Did 45 mins of foam rolling and stretching last night before bed. It felt good and I think I’m going to start doing it a couple times a week.
My main goal with all of this is to unlock the muscles around my hips. They’re extremely tight and I think that’s why my squat position is so bent over. I’d really like to be able to stay fairly upright in a deep squat and hit more quads than I am now. I’ll screw around with a little bit of a different setup on Friday for a couple warmup sets and see what feels right. Bench after work today. Hopefully pushing into some PR territory.
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Upright squatting FTW. 
Hopefully the rolling and stretching help man, I know it’s really a bitch to try and move with tight hips like that.
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Yeah man, it’s starting to get sort of uncomfortable to sit for an extended period of time. It’s like a dull ache and I think it may be putting some extra (un needed) stress on my lower back as well.
I don’t know if my anatomy will allow me to stay upright in a squat without widening my stance a little bit and making some.other adjustments like raising the bar on my back… but I’m just going to work on it and see if I can at least make it better.
I read a tnation article yesterday that made sense to me… it said squatting with a more bent over upper body is more glute and ham dominant, which is great for moving more weight, but the quads are essentially left out except for the initial push out of the hole. I want to be able to concentrate more on quad strength with the squat, which I haven’t been doing. I feel the squat much more in hammies and glutes than quads.i may try to let my knees come forward a little more… idk, not sure how to attack this just yet.
LA3
Bench
135x3
155x3
175x3
195x1
185x7
SS
Pull up 8,8,7,7,7,5,4,4
Incline BB press 115lb 5x12
HLR 5x12
Left elbow started getting cranky at 175lb. Hit 195 fine… I’m thinking I had one more rep on 185, but didn’t attempt in hopes of save some pain in my elbow. Plus, by next anchor I’m legitimately hoping to hit 185 for 10, so in the long run I’m not terribly concerned. Squats will happen Saturday, as will sandbag…
LA3
Squat
205x3
235x3
265x3
295x1
280x12
Incline band press thing for assistance, taking it easy today.
295x1
295 flew up. PR set went very well, and I’m sure it’s a PR. Estimated max at those reps is like 380 which is absurd, but I’m down with it.
Roofed my parents garage addition this morning with my brother and one of his workers, so legs were a bit fatigued to begin with… sandbag may happen tomorrow, if not I’ll hit it twice next week.
Wanted to add that warm up sets until 265 were done with heeled shoes. Felt good and I hit depth a lot easier. Still bent forward a bit when watching back on video, but I felt more upright while squatting.
@garagerocker13 do you usually deload between anchor and the next leader? I don’t feel like I really have to and looking back in the book I don’t see where Jim says anything about it?
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I usually do but I feel beat up by the end of the 2nd leader (actually deloading next week). I think it’s recommended but you don’t have to. Probably wouldn’t hurt you to do the TM deload and just hit your TM for a single with only abs and chins as assistance.
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Hey man, nice work 280 x12 squat is solid. A while back you were wondering about leg drive. One thing that worked for me was butt-off pressing. Get into arch position, push your butt up off the bench with leg drive, then do your set keeping it off the bench. Do all your sets that way. Within a few weeks you’ll get the feel and more stable with leg position and drive. Credit to coach John Pinder.
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Thanks man, I will give that a try this coming cycle
Squat deload
215x3
245x3
275x3
305x1
Did some band incline press shit/chest fly thing. Trying to get my chest a bit thicker to help with bench. Going to do a bit more chest and delt work this coming cycle. Bought some loadable dumbbells that are supposed to get here soon, so that’ll be fun to learn.
Conditioning
Set a 10 minute timer and just pick and squat the sandbag as many times as possible. No idea how many I did, just wanted to get the heart rate up.
2LL1
OHP
80x3
90x3
105x3
115x1
10x5 at 90lb
SS
BW dip 14,14,12
Band pull down 3x14
WL BW+50 3x20
Everything moved well. BBS sets got tough around set 8. Might be switching to 3 days/week. We’ll see.
2LL1
Deadlift
230x3
265x3
300x3
330x1
5x5 at 265lb
SS
Band tri pushdowns 1x15, 1x15, drop to failure
Curls 2 sets, second set drop to failure
HLR 1x12, 1x18
I feel like my weight gain is leading to some form changes. 330 felt a little strange, but not difficult. Sets 3 and 4 of SSL felt like 135 was on the bar.
2LL1
Bench
140x3
160x3
180x3
200x1
5x5 at 160
SS
Incline DB press 2x20, 1x22
Pullup 6,6,6,5,5
HLR 17,15,16
Set of side DB raises, rest pause to failure
@Lundrball setting up butt of bench felt way better. Felt great leg drive, and unracking was way easier.
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2LL1
Squat
215x3
245x3
275x3
305x1
1x20 at 215lb
SS
3x15 band fly
3x10 pendlay row at 135lb
3x15 bpa
Pretty standard day. My hearing starting going a bit wacky after the Widowmaker set after I racked the bar. Pretty crazy.
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Isn’t tinnitus fun?
Also, that deadlift was a complete smokeshow - nice work!
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Is tinnitus the reason for that? I just figured it was all the blood rushing out after bracing for so long… I notice it on high rep deads too. It’s like someone puts earmuffs on me and slowly takes them off haha.
