I get most embarrassed when I put up weight for a 1RM and then fail. Especially at my gym where it's rare to see more than two plates on a bar at one time so when I put on 315+ for a squat or deadlift people pay attention while I attempt it, so I look like an extra sucker when I fail.
If you're not failing occasionally you're not pushing yourself hard enough
It depends on what you're doing though.
I'm several months into sheiko now and haven't come close to failing a rep. I mean, the volume is tough but the weights are always about right to get good speed and form right through to the last set.
Same here. I hate benching (or any upperbody lift for that matter) in front of the guys at my gym because they put up well north of 300 for maxes and I'm at 245 on a perfect day
My gym is funny because it is so heavily male, and so heavily 18-35, and so heavily gay, but the gay guys aren't really into putting up big #s, rather doing insane 20 rep sets at like 135 on the bench.
If you live in DC, we go to the same gym.
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mrt144King of the NumbernamesRegistered Userregular
Same here. I hate benching (or any upperbody lift for that matter) in front of the guys at my gym because they put up well north of 300 for maxes and I'm at 245 on a perfect day
My gym is funny because it is so heavily male, and so heavily 18-35, and so heavily gay, but the gay guys aren't really into putting up big #s, rather doing insane 20 rep sets at like 135 on the bench.
If you live in DC, we go to the same gym.
Ha, no, I go to Gold's on Capitol Hill...In Seattle.
I squat 185
Bench 175
Dead 215 (I used to do almost 300 but lowered it after I injured my back and took a break)
and then I can curl like maybe 50
I am oddly shaped.
Dicking around after a set of deadlifts I decide to play "Can I Lift That?" so I threw on an extra fifty pounds and managed to do an entire set at 275.
Is there a point where you should start using a belt or is it more of whenever you feel you need it kind of thing? And does anyone have any recommendations for gloves?
KakodaimonosCode fondlerHelping the 1% get richerRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
I hate these 5:30 am lifting workouts right now. I lose at least 30-40 lbs off of all of my lifts when I work out that early. Hopefully in a few more weeks I can get back to working out in the evening.
DynagripBreak me a million heartsHoustonRegistered User, ClubPAregular
edited July 2011
the gym at JSC apparently supplies chalk. It's pretty cool. I use a chalk ball. Before that I was using liquid chalk to be discrete but that shit is kind of expensive and runs out fast.
Gonna do deadlifts for the first time tonight. Eating a whole chicken for lunch. Get big!
First time this week, month, year, EVER?
ever since turning 18 8-):^:
Cool. Good luck.
I only started doing deadlifts a few years ago and I'm 34.
So I did it today and my lower back is a little sore, my legs a little unsteady. I did 185, but I'm worried about my lower back. Is it supposed to be sore? I watched some videos and tried to mimic the technique but I guess I need to work on shoulders back. Also, going back down is harder than going up. WTF is with that?
If you were feeling tension in your lower back when you were doing the deadlift, then you were doing it wrong. But soreness afterwards, I dunno. I haven't felt any myself but after years of calisthenics my lower back muscles feel like there's two iron bars running parallel to my spine.
If you were feeling tension in your lower back when you were doing the deadlift, then you were doing it wrong. But soreness afterwards, I dunno. I haven't felt any myself but after years of calisthenics my lower back muscles feel like there's two iron bars running parallel to my spine.
Your lower back should be working. There's a difference between discomfort in the muscles and discomfort in the spine itself. The former is a sign that you are doing hard work like you should, the latter is bad. Learn to tell the difference.
My coach described it to me as "a lower back exercise that is not a lower back exercise". It should be working, but it's not the point of the movement. We get fucking deep with our training discussions round these parts.
Played another full 80 min at rugby today. One of those scrappy, niggly games where there's elbows and fists flying at every breakdown. My face is all bruised and swollen up, neck is tweaked after some fat fuck fell on it and one of my fingers is slightly more crooked than it was beforehand. I feel about 80 years old right now. I don't even know why I play this stupid fucking game sometimes.
My coach described it to me as "a lower back exercise that is not a lower back exercise". It should be working, but it's not the point of the movement. We get fucking deep with our training discussions round these parts.
Played another full 80 min at rugby today. One of those scrappy, niggly games where there's elbows and fists flying at every breakdown. My face is all bruised and swollen up, neck is tweaked after some fat fuck fell on it and one of my fingers is slightly more crooked than it was beforehand. I feel about 80 years old right now. I don't even know why I play this stupid fucking game sometimes.
One of my friends is on a team and is trying to get me to play lock. I don't want to have to run that much and I don't want to get my ass kicked.
