Strength in Interesting Places

[JauntyAngle]

Now that you seem to have a plan for some BJJ, I am seriously envious of your life. Seriously.

You should be. My life is fucking awesome. :icon_chee

 

[JauntyAngle]

Bonus Day! Yay!

Meant to be a day for some conditioning, if anything, but I wanted to work on deadlifting a bit as well. Also didn't have much time. So here is today's session

Warmup

5 mins on C2 rower. No time for yoga- need to get at least one decent practice in the coming week now my flexibility is coming back a little.


Deathlifts!!!!!

Who does three sets of deathlifts in one week? Only someone on an expressway straight to oblivian, like Jim Morrison, Keith Richards or me.

The objective was to work a bit on my back rounding issue, and also to experiment with some speed sets. Will describe seperately below (took some videos). For the purposes of the log:

Warmup- 50kg x5, x5
Speed sets- 60kg x5, x5, x5
Regular- 80kgx3, 100kg, x3


Conditioning

Burpees- 25 in 2mins 36 seconds
C2 Rower- 2000m, 100m or 200m sprint (2mins per 500m), followed by 100m or 200m slow (3mins+ per 500m)

Not much to report here. My conditioning is pathetic. Not yet motivated to really push myself, but if I keep doing stuff like this it will slowly improve.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Okay, so, here is what I did today.

First, I just put 50 kg on the bar, and put the mirror to my side. I spent 5-10 minutes just experimenting by getting into a deadlift starting position with rounded back, and experimenting with different cues to flatten out my back- lengthen the back, rotate the hips, stick your ass in the air.

After a while, I found that the single thing that helps the most is just to pull my shoulder blades together. As soon as I did that, my lower back flattened out a lot. Once in that position I could get marginal improvements by really trying to stick my butt up, and really driving myself down into my hips, but the initial improvement from the shoulder blades was by far the biggest effect. (Is this consistent with Keosawa saying that the curve looked like it was thoracic?).

I experimented going into the full DL a few times from my position of maximum straightness, then did the logged DLs. 3x5 (or possibly more than 5 in a few cases) at 60kg, 3 at 80kg, and 3 at 100kg with no shoes.

Here's a video of one of the light sets. The camera was balanced on the bench so the angle was bad and you can only really see starting position and back when I finish:



and here's the set of 3x100kg, with someone holding the camera:



It looks to me that the back is straighter, but it still could be better. There is definitely some curving at the bottom, but maybe some of it in the sacrum and not just the lumbar spine? Does the lack of shoes in the second video make a difference? Knowledgeable people?

Any and all other comments welcome.

Oh, and I decided to add music only to videos of PR attempts. Otherwise I will spend about 45 minutes or more trying to pick the right music for every single video.

 

[miaou]

They look good. The back rounding isn't that bad. You might be able to keep the bar a little bit closer to you and use a bit more of a leg drive, but the starting hip heigh looks like it suits you. Make sure to fully extend your hips in the lockout position (aka "push the hips through"), and avoid extending your lumbar spine (go for hip extension rather than lumbar spine extension).

 

[JauntyAngle]

They look good. The back rounding isn't that bad. You might be able to keep the bar a little bit closer to you and use a bit more of a leg drive, but the starting hip heigh looks like it suits you. Make sure to fully extend your hips in the lockout position (aka "push the hips through"), and avoid extending your lumbar spine (go for hip extension rather than lumbar spine extension).

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

I don't know why I am having trouble pushing the hips through at the moment... maybe just because my brain is wired so I can only remember to do two-thirds of the things that you're supposed to do whenever I do a lift. I'm hoping that there will be a bit more leg drive and hip action when I am back to a normal work-set weight- I think at the heavier weights it just won't go up and lock out if there isn't.

 

[SlaveToTheDark]

what miaou said...

and it would probably help if you did some hip thrusters and/or pull throughs as warm up for the deadlift...

 

[JauntyAngle]

what miaou said...

and it would probably help if you did some hip thrusters and/or pull throughs as warm up for the deadlift...

