chrisof4 Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 The leg press I use is actually a horizontal leg press like this one:http://www.fitnessplus.com/Equipment/Selec...HorLegPress.jpg Even if I focus on keeping my spine neutral, heavy weights still end up bothering my back on it. I'd guess it's cause I'm kinda pinned between the shoulder pads and back support when pressing. Not an entirely natural movement. I'm doing it to start because it lets me get my knees and hips comfortable with weight over a full range of motion without much mental pressure to keep form tight. Gotcha. I have not really done heavy weights on the press, so I was curious. Something for me to watch also, since I have lower back problems anyway. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Styles Posted February 25, 2006 Author Share Posted February 25, 2006 02-25-2006 - Workout 16 of 16 Well, not really how I wanted to end the cycle, but I tried to do my grip work today. My hands weren't having any of it. Bending, Double Underhand Nothing. I started with a timber tie, realized how beat to crap my hands were, and just stopped. Finished it off with a little reverse style and double overhand. Block Weights Struggled to pick of the 25lber, decided it was better to let the hands rest. 20k Kettlebell Hah! I'm such a numbnuts. If I had looked at kettlebells in a store, there is no way I would have even considered making the 20k bell my first purchase. I have no business doing kettle bell exercises with this thing right now, let alone learning them with it. I can barely swing it with two hands or push press it once. No way is this a weight for me to use for conditioning. It will definitely be a motivator to keep my gym workouts in gear. Otherwise I have a useless 44lb hunk of iron sitting in my bedroom. I'm strongly tempted to get a 12k bell, which is much more appropriate for my current level of strength and conditioning. I'll wait at least 4 weeks though. Cycle Done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Styles Posted February 26, 2006 Author Share Posted February 26, 2006 Cycle Retrospective Cycle Results: PR DU Bend went from 6" FBBC 3/16" to 6" Grade 2 Bolt PR Block Weight went from 32.5lb blob deadlift to hovering a 35lb blob PR 2" Wrist Roller, alternating hands went from 50lbs to 70lbs PR Sledge Lever, from 26" down a 6lb sledge to an 8lb sledge I also finally managed to get a #2 close on video. Unfortunately, I think a lot of these PR's were learning to demonstrate strength built during my last cycle. What'd I learn? 1. I don't like to do yoga, so I won't do it. That makes it a bad choice for overall conditioning. 2. I am not appropriately conditioned to learn to squat or use heavy kettlebells. My body is almost totally deconditioned from not lifting weights in over 6 months. 3. My issues progressing on overhead levers were 2 fold in my last cycle. The first was mental, I didn't believe I could hit the levers, so I didn't. The second was an issue of my workout protocol. My hands need a lot of warm up before I can comfortably lever. I need to get my thumbs engorged with blood before they will be pain free during a heavy lever. This means multiple warm up sets with 2-5 reps each. 4. Bending, even double underhand, beats my hands up pretty badly. As bad as wrist rollers, if not worse. 5. If I drop my contrast baths and mittens from my grip recovery factors, I cannot expect to be ready to put in a full intensity grip workout twice a week, let alone the 3 times a week I tried at the beginning of this cycle. I am sick of wearing mittens to bed and dunking my hands in buckets every night. Actually, looking back at my log, I was even having trouble with 2x a week when I was doing my recovery factors. 6. If I don't do dexterity balls every night, I experience significant knuckle pain from bending. Dexterity balls are also one of the few grip recovery activities I actively enjoy. 7. Once I seasoned the Ironmind bending pads, I really like them. Leaving them wrapped with rubber bands around them helps to accelerate the seasoning process. 8. If I want to significantly increase my grip strength, I need to signficantly increase my overall body strength. I'm probably the weakest #2 closer there is. As a result, I'm struggling to add even minor increases on to my grip strength. Guys that have much greater overall strength find the goals I've been working towards for years attainable in months, sometimes even weeks. Quite frankly, I didn't really like getting beaten by a 15 year old with no prior grip experience at the Michigan Grip Contest. The fact is he was bigger than me, his core gym lifts were probably at least double mine, and all my grip specialization meant was I could almost keep up with him on the grip lifts, which he'd never trained. The grip guys that were competitive at the grip contest would also be competitive in contests involving barbells or other heavy objects. 9. When I get bored with my foods, I eat junk instead of eating healthy foods. I'd be ok with eating junk in addition to the healthy foods, but instead I push the health food right out of my diet. 10. Glucosamine causes my body to generate an unreasonable volume of gas, to the point where it is not a practical supplement for me. 11. I have to keep the humidifiers full constantly to counter the impact of the dry Chicago winter on the skin on my hands, IF I'm not lifting weights. For some reason lifting weights for the past week as helped improve the dry, cracking skin on my hands, even though I haven't been filling the humidifiers like I should. 