Hurting hip

May25
by Duf on May 25, 2012 at 10:29 am
Posted In: Exercises, Fitness Equipment, Injuries

So Wednesday at the gym was leg day.  One of the movements I always try to do during leg day are squats.

I don’t particularly enjoy doing squats.  My body is not exactly well proportioned to squat effectively.  I also don’t have much meat on my back so resting the bar back there is not very comfortable at all.

I have squatted for years off and on but up until a couple years ago I was one of those half squatters. A half squatter is a guy that doesn’t go down very far, nowhere close to ideal thigh position of parallel to the floor (or even lower).  I have half squatted as much as 275 pounds.

Well thanks to extensive encouragement by Jeremy I have made a conscious effort to squat regularly for awhile now as well as squat correctly.  After all it is one of the best total body movements out there.

So anyway, on Wednesday I topped out at two reps at 225 pounds, trying to make sure I went adequately deep.  On the second rep I almost stalled out but I managed to barely keep the bar moving.

Well yesterday my right hip was hurting quite a bit.  The pain increased steadily throughout the day to the point where I had a noticeable limp.  Surely the pain is related to those squat reps.

I used the pain as a motivator to pull the trigger on buying another roller.  The one we had went with my wife when she moved out.  A roller is a really good preventative maintenance tool. Rolling across it with various body parts offers similar benefits to a sports massage.

I went with a roller that looked very similar to what my brother Patrick has.  Instead of being solid foam, which can compress over time, this model has a hollow plastic core with ribbed foam around it.  Pat has had his roller for two years and uses it regularly.

One thing a roller like this can really help with is tight IT bands, something I definitely suffer from.  I am hoping with consistent use I can make painful hip episodes like this a less frequent occurrence.

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Fat Gripz at the gym review

May23
by Duf on May 23, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Posted In: Fitness Equipment

So I threw my new Fat Gripz in my gym bag on Tuesday.  It was bi/tri day so I figured that was a perfect time to see how the blue beasts do on barbells and dumbbells.

I did my bicep work first, using the gripz on every exercise.  I IMMEDIATELY felt a big difference in the movements.  The diameter I was gripping had to be at least 3 inches.  My forearms were under constant tension, even when the weights were at my side.  I had to be squeezing all the time.

In no time my forearms were burning.  I let a couple of the guys try a few reps with the gripz on and they all were impressed in the increase of difficulty by just slapping a piece of rubber on the bar.

Attaching and removing the grips from barbells and dumbbells was very easy.  I even used them on a handle for a cable machine to do tricep extensions.

By the time I was done with my session my forearms were torched.  I am very pleased with my Fat Gripz.  They will be a regular workout partner from here on out.

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Fail, Fat Gripz

May22
by Duf on May 22, 2012 at 8:36 am
Posted In: BBR's, Fitness Equipment, Muscle Ups

I have had a couple unsuccessful challenges lately.  First on Sunday I tried normal mode of this month’s Bar-barian forums challenge, clapping pushups, and posted a number about 10 reps less than I hoped for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB9Atxi8_IU

Then last night I went out to try a 1/2 BBR, hoping to finish doing 3 muscle ups, 23 dips, 13 pull ups, 28 push ups and 3 more muscle ups in 3 minutes or less.  Well not only did I not finish in three minutes, I didn’t finish, period.  I was too fatigued to complete the final three muscle ups.

I found myself feeling quite frustrated that I fatigued so quickly.  I had to pause in my push up set after rep 7 which is ridiculous.

There is a funny moment after I dropped off the bar after my second failed MU attempt.  It is a reflex anger move I do sometimes.  I was disappointed in my set.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7qq9SOmLKY

After I caught my breath I pulled out my new Fat Gripz and gave them a try.  The concept with Fat Gripz is they allow you to transform a smaller 1″inch or so diameter bar into a thick bar instantly.

Having to move identical weight with a thicker bar translates into much effort as you utilize more muscle to grip.  The reviews on Fat Gripz across the board are very high.

They appear to be very well made, constructed of very dense and hard rubber.  It reminds me of a material similar to what Crossfit style bumper plates are made of.

