hanlonsk wrote: »

Today was deadlifts
Trainer was there when I started, and looked at my last week deadlift video and this week’s squat video. And seemed to agree the deadlift looked good, and the squat form needs some work. So we went over some mobility ideas. Also, on mobility @krokador are you doing the daily romwod? Or going back and picking one... if you are doing the daily... omg I don’t know about you, but today stretched things I didn’t know needed stretched.

I picked and chose which one I wanted to do last week cuz i started mid-week. I'm gonna try to follow along this week (and add in from the upper body path on some days, because they focus VERY heavily on lower body, and the upper body positions are typically shorter hold. I get that we are a sedentary lifestyle bunch and the hips DO need work, but so do our poor rounded shoulders!), so I must've done the same one you did. I wanted the supine twist to last 2 minutes! Other than that, wasn't a fan of the supine lizard or whatever, probably should've looked up the explanation video first. My hands were hurting from holding my foot with a belt, but that was about it, lol.

Just wait until you encounter the full saddle O_o (I would suggest having a big fluffy towel or a pillow to put between your butt and feet. I actually ended up using my foam roller there the last time and I was able to actually lean back into it and, yes, that stretch... wow!

Well 3 days out of the gym did wonders. Have been doing some incidental activity bike riding and walking the dog but that was about it. Was feeling so tired and sore last week so had a few days off and was back in the gym today and felt great. Weight loss was only .2kg this week as a result of less activity but at least it’s still going in the right direction.

10 mins elliptical and 10 mins treadmill waiting for squat rack to be free.

Then squats 5x5 47.5kg, ohp 5x5 20kg, dL 5x5 60kg. Kept squats and deadlift at same as last week and dropped ohp down. Just working on making sure form is good and will keep these weights for the next few sessions before increasing again. OHP felt good on all reps and concentrated on getting low on squats and keeping weight through my heels. Wore my vans today for first time instead of my running shoes and did feel like they made me feel a bit more grounded.

Finished off with some stretches and ten minutes stationery bike.

Happy to report no shoulder pain.

canadianlbs wrote: »

monica182 wrote: »

Supposed to be ohp today so think I will just stick to squats and deadlift and see how we go. Any tips would be gratefully accepted krokador if it sounds like anything you’ve experienced before. Feel like a bit of a dill trying to explain how it feels seeing as it’s very random on when it hurts

chipping in. please know that i don't know, but i've been dealing with tendinopathy for the past six months. and that passive-aggressive 'feels fine at the time but then the next day . . . ' that's tendons. for me anyway.

when the doc said it i went doh, because how could i have forgotten my rheumatologist telling me exactly that years and years ago. 'if it hurts on contraction that's muscle. if it hurts at decontraction, tendon.' or something like that.

Good to know, thank you! Maybe that’s why I couldn’t really feel it when I was prodding around with my figures trying to work out where it hurts. Will have a bit of a google re tendons. Seems so far so good after rest, so fingers crossed it won’t give me any more grief.

Edited to add that I’ve just googled shoulder tendinitis and it sounds exactly what I was experiencing! Treatment includes massage, stretching, rest and anti inflammatorys which funnily enough I just started today for something else and didn’t even link that’s why my pain may have subsided.

hanlonsk wrote: »

krokador wrote: »

Just wait until you encounter the full saddle O_o (I would suggest having a big fluffy towel or a pillow to put between your butt and feet. I actually ended up using my foam roller there the last time and I was able to actually lean back into it and, yes, that stretch... wow!

Hmmm... I think that was a rather timely suggestion.... wow some of that lit me up after yesterday’s deadlifts.

Haha, yes. I tacked on the first upper body path wod yesterday. So much puppy dog! But yeah, being able to not worry about your feet/ankles being squished into oblivion makes the saddle so much more effective, lol. And ugh, that long frog hold. So much ugh.

SQUATS! 1RM test in prevision of the squat program I'll be running next.
45x5 slow with a pause/10 bottom bounces/10 good mornings/15 calf raises/5 explosive
65x3/8/8/12/3
85x5, 105x5, 125x3, 145x2
165x1, 175x1, 185x1, 195x1
That last oen was a MIGHTY grinder. But one where I didn't accordion/good morning up! Considering I'm nowhere near fresh/peanked/rested, that I came just 10lbs shy of my meet PR of 205 in january makes me happy!

This took almost an hour, so I was a little short on time for my conditionning part. So I came up with what I thought would be short and sweet. 14:30 is NOT short, and definitely NOT sweet. I decided to call it "Deck Scrub"

- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 x 100m row
- 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 power clean & jerk @ 75lbs

And while my heart was pounding and I was huffing and puffing, my crappy HR monitor watch was telling me I was at 86 bpm. YEA RIGHT! No wonder it told me I only burned 260 cals for this 1h10m workout -_-' Every time I wear this thing I get frustrated at it. I should've gotten a real fitbit...

How the heck do people do proper deadlifts if their lower body strength is more than their upper body strength? I am having trouble keeping my shoulders back when I do them. Yesterday my legs could pull 90 lbs but my shoulders were pulled forward when I leaned over, even if I got them straight at the top of the lift. Should I be doing more barbell shrugs to help with that? or rack pulls?