12. I'm far more motivated by the prospect of doing lifts with/against others than I am by the prospect of beating my old PRs. Seeing what others are capable of forces me to recognize the reality that exists, instead of blissfully embracing the distorted reality I like. How will what I learned change my next cycle? 1. I'm going to rely upon increasing my overall body strength for the bulk of my grip progress. I need a bigger engine to increase my potential grip strength. This means my focus will be weight training for the whole body, not grip specialization. 2. Instead of worrying about how I maximize hand recovery to eek out whatever grip strength I can from twice a week workouts, I'm going to be content with working grip once a week while my body strength catches up. There will be no real plan for the grip work. The only hand recovery I'm going to do is dexterity balls. 3. I'm going to use the time saved by not obsessing over my grip work to obsess over recovery from my weight training. In other words, I'm going to make sure I sleep enough and include my core diet in my daily eating. 4. I'm going to make my core diet a little more flexible to increase the variety in what I plan to eat, so I don't introduce variety by replacing my core with junk. 5. I'm going to specifically train towards being competitive in grip contests. I have the potential to at least challenge those guys in the middle of the pack. If I'm not keeping up, it's cause I'm doing something wrong and need to fix it. Genetic potential has nothing to do with rankings after first and second place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkmann Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Wow, you've been busy lately. Let me see if I can catch up: Volume - you were correct in assuming I meant reps. It sounds like you have a pretty solid plan here. I may be displaying my own preferences than intended but I'm not a huge fan of anything over ten. I occasioanll do 12 or 20 but there is definitly a place for higher rep programs including trying to recondition you body back to lifting. By the same tokem, I can't recommend going af far to the other side (low reps) as I tend to. You'll find your place. Leg Press - I freaking hate the leg press, all of them, my wife loves them. Espeially the ones that don't let you load weights. Do what suits you but I might suggest that if you want to squat you have to squat. Try leanrning how to do split squats or supplement with lunges. Another option that just popped into my head is to use box squats, they aren't my favorite but they are a good learning tool. Kettlebell - Sorry to hear that it has you down for now. Don't let it collect too much dust, the strength of kettlebells lies in repetition. I gotta think you can swing it with a little work. Remeber the hips, it's all in the hips. It's a little akward and weird at first, don't think of it as cheating, it is how it is supposed to be done. Get both hands on that bad boy, squat down, as you explode up also go forward. The bell will swing itself. With your hand strength, you'll be able to do it with one hand in no time. You will get it done. You're back and legs will hurt like hell as a result. Beyond that stuff, I am no expert but, it sounds like you are really killing your wrists. You may want to use a little more restraint there. Wrist roller, levering and bending adds up to a lot of strain. I look forward to your next cycle. Best of luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Styles Posted February 26, 2006 Author Share Posted February 26, 2006 Cool, good to know I've got the right idea with the set / rep scheme. I'm not a huge fan of the leg press for long term use either. It'll only last 1-2 months before I switch over to some form of squat. I think getting some of my muscle back and limbering my joints up will make learning the movement correctly easier. Gripping the kettlebell is easy, that's the part I like. My limiting factor is concern over safety for my lower back and shoulders. I can swing the bell with two hands, but I don't feel like I have control over the weight as it swings back down between my thighs. There is a similar issue when I push press it. The weight goes up, but I have concern over the stability of my shoulder with the bell overhead. The reason I'm forcing myself to wait a month before deciding on an order with a 12k kettlebell is that I think it is highly likely in a month I will be able to comfortably use the 20k bell for easier movements. The strength I did have should come back fast. Wanting the ability to play with the 20k bell gives me good motivation to work hard and train smart. My wrists have been holding up ok. My thumbs are really the weak point in my hand. They always seem to suffer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Styles Posted February 27, 2006 Author Share Posted February 27, 2006 My next cycle can be found here: http://www.gripboard.com/index.php?showtopic=18176&hl= Compliance on the final 2 weeks recovery factors was only 80%. It'll get better in this new cycle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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