No slip grip

Jun19
by Duf on June 19, 2013 at 6:03 pm
Posted In: Injuries, Weight Training

So as I mentioned before, I have been including dead lifts as part of my weekly routine for awhile.  Last week was the first time since I resumed where I did slightly less reps or weight than the prior session which was disappointing. Today I wanted to get the ball rolling back in the positive direction.  I cut back my warm up squat reps a bit to try to have more gas for dead lifts.

At 315 I squeezed out two reps but nearly dropped the bar.  The overhand grip I have been using was being stretched to it’s limit.  I have been wanting to stick with overhand grip as much as possible to maximize grip strength benefit.  After the close call and catching my breath I switched to mixed grip and pulled 315 again.  That took care of the grip issue and I could concentrate on the tremendous strain I felt across my lower back instead.  🙂

I said what the hell, let’s try 325.  Moving the weight was very tough.  It feels like I lose any semblance of good form once the weight numbers get big (for me)  I was able to lock it out.  The mixed grip at least felt rock solid.  I stood upright with the weight for a good 5 seconds before slowly dropping it to the floor.

So that’s officially a new dead lifting PR although it would have been sweeter if I was able to hang on to it with an overhand grip.  I really need to shoot some reps on video to see just how bad my form gets at 300 pounds plus.

I have not been real happy with the consistency or progress of my training recently.  I sort of feel like I am treading water.  Part of it is due to the never ending nagging injuries that seem impossible to escape at my age.  There is never a time where at least one of my joints are not giving me problems.

Periods where other responsibilities take over retard my progress as well as lack of motivation occasionally.  Sometimes when I get home I just want to veg once in awhile, believe it or not.  🙂

 

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The most brutal trainer in the world

Jun07
by Duf on June 7, 2013 at 6:16 pm
Posted In: Exercises

9minutesSo I have not used a watch at the gym for quite awhile.  I didn’t think it was a conscious decision, instead I just sort of drifted into doing some other body weight formats, doing plenty of sets/reps but not watching a clock while doing so.  Well today the watch accompanied me to the gym.  Now I suspect I know why it hasn’t been there in a long time, it is cruel, painful and heartless.

Adding a time element to your sets and rest periods transforms and defines them.  All of a sudden that rest period you were taking that seemed pretty short actually turns out to be almost 2 minutes.

So anyway I decided to use the watch to time a 5MD (five minute drill).  The drill I had in mind was the 50/100, the goal being to complete 50 pull ups and 100 push ups in 5 minutes.  I knew I hadn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of doing it that fast but I was going to go as fast as I could.

I had thought I would do pretty well.  In my gym workouts the last few months I have been trying to mix in multiple sets of the basic movements (push ups, dips, or pull ups) so I wind up with triple digit reps across multiple sets.  I thought that the high volume training would help me here. It didn’t.

Nothing prepares you for lots of reps in short periods of time except doing lots of reps in short periods of time.  My opening sets were 20 pull ups and 25 push ups.  Before starting I thought I might be able to drop down to sets of 10 pull ups and maintain 25 rep push up sets.  Well that idea was quickly adjusted.

The rest of the way I did 5 reps of pull ups and 15 push ups so my sets for pull ups went 20-5-5-5-5-5-5 and push ups 25-15-15-15-15-15.   By the time I finished my last pull up I was sucking major wind.  Looking at my watch, I was really disappointed in my time of 9:23.

Like it or not, I am going to need to bring the watch along more frequently and start firing up the Ray’s Ways as well if I want to get my rep endurance back up to respectable levels.

In other fitness news, this week I pulled two 315 pound dead lift reps on Wednesday.  Not only did that break my prior one rep best of 310 pounds, I did it using a more difficult overhand grip instead of the mixed grip for the prior PR.  Despite my original objection to resuming dead lifts in my exercise menu I now actually sort of look forward to them.  Yes lifting heavy weight off the floor can be uncomfortable and painful at my age but it also makes you feel strong and powerful.

I’m hoping to keep inching up my numbers.  I need to walk the fine line between effort and injury.

 

 

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What doesn’t hurt, Bender’s Back

May31
by Duf on May 31, 2013 at 6:14 pm
Posted In: Bar-barian Forum Monthly Challenges, Endurance activities, Injuries

315I haven’t been posting much on here because there hasn’t been any clear direction for my training or major break throughs to report.   Of course that doesn’t mean I have been standing still either, if anything I am having a difficult time making my exercise diversity co-exist.

