Brent Getting His Yoke On

George writes:

“A long, agonizing series of failures and awkward moments hasn’t completely destroyed my self-confidence or belief that I’m a normal person”
Brent,
I feel that I am working towards this but am not quite there yet. Any tips for getting to that next level?

Nothing kills your will to live more than to hope. It is the most fragile thing in existence and is the basis for most, if not all, the things we care about the most. Hope for things and watch them not happen, watch them go away, realize they never existed to begin with. Parts of you will die. If you are strong enough or give enough fucks you’ll mob those parts of you and stop hoping and start working. They still may not happen. It’ll be fine. Pain is a construct of the mind. Do you feel your faith waning? Is it worth believing in? Talk to me, George. What do you believe in?

Friday I snatch pulled to above the knee + snatched 225lbs, which I have been trying to do for like 3 weeks it’s fucking fine. C+Jed up to like 275lbs? Made a run at 295lbs and missed the jerk. Back squat 415lbs x 2 I think.

On Saturday I snatched and c+jed like shit, didn’t snatch anything meaningful, c+jed up to 275lbs, cleaned 295lbs.

High-bar back squat 415lbs x 2, pulled 425lbs x 2 with a hook grip + 2 more singles, attempted 435lbs and got it about 2 inches off the floor it’s fine. I could deadlift more. Though I think it’s official that I can pull all my worksets/competition attempts with the hook grip now. Not that it fucking matters if it’s fucking less than 500lbs what the fuck is this shit.

I did some GHRs after this along with some db delt raises (front and lateral) and some curls. Honestly? Honestly? Honestly? The curls were the best part of the workout because I got 105lbs x 10 and 115lbs x like 8 with the strictest form I’ve ever done those weights and reps. This is not to say they were very strict sets. Get fucked please. But the curls were the only thing that I did today that didn’t make me want to fucking quit lifting forever and pick up sudoku or maybe collecting stamps.

Best writes:

Brent,
I max out everyday. Thought you might like to know that.
It’s really a great day in Newport Beach today, lots of chicks out in bikinis, people drinking having a good time in the sun, 77°; how’s Texas?

I wouldn’t know, I didn’t leave the apartment this weekend.

hamburgerfan writes:

I just benched 265 for a paused double. Couldn’t make it a triple. I weigh like 60 lbs more than you. How do I stop being such a dickless mormon at benching? Wait, why am I even asking you this?

Dunno.

My bench started getting a lot better when I started doing dips, tacked-and-stretched my distal tris, cleaned up my shoulder extension, and took care of some soft-tissue grittiness in my pecs. Since then I’ve made some pretty consistent progress.

The db delt work may contribute a little as well? I want to say that my humeral abduction feels a lot more solid in the bench, and the db delt work seems like it might benefit that kind of movement.

To be fair, the PL community would think my bench is a fucking joke anyway. Oh you /just/ now got within range of a 300lbs competition bench? Age 18 called, it wants you to know you’re a fucking never-was. The has-beens beat you to it.

My bench won’t make me want to fucking kill myself when it’s like 160kg/352lbs @ 77kg/170lbs bw maybe.

Tom writes:

The log says Shrug Thug on the 70′s Big website, but the guy who writes it weighs 156lbs and never does shrugs. I feel so used and upset.

I just want to be sure that everyone knows that I gave myself the nickname to mock myself, and then a lot of the people in the community loved it and thought it was the greatest thing ever. This wasn’t the effect I was going for, I just wanted to make some single-serving dick head joke.

Broseph writes:

Brent, what song is this?

Since you already found out, let me recommend this one as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPbbVfTxEQY

also

if you’re into nihilistic cinema

What the fuck other kind of cinema do you think I’m going to be in?

becky writes:

so i was doing my weighted pull ups at the UNT gym tonight and i was working in with a pretty nice guy. well, we got talking and he told me i need to get some gloves to protect my hands. it all happened so quickly that i wasn’t able to conceal my gut reaction. i don’t know exactly what the face looked like that i gave him or how harsh the shoulder shrug looked or what exact interpretation he took out of my “well, ummmm…”
…but after that he didn’t really talk to me anymore.
i’m guessing the way he felt was similar to something that you avoid when you decide not to bother trying to approach girls in the first place. i mean, he tried…and it didn’t go so well. so i guess now i can see why someone would hesitate and/or back out altogether. he must have been miserable in that moment.

All pain is transient. Everything he feels now won’t matter in a year. Or he’ll have killed himself. Either way – he’ll be fine. This, too, shall come to pass. If these are concepts he doesn’t believe in, he won’t survive.

I strongly support your reaction, not because I dislike the guy for recommending gloves, just because I know that the next time he does pull ups he’ll PR by 5 reps or +10lbs, gloves or not. You did the right thing. You’re making him better. He should thank you for hurting his feelings, assuming he gave a fucking shit. Hopefully he didn’t. Hopefully he goes home to someone who likes his personality and entertains the idea of staying with him for a while. Hopefully he is pursuing something he believes in with passion and doesn’t have time to care about every slight. Hopefully he goes to bed with a smile on his face and wakes up full of hope for the day. Hopefully his heart is not so bloodied that he has to blog about it to strangers who popcorn.gif the fuck out of his rapidly accelerating descent into utter and complete despair.

