International athletes yo, competing here

A total of more than 290 athletes from 49 countries will be at the competition. Of those participants, 115 athletes are women.

Mmmmm strong ladies

came across this interesting article on General Physical Preparedness (GPP)

what i got from it is basically 'having more gas in the tank'... and more gas is what i actually NEEEDD *pant pant*
so how has GPP exercises helped help u in your training & what are your GPP exercises? do share your experience

hmm, think i shld be incorporating back HIIT or complexes.

Are You Strong But Out Of Shape?

The concept behind General Physical Preparedness (GPP) is the development of basic fitness skills-flexibility, strength, endurance and speed-by doing mostly functional exercises or movements that involve multiple muscle groups. It's basically all about balance in your body and building a good solid base using old school exercises that involve as many different muscle groups as possible. GPP is not a "style" of training but rather, it is a component of training-and it doesn't require and special training or fancy equipment.

If you are interested in developing balance among fitness, strength and size, then you ought to be taking a good look at GPP. For example, a guy can lift and lift and lift until he's as big as an ox with bulging muscles of steel but be short of breath from a climb up a flight of stairs. Or, if you are into competitive sports, adding the GPP component to your training mix can really give you a competitive edge. Guys also use GPP to improve weak spots, to be more adaptable, improve their overall fitness levels and to boost and speed up their bodies' capacity to recover.

The sled pull, tire flip, farmer's walk, wheelbarrow push and plate lifting are some of the more common GPP exercises around. In doing any of these exercises you start out with a goal of doing it for maybe ten minutes or so, with a long-term goal of working up to about 30 minutes. It's important to remember this part: Once you reach 30 minutes, don't keep striving to be able to do longer stretches of time. Rather, enhance your capacity by increasing the weight, not the amount of time you're doing the exercises. This is where you'll really see improvements in your performance

One of the great things about GPP is that it involves compound exercises that require you to use multiple muscle groups and multiple skills (balance, coordination, etc.) at the same time. By doing compound exercises you're not only improving your all around fitness level but you're also significantly lowering your risk of injuring yourself. Lots of bodybuilders get totally caught up in building size, focusing on doing the same exercises over and over again. By keeping the focus just on the muscles that you see in the mirror (the "beach muscles") and not training the core, they are setting themselves up for injury.

Powerlifters are equally guilty on totally concentrating on their maximum strength without paying much attention to their hearts or work capacity. If you can squat 700 pounds you should be able to squat 225 for 15 reps without getting totally winded. Many powerlifters myself included could use the fat burning benefits of incorporating some GPP training. Maybe there'd be a little more gas in the tank by the time the deadlift rolls around on meet day.

the rest of the article below

http://www.fitnessatlantic.com/general_phy...reparedness.htm

I managed to get hold of a tractor tire a couple of days ago.. been doing tire flipping... have to say it's a very, very intense workout with them tires... now looking to get a sledgehammer.. tire pounding next.. but those sledgehammers not cheap.. at my local hardware store, the heaviest (12 lbs) costs RM78.. the lightest is 6 lbs (RM38). But if u can get to do tire flipping.. it works maybe all muscles... total body, plus cardio.. not to mention the wow factor from surroundings...

those tractor tires are great, how heavy are those ? I got a 450 lbs one and the possibility is endless. Tire Flipping, tire battles (two person pushing the tire), and tire sled dragging (I loop a 3/8 inch chain and strap and drag it). It's superb GPP work/conditioning day (great alternative to the treadmill!) plus pairing it with some sledgehammer pounding. I got my sledgehammer second hand from those at the construction side pretty cheap.

I live in Saujana Putra, where the developers are still building the township, so there was a lot of used big tires around. I think my tire was from a tractor,but there wasn't much tread left.. not that I need it anyway... I'm not sure of the weight, I'd reckon it's about 200 lbs at least, but definitely not 450 lbs.. was thinking of sled dragging it as well...

anyone selling tractor tire?
btw cool DIY sled
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLCbX89Ut5w


anyways appreciate some feedback on the below scenario
"increasing load consistently is key to increasing muscle mass"
so which is better? and to do it consistently 3x a week

option 1
squatting
5 x 12 @ 100kg
total weight - 6000kg

option 2
5 x 6 @ 120kg
total weight - 3600kg
*progressing with higher load altho at lower total weight
*weekly incremental weight possible or less rest time

option 3
10 x 6 @ 120kg - 7200kg
*recovery & the fatigue carried over

This post has been edited by che: Oct 3 2010, 09:36 AM

Increasing load consistently, is key. However, you cannot increase load constantly, as the body plateaus after a certain amount of time. Also without, changing the other variables that contribute to the total tonnage of the squat, deadlift and bench, you would be training very boringly and sometimes, these "dark times" can last for months (Up to 12 months), where you constantly do the same thing, but see no results whatsoever.

The better way of training is to switch the variables such as tempo, rest timing, exercise selection, weight selection, deload, load. Also your repetition ranges are extremely odd for someone hoping to build strength instead of muscle.

Personally I subscribe to the conjugate periodization methodology, and I arrange them between 4-16 week blocks depending on the length of training of my lifting clients. 4 weeks for more advanced lifters, 16 weeks maybe even up to 20 weeks for newbies. Also as the maturity changes, the load and set/rep scheme changes. I change to a lower repetition method as the lifter progresses, but usually once every fifth session, there will be a change in main exercise selection. Some recommend, 3 some 4, I prefer five.

That way the lifter will constantly see progress in the squat, bench and deadlift.

nice tips!! i feel the same. as i increased weight every week my body cant cope with it. i have been stuck at the same weight for months now

Something is wrong. Go fix it.

Anyone brave enough to admit of urine incontinence during lifting?

Its normal i think. Especially when you are up on maximal effort. Stuff like the deadlift and squats, ive even seen some chick start puking halfway through deadlifts.

I thought that's a post natal thing?

Not really though. The gist of the theory behind the pee or take a sh*t while squatting or other lifts is probably due to the sympathetic system.

reading on this.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjugate_method
http://danjohn.net/pdfs/ii15.pdf
http://westside-barbell.com/westside-artic...te%20Method.pdf

makes sense to strengthen other muscles which in the end lead to better lift
train multiple qualities at once.. hmm

pizzaboy
any particular exercises you can reco & implement?

Reverse Hyper
Pullthrough
Box squat

Before I can recommend anything, I need to know, what movement is it, you're trying to better on? Where are the specific points of weaknesses? You need to talk movement and muscle.

the down & up movement of the squat. don't know my weak points? perhaps can hv a meet to share your expertise?
where do you train?

basically looking for other support exercise to strengthen the other muscles to improve the above movement

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-squat-with-p...ommon-problems/
http://stronglifts.com/50-ways-to-increase-your-squat/

personally have not gone that heavy before OR i make sure to go to the loo before squatting

I train in Melaka, in the state weightlifting gym, or in FF when I'm in KL. I have a small fee for consultation so if you'd like me to help you up, I'm more than willing buddy.

Here's a tip. A lot of times, we do too much volume but our bodies don't respond to volume well. Then we have those that do too little volume, but bodies need more volume. When I did 5x5, I gained like mad. When I did 5x3 I gained madly. When I did 5x1, I improved pretty good as well. When I did 12x3, I never could complete the routine properly.

Training 101

Your body must first be adequately stimulated.

hiya peeps, need some advice to break my bench press plateau. how do i go about it without a gym partner? any kind of good routines to recommend? I tried looking but there's so many of them cant be sure which one works

Maybe you should take a week off. let your body full recover.