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Thread: A Middle Aged Adolescent (who cannot possibly be the only one)

  1. #251
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    • starting strength seminar april 2024
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    • starting strength seminar august 2024
    Quote Originally Posted by Nunedog View Post

    I threw in a loaded phrase above, about the capacity for ‘sustaining intensity - at a level at which one can succeed.’ I’m going to have to remember this premise when thing get rough. If my 5’s work their way up toward 410 again and slow or stop, then I can’t panic and leap toward some other program. If 3 by 5 won’t go, I might have to make it 5 by 3, to keep up my rep and intensity levels while still succeeding. From there I’ll just notch up the reps.
    I've been using chains for dynamic loading and they've helped me through some sticking spots on squat and bench. Something else you may want to throw in the quiver if you start stalling on 5's.

  2. #252
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    On your log, your last entry reads, "Bench with Chains 195 + 60 lbs of chains for 3 sets of 5"
    How are you hanging the chains?
    -from lighter chains, so that significant globs of heavier chain engage at some point in the motion, or
    - fairly heavy chains hanging directly from the bar. That would mean a certain portion is part of the weight at the bottom of the motion; as the bar rises, the weight increases.

    I've had success with bands in the squat, chains in the Romanian dead and my back-off dead sets, but I've probably gone too heavy with chains in bench.

  3. #253
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    Fairly heavy chain hanging directly from the bar. I use a climbing quickdraw to link chain to bar. The sling goes over the sleeve of the bar and the carabiner attaches into the chain. For bench I hook into about the mid-point of the chain so that in the lock-out position the full weight of the chain is on the bar. At the chest position its roughly 2/3rds of the weight based on videos I've taken. Same setup for squat but I hook into about the 6th link on a 23 link chain. Roughly the same mix of 100% at top of squat lock-out and about 2/3rds of the chain weight at the bottom of the hole position.

  4. #254
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    Aside of that decent little technical discussion that followed, I blew it last week. That was a pretty lame post - although not untrue - about work capacity. After chiming in on the COVID crisis, I wanted to come up with something about the George Floyd murder as cities across the country exploded into protests, but I couldn’t figure out how to do so on such short notice.
    I did rationalize that dull post, thinking, ‘If I take it upon myself to comment on everything, I’m going to mark myself as the liberal opposition to the consensus around here.’ Still, I wanted to do it; I just couldn’t figure out how, which bugged me Friday after posting, lifting, and driving my kid to the second of three rallies she’s attended.
    I wasn’t going to express anything more eloquent than what was already being said, I knew, and I’d much rather reach for some kind of inspiration from my usual cast of characters: the 1970’s Steelers hurling opponents around the field, the SAS greasing terrorists, or any number of other studs who convey a sense of hard earned greatness.

    Late in the afternoon, it hit me that somebody had already done this. I should have remembered: in moments of uncertainty, find an English major. They’ll remind you that folks have been through this kind of situation before - and somebody wrote everything down. This extends to the great director John Ford, whose classic western THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE assembled Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Lee Marvin, and Woody Strode, as Alpha a pack of Dogs that had ever stepped in front of a camera. It’s a parable on the formation of America, a process in which Black Lives Mattered significantly.

    You’d recognize Woody Strode, even if the name doesn’t ring a bell. He’s the long, tall Ethiopian gladiator in SPARTACUS who has to fight Kirk Douglas’ hero. He wins, but rather than kill Spartacus, he hurls his trident at the balcony full of Roman dignitaries, inciting the gladiators to rebellion. Strode was a world class decathlete, a professional wrestler, and played football for UCLA and eventually the LA Rams. He was well known to John Ford, who had already cast him as the lead in SERGEANT RUTLEDGE, a surprisingly progressive drama about a black cavalry sergeant wrongly accused of rape and murder. The studio wanted Sidney Poitier or Harry Belafonte for the part, but Ford stuck up for Strode, knowing that unlike the other two, he was hard enough to pull off the part of a rugged warrior.
    John Ford knew his business, having made dozens of films through the silent era and the first talkies. As early as 1932, he was a commercial and artistic success, in Academy Award contention, and his four Best Director awards remains a record. Along with THE GRAPES OF WRATH, STAGECOACH, and THE SEARCHERS, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE usually appears in the first lines of biographies that label him as one of the most important directors of all time. It’s being the Master Storyteller, the Alpha of All Dogs, that made him man enough to gather the likes of Stewart, Wayne, Marvin, and Strode, along with Strother Martin, with his operatic cackle, and Lee Van Cleef, Marvin’s other henchman, and dozens of other prominent character actors, into a circle and dictate, ‘This is how this scene is going to go.’

