(page 10)

Paternity leave amounts to 18 days. It can be taken during maternity or parental leave in up to four stages. The paternity leave can be extended by 1-12 weekdays if the father takes the last 12 weekdays of the parental leave. The extension must be taken in a single period immediately following the parental leave.
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health

Say no more. Introduced in 2003 in Finland based on Swedish and Norwegian models, the extended parental leave is something I have been looking way forward to. Waaay forward to. From the outset, it has been very clear that we will take every opportunity to prioritize family even in the face of much reduced income. Incidentally, reduced income is cited as the prime reason why only seven percent of all Finnish fathers take the opportunity to stay home for a month with their nine-month olds. The research also shows that the lower the family income and education level, the less likely fathers are to take advantage of the extra parental leave. We should be grateful that we are in a position to do so. Sanna took a leave off work as well to allow the whole family to spend the month of November together at home with Rufus.

Tuesday, 1 November 2005: Bench

Tested the close-grip bench max, but 100 kg/221 lbs was not even close. I still have some catching up to do before I regain whatever strength I had before the latest back pain episode. Also experimented with an extremely high pad height on the GHR, but even with seven holes showing it did not feel markedly heavier than the usual three holes.

Friday, 4 November 2005: Squat

Spent a sizable part of Thursday watching the WPC World’s Open Men competition on location here in Helsinki. I took a lot of notes and some video, something I hope to return to a bit later. All the hours of sitting in a plastic chair has taken its toll on my lower back. A measly 70 kg/155 lbs deep manta ray squat was enough to send it into a small cramp. I should probably have stopped there, but went on to the GHR, this time working up to a violet band, then followed with a whole array of midsection exercises. Turns out doing roman chair sit-ups with a miniband is a good way to get an extended sick leave if not very careful…

Sunday, 6 November 2005: Bench assistance

Almost forgot to include this workout done after spending the day following the last WPO event, the heavyweight semifinals (again, something to get back to later, suffice it to say that there were some HUGE lifts). Nothing to say big words about, but am slowly starting to think about actually following some kind of routine. Direct shoulder work definitively needs to be phased back in. Definitively lost a bit here as well since my previous behind the neck pressing session in August.

Tuesday, 25 October 2005: Squat day

I’ve been aware of the Manta Ray for quite some time now, but, as with the various camber bars, I haven’t had access to one before signing up at Metal. Now that I have tried one, I’m sure my presidential campaign would include a promise to make the Manta Ray obligatory in all gyms across the glorious nation of Finland. Unfortunately, I am not running for president. Am not running at all in fact, cuts into the recovery process too much. What I will do though is much more Manta Ray work than thus far. Read my lips, much more.

The Manta Ray, invented by Mark Pittroff, snaps easily unto the bar (at least on a standard Leoko bar, the squat bar might be too thick for it) and stays put. It is amazing how snuggly it fits over the shoulders, not that the 5 @ 80 kg/177 lbs I worked up to today is much of a stress test. The bar position mimics that of a high-bar squat and, consequently, makes it easier to stay upright than squatting with the standard powerlifting low-bar position. The upright position isolates the legs more and thus makes the movement harder. According to Louie Simmons, this will transfer well to the deadlift. I know the Westside guys and gals are big fans of box squatting with the Manta Ray, but I for my part plan to make this one of my primary quadriceps exercises by squatting with a close stance and rock bottom. Bodybuilding style if you will. The hell with vertical shins. And yes, as you can see, this polyurethane device does indeed resemble a “real” Manta Ray, especially when reduced to a bare skeleton.

The GHRs are becoming easier and easier, so continued my new policy of only going down to parallel. This might look easier, but is actually much harder because you will lose all initial inertia gained by the hyperextension phase of the movement. The EFS Squat/Deadlift Index DVD recommends you to do this once the full-range ones become easy. Added an additional miniband too for 4x8. Also dared to do some good mornings off pins and then did the usual midsection work. A good workout.

Anticipation ran high as Måns and yours truly zipped along on the train destined for the summer cottage. We had both managed to get Friday off work and were looking forward to two full days of outdoor activities and… training. Among our sparse luggage was a heavy-duty rubber mat designed to cover any ice or snow that might be found in the rack. Helsinki was still void of snow, but at this time of the year the conditions 400 km/250 miles up north were hard to predict. Here’s the full story brought to you by your very own household guy under the bar.

