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  #71  
Old 04-01-2007, 04:57 PM
ghij_mpu ghij_mpu is offline
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I'd say one leg at a time is the way to go. After my cardio today, I went back and did some Step-ups with just body weight. Not only is one leg at a time better because it's a lot easier to get a rhythm going, but it seems safer too. You keep the upper foot in the same spot where as if you alternate legs, you have to re-plant the upper foot again each rep, easier to mis-step.

Even with just body weight, I was wobbly using my right leg, which make sense because I'm right handed and my left leg is my "take off" leg when jumping, bowling, etc. So my right leg has some catching up to do.
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What don't kill you make you more strong -- Metallica - Death Magnetic
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  #72  
Old 04-01-2007, 05:01 PM
EricT EricT is offline
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Exactly. And if you are spending all that time rebalancing and resetting not only will the bar be on you a LONG time but, as you say, you could easily get injured. I can imagine a knee injury from all the shifting around.

And again, watch that downward phase. If you're not careful, while you're getting used to the exercise, you can get a very painful stress injury in the shin.

I don't remember if those articles I posted went into this. The proper way to get into position is to start with both feet on the platform (or bench or whatever), shift your weight to the leg your exercising and slowly lower you body down until the free leg comes in contact TOES ONLY. The majority of the weight is kept on the exercised leg. And then back up back down in a nice rhythm. The important thing is where the weight is because your legs were not desinged to absorb the stress of coming down from a height with a barbell on your back. But if you do it right there are no worrys.
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If you act sanctimonious I will just list out your logical fallacies until you get pissed off and spew blasphemous remarks.
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  #73  
Old 04-04-2007, 06:49 AM
ghij_mpu ghij_mpu is offline
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Tuesday 4/03/07

Barbell Step-ups ----------- 3x5 135 lbs
Military Press -------------- 5x5x4 132 lbs
Rows ----------------------- 3x5 120 lbs

Chin-ups ------------------- 1x8 1x5

Notes:
It was nice to have a complete workout again, one that flowed like normal. It was almost a month ago, March 10th, that my back started affecting my lifting. Since then it's either been missing workouts, or substituting and trying different exercises.

Barbell Step-ups take a little getting used to, mostly balance, but they're the best squat substitute I've tried. And my chiropractor endorses them, mostly because lower weight means less compression on the lower back. Like Eric said, you have to be careful when bringing your non-working leg's foot to the ground after a rep. It has to be controlled so you're not hitting the floor with a lot of force to avoid injury, and also to work the negative part of the exercise.

PR on Military Press, but I missed the last rep. Working my way back up on Rows. Chins were weak again.
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  #74  
Old 04-06-2007, 09:29 AM
ghij_mpu ghij_mpu is offline
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Thursday 4/05/07

Barbell Step-up ---------- 3x5 140 lbs
Bench Press ------------- 3x5 200 lbs
Deadlift ----------------- 1x5 145 lbs

Dips --------------------- 2x8 45 lbs

Notes:
I'm doing the Step-ups wrong. I'm using way too much of the non-working leg. I got to thinking, the highest I got up to on Squats was 225 lbs (two legs). I shouldn't be able to do Step-ups with 140 (one leg). I'm going bump the weight way down and really concentrate on hardly using the non-working leg at all.

Bench was strong.

I'm tempted to go up 15 or 20 pounds on the Deadlift. I'm confident I'm doing them with proper technique now and my back feels fine.
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  #75  
Old 04-06-2007, 10:36 AM
EricT EricT is offline
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Probably some truth in what you say about the step-ups but the range of motion is not as deep so it's somewhat feasible to be stronger than you think. But the unilateral aspect cancels this somewhat. You'll get it down.

On the deads I would recommend, because of your back, to test the waters. Do your regular set with your regular loading increment and then do a single or double at the heavier weight you wanted to see how it feels before your commit to 15 reps. I trust what you say about having the form down but sometimes the next day gives you an "update" from your back. Normally such jumps shouldn't be a problem but you are kind of in a state of rehab.

