[b]4/29/2010
Legs[/b]
PRs: 5
Box Squat
255 X 2 PR
Squat
185 X 3
205 X 3
230 X 1 X 3
Hack Squats
(weight per side)
90 X 7 PR
100 X 10 PR
110 X 5 PR
70 X 20 PR
Single Leg Back Extensions
BW X 10 X 2
BW X 8
NOTES: looking into starting WS4SB or something. I think I’m kidding myself by thinking I can go in and wing my workouts. It was working for a while but now I just kind of feel lost. Still was drenched in sweat today though, wanted to die after hack squats
[b]5/1/2010[/b]
On my way to the campus rec center to do some shoulders. I normally do shoulders/tris but I’ve been getting terrible pains from doing skulls, pushdowns, CGBP and whatnot so I’m gonna lay off tonight. Will post in a few hours. Hopefully it won’t be packed with the typical swarm of bench pressers and curlers 
Shoulders
PRs: 2
Seated DB Press
65 X 6 X 2
65 X 4
60 X 5
50 X 6 X 2
gonna stay with 65 til I can get 4 sets of 6, got 2 more reps today!
DB Front Raises
20 X 10
27.5 X 10
35 X 11 PR
35 X 10
Side Laterals
17.5 X 11 PR
17.5 X 8
15 X 13
Face Pulls
20 X 20
20 X 12 X 3
Overhead Shrugs?
45 X 15 X 2
45 X 20 X 2
NOTES: overhead shrugs felt really good, like a really good stretch to end the session. was going to do some external rotator work but the rec closed
[b]5/2/2010
Back[/b]
PRs: 4
Deadlift
225 X 3
265 X 2
295 X 1
330 X 1 PR
350 FAIL
300 X 2
the recs weights are MUCH heavier. I budged 350 and got 325 X 4 before, lame. no more deadlifting here
Med-Grip Pullups
BW X 6 X 4
BW X 5 X 2
DB Rows
60 X 8
70 X 8
80 X 7
Dropset: 80 X 5, 70 X 3
Neutral Fat-Grip Pulldowns
165 X 8 PR
165 X 6
150 X 7
HS Fat-Grip Rows
70 X 8
80 X 8 PR
90 X 12 PR
90 X 10
330 X 1
2 plates X 10
NOTES: the weights at this gym are MUCH heavier for some reason. doing a lot of fat-grip training cause i’ve been having wrist pains lately. it is definitely helping
Nice progress, man. I like your university gym. I got to UK and ours is legit, but it’s pretty cramped. Yours looks much more spacious. How many gyms can you use there?
5/3/2010
Chest/Biceps
PRs: 4
Bench
195 X 5 PR
last lockout took forever but I got that sheit
Pin Press
185 X 3 X 3
Incline DB Press
70 X 8 PR
70 X 5 X 2
60 X 7
Flat DB Press
60 X 8
60 X 7
60 X 5
EZ Bar Fat-Grip Preacher Curls
+20 X 7 PR
+15 X 12 PR
+15 X 11
+15 X 10
Fat Grip DB Preacher Curls
30 X 4
25 X 8
25 X 6
25 X 6
really slow negatives
NOTES: taking tomorrow off, then legs wednesday. two exams coming up, project due thursday, then 4 final exams next week. another 11 days and i’m free!
[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
Nice progress, man. I like your university gym. I got to UK and ours is legit, but it’s pretty cramped. Yours looks much more spacious. How many gyms can you use there?[/quote]
thanks man, we have a really nice rec center. only downside is it’s usually crowded, but there are a lot of good lookin cardio bunnies 
there is one other place on campus i go to mon, wed, fri for the “Strength and Conditioning Club”. it is 1000X better then the rec center, mainly because of the other lifters creating a better atmosphere. we actually push ourselves in there lol
[b]5/5/2010
Legs[/b]
PRs: 3
High Pin Squats
315 X 3
Squats
!75 X 3 X 2
205 X 1
235 X 2 PR
245 X 1 PR
205 X 5 X 2
205 X 3
205 X 2
RDL
135 X 10
175 X 10
195 X 10
215 X 10 PR
Reverse Hypers
10 X 4
Leg Extensions
10 X 4
235 X 2
245 X 1
NOTES: squats felt a TON better today. lost the tightness on the 3rd rep of 235 but I’m starting to get the hang of it. gotta work on my core some but things are starting to click
squats look pretty good, i hate to do nothing but just try to offer advice cuz i always feel it comes off as being a know it all about everything, and i hope that’s not the case cuz that’s def not the intention. but keep trying to push out your stomach on the way down(helps keep you more upright especially at the bottom), next really try to lead with your head out of the bottom instead of leading with your hips out of the bottom(again helps stay more upright), try to also push your hips through when coming up, just like deadlifting.
