ExRx.net

That looks great! I'd like to be a mouse in the corner during that.

Me too. I'd treat it as my chance to ask the questions we don't have time for in the workout.

But I have to admit, I'm already getting the stuff they are talking about. I just want to hear the Zach Evan-Esch "increasing your work capacity workouts" talk. The more I can learn, the better.


But on the bright side, I think my flu broke today. Fever is gone, no dizziness since this morning. Woo! I'll be ready to rock on Monday.

New Workout Goal: Face pull heavier than Andy.

Yeah. Only beefy animals FP 70#.

I'll get there before you!


Seriously, that guy benches more than I deadlift. He speed benches more than I squat. So I figured it was sheer bravado to bump my weight up more than 10# from my 15 rep number even for a 10-rep set.

I'm going for 75# this afternoon. No fooling around with 2.5# increases when honor is on the line!

What kind of grip are you using?

I can't find a picture of the handle, but it is a cloth V-shape with thick rubber handles on it. I pull it to my face with external rotation and a slight lean back. So my hands are palms-facing when I start, but I end with backs of the hands facing together.

10 x 60#, 15 x 50# are my records so far!

Peter, I owe you a big apology. I have misrepresented my face-pull abilities. I told you that 8 plates is 80#. But the first plate is riveted to the bar that goes down the stack, and it weighs 3#. So I was really pulling 83#. This is according to the documentation that came with the machine. Sorry for this confusion.

In my last post I meant to say that I was going to go for 85# this afternoon. Actually I pulled 88#, 5x4, 1x6. There certainly wasn't any gas in the tank after the last rep.

I use a towel as a grip, palms facing in, and keep them in and try to pull to my ears. I'm focusing on maintaining body and head position, and not using any body momentum at all to move it. It worries me a little that your big beefy animal of a workout partner is pulling 70#; am I doing something wrong form-wise that I can move as much as I am? I'm not all that strong in most respects.

It's probably a few things.

- you're going for 5s, so you're doing it as a maximum-effort workout.

- we're doing them 10, 12, or 15 reps as assistance work.

- we're almost always doing them in a no-rest superset with other assistance work aiming at the same muscles. Face pulls + lat pulldowns, or face pulls + rows, face pulls + seated DB power cleans, face pulls + bent over DB flys, etc.

So although I joke about competing with your pulls, remember we're doing them very differently. Almost apples to oranges. I never end my face pulls thinking "I couldn't do one more rep." It's always just one part of a larger exhaustion process. :)

OK. Now I feel much better!

I'm still going to pull more than you, though.

You understand, don't you, that Face Pulls, like many exercises are more difficult in the southern hemisphere, due to differences in gravitation? This should be taken into account, and I should be given a 20% allowance in any competition.

Oh, is that why your rack pulls are lower than my deadlifts? I didn't realize...

Now you're catching on!

I just want to say that after yesterday's pullups and prowler, I'm totally f-ed up.

The front of my calves are sore. So are my thighs. If I flex my feet upwards, my calves and my thighs hurt. My glutes hurt so badly I can't sit for more than 15 minutes or so without standing up to walk around. Inside my glutes hurts more than the outside. My lower back feels just fine, but my upper back feels midly sore...especially deep inside. I tried to knock out a couple of pullups on my pullup bar, just as active recovery. I couldn't even pull myself back to standing.

Really, those prowler sprints are a hell of a workout. I'm sure my asthma will hold back my speed and reps, but I'll get better the more I do it. I see why they credit the prowlers with so much value.