I’d just keep and easy running pace for as long as you can. Eventually you’ll hit a point where you instinctively think, “This is a lot easier than I remember”, and then you know it’s time to pick up the pace.
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I don’t know what happened Sunday. I either took off too fast, my shoulder workout affected my breathing, or a bit of both. Two of my last three runs have actually felt…good (gasp!). 
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This very well could’ve been it. A big thing with distance running is relaxed shoulders and upright posture to facilitate easier breathing by keeping the chest cavity and diaphragm open. If your shoulders are tired and hunching, it’s gonna make it difficult to maintain that posture.
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12.2.20 Daily Dose #14
Wasn’t going to train tonight. I even had a beer before this. I’ll take tomorrow off.
WARM UP
6 min elliptical
The Usual Except @ 85%
BENCH SQUAT
135 x 5
185 x 3
215 x 5 singles
DEADLIFT
275 x 3
325 x 2
375 x 5 singles
CABLE PRESS DOWN
100 reps as fast as possible
50 lbs x 50-10-10-10-10-10-cramp!
Took 5-20 sec rest between “sets” just to let the burning subside.
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12.4.20 Daily Dose #15
The most bare minimum of bare minimum workouts… until power cleans.
RUNNING
1 mile - 8:36 with a brief stop for someone doing a three point turnaround
SQUAT
185 x 5
DEADLIFT
325 x 5
POWER CLEAN
Wanted to work up to 225 with doubles.
185 x 2
195 x 2
205 x 2
215 x 2
225 x 2
Aaaaaannd I’m feeling great! Great pulls, so…
235 x 1
245 x 1
255 x 1
265 x 1
275 x 1
I’m no Olympic lifter, so don’t worry about my form. 
Actually I’m pretty happy with it. The catch on 265 was great by my standards. The hand/arm position on 275 was ugly, but it counts! 275 is the most I’ve cleaned in several years.
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Dude, you’re looking fucking JACKED.
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That’s good because I can’t seem to get back under 230 lbs. Thanks for the positive vibes! I’m okay with getting a bit fatter as long as I look good in a shirt. 
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It looks like your arms, chest and midback have all filled out. Keep doing what you’re doing!
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Those cleans were, dare I say it… clean! I’ll see myself out.
And congrats on 275, that’s a lot of weight to heave from ground to shoulders, especially at your elevated stature.
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Was it? Are we looking at the same video?
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I’ll echo the other comments, looking good, no idea on form, not a lift I really do often, but looking fast, comfortable and athletic - strong stuff. Also liking the beard.
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In my opinion, that all looked like crap. But admittedly that’s just the jealously talking.
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Damn 275 is no joke! First of all, you’re doing these with Chucks, so you make the lift extra harder, especially considering your build!
On 275 you just received it a bit lower than usual but that’s okay, form was good, it’s just that you are used to catch it higher (because you are STRONG) and didn’t have the habit of going lower.
Honestly your clean looks good, it’s just that it’s a bit deformed by your deadlift style/leverage, meaning you are almost doing a stiff-leg clean. In all reps your hips rise faster than your shoulders (even if they are rising both at the same time) but you make a good job of transitioning at the knees. That’s the only little thing, which makes you lose some power and positioning. In the end you still caught it really fucking high! That shows lots of power
Looking at this, I have trouble believing 375 is your 85% deadlift. Maybe it is right now because you had a hard time.
And yeah your arms look massive!
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Thanks!
It felt ugly. I felt a lot more pressure on my wrists because I didn’t get the weight as high as usual for the catch.
That’s the goal. If I can get my strength back up (I’m hoping it’s down to a simple lack of practice/specific training), keep running, and maintain this power then I’ll be thrilled with my 36 year old self.
Thank you!
Yep. I’m an odd duck. I don’t think I could front squat that weight. I have to be one of the few people who built up their power clean and not their squat.
Here’s my thoughts on deadlift and it carries over to my clean form: I think we each have a “strongest position” on the pull. I’ve seen a lot of people battle their hip position to pull “correctly” and I think it’s silly. If I start with low hips then my hips shoot up first. They moved first on every clean. That’s my strongest position so I just go with it.