Karibot writes:

Oh, girl. Confession time: I’ve said some pretty bitchy things to dudes who have made similar “suggestions”. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether they’re just being douchey or they’re trying to flirt.
Becky: I think it’s safe to say that you crushed this man. I mean: he was working in with a lady doing WEIGHTED PULL-UPS. But he told you to get gloves! GLOVES! What are we supposed to DO in situations like these?

I’ve flirted with girls in the gym before, always crashed and burned real fucking hard. One time I thought I did well but she ignored me the next time I talked to her. I’ll tell this story in the next post, you guys need to be sure to remind me.

Did some pretty terrible oly lifting on Tuesday, one of my rotations for the oly lifts is snatch pull to above knee + snatch and I have been missing 225lbs with this for the past three weeks it’s fine. 215lbs goes easily, then I just hit a fucking wall at 225lbs. Mediocrity’s great.

I cleaned 275lbs from the below-the-knee hang with a jerk, which was OK.

Finished up with some good mornings and barbell rows, I could have done more volume with these and also curls and db lat delt raises.

Today I benched 260lbs x 5 and got two more doubles, 260lbs x 5 is a lifetime PR so /hand motions. I should have done more but I didn’t get to the gym early enough. I benched the 260lbs x 5 without a spotter, I could make better decisions. Admittedly I left the bar unclipped but honestly? Honestly? Honestly? Anyone ever hear about Sabre Schnitzer?

Another poor decision:

When I was 19 or so I was doing some lame shit at my college gym. Repping like 175lbs on bench probably and wearing tight t-shirts and bleaching my hair orange. Believe it or not, this wasn’t as cool as it sounded. I somehow got hooked on the idea that I wanted to power clean really well so at age 19 and 125lbs-ish bw I put 50k on the bar and did 4 sets of 6, I forgot where I read to do this from but more than likely it wasn’t very helpful. I did weighted ab work because I read it one of Westside Barbell’s articles from like 1999. This was before I read another internet article about running barefoot and I spent two or three months “conditioning” my feet to run barefoot on pavement – this didn’t work out as well as I thought it was going to (to be completely fair I got some pretty tough skin on my feet towards the end of this experiment and could run a few miles without anything on my feet. On another tangent, I was once stopped by a police car because I was real depressed one night, running barefoot at like 9pm, and they had gotten a call because some intoxicated ex-boyfriend who had physically assaulted his ex-girlfriend was also running around in the area, and was ALSO barefoot. Good. Anyways, so not only was I depressed, running barefoot on pavement, and about two degrees away from fucking ending it – I get pulled over by the cops, asked if I’ve been drinking, what I’m running from, and why I’m barefoot. My answer at the time was, “Well the Kenyans run barefoot.” The cops laughed in my face. “No really I read an article those guys are legit, the best runners in the world.”) Basically I was a gigantic fucking piece of shit.

Look guys long story short – this was before I was running barefoot. So I’m in the school’s gym running on a treadmill. My friends are in there with me. This girl hops onto the treadmill unit next to mine, and I’m 19 right? A long, agonizing series of failures and awkward moments hasn’t completely destroyed my self-confidence or belief that I’m a normal person. I still want to talk to people. I still have bright eyes and hope for the future. I still think waking up the next day isn’t a fucking burden. So the 19 year old me says, this chick’s kinda cute, I’ll say hi to her. So I’m on this fucking treadmill, set at some shitty 7:00 pace, and I turn to this chick to say hi, and I almost immediately mis-step, stumble, and am jerked off the treadmill. The girl is completely unphased by this, quite honestly she couldn’t have given less of a fuck, just starts her run. My friends aren’t concerned for my well-being and laugh and don’t stop to ask if I’m ok.

Honestly? It’s fine. I’m past that now. That’s why I’m sitting here telling you about it.

Broseph writes:

You’re Korean, bro.
Get on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vengeance_Trilogy

I didn’t realize they were part of a trio. I’ve seen Old Boy and Sympathy For Lady Vengeance but not Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance. I liked Old Boy a lot. Sympathy For Lady Vengeance was intriguing but I wouldn’t be as willing to watch it again as much as I would Old Boy. Old Boy had a lot more tragedy in it. It made me ask more questions. Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, while interesting, was not as intense or compelling.

Cmoney writes:

No, see. Here’s the thing. If I went over some paleo-donk’s house who, by some miracle, didn’t talk about how paleo he/she is, then I would probably enjoy a nice meal of pork and salad or some shit. I wouldn’t even notice. I wouldn’t walk away from the evening thinking “my what a fine lifestyle she leads.”
If they came over my house and there was some rice involved, they would probably be all like “eww yeah I can’t eat that.” That’s not a lifestyle. That’s being a jerk.

