I hear ya. And I think that’s what @MarkKO is saying. It’s not gonna be a comfortable feeling. Just trying to face my fear a little.
It’s not hard to try a ME DL, because it’s either going to be glued down, or I’m going to complete the lift. I have a harder time with fear on Squats and Bench because ME means some fail. I know, it’s a mental thing.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Also, I wouldn’t generally recommend any DL off the floor as an ME lift. Starting out, I reckon these would work well:
Upper
Incline BB press (wide, medium, narrow grip)
Close grip bench
Decline bench (wide, medium, narrow grip)
Pin press (wide, medium, narrow grip)
Floor press (wide, medium, narrow grip)
Ultra wide grip bench
Reverse grip bench
Lower
Wide stance squat
Narrow stance squat
Front squat
Box squat just below parallel (wide, narrow stance)
DL off pins or blocks around mid shin (conventional, sumo, snatch grip or semi sumo)
Chair deadlift
Squat off pins (wide, narrow, medium stances)
Front squat off pins
There are enough variations to keep you going for a while without needing any special equipment.
Yea I used to swim competitively in high school. I’d always come ranked in 3rd most times. There’s a chunk in my log where I was talking to Caesium about it.
So I suppose it’s different for everyone.
Once you’re accustomed to a 1,000m medley, 30 mins of typical freestyle, going a bit slower it’s all that bad.
I know that feeling. I’ve only dumped a squat once, and I’m glad there are bars to catch it, on the other hand, there’s a post somewhere in my log that details me dropping either 200 or 210 pounds directly onto the side of my face and neck while failing a bench attempt. No thanks to my spotter. It wasn’t really a drop, more like a slow crushing of my face and neck.
That’s not meant to scare you, or anything. I promise.
I’m not extremely well versed in Conjugate, but I’ve managed to grasp most of it, so Mark gave good extra pointers, on the DE and ME days.
Good grief. That’s terrible. Seriously scary. Thank goodness you were alright. I’ve never “dropped” a BP, just your typical, “I’m stuck and need an assist.” I don’t like the spotter’s hand in my line of vision, but your experience has me rethinking that.
I’d personally take a spotters crotch and hands in my line of vision any day.
But after that I’m waaaaay less anxious when it comes to benching. I either lock it out, or i re-rack it before I ever bench it, because I don’t have it yet.
That took some guts to get back on the horse after that.
This is an old story, but when I was first learning to lift, I somehow got this idea that Squating in the Smith looked “safer.” I unracked the bar, and fell right on my butt. I wasn’t hurt, but it really scared me. It took a long time to get that out of my head. I’m still a little bit afraid when I’m going to squat something heavy.
When I first started lifting I also flocked to the smith machine. Whenever I get on it now, it just feels weird because I can’t set up freely like I can with free weights.
Agree.
I hate the Smith for anything except Somersault Squats, and it’s a good way to setup a Glute Bridge because it’s off the ground a couple of inches so I don’t have to struggle to get my hips under the bar. I don’t do any conventional BB training on the Smith. It’s evil.
Lol agree. Sometimes I’ll use it for like 20 rep sets, but I take an ungoldly wide stance and lighten the weight a considerable amount.
LOG # 230
5 mile walk.
Have no idea what’s going on. That time of the month has rolled around, it’s severly fucking with my sciatic nerve and my back. Never felt cramps do that before. Haven’t really been able to move, and I have no idea why I forced myself to walk through this degree of cramping. Prior to, my back was feeling great, and I had small flare ups of sciatica that were easily soothed with DIY tissue work, and foam rolling, and some decompression stuff.
Yup, been there myself (hell, still there), it’s a big reason I went to 5/3/1 and the percentage based lifting, if you have a person or two you trust as a spotter it’s going to really, really help your mental state when attempting those bigger numbers, definitely talk to them about when you want them touching the bar though, so you both know exactly when help will be gotten/received. It will seriously do wonders for your confidence under the bar if you get a good spotter!
Remember ME work doesn’t have to be singles, even at westside it’s not always singles, you can vary it in pre-programed waves or some days you just might not feel a single in you due to pulls, or whatever. One of the easy ways I used with clients when starting out was to do a Sub 5rm. That is to say keep doing 5 rep sets and add weight until you finally don’t manage all 5 reps (so you end somewhere between 2-4 reps). Not only is it psychologically easier than a 1RM if you’re not used to them it’ll help give you a baseline for how strong you are in that lift. And down the line if you do hit 5 reps with it you know you go stronger.
That’s not an excuse for never doing singles and if you want to compete in powerlifitng you need to do singles but it can be a good way to baseline your strength on ME exercises, feel the grind under heavy weight, and work your way into it.
LOG # 231
Morning walk
~7 miles
Forgot my password and which email I used to the Biotest site. Whyyyy.
Box squat 
Seated OHP works well for me. The adjustable bench isn’t perfectly vertical and the tiny bit of rear lean/angle allows just enough space for my head. I can keep my joints where I want them and not hit myself in the face. I think I’ve probably had some of my best results from OHP on the Smith because it allows me to do partials or even go to failure (I train alone).
I also really like reverse lunges on the Smith. It forces a pretty good hip hinge (i.e. glute emphasis) and I don’t have to worry about my balance.
LOG # 232
Bench
165 7x4
Volume set: 135lbs 15 straight reps. I’ve found that tracking a single volume set for all of my lifts gives me a general idea of where my 1rm is, without testing my 1rm.
Assist: underhand machine rows: 100lbs AMRAP
lat pulldowns: 100bs 3x3, 40-50lbs AMRAP
Triceps pushdown: really light weight AMRAP
hanging leg raises: 4x10
Decompression work for my back.