If you were feeling tension in your lower back when you were doing the deadlift, then you were doing it wrong. But soreness afterwards, I dunno. I haven't felt any myself but after years of calisthenics my lower back muscles feel like there's two iron bars running parallel to my spine.
Your lower back should be working. There's a difference between discomfort in the muscles and discomfort in the spine itself. The former is a sign that you are doing hard work like you should, the latter is bad. Learn to tell the difference.
You guys have been super-helpful re: my form. Might I prevail upon you again? As big l suggested, I've been doing some hinge-movement excercises to get my hips (and thus knees) back on the squats. I think I have it [vidurl=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F2dPsqh7MA]sorted[/vidurl]. If that meets with approval, I'll stack on the weight.
Deadlifts continue to plague me. The last two reps of [vidurl=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zbNUQxQTXE]this set[/vidurl] seem, perhaps, a bit too stiff-legged (get tired --> stiff-leg!). And I know it's hard to tell from that angle, but at lockout I definitely felt like I was pushing my chest out... Agh.
DL: Start position is way too high. Plus as Shaz says you are shooting up before actually pulling the bar.
Your back isn't well positioned either - you need more arch from the beginning, but before you can even do that you need to seat yourself lower and not shoot up before the pull.
You guys have been super-helpful re: my form. Might I prevail upon you again? As big l suggested, I've been doing some hinge-movement excercises to get my hips (and thus knees) back on the squats. I think I have it [vidurl=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F2dPsqh7MA]sorted[/vidurl]. If that meets with approval, I'll stack on the weight.
Deadlifts continue to plague me. The last two reps of [vidurl=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zbNUQxQTXE]this set[/vidurl] seem, perhaps, a bit too stiff-legged (get tired --> stiff-leg!). And I know it's hard to tell from that angle, but at lockout I definitely felt like I was pushing my chest out... Agh.
I thought the squats looked real good. The knees are still drifting forward a bit but it looks like that's mainly because you're going pretty deep. Nothing wrong there. On the last rep your hips started to come up before your shoulders, leaving you a long way forward. Keep an eye on that as it will probably become more prevalent at a higher weight.
The deads I think need more work. Watch your hips at the start of the pull. You set yourself up and then the first 4 inches of movement are your hips moving up without the bar doing anything. I did this for a while.
I don't believe the answer to that is to start with lower hips. I think it is more to do with a lack of tension through the hamstrings and glutes. At present, your hips are not in the optimum position when you start the pull, so what they're doing is moving upwards to get into that position. You need to change your setup to get them in a good position to start from.
The cues I've been using to tighten up the setup were like this:
Shins to the bar and foot position right
Lean down slowly to grip, keeping the hamstrings tight, feel a stretch in them and keep that stretch
Grip the bar, chin up and eyes up (you do this on squats but need to use it on deads too)
Push the hips back, same as squats, push them back so your hamstrings and glutes feel nice and tight
Deep breath
Lean back to take any bend out of the bar
Start the pull, drive through the heels
Thrust hips forward
Finding and maintaining that tension in my hamstrings was a big help for me to stop my hips rising early. It also shifted a lot of muscle soreness from my lower back to my glutes and hamstrings, which I'm interpreting as it shifting the focus to those areas, which is good.
Badger has the DL points down spot on I think. It doesn't look like you're positioning yourself in a way that lets you instantly lean back and lift by driving through your heels, it still just looks like you're trying to haul the weight up with your back alone (which is kinda rounded to boot). Also yeah you should be feeling a little stretching in your hamstrings when you are at the bottom of the movement.
today i had the worst nosebleed ever, there was blood everywhere (probably made worse by the fact i take fish oil, but i've been taking that for 2 years with no problems)
I never get nosebleeds, and the only change I can think of is that I started taking ZMA
I googled, and some say too much zinc could cause nosebleeds...
any thoughts?
ffffff
i got blood on my nice shoes
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KakodaimonosCode fondlerHelping the 1% get richerRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
Uh, how about you stop taking ZMA?
I don't think it's that effective, but that describes pretty much every single (legal) supplement on the market right now.
The only ones I know about that actually have good studies and proven results are creatine and glutamine.
So today I was feeling good on squats. Before my last round of work sets (6 sets of 3@235), I decided to try something heavy. Loaded up 275 (with a previous max of 285) and went for it, easy peasy. I then bumped up to 300, felt heavy (duh) but it went up without any grinding. I was so happy I nearly burned out on those work sets because I was hardly resting between sets.
Bench was solid too. I'm going to test my maxes again next week when I'm well-rested but so far that's a gain of 15 lbs. on the squat max after one 4-week Sheiko cycle. So like I said, I'm testing all my maxes next week, then jumping into another Sheiko cycle the week after.
