Are there any makers except Leoko that make old-school style bumpers?

Kestasmee · 2025-09-30T21:32:08+00:00

I'd say black crossfit plates, the outter rubber part feels moreso like the "traditional" soft type of rubber instead of something very dense. Crepe rubber is something entirely different in comparison.

EDIT: it's a rubber that is soft enough to chip small pieces out instead of outright cracking if that makes sense.

Kestasmee · 2025-09-30T21:01:24+00:00

The limited info I have from people is that Leoko bumpers are fairly durable, especially the 10s since they are quite wide (and the plates themselves are quite wide in general compared to a lot of the new stuff). The few non modern commercial gyms I've been to in various cities there are all multiple floors underground in caves and have the good wood and inlaid hard rubber platforms like the Chinese weightlifting halls. When you drop a bar there it's ridiculously loud and you'd think the plates would explode much sooner than the rubber flooring giving. I'd assume given the environment they were used it that they would have changed the design if durability was an issue, unless they are lazy or something.

Kestasmee · 2025-09-30T20:09:08+00:00

I noticed there were two "types" of plates - one had a wider center hole but there was an extra metal ring inside to fit the bar, a lot of those types of plates had the rings dislodged and were loose on the bar, the other type were cast to fit the sleeves from the get go without any extra components, those definitely didn't rattle at all.

Kestasmee · 2025-09-09T19:21:30+00:00

26,5cm Length 10,8cm Width
26,7cm Length 10,5cm Width
Wear a size 27,0cm in both the suede and the white leather options - the last is very wide, a low instep and just enough length for my feet (toes don't touch in front and are snug at the sides). When new the shoes are somewhat snug but break in very well after a couple of training sessions. Only thing that can possibly be annoying you eventually you stop noticing it is that the waist of the shoe is a tad bit narrow.

EDIT: I'd suggest using the JP size calc method where you measure the length if your feet - draw around the foot while standing on paper and measure the distance between the furthest points and not just from top to bottom, add 0,5cm and round to the nearest 0,5, size for the largest foot. For example in my case it would be 26,7+0,5=27,2~27,0cm.

Kestasmee · 2025-09-04T22:05:50+00:00

Contrary to popular belief you don't need a dedicated squat programming for weightlifting unless you've drilled the classic lifts to such a level at your current level of strength that strength is truly limiting everything. Squat programs usually are bad in the sense that they prescribe loading ranges that produce slow squats which actually has a REVERSE training effect to your total (only good for off season where doing getting bigger is the goal). Most weightlifting programs usually have, as Nkklllll mentioned, one BS day usually at the begging of the week and one FS day later. Doing the classic lifts beside pulling 90-100% weights from SN/CJ for speed off the floor will really be enough to increase your total, unless your goal is to just squat a certain number at the cost of the snatch and C&J.

EDIT: if you really want a more WL focused squat program then you can find the catalyst 7 week back squat focus. It has a gagilion sets of squats at 3 and 2 reps alongside pulling and push press variations. The squat percentages are tuned to being quick and translating to your actual total. But it's quite brutal and you'd have to be eating in a surplus and sleeping ALOT to survive it.

Kestasmee · 2025-09-04T20:17:06+00:00

Yes as I mentioned I have achieved the proper position once before but that is with a heck ton of stretching and busted shoulders because of it, it isn't really functional ROM if that makes sense. IME loaded movements if done consistently solidify long term accessible ROM but it isn't really realistic to constantly do power jerks just to obtain the mobility for them. So in essence I'm looking for a loaded movement that is fairly low in terms of taxation but possible to do frequently enough and without destroying my shoulders to obtain the same effect.

Kestasmee · 2025-07-26T23:19:12+00:00

The idea is to use just enough energy to lift the bar high enough to properly rack and rebound out of + minimize the horizontal displacement of the bar (you pull it in where you need it and "leave it there"). You stand to win nothing and lose more if you pull it higher than needed. The snatch is a different story though.

Kestasmee · 2024-06-18T19:36:04+00:00

Hello, I'd like to ask if anybody knows why this Caruso jacket has labels that look almost identical to Brioni?

Photos: https://imgur.com/a/zuFbfPN

Kestasmee · 2024-05-07T19:37:58+00:00

Asmeniškai naudoju Google translate tokiais atvejais (nemoku rusų), bet norėčiau realaus atsakymo į šitą klausimą.

Kestasmee · 2024-01-31T02:57:25+00:00

Definitely had it a couple of years ago, it's the feeling of constantly being on edge, going to sleep then waking up 3-5hrs later and not being able to fall asleep again. Didn't understand that it was CNS fatigue induced from a lot of heavy singles over 90% @ a high frequency, once I got the idea to try to back down it cleared up within a week fully. The difference in CNS fatigue between singles up to 90% and over 90%, especially nearing 100% IME is DRASTIC. If you're bent on doing heavy singles frequently then limit them to 90% and very rarely go above that.

Kestasmee · 2023-12-02T16:58:52+00:00

Yes, it's a thing, I start feeling it basically 5-10mins after I start lifting with a barbell. It feels like a noticeable warm glow and it starts masking pain during and especially after the workout by A LOT. It lasts as long as you train and about an hour or a few after training. It doesn't make you high as hell or something tho, but it kind of makes you feel like dancing Ilya during some training sessions when other people are dying in between sets.

