Quest for Fire

[Erok]

Mon., 9/14. 216.8#. Food goes in, food comes out.

This is the dawn of a new era: Adidas Powerlift 2.0! size 9.5. black with white stripes. wife thinks they're cute.

For the record: I hate shoes. I think they're a rip-off, a scam, uncomfortable at best, 'bad for your knees' at large, and dangerous at most. Back during my time on the front lines selling women's luxury shoes, I witnessed some of the worst feet America had to offer, crammed into the best shoes Europe had to offer. I had plantar faciitis, ankle pain, shin splints, knee pain, hip pain, back pain, ingrown toenails, and pinky toes starting to ride up and over their medial neighbors. The search for the 'perfect shoe' took me down some dark and rubbery paths (Earth Shoes, anyone?).

Then, the pendulum in my mind swung the other way. Perhaps the best shoe is no shoe at all. I began the process of unshodding myself. Barefoot walks in the park! Socks instead of slippers. Chuck Taylors instead of Birkenstocks. I even made my own sandals using some thick boot leather and 550 paracord - which wore out, and I quickly replaced them with ones made from 4mm Vibram material - my favorite 'shoes'. I ripped all the inserts out of my boots (for the record: I love boots. sturdy, useful, long-lasting, incompressible soles.) and had my good ones resoled with a zero heel. Guess what I don't have anymore? See above list of painful things. This was even before discovering Starting Strength, too. Did I mention barefoot walks in the park?

TL;DR: Fuck shoes. They're bullshit. Real men lift barefoot.

That said, I do what my coach tells me. Karl Schudt says I need shoes for press camp, and here they are. Let's see if they work.

Squats: 45x..., 156 x 6, 225 x 5, 275 x 3, 330 x 3,3,3, 275 x 5,5.
OHP: 45x..., 95 x 5, 115 x 5, 135 x 5, 115 x 8.

Well, I get it. These are shoes designed for a specific purpose, and I respect that. They're very snug against my hobbit feet, perhaps a half-size smaller than they should be in the toe box, although they do stretch out, and by the end of the workout, they feel pretty good. The heel is very well held, and the foot feels planted. Racing slick-type sole gives excellent traction on the rubber matted floor. They don't seem to affect presses at all.

Squats, however, feel weird. It's hard to explain. Coming out of the hole, just above parallel (the classic 'sticking point'?), the legs feel way different. Barefoot, at this point, the legs are electric with tension, and I 'pop' through. With the shoes, at this point, that tension turns to mush, and I have to grind through - well, I can't even call it a grind, because that would imply some thing hard to grind against - I sludge my way up. Somehow, I'm missing that ultra-tightness. Maybe it's just my knees adapting to the heel, but I will say this: those soles are not as incompressible as I was led to believe. I can feel them smoosh. I can. They're fucking made of goddamn foam, for crap's sake. Maybe more expensive shoes have tractor-tire rubber, or wood? Army boots might work better.

Verdict: too early to tell, but I'm not convinced.

[Erok]

Tues., 9/15. 218.6#. Strange, considering I haven't eaten all day. Work was a real show. No lunch break, no post-lunch tea, no 4:00 coffee-up. I'm hungry, tired, and dehydrated. Good thing it's not Deadlift Day. Let's go bro out.

Bench: 45x..., 95 x 10, 115 x 10, 135 x 8, 155 x 5,5,5.

Press: all sets cleaned: 75 x 11, 95 x 11, 115 x 5, 135 x 5(push press), 5(press).

LTEs: 40 x 11, 60 x 9,9,17. Wow, I miss these.
Drag Curlz: 25 x 5, 45 x 10, 65 x 8,8,10.


Home to leftovers and passing out.

[vanslix]

I'm with you. I lift in socks for all my lifts. And I'm one of those douches who like 5 fingers for the feel and doesn't care about the style. That said, I do wear cowboy boots to work.

[Erok]

Duuude, I love the 5fingers. I've had them for years. I've just been keeping it on the down-low to avoid all the negative publicity.