I know that you started with 220 or so on deads and this weight is much lower. But that was with a different technique so that the impact of various muscle groups changes and no doubt the metabolic demands change. In general, I'd advocate for sticking with your planned increment and not making sudden surges. Deadlift can place very great demands on recovery in general. You may be feeling stronger in terms of intensity but that doesn't mean your body is ready for a sudden increase in workload. These kinds of changes can cause sudden stalls in progress.

If you've been going up 20 lbs and progressing that is one thing. But if your used to 10 lbs that is another. I'm just speaking in generalities because of course I can't predict what might happen. And a person can always take off a day here or there if they do too much.

I'm glad to hear that your back feels fine. That has to be a load off your mind.
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  #76  
Old 04-06-2007, 11:49 AM
ghij_mpu ghij_mpu is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric3237 View Post
On the deads I would recommend, because of your back, to test the waters. Do your regular set with your regular loading increment and then do a single or double at the heavier weight you wanted to see how it feels before your commit to 15 reps. I trust what you say about having the form down but sometimes the next day gives you an "update" from your back. Normally such jumps shouldn't be a problem but you are kind of in a state of rehab.

I know that you started with 220 or so on deads and this weight is much lower. But that was with a different technique so that the impact of various muscle groups changes and no doubt the metabolic demands change. In general, I'd advocate for sticking with your planned increment and not making sudden surges. Deadlift can place very great demands on recovery in general. You may be feeling stronger in terms of intensity but that doesn't mean your body is ready for a sudden increase in workload. These kinds of changes can cause sudden stalls in progress.

If you've been going up 20 lbs and progressing that is one thing. But if your used to 10 lbs that is another. I'm just speaking in generalities because of course I can't predict what might happen. And a person can always take off a day here or there if they do too much.
Reading you analyze it makes me realize I'm being too anxious. It was hard in the beginning of Rippetoe's to be patient and just add 5 pounds a week when I easily could have added 15 or 20 to some lifts. I've got to get back into that mind set. I'll be up to challenging weights before I know it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric3237 View Post
I'm glad to hear that your back feels fine. That has to be a load off your mind.
Yeah, I got lucky it wasn't anything serious and I can continue lifting. It's a wake up call that my 50 year old back ain't what it used to be and I have to start taking care of it.
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  #77  
Old 04-06-2007, 11:54 AM
ghij_mpu ghij_mpu is offline
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That was my 50th post, but I do not see the edit button. Maybe you get the edit button with more than 50 posts, so here's number 51.
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  #78  
Old 04-06-2007, 11:56 AM
EricT EricT is offline
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I'd definitely give your back all the time it needs.

But I just wanted to be clear that 15 to 20 lbs increments for deads is certainly feasible and doable (at first). And it could well be you could start going with some wider increments for a while once you're sure you back is good to go. But once you commit to an increment I wouldn't make sudden upward jumps unless they are very small ones. Basically stick with the biggest increments you can get away with until you need to lower them. At the same time if you stick with 5 pounds on the deads you'll just be able to sustain that increment longer. It may be a little slower but in the long run you'll have a healthy back that keeps working for you so the general attitude you've adopted I think is best (espcially for us old guys).
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  #79  
Old 04-08-2007, 03:44 PM
ghij_mpu ghij_mpu is offline
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^^^^ Yeah Eric, I think I'll stick with the smaller increments for the Deadlift. Thanks for pointing out the long term advantages.
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  #80  
Old 04-08-2007, 04:02 PM
ghij_mpu ghij_mpu is offline
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Saturday 4/07/07

Barbell Step-ups --------- 3x5 115 lbs
Military Press ------------ 3x5 128 lbs 1x5 133 lbs
Rows -------------------- 1x5 125 lbs

Chin-ups ----------------- 2x8

One arm dumbbell curls ---- 1x8 30 lbs
Cable Tri Extensions ------- 1x8 160
EZ Curl bar ---------------- 1x6 65 lbs
Cable Tri Extensions ------- 1x8 160

Notes:
I liked my Step-ups technique much better this workout. I was more stable and used the leg I was working more, even though I went down in weight.

I messed up on the Military Press weight. I had a tough time last time at 132 lbs, so I thought I'd do 133 lbs this time. Turns out I was pushing up only 128 lbs. I thought it was a little easier than I expected. I found out when I was taking the weight off. So I did one more set at the intended 133 lbs just to be sure I could do it.
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