For example, for the past couple months I have been adding dead lifts into my weekly gym routine.  Dead lifts are a great full body exercise and I think doing them has helped my overall strength.  However dead lifts can also have some side effects like sore legs/back which can impact the endurance training I do on the weekends, which is a random combo of running, biking and swimming.

calmerlegsSince I started going heavier on the dead lifts I also have had some issues with my forearms.  Gripping 305 is tough, especially if you are using an overhand grip.   The sore forearms makes pulling/gripping exercises painful so it affects my bar work.

So lately it seems like I have been doing more of a juggling act than anything, each day trying to figure out which body parts hurt the least and work those.  I still have not found a rotation that allows me to do EVERYTHING I would like to do on a consistent basis.  Until I hit the lottery and retire I am not sure if I will ever find the time.

47003_448379837840_5535742_n[1]It’s a vicious circle.  If I run on Saturday or Sunday, my knees could still be hurting for leg day on Wednesday.  Or my legs could still be sore from leg day when it comes time to run.  An aching back from dead lifts make dragon flags on Friday next to impossible, it is a PIA.

The one thing I have been trying to be consistent with is working the basics into most work outs, trying to hit triple digit reps in either push ups or dips across multiple sets.  Doing triple digit pull ups is a work out in itself.

2011fitnesschallengeFor June we are bringing back the Bender on the BB forums!  This was one of my favorite challenges, combining pull ups with leg raise variations.   It is a VERY tough movement which will tax your core and grip to the max.

Find out the details of the challenge here!

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Stretched it too far

May21
by Duf on May 21, 2013 at 1:51 pm
Posted In: Injuries

I awoke today with very sore forearms, especially my right one.  Evidently yesterday I over did it.  At the gym I did a set of 20 pull ups, some straight arm lateral raises, weighted pull ups ranging from 50-65 pounds, some inverted shoulder shrugs and topped off with another 15 pull ups at the end.  I even had the bright idea to do some grip holds where I was supporting my hanging weight on just my finger tips and later two finger holds.

Last night at home I piled on the forearm load by working wall handstands on Lou’s parallettes and then some back lever work on the Triple Gym, hence my pain this morning.  I am not sure what I was thinking since I have had a tenuous balance with forearm tendonitis over the last 5 years.

I’m a bit bummed because if my forearms feel like this tomorrow there is no way I would be able to grip a barbell to pull heavy dead lifts.

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Pulling 300 + straight on a bent bar

May16
by Duf on May 16, 2013 at 1:31 pm
Posted In: Exercises, Weight Training

squattySo yesterday was my leg day at the gym.  For the past couple months I have been doing a combo of squats and dead lift, focusing much more on the dead lift part of the workout.   I only do two quick squat sets, one at 135 pounds and another at 185 before I start the DL’s.

I have been making some solid progress in my lifts the last few weeks and yesterday that improvement continued with me pulling 295 lbs x 3 and then 305 lbs x 1 at the end.  I really should video my form, it feels like I keep things more or less aligned but with my stretch legs and arms I am sure it looks somewhat awkward.

There is a problem I have when I get to dead lifting the bigger weight, the barbell is slightly bent.  Not just one of the bars is bent, pretty much all of them in the free weight are to some degree.  This is annoying at lighter weights and dangerous at bigger numbers.

What happens is if you are lifting the heavy weight and the slight bend is facing up instead of down the bar will want to rotate and flip in your hands.  When you are lifting weight that you can hardly hold in the first place, having it spin is not a good thing and potentially quite dangerous if it causes you to drop the weight.  I guess I need to point out to the management that they have a collection of bent olympic bars.

So anyway, pulling 305 was difficult as expected.  I have dead lifted slightly more weight a couple years ago when I pulled 310 at home.  However with that attempt I used a mixed grip (one hand overhand grip one hand underhand grip).  Yesterday I used a double overhand grip which is more difficult.  I am trying to stick with overhand grip to maximize my grip work.  305 pounds felt very close to my grip limit.

The short term goal would be to pull 3 plates per side with an overhand grip (315 pounds).  If I manage to not hurt myself I might be able to get there before the June calendar expires.

 

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