breeseomatic

Rigid! Yeah, it was hard to find the parts to build this bike especially since the head tube is straight, everything now is tapered head tubes. Kona made and currently makes some pretty interesting frames. I looked up the Humu, very cool looking frame... and single speed! I just watched Alan's video and there's some great info in there, thank you for sharing! I would love to say that I followed it entirely, but I didn't. In the video, Alan hurts his back while dead lifting and his coach keeps him moving. There are three main takeaways: Don't freak out Thankfully, I didn't freak out and rush to the ER and ask for numerous diagnostic tests that cost a crap load of money. Do not avoid movement I did avoid movement in the spirit of their term "movement". Thea next time, I will be more "aggressive" in my movement. I certainly didn't lay around on the couch, I was just taking it easy and doing yoga instead of lifting. It really helped out in the morning when I was the stiffest, the muscle tightness shifted my upper body to the left and my hips to the right, in the mirror I looked like a human sized greater than symbol. A long hot shower and some mobility work restored my posture and during the conference I found secluded areas to practice some yoga poses to help with the pain and discomfort. I now know to perform air squats and air dead lifts immediately after the pain starts and to include some light lifting after a few days. Take the whole process as a challenge I definitely take this as a challenge to overcome the pain as quickly as possible, now I know of a different approach and will try this the next time, but hope there won't be a next time, but realize that it's going to happen as it's just part of the process/game. Nice numbers! The squat, dead lift and press numbers are looking good, really good. Bench is a bit low but you are not that far off. If you subscribe to the idea of bench lifts being 75% of squat, you should be at 150-155#. Is Starting Strength a split body workout like StrongLifts? If so, maybe the bench coming after squat artificially deflates your lifting numbers, so probably nothing to worry about but pressing full 25# plates and benching with 45's is a nice aesthetic in the gym.

Thanks for the friendly reminder, I've been meaning to post an update. It seems that doing it now, on the company dime is a convenient time. I took week 7 off because of "sickness" it may have been keto-flu or a real ailment, I'm not sure but it seems that my fatigue and headaches are gone. And then I headed out to visit my family in the east bay area of CA(lifornia) for the weekend. We had lots of biking, beer and BBQ, so it was a nice break. For week 8, StrongLifts detected my absence and recommended that I decrease my weights by 10%; I accepted the recommendation. On the second day of lifting I pulled/strained a muscle in my left lower back/glute while squatting on my last set. I was feeling a bit tight early in the warm ups, and wasn't feeling "strong" and was still "recuperating" from the 6 hour long drive to and from family. I felt like my hips were very tight and I noticed during the warm-ups hitting depth in the squat was a bit more difficult. I thought nothing of it at the time thinking that it would loosen up after the first working set. My muscles were probably not loose enough to squat the weight, pulled my hips/lower back into a bad position causing a ripple effect and then the strain happened. Whatever caused it, I had to take the last day of week 8 off and all of week 9 off. Week 9 would have been very difficult to find the time to train even if I was not injured as I was attending a work related conference for 4 days, commuting 1-1.5 hours each way, every day, plus finding time to do all the other things in life. I'm very spoiled as I work 3 miles away from home and live within 30 minutes of some epic mountain biking. Being in my little bubble, I rarely get affected by traffic and I can see why people go home, drink a beer and put a butt shaped indentation in their couch from Monday to Friday. Week 10, which is this week is looking to be a bust too as: we are experiencing a heat wave and my lifting equipment is in my non-climate controlled garage, it's pretty tough to lift in the heat, but it's good for tight muscles - Yin and Yang I'm slammed with work from my absence last week and I received a pretty strong reminder that the higher-ups are wondering what's going on I have race car issues that require some attention for an event that is 2 weeks away: exhaust welding rear brake rebuild fluid changes spare parts assembly I'm hoping I can return to lifting tomorrow night and salvage Week 10 with a Thursday, Saturday, Monday session. On the upside, my rigid mountain bike is built, tested and ridden! Corey, congrats on the 90# for 3x5, any physical achievement is one to celebrate

Bumping this back to the top. Ritchey is built, and I have another snowboard on the way.

Bumping this to the top, two great boards. I suppose some photos of the second one would be helpful.

