ah, thanks for the advice, you’re completely right. I think that consist form and mindset is missing from my squats and deads. I hammered those things down recently with bench and military and it’s made such a difference.
I rush half my squat sets and am playing around with form on most of them. I’ll make it a point to go to the gym without my family and or bros in the morning so I can have the squat rack all to myself and not feel rushed. I think taping also will help me reach consistency. If my knees hurt next session then I think I’ll put this program on hold until I sort them out, but most likely that won’t be needed.
Day 16 Session 15 12/27/12
bench
45 25
95 10
135 5
155 3
180 3
200 3
225 1
245 1 tied PR, went up decently fast
250 0 told the spotter IGOTITIGOTITIGOTIT near lockout but it stayed there for a while until I put it back into the racks. I?m sure I can get this weight next bench session which be on Jan 2 lol as my gym is closed the 31st and 1st.
nice bench man! I think you’ll start to find that groove with the squats, stick to this program, even if you feel you need to fix your squat form, just adjust your squat weights and nothing else, because this is obviously helping with your benching and some other lifts in here. Keep up the good work!
thanks guys, 275 is going up in a couple of months : )
Day 17 Session 16 12/28/12
squat
45 10
95 10
135 5
185 3
205 3
235 3
255 1
275 1 felt good, I’m strong enough for more but my form and general lack of experience under a bar > 225 lbs is showing
My butt touched my calves on every rep except the last, I need to video these and get consistent on depth.
Back Raises
50 lbs 3x10
decline abs
BW 3x10
I took goodfellow’s advice about focus on each set and warmups, and it certainly paid off (thanks dude). My knees/hips did hurt afterwards but it was a little less than last session.
I’m pretty sure most of the stretching and foam rolling I’ve done up till now has been largely useless. Today I put more focus on stretching hard and holding each stretch, as well as rolling my IT bands while keeping my legs straight and relaxed, which seemed to help. I also soaked in an epsom salt bath, which I think will become at least a once weekly thing now.
had this song on repeat while squatting, I love the lyrics, they’re very fitting us who have this hobby of powerlifting
Good job man. Another thing, no need to do sets of 10 even for warm ups, especially when working on form, break it up, Do like barx5x3sets,95x3x2, 115x3,135x3,155x1, then your work sets if they start at around 185. Other than that everything in here sounds great man. Can’t wait to see some videos.Keep up the good work.
thanks again goodfellow, I’ll give it a try tomorrow
Day 18 Session 17 12/29/12
military press
45 3
95 3, 3
115 3
135 1
155 1
165 1 PR took forever to lockout
135 1
going to start using a belt for military pressing from now on
db rows
100 12, 9, 12, 10, 15 PR
beat 5x10 so this is good, especially because I also made sure to get a full ROM and led with my weaker left arm. I’d like to get 5x15 or more and then try to rig bands to this. I’ll call them BD Rows
congrats on the PR’s man. Im jealous of that db row, i was to the point where i could row the 100’s 5x10, but i have done 5x10 for rows in a while so not sure but i feel like my grip used to be stronger.
thanks, last week I decided to track PRs with DB rows and pullups as I really want to push them. I chalked up between almost every set of them the past two sessions lol, they make me nervous and scared so I keep them in.
wow that video makes me feel like a huge pussy, lol needless to say i will be putting db rows back in my training sessions and putting forth a big effort on them.
yeah, I think my squats and rows are in her range lol. For our first date I guess we’ll hit the gym.
I like the low rep warmups, I focused more on form, although my ramping was a bit lazy
Day 19 Session 18 12/30/12
squat
45 3
95 3, 3
135 3, 3
185 3, knees started hurting and haven’t stopped, 3
225 3 no belt or shoes
Deadlift
135 1 lol
225 3
265 3
luckily today was a deload day of sorts, I should?ve taken the day off and waited until tomorrow
It?s been an hour since I finished training and the knee pain has gone down thankfull. I’m going through mobilityWOD now, I’m going to have to drop squats in favor of box squats I guess if I can’t get my knees sorted out.
what kind of shoe do you squat and deadlift in normally? I used to get knee pain, but then i learned to squat/deadlift either with a really flat soled shoe like chuck taylors or wrestling shoes, or go barefoot so i would go barefoot on all my sets of squats and deadlifts until i got the chuck taylors recently. and barefoot was not a bad alternative at all. squatting in any basketball shoe like jordans or running sneakers is just stupid in my opinion. So ya might wanna switch to barefoot, some guys like the olympic shoes too, gotta find out what works for you, but before ya just go buy the oly shoes, you should squat with like 5lb plates under your barefoot or flatsoled shoe to see if that helps too. personally i like being flat as possible. the oly shoes are also better if you squat in an olympic style stance and not a wide PL stance.
