StretchMediatedHypertrophy

Hip mobility. additional: what is often perceived as hamstring tightness is actually arguably putting too much responsibility on the hamstrings because they're the area giving the feedback. Do you really need longer hamstrings? Or do you really need better hip mobility and core strength? The answer isn't necessarily binary, but I'd veer more towards column b personally. I've also read feelings of tightness can often also be more about the connective tissue aka fascia. I mean I read it here: https://yogainternational.com/article/view/10-hamstring-myths-debunked.

Is that necessarily a hamstring issue? Can you do body squats?

Budapest (I'll probably redact that in a few hours). Tbh there's a powerlifting gym on the edge of town where I suspect the really stronk people go. I'll pay it a visit sometime. And in case anyone googles, no I don't go to the Buda gym all the movie stars go to!

RIP Louie Simmons, Founder of Westside Barbell.

I live in Central Europe, so not *so* much. There's definitely some guys emphasising Upper Body and if not entirely skipping leg day, then definitely rarely doing the compounds. There's an old-timer bodybuilder who trains people in the evening, he has his own locker and stage-ready photos of himself at various ages - we don't speak eachother's languages but we are on Szia terms. His guys do squats and block pulls sometimes but not super regular fair to say. We also have some kickboxers who do a lot of cables mostly. There used to be a guy who would load up the heaviest weights on cable machine and do really short ROM stuff, making a dreadful racket. He's not been around in a while though. Mostly everyone is super friendly, occasionally some younguns even ask me a couple of questions - most recently about calves lol. There's one scary dude who is not very friendly, he's on kissing terms with the old-timer though - real old school dudes. I can be mean though, I ate the goldfish of one guy who claimed 'I'm using that' on the best bench when he was over the other side of the room doing crunches....and he had been doing curls on the bench.......on a Monday. ON INTERNATIONAL CHEST DAY THIS IS WHAT YOU DO??! Haven't seen him since. I feel a bit bad about it tbh, but ffs.

Top lifts of the week: Back Squat - 107.5kg x 8 Bench Press - 92.5kg x 8 Double Overhand no chalk, no nuttin, 2' Deficit Deadlift - 130kg ----------------------------------------------------- So starting a new mesocycle with an adjusted gameplan - 531 heavy days for squat and bench, a lightish day for Deadlifts, and a light day for speed bench and other upper body work. More abs, more conditioning all round. Squat Day left me with adductor doms for days - far from ideal. Truthfully, my work capacity is lower than it needs to be - that is something that I am going to have to work on and around. Squats themselves were okay, but my shoulders don't like having the barbell on my back very much fair to say. I really don't want to retreat back to the SSB so quickly, but I think I may find a way to program a few heavy reps and then do backoff work on the SSB. I think my squats were also deeper than maybe they need to be, but then again if you're not competing that's pretty subjective (and even if you are, that can be down to the judges to a large extent). Bench Day....is definitely going to suffer from being after Squat Day. It was ok. Primary assistance is close grip 3-2-1 tempo bench, which is just nasty...but good more out of less weight exercise. Deadlifts I've decided not to pressure myself too much on. I'll do some nice violent speed pulls, mostly on a deficit, then probably work up to an easy but heavyish single of some kind, then do a little bit of backoff work and RDLs....trying to increase the volume over the mesocycle but not beating myself up with it or about it. And tbh, this week felt good and the aforementioned 130kg double overhand is actually a PR for a double overhand of any kind - my sets of 10 on SLDLs seem to have really helped my grip. Basically Squats are the work and deadlifts are for fun - weird flex I know! We also did some barbell complexes for GPP - this is also how I can sneak some shoulder press in. As mentioned, today was speed bench with chins and dips as assistance. We then did two giant sets of supplementary 20s and...omg...15 minutes of LISS cardio. Not going to lie, it has been a tough week, and my sleep has been suboptimal, but I feel I am coming out of it fitter than I went into it.

Obviously good you are planning to see the doctor. Is it happening even with light weight?

I must admit, I would love to have access to chains for accommodating resistance at the gym. Don't think it's happening though. I will get round to getting some Rogue bands and doing the band thing at some stage though.

(apologies, a rare session for me tonight) Edit: This sucks. But he had some good years at the end, better than we might have dared hoped at one stage. Bless Dally, and love to his family. We lost a good one tonight.

Nyla redoing the 'I got Steinerised' t-shirt gimmick gets all the stars.

There was a time iirc when overhead belly to bellys were actually banned in WWE, unless you were Kurt Angle or Scott Steiner.

