Do you think one of them is using gear pt. 2

halfwit said:
Yeah, I have to be very careful at that weight on the sled as I can literally bruise my ribs when my quads come into contact with my chest. As I can't do squats (knees suck), that's pretty much the only way I can see building up my leg muscles enough to hopefully be able to force my knees into staying in the socket. Something I used to do when trying to compete in deadlift as a younger guy was that I'd intentionally try to lift more than I knew I could. Once you get a feel for that weight (even with assistance), it's far less scary. The only thing that sucks is when your grip strength just can't hold the weight anymore. I used to do a lot of forearm work and hand exercises (spring loaded grips anyone?) to help, but eventually you have to use straps as even chalk doesn't cut it.
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That's an old Paul Anderson technique that he often used on squats.
Load up a few hundred pounds more than he could handle and just worked on hitting depth instead of increasing weight.
Week 1: 1" rom
Week 2: 4" rom
etc until he hit depth.
 
71Avido said:
Actually half, here's a 375lb dumbbell:
375pound_dumbbells-2.jpg
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B9PQ5YD.jpg

That's like a mini-barbell! DAYUM!
CptFKNplanet said:
I meant it as part of my argument as to why the smith is valid for shrugs. I'll also add that I use straps during my smith shrugs. I'm not going to limit my traps because my forearms fail. Plus it helps keep the bar from locking mid shrug. I HATE THAT SHIT. And no I don't use straps for deads, and yes I hit forearms directly.

I've seen them up to 200. I'm sure they go higher than that though.
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Oh, I totally agree with you. I can't see doing them behind the back with free-weight either. I'm surprised that your hand strength limits your shrugs to be honest. Granted, my hands are pretty strong from all the powerlifting in my youth - but can you do at least 225? That should be a good weight to get some stimulation going. I have to be ready to lock the bar on my last set or I'm dropping it due to fatigue. They get kind of antsy when I drop weight as it's REALLY loud haha.
 
71Avido said:
That's an old Paul Anderson technique that he often used on squats.
Load up a few hundred pounds more than he could handle and just worked on hitting depth instead of increasing weight.
Week 1: 1" rom
Week 2: 4" rom
etc until he hit depth.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it works great for all sorts of exercises. The only one that I really panic on when trying that is bench press. I just have this very strong fear of dropping that bar on my neck, which I've seen happen before. Luckily they were able to fix his collapsed trachea, but DAMN - that had to hurt!
 
halfwit said:
Yeah, it works great for all sorts of exercises. The only one that I really panic on when trying that is bench press. I just have this very strong fear of dropping that bar on my neck, which I've seen happen before. Luckily they were able to fix his collapsed trachea, but DAMN - that had to hurt!
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Bench in the power rack.
Seriously.
It is the best thing I've ever done for training bench besides fixing my form.

Set the safeties so that the bar winds up nearly touching your adams apple if/when you fail.
You can't drop the thing on yourself but you still have your full ROM.
 
halfwit said:
Yeah, I have to be very careful at that weight on the sled as I can literally bruise my ribs when my quads come into contact with my chest. As I can't do squats (knees suck), that's pretty much the only way I can see building up my leg muscles enough to hopefully be able to force my knees into staying in the socket. Something I used to do when trying to compete in deadlift as a younger guy was that I'd intentionally try to lift more than I knew I could. Once you get a feel for that weight (even with assistance), it's far less scary. The only thing that sucks is when your grip strength just can't hold the weight anymore. I used to do a lot of forearm work and hand exercises (spring loaded grips anyone?) to help, but eventually you have to use straps as even chalk doesn't cut it.


Hahaha. When I see folks doing dips/pullups on the smith, my blood begins to boil. I've always wanted to try curls on the smith, but I think it would just be too awkward. As I can curl 250 on the preacher machine (yeah, I know - but I do my concentration/hammers with db's. :p), I'd love to know what I can do with an actual barbell again. Used to do 225 back in high school, but my tendons aren't nearly as strong anymore.

Damn, I can't wait to hop on deca.
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I'm short enough to where my gut stops my legs before my knees fully touch my chest lol. Yeah I do that as well sometimes. To "force progress" so to speak. If I don't get 375x5 on deads next week I'm going to 380 either way. I use straps on shrugs cause back day is the day prior, and I hit forearms the next day. I use straps from time to time throughout my back workouts as well. I wear them the whole time, sans deadlift, just incase my grip fails. I've used them on everything from the hammer lat pull to seated rows... annnnnnd I don't give a SHIT! I use those spring loaded grip things sometimes lol. The black handles with a giant spring.

