It’s important to note that Jacob Tsypkin guided me early on when I was just doing lacrosse ball to front of the shoulder and driving the humerus to the back of the socket. He actually suggested I do several of the mobs I listed below to improve my movement. Talking with him about it was pretty life changing. I am not ashamed to say that I love Jacob Tsypkin.

Late update on Friday’s workout.

Thursday night I did some overhead work with an external rotation bias. Continued an ongoing project of rolling out pec minor/anterior capsule. Slacked on lower body mob <– apparently I don't want to be a better athlete. Guess I should kill myself.

Forgot what I ate Friday, if I recall correctly it was just 3 tacos and a Starbucks iced cocoa cappucino.

Power snatched 185lbs x 2, snatched 200lbs x 2. Probably would have done more here given time, these felt pretty easy today, going overhead with the snatches was a completely different experience having done this mob the night before.

C+jed up to 255lbs, legs were too tired to push much more here safely (I would have if I was training with bumpers).

Touch-and-go deadlifts at 395lbs x 4, emphasizing hips back, although I did use leg flexion to get the plates to the floor, descent was super controlled with minimal plate contact. Suppose you could say sloppy RDLs. Strapped up for these. Followed this with 355lbs x 6 touch-and-go, with a reset at rep 3 and rep 5. I was pulling 355lbs double overhand hook grip, wanting to develop the capacity to pull my competition lifts and at least some heavy worksets with the hook. Pain was less of an issue here, more just the dread that my thumbs were about to be pulled out of socket.

What was that? “They were not deadlifts if you did them touch-and-go,” I think I read about that in Who Gives A Fuck Magazine. Be more dogmatic please. The fucking Vatican called, they want to know if you’d join their ranks.

Did some rounded back weighted back extensions after, with probably less than 3 mins rest after cessation of the deadlifts. Definitely caught a legit pump here.

Would have done some upper back rowing, pull ups, curls, etc. but had to leave for work. Was going to do them Saturday (today) but caught up on sleep instead. Caught up on 40lbs db curls in my room after work tonight.

Also caught up on mobbing, IR stretch, double tennis ball to t-spine (I’ve lost some of my lacrosse balls, gonna have to get new ones to do this more legitly), external rotation in hip flexion, hip extension stretch, rolled on pec minor.

[edit 9:13pm 4.23.11] – I was asked to link the mobs that I like to do. Really the best thing to do if you are looking for shit to do is test/re-test, which Kstar generously has for each mob that he posts a day. If your shit sucks for a certain test, do the mob. I’ve provided my history and how I approached my particular problems. In all honesty, I’d probably see a lot more benefit if I could see a PT of Kelly Starrett’s breed and get guidance from there. I move better now, but there are still some gaping holes in how “healthy” I should be.

I started out with a shitty overhead position and 0 degrees internal rotation. Couldn’t get the bar behind my ears without hyperextending my lumbar spine. Couldn’t keep the bar close in the snatch because I had 0 internal rotation. Benching often hurt.

I’ve always leaned on a lacrosse ball to roll on sore spots on the anterior capsule of my shoulder joint, but the 3 mobs that I did early on that helped like, 30-40% were:

1.) Drive humerus towards back of socket, lateral distraction, external rotation. This is the least painful of what I did. I still do this for bench prep and sometimes front rack prep.

2.) Restoring rib/scap/external rotator movement, lacrosse ball between t-spine and scap, reach overhead, then freestyle to whatever hurt and roll on them until they hurt less. This caused spasming in places I wasn’t touching early on, was really tight apparently. See also this informed free-styling.

3.) Internal rotation stretching. Buddy stretch was super legit early on, these days I rely on band around shoulder with extension/adduction as a mainstay.

Some other things that helped me pretty significantly were:

– Double lacrosse ball to t-spine, this was one of the last pieces to legitimizing my overhead position.

– Rolling on the external rotators that wrapped around the humerus, i.e. lateral part of the shoulder and then towards the front. Had to get in creative positions, but I think this helped with some generic shoulder tightness that affected my benching and overhead position. See informed free-styling video regarding periscapular regional death above.

– Rolling on pec minor/pec insertion. Made going overhead easier. May have helped with internal rotation?

– Hip flexor/quad stretch. Couldn’t go completely upright until my 3rd or 4th exposure, but this definitely legitimized my hip extension in the snatch and clean.

