Age aint nothing but a number Bob. I spotted my one friend who's 61 last week on bench and he got 305. He doesnt compete or anything. He's just lifting and doing the eliptical to stay in shape. He weighs under 200 definitely. I find it remarkable hes able to do 1.5 times his bodyweight on bench in his 60's and he doesnt even compete or juice or anything. I hope Im still benching 300 when Im 60.
One question Bob. Call me stupid but what are SSB Squats? Peace. Keep lifting heavy.
Catching up here. Doc Zak worked me over, but I was so tired, sore, and generally out of it that I really didn't track everything we did. I know we hit wrists, right shoulder, right bicep, right subscap, hip rototars & flexors, neck adjustment, hammies, adductors, and then flexion/distraction work for my spine. I'm sure I'm missing something; but the important thing, as always, is I walked out feeling much more upright & human than when I walked in.
Training wasn't very good; hips and hammies were still pretty sore and not recovered.
Conditioning: 149-168BPM, 5% increase in recovery time.
Did hill sprints; only made 1 75 yard sprint before my body said "no more, please." HR was up to 161, but I was done.
Prehab
Landmines, 2x10 Ab Wheel, 2x10 Side Lying External Rotation, 3x10 Spinal traction Shoulder Dislocates w/ pole
Neglected Muscles
Seated Rows: 2x10x2p, 2 sec squeeze.
Various stretching. Feeling extremely beat up and tired, off to bed at 8:30PM. Big Friday Night.
Warmed up with bar complex stuff today, for the first time in a while just using a standard bar. One thing stood out: my hang pulls and power cleans are extremely improved, especially the latter. There's a degree of snappiness that is new; I attribute this to gradually improving thoracic extension and flexibility.
Log Press Lockout: 1x6x120,170,190,205/8.5,195/8
A bit of improvement over last week. Not quite sure why, but reckon it has something to do with just getting familiar with the exercise.
Olympic Squats: 1x8x135,135,225,315/8?,315/9
Not exactly following protocol, but: the first set at 315 wasn't quite an "8", so I decided to do another set at the same weight for the drop set. It was definitely a 9.
Pulldowns: 1x12x2p,2-1/2p,3p
Again, better than last week. The last rep was ugly, but so am I.
Total Training Time: 80 min
Felt OK going into this; not great, hips were still a little bit fatigued, but not nearly as sore as last night. I was actually walking like a fairly normal human this morning. Did OK with focus and intensity as well - not a huge amount left in the intensity pool right now, but I was able scoop deep and bring something to the table.
Based on the decision to keep some strain off the hips, I wanted to work on speed and also to still challenge my grip. So I placed a layer of slick Gorilla tape around the handles - yeah, that did it, it was very difficult to grip. My hips still ached, but not terribly, and I was able to work with 155.
Called for a 3% drop in weight, but I just stuck with 155, what's 5lbs between friends?
Incline Pressing, Pinky on ring: 1x12xbar,95,115,135/9
Well. I hate to post these numbers, but they are what they are. There for a few seconds around reps 4-8 of the final work set, I felt like I was strong. By rep 10 I knew I wasn't; by rep 12, I was struggling.
Log Rows: 1x15x120,170,190/8.5
Stone to 50": 1x5x190/8;1x4x190/8
This was actually good, and a nice surprise. No tacky used. That's the first time since my forearm injury that I've had the balls to try that.
First set was worse than the second set; my hips were refusing to move well, but the second set I was able to maintain an excellent pace, moved very quickly with only ~3-5 seconds rest between picks. I moved smoothly and fast on the picks as well.
Excellent form work.
Total Training Time: 90 minutes
Tough decision today, but I decided - based on my hips - that I needed to not go heavy with the tightness & soreness I was experiencing. The final kicker was actually the return of a sharp pain at the outside and top of my left calf, just under the knee: I know from experience that the cause of this sharp pain is a tightness in my hip, and the entire chain gets pulled out of whack.
I had to use the percussion massager on my left hip and calf prior to training.
I liked this session because I found ways to take the load off my hips but add a level of challenge to grip / forearm on FW and stone work.
The feeling I had when done was akin to that of a "speed" day: Almost more energy at the end than when I started.
I finished up with a contrast shower for the hips, and will get out for a walk with the puppies after dinner.
Hitting the wall, I think: extremely tired, unenthused about anything, and feeling like I need more sleep than is possible to get. There's that "cranky" "out of control" feeling: if just one more thing goes wrong, no matter how insignificant, I feel like I'm going to lose it.
Given that, I only did some steady-state cardio, about 130BPM Ave HR, for 25 minutes. Then I spent 30 minutes stretching, taking my time, really trying to picture the muscles relaxing and flowing in the direction needed to facilitate the stretch.
Finished up with percussion massage on the hips, and left calf.
The left calf is again showing some swelling from edema(?) and is tight. The top, near the arch of the soleus, is tender, sore, and tight.
Hips are extremely tight. Walking was somewhat painful; it took 15 minutes of big striding to get anything to open up, and even then the muscles quickly clamped back down.
I'm going to ease up on training. I can - for an indeterminate period of time - keep pushing hard, but I'm afraid that sooner rather than later I'll blow up and crater.
I'm probably not doing the best job of dealing with stress in general. There's been a lot of work-related stress lately, as well as financial stress, marital stress, and puppy stress. I have the feeling that this is all adding up to put me in a less-than-ideal spot.
I feel ya Bob It's good to just pull the plug when you have to for a couple of days to let yourself get back to an even keel. I had to do that myself last week.
