Friday, November 6, 2009

NOV 05 2009 - Correcting My Press


Here's a side view of my press lockout position. Note that the bar is NOT directly over my head. There is a vertical line between the bar (where I'm gripping it), my shoulders, and my feet. As viewed from the side, at least some of the lifter's ear should be visible in front of the arm. Locking out fully in the press means pinching your shoulder blades together and shruging your shoulders up to your ears. However, I'd like my head in a more neutral position: head in line with the spine. I have a tendency to tilt my head forward when I pinch my shoulder blades together in back. Avoid that, but get the bar shrugged all the way up. That last 1/4 inch of height on the bar provides a lot of benefit for your shoulder health by balancing the strength around your shoulder girdle. You can prevent a lot of rotator cuff issues and postural problems by pressing all the way to a full, shrugged-shoulder lockout.

Apparently the heavy set of five deadlifts and seven weighted pullups a couple days ago wasn't enough for the guys at CF Football. Today there were more waiting for me in the conditioning set.

Squat 3 sets of 5 reps
Press 3 sets of 5 reps
Rest
As Quickly As Possible:
10 Deadlifts, 10 Pullups,
9 Deadlifts, 9 Pullups,
8 Deadlifts, 8 Pullups,
7 Deadlifts, 7 Pullups,
6 Deadlifts, 6 Pullups,
5 Deadlifts, 5 Pullups,
4 Deadlifts, 4 Pullups,
3 Deadlifts, 3 Pullups,
2 Deadlifts, 2 Pullups,
1 Deadlift, 1 Pullup.

I squatted 66 kg because I forgot to put a 1 kg plate on the right side. It felt a little unbalanced, but I thought it was because I had not centered the bar on my back. Oops. I pressed 37 kg. For the deadlifts in the conditioning sets I lifted 75 kg, which is less than the 150% of my bodyweight (I'm 70 kg) that CFFB prescribed. But it seemed about right - it was heavy enough that I had to break up the set of 9 and take two breaths, but light enough that I kept good form on all but two of the 55 reps. I'd really like to do this workout again in a few weeks. Pullups were definitely my limiting factor. Again. I broke them into sets of three on the first set. Then singles by the third set. ARRRRRGH!

Well, that's why I'm training. I'll get my set of 33 unbroken pullups on my birthday.

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