Same. Although, there were some beans on there doing I guess spider pullups? (Idk what they're called but where your back is like parallel to the ground, almost a reverse pushup.) Which led me to the leg room and in turn to talk to the milf. So I can't be that mad about it anymore hahaha. I'm gonna pretend that I didn't read how much you curl, and say "yeah, I do curls too".
 
halfwit said:
Oh, I totally agree with you. I can't see doing them behind the back with free-weight either. I'm surprised that your hand strength limits your shrugs to be honest. Granted, my hands are pretty strong from all the powerlifting in my youth - but can you do at least 225? That should be a good weight to get some stimulation going. I have to be ready to lock the bar on my last set or I'm dropping it due to fatigue. They get kind of antsy when I drop weight as it's REALLY loud haha.
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I can pull over 315 with no straps lol. Once I get up over 350 I can only pull for one so I switch to alt grip. Idk how long I could hold ~315. Maybe 15 - 20 seconds? I don't do static holds. I COULD do shrugs without straps, I just choose to use them because it takes one more variable out of the equation. I want to PURELY focus on squeezing my traps and not worry about my grip giving out or anything else. I still get forearm pump even when using straps, I still squeeze the shit out of the bar... sometimes I'm literally hanging on with two fingers by the end which I obviously couldn't do without the straps. Even setting it down lightly is loud as shit, you can't use the smith machine quietly. It's to warn everyone else in the gym there's a douchebag around.
 
71Avido said:
Bench in the power rack.
Seriously.
It is the best thing I've ever done for training bench besides fixing my form.

Set the safeties so that the bar winds up nearly touching your adams apple if/when you fail.
You can't drop the thing on yourself but you still have your full ROM.
Click to expand...
I would love to, but we don't have a power rack. :( It's standard olympic size benches or the smith machine/cable machine if you want to do chest press. Hence why I'm all giddy that the new gym coming in should have some of those goodies that I miss dearly. Unfortunately for me though, when I did have a power rack to play with, the stops wouldn't go that low - so I could only get in a 3/4 ROM if I was using weight that I was unsure of.

CptFKNplanet said:
I'm short enough to where my gut stops my legs before my knees fully touch my chest lol. Yeah I do that as well sometimes. To "force progress" so to speak. If I don't get 375x5 on deads next week I'm going to 380 either way. I use straps on shrugs cause back day is the day prior, and I hit forearms the next day. I use straps from time to time throughout my back workouts as well. I wear them the whole time, sans deadlift, just incase my grip fails. I've used them on everything from the hammer lat pull to seated rows... annnnnnd I don't give a SHIT! I use those spring loaded grip things sometimes lol. The black handles with a giant spring.

Same. Although, there were some beans on there doing I guess spider pullups? (Idk what they're called but where your back is like parallel to the ground, almost a reverse pushup.) Which led me to the leg room and in turn to talk to the milf. So I can't be that mad about it anymore hahaha. I'm gonna pretend that I didn't read how much you curl, and say "yeah, I do curls too".
Click to expand...

Damn, I guess being tall sucks there too lol. Ahh, okay - I kind of see your point there. I would at least try to go strapless for the lighter stuff though so you do build up some strength. If you can hold 315 for that long, I don't see you having issues with 185-225, which should at least be a good intermediate step up to heavier weight. I want more hammer strength machines. :( Did I mention yet how much I'm looking forward to this new gym? :spin:

Yeah, the black handled ones. I used to love those as they would help us in football with facemasking on the down-low as you could grab a dude's mask and yank down REALLY hard without getting caught if you were sneaky about it. The shit coaches teach kids haha.

Yep, seen those goofy ass pullups too. Always some really skinny kid doing them too. Dude, you have to remember that I've been in the gym for a loooooooong time. Sure, I'm building back up after being hypogonadal for a long time - but if muscle memory is real; it definitely has allowed me to move back up in weight rather quickly. Take your time, build up those connective tissues and be consistent. You'll be moving crazy weight in no time at all. I feel bad sometimes (not so much when they're punks) when folks watch me lift and want to emulate what I'm doing. There was a pretty big dude that took over after I finished on the seated rows and he started to pile on the plates like I do. I swear I saw him shit out his spine as he attempted to move that 365lbs LOL. I pretended not to see him do that, but I couldn't help to feel bad as I know he just wanted to prove to himself that he's as strong as the big guy in the baggy clothes. *sigh*
 
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