A Weak Squatter's Road To Redemption

[pyaarawala]

Damn you sure can do a lot of weight on the facepulls! I usually only manage around 17.5 lbs if I wanna maintain a rigid back and not have the weight pull me forward on the eccentric. I do them on my knees.

[GinjaNinja85]

Lotsa volume.

Good to see a PR on Rows even after the whole maxing sessions and inconsistency.

Love to see the face pulls in there - shoulder health FTW . I hear ya on the cleans tho - I tried them the other day and had no power output, but it was after a session of DE squats and bench pressses to be fair lol.

I've been reading on Lift Run Bang that there is always a drop in strength after you max but I think that's only if you peak, which I didn't. I think it's the inconsistency that's affected my squats. I go on holiday in 11 days too

PCs are hard to fit into our programs. It's hard to know where to put them! I'm happy with them on volume for now as I'd like to keep the other 2 days short. Maybe you should see how you go for a few weeks then try a different day if they still suck?

back on dat TM

Yeah buddy!

Damn you sure can do a lot of weight on the facepulls! I usually only manage around 17.5 lbs if I wanna maintain a rigid back and not have the weight pull me forward on the eccentric. I do them on my knees.

That makes sense for stability. I do keep them light. I think it's just the cable stack. I noticed I couldn't do as much in another gym so I wouldn't compare our numbers.

[Datfox]

Copied and pasted this from an old thread ages ago and is basically the method I follow for foam rolling. The one thing it doesn't say is which parts of the body to foam roll, I personally roll my calves then my hamstrings/glutes then the 'front' of my quads then the 'outside' of my quads and then the 'inside' of my quads. I tend to find that front/outside of my quads need the most work so I tend to do roll them each three times but from slightly different angles (imagine that the cross-section of your leg is similar to an octagon, three of these sides make up the 'outside', another two make up the 'front' so i just roll each of these sides). I realise that might sound a little retarded so let me know if it doesn't make sense and I'll try to clarify.

Foam rolling is never there to replace stretching but it can certainly aid you in your workouts. While you can do stretches on the foam roller and yes it can help with balance etc by using it for exercises and stuff. Most people use it as a deep tissue massage tool and 90% of the people out there use it incorrectly. Most people simply roll up and down the roller thinking they are getting the full benefits. You should never roll up and down the foam roller with the same pressure that's why I always tell all my clients to reset instead because it's easier this way.

The foam roller is there to help work out the knots in your muscle, so for example if you were to work from the ankle up your leg. The correct way to use it would be to place either both or if you are brave enough one leg on the roller with the other leg placed on top of the leg on the roller to help apply pressure. As this is all body weight controlled, you can 100 % control the pressure you apply to the specific body part.

Now start at the ankle and roll towards the knee - never roll over the back of the knee. As and when you find pain/pressure/knots stop and keep a constant pressure on the knot until it starts to dissipate. If the pain does not dissipate after approximately 30 seconds slowly move up the leg until you hit the next knot. You will hit more knots trust me. Hold them in the same fashion until you have reached the knee. Again do not roll over the knee.

Now if you were being massaged by a person the light touch they do is called an effleurage movement this is just simply so they can move back down your body without loosing contact with the skin. However as it most unlikely that you can perform the same light tough while using your body weight to move the roller back to your ankles or body part that you are working on, it always seems best to stop, reset the roller manually and start again. You only need to go over the same area three times before you move on.

Why do you always apply the pressure towards the heart? Because blood flows against gravity and it pumped towards the heart, if you work against this you can cause damage to the body. Also it makes sense to aid the body in it's daily functions rather than to work against it. Now if you hit a knot, there is nothing stopping you from rolling back and forth in a small context because that is exactly what a masseuse would do to help stretch out that part of the muscle to help release it.

Another thing that massage helps with is the removal of your lymphatic waste and unlike blood is does not circulate through the body, it is helped by the blood and muscle contractions, lymphatic waste is moved towards the lymphatic nodes, groin, arm pits, neck, etc. Again you do not want to work against this system but rather aid it and work towards it.

CGC - I have rolled my lower back before but it can be tricky. As long as you are careful and confident and do not let yourself slip/fall down the roller you should be able to hit this area with no trouble.

[GinjaNinja85]

Copied and pasted this from an old thread ages ago and is basically the method I follow for foam rolling. The one thing it doesn't say is which parts of the body to foam roll, I personally roll my calves then my hamstrings/glutes then the 'front' of my quads then the 'outside' of my quads and then the 'inside' of my quads. I tend to find that front/outside of my quads need the most work so I tend to do roll them each three times but from slightly different angles (imagine that the cross-section of your leg is similar to an octagon, three of these sides make up the 'outside', another two make up the 'front' so i just roll each of these sides). I realise that might sound a little retarded so let me know if it doesn't make sense and I'll try to clarify.

