Q and A thread - Angus is peppered.

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  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    SideSteel wrote: »
    SideSteel wrote: »
    I dont understand what " Angus is peppered "means??

    that is my question.
    SideSteel wrote: »
    The original term was something potentially offensive for these boards so I won't post it, but people changed the original phrase to pepper your angus, which is something that caught on in the fitness community.

    A browser search for 'define pepper your angus' will bring up the original phrase if you look carefully enough.

    My question is - as a beginner, what sort of expectations should I set for myself in terms of progress? Like, I've poked around and consensus seems to be that when you can do 12 reps with good form, raise the weight 5 lbs and go back to 8 reps until you can do more. However... like... how long should I expect that to take? Obviously it's going to vary somewhat, but... I'd like to have SOME idea of how reasonable I'm being!

    I tend to program in 4 week blocks for myself and clients. When doing an assessment for progress I will compare two things:

    1) What is their week to week progress compared to what I've programmed?
    2) What is their progress compared to the previous 4 week block during the same session?

    I would expect to see progress in #2 almost always. If I don't see progress from block to block I'd want to find out why.

    I'm struggling to stay awake so I'm going to send this as is, but I'll check in tomorrow on this thread and I'll also re-read this in case I'm just rambling. lol

    When you program a 4 week block, how do you determine your prediction of progress, especially for someone new?
    Depends heavily (pun?) on the movement pattern, their comfort levels, their goals, general athleticism, age, etc.

    (snip)

    If I have someone who is athletic, and does want to push the envelope a bit with strength, I'll try to get an estimate on some rep work like a 3rm or 5rm, I'll start them slightly under this and just add weight each week.

    In both of these examples though, I'm collecting feedback from them as far as effort goes using an autoregulatory system called RPE. It's something I teach the majority of my clients and it's something I either use directly in program design or it's something I build awareness of with the client so we can use it in the future. And so the kicker here is that even if I "program wrong" or miss the mark as far as progression goes, the feedback I get from the client will cause me to say "oh hey, I way over-did that bench press progression, let me dial it back, here"

    The concept behind RPE is to establish an estimation of how many repetitions they have remaining at the completion of a set, and it's a way to regulate effort and fatigue.

    Let me know if you have more questions, or more specific questions and I'm happy to take a look.

    So for someone who wants to "push the envelope" with strength, you'd start them at lower reps and more weight? Would you still do 3 sets? Would it look more like this:

    Week 1, day 1: Squat 3x5@120 (if their 5rm was 130); Week 2, day 1: Squat 3x5@125; Week 3, day 1: Squat 3x5@130.

    (PS - If I am misunderstanding RPE or rm I'm sorry - I'm still pretty new at this! I looked it up and I *think* I get it but I could be wrong!)

    Sort of.

    I would have them add weight progressively and eventually reduce volume to accommodate the addition of weight.

    I would also have them perform a variety of rep ranges. I omitted this from the original example for simplicity, but it might looks something like this:

    4x8 day 1
    3x6 day 2
    4x4 day 3

    And I might make linear load increases each week, and when RPE starts climbing too high I'll pull rep ranges down as weight goes up.

    Having said all of this, if you are asking for a direct application to your own training, I would suggest finding some well designed pre-written programs and stick to them for a bit rather than designing your own.
  • dredremeg
    dredremeg Posts: 202 Member
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    BUMP
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,400 Member
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    SideSteel wrote: »
    I'm due a vertical total hysterectomy on December 20th,

    Which exercises will be best to help rebuild my pelvic floor muscles once I am cleared by the specialist?

    Great question. I'm awful with pelvic floor rehab and rehab in general, but the great news is, I know someone who is awesome at it. I just referred one of my long time clients to her and she (the client) is taking a few months off from me to focus on rehab. I've also done a Skype session with both of them so I could learn more about the rehab process, but I don't know nearly enough to responsibly comment on your issue.

    I wish you the best of luck with your surgery and I'd suggest getting thorough instructions from your surgical team on proper post surgery recovery, but having said that I will also leave you this info for reading:

    http://www.coreexercisesolutions.com/about-sarah/

    ^ She's awesome, and a very nice person too. If I have pelvic floor questions I'm asking her.

    Thanks for the honesty and the referral.

    I'll look in to it once I get the ok.

    Please share what you discover on the topic. Alot of women, especially as they age, need exercises for the pelvic floor muscles.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    SideSteel wrote: »
    I'm due a vertical total hysterectomy on December 20th,

    Which exercises will be best to help rebuild my pelvic floor muscles once I am cleared by the specialist?

    Great question. I'm awful with pelvic floor rehab and rehab in general, but the great news is, I know someone who is awesome at it. I just referred one of my long time clients to her and she (the client) is taking a few months off from me to focus on rehab. I've also done a Skype session with both of them so I could learn more about the rehab process, but I don't know nearly enough to responsibly comment on your issue.

