Time and Patience

[doughnutgut]

I'm hating rest days now. I know I need them and I take them but I'm not liking them lol In fact yesterdays after legs and squash was the first rest day in a long time that I actually appreciated. Still, by night time I was itching to move so my entire family went for a long walk. It's a mental thing I'm going through at the moment. I'm using the gym to focus all my energy outside of my family so I don't partake in any other extra curricular activities that I used to. I don't think about alcohol every day any more but it's still challenging and right now going to the gym and having fun, intense, slightly changing and full workouts is helping me out a ton.

When the bolded is realized and that there is a great more to offer than to what our old self once thought was the best way to enjoy life. Then, and only then. Do we know that we have overcome the old and moved onto greater things.

Nothing better than hanging out with family and enjoying what sober life has to offer. You Sir, have won the battle.

I smiled from ear to ear reading that buddy. Honestly.

[acrawlingchaos]

When the bolded is realized and that there is a great more to offer than to what our old self once thought was the best way to enjoy life. Then, and only then. Do we know that we have overcome the old and moved onto greater things.

Nothing better than hanging out with family and enjoying what sober life has to offer. You Sir, have won the battle.

I smiled from ear to ear reading that buddy. Honestly.

This...

Huge success and congratulations. Squats looking good, beyond the issues you are already aware of. gjdm.

[EB68]

I'm hating rest days now. I know I need them and I take them but I'm not liking them lol In fact yesterdays after legs and squash was the first rest day in a long time that I actually appreciated. Still, by night time I was itching to move so my entire family went for a long walk. It's a mental thing I'm going through at the moment. I'm using the gym to focus all my energy outside of my family so I don't partake in any other extra curricular activities that I used to. I don't think about alcohol every day any more but it's still challenging and right now going to the gym and having fun, intense, slightly changing and full workouts is helping me out a ton.

Congrats on giving up the booze Dave, It has been 13 years for me now and I feel better than I did in my early 30's.

[mirroroferised]

Your squats, honestly, despite being a tad shallow, are better than about 95% of all of the squatters I have seen. You're at least keeping form, going as close to parallel as possible, and not not looking to improve. Many people at my gym do "knee bends" at that weight for 10 reps and think they're great...

Thanks Gary I'm so paranoid about form from my previous back injury that I think I have it more or less ingrained. I know there will be hiccups, especially as the weight gets heavier but I am always fairly happy with that aspect of the squat. Most definitely agree that most do knee bends.

When the bolded is realized and that there is a great more to offer than to what our old self once thought was the best way to enjoy life. Then, and only then. Do we know that we have overcome the old and moved onto greater things.

Nothing better than hanging out with family and enjoying what sober life has to offer. You Sir, have won the battle.

I smiled from ear to ear reading that buddy. Honestly.

Thanks Leigh. I really appreciate the post At the risk of sounding overly dramatic and cliche though, I won the battle but not the war. Cheesy I know This place has been incredible for me so far. Here and the gym are able to offer a sanctuary that my family can't always give.

This...

Huge success and congratulations. Squats looking good, beyond the issues you are already aware of. gjdm.

Thanks man, I appreciate that and it means a lot coming from the most notorious squat critic on the board right now

I have a feeling once I get out of my head around the mental hurdle here I'll start climbing up again fairly soon. I really hope doing some single on Friday's heavy day will do that trick.

Congrats on giving up the booze Dave, It has been 13 years for me now and I feel better than I did in my early 30's.

13 years is amazing man, thanks for sharing that. You're absolutely right, it's a great feeling.

[acrawlingchaos]

Thanks Gary I'm so paranoid about form from my previous back injury that I think I have it more or less ingrained. I know there will be hiccups, especially as the weight gets heavier but I am always fairly happy with that aspect of the squat. Most definitely agree that most do knee bends.

This is why I am so damned paranoid with squats and deads... fear of re-injury...

Thanks man, I appreciate that and it means a lot coming from the most notorious squat critic on the board right now

More like an obnoxious over concerned mother.

I have a feeling once I get out of my head around the mental hurdle here I'll start climbing up again fairly soon. I really hope doing some single on Friday's heavy day will do that trick.

A video at a working weight in which you feel you DO have good form and depth would be useful to analyze and breakdown form.

IMHO (which you'll have to endure), if you are in fear of re-injury, if you know you can't do the movement with proper depth / form, don't even put it on the bar... and certainly don't go for a second rep.

