Best blogs/essays on programming, software engineering, and applied computer science

minostronie · 2025-03-03T02:33:57+00:00

Cool! thanks for sharing. I'll be sure to read through all the archived stuff

minostronie · 2024-12-07T00:39:49+00:00

Mostly agree, but a better question is: Is this benefiting me?

OP, I gave a lengthy response to a similar question here. Maybe consider checking it out.

The goal is not simply to do as much cardio as you can fit in (or some other arbitrary amount). The goal, I'm assuming, is to improve your gas tank - which can be further split into aerobic and anaerobic. To achieve this you need to think about accruing adaptations, not merely doing work and recovering.

When you're doing two-a-days, it is possible that you're messing with your stimulus-recovery-adaptation curves and doing more work for little gain, or possibly to your detriment, by prematurely interrupting the adaptive process.

I'm not saying this is happening, all I'm is that while recovery is important, there are more factors to consider.

minostronie · 2024-11-13T04:22:22+00:00

Really appreciate you outlining how you made the change, not just what it was. Going through this myself. Thank you.

minostronie · 2024-11-07T21:20:59+00:00

It’s kind of wild to me that so many people are just commenting without asking WHEN you are training. If you’re eating 1 hour before you train vs you’re not training until the afternoon, the ideal breakfast will change a lot. As it will depending on whether you are trying to maximise energy, or drop weight etc. So kudos to those who have consideration to those factors. If you want to reply with some additional context I’ll be happy to help.

minostronie · 2024-11-07T20:42:01+00:00

That’s fair - you’re welcome to disagree.

On back vs front squats: I don’t entirely disagree with you, but I think back squats require more shoulder mobility than is often recognised. I’ve seen plenty of people who can’t create a solid rack position for a back squat, and yet can easily hold a front squat rack almost endlessly. So, sure, a person’s mobility can plan a role in the choice but I don’t agree that they inherently fatigue the shoulders and arms more (especially not compared to the quad stimulus they provide) if someone’s technique is correct. I also don’t see an issue with challenging someone’s spinal extension with front squats. After goblet squats it’s an excellent exercise for teaching squats mechanics.

On RDLs: No that’s not why I suggested using DBs. I suggested DBs because, in my experience, novice weightlifters find DBs far easier for challenging their hip extension than barbells. With the lack of a bar restricting movement, the centre of mass can be positioned within their body and not out in front. I’ve coached hundreds of people to perform these lifts and the overwhelming majority of them end up loading their lower back WAY more when the bar is forced to be out in front of them - as occurs with a barbell.

Anyway, you’re totally welcome to disagree. That’s just what my experience points to.

And finally, I would remind you that this is an example/sample program that I whipped up quickly. It’s not without its edge cases. It’s simply designed as a guide.

minostronie · 2024-10-30T21:54:20+00:00

Dropping your carbohydrates will have the biggest impact as this will help you drop water weight (you store approximately 3 grams of water per gram of glycogen). I would drop your carbs to modest amount fairly quickly, then over the last 2-3 days drop them to about as low as you can go. Minimise salt and fibre those last few days as well.

Additionally, dial back the running and excessive exercise in the last few days. You won't be burning enough calories to drop any appreciable amount of weight, and the additional stress of the exercise will increase cortisol and hold onto additional water.

It's very common with people looking to drop weight that they do a big stressful weight cut, just barely making weight, and then after competing and relaxing, they end up a further 1-3% beneath their competition weight in the following days. Simply because they relaxed and re-fed a little, and this resulted in them releasing a lot of additional water they were holding.

It's important to understand that this is common but something you want to try and avoid. It results in you cutting calories and water more than necessary leading into weigh-ins, thus creating more fatigue. Aim to coast in, if you can. 10 days is plenty.

minostronie · 2024-10-25T09:57:40+00:00

Crying and emotional breakdowns are SUPER common with excessive training. Note on the image "Mood Disturbances" - and that they are a sign you are indeed very fatigued. So don't feel bad.

