Okay great , didnt bother me when i actually had weight on my back, its that last thing your thinking about, just shocked me to see a bruise there. Thanks
15/02/18
Weighed in at 69.0KG
Trained later thank usual today as i had work, trained about 5:45-6:30PM.
Didnāt eat much today as usual when im working i usually stay up later to get more food in after dinner.
Also got some footage of sumo and conventional deadlifts if anyone wants to form check me would appreciate
@MarkKO
Paused deadlifts 2ct 4x6 80KG
Thought these would be a lot harder than they was as never done paused deads before but was fine, did them in my sumo stance. Not sure if i paused for long enough so next time i will probably do a 3 count as i think my 2 count is a lot less than a usual 2 ct xd.
SLDL 3x10 50KG
These were light but rarely did them before so still quite fatigued in lower back. Not much to say for these.
Touch and go bench 4x10 50KG
These were harder than expected, before training for the big 3, i never paused my bench press so there was lots of cheating involved. I have done a plate (60kg) for 12 reps before this but couldnt do that without bouncing off my chest like i used to, which i am now paying for as i am weak off the chest. However still got all the reps, would put it at 8 RPE and the last set about 8.5-9.
Lat Puldowns 4-5x12 50KG
Didnāt really count how many sets i did, about 4-5 but not very intresting anyway.
Program called for tricep exercise of choice and I did tricep pushdown with the straight bar 18.75KG 3x20.
Weird thing aswell @MarkKO , I just did one rep of conventional deadlift and all of a sudden felt great, you can see the form here, what do you think? You cant really see but i should probably keep my neck a bit more neutral aswell as i tend to look up at the sky.
And here is the deadlifts for a form check if anyone is interested ![]()
Sumo: - YouTube
Conventional: - YouTube
Both look pretty good. Theyāre also light for you, but thatās to be expected since theyāre around 60 per cent of your max. You look marginally more comfortable pulling sumo, so you could probably stick with that but try to get some conventional in regularly anyway. Try to ditch the trainers for flats if possible too. Chucks or wrestling shoes would be good.
If you could get videos when you next hit around 100 to 110 that would be good too.
Will do and Ill see what i can get for shoes, for now do u reccommend just socks or just use the trainers?
Wonāt comment on you DL, they both looked fine to me.
But go for socks next time. It gives a more stable stand, you can feel the ground better, and youāll get a bit closer to the ground/bar.
Great, thanks for the advice
Socks. Sumo might be a bit dicey in socks, but see how you go.
Oh yeah thats a point, ill give it a go anyways
FWIW Iāve pulled sumo in socks just fine, but on a grippy platform
16/02/18
Weight: 69.3KG
Didnāt train, tommorow next but just a quick update, whatever happened to my ribs a few days ago feels fully healed now so wasnt anything too bad ![]()
17/02/18
BW: 68.8KG
Todays workout was pretty fun, my friend came and was a bit late so I just built up to a single deadlift at 110kg, and i would put it at an 8RPE which is good for me
here it was if anyone wants to form check again but a bit heavier: - YouTube @MarkKO And please ignore the music my gym plays haha
Next was the exciting bit as i had a 2 plate squat in my mind for a while and today i hit it. I knew I would be able to do it as I hit 97.5kg about 6 weeks ago and it was quite easy and i feel a lot stronger now. I built up to it and hereās a video of that, think about 9-9.5 RPE. Form checks appreciated aswell as i think i got a little extension in my lower back where my butt tilts up a bit: - YouTube sorry for caption lol
Then i got into my next sets which was supposed to be 72.5kg 4x7. I miss loaded the plates and my friend realised after my first rep but i had my headphones on so i couldnt hear him and got 6 reps and realised this wasnt right. Either way, i only have done 80kg for 3 reps in the past so this was a big PR ![]()
I counted that as a set as i was dead after it and did 3 more sets of 72.5kg for 7 reps.
Paused bench 55KG 4x6
Felt good, was a bit tired after the squats but was still okay, I popped on the belt on 3rd and 4th set.
