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Remember Remember the Lifts of November
Replies
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TheHobbit2017 wrote: »Moved over to my new setup. 7ft Olympic barbell was quite a change! Anyhow I attempted workout B on the weights the app said. I failed on all but came close. Deadlift felt like a grip issue so any tips on that would be helpful. Not sure if cause of the bigger diameter of the bar?
Today’s results:
Squats - 55kg 3,5,5,5,5
OHP - 25kg 4,3,5,3,4
Deadlift - 55kg 1x3
Color me jealous of that rack! Your bar is probably heavier than the one you had before, right? And yes, a thicker bar will be harder to hold on to. You might want to look into chalk or liquid grip. The knurling on the bar you got doesn't look very aggressive, so that could also be a factor. One thing I'd be tempted to try would be getting goat tape or maybe even hockey tape and putting a single, very tight row around the area where you grip for the deadlift. But I'm not sure what kind of mileage you'd get out of that. The adhesive would eventually melt through and make a mess, so it's probably not a good one, haha.
Of course you can also try a mix grip (one hand with palm facing away, other palm facing towards you). Takes a little adjusting but because the bar can't roll off in one direction, it's easier to hold on to the bar longer.
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Chalk has seemed to help me... grip first became a limiting factor at about 150 (68kg?) if I remember right. I got pointed towards the chalk. Last week I did 5x5 @ 185 (84kg?) with chalk, and didn't need the chalk until the work sets, so by now I can pull 165 (78kg?) without it. So, the chalk is helping for whatever I consider a "heavy" weight, but, holding that weight with chalk is also increasing the weight I can hold without it.
But, grip failure was definitely impacting my 185 the other day. So, trainer suggested we would play with some other grips the next deadlift day. Both the mixed grip Krok mentioned, as well as the hook grip that Canadian mentioned (maybe at the end of oct?).
Both have advantages and disadvantages according to trainer, the outward facing arm on the mixed grip apparently has an increased risk for bicep tear. The hook grip apparently hurts even on a good day (you are mashing the heck out of your thumb from what I understand) and Canadian mentioned some additional issues with it.
I will definitely keep you posted on how the adventures in grip strength go though.
P.S. Before you sit here wondering the same thing I did - for the most part chalk is chalk. I was pointed towards the local sporting goods store to get a block of it. Someone at the gym though had brought in some "golds" brand "chalk bags". - that chalk wasn't really chalk, and mostly just looked the part and didn't really help. No one knows what was different about it, and kept saying they had never seen "bad" chalk before. So, I think a block is a block.
but I know it was something I thought too hard about for too long. 0 -
Thanks I’ll grab some chalk online. I was using gloves today but I think I need that extra help now. The cage came with some material loops for lifting. I’ll take a pic of them if I remember as no idea how they are used0
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Not necessarily pretty but I pulled 225 lbs. today and I'm excited about that. https://photos.app.goo.gl/TcuCPoKfnLFEYo0D2
My over head press went well today. I did 5 sets of 6 at 65 lb. I was supposed to do 66 lb but we don't have the fractional weights for that so I just did an extra rep each set.
Squats are still a struggle. I did 120 lb today but on two of my sets I only did 4 reps.
I did 5 sets of 5 at 185 lbs for deadlifts and then I wanted to try for 225 lb so I went for it and was pretty excited to get that.
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Didn't think I was going to get a chance to hit the gym today but I wound up with a free hour so I went for it. It was not a success.
Today was the first time that I went to the gym with the intention of working hard and my body just didn't cooperate. I guess in the past I didn't have a structured program to follow so maybe on "off" days I just half assed it and didn't notice as much, but today was rough.
Squats are normally strong for me but today was an epic fail.
1x5@55. 1x5@75. 1x5@95
Then I tried doing my 5x5 @ 120 and only barely squeaked out 1x4
Dropped the weight to 110 and still only got 1x4
Dropped again to 95 which was fine earlier and only got 3 and they were barely parallel.
So I quit squats for the day.
