How'd your training go?

[cgeorg]

Something is fucky in my right shoulder, probably bursitis or a rotator cuff injury of some sort. It's been weird for a while - throwing a baseball overhead has sucked for years, though I can ~45 degree sidearm it fine. There's been a bit more movement/clicking/popping of things in there lately while climbing. I started benching again last week and the first planned work set (easy triples) I got 2@10, and my shoulder has been worse since, to the point that it's keeping me up at night and I can't lay on that side. I can press overhead (unloaded) but it starts to hurt around a 30 degree upper arm angle, getting progressively... tighter? as I get up to 90*. An unloaded bench pressing motion feels fine. I'm on a high deductible insurance plan right now so probably no imaging til Jan, I've been looking around for rehabish things. I've seen prone laying OHP with no weight, and some humerus rotation things. Not sure what to do about climbing/putting tension (vs. compression) through the shoulder... That could affect deadlifts too. Various delt raises?

I probably just got over-eager with bench and screwed myself, though it was only 165 (yeah), and the warmups at 135 felt fine. It's just really frustrating to have finally put together a training plan for climbing + lifting, found time in my schedule for it, actually feeling some intrinsic motivation to lift again, and have this happen.

[hector]

Something is fucky in my right shoulder, probably bursitis or a rotator cuff injury of some sort. It's been weird for a while - throwing a baseball overhead has sucked for years, though I can ~45 degree sidearm it fine. There's been a bit more movement/clicking/popping of things in there lately while climbing. I started benching again last week and the first planned work set (easy triples) I got 2@10, and my shoulder has been worse since, to the point that it's keeping me up at night and I can't lay on that side. I can press overhead (unloaded) but it starts to hurt around a 30 degree upper arm angle, getting progressively... tighter? as I get up to 90*. An unloaded bench pressing motion feels fine. I'm on a high deductible insurance plan right now so probably no imaging til Jan, I've been looking around for rehabish things. I've seen prone laying OHP with no weight, and some humerus rotation things. Not sure what to do about climbing/putting tension (vs. compression) through the shoulder... That could affect deadlifts too. Various delt raises?

I probably just got over-eager with bench and screwed myself, though it was only 165 (yeah), and the warmups at 135 felt fine. It's just really frustrating to have finally put together a training plan for climbing + lifting, found time in my schedule for it, actually feeling some intrinsic motivation to lift again, and have this happen.

Have you tried hanging from a bar? Maybe building up slowly to a couple reps of 1 minute?

Done great things for my shoulders, prehab and rehab, shoulder injuries much rarer for me now.

[Famendoza1981]

This past week my wife and I welcomed our new son (Canadian thanksgiving). After about 5 days of adjusting to the new schedule, I decided to change my training to align with my new life and schedule.

Previously I just finished week 16 of StrongerByScience Hypertrophy program, and was on day 26 of the Fighter pull-up program. My goals changed to doing a program that doesn’t require much readiness (I won’t be getting more than 5 hours of sleep) and can be completely flexible in terms of time management (can squeeze in between baby sleeps or throughout the day in a few minutes)

So I started doing 5/3/1 First set last 5x5, and did a reset for the fighter pull-up program to day 19.

Reasons I’ve chosen 5/3/1 First set last
- I’ve run 5/3/1 before and familiar with structure
- 5/3/1 philosophy of start too light aligns with my need to do workouts without being ready (lack of sleep) and focus on lighter assistance with many reps (I can do lots of light reps even while lacking sleep)
- used squat, bench, OHP, deadlift ie lifts I’m familiar with
- can do all the lifts with my home gym equipment, which is a massive time saver. Can even bring baby to my garage gym.

Reasons I’m sticking to fighter pull-ups
- I want to do pull-ups
- I want long rest periods to be able to do more reps per set
- long rest periods and me working at home means I can do pull-ups throughout the day without dedicating a block of time for a hard thing for me (time management and flexibility)

I also added a few things
- for 5/3/1 I’ve chosen training maxes that represent lifts I can do with continuous reps without full lockout, at least for bench and squat (and maybe the other two as well). Lessens the weight while simultaneously letting me practice bracing through continuous reps without stopping at the start of the next rep. So I don’t have to worry about weights increasing faster than I can recover during my newborn baby period.
- AMRAPs will be optional. This means I can be flexible in effort, so if I feel ready to go over the minimum reps I’ll do it, otherwise I can do the minimum. Helps if I’m totally not ready mentally or physically after gruelling baby days
- I will also choose lower increments for TM increases per cycle (5 lbs for squat, 2.5 lbs)

I’ll see how all this goes, but basically I plan on being easier on myself on how intense I go, and focus on being consistent and flexible (at the gym, and mentally as well).

