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The last few months here in China, whole cities have been locked down and closed, no one allowed outside their homes. I don’t know where Lu was living at the time, but during the Shanghai lockdown, he was making a bunch of at home workout videos for Chinese social media, and he talked about the Shanghai lockdown quite a bit. For tens of millions of people, getting basic food was really hard for 3 months. It was physically devastating on a lot of us. I’m not surprised to see that Lu is looking skinny after that ordeal if he went through it. It’s hard to say though- most of the high level guys at the Shanghai UFC performance center left the city to train elsewhere before the lockdown- but they didn’t give us much warning, and they didn’t make exceptions for athletes or anyone else. No one expected 3 months of starvation. I don’t know. Being semi retired plus large scale lockdowns is a great way to lose the gainz.

Nice to see Lu’s clone has finally reached teenagehood

BEFORE YOU COMMENT ABOUT ME NOT TALKING ABOUT IT I ADRESS PED'S/STEROIDS AT 12:48

Lu is what gymbros feel like when they forget their creatine scoop for the day.

I think this sticks out to people more because it's more common to see an athlete look more like the fridge on an off season, just adding on some worthless weight. Lu looks like he has lost substantial amounts of muscle tissue without adding much fat.

The Olympic training CYCLE Year 1 after the Olympics = stop blasting, let body recover, get generally fit Year 2 after the Olympics = tickle the test, build back the muscle Year 3 after the Olympics = begin to blast, build the foundation Year 4 (new Olympic Year) = BLAST HARD, Become Legendary

This man clearly puts 100% to anything he does. If he trains he’s going to the Olympics. If he’s taking a break he’s going to enjoy his life 100%.

“I don’t think people understand training cycles.” Think you meant “I don’t think people understand cycles.”

You don't lose muscle that quickly. This is from coming off and on steroid cycles, something olympic weightlifting is notorious for. That's all this is.

Despite Lu's unquenchable love for the sport, his physical and mental state wasn't ideal to continue for 1 more year after the Olympics was postponed. I mean look at his performance in China's internal test event in March 2020. Judging from the speed of his 205kg squat jerk and facial expression, I would consider Lu's condition at that time on par with that of his younger 77kg prime self. Without the Olympics being postponed, Lu would probably snatch 177kg again or c&j 210kg at the Olympics with such a condition, no kidding... However, the Olympics was postponed, but Lu's condition was already at/near his best, just like a train was accelerated to its full speed. Everything was programmed for him to reach his prime/train's full speed before July 2020, so maintaining such speed for 1 more year was extremely difficult, as you can see from Lu's struggling facial expressions and much slower squat speed in his squat jerk attempts over 200kg in the following competitions (Asians, Olympics, China's domestic competitions, etc.). Lu admitted this in an interview (sorry I don't know which one now...there's just too many of them). He talked with Coach Yu several times whether he should quit after hearing the postponement news cuz he really worried about his condition, and Coach Yu had to chat with him about life, family, etc. etc...like doing psychological counselling. Maintaining their peak conditions was tough even for younger athletes as well. Tian and Deng Wei both got injured early in 2021. Shi got injured 3 weeks before Tokyo. Although Shi managed to make it, he said later he felt a lot of pressure, not as easy as he looked on stage. So it kinda makes sense for this train to stop for a while considering his age. Now Lu's training again you can see how happy he is now, although the weight was no way near his peak performance. Unlike Clarence he wouldn't be bothered by these talks on western social media cuz he never and can't read them lol. So it's good for him :)

Lu was set to retire until he got one glimpse of himself without his special supplements 😂

Just shows how these guys are built BY chemicals, it’s not just the ‘finishing touch’. There are people in full body casts who atrophy less than this. If he was any wear NEAR natural, as in if he could find natural with a compass, he would have kept a lot of muscle with push ups and body weight squats. This guy has been on since he was 12 years old, he’s basically a eunuch at this point.

Great points but let’s not forget that his training cycle wasn’t the only cycle he came off of lol. Nattys don’t lose that much mass in that short amount of time unless they became completely sedentary.

"You don't just sustain peak performance" cuts to Grizzly and crew laughing their ass off hahahaha

Sauce, natural muscle and strength don't disappear like that. It does give a new perspective on all the people who want to "look like Lu", Even Lu only looks like Lu because of gear, you're not gonna get there by doing Snatch/C&J training as a natty.

I want to thank jack and Clarence for making me Olympic lifting enthusiast. 🙏🙏🙏

10.38 is a good point. I remember seeing a video of Gabriel Sincrain back squatting 100kg for sets of six in a commercial gym. No ego, just getting back into training and getting the work done.