    Lee Marvin, all six-foot-four inches of raw boned World War Two Marine (and whose grave I once made a point of finding at Arlington) is ruthless as Liberty Valance, a sadistic outlaw in his own right and later a hired gun for the cattlemen who want to keep the territory an ungoverned open range. The important thing about him is his name. A valance is a shade on a window, intended to block some or all light. Liberty Valance, therefore, is one who obstructs freedom.
    ‘Lawyer, huh?’ he snarls at a helpless Jimmy Stewart, newly arrived in the territory of Shinbone and who intervenes when Marvin menaces a woman during a stagecoach robbery. ‘Well, I’ll teach you law - Western Law!’ at which he horsewhips Stewart nearly to death.
    This is the theme of the film, that the rule of law, not brutality, will transform the wilderness into civilized society. After being nursed back to health, the young lawyer sets up his practice in Shinbone, which quickly leads to more trouble with Valance.

    By this point, we’ve already met Pompey, Woody Strode’s conscientious ranch hand working for John Wayne. His first compelling moment comes in a confrontation with Valance and his henchmen.
    To earn his room and board, the young lawyer takes on the very nontraditional - and nothing is accidental in a Ford film - jobs of washing dishes and donning an apron to serve meals at the local eatery. Valance and his men burst in on a busy Saturday night, roust a few cowboys from a table, and help themselves to their steaks. Soon, they’re very amused to run into the lawyer once more - ‘Lookee at the new waitress!’ - and Valance trips Stewart, sending him and a tray full of dishes crashing to the ground.
    This brings John Wayne to his feet, squaring up with Valance. That was his dinner that went all over the floor; ‘You pick it up,’ Wayne demands.
    Valance’s henchmen are on their feet. ‘It’s three against one,’ Valance says.
    Wayne motions toward a spot beyond Valance. ‘My boy, Pompey . . . kitchen door.’
    Marvin turns and sees Strode with the heavy artillery, a rifle in the crook of his arm, pointed right at him. Wisely, he backs down. ‘The show’s over for now.’

    ‘My BOY, Pompey?’ Even in 1962, when the film was made, that was blatantly racist and patronizing - which is precisely John Ford’s point. Pompey’s just proven himself a good man to have in a tight spot, far better than anyone else in town, especially the marshal, yet he continues to suffer injustices. When a meeting is held to vote on statehood, Pompey must remain outside. When he walks into a bar looking for Wayne, the bartender won’t serve him.
    Other dynamics in the formation of America are in play. Stewart’s young lawyer is also the teacher in Shinbone’s one room schoolhouse, where the lesson is civics. Stewart addresses the class in a shot that’s almost enough to make one weep: ‘The law of the land states that the governing power rests with the electorate. Now, that means YOU, the people,’ he says as we look over his shoulder at a truly unlikely bunch: Pompey, a bunch of Mexican kids, and Swedish immigrants of various ages and levels of bewilderment.
    At one point Pompey struggles with reciting the beginning to the Declaration of Independence. ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that . . . ‘
    ‘All men are created equal,’ Stewart fills in.
    ‘I just plum forgot it,’ Pompey says.
    ‘That’s all right. A lot of people forget that part.’

    (continued below)

  5. #255
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    (from above)

    A theme emerges as the paths of Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne’s characters diverge. The workings of democracy and the use of violence are very separate things, yet they must maintain a relationship.
    The young lawyer knows he’s on a collision course with Valance. He finds himself at Wayne’s ranch to train in handling a gun, but he’s beyond inept. ‘Go put these paint cans on those fence posts,’ Wayne instructs, and as Stewart places the last one, Wayne blasts all three. The last one, just above Stewart’s head, explodes in a shower of paint which wrecks Stewart’s suit.
    Wayne roars with laughter. ‘I hate tricks, Pilgrim, but that’s what you’re up against with Valance.’
    Skinny little Jimmy Stewart, his teeth bared, stalks back to Wayne and lets fly a haymaker with all his might, knocking Wayne flat on his arse. Wayne is too astonished by Stewart’s fury to react any further. Ford thereby establishes a hierarchy: the military shall answer to civilian control.

