Whew!

I'm very thankful to God that my hamstring is very sore... but that's all. Sore like an intense workout sore, not sore like "tore the thing in two" sore. I realize that I'm going to have to drop the weight more, and warm up more. It occurred to me that it's been only a short time I've been doing 5 reps times 5 sets, and I should have dropped the weight back more before starting such a scheme. We live and we learn, now don't we?

Oh THAT can't be good!

So much like my blogging, I've been really slacking with my weight training. I took most of August off from the weights, and purposed to hit them again (at a twice a week pace) come September. Well, it's September. Monday I did squats and chin ups (5x5). I was severely sore for four days. Today I attempted deadlifts. As I did with squats, I dropped back the weight, realizing that I would not likely be able to pick up exactly where I left off. I failed at four reps my first working set. I want to do five sets of five, so I dropped 20 lbs off the bar and tried to reach five in my next set. One rep... and *~POP~*. My left hamstring. I said something I shouldn't think, repented and asked God's forgiveness, and then prayed that this wasn't as bad as it sounded. I'm sitting on an ice pack while I type this, hoping that I get another chance to deadlift again. I promise I will warm up better next time.

I'll keep you posted.

DON'T YOU QUIT!!!

This is the sign that hangs on the wall of my garage at my squat rack. I hung it up as a reminder to... well... not quit!

I need the reminder because of something I've been experimenting with -- 20 rep squats, aka "breathing squats," aka "man-makers," aka "super squats," aka "squats and milk" (named for the drink that helps pack on the muscle).

Here's the concept: Take a weight with which you can squat about 10 times (not 11 or 12), and stand there until you're done with 20. It just may be the hardest exercise you'll ever do. It's physically and psychologically brutal. It makes you feel like you might pass out, throw up, cry, shout things you shouldn't, and QUIT.

Reps #1 through #10, simple enough, just like an ordinary set of squats. Rep #11 can only be done after pausing a bit to get some air into you. Stand there with the weight on your back... breathe... deep and slow... and squat... #12, stand there and breathe, squat #13... etc. Somewhere around #15 to #17, your body starts getting to your mind... "What in the world are you doing? Rack that weight and be done with this nonsense! Just quit!" Then I look at my sign. DON'T YOU QUIT. It's my reminder to keep going, now matter how bad I want to give up.

It's a simple and short phrase, because at the time of the greatest struggle, long or detailed arguments are not going to register very well. Breathe... huff, huff, huff, inhale BIG and... squat... back up again... #18. "I can't do this anymore, I'm going to quit before I pass out or puke."

At this point, it is nearly impossible to reason thusly, "Jerry, if you intend to get the maximum benefit of this very difficult exercise, you need to complete the set. It is precisely these moments of great struggle that provoke the physiological response that you seek. If you continue and finish the set, your body will release growth hormones and testosterone, and your muscles will grow bigger and stronger. Also, Jerry, before you put that barbell down, you may want to consider that your heart is also getting quite a good workout from these breathing squats. I urge you to continue until reaching your original goal of 20 squats with your 10 rep max."

No, no. That's not how your brain is working right then. It's more like, "oh.... huff, huff, huff, I can't do this... huff, huff, huff, I think I'm going to die...I quit, I quit." Then, I look at my sign again... DON'T YOU QUIT. Short and sweet. Very effective. "Why shouldn't I quit? I don't understand... this hurts!!! I should quit." DON'T YOU QUIT. Ok, ok, keep going. Yes, keep going. You'll understand it later, just obey it now.

After finishing the squats, some people collapse on the floor, others go the bench and do pullovers to help breathe and expand the chest. Me, I just head towards the door on my wobbly legs and try to get as much air as I can, knowing that I just finished a very difficult thing, and I didn't quit. Now I can go have some milk and enjoy the benefits of my workout (well, after the Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness becomes tolerable).

Ok, what's the point of this post? DON'T YOU QUIT!!! That's the point. Consider this workout story to be some sort of metaphor for life. Times get tough. Our patience is tried, our energy gets zapped, our faith gets shaky, and sometimes we want to quit. DON'T YOU QUIT.