Top lifts of the week: Strict Press - 67.5kg x 1 (RPE 8.5) Pinkies inside rings Bench Press - 105kg (RPE 9) (this is a wider grip than I usually do, was curious where I was with it after using it for BBB rep work) ----------------------------------- This week was theoretically weak point training. I don't really know if that happened. But I actually trained 5 days this week, and will now deload until Saturday (I'll do some band-work at home). - I finished my 531 week for Press, but cocked up the numbers and ended up only doing 3 reps for my 1+ weight because I thought it was a Joker set. My training max was 58.5kg but I actually hit a pretty clean and easy 67.5kg yesterday (my all time PR is 75kg with a belt) without any serious effort. - Work is pretty stressful right now and I think it's affecting my recovery. For that reason among others (my bicep tendons aren't still inflamed), I think I'm going to take most of the deadlifting out in favour of getting in Good Mornings on Squat Day and then doing speed pulls, and maybe a few singles at around 70-75% to keep it fresh (I'll probably just use a deficit conventional stance for all of this), then some RDLs. I wanted to run 531 programming on sumo deadlifts for at least another wave and then switch to conventional, but I don't think it's a luxury I can afford. I'd rather spend more time working on conditioning. As long as I am doing heavy back squats once a week I think I'll be fine, and we'll be doing those on Saturday where I can sleep well either side. - I'm also not convinced that 531 for press is super necessary. It's actually pretty quick to go to a training max as long as you're already warm. As I say, I did this yesterday after speed benching. As much as I wanted to only bench once a week, I think I need at least to do speed work on a second day - this is at circa 40% so it's a big nothing recovery wise but it helps me get/stay in the groove. Also switching the main bench day to the weekend where I'm more recovered and more relaxed - this also gives me the option of doing Floor Press which I am considering as an accessory lift, it may also mean I can put my gf on another bench rather than us sharing one! - So to some extent, I'll be doing heavy days at the weekend and lighter days during the week, where there will be more emphasis on conditioning. Some of my thoughts were echoed in a recent video from Alex Leonidas: Going to cook a big steak. I've found a good value butcher and there will also be more steak!

just saw a clip of Trick Williams on Level Up trying the McGillicutter. Oh dear. It was the beginning of the genesis of nothing in particular.

Big up Big E. Butch FFS.

Tom Zenk could have been a major heel right now. The Z-Man.

Keto Butcher! I enjoyed Swerve vs Nese - very enjoyable pro wres though I agree that I don't like that rolling flatliner, which I think is a stretch even for wrestling physics. One thing I've noticed though is that the smarter guys are holding stuff back early doors which they will need later on. Kingston was getting by on the backfist and DDTs...now he uses the Northern Lights Bomb and Stretch Plum. So I imagine he'll rotate that out in favour of better stuff (including the JML) in later matches, or at least not base a match around hitting it and slot it in where it makes more sense. The funny thing about Nese is that his biceps aren't really his strong point. He knows that ofc; it's good heeling in the tradition of Tenta and Regal...but he's still probably cried himself to sleep about it at least once.

But that isn't the only way to achieve something like that equality. I don't think Britt Baker is particularly relegated. Ok admittedly she hasn't been put in the main-event PPV spot. But that could well happen. Btw 5-10 guys is way, way off. AEW Hoss Division 1. Ten 2. Cabana 3. Dustin Uno 4. Hager Mox 5. Keith Lee 6. Lance Archer 7. Luther 8. Max Caster 9. Miro 10. Comoroto 11. Hobbs 12. Marshall 13. Spears Butcher (?) 14. Wardlow 15. Kingston 16. Luchasaurus 17. Brody King 18. Bononi 19. Drake 20. Danhausen (well over 300lbs) Edit: I think Matthews is billed 225 if you need a serious No. 20. And oh yeah, they extended Brian Cage!! Also Billy. And Redbeard. There's enough for a Hoss Casino Royale anyway. I think we can all get behind that.

When I made my comment about weight classes, I didn't strongly advocate for it - I just said I wouldn't actually have a problem with it if they slowly (note the adjective) went that way. But the point is AEW could just as easily be a place where a 'Cruiserweight' Title can be a top title, can be the main event. AEW can, potentially, maybe, evolve pro wrestling away from the strictures of New York. Conor McGregor is a lightweight. Mayweather was a welterweight.

Nah man, he looks like a chicken, broccoli and brown rice bro - I'd go somewhere else for my brisket. (I might buy a guitar off the guy admittedly, or some test)

I like his new look, just not sure he's The Butcher anymore.