[AlanMackey]

This past week my wife and I welcomed our new son (Canadian thanksgiving). After about 5 days of adjusting to the new schedule, I decided to change my training to align with my new life and schedule.

Previously I just finished week 16 of StrongerByScience Hypertrophy program, and was on day 26 of the Fighter pull-up program. My goals changed to doing a program that doesn’t require much readiness (I won’t be getting more than 5 hours of sleep) and can be completely flexible in terms of time management (can squeeze in between baby sleeps or throughout the day in a few minutes)

So I started doing 5/3/1 First set last 5x5, and did a reset for the fighter pull-up program to day 19.

Reasons I’ve chosen 5/3/1 First set last
- I’ve run 5/3/1 before and familiar with structure
- 5/3/1 philosophy of start too light aligns with my need to do workouts without being ready (lack of sleep) and focus on lighter assistance with many reps (I can do lots of light reps even while lacking sleep)
- used squat, bench, OHP, deadlift ie lifts I’m familiar with
- can do all the lifts with my home gym equipment, which is a massive time saver. Can even bring baby to my garage gym.

Reasons I’m sticking to fighter pull-ups
- I want to do pull-ups
- I want long rest periods to be able to do more reps per set
- long rest periods and me working at home means I can do pull-ups throughout the day without dedicating a block of time for a hard thing for me (time management and flexibility)

I also added a few things
- for 5/3/1 I’ve chosen training maxes that represent lifts I can do with continuous reps without full lockout, at least for bench and squat (and maybe the other two as well). Lessens the weight while simultaneously letting me practice bracing through continuous reps without stopping at the start of the next rep. So I don’t have to worry about weights increasing faster than I can recover during my newborn baby period.
- AMRAPs will be optional. This means I can be flexible in effort, so if I feel ready to go over the minimum reps I’ll do it, otherwise I can do the minimum. Helps if I’m totally not ready mentally or physically after gruelling baby days
- I will also choose lower increments for TM increases per cycle (5 lbs for squat, 2.5 lbs)

I’ll see how all this goes, but basically I plan on being easier on myself on how intense I go, and focus on being consistent and flexible (at the gym, and mentally as well).

If you want something even easier, do 5/3/1 5s Pro (all sets are five reps, no AMRAP) + 5x5 FSL. Your TM should be around 80%1RM for this.

[Famendoza1981]

If you want something even easier, do 5/3/1 5s Pro (all sets are five reps, no AMRAP) + 5x5 FSL. Your TM should be around 80%1RM for this.

Hey I’m actually going way lighter than 80%1RM. For the squat and bench lifts that I chose training maxes for, they’re about 73% and 66% of my all time 1RM. I understand 5 pros just has you do 5s for all percentage sets (so on 5s week and 3s week and 5/3/1 week you do 5 reps regardless) but with my plan I end up doing less reps if I’m not ready mentally/physically. If I do decide to push things if I’m feeling good, I can make my AMRAPs match my rep quality criteria, which likely will be around 5-6 reps.

[alek]

This past week my wife and I welcomed our new son (Canadian thanksgiving).

Congratulations!

[EggMcMuffin]

Right wrist keeps getting destroyed by squats. Seems like I lost enough weight that I can longer make a decent shelf. I hate being poorly made. I'm returning this body to sender.

Also my near decade of working shitty, low paid service jobs is starting to take a noticeable toll. Either that or I'm aging, but my ankles and knees always fucking hurt like hell when I wake up and I now hear loud, cringeworthy cracking in my knees when squatting, which I assumed is benign but still really disconcerting. Getting old sucks. Being mortal sucks. Life in general sucks. Fuck all of this shit.

Todays workout will be 185lbs 4x4. It's hard for me to remember that I spent my early twenties doing 295lbs for 5x5 and never getting anywhere lol. I miss those days a lot. Time flies. I felt way more driven back then l. The novelty of lifting wears off when you realize it's not all that special or even difficult to be strong. Sure I enjoy training, but I always wind up feeling like a loser worrying about my bench or whatever when I could be doing "better" things.

I guess part of training is learning to accept yourself. Unless you're "gifted", which I am most definitely not in any appreciable capacity in any category, most of training is just realizing that you can only do so much, and that a bodyweight overhead press would be an elite lift for you, that your 500lb deadlift actually sucks because you weight about that much, or that benching more actually made your dick shrink. It winds up being that: why do these numbers even *matter*? What glory is there in pulling 500lbs? Does anything really change in the grander scheme of things? Do you just accept that you are merely doing something healthy for yourself and everything else is just an abstraction not worthy of serious consideration?