[mirroroferised]

This is why I am so damned paranoid with squats and deads... fear of re-injury...

More like an obnoxious over concerned mother.

A video at a working weight in which you feel you DO have good form and depth would be useful to analyze and breakdown form.

IMHO (which you'll have to endure), if you are in fear of re-injury, if you know you can't do the movement with proper depth / form, don't even put it on the bar... and certainly don't go for a second rep.

I'll endure it I'll be going for singles for awhile on my heaviest attempts. I keep trying to work in a set range for heavy days and lighter days but sometimes just going after that max gets me and I keep going for it. That was my second attempt at it. I feel the weight is fine on my back, that part I'm not worried about, it's the getting back up again. I'll get some new vids with 185 and 200 to see what you think. The more opinions the merrier.

[acrawlingchaos]

I feel the weight is fine on my back, that part I'm not worried about, it's the getting back up again. I'll get some new vids with 185 and 200 to see what you think. The more opinions the merrier.

I've made it a habit to only move weight I know I can bring out of the whole, unless I am trying for a single, in which I am usually spotted.

I think the beginner mentality can be to go as heavy as possible as often as possible. It's easy to want to chase 1 rep PR's when they come so quickly at the beginning.

[SlothBane]

135x12
145x12
155x12
155x12

These were all done with working on dropping quickly into the hole and right back up again. It didn't feel back at all with the lighter weights. The last set was a bit of a battle of course but my sets went much quicker today. Squatted the weight off the racks this time, core tight and went nuts for 48 reps. I was huffing and puffing by the end.

That's what I'm talking about. 48 reps of pure huffing and puffing glory. Sounds grand.


Lot's of things can take us away from our families and even ourselves, but it appears you're on the right path. Keep at it!

[mirroroferised]

.....
I think the beginner mentality can be to go as heavy as possible as often as possible. It's easy to want to chase 1 rep PR's when they come so quickly at the beginning.

And on that note

I'm on day shift so I didn't get to workout early today and like normal on the first day shift I went in on next to no sleep However, after reading some of the journals today at work I knew I was going for a good workout tonight. And it was! I worked out at home since this was a workout I can easily do at home with all free weights. My 3 year old son came down part way through and took his shirt off to do some flexing. Missed a golden picture opportunity lol

Deads

135x6
185x6
225x6

All DOH, no straps, no gripps, no chalk, gotta love the air conditioner

275x5 - Versa Gripps
295x5 - Versa Gripps
325x1 - Versa Gripps PR



345x0 - Versa Gripps

While I was doing my happy dance about the 325 pr somebody snuck in and glued the weights to the damn weights to the floor. Thought of this lol:

^This. Basically the thing is about deads is that they are the instrument of the devil. So whenever you deadlift, there are a whole bunch of fat little demons sitting there cackling to themselves as you line it up. Sometimes the little feckers get under the bar and shove it upwards to mess with your mind. And other times they just sit on the ends, the fat warty little feckers. Of course there is usually one of them that just sits there in the middle so he can back your fingers off the bar one at a time. That's why chalk helps. Demons don't like chalk. Makes them sneeze.

Said screw it though and did one more.

325x1 - versa Gripps

I was really happy with the deads tonight. All DOH which is a huge pr for me. I thought about going for just 3 plates but since I don't have a 3rd set of 45's at home I just decided to go for it and threw another 25 on each side. Those versa gripps are great. I had thought about this earlier before reading ACC's latest post but I've satisfied my deadlifts pr cravings with that DOH lift for now and will spend some time focusing my heavy days in the 80 - 85 percent area. Over the moon for getting that lift up anyway.

BW Chins

OHx6
UHx5
WGx3

I had the gripps on still so figured I'd give these a try with them and those were the best reps I've had on them.

UHx3
WGx1

Above done without the gripps. I'll switch the order next time and use gripps last in future to try and force a couple extra reps.

superset with

One Arm DB Rows

3 sets of 6 w/90 lbs

I'm guessing 90 lbs. I have empty db bars at home that I can add oly plates too. I can't remember the weight of them and I don't have a scale. I believe they are around 10 lbs. Added 80 lbs of plates anyway. These were great tonight.