    Their roles are put to the test in the final confrontation with Valance - a story to be told twice, the way John Ford did it. Valance has attacked the newspaper editor, which draws Stewart into a nighttime showdown in the center of town. Stewart is clearly out of his depth; Valance toys with him, shattering a flowerpot beside his head - in similar fashion to the paint can earlier - wounding Stewart in the forearm to knock his gun away, and shooting at the ground to make him jump. Impossibly, Stewart reaches for the gun with his other hand - in even more uncoordinated fashion - grabs it, and manages to kill Valance in an exchange of fire.
    THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE is a story about stories and hidden truths, which is the key to its Black Lives Matter message. Jimmy Stewart’s character cannot live with the fact that he’s killed a man. Shinbone’s residents are clamoring for him to be their delegate in Washington in the quest for statehood, but he’s on the verge of skipping town and heading back to where he came from.
    John Wayne has to set him straight. ‘You didn’t kill Liberty Valance,’ he informs him. ‘Think back, Pilgrim.’ As Wayne tells his tale, Ford takes us to a different angle on that fateful night. Wayne and Pompey step out of the darkness of an alley as Stewart struggles awkwardly with the gun in his left hand.
    ‘Pompey,’ Wayne whispers. Pompey tosses him the rifle. As Stewart and Marvin raise their pistols, Wayne brings up the rifle, and they all fire in the same instant. Clearly, it’s the rifle that cuts Valance down, who - come to think of it - does fly back surprisingly hard and drop very dead when we first think Stewart shot him.
    Then follows one of the most powerful shots in the entire film: Wayne chucks the rifle back to Strode, and they exit, crossing as silhouettes, all business, their grim work done, in front of the camera. (In CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, the way the Navy SEAL snipers saunter off after killing the pirates is an homage - probably one of many - to this shot.)
    In Democracy’s greatest moment of peril, the military is there to handle the situation, goes the parable - with yet another solid assist from the black dude. That’s history we cannot ignore, Ford is telling us. Black lives mattered more to our common good than we might realize.
    If we’re not going to revert to the level of Liberty Valance or his henchmen, or if we’re going to believe in the ideals Stewart shares in that one room schoolhouse, then they still matter.

    (20/8, 5, & 2 and 3, 2, 1 rotation)
    Week of: 6/15/20 5 and 2 week
    MONDAY
    1. Squat: 3 sets of 5 Tom 392.5
    2. Romanian deadlifts: 4 sets of 5 reps Tom 375 JC 180
    3. Power Cleans (3x3) light JC 75 - 95
    3. 4 sets of heavy shrugs 485
    4. reverse hypers (3x10)
    5. abs; banded pulldowns

    TUESDAY
    1. Inclined bench press: 3 sets of 5 Tom 192.5
    2. Bench press: 4 sets of 8 Tom 190
    3. 5 sets of 10 Hanging rows
    4. 4 sets: 8 lying triceps extensions or 15-20 push ups
    5. Barbell curls: 4 sets of 8
    Conditioning (second session)
    sled pull 2 miles; 20, 0 (and six 50-yard runs)

    THURSDAY
    1. Deadlift: work up to a set of 2* reps Tom 490
    2. Deadlift: back off sets - 90% of top set; 2 sets of same* reps Tom 440
    3. Squats: (90% of Monday’s weight) 5 sets of 3 Tom 352.5 bands
    4. Reverse Hypers (3x10)
    5. abs: hollow rockers

    FRIDAY
    1. Inclined Bench Press: (10 sets of 3) Tom 147.5, mini bands
    2. Press: 4 sets of 8 Tom 147.5
    3. Pull ups (5x10)
    4. 4 sets Dips or push ups
    5. Barbell curls: 4 sets of 5
    6. 3 sets kettlebell sit ups

    SATURDAY - Conditioning
    swim 1 mile (I wish)
    row 6000 meters

  6. #256
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    An old friend is retiring from a long and distinguished military career. He’s a solid, conservative citizen who developed the persona of a thoughtful father figure, a steady presence to whom other officers would turn in moments of difficulty. He’s shown infinite patience in hearing people out in long phone calls. Any trace amounts of advice he offered were spot on.
    ‘Who could play him in the movie?’ my wife asked. ‘Who would be the modern version of Henry Fonda?’
    This is an interesting question in the wake of last week’s ‘Liberty Valance’ piece, especially as my YouTube feed remains stuffed with John Wayne, Lee Marvin, and Woody Strode highlights. Not a lot of names come to mind if you’re looking for a solid, grounded presence. Tom Hanks? Maybe. Kevin Costner has aged well. Older films are loaded with manly men, all Magnificent Seven at a time, or an entire prison camp in THE GREAT ESCAPE. These men seem utterly confident in who they are, in big roles or small, good characters or bad. Nowadays, men of this quality - or actors of this quality - are fewer and further between. Guys on screen nowadays are faking what they’re up to. We trust them less and therefore keep their movies at arms’ length.

