No hijack received buddy - thats the cool thing about a public log. Thanks for sharing, and chime in any time!
3/4/2024 Monday
Powerlifting Primer week 1 day 1
(That’s not a program. Just me referring to what I’m doing today.)
-Bad girl machine. @Andrewgen_Receptors I had to google “caked up”, I expected it to mean “made thick”, but I learned it’s far more specific than that! I definitely would love to be caked up LOL.
Did a few sets before starting the real work.
All lifts 3x5:
Deadlift: 225, 245, 265.
Press, SS with weighted pullups:
Press 65, 85, 105
Pullups +0, +15, +30
Squat: 135, 185, 225. Last 2 sets got video which I’ll share for feedback soon.
Bench press: 135, 165, 185.
That’s it! All the major lifts, less than an hour, not going too hard, just re-familiarizing myself.
Couple sets of tris and bis at the end too but not worth mentioning 
@simo74 @wiseman83 Gents if you wanted to have a look at how I squat.
What I notice (and has been pointed out before) is that I bring my hips up without really raising the weight, allowing my quads to extend without doing any real work; then I raise the weight by good-morning-ing it up from there.
This is especially noticeable in the last couple reps of 225.
Anyone is welcome to provide more insight.
I’ve always squat-morninged, but I don’t know how to fix it. Do I just embrace it and become awesome at good-mornings?
@T3hPwnisher
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Wanted to note a weekend update too - it was a great weekend.
Friday after work, we went to a beach. Waves were big, and I surfed the paddleboard (sitting down). Gave my daughter a ride, she was scared at first but when we caught a wave and rode it all the way in she had the time of her life!
Saturday we discovered a community park just down the hill from us, which has a “playground gym” with pullup bars, monkey bars, a giant ladder, situp benches, parallel bars… We played tennis and played on the playground for a long time. And I got a bunch of projects done.
Sunday wife and kids went to play with another family, leaving me to get even more projects done, it was truly wonderful, and when they came home, we went back to the playground gym and worked out.
I did TONS of pullups and crazy pullup-adjacent climbing strength feats. A little girl told her daddy I was stronger than him, so I win.
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Your set up is almost tailor made TO squat that way. Your elbows are very far back and high, which is effectively pushing the weight forward while you squat, combined with the low bar placement, it makes your hips like a see-saw to counter balance the weight, which is going to result in your uppertorso dipping down, Layne Norton style
Steve Goggins uses a similar style too
And when I squatted low bar, it’s how I squatted too. You seem similarly constructed: longer lower torso, shorter upper torso.
If that’s something you’d prefer NOT to do, I’d work to get those elbows forward first and foremost. Pull the bar DOWN into the traps, rather than push it forward. You can also bring the bar placement up some to get a little more upright.
This can also be due to quad weakness, and when I spent more time front squatting and doing belt squats I saw some improvement, but ultimately I think this is more just a set up issue to address.
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I think @T3hPwnisher hit the nail on the head in terms of your set up and positioning setting you up to squat this way. The other thing I notice is as you come out of the hole you are using legs and hinge together but your legs have finished their movement after 1 second and then you drive through with the hips or use your back to finish the movement. There is nothing wrong with this. As Pwn pointed out a slightly higher bar placement and pulling your elbows down under the bar will help (I am really bad at this so don’t watch my squat for any help here. LOL) . Pretty sure Brian Alsruhe has some useful videos about stacking your arms under the bar.
The other thing that may help is thinking about driving the upper back into the bar as you come out of the hole. Think chest up (that doesn’t mean head cranked back) and push the bar up with the traps.
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@simo74 and @T3hPwnisher Thanks guys.
So what I’m taking away from this is, an option is to learn a new way to squat, with a more upright torso; and an option is to keep squatting the way I am and just get stronger in the good-morning part.
Is that a correct summary?
IF I try to learn a more upright way, which is less dependent on my lower back, does that give me more ceiling to grow; whereas if I keep the method I’ve been doing, am I doomed to forever have a hard time progressing?
Next session (wednesday) I’ll keep the same weight, try moving my elbows forward, and keep my torso upright, and see how it goes.
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@T3hPwnisher one more thing - belt squats. I’ve seen them mentioned on your log as great for the quads. My gym has a “belt squat machine” - plate-loaded yoke that you can clip a chain belt to - but I’ve tried to use it and it never felt right. Any tips?
Maybe it’s the angle, but it looks like you’re going below parallel. At the risk of sounding like a heretic, i think you’d be better served not going quite so low. You can see your hips go lower without the bar going lower at this point… looks like wasted effort IMO.
I can’t quite tell where the bar is on your back, but you may prefer a lower hold.
Are you squeezing your ass cheeks together when coming up? Almost as if you’re trying to bring your hips forward (or any other Horizontal hip thrusting movement that comes to mind)? You may find that this helps.
