Lunch-Hour Log

Training Over 35 Lifter
81

[quote]1Geech wrote:
Much obliged, Skidmark and Hel320.

The tips on mixing it up for the bench are great. Benching has always been a bur in my saddle, and more genuine variation makes sense as a way to work it out.

In the six months or so of really focused training since I got back in the gym, my bench press reached 96% of my PR, while squat and deadlift lagged at 81% and 77% respectively. Probably my old-newbie gains on the bench have come to an end, and it is time to be more creative.

In that vein, glutes/hams are going to have to be a priority to keep going up in DLs. The bar is indeed way out there on the last video rep: I had no idea it was oscillating like that. By the way, I haven’t banged my shins in quite a while … maybe too long for my own good?

Here is an article (the one meant?) that turns up by Cressey referring to cervical hyperextension:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=2009577

and here are remarks on the topic by Thibaudeau:
http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=2121429&pageNo=6

the latter stating that this would be among the least of worries.
[/quote]

Rippetoe recommends keeping a neutral cervical spine during DL’ing as well. He has his trainees focus on a spot on the floor about 10 feet in front of them while setting up.

To get max weight in the DL you need to keep the bar near the shins and some lifters actually take some skin off as the bar rises. Done the same thing myself. That’s a max weight situation, though. When doing reps, the weight ought to be low enough that one can afford to sacrifice a little form to get the strengthening reps in.

I’m not a big fan of DL’s for reps unless the weight is around 70%-80% of 1RM though. I find them too taxing otherwise. Five and six reps in the 80% range can build back endurance which, for me, translates well to a max DL.

I’d rather work box and deep squats and upper back and let those build my DL for me. Those give me the strength to break the bar from the floor in good form and speed to get through to lockout. That does leave a weak spot between the middle shins and the lower thigh that only rack pulls can fix, however.

82

[quote]skidmark wrote:

I’m not a big fan of DL’s for reps unless the weight is around 70%-80% of 1RM though. I find them too taxing otherwise. Five and six reps in the 80% range can build back endurance which, for me, translates well to a max DL.

I’d rather work box and deep squats and upper back and let those build my DL for me. Those give me the strength to break the bar from the floor in good form and speed to get through to lockout. That does leave a weak spot between the middle shins and the lower thigh that only rack pulls can fix, however.[/quote]

At first blush, Skidmark, I would think that 5-6 reps at 80% would not be doing enough for either back or hams and glutes; that just seems too light to me. But then I have never approached them like that, and I am relying in the lift more on a proportionately stronger back than on my legs; I also take it you mean in combination with this kind of squat work.

What I do not quite follow is the carry-over from there helping you to get the bar off the floor. Probably I need to read more Westside-type literature. I may be ruled in mind by too simplistic a dichotomy wherein DLing means pushing the floor away with the heels and not squatting the bar up.

83

If you use them as a supporting exercise after squats, they do.

The box squat and deep squatting put the glutes and hams in a fully stretched position and are strengthened in that position by those movements.

I think this is a common misconception: many think that the deadlift is a back exercise, but it’s not. It’s a hip exercise. Your back only has to be strong enough to stay aligned during the lift. The motive power comes from the hips and hams. The hips are the hinge of the whole lift. I think of it as trying to pull both my legs back at the same time. In a way, the DL is a slow motion jump.

When you set up for DL, the glutes and hams are in a better leveraged position to push the floor away than in a squat. Yes - everything works (or is supposed to work) as a unit, but the initial push comes from the glutes and hams just as in a squat. Make them stronger - on a par with your back - and you can pull more weight from the floor. You are not ‘squatting the weight up’, because the back is having to hold against higher leverage of the weight being in front of the middle of the foot, but the muscles are the same that move the weight.

That’s my t’inking anyway. Bodies differ though. As an example, the first (only) time I pulled 465, last June, I had been doing only box squats, Anderson Squats and speed deads occasionally with nowhere near that weight. I hadn’t done deads for Max or for reps for 6 months before. And the place where I felt the most strain was across the upper middle back, because I hadn’t been training it for the lockout.

84

Thanks for the details. I like that slow-motion jump image.

I’ve never trained DL the same day after squatting. It is probably something I should try.

85

Friday, 30 May 2008

Hanging leg raise:
BW x 8 reps
Ab crunch machine:
Superset 20 reps total
Power clean:
50, 60, 70, 75, 77.5 x 3 reps
Squat:
10 sets x 72.5 x 2 reps (= speed, 1 minute pause)
Lying leg curl:
2 x 80 x 5 reps
Wrist roller:
3 sets

Had to wait a few minutes for the only Olympic bar (1 of 2) that is not bent and did some abs. Power cleans went pretty well being first (confirming what some dear readers had implied or outright stated at the beginning of this log), as did speed squats at 2.5 kgs higher.

I had not done the wrist roller in a while, having put it aside for plate pinching, but as my hands and wrists have been a bit sore recently wanted to change things up a bit; this felt good, too. Looking forward to foam rolling tomorrow, as I skipped it the last.

86

Geech,

I notice a lot of people doing plate pinching. Can you recommend a good site to find out more on how to do this properly?

thanks,
mday

87

This site, Mday, outlines several techniques:

http://www.gripfaq.com/Thumb_Strength_Exercises/

I am just a beginner with it myself. I suppose I should really say gripping because what I have been mostly doing is grabbing and holding (for variety sometimes carrying or lifting to different heights) a single fat 25 kg bumper plate. I have not even cleared the 20 second mark with it yet.

88

Don’t forget forearm work. Really helps with any kind of pressing and forestalls the need for wrist wraps when the weights get heavy.

I like to alternate between forearms and grip on off/ab days, though I’m thinking of putting grip after DL/Squat on Lower days. Hitting grip the day before makes DLs less certain for me.

Those plates are fat Geech. 20 seconds at 25 Kg is pretty dang good!

89

Well, admittedly that’s my right hand; the left is still trying to get past 15 secs.

Your log is a good resource for more forearm ideas apart from the wrist roller or the barbell wrist curls that the former replaced for me.

I think you are right about the payoff for pressing, having noticed that earlier this spring in some gains I was making.

90

Saturday, 31 May 2008

Weighted neck extension:
4 sets x 20 x 15 reps
Ab wheel:
4 sets x 15 reps (from knees)
Self-myofascial release:
Foam roll lower and upper body, tennis ball back and neck

My foam roll is now more like a wiggly foam oval after five months of use, once a week, but it has served well. It is mostly my quads and outer hips where it noticeably does the most good.

I am getting used to the ab wheel and it did not seem to bother my shoulders today. To the contrary, I like the stretching action.

A hot shower after this session and I am relaxed for the weekend.

91

Geech,

I also use the foam roller and get really good results. The quads and calves were always my most tender areas but now I am working on the back and shoulders hard in order to recover from the extra pushing/pulling that I am doing.

Have a great weekend.
mday

92

Some PL philosophies will rarely train deadlifts directly, but I will do them every second or third week now. And once in a while I will do squats and deads on the same day and nothing else. Great work Geech!

93

1G – looking good.

I’ll add to what DZ just typed-- I’ve traditionally done MadCow/Bill Starr 5x5 for bigger numbers, but am finding that’s too much squatting.

I’ve been alternating squat/deadlift variations every other week and hitting new PR’s.

Keep it up!

94

[quote]mday wrote:
Geech,

I also use the foam roller and get really good results. The quads and calves were always my most tender areas but now I am working on the back and shoulders hard in order to recover from the extra pushing/pulling that I am doing.

mday[/quote]

I don’t get much from the foam roll in my back, that’s why I use the tennis balls. How often are you doing it, Mday?

95

[quote]daddyzombie wrote:
Some PL philosophies will rarely train deadlifts directly, but I will do them every second or third week now. And once in a while I will do squats and deads on the same day and nothing else. Great work Geech! [/quote]

Thanks, DZ. I will be watching to see how you DL. I just saw in your log you are starting pull-throughs. Let us know how you like them.

96

[quote]SteelyD wrote:
1G – looking good.

I’ll add to what DZ just typed-- I’ve traditionally done MadCow/Bill Starr 5x5 for bigger numbers, but am finding that’s too much squatting.

I’ve been alternating squat/deadlift variations every other week and hitting new PR’s.

Keep it up![/quote]

Appreciate your checking in, SteelyD. I’ll be doing the same to follow your PRs and hopefully learn a thing or two. I don’t know if I would have time for that kind of 5x5 routine now; how long were/are your sessions?

97

Geech,

I try to get two sessions in a week, but sometimes it is just one. I have to give the tennis ball thing a try. I’ve seen a lot of good posts on the benefits for keeping the back aligned and in good shape.

You may have already mentioned this, but where in France are you located?

mday

98

Geech,

I try to get two sessions in a week, but sometimes it is just one. I have to give the tennis ball thing a try. I’ve seen a lot of good posts on the benefits for keeping the back aligned and in good shape.

You may have already mentioned this, but where in France are you located?

mday

99

Monday, 2 June 2008

Squat:
70 x 12 reps, 110 x 6 reps, 127.5 x 5 reps, 127.5 x 6 reps
Walkout 145 once, hold 10 secs.
107.5 x 20 reps
Weighted chin-ups:
BW + 17.5 x 6 reps, BW + 17.5 x 4 reps

Squats were rockin’ today. I meant to post a video for critique but forgot to bring the camera, will try next week to see if everything is really up to snuff.

On the last chin-up set I was gassed.

100

420×721 145 KB

[quote]mday wrote:
Geech,

I try to get two sessions in a week, but sometimes it is just one. I have to give the tennis ball thing a try. I’ve seen a lot of good posts on the benefits for keeping the back aligned and in good shape.

You may have already mentioned this, but where in France are you located?

mday[/quote]