The Glade 4.0

I've wanted to use the "Starting Strength" book as a guide to adding strength training to my workouts. However, I feel nervous about trying to do squats and deadlifts without instruction in person. That basically puts three exercises of the five out of my reach. The problem is I wore my knees out around 2005 by running 5x a day. (I didn't know this was bad, we love running like stupid idiots in the AF) I can generally improve my run times nowadays by stopping if they start to feel... weird. (I think it's swelling I feel, as it doesn't always hurt.) It hadn't been bothering me much until recently when it started to hurt a little bit walking around. I'm concerned about performing a squat wrong and exacerbating the problem. I want to be able to walk when I get old.

I've contacted one of the personal trainers they have on base, but the listing gives no details on if they specialize in something or what their credentials mean. The .mil medical care is very unhelpful. We don't even have yearly physicals anymore where I can bring stuff up. I really need a sports medicine doctor IMO. I tried doing squats, and just starting really slowly with adding weight to help practice. It seemed ok, but I think as the weight gets heavier I'll have a much greater risk of injuring myself w/ bad form. It's tough to judge myself. Sometimes I finish the sets and be fine(maybe I got it right), and some times I'd feel like maybe I should stop doing that.

I'm pretty dumb, but I'm just smart enough to know I'm probably going to hurt myself being dumb.

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"...the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Squats aren't difficult to learn on your own. I'd say you have a better chance of learning to do them properly by reading the book closely and giving it a go than with finding a personal trainer. Lots of personal trainers don't know **** about squats and will teach you to do them wrong.

Just practice bodyweight squats like he says to in the book and when you're comfortable, start adding weight. Then, videotape your squats from a good angle and check out your form. You can even post the video online and other people will critique it for you (they do this all the time on Rippetoe's forum).

Deadlifting is easy. Your body knows what to do. As long as you keep your lower back tight and prevent it from rounding (video yourself to double check on this) you aren't going to hurt yourself.

I've heard people say that doing squats properly has fixed their knee problems, but I don't have any personal experience with that.

The best assistant for squats is a mirror. The book already shows you how to do them correctly, with pictures if I am remembering right. Just make sure that your feet are in the right position, and that when you're squatted fully, that you maintain the form you see in the book. They really aren't very hard.

I guess I could try and see if I can situate my digital camera to record myself. I don’t know if I can get a good angle. I just don’t trust myself to get anything right.

I’m generally concerned about safety. Like how do I safely carry the dumb bells back and forth once it’s heavier. I think I work just as hard carrying two 80lb dumb bells over to the bench as I do pressing them. I always wonder if I’m putting too much stress on my knees when I sit down and then once I finish a set I have to get it back into my lap, but I can’t curl 80lbs. So, am I unsafely handling the weights doing that too? I could just use the barbells I guess, but I kinda like the dumb bells.

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"...the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

My recommendation is to not do squats.

Doing these improperly can result in a lot of damage. Doing these properly can result in a lot of damage.

I used to do these lifts. My muscles were stronger than my skeletal structure. It wasn't a good situation.

I love squats, and Starting Strength is an excellent resource. The DVD that comes with it is very helpful too if you have that or can get it. You can even video yourself and ask Rip himself on his forum to check your form if you want:

http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/forum.php

Hell even post it here and I'll take a look. I do not recommend a mirror.

The thing to be smart about is knowing your limits and making sure you do it properly. Start LIGHT, use proper form and work your way up.

I dont check here as often as I used to so hit me up at dashel2@hotmail.com if you have any questions on it.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Word, I think maybe moving a little faster with adding weight than I was prepared to do correctly is part of it. I might use video, but I have to get around to figuring out if my camera will do that in a way I need.

I've been thinking about focusing a bit more on improving my run time recently. I've lost about a minute since my TDY a few months ago. I was so close to getting a 90 on my PT score too... 89.20

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"...the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Ugh, I feel really tired after working out today. Normally I feel better, but I'm cold, have no appetite and feel very unwell.

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"...the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Cold and Flu season. I was feeling a little out of it wednesday but surprised myself by destroying my last set of deadlifts. I wish I knew how to feel like that every time.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

I think I had some sort of stomach bug. I spent two days hating life and having no appetite and another with a throbbing headache.

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"...the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn