Shaping the body; adjusting the mind

[jaja]

1 hour ago, Nathan said:

So a small arch might add a small protective element at the bottom position. If you want to avoid even a small arch, I think staying tight and lifting mindfully will be more than enough. But again, I'm no expert on benching.

Thanks, @Nathan. Maybe @Kit_L and @Frederik have something to say on this.

-------

Today my lifts were…how to put it…trash. I blame it on my caloric intake, since I fasted from yesterday at 5:00pm till today at 1:00pm, without even having an abundant lunch. Anyway here's the log.

• Squat: 1x5x110kg + 1x9x100kg + 1x10x90kg + 1x6x82,5kg
  • My first set suffered a lot, so I really pushed myself to increase the subsequent ones. I succeeded…until I got to the last one. My legs probably were able to reach 10-11 reps, but my ARMS were tired AF.
• Bent Over Row: 1x6x70kg + 1x8x65kg + 1x9x60kg
  • Still getting used to this exercise, I'm not 100% sure about my back angle, but I think it's decent. What's not ok is my strength level compared to the pendlay row (I used to do this explosively). Next time I'll deload a little to get my form down and build strength from a level where I'm comfortable. 70kg are too much currently.
• Dead hangs: ~70s x2
  • Every time I pass the 60s mark, the exercise starts to become dreadful
• Farmer carries: ~70s x2x20kg
  • It's been a while since the last time I tried this, I'm not too disappointed by the result.

-----

Meditation: loads of distractions today. Constricted breathing.

Yoga nidra: my body is re-learning how to let go and my back gets almost completely on the ground. There's still something missing, though. I feel like there's something essential that has to switch off to really achieve a deep relaxation phase.

[jaja]

• Partner HF stretch
• Wall quad solo stretch
• Partner tailor pose
• Lacrosse ball massage on adductors
• Calves stretch
• Partner passive back-band
• Upper back stretch

----

20 minutes of meditation: tension everywhere on my face.

20 minutes of yoga nidra: restlessness and fast heartbeat.

[jaja]

• Deadlift: 1x5x130kg + 1x6x117,5kg
  • Compared to last week, today I felt a little weaker. I still managed to increase my total, though.
• Chin-ups: 4xAMRAP (11-9-6-6)
  • Numbers going up, it's all good!
• Dead hangs: 2x60s
  • 60s aren't that bad, if you do the exercise after chin-ups.
• Plank: 60s
• Reverse plank: 60s
  • This felt a lot like a stretching exercise (biceps were screaming), so I should probably do it more often. Not sure about my form, though.

-----

20 minutes of meditation: keep track of the breath was hard, but at least I didn't have to deal with too much muscular tension.

30 minutes of yoga nidra.

[jaja]

Something to report: for the last 7 days or so I've been suffering of a mild discomfort in my right knee (the bad one). It's not the ACL (although maybe it gets inflammed from time to time). It could be the meniscus or the medial patellar. Interestingly enough it doesn't bother me during training and actually the issue seems to disappear right after a “leg day”, only to come back the morning after. I should probably look for ways to strengthen the connective

———

20 minutes of meditation: lots of thoughts crossing the mindspace. Got distracted often, but kept redirecting my attention.

 

~50 minutes of yoga nidra: interesting things happened. Around the 40 minute mark, I started feeling a vibrating sensation in my left gastrocnemius. Through my out breaths I managed to slowly let go of the tension there and the muscle relaxes almost completely. In the meantime a sensation of freshness radiated from the right calf up to that side of the body, aiding the relaxation of every muscle on the path, especially the psoas and the left eye muscles. It’s incredible how the state of a single muscle can influence everything within the system.

[jaja]

What a disappointing session!

• Bench Press: 1x5x77,5kg + 1x5x75kg + 1x7x70kg
  • Since my usual bench isn't comfortable for my arms length, I decided to bench inside the squat rack. I was expecting a decrease in my performance ( different setup and no spotter “helping” without consent from me), but these numbers are absolute trash. I was able to complete only 2 reps at the usual weight of 82,5kg, so I deloaded every set. I have to set my ego aside and work my ass off to come back stronger than ever.
• Chin-ups: 1x5xBW+12,5kg + 1x7xBW+5 + 1x9xBW
  • Shitty numbers here too. I suspect chin-ups don't go well with the bench press.
• Anti-pronation exercise: 1x5x12kg
• Dead hangs: 2x70s
  • Not bad, I would say. Resistance is increasing!

[Nathan]

14 hours ago, jaja said:

I was expecting a decrease in my performance ( different setup and no spotter “helping” without consent from me), but these numbers are absolute trash.

