A reasonable guide:

He makes it look so easy to keep a flat back. I think I need to focus on the proud chest part. Going to the gym shortly so hopefully I can get a video or two of my form.

If you can't keep it flat it's simply to heavy.

Keep in mind your body weight matters here for a true pendlay. Physics is a *****.

Posted a video in the form check thread. Went better than expected I think!

I need the armchair PTs to come out. I have a dull pain (barely qualifies as pain, more like an ache) along the left side of my left calf, and down into the ankle a little. It emerges, without fail, in two situations:

1) When I am lying down with the leg straight for more than 15 minutes.

2) When I am standing for longer than 5 minutes.

It always goes away once I start walking or once I bend the knee. It never happens when I'm sitting even for extended periods. I've had this pain for over a month now.

Diagnose me pls.

Sounds like a peroneal issue where the muscle is actively trying to plantar flex (push down) and its not being allowed to because there is ground in the way

When you are lying down, are you allowing your feet to relax or trying to force your toes "up"? Is this under cover where the foot is being forced straight?

Bending the knee or walking is going to allow the peroneal to either be active in its function (pushing off) or relax (the foot just falling straight) and it will alleviate the muscle contracting for no reason (Charlie horse). When you are sitting your body senses that the feet aren't required for stabilization and therefore they aren't being engage in any manner and are allowed to relax.

*shrug*

How to fix? I runno raggy. It might be an imbalance against the tibialis muscles, or perhaps even the larger part of the calf.

So, as a follow up to my previous inquiries here that led me to getting on the Bridge system, I have a question that the Bridge documentation and videos and such weren't really adequate to answer. This has happened a few times since starting, but let's use today for example. Today had deadlifts, paused bench press, and finished off with squats 6 reps at RPE 6, 6 reps at RPE 7, and 6 reps at RPE 8 x 4 sets. That's a pretty substantial amount of squat volume, even for a brogram touting volume, and after the deadlifts earlier, I was pretty tired. On my first set of 6 @ 8, 345 felt RPE 8ish, but even after a decent bit of rest, the second set felt 9ish, and the 3rd set 9.5-10ish. In a scenario like this, is it best to drop weight to keep subsequent sets 8ish, soldier through and keep the weight constant, rest more, or some other option that doesn't seem obvious to me?

Wookie,

Drop the weight until you reach the proper RPE -- the important part (according to them) is that you're using the appropriate relative intensity/RPE to impart the intended training stress. The absolute intensity isn't as important, and the extra volume is going to pretty rapidly increase your work capacity anyway.

Yes, drop weight. Ultimately I don't think it's a big deal if your final set reaches an @9, but I think 4 sets of 6 @8 looks better at
@7.5, 8, 8, 9

than
@8, 8.5, 9, 9.5

Sick brag Wookie.

A typical drop (from RTS not Barbell medicine) is 5% give or take 1%. So if you're not microloading you might switch from 345 to 330 or 325.

Seems like biology dictates that you either drop the weight or start off at a lower initial RPE if doing sets across. It shouldn't be possible to do the same weight for repeat sets @8 unless the rest intervals are extreme or your technique dramatically improves with each set. I personally like the top set + backoffs for "primary" or max intensity work and repeat sets until X RPE for "secondary" or medium intensity work.

Says who?

Shouldn't a set @8 cause fatigue that can't entirely dissipate?

Thanks folks. I have been dropping weight when this has come up, and I appreciate the confirmation and the additional detail.

Not if you're in decent shape and your form is solid. Obviously you can't do sets of @8 ad infinitum but you should be able to do at least 2 or 3 with minimal drop off.

Generally speaking of course.

An update: this is still happening and I think it might have even become worse. I have mainly chosen to ignore it but it took until today for me to do a modicum of investigation. Based on my findings, I don't think nuclear500's hypothesis fits.