then in the attached pic you can see that your elbows are more or less parallel with the floor, try to keep them tucked under the bar, perpendicular to the floor is prolly not practical but try to keep them under the bar, this again helps with staying more upright because when you throw your elbows back like that parallel to the floor it tends to bend you over a little as you can kinda tell from the pic. but the form looks pretty for the most part, i don’t know how wide your stance is but it looks like its workin for ya cuz your shin and knee position looks real good, you break first at the hips instead of knees which is awesome and your knees hardly come forward at all even at the bottom, even more awesome. and def work more core and back work, the back will be the limiting factor in the squat, not the leg strength.
[quote]2-SCOOPS wrote:
squats look pretty good, i hate to do nothing but just try to offer advice cuz i always feel it comes off as being a know it all about everything, and i hope that’s not the case cuz that’s def not the intention. but keep trying to push out your stomach on the way down(helps keep you more upright especially at the bottom), next really try to lead with your head out of the bottom instead of leading with your hips out of the bottom(again helps stay more upright), try to also push your hips through when coming up, just like deadlifting.
then in the attached pic you can see that your elbows are more or less parallel with the floor, try to keep them tucked under the bar, perpendicular to the floor is prolly not practical but try to keep them under the bar, this again helps with staying more upright because when you throw your elbows back like that parallel to the floor it tends to bend you over a little as you can kinda tell from the pic. but the form looks pretty for the most part, i don’t know how wide your stance is but it looks like its workin for ya cuz your shin and knee position looks real good, you break first at the hips instead of knees which is awesome and your knees hardly come forward at all even at the bottom, even more awesome. and def work more core and back work, the back will be the limiting factor in the squat, not the leg strength.[/quote]
trust me man, i’ll take all the advice i can get haha. don’t worry about sounding like a know it all. i always think about keeping my elbows tucked under the bar, but it’s one thing to THINK and one thing do actually DO lol. do you think this could be a shoulder flexibility issue? i’ve been reading up a bunch on squat technique and have been watching countless vids so hopefully i start to get the hang of it soon. i’d really like to throw up 315 by the end of summer that would feel fucking great
thanks 2scoop!
yea no prob, yea actually doing it is quite different however it’ll come with practice. i don’t think it’s a flexibility issue because i can do it and i’m pretty sure you are more flexible than me, pretty safe bet there i think lol. i would try doing more upper back work and really making sure you keep your back tight by trying to pinch your shoulder blades together, this should help keep your elbows under and your chest up…i believe.
315 is a good goal, i would think about getting a good belt sometime soon though. i have an end of the summer goal also, except it’s for my bench, but i think your goal is a little more attainable lol. and as always, more back work especially upper back and more hamstring work. good luck on the goal. keep on keepin on lol.
[b]5/7/2010
Back[/b]
PRs: 5
Deadlift
135 X 10
185 X 5
225 X 5
275 X 3
295 X 1
315 X 1
335 X 1 PR
350 FAIL
315 X 1
335
Pullups
BW X 6
DW Rows
65 X 8
80 X 8 X 2
85 X 7
UH Lat Pulldowns
165 X 10 PR
165 X 8
165 X 6
150 X 8
HS Row
90 X 10
100 X 10 PR
105 X 10 PR
115 X 8 PR
DB Rows
50 X 10
Wide-Grip Pulldowns
135 X 10 X 2
NOTES: budged 350 but couldn’t finish it. 335 went up a LOT easier than 330 a week ago. pullups have been giving me wrist pains for some reason so i’m gonna lay off for a little while probably. back is thrashed, really good session
[quote]2-SCOOPS wrote:
yea no prob, yea actually doing it is quite different however it’ll come with practice. i don’t think it’s a flexibility issue because i can do it and i’m pretty sure you are more flexible than me, pretty safe bet there i think lol. i would try doing more upper back work and really making sure you keep your back tight by trying to pinch your shoulder blades together, this should help keep your elbows under and your chest up…i believe.