OHP - gym dude got me 2.5lb weights too! Horray!
I was struggling with the OHP because I could do the 35lb bar, but the 45lb bar was too heavy and there was no in between. Today with the 2.5's I did 5x5 with 40lbs and felt strong.
Dead 1x5 @ 145
Dumbell curls 2x5@35. 1x8@ 35
Straight leg dips 3x5
Got my 10k steps in today too so I called it a day. I'm sore now so I'm sure tomorrow won't be much fun, especially since I'm working a long day.....0 -
@chispaza way to go on desdlifts- you are making amazing gains. You also give me hope, as I had a 5x5 @ 185 last week- extrapolating means 200s are in my future!!!
Today was strongman cardio 10rounds, yoke carry (230), sled drive (90), and sandbag carry (????)
The sled drives were terrible and pathetic after the bench madness of yesterday.
4x50 second planks.
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i love just being in the company of all these 200lb deadlifters.0
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deadlift to knees 2x3 @ 135, 2x3 @ 159, 2x3 @ 186, belt 5x3 @ 199
bench 1x6 @ 65, 1x5 @ 75, 2x4 @ 88, 2x3 @ 95, 3x3 @ 99, 2x4 @ 95, 2x5 @ 88,
1x6 @ 79, 1x8 @ 75, 1x10 @ 69, 1x10 @ 65
deadlift 1x5 @ 135, 1x4 @ 159, 2x3 @ 186, 6x3 @ 215
db fly 5x10 @ 17.5
single db lunge 1x5 @ 37.5, fixed barbell lunge 5x5 @ 601 -
canadianlbs wrote: »i love just being in the company of all these 200lb deadlifters.
I'm working toward it! Give me another month and hopefully I'll be there too
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"short" one today. Started at 6:15 and ended at 7:50 or so... So... I was feeling slow, I guess? It did take me a while to warm-up, too.
Snatch Pull x5 + snatch balance x3 (5 sets)
95/85, 105/90 x2, 115/92.5, 120/95
My right shoulder (behind shoulder blade) is still feeling pinchy, so I ended up working on my shoulder stability with a resistance band and doing rehab stuff instead of wall walks in between front squats sets (which is probably why this took me so long, in part). I also did a good amount less weight than what I was supposed to, but at least this time I didn't skip a set.
Front Squats
125x5, 130x5, 132.5x5, 135x5
(was supposed to do 135x5, 142.5x3x5. yuck. Those were tough)
I just had to get myself to the shower then and get to work. I'm hoping I can take myself through one of the 15 mins interval set-ups at home tonight. I didn't get much sleep though, so I'm not banking too much on that.0 -
Today. Was. Awesome. But i will get to that in a moment
Had originally scheduled today off of work, but moved that day off to next week... because what kind of person actually wants a full 5 day work week this month? By about noon I was regretting that decision, and was fighting a migraine, contemplated going home... by 2 I was still at work, and it seemed harder to change my time sheet than tough it out. So, wasn't expecting great things.
Warm up was "giant set" of 10 good mornings (45lb), 6 pull-ups with big purple band assist, and 12 facepulls (70lb)
Then deadlifts-
8?10? Crap, I don't remember anyways, 95lbs.
5@135-me and a plate got into a fight here and I pinched the heck out of my hand, have a heck of a blood blister (add to thoughts of today wasn't going to work well)
4@155, 2x5@165, 5@175 (should have used chalk, got kinda ugly) 5@185 (used chalk, still got kinda ugly). So, we took a regroup time. We played with both mixed grip and hook grip for a few reps @ 65.
1@185 mixed grip to make sure I wouldn't balk if we went up
5@195!!!!
3@205!!! Even more!!! @canadianlbs I am officially one of those 200lb deadlifters you mentioned!!!
Let's see if I'm smart enough to do the share instagram thing. I'm not completely happy with how a few reps look, but they actually look better than I thought they did.