– Anything involving external rotation of the femur with hip flexion. My deadlift feels a lot different now, in a good way, feels like I’m utilizing more musculature in the movement. Squat bottom position feels more legit. I used to feel tight before but weak coming out of the hole, now I feel looser but stronger driving out of the hole. Improving end range function means greater force production?

– Most recent addition has been banding the elbows together, get a wide-as-possible supinated grip on a pull up bar, then slowly load the movement with a neutral spine. Absolutely noticed a difference snatching today. Gonna try it before a heavy jerk/overhead press day and see how it feels.

Something that Kstar and other sources/people have mentioned is you can’t address mobility in isolation; i.e. if your shoulder function sucks, you can’t just do shoulder mobs and expect to get a lot better. Have to address movement as a whole, shoulders and hips are analogs to each other, I don’t fucking know, I just do every mob ok? My life fucking sucks and I am taking it one step at a time to try to make it better. Sometimes that means laying on a lacrosse ball every night. Other times it may mean wrapping a band around a limb or perhaps asphyxiating yourself while masturbating, while injecting nandralone.

Another guideline is, “you have to find where you are tight.” The mobs that helped me may not help you that much, but you may discover shit that really hurts to do that might be related. Do the shit that really hurts to do.

There’s probably shit that I don’t even know that I need to address. Basically I check the site and do the mwod and if it hurts or is difficult for me to do, I incorporate it on a regular basis.

Internal rotation stretch, band around the shoulder in extension + adduction. Rolled lacrosse ball on anterior capsule and pec minor.

Preworkout food was a generous reuben and 50g pro/50g waxy maize shake. Iced cocoa cappucino and plenty of water.

Benched 245lbs x 4 paused, pretty shitty for how good I felt today. Thought a 5rm would happen here. Adjusting max reps at 225lbish on Monday with a 3-5rm on Thursday for bench.

Front squat 330lbs x 5 for a PR. Dunno if I’ve ever done 325lbs x 5, if I have it was while weighing 180lbs so … can’t really complain here. I suppose this happened today because I didn’t low-bar back squat, having did the oly lifts yesterday. Front squat another 2×5 at 315lbs, probably sand bagged it here, I think I could have gone a bit heavier on the back off sets for volume. Liked what happened here today though. The plan here is to have a higher 6+ rep day on Monday and do a 3-5rm on low-bar back squat and/or 2-3×5 front squat on Thursday.

Overhead pressed 150lbs x 6 and 5, was hoping for a few more reps but wasn’t ready for it. Will try for 7 or 8 next week.

Finished up with chest supported machine rows and a little db benching for a pump.

Had sushi afterwards, spider roll and a crab roll topped with avocado and baked eel. The place was playing fucking Daft Punk when we walked in. Asked the waitress if she was into this kind of music and she was like yeah man. I said man I’m about to go crazy, I’d bust a few moves but I don’t think you could handle it so I’m keeping it toned down. She said nah man go for it, I want to see. I was like maybe if you’re lucky bro. She said if you dance you don’t have to tip me.

I didn’t dance.

I’m hitting up the overhead position mob right now, the one where you wrap your elbows together with something, hold onto a pull up bar with as wide a grip as possible in external rotation, and then load the movement. Sucks a lot, I’d say 8/10 pain scale.

In all honesty I do have a pretty straight forward training program. Mondays and Thursdays I press and squat, Tuesdays and Fridays I’ll do the oly lifts and pull. Sometimes I have to adjust this schedule to accommodate a sometimes unpredictable job, like I did this week. I unexpectedly had to work a 14 hour shift, which in and of itself really isn’t that big of a deal, I just couldn’t do the oly lifts until today.

Can’t remember the mobility I did the night before Monday’s workout.

Food was 8oz ribeye, green beans, and maruchan instant noodles again.

Monday I benched 225lbs for 7, 5, and 3, with the first 3 reps of each set paused. I felt pretty awful about this workout, I’m currently not adapted to anything past 5 reps and 225lbs is probably (and pathetically) too high of a starting weight for me attempting 5+ reps in a set but I don’t really give a shit. Right shoulder felt better after this workout though, I’m assuming from the pump and increased circulation. Higher reps should be good for a bit.

High-bar back squat 355lbs x 8, 5, 5. Again, starting weight was too high, I’m not terribly concerned with that fact though.

Did some mobility work that I can’t remember Monday night.

Tuesday night I rolled out pec minor/external rotators around the humerus, and flexion/external rotation of the hip with lateral and posterior band distraction.

