Waldo's Log

[Waldo]

That bendy bar is an EZ curl bar.

 

I'm a bit jealous of how fast you seem to be picking up barbell work - for me it's been 3 months of a lot of struggling to make the transition from bodyweight training. By what are you judging your form, simply feel or do you have a trainer or record yourself to assess it?

 

Feel.

 

A heavily loaded pistol and a front squat are similar exercises feel-wise (one of the big reasons I'm doing front squats).  It doesn't matter so much for standard pistols, but with weights, especially as they get heavier, you really need to do your damnest to keep your back from rounding (even then, it is near impossible, but you have to try), and you always have to guard against your knee moving side to side.  A lot of squatting problems are fixed with pistols (esp if that is all you know), they are out of necessity ultra deep squats, and over time leave you with extremely good ankle and hip mobility (the root cause of most people's form issues that aren't related to too much weight).

 

My first 2 years or so of working out, having knee tendonitis (very severe at first) was a big issue.  Doing really perfect form BW RDL's, focusing on the hinge movement with a flat back, was a regular part of my workouts and probably the most effective thing I did, retraining the way I moved naturally.  This translates perfect to barbel deadlifts.

 

In the upper body it really is a shoulder thing, I cannot do either the bench or OHP without pain without keeping my elbows tight to my side (and that arc extended above my head, arms overhead really doesn't hurt at all tho).  With the elbows in I'm fine.

 

Also realize, right now the barbel feels extremely light.  I'm not even in the ballpark of the potential weight I can lift.  Most of my workout is the accessory work, the barbel work isn't really a workout yet.

[Waldo]

Anyway, upper day here in the gym in a bit.

 

A few workouts since my last update:

 

Fri PM - T25 Alpha Cardio video

- This thing kicks my butt.  Not in a "out of breath" way, rather in a "legs burning" way.  Just not a way of working out I've ever done much with.  Being able to do the video without following Tonya at all (she's the easy modifier) is a goal of mine.  I'm trying to do it 2x a week.

 

Sat PM - Ran ~3.5 miles

- I haven't measured out the exact length of the course I ran.  I'm pretty slow at the moment (not "I can walk faster than that" slow tho), so it took me 40ish minutes.

 

Sun PM - 1 hr Yoga

- Did that same Rodney Yee video that I like best that I've done a million times.

 

Mon PM - Briskly walk 40 minutes up a mountain on the treadmill

- Best fat burning exercise there is.

 

Diet update: Solid weekend, even with a football game to drink to, I didn't blow my calories at all.  

 

I've started tracking waist measurements again as its far more accurate than the scale.  36.0" as of this AM.  Yeesh.  It was 36.3" on Fri tho.  I'm probably going to be cutting until it gets in the 31.5" area, so its going to be a while. 4.5" = 18 lbs of fat to lose.  Its nice to know though about where the waypoints are, once I'm under 34" I should have a fine flexed 6 pack (can see abs now when flexed, but not a 6 pack), once under 31.75 the abs won't go away unflexed.

 

I'm just going to stick to 2000 net cal for now, which should be a deficit of 750-ish, 1.5 lb/wk.  At this rate it'll take me 12 weeks to meet my goals.  I'll probably need a diet break though at some point and might have to intensify, as I near the 31.x" zone, my metabolism drops precipitously when cutting and my body fights back intensely chemically.  For now though I should be able to cut easy.  I have about 18 weeks until I'd like to be at my goal, so I have some schedule float.

[Waldo]

1/19/16 (upper body day):

 

Overhead Press

65 x 5 x 3

- Didn't bother to ramp up since these are still so light.  Gonna add 10 more to each side next workout.

 

Chinup

8, 8, 6, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3

total volume:39

- Working on upping my #'s using the total volume method, volume drags up the max,  Rest between sets was incomplete.  3 reps felt like a floor, I coulda banged out a lot more sets of 3 if need be.

