Tuesday 2020-01-05
Forced rest-day. Cold/Corona-like symptoms so, hey…
Might do a stint on the hangboard but, doubtful.
I’m a bit frustrated with work.
I’m on part-time now, 50%, and trying my best to scrounge up tasks that fall within the purview of my employment that are manageable for me. My desire is to get a few easy wins under my belt, and then return to working on more open-ended stuff where the solution isn’t obvious and might be weeks, or months away from realization.
Anyway, as I went scouring, the first task which was suggested was,
- In a project I’m unfamiliar with
- With a technology that I do not know
- That a fellow engineer had failed at
Unlike me, he is familiar with the project and knows the technology stack. Nor is he on part-time. I have no idea how he is doing, but as far as I can speak for myself: I’m not back to being 100% of my former self.
I am irked this task even came as a suggestion, it was open-ended, could take weeks or more in the best of circumstances. Did not appreciate being placed in a position of having to say “No, I cannot do that” when everyone in the conversation had the context as provided above if they just gave it a moment’s thought. And, to offer an analogy for non-techies, it would be as if one of you strong people failed at a PB and then went: how about you have a go, at the same weight?
Ordinarily, I don’t expect other people to think very much at all. And since I don’t have high expectations I’m rarely frustrated by others in this sense. But this time, I am.
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If you want quick collars, wrist/knee wraps are the old school solution. Just wrap them around the end of the bar.
I have some wrist wraps, but only two of them. No knee wraps, just sleeves. They are old, hardly any elasticity left in them, but serve the purpose I use them for. They wouldn’t do well for this. But I appreciate the idea, I’ll see if I find something around the house or within the family that’d fit the bill. Thank you.
No problem man. Ace bandages would be the same thing. It’s what we used to use before they made specialty collars, haha. Can use pony clamps too, but they can slide a bit.
That seems like something I can get a facsimile of at the local pharmacy!
The design of the collar used isn’t horrible on paper,
there is just something in how it was constructed. For the plates to not come off when there’s any imbalance forward/backward they have to be screwed tight. Which, again, is fine when setting out to do several sets at a certain weight but not for ramping up. I think that if they’d made the part of the bar on which the plates go a bit textured there’d be some margin of error in how tight one has to get it, but right now there’s very little friction being provided from that one screw.
The bar is supposed to be made for 50mm Olympic plates, and the plates fit, but no other collars in the gym do as they’re a tad too big. But we only have this style,
would be interesting to test
But I have several purchases that “need” to be made before I start buying my own collars to use at a commercial gym…
Does your gym have the collars (clamps) at the bottom of the your last post? I find that they are too big for most specialty bars (the type without rotating collars, like SSB, camber bar, axle…). I found that I can get them to hold really tight by inserting a little piece of material in between the bar (sleeve) and the collar. What I do is use the ends of my straps, that way I can loop the part that goes around the wrist around the bar, and it doesn’t get in the way of anything.
BTW, I didn’t know you were an engineer. Me too. Part time engineering work sounds like a fantasy. In the states it seems this field is almost always full time (I don’t think I have ever seen a part time listing for an engineer).
First collar, not the second.
To be fair, I don’t have an engineering degree. I got employed far before finishing my degree, but I have worked as a software engineer at enough places now to be considered one.
I’m not working part-time in that sense, I’m on part-time sick leave. I agree that it’d be a fantasy in most organizations unless the organization itself is jointly streamlined around another idea. I believe if a person is disciplined enough, and the organization doesn’t suffer by being very inefficient the job — in the general sense — could probably be done by working either four full days, or two hours less each day. Since the former option serves to increase the weekend by 50% but reduces the work week by 20% I know which option I’d prefer. If I had kids, I might have a different idea about what’d be better.
That could be a halfway decent metric for how efficient/inefficient an org is. Can a person be part-time and contribute on mainline stuff, or are they relegated to the outskirts of what needs doing?
Smart. Will see what that does to the non-specialty collars
Might have to level up my jump rope skills. It’d be sick to be able to warm up like this
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Wednesday 2021-01-06
Warm-up:
And,
Jug Pull-ups (2+2+2)
Jug hang (5 x 8s on/5s off)
Four finger lock off (pull-up, lock off for 6s: 5 x 6s on/5s off)
Four finger hang (5 x 5 s on/4s off)
Shoulders warm, fingers warm. Good to go!
7/3 repeaters
2+2/3 (F) laps of
6x7 second hang/3 second rest 4 finger open hand hang
6x7 second hang/3 second rest 3 finger open hand pocket (failed on the third lap here)
6x7 second hang/3 second rest easy sloper
3 minutes rest between grips
Glad to see some improvement!
Slopers Slopers are weird to train, not a grip type you’d use much but they aren’t tough on the tendons and that’s why I included them in my first iteration of hangboard training.
3 finger pockets I’ve heard that it’s uncommon for gyms to set problems with pockets because of the injury risk. But, the one gym I train at actually does set a lot of pockets. I don’t train them for this reason, as gym performance is a secondary concern (a boon, granted, but not a priority). Rather, I train it because I have a longer reach with 3 fingers than with 4 as my pinkies are somewhat short compared to the rest of my piano fingers.
4 finger open hand This grip is a staple, I’ve even heard of climpers that train it so much they can open hand things they cannot crimp. If you look at the biomechanics of the different grip types you’d have (in ascending order of strength)
- Open hand,
- half crimp,
- full crimp,
- full crimp with thumb wrapped over.