    I wish you the best of luck with your surgery and I'd suggest getting thorough instructions from your surgical team on proper post surgery recovery, but having said that I will also leave you this info for reading:

    http://www.coreexercisesolutions.com/about-sarah/

    ^ She's awesome, and a very nice person too. If I have pelvic floor questions I'm asking her.

    Thanks for the honesty and the referral.

    I'll look in to it once I get the ok.

    Please share what you discover on the topic. Alot of women, especially as they age, need exercises for the pelvic floor muscles.

    In the link I provided you should be able to get to Sarah' s blog and she also does group coaching. Worth checking out.
  • clicketykeys
    clicketykeys Posts: 6,568 Member
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    SideSteel wrote: »
    SideSteel wrote: »
    SideSteel wrote: »
    I dont understand what " Angus is peppered "means??

    that is my question.
    SideSteel wrote: »
    The original term was something potentially offensive for these boards so I won't post it, but people changed the original phrase to pepper your angus, which is something that caught on in the fitness community.

    A browser search for 'define pepper your angus' will bring up the original phrase if you look carefully enough.

    My question is - as a beginner, what sort of expectations should I set for myself in terms of progress? Like, I've poked around and consensus seems to be that when you can do 12 reps with good form, raise the weight 5 lbs and go back to 8 reps until you can do more. However... like... how long should I expect that to take? Obviously it's going to vary somewhat, but... I'd like to have SOME idea of how reasonable I'm being!

    I tend to program in 4 week blocks for myself and clients. When doing an assessment for progress I will compare two things:

    1) What is their week to week progress compared to what I've programmed?
    2) What is their progress compared to the previous 4 week block during the same session?

    I would expect to see progress in #2 almost always. If I don't see progress from block to block I'd want to find out why.

    I'm struggling to stay awake so I'm going to send this as is, but I'll check in tomorrow on this thread and I'll also re-read this in case I'm just rambling. lol

    When you program a 4 week block, how do you determine your prediction of progress, especially for someone new?
    Depends heavily (pun?) on the movement pattern, their comfort levels, their goals, general athleticism, age, etc.

    (snip)

    If I have someone who is athletic, and does want to push the envelope a bit with strength, I'll try to get an estimate on some rep work like a 3rm or 5rm, I'll start them slightly under this and just add weight each week.

    In both of these examples though, I'm collecting feedback from them as far as effort goes using an autoregulatory system called RPE. It's something I teach the majority of my clients and it's something I either use directly in program design or it's something I build awareness of with the client so we can use it in the future. And so the kicker here is that even if I "program wrong" or miss the mark as far as progression goes, the feedback I get from the client will cause me to say "oh hey, I way over-did that bench press progression, let me dial it back, here"

    The concept behind RPE is to establish an estimation of how many repetitions they have remaining at the completion of a set, and it's a way to regulate effort and fatigue.

    Let me know if you have more questions, or more specific questions and I'm happy to take a look.

    So for someone who wants to "push the envelope" with strength, you'd start them at lower reps and more weight? Would you still do 3 sets? Would it look more like this:

    Week 1, day 1: Squat 3x5@120 (if their 5rm was 130); Week 2, day 1: Squat 3x5@125; Week 3, day 1: Squat 3x5@130.

    (PS - If I am misunderstanding RPE or rm I'm sorry - I'm still pretty new at this! I looked it up and I *think* I get it but I could be wrong!)

    Sort of.

    I would have them add weight progressively and eventually reduce volume to accommodate the addition of weight.

    I would also have them perform a variety of rep ranges. I omitted this from the original example for simplicity, but it might looks something like this:

    4x8 day 1
    3x6 day 2
    4x4 day 3

    And I might make linear load increases each week, and when RPE starts climbing too high I'll pull rep ranges down as weight goes up.

    Having said all of this, if you are asking for a direct application to your own training, I would suggest finding some well designed pre-written programs and stick to them for a bit rather than designing your own.

    It's more that it's interesting, and I'm curious how it works. More personally, I'd like to be able to tell whether I'm getting the best results possible from the program I'm on. Like... I'm going to listen to my body and not push myself to the point of injury, hopefully that would be obvious! But it can be difficult to tell where "hard enough" is, you know?
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    Giving this one bump up, will check in this weekend. Thanks everyone!
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    Hey! Moving this up one last time then I'll let it die it's deserving death, lol. I'll be around today and tomorrow to check in.

    I hope everyone is doing well!
  • notreallychris
    notreallychris Posts: 501 Member
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    Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    Should I switch to sumo deadlift?

    How important is leg drive on bench press? Resources on how to do it right?
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    Should I switch to sumo deadlift?

    How important is leg drive on bench press? Resources on how to do it right?

    If you'd like to cheat, yes.