 

Flat Bench Press

65 x 5 x 1

85 x 5 x 3

- Very easy.  I think I have it down how to unrack it without bothering my shoulder.  My hand placement on the bar is right over my shoulders, right on the inside edge of the knurling.  Next workout I'm going to 95 (25's on each side).

 

Dips

5, 5, 6

- Wasn't sure I could do these given my bum shoulder, ring dips at home are a definite no, but dips in the dip station felt just fine.  I'm glad I can do these, dips are like chins, even though they eventually get easy, doing lots and lots of them is great for the physique as the resistance is high enough.  Much like chins too, I'm pretty unthrilled about being able to do less than 10.

 

Standing EZ Bar Curl

65 - 12, 6

- Arms were on E for the 2nd set.

 

Cable Fly

6 - 10, 6

- Chest was on E for the 2nd set.  

 

Got a wicked pump going on today.  Yay  Dips are great for that. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do tomorrow, probably some shoulder rehab work and some ab work.

 

Eventually I'm going to have to split the OHP and Bench into an A and B workout, but I'm going to keep at it this way until they get heavy(er).

[Flex Luthor]

I'm not sure what it is about dips but nothing pumps up my triceps like them.

[Waldo]

I'm not sure what it is about dips but nothing pumps up my triceps like them.

 

I get a tricep pump real easy.  Its that chest pump that is elusive for me.  But dips are darn good for giving a chest pump too.

 

Using a BW/loaded BW workout plan it is really hard to target the chest, as pusing exercises get more difficult they tend to delegate to other muscles (one arm pushup for example, the chest takes a lower % of load than it does on a standard pushup).  The only exercise this isn't true of is the planche, and its so damn hard to make any headway on the planche, plus you can't really "hit it hard" lest you tear things.

 

My chest has always been my main physical self-conscious point, I'm always pretty thrilled when I feel that it got a good workout.

[Flex Luthor]

Yeah weight training was the difference maker for me. I trained bw exclusively when I was a broke ass teenager (prior to NF). I had great triceps. Non existent chest.

 

Are you working in incline benching into your routine?

[Waldo]

Yeah weight training was the difference maker for me. I trained bw exclusively when I was a broke ass teenager (prior to NF). I had great triceps. Non existent chest.

 

Are you working in incline benching into your routine?

 

Not at this time.

 

Incline bench seems like an especially painful plane shoulder-wise.  The little difference between a flat bench (where you lift over your chest) and a pushup (where you push under your shoulder) makes all the difference in the world.  Prior to going to the gym I was doing pseudo planche pushups because that was a pushing plane that didn't hurt.

 

Oddly enough though, once overhead I'm fine.

 

We'll see, hopefully I can put this shoulder crap behind me at some point.  Its been close to a year and a 6 mo strength training break didn't really help at all.  I'm hoping that barbel work (which is out of necessity very good form, plus still light at this point), some rehab work, overall movement modification (its taken a long time but I think I'm over the hump sleeping-wise), and taking NSAIDs for a bit will get rid of it.  Its that damn destructive cycle, swelling leads to pinching which leads to irritation which leads to swelling.  I suppose I should go see a doctor, but in the end I'll end up spending a lot of $$ to be told to either have surgery (also a lot of $$ and something I don't really want), or get a cortisone shot and be told to do rehab exercises.  

 

I solved my rather severe knee tendonitis with rehab exercises, movement retraining, and good form strength work (though it took close to 2 years to be fully rid of it), rest was not productive, hopefully the same approach works for the shoulder.  Like the knee I suspect that poor movement is the root cause; I cannot trace it back to a singular injury that had an acute pain event.  There were a few shoulder stressing events that I think blew up an underlying problem, the poor habits I built when using a mouse, driving (stick shift), sleeping, etc.., plus the workouts I was doing were becoming increasingly joint stressful.

[Flex Luthor]

Not at this time.

