I actually pushed it back that far, . She was trying to get me in on Thursday, but I'm traveling thur-tues and then I know it will be tough to get away from work for ~2hrs or w/e that week so i was like "F it, I've waited this long" so made it 2 weeks out.

The administrative woman I talked to definitely recognized your name x100 and was very nice and helpful.

When I do that I get things called "buttwink" (still not positive what that is, I assume it's not driving the hips up properly and getting the butt to go "up" from the bottom. That's also why my depth was sucking a bit at the higher weight.

On my warmups I do not think I have either of those form issues, it's just on my work sets that there are potential issues with and that's what's frustrating me b/c those are the ones that would injure me.

yeah plan on being there for a couple hours - especially the first visit. The great thing about this guy is he will take his time and answer all your questions. That's not great if you're in a hurry, because when he's busy, he runs behind schedule. I dont plan on being anywhere for a while when I go there.

If you use the meters in front of the building, put $2 in (two hours) so you dont have to worry about a parking ticket. I've been getting appointments at 3:15pm lately so I can park for free in the back lot.

If the lady on the phone didnt have an accent, it was Kim. If she had an accent, that's Dr K's wife Sylvie (sp?).


You need to get to a point when you feel when your low back is losing its extension imo. I think that's a hard skill to learn for a lot of people.

It was definitely Sylvie. She told me all about the meters vs. parking lot, etc. lol.

Hmm, well if you stopped me mid-lift I think I could answer that question of whether or not my back is losing its extension. But during a heavier lift, I just don't sense it automatically. I mean hell, I don't sense blood gushing from everywhere when playing basketball, or big knobby bruises. It's just not something I can focus on unless I do it compartmentally.

I do think I'm getting better though. Now I have some idea if I maybe didn't keep my back in extension or if I definitely did.

7/27 log

Rolling at work while I was staying late waiting for someone to review stuff.

Thorough mobility/activation at the gym.

Squat
45x2x5
70x1x5
105x1x3
140x1x2
175x3x5

I went down 20lbs. I vowed to tape as many sets as possible from here on out for review b/c when I'm doing weights I can't tell if I'm doing it right and I'm not sure I every will be able to tell for sure at work weights.

But I forgot to charge my camera's batteries. Booo. I have 1 recording of me almost completing 1 warmup rep.

I definitely got enough depth on my work sets. In fact, I went down as far as I could a couple times and knocked myself off balance a bit (hit the safety bars). During one of my warmup sets I went as low as possible and maybe my knee didn't track right b/c I felt a pain in my left knee. But didn't feel it again as I moved up in weight. I did feel going significantly below parallel on the 175 reps made it tough for me to dig out so I'm not sure my form was amazing or not.

Bench
45x2x5
75x1x5
105x1x3 - my right bicep was feeling really tweaked after this one, I think I have a really tight adhesion there and I rolled it a ton before every set after this with a lacrosse ball and it helped a ton.
135x1x2
150x2x5 - I had a bit of trouble with the last rep of my 2nd set. So I asked someone to spot me on the last set. I said "Please don't touch the bar unless I get trapped underneath it." So OF COURSE HE STARTS TOUCHING IT AFTER MY 1ST GODDAMN REP. FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
150x1x2
150x1x2.5 I reset and TOLD HIM AGAIN NOT TO TOUCH THE @%#$$%# BAR. And he ended up touching it on my last rep before I failed it, but I was probably failing it anyway.

I'm super happy with how "easy" 150 was after struggling at 145 for so long. I really feel my base is a lot better after reading interpleader's log and watching videos. I just feel I get everything so much more tight now and keep it that way (still can improve a ton though).

Pullthroughs
27.5x1x10
37.5x1x10
47.5x1x10
52.5x2x10

I tried pullups but felt strain in my bicep where the adhesion is so I didn't press and couldn't even do 1. So I skipped them. I assume I got it tight from a few days ago when I did pullups/chins with a 10lb weight. Gotta remember to lacrosse ball roll on my arms sometimes too, lol.

Going to Michigan tomorrow for a few days. May hit up a gym but not sure what I'll be able to do. Gonna keep it reasonable on quats & DLs and concentrate on form and keeping my lower back tight.

