The first 50 seconds is a whole lot of “flap-stalling.” Brought my hips up a bit on the first rep. Corrected it on the second. Brought them up on the third rep again. I’m not too concerned since my back isn’t rounding. The important thing is that I don’t feel any strain in my back, which is usually my gauge that I’m pulling okay. This set felt pretty easy. I thought about throwing a few more reps in, but decided to just stick with the program.
Hard to see how wide I am. But I’m really wide. Still hitting depth and have just a minimum of knee wiggle. I’m absolutely loving these. I did these in a super wide cage and you’ll notice I hit the uprights when trying to re-rack. There’s about a half-inch margin of error on each side. That’s it.
I followed this work up with some lat pulldowns, weighted hypers, paused shrugs, and planks.
Tomorrow is remedial bench. It was my coach’s suggestion.
Soldog: Yes, I’ll be competing geared in March. I plan to do another raw meet in August and chase down some new numbers.
Steely, Jack, and Carl: I have the most flexible hips in the world. I can get really low even on super wide-stance squats. My hips love the wide stance. No pain. Just good muscle work.
Today was bench rehab. Lots of band work. I changed my bench setup AGAIN. I seem to have better leg drive and no glute lift when setting up my old way. I gotta face the fact that I’m just never going to be PMPM in the bench. I’m working on loading up my back when lowering the bar in order to be more explosive off my chest. After bench, I did DB bench work and found I have a pronounced weakness on my right side, which is not a surprise. Worked up to sets of eight at 22.5 lb. Not much. Makes me realize how much my left side compensates when benching. Then I did overhead DB presses, which I have avoided pretty much since my surgery. What a huge psychological block I have there. I’m trying hard to push through it.
Heading off to see a college gymnastics meet. These girls are amazing athletes.
Nice work on the squats and deads. I’m impressed with your depth at such a wide stance.
Don’t you hate the super wide racks? I can’t go heavy in them. My walk out must be really sloppy now because when the rack gets wide, I smash into everything.
Did you happen to do the DB work one-armed, i.e. with no dumbbell in the non-working hand? I tried this out yesterday and found that even a 20 lb. DB done in this fashion was somewhat of a challenge.
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
Don’t you hate the super wide racks? My walk out must be really sloppy now because when the rack gets wide, I smash into everything.[/quote]
Yes, I hate wide cages. I used to be a total banger at meets when walking out the weights until I started requested that the racks be canted in. That has helped a lot with stability on the walkout. I won’t go heavy with my squat in the cage in that video because I have trouble unracking and re-racking. That video is shot in the gym where I DL. I do heavy squats in a different gym. How pampered am I?
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
Did you happen to do the DB work one-armed, i.e. with no dumbbell in the non-working hand? I tried this out yesterday and found that even a 20 lb. DB done in this fashion was somewhat of a challenge.[/quote]
No, I did not. But I will. I suspect the strength differential will be even more dramatic in this fashion.
Good work in here as usual: good form, heavy weights and realizing and plowing throw mental blocks.
couldn’t ask for more.
you’re squats looked really good to me - no free-fall into the hole and no extra mileage in the hole either. Seems progress is possible. very motiviating.
[quote]mjnewland wrote:
with the wider squats, you may be able to get even more poundage out of your gear? I notice that all the big guys do it that way…[/quote]
Never considered that. I’m only doing wide-stance squats as accessory work. I can’t squat nearly as heavy with a wide stance as I do with a narrow stance. But who knows? My normal drop and bounce method works really well with gear. Tomorrow I will throw on the squat gear for the first time in almost ten months (suit and wraps). Should be enlightening to see where I am numbers-wise.
The first 50 seconds is a whole lot of “flap-stalling.” Brought my hips up a bit on the first rep. Corrected it on the second. Brought them up on the third rep again. I’m not too concerned since my back isn’t rounding. The important thing is that I don’t feel any strain in my back, which is usually my gauge that I’m pulling okay. This set felt pretty easy. I thought about throwing a few more reps in, but decided to just stick with the program.
Hard to see how wide I am. But I’m really wide. Still hitting depth and have just a minimum of knee wiggle. I’m absolutely loving these. I did these in a super wide cage and you’ll notice I hit the uprights when trying to re-rack. There’s about a half-inch margin of error on each side. That’s it.
I followed this work up with some lat pulldowns, weighted hypers, paused shrugs, and planks.
Tomorrow is remedial bench. It was my coach’s suggestion. [/quote]
First congrats on the new log - love the pic. That delt, bi, all of it - simply stunning. No doubt you are one strong and sexy woman.
Sucks about your frustrating bench day, but those DLs and squats looked great! I’m incredibly envious of your depth on the squats, that’s for sure - and this with you trying NOT to go too low.
Anyways, you’ll get past the mental block. Your rehab has been outstanding from the onset, mental fortitude included. You’ll get there.