 

Incline bench seems like an especially painful plane shoulder-wise.  The little difference between a flat bench (where you lift over your chest) and a pushup (where you push under your shoulder) makes all the difference in the world.  Prior to going to the gym I was doing pseudo planche pushups because that was a pushing plane that didn't hurt.

 

Oddly enough though, once overhead I'm fine.

 

Ah right I forgot about the shoulder pain. Incline does tend to involve the shoulders a bit more. Good news that dips don't hurt though. Those work my chest pretty well. Although incline helped quite a bit more. Hopefully you can get into that relatively soon.

[Waldo]

Yeah, agreed.   Tho the OHP does involve the upper pecs like an incline bench would.

 

But I can always do cable flys and just isolate them.  I'm totally down with doing straight up bodybuilding stuff.

 

I suspect that I'm a long way from my shoulder feeling 100% pain free.

[Flex Luthor]

I know you're just easing into the heavy lifting but you may want to keep a slingshot on your radar. It's a bench tool used to overload the muscle but it's also great for keeping your shoulder safe and pain free.

[Waldo]

Hmm, just looking, yeah, that helps force the elbow position I'm forced to use.  No wide grip T benching for me.  I gotta use a narrow(ish) grip with my elbows hugging my sides.

 

To unrack the bar, if I rotate my arms out with elbows touching over my torso, getting into that grip position, and hold things tight, I'm good to go.

[Waldo]

I wasn't sure what I was gonna do on Wednesdays, rehab and core probably, but since I missed Mon, I decided to do leg day today.  We'll see how recovery goes, if it goes good I'll do upper tomorrow and legs again on Friday.  Punted figuring out what to do until another day.

 

1/20/2016 (leg day):

 

Front Squat

45 x 5 x 1

95 x 5 x 3 

- Decided f-it with micro incrementing it when uber easy and jumped 30.  Was at least vaguely challenging.  Kinda hurts the wrists, gotta figure out the front rack comfortably, but that is inconsequential to the squat.  Going to 105 next time I do legs (Fri or Mon).

 

Deadlift

135 x 5 x 1

155 x 5 x 3

- Not hard, but still fairly fatiguing.  As I increase the ramp up sets, I'm going to drop the work sets to 2.  Going to 175 next time I do legs.  

 

Pistol Squat

5/5, 4/4, 4/4

- Wanted to work in pistols, they do wonders for all the little muscles of the legs that provide balance.  Plus, my legs were fine for more heavy work after the barbel work.

 

Single Leg Leg Extensions

95 - 10/10

70 - 11/11, 10/10

 

This was probably the last workout where incomplete recovery after all sets was fine, especially the deadlifts.

[Disil]

Kinda hurts the wrists, gotta figure out the front rack comfortably, but that is inconsequential to the squat.  

You could always use wrist straps to make it more comfortable, kinda like this:

 

[wildross]

Here's a routine I've used to recover from a couple of shoulder sprains.  I originally found it on the interwebs as LYTP, but then I added the windmills and call it LYTPW for the basic shapes you make; "L", "Y", "T", "P" and then Windmills.  When I first started this, I used 1# dumbbells.  Now I start with 5# dumbbells and can work my way up to 35# dumbbells.  You can vary the impact by changing the speed, or the angle of your back on the second movement, how close to vertical you get on the windmills, controlling the swaying I'm doing...all the usual stuff.

 

 

Now I use it as a warmup/accessory for upper body days.

[Rooks]

I know you're just easing into the heavy lifting but you may want to keep a slingshot on your radar. It's a bench tool used to overload the muscle but it's also great for keeping your shoulder safe and pain free.

 

I will 2nd this.  Slingshot is like a guaranteed way to prevent pain while benching.  I use it every day I bench and it's been a great tool.  

 

- Decided f-it with micro incrementing it when uber easy and jumped 30.  Was at least vaguely challenging.  Kinda hurts the wrists, gotta figure out the front rack comfortably, but that is inconsequential to the squat.  Going to 105 next time I do legs (Fri or Mon).