The change in setup can be huge. We get better at the movements we practice, so changing the dynamics of the lift can make a big difference. Definitely possible you were managing to "cheat" in your previous setup, but just something to keep in mind. You also could have just had an off day. I'd do a few sessions of the squat rack setup before making any judgments.

[Kit_L]

@jaja: you are being too hard on yourself, my friend: you are in there working, which is more than 99% of the population can claim. The fact is that we have good days, and not so good days—it's all OK, because you are in there working. Good days will come, for sure, but being self-critical for having a "bad" day misses the point: it is all time under tension, and long-term the trend is always up, or even; not any kind of problem. And squatting after a fast is never going to produce good numbers—in fact, I recommend no heavy strength training when fasting. Go light, and work on perfecting form.

[jaja]

@Kit_L Asking for future reference: what would you recommend for aching knees? Resting/walking, or low intensity squatting?

------

Today's log:

• Squat: 1x8x110kg + 1x8x100kg + 1x9x90kg + 1x10x82,5kg
  • Really pushed my body here, but it was worth it! Felt a lot my glutes after the first set, which is good! My right knee behaved good and while I'm writing this there's no discomfort at all. I did felt fatigue after the squatting session, though.
• Bent Over Row: 1x7x55kg + 1x8x52,5kg + 1x9x50kg
  • Deloaded the weight to focus on form. Nothing to say here.
• Dead hangs
  • 1m20s and 1m10s, not bad at all for me!
• Plank: 60s
• Reverse plank: 60s
• Ankle mobility work
  • I'm losing hope here

-------

20 minutes of meditation: tension present, but manageable; focus is increasing!

30 minutes of yoga nidra

[jaja]

Stretching Sunday:

• Partner soleus stretch
  • Felt nothing in my right leg, the ankle is blocked.
• Partner wall quad stretch
• Partner HF stretch (chair version)
  • Nice!
• Partner spinal rotation
• Partner passive backbend on the edge of a table
• Supraspinatus stretch

I felt really good afterwards, mostly because of my loosened HF.

[jaja]

• Deadlift: 1x6x130kg + 1x7x117,5kg
  • Smooth reps with impeccable form. Nuff said.
• Chin-ups: 4xAMRAP (11-8-7-7)
  • Numbers slightly lower than last week, but after an intense deadlift session is to be expected.
• Dead hangs
  • 1m10s and 1m. Given that my grip was already tired, it's not that bad!

[jaja]

• Chin-ups: 1x8xBW+12,5kg + 1x9xBW+5 + 1x9xBW
  • Hell yeah!
• Bench Press: 1x5x77,5kg + 1x5x75kg + 1x6x70kg
  • Same numbers as last week, but this time I did the bench press after the chin-ups. So I guess it's all fine.
• Anti-pronation exercise: 1x5x16kg
• Farmer carries: 2x14kgx2min

------

Today's meditation was around 40 minutes, I had frequent distractions and quite a lot of tension (I blame caffeine today), but afterwards my mind was clearer.

[jaja]

• Squat: 1x5x112,5kg + 1x7x102,5kg + 1x8x92,5kg + 1x9x85kg
  • Good numbers, despite me not being completely comfortable due to knee discomfort.
• Bent Over Row: 1x8x55kg + 1x9x52,5kg + 1x10x50kg
  • Still familiarizing with the exercise, but strength is increasing. I'm not sure about my form, though, so feedback is definitely appreciated.
• Dead hangs: 2 sets
  • 1m30s and 1m10s. The pattern seems to be this: mind gives up before the body does

 

--------

Aside from my regular meditation and yoga nidra practice, I tried to apply the relaxation response while I was receiving dental cleaning, at the dentist. Was I fully relaxed? Hell no! But…letting tension go with out-breaths helped to ease the discomfort.

-------

I wrote a comment in an old thread to ask a question about strengthening ligaments.

 

[jaja]

• Partner HF stretch
• Piriformis stretch
• Partner tailor pose stretch
• Wall pec-minor stretch
• Shoulder pushdown

This session was really intense and left me drained of energy.

-----

Meditation today was fuzzy, I kept being distracted by various images popping out of nowhere. I have troubles at keeping the attention still for the whole duration of the breath. I find it harder to watch/feel the inhale.

[Naldaramjo]

On 12/16/2018 at 5:20 AM, jaja said:

Meditation today was fuzzy, I kept being distracted by various images popping out of nowhere. I have troubles at keeping the attention still for the whole duration of the breath. I find it harder to watch/feel the inhale.

Do you find the images to be from your daily life or more like vague hallucinations? Occasionally, I experience the latter. It's quite a unique sensation. Incredibly subtle, but it does remind me of a time, years ago, when I had smoked some weed. Just a continuous stream of folding and unfolding images.