Shrugs-3x8@185 w/wraps
Dumbbell row 15@35, 12@40, 10@45
Barbell curls 12@45, 2x12@50
Ab roller 4x15 - some in the first two sets were apparently how he actually wants them, which made the last sets suck bad.2 -
oh wow, those were great. i love your lockout. that little chest-lift thing is something i'm looking for in everyone lately because i want to cheer when it's done.
i walked (my poor dad) halfway over town and then parted from him and walked to a gym to do my workout. because i'm neurotic like that. i resent paying bus fare twice for a ride that gets broken up in between.
i did bench 65 and front/back squat sets at 60. the squats are a little ahead of the other lifts as i already added a triple to them, but was feeling undisciplined. and it's been so long since i did any even vaguely 'progressive' thing about squats, so i just didn't want to restart after technically already doing the 'first' workout with them on sunday.
the bench went well and 65 feels fine. did my 3x6 'pump' sets as well afterwards with 50 pounds and that was no trouble at all. i'm trying to tell myself to make the most of this 'easy' 'light' benching and get my form completely perfected instead. but you know how long that thought usually lasts
still have my incomplete deadlift workout to do for this week, because of the way i tried them on tuesday and they were huge fail. but meanwhile i'm doing a whole ton of this new thing i invented for myself, which i call the Hip Suck. and it helps a LOT with the after effects of whatever i do, but there still is some little niggle of something getting pinched or impinged or something. le sigh.0 -
5x5 @ 85 for bench. These felt good which was encouraging because I've been stuck at 85 for a few weeks.
5x5 @ 85 for rows. I think I'm gonna deload and try to work on form because I'm just not able to do them with goid form at that weight.
1 hour power yoga.
5x5 @ 115 for squats. I was supposed to do 120 but I couldn't find the 2.5 lb plates and I tried 125 but that wasn't gonna happen so I just did 115.1 -
Strong man cardio... emphasis on the strongman bit.
First of all.. what kind of evil person programs cardio that requires chalk????
"Giant set" - 10x sled rows (180), trap bar farmers carries (205), kettle bell straddle walk (205)
Let me repeat.... my "cardio" required chalk... and yes, the farmers carries are at the PR weight achieved YESTERDAY on deadlifts. FML.
I don't know how much actual "cardio" this was, because I had to stop long enough on each set to get my breath back steady and psych myself out to get the damn farmers carries off the ground....
After the first one came off the ground (aka I got out of my own head) they went pretty smooth until the 8th one... those las three sucked big fat hairy monkey balls....
Get through the 10 rounds, go back and tell trainer as much... he goes "little secret? That trap bar I've been telling you is "about" 45lbs.... yeah, it's 65. Way to go on carrying around 225!" I may have told him he was number 1....with a particular finger.
3 rounds 45 second side planks, each side.1 -
redemption deadlift day. and also a redemption haircut, but that isn't really about the lifting . . .
if you saw me setting up for a deadlift these days you would think you were watching me doing tai chi - on a film that had been slowed down to about 25% of normal speed. i have to place the ball of the foot, wind up my exterior hip, bring the rest of the foot to the ground, do the toe grip . . . then stop and check everything before i even consider moving my weight to that leg and placing the opposite foot. it's just silly, BUT it's not as if anything hurts. it's just this is what it takes atm to get that left hip to turn on.
with that said the deadlifts went muchmuch better. and i did rows as well - same excruciating setup for that. and then when i was unloading the bar i did a circuit with each plate for off-loaded carries. 1x25 suitcase style and 1x10lb bumpers in waiter style. the waiter ones sure felt good. when i flattened the plate on my palm instead of using my braced fingertips, i felt it all down the entire front of my abs.