Cowboy boots, though - oohhh, I used to have some sweet ones. My grandpa's Tony Llamas. They were way too big, so I kept newspaper stuffed in the toes. Then I left for college and they disappeared. Still have a pair of my dad's old Red Wing steel toe work boots that I've finally grown into. I should really, really, really saddle soap those.

For work, I either wear my chucks or jungle boots, depending on how long my pants are that day. (office casual + Goodwill = Winning)

[Erok]

Thurs., 9/17. 219.0#. Took the inserts out of my Adidas, it seems to help.

Squat: 45x..., 135 x 8, 225 x 5, 275 x 3, 315 x 2, 370 x 2. Holy hell. I really wanted to do my usual total body awareness thing here, and get a good run-down on how the shoes are different, but all I got was: this was hard. I saw stars. On both reps. I'm pretty sure this is a PR.

Victory Curls: with the empty bar, in the squat rack, starting with the eccentric x a million. Also did a lot of OHP tech work. Press Caaaamp!


Home to sweet beef, milkshake, & coleslaw.

[Erok]

9/19/15, at Chicago Elite Fitness, with Karl Schudt and David Abdemoulaie.

I had a blast. Met some real lifters, really nice people, did some serious work, got my press totally disassembled and re-built.

Had some Ah-Ha! moments:

1. Right at the start of camp, somebody asked Karl: "what's the meaning of life?" Without missing a beat, he replied: "Producing force against external resistance." Glad to have that cleared up. Made the rest of the day flow.

2. Did you know that the hip drive at the start of the press causes a stretch reflex in the shoulders? (wasn't in The Book - I checked.) This changes everything. Before, I was (kinda, weakly) hip driving with an immediate press start. Now, I hip drive, then wait for the bar to push the arms down and 'catch the bounce' out of the shoulders. takes about a tenth-twentieth of a second longer. Worth the wait.

3. Finally got to visualize the scapula as it relates to The Shoulder. Karl had a plastic scapula he utilized during the anatomy lecture, and that really helped fill in the cracks of knowledge left by just looking at drawings. I can finally label the coracoid process, acromion process, and glenoid fossa just by thinking about it. Also, the Biceps originates from the Glenoid and coracoid - doesn't attach to the humerus at all(this is why deadlifts build your biceps!). I know I've read all this before, but it was just words on a page. Now, it's actual gristly bits sliding around under my skin, and I can feel them working.



Notes on my Press, from Dave Abdemoulaie:

Right arm juts out more than Left - (possibly due to lack of mobility work, side-sleeping).

elbows will flare if I don't get them forward. Related: Before, I was packing the shoulders back, as in a bench press. There is no reason for this. If anything, I should be packing them forward.

when setting my grip, rotate the humerus internally to get the bar laid into the radial longitudinal crease. Elbows out! Pinch the bar with the pinkies & ring fingers.

add dips to volume day. close-grip benching is also good.


Here is my new, improved
Press setup & execution:

1. arms straight out, palms over the bar.
2. elbows out, bar in the crease, pinch the bar.
3. body under the bar, elbows forward.
4. inhale, stand up, step back.
5. tense quads, tense rectus abdominus.
6. top off breath, valsalva.
7. BALLS TO THE WALL! the CNS will try to inhibit this. do not let it.
8. Catch the bounce. Feel the Force in the shoulders.
9. the bar will magically appear above the head. get under it.

200, here I come.



Bench Press notes, also from Dave:

I have a pretty good arch. This enables me to press light weights nearly straight up and down. At first, I thought this was me working the pectoral component of force vertically, just like those tiny girls on the internet that bench 300. Once I got some more weight on the bar, though, this corrected itself, and I obtained a normal moment arm between touchdown and lockout. I am not a special snowflake. I just don't bench heavy.

Eye gaze should be below bar. There seem to be two ways of thinking about this: The people who bench alone, and those who bench spotted. Those who bench alone tend to like the eyes above the bar, to reduce the moment arm during liftoff. There are trade-offs with this, mostly having to do with equipment used in regards to safety.

