Awesome. My wife and I both started lifting about the same time. Only 2 months ago. We’ve both made awesome progress in that time. Quadrupled most lifts actually. And it’s great to read about other people’s journey as well.
I hope to post something soon. This site is fun.
Hi humanj! Welcome, I’ll look forward to hearing more from you.
Today’s workout: 2.5 hour bike ride, flat route, moderate effort.
Tomorrow is deadlift day. I’ve been reading Meat’s help thread in the Over-35 Forum and I think I’ve got the following things to work on:
work on getting back on your heels by lifting your toes. pull the weight back to you as you initiate the lift and then as it gets close to your knees push your hips to the bar instead of leaning back<<
I feel deads alot in my lower back, and I suspect that my glutes and legs need to work more.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
I feel deads alot in my lower back, and I suspect that my glutes and legs need to work more.[/quote]
Try doing some glute activation work before you lift like bird dogs, glute bridges, x-band walks… I’ve found that paying greater attention to my pre-hab work has made a huge difference in my lifts.
for your deadlift:
Skye and Cbear, thanks for the thoughts and the link.
Back in May I taped this 100# deadlift. Let me see if I can attach it so that the mocking, pointing and laughing can commence. The only thing I do differently today is I’ve ditched the running shoes and deadlift in my socks.
I feel an obligatory, HAHAHAHAHA!!! NEENER NEENER NEENER!!!
no but seriously better than most. here’s my take:
your shoulders are in front of the bar. not good. push your hips back, lean back, think about pulling back more than up.
I notice that your arms are slack until you make your first effort to pull. I’ve been told to “bend the bar” as in, pull myself into the bar during setup, so that I make sure that my ass isn’t too low or too high, my legs to all the work, and it won’t stress my arms/shoulders so much, bc my chest is already up and my arms are already tight.
throw your hips forward by squeezing your glutes.
drive drive DRIVE your heels into the floor. this may have changed since you’ve ditched the running shoes. if you need still more help, some 2.5 (usually the thinnest) pound plates under your toes/balls of your feet may help the mind/muscle connection between u and your posterior chain.
make another tape and repost after you get more opinions.
gotta practice for your 39th bday.
[quote]CBear84 wrote:
I feel an obligatory, HAHAHAHAHA!!! NEENER NEENER NEENER!!!
no but seriously better than most. here’s my take:
your shoulders are in front of the bar. not good. push your hips back, lean back, think about pulling back more than up.
I notice that your arms are slack until you make your first effort to pull. I’ve been told to “bend the bar” as in, pull myself into the bar during setup, so that I make sure that my ass isn’t too low or too high, my legs to all the work, and it won’t stress my arms/shoulders so much, bc my chest is already up and my arms are already tight.
throw your hips forward by squeezing your glutes.
drive drive DRIVE your heels into the floor. this may have changed since you’ve ditched the running shoes. if you need still more help, some 2.5 (usually the thinnest) pound plates under your toes/balls of your feet may help the mind/muscle connection between u and your posterior chain.
make another tape and repost after you get more opinions.
gotta practice for your 39th bday.
[/quote]
Thanks CBear! I’ve just never heard of alot of these cues before, especially the pulling back although that makes so much intuitive sense. So excited to give them a try tonight.
On my 39th birthday I will have cake. Lots of cake.
Your stance looks way too close together. It may be the angle but your feet look like they’re under a foot apart. Get the stance wider.
Your pull is in two pieces not one smooth move. Ass comes up first then the back follows. When you widen your stance you’ll have the room to sit into the deadlift better. Right now you’re basically bending into it. Picture how a sumo wrestler sits down into his stance. Head and chest are always up until their knuckle touches the ground.
Everything after the first rep isn’t really good. In those subsequent reps you’re all back and zero legs. You’re basically doing a Romanian deadlift.
x2 on the stance, you got some long legs there and the knees get in the way big time.
As for your shoulders in front of the bar, meh, technically it’s a big no no, but I pull that way and it hasn’t slowed me down on my push to 300lbs at all. It’s a habit I got from oly lifting that hasn’t been broken yet. Just keep in mind that it is harder to pull back, rather than up, with the torso so far forward.
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
Yo Momma wrote:
arachne12 wrote:
Yo Momma wrote:
skyel7 wrote:
Hi, 44…wow!! Putting us young 'uns to shame…ok, not-so-young-uns.
Good job on the Bench press, that’s one lift I’m yet to tackle.
Looking forward to following your log.
Jeezus H. Christ! 44 is NOT old!!! Now 84?? Maybe that would be a “wow”.
It is precisely this type of age related mentality and stereotyping that stops people from doing things because they think they’re too old. You’re never too old to lift. Or rock and roll, for that matter.
