to eat sheet cakes and drink gallons of milk.

HLM medium is a pretty fool proof program and I don’t know how it didn’t work for you. It goes great with other sports because you can always turn a heavy day into a medium/light day before a game day or you can schedule around other shit like conditioning etc.

If you like HLM I would recommend getting help from Andy Baker. He’s got several HLM programs that aren’t just pre packaged Practical Programming programs. He has a private group to I think it’s like 27 a month.

Or you could just do like these guys and prioritize curls and 5/3/1

 

[JimRussel]

I’ve never used or even looked at a 5/3/1 program.

Sheiko4lyfe, brah.

 

[Smato_rules]

That article wasn’t meant for everybody just so you know. I don’t know why everybody thinks to this day that RIp wants everyone to eat sheet cakes and drink gallons of milk.

HLM medium is a pretty fool proof program and I don’t know how it didn’t work for you. It goes great with other sports because you can always turn a heavy day into a medium/light day before a game day or you can schedule around other shit like conditioning etc.

If you like HLM I would recommend getting help from Andy Baker. He’s got several HLM programs that aren’t just pre packaged Practical Programming programs. He has a private group to I think it’s like 27 a month.

Or you could just do like these guys and prioritize curls and 5/3/1

I just stalled then eventually got weaker. Also the workouts were taking a really long time (unrelated to my bitching though) but yea I think it was too much work alongside doing bjj six days a week. I’ll see what baker has, I was also considering the four day split in practical programming but idk

 

[ROcknrollracing]

4 day split is awesome plus you can fit curls in well a few other assistance lifts as well

You could roll the 4 workouts across a 3 day week

Lots of options

Sheiko is fantastic for what it’s objective is.......terrible for sports and not lenient to the rest of life as far as training time investment

 

[Pitbull]

But on day one you don't really know what your actual weakpoints would be and your time is better spent nailing down technique than curls. It's like having a beginner sports athlete do advanced drills when they haven't mastered the basics yet. At some point they will need it, but their time is better spent on something else at the moment.



I don't even do just compounds. I do isolation. I didn't when I was a beginner, and with a 500lb deadlift and a 265 bench at 200lbs I wouldn't say that's a beginner.

This shows my point. Keep in mind you said this, "I've never seen anyone pushing bigger weights than that who doesn't have arms to match their torso in a reasonable relative size. They might not be Arnold pythons, but they aren't going to be chicken sized compared to the torso". Even when I was well past the numbers you mentioned, and past being a beginner i still had tiny arms compared to the rest of my body. This happens to a lot of people who follow the bad advice you're giving. You're using your very limited experience and deciding it applies to everyone.

I gained a lot of muscle in my first year of training, but my arms hardly grew at all. I would have been in a much better position if I had done more arm work from the start. Instead I had to catch up later on, and that's much harder to do.

You seem to have a strange idea that doing assistence work means limiting how much practise you can do on the main lifts. How long does a few sets of curls take? I often just do rest pause on curls. Whole thing takes around a minute. Easy to fit in without interfering with the main work.

 

[MatterOverMind]

Chickens don't even have arms.

 

[JimRussel]

Sheiko is fantastic for what it’s objective is.......terrible for sports and not lenient to the rest of life as far as training time investment

Powerlifting is a sport.

His programs are 3-4 days per week. Not bad at all. The 3x/week programs are super easy to balance with “the rest of life”. If you don’t want your training sessions to take a long time, don’t take excessive rest periods between sets.