Lo/Rez Training

Training Training Logs
501

Not feeling good at all today… not enough food, not enough sleep, no appetite, and completely exhausted from work.

Still forced myself to squat.

Squats
45, 135, 155, 175, 195, 215, 225 x 3
235, 245 x 2
255 x 1

175, 180, 185 x 3

125 x 2 x 5 (slow down, fast up)

That’s it.

This is just about the minimum I could get away with for a Nemesis workout. 3 triples at 70% is the absolute minimum. I at least increased between sets.

I didn’t push the max hard at all. 255 is a nice comfortable number. Comfortable enough I can do it without even really paying attention.

I’m working, again, on form. Pushing everything to ATG depth. My 285 yesterday was below parallel, but not all the way down. I figure now that I’m no longer feeling the pressure of proving that specialization program works, I can hone in my form a bit. More depth theoretically gets more glute-ham recruitment.

Today I noticed how I need to work on my ankle mobility. Going deeper, my ankles don’t let my knees come forward enough, which my hips compensate for and cause my torso to lean forward… and this is one of the ways I’ve missed lifts, getting slightly off balance. I could probably just get Olympic lifting shoes and forget about this though. But I’m cheap, so not doing that yet. Worst case scenario, I get better ankle mobility.

I don’t really feel bad about “slacking” a bit. I mean, I’ll be squatting tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day. So yeah.

–

I did skip the rows though, and I feel just a little bit guilty about that. I don’t even know where to start with these though, so I’ll wait until Thursday to figure that out.

Meanwhile, food and bedtime.

502

Oh, those slow down, fast up reps… those are hard. I didn’t realize how much a slow eccentric can take out of you.

And not that it matters at all, but I did press that 125 overhead for a rep between sets. I figured, why not. And then my shoulders reminded me why not.

503

Nice pr.

Dude, get some shoes. You could pick up a pair for $70 off maxbarbell. Since squats seem to be your purpose in life, I think it’s a pretty good deal. I bought the Wei Rui contenders for 60 and they’re very solid. Not as good as the Romaleos, but for more than a $100 cheaper it’s a great value.

And for the pressing, have you tried any neutral grip work? I pretty much can’t do barbell OHP on a consistent basis because of a shitty left shoulder, but one-arm DB presses with a neutral grip gives me no trouble.

504

Warning: Excuses ahead…

This has been a rough week on a personal front. Driving back late and relying on strong caffeine doses kinda fucked me up. And then, other stuff actually going on.

And so… appetite was low, so lack of real energy, too much “fake” energy (and putting me into a deficit), less-than-optimal sleep, and long work hours, leaving the office at 9:30 or 10. Put me in a bad place physically and psychologically. Fortunately, I just ate a bunch of fast food yesterday with a half a gallon of milk and got myself back feeling almost normal awake and aware again.

The last two days I haven’t done a thing, since I haven’t gotten back from work until late late. The good thing about having a garage gym is being able to lift any time I want. The bad thing about having neighbors who live above and behind the garage is not being able to lift any time I want. So yeah.

Anyway, today, I’m doing two sessions.

Squats
ankle stretches
45, 95, 135, 155, 175, 195, 215 x 3

I stopped there. I just didn’t have the energy yet. Mood is good, energy is lacking, even with magical fast-digesting carbs, breakfast and coffee.

But, later today, for real, a true squat workout. And then a true bench workout. And then maybe some arms. This might take forever to do though. I might have to adjust my monthly plan because of time constraints with these workouts.

505

[quote]ishinator wrote:
Nice pr.

Dude, get some shoes. You could pick up a pair for $70 off maxbarbell. Since squats seem to be your purpose in life, I think it’s a pretty good deal. I bought the Wei Rui contenders for 60 and they’re very solid. Not as good as the Romaleos, but for more than a $100 cheaper it’s a great value.

And for the pressing, have you tried any neutral grip work? I pretty much can’t do barbell OHP on a consistent basis because of a shitty left shoulder, but one-arm DB presses with a neutral grip gives me no trouble.[/quote]

That is a good point about “my purpose in life”. I like the phrasing, lol. If I just went and got Romaleos, is it possible to go wrong with those?

315 is the point where I’ll consider backing off on how intensely I pursue the squat goals. 370ish is the “by next February” goal though. Which means, I’ll probably be squatting something like 200+ more sessions between now and then. Shoes probably make sense.

