Planet Rugby Forum

Yesterday’s deadlift top set. 475lb/215kg for 7. Probably could have squeezed out one or two more, but it’s early in my prep for New York’s strongest man on July 24th.

https://youtube.com/shorts/9zwVND6ZoC4?feature=share

Big.
Do you always shrug it back on the lockout like that?

mr flaps wrote: ↑Wed May 05, 2021 6:44 pm Yesterday’s deadlift top set. 475lb/215kg for 7. Probably could have squeezed out one or two more, but it’s early in my prep for New York’s strongest man on July 24th.

https://youtube.com/shorts/9zwVND6ZoC4?feature=share

Nice

Been messing round with my bench set up and technique recently. Seems to be paying off.

Hit 150x1 on a tempo bench and 155x4 on spoto press in the last few weeks. Both around RPE 8 so more in the tank.

Newportblue88 wrote: ↑Wed May 05, 2021 6:58 pm Been messing round with my bench set up and technique recently. Seems to be paying off.

Hit 150x1 on a tempo bench and 155x4 on spoto press in the last few weeks. Both around RPE 8 so more in the tank.

I can’t get my head around RPE and have to work of percentages. Nice benching

Nolanator wrote: ↑Wed May 05, 2021 6:48 pm Big.
Do you always shrug it back on the lockout like that?

I started tinkering with my technique and it’s got a little too pronounced. I’ve narrowed my stance and my grip and it makes the top of my lockout has got a bit weird.

mr flaps wrote: ↑Wed May 05, 2021 7:45 pm

Newportblue88 wrote: ↑Wed May 05, 2021 6:58 pm Been messing round with my bench set up and technique recently. Seems to be paying off.

Hit 150x1 on a tempo bench and 155x4 on spoto press in the last few weeks. Both around RPE 8 so more in the tank.

I can’t get my head around RPE and have to work of percentages. Nice benching

Thanks

I’m not sure with RPE. I’m ok with things that are like rpe8 or 9 so one or two reps left. I’m doing lots of things that are rpe6/ 4 reps left at the moment which I find quite difficult.

Also find having last sessions numbers in my head and just wanting to do more difficult.

Need some injury advice lads.

Pre-season last week felt a twinge in my hamstring but nothing to bad so just rested up, no running or putting much strain on it, felt fine in the first 40 minutes or so last night but then felt it again and couldn't sprint.

Weird thing is if I stretch my hamstring normally (sitting on ground injured leg straight in front, other leg tucked and reaching for the toe) I don't feel it and I only feel it while the knee is bent, so when I go to push off while running I feel it and can't sprint.

Any ideas what stretches I can do to try and get this working?

Do you do any strengthening work, rather than just focusing on stretching?

Nice and easy Romanian/stiff legged deadlifts with some light resistance. Split squats, regular squats, etc.
Think strength of the tissues, rather than just stretching them.

That said, try dig around the hammies with a lacrosse/cricket ball into it like this.

Since lock down and without a full gym I've just mainly been running and doing hiit alongside the occasional session on just arms or legs using the dumbbells I have, sometimes squats etc. in the hiit. Mainly just trying to stay fit for rugby, pre-season was going really well until last week too.

I'll try the deadlifts to strengthen and I'll use either a golf ball or the stupid little massage bar that came with foam roller for the leg raise in that gif.

I'm still a bit confused as to why I only feel it when the leg is bent mind, I've had loads (and I mean loads) of problems with my hamstring since they took part of it out to repair my knee and it's never felt like this.

earl the beaver wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 3:08 pm Since lock down and without a full gym I've just mainly been running and doing hiit alongside the occasional session on just arms or legs using the dumbbells I have, sometimes squats etc. in the hiit. Mainly just trying to stay fit for rugby, pre-season was going really well until last week too.

I'll try the deadlifts to strengthen and I'll use either a golf ball or the stupid little massage bar that came with foam roller for the leg raise in that gif.

I'm still a bit confused as to why I only feel it when the leg is bent mind, I've had loads (and I mean loads) of problems with my hamstring since they took part of it out to repair my knee and it's never felt like this.

Not being funny might be better to consult your surgeon than a rugby forum.

If they took part of your hamstring to repair your knee it was obviously weakened and you've clearly subsequently damaged it.

goose81 wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 3:28 pm

earl the beaver wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 3:08 pm Since lock down and without a full gym I've just mainly been running and doing hiit alongside the occasional session on just arms or legs using the dumbbells I have, sometimes squats etc. in the hiit. Mainly just trying to stay fit for rugby, pre-season was going really well until last week too.

I'll try the deadlifts to strengthen and I'll use either a golf ball or the stupid little massage bar that came with foam roller for the leg raise in that gif.

