Make no mistake about it, it was hard! Especially with that stance and I wanted to stop after the first set but didn’t. They were tough though.
Still working on depth and I think this is where the box squats will help. My body wants to squat to what would be considered an okay depth for maybe a double-ply federation but for raw, the crease of the hip must fall below the knee so there is work to do there. Practice, practice!
[quote]MsM wrote:
Make no mistake about it, it was hard! Especially with that stance and I wanted to stop after the first set but didn’t. They were tough though.
Still working on depth and I think this is where the box squats will help. My body wants to squat to what would be considered an okay depth for maybe a double-ply federation but for raw, the crease of the hip must fall below the knee so there is work to do there. Practice, practice![/quote]
You’ll get used to the wider stance, I’m glad you found it helped some.
If you can, get someone to call your depth for you, then you’ll know if you are hitting it. Right now you are still too high, but it’ll get there. Another thing that may help, set your camera up for a side view so you can really see how deep you get. I have a pair of sweats with a white line that runs down the side seam that has turned out to be great for measuring depth, you can really see where the hip crease and knees are at the bottom of the lift.
Is there another rack at your gym with moveable pins? If you could set up pins right at the point of below parallel that would help as well.
If Eric gives you the OK for lifting shoes, girl you’ll never look back after using them.
Looks like your having fun so far, I’m going into week 3 and looking forward to the increase in volume in the coming weeks. It’s a great challenge!
Susan - I like Dianab’s idea of setting up pins to judge your depth. Depth was a little high and no rep was the same. Rep 3 was real high and I think rep 4 was okay. Hard to tell from the angle. You are doing great and it looks like you could handle more weight.
Your bench looked better 
Do you pinch your shoulder blades when lowering the weight? This will help you use your lats at the bottom of the lift.
Great job
[quote]dianab wrote:
You’ll get used to the wider stance, I’m glad you found it helped some.
If you can, get someone to call your depth for you, then you’ll know if you are hitting it. Right now you are still too high, but it’ll get there. Another thing that may help, set your camera up for a side view so you can really see how deep you get.
I have a pair of sweats with a white line that runs down the side seam that has turned out to be great for measuring depth, you can really see where the hip crease and knees are at the bottom of the lift.
Is there another rack at your gym with moveable pins? If you could set up pins right at the point of below parallel that would help as well.
If Eric gives you the OK for lifting shoes, girl you’ll never look back after using them.
Looks like your having fun so far, I’m going into week 3 and looking forward to the increase in volume in the coming weeks. It’s a great challenge![/quote]
The wider stance and toes out made a huge difference, diana! I think if I get my depth down, then I will be on the right track or at least off to a good start.
Next time, I’ll try to get the side view. I managed to find a little box to set the camera up on so I can film from whatever angle I want, regardless of who is using what around me.
Ooo good idea about the pants! I’ll have to see if I still have my old Nike pants laying around; they have a stripe down the side.
There is nothing there with pins and no racks at all! The owner of the gym is a bodybuilder and hates anything and everything to do with powerlifting. He thinks they are “too loud”.
I am wondering if Terry, my buddy that works there, would mind calling depth for me. His son is a powerlifter/strongman so I know he’s familiar with all of it.
It is a blast, diana! It really is. Even though there is still a lot of work to be done and form to perfect, I really do love it…I love this program so far. You have to keep me updated as to your own training. I just love reading about the other ladies that are trying Sheiko as well; it’s very inspiring.
[quote]cvb wrote:
Susan - I like Dianab’s idea of setting up pins to judge your depth. Depth was a little high and no rep was the same. Rep 3 was real high and I think rep 4 was okay. Hard to tell from the angle. You are doing great and it looks like you could handle more weight.
Your bench looked better Do you pinch your shoulder blades when lowering the weight? This will help you use your lats at the bottom of the lift.
Great job :)[/quote]
You are right no rep was the same. I saw myself after and thought, what the heck was that? I know that some of them were alright and most were too high. Hopefully a side view next time should give me a better idea.
Thank you! My bench felt a little better:) Hmmmm I try to keep my back tight but I’ll have to pay more attention. I keep trying to concentrate on using my legs as well that sometimes I forget about the other things.
I can see that it will just be doing tens and hundreds of thousands of reps to get it right and to where I just do without thinking about it.
Just loving it though. Thanks again!
Bodyflex x 30 minutes.
Like everyone else said, squats are looking high, but your form in general is really coming together.
Wider stance is a nice thing. Your leverages change and depth isn’t so “deep,” plus you aren’t as quad dominant as before, more balanced imho. You might get sore from it, but you will know how your body feels and just do what you think is right.
Bench, I have to ask… speed? I mean, does it feel like you’re pressing as fast as possible? Don’t drop the bar, but lowering it quickly really helps when you have to press it, you just have more tension.
Do you ever practice pausing the bar? Its been huge to me. I hate touch and go, it feels weird. If you only pause, it become second nature and doing a max won’t be as hard since pausing is second nature.
Getting someone to call depth really helps. My mom does that and my form stays consistent. It really helps, I can’t stress that enough. If someone will call depth, he/she can do MUCH more than we can from watching a video.
Its coming together, one step at a time.
Hey, Syn:)
[quote]Synthetickiller wrote:
Like everyone else said, squats are looking high, but your form in general is really coming together.[/quote]
Thanks, it’s a start.
The wider stance and toes pointed out felt way better! The ironic thing is, I am less sore (not sure why).
Funny you should mention that because when I bench it does feel like it’s going up faster than what it actually does. It’s not until I see myself after that I see it wasn’t very quick at all.
