Dufisthenics

Today at the gym one individual provided some entertainment on several occasions.  The first thing that drew my attention was that he was on the Smith machine doing bench press.  Smith machine bench press is not necessarily a bad thing, but when you only have a 45 pound plate on each side and a manpon on the bar you start to lose major man points.

His attire was interesting as well, a pair of expensive Beats headphones, work out gloves, black socks complemented with Air Jordan sandals.

My final speck of entertainment was watching him doing pull ups.  He had his legs spread wide with bent knees, almost like a tree frog in mid-leap.  The bottom of his pull ups had his elbows at a 90 degree angle.  The top of the reps were about 4 inches above that.

So today I got around to doing my squat/DL combo.  I am pretty sure it has been close to a month since I DL’d due to illness and/or equipment being unavailable.  As I was doing my squats I continued to try to get as deep as I possibly can, despite that depth making my reps/numbers look like shit.  My effort to go deep felt rewarded when one of the guys watching my reps said “Those are in the bucket”  meaning I am breaking parallel with my thighs and getting deep.

My deadlifting went ok considering the layoff but I am really struggling with my grip most of all.  At heavier weights the bar just wants to unroll my hand and start slipping down the fingers.  Chalk is not allowed in the gym which would help.  Better knurling on the shitty barbells would help as well.  I could throw on my straps but then I am not doing anything to strengthen the source of weakness.

I threw three individual muscle ups over the bar today including one over the square support piece between the cable machines..  I remain the only individual in the 12-1 gym slot that can do them although I know there are at least 5 guys in there two decades + younger than me that are trying to pull it off, unsuccessfully. Score one for the old guy.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

“In the bucket” barbell squats -135lbs x 10, 185lbs x 5, 205lbs x 3

Deadlift – 225lbs x 10, 275lbs x 5, 315lbs x 4, 335lbs x 1, 345lbsx1, 355lbs x1

Seated leg extension with 1 second pause at top – 130lbs x 12

Seated leg curl – 130lbs x 12

Muscle ups 3 x 1

4 minutes A2G hold