Wolf's Log: From Cub to Direwolf

[kel]

The third rep of the 600 was challenging but not a grind or maximal. Without taking a stopwatch to it, it looks like it took between 4-5 seconds, compared to 7-8 seconds for my final rep at 575 two weeks ago. If I had wanted to, I'm pretty sure I could have done a 4th rep, though that one would have been a literal bone-on-bone limit rep and probably taken 8-9 seconds.

Based on my last couple months of pulling (a very strong and fast 565x5 and 585x4, a harder 575x5, and this 600x3), compared to what I've done in the past (615 non grinder (~4 second) single at a meet when my previous best set of 5 was 520, and recent best 5 was 505), and 700 seems possible. Certainly not a foregone conclusion, but if I'm having a good day, it should fall.

Part of the reason for this is because I train on a 29mm stiff bar, and RPS uses a 27mm deadlift bar at their meets. If the meet was with a 29mm stiff bar, I would probably be looking at something more like 650-670ish for my best deadlift.

I believe in you Comrade. 317.5 kg for Mother Russia.

[Michael Wolf]

Great work, Wolf!

Thanks Walter. You called it. YotW!!!

I meant the unweighted kind, but they're recommend here repeatedly by Steve Hill, among others, and Louie Simmons Ina lengthy article.

Edit:
http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=25148

If they don't hurt or bother you at all, they'll be a way to get some work in for the low back and hip extensors if you can't squat or DL or whatnot; but I don't see how they're a magic bullet for healing herniated discs. I don't think adding a purposeful twist is a good idea.

[Michael Wolf]

I believe in you Comrade. 317.5 kg for Mother Russia.

Я буду сильным, как волк!

[medwards]

Thanks Walter. You called it. YotW!!!



If they don't hurt or bother you at all, they'll be a way to get some work in for the low back and hip extensors if you can't squat or DL or whatnot; but I don't see how they're a magic bullet for healing herniated discs. I don't think adding a purposeful twist is a good idea.

спасибо

[Nick Klemetson]

Here is a similar angle shot of me 26 months ago at the SS Seminar I took, weighing 235 and pulling 445x5. Isn't it crazy how skinny I look considering I weighed 235?!

This was fun to see. Even though my current sets of 5 are still well below this at this body weight, it gives me a lot of hope as to where I could be in two years, despite not being blessed with your broad shoulders (even at 235).

[Michael Wolf]

This was fun to see. Even though my current sets of 5 are still well below this at this body weight, it gives me a lot of hope as to where I could be in two years, despite not being blessed with your broad shoulders (even at 235).

And for a good chunk of those two years I had issues that prevented me from training the DL either hard for PRs, or at all. Really consistent hard work does pay off. Even though this 445x5 was clearly sub-maximal, if you had told me that two years later I'd hit 575x5, I'd have been thrilled.

[Michael Wolf]

Weird day today. First day not at the gym I've been lifting at for the past 18 months or so. I benched and pressed in my apartment using the rogue bench and S1 stands, and was able to get a friend over for hand-offs since it's intensity day and I didn't want to change things to self-unracking this close to a meet at near PR weights. Then walked over to Titan, the PT Studio at which I coach several of my clients, for assistance work. I had to adjust to lots of new circumstances and surroundings, none of which individually are big deals but added together made it a little disorderly, but got everything done.

Bench Press
372.5x2x3
Notes: The rogue bench is probably an inch higher than the upright support bench at the gym I'm used to, plus the S1 stands are quite different than the USB as well, so my entire set-up and arch was thrown off a bit. Nonetheless, I was very pleasantly surprised at how fast these were. Strong, solid. Thanks to OCP for coming over to hand-off. 375 for doubles is my PR, which I plan to beat with 378-380 next Monday.

Press
209x5x5
Notes: This was really hard. Rested an extra minute or two for the last three sets and it was still hard. Slow right at the transition to the triceps. If I could get a hang of the double layback, this issue would probably disappear. But I don't do it naturally and haven't really spent any time trying to learn it. Maybe I should.

Weighted Chins
BW+50x5x4
Notes: Used a 50lb kettlebell at Titan, and added a 4th set.

TRX Rows
BW + 25lb vest x 12 x 3
Notes: No hammer strength row here and DBs only to 90, so there's no really good heavy rowing option that doesn't tax my low back too much for day before squatting and pulling stuff. I'll probably just stick with these as long as I'm lifting there.

Tricep Rope
57.5x15, 62.5x13
Notes: No EZ Curl Bar for overhead work, so used the cables.

Cable External Rotations
7.5x15x3
Notes: No adder plate option here, but as cable resistance isn't standardized anyway, it probably doesn't matter. 7.5 by itself seemed about as hard as 7.5+adder weight on the cable apparatus at Equinox.

