[quote]Modi wrote:
Shoulder felt fine with pressing today. It is just a dull ache right now, and never even noticed it when I was lifting. I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing for it.
[/quote]
I must have missed it in this monster of a thread, dude.
What’s up with your shoulder?
RE bench
DB Inline
warm ups with 25’s, 30’s, and 35’s
30’sx12
30’sx14 (PR I think)
30’sx20 to failure (PR plus some more reps)
3 sets total reps: 46
1 Pullups: me+15x6 (matched PR), +10x5 (matched PR), +10x5, (third set PR+10) +10x5 (fourth set PR+10)
2 Facepulls: pin 8x14, 12, 13
cable laterals: 4x15
1 dec DB extensions: 15’sx15 20’sx8, 15’sx9
2 DB shrugs 30’sx3x12
plate pinches with three ten pound plates: 20 seconds (PR+8 seconds), 15 seconds, 12 seconds
57 minutes
I’m making some steady progress on my pullups. On my fourth set, I was using a fast negative and bouncing out of the hole to get in the five reps I wanted. I was, however, going all the way down (I’m only person in my gym who does), and NOT using a kip of any kind. Just a fast negative. Some idiot who lives over in the machine section, and has probably done pullups about twice in his life, told me that if I shouldn’t kick or I might injure my shoulder, and then advised me to put a lat pulldown attachment over the power rack so that I could use a wider grip. I wasn’t even sure how to respond to that.
I’m pretty happy about the pullup PR’s. I’ve never really done inclines of any kind, so I’m getting some pretty fast gains on those too.
RE Upper
Bench
205x5x8 Everything felt good. My last rep was grinder, but the 39 before that were good.
Seated DB Overhead Press
65x3x6
65x1x5 - I just couldn’t get that last one. Same shit happened to me on the 60s two weeks ago, but it was the 3rd set not the 4th. Whatever, this is still good progress.
65x1x6
1 Arm Db Rows
105x5x6 - Sweet this was big…no grip problems. Note, I starting using this elastic band thing to strap a 5lb plate to the end of dumbbell because after the 100s they go up by 10lbs.
1 Arm tri push down…just right arm.
65x5x8
Did some DB curls for the first time in forever.
40x3x8
I was happy to have a good session today to counter act the shit fest that was yesterday.
ME Lower
Camber Bar Good Mornings Chain Suspended
16010 2105 2503 3003 3503 3903 4303 4803
520*3
Camber Bar Chain suspended half squats
5651 6051 6551 7051 755*1
RE Lower
Low Bar Squats
95 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 10
275 x 6
315 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 2
Stiff Leg Deads
6 sets x 8-10
Incline DB Curls - 4 sets
Hammer curls - 3 sets
That’s it! After reading Modi’s comments about low bar squats, I gave it a try. It totally changed the way I will squat. I’ve never been a good squatter. I always seemed to tip forward and seemed to have too much pressure on my lower back. Therefore, I never put much into it.
I hit 365lbs for two reps pretty easily. Although, I should have gone down a bit further. It wasn’t because of strength that I didn’t break parallel, it was confidence. I haven’t had high hopes for my squat strength. I think that may have changed!
My legs are SORE this morning. I’m sure I’ll have trouble walking later on.
[quote]AlphaDragon wrote:
Modi wrote:
Shoulder felt fine with pressing today. It is just a dull ache right now, and never even noticed it when I was lifting. I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing for it.
I must have missed it in this monster of a thread, dude.
What’s up with your shoulder?
[/quote]
Thanks for asking…My right biceps tendon is a bit inflamed from the low bar squatting. I think I was fighting the bar and rather than pulling it down on my back I was probably trying to push it up. It’s an old injury that I do not want to have get worse, so I’m doing a ton of rehab for it right now.
I did board presses on Wed, and they felt fine, but wasn’t sure how full ROM stuff would go. It didn’t seem to bother it in the least. Tomorrow is my ME Lower and I’m going for a 1 rep max on my PL stance squat, so it should be a real test for me. I’m going to go a little higher with the bar (although not high bar position), and work my way down over then next few months as my flexibility improves.
[quote]Tony Hsiao wrote:
Friday, 11/2/2007: ME Deadlift
A. Sumo Deadlift
365 x 1 (PR +40 lb)
385 x 1 (PR +60 lb)
405 x 1 (PR +80 lb)
[/quote]
Nice Job on the PR’s, but it breaks my heart…all the missed opportunities for PR’s. You could have strung that out for weeks. Think of all the Bold type you could have used…370,375,380,390,395,400…
Just kidding, I would have done the same thing. Nice progress there.
[quote]Modi wrote:
AlphaDragon wrote:
Modi wrote:
Shoulder felt fine with pressing today. It is just a dull ache right now, and never even noticed it when I was lifting. I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing for it.
I must have missed it in this monster of a thread, dude.
What’s up with your shoulder?
Thanks for asking…My right biceps tendon is a bit inflamed from the low bar squatting. I think I was fighting the bar and rather than pulling it down on my back I was probably trying to push it up. It’s an old injury that I do not want to have get worse, so I’m doing a ton of rehab for it right now.
I did board presses on Wed, and they felt fine, but wasn’t sure how full ROM stuff would go. It didn’t seem to bother it in the least. Tomorrow is my ME Lower and I’m going for a 1 rep max on my PL stance squat, so it should be a real test for me. I’m going to go a little higher with the bar (although not high bar position), and work my way down over then next few months as my flexibility improves.
[/quote]
Thanks for answering.
I have a real problem keeping the bar in the low position. Maybe it’s simply becaues I’m too small.
You say “pull it down,” but you’re not pulling it “into” the body to keep it in place?
This “low bar” thing is interesting, but I can’t seem to get the hang of it.
AD
DE lower
Paused jump squats 85x5x3
Front Squats 85x8, 95x8, 105x8 (PR+10), 115x8 (PR+20)
RDL’s 135x8, 10 (PR+2), 10 (PR+2)
Pulldown Abs pin 6x3x10 (PR+1 pin)
woodchops pin 7x2x10, pin 8x10 (this might be a pr, but I don’t care enough to look it up)
50 minutes
[quote]
I have a real problem keeping the bar in the low position. Maybe it’s simply becaues I’m too small.
You say “pull it down,” but you’re not pulling it “into” the body to keep it in place?
This “low bar” thing is interesting, but I can’t seem to get the hang of it.
AD[/quote]
Neither can I. I started doing all of my good mornings low bar, which helped a little, but it still feels weird.
When you squat with the bar low you need to build up your upper back and traps so you dont have to pull the bar into your back. You should try and create a substantial amount of mucle for the bar to rest on.
One of the problems with low bar squating is the stress it puts on your shoulders and elbows. Try moving your hands out wider on the bar, this should eliminate some stress on the shoulder and elbows. Make sure that you stretch your shoulders and do a good warm for your upper body before you squat.
Hope this helps.
11/4/07 Events
Farmers Walk
130x120ft turn at 60ft
220x40ft left hand grip gave out
220x4ft once my grip goes it goes
Stones no tacky
170lbish stonex6, x3
Kept it safe on the stone as I haven’t done them in awhile. Bicep felt fine, as long as I keep my arms taught an use my back and hamstrings and don’t row the stone up my bicep fells fine doing stones.
Need to build more stones and a platform…
[quote]Mountainman2007 wrote:
When you squat with the bar low you need to build up your upper back and traps so you dont have to pull the bar into your back. You should try and create a substantial amount of mucle for the bar to rest on.
One of the problems with low bar squating is the stress it puts on your shoulders and elbows. Try moving your hands out wider on the bar, this should eliminate some stress on the shoulder and elbows. Make sure that you stretch your shoulders and do a good warm for your upper body before you squat.
Hope this helps.[/quote]
I agree with this. My bar position definitely has moved down since my back has more yoke on it. Modi, I know you have some yoke back there, so I really don’t think it will be problem for you. I also agree that you might want to move your hands out an inch or so. It is hard to pull your elbows forward with a low bar without moving your hands out. Shoulder mobility is big issue too. I work with some newbs and the biggest problem they have with the low bar position is pulling their shoulders back enough or back at all in some cases. The farther you can pull them back the bigger your shelf will be. You will probably have to lean a little farther forward as well. That might take some getting used to.
[quote]Mountainman2007 wrote:
When you squat with the bar low you need to build up your upper back and traps so you dont have to pull the bar into your back. You should try and create a substantial amount of mucle for the bar to rest on.
One of the problems with low bar squating is the stress it puts on your shoulders and elbows. Try moving your hands out wider on the bar, this should eliminate some stress on the shoulder and elbows. Make sure that you stretch your shoulders and do a good warm for your upper body before you squat.
Hope this helps.[/quote]
Thanks for your reply.
Do you have any suggestions on how to build the upper back and traps to an adequate level?
Food, rows, deadlifts, powercleans, shrugs, pullups, lat pulldowns, food, rest, food, etc…
I am a big fan of face pulls, with a band or machine, chin ups, pull ups, dumbell rows, barbell rows.
Bent over dumbell side raises, dumbell clings. For the rear delts.