Where is everybody? 531 top sets for '1' week (kg, 1-2 RIR generally): Bench Press (medium-close grip) - 100 x 4 Sumo Deadlift - 127.5 x 4 Strict Press - 52.5 x 8 (3 week, as didn't Press the week before) Squat - 115 x 6 (Joker set - 120 x 3) (I switched to BBB for all lifts this week - except Squat where I used Hip Thrust Machine as the accessory lift and Deadlift where I used SLDLs) ---------- - I picked up a little tendonitis in the right bicep last Sunday and this was very evident in my benching, I actually thought I might fail the first rep of the top set; I was happy with the 4 but my benching hasn't really clicked this cycle - need to get my groove back. Will probably move to CG Bench as my Press accessory next cycle, and widen my grip a bit for the main Bench day - to that end I will probably set a training max on the wider grip this week. - The tendonitis was there in my deadlift too but probably didn't cost me any reps; I think it has mostly passed now. I think the plates I've been using have created a small deficit and I will switch to the bumpers. Weakness is on the lockout, glutes I think - I intend to do more Hip Thrust Machine and high-rep Step-Ups for this. - On Press Day my upper back was still sore from deadlifts, and whilst I still got a decent number on my top set nothing went up fast and my triceps were having to do a lot of work. I think I will do Press after Squat day next cycle to get round this. I've got one more Press day to do but I've set up a spare week to do it. - Squat Day, my right knee was a bit unhappy and I misgrooved a couple of reps in my topset. My right shoulder was/is also unhappy. I'd love to go back to the Safety Bar tbh, but I I'll try to run at least 2 more waves with the straight bar first. Fortunately won't have to get under it for a couple of weeks. More generally, I'm trying to work with Wendler's 531 as an entire system. So I'm doing the box jumps and ball throws beforehand, and I'm beginning to incorporate the 50-100 reps each of pushing, pulling and abs/single-leg work in every session. This means for now, a lot of presses and rows with the empty bar in between other sets - as well as some things I'm quite bad at (hanging leg raises, lunges - I absolutely hate lunges and am terrible at them but my squat will probably go up if they improve). Over time, it may evolve into more of a full-body template but right now it's more conditioning and perhaps 'greasing the groove' (no I don't believe in nucleus overload bro theory!). This week, I will mostly eschew heavy work in favour of volume. Moving forward the basic plan is to do 1 wave of 3 weeks followed by 1 1/2 weeks of weakpoint/hypertrophy specialisation.

@NoFistsJustFlips MMA's purpose is absolutely to entertain people and make money, and the weight classes are driven by that primarily. The Women's Flyweight Title wasn't created 'mostly because of safety and fairness'. This is just an ahistorical claim. WoS had catchweight contests whilst utilising weight classes. I wouldn't exactly call that style pseudo-MMA tbh, though I think this is a red herring. The point is that I don't think there needs to be 1 person who is 'the champ' - and in AEW there isn't anyway, there's at least 2 - Hangman and Britt (the women's champ always appears last in the Dynamite opening titles). There are plenty of people in artistic fields who would disagree that putting restrictions on your art makes it suffer. What 'pro wrestling' is isn't some immutable thing, but it did originate in realism and whilst I'm not advocating AEW become Battlarts or anything, you are treading a bit too close to a Russoist view of pro wrestling.

Ultimately AEW has the Dynamite Diamond Ring, the Face of the Revolution and will soon have the men and women Owen tournaments. They've also ran No. 1 contender's tournaments, albeit not that recently as I recall. If they were going to run another, I'd make it for Trios. There is a problem with elimination tournaments, which is you actually have to job everybody in the tournament save one person. Infact, you have a 16 person tournament and half the competitors are going out first round. You don't want to be doing that to people all the time. The Dynamite Diamond Ring gets around that by using a Battle Royale, the Face of the Revolution has fairly throwaway qualifiers with JTTS guys and then a ladder match where noone really loses per se. Only so many tricks you can pull like that really.

Admittedly this is just my opinion as well, but I completely disagree. 'World Title picture' isn't really a thing, and to the extent that it is...there's only two people in the AEW Title Picture right now. None of the wrestlers you mention are anywhere near that picture, and even if they were they would mostly be out of that picture again soon enough. And the existence of a Hoss Title wouldn't affect their ability to be in the World Title picture necessarily anyway. Wardlow and Lee are unlikely to be getting involved in the World Title picture anytime soon, regardless of what you might like to see happen. You're a pretty level-headed poster, and I appreciate you recognising the subjective nature of your opinion, but it does seem to be predicated on some pretty questionable assumptions As implied earlier, I thought there would be someone who would say something like this and thus I'd considered it before forming my own opinion. I actually wouldn't have a problem with AEW slowly transitioning to weight classes, UFC seem to make a buck or two, and I've never really bought this idea that fans need simplicity - actual sports usually have some pretty complex rules and some fairly dumb people seem to cope. But it wasn't what I was advocating here.

Will be interesting to see if Redbeard (I don't love that name) is All-Elite or a irregular special attraction. I think Tone is starting to get into the big men slapping meat thing. People will shout this down but I would be all for a super heavyweight belt (similar to the Atlas Title Progress had for a while, probably a 225-240 minimum weight though). I would be fine with a tournament too but might be crowded out by the Owen. Would be a good way to push Wardlow.