Ascendant's Fortress of Solitude

[Deltron 3030]

Some humor for the Superman fan:
When Superman Is Bored [COMIC] | Cracked.com

 

[Ascendant]

Tuesday - 3/23/10

Bodyweight 210


25 degree incline log press - 3 minute rest sets


Warmup
185*10
235*5
275*3

345*5
345*5
345*5
345*5
345*5 - BARELY. It was a super low energy day, so next week I'll start with 355 and see how it goes. If the first set is as difficult as all of them today were and I know I won't hit 5*5, I'll start my 5*3 with the 355.

Pretty happy with today though, it's officially 5 sets of 5 with 135 lbs over my bw. on incline log. Definitely a PR.



Pullups superset w/ 2" DOH axle shrugs - 3 minute rest sets

12 -> 115*10
12 -> 205*10
12 -> 295*10
12 -> 350*10+1+1
12 -> 295*102 - mixed grip (25/switch grip/25 more/25/27) - +22 rep PR
12

Total pullups = 72


Called it a night. Super hungry, low energy, and gf came over.

 

[DEVILsSON]

Great lifting.

 

[eastNYgoon138]

72 pullups for a guy your size is pretty damn good.

 

[Ascendant]

Thanks DS!

Steve - this from the guy who climbs up and down and then up and down ropes without using his legs... No way could I do that!

 

[Gold182]

Great lifting

I like the use of a cable pulldown for a poormans GHR as the BW ones are stupidly hard, will give that a go on my squat day

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

astounding how strong you are at 210.

 

[Ascendant]

Thanks Gold, let me know how that goes.

TD - I'm pretty satisfied with my pressing strength, but that's always been my strongest lift. I know my numbers are good for my weight there, I'd just really like my deadlift and later my squat to develop and reach similar strength/bw ratios. Thanks for the compliment.

 

[Ascendant]

Such a lame leg day - I went to a new gym with a buddy and seached high and low and alas, no leg press. I've been doing LP in lieu of squats lately to let the knee keep healing and not stress the back too much since my primary focus is on bringing up my deadlift.

So instead, I find some brand shiny new expensive POS that's plate loaded but you're lying flat on your back and you press the bottom plate away from you, but the top also moves as well. So retarded. It's not that I didn't get some good leg work in, I just don't have any ability to correlate it to other leg days.

Anyway:

Thursay - 3/25/10
Random plate loaded leg press POS

Did 7 reps per set, and just added two 45's each set. So something like:

135*7
225*7
315*7
405*7
495*7
585*7
675*7
765*7
855*7
945*7
1035*7
1125*7
1215*7
1305*7
1395*6 - wanted 7 but quads gave out.

Lots of stretching and medball rolling in between sets. I also did about a bajillion reps with just the bar of front squats.

 

[spiral]

Why do you think leg press would let the knee heal better than squats? Is it something related with not having to stabilize the load?

Oh, and you're retardedly strong ^^

 

[DEVILsSON]

Moving 1400 for reps is impressive any way you slice it.

 

[Ascendant]

Spiral - with leg press you can shift the feet forward of your center of gravity a bit, causing far less stress and shear force to be placed on the knee jt itself. Tbh squats lately have been aggregating my back more than they have my knee, so either way it just seems smart to lay off them for a spell.

Leo - thanks man! It also just felt like a ton of volume, I swear I want to try to max out on it one of these days... I don't know if I mentioned, but on the same LP I normally log in here, my training partner did 1800 for 6 reps! Talk about motivation...

 

[spiral]

Thanks for the explanation, will keep this in a corner of my mind in case I wreck my knees someday.

 

[Ascendant]

Ha! Fuck off man, my knees aren't "wrecked," I just have super tight and knotted quads causing some joint discomfort.

 

[spiral]

Thanks for the explanation, will keep this in a corner of my mind in case I experience some joint discomfort someday.

Fixed then :redface:

 

[Spacebar]

What is your plan to get rid of the joint discomfort in your knees? I've been battling with some pain above the knee caps for months now, and I wouldn't be able to do any heavy squatting movements without my knee sleeves. I also feel it's related to quad tightness, but foam rolling and stretching only seem to temporarily alleviate the pain.

 

[Deltron 3030]

Great work on the random POS leg press!

 

[enright3060]

Damn - that is a lot of weight on the leg press!