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I think you could still squat with the bar in this position and fix this issue with a stronger back. When you watch that video and it is hard to see exactly because of the angle. I am pretty sure the bar moves forward of mid foot as you come up and then you use the hinge to pull it back. If you can get the back tighter the bar path will stay straight making for a more efficient squat. Just getting your elbows screwed under the bar rather the chicken wings might be enough to fix this.
Also just getting stronger everywhere will also help of course.
As for what style will allow you to lift more weight. Only way to know that is yo try both.
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This is more to the glute comment the other day than the squats, although they are related.
I’ve found my glutes are highly active during the middle third of a squat rep. I learned that while working on a ROM progression starting from the top and gradually working down to depth over several sessions. Eventually I hit a depth where the only way to get the bar started was to use my glutes.
If you set up the pins at the bottom 1/3, and then try to do a pin squat, you’ll find it’s easiest to get the bar moving by pushing your hips forward, rather than doing a good morning or straightening your legs. There’s a V shape at your hips, and you focus on unfolding/straightening it. Once you’ve got that down, you can just do higher reps of that middle third to hit your glutes.
For squats, one cue that I’ve found helpful is to use the hands to push the bar up, like a BTN press. That helps get the elbows underneath the bar, without necessarily thinking about it.
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I’ve only ever used a landmine approach myself. Haven’t actually had access to a real machine.
Regarding the squat, let me ask: for what REASON are you squatting? Are you squatting to have a stronger squat? Or do you squat to make something in particular stronger?
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Existential question. Thanks for asking. I’ll respond from an actual keyboard later!
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I love it when you ask these questions. I like to do this with my own training. When I am using a movement I like to think why am I using it, how does it add to my goal. Sometimes it is very hard to answer the questions, this will sometimes make me drop a movement that I dont need.
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@T3hPwnisher you asked an existential question so you are getting a long answer!\
When I started taking the squat seriously, it was because I had decided I was weak and scrawny and dissatisfied with the condition of my body. Further, I knew that squatting was extremely difficult for me, and came far less naturally to me than it did to some peers (navy days) who cared less and put forth less effort. I concluded that if I could: squat 315, bench 225, deadlift 405, and press 135 over my head, I would be sufficiently strong, and most likely sufficiently big, to no longer feel weak, scrawny, or dissatisfied with the condition of my body.
Today, I don’t feel weak, scrawny, or dissatisfied with the condition of my body.
Squatting, and a desire to squat more, has become a habit, as has eating lots of meat, and making 3 gym trips per week and taking stairs where possible and myriad other things.
For what reason am I squatting today?
I don’t know. Maybe to impress strangers on T-nation who all out-squat me by hundreds of pounds LOL. Maybe to prove something to myself?
Maybe to just reclaim the 315 mark because… IDK.
What comes naturally to me? Pullups. And (though not at a competitive level) deadlifting. I don’t “struggle” to deadlift. And for that reason, perhaps foolishly, I don’t really work hard at becoming a good deadlifter, like I work at becoming a better squatter. Maybe I should instead.
Why do I want a heavier squat? I can’t answer that. I want lots of other things too. Why do I feel sufficient motivation for a heavier squat, that I am willing to voluntarily suffer to attain it, at the cost of the chance to suffer for a heavier deadlift or bigger pecs or extra sleep or whatever the hell I may want? I can’t answer that.
And you know what, after all this ramble… I could completely give up squatting, treat it as an accessory to the deadlift or as just another BB movement, not pursue it with passion, and I would be just fine. In fact the past 8 weeks may be some of the best muscle gains I’ve made, and certainly are some of the best confidence and feel-good gains I’ve made, and squatting played a minor, out-of-focus role.
For what reason do you squat?
Having read my long, long ramble, do you have any suggestions?
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Best reason - carry on squatting!
I’m the same with the deadlift, I suck at it I’m the most awkward deadlifter ever, my lifetime best conventional is actually lower than my lifetime best squat. It’s even less logical pursuing a deadlift because it’s got even less physique benefits and I can sumo pull and tbdl and probably get just as much if not more benefit… And yet…
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It sounds like you’re forsaking progress for ego, or because ‘its what you always did’. It’s fine, I did this too for a long time. I made a lot more progress when I stopped training like a powerlifter in hopes I would look like a bodybuilder though.
I hadn’t deadlifted in like a year, tried it again, and lift only went down like 10% too. Same for squats and bench.
I prefer to look good naked. Some folks are clearly capable of training like a powerlifter/crossfitter and looking like a bodybuilder - I don’t believe I am one of them.
TL;DR: I made more progress because I stopped lifting with my ego and started training accordingly to my goal.
EDIT:
I realized I came across like kind of a dick so I rephrased. My bad, dude.
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This was quite in depth, and I feel bad as my intentions were shallow, haha.
