Ya I plan to as well. There is a slim chance I get discouraged and take a break for a while from power lifting but if not I'll be there

1/25

bench press
55x15
105x10x2
145x10
195x5
235x3
265x2
295x1
325x1 paused. It went up fast so I figured I'd try a heavy single tonight.
355x1 - touch & go. It wasnt easy, but wasnt too hard, and I felt good, so I figured why not try for a PR.
375xf/ not even close. meh. I would have probably got 360 tonight, but probably not 365.
315x4

cable rows
200x20x3

face pulls
125x15x2

pulldowns - reverse grip
200x15x2

Good stuff, cha.

Did you bowl in the tourney today?


glgl

Knock down all of the pins.

thanks!

yeah, we bowled team today. I bowled terrible. Almost everyone did. I think I was ~140 pins below my avg for 3 games. I didn't have two strikes in a row until he last frame of the last game, when I tried a different line and threw 3 in a row. Maybe I can do something good using that line tomorrow. Out of 15 guys in our group, I think only one bowled above his avg. Singles & doubles are tomorrow - 6 games.

Wow. You'll do better tomorrow.


gl tomorrow.

thanks

Our bench is pathetic.

We didnt need CJ McCollum though. **** you Flip.

I noticed you mention a couple of times that one should never push the head forward during any lift because of neck issues.

I remember seeing the SS dvd a long time ago, and iirc Rip talks about how you literally have to push the head forward as soon as the bar gets overhead, so that you get vertically under the bar and meet the best leverage. He also said that failing to get the head under there fast enough is why most people miss heavy presses.

In my own press, I'm still kinda following Rip's advice. Are you saying people should stop doing this? Won't this negatively influence press performance?

Syndrom - OHP is tricky in terms of what to do with your neck. Keeping your spine straight imo is goal #1 - having said that, it's difficult to do and get your head under the damn bar quickly while pressing it up. Seems possible though. The closer you can get to that the better. A lot of people really seem to shove their neck out in order to get under the bar but that doesn't seem ideal to me.

Where you want the actual movement is to come from lower down on your body and not your spine - I've always thought ideally I'd get almost all movement from swaying forward underneath the bar.

If you're craning your neck forward at all, as I tend to do when I OHP, and as most newer people who I watch OHP do when they OHP, that is wrong. I tell people to shift their entire body forward when keeping the neck packed (head back & chin down). When you crane the neck/head forward and your traps are loaded, neck problems are much more likely to occur. Try to keep your whole spine locked in place during the whole lift. Shift your body forward at the ankles when the bar passes your head.

My recollection of Rip's advice is different. IIRC, he says that you will feel a hinge motion in your torso, from your hips to your shoulders, and that is what propels you slightly forward and under the bar as it passes head height.

Hinging the hips to accomplish this is fine. Hinging the spine is not.

cha,

Perhaps unfortunate timing of my post after yours. Just to be clear, I agree with you. My disagreement, or confusion, was with Syndr0m saying Rip suggests to crane the neck forward. I recalled him saying something different in the book. But of course I haven't seen the DVD and he could have said both.

I think I have heard Rip comment about getting your head forward and under the bar quickly. I believe people mis-understand how he is referring to getting your head under the bar by hinging at the hip and decide to just crane their neck to get their head under the bar.

yeah, I thought so. I just wanted to be clear that you dont want to hinge your spine.

Yeah, I agree fully.

Based on a book I read recently, I got a bunch of blood work done and had it analyzed by a doctor who specializes in natural hormones. Its very complicated and I'm not going to discuss all the details, but my free testosterone and bioavailable testosterone are near the low end of normal ranges. Free - 61.9. Normal is 46.0 - 224.0, and optimal is near the high end of that range. Bio - 132.8. Normal is 110.0 - 575.0 and optimal is near the high end of that range.

She prescribed a few things, including a small amount natural testosterone. This is different (very much in good ways) than the synthetic drug in both effectiveness and side effects. She had me call my urologist to get the green light and he gave it to me, so I'll be starting in a couple weeks. Apparently it takes a while to see changes. The goal is to get my test and several other blood markers near optimal levels.

This should help with my bladder issues, sleeping, recovery, strength and probably several other things. As far as strength goes, I had previously felt like I was getting close to as good as it was ever going to get before stuff started to break down. Going forward, I think I might be able to push myself a little harder and not break.

You're within normal ranges and you can legally get test? God bless America, doctors are bunch of ****ing nits over here. (ie. not legally allowed to prescribe it in that scenario)

lolsocialism.

Coming soon to our country

Interesting news! Keep us posted

ETA: which book?

http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Natura.../dp/0966088204

errybody juicing

I just rewatched the press part of the DVD and you seem to be right. He doesn't explain it wrong, but the people misinterpret it in the way you described. Nevertheless all his students in the video crane their head forward real bad and he doesn't say anything about. He just goes "Juuust like that" the whole time.

Rip is smart about some things, but not so much about others.

I've been getting some questions about the other stuff the doc is having me do. I didnt want to get into deep discussions about diet and the other stuff she's having me take, but since there seems to be interest outside of this forum, I figured some of you guys would also be interested.

She suggests a paleo diet. This is because my LDL cholesterol is borderline high. She says stuff like bacon & eggs are not causing this. Its carbs. I've been eating too many baked potato chips and drinking too much G2. I plan to slowly eliminate G2 by drinking only one per workout and giving the rest away until they're all gone. That could take a little while, but after that, I'll drink water instead.

Also, I am doing an elimination diet. This is supposed to root out the causes of stuff like nasal allergies, digestive issues and skin issues. I need to avoid all:

grains
dairy
night shade vegetables (peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, & some others)
soy & peanuts
tree nuts

I will stay off all that for a couple weeks, then introduce one group for a while after that, eating it in the morning, to see if that was something that was causing symptoms.

If all those are fine (I'm sure I have problems with dairy & soy and probably night shade vegetables), then I need to do the same with eggs.

Eggs would be a tough one for me to not eat. I get a lot of protein from eggs every day.

Grains are a pain in the ass because I eat a lot of sandwiches and tortillas.

The others wont be a big deal.