Lifting with the Stricks

Training Over 35 Lifter
141

Lower Body

Continuing to ease up on the weight. This workout put some strain on my back, but that was mainly because I haven’t done this in forever, have no lower body endurance and fatigue caused ebbing form. Also, jumped 30# on working sets. I had planned on a 20# jump, but the wife needed the small plates for her work, so I had to use the 25’s.

Squats
bwx15
barx10
135x8
225x5
275x5x5 - +30# from last week

Deadlift
135x5
225x5
275x5x5 - +30# from last week

Legs were feeling it. How sad…

Mrs. Strick’s Workout

Seated DB Presses
25x7 - PR +5#
25x8
25x7x2

Seated Rows
90x8x4 - PR +10# @ 8 Reps

Squats
45x10
70x5
85x5
100x4
115x1x2
Started getting light-headed on the singles. She ate for crap today and it caught her. Lesson learned.

Ran out of time for the isolation exercises.

142

Shoulders -

Wife and I had a good talk this morning. Seems that she is feeling frustrated by my upping her weights so quickly. It isn’t that she can’t do them, just that she feels like as soon as she masters a weight, I up it and she is lagging again. That isn’t the case, but I understand the sentiment. To her, being able to get 8 reps, each set, without dying, is very satisfying. So, having explained to her basic theories of getting stronger and getting bigger, I am letting her do more of the driving, as far as her weight jumps. And damned if she didn’t already up the weight on herself…lol.

Also, for the record, I am sick and fucking tired of my shoulders nagging. Damned left shoulder hurts on bench, millies, laterals, curls and even squats. Right bicep tendon has apparently gotten jealous and is acting up as well. Well, fuck them. I know the advice would be to give them a break, but it won’t matter. I have gotten cortisone shots, taken weeks off, avoided exercises, etc…, to no avail. The only real bitch of it is that it hinders my lifting. It is hard to get a REAL max effort when you have shooting pain in the primary muscles.
/whining

On a bright note, 5x5 has finally crossed back over into 2 bill territory on millies.

Military Press
barx20
95x10
135x5
170x5
200x5x5 - +5# from last week

BB Shrugs
225x20
315x12
365x12
405x10x2
455x6

1-Arm DB Laterals
40x10
45x10
50x8

Rear Delt Raises
50x10
50x8x3

2-Arm DB Laterals
40x10x2

Mrs. Strick’s Workout

Bench
barx10
55x5
80x5x3
75x6 - PR +1 Rep

Deadlift
95x10
135x5
155x5x3
135x8 - PR +3 Reps

Lat Pulls
90x8
100x6x2 - PR +10#
100x5

Pushdowns
45x8
50x8 - PR +3 Reps
50x7

EZ Curls
45x8x3

She is doing GREAT!

143

[quote]LittleStrick wrote:

Also, for the record, I am sick and fucking tired of my shoulders nagging. Damned left shoulder hurts on bench, millies, laterals, curls and even squats. Right bicep tendon has apparently gotten jealous and is acting up as well. Well, fuck them. I know the advice would be to give them a break, but it won’t matter. I have gotten cortisone shots, taken weeks off, avoided exercises, etc…, to no avail. The only real bitch of it is that it hinders my lifting. It is hard to get a REAL max effort when you have shooting pain in the primary muscles.
/whining
[/quote]

3 words: Deep Tissue Work

If you can afford the 30-50 bucks and an hour of your time, find a deep tissue person and have them go to town on the chest, scaps, and rotator cuffs. My guy does work for a local college’s track team (his wife is the coach). Amazing stuff IMO.

144

Good work strick, by both of you!

145

Steely, I will check into that. I have no idea if there is anyone local who does it.

Schmidt, thanks. It is moving along and she is tearing it up.