Ate a 9oz ribeye with green beans and maruchan instant noodles preworkout today. Also had a shake with 50g pro/50g waxy maize.

Didn’t get to snatch or c+j until today, and I didn’t do anything spectacular. Snatched up to 90k with difficulty, right shoulder being inflamed has prevented me from doing much mobility for internal rotation and I’m not able to keep the bar close. It’s felt better this week and I did an internal rotation mob after tonight’s workout, felt good but I’ll have to hit an IR mob every day for a while to get back to fully operational.

I did c+j 275lbs without bumpers. Got to the CF gym too late to do everything there. Wasn’t terribly hard. I wanted to double a jerk at 265lbs but wasn’t 100% confident I’d make it after bringing the first jerk back to my shoulders.

Training could be worse this week, I’ll take it for now.

Did the best shoulder mob ever, rolled on external rotators around the humerus again (right side was sore, feels a lot better today), hip flexor stretch, and hip flexion stretch.

Pre-workout food was an 8oz steak, green beans, and Maruchan instant noodles. I’m sure that’s real fucking funny to some of you, get fucked. 12oz water and a java chip frappucino.

Snatched 200lbs+ for 5 singles, 200lbs, 200lbs, 205lbs, 205lbs, and 210lbs. Controlling the weight to the hang was a lot of fun. Felt pretty easy here, I think whenever I’m at the globo gym I’ll hit multiple singles at a medium weight for volume as opposed to pushing for a heavy single, this is probably a little more reasonable.

C+jed up to 265lbs. Pull felt heavy, even at 245lbs.

Front squat 330lbs x 2. I got the point today and called it done here. I’ll throttle back on the low-bar back squat next week and continue pushing the front squat hard.

Deadlifted 375lbs x 3 to the knee, paused, then completed the pull. Two of the reps I pulled double overhand hook, had to alternate grip the third. Repeated attempt at 355lbs x 3, 5 would have been nice but grip was too spent and the back was already tired. Right now the limiting factor for the hook grip is pain, this is the first time I’ve hook gripped challenging deadlifts in a long while. Hopefully I can work on these on lighter pulling days and build a decent hook grip.

Chris and Mike were in town, so I stopped here to meet up with them for Chipotle (burrito with rice, no beans, peppers and onions, chicken), then finished up the rest of my workout at another gym of the same chain, which was:

Rounded-back weighted back extensions, chest supported machine rows, and barbell curls. There was a really pretty girl at the gym with a dude wearing camo shorts – which were not even gym shorts – and he looked like he played a lot of CoD MW2 and posted actively on 4chan. Definitely wanted to kill myself.

I spent most of the night watching YouTubes of Dead Space 1 and 2, this and training were the highlights of my Saturday off, I’m a pretty fucking useless person.

Have noticed that Kelly Starrett has mentioned several times that the external rotators wrap from the lateral border of the scapula all the away around to the front of the humeral head. Been trying to hit external rotators wherever it hurts, noticed that there were bands that fucking sucked to roll on around the lateral part of the humeral head. Spent a lot of time last night rolling shit out there. Also did the best shoulder mob ever for bench prep, then hip flexor/quad stretch and external rotation in hip flexion.

Pre-workout food consisted of 8oz ribeye, green beans, and a small sweet potato fried in butter. Will probably upgrade to a medium sweet potato for future workouts, not sure how many g of carbs there are in a small one but doesn’t feel like it’s sufficient. 16oz water and an iced grande cocoa cappucino. Jacob Tsypkin’s roommate made the comment that I don’t deserve to be on 70s big because I drink Starbucks iced cocoa cappucinos. Get fucked bro.

Also had a protein shake with 50g pro/50g waxy maize.

Benched 245lbs x 4, 225lbs x 5, all reps paused. These felt OK, I was hoping for more but right shoulder has been inflamed since two weeks before Texas State, probably from db overhead pressing (not exactly the strongest db cleaner, will prob have to watch some vids of proper execution because I’m pretty sure the mechanism if injury was from cleaning the db, then rotating into position to press).

Low-bar back squat 405lbs x 3, was hoping for more here, probably too ambitious considering current circumstances.

Pressed 135lbs x 8, all reps paused. Would have done another set if time permitted.

Front squat 330lbs x 1, figured I was good for at least a triple but the rushed workout prob didn’t help me here. Probably going to try front squatting again tomorrow. This won’t be the first time I’ve low-bar back squat, then front squat the next day. If this sounds ridiculous, it probably is, and if you can’t tell, I give a flying fuck.

