newtoss2022

Bw 178 -182- weight fluctuates, Height 6’0

Press - 121 x 5 x 3 to Last completed 162 x 5 x 3

Monday - 164 x 5 x 5 x 4 -

Friday Thought I could get it 166lbs x. 3,2

Wednesday 166lbs x 4 , 3; Reduced the 4lbs 162 x 5 x 3 and honestly it moved well, a bit grindy of the 5th rep of 3rd set

Please give me some advice how to get my Press moving, btw I already reset from 137.5 x 5 x 3 to a 162 x 5 x 3 - WITH MICROLOADING

End of the Press LP?

Mark Rippetoe

Gain 20 pounds.

jphillq

I saw a chiropractor this week because of pain in my right hip and the bottom of a squat. It's been getting steadily better since May and actually wasn't in my right hip today when I did a 400 2x2 squat and 485 2x2 deadlift. But I thought I'd see him to get an outside perspective. He took an X-Ray of me from the front and the side. The side X-Ray showed that my L4 and L5 vertebrae are nearly touching in the back (posterior) side and there's a wide gap between them on the anterior side. He said this was due to a deflated disc and that spinal decompression therapy would help.

The kicker was that the spinal decompression therapy would involve me going to their office 2-3 times a week for eight to twelve weeks to sit in this machine an hour at a time, and that I shouldn't lift at all during that time period. My questions are:

1. Has anyone ever had this therapy and did they notice any difference?

2. Does anyone understand why the disc is 'deflated' and if these machines actually do anything?

3. Does anyone know if I should actually stop lifting during this time (8 weeks!)

Mark Rippetoe

How much was it going to cost? I suspect that might be the reason for the recommendation by the Chiropractor.

jphillq

It costs me ~950, the total cost is $3600 but insurance covers the rest.

Yeah that's why I'm so suspicious. There was a sort of twenty minute talk he gave me about how the machine did all this special stuff that sounded suspiciously like a sales pitch. I asked what was wrong with plain old gravity boots (which I've seen but haven't used) or one of those tables and he said that your muscles in your spine automatically contract. Well yeah but I don't see how you wouldn't still get some benefit from it. The machine is supposed to "confuse" your muscles. I've so far never heard the phrase "muscle confusion" being used by anybody who had an real clue what they were doing.

Mark Rippetoe

There is some evidence that spinal decompression of this type helps with a disc. The problem is that you don't know it's a disc, and neither do they. They just have to keep the machine busy.