I like shoulder dislocators with band and the dumbell clings for mobility. You can also find several other good exercises and stretches here on t nation.
Always remember that you spend all that time pressing your delts, pecks, and tris are overloaded. You need to spend just as much time on the upper back to maintain balance. If you dont you will have alot of problems later. Also remember to maintain good posture.
When you squat with the low bar and lean forward more, you need to really focus on strengthening your lower back and abs. They will have a tremendous amount of stress placed on them the further you lean forward.
Trust me I spent 5 years ignoring these issues and they have cost me valuble training trying to fix all my problems.
Monday, ME Upper:
Decline BB Bench
bar x20
40kg x10
60kg x5
70kg x3
80kg x1
90kg x1
100kg x1
110kg x1 (PR +5kg)-went up SOOOOO easily.
120kg x0 (New spotter freakin’ touched the bar as soon as I started to slow down…I’m SURE I had it, but for numbnuts interference…)
120kg x0 (Tried again, but last attempt took it all out of me. I should have gotten it. Freakin’ numbnuts.)
100kg x4 (PR +1 rep)
Incline BB Bench:
70kg: 5, 7 (PR +2reps)
85kg: 3 (PR +1 rep), 3, 3(butt came off the bench though)
Seated Cable Rows:
9th pin: 10
10th pin: 10, 10
11th pin: 8
Decline bench DB Skullcrushers:
7kg: 12 (too ez)
11.5kg (ea hand): 9, 8, 5
I was SO livid with numbnuts that I wanted to wring his neck. He said he understood (after my normal spotter/hand off man explained to him what to do). I even explained again before I attempted it the first time. He still touched the darn bar…numbnut.
At least he got the point after I yelled at him (Sorry, I was amped up and to have him mess it up just made me go ballistic).
11/4/07 ME Lower
A)ME 12" Box Squat
Bar x 10
135 x 3
185 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 3
365 x 1
385 x 1
405 x 1
415 x 1, 1
B)H.S. V-Squat, facing backwards
234 x 3
594 x 10, 10 paused at rock bottom
C)Single-Leg Back Raise=BW + 25 x 12 each leg
D)Hanging Pike x 12
NOTES: I usually train on Saturdays, but since I had too much stuff going on I had to train yesterday. It was weird to train on what is usually my only day off. Squats went pretty well–it’s been a long time since I did ME off the box, maybe 5 or 6 weeks, but I felt fairly strong. I cut the V-Squats short a set, and should’ve done more back raises and abs but I got into a conversation with an old powerlifter and I ran out of time.
I want to go heavy on the bench this week but otherwise might keep things relatively light and/or fast. A pseudo-deload, if you will.
11/05/07 - Lower (ME) - Singles
A) PL Squat (somewhat low bar to 14" box for depth)
barx10
135x8
225x5
315x3
365x3
425x1 (sideways)
475x1 (PR +10lbs)
455x1
455x1
455x1
B) SLDL
135x6
225x3
315x3
415x6 (PR +10lbs)
425x6 (PR +20lbs)
405x1 (back cramp)
C) T-Bar Rows
90x6
180x6
180x6
180x6
180x6
D) Weighted DB Sit Up
75x6
75x6
75x6
75x6
I set up the 14" box today rather than the 14 3/4" bench I had been using in the past to ensure depth, so these were legit today.
So after doing my shoulder rehab stuff, I tried the low bar position with just the bar, and my shoulder felt sore. So I went up to 135, still low bar and it still hurt. Decided to move to a high bar position for 225 and it felt fine. Then I moved the bar down another inch at 315, and that felt fine, but more powerful than the high bar position, so I stuck with that for the rest of the day.
I was in a squat rack today (instead of a power rack), and there were a pair of safety handles in the bottom position (above the safety bars) and I hit them on the 425 attempt. I came up sideways, mostly on one foot, so that’s technically a PR for a 1L squat. This really screwed with my confidence, since I used a lot of energy trying to salvage the squat. I asked for a spot on my 475 attempt, but the guy I asked said he couldn’t lift that much weight. That was exactly what I needed to get re-fired up. Unracked the 475 and found the perfect groove. I absolutely nailed it, and I’m pretty psyched about it, since that was the last of my original 3 goals for the year. Took 3 more lifts at 455 and they all felt good, but began to fade by the last one.
I kept rolling with the energy and hit two more PR’s on SLDL’s…I backed off after my second PR, down to 405, but my back was fried at this point, and after the first rep, I could feel my whole back cramping up. This was a sign that I didn’t need to do any more of these!
All in all, a solid day.
Nice job modi. I think you should increase those goals, sounds like 500 is right around the corner!