Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Selfies...
How to get Bigger Arms
How to get bigger arms, Step 1 have the right genetics. Step 2 congrats you now have big arms! I wish it was that easy, and for some lucky individuals it is... but not me and perhaps not you. The easiest way to get big arms is understand the fact that they are not loaded with androgen receptors like your shoulders. For a lot of people they just take time and patience, however from my experiences training I have learned what has helped me develop my arms.
I guess I should also mention I don't have huge sleeve busting arms, but they are a LOT better then when I started the gym, and the people who work hard to get something typically have more information for you then someone who was just given something. It's pretty easy to pick out someone with great calves or arms and ask what they do for them. Likely they will name off a couple of their favorite exercises and go on how they have great genetics. These are not the people you should listen to, it should instead be the people who you know worked their ass off to achieve something. I hear often how Marcus Ruhl has poor triceps or Dennis Wolf needs more calves and hamstrings, while everyone would be rushing to Lee Priest for tricep advice or Branch Warren for hamstring info. You should be paying attention to the underdogs, the people who have worked incredibly hard for what they have even though it may be not much, because let's face it, to say Marcus Ruhl or Dennis Wolf don't give it 110% at everything they do would be just not fair. Anyways enough rambling and here's what has worked for me.
1. Volume
On arms train volume period. I myself don't personally care if Marco can curl 65s,75s, or 155s...ok 155's would be kinda cool, but I hear again and again that a bodybuilder could do a heck of lot more with 20s then some new gym rat with 50s. I like to train in rep ranges above 12 up to 20 reps on some movements.
2. Form
For the longest time I unknowingly struggled with this one. I did pushdown after pushdown thinking I was achieving something, when in reality I was likely achieving a nice case of tendonitius in my elbows. Keeping your elbows static throughout the movement seems to be a common theme among training arms, also not flaring them when the weight gets heavy and if you are flaring them, decrease the weight. If your ever in doubt of your form or whether your achieving the best contraction just try closing your eyes. You'll be amazed at the sense of muscle mind awareness and how your body will make the small corrections needed to isolate whatever group your looking work.
3.Basics
I believe sticking to the basics for arm training. That's barbell curls and tricep pushdowns. I don't think movements like isolation curls and alike have any place in someones repertoire, if not anyone's.
4. Don't train all angles
A lot of people tell me to train from three angles for my triceps to hit every head. This may be true for advanced bodybuilders who need just a little on their left medial tricep head, but I think for the average gym goer 1-2 movements with an adequate amount of sets is PLENTY for optimal contractions. You don't want to overdo it and chances are you are with 3 different exercises with 4 sets a piece.
5. Do your compound movements
I train primarily powerlifting now and I definitely see a difference in my overall size from my moderate arms to my puny calves. I do believe the big compound movements (Bench,Deadlift,squats,OHP) contribute to overall bulk and will help development of all muscle groups.
6. Frequency
This is entirely preference. Currently I train triceps after chest and biceps after shoulder, both once a week. My best results were training tris with chest and bis with back and then having a day where I would train something random with arms.
7. Supersets
I could go on and on ,but for today I'll settle at supersets. I have a love hate with supersets. My best pumps have always been when I supersetted my biceps and triceps, but I think this may have always just been pump because outside the gym my arms always seemed to deflate to their normal size.
This is my take on it and I'm sure in a year I'll have another take on it. You take your take on my take and figure out what works for you :)
I guess I should also mention I don't have huge sleeve busting arms, but they are a LOT better then when I started the gym, and the people who work hard to get something typically have more information for you then someone who was just given something. It's pretty easy to pick out someone with great calves or arms and ask what they do for them. Likely they will name off a couple of their favorite exercises and go on how they have great genetics. These are not the people you should listen to, it should instead be the people who you know worked their ass off to achieve something. I hear often how Marcus Ruhl has poor triceps or Dennis Wolf needs more calves and hamstrings, while everyone would be rushing to Lee Priest for tricep advice or Branch Warren for hamstring info. You should be paying attention to the underdogs, the people who have worked incredibly hard for what they have even though it may be not much, because let's face it, to say Marcus Ruhl or Dennis Wolf don't give it 110% at everything they do would be just not fair. Anyways enough rambling and here's what has worked for me.
1. Volume
On arms train volume period. I myself don't personally care if Marco can curl 65s,75s, or 155s...ok 155's would be kinda cool, but I hear again and again that a bodybuilder could do a heck of lot more with 20s then some new gym rat with 50s. I like to train in rep ranges above 12 up to 20 reps on some movements.
