Weight Lifting

[Duces Tecum]

At the house I did some accessory work today. Curls, tri extensions, barbell rows, and did about a 100 yard walk with 125 on my back . . . Tomorrow is chest and more accessory work. Saturday may be cleans or more walking with weights.

What @TheNewbie writes.

Personal Experience: Early on I was suitcasing half my body weight for a furlong and feeling quite pleased. I then stumbled on to something by Mike Prevost (https://www.strongfirst.com/the-kettlebell-mile/).

Now in the second iteration, each weekday I carry 30% of bodyweight (again, suitcase carry) for one mile. Weight walking has been revelatory for me. As a personal testament, the kettlebell mile is very close to the perfect minimalist program. Add some kind of upper-body push (overhead press, pushups / bench press, or dips) and there you are.

[Duces Tecum]

Double tap.

[Duces Tecum]

I'm having this weird experience transitioning back from sitting up "bench press" (seated press gym machine) back to free weights. My control over the bar is gawd-awful. Even with the weight way down, I can almost toss the weight into the air, but, pressing it up evenly is a problem. I'm doing better in week 2, but, still feel like I'm capable of dropping a weight off one end or the other unintentionally.

So far I've managed not to hurt my bad neck in the transition. I know my PT would be roll-eyed and slack-jawed if I told her what I was doing. Cautiously optimistic.

Roy, are you staring at a point on the ceiling and pushing the bar towards that point? That approach helped me.

[TheNewbie]

What @TheNewbie writes.

Personal Experience: Early on I was suitcasing half my body weight for a furlong and feeling quite pleased. I then stumbled on to something by Mike Prevost (https://www.strongfirst.com/the-kettlebell-mile/).

Now in the second iteration, each weekday I carry 30% of bodyweight (again, suitcase carry) for one mile. Weight walking has been revelatory for me. As a personal testament, the kettlebell mile is very close to the perfect minimalist program. Add some kind of upper-body push (overhead press, pushups / bench press, or dips) and there you are.

You do that five days a week? That’s pretty good man! Do you switch hands throughout the walk?


The article you posted is interesting. I’ve noticed heavy and hi rep squatting made hiking with a pack easier.


I dead clean and presses today with 125 and then did 100 yards or so with 125 on my back. I’m already sore from the early weeks workouts so it didn’t take much today. Plus I’m limited at my house with what I can do because I’m too cheap to buy more weights.

[TheNewbie]

Thank God for the weight pile, it's my only solace lately. I liken weight lifting to the Glock platform in that it just works for me and I genuinely like it. Sure, I love all kinds of pistols, I own several non-Glocks and want to own oh so many more, but I quite happily carry a Glock every day.

I should do more cardio, I sorely miss the dojo, I crave hikes in my beloved Rockies, my sole kettlebell holds the floor down in the corner, my mountain bike's had a broken rear brake cable for two years and it's been longer than that since I've remotely done yoga...but damn I love lifting! When life forces me to abstain, I am lessened mentally and physically.

I've been dealing with a shoulder issue since Father's Day when I went golfing with long time friends who are dads themselves and my left shoulder has been pissed ever since. I'm not a golfer, but I do like to hit things and swear, so a day of drinking beer with friends I don't see nearly often enough was not to be missed. I've been working with a chiropractor and I'm definitely on the mend, but it forced me to change up a couple of things.

Ironically, I've had to ditch incline bench for flat bench because it's less stressful to the top of my shoulder joint...usually it works the other way for most shoulder pain. At 53, I've lessened the actual lb's and tried to focus more on the pause on each rep, bending the bar, a rock solid, braced platform for all lifts and technique over everything. T-Nation keeps me tweaking things and right now, Monday's see me doing a few warm up sets of 135lbs for 10-12 reps followed by 8 sets of 3 reps at 200lbs with minimal rest between sets.

Once I'd learned to squat properly (for me), I'd finally gotten to that love/hate level with squats that made me look forward to getting under the bar at least twice a week to hate on them. I've got arthritis in my joints and plenty of bone on bone in my knees, so no deeper than parallel is a rule my orthopedic surgeon insists I live by. Again, current shoulder impingement makes good form too painful to maintain, so what's T-Nation got for me? Hmm, Zercher squats, even better, sumo stance Zercher squats! Sweet, still lifting, still living.

I don't get up at 4:30am every weekday because I'm a Jocko devotee...I do it because life outside my Fortress of Solitude, er, I mean, garage gym, is a currently a bowl of stressful shit with a straw and no napkin. Those 30-45min of working out are as good as I can know it's going to be any given day. The day might not suck, but counting on that right now is stoopidly optimistic. Good news though, my lifting is going hell bent for leather. Zerchers hit muscles in my back that heavy rows and deadlifts just can't. Stress and cortisol leak out the soles of my bare feet as they anchor to the ground, anger and resentment are my spotters, dread and foreboding motivate me to squeeze in one more set...I lift, I live.

The squat is my stress medication. Yes they suck, yes I hate them, yes at times you end up with the “post squat flu”. Yet, no matter how bad my day is going, squats take the edge of the stress. Especially heavy and hi rep.


Decent eating and decent rest help a lot.

[RoyGBiv]

Roy, are you staring at a point on the ceiling and pushing the bar towards that point? That approach helped me.

Gonna try this next time.
Wife says "core" strength, but I think it's just being rusty with the movement. Muscles needed for balance are out of tone/practice.
It's definitely not a weight problem. I'm doing 15 reps and not struggling with the weight, just unsteady.

[Gun Mutt]

What's a term for body dysphoria without such a negative connotation? I've been 6' tall since I was 16yrs old and have always lived a physical life, so while I know I'm a little larger than average, I've never really felt "bigger" than most people. I'm old enough that passing the large mirror en route to my morning shower is a time for fact checking, nothing more, neither praise nor recrimination are given much consideration...it is what it is.

Yesterday, I'm at my buddy Mike's house and he's dying to show me the new Miller Bros sword and sheath he'd bought for zombies while he was drinking too much bourbon with too much disposable income he could access in such a state...not that anyone here would understand that phenomenon. It's ridiculously expensive and heavy and, of course, pretty cool, too. The main strap of the sheath goes over the right shoulder, the slimmer strap comes low to high across the chest. My friend is 6'3", owns and runs a construction company, he's grown a belly over the years and I know we both order 2XL shirts. I try to put the rig on and there's no chance the chest strap is going around me.

Mike is flummoxed, hell, he's incensed; he does think of himself as a "big guy" and he was recently measured for a new suit and his coat size is a 48L, how the hell does the chest strap not fit me? In my head: crap, I really gotta do more cardio 'cause the last suit I bought was a 48L. Of course, that was how many years ago and when the hell did I even last wear it? Most importantly, I should probably have a glass of that bourbon. Anyway, his gf produced a seamstress tape and I was somewhat smugly pleased to learn I'm currently 52" chest/back. Mike shakes his head and snorts derisively, you're still shorter than me, even if you are a freakin' silverback.

[Duces Tecum]

You do that five days a week? That’s pretty good man! Do you switch hands throughout the walk?


The article you posted is interesting. I’ve noticed heavy and hi rep squatting made hiking with a pack easier.


I dead clean and presses today with 125 and then did 100 yards or so with 125 on my back. I’m already sore from the early weeks workouts so it didn’t take much today. Plus I’m limited at my house with what I can do because I’m too cheap to buy more weights.

The article I linked to considers the KB Mile from a military perspective. So, yes, five days. If the program is too strenuous to do every day, maybe a lighter weight is appropriate. And hand switching is permitted.

[Duces Tecum]

Gonna try this next time. . . I'm doing 15 reps and not struggling with the weight, just unsteady.

Might be useful somehow: Rippetoe on the bench press. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T9UQ4FBVXI

[Crashpad]

What @TheNewbie writes.

Personal Experience: Early on I was suitcasing half my body weight for a furlong and feeling quite pleased. I then stumbled on to something by Mike Prevost (https://www.strongfirst.com/the-kettlebell-mile/).

Now in the second iteration, each weekday I carry 30% of bodyweight (again, suitcase carry) for one mile. Weight walking has been revelatory for me. As a personal testament, the kettlebell mile is very close to the perfect minimalist program. Add some kind of upper-body push (overhead press, pushups / bench press, or dips) and there you are.

I did the kettlebell mile this morning. I really liked it as my HR stayed in the zone for LSD work almost the entire mile. Another benef is that my shoulders, which I have issues with, feel great, even now four hours later. Think of doing a long dead hang or inversion table session. They actually feel better than that.