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Strength in Interesting Places
- Thread starter JauntyAngle
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Sorry, BE. Islamabad is a bit boring, and it was grey and raining in Peshawar. Weird to say, been very few photo opportunities. I am back in Peshawar next week, and then I am visiting Buner District, which the Taliban briefly siezed a couple of years ago. Will surely get some pics then, and I will try a bit harder to get some in the meantime.
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If you start looking at capturing the mundane things of daily.life I think you'll find Your pics everywhere You go.
You've got a.good enough eye to see the beauty in so many.day to day things.
You've got a.good enough eye to see the beauty in so many.day to day things.
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Pakistan Pics!
Okay, so, it's actually been *really* hard taking pictures. A lot of the government buildings, they are not keen on taking pictures as this part of Pakistan in particular has a terrible security situation with terrorist attacks happening every week and kidnappings happening every day, and they tend to think that people taking pictures could be part of a plot- even people by people who are obviously not Talibs, like me. I also don't get out of the car much, because of the kidnapping risk, and there are screens up on the back windows to make it a bit harder for people to see me.
But anyway, today I finally managed to take a few pics that are somewhat okay. So, first off, I was down in the Health Office for the greater city area, talking to the head of the office. He offered me lunch, and as I had no more meetings, I accepted: here is him serving me lunch, and a close-up of lunch:
Lunch was amazing, by the way. It was chicken, cooked in a wok with tomatoes and chiles. It also seemed to have offal in it- there was kidney and I am sure a bit of heart. Normally I am not in an offal fan but the result seemed to be a really rich, meaty taste, and the chicken and the sauce seemed to take off the slightly unpleasant edge of the offal taste. Served with yoghurt and delicious fresh flatbread.
The office is in an old bazaar area and I managed to get one decent shot just coming out (that's my bodyguard in front of me, by the way, a former Captain in the Pakistan army, very nice, very professional):
And I also managed to snap a couple of less good shots just on the way in, at least you can see what a back-street in Peshawar looks like.
Okay, so, it's actually been *really* hard taking pictures. A lot of the government buildings, they are not keen on taking pictures as this part of Pakistan in particular has a terrible security situation with terrorist attacks happening every week and kidnappings happening every day, and they tend to think that people taking pictures could be part of a plot- even people by people who are obviously not Talibs, like me. I also don't get out of the car much, because of the kidnapping risk, and there are screens up on the back windows to make it a bit harder for people to see me.
But anyway, today I finally managed to take a few pics that are somewhat okay. So, first off, I was down in the Health Office for the greater city area, talking to the head of the office. He offered me lunch, and as I had no more meetings, I accepted: here is him serving me lunch, and a close-up of lunch:
Lunch was amazing, by the way. It was chicken, cooked in a wok with tomatoes and chiles. It also seemed to have offal in it- there was kidney and I am sure a bit of heart. Normally I am not in an offal fan but the result seemed to be a really rich, meaty taste, and the chicken and the sauce seemed to take off the slightly unpleasant edge of the offal taste. Served with yoghurt and delicious fresh flatbread.
The office is in an old bazaar area and I managed to get one decent shot just coming out (that's my bodyguard in front of me, by the way, a former Captain in the Pakistan army, very nice, very professional):
And I also managed to snap a couple of less good shots just on the way in, at least you can see what a back-street in Peshawar looks like.
Stonebreaker
Purple Belt
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Have you considered the advantages of telecommuting?
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Have you considered the advantages of telecommuting?
But then we wouldn't get pictures.
Have you considered sending a robot in your stead?
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Have you considered the advantages of telecommuting?
Did I mention that the hotel I am staying in at the moment was blown up by the Taliban about three years ago? I think the whole front side was taken out.
Actually, they I do do some work from home sometimes, helping my company write bids, and sometimes also carryover from my in-county work. I could probably get more work like that if I wanted. But I like the work I do. And a lot of the people I work with, they *really* want and appreciate my help- not just anyone's help, but my help specifically. That's hard to turn down.
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I have a team working on the new JauntyBot2000, but sadly, although it somewhat resembles me, it doesn't yet seem to be able to replicate my development consulting skills.
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Yeah, the meal was great.
My life is interesting, but is not that spy-like. My work is quite similar to what consultants do in rich country governments and big private companies, except of course I am doing it in ropey countries.
Yeah, it was great. Best food I've had on the trip so far.
More than me at the moment, so I figure he adds to the total safety level.
I am a bit worried by your condition, though: since no one can bench more than 275 (or indeed 275) it implies that no one is fit to be a bodyguard.
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Things I saw on the TV this morning
Channel surfing this morning, and came across an Indian version of MTV or VH1. This was on:
Really make me think: Indians definitely know something we don't.
Oh, and I plan to hire the kid with the "Cool" sunglasses as my personal retainer.