    This reflects a larger reality, according to Jean Louis Rodrigue, a UCLA professor and expert in acting for film and stage who has worked with performers including Sir Ian McKellen, Forest Whitaker, Elizabeth Banks, Josh Brolin, Helena Bonham Carter, and Keanu Reeves, among numerous others. Men are softer nowadays, Rodrigue says in a 2010 YouTube discussion on the state of Manly Men in American film. They’re more in touch with their feelings. They aim to communicate, not dominate.
    This is the result of a changing society, he explains. The economy, labor market, and education have leveled the playing field in terms of opportunities for men and women. In some cases, roles are reversed: the women go to work while husbands stay at home. With fewer roles to step into immediately, American men on and off screen now move with less direction and force.
    Most importantly, he says, the effect was felt by the writers of modern screenplays, who are reflecting this new reality in the content of their stories. As far as actors are concerned, this modern approach was probably first seen in Paul Newman and James Dean, who came out of The Actor’s Studio, where The Method compelled actors to plumb the inner conflicts in their identities, all in an effort to bring a heightened emotionalism to their performance. The upshot has been leading men with whom we sympathize - confused, conflicted guys capable of making mistakes and who allow their femininity to come out.
    It’s interesting to see how these trends bear themselves out, Rodrigue says. He refers to the vampire movies that were so much in vogue in 2010, where truly beautiful young men, in touch with their feelings, are not at all at ease with being vampires. They’re attractive to women not for their beauty or the savage sides of their nature, but because they can communicate their struggle so well.

    We’ve come a long way from Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford calmly ordering task forces around the Pacific, or that father figure friend of ours, who, I can assure you, is not one to burden others with any of his internal conflicts. What’s to be done? I’m not sure a softer man paralyzed with self analysis represents social progress.
    In terms of showbiz, Rodrigue’s approach involves the Alexander Technique, a brand of physical therapy focused on ‘neuromuscular reeducation.’ It’s the study of posture and alignment as well as breathing and movement. According to advocates, it promotes well being by correcting faults people might have in their day to day bodily carriage, and it also has tremendous applications to acting. Its exercises in voice, breath, strength, and movement go a long way in aiding an actor in determining a character’s physical identity. Rodrigue describes working with a boyish, beautiful young man who wanted to enhance his masculinity. A man’s man, Rodrigue had to teach him, is connected to the earth. His body is at ease on its feet. Physical strength brings a tangible sense of confidence, which translates to the audience as potential. A strong man has a vibrant, relaxed, deep seated, resonant voice, and a level gaze. He sees and knows the world around him.
    Men speak so softly nowadays, he laments. The men who really seem to know who they are, the ones who project power by being solid and still, he says, are Russell Crowe, Clive Owen, Liev Schreiber, and John Hamm. The reality of their characters is trusted by audiences.

    This raises a question about the comparably soft men in modern cinema: What is it that we find lacking? When men are giving voice to their doubts, is it wrecking the story or is it part of the story? In the cases of men who seemingly have their minds made up, is it that we just don’t buy it? The actor’s not made of the right stuff. Splendid as his Alexander Technique might be, he just doesn’t have the real-world strength or experience he needs to make his scenes resonate. We look at him and think, ‘Dude, you don’t even deadlift.’
    The Actors’ Studio Method, with all its ruminations, is a self indulgence that ultimately means an actor is not meeting the moment.
    Rodrigue mentions another trend to keep an eye on: the modern superheroes, whose awesomeness will be carried off entirely by special effects. Not only will that further undermine their intrinsic male potential, it will merge men and women as equals in terms of strength and ability. Notice how those blue bodies, male and female, were so similar in AVATAR, he says.
    The solution to this crisis in masculinity, he says, is that men are going to have to be braver. It doesn’t matter if they’re soft emotionally or physically; they’re just going to have to have greater clarity of purpose and get on with the job at hand. This is an issue for screenwriters and directors as well: no matter how unlikely the character or actor, no matter their lack of experience on the playing field or battlefield, the guy just has to shut up and proceed. Soft guys will have to surprise us with results.
    That would seem to be the case in the real world as well. In a time of pandemic and civil unrest, we’re going to need scientific and political Untouchables to win the day. That will bring us back to the classic hero, where purpose and identity are more strongly tied together. Those are going to be the father figures to call in moments of difficulty.