Sorry for the rant, OP. I get cranky in my old age.
Keep up the good work.
The women here know 44 is not old. Out there in the world I hear people talk about slowing down at 35 (!) because they just can’t do what they used to… It’s ridiculous how low people set their expectations of their abilities after their 20s. I hope each one of us serves as an example that you don’t have to lie down and die after 40.
If that were the case, I’d be dead for 15 years.
Recent research shows that people in my age bracket (55-70 years old) are a lot more fit and active than the previous generation. So the precedent of slowing down with age is not true, as long as you’re healthy. U.S. World News and Time mag. had recent articles about this issue. It’s time to change our outdated ways in which we view aging.
Sorry for the hijack, Kimba. You’re doing a great job and working hard. I can still do everything I did when I was 44, except now I pee my pants a little on heavy squats.
Oh yeah, the word “toning” sets me off my rocker, too.
Yo momma, I’m going to a Motor Head concert tomorrow night with some other power lifters. Am I too old to flash my tits?
FWIW, I do pee squirts on deadlifts. The other ladies in my age bracket have ‘pads for power lifters’ with them at all times. It’s a niche market.[/quote]
Oh, whew, I thought it was just me, and the lack of kegels I did after the birth of my child! Pads for powerlifters…hmmmm…I need some of those! I have never actually left a puddle, but I do have a bit of a phobia about doing so on the platform, if I ever get up the nerve to compete in a powerlifting meet! My trainer has plans for me to lift in my first one next spring. He says his ex wife did that once, left an actual puddle. Apparently it is not all that uncommon.
Kimba, I thought for sure I had posted on your log, welcoming you here, but I see that I have not. sheesh. Where have I been, other than on vacation for over two weeks, then getting settled into newly-married life for the last few weeks, catching up at work (vacations are practically not WORTH it if they save up all the work for when you return!!!), and trying to fit two entire households of possessions into one house.
Anyway, welcome, and it is nice to have someone my own age to play with, if not my own size! If you and Ouroboro were in the desert with me, both of you could be nicely shaded in my shadow! Probably with room left over for Arachne. You bitty things, you!
Linette
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
Skye and Cbear, thanks for the thoughts and the link.
Back in May I taped this 100# deadlift. Let me see if I can attach it so that the mocking, pointing and laughing can commence. The only thing I do differently today is I’ve ditched the running shoes and deadlift in my socks. [/quote]
You should post your vid and any others in the feedbackfrommeat thread in the over-35 lifter forum. He’s a pro powerlifter and gives free form advice. There is no reason you shouldn’t take advantage. Also, if I could throw in my .02 cents, you are going pretty slow and controlled on the way down, which is probably restricting the amount you can pull on the way up. Its a one-way lift, up, and you might want to let it free fall a little more and let it clank on the way down. I try to let it down just soft enough to avoid getting thrown out of my gym.
Good luck on your training, counselor.
Jack
So. Deadliftt day.
First, thanks CBear, PGA and Diana for taking the time to offer advice. Prior to this, the only thing I knew about deadlifts was not to round my back. Apparently, there is a bit more to it.
I figured if I was going to change things all around, that I would put a weight on the bar that I knew I could lift. On goes a pair of 25# plates.
Alrighty.
Toes up, sit back on my heels, pull back, hips forward…well. Long story short, that was somewhat harder than I thought it would be.
95# 5 reps (conv.) - I quickly discovered that widening my stance came with a problem. My grip on the bar was too wide (I’ve got narrow shoulders). And, with a narrower stance, PGA was entirely correct that it would be tough for me to get my ass down.
Took CBear’s suggestion and pu 2.5# plates under my toes and that really helped. But, damn. Apparently I really am all legs and knees because clearing the bar was uncoordinated pulling conventional.
95# 5 reps (sumo) - I’ve only tried sumo once before and it didn’t feel great. But I thought I could solve my stance/high ass/excessive leg length problem that way. Sure enough, I was able to sit back and pull back much better.
95# 5 reps (conv.) - Not the type to give up easily, I tried conventional again. Sumo was better.
95# 2 x 5 reps (sumo) - I put the 2.5# plates under my toes and turned them out a bit. Out of the last 10 reps, perhaps 3-4 were decent. On the other ones, I’d forget to push my hips forward fast enough or sit back enough.
So, I think I’ll work on sumo for awhile and try to internalize all these new cues while upping the weight slowly. The very good news is that my lower back feels much less used than usual after deadlift day.
I think I expended all my mental energy on the deadlifts because the rest of the workout was “eh”.
Bench Press
65# 8/7/6 reps. Tried for 10 reps, but no dice tonight.
