DCR - Can you believe how much I am in heaven?

[mouse]

Been about 4 years since I've squatted with a straight bar and I regret nothing.

I don't care that millions of people have been doing it since the dawn of time I credit straight bar squats with being directly related to my shoulder injuries...

At some point I'd like to add a cambered bar but SSB has been working fine for me...

[DCR]

3/24/24

Squats 45x12 155x6 265x1,2 295x1,1 320x1
RDLs 155 (doh) x6,6,6



Notes: LOL. What a bunch of fat guy bullshit.

A wide talon grip solved the biceps pain problem as advertised (and when I switched back to thumbs around for one rep the pain was instantaneous, so there you go), but also revealed a major weakness. I must have been carrying essentially all of the weight in my arms for all of this time, because I found keeping my upper back tight to be very difficult. Between the effort of that, plus forcing even foot pressure / keeping in my quads despite what has become crippling soreness, I couldn’t do shit for reps.

On the (not very) bright side, every one of the (few) reps that I did was fully controlled and perfect, and being able to blow up 320 with a slow eccentric on an otherwise terrible day is something of a big deal for me.

Next time I’m going full @mouse with the SSB. Didn’t have time today to fuck around with something with which I’m unfamiliar.

[lheugh]

3/24/24

Squats 45x12 155x6 265x1,2 295x1,1 320x1
RDLs 155 (doh) x6,6,6



Notes: LOL. What a bunch of fat guy bullshit.

A wide talon grip solved the biceps pain problem as advertised (and when I switched back to thumbs around for one rep the pain was instantaneous, so there you go), but also revealed a major weakness. I must have been carrying essentially all of the weight in my arms for all of this time, because I found keeping my upper back tight to be very difficult. Between the effort of that, plus forcing even foot pressure / keeping in my quads despite what has become crippling soreness, I couldn’t do shit for reps.

On the (not very) bright side, every one of the (few) reps that I did was fully controlled and perfect, and being able to blow up 320 with a slow eccentric on an otherwise terrible day is something of a big deal for me.

Next time I’m going full @mouse with the SSB. Didn’t have time today to fuck around with something with which I’m unfamiliar.

Wrist/elbow/shoulder agony isn't worth it I agree. I also did every under the sun to try alleviate it with a standard barbell but my body thanked me when I opted for other, amenable variants. And if you get the itch to squat with a standard barbell down the road, nothing to stop you from doing a heavy, albeit shorter, training cycle with it. As long as you're squatting in some fashion, you'll be surprised how much better you feel in terms of strength, health, and novelty when you come back to it. And if you want to do it for arbitrary strength testing down the road, that's a fine use for it too without exposing your joints to excessive amounts of...undesirable strain.

[KarlM]

I had the biceps pain from squatting too. Bringing my thumbs around and breaking my wrists (and using wrist wraps) as well as bringing the pinky around (talon grip) all helped a lot. Also supersetting light sets of hammer curls with slow eccentrics helped with acute (by acute, I mean interset acute) biceps pain, but it would come back the next set. Having said that, all of that wasn't enough to consistently squat biceps-pain free. Squat frequency is the other big one for me. Right now I'm squatting three times every 8 days. Day 1 is heavy comp squat, which is four working sets (powerlifting comp style). Day 2 is light SSB for two sets. Day three is medium comp squat for three sets. I haven't had biceps pain for a long time with this set up. Variations are the bees knees. If I squatted straight bar every other day heavy I'd be in so much pain my wife would divorce me. If I didn't care about powerlifting all I'd do for squat pattern is SSB. It's a fantastic movement IMO.

[DCR]

If I squatted straight bar every other day heavy I'd be in so much pain my wife would divorce me.

Who would do something that dumb?

[xng]

But seriously, I was researching massage guns last night, think I'm gonna order this stupid expensive (relative to what I perhaps ignorantly expected) Etafor Pro. Haven't pulled the trigger yet (yes I see what I did there) because I'm feeling frugal and telling myself that by the time I get the delivery, I won't need it anymore. (That's a lie. Adductor has been crazy sore for weeks.)

Massage guns are amazing. I have a Theragun, which is even more stupid expensive than the Etafor Pro, but still cheaper than three human massages. I got mine from Costco so I could return it if it wasn't awesome, but it was. I use it all the time, even when I'm not injured but just tired, sore, or tense. It deletes tension, improves blood flow, and feels great (these statements not evaluated by official science but who cares).

[DCR]

But seriously, I was researching massage guns last night, think I'm gonna order this stupid expensive (relative to what I perhaps ignorantly expected) Etafor Pro. Haven't pulled the trigger yet (yes I see what I did there) because I'm feeling frugal and telling myself that by the time I get the delivery, I won't need it anymore. (That's a lie. Adductor has been crazy sore for weeks.)

Massage guns are amazing. I have a Theragun, which is even more stupid expensive than the Etafor Pro, but still cheaper than three human massages. I got mine from Costco so I could return it if it wasn't awesome, but it was. I use it all the time, even when I'm not injured but just tired, sore, or tense. It deletes tension, improves blood flow, and feels great (these statements not evaluated by official science but who cares).

Ha, definitely not me - anecdotal evidence is all that I need. Did you choose the Theragun for any particular reason?

