Ten Years Gone

I am very psyched that Led Zeppelin is touring again. I was lucky enough to see them in Washington DC back in 1977, before John Bonham died, for their Song Remains the Same Tour - one of my favorite Zeppelin songs is Ten Years Gone. They actually played that, which surprised me. Robert Plant sat on a stool to sing it. Yes, I was a Led Zeppelin junkie...What do I like to listen to now? Screamo - yeah! I love Killswitch Engage, All that Remains, As I lay Dying, but I also love Tool, and LIVE, absolutely love LIVE.
There - I talked about something besides training...enough of that.
Back to training.

B tricked me into incline pressing the 125's for 3 good and almost 4 reps...just couldn't get that last bit o' lockout on the last one. I like it when I'm tricked into doing things such as that. I was in such a state that I thought I didn't think I had much in me. I was going to be fine with 90's for the night. (Of course, B tricked me with giving me 100's for the first set instead of the 90's)
Some people believe in themselves and push forth with that belief. I perform better when somebody else believes in me - I can't let them down. That's what really fuels me.

Last night deadlifts - I was so upset - 405 for 2, I didn't have a good grip in my right hand, and it fell out. I was thinking there may have been 4...I did a second set of 2, but damned if those 2 reps shouldn't have been included in my first set. Hmmmph!!!

Holiday Power

I hope everyone had a Powerful holiday in whichever way they could use the power the best.

Did I get my squats in?..well....not exactly but not exactly no, either... I woke up with a killer sinus headache, up under my eyes and in my nose. I know I have allergies to something here, because I spent the night at my parents for Christmas Eve, and I woke up feeling dry and fine. I came back home and within two hours I was stuffed up and felt the pressure under my eyes. I wish I had an idea as to what it is, but until then I thank God for Claritin, Benadryl, and nose spray. Which brings me back to squatting on Monday morning...I had to choose nausea inducing pain in my face, or sluggishness due to taking a few Benadryl, which are the make you drowsy kind, the kind I need to take the edge off of those kind of headaches. I took the Benadryl. I have trained under the guise of Benadryl before, sometimes it kicks my butt, sometimes not. It definitely did kick my butt on Monday morning... BUT, as I was proceeding to commence my last squat session of the year, and determined not to completely blow it, I squatted. I mustered up a 425 x 1, which is not my best, and in not my best head groove or physical groove, but I did it. So I got half of my Christmas wish - and the rest of my workout went well - Smith lunges, slow extensions and curls, and my legs looked huge afterward :) :) Big ol' pillar like slabs of meat hanging from my hips...which reminds me I have to get my nerve manipulations in for the morning. I do them everyday, have to.
I did post the 655 rack pull video clip in my free site video gallery...it makes me giggle every time I watch it. That was my third set and in a down week...so yeah, I'm going to try for a goal of 3 reps within the next few weeks of training. or maybe go for 675 x 1????

Pull, Baby, Pull !

This was supposed to be my "backing off" week - I have one of those "scheduled" every sixth week...but I still felt relatively fiery, so I didn't back off as much as I should have, though I did refrain from extra tension and forced and dropped reps. I am not sure if I was feeling good last night or it is that I have finally learned to put my hips into the movement when pulling, but I got that 655 rack pull last night! On my second set I got 605 for 5 so, hey, no reason why not to get the bigger one...
~ tell you what - my sinuses were a little stuffy going into the gym last night, but that 655 cleared them right up. :) really! I pull from the rack at the knee. I had B film it, but he sent it to me in the wrong format. I'll post it somewhere when available.

The nerve manipulation is really helping my legs. I did go for a walk the other evening, however, and when I returned - oh, my legs were besides themselves. I had to take ibuprofen to ease the throbbing. How odd that something as passive as a walk would irritate my legs so...??? Hmmm...
My pelvis has been staying in place, which, if you recall past elaborations, was always slipping out of whack when I went for a walk, or driving alot, or participating in daily life activities. I imagine that now I am upright and intact my muscles aren't used to working at these angles and as a result are being unusually taxed....

My Christmas shopping is ALMOST finished. One more gift to buy. :) :) I love giving presents to people.
I want only a 425 x 2 or 450 x1 squat next week, both of which I have performed before in the not too distant past...just not with this leg problem. I am easy to please, I am.

