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Thread: Dastardly Advanced Novice Log.

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by PVC View Post
    The press is a bitch. You're wearing a belt for it, right?

    And maybe do some weighted ab work if you're not already.
    I am not wearing a belt, I tried but it offers no assistance. During a press my I have a small waist/all the volume is lifted up into the chest. Having a belt around waist does nothing.

    I used to do lots of ab work but gave up months ago, around the time Gary put out his belt article and Rip put out his c*re article. Focusing so much on abwork drew too much attention away from the lifts. The actual sessions are long enough. By the end of workouts I am hungry and want to get home to stuff my piehole.

    When I was doing lots of abwork it would be at a separate much cleaner gym (the floor at my lifting gym has not been cleaned since the ronnie coleman posters went up in 1986), I was doing a lot of rotator cuff work too.

    I worked up to doing planks with a 20kg plate on my back. and a good few knees2elbows. I dont think I could do any of this stuff anymore! But I dont think abs are letting me down in the press. It is my chronically small shoulder muscles. My Triceps & pecs grow, but deltoids stay exactly the same. I have no real meat on my shoulders at all, and it causes problems like subluxing. My crappy shoulders hold me back on bench pressing too.

    I do think that the press is working the RC just as good as all the isolation exercises though, and I am glad I ditched them.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dastardly View Post
    I am not wearing a belt, I tried but it offers no assistance. During a press my I have a small waist/all the volume is lifted up into the chest. Having a belt around waist does nothing.
    Then you're doing it wrong. Maybe you've got a shitty belt, or you're not wearing it tight enough, or you're not performing the valsalva maneuver correctly, I don't know. But a belt helps. And if you're not performing the valsalva correctly, that's the first thing to work on.

    I worked up to doing planks with a 20kg plate on my back. and a good few knees2elbows. I dont think I could do any of this stuff anymore! But I dont think abs are letting me down in the press. It is my chronically small shoulder muscles.
    It doesn't matter whether or not you "feel" that your abs are the limiting factor. Hell, even if they're not the limiting factor, stronger abs will always help your lifts, especially the press. This is why a belt helps.

    And planks are shitty.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by PVC View Post

    And planks are shitty.
    Sure planks are more part of the bosu ball scene than the "strength" scene, but you have to work with what you have. There is no incline situp bench at the gyms I normally have access to. And situps on the ground, even weighted do not feel too great.

    The body being held straight like in a plank seems to be more similar to the stresses of a standing press than a situp.

    Anyhow, I was doing leg raises too. In the crossfit knees to elbows style.

    I might search the forum & re-read the book for tips on belt usage/valsava for the press.

    Today was friday btw, I was due to do my squat, bench, good mornings & pull ups. But all my spare time was taken up by a visit to the doctors to try get myself referred to a better physiotherapist.

  4. #14
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    Saturday 1st May 2010

    (was supposed to be on friday, but trying to catch up so my training days can match the written down schedule with weekends as rest. Gym closes very early at weekend, struggle to get there on time)

    For the first time in months I had some knee pain for past couple days/ It mightve been from forcing myself into a narrower squat stance. I also left one knee sleeve at home & was rushing due to gym closing early.

    Squat:
    20kg 5
    60kg 5
    80kg 3 – no belt, very tough.
    95kg 5, 5, 5 –
    Failed to complete 92.5kg last session but I rewidened stance (have been up to 97.5kg with wide), still very hard. Pushed through comprimising with sloppiness/back tension for some rushing to bang out reps before fatigue overwhelmed.

    Bench Press:
    20kg 10
    40kg 5
    50kg 3
    65kg 3x3 Heaved the last rep from nearly getting trapped.
    50kg 8 Very hard to finish last few.

    Good Morning:
    20kg 10
    40kg 10, 8, 8

    Chins: 6, 6, 2

    Biceps hit forearms, limiting ROM. Total reps less than my last pull up session.

  5. #15
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    Monday 3rd May

    Made a big effort to move things out of the way and get to the gym (cycling in cold rain) so I could maintain my mon-wed-fri scheduling but it turned out to be a Bank holiday which I forgot. Dissapointing as I psyche dmyself up very hard to squat heavy and also power clean for the first time in a few weeks.

  6. #16
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    Training – Tuesday 5th May
    Squat:
    20kg 5 5
    60kg 5
    80kg 3
    90kg 2 (no belt)
    97.5kg 5 5 5 (heavy reliance on belt, wobbly technique and insecure grip)

    Press:
    20kg 5
    27.5kg 3
    30kg 2
    35kg 3 1 2
    Strength regression again despite starting from top, left scapula/girdle winging upwards and body bending to side due to shoulder impingement/instability.
    30kg 5 5 (back
    off sets)

    Powercleans:
    First time doing cleans for a good while. Warm up with empty bar snatches & squat cleans.
    40kg 3 3 3 3 3
    Surprisingly difficult and messy, very difficult to “squat” into catching the ba, instead a knee battering stomp/split. Also difficult to rack with the wide grip necessatated by my knee position.
    Snatch Practice:
    20kg a few.