2. Form
For the longest time I unknowingly struggled with this one. I did pushdown after pushdown thinking I was achieving something, when in reality I was likely achieving a nice case of tendonitius in my elbows. Keeping your elbows static throughout the movement seems to be a common theme among training arms, also not flaring them when the weight gets heavy and if you are flaring them, decrease the weight. If your ever in doubt of your form or whether your achieving the best contraction just try closing your eyes. You'll be amazed at the sense of muscle mind awareness and how your body will make the small corrections needed to isolate whatever group your looking work.
3.Basics
I believe sticking to the basics for arm training. That's barbell curls and tricep pushdowns. I don't think movements like isolation curls and alike have any place in someones repertoire, if not anyone's.
4. Don't train all angles
A lot of people tell me to train from three angles for my triceps to hit every head. This may be true for advanced bodybuilders who need just a little on their left medial tricep head, but I think for the average gym goer 1-2 movements with an adequate amount of sets is PLENTY for optimal contractions. You don't want to overdo it and chances are you are with 3 different exercises with 4 sets a piece.
5. Do your compound movements
I train primarily powerlifting now and I definitely see a difference in my overall size from my moderate arms to my puny calves. I do believe the big compound movements (Bench,Deadlift,squats,OHP) contribute to overall bulk and will help development of all muscle groups.
6. Frequency
This is entirely preference. Currently I train triceps after chest and biceps after shoulder, both once a week. My best results were training tris with chest and bis with back and then having a day where I would train something random with arms.
7. Supersets
I could go on and on ,but for today I'll settle at supersets. I have a love hate with supersets. My best pumps have always been when I supersetted my biceps and triceps, but I think this may have always just been pump because outside the gym my arms always seemed to deflate to their normal size.
This is my take on it and I'm sure in a year I'll have another take on it. You take your take on my take and figure out what works for you :)
Monday, July 22, 2013
Carb Backloading Day 3,4,5,6 (ULC)
July 18/13
Weight 7:00 = 183lbs
Meals
This was the first day I trained arms since having a noticeably lower glucose level, and was amazed at the struggle to achieve any sort of pump in my arms. They did get more vascular, but the normal throbbing pulse and swelling was just wasn't there.
Flat barbell bench deload (145x5, 165x5, 185x5)
Incline dumbbell press ( 3 sets of 10)
Dips (3 sets of 15)
Tricep rope pulldowns (4 sets of 15)
July 19/13
I did not weigh myself today.
Meals
Weight 7:00- 178lbs (First time here in awhile...)
Meals
9:00 - Small iced coffee from Tim Hortons with no sugar base.
11:00 - Spinach Salad with low carb dressing.
12:00 - Can of mustard sardines.
13:00 - Some more sardines...
14:00 - 5 piece chicken nuggets from Wendy's...oops
15:00 - Shake 1 Scoop whey isolate, 1tb coconut oil, 5g creatine and 5g glutamine.
16:00 - 3 Bacon Strips with a ceasar salad and sliced tomato
My calories were a a little low this day I think. I also did not do any training today.
July 21/13
I did not weight myself today.
Meals
10:00 - 5 eggs and 1.5 tbsp of coconut oil.
11:00 - medium iced coffee from Tim Hortons with no sugar base.
12:00 - Spinach Salad with low carb dressing.
13:00 - Another 5 piece chicken nuggets from Wendy's.
15:00 - Shake 1 Scoop whey isolate, 1tb coconut oil, 5g creatine and 5g glutamine.
16:00 -1 can of tuna.
20:00 - I noticed my protein and calories were low so again 1 more shake with coconut oil.
I did not train today.
Weight 7:00 = 183lbs
Meals
8:30- Coffee with cream
10:00- half cup of cottage cheese with 50g Almonds
11:30- Spinach + Kale salad with a can of filleted herring.
13:30- Same as previous meal.
15:00- 50g Almonds.
18:00- Post workout shake 1 Scoop whey isolate, 1tb coconut oil, 5g creatine and 5g glutamine.
19:00- 1 cup skinless chicken with 1 cup of broccoli and alfredo sauce.
Chest + Triceps
Flat barbell bench deload (145x5, 165x5, 185x5)
Incline dumbbell press ( 3 sets of 10)
Dips (3 sets of 15)
Tricep rope pulldowns (4 sets of 15)
July 19/13
I did not weigh myself today.
Meals
8:30- Coffee with cream
10:00- half cup of cottage cheese with 50g Almonds
11:30- 1 cup of chicken with 1 cup of broccoli and alfredo sauce
13:30- Spinach + Kale salad with a can of filleted herring.
15:00- 50g Almonds.
18:00- Post workout shake 1 Scoop whey isolate, 1tb coconut oil, 5g creatine and 5g glutamine.
19:00-1 cup of steamed mussels with a garlic butter sauce.
22:00- 3 whole eggs.