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It depends on what you're doing though.
I'm several months into sheiko now and haven't come close to failing a rep. I mean, the volume is tough but the weights are always about right to get good speed and form right through to the last set.
Easier way to set this up is to put the weights on the floor, clean them and then sit down.
If you live in DC, we go to the same gym.
Ha, no, I go to Gold's on Capitol Hill...In Seattle.
I feel like I have some pretty random numbers in terms of my lifts. Last sessions' numbers:
Squat: 3x5x195lbs
Bench: 3x5x170lbs
Dead: 1x4x305lbs
Bench 175
Dead 215 (I used to do almost 300 but lowered it after I injured my back and took a break)
and then I can curl like maybe 50
I am oddly shaped.
Is there a point where you should start using a belt or is it more of whenever you feel you need it kind of thing? And does anyone have any recommendations for gloves?
i did that
unfortunately it was actually painful/feeling slightly impinged at the bottom of the squats, which is something I've never felt when squatting before
basically right where the crunchy happened is where that feeling was
the crunchy was right below the kneecap of my right knee, i don't know how it happened, but it was painful. that was yesterday morning. crunch!
i kept the weight light, to 135, because i was like, this is not how a knee should feel or has ever felt...
thoughts? hopefully it just goes away.
(just to note, this is not the knee i hurt my mcl on, this is my "good" knee)
You can use liquid chalk. There's no circumstances in which you should use gloves. They don't help on any level.
shit is discreet
So I did it today and my lower back is a little sore, my legs a little unsteady. I did 185, but I'm worried about my lower back. Is it supposed to be sore? I watched some videos and tried to mimic the technique but I guess I need to work on shoulders back. Also, going back down is harder than going up. WTF is with that?
Your lower back should be working. There's a difference between discomfort in the muscles and discomfort in the spine itself. The former is a sign that you are doing hard work like you should, the latter is bad. Learn to tell the difference.
Played another full 80 min at rugby today. One of those scrappy, niggly games where there's elbows and fists flying at every breakdown. My face is all bruised and swollen up, neck is tweaked after some fat fuck fell on it and one of my fingers is slightly more crooked than it was beforehand. I feel about 80 years old right now. I don't even know why I play this stupid fucking game sometimes.
One of my friends is on a team and is trying to get me to play lock. I don't want to have to run that much and I don't want to get my ass kicked.
And yeah, running more than fifty metres at a time is just a silly idea.
I feel fine now.
You guys have been super-helpful re: my form. Might I prevail upon you again? As big l suggested, I've been doing some hinge-movement excercises to get my hips (and thus knees) back on the squats. I think I have it [vidurl=
Deadlifts continue to plague me. The last two reps of [vidurl=
from what i can see on the deadlifts it looks like you're moving your ass up before you move the bar
Your back isn't well positioned either - you need more arch from the beginning, but before you can even do that you need to seat yourself lower and not shoot up before the pull.
I thought the squats looked real good. The knees are still drifting forward a bit but it looks like that's mainly because you're going pretty deep. Nothing wrong there. On the last rep your hips started to come up before your shoulders, leaving you a long way forward. Keep an eye on that as it will probably become more prevalent at a higher weight.
The deads I think need more work. Watch your hips at the start of the pull. You set yourself up and then the first 4 inches of movement are your hips moving up without the bar doing anything. I did this for a while.
I don't believe the answer to that is to start with lower hips. I think it is more to do with a lack of tension through the hamstrings and glutes. At present, your hips are not in the optimum position when you start the pull, so what they're doing is moving upwards to get into that position. You need to change your setup to get them in a good position to start from.
The cues I've been using to tighten up the setup were like this:
Finding and maintaining that tension in my hamstrings was a big help for me to stop my hips rising early. It also shifted a lot of muscle soreness from my lower back to my glutes and hamstrings, which I'm interpreting as it shifting the focus to those areas, which is good.
because i started taking it 2 nights ago and umm
today i had the worst nosebleed ever, there was blood everywhere (probably made worse by the fact i take fish oil, but i've been taking that for 2 years with no problems)
I never get nosebleeds, and the only change I can think of is that I started taking ZMA
I googled, and some say too much zinc could cause nosebleeds...
any thoughts?
ffffff
i got blood on my nice shoes
I don't think it's that effective, but that describes pretty much every single (legal) supplement on the market right now.
The only ones I know about that actually have good studies and proven results are creatine and glutamine.
Bench was solid too. I'm going to test my maxes again next week when I'm well-rested but so far that's a gain of 15 lbs. on the squat max after one 4-week Sheiko cycle. So like I said, I'm testing all my maxes next week, then jumping into another Sheiko cycle the week after.
Woot. 8-)