I have a question, though. Every time I've used the leg press it's really bothered my patella. I would think that since a the hamstrings and gluts take a lot of the shearing force away from the knee with the squat, a good squat would be better on the knees than a leg press, but I don't really know. Can you explain a bit more about the mechanics? I agree though the nice thing about the leg press is the lack of spinal loading.

Also - are you wrapping your knees on the high sets. Even if leg press is a lot easier on the knees than a back squat, a half of ton has to be pretty damn stressful on the joints.

What is your goal with the deadlift? 700?

Anyway - good lifting.

 

[Ascendant]

What is your plan to get rid of the joint discomfort in your knees? I've been battling with some pain above the knee caps for months now, and I wouldn't be able to do any heavy squatting movements without my knee sleeves. I also feel it's related to quad tightness, but foam rolling and stretching only seem to temporarily alleviate the pain.

Hey Spacebar, I'd say if you're having only limited success you might want to graduate your efforts and see if they give more results. If I were you I'd definitely schedule a few massages, say at least once a week for 3-4 weeks, that focus on getting the knots out of your quads and realigning the fibers, as well as separating the muscles from one another. The vastus group and the lateral hamstrings tend to get really adhered, as do the vastus group and the adductors. As well, the v. intermedius can get super stuck to the femur, and since it's so deep foam rolling rarely gets to it. If you get to a good LMT and tell them what you want (is the above paragraph) you should do just fine.

As far as foam rolling and stretching go, I'm not sure what you're currently using to SMR, but often times people stick to "foam rollers" when they'd be better served by using medicine balls or even PVC rollers; essentially, you need to get in there and really try to separate the muscles and get rid of the deep adhesions, the ones that are causing the joint space to become restricted and sending pain signals.

Great work on the random POS leg press!

Thanks man lol

Damn - that is a lot of weight on the leg press!

I have a question, though. Every time I've used the leg press it's really bothered my patella. I would think that since a the hamstrings and gluts take a lot of the shearing force away from the knee with the squat, a good squat would be better on the knees than a leg press, but I don't really know. Can you explain a bit more about the mechanics? I agree though the nice thing about the leg press is the lack of spinal loading.

Also - are you wrapping your knees on the high sets. Even if leg press is a lot easier on the knees than a back squat, a half of ton has to be pretty damn stressful on the joints.

What is your goal with the deadlift? 700?

Anyway - good lifting.

Thanks Enright! My deadlift goal for 2010 is 700 raw (no suit), so we'll see how that goes.

My thoughts on your question are that you might have had your foot placement a little lower than is ideal for posterior chain recruitment, because the lower the feet are positioned on the sled, the more quad dominant the move is, which causes more knee pain. It's still a center of gravity movement, so the lower your feet, the more it mimics someone "squatting on their toes."

You said the hams/glutes take the shearing force away from the knees in a squat, but that's only true in a low bar squat. And since I do a high bar style, where the knees are forced to travel more, it can be a little rougher on my knees than it would be if I switched form over to a low back back squat. But since my back is tweaky and I'm working to get it back to good, I can't switch to a low bar position right now. In fact, that's exactly why I'm working my leg presses, and using a pretty high foot placement - I get more posterior chain recruitment and less knee pressure. So just like with squats you can mimic a high or low bar position with the leg press, depending where you place your feet.

I did want to reference the point you made about the lack of spinal loading in the LP. A few years ago I was doing some research into it and came across a bunch of information and compiled statistics that indicated that the LP was one of if not the most dangerous machine in the gym, for lower back injuries. The reason is because you can load the hell out of it, but most people either don't know to or can't keep 1) their abdomen full of air and braced, and 2) keep a neutral or even arched lumbar spine as they descend. It's SO EASY to let the sled push your knees into your torso and bring your lower back off the pad, which is exactly the same as letting your low back round in a deadlift, that many people seriously strain their lower backs on LP. Crazy huh? So if someones going to do it:

1) Know what stance you want to use and why (high vs low bar, quad or PC recruitment)

2) Valsalva and keep a neutral lumbar spine.

Oh and nope, I don't use knee wraps the way I'm doing it now, and I still don't feel any jt discomfort. I do use my belt though, on the top two or three sets, to help with the IAP.

 

[Ascendant]

Lo, and Behold! My glutes are actually sore! My glutes are NEVER sore! Dammit, I just may have to go back next week and see if this was a fluke or if I finally found a great way to work them.