Friday, April 27, 2012

Two Inch Difference

It's common knowledge that the squat is one of the best, if not the best, exercise for your lower body. Executed properly a squat works your legs, hips, and core muscles. Helps to strengthen your back, and generally will make everything below your belly button bigger, firmer, and sexy as hell.

The Squat, done properly, is also a great exercise to rehab your knees. Have knee pain? Stiffness? Then squat. Build up the weight slowly, and you'll see a sharp reduction, to complete elimination of knee pain. For the past six and a half weeks I've been squatting regularly. For the first six weeks I had no knee pain, and at worse a twinge in my lower back. However after my workout last Saturday my knees were on fire. Absolutely screaming. I stretched, and babied them over the weekend and tried to figure out what I had done wrong. My previous workout, at 180lbs itself shouldn't have caused the amount of pain I was experiencing, so what had gone wrong?

As I was stretching, and doing a few Hindu Squats, I realized I was compensating for the pain in my knees by rolling forward as I came up out of a squat. Imagine this, when you're doing a full squat your knees shouldn't come forward of your toes. You should drop your butt backwards, drop into a squat, then drive your hips forward to stand. This motion engages the muscles in the legs and keeps your knees from having to support the weight. This is the major reason why squats, done properly, are good for your knees. You don't lift with your knees, but with your legs, and hips strengthening the muscles that support your knees. By rolling forward I was, in effect, lifting with my calves, and knees. A recipe for disaster.

With the source of the pain located, my bad form, I set about rectifying the problem. For years I've squatted high bar. Where the bar rests across the top of my traps, at the base of my neck. This is how I learned to squat back in High School and I've never taken the time to re-learn. High bar squats are easy to do, it's a fairly natural position for the bar, and it's easy to control the bar. However I was finding that at higher weight two thing were happening. First, the bar was rolling forward as I squatted putting pressure on my neck. While not painful this certainly wasn't comfortable. As I looked into the cause of my bad form I found that high bar squat, as it placed the bar higher on your body, and forward of your center of gravity caused two issues. One, you were more prone to arch your back, which would explain the back pain I was feeling, and two you took more of the weight on your knees. I figured something had to change.

So, I went back to StrongLifts.com and looked at how they suggested you squat. I figure the program I was following might have some suggestions. Their suggestion, was to squat low bar. In a low bar squat you don't place the bar on top of your trapezius where I had been squatting, but instead on top of your deltoids. In layman's terms, if you run a finger down the back of your neck you will find a bony bump, right at the base of your neck. Just past that is where you squat high bar, and it's the bar pressing on that nub of bone that causes pain. For low bar, imagine you're squeezing a pencil between your shoulders, Your arms back, elbows pointed behind you at a roughly 30-45 degree angle. If you're holding this posture, and roll your head back you'll feel a shelf of muscle. Those are your deltoids. Large slabs of muscle that cross your shoulders onto your back.

When squatting low bar you place the bar on this shelf of muscle. The difference is a matter of inches. The difference in the lift is incredible. Having the bar further back forces you to squat with a straighter back, and more upright posture. This eliminates back pain. Having the weight behind you forces you to drop back under the bar, in a good squat form, and makes it difficult, to nearly impossible, to come forward onto your toes to engage your calves. This further protects your knees.

In short, I did five sets, or five reps, at 185lbs and have no knee pain, and no back pain. Though I will admit my butt is a little stiff.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

12 Week Experiment: Week 7

Day 1: A
Squat: 185lbs.
Bench: 145lbs.
Upright Row: 100lbs.

Day 2: B
Squat: 190lbs.
Press: 95lbs.
Deadlift: 185lbs.


Day 3: A
Squat: 195lbs.
Bench: 150lbs.
Upright Row: 105lbs.

Squat form has degraded a little, I realized last night, as I wrapped up week 6, that as I was coming out of a squat I was coming forward to engage my calves more. While this will help me keep up the linear gains I've been enjoying it's not good for my knees. I need to be mindful of my form in my later sets.

