Just my luck, I pick a username that reminds you of a car wreck. Glad to hear everyone survived.
Many years ago, I was a fanatic in role playing games (non computer). My favorite character was called Cavalier, a martial artist / strongman. Sort of what I wanted to be. So it seemed a good choice for the site. If you’d like to forget the crunching metal, you can call me Phil.
Oh, and I love Manuel…
Nice PR Cav, keep at it. 300 around the corner and then 3 wheels, you’ll get it!
Thanks, Black Irish. Making a point of keeping the feedings coming.
Chi Town, I can almost taste the 300. Now if I can just get the bench & squat to move up like this.
Speaking of squats, that was today’s workout. Considered Brett’s suggestion of getting rid of the mirror. Solution: reverse the pins in the rack so I faced outward to the room. Stack up the plastic thingies for the box and give it a whirl. Seemed to work, felt more stable. Pretty smooth, only near the end did things start getting rough.
45 x 10 easy
65 x 7
75 x 7
85 x 5
85 x 5 hit failure, had to pause, then grind the bar up.
That last bit is really puzzling me. Does the technique make it hard to squat? Or am I damn weak? One theory, my hips and legs are strong except in one tiny area where I have to get out of the hole. Maybe there’s one tiny muscle somewhere that isn’t developed like the others and that’s the one I need at the bottom.
pissed at the squats, so plowed into leg extensions
6 x 16
10 x 12
13 x 8
14 x 6
14 x 6
14 x 6
this was up a bit, however, have done leg x’s many years ago with no discernable improvment in leg strength, so don’t know if it means anything.
considered doing calf work, but trying to keep squats from rolling onto toes from heels. maybe shouldn’t get calves any stronger. finished up with misc arm work, lo intense.
(“Is not rat! Is Siberian hamster!”)
[quote]cavalier wrote:
(“Is not rat! Is Siberian hamster!”)[/quote]
dont worry,all you over 35 crowd, Cav hasnt gone mad, he’s from Barcelona
Bench day. Followed Git’s program:
45 x 8
95 x 5
115 x 3
135 x 1
145 x 1
115 x5 x5 x5
They were easy. Easy! EASY!!! Didn’t even bother with a spotter for the 145, it just bounced right up.
It must be the rack work I was doing. That made me struggle to tighten my body to balance the bar. Today, everything automatically tightened - back, hips, legs were solid. The bar balanced like a dream. Now I see what was going wrong all this time.
I was in a funk, but this cheered me up.
DB bicep row
30 x 20
40 x 10
40 x 10
45 x 5
45 x 6
45 x 6
CG pushups
x17
x17
x17
Still going up on these. Discovered tightening butt and everything else helps - yeah, I know, the bleeding obvious.
Pec Dec (different machine)
3 x 15
4 x 12
5 x 8
6 x 6
7 x 5
Finished up with partial dips - not strong enough to do the real things.
Well, that lasted all of one day.
Friday went back to the gym and did some misc work. Squats: doing just fine except down at the bottom where it seems just impossible to get out of the hole, even with puny weights. Possibilities:
So I started lots of broomstick squats, just go to bottom, up a few inches, down, up and so on. Working the bottom position. OMG, what a chore. I can do it, but wipe out after a half dozen reps. Wow.
Then did some rack bench, pressing just the upper couple inches, got up to 205 lbs.
Then bar rows, working sets of 105 x 5 for 5 sets.
The next day I had the most godawful ache in my left side you could imagine. Worse than DOMS. Treated it, massaged, rested, the works. Seemed to settle down by Sunday. Went back to gym today.
(Note: when a gym closes on Sun for Easter, you can bet the mortgage Mon with have it crammed like a sardine can.)
Deadlifts: light day
135 x 10
145 x 8 for 5 sets
DB bicep row
30 x 20
40 x 11
45 x 7 for 5 sets
still going up, but not so easily
CG Pushups
WHAM!!! Left side kicked up with a vengeance. Couldn’t do a single one. It was the attempt to straighten torso for pushing that did it.
That’s it. It was the rack bench. I just had too much weight on it. But it wasn’t that much weight… not for someone who spent years to be a strong lifter.
Polly,
Dunno what’s up with the squats. I really can’t fathom it. Can you leg press? Can you hack squat?
And as for RPGs, I can out-geek you. I have seven D&D games in print. This is one of mine.
[quote]Canada_K wrote:
Polly,
Dunno what’s up with the squats. I really can’t fathom it. Can you leg press? Can you hack squat?
And as for RPGs, I can out-geek you. I have seven D&D games in print. This is one of mine.
[/quote]
Yep, can leg press just fine. Haven’t hack squatted in a while, but used to be able to do it. Not sure sure what my depth was.
Nice RPG, but sorry, you’re out-geeked. I created and published an entire superhero RPG (Vindicators) on my own. Promoted at conventions, the works.
“Polly! There’s sugar in the salt shaker! What am I paying you for?”
“My staying power?”
I noticed on my squats that my support muscles were weak. The adductors and the like. My knees were caving in. It just took time and effort. Not that my squat is great, but it is better than what it was. I guess all I have to offer is time and patience. It will get better. Love the Fawlty Towers stuff. Shame it was only one season.