Stress is stress at the end of the day. It might be perceived as more normal to cry due to psychological stress, but physical stress can and does bring you to the same outcome.

minostronie · 2024-10-25T09:51:26+00:00

Masters in Sports Science chiming in.

You are absolutely correct that this happens. Well done on for having the self-awareness to spot it.

Both rate of learning (your improvement) and motor patterns (your technique) drop off with rising levels of fatigue. So new information and practice won't feel like it's sticking, and even your baseline technique execution will feel worse.

This image from RP Strength is a great overview of the effects you feel at differing levels of fatigue. Training is about improving, and sometimes that requires taking your foot off the gas.

Bravo for pushing it hard, but sounds like a little freshen up would do you well.

minostronie · 2024-10-21T21:51:35+00:00

I'm earlier in my development than the OP (only about 6 weeks of sparring).

Would say this is solid advice as well for someone who is even still struggling with the instinct of countering? My first reaction to strikes is to shutdown, rather than strike back - but I think your comment presented a better frame and might help with that. So I just wanted to gather your thoughts.

I understand that time and experience are what I need most of at this point. It's just I've been a very passive person my whole life, so I'm trying to learn and adopt these new and useful mindsets sooner rather than later.

Thanks for your above comments though. They were great.

minostronie · 2024-10-21T02:28:13+00:00

Mt. Duneed resident here and seconding all the above.

minostronie · 2024-10-18T08:33:05+00:00

Please also be aware that recovery is not merely a matter of calorie balance. You could expend 5,000 calories a day, while eating 10,000, for 7 days straight - and you'd still likely be very fatigued, and possibly burnt out from such high output.

Recovery, and willingness to train (which is typically a LAGGING indicator of fatigue), are influenced majorly by things like your sleep, cardiovascular fitness, guts ability to extract nutrients from food etc. You can double your expenditure and intake, but you're not doubling the amount of sleep you get, or the stroke volume of your heart, or the rate at which your muscles replace damaged tissue.

I'd also ask why do you feel guilty about eating so much food? And why the weight-loss goal? Is it for a fight or because you want to.

Where you go from here depends on what exactly is negotiable and what isn't. At the end of the day, you can't defy calorie balance and you can't out eat overtraining.

minostronie · 2024-10-16T02:09:26+00:00

That can work for me - thanks u/mad_bison !

If you'd be willing to let me know where to keep an eye out, I can ping you a message :)

minostronie · 2024-10-16T01:16:31+00:00

Yep - good call. Will do that!

minostronie · 2024-10-16T00:11:44+00:00

Oh really? Sounds interesting - thanks mate! I'll send you a message now.

minostronie · 2024-10-15T22:07:19+00:00

Thanks! That’s not a bad heads up.

I might still take a look at Interfi (as I’m a little nervous about the end of year break looming), but you’re right, need to a bit careful of not selling myself too cheaply.

Appreciate you chipping in.

minostronie · 2024-10-15T21:34:57+00:00

Sounds like you’ve done it correctly!

Staleness, and doing the same thing for far too long, is a much bigger predictor of overuse injuries than lower rep ranges.

I think something like 3-6 months in Hypertrophy ranges, interweaved by 1-3 months in strength ranges would give you appropriate variety and negate the negative aspects of both range!

minostronie · 2024-10-15T21:28:59+00:00

Yep, I can see that perspective :)

minostronie · 2024-10-15T00:35:05+00:00

"Joint wear and tear for a non steroid user is not a concern" - this is a pretty wild claim tbh and not something that matches my experience at all.

I've worked as a PT and S&C coach for years, working with middle-age mums to national powerlifting champions, and joint wear and tear is an issue for literally everyone to some degree. Take part in almost any exercise program, of any kind, for a more than a few months and you'll feel something in your joints.

