Probably just your traps being sore. Which is normal.

Wait... you live in Sacramento? So your gym is the Powerhouse Gym in Rancho Cordova?

I was going to buy a 2 year 24-hour fitness membership tomorrow at Costco but now I'm curious about this Powerhouse Gym. I'll give them a call tomorrow and figure out rates, but there's always the chance they are dicks on the phone and say something like "oh come in and we'll talk" or give me a price and then say "OH THAT WAS WITH YOU SIGNING YOUR SOUL OVER, THIS IS THE NORMAL MONTHLY FEE" How many months did you sign up for to get the $24 month?

Yeah, the one in Rancho. I work in Folsom so I go on my way home.

just took out my contract to check. I did a 1-year contract. It was 199 up front, then $12/mo. There's also a $39 yearly "maintenance fee" collected sometime in January. So for the first year, I guess it's more like 31/mo (which is still cheaper than the Y). However, I'm pretty sure after the first year it's still just $12/mo. You can also do longer term deal/more cash upfront for a lower monthly fee. I chose not to because I don't want to be in Sac that long.

It is an awesome gym, though. Even if you just wanted to do machines and crap, it'd be better than 24. It's got plenty of equipment and it's not that crowded. Throw in the fact they got multiple racks and some GPP and strongman stuff and some good floor space for warmups, it's awesome.

it's more like, pushing and pulling can make the inside of my socket a little sore. Like using my cheese grater, for instance, or say making a right-hand turn using just my left hand in the car.

Maybe I'll start doing some light band exercises a couple times a week on off days.

blue,

if you end up signing up there PM me before you do and I'll send you my name and you can say I referred you (since really I did). I think I get a free month out of it or some crap.

Finally got around to watching MM. I am a sorry excuse for a human. Soooo tight. I always was even when I was athletic and crap, but now it's real bad. I need to focus more on mobility work. I want to say I could do it every morning, but I always end up failing that. As long as I take some time out of each day I should be alright.

Vids of press and bench please. Your numbers are so close that I'd be pretty surprised if you don't have form issues in at least one of them.

Be careful of some of the MM drills. I think they don't recommend the scorpion type ones anymore... but I can't find where the instructors said that.

I'm like 99% sure I'm going to 24 hour fitness. It's a bit closer and half-price, which matters a lot since it's for the gf and myself. Bought two 2-year memberships and I will scope out the gym on Weds. If I don't like the free weight area, then I'll return them and check out Powerhouse.

my squat is coming back from a pulled hamstring rehab. My max squat was either 230 or 235x5x3.

he's talking about press and bench. they are very close.

9/21, Mon, Workout A

Squat	Bench	Deadlift
45x5x2	45x5x2	109x5x2
75x5	75x5	165x3
115x3	105x3	230x2
155x2	135x2	275x5
195x5x3	150x5x3

Squats felt fine. Lost a little hip drive on some of the later reps. I recorded one set, but the angle sucked.

Bench.. good! I listened to Tate on the FitCast today and followed a little advice to widen my grip. That was about it. But I think the big thing was I had a spotter who gave me a liftoff. Much easier to keep form that way, and he was also really encouraging. Dude is pretty beastly. He was doing a big squat workout. He did 3 or 4 sets of 395x6.

Deadlift rules. I love deadlifting. I have some vids I'll post later.

I read g00t. There are some older vids of my press somewhere in the log. I think 115x5. I haven't changed much. I'll record them on weds too.

vids from today:

squat - 195x5
deadlift - 230x2
deadlift - 275x5

Nice. I should really learn how to deadlift.

9/23, Wed, Workout B

Squat	Press	Power Clean
45x5x2	45x5x2	hpc practice with bar
85x5	65x5	55x5 (hpc)
115x3	80x3	70x3 (hpc)
160x2	100x2	89x2
205x5x3	122.5x5	104x3x5
	122.5x4x2

Squats felt fine.

Press went OK. I didn't even attempt the 5th rep on the final two sets, I had to bust a nut to get the 4th up. I think I'll get it next time. I'm blaming the clips.

Power cleans felt a lot better than last time. I think I'm catching it too wide-legged.

Vids uploading now. I'll post them soon.

Oh.. badass lift I witnessed today. Dude I see almost every workout pulled 515. Sickkkkk. I actually don't think his form is too hot. Has a fairly rounded thoracic spine and his timing is a little off so that his legs log out well before his back does. But still. 515 is no joke. He said his PR is 575.

vids from today:

squat - 205x5
press - 122.5x5
Hang power clean drill (yeah the bar path is an abortion)
Power Clean - 104x3, set 2 (side view)
Power Clean - 104x3, set 3 (front view)

press grip is wide. your forearms should be vertical under the bar. they're sloped outward, making the bar sit a little lower than necessary on your chest. after that, just work on driving your torso under the bar once it gets above your head.

I don't necessarily like the dual-pause on the press, think there should be continuous movement either with a pause at the top or bottom, but not in both spots.

Not sure why you're catching the power clean in a near squat clean position, you're obviously pulling it high enough to catch w/ just slightly bent knees.

i have to say your gym's transition from alice in chains "man in the box" to def leppard's "pour some sugar on me" in the press vid was excellent

i don't really have anything useful to say on the actual lifts

thanks. I'll try narrowing the grip and reducing the pause on the top. It's mostly just a mental "lock out" cue, but you're right it's unnecessary. Earlier on I took my breath up top, but I decided I hate that and now feel much better with it at the bottom, so there's no real reason to pause up top.

The problem I have with narrowing the grip is I don't really have the shoulder mobility to lock out when my grip is such that my index finger is about aligned with the outside of my shoulder.

Yeah PC catch is probably too deep. meh whatever more squats = roar.

hmm, that's weird. i think i can lock out with my hands 12" apart, although i definitely feel a lot more stress on the front of the delt and high up on my traps.

we'll see. I just tried it with a broom stick and I guess I can, but it's a bit more of a strain.

Also note that perpendicularity of the forearms isn't solely a result of grip width. Even if I narrow the grip I think I just need to flange my elbows out a little bit.

you won't be able to have elbows under the bar if you try to flare your elbows out at the current grip width. if you kept your current width and moved your elbows, you'd now have vertical elbows from the front/back, but they'd be sloped forward when looked at from the side.

not totally sold on that, just trying it out with a brook stick again. We'll see on monday. I'll play around with it during warmups. I should narrow the grip regardless, because that's what all the pros say.

The hypochondriac in me is a tad worried I have a hernia. I've got a weird little pain in my lower left abdomen, and shortly after my last press set I had an odd, dull pain way down there, more towards the crotch area, but deep. I haven't been to a doc in a while, so maybe I'll schedule a physical and get it checked out. It's probably nothing.

maybe you can do it if you're holding it in some kind of rack position on your shoulders, but you shouldn't be able to do it if you're holding it in the meat of your hands close to your wrists.

yeah you're probably right. Not sure why I'm arguing with the King of Press. Anyway I don't have to worry about it until Monday. I look forward to deadlifting on Friday. Seeing that kid pull 515 was awesome.