    LAST WEEK, in darting around the net to research that ‘Liberty Valance’ bit, I saw on Amazon that Woody Strode published his memoirs. A ‘pioneer athlete and actor,’ he sounded like such a stud, I figured I’d give it a click.
    The box arrived Sunday morning. Inscribed inside the book’s front cover was a date, ‘July 24, 1990,’ and the autograph: ‘Woody Strode.’

    (8, 5, & 2 and 3, 2, 1 rotation)
    Week of: 6/22/20 2 and 1 week
    MONDAY
    1. Squat: 3 sets of 2: Tom 422.5
    2. Romanian deadlifts: 4 sets of 5 reps Tom 375x3, 377.5 JC 180
    3. Power Cleans (3x3) light JC 75 - 95
    3. 4 sets of heavy shrugs 485
    4. reverse hypers (3x10)
    5. abs; banded pulldowns

    TUESDAY
    1. Inclined bench press: 3 sets of 2 Tom 212.5
    2. Bench press: 4 sets of 8 Tom 192.5 chains
    3. 5 sets of 10 Hanging rows
    4. 4 sets: 8 lying triceps extensions or 15-20 push ups
    5. Barbell curls: 4 sets of 8
    Conditioning (second session)
    sled pull 2 miles; 20, 0 (and six 50-yard runs)

    THURSDAY
    1. Deadlift: work up to a set of 1* reps Tom 512.5
    2. Deadlift: back off sets - 90% of top set; 2 sets of same* reps Tom 460
    3. Squats: (90% of Monday’s weight) 3 sets of 2 Tom 380
    4. Reverse Hypers (3x10)
    5. abs: hollow rockers

    FRIDAY
    1. Inclined Bench Press: (10 sets of 3) Tom 150, mini bands
    2. Press: 4 sets of 8 Tom 147.5 - 150
    3. Pull ups (5x10)
    4. 4 sets Dips or push ups
    5. (JC) Barbell curls: 4 sets of 5
    6. 3 sets kettlebell sit ups

    SATURDAY - Conditioning
    swim 1 mile (I wish)
    row 6000 meters

  7. #257
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    ‘If you want to make your laptop explode,’ I wrote, ‘Google Strength Training and Anxiety, or Strength Training and Depression. Plenty of people have been in this spot before - and more importantly, plenty of them have gotten themselves out.’
    Exercise has been a bad subject in the past. Taken to excess, it’s become a form of self punishment.
    ‘The book lays out a program you follow, an objective, mathematical plan. You don’t add any reps or weight based on snap judgments.’
    ‘If therapy is all about changing The Narrative, which is to say reinterpreting the old one and writing a new one for the future, this is a good place to start.’

    A family member with a long history of mental difficulties is looking to start a new round of therapy. This is not an easy time to be visiting doctors’ offices and getting referrals. They’re a few states away. ‘If you lived near here,’ I wrote, ‘I’d get you to start lifting weights.’
    This person can barely get out bed, let alone get a job. If they looked for a gig with a fraction of the effort they spent decrying the exploitative evils of capitalism, they’d be all set.

    The problem with being the weight lifting guy in the family is that everyone views you with the same simplicity with which they think you view the world, the hammer seeing every problem as a nail.
    That’s fine. I’d be perfectly happy to hammer away at the idea that a pursuit with an ethos of honest effort and mental and physical adaptation has a number of applications. Uncle can’t stand up straight or get in and out of the shower or up the stairs? What have the geniuses at Yale done for him over these few years?
    Auntie had a jolly time doing her little sumo deadlifts with the kettlebell I got her from Amazon . . . until she elected to quit. Now her back hurts so badly, the doctors want her to have surgery - which she won’t, because she has to care for Uncle.
    I’m the villain, however, because I don’t fall all over myself with sympathy like everybody else.