[DCR]

3/26/24

Bench Press 45,145x12 200x8 240x4 270x1 225x6
Pullups (full extension, slight pause at bottom, legs straight down) x4,4,3,2+1 partial
Goblet Squat 25x12

Notes: It's amazing how good other movements feel when one hasn't spent an hour (lol) squatting beforehand. It's also amazing how sick of a chest pump the much maligned barbell bench press can provide when one actually does it correctly. This was a good showing, the top single not requiring a whole hell of a lot of effort. I'm reasonably confident that with these form fixes I'll put a 3 in front of my number again soon, and with much more confidence than before.

I didn't have time today to squat and do what I did, so I took the opportunity to be smart and push off the former. The silly one set of goblets was worth it to get some blood flow and test the left adductor; the knot there seems mostly to have dissipated, thankfully.

[EricK]

If I squatted straight bar every other day heavy I'd be in so much pain my wife would divorce me.

Who would do something that dumb?

Look at you being all tech-savvy... I see you...

[Bolder]

3/26/24

Bench Press 45,145x12 200x8 240x4 270x1 225x6
Pullups (full extension, slight pause at bottom, legs straight down) x4,4,3,2+1 partial
Goblet Squat 25x12

Notes: It's amazing how good other movements feel when one hasn't spent an hour (lol) squatting beforehand.

I can relate to this so much lol and squats do certainly take a lot of time... Doing squats, it just feels like you're being hit by a train... also, being that all the pain, suffering, and injuries usually just comes from squats... certainly amazing how the bench press always feel good and doesn't hurt as much as squats lol (I guess the gymbros maybe have something right there lol).

The only thing that keeps me coming back to squats is how euphoric it feels after you stand up with a heavy weight on your back (or unless I get put out of commission to squat).

[slowmotion]

I think you people are a bit weird. IMHO squats are much more fun than bench!

[mouse]

I think you people are a bit weird. IMHO squats are much more fun than bench!

Does it hurt to be so... so wrong?

[DCR]

Look at you being all tech-savvy... I see you...

That was all that I wanted.

[DCR]

3/26/24

Bench Press 45,145x12 200x8 240x4 270x1 225x6
Pullups (full extension, slight pause at bottom, legs straight down) x4,4,3,2+1 partial
Goblet Squat 25x12

Notes: It's amazing how good other movements feel when one hasn't spent an hour (lol) squatting beforehand.

I can relate to this so much lol and squats do certainly take a lot of time... Doing squats, it just feels like you're being hit by a train... also, being that all the pain, suffering, and injuries usually just comes from squats... certainly amazing how the bench press always feel good and doesn't hurt as much as squats lol (I guess the gymbros maybe have something right there lol).

The only thing that keeps me coming back to squats is how euphoric it feels after you stand up with a heavy weight on your back (or unless I get put out of commission to squat).

Yes, this. The after-squat high is a thing. They're just miserable to do.

@slowmotion, that's straight up crazy talk.

[DCR]

3/27/24

SSB Squats (set as cambered bar) 50x6,6 100x6,6 150x6,6 200x1,3 250x1,2 275x1 150x12
Lying Leg Curls 65x15,15,15
Standing Calf Raises on platform +15 lbs x20,20,20,20

Notes: Not sure that I've ever had a better calves pump. Dunno why. It was so much that I was worried that I had a clot or some shit.

Anyway, this was my initial foray into the SSB. Place has an adjustable one, so I set it up like the cambered spider bar (which they also have but it's heavy af and an absolute bitch to get set up; I did use it once a year or so ago). I liked it - much easier to think "legs" and a million times easier to keep midfoot, although I had a harder time figuring out the brace. Also I still feel fucked up. I had far more reps on all of these sets (most especially the initial singles at 200 and 250, which didn't make any sense) but somehow couldn't get into it? I really don't know how to describe the feeling. The only set after which I felt like myself for a minute was the final 155x12.

[slowmotion]

I think you people are a bit weird. IMHO squats are much more fun than bench!

Does it hurt to be so... so wrong?

Yes, this. The after-squat high is a thing. They're just miserable to do.

@slowmotion, that's straight up crazy talk.

OK, I'm sorry if I have offended anyone.

But I do usually enjoy squats more than bench. Maybe because squats is a challenge for me, while bench is just bench?

[lheugh]

3/27/24

SSB Squats (set as cambered bar) 50x6,6 100x6,6 150x6,6 200x1,3 250x1,2 275x1 150x12
Lying Leg Curls 65x15,15,15
Standing Calf Raises on platform +15 lbs x20,20,20,20

Notes: Not sure that I've ever had a better calves pump. Dunno why. It was so much that I was worried that I had a clot or some shit.

[DCR]

@lheugh, if you're not concerned that your pump might kill you, you're not doing it right.

[EricK]

@lheugh , if you're not concerned that your pump might kill you, you're not doing it right.

[DCR]

3/29/24

Bench Press 45,150x12 205x8 240x2+1 forced rep 275x1 225x6
Arnold Presses 25s x15 30s x10,6
Barbell Curls 45x12 70x10 90x5,5
T-Bar Rows 45x15 70x12,13,13

Notes: Got stuck on the unrack on the last warm up set, which turned it into shit, but raped and pillaged the top single. Really feeling good about bench again with this corrected form.

Something in my left lateral delt is really pissy when I fully extend at the top of overhead work. Reps dropped off on the last set because I had to do them bodybuilder style sans lockout.