i tried a bit of sumo too, with just 65 pounds. since my feet seem to want to be wide and since various other things. but only did 2x5 because it's not like anyone's ever showed me how to do sumo deadlifts and i don't want to be dumb. seems like if you're off-centre in any way the sumos will show it for sure.1 -
My one and only attempt at sumo the other day was definitely strange. The set up input I got was that toes need to angle out more, for knees to track correctly at that width, and other things to hinge correctly. The first attempt was too wide of a set up for my current comfort. I went to Pull and my base wasn't solid and it felt like my foot was slipping and I balked and dropped the bar. So, for me, toes are about at the rings, back of foot is just inside the rings width wise.... it still seemed weird as heck... because my hands were no longer on the knurled part of the bar. And if i do it right I am now dragging knurl up my shins.... i don't quite think I get it... but... when ya see 120lb girls pulling over 500lbs sumo style (stefi cohen-first 4xbodyweight pull from a female-if I find the link again I will share), and several other gals pulling 400-600 and nearly all of them are sumo... clearly it is me who is the weird one.1
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people keep asking me these days 'are you using that bar?' . . . and it turns out they're not asking if they can use it themselves, they're just asking me if i'm using that bar.
idk what's causing it. and waht's weird is, some of the people asking are the same regulars who have watched me using that bar with a lot heavier weights than i'm doing right now. i guess maybe weighing mid-120s is a dramatically different look for me? when i was in the 130's nobody batted an eye.
anyway, all that to say that with my first deadlift workout of the new cycle completed, and that deadlift being up to 130 pounds, i just realised i've officially passed the 'own body weight' milestone again.2 -
TheHobbit2017 wrote: »
Moved over to my new setup.
never commented about this. that is a really nice rack - in fact i think i would call it a full-on cage and not just a rack. about the grip thing, i don't recall what bar you were using before, but i have noticed that mr t's 30lb bar is unpleasant for me because it's actually too slim for me to grip comfortably. i'd say it's about an 8th of an inch thinner, though that's just a guess.
i do have ludicrously big hands though, or at least long fingers. they're skinny, but they span an octave no trouble and i can match finger-to-thumbtip reaches with a lot of men. so if your problem is pure reach around the bigger bar, then idk if i'd even be any help. can you describe the kind of problem you're having in any more detail? there are some things about ways of taking the grip that might help, but it depends what the issue feels like to you.
and all this grip talk reminded me that i came home yesterday with a small, stupid brag. i'd like to think i'm the only lifter anyone's ever seen who uses hook grip when doing front squats
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canadianlbs wrote: »and all this grip talk reminded me that i came home yesterday with a small, stupid brag. i'd like to think i'm the only lifter anyone's ever seen who uses hook grip when doing front squats
Wait... how? I'm lucky to get my pinkies in there on a good day, and I'm actually on the higher range of good mobility, as far as I know! lol. I mean, I *could* hold the bar in a hook grip and front squat it, but then it wouldn't be resting on my delts, I'd just be holding it in my hands. And that would be rather uncomfortable and at that point I may as well do front rack Db squats or goblet -style haha.
Cuz if I could do that, man would thrusters ever feel a lot better than they do now, where the bar basically has to roll between fingers and palms on every single rep0 -
Squats today. Had to get it in early, and on Saturday because my schedule is weird this weekend. I'm beginning to think going into a workout wondering if I should even be there is my sweet spot. Only workout I felt ready for this week was bench, and it kinda went bleh. Migraine Thursday and PR'd deads. Today was squats. Was feeling fatigued and tight from said deads, and farmers walk crazies. It was early, so that adds to the tight and not feeling well. And still trying to work on fueling for morning lifting sessions, so that I dwas not get woozy, but yet not have my system focused on digestion and not strength. But it went pretty darn well.
Squats 10@45, 6@85, 5@105, 5@115, 2x5@125!!! I am not entirely sure my depth was there on all of the 125s, but even the worst ones were closer to depth than I was expecting for the best ones. I will take it. So, 2x5 on a 10lb Pr weight, AND spitting distance to big kid plates. Now if I can just get my bench up there too.
Sumo deads - these still feel weird as all heck... these felt soooo heavy, and my hands still hurt soooo bad. But we got them. 5x4@105
Then we did some "side to side" goblet squats. This is where me being tight really showed. We had to modify what he wanted a bit because both my brain and my body couldn't get it. So, ideally you take your normal squat stance,come down to the side of center, and up there as well... switch sides. Chest stays up, and it's not as far over as you would go for like a side lunge.
