wildross

I'll be lazy and not read up on all those programs.  What has worked for me is cycling through high rep sets of bench, inclined bench and overhead press.   By high rep I mean 5x10.  Be sure your form is good (keep those shoulder joints rotated inward).  If your elbows start hurting, add bicep curls.  It's non-intuitive but works.  Also be sure to do shoulder accessory work such as rotations or shoulder shockers.  Sets of pushups through the day will help as well.  And like Gainsdalf said...sleeeeeep.  You get stronger in bed (no, not that way...well maybe).

Yep....on plane from Fort Lauderdale to Salt Lake City now.

Total for yesterday, 21,395#

This morning's workout

Total, 17,805#

Bench 20x45,135,15x225,2x10x225
Front squat 10x45,135,6x225
Front raise 10x25,2x10x45
Halo 20x25,2x20x45

This week is Fort Lauderdale/Miami on Tuesday/Wednesday, fly to Salt Lake City Wednesday night for a client meeting on Thursday, drive to Boise (state #46!), fly Cleveland, review the wiring, etc, start driving south on Saturday hopefully arriving sometime Sunday.

That didn't start too well.

Was so tired Monday there was no way I could go to the gym....so I went twice on Tuesday!!

So what have I been up to?

Friday before Tday...start driving toward our daughter's new house in Youngstown, OH....about 1100 miles.  Got there (or to the hotel) on Saturday.  Visited on Sunday, they had the closing on Monday, finally got all the utilities, furnace, etc on by late Wednesday.  By then I was deep into fixing electrical problems.  Our contractor son showed  up on Thursday with more tools, more wire and another pair of hands.  By Sunday we had installed about a dozen and a half new circuits, most of them being moved from a single 15Amp breaker.  Despite 2 inspections, the house was essentially unliveable due to the electrical issues.  I moved the wife from the hotel to the new house on Sunday and she drove me to the airport.

Monday I was exhausted at home, had to pick up the cat, meet the maid service, etc, etc.

Tuesday off to south Florida.  Got the following workout in between 2 sessions.

Squat 2x10x45,2x10x135,2x10x225,2x315,7x295
One armed db press 20x40,50,2x20x60
Horizontal pull over 10x40,50,60
Overhead press 10x45,135,2x10x155

hmm.

Currently in Ohio for a week with the grandkids.  Daughter and son-in-law bought a house and we are helping move/babysitting.  Also the whole Thanksgiving thing of course.  Other grandkids will be joining us, so we'll end up with 3 of our 5 kids and all 6 grandkids together.

Seems I need somewhere to chatter about myself...

I don't party...but I hope you have fun...and a good competition too.

7 hours ago, Gemma said:

Yeah, that's what I thought when I first started hanging out around here. Truth - Warriors are the nicest people in the world. (Until the punching becomes necessary, of course.) Sweet, friendly, not at all crazy persons here ... 



Welcome  

And to answer your question - the round end, of course. Actually not all of us actually get stabby with the barbells. I prefer to use them more in warhammer fashion. YMMV.

 

Is this you with the sledge?

Cute belt.

Very good!  

Congrats!  That's a lot of work.  MD or PHD?

It's not unusual to never really get sore, especially if you were active before.

A bit of a bounce is ok (unless you are doing paused squats of course).  Yours just seemed a bit abrupter than most which would seem to mean there is extra tightness there.

You're definitely pitching/tipping forward at the bottom, which is _usually_ a mobility issue.  You hit the bottom very abruptly.

Can  you do a 3rd world/ass to the grass squat w/o weight?

Don't worry too much about the low bar position as taught by Rip..  You have the bar on your shoulders, not your neck.  I've been squatting for 5+ years and still can't get the bar as low as he teaches...but I've set state records...

From my own experience, a clean position helps you stay back more.  I usually have to do the arm cross for my warmups (the bar), but once I put some weight on it, I go with the rack position.  

I'd start at the top, not with it resting on the safeties, and move the safeties down below where you squat.... but...was that arrangement specifically suggested for some reason?

Great depth.  Straight bar path.  Good back angle.

Lousy camera location.  Think you got the important stuff...

1 hour ago, Gilgongo said:

Thanks - good to know I'm no totally doing things wrong.