This could have been a lot better.

Was going to train yesterday but ended up napping too long after work to make it to the CF gym; could have done the oly lifts at the globo gym but it would be running a little late there, as well, so I decided it’d be wiser and more productive to push it today. Mobility two days ago was the best shoulder mob ever, some anterior capsule/pec minor soft tissue work, hip extension mob, and external rotation with hip flexion. Didn’t do anything yesterday because I slept from 4-8pm after work, ate, then slept from 1am to 12pm today.

Pre-workout food was an 8oz ribeye, green beans, and sweet potatoes fried in butter.

I snatched up to 100k without a lot of trouble, which was nice. C+jed up to 110k, then missed jerks at 115k and 120k, prob because my legs were tired from the front squats and I am also four days post meet so …

Finished up at the CF gym with some clean pulls with a pause above the knee, 130k, 140k, and 150k x 3.

At LA Fitness, I did some db rows (110lbs x 8, 7, 7), chest supported machine rows, barbell curls, and rounded-back weighted back extensions. Caught a pretty mean pump here, I finished this shit up in like 30mins.

This is mostly a fuck off week. I’m interested in getting some hypertrophy-oriented training in, i.e. killing myself with some sets of 10. One of the things that Justin didn’t like with the way I trained when we first met was that I was doing snatch-grip and regular deadlifts for sets of 10, he’s probably not going to like that I’ll be doing exactly this starting probably next week.

Patrick asked me if I was serious about the mobility work the night before a training session – yes, I am 100% serious about it. Typically 2 mins+ per drill/side, or until I have achieved “change,” i.e. the spot in question hurts a little less to roll on with a lacrosse ball. I’ve legitimized my overhead position from being out in front of me or with lumbar hyperextension to bar above a fairly neutral spine. Shoulders hurt less, are inflamed less often, and I’ve been working on posterior chain/hip extension stuff which I feel has had a significant effect on my movement as well.

Drove to the gym listening to Kings of Leon – Cold Desert. It’s a miracle that I didn’t fucking drive my car off the highway into a ditch.

No mobility before tonight’s workout, lazy after the drive from San Antonio, caught up on sleep more than anything else.

Had 5 tacos in corn tortillas from Freebird’s as “pre-workout nutrition,” was done eating at 6pm, took a nap and woke up at 9pm, was training at 9:45pm. Felt OK energy wise for the workout.

Pressed 155lbs 3×5 without much drama. Front rack and overhead position feels significantly better after a few months of mobility woding. My life has definitely been changed.

Front squat 315lbs x 5, 4, 3. Dumped the bar on the second set on rep 5, was kind of dumb. Legs felt pretty good on that first set, haven’t pushed the front squat very hard in a while but I intend to do so this week and into the next and see if I can make anything cool happen.

Caught a pretty legit pump db benching 80lbs dumbbells and doing chest supported machine rows.

Came home and listened to Snow Patrol – You Could Be Happy, thought about killing myself, ate a double baconator deluxe from Wendy’s instead.

Meet was yesterday, weighed in at 73.4k. I went in knowing what I’d hit for my openers and 2nd attempts, 3rd attempts were more or less up in the air.

For the squat I went 190 –> 200 –> 210 without much trouble. It’s been a while since I’ve hit a max effort squat. 200k was a little rough with a stalling point in the middle. Mike told me to bounce my third attempt harder out of the hole, and I responded that I might try to if I felt that it was necessary. I came out for 210 with weapons free, basically bottomed-out in the hole and immediately drove back up, and made a fairly smooth grind to the top. Mike said I broke the state squat record with 210 and I didn’t really give a shit. I squat 207.5 @ 82.5 last year, which also broke the state record, and I also did not give a shit then. 210 matches my lifetime low-bar back squat PR, it’s possible I may have been good for 212.5.

Benched 112.5 –> 122.5 — > x127.5. Was expecting a lot more here but apparently could not produce expected results. I’ve paused 260lbs x 2 in training and I thought I’d have a shot at 130k/286lbs on a good day, but 122.5 didn’t go up without a lot of trouble and I got promptly pinned at 127.5k. Definitely wanted to fucking kill myself here. Lifetime PR would be 125k/275lbs, I may have been good for it at the meet but at the time I didn’t think there was really any point in attempting a 3rd if I wasn’t going to establish a PR.