 

You could always use wrist straps to make it more comfortable, kinda like this:

 

 

One of the biggest things that helped my front rack was to simply mash the crap outta of my tricep / bicep / forearms with whatever mobility tools you can find.  The amount of ROM I gained just in one session was pretty crazy.  I found all sorts of pain when I was down near my elbows on either side and working through that freed up a ton of ROM.  That said, another great way to gain that ROM is just do the Front Squat.    

 

The straps are a solid substitute if you just can't handle the pain and really want to Front Squat, but for someone like Waldo, IMO, he should be able to hold a Front Rack without issue with a little work.  

 

This is also some good stuff here.

 

[Waldo]

I guess I should actually figure out how to correctly hold a front rack.  Are you supposed to actually hold the bar?  Looking at that MobilityWOD video, I think my hand placement is too narrow.  Should it be wider than the shoulders?

 

Here's a routine I've used to recover from a couple of shoulder sprains.  I originally found it on the interwebs as LYTP, but then I added the windmills and call it LYTPW for the basic shapes you make; "L", "Y", "T", "P" and then Windmills.  When I first started this, I used 1# dumbbells.  Now I start with 5# dumbbells and can work my way up to 35# dumbbells.  You can vary the impact by changing the speed, or the angle of your back on the second movement, how close to vertical you get on the windmills, controlling the swaying I'm doing...all the usual stuff.

 

 

Now I use it as a warmup/accessory for upper body days.

 

 

Interesting, thanks, I'll probably use this on upper body days for the forseeable future.  Though I dunno about the windmills, I've always had issues with those, loaded or unloaded, I always get a crack, which leads to irritation when repeated.  Jumping jacks are the same way.

[Waldo]

I suppose I should do some progress pics (or shoulda), missing a golden opportunity to do a jaw dropping 3 month transformation.  My muscles are starting to get perma pump; I'm beginning to look like I exercise.  2 weeks ago, yeesh, prime before pic material.  In 3 mo I should be flirting with 10% BF and should have totally regained muscle "fullness".  This is the kind of transformation supp companies will pay good $$ for; the timeline is legit as are the pics, its just not mentioned that the before is someone who took some time off from working out and packed on a few pounds, a very different before than most fat people.

 

Last night I ran ~1.5 miles.  It was cold and crappy outside, I was short on time, and earlier I did leg work in the gym, so I didn't run a longer route.

 

This AM the waist measured in at 35 7/8", so I'm perfectly on track.  With a 750 cal deficit I should be dropping 1/8" almost every other day (I should miss once biweekly if I measure every other day).  Only 4 3/8" = 17.5 lb  fat = 61,250 cals deficit to go.  82 days if my deficit stays constant, April 12th is my current ETA.

[Flex Luthor]

I suppose I should do some progress pics (or shoulda), missing a golden opportunity to do a jaw dropping 3 month transformation.  My muscles are starting to get perma pump; I'm beginning to look like I exercise.  2 weeks ago, yeesh, prime before pic material.  In 3 mo I should be flirting with 10% BF and should have totally regained muscle "fullness".  This is the kind of transformation supp companies will pay good $$ for; the timeline is legit as are the pics, its just not mentioned that the before is someone who took some time off from working out and packed on a few pounds, a very different before than most fat people.

 

Transformations by the big companies are always bs'd in some regard. Usually it's an experienced lifter who's holding a little extra fat. Slight cut. Voila muscles.

[Rooks]

I guess I should actually figure out how to correctly hold a front rack.  Are you supposed to actually hold the bar?  Looking at that MobilityWOD video, I think my hand placement is too narrow.  Should it be wider than the shoulders?