I’ve not really done much DB overhead pressing. Not done much = not really done it at all. I have DB handles though, I just don’t really use them.

The pressing itself is fine, but the starting position/rack is where it usually hurts. But I’ll think about working in some DB overhead presses and seeing where that leaves me. And if it is, I might get a Swiss bar to do neutral grip barbell pressing for awhile. I know bwhitwell suggested that once upon a time.

506

I’ve always heard wrestling shoes make great squatting shoes and you can find them way cheaper than adipowers or chucks

507

[quote]chobbs wrote:
I’ve always heard wrestling shoes make great squatting shoes and you can find them way cheaper than adipowers or chucks[/quote]

Well, I want something with the raised heel that a weightlifting shoe has. Up until now, I’ve been squatting barefoot/sock-foot… which has been fine honestly. I just have this idea in my head that “true” lifting shoes would be better for the narrower squat, the snatch-grip dead, and possibly the olympic press.

Just so you know, I’m going to become a master of Olympic Pressing. Those videos on the last page were gold. Those + Charles A Smith’s articles, and a couple of Hoffman’s articles are an awesome combination.

And by Olympic Pressing, I mean the hip drive + shrug, then the layback and finish. The “standing bench press” variant. The one everyone thinks is incredibly ugly and “cheating”.

The first minute or so of this video:

It’s such an awesome feeling to do that though. So much a mix of timing, strength and athleticism.

508

I have no idea what I managed to do to myself. My mood has been good, but my energy just isn’t there for lifting. It’s weird.

Squats
135 x a few; didn’t feel good

Press Recoveries (from layback to top, no arm movement)
115 x a few

Bench (moderate incline pin 4)
95, 105, 115, 125, 135, 145, 155 x 3
165 x 1
160 x 0
170 x 0

135, 137.5, 140 x 3

85 x 2 x 5 (Super-slow down – like, count to 10-12, explosive up)

A few closegrip bench presses

Then, 100 DB overhead presses
handles x 50, 25, 15, 10

But yeah, just not a lot of energy for lifting. Feeling really weak and lacking endurance. Bad sleep? Bad vitamin/minerals (I didn’t take much of anything this week except magnesium)? Insufficient food earlier in the week that my body’s still playing catch-up? I have no idea.

Anyway, got some work in. The superslow down was a new take on things, just trying to increase the TUT. Left me with a decent chest pump actually. And the 100 reps always do a good job pumping up deltoids, traps and triceps.

509

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Well, I just bought a pair of Nike Romaleos. Should be here late next week or the week after.

They’re supposed to look like these.

510

[quote]LoRez wrote:
I have no idea what I managed to do to myself. My mood has been good, but my energy just isn’t there for lifting. [/quote]

Same here…

511

those romaleos are dope as hell

Ive got adipowers but I like the look of those you ordered so much more… but no way im dropping more money after i spent like 180 on the ones I have haha

512

Deadlift Day, dead stop

135, 185, 225, 275, 295, 315 x 3 (PR) – double overhand, switched to hook grip on the last rep of 295
325, 335 x 1 (PR)

225, 235, 245 x 3 – double overhand

165 x 5, 2 (explosive up, 5-8 sec down) – low back felt “off” when I did that 2nd rep explosively, so I just stopped there.

So, I guess my squatting helped my deadlifting. Previous 1RM was 305, and that was a hard rep. 335 wasn’t exactly easy, but it was still crisp form and fairly quick. No mental arousal or anything. If I were to actually try for a “true” 1RM, I’d guess I’m probably around 355.

My deadlift form is probably closer to a clean pull… I think my arms are long enough that this basically just turns into a squat for me. I’ll be honest, I think in general my back is worked harder from squatting than from deadlifting.

–

Edit: just did 100 reps nonstop lateral raises with something like 2.5 lbs per arm. Old empty liquor bottles. And since they’re bottles, I can just add water to add another 1.5lbs to each of them. You know, before I have to upgrade to pink dumbbells.

513

[quote]PlainPat wrote:
those romaleos are dope as hell

Ive got adipowers but I like the look of those you ordered so much more… but no way im dropping more money after i spent like 180 on the ones I have haha[/quote]

Yeah, I hope I didn’t screw up on the sizing. They say it’s true to your dress shoe size.

I wear a 9 in most dress shoes. A 10 in loafers. An 11 in boots. But my old Nike running shoes are 11.5, and they’re small on me.

