[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
Squat, you will be my bitch.[/quote]
I think I might like you.
Work has been kicking my ass and I was going to take today as a rest day. But, I just couldn’t sit around after I turned in my project and had a few free moments before more meetings tonight. So.
Today’s short workout:
Waterbury’s Dumbbell Complex, couple of times through with 10# dumbbells.
Kettlebell swings with my brandy-new 12 kg. kettlebell.
Liking the complexes, liking the kettlebell. At home, those 10# dumbbells are my heaviest. Complexes sure use this light weight to great advantage.
Nice. So far I’ve managed to not miss a workout. I’ve been inclined to, and felt justified a couple of times. But I always said “Well, I’ll make it a light day.” Then, once I got started it usually turned into a nearly normal workout. (Probably because I don’t have evening meetings. lol.)
Today I worked with trying to figure out at what weight my squat form starts to suck. 65# is no problem. At 85# I can get out 10 good reps. At 95#, I can get out a couple of reps that are low enough and not too forward-tippy, but I just think my leg/glute strength needs more work right about at this weight.
Next squat workout I will take up CBear’s suggestion and do box squats at 95#, and try to lower the bench/plate set-up after every set. Perhaps I won’t let myself move up in weight until I can get 5x5 or 3x10 good, low, nice-form reps in.
Its hard for me to let go of the weight-chase. I know that it does no good (and could lead to injury) just to crank out bad-form high-weight squats to feed my ego.
My ego, however, is so darned hungry…
Bench Press
60# 3 sets of 10 good reps. It felt harder than it should have been, though. Bench is sucking for me lately.
Dips - 17 good ones, failed on 18. Then 10 good ones, barely squeaked out #10.
just like the deadlift stance, maybe widening your stance on the squat would help?
you look tall, as am I(5’10")
I’ll do closer stance with front squats on another day to try and balance things out…
you’ll get there!!
i understand hungry ego.
that ended when I partially sheared an erector while deadlifting with poor form in nov of 07. I have NO PROBLEM stalling weight increases now, as long as my form allows it.
again. tape your squat and post it.
for extra hip strength/flexibility, I like dumbell swings and pull throughs.
[quote]mom-in-MD wrote:
just like the deadlift stance, maybe widening your stance on the squat would help?
you look tall, as am I(5’10")
I’ll do closer stance with front squats on another day to try and balance things out…
you’ll get there!![/quote]
Actually, I’m 5’4". I just look taller on film. 
I actually do think widening my stance will help my squat depth. Yesterday I tried going a bit wider and liked it. But, can’t get around needing more leg/butt strength to get that weight up out of the hole…
[quote]CBear84 wrote:
i understand hungry ego.
that ended when I partially sheared an erector while deadlifting with poor form in nov of 07. I have NO PROBLEM stalling weight increases now, as long as my form allows it.
again. tape your squat and post it.
for extra hip strength/flexibility, I like dumbell swings and pull throughs. [/quote]
I have no idea what shearing an erector means, but I know that isn’t good. Warning heeded.
Friday nite is deadlift day, Sunday morning is squat day. Filming will commence.
For swings, I recently bought a kettlebell and I like it much better than swinging a dumbbell. Or maybe I just think its darned cute (I’m easily entertained).
I’ve never done pull-throughs: I’m visualizing a rope attachment on a cable machine pulled through legs whilst my back is to the machine?
you can easily be entertained by a new toy. in this case, a kettle bell.
i feel sorry for your legs. really, i do. back to back days. ouch.
the spinal erectors are the tube lookin muscles that start in your lower back and end at your shoulers (yes, i know i dumbed that down insanely i just dont know how familiar you are with other anatomical terms), and I ripped one. the right one.
I’ll see if I can tape pull throughs for you this evening, hoping im motivated enough to go do a deload workout after work. but yes, you have the idea very well put.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
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.
[/quote]
Where is your grip? Whether sumo or conventional, my hands are always at the end of the inner edge of the knurling on the sides of the bar. The difference is whether my legs are outside or inside my hands.
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
kimbakimba wrote:
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.
Where is your grip? Whether sumo or conventional, my hands are always at the end of the inner edge of the knurling on the sides of the bar. The difference is whether my legs are outside or inside my hands.
[/quote]
Hmmmm. My pinkies touch the inner edge of the knurling. If you mean that your index finger is touching the inner edge of the knurling, then indeed my grip is narrower than yours. Thus, when I tried to widen my conv. stance, I ran into my arms pretty darn quick.
I’ve got narrow shoulders, and my grip goal was to grip so that my arms were in line with my shoulders, as opposed to flaring out or in.
[quote]CBear84 wrote:
you can easily be entertained by a new toy. in this case, a kettle bell.
i feel sorry for your legs. really, i do. back to back days. ouch.
the spinal erectors are the tube lookin muscles that start in your lower back and end at your shoulers (yes, i know i dumbed that down insanely i just dont know how familiar you are with other anatomical terms), and I ripped one. the right one.
I’ll see if I can tape pull throughs for you this evening, hoping im motivated enough to go do a deload workout after work. but yes, you have the idea very well put. [/quote]
I did not even know there were muscles there TO rip, so its impossible to dumb down anatomy too much in this here log. The rehab on that must’ve been a real bitch.
As for back-to-back leg days, I weight train 3 days per week full-body workouts. 2 squat days, 1 deadlift day, plus random upper body stuff. Do people train squats and deads on the same day? Inquiring minds want to know!
