Jake Di Vita

In the last year I've gone for a 1RM once in the deadlift and not at all in the squat. I'm less concerned with how much I can maximally lift and more concerned with the process of getting stronger. I'd ask you to carefully consider why you want to max out so frequently and what exactly the benefit of it is. A true 1RM will be done with some form degredation (since form naturally degrades the closer you get to a 1RM) so there will obviously be more of a possibility for injury here...in my opinion it just isn't smart to put yourself in that situation time and time again. Your training buddy is likely much better suited to work at those poundages than you are from training experience and genetics (I don't know anything about you, but by your description your buddy is an elite athlete, I'm just playing the odds). What is his age, weight, and lift? Hey, as long as you are sustaining gains, you aren't doing it bad. Robb's book is great stuff.

I understand tbe premise, I just haven't found that necessary for me. I've always been a "feel" kinda guy though.

The most important thing being regardless of what you decide to do, you have to eat to support the gains. For me, that meant eating till I wanted to puke...then eating more - mostly all day, everyday. I also went from 155 - 190 in the span of 4 months (the first 25 pounds gained in the first 1-2 months alone) but added 105 pounds to squat worksets (worksets being 3 sets of 5). and a bit more to a heavy 5 of deadlifts. (This was all done on linear progression with an old nagging overuse injury requiring a month off of squatting). If you do this right, you will usually add 30 pounds to your backsquat the first week. Just remember that gaining muscle is a whole lot harder to do than losing fat. It's worth adding a couple of pounds to fat to your frame during a strength phase - you will get stronger faster. That same fat is extremely easy to lose by tightening up your diet. Once I couldn't sustain the gains (the huge food intake eventually did me in...just couldn't do it anymore) I lost the fat I gained in about a month. Dropped from 190 - 170 (and lost about 20% strength). I'd still like to end up at a sustained 190 (5'7") so I'll likely be doing this again in a paleo + dairy approach. Not looking forward to the huge eating again though. That's the hardest part. 6k+ calories of clean food and milk a day. Ultimately it's amazing what the body will do when you provide adequate stress then feed and rest it properly. http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=15386&page=1&highlight=zach

Finally entering the 21st century I see.

Your problem is a strength and conditioning one, not necessarily a food one. That being said, make sure you get sufficient amounts of protein and fat, preferebly from REAL FOOD (animal products - meat). If you are trying to keep weight (and small, dense LDL particles - the nasty ones) under control as well stay away from anything dairy based (whey, casein) as they are very potent insulin spikers. In regards to the earlier post about insulin being anabolic, what he's referring to is IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor). It indeed is anabolic, but for someone of your age and activity the costs more than likely far outweigh the benefits.

Jim Wendler is the man. That being said, it greatly depends on your current level of adaptation towards strength training. If you haven't exhausted linear progression, that should be done first (since adding weight every workout will obviously get you stronger faster). www.startingstrength.com IMO, 5/3/1 is a much better program for an intermediate lifter than a novice lifter.

Yep. If you can't hit what you are aiming at with no time constraints, practice nothing else until you can.

I've tried practicing in the dark, but today I don't really see the point behind it. You get the same confirmation of index whether the room is lighted or not. Plus for me, practice is more about pushing the envelope both on speed and the amount of sensory input I can process. I've often turned everything on around me in an effort to create distractions from where I direct my attention. I used to go to the range and have a buddy throw small stones at me or slap my shoulder/head while running through a practice stage.

The cure for that is experience. You need to be able to control what bleeds over on match day. The best way I've found to do that is practice a lot and shoot as many matches as you can.

Oh I've been around. Working hard and training hard. The analogy towards lifting is exactly right. If you can squat 200 x 5, but you train by squatting 150 x 3...your squat isn't going to get any better.

