3 Mat Decline Bench from Pin 2
warmup
145 x 5
160 x 1
165 x 1
115 x 20
Yates-style Bent Row (overhand, no english)
145 x 5
160 x 1
165 x 1
115 x 20
Bumped the weight up as per progression model (5 the first 3 sets, 10 the last set). Seems I’m still a bit light, since the 20 came easy on the bench, and pretty easy on the rows.
Right elbow is bugging me on bench, like it always does. Not yet to actually be painful enough to lose a lockout, but it’s there. Wrist wraps help.
Watched a couple videos of Yates himself explaining the rows last week, so modified my form accordingly.
Socks didn’t happen. No “cushion” micro-crew in sock, just boot length. I’ll have to order them. Just went with my black wool socks and polypro liners and did this after a concert.
The deads are probably from the rucking, it is just like any other weighted carry and will take your back some time to get used to the extra volume.
The press looked great! but if I had to give you some pointers they would be: when you lean back that far you need to get your head through sooner. You can see how far out of the groove the bar is. You can fight it back in at that weight but when it gets heavier you will just push up to your forehead level and it will drop back down. Try to keep the bar closer to your face when you initiate your press. You should have to move your face out of the way of he bar rather than moving the bar out around your face.
I hope that helps some brother! I’m glad you are able to post videos now!
Alpha: thanks for taking a look. I’ll see what I can do about getting my head through sooner, and keeping it closer to my face.
One of the things I noticed was how my wrists are cocked backwards at the top. I messed around with my hand positioning a bit today, and I think if I can get the bar positioned a bit better, I should be able to get my head through sooner. I’ll see tomorrow when I do this again.
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3 Mat Decline Bench from Pin 2
155 x 5
170 x 1
175 x 1
125 x 20
Yates-style Bent Row (overhand, narrow-grip, no english)
155 x 5
170 x 1
175 x 1
125 x 14
Bumped up the weight on both of these for 10 pounds, all sets. It didn’t seem right to use the program’s progression scheme if I wasn’t really progressing yet, since I was still too light.
Bench goes up 10 next time, rows stay where they are.
Somewhat easier than last time, but still what it is. I did learn that this treadmill does up to a 3% decline though.
Unsurprisingly, this is much easier on level ground than on the incline.
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Spent some time today working through some basic orienteering/land nav training stuff. I learned how to read topo maps years ago, but it was a nice refresher/
Found a great online source for topo maps, overlayed on google maps. Has lots of options. Works with multiple coordinate systems, has hill shading, bunch of stuff.
I don’t know if this was any better. I changed my hand position and rotation, so the weight was on my forearms. Doesn’t really look it at the top, but I didn’t need wraps for this.
Went up easier, although, not sure if the form is better.
Thanks for the video. It looks like I might benefit quite a bit if I can get my elbows forward. I’ll work on that tomorrow.
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Today I screwed up the weights, and only did one lift, but this is what I did.
3 Mat Decline Bench from Pin 2
145 x 5
165 x 1
170 x 1
125 x 20
This was supposed to be 160x5, 175x1, 180x1, 135x15-20. Just way off. And was also supposed to be rows, which didn’t happen.
There are certain parts of my brain that seem to have stopped working; I’m not really sure how to express how frustrated I am at how incapable it makes me feel. My short term memory ability, and ability to focus are just shot. I set off to do one thing, and hours pass, and I barely have recollection of what happened. And then feel guilty about not getting done what I planned to do. It’s a bad cycle. Not really sure what to do about it.
I’m not sure if it’s because of higher-than-normal stress levels or what, but it’s starting to become a real problem.
I’m surprised that even carried over to lifting, which is one of the few things that doesn’t require much of any thought at all.
It was somewhere between 96 and 100 degrees today when I lifted.
There’s no A/C in the apartment so that’s fun too, especially given that I work from home. Even though the building is less than 2 years old, they never saw a need to install it. However, I’ve managed to keep it under 85 indoors here.
Overhead Press
120 x 5
130 x 1
135 x 1
135 x 1 - wraps
95 x 12
After reviewing video between sets, I wanted to see how wraps and an open grip actually affected bar path, so I redid the 135 set.
135, first set:
135, second set:
95 x AMRAP set:
Once I took a breath, I lost my tightness completely. But even then, I just lost core stability pretty quick. Maybe my abs are giving out?
Overall not too sure what to do. I seem to be pushing the bar forward more than up, except for the first rep or two of the 95 set. I nailed myself in the chin already during a warmup, trying to keep the bar path more vertical.