What we ended up doing- squat down centered, slide over, come up off center. - was the closest I could come today apparently, even without weight. 3x10both sides w/35lb kettle bell. - the other modification was about half way thru each set I would end up hugging/cradling the kettle bell because my hands hurt too bad to hold it that long. (I don't have ripped hands, or even bad new calluses, they just HURT where the calluses are)
4x15 each side dumbbell oblique crunches w/50lbs. I suggested that we may need to stop jumping weight on this every time because wasn't keeping ahold of that very well either. I got told "we have wrist straps for that." But I didn't get them today... even after asking.
I did keep from dropping the thing, mostly from sheer fear of what a 50lb dumbbell would do to my foot, not because I actually really had ahold of it at the end. 1 -
Wait... how?
i hoped someone would rise to that. i feel a little bit special-snowflake for it
but it's probably just anthropometry. i can't fingertip the front rack. my fingers and wrists throw a fit, the bar just ends up crushign my throat, and my shoulders try to rotate internally to get the pressure off them. not to mention the elbows just not staying up. so i found out somehow that if i take a full, normal grip and then make that my baseline, the bar stops at the top of my palm and that lets my fingers right off the [heh] hook.
i don't think it's any special credit to me. i just have proportions that bring that first knuckle directly to my shoulder joint when i do a front rack. so that's where the bar wants to be anyway and my life changed when i started to just go with it.
the hook-grip part is just trivia. i don't actively grip the bar - it sits on my delts like for anyone else. but i am trying to make a habit of using it, so doing it for front squat have me a little jolt of happy when i saw i was doing it. and it might actually be just a tiny bit more comfortable because i don't even have to accommodate that tendon that runs from your thumb to the rest of your hand.
i'm not 'natural' at many things about lifting, so i like the few little things that my body does seem to be built to do without me feeling like when you try to stuff a sleeping bag into its sack. front squats are kind of like my redemption for all the struggles i have with the back-loaded kind.0 -
Well, I made it this far, but I have to abdicate. Neck is an angry bird now. It let me get through the session this morning. Took me all the way to the end of the 3rd week. Then it decided it would have no more of this nonsense. I can barely look to the side right now. It hurts to move my head. Once I'm into position it's fine. It's just twisting and supporting the weight of my head that's just... ugh. I got so, so close...
20 min to find heaviest cycle possible of
- clean deadlift
- hang power clean
- front squat
- full squat clean
Managed to work up to 115. Really, the only part that was giving me grief apart from setting up neck wise was to catch the bar on the way down (can't really drop it on every single rep, I'll get thrown out of the gym eventually, mehtinks)
Then I did the bodyweight gauntlet. 3 min AMRAP of each with 1 min rest in between
Pull ups (assisted, obviously) 26
Push ups 29 (yuck, I really lost endurance on this one...)
Squats 76 (re-yuck. I've done near 100 in the past
)
burpees 24 (about on par with the push-ups, so it's not too surprising)
3 min rest straight into a 10 min AMRAP of the clean cycle from earlier, at 70% (ended up being 80lbs).
I got either 20 or 21 "reps". I lost count at one point xD
Was feeling pretty spent after that, but my neck was already hurting pretty bad, and I knew at that point I wasn,t coming back on monday for the regular programming, or finishing this phase before I leave, so I figured, eh, let's just do one more metcon while I'm here.
18 min CAP to get through:
- 30 power snatchs @ 65lbs
- 30 wall balls @ 12lbs
- 30 power cleans
- 30 wall balls
- 30 alt split jerks
- 30 wall balls, of which I got 2 at the time cap.
