i just learned what farmers walks are and realized that I did them as a kid at the horse stables when carrying 5gal buckets full of water 
maybe thats where my killah grip comes from. Imma try these crazy pushups once I’m upper body DOMS recovered. thanks for the inspirations. By the way, what is this good for, other than looking cool: Decline pushups off of a box …
[quote]BreStruction wrote:
i just learned what farmers walks are and realized that I did them as a kid at the horse stables when carrying 5gal buckets full of water maybe thats where my killah grip comes from. Imma try these crazy pushups once I’m upper body DOMS recovered. thanks for the inspirations. By the way, what is this good for, other than looking cool: Decline pushups off of a box …[/quote]
Pectoralis Major, triceps, anteriour deltoid. Abs, as you should keep your body in line, ie-not sagging thru the middle.
Well today was my day off, but I’ve been running around like a nut since this morning. I finally got my brother go to the gym with me. He liked it, I think. He has some major shoulder issues… just general abuse and damage from being an ironworker mostly, but I think I finally convinced him to consult w/this orthopedist that I know. Anyhow, I was pretty distracted while I was at the gym. I nixed my usual Thursday leg training and just did some shoulder work. That made it easier for me to try to show him stuff. Also, legs were feeling like they could use some extra rest. I did a pretty intense lower day on Monday and then killed those farmers walks on Tuesday. Just pulling those 70 lb DB off the floor requires some leg power.
Shoulders
DB MP: 3x10x30’s
OH carries, each ~75 ft: single arm- 1x35, 1x40 (each arm), cross-carry 1x35’s (each side), both arms- 1x30’s
Lateral raises: 3x8x20’s
Cable rear delt thingies w/functional trainer: 3x10, each arm
I went to see my acupuncturist this afternoon. Ahhhh. I love that shit. Can’t totally explain why, but it’s THE best. While she was putting the needles in, I was telling her about my pushup fest yesterday. I said something in passing about how much fun it was. She laughed and told me that I had a different idea of what constituted “fun” than most people. I guess she’s right.
Got home and started eating: soup, yogurt, banana, cheese. Then my bff picked me up and we went to WholeFoods and ate some more. Nice.
Veggie: I think training is fun too. Glad you got to share your passion with your brother. Hopefully, he gets bit by the iron bug too.
I love working on shoulders. I’m sure you and your boss have looked at your bro’s yeah? Do you think he has a bone spur or something? Otherwise I’ve seen shoulder pain, even labral tears respond to soft tissue Tx like Graston Tech to the entire cuff including subscap and then rehab, we’ve also manipulated first rib with success in some cases. What I had to do with mine was get some prolo injections. PRP may be an option as well.
Since you are a partaker of acupuncture, have you ever tried PENS? In our sports clinic we used to run deep needle acupuncture and hook up stim to the needles to run it deep. Crazy stuff and pretty effective for certain conditions.
[quote]boondoc holiday wrote:
I love working on shoulders. I’m sure you and your boss have looked at your bro’s yeah? Do you think he has a bone spur or something? Otherwise I’ve seen shoulder pain, even labral tears respond to soft tissue Tx like Graston Tech to the entire cuff including subscap and then rehab, we’ve also manipulated first rib with success in some cases. What I had to do with mine was get some prolo injections. PRP may be an option as well.
Since you are a partaker of acupuncture, have you ever tried PENS? In our sports clinic we used to run deep needle acupuncture and hook up stim to the needles to run it deep. Crazy stuff and pretty effective for certain conditions.[/quote]
Boon- Yeah I’ve been working on my brother on and off for years. Sometimes friends and family make the worst patients though. I have no doubt that we could help him w/a lot of it, but for a number of reasons I think referring him out is best. He hasn’t had any imaging yet, more info is always better than less, so he needs to get on that. The ortho practice that I mentioned is an integrated MD/DPT/DC operation. My intuition is telling me that he may need prolo along w/all the other stuff.
I have never had PENS, but I’ve heard of it. Someday I’ll check it out… I’ll try anything at least once. I imagine it to be a very different experience than TCM acupuncture. I do love the deep needles, especially in the abdomen. Major energy movers, little pricks.