Single Arm Cable Row (seated on exercise ball)
71.5# 3 x 12 reps
Pistol Squats onto bench (holding a 5# plate)
3 x 15 reps
supersetted with Band Assist Chins 3 x 6 reps
[quote]Chrysalis wrote:
Anyway, welcome, and it is nice to have someone my own age to play with, if not my own size! If you and Ouroboro were in the desert with me, both of you could be nicely shaded in my shadow! Probably with room left over for Arachne. You bitty things, you!
Linette[/quote]
Linette, thanks for the welcome! So far, this has been a great place to play.
[quote]jjackkrash wrote:
You should post your vid and any others in the feedbackfrommeat thread in the over-35 lifter forum. He’s a pro powerlifter and gives free form advice. There is no reason you shouldn’t take advantage. Also, if I could throw in my .02 cents, you are going pretty slow and controlled on the way down, which is probably restricting the amount you can pull on the way up. Its a one-way lift, up, and you might want to let it free fall a little more and let it clank on the way down. I try to let it down just soft enough to avoid getting thrown out of my gym.
[/quote]
Jack, thanks for your thoughts. I was indeed wondering what the heck to do with the weight once I pulled it up!
Another humbling day in the gym.
I took along my camera to film my squats, and I did not like what I saw.
Bar to warmup for 10 reps.
95# 1 x 10 reps. None of these reps was to parallel. Close, but no cigar.
95# 1 x 5 reps. Now I’m thinking about it, but the film doesn’t lie: not low enough.
95# 4 x 5 reps. Now I’m pretty pissed off. How can the non-lowness of my squat have escaped me all this time??? These sets were (largely) acceptably low but there was some leaning forward and probably a bunch of over stuff wrong that I don’t know about yet. For me, this is a pretty easy weight, or so I thought. Seems as though its time to cut back on weight and work on form for awhile.
I’ll post a video for purposes of general merriment after I’m over being pissed off.
Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press
17.5# 3 x 10
Single leg deadlifts with barbell
60# 3 x 10 My balance sucks ass, but I keep on trying. Haven’t completely fallen over yet.
Dips 10/10/6 (failed on 7)
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
Another humbling day in the gym.
I took along my camera to film my squats, and I did not like what I saw.
Bar to warmup for 10 reps.
95# 1 x 10 reps. None of these reps was to parallel. Close, but no cigar.
95# 1 x 5 reps. Now I’m thinking about it, but the film doesn’t lie: not low enough.
95# 4 x 5 reps. Now I’m pretty pissed off. How can the non-lowness of my squat have escaped me all this time??? These sets were (largely) acceptably low but there was some leaning forward and probably a bunch of over stuff wrong that I don’t know about yet. For me, this is a pretty easy weight, or so I thought. Seems as though its time to cut back on weight and work on form for awhile.
I’ll post a video for purposes of general merriment after I’m over being pissed off.
Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press
17.5# 3 x 10
Single leg deadlifts with barbell
60# 3 x 10 My balance sucks ass, but I keep on trying. Haven’t completely fallen over yet.
Dips 10/10/6 (failed on 7)
[/quote]
Every once in a while, you have an off day. I’m learning to take those in stride.
Foam roll, stretch, dust yourself off…
[quote]skyel7 wrote:
Every once in a while, you have an off day. I’m learning to take those in stride.
Foam roll, stretch, dust yourself off…[/quote]
Skye, thanks for your support. Attitude in the process of adjusting…
kimba, remember, 25’s reduce the deadlift start position by close to four inches. That’s probably going to hinder your form more since you’re tall. Put some plates or mats or something to get the bar closer to the deadlift starting point using (When using 45’s). Starting from a deficit is the last thing your form needs right now.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
Jack, thanks for your thoughts. I was indeed wondering what the heck to do with the weight once I pulled it up!
[/quote]
throw it over your head.
re: your off day:
meh.
for your squat depth: while above parallel squats are popular around here, none of em really count. Have you tried box squats? It helps to sit back and down. You can move the box height lower and lower as you get more comfortable, until you get flexible enough to go atg.
Start by stacking a few 45’s on a bench, take off a plate at a time (per set or per w/o, whatevs). Rubber 45’s may be thicker than metal 45’s, though 
also, do some foam rolling on your hip flexors, and even a tennis ball.
happy monday.
[quote]CBear84 wrote:
throw it over your head. [/quote]
HA! Someday I hope to be able to throw just the bar overhead, much less with pesky plates on it.
You know, I’ve been wanting to try box squats but couldn’t get a plan together for the “box” part. 45s on a bench is PERFECT.
The problem is probably not flexibility (I can sit pretty comfortably in an ATG squat position for a long while), I think its lack of strength. And lack of body awareness to know what is low enough.
I’m over being pissed and can’t wait for the next squat day to redeem myself. Squat, you will be my bitch.