I don’t know what you want anymore. Are we gonna hug at the Arnold or what? Make sure you are wearing a sleeveless shirt.

Tiny writes:

Mr. Kim,
Thanks for your insight.
If said program was similar to this-
Monday-Squat, Press, DeadLift
Tuesday- Snatch, CJ
Thursday-Snatch, CJ
Friday- Squat, Bench, Pull ups
Sat- Snatch, CJ
What would you recommend rep ranges be?
Thanks for helping me reach my tights, strong goals for the 2012 fiscal year.

I like sets of 5 or 3s and the occasional double or single for squatting, pressing, deadlifts, I haven’t done more than singles in the oly lifts for prob a year though I’m not opposed to doing doubles or triples. If you are progressing by +5lbs each workout on the slow lifts I’d stick with something basic like 3×5, otherwise I’d do a Texas Method type thing where one day is volume and the other is working up to a 5rm or 3rm or a few doubles or something.

Hey man, you’re a great guy, gonna do great. I believe in you. Don’t forget to mob.

Girl I just

I just want to lay you down on the floor.

I want to rub my hands up your thighs, and your hips, and your waist.

I just wanna

I just wanna lick my lips. I want to straddle you, and lean down towards your face. I want to say huskily in your ear,

“Baby, I like the way you move.”

And then I want to take this lacrosse ball right here,

this orange one that I use a lot. I just want to lodge it firmly in the medial border of your scapula. I want to see you reach up above you towards the wall and externally rotate at the top, then sweep your arm down across your chest and internally rotate at end-range. I know it hurts a little baby I know but I need you to do this for me baby I need you to just give it a try, I promise it will make you feel so good. I want to do this all night, baby girl. Or for a cumulative total of about 50 strokes. And then I want to see you test/re-test.

And when you press tomorrow, baby

or when you squeeze your shoulders back for the bench press,

I want you to tell me how good it feels

because I want you to feel good, baby.

I pressed like shit today.

Snatched up to 225lbs, missed the snatch from the below-the-knee hang.

C+jed up to 295lbs though.

Back squat up to an easy 425lbs x 1, finished up with some PR weighted ring-dips at +95lbs x 3 followed by +100lbs x 3, probably because my tris and delts were not tired from a lot of volume with the pressing, and also probably because I fucking weigh 156lbs.

Broseph writes:

This is you in a few years:
http://www.the-back-row.com/media/blogs/TBR/oldboy-face.jpg
Saygoodbyetoyourgains.

lol

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.

I Can Make You A Man writes:

this guy is the editor of this book.
It’s pretty good, I read a few chapters and skimmed about half of them.
You guys should do a podcast.

He’s not gonna like the kind of podcast I’d do.

Tiny writes:

Mr. Kim,
What was your programming like when you first started lifting? If you were to aid someone in coming up with a program similar to yours what would you recommend?
Be safe. Thanks in advance for answering my question. You are a good man.

I trained real stupid early on. Like, legit, the first year of my oly training I trained Bulgarian i.e. 6 days a week, 2x a day, max out sn. and c+j, though I did do a TM-themed program on top of that with 5×5 squats Monday, 3×3 front squats Wed, and a 5rm on Friday.

I would never recommend someone train the way I did when I first started lifting.

I would say, hey man, squat like 2x a week. Deadlift 1x a week. Press and bench 2-3x a week. Do pull ups and chin ups, do some bodybuilding. If you want to do the oly lifts, do those like 3x a week. Make mobility a part of your day and hit like 2-3 different mobs a day, especially if you have problem areas. Eat a lot of animal protein. I’m not gonna say go Paleo but if that is something you can adhere to that’d be pretty good, otherwise cooking the majority of what you eat and avoiding grains when possible will prob make you feel pretty good. Cmoney if you have a problem with this would you kindly get fucked. Anyways that’s about all I got. I’ll talk to ya here in a little bit.

Pete writes:

congratulations brent, your blog has been over-run by furfaggotry and fembots posing as bitches who obviously wont show tits

Guys I just want you all to know that Pete is a HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER. HE COACHES FOOTBALL AND TEACHES HISTORY. HE HAS A WEBSITE FOR HIS CLASS, ON THIS WEBSITE HE POSTS “MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES” BY LIKE THOMAS JEFFERSON AND RALPH WALDO EMERSON. PETE YOU ARE A FUCKING PARIAH. A PARIAH. YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR STUDENTS AND YOU’RE PROBABLY ALL PC AND KIND-HEARTED AND GENUINELY NICE IN PERSON THEN YOU GET ON 70S BIG SPAMMING 4CHAN MEMES PRETENDING TO BE SOMEONE YOU’RE NOT. PETE IS A SELF-PROCLAIMED “LIBERTARIAN.” JUST TO TIE IT ALL TOGETHER – PETE IS A HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER. HE IS PROBABLY A HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER BECAUSE HE BELIEVES IN THE FUTURE, AND OF THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN. HE QUOTES THOMAS JEFFERSON AND RALPH WALDO EMERSON. HE HAS STRONG POLITICAL OPINIONS. THIS IS THE SAME FUCKING GUY WHO SPAMS 70S BIG WITH 4CHAN SPEAK. PETE I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT OBAMA. CAN YOU TELL ME HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CANDIDATES FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY? PETE’S ALSO A DOG LOVER. WHY DON’T YOU POST PICS OF YOUR FUCKING DOG, PETE? “P-NUT” IS ACTUALLY A VERY CUTE DOG AND FROM THE PICS YOU’VE SHOWED ME APPEARS TO BE VERY SWEET AND TOLERANT.