I also love working on shoulders. One of my favorite joints.
Shoulder work is awesome… some of my favorite, that & pulling 
deep needles in the abdomen don’t sound particularly fun to me - but i’ll admit i’ve never tried it. pushup fun i can understand.
That’s a lot of push-ups, I absolutely love that chest workout.
The reptile push-ups I learned from BodyRock (I watch it for the workouts, not to check her out…yeah) are killer as well, and gets the heart rate soaring.
I see your lateral raises with the 20s. I’m almost positive I couldn’t do it, but I might try tonight.
Hi Veggie,
Great stuff that you’re posting. I was wondering if you had any tips of suggestions for a really tight piriformis. My right side is quite flexible, but my left is stiff as a board. I mean, it’s uncanny the discrepancy. I had tried foam rolling, stretching, some self induced ART type of shit. But no dice. Thank you for any advice.
I’d like to know that too - I have piriformis syndrome which gives me a nice case of sciatica when I run. I generally deal with it using a hockey ball, and doing (yoga) pigeon pose, (plus occassional ART) but it doesn’t really go away completely.
Alright, so here’s the rub on piriformis syndrome.
I will give this disclaimer now. I am not a doctor. The following is my best hypothesis based on my understanding/knowledge of anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, etc. coupled with tons of clinical experience w/this problem.
You may be aware that many, if not most, people walking around on this earth, particularly in the “developed” world, have what is referred to as a “functional scoliosis”. This scenario leads both the shoulder girdle and the pelvic girdle to be what I like to think of as “out -of-round”. (Helps me think about it spatially.) Anyway, these are generally compensations for misalignments in more critical parts of the spine. The discussion of what causes that is pretty lengthy and probably boring, so I’ll leave it at that.
So, when you have a pelvic imbalance (out-of-round), generally, one side (sacroilliac joint) is moving too much and the other side not enough. My experience w/patients is that piriformis syndrome usually presents on the hypermobile side of the pelvis. My theory is that the deep-six lateral hip rotators, paricularly the piriformis because of it’s origin is on the sacrum, shorten to inhibit or “reign in” the excessive sacroilliac motion that is occurring. This helps to reduce excessive transfer of force to the leg and helps smooth out the gait cycle.
That is probably a very over-simplified theory, but it’s how I conceptualize it.
So, the best approach for piriformis syndrome in my experience is: 1) address the underlying issues in the spine, 2) restore symmetrical motion the the pelvis/sacroilliac joints, 3) perform soft-tissue techniques on the piriformis and other hip muscles.
Thanks for the input Veggie, in my case, the discrepancy is pretty bad.
So I was feeling particularly good these evening. All revved and ready to rock it in the gym. Here’s what I did.
Back/arms
BB bent over rows: 1x8x110, 3x6x110
HS high row: 2x8x160, 2x4x190
Stretchers: 2x10x60, 2x4x70
DB bench rows: 1x4x70, 1x5x70, 2x4x70, each side
SS: Skullcrushers/CGBP: 1x6/10x63, 1x6/6x63, 1x6/8x63 (Those non-standard ez bars are killing me w/strange #'s, oh well)
I told you that I was feeling fan-fucking-tastic, so I decided to join the pullup club here at PW… peer pressure is a bitch!
SS: BW dips/BW CG pullups: 1x4/4, 2x5/3
OH cable triceps ext w/rope handle: 3x10
Cable javelin-throw triceps ext: 3x8
Still feeling good, so I did some pulldowns to finish up.
HS Iso pulldown: 3x8x140
Wow Veggie - I can’t believe you felt like tackling pull-ups after doing all the rows. Pull-ups are always first thing for me because otherwise I can’t do them at all! Now I have to think about the cable javelin-throw maneuver. Butt slap for you. Good job!
I agree, training is fun! But I think most of us here would agree. I get the same head shaking from my friends. They just don’t get how lifting could be fun.
That last day looked like an awesome day in the gym.
Great job on the pullups!
Took these after my rockstar session this evening.
Feeling strong.
.
.