Let’s rewind the story a bit, shall we? Earlier in the day, Rufus and I joined Måns to the veteran of fitness stores in Helsinki. In operation for more than 35 years, Wrange carries a hybrid mix of modern fitness goods and old school fitness buff stuff. We were actually surprised to find state-of-the-art protein tablets on the shelves. I use to choke them down with water by the handful - at 0.8g protein each you do the math for 40 grams of protein - long before whey protein came around.

Gently shaking myself out of bodybuilding nostalgia, let me tell you that the real cause of our visit was one slippery problem. Having been greeted by one skinny yet surprisingly muscular barbell hosting gent at the entrance, I dashed in to order one of their kuntolaitematto, or gym mats in a more international vernacular. Sold off a 1.25m/49″ roll, I figured a 1.9m/75″ long piece worth 104.5 euros would be just enough to cover the base of the rack while leaving a couple of flaps to use under the bar if needed. With a thickness of 8mm/0.3″, this mat was advertised as being very resilient and non-slippery even when wet. This is basically the kind of mat you find in freeweight areas or under machines in many gyms. Gracious as always, Måns promised to bring it to the train station as he was arriving by car. He ended up getting caught in the traffic and had to make a serious dash for it with the 16 kg/35 lbs mat jumping over one shoulder and the gym bag swaying off the other. One funny sight, but he made the train. Thanks, dude!
[photo courtesy of Måns]

Arriving at the harbor for the boat ride out to the island, the ground was bare but the temperature was hanging with the freezing point. This photo was actually taken the next day, but I bet it didn’t look much different when we arrived… except for the fact that it was pitch dark…
[photo courtesy of Måns]

Waking up Saturday morning, late by my standard, early by Måns’s, we had breakfast and leaped out to assist dad in preparing the place for winter. After a lot of carrying this and covering that, we took on the mount of unchopped wood still loitering about the shed. A few smaller trees also hit ground zero. Here’s me doing some small-scale chainsaw massacring in my favorite woolen sweater; knit by my mom, it features yaks across the chest and sheep along the waistline… a nomad enthusiast’s dream.
[photo courtesy of Måns]

In the late afternoon, we decided it was time to rev up to the first workout of the weekend. First on the agenda was the cutting of the mat to fit the rack. I cut jacks in it for the rack uprights to allow it to extend out further sideways (think sumo). And no, I am not going bald, hair is just a mess…
[photo courtesy of Måns]

Time had sneaked up on us and we were too hungry to hoist even the smallest of iron plates. Food break! My perverse fascination with sushi should be well-known by now, but kebab is not far behind. We had stocked up with a load of kebab meat and pita bread. I quickly whipped together my standard kebab sauce and poured youghurt over the small mound. After finishing off one serving (above) each, we were now too full to train. We dragged ourselves out for some more woodchopping to let things settle a bit. Not what I’d ordinarily have as a preworkout meal, but this was no ordinary excursion.

By this time, darkness had descended on the island. A light bulb at the end of an extension cord did the trick. This is Måns popping away with the axe. To the left is my old two-story fortress built around three trees… once a stronghold with the largest arsenal of wooden swords known to man. But I digress… ah, memory lane.

At 10pm we were, digestically speaking, ready to rumble. A few torches from the End of Summer festival and two electrical lights lit up Toffe’s Gym, now transformed into a dreamy landscape of warm light and dark shadows. The music coming out of the small speakers attached to my iPod was nothing but a faint backdrop drowning in the cold breeze. The temperature was barely above freezing at 2°C/36°F. Quite refreshingly pleasant actually. This is the uncovered weight pit illuminated by a torch (duh).
[photo courtesy of Måns]

With the mat in place, the rack was ready for action.

