[WotD] Wednesday

[digitaldiscipline]

Singularly unimpressive.

- Back Squat - 1x5 @ 45#, 1x5 @ 105#, 1x5 @ 135#, 3x5 @ 145#
- Overhead Press - 1x5 # 45#, 3x5 @ 85#

There's obviously something very fucking wrong here, probably with my shoulders (most likely suspect: anterior deltoids exacerbated by entirely too much hunching over a keyboard), when I can bench press more than I can squat.

Yes, my legs are a little fried from yesterday, but this is just asinine. I guess it's just going to be a matter of, "do them until your shoulders stretch the fuck out, dipshit."

Yep, so unimpressive, it doesn't even warrant a workout icon. It gets the blah blah bitchypants one.

Comments

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

I don't get it. What is giving you trouble, exactly on the squats?

[etcet.livejournal.com]

1. Getting my hands anywhere close to the right place hurts when I'm under the bar. My shoulder mobility sucks, so to get the bar down near the scapular ridge, my hands are way out, almost to where I rack the bar (thumb is on the groove, give or take half an inch; I'm not a tall or wide guy (five eight on a good day)). Racking the bar onto my fingers at the end of a set has proven to be painful. I've occasionally taken to bracing the bar against my back with the underside of my wrists/forearm, rather than holding it properly.

(I'm trying to keep the bar further down my back, a'la Rippetoe, in the interest of reducing torque along my back, and pressure on my lower cervical vertebrae - there is meat down there, and it's gotta be better than putting it on that bony ridge at the C7/T1 junction, right? If I have to raise the bar up higher on my back/traps and do them more Olympic style, I will, but I would prefer not to if possible.)

I can't blame all of it on the collarbone I busted in college, because both arms have the same complaint. It's probably a flexibility thing, it might, to a lesser extent, be a posture thing.

2. At the bottom, I'm weak as shit (which is, of course, the weak point of the move), but I'm fairly confident my quads, glutes, hamstrings, and adductors can (or at least should) out-lift my pecs, delts, and triceps. I don't think it's unreasonable to ballpark a squat at 75% of deadlift, give or take?

It feels like the only thing working hard out of the hole is the outer half of my quads; maybe they're just that much weaker than everything else, and need/feel the work, or maybe they're overcompensating for something else that's wrong; I'm too new to be sure.

It's going to be a slow boat to get that flexibility; I'm hoping the clue light goes on as far as how to engage the leg muscles properly.

On the upside, at least my back's straight and tight.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I suspect I'm going to get very familiar with something like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4c95kosHes) for a while.

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

Yup, looks like a good idea. Do you do many "pull" movements other than pullups?

And I'm in favor of squatting with the bar down low, but then again I was lucky enough to get in some time with Rippetoe himself :)

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Rows, deadlifts (do those count?), the occasional X pulldown.

I will now be jealous of you for more than your good looks and interesting vacations. :-)

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

Overhead squats, even with just a broomstick, might help.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

There's a 10# bar at the office that I'm going to use for these. My lunchtime mobility check was about ][ above "pathetic."

OHS are my nemesis. I honestly think that anything more than about 35#, I'd drop on my goddamned head.

....

[maelstromsl.livejournal.com]

squatting less than you can bench is weird... and yeah, means something's wrong. Get a mirror out there and check your form. Work on those posterior delts because if you don't you'll look weird. A stretching routine (10minutes? No need to get crazy) post workout (for all workouts....) would probably really help you.

Re: ....

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I see the broomstick thing becoming an every-day-at-lunch practice.

Re: ....

[maelstromsl.livejournal.com]

sounds like a solid plan....

Re: ....

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Yeah. There's obviously something very, very fucked-up going on around here, and I can't say I'm a fan. Heh.