Coming Back From the Dead

Training Over 35 Lifter
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[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
You could just cut and paste your workouts from the other site. Not much effort needed. It’s nice to see some of the old faces coming back (what with Git and Kev back this week).

Sounds like you’re making amazing progress.[/quote]

Hi Brett, been a while since we chatted. Thought you’d gone away, nice to chat again. Yes, progress is amazing, considering how hard I’ve had it before.

Dude, I’m here because you asked. Thanks.

Thanks Snap, I feel very lucky. Nice to know hard work can pay off somehow. Speaking of luck, the boss gave me classes for next semester, exactly the ones I was wanting. Santa came early this year.

Quite good, Damutt. He pushes me really hard, but the best part is he’s helping me get through the psychological blocks. As in, when you spend years training with little to show for it, despair can get pretty deep rooted. As long as I don’t give up and do what he tells me, I get respect.

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Awesome! I’m super stoked for you Cav. Keep us posted.

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Awesome X2, looking forward to what happens, we know your wheat, now we’ll see what they make out of you.

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Thanks, Jjackkrash! Thanks, Dude! “We know your wheat” . . . oh dear, is this more young folk jargon?

The trainer had me do kettlebell swings. Fifty pounds. For warmup. Then he had something fun: deadlifts off 2 in blocks. The catch (there’s always a catch) was that I had to spread my feet for a super sumo position. As in get my feet next to the blocks. Did 5 reps. More weight, 5 more. More weight, 5 more. Then he told me go balls to the wall. Did 10 reps of 205.

Happiness is your trainer saying “That’s more than I expected you to do”.

He wanted to do squats, but Matt had some guys on the monolift, so he had me do lunges instead. Still trying to get the hang of those. Got to the point he thinks I can use weight next time. He says my legs are strong but posterior isn’t, which is why deadlifting is easier for me than squatting.

Then reverse hypers . . . one leg at a time. Got through them. Was using the same weight a month ago for both legs. Yeah.

Panting like crazy, but conditioning seems to be getting a bit better.

Used the pulldown machine for crunches. Really burned the abs.

I always bug him to let me work with the grip machine, so he let me finish up with that. Good workout - actually seem to be making progress.

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Nice work stranger. I’ve generally made gains when an extra set of eyes were double checking form. Accountability is an awesome byproduct.

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Would you rather be the chaff. That goes in a pile behind the barn with other things. I switched to sumo on the DL’s, decided to give it a try for 1 year. I think you suggested that a while ago. I will be posting regularly, posted some pic’s of fall project. Have a good one.

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Thanks, Hawkman. It’s very useful to have someone giving me feedback, especially with an unfamiliar and tricky movement.

Dude, hmm, well I guess that makes sense. Will want to see how sumo works for you. As for me, it’s up to the trainer how I go. I get the impression they’re comfortable with regular, since that’s what he had do when we tried some ordinary DL couple weeks ago. He had me do super sumo as a point - almost everything he has me do is assistance to build up some specific part.

I’ve tried both styles DL and didn’t notice any particular lifting gains from either. Sumo seems to make a bit more sense, since I have long legs and like to get them out of the way.

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Time will tell , will give it everything.

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When I used to read your log the frustration in your posts was almost palpable.

Now all I’m getting is confidence and enthusiasm.

I’m really pleased for you.

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Hi Brett! Well yes, I was horribly frustrated. Training at this new place is really helping. The guys are tough but understanding. I’m starting to see actual progress. It’s hard work, but in ways I haven’t tried before.

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Warmup on treadmill that doesn’t get plugged in. Two sets . . . strange. Didn’t seem to wear me out.

Trainer put me through some movement drills to see what’s going weird. He took videos and will study them.

Then on the bench. Fat bar. Did 5 reps. He put on more weight. Five more. More weight. Five more. Getting harder. More weight. They’re yelling at me “GET IT UP!!!” I did it, all 5. Then he told me it was 150 pounds.

Less than 2 months ago, I could barely do 155 on a normal for one max rep. Now I’m doing that much for five. ON A FAT BAR. *** PR *** PR *** PR ***

Pushups to failure, 2 sets.

Thick rope pulldowns supersetted with bent over rows.

Shrugs with 70 lb kettlebells, supersetted with hammer curls.

And did some grip machine. Loaded up more weight than before and did it.

I’M STOKED.

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[quote]cavalier wrote:
Warmup on treadmill that doesn’t get plugged in. [/quote]

Functions like a prowler that way.

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Hmm, Snap, now that you mention it, that’s true. BTW, they have a prowler - and a sled - and 2 different size tires - you name it, they got it.

The trainer suggested I drop by the old gym once a week and do some cardio. Even though my conditioning is getting better, he wants me to work on it so he can pound me on lower body stuff.

So I went today and did 40 min on the elliptical. OK, I broke it up in 10 min segments, but still was panting. Got a chance to see Steve, the guy who works there and got me into Ludus Magnus. Hadn’t seen him in about 5 or 6 weeks. He was shocked . . . said I looked like a different person . . . like I had taken something off the waist and put it around shoulders. I wanted to find out what improvements he had made there but the boss pulled him away and put him to work.

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That sounds good. Next video is when.

