I think you may have rolled a bit too harshly. I would have suggested a foam roller.
Thanks for that vid. I use pvc at home and use a softball (not very appropriately named) to get the tough spots but I never feel bruised.
james
CK, james - I did start with the foam roller and then went on to the PVC. I’ve never rolled my calves at all before (just stretched them) so maybe I had lots of adhesions? Like the first time I did my IT band it was agony, but now it’s quite bearable. Or I could have just gone at it like a “bull in a china shop” which is typical for me. They felt better by Sunday. Next time I think it won’t be so bad.
Alexus - Thanks for the vid. It’s good to see that at least I was doing it correctly. And I like the idea of using the other leg to add more force. I’ll try that next time.
01/08/2011
Back Squats @ 363 lbs x 5-5
Leg Curls @ 100 lbs x 8-8-7
Weighted push ups @ 44 lbs x 20-15-15 (supersetted with) EZ Curls @ 99 lbs x 6-6-6
Ab rollouts (off knees) x 10-10-10
Got a confidence boost tonight ahead of next week’s squats. They were not as hard as I thought they were going to be despite raising the weight 17 lbs. My current 5 rep PR is 368 so next week’s 374 will be a PR attempt.
My second set was better than the first again. The same as the last three weeks. Can’t think why.
Tonight’s squats. Note the buckle on the 5th rep of the 1st set. Kept tighter on the 2nd set. Must keep hitting the abs hard.
5X5X365 squat? Showing off again I see.
[quote]bulldog9899 wrote:
5X5X365 squat? Showing off again I see.[/quote]
I’ll nip this in the bud straight away this time, it was just 2 sets!.
I write it 5-5 to avoid the confusion caused by putting 2 x 5. Here in the UK we always put sets first then reps, but I’ve seen it written different ways on here. Seems that the order varies depending upon where you live. I know that Russians put it the other way round.
Maybe I’ll start writing 2 sets of 5 reps.
Thanks Bulldog anyway.
OH I see.My mistake carry on 
Or I could have just gone at it like a “bull in a china shop” bad.
I like the idea of using the other leg to add more force. I’ll try that next time.
Heh. I’ve heard mixed things… Some people say that ART done right does leave you bruised. Other people say that ART done wrong leaves you bruised. To tell you the truth - if you do find it gets better that fast then maybe I’m doing it wrong in being too gentle. I find I need to release my calves daily, for instance. Maybe what I need to do is really get stuck in there and not be afraid to bruise them a little and deal to it properly.
My second set was better than the first again. The same as the last three weeks. Can’t think why.
Maybe your body was still warming up for the first set? I typically find the second set easier than the first - so I’ve tried adding another warm-up set to see if that helps. Time will tell.
Great determination on your squats. I kinda miss that. I do.
Like Alexus, I find my first working set usually feels like ass. The second set is usually the easiest. None of your squats look particularly easy yet you continue to push them out. It’s funny how we all look different when we do it. A friend of ours joked that BB looks like he’s struggling when he benches 135 yet he has the national bench record.
[quote]MattyXL wrote:
Funny you mention the elbows tucked with the push downs, I started making sure my elbows are tucked when doing skull crushers and french presses as I had a habit of flaring them, definitely hits my tris harder and takes some strain off the elbows…
Great work as usual bro[/quote]
What you guys need is a boyfriend (or girlfriend/wife) standing behind you when you do these continually poking you verbally to pull your elbows in.
The different nomenclature for sets/reps sometimes confuses me. I always do sets x reps x weight.
Nice work as usual.
I’ve never been bruised by ART, which I get regularly. It can be very painful during the treatment, but I [almost] always end up leaving feeling better than when I arrived.
Those squats looked smooth and deep.
Most of the time my second set is better than the first. No idea why.
beautimus squatting FB.
I’ve taken to writing it out like
365x5
365x5
Etc.
Yeah, the Russians do it differently from how I’m used to, so calculating my Sheiko routines really takes effort.
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
[quote]MattyXL wrote:
Funny you mention the elbows tucked with the push downs, I started making sure my elbows are tucked when doing skull crushers and french presses as I had a habit of flaring them, definitely hits my tris harder and takes some strain off the elbows…
Great work as usual bro[/quote]
What you guys need is a boyfriend standing behind you when you do these continually poking you[/quote]
I think if I had Matty’s boyfriend standing behind me continually poking me while I lifted I would feel slightly unnerved and a little distracted.
And Matty gets awful jealous and he’s a big guy, so I don’t think it’s a good idea.
Alexus - I actually warmed up extra thoroughly yesterday because I had the same thought. Maybe it’s because the weight is less shocking the 2nd time around.
O - I think they looked hard because 1) they were and 2) I’ve started holding my breath throughout the entire rep which causes the phenomenon known in the trade as “beetroot head”.
KP - What I meant was it felt bruised, there was no actual bruising. I just think they were really tight and I was rolling a tight muscle. Nomenclature? Nice word! I’ll try and throw that into a conversation tomorrow.
Joe - Thanks. Seems like it’s a common feeling.
dday - Thanks. I’ll start doing it like you suggested. I’ve always logged my weights like I do in my workout diary, but then it was only for my eyes and I knew what I meant. I also had other abbreviations like “flyes I.F.B bench”, which stood for “immediately followed by”.
cav - Yeah I discovered the same thing with Russian programmes.
Walk around the Usk Resovoir. 6 or 7 miles.
Our hour long walk around the resovoir before lunch turned into a 2 hour 15 minute slog when we seriously under estimated how far it was around. Had a very late lunch as a result.
Couple of pics.
Very nice, looks very pretty and I bet it was nice and relaxing. Unless you carried some DBs around it. You didn’t do that did you?
james
Damn bro, coming to your log makes me wheep for my main man Bobby Ross…
PRETTY LITTLE TREES BOBBY RIP
I think you need to have a crappy first work set, it probably initiates the cns or some such shite. But even in 5/3/1 where the first work set tends to feel light, it always feels “not quite there” compared with the other sets.
Dang man is everything around you beautiful?