Hahahahahaha lolllllllll

Collide with a girl so hard she has to leave the game.

Is confident an apology is unnecessary.

I'm opposite of that I guess, but I'm really non-confrontational. I'm quick to say 'sorry' whenever there is hard contact, even when it's usually their fault. Plus they're always worse off than I am.

I wouldn't say I'm confrontational. I'd just say that I may be overly logical and when I play basketball I'm super emotional BUT still try to logic through everything. For instance, I'm an awful, just awful lines judge in volleyball. I played in HS and when I got injured I'd often call the lines during our games. And I was apparently pretty bad - I tried to be as fair and as good as possible but I jobbed our team clearly out of calls, the other team out of calls. Like, they actual ref would have to overturn calls I made.

And I for sure was trying very hard at it. I just get emotionally into things I'm a part of (it's easier if I'm just watching random dudes or NBA - I'm relatively objective then).

But yeah, to this day I'm like 99% sure it was a foul on her.

In recent years I'm much better (I think I only got one or zero Ts in several recent seasons of rec ball) but there was that string of like 2+ games where guys tried to punch me in the throat.

Thought I'd ask here about some rolling and ARTS since you and Cha read it a lot.

I've been reading some articles and noticed that rolling has helped in carpal tunnel. My friend has what doctors diagnose as mild carpal tunnel, and from my friend's description, his fingers start to hurt really bad after an hour or so of typing or using the mouse if he doesn't rest it for a while. He even quit his job a few years back because it involved a lot of typing and he just couldn't do it.

He said his doctors didn't recommend any type of treatment, and I guess he's learned to make it work, but it sounds terrible to me so I'm recommending him to try some rolling on his forearms to see if it helps.

Are there any good sites I could refer him to, or just specific techniques or locations to be rolled that might help the wrist/finger areas?

Also, when I rolled my calves as you guys advised me to, is it normal that right after the rolling, I'm feeling a lot of pain? It actually feels worse than it did before I rolled it, but the next day there was no pain at all -- I'll definitely continue rolling though to see if it helps with my calves and knees in the future.

I will post the link to a vid on forearms (that is where the wrist stuff is at) for SMR. A ball of some sort is the best implement imo.

But even better is an ART chiropractor certified at the biomechanics level (also a lot more expensive). Our Dr. has a few stories of programmers who literally were about to have surgery and then after a few weeks of sessions it was clear surgery was a very unnecessary idea.

I've gotten soreness/pain from typing in the past but since doing SMR, aside from things getting gummed up with wrist sprains, it helps a *ton*. I was actually showing my coworkers forearm SMR today and my lacrosse ball then disappeared for like 3 hours.

Your calves - No, that doesnt sound good. There should be no pain after the rolling. There is a nerve that runs down deep right in the middle of the calf - I hope you arent rolling that?

Your friend's wrist - start with post #27 in this thread and read the next few: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/85...ardio-1105686/
Buy that book imo.

ART would likely help more than anything. Look for someone who is Biomechanics level certified: http://www.activerelease.com/providerSearch.asp

I'll have him try out rolling his forearms for a bit and see if he notices any improvement before seeking out a certified guy -- it might be hard to talk him into paying for it before he feels it's worthwhile as I certainly don't know enough about the topic to be convincing.

I think I was making a mistake rolling my calves, right where you said I shouldn't (lol).

Just texted him the link in the other thread about trigger points, and he's currently driving to the nearest Walgreens to see if they have lacrosse balls. Guess he's somewhat excited.

Yeah, hitting nerves isn't good. I also sometimes (with calves especially) have a hard time relaxing it while I'm rolling it. The best way to do it until you've done it a bunch is to just really try to relax the muscle you're rolling, relax into the pain/ball. You don't want the pain to radiate anywhere (nerve) or to roll on bones (you can up against/under bones fine, just direct pressure on your bone isn't helping anything).

The parts of my calves I usually have the most luck with is the "meaty" upper sides on the back and then down those sides. I also avoid the middle but probably b/c I had done a lot of rolling by the time I worried about my calves. And still sometimes I roll my calves crappily b/c I don't get them relaxed well, the muscle just kind of balls up instead and instead of loosening it, it can get worse. But I'm pretty patient nowadays to really stay relaxed and not try to hurry it up.

I'm betting against Walgreens carrying them. Sporting goods stores like Dick's and Sports Authority carry them.


This is really good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxr9-IB0Rr4

Bill Hartman is Mike Robertson's partner.

4/20 log

Dribbled and shot for ~1 hour. No real specific dribbling drills but my left wrist is close to better (as far as dribbling, still can't do a proper pushup on it) and that is making a big difference too.

4/20 log

We checked out a new gym to try out - the biggest nicest chain in our area. Man what a debacle. I had been communicating via email and they set me up with an appointment at the wrong location and then the person at the location we went to was super dumb. She started off asking 3 times what our goals were (what are your goals? [we give specific answers] So what are you trying to achieve? [we give a bit more detail] What would you like to be accomplishing? [we pause > 3 full seconds not knowing what to say]. It felt like a goddamn Monty Python skit.