Poundstone Curls

30 lbsx30 l 30 l 30 l 10

I like this challenge. Thanks loch, it's staying

So overall I was very happy with the workout. Deadlift critique welcome. I had the bar riding straight up my legs and felt like I was getting pretty good drive with my feet. I honestly put it down and thought after I let go I should have done another but didn't push that cuz I wanted to pull more weight lesson learned anyway.

[mirroroferised]

That's what I'm talking about. 48 reps of pure huffing and puffing glory. Sounds grand.


Lot's of things can take us away from our families and even ourselves, but it appears you're on the right path. Keep at it!

Thanks man. I'm showing restraint with not trying to do the whole damn thing in one set lately

[RT1957]

Nice DL PR...looked good to me....I'll have to check out poundstone curls....

[jonnyboy44]

good work with the DL PR,

[fittofattofit]

A I worked out at home since this was a workout I can easily do at home with all free weights. My 3 year old son came down part way through and took his shirt off to do some flexing. Missed a golden picture opportunity lol

That would have been a great vid to show at his 21st Birthday party

325x1 - Versa Gripps PR



345x0 - Versa Gripps

While I was doing my happy dance about the 325 pr somebody snuck in and glued the weights to the damn weights to the floor. Thought of this lol:



Said screw it though and did one more.

325x1 - versa Gripps

I was really happy with the deads tonight. All DOH which is a huge pr for me. I thought about going for just 3 plates but since I don't have a 3rd set of 45's at home I just decided to go for it and threw another 25 on each side. Those versa gripps are great. I had thought about this earlier before reading ACC's latest post but I've satisfied my deadlifts pr cravings with that DOH lift for now and will spend some time focusing my heavy days in the 80 - 85 percent area. Over the moon for getting that lift up anyway.

Congrats on the PR ... it looked relativelt easy for you but I know what you mean about the plates being 'glued to the floor' ... the same pixies do that to me

As for form it's hard to say much from that angle but it did look like you were slightly unbalanced with your leg drive .. right leg tracked more midline compared to your left leg. If you look at your knees on the way down (the eccentric), then your knees track equally so it wasn't just the camera angle. To me that means that you have a tight right glute compared to the left, so I'd just be aware of that and make sure that you do some good glute and pyriformis stretching beforehand, and I think that the idea of working at 85% for reps to consolidate form is a good one.

[mirroroferised]

Nice DL PR...looked good to me....I'll have to check out poundstone curls....

I read about them in lochinvars journal and being a curl lover I decided to take up the challenge The idea is to get up to 100 straight without a rest. Start light lol

http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2012/09...gin-of-my.html

good work with the DL PR,

Thanks Jonny.

interesting diet

Thanks. I haven't put much focus on diet in here at all lately though. What's the interesting part?

That would have been a great vid to show at his 21st Birthday party



Congrats on the PR ... it looked relativelt easy for you but I know what you mean about the plates being 'glued to the floor' ... the same pixies do that to me

As for form it's hard to say much from that angle but it did look like you were slightly unbalanced with your leg drive .. right leg tracked more midline compared to your left leg. If you look at your knees on the way down (the eccentric), then your knees track equally so it wasn't just the camera angle. To me that means that you have a tight right glute compared to the left, so I'd just be aware of that and make sure that you do some good glute and pyriformis stretching beforehand, and I think that the idea of working at 85% for reps to consolidate form is a good one.

It's kind of amazing to me that you can do that. My right glute was tight for the rest of the night after. I'll look up some stretching for that. I'll try and remember to put the bar sideways next time if that's a better angle. I appreciate the feedback, thanks And 85 percent range now seems to make sense. John told me ages ago that's the range to train in for strength but like quotes above I'm guilty of wanting those pr's sometimes too. I'm quite sure I won't stop with that 2 pps squat until I'm satisfied either.

My son has been into doing a lot of flexing lately and talking about his muscles. I like it

[fittofattofit]

It's kind of amazing to me that you can do that. My right glute was tight for the rest of the night after. I'll look up some stretching for that. I'll try and remember to put the bar sideways next time if that's a better angle. I appreciate the feedback, thanks And 85 percent range now seems to make sense. John told me ages ago that's the range to train in for strength but like quotes above I'm guilty of wanting those pr's sometimes too. I'm quite sure I won't stop with that 2 pps squat until I'm satisfied either.

