I’m new to this board and I’d appreciate it if everyone could just take a moment to introduce themselves. It seems like there are a lot of very knowledgeable people on this Board and it would be interesting to hear about everyone’s background. Here are a few questions to get you started:
What is your educational background in the sports sciences, if any?
Are you an athlete, coach, or other?
What sports do you compete/coach?
How long have you been training?
If you had to describe your personal approach to strength training, what would it be?
Thanks. You mean to tell you that you have weak lifts? I stopped doing those myself b/c I simply can’t hold the dumbell between my feet anymore. I have been doing pulldowns for the last two months and will test my chin-up strength just to see if it carries over to them.
I also like the close grip BP and do those on Sat. the day before a day off at around 80% rather than B.P. that day.
Gotta go to a Track Meet now.
-Balance
Balance: that was 240 body weight + 100 dumbbell x 4 reps. I have found the neutral, palm facing grip to be the most comfortable with about equal strength with it and the supinated grip. The pronated grip pull is a bit weaker. This was peak strength. I did BW + 80 last night for 3, after squats, at 230bw. I am low carbs right now, being motivated Chris T’s tranformation as noted in T-mag so the strength is off a bit. I would recommend a couple of things here. I did a short cycle of Charles Poliquin’s 4% solution when I did this and alternated with close grip bench presses where I also got a PR of 385. I chose these exercises after reading CP’s article on Upper body Structural Balance. I have found that of all of the exercises list, the chin is easily my best lift with the military/BHN easily the worst. Lo and behold, I have not done these for years, but will now after analyzing my weak points. One more thought, and I knew better, but I kept on doing chins and close grip as well as the 4% solution and the lifts started to degrade. I 'm currently focusing on bringing up the weak lifts and I will see my good lifts get better.
The best way to get to know people might be to update and expand the info on the member profile- particularly your location, as one of the most common questions is: “Where are you?”
36 yrs old, just getting back into sprinting since I haven’t done it since I was 18 yrs old. Currently, I’m a cop, however I have a college degree in Accounting.
Ran track last two years in high school. Best times: 100 m - 10.9 sec, 200m - 22.0, 400m - 49.0, long jump - 22 feet. I did this with no training, and without track spikes - ran in flats. Also ran against Dennis Mitchell in a track meet in New Jersey - he blew me away.
I have played just about every sport you can think of, currently I’m Olympic Lifting and trying to do some sprinting. I despise long distance running.
Balance: 'Fraid so, my over head pressing movements are atrocious. Thus, I will spend much more time working on them. After my BHN goes up, I would like to spend more time working on Push presses. Along this line, I was reading that thread on Zhanna Block on this site and this to me seems like a text book case of not addressing weak points. Always train smarter, not harder. By the way, get a dip/chin belt for adding weight. They are $30-35 American from www.power-systems.com. If nothing else, look a rope or small chain around your weight belt and run it through a plate hole or around a dumbbell. Good luck.
None as yet, but at 23 and with a BA hons. in psychology, I’m going back to school in the Fall to study exercise physiology. It’s the first step on the path to my dream of working as a strength researcher.
Former athlete.
Have played rugby, soccer, and baseball competitively. Competed as a wrestler in high school. Recreationally I ski, cycle, and run. Have spent a few months training with some of Britain’s top Olympic weightlifters - pretty cool experience! Up until a few months ago, I competed as a submission grappler. Now I mostly concentrate on the weights.
9 years. My goals have been so varied, though, that I haven’t made a ton of progress in any single direction. During the 9 years, I’ve run a 35:30 10k, benched 275lbs, clean&jerked 90kg at a bodyweight of 78kg, and deadlifted 365lbs. Not impressive numbers, by any means.
This has varied a lot over the years. Right now, I focus mostly on the big compounds, generally relatively heavy. I often train to failure and I generally leave at least a few days of rest before repeating the same exercises.
Been an athlete all my life. (born into athletic family, everybodys a coach or athlete)
Strength training should accent what you do in your sport. Find what the athlete needs and build. Dont get caught up in gimics. Dont be afraid of trial and error.
English Major/ Philosophy Minor (may change minor to Psychology) 4th year. In the Sports Sciences, nothing really but experience.
2.Athlete/Coach
3.Sprinting (used to do martial arts and volleyball)
4.Training since 15 years old. I am now 27.
