Lifting to Live

[Bill Anders]

I am, Fred. I'm not glued to it, but catch most of the evening over-the-air broadcasts.

[Bill Anders]

2/13/22 - Sunday

SQ @ 5'
45x10x2
95x5
135x3 p
185x1 p
225x1 p
265x1 p
295x1
325x5
305x5x2
295x5
265x5x2

BP @ 5'
45x5x2
95x3
135x1
175x1
190x1
208x5x3

Music — Top picks from SiriusXM's Liquid Metal Bloody Roots Salute to Jonny Z and Megaforce Records, 2/12/22 — S.O.D, What's That Noise; Overkill, Feel The Fire; Testament, Disciples of the Watch.

Notes — lower back tightness persists, although not as bad as last week.
- SQ - The plan was to work up to a 325x5 set, then 2x 94% backoffs, testing the back as I warmed up. It was tight at the beginning (expected) and loosened as I progressed, but I was looking back over the past couple of weeks and already considering turning the 325x5 into singles, then backing off for 90% then 80% sets. The paused warmups felt good, but I had to remind myself to do an actual squat during my last 295 warmup, during which there was a twinge in the lower back. Nothing painful, but a reminder that I really have no business pushing for that 325, considering my back issues and lack of volume (and frequency) these past couple of weeks. So I kept 295 (91%) on the bar for x5, then dropped to 265 (82%) for my 5x2 backoffs.
- BP - No issues expected here, just moving up +1lb each session. But man that first set felt heavy! That's no surprise, but the following usually feel better. Set 2? Not so much. Set 3? Same. But all done.

Enjoy the Super Bowl, if that's your thing.
Enjoy Valentine's Day, if that's your thing.
Otherwise, just enjoy.

[Bill Anders]

2/15/22 - Tuesday

SQ - L @ 5'
45x10x3
95x5
135x3 p
185x1 p
225x1 p
245x1 p
275x5x2

OP - I @ 1'
45x5x2
75x3
105x1
125x1
142x1x5

BP - I @ 1'
45x5x2
95x3
135x1
175x1
205x1
228x1x5

Music — Top picks from SiriusXMs 80's on 8, Rick Springfield's Working Class DJ, Unhealthy Relationships, 2/4/22 - The Church, When You Were Mine; Rolling Stones, She's So Cold; Soft Cell, Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go; Guns 'n Roses, I Used To Love Her [a great karaoke song. Always a crowd-pleaser!].

Notes — Bonus day. We were planning on hitting the slopes today to take advantage of the first measurable snowfall in a few weeks, but a slow morning bled into a slow mid-day to the point that it wasn't worth making the drive for the dust on crust. So instead I headed into the garage.
- SQ - I'm still dealing with a bit of lower back tightness, so that was my impetus for getting under the bar, even at these relatively light weights. The paused squats during the warmup all felt good and the two work sets felt fine.
- OP - All good. In the groove and everything. Apparently I need to get back into the 2x/week frequency, even if it's not limit presses.
- BP - Same as the press. All good.

[Bill Anders]

2/17/22 - Thursday

RP @ 8'
65x5x3 pc
135x4
185x2
225x1
275x1
315x1 hook
360x1 mixed
400x5 straps
385
365
335
315x8

Music — Random playlist - Slayer, Die By The Sword (Live); Ministry, Just One Fix (Live); Talking Heads, Road to Nowhere.

Notes — Still dealing with a bit of that back tightness, but it's better than it has been. Working through various solutions.
- RP - This was originally programmed to be Halting Deadlifts, but that's the lift that set off this round of back tightness two weeks ago. Since I'm on the improvement road, I didn't want to set it off again. So instead, Rack Pulls were the substitution, as they didn't aggravate the back last week. Warmups felt great, even the 360 with mixed grip, to the point that I toyed with the idea of doing the work set with a mixed grip. But it wouldn't have mattered. That 400 wouldn't budge; there was just nothing in the posterior chain with which to push against the Earth. Same with 385, 365 (just 5lbs over my last warmup weight), and 335 (25lbs less than my last warmup weight). The 315 was very slow to break from the safeties, but at least it started moving. I was able to keep up the momentum to knock out 8 slow reps, as if I was doing my originally planned Haltings. The silly part is that I ended up doing 21% more tonnage than if I had pulled 400x5. But it's a good reminder that I'm not training, nor am I eating, enough to keep pushing these heavy sets up like this.

