starting strength gym
Page 51 of 187 FirstFirst ... 41495051525361101151 ... LastLast
Results 501 to 510 of 1870

Thread: Stuffed Superdud: Bumpy road to respectable lifting

  1. #501
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    5,416

    Default

    • starting strength seminar april 2024
    • starting strength seminar jume 2024
    • starting strength seminar august 2024
    I continue to live vicariously through your log.

  2. #502
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Posts
    3,952

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by stuffedsuperdud View Post
    Thanks DV. The ibuprofen protocol never quite worked for me though, plus this is complicated by the knee's history of injury. In any case, it's back to its baseline level of mild pain now, so I'm good, relatively speaking, I guess. I also saw that the fish oil isn't particularly effective, but hey, that stuff's cheap and and low-toxicity, so I figure, might as well throw some at myself. AFAIK, the chondroitin/glucosamine is, like the fish oil, also not particularly effective except as a placebo: the proposed mechanism seems to be that the molecules will travel to the site of cartilage defect and heal any lesions. This is of course unlikely given the poor circulation to cartilage, meniscii, and tendons and ligaments of the knee. A PRP/ABI injection seems like a much better way to deliver the molecules to the site of injury, but I'm not 100% up to speed on that literature except for a quick review when one of my friends had it done. Will take a closer look if the pain ever gets to the point where it chronically hurts my lifting, which fortunately has not been the case so far.

    So the knee's fine, but my traps, erectors, abductors, and quads are smoked, so no training today. Okay you got me. I could have worked through the soreness if I had really wanted to. I missed training due to....drumroll...game night!

    I tried Dominion for the first time, and was horribly disappointed. The game itself is fine, a neat little deck manipulation abstract, but the big heavy box covered with pictures of knights and castles made me think it'd be much more than that. We were all kind of bummed by the bait and switch, and then a miracle occurred.

    Two of the people in the game were girls I had never met before, here at Cancergirl's invitation "so that I'm not the only girl again!"; well she sure knew how to pick'em because they were the 1st and 2nd hottest computers scientists I have ever met, and certainly not the kind of girl generally found hanging around a sausagefest "board game night" full of geeky boys and one smelly (without even training!) lifter, but there you go. Anyhoo, one of them put her cards down with a sigh and said, "Ehhhhh this is getting boring. Can we play a different game?"

    The 4th person in the game, who himself likes it and who had suggested it in the first place, was disappointed but eager to please the new folks, so he pointed them to the pile of boxes he had brought. The two girls ran over to look, but then one of them, the one who had put her cards down, turned around and frowned. "I don't know any of these games. Next time, can I bring my Dungeons and Dragons stuff?"

    Come again?

    The other girl perked up at that. "Yea that'd be fun! Do you guys know what that is? It's not that good with two people since it's just her reading a chart and me talking to myself, but if a few of you are down, then we'll have a team. Any of you guys played before?"

    I raised my hand slowly and managed to spit out, "Uh-uh I-I-I used to play a little about 10 years ago. You're talking about the new ones, right? With the d20? Not the stuff from the 70's?"

    "Yes the new stuff. So are you in?"

    *stupefied gaze*

    "Yes? No?"

    "Hmmm? Oh! Yes!.......Yes! Oh wait I said that already. Heh must be low on caffeine or something."

    "Okay great! We can start next week."

    WHAAAATT??? HIGH SCHOOL FANTASIES DO COME TRUE! Gentlemen (and everyone, really): If you don't love nerdy women, just kill yourself.

    Dear God (Abrahamic sky-wizard or otherwise): I know we haven't had the greatest relationship since I stopped going to church when I was 10 and started this whole agnosticism thing, but I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for letting me know that you exist and that you think I am awesome.

    If this log abruptly ends next week, you'll all know that I'm probably at Cancergirl's house, surrounded by beautiful women and gloriously trying to d20 that imaginary 280kg squat up. "He's on to his 3rd attempt and has yet to register a good lift! Can he pull it out of the fire with this last saving throw?!"

    We also managed to play my favorite game of all time: Tikal! Jealous, Idlehands?

    This is Tikal

    ^Best game ever

    It's a surprisingly thematic Eurogame where you race the other players to excavate the Guatamalan jungle for treasure, pulp magazine style. How awesome is this game? Let's just say if I had to choose between being stranded on a desert island with either this or a squat rack, barbell, and plates, it'd be a veeeery tough choice.

    But again, hopefully my only game will be naked DnD from here on out. Will keep you goobers posted.
    I'd add Tikal to my list of games I want, but as I have a stack I haven't played I'm like what's the point.
    D&D 5e? We have day two coming up Sunday. Which means I have to limit my mead weekend intake to in fact make it home. Damnit.