Historically I have always sucked fucking shit in the deadlift. Mike mentioned something about short arms and disadvantageous anthromopometry but I have told him, collectively on different occasions, that anthropometry, bodyweight, and genetics were all excuses that people made for being weak. I mean, what the fuck do you think nandrolone is for????? I opened with 180 for my last warm up on the platform, then went to 195 which was ridiculously difficult. It stalled at my knees and it took me a second or two to grind it to lock out. It was so difficult that I considered waiving my third attempt because I didn’t think anything would go, but Mike suggested just taking 200 and I said why the fuck not. 200 was probably easier than 195, still a grinder but a lot smoother, however I doubt I could have gotten much more.

Totalled 1176lbs @ 165lbs, pretty fucking lame imo, I thought I’d be good to break 1200lbs at this meet but I didn’t come in strong enough. Mike definitely helped me total the most I possibly could this day, and apparently I was the least stressful to handle at the meet, since I typically don’t give a shit at meets.

Another thing that makes me want to kill myself was this mega jacked, really pretty chick at the meet who squat and dead 300lbs+ at like, 148 or 165. She was so jacked that it wouldn’t be an insult to suspect that she may have been on anavar. Her boyfriend was 6’2″ and at least 300lbs and maybe 15-20% bodyfat, it was obvious that he benched AT LEAST 550lbs. She wore glasses and was a talented lifter, think she went 9 for 9 and squatted/pulled 300lbs+. I thought she was the prettiest girl in the room. She’s so pretty she could be a part-time model. She could spend part of her time modeling and part of her time next to me. It’s possible that she was the love of my life.

Had a conversation once with Rip, I was talking about a girl and mentioned that she was the love of my life.

He asked, “Wait a second, she’s the love of your life?”

“Yes.”

“Is this girl your girlfriend?”

“No, she has a boyfriend already.”

“She has a boyfriend, who is not you?”

“Yes.”

“Then how is it possible that she is the love of your life?”

“Sometimes someone can be the love of your life but you might not be theirs.” And I think this would be the most illustrative statement on one of the defining philosophies of my life.

I may or may not make a post tomorrow about my workout in which I will definitely catch a pump with dumbbell benching, depends on if I fucking kill myself or not.

One more thing, last year at this meet, there was this dad dude that was talking to all of us. He asked me how much I benched and I said 264lbs, he was like “That’s it? My son is 14 and he benches 300lbs. How much do you weigh? 181lbs????? My son is 123lbs.” His son was also lifting fucking geared, which doesn’t really excuse the fact that a fucking 123lbs kid was benching more than me, but basically I’ve wanted to kill myself a lot both times I’ve lifted in the USAPL Texas State Meet.

Mobility last night was hip flexor stretch, soft tissue work between scapulae/t-spine, double lacrosse ball to the t-spine, and more external rotation of the femur with band distraction.

Preworkout meal was a much more generous reuben sandwich than yesterday’s and another iced cocoa cappucino.

Hydration 16oz water, 60min glucose elevation time.

The brunette girl behind the counter today at the Starbucks I went to was all smiles with me, more than likely because my haircut was stupid to begin with and now that it’s slightly grown out I’ve got this idiotic swoop in the front, also the right ear piece of my glasses are taped on, so she was probably just trying to hold back laughter. Irregardlessly, the correct decision on my part should have been to say, “Hey man how’s your day? Me, I’m regular, thanks,” but instead she basically asked,

“Spot?”

with my response being a scowl and shaking my head, “Nah.”

Hey Brent, want to talk to a cute brunette girl who is actually going to give you the fucking time of day, nah I’d rather snatch and c+j without bumpers.

I power snatched + drop snatched up to 195lbs, and c+jed 260lb and doubled the jerk. The x2 jerk would be a PR. Hardest part was lowering the weight back to my shoulders.

Did some weighted rounded-back back extensions, 2×10 with 115lbs held to chest. I would like to have monster pythons for my erectors one day. One time Justin’s girlfriend asked me what one of my favorite bodyparts to train was (other than traps of course), I said “erectors,” and she shouted back, “ERECTIONS?” and then told Justin.

Finished up the workout with chest-supported rows and curls.

Mike’s under the impression that snatching and c+jing three days out from a powerlifting meet is a big deal, I’m not convinced that it is.

Oh yeah, lifting in a meet Saturday, should probably mention that.

Intuitive training folks, every day.