Archives for workouts (page 10)

To save my nose for the benefit of mankind, I got myself a board to use as a backrest on the seated pin press. The Spirit of the Barbell nodded in approval as the bar did no longer need to clear Cape Head before moving into a proper groove. Later on in the workout, the board also came in handy as a back rest to assure good form and zero momentum on barbell curls. This simple board is already turning into one of my most useful gym accessories.

Partially solved the problem of not having heavy enough dumbells to replace the risky bent over rows (my back) by doing one-handed rows with the barbell. The advantage over dumbells is that you can pull very close to your waist as there are no plates to hit the thighs, but you can’t move the supporting leg much out to the side like I usually do since the bar is in the way. Some gentle swaying aside, bar balance is not the huge problem it might first appear to be. Psychologically, the bar also works well since 40 kg/88 lbs on a barbell looks puny whereas a dumbell of the same size is already borderline imposing. Too bad the gym doesn’t have two bars, otherwise I could go back to doing heavy dumbell benching… dumbells are for sissies, right?

VIDEO (5.4MB) (includes Måns demonstrating One-legged lying cable leg extensions in the upper pulley - great exercise for you bodybuilders out there!)

The school received a few Dynair air cushions from TOGU. These can be used for anything from sitting on (great for bad backs) to standing on for balance training. Being SQ/DL day and all, I couldn’t resist the urge to borrow one for box squats. I seem to recall reading about this precise setup somewhere, but some brief surfing turned up squat (punny yes).

The idea of squatting off a soft box is not breaking news. On the Squatting Secrets tape, Simmons says that he began using a soft box back in the 1970s. These soft boxes, or hassocks, are nothing more than cheap foot rests that can be found at furniture stores (like these expensive ones, some have found theirs for less than $10 in the States). With a solid bottom and cushy top, squatting off them will make the lifter sink in a couple of inches. Needless to say, this makes the lift a lot harder and hits the legs more than an ordinary hard box. Hassock squats resemble free squats closely and are thus, or were at least, used the last 3-4 weeks prior to a meet at Westside.

Slapped the Dynair on top of my 13″ box and began pyramiding up. The cushion was indeed fairly unstable, but nothing compared to a stability ball… Tried to concentrate on form, especially arching the upper back and pulling shoulder blades tightly together while keeping elbows in. This made for added shoulder strain, but resulted in perhaps a bit less forward dipping (some older footage to compare with). Did around 10 sets at 60 kg/133 lbs then pyramided up. On the 90 kg/199 lbs single, I setup a tad too close with the result that I hit the outer edge of the cushion tilting it backwards. In the process the plates on the left side also slid out several inches. I felt some strain on the inside of the left leg from the unbalanced load and it was a really slow rep but up it came. Moved the box a bit further back for 100 kg/221 lbs, but got into a really sorry position and couldn’t even get lift off. Accessory work in circuit fashion was the coup de grâce.

This was the first semi-serious ME DL/SQ session in many months and no complaints from the back. I plan to reintroduce DE SQ/DL workouts to regain some speed and allow for further technique refinement. I’m momentarily quite content with my bench form, so expect more than a passing note on squat technique in the weeks to come. Meanwhile, feel free to lash harsh critique on today’s action (VIDEO 1M) powered by Slipknot’s Vol.3: The Subliminal Verses.

Finnish Independence Day. No work. To give the central nervous system and the shoulders further respite, I went for an upper body circuit routine with fairly light weights, one major movement per muscle group and a focus on stability ball exercises. I moved quickly between exercises only stopping to jot down the results until one iteration was completed, then took five minutes of rest before going at it again. I was huffing and puffing and kept reminding myself of the need to raise GPP, cause I ain’t got any. 23 minutes later it looked like the 5th Annual Dumbell Congregation had just convened in front of the stability ball. On our way home we ended up sitting in a traffic jam as the police had just blocked off one of the main arteries to make room for the dignitaries on their way to the President’s Independence Day Reception. System flooded with healing blood, can wait.

I’m going to swallow my pride and admit that I got no more than 4 @ 62.5 kg/138 lbs on the deep front squats before crashing into the pins. It wasn’t pretty either as my upper body dipped forward quite a bit. Then moved into the good mornings off the pins, now starting them, as Vince suggested, straight off the pins instead of first unracking. Worked up to 5 @ 80 kg/177 lbs, which was still fairly light. Next up were…

OVERHEAD SQUATS! Never tried them before, but an article in the December 2004 issue of MILO by Rob Haan titled An Alternate King: Overhead Squats put them on my agenda. Much like the hands-free squats, they smelled like a worthy challenge with some core benefits:

Mike Stone also said that very few athletes can even hold a light bar or stick directly overhead and squat, which I have found to be true. The reason is that as you squat, the torso leans forward, and because the arms must remain straight overhead to prevent the bar from falling forward, the shoulders are placed at an extreme stretch. Thus, the overhead squat is testing hip, lower back, and shoulder flexibility all at the same time, and if you are lacking in any area, the bar will end up on the floor. [..] An additional benefit - and my primary motivation for including overhead squats in a training program is that they are a great builder of core strength. [..] Overhead squats work the abdominals in the same way they are worked when you are supporting or carrying a heavy weight.
Rob Haan: An Alternate King: Overhead Squats. MILO 12(3), December 2004: pp. 56.

