[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
1 x 10 x 60kg
1 x 8 x 60kg
1 x 6 x 60kg
Didn’t plan on dropping the reps each set - I just couldn’t do any more.
[/quote]
If you hit this when you aren’t tired, you can definitely get all 10. I know it.
It sounds like you are successfully working 5/3/1 around your injuries. Great job!
crackling knees… this is where i pipe up and remind you to do all kinds of mobility work and pay extra attention to everything around your knees… calves and hamstrings, especially. after your professions of knock-kneed nonsense, i’ll also remind you that you should be doing some wide leg (sumo dl, wide squats, box squats) and single leg work to build up your vmo and surrounding muscles…
if you already have all that planned, feel free to tell me to fuck off.
glad 5/3/1 is going well for u so far… you make me wanna try the sob hip thrusts.
[quote]mom-in-MD wrote:
the leg extensions don’t bother your knees?
I like the single leg ext machine myself…otherwise I can FEEL(and hear) the cackling of which has become my knees when I do any bending movements…but the leg ext machine HURTS…[/quote]
I thought I was the only one!
I just don’t do them because it feels wrong. Snap crackle and pop.
my cackling came about when I was 50lbs heavier…it used to HURT to squat 
And I could barely walk up the stairs later that day…forget about jogging and all that…
the bike really helps me along with what Claire suggested…actually, the PTA that I saw last year suggested NOT to do the leg ext machine or anything that physically hurt while I was doing it for that matter!(obvious,
)
I spent a lot of time backing down OFF the weight, a lot of body weight stuff, for the inner and outer places around the knees, etc…
MiM - My left knee makes a hellacious crackling sound when I squat but doesn’t hurt at all. It’s the right knee that’s testy, but seems to be an ITB issue (and I’m foam rolling and stretching that sucker). For the record, leg extensions don’t hurt - I just get the delightful lactic burn in my quads. I avoid anything that causes a sharp pain.
Regarding tea, it involves putting a teabag in a half pint mug, pouring boiling water on it, leaving it to stew for five minutes, removing said bag with fingers and then topping up the cup with skimmed milk (not for dietary reasons - I only like skimmed milk and find anything fattier too viscous. I do however like whipped cream on my Starbucks gingerbread lattes, but given my Christmas weight gain I am banned from those for the foreseeable future). My electricity bill has increased by £11 per month and I put this down to the number of times I boil my kettle. God knows I don’t have many lights on.
CBear - My squat’s pretty wide anyway - if I narrowed my stance any more I’d roll onto my arse like a Weeble.
Knee doesn’t like sumo DLs right now - tried it. Sharp pain. Bad. Haven’t had a problem with them in the past but right now, not so good.
Finding exercises that my body can tolerate is a bit of a puzzle currently as everything has flared up at once. I’ve got the right ankle sprain and foot problem from last September (currently one of the least of my worries right now), right knee is angry, right shoulder is test, lower back is very grumpy indeed and my right elbow has decided it can’t be left out and is making its displeasure known. I suspect the right side is rebelling due to the ankle sprain throwing things out, but there’s a lot going on there, from a structual imbalance point of view. So best I can do right now is carry on with rehab, foam rolling etc and try to avoid pissing it off any further. That or take myself to the vets to be put down. But I’d rather not do that.
Im right there with ya!
What do you think the elbow thing is about? I have the same kind of annoying thing going on…
Take yourself to the Vets?? LOL!!!
The elbow is this: http://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2008/02/25/i-have-medial-epicondylitis-aka-golfers-elbow/
Started when I started squatting. I realised it’s because when I hold the bar behind my neck, my elbow is torqued at a funny angle and is putting stress on this exact point. I can lessen it by widening my hands but the bar doesn’t feel as secure that way. Annoyingly it has started to bug me in other ways (doing pull-ups for instance). Hence I am doing front squats in 5/3/1 because it is easier on the elbow.
hmm, sounds like what I have…but I think picking up and carrying around my daughter on one side for almost 3 years is what has triggered it for me!
like you, the squat is bothering me along with other movements as well…I was going to tinker with the squat one more time to make sure it wasnt in my head but why bother? I’ll be switching to front squats as well!
[quote]AlisaV wrote:
[quote]mom-in-MD wrote:
the leg extensions don’t bother your knees?
I like the single leg ext machine myself…otherwise I can FEEL(and hear) the cackling of which has become my knees when I do any bending movements…but the leg ext machine HURTS…[/quote]
I thought I was the only one!
