yeah those would work too. What I mentioned are the things that work best for me though.

Lots of DMS on the neck last night - that helped for sure. I dont think I'll need to go to the chiro before Wednesday.

2/18

My tentative plan for the next program:

Work out 3 days/wk
Have 4 different alternating workouts:

1- Bench with volume (something like 5x5)

2 - deadlift

3 - bench with heavier weight (something like 3x3)

4 - squat


smr & mobility

Volume bench day 1

55x10x2, 105x5x2, 145x5, 195x5
195 + 4 chains x 5 x 5

barbell rows
145x5, 195x5, 235 x 5 x 3

blast strap pushups
bwx10, added 4 chains x 6 x 2

PNF D2 flexion
30x12x3

I tried to avoid anything that would make my neck flare up. It didnt -

2/20

bowling

248 247 245 = 740 - woot!

avg now 215.4, 1st in the league

I threw the ball a little too slow in the 9th frame of the last game, it came in heavy and I left a 7-9 split If I had kept my ball speed where it should have been I could have shot 279 that last game & 774 for the series.

The team was 74-16 to start the night, and we bowled against the 2nd place team who was 10 points behind us. We took 25/30, so we're now ahead of them by 30! Two guys on my team bowled their all time best series', and my 740 is my 3rd best ever. We're on fire now - I hope we can keep this up.

Well done! Super consistent games there.

I don't know much about bowling, but your results seem really impressive! How much of a gap is there between you and top-level players?

On a completely unrelated note, I've been helping a friend out learning the barbell lifts. He has been doing really well for the most part in terms of form, but has flexibility issues on squats. He has a lot of trouble getting into a proper rack position with straight wrists, and has to take a really wide grip.

I have him doing scap wall slides and just trying to slowly narrow his grip, and assumed that after a few weeks he'd be OK, but he doesn't seem to be making much progress. Any advice?

Thanks TE!

Top level players like pros? The gap is huge - the conditions I bowl on are a lot easier than what the pros bowl on, and they're still shooting better scores than me. This is just a guess, but I'd probably avg ~20 pins/game less on pro conditions.

Your friend - is he doing any rolling? His shoulders sound similar to the way mine were a couple years ago, but I could not even grip the barbell with a wide grip at that point. ART fixed me right away - that would be an option for him.

For stuff to do himself, if he's not already rolling, the biggest areas to hit are the pecs and the upper back with a lacrosse ball. The next most important thing is to stretch and roll the thoracic spine (the area where your ribs attach) on a foam roller or PVC pipe.

Roll the pecs with a ball against a wall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzozw2Aso3M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8caF1Keg2XU

Loosening the hips/glutes and legs will actually have an effect on the shoulders as well.

2/21

smr & mobility

trap bar DL
180x5x2, 270x5, 320x3, 360x2, 410x2,
410 + 4 chains x 2 x 5 - ez
I think I figured out why my neck got messed up last time I did these. I think I was leaving my head too far forward after looking down to get my hands and feet in the right place. Tonight I packed my neck in before pulling and it felt fine. I still need it adjusted (seeing Dr K tomorrow), but there was no headache tonight.

reverse hypers
90x12x3

front squats
55x5x2, 105x5, 145x5, 195x3, 225x3
I leaned forward a little on all reps of the last set. Need to fix that.

chins
bw x 5 x 4

standing 1 arm cable rows
115x15x3

2/22

chiro - adjustments & ART

My pronator teres appears to be the muscle that's causing the most havoc in my right wrist. There were a lot of other messed up muscles in the right forearm, but he couldnt even get that one to loosen up all the way. At least I know which one it is & how to loosen it up stretch it now.


It still feels like a steel cable, but I think I now have a better idea of what I need to do to fix it.

Sick bowling man. My best series is a 708 and the only 700 I've had. I bowled for 3 seasons and moved, haven't tried to find a new team/league but it's a lot of fun. I've bowled house conditions and average 210 and bowled sport conditions and average 170. Most people don't quite understand the difficulty gap between house/sport.

Your posts in this forum are awesome.

Cheers

Thanks Josh!

