Have you ever tried knee wraps to see if they’d help?
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Knees:
My knees are made of glass. I look at other people’s knees and I see how wide the joint is; oftentimes wider than their calves.
Mine? They’re the skinniest part of my leg except for my ankle.
I started wearing Rehband knee sleeves (size small) a few years ago. I’m still using the same pair. They make all the difference. I think they perform the function that additional flesh around a knee joint would perform - just keeping it all together. Or maybe it’s just psychological.
Either way, I recommend them.
Crossbows:
Have you seen “The book of the crossbow”? It’s a European work, but has a chapter on Asian bows I think. Lots of cool history and drawings.
My kids were interested in the concept so we bought the book, looked at how crossbows work, and then built a crossbow out of readily available materials:
-I ripped several slats off a 2x4, each slat about 0.1" thick and 1.5" wide, about 3 or 4 feet long.
-Cut each slat a few inches shorter than the next.
-Stacked the slats and glued them together only in the middle, so they could slide against each other closer to the ends. This is the “bow”
-Mounted that onto a stock built from a 2x4.
-Created a groove for the bolt and a triggering mechanism.
-Had a blast shooting bolts with way too much energy. Fired a dry-erase marker once and watched it shatter against the wall 
Then we built a mini-trebuchet.
Those were good times!
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I haven’t tried knee wraps, but I did try some other knee support and a couple months with a PT, working specifically on my knees.
I have some lateral sliding of tendons when I get to about 90°, and neither my massage therapist nor PT could really figure it out. When loaded, it can snap and be really painful. The PT was genuinely a bit grossed out when she felt it, lol. I think it’s actually due to a tight muscle (gracilis) that I don’t stretch enough.
But the other answer is I haven’t really focused/cared about squats for a long time.
Feel free to call me out on this, but unlike some other movements, I’ve never found squats particularly transferrable to anything else I do in real life. I know that’s kind of a BS answer.
Like a full rom squat is a common movement in my real life, mostly due to kids, but not with much load. At the heaviest, nothing more than the weight of a kid on my shoulders and their stuff, usually because they dropped yet another thing…
I do think the torso stability and control that comes with squats is important though, and squats are one of the best ways to train it. But so is the crazy hanging weighted ab stuff + jefferson curls and deadlifts.
I dunno. Maybe I’ll squat again someday.
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Ah, so you were actually excited about the crossbow mention earlier. (I wasn’t sure if it was a general happy about continued random interests, or about crossbows specifically)
I barely know anything and can still nerd out on that tiny bit.
It actually all started with sword stuff. The first documented swordfighter was a woman, The Maiden of Yue. There was a king that was searching among his people for the most skilled fighters to train his army. She was a civilian and was brought in to train them in swordplay. Bunch of legendary bits of her story.
However immediately after, in that same book, that king also hired the best archer. He does a whole spiel about how archery was handed down from these god figures, but then goes on talking about how for an army, it was better to turn the bow sideways, hook on a stock, and make it into crossbows.
Then, I ran across those arsenal record circa 100 AD and how they had so many crossbows.
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So I looked into that further and learned about their mass manufactured trigger mechanisms. Fascinating bit of machinery.
And, of course, got a modern reproduction of one.
There were a lot of those found, and many stocks, but not many bows. They had a modular design where the bow was detachable, and you could use basically any bow with it.
But the specs were recorded as far as capabilities.
Which is incredible.
Then I found a Ming dynasty manual, much much later, 1500s, that has instructions for building a much less powerful crossbow, but is a more “accessible” design. It is pretty similar to what you described, as a loose laminate of multiple (bamboo) boards connected at the center. It doesn’t require highly skilled bowyers using horn and sinew.
I found a forum called The Arbalist Guild where a few people experimented with the idea with some fiberglass bars. So I’ve thought about doing the same. I have the material now.
I did mock it up with the actual bow though, but a very short draw.
I also did a trebuchet thing once, too. Also fun. Another time.
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I forgot this part. Not sure if it’s that one but I do have a couple crossbow books queued up to read.
