Geezer's Long March Toward the Elite Sneaking Up On the Finish Line

[johnreynolds]

Hi Mark, I see you're getting close to the body weight overhead press, the test of a real man. Bench presses are for sissies ! I've been chasing that the last year. I'm up to around 95%. Been doing partials from the rack, push presses, speed, dumbbells press etc. I think I'm over training it. Keep at it.

[bob g]

...
My new plan going forward is to evaluate how I feel on Sunday and if all is well, start in on my next cycle. I'm not giving up on 225 just yet and as a lesson learned from this one,
...

It's best to use the hard won wisdom we always tell the pups about. Lead by example and all that rot. You'll get the deuce in good time.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Damn I needed to hear that just now bob, thanks! I keep grappling with ambition, the reality of my age, and trying to avoid settling for limitations too soon.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 247.5

My delts are still sore as hell, all on the medial portions. The rest of me felt pretty creaky too but off to jujitsu for me. Push ups were even painful which was a first since my troubles with my shoulders began. Re-starting lifting tomorrow is looking less likely, and it appears I really dug myself into a recovery hole. But I may just suck it up and get my old ass into the gym and try my shoulders out.

So I got matched with the OCD green belt who was ever so happy to see me. Master Bellman had working on teaching him chokes. This was a good thing because most of them don't require much more than intelligent control and movement of the wrists. So it saved my shoulders and complaining lower back. He had a lot of flaws that required correction and in the interest of making sure he got them worked out properly I held off tapping out too long several times. I nearly collapsed once when my knees buckled from holding out. It really comes down to supinating the hands while flexing the wrists to take out all the slack in the space between the hands and the neck, then night-night. Then we worked on some naked chokes which also rely on positioning the wrist over the trachea and doing the same flex and supination to cut off the air. The naked strangle uses the inner forearm and biceps to effect cutting off the blood supply, ad we worked on those too. These too left me weak and dizzy from waiting until he got everything lined up just right. One of our 3rd degree black belts told him to relax and let the technique flow. The green belt didn't understand what he meant by that and I told him he was breaking the technique down into too many components and losing momentum. Not speed, but more like continuity. He's too analytical and it gets in his way. Had a dicey drive home with the lingering woozies from the chokes.

[Gwyn Brookes]

I keep grappling with ambition, the reality of my age, and trying to avoid settling for limitations too soon.

This. You put it so well! Not an easy balance to find.

[Mark E. Hurling]

It's like trying balance while sitting on a four legged stool with one of the legs missing.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

Damn I needed to hear that just now bob, thanks!

He just did the same for me, Mark. Bob is a gem.

[Mark E. Hurling]

He just did the same for me, Mark. Bob is a gem.

It must be a Midwestern thing.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 248

5 minute warmup on the bike. (Heavy Day)

Overhead Press: 165 x 5 x 3.

Squat: 250 x 3.

I did a GXP and finished with the foam roller and stretching. I dosed up heavy last night with ibuprofen, and used lots of a topical anti-inflammatory called voltaren, along with cold packs and woke up with no discernible pain in my delts, and 85% capacity. Once I started lifting though, I could feel every rep even with the empty bar on warmups. Sore under load, but I did it. The lower back was better too, so I figured the squats would be OK since I am starting light to cycle back up. So it was until 250 when I could feel the strain a little. I noticed it seemed harder than I would have expected and then saw my stance was a little narrow. Rep #2 produced an ominous deep "thunk" as L4 reset itself into a new position. Scared the crap out of me but didn't hurt so I completed #3 and still feel OK. I also noticed my heart rate was lower through this session, so it may indicate how overtrained I had become and how maybe I did recover after all now. So all in all, it's good to be back in the gym. I donned my hair shirt and got under the iron to do my penance for inactivity. It is Sunday after all.

[ChuckBell]

Rep #2 produced an ominous deep "thunk" as L4 reset itself into a new position. Scared the crap out of me but didn't hurt so I completed #3 and still feel OK. I also noticed my heart rate was lower through this session,

Darn Mark, that "scared the crap out of me" just reading it. I think my heart rate increased too! Don't take it easy, but take care!