PM sent

2015 Coiler Nirvana V-Cam 174 (12-14) with Boiler plate lite. This is my go to board for groomers. The plate and mass helps soften the board a bit and add some grip in the afternoon chop. 2007 F2 Silberpfeil 162 (9.5). The most beautiful board I’ve seen and an amazing tight turning hard surface ride. 2012 F2 Silberfeil Vantage 163 (9.5). A wider version of the above. I’m looking for something that can go all over the mountain. Donek Nomad 164 (7-11). The best damn powder board I’ve ever owned, it floats and carves better than my Dynastar 3800. This would be my one board to take on a trip if I could only take one board. 1999 Burton Supermodel 163. Previous rock board and lazy cruiser when boarding with non-enthusiast friends. Steepwater Steep 163 (10.?). Best damn rock board ever made. It’s nearly impossible to core shot it. The down side is it’s incredibly slow, but the thing makes you look like a super hero. Donek Knapton Twin 155 (8.5). Ordering soon! I had a ton of fun on this at ATC and TTC. 28.5cm wide, no boot out ever and tons of fun when riding with my buddy who purchased a wide Flux last season.

Here's an early update for week 7: I'm taking this week off. There's been something floating around the office and I'm getting some signs that I'm next. Sore throat, fatigue, and headaches are preventing me from really focusing on any lifting. Also workload has been increased since I'm going away for a 1 week conference pretty soon. And I have a new toy, it came in today and I really wanted to start assembling it for this weekend. Hopefully I'll feel better to put in a few miles when I'm visiting family in the East Bay

I've been listening for the past few hours while working (at my stand-up desk) staring at code and noticed that. Everything they say is "nuanced". I'm really enjoying the content of the channel, thanks! I think it's great to share information, so I want to thank you for sharing. And I too want to share, that's why I started this thread. I'm open to having my ideas and beliefs scrutinized for errors, flaws, inaccuracies. In fact you made a comment about something I wrote and I replied trying to clarify what I meant with my diet and eating pattern to clear up some confusion and assumtions, it's not a big deal to me. If you don't want your ideas analyzed or commented on then posting them here, in this thread is probably not the best approach. Anything you post here is up for discussion and/or debate. I wanted to share my opinions on what is posted. It's all fair game. If you wanted, you can tear into what I've posted and point out the flaws, errors, and misunderstandings. If your information/opinion comes from experience and/or you have good resources, I'm totally open to them. Corey has shared/posted some amazing resources and I'm 100% investigating them, that is what this thread is about. The rep scheme still seems like fuckarounditis, your implementation on the last posted workout day doesn't match what you are describing or what most strength and conditioning coaches would prescribe, unless you have an odd/rare medical or structural issue. If your implementation matches your description, please help me to understand, I can't see it. Maybe your program is awesome and effective and it could be of benefit to me and others, but I can't understand it as you have described it or as you are showing how you implement it. That is where the fuckarounditis comments are coming from. I thought that as an intermediate lifter with some experience, moderate performance and knowledge in the subject, I could offer some valuable information to you. I will refrain from offering advice to you unless asked.