Legs
Despite doing a deload this was an exhausting day. 1 the fact that it's legs on no carbs, and 2 I took my girlfriend for her first leg day, which was probably not a great idea lol. Low carbs does not make for a very tolerant teacher and I was likely too harsh with my criticisms and my demands for perfection.
Barbell Squats (145x5, 185x5, 185x5)
Hack Squat machine ( 3 sets of 12)
Lying leg curls ( 5 sets of 15)
Bodyweight Squats ( 3 sets of 20)
July 20/13
Weight 7:00- 178lbs (First time here in awhile...)
Meals
9:00 - Small iced coffee from Tim Hortons with no sugar base.
11:00 - Spinach Salad with low carb dressing.
12:00 - Can of mustard sardines.
13:00 - Some more sardines...
14:00 - 5 piece chicken nuggets from Wendy's...oops
15:00 - Shake 1 Scoop whey isolate, 1tb coconut oil, 5g creatine and 5g glutamine.
16:00 - 3 Bacon Strips with a ceasar salad and sliced tomato
My calories were a a little low this day I think. I also did not do any training today.
July 21/13
I did not weight myself today.
Meals
10:00 - 5 eggs and 1.5 tbsp of coconut oil.
11:00 - medium iced coffee from Tim Hortons with no sugar base.
12:00 - Spinach Salad with low carb dressing.
13:00 - Another 5 piece chicken nuggets from Wendy's.
15:00 - Shake 1 Scoop whey isolate, 1tb coconut oil, 5g creatine and 5g glutamine.
16:00 -1 can of tuna.
20:00 - I noticed my protein and calories were low so again 1 more shake with coconut oil.
I did not train today.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
How to screenshot on snapchat 5.0 without someone noticing on iphone
Sooo this isn't really music or fitness related, but it's electronic I suppose right?
Looking to screenshot that rack without the post screenshot attack? Want a pic of those jugs without her putting up your mug for the thugs? Do you want the tits without her realizing it? Do you wan..... Ok ok
1. When a snap is received and you know there's a possibility of a nudie. Assume battle position. That is thumb opening and holding the snap, right index on the lock button left thumb on home.
2. When snap is opened take a screenshot pressing all three digits. When screenshot has occurred remove solely the left thumb leaving your right thumb on screen and left index on lock, while holding this position press the home button three times to return to your home screen.
3. Tada! Use at your own discretion.
Now you have your nudies without her getting moody ;)
Looking to screenshot that rack without the post screenshot attack? Want a pic of those jugs without her putting up your mug for the thugs? Do you want the tits without her realizing it? Do you wan..... Ok ok
1. When a snap is received and you know there's a possibility of a nudie. Assume battle position. That is thumb opening and holding the snap, right index on the lock button left thumb on home.
2. When snap is opened take a screenshot pressing all three digits. When screenshot has occurred remove solely the left thumb leaving your right thumb on screen and left index on lock, while holding this position press the home button three times to return to your home screen.
3. Tada! Use at your own discretion.
Now you have your nudies without her getting moody ;)
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Carb Backloading Day 1,2(ULC)
I have started Carb Backloading. For those of you unaware it's a nutrition program created by John Kiefer, which entails primarily of the timing of your carb intake. On strength training days you have ULC meals (Ultra Low Carb) up until your training (Ideally at 4pm) at which you have a carbohydrate overload. Protein is at 1g/lb of bodyweight and fats are high as well. Both fats and proteins may be consumed prior to training, but carbs may not. On off days or cardio days high protein and fats are maintined, while keeping carbs to approx 30g/day (This number may vary on indiviual). The goal of this program is ultimately to lose body fat while maintaining strength and muscle mass.
Programmees have a choice of doing a 10 day carb cut (30g/day) prior to starting the program, this is recommended for those of which who have above 10% bodyfat, myself included (12-13%). This is the evening of my second day of ULC and I will post my meals and training. I will also at some point post current pictures of myself to track my progress and decide whether this program is ultimately for me, which it very well may not be.
July 16/13
Weight 7:00 = 183lbs
*My typical weight is 190lbs I felt somewhat depleted before starting this diet. Bf at 12-13%.
My Training for the past 9 months has been Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 , which I strongly recommend for those of you looking to increase strength while maintaining some bodybuilding aspects. This week is a deload week (light weight) so I saw this as a great opportunity to start my carb cutting. I strength train 4 days a week Monday,Tuesday,Thursday and Friday.
Meals
*I should also add that waiting 2 hours after waking before first meal is recommended by Kiefer on everyday.
8:30- Coffee with cream
10:00- half cup of cottage cheese with 50g Almonds
11:30- Spinach + Kale salad with a can of filleted herring.
13:30- Same as previous meal.
15:00- 50g Almonds
18:00- Post workout shake 1 Scoop whey isolate, 1tb coconut oil, 5g creatine and 5g glutamine
19:00- 1 cup skinless chicken with low carb bbq sauce.
