Adarq.org

Saturday 15th May 2024

No surprises I'm moderate to heavily sore all over, from all the new exercises. Glute medius in particular from the band side leg raises.
Even my quads are pretty sore.
Upper back, core, obliques/QL is sore from snatch grip back extensions and woodchops, but for some reason my outer tricep head are also really sore...


Tendon Rehab - Recovery

Popliteus bent knee internal foot rotation ISO : 3x33 secs
Popliteus standing leg curl laterally to behind opposite leg -
band attached to forefoot, 10 sec hold at full contraction with foot internally rotated - small light Rogue band 2x5

Walking - 28 mins

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Went on a shopping spree this week with all the end of financial year sales going on
On Ebay I picked up a cheap 45 degree back extension unit, and is rated for 200kg.
Crazy for $80AUD and it folds up for space savings in my garage.

I'm just worried the handles might get in the way of a held barbell, but I can use a different grip width, and raise the height of the unit to compensate for loss of ROM.
And if it's unstable, I can always rest it on a barbell in my squat stand, instead of it's support arm


On Amazon last night and picked up Sertt cable pulley system - $72AUD, so cheap.
Already delivered and all items feel solid and as robust as any pulley and attachments I've used in a commercial gym.
Attach one pulley to my chin bar on my squat stands, and the other as a low pulley, to a tie down strap rigged across the bottom front of my squat stands, when needed.
Going to replace most of my banded movements with it, and greatly open up the type of exercises I can do.
Even for adding load to the back extensions

Loading pin can swing a bit, which can be damped by running the cable it's connected to, through a band stretched across it's path etc



And just now, while casually surfing the web, I came across this SMAI belt squat attachment.
It's not made for my squat stands, but the pin size is the same, and I can attach it in several makeshift ways on the stand, safety bars or even a barbell with tie down straps
It comes with a belt, is adjustable in length and has a support arm that automatically swings out of the way once you lift off.
And it's cheap compared to the others I've seen, with more features, and on sale. 

Once I figured I can do belt squats, calf raises/ISOs, Bulgarian split squats, lunges in all directions (when hooked up with a tie down strap) and other single leg moves without loading the spine it seems like a no brainer.
Also add load for the 45 degree back extension, by hooking the belt to the back of your head when your at the bottom of the extension.
Can probably rig up a seated calf raise as well

13 June

Low aerobic HR zone run 7K @ 53:25 ( 7:37 pace )

Slow but it was again T+DI 155 and had squat-sore legs, so still fine.

Thursday 13th June 2024

Moderate DOMs all over. Mild tired/drained feeling.
Starting to get used to loading 25kg plates, so arms not so beat up now.

My abs, quads, glutes, erectors, QL/obliques and even my calves are sore from the high bar squats.
Even some hamstring, but I was bending over to move plates, and other things, so it's not all from squats.

Makes me question the need for post squat accessories like RDLs and good mornings when the high bar squat already trashes the erectors and glutes.
I'm just doubling up on the amount of work they do, and prolonging recovery or even inhibiting hypertrophy due to excessive damage...
Only hamstrings need specific targeting that leg curls, nordics, GHR, back extensions and some others do better.

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TOTAL REST DAY

Thanks for the tips CoolColJ.

Training last week:

I've felt pretty good overall, definitely getting some "beginner's" gains so I'm dropping the BSS-only session and changing it to 4x10 and 5x5 + BSS across three sessions/week:

Day 1: Squat 5x5@90kg, 100x3, 90 // BSS 3x10/leg@16kgs
Day 2: Squat 4x10 @80kgs (this was pretty easy so going up next time)
Day 3: Squat 5x5@100kgs // BSS 3x10/leg@16kgs (also felt pretty easy, I feel like 5x5@105kgs is doable.)

Each session:
- 3xF back ext. @ 10kgs, working towards 20+ reps for 3 sets.
- SL calf raise 3xF/leg @ 12kgs, getting about 30/25/20 reps here.
- some anti-rotation and leg raising ab exercises.

BW: ~78kgs

I'm mostly getting volume up, 4x10 and 5x5 are great for this. Eventually it'd be nice to hit 4x10@100kgs - I think that's the most I've done for 4x10, and ~125kgs 5x5.

An essay on vertical measurement:

I missed testing my SVJ on the weekend, aiming for this weekend. I've been thinking a lot over the last few years about the well-worn topic of the best way to measure vertical. It's something so fundamental but also very difficult to accurately measure compared to a horizontal jump.

Hang time based calcs with video are more popular now but are still hit-and-miss. The variance is always going to be high - even with 120fps+ footage minimum there's too much uncertainty about when exactly to start and end the jump (foot up/down, toes touching etc.). These have been discussed a lot here. (Vag had some good corrections in this thread.)

Never used jump mats, but regardless of their accuracy, they are prohibitively expensive.

[Head touch height - height] removes the standing reach error, but if you don't actually hit your head on the object, you need film to see how close you got.

I'd say the most common is [highest touch height - standing reach] (provided the jumper is accurately reporting their std reach). It is probably the most consistently accurate measurement. The major practical issue with this is getting access to a training space that allows you to jump at an object of known height.

Gyms can be OK if there's a jump target, but often space is an issue.

Indoor bball courts are great, but they usually cost money to access and aren't always clear enough to jump.

Outdoor bball courts are feasible but the ring height is usually variable and sometimes surface is an issue. If you have a good spot with a measured ring and not too slippery, then that's ideal.

Additionally, similar to head touch, when jumping at a ring or something of fixed height, you also need to know how much of your hand you get over the ring - usually not a huge issue but knowing exactly how high you touched is better. Vertecs are obviously awesome for this but are also awesomely expensive. Home-mades are doable (I've done two) but they are very labourious.

Thus (and don't laugh), I am considering buying this:



which I found by searching amazon for 'vertical jump tester' just for fun. Super cheap, has a small but sufficient range of 25cm, plus suction cups. I have a spot outside I could put this for jumping at. Could be a bit of fun to track SVJ vs squat again, maybe not as serious as in the past but I do enjoy this type of training while the weather is cold. (It's also a very time-efficient training. I simply can't fit in >1hr long runs etc. yet.)

- tennis w/dad x 45 mins
early morning, was beautiful outside. (but don't worry vag, we'll catch up to you soon.)