I'm still a bit confused as to why I only feel it when the leg is bent mind, I've had loads (and I mean loads) of problems with my hamstring since they took part of it out to repair my knee and it's never felt like this.

Not being funny might be better to consult your surgeon than a rugby forum.

If they took part of your hamstring to repair your knee it was obviously weakened and you've clearly subsequently damaged it.

That was coming up on 12 years ago (I remember because I did it the day before the first Lions test in 2009), I've been functioning fine since then but was told by the surgeon I would always need to keep working on that hamstring (especially given I was incredibly injury prone before hand anyway).

earl the beaver wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 3:33 pm

goose81 wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 3:28 pm

earl the beaver wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 3:08 pm Since lock down and without a full gym I've just mainly been running and doing hiit alongside the occasional session on just arms or legs using the dumbbells I have, sometimes squats etc. in the hiit. Mainly just trying to stay fit for rugby, pre-season was going really well until last week too.

I'll try the deadlifts to strengthen and I'll use either a golf ball or the stupid little massage bar that came with foam roller for the leg raise in that gif.

I'm still a bit confused as to why I only feel it when the leg is bent mind, I've had loads (and I mean loads) of problems with my hamstring since they took part of it out to repair my knee and it's never felt like this.

Not being funny might be better to consult your surgeon than a rugby forum.

If they took part of your hamstring to repair your knee it was obviously weakened and you've clearly subsequently damaged it.

That was coming up on 12 years ago (I remember because I did it the day before the first Lions test in 2009), I've been functioning fine since then but was told by the surgeon I would always need to keep working on that hamstring (especially given I was incredibly injury prone before hand anyway).

Probably still worth going and getting an mri, who knows you might have done some proper damage to it that could get worse

Hammie issues after the ACL graft is common enough.

Earl, use the DBs for Bulgarian split squats and RDLs. They don't have to be difficult, just do sets of 12-15 and get decent contractions through the muscles. Given the history with your knees and the impact on the hammie, it's massively important to work on the muscle and connective tissues.

You don't need to be deadlifting 200kg, but you need to work to maintain/improve the strength and general health of all the soft bits attached to your knees. I'd look at glute bridges, Copenhagen planks, clams etc. Work on the glutes and groins as well.

Also, how much exercise were you doing prior to pre-season? Could just be an aggravation due to sudden increase in a certain type of exercise. Might be worth pulling back the throttle on hard running for a week or so. If there's inflammation etc, don't aggravate it further.

Nolanator wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 3:44 pm Hammie issues after the ACL graft is common enough.

Earl, use the DBs for Bulgarian split squats and RDLs. They don't have to be difficult, just do sets of 12-15 and get decent contractions through the muscles. Given the history with your knees and the impact on the hammie, it's massively important to work on the muscle and connective tissues.

You don't need to be deadlifting 200kg, but you need to work to maintain/improve the strength and general health of all the soft bits attached to your knees. I'd look at glute bridges, Copenhagen planks, clams etc. Work on the glutes and groins as well.

Also, how much exercise were you doing prior to pre-season? Could just be an aggravation due to sudden increase in a certain type of exercise. Might be worth pulling back the throttle on hard running for a week or so. If there's inflammation etc, don't aggravate it further.

Exercise level has stayed fairly constant tbh, I've probably not done as many sprints but we're on session 4 of pre-season so had managed up to that point.

earl the beaver wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 3:54 pm

Nolanator wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 3:44 pm Hammie issues after the ACL graft is common enough.

Earl, use the DBs for Bulgarian split squats and RDLs. They don't have to be difficult, just do sets of 12-15 and get decent contractions through the muscles. Given the history with your knees and the impact on the hammie, it's massively important to work on the muscle and connective tissues.

You don't need to be deadlifting 200kg, but you need to work to maintain/improve the strength and general health of all the soft bits attached to your knees. I'd look at glute bridges, Copenhagen planks, clams etc. Work on the glutes and groins as well.

Also, how much exercise were you doing prior to pre-season? Could just be an aggravation due to sudden increase in a certain type of exercise. Might be worth pulling back the throttle on hard running for a week or so. If there's inflammation etc, don't aggravate it further.

Exercise level has stayed fairly constant tbh, I've probably not done as many sprints but we're on session 4 of pre-season so had managed up to that point.

I had some pretty bad hamstring and low back issues last year. Ended up having an shot in my SI joint that didn’t do much.
Finally got some relief with doing Piriformis stretching and lots of single leg reverse hypers.

Three more weeks until the gyms reopen. I'm delighted with all the equipment I have, but fúck me I just want to get back in a gym. Miss the environment so much.

