Thanks!

Went to see the chiro today. He confirmed that my g/f is most likely feeling "numbness" due to activating a bunch of muscles around the area she had surgery that haven't been activated properly in a while.

As for me, I added my forearms to the list of things that are crap and he did some decently painful stuff to them. Right now it's very clear he's doing the most to my neck. And while I didn't pay attention while I was there, I'm not sure he did anything specifically to my left leg that has that bad bball injury. But I think there's a better chance that he did stuff in other places this time to help with that area.

Also, per Cha's advice, I mentioned I was having a hard time keeping my knee out due to what I thought was an ankle thing. He thinks it most likely has to do with my EFT or something near my hip and not my ankle. Lol. But that my ankle mobility likely is impaired a bit by adhesions in my calf. So basically, I've got adhesions everywhere!

He also told me a couple of cool stories about people who were going to require 40k+ surgery/rehab and in a few weeks with him they were fine. My guess is the worst part of his job and the part he doesn't like is the medical profession and insurance companies basically ignoring ART when he has over a decade of examples of it being a huge difference maker. He has good reason for it and isn't negative about it, but it seems so stupid to me you know it's gotta be frustrating to an ART practitioner.

Before the ART he did some electrical stimulation machine thing, similar to what Cha I think just recently purchased.

Also, when I brought up 2p2, the chiro had no idea what I was talking about so I felt compelled to mention that Cha writes like 5 posts a day on here recommending and advocating ART on his behalf, lol.

He didn't know about 2+2? The ignorance, the audacity....

Lol. I just figured Cha would almost surely have had to mention us since he mentions him so many times on here. You know, just like "hey, btw, I mention your ART work and how amazing you are on this forum I post on like 234234324 times a day."

Btw, the chiro barely knew what "yelp" was. I think he is old school and doesn't spend much time at a computer in any way. Which is probably why he had time to get good at fixing people who do too much of that, .

Another anecdote was I mentioned to him a guy at our gym yesterday warned us we'd break our necks maybe doing squats if we didn't use one of those cushion things. He just looked really confused and then later made sure to say "no, weight lifting is very safe with good form, I'm not sure what that guy was talking about." Lol. I guess the chiro doesn't run into trolls or normal people too often. Based on what I read here, I'm surprised several people don't come up to me a day and advise I stop squatting immediately.

Also, pretty cool our gym has 4-5 barbell wrap pads next to the squat rack. And only one squat rack. Good ratio imo.

I dont think he spends much time on the computer. He's somewhat aware of the people I've sent his way though.

Its pretty cool that he has such a good understanding of working out the right way. Most doctors are ignorant when it comes to weightlifting.

Yeah. I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that someone who has 2 Olympic medals in wrestling maybe weightlifted in an effective and safe manner at some point in his life. This also would make sense that the Twins and Vikings like having him in to work with their trainers.

I'm sick again (sinus infection). Gonna demand antibiotics from my Dr. this time and not take no for an answer. No way am I willing to spend 2 weeks fighting this off on my own. I have a feeling I got it from my boss, shouldn't have gone to Buffalo Wild Wings with him on Tuesday (although we didn't share a drink or anything), .

@#$@#$@

8/15 log

I had to go to the Dr and got an antibiotic with some refills this time so in the future hopefully I can aggressively combat my next sinus infection. I rested a bunch more than I normally would Thur/Fri/Sat/Sun and I think it paid off as I felt completely fine yesterday and not sick in any way during my workout.

My workout itself on the other hand was a slightly mixed bag, but overall very good given me being sick I guess. No video this time though.

Rolling/mobility/activation. When doing the quad stretch during activation I was able to stetch out my left leg harder and longer than normal without intense prickly "pain" in that one problem area of my leg. Very encouraging. Can't wait for me other ART sessions this week. I thought he was ignoring that area last time but maybe he wasn't, .

Box Squats
45x5x2
60x5
90x3
120x2
155x5x3

I went up 5 lbs since my last workout which was Wednesday and was able to complete all reps. On the work ones my knees weren't kept 100% out on every rep and my back started to "crumple" a bit and go more horizontal than necessary a couple of times. And even if those were solid on a rep, I had very, very little speed going up. So, I think I'll stay at this weight for ~2 more sessions or maybe even more to work on form and speed.