315 is a good goal, i would think about getting a good belt sometime soon though. i have an end of the summer goal also, except it’s for my bench, but i think your goal is a little more attainable lol. and as always, more back work especially upper back and more hamstring work. good luck on the goal. keep on keepin on lol. [/quote]
lol, 315 would be really nice. what are some good upper back exercises? would that be something like facepulls or high DB rows? thanks man
Hey man nice training log, just read over some of it good work.
3 things that helped me out a lot with upper back are chins, rack pulls, and kroc rows work pretty well for me.
also are you any roman deads?
when i go heavy on those for a couple weeks ill go back to regular deads and usually get another 5 lbs on the max.
[quote]bonerjams98 wrote:
Hey man nice training log, just read over some of it good work.
3 things that helped me out a lot with upper back are chins, rack pulls, and kroc rows work pretty well for me.
also are you any roman deads?
when i go heavy on those for a couple weeks ill go back to regular deads and usually get another 5 lbs on the max. [/quote]
chins would be good, kroc rows would be good(if you can keep a straight tight back) but not direct upper back work. as for roman or straight leg deads, i like them but honestly be very careful, if you cannot keep a completely straight back i would stay away from them.
if you do them, go very light and make sure you can maintain a straight back. it just depends, my training partner has pulled just over 600lbs in a meet and he does not do them because he feels he cannot keep a straight enough back and doesn’t want to risk it since you are in a very vaulnerable position to begin with.
personally i would stick with facepulls and ytwl’s, on the ytwl’s you will prolly need to start with either 5lb db or 2.5lb plates, or possibly just your arms, again in comparison i have just recently started to use 10lb db, oh yea and band pullaparts would be a great exercise, mostly because you can buy a band and do them whenever wherever, and i would do just that with them.
[b]5/8/2010
Chest/Biceps[/b]
PRs: 3
Flat Bench
225 X 1 P motha fukkin R
185 X 5
Incline BB
165 X 5 PR
165 X 3
135 X 6
115 X 8
Flat DB
50 X 8
60 X 12
60 X 10 X 2
Chest Flyes
40 X 10
Pin Wheels
40 X 12 PR
Alternating DB Curls
35 X 10
40 X 6
35 X 8 X 3
30 X 5
NOTES: about time
Been a while since I posted here. You’re still putting up good numbers.
A few points. On deads, you still look like you are locking out backwards. Not sure if this is the case, but your last 2 inches come up so fast. Just try not to lean back when you finish.
Squats - what I tell you will probably conflict with 2-Scoops. What I’m telling you technique wise is derived from Rippetoe’s method. It’s not just me - it’s what he’s used to teach lots of lifters to squat.
Realize I’m not doing it to be an asshole and create a debate, but rather that I’ve tried squatting both ways - the method 2-scoops is talking about (keep your torso as upright as possible, lead with the chest/head) and Rip’s method (lower the hips, drive the hips up) and I find that the latter feels much better and more natural with less uncertainty.
It’s probably best to try it both ways and see what you like.
Eyes look down at a point about 6-10 feet in front of you. You should be able to keep your chest up and back arched even while looking down. What this does is allows you to have a firm spatial reference about your body position. One thing I see in your squat video is that you seem kind of hesitant and don’t know where your body should be going during the movement. This will help.
Drive the hips up, keep the back angle constant at least for the bottom 2/3 coming out of the hole. To me, this feels the most natural. Rip has a dozen reasons for preferring hip drive over chest drive, I won’t repeat them here. This is one you’ll have to figure out for yourself about which cue you prefer - drive hips up or drive chest up.
Set the back angle and knee position in the first 1/3 of the descent. From there, it won’t change in the descent. Again, this will help make a more consistent movement - yours still looks wiggly.
Now, those top three points are somewhat up for debate. Try both ways and see how you like them. What I offer is a way to take some of the uncertainty out of the movement. However, the following points are not up for debate - their logic should be convincing enough.