Channel surfing this morning, and came across an Indian version of MTV or VH1. This was on:
Really make me think: Indians definitely know something we don't.
Oh, and I plan to hire the kid with the "Cool" sunglasses as my personal retainer.
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Yes, she does have something about her that I can't quite put my finger on....
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Half-assed, still coming back from injury hotel gym workout
So, my back got significantly worse after doing bodyweight squats at the weekend. I also had a bout of food poisoning that gave me fever for about 24 hours on top of the regular symptoms. Sunday I couldn't really move much, Monday was ropey and Tuesday I was still far from my best. But today it was feeling 80%, so I decided to go and do something that didn't involve my back. Of course, this was in the crappy hotel gym, so very limited. Here is what I did:
Pullups: 10 doubles
Shoulder rehab/prehab: Internal rotations x10, x10, External rotations x10, x10, Thirty degree abductions x10, x10
DB Overhead Press: very, very light x10, x10; very light x5, x5; light x5, x5, x5, x5, x5
Incline ghetto Glute Ham Raise: x3, x3, x3
Gunz superset (curls and tricep brodowns); x10, x10, x10
Pec deck: x10, x10, x10
Finished up with some swimming- lost count of laps but went for maybe 15-20 minutes. The swimming felt *awesome*- quick and easy, the lengths just whizzed by, and I each one was like an addictive snack. Felt like I could have gone on for an hour, but I decided not to as I haven't been in the pool for about 3-4 weeks and am still building up my swimming slowly as I am concerned it might put stress on my shoulder. My shoulder, by the way, seemed fine.
Don't know if it is accurate, but I weighed myself after my shower and I came it at 79.8kg (176lbs). If accurate, that is down from 87kg (191lbs) 6 weeks ago, and my average weight over the last year of 85kg (187lbs). And down from 92kg (201lbs) in March 2011 (my all-time high). I suppose in a way it is not surprising as it is really visible in the mirror- I go in a lot more in the middle at the moment, and what is left of my arm and shoulder muscles after highly, highly reduced upper body work is becoming much more defined. My level of body fat is really not unreasonably low- it's probably around 11-12% judging by visual guides on the internet, and I would actually like it to be a bit lower. I would like to get stronger, but I don't think I want to get much above my current level of bodyfat, if at all.
So, my back got significantly worse after doing bodyweight squats at the weekend. I also had a bout of food poisoning that gave me fever for about 24 hours on top of the regular symptoms. Sunday I couldn't really move much, Monday was ropey and Tuesday I was still far from my best. But today it was feeling 80%, so I decided to go and do something that didn't involve my back. Of course, this was in the crappy hotel gym, so very limited. Here is what I did:
Pullups: 10 doubles
Shoulder rehab/prehab: Internal rotations x10, x10, External rotations x10, x10, Thirty degree abductions x10, x10
DB Overhead Press: very, very light x10, x10; very light x5, x5; light x5, x5, x5, x5, x5
Incline ghetto Glute Ham Raise: x3, x3, x3
Gunz superset (curls and tricep brodowns); x10, x10, x10
Pec deck: x10, x10, x10
Finished up with some swimming- lost count of laps but went for maybe 15-20 minutes. The swimming felt *awesome*- quick and easy, the lengths just whizzed by, and I each one was like an addictive snack. Felt like I could have gone on for an hour, but I decided not to as I haven't been in the pool for about 3-4 weeks and am still building up my swimming slowly as I am concerned it might put stress on my shoulder. My shoulder, by the way, seemed fine.
Don't know if it is accurate, but I weighed myself after my shower and I came it at 79.8kg (176lbs). If accurate, that is down from 87kg (191lbs) 6 weeks ago, and my average weight over the last year of 85kg (187lbs). And down from 92kg (201lbs) in March 2011 (my all-time high). I suppose in a way it is not surprising as it is really visible in the mirror- I go in a lot more in the middle at the moment, and what is left of my arm and shoulder muscles after highly, highly reduced upper body work is becoming much more defined. My level of body fat is really not unreasonably low- it's probably around 11-12% judging by visual guides on the internet, and I would actually like it to be a bit lower. I would like to get stronger, but I don't think I want to get much above my current level of bodyfat, if at all.
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So the goal is to be jakt?
Have you thought about bodybuilding?
No wait, I'm sort of serious. I'm not suggesting to not concern yourself with strength, or bathe yourself in fake tan. But real effort towards developing the muscles and connective tissues sound like something you'd benefit from, and it'll help set the stage for future strength gains. Plus it'll be a way to challenge yourself in the gym, outside of the big lifts.
Have you thought about bodybuilding?
