My Thoughts, Reflections, Personal Feedback:
God damnit, I already typed all this out but somehow the post didn’t get through so I’m typing this again. Videoed the first set of squats and damn, they look grindy and slow and even a little high. God knows how I managed to get all 3 sets. Perhaps its time for me to lower the weight on my squats. Failed my first set of paused bench and decided to swap to touch and go bench presses and they went way better. Deadlifts… They were slow and they felt like shit. Maybe its the squats tiring me out way too much so I could do my deadlifts right. Was supposed to get 3 sets of 8 chins in but went for 6x4 cause I was hella tired at that point
Squat 20kg x2x5
Squat 50kgs x5
Squat 80kgs x3
Squat 105kgs x2
Squat 135kgs x2x5
Squat 135kgs x2 (probs could’ve gotten all 5 reps but I was tired and I would rather not grind out the last 3 reps)
Press 20kgs x2x5
Press 25kgs x5
Press 35kgs x3
Press 40kgs x2
Press 50kgs x3x5
Power Clean 20kgs x2x5
Power Clean 35kgs x5
Power Clean 45kgs x3
Power Clean 55kgs x2
Power Clean 65kgs x5x3
Pull Ups 2x8+2 (got kinda tired so I figured I should stop here)
My Thoughts, Reflections, Personal Feedback:
First 2 sets of squats felt pretty good. Presses felt pretty good in general. Power cleans were… Acceptable. Still waiting for someone to comment on my form and shit lol. Started a thread over at the Olympic Lifting forums and no one has replied so that’s a bummer. I’ve my exams coming up, 3 papers to be precise so I’ll probably have to reduce my working set to 1 for that week or so.
Try slowing down your first pull slightly to keep in perfect position as you come off the floor and then make your second pull very explosive. I’d also suggest starting your second pull a little earlier, just above the knees instead of mid thigh.
That’s just based on my own fairly limited experience of cleans, so hopefully someone with more experience can give you more advice.
Finally managed to get this damn thing posted, been awfully busy (and sick) for the past couple of days
Squat 20kgs x2x5
Squat 55kgs x5
Squat 80kgs x3
Squat 110kgs x2
BELTED ON
Squat 140kgs x2x5
Touch and Go Bench 20kgs x2x5
Touch and Go Bench 35kgs x5
Touch and Go Bench 50kgs x3
Touch and Go Bench 65kgs x2
Touch and Go Bench 75kgs x2 (reracked)
Touch and Go Bench 70kgs x2
Touch and Go Bench 70kgs x2
Deadlift 60kgs x5
Deadlift 85kgs x3
Deadlift 125kgs x2
My Thoughts, Reflections, Personal Feedback:
Today is a shit day. Hell, that’s one hellava understatement. Today is the shit day that all shit days aspire to be. This part might take a while, I usually write my thoughts at the end of the day but today, I’m writing it right after my workout. Let’s see, warmed up to squats and decided to use a belt for my working sets. Man, that was a bad idea. First set, the belt was set way too tight and I couldn’t take my breaths properly. Somehow, I still got all 5 reps in, probably ugly as fuck and barely hitting depth. Adjusted the belt 1 notch looser for the next set and it was slightly better. I could kinda take my breath but when I did, I lost upper body tightness. And again, I managed to muscle 5 reps out. Bench. Worked up to my working set of 77.5kgs. Got 2 reps with it and I felt something iffy in me left shoulder. Lowered down to 70kgs and I could still feel my shoulder. 60kgs felt ok but at that point I figured I might as well just stop benching for today. Deadlift weren’t any better. Was supposed to hit 147.5kgs x 5, couldn’t even finish my warmup. Grip slipped at 125kgs. Hell, I was actually using a mixed grip cause I didn’t feel good about it. Considering I’ve double overhand 125kgs for reps, I decided to just throw in a the tower. I need to take a deload. Maybe it’s just the weights getting heavy, maybe it’s the lack of sleep (couldn’t sleep, slept at 5, woke at 10, trained at 11) or maybe it’s just the exam stress. Either ways, time for my deload. I’ll come back stronger. This is probably the hardest thing about training and lifting and maybe even life in general for me. I lack restraint, patience.
Finally got some sleep, not gonna train till maybe the 7/9/15. Final paper will be on the 3th of September. Been falling sick as of late and school is a pain in the ass. I should be interning by then so that would be somewhat interesting to see if I’m able to manage both training and the new work environment. I’ll be transitioning from the Starting Strength Novice Program to the Practical Programming Advanced Novice Program(I’ll reset my training max to something lower).
