[WotD] Friday (Part II)

[digitaldiscipline]

Friday's 2nd WotD - http://tinyurl.com/cljh9x - GVT Back Squats.

Comments

[girl-on-a-stick.livejournal.com]

Good old dumbells will work okay in lieu of a barbell for squats, not ideal for heavy loads though.

What's your training goals, or just "life"?

[etcet.livejournal.com]

That's just it - the heaviest DBs I have on hand are 65's, so that's a max of 130# (I usually hold them in what, with kettlebells, would be called a racked position - right in front of my collarbones, so more or less akin to a front squat, though easier on the wrists / more comfortable for me due to the more neutral position).

The goals, such as they are, are a combination of fitness and aesthetics - "I don't want to be chagrined to see what I look like in pictures taken with my shirt off when I'm not paying attention" / "I want to see some ab definition" / "I want to be able to bench 1.5x / DL 3x / squat 2x / etc my bodyweight."

The fitness journey was initially done for health reasons (my cholesterol was 240 four years ago), and I'm enjoying the self-hack of it all. Being a more competent human being is nice. If there are positive side benefits (confidence, positive attention, survival in the face of a zombie invasion, whatever), that's all to the good.

Some of the background got laid out here (http://digitaldiscipline.wordpress.com/about/), and my occasional wankery about my ongoing motivations ends up under the corresponding tag (http://digitaldiscipline.wordpress.com/category/motivations/) on the other blog.

[saansaturday]

One-legged squats are a decent substitution up to a point--you can hold a plate or dumbbell in front of yourself, or DBs in the rack position, to weight them a bit. Weighted step-ups, with no help from the bottom leg, are another good substitution but I think I saw you were doing them in another workout and may not want to do them on an additional day.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the weighted bench steps were at lunchtime (I try to do minimal assist, but sometimes the rear calf joins in, especially on my weaker (left) leg).

[saansaturday]

It helps to pull your toes up away from the floor to keep from using assistance.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I'd really like to improve my Pistols, which I pretty much need a weight in hands for (due to balance, primarily), but at the extreme bottom of the ROM, with my ass on my Achilles' tendon, getting moving is darn challenging. Heh.

[saansaturday]

Yeah, they are tough. If you want to get better at them you'd do well to substitute them for back squats. There is a tutorial at beastskills.com, don't know if you know it or if it might help you but perhaps you'll get some helpful tips there.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

*nodding* I think this is the direction in which I'll end up needing to go. Thanks. :-)