That’s amazing to get that work in when you’re still in the full throws of COVID!
1 Like
@jdm135 @alex_uk @PowPowPunishment thanks gents! It’s not a terribly heavy weight for me normally, though the axle is a bit of an X factor there. Honestly, I just wanted to move. Sitting around the house doing nothing makes me feel miserable if I’m in good health, I can’t imagine it makes me feel better when I’m sick. Motion and sunlight are healing. (Man that sounds like some hippie shit)
4 Likes
Right on. It’s so important to send a message to your body, within your means, that it can’t only move in the direction of illness and decay.
Funny thing, I noticed when bench pressing with COVID that the pressure on my chest suppressed my cough until I was done with the set.
2 Likes
I noticed that as long as I held my brace, no cough. Lose my brace, and it was all over lol
Work for today:
AM:
45lb ruck
2.29 miles, 35:34 minutes, 15:31 pace
PM:
High handle Trap bar deadlift: 420x5, 440x5, 470x5, 490x5, 500x5, 420x10
Leverage squat: 180x8, 220x8, 270x8, 310x8
Superset:
GHR: 15, 13
Ab wheel: 15, 15
Sickness caught up to me here, called the workoit. Was planning a little more lifting and a zone 2 run, but my body said enough for today.
Notes:
- fever broke sometime overnight. Which means time to really push the training. Plan was to ruck in the AM, lift +run in the evening. Covid still had a vote, and I started getting really lightheaded with any effort in the gym, decided it Was smarter to call it there than to keep pushing.
- will be going into work later for this school, so expect more short AM rucks. Honestly, big factor there is sun exposure, it’s interesting after 2 weeks without seeing the sun that my body just CRAVES sunlight.
- doing high handle trap bar deads for the first time in about 2 years. My PR on these was 520x5, and when I hit that I was able to deadlift 470x1 without any training on the lift. Going to throw these back in because 1) they’re fun 2) they pack mass onto my upper back like crazy. Weights felt heavy today, which is definitely a combination of me being sick and not familiar with the movement. Not too far off from old PR numbers, and a good 40lbs lighter than then. Gunning for 550x5 by April 1st.
- I will say, I think the high handle deads is one of the best exercise out there to practice the “strain”. At the start, at least for me, it’s dead. Very dead. I have to fight like hell to break ground. Once k break ground, the reps definitely good, but man do I have to fight at the bottom.
- this leverage squat thing is sick and I wish I had tried it out a long time ago.
Yeah I still owe a longer training update about some changing directions, I’ll get to it. Maybe.
10 Likes
I’ve had very similar conclusions. Perfect max effort exercise. Zero flex in a trap bar as well.
2 Likes
Leverage squat? Whats that?
1 Like
@T3hPwnisher that’s exactly what I’m going for. Max effort, trying to really push my limits. It’s also nice in that I can push as hard as possible without completely taxing my lower back, so I’m not crippled for the rest of the week. I’ve also noticed, the handles are a little wider than I would grab on a barbell, so my lats are screaming at me whenever I break ground. I think the high handles get misused for ego lifting too often, but there definitely is a place for them. Full body strain and upper back development seems to be the biggest appeals.
It’s a machine you wedge yourself into and squat the weight in a bit of an arcing motion. I like it a lot. Great ROM that’s easily achieved, some added stability so you can just focus on pushing without worrying about balance, and (for whatever reason) it feels really good on my knees
2 Likes
Sweet. I think my gym has one of those. Ill try it after another week of using the hack squat machine (which is also new to me).
2 Likes
@jdm135 you can do single leg on these two if you are game enough.
2 Likes
Glad to read that you’re back on the upswing dude.
I’m in western NY and it is cloudy from basically October through February. On one of those weird days where the sun is out, you can see the relief in people’s faces. They’re happier, friendlier and more fun to be around. I really think there is something to the whole sun exposure stuff.
2 Likes
Work for today:
Wide grip bench: 185x5, 195x5, 205x5, 215x5, 200x5
Superset:
Chins: 8, 8, 8, 6
Push press: 135x8, 135x8, 135x8, 135x5 (strict)
Chest Support row; 170x10, 170x8
Superset:
Machine lat raise: 80x12, 80x12, 80x12
Seated db clean: 25x8, 25x6, 15x11
Pushdown: 35x25, 42.5x25, 50x20, 57.5x15, 65x8
Notes:
- still hacking like crazy, but otherwise feel fine. Almost feels like I have water sloshing around in my lungs, really hard to get any sort of deep breath.
- bench went well, 215x5 at 209 ain’t terrible for me, especially with the wider grip. Going to keep playing around with this grip for a bit, see if all the close grip was maybe holding me back.
- Jesus Christ I can’t push press. I’m pretty sure I can legit strict press more than my push press. Some videos attached it anyone’s got a clue what I’m messing up. Undecided if I’m keeping these in rotation or going to swap for a 2nd strict press day.
- went very strict on chins, cut the reps down some but definitely scorched my back.
- 25s we’re honestly a little to heavy for the seated cleans, but it was 10s or 25s, so I went with these.