    Now comes this one with years of therapy and little to show for it. I won’t presume to critique what’s happening during their sessions if they don’t dismiss the validity of an external, conceivably parallel process of therapeutic activity. Yes, weight lifting is cumbersome, difficult, and antithetical to their identity, which is precisely the point.
    Getting out of bed, to the gym, and over the existential pointlessness of hoisting a bar through the air over and over might be analogous to getting a job and participating in society on some responsible level. On a given day, mental angst can be replaced by the cruel reality that heavy iron objects simply want to drive directly downward. This can be overcome with a little concentration and effort, which probably would be a dramatic discovery.
    With any luck, strength training at some point turns from an ordeal into a positive experience. They might even enjoy it in spite of themselves, and possibly come to a realization: I could actually be good at this if I keep going. That has all kinds of symbolic applications to the rest of life.
    Yes, symbolic, by which I mean abstract and at some remove from reality, whether it’s a past that’s hamstringing you or a present that looks bleak. The weight room starts as an escape; then it becomes a promise.
    You take it literally at first, if you can’t get out of bed or up the steps, but then the Tao of the Iron will give you wings.

    June 29, 2020 Deload Week

    TUESDAY - swim 1 mile (The pool is finally open!)

    THURSDAY
    1. Squats - Work up to 5 reps with 375, 1 rep with 425
    2. Deadlift - work up to 2 reps with 465; 2 sets of 2 with 417.5
    3. Reverse hypers - 3 sets of 10

    FRIDAY
    1. Incline bench - work up to 6 reps with 175
    2. bench press - 2 sets of 5 with 195 (chains)
    3. 2 sets of 5 - pull ups 45 lb kb

    SATURDAY
    swim 1 mile

  8. #258
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    At long last, our neighborhood swim club has opened, allowing me to do something for my Saturday endurance workouts other than row on my Concept 2. As I knew it would, the swim did wonders for my shoulder, that right deltoid that wants to ache, either on its own or because something is pulling at it. For the first three laps it felt a little fiery, but then the blood flow got the better of it. It’s much improved even now.
    The workout was decent, considering that I hadn’t been in the water since early March. I kept the freestyle intervals to 150’s and alternated with sidestroke 100’s, that trick for resting I picked up from the lads in the Pacific all those years ago. The plan is to work back up to full sets and let the speed take care of itself. I did hit my last set or two with some speed - which I’m not sure I know how to explain. My breathing and capacity for output get into sync, which would happen in workouts before the shutdown, and I could go hard and long at the end in a way that would not be possible at the beginning of a swim.

    The swim was the easiest part of the expedition, as the pool staff is bending over backward to battle the plague. Members have to book time slots, and when we arrive, we have to wear masks as we walk on the pool deck, despite the entire area’s being blasted with ultraviolet radiation, disinfected by chlorine, and, according to the second law of thermodynamics, subject to a level of atmospheric entropy that will dissipate all clusters of breath in an instant, infected or otherwise.
    The lifeguards are high school kids simply following orders. I got there a few minutes early but had to wait until the stroke of 11, the start of my slot, to enter. ‘As you can see, the lifeguard is disinfecting the ladder,’ the young lady at the gate pointed out, which meant that he was sloshing it with a bucket of pool water.
    I did not say, ‘To protect us from what?’ though I did ask, ‘Are you guys worried about county inspectors?’
    That wasn’t it, if the mumble and shrug were any indication. Clearly these kids are more worried about the pool committee, who in turn are worried about lawsuits. If some member were to catch the virus at their hairdresser’s but try to blame it on the pool, the pool has to appear above reproach.

    The committee probably realizes this is all a little dopey, but it does bring up the bigger picture: despite being four months into this pandemic, folks still don’t seem to grasp how it works. 85 - maybe now 125 - people who had jammed into a Michigan bar have been infected. 200 who had visited a West Virginia Planet Fitness have been told to quarantine or get tested, after a patron infected the place.
    Godzilla is stomping around Tokyo breathing fire, yet people aren’t entirely paying attention. They’re just running in random directions, some away, some in circles, and some right into the monster’s path. Few are actually watching to see where he’s headed. My sister, who fled New York to live with a relative in the country, returned to her building a few weeks ago and learned that a neighbor one floor down had died. He was found after a few days. The Beast had no doubt crept up the stairwell and sniffed at her door, yet in an e-mail one day, after I had described something medical in the headlines, she replied, ‘I didn’t catch all that, but great, I guess.’ As a journalist in Iraq and Afghanistan, she was pretty savvy about getting around. This time, she hasn’t bothered with the details.

