Nice lookin’ pulls (I like me a bit of Muse, too - far better than the shit they play in my gym. Sigh).
about the rest up - I see it as a losing a battle to win the war. Relax, refresh and come back kicking harder than ever.
I bet ya that crab risotto added poundage just by looking at it…
Nikki, thanks for the confidence in my running again.
Joe, the side effect of always pushing for more is never being satisfied with the present. I think I’m OK with that.
Print, I’m already looking forward to trying BBB on bench again. Today’s BBB on MPs…well, not so much. That bar will be considerably harder to press over my head.
Maschy, “squat the weight up” is a cue from Meat. He means use my butt/hammies to stand up the weight rather than leaning over and using my back to pick up the weight. Sometimes I can actually feel the action he talks about, which is cool. Most of the time I chase it in vain.
Nadia, as soon as I add weight to the bar I know that BBB will totally suck. But I’m willing to take my medicine.
alexus, I hadn’t even noticed the color coordination! Utterly unintentional, but funny.
Cal, I don’t mind the station played in my gym. I’m pretty open-minded about weightlifting music. Anything but slow and irritating works for me.
Frenchy, its time to kick this knee tweak in the ass. Rest, ice. You name it, I’m willing to do it. I’m tired of this now.
Training later on today. Lazing around in the meantime.
I’m doing BBB in a sense.
More sets/reps essentially. Not really chasing strength goals at the moment, so why not?
Take care of that knee! When I saw the PT for mine, he basically said don’t do things that make it hurt.
Betty, thanks for the thoughts. Indeed I’m trying to baby this left knee, but I’m pretty sick and tired of it at the moment. ;/
Yesterday’s training was a mixed bag. As much as I didn’t want to admit it to myself, my left knee was aching a bit during my training, which caused me to give up on squats and focus more on upper body.
Military Press (3s week)
45# 1 x 3
48# 1 x 3
54# 1 x 6 <–rep PR +1 over last month’s effort
BBB with the bar - 10/7/6/6/6/5
I’m taking up print’s suggest of more pressing volume. I obviously didn’t make 5 sets of 10. Either I continue with the oly bar and do fewer reps/more sets until I make it up to 5 x 10, or I revert to dumbbells at a lower weight. Any thoughts?
Squat
Bar 1 x 5
Although my knee doesn’t really ache more when I squat as opposed to when I don’t, I thought it best not to continue with this today.
Low cable row (2 hands on handle)
70 1 x 10
70 + one plate 1 x 10
70 + 2 plates 1 x 10
supersetted with
Roman chair leg raises
3 x 15
Once again, no action on the Roman Chair. 
Pull-throughs
47.5# 1 x 10
52.5# 1 x 10
These weren’t hard, but I decided against really pushing the weight due to trying to rest my knee.
Chinups
5/3/3/4/3
A bum knee is no excuse for bailing out on chinups, right? Did these on the Smith machine.
Today will be a rest day, and I’m seeing my doc about the knee thing. Its just pissing me off that I injured it over 3 weeks ago, then I run for 15 minutes and it feels just as bad as when I injured it initially. Time to throw everything I’ve got at this.
My thought on the BBB is this. Stay w/oly bar & try to get one more rep w/each set. So next go round should be 10,8,7,7,7,6. If possible. Lets just keep it simple. Remember, it’s all bout’ volume.
Nice work on getting a new PR.
LULZ to the Roman chair & a big ol’ molasses dripping ‘SWEET’ on the chins.
Good move going to see your doc about the knee. There is a knee alignment stretch that I use. While standing, cross your other leg over the effected leg. The back of the “good knee” contacts the front of the “bad knee”, you may have to play around w/how close or far apart your feet are to get full contact.
Bend forward, you should feel a good stretch in the back of the “bad knee.” Do not proceed if you get pain in the front/kneecap of the “bad knee.” Switch and do the other side for symmetry. This is one that my boss worked out to help patients to reset their knees b/w adjustments. Hope that maybe it helps you out.
Lol you’re really gunning for that roman chair experience
Very nice PR! Shoulder PRs are the best, congrats.
you get PR’s of one kind or another all the time. this makes me happeh, its indicative of your crazy mindset to keep winning against yourself.
ugh. i hate doctors. let us know how it goes!
I’m a veteran of the Battle of Wounded Knee (I mean, fuck it, what body parts haven’t I injured?) and as it happens, my right knee is being a bit shitty with me at the moment because of all the squats and running I’m doing.
Chances are it’s a mechanical issue such as ITB syndrome (tight ITB pulls the kneecap out of alignment, causing friction on the tendons) which can be easily addressed, but it’s good to see a doc just in case it’s something a bit more serious like a torn meniscus. If your docs are anything like our British GPs, they tend to say take a painkiller and rest. I was even prescribed ibuprofen gel for achilles tendonitis. Duh. I would honestly recommend you see a sports physio who will be able to assess any mechanical problems and suggest strengthening/stretching exercises to fix the cause rather than just treat the problem.