Pete’s going to the Arnold so if any of you reading will be there we should all hang out, it’ll be nice.

The powerlifters were in the gym today doing squats out of the mono rack and I was in there, all weighing like 156lbs bw and doing my bullshit oly workout. I also deadlifted today and worked up to a challenging 415lbs x 3 double overhand hook grip and did a few more singles at the same weight. One of the powerlifters commented, “Ah look at that, hook grip, that’s good!” and I said very quietly “thanks … ” because I was like but this is fucking babby weight. 20 minutes after this interaction I realized the best response would have been “it’d be a lot cooler if it was like 550lbs,” or even “it’d be cooler if I was on test,” but the magic was gone so I sat there twiddling my thumbs while resting in-between weighted pull ups as a bunch of geared powerlifters did their accessory work. Anyways the point of the story is that someone reached out to me and I was kind of a fucking dick about it unintentionally. If I could go back in time I’d smile bigger, be funnier.

I snatched up to 235lbs, attempted 245lbs twice and while it was close no one really gives a shit about close. C+Jed up to 265lbs, missed the jerk at 285lbs and probably could have made it but I went to 295lbs and missed this jerk twice.

Front squat 315lbs x 3 and 330lbs x 3 since I have not front squat this week.

Deadlifted up to 415lbs x 3, this was pretty challenging. My mid-hamstrings feel pretty tight as I get the bar to the knees so I’m prob gonna have to do some pretty painful tack-and-stretch that I will break a profuse sweat over. The good news is my hook grip seems to have improved a bit since pulling 415lbs x 3 wasn’t terribly difficult other than some moderate discomfort.

Finished up with weighted pull ups (+100lbs x 2), some curls and lat delt db raises.

I found this in my email one morning, I briefly considered fucking ending it after I was done reading.

Broseph writes:

That video was fucking gay.

Dude just

just

just

just fucking chill, man. “Oh those people can express emotions very well through dance, they’re fucking lame as shit” dude just

just

I’m done, honestly? Honestly? Honestly? I’m finished.

criedthefox writes:

I’ve got a thing for white chicks dancing to choreographed hip-hop. so hot.

I’ve got a thing for chicks who can play the accordion. I’ve got a thing for chicks who read fast. I’ve got a thing for when chicks brush their hair. I’ve got a thing for chicks with pretty smiles. I imagine her smiling across the table at me. She is stunning in her blouse and jeans. Her beauty is effortless. I could not think she is prettier. She tells another joke and I lean towards her, ostensibly to hear but really just to be closer. I ask her, what’s it like to be so charming? She rolls her eyes at me. Be still my heart. Later as we walk out into the night, her bare shoulder brushes mine and her soft skin thrills me. I yearn, and my arm wraps around her waist, almost by reflex. Don’t forget this. Let me keep this moment. She walks with me into a warm night.

Sounds made up.

dennisthemenace writes:

I think the challenge here is that Kelly doesn’t talk like a regular human being. His videos are valuable but are cluttered with his nonsense-speak. I think he spoke in plain English his videos would be way more tolerable.

“Nonsense-speak” dude just

just

just

just leave all right? Just get out. I wanna fucking BE Kelly Starrett when I grow up. Including the weird things that he says. The videos I do for Mope-ility WOD will be done in the style of Kelly Starrett.

Had an uninspired snatch and c+j session on Tuesday with some good mornings, today I benched 280lbs x 2 paused, high-bar squat 410lbs x 5 and another double and got a double at +95lbs weighted ring dips.

I was wearing the supple leopard t-shirt, which is kind of tight, while benching today and probably couldn’t have looked more stereotypical, some fucking piece of shit Asian benching like a fucking ego-lifting asshole. Hey can I get a spot oh I failed my 3rd rep it’s fine you probably didn’t see this coming a mile away. Me weighing sub-160lbs these days is probably not really helping my gym credibility. I got the blue supple leopard t-shirt but I’m now contemplating getting the black one with the pink leopard just for the sake of having another supple leopard t-shirt. I’m kinda burnt out on black t-shirts though since every meet seems to think black is a great color for a meet t-shirt.

I just want you to guys to know that at this PL meet I’m gonna do in about a month I’m prob gonna squat like 210kg+ and deadlift like 190kg not a big deal really. I haven’t done a deadlift deadlift since like August.

lambchop writes:

“One of the things I hate about myself was that I ever got big fish in a little pond syndrome when I first started lifting.”
Sounds like a neat blog post, provided that thinking/writing about it doesn’t send you into a shame spiral and take a few pounds off your lifts.

