My best advice would be to do the prehab before you get to the point I was at, not wait until it happens, or make sure your program is balanced enough that you don’t end up where I was.
I do a lot of prehab . . . I just disagree with the notion that benching frequently (particularly if the technique is good) that it is horrible for the shoulders.
How much did you weigh when you ran the half marathon?[/quote]
It was actually a full marathon. I ran the first half in 1:53, but got smoked in the second half and managed to finish in under 5 hours. It was in Hawaii and the 95 degrees and humidity kicked my ass…Hamstring/Quad cramps, blisters under my toe nails that popped my toe nails off, dehydration, etc. Good times.
I was around 225 when I started training for it, and I think I ran it at 207 or 208. I think I took top 5 in my division…The Clydesdale Division. No joke.
And I agree with you on being able to Bench frequently, just as long as everything is kept in balance. And yes, technique is huge for keeping the shoulders healthy.
It was actually a full marathon. I ran the first half in 1:53, but got smoked in the second half and managed to finish in under 5 hours. It was in Hawaii and the 95 degrees and humidity kicked my ass…Hamstring/Quad cramps, blisters under my toe nails that popped my toe nails off, dehydration, etc. Good times.
I was around 225 when I started training for it, and I think I ran it at 207 or 208. I think I took top 5 in my division…The Clydesdale Division. No joke.
And I agree with you on being able to Bench frequently, just as long as everything is kept in balance. And yes, technique is huge for keeping the shoulders healthy.[/quote]
That sounds absolutely horrific, but you managed to finish, quite amazing.
I really seem to have trouble keeping my upper back tight through bench sets, any ideas?
I really seem to have trouble keeping my upper back tight through bench sets, any ideas?
How much did your squat improve during the year?[/quote]
I think you probably need to figure out whether it’s a techinque issue or a strength issue. On sets of 5 or more, I also have a tough time staying tight throughout. Basically as soon as I breath out, I will lose a fair amount of tightness, so if it’s a set of 5 or less, I try to do all of my reps before exhaling.
The obvious thing would be to work on upper back strength, heavy BOR’s, T-Bar Rows, even Seated Rows. One of the things that has helped me lately is practicing every set and every rep like its a competition Bench. It’s very easy to let your form slide on the lighter weights simply because you don’t need perfect form to lift something that’s 50 or 60% of your max. But if you set up each time like it’s a 1RM, all of the muscles needed for you setup will get stronger and your setup will become automatic.
I also focus on keeping my upper back super tight when I Squat, and I know that’s helped as well. Really work on squeezing your shoulder blades together every chance you get.
As far as my Squat goes, on paper it went up 23lbs, from 502 to 525. But the 502 was at an APF meet, and it was most certainly high. I had a 480 on the previous attempt that was probably legit, so in reality it went up about 50lbs, which is pretty solid at this point.
I fucking spent. My back was pretty tired going into this lift from Friday’s Squats from another weekend of shoveling snow. We got 8-10" Sunday morning, and then we were supposed to get a “dusting” of snow late Sunday night. Turned out to be another 5 or 6". After Shoveling out my house and the neighbor’s walk yesterday, and then shoveling out my work this morning, I came back home, and shoveled my house again. Went back to work, and came home to lift and a friggin’ snow plow dumped another 18" of snow at the foot of my driveway, and this shit was wet and heavy.
I’m sure today was supposed to be hard, since the volume is steadily increasing, but I’m seriously drained. I’m going to squeeze in a half hour nap, and then back to work.
I fucking spent. My back was pretty tired going into this lift from Friday’s Squats from another weekend of shoveling snow. We got 8-10" Sunday morning, and then we were supposed to get a “dusting” of snow late Sunday night. Turned out to be another 5 or 6". After Shoveling out my house and the neighbor’s walk yesterday, and then shoveling out my work this morning, I came back home, and shoveled my house again. Went back to work, and came home to lift and a friggin’ snow plow dumped another 18" of snow at the foot of my driveway, and this shit was wet and heavy.
I’m sure today was supposed to be hard, since the volume is steadily increasing, but I’m seriously drained. I’m going to squeeze in a half hour nap, and then back to work.
Do you wear a scarf when you walk the dog? I’ve heard (can’t remember the source now) that exercise in the cold can irritate the lungs (increasing your chances of getting sick) and a scarf over the mouth can really help protect the lungs.
