-[][][]---OL Log 4---[][][]-

Training Powerlifting
661

6/2/11 - I’m a happy camper today, my back didn’t hurt when I did the Olympic lifts. I went very light.

  1. Snatch complex - fucked around with 95 lbs

  2. Clean complex - fucked around with 95 lbs

  3. Jerks - fucked around with 95 lbs

  4. Front and back squats - I think you get the point.

  5. Blast-strap fallouts - 3 x 8

*** My left psoas was sore today from the sled leg circuits I did the other day, but my right was fine. Incidentally, I have trouble recruiting my left glute, but my right is fine (my left piriformis is also tighter). So I’m thinking my left psoas was weak and tight, causing inhibition of the glute max. Anyways, I stretched the psoas harder, and then my glute activation felt much better.

*** This injury has really made me realize my own weaknesses. I think I’ll be better off for it.

*** I’m never cracking my lower back or neck again.

*** When the fuck is my Pendlay belt coming in the mail?

Vid:

662

Well through one thing and another I’ve not had chance to update this so last two workouts have been:

31/5/11

Session 1
Front squat
70x3
107x5
107x5
107x5
107x5
107x5

Pullup
3x5

Session 2
Split jerk
60x3
80x2
102x2
102x2
102x1/0
102x2
102x2
102x2
102x2

Power Snatch
60x2
65x2
70x2
75x2
75x2
75x2

Power Clean
60x2
80x2
90x2
92x2
92x2
92x2
92x2

Snatch high pull
80x3
80x3
80x2
90x3
92x3
92x3

Mammoth day, loads of volume. Felt ruined when I woke up on wed morn. Me and Mrs ache went to yorkshire wednesday, thursday.

3/6/11

Session 1
Front Squat
50x3
70x3
100x2
115x4
115x4
115x4
115x4
115x4

Session 2
High pull of clean
70x3
110x3
115x3
120x3
125x3
130x3

Low Row
All sets of 10, pyramid up 28/35/42/49/52/63/70/77

663

[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
went to a doctor today and he basically told me that I’m fucked… lol

he said my right kneecap is a bit to the right and I was born this way. Said the only thing I can do is knee wraps and antinflammatory stuff. Also mentioned that surgeries for this have less than 1% chance of success. I will probably go to at least another doctor, get an x-ray on monday and try the knee wrap and the antiblabla stuff and see how it goes.

He also thought 95 snatch and 105 c&j are really high so I’m not sure what to think.

Not much point to this post but I’m kinda scared… but even in the worst case scenario that this is the problem I’ll keep at it and endure the pain. love this sport too much to quit already(which is what his advice was more or less…)[/quote]

I’d be more inclined to see a physiotherapist. More specificly a knee expert and get their opinion, the doctor might only see 4-5 people a year with knee problems. If your see someone whose living is knees they are more likely to give you better advice.

Chin up Lordstorm

664

I don’t actually foam roll, but do pretty much the same thing but with my hands/fingers. My coach is very good at it. Hasn’t helped with this injury so far, maybe I’ll do it a lot and see if it helps.

Ed ache, its kind of hard to find a knee orthopedician expert thats also a sports doctor(pretty sure I might be getting the terminology wrong here even though its mostly greek :smiley: ) and knows lots about weightlifting.

Still I’ll definitely get at least one more opinion maybe a physio too and an x-ray and keep at it.

I just really hope this guy wasn’t right… and even if he was, fuck it i’ll just hurt. lol. as long as it doesn’t get worse I’m fine with it.

665

foam roll. try it out. calves, peroneals, IT band, quads/TFL, adductors. get a hard ball for the piriformis. if you aren’t in pain you’re doing it wrong.

666

don’t worry I’m pretty much always in a lot of pain when i do it.enough to the point that I don’t get how its ever gonna stop. if it doesn’t hurt can’t you just put more pressure and then it will?

