Maureen's NLP Log

[Shane]

Well, IDK if it's getting aggravated by the bench press, or painting my bathroom (I'm left-handed), but the golfer's elbow in my left arm is back with a vengeance today. Dammit!

I am almost done with the painting and I found a crappy CVS elbow sleeve in the back of the closet so I am wearing that...

It could be worse. I actually fell off the ladder painting on Tuesday and luckily didn't injure myself. I did manage to hurl a container of paint as I fell, which got EVERYWHERE. It was kind of like when the elevator doors open in The Shining, except periwinkle blue. It took forever to clean it up, and much later I found that one of my dogs laid on the wet dropcloth I put outside and got paint all over herself. And by that I mean one of my coworkers asked me "What is all this blue stuff on Kate?"

Oh hell yes. Painting and sanding and anything fiddly holding joints at weird angles/above your head/down low and moving them repetitively (skirting boards and cornices are the worst!) put me through a shit wringer for weeks.Still feel like I'm not totally over it. But sounds like you outdid yourself actually jumping off! My partner jokes about how she seriously considered throwing herself of a ladder last time we did big renovations. It was the gap filling on the ceiling boards that almost sent her off the edge. We should have painted one of our dogs for light relief like you did.

... I found that one of my dogs laid on the wet dropcloth I put outside and got paint all over herself. And by that I mean one of my coworkers asked me "What is all this blue stuff on Kate?"

"Kate started listening to metal, and I guess this was just the next step. Now she's dating a pitbull. I keep bringing her to church but it's not helping."

gold!

[laikabear]

"Kate started listening to metal, and I guess this was just the next step. Now she's dating a pitbull. I keep bringing her to church but it's not helping."

Hahaha!

Almost didn't get my workout done today. I got up early to do more house stuff - recaulking the bathtub and more painting... I was tired by the time I got around to it. Today Kate is paint-free but Darcy got some on herself somehow. Kate was a puppy last time I was painting and I don't remember this much drama.

I blame @iamsmu for getting me on this house chores kick because I binge-read his previous log the other day and it was like 50% houseblog and made me feel like a total slacker because I haven't done shit around the house in ages.

2-5-18

OHP: 45x5, 54x5x2, 54x6
Squats: 54x5, 75x5, 95x5x3

I'm sure that all the stuff I did earlier in the day did not help my OHP performance, so I was pleased to still be able to get 6 reps on that last set. On squats, my quad is feeling less twingey every time, but it still does hurt a bit. So, I'm sticking to that lower weight for now. I'm really trying hard to avoid any knee slide. I probably should have put out the TUBOW but I forgot.

[laikabear]

Oh and the golfer's elbow thing...

I ordered 2 different elbow sleeves from Rehband, which came today. I was hoping I could lift with the thicker one, and wear the ligther one to work and stuff. Ehhh. Well I couldn't do OHP with the thicker one, at least. I'll see how it is for bench.

I watched some video of Rip with that Art of Manliness guy where they were talking about his golfer's elbow and Rip recommended going crazy with chinups to convert the mild inflammation into severe inflammation and force the body to heal it all in one go. He said everyone he's recommended that to, has had success.

My plan was to try to figure out what I was doing to aggravate it, and NOT do that. I'd much rather it be true that no rest was needed, but I am very skeptical of the "pin-firing" plan. Also why would that work for elbow tendinitis but not other tendons?

Thoughts? Maybe I should start a thread just about that...

[simonrest]

Chin up never worked for me, probably because I couldn't do enough of them to help. This is a really weird trick that always works for me



But not doing whatever it is that causing pain is probably a better choice.

[simonrest]

Is it cringe-worthy?

No, but you aren't tight enough.

First, set up further up the bench. Bring your feet back to where the bench legs are, the bar should be on the hooks over your chin. This should Force you to have a slight Arch in your back, and tightness in your quads. If it doesn't bring your feet further back until it does.

Squeeze your shoulder blades together and keep them squozen. Having the bar over your chin helps you unrack without having to unlock your shoulders.

Your bar path is fine. Good, actually

You may need to grip a little wider to reduce the range of motion. Hard to tell from side on, but I suspect mgil is right.

