He Insists You Are Hector Reborn. Or Was It Hercules?

Training Training Logs
241

[quote]csulli wrote:
Big fan of Lu btw. Chia I think it’s about time to take the Lu-esque back pic at the bottom of a squat. You can totally pull it off. You’re actually leaner than he is in this pic, although he’s got a lot of fucking muscle on there lol.[/quote]

Haha sweet. Maybe I’ll give it a go today or tomorrow.

And jeez that is incredibly jacked for a 170lb dude. I’ll have to carb up for maximum swoleness if I want to try and emulate that shot (not to mention it’s gonna be like 200lbs less on the bar, ha).

242

[quote]csulli wrote:
Let me know what thoughts you have. The whole point is to improve my form. Believe it or not this is WAY better than I used to squat. I used to roll the bar slightly farther down my shoulders mid rep and cave my chest at the bottom rounding over my back and then shoot my hips up and goodmorning the weight the rest of the way. I did 440lbs like that. This feels a lot better though. I have the bar a little higher on my back and a closer stance with my feet less turned out.[/quote]

I’m always hesitant to give out advice but I’ll throw this out there:

As I’ve over 9000x said before, you should try slowing your descent. You seem to lower the weight by relaxing your hips and reducing overall tension/tightness, almost like you just let the bar drop and then fight to get back into position to reverse the movement. Instead you need to actively control the weight down and even increase tension on the descent (low bar) if possible. A fast descent is not bad, but only if it is done under control.

Slowing down the bar will give you time to consciously keep everything into the right positions on the way down. It’s not just A to B and back to A. Rather you need to put yourself in the strongest position every inch of the way down, and hit those positions again on the way back up. It’s almost like a check list you must go through as you lower the bar: feet planted, abs braced, back tight, break the hips, knees in place, butt back, knees out, start to bring butt down, knees forward slightly, anticipate the hole, increase descent speed slightly for rebound, etc. All while doing it in a fluid motion and keeping the trunk tight the whole time.

At least that is the approach that helped me quite a bit to transition to low bar squats, which are probably more technical and less natural than high bar.

Only after “muscle memory” has been developed and the motor patterns are second nature should you work on increasing the speed of descent, and even accelerating into the hole for rebound (even then, it’s really only the bottom 3-4" that makes a difference).

Getting brutally strong is one thing, but if you want to be a technical lifter (strength as a skill), POSITION is key. It is pretty much the foundation of weightlifting (and pretty much any other technical application of strength and power, i.e. SPORTS).

243

[quote]BCpowder wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:

[quote]csulli wrote:
Big fan of Lu btw. Chia I think it’s about time to take the Lu-esque back pic at the bottom of a squat. You can totally pull it off. You’re actually leaner than he is in this pic, although he’s got a lot of fucking muscle on there lol.[/quote]

Is it just be or did his ass shoot up out of the squat and then almost good morning hip thrust after?

Bad ass shot though sick back and made those reps look like cake [/quote]

That’s the nature of high bar olympic style squatting, especially when utilizing a lot of rebound out of the hole. Lu actually does it quite a bit less than others. [/quote]

Ok nice. Sorry I am not versed in this type of lifting at all. I’m a dumb lifter :slight_smile:

244

[quote]BCpowder wrote:

[quote]csulli wrote:
Let me know what thoughts you have. The whole point is to improve my form. Believe it or not this is WAY better than I used to squat. I used to roll the bar slightly farther down my shoulders mid rep and cave my chest at the bottom rounding over my back and then shoot my hips up and goodmorning the weight the rest of the way. I did 440lbs like that. This feels a lot better though. I have the bar a little higher on my back and a closer stance with my feet less turned out.[/quote]

I’m always hesitant to give out advice but I’ll throw this out there:

As I’ve over 9000x said before, you should try slowing your descent. You seem to lower the weight by relaxing your hips and reducing overall tension/tightness, almost like you just let the bar drop and then fight to get back into position to reverse the movement. Instead you need to actively control the weight down and even increase tension on the descent (low bar) if possible. A fast descent is not bad, but only if it is done under control.

Slowing down the bar will give you time to consciously keep everything into the right positions on the way down. It’s not just A to B and back to A. Rather you need to put yourself in the strongest position every inch of the way down, and hit those positions again on the way back up. It’s almost like a check list you must go through as you lower the bar: feet planted, abs braced, back tight, break the hips, knees in place, butt back, knees out, start to bring butt down, knees forward slightly, anticipate the hole, increase descent speed slightly for rebound, etc. All while doing it in a fluid motion and keeping the trunk tight the whole time.

At least that is the approach that helped me quite a bit to transition to low bar squats, which are probably more technical and less natural than high bar.

Only after “muscle memory” has been developed and the motor patterns are second nature should you work on increasing the speed of descent, and even accelerating into the hole for rebound (even then, it’s really only the bottom 3-4" that makes a difference).

Getting brutally strong is one thing, but if you want to be a technical lifter (strength as a skill), POSITION is key. It is pretty much the foundation of weightlifting (and pretty much any other technical application of strength and power, i.e. SPORTS).[/quote]
Very good points

245

6/26/2014

Deadlift:
135 5x
225 5x
225 5x
315 5x
365 3x
405 3x
405 3x
405 3x
405 3x

Block Pulls:
425 3x
425 3x
425 3x
425 3x

Paused Bench:
45 10x
95 10x
135 10x
185 5x
225 5x
265 4x
265 4x
265 4x
265 4x

Deck of cards circuit.
Hearts - burpees
Diamonds - decline situps
Clubs - pullups
Spades - ring dips
Went through the entire deck. Numbers = reps, all face cards are 10, aces are 11. Chia went fast as shit, so it was really hard to keep up though.