    Plate Halo’s:

    10kg 15:15, 10:10, 10:10
    Experimented by adding a higher rep rotator cuff exercise because my left shoulder is still problematic and phyisoterapist keeps nagging me to do some.

    Fat Grip Dumb Bell Rows:

    30kg 10:10 (left much weaker)
    Again for rotator cuff work, rows suggested by therapist. But also grip work. Restrained myself to one set to avoid fatigue for next session’s pull ups.

  7. #17
    mr blink Guest

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    Yo fellow indian.

  8. #18
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    Actually Bengali, but more or less the same yeah.

    Thought I might post what I ate today (very typical and I know should be more):

    Glass of Milk.
    3 scrambled eggs, chips (fries), mushrooms, Tea.
    -training-
    Large portion of Spinach, large quantity of mutton & potato curry, Large Plateful of rice.
    Tea.
    1 Tin Sardines, 2 slices toast, olive oil.
    Large Mugful of hot chocolate milk.

    Ive been considering getting some whey protein recently, but realised even the cheapest protein works out at 40p/60c per serving (about 24g protein).

    I realised that a tin of Sardines is also about 24g protein and the same price. So I might just be using sardines as a protein supplement from now on!
    Last edited by Dastardly; 05-04-2010 at 06:18 PM.

  9. #19
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    Today was my squat/bench/pull ups day. I was really looking forward to them. I love "light squat" day, as I enjoy squatting when it isnt so brutally hard!

    I was also really looking forward to seeing if I could get some 5's out of 70kg on the bench which would be a massive landmark for me.

    Unfortunately after I made my trip to the gym I find out that my membership had expired. The full single session price was obscene. And I had no paperwork to renew my student membership, not even at home as Im not really at school right now.

    FUUuucKcck!

    I decided to cycle over to the tennis centre (about 4 miles away) at which I have free access to their gym which has dumb bells. I figure that some lunges would be a reasonable sub for light squats and DB bench may do me some good.

    Training – Tennis Centre

    Dumb Bell Reverse Lunges: Moderate intensity. Grip the most difficult part.
    16kg (each hand) 3x10 (each rep alternate side).

    Dumb Bell Bench Press:

    15kg 5 (left shoulder feeling ropey)
    20kg 3
    25kg 3 (left shoulder impingement fail)
    5 (heaving up left side of body first)
    3 (impingement fail again)

    Dumb Bell RDL:
    Some intentional back rounding. Used straps.
    30kg (each hand) 3x10 Massive pump.

    Some guys having epic session on smith machine & cable station so I start to do rows instead

    Dumb Bell Rows:
    Less than ideal ROM, right weirdly weaker than left. Very unusual as my left is weaker at everything
    30kg 2x10:10

    Pull Ups: 5, 3, 1, 1
    (finally got smith machine but arms already fatigued)

    Dumb Bell Rows:
    30kg 10:10

  10. #20
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    starting strength coach development program
    It was Saturday and I got up too late to get to gym, plus my membership had run out anyway.

    So I decide to try out a recently opened warehouse based gym based fairly locally. Id had a quick look inside when I discovered it a couple months ago, but after paying up and going in to lift I realised just how shit it was.

    Firstly it seemed to be run my islamic extremists as they were playing an audio tape about Jihad & controlling women.

    There were 4 full size barbells in the gym. On 2 of them, the sleeves had actually fallen off, get i saw a person using one anyway.

    On the two bars in once piece, the sleeved were also loose and nearly falling off. But most significantly they were severely bent. One was so bad it looked just like a cambered bar. In fact when I was removing it from the rack, someone questioned me about it, askng me why I didnt want to use the "squats" bar. When it was in fact the cheapest POS bar you could get which was bent beyond belief.

    The only floorspace to deadlift was wonky/uneven and covered in a few small pieces of rubber matting with gaps, making it more uneven.

    While squatting, a local regular tried to convince me I was doing it wrong. He also seemed rather pissed that I decided to change my shirt without going into the changing room.

    Anyhow, I made do. And decided to make a little jump on my deadlifts too.

    When leaving, I decided to going into the changing room, where there happened to be two large animal cages. It also smelled like dogs. It was clear that this place was being used for dogfighting, no doubt.

    Training – 8th may. "Heavy Duty Gym"

    Squats:
    20kg 5 5
    60kg 5
    80kg 3
    90kg 2 (no belt)
    100kg 5 3 3 (used loaner leather belt, disappointing)

    Press: (deload due to painful/inflamed, problematic shoulder)
    20kg 6
    30kg 5 5 5 (strict)

    Deadlift: fails came 2 inches off ground.
    60kg 5
    100kg 1
    130kg 1(mix grip), 1(hook), fail, fail, fail, 1(hook)

    Dips:
    BW 10 10 8

    Knee Raises:10 10 5 5 (first ab work in a long time)

    Side lying lateral raises (shoulders):

    2.5kg 20:20 20:20 15:15

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