Thanks for the comments, embo. If I didn’t want remarks, I wouldn’t post. Don’t know what’s going on with the vids, seems to hit the entire site.
We’re thinking alike on the volume, I kicked it up in the past couple of weeks. Reason why I’ve done such brief workouts in the past is because experts have all told me the only way a hardgainer can gain is with abbreviated routines. The routines don’t seem to do a lot of good, though. I also tried the 20 rep squats… zilch. Every time I tried increasing past 100 lbs, it crushed me. It’s a the point I really don’t trust any “expert” anymore.
The experts also say (I’m including the champion weightlifters here) that it’s the core lifts, not the accessories, that build strength. Yet you’ve have success the other way around. See why it’s so hard for me to believe experts?
I also have to be careful with assistance work, if I’m not careful, I’ll push too hard to failure and actually burn out. Currently, seem to be doing OK.
Outside the gym, I eat like crazy. Meat, veggies, fruit, all day long. Sensitive to grains, got sick a lot until I cut them out. Too much carbs & sugar just make me fat. Get as much sleep as possible - typically 9 - 10 hrs / night. Last night, the squats really wore me out, slept almost 12 hrs. Had a huge breakfast at Golden Corral, felt fantastic. Eating right now.
Congrats on your construction jobs. I also got jobs in my late teens doing physical labor. They fired me for not being strong enough.
Good point about separating the squats & deadlifts. My reasoning is to put 2 days between squats and deads, then 1 day to bench, and 1 to squat.
Bench:
45 x 15
95 x 10
115 x 5
145 x 3 I’ve done singles & doubles, but never a triple before!
145 x 3 spotter caught the last one
115 x 8
115 x 8
Rope pulldowns
50 x 15
70 x 11
90 x 10 Yes!
90 x 10 double yes!
100 x 5 extra yes
100 x 6 take that, whippersnapper who was grimacing doing less weight
dumbbell press
30 x 15
40 x 10
40 x 10
40 x 10
pec dec
55 x 10
70 x 7
70 x 7
70 x 7
Oh yes, and I also packed on a couple of pounds bodyweight. After months of 209-212, finally jumped to 214. I feel good.
Thanks, goat. Yeah, feels great, so tired of bench being pitiful. Gym friend gave me some tips on benching, nothing fancy, just adjusting weight and reps. Will try it next bench day.
Squats today. Eat, eat, eat, then the rack. Keeping weight low until form locks in.
bodyweight x 20
45 x 10
65 x 8
65 x 10
65 x 10
95 x 7
95 x 6
Friend coaxed me into extra set. Didn’t hit failure this time, legs adjusting. Quads complaining, so think I’m doing them right. Trying not lean, make legs do all the work. Snapper, I’ve got the bar lower down, not sure I see much difference. Had trouble posting vids last week, so didn’t bother to take the camera with me - on hindisght, could have used it for my own viewing.
Leg ext
5 x 15
6 x 12
7 x 12
8 x 10
leg curl
5 x 12
6 x 10
7 x 10
8 x 8
leg press (I’m lazy, use the pin machine instead of plate loading)
130 x 18
160 x 15
205 x 12
235 x 8
250 x 8
Tip: chat with friends to give time to recover between sets. Feeling good and strong.
[quote]cavalier wrote:
Keeping weight low until form locks in.
[/quote]
Good for you. That will pay dividends in the long run.
[quote]cavalier wrote:
Snapper, I’ve got the bar lower down, not sure I see much difference.
[/quote]
I’m a high bar squatter myself. But the bar seemed REALLY high on you. Like on your neck. Lowering the bar on your back might help you decrease the forward lean as well since the weight will be more centered.
[quote]cavalier wrote:
Had trouble posting vids last week, so didn’t bother to take the camera with me - on hindisght, could have used it for my own viewing.
[/quote]
I vid my lifts all the time just for form checks. I only post a handful here.
Good stuff goin on in here Cav. Volume looks much better and it’s good to see you ending a post with “Feeling good and strong”. Congrats on the bench PR.
Snap and embo, thanks for the kind words. I’ve kicked up the eating a bit, more carbs, seems to be helping.
Deadlifts today. 265 felt good last time… dare I try for 275??
135 x 9
185 x 5
235 x 6
275 x 2 – PR – PR –
275 x 1
205 x 5
And nothing broke! I’m jazzed.
machine bicep
55 x 15
85 x 8
85 x 7
85 x 7 odd, felt no easier than before
Pulldowns
80 x 12
100 x 9
110 x 8
110 x 8
Hypers x10 x12 x12
cable row
70 x 15
90 x 11
110 x 9
Assistence exercises felt a bit harder than expected, but deads were the money sets, so I’m thrilled. Check it out, people - I’m 54 yrs old AND GAINING!
Cav nice dead PR.you’ll pull 3bills shortly…dont worry about the assistance being " heavy". Not everything will move up at once…at least not for most…but I do love your enthusiasm as you make gains!
Thanks, goat and snapper. I’ve always had to fight the despair of being weak, but always wanted to get strong so badly I have to keep going.
Started working closely with a new lady at work. I warned her that I eat quite a bit during the day, hoped it wouldn’t bother her. She said no problem, that was fine. That was 3 days ago. Now after watching me down pounds of cooked pork, canned tuna, and protein shakes, she’s complaining that it’s making her stomach hurt. “HOW CAN YOU EAT LIKE THAT???”
Bench today. Used the weights calculated by my friend, but think he was a bit optimistic.
45 x 15
85 x 8
110 x 8
125 x 6
135 x 5 shaky
145 x 3 spotter helped
150 x 1
95 x 17
rope pulldown
50 x 15
80 x 12
100 x 8
100 x 8
100 x 8
100 x 8
pec dec
40 x 15
55 x 12
70 x 12
85 x 7
85 x 6
CG Bench - pretty fried, could only do puny weights
45 x 12
55 x 9
65 x 10
65 x 10
The assistance exercisees did fine, but bench is still the nemesis. At least feeling strong.
Question, folks. The contest rules “strongly recommend” a single piece lifting suit. Where’s a good place to get one? Price range?
Squats today, and I got them on video. Will find a way of posting, thinking of going the youtube route. My god, I really hate looking at myself on video. I just look so thin and sickly. I’ve struggled all my life to get away from that, I eat enough for an army, I do the most demanding exercises, and still it’s as if I’d never stepped foot in a gym. If it’s a disease, why can’t the doctors find it?
squats
45 x 10
65 x 10
95 x 10
115 x 8
115 x 8
115 x 8
115 x 8
leg ext
5 x 15
7 x 12
9 x 10
10 x 10
leg curl
5 x 15
7 x 10
8 x 9
8 x 9
seated calf
95 x 15
70 x 11
90 x 10
90 x 10
For some weird reason, always been strong on calf exercises, but unfortunately there’s no contest event for calf.
Google powerlifting singlet. You should have many options from which to choose. I got mine from Monster Muscle. House of Pain is another big outfit. Or you can go through a PL gear company like Titan.
Hey,
Leaving form aside, you need to get 6-8 inches lower on your squats.
I would use the bar only and get as low as you can while maintaining a solid lower back arch and high chest. Once depth is consistent then start adding weight slowly.
It’s probably going to be frustrating but consider it a one-step-back, two-steps-forward situation.
Get a box, a chair, a platform. Anything that allows the top of your knees to at least be parallel with your hip crease when you sit on it. Don’t even hold a barbell to start or hold an empty barbell. I’d like to see a vid of a box squat to see if you can get the depth without GMing.
I’m sorry Cav, but try as I might I can’t see any difference between those vids and the first ones. I think you should stop squatting straight away and do what KP says otherwise you are just going to be reinforcing a bad movement pattern. You need to re-learn the whole thing.
I would find a box (a 12" box should be about right for a person of average height) and squat down on to it for 5 sets of 20 (no bar or weight) you could do it at home a.m and p.m and just get used to squatting down to the right depth, then go from there.
I was actually the first person to see your vids when they loaded, but I chickened out and didn’t comment because I didn’t want to be the bad guy, but I realised that was the wrong attitude to have because if everyone did that you wouldn’t get any help.
So start doing some squats onto a low box and then film it and post it.
Cavalier, for what its worth, I squatted exactly like you for about oh, a couple of decades and just got a sore lower back and sore knees for my trouble.
However, what worked for me was overhead squatting a 20kg bar, maybe 4 years ago. I hit parallel first or second time of asking. Surprised the hell out of me. Then I copied that motion for front and back squats.
I’m not advocating overhead squats as some functional cure-all, but for me, it showed me how I was supposed to squat.
Now I can break parallel but my squat numbers are terrible, but the squats work my quads and dont make my low back or knees hurt.