 

I'll try upping the volume and see if it helps, although SS recommends taking at least 10% off the bar in the first instance. Seeing as my form was completely breaking down after about the third rep of the first set last time, I don't think I'll be able raise volume on the load I'm at right now though.

 

 

Absolutely.  I'll do 20's with 50% of my max or less.  The shoulder is held together by muscles (the rotator cuff).  You have to build them up along with the prime movers (delts, traps, biceps and triceps) or you will lose stability and hurt yourself.  From my experience the weakness of SS and Stronglifts is that they prioritize gains in the big lifts over developing all the stabilizer muscles.  I suspect as a coach, that Rippetoe addresses these issues.  But online and in the book...not so much.  When NF first started out, almost everyone that was using SS got hurt within about a year of each other.

And for reference, a bodyweight overhead press is pretty rare.

Welcome aboard, btw.

Looks like you have very long arms, which is going to make pressing a bit more challenging.  Overhead press is the first to stall and the slowest to progress for most people.  Couple pointers

1) Make sure the bar is over your arms/your hands are not bent back all the way.  You look pretty good here, but something to keep in mind

2) You should be trying to rotate your palms towards each other as you grip the bar.  This helps to set your shoulders and protects your rotator cuffs and elbows.

3) Ideally, there will be no body sway/lean (actually just as little as possible) because you've braced your core solidly.  Overhead press is a core exercise as well as shoulder/arms.

4) It's probably a factor of lighter weights and the speed of the bar...but you're really snapping your head back as the bar progresses upward.  Obviously necessary, just don't exaggerate the movement.

So overall, great for starters.  Just things to keep in mind as you keep working on it.  

For myself, I tend to up the volume when the presses stall (sets of 10 or 15) for a couple weeks, then go back to 5's.  Doesn't work for everyone.

Absolutely ditch the towel/pad (This is not Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.)  If  you are trying to protect your spine from the bar then 1) the bar is too far up on your shoulders or 2) your arms/elbows are not back/you are not making a shelf correctly for the bar to rest on. 

What the others said, plus...

On the presses, think about rotating your arms inward as if you wanted your palms to face each other.  This should help set the shoulders well, protecting your rotator cuffs and elbows.  On the overhead, work on getting your hands more vertical (they are bent back too far).  You want the bar right over your arm bone.

Deadlifts...not sure why, but your heels come up.  That should NEVER happen...probably means you are shifting forward as you lock out which is not good.   May also be tied into the hip location as well which may be a mobility/flexibility issue.

All nits, but important ones.

Nice work in limited space.

I'm 57.  Start with Stronglifts or 5x5.  30's ain't old at all.  (kids...hmmph)

On 10/17/2017 at 9:27 AM, Rooks said:

"No Ray. The other lifters need some weight still. You can't start taking ALL of them." 

 

That's cool that Ricks was judging outside of his primetime slots. Wish I could have had time to watch more of the primetime stuff. 

I'd say about half of the judges were also competitors.  Pretty cool  From following some of the guys on FB and Instagram, it seems that a number of the older guys from the IPF and pre weight class reset have decided to get back in.

Did you see the PrimeTime on Sunday with Ray?  19 year old right before him was squatting in the high 800's.

Competed in the USAPL Raw Nationals over the weekend.  Went 8/9

190/210/220f on the squat

100,120,140 on the bench, being very conservative until after I talk to the ortho doc about my shoulder (last meet I opened at 150)

190/210/220 (PR) on the deadlift

As expected, I came in second in my class due to the other M2/120 lifter having about 25% higher totals than me (I think all of his openers were higher than my PR's).

Great time overall.  Got to see Ray Williams turned away from entering the warmup area because it wasn't time for him to be back there yet.  He was (naturally) twice the size of the security "guards".  Also had Dave Ricks as one of my judges on the deadlift.

Wife scored a T-shirt for me.  "Powerlifting - a triathlon for those who hate cardio"

I'll update with videos next weekend.  Our home Internet has been out since Saturday and I"m getting on a plane in the morning.

Survived all the scanning.  Partial tear in my right rotator cuff.  Going to try some official PT this time.  I wonder if it is a new injury or one from years ago??

Abnormalities in the PET scan, so off to another dr for better analysis (and no, that is not good).