First Timer at 46 / Never Been “Strong”

[Mr. Bingley]

Good work, and yep we've all been there with your form frustrations. Just keep chugging along at it, you will be so pleased with the results. I was a late starter too (started SS when I was 50) and this past decade I've felt better than I have since my 20s. Keep it up, and it's great that you're asking questions and listening to advice from SSC and wise folks like Bill here.

[RichK]

Thank you! It’s great to hear I’m not the only one who’s been through this. And that there are other people who’ve done this in the same age group as me and have had real positive results. Like everyone who sticks with it basically says the same thing - it’s worth it.

Next workout is Thursday. Waiting for response on SSC coach on what I should do with the weight. If I don’t get a response by then, I’m going to keep it at 125 and work from there. It’s frustrating but at the same time I love the discipline it takes.

[Bill Anders]

I may be describing it incorrectly and insufficiently. The weight shifts towards my toes, my knees move forward (probably not just my knees), I don’t go on my toes but I’m definitely using the front of my foot to counterbalance the forward momentum and then I feel it in my knees. Lighter weights didn’t bother me so much or cause any discomfort. When I was properly balanced, there was none of this counterbalancing taking place.

Ahhh, OK. That is not ideal. Visualizing it while I was doing my row warmup, it seems from your description that you are over-emphasizing the hip drive out of the bottom. By doing that, you drive your hips up (good), but by over-emphasizing it, your back angle changes to more horizontal, almost a good-morning (bad), and the bar shifts forward to the front part (or forward of) the groove. I used to do that that more than a few times on heavy squats, resulting in dumping the bar onto the safeties, until I realized what was going on (and attending a SSC-led Squat camp).

On your way down, once your knees are locked in place and your hips are reaching backwards, make a quick note of your back angle relative to the floor on the way down as the bar is balanced over your mid-foot (yeah, I know, there's a shit ton of things to keep track of, but once you get it, you get it). Get down into the hole, below parallel, then use that bounce to help drive your hips up. Make sure that you maintain that same back angle relative to the floor through the bounce and on your way up. Again, it seems like a lot, but once you get it and stop doing a good-morning, you'll stay in the groove.

Good work, and yep we've all been there with your form frustrations. Just keep chugging along at it, you will be so pleased with the results. I was a late starter too (started SS when I was 50) and this past decade I've felt better than I have since my 20s. Keep it up, and it's great that you're asking questions and listening to advice from SSC and wise folks like Bill here.

And I have learned quite a lot from overly kind gentlemen like Mr B! That's the beauty of this forum - everyone wants to see someone succeed at what we know works. Especially those of us who started so late (right before my 49th birthday).

Keep at it, Rich!

[RichK]

Yeah I’m just a hot mess lol. I appreciate you guys providing all the advice, encouragement, and real life examples. Coach got back to me right away this time. To keep it simple, I’m basically just not doing it correctly, I’m not putting my chest down far enough, on heavier sets “I’m sliding my knees forward and my quads are running out of stretch and I’ll come up early without having hit full depth” and that is the stressor on the knee. To be clear, I’m only like 2-3” away from full depth.

He sent me a video of yet another explanation of how to do a squat. This one made me feel like I’m not alone lol. Somewhere in my head (I think from work) I have “lift with your legs, not with your back” and for the most part I’m refusing to fully commit to putting my butt out and my chest down. What’s crazy to me is how I “know” what to do, I understand why I should do it, I’ve seen multiple multiple examples of how to do it but once the bar goes on my back, I fail to execute properly. Challenging and humbling. Not gonna lie, I actually like how hard this is despite all the frustration. Tomorrow I lift again. I will master this.

[Bill Anders]

Yeah I’m just a hot mess lol. I appreciate you guys providing all the advice, encouragement, and real life examples. Coach got back to me right away this time. To keep it simple, I’m basically just not doing it correctly, I’m not putting my chest down far enough, on heavier sets “I’m sliding my knees forward and my quads are running out of stretch and I’ll come up early without having hit full depth” and that is the stressor on the knee. To be clear, I’m only like 2-3” away from full depth.

Yep, video is key. How we perceive the lifts is often significantly different than the actual performance.

He sent me a video of yet another explanation of how to do a squat. This one made me feel like I’m not alone lol. Somewhere in my head (I think from work) I have “lift with your legs, not with your back” and for the most part I’m refusing to fully commit to putting my butt out and my chest down. What’s crazy to me is how I “know” what to do, I understand why I should do it, I’ve seen multiple multiple examples of how to do it but once the bar goes on my back, I fail to execute properly. Challenging and humbling. Not gonna lie, I actually like how hard this is despite all the frustration. Tomorrow I lift again. I will master this.[/QUOTE]

Yep, that "lift with your legs, not with your back" has screwed up many a person here. You are not alone.

I fight that mindset when I'm doing volunteer trail work. I'll lean down to grab a tree or rock and people start yelling that phrase at me. My response is always to ask them "what's your current deadlift?" That one's really fun with the Crossfit crowd.

Keep at it, Rich. It is a fun, frustrating, and fulfilling journey.

[RichK]

Yeah I mean I’m just gonna keep doing it and doing it until I get the correct form. I think I’m only going on my 6th or 7th session and I already see results in my legs - and I’ve been doing it incorrectly! Imagine when my form is correct?? Not to mention my chest, shoulders, back, and shockingly my abs - I can see results all around. Pretty soon I’ll be working with my max for bench that I set in my early 20’s. I feel like I’m really doing something here.

[Mr. Bingley]

What I really noticed after doing the sq and deads was just how much better my back felt, and how improved my posture was. I walk upright like a human now lol

[RichK]

Ha! Fun fact for ya, a coworker and a friend have both asked me if I’ve gotten taller.

Lifting tonight. Excited. A little nervous too, don’t know why, it’s kinda weird. But makes sense if I think about it. Kinda starting over with my squat working set weight at 125. Form form form. And my last deadlift I failed after 3 reps at 185 - but I was rushing, frustrated from the squats, and tired - still though, I don’t wanna fail it again. OHP tonight, goin for 120 - I feel confident in that.

Anyway, I’ll let y’all know how it goes. Have a great day!

[Mr. Bingley]

Great stuff! Now, not to play mind games with you or anything buuuut one thing to keep in mind when you reset a good amount is that your form can go straight to hell because the weight is so light. I find the heavier weight really keeps the form locked in. It's partly increased focus that the heavy wight demands but it's also just how light what was previously heavy feels to your new improved studly self. So just keep focused regardless of the weight on the bar.

[RichK]

Thx! Will do!