Bar must be over the foot. If it is too far in front or too far behind, you WILL lose balance. There’s some wiggle room as to where over the foot - Dave Tate likes to cue heels. I find I’m more balanced over midfoot. It doesn’t matter as much the precise location, but the basic principle must hold because of physics.
Based on #4, your back will assume an angle dictated by your limb lengths, your stance width, and your bar position. Watching your 245 video, it is going to be nearly impossible for you to have a more upright torso if you keep the same stance and bar position.
The higher the bar position the more upright the torso. You are already doing a high bar squat, so you won’t be able to change this.
The longer your femurs are relative to your back, the more horizontal your torso will be. This you obviously cannot change as it’s genetic.
The wider your stance, the shorter your femurs will look from the side. Therefore, the wider your stance, the more upright your back angle. Try widening your stance. What I typically use is shoulder width heels and about a 45 degree toe flare.
As far as depth goes, remember that parallel is defined by how low your hips are. It has nothing to do with how low the bar is. This is why Rip emphasizes lowering and raising your ass in the squat.
Ok, that’s the scientific part of the discussion. Back to advice.
Again, based on your video, you seem to be trying too hard to maintain an upright torso. This puts you back on your heels and forces your knees and hips to move around to accomodate your back angle, which probably feels awkward. You would normally have some wiggle room forward of your heels to make balance easier, but since you are thinking upright torso so much, you are actually constantly pushing yourself to the point of losing balance backwards. This makes the eccentric tentative rather than confident.
Let me know how accurate this seems.
[quote]boomerlu wrote:
Been a while since I posted here. You’re still putting up good numbers.
A few points. On deads, you still look like you are locking out backwards. Not sure if this is the case, but your last 2 inches come up so fast. Just try not to lean back when you finish.
Squats - what I tell you will probably conflict with 2-Scoops. What I’m telling you technique wise is derived from Rippetoe’s method. It’s not just me - it’s what he’s used to teach lots of lifters to squat.
Realize I’m not doing it to be an asshole and create a debate, but rather that I’ve tried squatting both ways - the method 2-scoops is talking about (keep your torso as upright as possible, lead with the chest/head) and Rip’s method (lower the hips, drive the hips up) and I find that the latter feels much better and more natural with less uncertainty.
It’s probably best to try it both ways and see what you like.
Eyes look down at a point about 6-10 feet in front of you. You should be able to keep your chest up and back arched even while looking down. What this does is allows you to have a firm spatial reference about your body position. One thing I see in your squat video is that you seem kind of hesitant and don’t know where your body should be going during the movement. This will help.
Drive the hips up, keep the back angle constant at least for the bottom 2/3 coming out of the hole. To me, this feels the most natural. Rip has a dozen reasons for preferring hip drive over chest drive, I won’t repeat them here. This is one you’ll have to figure out for yourself about which cue you prefer - drive hips up or drive chest up.
Set the back angle and knee position in the first 1/3 of the descent. From there, it won’t change in the descent. Again, this will help make a more consistent movement - yours still looks wiggly.
Now, those top three points are somewhat up for debate. Try both ways and see how you like them. What I offer is a way to take some of the uncertainty out of the movement. However, the following points are not up for debate - their logic should be convincing enough.
Bar must be over the foot. If it is too far in front or too far behind, you WILL lose balance. There’s some wiggle room as to where over the foot - Dave Tate likes to cue heels. I find I’m more balanced over midfoot. It doesn’t matter as much the precise location, but the basic principle must hold because of physics.
Based on #4, your back will assume an angle dictated by your limb lengths, your stance width, and your bar position. Watching your 245 video, it is going to be nearly impossible for you to have a more upright torso if you keep the same stance and bar position.
The higher the bar position the more upright the torso. You are already doing a high bar squat, so you won’t be able to change this.
The longer your femurs are relative to your back, the more horizontal your torso will be. This you obviously cannot change as it’s genetic.
The wider your stance, the shorter your femurs will look from the side. Therefore, the wider your stance, the more upright your back angle. Try widening your stance. What I typically use is shoulder width heels and about a 45 degree toe flare.