Then I just did some chest supported rows at 45kg 3x12 and some planks and called it a day ![]()
DL looks fine. Try to get your head neutral at the start and then look up as you come up, because otherwise youāre cranking your neck for no reason. I wouldnāt go heavier than that in training though. Anything more and youāll end up sacrificing technique and bar speed. Wait until you peak.
Squat looked decent on the descent, not so great coming up and Iām putting that down to bracing more than anything. Iām guessing you drop so fast you lose tightness the moment you hit depth, resulting in that funky back movement coming up. Squeeze the hell out of the glutes, midsection and lats as soon as you unrack and keep doing that until you lock out. If you need to slow your descent some to maintain that control, so be it. Itāll work out better in the long run.
I second @MarkKO especially on the neck thing in DL. The rest of the DL looked fine.
Keep a neutral head position and look at a place somewhere in front of you.
About the squat, listen to Mark. I have a hard time bracing too, but we must learn it. Otherwise we end up in a weird squat-goodmorning ![]()
Youāre a strong young man, listen to the big guys (not me) here on TN. They know a thing or two.
Yeah i keep meaning to do that and then whenever i get in the gym i forgoet about it. And yes i guess it is losing a lot of tightness because with lighter weights it doesnt happen. Is there any cues to āsqueeze your latsā because i hear pull the bar down but i feel like it will just slide down my back. Ill practice slowing the decent aswell, thanks ![]()
Hey man thanks for the feedback, and yeah I need to brace better otherwise it will turn into a mess like that again when i squat heavy ![]()
Squeeze an orange in your armpits. Fixed.
19/02/18
Bodyweight 69.5KG
Back at school again now ): but i kind of like it when i have lifting to look forward too during the day(:
Week 2 day 2 of the program and started with deadlifts
4x6 at 90KG
For the rest of this cycle and for the meet i am pulling conventional now. I feel like first of all i need to have more of an understanding of the conventional pull and maybe move onto sumo later on.
These reps were fine, also after each rep i found to reset fully and let go of the bar and stand up straight was a lot easier as i found it a lot easier to brace into my belt when standing and then going down into rather than awkwardly breathing at the bottom. These all feel like speed pulls to me which i guess is a good sign and my form doesnt seem to be breaking down at all (i know its light but still). Feels really good and as i didnt train deadlift at all before deciding to start training for powerlifting, i think its coming along nicely (a lot better than the squat form hehe).
3 count paused bench press 47.5kg 4x6
These felt amazing, last week I did the same weight for 3x5 and they felt okay, still good speed, maybe the last rep a bit slow but this week after adding a rep and a set, they all went up at the same speed which was pretty fast. Feeling a lot stronger off the chest just from finally pausing my benches and progressing with these 3ct pause bench presses.
Front squat paused 40kg 3x5
This is very light weight but i am new to the exercise, and they finally feel okay on my wrists and am comfortable with going a bit heavier now. Next week i will probably do about 50kg 3x5 for about an RPE 8.
Chest supported row 5x8 55KG
Not much to say although am progressing on these quite nicely.
And that was my workout today!
Am currently working on my squat form, have to practise bracing and am widening my stance a bit, will be trying it out next week ![]()
24/02/18
Forgot to weigh in morning but after training and quite a lot of food, i was 68.5kg
So basically the last 5 days i have been off sick, had temprature and i still had ulcers in my throat which are getting a bit better but i wasnt eating much at all during when i was ill and i weighed 67kg at one point. So will be back to training from now just left the last week of my program out as otherwise my peak will be too late for the meet. Workout was very hard, work capacity was the main thing and squats was the hardest which i will geet too now.
Squats
Today i was supposed to hit a 4x6 at 75kg. Before this wouldnt have been too much of a problem, I usually find squat volume quite hard, but this is still in my range. However warming up i knew 75x6 was not going to happen, i got to 75kg, and it felt heavier than my PR just about a week ago. I did 2 reps and racked it. So i dropped it to 60kg and did 3x6 which was still quite hard. I guess i will slowly bring back my squat until im back and programmed weight.