- may ruck later, but energy levels are shot and breathing is difficult, so done for right now
4 Likes
I am absolutely the same way. I don’t see any videos presently, but what helped me was something @Alpha expressed. People think “leg drive leg drive” for push press, but it’s really BODY drive. You’re not trying to squat fast to make weight fly up: you’re trying to throw your body INTO the weight to drive it up. The legs just happen to be the moving part, but I rack the bar across my collarbones and think like if I were to try to throw my shoulder into a door to knock it down.
1 Like
@T3hPwnisher I completely forgot to actually upload the videos. Whoops. See below
I have never been able to press worth a damn with the bar starting on my collarbone, so I was trying to hold it on my hands a bit like how I have seen Joey Szatmary push press before. I was definitely focusing a lot on what my legs were doing, maybe the “throwing the shoulder” cue may help out, I’ll give it a shot!
PM work:
3.42 mile 45lb ruck, 49:59, 14:37 average pace
5 Likes
Ah yeah, when you hold it in your hands vs across the body, your elbows basically act like shock absorbers and will soak up your push. You can see it in the video: you go to press, but your elbows dip down at the start. It’s like trying to do a jump off of a mattress. It may help to continental the bar into place vs taking it out of the rack.
3 Likes
Not terrible.
The first set is a Push Press. Dip and drive. Good! Do it like that.
The 2nd set you start doing some kinda squat to catch the bar whole lowering it. Like a really bad thruster. Don’t do that.
At the end of the 2nd set and during the 3rd set you start “Rebending” your knees. Or dipping and pressing the weight up (like a push pres) then dropping your hips back underneath it. Like turing the push press into a “Jerk.” That’s not necessarily bad. Its just a different move.
3 Likes
Work for today;
Buffalo bar squats: 55x10, 145x5, 195x5, 235x3, 285x5, 305x5, 325x5, 325x5, 285x5
DB RDL: 75x10, 65x10, 65x10
Pendulum squat: 270x10, 320x10, 320x8
Cable crunch: 4x 42.5x15
Notes:
- first time using the Buffalo bar. I really like it, feels like how a low bar squat “should” feel if I had better mobility lol.
- DB RDLs torch me like nothing else, as usual.
- abs cramped like crazy during crunches, the we an interesting and painful sensation lol.
- still hacking and coughing like crazy, really struggling to kick this.
12 Likes
Just skimmed through like 150+ posts since the last time I popped in here while shoveling my dinner in. Sounds like you’ve been killing it on a lot of fronts man, great to see!
1 Like
Work for today:
Superset:
Pull-ups: 5, +17.5x5, +27.5x5, +35x4, +12.5x7
Axle press: 135x5, 145x5, 155x5, 165x5 (axle PR), 145x6
Called it there. Crunched on time and still feeling like hell, figured some work was better than none.
Owe some replies above, will respond soon!
11 Likes
Work for today: Josh Bryant’s XXL Strength and Size: day 1
Bench: 190x3, 200x3, 165x6, 165x6, 165x6, 165x6+ (12)
Superset:
Dead Bench Press: 180x1, 205x1, 220x1
Chins: +25x5, +30x5, +15x5
Superset:
Incline db fly: 3x25x12
Gironda Perfect Curl: 3x8x65
Tricep Ladder: 100 reps
Notes and Life Updates
- So. That potential career opportunity that had me changing up my training, no longer an opportunity. Navy shut that down very quickly and used a technicality to prevent me from pursuing it for up to 2 years AFTER I leave. So… damn. Was always a long shot, but I’m frustrated with how it played out, mainly because I’m having some serious opportunities denied to me outside my current community in the vain hopes of possibly leading to retention.
- As a result, I’m not going to train like I had planned to if I’m not going through that screening process. No reason to spend THAT much time running/rucking and putting lifting on the back burner if it’s not actual going to matter. Back to some more barbell focused training.
- on that note, I will be keeping in conditioning. I really like rucking as some easy cardio, mainly because It gives me time to throw on a good podcast and just get outside. I don’t really have specific conditioning goals, other than I’d like to steadily decrease my 1 and 3 mile times. Far from a priority, but I like getting faster, and it can only help me in overall athletics
- going to a school for the next two months. 40-50 hour weeks and no overnight shifts, I feel like I’m going on vacation lol. Going to use that time to handle a lot of life stuff (taxes, selling a house, moving, etc) and to train a lot. Goal isn’t to bury myself in training, but rather to train hard and recover hard, and see where things go. Kind of using this little bit of time as an experiment to see what a normal job feels like lol, never worked a job less than 80 hour weeks, and this is the first time I’ve had a consistent sleep schedule in years
- I love Josh Bryant, always have. I like his philosophy on training, and he seems like a hell of a coach. Going to run one of his programs and see how I respond. Once I’m off the ship, I’m seriously considering hiring him as a coach, but that’s a long days down the road.
- so overall life/training plan? Lift heavy, run fast, ruck far. Bigger, faster, stronger, just doing what I think is fun because that’s half the reason I train.
@FlatsFarmer thanks for the tips! i have always been absolutely terrible at any sort of leg drive in a press, going back to my high school football days. Pretty legitimately convinced my strict press is stronger than any sort of push/jerk that I can do. Always felt that was a little weird, I was a pretty explosive guy in both football and wrestling, but I’ve never been able to translate that into a press. Something to definitely keep working on!
@mr.v3lv3t man, life has been rough, but I’ve been taking it in stride. Happy with where I am at physically, mentally, and emotionally. Glad to have you along for the ride!
15 Likes