So, I got it all done and didn't have to get on the subway at all, which was nice. I did get my backpack all chalky when I walked from my apt to Titan, since I had chalked my back for benching.

[sking1001]

Damn I got behind really fast on this log! Well a big belated congrats on the squat and deadlift PRs! Steve Hill would tell you to stand up taller, but I ignore that shit too, hahaha.

As for the press, it's amazing to me that sometimes my first rep of a set feels like a grinder, but I can make the slightest correction and get a couple more reps. Jordan commented on how unpredictable it was too, but IMO it comes down to how easy it is for technique to be just slightly off, and the consequences are far greater for it.

And I can't believe how much you have to pay for a crappy gym membership. Man that sucks. What ever happened to that little room you had with the S1 stand, but you were trying to find a way to soften the noise on deadlifts for the tenants below?

ETA: oops I didn't read your last post....you just answered my question!

[Michael Wolf]

Damn I got behind really fast on this log! Well a big belated congrats on the squat and deadlift PRs! Steve Hill would tell you to stand up taller, but I ignore that shit too, hahaha.

Thanks man. It's true that I don't emphasize the full tall stand-up in my deadlift rep work. I used to, but when things got so heavy, it's just damn hard to stay up there for the extra half second every rep. Hard on the grip and causes fatigue. Maybe I still should, and I would still coach a Novice (and possibly early Intermediate) to do so; but I suspect that at my stage in the game, the extra weight I can use since I don't do that, for X reps, does more for my training than emphasizing something I already know how to do well, and do anyway whenever I do a single.

As for the press, it's amazing to me that sometimes my first rep of a set feels like a grinder, but I can make the slightest correction and get a couple more reps. Jordan commented on how unpredictable it was too, but IMO it comes down to how easy it is for technique to be just slightly off, and the consequences are far greater for it.

I think you're right here about the technique variance. The difference, in terms of making the rep easily/grinding it out/or missing it altogether, between having the bar 1/4" away from your face and 3/4" of an inch is huge, when you're limited by the smaller delt and tricep muscles. Some days I'm just locked in the groove and others not.

And I can't believe how much you have to pay for a crappy gym membership. Man that sucks. What ever happened to that little room you had with the S1 stand, but you were trying to find a way to soften the noise on deadlifts for the tenants below?

ETA: oops I didn't read your last post....you just answered my question!

Ya, Manhattan is ridiculous, as I've mentioned a million times before. There are plenty of globo gyms to join nearby. The issue is they have crappy bars and 1 or 2 crappy racks that are likely to be occupied by stupid people doing stupid things who don't know how to work in. My impression is that, in general in globo gyms around the country, the racks are still fairly underutilized. Sure you get the occasional bro going in there for some 1/4 squats and curls, but if a gym has two racks, it seems most (though not all) people can usually get one pretty quick, even at prime time hours.

Here, I suspect because of the trendiness of NYC in general, people do what's popular. Right now, barbells are popular. You actually see a person or two almost every time you go to the gym who has lifting shoes or chucks and is "doing" SS or 5/3/1 or doing crossfit on their own. Plus, you have a larger % of random wanderers who know barbells are in again and are trying to do them. Plus the usual small % of random 1/4 squatters. So the 2 racks at your standard globo gym are occupied almost all the time.

This is just my own experience and isn't based on any survey taking or anything, but it seems especially frustrating to have to pay a not insignificant monthly rate to go to a place with crappy barbells and wait 30 minutes to get a crappy rack. At least at my most recent place, they had 3 racks and let me keep my own bar there. Although even in the quietest part of the early afternoon, with the 3 racks, getting one wasn't always a simple thing. But keeping my own bar there was clutch. I wouldn't be able to do that pretty much anywhere else.

Hopefully I'll be able to figure something out, either getting a space or finally just shutting up and moving, as Rip has been trying to convince me to do for over a year now.

I would train all the lifts in my apartment, but frankly, at the weights I'm using, I'm not sure the floor would hold up. Take the DL for example. I'm gonna do 625 next time I pull. 625+265bw = 890lbs, all of which is literally focused on 1 sq foot with my narrow stance. I don't know if the floor is capable of holding all that in one spot. And even if it's only a 5% chance, if I gamble and lose, I'm really really really screwed. Pressing is fine because I can't press all that heavy, and benching distributes the weight over the 4 ft of bench, instead of all being on one spot like the squat or DL. For lighter weights and practicing, it's fine, but not for my work sets.

[Cody]

If the floor is concrete, you don't need to worry. If it's wood, just build a little 4x8 platform and the pressure will be distributed over 32 sq ft.