Need a sign telling you not to quit? Here it is. Post it up in your memory:

"If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small" -- Proverbs 24:10.

Note, 1. In the day of adversity we are apt to faint, to droop and be discouraged, to desist from our work, and to despair of relief. Our spirits sink, and then our hands hang down and our knees grow feeble, and we become unfit for anything. And often those that are most cheerful when they are well droop most, and are most dejected, when any thing ails them. 2. This is an evidence that our strength is small, and is a means of weakening it more. “It is a sign that thou art not a man of any resolution, any firmness of thought, any consideration, any faith (for that is the strength of a soul), if thou canst not bear up under an afflictive change of thy condition.” Some are so feeble that they can bear nothing; if a trouble does but touch them (Job_4:5), nay, if it does but threaten them, they faint immediately and are ready to give up all for gone; and by this means they render themselves unfit to grapple with their trouble and unable to help themselves. Be of good courage therefore, and God shall strengthen thy heart.

--Matthew Henry.

'Tis Monday

This cold/flu thing is quite pesky and lingering. Some of the kids are now going through another round of it. It seems at some time some one in this home has been sick, for like a month or two. Yuck.

But in case your feeling like you're having a bad day, here's one of those stories that makes you think, "Well, I might have had a rough day, but at least my bride didn't die in my arms on my wedding day."

It'll be my 37th birthday coming up here on the 20th. My Pops gifted me with this baby:

That's a squat cage! I can squat and bench in there without a spotter, do pull-ups on the front bar, and dips on the side dip-handles. I've been experimenting with squatting recently, as it along with the deadlift are one of those total-body stressing exercises that increases testosterone levels, and makes your whole body grow big and strong. But I was doing it in a not so safe manner, thus not piling on as much weight as is necessary to really do the job. Ah, but now... I can't wait to hit those squats! For now, I have to finish my coffee and get to work. ~sigh~

Good day, all!

Prescription: A couple beers and a weight set

Hey, you don't have to tell me twice.

Physical activity and moderate consumption of alcohol are a healthy combination!

So, go ahead and have a Troegenator after karate class, or a weight lifting session, or whatever it is you enjoy doing to keep moving. It's good for you.

105!

Conner (9 years old, 70 lbs), pulling 105 lbs on his deadlift:

So the new year begins...

With a head cold? I woke up this morning with pain in my nasal passages, and the beginnings of a sore throat. Yuck. So, I'm sipping some hot tea and taking Tylenol. Hopefully that's as far as it goes.

Having totally recovered from this past Friday's workout, last night I started playing around with a few things I haven't worked on much before:

The clean, and the overhead squat. The effects and benefits of the overhead squat are highly touted. Well, I tried it with a meager weight on the bar (we'll not talk about how very little), and failed after about 4 reps. Upon further research, first attempts at overhead squats will apparently make you look like a sissy. This is a personal goal for me this year, to get closer to overhead squatting my bodyweight (yeah right!)

Family pushups

Last night we did family pushups -- kids, wife, everybody but the cat. It was fun, and here's how you can do them too, in a way that you do not wear yourself out, but still do way more pushups than you think you can.

I've been playing with Pavel's Ladder, a way to accomplish Synaptic Facilitation, also called the "grease the groove" method, credited to Pavel "the evil Russian" Tsatsouline. The goal is to do high volume pushups without approaching failure. Here's how we did Pavel's ladder as a family:

I did one pushup, and stood up. Everyone else dropped and did one pushup to match me. Then I dropped and did two (one, two), again everyone matches my two pushups. I did three (one, two, three), everyone did three. I did four, everyone did four. I did five, everyone did five. When someone says, "I'm done" or "I don't think I can do the next set," we all drop back to one, then two, then three, etc.

We did this as a family three times back to back to back -- completing two ladders of 5, and one ladder of 4, meaning that we all did 40 pushups within a few minutes!

I myself have done almost 800 pushups since Saturday (not including the pushups done in Karate class), by doing Pavel's ladder every other day.

Try Pavel's Ladder, and grease the groove baby!