At 55 I'd be hitting up the TRT clinics too imo

do you mean ART? If so, I agree.

BB - make sure when you do swings to not arch your back. Think about snapping the hips to the point where the backside of your body is flat.

Yeah, I watched one of the vids where the guy said you should end up as if you were doing a front plank. I'm working on it.

cha - you mentioned this:

"I'd do ball rollouts & when doing those properly is easy, switch to wheel (or barbell) rollouts. The key to all of those is doing them correctly. "

the ball rollouts are feeling easy. I'd like to go to wheel. Got any good vids handy for proper technique?

thx.

http://www.ericcressey.com/rollouts-friend-or-foe

So, today was my long run day. About 1/2 way through the run I started to feel the need to poop. Not too bad really. Then I started thinking that it had been a while since I pooped. For the next mile or so I tried to figure out exactly when the last time I pooped was. It was last Sunday. Like 6 days ago. My workout routine has increased substantially but I haven't been eating any more. Might have to change that. I don't know.

By the end of the run, the need was pretty extreme. Yes, I pooped. And it was glorious.

I am really glad I've had the opportunity to share this story with everyone. That's my "log" for the day.

No I meant test replacement clinic. ART would be mandatory too.

I just looked up TRT. Ugh. I dunno.

I mean, I feel pretty good. The man parts work just fine. I'm certainly not as strong as I used to be, but that's mostly due to nagging injuries through the years. No doubt some of it is age. But still.

I get a little uncomfortable thinking about messing with stuff like that.

Highlights

Bought a roller wheel thingy. So much harder than doing rollouts with a ball. Like a factor of 10. Barely got 3 and probably didn't do them well.

goblet squats

8 x 25
8 x 30
5 x 35
5 x 35

Felt good. Moving up. Still not pushing real hard.

kettlebell swings

20 x 25
20 x 35
20 x 35

By the time I get to this I'm pretty exhausted. But, moving up on this as well.

My back sort of stiffened up when I got in the car. But not too bad. I'm sort of wondering how hard I can hit things. Like, heavy bench, core, squats, kettlebell all in one workout. Sort of taxing. Once I get things stronger I think I'm going to have to spread some things out more.

Went to the chiropractor for my arm today. Quizzed her about my lower back.

She was sort of "meh" on rolling that lower back muscle. I got the impression it wouldn't be something she would prescribe but she said if what I'm doing is helping (it is) then it's fine to keep doing. Just be careful.

She suggested using the lacrosse ball on a spot that is somewhere between my belly button and hip (front of body). It's a bitch to find and it's deep, but you can tell when you find it. She gave me all the technical reasons but it's been a few hours so I've forgotten already.

Then she gave me a funky stretch that I've never seen anyone do. I've tried to find it out in cyberspace but can't. You sort of sit on your butt and lean to one side. Both legs go sort of out to the side and are kept at 90 degree angles - one in front of the other. The top of the back leg lines up with your body going the other way. Then it's sort of a twist.

Anyways, I'm just posting this because the lower back is still sort of a mystery to me and I'm sort of experimenting with it.

Probably the psoas muscle. That's a hip flexor, and if its tight (very likely if you sit a lot), its one of several things that pulls you into anterior pelvic tilt, which puts pressure on the low back.

Here's the best things I've found for that: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...&postcount=763

I've never used the lacrosse ball on the psoas with much success, but I have other stuff that works really well there so I dont need to. The ball might be a good thing for you to use on it.

yeah, that's it - psoas only I would have never thought it was spelled that way. The last thing he did looks similar to the stretch she gave me. I'll give those things a try. Maybe I'll steal an innertube from gf's bike. She'll never miss it.

thx.

Lax ball confirmed decent for working on the psoas.

As for ab wheel - post some vids if you want a form check. Agreed it's way harder than ball rollouts but being able to get 3 on your first try is probably good enough to stick with them - as long as your form isn't really bad.

I've just ordered one of these from Amazon for, amongst other stuff, working on my psoas:



One of the problems with using a ball to work it is that the muscle is stretched out when you lie on the ball so it's harder to get into it. With this little device you can get in there while sitting and the muscle is contracted but relaxed.

What is that called? Looks like some sort of sex toy

It's a "Knobble It Thumb Massager" made by 66Fit. Couldn't see it on the US Amazon site but there are several things that do a similar job.

Still trying to do that roller wheel thing. Geez it is hard. I'm gonna blame it on the fact that I have really long arms and legs. Yeah, that's it.

goblet squats

10x35lbs
6x40
7x40
6x40

Slow and steady wins the race. Still not sure exactly how hard I can push. Probably a lot harder. I tend to stop when I feel like I'm not holding my form, not necessarily that I can't do more reps.

kettlebell

3 sets of 20 reps with 40 lbs.

Not really sure how heavy of a weight I should do these with. Cha mentioned that there's probably a limit there.

I have one of those laying around the house somewhere. I havent used that one much, but I never thought about using it on the psoas before. I might have to find that thing & try it.

bb - I'd go back to ball rollouts for a while and try to do them with good form like in the Cressey video. My workout partner said they were a lot harder when he did them the way Cressey said.

fwiw, I'll do swings with 62 - 80 lbs, but I usually dont go over 12 - 15 reps. Do whatever feels right.

Good day. Maybe I just got some energy from gorging on junk food yesterday. I dunno.

Dumbell flat bench

7 x 80
4 x 85
4 x 85
6 x 80

Incline barbell bench

8 x 135
6 x 155
3 x 175 (haven't done that in a lloooonnnnggg time)
4 x 155

Goblet squats

10 x 35
8 x 40
6 x 50
6 x 50

workouts seem long. Some of it is because I'm resting longer between sets. But 2 hours is a long time. By the time I get to kettlebell I'm exhausted.

kettlebell

25 x 15
35 x 15
45 x 3

Something twinged on my right side on the last one. Probably due to form. It's hard for me to keep form on this. When the form is right it "feels" right but it's hard for me to be consistent between swings. Also, I think I might not go that heavy for a while. Still feel a little funky but I don't think I did any serious damage.

Now that it's been delivered, I can confirm it's an awesome bit of kit. Great for getting into all the muscles around the hip if you sit on a chair with your foot on the floor and relax everything around the hip joint. I have a trigger point on the outside of my calf atm as well and it's great for getting into that.

There are some interesting core exercises in here:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_..._core_training

Not Your Average B.S. Core Training
by Ben Bruno – 1/14/2013

I think I'll try the bodysaws with on the elbows. I just don't think I'm strong enough to do the straight arm bodysaw or the fallouts. I don't know why that particular movement is so hard for me. I might try the plank walk without weights but my gym is so crowded I doubt I could set up that whole weight production number.

Thanks

Friday

goblet squats

10 x 35
8 x 50
4 x 55
4 x 55

Feeling pretty good about these. I've been able to add weight almost every session. And, I still feel like I'm not pushing anywhere near my limit to maintain form. In fact, sometimes it feels like half of my energy goes into keeping my back rigid. But, yeah.

The body saws look like a good exercise. A lot of the other stuff looks hard. Ben Bruno has training FPS, but I like a lot of his ideas.

squats - The goal is to keep the back rigid all the time to the point it becomes second nature. Gummed up hips & maybe core weakness might be making it difficult.

goblet squats

8 x 45
3 x 5 x 60

Another 5 lbs. Feeling good.

However, it won't be too long before it's harder to set up than it is to do the exercise. Getting the weight up and in place is gonna start being difficult soon.