Log 7/29-8/1

I've been on vacation in Michigan at a beach and haven't gotten to a gym at all the last few days. I did bring my foam roller & lacrosse ball along so have done a bit of rolling. Also, I've done some sprinting about 50% in the water while at the beach and while I can't say I'm using any specific programming, my legs feel pretty shot afterwards each time.

I also have been eating a lot of food. You know, like ice cream, pie, hot dogs, fried perch, and other healthy things, . I guess I have had quite a few solid meals as well with a bit of protein in there somewhere. It will be interesting to see since I don't seem to be sick, if after this vacation I will be back on track right away or how lifts will go.

I better roll a bit more tonight as I've got ~6 hours driving and 4 hours on a ferry tomorrow, lol.

water sprinting itt. Sick!

Lol. Yeah. It has nothing to do with me being pretty much unable to swim a consistent stroke for more than a couple dozen feet.

8/3 log

Got in rolling, mobility, and a bit of activation (I kind of missed it and then did some while waiting to work in on the squat rack).

All feedback on form for any of the lifts is VERY appreciated.

I spent too long doing these lifts without being able to check my form and I have a feeling it may suck and not protect my lower back. I've felt some "crunchiness" in it recently. I've always had loose ligaments so having joints 'crack' when moving is common but while my lower back doesn't feel the same, it def feels sore a lot and kind of 'crunchy' for lack of a better term. I plan to ask Cha about it on Sunday & the chiro about that on Monday.

Squat
45x3x5
70x1x5
105x1x3
140x1x2

I meant to do 175 work sets b/c I was having such a hard time and bad form on 195. But it looks from the video like I accidentally did 195, . Confirm/deny?

195x1x2
195x1x3
195x1x0

So I decided to do a much lower weight for extra form check:

145x1x5
145x1x5 (shot from behind)

Press
45x3x5
60x1x3
75x1x2
90x1x5
90x1x3
90x1x4

DL
135x2x5 - shot this so I could see what my form was like on a light weight.
140x1x3
200x1x2
240x1x5 - I think i see some back rounding compared to the light weight video. How bad is this form? Should I go down in weight or stay here and focus more on keeping my back as tight and straight as possible before moving up?

My g/f's lifts:

Squat
24x3x5
50x1x5
65x1x5
75x1x5 (shot from behind)
75x1x5 - on this set my g/f felt a pain near her right knee and stopped after finishing the set. She had surgery on her knee a couple years ago so stuff like this is very mentally scary and her initial reaction was to quit lifting squats completely but I think she realizes it's likely due to adhesions (she's finding tons of very knotted spots foam rolling). Still, we want to be careful.

Is there anything she's doing wrong on squats? Her form on everything seems v v good to me so far.

Press
15x1x5
24x1x3
29x1x2
36.5x1x5
36.5x1x5
36.5x1x5

DL
24x1x5
forgot a warmup set in here
50x1x3
70x1x2
85x1x5

Your back is rounding a little on the heavy DLs. Keep working on your glutes imo.

Your squats - remind me & we'll watch some of your squat vids here on Sunday.

GF - squat looks pretty good, but maybe she's a bit shaky with her support muscles in the knees, hips & core. Get her to roll lots imo. Keep squatting & if that shakiness continues, she should probably do some single leg stuff & core work imo.

Her DL - she isnt finishing. I think she has APT. It looks like her quads are super tight & she has the look that's similar to people with APT. Get her to read this imo: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_..._force_couples
Then roll & stretch the quads & hips and do all that other stuff I suggested for you to do - pull throughs, supine bridges, etc...

noticed your gf was hitting the bar off the rack on the way down. I injured my right hip doing that when I first started about 7 months ago. I still have issues with it from time to time. also, I imagine you would lose tension in your back and hamstrings.

