Health & Fitness, I think this is a first...... Options

[UNDEAD 1]

one thing i really like about this web site is how thorough he is.almost evry day i go in there hes uploaded more info. at a point where i was thinking i was doing some excer wrong because i was getting sore in places ive never been sore in (upper back between shoulder blades) he posts stretches that remedy this,the day it started hurting,lol. very impressed.

[Robert]

I've been really pleased with my gains in strength so far, even though I fell short of my original goal of being able to squat 2x my body weight. Which was mostly my fault for lightening up on my efforts due to problems with my Achilles tendon, which now has me in a walking cast for the next 6 weeks.
Nice thing is I've finally gotten to a decent weight on my overhead press, which has always been my biggest embarrassment.
I use to struggle with 120, now I'm doing 5x5 150lb
Since I can't work on my squats for 6 weeks, I'm now going to focus on chins an dips.
Both of which I suck at, especially dips.

Here is some great information concerning proper form when it comes to squats and a few other core exercises.
***WARNING***
While the information is great, it's almost painful to watch the videos because the guy has
a monotone voice
shows no enthusiasm
Each 10 minute video could probably be cut down for content to about 5 minutes.
Many of them are kind of funny to watch because as he talks about specific aspects of form, you'll catch him doing something else wrong that he previous told you not to do.

Squat Rx #1: Lower Back Rounding at the Bottom of the Squat
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Rq8CWv8UPAI

Squat Rx #2: GMing Out of the Hole
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wY4gwVlO_k0

Squat Rx #3: Engaging the Glutes and Hamstrings (Part I)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsoyHoQU4O4

Squat Rx #3: Engaging the Glutes and Hamstrings (Part II)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znPFEAtk8QE

Squat Rx #4: Bar Positioning and Squat Depth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eZ1HzoH0Rw

Squat Rx #5: Hip & Hamstring Mobility and Flexibility
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKnpmQNhc3w

Squat Rx #6: A Dozen Selected Exercises for Squatters (Part I)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIECuX8o88c

Squat Rx #6: A Dozen Selected Exercises for Squatters (Part II)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4NwygdsF_c

Squat Rx #7: Bands and Chains
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vAHvURlC3OA

Squat Rx #8: Shoes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKGLVDtq0S8

Squat Rx #9: JV Squats & Overhead Squats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60RPh2ueEds

Squat Rx #10: Set-Up & Breathing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXgEXiTCjqo

Squat Rx #11: Belts, Wraps, and Suits (Part I)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGrkfFr028

Squat Rx #11: Belts, Wraps, and Suits (Part II)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRi0bPuPN-o

Squat Rx #12: 5 Common Squatting Issues (Part I)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ2AB8mDsD4

Squat Rx #12: 5 Common Squatting Issues (Part II)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=steEXp9M4hQ

Squat Rx #13: Box, Pause, and OI Squats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDFR3bXhl4Q

Squat Rx #14: 7 "Core" Exercises
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnlO1pNHdVY

Squat Rx #15: The Front Squat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NRmdtSvmQQ

Squat Rx #16: The Hack Squat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLgPJVwemtU

Squat Rx Interlude: Kettlebells in September
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dt3k7ze8w4

Squat Rx #17: Westside Basics (Part I)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxnx5xozKCM

Squat Rx#17: Westside Basics (Part II)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F17X0ZeuT3o

Squat Rx #18: Concentric and Zercher Squats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwUSyDyF2XQ

Squat Rx #19: Dave Draper's "Top Squat"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=L5wTfRA5SrQ

Squat Rx #20: Thoughts on Power Cleans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I8bXE9k5BU



Without a doubt , the best exercise I found to teach your body how to squat properly is doing squats against a wall.
That;'s funny all by itself....
An exercise to teach you how to do an exercise.
Anyway, if you want to ensure you are squatting correctly, do some facing a wall with your feet about 2 inches away.
This teaches you how to stay as vertical as possible.
If you can't do it, your body hasn't learned the mechanics or you're not limber enough yet.
Another good one is laying a 2x4 on the ground, then stand on it with the back half of your foot on the board and the front half hanging over.
You should be able to squat while keep all your weight on your heels and your toes off the ground.
If you can't , then it shows you are leaning forward to far and probably rounding your back.