That makes sense

I found this in a search. It's got some good vids in there. It doesn't say anything about rolling towards the heart. Is that potential bro science?

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...t=Foam+rolling

[dk240t]

Sounds like bro science to me.

[Datfox]

That makes sense

I found this in a search. It's got some good vids in there. It doesn't say anything about rolling towards the heart. Is that potential bro science?

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...t=Foam+rolling

Hard to say to be honest, I remember reading through a few other posts by the same guy and he seemed to know what he was talking about but I agree it does sound a little weird. That said, it's no more difficult to roll one way than another so I just roll the way he suggests and don't have to think about it.

Glad to hear it made sense, I don't think I'd win any awards for that explanation :P

[GinjaNinja85]

SPRINTS - Easy Hills (HIIT)

Jogged to the park and found an easy incline to sprint up.

5:00 jog

0:15 sprint
0:45 slow jog
x5

7:00 slow jog

There's something about running in the rain that feels good. Conditioning feels surprisingly ok considering I've just started back at it now since early November.

TIME
17:00

[Sinaku5]

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...t=Foam+rolling

I need to take a look at that this weekend when I foam roll ty, but I can second foam rolling - great tool for recovery.

Good run too

[dk240t]

Hard to say to be honest, I remember reading through a few other posts by the same guy and he seemed to know what he was talking about but I agree it does sound a little weird. That said, it's no more difficult to roll one way than another so I just roll the way he suggests and don't have to think about it.

Glad to hear it made sense, I don't think I'd win any awards for that explanation :P

Its definitely more difficult to roll one way, versus rolling back and forth. Sounds like a waste of time. I get plenty out of foam rolling already, and I can smell bull**** pretty far away, so I've disregarded it.

[GinjaNinja85]

Good run too

I'm feeling in half decent shape! I'm looking forward to getting beastly fit this year.

Its definitely more difficult to roll one way, versus rolling back and forth. Sounds like a waste of time. I get plenty out of foam rolling already, and I can smell bull**** pretty far away, so I've disregarded it.

I agree. He didn't provide anything to substantiate the claim other than "if you think about it, it makes sense." My BS radar is in overdrive on that one. I'll roll both ways thank you.

[pyaarawala]

Do you enjoy running or you just doing it for cardio to help you stay in a deficit?

About the foam rolling, I've heard about stopping at the so-called "knots" but I've never heard that you can't roll back and forth. It would become extremely tedious to constantly reset after one roll.

[GinjaNinja85]

Do you enjoy running or you just doing it for cardio to help you stay in a deficit?

Neither really. I would just like to be strong and fit. If I get back into boxing I'd like to be able to fight very quickly. If I wanna do a 500 mile bike ride I wanna be able to do it with no notice. If someone breaks into my home or hurts my family I wanna be able to chase them round the world then still have the energy to beat the living sh!t out of them.

That sort of thing really.

[GinjaNinja85]

TEXAS METHOD #4

RECOVERY DAY

color code:
blue = pr and completed all reps
red = fail

SQUAT
8 x 20kg
5 x 40
5 x 60
5 x 85
5 x 85

BB CURLS
25 x 20kg

HANGING LEG RAISES SS w/BACK EXT.
10 x b/w
10 x b/w
10 x b/w

BACK EXTENSIONS SS w/ HLR
12 x 5kg
10 x 5
12 x 5

CONDITIONING (Steady State)
Exercise Bike - 20 min - 7.89 miles or km?

COMMENTS
So I went to the doctors today. He gave me a steroid injection in the shoulder joint and said see how it goes. If it hurts in a month I need to call him so he can arrange a stronger injection and an ultrasound with a specialist at the hospital which takes 4-6 weeks to get. That takes me to the end of March if this doesn't work.

He's sure it's not the rotator cuff as it's too far in the shoulder joint. The joint is called the Acromio-Clavicular joint and joins the clavicle to the top of the scapula (the Acromio) and the humerus. I'm gonna leave the face pulls in anyway as you can't go wrong with them.

On his advice I'll be dropping Power Cleans for the foreseeable future and also avoiding pressing and chins/pull ups still. Anything that heavily stresses the shoulder joint. I really hope this works.

TIME
1:00

[Sinaku5]

TEXAS METHOD #4

RECOVERY DAY

color code:
blue = pr and completed all reps
red = fail

SQUAT
8 x 20kg
5 x 40
5 x 60
5 x 85
5 x 85

BB CURLS
25 x 20kg

HANGING LEG RAISES SS w/BACK EXT.
10 x b/w
10 x b/w
10 x b/w

BACK EXTENSIONS SS w/ HLR
12 x 5kg
10 x 5
12 x 5

CONDITIONING (Steady State)
Exercise Bike - 20 min - 7.89 miles or km?