Off cycle. Simple.

Natty lifting you dont get such drastic peaks and valleys, 22 years lifting natty. Never ever lost that much muscle even when not lifting for a few years, just ran and push ups, didnt lose just a few kgs.

Went off PEDs to get his health on point. Smart thing to do.

That entire essay when there’s a one-word answer: roids. He’s off-cycle.

He tapers off the PEDs a bit and reduces his food intake, reduced training volume, recovers in many ways, then he ramps back into a blasting phase to peak for the Olympic trials

I'm glad I watched this. Kinda helped me feel a lil better about how I've not been at my peak for some time now

"You cannot be at peak form all the time", i wish everyone could hear this. Was at peak form earlier this year (not a weightlifter though) and took a prolonged deload of 2 and a half months and everyone who knows me thought i fell off lol, it was annoying to say the least

We all know that you can't maintain your best shape year around, but come on. His squat droped from 300kg to 150x3, isn't it obvious that he just went off cycle?

The most shocking part is that the videos were released in the first place. Remember when Seb from Weightlifting House had a recording of Lu during training looking juicy doing Lu things and someone from Team China very nicely asked who sent him that clip.

muscle memory, I stopped lifting for a year and a half because I was working as a truck driver, got out of shape and weak, after coming back in 3 months I gain back more muscle than I had before and I got shredded without any ped

Off cycle Lu is my new body dismorphia demon.

Going off cycle after such a long time on has its consequences. Unless you're really good with your PCT, you basically accept to be weaker off cycle than you'd be naturally, so you can be stronger on. Plus in this case not being peaked or not even training, eating less and so on and so forth.

You don't lose over 100Kg on your squat just taking a deload break. Dude came off cycle to clear up the internal organs most likely.

If you think in DYEL, the strongmans are a great example, strenght is not the same as being jacked or looks muscular

No way this is just guy being out of shape, it’s been what? one year max. You just don’t lose muscle mass so fast. He got off them Chinese PEDs

This highlights how unrealistic the high level athlete's body is to achieve for the average person. Not even life long athletes can maintain their physiques when they don't have access to unlimited steroids, food, government assistance, and the support of a dedicated team

Great video Zack! I'm not a weightlifter but train in powerlifting. I think your statements about peak performance apply there as well. I fell into the trap thinking I always had to be setting PRs like the folks on social media. Changing my mindset to understand that it's optimal to peak a couple times a year has been a game changer.

What Zack probably meant in a few word is "steroid cicles" and "androgen receptors".

On gear vs off. Looks just like when bodybuilders who used to be skinny get on gear then come off it. Seen it too many times even at my local gym! Super obvious. The natural guys typically only get kinda chubby if they stop training, they don't suddenly lose tons of muscle. That's usually a hallmark of gear use.

For the youngsters, the take away is that steroids are a hell of drug.

I think people just don't the want the disingenuousness of what the reality truly is regarding competitive weightlifting scene. Calling it out publicly and addressing the concern is the only way to get it noticed especially for those who aren't in the weightlifting scene and don't really know that most athletes have taken or are currently using PEDs. Your channel is your own platform and you have every right to do with it as you please. I just think you and Seb have channels that have public outreach and have the opportunity to educate people on the matter (which by the way I think you do a better job of it than Seb). However, not "speculating" as you put it about the obvious (athletes being on PEDS), I believe is also part of the problem because it creates a false sense of reality. I know it might be a kick in the pants to hear that your favorite competitor is saucing for competition but that's the reality. Drugs work and are doing exactly what they are designed to do and help push through plateau barriers. There is nothing wrong with cycling PEDs just don't hide the fact/ignore it all together.

love the lifting with the boys parts of the videos, great to see you guys absolutely blastin

I actually recently did a 2 month gap from training and in 3 weeks after coming back am so much stronger and feel fresh.

Watching you guys CRUSH, those weights was awesome and inspiring!!

man I always get your channel popping up on my feed. I caught covid last month, and broke my hand lifting weights and I gained 20 lbs and lost hella strength in a matter of days. The body is really funny at times.

He stopped PED's. Any other questions?

That training session was awesome. I’m just starting to learn Olympic lifting and this is some good footages.

Also, muscle memory and mitocondries is a real thing. The time it takes for guys at this level to go from DYEL to Yoked is insanely fast usually. By yoked i mean very high end of non-elite pro lifters. Going from the Yoked to the 1% of the elite takes more time though. But getting back to a fit "baseline" is fast. We see this in sports all the time when people get injured, have a year or season off, looks out of shape 2 months away from the season and then are big as hell again once playing starts. Thats cuz the body gets back to the normal level fast. Difference is, with the amount of training these guys have put in over the years, their "normal" level is equivalent to what most would consider elite.

