Yeah that’s fair. I guess I don’t actually know if I’m weaker.
I pulled 500 once last summer and then didn’t really try again. I don’t know if I could do that now.
I seem to have some days that are awesome and some that are garbage with all lifts.
I think I’m probably as strong on incline as bench, too, because I never bench.
I definitely couldn’t tell you what lifts transfer to other lifts for me!
Fair enough. I couldn’t tell you that either. I just had the realization today that my deadlift is coming back and all I do to build it (er, rebuild it) is deadlift.
I think rack pulls are good for:
Until I need one of those, I’ll just keep deadlifting.
I do agree with all that. I really think they’re two separate lifts. My whole set-up and hip action feel different, even when I’m trying to stay the same.
Today squats didn’t feel good again/ I was a wuss.
I ended up doing a bunch of the adductor machine and belt squats. Silver lining: I got a pretty good feel for the belt squat, which is good.
I don’t know what’s up with this.
Hurts
Doesn’t hurt
Perhaps I’ve just lost my mind
And Smith Machine squat ?
(A french coach made a video yesterday about smith machine squat)
Left not good, right better
Good question. I haven’t tried it. I haven’t really done those in a long time, so it’s not been my first go-to.
Thanks for sending the video!
I don’t know what to tell you except to train your full hip and see how it goes. Do some glute medius work. Do some adductor work. Do some glute and hamstring work. Jump on a foam roller and take note of the spots that make you want to scream.
You could just have a good old fashioned muscle strain that needs a good amount of time to heal.
I think you’re 100% right on all accounts. I also do absolutely no mobility/ stretching/ prehab/ whatever we call it now type stuff. I just need to take care of it. But what I prefer to do is go to the gym and just try to work up and get pissed when it doesn’t go my way.
We do have a hip thrust thing too - so good call; that can’t hurt to get better at either way.
Anyway, I can still train my legs if only squats with a barbell are a problem, so my complaints are minor.
I’m kind of limping my way through the Dark Horse, but mostly coming up with excuses; I will only make it 6 weeks on my half-ass version of this program anyway - I do not love it, although I do think its a good program.
I’m following your log as well, by the way - looks like things are going great: resist the temptation to throw all the plates on!
It’s getting tough!. 3-4 more weeks and I’ll be trying 5 plates again.
Your leg training is starting to sound like mine for the past year. Let go of squats for awhile. I bet you can hit a two plate RFESS so why not work on that?
Your squat might go down due to specificity but your legs will not suffer.
And just a bit of FYI - my main problem in my hip turned out to be a soft tissue thing. The foam roller keeps me going now. I don’t spend a lot of time on it, but if feel a bit of pain in my knee then I know it’s time to visit the roller.
I think you’re right. I am really starting to care less and less about barbell lifts. As it gets nicer out and my kids get older, I want to feel good enough to play ball anyway. I appreciate the advice. It’s not like we need permission to do the smart thing, but for some reason it still helps you know?
Now this is interesting! Do you do it before or after you lift? Or does it matter? I have gone through phases where I’ve done the Defranco warm-ups because they’re all the rage, but then I get soooooo bored I stop doing it. I probably need some combination of maturity and minimum effective dose.
Good luck! I’ll be following and Internet cheering!
And I changed my log title to reflect my true colors…
Any time, brother. And I expect you to offer me any input you deem appropriate.
It’s not something I do at regular intervals. I’ve backed off to just doing when I feel tight. It has nothing to do with training time. I just do it whenever I think about it. I remembered to do it after my push session the other day, but that’s rare. I usually end up doing it before bed because I’ll lie down and not be able to relax due to the tightness in my hip flexor.
I’ve had good luck with a few simple hip movements. A deep squat on a regular basis (third world squat) goes a long way. I also like to assume the push up position and bring one of my feet up just outside my hand. I do one leg at a time obviously and it hits my hip flexor on the trail leg and the glute and hamstring on the leg that’s bent.
Stretching my hip flexors and glutes seems to go a long ways for my hip health. I don’t go crazy with it, but I do it several times a week.
Super helpful all around. Thanks man.
I have a roller. I’ll probably just throw it in the living room and hang out on it when we watch the kids’ shows. I’ll prepare to cry.
I sit all day, so I’m sure my hip flexors are problematic. There’s no reason for me not to be doing the moves you mention in between my work-up sets.
Today I went off-plan, which is kind of my normal (I would be a horrible client), and did what I wanted:
Chest & Shoulders
15 minutes elliptical
DB Bench
35/15
55/12
75/8
90/4
100/8
100/6 + 70/9
Slight Decline Smith Bench
135/8
185/6
225/8
225/7
Cable Crossover
15/8
50/10 + 7 + 6
Dips
BW/18
BW/18
BW/15
Bent-over DB Rear Delt
20/20 x 3
Superset with:
DB Side Raise
20/15
Prone DB Y Raise
15/10
10/15
Ab Machine
4 sets
Ended up just doing a back day (crushed some pullups though), so maybe I’ve totally fallen off the Dark Horse train - that would be like half a program completed, if so. Discipline, thy name is not TfP. We’ll see what attitude tomorrow brings.