Okay, I have a question for you? Is it lowering the bar more quickly gives me more tension, tightening up more (as the bar goes down) or both?
It feels like I am pausing but I am not. Like I said, what I feel and what is actuality are often two different things right now. That is what I am trying to do but it’s not really working out that way yet.
This won’t be an issue at all as long as Terry is working. What I am going to do next time is set up the camera where the side judge would sit to get a better angle because I’ve been told you can’t really judge my depth from the angle shot before. This should give a more accurate depiction.
Now, I was told that one of my reps was good…I just have yet to hear which one that was and I’m very curious.
Getting there:)
Both help, stay tight and lower quickly, but never let the bar drop. Always lower under your own power.
IMHO about squats…
Each rep was… (in order)
Parallel,
Parallel,
High,
Deep (broke parallel),
Parallel,
Parallel.
Synthetic makes a good point about using a pause for your bench. Try to count, 1001, 1002, then press. Don’t count too fast!
It’s true that having someone to call depth is much better than video. When I look at my squat vids, it’s sometimes hard to tell.
Hope you are enjoying your training! I have DL tomorrow, and he added stuff this week and ABS, crap. Haven’t done abs or any cardio for about a month. And my hams never get to fully recover from the GMs on squat day. I know, bitch bitch, as I was told this week “the beatings will continue until moral improves”. LOL.
Have fun!
Diana
As for calling depth:
It is a great idea but oftentimes flawed unless you have someone that really knows what depth is.
The absolute best way to proprioceptively train the body to know proper depth is via box squats-and not the “Westside Way” of doing them.
Susan’s box squats on the video that she posted last night are a darn good example of what I am talking about for her level of classification.
These are my opinions but they have been formulated over about 12 years of being in and around powerlifting and helping to train many powerlifters.
Squat - YouTube I uploaded them to youtube but hadn’t updated here yet.
I didn’t realize that I’d have to use something so low to achieve depth for me. The only thing they had at the gym low enough that I could find was a milk crate that they use to throw extra belts, etc into. I think that’s why I had been so high on my squats is because before, I was using a bench and clearly, that was not a good thing to teach me to stop so high.
At first I thought my squats were a train wreck but Eric always something positive in everything.
Hi Susan! Just found your training log
Man, did I miss something being away?? How did you lose all your strength in just 8 months?
I found this that you posted back on december 4, 2007:
"To date my best (all raw )
Squat: 210
Bench: 140
DL: 250
Total: 600
Not great but I’d like that to be 700 by June and I think that’s doable. I’m 5"10 and weight is around 135 right now"
Well I’m happy to see you’re back at it:) Best of luck to you!
c.
Good luck to you then, c.
Week 5, Day 1 (Tuesday)
Box Squat
barx6
55x6
70x5x3
65x5
Lifts (32)
*Something did not feel right with my elbow while squatting. Along the inside of my right elbow, I had an odd pain shoot right up the inside of my right bicep whenever my elbows were down and I gripped the bar. It also hurt to fully extend my arm.
Bench
barx8
55x6
75x4
70x4x4
Lifts (34)
I attempted 75 because I thought I could and I did okay, I think, but the elbow bothered me while benching too (although not as much).
Push Ups (hands wider than shoulders)
6x5 (30)
Squat
barx6
barx5x3 (21)
I was supposed to do:
barx6
60x5
70x5x4
however, I went at night time and the kids complained that I was in the squat rack so I had to move so they could do their curls and overhead presses. I was not happy about this so I ended up just grabbing a bar and taking it to another area of the gym and did what I could with it. I will not go at that time of day again if it can be helped.
Hanging Leg Raise
10x4 (40)
I did one set of leg raises, the other 3 were knee raises. My whole body was just done by that point.
[quote]dianab wrote:
Synthetic makes a good point about using a pause for your bench. Try to count, 1001, 1002, then press. Don’t count too fast!
It’s true that having someone to call depth is much better than video. When I look at my squat vids, it’s sometimes hard to tell.
Hope you are enjoying your training! I have DL tomorrow, and he added stuff this week and ABS, crap. Haven’t done abs or any cardio for about a month. And my hams never get to fully recover from the GMs on squat day. I know, bitch bitch, as I was told this week “the beatings will continue until moral improves”. LOL.
Have fun!
Diana[/quote]
I missed this before; sorry about that.
How did your deadlifts go? That’s hilarious about the improved moral:) Sounds like he’s got a great sense of humor (at your expense).
Isn’t cardio horrible? I mean, isn’t cardio so much fun? (I hate the stuff.)
GPP (Wednesday)
Bodyflex - 30 minutes
Attempted Week 5, Day 2 today but it was not happening. My elbow does not look inflamed or swollen but there is something not right with it. It does seem to feel better with a day or two of rest so I will try again tomorrow.
Next time, I will widen my grip on the bar for squat and possibly bench to see if that relieves some of the pressure.
I have been icing the elbow, off and on. Not sure if it’s helping or not but I doubt it could hurt.
Sorry to hear about the elbow. I gave myself some lovely pulled tendons doing a snatch that got away from me last year, and it still hurts some. If it doesn’t improve, get some PT as soon as you can.
I went for my rotator issues and it helped so much, I was kicking myself for not taking care of the elbow when I should have.
DL was hard, and I am tired. It’s my worst lift and kills me everytime!
They are tiring.
That’s exactly what I suspect it is actually. A few years back, I did something to a tendon running through my thumb at work. It hurt like hell and the pain in my elbow feels exactly like that. When I managed to do this to my thumb, I just let the swelling/inflammation go down for a few days and it was fine again.
A year ago you did that and it still gives you issues?