I re read this question and if I am honest then the answer is yes. Matt Vincent has a clothing brand called HVIII brand goods with a philosophy that kinda says hate yourself enough to make a change, hate yourself enough to drive yourself to be better. Its a philosophy I feel in tune with and was actually wearing one of his shirts in the gym today. I do hate myself and that hate is making me strive to be better every day.
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That’s a great way of motivating yourself. Sometimes on PR sets and you miss your target reps, you hate yourself a little, enough to come back and try to smash it the next time.
I guess it’s the same idea for the top guys of any sports, in that they are their biggest critic.
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I remember an episode of Scrubs that expressed a similar thing.
" the first time you look in the mirror and like what you see, you’ve lost the fight"
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Yeah massage while sore is terrible. But… sure will speed the processing of that lactic acid.
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Friday 15th Nov - week 1
Deadlift
Bar x 10
65 x 5
105 x 3
130 x 6 x 3 RPE 7, 6, 6
First time deadlifting in 4 weeks. Did these without a belt and they were ok. Back felt solid.
Squat (310) (3 sec down, 1 sec pause, up fast)
Bar x 10
65 x 5
85 x 5
100 x 6 x 3 RPE 8, 8, 8
These were hard. Breathing really heavy at the end of each set. Legs had a couple more in me but lungs didn’t.
Bench
Bar x 10
65 x 6
85 x 6 x 3 sets RPE 7, 6, 6
First set Felt a little slow. Second was way better. Arching on bench seems to annoy my back!!
Db Row
30 x 8 x 5 sets
All up a good session and a good end to week 1.
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Yeah that power lifter arch baffles me. It looks so stinking uncomfortable. What is the purpose behind it. Only thing I can think of is it might allow for more tricep involvement at a lower angle?
I always thought it was to raise the chest up to decrease the rom?
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Hmmm… never thought of that. I’m sure I could just google it but I’ll wait for some more T nation responses first lol
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Shorter ROM is the big advantage. @MarkKO might fill you in on some others.
The Dave Hoffs of this world areas much about shortening ROM as getting stronger.
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Sort of related, I listened to a Dave Tate podcast where he was talking about power lifters he knew getting so fat they couldn’t dress themselves or wipe their own arses, very funny. Made me realise how focused they are on getting their numbers up.
Done mostly to decrease range of motion. I don’t really have much of an arch anyway. I also find it helps me lock in my legs and get tight which helps with leg drive.
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See, I don’t get why you’d bother with an extremely uncomfortable arch. The decreased ROM usually doesn’t pay any real dividends.
Arching should happen at the upper back, bringing your chest up and putting your shoulders in a stable position. Arching the lower back doesn’t being any real benefit at all, and can be a cause of cramps.
Look at most strong raw benches. They don’t have a massive lower back arch, but their upper back is arched AF.
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Mark you have seen my bench, definitely not an extreme arch!! Lol. I am almost flat backed. Just getting my traps down into the bench last night and staying tonight was aggravating my back a bit.
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Where in your back?
The pain that I am seeing the osteo for is right at the bottom of my back, where the spine meets the hips. Only hurts when laying down (so great for sleep) and sometimes when standing. Hurts more if I lean backwards when standing and the same when making a small arch when benching. Osteo Says hips and glutes are tight so has been working in releasing them and it’s getting better. It’s really only a minor chronic pain, no stabbing or shooting pain and it doesn’t hurt at all when under load squatting or deadlifting so I’m not too worried.
So probably nothing to with benching. Good.
Yer nothing to do with benching. I’m just not 21 anymore so somethings hurt a little !!
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I think it also allows some people to pack their shoulder blades down more tightly too because of the angle your upper back is now pressed up against the bench. Anyway, it’s not a non negotiable
Both girls were away at scout camp this weekend so the wife and I got rid of our boy (well we got her sister to look after him) and had a night away. Great relaxing day yesterday, including spending time in the pool and spa. Nice meal with a few drinks last night and great to have a sleep in and a big breakfast this morning.
Body feeling pretty good today, ready for another week of hard work.
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