Grahams brother Eli was in town (along with the whole family for pop's 60th bday). He is a trainer down in Miami and I got to pick his brain, and had a major breakthru because he showed me how to deadlift, which is something Ive been trying to have happen. Because of my great height, we figured out it was a lot better for me to do a sumo deadlift, and I start off a block so it doesn't go all the way down. Just doing it with 60 lbs a couple days ago I can feel it all over my body. The posterior chain is half your body ---- your back, half your legs, and half your arms. What an amazing excercise.
Eli said a bunch of awesome stuff that I also remembered. Work your weak side first. I was thinking of my left side as my weak side (it is), but really you could cut the body in half the other way and you would say my back side is my weak side (it is.) He got me more aware of my body and where everything is which is great. He introduced me to the idea of my rhomboids (middle back), also great. He showed me a cool way to do a body weight row motion that puts no pressure on the back which is great.
I have some low lying fruit with my deadlift --- I think I can start at 60 lbs and legitly transform my entire body. Having done it once I noticed a t-shirt fit differently. Its amazing that it hits the weak side of my forearm, a different part on my upper arm, traps, etc etc.
I looked in the mirror and saw a new fitness goal -- Dhalsim from Street Fighter II.
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Sunday, April 2, 2017
week off adventure
So we had sxsw. That was sick. I got my workout in during sxsw , early in the week. someone asked me what i did that day and i recounted my day and "then i worked out" was in there, and it was like, i knew it gave me energy for the whole week. It was a cool spot to kinda be in my focused mode where I "manufacture some time."
When sxsw was over, I had this intense desire to go hard in a workout. It was pretty sexy. I worked my upper back alot with this full-range motion exercise I kinda invented. Its like the extension that you would do with your arm for a jumping jack (just on one side) to full extension, and then coupled with a tricep thing at the very end, sure why not. There was a lot of rest. I am pairing that motion with the Michael Phelps thing (5 lb free weights). I grabbed a spot from George on my bench, and did a set of 10 at 125, then a set of 8 then a set of 6 at 135!! For those keeping score at home, 135 is a major milestone, because that is the same as a regular bar with a 45 ("a plate") on each side. I will feel like a hoss once I am benching regularly there, and as an added bonus I could. I did a 3x7 with squats, going up weight to maybe 60 I think. That was cool too, because I could use the bar as 30s for doing bicep curls with a barbell. That will be a really sick plateau once I can get to 30s on my bicep curl. For the squats I think i did about 3x7 for sets. Bicep curls I did use the bar at least once.
It was a great workout and actually I took a few days to lay in bed and chief up. I worked out on the Thursday, and then I waited tables Saturday and Sunday. By the end of my shift Saturday I could really feel the squats I had done, hahaha. I think I am getting to the point where before the end of the semester I am going to get involved with deadlifting. Then I think we are in a good wheelhouse. It feels like I have finished with the "laying a base" stage on my upper chest and arms and that I am at the early stages of being a novice, which is pretty cool. Its probably a good time to start laying a base with deadlifting, and if a year from now I am a starting novice with that and a mid-late novice with some of the chest and arm stuff, that will be totally badass.
Its Sunday now, so last time I had a workout was a week ago Thursday when I went super hard like that. From what Ive been reading the thing to do is to go back down and ease into it again, and then maybe in a week and a half or two Ill see about ramping up, maybe getting a jump on 125 (where my bench is at for repping) and maybe see how much of the 30s bar we can work in for the biceps.
I think probably a good idea to stick with some on the forearms, and hopefully soon can get a day in with Dann at the rock climbing gym and get on the assisted dips, which is like my favorite machine ever.
When sxsw was over, I had this intense desire to go hard in a workout. It was pretty sexy. I worked my upper back alot with this full-range motion exercise I kinda invented. Its like the extension that you would do with your arm for a jumping jack (just on one side) to full extension, and then coupled with a tricep thing at the very end, sure why not. There was a lot of rest. I am pairing that motion with the Michael Phelps thing (5 lb free weights). I grabbed a spot from George on my bench, and did a set of 10 at 125, then a set of 8 then a set of 6 at 135!! For those keeping score at home, 135 is a major milestone, because that is the same as a regular bar with a 45 ("a plate") on each side. I will feel like a hoss once I am benching regularly there, and as an added bonus I could. I did a 3x7 with squats, going up weight to maybe 60 I think. That was cool too, because I could use the bar as 30s for doing bicep curls with a barbell. That will be a really sick plateau once I can get to 30s on my bicep curl. For the squats I think i did about 3x7 for sets. Bicep curls I did use the bar at least once.
It was a great workout and actually I took a few days to lay in bed and chief up. I worked out on the Thursday, and then I waited tables Saturday and Sunday. By the end of my shift Saturday I could really feel the squats I had done, hahaha. I think I am getting to the point where before the end of the semester I am going to get involved with deadlifting. Then I think we are in a good wheelhouse. It feels like I have finished with the "laying a base" stage on my upper chest and arms and that I am at the early stages of being a novice, which is pretty cool. Its probably a good time to start laying a base with deadlifting, and if a year from now I am a starting novice with that and a mid-late novice with some of the chest and arm stuff, that will be totally badass.
Its Sunday now, so last time I had a workout was a week ago Thursday when I went super hard like that. From what Ive been reading the thing to do is to go back down and ease into it again, and then maybe in a week and a half or two Ill see about ramping up, maybe getting a jump on 125 (where my bench is at for repping) and maybe see how much of the 30s bar we can work in for the biceps.
I think probably a good idea to stick with some on the forearms, and hopefully soon can get a day in with Dann at the rock climbing gym and get on the assisted dips, which is like my favorite machine ever.
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