The Jimbo Slice memorial thread, feat Nate Dogg - The new Off Topic thread

I have long monkey arms and I actually prefer to go really wide grip overhand. Somehow I never realised until this moment it might be because it shortens the ROM. Lol

My lifting is going really well at the moment. Still following Joe DeFranco programming and my bench and overhead press are climbing back into the territory they were in when I was at my strongest (During COVID). I'm still a little agog considering I couldn't bench at all with a straight bar last year, thought my shoulder was just permanently banjaxed.

I went through a stage of being like "Joe DeFranco programming is amazing" when it got better... Then I was like "OK, now I'll go and do something else", and then now that I came back and have stuck with it for several more cycles, I'm really at a point where I can't even say I'd be getting stronger if I was off doing more conventional programming. My rule of thumb is if I'm progressing then I don't stop whatever I'm doing.

My deadlift is the only thing that is moving very slowly, but I have learned that it's rare you can bring up all lifts at the same time.

Joe has let it be known the next programme he's running us through is one which revolves around re-introducing power training for older athletes. He did a talk for Kabuki on this lately, and essentially this is his approach to sprints, jumps and throws for "washed up meatheads" like me. Apparently I can expect rotating throw variations, some sprint variations that are designed to be easier on the body and sub-maximal jumps prioritising quality of movement over intensity.

I'm a little bit sceptical but I have to be honest that I have actually measurably seen my power output decline noticeably as I have gotten older. When I was 30 I could snatch bodyweight and power clean 100kg, and although I was never fast (sprinting) I had a good vertical jump. I don't really train any fast lifts anymore but I believe my power clean max is probably more like 80kg now which is a big drop off. I don't think I could even do an honest full depth snatch with 50kg these days let alone bodyweight... I don't even want to try it. My jumping and sprinting ... Well I don't do them ... So there's that... But I feel as if my confidence is actually the thing that is lacking now. So I guess I'm keeping an open mind and thinking maybe this could be a good idea to try.

I'm also laughing at the fact that my training is starting to 100% resemble the 531 Jim Wendler training I did years ago... It's incredible the similarities now. Wendler doesn't strike me as a very nice guy TBH, I don't like his vibe, but he was right about a lot of things.

I considered editing that out after I wrote it, it is not accurate, so I'll definitely clarify-

My impression from being on his forum is that he is not that interested in the fitness industry, writing etc online and does it all in the most minimal way he can.

I think he could have more tact in the way he interacts with people.

But this doesn't make him a bad guy per say, and I was wrong to say that.

You could argue it comes from a good place, he is obviously just a massive introvert and wants to be left alone. But that doesn't sit that well with also still needing to sell people things.

Saw Dorian Yates yesterday at his seminar at Mind Over Matter Gym in Coolock.

Nice old-school gym for anyone into bodybuilding and general lifting. Friendly crowd, obviously a bit of a community going on. A lot of good plate-loaded machines.

Dorian was interesting to see and listen to in person. If you've listened to the hours and hours of podcasts and footage of him which are online at this stage you will have a good idea of what was covered and what his approach is. He's very consistent, never changes his account of his career or in terms of what he promotes for lifting. It's still high intensity training all the way. He was saying he does a lot more yoga and cardio nowadays, but you get the sense that a big part of why he's not doing the lifting the same way is because of serious injuries rather than any belief that it's not the most optimal way to lift for muscle growth.

He showed push, pull, legs workouts in the applied section of the seminar.. He mentioned this prior in the seminar, for most people he thinks chest/shoulders/triceps, back/biceps and legs is the way to go.

His idea of "3 sets" is basically ascending sets, the first set is a warm-up weight for 10, the second set is moderately difficulty but maybe 7RPE, and then the final set is to failure and on everything he showed except the bent over row he assisted people through a few extra reps once they hit failure. Rep range suggested was 8-15, but body part dependent. Definitely a preference for machines, but he was pretty positive about free weights. Interestingly he said he only does unilateral for the upper body, never the lower - which is the classic instability argument. I can understand that for a bodybuilder but I would have thought this stance might have softened nowadays. Still a big fan of compound lifts.

I never understood how he said he could get a workout done in 35-45 minutes, but he really does rattle through... Not that much rest, and not many warm-up sets. It was just 12 sets for the push workout... Decline bench, machine chest press, incline DB flye and tricep pushdown. Pull was lat pulldown, bent over row, seated low row and I might be forgetting if there was another movement. Legs was leg extension, smith machine squat, hack squat and again I could be forgetting something.

If you don't have a training partner to assist with the forced reps, and for the extra motivation and safety, he suggested possibly doing what you can with intensifiers like rest/pause, drop sets, partials and so on. But a big takeaway for me was that he confirmed a training partner is a huge, huge part of his approach. I'd go so far as to say you're not training DY style if you don't have a training partner who knows what you are doing and what their role is.

2 comments that don't appear to fit in anywhere else...

• Someone is selling an all stainless Rogue Ohio bar on Adverts.ie for 450 euro. The RRP is 694, if it has stainless shaft and stainless sleeves, so that's not a bad deal, depending on the condition.
• I was in Decathlon lately and impressed at the pricing and finish of both their Hex DBs and their full rack. The full rack is heavy enough that it's not going anywhere, even if not bolted down. It's significantly chunkier than their benches and squat stands.

I may have met him in real life a while back. I was in a locker room at the gym, and this guy started telling us that if you ate salad with a fork, the metal would actually destroy the nutrient value of the vegetables in the salad. It was a fact, he said he had a very, very knowledgeable chiropractor friend, in Poland, who had confirmed this.

Bulgarian split squats, 1.5 rep heavy goblet squats and barbell RDL are the main movements in my current lower body day.

I always miss bilateral squats when they're not in a program, but they've been there for at least the last 3 months, and DeFranco is adamant about rotating them out now and again. This is just for a four week block.

Bulgarian split squats and anything involving a 1.5 rep scheme don't really feel like much of a break, but I guess in loading terms they are.

I developed my isometric arm strength about 300% from having kids. Not joking.