Then when we say the types of lifts we do it goes like this:
"What kind of exercises do you do?"
"Squats, Deadlifts, we're interested in the equipment you have for barbell lifts."

She gives a blank stare so my g/f chimes in: "also bench and overhead pressing".

"So do you guys do any lower body stuff?"

> 3 seconds of silence

Anyway after the tour (my only question is what their basketball court schedule is, which I had to reminder the sales person of repeatedly - I never saw one) she starts hemming and hawing over us working out there and we have to sign up blah blah, exactly what I was assured via email wasn't the case. She disappears to get the bball schedule and returns instead with the sales manager who makes a longwinded point and then launches into lord knows how long of a monologue so I have to cut him off and we leave.

Just terrible.

Oh and they had 1 power rack, 1 squat rack (safety bar too high for my g/f), and hex plates (no olympic type stuff at all either). Oh, but two smith-machines that we at first thought might be racks. FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU

So we went to our current gym and did:

LBBS
250x3 (mental fail on the 4th rep)
250x2
250xf
225x6 (pretty easy)

Bench
I had to use the adjustable bench that isn't stable moves, it has ~1-2 inches of movement forwards/backwards, almost like it's tipping....It did not go well.

152.5x2 - I barely could do the 2nd rep and my g/f said my elbows flared.
152.5x3 - barely

Moved to normal bench which opened up. At this point my shoulder felt tweaked and I basically wanted to give up lifting for the rest of my life (the whole day was going really crappy for me and my g/f and we were both in awful moods to start).

152x4...allllmost 5 (got it up with a bit of an "all you" rep). Man.

Skipped DL as my lower back felt really sore (tweaked when squatting).

Glad I didn't sustain any real injuries, the whole day was a huge fiasco.

4/22 log

So we did just DL today and worked up to 1rm since we're going to start 5/3/1 probably Wednesday. I'm sure SS could still work or TM could work well in theory for me but I seem to have a lot of mental weak links and the gradualness of 5/3/1 I think may suit me better short-term as well as long-term.

When I woke up my lower back was shot but I did a bunch of glute/ham SMR. My shoulder after grocery shopping was the worst it's been in several weeks, so I did a ton of SMR and pec SMR too - had to even do more pec SMR during mobility before lifting when my shoulder started burning again. JFC, lol.

DL (I would have gone for 265x5 today, which is my previous 5rm PR but with back parallel to the ground and rounding).

265x1 - holy crap this felt like it barely moved....
275x1 - I might have quit here but my g/f said my form was still solid.
285xf - not a real fail, I stopped b4 it even moved so didn't spend any energy but it felt hard
285x1 - bit of mid-back rounding, my butt didn't come up too much, apparently good form! It was hard for me to tell b/c my lower back, while not feeling worse, was already sore anyway.
295x1 WR - bam. I probably should be able to get a bit more but I was pumped since my g/f said my back didn't round much (mid-back did a bit) and my butt stayed down.

I went for 300x1 but my back/legs were just fried. Still though, super happy with this.

My g/f pulled 155 without any issues then failed 165 and then 160 but I think her back was shot too....probably should have tried 160 earlier.

is seeing an art/chriropractor guy something that should be done only after you injure something or is it helpful for preventing things if you dont currently have noticable problems? like just getting regular adjustments etc whatever they do

If you don't have any real injuries at all I'd maybe recommend doing SMR consistently and getting really good at that, moving up to rolling with a PVC pipe (or rumble roller I guess) and lacrosse ball. But if you still have nagging tight areas or do injure yourself it may be worth it to go to a chiro who has biomechanics certification.

Anyway, I do think it would be helpful but it definitely costs $$. If you see a chiro already, though, def switch to one who is beiomechanics certified and can also do ART - might as well if you're spending the time and money already.

+1^


congrats on the WR!!!

After reading all that other stuff, I was waiting to see something about blowing out your back or something. At least the story ended on a high note. I'm disappointed in what happened at (I assume) Lifetime. It seems ridiculous that finding a good gym in Eden Prairie is like finding bigfoot.

Nice WR work broski

Yeah. I gotta check out LA Fitness and YMCA now. However their closest spots are in East Edina, which should actually be fine but originally when I worked in Minnetonka I was worried about going through extra traffic (starts right before Edina) to get to them. But from where I work now, with any of those 3 chains (LA, YMCA, Lifetime) I have multiple options on the way home if my g/f and I aren't working out together.

With all the mental issues I had with 1 and 2 rep DL sets a few months ago, I'm very happy with the 295. This weekend was all messed up in general but today is a new week!

Also I got a call yesterday from someone at Lifetime apologizing like 5 times (I emailed my contact there following up with what happened). Unfortunately it seems their next closest location only has 2 squat racks, hex plates, and no olympic type stuff (no bumpers, women's bar, round plates, etc.)

