If you want to hold yourself to powerlifting standards, you should at least do yourself a favor and squat like a powerlifter. If you were to sit back more rather than forward, you’d squat the same exact distance as you’re currently doing, but your “depth” would be lower. That’s honestly all it is. With forward knee traction, it’s harder and harder to get the hip below the knee, but if you keep the shins vertical, the distance gets much shorter.
That’s why the Westside guys are always shouting “BACK BACK BACK BACK BACK UP UP UP UP UP!” It’s effectively a good morning at one point, because rules are stupid.
It’s why I like the strongman set up better, where you squat until the plates hit an object, and then squat back up. It’s about squatting for DISTANCE, not for depth. Go as deep as you want: you just gotta move the bar a certain distance in space.
Better training week than last. Was less tired and SI less pissed. Coach changed strategy somewhat with squats and is letting me autoregulate more. He also added split squats
Work is really ramping up. I like it but I feel like I don’t have enough energy or focus to get as much of it done as I need every day.
My official start date is July (I move in June) but I’ve been working for him since last October.
We have 2 projects that need to be rushed so it’s crunch time
Most of the work is data cleaning and analysis. He wants to train me more so I also give input into theory and models
That’s awesome. I’ve watched a few videos set inside there. My father was a tank commander in the mid 1960s, stationed in W. Germany. To hear him describe it, he mostly drank beer, ate schnitzel, and chased frauleins while occasionally training for war against the Soviets. He would have reenlisted in 1967 if he wasn’t guaranteed to rotate to Vietnam.
It doesn’t look like they have any of the M60s he operated there, but they sure do have a lot from WWII.
Random training week since back wasn’t cooperating for most of it. Focused on lunges and ended up doing close to 20 hard sets of them over the course of the week
Was able to do squats yesterday so back to regular programming
Was actually pretty good considering that I didn’t squat or deadlift for a week. Squats flew up relative speaking and deadlifts weren’t too hard. I can consistently hit 285 for triples without too much issue. I did take the conventional paused deadlift easy out of caution.
After this week, coach is going to put me on a peaking block so I can test my deadlift max before going on trip
More of a life note: my sleep hasn’t been great. Having trouble staying asleep so I only get 6-7 hrs in bed.
Work has been very very busy so forgot to log.
Training is going well. The peaking block is lower volume so that’s kind of nice. I’m hitting singles without issue. Really excited to see where I am.
My neck has been bothering me and sleep hasn’t been great. I think there’s a bit of nerve impingement bc my left arm goes numb when I wear a backpack or my crossbody on that side. Neither are more than 5lbs
Training was so-so this week. I did my 305lb deadlift single but it was grindy and I wasn’t able to complete my last backup set. It has me spooked. Squats went quite well. Was able to do a grindy but not impossible double at 205lbs
Sleep and digestion have been… not great… Holding water and constantly bloated.
Last heavy single before test day today. Hit 315 for a very grindy max and barely locked out. I took a couple min of rest and tired 325, would not budge at all.
Was well rested going in and the first 1/2 of the lift moved very well. I don’t think another week will help so probably won’t be doing another test next week
I’m REALLY disappointed. I hit 140kg (308lbs) almost exactly 2 years ago three days after doing this
My “excuses” are 1) I was using a powerbar + bumper plates that were probably light last time and a shitty stiff bar+rubber coated metal plates this time 2) I likely weighted .5-1lb more last time
BUT… I was MUCH better rested, and have been working with a coach who actually knows what he’s doing (at very least more than me running a bastardised template lol) for the past 15 months.
Adding weight to your max lift while never allowing your bodyweight to climb (and, in fact, reduce) over a period of 2 years is absolutely measurable progress. You’ve put some incredible restrictions on yourself and are still finding ways to progress through that all. Especially with the equipment differences. Bumper vs metal plates definitely play a role.
Weight has gone up and down, but the “up” is usually the result of some type of burnout so not productive for making gains
I’m going to start a more measured, deliberate gaining phase where I hopefully put on weight in a controlled manner
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