Strength in Interesting Places

[JauntyAngle]

Deadlift

5x140:



Edit- people in the main forum pointed out my shoulder rounding/collapsing chest. Yuk. Usually my posture is good, so that is disappointing. Also, one person said I am not getting my hips under it, and and am pulling it straight up, not up and back (which is indeed what I was trying to do). Will need to investigate this more.

 

[MIDMOBOX]

you shouldn't feel bad about not having sleeves to be honest. This poor poor girl can't even afford legs on her pants




and these poor disinfranchised girls can't afford shirts




so what is your actaul job, and if you don't mind answering country of origin?

 

[JauntyAngle]

so what is your actaul job, and if you don't mind answering country of origin?

Seeing those poor girls makes me feel better.

I guess you could say that my job is 'development consulting'. Like management consulting, but we work in government agencies in poor/messed up countries, like Afghanistan, Southern Sudan, Nigeria, Pakistan, places like that. The work is usually helping them with different aspects of reform and performance improvement.

And country of origin is UK.

 

[MIDMOBOX]

So you're a mercancy hit man. Understood.



these poor girls don't even have coats and are having to fish for their dinner

 

[JauntyAngle]

So you're a mercancy hit man. Understood.



these poor girls don't even have coats and are having to fish for their dinner

These are exactly the type of poor, disadvantaged young people that I try to help through my work. Or at least, in my cover job. In my real job, obviously, I assassinate rich, powerful men who these sorts of young people can often be seen with.

 

[MIDMOBOX]

Its so sad how the rich and powerful take advantage of the weak and overly devoloped


how the heck did you ever fall into that gig, the cover story not the merc one.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Its so sad how the rich and powerful take advantage of the weak and overly devoloped


how the heck did you ever fall into that gig, the cover story not the merc one.

Well, I was originally an investment guy and management consultant. I burned out, and when I left my job in 2002 I took a long trip through Asia. I decided to head back home in 2003, after one quick visit to Chiang Mai. I met a woman in a yoga class there who offered me a job, which turned out to be working for a development project here. That allowed me to learn the ropes, and I met lots of people who work in the field.

It is a hard field to get into, unfortunately, as the work is awesome and has decent pay. If you end up with a big aid organization it has good benefits, and if you go private like me then you have good flexibility.

 

[MIDMOBOX]

Yea, good story stick with that, its almost believable. And I'm a small town cop in the middle of Missouri

 

[JauntyAngle]

Yea, good story stick with that, its almost believable. And I'm a small town cop in the middle of Missouri

That is exactly what I look like when I go to knock off the Presidents of some Banana... I mean, uhm, help poor African school kids.

 

[JauntyAngle]

5th Decemebr

Squats

My form check identified the need to

1) Switch from high bar to low bar
2) Push my knees out more
3) Maintain better spinal extension/lumbar arch
4) Move from parallel/just past parallel to full squat (maximum possible depth without losing spinal extension/lumbar arch)

I knew all would be relatively easy to do, except 4, which would entail setting the weight back somewhat. So I did something like the triples exercise from last time, to practice improved technique and to find a new weight to start off from. I did

70x3, 72.5x3, 75x3, 77.5x3, 80x3, 82.5x3, 85x3, 85x3, 85x3

(Plus warmup, of course.) Noticed that it got just about hard enough at 85 so I did a couple of extra triples there. I'll do 3x5 at 87.5 for my next work set.

The good news is that the low bar was easy and comfortable, I think my spine was straighter, and pushing the knees out did really help with both getting into the hole and out of it. And I smashed parallel- I was going as far down as physically possible, with my butt about 7 inches off the floor at the lowest point. It's actually a more fun exercise doing a full squat, with the longer range of motion and bounce that you get off the bottom. Think I can work back to 100+ with little fuss.

Bench

Less good. After my warmup I wasn't concentrating and accidentally loaded much too much weight onto the bar (nearly 95). Unracked it, controlled it on the way down, but of course couldn't get it off my chest and had to get someone to help me lift it off. Took a bit of a rest, but I think I was a bit tired from accidentally trying to max out/do a heavy negative, so it hurt my work set. I got

77.5x4, 77.5x3, 60x8, 60x8

Trying to lift the bar for the third set, it felt *really* heavy. So I decided that discretion is the better part of valour, and did 60x8 and 60x8 as backoff sets, to get some technique practice. Lesson learned- don't be an idiot, you idiot. It was also good to know that having that weight stuck on me isn't that bad- I could have done the roll of shame to get it off, wouldn't have been much more than uncomfortable.

Cleans

Things I was trying today

1) Get a decent jump, get off the floor and get your toes pointed down (this seems to make me go higher)
2) Really throw the elbows forward/up with conviction
3) Don't spread feet on the way down, do the quarter squat

Broadly speaking these things all seemed to work, although my feet barely leave the ground on the worksets. These seemed okay- they felt good, anyway. Only did the rack uncleanly once, but not badly enough to hurt my hands or wrists. After the warmup, did

55x3, 57.5x3, 60x3, 60x3, 60x3

60kg is a +2.5PR. Feels like there is plenty of improvement left here, too.