I am definitely standing up straighter at the top of my squat per advice and I'm not sure it's helping much yet but it seems fine at least.

Press
45x5x3
60
75
90x5
90x3 (I hit my chin on the way up for the 4th rep and decided to rack)
90x4

Well, I got 90 at Cha's place over a week ago. This happened before on Press so there's a slight chance the weights at my gym are a bit heavier than they *should* be. Or, maybe more likely, I was sick and spent too long in between Press sessions and I just wasn't quite where I was. My form also was maybe overall a bit more awkward just b/c I was trying to keep my elbows forward so much.

DL
135x5
135x4
135x3
195x2
230x5

I got all 5 but my g/f said there was a bit of back rounding on the last rep. I couldn't do all 5 reps with overhand grip without a bit of slippage on my left hand. But I was very close. I'm hoping to stay at this weight a couple more sessions and wait for my form and grip to catch up.

My g/f did:

LBBS
18x5x3 (couldn't find the 24lbs soft bar)
45x3
60x2
75x5x3

No pain although she said her left knee was cracking sometimes. I think it's due to the running/biking/roller blading she's doing. She clearly can easily move up to 80lbs but I'm going to let her say when as it's more important that she mentally gains confidence in her knee before things get tougher.

Press
18x5x3
24x3
29x2
36.5x5x3

She can probably move up next time if she wants. We found a 24lbs soft bar for this thankfully so it went pretty well).

DL
34x5x2
50x3
75x2
90x5

She sometimes finishes ok and sometimes not as ok. She kept her lower back very straight and I was able to help her "squeeze" up more and get slack out of her setup before pulling finally which I think was good. I think I'll have her move up to 95lbs next time. Although on her first pull at 90lbs she basically gave up and I had to talk her into doing the pull as she mentally thought it was too heavy. Obv it wasn't as she did 5 clean reps, .

Move to mixed grip on the DL imo. Training your grip is very secondary, and you get grip work from the warm-ups + mixed grip as well. As long as form is acceptable, I'd move up in weights. You don't need to have flawless form - this will probably take too long and you miss out on a lot of strength increase. Only you can judge (or we, if you take vid) if form is acceptable enough to stay safe.


And girls are mentally weak

Lol. My g/f does sometimes read this just fyi. She's of course pretty strong mentally. The fact that she's doing complex barbell lifting with me at all when 0% of women she knows personally or sees at the gym do it definitely means something.

As for flawless form, I mean, I went up to 250 on DLs with not perfect form and had to reset all the way down to 220 or something b/c some sort of muscles are just behind. I think whatever strength I had before SS was "fake" strength. Or just major muscle group strength or something b/c it's not like I'm being lazy or not concentrating - I'm just having an lol hard time with good form moving up in weights. I can WIM my reps at keep going up but I think that may result in injury.

I am getting somewhat impatient though. I learned there are 3x3 and 5x5 leagues in Eden Prairie so I may join more bball teams and if I do, obv it will be harder to make gains when "in season".

My daughter & wife are both like your gf in that way.

You almost surely had adhesions that were causing that problem in your quads.

Cha - like my g/f in which way? That they are nervous about doing complex barbell lifts?

Yeah, I have adhesions all over. We'll see if all the weird tingley pain can go away given this ART. I am obv not too skeptical b/c I'm shelling out the money and seeing him and following his homework. But I also don't want to assume it will solve everything in case it doesn't. I got opinions from two separate PTs and an evaluation by the knee specialist who took an MRI. Yes, I realize that if/when the issue is 100% sorted out, this will just be another story of "zomg, why doesn't anyone know about ART?!"

about the fact she's afraid to try lifting weights she can handle

Oh, yeah. I think we all have that to some degree at some point. When I was trying to do 195 LBBS and bending so horizontal, it felt super heavy on my back and I'd definitely be slightly nervous, but I still just went down and up. While I'm glad I went to box squats, I haven't really injured myself in any way so far doing anything. I do think I've put a lot of stress on my lower back at certain points but some of that is the fact that it (and my core) seems weaker than everything else.