Back
I start every deadlift day with 500m of rowing and mobility stretches and exercises found on mobilitywod.com and some recommendations by Bryce Lewis who can be found on YouTube.
-Deadlifts (185x5, 225x 5, 315 x5)
-Pullups ( 5 sets of 10)
-Hammer Strength rows ( 4 sets of 12)
July 17/13
I was unable to weigh myself in the am today
I bought a Hershey's Cookies and Creme as a sort of advent calender, because I have never cut carbs in my life and I have always had an extremely high carb intake. This is motivation to get through these 10 days. There was 12 pieces so I ate 4 to catch up ;). DEEEElicous.
Meals
9:00-Coffee with cream.
10:00- half cup of cottage cheese with 50g almonds.
11:00- Spinach salad with 50g of chicken.
12:00- Spinach salad with 50g of chicken.
13:30- Spinach salad with 50g of chicken.
15:00- half cup of cottage cheese with 50g almonds.
17:00- Shake 1 Scoop whey isolate, 1tb coconut oil, 5g creatine and 5g glutamine.
17:00- Fillet herring.
22:00- 3 Bacon strips and 3 whole eggs.
Cardio
I biked 30k on my road bike. I haven't used it in forever so my cadence meter's battery had died so I had no information regarding speed,distance etc. First 10k were extremely fatiguing, but my body adapted to this new extreme cardio for the next 20k. It was hard to notice carb depletion just because I wasn't used to this sort of cardio anyway. I don't plan on doing any more intense cardio until I start Carb Backloading.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Notebook or Desktop for producing?
Well i'm just going to go right ahead and say as a computer science major and in this day and age, get a laptop if your starting music production. If I was writing this post several years ago it would be a different story, but heck you can download a lite version of fl studio for iPhone and there's all kinds of extremely powerful software out there for the iPad, it doesn't make sense anymore to limit the mobility by a desktop for audio production.
Are you making a song or rendering Avatar?
What's always worth more then an extra ghz of processing power is the ability to change our production environment. Unlike game production, music production is hardly limited by hardware capabilities. It is limited by creative capabilities, which I believe is strongly affected by work environment. If you have the desire to max out fl's 100 tracks loaded with every ozone plug-in you can think of, go ahead and buy your 8-core powerhouse, but for what I would conisder the average bedroom/hobbyist an average dual-core laptop with 4 gigs of ram is an excellent amount of power when used correctly. You see more and more musicians simplifyinh their setup using just a macbook pro and headphones, of course sending it off to a very well equiped studio for mastering, but I think they work fine on their day to day mixes. The point is if the likes of Madeon or Zedd don't need the latest workstation, it's very likely neither does yourself.
Can I get a change of view please?
I don't know if this is just me, but I easily get sick of my surroundings and a desktop doesn't like to accomodate this. As I have already stated you can put a price on processing power, but your creativity there is no price (Ok $10 to get high on lsd..) so why would you limit yourself to the same wall and desk. I travel a fair chunk so it makes sense to have somthing mobile, but the inspiration that can occur when you are out of your ordinary work space can be priceless. Sometimes the moment just strikes.
So with notebooks great price point these days and the priceless attribute of mobility, this is why I think you cannot go wrong.
To a new beginning and death of the presets
So I have been producing electronic music for a couple of years now and find myself still awaiting for that "sound". That "sound" being what defines you as an artist. Countless times I have watched interviews of all my favorite producers/musicians, and always their best advice to those starting out was to distinguish yourself from other artists...pretty much saying kids these days really need to stop copying my shit. This is hard with the vast amounts of lucrative preset packs making their rounds by means of torrents.
So after several years of listening to these interviews and several years of saying "yeah, yeah..." I find myself running low on possible permutations and combinations of presets that sound good together, but I am still struggling to take that leap of faith away from my safety blanket. Well that day has come. Trying to update my graphics drivers I managed to turn my machine into a barely usable state. This led me to say eff it, I am wiping it. The only shame being the loss of my unfinished works (Too lazy to store on external drive). This is my clean slate, my new beginning and I challenge you to do it too (Not by updating your graphics driver). I'm curious to see in the upcoming weeks how my "sound" changes from using just my re-installed daw and my favorite vst's wiped clean of any trace of torrent presets.
 |
| eenie meenie... |
It will not be an easy road to recovery and i'm sure i'll have my frustrating moments of withdrawal, but I believe after much time spent scrolling through the same overused sounds I may be on my way of finding the oh so cliched "unique sound". I'm a lazy human being with at times a less then average will power, but if I can do this all you preset hoarders can too.
https://soundcloud.com/alexander-house
https://soundcloud.com/alexander-house
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)