Arkk's Weight Lifting / Fitness Thread

Ever since I started focusing on Squats and Deads and lower body in general I just don't give a shit about my bench numbers at all. Big shift in perspective for me.

Bulgarians fucking wreck me every time. Dunno what it is about them, but even doing them with 55 pound dumbbells and I'm spent after every set.

And I've had worse. A long time ago when I first started lifting, I must have forgotten to breathe or something, but my vision went out mid-lift (started tunnel visioning like if you get choked out). Basically had to stumble my way to an area I knew I could sit and just waited it out for like 15 minutes.

I went the last 8.5 years going heavy and had almost zero issues with my knees until about 9-10 months ago. Numerous issues it would seem but only one of which is actually structural (partially torn meniscus in left). The rest of my pain seems to be from some sort of imbalance somewhere - possibly hammies to quads, or quads to VMO, or even quads to calves - which presents itself mostly when squatting down in the hole. The pain is actually worse in my other knee than the one with the meniscus tear. I went from a 505# BS two years ago to now barely able to squat 135# without major pain. Deadlifts seem fine. Squats hurt.

I'm anterior dominant but my calves are always tight as fuck. I've always been inconsistent with proper stretching before and after so I guess it's finally catching up to me. I know I need surgery for the meniscus but the rest of it, I'm tired of "just rest with meds and ice and the hope it gets better". Been doing that for almost a year and no real progress.

Anyone else deal with things like this or patellafemoral pain syndrome?

More discussions the last few days with a PT, a chiro, and a massage therapist to zero-in on what’s going on. Plus a ton of stretching targeting quads, calves (more specifically, my soleus), glutes as well as some hip openers/activation. Also, chiro and MT both identified a bulging disc in my L3, which can naturally produce referral pain in, you guessed it, inner quads.

Something else that was identified was a faulty mechanic in my squat. I guess somewhere along the way, I began to initiate squats with knees pushing forward first followed by descent. It’s slight but enough to get me out of proper position and puts extra pressure on the inner quad and VMO, which is exactly where I feel some of the pain when I’m down in the hole. Pain is less when instead of pushing knees forward, I initiate the squat by “sitting back” first and then let the knees bend naturally as I descend. Puts less pressure on the problem areas.

Will need some time to see how much all of this helps. I’m just glad to finally be working with the right folks to fix this shit.

I started doing box squats a few months ago. I'm not that old (35), but I'm at the point where fuck going ass to grass. I've got nothing to prove at this point.

Gravel said:

I started doing box squats a few months ago. I'm not that old (35), but I'm at the point where fuck going ass to grass. I've got nothing to prove at this point.

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I do nothing but box squats now. Going too deep makes my hips scream, and at 36 I'm in the same boat as you. Ain't nobody got time for that.

I'm 48 but I also do more Olympic lifting now then I do powerlifting. At or below parallel is necessary if you want to compete in the sport. I've proven to myself that I can handle big loads without pain. What I'm discovering with these issues is that my mechanics and flexibility need to be a lot better if I want to continue. A LOT better.

Here's a site that I just recently discovered. Lots of good articles and may be helpful to others.

Squat University

I don't think there are any, because the reality is that intensity trumps basically every other metric. If you lift intensely, every time? That's the only "exercise" that needs to be done. Don't lift half-ass. Don't do pilates every bench day because you like pilates; that will fuck with your lifts.

I'm not a fan of full body workouts every workout; I believe strongly that you should break up the big three into different days, and do different support exercises on those days (don't curl 6x a week; do it as a supplement to a bench day or something.)

I get the desire to have "Complete" workouts where you feel like your whole body has done something awesome. That's cool. I also am of the mindset that it stunts growth, because while you get that full feeling, you are 100% not going as hard as you would if you were only doing a few exercises and knew you had 3-4 days rest until you did them again. If you think you are, you are either working out once/twice a week, or are clearly declining in ability between lifts and completely ok with going to the hospital when that craters you. That or your intensity is a joke, in which case.... I mean, see point one at the top of this post. Granny lifting is great for grannies; if you are in the gym picking up metal? Please pick up metal that makes you work for it.

Been meaning to do it for years, but I finally decided to try Smolov Jr for bench. I keep getting close to 275 one rep max, but never quite get there.

Currently at 160 lb bodyweight, and I had a 250 one rep that I'm basing it on (tested 3 days before starting; have hit 250x3 and 255x1 in the last 3 months).

So anyway, just wondering if anyone else has ever tried this before. Because it is fucking brutal.

I'm on the 3rd day of the first week where I had to do 200 for 8 sets of 4 (175 for 6 sets of 6 on Monday, 185 for 7 sets of 5 on Wednesday). I barely finished my reps today. In fact, by the 3rd set I was already worried I wouldn't make it.

Tomorrow I have 210 for 10 sets of 3. I'm thinking there's a marginal chance I even make it to the 10th set much less finish.

We all have to start somewhere. I haven't lifted in maybe 10 years. Was doing quite a bit before, but now I'm doing 135x5 bench as my max, not sure what my one rep max is. Kind of lame, but at least I'm back at it.

I was going to do starting strength or stronglifts but I might just do linear progression for a bit first. Plus I need to cut some weight and those are probably counter-productive for that.

I've plateaued at 245x8 on my working sets for the last 5 weeks, but ive been on a 750 calorie deficit and on Keto for 2 months so it doesn't bother me too much. My max is 290ish. I just want to hit 315 again and then I'm done with giving a fuck about getting any stronger.

ZyyzYzzy said:

Keep at it noods. 2 years ago when I started working out again I was back there, probably couldn't even do 135x5. Do a linear progression, probably something like starting strength where you're focusing on the big lifts for at least 3 to 4 months.

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Thanks. It does help that I lifted heavy in my 20s at least