Strength in Interesting Places

[JauntyAngle]

Christmas Day Workout

Squats

110x5, x5, x5

Felt very heavy on the first set, wasn't sure about the depth. But basically okay, especially for sets two and three. This is a PR for a full work set.

Bench

75x5. 77.5x5, 77.5x5

These were fine- just a wee bit difficult coming into the last rep of the last set. Much better than my last few attempts at 77.5. This confirmed something I've been noticing for a while- I often find the second and third set easier than the first. That was the case here even with a higher weight in the second and third.

I didn't do a long warmup here either, which I think may have helped.

We have some lightly weighted collars in the gym, I weighed them and they seem to be 0.625kg. This means that I can do 78.75 next bench workout. I will probably do the same sequence, and so do 77.5, 78.75, 78.75.

Clean

55x3, x3, x3, x3, x3, x3

These were not bad, I think. The bar felt like it was racking itself. At least on the warmupsets I felt like I was getting a decently straight bar path. There's going to be a limit to how heavy I can go with these due to lack of bumper plates, platform etc. But I am sure I can get them a way higher before that becomes an issue.

Pullups

Fail at 8, 6, 6

Pretty lousy. As I said with the chins, hopefully these will get back to where they were quickly and then will improve faster as a result of the slightly increased training frequency.

* * *

Next two weeks will be interesting for me. The squat should go up a bit more without too much fuss, as should the deadlift. The main thing will be whether I can comfortably get past the puny 80kg ceiling I seem to have found on my bench. Also, will be interesting to see if I can get my press backup while maintaining the full ROM on the bar path.

 

[JauntyAngle]

26/12- quick note. Have a bit of DOMS today, and had quite a bit before the last workout. Not something that I usually get, although missing a workout and being a little irregular before I got home is probably a factor.

 

[JauntyAngle]

28th December 2010

Feeling a bit stiff in the lower back- something that cleans seem to do to me, and also a bit sore in the shoulders. But went to the gym, of course.

Squats

Tried my think of doing the first set 2.5kg lighter, as I find the first set harder. Worked well, I think, as the first set was hard enough as it was, while the second in particular felt pretty good- okay depth and good hip drive. Weight felt really heavy, but in a good way.

110x5, 112.5x5, 112.5x5

This is a PR (+2.5)

Press

Was worried the bar felt a bit heavy while warming up, but when I got to the work sets it was absolutely fine. Got full ROM, and the technique felt good. I was right next to a mirror, side on, and peaking out of the corner of my eye, the finish position also looked bang on. Also noticed that not pausing for long at the top helps (duh).

45x5, 47.5, 47.5

Deadlift

Because of the slight soreness, decided only to add 2.5kg. Did

137.5 x1, x1, x1, x1, x1.

It felt really heavy. I didn't feel like I was coming close to failing, and my grip was fine except on the last one, but they felt hard and even doing 5 felt daunting. My deadlift, like my squat, seems to benefit from slightly longer breaks.

+2.5kg PR.

Chins

Felt better- reasonable height, fairly smooth:

Fail @ 9, 8, ,8.

* * * *

Seriously beat afterwards, and my lower back also felt tight. But PRs on squat and deadlift probably make it understandable. I feel like I am making decent progress on those two. Now it would be nice to make some progress on the press and bench. Hopefully, by combining

- Reworking from a little lower, emphasing technique
- Increasing in smaller increments
- Avoiding long pauses at the top

the progress will actually come.

 

[miaou]

Nice progress here. Keep it up.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Nice progress here. Keep it up.

Thanks, I will do.

I wasn't sure if my progress was good or bad, or normal, but reading a few beginners' logs, it seems like it has been going well. I guess I should not be beating myself up for not being able to bench press 200lbs after four months moderately patchy training.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Quick note 29/12

In my last deadlift workout, I tried peaking out of the corner of my eye during the heavier warmup (100kg), to see how the weight was moving up. I was pleased to see that the bar path looked short, and straight. Could be a good sign that my technique is not horrible. I feel like I have the motion down at that weight. Unfortunately, at the 'work set' weight it feels so heavy that I am not really sure if my body is doing the same thing.

I think deadlift will be my second form check video. First to come some time soon.