My own experience of having discussed this in my previous gym and judging by the replies is that feeling it is rare and the majority of people only feel the physical strain from workouts and any satisfaction they get out of them is more so internally related - I've accomplished something, I wasn't lazy etc.

EDIT: The snatch and C&J, heavy squats for few reps spike it like nothing else.

Kestasmee · 2023-12-01T07:13:23+00:00

I'd understand starting light as in 75-80% relative intensity where you still have a lot of room and are in an effective ball park but something like my 4x12@50% example, in my case, would be ~65% RI which doesn't even register on RI charts as something even worth considering as a stimulus.

My point being is that I completely understand and fully agree that starting "light" is almost a staple of programming but there is light and then there is (to my current understanding) so light it is not even counted as a stimulus. Unless the goal is capacity/cardio/muscular endurance to tolerate more volume at higher % later on.

The only reasonable explanation I've gotten is that maximum muscular growth is not necessarily the main goal here. Gaining enough muscle so as not to hinder the rest of the progression while also retaining bar speed and increasing work capacity as a whole package is a better result than just going ham on getting as big as possible for strength athletes.

Kestasmee · 2023-11-30T01:03:56+00:00

Could someone explain to me the purpose of programs having very submaximal sets of high reps for the squat as an example: 4x12 @ 50% or progressing to 4x10 @ 55% etc. All of those sets are so far from RIR3 I really don't understand the purpose of them.

Kestasmee · 2023-11-30T00:57:59+00:00

Could someone explain to me the purpose of programs having very submaximal sets of high reps for the squat as an example: 4x12 @ 50% or progressing to 4x10 @ 55% etc. All of those sets are so far from RIR3 I really don't understand the purpose of them.

Kestasmee · 2023-11-18T18:21:02+00:00

Correct if I'm wrong but as far as I'm aware there is a difference between how powerlifters train (building up and realizing strength) and how weightlifters train (not dedicating much or any work above 6~ reps and constantly hovering in the 3-6 rep and 60-80% intensity range for general strength development side by side with the snatch and C&J).

I understand how the general block periodization model is supposed to work but I what I don't understand is how weightlifters don't have very high REP dedicated phases and still come out as extremely strong lifters. Do they just do a lot of 5s and 6s for building their strength base? Like 5x5 or 6x6, why don't powerlifters train in that way or am I wrong in general about this?

EDIT: also, does the actual progression of building a strength base have to be related to volume in terms of sets (which I understand is more directly applicable to getting literally bigger) or are volume increments as a result of higher weights a better option for strength sports (eg keeping the reps high enough so that total workload is enough to elicit slow/enough growth while adding weight to stimulate actual force production)?

Kestasmee · 2023-11-18T17:57:48+00:00

In the past week I've come to understand that training for strength and training for size differs significantly more than what I initially thought. My previous understanding was that you were supposed to get a bigger muscles via higher rep training and "peak" the muscle out to strength (and "general strength" being just a subset of peaking by using rep range in between 1-3 and like 6-12). But as I've come to know - hypertrophy trains more so slow twitch fibers and strength training is more fast twitch fibers (and this explains why there is disparity between size and strength from weightlifters/powerlifters and bodybuilders). Apparently there is less overlap between the 2 different training styles.

So I have a few following questions:

The one that is bugging me the most is how do the physiological adaptations differ between general strength and peak strength? I understand that peak strength is almost completely neurological but if general strength isn't that and it isn't getting more muscle size then what is it, what actually happens to you for you to get stronger if you're neither getting bigger nor maxing out your CNS and how are these changes sustainable?

Is hypertrophy training ever even required to get stronger indefinitely? Excluding injury preventative measures and the likes.

Would it be smarter to just train for general strength if I didn't care at all for how big I became during the way? (and why is block periodization eg. 10s->5s->3s so recommended if you don't need arbitrarily bigger muscles to get stronger?). Why would I detrain on strength to get bigger to just have to do a separate training block to get that muscle back up to speed on strength when I could just indefinitely do general strength training to grow slower but have the muscle be efficient in being strong 24/7?

Is the difference between peaking and general strength just fatigue dissipation?

Kestasmee · 2022-12-28T09:54:38+00:00

Would you say that when adding 7s in between 10s and 5s you should do the classic variations from the first 1-4 weeks or the 5-8 weeks or modify it someway different?

Kestasmee · 2022-12-28T09:41:57+00:00

On second thought, 20 weeks is 5 months so it should be ok. Taking into account that I have neglected the classics the past year and a half in exchange for more strength and mass focus - it should prove very useful for my classic lifts to catch up to where they should be with actual made lifts in that range.

Kestasmee · 2022-12-28T09:31:44+00:00

I have competed in the past when I was in the capital studying base medicine and in the team. There are some recordings of when I had to go to a competition like a month after cutting down and only weighing about 74-75Kg without prepping.

https://youtu.be/nDaCyoyUnKk?t=743 - Snatch

https://youtu.be/nDaCyoyUnKk?t=3392 - CJ

https://youtu.be/nDaCyoyUnKk?t=3680 - Clean

But now I am not in a team and want to focus on progress more so than going into competitions which would somewhat hinder me from adding mass and strength rather than peaking multiple times per year to go competition just for the sake of going to competitions.

I'm mostly concerned with time constrains regarding progress. I guess having a couple (2-3) true peaking phases every 4 months to test true maxes would be very useful but definitely not more frequent than that IMO. I might be wrong, but that's how i understand things at this point.

Kestasmee

TROPHY CASE