And btw, there are plenty of fitness places in Eden Prairie, but I just can't seem to find any with much barbell lifting equipment (except benches ldo).


The Lifetime we visited allegedly has Timberwolves players visit and runs 3 pickup games a day at a pretty high level (they said the highest in the Twin Cities). Not sure I believe that but where do the players then go to do compound barbell lifts? lol

If all LA Fitness' are similar, you can save yourself a lot of headaches by staying far, far away from that facility.

Hmmm, yeah I've read some reviews that the LA Fitness' here are not the greatest but they are pretty inexpensive and the one we'd go to does have 3 squat racks at least. From initial research and my estimating, these are our options (all prices after our health insurance reimbursement for going 12+ times/month):

$14/month - Community Center (current)
$15/month - LA Fitness
$31/month - YMCA
$41 or $46/month - Lifetime (the higher price is to be able to go to that one we visited)

All potential options would be access to multiple clubs and they all have a club within 5-10 mins of where my g/f works (which is huge for her since she hits an extra 10-30mins of traffic after work during rush hour) and have multiple options for me commuting home and have a club within 15 mins of where we live. I still have yet to check out YMCA - hopefully they have better barbell equipment. But so far that LA Fitness "leads the pack" with 3 racks. I did see some photos of the YMCA (http://www.ymcatwincities.org/locati...mca/amenities/), seems from the last pic they have at least 3 flat benches and at least 2 racks (+ 1 squat rack maybe).

Lifetime for sure is the "nicest" and "premier" club - the one we visited was suuuper nice tbh. Tons of space, really high ceilings, several big studios for group stuff, yoga all the time (hot yoga too ldo), etc. Their pool was kinda small in comparison (my g/f likes to swim) but it was a real bummer they couldn't have some olympic plates, 2 extra racks instead of smith machines, and 2 or 3 sets of bumper plates. *sigh*

Ok so putting together a 5/3/1 routine - going to start with "Boring but big" assistance routine (so the first assistance exercise would just be more of the main lift, e.g. more OHP after OHP work sets) and lift 3 days per week instead of 4.

But I'm having trouble choosing assistance. So far I've got:

OHP - chins/pullups? I likely cannot do 10 reps at BW though atm, especially since I haven't been doing any of these since my shoulder issue. Should I use assistance or just do more sets and get a total # of reps (he says 100 in a week which is a lot imo if I do them on one day).
DL - maybe ghetto GHRs? Something else? Hanging leg raises we haven't done before and look tough.
Bench - DB rows
Squat - I have no idea what assistance...his example is leg extension or leg press. What about good mornings? Or maybe some ab work - Cha, any thoughts?

I'm excited to get this locked in and go through the first 5/3/1 cycle!

Weighted lunges are another suggestion from the ebook for squat assistance (the Periodization Bible section), maybe face pulls or shrugs as options on bench day.

Yeah, I can list what is in the book but that looks somewhat complex and I have only done lunches with DBs (I'd want to use a BB for weighted lunges I assume but maybe not). I feel in the past lunges seemed hard on my knees so I'm also unsure I know how to do them right.

One person in my gym does light squats as DL assistance, and light DLs as squat assistance. Not sure how optimal this is, but Ive definitely read about it somewhere else on the net too.

When I did 5-3-1 I pretty much scrapped his exercise recommendations for assistance stuff. I can go through some of the stuff I did & let you know.

Hanging leg raises shouldnt be done if you arent 100% confident in your ability to do them. They flex the low back and arent a great exercise at all imo.

This article might give you some ideas for stuff you want to do: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...imonth_program

Integrating stuff like this with 5-3-1 for the big lifts would be a good idea imo. Read that and let me know what your thoughts are (I'm hoping it will give you good ideas rather than confusion).

Hmmm, it's not confusing but I'm also only adding 1 different assistance exercise (not 4 or w/e) - as I mentioned we're going to be doing "boring but big".

So right now I'm still thinking:
OHP - chins/pullups
Bench - DB rows
DL - GMs or pull-throughs
LBBS - RDLs may be easiest for my g/f or maybe we could do ghetto GHRs

Imo you should do some more squat work - I think most people who have done 5/3/1 recommend more squat work. So maybe front squats on DL days. I dunno. I've been toying around with a 5/3/1 setup in my mind as well, maybe you can find some inspiration. BBB on everything non-squat sounds super boring imo, especially after doing SS for a long while.

Tue:
Squat 5/3/1
Squats BBB
Abz


Thur:
Bench 5/3/1
DB Bench or Kroc Rows
Weighted Push-Ups (<3 <3)
Flyes (sculpting brah)


Sat:
Press 5/3/1
DL 5/3/1
Chins
Front squats

Not gonna do 4 days, and I think doing it Tate's way and doing everything every 9-10 days is silly (especially for squats). Only issue is I'd like to do RDLs as well, but don't know where to fit them in. Don't want to ditch front squats/some type of squat assistance on DL day either.