450lb Deadlift PR

Muscle Recovery and Joint Recovery

Glenn Pendlay has said that if you think you are overtrained, you're probably not getting enough sleep and/or food. Sometimes your body is beat up, and injuries are on the horizon, yet still avoidable if the right precautions are taken. Mobility work seems to be a rather new concept in lifting. I was once under the impression and obsession with the idea that if you trained a muscle more than once within 48 hours, you wouldn't get your gains. Not all muscles are the same size, and muscles can be either slow-twitch or fast-twitch, so there are many variables.

When I was Deadlifting very heavy, I knew that I had to take many rest days to recover my Lower Back and that if I had just stopped Deadlifting, I'd be able to train other exercises more frequently. I held onto this idea and just kept it in my head far too long. At points I realized that I had been doing exercises on days back-to-back that used the same muscles, and it was working as far as strength and muscle gains. High frequency drills technique into you. Weight lifting is about technique and leverage. All the strength in the world misguided is for naught. Before I got into lifting, there would be times I felt or even commanded myself to harness and radiate energy, yet I didn't know what to do with this energy. I could punch walls, jump into walls, or some form of injuring myself, and flooding my mind with psychosis. Actually, it was a good source of intuition for writing creatively.

My current routine for transforming from a Mummy to an agile Werewolf is a series of mobility tools.

• The Stick
• Useful  for Calves and Quads mostly.
• Foam Roller
• The number one tool for recovery. Rolling out your lower back will get you lifting heavier quicker.
• Every major muscle can be rolled.
• Most active recovery tool. It can be considered ground work, and will build strength, endurance, and joint strength.
• Rolls out muscle knots, soft tissue, and helps ligaments and joints recover faster.
• Excellent for the hip muscles.
• Theracane
• Specifically designed for Trap relief. You can dig in very deep.
• Useful for Traps, Posterior Delts, Anterior Delts, Pecs, Glutes, Lats, Teres Major, Triceps, and Biceps.
• You can hit every inch of the Pecs, which is unlike any of the other tools.
• Voodoo Flossing
• Instant and lasting joint relief in any limb.
• Useful for Knees, Ankles, Wrists, and Elbows.
• A sense of power and stability comes from its use.
• Stretch-Out Straps
• Useful for Shoulders in all ranges of movements, Triceps, and Lats.
• Builds Grip strength.
• Good way to stretch your Pecs and Anterior Delts.
• Yoga
• Flexibility and Mobility.

Using all of these techniques or even some is night and day between neglecting them. For hand care, I love to hold and squeeze ice cubes, and to apply Bag Balm throughout the day. If any part of your hands gets very raw, tape it every workout. Lastly, water should always be within arms-reach. I really believe in eating several pieces of fruit a day as well. They bring me focus, clarity, nutrition, energy, and they help digestion. 

Pectoralis Extravaganza

I have been working towards enhancing my physique by focusing on developing my Triceps and Pecs. I've made good progress, and learned many things on this set path. I remember as far back as when I initially started. I would be doing pull-ups as I eyeballed the Bench Press across the room. I was proud of doing bodyweight exercises, and figured my muscles would develop through them, but I also longed for myself to attain a reputable Bench Press number. No matter the amount of Push-Ups, the chest muscles could only be under so much stress via bodyweight.

I began Bench Pressing, and scheduled it all wrong of course, and I used gloves nonetheless. It took me a very long time to build my Bench strength, and it took far more injuries than Deadlifting ever caused, and I would say more than even Squats. The Bench Press is particularly deceiving. What could be easier than laying on a bench and pushing something away? Well, it turns out, nearly everything is easier than the Bench Press.

Something I've noticed that applies for all lifts is that 'beginners', whilst lifting light weight opposed to a lifting veteran lifting heavier, is not braced for heavier weight. For example, if someone walks in the gym and can bench 180lb for their 1RM, you'll probably noticed that they're not braced to lift heavier. Lifting is about leverage, and when lifting lift, certain leverage doesn't or something can't be applied. I supposed I first witnessed this through the Deadlift. It's not easy to rep 135lb and make it look clean, whereas with 250lb, I find it easier to maintain form. I can sink my weight into the lift, whereas I'd fall over with 135lb. So instead of looking at other people and thinking that they're weak; make it a point to realize they are probably lifting as heavy as they can with their current technique, diet, rest, knowledge, etc. In this sense, people aren't weak or strong, they're intelligent or brute.

I believe my technique improves in any given exercise after I've researched the lift via watching form and tutorial videos, reading articles, reading controversial opinions on parts of the lift, studying the anatomical form and functions of the targeted muscles, and both thinking about the technique in my head and practicing it in the real word, and finally analyzing my results, predictions to fully understand why things are happening exactly how they're happening.

I've found much success in developing my back through Deadlifting 3x a week, and at times even more. I've also found success in Squats through adding variations and frequency. So now I'm applying this logic to the Bench Press - the last of the big 3. That Bench Press variation is simply Bench using dumbbells. Powerlifters frequently perform it as an auxiliary exercise.

In forgetting my Dip belt this morning for both Weighted Dips and Weighted Chins, I decided to do Muscle-Ups with 6 reps of dips atop the Pull-Up bar. I did 10 sets altogether, so that's 60 dips, and I realized that performing a dip on a single bar with a prone grip is like a Bench Press, but using your bodyweight as the weight. When you do a dip on the standard parallel bars, you're using mostly Triceps, although you can lean forward to utilize more chest. I believe even more of the Pecs are utilized in the single-bar prone grip dip. Another place you could do these dips is on a Smith Machine barbell. It would be a little tricky to setup with a Power Rack or Squat Rack, but could be done.