I can't even explain how much I miss lifting hard. I have to live through others now. Case in point one of my brothers at his latest contest.
https://youtube.com/shorts/xOBe3sGJE...h8IRh0mfeO07SB
I can't even explain how much I miss lifting hard. I have to live through others now. Case in point one of my brothers at his latest contest.
https://youtube.com/shorts/xOBe3sGJE...h8IRh0mfeO07SB
Hi, all:
I'm new here and this subject interests me. I started going to the gym again in May of 2022 after a layoff of about about 17 years. Before that, I trained for a few years after recovering from a lower back injury that kept me mostly in bed for close to ten years. Before that, I had some modest success in bench press competition in northern California in the late 1980s and very early 1990s. I left California in 1991 after rehabbing a long term shoulder injury and I was at the strongest I'd ever been by far because during my rehab, I finally listened to more experienced lifters and did what they told me to do. Then in 1991, I joined the Purdue University powerlifting club team as a graduate student, but before I could compete again I broke my wrist in a weird accident after a bad handoff on the incline bench press at a gym in Indianapolis. I lost my fire to compete after that, but I kept training until I ruined my lower back (L4-L5 herniation and a bad one) and landed in the hospital for a couple of weeks in 1994. My surgery was in 2001 and I was afraid to go to the gym until late 2003. From that point until I quit for no good reason in 2005-06, I regained a significant amount of my upper body strength, but legs were never the same due to some nerve damage from the back thing. I still don't know why I quit in 2005-06.
Fast forward to more recent time. Over the years, I could feel myself losing strength and mobility (I am 58 now), and I knew I needed to do something about it. The problem was, being "strong" was part of my person for so long, that I was embarrassed to go back to the gym andbe unable to do what I used to do. The strength I lost from 1994 to 2003 was minimal compared to now and I regained much of it very quickly because I was younger. I knew that now, not only would be starting from a far humbler position, but my age would limit my progress, both in terms of the rate as well as the upper limits of my capability. Another issue is that I developed some significant arthritis in both knees, which limited my ability walk.
In the spring of 2022, I fell during a pistol match and I needed so much help to get up that I realized, had I been alone, I could not have done it. That was what pushed me to get past my ego and fear of being "weak" because now, how I felt about it was a lot less important than the reality of doing something. So I've now been to the gym 226 since then, mostly four days per week, with some breaks due to illness and injuries, and a couple of planned breaks to recover. I have not missed any workouts since I re-started because I didn't feel like going. This level of discipline for this duration is new to me and makes me think of what I could have done with my natural ability in my youth with a better work ethic.
Right now I'm pushing on Monday and Thursday, then pulling on Tuesday and Friday. My lower body/legs are not neglected, but what I'm doing for them is less conventional. Going up the stairs four days per week, then walking relatively short distances between sets in the weight room has made a huge difference. The stairs over time helped me re-hab enough that a little walking became possible. Then bumping the walking a little more, I've been able to go without my walking stick for about 2.5 months now, which is a big deal, and I haven't fallen.
The upper body strength is progressing, but it's very slow. Had I known a year and a half ago how long it would take and how much consistent work it would require to get where I am now, I don't think I would have started and I'd be in much worse shape by now than I was. Now that I am here, though, I'm not quitting.
I used to thrive on benching and related assistance exercises twice per week, but now I'm thinking that it's too much. I should add that I can't lay on the flat bench yet (my back is improving, but I still cannot get on the bench and touch my head to the bench or my feet to the floor), so my primary exercise is now incline bench presses instead of it being an assistance movement for flat bench. Anyway, over the Labor Day holiday, my gym was closed, so I had a few extra days to rest and recover. I was significantly stronger for two workouts with more days between them. This leads me to believe that I need to transition from four days per week (pushing and pulling twice each) to a Monday/Wednesday/Friday routing during which I alternate pushing and pulling.
Anyway . . . that's my introduction.
Basically just deadlifted today.
405 x 3 and 225 x 30 was all I did of any substance. It was enough.
Anyone have good pictures or links for DB stands to make cleaning for lunges & etc easier?
DIY is fine, I've got friend or two that could fabricate something if I can show them design.
For 70 & 85lbs dumbbells currently though probably would add 105's eventually.
I've done some googling but all I found were stands for brand specific dial a weight db they only go to 80 lbs and are lot higher off the floor than I am looking for.
Doesn't need to be very high off floor, just cleaning them from floor is hard with the 85's
I don't currently have a Squat rack or cage or I would get the bench press ones that mount to a cage.
I completed #232 yesterday (upper back, rear/side delts, traps, biceps, and forearms). I find it interesting that muscle size is coming back much more quickly than strength. When I was young, I got stronger a lot faster than the muscle size progressed. Granted, I was training primarily for strength, but some hypertrophy is going to happen, especially doing assistance work. I've been at about the same body weight for about seven months now (after years of a slow and steady decline) and I weight less than when I was in the 9th grade, but I'm significantly leaner than I've been, perhaps ever. Being this lean and becoming progressively less squishy is new to me.
A side benefit as my mobility and stamina increase is that I've become motivated to practice shooting again. I can do it for an hour or two and maintain focus without much suffering in terms of being on my feet. The skill set is improving.
I finally videoed my squad. Wow!
My form stinks and I can’t even really count them.
What would you all suggest for fixing my squat form and depth? Drop down to like 135 and perfect form slowly work my way back up?
Lay of squats for a bit and just deadlift?
If I don't use a 12" box to gauge my depth, I start cheating pretty much immediately. My personal approach to correcting bad form is to back off on the weight until I'm confident I can perform the exercise with proper technique and full range of motion, then do a linear progression from there.