Hm. Maybe not that one.
And now I’m not sure. Same author, but not sure if that’s a different book or just an alternate title.
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Between holidays, school and work starting back up, and general flux in routines, I just now made it back on here.
There was a lull in training for a bit, but that let some elbow and knee stuff heal up.
Chinups I made it up to 8, but that was a couple weeks ago. 7 is a struggle but doable.
Will be resuming the routine today/tomorrow.
Anyway, I’m alive.
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Well, it’s been awhile.
I’m doing some lifting stuff again and needed a place to track it, so I’m back. I tend to get sucked in all sorts of weird directions here though, so I’ll try not to overthink anything this time.
I’m doing something thematically similar but different.
An abbreviated two-a-day double-progression AMRAP program with some autoregulation. 3x a week.
Goals are hypertrophy and increased strength-mobility, and maybe some speed-strength in there. Minimal high-effort lifting, with extra recovery.
Not sure strength-mobility is actually a thing… but greater mobility, and better strength and control through the increased range. I’m still doing some martial-artsy-things, so both are important. And I have various joint things that need fixed, so, stuff that fixes them.
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4 exercises: snatch-grip-high-pulls, dips, chins, jefferson squats.
SGHP at 3x3-5. Goal is to generate power to bring the bar to neck height before progressing.
Dips are 6-12. Chins are 3-5. Jefferson squats are 6-12, one set each leg, and with a completely upright torso; no cheating with deadlift muscles. Everything is pretty strict.
All sets are AMRAP to technical failure. If they slow down that’s fine, but no changing form just to get the reps.
Morning:
- 3 sets SGHPs to warm up and “prime” the body.
- 1 set Dips, 1 set Chins, 2 sets Jeffersons (1 each leg) AMRAP. (Stopping at the top of the double-progression range is fine too. If it’s 6-12 and can do more, it’s fine to stop at 12.)
- Autoregulation barometer: If the SGHPs weren’t high enough, or the reps are bad on anything else (30% or worse than last time) then stop here. No afternoon session.
Afternoon. A few hours later to let ATP recover, metabolites clear, etc. and hit it harder:
- No SGHPs.
- 1 set Dips, 1 set Chins, 2 sets Jeffersons (1 each leg) AMRAP.
- Negatives: A negative or two of Dips and Chins. 10 seconds, optional 5 sec pause in the middle.
- Progression: If the top end of the double-progression range is met in both sessions, weight goes up next time.
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I’m only a couple weeks in but it so far seems effective. Been kind of rough. Rapid mirror improvements. Lots of managing all the joint stuff I learned over the years: shoulders, arthritic-elbow, knee tracking stuff, costochondritis, etc.
Should be sustainable for several months at least. Mostly just trying to optimize hypertrophy stimulus per unit of time, recover from it, and not piss off my joints too badly.
Diet will be another post, but basically protein + good fats + vegetables + micronutrients + trace minerals/phytonutrients/antioxidants.
Anyway, hi again.
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The actual theory:
- 6 “effective sets” per week. (jeffersons are 6 per leg, so a bit more) This is a low end, but also the best stimulus-per-time-spent.
- 2-a-days give a longer rest, so more weight moved => greater stimulus per “effective set”
- velocity dropoffs and rep dropoffs to monitor “cns fatigue”
- negatives at the end to 1) cause additional fiber damage, 2) stimulate tendon and ligament adaptations
Which is supported by the diet with protein, collagen, omega-3s, lauric acid, and antioxidants.
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Good to see you back!
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Holy crap , welcome back bro.
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Good to see you back dude! Been thinking of you.
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Thank you all for the welcomes.
Glad to see everyone still keeping at it.
I’m also glad to see the amount of diversity, everyone just doing their own things and thinking for themselves.
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These feel embarrassingly low to post. But alternatively, I don’t need anything more to get a good stimulus, which is nice.
Morning:
SGHPs: 105x 3,3,3
Dips: 1 chain x 7
Chins: 1 chain x 2.5
Jefferson squats: 115 x 7R, 7L
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SGHPs are only making it to mid-sternum, working on height.