[jaja]

5 hours ago, Naldaramjo said:

Do you find the images to be from your daily life or more like vague hallucinations?

Mostly images from daily life, but not necessarily recent. A lot of times they are memories from few years ago. I find them way more distracting than verbal thoughts, but not quite as unpleasant bodily sensations. 

[jaja]

This is actually my yesterday's log.

 

• Deadlift: 1x4x132,5)kg + 1x5x120kg
  • Solid sets, good form
• Chin-ups: 4xAMRAP (9-6-6-7)
  • I tried to increase the time under tension by performing slower reps than usual; this resulted in lower numbers
• Dead hangs: 2 sets
  • 1m10 + 1m; could have done better. I noticed my left arm hyperextends while I'm hanging.

------------

Meditation: mind was chaotic, couldn't track more than a couple of breaths in a row. Probably because of work-related stress. Felt better afterwards, though.

Yoga nidra: couldn't get my body (nor my mind) to fully relax.

[jaja]

• Bench Press: 1x4x77,5kg + 1x5x75kg + 1x6x70kg
  • I don't know how this is possible, but I'm getting weaker! This used to be my best performing exercise, but now it's lagging behind
• Chin-ups: 1x6xBW+15kg + 1x7xBW+7,5 + 1x8xBW 
  • At BW63, I think it's not bad at all. Especially since I pulled off those numbers after bench pressing.
• Anti-pronation exercise: 1x5x16kg

-------

I didn't get much sleep last night and I decided to meditate after lunch, so I was sleepy for all the duration of my sit. I still managed to return on track each time I got distracted (which was a lot).

Now I have a dinner with friends, hopefully I'll get a yoga nidra session before going to sleep.

[Kit_L]

On 12/19/2018 at 4:30 AM, jaja said:

Yoga nidra: couldn't get my body (nor my mind) to fully relax.

Please don't worry about this or be concerned, in any way: the development of this new habit (to be relaxed and be awake) will take time. You are well on the way, already. The fact that you noticed this is very good.

[Nathan]

16 hours ago, jaja said:

I don't know how this is possible, but I'm getting weaker!

I think you mean you feel like you're getting weaker  I can guarantee you with almost 100% certainty that you are not getting weaker if you are working out consistently and not starving yourself. You simply cannot express the same degree of strength under the current conditions during which you're doing the movement. It's kind of like when you stop using momentum and start doing an exercise with strict form. At first your numbers drop and you feel weak, but as they come back up to where they were, if you tried doing it with momentum like before you would produce far greater numbers.

And of course it could have just been an off session (or a string of them)!

[jaja]

Sat for 40 minutes or so. This time I was able to quiet my mind be a good degree, I felt really calm afterwards. Tension was still present, but it didn't bother me much.

Yoga nidra was relaxing, today. Nothing relevant to report.

Tried a couple of single leg squats on the ball of my feet and realized I'm not ready to perform them, especially on my bad leg.

 

[jaja]

• Squat: 1x6x112,5kg + 1x8x102,5kg + 1x9x92,5kg + 1x10x85kg
  • I videoed myself and noticed my right knee was moving slightly towards the midline of the body, during my first set. I definitely to incorporate some unilateral training.
• Bent Over Row: 1x8x57,5kg + 1x9x55kg + 1x10x52,5kg
• Dead hangs: 2 sets
  • 1m30s + 1m10s. Shitty numbers, but they're increasing.
• Single leg squat: 2x5
  • Tried it only with my right leg, aiding my balance with a rail. I also had to elevate the heel with a kettlebell's handle — and it was barely enough. Movement was shaky, foot arch definitely prone to collapsing. 

[jaja]

 

• Solo wall quad stretch
• Stick calves roll
  • Really spent some quality time here
• Calves stretching + ankle mobility drills
  • I'm giving up here, no progress on my right one. I feel the restriction in the front of my ankle and nothing seems to address the problem
• Self massage on adductors with lacrosse ball

-----------

 

• Sitting meditation
  • Shallow breathing and busy mind, today
• Yoga nidra
  • Pleasant and relaxing, as it should be; nothin special to report, here.

[Nathan]

4 hours ago, jaja said:

I'm giving up here, no progress on my right one. I feel the restriction in the front of my ankle and nothing seems to address the problem

If you don’t mind, a suggestion: don’t give up, but just do it as part of your routine, with no expectation of (or desire for) change. Only work in the range immediately before the restriction/block is felt in the front of your angle. And continue. If it never changes, so what? What do you have to lose?

[jaja]

4 hours ago, Nathan said:

What do you have to lose?

Never being able to do a full squat or even to properly barbell squat.

Higher stress on my “bad” knee.

Higher risk of injury landing from a jump. 

[Nathan]

I meant from continuing