Hip thrusters as in barbell hip thrusts? I've been wanting to add those to my routine for a while. Consider it done.

Although I will need to be careful, the barbell hip thrust is the kind of motion that could cause me to be leapt on by passing ladies/gay men. Possibly I will need to put up a sign on the gym door- 'Warning, extremely sexy exercise in progress- women under 70 and gay men advised to observe extreme restraint'.

 

[SlaveToTheDark]

Hip thrusters as in barbell hip thrusts? I've been wanting to add those to my routine for a while. Consider it done.

Although I will need to be careful, the barbell hip thrust is the kind of motion that could cause me to be leapt on by passing ladies/gay men. Possibly I will need to put up a sign on the gym door- 'Warning, extremely sexy exercise in progress- women under 70 and gay men advised to observe extreme restraint'.

hahahaha

nah, i was thinking without the barbell
after you are done with your dynamic stretching, just get down on the floor and do some, focusing also on squeezing your butt (no homo )

 

[JauntyAngle]

hahahaha

nah, i was thinking without the barbell
after you are done with your dynamic stretching, just get down on the floor and do some, focusing also on squeezing your butt (no homo )

Well, that's obviously still going to be dangerous arousing for a lot of people, but I can handle that

 

[SlaveToTheDark]

Well, that's obviously still going to be dangerous arousing for a lot of people, but I can handle that

well, maybe they'll start throwing money at you

 

[miaou]

EDIT: mandatory top-of-the-page-post pic:

well, maybe they'll start throwing money at you

Yeah, 30$ each.

 

[miaou]

Or 30€. Whatever the current price is.

 

[SlaveToTheDark]

i don't thing he's that cheap...

 

[JauntyAngle]

i don't thing he's that cheap...

In theory, it would depend a lot on who was throwing the money. Since I make a pretty good living, people throwing the $30 had probably better be lingerie models. Maybe girls who just quit lingerie modeling a year or two ago because they were getting just a little old, you know, maybe 31, 32.

In practice, probably no amount of money. Thai women have a nasty habit of punishing infedility by using a pair of scissors to remove a body part that we men are quite fond of...

 

[miaou]

i don't thing he's that cheap...

If he does enough of those hip thrusts to get him them sexy bums, then I can see how the price would skyrocket!


EDIT:

In theory, it would depend a lot on who was throwing the money. Since I make a pretty good living, people throwing the $30 had probably better be lingerie models. Maybe girls who just quit lingerie modeling a year or two ago because they were getting just a little old, you know, maybe 31, 32.

In practice, probably no amount of money. Thai women have a nasty habit of punishing infedility by using a pair of scissors to remove a body part that we men are quite fond of...

Oohh, you got yourself a thai wife?


EDIT2: speaking of bums, pic added to the top of the page.

 

[JauntyAngle]

EDIT:

Oohh, you got yourself a thai wife?


EDIT2: speaking of bums, pic added to the top of the page.

Awesome edit, and awesome top of page pic.

And yes, I have a Thai wife, so the sexy buns will have to be just for her. Also have a daughter, house, dog, car, all that 'settled down' stuff.

 

[DrBdan]

Hip thrusters as in barbell hip thrusts? I've been wanting to add those to my routine for a while. Consider it done.

Although I will need to be careful, the barbell hip thrust is the kind of motion that could cause me to be leapt on by passing ladies/gay men. Possibly I will need to put up a sign on the gym door- 'Warning, extremely sexy exercise in progress- women under 70 and gay men advised to observe extreme restraint'.

So you're cool with women over 70? Kinky...

 

[JauntyAngle]

So you're cool with women over 70? Kinky...

Well, I was thinking that around 70 there is some chance that they will be able to resist the site of me in the gym doing hip thrusters. And also that if they were overcome, I'd be quick and strong enough to get away or resist.

But of course. Mrs. Jaunty is cool with me being cool of women of only her age. And height, weight, blood type, name, parents, DNA, etc

 

[calvus]

Awesome top of the page pic!

 

[miaou]

Also, in case you unfamiliar with hip thrusters, jump to 1:25 for an excellent demonstration of proper form: