On the back squats, I followed the Meat’s advice, and got rid of the bar cushion thingy. The bar hurts the mathineer’s sensitive shoulders. The mathineer graciously accepts the outpouring of sympathy from his devoted readers. The mathineer persevered in spite of the pain. Brave, brave mathineer!
No problem with the pulled thigh muscle, but I kept it light anyway. I’ll increase the weight about 10 lbs per week until I get to 180 or 190, then I’ll slow down.
Played around with front squats, but just couldn’t get the bar balanced. I’ve never done hack squats before, so I just tried them out.
The OH presses were hard today for some reason.
Thanks for the input, KMC. I might alternate 5x5 with 3x3.[/quote]
We are sending a hairless Romanian midget to you to stroke your furrowed brow and ease your sorrows.
…Did I remember to put holes in the box?
The bar hurts my shoulders EVERY time I squat. and I’ve got calluses where it rests. Quail in the presence of my manliness…
Was at work until after midnight last night, and felt off today. Planned to do bench first, and push it harder; then take it easier on the Deadlifts. I took it easier on the DLs, but I didn’t push the bench all that hard.
I’ll be going in to work in a few minutes. I have one seriously screwed up schedule!
I’m toying with the idea of going - just for the experience. I ran lots of marathons and ultras “just for the hell of it”. I was a back of the pack runner, but that’s ok. Makes the race possible for the rest, and doesn’t interfere with the front runners. What I don’t know is whether it’s acceptable in a lifting meet. I know I wouldn’t be even close to competitive. Would I just be getting in the way? Of course, if I wore one of those mankini’s like Bunny is planning on, well, let’s just say I’d be popular!
Meets are just fun if you choose your lifts wisely. Doesn’t really matter what you lift in relation to anyone else. Everyone there will be very supportive since they know and respect “The Grind” - irrespective of the poundage.
B1 Front Raise 10/8 15/5/5/5
B2 Lateral Raise 10/8 15/5/5/5
B3 Seated DB Overhead Press 25/10 30/5/5/5
C Overhead Squat 20/5 45/5
D Front Squat 20/5 45/5
E Back Squat 45/10 95/5 140/5 150/5 160/5/5 170/5
I went back to cleaning the weight for the overhead presses. I think I prefer that to using the cage. I guess I figure if I can’t clean it, I got no bidness putting it over my head.
I used the OH squats and the front squats as warmups for the real deal squats. Between Meat making me take a wider stance, and some of the advice in this
I finally figured out how to kindasorta do these. Good enough for a warmup, anyways. On the front squats, I tried to push press the 20# bar up with my head in the normal position, and purt near knocked my damn fool self out when I smacked the bar into the underside of my chin. Some live and learn, then there’s me…
Skid - thanks for the feedback on the meets. I definitely ground out a lot of those ultras. Anyway, I think it might be a little soon. I might go just to watch and learn though.
Previous PR on the deadlift was a 270# single. 285 came up more easily than I expected. I’m sure it’s at least partly due to Meat’s excellent advice. Thanks!!! I thought about shooting for 300#, but figured I’m better off taking my time.
Previous PR on the deadlift was a 270# single. 285 came up more easily than I expected. I’m sure it’s at least partly due to Meat’s excellent advice. Thanks!!! I thought about shooting for 300#, but figured I’m better off taking my time.[/quote]
Nice work and great PRs!
I need to hang out with you so I can learn this, “better off taking my time” philosophy.
I’m wanting to go heavier with the squats, but I force myself to hold back. I do NOT want to re-injure myself. It’s really about the journey, 'cause I don’t have a clue about the destination! I think I’m getting more out of my squats with the form improvements Meat suggested. I’ll probably be back up around 200 lbs by the end of my next cycle.
And speaking of cycles, I think I’ll stick with a deload every 5th week. I probably won’t back off much on the squat since I’m not really pushing it.
I feel like I’m losing ground on the overhead presses. I’m not sure what’s going on there.
Anyway, I’ve managed to injure and set myself back enough times that I finally got tired of it.