That sounds like a plan. It’s good to experiment…and fun.
[quote]LittleStrick wrote:
That sounds like a plan. It’s good to experiment…and fun.[/quote]
The problem is I think it’s such a vague plan I probably won’t be able to tell if I’m following it or not. But it will be good for me to try something a bit different.
11/02/2011
Snatch grip speed deadlifts @ 220 lbs x 5-5-5-5
GHR @ bw x 5-5-5
Leg curls @ 40 lbs x 12-12
50 lbs x 9-7
Standing DB Press 53lb’ers x 8-8-6
Pushdowns x 44 lbs x 10-10-10-10
Performed the deads as explosively as I could, as if I was trying to snatch them although I could only get them to my waist. The leg curls felt heavier because I did them on my old, rusty multi-gym which doesn’t glide up and down too well anymore. Haven’t done db presses for years, I was shocked how much weaker my left arm was, you don’t notice that with a barbell. Picked too light a weight for the pushdowns, but I liked them. Left very little rest between all sets.
During the higher rep sets, whenever I got over 5 reps I kept having this strange urge to slather myself in oil and hit most muscular poses in the mirror!. Very strange. I hope I’m not becoming a bodybuilder. Shudder.
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
During the higher rep sets, whenever I got over 5 reps I kept having this strange urge to slather myself in oil and hit most muscular poses in the mirror!. Very strange. I hope I’m not becoming a bodybuilder. Shudder.[/quote]
Today muscular poses, tomorrow body shaving and banana hammocks … the horror
[quote]bulldog9899 wrote:
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
During the higher rep sets, whenever I got over 5 reps I kept having this strange urge to slather myself in oil and hit most muscular poses in the mirror!. Very strange. I hope I’m not becoming a bodybuilder. Shudder.[/quote]
Today muscular poses, tomorrow body shaving and banana hammocks … the horror[/quote]
FUCK OFF BOTH OF YOU!!! Bodybuilders are just sexy powerlifters with a sense for personal grooming… and the ability to eat vegetables!!!
My rant for the day. (a’la Bulldog)
I was out walking the dog this morning and noticed how every jogger these days has to have a 1 litre water bottle clutched tightly in their hand that they swig from every two minutes. Now I understand how if you’re running a marathon in Madrid in the summer keeping hydrated is an important issue, but surely your average “fair weather” exerciser shuffling along at slower than walking pace on a Saturday morning in the winter can go twenty minutes without having to re-hydrate. And wouldn’t carrying a weight in one hand throw off your running mechanics slightly? ,I mean the marathoners don’t carry it the whole way round do they?.
I blame the makers of all these “isotonic” drinks with all their replacing “electrolytes” crap, I thought electrolytes had something to do with batteries!. The power of advertising eh?.
I think unless you’re competing in the Tour De France or a Triathlon your electrolytes are probably just fine.
(a’la Bulldog) ?
Hold on there your going to get me labeled as a instigator.
[quote]bulldog9899 wrote:
(a’la Bulldog) ?
Hold on there your going to get me labeled as a instigator.
[/quote]
You’re not an instigator, just a man who voices his opinion.
I’ve changed my routine again. I think I’ve gone as far as I can right now on my squat just doing the basic lift so I’m going to start a “Westside style” routine using a different squat variation each week (working up in 3’s to a 1 rep max each week). It looks something like this.
Monday - Squat
week 1 Low box Squat (10" box)
week 2 Front squat
week 3 Back squat
week 4 Partial squat/Negatives
Assistance work - GHR, GM’s, Leg curl, RDLS, ab work etc
Wednesday - Bench
week 1 Off chest to pins
week 2 DB Press
week 3 DB Bench Press
week 4 Barbell Lockouts
Assistance work - Weighted dips, pushdowns etc
Friday - Deadlift
week 1 Snatch grip speed deadlifts
week 2 Defecit deads (standing on 4" or 8" blocks)
week 3 Deadlift (basic lift)
week 4 Rack pulls (off 4" or 9" blocks)
Assistance work - One arm rows, seated rows, pulldowns, curls etc
Afterwards 1 or 2 assistance exercises for each lift. Moderate reps x lots of sets.
14/02/2011
Low box squats (10" box)
220 x 3
264 x 3
286 x 3
330 x 3
352 x 3
374 x 1
396 x 1
GHR @ bw x 8-8-8
Leg curl @ 60 lbs x 8-8-8
Ab rollouts (off knees) x 5-5-5
Went well. Surprised to have got off the box quite easily with 396 without using any momentum. I’m gonna pay for the ab work tomorrow. I haven’t done any for ages. I’m not sure if I was doing the box squats right. I’ll post below.
352 x 3 reps
Am I doing these right?. 396 x 1
Need to sit back further.
Oooh. Westside.
Lil Power over at the PW compounds follows that. And she handles some really serious weight.
Brett, I don’t think you rock back and forth. Just pause at the bottom…no rocking. Ask Meat,Pete or DCA they’ll know.
[quote]bulldog9899 wrote:
Need to sit back further. [/quote]
Believe it or not, I was trying to!
These need work.
[quote]ecogenx wrote:
Brett, I don’t think you rock back and forth. Just pause at the bottom…no rocking. Ask Meat,Pete or DCA they’ll know.[/quote]
I know what you’re saying. I also noticed that.
Do you think it could be down to the narrow stance? All the Westside videos I’ve watched show a super wide stance. The few videos I’ve seen of narrow stance box squats all seem to show a degree of “rocking”. I suppose because the knees are further in front of the midline of the body.
I don’t really want to change my squat to a Westside, wide grip, wide stance, low bar, sit back style squat because I’m comfortable with mine, I just thought these might help my strength out of the hole by working on initiating the squat from the bottom from a “dead stop” position. I guess technically they’re not Box squats in the Westside sense, more pause on a low box sqats.
I shall keep working on them.
Kp - I’ve checked out her log. She is seriously strong.
remember westside is for geared lifters, which is why they go so wide on the squat and bench. If you have no intention of going gearwhore (sorry pete, love ya, no homo) you will want to find a stance that doesnt require outside support. I did a couple cycles like that, and for dynamic box squats I used a super wide stance, but that was sets of 2 at a fairly light weight. When I went heavy, I had to bring my stance in because my hips wouldn’t tolerate the width.
For the reason you state above, you may want to do some bottom up squats. load the bar and put it on the safety pins around the bottom of your squat, and eliminate the stretch reflex.
Or you can ask meat, pete, tony(dca) or any of the other guys that have forgotten more than I have learned about this stuff.
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
[quote]ecogenx wrote:
Brett, I don’t think you rock back and forth. Just pause at the bottom…no rocking. Ask Meat,Pete or DCA they’ll know.[/quote]
I know what you’re saying. I also noticed that.
Do you think it could be down to the narrow stance? All the Westside videos I’ve watched show a super wide stance. The few videos I’ve seen of narrow stance box squats all seem to show a degree of “rocking”. I suppose because the knees are further in front of the midline of the body.
I don’t really want to change my squat to a Westside, wide grip, wide stance, low bar, sit back style squat because I’m comfortable with mine, I just thought these might help my strength out of the hole by working on initiating the squat from the bottom from a “dead stop” position. I guess technically they’re not Box squats in the Westside sense, more pause on a low box sqats.
I shall keep working on them.
Kp - I’ve checked out her log. She is seriously strong.[/quote]
The only reason I said something is because I think you can injure your back if you ‘rock’. I believe box squats are used to kill the stretch reflex. So a pause is all that is needed.
It won’t hurt you to change your stance for the box squats. Works the muscles differently, sure, but it may drive up your narrow-stance squat numbers. Something different for the body. I will say that wide stance sure feels different than the narrow ones initially. I’m going through this exercise myself (changing stances and using super wide as accessory work) and really enjoying the variation.
Just so you don’t think I’ve totally sold out, FB, I did ATG front squats yesterday. And I’m really curious how people’s front squat numbers compare to their back squat. Those front squats are way harder, IMO.
Thanks alot for all the input everyone.
I think I’ll do what Eco suggested and just pause on the box, (whilst staying tight of course) not actually sit back on it and that should cut out the stretch reflex enough to teach me to blast up from the bottom without use of momentum. That can only be a good thing.
MJ - I’m not sure I could physically get under the bar at the bottom of my squat to do a “bottom up” rep. It’s one thing getting down there with the bar on your back, another thing entirely to crawl under it and get in a position to push it back up. And you’re absolutely right about Westside being mainly for geared lifters, I just liked the idea of doing a different variation of the main lift each week and the working up to a 1 rep max each workout and I like their theory that you can go heavy often without burning out if you don’t use the same lift every workout.
Kp - On one of my squat days I’m going to give heavy partials a go. If they hurt my knees or I don’t like them I will definitely think about doing a wide stance variation instead in an effort increase my narrow squat. Like you’re doing with sumo deads to increase your conv. I have got to be more openminded and start trying new things. The reason I’m trying this routine is I realised after doing the Russian squat routine (or Smolov) there’s not much further you can go as far as increasing frequency and volume are concerned, so other methods are needed.
Oh. And I never responded to your question regarding your warmup to hit a 1 RM. I guess I just wouldn’t start with doubles is all. I’d do something more like 5, 5, 3, 2, then 1, 1, 1.
But that’s just me. I need to grease the joints a bit more than doubles allow. Be curious to hear how others, especially competitive powerlifters, warm up to test a 1 RM.
16/02/2011
Bench press off chest to pins at 7".
132 x 3
176 x 3
198 x 3
220 x 3
242 x 2
264 x 1
274 x FAIL
Face pull @ 44lbs x 12-12-12-12
DB press 53lb’ers x 10-8-6
Pushdowns @ 66lbs x 10-10-10
Tabata on spinning bike 20secs on/10 secs off x 8 (18th gear)
Had the bright idea of doing bench presses off the chest with an isometric push against the pins at my sticking point (about 7" off chest) and then realised I couldn’t do that sort of thing with my rack. Managed to set it up though by using some long sash clamps. It was pretty difficult to get in and out of but they went ok.
Had a rude awakening on the bike. Any illusions I had, that the hill sprints were keeping me as fit as the tabata work on the bike was, were shattered when I could barely turn the pedals in 23rd gear, the gear I used to be able to hammer it on for the full 4 minutes easily. I had to lower it to 18 and was drowning in lactic acid by the third interval. Managed to complete it but I was dying.