My son has been into doing a lot of flexing lately and talking about his muscles. I like it

I've taken a few screen caps to point out what I mean:

This is as the bar leaves the floor .. your left hip is externally rotated so that your knee is in a wider stance position, while your right hip is only mildly externally rotated and adopts a more neutral position. Look at the space between your knees on each side and your arms


The effect of this is to throw you off balance


You correct it on the way down and adopt a wider stance for your right knee .. notice your knees in relation to your arms


More than just stretching you will need to work dynamically to both strengthen the glutes, adductors and abductors as well as to balance muscle forces across the knees and hips. What has worked for me was all the single legged work: BSSs, lunges and step-ups, first with DBs/KBs and then with BBs as you get more stable, and also with BW work like single leg squats, single leg deadlifts (and with cable resistance) and pistol squats when you get more advanced

[mirroroferised]

What an awesome post, thanks so much. I see what you mean there and appreciate the ideas for strengthing.

[securekey]

IMHO (which you'll have to endure), if you are in fear of re-injury, if you know you can't do the movement with proper depth / form, don't even put it on the bar... and certainly don't go for a second rep.

Good advise ^^ I have to remind myself of this often... it is so easy to get caught up in 'chasing numbers'

[mirroroferised]

Good advise ^^ I have to remind myself of this often... it is so easy to get caught up in 'chasing numbers'

Absolutely. I'm learning that slowly

[mirroroferised]

So life got in the way big time last night. A bit of a family emergency kept me from getting out to the gym but all is okay so I decided instead of going really late since I was up at 0500 again today, to just swap it for my upcoming rest day.

Incline Smith Bench

35's on each side x 6
45's on each side x 6
55's on each side x 6
65's on each side x 6
65's on each side x 6

I really wanted to try the incline on the smith to see what I thought and it was great. My chest really got worked with them. Not sure if I'm supposedto count the bar for anything with the smith so I haven't.

Seated Smith Shoulder Press

35's on each side x 6
3 sets of 6 w/45's on each side

BW Dips

4 sets of 8

superset with

BH's Shoulder Routine

4 sets of 8 w/15's

Shoulders and delts killed at this point

Hammer Strength Seated Dips (Plated Loaded)

180x8
3 sets of 8 w/200 lbs

Straight Bar Tricep Pushdown

#12x20
#12x15
#12x15

That was a pretty good workout. I was excited to give the smith a go for incline to see how that would do with my shoulder and I had no problems. My neck is still feeling great too.

Legs tomorrow.

[fittofattofit]

That was a good session and some solid weights on the pressing. It depends on the machine, but most Smith machines are counterweighted .. the bar usually accounts for between 0 and 10lbs of weight against gravity. Pressing 65 each side on the inclines is good going and because you don't have to stabilise the bar with your RC you can focus more on the pecs and anterior delts. I think that the smith is ideal for inclines and shoulder presses, where the RC often gets injured because people push weights that their pecs and delts can handle before their RCs are up to the task. Shoulder presses are looking really good as well Dave

[mirroroferised]

That was a good session and some solid weights on the pressing. It depends on the machine, but most Smith machines are counterweighted .. the bar usually accounts for between 0 and 10lbs of weight against gravity. Pressing 65 each side on the inclines is good going and because you don't have to stabilise the bar with your RC you can focus more on the pecs and anterior delts. I think that the smith is ideal for inclines and shoulder presses, where the RC often gets injured because people push weights that their pecs and delts can handle before their RCs are up to the task. Shoulder presses are looking really good as well Dave

Thanks Andrew. Inclines felt good on the smith and I could really feel it in my chest, today too. It feels counter weighted so for the sake of tracking progress I'll just stick with using the plates only.

[doughnutgut]

Thanks Andrew. Inclines felt good on the smith and I could really feel it in my chest, today too. It feels counter weighted so for the sake of tracking progress I'll just stick with using the plates only.

Yeah. IMO forget the bar weight. Smithys are all different. I can smith 2pps for reps. Can't for chit with an olly bar.

Great vid posted advice up there on deads. Golden even. An easy fix if you put in the time.

Great stuff as usual Dave.

[mirroroferised]

Yeah. IMO forget the bar weight. Smithys are all different. I can smith 2pps for reps. Can't for chit with an olly bar.

Great vid posted advice up there on deads. Golden even. An easy fix if you put in the time.

Great stuff as usual Dave.

