Grh122 Posted January 12, 2006 Author Share Posted January 12, 2006 (edited) Tuesday Undirected but productive grip and bending work. Limited due to several injuries (tendonitis in left elbow, a pulled muscle near my right lat). Made progress in high DO form by isolating how the lats are used and figuring out what I have been doing to pull the right lat/middle back muscle. In addition to pullups as an assistance exercise for bending (which I have done for quite some time now), I decided to add bent over rowing (esp. dumbbell rowing) to my workouts. I need to do some full range medium weight weight lifting for my lats. Wednesday Neck work - 100 lbs. x 10 assisted reps with IM neck harness. I exaggerated the range, starting with head very low and ending upright with head tilted back in order to fully stretch the muscles of the upper back below the neck. This seems to be a very effective approach. Assistance involves holding onto the triangular piece of metal with both hands. - some rear neck bridging - some side neck work (Anderson rolls?) against a wall. - teeth lift - 110 lbs. x 1 Ab work - weighted situps: 25 lbs. behind head x 8 reps Breathing exercises (chest expansion) - a number of attempts to break a chain wrapped around my upper torso via chest expansion. I usually practice these with the nylon belt that came with the IM Headstrap, and another nylon belt that I got from Ironmind. - hot water bottle blowing attempts - several A comment on the breathing exercises: I am intrigued by the potential in the chest expansion exercises that the Mighty Atom did. Today I finally bought a 4' length of 155 lb. test chain in order to try and break it. I tested it using a Rolling Thunder and 200 lbs. on a loading pin and it didn't break, even after bouncing it, so it is actually capable of well over 200 lbs. Miscellaneous I have a number of mild injuries (pulled muscles) from DO bending that affect my chest, triceps, shoulders and upper back. After attempting to bench press I realized this and decided instead to do light-weight higher rep work. Overhead press: 75 lbs. x ~16. Also did some pullups, and made some attempts at handstand pushups. Edited January 12, 2006 by Grh122 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grh122 Posted January 19, 2006 Author Share Posted January 19, 2006 (edited) Changes from my original plan: Grippers: I learned to properly set a gripper from an article by Heath Sexton - this approach is more effective as a training technique, as it stretches out the hand and hits the fingers and middle of the hand better. Now that I know how to set a gripper, I am less tempted to pick up the grippers so often, since I have found that I can get a better workout and really feel that my hands have been thoroughly worked when I am done. Added TUG #5 training for index and middle fingers Added plate wrist curls (currently using 22 and 1/2 lbs.) (left: several reps, right, struggling with 1 rep) Added Formulator work Added 6 lb. sledge work (all directions) with higher reps (formerly used an 8 lb. sledge) Tried some of the exercises from Crossfit (freestanding handstand pushups, ring dips, planches). At my bodyweight (195) these are pretty hard. Areas where I have gained the most: Neck work: rear, sides, front Abs (weighted situps: 40 lbs. x 1 behind neck, almost to parallel and back up) Thighs and calves (squats and calf raises) Wrists and forearms: several PRs in last two months: tore real deck of cards, bent used horseshoe mostly without pipes, bent 6" G5 using reverse grip Hands have gained a lot in size and in how strong they feel, but this so far has not carried over to grippers Summary Double overhand bending was going very well - I did a crush-down of a red nail from 100 degrees; put a good warp in several G8 6"s, and was able to easily crush-down some G8s ... until: left-arm elbow tendonitis got worse and worse, pulled a muscle in my upper middle back on the right side (between the spinal column and the right lat), and somehow wore down my right shoulder/upper chest area even though it doesn't feel painful. I can tell this from a loss in strength with overhead press, right arm is lagging. Thus high DO bending is on hold for a while, I will focus on other exercises to continue building strength in the key areas. When I resume DO bending I hope to do some G5 volume. Up until now I have focused on positioning and technique, along with isometrics for building kink and crush-down strength. Volume should give me both technique improvement and strength gains next time out. The 20-rep squat program was highly effective, I have already reached my goals for squat so I will use this approach to improve my overhead press, pullup strength and deadlift strength. Current plan Overhead press: use the 20-rep approach Pullups and bent-over rowing: 20-rep approach Deadlift (can't DL due to lower back condition) - do the following instead: parallel grip DLs, good mornings, sumo DLs, SLDLs, Zerchers and squats Grippers: two and only two high-intensity workouts per week Wrists and forearms: continue what I have been doing since it has been very effective Edited January 19, 2006 by Grh122 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grh122 Posted January 20, 2006 Author Share Posted January 20, 2006 Wednesday Neck bridging - several raises to bridge position without assistance from hands - several sets of multiple reps rocking back and forth (nose to