8/5 log

Rolling/mobility/activation

Box Squats (awwww jeah! - 2nd time doing these, 1st time was a couple months ago at Cha59's)
45x5x3
80x3
105x2
135x5 (shot from ~45 degrees)
135x5 (shot from side)
135x5 (shot from back)

Watching the videos I'm STILL basically bent over horizontally a TON. But it felt like I was less bent over than doing LBBS last few times. 135 was pretty tough and the extra time spent on a box squat rep pausing at the bottom while keeping everything tight made it much harder to not be out of breath for 5 reps.

Feedback anyone? Is this looking better than my LBBS squats?

Bench
45x5x2
75x5
105x3
150x4
150x3
150x3

This was frustrating but I was concentrating a ton on keeping everything tight so I dno. Maybe my bar speed slowed down and/or I wasn't thinking "up" enough. Still though, I think getting a great set up is what's going to allow me to make gains long-term so w/e. I may move down to 147.5 next time and start micro-loading imo.

1 set of pull throughs & 1 set of 6 pullups @ BW before the gym closed. Booo!

Anyway, it still seems like I'm struggling to learn all of the major lifts. I end up pretty disappointed in myself a lot of times I'm done at the gym. At least when I did my old workout I was more content since I had no real goals. But ehh, I'm not that disappointed, just kinda feel the effort I've put in hasn't really resulted in anything special yet.

Sitting down very slow onto the box - very good

very little buttwink, but there's still a bit there

knees out - pretty good, but they're not perfect yet

I think you should keep box squatting for a while. It will make you better at regular squats when you go back to doing them.

[QUOTE=cha59;28011112]Sitting down very slow onto the box - very good

very little buttwink, but there's still a bit there

knees out - pretty good, but they're not perfect yet

I was thinking this exact thing. In fact, F regular squats maybe I will just box squat the rest of my life (only kinda kidding ).

I agree about my knees. My g/f is having a bit of trouble keeping her knees perfect on all reps, but it's much better than what I was doing when I started. Is this issues super super common? Ripp in SS basically says "yeah just force them out for a few reps and then you'll be gtg" or something I think.

I still don't know what buttwink is. Is this something Ripp talks about? It'd be nice if someone could try to explain it and let me know how to correct it. Does it have to do with hip drive?

Also - how about the fact that I'm bent over so much? Is it too much? I know Ripp talks about that in SS so I'll reread but until Miles pointed it out I didn't even think about it.

8/6 log

Went walking around Lake Harriet (maybe almost 3 miles) today with a friend. I know that doesn't really count so I went to the gym and did mobility, a bit of activation and then did bball drills.

My 50 FT time was a PR for me: 7:39.

I'm really not sure how much faster I can do it. I was just dead by the end (guess my cardio went somewhere with all this lifting, lol) and I got into a v good rhythm but it involved a slight jump I think, which isn't long-term good imo for FTs. Lots of WIM imo but I don't really expect to beat it any time.....soon.

I did a bunch of low post from the lower left (facing the basket) block. I still seem to have "better" move there even though it seems that block is left-hand dominant and I'm right-handed. I still have no idea if any of the moves I'm drilling will work in a game, lol. But as I mentioned above in my blog I took that German HS kid to school down low and he was all sorts of dunky/athletic.

I also did the Mikan drill for 100 layups. I didn't really time myself but while I had a couple stretches of 20+ in a row, I definitely missed some. That was at the end and I was dragging a bit.

My mid-range jumper seemed okay. I feel a bit more stable and explosive when I jump, but I noticed I even have the tendency to cave my knees in when shooting sometimes which is dumb and maybe part of the whole issue I'm having with knee cave on squats.

Anyway, it will be hard to tell if any of what I'm doing will actually help my bball or not, but I'm excited and hopeful. I still like the idea of having my g/f tape some of my shooting. Or maybe I can buy a tripod or something and get feedback.

fu

LOL...!

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight...

How many did you miss?

I think I missed 20-25 when I got 7:55, so I can def improve

I have no idea how many I missed. I am not good at keeping multiple numbers in my head when playing. Like, I never know the score when I pay pickup, b/c I have to look at the scoreboard every play to make sure I have it right.

I got off to a shaky start and at some point in the middle just reeled off a bunch almost in a row. And in that stretch I got every bounce and roll, etc. Way, way above EV imo. At ~40 FTs I definitely struggled and missed like 3-4 in a row and finished out with a few other misses but then I think 4 in a row to close it out.