Bench
Was programmed to do 4x6 at 130lbs (my program is in pounds i just always convert)
so i converted 130lbs as usual and it was 58.9kg (from the top off my head) so i thought id try 60kg and see how it is then go to 57.5 if i couldnt get 6 reps.
I thought my bench would suffer the most after losing weight and being ill, however warmups felt very explosive still. I got up to 60kg and did 6 reps at about 9rpe for 3 sets, on the last set i thought maybe i wouldnt get it so i went down to 57.5kg and did 6 reps and this was easy, so maybe it was a bad call, but i guess better safe than sorry.
OHP 3x8 (intensity not specified)
Again, i thought this was going to be even more of a struggle than i thought the bench would be, and although i only went light because i was dead by the end of this workout, it felt really good. i did 30kg 3x8 and that was quite easy on the muscles but as i said my work capacity just wasnt there.
Chest supported rows
3x10 45kg, not much to say about this.
Overall was an okay session back i guess, went better than i would have thought. Also can get some good information out of this which is i probably hold my strength for longer (and through illness) than in my lower body.
28/05/18
So its been a hot sec since i posted on here but im going to try to post regularly again.
BW: 70kg
The last 3 months or so i have still been training, a few injurys (not from lifting) have been, first i sprained my ankle so couldnt squat or deadlift, now i am just recovering from a sprained wrist, which i could still OHP on but not bench, and couldnt squat as it put my wrist in too much extension.
First off ill go through what my lifts are at right now.
Deadlift: I hit 140kg deadlift with very clean form compared to my last 125kg deadlift PR and am really pleased with how my deadlift is coming along, no complaints.
Bench: Im pretty sure from when I posted last my bench has gone up (i hit 85kg) but recently it hasnt just due to me not benching frequently. I havent done a 1RM attempt in a while but i dont think i could hit 85kg again at the minute just because i dont feel as strong with the bench at the moment. Although i did look back at a video of me doing a 60kgx5 and it made me happy because i did an AMRAP 60kg recently and got 13 reps.
Squat: This is where i suck. Lel but i havent squatted properly in about 3 weeks and even then everything was feeling heavy as i took a break from them for some more bodybuilding typ training which i didnt really need or want to squat. I am planning on bringing it back up, was at 102.5kg, i think right now i could do about 90kg but it would be messy.
I have just started powerlifting specific training again and am doing a basic program because i fancy it, madcow 5x5 program, i am training tommorow so will post my workout then.
29/05/18
BW: 71.0kg (although this was done later in the day and i always weigh more later)
Started trying to bench, got to 52.5kg x5 which is of course easy, however my wrist was in pain and had to rush to rack the weight. I can feel my wrist will be recovered very soon but for now I just called it there, no need to push it to the limit and mess it up even more.
I knew after that i wouldnt be able to squat, squat hurt a bit more than the bench on my wrist, so i just decided to do day B again of the program which is OHP and rows.
OHP
On the previous session with OHP i built up to 5x45kg
5x35kg: Was basically a warmup, but weāll count it.
5x40kg: Gets harder, but probably could do it even on my worst day
5x42.5kg: Still not too hard, plently in the tank
Peak set: 5x47.5kg: very happy with this, one of the reasons i wanted to go back to a basic linear progression was just to see clear progression. So that was a 5 rep PR.
Deadlift
My favourite lift at the moment ![]()
I do my warmups with deadlift with just a plate, its a big thing for me to put all my force into warmups, builds my confidence so much when i smash all my warmups.
Previous workout i had built up to 117.5kgx5 and it burnt me to the ground.
5x80kg: Basically warmup set
5x90kg: Still using double overhand, still easy
5x100kg: Wanted to test my grip a little so did this double overhand, didnt bother with chalk today so was a bit harder aswell
5x120kg: Used alternate grip, first 2 reps wasnt too bad, then 3rd, then i had to take a rest pause, about 5 seconds between 4th and 5th rep, last rep was a grinder but dont think my form broke down at all.
Moved on to some accessories, was able to do some incline dumbell presses which i built up to 22kg dumbells for 5 reps and some back off sets, some pushdowns and some other boring stuff. ![]()