 

I know little to nothing really about this and have been learning myself as I incorporated more Front Squats in the last few months, but I've been leaning a bit on Oly lifters to figure this out.  Lu Xiaojun's Front Rack is pretty close to shoulders (slightly wider):

 

 

Found this article by Colin Burns pretty good as well, which discusses it here about half way down:  http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/02/20/common-habits-hurting-weightlifting/

[Waldo]

1/21/16 (upper body day):

 

LYTP Shoulder Routine - 10 reps @ 5 lbs each shoulder

Internal and External Cable Rotations 10 reps each @ 2

- Windmills were a no go, ouch.  The negative portion of the T had to be modified.  Internal cable rotations on my right arm hit a shoulder soreness directly, though it wasn't a painful acute thing, it was the type of pain that seems ok to work through, 3 or 4 on a 1-10 scale.  Unlike most manifestations of shoulder pain, it wasn't a sticking point, rather the whole motion caused fairly constant pain.

 

Overhead Press

45 x 5 x 1

65 x 5 x 1

85 x 5 x 3

- Getting a little harder, still a ways to go though.  Going to 95 next workout.

 

Chinup

9, 8, 6, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3

Total Volume: 42

- Added 1 to the max.  Almost to the double digits.  Once I hit a total volume of 50, I should be there.

 

Flat Bench

65 x 5 x 1

95 x 5 x 3

- Accidentally did 6 reps on the last set.  Was real shaky on the first set at 95, clearly my body needs to learn to coordinate the bench press at the nervous system level.  Sets 2 and 3 went smooth, 3rd set went real good, was in the repping groove and accidentally did an extra.  These definitely feel easier than the OHP, RPE of 5 or so.

 

EZ Bar Standing Curls

65 lbs - 12, 10, 8

- Once I can do 3 sets of 12, I'm gonna add 5 lbs

 

Bar Dips

BW - 6, 8, 8

- These felt really good.  Eventually I want to work up to doing high volume on this exercise.  Hopefully I can hit the double digits next week.

[Waldo]

1/22/16 (Leg Day):

 

Front Squat

45 x 5 x 1

65 x 5 x 1

95 x 3 x 1

115 x 5 x 3

- Was going to do 105 today, but I'm getting antsy to use less embarrassing weight, so I jumped to 115 instead.  These were actually hard enough that they might prompt strength improvement, RPE of 6-7ish.  To this point what is supposed to be a linear progression has been little more than form work, now the linear progression is starting.  Form-wise, I noticed was letting my elbows drop a little in the hole, increasing the wrist torque, fixing that solved the front rack issues.

 

Deadlift

135 x 5 x 1

155 x 3 x 1

175 x 5 x 3

- Had to stretch out the recovery times to full recovery.  Oddly enough though, approaching these like they are hard, mentally readying myself for them, actually made them easier than they were last workout.

 

Single Leg Ham Curl 

65 - 12/12

 

Partial Natural Ham Curl (45 deg)

5

 

Assisted Natural Ham Curl

5

 

- While waiting after my first set of machine ham curls, I figured out how to do NHC's.  There is this weird ab machine in there (why one would use a machine for abs, I dunno), that had leg supports the could be adjusted to the right height to hold legs if knee is on a bench or stool, with space in front of it.  Weight of the machine isn't enough on the non-weights side, but a 45 on the lower support worked (for now...).  Add an aerobics step for hand assist and viola, I'm back in business.  I haven't done NHC's since my old house, closing in on 2 years now, so it'll be a bit before I work back up to full unassisted reps.  I like these WAY more than the ham curl machine.

 

Pistol Squats 

6/6, 4/4

 

...and the weekend is here.

[Waldo]

1/25/16 (Leg Day):

 

Front Squat 

45 x 5 x 1

95 x 5 x 1

115 x 3 x 1

125 x 5 x 3

- Finally onto big boy plates next workout.  Its not where the linear progression starts, its where it ends and stops working; I'm antsy but in the grand scheme of things, this will go fast.  Why aren't front squats more popular?  IMHO they are a better pair will deadlifts.