I am taking some time off too as we speak. Absolutely wanted no part of the gym for the last bit. Getting stress levels under control and feeling good are much more important than weight lifting so you are taking the right move by taking it easy. Hopefully everything levels out for ya here, Bob.
-- Edited by JordanLinteris on Thursday 4th of June 2009 09:25:47 PM
__________________
The way to Jordan's heart, is through his left ventricle.
Feeling somewhat less "edgy" today, but still showing some emotional symptoms of pushing too hard; maybe a little less tired than yesterday, but still feel like I'm in a deficit position. Hips, wrists, shoulders are all sore - hips especially so.
Talked with Coach Mike, and agreed that today should be no more than a technique day with warm-up weights.
Log Clean & Press
Worked on one major item here: getting better drive. Played with foot position, depth of the dip, bar path. Just used the log (120lbs) for all but the final 3 reps, where I added 20lbs - so right about 60% of my RM. Had to use wrist wraps even for the lightest weight, just too much pain otherwise - which is not a good sign.
16" Grappler DL
Worked on setup. Changed a couple things - foot position and hand position - and got this dialed in nicely. Went up to 3plates/side, just doing sets of 3 reps, focusing on being tight, explosive, and driving hard through the entire ROM.
Finished up with some light db flyes, just to get the stretch.
Total Training Time: didn't bother to track it.
Didn't worry about rest periods, just a really laid back session in which I took each exercise up to the point of being ready for a heavy set.
Right hip hurt worse than the left, which is a change. Maybe the attention I paid to the left side last night with the percussion massage helped. Maybe it was the way the wind was blowing.
I'm a little concerned about the upcoming comp; there's no way that I feel ready to go hard right now. Hopefully, I can get recovered in the 2 weeks remaining. Step one is letting of some of the stress: I'm working on that, tonight's light session is being followed up with BBQ and beer, and hanging out with the wife and puppies.
I'm beginning to realize that I don't even begin to understand what it is Doc Zak does to my body; my initial intuitions about this whole process from 3 years ago are probably closer to correct than anything I've written recently.
Back then, I'd jokingly call Doc Zak "the witchdoctor", because I really had no knowledge of what he was doing to me. All I knew was that other doctors told me I'd never lift again, that yet other doctors said my body was so far gone that it wasn't worth working on - yet Doc Z. slowly and painstakingly, every week, eeked out a little more from me.
As my nature dictates, I tried to pay attention to what he was doing and learn more. I started to try to pick up some anatomy: after all, this is my body, I live with it, I'm trying to rehab it and use it, I should know what some of these muscles are, how they work, how they inter-relate.
So, I can tell you that today Doc Z. worked on hammies, adductors, hip rotators & flexors, forearms, neck, right bicep, right pec and lat, did structural adjustments to both wrists, major structural adjustments to the neck, tossed me on the flexion/distraction table, and worked out a lot of the back musculature while getting spine mobility.
I can tell you all that, but I don't really understand it.
I don't understand how he can quickly decide what area of which muscle to hit; how much tension to use; what move to use - because I can tell you that the moves he uses have not been learned from any textbook, seminar, or other person - or how can make the decision on what to prioritize so that I can tell you:
I walked out feeling like a new man. More human, more mobile, less tight, and ready to train.
Accessory Training
The plan is to get out for a fast-paced walk with the puppies after dinner, keeping HR around 130-140BPM.
That's it. I'm still pretty wiped out, my hips are still complaining, and I'm focusing on relaxing a little bit.
Tomorrow the plan is to drive over to train with the crew putting on the Comp in 2 weeks; get some face time with the implements they use, and generally get to a better place psychologically about this upcoming event. Training will be kept light.
Trained with the Oil City Crew today; kept it easy & light.
Warmed up flipping a 250 lb tire a few times, until I was breathing hard.
Tire Flips
I flipped the 650lb tire a couple sets of 3-4 reps, to get a feel for it. Then I flipped the light tire 3x1; the light tire is affectionately called the bastard tire. It was much harder to flip than the 650.
Car DL
Warmed up with just the car, then moved to the car +120lb keg in the trunk, and finally car +250lb keg, which is competition weight for my division. I banged out 10 reps, it was pretty light (about 620lbs), and called it a day.
I was tempted to try competition weight for the open superHW class on this, but I held myself back. I am so grown-up.
Good stuff. Great to train with the new crew, and obviously a huge psychological boost to train with the actual implements and weight that will be used at the contest. I've clearly been training lighter with the tire, and heavier with my car DL setup. If I can stay focused on my drive, I'll do ok on the tire flip. I want to get 20 reps on the car DL at the comp.
Hips held up ok. I was not as sore last night; we walked the puppies and kept up a good clip, and I had no real pain during this. I did have to take some NSAID + Tylenol today, and my hips are complaining now.
I woke up this morning feeling pretty refreshed, the first time in a long time for that.
Another good sign is that I'm now looking forward to training again. I think dialing it down for this week was the right move.
Wow awesome training today BobW. The 650 pound tire flips and car dl were most impressive. I know I couldnt do that. How many people you lift with? Alright BobW keep it up Brother. Good to see you having fun and training hard. Peace.
Mike, normally I train solo - which has it pluses and minuses.
Yesterday I trained with another group, a couple hours away. I think there were 15 or so. They're a good crew, they have a couple national champs training with them, a ton of experience, and good camaraderie.
I think I'd enjoy training regularly with a group of that caliber.