Stuff I’m liking at the moment
DEXA – Body composition is one area that I personally haven’t had much of an interest in until lately, being more concerned with performance in strongman and powerlifting however in the interests of not being a fat bastard I’ve been on a quest to drop some lard this year and decided to go and get a DEXA scan. For anyone who is wondering DEXA stands for Dual Energy X-Ray Absorption and it’s a 5 minute procedure where you lie down on a bed and a low powered X-ray scans your body in 3D and reports back right down to the gram the amount of bone, muscle and fat in your body. DEXA is the most accurate way to measure this short of cutting up your cadaver and weighing each bit separately (obviously not a repeatable method!).
Critically because of it’s accuracy DEXA allows you to see if your program is adding muscle and losing fat even if your weight is staying relatively constant. The only downside is that due to the X-ray you can only have them every 13 weeks so in between you have to use more common methods to track progress.
My first scan showed that I was definitely carrying a few kilos of non functional mass (ie fat) and that I could probably recomposition my body for better performance by dropping 5kg of fat and adding 5kg of muscle. I’m due for my follow up scan in a couple of weeks and it will be interesting to see what the results are. For DEXA scans in your capital city google “DEXA scan” If you are in Sydney I recommend http://www.bodycomposition.com.au/
Nike Romaleos weightlifting shoes.
In 2005 when I started training and competing in Olympic weightlifting I bought a pair of Adidas Adistar weightlifting shoes. They cost a ridiculous amount of money and turned out to be one of the worst designed shoes I’ve ever owned. 5 of the 6 straps broke in the first year, most of them at the metal buckle. The uppers came away from the soles and needed sticking down 3 times. The current adistars are uglier than my old shoes and once again the straps break at the buckles. This brings me to my new weightlifting shoes.
I first saw the Nike Romaleos when they were released for the 2008 Olympics and instantly knew I had to have a pair. The problem was that Nike in their infinite wisdom never offered them in Australia and their stupid online store won’t ship to overseas addresses. By the time I had organised someone in the US to ship me a pair they had sold out and it wasn’t until 2010 that Nike relented and made a new batch.
So approximately 3 years after I first saw them I finally got my hands on a pair. I’ve been using them for about 6 weeks and these are my impressions so far.
1. They are rock solid and seem very well made. They are a big solid shoe and you feel like you are glued to the ground when you squat in them. On the downside EACH shoe weighs as much as a pair of normal running shoes! Rumour has it that the new Romaleos for 2012 will be lighter.
2. They look pimpin. Until now lifting shoes have had boring wedges of wood in the heel. They have tended to look like bowling shoes for short people. The Romaleos have a cool moulded plastic heel wedge and look more like a Running shoe.
3. They are very comfy. They come with two inner soles, a harder one for comps and a softer one for training. So far i’ve left the comp liner in and haven’t had any discomfort. The upper is well padded without being squishy and the tongue is padded too. The straps hold your foot in well. My only complaint would be that they are a fairly warm shoe. If you train in a shed in the middle of the Aussie summer your feet are going to get their own sauna.
4. Grip is very good, not too sticky, not too slick.
5. Walking around in them is a bit awkward due to the wide heel but this adds to the stability so it’s a compromise for performance and really not a big hassle because the furthest I walk in them is from one side of the gym to the other.
Books
Very quickly a couple of books that I’ve read recently that I was impressed with.
The first is “Anatomy Without a Scalpel” by Lon Kilgore.
This is a great book for anyone interested in strength training anatomy. Unlike a medical anatomy textbook there is no unnecessary material included and the author relates all the explanations of the joints and muscles back to the performance of sports and the basic barbell lifts.
There is also a good primer on describing anatomical features and locating various structures in the body which will make it an invaluable guide for trainers and coaches.
I could blather on about this book for ages but the short version is just go buy it!
The second book I found very useful is Pavel Tsatsoulines “Power to the People Professional”. This book is not as the title suggests an upgrade or sequel to his original PTTP but is instead a very detailed set of training plans from (mostly) Russian powerlifting coaches. Definitely not a book for beginners it is instead a fantastic resource for anyone who wants to squat, bench and deadlift more and who has outgrown basic linear progression.
I bought both books together a few months ago and was as happy as a pig in mud for weeks reading and rereading them!
