June 9th. RP Day B2.
So I have been a little disappointed with our schedule and out ability to get to the gym regularly. We have been swamped with work and other things going on, so we have been tired, plus we have been trying to be really good about our marathon training, so that cuts into our workout days as well. But to me, the biggest problem is still the distance. We live 9.5 miles from the closest gym, and it takes 15 minutes or more depending on the traffic lights to get to the gym, and again to get home. So it makes going to the gym an hour and a half to a two plus hour affair, which seems so long. In california, we were at the gym in 4 minutes, out of there in an hour and home in 4 minutes, so it was basically an hour of our day, and now its like we have doubled that. I need to figure out a regular schedule for the gym because my RP weeks are taking alot longer than I would like them too. The original plan was to go 2 days on and one day off, but with marathon training, its been more like every other day, or sometimes every 3 days between workouts. So what would be an 8 day RP week with 6 on days and 2 off days has become closer to an 18 day RP week, and thats just too long. Im gonna hafta start working out more frequently on marathon days and just use my long saturday runs as off days for lifting. My workout this morning was good, I went at 4am since I had to be at work by 7. I have decided that squats, smith machine squats, and hack squats just arent for me. I cant seem to get the form correct, they make my knees ache, the make my hips hurt, and I never feel balanced, even on the smith or hack. I can use the leg press for probably about 700 or 800 pounds with no problem, but on the squats it hurts me to just use the 45 pound bar, and if I put any plates on it at all, it is a real struggle, and that just seems silly. There shouldnt be that huge of a discrepancy between my leg press and my squats, and I shouldnt be feeling as much pain in my legs, knees, hips, and back when I do squats, so Im either doing something very wrong, or my body just isnt suited to them. Im the worlds least flexible person, so I imagine that has something to do with it. I have tried using the smith machine facing both directions, used the free squat rack, and used the hack squat, and they all feel the same. I feel unbalanced, and it feels like one leg is pushing with the heel of the foot and the other leg is pushing with my toes or ball of my foot. I have tried different foot stances, widths, and keeping my toes straight and pointed outward and nothing helps. I have also always been under the impression that squats were more or less an exercise for your quads, just like leg presses, but when I squat, my quads feel nothing and seem to do nothing. I only feel it a little in my glutes and hams, and alot in my knees, ankles, and shins. I have had other guys and trainers at the gym watch me and critique my form and they all say that I have perfect form and am doing it right, but if thats true, then I have no explanation as to why 90 pound squats are nearly impossible and I can only do about 4 reps, while I can do 600 pound leg presses for 10 to 20 reps easily. It doesnt make any sense, and as I have tried so many different things, with different stations, weights, and variations on technique, form, etc., and they all feel the same. I am just not going to squat or attempt to squat anymore, at least not for a while. Im pretty disappointed about it, I dont like to feel like Ive failed at something or am incapable of doing it correctly, but I dont like the aches and pains, they arent normal, and I dont want to risk injury or be doing 45 pound squats that are extremely painful on my legs, knees, hips and joints, when I can be pushing some real weight doing heavy leg presses with absolutely no pain at all. Anyway, heres how the workout went.
Preacher Curls: 100, 13 reps.
Dumbell Hammer Curls: 45H, 10 reps.
Seated Calf: 90, 10-20 reps. On the seated calf, I did about 10 good full stretch reps and did a few other quick up and down, almost bouncy reps, and did a few long slow reps to get a good stretch at the top and bottom, so Im not really sure how many total reps there were, but I just did it till I felt a really good burn in the muscle.
Seated Hamstring Curls: 125, 10 reps.
Squat/Smith Squats: 45, 10 reps. I tried to use just the bar on the regular squats, and also on the smith machine facing both directions, and had pretty bad pain on all 3 sets. This was my last attempt at squatting, at least for a while.