Between those problems and my struggling with lifting the 55-lb dumbbell on the goblet squats, I have pain in my upper back.

@krokador what I'd give to get that OHP!

Anyway - repeating my question - should I be doing more to strengthen my upper back so my shoulders don't get pulled down and forward when I do deadlifts? My legs worked fine at 90 lb - no pain and no pain in my lower back - but if my shoulders are pulled down, that's no good and suggests I'm too weak to pull that weight. Should I work on my upper back and in the meantime deload on RDL?

lkpducky wrote: »

@krokador what I'd give to get that OHP!

Anyway - repeating my question - should I be doing more to strengthen my upper back so my shoulders don't get pulled down and forward when I do deadlifts? My legs worked fine at 90 lb - no pain and no pain in my lower back - but if my shoulders are pulled down, that's no good and suggests I'm too weak to pull that weight. Should I work on my upper back and in the meantime deload on RDL?

I been bulking for a while now xD and I do a lot of overhead work in general. This has been years in the making, and I've only added like 10 lbs to that OHP in the past 2-3 years. Such slow progress... lol (And I really do need to lose some fat. Eesh).

Had totally missed your question, previously, sorry!

It's somewhat normal to a certain degree for the shoulders to be pulled down on the deadlift when the weight gets heavy. There are a few ways to make the upper back stronger: higher volume on the deadlifts + widening the grip. Doing rows. Heavy barbell squats where you brace properly and make sure not to let your upper body cave in. Goblet squats only work if your shoulders are in the proper position while you do them. Front squats would probably help. Doing scapular retractions off a pull-up bar. DB or barbell high pulls, maybe? Farmer's carry (again, making sure to keep the shoulders in the proper position and not just let the weight pull them down). Any sort of shoulder external rotation work will also help. And more than just the deadlift. We're pretty much all rather forward folded people. External rotational strength in the shoulders is something really important to counter balance all that internal rotation we've got going on. Things like band pull-aparts, face pulls, lying DB external rotations can all help build some of the strength.

Another thing worth pointing out is that the upper (thoracic) bracing is nearly impossible if you break at the midline on the deadlift. It may very well be that what happens is you try to yank on the bar and are not in a strong position at the bottom to begin with. Make sure to breath into your belly and really lock that down before you begin pulling. Shoulders tucked into your back pocket. Chest through your arms, and see if the angle of your back stays more level with those cues. You can always post a form check video, too

On another note, if you are having trouble getting the heavier DB into the goblet position, perhaps you could try 2 DB front rack squats. The stimulus will be similar on your legs, maybe you'll get a little more core engagement, but holding the DBs at the shoulder will allow you to practice that scapular retraction with a somewhat unstable load (you can try 1 arm at a time and FEEL that core working twice as hard to keep you upright, too ). Kettlebells work too (maybe even a little better to a degree). Just note that if you rest the bells on your shoulders, or push them together, you ARE taking some of the load off of your shoulders. So you can start by having them barely touching your collarbones, and as your upper body fatigues, push them back to rest on your shoulders (in case of DBs) or towards each other to where they are touching and keep going from there.

Mental game was strong today. All the romwod has been doing good things to my body. I recovered from the wreck I was on thursday quite well! (Falling asleep on my couch twice yesterday probably also helped a bit xD)

So i decided to go and test my clean 1RM. I had been stuck at 125 (well. I got 127.5 not *that* long ago) for YeARS, so I was really itching to test it again after how 115 felt in the open.

95 flew up. 105 too. 115 was not super deep (i was not concerned into making these squat or power cleans, so it was a catch it wherever game). 125 felt really good, so I jumped to 130. Figured it would be a PR and i could run away with it. It was hard to stand it up a bit, but my legs can front squat more than that. I was so happy when i stood it up that i let out a big "YES!" Scream and people looked at me funny, but i did NOt care. I was buzzing.

So I went for the number I really was going for: 135lbs. AND I GOT IT! Standing it up was a bit of a struggle, but I was NOT going to drop that one even if i had to grind for 30s to stand with it, haha! So happy! So, so, so happy!

I then stripped down the weight to 75 to work on some barbell cycling, then eventually ramped it back up to 105 for 2 rounds. 1 clean deadlift into hang power clean, front squat, full clean, jerk. Not too shabby!

Then the conditionning part was a 4 rounds of 40/20 intervals: strict 1 arm press (30x11, 25x12, 20x14/15), 2 kb/db front rack squat (30x13, 25x15/14/13), and 2kb/db rows (30x16/15, 25x18/17)

And then 60 burpees for time. I decided to try and pace myself with sets of 6 or 5 every 45s until the last 10ish reps, (which ended up being 3s for the last 15 reps), and finished in 8:15. Ugh. Buck furpees. -_-'

I then went to the store on the way, to then decide to go for a "run" when I got home. I did 2 miles in 40ish minutes xD hills and all, snow and gravel... It wasn't pretty. I just hope that doesn't make me too sore. Now i need allll the foooods!