I agree with Masch about trying larger increases. Ya never know!
Lex - I know I need to take more time with the basics and make sure I’m activating and contracting what needs to WORK! I’ve never seen that RSR before. Maybe I’ll give it a go after my recovery. I think I’ll use my time off after my surgery to read up on programming and try to learn as much as I can so I can either try one, or write a more intelligent one. I want to look in to the Somolov one Snap has mentioned, too.
And I was so happy to hear that you are able to do some bench pressing up there. I hope that continues to develop and feel good.
Charlie put up a vid of Rippetoe. I have his Starting Strength book and DVD. He’s a great teacher for the basics. I really like him.
I agree about the Starting Strength book and am sad to this day that I gave mine away when I moved. It’s also very useful for throwing at friends when they ask why you’re doing powerlifting movements and argue that you’re going to damage yourself.
Another cool resource is just going onto the crossfit database of exercise demos and looking for the videos that work on part of the form for things like powerlifts and olympic lifts. Breaking it down into little pieces and just working on those makes it much easier.
Oooh RSR… that is killer! I so look forward to following this.
thanks guys. i’m looking forward to seeing my squat improve, too 
realizing that most programs for the most part look a whole heap lighter than what i’ve been trying to do weight-wise. but then they have their moments where i think ‘pretty darned sure i can’t do that’. so… pretty excited about it all.
masch - yes. when things are going smoothly and i’m gonna try for a max i think i should ramp faster, as you said. of course my snatches have turned to shit right now so it is back to triples at lighter weights. but when they start to feel good again that is indeed what i shall do.
when i moved to a free weights program (after 3 months of machine weights) i discovered the crossfit instructional videos. brought ‘Starting Strength’ after seeing some of Ripptoe’s vids. mostly because i liked his focus on geometry and how he spent so much time explaining the form for the basic lifts. every time i re-read it i think i learn something new seeing the crossfit ladies snatching was the first thing that got me interested in Olympic Lifting! it is because of ‘Starting Strength’ that I’ve stuck with 5x5 for so long.
thanks for posting the vid, charlie. I think there is a similarity. pushing a car / deadlifting is more of a grind, though, whereas a snatch takes less than one second (if you bounce out the hole). so no time to get more air in once you have begun.
usual warm-up.
snatches pretty crappy. need to work lighter weights for triples.
RUSSIAN SQUAT ROUTINE
WEEK 1/6, DAY 1/3
warm-up:
15kg 1x5, 20kg 1x5, 25kg 1x3, 30kg 1x3,
work sets:
36kg 6x2.
i want to say ‘easy’ but i shouldn’t. i think i should have spent more time warming up.
PLANKS:
3x 20kg 60 seconds.
need to be serious about planks because they really do help my squat and my squat is going to go up, dammit!
might consider planking before squatting because it seems to activate my abs more than fatigue them.
got a big chunk of grading to be done by monday, functions work tomorrow, and really want to make it along to watch an informal club powerlifting competition on Sunday (but no squat! wtf!!!) might not be around very much until next week. will try and catch up with peoples logs as best i can and log my RSR from Saturday.
have a good weekend people.
ooh, you picked a program!
and good for you doing the planks.
Looking forward to seeing your progress on the RSR
thanks
took yesterday off.
today:
usual warmup with ball, roller, and bar.
SNATCH (just stuffing around really)
35kg 1, 1, 1
36kg 1
37.5kg 1
38.5kg 0, 0, 0
37.5kg 0
35kg 1, 1
feeling like only about 1/4 of them are any good. will lighten up and work triples next week hoping for more reliable technique.
RUSSIAN SQUAT ROUTINE, Week 1/6, Day 2/6
warm-up
15kg 2x5
20kg 2x5
25kg 1x3
30kg 1x3
work sets
36kg 6x3
felt better for making my warm-up a bit longer. cooler weather so takes a bit longer for things to feel smooth. might look at doing 3 sets with the bar and 20kg next time to see if that is even better.
If you keep it up, those Snatches are bound to improve. I’m starting to try to think longterm. I see Frenchie’s progress and am so inspired. It will be interesting to look back as see how far you’ve come two years down the road. Go on the RSR! Enjoy the long weekend Lex.
I agree with Charlie Horse on the holding your breath thing. If you learn how to do it right (not nearly pass out like i did when i first started trying it) it really makes a noticeable difference in your lifts.
I agree with Charlie, too. At least, I think I do… Any differences are due to the nature of the lifts (I think). Deep breath in (to fill with air to help brace) before lifting… Then during the lift pushing against that brace to keep the core stable.
I’m not sure about the next part, though. When you are pushing a car (or doing a heavy deadlift) it takes a fair bit of pushing before the object starts moving and the moving object gradually gains momentum. Ripptoe talks about little breath out then refill for the car - guess because it takes so long to get it gaining momentum so you need a steady brace for steady effort. I don’t think people tend to do little breath out when deadlifting because a deadlift doesn’t take as long.
People seem to naturally heavy breathe / grunt a bit through the hardest part of at least some movements. On heavy squats to get through their sticking point, for instance. I’m not sure what that is about or why it helps but it seems to.
Some (but not all) tennis players seem to grunt / forcefully exhale / yell a bit when they smash the ball. Some say that people should yell quieter (ie forcefully exhale but shut up) while others say that if they are yelling (forcefully exhaling) they are breathing wrong.
