Old Dog Learning New Tricks

[BillBrownley]

First Steps. Weight today 272.2. Height 6' 1". Male, 54. Rugby Player and Coach--far more coaching and far less playing than once upon a time. Current Lifts (all weights 5 rep maxes).

1. Squat--307
2. Dead Lift--396
3. Press--105
4. BP--190
5. PC--who knows? I can definitely do 135.

Goals--get fit for rugby/coaching Too nebulous.

Body weight--get to 220
Squat--400
Dead Lift--500
Press--160
BP--250
PC--200
Goal date--September 18.

Lifting program--lift 2 times per week. I need probably two days off from lifting, but I can do 2 Metcon days, then lift, then a complete day off.

So--if I can follow this--M lift, Tue off, Wed MC, Thur, MC, Fri Lift, Sat off, Sun, MC

Lifting A--Squat 3x5 (heavy), Press, 3x5, PC 5x3
Lifting B--DL 1x5 heavy, BP--3x5, Squat (light, 2x5)

MCs--guaged to be about 45 mins, always work in tabata (2-1) intervals, use anything--row, bike, run, elliptical, always skip some rope, always KB swings.

This leaves Pre-hab and motion work.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Well hot damn, I get to be the first to welcome you here now! Lucky me. Good work so far and keep at it. You've got plenty of time to get where you want to go. Oh, and since you didn't specifically mention it, stretching. Maybe it's already part of your routine, but just in case not, well . . . We need it more than ever now, especially the back and shoulders, to keep us under the iron in good order.

[BillBrownley]

Mark--thanks for the welcome. I really appreciate it. If you know any good efficient stretches, LMK. I seem to have shoulder issues--something I never had issues with in my youth. Stretching is a best haphazard--kind of doing (sometimes) Pavel's motion routines.

[Mark E. Hurling]

My biggest issue to keep well is my lower back, although I'm finding the more I pay attention to set up form in the squat and deadlift a la what Rip recommends, the fewer problems I am having lately. Also losing 25 lbs. helped too I think. But to the stretches I have found helpful:

A hard foam roller is tough to beat for getting the spinal column more or less re-stacked the way it should be. I also lie on it lengthways and roll left to right for the traps and rhomboids. Hamstring stretches keep my pelvic tilt in better trim, a seated version with the right leg extended and the left leg bent in a figure 4 with the sole of the foot at the knee is a good starter. There are other good ones but they can require some tricky balance issues. I have incorporated an illiopsoas stretch recently that seems to help. Find a post, rack, or door frame you can set your back against and go down on one knee. Reach behind your head and grab the post and push your hips forward. Then change knees and do the other side. Another one using a post is take a low crouch on both feet like you were squaring off at the line of scrimmage and grab the post firmly. Let your weight rock backward onto your heels and down through your butt. This gets some traction for spreading the vertebrae a little and gives a little stretch to the shoulders and lats too.

The upper back and body gets a lot of benefit from dislocates. Some use a towel like me, I think Rip uses a broomstick. I'm not sure which is better, but I always have a towel with me in the gym so that's what I use. I like to get the whole spinal column in the act so I do side to side neck stretches and look left to right over the shoulder too. Since I get choked and have my neck torqued regularly in jujitsu from chin locks among other things it saves me trips to the chiro. Lace your fingers together and turn your palms outward while bringing them directly overhead with your elbows as straight as you can manage. Pull your left arm over your chest and across your body with your right arm for a good trap/rhomboid/rear delt stretch. Switch to the other one.

I do a couple more for my wrists, ankles, and other parts but these probably cover the waterfront well enough. Oh, and I do all these as a hot stretch after lifting, not before. Recent studies show this makes for a better stretch and does not detract from your lifting.

[BillBrownley]

Thanks Mark--on to today.

Weight in the Am--270.4.
Work out--warm up: 15 KB swings with 50 lbs, 5 pull ups with assist bands, 10 push ups, 25 pball crunches. 4 rounds of this, 15 minutes to do it.
Squats--bar x 5, 135 x5 185 x 5 225 x 3, 275 x 2, work sets--312 3 sets, 5 reps per set. Happy with this, primarily good sets. Last rep of last set may have been weak.

BP--very frustrating. bar x 5, 95 x 5, 135 x5, 188 x none--sharp pain in left front deltoid region as I started to go down. Did 135 x 8 and quit.

Presses weak as well, but they don't hurt.

Is it time to go to the dreaded medical profession?

I feel like I am much stronger than I am lifting, but I can't get past these lower weights.

Bitch whine, bitch whine.

[BillBrownley]

OK--as Elvin Bishop once said--sure feels good feeling good again.

Warm up--3 rounds of OHS with wooden rod, shoulder pass throughs, Kettle bell swings (50# x 10) and plyo ball crunches (25)

Then squat--bar x5, 135 x 5, 185, x5, 205 x3 225 x 2, 3 x 5 x 255.

No problem.

Press--bar x 5, 55 x5, 65 x 5, 75 x 3, 85 x 2, 3 x 5 x 95--no problem.

Will try the new benching method next time out.

[BillBrownley]

Back on it---March 15 squat--working sets to 265. Bench, using the pain free method prescribed by Dr. Hurling--135, and I was probably being really cautious. Also did 5x5 pull ups

Today Deadlift--up to 1x5 x 371, went to press--3x5 x 105--where I was before the break--no real strain. Also 5x5 pull ups, and 3x10x50 goblet squats.

I work stuff in with warm-up sets.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Dr. Hurling indeed! I am just an acolyte at the altar of the high priest, Oldster.

[Oldster]

This will be a fun log to watch. You are definately on the right track to building some basic strength (nothing is more important than basic [foundational] strength). Everything else comes second.

Dr. Hurling indeed! I am just an acolyte at the altar of the high priest, Oldster.

You are da MAN, Mark! As one in the presence of the high priest I bow to the mighty!

[BillBrownley]

Thanks for the comments gents--on to today

Warm up--squat sets plus 5 rounds of 6 pull ups, 5 rounds of 20 sit-ups, 10 shoulder pass throughs. Then
3x5 x 275 working sets with squats--work but no issues.

press warm ups followed by 1x5 x 110, 1x4x 110, 1x5x110. Yeah! Pitiful as it is, I had been sticking at 105 previously. The 45 degree shoulder thing really works, no pain, good gain.

Plus--my high school rugby team beat UVa's second team (the first plays college premier league--but these guys are good--and older and bigger than my boys) 29-27 with a last minute try. The College team I coach beat Villanova in the opening round of the D2 play-offs.

Lot of driving but a good weekend.