    I have to show that kind of big picture awareness when it comes to this sore shoulder. Clearly, swimming creates a Starr Rehab effect, where the high repetitions increase blood flow, freeing up adhesions in the short term and providing for molecular level repair over time. This is what I’m doing with my reverse hypers on lower body days as I flop through a few unweighted sets in my warm ups and then moderately weighted sets after all the squats and deads. Nothing’s injured; in fact, that’s the beauty of reverse hypers if you stay on top of them. Despite the fact that 1. they’re miserable, and 2. you’re not exactly sure what they’re doing, 3. your back doesn’t hurt.
    It occurred to me that based on the Starr or reverse hyper logic, the same sort of thing should work for my shoulder(s). That appears to be alternating dumbbell presses with light weights and done for sets of 20 at some speed, the first thing to happen on upper body mornings. Around the house, if things are a little creaky, I’ll pantomime that motion, making sure to tilt my shoulders each way and reach with my ribs.
    It does the trick, but how? Is it purely blood flow through the affected muscle, or, as with the swim stroke, does it unseat my shoulder blade and release some other muscle wrapping around the joint?
    In the name of broadmindedness, I should allow for both possibilities and be careful to do the kind of rehab work that accomplishes everything at once. Beyond that, I just read about some upper back exercises that improve posture and screw one’s shoulder blades into place (presumably).
    Do I think I need them? Not quite, but this is not a time to be ruling things out - aside of going to bars or churches.

    (20/8, 5, & 2 and 3, 2, 1 rotation)
    Week of: 7/6/20 8 and 3 week
    MONDAY
    1. Squat: 5, 1, 1, 5, 5; with 80, 90% 375, 425
    2. Romanian deadlifts: 4 sets of 5 reps Tom 375x2, 377.5x2 JC 180
    3. Power Cleans (3x3) light JC 75 - 95
    3. 4 sets of heavy shrugs 485
    4. reverse hypers (3x10)
    5. abs; banded pulldowns

    TUESDAY
    1. Inclined bench press: 3 sets of 8 Tom 175
    2. Bench press: 4 sets of 8 Tom 195
    3. 5 sets of 10 Hanging rows
    4. 4 sets: 8 lying triceps extensions or 15-20 push ups
    5. Barbell curls: 4 sets of 8
    Conditioning (second session)
    sled pull 2 miles; 20, 0 (and six 50-yard runs)

    THURSDAY
    1. Deadlift: work up to a set of 3* reps Tom 465
    2. Deadlift: back off sets - 90% of top set; 2 sets of same* reps Tom 417.5
    3. Squats: (90% of Monday’s weight) 4 sets of 5 Tom 337.5 bands
    4. Reverse Hypers (3x10)
    5. abs: hollow rockers

    FRIDAY
    1. Inclined Bench Press: (10 sets of 3) Tom 150, mini bands
    2. Press: 4 sets of 6 Tom 152.5
    3. Pull ups (5x10)
    4. 4 sets Dips or push ups
    5. Barbell curls: 4 sets of 5
    6. 3 sets kettlebell sit ups

    SATURDAY - Conditioning
    swim 1 mile

  9. #259
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Jax, FL
    Posts
    993

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    Good stuff as always. I'm with you on the RH's. I don't exactly know what they do but the lower left side persistent tightness from squat and DL days are gone as long as I keep up with them. Typically 2 sets of 10 with 90 lbs loaded at the end of squat and DL days.

  10. #260
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Washington, DC
    Posts
    302

    Default

    starting strength coach development program
    [Jeff B.: per your suggestion, I’ve added chains to my bench press. They account for 40 pounds at chest level and 60 or a bit more at the top of each rep.
    It’s taken a few weeks, but my upper body finally feels like a functioning unit benching with this narrower grip.]

    Try this the next time you’re in the gym: Holding a barbell as if you’re at the top of a deadlift, put your back against a wall and your feet about six or eight inches in front of it.
    Now, with your rear end braced against the wall, lower the bar as far as you can in a deadlift motion and come back up. Hit a few reps. How far down did you get?

