What did you brew? I've been meaning to get another going for a while but keep getting distracted by things that seem more important than beer at the time.
I had one of those "real world" benchmarks today -- I've been brewing beer at home for about 12 or so years, and today was the first time the weather's been decent enough to do it. It involves a fair amount of lifting 6, 8 gallons of water, and I didn't think much about it at the time but after I realized it was easier then it used to be.
Also wowza my traps are sore as shit from the cleans. That's a good sign -- working muscles in a way I haven't is always a good sign.
What did you brew? I've been meaning to get another going for a while but keep getting distracted by things that seem more important than beer at the time.
I made an amber ale, german pale malt w/ some german vienna for interest and a little brown malt and a tiny bit of crystal, english hops (challenger, fuggle, east kent) and safale S04 english yeast. First batch since November.
Since I had to chip about 6" of ice off my bulkhead door in order to get set up I decided to call it "Icebreaker Amber."
There are things more important than beer?
According to my wife and kids there are a few things that take priority.
But then again, this is the woman who bought me a kegerator and double tower because she was tired of not having beer on tap 24/7.
So when she says it's important I suppose I should trust her judgement.
Oh ... and that amber sounds awesome. I've been experimenting more with malty brews rather than hoppy ales. lots of delicious complexity to be had.
what could be more important than beer?
3/16:
squat: 45x5x5, 95x5, 135x3, 175x2, 195x1 -- i made a note that one rep of 195 didn't feel too bad. Tried to keep the pace brisk @ 45, 95, and 135.
work: 200x5x5x5. Reps 4&5 on set 2 were real grinders, I was worried I wouldn't get set 3, but set 3 felt better. I was focused on looking down and going back as soon as I got in the hole.
press: 45x5x5, 55x5, 65x3, 75x2
work: 85X5x5x5 -- failed rep five of set three, all were grinders. This makes sense because my traps were sore before I started from Saturday's cleans.
dead: 135x5, 225x1 -- first time I've tried warming up for DL's.
work: 255x5. Very tough time holding the bar @ 255, sorta dropped it on rep 5. This is all in my left hand, my right hand is strong. I'm considering deloading DL's to 225 and doing a full warmup progression and working back up that way? Does anyone think that extra volume that way would help grip strength?
More work couldn't hurt grip strength...but you might also try farmer's walks w/ dumbells. That's worked for me in the past.
Deadlift is my favorite lift to train but I find I always have to be careful not to do too much, too frequently. I always end up regretting it.
Regarding DL - if you are doing double overhand grip, I'd try supinating the left hand.
To improve grip strength you can try holding say 225 for a minute at a time. As many reps as you can bear.
The reason I'm, at this point, fairly determined to keep a regular grip is that Rip makes it pretty clear in the SS chapter on deads that a split grip is only a good idea on very heavy lifts when trained to do it properly. I feel like @ 255 I'd rather keep beating at it until my grip strength improves, since DL is supposed to build a strong grip. Especially since my back is starting to show some imbalance -- right side of my lower back feels a little off, sore, and tight -- I'm not in a particular hurry, so I'm going to do 255 again Friday and see if doing cleans on Wednesday strengthens my grip. I feel like I've progressed rapidly on DL's and I'm a little worried that my quads, etc have grown stronger then the rest of my body can handle. Also, I'm going to get a belt.