bunch of rear delt and rotator cuff work on the cable crossover
conditioning: 1 hour bike machine
recovery: 30 mins foam rolling and stretching
So I’ve been training for 16 months now. In that time my lifts have gone:
bench: 135x5 → 225x5
squat: ~175x5 → ~225x5
deadlift: 245x2-> 385x1
so my bench improved pretty well, but my squat and deadlift are still a joke. I’m going to run the Starting Strength template for those lifts. So it’ll be
squat 3x5
powerclean 5x3
back extensions
alternated with
squat 3x5
deadlift 1x5
back extensions
I’ll run this until I get close to 4 and 5 plates for the squat and deadlift, respectively. I’ll be keeping the upper body work pretty much the same.
Geeze. You kick my ass at dumbbell benching. I never realized how hard Dumbell benching was until I busted my ass just to get 9 reps with either the 60’s or the 65’s on neutral grip dumbell bench presses the first time I ever dumbbell benched. They were very unstable/hard to balance. To quote some people talking behind my back after I did them “That guy had the worst form I have ever seen”.
my knees felt like dogshit this entire session, even though I did close to 200 TKEs per leg before squatting and in between every set. I just voodoo flossed my knees for the first time and they feel 100% - I’m hoping this lasts.
squat
135 5
185 3
225 5
210 5, 5
deadlift
225 1, 3, 3
275 1
315 5
pulled these all as singles
4/18/13
off
conditioning: none
recovery 45 mins of stretching and mobility work - I think I’m finally making headway with my shitty mobility. I’m holding each stretch hard for at least 2 mins, and am spending more time standing.
4/19/13
squat
215 5, 5, 5
knees hurt a bit on the last two sets, but that went away within 5 mins. I’m hoping next session will be completely pain free.
power clean
140 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
standing cable crunches, back extensions, and smith calf raises
knees hurt a bit on the last two sets, but that went away within 5 mins. I think next session will be completely pain free. I did more light warmup sets, pointed my toes out more, and used voodoo compression bands beforehand.
I’m gonna be a 10 once I get some traps, bigger lats, and shave my lower back hair
yesterday was an off day. For the past week I’ve done close to zero conditioning and my weight is past 205 now lol, whereas in the week prior I was dropping weight like crazy with all the conditioning I was doing. I think I will just stick in some tough stairclimber after squatting. The weather is getting warmer and school is wrapping up, so I’ll be less sedentary in the coming months. My goal is to get under 200 lbs and then slowly make my way up
yeah I’m pulling them conventional as singles without straps.
my grip is actually the limiting factor now - I think on the power clean sessions I’ll hit some farmers walks and bar hangs
As they get heavier I’ll add in straps, switch to sumo, and maybe pull them touch and go. nice floor pressing btw, you are going to be rocking 2 plates on bench in a few months
I think I could actually get 225 touch and go right now. It’ll take a little while to get it with a competition pause though. Speaking of pulling, this might interest you the next time your knees are dogshit: I was pulling ultra wide sumo today, and I noticed it used about as much quad as my wide stance stance with no stress on my knees. It also works the shit out of the glutes, especially the abduction function of the glutes.
nice! and I definitely have noticed that with sumo pulls, especially when I point my toes more out to the side. I think there will be a lot of wide stance squats in my future; today my knees felt like exploding even with 185 on the bar. My warmups are pretty good, mobility work pretty good, and even my form was called “good” by Mark Rippetoe himself lol.
I can hit front squats and leg presses without knee pain, so it’s odd. I think I will just drive my bench and deadlift up, hammer my posterior chain, then see how wide stance squats or just infrequent squatting feels on the knees. My squat #s will continue to suck, but at least my knees will be healthy and other lifts will continue to improve.
this is what I’m thinking:
sumo - heavy + backdown sets for reps
front squat
RDL
leg curl, back ext, calves, abs
sumo + bands, light triples
box squat
leg press
back ext, calves, abs
once my hips get stronger I’ll add assisted GHRs on the lat pulldown
http://www.andrc.com/images/BlackWelcome.gif Welcome to the wide squatter’s club :). You are going to need to REALLY bring your posterior chain up and learn how to stay tight, and hips may also not like you much, but it is very easy on the knees. It is also a strong style when you build up the muscles for it, and get past the steep learning curve.
I decided that I’ll focus on my deadlift and then try out the wide stance squats as my posterior chain gets stronger. As of now my hips are so weak that I have trouble with a bodyweight wide stance box squat. I’ll definitely start light so that my hips don’t explode.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2196/2249538994_15c239f348.jpg Yep :). Did you mean it is hard to wide stance squat you + a barbell that weighs the same as you, or that it is hard to do a non loaded wide stance squat? If it is the later, then you likely have some poor mobility :P.