I also got some valuable hints from Skinny Bastard:

Always “pull the bar apart”–helps with stability.
 
Point the elbows out to the sides.
 
It’s OK to the let the bar go behind your head somewhat. For less flexible lifters, it’s usually required.
 
The limiting factor in terms of flexibility is usually the hamstrings and shoulders.
 
Start with a broomstick. Don’t expect to get depth. Just “find your balance” and go as low as possible without rounding your back. Move onto the bar and then use weight.

After all the dire warnings about impossible broomsticks and barbell-shaped heavy falling objects, working up to a successful deep set with miniscule plates felt like a major victory (TODAY’S VIDEO 3.4M). It did stretch my shoulders to the limit and I would not have dared going heavier for this very reason. I could also feel it in my upper back, which was forced into a limit arch. Torture tends to bring back memories and what I got was flashbacks of reading about Wendler’s suggestion for arching the upper back, which “not only set the entire back into a perfect squatting position, but you also force the chest out“… all essential things to staying upright in a squat. Since the overhead squat, unlike the front squat, forces you into an erect squatting groove it would seem that it is a good teacher. Alas, it is soon time to see if Mikesell would still be willing to help me work on my form.

This workout can best be described as a sad déjà vu experience. I knew I wasn’t fully recovered long before I benched what turned out to be an unusually sticky 95 kg/210 lbs. Threw in the towel after failing to put a serious dent in the 85 kg/188 lbs work sets.

Obviously, I need to back off before I get seriously overtrained. This is definitively a suitable week to do just that as I am going to Sweden on Thursday for an extended weekend. But despair not fellow lifters, for I ain’t giving up on Wednesday’s good mornings (to be taped).

The heavy increase in pressing - up from two pressing movements and one extension movement to four pressing movements per week - has taken a hard toll on delts, triceps and chest. For the first time in two weeks I felt fairly good, but despite rubbing the taut bands in the front delts hard with both the Thumbsaver and an anti-inflammatory gel some tightness remained. It feels like I am slowly adapting to the new routine (lots of sleep helps), but might still give the decline bench the boot to lessen shoulder strain; Mike also suggested moving back to the normal Blakley split if I don’t recuperate well. Am also moving the heavy singles back to the bench on Monday from the reverse-grip bench on Friday as I feel it will help my work sets feel better.

Pretty good workout today, but had some problems keeping my respectably sized nose clear of harm’s way as I hit it twice on the seated overhead press. On the Westside Bench Workout tape, this exercise is done against a padded board that allows the lifter to lean the upper body slightly back to clear beaks and other valuables. The back rest of the nearly vertically inclined bench I use effectively prevents even the slightest lean and as a result I am forced to press more (safe style) or less (mangled nose style) forward at the beginning to clear the head before hovering into a more optimal bar path. Next time I’ll put a board or something against the rack, for I’m sure as penguins not going to press with head turned sideways.

Squat training is really starting to feel meaningful again as the back seems to respond well to the recent baby steps towards ME SQ/DL workouts. After two weeks of light deadlifts, I unracked for deep front squats with a medium stance. The last set of five at 60 kg/133 lbs was not quite a max set, but a lot stiffer than I’d hope. After no serious squat work for a year I will just have to swallow the fact that my quads are weak (always have been, but…) and build up the weights from the beginning. Then did good mornings off the pins set at navel height. It was pretty scary to unrack 70 kg/155 lbs, but in the end the set was still far below max weights and the unloading at the bottom made it feel a lot safer. Some heavy twists and ab work later the non-existent blood sugar made its absence dizzily felt. Post-workout shake.

Apparently my body still had trouble spelling recuperated. It was more like decoupéfated, and can only be grateful that I didn’t lose more than one rep on the bench (lost a rep each on the first two sets, with a single rep comeback on the third) and three reps on the decline. Hopefully I’ll recauperaite enough to see some gains come Friday. Then lifter be happy.

Winter whirled in today with over 20 cm/8″ of snow covering everything from trees to cars. The lantern keepers at Helsinki Railway Station, arguably the most muscular Finns ever built by purely isometric work, stood firm (sculpted by Emil Wikström, 1914).

Took full advantage of the school’s carpentry facilities and made myself a 2″/5 cm wooden pinch grip block to reinforce my grip tool arsenal consisting of the Captains of Crush (CoC) Trainer and I grippers and a Rolling Thunder (RT) with loading pin. I haven’t done much work with the RT of late as it has been safely stashed away in my locker at the commercial gym. Since I now call the school gym home, I finally went ahead and dragged my chalk, RT, mini bands etc. over. Will start working the RT twice a week in an attempt to get my max up to 60 kg/133 lbs from its current 50 kg/111 lbs.

I was still aching from Monday’s heavy pressing and reluctantly concluded that the wisest thing to do was to forego the normal Friday action. Instead dedicated the workout to grip and forearm work. The pinch block was fun, and it was again painfully revealed just how stronger my left hand pinch grip is when I hit 20 kg/44 lbs… Wrapped up with some incline shrugs and jungle pulldowns followed by a set of rocket power abs where I managed a new PR of 3 reps despite having pretty sore abs from Wednesday. Måns also did some heavy Pjotr rows that I captured on today’s clip (3.6M).