I was just the fucking piece of shit who said “oh I squat 245lbs high-bar and to end-range, oh I snatch 80kg/176lbs, oh I press bodyweight, oh I never have lumbar flexion in any of my deadlifts” and thought I was hot shit for it. I was proud of c+jing 105kg at like 65kg bodyweight or some lame shit, made facebook status updates about my training, thought Collegiate Nationals mattered, I just gave too many fucks and thought other people gave fucks about it too. It’s fine. I’m a lot better now. I have more perspective. Mostly I understand that no one fucking gives a shit.

chris2004 writes:

I agree with you Brent. I only believe like 3% of what you write on here.

Which 3%?

Ellee linked this vid to me the other day:

1:30 legit had my eyes watering.

“Brent how did you taper for your meet?”

See the post from Friday. That is to say, there was no taper.

“Brent what will your training be like for the week after the meet? Are you going to rest?”

Nah, I high-bar squat 410lbs x 4 for a PR after tacking-and-stretching my suprapatellar pouch today before work.

“Wait Brent when was your meet again?”

Yesterday wish i cared.

I super setted the warm-up sets for the squat with my warm-up sets for my press and worked up to 175lbs x 3, 3, 1. The last set was a single probably because I had started warming up for my weighted ring-dips, I worked up to +95lbs x 2.

Can I be real for a second guys?

If you’re asking me for mob advice – honestly? Honestly? Honestly? I’m not a PT. You’re asking some guy – who, in case you haven’t fucking noticed, is prone to suicidal ideation – about your shoulder or your knee that hurts. And honestly? Honestly? Honestly? – if you haven’t been mobbing already, and you come here asking me, “Hey man what mobs should I do for this and this problem?” You’re doing it fucking wrong. You can check out the site yourself, you can try out the stretches/soft tissue work he talks about, and you can do your own test/re-test. If it feels better, great, you just found your next project. If it doesn’t make a difference, that’s fine, go look for another one. This shit is gonna make you a better athlete. Don’t be a fucking yuppie rolling your t-spine on a PVC pipe every day and doing some bullshit shoulder dislocation and expect for your shit to get better. Fix yourself – and if you’re not broken, work on making yourself better. If you’re playing gasso-brako or you’re having to struggle to get into position, that’s just more shit preventing you from hitting your PRs. So make a better decision. Get a lacrosse ball. Rub it on yourself. Make yourself hurt. Become a better person for it. If some fucking garbage athlete Korean-American piece of shit can do it, you can too.

If you’ve been reading this blog for more than a few days and you STILL have not gone to mobilitywod and looked for things to do, you’re making a terrible decision. I’m probably still gonna answer questions because I like to think we are all friends here and I wanna help my friends, but honestly? Honestly? Honestly? I’m not telling you anything Kelly Starrett hasn’t talked about on mobilitywod.

dave writes:

We need a “She strokes me to hardness” T-shirt.

Agree. It needs to be classy, though, not pornographic. If there’s anything overtly sexual on the t-shirt it should be for the purpose of arousing emotion (mostly the feeling of loss), not erections.

Matt writes:

Can a x-ray detect patellar tendonitis? I am having the symptoms, sore to the touch and can not front squat/clean/snatch because of it. I am able to squat after foam rolling and band stretching without any issues but it will be sore/tender the next day. Any good mobs you can recommend? I’ll send you a starbucks giftcard for your time.

[spoiler effect=”simple”]Is the area warm to the touch? Does it feel like inflamed tissue i.e. a little swelling in addition to the soreness? You probably want to ice that 3+ times a day, 5-10mins on. I’m assuming this isn’t an acute injury and was gradual onset, but we want to think about cooling that stuff down and getting some capillary dilation in the area to help with the inflammation. Get some dixie cups, fill them with water, put it in the freezer. When they’re frozen, take one out, peel some of the cup back and rub it on the affected area for some pinpoint icing. You want to see erythema, you want this for 5-10 minutes, then you want to warm back up for 10-20, repeat this process a few times a day.

How’s your o3:o6 ratio? Do you take fish oil? If not, are you eating Paleo? If you’re not thinking about EPA/DHA intake from fish oil – those are the essential fatty acids that provide the effects that everyone talks about with fish oil (among them reducing inflammation through bringing your o3:o6 ratio back into balance) – then this is a good time to start. Gradual onset of an inflamed tendon? EPA/DHA is gonna help you.

If you’re taking ibuprofen or really any NSAID, cut that shit out now. Use ice to control inflammation. COX-2 inhibition is not going to help your recovery process. It’s also not going to help you in general as an athlete.

