Okay…I’m weak and I’ve never kissed a girl…here’s today’s ‘workout’…
Deadlifts: 1405
1855 (I felt my right lat start to feel funny on this set)
2305
28552
2854 (The weight’s going up easy, but the right lat is telling me to stop)
Bench: 1755
2305
27552
27541 (Girl in gym spotted me on 5th)
Pullups : 3*10
Squats: 1605
2104
I felt it in the lat on the 4th one and called it a day. Had a meeting to get to, so yeah…olditis pain combined with getting to the meeting had me quitting early…oh well…diet is still good…and I met what I’ve seen some people describe as the number one goal of us old bastards, ‘don’t get injured’…
I’ll be back in the gym on Friday and will keep getting my 2 mile walk in per day…I’ll see about sledge hammer work tomorrow, but that’s what set off the whole right lat problem to begin with…so maybe some sprints…
45-degree back extension 3x10
Back squat 5x5
Bench press 5x5
Deadlift 5x5
Rest 3-5 minutes between the last 3 sets of each exercise.
Train three days per week for three months.
I swapped out the 45-degree back extension 3X10 for pullups 3X10…I’m not sure what 45-degree back extensions are, but I think they’re like hyperextenders and I can’t do those in my gym and figured pullups are never a bad idea.
You do eat good. Do you go light, medium, heavy or keep trying to raise the weight? I might survive the bench and squats but deadlifting 3 times a week would kill me. Did overhead sledge hammer work for a while. Found all kinds of aches and pains in different places.
I’d consider doing heavy single leg exercises (Split squats, lunges, RDL’s, etc.) in place of Smith Machine squats. Especially with your L4/L5 incident. The heavier you go on those damned Smtih machine squats the better the chance you’ll have some similar spine issues again. Either way, hope things work out for you since you’re funny as hell and all.
[quote]hel320 wrote:
You do eat good. Do you go light, medium, heavy or keep trying to raise the weight? I might survive the bench and squats but deadlifting 3 times a week would kill me. Did overhead sledge hammer work for a while. Found all kinds of aches and pains in different places.[/quote]
I think I go heavy…I’m benching around the heaviest I’ve ever gone…1 rep max was 315 last I tried…squats I have been a slacker on due to having no squat rack…in the past I would do higher reps, but I don’t like having to throw 205 lbs over my head and back down to the floor after squatting it 10 times…and I never was comfortable trying to move up over 205…pr for deadlifts is 395…so they’re a little light at the moment…but…I’m working on perfect form and not busting my discs anymore.
On the 5X5 program I add 5 lbs to each set once I successfully complete the last 3X5 for that exercise.
mrodock and Elaikases…I know (or I think I know) the ‘track’ on the smith machine gives people a lot of trouble since your body has to move in relation to it rather than how it would with free weights…but…can you give me some idea what’s the difference between the smith machine and a leg press machine? or are leg press machines equally as evil.
I’ve stayed away from the smith machine for 3 years now, but thought it would be the lesser of two evils between it and the leg press. I’ve actually felt pretty good on it.
Ya know, I love to bench, deadlift and throw weight around. I hate running. I’m pretty sure though that after tweaking my back with the sledgehammer I’m going to need to get running for some cardio.
I’m making Thursdays sprint day. I headed down to the field in my 'hood and knocked out 10 sprints of about 40 yards…I walked back to the starting line in between sprints. Felt good.
I’ve sprinted in the past, but usually give up after a couple of sessions. Fucking painful !
I’m going to try the sledge again next Tuesday. I’ve successfully trained with one in the past. I’m thinking it was the cold and my dumb ass not doing any sort of warm up whatsoever.
Blue Emu…just bought a container of it…did I get snookered? Planning to use it on my knee and shoulder instead of Ben Gay because She Say does not like the smell of Ben Gay.
From the jar: Blue Emu combines the effective ingredients of Glucosamine & MSM with Aloe Vera and emu oil to give you fast relief.
Fucking Sam’s Club…everything looks like such a good deal until you get home !
I’m gonna try it and see how it goes. Should be interesting because my hands have been hurting lately from too much computer use/guitar playing/whatever…so applying the blue emu should help my hands IF it does work I’d imagine.
[quote]300andabove wrote:
If you have no Squat rack, do it Dan John style, buy 2 sawhorses and use them as a “rack” to leave the bar on if you get stuck at the bottom.
[/quote]
I’ll run that by the gals at the office gym ! Rumor has it there’s a new guy in another department that was asking them about power lifting…I may no longer be the lone voice crying in the wind…then again…I may no longer be the strongest guy in the building…win some…lose some…
I’m of the opinion that you should use what you’ve got to the fullest extent possible.
Always use the most difficult piece of equipment primarily.
Smith machines and leg presses can build a goodly amount of muscle, but free squats build more. When you can’t do free squats do zerchers or snatch grip deads off a block or the floor. If you can’t do zerchers/DLs for some reason, use the smith machine. If you don’t have a rack or a smith machine, do leg presses and so on.
No bar? Grab some dumbbells and do step ups on a bench.
No bench? Do various types of lunges.
No dumbbells? Do pistols and try to work up to jumping pistols.
Consider the zercher lift as well. requires no rack, you can handle almost as much weight as you can squat, don’t need a rack and it works EVERYTHING in the posterior chain and some front muscles into the bargain. Almost every gym has a pussy pad - you can use that to save bruising on the forearms.
I’m taking She Say and the Saysters to a sneak preview of 4 Chrismases tonight…they’re all getting popcorn…I may have to sit in a different row…thought about getting some beef jerky to bring in, but figure I don’t really like popcorn, so shouldn’t be a problem.
If anyone is in the DC/MD area you should take a look at signing up for my buddy’s movie review site…for 10 bucks a year you get some pretty cool movie reviews and if you’re in the area you can get tickets to the previews.
We left 45 minutes into 4 Christmases…should have been rated R…even if we didn’t have the kids I would have walked out…I guess if you’re 18-25 you’d like it…I’m not and I didn’t.
I’ll see what I can work out with some different squat ideas.
Skidmark provided extremely good advice, the only thing I would add is if you are going to do Smith Machine squats you should switch to front squats (provided your knees can handle it). As far as leg presses go, you need to be EXTREMELY strict with your lower back.
Make sure your low back stays against the seat and does not move. This will prevent putting strain on the low back.
The reason for recommending front squats if you are going to use the Smith Machine for squats is they correspond to a more upright torso than the back squat. You’ll probably start out somewhere between 50% to 70% of what you are back squatting. But I really like Skidmark’s recommendations more than strict leg presses or Smith machine squats.
Yesterday’s diets deviated a little from the plan I laid out. I won’t list everything I ate as it was everything off my list, but I had eggs for breakfast.
Cal: 2,568
Fat: 152
Carb: 32
Protein: 258
I wanted to lower my carbs on non-lifting days.
Oh yeah…She Say did get a big bag of popcorn at the movies, however I had sliced up chicken breasts into popcorn sized pieces and loaded them up with garlic salt, onion powder and chili powder…when she started snacking on the corn, I pulled out my bag of chicken.
I’m now also taking
60g of zinc citrate when I wake up
60g with Meal 2
[quote]sen say wrote:
Alright…I’m hitting one-legged bulgarian squats today…those are the ones where you put your one foot up on the bench right?[/quote]