The Poet and the Platform: Road to 2016 USAPL Nationals

Road to 2016 USAPL Nationals - Update #2

What's good people!

Welcome to week 2 of the 2016 R2N update...

First, let's talk about Mr. Ido Portal ( I'm aware that that guy pictured above is NOT Ido Portal...)

For those of you who did not see my last blog, I highly suggest you give it a whirl. Moreover, at the bottom of it, I feature one of the people whom I've become obsessed with over the last year or so of training, and I only recently found out that Ido has been training THE NOTORIOUSSSSSSS (Insert Bruce Buffer voice) Conor McGregor...

Check the video here:

Movement matters.

And just for kicks, Conor also took a few shots at The Mountain:

DISCLAIMER: If Conor gets smoked by Aldo on December 12th, it's totally not my fault.

... #Ido2016 ya'll.

Next - Week 1 of training.

So, earlier this week Kev, (My sweet pop-punk soul mate and current coach), sent me more RPE programming, and so far it's feeling pretty great. For those of you who don't know what RPE is, the programming is a little different from what most of you may be accustomed to.

Here's a quick example:

Back Squat x 6 (-1)

^^ What that means is that, for this lift, I will be working up to a heavy set of 6 until I reach a point where I feel like I only have 1 more rep in the tank after hitting my 6th rep.

There's a science behind this whole thing, and I have no idea what he's thinking when he sends me the programming each week. I just do what I'm told. (I am also not smart enough to figure it out... which is why I pray to Kev each week for him to send me down the programming from the mountain tops #GloryBe).

Typically I'm hitting 3 movements a day. If you looked at my programming, you'd see something like:

Deadlift x 4(-1).

Floor Press x 3 (-1)

Front Squat x 4 (-1)

And then I may or may not have some accessory work to do. It will either be some carrying or some bodybuilding movements.

As promised, here's another very short training clip. Here I'm weighting around 165# and hitting 235# for a set of 6. All indicators, even now, are pointing me towards a 280 bench, at the least, so we'll see how it all shakes out. I won't be happy until I can comfortably hit 315, but you know how it goes. My grip here is NOT competition width. The goal was to work somewhere in between close grip and my competition grip. I feel like I should have paused longer on the reps but #YOLO!

The man you can't seem to take your eyes off of is John. He is my spirit animal and gives the world's greatest high-fives.

With all of that being said, let's talk a little about recovery, shall we?

RECOVERY PART 1

Take it seriously, people. Especially if you're fading off into your older years (... like if you're 30).

When I was in my early 20's, I could live off of donuts and Tequila and still manage to head into the gym on a Sunday morning and knock out a pretty nasty workout. I can't do that anymore.

This last Monday, over the course of 4 hours, I drank a almost bottle of wine (3 glasses? I don't know). (Never mind the fact that when I was 22, I wouldn't be drinking wine to begin with... ). What's important to note is that I was't drunk by the 5th hour when I was laying in bed for the night. In my mind, I thought all was well, especially since I'd trained earlier that day. I figured, well, I got the workout in so what does it matter... right?

Wrong.

The following morning, I was destroyed. But here's the interesting part - I wasn't hung over.

I was just terribly terribly terribly sore... more sore than I'd ever been before.

And then the light bulb went off. Oh yeah... alcohol affects the body's ability to record. And then there I was. And here I am. And now I'm an idiot.

Long story short - I will not be consuming a drop of alcohol for the better part of 2016. To be honest, I don't know how the rest of 2015 will fare either. Ultimately, if I have to pick between an additional 10kg on my total at nationals next year or 10kg less for the sake of a few nights of boozing, I think I'm taking the 10kg and a few more places up the standings.

Everyone can get drunk, and that's why everyone does it. I'm trying to build a world for myself, not tear one down.

RECOVERY PART 2

Carbs. Eat them. Eat a lot of them.

I'm a huge fan of Mike Israetel, and after reading his book on The Renaissance Diet , though I don't follow it to the letter, I've come to realize that only consuming carbs before/during/after a workout is easily what works best for my body. I will eat sushi until the cows come home after a hard workout, and there's a good chance that, come the following morning, I'll feel pretty great.

NOTE: I still have a cheat meal once (twice...) a week.

I'm not going to tell you that it's the end/all be/all, but it's a way to look at nutrition that makes the most sense in my head, and I can apply it pretty easily on any given day.

PODCAST!:

Need a new Podcast!? How about we stick with some London Real BUT we check out Mr. Kelly Starrett? This interview is like music, people. It's like music.