Wow - 40 pin difference, that's huge. I've bowled on difficult conditions a lot, but never bowled on sport conditions before. I'm not sure I ever want to

It's really not that fun... haha

TBF I didn't really have the proper equipment for it either. You really should have a selection of balls for varying condition and I only had one.

I would imagine its much more fun being able to tell friends you bowled a 700 (on house conditions) than "I bowled a 620 (or something) on sport conditions", when the latter might be harder to do. Throwing strikes is fun imo.

2/23

ME bench week 1

smr & mobility

bench press
55x10x2, 105x8x2, 145x5, 195x3,

added reverse bands for assistance
237x3, 267x3, 297x2, 327x1, 337x4, failed 5th !#@$%
- I got it ~80% of the way up and couldnt lock it out. My right side failed me - the left would have got it if the right had. This is weird because my right shoulder feels like its 100% and is the one that was (supposedly) fixed by surgery ~15 years ago. The left one has an unrepaired partially torn tendon and is the one that still gives me a bit of trouble, but its stronger for some reason.

272x8

blast strap rows
12x3

alternating DB curls
30x8, 35x8, 40x6, 45x6, 50x5

dips
bw x 10x2
swole arms

1 arm cable pulldown
115x10, 125x8, 140x8x2

face pulls
115x12, 125x10x2

banded jacknifes
12, 15
I've been doing these with my hands holding onto 25 lb DBs and my right wrist strapped. This feels great and it makes the movement more effective because the weights keep my hands from sliding back.

Bros gonna bro imo, .

yeah, Tates program calls for curls as an assistance exercises some of the time, but I had been ignoring that until now. I just got the itch to throw them in tonight.

Interestingly, my left side is much weaker than my right on the curls, and I felt slight discomfort in my left shoulder on the heaviest set. Its probably a good exercise for me to do right now.

Dips are not a bro exercise though imo.

Dips are right up there with Pull Ups imo. I've been doing them with a mini band across my shoulders. Really helps with being explosive.

Awesome bench PR back there btw cha. Havnt been online much and just saw it the other day. Surely there more in the tank if you can lock down your lower body and get some more leg drive?

Thanks KRS! yeah, my form definitely wasnt perfect on that PR - I have room for improvement for sure. The thing I am doing better is keeping my shoulder blades tucked in, but I need to work on getting some better leg drive.

Cressey on pull ups: http://www.ericcressey.com/strength-...-ups-essential

2/25

smr & mobility

safety bar box squats
80x5, 150x5, 190x5, 220x3, 235x3, 235 + 4 chains x 3 x 5

reverse hypers
90x15x2

RDL
145x5, 235x5, 285x5, 325x5x2

blast strap fallouts
12x2

Cleinen came over & lifted today - it was his 1st time doing barbell lifts.

2/27

bowling!!

236 267 246 = 749! 2nd best series ever & 3rd 700 in a row. I never had 2 in a row before this. I missed an easy spare (a 4 pin) or I might have beat or tied my 760 from earlier this year.

avg now 216.8 - 1st in league

I got new finger grips 33 games ago - I've averaged 224.6 since then. I got my 1st new Nano Storm 63 games ago - I've averaged 220.4 since then.

I think along with the improved equipment, the biggest thing that's helped me recently is my hand strength. For several years up until the past several weeks, my right ring finger was kind of useless due to a tendon issue (which is probably related to forearm muscle adhesions). I've been beating the hell out of that forearm with my DMS and now I'm able to get more lift on the ball than ever because I can use both fingers and they are very strong now

The team started out tonight 99-21. The 2nd place team was 72-48 & we bowled against them. We went 27-3, so we're now 126-24 & running away with this third!!! I hope we can keep this up!

Sure you're not gonna go pro?

yeah, but I kinda want to bowl some tournaments though.

ty!


A few good links imo:

8 Tips to Give Your Program More Pull
by Ben Bruno – 2/23/2012


The Secret of Loaded Carries
by Dan John – 1/31/2011


Quantifying the Farmer's Walk
by Shon Grosse – 12/09/2011