An Uncommon Pursuit

[quote]soldog wrote:
skidmark wrote:
Having trouble deciding if I’ll take a day off tomorrow or go ahead and do assistance work, since I pushed my Lower body day up one early yesterday.

Biceps are pretty tired from the zerchers yesterday and it’s all rowing/pullups tomorrow…

Guess I’ll wait and see how I feel.

Until this gym thing is settled one way or the other, I’ll need to rig up some sort of catcher bars for squats. Got a ton of cinder blocks and old Oly bars. Can probably make something I can squat safely in. It’d be cool to do some deep Anderson squats for a little change. Those’d be nasty good.

The plastic, foldable sawhorses I use do the job. Got any saw horses of any kind?[/quote]

Unfortunately I don’t. I was thinking of that, but this is a tight month. Heading to England next week and had to buy a suit (haven’t had one for 10 years now). That and other purchases will have to wait until next month.

2008-11-16
ASsistance

Standing Overhead press
115x5
135x5
155x3
170x2, 4x1
150x5

Seated DB OHP
50’sx28 (PR Reps +1)

1-arm DB Row
100x25 (PR Reps +5)

Wide grip Pullups
BW+55x5
BWx8,5,5,5,5

DB Concentration Curls
35’s x9,12

Took a rep day today for back. Everything feels tight there and in the biceps.

Minor discovery:

Why pressing overhesd improves with doing more of it: Its the external rotators and scapular stabilizers, stupid.

My infra- and supraspinatus muscles get sore after a standing overhead press session. It’s those muscles that are responsible for bringing the weight back overhead and keeping it on path when pressing in front. If they are weak, you won’t make the press.

Pressing often at various weights helps build those little fellas up, so that maximum efforts are more likely to succeed.

May have found an old school squat rack on ye olde Craig’s List. Good times a comin’ (said with fingers crossed)!

[quote]skidmark wrote:
May have found an old school squat rack on ye olde Craig’s List. Good times a comin’ (said with fingers crossed)![/quote]

Best of luck to you!

[quote]j_willy3 wrote:
skidmark wrote:
May have found an old school squat rack on ye olde Craig’s List. Good times a comin’ (said with fingers crossed)!

Best of luck to you![/quote]

Thanks - just got directions to the place. Gonna snag 50 bucks and go get it.

[quote]skidmark wrote:
2008-11-16
ASsistance

Standing Overhead press
115x5
135x5
155x3
170x2, 4x1
150x5

Seated DB OHP
50’sx28 (PR Reps +1)

1-arm DB Row
100x25 (PR Reps +5)

Wide grip Pullups
BW+55x5
BWx8,5,5,5,5

DB Concentration Curls
35’s x9,12

Took a rep day today for back. Everything feels tight there and in the biceps.[/quote]

Now that’s some good times right there.

[quote]skidmark wrote:
j_willy3 wrote:
skidmark wrote:
May have found an old school squat rack on ye olde Craig’s List. Good times a comin’ (said with fingers crossed)!

Best of luck to you!

Thanks - just got directions to the place. Gonna snag 50 bucks and go get it.[/quote]

I now have a styling, electric-blue squat rack. Now i can do squat-rack curls in the privacy of my own home. My wife doesn’t mind so long as I wash my hands afterwards.

Next step is to scrounge some 45 lb plates. I only have 330 lbs of 35’s, 25’s on down. Given that I’m closing in on 500 for DL I’m just a little short. 45’s from a store have doubled in price in just the last 6 months to nearly a buck a pound. I gotta find some ignorant cuss what doesn’t know he’s got weightlifter gold sitting in his garage.

Congrats on the squat rack skid… I am sure that electric-blue is your color. I can’t wait to see what your curl PR will be after a few months of training.

[quote]mday wrote:
Congrats on the squat rack skid… I am sure that electric-blue is your color. I can’t wait to see what your curl PR will be after a few months of training.[/quote]

It is - goes with my eyes, and you would think that - with SF being the metrosexual capital of the US second only to New York - I could find a matching shade of nail polish…

BIGG GUNZ, BAY-BEEEEE!!!

[quote]skidmark wrote:
mday wrote:
Congrats on the squat rack skid… I am sure that electric-blue is your color. I can’t wait to see what your curl PR will be after a few months of training.