COMMENTS
So I went to the doctors today. He gave me a steroid injection in the shoulder joint and said see how it goes. If it hurts in a month I need to call him so he can arrange a stronger injection and an ultrasound with a specialist at the hospital which takes 4-6 weeks to get. That takes me to the end of March if this doesn't work.

He's sure it's not the rotator cuff as it's too far in the shoulder joint. The joint is called the Acromio-Clavicular joint and joins the clavicle to the top of the scapula (the Acromio) and the humerus. I'm gonna leave the face pulls in anyway as you can't go wrong with them.

On his advice I'll be dropping Power Cleans for the foreseeable future and also avoiding pressing and chins/pull ups still. Anything that heavily stresses the shoulder joint. I really hope this works.

TIME
1:00

Enjoy the recovery day - as soon as I was done with recovery day I got that feeling of "oh ****...ID is coming up next" lol.

Also sucks to hear bout the shoulder man - I enjoyed our friendly competitiveness - I think Andrew said I had a problem there too when I told him bout how my clavicle hurt with dips/bp at times, yours seems much worse though. And I'm kinda dumb and train through injuries...

BTW - how do you think it happened?

Keep us updated Ginja!

[GinjaNinja85]

Enjoy the recovery day - as soon as I was done with recovery day I got that feeling of "oh ****...ID is coming up next" lol.

Also sucks to hear bout the shoulder man - I enjoyed our friendly competitiveness - I think Andrew said I had a problem there too when I told him bout how my clavicle hurt with dips/bp at times, yours seems much worse though. And I'm kinda dumb and train through injuries...

BTW - how do you think it happened?

Keep us updated Ginja!

It's funny cause today was the first time that recovery felt easy. I felt like I could have done my ID today almost. AND I've been doing a fair amount of conditioning plus cutting, getting 6-7hrs sleep and working 12hr+ days.

Diet has been very good these last few days though. Lots of lean meats and fish, brown rice and cous cous. I think I'm much better on low GI carbs.

I fcuked my shoulder flaring my elbows on bench press. I felt a sharp, deep pain grinding out a final rep. It must have rotated the shoulder joint into a bad position and now it just won't go away. It's the shoulder I use to change gear while driving so it gets used all the time which doesn't help.

[pyaarawala]

That really sucks man. I had shoulder pain before too back when I was a complete noob who didn't know anything. But I did quarter benches, completely flared elbows and all, but I'm glad back then I was weak and had a crappy ROM so it didn't do any significant damage. Good luck man hope your shoulder gets better so you could get back to some pressing.

[GinjaNinja85]

That really sucks man. I had shoulder pain before too back when I was a complete noob who didn't know anything. But I did quarter benches, completely flared elbows and all, but I'm glad back then I was weak and had a crappy ROM so it didn't do any significant damage. Good luck man hope your shoulder gets better so you could get back to some pressing.

Thanks mate, I really do miss my pressing.

[GinjaNinja85]

TEXAS METHOD #4

INTENSITY DAY

color code:
blue = pr and completed all reps
red = fail

SQUAT
8 x 20kg b/l
5 x 40 b/l
5 x 60 b/l
3 x 80 b/l
2 x 100
1 x 120
5 x 125

LYING TRICEP EXTENSION
15 x 7.5
12 x 27.5
10 x 27.5
8 x 27.5

DEADLIFT
3 x 100kg DOH b/l
1 x 130 DOH b/l
5 x 142.5 +10sec grip hold
- From now on I'll drop the weight and do a DOH grip hold

T BAR ROW
20 x 75kg (rp15,5)

COMMENTS
VD is 88% of ID. I thought I'd bury this as it's my end weight on LP and VD was smooth. Turns out it nearly buried me. It was easier in November but I am 4kg lighter (nearly 10lbs) so I can't really grumble. Just gotta suck it up during this cut.

I'm also concentrating on sitting back more as I've been cheating my way round my weak back and hams by leaning forward and using my quads more. I've been doing that pretty much since I started squatting so my hams need to catch up. I'm gonna step up the lower back work on VD now that power cleans are out. I need to choose between GMs, SLDLs and RDLs. No idea which would help my squatting most. Any ideas?

Deads were quite hard too.

Fu*k these numbers.

TIME
1:00

VIDS



I've had a bit of a eureka moment today with squats. I've always got a little stuck just as i get out the hole, at which point I lean forward and quad the weight up. I know this as I've held a ruler against the screen of my max vid from 2 weeks ago to check the bar path was straight and it wasn't. Anyway, I just held a ruler between my midfoot and the bar to check the bar path in this vid. These squats might have been grinders but I kept the bar in a good path so hopefully it'll pay off in the long run.

[klaery]

GOod lifting mate. And good luck with the shoulder recovery. Are you doing any other flexibility stuff for it? Are squats affecting it?