I learned how to hand-off, and learned how to bench with a hand-off. This will come in hand-y when I finally start benching heavy again.



So, no great lifting numbers to report. Pressed 145x2, 135x5,5, and Benched 145x5, 155x5, 175x5. That wasn't my intent, anyway. The real stuff was all the knowledge absorbed into my brain, hips, and shoulders. Definitely worth the trip.



That evening, caught up with the wife and friends for tacos, beers, and tacos. Good times. Good tacos.

[ithryn]

Coming out of the hole, just above parallel (the classic 'sticking point'?), the legs feel way different. Barefoot, at this point, the legs are electric with tension, and I 'pop' through. With the shoes, at this point, that tension turns to mush, and I have to grind through - well, I can't even call it a grind, because that would imply some thing hard to grind against - I sludge my way up. Somehow, I'm missing that ultra-tightness....

I can feel them smoosh. I can. They're fucking made of goddamn foam, for crap's sake. Maybe more expensive shoes have tractor-tire rubber, or wood? Army boots might work better.

I have no idea but you're probably letting the shoe tip you too forward and letting your knees dip forward at the bottom, hence letting the hams (or something) get loose? Try to sit back more, that was my first thought reading this but you'd probably have to video it to see. Of course I tend to assume my problems are errybody's problems.

My wei-ruis are wood-soled but they weren't super expensive, probably made by slaves though.

Right at the start of camp, somebody asked Karl: "what's the meaning of life?" Without missing a beat, he replied: "Producing force against external resistance." Glad to have that cleared up. Made the rest of the day flow.

Too funny.

Did you know that the hip drive at the start of the press causes a stretch reflex in the shoulders? (wasn't in The Book - I checked.) This changes everything.

Yeah it does. I've been pussing out on this as well. Slam them hips to the wall. Also, getting everything tight from the chest to the quads is almost as much effort as the lift.

[Erok]

Mon., 9/21. 220.2#, but with shoes, so...

OHP: 45x...,...,..., 85 x 8, 105 x 6, 120 x 5,5, 125 x 5,5. Doing things the right way is hard. I got the form, though. Sticking point is above the head now, instead of at the forehead, so: triceps.

Bench: 95 x 10, 135 x 5, 155 x 5, 175 x 5,5. Ok, I think I'm ready to drive these up a bit.

Dips: 3, 3, 3, 5.9 - just couldn't get the elbows locked out on the last one. Not so sure about these, as my R shoulder feels a bit crunked at the AC joint now. It's a proper dip station, welded into a v-shape, and I'm all the way forward, so my chest rubs against the crossbar. Can't make it any narrower. I do have one of those collapsable walkers at home, though.


I try my hand at coaching the wife through the press & bench. Probly need a lighter bar for press work, but she went for the bench and got 95 x 5 for a PR. Also squatted 125 x 5 for a PR, after two sets of 120. I'm very proud.


Sesame-miso-apple pork tenderloin with baby bok choy.

[ajvd]

9/19/15, at Chicago Elite Fitness, with Karl Schudt and David Abdemoulaie.

...

Pressed 145x2, 135x5,5,

That third set of presses was awesome. I've never seen anyone finish a set after missing a rep.

It's a long way to 200, what's the plan? Still:

M: OHP 5x3, Bench 8x3, Pullups/Chins
T: Sqt 5x3, Back(PC, SLDL, SGDL, Rows, GMs)
W: Eat
R: OHP 5x1, Bench 3x3, Pullups/Chins
F: Sqt 5x1, DL 5x1, Dips

[Erok]

That third set of presses was awesome. I've never seen anyone finish a set after missing a rep.

It's a long way to 200, what's the plan? Still:

Ha! I'd forgotten about that. I could tell I rushed that rep, and really wanted to catch the bounce. Plus, everyone was watching.

Also, sorry for my spotting gaffe on that last set of your bench. I was getting caught up in the moment and forgot to count to five.

Programming-wise, yeah, that's still the basic layout. I'm lovin' the 4-day splat. I tend to slack on the bodyweight stuff, but I think I need the armwork to keep the press going. Any thoughts?