Agreed. Gotta love all the great advice people are willing to give in here, it's awesome. That form will get nailed down. I love deads and have become quite addicted to them and pretty much can't wait for the next dead lift day. I can't say the same for bench. In fact, I'm starting to hate it

[mirroroferised]

Just watched this in John's journal and throwing it in here as well so I can easily track it down again. Some very good pointers on setup.

http://youtu.be/GtPN-ftmxG8









I also realized I need to get in the habit of adding in the link for my own vids.

*****://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnIGm9pLRNM

[Scrabbz]

Awesome deadlift sir, nice and smooth and form looked great.

[securekey]

325x1 looked smooth in the video. Once you got the grips on there was no time wasted...nice.

[doughnutgut]

Glad you reposted so I could see it on my phone Dave.


Quite a few things like Andrew said that needs sorting out but either way that was an easy looking lift for you.

Good stuff.

[Plateauplower]

Great work on both sessions. The versa grips are great for the deads and pull ups. I am pretty much using them as you are heavy sets on deads and just one set of wide grip pull-ups. I think that's a good balence of building grip strength and still being able to force enough work on the muscles for deads and pull-ups. Great work!

[mirroroferised]

Awesome deadlift sir, nice and smooth and form looked great.

Thanks Gary. I'm sure I'll iron out these little kinks over time. I've rewatched that vid a few times now and it does seem to go up fairly easily. I'm happy about that. In the moment it felt just a tad heavy lol

325x1 looked smooth in the video. Once you got the grips on there was no time wasted...nice.

Best tip I've picked up here is once you're at the bar just lift it or you'll get in your head too much

Glad you reposted so I could see it on my phone Dave.


Quite a few things like Andrew said that needs sorting out but either way that was an easy looking lift for you.

Good stuff.

I'll get in the habit I'm sure. Thanks Leigh

Great work on both sessions. The versa grips are great for the deads and pull ups. I am pretty much using them as you are heavy sets on deads and just one set of wide grip pull-ups. I think that's a good balence of building grip strength and still being able to force enough work on the muscles for deads and pull-ups. Great work!

Yeah I'm a huge fan of them. Thanks man

[mirroroferised]

Went in for my normal heavier leg day with my plan in place. Stick within a working range and put the 225 squat aside for a few more weeks and work with in the 80 percent mark for my heaviest sets and make sure to get my reps in with good form. I've also decided to try adding in lunges to see how I do. I have a history with lunges and it's not a pretty one. Be it DB's, BB, or just on my own I usually spend more time trying to balance myself than anything else so I've always had a bit of a hate hate relationship with them. Today I decided to use the smith and see how I did.

Squats

95x6
120x6
145x6
155x6
180x6
180x6

All reps in control and paused in the hole for all but the 180 lb set. Now this is where my workout went off plan a bit. That trainer I mentioned a couple of months ago was there again today and again working with another guy. He mentioned at one point while his client was getting water that he thought my squats were looking good. I thought okay that's great. He then asked if I had ever tried Bear Squats. He then walked me over to a couple of platforms he had set up from his leg workout that morning. Both were about a foot high and he had an 80 and 90 lb db there. Basically you stand with one foot on each platform which are just past shoulder width apart and hold the db in your hands in front of you. Head up, chest out and squat down and hold then explode up. I came home and googled these bear squats and everything I found didn't match up to what he had me doing. That being said, these felt great on my inner thighs. Really felt like I was loosening up a lot.

DB Bear Squats (or whatever they're called)

80x6
80x6
90x6

Leg Press

4PPSx8
5PPSx8
5PPSx8

Smith Lunges

2 sets of 6 w/45's on each side

Leg going behind me. This move really shows me, like those bear squat things did, just how tight I am. I think overall they went fairy well though.

DB SLDL

2 sets of 6 w/85 lbs

First set was a dumb move on my part as I had a 95 and 85 lb db and wondering why I felt so lopsided. Realized after my set and corrected it for 2 proper sets

Seated Calves

4 sets of 20 w/70 lbs

superset with

Leg Ext

3 sets of 8 w/165 lbs
1 set of 8 w/175 lbs

Ext's can be bumped up to 180 to see how I handle it next week. I've mostly always done standing calves but have been using seated lately. A lot less weight used on these I'm noticing but they work.

Hyper Ext

1 set of 10 w/BW
1 set of 8 w/25 plate

I need to remember to keep adding these in a couple times a week at least. I like them and can feel the benefits

So I was happy with this workout. I held off on going for the 2 plates this week to keep working in my 80-85 percent range. I will work on patience