So hopefully these fit. They’re out of stock in most other sizes with this color.

Looking forward to getting them in though. I hear they’re very nice shoes.

514

Feeling better now. Food. That seems to be what it took. And, again, magical periworkout stuff is magical. Especially with a touch of beta-alanine… I’m starting to love that stuff.

Nemesis Bench (moderate incline, pin 4, deadstop from the bottom)

Ramp (31 reps)
45, 95, 105, 115, 125, 135, 145, 155, 165, 175 x 3
180 x 1 (PR)
185 x 0 – this made me sad; I’m almost there, but not quite

Insane volume work sets from 70% (59 reps)
125, 127.5, 130, 132.5, 135, 137.5, 140, 142.5, 145, 147.5, 150, 152.5, 155, 157.5, 160, 162.5, 165, 167.5, 170 x 3
172.5 x 2

Slow eccentric speed sets (10 reps)
95 x 2 x 5 – 10s down, explosive up

DB OHP 100 reps
handles x 50, 20, 20, 10

I love lifting mid-day when it’s sunny out and there’s no rush at all.

Right elbow was still annoying during the ramp and better later on; but the slow eccentrics, it hurt where it always hurts, about 90% lockout. Doesn’t hurt during the fast concentrics, just the slow eccentrics.

Supplementation was 15g peptopro + 30g hbcd + 5g l-leucine + 3-5ish g beta-alanine before. Then the same except the BA during. I started adding l-leucine to the mix because, well, why not? It’s supposed to help, and if not, meh. It’s only money. And it’s cheap at 5g a dose.

Most importantly though, I found a new MiO flavor that works well: Acai Berry Storm. Most important part by far.

–

Regarding the deadlifts yesterday:

I was wrong about the deadlifts not doing anything for my back. Thank you DOMS for pointing that out. Mostly mid-traps it seems.

Also while there seem to be plenty of arguments that say a deadlift is not a squat, and shouldn’t be approached as such, I watched a Brandon Lilly video where he basically said “if you can get good leg drive out of keeping the hips low and using your quads, might as well use it”. And followed it up with “I don’t care if your form is ‘wrong’, spend your time getting stronger with what works for you, and then you can adjust later on if you need to”.

When I get around 405 or so, I might post a “form check” video. Until then, I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing. My hips are low when I start, but they rise at the same speed as my shoulders. My hips aren’t shooting up at all by doing it that way.

515

Random thoughts.

I started playing piano semi-seriously again. My technique and skills are finally starting to come back to me.

One of the stranger things about being good at something is that most people seem to be impressed when you’re ‘bad’ by your own standards. I mean, my piano skills have been pretty shitty the last few times I’ve played for anyone, but people are impressed. Including a guy who spent several years of his childhood in a Soviet music school, and who’s mother was a touring concert pianist all across the Soviet Union. Doesn’t matter, I still played bad. Only my standards matter.

(He’s still trying to convince me to perform a few pieces for his mom; I personally don’t feel I’m good enough to do that yet.)

Anyway, I’m starting to get back to being ‘decently good’ by my own standards, so that’s good.

–

On a related note, there’s a lot of techniques I learned about how to “improve” at playing piano. While it helps to play through the whole piece regularly, a lot of times there’s hard parts (sticking points) that need to be worked on. How I approach it just depends. Sometimes I’ll work through a whole page over and over. Sometimes I’ll literally just play the few difficult measures over and over. And then, given that partial work (ha), I’ll sometimes do it really fast, sometimes really slow, just kind of attacking it from many angles until it becomes completely natural and doesn’t require thought. And then I’ll go back to playing the whole piece and that part will be a little better. And if it’s not, dive in, work on it some more, back out, try again. Play the whole piece much faster than it should be, much slower than it should be, exaggerate how “expressive” it is, play it coldly and mechanical.

Divide and conquer, in a sense. And then attack from several variations, focusing on different aspects.

So, if I were to take the same approach with my squats, I seem to be ok with lighter weights. I seem to be decently explosive even when they get heavier. I seem to be able to do heavier overloaded squats, even from deep in the hole, bottoms-up. But what I suck at right now is the descent with heavier weights. So… I really need to work on my eccentrics and my positioning on the eccentrics, just to make sure I’m in a strong position when I get to the bottom. I know what the strong position feels like, since that’s what I’m able to set up when I start from the bottom.