Chains are an experiment. Do they help with power development because they don’t let you slack at the end? Maybe?
Jeffersons were the most annoying lift to go back to. If I lean forward a bit I can lift 2-3x as much. So I’m doing the hard thing. Hip and groin are finally adapting. 115 is up from 95 2 weeks ago.
I’m finally addressing the “I can’t squat because my knee tendons snap at 90 degrees”.
Likewise could never bench or curl due to an arthritic elbow, so basically neglected my upper body. Managing ok this time.
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My kids watched the kids (6-12) sparring session at the martial arts school this weekend for the first time. They both climbed on me to see better, since there’s a short wall in the way.
Some of the parents seemed concerned my body would break or something. Awkwardly carrying a hundred-something pounds really isn’t much, but apparently I still project weakness. 
My daughter will be testing for her next belt this weekend, and I think she’s finally mature enough to start sparring too. She really wants to. I think it will be good for her.
It’s a mixed gender group. The coach specifically remarked on how happy he is that the boys seem terrified to fight the girls. One of the girls does a mean spinning back kick to the face.
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I’m probably going to just do both sessions in a single post in the future so I’m not spamming the forum.
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Evening session:
Dips: 1 chain x 5
Chins: 1 chain x almost 2
Jeffersons: 115 x 5R, 5L
Negative dips: chain x 1ish, but elbow hurt and the weight was new, so it was a fast descent
Negative chins: chain x 5-5-5. 5s to halfway, 5s hold, 5 to finish
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Joints are fiddly, knees clicky, but this is typical for the 2nd session. 15-20% dropoff is expected at the best of times.
Tomorrow is off, but I’ll probably spell out the nutrition stuff. Nothing too special, just some silly reasons I got there.
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My current nutrition was inspired by a fish.
A couple months ago, my daughter came home from school with a fish. A few kids “won” fish as a prizes for collecting points in some class activity. Which might have been a good idea, if the teacher had talked to us… and we had a fishtank… etc. etc.
Long story short, we have a fish tank now. And a few more fish.
One night, I was looking over the ingredients in the fish food – a highly recommended one from Reddit – and I realized the fish eat better than me. Not only is the food high in protein and healthy fats, but also hits all the other weird nutiritonal bases like phyotonutrients and antioxidants and probiotics. They even put reishi… because apparently fish can use adaptogenic herbs too…
So, after taking some time to understand what they were doing: high protein, omega 3s, digestion support with probiotics and fiber, immune support with reishi, allicin/garlic; two types of shrimp + shells; spirulina, iodine and potassium from kelp, and a host of other micronutrients… I decided to adapt it to a human equivalent.
After iterating on that for awhile, it ended up being basically a diet based on chard, skyr, sardines, with a few other things. Originally I did a chard and skyr smoothie, but had some issues one day and blamed it on the [raw] chard.
It’s currently a skyr/spirulina/blueberry/etc. smoothie + at least one tin of sardines + some reishi capsules + my normal meat and veggie meals.
I learned to make my own skyr, considering the volume and cost. High protein, low carb, and hundreds of billions if not trillions of probiotics. (1 gallon of whole milk turns into 1/2 gallon of skyr and 1/2 gallon of acid whey. I’ve got a process down now, with minimal active work.)
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Morning:
High Pulls: 105 x 3,4,3 – got a bit higher this time
Dips: 1 chain x 12
Chins: 1 chain x 3
Jeffersons: 115 x 7R, 7L – still starting with the right foward because I’m struggling with the uprightness of it
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Evening:
Dips: 1 chain x 11
Chins: 1 chain x 3
Jeffersons: 115 x 7R, 7L
Negative dips: 1 chain x 3-3-3 – these were supposed to be 5 sec
Negative chins: chain x 5-5-5
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Notes: decent day, dips and chins jumped up, jeffersons challenging so just trying to hit the minimum. I was surprised I nearly matched all reps in the 2nd session too.