Pullsup

A little tired at this point again. Cleans seem to take something away here, which concerns me slightly as I think the pull in the clean isn't really arm strength, it's more transmitting the impulse from the legs and hips, plus guiding the bar into the rack. Still, that's work done by the arms. Anyway, did a pyramid

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Meh.

* * * * *

Wanted to do some barbell bicep curls (because they are awesome) but I'd already been in the gym for a while, so I packed it in.

My mess-up with the bench today has got me wondering whether I should just do Press with heavy weights, and bench with a bit less weight, under a volume/assistance-type secheme. At least when I am working out away from my Chiang Mai gym (when I have to work out on my own and the bench may not have safety pegs). Will open a thread to discuss this in the main forum.

 

[JauntyAngle]

6 January

DOMS! Legs and chest.

I have been getting DOMS after most of my workouts since I have been back. I suppose it is a combination of thing- I have been messing around with my squats, my DL has been going up but I have been doing it in a way thath is too heavy on my back (bar too far from shins and shoulders over the bar, not behind). Then there was yesterday's bench fiasco.

Posted my thread about giving up bench as a main lift:

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f13/press-strength-bench-laydeez-i-mean-uhm-assistance-1492597/

Turns out quite a few people do this, and in general people think it is no problem, especially if you add something to make the overhead push heavier, like push pressing.

Don't want to feel like bench has beaten me, though. I almost feel like going crazy with bench for 2 weeks before I go back to work, try to get it above 85 at least. Maybe do 5x5, do it three times a week, with dips and lower weight/higher volume press as assistance. Then, when I am off to work, drop bench down to assistance status.

That would take me way off SS, although with my addition of pullups and chins, and my recent triples sessions, I have clearly been off it anyway. This could all be me sorting myself out, ready to move to the Texas method. Although I was thinking that a 2-day split would be easier to combine with conditioning work. Hmmmm.....

 

[MIDMOBOX]

Curls are awesome



I used bench as assistance during a nagging injury. I subed out heavy dips and actaully made decent progress.

 

[MIDMOBOX]

I was greatly upset that the second half of Ashes and Paul's Shinnoh battle was pre-empted this last week. I'm hoping they pick up there this saturday

 

[JauntyAngle]

Curls are awesome



I used bench as assistance during a nagging injury. I subed out heavy dips and actaully made decent progress.

My dips are simply horrible at the moment. I can barely manage 5 unweighted, which probably speaks volumes for my bench. I've never been very good at them.

People say that bodyweight exercises can be done almost every day... I am thinking about doing dips and pullups 5 days a week until I go off to work again in two weeks' time.

 

[JauntyAngle]

I was greatly upset that the second half of Ashes and Paul's Shinnoh battle was pre-empted this last week. I'm hoping they pick up there this saturday

100% pure awesome.

 

[MIDMOBOX]

I read the totallity of your thread about making Overhead Press your primary Push movement while moving bench to an assistance roll. I was going to comment there but realized that my response would probably just get lost in the basketfull of information and opinion that people had posted.


Basically I don't think there is any reason why you can't make your bench an assistance movement for your overhead. I have done something similar recently when I decided that bench would now be an assistance movement for my curls. I realized that the power in my curls was lacking due to lack of stablization through my chest and shoulders. So in order to increase my seated curl I started benching. This seems to have worked so far. I've seen decent increases in my curl power since I transitioned to this method of programing.


Like I've said many many times, to truly test your overall athletic preformance and strength there is no greater single excerise that the curl(either seated or the more popular dynamic version) I think your really on the right track dumping bench as a primary movement although I would also drop overhead press unless you are using it to try to increase shoulder size. The increase in shoulder size will help you provide a more symetrical appearance and offset your huge biceps. This will keep you from appearing freakishly large when compaired to the people you work around.

 

[JauntyAngle]

7th Jan

A mixed bag today.

Squats

These were full squats, as deep as I can physically go without losing spinal straightness, as practiced last time. Got

85kg: x5, x5, x5

Towards the end of the second and third set, they required a medium-level of effort: with the really good stretch reflex that you get from going down all the way, it's no problem to get up some of the way, but that carries about twenty degrees below parallel. The tough part is getting from there to 10 degrees past parallel, then it's fine. It's almost like a whole new, and considerably harder, exercise, hence the DOMS and having to cut 20kg off it. Will increase weight next time.

Tiny, tiny amount of discomfort in my right knee, but overall I am realy liking full squats. Much better exercise, and they feel more athletic and explosive because of the long range of movement and the ability to use the stretch reflex, which lets you really try to power out of the hole. I like the fact that there is now absolutely no issue about going below parallel, too. Many thanks to Maiou for helping me to see the need for these.