I'm a pea brain who struggles to make sense of life and myself but I know it doesn't matter. Numbers don't matter. Although I am a weak loser, I am a uniquely weak loser, incomparable to other weak losers and not even remotely quantifiable with respect to the virile winners. Intellectually that scans, I am like a little hummingbird or the rings of Saturn, flying about at miles per hour pace acceptable to me personally. I am on my on track, not caring. Emotionally I have not learned or internalized the truth and liberatory nature of meaninglessness.

Who knows.

[DCR]

Right wrist keeps getting destroyed by squats. Seems like I lost enough weight that I can longer make a decent shelf.

If you aren’t already, try significantly widening your grip and work on squeezing your back specifically. You should be able to control the bar with fingertips. Then slowly bring it in from session to session until you find a comfortable middle ground.

Todays workout will be 185lbs 4x4. It's hard for me to remember that I spent my early twenties doing 295lbs for 5x5 and never getting anywhere lol.

Yeah. I’ve been working an A session on squat of progressing 6x6, then a B session of progressing a top set of 6, followed by a back off set for 20. Today was B session and I topped at 240x6 and it kinda sucked. Occurred to me after that as recently as 2018, my fucking warm up was 45,145,245x8.

[Famendoza1981]

This past week my wife and I welcomed our new son (Canadian thanksgiving).

Congratulations!

Thanks man!

[mouse]

Either that or I'm aging, but my ankles and knees always fucking hurt like hell when I wake up and I now hear loud, cringeworthy cracking in my knees when squatting, which I assumed is benign but still really disconcerting.

Bro if you could hear the noises my knees, ankles, hips, ribs, shoulders (you get the idea) make STANDING STILL you'd worry far less...

Edit: somewhere after my self-diagnosed meniscus tear a ways back I developed the super human ability to get audibly loud gross cracks out of my left knee on command by extending it and giving it a little twist. Especially at night after I've been laying down for a bit...

[CheekiBreekiFitness]

I guess part of training is learning to accept yourself. Unless you're "gifted", which I am most definitely not in any appreciable capacity in any category, most of training is just realizing that you can only do so much, and that a bodyweight overhead press would be an elite lift for you, that your 500lb deadlift actually sucks because you weight about that much, or that benching more actually made your dick shrink. It winds up being that: why do these numbers even *matter*? What glory is there in pulling 500lbs? Does anything really change in the grander scheme of things? Do you just accept that you are merely doing something healthy for yourself and everything else is just an abstraction not worthy of serious consideration?

I'm a pea brain who struggles to make sense of life and myself but I know it doesn't matter. Numbers don't matter. Although I am a weak loser, I am a uniquely weak loser, incomparable to other weak losers and not even remotely quantifiable with respect to the virile winners. Intellectually that scans, I am like a little hummingbird or the rings of Saturn, flying about at miles per hour pace acceptable to me personally. I am on my on track, not caring. Emotionally I have not learned or internalized the truth and liberatory nature of meaninglessness.

Who knows.

I mean in the end people have to realize that (if you except people who are professional athletes) lifting weights is just a hobby that people do for enjoyment. And since it's a hobby nothing really matters. How much you can lift, what style of training you do, how big you are, how your body looks like etc. None of that stuff matters, its all arbitrary and literally nobody cares.

There's this tendency for people who are serious about this lifting hobby to think that it defines their identity and that it can somehow change their life, and I can assure you that it does not.

[DCR]

Either that or I'm aging, but my ankles and knees always fucking hurt like hell when I wake up and I now hear loud, cringeworthy cracking in my knees when squatting, which I assumed is benign but still really disconcerting.

Bro if you could hear the noises my knees, ankles, hips, ribs, shoulders (you get the idea) make STANDING STILL you'd worry far less...

Edit: somewhere after my self-diagnosed meniscus tear a ways back I developed the super human ability to get audibly loud gross cracks out of my left knee on command by extending it and giving it a little twist. Especially at night after I've been laying down for a bit...

And by gross you mean the most amazing feeling thing. Playing a symphony with my ankles right now, as I do every morning.

[mouse]

And by gross you mean the most amazing feeling thing.

Probably not amazing for those around us though...

There's this tendency for people who are serious about this lifting hobby to think that it defines their identity and that it can somehow change their life, and I can assure you that it does not.

You mean to tell me those people who rise and grind everyday to go to war with the iron are in fact NOT actually at war?

[alek]

And by gross you mean the most amazing feeling thing.

Probably not amazing for those around us though...