floor) - several reps to each side (this is the first time I have been able to go from a rear bridge to a partial side bridge) - barbell pullover and press from full bridge position (nose touching floor) - 60 lbs. x 1 Thursday Warmup - jogging in place, jumping jacks - hanging leg raises (+ 10 lbs. ankle weights) - 6 raises (legs bent at knee) Back Shrug bar deadlift: - 284 x 6 - 304 x 4 - 324 x 4 - 324 x 6 Rear Squats - 250 x 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grh122 Posted January 21, 2006 Author Share Posted January 21, 2006 Forearms (Extension) /Wrists (left elbow is recovering from tendonitis, I am making a transition from therapy to strength training using the Formulator) Formulator - several warmup sets - (17 and 1/2 lbs. x 28 flexion (part of warmup, flexion is tomorrow)) - 15 lbs. x 20 - 15 lbs. x 20 (on this set, I stretched/contracted the muscles of my mid-back between each rep) IM Wrist Reinforcer - 7 and 1/2 lbs. x 20 right, left 8 lb. Sledge - radial abduction: several reps, several max attempts, right hand only - pronation: several reps, right only Dumbbell Reverse Curls - 24 lbs. - several reps, right only Other - breathing exercises (chest expansion with heavy-duty nylon belt) - stretching/static muscle contraction exercises for my mid-back area (pulled muscle on right side, probably one of the spinal erector muscles) - this helped - stretching/static contraction for forearms - some rear neck bridging Rear Squats - warmup: 250 for a couple of reps - 265 x 10 - 270 x 10 Finished workout with several sets of squats: lighter-weight squats, un-weighted squats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grh122 Posted January 25, 2006 Author Share Posted January 25, 2006 (edited) 1/21/2006 General Conditioning - unloaded wood from a pickup truck (lots of large un-split logs, similar to barrel lifting) (rounded back heavy lifts) - ~35 minutes - power snatch: 115 x 1,1; 135 x 1,1,0 (missed on last attempt) Forearms (Flexion) Formulator - 25 lbs. x 38 (had a contest with a friend, he did 54 reps) Arm wrestling - right: 1, 0 Edited January 25, 2006 by Grh122 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grh122 Posted January 26, 2006 Author Share Posted January 26, 2006 (edited) 1/23/2006, 1/24/2006 Grip, Forearm and Wrist Training Grippers, TUG #5, 6 Lb. Sledge - worked on strengthening index and middle fingers, mainly right hand (left arm tendonitis). Multiple reps/attempts/holds with Trainer, BB SA, #2, RB 240N. Some 2 and 3 finger closes and inverted closes. Several sledge hammer sets: radial abduction and pronation. Some choker closes. Formulator - Flexion: 35 lb. x 20 - Extension: 20 lb. x 24 Pinch Grip - Rolling Thunder lifts (120 to 130 lb. range) - PDA Blobette attempts (30 lb.) - Beef Builder pinch block - several attempts left and right, 52 and 1/2 lb. (cleared ground with left) - 35 lb. block weight, several attempts Recently I realized that an old injury to my right wrist must have caused fairly extensive nerve damage that has had lasting effects. My left hand pinch lifting is consistently better than my right (I'm right handed). Some things are affected more than others, pinch the most. Edited January 26, 2006 by Grh122 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grh122 Posted January 27, 2006 Author Share Posted January 27, 2006 1/25/2006 Horseshoes - (right-side) 1 used un-marked shoe from slightly bent start to finished, no pipes - (right-side) 1 Diamond brand 'OPL' shoe (new shoe, very tough) - from unbent to 3/4 bent, used pipes - (left-side) 1 St. Croix Forge 'H-0' shoe from slightly bent start - to half-way 1/26/2006 Bending - A bit of isometric work with a G5 5.5. but had to hold back due to left elbow. Felt very strong and I it appears that my assistance work to strengthen my index and middle fingers and forearm extensors (Formulator, reverse curls) has started to pay off. Squats - 300 x 5 - 290 x 7 - 295 x 4 Weighted Situps - 25 lb. x 7 Planned: lat work: bent-over barbell or dumbbell rowing as soon as my left elbow can handle it. I've been doing some warmup sets of right-arm dumbbell rowing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grh122 Posted February 3, 2006 Author Share Posted February 3, 2006 (skipped recording several workouts, including some bending and armwrestling. Did some intense work on strengthening my forearm extensors and index and middle fingers as assistance work for DO bending (right only). I'm also experimenting with a DO form that involves the right hand doing the bending while the left hand only does bracing. This allows me to pull upwards with more force using my right index and middle fingers - otherwise it's more dependent on equal left-right pulling upwards/inwards mainly with index fingers of each hand). 2/01/2006 Rear Squats - 250 x 13 (Olympic style, narrow stance, bar high on traps) - 305 x 5 (same stance) Stiff leg Deads - These are done with a standard bar and 50 lb. plates, standing on 2 x 12" planks (3 planks) so that the bar is just above my toes. Overhand grip, no straps. - 260 x 4 - 300 x 3 (first time I've tried 300 lbs. with SLDLs, had to rest the bar on my knees after one of the reps to adjust my grip) Next up is Zercher deadlifts or rock lifting for rounded-back lifting, then bent-over rowing with an emphasis on targeting my lower lats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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