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
CBear84 wrote:
you can easily be entertained by a new toy. in this case, a kettle bell.
i feel sorry for your legs. really, i do. back to back days. ouch.
the spinal erectors are the tube lookin muscles that start in your lower back and end at your shoulers (yes, i know i dumbed that down insanely i just dont know how familiar you are with other anatomical terms), and I ripped one. the right one.
I’ll see if I can tape pull throughs for you this evening, hoping im motivated enough to go do a deload workout after work. but yes, you have the idea very well put.
I did not even know there were muscles there TO rip, so its impossible to dumb down anatomy too much in this here log. The rehab on that must’ve been a real bitch.
As for back-to-back leg days, I weight train 3 days per week full-body workouts. 2 squat days, 1 deadlift day, plus random upper body stuff. Do people train squats and deads on the same day? Inquiring minds want to know![/quote]
There are various schools of thought on this. All of them are really boring. On Sundays I train all three big lifts. My rationale is that I will be doing them that way at a meet. I also train them in the order of competition; squat, bench, deads. Then I do miscellaneous other stuff.
Try is and see if you like it.
I can’t imagine that you will be able to lift heavy without straps with your grip not on the knurling, but I’m not sure how to fix that without coming into potential biceps issues with heavy weights. My index/pointers are on the edge of the knurling with a double overhand, but I have linebacker shoulders.
Next time I see petite girls deadlifting, I will pay attention to their grips. The attached pic shows my grip when my stance is at its widest.
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
I can’t imagine that you will be able to lift heavy without straps with your grip not on the knurling, but I’m not sure how to fix that without coming into potential biceps issues with heavy weights. My index/pointers are on the edge of the knurling with a double overhand, but I have linebacker shoulders.
Next time I see petite girls deadlifting, I will pay attention to their grips. The attached pic shows my grip when my stance is at its widest.[/quote]
My hands are just on the knurling as well. I’ve never really paid all that much attention to it except to make my arms straight up and down and get the knurling. Maybe I have wide shoulders too.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
CBear84 wrote:
you can easily be entertained by a new toy. in this case, a kettle bell.
i feel sorry for your legs. really, i do. back to back days. ouch.
the spinal erectors are the tube lookin muscles that start in your lower back and end at your shoulers (yes, i know i dumbed that down insanely i just dont know how familiar you are with other anatomical terms), and I ripped one. the right one.
I’ll see if I can tape pull throughs for you this evening, hoping im motivated enough to go do a deload workout after work. but yes, you have the idea very well put.
I did not even know there were muscles there TO rip, so its impossible to dumb down anatomy too much in this here log. The rehab on that must’ve been a real bitch.
As for back-to-back leg days, I weight train 3 days per week full-body workouts. 2 squat days, 1 deadlift day, plus random upper body stuff. Do people train squats and deads on the same day? Inquiring minds want to know![/quote]
There is a really awesome, not that expensive book called Strength Training Anatomy. Less than $15 on Amazon. There is also one by the same author called Women’s Strength Training Anatomy, but I have not seen it, pardon the pun, in the flesh. The author is Frederic Delavier.
The book arranges lifts by body parts, and shows exactly how each lift activates the muscles involved. Very cool. Excellent drawings too.
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
pushmepullme wrote:
I can’t imagine that you will be able to lift heavy without straps with your grip not on the knurling, but I’m not sure how to fix that without coming into potential biceps issues with heavy weights. My index/pointers are on the edge of the knurling with a double overhand, but I have linebacker shoulders.
Next time I see petite girls deadlifting, I will pay attention to their grips. The attached pic shows my grip when my stance is at its widest.
My hands are just on the knurling as well. I’ve never really paid all that much attention to it except to make my arms straight up and down and get the knurling. Maybe I have wide shoulders too.[/quote]
It has never occurred to me that grabbing the knurling might be important. Tomorrow I will experiment and see if my shoulders really ARE wide enough to grab the knurlings…or at least a good part of them.
PMPM, that picture was super helpful. Thanks!
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
There are various schools of thought on this. All of them are really boring. On Sundays I train all three big lifts. My rationale is that I will be doing them that way at a meet. I also train them in the order of competition; squat, bench, deads. Then I do miscellaneous other stuff.
Try is and see if you like it.[/quote]
I’m there. Sunday.
[quote]Chrysalis wrote:
There is a really awesome, not that expensive book called Strength Training Anatomy. Less than $15 on Amazon. There is also one by the same author called Women’s Strength Training Anatomy, but I have not seen it, pardon the pun, in the flesh. The author is Frederic Delavier.
The book arranges lifts by body parts, and shows exactly how each lift activates the muscles involved. Very cool. Excellent drawings too.[/quote]
Even better, my public library network has both books and I just ordered them up for free. I love free.
Thanks for the hot tip. I’m sure I will learn alot by looking at these.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
Chrysalis wrote:
There is a really awesome, not that expensive book called Strength Training Anatomy. Less than $15 on Amazon. There is also one by the same author called Women’s Strength Training Anatomy, but I have not seen it, pardon the pun, in the flesh. The author is Frederic Delavier.
The book arranges lifts by body parts, and shows exactly how each lift activates the muscles involved. Very cool. Excellent drawings too.
Even better, my public library network has both books and I just ordered them up for free. I love free.
Thanks for the hot tip. I’m sure I will learn alot by looking at these.[/quote]
Ahhh…you thrill the cockles of my heart! I am a librarian…