I love the idea of your Z presses. As you’ve already hinted at, I think Z presses force you to do MPs with healthful (correct me if I’ve used the wrong form of the word here Snap!) form, which in the long run will be beneficial to your shoulders. Great idea!!!
And wrt lunges, I do reverse lunges because they’re (much) easier to control, and you won’t muck it up and injure your knee even if you’re tired. (I mentioned this before, but apparently Joe Broz thinks lunges are the worst exercise ever because his girlfriend tore up her knee doing lunges with too much weight; I also heard another one recently where a fairly heavy person tore up his knee after being told to do forward lunges with a 45lb plate, held overhead, by an idiot trainer, so Broz’ criticism has some merit.) Oh, and lunges are great for addressing imbalances in size brought about by squats.
[quote]atypical1 wrote:
Are you doing z presses as well as regular overheads? I like the idea of the z press and will give them a shot.
Just getting caught up on my logs. Great work as always.
james[/quote]
Thanks, James.
I am, as usual, playing it by ear. But the “plan” was to use Z presses as my primary exercise, for 2 weeks, coupled with a few sets of Push Press (to stay used to weights at or above 250#. Of course, last Thursday, my shoulder wouldn’t play beyond the Z presses.
I had planned on following that with 2 weeks of MP, Z presses as an accessory. Only to end it by going back to Z presses, for 2 weeks, with PP as accessory. The idea being to create a 6 week program. Honestly, though, IF the weight I am able to triple goes up this week, I will likely stick with Z presses as the main exercise for, at least, 4 weeks.
I seem to get pretty good pop, off the bottom, on my MPs. So, I figure the more I can learn to press without it, the closer I am to goal, because I know I can MP more than I can Z press.
[quote]dday wrote:
Damn Strick, I kept thinking you were going to plant a 45 in your ceiling. Great pressing and pulling for the Strick family.[/quote]
Thanks, dday. I THINK I could get the plates to the ceiling, if I let go at the top. Need to get a little faster, though, just to make sure.
Next week is 170#, not sure if they are going to be that fast. We shall see.
[quote]dday wrote:
Damn Strick, I kept thinking you were going to plant a 45 in your ceiling. Great pressing and pulling for the Strick family.[/quote]
Thanks, dday. I THINK I could get the plates to the ceiling, if I let go at the top. Need to get a little faster, though, just to make sure.
Next week is 170#, not sure if they are going to be that fast. We shall see.[/quote]
Just a guess but MrsS would probably not be to happy if you let go of the weight, just a guess.
[quote]dday wrote:
Damn Strick, I kept thinking you were going to plant a 45 in your ceiling. Great pressing and pulling for the Strick family.[/quote]
Thanks, dday. I THINK I could get the plates to the ceiling, if I let go at the top. Need to get a little faster, though, just to make sure.
Next week is 170#, not sure if they are going to be that fast. We shall see.[/quote]
Just a guess but MrsS would probably not be to happy if you let go of the weight, just a guess. [/quote]
I haven’t asked her, but I would agree with you. So, I won’t bother asking…because I can already see the look on her face.
“But honey, I’m not trying to knock a hole in the ceiling. I’m gonna push it just hard enough for it to tap it. It’ll work…trust me.”
Deads later today. I am starting the 8 week wind down…or is it wind up? In any case, in theory, it should look like this…starting with today (week 8) and working down to week 1…
Week 8 - 405x5
Week 7 - 425x3
Week 6 - 445x3
Week 5 - 460x3
Week 4 - 475x2
Week 3 - 490x2
Week 2 - 505x1 - would be a 5# PR
Week 1 - 520x1 - would be a 20# PR
I am okay with this progression until I hit week 5. I can do 460x3, as I have done 465x3, but it blasted me. I tend to drag a lot of fatigue, on deads, from week to week. I am just not sure how much this is going to generate. Since it is one set, at top end, though, if I keep the lead up sets to 1-2 reps, maybe it will go smoothly.
[quote]cavalier wrote:
Is your back healed enough to take that much pounding?[/quote]
Cav, it’ll never heal. Unfortunately, the spondy is a condition, not an injury. I just have to try to keep it from progressing. Honestly, though, I am more concerned with the degenerative disc disease that is brought on by the spondy. The disc between L5 and S1 is already thinning.
I am doing exercises to strengthen the area, but I don’t think they are designed for folks who plan to deadlift 500# plus. The spondy and ddd are why I don’t squat. Deep squats aggravate it more than deads. That is good, though. If I can pull, I can at least do a push/pull, if I ever choose to. God knows that my bench would never past muster as a solo lift.
[quote]LittleStrick wrote:
I am doing exercises to strengthen the area, but I don’t think they are designed for folks who plan to deadlift 500# plus.[/quote]
LOL.
Next time you see your specialist and tell him about your plans to deadlift 600lbs please take a photo of his expression for us!
[quote]LittleStrick wrote:
I am doing exercises to strengthen the area, but I don’t think they are designed for folks who plan to deadlift 500# plus.[/quote]
LOL.
Next time you see your specialist and tell him about your plans to deadlift 600lbs please take a photo of his expression for us!
That cycle looks good.[/quote]
Lol…that would be fun. Only thing is, this guy is a sports medicine doc. I don’t know that he would be shocked. Maybe because of my advanced age.
Don’t overestimate the smarts of your doctor. Mine is also a sports medicine specialist, and he tried to convince me my protein shakes were poisoning me.
[quote]cavalier wrote:
Don’t overestimate the smarts of your doctor. Mine is also a sports medicine specialist, and he tried to convince me my protein shakes were poisoning me.[/quote]
Really? Oh dear God.
I work in healthcare (as an IT guy) and my opinion of doctors has gone way down hill. We have some really good ones. Then there are those that you wonder just how they managed to finish med school. Or, maybe more pertinent, where did they finish med school.
[quote]MattyXL wrote:
Nice work Strick the Deads flew up, nice explosive effort.[/quote]
Thanks, Matty. I don’t know about “flew” up, but they were manageable. Deads are always hard for me to judge. They felt heavy, but there was never any question that they would go.
The real question is…could I throw 100# more on there and still pull it!? We will know sometime around Halloween!
Need to get a little faster, though, just to make sure.