From what you wrote, it sounds like purpose of squats in your training are to produce a stronger squat. The squat isn’t being used to make YOU stronger, or to make a particular muscle stronger or bigger, but moreso the goal of the training is for you to be able to have more weight on the bar and move it from A to B under the rules you’ve established for what is and is not a squat.
With that understanding, I see no reason to change the squat style: your body is playing to it’s strengths right now. Whatever is strong is taking over for whatever is weak. If you changed how you squatted, you’d move less weight.
From here, it’s a matter of making yourself strong IN the squat. Rather than squatting to make you stronger, we make you stronger to squat.
A few avenues are available in that regard: you could relegate the squat to simply “technique practice” in your training, greasing the groove to maintain proficiency but never really approaching “work set” territory with loads and intensities, and then use your training time to build up the muscles that support the squat. Conjugate is honestly like that: dynamic effort can be seen as skill work, and the rest of the training is strength/size work. Easy Strength is another such approach, although Dan has said that the squat just plain doesn’t work with easy strength, and I believe him.
With that aforementioned conjugate approach, there’s also the opportunity to try to employ your particular squat style but at different parts of the ROM in order to strengthen whatever IS weak. Anderson squats, partial squats, etc.
But the thing to keep in mind through it all is the purpose of the squat in your training. You’re not squatting to develop your legs and glutes, nor are you squatting to develop a stronger lower body: you’re squatting to develop a stronger SQUAT. Your training will need to support that goal.
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3/6/2024
Main point: I tried to stay more upright, did it wrong, and tweaked my back. Now I hurt LOL.
Powerlifting primer, week 1, day 2:
Deadlift:
10lbs more than last week. No big deal. 3x5 at 225, 255, 275.
Press: 10lbs more than last week. Top set couldn’t have done 5 reps any heavier, or any more reps at this weight. 3x5 at 75, 95, 115.
Superset the press with weighted pullups. These were a breeze and I kept leg drive to a minimum for @simo74 - 3x5 at BW, +20, +35
Squat: This is where things went south.
Same as Monday, 3x5 - 135, 185, 225. Videos below. My posture doesn’t seem to have actually changed, but mentally I was trying to keep my elbows forward and my torso more upright. LOL for whatever difference it made! On the 185lb set I felt “loose”, not grooved properly, but it moved fine and wasn’t difficult. On the 225 set that looseness came a-calling and on the 5th rep I tweaked my back. you can see it in the video! I tried to make text appear in time with the tweak but it didn’t work out. I’m too old to use youtube properly.
Bench press - 3x5x 135, 165, 185.
Following that I’ll probably take @T3hPwnisher 's approach to heart, which is to squat the way I have been, because there’s no grand point or purpose in changing the way I squat, as it’s a totally arbitrary “goal” (if that, even) anyway.
And following a convo with my wife in which I DIDN"T mention tweaking my back, BB sessions made me feel good. This session didn’t. What am I trying to accomplish?
Don’t take any of this too seriously right now. I’ll get it figured out. I’ll probably try that Wendler program Pwn mentioned, which includes widowmaker sets at FSL percentages. TBD.
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It’s not lost on me that I described dealifting 275x5 as “no big deal” - and could probably do 315x5 under duress - yet tweaked my back squatting 225x5. Granted that was only because of a poor attempt at changing form, but still, even on a good day squatting 225x5 is always a lot of effort for me - given the choice, I’d rather deadlift 275x5, if I was to choose the “easier” thing to do. That’s a pretty big percent difference.
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A couple things I notice in general.
The main thing that sticks out to me is that your back moves a lot. From your tailbone to the top of your head, that should stay stable and consistent from the top of the rep to the bottom. It doesn’t have to be a line, and you can be more or less arched in different places, but it should stay consistent.
One thing that happens is the hips dip under at the bottom (you can see that in the earlier videos as well). You can try and fix whatever’s causing you to do that, or just not go that deep.
The other thing I noticed, especially in the older 185 video, is that your back becomes more and more parallel with the ground as the reps go on. You’re more upright in the first rep, and then more and more leaned over.
There’s a whole school of thought that says “lower the weight and work on form”. But almost everyone who does that fails at it.
Here’s two other ideas:
-
do sets of triples, focusing on being perfectly consistent top to bottom, rep to rep. Lower the weight if you need to, but I don’t think it’s necessary.
-
use pin squats. Put the bar at an awkward-for-you position in the lower half of your ROM and just drill over and over so you figure out the best position for your body to get the bar to move. Once you’ve got it internalized, throw volume at it. You could do this ROM progression style, but you could also just stick the bar somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 from the bottom and work from there.
Oh, as you’d mentioned before, I’d also spend some time with heavier goblet squats. That’s a good movement to teach your body to try and replicate.
EDIT:
take this with as much salt as necessry
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