All,
Thank you for your feedback. I got more weight last week and now have a total of 550Lbs in plates. I have since set at least 1 new training PR in all the major lifts and hope to continue progressing for years to come. Thank you all for taking the time out of your schedules to respond and engage in dialogue.
~Vegvisir
Well, I ride a desk for a living and pretty much hate it. Unfortunately for me, they pay me pretty well and its a little too late in my career to be able to afford the pay cuts that changing careers would necessitate. So yes, there are some days where the most exciting things I look forward to are checking this forum and hitting the weights in my free time in the evenings. My ideal would be to open my own gym and start coaching. (Plans are already in the works but I have some goals that need be met before I can take the risk.) I am tired of ties that don't let me breathe, slacks that don't let me bend down to pick up a pen, shirts that must be tucked in and any footwear that doesn't allow me to lift heavy or spread my toes. (lifting shoes and flip-flops respectively) I am sick to death of "water cooler" drama and annual sexual harassment training and SharePoint sites and PowerPoint slides and having to eat my lunch in such a way as to not stain my uncomfortable clothes that MUST be dry-cleaned and do not in any way make you better at your job.
Seriously, I spend most of my day doing things I don't want to do for people I barely tolerate and dreaming about getting home so I can attempt a new training weight or 1RM and down my famous 6 egg, cheddar, omelet and a protein shake with PB, coconut oil, banana, milk, cherries and chocolate syrup before I dive into a new book on training/strength and conditioning. Presently reading PP by Rip, Can You Go? by Dan John and Supple Leopard by... some guy. I dunno. It had good reviews on Amazon and I found it in a book bin with a ripped cover at B&N for $2.
~Vegvisir
In the mean time, I am learning, working on my own lifts(you shouldn't sell a product you don't own yourself), saving up starting capital, creating a business plan and attending lifting seminars by SS and WSBB and the like.
~Dan
Aside from the gender difference, I'm pretty sure we have the same life, Vegvisir... haha
I like Kelly Starrett overall, despite his preponderance for needlessly using technical mumbo-jumbo when talking to the average populace. I've also got nothing against mobility work. But the man just does not seem to believe in the possibility of shoving your knees too far out, and the pictures in his book reflect that. He's very careful to have people avoid knee cave, but is fine with people having their knees 6 inches outside the feet. It doesn't make sense to me, but he's quite adamant about it.
Amazon keeps trying to get me to buy Supple Leopard too, ever since I bought SS and PP.
Is knee cave when your knees get closer together? I am catching myself doing that after a few months into SS and now that my squats are starting to feel like work. As I push, and struggle to generate the force to finish the rep, my knees seem to float together, but magically the bar accelerates. It only happens on a rep that seems like I'm not going to finish it and the bar has pretty much stopped moving up.
Is this a common stance problem? (I know analyzing my own situation is impossible here, just wandering if it's somewhat common and can be corrected by increasing/decreasing toe angle or something like that)