    Dominion. I was underwhelmed with it. It's like intro to magic where you don't have buy decks and build them.

  3. #503
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    Vista, CA
    Posts
    1,937

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by stuffedsuperdud View Post
    If this log abruptly ends next week, you'll all know that I'm probably at Cancergirl's house, surrounded by beautiful women and gloriously trying to d20 that imaginary 280kg squat up. "He's on to his 3rd attempt and has yet to register a good lift! Can he pull it out of the fire with this last saving throw?!"
    You know you're a bored nerd when you develop a character sheet for yourself... dexterity was definitely my dump stat.

    Shit, I couldn't even squat 280KG if I rolled a 20. That's just a TPK- rocks fall, everybody dies.

  4. #504
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Copenhagen, Denmark
    Posts
    4,193

    Default

    Congrats on the nerd+girl PR. Sounds awesome. I'd love to play some D&D, never really played too much, but what I did play was super fun. That is, if I had the time to play anyway... While on games - what is a Eurogame. In any case, I've actually been to Tikal. Wonderful place, I'd recommend a visit if you ever get the chance. I didn't find any treasure, though.

    On inflammation - Jordan told me to watch the fishoil because of Free Radicals. I'm unsure what it even means, but FYI. Chondroitin/glucosamine does zip for half the people I know, and the other half swear by it. Might be worth a punt.

  5. #505
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Posts
    3,952

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by DV View Post
    Congrats on the nerd+girl PR. Sounds awesome. I'd love to play some D&D, never really played too much, but what I did play was super fun. That is, if I had the time to play anyway... While on games - what is a Eurogame. In any case, I've actually been to Tikal. Wonderful place, I'd recommend a visit if you ever get the chance. I didn't find any treasure, though.

    On inflammation - Jordan told me to watch the fishoil because of Free Radicals. I'm unsure what it even means, but FYI. Chondroitin/glucosamine does zip for half the people I know, and the other half swear by it. Might be worth a punt.
    euro games a typically strategy types of games with long rule books, lots of pieces and lots of stuff to do. Pandemic for example if a famous one, and it's up to 4 players, and it's everyone vs teh game. A co-op board game if you will.
    Settlers of Cattan is also a HUGE one.

  6. #506
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    Wisquatson!
    Posts
    1,713

    Cool

    Quote Originally Posted by stuffedsuperdud View Post
    a miracle occurred.
    I just want to state for the record that I never lost faith in you, SSD.




    I will still fight you for Gina Carano, tho.

  7. #507
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    1,814

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Oldman View Post
    I continue to live vicariously through your log.
    LOLOL I don’t recommend this course of action, OM. It’s nowhere near as exciting as my literary skills might exaggerate it to be. Quite frankly, it should be the other way around. Toughest guy on this site, easily one of the strongest people on earth, and probably in the top 0.01% of middle-aged guys, and 2nd best father of the year (did I get that right?) to boot? Not bad, sir.

    Quote Originally Posted by CJ Gotcher View Post
    You know you're a bored nerd when you develop a character sheet for yourself...
    This is my plan, actually. When we kick off the DnD, I’m going to go through the whole adventure as myself. Intermediate strength and intelligence, garbage everything else. Negative points for charisma. “But SuperStud, you still have points to allocate!” “I assure you, ladies, I’ve already overspent my points.” “Oh…uh…are you sure you understand how to fill out the sheet?” “Are you sure you understand how bad I am at life?” “Oh…”

    Quote Originally Posted by idlehands View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by DV View Post
    Congrats on the nerd+girl PR. Sounds awesome. I'd love to play some D&D, never really played too much, but what I did play was super fun. That is, if I had the time to play anyway... While on games - what is a Eurogame. In any case, I've actually been to Tikal. Wonderful place, I'd recommend a visit if you ever get the chance. I didn't find any treasure, though.
    euro games a typically strategy types of games with long rule books, lots of pieces and lots of stuff to do. Pandemic for example if a famous one, and it's up to 4 players, and it's everyone vs teh game. A co-op board game if you will.
    Settlers of Cattan is also a HUGE one.
    Like idlehands said, they’re board games designed and manufactured primarily in Germany. They’re usually designed to be easy for new players to learn but to take much thought and experience to master, to depend heavily on skill and not so much on luck, and to last around 1-2 hours, so that groups can play 2-3 in an evening. Direct conflict between players is rare, as is player elimination, so most players are actively engaged and in the running for the duration of the game. BoardGameGeek is a huge database of games, with thousands of members posting reviews, pictures, previews, etc. You can also talk directly to game designers, publishers etc. as they’re all active on the site too. It’s unfortunate that the hobby is not more popular, as there are so many games, themes, levels of complexity, etc. that there really is something for everyone, but the PR just wasn’t there for so many years. Looks like it’s catching up now: Settlers of Catan (the gateway drug!) is in every Target and Toys R Us these days, along with some stuff from a company called Days of Wonder. I think a golden age of old-fashioned gaming might very well be just around the corner. I for one am sick of Call of Duty and Halo; turns out, I much prefer the company of my friends to that of twelve-year-old idiots yelling at me on PS3.

