James- A Happy Healthy New Year to ya!! Just catching up over here. That is some good, good squatting man!! Your workouts are always solid, keep it up, I enjoy reading it.
Just catching up in here, good work and I box squat for speed and 2nd time during the week for ME work but then again I complete in single ply
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
I read a recent post by Meat the otherday (can’t remember what forum) that said he felt that pause in the hole squats worked better and he said that he couldn’t understand the whole ‘sit back’ thing for raw lifters either and that he just squats straight down. I was really pleased to read that because I’ve never understood that one either. [/quote]
You know, I can squat more raw wide stance by sitting way back than I ever did narrow stance. Actually, FB, I’d really like to see you try wide-stance sit-back squats since you’ve got a lot of hip flexibility. I think you’d be very, very good at them.
[quote]Any plans to max out soon?
I’ve also read lots of conflicting opinions as to whether box squats are good for raw lifters or not. I read a recent post by Meat the otherday (can’t remember what forum) that said he felt that pause in the hole squats worked better and he said that he couldn’t understand the whole ‘sit back’ thing for raw lifters either and that he just squats straight down. I was really pleased to read that because I’ve never understood that one either. [/quote]
No real plans on maxing out anytime soon. Frankly whenever I do that I end up pulling something and I don’t need that right now. If I do doubles or triples I don’t get hurt which is important to me with a toddler running around who needs my ass running around and tossing him around.
You know, the more you read the more conflicting it gets. Right now I’m doing instead of reading. I’ll keep them in the rotation but will keep free squats in the mix. I think that a pause on my free squats might be more fruitful than box squats but only time will tell.
I don’t have that wide of a stance and I did more of a “drop straight down” method today and it worked well for me. I think the key is to keep my back straight and work on the arch in my back. We’ll see what happens over the long run. This is certainly a good thing about keeping a log.
james
[quote]OldGoat wrote:
James- A Happy Healthy New Year to ya!! Just catching up over here. That is some good, good squatting man!! Your workouts are always solid, keep it up, I enjoy reading it.[/quote]
Thank you very much sir!
james
[quote]lil power wrote:
Just catching up in here, good work and I box squat for speed and 2nd time during the week for ME work but then again I complete in single ply[/quote]
That’s actually really good advice. I try to do one heavy session then one light session although lately I’ve been going off of feel more than I should. I like the idea of doing a speed session and a ME session. I’m almost done with this cycle of Juggernaut and will plan my daily sessions better the next run.
james
31 Dec
Squats (free squats): 3135, 135, 185, 225, 245, 275, 295, 315, 335, 315, 275, 225
OHP: 43160. 16160
Neutral grip pull ups (weighted): 5 sets with 40lbs
Cable rows: 410200
Face pulls: 410*75
Curls and tri push downs
Squats went well today and I did them sans box. I fear becoming too reliant on it so I’m going to keep doing them in addition to the box squats. I used fat gripz for my pressing but didn’t use them for pull ups to give my elbows a break. I did them weighted with a neutral grip as this is a lot easier on my elbows. I added curls and tri push downs as finishers and used the fat gripz for the curls.
james
Nice squatting (as usual).
Do you find the wave loading helps?
Looking back at 2011 it’s been a pretty decent year. My deadlift was the big winner though and it went from a single at 500 to a triple at that same weight. My squat form improved dramatically even though the weight didn’t (that’s a focus for 2012). My bench finally broke 315 (it’s at 335 now) and that was a big moment for me (even though it’s still pretty light).
On a personal level I re-established a relationship with my parents after many years. Age has definitely mellowed them (they are both in their 70s now). My dad’s a hard man (he’s a vet of Korea and Vietnam) and was for the most part an absentee father (lots of deployments followed by a career in the CIA which took him away a lot). My mom never had a father figure herself so she didn’t know how to raise a son (couple that with a really hard life growing up and it’s not a fantastic combo). But I learned a lot from them all the same and it was important to me to have them present again now that I’ve got a son.
For 2012 I’m going to really focus on my squat. I really, really want to get 405 for a double (with solid form) and that’s my immediate goal. I also want to add an inch to my legs and take an inch from my waist.
Have a safe and happy new years everyone, see you all in 2012.
james
[quote]ddot76 wrote:
Nice squatting (as usual).
Do you find the wave loading helps?[/quote]
Thanks ddot!
I do find that it helps and I get a lot out of the lighter sets after the one heavy one. HP Mass is set up like that except you do a lot more up and down.
james
[quote]atypical1 wrote:
[quote]ddot76 wrote:
Nice squatting (as usual).
Do you find the wave loading helps?[/quote]
Thanks ddot!
I do find that it helps and I get a lot out of the lighter sets after the one heavy one. HP Mass is set up like that except you do a lot more up and down.
james
[/quote]
Hmmm… I may try that then and add some wave loading in on my squats. I felt a little “bored” today just pushing sets of 5. Might have made more sense to do sets of 5 around the 315 mark.
Happy New Year buddy!
James - first off you had a great year. On the squats Brett is right you look like your in first gear( but then you really make alot of lifts look easy). the pause squats where a confidence builder for me and also indentified that my glutes and hams are my weakest link and I have recently adjusted my lifting to fix this. Box squats really had no carry over for me. I am with Snap try the wide stance as she stated I think it may help you alot. Anyway heres to another great year of lifting in 2012.
Cheers dude. I think that makes sense although I’m not a huge fan of a wide stance. I think I will try out the paused squats and see how those work for me.
1 Jan
Box squats: 52185
Deads: 43385, 16385
Snatch grip deads: 45245
Continuous tension leg press
Ab work
Foam rolling/stretching
This article has been on my mind lately:
I did really light box squats just to get the blood moving around in my legs as they are still sore from yesterday. I wonder if it’s just better to get the recovery instead of trying to keep on schedule. I upped the weight on the snatch grip deads and they went really well. I can actually feel these helping my deadlift form out so that’s a plus. I’m getting the itch to go heavy again with these but I need to be patient because I know that the weight will come in due time.
I did the continuous tension leg press to work on my quads. I’m essentially just doing the middle part of the movement to work my quads. No need to go deep because I’m getting enough glute/ham work from all of the squats. Besides, leg press kills my knees if I go all the way down. I would have done squats like that but my back needs a break as I’ve got a really raw patch of skin where the bar is rubbing.
I skipped pull ups because since I just did them yesterday and my back is still sore.
james
Ahhh yes you sent me this article and everything about it is spot on. It serves as a reminder for me to hit some quad movements possibly a narrow stance leg press to up some strength in that area and take your cue on the continuous resistance. The one thing I will stand by however is how the “low” box squat taught me depth which I struggled with before…
2012 is yours brother!
[quote]atypical1 wrote:
I did the continuous tension leg press to work on my quads. I’m essentially just doing the middle part of the movement to work my quads. No need to go deep because I’m getting enough glute/ham work from all of the squats. Besides, leg press kills my knees if I go all the way down. I would have done squats like that but my back needs a break as I’ve got a really raw patch of skin where the bar is rubbing.
[/quote]
Dude is ttraining like a bodybuilder! AWESOME!
[quote]Canada_K wrote:
Dude is training like a bodybuilder! AWESOME!
[/quote]
Haha…yeah, I need to do something to get my legs to grow and I don’t want my quads holding back my squat.
3 Jan
Pull ups: 5 sets with fat gripz
Squats: 3135, 225, 245, 275, 315, 335
Bench: 3135, 225. 1245, 255, 5270 (fat gripz)
Short session today and didn’t have time to do my additional back work. I did do pull ups with the fat gripz today. Squats went really well and so did bench. My shoulder is still sore and I’m considering moving to floor press for the next round of Juggernaut.
james
6 Jan
Squats: 3135, 135, 185, 225. 1245, 275, 295, 315. 5335
GMs: 5 135, 155, 185, 205, 225
Continuous tension leg press
Ab work
This was the realization week for 3s. My squat has gone up (at least in theory) although I attribute that to squatting three times a week. GMs went really well and I used more weight than normal because I was feeling pretty strong. I did the leg press again in the style of do a set, add weight, do a set, for several sets. The idea is to go as close to failure as possible, add weight, and do it again. Then work my way down again. I could barely walk at the end of that set and I’m hoping to see some growth from these.
I’m going to do 5/3/1 this year and will be using the full body template. It’s not too much of a stretch from what I’m doing now so I’m not really concerned about losing progress. This should also allow for a bit more recovery so I can keep up with (or get back into…) my conditioning.
james
[quote]atypical1 wrote:
I’m going to do 5/3/1 this year and will be using the full body template. [/quote]
I’ll be interested in seeing how this works for you.
And the fat grips. Do people use those just to train their grip? As a carryover for DL strength?
What I’ve heard about fat grips that it’s a combo of grip strength and forearm size. I’ve also heard that it helps reduce shoulder pain during pressing movements. What I have found is that my grip definitely gets worked but I can roughly the same number of pull ups with or without these. I really like doing curls with them because they really do make my elbows feel better. I also like pressing with them because they really help me to grip the bar tightly. That’s hard for me to do with the normal bar.
I think the full body will work well for what I’m looking for and it’s not that much of a stretch from what I’m doing now since I am squatting daily.
james
8 Jan
Squats: 3135, 185, 225, 245, 275, 315
Fat grip pull ups: 5 sets
OHP: worked up to 6175
DB Rows: 3 * 10 * 140
FG Curls: 2F40
Pretty solid session today. Gym was packed for whatever reason but I was able to get into the squat rack no problem. I was a bit fatigued still from last squat session so I kept it to 315 as my top set. This was a really fast set though and I really worked on my explosiveness.
Used the fat gripz for press and curls and it seemed to work well.
james