667

x2 foam roll!!!

i’d suggest starting with something soft(ish) like an EVA (high density foam) roller. then progressing…

i had a really very beat up body when i started… it took me about an hour to get through my body.

  • under the feet (tennis ball to start)

  • back of lower legs (roller)

  • front of lower legs (roller)
    – ankle mobility / stretching

  • quads (roller) - hip flexors (ball)

  • hamstrings (need to lean forwards to get tension (roller + ball)

  • outside of leg (ITB OMFG!!!) - roller

  • inside of leg (adductors - ow by knees) - roller

  • glutes and all around the hip joint - ball
    – hip internal and external rotation drills

  • thoracic spine (roller)

  • each side of the spine (arms up - lats, arms down - erectors and traps)
    – lying back on exercise ball (thoracic spine mobility)
    – shoulder dislocates

i do this EVERY DAY.

oh. since you don’t have appendages you might like to roll your chest, too :slight_smile:

i dunno about your knees. they are meant to be stable rather than mobile… i had a lot of tightness in the muscles / insertions (or origins or whatever) in my lower upper leg by my knee. rolled them gradually (just about sent me through the roof!!!) wondered a little if i might be relaxing things that were supposed to be tight, though. my knees felt… kinda floppy rather than stable. but gradually my knees came right. i think it is about the balance between the muscles in that region. use the muscles - spare the joints.

i follow this:

(gives you the techniques and really helpful anatomy breakdown)

http://www.athletestreatingathletes.com/currentupcoming-projects/self-muscle-massage/

(i’m wary of their talking of rolling the lumbar spine. maybe it is okay… but VERY GENTLY)

668

[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
don’t worry I’m pretty much always in a lot of pain when i do it.enough to the point that I don’t get how its ever gonna stop. if it doesn’t hurt can’t you just put more pressure and then it will?[/quote]
yeah. or use a PVC pipe. I heard that is hell.

669

good post alexus, I’ll post what I do as well. About the lumbar spine, I think the foam roller might be putting too much pressure on it. I have some seen manual massage of the low back on Chiense lifters, but it really is kind of a gentle/loosening up massage. That seems fine to me.

OK, before every workout, I do this. Takes me about 15 minutes to warm-up.

Lacrosse ball:
-Under feet
-Piriformis/other deep external rotators

The Stick:
-Achilles
-Peroneals
-Calves
-Meaty part of forearms (because I have some elbow pain)

Foam roller:
-IT band
-Quads/TFL
-Adductors
-Thoracic erectors (focusing on mid-back, one side at a time)
-Rhomboids (by pulling shoulder blades apart my ‘hugging’ myself)
-Lats
-Pecs

Then a mobility warm-up from the Assess and Correct product from Cressey/Robertson.

It may seem like a lot, but once you get going at a good pace, it is only 15 minutes.

670

04/06/2011

BW 93.5

Not feeling hugely up for it, tired, slept for at least 9hrs, still felt asleep…but I got to train!

FS
bar x6
60 x 5
100 x 2
120 x 1
140 x 1
150 x 1
160 x 1
167.5 x 1 : +2.5kg for a Saturday session
170x re racked it, felt heavy as f0ck

Sn - Only done one PS up to 80kg about 2 weeks ago, but didn’t do more as wrist didn’t feel up to it
bar work
50 x 3
70
90 feels good
100 good
110 good
115 good
120 good, TF?! I can hit without Sn for 4 weeks?! Sweet!
OxMan says go to 125…what the hell mate, might as well I’m feeling good on a Saturday
125! TF!!! Crazy!!! Equal PB on a SATURDAY? WTF!!!
127.5x : not too bad at all, a bit in front, 2nd pull not as aggressive
127.5x not too bad at all
127.5x a bit in front
127.5x slower first pull, sweet 2nd pull, just swung it a bit, doh! Close!
127.5x bit in front
127.5 L+2.5kg pb!!! boof0cking yah!!! slower first pull, but strong 2nd pull and the line was solid! SWEET! This ones goes out to the England Rugby girls training!