I know Sheiko and all the snow is pretty miserable right now, don’t want you to get sick on top of it.
[quote]mrodock wrote:
Do you wear a scarf when you walk the dog? I’ve heard (can’t remember the source now) that exercise in the cold can irritate the lungs (increasing your chances of getting sick) and a scarf over the mouth can really help protect the lungs.
I know Sheiko and all the snow is pretty miserable right now, don’t want you to get sick on top of it.[/quote]
The cold doesn’t really bother me. Besides, I’m from Maine originally, and if I wore a scarf, they’d revoke my citizenship.
Hey, gotta take a PR where you can get one. This was the longest workout yet. I just take so much longer to recover between DL’s than anything else, and the Bench pyramid takes a little while to get through as well.
I’m definitely staying more upright on the Deads, so hopefully this will carry over to my max pulls. We’ll see in a couple of weeks when I test my 95% stuff.
I changed the way I do the standing abs. I stand with my ass against the pad, facing away from the GHR, and have been looping a band around where your ankles usually go, and holding the bands over my shoulders. This has been somewhat effective, but the resistance just felt awkward. So I bolted a heavy duty D-Ring to the main beam in my basement, and then attached the band to that, so the anchor point is about a foot above my head, rather than a foot below. The resistance is much better this way, and increases throughout the range of the crunch. Before it felt like it would get hard near the midpoint, and then easier towards the end. Don’t know if this makes any sense, or if anyone cares, but I figured I’d throw it out there for anyone reading this far.
Hey, gotta take a PR where you can get one. This was the longest workout yet. I just take so much longer to recover between DL’s than anything else, and the Bench pyramid takes a little while to get through as well.
I’m definitely staying more upright on the Deads, so hopefully this will carry over to my max pulls. We’ll see in a couple of weeks when I test my 95% stuff.
I changed the way I do the standing abs. I stand with my ass against the pad, facing away from the GHR, and have been looping a band around where your ankles usually go, and holding the bands over my shoulders. This has been somewhat effective, but the resistance just felt awkward. So I bolted a heavy duty D-Ring to the main beam in my basement, and then attached the band to that, so the anchor point is about a foot above my head, rather than a foot below. The resistance is much better this way, and increases throughout the range of the crunch. Before it felt like it would get hard near the midpoint, and then easier towards the end. Don’t know if this makes any sense, or if anyone cares, but I figured I’d throw it out there for anyone reading this far.[/quote]
Holy crap, quite a session! Oh and I do care about the standing abs, but you lost me at looping I think (no worries though).
B) Squat
265x5x1 (50%)
315x5x1 (60%)
370x5x2 (70%)
395x4x5 (75%)
C) Bench Press
210x6x1 (55%)
245x6x2 (65%)
265x4x6 (70%)
D) Dubmell Flyes
40x10x5
E) GM’s
210x5x5 (40%)
1hr 40min.
I was a little sore going into this session, and feel a little beat up coming out of it. Nothing felt all that heavy, but setting up for so many sets is starting to take it’s toll. By the second time I get around to a movement, my shoulders and elbows don’t want to play anymore.
It looks like next week is the last of the high volume stuff, and on paper looks a little easier than this week. I have my Skills Evaluation the following week so I will get a chance to see where I’m at.
This was a pretty intense week, and in honor of that I am going to do my best to comsume a whole cow, or as much of it as I can in one sitting. A few beers may be sacrificed as well.
Today was a lot easier than expected. On paper it looked like it was going to be a very hard workout based on how last week felt, but nothing felt heavy or slow. I haven’t had anything over 420 on my back for a month, and 445 was smooth as could be.
I raised the weight another 5lbs on the Rope Pushdowns because they were beginning to feel very easy again.
So I’m still not sure when to expect a Sheiko workout to be easy or hard. It’s somewhat of a mystery to me. As long as it produces PR’s, I guess I really don’t care.
C) Bench Press
210x5x1 (55%)
245x5x1 (65%)
285x4x4 (75%)
D1) DB Fly
40x10x5
D2) DB Lunge
40x5x5
Bench felt really solid today. I felt strong off my chest and everything felt light and quick, even the 85% sets.
Deadlifts felt good, but I was noticing the fatigue by my top sets. I played around with 3 different belt setting (with 2 different belts) for my top 3 sets, and the last was horrible. I used my 13mm single prong, and it was a little tighter than the others, pitching me forward.
No joke.