Add weight. Always add weight. Then, profit

[iamsmu]

I blame @iamsmu for getting me on this house chores kick because I binge-read his previous log the other day and it was like 50% houseblog and made me feel like a total slacker because I haven't done shit around the house in ages.

That log was more like 85-90% housework. It's pretty much all I did for 5 months and then about half of my time the next few as well. This weekend, I'm returning to home improvement. . . .

[damufunman]

On squats, my quad is feeling less twingey every time, but it still does hurt a bit. So, I'm sticking to that lower weight for now. I'm really trying hard to avoid any knee slide. I probably should have put out the TUBOW but I forgot.

TUBOW has been helpful for me, but on real heavy stuff (heavy singles or triples, and 5RMs) I reverted back to more knees. One thing that might help is to try to get your knees forward to where they end up earlier. You're keeping them fairly static as you set back, and then they go forward. Try sitting down a little more and less back at the beginning.

[mgil]

Also, stay tight at the bottom. The knee slide is often a secondary artifact of lumbar flexion.

[augeleven]

This weekend, I'm returning to home improvement. . . .

yessss!

[JuniorMinion]

Maureen I totally feel you on the home improvement! My last major squat stall coincided with moving 60 boxes into my house / doing some minor home improvements - its hard work!

[laikabear]

2-7-18

Bench: 45x5, 65x5x2, 65x13
RDL: 65x5
DL: 85x5, 105x5, 115x3, 135x3x3

I really didn't want to do anything today. I was overly tired Monday night, slept too much, then couldn't take a nap before my shift last night. I just felt exhausted for no reason. Last night I was mainlining coffee and this AM I just feel like ass. Maybe I'm getting sick, maybe not. Too soon to tell. And my damn elbow is hurting a lot. So yeah, I wanted to not lift.

I convinced myself to go lift, but mostly in my work clothes and I just put on gym shorts and my DL shoes. I'll just do bench press and call it. Well, bench press went great and I was feeling good. Lifting always makes me feel better. So did running. So I stuck around for DLs and those went well, too. I didn't feel tired at all, I could have kept going, but I decided to call it and quit while I was ahead. I'm still not back up to 160# where I was having that bad lumbar rounding yet. But I don't mind working my way back up.

I tried to stay tighter on bench today. It's hard for me to not lose my shoulder tightness when I take a breath, but I really have to breathe every 2 or 3 reps. I felt a lot stronger today. I am wondering if my elbows are going where they should be, and I'm wondering if benching is making my elbow feel worse. Before I reset, I did 66x5x3 and struggled, so to get 5 reps relatively easy now, and then to grind out 13 reps, felt really good.

Back to the 45s on DL! Yay! My poor, unloved 45s. I will be really excited the day I can squat with 135.

[Wilhelm]

Good work getting out there.
That is often the biggest hurdle for me.
Especially lately.

Squats come after bench, and i usually fantasize about not doing them
Getting my squat shoes on, and my sleeves, somehow bolsters me everytime.

Habit and momentum.

And shame if i quit.

[augeleven]

watch out on those elbows, tendinitis sucks. Barbell Medicine had some podcasts on working through tendinopathy. The gist is eccentric slow movements can help strengthen the tendon. I got golfer's elbow from my squat grip and chinup volume. I couldn't recover until I stopped squatting, and now I squat high bar. Have you tried the "ibuprofen protocol" where you megadose yourself for 3-4 days?

[laikabear]

2-9-18

OHP: 45x5; 55x5x2, 55x7, 55x5
Squats: 55x5, 75x5, 95x3, 100x5x3

I didn't rest long enough between the warmup set for OHP and the first working set. I almost didn't get the 5th rep that set. I was doing sets of 3, not sets of 5, when I reset. So I've made an improvement in that regard.

Squats went ok. My left quad isn't hurting as much. On the 95# and up I can feel it, but it's not terrible.

Wore my neoprene elbow sleeve for a while at work last night. I'm trying to take naproxen a couple of times a day but it's hard on my stomach. My elbow is better, but I'm going to go back to painting for a few hours tomorrow. Probably won't feel great after that.

I think I'm getting some form help on Monday... more on that later.