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Ah come on, Dude, I’m terriby shy. Will ask about video, don’t know if they think it gets in the way.

Today was SQUAT DAY (cue the omninous music). Warmup was stretching legs, then light goblet squats with kettlebells. Then over to the monolift. I was with 2 other guys and a girl. They had a safety bar on the rack and a box to squat to.

It was hard figuring out what he had in mind. He kept saying “Sit back!”, but if I did that, I would fall over. So you bend forward, but then he tells you to keep back up. I think I finally figured it out. We did set after set after set. We were supposed to hold the straps in front, and when we squatted, that landed onto legs, but he didn’t want hands on legs . . . anyway, think I got it. I finally got up to one 45 plate on each side and did 3 reps - barely, but it came up. And it’s probably my imagination, but I swear he had me sit on the box longer than anyone else. At any rate, he said I was doing OK so that’s good.

He admitted that the setup was much harder than a regular squat, so it’s normal to take weight down.

On the final reps, I could barely grind it up. Couldn’t help but lean forward. He says that’s a sure sign my butt & hams are way weaker than quads. So he had the others doing pistols while I did leg curls and hypers with a 25 plate. Did 12 reps with the plate, then checked and he said he just wanted 10. Yeah, I’m getting the hang of these things.

Then he put us on a circuit of shrugs with 70 lb kettlebells and seated calf raised. No set reps, just keep going until you get burn and/or carried off on a stretcher.

I tried some grip machine, but was too wasted to do much.

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Damn Cav, you’re growing (up) before our eyes. Great work.

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Hi, Punnyguy! Sure hope so, I may be a powerlifter yet.

Visiting family for the holidays, so will be a while til the next post.

Upper body. Face pulls with thick rope. Waist pulls with thick rope. Straight arm pulldowns with thick rope. And that was just warmup.

New twist: do accessory stuff before bench.

Get on reverse hyper machine, grab belt, and do one arm pull. Superset with pec dec. The pulls were no big deal, but had to do 20 reps on pec dec - man, that was killing me. Probably safe to say my chest is not slow twitch fiber.

Bench. Put on a couple of small plates and chains. Do speed reps for triples. The first few sets were really frustrating - just couldn’t get any speed going. Then something clicked, and it started whizzing up. Really weird, all the mind games you have to play.

Over to incline bench, DB press to failure. 35 x 15. Rest, then 35 x 8.

Face down on incline, take 8 lb DB, kickbacks for 6 sets, you read it, 6. Got 10 reps each time.

Hammer curls to failure. 25 x 15, rest, 25 x 8.

(Hmmm . . . arm curls . . . cardio . . . is he trying to turn me into a bodybuilder? AIEEEEEE!!!)

Finished up with grip machine.

Thought I had it tough, but saw some other guys on the monolift. They were squatting the safety bar with kettlebells attached with bands. Ouch.

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Everyone have a nice Christmas? Took off a week from training to visit family & friends. You think you’re going to avoid the fattening food, but forget it. My sister-in-law makes a mean pumpkin pie: big bowls of steaming hot pumpkin dusted with brown sugar and pecans. Just try and say no. They gave me a great present: gift card to Golden Corral.

Visited an old friend from high school. Nice guy, has his own business (machine shop). Always had a strong grip, crushes my hand when we shake. This time we shook hands, and I was crushing him. He took me a Mexican place, lots of food and friendly waitress.

Anyone else notice how hard it is to eat when traveling? I’d stop and have a triple cheese burger or a mound of Texas BBQ and an hour later stomach was growling. Does driving chew up calories?

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Sounds like a great Christmas, I to have the same problem staying away from that holiday food. Training is lookin good , heres to another year Cav. Did you post your goals .

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Thanks, Dude. Are you going to have to make friends with Mr Treadmill too?

I posted goals in the goal thread, but briefly, want to keep gaining, hope to compete in a full PL meet in 2013 with reasonable numbers. Want to get lifts to total 1000, if that doesn’t happen in 2013, I’m sure it will in 2014.

Stopped at the regular gym to do some cardio, 40 mins. Not quite so tough as before. Was really curious about overhead press, hadn’t done them in ages, but shoulders had grown some in the last month or two.

OH press - 105 lbs x 1 ** PR **

before could only get to 95 before getting crushed, hope to keep the gains coming.

Regular trainer couldn’t make it today, so the other trainer let me work with his group. Told him I was refreshed from vacation and could take anything . . . probably shouldn’t had said that.

Squats - regular bar on monolift, no plates, chains, sit to box. Sets of 5 reps. First few sets fine, they kept adding a chain each set. The last 2 or 3 sets were definitely tough, but I did them. I swear, these people are making me pause longer on the box than anyone else. By the last set, they had every damn chain in the place on the bar. They estimated 300 to 400 lbs at starting position - I though it felt heavy!

Then deadlifts for speed. He wouldn’t let me go over 135, the other guys did 185. That’s easy for me, and I thought I was going fast, but he wasn’t happy and blamed my hams and posterior.

Then some cycles of leg extension / leg curl / hypers w 25 lb plate. I can do almost the whole stack on the extension, but can barely manage a third of the curl stack - man, talk about imbalances.