 

[MIDMOBOX]

The real question though is will Ash defeat Paul and end up winning the Sinnoh league

 

[Beable]

Thanks for stopping in to my log. Looks like you are doing good in here.

Do you know of any videos (or books or whatever) for starting yoga? I don't think I have time for a class right now, but I've been wanting to get more flexible. Or is it really important to take a few classes, even if I could only go once a week?

I noticed that one day in your log, you did not bench because some other guy was benching. It's no big deal to ask to work in. I get intimidated because I'm so weak on bench, but really most guys at the gym are pretty cool about helping you out.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Thanks for stopping in to my log. Looks like you are doing good in here.

Do you know of any videos (or books or whatever) for starting yoga? I don't think I have time for a class right now, but I've been wanting to get more flexible. Or is it really important to take a few classes, even if I could only go once a week?

I noticed that one day in your log, you did not bench because some other guy was benching. It's no big deal to ask to work in. I get intimidated because I'm so weak on bench, but really most guys at the gym are pretty cool about helping you out.

Thanks for dropping in!

Re: yoga, it's best to start off going to a few classes. I recommend finding a certified Ayengar teacher, and going to him or her for a while. Ayengar style teaches a lot of attention to detail, and good fundamentals that you can then apply when learning other styles, or in your own practice. If you are going just once or twice a week, you can still improve if you practice at home a bit.

Once you have the basics down, it's fun to learn the Ashtanga primary series. This involves holding following a set sequence of postures for short periods of time in a continuous flow, with lots of jumps and things connecting all the postures, so you almost never stop working. Ashtanga is pretty decent condititioning programme as well as flexibility work, and the set sequence makes it easy to do on your own. There is a book and video set by a guy called David Swenson which are very good.

Re: the guy on the bench, I suppose I could have asked to work in, but it was a small gym in a hotel in Southern Sudan and the culture of helpfulness may not have been the same there as in normal gyms. Plus, there was exactly one bar, one bench- while not working in I wouldn't have been doing anything. Since it was a bit late anyway I figured I could go the next day.

Edit, no substitute for going to a proper Ayengar teacher, but this is quite a good book. IIRC, it has really nice big pcitures of the main Asanas, and each picture has a load of 'callouts' emphasizing different aspects of the technique:

Amazon.com: Yoga: The Iyengar Way (9780679722878): Silva Mehta, Mira Mehta, Shyam Mehta: Books

Here's David Swenson's book on the Ashtanga primary series:

Amazon.com: Ashtanga Yoga: The Practice Manual [ASHTANGA YOGA]: David(Author) Swenson: Books

 

[JauntyAngle]

The real question though is will Ash defeat Paul and end up winning the Sinnoh league

You cut right to the heart of the matter, sir.

 

[JauntyAngle]

30 December

Squats

Yuk. Bad. Set the weight to 112.5 for the first work set and filmed it. Nowhere near parallel, which is pretty much as it felt. Repeated weight at same set, maybe 1-2 parallel, others above. Same third set.

I'm going to call this three failed sets:

112.5x0, 112.5x0, 112.5x0

I will repeat this weight again on Saturday.

Bench

This was alright. Felt fine, decided not to push the last rep. I think I will repeat this weight (which is a two-bench week) on Tuesday, then go up to 78.75/80/80 in the second workout. Going super slow like this, I can definitely see myself getting upto and past 80.

77.5x5, 78.75x5, 78.75x4.

Clean

50x3, 55x3, 55x5, 57.5x3, 57.5x3

Taped some of these too. First was fine, but after that I found that a tendency to spread my legs after the jump (instead of quarter squatting) creaped in. I also have tendencies not to get my elbow up/forward fast enough and to be a bit lazy with the jump. I feel I need a lot more volume with these to get the technique down, but at a weight which is realistic for me. Possibly I may do 5x5 a few times, on about 50.

Pullups

Bit tired after the cleans and my wife had expressed displeasure at the length of the workout. Failed at 6 (which is very low for me) partly out of laziness, decided to try a pyramid instead, failed at 4 (albeit with very short breaks).

6, 1, 2, 3, 4

* * * *

Fixing the depth issue with my squat is now #1 priority. It's probably largely psychological- with the weight so heavy I don't want to go right down. Since I have safety bars here in Thailand, I should probably just set the weight a bit higher and then try a few heavy singles to get used to battling out of the hole or failing. I'll be videoing and checking all my sets for a while until I am happy with this. Will post a few up once they are less tragic.