Music helped. Before, I was very anti-hype-before-lifting, but I was also lifting different. Now with 2 amraps, and long recovery, it’s different.
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Brilliant. You’re back!
In the well-over-a-year since we chatted, did fitness play a regular role the whole time?
Personally, I’ve still been having 3 sessions a week, but these days they’re bare minimum, like a 2 mile run or a few rounds with the KB. My log is as boring as it gets.
I’ve pretty much not touched anything heavier than 135lb in months, but I’m ok with that. I’m doing what I can, for reasons, and like you, lifting is only one of many pieces of my life. It has its place, but I’m also not elevating it above that place.
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I like how you took “boy kibble” and made it into “boy fish food”, but what you wrote also really resonates with Stan Efferding’s “Vertical Diet”.
And to hearken back to other greats: Jack LaLanne would ask the question “Would you give your dog coffee and a cigarette for breakfast?” When the person would respond “No”, he’d follow up with “Why do you treat your dog better than you treat yourself?” These observations regarding pets vs us are all too true and have existed for quite some time. Really cool to see you take that connection and run with it.
If you’re willing, I’d love to hear your skyr making process. I’ve been consuming greek yogurt and skyr in the evenings, and being able to make my own would be pretty awesome.
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You know, not really. I did some garage archery stuff for a bit, and some messing around with the sword/spear stuff. And a fair amount of qigong/martial artsy stuff – standing, walking, mobility, meditation practices. More “art” than “martial”.
So no.
Work wasn’t great for awhile, then we had a small water leak that ended up being a big repair job – not because of the water damage, but because of the damage they caused in the process of investigating it. So that’s been a thing and still is a thing. Garage got rearranged and it’s only been recently that the gym area has been accessible.
And in the middle of all that, my company had a fairly massive round of layoffs because they wanted to throw money at AI. I didn’t take it personally because two CEOs also got laid off, among over 1000 others.
I’ve been on something of a sabbatical since then. Not urgently looking for work, so spending time on projects, skills, learning, reading, kids. But also dealing with contractors in my house for a couple weeks at a time for the last year.
But I’ve been on something of an optimization kick recently too: how to get the most out of the smallest investments in time and effort into learning classical chinese, growing bacteria for the fish tank, nutrition, making skyr, lifting, etc. Not because I’m pressed for time, or anything, but I have the mental bandwidth and I might as well apply my work skills to actually benefit myself.
Plus, I’m sort of biding my time to watch when/where this AI bubble cracks and the job market reverses.
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Haha, I hadn’t heard of “boy kibble”, but that made me chuckle when I looked it up.
I’m making another batch of skyr later today, so I’ll get photos too. It’s a two day process.
Day 1:
- heat whole milk up to 185 degrees F
- keep it at 185 for 25 minutes – this helps break the protein bonds
- cool it down to at least 115. You can do it quicker with a water bath or just wait.
- add plain skyr as a starter. I use 2 tbsp per 1/2 gallon; take some of the warm milk into a bowl, whisk in the skyr, then whisk that into the pot.
- let it sit with the lid on for 6-12 hours at 105-115 without touching it. It will start firming up probably around 4 hours and you’ll see separation between the yellow liquid whey and solid skyr. Getting it too hot can kill the bacteria, but too cold will just slow it down.
- stick it in the fridge overnight – this lets the proteins reform and everything firms up
Day 2:
- take a dull knife (butter knife, plastic knife) and cut squares through it
- pour it all into a strainer
- let it strain for another 8-12+ hours
- remove and store/eat
- optionally save the whey; I blend a bit into the smoothies, but I know it can be used for pickling vegetables and tenderizing meat, I just haven’t tried that yet
I think pictures will help, so I’ll do that later.
I actually do it with a temperature controller. I got one with the fish tank stuff to manage that temperature, and realized how useful it was so got a second one.
I plug a hot plate into it, put the probe in the pot, and then just set the temperature and it heats/holds it automatically. Was worth the investment for me. Wifi lets me track it from my phone.
Not necessary of course.
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Much appreciated dude! Curious if I could use the sous vide as a means to control temps.
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