I just don’t do them because it feels wrong. Snap crackle and pop.[/quote]
me too! i’ve never thought of doing a single leggeed machine…good idea
Photo is an actual NASA satellite picture of the UK - looks like The Day After Tomorrow. I don’t remember it being this bad in my life (there was a big snowfall back in Feb which lasted a few days, but this amount of snow is pretty unusual).
Worst thing is the radiator in my office produces less heat than a fart, so I’ve been taking in my hot water bottle and sitting with it stuffed down the back of my sweatshirt. On the plus side, this seems to be helping my back pain, so I’ll keep doing it.
Been pretty tight on the diet front - hopefully will have some weight loss to report tomorrow.
whoa! i was wonderin how you Brits were holding up with all that snow! its so damp there, i bet its hell on bad joints as well…hope it thaws out for you
Still fecking cold - hasn’t snowed again but what’s out there hasn’t melted - it’s just turned to ice.
Onto week 2 of 5/3/1
Bar x 5, bar x 5, bar x 5 (working sets) 22.5kg x 3, 27.5kg x 3, 30kg x 8
Still keeping these uber strict and trying to keep my scaps retracted. I managed the same number of reps on the last set as I had at 27.5kg last week so I’m fairly pleased but bear in mind 30kg is only 66lbs. I stopped when form started to get bad - sure I could have cranked out a couple more reps using a lot of back arch and stuff, but I’m not going to do that with my body in its current state.
22kg x 10
24kg x 10
26kg x 10
28kg x 7
Went up a weight from last week. I’m not unhappy with 7 reps on the last set. I’ll go for 8 next time.
4 x 10 x 25kg
Followed each set with 10 scap retractions (same as last week).
3 x 10 x 14kg (dumbell behind head - much easier to hold than a plate!)
1 x 12 x 14kg (decided to do as I’m doing for the main exercise and do as many as I could on the last set. Which wasn’t a lot more. Lower back was smoked by that point).
Stretching.
Weekly weigh in: 11 stone 5 (159lbs). Only a pound down from last week, which is somewhat irksome as I’ve been strict on the diet despite the shitty weather. Still, my body likes to hold on to weight. When I did V-Diet last Feb, I only drop a pound a week in weeks 2, 3 and 4, despite drinking nothing but shakes.
The other thing is I look a little bloated - [TMI Warning!] don’t think I’ve pooped for a couple of days. My guts tend to shut down when I cut food intake, at least for a while.
OK, so tomorrow is deadlift. I’m a bit nervous, to be honest. I used to love deadlifting but due to the back pain I’ve come to dread it. Last week’s was awful. Wondering whether to recalculate my max so I am lifting a lot lighter. I didn’t think 75kg would give me any trouble but it really didn’t feel good.
you are making progress on the weights…smile my back would be incinerated with those weighted hypers…excellent work.
stay warm! your office fart warmer…sad but so funny.
and the weigh-in. does a scale actually read in stones? or did you get kg and convert to stone…wth? 
i just got a scale (for free cuz we have this reward system at work and get stuff with points) that shows BF, water, LM, and Bone mass %. now i know it’s not accurate, but at least it will show a trend (down hopefully!) so i’m with you on scale moving one measly pound. i’ve been up/down several lbs every other day so i just chuckle at that. fyi-150 today. grrrrr
if you are feeling back pain then yes, BACK off…hee hee. seriously, i would go down in weight rather than risk injury!
Cal- don’t forget about taking measurements!
“office produces less heat than a fart” hilarious!
dude, what is up with that ice over there?! Be careful, nothing like a slip on the bum to kill a morning commute.
Interesting that you switched to front squats. Someone actually recommended this to me, since I was complaining of lower back pain when doing the back squat.
Also thanks for the kg conversion! As an American I can neither understand the metric system nor do proper math. Sad.
Mascherano: It’s not too hard - 5kg = 11lbs, or 10kg = 22lbs. So if you’re doing, say, a progression of 30kg, 35kg, 40kg, it’s 66lbs, 77lbs, 88lbs. It only gets tricky when I’m going up in multiples of 2.25kg (the smallest weights I can add - metric chips, really) which is 5.5lbs.
Britain’s a bit odd in that we use both metric and imperial. Gym weights are generally in kilos (as is food) but most people weight themselves in stones and pounds (1 stone = 14lbs) and measure their heights in feet and inches. Travel is still all about miles. Soft drinks are sold in litres but if you go to a pub, you’ll still get a pint of beer. Temperatures are in celsius though some older folks still think in fahrenheit.