Since we’re in the middle of a heat wave with no A/C, I decided to head toward the coast this weekend for a hike to the top of a small mountain. If I’m going to be hot, I might as well get something out of it.
One of the places called this hike “moderate”, several others called it “very difficult”. After actually doing it, I’d say very difficult was the right description.
From the trailhead to the summit was 2.5 miles, over which we climbed up 2500 feet in elevation. The summit was at 3200 feet, so just a short mountain. However, that averages out to right around a 19% grade, with some spots level, and some spots very steep. Quite a climb.
The views from the top were great, despite the overcast weather, and of course I can actually claim I’ve actually climbed to the summit of something.
The two (only, so far) rucking sessions seemed to make this a bit easier than last hike, but I’ve still got a long ways to go.
That hike actually left me rather sore in my quads and above my hips on my back.
Overhead Press
120 x 5
130 x 1
135 x 1
95 x 15
Zercher Goodmornings
110 x 5
110 x 3
I’m not really sure how to do those. From the video, it seems I could benefit from keeping my chest up.
I think the presses went a little better, although I pressed the 135 out in front of me for some reason, and had to compensate. Not sure what happened there.
3 Mat Decline Bench from Pin 2
160 x 5
175 x 1
180 x 1
135 x 15
Got the weights right this time. This was a bit rough on my shoulders, but I think that was a carryover from yesterday’s session.
Yates-style Row (overhand, narrow-grip, minimal english)
155 x 5
170 x 1
175 x 1
135 x 20
Every time I do these, my shoulders feel better. Definitely a pattern I should take heed of.
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I don’t like this formula for deadlifts, mainly because I like how I’ve responded to 5s and such.
Not quite sure how I’ll do things, but I’m thinking of doing the “stick to only 25 and 45lb plates” idea, and just going from there.
EDIT:
There’s the one Dan John idea of sets of 5 starting with 135, up to wherever that takes you using only 25s and 45s.
But that could be using the same principle as right now… work up to a heavy single or two, then backoff at a 25/45 point (so, maybe 365 x 2 x 1, 405 x 1, 315 x whatever). I dunno, just thoughts.
Rucking tonight though. Legs are sufficiently recovered from that hike (as in they’re sore, but they’re fine), and I didn’t make the time yesterday.
Overhead Press
45 x 10
95 x 3
120 x 3; 120 x 2 – hands too wide, this didn’t work
130 x 1
140 x 0,1
95 x 17
AMRAP set’s still going up. Went for 140 instead of 135 on the top set. I’m still… doing stupid stuff. Back arching and pushing the bar forward. May post a thread in the Strongman forum to just solicit more ideas.
As per Alpha’s article, I tried to work on accelerating the bar through the whole rep. The last reps looked questionable, but they went up.
7 Mat Pulls w/35lb Chains
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5
I was spent. Called it a day. Honestly, my esophagus was inflamed with something, like maybe it was allergic to the flavoring I added to my water. But… I was also doing the mat pulls in direct sun, when it was already 102 out.
Zercher Squats (first rep from pins)
110 x 5
110 x 5
Even 5 reps on Zerchers is significantly harder than heavy singles. I focused on keeping the bar close and my chest up. This made a huge difference in how hard they were (as in, it made it harder, and I felt it in my upper back and abs).
Unfortunately, my knees just don’t like the squat motion anymore. Lots of weird popping and sliding around in my left knee especially. Not painful, but uncomfortable.
I really think it is your bracing and set-up man. There is a lot going on in your spine at the start when it should be completely locked in. Do you consciously lean back before you press? I am absolutely sure you can fix this. You obviously have more in the tank, i think a lot of it is in the foundation you are pressing from.
Alpha, I think you’re right. It seems the way I was bracing my core was not the right way to do it. I’ve been referencing your article on it, experimenting with a belt, and just overall trying to figure out how to get things how they should be. I feel like I’m making a bit of progress, but I think it’s just going to take some time.
The guys over in the Strongman forum have been helpful.
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Yesterday.
Bought a cheap belt to try using it to help build abdominal pressure. Successfully built up a lot of pressure. Partially lost consciousness on three different sets.
Standing Overhead Press
45 x 5
65 x 5
add belt
95 x 3
120 x something – partial blackout
120 x a few more
135 x 1 – partial blackout
145 x 0.5 – partial blackout
145 x 1 – horrendous rep, but it went up
Kneeling Presses
95 x 5
I at least have enough self-awareness to rerack before I collapsed, but ugh.