140 x5x5 for todays squats. Happy with that; was tough, but not a struggle. Although I was not in the right frame of mind to start. Had to get myself wound up to fúck to get going properly. Gonna keep the volume reasonably high until I'm back in the gym, more hypertrophy focussed.

Nolanator wrote: ↑Mon May 17, 2021 11:39 am Three more weeks until the gyms reopen. I'm delighted with all the equipment I have, but fúck me I just want to get back in a gym. Miss the environment so much.

140 x5x5 for todays squats. Happy with that; was tough, but not a struggle. Although I was not in the right frame of mind to start. Had to get myself wound up to fúck to get going properly. Gonna keep the volume reasonably high until I'm back in the gym, more hypertrophy focussed.

Nice numbers there.

Lowbar or highbar?

High bar master race, of course. with sleeves and belt

I can't really do low bar. Never really trained it when I was a noob so find the groove hard to find sometimes. Plus my horrendous shoulders, tight pecks, and wrist which has the substance of damp chalk all don't really like the low bar grip.

Nolanator wrote: ↑Mon May 17, 2021 11:58 am High bar master race, of course. with sleeves and belt

I can't really do low bar. Never really trained it when I was a noob so find the groove hard to find sometimes. Plus my horrendous shoulders, tight pecks, and wrist which has the substance of damp chalk all don't really like the low bar grip.

I’ve recently started doing more high bar work. Kills me traps

Having a stab at Henley Masters this year. This weeks schedule

Mon - Weights

Tues - Erg - Warm up 10' with bursts then 3 x 7' race profiles. (4'/2'/1' @ 18/20/22) then (3'/2'/2' @ 20/22/24) then (3'/2'/1'/1' @ 20/22/24/26) with 8' recovery between

Weds - Water 14km - Warm up to Lock then (20/20/10 @ 18/16/20 x 2) then (20/20/10 @ 20/18/22 x 2) then (20/20/10 @ 22/20/24 x 2) all with drag. 2 x 7' race profiles with drag (1'/3'/2'/1' @ 20/18/20/22 then 22/20/22/24). Row home - no drag but PS pressure.

Thurs - Erg - Warm up then 2 x 19' ergo done as (4'/3'/2'/1'/2'/3'/4' @ 16/18/20/22/20/18/16).6' recovery.

Fri - Rest

Sat - Water 18km - Warm up to Lock then 2 x 27.5' pieces done as (1'/2'/4'/6'/8' "on and 3'/2'/1'/30" lite) at R18 with drag and rate 22 without. Finish with 1 set of 9 on / 5 off @ overspeed.

Sun - Water 12km - Technical warm up to Lock then Steady State - rate 21 for entire outing.

Pulled 505lbs/230kg for 5 yesterday with a couple of reps in the tank. Pretty happy with that.

About to sign up with Graham Hicks for my programming which should be interesting. 9 weeks out from New York’s strongest and I still can’t get one rep with the circus dumbbell weight of 155lb/77.5kg, I need some new ideas.

Circus DBs look terrifying.
Sorry, no help!

Nolanator wrote: ↑Wed May 19, 2021 4:31 pm Circus DBs look terrifying.
Sorry, no help!

I f**king hate it.

Anyone have a recommendation for body weight exercises? I'm a lump and even then I can barely lift heavy things. I have two dumbbells with 7kg attached to them, but apart from that no weights. Videos or guides on what to do would be great. Upper body and back is my main concern, I think my legs are alright considering what they carry on a day to day, but I'm not looking to exclude anything.

Does anyone know what the world-record (weight, time) for holding a weight directly out in front of you with your arm at right angles with your body?

I'm supposing this is on record somewhere but I wouldn't even know what to call that maneuver in order to Google it. (I tried "straight arm static hold" but didn't get any useful results).

Snatch grip Deadlifts with a 4 second eccentric are appalling.

They've been a staple accessory on my squat days since last summer. Not with the 4 second eccentric, mind you!
Can really feel it in the glutes and mid back.

For BW exercises, flick back through the pages of this thread to March/April of last year when the first lockdown kicked in. Think there was lots of discussion back then.

Mog The Almighty wrote: ↑Fri May 28, 2021 9:28 am Does anyone know what the world-record (weight, time) for holding a weight directly out in front of you with your arm at right angles with your body?

I'm supposing this is on record somewhere but I wouldn't even know what to call that maneuver in order to Google it. (I tried "straight arm static hold" but didn't get any useful results).

It's a front raise isometric hold.

I've decided that higher volume DLs just don't work for me. My body is absolutely beaten up after the last few weeks of 4x6 or 5x5 on the big lifts.
Hips and lower back are fried.