 

[JauntyAngle]

31 December

Dagnabbit. Got a dose of the man-flu. First time in well over a year. Felt horrible and got little sleep last night, pretty unpleasant today. Hopefully it will leave my head by tomorrow, and I'll be able to do my third workout of the week. Otherwise I will skip, and maybe get back to Mon-Weds-Fri.

 

[JauntyAngle]

31 Dec

My manflu has me all distracted. I've been thinking about my squat, and have remembered that I have been widening my stance and increasing the angle of my feet over the last few weeks. The net result is that in order to get bounce/use the stretch reflex I need to get lower. I should experiment with my stance, to see if I can use the stretch reflex and still get proper depth if I go a bit more narrow/straight.

 

[MIDMOBOX]

and of course an AZN(well she might be hawaiian or something but does it really matter)





You realize that awhile ago in my log I had girls dressed like pokemon week?

 

[scoopj]

Good progress. Admirable that you have the willingness and are able to find gyms in these remote locations you work in.

 

[JauntyAngle]

You realize that awhile ago in my log I had girls dressed like pokemon week?

Excellent. My log needed a bit of eye candy.

I'll need to search through your log carefully for the Pokemon girls.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Good progress. Admirable that you have the willingness and are able to find gyms in these remote locations you work in.

Thanks!

If I was a body-builder, and also not afraid of being kidnapped, life would be pretty easy in Kabul as there are dozens of bodybuilding gyms. They all have pictures of really ripped, roided up Iranians outside them. But luckily I am not a body builder, and my aversion to kidnapping is as strong as ever.

 

[MIDMOBOX]

pokegirls appear on page 121 in my log.

 

[JauntyAngle]

2nd January

Great workout! Almost completely recovered from the Manflu, and as you will see below, I exorcised the demons summoned by squatting so badly last time.

Squat

What I wanted to do this time was to do triples, starting at 90kg (after the warmup), taping each one (from 100 onward) and concentrating on getting adequate depth, and increasing each in 2.5kg increments up to 110kg. The idea was to get the depth right, and see at what point the depth starts to break down. Also to generate some form checks. I'll post all the videos next, and also some in the main forum. Anyway, I did

20x5, 20x5, 4x40, 4x40, 3x60, 3x60, 3x80, 3x80, 3x90, 3x92.5, 3x95, 3x97.5, 3x100, 3x102.5, 3x105, 3x107.5, 3x110

Normally I don't log the warmup, but I thought I would this time, in the hope that it pleases Crom.

The result of the videos was, I think, that the depth was fine with all except perhaps 110, when it was borderline, but probably still at parallel.

Press

These were absolutely fine. Not much to report.

47.5x5, 50x5, 50x5

Next time I'll do 50, 52.5, 52.5, then may need to micro-load.

Deadlift

Decided to man up and go for another PR. Got

140x1, x1, x1, x1, x1, x1 (+2.5PR)

Technically, it is 141.25 as the collars I use are weighted. Once again felt heavy and hard. No problem with the grip. I taped this one, and in the video it looks much easier than it felt, I think.

Chins

I am not convinced that I respond that well to 3 sets to failure. So I did a pyramid today:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, tried 8 but failed at 5, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,

* * * * *

Afterwards did 4 lengths of the little pool, as swimming helps to relax my lower back. All in all, took me 2.5 hours! Felt great afterwards. Went to a grill place and had a steak/pork combo, baked potato and salad. Plus some ribs. Mmmm. Fattening.

Videos to follow.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Squat 100kg

Rear view, got the idea from Cratos' form check:




Squat 102.5kg

Side view, but the guy operating the camera was a bit close. After one rep, he starts following me up and down. It's easier to see what depth I am going to if you watch my reflection in the mirror behind me.




Squat 105kg

Another side view, I think you can see from these, especially from the mirror I am next to, that they are past parallel.




Squat 107.5kg

Now the camera is just next to me on a piece of a calf raise machine (what a stupid idea for a machine). Being a bit beneath me, the angle makes it hard to tell if I am below parallel. But I was using the same cue as the others, so I hope they are.




Squat 110kg

Also on the same piece of equipment.