    A video of this drill came across my Facebook feed the other day. It was from CrossFit, by way of CrossFit 4566, an affiliate in Queensland, Australia, featuring ‘Tim’ and explaining that he has cerebral palsy, ‘a very complex condition that severely limits balance, muscle control and [presents] a long list of other very difficult symptoms.’
    Tim guts out a few reps, keeping his back decently straight, but he only gets the bar down as far as his knees.
    Tim is a ‘legend . . . [of] epic courage and character,’ the accompanying paragraph from 4566 says. ‘He’s an absolute warrior . . . and a role model and example to us all.’
    The comment section explodes with praise: ‘Rockstar,’ ‘Legend,’ ’An inspiration!’

    That’s a very limited range of motion, I thought - and probably dangerous. If he tried to go much further down, he might have pitched forward. I didn’t say that on Facebook, of course. I’d be an international villain subject to condemnation for days.
    Still, I thought, that’s the best he can do - or that’s the best you can offer as trainers? Why not a full range of motion deadlift?

    Yes, you judgmental bastard, that’s the best he can do.
    I really hope that’s the answer, that I’m just plain uninformed. A doctor or physical therapist familiar with Tim’s situation would explain that due to the particular nature of his handicap, he cannot manage balance or force in the bottom position - so they’re attacking hamstring strength, to the degree they can, from the top.

    OK, that’s cool. Sorry; I didn’t know. Then again, 4566 didn’t provide any details or context, so a worldwide Facebook audience was left to draw their own conclusions, which, now that I think of it, is the other thing that doesn’t sit well. Everybody fawns over how inspiring he is, which I find to be completely patronizing, an unintentionally backhanded way to hammer him nonetheless for being handicapped.

    The correct response to a guy with cerebral palsy doing a set of deads is a slight nod, the same thing you’d give the high school kid hitting 200 or the big guy 600.
    God forbid those trainers are patronizing Tim, giving him an exercise that’s needlessly easy, either because they feel he needs the positive reinforcement or because they fear the deadlift, even for their able bodied clients. My hope is that as ungainly and difficult as it might be, they’re getting Tim in front of a bar on the floor, in open space, so he can stack his bones and tee up as best he can before rising with the weight to his full height.
    On the net one can find plenty of other examples of wheelchair or other ‘differently abled’ athletes getting after big lifts or action in the arena or on the playing field. They’d be mortified to be the subject of onlookers’ warmth and compassion when they’re just working out or messing around like anyone else.
    I can think of one exception: the people who haven’t found these creative outlets yet. I don’t deny that living with certain handicaps can be brutal, especially when coupled with the equally crippling sense of limited horizons and low expectations. When people realize they can lift weights or play a sport, which means big changes, that has to be mind blowing. Blessed are the poor in spirit when they can transcend their circumstances. That has to be a joyous and profound discovery - to which the correct response is, ‘Great. Come back Wednesday. We’ll put a little more weight on the bar.’

    (8, 5, & 2 and 3, 2, 1 rotation)
    Week of: 7/13/20 5 and 2 week
    MONDAY
    1. Squat: 3 sets of 5 Tom 395 (4x4?)
    2. Romanian deadlifts: 4 sets of 5 reps Tom 375, 377.5x3 JC 180
    3. Power Cleans (3x3) light JC 75 - 95
    3. 4 sets of heavy shrugs 485
    4. reverse hypers (3x10)
    5. abs; banded pulldowns

    TUESDAY
    1. Inclined bench press: 3 sets of 5 Tom 195
    2. Bench press: 4 sets; 2x8 - 197.5, add 50#: 2 sets of 2
    3. 5 sets of 10 Hanging rows
    4. 4 sets: 8 lying triceps extensions or 15-20 push ups
    5. Barbell curls: 4 sets of 8
    Conditioning (second session)
    sled pull 2 miles; 20, 0 (and six 50-yard runs)

    THURSDAY
    1. Deadlift: work up to a set of 2* reps Tom 495
    2. Deadlift: back off sets - 90% of top set; 2 sets of same* reps Tom 445
    3. Squats: (90% of Monday’s weight) 5 sets of 3 Tom 355 bands
    4. Reverse Hypers (3x10)
    5. abs: hollow rockers

    FRIDAY
    1. Inclined Bench Press: (10 sets of 3) Tom 152.5, mini bands
    2. Press: 4 sets of 6 Tom 155
    3. Pull ups (5x10)
    4. 4 sets Dips or push ups
    5. Barbell curls: 4 sets of 8
    6. 3 sets kettlebell sit ups

    SATURDAY - Conditioning
    swim 1 mile

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