I completely disagree. Doing what you suggest is bad is the only way I ever got close to the sub 3 El Prez. You have to push the envelope faster in practice. You have to "shoot" faster than you can see if you ever want to get better. This is called threshold training, and it's the most natural thing in the world to do. You cannot learn what it takes to shoot fast by shooting at a slow or comfortable pace. A few years ago a good buddy of mine expressed some interested in pistol shooting. So I invited him to my house, strapped my rig and gun on him, and showed him the basics of grip and stance then the process of reloading. This was maybe the 2nd or 3rd time in his life that he ever handled a pistol. After he got the basic steps down, I made him speed it up more and more while watching to make sure the gross motor movement was still correct all the way through. Within 20 minutes, he was beating a 1 second par time 6/10 times. Not bad for a newbie huh? If I had instructed him to "get 95% of the points" (and the mentality that goes along with that - which is awesome for match shooting, but not for practice), we would have had completely different results. Now if you take this philosphy to someone who is a seasoned shooter who practices religiously, that person will get a hell of a lot more out of his practice time than the dude trying to shoot within his capabilities over and over and over. Lex, If your vision can't keep up with your hands then you need to keep doing what you are doing until your vision can keep up with your hands. Then repeat that process. By slowing down, you eliminate any reason for your body to adapt (get better). Remember that training works because the adaptation you recieve is your body's response to the stress placed on it. No stress, no improvement.

Ya, don't let it peel off on its on. Remove it yourself before it gets to that point.

You don't consider walking around on a hot (temperature) range all day resetting stages carrying your gear physical effort?

Too many people use the word "volunteer" as an excuse for poor working knowledge of their craft. I'd like to think most Nationals ROs take their job more serious than just being a volunteer.

I saw my ceiling...haha

Mental tension.

I've ready this study and it seemed to have merit, but I can't remember where I found it. I thought I remembered it being a 2% reduction in hydration results in a 10% or more reduction in performance. Let me qualify that. This is true if your body is not adapted to using fat for energy in place of sugar (carbohydrate). Gatorade has done nothing to increase performance that wouldn't have been done with a solid nutritional base. It is basically just sugar water...no thanks.

Those are exactly the kind of credentials that make my feelers twitch.

There is no "best method to shoot while fatigued". You must attack the problem from the source. Pat, I'm interested (and worried) about what your nutritionist recommended. Let's hear it.

Generic Costco stuff is just fine. Make sure to store it in the freezer to help keep it from going rancid. Obviously you can go the more pure route, but it's more expensive and usually not needed. 5 - 10g / day is a good place to start. If you are overweight or have health issues, more is better.

Check out Robb Wolf's book The Paleo Solution. Just got word that it's on the NYT Bestseller list. If she's willing to read that with an open mind, it's probably the best shot you got. Trace, Go to home depot, you can build a pull-up bar for less than $30. Make sure you use 1 1/2 pipe for the bar itself. I built one and hung it up in my garage. I don't like the "towers" because the majority of them aren't very stable. If you have to have a tower, I'd recommend getting some long treated 4 x 6s and putting it in concrete blocks outside.

Dave, I just finished Robb's book. It was definitely a good read. I think I got a decent bead on the whole cortisol issue now.

The human foot is a highly complex piece of machinery with a large amount of muscles, bones, and nerves. Our anatomy was designed far before we were technically proficient enough to make shoes. With running it isn't so much of cushioning to absorb power, the protection that shoes offer encourage you to run in a way that is at odds with our design. Barefoot runners will NEVER run heel to toe. The reason we like flat and hard wood soled shoes in power/oly lifting is to lift from a stable base. Squatting in Nike Shoks is like lifting while standing on a bed. Basically, yes. There are many reasons why people have flat feet, but I'd put shoes too early in life too often and simply not knowing how to walk/run at the top of the list. Having a navicular drop is a big bio-marker for potential ACL injuries and also fallen arches. People that have flat feet don't need orthotics. They need to walk barefoot with a focus on staying on the outside edge of their feet and not allowing that navicular drop.

Depending on how many nuts you consume.

Once I started going full paleo and devoting 10 - 15 minutes a day towards mobility I noticed increases in performance in almost every metric. I got more flexible and more powerful in end ranges of motion. I recover much quicker (both after the workout and from DOMS). I sleep better. I ache less. I stopped snoring. I could go on and on. I think Omega 3 supplementation is totally legit. Taking 7 or more grams of EPA/DHA daily will likely give you great benefit both in the control of inflammation (a great thing to do for your joints) and improvements in blood work. That amounts to more caps than you'd think because in a normal 1 gram cap of fish oil, only about 350 milligrams of it is EPA/DHA (7 grams of EPA/DHA would be 20 caps daily - no it's not possible to OD on fish oil ). There are other more pure methods such as cod liver oil which you need much less quantity to get a good dose. Mixed in a meal, the taste is hardly noticeable. I don't do any supplementation other than that.