Tuesday, February 5, 2013

2.5.2013

1 Kings 7-12

These passages start off with Solomon becoming one of the richest kings the world has ever known. if something can be made of gold or something else lavish and expensive, it will be made. Temple filled with Gold? check. Throne of ivory and gold? check. cups made of gold? check. Silver as common as rock and pebbles?  you bet.

Unfortunately, despite knowing better and having been warned, Solomon starts allowing the worship of other gods and builds temples for them. he does this because he has many wives who are foreign and worshiped these gods before they came to Israel to be with Solomon, and Solomon is just trying to please his wives. Two things that struck me from this is that one, the people/person you are closest to have a huge impact on you so you should be careful who you let close to your heart, especially if you are planning on marrying that person. gives credence to the phrase "equally yoked." 

Second, Solomon had like 700 wives. That's crazy. A couple weeks ago my church sunday school discussed how polygamy was accepted in the bible as a culture necessity for having a work force for your family estate and having enough children so at least some of them survive so you bloodline can live on. However, polygamy is never mentioned in a positive light and often leads to rivalry and disputes between different wives and children, often tearing up a household. Point and case, Solomon's many wives impacted him negatively and encourage him to sin against god, which may have been prevented if he had chosen and stuck with some nice little Israeli girl. In turn, God decides Israel will be split up, become weaker, and in general just deal with a lot of other problems from the outside world.

Inspired tangent: cultural purity and national strength often go hand in hand. If a nation's people can be rallied behind a constant belief or idea that does not get diluted in the process, that nation can become and maintain itself as a powerful force to be reckoned with. Exhibit A: America. America has long been unified by the ideals of freedom and liberty which has made America one of the most powerful nations in the world. there are obviously other factors involved, but as America matures as a nation, slight changes to the core values are constantly happening, and overtime I feel are country has become weakened not by necessarily "bad" changes, but changes that take away from that strong unified core and make us more derisive towards ourselves.


Strength Bit: On Smolov

Smolov is a high volume/frequency squatting program whose intensity ramps up in a dramatic fashion. I'm not going to go over the specifics of Smolov, just my personal experiences with it. Here's a link to an actual description of the workout: smolov squat cycle

I'll start of by stating you have to be a bit sadistic to attempt this program. Seriously, Smolov is one of the most physically grueling programs you can possibly attempt. You're not even sore so much as you just ache and are physically and mentally exhausted all the time.

With the crazy factor accounted for, i'll go on and say that Smolov works. you keep getting more fatigued, stairs become your greatest enemy, yet somehow you get under the bar and you are able to squat the prescribed weight. some of the craziest gains i've ever had, regardless of training age, exercise, etc have been on Smolov. I'm not just restricting myself to squats gains which were outrageous, but other lifts i barely practiced while doing smolov. For example, my last attempt at smolov gave me a 30lb PR on both my overhead squat and bench press with only maintenance training during the squat program (weights on exercises >50% on overhead squats and >80% on bench).

some personal points:
  • I've completed the Base cycle three times.
  • I've only attempted the Intense Cycle once (failed)
  • i've never been able to maintain the gains i've made post squat cycle
these points are important because they show how hard this program is. The first time I tried smolov, I was a fairly novice squatters so I did not attempt the program any further after the base because I felt my squat only improved because my squat kept getting higher and higher. the second time i squatted off a box to keep my depth constant, however i did not continue because i was pretty crushed physically and i felt that i was starting to rebound off the box too much.

My last attempt at Smolov I approached differently. Tired of unsatisfying results and being a more seasoned lifter, i had a plan. first rule, use 3 rep max(with belt) as Smolov max. i wasn't about to get crushed this time around. Second rule, no belt ever; i knew i needed my core to get strong and that i needed my whole body to develop without any aid. those two rules set in stone, I was now a permanent ass to grass squatter and had long forgone half squats and box squats. I had also been squatting 3x a week before starting and felt ready physically. I went hard to the paint and attacked the sum' bitch like i had nothing to loose.

my plan worked phenomenally. while difficult, i tested with a belt and was rewarded with a 30lb all time pr on my squat max and a 50 lb pr on what had been my current max just prior to smolov. I was stoked. other exercises i tested showed exceptional improvement and i became incredibly motivated to attack the intense cycle. probably too motivated; this is where i made mistakes. my enthusiasm caused me to use the test max as my actual max for the intense phase which in turn forced me to start using a belt.

The Intense phase was insane. I set crazy PRs for myself every workout, but only lasted 4 workouts. during the 4th workout i had to do a one set of 3, and then 2 sets of 4 with a given weight. i hit the first set of three, ground out the first set of 4, then went down for my first rep on the last set and could not stand up. i was toast. my low back had been getting outrageous pumps from using the belt. at the end of this particular workout i could not bend over, much less barely stand. That was the point i quit Intense phase.

it took me about week before i decided to do any squatting and another week before i decided to to any real weight with my lower body. my gains didn't actually disappear as quickly as they had at previous smolov attempts. for the next couple of months i was able to continue hitting rep PRs at various weights and hit new personal bests on the snatch and clean and jerk. 

In all i would rate my last smolov attempt as success overall because i did get much stronger and eventually lost strength do to non workout related reasons. 

Advice for those who would want to attempt this program:
  1. > 90% of your max (intense phase use ~90% of retested max) or use beltless max
  2. no belt ever
  3. eat, sleep, and recover like it's your job
  4. common sense stuff, like you don't need to be running or deadlifting or any other stupid ideas.
Chances are i will attempt smolov again. At this point it's a challenge for me to not only complete the program, but maintain/improve upon the gains i make from it. 

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