I wouldn’t consider this program hopping as per say cause well, I’ve made pretty decent progress off this 4 weeks of Starting Strength and I don’t think its a good idea to keep running this on the long term. Don’t think I’ve ever done 140kgs x2x5 for squats with quite a bit left in me. I’ll try to auto regulate more on my new cycle of PPANP, probably using the +2/-2 method as seen on Flexible Training For Faster Gains
Taking a deload will help. It’s also a good thing to start experimenting with auto-regulation. In the past I tried several approaches: 1) Set a training max low enough to not miss any reps in an entire cycle, 2) Change the difficulty of reps depending on how I felt- straight reps when feeling shitty and long pauses on the last 1-3 reps of each set when feeling good, 3) Adjusting down reps or intensity based on my ability to keep my shoulders, spine and hips stable. The first two methods didn’t work very well but the last has worked to date. The reason why the last method works is because it is technique focused whereas the first two is only focused on rep completion and form. Technique should not be compromised when building strength- slight breakdown in form doesn’t necessarily mean breakdown in technique because all muscles are still loaded as intended to build the muscle and the movement.
Hopefully that provides another perspective on auto-regulation.
[quote]Benanything wrote:
Finally got some sleep, not gonna train till maybe the 7/9/15. Final paper will be on the 3th of September. Been falling sick as of late and school is a pain in the ass. I should be interning by then so that would be somewhat interesting to see if I’m able to manage both training and the new work environment. I’ll be transitioning from the Starting Strength Novice Program to the Practical Programming Advanced Novice Program(I’ll reset my training max to something lower).
I wouldn’t consider this program hopping as per say cause well, I’ve made pretty decent progress off this 4 weeks of Starting Strength and I don’t think its a good idea to keep running this on the long term. Don’t think I’ve ever done 140kgs x2x5 for squats with quite a bit left in me. I’ll try to auto regulate more on my new cycle of PPANP, probably using the +2/-2 method as seen on https://www.T-Nation.com/training/flexible-training-for-faster-gains[/quote]
This is a very good call. Relax, rest, recover. You’ll come back better - and wiser - for it.
Went to the gym today to just kinda cool off and have a short study break. Didn’t really know what I did, worked up to a 130kgs high bar squat. Did some light bench. Did some triceps pulldown and played around with the machines. I felt pretty fucken lost lol, I guess so that’s why I like training with a program. So much for taking time off. Hardly broke a sweat for that 50 mins or so, so maybe its fine.
Well, finished my paper(it went horrible) and I decided to go chill out with the strongman club guys at the gym. So I pretty much messed around a bit, didn’t go particularly heavy on anything. Its hard to when you’re in somewhat tight berms. Did some 60kg push presses and kinda randomly picked up 140kgs for 1 sumo deadlift and a shit ton of other stuff.
The deadlift actually looks pretty good, even better than my 140kgs x 4 the other time. I might start incorporating sumo deadlifts into my program ALONGSIDE conventional deadlifts after I’m done with my Advanced Novice Program. I guess messing around from time to time ain’t that bad. Its not getting in the way of my training so whatever.
Went to the strongman gym to fuck around and did a bunch of random exercises. Notably, had a 80kgs push press, missed the 90kgs push press. One hand snatched 30kgs. Nothing much else, last paper tomorrow. May the force be with me.
Decided to mess around and kinda max out on all 3 lifts.
Videoed most of the lifts. Formatting of the videos might be a bit messed up, will come back to edit my post.
[quote]Benanything wrote:
THIS IS AN INCOMPLETE POST, WILL FINISH UP WHEN FREE.
4/9/15
Decided to mess around and kinda max out on all 3 lifts.
Videoed most of the lifts. Formatting of the videos might be a bit messed up, will come back to edit my post.
SQUATS
130kgs
145kgs
152.5kgs
160kgs
170kgs (failed)
BENCH
70kgs
75kgs
82.5kgs (failed)
DEADLIFT
130kgs[/quote]
I’ve only watched the squat and deadlift video so far. One major thing: control that head/neck. You should set your neck at the start (before you even walk the weight out/pull the slack out of the bar), and keep it like that throughout. The angle that you should look up is about a 45 degre angle. The reason why I am stressing this, is that moving your neck not only puts your neck at (a slight) risk of injury, but also messes with your spine’s stability, the tightness/stiffness of the torso you should feel.
The second thing I must note is that you need to work on your walk out. You took a gigantic step back, and while doing so it looked like you lost your balance slightly or even almost fell. Try cutting the step length in half while keeping it at two steps. Doing so should allow you to clear the rack without wasting energy on extra steps, and keeps your legs in a strong position while walking the weight out.