As a teenager, my mom once complained that I was clicking my shoelaces too loudly on my sneakers as I walked. I took them off and walked by again. She was horrified that it was my ankles making the noise.

[janoycresva]

And by gross you mean the most amazing feeling thing.

Probably not amazing for those around us though...

There's this tendency for people who are serious about this lifting hobby to think that it defines their identity and that it can somehow change their life, and I can assure you that it does not.

You mean to tell me those people who rise and grind everyday to go to war with the iron are in fact NOT actually at war?

I lost half my squad doing Texas Method volume day

[mouse]

And by gross you mean the most amazing feeling thing.

Probably not amazing for those around us though...

There's this tendency for people who are serious about this lifting hobby to think that it defines their identity and that it can somehow change their life, and I can assure you that it does not.

You mean to tell me those people who rise and grind everyday to go to war with the iron are in fact NOT actually at war?

I lost half my squad doing Texas Method volume day

Someone photoshop up a rifle/boots/helmet style memorial but with a barbell and the 'weightlifting boot'

[EggMcMuffin]

It just dawned on me how much of a shyster Rip must be to continually assert that lifting weights is a really fucking hard thing to do, or that it's one of the hardest things you can do. Like yeah working youe squat up to 295 3x5 on my LP was one of the harder things I've done but like....that's kinda easy compared to being in a happy marriage, raising a kid, finishing college (especially if you're broke), being mentally ill, gay, dying, literal combat, dying in literal combat, marathons etc.

Like it's not really that serious. It's only game.

[Hanley]

It just dawned on me how much of a shyster Rip must be to continually assert that lifting weights is a really fucking hard thing to do, or that it's one of the hardest things you can do. Like yeah working youe squat up to 295 3x5 on my LP was one of the harder things I've done but like....that's kinda easy compared to being in a happy marriage, raising a kid, finishing college (especially if you're broke), being mentally ill, gay, dying, literal combat, dying in literal combat, marathons etc.

Like it's not really that serious. It's only game.

I don't think it's one of the hardest things you can do, but I think it's one of the most grounding. And I think "hard" and "grounding" are pretty close.

Like it or not, you will be pulled into the moment on a heavy set. You can drift through marriage, parenthood, college, gaystates...but a single grindy rep snaps you to the present. After suffering (say in combat or other extremes of experience), you might find yourself forever stuck in the experience of suffering. That experience of grounding (lifting with focus/intention) can be pretty great.

And that grounding experience itself changes over time. Anxiety >>> years of in-between >>> absolute presence with emotional detachment

##

I think the sympathetic reading of what Rippetoe meant is something like this ^. I don't think he's suggesting that some genpop dude's grindy bench rep @ 250 is harder than week 8 of chemo. Or combat. Or the dank, joyless slog of depression.

[Renascent]

It just dawned on me how much of a shyster Rip must be to continually assert that lifting weights is a really fucking hard thing to do, or that it's one of the hardest things you can do. Like yeah working youe squat up to 295 3x5 on my LP was one of the harder things I've done but like....that's kinda easy compared to being in a happy marriage, raising a kid, finishing college (especially if you're broke), being mentally ill, gay, dying, literal combat, dying in literal combat, marathons etc.

Like it's not really that serious. It's only game.

I don't think it's one of the hardest things you can do, but I think it's one of the most grounding. And I think "hard" and "grounding" are pretty close.

Like it or not, you will be pulled into the moment on a heavy set. You can drift through marriage, parenthood, college, gaystates...but a single grindy rep snaps you to the present. After suffering (say in combat or other extremes of experience), you might find yourself forever stuck in the experience of suffering. That experience of grounding (lifting with focus/intention) can be pretty great.

And that grounding experience itself changes over time. Anxiety >>> years of in-between >>> absolute presence with emotional detachment

I was tempted to say something along these lines, but lost my nerve, I guess.

Barring all of the aforementioned troubles, lifting weights could very well be the hardest thing that much of his intended audience could ever (voluntarily) undertake.

Or the dank, joyless slog of depression.

::hugs Hanley::

[CheekiBreekiFitness]

It just dawned on me how much of a shyster Rip must be to continually assert that lifting weights is a really fucking hard thing to do, or that it's one of the hardest things you can do. Like yeah working youe squat up to 295 3x5 on my LP was one of the harder things I've done but like....that's kinda easy compared to being in a happy marriage, raising a kid, finishing college (especially if you're broke), being mentally ill, gay, dying, literal combat, dying in literal combat, marathons etc.

Like it's not really that serious. It's only game.

It stops being a game when you step inside the squat rack with your wooden clogs and Fortunate Son starts playing in the background, son.