When you think about mobbing, don’t just think about the affected area. Especially if it was gradual onset, there’s something about the way you move that made your patellar tendon pissed, so you want to think about improving your movement. So while yes, you’d want to look at the obvious like supra-patellar tack-and-stretch, you also want to think about improving your bottom position squat, snatch, and clean – do you do any hip flexion + external rotation? Have you sat on a lacrosse ball and rolled out your high-hammies and glutes? Doing these things translates to a better bottom position with improved function of your glutes/external rotators and more external rotation of the knees/hips which translates to less stress on the patellar tendon since your shins should be more vertical throughout the movement. Once the inflammation’s calmed down you’d want to look into couch stretch to free up the anterior structures of your hip. You may also want to see if you’ve got shitty dorsiflexion in your ankles and do some tack-and-stretch on your gastrocs (the gastrocs also function as flexors of the knee so if they’re gnarly they can affect how your squat feels, and shitty ankle mobility can fuck your bottom position squat).

If you have a problem area, you always want to look up and down stream the affected area.

Here’s a link for hot knees. You can search the site for the rest, really if you haven’t been mobbing then now is a good time to search for shit like “hip external rotation,” “glutes,” etc.

So homework #1: if it’s hot, ice it. If you’re not taking fish oil (i.e. more than 200mg/300mg of EPA/DHA like you’d get in the Walmart brand) and you’re not eating Paleo, start taking fish oil.

Homework #2: supra-patellar tack-and-stretch.

Homework #3: pick sitting on a lacrosse ball and rolling out your glutes/high hamstrings, hip flexion + external rotation, high gastroc tack-and-stretch, basically any lower body mob. If it hurts to do, and you feel improvement when you test/re-test, keep doing it on a regular basis. Find other shit that improves when you test/re-test after doing it, and do those things.

Report your results in a week. Let’s get to work. /throws chalk against board[/spoiler]

lambchop writes:

Have you considered briefly lifting in a shitty commercial chain gym? It could be a nice visceral pick-you-up when you’re the strongest person somewhere, even if you’re smart enough to realize you’re just the big fish a weak, terrible cohort.

I did this for a few years. It fucking blew. This is a real stupid idea. One of the things I hate about myself was that I ever got big fish in a little pond syndrome when I first started lifting. I feel and perform a lot better training in a gym where half the guys are drugged and deadlift 600lbs+. If you’re happy with where you are, you get complacent. Being unhappy drives change. As living organisms we weren’t meant to be happy. We were meant to face adversity, hate our lives, but give enough of a shit to find a way to survive.

willey writes:

Damnit, I had a feeling you were going to tell me to switch to high bar. I used to exclusively high bar until last summer, and fell in love with low bar once I switched.
I also know from the comments on 70B that you love high bar a lot…hm…I’ll thinks about it

Oh god I was just joking dude. Look man – you can’t just change how you squat just because some fucking dude with a shitty blog says high-bar squats are cooler. If you like low-bar better then keep it up, get jacked. But really I dunno take a lacrosse ball to your pec minors, do this one for shoulder extension/internal rotation (you don’t necessarily need to load it with a stone or a superfriend on your chest though it may be more effective). Also, look above at my rant – if you’re not mobbing on your own already, and you’re asking me, some fucking guy YOU HAVEN’T MET on the internet about mobbing shit, you’re making a poor decision.

So I went 6 for 6 at this meet.

PRed by 21kg, went 100 –> 105 –> 110kg for the snatch, 125 –> 131 –> 137kg for the c+j. Like a 1kg PR in the snatch, more or less matched my c+j PR (I’ve hit 300lbs, 137 is like 301.5lbs but who’s counting). Things felt pretty heavy today, but fortunately I felt fast in the snatch and was also accurate enough to make all my lifts. Using a whippy bar in the c+j made the clean recovery a little harder since I’m not used to utilizing the bounce with a whippy bar but then the jerks were about ten times easier.

I weighed in at 71.7, so …

This is the only meet where my results didn’t make me want to quit lifting. My best total previously was at 85kg, I went 101/125. Last year I was 77kg and went 3/6 totaling 97/122 which was pretty dismal. I have typically only felt disappointment. People ask me how I did and I said “I don’t want to talk about it.” Oh I went to a powerlifting meet and benched less than 300lbs. Oh I went to an OL meet and didn’t qualify for anything.

A lot of familiar faces at this meet, I’ve been going to it for like 5 or 6 years now and I think the best I’ve ever done at this and really any meet was like 4/6 maybe. People were all like “great job man” it felt OK. Is this what it feels like to not be ashamed of what you do? Is this what it’s like to perform as well as you could have expected? I don’t know what this feeling is.

The meet was small, I took 3rd out of 5 guys at 77kg, doesn’t really matter, I think I qualified for the AO though so I’d like to improve my total by a lot and go.

The drive actually turned out to be not that bad. It is like 5 hours total but only 3 hours of that is driving in the middle of no where and the other hour involves navigating in urban environments so I had some visual and driving stimulation to help fight off road fatigue.

willey writes:

Hey, what mobs/stretches can I do to get my arms even when low bar squatting? A friend pointed out that my left elobw doesn’t go as far back as my right when holding the bar.
I broke my collarbone last year, but had surgery and have full range of motion otherwise, so I feel like I just didn’t get it back to full mobility yet.

