First off, the new avatar. They are the most brutal extreme metal band in the world, and the 12th largest economy. Totally Brutal, like the blackest black times infinity.
So, my forecast of 90% chance of ME Squat on saturday is incorrect. I woke up this am with hips, ham and cheese all weak and very sore. no sled dragging today. no heavy lifting tomorrow. I might drag my sorry old ass into the gym tomorrow and do some light accessory stuff to try and get my p-chain functional, but prolly not, prolly just rest and heal.
I am feeling weak, old and whiny, so I am running around snarking on everyone else’s threads this morning. sharing the disappointment, cuz its better to give than to receive.
to paraphrase the greatest poet of our time, Frank Zappa “the weak shall inherit nothing”.
be more weaker
old lardass
[quote]mjnewland wrote:
I am feeling weak, old and whiny, so I am running around snarking on everyone else’s threads this morning.
be more weaker
old lardass[/quote]
C’mon now…get your chin up l’il fellah.
Got the sled up and running this weekend. Thanks for the tips how to make it. What a great workout pulling that thing around the yard is.
3/9/09 ME Squat
Low Box Squat
3x 45/95/135/185/885/275
1x 315/345/375/375 (10lb PR)
Dimel Deadlifts
165x 20/13/17
Pulldown Abs
120x 15/15/15/15/14
45 degree back raise
BW x 8/8/8
I don?t know if I was overtrained, but my posterior chain seems to have recovered. The low box squat felt good, and I added another 10 lbs to my max ? Im pretty sure I can hit 385 or even 395 next time. However, I was not totally unloading my hips on the box, I was just using the box as an UP command. Does that count on the low box? I need a verdict from Maraudermeat, Skid or BunZilla.
The template called for Pull Throughs (GHR substitute), but I dropped them. By the time I got done with Dimels, I had already been at the gym for an hour and I almost left right then, but I felt guilty about my lack of HAWT ABZ. After I finished those, I realized that on days like this, reverse hypers (I have to substitute 45 degree back raises) are not for work, but for recovery. So, instead of skipping, I did bodyweight back raises nice and easy. My back, which was well and truly cooked, feels like a million bucks right now, so I learned something new.
All in all, I only skipped 1 sled dragging day and 1 training session, but I feel pretty much recovered now. I have learned to not hesitate to take a day off. Now if I can learn to say no to snack foods?I was a bad piggy over the weekend.
Hey, here is a question for the crew, do you guys notice that you feel a little more aggressive in general as you get stronger? Maybe aggressive isn?t the right word. How about feeling Better Than Everyone Else Around You? Maybe its just me?
There was a much higher attendance of hot fitness bunnies than usual in the gym today. In their defense, they were all able to control themselves, and none of them threw undergarments at me. I?m pretty sure they mostly wanted to, though.
Dream Harder,
Old Lardass
[quote]ecogenx wrote:
Got the sled up and running this weekend. Thanks for the tips how to make it. What a great workout pulling that thing around the yard is.[/quote]
Glad I could help. I haven’t tried pulling it on grass, yet. Ill bet its a lot harder than pulling on the street. Thats why I pull it on the street.
so you went from whining to a huge box squat workout…
see not so bad.
good work.
kmc
I’m certain that if you get the gym management to play some of that Deathklok(?) and play some air guitar, you’ll be covered in a babesuit right away.
I was actually planning on using a box just as you described above. Sittin on it makes me more confident in the bottom, though, and natuarally makes me take my stance wider.
And yes, I seem to be getting more aggressive the stronger I get. Not necessarily a good thing…
nor a bad thing…
Dethklok is a fictional animated band in the series Metalocalypse. its on [adult swim] on the cartoon channel. I think its about the funniest thing in the universe. And yes, if I groaned into my hand like Nathan Explosion (Dethklok’s frontman) I would immediately be wearing a chick shirt. Sadly, foofoo golds would never play a song titled Murdercution or Blood Ocean.
Instead of a box, one of the ideas I have heard is to take a band or bungee cords and put them at a level inside the power rack where touching would mean that you are parallel. Since I dont have anyone to call depth for me, i am considering doing that. The only reason i used a box yesterday is cuz the template said “low box”.
If you are just going for a depth check.
Use a ball.
Being smaller, and squatting lighter
then most of us here I usually go ass to grass. Usually I want my hams and calves to touch, if I can do that I will sometimes use a medicine ball, my gym has something like this from dynamax see if its too low.
In some of meat’s videos you can see he uses
the cardio platform things.
http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?cid=261
3/12/09 ME Bench
Floor Press
3x 45/95/135/185/225
2x 255
1x 275/295/Missed 305
Lockouts #9 pin
275x 5
315x 5 (10 sec rest)
345x 4 (40 sec rest)
JM Press
3x 135/185/225/quitfailedwhimpedpussed out
Even though I took an extra day off after my last workout, I couldn?t finish today?s workout. Floor press went fairly well, even though I didnt PR. I had planned a 4th set of lockouts, but I couldnt finish the 3d set. JM Press was supposed to lead up to 3x3x245, but my first rep at 245 I got a third of the way down and realized I was about to staple my neck to the bench.
I had been at the gym for an hour, so I left, even though I didn?t do include DB press, hammer kerlZ, seated DB cleans and lying leg raises.