IDLES is top tier lifting music. Well Done!

Each time you say lady and gentlemen it makes me feel seen. Thank you :)

are you guys crazy ? he just stopped the test / gear and went off, loosing his gains. I swear he will be back in peak form in 3 -4 months

Loved the training footage, please stick some more in your vids.

The show your training+talk/ commentary content is perfect

The training section was an absolute joy to watch! Great way you're editing these videos.

Strength fluctuates, (natural) muscle stays, especially if you keep lifting weights submaximally.

Never stop the blast

Lü really looks like he's off gear more than anything

Nice to watch the weightlifting session a tht e start, I think you can get so much value just watching other people lift and the pointers/queues you guys emphasize. As for Lu - I was also blown away by how much muscle he seemed to have lost - comments section is lit with theories 🤣

It’s called off cycle

I'm currently coming out of one of these training cycles, I gained a bit of weight just to tackle some strength goals and lower stress levels and now I"m getting back to the heavy weights moving fast again. I probably have what I call a "fat year" every 4 years, so I'm looking forward to what the next year looks like.

Loved the training session at the start!

I love that you have the training session in the beginning. I'm one of the few that prefers training vids to gossip vids, but I understand you gotta follow the analytics

It's just funny. Cuz if LU keeps the same shape, we can say that's PED effect. If he lost muscle, we can say he stopped PED.

hes just dyel-ing in bodyweight. great intro for this! watching some good, solid training is utter foreplay. cheerzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Gotta respect them listening to idles during training . Much love from Bristol!

Awesome content man! I love the training video before the main stuff

is it just me or zack looks more and more like chael sonnen talking? Kinda bizarre, but I like it

Really enjoyed this one! I’m glad I found your channel

Great video Zakch Tyllandir. Love the honesty brother, more of these x

Damn! You guys working hard and listening to the latest Idles album, that’s the right workout mix.

Lack of " vitamin S"...

the combined vlog and discussion is really cool! keep it going

I really enjoy the type of Video in which you Show some of your recent traninig progress and then talk about other interesting stuff!

Remember when human size Ilya came to the US to tag along to a couple of the Klokov seminars, then next thing you know he was fridge-size and hitting WR’s. EDIT - yeah you covered it. It was bananas!

THANK YOU. It was insanely frustrating seeing some of the other videos and comments on them from people not understanding training cycles, especially at an elite level. Especially the people saying (including in this comment section), oh well I'm natty and took a few months off and didn't lose this much.

Loving the uploads

The internet has a weird obsession with always seeing abs.

do you think the weightclass he wants to compete in might play a role? i heard being an 81 was always on the heavy side for him

that was such a badass training segment. metalhedz unite - also, those fucking block presses were AWESOME

Forget peaks and valleys. ABB = Always Be Blasting

Zack how did you find my Myspace profile background circa '03 and use it as your backdrop XD

I dont care for the training footage in the beging but the second half was amazing. Couldnt stop watching. Great videos and commentary to boot

I like this video format. Nice Zack trainings

great video, was curious if drugs would be mentioned. Very well said, awesome work.

PLEASE keep showing your training. Thanks Mr. Z.

That mix of training vlog and commentary in the same video thooo 🤌🏼👏🏻

Your speed during the snatches is insane

New to the channel and loving it bless u brother

People are too used to watching powerlifters blast gear year round

He's off the gear cycle

Hey Zack, correct me if I am wrong, but you started lifting late right? How old were you when you started taking it seriously?

Taking long periods of active rest to clear the systemic fatigue of performing at an elite level is pretty orthodox (Especially in strength sports) (Unless you're Bulgarian).

Beginner and motivated 😁thanks!

really like the format here

What steroids are they taking? I wanna try. Looks effective.

Zach is the CEO of looking DYEL

+1 for the Idles in the background, killer workout soundtrack

What the hell even is DYEL? Fantastic athlete anyhow. Hope to see him at his peak again, he if anyone knows how to train himself to top form.

PEDs are MUCH stronger than the average person thinks, seriously, combine his experience and knowledge about his own body with the level of support he would get from China's older population, he has a real shot. Muscle memory is very real and his peak form is not out of the question. If he trains like crazy, given how hard he went in the past, it is possible his body has recovered slightly from the years of abuse.

Lu’s new diet of the average Chinese citizen

he looks like he was on the juice and now went off the juice

love these videos