Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis

Training Training Logs
941

9/18/14

Shoulder warm up.

Shoulder Shocker
1 set with a 35 lb plate and 20 lb dumbbells for 20 reps at each movement.
2 sets with a 35 lb plate and 20 lb dumbbells for 10 reps at each movement.

Narrow Neutral Grip Chin Ups
10/10/9/10/5
(Felt pretty good on these. The tenth rep on the third set was not quite high enough above the bar for me to count it.)

Strict T Bar Row on TBR Machine
4x10 with 90 lbs

Biceps
(Skipped. The next day my arms were nice and sore anyway. Maybe I will do a few sets in a little bit. Who knows…)

Felt pretty good with this workout. That shoulder shocker really is intense. I like it.

942

I am delaying today’s workout until tomorrow.

I had a bit to drink last night at a wedding I was a groomsman at.

I also want to start getting my lifts done during the week, so this gives me a bit of a reset.

943

hey man, hows it been going?

944

[quote]zenontheterrible wrote:
hey man, hows it been going? [/quote]

Pretty good brother. How have you been?

Training has slowed down due to life, but I am still going and getting some quality lifts in here and there.

Did you see the videos I have been putting up for ya?

Also, do you have a log?

945

[quote]trivium wrote:

[quote]zenontheterrible wrote:
hey man, hows it been going? [/quote]

Pretty good brother. How have you been?

Training has slowed down due to life, but I am still going and getting some quality lifts in here and there.

Did you see the videos I have been putting up for ya?

Also, do you have a log?[/quote]

i’ve been essentially offline for a few months due to work and stuff, but i’ve been good. training has been non-existent but getting back into it now, very weak! I do have an old log i started posting in again.

glad to hear you are doing good.

946

9/22/14

5x45
5x135
5x225
5x245
5x285
5x320 (Belted.)
5x285
5x245
(Really focused on controlling the reps here. A lot were paused)

45 Degree Back Extensions
4x10 with a 40 lb dumbbell.
1x10 with bodyweight.

Standing Calf Raise
3x10 with 180 on stack.

Preacher Curl
3x10 with 70 lb EZ bar. (Used inside grip for these.)

A pretty good workout here. I’ll take it.

(As a side note, this workout is within Prilepin’s chart’s ranges for squatting if you want to base my max off of 400 lbs, which it isn’t currently.)

947

I just want to add that this last workout was the start with my new training maxes.

Overhead Press - Would have been 170 had I not had the shoulder issue.
Bench Press - 275
Squat - 375
Deadlift - 425

I probably will not be going for extra reps at the moment. Just the minimum and add 5 lbs next cycle. Deload every 6 weeks. I am going to try to make 5 cycles and really live the good form code.

I also want to add that my left knee has been having a 1/10 in intensity aching pain on the medial side. I cannot reproduce it with special tests, so I am going to call it pes anserinus tenderness for the time being. I want to make it clear that this is not an injury, just wanted to track it for reference.

Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful night!!!

948

9/25/14

Shoulder Warm Up

Bench Press
10x45
5x135
3x175
5x185
5x210
8x235 (Short pauses. No failing.)
5x210 (Short pause with close grip.)
5x185 (Short pause with close grip.)
(Close grip felt pretty good today.)

Kroc Row
110 lb dumbbell for 10/10/10/15 (Did these with shorter rest periods than I normally would have.)

Triceps
(Gym closed. Will do tomorrow.)

Pretty good lift. Not my best, but not bad either.

I guess it just leaves me room to grow.

949

Lots of school work to do.

As always, thank you for reading!

950

I haven’t been posting because I got injured again deadlifting, and I am insanely busy with school.

Sorry guys.

951

shitty news man!

952

[quote]zenontheterrible wrote:
shitty news man![/quote]

It’s alright man.

I am at a loss as to where to start though.

I feel weak.

953

So I tried to squat again 2 days ago.

My back wasn’t ready.

Dang…

954

Read your comment in my log. I thought you got treated pretty unfairly in that thread. I’m all grown up, so I have a little different perspective on strength, fitness and overall health than a 20 year old gym rat might :slight_smile:

I do seriously think you’ve been grinding yourself down with your lifting. Have you ever visited the Irongarmx training forum? I just lurk there, but there are a lot of older, but really accomplished trainers and trainees like Jack Reape (who has a couple of old articles here) who post and share some good insights from the real world.

If you have time, it would be worth your while to do some reading, especially of the “Nugget” section. Dan John’s message board over at Dave Draper’s site is another place that comes to mind for a more “mature” perspective. Hope that helps.

955

Man I hate to see you strugglin.

Here are the facts though:
Your strength has increased substantially since I started following your log. Objectively speaking you have gotten much, much stronger. You gotta remember that. That strength hasn’t gone anywhere; it’s still in you. Attitude is the most important thing man. It’s like 1000x more important than any percentages. The percentages are mostly there as a failsafe to keep noobs from training stupidly. You gotta transcend the whole idea of percents and just start training hard and keep driving and progressing.

You can train hard, I’ve seen you do it, and you can definitely get bigger and stronger. Get positive and aggressive and just attack whatever you can with whatever parts aren’t injured at the moment. Don’t feel weak, don’t feel at a loss, don’t worry about percentages and numbers, just get in there and be confident and hit the weights like a skullfucking savage.

