Monday
Deload. Sigh:
Pulldown abs 20kgx10 25kgx10 30kgx10-Worked out how to do them. Well actually I saw someone else doing them (shock!) and got him to show me his method.
Bench-Worked up to 1x80kg-Left shoulder felt iffy. Was affecting form I think.
Braced One arm OH press-15kg 2x8
CG reverse grip bench 40kg 2x8-Used quite a light weight as it is my first time properly doing them and it was a deload. Still felt it a bit in my tri's.
DB bench 20kg 2x8-I was having a hard time stabilizing this which is pretty sad. Again, I think it was my shoulders.
That was it for the upper stuff. Now onto more impotant things. Well I was sick of my deadlift last week as can be seen above. I decided to post the video and have Mark Rippetoe take a look at it. Turns out I wasn't doing it correctly. Hips were to low and shoulders weren't over the bar. The "jerk" motion at the start was my body getting into the correct position to pull. Whilst it looks almost like I stiff leg it, this is correct for my biomechanics. Rippetoe says he only figured out the shoulder thing 8 months ago or so, and that he can't find it in any weightlifting literature. Indeed Westside advocate something about keeping the shoulders behind the bar, which is confusing-because you can't. So I did some form work today and here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wfLGWfIJVw -This was 100kgx1. I thought this looked pretty on the money.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aVLrvGyLlA -This was 140kgx1. I thought this was better than last week, but my hips still started maybe a touch low as there is maybe small jerk before I lift. I will be getting Rippetoe to check these two though. But the 100kg above looks good to me, and this wasn't far off. Might be alright though.
I have also been having a lot of issues with the squat for a long time as those who read this will know. So I am overhauling my squat. I switched to low bar today which I actually managed to get to work with 200+ on my back. Before it would be too painful. I seemed quite a bit tighter which was great and my back stayed rigid. Still needs work but I reckon it was better than last week. I am also looking down to get hip drive. I am basing it on Mark Rippetoe literature. I will need to get starting strength 2nd edition when I can afford it. More to come on this squat business, it is a work in progress...
Went to the physio on Friday and he said my back was in pretty good condition but was just a little tight. He loosened it up a bit and got rid of some noughts. He said I can continue benching as long as my shoulders don't hurt, but what is happening is the ligaments or tendons are scraping of the bone as everything is a little tight. I told him I was doing shoulder dislocations and he said they were good. So hopefully the problem will be alright soon. Indeed I feel my right shoulder is getting there, but now my left seems to be having more trouble-perhaps because it is being used more and the right isn't compensating? Who knows. I will see how things go. If I don't bench for a month or two and do OH press for a while, Poliquin says my bench won't plummet, and it would benefit things in the long run anyway. So I will see how I get on.
I am now on about 4g of cissus a day and my right knee that twinges occasionally I didn't feel at all today which is good. I can't take the creatine as it is too disgusting so I am waiting till I can put £30 towards a capping kit, can't afford it this week though. I have also been going for salt baths to aid in recovery which feel great, very relaxing and I recommend it. Just been using herbal salts but will be trying Epsom salts when I can.
Well that is it for today. Maybe went a touch heavy on the deads but it is alright. I will go lighter on Thursday and my CNS will still have some time off. Anyway, until next time...
Quagmire
PS-Kudos to DRUM, you are actually meant to look slightly down on the deadlift. Something like 5-6 feet infront of you. Same with the squat.