Who would have thought I’d hit a PB by not SN at all…but I guess +3kg on my FS, +5kg on my Clean has helped carry my SN power, didn’t feel as sharp as I do when I’m SN regularly, but again, it’s not what counts, it’s what you can put up. I’m feeling good and confident!

CJ
50 x 2
70
90
110
130
140 Cleaned flattened me a bit, didn’t catch the bounce
147.5x gash on the Clean, rubish
147.5 better, felt fast on the Jerk, suprised I can put up 147.5 on a Saturday session!
152.5x Clean felt good, Jerk was close, edging it up!
152.5x no attempt on the Jerk, just felt a sh!t tonne heavier then the previous attempt, the previous attempt it felt light on my shoulders!

Clean
157.5 for you Rugby girls

FS
110
140
160
170x
150 x2
155 x2

Wide Grip Pull ups
x18 equal PB! Booyah!

GHR
x10
x10
x10

Interesting how I felt not great going in to the gym, just groggy from the amount of sleep and not up for it. I warm up, the FS feel okay, but I then just turn it on.

We had some England Rugby girls training, don’t ask me to comment on WTF they were doing…seriously…decline single squats to about 90*, one legged squats on a box so you can go down to half way, the reverse pulls were okay and same with the push ups, but wtf?!

FS, BS, DL and if the coach knew how to teach the OLifts do some of that. The stuff they were doing I would prescribe to a car crash victim.

But whatever, either way I got more motivated and smashed it up in the gym. There is NO WAY I’d have bothered with the 157.5kg C lean if they weren’t about. I was battered, put up 170 to DL, but then there was a few more of them about, thought f0ck it, put up 157.5 and went for the Clean. Got under it fast, didn’t pull that much as I was tired, got a really high sticking point, I even paused said Oxman, pushed hard and got it! Sweet!

671

awesome Koing. Time to slowly catch back up to you. :slight_smile:

672

thanks for the posts guys. It seems like its pretty hard to find a foam roller in greece but i’ll get to it eventually. I think that for the next few days my coach will do practically the same thing which should help now that they are pretty tight. Today he worked on my upper thigh and upper IT band parts but was short on time. On monday I hope that I’ll be in “living hell” for 30 minutes at least. Gotta become a masochist to go asking for this stuff.

Personally I’m just thinking that once he or someone else helps me get them loose enough I can then maintain them loose on my own

today’s training I did up to 100x2 jerks although neither of them were locked out proper. My lower back felt pretty weak for some reason, must be cause I barely got any sleep. Still they felt rather doable. I’m pretty confident that once I’m back to it and get used to jerking I’ll quickly get 120 even.

Also played pingpong. for like the 3rd time in my life. after an hour i was way better. Very important info, i know!

673

nice workout koing! I assume you know your body better than I know mine but I’ve generally learnt… go to work out, warm up, then decide how you are feeling!

donny shankle once said/wrote somewhere that one time a girl walked in while he was lifting and then he wanted to lift big weights more than ever that day to impress her. I guess if girls like to show their beauty we like to show our strength. Simple huh

674

I NEVER foam roll…I just go, do my dynamic warm ups

windmills
standing up rotate my shoulders and body left to right with my arms following with my arms
legs windmills forwards and backwards
legs going across my body
lying on the floor heel flicks to my glutes,
lying on the floor, knees bent, rotate my legs from side to side,
lying on the floor on my front, doing the same as the above

Do a few squats and hold my hands together to warm up my wrists, done, takes about 5-8minutes. I use to spend a bit longer but now I don’t really bother. I just rush through it and hammer the FS.

[quote]PB Andy wrote:
awesome Koing. Time to slowly catch back up to you. :)[/quote]

Cheers mate!

