Chasing Big Strick

Training Over 35 Lifter
181

Loooks great! Nice and strong. I love the way you are able to get you feet back. The only thing about that is in NASA your feet must be flat on the floor. Im not sure how many others. But still, the fact that you can get them back that far is good. I have a lot of trouble.

Get some wrist wraps. No kidding. You wont believe the difference. They take the shock out of the bar. I like Inzer, wraps anyway.

Hows your arch? Mine sucks. Your so thick its hard for me to tell. Are you able to pinch your shoulder blades together?

Your deads look good. As far as stance goes, Skid’s right everybody’s different. Ill say this when I pull conventional, I start with my feet a lot closer together. It doesn’t feel right until I start to pull. It helps me to pull back. I’ve started to pull Sumo. Its a lot easier on my back.

182

[quote]63Galaxie wrote:
Loooks great! Nice and strong. I love the way you are able to get you feet back. The only thing about that is in NASA your feet must be flat on the floor. Im not sure how many others. But still, the fact that you can get them back that far is good. I have a lot of trouble.

Get some wrist wraps. No kidding. You wont believe the difference. They take the shock out of the bar. I like Inzer, wraps anyway.

Hows your arch? Mine sucks. Your so thick its hard for me to tell. Are you able to pinch your shoulder blades together?

Your deads look good. As far as stance goes, Skid’s right everybody’s different. Ill say this when I pull conventional, I start with my feet a lot closer together. It doesn’t feel right until I start to pull. It helps me to pull back. I’ve started to pull Sumo. Its a lot easier on my back. [/quote]

63G- Thanks. It felt heavy. I can tell that my body is worn down. I am going to force myself to go lighter this week. After my max tests, I am going to go one day a week, like a lot of the folks here.
I did not know that about competition. I will have to work on that. Thank you for the heads up!

I will get some wristwraps. I can’t bench enough to justify them. On the pin presses, however, I think my wrists would appreciate them.

My arch feels tighter than when I started. But I notice it ease up from time to time. I have to really pay attention to it. When I first setup, I am up on my traps and rear delts…until I lift off, then it slips just a bit. I am still on my upper back, though. And I do draw in my shoulder blades. But I, honestly, don’t know if that holds through the lift. I will pay better attention next time.

I noticed, once I drew my stances in a bit, that when I first started to pull, it felt a lot like my leg presses used to. Which is good, as I USED to be able to leg press a good bit. Now, if I can just get off my toes!

Thanks for the input. Hopefully, oneday, I’ll be benching in your neighborhood. Of course, you will have moved on by then :slight_smile:

183

Your more than ready for some wraps. I start wrapping @ 225. Pulling in your stance could help that. Your toes I mean.

184

Mother would be proud. Great workout, awesome on the high pins. That competition technique shit is really important to stay on top of. Sure makes it sweet to have such a great group of guys to keep you on your guard. You’re getting some great numbers up there, keep up the dedication and remember to have a good time while you’re at it. Stay strong brother.

185

[quote]63Galaxie wrote:
Your more than ready for some wraps. I start wrapping @ 225. Pulling in your stance could help that. Your toes I mean.[/quote]

I’ll look into getting some wraps. Anything in particular that I should look for in them (specs)?

186

[quote]streamline wrote:
Mother would be proud. Great workout, awesome on the high pins. That competition technique shit is really important to stay on top of. Sure makes it sweet to have such a great group of guys to keep you on your guard. You’re getting some great numbers up there, keep up the dedication and remember to have a good time while you’re at it. Stay strong brother.[/quote]

Streamline- She is definitely glad that I am back at it. And she and I are both working on my brother. He is the hoss. He has so much potential! Just so little time. He really needs to make it, for his now and his future.

I could not agree with you more! The folks on this forum are absolutely awesome. I’ve never been associated with a group so encouraging of one another, concerned for one another (in lifting and in life) and willing to go out of their way to help one another. I feel very fortunate to be here.

The numbers are getting there. I am happy with some, disappointed in others and satisfied with none of them. This is definitely about the journey!

187

Like I said, I like Inzer. Iron Z 20" is what I use.

188

Speaking of mother, what are you guys doing training on Mother’s Day? I’m surprised you’re still alive!

Awesome numbers on the bench.

189

[quote]sfp wrote:
Speaking of mother, what are you guys doing training on Mother’s Day? I’m surprised you’re still alive!

Awesome numbers on the bench.[/quote]

For some of us it’s been a close call. I disagree with the Hallmark Advertising Days, but I’m forced into emergency gift-buying mode, now, lest I have to bring out both a space heater and flame-retardant gear.

190

[quote]skidmark wrote:
sfp wrote:
Speaking of mother, what are you guys doing training on Mother’s Day? I’m surprised you’re still alive!

Awesome numbers on the bench.

For some of us it’s been a close call. I disagree with the Hallmark Advertising Days, but I’m forced into emergency gift-buying mode, now, lest I have to bring out both a space heater and flame-retardant gear.
[/quote]

HAHAHAH!

191

[quote]sfp wrote:
Speaking of mother, what are you guys doing training on Mother’s Day? I’m surprised you’re still alive!