Recap: I have pain in my left lower leg. Calf but not really any particular muscle, more like the left side and left rear of the calf. It happens exclusively when I stand for longer than a couple of minutes. Now that it has developed a bit, there is some numbness in my foot and toes if I stand for more than a few minutes. The pain is a dull, cramp-style sensation that worsens as I continue standing, but never becomes unbearable. Numbness and pain dissipates almost immediately upon sitting, and a bit more slowly as I walk. I can walk for 40 minutes without having any symptoms.

So I did some reading. Sciatica doesn't fit at all. A herniated disc compressing a nerve doesn't fit very well, as generally the pain is constant and doesn't depend on position. Scarily, lumbar stenosis fits like a glove in terms of the symptoms, especially that LSS pain onset is caused by standing and relieved immediately by sitting. But I don't fit in the population for LSS, I'm too young and no trauma to the spine.

Today at the poker room I had the pain pretty bad while I was standing waiting to get cashed out, and since it was fresh in my mind, I tried relieving the pain with some different positions. First I stood on my right foot and bent my left knee with left hip extended. This did nothing for my pain. Then, I bent my left knee AND hip such that my thigh was parallel to the floor but my torso was still upright and spine extended. Basically a single leg raise with bent knee. This immediately lessened the pain and numbness.

So my amateur diagnosis is that it is a pinched nerve caused left hip extension. This seems to fit more than nerve pinching in ankle, knee, or spine. Any thoughts?

See a neurologist. It's been more than 3 months, is worsening and has added neuropathy--worth getting checked out as even if it is something like a stubborn herniated disc you want to prevent it leading to permanent nerve damage. You may get referred to a neurosurgeon instead of a neurologist--don't panic; they are generally conservative with procedures and largely seem to work like a normal neurologist prescribing PT.

I had a disc completely degenerate to bone on bone contact, was crippled for a year in indescribable pain, and had to have spinal fusion surgery to fix it. I was 27, in the best shape of my life for rock climbing, and had no trauma. The populations you speak of are more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules.

So I have two pretty bulky calluses on one of my hands (palm-side opposite the knuckles just before the fingers start). When I was deadlifting the other day one of them tore and started bleeding. Nothing terribly gruesome, just enough to bleed a tiny bit.

The area of my hand was kind of sensitive/raw so I took an extra rest day off. Today I was back to the gym. I didn't deadlift but I was a little hesitant and not able to really go all-out on chin-ups.

It seems dumb to let something this silly interfere with workouts but it's at just the right spot where its prone to bother the grip on a bunch of exercises. Is there some kind of tape or something else I can do to make this a non-issue?

First of all you want to keep the calluses from getting to that point:



I've found that generally fine though I can't remember if she talks about when you have a torn callus.

You might try lifting straps until it heals--I did that when I cut my thumb pretty badly and it was nbd. For pullups this is a fine chance to learn open-handed, fingertip pullups! You can actually use straps there, too.

Does anyone have any experience with Body By Science, or super slow HIT in general? 10-20min once a week seems ridiculous but there appear to be legit reviews out there:

https://www.alexfergus.com/blog/body...nth-experiment

Looks awesome. Try it and report back.

I need to get into shape this year. My plan is Starting Strength and 5km of running after each session. Is this a good plan for someone in their mid 30s?

Probably too much running unless you're already used to it. Starting Strength is good, ideally with a coach.

I do a SS variant twice a week (day 1: squat/press, day 2: squat/bench/deadlift), boulder twice a week. Been doing this for 1.5 years now. Plus some random walking/biking from life thrown in.

I started running last month, went 6 times, surprised myself by going from to 6km to 12km @ 10km/h over those 6 times

The point here is: if your goal is to be able to run 5k (or 8k or whatever, whatever you call getting in shape) comfortably, SS will probably put you there by itself (presuming you aren't/don't get fat), no running necessary. If you want to lose weight or get some cardio in, swimming and walking are both options might go better with SS than running

SS by itself will not get in you shape. It will affect your fitness very little.