5.Personal approach to strength training…if Charlie says it, I do it.
1- working on B.S. in Kinesiolgy with a concentration in Fitness Developement
2-college track athlete/former college football player
3- 20 years old
4-been training 8 years
5- Go with what works for you… if you’re seeing results then youre doing something right. Keep personal records of progress so your program can be evaluated and made better each season…
4.5 yrs of college…majoring in psy, econ and marketing…thinking of going back and getting into exercise science.
Athlete and Crackpot Coach/Consultant (haha)
Compete in track 100/200/4x1 and a crackpot coach/consultant. Skeleton and bobsled athlete…
Competing in track since March 2000; Bobsled/Skeleton since August 2002.
My personal approach to training is acheive new goals in strength tests. Increase strength and flexibility and speed while remaining as relaxed as possible.
1.Books and forums (mostly this and CFTS and Speed Trap)
2.Athlete
3.Track. 100, 200, long jump, and shotput, but my major passion is for 100.
4.I probably had most of the CF concepts down and worked into my program around November, maybe earlier, maybe later. I started track last year, but the training has only been smart and serious since around November.
5.I try to be open-minded and steal tiny bits from everywhere and the base from Charlie.
BPE (Phys Ed), Master´s degree in exercise physiology, Cdn NCCP level 3 sprints and hurdles, CSCS. Reading, videos and CF Forum are big parts of my learning process right now.
Coach, and work in a sport science lab
Competed at the university level in track, football and rugby
Coach mainly bobsleigh athletes and alpine skiers (conditioning, speed) at the moment, work with different sports in a lab setting, testing and consulting.
Can’t remember when I started playing hockey as a prairie kid - got serious about training and weights once I started university, now at 43 I lift to have a `feel´ for training when working with athletes. Badly abused body will not allow me to run or jog, so I stave off the middle age spread with mountain biking and do ski tours for fun.
Have been working with athletes in a lab setting since 86, coaching since 89.
My ideas are changing regarding strength training. Influenced by Poliquin and King in a big way, trying to learn more about Louie Simmons´ methods, but trying to keep things uncomplicated for the athlete. Lifting - get in, work hard and smart, get out, post workout nutrition, rest. Socializing - do it somewhere else.
BA in psychology, certified rolfer/masage therapist, certified personal trainer (ace, nfpt) and opperating partner in “athlete’s edge performance nutrition” in calgary alberta…follow link for website
former national team triathlete, current football player (ya i know, big swing but there is an upside to being 50/50 fibre type ratio) more details in my profile
i work as a performance nutrition consultant and work with athletes from all sports but specialize with endurance athletes
i turn 34 in june and have been an athlete my whole life but training in a serious, systematic and orginized matter since turning 19
it has changed over the years but currently it is “less is more”, ive just recently gotten my head around the difference between training and preparing to play.
heres a taken last summer of “the nightmare” and my wife D
43 yrs, some college, huge home library on strength training, ISSA CFT.
2)Mediocre sprinter in high school, better at football. Power plant inspector by trade, Certified Fitness Trainer on the side, will eventually specialize in strength and conditioning.
3)Coach, strength and general fitness
4)22 years
best lifts thus far, Bench 405x1, 315 x 10 @215, Chin 100lb dbx4 reps @ 240bw, deadlift 500 x 3 @230. Training philosophy: train for relative strength and speed strength; identify weak points, bring them up to par with the strong points and you will be stronger; intelligently apply plyometrics and compensatory acceleration into the strength training program and your results will be greatly increased; address proper nutrition; systematically change routines and exercises; read all that you can and find out what works for you. Read Staley, Poliquin, Thibideau, Simmons, Francis, Siff, Bompa, Zatsiorsky, Harttman&Tunneman, Verkoshanski, Hatfield,Tsatsouline. Goals: 8% bf at 210bw while breaking all of my old records in strength and be more mobile as an old fart. Regrets; not starting to train in my teens, not having a good knowledge base or roll models the first 10 years of training, over doing certain lifts , not training some of them enough. Advice: If your an athlete, learn the Olympic lifts, avoid the general bodybuilding mentality, read and study your craft as much as you can. Applied knowledge is power. Good luck!
I stopped doing those myself b/c I simply can’t hold the dumbell between my feet anymore. I have been doing pulldowns for the last two months and will test my chin-up strength just to see if it carries over to them.