146

Chest and Back -

We are having to alter our workout schedule to accomodate our daughter’s soccer practice. So, we are now on a Saturday, Monday, Wednesday schedule. I was apprehensive about today’s workout, since I did not get my typical 2nd day of rest. Turns out thaat it was the best bench day I have had in a while. 285# felt significantly lighter than 280# did last week…than 275# the week before and 270# the week before that. Go figure.
I atribute it to yesterday’s GPP. I spent nearly 4 hours digging holes in the clay, to get our blueberries in the ground. Not only the digging, but farmer’s carries with 40#, 50# and 80# bags of soil/mulch/etc…

Bench
barx20
95x10
13510
185x5
225x5
255x3
285x5x5 - +5# from last week

Decided to go lighter on back since mine is killing me from yesterday’s GPP.

Seated Rows - close neutral
100x15
160x10
210x12x3

Lat Pulls - wide neutral
210x10x3

Seated Rows - wide neutral
210x10x2

Mrs. Strick’s workout

Seated DB Press
25x8x2
25x6
257

Seated Rows
90x8
95x8x2 - PR +5#
95x7

Squats
45x10
70x5
95x5x3 - PR +2 Reps
80x6

We were running short on time and I was already spent. Called it here.

Now I need to go ge the onions and carrots in the ground.

147

Nice lifts, FarmerStrick, and Mrs Farmerstrick.

148

[quote]Ogre21793 wrote:
Nice lifts, FarmerStrick, and Mrs Farmerstrick.[/quote]

Indeed. 50 onions and 75 carrot seeds in the ground. My upper back is wasted from all of the digging, raking and carrying. Oddly enough, today was the 1st workout I can remember where my shoulder didn’t bother me. At least not enough that I noticed. There is a lesson here, but I am not sure what it is.

149

Your wife’s gains are nothing short of phenomenal. She really should start a log in the PW compound.

What about an MRI on the shoulder? Do you think it warrants that?

150

[quote]kpsnap wrote:
Your wife’s gains are nothing short of phenomenal. She really should start a log in the PW compound.

What about an MRI on the shoulder? Do you think it warrants that?[/quote]

She is still uncomfortable about me posting her work in my log. She hasn’t asked me to stop, though. I am hopeful that time and progress will bring her around.
Now, if I can just get her to use a little grrrr. She has none. She is not competitive…with anyone, anything or even herself. If I could just get her to see it as a little bit of a challenge, between herself and the weight, her numbers would go up overnight.

Actually, I had an MRI about 2 years ago. Radiologist didn’t see anything abnormal. My sports medicine doc looked over it and said, “Yep. See that right there? Your bicep tendon is irritated and holding fluid.” Cortisone shot and a week off. Got a bit better. Of course, I wasn’t doing anything to stress it. Started lifting again and it came back. Went back to him…got another shot…took another week off…same result.

Today was much better. I found that interesting since the only thing different about today’s workout, from any other, is that I had done a ton of digging and picking things up the day before. Lots of upper back and rear delt work. Maybe I just need more of that!? But I already do rear delt raises, shrugs, lat pulls and two types of seated rows. So…maybe it was coincidence?

151

[quote]LittleStrick wrote:

Today was much better. I found that interesting since the only thing different about today’s workout, from any other, is that I had done a ton of digging and picking things up the day before. Lots of upper back and rear delt work. Maybe I just need more of that!? But I already do rear delt raises, shrugs, lat pulls and two types of seated rows. So…maybe it was coincidence?[/quote]

If you’re used to doing nothing on your off days, it could be that the digging and stuff acted as sort of “active rest” which kept you mobile and warmed up etc. I often find if I have a complete day off and let the DOMS attack, I seize up and feel worse the next day. If I do sprints or cycle or just have a walk or do some gardening etc that keeps me loose, disperses the DOMS and I have a better next session as a result. I think as we age, inactivity becomes our worst enemy. I never feel rougher than after 4 or 5 days off.

152

Brett, that may very well be it. Guess I need to be more active…which should come as no surprise.