246

Here’s a deadlift set of 405:

I didn’t find that concentrating on arching my lower back helped much, so this time I just focused on pulling my lats down and keeping my upper back flatter. I think that was more successful in getting me closer to the ultimate goal.

Here’s one of my bench sets:

I think bench is probably pretty okay.

247

Deck of Cards is always pretty brutal and a great way to condition. I did that today for some active recovery stuff.

Also, it looks to me like your back was definitely in a much more conducive position on these pulls. Maybe it was because of the lighter weight for you, but I have no doubt you will improve with all of the great advise you are putting into practice on here.

248

6/27/2014

Squat (beltless):
45 10x
135 10x
185 5x
225 5x
275 3x
320 3x
320 3x
320 3x
320 3x
320 3x
320 3x
320 3x
320 3x

Next time I get around to this workout in the program I may drop the number of sets here or just do 4 sets of 3 with about that percentage and then drop down to a few lighter sets of 4 or something. This was pushing my ability to maintain my form (which is the whole point) especially beltless.

Paused Bench:
45 10x
95 10x
135 3x
185 3x
225 3x
245 3x
265 2x
275 2x
245 3x
245 3x
I also threw on the sling shot and hit a rep at 315 and 355 and tried a paused one at 385 but I couldn’t lock that out. That’s a shame since last week 365 for a paused double with the slingshot felt light as a feather. This was not a good day to go for a paused slingshot PR though. This was like my 5th bench workout in 7 days, and the 8 triples on squats took some energy and CNS capacity out of me.

All in all not a great day in the gym. I didn’t feel as strong or solid on my lifts as the other days this week. I’ve not yet fully adapted to the accumulated fatigue of all the beltless volume and frequency. It’s a lot, even for me lol.

249

[quote]Alpha wrote:
Also, it looks to me like your back was definitely in a much more conducive position on these pulls.[/quote]
I just want to join the 600lb club with you and my training partner lol.

250

Here’s my first triple from today:

Not as good as my squats on Wednesday I don’t think.

251

They looked fine to me. Your upper back was a little hunched but other than that they were n’t bad at all.

252

[quote]Loftearmen wrote:
They looked fine to me. Your upper back was a little hunched but other than that they were n’t bad at all.[/quote]

Thanks! I know this is a lame excuse, but we were all out of chalk at the gym, and I tend to hunch over more when that happens out of fear that if I get too upright the bar will slide off my unchalked back lol. It’s 99% a stupid mental thing.

253

6/28/2014

Deadlifts (beltless):
135 10x
225 5x
315 3x
405 5x
405 5x
405 5x

Deadlifts w/ a 1 sec. pause at the knee (beltless):
365 3x
365 3x
365 3x
365 3x

Press:
145 7x
145 7x
145 7x
145 7x
145 7x

So today is the most difficult from a lower back recovery standpoint: squat Wednesday, deadlift Thursday, squat Friday, deadlift Saturday. I was definitely feeling the accumulated fatigue from all the beltless lower body volume.

254

Just a thought. You may want to get your pressing in before your deadlifts in the future because of the low back fatigue thing, especially if you’re doing them beltless.

255

I always struggled to balance squats and deads with regard to the assistance each included. I just was so fatigued, but I got used to it after a while. My body never failed to adapt to change of programs.

Anywho, you’re definitely a lot more balanced of an athlete since you’ve been pressing more frequently. I’ve been enjoying your log for the simple fact that you’re constantly trying new things. If you ever feel like squatting more often (heh), try pause beltless fronts. Would probably challenge you ALOT considering it does with me and I’m not exactly perturbed in the upper/mid back region. I know I’m also very bias saying that, especially cuz you’ve got everything so planned out and you hate front squats with a passion.

cowers

256

[quote]strongmanvinny wrote:
If you ever feel like squatting more often (heh), try pause beltless fronts. [/quote]

257

6/29/2014

Paused Bench:
45 10x
95 5x
135 5x
185 5x
225 4x
260 3x
290 3x
290 3x
290 3x
290 3x
290 3x

Pullups:
20x
15x
15x
15x
15x this is actually a pullups volume PR I guess lol

I am having a difficult time deciding whether I should have my feet tucked all the way back on my toes or have my feet forward just enough so that I am fully flat footed. I’ll try to compile some video of sets both ways and compare. I feel like I get better leg drive flat footed, but I have less chance that my hips will come up when I am on my toes.

258

Here’s a bench set from today:

259

6/30/2014

Squat (beltless):
(I used the squat bar today)
55 10x
145 10x
195 5x
235 5x
285 3x
325 1x
340 2x I’m not sure I’ve even ever gone this heavy beltless before lol.
340 2x
340 2x
340 2x
325 2x
325 2x
325 2x
325 2x

Paused Bench:
45 10x
95 10x
135 5x
185 5x
225 4x
255 3x
275 3x
275 3x
275 3x
275 3x
275 3x

So as usual I’m waffling on my bench form. I tried them heels down again today. Possibly more importantly though I started thinking about how my elbows move during the bench. Up until now I have always benched kind of “opposite” of how an article might tell you to do it. I would flare my elbows out wide on my descent and squeeze them in real hard on the way up. I used to think this just some kind of “tricep dominance” or whatever, but I’m starting to think maybe it’s just bullshit. So today I tried consciously having a slight tuck with my elbows on the way down and flaring to come up. It felt weird, but not necessarily weaker. I dunno why this shit is so complicated.

260

Here’s a 275 set: