200, 300, 400, 500 - A quest for greatness

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(mikeynov @ Sep. 09 2009,7:17)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Almost ready to either give up squatting or give up caring that I'm asymmetric.  Seriously, it's infuriating worrying so much about subtlety of form instead of just trying to get ******* stronger.</div>
Ok Mike.

Step back and take a nice, deep breath.  Never again on this log, nor this board will you utter the phrase &quot;give up squatting&quot;.  Never.  That's not the Mikeynov way.

The fact that you obsess about form suggests simply that you are simply trying to get flippity stronger the right way.  Don't let this get you down, nor upset you to the point of uttering what possibly could be one of the most insidious phrases one in strength training could ever mutter.

Everyone has a bad day every now and again.  Shake it off and beat the living snot out of the bar next time - albeit with good form.

You're making great progress, Mike.  Don't lose sight of that over a bad session.
 
Well sometimes it's the valleys that really make the peaks so exhilarating.

We both know you're just venting, personally I'd go with the &quot;screw it just get stronger&quot; over form Nazi-ism .You know what you're doing when it comes to programming and you know you'll work this out. You also know that you didn't get this far by indulging in negative self-talk...

The only way you won't conquer this is if you give up and we both know that ain't happening- good luck Mikey , it's just an off day.
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(RUSS @ Sep. 09 2009,11:21)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Well sometimes it's the valleys that really make the peaks so exhilarating.

We both know you're just venting, personally I'd go with the &quot;screw it just get stronger&quot; over form Nazi-ism .You know what you're doing when it comes to programming and you know you'll work this out. You also know that you didn't get this far by indulging in negative self-talk...

The only way you won't conquer this is if you give up and we both know that ain't happening- good luck Mikey , it's just an off day.
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Haha, I really wasn't that serious guys, just venting
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It is frustrating working so hard on form nazi-ism and randomly slipping into the same old habits, though.
 
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(mikeynov @ Sep. 09 2009,11:23)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">It is frustrating working so hard on form nazi-ism and randomly slipping into the same old habits, though.</div>
Let's just hope your butt isn't on sideways...
 
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(mikeynov @ Sep. 10 2009,5:23)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Haha, I really wasn't that serious guys, just venting
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It is frustrating working so hard on form nazi-ism and randomly slipping into the same old habits, though.</div>
give up the form nazi'ism and accept imperfections.

or go back to 135 and start again
 
135? I say go back to the bar and start again. What's the point of doing anything if you can't do it right?! You weird asymmetric freak, you!
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Of course, if you give up squats you can focus on more important things like OACs. Shrink those legs down and you'll be pumping them out like there's no tomorrow. What the hell do you want strong legs for anyway?

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(Aaron_F @ Sep. 10 2009,4:46)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(mikeynov @ Sep. 10 2009,5:23)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Haha, I really wasn't that serious guys, just venting
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It is frustrating working so hard on form nazi-ism and randomly slipping into the same old habits, though.</div>
give up the form nazi'ism and accept imperfections.

or go back to 135 and start again</div>
Let's be honest...nobody has ever gotten strong with anything less than perfect form. EVERY SINGLE STRENGTH ATHLETE ON THE PLANET WHO IS STRONG USES PERFECT FORM FOR EVERY REP!
 
Btw, I have a bootleg potential explanation as to why I have inherent squat weirdness on my right side...

Contrary to the idea of having &quot;adhesions&quot; built up there or something limited motion, I have mutant range of motion in my right hip, can turn my foot so far around on that side (past 180 degrees) that it looks like I'm disarticulating my hip, and I've used this since I was a kid to freak people the **** out occasionally.

Excess mobility = reduced stability = reduced strength, and given that I've had this ability to turn my hip all the way around on my right side most of my life, perhaps I have some sort of birth defect
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MAYBE I'M A LITERAL MUTANT.
 
Today's session went pretty well.  Squats still a bit of a mess, but oh well.

Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
225 x 5
225 x 5

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
205 x 5
205 x 5

Chins

Me x 3/side (2 finger assist)
Me + 75 x 5
Me + 75 x 5

Hook Grip Deadlifts

135 x warmup
225 x warmup
255 x 5 (video)
255 x 5

Discussion

I played around with squats a bit, testing the difference in hip shifting between my oly and regular shoes from the front.  Hip shifting is less noticeably in the oly shoes, but still apparent at basically every weight, including an empty bar.  It doesn't really get much worse as I add weight.

My sets were...alright.  I realized that I've been going lower lately than I had been, bordering on retard depth, and things looked a little better on my second set when I cut it closer to feractual parallel.

Bench and Deadlifts both felt noticeably easier, and I'd dare say hook grip is starting to feel less ridiculously painful.

Video of 255 x 5 hook here.

In terms of form analysis, I actually overcompensated as the set went on and got my *** too low for an &quot;optimal&quot; pull as per Rip's logic, though I'd rather compensate in that direction (extra work for legs) than the other one (stiff leg/roundback).
 
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(Aaron_F @ Sep. 11 2009,4:55)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">you on messenger?

or just AIM</div>
Yahoo messenger?

If so, no, just AIM...

And for anyone curious, my AIM name = blowdpanis
 
Good day form/strength wise...

Pause Band Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x 5
205 x 5

Chins

Me x 3/side (2 finger assist)
Me + 75 x 5
Me + 75 x 5

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
210 x 5
210 x 5

Hook Grip Deadlifts

135 x warmup
225 x warmup
255 x 5
255 x 5

Discussion

I played around with my balance in the context of using a band around my knees in squats again.  If you recall, I had previously noted that using a band seemed to actually HURT my asymmetry, in that I was heavily favoring one side going down.

But in that I now &quot;feel&quot; my balance all the way down, I was able to make this go away.  The result was that my squats were arguably more symmetric than ever.  Kind of interesting, actually.

I let the weight drop and went beltless in order to reinforce this fact, as opposed to jumping up to heavier weights just because I can.  Path of wisdom/labcoatery and all that.

Everything else feels pretty good.  My only strength limitation in deadlifts at this point is my grip, both in terms of strength and pain, though more the latter.  I'd like to get up to at least 275 for sets of 5 in the near-ish future, but I'll break in my grip carefully.
 
Band Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
205 x 5
205 x 5

Chins

Me x 3/side (2 finger assist)
Me + 75 x 5
Me + 75 x 5

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
210 x 5
210 x 5

Hook Grip Deadlifts

135 x warmup
225 x warmup
255 x 5 (video)
255 x 5

Discussion

Squats were only okay again today, primarily in the sense of hip shifting. It was weird, I was having real issues controlling this even with very, very light weights.

Everything else went fine, and here's a vid of my deadlifts, which I am attempting to make more consistent from rep to rep and abide by Rippetoe's guidelines:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qgy2P9vzzc
 
So, after years of trying to figure out what my deal is in squats, and what's going on with my hip, I might finally have an answer after talking with one of my instructors (sports PT) today: I might well have a retroverted hip on my right side.

If this is the case, what it implies is that I will never be quite symmetric, the line of pull on one side for my glutes, for example, are literally different than the other.
 
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(mikeynov @ Sep. 15 2009,1:33)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">So, after years of trying to figure out what my deal is in squats, and what's going on with my hip, I might finally have an answer after talking with one of my instructors (sports PT) today: I might well have a retroverted hip on my right side.

If this is the case, what it implies is that I will never be quite symmetric, the line of pull on one side for my glutes, for example, are literally different than the other.</div>
Hmmmm, so you butt is on sideways after all...
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Then again, from the beginning your quest was for greatness, not just for symmetry. This is simply another challenge for you to overcome.
 
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(TunnelRat @ Sep. 15 2009,9:37)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(mikeynov @ Sep. 15 2009,1:33)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">So, after years of trying to figure out what my deal is in squats, and what's going on with my hip, I might finally have an answer after talking with one of my instructors (sports PT) today: I might well have a retroverted hip on my right side.

If this is the case, what it implies is that I will never be quite symmetric, the line of pull on one side for my glutes, for example, are literally different than the other.</div>
Hmmmm, so you butt is on sideways after all...  
sad.gif


Then again, from the beginning your quest was for greatness, not just for symmetry. This is simply another challenge for you to overcome.</div>
It's actually kind of interesting, never sure why I've never figured this out. I can move my right hip into what looks like extreme external rotation, but cannot internally rotate it nearly as far as my left hip. So it's not just hypermobility at the joint, it's &quot;different&quot; mobility, the ROM corresponds to a different range of values between sides, as it were (i.e. &quot;normal&quot; is naturally more externally rotated on the right versus left).
 
With the knowledge and acceptance of my mutant asymmetry, today's workout went reasonably well.

Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup (band)
185 x warmup (band)
205 x 5 (band)
205 x 5 (no band)

Chins

Me x 3/side (2 finger assist)
Me + 75 x 5
Me + 75 x 5

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
210 x 5
210 x 5

Hook Grip Deadlifts

135 x warmup
225 x warmup
265 x 5
265 x 5

Discussion

Squats actually felt pretty good/symmetric today, and 205 felt easier than ever. This is good, may raise the weight tomorrow.

Deadlifts I decided to jump up another 10 lbs to see if it really mattered. Felt slightly more difficult in terms of grip, but still hugely manageable, as the absolute load is pretty damn low in respect to my strength. This may go to 275 soon, though I did tear a small chunk out of my thumb today
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We'll see how that feels tomorrow.
 
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