Attaching the grips to the bar is easy, you just pull it apart at the seam and it snaps on top of the bar.  I did a few sets of pull ups on the Fat Gripz and immediately felt a big difference in my forearms.  The grip is too big to wrap your thumb around them.  The bar felt even fatter than the fat TSP bar.

The only negative I noticed was as I got deeper into my reps the grips rotated a bit, forcing me to regrip once.  I think that could be lessened if you put a layer of chalk on the bar.

I plan to take the Fat Grips to the gym today to utilize them for some dumbbell exercises.  All of the reports I have seen indicate there isn’t a bar/dumbbell/barbell exercise around that won’t benefit from using Fat Gripz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BukMdhD_0-c

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Got gripz?, More bang for the belt

May18
by Duf on May 18, 2012 at 8:18 am
Posted In: Fitness Equipment, Injuries

The other day I saw Metin commented on some guy’s pull up bar picture.  The bar had two blue things on it, I wasn’t sure what they were.  Metin said they were called Fat Gripz and they were excellent.

I did some digging around and found numerous positive reviews on the product.

When I went to TSP one of the first things I noticed was how thick the pull up bar at the park was compared to my 1.25″ diameter pull up bar at home.   Grabbing the thicker bar definitely made the pull ups more challenging.

Well Fat Gripz is a product designed to replicate that scenario.  Not only can you use them on a pull up bar, you can used them on barbells and dumbbells to make any exercise significantly more challenging.

Grabbing a thicker bar requires more forearm, grip and hand strength.  All of the reviews I saw of the grips on Amazon where fantastic.  Everyone reported very good results. Fat Gripz are not cheap but they appear to be made of a very high quality and durable hard rubber.

So I used some of my Amazon perk points to grab a set of the gripz as well as a dip belt.  For some reason my gym has not seen the need to provide a dip belt as part of their exercise equipment.  As a result for several years when I do weighted pull ups and dips there I have done so by awkwardly hanging a dumbbell between my knees.

Now I will just bring my belt with me on days I want to do weighted work.  Today will be the first day of that.

Yesterday I tried to some dragon flags, a full 6 days after the last time I did the movement.  I did about half of one rep before I stopped.  Even after nearly a week I still felt soreness/pain across my core from the flags.  My goal is to try to increase my per set reps by one a week.  The problem is if it takes me more than a week to recover it kind of throws that schedule out of whack.  It is such a strenuous movement for me.

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Solution to shoulder problem = just add water?

May15
by Duf on May 15, 2012 at 8:54 am
Posted In: Endurance activities, Injuries

So this weekend I did my first training brick in quite a long time, a bike ride, followed by a run followed by swimming laps in the pool.

I have mentioned several times the chronic shoulder problems I have developed over the past several months.  Basically to some degree my shoulders always feel sore and painful if I move my arms in certain ways.  I have been trying to address the issue by doing shoulder exercises at the gym to help even out the muscle in my shoulders which are assuredly more developed in the front than the rear.

Well as I was swimming I had a very simple revelation.  The time period that my shoulder issue developed coincided with my almost total lack of doing any swimming in the winter or spring.  Swimming is an EXCELLENT all around shoulder exercise, working the area from almost every angle imaginable.

I am hoping my return to regular swimming will help rehabilitate my troublesome shoulders.

Lately I have been straying from BBR focused training and mixing things up a bit.  One of those things I have been doing is trying max rep push up sets as opposed to mixing them into a GUTS routine.  Three times I have been able to do 50 rep sets.  I want to try to get to the BBR required 55 reps shortly.

Another movement I have been working more is the dragon flag.  I still have issues with the movement having lasting effects days after I do them.  Yesterday I tried to do pull ups and had to drop off the bar immediately.  As soon as I pulled up my core was hurting like mad, still sore from flagging.

Feeling the pain in my abs was a reminder that even though it may not be obvious at first, pull ups really are a great overall fitness movement.  I do very few conventional ab exercises but still maintain a solid core form all of the other body weight stuff I do.

 

 

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