[UNDEAD 1]

my biggest issue lately is my hips have tightened up so badly its nearly impossible to sit for longer than 20 minutes. ive since been doing his stretches and its getting better. im the opposite from you,i have no problems for some reason with dips but i suck at chin ups,its the only excersise i cheat on .i still use the pull up machine where your knees lay on the knee board,when i can easily do 3 sets of 10 then i drop in weight,im at 40lbs resistance.my biggest gain has been push ups,i highly reccomend them.4 times a day i drop and do 25 to 30 ,2 sets regular and 2 incline.sucks about your achilles,that would drive me bananas !

[Hellfighter]

...my efforts due to problems with my Achilles tendon, which now has me in a walking cast for the next 6 weeks.
...........

I hope you get better.
My scariest moment in gym was me showing off with tackling a big load while sinking to do a floor seated lats pull routine. I could feel a double threatening rip of muscles around the McGloins area-as in double charlie horse where you least want one! .... The cramp lasted 10 secs while I tried to grin and pretend all was normal-but that was true scaryville for that short time. And the lesson for me was-Don't neglect STRETCHES first!


This post has been edited by Hellfighter: 06/02/08 6:12am

[UNDEAD 1]

i know you def dont want to f with your achilles but have you posted your problem in the forums druid? this guy wraps this whole work out around the squat-all core,im shore he has some excersise to compensate while your out of commish.ive been doing the kneeling squat as a stretch maybe that could be an option?dont know of the severity of your ankle.

[Robert]

The tendon injury is actually about 9 months old.
It's something which has comes an goes all the time but without every completely going away.
The original injury was cause or at least greatly aggravated when I took up jogging.
Now the order of the day is to immobilize as much as possible in an attempt to let it heal.
Over all it has the Dr's a little confused.
It shows every symptom of Plantar Fasciitis
pain that tends to be worse with the first few steps after awakening, when climbing stairs or when standing on tiptoe
pain after getting up from a seated position
pain after but not usually during exercise
What's really strange is WHERE it hurts, with Plantar Fasciitis it should hurt under the bottom of your heel. Mine hurts along both side of the Achilles tendon two inches above the back of the heel.

[UNDEAD 1]

thats one area i think you just have to let heal,i guess . id be frustrated as hell ,sounds like you had good gains in short time.

[Overheated]

interesting topic here....

i hope i might join this thread in without sending things into a tail spin.

little history first - in the fall months of 2006 while in the throws of my normal workout routines i damaged myself and had to give up my powerlifting. one of my co-workers who is as well from mobclan intro'd me to cod:uo and i began to play and eventually joined the clan. i had surgery to repair the damage in april 2007 and have stayed docile until april of this year. but now I'M BACK at the gym.

prior to my injury i was involved with a small group of very intense, driven, and knowledgeable powerlifters. they came from all walks; a computer jock, personal trainer, diesel mechanic, factory worker, small business owner, manager (me), and one mother (yes, we had a very strong lady with us as well). we met four times a week at various locations to workout. we would go to whatever facility that had the best setup for our desired workout of the day (several local gym's and two of these peoples houses who's garages were remade into workout areas). we would come focused and anxious for the workout and would discuss rarely anything but how to move the most weight, ingest the most calories, and drink the most water. we competed at local and regional powerlifting events and thoroughly enjoyed our sport.

two months have gone by on my comeback trail and all i can say is "i'm so happy to be back".