Deadlift is getting heavy too, even though it's less weight then my squat, and I have no trouble getting the bar off the ground my grip isn't quite up to par. Something else to work on I guess.

I was shocked I completed my push press last night as well, 90lbs doesn't seem like much but pressing that much over your head gets heavy quick.

The objective is to start running this week as well, to see if I can't cut some weight while lifting. Let's see if the weather cooperates.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

12 Week Experiment: Week 6

Day 1: B
Squat: 170lbs.
Press: 85lbs.
Deadlift: 165lbs.

Day 2: A
Squat: 175lbs.
Bench: 140lbs.
Upright Row: 95lbs.

Day 3: B
Squat: 180lbs.
Press: 90lbs.
Deadlift: 175lbs.

I'm still off track, I meant to get back to a normal schedule last week, but life conspired against me. In short, I finished week 4 last night, and will hopefully get all three lifts for week 5 done during week 5. If it doesn't work, I guess I'll try week 6.

I got through my first Bench milestone. 135lbs, and it went up smoothly. Frankly, it was the only thing that went well last night. Rows hurt, squat hurt, everything hurt. I'm at the point where I need to do warm-ups for all of my lifts, and that means spending more time in the gym then I'm used to. While this isn't a bad thing I'm used to in, and out, in thirty minutes or less. With the added lifts, and rest between sets, especially on squat, I'm not getting out of the gym until 45 minutes. While that's not terrible, it's a pain.

In better news all my lifts continue to go up. Let's see how long it lasts.

Monday, April 9, 2012

12 Week Experiment: Week 5

 Day 1: A
Squat: 155lbs.
Bench: 130lbs.
Upright Row: 85lbs.

 Day 2: B
Squat: 160
Press: 80lbs.
Deadlift: 155lbs.


 Day 3: A
Squat: 165lbs.
Bench: 135lbs.
Upright Row: 90lbs.

I get to be a little creative this week. The Easter festivities threw me off week 4, so my third workout for last week is happening tonight. Then, week 5 will be Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. I'm going to be so sore by the end of the week.

I've also started playing with Fitocracy. (http://www.fitocracy.com) Basically, it's a website to track exercise. While that's certainly nothing new they have a few nice features. First, a really clean interface. It took me less than five minutes to log in, and enter my first workout. As you exercise, and track your workouts, you gain points, and can complete quests. There are achievements, discussion lists, and groups. Think social networking meets exercise. Achievements, and quests, are there to convince you to try new things. Ranging from free weights, to swimming, sports, and running they run the gamut from trivially simple, to asininely hard. However, the points awarded scale. So, if you're a nut-job cyclist, and you complete the 2,000 mile bike achievement you'll gain a suitably impressive number of points.

All in all it's provided me with a fun way to brag about my workouts.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Soapbox: Fat

I've tried to move away from letting things on Facebook bother me. However, in spite of my best efforts, something drags me back. Something is posted, or said, or referenced that simply gets my blood boiling. So, instead of ranting, and screaming, at the offending individual I'll retreat to my little piece of cyberspace and rant and scream here. If you don't wish to listen, or care, then that's just fine by me.

I've written about health, fitness, and my issues with viewing weight as a protected status. I thought I had buried that hatchet. I thought I had moved past that. I guess not. My latest blood-boiling bit of internet lunacy is as follows:

"Activism works! We pointed out a problem to Planned Parenthood, asked them to fix it and suggest how, and they did what we asked! They've removed "obesity" from their list of health problems facing Alaska on this press release. Thanks to everyone who wrote e-mails and participated in this, another little step."