Day 22 Session 19 1/2/13
Right shoulder felt a bit weird from playing pokemon crystal in bed, but after the warmup sets I felt great. 2 days off, lots of sleep, and lots of caffeine made me full of adrenaline this session.
bench
45 bunch, bunch
95 5
135 3
145 5
170 5
190 5
225 1
250 1 PR
pullups
wide grip BW 10, 6
close grip +25 3, 3, 3
preacher curls
rotator cuff stuff - right side is way stronger, I’ve been leading all the one arm movements with my left arm
[quote]trivium wrote:
Interesting log. Do you feel like it is working?[/quote]
Thanks for following along. It’s working for my two upper lifts extremely well so far. For the lower lifts, it’s too early to say. For what it’s worth my best squat has been 300x1 and my best deadlift 315x2, so any program would probably work. I plugged in my training maxes very high (some of the numbers I had never even hit before) but I have been keeping close or even above all of them so far. I’m going to continue with this program for another month or longer if I can keep up with the monthly 20/40 increases on the lifts.
[quote]goodfellow90 wrote:
what kind of shoe do you squat and deadlift in normally? I used to get knee pain, but then i learned to squat/deadlift either with a really flat soled shoe like chuck taylors or wrestling shoes, or go barefoot so i would go barefoot on all my sets of squats and deadlifts until i got the chuck taylors recently. and barefoot was not a bad alternative at all. squatting in any basketball shoe like jordans or running sneakers is just stupid in my opinion. So ya might wanna switch to barefoot, some guys like the olympic shoes too, gotta find out what works for you, but before ya just go buy the oly shoes, you should squat with like 5lb plates under your barefoot or flatsoled shoe to see if that helps too. personally i like being flat as possible. the oly shoes are also better if you squat in an olympic style stance and not a wide PL stance. [/quote]
my shoes aren’t a problem : ) I’m really not worthy of their greatness currently, but I hope to be soon. I think getting form videos to you guys, as well as fixing my mobility, will solve the problem. I gave myself my current pains from running Smolov with ATG low bar squats, which was absolutely horrible for my hips/knees/back, as I went deeper than my form/mobility would allow and allowed my knees to cave.
^ picture is really washed out, they’re a delicious red in person
Day 23 Session 20 1/3/13
squat
45 5
95 5
135 5
170 5 belt on
195 5
220 5
255 1
275 0, went too low and hit the safeties, after this one my knees/hips started hurting, but they only hurt for a half hour after the session yayy. I think foam rolling my IT bands is helping tons
evening:
back extensions +60 3x10
bunch of ball crunches
goals for the year:
none, I’m going to set monthly goals as they’re better for me at this point in time
By the end of January:
-hit 275, 295, and later 295 for easy singles on squat with no knee/hip/back pain
-keep bench and military at or above what I plugged in as maxes
-start my last semester strong - get 100% on all assignments, network well, and apply for graduation
-nail my interviews and keep applying for jobs
dude those shoes are sweet! I am loving the chuck taylors! I got sick within the past couple of days, and today I missed 455 twice on deadlift at about thigh level. I was pissed because I have deadlifted 455 twice before successfully, and have never had trouble finishing a deadlift that I can get to my knees. If it happens again next time I do that much weight I might start doing exercises to work on that weakness.
uhhh I can’t give advice on DL, my best is 315x2. Chucks are great though, you can wear them around as well which is nice.
what do you think about doing some shrugs after deadlifts? My back is very strong compared to my weak deadlift. One thing I always avoided until recently was shrugging; as soon as I added it in my DL numbers started moving up.
shrugs/any upperback or traps exercise is great. Try facepulls too. i like to do sets of 20 or higher reps with the facepulls or sets of ten but with drop sets. you can do facepulls standing or you can do them like john meadows High Pull Low Rows - YouTube
Things that I believe have helped me get more reps on deadlifts (I maxed one time 3 months ago. All I can tell you is reps):
-Kroc Rows-
Went from going for a rep max to adding sets of 10 (2 sets this cycle, 3 sets next, 4 sets after that, etc.)
-Pullups-
I honestly believe this has also done wonders for me. Sets of 2 reps this cycle, 3 reps next, 4 after that. Do the sets until you cannot get above the bar for even 1 rep.
-Face Pulls-
Done pretty much like the video above, but I like to sit on the floor by the cable stack and have it sitting just above eye level. In my eyes, when doing this there is no way to engage the lat to start the move. I try to think about the muscle group I am working with this and really get a good stretch. 3x10 and then drop set the hell out of it. Its the last thing I do during the day so I always just burn out on these or do a few extra sets.
-Double Overhand Grip-
When I deadlift my Boring But Big sets, I do them with double overhand grip.
-Form-
Trying to keep my back arched through every rep. I try to start my rep with in a stretched positition (bend over and grab the bar like you were going to do a toe touch) a by dropping my hips and then picking my head straight up. Im not the best, but these cues have helped me a little. I feel like if I keep my back nice and set, it helps make the lockout easier. If that fails, roll the bar toward you at the start of the rep (builds a little bar momentum).
-At the risk of sounding like a tool…Get Pissed Before Your Set-
Trivium’s advice was right on. I agree pullups, kroc rows, face pulls, double overhand deadlifts, all help greatly. Also, when you are done with 531 frequency, training using the westside method helped my Dl pretty good because you get to use bands and chains for squatting and deadlifting and do some speed work.
