Dude, quit bragging.
At least it true though.
Just noticed today how much bigger I've gotten.
Pulling 505, beltless with hex plates (gym had no round plates) in September, 2010:
Deadlift 505.jpg
Pulling 605 the other week:
605.jpg
Even though the 605 is shot from a much further perspective, you can see dem gainzzzz. IIRC, I was wearing a size Large t-shirt in 2010. The shirt the other week is an XL.
Dude, quit bragging.
At least it true though.
Sexy man.
You are too fat and are gunna die of a heart attack. How could you do that to yourself? (I kid I kid, good work, man. I'm skinny as hell so I need to get on that)
Hey, that represents a couple years of hard labor and eating, I'm damn proud of it!
Seriously though, I posted it because I just noticed it today when looking through some old pics (including that one). I realized how much bigger I had gotten, and it's the kind of thing that goes in one's log. The cool part about a digital log is you can actually post the pics.
I've been waiting so long for you to say that, Mac. Tell Gillian her 180 press and 457 deadlift are great and all, but you're looking for a somewhat stronger Jew. There's 25k in it for you, too, since Reynolds upped the ante after his hemorrhoid debacle.
True
Eventually, doubtless.
How do you know? Oh, you must be...
A lot of hours in the weight room, and a lot of food. My supp stack is more food!
Me too. You know what to do, Squeaks. Seriously, it really is that simple. Add weight to the bar every time, till you can't anymore, then add weight to the bar every week. Fuel that by eating as much as it takes to allow that to happen, but not excessively more.
You do that, I promise you won't be Squeaky for very much longer.
Last edited by Michael Wolf; 06-19-2013 at 02:49 PM.
Quick and easy recovery today. Got a massage yesterday and back feels a little better, but I might have been overly optimistic that I'll be pulling heavy again by Monday. Even next Monday is looking doubtful. At least I can squat, and I know this won't be as long as last time, since it's much less injured.
Squat
45x5x2, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x5
Notes: That's where it felt right to stop today.
Chins
9,9,9
Notes: Did these in between squat sets, which helped the workout go uber fast. Due to all sorts on nonsense, I haven't been consistent with chinning. Need to.
Bench Press
45x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 255x5, 275x5
Notes: Remembered to go light today. Easy, fast, explosive.
C2 Erg
20s row/ 80s rest x 8 -- RPEs of 3,5,7,8,8,8,7,5. Will ramp these up over the next few weeks.
Hey Michael, a question I've been meaning to ask you. One I'm not particularly sure you can answer, but one I'll venture nonetheless. I watched your "ugly" 605lb pull (as if 605 could be ugly) from a couple weeks ago at WFAC, and I believe I remember reading that you've previously herniated a disc on a deadlift attempt. I know that, having had a couple of my own disc herniations in the past (though none while deadlifting), it would scare the shit out of me to have my lumbar so rounded. In fact, watching my deadlift videos, if I see the littlest bit of rounding, I get quite concerned. I know that this has put a real limit on my deadlift numbers and my ability to get much stronger generally.
I want/need to get beyond this fear to move forward and attain some legitimate lifts, but it's honestly a struggle, as I don't compete in powerlifting and therefore don't have the same kind of drive and the willingness to sacrifice all else that I might possess if it were my sole interest in lifting. But I don't think I just want to sit where I'm at and be content with weakass numbers and not push myself to improve. Do you have this specific fear at all? How do you manage? Balls? Drugs? Fancy pep talks? Existential philosophical reading? Talk to me, mang.
I don't know if I've ever herniated a disc - from deadlifts or otherwise. I think I did back in 2008, but never got it checked out. The worst deadlift injury I've had happened 2+ years ago in April, 2011. A visit to a back specialist (who is also a lifter) and an MRI were unable to determine what the actual injury was. But it kept me in bed/mostly immobile for 4 days, and very tender and tentative for another week or so after that. I didn't squat or pull heavy (for me at the time) again for a few months.
I've also gotten this much less severe, but still annoying thing I'm dealing with now. Seems to be some sort of muscle pull, but some of the symptoms are weird (i.e. open chain hip flexion is what affects it the most). Got in back in December from doing rack pulls too heavy after coming back from a meet, and got it the other week from I'm not really sure what, but the 605 deadlift done without properly setting my back, while already feeling a little aggravated there, definitely exacerbated it.
Given all that, I don't know if I can speak directly to your question, but my general thoughts are:
1. Despite not being sure if I've ever a herniated disc, yes, there is something in the back of my mind that worries about re-injuring my back in whatever way that is. My mom has a horrible history with back issues as well, as I see how it's affected her.
2. But I've also noticed that the stronger I've gotten, the better my back seems to tolerate deviations from ideal and perfect form. Even as I've gotten older - which of course should be taken with a grain of salt, as I'm still only 31, but my back seems to be more resilient now than I was in my mid and late 20's.
3. It's just desire to be better and balls. Thinking "I am going to FINISH this god damn set. Period." before doing it. I don't engage in histrionics, fancy pysch-up routines, and certainly no existential philosophical reading. Cause ain't nobody got time for that!
What I do do, and Kirk Karwoski's speech at last year's coach's convention helped with this, is do the same thing every time I do a set, whether it's a warm-up, work-set of 5, single, or whatever.
Go into the set telling yourself you WILL hit it, do your pre-set checklist or routine or whatever you call it, and then "DON'T FUCK UP FOR 20 SECONDS!" as Kirk said.
4. It's also possible given your condition that pulling HYOOOGE weights in the deadlift just isn't in your future. How old are you, how bad were the herniations?
Last edited by Michael Wolf; 06-21-2013 at 08:36 AM.
I had to read Camus' The Plague for freshman (college) english. Hated it. Maybe I'd appreciate it now, these many years later.
Thanks for the reply. The pre-lift routine is a helpful thing to remember, it definitely emphasizes the necessary focus and would help eliminate some of the creeping doubt.
I'm 33. So the same as you, basically. My herniations were at L4-L5 and L5-S1. Both were incurred before SS-style lifting. The L5-S1 injury was pretty bad, occurred about 8 years ago. It entailed several months of leg pain and numbness, muscle weakness, and general inability to do much of anything physically demanding. To this day, I get occasional recurrent sciatic symptoms, which are generally fairly tolerable, when my back gets taxed and/or recovery is insufficent. I can deal pretty well with the fairly minor tweaks and strains I get lifting (ones I would honestly get more often before I started squatting and deadlifting), but the fear of the more catastrophic back injury, the potentially life changing one, is really the one that holds me back. And the deadlift is really the exercise where this fear arises, I think because of the effort required to move a heavy deadlift and the strain I can feel in the hamstrings and lower back during the movement.
I really started squatting and deadlifting mostly to get my legs and back stronger so that I would be less prone to injury. I think I've done a pretty good job of that, but I'm now at a point where I'm not just merely content with settling there. I'm also aware, though, that to keep pushing beyond the easy gains brings further injury risk and this is where I've gotten stuck a couple of times.
Thanks for letting me crowd your lifting log with my issues.