Feels good to be able to get weight over head and to top it off with a 2.5kg pb on the Snatch! Nearly 2.5kg on the CJ but a 147.5 isn’t too bad. I think that if you can hit 95% often your BOUND to get a PB sometime. For me I get a FS PB about once fortnight it seems. But it’s weird that you train your f0cking nuts off and MOST of your sessions aren’t great, but ‘okay’ or ‘not great’ then you get a few gems and it makes it all worth while. I think the main thing is to just keep positive and just keep training and ploughing on.

I have my MOJO back baby!

Koing

675

great work koing, congrats on the PR’s!!

if your body is in pretty good shape you probably don’t need to bother so much… it is when your body isn’t in such good shape that you need to bother a lot more… the culmination of my up to 1 hour rolling / mobility work is that I can actually hit a halfway decent (though far from perfect) bottom position. I simply can’t do it otherwise. Some people can just kind of spend a couple minutes wiggling around and they have got it. Lucky them.

tennis ball should be easy enough to come by.
you could get yourself a length of drain pipe from a hardware type store. wrap it in something to soften it a little. maybe a bit of foam, even.

i’d suggest you give it a go if you haven’t. might well be surprised at what kinds of knots you find lurking…
i think it is good for injury prevention, too. pretty sure i’ve rolled away things that would have ripped if i hadn’t…

donny shankle once said/wrote somewhere that one time a girl walked in while he was lifting and then he wanted to lift big weights more than ever that day to impress her. I guess if girls like to show their beauty we like to show our strength. Simple huh

hmm… i don’t know if walking in is ‘like to show their beauty’… i do think guys tend to get a bit more fired up in my gym when i’m lifting, though. i figured it was because they were worried that if they didn’t train hard i might outlift them one day. mwah haha. of course i will.

on the other hand… there is something that i find reassuring (sometimes though sometimes it annoys me) about guys easily lifting much much more than me. know i’ve got some ways to go with that (it should just annoy me) but does encourage me a bit that i really can put my all into it and not worry about feeling too beastly (i hope this is something i’ll get over in time).

i don’t really get ‘impressed’ though. maybe i’m a weirdo… but i don’t feel impressed when people lift more than me. i just feel worse about my own performance. sometimes it gets me fired up which is good, though.

676

[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
nice workout koing! I assume you know your body better than I know mine but I’ve generally learnt… go to work out, warm up, then decide how you are feeling!

donny shankle once said/wrote somewhere that one time a girl walked in while he was lifting and then he wanted to lift big weights more than ever that day to impress her. I guess if girls like to show their beauty we like to show our strength. Simple huh[/quote]

I go to the gym, warm up and hit a heavy max, if it’s a pb it’s a pb, if it’s not, I just go as heavy as I can. I aim to hit at least 90% if it’s a rubbish session…95% on an fairly good session and pb on a sweet session!

Uncle knew that back in the 60’s.

I was around a girls house and I got her to do some push ups. She wanted to see if I could do it. I did 20 and she told me to stop…I kept going on…I hit 60! thats +5 over my PB loll! My ribs were sore for about 4 days, savage.

It just gives you the extra edge like competing a competitions. I draw from it and smash it!

Does your knee hurt when you walk? Squat?

Koing

677

[quote]alexus wrote:
great work koing, congrats on the PR’s!!

if your body is in pretty good shape you probably don’t need to bother so much… it is when your body isn’t in such good shape that you need to bother a lot more… the culmination of my up to 1 hour rolling / mobility work is that I can actually hit a halfway decent (though far from perfect) bottom position. I simply can’t do it otherwise. Some people can just kind of spend a couple minutes wiggling around and they have got it. Lucky them.

tennis ball should be easy enough to come by.
you could get yourself a length of drain pipe from a hardware type store. wrap it in something to soften it a little. maybe a bit of foam, even.