Press

50kgx5, 51.25x5, 51.25x4

These felt fine. Decided not to go for the last one, and instead experiement with push press, which was quite easy. In the future, I am going to either finish off with a few heavier push presses, or practice a few heavier 'lift offs', just trying to get the weight off my shoulders and upto eye level, as recommended by Bill Starr.


Deadlift

130kgx2, 100kgx2

Thought I would knock a little weight off to practice technique. Warmups went fine (including 1x100kg), but at 130 the pain that I had in my floating ribs after the last DL workout came back in big time as I was executing- basically the pressure from the valsava maneurver. Did two despite the pain, and I think they were better. It is definitely less tough on your back with the bar right at your shins. As the previous 100 was done without pain I thought I would do some at that weight, but now these did produce pain. So obviously I have aggravated something there. I will log the injury separately.

Chin and Diparama

Want to get better at dips (which I can barely do) and won't have an opportunity to do either those or chins/pullups in Sudan so I have decided to do bundles of them. People say that with bodyweight the key is volume, so I will be doing these almost every day- one day chins and dips, one day pulls and dips. I may take one day of rest on Monday (the first day of the normal two-day rest after the third workout of the weekly cycle) from these, so I guess I will be doing these 6 days a week.

For this workout and for the next few, I just wanted to get volume- to do plenty of them without getting to failure (since this then makes it harder to do more). I've found that this is a good way to get up your numbers to a decent level in the past with pullups. So I was doing sets of 10, with as many brief breaks as needed to complete the set. Did

Chins x10: (7 reps, 3 reps)
Dips x10: (4 reps, 3 reps, 3 reps)
Chins x10: (7 reps, 3 reps)
Dips x10: (4 reps, 3 reps, 3 reps)
Chins x10: (8 reps, 2 reps)
Dips x10: (4 reps, 3 reps, 3 reps)
Chins x10: (7 reps, 3 reps)
Dips x10: (3 reps, 2 reps, 2 reps,2 reps, 1 rep)

All unweighted. I'll probably do the same scheme tomorrow, maybe 5 sets instead of 4. May also do some abdominal work- this doesn't seem to hurt my ribs.

I am really hoping that by improving my dips, I will get better at taking the bar off my chest for press and bench, as this is the part I find hardest. Certainly, it doesn't surprise me that I strugle with bench when my dip is so poor.

* * * *

How off the programme am I? Some people say that Rippletoe expects people to add some chins and dips to SS, but he just doesn't put it in the programme as he doesn't want people to over-do it. Looking at it, it doesn't seem the worst thing- just SS with these extra exercises. Might it affect my progress, well it might. But I have stalled at 80 and 77.5, the second time dramatically (not even being able to lift 77.5 for 1 set of 5), so screw it, this is what I am doing.

 

[JauntyAngle]

07 Jan- my injury

So, as mentioned, experienced pain in the floating rib area after my deadlifting sesion on Jan 2. It was getting better but I aggravated it today.

This wasn't DOMS, as it came out in the evening of the same day. Also, there doesn't seem to be any muscle that I can contract that causes pain. It hurts if someone depresses the floating ribs, or, much more, when deadlifting, after the initial lift off the ground. Then I feel the pressure from my abdominal muscles causing the pain very clearly.

I don't know the physiology of this area, but it seems likely that I have some kind of sprain or bruising of something non-muscular in that area. I doubt it is that serious as what discomfort there was got much better over 4 days (before I aggravated it today) and I have almost no mobility issues at all. I suspect that I need to not deadlift for about 2 weeks, and then perhaps for the next two sessions do only the warmup.

I think I will just do cleans instead of DL while I am resting this.

 

[JauntyAngle]

I read the totallity of your thread about making Overhead Press your primary Push movement while moving bench to an assistance roll. I was going to comment there but realized that my response would probably just get lost in the basketfull of information and opinion that people had posted.


Basically I don't think there is any reason why you can't make your bench an assistance movement for your overhead. I have done something similar recently when I decided that bench would now be an assistance movement for my curls. I realized that the power in my curls was lacking due to lack of stablization through my chest and shoulders. So in order to increase my seated curl I started benching. This seems to have worked so far. I've seen decent increases in my curl power since I transitioned to this method of programing.


Like I've said many many times, to truly test your overall athletic preformance and strength there is no greater single excerise that the curl(either seated or the more popular dynamic version) I think your really on the right track dumping bench as a primary movement although I would also drop overhead press unless you are using it to try to increase shoulder size. The increase in shoulder size will help you provide a more symetrical appearance and offset your huge biceps. This will keep you from appearing freakishly large when compaired to the people you work around.

Well, the bible does say that curls are the most important exercise, and they are awesome.

I think I may start doing squats as assistance for my curls, too. They will build my ability to maintain a stable base while doing standing curls with massive 200lb dumbells.

 

[MIDMOBOX]

Since you travel to Africa on a regular basis with your "job"