The reason I move like this is because I suck at squats (or my quads are weak). If I drop my hips to get into a “proper” start position for a clean then I just move right back to my deadlift position when I move.
I suppose I could correct this with lots if specific training, but it’s not worth the investment at this point in my life. I’m 36 years old and I have the power to pull 275 4ish feet off the ground. I’m good with that.
There was a young know it all in here who told me my clean was a deadlift - reverse curl abomination. I told him “thanks for over estimating my curl strength” and then shared the video with CT. His response settled it for me. I had no reason to stress about my mechanics.
Here’s my “best” recorded power clean (11.15.2016). It looks like I was a stronger back then. I could maintain my hip angle but it still started high. 
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Hell yeah dude, nice work.
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You can see on your 295 once the bar moves up, both your hips and shoulders move at the same speed. Nothing wrong with having high hips, some long limbed lifters do. But either on deads or cleans, if your hips move first there’s a strength leak. Indeed I feel you, I’m long legged like you and it’s very hard for me to do it with hips lower, it means more quad work.
Right now, because you are neurally used to it 
Anyway, it’s the only thing that could seen as a “fault” so whateverrrrr
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Bingo. I’ll keep working on squats. I’m actually considering a different approach but I’m not sure…
I kind of like 5/3/1 Training Maximally where you work up to a single with your TM. I could keep the daily squats to get the extra work at 75%. I’m also considering bottoms up front squats from just above parallel.
Regardless of what I do, increased quad strength will improve my cleans. Thanks for the feedback!
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12.5.20 Daily Dose #16
JOG
1 mile in 8:40
The Usual
PAUSED SQUAT (counted to 3 in my head)
135 x 5
185 x 5 singles
DEADLIFT
275 x 5
325 x 5 singles
SEATED OHP (5/3/1 TM)
65 x 5
85 x 5
105 x 5
125 x 1
135 x 4
SEATED OHP 550 SET
95 x 13, 7, 7, 6, 6
39 reps is a bit short of the goal so I’ll try 85 lbs next week.
BARBELL CURL
95 x 14
85 x 11
75 x 12
65 x 11
55 x 14
Pause at bottom and focus on contracting as hard as possible. I also used a very strict form with a slight forward lean.
Time: 36 minutes
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These are tough as baaaalllsss
Honestly I’m just already happy that you are happy and your jogs are getting better! Considering your cleans/deads you have a rockhard core and back, so I think you should just up leg volume, no matter if it’s squat or something else. Not necessarily heavy, but more volume, more frequency
And pauses work, like you did today, is amazing!
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12.6.20
Not sure what I’m going to do today, but I had s thought I wanted to share. It probably belongs in the flame free thread, but I haven’t been in there for months.
I believe that most of the minor stuff I’ve done over the years was a waste of time and energy. By minor, I mean worrying about all the variations of a movement and stressing about “balance”. To simplify, the only movements required to get big and strong are the big compound movement.
To expand on that further, I think the other stuff has a place in training but doesn’t need to be a focus. If you have an injury, obvious weakness, or a severely lagging body part then go ahead and do all the moves in all the rep ranges. If things are good then put your energy into the big stuff and get out of the gym and enjoy the rest of your life.
To get specific, I don’t think it’s necessary to do bench, Incline, decline, DBs, flys, cables, etc to develop a strong horizontal press and decent pecs. You don’t need to do six pulling exercises every session to develop your back.
If you’re competing in bodybuilding then you might need to do these things. For the rest of us, I don’t think it’s worth the investment. I believe I can get 85-90% of my results with a short and simple session. Doubling my sessions or adding more training days to the week isn’t worth the extra 10-15% of gainz. As I get older, it’s about ROI - return on investment.
I feel like I’m in the midst of developing my best program to date. My conditioning is improving and it’s fitting into my week. My physique is fine. My diet is enjoyable. My sessions are short. My strength isn’t where I want on pushing movements, but my clean and deadlift strength tell me that the strength is there and just waiting to be rediscovered. This all makes me wonder if I wasted time all these years. There’s also a chance that this is where you end up after years of doing all the “extra” stuff.
Also, 550 sets are awesome. I should make a social media post so I can claim credit for it’s creation.
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