Tuesday, March 31, 2009

ME Lower

Conventional Rack Pulls (just below the knee): 355x3
365x1
375x1
385x1
405x1 PR

GM's: 225x5, 5, 5

Abs

A kinda short session, but it was good. A big PR with the Rack pulls (when I last tested my conventional rack pull from that height it was 355). I also saw that we have a bunch of new people, which is pretty cool.

Dave was wondering this yesterday, but the reasons that I have been going conventional more often with deadlifts are multiple:

1 - Doing box squats and Sumo dl in the same week makes my hips feel like crap
2 - Box squats are my main exercise to bring up my Sumo DL, and I have been getting stronger on them
3 - Conventional deadlifts will strengthen my hamstrings, glutes, and back to the same degree as sumo without destroying my hips
4 - With anything out of the rack, I cannot do sumo in Wooden, as my feet can't get far enough out and I tweak my knee every time I try

9 comments:

Jake Ceccarelli said...

What do you mean "make your hips feel like crap?" How wide are you squatting and sumo deadlifting?

Brent Tanaka said...

how much stronger is your sumo deadlift than your conventional.

from what i remember, your conventional deadlift wasn't bad at all and i think your speed was better off the bottom too.

Kyle said...

I have not tested an ungeared sumo in a while, so I am not sure of a raw difference. My best sumo geared was a 430 in training, and my best raw conventional is 385 or something.

@ Jake, whenever I box squat or do sumo, I have to forcibly loosen my hips (aka tearing shit up). Doing both of these in one session (speed day) leaves me hobbling around for about 2 days.

Nathan Beckmann said...

You need to fix that. It's not healthy at all. Either start using loose briefs to keep your hips warm, stretch them out, do something else, or all of the above. You don't want a hip replacement at 30 yo.

Jake Ceccarelli said...

My question was more like: where exactly does it hurt? In the joint? In the muscle? Which muscle? Where in the joint? I'm looking for a more specific answer. There are a lot of things that attach to the "hip." I remember which I squatted wide (feet touching the rack) I got an extreme pain on the outside of my hip, in the joint which forced me to stop squatting wide. I read later never to squat super wide without briefs on to protect the hip joint. Is that closer to your problem or is it more groin inflexibility, where going wide causes you extreme soreness in the groin afterward? There are very different cures for each of those problems.

Kyle said...

its more in the hip flexor/hip joint than anything. It's just a flexibility issue, but its getting better. In the meantime, however, I am getting stronger so its all kosher.

Jake Ceccarelli said...

"its more in the hip flexor/hip joint than anything. It's just a flexibility issue, but its getting better. In the meantime, however, I am getting stronger so its all kosher."

This is why we have a communication problem. In order to identify the real problem we need a specific response. The "hip flexors" bring the leg up and forward, so are you referring to the muscles in front of the thigh, above the quads, just below your waist? The flexibility of those muscles should have no bearing on your squat/deadlift because they flex in order for you to lower yourself. Are you talking about the adductors (the "groin" area), which are the muscles of the inner thigh, which allow you to sweep your leg inward and crush your balls? If it is a flexibility issue then that makes sense because those lengthen in response to your back muscles flexing to keep it arched. Those are the muscles which get sore on me very regularly. The hip joint problem which I was referring to occurred in the outer part of my hip, in the actual joint, NOT THE MUSCLE. I believe that flexiblity was pretty irrelevant there and that the problem was anatomical: I could not squat that wide without bone-on-bone action, or stretching ligaments, or something.

Finally, I was asking if it was a hip-joint OR flexibility issue. You said it was both, which I simply don't believe. If it's a hip joint problem you have to bring in your stance, period, or you will injure yourself. But you say it's a "hip flexor/hip joint" problem, which makes no sense. Which is it? Your hip "joint" will not hurt in the middle. If it does you have a pelvic problem, maybe a yeast infection. Your femur attaches to the hip on the outside, which is where you'll feel pain if it's in the joint. You'll feel pain in the front of the thigh if it is the true "hip flexor" muscles/tendons. You'll feel it on the inner thigh if it's your adductors (groin).

Now, try one more time. If you need help go here:
http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Hip.html

Kyle said...

from what you said there it is the hip adductor problem. When I go down to squat, about an inch above parallel, the muscles around my hip lock up, and I have to force myself down (which hurts like hell the first couple of times). It is not a joint problem - I mentioned the hip joint to try and articulate where the muscle tightness was (I failed at that lol).

Once I get everything loosened up however, I can box squat fairly easily. I have a similar problem with going sumo as well.

Jake Ceccarelli said...

Your problem is flexibility and you need to do, after EVERY workout, what Nathan and I do: stretch it. Stretch your groin/hamstrings for like 20 minutes at least after you lift. It will help you get into the super wide positions you seem to be using. On that note, I'd say do as you are and still bring in your stance some.

Thanks for taking the time to answer specifically, it really helps me (and everyone) comment more effectively.