Pounds and Percentages
Hmm... problems. I was about to go into my big leg workout when I finally decided that something big and non-specific was hurting a little too much to go through with it. I was experimenting with squatting in my apartment, just getting into the bottom position, and a quick reach back there tells me I'm rounding my back at the bottom. Going too low? Hips too tight? I don't know. But rounding the back puts uneven compression force on the lumbar spine, which can actually lead to sciatica, a pain that runs up and down your legs because your spinal nerves get pinched. That and slipped discs, so I stopped dead.
I was a bit despondent at that. I've been making such good progress, but hurting myself is just not a good idea. I asked for some advice on a message board and was told that I could still do isolation work - machines - while leaving my back alone, so I broke my legs down into two exercises, kind of a mini-workout: leg extensions and leg curls. On machines. Yuck.
Machines suck for a number of reasons. They don't follow any functional movement patterns. Squats mimic lifting something heavy across your back, and deads mimic picking something heavy up off the ground. What, pray tell, do machines mimic? When are you on your stomach and need to lift a weight on your ankles up by bending your knees? And when are you sitting in a chair and having to lift a weight up that's resting on your feet? Never.
Yuck.
Also: machines are cam driven. Cams keep steady resistance on the muscle throughout the range of motion. It's equally heavy at every point. Are free weights? NO. Why? Gravity. We live on a world with an appreciable gravitational field. Cams are for machines, not for people. There is no kinetic chain. Isolated movements are unnatural. Great if you're a bodybuilder, but I'm not.
One good bit to come out of this is that I see how actually strong I'm getting. In high school I could leg extensions at 40 pounds for ten reps. Now I can do FIFTY pounds for FORTY reps. That's a big difference. Score one for me, I guess.
So it's machines for six weeks. After three weeks I get to start squatting again, but with a broomstick. After three weeks with a broomstick? An empty bar. FUCK. Ah, well - better to start fresh and do it right, right?
Meanwhile my arms are still free weights. I got back from a workout today that went rather well. I saw gains mostly everywhere but it was uneven. Dumbbells are tough that way - when you move from a 20 pound one to a 25 pound one, you've essentially increased what you're lifting by 25%. That's a big move. And though it's only five pounds, you'd be amazed at how much harder it is to lift - support structures can be extremely sensitive, and balance becomes a problem.
To put it in perspective: the current maximum weight I can deadlift for ten reps is 135 pounds. If I added 25%, that would bump it all the way up to 168.5 pounds. 30 pounds at once? Yeah, right! Something much more reasonable but still tough would be to add TEN pounds, which amounts to an additional 7.5%. 7.5 compared to 25% is a big, big difference. Unevenness, then, is to be expected.
Still, I have to be careful. I'm starting to feel a bit beat up.
I was a bit despondent at that. I've been making such good progress, but hurting myself is just not a good idea. I asked for some advice on a message board and was told that I could still do isolation work - machines - while leaving my back alone, so I broke my legs down into two exercises, kind of a mini-workout: leg extensions and leg curls. On machines. Yuck.
Machines suck for a number of reasons. They don't follow any functional movement patterns. Squats mimic lifting something heavy across your back, and deads mimic picking something heavy up off the ground. What, pray tell, do machines mimic? When are you on your stomach and need to lift a weight on your ankles up by bending your knees? And when are you sitting in a chair and having to lift a weight up that's resting on your feet? Never.
Yuck.
Also: machines are cam driven. Cams keep steady resistance on the muscle throughout the range of motion. It's equally heavy at every point. Are free weights? NO. Why? Gravity. We live on a world with an appreciable gravitational field. Cams are for machines, not for people. There is no kinetic chain. Isolated movements are unnatural. Great if you're a bodybuilder, but I'm not.
One good bit to come out of this is that I see how actually strong I'm getting. In high school I could leg extensions at 40 pounds for ten reps. Now I can do FIFTY pounds for FORTY reps. That's a big difference. Score one for me, I guess.
So it's machines for six weeks. After three weeks I get to start squatting again, but with a broomstick. After three weeks with a broomstick? An empty bar. FUCK. Ah, well - better to start fresh and do it right, right?
Meanwhile my arms are still free weights. I got back from a workout today that went rather well. I saw gains mostly everywhere but it was uneven. Dumbbells are tough that way - when you move from a 20 pound one to a 25 pound one, you've essentially increased what you're lifting by 25%. That's a big move. And though it's only five pounds, you'd be amazed at how much harder it is to lift - support structures can be extremely sensitive, and balance becomes a problem.
To put it in perspective: the current maximum weight I can deadlift for ten reps is 135 pounds. If I added 25%, that would bump it all the way up to 168.5 pounds. 30 pounds at once? Yeah, right! Something much more reasonable but still tough would be to add TEN pounds, which amounts to an additional 7.5%. 7.5 compared to 25% is a big, big difference. Unevenness, then, is to be expected.
Still, I have to be careful. I'm starting to feel a bit beat up.