Tal - it’s the scale at the gym. It gives a readout in stones and kilos as also works out your height and BMI. I use that particular one because it’s brutal. Some scales flatter and bullshit you. This one doesn’t.
MiM - I generally measure on a monthly basis but I did tape my waist this morning - still 29" (although belly was sticking out). Still soft and squidgy too. I know when I’m making progress when my waist starts to feel hard. That and the way clothes fit, and what I see in the mirror.
OK, so today sucked. I just started a new game and didn’t particularly want to tear myself away from the PC to go to the gym, nor did I want to stay in the gym once I got there. Back was sore and I plain didn’t feel like deadlifting.
After last week I decided to drop my max by 10kg (22lbs).
A fairly extensive warm-up, first. Then the main show.
3 x 10 x Bar, 30kg x 10, 40kg x 5, (working sets) 55kg x 3, 65kg x 3, 72.5kg x 5
I tried pulling sumo this time. Even so I just can’t seem to flatten my back. I can’t arch - it just doesn’t bend that way (there is a lordosis arch but the thorassic vertebrae are rigid and have been for years. A couple of them are fused - not surgically - just happened. At 55kg (110lbs) I can pull reasonably well but on the high set my lower back did not feel comfortable. The weight is easy enough, but it comes with discomfort. I used to enjoy deadlifting - there is nothing more primal than ripping a huge weight straight off the floor. Now, because I’m scared of hurting my back, I can no longer attack the weight with aggression. I’ve started to hate deadlifting. Believe I said this last week.
2 x 10 x bar
22.5kg x 10
25kg x 10
Nope, these weren’t any better. They hurt my lower back. They actually feel a lot better if I lock my knees.
I’m going to drop this exercise, it doesn’t feel right.
1 x 10 x 10kg
2 x 10 x 12.5kg
To be honest I’d forgotten I’d gone up to 15kg last week - I thought I’d stuck at 10kg. (These are on a machine where you add plates, not with a weight stack).
1 x 30
1 x 20
I’ll be blunt, I got part way through the second set and felt pissed off, bored, hungry and annoyed with the noobs in the gym and just stopped. Wasn’t in the mood. Went home.
So I’ve made a decision. I’m going to carry on with 5/3/1 but I’m dropping the deadlift day. I may add some uber-light deadlifts as accessory work in a while, but I’m not doing them as a main exercise until my back feels better. It’s just cranky now - it’s not stopping me moving around or anything, but I don’t want to get to the point where it becomes chronic. I know if I went to a physio they would tell me not to deadlift. So for once I’m not going to let my ego override my common sense. I’m 42 - I can’t afford to fuck around with injuries.
[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
I’ll be blunt, I got part way through the second set and felt pissed off, bored, hungry and annoyed with the noobs in the gym and just stopped. Wasn’t in the mood. Went home.[/quote]
those days happen…i wouldn’t sweat it.
[quote]
So I’ve made a decision. I’m going to carry on with 5/3/1 but I’m dropping the deadlift day. I may add some uber-light deadlifts as accessory work in a while, but I’m not doing them as a main exercise until my back feels better. It’s just cranky now - it’s not stopping me moving around or anything, but I don’t want to get to the point where it becomes chronic. I know if I went to a physio they would tell me not to deadlift. So for once I’m not going to let my ego override my common sense. I’m 42 - I can’t afford to fuck around with injuries.[/quote]
i don’t think there is anything wrong with this. you are certainly right about age not affording us time for injuries. at any age, really. i’ll give you high five for letting the ego go on this one. we’ll see how MP works for me, as the shoulder is really fucking with me.
I feel you Cal, I’ve had days like that when I’m really trying to push through a workout simply because I’m not feeling it. I think I remember reading a Thibadeau (sp?) article here on T-Nation where he basically said that to get consistent gains you need to know when to push yourself and when to scale things back. You always work bloody hard in your training, and maybe this was one of those times when you needed to scale things back? Esp with the back pains.
And I agree completely, you do not want to fuck with any injuries. Regardless of age. I think athletes always play/train through pain/injuries and sometimes that ends up causing bigger problems in the future. You’re doing the smart thing, esp if you want to continue training into your golden years
so, i hear what you’re sayin about your back. i really do.
what i didnt hear is you saying that you’re going to aggressively attack the mobility issues, with tennis balls, heat therapy, foam rolling, static stretching, and dynamic stretching. so that you’ll be able to properly deadlift at some point.
you meant to say all that, right?
