Can't squat. What now?

Okay first up.  I think my knee tweak is due to some imbalances of my lower body.  I'm gonna get it checked out at Fitology on Monday and see what they think about it and what their recommendations are.  In the meantime, to play it safe I have laid off squatting.  But laying off squatting doesn't mean I laid off lower body work.  I shall sub it with my favourite lift:  the deadlift!

Okay, so many people say that the deadlift is more of a low back and traps exercise rather than a bona fide leg exercise.  That's actually not accurate.  The deadlift is a very versatile exercise and has many variations.  These variations serve to focus more on well... stuff you want to focus on while also still hitting the traps and low back.

Still not clear?  Look at the pics below:

Snatch grip deadlift gives more emphasis on upper lats and upper back

For more glutes emphasis, use the sumo stance.

Wanna target you hamstrings and calves?  Hit the romanian deadlift

Duck deadlift for more quad development.  Turn your feet and knees out approximately 45 degrees.

The beauty of rotating various types of deadlifts in your training routine is you still get to work your legs but avoid burning out and frying your CNS which is common when you train using one type of deadlift on a regular basis.

Best way is to change to a different type of deadlift every 4 weeks.  

I'm starting a new programme by Jason Ferruggia this Monday and I will be subbing the squat for sumo deads for the first 4 weeks.  Let's see how it goes.

Dealing with Distractions

I needed a change.  Badly.

Work's been shitty.  But I can't change things up at work.  So I changed how my living room looked like.  I was also starting to have some trouble moving around and exercising in the apartment.  But it was mostly because of my inefficiency in arranging my furniture.

But now I have allocated a dedicated area to do my training.  As you can see in the pics below:

The dining table was initially at the place where the squat rack is.  The rug is anti-slip and is sufficient to absorb the impact of deadlifts.

Previously the dining table created a barricade effect to the doorway.  Now everything is clear and neat.

Me and my friend looking oh so proud after a whole day of supervising the paint job and moving around furniture.

Breaking the silence

Yeah I've been busy.  Plus life's been kind of sh*tty lately.

I took a week off training and lost weight.

I started training again on Monday.  Felt pretty okay.

Interesting thing was I'm so much stronger on my deadlift.  Weights I previously struggled with felt easy.  I knew I could lift more but constrained myself.

I am laying off squats.  My right knee is tweaked.  So looking for some alternative stuff to compensate for squats.  I did 'sled drags"... 30kg.  Felt nice.  Could've been better.

My training observations

This applies to me, someone who is not naturally athletic and not genetically gifted.  This kind of training system/philosophy works really well for me.  And if it works for me, it would most likely work for anyone else.

1. Always train sub-maximally.  Always quit well away from failure.  Having said that,  don't be a pussy and train light.  You must train heavy:  at least 70% of your 1RM and progress from there.  Don't be in a hurry to hit crazy heavy weights.  Your muscles may be getting stronger.  But your ligaments/joints take a  much longer time to strengthen.  
2. Sets and reps have an inverse relationship with each other.  More sets means less reps.  Less reps means more sets.  For me personally, it gives me a psychological edge knowing that I will always be able to kill every set and rep. Your CNS will thank you too.

Personally, I think the beauty of this is that adapting the above system would minimize the risk of injury and allows you to train for a longer period of time before you experience symptoms of overtraining (if any).  The key is to always keep your CNS fresh and recovery period short.

JF's Inner Circle has really become the best training-related investment I have ever made (dare I say even better than my squat rack?).

Phat Fatz

Fat Gripz.  They're my latest edition to my collection of home gym equipment.  I've been eyeing them for ages but I didn't feel it was worth it to buy them overseas and suffer the exchange rate and shipping rate.  So when the good people of Fitnutritions finally brought in Fat Gripz to Malaysia I jumped at the chance of owning a pair.

For those who aren't familiar with them, Fat Gripz is a tool that would help you improve your grip strength without you having to dedicate a special session to training your forearms.  Just put on fatgrips onto a standard barbell (I even fasten them to my TRX) and just continue with your regular training.

You'll find that your training session has become a lot harder using Fat Gripz:  a thicker bar is harder to grip than a standard bar.

So far I've been using them for less than a week on exercises such as barbell rows and barbell hang high pull.  It's pretty cool in sense that I don't even have to increase the weight to get a tougher workout.  Much tougher.  Much much tougher.