KP, she does has a little bit of explosiveness off the bottom. It isn’t quick. Of course, I am not sure I have ever seen that in a squat. But we are just trying to get her to explode, rather than slog into the ascent.
Thanks, Steely. You know, your previous avatar reminded me of one of Professor X’s.
Bench and back for Jennifer…shoulder fors moi.
Jennifer’s Workout
Bench
barx8
75x5
95x5
110x2
110x1 - hit the hooks
95x3
95x5x2
Lat Pulls
91x8x3
Seated Rows
115x8x3
Strick’s Workout
Face Pulls
67x15x2
YTWLx2
Z Press - these are hard as hell, but I really like them.
95x5
135x5
160x3
185x3
195x3
205x3 - +20# over last week
215x2 - +30# over last week
205x3
Push Press
135x3 - left shoulder and right wrist were hurting too much to finish
BB Shrugs
225x20
315x15
405x12
465x8
500x6
1-Arm DB Laterals
65x10
65x8
Face Pulls
115x12x2
I really like the Z Presses. I wanted to do push press, just to keep myself used to heavier weights, but my shoulder and wrist just were not going to play. The shoulder I expected, since it was acting up during Z Presses. The wrist was not expected.
Pushed the shrugs to 500#, just to be under the load.
About to down a ribeye…recovery food #1.
[quote]LittleStrick wrote:
Thanks, Steely. You know, your previous avatar reminded me of one of Professor X’s.[/quote]
HA! lol
Thanks?
[quote]SteelyD wrote:
[quote]LittleStrick wrote:
Thanks, Steely. You know, your previous avatar reminded me of one of Professor X’s.[/quote]
HA! lol
Thanks?[/quote]
Just the pose. Well, and honestly, the thickness. You are looking stout.
Nice pressing. Is it a Z press because you’re sitting?
[quote]dday wrote:
Nice pressing. Is it a Z press because you’re sitting?[/quote]
The description I got was to sit on the floor with your legs out in front of you. No bending the knees, no digging in and no back support.
It eliminates not only leg drive, if you use it, but prevents you from leaning back much at all, lest you fall over backwards and seriously hinders any explosiveness, where you coil your upper body and explode. Again, since all stability is in the core, and you don’t have your feet or hips to keep yourself balanced, it REALLY taxes the core, makes it a lift of pure strength and forces you to keep at least decent form.
I gt a much better fatigue from it than regular MP. I think that is because I tend to cock my shoulders and explode off the bottom, when doing standing MP. It is really hard to do that in this position.
^Oh it’s functional training…kidding. Sounds pretty tough and makes sense. Always like to try new exercises.
Your Z presses are better than 90% of peoples MP on here…awesome man!
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
[quote]MrsS wrote:
I have absolutely no explosiveness on my squats. I really need to find a way to work on that.[/quote]
When you figure it out, lemme know. The only way I can be “explosive” when raw is to bounce off my calves. Otherwise, I’m better off super wide and very slow and controlled. When I throw the gear on, it’s a different story.[/quote]
x2
The only way I’ll expode out of the hole is if spine snaps.
Dday…lol. I don’t know how functional it is. If I have to move something from that height, in that position, I am rack pulling it.
Thanks, Matty. I just hope it pays off.
Snap/Joe - by “explode” I simply mean to go into it with with a sense of urgency and erupt into the lift. I don’t think there is any expectation that it is going to be rapid or explosive, like a speed lift. For me, and I just assumed most folks, the descent of a lift is very controlled and deliberate but the ascent is, while controlled, urgent and almost violent. The brakes are taken off and there is a rapid switching of gears from control and conservation to control and opening the flood gates.
Day after the Z presses.
I didn’t get a good feel for them, last week, as I had already done regular MP and didn’t push the weight beyond 185#. Not to mention, I only did three sets.
Right now, my shoulders are as fatigued as they have been in I don’t know how long. The cool thing is that the fatigue isn’t localized to the anterior delts and maybe the medial. My entire shoulder (well, both of them) is fatigued…anterior, medial, posterior, traps and even the socket feels fatigued. I am guessing the later is from all of the little stabilizers.
And I think that is a big part of it. Not only does the position force you to keep the bar over your center, minimizing lean, but with your core having to stabilize, with no assistance from feet or hips, I think more of that burden is transferred to the shoulders as a whole. I think that is why I have an all over fatigue.
I have only done these in 2 workouts, now, but I love them!
Strong work both of you. z press sounds interesting. I saw you had done some lunges. Are you as off balanced and all over the place as I am with those? And I have a more difficult time lunging with my left leg. I’m sure I have all kinds of unbalanced strength and flexibility issues.
[quote]ecogenx wrote:
Strong work both of you. z press sounds interesting. I saw you had done some lunges. Are you as off balanced and all over the place as I am with those? And I have a more difficult time lunging with my left leg. I’m sure I have all kinds of unbalanced strength and flexibility issues.[/quote]
Thanks, Steve. Try the Z presses! You will love them!
The lunges kick my ass. For some reason, my right knee hurts when I do them. I do have balance issues, but I am getting better at it. They really do put a hurting right dead center of my quads. I think I am going to alternate them and goblet squats from now on.
As far as flexibility and being unbalanced, I need to find a chiro. Unfortunately, my insurance won’t cover it. But I need to do it anyway. I think they could clear up a lot of my little nags.
[quote]LittleStrick wrote:
[quote]ecogenx wrote:
Strong work both of you. z press sounds interesting. I saw you had done some lunges. Are you as off balanced and all over the place as I am with those? And I have a more difficult time lunging with my left leg. I’m sure I have all kinds of unbalanced strength and flexibility issues.[/quote]
Thanks, Steve. Try the Z presses! You will love them!
The lunges kick my ass. For some reason, my right knee hurts when I do them. I do have balance issues, but I am getting better at it. They really do put a hurting right dead center of my quads. I think I am going to alternate them and goblet squats from now on.
As far as flexibility and being unbalanced, I need to find a chiro. Unfortunately, my insurance won’t cover it. But I need to do it anyway. I think they could clear up a lot of my little nags.[/quote]
My quads are aching dead center today. Must be an area I don’t hit squatting. I’m thinking a lunge-goblet squat superset next workout may be a good idea.
Z press sounds like my idea of hell.
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
Z press sounds like my idea of hell.[/quote]
It is definitely more difficult than standing OH press. The first set I tried, last week, I would have fallen over backwards had I not been in the rack. It takes some adjustment.
And, honestly, I don’t know that I would do it, because it is awkward and I can’t use as much weight, except for the fact that I am obsessed with hitting a 315# MP and I need something to shake it up.
I think having my explosiveness, at the bottom of the rep, curtailed, will help strengthen my press through the transitional phase, where my problem seems to exist. I can already get 300# to eye level, it is the next 6" that is the problem. That’s why I think I will also, at some point, throw in some pin work, starting at that level.
Nice! I’ve been meaning to do Z presses for a while and it just hasn’t happened. I’m doing upper tomorrow and will include them as assistance.
[quote]giterdone wrote:
Nice! I’ve been meaning to do Z presses for a while and it just hasn’t happened. I’m doing upper tomorrow and will include them as assistance.
[/quote]
Git, they are fun…challenging, but fun. At least for me, I can feel the difference between them and MP.
Is Z press the Oklahoma code word for high rep squats?..
[quote]OldGoat wrote:
Is Z press the Oklahoma code word for high rep squats?..[/quote]
Uh…
yes…yes it is…