let there be no mistake here, i am NOT a bodybuilder. i am not here to tell anyone I look good in a speedo - i push, pull, and lift as much weight as my body will allow. i (when competing) am into three basic moves that make up the powerlifting competitions we take part in. Bench Press, Squat, and Dead-lift. we would pick out three events to compete in a year and then layout our training plans gearing up for those dates. on average a good recovery / strengthen / prepare cycle fits pretty well into a four months time. i competed at the 242 lbs. class which is middle of the road in body size. we had one super heavy (290 and up), one heavy (270-), three @ 242, one @ 215, and our gal was 185 (and she was rather attractive - lol). in the meets you get three attempts at each movement, take the best one of each movement then total the three together and that would determine your finish for the meet and if you wished you could have a fourth rep to attempt a PR or personal record - that didn't count in the comp. i do not want to go into great depth here about these friends of mine but i will say two impressive accomplishments of two of them. our 270 pounder is right now competing for the national drug free bench championship. he has a (in comp) PR of 735 lbs bench and we expect him to do very well. our 215 pounder has competed at the Arnold Classic in Ohio back in 2005 where he set his PR for leg press (not a comp move of ours but one he enjoys) for 12 reps at 1200 lbs each.

currently i am off working on my own without the group given my great strength loss due to inactivity. it's coming back fast and several of them have stopped by to keep me motivated. i have great anticipation for the day i return to the group and to workout with my friends again. we are meat heads and we love it.

are there any of you here powerlifting? i would enjoy comparing notes, techniques, ideas.

two of the greatest things i ever did to increase my strength was to video tape my lifts and compare them to everyone else stronger then me - this really opened my eyes and everyone else who has done it. another was to make sure to eat more then 10,000 calories every day - try that one i dare ya.

heated

[Robert]

I can't even imagining eating 10,000 calories / day.
Power Lifter? Shit man you were a power eater
That's a lot of ding dong's and hoho's.
That would work out to 26.3 packages <<<--- Yes I actually looked that fact up.
Or a single HoHo almost 11 feet long. LOL


Power lifting is a little to extreme for my needs but I have been pleasantly surprised at the gym to see some rather comparably smaller person out lift one of the big muscle heads, mainly because of better form.

Two Questions.
When you was forced to quit in 2006, did you go from a bulking phase into a cutting phase or just simply stop?

While actively involved in PL did you ever focus on cardio at all or 100% weights?

[Overheated]

to answer your fist question (i had to chuckle a bit ) there is no such thing as a cutting phase for a power-lifter. and the second as far as cardio is concerned - nope not a bit.

elaboration on first. a common phrase in the PL community is "fat is strength". keep as much bulk on you as possible. the bigger you are the stronger you are. i know that some will not agree but unless you really get into this sport you don't have a good understanding of what i mean. i am without a doubt 10% stronger with 20% body fat then at 10%.

elaboration on the second plays hand in hand with the first. don't do anything to cut your bulk as you will hurt your strength. being realistic about this you have to slow down the mental pictures. if you go to the gym four times a week and lift 12 to 15 tons in a sitting you are burning a huge amount of everything so it's not like you are going to look like a balloon or anything. there is some concern among members to trim a bit for the summer months but they do that through diet and to smaller extent with reps.

if i could ask, what was you "double your weight squat mark" you were shooting for? and did you every think of the video tape scenario - i know what your thinking, if i pulled out a video camera at the gym people would really think poorly. i don't think so - i think they would be impressed by the dedication. it's a great tool.

[Robert]

With your PL past my squat goal will probably sound wimpy but it was 400lbs
Technically it wouldn't be a true 2x body weight because I'm go anywhere from 205-210.
I rounded it to 400 to keep my goals as simple as possible.
For anyone who thinks 205 sounds a little heavy, not a bad weight for someone who stands slightly over 6' 4".

I never gave much thought to the video suggestion. I do know my form has improved a lot just for the 2 exercises I listed previously.
Practice squatting up close to a wall or while standing with the back half of your feet on a 2x4.
I think if people can do both of those, they're form is decent or at least good enough for basic weight training short of Olympic or power lifting.

I realized when I asked about cutting that it wasn't a normal part of PL, more like the final stage to body building.
I was just wondering if when you gave up on the PL due to injury, if you tried to cut.