The super-slow and light eccentric work I’ve been might be enough, but I’m not sure right now. After my main work is done, I’ll probably work on “normal-speed” overloaded eccentrics. Just unrack and lower, then remove the weight and rerack. Since it’s a pain to unload and reload the weights, I might end up using my loading chains and loading pins to do that so that the weight is unloaded at the bottom. Then slip the chains off, rerack, put them back on.

My “concern” is that the weight will probably be swinging after the walkout. Dynamic stability is great to train, but might not be what I need. Guess I’ll just have to experiment… or suck it up and just unload/reload the weights every single rep.

516

Fwiw, I wear a size 9 chucks and felt like cinderalla in (broken in) 8.5 romaleos.

They’re awesome shoes. It has a cupped heel which really locks you into place. My only gripe is one of the straps is too long so you’ll most likely have to cut it off.

517

So far this week is feeling like last week.

I’m in training the first half of this week, which means I need to wake up 2 hours earlier than normal. And because of Daylight Savings, 3 hours earlier than normal. And I had trouble sleeping last night… so I only got about 3 hours of sleep. Feeling a bit zombie-like at the moment, so probably going to bed soonish.

Light squats
45, 95, 135, 155, 175, 195, 215 x 3
225, 235 x 1

These were light, but felt heavy, especially that third rep of 215. I’m surprisingly stiff too, likely from starting deadlifting again. Once these are a regular part of my training, it should be fine.

–

I added things up, and if I did it right, it looks like I did 660 squats in the month of February. That includes partials.

518

[quote]LoRez wrote:
Random thoughts.

I started playing piano semi-seriously again. My technique and skills are finally starting to come back to me.

One of the stranger things about being good at something is that most people seem to be impressed when you’re ‘bad’ by your own standards. I mean, my piano skills have been pretty shitty the last few times I’ve played for anyone, but people are impressed. Including a guy who spent several years of his childhood in a Soviet music school, and who’s mother was a touring concert pianist all across the Soviet Union. Doesn’t matter, I still played bad. Only my standards matter.

(He’s still trying to convince me to perform a few pieces for his mom; I personally don’t feel I’m good enough to do that yet.)

Anyway, I’m starting to get back to being ‘decently good’ by my own standards, so that’s good.
[/quote]
I know what you mean man. In fact I struggled a bit with even continuing to play horn after I more or less shifted passions from music to lifting. Between training and work I only play once a week for an hour or two. People still tell me how good I am, but it’s tough for me to personally come to grips with how I used to be compared to now.

519

[quote]csulli wrote:
I know what you mean man. In fact I struggled a bit with even continuing to play horn after I more or less shifted passions from music to lifting. Between training and work I only play once a week for an hour or two. People still tell me how good I am, but it’s tough for me to personally come to grips with how I used to be compared to now.[/quote]

Are you working on getting better again, or have you just sort of stagnated?

I’m not sure if it was work or school or just never finding a teacher after I moved, but I pretty much just stagnated after high school. I learned a few pieces here and there, just because, but really didn’t move too far forward.

I spent plenty of time improvising, and attempting to “compose”, but never took that far enough to actually write anything. My actual technical skill dropped off quite a bit, but I think that helped some with musicality.

I’m relearning an easy Chopin piece I played in middle school. I’m trying to bring it to some level of perfection, but mostly I’m just re-teaching myself how to do all this again. Just the discipline to just slog through it and fix the weak points, and get the phrasing and dynamics perfect and stuff like that.

Every once in awhile I go back to the hard[er] pieces I actually care about, just to keep sane. And then coming back to the Chopin, it seems incredibly easy. Lots of mind games, lots of patience, lots of hard work (and lots of frustration.)

It’s been a good experience though, working my way back.

Maybe it sounds stupid and completely backwards, but right now I’m mostly trying to get myself “good enough” again to find a good teacher.

520

Good news is, my shoes arrived. Bad news is, they’re too small. They’re very nice shoes.

I did lift in them for a bit though, just to get a feel for them. I wanted to make sure they were actually too small, and not just “really snug”.

It’s definitely a different experience squatting in them. I can’t explain exactly why (and that kind of bothers me), but it’s almost like it turned the squat into more of a pure leg strength move like a leg press is. Maybe it took out some of the balance component or something. I’d been lifting barefoot/sock-foot up until now.

Now I just need to figure out EastBay’s exchange system…