[Bill Anders]

I ran across Andy Baker's article on Deadlift variations and the section on Rack Pulls was illuminating, specifically:

Rack Pulls and Block Pulls allow us to pull some very heavy loads for a reduced range of motion. This has the benefit of being extremely stressful to the central nervous system (i.e. we get good at straining against super heavy weight) and also directly targeting the lumbar muscles in a way that no other exercise even comes close to. The downside to Rack Pulls and Block Pulls is the same as the upside – they fry our CNS and our lower backs.

For this reason, they must be used with extreme care. Frequency must be limited to every other week at most, although I think once every 3rd week might be even better for longer term usage. When you go all out on a Rack Pull it takes a while to recover. I’ve seen guys come in and pull 600×5 on and the following week they can’t budge 500 off the pins for a single. You can’t do them heavy weekly. Rack Pulls should be rotated with regular deadlifts or with other deadlift variants explained in this article as part of a rotation of movements that get included in a lifters “heavy” pulling day.

So I probably should have stuck with the standard alternating Halting DL/Rack Pull programming, especially since I was planning on pulling a limit Rack. Nevermind the issues with lack of training and proper fueling.

On the other hand, my lower back tightness is almost completely non-existent today. So there is that.

[Bill Anders]

2/18/22 - Friday

OP @ 5'
45x5x3
75x3
105x1
115x1
131x5x3

BP @ 5'
45x5x2
95x3 p
135x1 p
175x1 p
195x1 p
209x5x3

Music — Top picks from SiriusXM's U2 X-RadioAdam Clayton's Playlist, New Wave, 12/8/21 - Pretenders, Brass In Pocket; The Jam, Town Called Malice; The Clash, The Magnificent Seven; Eddy Grant, Electric Avenue; Joe Jackson, Is She Really Going Out With Him?; and many more. Just a damn good show.

Notes — As noted above, even after yesterday's failed Rack Pull goal, the lower back tightness that I've been experiencing lately is almost completely non-existent. Coincidence or not, hopefully it lasts.
- OP - Yep, the 2x/week frequency helps keep the groove groovy. All good.
- BP - If only that frequency/groove was true for the bench. It wasn't this week, as more than a few were wonky. But all done.

[J. Killmond]

I ran across Andy Baker's article on Deadlift variations and the section on Rack Pulls was illuminating . . . .

I will be looking at that article--thanks, Bill!

[Browndog]

My Big Wheel Pulls (when they're programmed) are equivalent to your rack pulls.

I like them a lot. Back in the "before" times, I was doing high block pulls (irregularly). I remember one day vividly, a couple of us started loading the bar 200..215...225..230...235...240kg. I'd never pulled anything over 215kg from the floor, and here we were pulling numbers I'd never dreamed of. It was at that time I knew that I was capable of pulling 227.5kg from the floor.

[Bill Anders]

I will be looking at that article--thanks, Bill!

Hopefully it helps. He has a lot of good content in his blog, although his posting has been quite infrequent over the past years. He certainly has/had the space to expand his thoughts on topics that were barely touched on in PP and BBrx.

[Bill Anders]

2/19/22 - Saturday

SQ @ 5'
45x10x3
95x5
135x3
185x1
225x1
265x1
300x5x3
300x5
270x5x2

Music — Top picks from SiriusXM's U2 X-RadioAdam Clayton's Playlist, Britpop, 2/2/22 - Happy Mondays, Step On; Blur, Girls & Boys; PJ Harvey, Down By The Water.

Notes —
- SQ - Still hints of lower back/hip tightness and going in, I mindlessly programmed 3x5 when I really needed to go with backoff sets, given the squats of the past few weeks (working backwards - 275x5x2 on 2/15; 295x5 + 260x5x2 on 2/13, etc.) Thankfully I caught it before I started my work sets and re-programmed 90% backoff sets. If I hadn't, the first 300 set would have reminded me, as reps 4 & 5 were slow, slow grinds and the back and hips were talking quite a bit to me. The 90% backoffs weren't a joke either, but all good.