I'm not afraid of it, it's just that I feel it's a failure and it's happening 6 weeks into the program. With other programs I've used in the past, the progression was much slower and the starting weights much higher and reaching a failed set was something that didn't happen so quickly; it's just a radical departure to what I'm used to. Failing a set to me in a linear progression program means to much, too quick: back-off, slow your roll and try not to let your ego determine your working weight. Thanks for the Youtube channel, I'm definitely interested in reading/hearing what people with a lot more experience have to say about such a nuanced subject. Most of my material is from t-nation and bodybuilding with a little experience and the desire for repeatable results thrown in for good measure. Some key phrases that cause me some pause or I feel that they need some clarification and my comments: "I removed the dead lift from my program only temporarily so I can progressively get my strength back" If you're rolling your own program, you should incorporate your weakest lift and only do the things that you are deficient in. But that's just my opinion without having seen you lift or worked out with you at all. "My lower back gets plenty of work for now with the squats, I will put it back later" Your lower back should not be very active in the squats, especially with 125lbs for 8 reps. I urge you to post some video of your form for or review and compare it privately with other known good techniques. You may be folding your torso forward to much to compensate for an anatomical geometry issue, you can correct for this with stance and bar placement. Or you could be squatting with the weight primarily on your fore foot, or squatting in flat shoes instead of a weightlifting shoe, or you're raising your hips first and your shins are not in the proper placement at the bottom of the squat. There's lots of reasons and they should be corrected as much as possible so you don't feel as if your lower back got a workout with light weight squats for only 8 reps. "I've squatted 225lbs a couple years ago, I should be able to go back there with time" There are some acceptable ratios of squat to press to dead lift based on body weight or a reference lift. I've aimed for body weight just to pack as much power into a smaller package since I'm a bit on the petite size: 2x dead lift, 1.5x squat, 1.25x bench and .85x press. I'm not sure how that compares to others. If you were 150# and squatted 225#, then you should be able to dead lift 300#. Here is a really good breakdown on the lifts based on a reference lift: https://www.t-nation.com/training/know-your-ratios-destroy-weaknesses "I was thinking about using a belt for the squats but I'm going to wait until I get closer to 200lbs on the bar." Go by body weight percentage, once you are squatting over your body weight for a proper 5x5, properly using a belt could help a lot. But if you're 220# now and not completing a 5x5 set adding a belt will not help you in my opinion. "I don't think it's a good idea to cut calories and fasting" I agree, and that is not what I'm doing. Consuming enough calories and fasting are not mutually exclusive. It's entirely possible to eat all the calories needed to support a weight lifting program in a condensed eating time window. By definition, we fast when we sleep and break that fast with our first meal. My first meal just happens to be really late and my last, really early; I may have to widen the time window to ensure that I am consuming enough calories as my GI tract can only hold so much volume and process it so fast. I want the window to be as small as possible for the hormonal and scheduling benefits. Also, my food choices support the eating pattern. It would be really difficult for me to go 20 hours without eating if I was carbohydrate based and my body ran primarily on glycogen. As it is right now, I'm pretty good with a 20/4 cycle, but may need to go to 18/6 if I start failing lifts because of a nutritional volume/absorption issue or maybe not as I could be on the far end of the adaptation cycle and my muscles are producing the proteins necessary to use fats as a fuel source. Looking at your rep scheme, it looks like Fuckarounditis. There doesn't appear to be a method, just lift some weights for 5 maybe 8 reps. It will be difficult determine if there is a legitimate plateau. But that's just from two different workouts 6 weeks apart. Disclaimer: I'm only offering my opinion/perspective on what you typed, as you did with what I typed. I'm not claiming I know more than anyone else, just merely sharing information I know or found. All comments I made should be taken with the most sincere and well intention tone possible.

Yep, the hardest mirror to hold up is the one facing you, correct? Thanks for suggesting I look into my diet, I'll be looking more closely at it. It appears the first week or two there was a drop in weight, then a slow progression up. I suspect the weight loss is mostly water weight as SL 5x5 coincides with my no-carb diet change. And I'm intermittent fasting for the past few weeks: 20 hour fasts with 4 hour eating periods at night, immediately after my training session. So far it's been going well. I attribute my missed lift to wasting energy (cleaning from the floor first), not being fully rested (late nights researching pH balancing a keto diet, hormone stimulation, regulation, amino acid knowledge) and implementation (figuring out how much to eat of what and when). I think the system I have is getting more and more dialed in. I have the grocery list on auto pilot, meals are about the same each day and I can easily go through the workday without a meal break. My shoulders are not that strong to begin with, I definitely have favored exercises that don't require lifting over my head in the past. It's a weakness and I need to address that somehow. I'm wondering how quickly I will stall out on SL 5x5 on the press and if it makes sense to micro load the bar and stay on the 5x5 rep scheme and advance slowly by completing sets or go through a failure/success cycle. At the end of the month, it's still the same progression just a different way to get there. But that is changing the program and not trusting or experiencing what it can do. So I will continue to do the program as the SL 5x5 program is written, but wanted to express my concern and thought process. I'm going to offer up some (unwanted) opinion here: Modifying the program so early on is where you had problems. Don't modify the program, stick with it post your results, use the SL 5x5 forum for support. If your back hurts with deadlifts under SL 5x5 after 5 weeks maybe there is a massive leverage issue happening via anatomy or bad technique or too much weight too fast for you, or all three are happening. What weight did you start out at? It should have been about 90 lbs and you should be at 150-ish DL in week 5. That's not very much weight for a guy, unless you are under 120 lbs starting weight. I would look into your technique and posture. If it's spot on, then you just have a weak back and you should just go through the failure/success progression as the program prescribes. Your program does not address your weakness in deadlift. Posterior chain strength in compound movements is at the core of a lot of strength programs from SL 5x5 to Starting Strength to Wendler 5-3-1. Depending on your warm-up routine/sequence, you could be hurting your lifting performance. There are studies that show static stretching reduces output, cardio before lifting reduces output, and the last is what I experienced: ramping up too slowly to your working weight reduces output. Deciding to take a few days off is not a bad thing, I've taken up to three days off on SL 5x5 because I needed the recovery time to complete the next workout.