Something I do from time to time is shoulder dislocations (not actually dislocating your shoulder). I am guessing you already do them or have tried them but if not check it out.

[GinjaNinja85]

GOod lifting mate. And good luck with the shoulder recovery. Are you doing any other flexibility stuff for it? Are squats affecting it?

Something I do from time to time is shoulder dislocations (not actually dislocating your shoulder). I am guessing you already do them or have tried them but if not check it out.

I don't do any flexibility work at all. I need to get a band actually and give it a try. Lol at 'not actually dislocating it'. I don't think it's a flexibility thing. Apparently my Acromio-Clavicular joint is inflamed from some damage I've done to it benching but I haven't had a specialist diagnosis yet. Just a GPs diagnosis. Hopefully this Cortiso-steroid shot or whatever it is he put in my shoulder fixes it. I can squat fine. And deadlift. I just can't do anything which involves rotation of the shoulder. Press, bench, chins and power cleans basically.

I forgot to embed the vids in tonights session. I uploaded them hours ago Vids are up now anyway.

[Woody-5]

Nice work on ID! Those squats were deeeeeeep- way to grind em out! Nice deads to follow them up

[GinjaNinja85]

Nice work on ID! Those squats were deeeeeeep- way to grind em out! Nice deads to follow them up

Thank you very much. This may sound weird but I find it easier to just go all the way down!

[Sinaku5]

THOSE SQUATS LOOKED SUPER TOUGH, but I love that feeling .

Nothing like a heavy set of squats. Deads looked good, but they didn't look too tough.

Whats your macros/calories like on the cut Ginja?

[pastorpritch]

Keep up the great work bud, awesome stuff
Nothing like some deep squats and good sets of deads to build some quality mass

[xRequiem]

That's how my squats looked on last ID, I couldn't push into my belt or i'd **** myself from stomach virus haha.

Deads looked really easy, what's your PR?

[GinjaNinja85]

THOSE SQUATS LOOKED SUPER TOUGH, but I love that feeling .

Nothing like a heavy set of squats. Deads looked good, but they didn't look too tough.

Whats your macros/calories like on the cut Ginja?

I'm not sure. I eat the same amount every day. I've basically just removed food from my calculated diet. I'll recalculate it here now...

Yesterday
Banana & kiwi 176/2/42/0
Breakfast shake (oats, eggs, milk, whey & creatine) 760/60/58/32
Lunch (Chicken breast in peri peri sauce w/ sweet potato mash and green beans) 715/55/54/31
Handful of almonds 123/5/1/11
Dinner (Sirloin steak w/horseradish, sweet potato chips, mayo and asparagus) 1164/63/57/76

Total Kcal/P/C/F: 2938/185/212/150
Macro split approx. = 25/30/45

I do like my fat. Last nights dinner was particularly fatty so I would think that my fat and calorie number comes in slightly lower on other days. It just took me an hour to work that out. Reminds me why I don't bother anymore! Glad you asked though just so I could reassess. What do you think?

[GinjaNinja85]

Keep up the great work bud, awesome stuff
Nothing like some deep squats and good sets of deads to build some quality mass

Thank you PP. Gotta lose this excess weight first though

That's how my squats looked on last ID, I couldn't push into my belt or i'd **** myself from stomach virus haha.

Deads looked really easy, what's your PR?

DL PR is 150kg. The squats felt ok but I'm trying to teach myself out that habit of leaning forward and stay on my heels with my chest up. It's zapped all my power.

Haha, if you sh!t yourself halfway through ID, you know you're gonna have to finish the set still

[pyaarawala]

Strong session, ginja! Yeah as everyone said those squats looked excruciating and were really deep! Agreed w/ sinaku, nothing like heavy squats. Separates the men from the boys. And deadlifts looked great. Form stayed constant throughout all the reps. Keep up the good work!

[GinjaNinja85]

Strong session, ginja! Yeah as everyone said those squats looked excruciating and were really deep! Agreed w/ sinaku, nothing like heavy squats. Separates the men from the boys. And deadlifts looked great. Form stayed constant throughout all the reps. Keep up the good work!

I need to, just to make sure you don't get too far ahead! We are men, this is what we do. We squat lol. Yeah, makes us pretty awesome I think

Thanks to everyone for the ongoing comments etc. It makes every session that much more rewarding to know there's so much support for each other's training here. BB.com has brought nothing but good to my lifting and I may even have given up by now without you guys!

[GinjaNinja85]

SPRINTS - Easy to Medium Hills (HIIT)

5:30 Jog

0:15 sprint
0:45 walk/jog
x5

5:30 Jog
Cool down/stretch

COMMENTS
Freezing cold and raining. Upped the intensity on last time. I found a great hill so I think I'll come back to this one. It gets progressively steeper and you really have to push with your legs towards the end.

TIME
18:00