This is certainly a big, big part of my understanding of it. If your press TM is 60kg, 2.5kg is a pretty big percentage increase.
There’s another side to it too though, in my mind, which is that presses (and bench, to a lesser extent), rely heavily on gaining actual muscle mass. Squat and deadlift can be improved by both getting bigger and getting better, and in the case of squat, even getting fatter can have a decent effect. In contrast, the upper body lifts rely almost entirely on increasing muscle mass which is a really slow process. Please note, as with many of my opinions, this isn’t backed by any science and may be complete horseshit.
Sorry to hear about the finger man. I wish I had some helpful stuff to say on that front, but injuries and being hurt are a long way out of my wheelhouse. I’m Wolverine, I don’t get hurt.
This is probably true. I wonder if it has to do with joint stability, as in more muscle mass makes for more stable joints. Seeing as you are Wolverine, you’ll just have to trust me that it’s possible to feel completely unable to do a movement you know you can dominate when a joint is out of whack - the body just shuts down. When my shoulder(s) are at their worst, I feel the body putting on the brakes if I try to do a push-up from lying flat-belly on the ground. The strength is obviously there. It’s like the body is trying to figure out a way to do the movement without further injury, realising it is impossible, and shutting down entirely.
I can also notice this with my pulley injury right now. If I have my thermoplastic rings on I can grab a kettle no questions asked, without them I grip and regrip several times until it feels completely solid and only then will I lift it. This isn’t something I do consciously, but something I’ve observed.
The claim to be Wolverine is as much mental as physical to me, I think. I say it often and with little provocation because its a mindset I want to embed.
I’m not saying this to suggest this is what you should do, or downplay your experiences, simply explaining my rationale for why I behave that way.
No worries, mate. I don’t perceive there to be a slight in there from which to believe I’m being downplayed.
On that note, I very often feel my experiences are unrealistic, it just doesn’t seem feasible to have everything happen at the same time. I genuinely worry when dealing with doctor’s, and frequently omit raising new “alarms” to not risk being pegged as a person with Munchausen.
I also realise that, even if another person could figure out what is causing everything, that doesn’t change what has been caused. I try and reconcile my wants and desires and meet reality on reality’s terms (credit to The Midnight Gospel for that expression) but it isn’t easy.
I’ve read the email- thank you so much for sharing. I have class now and will need a bit of time to formulate a thoughtful response. I sincerely hope things improve. If anyone deserves a good life, it’s you.
Edit: I’ve responded. Sorry I don’t have much to add
Sorry to read about your second injury. Could it just be overuse? That’s the trouble with those kind of injuries …you’re fine… until you’re not. Had you been climbing more or more challenging routes before the first injury?
Otherwise, if you think something systemic is going on you should talk to your doc. Don’t worry about being judged. You know your body. If something is off—advocate for yourself. Don’t take your health for granted. Don’t wait. Figure it out.
First one for sure, second one, nah. But, I’ve had injuries in both hands and I’ve read they can take up to 2 years to heal fully and well, then anything can happen really. Again, and I think @Koestrizer is correct in highlighting part of what I wrote, it’s hard to recover when experiencing tons of stress. Hoping it turns out to be a gnarlier tweak and not a injury-injury.
Systemic, it’s hard. For one thing, I’m not the greatest at saying enough is enough. I’ll slog through a lot, and excuse a lot. If I were my doctor in this instance, I’d assume stress / nutrition given my history - however, if I personally were a doctor I’d be curious to run tests >_<’ so that hypothetical falls apart fairly quickly.
Intent was upper-body work today but shoulder ain’t feelin it. Just did a light tonic workout instead with some deep lunges, cossack squats, seated goodmornings with just the bar, Jefferson curls, and then one drop set of weighted abs.
Sorry things are so crummy right now. Granted, I haven’t kept up with any kind of news lately, but remember that the world is sorta a dumpster fire. still. I’d question anyone who is 100% at ease right now. Stress/anxiety could play a role. When was the last deload from both lifting and climbing for you?
You mentioned earlier I should let you know if I do, so I set up a site a couple days ago! Using Hugo. I must admit it’s been pretty fun so far.
Huh, yeah, I dunno. I would hold out and see how you feel after the anchor. Letting time run its course might help. Do you use any other recovery techniques to reduce stress/anxiety?
Maybe be extra cautious on the TM test week. I know this isn’t Jim’s intention, but I imagine some people can take the word “test” a bit too seriously here. Not implying that you do, because I don’t know.
I’m still working on setting things up, so nothing to see yet! Planning on finishing it this weekend. Not opposed to sharing it with people at all. Maybe I can send you an email or something with the URL at that point?
Yoga, nature walks, sex, herbal teas, good music, painting, reading, massage, biggish night snacks, glycine, melatonin, minimal caffeine intake, …
Definitely viewing it as a TM test. I’m actually intent on reducing my press TM a smidge now and then just see it move all smooth-like for that week. Just going to go for 5-6 reps.
I’d welcome that very much. The email in my bio is not a joke, coy as it is It is fairly anonymized though. Made up names given to Google and so forth. But feel free to make contact there.
Just want to note something about the rows here. I’ve taken to doing my “opening” sets with disciplined form and then for + sets I just go for max reps. So the 8 at 60 and 17 at 60 were somehow fairly comparable efforts. Fairly consistent with this between lifts.
6 laps (odd/even)
Reps
C1. Strict Press / Log Press
10, 10,10/10,10,9
C2. Reverse Ring Flyes / Inverted Rows
???
C3. DB Lateral Raises
???
C4. Most effective pull-apart
???
Mentally absent so didn’t log reps much. Ordinarily C2 would be push-ups but my right scalenes were tight enough to be visibly flexed and horizontal pressing of any kind along with that hasn’t been a recipe for success previously. More back work.
Found a “better” pull-apart from John Rusin that I tried out for C4, it was good
I’d ordinarily follow all that with some seal rows but all the jerk boxes and benches were swiped by other trainees so couldn’t set it up. Did some biceps shit in the rack before cleaning the barbell making as minor a footprint as possible in the gym. I’ve found myself doing this more and more. Try and use one barbell as much as possible, reduce machine use, to not spend as much time wiping things off.
