Wow - you like a close grip don’t’cha? Good effort on the concentric benching, there.
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
Wow - you like a close grip don’t’cha? Good effort on the concentric benching, there.[/quote]
I find that if I try any wider of a grip it really hurts my shoulders, so this is where I’ve settled as the least painful option. When I was a kid I broke my collarbone right through and the idiot doctor “set” it with a Ace bandage contraption that only sort of worked. Consequently my right collarbone has this nearly 1" bump in the middle of it where the break was; I have no idea if this has any bearing on the shoulder pain or not, but I’ve pretty much concluded this is going to be my bench form.
I may try playing around with it during deload week to see if I still have the same problems, so thanks for the observation.
[quote]ag918w35 wrote:
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
Wow - you like a close grip don’t’cha? Good effort on the concentric benching, there.[/quote]
I find that if I try any wider of a grip it really hurts my shoulders, so this is where I’ve settled as the least painful option. When I was a kid I broke my collarbone right through and the idiot doctor “set” it with a Ace bandage contraption that only sort of worked. Consequently my right collarbone has this nearly 1" bump in the middle of it where the break was; I have no idea if this has any bearing on the shoulder pain or not, but I’ve pretty much concluded this is going to be my bench form.
I may try playing around with it during deload week to see if I still have the same problems, so thanks for the observation.[/quote]
No criticism intended. Just noting it’s a closer grip than average. If Konstantinovs is happy benching that way, who am I to judge?
10-28-2010: Squatzzzz
Warmup: 60x5, 75x5, 85x3
Work: 100x3, 115x3, 125x3+ (made 6, +1 Rep PR for this weight)
Assistance: 70x20
Even though I got everything done and did better than before, this felt like a somewhat mediocre session. It felt like my hips were going up way too fast on the heavy sets, and I had to stop for breath twice in the assistance set, even though the last time I did them I got 18 in before taking a few extra breaths.
Still, didn’t hurt anything, and just like airplane landings, any workout you can walk away from is a good workout. Video to follow when I’ve got it ready.
Video of the heavy set. Note that I’ve got a large floor fan on which is why my shirt is rippling around my Power Gut™.
I also realized that for some reason I decided to adjust my stance while in the MIDDLE of one of the reps. Who knows what I must have been thinking, but I’ll be avoiding that in the future.
Video, take 2
Nice work. Smooth and strong.
I have to have a fan as well. I can’t stand the air being still.
We’re having our round of late summer here, and yesterday it was near 80. We’ve got the air turned off, and while it wasn’t terribly hot it’s muggy, so the attic was feeling very closed in without the air moving.
I find the video approach to be interesting because it looks better on tape than it felt while I was doing it. I’m not sure if that means anything other than that it’s a bad video, but since I don’t have a training partner it’s good to see what I look like from time to time.
I’m new to filming myself too.(well out of the bedroom anyway! JOKE) And I always find that grinders, reps that seem to take an eternity to complete, look fairly quick on video, and those reps where you lose the weight way out in front and Good morning up don’t look too bad either. Weird.
Nice squats. It is true that what seems like an eternity (stalled mid-squat, for example) is usually just a blink of the eye or so. I love vids for showing what really is. My perception is often so off.
10-31-2010: Deadlifts, Wk. 3
[Scene: AG stands behind the podium at a press conference with assistant just behind.]
AG: For the first time in my history I have moved 3 plates a side!!! (silence)
Aide: (whispers in ear)
AG: I’ve been reminded to tell you to pay no attention to what sounds like a whale breaching the surface in the video you are about to see. Regardless of audio issues, this is an astounding accomplishment on my part!!!
Aide: (whispers in ear)
AG: It has been pointed out to me that there are some of you in the audience who have lifted this sort of weight yourselves. As I’m sure you’re all younger than I am, and larger, you must recognize that my accomplishment is still pretty impressive.
Aide: (whispers in ear)
AG: What?!? Seriously!?! (Storms off stage muttering something about taking up macrame).
Aide: Apparently I should not have pointed out that these others who have lifted such weights are either women, significantly older than our speaker, or roughly 1/2 his weight; in some cases all three. There is nothing to see here.
In all seriousness, I’m pretty excited about this lift, even if it’s not that big of a deal in the larger world of powerlifting.
we lift against ourselves and any milestone is good but I really like the milestones that mean another pair of 45s on the bar!
nice job and I enjoyed the commentary.