I wouldn't switch boot shapes if you are happy with the fit of your current boots. If you're not already using BTS, I suggest trying them to soften the flex of the boot. If you are, then swapping springs can help a lot.

Sixth week completed: Starting weight 151.4 Squat 135# @ 5x5 Press 80# @ 5,5,5,5,4 Deadlift 165# @ 1x5 Squat 140# @ 5x5 Bench 85# @ 5x5 Row 105# @ 5x5 Squat 145# @ 5x5 Press 80# @ 5x5 Deadlift 175# @ 1x5 Ending weight 153.2 Impressions: The squats portion is getting serious. After upgrading to the premium version of the app, I'm not taking as long to warm up. I was over thinking my warm-ups and tiring out by lifting too much. Overall volume is just about right for me now with the squat weights. I can feel the squats on the in between days and recovery is good since its not blasting my legs, I'm not biking as much and I'm making more of an effort to sleep and eat higher quality food. I too failed at 80# overhead press like Corey. I'm struggling with my garage gym setup as I just inherited a squat cage and can't lift overhead inside of it. So I'm either cleaning my press weight from the floor which is a waste of energy or I'm sitting on a bench inside the cage and pressing that way, which is not ideal. I could use my old squat rack, but that just seems silly and it's going away soon. One alternative is to weld on a barbell cup on the outside of the rack at the height i need for my overhead presses. That will be a fun afternoon project with the welder. Hook grip is really important on the rows and warm-up deadlifts. Switching to mixed grip for the one working set helps with lifting. I really want to add a second working set of deadlifts to the mix, I don't feel as if there is enough deadlifting. Forecasts: Overhead press will be the first of the lifts to fail me, followed by the Pendlay rows. I'm going to order a nice weightlifting belt and knee sleeves now that I'll be squatting over my bodyweight by the end of this week.

IN

Fifth week completed: Starting weight 150.8 Squat 120# @ 5x5 Bench 75# @ 5x5 Row 95# @ 5x5 Squat 125# @ 5x5 Press 75# @ 5x5 Deadlift 155# @ 1x5 Squat 130# @ 5x5 Bench 80# @ 5x5 Row 100# @ 5x5 Ending weight 151.4 Thoughts: Squats are getting tougher as they are approaching my bodyweight. Valsava maneuver has been a savior. On some reps, I don't get full inhalation and the squats are harder to complete. I'm using the full three minute rest periods for squats. I upgraded the Stronglifts 5x5 app and incorporated their warm up sets and some accessory work into the training. So far just some knees to elbows, pull ups, push ups and calf raises for accessory work. Their warm up sets are much shorter than mine, so I'm able to finish a bit earlier and have time to incorporate some accessory work. So far, this is the best $9.99 I've spent on a lifting program. The phone app really makes it simple to follow. Also, I've changed my diet to a more Keto centric diet with intermittent fasting. It seems to be working out for me, I'm not counting fat, just limiting my protein intake to 4-6 oz per meal filling with fats and as many vegetables I can eat. I haven't had any real carb cravings except for seeing a box of donuts in the office. I ate one, it felt good immediately and then 30 minutes later my stomach started to grumble and I was gassy for the rest of the day. Forecasts: I'm going to want knee sleeves soon.

Bumping back to the top. These are great boards. I ride one with Burton race plates and it is an all mountain shredder. Stiff nose to plow through garbage, slightly softer tail for landing those 40' drops in Verbier. Very damp, almost no camber. These are the bees knees in Mammoth.

Bumping this back to the top I have a new rigid steel mountain bike to build and some boards need to be sold for handlebars, brakes, and drivetrain. Help me out

That's a great photo of a great heel side carve in some great apparel.

The Burton Step-ons seem neat, but more cumbersome than Flow NXT bindings. What happens when your Burton binding breaks and you still want to board? At least with more universal set-ups you can figure something out by renting bindings and keeping your boots. Double thumbs down on Burton proprietary technology. Double thumbs down in driving kids to the mountain in clunky boots. Use a proper/appropriate driving shoe.