Relaxed at Long Last

I was feeling kind of under the weather (where did THAT expression come from? Aren't we all under the power of the weather?) over the weekend. I know, I am always suffering some kind of maladay - but when you have children, or child in my case, and their friends are always hanging around your house, you are succeptible to everything that goes around. So I didn't train on Friday. I did, however go in to the gym on Saturday. My friend Paul has included me in his doublebodyweight deadlift for reps challenge. He did 20 the other day at 162.5 bodyweight, 325 pounds. I weighed in Saturday at 172.5, down a few pounds from not eating much for a couple of days...if I was going to do it, I could take advantage of "only" having to move 345 lbs. I did a couple of warm ups, but when I loaded the bar to 315 for warm up, I just looked at it and said, no way in H-E- double hockey sticks do I feel like repping today, not for max reps, not for any reps. Reps suck on a normal basis, anyway, but Saturday there was just No Zone for me. So I loaded up to 405 for 3. They were good, but that was pretty much it for deadlifting on Saturday for me.

Last night was legs, and I wasn't planning on squatting, because I had done that two weeks in a row already. The tightness in my legs was very alive, and was actually growing upward along the sides of my legs. Not PAIN, but a very tight discomfort. Starting to get disheartened over the whole matter, I was. I did Nautilus Duo-Squat, but when I loaded up for my heavy set, the stack, my left leg just refused to cooperate because of the discomforting tightness. Have you ever worn a pair of pants that was too tight in the wiatband, then eaten a meal, making your stomach grow and the pants tighter, then go to bend over - very uncomfortable, yes?...kind of the only way I can describe this. I was better doing lighter weight for more reps (ugh - reps).

So anyway, B really stopped and thought about this last night. He had me lay on the bench last night whilst he manipulated the nerve endings in my leg up around the iliac crest. Oh, he used big words and such that I cannot remember. I then jumped (ok, slid) into the whirpool for a bit. AMAZING but true - my legs were finally relaxed. If you had felt them for the past several months, they felt like concrete along the sides, being so tight. I could actually mush them around a bitafter the nerve manipulation ...it is like voodoo magic. So every day, a few times I day, my prescription is to manipulate these nerves in my leg. They are still holding relaxed today - maybe not as perfect as I would like them, but WOW... I am feeling encouraged and enthusiastic again about that 500 raw squat. It is back in my near future.

I'm starting to get excited about the DE Open IronFest and Firm Fitness challenge. I have gotten very good response, almost to the effect that I don't feel the need to market it as hard as I have marketed meets in the past. Fear of TOO MANY copetitors showing up! APT Prowriststraps is once again stepping up to the plate and kindly sponsoring the meet!
http://www.prowriststraps.com/. Alan Thomas is the best! His merchandise is top quality. I am a big fan of the Black Mamba line of wrist and knee wraps. Thank you, Alan!

I was just eating some gummy monkeys, and felt something crunchy inside...just happened to be a big old filling that fell out of my tooth - a big one. Perpetual dental woes.... I guess that will be my excuse for staying away from all of those gooey Christmas sweets!

Static

I had a decent benching session last night, though I still say I should be lifting heavier weights rather than just "coming back around"...I'm heavier. The weight has not made me all that much stronger,(with a few exceptions)...I do recover better, and my technique seems to be better because the added weight has me more stabilized...but heck, I still think I should be stronger.


I did my first set with 245 rather than the 225 I usually go for. I THINK, and really,I just can't remember, I did 8??? Then up to 275 for 4 Then a very nice 295 (yes, all my bench reps are still paused), then down to 225 for whatever I did - a work set. Then my typical chest, delts, tris -

I did static presses for my triceps in the power rack again last night. They are my newest vote for most misersable exercise. Boards give play - the rack doesn't. It is a dead stop. oooo -


Here are some pics I found that WPW have on their site for sale - I don't have any of these in my galleries (though I have similar shots from the sessions) . Bill Jentz took all of these at the Masters this past July in Pittsburgh at Station Square- their sites are http://www.wpw.net/ and http://www.wpwmagazineonline.com/
AND of course my website is http://www.katebaird.com/ where you can find a skajillions photos and videos of me in my Members' Section... :)

That is me under all of that fuzzy hair(and it wasn't even humid out that day)!!!!!!!!

Squats are my obsession.....

