I did front squats at the gym today, no backs. Front squats are tough on my arms, wrists, shoulders, and neck, but its only a matter of time before I loosen up enough to make it feel natural. The actual squatting movement is easy, and I pretty sure I'm getting perfect form without even having to really work at it. And my back is much more upright, making it feel more balanced than the back squat. I never once felt like I was doing it wrong, whereas nearly every time I try a back squat, I feel like I did this or that wrong, so I'm gonna stick with fronts and overheads for a while. Still working on the pistols, too.

You know, it amazes me that I see so little overhead pressing in the gym. It seems like the most obvious of movements. Hold a weight, put it overhead, lower it to your shoulders, repeat. But all you ever see are people doing lateral raises, which is where you hold a dumbell and raise your arm outwards at the shoulder, then lower it back down to hanging position, without slacking the shoulder muscle. When would you ever have occassion to move in that manner in real life? I can see having to put something up overhead, but raising your arm outwards (or forwards) from the shoulder? No sport, no activity that I can think of.

Do some pullups. You never know when you might be hanging off the edge of a building. If you've done some pullups, you'll just pull yourself up. The best way to train for pullups, far better than any other method, is to do pullups. If you can't do any, jump yourself up to the highest position in a normal pullup, and let yourself down slowly, then repeat. Do that until you can do a pullup, and do it at the end of each session when you can't do anymore pullups.