I understand that, but where do they start? Just safely squatting 270 off the bat?

In my particular instance I've just begun doing back squats about a month ago. It's also the middle of my first race season. There are weeks I have two race days in one week. There are some weeks where I only get 1 leg day in.

Throw in a pulled muscle here or there, physically demanding work, etc. etc.

lots of what ive read says that body weight exercises are really good for you. pull ups, push ups, dips, squats, lunges. for lifting, compound is key to building a good foundation before moving onto isolation.

Stranger danger!
You're only a <5 hour drive away from me now

As long as you don't lose control of your lower bowels during a squat/ deadlift, yes.

Officially living in Portland... weird.

Has anyone here ever worked at a bike collective? And if so do you have any insight as to how it was working there and what not? I've done a little bit of shop work in the past (pretty much everything but derailleur adjustment) and it sounded like it could be pretty fun.

That's a situation I totally understand. Especially the injuries.. During race season recovery could very much become an issue, though I'd reduce volume/frequency instead of training max.
I just saw the reduction from squatting 225 or so, down to 185 with the reason being "form".

In my opinion you should have a basic understanding of the form before ever loading the bar. From that point, form is still something you work on every day as you get stronger. The best squatters in the world film almost every set, and have a group of partners around them telling them when they're doing something wrong. The latter isn't always easy, but filming your workouts and pin-pointing errors goes a long way to getting stronger.

Wasn't trying to bash anyone, I was just agreeing with the sentiment that people should be adding weight to the bar, not taking it off. If you're a track racer, squats and deadlifts are an important addition to training. If you're doing 100+ mile road races, maybe not so much.

Starting Strength
Bill Starr 5x5
Stronglifts 5x5
5/3/1

All of those are great programs for getting started and building a good base.

Almost every day, dude.

Today I started off slow at work and re-visited some brush lettering I did earlier this week. "Snitches" and "Stitches" is hand-lettered by me using a Mitsubishi brush, then scanned and gently "washed" in Photoshop CC. "Get" is obviously computer-generated. I'm thinking of making a small run of these as screen prints on French Paper with either white or gold ink. What do you guys think? Run with 'em?

Never came across that way.

I'm currently recovering from an overuse injury of my lower back, primarily from deads and squats. I started lifting again this year for the first time since college, and definitely overdid the deads. After a few weeks I started seeing some massive noobie gains, and jumped up too much too soon. I can remember one week when I upped the deadlift by 50lbs the first session, then 40 the next. I weigh 150lbs for reference.

The pain developed slowly, like wasn't anything more than a minor annoyance for a few weeks while I continued to lift. Then one morning I woke up and my back was ****ed, like super stiff, couldn't even stand up straight.

Since then (~4 weeks ago), it has been a slow lessening of symptoms, with lots of time spent foam rolling and stretching. Now it is mostly better, like back to a minor annoyance. I barely feel it and have started riding again, thank god. I'm confident that I'll be able to train (on the bike) to my goals over the winter, but lifting in the gym (for legs) is something I'll have to be careful about, which sucks, because I love squats and deads. They make me feel so good!

Take me as an example: Take it slow! I'm prone do overuse injuries due to my eagerness (over doing it) and natural muscle tightness however. This isn't my first rodeo.

looks sw8 man, gold ink.

try out a wacom tablet if you havent already, i like being able to mess with brush textures and styles on the fly and having undo/redo. plus it eliminated the whole scanning process

I have one of those little Wacom Bamboo tablets that my in-laws gave me a couple of years ago for Christmas, but I haven't been able to get the hang of it for writing. I use it a lot for fine-tuning Photoshop stuff. I'm a book designer at CreateSpace and a lot of times I have to go in and manipulate images, especially if they're provided by the author as most of them aren't cleaned up properly. That little Bamboo has been a life saver for stuff like that.

I'd really like to upgrade at some point though and do the whole tablet thing for writing and drawing. I probably just need to practice with it some more.

lots of foam rolling and proper form/technique goes a long way

I've definitely had my share of lower back pain from pushing too hard too often. but I think people can be reasonably strong without a huge risk of injury or countless hours spent in the gym.

I hate it, but I can knock out 400 calories in 30 minutes in the morning as opposed to 400 in 45 on the bike. Those 15 minutes of sleep are precious.

Well I was in the burbs before, but I am technically about 45 minutes closer now! I just need to get over there. I owe Scrod's shop a visit as well.

Never worked at the co-op but from the times I've been there as a customer, it seems like it's mostly all older ten speeds and just simple bikes. I'd imagine if you have an ounce of mechanical knowledge, you'll be fine.

Speaking of squats and working out, I need to get an upper body, my friend posted a picture of me and him at the river and my legs look silly compared to the rest of my body.

Nearly t-boned a pick-up truck riding to work this morning. Was riding through an industrial area next to a bunch of box trucks. Couldn't see that a pick-up truck was trying to squeeze into a side street. I caught sight of him squeezing through at the last possible second and grabbed a hand-full of front break and nearly went over my bars. My back wheel came up and I must have ridden on my front wheel only for 15-20 feet and stopped right at his passenger side door. Woke me up quick.

Being part of a bike co-op is lots of fun. I knew nothing when I started out at Bikerowave and just learned as I went along helping people out.

nothing beats the real thing, but im spoiled, i have a cintiq so i write directly on the screen. science is ****ing awesome.

today I looked for a job while at my job.

today the lady and i rode a quick 12 miles around the town for a bit before ending up at local watering hole for a bit. Tried to make the ride home a bit longer but i didn't #strava it, so it could have been anywhere from 4-27 miles as far as I know.

Those Cintiq tablets are amazing... Maybe I can find a way to justify one.

I do that at least once a week...

today I retire from lawyering after 41 years. with the extra time I'm sure to make a
TdF team next year.

half day at work.
45 minutes and I'm heading downtown for beer and a hot dog, then finally riding with other people

Congratulations ! I retired from engineering 5-1/2 years ago and have really enjoyed being able to do what I want when I want. I don't miss my job one iota.