Official Strength Training Thread

[orangeblobman]

Already the fitness thread is blowing up with strength training-related chatter, so now we will start this thread for the weight lifting, training for strength.

I just got thick-bar adapters to put over my regular bar, this will make the handle over 2" thick, and then my arms and hands will get hyooj. At first, I will need to take down some weight from my sets until the hand and arm strength catches up.

But this thread is about getting strong and helping the Knicks community gain strength.

I can't wait to have my thick bar, I can't wait for my arms and hands to be hyooj. This feels like the first time I found out about squats.

The next level.

[orangeblobman]

Question of the Week 7/26:

If you can only do one lift to help you with basketball, which lift is this?

[p0nder]

I gotta say the squat for a weight lift... it activates the quads, hamstring, calves and abs. I guess the jump squat is probably the variation with the most carry over to basketball (I see a lot of ball players do them).

[orangeblobman]

I've seen clips of Kobe squatting with chains, that looks promising too. Squat can never hurt anything! After I started squatting, I was setting monster picks on guys in rec league.

Had the first sesh today with the THICK bar, and I'm blown away. My deadlift went down 50 lbs immediately and I was only able to get one rep up on the final set. Arms are blown.

Squats were tough with the THICK bar too, you don't think the arms and hands work much during the squat, but they do, and it was a challenge to get the sets out.

I'm expecting my hands and forearms to be sore as balls tomorrow, I hope I can write again by Monday!

[orangeblobman]

Great post on thick bar training:

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

I'm considering the question of the week and I will go with deadlifts with thick bar, or thick bar adapter. It's your entire back and the grip, the grip and arm strength is the difference between the guys that drive to the hole strong and the guys that have it stripped. With strong arms and grip you get from thick bar training, you can take it inside and give the business!!

And with a strong back, you can't get knocked over or moved out of position easily when boxing out or setting picks!!

[orangeblobman]

The most brilliant strength training video you will ever see in your life!

[orangeblobman]

Going back to the question of the week after watching Bags Barrels and Beyond, at the end of the video B-Kube gives you the secret to dominating any sport you play: make an obstacle course with sandbags and run it hard, from one thing to the other; say: carry sandbag, do chin ups, sandbag, etc.,

But I just ordered a duffle bag to make a sandbag, I'm gonna do ONE DAY of sandbag freestyle every week, along with my other two sessions of barbell lifting (squats, deadlift, presses).

This should be make me best by season. Maybe next weekend I will do something like lifting the sandbag overhead, or putting on a chair, or walk with it. We'll see.

This is the bag I got:

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

I haven't decided how I will fill it yet, but thinking about heavy duty garbage bags, put a bag of sand in there, duct tape it, and all in the duffle. It varies, Brooks Kubik says he put a 5 lb plate in each of his sandbags, to give more balance problems, make it harder.

[orangeblobman]

A Statement of Earth-Shattering Consequence:

That seems to be where we are today based on the latest peer-reviewed scientific evidence. Unless you're training to accomplish a task that must be repeated over and over, there appears to be no good reason for most people to spend hours in the gym doing set after set. Volume training works, as my last article concluded, but in most cases the strength and size gains are no better than result from warming-up and performing one hard set.

from: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]


But you see what this means??


Multiple reps are useless in most cases!!


You focus on ONE HARD REP at a HEAVY WEIGHT, and that's all you need, AND IT'S EASIER TO MAINTAIN PERFECT FORM, where if you had 5, 10, 15, 20 repetitions, you have that many more chances to suffer a breakdown in form, which is very serious.


Form and Poundage Progression.

[iSaYughh]

^ I know a lot of people who try to train like that, or variants of these miracle systems.

Practically, they rarely if ever work.

You would need to be an already elite-athlete, and/or have an extraordinary mind-body connection, and degree of motivation, to do "1 rep" style training, and do it effectively.

The programs which reap the greatest results, the greatest % of the time (ie, 100%), for the widest range of people aren't a mystery, and don't need to be discovered.

Depending on your goals and what you want to achieve, there is a very simple (but not easy) way to achieve it that doesn't require anything extreme or different.

[orangeblobman]

^ I know a lot of people who try to train like that, or variants of these miracle systems.

Practically, they rarely if ever work.

You would need to be an already elite-athlete, and/or have an extraordinary mind-body connection, and degree of motivation, to do "1 rep" style training, and do it effectively.

The programs which reap the greatest results, the greatest % of the time (ie, 100%), for the widest range of people aren't a mystery, and don't need to be discovered.

Depending on your goals and what you want to achieve, there is a very simple (but not easy) way to achieve it that doesn't require anything extreme or different.

I was confused between one rep and one heavy SET.

One heavy SET is what I now believe Brooks to be advocating.

[orangeblobman]

But even in the case of the heavy single set, there is nothing gimmicky about this.

There is no system being sold, it's just:

Lift Heavy
Rest
Repeat

And you always want to be adding poundage, always with good form, so that you're progressing, and ANYONE can build HUGE muscles, but it's a 5-10 year thing, and beyond.

I'm in it until death, I'll be lifting weights for the rest of my life.

[iSaYughh]

^ I agree w that basic philosophy....lift, recover, improve.

But even 1 "heavy" set.....in theory I know it makes perfect sense, and I know a lot of dudes who incorporate something similar into their training from time to time and it works.

I just think in reality, for MOST people, who aren't elite athletes, it's very tough to truly do that 1 work-set at the intensity and max-effort which it is predicated upon.

IMO, I think most people who have not yet achieved a high level of mastery of their own connection to their bodies and their fitness, not tackle something like that.

[orangeblobman]

^ I agree w that basic philosophy....lift, recover, improve.

But even 1 "heavy" set.....in theory I know it makes perfect sense, and I know a lot of dudes who incorporate something similar into their training from time to time and it works.

I just think in reality, for MOST people, who aren't elite athletes, it's very tough to truly do that 1 work-set at the intensity and max-effort which it is predicated upon.

IMO, I think most people who have not yet achieved a high level of mastery of their own connection to their bodies and their fitness, not tackle something like that.

I watched the video again, and at around 46:00 he says that heavy singles work, and he means single lifts too, and he tells us "don't listen to that person" if someone tells you heavy singles don't work. Check the video bro, it's awesome Brooks Kubik is a legend.

[orangeblobman]

Check it out, the log I picked up today: I got it for free, some divorced lady was giving it away on craigslist up in North Jersey, they were going to make a table with it, she asked me what I will do, I said "lift it and move it" , like I was insane she looked at me, but anyway, check it out, this will build crazy strength once I can actually clean it and lift it over head, but before this happens I have to make two cut-outs where I will install metal handles, so that I can manipulate it. Also, it is hand peeled and mostly smooth, but it can stand for a little bit more work because of some patches where there is a strong danger of splinters going into the hand:


It's about 4'2" with a 13" diameter, and I estimate it between 150-200 lbs, but we will confirm the weight later on: