Squat w/ wraps
500x1 - depth was well below parallel, I got a huge rebound out of the hole but I failed to continue to accelerate the bar, you can see bar speed slow in the mid range. Part of it Is engaging the glutes as soon as possible, they seem to be even more important for squatting in wraps. For a split second I was like “wow, this is easy” and then all of a sudden I felt the full weight bearing down on me, in the hole it felt like it could have been 225. You can see that I shifted forward slightly, at least my hips didn’t shoot up but maybe this is worse. Anyway, technique is more of a limiting factor than strength at this point but I need to improve both. https://youtu.be/yJaw93tyeRI
After that: 440x3x2 - these felt easy but depth is right around parallel, hard to hit depth with such light weight.
Wraps off: 390x3x3 - 90 sec. rest - first set was like squatting an empty bar, last set was getting slow. Fatigue setting in.
Dead squat
360x7 singles - 90 sec. rest- these were good, they always make me feel more energetic for some strange reason unless I’m going heavier and it’s an all-out grind.
RDL w/ bands around waist
mini+super mini+315x9,8,8
I got carried away on the first set and did 9 even though the plan was to do 8s, that is also a sign that I’m making progress on this exercise. This is a great exercise both to build the glutes as well as teach you how to actually use them, it’s like a hip thrust except you can fully extend your hips. Here’s a video (2nd set) so you guys can see what I’m talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m9VqEkjreo
McGill Curl ups
6x4 sets - same reps as last week but trying to brace harder. These are a pain in the ass, as Brian Carroll said “if your whole body isn’t shaking then you aren’t doing it right”. Some people get anxious about the big lifts they have planned for the coming week, I feel that way about these.
Are you referring to how I was slow to reverse the movement at the bottom? I’m still not great at squatting in wraps, it’s like I’m trying to feel if I hit depth. If I was going to squat without wraps and had that problem then pause squats would be the obvious solution but you can’t really do pause squats with wraps.
Close grip bench
325x4,3,3 - Looks like I have made some progress here, a few months back I did 315x4 and 330x3, pretty sure I could do 330x4 next week if it wasn’t a deload.
Military press
225x5,4,4
Pushups - neutral grip on dumbells with super mini band
14,10,8
Floor pause tricep extension
125x11,9,7
Hammer curls supersetted with band pull aparts
55’s/light bandX 12/15,10/13, 9/12 - trying to be strict with the curls but it’s awkward because I’m using adjustable dumbbell handles with 25lb plates, they push on my legs. I could buy a couple more 10’s but it’s hardly worth it for curls.
This training block started off a bit rough but everything is looking good now. Every workout is hard but I’m recovering very well, I assume it has to do with the brutal volume block I did before this.
Is that good? I don’t even know what a good OHP is. I did zero overhead pressing for quite a while and only started again about 6 months ago, I’m making steady progress on that but my bench is moving slowly.
Conventional deadlifts and atlas stones will break my back, my leverages suck for those. I didn’t think my OHP was that good, there are guys pressing more than 500 overhead and nobody is benching double my bench (375 is my current PR). My bench doesn’t suck, but it’s nothing amazing by powerlifting standards and relatively speaking it’s still better than my OHP.
Relatively speaking, I’d say your OHP is stronger than your bench. I too have a bench 1RM of 375, and can only hit 225lbs on the OHP for 3 reps, which is still considered by most a better feat than my 375lb bench. I weigh just under 215lbs at the moment.
I’m not really sure, I’m hoping that it will do something but its hard to say at this point. I made progress before with no OHP at all but then plateaued for a bit, I made other changes at the same time that I started doing OHP again and my bench is making some progress but I’m way past the point where I can make linear gains. If nothing else then at least my shoulders look bigger.
