@jbackos Got you, makes sense. I think I will give it a try.
@chris_ottawa I agree with everything you said about the back squat. I sometimes get cramps in my upper back because my legs can handle the weight but not the upper back. I’d like to add back back squats to my program.
I can do first back then my 8 sets of front squats, indeed. The problem is with 70 kg I had instant knee pain and stuff. As for the people complaining about trap pain because of the bar placement, front squats are 10x worse in that regard so it’s not a problem. I think I could try it Duffin style. If I place the bar slightly lower and widen my stance a bit, my back feels great. I mean squatting like him as in slow negative, to parallel or slightly below to avoid rounding and back up. Will post a form check soon.
As for deads, I went with advice from this thread and pulled from what I think is 3-4 inch blocks. Maybe you guys can tell better from the video, I’m not familiar with that. It felt greeeeeat! Back straight, movement good, vertical torso. Used all the tips from this thread. I want to hit a double body weight dead and then stick to different heights of block pulls as they feel better on my spine.
I’m 96kg so I’d like to get somewhere close to 195-200 kg. My question is how to build up from blocks to there? I amusing 3 “blocks”. I think it would be logical to do one cycle of 5/3/1 with 3 blocks, one cycle with 2, and then go from the ground and max out?
I also pulled conventional for the first time since my injury. It also felt great, my back feels great and I think it can help my sumo. Links below:
157.5*5 sumo off blocks
110*5 conv off blocks
You get cramps in your upper back from front squats or back squats?
If back squats hurt your knees but you can front squat then you are doing something wrong. My guess is that you are pushing your knees too far forward, while on front squats you just sit straight down.
Progressively lowering starting height for block pulls can definitely work, but the problem with using 5/3/1 is that you don’t have a max to start the next cycle if you are lowering the weight.
I get sometimes cramps in my traps from Front squats, never back. Since I’ve started using straps due to lack of tspine mobility it feels better.
Do you have any idea how I could calculate the TM on 5/3/1? I don’t want to change programs as I’ve commited to it after doing 3 months of “bodybuilding”. I like the progression I’ve made so far on bench and DL as well.
I think that Wendler recommends taking something you estimate is about 80% for each lift and going for max reps. Then use this calculation: ((repsXweight)X0.0333)+weight. Your training max is supposed to be 90% of that number. I don’t use 5/3/1 these days, but I still use that calculation to estimate 1rms and track progress.
Oh, got it. Will figure out my max and use it on blocks!
Here’s an example of perfect sumo technique. Note that his hands are just slightly above his knees at lockout, not many people have that advantage. Somehow he still manages to bench mid 400s though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq3yx1X8Pn8
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I don’t think he can pull for reps without crushing his toes though. Based on what I have seen, he does a lot of singles for all lifts.
Wow that Sumo form is beautiful! Long hands definitely help in the deadlift.
Notice how high his hips are. He is not squatting the weight off the floor.
Yep, I think dropping my hips too low made the lift worse and contributed to back rounding. The advice to pull from blocks is solid, it feels a lot better for now.