Aside from that, good job. If you continue to work both hard, and smart then you will become strong.
I highly recommend the cube method, if you still want to do powerlifting stuff, but want a more advanced program. It is pretty much just solid work on the big lifts, and its variations while following the repetition, dynamic, and maximal effort methods. If you do choose to try out the cube method, I recommend following the program how it is written aside from one detail: add some type of bench press variation on your body day.
Thanks for the advice man! I’ve been trying to tuck my neck back a lil in hopes that it would help get me tighter on the squat cause I recall reading it somewhere on T-Nation. As for the walk out, I honestly feel rather comfortable with all of them. Maybe walking out slightly less might be better but I’m kinda afraid that I will be too close to the rack. I’ll work on that. I do agree that my neck was a little off/weird on the deadlifts. Will work on that soon.
Ignore the naysayers, they’re just there to put you down and make you feel like shit.
Keeps your thoughts and goals to yourself. People are sensitive. They’re emotional. They’re pretty fucking stupid. Think about how stupid the average person is, now remember, half of everyone be stupider than that.
Do what works for you.
No half measures.
Kick the losers out of your life.
This just in, we’re all gonna die. In the end, there are no survivors.
Destrength is on the money with your squat. I’d also recommend working on your tightness. It looks to me like you’re just the tiniest bit loose going down, and that increases as you come up. Get tight as you set up and sacrifice a bit of speed on your descent to stay really tight, then explode out of the hole. Don’t rush the setup. Work from the top down: get your upper back tight, get your air, squeeze your glutes and then go down. Other than that it looks good.
Bench I’m surprised to see you don’t arch or get any leg drive. I’d highly recommend working on getting some degree of arch, even if your federation requires flat feet. I would think that getting any kind of arch will help your bench a huge amount. How you set up for bench is up to you. I’ve pulled through but now I go feet on the bench to set up, and I find that better because I can set my shoulders and arch my upper back better.
Deadlift (both look fine). I’d say conventional looks a bit more comfortable, but your sumo has improved since I last saw it. One thing I did notice on your sumo attempt for 150 kg was that it looked like you got pulled forward - IMO that’s usually due to either not sitting back enough OR trying to get the bar off the floor with your back rather than pushing off with your glutes/hams. To get a feel for that I’ve found wide stance box squats a few inches above parallel is awesome.
Overall, though, you’re doing well mate. Keep it up.
Squat 20kg x2x5
Squat 45kgs x5
Squat 70kgs x3
Squat 100kgs x2
Squat 125kgs x5 3 2
Touch and Go Bench 20kgs x2x5
Touch and Go Bench 35kgs x5
Touch and Go Bench 45kgs x3
Touch and Go Bench 60kgs x2
Touch and Go Bench 70kgs x2
My Thoughts, Reflections, Personal Feedback:
Did this after my first day at internship and boy did it take a toll on me. Was supposed to hit 125kgs and 70kgs for 3 sets of 5 each. Internship taking a huge ass toll on me, basically doing manual labour at a factory. That was not what I signed up for. Falling sick too, coughing blood and shit. Will take a break in training. Who in the right mind would assign an Aeronautical engineering student to doing factory assembly work? God damn breathing in toxic air whilst cleaning aluminium sheets. Fucking hell. Worse part, I’m getting paid less than the other FAR more unqualified interns and I’m doing the same job. Sorry for the rant. Coughing blood does annoy me quite a fair bit.
Not going to stop training due to internship being a bitch. I’ll do the PPANP program after my internship. Back to doing a somewhat modified version Starting Strength at an extremely conservative training max, gotta stay moving during this 6 weeks of so. I’ll also be doing it in such a way whereby I can add in random stuff as and when I feel like. Random stuff like weighted vest walks/pull ups/push ups whenever I feel like it. Going to start eating bigger soon.
Went into the gym today, expecting to do some planned workout of sorts. Totally didn’t get to, had to share the bar (I was doing squats and the guy was doing barbell rows) and ended up doing a power clean before most of my squat sets.
Worked up to
Squats 140kgs x 2 singles.
Benched 60kgs x 5
Benched 70kgs x3
Benched 80kgs x1
Benched 82.5kgs x1
Did some seated cable rows, stiff leg deadlifts and randomly pulled 140kgs x 1 conventional.
Horrible ass day, just felt hella tired the whole time.
first 140kgs squat, I’ve this weird shifting on the shins when I’m halfway up.
second 140kgs squat, tried to slow down descent, realize I still do the weird shifting of the shins thing found at the 15second mark.
60kgs bench x5
70kgs bench x3, used iPod as a clip so that arc can be better seen.