I’m a bit old school on squats… it’s a foundational movement that all humans should be able to do. I don’t believe that this movement should be causing pain or bodily injuries when trained sufficiently. I think squats are perhaps the most important lift (similar to Poloquin in that regard).
Of course this comes from the perspective of someone whose only ever gotten hurt from squatting improperly.
Most back pain stems from tight hamstrings and/or undertrained hip flexors, unless you ruined yourself on something else prior (as you mentioned).
Squats 531 (2m rest)
Warm up - lots of hip stretching!
70kg x 5
80kg x 5
90kg x 10 very good clean reps that all felt amazing!!!
I think stretching my hips more is key for me!
BSS (1.3m rest)
16kg DB
X 9
X 9
X 9
Leg extensions ss with hammys (1.2m rest)
Leg extensions
30kg each side
X 10
X 10
X 10
X 10
4 . Kneeling SL ham curls machine
50kg each side
X 10
X 10
X 9
X 9
SL deadlift
3 sets
100 reps of calf agony
Used 10kg on the seated calf raise for the first 50 but had to drop to 5kg for the second 50. @TrainForPain you suck!
Toe taps
4 sets
I was forced to stretch and warm up more as I was waiting for a guy to finish in the squat rack, but it meant I felt amazing doing squats today. Think I’ve learned my lesson and warming my hips up more to help before squatting.
So 100% feel like I want to continue squatting now lol
I did this when I couldn’t squat for a few months but stood on a couple of plates, when I got back to squatting my quads were actually bigger and I could squat a little more. Only problem was staying more upright if going heavy.
I did Cossack squats, lunges with a twist, static calf, then hammy stretches, ankle rotations (they felt amazing), then core rotations, then a standing hip leaning stretch (like the below).
All in all I kinda wiggled my hips and waist around and did what felt good. It meant that my first set (always bar only) didn’t feel stiff for the first time in a long time!
I’m also the same dude that is so sick of my programming I can’t stand it, but can’t figure out how to do anything else in there. Go figure I make poor decisions
Bench 531 5 rep week (2m test)
Warm up sets
70kg x 5
80kg x 5
90kg x 11 had a spotter today which was great. On the 11th rep I got it to the top pins but couldn’t quite lock out on my right side.
But happy with the reps, I targeted 12 but happy.
DB incline (1.3m rest)
28kg DBs
X 9
X 9
X 7 (just had nothing left in the tank on my triceps)
Cable fly
3 weight on rack
X 12
X 12
X 12
Dips (1.15m rest)
X 7
X 7
X 7
Push ups (1.15m rest)
X 12
X 10
X 10
These have got worse for the last few weeks.
OH rope tricep extensions (1m rest)
6 on weight rack
X 12
X 12
X 10
Single arm Pushdowns (1m rest)
2 on weight rack
X 13
X 12
X 10
Toe taps
4 sets
Overall weight trending towards, 30th October was 224.4lbs and this week sat at 219.2lbs.
Only cutting for 3 weeks in total irrespective of the amount of weight dropped and then back to maintenance for my 52 weeks on testing my theory (lift big to be big).
Seated cable rows (1.2m rest)
70kg
X 11
X 11
X 10
X 10
Close grip lat pull down (1.15m rest)
63kg
X 8
X 8
X 12
Cable reverse fly (1.15m rest)
1 on weight rack
X 13
X 12
X 12
Face pull ss with toe taps
6 on rack
X 17
X 17
X 17
Toe taps
4 sets
Laying superman’s physio exercise 3 second hold on each rep
3 sets
Another week done. 3 rep week next week. Only thing I’m changing is increasing my max on press and the reps are getting stupid.
Also adding a drop set on biceps and triceps.
So 5 rep week - arms do straight sets
3 rep week - straight sets plus a drop set
1 rep week - straight sets, drop set and a cluster
Hopefully that adds a bit of periodisation to my arms and adds some variety.
Diet has gone to pot this weekend. Just lacked any motivation, all prep went out the window when I ate a whole large roast chicken on Friday night.
Also helped my mate move house yesterday and definitely put my back to the test. Beast or not in the gym I can still shift furniture and sofas etc quite easily. Very happy with my real life performance there.
Seated BB press 531 (2m rest)
New TM this week
Warm up sets
35kg x 3
40kg x 3
45kg x 9 very happy with this. Slow and steady but up and up the lift goes!
Lat raises ss with shrugs (1.3m rest)
Lat raises
10kg DBs
X 10
X 10
X 10
X
DB shrugs
28kg
X 10
X 10
X 12
Ez Bb curl (1.15m rest)
25kg
X 12
X 12
X 12
Rear delt fly ss with core (1.15m rest)
40kg
X 20
X 20
X
Toe taps
X 10
X 9
X 8
X 8
Hammer curls (1.15m rest)
12kg DBs
X 12
X 12
X 12
Rope curls (1m rest)
22kg
X 20
X 20
X 20 reps then a drop set down the rack
Happy with todays session and my bigger jump of TM on press went well. Onwards and upwards!
