You set the bar for your rack pull at the bottom of your knee cap. To clear it (your knee) you start the movement out hunching over. If you moved the pins up so that the bar started 2" up (at the top of your knee cap) you could start with a flat back and pull up and back without the initial forward movement. It doesn’t fix your form problem but it does make your rack pulls more effective.
[quote]rcfromdb wrote:
You set the bar for your rack pull at the bottom of your knee cap. To clear it (your knee) you start the movement out hunching over. If you moved the pins up so that the bar started 2" up (at the top of your knee cap) you could start with a flat back and pull up and back without the initial forward movement. It doesn’t fix your form problem but it does make your rack pulls more effective.[/quote]
^^^ Yup, raise the bar . If you round like that don’t do it. Once you fuck your back up its ALL over- you will never be the same. Your not gonna get a second chance to keep from hurting yourself- not to sound like your mother or anything :^)
10 30-second sprints, 10x10 pushups
3x20 practice rack pulls with the bar.
So, met up with a powerlifter from the school team. He was really nice and spent time with me fixing my lifts, and he’s going to send me a program. I am a very lucky ducky.
Today was a learning day: countless (really countless) reps at light weight. It may be months or years before I’m lifting “heavy” again but right now I don’t give a damn. I want to be rigorous about form and it’ll take as long as it takes. I’m not going to think of the past year as wasted; I started out just getting used to lifting, and now begins the period when I learn to lift WELL.
So, things I learned today:
I need to keep up the running. It’s so tempting not to, but he says I should run at least a mile twice a week. (I won’t have time for my 6-mile and 12-mile extravaganzas this semester, but 1-4 miles I can do.)
Squats: I wasn’t going deep enough. And my knees were drifting forward, which makes it harder to get depth. I was essentially doing hunched-over plies. Chest UP, sit BACK, and now suddenly I can feel exactly where depth is because it’s tight in my hips. Now I know how it feels, I can get depth every time. The bad news is, I had to drop the weight all the way down to just the bar. But I can only go up from there.
Bench: I need to tuck my elbows – which means bringing the bar down at sternum height, not nipple height. And I also need straight wrists, not flexed wrists. And it’s bad for my butt to pop off the bench. If I can’t keep the butt down, I have to suck it up and drop weight.
Deadlift: basically, all the usual stuff to keep my back from rounding: chest up, shoulders back, actually lead with my butt when I’m setting the weight down. I was getting it right by the end, but I think i need a few more days practicing with 135 until it’s consistent.
Hamstrings: apparently, from the way I squat and deadlift, mine are probably weak. I need to do hyperextensions. Did 5x10@35 today.
Also did lat pulldowns, 3x5@90, and planks.
It’s really absurd that I can only squat 45 pounds; I hope that changes soon. The whole “being a powerlifter” thing is on hold, of course, while I try to eke my way to respectability. I’m a long way away. But at least now I’m on the right track.
For what are you training?
Just for me. I wanted to try powerlifting but obviously it’ll be a while until I’m any good. Right now I just want to get strong.
I forgot food.
1595 kcal, p/f/c 143.1/90.2/28.3
Why did he tell you that you must run a mile twice a week?
Oh, for cardiovascular health and not getting tired. He said he had gotten lazy about it and it was really hard to get back into running.
You know you don’t have to run miles, you can do other forms of cardio, unless you just really like running 
Hamstrings hurt so much … running this afternoon will not be fun at all.
Sounds like you got some good coaching. Just keep showing up, trying hard, and you will get where you want to go. And remember to enjoy the ride.
[quote]jjackkrash wrote:
Sounds like you got some good coaching. Just keep showing up, trying hard, and you will get where you want to go. And remember to enjoy the ride. [/quote]
Agreed. Advice over the internet, as good as it can be, can’t replace working personally with a coach that knows what they are talking about. The weights will go up once you get the groove. I know folks around here tend to be anti-running, but I agree that a couple times a week for health and to improve weight-training capacity is a good idea.
Thanks guys.
This is my new program, according to Mr. PL: Madcow 5x5, Linear Version.
(It’s not linear, by the way, it’s exponential; you’re supposed to increase by 2.5% a week. I hope to god it goes a little faster than that initially – I don’t want to be squatting less than 100 pounds forever. Hopefully, despite my Year of Bad Form, I’m still stronger than the first day I stepped into the gym. But this time I’m not compromising correctness, no matter what.)
timed runs today.
1 mile, 7:45
1/2 mile, 3:35
1/4 mile, 1:30
6 thirty-second sprints
I think I’m going to do timed runs for my cardio for a while. Advantages: it’s brief, it can be done after dark on the track (I don’t like running in the woods in pitch darkness) and I can track improvement.
1338 kcal, p/f/c 129/68.4/29.8
[quote]AlisaV wrote:
Thanks guys.
This is my new program, according to Mr. PL: Madcow 5x5, Linear Version.
(It’s not linear, by the way, it’s exponential; you’re supposed to increase by 2.5% a week. I hope to god it goes a little faster than that initially – I don’t want to be squatting less than 100 pounds forever. Hopefully, despite my Year of Bad Form, I’m still stronger than the first day I stepped into the gym. But this time I’m not compromising correctness, no matter what.)[/quote]
You are gonna save yourself a world of pain and injury following this path now instead of later. I also reset and lowered weights more than once and it is so much more satisfying in the end to do the lifts correctly…
Nice runs. Sounds like a good workout, that.
[quote]AlisaV wrote:
timed runs today.
1 mile, 7:45
1/2 mile, 3:35
1/4 mile, 1:30
6 thirty-second sprints
I think I’m going to do timed runs for my cardio for a while. Advantages: it’s brief, it can be done after dark on the track (I don’t like running in the woods in pitch darkness) and I can track improvement.
1338 kcal, p/f/c 129/68.4/29.8[/quote]
You’re probably tired of hearing this but that is not much food for an athlete. We’ve seen the pics and you are already lean. If you have access to a blender you can throw in some combination of juice, milk, protein powder, cottage cheese, yogourt, olive oil, peanut butter, frozen berries etc. and get a bunch of good calories in a hurry. OK, lecture over.
Yeah, I know. I had low-carb intentions, but it just turns out that it’s hard to get much food that way. I’m going to try to eat more for 1-2 weeks and if I still can’t manage to get enough food, I’ll ease up and eat carbs again.
[quote]AlisaV wrote:
Yeah, I know. I had low-carb intentions, but it just turns out that it’s hard to get much food that way. I’m going to try to eat more for 1-2 weeks and if I still can’t manage to get enough food, I’ll ease up and eat carbs again.[/quote]
I’ve never gone really low carb but I try to be sensible and stay away from simple sugars, not eating high-carb late at night and the liike. But I’m not too strict about it. Like you, I have a hard enough time eating enough without severely restricting carbs. If I was trying to get super lean it would be different.
DId better today!
1712 kcal, p/f/c 122.5/102.6/36.4
Going to the gym soon but everything hurts so much.
Edit: actually didn’t. Too much owie and too much work.