Would probably be better to go ahead and start squatting high-bar.

Noel writes:

Looking forward to the tees, Brent. Don’t you find lifting gives you confidence?
(Longtime lurker and occasional poster on 70sbig main).

I always lol at “long-time lurker.” Lifting gave me confidence at first. I had a little Dunning-Kruger effect going on. Then I realized I didn’t know fucking shit and was a fucking garbage athlete so I was less happy and self-confident than I was before I lifted weights.

lambchop writes:

what will the t-shirts look like brent

The captions will be “Perfectly Normal, Perfectly Healthy,” “It’s fine,” “Turning First World Performance Into First-Rate Performance,” and now “Turning Broken Hearts Into Broken Records,” with various minimalistic, simple graphics that depict the opposite of normal, healthy things, or the opposite of people coping with problems well.

karibot writes:

Last week, I found out that my dream job was going to somebody else. I scheduled an emergency c+j session. PR.
I couldn’t pull the bar from the floor today on my 4th dl rep. Then I thought about two dudes who broke my heart. Reps 4 and 5 were for them (respectively). PR.
Mope-ility: turning broken hearts into broken records.

/claps

This would definitely be a featured story on mope-ility wod.

Yesterday I:

– snatched up to 235lbs, c+jed up to 275lbs, cleaned 295lbs.

– back squat 410lbs x 3, 415lbs x 2, 375lbs x 5.

– weighted pull ups +90lbs for two triples, curls and lateral delt dumbbell raises.

http://qkme.me/35o0l7

http://qkme.me/35o2pi

So I get to drive 5 hours to Alvin, Texas, today. Ask me how I feel about it. Go ahead. Ask me.

I could have pressed more.

I could have front squat more.

I could be snatching and c+j more.

– pressed 190lbs x 1, missed 200lbs again.
– pressed 170lbs x 4, 3, 3 <– hitting a set of 5 would have been OK
– front squat 370lbs x 1, 355lbs x 2, 355lbs x 1 <– be happy you're not me
– snatched up to 215lbs twice yesterday and once Monday, missed all subsequent attempts at higher weights
– c+jed up to 275lbs Monday, cleaned 290lbs and missed the jerk
– did some barbell rows at 245lbs (5rm) and some weighted pull ups

The only things worth it about yesterday’s workout were the rows and the pull ups.

I did snatch-grip DLs followed by good mornings on Saturday so my back may be fatigued from those which may explain some of my general shittiness. I'll prob just bench and squat on Thurs and do the lifts Fri and compete Sun.

I’m considering starting a completely separate blog/website. I’d call it “the mope-ility project.” The tagline would be “turning first world problems into first-rate performance.” The focus of the blog would be having emotional turmoil and using it as a training tool. As athletes we all seek change, things staying the same in any capacity would be a bad thing. We want to disrupt homeostasis and induce an adaptation. When do we want things to change the most? When we are unhappy. Think of the man whose wife has left him. Why does he go to the gym? Think of why you decided to go to the gym. If you’re like me, it’s because you fucking hated your life. Think of the woman who decided to leave the man. Why did she leave the man? Because she didn’t love him anymore. She wanted a different life. This is how we as individuals – and as groups and larger entities (i.e. countries of unrest) – proceed to definite change. Unhappiness reaches a threshold, homeostasis is disrupted, then we see a shift. So the blog would talk a lot about embracing negative emotional content and using that in the context of improving athletic performance. There’d be several video updates a week addressing emotional management strategies, developing the ideal characteristic of “quiet desperation” which would be analogous to being silk over steel springs, and how to create your own emotional turmoil if your current crises are not traumatic enough. Mostly I just wanna make my own t-shirts.

Btw, I just bought this one.

chuck writes:

You do mobs quite a bit hm? What would you say are your top 5-7 mobs you do most frequently? How often do you use bands? I am thinking about getting some to focus more on mobility.

Unilateral hip extension with full plantar flexion and knee flexion, hip flexion with an external rotation bias, double-lacrosse ball to t-spine, joint approximation for the shoulder, lacrosse ball on medial border of the scapula and along the external rotators that wrap around to the front of the humeral head, those are basically my daily mobs. I tack-and-stretch my quads and tris at least once a week, roll out my high-hammies and glutes prob twice a week. Attack my pecs and anterior shoulder when things feel tight. I should spend more attention on my forearms and calves.

Mark writes:

Brent, I saw TGISOTBEOF today, we walked by each other in the stairwell and it conjured up feelings I know you can relate to. The joy of seeing such beauty, followed almost immediately by the sadness that as far as I can tell she couldn’t give a fuck about my existence, then the depression, the loneliness, the desperation as it sinks in that she probably never will. Finally the anger at myself for not being enough of a man to do something about it.

Basically what I’m getting to, is how do YOU deal with this?

Well I started a blog.

If that’s not enough for you I guess you’re fucked.