Before I get to why this sent me into hypertensive hell let me explain the "cause" that Ragen Chastain of Dances With Fat champions. She is a dancer, and admitted "fat person" she follows, and preaches a philosophy of "Behavior-Centered Health" in which the choices you make, and the lifestyle you lead are the important parts, not a particular weight or size. That all sounds great, right? No need to complain about people making healthy choices. However, she goes on to explain that her goals are as follows:
  1. Accepting and respecting the diversity of body shapes and sizes
  2. Recognizing that health and well-being are multi-dimensional and that they include physical, social, spiritual, occupational, emotional, and intellectual aspects
  3. Promoting all aspects of health and well-being for people of all sizes
  4. Promoting eating in a manner which balances individual nutritional needs, hunger, satiety, appetite, and pleasure
  5. Promoting individually appropriate, enjoyable, life-enhancing physical activity, rather than exercise that is focused on a goal of weight loss
Again, nothing here really screams "blood-boiling rage" does it?

I'll go through her points one at a time.

Accepting and respecting the diversity of body shapes and sizes

Ragen's idea of respect goes something like this, if you're fat, GREAT! Nobody can tell you you're fat, or charge you more for insurance, or not hire you, or anything else, simply because of you're weight. Respect is never having to lose weight, or conform to an evil negative-body image. When you do that, it damages your self-esteem, and you're a fragile delicate flower.

Recognizing that health and well-being are multi-dimensional and that they include physical, social, spiritual, occupational, emotional, and intellectual aspects

I'll be the first to admit that health is not black and white. That weight is hardly the last word on fitness. However, physical health, and emotional health are two entirely different animals. You can love your job, and yourself, and still be completely physically unhealthy.

Promoting all aspects of health and well-being for people of all sizes

No issue with this one. Except that she has to tie it back to size.

Promoting eating in a manner which balances individual nutritional needs, hunger, satiety, appetite, and pleasure

There's nothing better then a 20oz prime rib, medium-rare, with a loaded baker, and a salad, with cheese, onions, and ranch. That's pleasure on a plate. Guess what? That's not healthy. If I'm going to eat like that I'm going to pay for it, either in the gym, or on the scale. That's life. Health, and "culinary pleasure" are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but one can't feel good by eating nothing but ice cream, until sated, and then get mad when they gain weight. When they are not healthy.

Promoting individually appropriate, enjoyable, life-enhancing physical activity, rather than exercise that is focused on a goal of weight loss


On paper, this is just fine. But how do you track exercise if not through caloric expenditure? I can walk on a treadmill, at 0 incline, for hours, but it doesn't really do anything. I can say it's "life-enhancing" till I'm blue in the face, but it doesn't make it exercise, any more then a Milky Way is diet food.

So, let's go back to the quote above, I'll re-post it, to save you scrolling up:

"Activism works! We pointed out a problem to Planned Parenthood, asked them to fix it and suggest how, and they did what we asked! They've removed "obesity" from their list of health problems facing Alaska on this press release. Thanks to everyone who wrote e-mails and participated in this, another little step."


They "pointed out" that obesity isn't a health problem in Alaska. Guess what? Just because PPH caved and took obesity off the list doesn't mean that the obesity epidemic goes away, or that all the obese people in Alaska are suddenly fit, and happy. All it does is hide the problem. Congratulations, you're "activism" has buried a segment of the population, preventing them from getting help. Feel good?

I'm sure it does.

12 Week Experiment: Week 4


Day 1: B
Squat: 140lbs.
Press: 70lbs.
Deadlift: 135lbs.

 Day 2: A
Squat: 145lbs.
Bench: 125lbs.
Upright Row: 80lbs.

 Day 3: B
Squat: 150
Press: 75lbs.
Deadlift: 145lbs.

I went back and cleaned up Week 3, there's a new Blogger interface, it's slick, but it likes to add random blank lines. It's not too bad if I remember to go back and clean everything up but when I forget you have random lines where they shouldn't be. Anyway.

Finished up Week 3 last night. At present I'm one quarter of the way through this little experiment. Frankly, if we take away the fact that my lower back is sore, I've managed three weeks of fairly solid lifting without injury. I received my first compliment at the gym the other day. Generally I show up, lift, and go home, yet in the middle of my Day 2 workout a younger guy came up to me and complimented me on my squat form. It was odd, to say the least.

Anyway, I wanted to get up on my soapbox and rage a bit, but I think it's better I keep my training, and my politics separate. For the good of all.