 

Deadlift 

135 x 5 x 1

155 x 3 x 1

185 x 5 x 3

 

Pistol Squat 

7/7, 6/6, 5/5

- Progressing fast on these, especially considering I'm doing them after squatting and deadlifting.

 

Single Leg Leg Extension

70 - 12/12, 12/12

- I'll probably ride this weight out to about 15 reps before raising it.

[Waldo]

Skipped any diet/cardio updates yesterday.

 

Fri pm I did the T25 Alpha Cardio video again. Not the greatest session, legs were beat from lifting earlier.

 

Sat I ran/walked 3 miles on the dreadmill.  Weather outside was horrendous.  Strong leg DOMs was starting to kick in (forgot how brutal NHC's can be in that regard) so I decided to start mixing in walking after 1.5 miles.  Was watching something on Netflix so time wasn't an issue.

 

I've been crushing it diet-wise.  I actually purposely overate (Thur and Sun) a couple days, just to get over my goal, because being 200 cal under my goal has become the norm and that is a bit much to maintain every day physically.

 

Yesterday was a whoosh day, dropped down to 210.2, previous low weigh-in was 212.8.  The scale isn't a great marker, I expect to gain a little weight actually, the physical effects of my muscles returning to a trained state and getting the perma pump overpowering the fat loss on the scale.

 

Waist-wise I measured in at a lean 35 5/8" yesterday.  By lean meaning if I expected 35 1/2" that is what it would have been.  Measuring exactly the same way isn't an exact process; how hard I flex, my posture, how tight the tape is makes a +/- 1/4" or so difference.  I expected 35 5/8" and it came easy.  I might actually skip 1/8" at some point doing every other day measuring.  My pace is a little faster than my calorie goals predict (tho I'm undereating, my weekly actual is below my goal).

 

I have 4 1/8" until I reach my goal = 16 1/2 lbs fat loss = 57750 cals deficit = 77 days @ 750 cal deficit, approx finish of April 11th.

[Rooks]

- Finally onto big boy plates next workout.  Its not where the linear progression starts, its where it ends and stops working; I'm antsy but in the grand scheme of things, this will go fast.  Why aren't front squats more popular?  IMHO they are a better pair will deadlifts.

 

They are hard.  Most lifters honestly can't do a front rack and either think it's not possible or just don't want to put the work in to get mobile enough to do it.  Least's that my take on it.  

 

For your pistols, I'm assuming you do those without Oly shoes?  I.e. you have the ankle dorsiflexion to hit depth in flats?  If so, do you have any tips on how you got to that stage?  Been playing around with pistols lately and finding I'm having big troubles getting deep enough and most people point to ankles being the problem.

[Waldo]

As the weight gets heavier and I stopped holding the bar, the front rack is getting easier.  Holding the bar was my issue, if I just let it rest on my shoulders and keep it there using my fingers as a stop, I'm fine.  Maybe that won't work as the weight gets heavier?  

 

I suspect that one front squat issue is ab strength, I can see it being much more demanding on the abs, and I know a lot of people don't train abs, and if they do, they don't train for strength; weak abs is a chronic problem.  Having crazy strong abs is a basic requirement of intermediate+ BW training, I definitely differ from beginner trainees in that regard.

 

I pistol squat barefoot (in socks in the gym), the balance is easier than using squishy soled shoes.  I have rather extreme ankle mobility, some of the more advanced pistol forms require it (arms locked behind the lower back for example).  How I got it?  Doing millions of pistols; heavy loaded pistols are especially good.  I think that pistols themselves are the best ankle mobility exercise there is.

 

If ankle mobility is an issue, holding a weight out in front of you should help.  The weight changes your weight distribution, meaning you need less of a shin angle in the hole.  As mobility increases the weight can be dropped, and eventually you can start doing forms that are only possible with great ankle mobility; holding your leg straight out in front of you is a crutch to make up for poor ankle mobility as well, it decreases the apparent load and decreases the mobility requirements.