Holy #$%&! I actually know of Vindicators. I stand in awe.
[quote]username42 wrote:
I noticed on my squats that my support muscles were weak. The adductors and the like. My knees were caving in. It just took time and effort. Not that my squat is great, but it is better than what it was. I guess all I have to offer is time and patience. It will get better. Love the Fawlty Towers stuff. Shame it was only one season.[/quote]
There were two seasons of Fawlty Towers,3 or 4 years apart, 12 episodes in total.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say your squat issue is glute weakness and lack of activation. Which is entirely fixable.
Kent, I’m impressed. You really know your RPG’s. Want a few free copies, I have some laying around?
Don’t seem to have problems with shaking knees, just murder trying to get out of the hole, torso wants to lean forward, that sort of thing. My glutes seem strong, but maybe not controlling them well. I’m just going to beat it to death with low squats and see what happens. Will make a point of tightening glutes.
Love Fawlty Towers, but have another BBC show I really love. It’s almost as funny as Fawlty but ran for 5 or 6 seasons. It’s called My Hero, only saw it on one PBS station here in the states. Never met anyone who heard of it, but when I show them videos, they bust a gut laughing. Anyone heard of it? Sample dialogue:
“I’m sorry, Janet, I’ve been nothing but trouble since we got married.”
“You haven’t been any trouble, George. Except when you got us arrested for shoplifting.”
“The sign did say, Everything Must Go!”
“It could have happened to anyone.”
R I P Gary Gygax and David Arneson
[quote]cavalier wrote:
So I started lots of broomstick squats, just go to bottom, up a few inches, down, up and so on. Working the bottom position. OMG, what a chore. I can do it, but wipe out after a half dozen reps. Wow.
[/quote]
Hey Cav, at the bottom of the lift (out of the hole) it is mostly hips and hams. It’s common to be weak at this point.
Similar to you, I just started working the bottom portion. Failure at the top is rare. Go slightly below parallel, then up to about the half squat height where it transitions to quads (somewhat higher than you are going) and then back down in a continuous motion. And really focus on form - your upper back tightness, lower back arch, chest up, the weight distribution on your feet and so on.
Joe mentioned glute activation. Try doing some glute bridges and hamstring curls before you squat to get those muscles engaged.
It has only been a couple sessions but I feel progress. 3-4 sets x 5-6 reps.
Give it a go.
[quote]cavalier wrote:
Love Fawlty Towers, but have another BBC show I really love. It’s almost as funny as Fawlty but ran for 5 or 6 seasons. It’s called My Hero, only saw it on one PBS station here in the states. Never met anyone who heard of it, but when I show them videos, they bust a gut laughing. Anyone heard of it?[/quote]
Before My Hero Ardol O’hanlon starred in Father Ted, have you seen that?. It was pretty funny. It was a Channel 4 programme so might not have been shown overseas. My all time favourite BBC comedy has to be “I’m Alan Partridge” with Steve Coogan. It’s fantastic, but the humour is much more subtle and awkward, kind of like The Office (the original British version) but better IMO.
Matty: I didn’t hear about Gary Gygax and David Arneson! Wow. They practically invented the whole RPG industry.
Brett: I’ve heard of Father Ted, but never saw it. Never heard of Alan Patridge. Don’t get BBC America, so maybe it plays here. We do get Yes Prime Minister, As Time Goes By (love Judy Desch) and Are You Being Served on PBS. Since I used to spend all my time in superhero RPG’s, you can image how much I adore My Hero.
“Why can’t I meet your parents, Janet? I hardly ever meet anyone whom I don’t rescue, imprison, or melt.”
Joe & Git: today was squat day. Did some GHR before squats, hams certainly need work. Faced a wall without mirrors, set up the box. Squatted down, then up about a foot, down again.
Tried to concentrate on hitting glutes during the lift, seemed to help a little.
Scoliosis: try to remember (along with head up, arch back, tight abs, etc, etc) to give hips a little twist. It helps correct the curve some and makes squatting a bit easier.
broomstick x 12
broomstick x 10
35# bar x 8
35 x 8
35 x 8
35 x 8
Actually felt pretty good, whacked the legs, but form felt good.
Leg X
6 x 12
7 x 10
8 x 10
8 x 10
surprisingly hard, squats must have been really effective
Leg Curl
4 x 20
5 x 15
6 x 8
6 x 10
Threw in some rotator cuff and seat calves. Good workout.
Good workout indeed, nice training.
I have scoliosis too- and Spinae biffida occola
and some lovely fused vertabrae in the neck.
Its awesome the hand shakes I get at the chiropractor
Alan Partridge and the Office make me cringe in the same way “Some Mothers do have em” did. only the Farmer will understand I suspect.
Cav you must live in a UK timewarp if you watch Judi Dench and Yes Minister.
Mind you, Friends and Frasier were staple viewing here in the 90’s, Friday 9pm Channel 4, so good comedy crosses the Atlantic both ways i spose
Blackadder. If you havent seen it, look for it.
oh, and with regards to squatting, just keep at it, youre doing fine.
anyway, must switch off al TV’s and radios, and stop buying the newspapers, and keep of the internet for a few days. Ive a wedding to avoid.
Just stopping in to say hi and good work. Trying to catch up on everyone’s logs.