[laikabear]

2-11-18

Today was an interesting day because it was a form workshop with @d0uevenlift. Say what! Yes, and I should have gotten some type of photo evidence but it slipped my mind.

Squat: 45x5, 65x6, 85x5, 100x5x3
Bench: 45x5, 65x5x3
DL: 95x5, 115x3, 135x3x3
OHP: 45x5, 55x3, 55x5x2

I didn't increase weights on anything since my last workout, just stayed the same. I got a LOT of helpful cues / info.

For squats - I was letting myself drift onto my toes a bit so worked on keeping centered over midfoot, as well as staying tighter at the bottom so I would not have as much lumbar rounding. Make sure I keep my knees out on the way up (left knee was caving in a bit, which may have been because I was having a bit of quad twinge still). And bounce a bit at the bottom to get going back up more quickly. I was worried about my depth and knee slide but he said those are ok, and actually that my quad pain may not even be from knee slide anyway. It's diminishing and I have some cues to work on so that makes me happy.

Bench - this lift had the most adjustments. My hands were way too close together, so kudos to @simonrest for noticing that even though that video was at a terrible angle for evaluating grip width. I also need to keep my elbows tighter / higher (protect your armpits was the cue). We didn't change my foot position. I feel like I was already trying to keep my scapulae retracted and tight and maybe I was more successful at that today... it's tough as I sometimes feel I lose that position when I take a breath. But I can't do a set of 5 without breathing. So I'm working on regaining my position after I take a breath.

DL - I have to keep mindful of that leg press the floor cue. Keep my shoulders over the bar longer on the way up. And not drop my hips quite so much on setup. I think I've improved at setting my lower back, even with the belt on. So yay! Oh, and I was using the belt a little more loose for the deadlift. Going to try it tighter from now on.

OHP - Elbows forward, elbows forward, elbows forward! Took my grip width back in a bit. And I need to pull my head back a bit and keep the bar closer to my face on the way up.

It's a lot to remember! It was a fun day.

[Wilhelm]

That's so cool, @laikabear

[laikabear]

2-14-18

Squats: 65x5, 85x5, 105x5x3
Bench: 45x5, 55x5, 66x5x3

My stupid quad is still bugging me. Grrrrr. I am not going to be able to do shit with my squats until / if that resolves.

I was surprised to find my right pecs were sore today. I didn't notice til I started bench pressing. I am sure it has to do with the form changes. It feels harder to move the weight with my hands so far apart, but of course any change will feel weird at first. IDK if I did all that great of a job keeping my elbows down. My phone was out of batteries so I didn't film any bench sets. 66 lbs is where I was when I reset, and I was struggling with sets of 3. I got my sets of 5 today. I didn't end with an AMRAP. Hopefully I'll be able to continue adding 1 lb each time for a while.

This is going to be a long week for me - I picked up an extra shift at work to cover one of my coworkers. It's only day 2 and I'm already tired!

[laikabear]

2-14-18

Squats: 65x5, 85x5, 105x5x3
Bench: 45x5, 55x5, 66x5x3

My stupid quad is still bugging me. Grrrrr. I am not going to be able to do shit with my squats until / if that resolves.

I was surprised to find my right pecs were sore today. I didn't notice til I started bench pressing. I am sure it has to do with the form changes. It feels harder to move the weight with my hands so far apart, but of course any change will feel weird at first. IDK if I did all that great of a job keeping my elbows down. My phone was out of batteries so I didn't film any bench sets. 66 lbs is where I was when I reset, and I was struggling with sets of 3. I got my sets of 5 today. I didn't end with an AMRAP. Hopefully I'll be able to continue adding 1 lb each time for a while.

This is going to be a long week for me - I picked up an extra shift at work to cover one of my coworkers. It's only day 2 and I'm already tired!

[simonrest]

Stick with it, it'll pay dividends

[slowmotion]

2-11-18

Today was an interesting day because it was a form workshop with @d0uevenlift. Say what! Yes, and I should have gotten some type of photo evidence but it slipped my mind.

.....

It's a lot to remember! It was a fun day.

It's great that you got this opportunity to work with d0uevenlift.
Now you just have to put all you have learned to work, and you'll see great progress!