I obviously have a problem here. This template calls for a main exercise, a secondary exercise, and 3-4 accessory exercises. Since the beginning of this cycle, I have added an additional secondary exercise. I don?t think this is going to work any more, at least not on ME days. So, my extra big exercise will be limited to DE days for the next couple microcycles. I don?t know if I was overtrained or just tired last week, but I cant afford to get only 2 training sessions per week.
So, I?ll pick an additional big exercise to do a heavy triple or single on my DE days. I am thinking I will add either pin pulls or snatch grip deads to my box squats, and keep militaries with my speed bench. We?ll see. If any of you guys have any recommendations on this, Id love to hear it.
There were no hotties in the gym today. What a waste. Maybe that was why my performance sucked?
Train More Sadly,
john
Yes I always get a boost from the cardio bunnies.
And after those floor presses and lock outs
I wouldn’t feel so sad.
maybe sad for the lack of hot spandex gym goers but not sad for your work.
kmc
K, tru dat, I should stop my snivelling. the last few training sessions have been outstanding, and all in all Im pretty pleased with my progress. I think like most older lifters, Im trying to find the spot between too much and not enough.
Plus, there was a kid in the gym on Monday, under 185. I was doing my low box squats, and this kid was getting 8 reps with 3 wheels in the squat. I outweigh the kid by 100 lbs, and he outsquats me. Plus, his form is clean with one of the tightest upper body setups Ive seen. good arch, hands in tight, etc.
Plus, I don’t think he saw 20 summers yet. I didnt get a chance to talk to him, so I don’t know if powerlifting is his sport, or just supports his sport. The thing is, Im still competitive enough that I dont like being outclassed.
Anyway, its cool to see what the trained body is capable of, while being irritated that my body is not capable of it.
yet.
youth was wasted on me when i was young.
3/14/09 DE Squat
Box Squat
215x 2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2
Snatch Grip Deadlifts
3x 135/185/225
1x 275/275/275
Pull Throughs
190x 6/6/6
Wow, another ?aborted? training session. I neglected to do my normal mobility junk. I skipped the shoulder prehab (this actually worked out very well) and I skipped TKEs which I have been doing on sq/dl days (this was disasterous). So, by not starting with the ytwl and rotations, I was able to get my hands way in during squats, so I had a nice tight upper body position.
However, since I didn?t do the TKEs, the muscles around my left knee were not woken up, so every rep of box squats really hurt my knee. Needless to say, the bar was slow, and it hurt. The lesson ? never leave out the TKEs on squat day.
Snatch Grip deadlifts were a little disappointing, but it was my first time doing this exercise, so I can?t really complain. I had to use straps for my singles at 275. The fact that these weights are pretty light tells me that I need to do these more often. Pull Through weight continues to climb, but the stack only goes to 200, so I need to make a new toy to add weight to the stack. I recently promised this, and I?ll share once I finger it out.
The exercises that got aborted were chest supported rows, pull down abs, and 45 degree back raises. It turned out that my Saturday gym doesn?t have the kind of chest supported row that I am used to. Since I am a little on the OCD side, I spent 15 minutes wandering through the gym trying to find one, when I should have just substituted Kroc rows. I tried to catch a couple sets of pull down abs, and those didn?t go well either. I ran out of time, and had to leave.
Also, my GPP really sucks. I felt a little light-headed after box squats, and several times since. Yesterday, I walked my dog for a mile or so, and felt so-so. But, when I start dragging the sled, I feel overtrained. So, since I walked a mile yesterday, today I?ll drag the sled with no added load for ½ mile and see how that feels.
No pithy signature today
[quote].
No pithy signature today
[/quote]
hey Hey HEY!!! I need the pithy signature! You can’t just get us hooked, then remove it without warning! What, are you a pusher, huh?! You’re a dealer, ain’t ya! Give it to us for free all this time, now your gonna want us to pay!
k… how much?
3/16/09 DRAGGY-SLED!
I got off my growing butt and dragged my sled, unweighted, to set a baseline for monitoring my GPP.
Sled + 0, 1/2 mile, 13 minutes even.
I think I’ll add 8-12 lbs each dragging session. (and now, free stuff for Bunzilla)
Train Fatter,
old lardass
[quote]mjnewland wrote:
I think like most older lifters, Im trying to find the spot between too much and not enough.
[/quote]
That is the sweet spot my brother! It changes all the time. Your training looks great.That sled is ruff.
Im on the young end of being an old lifter and I am realizing I need 15 to 20 minutes of prehab rehab mobility every workout.
train smarter and fatter.
[quote]mjnewland wrote:
3/16/09 DRAGGY-SLED!
I got off my growing butt and dragged my sled, unweighted, to set a baseline for monitoring my GPP.
Sled + 0, 1/2 mile, 13 minutes even.
I think I’ll add 8-12 lbs each dragging session. (and now, free stuff for Bunzilla)
Train Fatter,
old lardass[/quote]
Ahhhh… (letting it sink in…)sigh
Feel much better now. And I definitely know how to train fatter… burp
[quote]mjnewland wrote:
There were no hotties in the gym today. What a waste. Maybe that was why my performance sucked?
[/quote]
There’s never any hotties per se in my ‘gym’. I train at a federal gummint office building that’s allocated about 2,000 square feet to a gym. There are, on occassion, some less ugly/overweight gals running on the treadmill and they are definitely good for motivation. I usually wander over to the magazine rack and look at the girls on the covers for inspiration.