    LOL

    Serious answer though:

    It depends on your goals.

    For pretty much all of my clients I'm going to base the decision on whichever one they are more comfortable with and/or perform the best in. If it's a competitive powerlifter or someone who cares most about 1rm strength I'll go with whichever is stronger UNLESS it's an example where I think they will eventually become stronger at one over the other.

    If someone trains primarily for body composition purposes I'll go with whatever one is more comfortable and I may even go to an RDL instead of pulling from the floor anyway.

    As far as leg drive, I'd suggest this article although you'll have to scroll down a bit as this is quite comprehensive.

    http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/powerlifting-technique-how-to-bench-press/
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    edited December 2017
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    Also Rae, if you need help assessing this (sumo vs conventional) feel free to take a few vids and message me with them on facebook and I'd be happy to take a look.
  • Alendralouise
    Alendralouise Posts: 116 Member
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    Great thread, thank you.

    My sport is Olympic weightlifting and I compete in the 69kg bodyweight category. At the moment I’m at the top of this bodyweight category range, training at around 70kg and then making 69kg at comp weigh-ins by reducing salt and calories to 2000/2200 a few days before accordingly, but I’m not yet the badass 69kg I want to be.
    Luckily I was at the back of the queue when the chesticles were handed out, so there’s not much bodyweight “wasted” there. I’ve given up trying to “measure” body fat as it’s all so varied and inaccurate.
    I know that if I just keep training and eating as well as I can (I recently realised through various posts on MFP that I’ve often been eating too much protein, so I’ve changed my consideration of macros. Now I’m at around 150g protein daily), I’ll get stronger and stronger within the category.
    However I do need to stay roughly the same weight and was wondering if you have any tips on how to gain as much strength as possible while maintaining.
    I’m not driven by aesthetics / bodybuilding. I just want to improve in the sport, keep doing it for as long as possible, and dominate my category.
    Thank you! Hope all is well with you
  • pothosgirl
    pothosgirl Posts: 17 Member
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    Hi!

    I am a busy mom working full time and am walking and swimming for exercise. I’m not interested in weightlifting at this point. I’m 236 5’6 1/2” and have my cals set to 1980 (1 lb a week weight loss). Should I be concerned with macros if I’m not lifting? And if so what would you suggest for someone in my position? I appreciate you taking time to answer questions. Thanks
  • aubyshortcake
    aubyshortcake Posts: 796 Member
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    Hi! Is it possible and/or safe to build muscle or recomp while pregnant? Or is that more of a try to maintain what I have situation? Sorry if that seems like a dumb question but we are planning to try for a baby soon and I would like to make sure my fitness goals are both realistic and safe. Thanks!
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    Great thread, thank you.

    My sport is Olympic weightlifting and I compete in the 69kg bodyweight category. At the moment I’m at the top of this bodyweight category range, training at around 70kg and then making 69kg at comp weigh-ins by reducing salt and calories to 2000/2200 a few days before accordingly, but I’m not yet the badass 69kg I want to be.
    Luckily I was at the back of the queue when the chesticles were handed out, so there’s not much bodyweight “wasted” there. I’ve given up trying to “measure” body fat as it’s all so varied and inaccurate.
    I know that if I just keep training and eating as well as I can (I recently realised through various posts on MFP that I’ve often been eating too much protein, so I’ve changed my consideration of macros. Now I’m at around 150g protein daily), I’ll get stronger and stronger within the category.
    However I do need to stay roughly the same weight and was wondering if you have any tips on how to gain as much strength as possible while maintaining.
    I’m not driven by aesthetics / bodybuilding. I just want to improve in the sport, keep doing it for as long as possible, and dominate my category.
    Thank you! Hope all is well with you

    I first need to disclose that for a fitness professional I know very little about the sport of weightlifting. I can make some assumptions about it but they are only assumptions.

    I would think that you are best off learning how much water weight you can SAFELY cut in the final week of prep and by SAFELY I mean such that it will not negatively affect health OR performance and then I'd hang out around that weight throughout most of prep (meaning, hang out on the high end of weight)

    So for example for me if I compete in the 83kg class and I know I can easily drop 2 to 3kg in the final week, I'll hang out around 86kg throughout the training cycle.

    Basically remain at the upper end of where you are comfortable such that you can confidently reach weigh in without doing anything stupid.

    For me the most extreme I will get with myself or clients is to do an isocaloric swap of carbohydrate and fat in the final week of the meet so that carbs are being replaced with fat, I set a floor carb intake of about 100g for me, and then I fast about 14hours before weigh in. Usually see about a ~6-7lb drop in the final week from this.

    Beyond that I think it's really a matter of program design assuming you have your nutrition dialed in.

    And as much as I LOVE talking about programming, I'm clueless with Oly lifting.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    pothosgirl wrote: »
    Hi!