It is - goes with my eyes, and you would think that - with SF being the metrosexual capital of the US second only to New York - I could find a matching shade of nail polish…

BIGG GUNZ, BAY-BEEEEE!!![/quote]

Now that is a frightening thought…then again,a few times when my daughter was 4 and 5 she went hog wild with the polish on my toes…

2008-11-018
Bench

DB Floor Press
75’s x 8
90’s x 6
105’s x4,5,5 (PR Sets at these reps)

Speed Dips
BW+10x30 (PR Weight)

1.5 board height Close Grip Pin Press
225 3x5 (PR weight at this height)

Short and sweet. Kicked my chest good. Could have gone for 110’s on the floor press and gotten an easy three per set. Was too cautious on the first set. Last 2 reps of each set were stronger and surer than they’ve ever been. Used the Power Hooks today, so I didn’t expend any energy getting the DBs into position.

Was going to do incline press for speed today, but I got 3 reps in and my shoulders were saying “Wouldn’t you rather do dips today?” I thought it a good suggestion - so I did.

CGPP was good hard.

Great session today.

Skidmark ist Wunderbar? Sorry, misread. Enjoy your new equipment.

[quote]hel320 wrote:
Skidmark ist Wunderbar? Sorry, misread. Enjoy your new equipment. [/quote]

Skidmark? Wunderbar? Nein. Wunderkind? Nein. WasserKopf? yah!

Already am. Thanks Hel!

Gotta line on a hot pink glute/ ham machine with some plaid 45’s thrown in… interested? lol!

[quote]skidmark wrote:
2008-11-018
Bench

DB Floor Press
75’s x 8
90’s x 6
105’s x4,5,5 (PR Sets at these reps)

Speed Dips
BW+10x30 (PR Weight)

1.5 board height Close Grip Pin Press
225 3x5 (PR weight at this height)

Short and sweet. Kicked my chest good. Could have gone for 110’s on the floor press and gotten an easy three per set. Was too cautious on the first set. Last 2 reps of each set were stronger and surer than they’ve ever been. Used the Power Hooks today, so I didn’t expend any energy getting the DBs into position.

Was going to do incline press for speed today, but I got 3 reps in and my shoulders were saying “Wouldn’t you rather do dips today?” I thought it a good suggestion - so I did.

CGPP was good hard.

Great session today.[/quote]

NIIIICE! Congrats on those PRs Skid. How do you get those big DBs into position when doing floor presses?

[quote]daddyzombie wrote:
skidmark wrote:
2008-11-018
Bench

DB Floor Press
75’s x 8
90’s x 6
105’s x4,5,5 (PR Sets at these reps)

Speed Dips
BW+10x30 (PR Weight)

1.5 board height Close Grip Pin Press
225 3x5 (PR weight at this height)

Short and sweet. Kicked my chest good. Could have gone for 110’s on the floor press and gotten an easy three per set. Was too cautious on the first set. Last 2 reps of each set were stronger and surer than they’ve ever been. Used the Power Hooks today, so I didn’t expend any energy getting the DBs into position.

Was going to do incline press for speed today, but I got 3 reps in and my shoulders were saying “Wouldn’t you rather do dips today?” I thought it a good suggestion - so I did.

CGPP was good hard.

Great session today.

NIIIICE! Congrats on those PRs Skid. How do you get those big DBs into position when doing floor presses?

[/quote]

Thanks DZ.

I bought a pair of Power Hooks a while back and this is the second time I’ve used them. I attach them to the bells and then suspend them from the bar over my head, get down on the floor and then unhook them from the bar. These save a lot of energy and reduce the amount of nervous stress.

Before that I would grab a couple of cinderblocks or boxes depending on whether I was pressing at home or at the gym and set the bells up on their sides on them. I’d sit in between them and scooch the bells onto my legs and then roll backwards. I didn’t like the way my biceps felt when I tried to hoist them from the floor onto my legs.

The hooks have a wraparound, velcro-secured strap that goes on the db handle. Makes your DB’s thick-handled DBs. I’ve got hand cramps from squeezing the bells yesterday.

Skidmark like.

You keep changing your thread name …

Had to miss a work-out last night, will get caught up tonight, but I kept the peace at home.

Thanks for the posts and for being inspiring.

[quote]Elaikases wrote:
You keep changing your thread name …

Had to miss a work-out last night, will get caught up tonight, but I kept the peace at home.

Thanks for the posts and for being inspiring.
[/quote]

Thanks for the kind words, but…

I think what ought to be inspiring is that the PROCESS works. Work out hard, eat well, recover adequately and anybody using this strategy simply gets stronger.

Yep, if the process didn’t work I wouldn’t do it at all, but when I get cranky or tired, reading your posts helps too.