Although I've no interest in PL for myself, heck I'll be happy when I can do a couple of dips without cheating.
I would be very interested in hearing what some of your best lifts were.
Squat
Deadlift
PowerClean
BP

If you have any generalized tips not listed here, I'm sure myself and several other people would be interested in hearing them.

[Hellfighter]

..........
For anyone who thinks 205 sounds a little heavy, not a bad weight for someone who stands slightly over 6' 4".
.......

I see Tim has company in the 'Big Dudes of Mob' hall of fame.

[Bargod]

How's everyone doing with their workouts?
My kids continue to get sick every other week, or pass it on to me and I just haven't been able to get to the gym regularly in months. It's killing me. My weight has stayed steady yet I keep loosening the belt. It's frustrating.
After some stomach bugs and pink-eye and lately chicken pox I think I'll be able to hit the gym tonight. I'm sure it will be just in time for the kids to pick up something new in the child care area.

[Robert]

I had a long way to go but was very happy with my progress following the 5x5 guide.
That is at least until I got sidelined for 7 weeks by my Achilles tendon.
Which I'm happy to say is now pain free for the 1st time in a year.
I never realized just how painful the tendon injury was until it healed.
The down side of that is I'm pretty much starting over on the 5x5 plan.
Not all the way over, just back to 100lbs which would be midway through week 4.
When I lifted last night, even with the light weight I could feel my back trying to round
due to my lack of flexibility an exercise over the last 7 weeks.

No excuses now as I got a good deal to start my home gym.
It's not what I planned on getting but it was too good of a deal to pass up.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p95/rvanechaute/gym1.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p95/rvanechaute/gym2.jpg
Still a few weights out in the garage, plus a low safety rack incase I get stuck at the bottom of a squat.
There is also attachments for leg extension/curl or a padded incline for preacher curls where the dip bar is at.
Overall....
Bench
Doubler set of 300lb Olympic weights, to cut down on having to switch them around.
Normal Bar
Easy Bar.
Trap Bar. <<--- I really like this one for dead lifts , no more skinned shins.
Hex Dumbbells going from 10-65lbs in 5 lb increments
Not bad for $400

Laying plywood and 3/4 inch rubber matting over the next week or two.
Then plan on building a three tier stand for the dumbbells and weight trees for the plates.
Hopefully in 6 months, I'll resell the bench an buy a full rack an different bench.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p95/rvanechaute/rack.jpg

Now for a little humor.
I found these while browsing video's people have uploaded to check their form
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0av7wVa-mXA

If you chat with Heated, point him to this one as I'm sure he'll get a laugh out of it, especially with his background.
DeadLift wih perfect form.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htbQ9UdbABw

Lastly, no reason to wear yourself out walking up a few stairs before you get on the treadmill
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p95/rva...ute/fitness.jpg


While I was laid up with my ankle, I did a lot of reading on the Internet about fitness and nutrition.
I came across an interesting site called crossfit.
Hardcore routines focused on strength and endurance.
If you haven't heard of them before, this intro to one of their video's does a great job of describing them.
Do you workout or do you train?
Have you ever puked while lifting?
Have you ever though it would be better to just die during a training session?
Does thinking about your workout tomorrow leave you afraid?
If you answered yes to these 3 questions, you may have what it takes to be a CrossFitter

Here is one of the video's on their site.
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/051204.wmv
The muscle ups on the rings are very impressive.
Maybe it's just me, but I find the idea of a women who could totally kick my ass, strangely attractive.

[Bargod]

Maybe it's just me, but I find the idea of a women who could totally kick my ass, strangely attractive.

I'd have to agree with you there... Unfortunately my pc doesn't seem to be playing .wmv's. It says can't load the page. I guess I don't have windows media set up.

That's a nice package and a great deal at $400. What's the diamond sha[ed bar? Is that the trap bar?

I pushed it way too hard last night and I'm feeling it today. I'm glad though. Hopefully my kids will stay healthy and I can get to the gym several times a week before heading out to London.