Rack It.

OK. I have to say, I'm actually pleased with myself tonight. I know, I know! I am pleased with my performance tonight and that doesn't happen very often. Without further ado, here's what got done:

RACK PULLS:

95lb x8

125lb x5

145lb x3

165lb x1

185lb x1

205lb x1

225lbx1

230lb GRIP FAIL

BB RDL:

(95lb x10) 2x

HIP THRUSTS:

(bar x10) 3x

(65lb x10) 2x

BAND WORK:

Banded Squats / Banded Hip Adduction / Banded Hip Abduction

Purple Band

(x10 / x10 / x10) 3x

••••••••••

I almost got that damn 230lb! My stinking hands started peeling open though. 225lb isn't bad though, considering it's been about a year since I've done rack pulls. I think 230lb was my previous max so I'm not that far off. I don't use straps; I don't even own any. I figure it's just as important for me to build my grip strength at these weights. 

I noticed something about my legs tonight. I've actually noticed it before, during kettlebell swings, but it came to the forefront tonight while I was doing RDL's. My friggin knees bow outward. You can google nine bajillion articles about knee cave and how to fix your knees caving in while squatting blah blah blah. But I can't find anything about your legs bowing outward. Now, I'm not talking about pushing my knees out. When I hip hinge, my knees bow outward. I can correct it by consciously thinking about my leg position, but my form has a tendency to slip if I'm not careful. I'm thinking that my issue is actually an imbalance between my abductors and adductors. I think my adductors are weak. This is causing my abductors to pull my legs out of alignment.  Hence, the reason for the choice of accessories tonight. I don't know if it's the right assessment, but it certainly isn't going to hurt to strengthen those muscles anyhow! 

Here is a link to some good info on those muscles and how to work them Adductor Exercises

Anyway, good stuff tonight. I may be sore tomorrow. 

Get On the Band Wagon

I've been digging around trying to find accessories that we don't do a lot. The main lift each night is programmed, but the accessories are left up to you to decide. It gets boring doing the same old same old. So tonight, we switched things up.

The one thing I was lacking tonight was a dedicated warm up. I figured I'd use the fact that I carried straw and chicken food from my car to the shed as a warm up. Here's what got done:

FLOOR PRESS:

65lb x8

80lb x5

95lb x3

110lb x1

120lb x1

125lb x1

115lb x3

INCLINED DB ROWS:

(25lb x10) 5x

BAND ASSIST PULLUPS:

(Blue Band x10) 5x

BAND PUSHUPS:

(Blue Band x10) 5x

The video below shows the variation that we did. 

••••••••••

It was a frustrating day at work (as most of them are lately) and it was good to let out some of that stress. The pullups sucked. I still have yet to do an actual, unassisted pullup but I'll keep trying. 

We were all in the dungeon tonight - Me, Em, Frank & Jambeau - and I'm happy to say that there was zero chaos. Even the dog behaved. We missed last Friday's workout, but I'm not stressing over it. We'll hit it this Friday for certain. 

Dynamically Good

We were still a little sore from Monday, but not so much that it stopped us from getting our workout in tonight. Here's what we got done:

WARM UPS:

BENCH:

4 second eccentric, 1 second pause

65lb x10

BENCH:

(95lb x3) 10x

SEATED OVERHEAD:

(65lb x5) 3x

BARBELL SHRUGS:

65lb x12

95lb x12

(105lb x12) 3x

ALTERNATING FRONT / LAT RAISE:

(5 of each) 5x

BAND FACE PULLS:

(Purple band x12) 5x

••••••••••

Everything went well and any stiffness from Monday worked itself out as we went. As always, the seated overheads are weak, but I'm determined to get them up into respectable range soon.

Surprisingly, I've not ever done barbell shrugs that I can remember. I'm usually going for the dumbbells. Tonight, I decided to switch it up and do the bar. Frank noticed that I have a habit of moving my head as I shrug so I made a concerted effort to stop that. It's one of those annoying habits that you don't realize that you've picked up.

I'll chalk tonight up as a W. Tomorrow we're on to dynamic squats. Oh joy.

Old People Squats

It was kind of a serendipitous thing that box squats were programmed for tonight. My knees have been feeling very crappy lately. I want to work my lower body, but it's a challenge to get productive work done when you're working around a wonky back and wonky knees. But these box squats are a god send. They really should be called Old People Squats, although that's not a very good advertisement for them. 

Here's what we got done tonight:

WARMUPS:

BOX SQUATS: Bar x10

BOX SQUATS:

65lb x8

80lb x5

95lb x3

115lb x1

135lb x1

155lb x1

165lb x1

175lb x1

GOOD MORNINGS:

(95lb x6) 2x

DB GOBLET SQUATS:

30lb x10

45lb x10

30lb x10

••••••••••

Everything went really smoothly. As with all my other lifts, my max has dropped back a little bit. The last time I worked up to a 1RM on these, I got to 190lbs. So, I'm 15lbs off; not too bad. I can make that distance up in no time. As of right now, I only have slight pain in my kneecaps when I sit. I'm taking some preemptive ibuprofen at bedtime tonight to nip any pain in the bud.  Tomorrow is a rest day and then upper body on Thursday. By Friday I should be good to go for dynamic lower body work. 

As a side note about last night's work - my ribs, chest and back are SORE! those DB pullovers are a keeper for sure!

I'm Baaaaack!

Tonight was the first night back to our regular schedule after all of the holiday chaos. We worked out a little last week just to get us back in the groove, but it wasn't anything really structured. Our schedule on the basement door had today as bench so that's what we tackled. Here's what we got done:

WARM UP:

65lb x8

BENCH PRESS W/ROLLER

(5" foam roller)

80lb x5

95lb x3

110lb x1

120lb x1

135lb x1

155lb FAIL

135lb x3

DB PULLOVERS:

(Find the how-to video here)

25lb x12

(30lb x12) 4x

SEATED OVERHEAD:

(65lb x6) 3x

(65lb x5, x1) 2x

TWO-HANDED DB TRI. EXTENSIONS:

(standing)

(25lb x6) 5x

••••••••••

Tonight was pretty OK. I'm 20lbs off of my previous max on this lift but I honestly expected that. I've always done plate pullovers but tonight I switched it up with a new variation and they were great! I'm glad we tried these because I know I'll be feeling them tomorrow. Everything else went smoothly.

Tomorrow is squats and as usual, I'm nervous. My knees have not been feeling good AT ALL lately and the noise they make literally turns my stomach. It's one of the reasons I turn the music up; seriously. There tends to not be pain while I'm lifting, but afterwards it can be kind of bad. I don't want to ruin what cartilage I have left but I have to work my legs and I don't have a lot of choices. I really don't want to go to the doctor. I really, really don't. I guess we'll just see how tomorrow goes. Maybe as I build up more muscle, the pain will ease a bit. I'm also in desperate need of a chiropractor. I've been putting it off because, well, that whole doctor thing, but I'm not sure I can deal with the pain too much longer. 

But you know, aside from all the pain, I'm good. At least I'm not dead yet.