    Oh, I’ll take the opportunity to mention that while Eurogames garner the most mainstream popularity, there’s a second class of games called paper wargames. Think Risk or Axis & Allies on steroids; all the roids. Most of these games are designed as a hobby by history buffs and are published on the cheap. They don’t have the flash or mass market appeal that Eurogames do, but if you’re interested in military history and are willing to wade through very thick rulebooks, this is one of the best ways to learn why certain battles ended up the way they did. I’m currently having a great time with Panzer, designed by hardcore history buff and legendary wargame designer Jim Day.


    Yes.

    As you can see, it’s pretty typical of paper wargames: the map is a depiction of a historical battlefield, and unit movement and range and effectiveness of firepower are regulated with a hexagonal overlay. All units are represented by cardboard squares with their stats and pictures on them, and events that involve randomness, e.g. shooting at each other, are regulated using tables to calculate odds, and finally, dice to introduce the actual randomness after all combat factors (range, caliber, terrain, unit skill, armor, angles, etc.) are weighed. If I am making it sound complicated, IT IS. But it’s such a powerful way to glean some insight into WW2 battles that it’s totally worth it. Also, they’re releasing more and more expansion packs to depict different fronts in the war, so once you learn it once, you can play it all. They’re also adapting the rules to hypothetical Cold War battles; I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of my pre-order.

    This is tactical game in that each vehicle unit represents one vehicle and each infantry unit is a squad or half-squad. Games are available from this scale all the way up to grand strategic, where every unit is a brigade or larger, and players can simulate entire wars, usually to try various "What if" scenarios.

    I’m also pretty into Napoleonic era games but that’s a whole separate can of worms for another day.

    If you're interested, GMT Games is probably the current industry leader in making high quality paper wargames. MMP (owned partly by Curt Schilling, himself a huge fan of a wildly overcomplicated WW2 tactical game called Advanced Squad Leader) is also good; I like the TCS line of games made by their subsidiary company The Gamers. Columbia Games is also good; theirs are unique in that instead of cardboard squares, units are represented by blocks with unit info only on the player's side. The opposing player thus knows where the enemy is, but not what it is, unless he's careful about scouting/recon. Like Stratego, but actually strategic, and not just random guession.

    /geekout

    Quote Originally Posted by Erok View Post
    I will still fight you for Gina Carano, tho.
    Not to be a Debbie Downer but I am starting to think we’re both out of the running. She dated Henry Cavill, AKA Superman, last year, right? Not sure a couple of intermediate level hobbyist lifters with boring day jobs having nothing to do with being a Man of Steel (that’s what she said!) stand a chance at this point…



    So sad. Their babies would have ended USAW's gold medal drought..........and looked damn good while doing it...............

    If you want to fight anyway though, let me know when and where; if you start winning I’ll resort to my imagination, so do not be alarmed if I cry out, “Oh Gina! That’s so dirty what you’re doing to me with your thighs!”

  8. #508
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    1,814

    Default

    Ahem, actual training post now:

    Went to the gym feeling pretty good and relatively pain-free. When I got there, the energy was already bubbling: The Girl and the masters champ were already warming up, along with the new character, henceforth known as The Boy. AFAIK he's eighteen and has been lifting for two months to fill the void now that football is over. He's also comically (as in, like comic book men) good-looking, with perfectly coiffed hair that refuses to budge even after two hours of heavy training, all on top of a jacked 5'7" 85kg frame. He is a good athlete and I am a piece of shit, so of course he has already almost caught up to me: our squats are identical, and he can do 80/100* to my 91/110, and can clean 120 to my 121, even though I'm about 60lbs heavier than him. His technique is still rough, too, so he powers all his lifts and then squats under the bar...so actually he might have already surpassed me in snatch and clean without knowing? Fuck.

    This all became relevant today because coach decided to pit us against each other in the clean and jerk. DUN DUN DUN. Quite amazing the fire that shows up under your ass once there's a bit of competition, eh? As soon as I heard we'd be sharing a bar I could feel the adrenals activate, and suddenly I hated this guy with whom I had been joking just seconds ago.