I’m not sure…
I’m a bit surprised that throwers don’t seem to yell (e.g., shotput). Or long jumpers. Etc. Weird…
yesterday off (grading). missed the powerlifting comp 
today:
bit rushed. took my time with the bar warm-up and working light weights for the snatch. didn’t spend very much time eva / softball rolling at all. noticed my feet were a bit cranky - but the rest of me was ok. might cut down on the rest of it.
Russian Squat Routine day 3/3 week 1/6
warmup:
15kg 2x5
20kg 2x5
25kg 1x5
30kg 1x3
work sets:
36kg 6x2.
felt really good for basically having doubled my warm-up for squats. well worth it.
needed to go. abs tomorrow.
I’ll be following your squat battle with interest, given we both struggle with these. Good luck and as Nadia says, believe.
[quote]On heavy squats to get through their sticking point, for instance. I’m not sure what that is about or why it helps but it seems to.
[/quote]
I think that making a noise when under tension like that is a natural response. If we try to keep it in, then not only do you have to get past the sticking point but you’re keeping in the natural response, which I find hard and can cause someone to not exhale, turn different colors, pop some vessels, etc. When you have that vocal release, you only have to worry about getting past the sticking point.
I don’t know, that’s just a guess lol.
I’m liking this squat routine.
i’m trying to believe in squats. think i’m getting there. think yoda has something to say about that
i’m really interested in the breathing stuff. my new obsession (after how everyone squats different), i guess. becoming much more observant about breathing patterns in the gym (for the people who are training hard).
totally run off my feet at the moment. should get time to breathe (ha!) and check out what everyone has been up to in a couple days. phew.
TRAINING
usual warm-up (feet feeling totally wrecked and just achy everywhere - fighting off something i think)
snatches - up to a couple singles at 37.5kg. couple misses. sometimes finishing the pull sometimes not. can’t wait for some breathing space where i can really take my time with some technique work.
inverted row - haven’t done these in a while. relearning lat activation. 5x5
stick assisted GHR - ditto (but glutes and hammies) 5x5
one arm dumbbell press (10kg) - ditto for abs and glutes. 4x5 without rest.
some rolling around on the ball balance type stuff (i kinda like this since my standing on my feet balance is so atrocious) supersetted with
20kg planks 60 seconds x3.
kinda sad at self that my body needs to relearn proper activation. must get more regular with my ghr / upper body vertical / horizontal push / pull to keep the movement patterns even if i need to be careful about loading if i want to snatch every day. aim to do at least 1 of these every session in which there is no squat.
kinda worried about my squats in the sense that bio dictated deload time will happen around the time the program gets tough. i might need to repeat week one or something like that just so the program syncronizes better with my cycle… that is the trouble with a 6 week program. hopefully i’m not stabotaging it
Hey Alexus
How often do you do your planks? Do you do other things for abs/core?
I’m going to try the 45lbs plate next time to see how long I can hold it. 
Why don’t you do pull-ups for lat activation? Befoe I could do pull-ups, I used the power rack and set the bar about the same height that I will use to squat. Then rested my feet on the bar and grabbed the handles then did slow pull-ups. It also got me better at pull-ups and the reason why I do them unassisted for moderate reps right now.
My first post! Hi alexus, justed wanted to stop by and stop lurking to say I’m enjoying your externalization of your progress, or ‘ramblings’ as I think you called it 
I just started about 8 sessions ago myself, so reading your journal has been most helpful these last few weeks.
Charlie - I try and do them every second day but it is probably more like every third or fourth. It is the only thing I do specifically for my abs. If they activate okay they get a good workout with most everything else I do. Doesn’t seem as though they have been, though, so might try planking earlier for activation. Let me know how your plank goes. Took me a while to build up to 20kg.
Nikki - yeah, i’ll do more assisted pull-ups and / or the lat pull-down with a pull-up grip. did some of that today. tried out the supported dumbbell rows, too. do need to relearn lat activation.
minimaltechno - hi. glad you are enjoying my log you should think of keeping a log yourself. i’d love to hear about how you are learning. do you have a coach?
TRAINING
yesterday.
stuffs…
mostly day 1/3 week 2/6 RSR.
6x4 36kg. hard but did them. not activating things properly. was really very exhausted, though, so at least i did them.
today.
stuffs…
playing around with lat activation and snatches.
basically feeling exhausted because i’ve had a lot of work on. sickness going around, too. people are finding they get exhausted and need to basically sleep for a few days. i might have a mild case of that. not feeling particularly motivated to push things hard. just feel really very weak and tired. will take it easy. work on activation and most importantly: do my squats.
RSR is getting harder. hrm.
nice person left their drain pipe again today so had a good roll of my achilles tendon.
my triceps are DOMS from… i think it must be the dumbbell pressing from couple days ago. lower hamstrings by knee are DOMS from the GHR, too. this stuff didn’t used to give me grief
Sounds like your immune system is fighting that stuff off. Hope you don’t get full on sick. Good for you for getting it going anyway. Let yourself rest if you need to. Good time to work on ROM and that sort of thing. I’m telling myself that I’m going to make progress on shoulder ROM when I’m out with my belly button. And lat activation is such a challenge for me, too.
EDIT: I just saw your “I’m really trying to believe in squats” statement. LOL! I soo love to hate them!