As far as depth goes, remember that parallel is defined by how low your hips are. It has nothing to do with how low the bar is. This is why Rip emphasizes lowering and raising your ass in the squat.
Ok, that’s the scientific part of the discussion. Back to advice.
Again, based on your video, you seem to be trying too hard to maintain an upright torso. This puts you back on your heels and forces your knees and hips to move around to accomodate your back angle, which probably feels awkward. You would normally have some wiggle room forward of your heels to make balance easier, but since you are thinking upright torso so much, you are actually constantly pushing yourself to the point of losing balance backwards. This makes the eccentric tentative rather than confident.
Let me know how accurate this seems.[/quote]
well looks like the door for discussion in open lol, i don’t take offense to your conflicting advice. however i will say that just doing a few of the little things i’ve mentioned has helped increase my squat 200+lbs in less than 2 years and has now put me at over a 3xbw raw squat at almost a bw of 200lbs. my training partner has visited rip’s gym several times and has not been impressed by the strength of anyone at anytime at rip’s gym, after reading your post he says that now makes sense why he saw so many shitty squats at his gym. most of my spare time is spent watching lifting videos haha and i’ve seen what good squatters do and have added what they do into what i do and has helped my squatting significiantly. good squatters will almost arch out of the hole, almost like they are driving their neck/head back into the bar, if you do this, your hips will automatically follow. but it doesn’t make sense to start with the hips if your hips will automatically come through if you keep upright and lead with your head. you can clearly see this in many squat vids(of good squatters) and if i find some time i will post one on my log since it seems i’m already taking some of ashy’s log space with a little debate.
And to ashy, I apoligize for taking up space, but find what you like to do and what works for you, i would take information from everywhere and sift out what you like and think works for you.
[b]5/10/2010
Legs[/b]
PRs: 4
Squat
250 X 1 PR
205 X 5 X 2
225 X 3
225 X 2
250 PR
Leg Press (weight per side)
widowmaker: 4 plates +10 X 20
Strip Set: 4 plates X 10, 3 X 10, 2 X 12
Widowmaker PR
Single leg Back Extensions
BW X 10 X 3
Lying Leg Curls
40 X 4 PR
35 X 6 X 2
30 X 8
RDL
135 X 10
185 X 5
225 X 6 PR
225 X 4
225 X 7 PR
(grip gave out on first two sets, switched to alternate grip on third set)
NOTES: fukking fried. great session though
[quote]2-SCOOPS wrote:
" "
And to ashy, I apoligize for taking up space, but find what you like to do and what works for you, i would take information from everywhere and sift out what you like and think works for you.[/quote]
don’t worry about it, I appreciate all of the advise. that’s why I put the videos up. squats are finally starting to click, i should probably get a vid of my lighter sets next time to see how different form is with the lighter weight though. i’m starting to hit PRs so something is good
[quote]2-SCOOPS wrote:
well looks like the door for discussion in open lol, i don’t take offense to your conflicting advice. however i will say that just doing a few of the little things i’ve mentioned has helped increase my squat 200+lbs in less than 2 years and has now put me at over a 3xbw raw squat at almost a bw of 200lbs. my training partner has visited rip’s gym several times and has not been impressed by the strength of anyone at anytime at rip’s gym, after reading your post he says that now makes sense why he saw so many shitty squats at his gym. most of my spare time is spent watching lifting videos haha and i’ve seen what good squatters do and have added what they do into what i do and has helped my squatting significiantly. good squatters will almost arch out of the hole, almost like they are driving their neck/head back into the bar, if you do this, your hips will automatically follow. but it doesn’t make sense to start with the hips if your hips will automatically come through if you keep upright and lead with your head. you can clearly see this in many squat vids(of good squatters) and if i find some time i will post one on my log since it seems i’m already taking some of ashy’s log space with a little debate.
And to ashy, I apoligize for taking up space, but find what you like to do and what works for you, i would take information from everywhere and sift out what you like and think works for you.[/quote]
Just a few points. Rip’s whole deal is he gets people started. He takes them from… 135 or less on squat up to 300+. He doesn’t train powerlifters, so I wouldn’t expect him to have a ton of really strong squatters. And he does not teach a powerlifting squat anyways - it’s a medium stance low bar squat. It is not designed to move maximum weight - it’s supposed to be a balanced squat that includes as many muscles as it can (and I’m assuming Adam is not trying to do a p-lifting squat either, just use the squat to get bigger/stronger).