    I, nay, we, did:
    Clean + jerk 3+1
    40kgx1
    50x1
    60x1
    75x1

    Clean + jerk 2+1
    85x1

    CJ
    95x1
    100x1
    *Here, I edged him. Turns out for him, 100 was a PR attempt. He got the clean without any issue but pressed out the jerk sort of. Coach wouldn't give it to him but he mostly had it.

    I then did:
    105x1

    while he took two more cracks at 100 and pressed out the jerk both times.

    Backoff:
    Clean + jerk 1+3
    70kgx1x3

    Coach: "Okay that was the last one. Strip the bar and we can all go-"
    SuperDuperLazy: "drinking?"
    Coach: *looks at me bug-eyed* "Hang snatches! Drinking? Come on! You must be dreaming!"

    Hang snatch, again, going toe to to with The Boy
    40kgx3x2
    Needs more high-pull
    50x3x2
    60x3
    65 blowout
    I went 1,0,0, losing one in front and one behind. 3rd reps from the hang are always nasty for me because the time under tension really drains me, and I can usually do more from the floor than from the hang.

    The Boy ended up finishing it off with 70x3, while I had to try again with 65. This time:
    65x2, missed the 3rd behind from fatigue

    Snatch + OHS 1+3
    60kgx1x3

    Squats
    60kgx5
    100x4
    120x3x4

    My knee felt good but now my fucking groin cramped up plus my ankle got annoyed, hence the low weights. I told the coach and he said, "You're going to kill me. When you say your hip hurts, my head hurts. When you say your knee hurts, my head hurts. When you say your elbow hurts, my head hurts. And then other knee, groin, ankle, shoulder? FUCK! You going to give me the- the- the stroke!"

    I told him I should just get a new hobby and he told me to try fishing, golf, and chess.

    The Boy ended up going up to 150x3 and back to 120x10. Yes, 10. Coach likes 10 rep finishers. "Get big! Get strong!"

    BTN push press....yes with The Boy:
    20kgx10
    60x4
    70x4
    80x4
    90x4 PR
    Like last time, not a "true" PR. Just a weight I had never attempted before. Easy peasy. I had 100 in the tank for sure, and probably for more than 1 rep, too. Next time.

    I asked the coach what his lifetime PR was and he said they didn't do BTN work in the 70s. He did say though that his PRs for various other lifts are, at BW 60kg:

    Push press: 110kg
    Clean and press: 105kg
    Strict seated press (heh they do this?!): 105kg what. the. fuck.
    Bench press: 110kg, the one time he ever tried it

    We're all weak as shit, guys.

    He also mentioned that they never did snatch press, snatch push press, Sotts, etc. or paused squats, either, but he credits these new movements, esp. the upper body emphasis, on driving up WR weights between then and now. The more we know.
    Last edited by stuffedsuperdud; 02-28-2015 at 05:45 AM.

  9. #509
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    1,814

    Default

    Just quit.

    You guys ready for this bullshit? So after the relatively good day on Friday, my knee went to shit and took my right hip, right elbow, and right ankle with it. I knew I was going to be in a bit of hurt, but warmed up anyway. I ended up doing:

    Snatch:
    40kgx3x2 (all felt clumsy and I missed one!)
    50x3x2
    55x3
    62x3
    70x3x2 (Missed most of them)

    Welp at least my shoulder doesn't hurt anymore......

    Coach yelled at me a little and had me switch to:

    Muscle snatch + OHS 2+2
    45kgx1x2
    55x1x2
    Here my knee really didn't like the eccentric loading and I had to switch to:

    Muscle snatch:
    55kgx4x2
    60x4
    65x4 This might be a 4RM PR? Might also be a 1RM PR.
    70x0x3 too heavy

    Press:
    135lbsx4x2
    145x4
    155x4x2
    165x4
    Still got it, thankfully, and with an improved lockout, too.

    Abs crap.

    I realized after this was over that my knee actually felt better without the Rehband on. Weird. The thing is, we still have no idea what the cause of the pain is except that it might just be some weird combo of tendonitis and patella tracking? All I know is that some days, that damn middle 1/4 of the ROM is really unhappy. Coach never liked the Rehbands and prefers either the Eleiko wraps or the Russian ones seen in their training vids. Guess I'm going to have to get both and try.

    Blergh.
    Last edited by stuffedsuperdud; 03-03-2015 at 01:11 AM.

  10. #510
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Copenhagen, Denmark
    Posts
    4,193

    Default

    starting strength coach development program
    Working through pain is the most demotivating thing in existence. Your perseverance with WL is nothing short of inspiring to me. I wish I had it in me, because we all know that WL is a million times cooler than PL. FWIW every single WL'er I've ever lifted with had some sort of knee pain almost constantly. How is it at your gym?

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •