[quote]kpsnap wrote:
So true about the tight upper body with a lower bar position. I’ve dabbled with these but find that the strain on my shoulder is too much. The squats feel awesome with the weight of the bar more centered, though.[/quote]
I can see why people squatting low bar tend to keep their arms out wide as it really does put a lot of tension on your shoulder. Right now I’ve got no shoulder issues so knock on wood…
james
Good idea with the squats, I just finished trying to squat everyday for a while, it made a difference certainly wit my strength, im gonna front squat on my dead day so I plan on doing twice a week as well.
Cheers Matty. There’s a few people I know (well, iKnow) who squat really frequently and it seems to really help them. It’s a week area for me so it would make sense to at least train the movement as often as possible.
james
solid work in here James
squatting 2x a week- felt great
did front squats and squats from pins one day
box squats for speed and some speed pulls another
tight hip flexors are the ban of most low back knee and hip issues
Low bar squat looked better to me but both looked good.
Good deads as well.
13 Aug
Warm up
OHP: 3135, 155, 175, 195, 175, 175, 185, 185, 195, 195, 175
Pull ups: 3 sets widegrip unweighted. 3 sets wide grip weighted with 25lbs, 3 sets parallel grip with 25, then two sets at 50
DB Bent over rows: 1045, 50, 55
Pendlay rows: 5135, 185, 225, 245, 280
Dips: 10bw, +25, +50, +75, 6*+102.5
Evening sled work
Decent session today. I actually took two complete days off of training due to various commitments and it feels like I’m gone forever when I do that. Presses all went well and I didn’t do much of a warm up simply because I did 4 of my sets of pull ups while waiting for the racks. I find that pull ups also warm my shoulders up. I went wide grip as those are supposed to hit your lats more. I did parallel to hit my biceps more. I did the DB bent over rows to hit my lower traps and the Pendlay rows because I needed to kick ass at something. I also think they will hit my back in general.
james
14 Aug
Warm up
Squats: 3135, 155, 185, 230, 250, 230, 230, 240, 240, 275, 315
Front squats: 3135, 155, 185, 185
Good mornings: 36185
Pull throughs: 410100
Foam rolling and stretching.
Good session today. I was feeling good so I upped the weight on the squats and they went up pretty easily and with good form. I was going to up the weight more but this is volume day and not intensity day so I kept it where it was. I’ll do the same next session if I’m feeling it. Front squats went well although they still don’t look wonderful. I hate to be one of those guys who says “I"m just not built for them” but I’m beginning to think that’s the case. I’m going to stick with them though because I think that I can get better at them.
james
I always wonder about warming up espescially when you did an exercise before that already warmed you up…last week I did T-bars and went straight to high rep DB rows with no warm up and they felt great, kinda like what happened with you…
Awesome as usual bro.
[quote]MattyXL wrote:
I always wonder about warming up espescially when you did an exercise before that already warmed you up…last week I did T-bars and went straight to high rep DB rows with no warm up and they felt great, kinda like what happened with you…
Awesome as usual bro.[/quote]
Waste of time in my book. If you’ve just done heavy millies for example, why start laterals with 20’s then 30’s then 40’s etc? Just go straight to your top set. A lot of people do this though. You don’t need to warm up each specific movement IMO. If you’re warmed up you are warmed up!
Those are some massive Pendlays!
Great stuff James.
Totally agree!
16 Aug
Warm up
OHP: 3bar, 65, 115, 135
Bench: 3135, 185, 225, 245, 270. 2290, 3270, 270, 280, 280. 2290. 1290. 1325 (PR).
Pull ups: 5 sets to failure
Pendlay rows: 5135, 185, 205, 225
Evening sled work.
So today was a mix of failure and triumph. I totally missed the volume during my main set of bench. I’m going to chock it up to “one of those days” but I am going to make a move to close grip bench for the next few cycles. I have been flat benching using this template for 5 months now and I think it’s time to mix it up. Because I was frustrated with my bench I figured I would give 325 a shot. It went up pretty nicely. I’m now officially at 1.5 bodyweight for my bench.
Because I set a PR (a true PR and not a “rep” PR) I skipped out on dips and just finished up with some rows. I’m taking the approach now that if I set a PR then the session is finished.
Sled work was done in the evening wearing my work clothes. I picked up my son and when we got home he wanted to hit the park and swing. Since he tends to change his mind a lot (he’s three, go figure) I figured I would strike while the iron was hot and I loaded him and Joey up and off to the park we went. I didn’t change out of work clothes (go figure) and Holden wanted to sled. Well, he wanted to be dragged while I pulled the sled. Luckily my Chucks were in the back of the truck and I was able to pull wearing those. The funny thing is that instead of feeling ridiculous for wearing work clothes while pulling the sled I felt pretty bad ass. Go figure.
I’m really happy with HP Mass so far. I’ve been doing it now for 5 cycles (a cycle is six weeks) and I’ve increased my deadlift and my bench nicely. My bench has always sucked so to see it climb over 315 is pretty nice.
james
Great job on the PR!
Warm up
Pull throughs: 310
Deads: 3135, 225, 315, 365, 405, 425, 455
Squats: 3135, 225, 275, 315. 1365
Front squats: 3135, 135, 155, 185, 1225
Solid training today. It looks a bit weird with the two sets of singles mixed in by I’m trying to get my strength back up to where it was. Deads went really well and they were my main movement. I’m keeping the volume lower because I’m doing the front squats and back squats and I think that’s enough total volume. I did up the weight but the reps were still solid and went up handily.
Squats went well and I’m really catching onto low bar. I did a single at 365 and I was going to go for 405 but that rep wouldn’t have been as quick as I would like so I felt it was better to be conservative. I’ll be back in the 400’s before I know it and then hopefully pushing close to 5.
Front squats were an epiphany for me and I actually got my form halfway correct. I took a wider stance than I was using and focused on breaking at the knees first. It took a long time to beat the idea of sitting back. I think that’s where a coach could help because they would have kicked my knees out as a cue. I used a clean grip today and it was easier to keep upright even though it felt like somebody was trying to rip my fingers out.
james
[quote]Germanone wrote:
Great job on the PR! [/quote]
thank you sir! They don’t come very often…
james
[quote]atypical1 wrote:
Because I set a PR (a true PR and not a “rep” PR)[/quote]
Interesting because I don’t see rep PRs as PRs either. Reps don’t excite me. I could give a shit how many reps I can do at a submaximal weight. That’s just me, though.
Sounds like your program is paying dividends.
Nice work. Congrats on the bench PR.
Great deads and squats as well. Looking strong!
congrats on the PR!
Thanks Matty and LS!
ksnapp - Yeah, rep PRs help guide me to some extent in that they help to give me some idea on how my work capacity is progressing. But they certainly don’t tax me the way that a true 1RM does. And they are nowhere near as fulfilling as a true PR.
james
Front squat form check. There are some details to work out but I think it looks a million times better than it did before.
19 Aug
Warm up
OHP: 3bar, 95, 135, 155, 175, 195, 175, 185, 195, 175, 185, 195, 175, 185, 195, 175
Chins: 10 sets
Bent over DB rows: 31050, 55, 60
Pendlay: 5135, 185, 205, 225, 245, 280
Dips: 10*bw, +25, +50, +77.5, +102.5
Solid pressing session today. I got through all of my pressing sets so I’ll up by 5 lbs next cycle. I’m at the weights where completing all of the volume is no longer a given and I’ll be interested in seeing how long I can run this. I might do push press when I stall on these. I’ve been doing OHP for a long time now so it might be time for a break. Then again, maybe not.
james