i’d suggest you give it a go if you haven’t. might well be surprised at what kinds of knots you find lurking…
i think it is good for injury prevention, too. pretty sure i’ve rolled away things that would have ripped if i hadn’t…

donny shankle once said/wrote somewhere that one time a girl walked in while he was lifting and then he wanted to lift big weights more than ever that day to impress her. I guess if girls like to show their beauty we like to show our strength. Simple huh

hmm… i don’t know if walking in is ‘like to show their beauty’… i do think guys tend to get a bit more fired up in my gym when i’m lifting, though. i figured it was because they were worried that if they didn’t train hard i might outlift them one day. mwah haha. of course i will.

on the other hand… there is something that i find reassuring (sometimes though sometimes it annoys me) about guys easily lifting much much more than me. know i’ve got some ways to go with that (it should just annoy me) but does encourage me a bit that i really can put my all into it and not worry about feeling too beastly (i hope this is something i’ll get over in time).

i don’t really get ‘impressed’ though. maybe i’m a weirdo… but i don’t feel impressed when people lift more than me. i just feel worse about my own performance. sometimes it gets me fired up which is good, though.[/quote]

My Dynamic stretches sorts my body out but yeah I’m lucky in that I’m naturally supple and I’ve never had to work hard to be flexible. But I sitll do my dynamic stretches to prevent injuries.

It’s just a bit of extra motivation and it’s good training at a different gym and a different atmosphere.

You’ll be able to out lift some of those guys in time. Just keep working on it and you’ll need a decent FS but you’ll get there :smiley:

Koing

678

[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
thanks for the posts guys. It seems like its pretty hard to find a foam roller in greece but i’ll get to it eventually. [/quote]
hey bud. My brother and his girl are going to Greece in a couple weeks. They are going to Athens and then Porto Rafti, and then Santorini/Naxos. If you are near any of those areas, I can send a 6" half foam-roller along with him for you.

679

[quote]Koing wrote:

[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
nice workout koing! I assume you know your body better than I know mine but I’ve generally learnt… go to work out, warm up, then decide how you are feeling!

donny shankle once said/wrote somewhere that one time a girl walked in while he was lifting and then he wanted to lift big weights more than ever that day to impress her. I guess if girls like to show their beauty we like to show our strength. Simple huh[/quote]

I was around a girls house and I got her to do some push ups. She wanted to see if I could do it. I did 20 and she told me to stop…I kept going on…I hit 60! thats +5 over my PB loll! My ribs were sore for about 4 days, savage.

[/quote]
and then…? :smiley:

680

I read somewhere that the best stretch / mobility work for squat was to squat. I think that is right in the sense that IF you can squat properly it is indeed the best. The trouble comes when you are prevented from squatting properly. Then you gotta do what you gotta do in order to squat properly before you can use the squat as stretch / mobility for squat.

I’m hoping that my warm-up will eventually get to the point where air squats and bar work will be all the warm-up I need. At this point I need to spend quite a bit of time in order for air squats and bar work to be good enough to be profitable, though :-/ Undoing 30 years of neglect to my body + impact car crash… What do I expect? I’ve only been doing this seriously for 1 year. Maybe in 3 years I won’t need such a warm-up :slight_smile:

The link I posted is good for the techniques (elongation, cross friction, self fascia release). I find elongation (along the length of the muscle) good for rolling away stiffness so positions are smoother and more comfortable, cross friction (across the muscle fibre) good for breaking down more serious adhesions, and self release good for getting rid of trigger points (that send you through the roof when you put pressure on them). you gotta be a bit gentle with the latter two, though. i learned that they actually break the muscle fibres down so it takes some time for them to recover - like after heavy negatives. if you rush it the adhesions come back. if you work elongation gently while they are recovering they improve much faster.

this sport is crazy for how sometimes things just feel so good, like you can’t miss, and PB’s seem to come easy… then (for me anyway) for the longest time light weights don’t even want to play nice. feels a lot like 1 step forwards 2 steps backwards sometimes, but guess it is more reversed. makes it very addictive, though.

yeah, i’ll get there. i’ll feel a whole heap happier when i can easily outlift the guys who don’t train seriously / regularly. nothing more demoralizing than seeing guys LEARN to do something with more than my max :frowning: