Feedback From Meat

Training Over 35 Lifter
321

[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
Meat, I sure would appreciate you taking a look at my deadlift and squat videos that I posted today to my log (The Kimbalog in Powerful Women). The squat video is only at 65#, but I’m having problems with depth and leaning forward even at that weight.

Thanks in advance for any feedback you have time to give![/quote]

just watched your vids. let’s start with the squat- the lower body is doing what it’s supposed to do… so that’s good. good depth. it appears that your are pushing your knees out and not allowing them to cave on the way up. you say you are having problems with depth but you are getting parallel. there’s no need to go lower than that unless you are looking to develop more quad mass. if that’s the case, there are better movements than back squats for that.

the upper body isn’t staying tight. you have a good bit of movement forward and back. the key to tightness is locking your hands behind the bar and getting those elbows down and keeping them down. i see that you are gripping the bar. try putting the thumbs over the bar and lock the bar in with the heals of your hands. the closer the bar is to your wrists, the more you will be able to stablize it and keep it in place.

other than consciously working on locking the bar in and getting the elbows down, i would start doing bottoms up squats off pins. you have to be tight to get the bar moving off the pins. you have to be in a perfect position or you immidiately go into a good morning because the hips will come up first. set the pins so you are starting at parallel, setup under the bar and squat it up. bring it back down, completely unload on the pins and start over. try these, get a vid and send it my way. continue to work your full ROM squat but keep it light until you get tighter in the upper body.

as for the deadlift, why are you doing the elevated deads? when you get back to me i’ll give you some pointers on the deads.

322

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:

just watched your vids. let’s start with the squat- the lower body is doing what it’s supposed to do… so that’s good. good depth. it appears that your are pushing your knees out and not allowing them to cave on the way up. you say you are having problems with depth but you are getting parallel. there’s no need to go lower than that unless you are looking to develop more quad mass. if that’s the case, there are better movements than back squats for that. [/quote]

Thanks Meat!

No, no more quad mass! :slight_smile: I’m a cyclist and have plenty o’quads.

I had to go as light as 65# to get to parallel. Even at 85# I was stopping just short, so I thought it would be better to drop weight until I could get better form.

[quote]
the upper body isn’t staying tight. you have a good bit of movement forward and back. the key to tightness is locking your hands behind the bar and getting those elbows down and keeping them down. i see that you are gripping the bar. try putting the thumbs over the bar and lock the bar in with the heals of your hands. the closer the bar is to your wrists, the more you will be able to stablize it and keep it in place. [/quote]

OK, I will try this next time.

The only squat rack at my gym is the one in the vid: there are rails and non-adjustable slots for the bar. The rails are going to be below my parallel, the lowest slot would be above. Given those choices, should I sit the bar on the rail even though its a bit low?

I started off the session with only 25# plates and was trying to elevate to the level of a 45# plate due to my long legs really getting in my way. Turns out, I kept adding little plates in that session and got to a PR of 135#. For that taped set, I should have taken off all the plates and put on 45#s, but I was lazy (and I have alot of trouble loading and unloading plates when the bar is sitting on the ground). So, at my next session I plan on putting the 45#s on and losing the risers.

Thanks so much for your help thus far, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts about my deadlift. BTW, there is another deadlift video (with 25# plates from the floor) in my profile that I took a few months ago, prior to my attempt at “self-Meating” (trying to anticipate your advice) my deadlift.

323

Meat, I could use some programming advice.

I need to add some beef and strength to the lower back.
I cant really do good mornings- they kill my neck
One gym has a roman chair, the other has a 45 degree back raise type thing.

Here is where I am at ,last week I just box squatted 405- but it left me unable to pull much- after.
deadlift topped out at 435, I weigh something like 180 maybe a little less.
front squat I can do over 275- cant hit 300 yet , I am able to stay more upright during those.

For box squats I can sit back on 365 maybe 375 after that I am leaning and loose tightness.

If I do high rep work- back raises or even power cleans, my low back fatigues.

thanks for any suggestions you might have.

kmc

324

[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
maraudermeat wrote:

just watched your vids. let’s start with the squat- the lower body is doing what it’s supposed to do… so that’s good. good depth. it appears that your are pushing your knees out and not allowing them to cave on the way up. you say you are having problems with depth but you are getting parallel. there’s no need to go lower than that unless you are looking to develop more quad mass. if that’s the case, there are better movements than back squats for that.

Thanks Meat!

No, no more quad mass! :slight_smile: I’m a cyclist and have plenty o’quads.

I had to go as light as 65# to get to parallel. Even at 85# I was stopping just short, so I thought it would be better to drop weight until I could get better form.

the upper body isn’t staying tight. you have a good bit of movement forward and back. the key to tightness is locking your hands behind the bar and getting those elbows down and keeping them down. i see that you are gripping the bar. try putting the thumbs over the bar and lock the bar in with the heals of your hands. the closer the bar is to your wrists, the more you will be able to stablize it and keep it in place.

OK, I will try this next time.

other than consciously working on locking the bar in and getting the elbows down, i would start doing bottoms up squats off pins. you have to be tight to get the bar moving off the pins. you have to be in a perfect position or you immidiately go into a good morning because the hips will come up first. set the pins so you are starting at parallel, setup under the bar and squat it up. bring it back down, completely unload on the pins and start over. try these, get a vid and send it my way. continue to work your full ROM squat but keep it light until you get tighter in the upper body.

The only squat rack at my gym is the one in the vid: there are rails and non-adjustable slots for the bar. The rails are going to be below my parallel, the lowest slot would be above. Given those choices, should I sit the bar on the rail even though its a bit low?

as for the deadlift, why are you doing the elevated deads? when you get back to me i’ll give you some pointers on the deads.

I started off the session with only 25# plates and was trying to elevate to the level of a 45# plate due to my long legs really getting in my way. Turns out, I kept adding little plates in that session and got to a PR of 135#. For that taped set, I should have taken off all the plates and put on 45#s, but I was lazy (and I have alot of trouble loading and unloading plates when the bar is sitting on the ground). So, at my next session I plan on putting the 45#s on and losing the risers.

Thanks so much for your help thus far, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts about my deadlift. BTW, there is another deadlift video (with 25# plates from the floor) in my profile that I took a few months ago, prior to my attempt at “self-Meating” (trying to anticipate your advice) my deadlift.

i see what you were going for now… yeah. get rid of the risers and start from the floor. if you need to warmup before starting with 135, do some light rack pulls from an elevation to get your body warmed up then go right to the 135.

formwise… you are doing a few things wrong.

-think of your arms as cables… no elbows. keep them completely straight. i like to round my shoulders forward and let them hang in front of me. this also limits the range of motion which is a good thing. you are jerking the bar which is a common mistake and then bending the arms as if to almost row it up a bit. when you grip the bar and start the pull, you should first pull the slack out of the bar and then start the pull.

-in a sumo, you should initiate the lift by opening up the groin and forcing the knees out. some call this jacking the bar up. you are basically squatting the weight up using the quads. the next time you sumo, think about reaching down, drop the hips and do nothing with the upper body except for stay upright and tight. start the movement by forcing the knees out, hips forward and squat the weight out of the hole much like a squat. see how far the bar comes up when your legs are completely straight. once your legs are straight lower the weight. video this and post it. once i look it over and make suggestions we can then move onto the lockout. with your long legs you should be getting those feet pretty close to the plates. also work on getting your feet and legs as close to parallel to the bar as possible. this is going to take some time becuase the groin, especially the abductor muscles need to be strengthened and stretched.

[/quote]

325

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:

i see what you were going for now… yeah. get rid of the risers and start from the floor. if you need to warmup before starting with 135, do some light rack pulls from an elevation to get your body warmed up then go right to the 135.

formwise… you are doing a few things wrong.

-think of your arms as cables… no elbows. keep them completely straight. i like to round my shoulders forward and let them hang in front of me. this also limits the range of motion which is a good thing. you are jerking the bar which is a common mistake and then bending the arms as if to almost row it up a bit. when you grip the bar and start the pull, you should first pull the slack out of the bar and then start the pull.

-in a sumo, you should initiate the lift by opening up the groin and forcing the knees out. some call this jacking the bar up. you are basically squatting the weight up using the quads. the next time you sumo, think about reaching down, drop the hips and do nothing with the upper body except for stay upright and tight. start the movement by forcing the knees out, hips forward and squat the weight out of the hole much like a squat. see how far the bar comes up when your legs are completely straight. once your legs are straight lower the weight. video this and post it. once i look it over and make suggestions we can then move onto the lockout. with your long legs you should be getting those feet pretty close to the plates. also work on getting your feet and legs as close to parallel to the bar as possible. this is going to take some time becuase the groin, especially the abductor muscles need to be strengthened and stretched.

[/quote]

Meat, thanks so much! Will do.

326

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
SteelyD wrote:
MM-

I’ve been making progress on my 3 big lifts (bench, DL, Squat) using a 5/3/1 type approach. However, my accessory lifts have stalled, namely RDL’s and Incline DB Presses.

Any ideas on how I might approach them? As you know, the 5/3/1 varies in intensity each week (5’s, 3’s, etc.). Should my accessories, for example RDL’s mimic that, so my heaviest DL weeks are heaviest on RDL’s, too? Ditto, bench-- If I’m on my “5’s” week, should I go lighter on my other lifts that day, too, or do opposite?

first off, do you mean variations of the big lifts or actual accessory work? accessory work is typically done to build mass to aid in gettting stronger at the big lifts. I’ve fallen into a bad habit of going too heavy on my accessory work. doing so will eventually lead to your big lifts stalling because you don’t recover enough when it’s time to hit the big lifts.
[/quote]

Thanks Dr. Meat! Yes, the latter, mainly: RDL’s, Front and Z-Squats, Leg Presses, etc. Not sure if I consider Incline Presses and Shoulder Presses ‘accessory’ work, but with those, I follow more of a ‘BB’ approach anyway (higher reps).

327

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
the upper body isn’t staying tight. you have a good bit of movement forward and back. the key to tightness is locking your hands behind the bar and getting those elbows down and keeping them down. i see that you are gripping the bar. try putting the thumbs over the bar and lock the bar in with the heals of your hands. the closer the bar is to your wrists, the more you will be able to stablize it and keep it in place. [/quote]

Meat, I’ve changed my grip and am trying to concentrate on elbows down. Here is a video from yesterday showing at least the grip change - is it right or should the bar be more towards my wrist? The tight upper body is going to take alot of work for me.

[quote]other than consciously working on locking the bar in and getting the elbows down, i would start doing bottoms up squats off pins. you have to be tight to get the bar moving off the pins. you have to be in a perfect position or you immidiately go into a good morning because the hips will come up first. set the pins so you are starting at parallel, setup under the bar and squat it up. bring it back down, completely unload on the pins and start over. try these, get a vid and send it my way. continue to work your full ROM squat but keep it light until you get tighter in the upper body.

[/quote]

I’ve got no pins…just the immovable rail. I tried a bottom up squat with the bar on the rail, but it was too low a position. :frowning: Will try to think up a way around this.

Kimba

328

[quote]kmcnyc wrote:
Meat, I could use some programming advice.

I need to add some beef and strength to the lower back.
I cant really do good mornings- they kill my neck
One gym has a roman chair, the other has a 45 degree back raise type thing.

Here is where I am at ,last week I just box squatted 405- but it left me unable to pull much- after.
deadlift topped out at 435, I weigh something like 180 maybe a little less.
front squat I can do over 275- cant hit 300 yet , I am able to stay more upright during those.

For box squats I can sit back on 365 maybe 375 after that I am leaning and loose tightness.

If I do high rep work- back raises or even power cleans, my low back fatigues.

thanks for any suggestions you might have.

kmc

[/quote]

sorry bro… i don’t know how i missed your post. i wasn’t ignoring you:)

here are a few suggestions-

-try good mornings off pins and set up with the bar in a low bar squat position.

-Romanian Deads are great for the posterior chain

-45 degree back raise. place a 10lb plate behind your head. do these after your normal session. shoot for 3 sets of 10. when you can get all sets and reps, add another 10lb plate. be sure to contract the lower back at the top.

-zerchers squats are porbably one of the best movements for lower back, obliques and abs.

329

[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
maraudermeat wrote:
the upper body isn’t staying tight. you have a good bit of movement forward and back. the key to tightness is locking your hands behind the bar and getting those elbows down and keeping them down. i see that you are gripping the bar. try putting the thumbs over the bar and lock the bar in with the heals of your hands. the closer the bar is to your wrists, the more you will be able to stablize it and keep it in place.

Meat, I’ve changed my grip and am trying to concentrate on elbows down. Here is a video from yesterday showing at least the grip change - is it right or should the bar be more towards my wrist? The tight upper body is going to take alot of work for me.

other than consciously working on locking the bar in and getting the elbows down, i would start doing bottoms up squats off pins. you have to be tight to get the bar moving off the pins. you have to be in a perfect position or you immidiately go into a good morning because the hips will come up first. set the pins so you are starting at parallel, setup under the bar and squat it up. bring it back down, completely unload on the pins and start over. try these, get a vid and send it my way. continue to work your full ROM squat but keep it light until you get tighter in the upper body.

I’ve got no pins…just the immovable rail. I tried a bottom up squat with the bar on the rail, but it was too low a position. :frowning: Will try to think up a way around this.

Kimba[/quote]

the elbows thing is a hard one to get used to. along with that, you need to contract the upper back and pull the scapulas together. that is where your tightness comes from.

it appears that you are looking at yourself in the mirror. if you are, you need to stop doing that. you need to learn to feel the movement. you want your head up. i look up but don’t really look at anything. my eyes kinda blurr and i just use my internal cues throughout the lift.

as for the hands, brace the bar with the heel of your hand. if your grip is close enough, you should be able to brace it against your body without actually having to grip the bar. it may help to get a pair of wrist wraps. they will add thickness to your wrists and keep your hands from rolling back. if you go that route, i can show you how to wrap them properly.

i know this is a lot to remember, but try to remember - head up, chest up and then the lower body will follow.

i’ve squatted in that squat rack set up… it sucks.

the form is getting better. it just takes some time.

also… rock’n body you got going on:)

330

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:

the elbows thing is a hard one to get used to. along with that, you need to contract the upper back and pull the scapulas together. that is where your tightness comes from. [/quote]

That’s a great note - I can think scapulas together!

Yeah, I’m guilty of mirror-looking. I’ll just take off my glasses, which will cause blur right there.

OK, got it. I think I will try a closer grip first, then maybe wrist wraps if that doesn’t work.

I’m just so happy to know what it is I SHOULD be thinking about.

Even worse, this is the only squat rack. So there is usually some dude waiting for it.

Thanks for the encouragement! I’ve got time…nothing worth having is easily gotten.

:slight_smile: I’ve been working hard on it.

331

Hey coach meat,

What do you think of this split?

I am 17, 15 % bodyfat, 5’10, and 165 pounds

My primary goal is to gain mass without too much fat.
I am on a 2800 cal (off day diet) and 3000 kcal (training day diet).

ps. This program changes exercises every three weeks in order to avoid stalling (its a 12 week program)

Please give me some feedback or maybe suggest a better approach/ program?

332

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
kmcnyc wrote:
Meat, I could use some programming advice.

I need to add some beef and strength to the lower back.
I cant really do good mornings- they kill my neck
One gym has a roman chair, the other has a 45 degree back raise type thing.

Here is where I am at ,last week I just box squatted 405- but it left me unable to pull much- after.
deadlift topped out at 435, I weigh something like 180 maybe a little less.
front squat I can do over 275- cant hit 300 yet , I am able to stay more upright during those.

For box squats I can sit back on 365 maybe 375 after that I am leaning and loose tightness.

If I do high rep work- back raises or even power cleans, my low back fatigues.

thanks for any suggestions you might have.

kmc

sorry bro… i don’t know how i missed your post. i wasn’t ignoring you:)

here are a few suggestions-

-try good mornings off pins and set up with the bar in a low bar squat position.

-Romanian Deads are great for the posterior chain

-45 degree back raise. place a 10lb plate behind your head. do these after your normal session. shoot for 3 sets of 10. when you can get all sets and reps, add another 10lb plate. be sure to contract the lower back at the top.

-zerchers squats are porbably one of the best movements for lower back, obliques and abs.

[/quote]

No worries Meat…
and thanks.
I try not to do good mornings or too much back squatting-
It seems to bother somthing in my neck -

I did zerchers yesterday- and will rotate them with pin front squats they do indeed rock.
45 degree back raises I always dismissed for some reason good idea.

thinking of skipping pulling heavy for a while and sticking with bigger squats
RDL and even sumo RDL- to get some low back/ham/glute stimulation.
and some kind of rack or pull from blocks.

thanks

333

MM - I’m looking at a competition in December and one of the many things I have no experience with is benching to commands. I’m trying to approximate the cadence of a competition bench with commands and would appreciate some feedback on this video.

Thanks!

334

[quote]soldog wrote:
MM - I’m looking at a competition in December and one of the many things I have no experience with is benching to commands. I’m trying to approximate the cadence of a competition bench with commands and would appreciate some feedback on this video.

Thanks![/quote]

vid looks solid to me. always expect the worst in competition. what i mean is, plan to have a long pause. typically, the head judge will give you a longer pause on your first attempt. He wants to see that you take the weight at arms length, control it down, bring the bar down level, pause on the chest, don’t let it sink after the press commands and then you press it to arm’s length attempting to keep the bar somewhat level.

i would practice all my compeition presses by first, unracking the weight. hold it at arms length for about a second. row it down to you and then give yourself a good 2 second pause in your head, then press to arm’s length and hold it for a good second. if you can do all those things, you will be golden.

also, i’ve found that if you do a really good job on your opening attempt, the judge will most likely remember and give you a quicker press command. if your form isn’t good, bring the bar down too fast or uneven, the judge may make you pause it longer.

lastly, look into the specific rules of your federation. some have very strict rules about keeping the feet flat, no foot movement at all and head must stay down at all times. these silly things can get you readlighted in some feds.

335

Maraudermeat,

I have been training for 1 year and want to gain some mass.
I weight 167 kgs, am 5’10 tall and around 15-16 % BF

Do you think the DC style of training is too advanced for me?

336

Maraudermeat,

I have been training for 1 year and want to gain some mass.
I weight 167 kgs, am 5’10 tall and around 15-16 % BF

Do you think the DC style of training is too advanced for me?

337

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
soldog wrote:
MM - I’m looking at a competition in December and one of the many things I have no experience with is benching to commands. I’m trying to approximate the cadence of a competition bench with commands and would appreciate some feedback on this video.

Thanks!

vid looks solid to me. always expect the worst in competition. what i mean is, plan to have a long pause. typically, the head judge will give you a longer pause on your first attempt. He wants to see that you take the weight at arms length, control it down, bring the bar down level, pause on the chest, don’t let it sink after the press commands and then you press it to arm’s length attempting to keep the bar somewhat level.

i would practice all my compeition presses by first, unracking the weight. hold it at arms length for about a second. row it down to you and then give yourself a good 2 second pause in your head, then press to arm’s length and hold it for a good second. if you can do all those things, you will be golden.

also, i’ve found that if you do a really good job on your opening attempt, the judge will most likely remember and give you a quicker press command. if your form isn’t good, bring the bar down too fast or uneven, the judge may make you pause it longer.

lastly, look into the specific rules of your federation. some have very strict rules about keeping the feet flat, no foot movement at all and head must stay down at all times. these silly things can get you readlighted in some feds.

[/quote]

Thanks meat!

338

167kg or lb?

339

[quote]PeteS wrote:
167kg or lb? [/quote]

Shaq’s looking to bulk. :slight_smile:

340

haha sorry 167 lbs.

In wish I was 167 kg 15 % though. that would have been insane.