Lifting to Live

[Eric Schexnayder]

While there are several tunes on that album that get turned to 11, Frayed always gets that extra little crank of the dial to 11.1.

And Justice For All was the first “real” metal album I ever got. Dad surprised me with it for my 16th or 17th birthday, can’t remember which exactly. Been a special one ever since.

[Bill Anders]

9/11/23 - Monday

Pin OP
175x1
197.5x1

OP I @ 2'
45x5x3
95x5
135x3
155x1
177.5x1x5

BP V @ 5'
45x5x2
95x5
135x3
175x1
205x1
237.5x4x4

Music — Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Welcome To The Pleasuredome/Two Tribes/Relax (Live 2004); Front Line Assembly, Vigilante; Skinny Puppy, Dig It; Revolting Cocks, You Often Forget (Malignant Side).

Notes — Wrist wraps delivered today. About a week ago some fairly intense tightness showed up in my right wrist. Nothing specific seemed to set it off, as it began during the long weekend and before last Monday's Intensity Press/Volume Bench session. Some movements seemed to help, others seemed to exacerbate it. Then I remembered a quote that I had read from Phil Meggers a while back about wrist wraps and using them "as soon as it started getting heavy." I'm approaching 200lbs, so that's probably about right.
- Pin OP - Repeat of last week, which I didn't get. I did get this one, but it wasn't pretty. It started to stall about midway up, so I switched from shrugging it to pushing it, which forced the left side of the bar out ahead of mid-foot, so I had to step forward on that side to keep it under control.
- OP - Intensity singles across. Heavy, but all good. My right thumb/wrist are still achy, but the wrap took that issue right out of the equation.
- BP - Light sets across. All good. I wasn't going to do these with the wraps, but changed my mind to see how they went before I get to my Intensity Bench day on Thursday. A bit more weird than the Press, but OK.

[Fred J]

I wrap mine above 170. I hurt my right wrist in 1982 at work so I like to be safe with that. You will get used to them in no time. Let that be one less thing to worry about.

[Bill Anders]

Good tip, Fred. I'll definitely keep working with them.

[Cole Gorton]

I love pressing and benching with wrist support. Less power leak since it keeps the wrist straighter for you

[Bill Anders]

Good points, Cole. I've been leaning away from them all along, wanting to keep the wrists working with the rest. But apparently I've had too many reps where the bar has rolled off the meat of the palm and towards my knuckles. I'll make sure to have them on during the heavy sets from now on.

[Bill Anders]

9/12/23 - Tuesday

Pause SQ
45x10x3
135x5
185x3
225x1
285x1
335x1
370x1 (YouTube)

Box SQ I @ 3'
360x2x2

SQ I @ 5-7'
375x3x3

Rows L @ 3'
135x5
165x3
200x3x3
205x3x3

Music — UK Subs vs The Zombies, She's Not There (T.O.T.P. 1979); UK Subs, Warhead; Agent Orange, Bloodstains; Fear, I Don't Care About You; Suicidal Tendencies, You Can't Bring Me Down; T.S.O.L., Flowers By The Door; Subhumans, Walls Of Silence; Buzzcocks, Autonomy; The Exploited, Troops Of Tomorrow; Discharge, Protest And Survive.

Notes — Crap sleep last night, not feeling this at all today. So I'll do it, leaning heavily into the music for energy.
- Pause SQ - Intensity Single w/ 3-count pause (longer than last week). Since I had been talking SQ form and depth with Cole this week, I knew that I needed to video myself for this one and focus on fixing the knee in place and depth. I realized that no angle was good in my garage, so next week I think I'll have to pull the rack away from the wall a few feet to get that right angle (something I mentioned to tiny&mighty a year or so ago). Otherwise, everything from the front has something blocked, whether it's the knees or hip crease, from either the rack or the plates. Knees locked, rack upright still blocked the crease, but it's good.
- Box SQ - Intensity Doubles at 14". Intense, w/ grindy second reps for both sets. Good.
- SQ - Intensity Triples across. I had the rest periods at 5', but the third rep of the first set was a dive-bomb and likely a chest too upright grind out of the hole. All things considered, I bumped that rest period up a couple of minutes. That helped, as form for the second set was better, but still grindy AF. Then I was getting pretty hungry before the last set, which didn't help the brain. The first two reps of that last set went well, although a touch grindy. Then that last rep. Oof! Tight and controlled down into the hole, a solid drive out of the hole, and a grind to an almost-halt about halfway up. I wish I had videoed that rep. It seemed like a solid 8-9 count to lockout, which means it was somewhere around a 5-6 count, which is twice as long as I ever want them to be. But again, all things considered, it was alright. The key now is to recover well for Friday's Rack Pulls.
- Rows - Light Pull Triples across. I got lazy loading plates and threw on 205 instead of 200. Really no matter in the grand scheme of things, but shows where my head was at. All good.

[Bill Anders]

9/14/23 - Thursday

Pin BP I @ 3'
45x5x3
95x5
135x3
185x1
225x1
250x1 pin
270x1 pin
252.5x2x2 pin

BP I @ 5'
255x3x4

OP V @ 2'
45x5x2
95x3
125x1
140x1
155x2x12

Music — Descendents, Silly Girl; Bikini Kill, Rebel Girl; Black Flag, Rise Above; Sex Pistols, Bodies; The Damned, Neat Neat Neat; Joy Division, Warsaw; Squeeze, Hourglass.

Notes — Still getting used to these wrist wraps. I laughed at one of the reviews, where someone posted a pic of their wrist and the indentations after wearing them 15 minutes straight. Hell, I'm peeling them off immediately after the set.
- Pin BP - Intensity single w/ 90% backoff doubles at 2-count pause. Heavy single was smooth, yet tough. Half-brain tells me to go +5lbs for next week, but no need to get greedy, especially as I feel the effort of the single sink into the upper body before I even start my backoff sets. No surprise that those backoff sets were tough, but they went. All good.
- BP - Intensity Triples across. And these were brutal. The second set was almost a fail, so I let the rest periods loosen. The last two sets were still brutal, but they went. All good.
- OP - Volume Doubles across. All good.

[Fred J]

9/14/23 - Thursday
BP I @ 5'
255x3x4


Notes — Still getting used to these wrist wraps. I laughed at one of the reviews, where someone posted a pic of their wrist and the indentations after wearing them 15 minutes straight. Hell, I'm peeling them off immediately after the set.

Nice worksets!

If you get the wraps as tight as they need to be you will want to get them off right after the set straightaway. They ain't tennis sweatbands.

[Bill Anders]

Nice worksets!

Thanks Fred. I had typed a note about those worksets, then deleted it and will probably put it in next week's session, if I remember.

It really sank into the bones after dinner. I was beat. I had the alarm set to get another workout in this morning before heading off to work. I turned that off and will give it a go tomorrow. An interesting development to keep an eye on.

If you get the wraps as tight as they need to be you will want to get them off right after the set straightaway. They ain't tennis sweatbands.

That's what I figured, kinda like the belt. Although I can't get the belt quite to that point (e.g., I leave it on the entire time of that 12x2 OP session).