The stress placed on the tendons also ascend in the same order. Most climbers would never train type 4, and historically it would have been a tremendous faux paus to train type 3, but that has since changed. The current dogma, or perhaps it is enlightened, is “train what you’ll use” and I like that which is why I’m aiming to train 1-3.
Wrist/Elbow Rehab/Prehab
(Giant sets)
A. 3 sets of 30s pinches
B. 3 sets of external rotation (eccentric only)
C. 3 sets of reverse curls
D. 3 sets of wrist curls (eccentric only)
E. 3 sets of ulnar deviation
F. 1 minute powerball
C and D was done as a single exercise on lap 2 (Theraband Flexbar)
100 reps fat grip Curls, vary grips
Shoulder Rehab (every other day)
3x12 External rotations with a dumbbell, shoulder placed on a “bench” (couch this time) trying to not let the humerus tip forward.
3xAMAP Pike push-up with focus on scapular control. Did this and the above as my rest during the above giant sets.
Hamstring Rehab
Don’t have a medicine ball at home, did my exercises with a basket ball. Also as “rest”.
Boring. Will do the following with regards to keeping my elbows happy, and my boredom in check
Sunday: 100 reps of fat grip curls, vary grips
Monday: 3 sets of external rotation
Tuesday: Powerball
Wednesday: 3 sets of Theraband Flexbar or Wrist curls (eccentric only)
Thursday: Powerball
Friday: 3 sets of ulnar deviation & 3 sets of reverse curls
Saturday: 3 sets of 30s pinches
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Didn’t understand much, but it feels like a killer forearm workout. In any case it shows great dedication to show up and do grip and rehab stuff
I should probably do this…
Did it at the house fam, ordinarily I’d be in the gym on a Wednesday but I exhibited cold symptoms and am doing my due diligence. Will be allowed out tomorrow if they continue to be not-present. Woop. I just had them Tuesday morning, and our rules are 48h without symptoms.
But yes, you should take care of your elbows now that you’ve had issues.
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Ha, this made me laugh harder than it should have. I saved it, thank you for spending time on that 
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You should do this also. I do it semi-daily. If I feel the extensors are fatigued I don’t do it
I just have a rubber band at the table where I normally have breakfast.
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Thats a lot smarter than the ones I bought with finger holes that lasted about 4 reps before exploding.
The bands around asparagus here are great. They last for a long time before drying out. The resistance is okay, and it’s possible to stack them (especially if training one finger at a time), and they’re a glorious purple color.
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Not sure if I’m developing/worsening some kind of nerve thing in my hand. Have had tingling sensations in it for a few nights, yesterday I managed to alleviate it by doing some tendon glides (ulnar) and some exercises meant for carpal tunnel. A few days past, when I snapped that shot from the top of a hill, that hand and in particular those fingers were the only ones that got cold. Poor circulation and/or nerve “injury”, no idea. Hoping it doesn’t evolve into something additional that needs a proper dealing with >_<‘’’
No training to post. Still have cold symptoms, haven’t gotten back the results from my Corona test yet. No real energy to do anything at home either, feel lethargic and cold and while I have the tools necessary to train at home my intuition tells me it’d make it take longer to not feel sickly.
Tested negative!
I can arrive at no other suitable assumption other than to repeat my SSL week since I missed two sessions of it. The ones I got to do this week were my press training session, and squat training session. I’ll repeat those, and treat myself to an extra rep or two, or go harder with assistance.
I’ll still steer clear of benching for a while, my shoulder seems to be getting better but it’s still not pain-free, and I welcome the extra vertical pressing. I’m sure, in time, I’ll mindfully select my assistance to not neglect the chest but I really want to do more of @T3hPwnisher s giant sets 
Can always try log bench at some point, to see how that pans out.
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Saturday 2021-01-09
Bouldering. Nothing super challenging. Mostly teaching @tobe some of my tricks.
Sunday 2021-01-10
AM
7/3 repeaters
3 laps of
6x7 second hang/3 second rest 4 finger open hand hang
6x7 second hang/3 second rest 3 finger open hand pocket
6x7 second hang/3 second rest easy sloper (failed on the third lap here)
3 minutes rest between grips
Technically I had my first failure on the slopers already on the second circuit but I chalked (pun intended) that up to a fluke, as I didn’t have enough chalk on my fingers and blowed off the hold because of that. Considering I climbed yesterday this was a good performance training session.
Mid-day 90 minutes of ice-skating
PM Ended up goofing up my thinking while adding plates so odd-ball workout,
| Main | Set | Reps | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. Press | -1 | 10 | bar |
| 0 | 5 | 30 | |
| 75% | 1 | 5 | 40 |
| 85% | 2 | 5 | 42 |
| 95% | 3 | 5 | 47 |
| 4 | 6 | 37 | |
| 5 | 6 | 37 | |
| 6 | 6 | 37 | |
| 7 | 6 | 37 | |
| 8 | 6 | 37 |
Pull
Ramped to a 2RM on ring pull-ups (40 kg).
Backoff set 6 reps @ 20 kg
Some inverted rows (3xAMAP).
Push
Push-ups also feel gnarly inside my shoulder joints so I abandoned those,
did lateral raises 2xAMAP,
tricep push-downs (6-8-10) and
Core
Cable Pallof Alphabet Anti-extension.
Rehab
And 100 curls with fat gripz.
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