How do you deal with a mismatch when you are playing man on man?

From Dave Tate's ebook, The Vault,

"The more advanced the athlete, the shorter the
time spent per cycle (or time spent per max effort exercise). This is due to neuromuscular
coordination and motor learning. The advanced athlete can call upon more motor unit
activation (use more muscle) than the novice. For example, the novice may use 40% of
his total muscle while the advanced lifter will be able to use 80%."

On defense or offense?

For defense in a 5 on 5 game:

If the guy is smaller and quicker than I am I will try to do a few things:
1) Stay in front by anticipating the spot he's gonna go to and cheating off a bit.
2) Try to bait him into a long or mid-range 2.
3) Contest the shot even though I'm never close enough to block it - if possible get as much of my hand in between his eyes and the basket.

If I know he's a good 3 point shooter or I find that out, then I essentially front his 3 shot and take it away and make him go to wherever I think our D is better. If I'm guarding this guy for the whole game, I let my team know what I'm doing or I switch up taking away the 3 and giving up the 3, kind of dancing back and forth just a bit to keep him off balance.

If the guy is bigger than me I do a mini-fist pump b/c I really like playing guys bigger than I am.

1) I won't let them set up on the block when running downcourt.
2) If they get kind of set up I may decide not to front, but I probably try to front.
3) I try to keep them off balance by applying pressure somewhere on a part of their body I don't intend to guard. (Like if I expect a move to their right, I cheat that way but put pressure on their other side to entice them).
4) I body "foul" at several points when they have the ball but they are dubious fouls that can't or don't get called in pickup. This is also called "being physical" except I don't try to go strength vs. strength or play them straight up in the mismatch.

I wish I knew more "dirty" type things to get people more off balance or hook without them realizing it or whatever. But I don't even know how to do these things and don't commit almost any fouls not on the actual shot release. So when I say "foul" above, it's not something that gets called, but I say that b/c if the player was releasing his shot, it probably would get called. If that makes sense. But I don't know how to truly shove, hook, step on feet, set a nasty screen on purpose, etc. It may sound bad but some of those things I wish I knew b/c I'm pretty sure it happens to me in games and is never called.

On offense in a mismatch I usually pass the ball or spaz out with some post move and get a maybe okay shot off, lol. But then I get the offensive rebound so it's okay, .

It's pretty discouraging to think I'm already using 80% of my muscle .

Ok, ok. I know I'm a novice, but I am not a novice at doing dumbell lifting things so I was hoping a bit more would translate. If anything, I think it's made progressing a bit harder as I'm just not used to using all those other muscles that weren't getting worked out in isolation.

Dave Tate said he was using 50% of his when he was squatting something like 860. That's probably a conservative estimate, but I doubt you're using much over 50% yet. I think your gf is using less % than that for sure.

8/17 log

Went to the chiro. I swear he's doing more and more ART each time. I want it all and all right now! Lol.

It's funny the most painful thing he does has to do with the hip of my right leg (my left is the one messed up and my neck is what's crooked structurally). Man...

I also heard a cool story about Joe Nathan and graston.

I went to the gym and there were people to play bball with! I was quite out of shape and was blown by the end of the 1st game, so I blame that for the 3rd game results:

First two games we played 2vs.2. Me and this guy a bit older than me vs. two guys who just graduated HS. Both much more athletic than us (especially my teammate).

We killed them in the first game. I was killing down low offensively for like 3 straight baskets and then my opponent blocked my move (I still don't have good counter moves or fakes ) so the rest of the time I was MUCH more tentative. *sigh*

In the second game we barely won. I really struggled to dominate offensively. I of course shredded them on the boards, but man, it seems I need to be able to do more offensively against guys who I can just manhandle in terms of body positioning. Who cares that they can almost dunk and I can't touch the rim.

Third game two more guys joined. They chose "the tall guy" lol and my free rebounds ended. We *barely* lost that game. I got the offensive rebound on our 3 to win (next basket would win) and then turned right into a guy on the other team. Kind of flukey and I was frustrated but, meh.