Uh so I’m sub 160lbs bw lol

– snatched up to 230lbs
– pressed out a 290lbs c+j
– benched 280lbs x 2 <– haven't benched 280lbs before
– back squat 405lbs x 5, 3, 3 <– high-bar squat 5rm PR
– weighted ring dips at +90lbs x 3 <– PR

Mechanically I've never felt this good. I've never felt more fluid and controlled in my jerks, especially now with better hip extension and internal rotation. I still pull to my left on heavier attempts, but it's a lot more manageable now and it's more an issue of me splitting, then slowly twisting to the left as I recover, as opposed to me splitting and everything on my left side immediately collapsing. I pressed out 290lbs probably because of being sick earlier this week and having lost some weight so this was the first heavy session of the week and I was a little dizzy on the clean.

Benching and ring-dips both felt really good after I did scap mobilization with an internal rotation bias. It felt like my bench stroke was shortened because it was easier to keep my shoulders pinched back while my shoulders were in extension at the bottom of the bench, and it felt a lot easier to keep my shoulders squeezed back at the bottom of the ring dip. I’ve done this same mob when I was attacking my gleno-humeral internal rotation deficit with my shoulders but haven’t done it very much since then, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the benefits I can still get from doing it.

Picture this for a moment:

I am sleeping in the same room as four dudes. It fucking blows. The beds are twins and Chris and Mike are 300lbs+ and 270lbs at this meet, good fucking luck sharing a bed with either of them. My sleep could be better, I’m losing mobility from sleeping on an unforgiving surface (the floor), and paying too much money for low-quality food (we ate at the same bar next to the hotel multiple times a day, every day we were there). I couldn’t be grumpier. One morning Justin goes down for breakfast and I join him when I’m finished lying on the carpet weighing the benefits of just fucking ending it or somehow finding the will to continue living.

I want waffles. There is a substantial line for the waffle iron so I give up. I sit down with an omelet and some bacon and Justin immediately starts talking to me about shit that I don’t give a FUCK about. I chew listlessly. I can pick out the people who are competing fairly easily in the breakfast hall.

Then I see her leaving the breakfast hall. Cue this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgFCTy5_Zig

In the brief moment I see her face, I see dark mahogany hair and soft brown eyes behind her glasses. My heart catches and I stop chewing my omelet. As she turns to leave, I say completely monotone,

“Who’s that?”

Justin turns to see her leaving. He turns back to me, perplexed. “I don’t know?”

After all of us have had breakfast, we stand in line at the Starbucks in the hotel. Justin and I will be training at a local gym and we need the caffeine for the copious amounts of curls we will be doing later. Someone steps into line behind me and I turn and it’s her, looking real cute in training pants and her team t-shirt and with excellent thoracic extension. Her eyes are dark and captivating and I am lost in them and don’t realize I am staring until it’s been about three painfully awkward seconds.

I say, “Hi.”

“Hi,” she responds.

I spend the next three minutes trying to make conversation with her. I’m Brent, what’s your name, did you compete?, how’d you do?, oh that’s great, way to go. I find myself intrigued with her speech. She is intelligent, unimpressed with herself, and probably not impressed with me when I asked her “did you lift” and she points to her team t-shirt wordlessly as a response as if to say, “What are you, new?” I think to myself, this is a girl I want to hang out with. I wonder what her sign is. What she wants to be when she grows up. If she could be any animal, which animal would it be (currently existing species only).

She won’t remember any of it.

You can stop the song now.

matt_15 writes:

What’s the weirdest thing you have ever found when performing an xray on someone?

Nothing like light bulbs in someone’s rectum, coins, sewing needles, etc. I’ve seen surgical staples, wire mesh (for some not uncommon surgical procedure), joint replacement hardware, a long nail in some dude’s hand from a work accident, pretty routine stuff. That’s about all I got. I don’t work in an ER so I don’t get too much crazy stuff or stat chest x-rays on someone who isn’t breathing.

Mark writes:

Just tried bubble tea, it’s good but you oversell it.

See a psych or a therapist and tell them you suffer from anhedonia. I have this problem too. It doesn’t really get better but sometimes it helps to talk with someone.

squattingIsbetter writes:

And what was your pre-workout meal?

Typically 1lbs ground beef or roast, a few small red potatoes and carrots with the roast or a half cup of white rice with the ground beef, followed shortly by a 50g whey and 70g waxy maize and some coffee (by that I mean Starbucks, go fuck yourself thanks). This has been a pretty solid pre-workout template for me and I attribute my generally positive and productive training the past few months to having learned what I need to eat pre-workout and how much time I need before inserting (and mobbing).

Broseph writes:

Also,
How many days a week do you squat?
It seems like you do the lift (somewhat) frequently.
I BS 6-7 times a week and FS twice a week. It’s worked out well for the last year. Just wondering what you think of ultra high frequency.

I squat like 2x a week, one BS and one FS so uh nah I don’t squat very frequently. I want to add another day for squatting. I seem to be progressing fairly consistently though so I won’t do that until I stall out.

High-frequency seems pretty necessary for advanced athletes. I’m not there yet but at some point it’s something I’m gonna have to do.