200/300/400/500

[PaulBeech]

Interesting takes on the deadlift assistance. My hip is too messed up to do good mornings with any real effectiveness at the moment. I also never used to have bad upper back rounding and this past year it's got real bad so I may force myself to do more rowing movements.

[toonttm]

(7) Consistency

Don’t skip workouts. Paraphrasing Rip, reasons to miss a training session are things like the kidnapping of a friend or the death of a good dog. If you feel lethargic, are depressed, you’re angry, you’re just not in the mood, then all the more reason to get your training in. It’s rare that you leave the gym feeling worse than when you entered. Reasons to miss your workout exist, but they’re not common. Get the training in.

Reading this was like a true/false quiz, some I went 'yay' others not so much (as in I need to do that) but what spoke to me was this one. You want an excuse for not working out? you talk to me, I got them all!

But a few times I have decided that even though the day sucked so badly, but no matter what; I would go and lift anyway. I have walked away thinking what a fantastic idea...lifting weights does amazing things for your mood.

[hector_garza]

Congratulations on achieving this goal, Hector! Great write up with a lot of outstanding advice.

Thanks! I hope it proves useful to anyone in similar circumstances.

[hector_garza]

Good write up. I also liked seeing mention of Oldster in there.

Thanks!

I miss Oldster. I wrote him awhile back after he stopped posting and he was doing well.

I hope he comes back to the forums.

[hector_garza]

Thanks for the notes on your experiences hector.



This really hits home. I've had time issues lately, where I only have about an hour. I've tried doing things like limiting my squats to 12-15 minutes and minimizing rest, and I can usually get about half of a volume day in. Certainly better than nothing. Even getting your top set in once seems to be miles better than nothing.

Absolutely!
Agree 100% that even one top set is much better than nothing. Even it doesn't drive a muscle gain, just the practice of moving big weights is helpful.

[hector_garza]

Interesting takes on the deadlift assistance. My hip is too messed up to do good mornings with any real effectiveness at the moment. I also never used to have bad upper back rounding and this past year it's got real bad so I may force myself to do more rowing movements.

My rounding used to be terrible. And since I was never great at chins I wasn't getting the upper back training I needed. Upper back work is hugely helpful, I'm confident it will help your rounding.

[hector_garza]

Reading this was like a true/false quiz, some I went 'yay' others not so much (as in I need to do that) but what spoke to me was this one. You want an excuse for not working out? you talk to me, I got them all!

But a few times I have decided that even though the day sucked so badly, but no matter what; I would go and lift anyway. I have walked away thinking what a fantastic idea...lifting weights does amazing things for your mood.

Absolutely!
I think about this some times.
I think lifting weights helps mood in a couple different ways:

(1) the hormonal response from squatting or deadlifting heavy
(2) the sense of accomplishment from conquering an objective. Some days at work can be ambiguous in terms of accomplishments. Sometimes things with family and friends can do badly despite you doing your best. But weights are one area where your goals and your performance and your gains are all clearly visible and the reward is there. (There are probably some great Henry Rollins quotes to insert here that capture the idea more succinctly.)
(3) walking around the world as a stronger person just makes things seem easier.
(4) on a biological level your body needs to be challenged. Weights satisfy some of that.

[hector_garza]

workout last night was limited in time. Also wasn't even a scheduled lifting day, but I wanted to do something since during my actual lifting day (today) I'd be at a Judo class. So I did some easy and light volume on squats, and some quick singles for bench and oh press.

So, last night, 01/06/2015:

B Squat: 275 x 3s x 5r
Jefferson Curl: 95lbs x 3s x 5r
Bench Press: 245 x 2s x 1r
OH Press: 180 x 1s x 1r

[Nermin]

Very timely for me, personally. Thank you for the write up.

[hector_garza]

Very timely for me, personally. Thank you for the write up.

Glad to write it. Hope there was something for you to get out of it.