No wait, I'm sort of serious. I'm not suggesting to not concern yourself with strength, or bathe yourself in fake tan. But real effort towards developing the muscles and connective tissues sound like something you'd benefit from, and it'll help set the stage for future strength gains. Plus it'll be a way to challenge yourself in the gym, outside of the big lifts.
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I do want to do more hypertrophy and more isolation work. I think I could use more muscle, especially hamstrings, shoulders and lower back. I hadn't quite thought things through, but one thing that occurred to me was doing some sort of hypertrophy block once I had run through my linear progression for the presses (the final stage of my shoulder rehab). Although the timing of that isn't great, as I may be starting up with a training partner in early-ish November who is wanting to do classic strength training. So possibly the order of the day is to focus on hypertrophy for now and then go back to something a little more normal 2 months from now.
I think that even once I get back to regular programming, I will do "the big 4" using low reps, and almost everything else higher reps and have more isolation stuff. I was thinking of using "50/20" quite a bit. I would presume that if I want to gain a significant amount of muscle, something like 12 months is a decent planning horizon, since I don't want to eat a bucketload of food and get fat.
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Plenty of strength programs have a not insignificant amount of hypertrophy work. 5/3/1 and Westside both have significant room for hypertrophy work.
For example you could take your TM version of JauntyLifts, and have it something like:
Day 1
Squat (Up to a top set of 1-5)
Bench/Press (5x5)
Triceps
Shoulders
Chest (if you want)
Day 2
Deadlifts (90-110% of day 1 squats, 5x3)
Glute bridges / back extensions
GHRs/hamstring curls
Chins
face-pulls/rear delts
Day 3
Bench/Press (Up to a top set of 1-5)
Squat (5x5)
Unilateral leg exercise
Leg press/front squats/hack squats/etc
Abs
Day 4
Maybe some PC work, like GMs, RDLs, or deficit deads.
Band GMs/Reverse hypers
Rows
Rear delts
Curls
(although I suppose it doesn't look much like the source material anymore, does it?)
With the assistance exercises being done with a time limit (so even though there's more exercises, it shouldn't take too long), either as reps over time (ex. 50/20), or limiting time between sets, doing them bodybuilder style, focusing on the muscles rather than the movement and keeping them strict. There'd still be one or two of the big 4 each day, and some other "real" exercises, but plenty of hypertrophy work.
That's just some brainstorming I did for fun. Really, the point is that you shouldn't think of it as a hypertrophy, or strength. Rather, think of it as long term success by following a routine that has both strength and hypertrophy components.
For example you could take your TM version of JauntyLifts, and have it something like:
Day 1
Squat (Up to a top set of 1-5)
Bench/Press (5x5)
Triceps
Shoulders
Chest (if you want)
Day 2
Deadlifts (90-110% of day 1 squats, 5x3)
Glute bridges / back extensions
GHRs/hamstring curls
Chins
face-pulls/rear delts
Day 3
Bench/Press (Up to a top set of 1-5)
Squat (5x5)
Unilateral leg exercise
Leg press/front squats/hack squats/etc
Abs
Day 4
Maybe some PC work, like GMs, RDLs, or deficit deads.
Band GMs/Reverse hypers
Rows
Rear delts
Curls
(although I suppose it doesn't look much like the source material anymore, does it?)
With the assistance exercises being done with a time limit (so even though there's more exercises, it shouldn't take too long), either as reps over time (ex. 50/20), or limiting time between sets, doing them bodybuilder style, focusing on the muscles rather than the movement and keeping them strict. There'd still be one or two of the big 4 each day, and some other "real" exercises, but plenty of hypertrophy work.
That's just some brainstorming I did for fun. Really, the point is that you shouldn't think of it as a hypertrophy, or strength. Rather, think of it as long term success by following a routine that has both strength and hypertrophy components.
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It started looking a lot like JauntyLifts, then the resemblance diminished. Still food for thought, though.
I had a couple of ideas for building off JauntyLifts:
1. The first was to keep the standard 3-day split with 3 lifts + 1-2 assistance exercises, but to do the pulling movement and the assistance high rep, perhaps using 50/20. Then I would take a fourth day to do prehab, stretching and extra BB/isolation.
2. The second was to stay with the 3-day split, doing the pulling as high-rep. Then for assistance, do maybe 3-4 hypertophy/BB exercises, doing the "pressing muscles" Monday, "lower body/PC" Wednesday, "pulling muscles" on Friday. So maybe: tricep extensions, shoulder raises & incline bench on Monday; high rep GHRs, front squats or lunges, maybe even calves, on Wednesday; curls, Kroc rows (or something like that) and extra chins on Friday.
To me, approach 2 seems quite logical, but the sessions would get pretty long. Although keeping it down to 3 days would have benefits for combining it with conditioning (which has to stay in the programme). 1 would be a bit more manageable, but takes the extra day.