Fourth week completed: Starting weight 150.2 Squat 105# @ 5x5 Press 65# @ 5x5 Deadlift 135# @ 1x5 Squat 110# @ 5x5 Bench 70# @ 5x5 Row 90# @ 5x5 Squat 115# @ 5x5 Press 70# @ 5x5 Deadlift 145# @ 1x5 Ending weight 150.8 Impressions: The squats portion is taking longer as I'm using the full three minutes of recovery time which is pushing the total training time to just over an hour. No real biking this week to get in the way of training. Overall volume is still pretty low and fighting the urge to max out reps on the very last set. I have not paid for the upgrade version of the app and I wonder if their accessory lifts offered in the upgrade guides you towards doing this. Muscle definition is starting to show through my layer of body fat. Forecasts: None

That's the preferred technique for olympic lifting as you need a reference point to maintain balance in such an explosive effort. For slow lifts like plain old squats and deadlifts you can injure yourself with that technique while lifting max loads. I find it best to keep your head in a neutral position like you have a neck brace on. Your sight line will change as you move through the squat position and that's fine as it's not a fast movement. Craning your neck to maintain a forward faced position might work out, and it might not, it all depends on your proportions and if you introduce strain or unnecessary muscle tension. Not craning your neck 100% always reduces muscle tension and possibilities for strain. But that's just my observation. Mark Rippetoe echoes this in his book Starting Strength a quick good image search on "rippetoe squat form" should produce some "optimal" form images, contrast that with an image search of olympic lifting and you can see a very different technique being used. I believe that squatting and being quad dominant or glute dominant has everything to do with proportion and position and almost nothing to do with "active engagement" whatever that means. You can try to engage muscles at the bottom of the squat, but the reality is that they will fire in the order that works best for your proportions and position. By "actively engaging" certain muscles on the down (eccentric portion) you are changing your starting body position, ending position in the eccentric phase and possibly weight distribution at the start of the concentric phase. It's an interesting topic, if you have still photos, compare them to the google image results and also the videos I linked above.

Third week completed: Starting weight 150.2 Squat 90# @ 5x5 Bench 60# @ 5x5 Row 80# @ 5x5 Squat 95# @ 5x5 Press 60# @ 5x5 Deadlift 125# @ 1x5 Squat 100# @ 5x5 Bench 65# @ 5x5 Row 85# @ 5x5 Ending weight 150.2 Thoughts: I initially thought that squats were going to be tough, but that was my impression after a particularly difficult bike ride last week. I've re-learned a few things, one is to go for a spirited bike ride immediately after a lifting session, not the day after leaving very little recovery for the next days lifts. Overall volume is still pretty low. I'm fighting every urge to max out on reps on the last set. It's still pretty easy to get in and out quickly, my total time from lights on to lights out in my garage gym is under an hour. Forecasts: I'm now thinking that the rows will be the limiting lift for me as the last rows I'm starting to feel, but the other exercises are still well within my perceived ability.

Yeah, dropping to such a low weight is weird if you are used to having some weight on a barbell. How did you become aware of the lack of glute/hamstring engagement? Was it different bar positioning, heel rise or did someone comment on your position? Here's a great blog post and accompanying videos about body proportions and squat position (https://bretcontreras.com/how-femur-length-effects-squat-mechanics/). We're all built different even though we may be the same height, and some people may get more of a glute/hamstring or quad workout from squatting purely based on how their proportions are.

Second week completed: So first week numbers are: Starting weight 149.1 Squat 75# @ 5x5 Press 50# @ 5x5 Deadlift 105# @ 1x5 Squat 80# @ 5x5 Bench 55# @ 5x5 Row 75# @ 5x5 Squat 85# @ 5x5 Press 55# @ 5x5 Deadlift 115# @ 5x5 Ending weight 150.2 Impressions: The squats are getting more serious, especially since I'm bike riding more on the weekends and riding to work. Overall volume is still pretty low. Pretty easy to get in and out quickly Forecasts: I have a feeling that the super fast liner progression in squats will end in the near future. Deadlifts will continue on the progression for a long time.

Price?

Partially tongue in cheek, partial serious. I know a few people that use hand sanitizer and anti-bacterial soaps and wipes all the time. They appear to get long lasting colds more often than I do and I think I get more bouts of slight colds that last a day or two. It's anecdotal at best, I feel that there is something to it. So please don't lick the escalator handrail, that's just gross. Lick your palm after touching the handrail. Regarding cardio vs strength, we need both. We are able to bias some strenuous activities to suit our strengths but that slider can't go to the other end of the spectrum 100%. Being in tune with your body and activities should tell you exactly which training you should do: if you are a masher/power lifter, get some cardio, if you an endurance athlete, lift weights.