Måns embarked on a light weight pit workout consisting of handle squats and handle deadlifts while I quickly hammered together some old boards for a makeshift three-board, some triceps extensions and face pulls with two minibands. It was way cool (that’s apt) to train in this setting, but my muscles didn’t agree as a double 100 kg/221 lbs on the three board, with feet on the bench to protect my volatile back, was hard enough. My form was way off, but who cares… Here’s the video (6MB), I promise it’s a tad different than the ordinary fare…

It was after midnight when we finished. The workout is not one either of us will forget in the first place and I can safely say that it has been firmly added to the ever-growing list of nostalgia. Instead of the normal post-workout shakes, we had a liberal amount of protein powder mixed in with yoghurt before departing for Dreamland. It had been a full day.
[photo courtesy of Måns]

The next day, Sunday, it was time to wish Toffe’s a nice winter. We did entertain thoughts of training, but the temperature dropped rapidly below freezing and we even had some snow. Click on the image to see a larger panorama.

We covered the bench and put the squat box underneath it inside the rack… the mat got to spend its first winter indoors.

A last look at the goodies before covering the weight shed with a filthy expensive 99 euro tarpaulin made of the same thick PVC used for covering trucks. Note the covered rack in the background. Heavy snow fall now welcome.

The sun was setting beautifully as we hopped in the boat for the ride home, this time in dad’s car. Until next year!
[photo courtesy of Måns]

A BIG thanks to Måns for all the help during the weekend and for allowing me to use his photos!

Tuesday, 18 October 2005: Squat and Bench combo

An end of season trip up to Toffe’s Gym with Måns has been hanging in the air for some time now. November was the original candidate, as I would be on a father’s leave extension for the whole month. When it turned out that dad was going up for a final visit this weekend, suitably coinciding with a two-day fall leave at school, we decided to tag along to assist him with the usual chores. As we were definitively going to be pumping iron snow or no snow, I did both squat and bench days on Tuesday and took the rest of the week off. Without further ado, here’s that workout. One more ado and I bring you…

Monday, 10 October 2005: Bench

Loaded up the camber bar for the first time. I figured I would be able to do about the same as on a regular bench given that my sticking point is about midway. Not so. I’m not quite back at the strength level I had before the layoff, but was a bit disappointed with failing at 95 kg/210 lbs. The movement felt slow and came to a dead stop at the sticking point. I think the extra 2″ stretch at the bottom makes for a slower than normal drive off the chest for subjects not previously exposed to the perils of the camber. It was fun though, and didn’t strain the shoulders as much as I thought it would. Instead, the arching, moderate as it may be, caused my back to get really sore and I took the rest of the week off to limp around in peace.

Monday, 3 October 2005

Still taking it easy with the back, but did get carried away a bit with the Westside camber bar (or squat camber bar) on the Zercher squat, a combo I saw on the EliteFTS Squat Index DVD I got a while ago. I had no idea what the crooked beast weighed at this point, but a 15 kg/33 lbs plate a side proved plenty in my condition. I used a board between the bar and the crook of my elbows, but the swaying action caused by the heavy camber made for some nasty bar bites on both biceps. Later measured the bar with a scale I brought in for the purpose as the bugger was too tall to fit on top of the electronic scale standing in a corner at Metal. It clocked in at 29 kg/64 lbs, close enough to call it a standard 30 kg/66 lbs bar. How cool would it be to have one of these, preferably the rackable model, at Toffe’s Gym… now THAT was a rhetorical question if any.

“A national sports competition for animals is currently underway in Chongqing, China. An orangutan called Juhui competed in the weightlifting event.” (source: Uutislehti 100, 3 October 2o05)

First workout since the latest back relapse a month ago and first workout at Metal since my first visit there nine months ago. Being a fresh full orange member of said gym, this is now what I call home gym. The description is also apt in the sense that being in there at 22pm gives you a distinct sense of… well, lack of human beings pounding away at floor presses, squats with blue bands, weighted side bends and whatnot. For the first workout, there were a whopping three people in there besides me, but the second time around I was the proverbial lone barbell in powerlifter’s paradise (Måns couldn’t make it yet). Speaking of that second workout… I lost my training notes for it. Kids, don’t write down workouts on the back of old receipts for toothpaste and baby food.

Monday, 26 September 2005: Rehab

Here’s the logic according to Kris: if compression causes lumbago, then avoid compression (heavy squats, deadlifts…) if the back feels at all stiff. Instead strengthen the living hell out of the core/midsection region in the hopes that it will help keep stuff better in place (notably keeping me more upright in the squat). Further, do this with fanatic zeal or at least try to do reverse hypers and GHRs even on bench days. Focus on really opening those discs on the reverse hyper by allowing for a nice swing turned bottom stretch. Off we go. Had to do some common sense guessing on the cable crunches as most Metal cable machines only lists plate number, not weight.