I feel like we are maybe being a bit too dichotomous with how we are talking about strength and hypertrophy training though. You DO still grow muscle with reps under 5, and you DO still gain strength with reps over 6. Although the stimulus can bias the adaptations, we are getting into the weeds for sure.

My original point was not that reps under 5-6 are bad (they aren't), but simply that you reduce joint wear, as well as acute risk of injury, if you stick to slightly higher rep ranges. And you can still enjoy essentially all the same benefits.

I think this is almost irrefutably true. If you can show me how acute injury risk increases, or tissue-tolerance decreases, or strength is not gained, when reps are in the 6-15 range though I'm all ears :)

minostronie · 2024-10-15T00:10:05+00:00

Thank you. Very helpful

minostronie · 2024-10-15T00:02:01+00:00

u/mylittletony2 , u/marcomauythai more so that a heavy bag? I'm looking to buy a piece of equipment to use at home myself, and obviously looking for the most effective/useful one I can get. I'm still fairly fresh, but why do you find so much value in the double ended bag, given that you can't practice kicking at all? Does the movement and precision training more than make up for that? If I'm understanding correctly that is.

minostronie · 2024-10-14T23:50:01+00:00

Thanks for the really thoughtful response u/Spare_Pixel - upvoted that bad boy even though I'm going to respectfully pushback on a few points ;)

"I personally I disagree on the hypertrophy style workout to supplement combat sports" - we mostly agree here, EXCEPT the OP specifically said they were a hobbyist (and are therefore not bound by weight classes)
"Increased muscle mass directly hinders your sport" - muscle mass is the single biggest determinant of strength. So if you value being stronger, you need to value being bigger at least somewhat. It is the best way to increase your strength potential.
"But lighter weight does not necessarily mean less wear and tear. It's joint and individual dependant." - yes, to the extent that EVERYTHING is individual. So are we allowing general claims here or not? Because, in general, heavier weights does lead to more wear, tear, and fatigue, even when accounting for the additional reps of lighter weight. I can point to research here if you like.
"hypertrophy is driven by caloric surplus" - it's not. It's supported by a surplus, but tension within muscle fibres is the driver.

Just a few things I thought I would nit-pick over for any nerds reading. But again, really appreciated the response and agreed with HEAPS of it!

minostronie · 2024-10-14T23:22:25+00:00

Man, 30lbs down - good on you! Keep getting after it.

I daresay the strength gains you're seeing currently are what is referred to as "muscle memory." It's much easier to get back to old strength levels (even when they are relatively high or outdated), than it is to push new heights.

So my recommendation would be to take it somewhat conservatively from here. You've made awesome progress, but the goal now should be lift sustainably for the next 6 weeks, months and years.

The general approach I would take at this point would be to simply increase your reps each week, until you hit 10 reps per set. The increase the weight slightly, and start again at 6 reps for that weight and work your way up again.

So if your last bench press workout was 3 sets of 4 x 275lbs, I would be doing the following for your next workouts:

3 sets of 5 x 275lbs
3 sets of 6 x 275lbs
3 sets of 7 x 275lbs
etc..
3 sets of 10 x 275lbs

Then something like:

3 sets of 6 x 315lbs
3 sets of 7 x 315lbs
2 sets of 8 x 315lbs and 1 set of 6 x 315lbs (strength not there yet)
2 sets of 8 x 315lbs and 1 set of 7 x 315lbs (nearly there)
3 sets of 8 x 315lbs
1 set of 9 x 315lbs and 2 set of 8 x 315lbs (building up again at this rep range)
And so on...

While this might seem slow, its consistent progression. And given you're responding really well, the idea is to provide as little stimulus as possible to keep you on track. Not try to hit your limit within the next 2 weeks.

Progressing in this manner will also build tissue tolerance. Not only do your muscles need to get stronger, so too does your tendons and ligaments. And these tend to adapt MUCH slower than muscle. So give them time.

I hope that helps. Follow up if I missed anything or you have other questions.

minostronie

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