Personally, I find the hip drive aspect gives me a ton more consistency. I USED to squat the style you’re talking about - trying to keep as upright as humanly possible. But at higher weights, I would often lose balance backwards and my squat in general just felt weird as if I could never find the proper groove. With the style Rip advocates, I’ve fixed that and each squat feels the same. Note that Rip actually has used the OPPOSITE CUE (it’s on DVD) for a guy who had a tendency to cave his chest. In that case, he told him to drive the chest up and it fixed his problem.
Everybody is different. If somebody naturally tends to descend forward too much, a hard arch out of the bottom will put the weight over the foot in a better place. What I’m seeing on Adam’s video is he’s trying to stay too upright and it makes him tentative on the descent. From what I understand, the reason he leans forward right out of the hole is that the “leaned forward” position is the most natural position for him at the bottom due to his individual limb lengths. Staying more upright would cause him to fall backward.
Also, note that Wendler actually teaches hip drive in the squat (EFS Boston seminar on Youtube) and Matt Kroc exhibits what looks like the same style (Youtube for Kroczaleski squat and look for the 400 pounds for 10).
So it’s not just Rip’s gym, but some damn strong powerlifters are on board with the idea as well.
In essence, I just think that everybody will be different, and that for Adam’s particular case, a lot of the weirdness in the squat would be fixed by using hip drive instead of chest drive. Note again that I used to exhibit this same pattern - tentative descent and hips shoot up faster than chest.
Ironically I fixed it by driving my hips instead of trying to stay so damn upright.
Edit: one more thing - like I said in my first long post about the squat, the wider your stance the more upright you will be (think of how upright your torso is in a conventional dead vs a sumo dead). So what you’re saying probably makes a lot of sense for a really wide stance powerlifting squat as it might be easier to fall forward. I never tried it, so I’m not going to pretend to be a coach, but it’s certainly true that your torso will be more upright than a medium or narrow stance squat. That might make chest drive a better cue.
[b]5/11/2010
Shoulders[/b]
PRs: 1
Seated DB Press
65 X 6 X 3 PR
65 X 5
55 X 6
Arnold Press ss/ DB Shrugs
35 X 8 / 40 X 20
40 X 7 / 60 X 20
45 X 8 / 80 X 20
DB Front Raises
20 X 12
25 X 12
30 X 12
Side Laterals
20 X 12
20 X 10
15 X 13
Overhead Shrugs ss/ Face Pulls
2 sets of 20 / 2 sets of 12
External Rotator Work
3 sets of 20
NOTES: ALMOST got 65 X 6 X 4!! 5 rep was a grinder and went for the 6th but couldn’t. up 4 reps from last session so I’m happy. definitely get it next time
Looking good man. I noticed a while back you mentioned you wanted to start a more structured program… I’m just gonna comment on a few things I notice you are doing right.
Whatever you end up doing, keep on doing those two things - they will probably contribute most towards your success. The site has a lot of info on designing your own program, and I think that will help you learn the most.
[b]5/12/2010
Back[/b]
PRs: 6
Rack Pulls
225 X 5
275 X 5
315 X 5
345 X 5 PR
375 X 4 PR
405 X 2 PR
355 X 6 PR
405 X 2
345 X 5
Fat-Bar Chins from Dead Hang
BW X 10 PR
BW X 8
+15 X 5
BW X 6
DB Rows
65 X 8
75 X 8
85 X 10
65 X 10
Lat Pulldowns
LV 18 X 6 PR
LV 17 X 7
LV 17 X 8 +2 forced reps
[quote]boomerlu wrote:
Looking good man. I noticed a while back you mentioned you wanted to start a more structured program… I’m just gonna comment on a few things I notice you are doing right.
Whatever you end up doing, keep on doing those two things - they will probably contribute most towards your success. The site has a lot of info on designing your own program, and I think that will help you learn the most.[/quote]
Thanks man. Yeah, I think I’m going to just keep on doing my own thing for now since it’s working. Also, I just like knowing the fact you don’t have to be on “Program X” to make gains. It’s not as fun either