956

[quote]LiftingStrumpet wrote:
Read your comment in my log. I thought you got treated pretty unfairly in that thread. I’m all grown up, so I have a little different perspective on strength, fitness and overall health than a 20 year old gym rat might :slight_smile:

I do seriously think you’ve been grinding yourself down with your lifting. Have you ever visited the Irongarmx training forum? I just lurk there, but there are a lot of older, but really accomplished trainers and trainees like Jack Reape (who has a couple of old articles here) who post and share some good insights from the real world.

If you have time, it would be worth your while to do some reading, especially of the “Nugget” section. Dan John’s message board over at Dave Draper’s site is another place that comes to mind for a more “mature” perspective. Hope that helps.[/quote]

I am just getting tired of people’s shitty bone stock advice that they just hand out to everyone. Sometimes people need a little bit more than “just go squat and drink milk.”

There are a ton of people on here who have given me great answers, and took the time to treat me like I was worth the time it took them to give me a response. You have always treated me with respect, and for that I am very grateful.

I will have to look at those sites. Thank you so much for the help!

957

[quote]csulli wrote:
Man I hate to see you strugglin.

Here are the facts though:
Your strength has increased substantially since I started following your log. Objectively speaking you have gotten much, much stronger. You gotta remember that. That strength hasn’t gone anywhere; it’s still in you. Attitude is the most important thing man. It’s like 1000x more important than any percentages. The percentages are mostly there as a failsafe to keep noobs from training stupidly. You gotta transcend the whole idea of percents and just start training hard and keep driving and progressing.

You can train hard, I’ve seen you do it, and you can definitely get bigger and stronger. Get positive and aggressive and just attack whatever you can with whatever parts aren’t injured at the moment. Don’t feel weak, don’t feel at a loss, don’t worry about percentages and numbers, just get in there and be confident and hit the weights like a skullfucking savage.[/quote]

Thank you for believing in me man. I plan on making my “comeback” with a better state of mind and under better circumstances.

School is out of control right now, I have been sick (pneumonia for 10 days followed by diarrhea which hasn’t gone away yet), and I tried to come back too soon in the middle of all of that and reinjured my back.

I’ve lost 15-20 lbs depending on which scale I use.

I think I am going to take a couple days to sort things out and recover while I take care of school.

I plan on writing my own accumulation phase for when I come back, and looking at my leverages. (I am considering going wider stance on squats to try to eliminate depth and therefore low back rounding. I may give sumo a try too with conventional and stiff legs for assistance. I may be lifting against my anatomy which is putting me in odd positions during lifts.)

No more following what someone else thinks is the best. It is time for me to come up with my own programming based on what I have learned and experienced in the last few years. That seems to be the way all the big names in lifting did it. I’ve done enough reading and studying. It is time to just do it.

My goal (an easy 1150 in great form at any weight) will be set for 10 to 12 months from the start of my programming.

Thanks for being a part of my log.

958

Still hurt.

My back felt awesome for one day, and now the following two days have been brutal. I am all kinds of sore/tight/locked up.

I have no desire to train if I cannot squat/deadlift hard. I am not handling these consecutive injuries well mentally. I feel weak, beaten up, and like I am getting smaller/losing ground daily.

My life has been ridiculously out of control the last few days as well. I am riding a very, very fine line with my future career at the moment.

I don’t have time to rehab anything at the moment. It is all going to have to take a back seat.

The only thing I have to go on is that I have held the 215 to 225 weight for a solid 8 months. I am hoping that this has reset my body’s desired weight, and that I will put it back on at some point.

As another point I wanted to mention…

I start to wonder with all the advice out there sometimes.

I mean, if I am doing all kinds of extra work, when do I get to do the “powerlifting” portion of my workout?

You know…“I have to take care of my posterior capsule, and do several exercises to warm up/strengthen my subscapularis or my shoulder will have terrible anterior glide that prevents me from rowing, which reduces the base that I have to press from, which reduces my bench…” kind of advice.

I mean I look at logs of the big lifters on this site, and they just do the meat and potatoes with a few extras.

If you can paused close grip bench with proper form, you can surely do a regular bench.

If you can pull from a deficit of any kind, surely you can pull from the floor.

If you can squat with a pause, surely you are mobile enough to squat to parallel.

Wouldn’t it make sense to warm up with mobility, execute your main lift, and then go to a leverage disadvantaged version of the same lift to build all of the involved supporting musculature?

That is how I am going to structure my comeback at least.

Why should I spend a ton of time grinding bodybuilding style work in every workout if the elite guys are just doing more frequent main lifts with one or two variations?

Where did I come up with this idea? Am I wrong at starting to believe that there are guru’s in disguise now writing articles?

959

Also…

I have noticed that I NEVER drive my shoulders back during deadlifts. I just focus on UP off the floor.

This could be the mistake that is causing my back to round, and all kinds of havoc to subsequently occur.

I don’t know why I haven’t thought of this before.

Here is an interesting video.

No I will not be doing OX deadlifts haha.

960

Some of the best natural athletes I know I have either been prone to Injury …or… depression. Both of which has caused many restarts or… complete stoppages In their sports/training.

Get your self healthy man. W.e it takes. .including time off. Your 70 plus year lifespan- yeah that… 6 months or so to heal is a spec of dust timewise. We live in a now world with zero patience that makes u think different from that perspective.

Im not a foam roller yoga specialist. But I agree …certain mobility and… activation exercises help keep me together and progressing.

  • I static stretch the night before.
  • agile8 / activations before lifting.
  • eAch person has their own needs find yours.

Note- Kelley starrett is top notch…but you’d be stretching 13 hours EACH day if you followed all his advice…Srs.

We all have lulls. But re surface w. Even more energy. I dont even compete. I just literally enjoy it for what it is…