    I am a busy mom working full time and am walking and swimming for exercise. I’m not interested in weightlifting at this point. I’m 236 5’6 1/2” and have my cals set to 1980 (1 lb a week weight loss). Should I be concerned with macros if I’m not lifting? And if so what would you suggest for someone in my position? I appreciate you taking time to answer questions. Thanks

    I would first ask how things are going so far.

    Are you losing and are you able to stick to your diet? If the answers are yes, I would likely say "keep doing it".

    Having said that, I think the following things are likely valuable:

    1) Protein is generally a very satiating macronutrient and diets higher in protein tend to outperform diets lower in protein. Protein promotes greater energy expenditure through digestive processes and so you'll basically burn more calories eating protein compared to carbohydrate and fat. The difference isn't huge, but it's potentially meaningful when you think of it in terms of months of doing it.

    1g/lb TARGET bodyweight is a decent and quick rough estimate to set protein goals should you choose to go that route.

    2) As far as fat and carbohydrate, personal preference matters a lot here. Some people do much better on lower carbs and higher fat and some people are the opposite. It may matter a great deal for adherence to the deficit.

    When I set carbs and fats for a client I ask a few questions about their preferences and I look at their activity levels. I tend to see highly active people doing better on higher carb intakes and lower fat intakes and vise versa but that's not an absolute rule.


    Another option you can consider which works well for some people is to have a calorie ceiling and a protein minimum and no fat or carb targets. So basically you just let carb and fat land wherever provided you hit protein minimums and don't exceed total cals.

  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    Hi! Is it possible and/or safe to build muscle or recomp while pregnant? Or is that more of a try to maintain what I have situation? Sorry if that seems like a dumb question but we are planning to try for a baby soon and I would like to make sure my fitness goals are both realistic and safe. Thanks!

    I would urge you to go over this with your primary care physician.

    PHYSIOLOGICALLY yes it's possible.

    I think it's more a matter of what sorts of things you need to do in order to cause muscle growth and is there a stage in pregnancy where "those things" are no longer advisable.

    Additionally, recomping implies changes to body composition while remaining weight stable and remaining weight stable during a pregnancy is also something I'd refer you to your physician on. I would think weight gain should be expected given that you are growing a person =)
  • aubyshortcake
    aubyshortcake Posts: 796 Member
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    SideSteel wrote: »
    Hi! Is it possible and/or safe to build muscle or recomp while pregnant? Or is that more of a try to maintain what I have situation? Sorry if that seems like a dumb question but we are planning to try for a baby soon and I would like to make sure my fitness goals are both realistic and safe. Thanks!

    I would urge you to go over this with your primary care physician.

    PHYSIOLOGICALLY yes it's possible.

    I think it's more a matter of what sorts of things you need to do in order to cause muscle growth and is there a stage in pregnancy where "those things" are no longer advisable.

    Additionally, recomping implies changes to body composition while remaining weight stable and remaining weight stable during a pregnancy is also something I'd refer you to your physician on. I would think weight gain should be expected given that you are growing a person =)

    Thank you!
  • katste44
    katste44 Posts: 24 Member
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    I'm getting back on the wagon after a long time off (for a lot of reasons). Anyway. I'm working on tracking foods and need to add some activity into my daily/weekly routine. I cannot fit a gym membership into my budget/schedule right now. I hope to in the not-to-distant future, but I want to get started anyway.

    What is your best resource/advice for a starting at-home workout? I can go outside and walk/jog/bike but I don't have a treadmill or other at-home cardio equipment, I'm willing to get some equipment if needed (but again - budget), and I do currently have some hand weights and resistance bands but I'm anticipating needing to do mostly body-weight workouts.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    katste44 wrote: »
    I'm getting back on the wagon after a long time off (for a lot of reasons). Anyway. I'm working on tracking foods and need to add some activity into my daily/weekly routine. I cannot fit a gym membership into my budget/schedule right now. I hope to in the not-to-distant future, but I want to get started anyway.

    What is your best resource/advice for a starting at-home workout? I can go outside and walk/jog/bike but I don't have a treadmill or other at-home cardio equipment, I'm willing to get some equipment if needed (but again - budget), and I do currently have some hand weights and resistance bands but I'm anticipating needing to do mostly body-weight workouts.

    Two resources I often hear great things about are the following:

    1) You are your own gym
    2) Convict Conditioning

    The latter of the two has been posted online in pdf format for free so you may be able to google it and use that as a starting point.

    One thing to keep in mind is that we really want the big picture items taken care of first and those would be as follows from a training standpoint:

    1) Choose something you enjoy or at least something you don't hate.
    2) Ideally, train your entire body at least twice per week, up to 4 times (2-4 is a good average for most people but not a hard rule)
    3) Start with low volume (1 to 2 sets per exercise)

    Over time, you should gradually/incrementally build volume or load so that you are doing more total work over time.