Brag: After this game "the tall guy" (not that tall, maybe 6'2" I dno) specifically came up to me and said he basically never has played with anyone who has blocked him out that consistently.

Beat: He probably hasn't played anyone I'd consider *good* (hint: I don't consider myself good).

Variance: We lost anyway.

I thought I told you the Joe Nathan story. I know I told Greek. That's really cool that he got Nathan almost 100% healthy that quickly after Tommy John surgery.

Yesterday when I was there, I told him my left shoulder was all messed up. He worked on both and seemed to find more stuff in the right one than the left. A lot of times, stuff is wrong that we dont notice, but he does.

Yeah. I think he does notice a lot of stuff. I mean, it isn't quite as efficient, but just saying nothing, ever, and just doing what he says will get the same results imo. I'd like to think I'm being helpful with my feedback but, ehhhhh, he finds so much else, lol.

My g/f is somewhat skeptical of the whole thing. But I can't imagine any other process to try and fix my leg would have been less expensive. And likely less effective. If you told me it would take $X,XXX to get my leg and neck fixed 100%, I'd probably begrudgingly do it anyway. So, this should help with even more and while not 100%, also shouldn't be surgery or "real medicine" type #s. I'm somewhat convinced that a PT alone won't be able to help me fix those things based on the types of things I've tried the last 2 years.

Were those kids on their hs basketball team? You'd be pretty damn good in my book if you beat two hs bballers with a random out of shape guy.

My experience with PTs says they are about 1% as effective as Dr K.

I cancelled my next PT appointment because he's given me nothing I wasnt already doing on my own except for stuff that McGill says is either useless or bad.

So at a public HS like they just graduated from, I am almost positive neither are on the Varsity squad. Maybe 1 of them was on JV but my guess is that they simply are guys who have played a lot of pickup.

No way I'm beating two Varsity public school HSers with that guy on my team.

The Italian kid I played 1on1 a few weeks ago *did* play on his HS team. I assume Varsity. He is way better than me, and the guys I was playing with. I'm happy with going toe-to-toe for much of a 1 on 1 game vs. a HS Varsity stud though imo. Even if it's a HS in Italy, .

8/18 log

Did rolling/mobility/activation. The activation stretch for my quad zinged my problem area in my left leg more than last time I did the stretch but not much more. However, on spidermans holy crap I was feeling a lot of zingyness in my left leg. Not sure if that's good or bad. My chiro hasn't really told me if it's good or bad when I bring it up. I guess it's just supposed to get better the more my muscles get repaired.

Box squats
45x5x2
60x5
90x3
120x2
150x5x3

My speed was a bit better on my work set than last time. My g/f said my knee cave is WAY better than it used to be and there is only a very little wobbliness on my last set. I'd move up but I'm still not getting from sitting to standing as explosively as I'd like.

Bench
45x5x2
75x5
105x3
135x2
152.5x5x2
141.25x2 (one side of the bar wasn't loaded with 8.75 pounds, lol)
152.5x5 (I got it anyway, new PR wooo!)

Bench felt really good today. I think I failed at 150 last time but said "f it" b/c I did 150 the time before that and then got sick or whatever.

I just realized this means my bench is higher than my squat (box squat though). Does this mean I'm as ripped as busto yet? (lolz)

Planks
15 seconds x 5
15 seconds x 4
15 seconds x 3
15 seconds x 2
15 seconds x 1

Supersetted with Pullthroughs:
27.5x10
52.5x10
52.5x10
57.5x10
57.5x10

My g/f did:

LBBS
24x5x3
45x3
60x2
80x5x3 (PR as she finally was "ok" increasing. Made it look easy imo)

Bench
24x5x3
45x3
55x2
62.5x5x3 (PR)

She may or may not have done 5 reps on her last bench set. I am notorious for not counting (just as Cha) and thought she did 4. So she probably did 5. We're counting it.

My only real question right now is that this workout is taking ~2 hours from beginning to end. Which is just sooooo Fing long. I would say we could go somewhat faster I guess during the lifts but we're not just hanging out, we're setting up the new weight, doing a set, setting up the new eight, doing a set, etc.

What can we do to reduce the time this is taking? Less mobility? Fewer warmup sets? Any other tips?