[quote]JoeGood wrote:
Great pressing, man, you’ll hammer that 325 soon.[/quote]
Thanks Joe. I’m trying like hell. If I get to 325 it will be quite an accomplishment for me.
[quote]ecogenx wrote:
Looking stronger then ever JW. Bench, squat and zerchers are all moving in the right direction. I guess hard work does pay off. Great lifting.[/quote]
Thanks Eco, I’m running a distant 3rd to the likes of you. I am thinking about concentrating on zerchers for a while. I kind of like doing the exercises no one in the gym will do
JW, everything is indeed moving up.
nice work!.
great pressing!!
Nice work Wilson. Looks like your bastardly plan is working!
Good work, JW. I hear Zerchers are the Shiznit.
Catchin up here. I wish you wouldn’t tell everyone about the swamp water, though. Good thing you didn’t tell them about how it makes you a sexual superman, too. All kidding aside, you’re doing some great work and you’ve come a long way. Been fun watching you progress.
Thursday morning, 4:15
Zercher: 135x5, 185x5, 205x3, 205x2, 205x1
Squat: 135x10, 4x185x6
Elliptical machine: 12 minutes
Started with the Zerchers. I can see the where my weak points are, the crooks of my arms! I worked on my depth today so my volumes are pretty low. I guess you have to re-start somewhere.
Had a long night between problems with our home Internet, putting up the Christmas tree and fetching the daughter from ballet. Going to take her to the high school band concert. She gets extra credit and that goes towards her keeping first chair in the flute section. I don’t know much about school bands, but apparently first chair is pretty important in the school band world.
JW’s morning plea for help: Help! Help! I’m trapped in a Microsoft program and I can’t get out!
JW- I tried Zerchers last week just to get a feel and used a lot less weight than you are and my spindly forearms were not at all pleased with my decision. I poked around on line, and someone offered up a solution of using a fat bar. ( larger radius more dispersion of pressure…well ask Mathineer I am sure he can explain it).
Can’t help with the band stuff as I have zero musical ability, the first chair I got was out in the parking lot making sure no one broke into cars! But props to your daughter.
Yep. Scaling back the weight is the hardest part. And I suck at it. It is a BIG pill to swallow.
When I did zerchers I cheated and used padding. I took a pool noodle, the kind with a hole in the middle, cut it in half, overlapped the pieces and put them on the bar. I also wore a sweatshirt, as the noodles weren’t that thick. It did help.
Careful with the Zerchers, JW, they make you strong as shit, but you risk losing some skin pigment. 
Nice work!
[quote]OldGoat wrote:
JW- I tried Zerchers last week just to get a feel and used a lot less weight than you are and my spindly forearms were not at all pleased with my decision. I poked around on line, and someone offered up a solution of using a fat bar. ( larger radius more dispersion of pressure…well ask Mathineer I am sure he can explain it).
[/quote]
Pressure is force per unit area (politics is measured in farce per unit area, but that’s not important now). Anything you can do to spread out the contact force on your forearms will help. I dug out my old shin guards from my martial arts days. They are stiff foam. I slip them over the bar when I do Zerchers, and it helps make the exercise slightly less painful. Actually, I put a bar pad on the bar first, then the shin guards. Makes the bar a lot fatter, and spreads out the contact area. I honestly don’t know how Da Charming Albino et al can lift the kind of weight they do on Zerchers.
[quote]mathineer wrote:
[quote]OldGoat wrote:
JW- I tried Zerchers last week just to get a feel and used a lot less weight than you are and my spindly forearms were not at all pleased with my decision. I poked around on line, and someone offered up a solution of using a fat bar. ( larger radius more dispersion of pressure…well ask Mathineer I am sure he can explain it).
[/quote]
Pressure is force per unit area (politics is measured in farce per unit area, but that’s not important now). Anything you can do to spread out the contact force on your forearms will help. I dug out my old shin guards from my martial arts days. They are stiff foam. I slip them over the bar when I do Zerchers, and it helps make the exercise slightly less painful. Actually, I put a bar pad on the bar first, then the shin guards. Makes the bar a lot fatter, and spreads out the contact area. I honestly don’t know how Da Charming Albino et al can lift the kind of weight they do on Zerchers.[/quote]
I wrap two wash clothes around the bar - 1 for each elbow. Doesn’t increase the bar diameter very much but spreads out the force some. But the fact of the matter is that it still hurts. If the bar diameter gets too large it tries to roll or can force your arms open due to the weight being further from the elbow joint. It’s a lesson in torque.
Math/physics equations are one thing, but math jokes? This thread went geek so fast it was shameful. Zerchers, I just wear long sleeves and then go home and whine until momma uses her magic fingers. Side benefit of zerchers, and I may be doing them wrong, is the stomach workout. I really fell them in the abs.
They never had the washboard in the school band so I never tried out. I do know from a bunch of more musically talented relatives that first chair is the deal.
[quote]hel320 wrote:
Math/physics equations are one thing, but math jokes? This thread went geek so fast it was shameful. Zerchers, I just wear long sleeves and then go home and whine until momma uses her magic fingers. Side benefit of zerchers, and I may be doing them wrong, is the stomach workout. I really fell them in the abs.
They never had the washboard in the school band so I never tried out. I do know from a bunch of more musically talented relatives that first chair is the deal. [/quote]
Nope - you got it. Tummy gets a hell of a workout bracing the spine to keep it neutral.
OK. I got it now. First I’m a candy ass, I wore a long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt and used the noodle thingy. Still cant hold the bar worth a f$%k. As for the Math lesson… SSSHHHIIITTT I placed into 9th grade algebra in college and cheated my way out of Business Stats… Y’all went WAY over my head…
I’d like to put Zerchers back in my routine but I can’t figure out where to show horn them into the 5/3/1…
[quote]JoeGood wrote:
I’d like to put Zerchers back in my routine but I can’t figure out where to show horn them into the 5/3/1…[/quote]
I thinkin’ of putting them as an assistance movement on deadlift day. Keep the weight down at first and the reps up.
[quote]j_willy3 wrote:
OK. I got it now. First I’m a candy ass, I wore a long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt and used the noodle thingy. Still cant hold the bar worth a f$%k. As for the Math lesson… SSSHHHIIITTT I placed into 9th grade algebra in college and cheated my way out of Business Stats… Y’all went WAY over my head…[/quote]
Yep. Even with the noodle and sweatshirt, it still hurt me too. I think it is supposed to be painful
[quote]JoeGood wrote:
I’d like to put Zerchers back in my routine but I can’t figure out where to show horn them into the 5/3/1…[/quote]
I’d say put it on Deadlift day - either as main movement or as assistance. If anything they’re harder than deads and can only improve them.
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
[quote]JoeGood wrote:
I’d like to put Zerchers back in my routine but I can’t figure out where to show horn them into the 5/3/1…[/quote]
I’d say put it on Deadlift day - either as main movement or as assistance. If anything they’re harder than deads and can only improve them.[/quote]
I’ve been alternating them with deads. I’ve lucked out. I only wear a sweat shirt and the arms don’t ache doing them.