Total arbitrary thoughts coming, so beware. I think like 3 people read this, though, and we all seem to be of a mind, so it’s probably safe.
Reading the other thread is kind of interesting with the way we debate these days. It’s a lot of “if it was your priority…”, which is probably true, but it’s the wrong question.
I get it. When I was 25, I intended to die overseas. Straight-up LT Dan style, and it didn’t bother me at all, but since that was my priority, I built my life differently. I was in incredible shape, I trained for that very specific goal all the time, but I had no thoughts of long-term health. I drank like a fish, lived on energy drinks, and probably found every long-haired diversion on every continent I could feasibly do so. My priority drove my actions.
Then I got married. Spending time with her, when I was home, became a priority - the other diversions, obviously, had to cease. But I still didn’t care about my health; I intended to be dead long before 40.
Then reality hit: sometimes you don’t get to die a hero, you just kinda limp off into the sunset. So now I have no purpose, and I get fat and sloppy and cranky.
But I had kids! Everything changes. They are absolutely my priority in life, and I work everything around them. I also learn to be a better person - it turns out I can spend time on me to be in shape and have a better attitude, even if my job doesn’t require me to run. On the other hand, I’m not going to spend so much time I don’t see them; things have to become a balance. I make many decisions this way - I’m fortunate enough to be able to choose to give up some money to spend more time at home, but not all the way on either end of the spectrum.
The important note here is the priority drives the activities, but I can still “want” other things: I want some challenge at work, and I want to drive strategies. I have goals in the gym, and I obviously still want to spend time with my wife. One day, I might even feel like making a friend. None of these things trumps my priority, which is my children, but they live together.
When I read the things like “if it’s a priority, you’ll make it happen,” it’s 100% true; the problem is the context. When we say something like that, we know full well what we’re really saying is “you won’t hit your goals because you aren’t committed.” When we’re talking about getting lean for an Internet challenge, we’ve got to put that into perspective: if that’s your priority over your family, you have something to fix (and it’s not your diet). In this case, we have to help balance our “wants” with our priority in a practical way.
On the other hand, if your priority is to be a Navy SEAL (or whatever we all think we’re doing nowadays) or an NFL draft pick and you’re running around with girls on the weekends or don’t feel like getting up early to run, now you’re a turd.
I don’t know what my whole point is, other than we seem to want black-and-white soundbites nowadays rather than applying our own thought process. I say this as a reformed 25-year-old who operated the exact same way.
It’s all excuses…
100% spot on buddy
I think most people prioritize comfort. That’s what we define differently.
If you’re a bit overweight but healthy then it’s easy to keep putting off losing that 20 lbs. If you have a health incident and doc says drop 20 lbs or risk having a heart attack then we’ll listen. The act of losing the weight isn’t comfortable, but it’s more comfortable than the thought of not being there for your family.
If something bad happened to me at work then I might not be comfortable with my current abilities. But, for now, I feel like I’m prepared. I’m comfortable so my training and priorities reflect that.
We like comfort. People who fail to reach a fitness goal are comfortable with their current state. If they were uncomfortable then they’d take the necessary steps to do something about it. They have to reach that point where their discomfort with themselves is worse than the discomfort of working towards their goals.
Absolutely. I’ll add that priorities (should) also change as we age (read: hopefully mature.) And it’s natural and OK for us to grow with the changes. As (presumably) Solomon wrote in Ecclesiates, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born, and a time to die… a time to search, and a time to give up… a time to tear, and a time to mend… a time for war, and a time for peace.”
The question becomes what time/season of life am I currently in, and how do I successfully discharge of my duties for this season?
Whoa. When did you come to Albuquerque and watch me work out?!
Largely, I agree. But adult life presents us with what the legal sphere calls “competing needs and interests.” Work and family responsibilities demand most of our time and attention, making it harder to reach fitness goals. Not impossible, but harder. I think the key is creating a balance between meeting family and work priorities while also investing time into health and fitness, which represent both long-term and immediate needs themselves.
Ehhh, I think people miss the main driver of fitness goals - food. If you want to be the world’s strongest man then training is huge but most people just want to look better. That can be achieved with three hours a week (out of 168) in the gym and a commitment to nutrition.
Time isn’t really the factor; planning is. If you don’t have healthy food options available then it’s easy to cheat when you’re crunched for time.
I’m not quite sure why people think they need to attend a 60 minute boot camp five days a week to lose weight (which is what most people need/want).
I like the discussion! I’ll hopefully put something worthwhile here when my brain is working better