I'm not too mad at it. Again, it was letting the bar drop and catching it that was really putting hell on my shoulders and neck, but there was no way I was letting the 10lbs bumper drop if I could help it. Those plates will eventually break, otherwise
I feel like I could've been giving more on the bw part. And I'm rather frustrated that I just couldn't tough it out til the very end. But I've been through this enough to know pushing it any further is just stupidity. This is me taking my bow of the program. I'll be focusing on legs for a bit, I guess.0 -
leaving this here, because i like quinn henoch, i like max aita and i'm always interested in stuff about squats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fob2wWEC72s 0 -
aaand on that note i did my squat workout today. unimpressively iyam, but i did do it. 6x2, 2x3 with 60, then 3x5 with 45.
i still like the doubles format for anyone (meaning meeee) coming off an injury or trying to sort out some kind of issue. used to like the long 10-rep sets and maybe i still do for form perfecting - when you're not hurt. but when you are, two reps seems to work better than i actually thought it would. you do two, you don't have enough time to really re-hurt yourself, and the next set comes along soon enough that you're able to build on whatever felt off (or felt right) about the last one. i may be kidding myself, but i feel like my front squat form is getting better and better from this . in patches - i'll have a set that felt perfect and a few that felt like candidates for 'perfect' in a given workout, and the rest will be meh.
but i'm still getting that effect where the workout seems like it really starts at set 4, in terms of perfecting the form. so that fascinates me and i'm happy for sure to keep trusting it and see where i end up doing it. i did the 3x6 sets with my eyes closed 0 -
Ugh... ummm I was suffering the effects of over celebration this morning. Date night may have gotten a bit out of hand. Finally about 4 pm I decided I needed to go workout, and if it sucked, then I deserved it, and it may remind me not to be dumb again.
Strongman cardio 10x yoke push (230) sled drag (180), and big circusy dumbbell carry.
As I'm writing this, I'm realizing that I got sidetracked somehow and left without doing my ab stuff - I think it was written as Russian twists 4x15 with a 30lb dumbbell. Since I will be doing it at home now, it will be with either a 25 or 35 lb plate. Oops.
My only other comment on the day- when 40lbs got added to the yoke for yoke carries, didn't seem that different... 40lbs on the yoke pushes made a heck of a difference and sucked.1 -
Not posted for a few days but had a fun last few days of the week. Friday was a PT day we did some outdoor cardio. Was roughly 5k intervals. I was killed off with some sprints round a football field with a. Parachute strapped to my back1
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canadianlbs wrote: »TheHobbit2017 wrote: »
Moved over to my new setup.
Can you describe the kind of problem you're having in any more detail? there are some things about ways of taking the grip that might help, but it depends what the issue feels like to you.
and all this grip talk reminded me that i came home yesterday with a small, stupid brag. i'd like to think i'm the only lifter anyone's ever seen who uses hook grip when doing front squats
Hi sorry I just saw this reply
I think my issue was a few bits really. Mainly it being a new much bigger setup so balance thrown a little. My old bar was 5ft and this is 7ft to fit the cage. My core is already pretty good now and my next lot of squats were far better. I had one failure but I’m certainly pushing harder now I have safety bar!
It was on the deadlift I was having grip issues. I will try chalk on my next lift to see if that helps and perhaps the under/over hand thing.
Do you mind if I add u as a friend on here?1 -
TheHobbit2017 wrote: »Do you mind if I add u as a friend on here?
no, feel free. i'll warn you i talk a lot of nonsense on my wall though
as far as the reverse grip [over under}: do a little reading first to see if you think it's for you. it's always scared me a little. lots of people here do use it though, so they've probably got better info than me.
longer bar is definitely a new balance experience. i always feel like i'm catching a bit of a break when i use the short one.0 -
Squats
10x45
3x75
5x5 * 120
These felt pretty good today which was encouraging.
OHP
I was supposed to do 68 lb today but we don't have the fractional weights for that so I tried 70lb. I was able to get a couple but I knew there was no way I was going to be able to get my 5 x 5 at that weight so I dropped down to 65 pounds. Even at 65 lb I failed a couple of my sets. So, I guess I will keep trying at 65 and see if I can work my way up.
Deads
5x135
5x165
5x195
1 hour power yoga0
This discussion has been closed.