OOps - I meant to take a picture for younz tonight...but it slipped my mind. I know you are all visual creatures... seeing is believing now, isn't it???
I weighed in at 178 (!) on Friday, however I am down to a svelte 176 again today...yikes! I was tinkering with the idea of trying to get up to 190 in the next couple of months, but after tonight, I think that I will level off at 180. The compartmentalization issue was prevalent this evening. "twasn't as bad as it has been at times, but it was there. It had been subsiding, but I started to go up in weight again.I squatted once again tonight - yay! Two weeks in a row isn't my norm, but I just HAD to. I did 315 for 10 and was back to my old ways - shirking out of pushing myself through two more...it is so obvious that I do that...I think I just fall out of the zone, I don't know...and 365 for 4 should have been 5 or 6... I decided to do 405 for a couple, because in reality, if it weren't for the crazy problems I have been having, my heavy sets should be 455 for reps. I did 2, but hey, I AM coming back around. One more squat session befiore the end of the year, (because I will not squat next week)...I have GOT to do a 445, at the very least.

Friday I did rack pulls. I almost had a 655, but I just petered out before I straightened all of the way up...BOO on me!!! I am not one to count partial reps of anything...NO - unless it is a full rep, babe, it doesn't count in my book...

I went to a samll WNPF meet over in Seaford DE yesterday. I'm used to seeing crazy APF lifters, so I didn't expect to see anything over the top. Don't get me wrong. I love powerlifting and whether it's geared, raw, natural, juiced, whatever - I respect all of the effort that goes into the lifts. But then there is Bill Lewis - my dear friend Bill. WNPF stands for World NATURAL Power Lifting. He must be about 5'11, weighed in at 291 yesterday. His arms are as big as my legs, I always tell him. He'd be big and muscular without ever picking up a weight, I do think. Anyhoo - he is a big bencher, but had never really deadlifted before, except with toying around with small 315's etc at the gym. He decided to give it a go yesterday for the heck of it, had no idea how much he should go for. Anyhoooo. He picks up 625, raw, drug free, for the first time, like it is a trash bag. Just stands up with it no effort exerted. I am going to try to convince him to train for the deadlift for February. The man could have picked up 750 with little problem yesterday, absolutely yes. A little training...geezz - alot of training...good God!

- squatted :)

So Monday I tried to squat, and I did!!! :) There is still a tightness and discomfort and a slight bit of pain in the problem areas, but it is not a seering pain. That means progress in the right direction. I squatted different from my norm, however. I am a leg and glute squatter - Monday I became a hip squatter. I needed to throw the emphasis off of the problem areas, which are top and side of the bottom outer quads. I was able to squat deeper more easily with this technique. The squats probably looked beter technically than my usual squats. 315 for 3 sets, and that was fine with me. I was aprehensive about doing any more than that. All around a very good session.
I did smith machine lunges, and I'm happy to report that they did not bother my compartmentalization much either.
No, don't try to tell me it is anything other than that, because it is not.

Last night I was feeling wrath of funerals, driving for hours, and these f ' *^?ing allergies. I still can't figure these allergies out, but they are grating me down. I'm still red, and hot, and have big puffy red eyes, too. It was just a ho hum workout.

The new Firm

These past few days have been draining, to say the least. First the death of a relative, then the death of an old friend. :(

I am suffering from some kind of SEVERE allergic reaction or poisoning from something. My face, neck and chest are bright red, and a bit flaky. I almost look burnt. I have suspicions, but I haven't been able to nail down what this is coming from. I keep narrowing it down, then it strikes and I have to dismiss my guess yet once again. It has been 4 days, and sometimes it is hellacious. Going out of the house is miserable because I can feel people looking at me. They surely aren't looking at me funny because I'm big and muscular, but because I'm big and muscular and uncomfortably bright and glowing red!

I was able to take my minfd off of things for a little while yesterday. My friend Paul Timmons moved his gym to a new location and I joined in the gang to help out for the afternoon of setting the new space up. I haven't seen most of the guys who train there for quite awhile, so it was good to see everybody. The Firm Fitness Center in Rehoboth Beach. He has over twice the sapce as he had before - Heaven knows where he fit all his equipment in before in the smaller space!!! He even bought a few new pieces.He has the walls painted Bicycle Yellow ( he is a fan of the Tour de France!). It is bright and energizing.
This is where the APA Delaware Open Iron Fest will take place on February 16, 2008. Speaking of that event, it is about time I sat down to market it to the masses. We will have Bench only, deadlift only, Push/Pull, Strict Curl (APA standard, not mine) double bodyweight deadlifts for reps, bodyweight bench for reps, and a tire flip/jump timed. I have a feeling it is going to be a great event!