Keep us posted and keep rocking those PRs.
Okay I’m going to go against the grain here but as much as I am a ferverent follower of the Church of Wendler I think BBB for pressing is sub-optimal. My own personal, and probably worthless, suggestion would be to pyramid back down as follows:
3x45
3x48
6x54
3x48
3x54
and then maybe one 10 rep set at half your max. I just found the BBB reps of upper to be too much like arm driven cardio and boring which made me not want to do them. maybe do some seated shoulder presses after the pyramid?
Never bring a Roman Chair to do a man’s job.
Congrats on the PR and I’ll stop polluting your log now.
[quote]JoeGood wrote:
Never bring a Roman Chair to do a man’s job.
[/quote]
Maybe that should say “Never count on a Roman chair to do a man’s job?”
Don’t feel bad, Kimba. I’ve never had an orgasm in a Roman chair, either. Not even remotely close.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
I’m taking up print’s suggest of more pressing volume. I obviously didn’t make 5 sets of 10. Either I continue with the oly bar and do fewer reps/more sets until I make it up to 5 x 10, or I revert to dumbbells at a lower weight. Any thoughts? [/quote]
I’d err on the side of too light to start. Then you can have the satisfaction of making progress on your BBB sets too, adding weight even on accessories feels nice. There’s a rogue 35 lb bar at your gym–or at your home? Maybe that could work.
[quote]
Once again, no action on the Roman Chair. [/quote]
This is not a bad thing. That figure athlete who posted that she has orgasims while doing leg raises has to be full of shit. Since when is an orgasim like a fart or burp–something you can pass and get away with with a simple excuse me. But, if you want to feel something you have to flirt with failure… as many as you can and then some more. And then do another set and another set.
THis is a good thing. I hope you get good news and good advice.
print, likely I will stay with the oly bar just for simplicity. I am very attracted to the simple.
veggie, I tried the stretch and can do it with no pain as long as I don’t hyperextend the bad knee. Thanks!
Nikki, any shoulder PR is amazing for me (the former shoulderless wonder).
CBear, I am my own most worthy opponent. The bitch in the mirror has my number, dammit.
Cal, the way the US managed care health system works is that one has to see one’s primary care doctor for a referral to a specialist. That was what today was about, and my general care physician is always refreshingly candid as to what she does and doesn’t know. Consequently, I have an appointment with my orthopedic doc tomorrow. He and I go way back, starting with a nasty soft-tissue tear in the back of my left knee from a bicycle accident a few years ago which took 30 well-placed stitches, to multiple bouts with IT band syndrome in that self-same knee. He will be DELIGHTED (not) to hear that I’ve taken up with the running.
Joe, I like your pyramid suggestion quite alot. I’m going to try simple volume first and let that run its course. That last sentence made me laugh, but I was nodding in agreement. 
Snapper, according to Nadia we are just doing it wrong. 
More effort!
Nadia, you are brilliant – that light oly bar in my gym might come in useful here. As for the doctors, we’ll see what my knee guy has to say tomorrow.
I couldn’t of said it any better than Nadia. She hit all points. & stealing from her thread, the ‘mettle’ that is created from the BBB, I think is useful in everyday life too.
Nice work Nadia.
print, the whole concept of Boring But Big is a useful one. There is no skill that I can think of right now which wouldn’t improve with lots of practice/volume. I’m willing to give this a good effort to see if my bench and MPs can improve, after a long period of plateau.
The knee doc doesn’t know why my left knee is hurting. So, its on to the MRI to solve the mystery and it will be a couple of weeks before an answer appears. In the meantime, whatever doesn’t hurt I’ll be doing.
Today is a rest day. Already looking forward to the gym tomorrow!
HAHAHA! I’m dying re: the roman chair commentary. You people are sick!
Sorry about the knee Kimba, but it sounds like youre being wary of it and taking care of it accordingly - which is really the best you can do while its still acting bitchy. Maybe its just achey because it got a good banging? (that’s what she said, right Nik?)
Hang in there! Resting it will get it sorted out soon enough.
I’m jealous of your MRI valium.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
The knee doc doesn’t know why my left knee is hurting. So, its on to the MRI to solve the mystery and it will be a couple of weeks before an answer appears. In the meantime, whatever doesn’t hurt I’ll be doing.
[/quote]
Well that sucks. Based on your description of the injury and a physical exam–I’m suprised you got nothing out of your doc. In my experience, imaging is a confirming step to a theory.
Perhaps knee sleeves might be in your future for Squat and pull days?