Lifting to Live

[Bill Anders]

2/24/22 - Thursday

HDL @ 8'
65x10x3 PC's
135x4 DL
185x2 DL
225x1 DL
275x1 DL
300x1
320x8

Music — Top picks from SiriusXMs The Groove, Bootsy Collins' Top 20 Funk Jams Countdown, 2/20/22 - Kool & The Gang, Get Down On It; Cameo, Word Up; Stevie Wonder, Superstition; George Clinton, Atomic Dog; Parliament-Funkadelic, Flash Light.

Notes — Quite a bit warmer than Tuesday, but I didn't bother with the thermometers. It's still below freezing outside, not much warmer in the garage.
- HDL -I was a bit apprehensive about these, considering that the last time really aggravated my lower back and it took a couple of weeks for that to work itself out. I even considered skipping them and giving rack pulls another go for the third week in a row, but figured that probably had a greater chance of aggravating my back than the haltings. So, a slight (-10lb) reset from the last attempt, which was 330x7+0 (instead of 330x8). The very first 320lb pull came off the floor just fine, but felt like I had mis-loaded the left side of the bar, as it started dropping in relation to the right side of the bar. That broke my focus, and as soon as the bar reached the bottom of my patella, my back tweaked. No pops or sharp pain, but the same discomfort as weeks past and I immediately dropped it. I have zero desire to aggravate it again right now, but clearly I need a more significant reset and perhaps a form review. Oh, and I had not mis-loaded the bar. So I have no idea what that was about. But hopefully the tweak sorts itself out a bit quicker this time.

Addendum - After I posted this log, the pain was excruciating while bending over to take the weightlifting shoes off. Even more so as I bent over to take the first 2.5lb plate off the bar. But it slowly felt a bit better as I unloaded plates. While placing the 135lb bar/plates in the hooks to unload, I decided to do some slow, controlled RDL's, which felt fine. Tomorrow will tell.

[Fred J]

Sounds like some rest is in order along with some ice in the form of that bourbon on the rocks that y'all were talking about recently.

[Bill Anders]

Sounds like some rest is in order along with some ice in the form of that bourbon on the rocks that y'all were talking about recently.

Now that does sound like a fine, fine idea.

[Bill Anders]

TL;DR - Greed leads to back tweaks during this maintenance season.

Typing this out helps me work through the issue, so no need to read/comment unless you really want to or have different ideas.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Mulling over my recurring back tweaks during this "maintenance season" led me to the Masters dilemma of being Intensity dependent and Volume sensitive. If I were in a proper training cycle, what I've been attempting to pull for my Halting Deadlifts should be considered greedy.

How so?

With my transition from training to maintenance, I switched from full Deadlifts to alternating Halting Deadlifts and Rack Pulls. My last full Deadlift workset on 12/8/21 was 345x5, with a 12/17/21 "mock meet" Deadlift progression of 340, 360, 380 singles. I then switched to Haltings on 12/22/21 with 325x8 and Rack Pulls on 12/28/21 with 360x5. Note that that 12/22/21 Halting workset has been my only successful x8 workset, with various completed rep numbers; then the back tweaks started with a 330x7 on 2/3/22.

Similarly, my last full Squat workset on 12/6/21 was 300x5x5 leading into the 12/17/21 "mock meet" Squat progression of 300, 315, 335 singles. Afterwards, I transitioned to backoff set workset schemes peaking at 1/29/22 with 320x5 + 300x5x2. After that, the back tweak on 2/3/22 led me to reset.

Using that 345x5 Deadlift as baseline, yesterday's programmed 320x8 Halting Deadlift was 93% of the intensity, but with three more reps at that intensity, of that Deadlift workset*. A Deadlift workset that is now 2.5 months old! I haven't been putting the work in, with only one session of pulls and one session of squats per week in those two months. I just don't have the volume in either squats or pulls to be attempting that intensity. And none of this takes into consideration my snowboarding and its impact on recovery.

Bottom line: I've been too greedy trying to prevent my seasonal backwards slip and have put myself at risk of significant injury.

* Comparing workset tonnage, the deadlift x5 was 1,725lbs, while the Halting DL would have been 2,560lbs, some 33% more volume at that 93% intensity, 2.5 months later.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Funny enough, I am listening to the new Weights and Plates podcast as I type this. Robert Santana and Trent Jones are covering topics that tie into what I have been thinking about this.

[Bill Anders]

2/25/22 - Friday

OP @ 5'
45x5x3
75x3
105x1
115x1
132x5x3

BP @ 5'
45x5x2
95x3 p
135x1 p
175x1 p
195x1
210x5x3

Music — Top picks from SiriusXMs Liquid Metal Corridor of Covers, 30 Years of [Pantera's] Vulgar Display of Power, 2/24/22 - Kilgore vs Pantera, Walk; Hellheart vs Pantera, This Love.

Notes — Some tightness persists from yesterday's tweak during my Halting Deadlift. Annoying more than anything, but I think I have it figured out (above).
- OP - Minor twinging in the lower back, but nothing distracting from three solid sets. All good.
- BP - All good.

Addendum — compared to the issues described above with my pulling, after a couple of weeks of only doing each press 1x/week, I switched back to 2x/week with a "volume" and an "intensity" day after a 10% reset. That has worked out well for these two lifts.

[Fred J]

Those darn backs! I literally feel your pain. I am fighting a similar battle today.

Sounds like too much maintenance...maybe?


Are you talking to me? Walk on home boy!

[Bill Anders]

Yep, too much focus on maintaining the tip of the pyramid and not enough on the foundation. Lesson (perhaps) learned.

The energy of that song works in almost every situation. I always get a kick out of watching the crowd at an arena when the opening riffs come over the PA during intermission. It never fails to get the crowd moving and singing, even if it's a bluegrass show.

[Fred J]

Pantera and bluegrass...why I never...

[Bill Anders]

Pantera and bluegrass...why I never...

So much crossover out there. Hillbilly Orchestra was a fun one. And there are several different string groups that do their own take on Pantera.

My bride has a collection of string tributes to them, Tool, Metallica, etc., that she would play when she had her private practice. She said that it was always fun when, about three songs in, the client realized what had been playing.

But perhaps our favorite here is Guilhem Desq, a French musician who makes his own instruments, including hurdy gurdy's, and has some fascinating interpretations, like "Cowboys from Hell."

That should send you down a rabbit hole...

[Fred J]

Pantera "Cowboys From Hell" - hurdy gurdy & drums cover - Guilhem Desq - YouTube

W...T...F?

The Dimebag Darrell of the...what ever that is!