For some reason I thought your record was in the low 7 minutes and I thought "man, this is probably about as good as it gets, no world champ belt for me, ever.".

But now I'm mounting my new shiny belt above my computer with my HU world champ belt and am going to flex in front of it each time I write my log.

Btw, do you dribble when you do them or just run with the ball in your hand? I dribble but am obviously traveling a bunch and stuff. And your comment about going fast had me not taking an extra dribble at the line this time and instead just setting one foot as I turned around and then going right up.

Yeah I dribble but only because it's natural for me to run around with the ball that way, plus I think it's good to just increase my ball handling ability.

I usually just plant and shoot but if I start missing I'll try and do different things to get the rhythm back, sometimes which is simply just slowing it down.

I'm suuuper streaky as well, but I think honestly it's just a lack of mental focus when I'm missing a bunch.

I went out today but shot like garbage and then some dude showed up so I gave up after one drill to play him to 11. I lead the whole way til it was 9-9 and then he made 2 long jumpers ftw. That's my biggest weakness in games is just not being in good enough shape to keep up at the end of the games. I would be so elite if games went to 5 or 7 lol

Gotta pour on the WIM imo. I play every game like there will be no second game. And usually outlast those games too. But when I play 1on1 it's vs. guys who aren't very good or in shape, lol. So I guess that's really what my advice is, .

8/7 log

Worked out yesterday at Cha59's basement gym for the first time in quite a while.

Did rolling/mobility/activation as usual.

Box Squats
45x5x2
55x5
80x3
110x2
145x5x3

He took video of these and my form appears to be very good again. It'd be great if he posts them and I can get feedback. I'm not exploding up the way I'd like off the box, but my lower back isn't flexing at all and my form seems better in general.

Press
45x5x3
60x3
75x2
90x5x3

PR! I always seem to press well at Cha's. Maybe it's the music, I dno. Anyway, we took videos of this too, which would be really helpful to get feedback on as my form def isn't perfect, although Cha confirmed my lower back is staying stable.

DL
135x5
135x4
135x3
200x2
225x5

I went back down in weight but was able to keep my lower back completely set with no flexing or rounding at this weight. I still have issues with my hips coming up before my shoulders as my glutes still are the limiting factor I think (as well as my core). Videos of this too. I did bird dogs in between sets on this and maybe that helped as well. Cha recommended it and it definitely didn't hurt.

I did a bit of accessory work too:
blast strap rows - 5, 8, 6, 8
reverse hyyyyyyyypers - 25lbs sans heavy foot thing - 10, 10, 10

Good workout imo, having someone knowledgeable there to help talk things through between sets was very helpful.

Oh and I saw Cha's Chiro today. He took a couple xrays of my neck and said it def was crooked horizontally. Vertically he seemed to think it was "ok" but obv I worked at computers a lot. He did an exam and did some preliminary adjustment stuff and ART on my neck, shoulders, left quads, and left bicep (which has been twitching the last 2-3 days). I will see if I can notice anything immediate from it in the next couple of days.

His Chiro was exceedingly modest considering his level of expertise although he did manage to smoothly name drop Adrian Peterson when he was describing how sometimes he will even use his knee (instead of thumb or palm) to do ART on patients with "thick" muscles. The Chiro also confirmed that Cha researches more than normal people and is very knowledgeable about a bunch of medical rehab, .

With the mold issue and the amount of work I have right now, I may or may not post vids soon. I kinda want to deal with that mold right now, but I'll probably wait.

That's got to be huge having cha there to watch your form.


lol I can see this chiro having to use all his strength to crack AP's back. Dudes a beast.....

That chiro used to be a light-heavy weight wrestler. He was the first American to win an Olympic medal in Greco-Roman wrestling. He won bronze in 1988 & silver in 1992. He's strong and could still probably kick AP's ass if he wanted to.

Yugo - tell him about your squat knee cave & old ankle injuries next time.

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r2IF7IYWHY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw16C5X2X84

There's one of each lift for you.