Awesome work!
Leg day was great!
Soooo happy for you on the bench work, i know how much this means to you! You are putting in the work and its paying off!!! Your going to SMASH that old record you had!!
Congrats on the rep PR. !!
Congrats on the bench PR!
Congratulations on the PR!!
I haven’t done acupuncture, but we had to do a bit of reading on dry needling done through PT, which might be something to look into. It sounds pretty legit and from what I understand, many insurances cover it.
Good things are happening as a result of your coach’s programming and your hard work.
I’m glad it’s working so well for you! Congrats on that rep PR!
I have had dry needling 
Also called intramuscular stimulation. I had it on spinal muscles (to equalize) as well as glute medius, hamstrings, quads, and yes shoulder/scapular region. I had about 5 treatments over a 2 month period. My PT used a lot of needles and took pride in this fact. Over a 30 minute period, I think maybe he needled me at least once per minute- maybe more. I since ask another PT about this and he said that was too much.
It hurt like all hell. After the 5th treatment, I was either adapting to the pain or whatever- it did’t hurt as much. The theory is that it hurts only if the muscles are bound up- that the needling relaxes the muscles. He could tell which areas of my back were the worst by the amount of pain and also if the muscle “grabs” on to the needle or not.
My shoulders bruised like anything. I am not sure if it is supposed to bruise though. It also really worked my glute mediuses and hamstrings- it felt like I had done a huge workout. I think it will do this to muscles that are not working properly. It also did this to my lateral left calf- which does lag- so it seems to really do something to muscles that are not working properly, I do feel sure of that, but exercises may be able to do the same thing because it felt the same way.
I am glad I tried it. It was quite an experience! I am not sure if it did much for me though. But lots of people get immediate and clear results. I would also try acupuncture. I think acupuncture is a little less expensive and has a longer history. The course to become IMS certified (only PT’s can do this) is not that long whereas acupuncturists need to train for years. Acupuncturists chose their locations of insertion based on something complex- not sure what that is, but with IMS, seems like he just jabbed me by experimentation.
here is a link. I believe Dr Gunn of istop invented this procedure.
Thanks for that, Reconstruction. The idea of needles in my shoulder makes me a wee bit nervous.
So today was conventional DL training. I suspect I may be leaving that lift behind eventually. But I’ve made that threat before: “I’m leaving you!” And then I come back time and again. Ahh, well. No harm in cross-training the DL stances at this point.
Here’s the dilemma. I pull conventional with a very high hip position. When I drop my hips, I lose my power. Does it matter? I think not as long as I can keep a neutral spine. But that’s not a unanimous opinion. Any thoughts?
By accident, I pulled in my squat shoes (heeled) and sans belt.
Also did some front squats. Egads. I’m scraping my ass on the floor. Don’t even feel like I’m going deep. I have no stretch reflex with a narrow stance. And these don’t remotely tax my legs. But with much more weight, my shoulders and back collapse. So I’m just trying to keep a tight back. Am maybe getting a little better with the form.
I think I’ll be going up in weight and down in reps next week. It’s been awhile. And it will be a welcome change.
Happy Friday everyone!
You aren’t lying, those FS were deep as hell.
I agree that as long as you keep a neutral spine you’ll be fine. Your form is always very good so I cna’t see you getting sloppy with it.
Deads looked great I thought. Is there a name for squats that are deeper than ass to grass? If not, we need to think one up for those front squats.
That’s great work Snap. Those front squats were definitely deep. My thought is you need to work on upper body strength (back strength) if that is your weak point in those.
I agree about the most important piece of deads is keeping neutral spine.
james
Happy Mother’s Day, Snap!
Hope your day was a blast!
Thank you, Kairiki.
Today’s training involved reintroducing knee wraps (very loose ones). I haven’t been in them since last July and really fumbled for depth my first two sets. I went WAY too deep and had to fight my way up. Finally dialed it in better on my last set.
Squat
8/45
5/75
5/95
5/115 loose knee wraps and belt
5/125 loose knee wraps and belt
5/135 loose knee wraps and belt
Conventional DL (slow descent + pull again right before hitting the floor)
3/5/135 easy
RDL
3/6/135 easy
Single leg press
Single leg curl
Weighted hypers
Nice squatting. So did you have a good Mother’s Day blast?
Oh WOW, those looked so beautiful, sigh, swoon !!! Great job!!!
Looked like a solid set to me. Great.
Decided on a meet at the end of August. And it’s not USAPL. If the powers that be get wind of it, I’ll be tarred and feathered. So . . . shhh!
My goal is to hit platform PRs on all my lifts. But I’d be thrilled with PRs in just squat and DL. Although bench is going mighty well these days. I’m doing a lot of squatting and pulling as part of my programming right now. Regular squat, pause squat, front squat, and box squat. RDLs, deficits, rack pulls, and regular pulls in both conventional and sumo stance. Still can’t decide how I’ll pull on the platform. I guess that decision can be made when the platform clock is at 30 seconds?
Life is good. In terms of powerlifting, I’m coming to terms a bit with the fact that I may not be THE best but I can be MY best. Sounds corny. But it’s liberating for me. May even get brave enough to go to Nationals next year.
Here’s some pause squats from today. First time out with these in awhile so light weight. Lots of fun.
a non USAPL meet? you will be wearing a badge of shame…
sounds like training is going well, which makes me happy for you
What are the records for women in your weight class?
good looking squats Snap! Glad you pick a meet, nothing wrong with branching out a bit
How’s the muscle building diet going? You are looking stable and strong!
Thanks, Pete.
Cav: are you referring to the records for the other fed whose meet I’m going to compete in? Quite honestly, I haven’t looked. I’m all about PRs right now.
Miss Vik: Boy, your legs look awesome. Totally jacked. Must be all the weight you’re handling with the new canvas suit!
Today I benched. Did well again! I’m actually enjoying benching training day for the first time in a number of years.
Saw a guy working out in gardening gloves. Wondering if they help with the hack squat and cable work he was doing?