Awesome numbers on the bench.[/quote]

Thanks, sfp…

My mom lives in Illinois. So, while calling her twice, I wasn’t able to go do anything with her.
My wife was hit up 1st thing this morning. Because of her gastric bypass, what she eats, and wants to eat, is limited. Translation…no breakfast in bed. As soon as she was up, though, my daughter (8 in 5 days…shares her mom’s b-day) gave her the present and card. No patience…

Throughout the day we did things to help her out. Things she would have normally done and would have been taken for granted. And we always postpone going out for Mother’s Day, for 2 reasons…1)the restaurants are too crowded and 2)if we wait a week, we can go out for a less crowded Mother’s Day AND to celebrate their birthdays.

As for working out, I think she prefers me to. I am in a much better mood once I have played with my weights.

192

My wife came down with a fever on Saturday, and has been down for the count since. No church, though she did get up to enjoy breakfast, and later lunch (all made by yours truly) with me.

Sounds like you’re smart on what you do for mother’s day. We tend to be less sentimental and more practical like that, too.

193

[quote]LittleStrick wrote:
Bench Workout - Mother’s Day edition…
[/quote]

Strong pressing there, LS!!

194

[quote]sfp wrote:
My wife came down with a fever on Saturday, and has been down for the count since. No church, though she did get up to enjoy breakfast, and later lunch (all made by yours truly) with me.

Sounds like you’re smart on what you do for mother’s day. We tend to be less sentimental and more practical like that, too.[/quote]

I’m sorry to hear about your wife being sick. I hope that she recovers quickly. I’m sure that you and the kids will nurse her to health, though.

We kind of have to be practical this time of year. Starting on April 30th and ending on Father’s Day, we have the 2 holidays and 6 birthdays to celebrate. Just can’t let it get out of hand…

195

[quote]SteelyD wrote:
LittleStrick wrote:
Bench Workout - Mother’s Day edition…

Strong pressing there, LS!![/quote]

Thanks SteelyD. Funny, I just watched your bench vid and was noticing that your grip is just slightly closer than mine. I put my index fingers on the smooth spots. Then I saw meats comment. If you go with that, I think we will have the same.

BTW-Great work!

196

Good PR and God Awful Form Day…

I started out with squats, as usual. After starting with 5 minutes of stretching, a span on the treadmill and 4 warmup sets (2 with bw and 2 with the bar), I abandoned squats, due to the pain in the front of my hips. I was, obviously, aggravated by the whole thing. So, I decided to just move on to deadlift and see how far I could take it. There is good news and bad. The good news is 4 PRs. The bad news is my form sucked.

The first thing I noticed is that the weight is getting in front of me because a) I am getting on my toes and b) both seem to be a result of my butt coming up before the rest of me. In both DL vids you’ll see that I have good setup, but my ass comes up before the bar ever moves, pushing me forward onto my toes and getting the weight in front of me once I start pulling. This form is worse than that of last week. I can only surmise that the causes are 1) I am using heavier weights and drifting back to my strong spot (lower back) and 2) I was trying to be more explosive from the bottom (I initially was explosive. Unfortunately, it was limited to my ass rising and my shoulders lagging behind). Something else to work on.

The Workout…

Squats
barx10x2

Deadlifts
135x10
225x5
315x1
355x1 – (PR +5#)

375x1 – (PR +25#)
400x1 – (PR +50#) - I was too tired to hold my back tight. God awful form…but it went up.
WARNING!! You may herniate a disc by watching the form in this pull!

345x3

Rack Pulls
400x4 – (PR +1 rep)

Bent Over Row
225x8x3

Shrugs
225x12

Power Shrugs
275x10x2

Close Grip Pulldowns
160x15
160x12

Slightly less volume, but I was drained after the DLs.

Thursday will be deload day #1 (bench) and Sunday day #2 (lower body/back). I may just go ahead and max on bench next Tuesday.

Good news is that I not only hit my revised DL goal 375#, but also hit my original goal of 400#, 2 weeks early, even with awful form. Now, I have 2 weeks to see if I can pull it again with proper form.

I think I have finally formulated a deadlift workout, concentrating on speed and form, with just enough heavy sets to keep the edge. Since I only have 400# at home, there is no hurry to push the weight right now. Form and speed…Speed and form…

197

Nice PRs there LS!

198

[quote]soldog wrote:
Nice PRs there LS![/quote]

Thanks soldog. My ego (want to hit 400#) and prudent self (Want to continue to improve form) got in a knockdown drag out. Ego won. Fortunately, I seem to have escaped without any physical detriment. Hopefully, with ego sated and no more weight to add (for now), I can get my head out of my @ss and concentrate on doing it right.

The encourgaing thing is that I was right in thinking that I would see initial jumps in maxes, as my body gets used to lifting again. I just hope it holds true for bench!

199

Anyone have any advice on deload days? Never really done one. Are there “guidelines” like…don’t use more than xx% of your 1RM…cut your volume in half…or the like??

Thanks

200

[quote]LittleStrick wrote:
Anyone have any advice on deload days? Never really done one. Are there “guidelines” like…don’t use more than xx% of your 1RM…cut your volume in half…or the like??

Thanks[/quote]

80% of intensity (main lifts) or 60% of volume (assistance lifts) is what I’ve read or understood. Or misunderstood for that matter since I’m crappy at deloads.