Very nice commentary! Loved it! You do sound like a whale breaching the surface, especially on your first rep! Great analogy.
And great pulls. You have very, very nice form. You keep your hips down nicely and start low. You could, however, do more of a controlled drop and save yourself some energy.
And I always have to reassure myself about the pansy weights I lift even though I’m small. It doesn’t help that the only other regular female who logs here is Ouroboro.
Congrats on the milestone. Soldog is right comparing yourself to others will only lead to depression. I often find my deadlift PR loses some of its shine when I realise there’s female olympic weightlifters snatching it!!
You look to have pretty good flexibility for an old 'un. Your technique is very controlled and your negative very slow. Maybe too slow. I think you’d easily be good for a couple more reps if you sped up a bit.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks for all of the encouraging words.
This is another one of those cases where what you see on the video doesn’t match how it feels while you’re doing the lift. I don’t think that I’m putting the weight down all that slowly, but when I see it here I wonder what in the world I’m waiting for. I’m probably subconsciously afraid of breaking the weights/floor by dropping them too hard, but frankly unless I miss the plywood I don’t think that’ll actually happen.
Since next week is deload week perhaps I can try it out with lighter weights to see how I feel about it in practice.
Catching up on the actual “log” part of this exercise log.
10-30-2010: Overhead press, wk. 3
Warmup: 20x5, 25x5, 30x3
Work: 37.5x5, 42.5x3, 47.5x1+ (made 3)
BBB Assistance: 25x10x5
This actually wasn’t too bad, given the problems I’ve been having progressing with this lift. For the next cycle I’m going to use the small magnetic weights I have to advance by just a little bit rather than a full 2.5kg on my max.
10-31-2010: Deadlift, wk. 3
Warmup: 60x5, 75x5, 90x3 (I’m now warming up with something that was near my max 6 months ago)
Work: 110x5, 125x3, 140x1+ (made 3, as shown in video above. Weight PR +5kg)
Assistance: 70x10x5 (I was supposed to be doing 65, but apparently I had a senior moment.)
The assistance work felt heavy, but since I didn’t know I had accidentally jumped the weight I attributed that to the fatigue of the heavy set.
11-2-2010: Bench, wk. 3
Played T-ball with my daughter and a gaggle of neighborhood kids out in the street. I was the sole fielder for much of the game, so lots of running, bending, etc. to make my aging joints hurt before I even got to eat dinner.
Warmup: 32.5x5, 40x5, 50x3
Work: 60x5, 70x3, 77.5x1+ (made 2, really hoping for 3 but it just didn’t go up. Weight PR +2.5kg)
Assistance: 47.5x10x5 bench, 40x10x4 bent-over barbell rows
I think the rows are helping, as I can really feel them in my upper back.
11-6-2010: Squats, wk. 3
First, I just want to say that the best part of 5/3/1 is deload week 
Knowing that I’m going to get a break makes it mentally easier to go all out on the heavy week, which is what I managed to do today.
Warm-up: 60x5, 70x5, 85x3
Work: 105x5, 120x3, 135x1+ (made 4! This is a +5kg PR and 2 more reps than I made at 130)
Assistance: 70x20
The first 3 of the heavy reps felt really good. I was tempted to bail at that point, but heard JW telling me to move north of vag, so I went for the fourth one, which ended up being a hybrid squat/GM, but it went up in one motion, without any double-bouncing or anything, so I’m counting it. Pretty excited by both the PR and the chance to rest next week.
11-7-2010: Military press, wk. 4
I performed these lifts while my 7-year-old daughter was playing her electronic drum set and demonstrating her own exercise inventions between sets. Not something you can do at the typical commercial gym
Otherwise, nothing interesting: 20kg x 5 x 2 sets, 25x5x2, 30x5x2
I will be moving my working max for this exercise from 47.5 to 48.75, using my small magnetic weights to go up by smaller amounts this time.
Nice work on the milies, I hate military presses with a deep and abiding passion.
11-09-2010: Deadlifts, Wk. 4
Second exercise in deload week; went very easy.
60x5x2
75x5x2
90x5x2
I have a question for the 5/3/1 Faithful: do you do your assistance work during deload week, or just the main exercise? Previously I’d been doing the assistance (which is all the Boring But Big in my case), but it seemed as though I’d get to the start of the next cycle and still be sore/creaky. Consequently I’ve dropped them, but I feel like a bit of a slacker.
Interested to hear your experiences with this.