Took a month off following the latest back incident. I had to recharge and, quite frankly, I knew it would start to clear up even without serious rehab. I have had plans to start training at Finland’s powerlifting Mecca, Metal Gym, for some time now. For one thing, we have started discussing purchasing our own house in the countryside and I want to have had the experience of training in a real powerlifting gym under my belt in case I will be confined to a second home gym out there somewhere. Of more urgent importance is of course the need to deal with my back problems. The opportunity to use a *real* reverse hyper every workout is starting to sound much more important than the fact that I neither live nor work in close proximity to the gym. A GHR, heavy dumbells, chains, specialty bars, monolifts and the like are of course icing on the cake.

In order for me to catch as much of Rufus’s waking hours as possible, Måns and I have agreed to train mainly between 22pm and midnight for now. Said and done. Today we headed over to Metal Gym to grab the 10 euros magnetic key card that will enable us to train in the night shift (the counter is manned until 7pm weekdays, but the gym is open until midnight for card holders). Either Cartman, the strong Metal counter guy, has a good face memory or then he has been reading my blog, because he immediately handed me the copy of The Kennelly method that I had lent to one of their lifters on my only previous visit to the gym in January (has a description of the gym). My card is now loaded with twenty visits for 88 euros. Powerlifting owls, you’ve got company.

A veritable sea of light by the sea as lanterns, torches and bonfires light up the last dark weekend of August in the archipelago… the End of Summer festival is one great tradition indeed. Where there is great light, there must also be great darkness…evil traditions are arising out of its shadows. It doesn’t take Yoda to understand that I was out there looking to improve my 105 kg/232 lbs decline PR. I didn’t get it, instead I got what I got last year this very weekend… heavy duty back pain and a strong case of lumbago.

Not perhaps quite as bad as last year, but I had to forego all plans to clean up the debris in the gym following this year’s extensive renovation. As soon as I got back to Helsinki, I did the usual round. Actually, I didn’t even need to set foot in the occupational health clinic as a phone call was enough to get me the usual muscle relaxants and strong pain killers. At the back clinic, the doctor at first tried to ease up the cramp with the same means as a month ago, but he quickly abandoned the neural mobilization as even the starting position was severely painful. Instead, he jammed two pins into my low back to electrically force the cramping muscles to repeatedly contract in an effort to tire them. It is an experience in itself to feel the small muscles around the spine contract, I doubt they can be caused to fire in isolation without artificial means. After some fifteen or twenty minutes of contract-relax-contract-relax-contract-relax, I knew I would be sore in some funky places… The doctor told me I could expect the cramp to ease up over the next couple of days. He concluded that there was nothing structurally or neurologically wrong with my low back, something I should be thankful for. Knowing my scientific bent, he went on to sketch a picture of a vertebral disc from above explaining how the jelly-like center, the nucleus, is contained within a fibrous ring known as the annulus. Under normal circumstances, the disc returns to its original shape after absorbing pressure. But with age, the annulus is weakened and cracks can occur causing the acidic nucleus to spill out of its container thus coming into contact with the nerve roots. This in turn is what causes the lower back to cramp leading to the leaning tower of Pisa effect as the cramp causes the hip to shift to one side with a considerable drooping shoulder on the opposite side. This page over at a French back clinic explains this well with pictures, including the one below (the text is in English though).

Almost into my second year of recurrent back trouble following the you-know-what, I received a clear diagnosis I can understand. This is so important I need to bold, hold on… What causes my back trouble is not a lingering back injury, but disc leakage due to abnormal levels of compression. Unfortunately, it appears that my “abnormal levels of compression” is abnormally low, say a 100 kg/221 lbs squat or 107.5 kg/238 lbs decline bench attempt. That said, it is not like this problem pops up out of the blue something. I have been able to sustain high levels of compression since the injury (for example, the Coan deadlift cycle in the spring), but for some reason a little is sometimes suddenly just too much. A stiff back, like I had before this workout, is a much more serious warning sign than I have ever understood. What this means to my powerlifting future, beyond the “stay away from the decline for now”, remains to be seen. Gargllleeeee.