I tried straps many years ago when I was doing deadlifts for a time. I never liked the straps. Yes, my grip gives out with the dumbbell squats, but I try to make the most of it. As I mentioned, when my grip gives way, I immediately and without any pause do 4 squats very slowly unweighted, after which time I get some grip strength back -- enough to do 4 more slow (10-second) reps. Then 4 more unweighted, followed by 2 more reps weighted and a final 4 unweighted reps. By that time, my legs are fairly screaming ("Can you hear them now?" ) But what I have since added is a 15-20 second rest at the end of all that, after which I do unweighted pistol squats (ATG) until failure for each leg. At that point, the pins feel sufficiently serviced. I stopped doing barbell squats in 2005 when I was in my ~mid-40s. (I then began focusing on leg presses, as well as extensions and leg curls when I was still doing isolation work.) Since I like to go all out, I figured that if any one exercise was ever going to do me in at some point, it would be barbell squats. (I had stopped my brief affair with deadlifts earlier for the same reason. It is a great exercise, but doesn't need much for it to go very wrong if you like to max out.) I've never bought into the "muscle confusion" thing. Not saying there's necessarily nothing to it, but I like to keep it simple. I think going to failure on a small selection of well-chosen compound exercises is pretty much all that our muscles need. Perhaps there's more to the equation, but I'm guessing that it's probably not worth the time or...confusion. At least not for me. That's my take, anyway.
Similar situation for myself. I basically dropped the reps on my squats and slowed the technique right down. Something else I looked into was keeping my nervous system healthy, making sure I was taking the right amount of supplements in the B range etc (which I found helped) Look into training methods used by the olympic athletes snatch/c and j. Being able to maintain a certain weight and retain strength is their speciality. Some motivational footage (I love this sport)
I'm very impressed with Olympic lifters. But that's not my thing. Their lifts require strength and technique. That's not to say that proper resistance exercise doesn't require technique, but it's not at the level of Olympic lifts. Oly lifts require momentum (and perfect momentum, at that), which is something I shy away from. Except when I was very young, I have always avoided momentum and am now slowing my lifts even more. I find that the muscle really gets worked across the range of motion, while I still remain on speaking terms with my joints. That's good enough for me. As for supplements, I used to take a number of OTC supplements years ago (nothing fancy or exotic), but have since reduced it to a single multi-vitamin while focusing on a diet of whole foods. I'm probably not maximizing, but I'm hoping it's sufficient for my purposes.
Joints! I'm with you on that buddy. I don't go as deep on my squats anymore, feel like my patellas are busting out, and I don't max out on weight. A light burning sensation in my quads is enough for me these days
I notice that after a somewhat ntense cardio on the stationary bike (45 minutes), that if I take my blood pressure just after completion (say 5 minutes) that it is down around 88 over 44. Seems low but works it's way back up to around 130 over 85 or so within an hour. Any knowledge of this being a concern? ---I get the extra intensity in the workout by swinging dumbells and I don't feel dizzy etc.
That's not a concern. What happened is that your blood vessels dilated (expanded) from the exercise to deliver oxygen and nutrients to your muscles. When blood vessels dilate, blood pressure goes down. Then your blood vessels slowly start constricting back to normal in that hour after the exercise ended, which is why your blood pressure went back up.
I don't know if you're a physician or not, so please qualify response if you feel you need to-------In your estimation, does the dilation begin to have a longer term effect on blood pressure? ---Does some of the dilation remain after a workout regimen lasting several months?
No. The circulatory system is real-time and is therefore constantly adjusting based on a lot of factors. That's why you can take your blood pressure a half-dozen times per day and get a different reading every time. However, one of the long term benefits of exercise is that it helps keep your blood vessels soft and supple, which helps you reduce the possibility of getting atherosclerosis, a condition that occurs when the walls of your arteries and other blood vessels "harden", which means they get clogged up with fat, cholesterol, and other junk. Exercise and a healthy eating plan could definitely cause a drop in body weight, which for most people would have the long-term effect of lowering blood pressure... assuming of course that the weight loss was maintained over time.
I would be interested to know what the mechanism with lower weight is in regard to lower blood pressure. Does this assume a stronger heart muscle or is there some other correlation?
baron are you still using your dumbells maybe join a gym that sports great hammer strength leverage to take you to next level with bilateral? nothing like racking heavy weight with both arms or legs. completely different experience to one-limb isolation. i like to mix em up..best of both worlds kind of thing..