Deadlifts went really well. 680 felt very strong, I strongly considered putting 700 on the bar but I don’t want to waste a real max attempt in the gym. Hit a couple squats to finish up, the first one was sloppy, I came forward onto my toes at the bottom. Second one was better.
Left leg was bugging me today and was pushing me onto my right leg when squatting. It’s been on and off for the past couple weeks but was more noticeable today. I also think my stance was a little wider than usual on the 530, not really sure why but I plan to be more conscious of that in the future. Hit a solid paused single at 370 in the bench.
Left quad was still bugging me on the squats but not as much as weds. I stayed fairly even today but on the final rep the bar rolled on my back and made it a little harder than it should have been. Benching was good, 345 has got to be close to my best triple, I paused most of the benches but I think the top set was more touch and go. Finished with some light deficit deads.
Not a lot of training this week, I was in Kingston for homecoming over the weekend. Probably not the greatest recovery measure I could have taken but a fun time.
Got my training partners to give me a press command on the bench tonight, hit a solid 375. If things go poorly at the meet this is my goal for a third, if they are going better then I’ll look for a little more.
[quote]kgildner wrote:
Crazy seeing you hit all those PRs after one another, looks as though training is going really well! I’m eager to see how you’ll do in Prague.[/quote]
Thanks man! Yea training has been really good and I’m feeling confident for the meet
Solid lifting in here. I noticed you do a lot of high bar squatting in addition to your normal competition stance. I have been training my high bar back squat along with front squats pretty frequently for a few months now, just hit a high bar PR of 320. I haven’t low bar squatted in a while, but I was messing around with it the other day and did not feel strong with it at all.
My question for you is why do you think your low bar squat is so much higher than your high bar? I understand that you may not be pushing your high bar as hard, but rather using it for assistance work. Nevertheless, it seems (to me) that you get a lot out of a low bar position, and I was just wondering if you could offer some thoughts on the two styles.
[quote]dhock wrote:
Solid lifting in here. I noticed you do a lot of high bar squatting in addition to your normal competition stance. I have been training my high bar back squat along with front squats pretty frequently for a few months now, just hit a high bar PR of 320. I haven’t low bar squatted in a while, but I was messing around with it the other day and did not feel strong with it at all.
My question for you is why do you think your low bar squat is so much higher than your high bar? I understand that you may not be pushing your high bar as hard, but rather using it for assistance work. Nevertheless, it seems (to me) that you get a lot out of a low bar position, and I was just wondering if you could offer some thoughts on the two styles.
Thanks and good luck at Worlds man.[/quote]
Thanks dude, yea I definitely get a lot out of my competition position. I think there’s a couple reasons for this, as you mentioned I don’t push the high bar as hard.
I also lean forward a lot with my low bar, which puts a lot of emphasis on my lower back and glutes which are both very strong. With the high bar my upper back rounds at the bottom of the squat whereas with a lower bar placement it stays tighter. I’m also able to grind better with my competition squat.
I was also getting some knee pain this training cycle from high bar that was causing me to work lighter than I otherwise would have.
However, that’s not to say I think low bar is better, it just works better for me. I’ve seen plenty of guys with huge high bar squats. The best squat for competition is whichever one lets you move more weight
Worlds broke down like this:
Sun: arrive in Prague
Weds: wake up with food poisoning, spend the day vomiting, guzzling electrolyte solution and napping
Thurs: lift
the competition actually went very well. I missed my first squat on depth so buried my next two attempts. Made 245kg and 260kg (573 pounds)
Benched an easy 155, 165, 172.5kg (380 pounds)
Deadlifted 275, 300, 312.5kg (688.9 pounds)
Totalled 745kg (1642 pounds) and took 3rd place
BENCH w/ football bar
225x4
275x4
315x2
315x2
275x4
PAUSE SQUAT
325x3
375x3
395x3
Training time:
150min (2hrs. 30min)
Tried 700, I wasn’t tight enough in the lats. The bar broke the ground well but my back was just too loose. I’ll get it next time. The football bar feels stupid, not a fan. The pause squats were ok.