This morning's DLs felt awful, so I called it after only one top set of 2 reps. Then realised hours later that I'd loaded 180 instead of 170. \facepalm

Still, deload next week (so no showing off in the reopened gyms), and not accumulate quite as much work volume after that.

Nolanator wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 12:07 pm I've decided that higher volume DLs just don't work for me. My body is absolutely beaten up after the last few weeks of 4x6 or 5x5 on the big lifts.
Hips and lower back are fried.

This morning's DLs felt awful, so I called it after only one top set of 2 reps. Then realised hours later that I'd loaded 180 instead of 170. \facepalm

Still, deload next week (so no showing off in the reopened gyms), and not accumulate quite as much work volume after that.

It's my most hated part of 5/3/1 - the deadlift accessory work.
5x10 @ 135kg after doing your working sets

Yeah, I've never done the 5x10 on DLs. Shitting light weight, and far too many reps for DLs.

Haven't run 5/3/1 in years, but I used to do squat or DL variations for the accessory work.

Nolanator wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 12:07 pm I've decided that higher volume DLs just don't work for me. My body is absolutely beaten up after the last few weeks of 4x6 or 5x5 on the big lifts.
Hips and lower back are fried.

This morning's DLs felt awful, so I called it after only one top set of 2 reps. Then realised hours later that I'd loaded 180 instead of 170. \facepalm

Still, deload next week (so no showing off in the reopened gyms), and not accumulate quite as much work volume after that.

Ive been deadlifting heavy twice a week for about 10 weeks. Tuesday has been more volume( 1 top set and 3/4 back offs) and Friday a lot less volume( something like 3x3). The Friday session has been rubbish for a while. Weights that I should be hitting easily have been awful.

My coach has taken the Friday session out this week. Probably move to RDL next week, even though the volume is still fairly high overall tonnage is significantly reduced.

Back in the gym today for the first time since December.

Jesus. Waiting for a rack is something I'd forgotten about. Took her handy enough cuz I need to deload, but it was an absolute sweat box. That said, I was way more efficient with my time than working alone at home. And there are machines to use for isolation work.

Went back myself yesterday to a commercial gym - first time since late summer last year. So nice to have clean plates and to be warm and dry and also to have machines to do accessories. Limited to 75mins though so had to focus to get through the session - serious leg DOMS today.

Yeah, I'm in a hoop. Did BBS, for some unknown reason, quads and glutes are all pain now.

Did bench/back yesterday. First pullups since December. Have been doing tons of BO rows, so my back should be "strong", but just haven't pulled in the vertical plane in over 5 months.
The benches are shite, have to get used to them again. Couple of cm higher off the floor, so my leg position/hip extension is different, and the legs of the bench has a T shape at each end, rather than just one. If that makes sense?
There's a cross piece on the floor where my feet should go, messes up my foot placement entirely.

Also, the floor is slippy so my feet slide out.


I love being back, I swear.

Nolanator wrote: ↑Wed Jun 09, 2021 3:38 pm Yeah, I'm in a hoop. Did BBS, for some unknown reason, quads and glutes are all pain now.

Did bench/back yesterday. First pullups since December. Have been doing tons of BO rows, so my back should be "strong", but just haven't pulled in the vertical plane in over 5 months.
The benches are shite, have to get used to them again. Couple of cm higher off the floor, so my leg position/hip extension is different, and the legs of the bench has a T shape at each end, rather than just one. If that makes sense?
There's a cross piece on the floor where my feet should go, messes up my foot placement entirely.

Also, the floor is slippy so my feet slide out.


I love being back, I swear.

I know what you mean

Wearing olympic shoes I find really helps drive the heels into the ground and gives some stability.

I hadn't been wearing my lifting shoes while benching at home. Slightly lower bench and rubber floor matting meant I had no issues driving my heels through.
Will need to start wearing them again, the wooden platform isn't sticky enough.

Is anyone still training?

I see the younger Stoltman brother won world strongest man last week. Been following their YouTube channel, both brothers seem like good guys.

My training is going pretty well at the moment. Hitting some numbers I haven’t hit before.

Tonight was a lighter/easier/ shorter session..

Deadlift
217x2
212x5 2 sets

Underhand t bar row
2sets of 12 at 80

Slow negative barbell curls
3x8 at 50

3 X 7 min on the erg

1st piece

4 mins @ rate 26
2 mins @ rate 28
1 mins @ rate 30

1:50.1 split 1906m

2nd piece

3 mins @ rate 28
2 mins @ rate 30
2 mins @ rate 32

1:50.6 split 1898m

3rd piece

3 mins @ rate 28
2 mins @ rate 30
1 mins @ rate 32
1 mins @ rate 34

1:51.7 split 1880m

Blowing out my arse