Lower Body

Deadlift
135x8
225x5
295x5x2
295x3 - back started aching from fatigue. It has zero endurance, even back when I worked it a lot.
315x3x2 - just to lift something over 300#. Dropped to 3 reps to save back fatigue.

Squats
135x5
225x5
295x5
295x3
315x3x2

Nothing special…just a few at 315#

Back is REALLY fatigued and achy. I have never had good back endurance, even when I did lots of squats and deads. Probably going to drop to sets of 3 in the future.

Also, I don’t think my left leg is firing properly. I think it is a nerve issue, tied to the Spondy. Gonna keep working it.

Mrs. Strick’s Workout

Bench
barx10
60x5
80x5
85x5 - PR +5# @ 5 Reps
85x4
80x5

Lat Pulls
70x10
100x7 - PR +1 Rep
95x7
95x8x2

Deadlift
135x5
155x5
165x5x2 - PR +2 Reps
155x5

153

Thats really good form on those deads bro…im really concemtrating on the slacking of the arms that pete andsnap advised me of. your vid illustrates how my arms.should be.

154

Those reps were fast. I think if you didn’t have the spondy you would have a monstrous deadlift.

Fair play for carrying on regardless. The only people I know with spondy use it as an excuse to do nothing and smoke dope all day. (for medicinal reasons of course, they say)

155

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
Thats really good form on those deads bro…im really concemtrating on the slacking of the arms that pete andsnap advised me of. your vid illustrates how my arms.should be.[/quote]

Thanks. It is definitely an improvement over old form. Of course, 315# is not going to draw out the major flaws. Yet another reason to increase the weight slowly.

One thing that has helped me is starting with the bar NOT touching my shins. I have such a long torso (I am 6’1" with a 29" inseam) that initiating the lift with the bar in contact with my shins puts my shoulders way out in front. Sitting back far enough to get the shoulders right would put me on my rear, as soon as the bar left the floor.

156

[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
Those reps were fast. I think if you didn’t have the spondy you would have a monstrous deadlift.

Fair play for carrying on regardless. The only people I know with spondy use it as an excuse to do nothing and smoke dope all day. (for medicinal reasons of course, they say)[/quote]

Brett, when I 1st started back (2 years ago, next month), I did a preliminary DL max and got 350#. Probably the 2nd time in my life that I had DL’d. 4 months later, I hit 500# (with awful, awful form). Then the back started acting up.
It really pisses me off that it is such a limiting factor. But it is what it is. Right now, I am trying to determine which is aggravating my back more. I am hoping that it is squats. If I can DL, I can do a push/pull, at some point. My bench is far to crappy to do bench only. And no, my bench max isn’t terrible. But at my size, to do bench only, I need to be in the 400’s.

And I may be a dumbass for doing the squats and DLs, given the spondy. But I can’t just ignore the lifts. And I do love DLs. Aches and pains aside, I feel better when I have moved several hundred pounds.

And for what it’s worth, I would make a lousy pothead.

157

[quote]LittleStrick wrote:

And for what it’s worth, I would make a lousy pothead.[/quote]

From the look of the beard in that video, you are working on becoming a good Santa Claus, though, heh.

158

Strick, I like how you get the butt low on deadlifts, that’s how I’m doing mine. Congrats on Mrs Strick’s PR’s. I thought she was taking it easy, did she decide it was time to go up?

159

Nice pulling strick, the back treating you okay?

160

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[quote]Ogre21793 wrote:

[quote]LittleStrick wrote:

And for what it’s worth, I would make a lousy pothead.[/quote]

From the look of the beard in that video, you are working on becoming a good Santa Claus, though, heh.[/quote]

Yeah…the beard is a bit thicker. I let it fill in more during the winter. Tighten the belt tight enough and I get a good Santa belly as well.

Here’s a pic of kitten #2 (I call them by their Borg names…so, 2 of 7) and me. Better view of the beard. I didn’t have any gray 10 years ago, when I was kidless. And I am starting to look old…lol.