I’m a conjugate guy now so I prefer to drop frequency of the main lifts and substitute in some supplemental lifts.
I’m not huge on the idea of squatting and benching three times a week. Like @MarkKO said, any weaknesses in these lifts will remain weaknesses and either halt progress or show up in the form of tweaks or pain. I would take that back to 2 and change the third session to a supplemental lift like a good morning (or variant) and OHP (or variant). Think about what your weak point is in these lifts and try to progress in a compound lift that emphasizes the use of this weakness.
Also, because I’ve drank the Conjugate Koolaid I prefer thinking of my work as either Max Effort (Your Heavy Day) or Dynamic Effort (Your light or medium day). The dynamic effort day is really focused on speed, it doesn’t feel “light” because you are still pushing 100% into that bar. It just moves faster. Having a “light” or “medium” day just sounds like an easier day, my DE Lower day is by far the toughest workout of the week for me, it just doesn’t tax the CNS like the ME work does.
Thanks for the reply and I get your point around three days and swapping in a variation. This block is only 4 weeks long and the first time i’ve trained three days a week for years. So I am going to stick with it for this block and see what it tells me. If I notice any specific weaknesses or pain from this then I’ll adjust.
Have decent forearm DOMS today. No idea where it came from but guessing it was the deadlifts on Thursday.
Last day of term of gymnastics for the kids today. Both kids had fun but were a little sad because this was their last session at this gym. They start at the new gym in 2 weeks time and I’m pretty happy because it’s a better facility and class times are better too.
Pretty shitty weather here today but luckily we are taking the kids to the movies and out to dinner this afternoon. My middle daughter is taking 3 friends as a birthday treat. Going to see toy story 4 which will either be good or I’ll have a sleep !!!
I’m always pleasantly surprised by animated movies. Seems now a days they know they have to include some adult humor or parents might stop taking their kids. I’m well pat those days with my girls and miss it. Last one we saw was capitan marvel
Busy day today. Spent 5 hours this morning washing cars and motorbikes. Had to do the wife’s car and my bike cause they were dirty. I then washed and polished my old mini to get it ready for a show next weekend. Lots of time spend on a third world squat as I cleaned wheels and polished he car. Also lots of time spend bending over the engine cleaning it up. Legs and back are so sore now.
Going to spend the afternoon meal prepping for next week and then will have a long hot bath tonight to loosen me up.
Little mini came up real nice.
How often do you get out in it? I’d love to have a little project on the side, but the garage is filled with weightlifting stuff, haha. An old Esky or Mk1 Cortina would do the trick.
I probably drive it 30-40 days a year, so nearly once a week. Now the kIds are getting older and need driving to places at the weekend I’ll start using it more. I only have the motorbike as my daily driver and I don’t really want to take the kids on that.
It’s hard to find time to tinker with all the kids and work and life, so I made sure I bought something that was mostly restored and I didn’t need to do too much work.
Squat
Bar x 10
65 x 5
95 x 3
105 x 3
112.5 x 4 (248 lbs) RPE 9 felt very slow
112.5 x 4 RPE 9 last one too slow - random guy in the gym looked like he was going to help out on the last one cause it was slooow. He said to me after “I thought I was going to need to help”. I told him not to worry I’d just dump the bar if I get stuck.
112.5 x 4 RPE 10 last one was a grinder good morning !! Same guy watcher and even gave me a little c’mon cause I was stopped for a couple of seconds half way up. This gave me a little jolt and I rammed my back into the bar and it moved again !!
112.5 x 4 RPE 8 moved better - rested a little longer and these were probably a little high but much quicker.
Bench
Bar x 10
65 x 5
82.5 x 6 x 4 sets (182 lbs) RPE 7, 7, 8 (hit the j hook on rep 3 so had a longer pause at the top to reset), 7
All paused, felt really good.
Bulgarian
15kg x 7 x 4 sets
Still hate these, kept the rest short and really worked the lungs
DB bench
30kg x 8 x 3 sets
SS Db Row
30kg x 15 x 3 sets
No worries with these all nice and smooth.
Great session tonight, squats weren’t as strong as I wanted but everything else was good. Not sure I squats were just off because of the deload or just a tough day !!
@MarkKO I have a question for you as someone who I look up to when I comes to squats. As the weights get heavier I seem to have sticking point a few inches out of the hole. It’s like I’m pushing hard with my legs but everything stops. Then It’s like I remember I can use my back and i straighten up and the bar moves again. You can see it in some of my vids on IG. Any thoughts or ideas ??
I had a quick look. I think you could fix it by sitting back a little more and also by getting your lats tighter. You go down with you knees going forward fair bit, you hit the hole and come up and then your quads aren’t enough to keep you moving so your butt moves back and that’s the pause where you get into a position that lets you move on. At the same time your lats aren’t super locked in so your chest and shoulders are kind of waving around trying to keep the bar where it needs to be.
So yeah, sit back a bit more (nothing huge) and squeeze oranges in your armpits while making a double chin.
Thanks Mark, I was reading a little on this last night and figured I had three issues; 1. speed, I tend to be quite a slow squatter and this may mean I don’t have the momentum to get me through the sticking point. 2.That I need to get my hips a little more under the bar at the sticking point. and 3. I just need to get stronger
Your point about sitting back is a great one. I remember watching one of your videos and how you move your butt back a little as you brace before you descend. I tried this and liked it but wasn’t doing it last night. I’ll try this as well as the lats and chin and brace for the other 2 squat sessions this week. They are a little lighter so will give me an opportunity to practice. Thanks again.
Happy to help. Your second and third points are especially relevant. I don’t buy into the first one as much because you don’t really slow down at your sticking point, you just stop and change position. If you start trying to move faster now, before you fix your positioning and bracing, chances are you’ll fail to get into a better position and arguably things will get worse.
Speeding things up is great, but only if you’re staying tight and in position at all times.
I see your point about the speed and get what you mean. I think its not necessarily speed per se that is the problem its more mentally how i’m approaching the lift. I tend to descend quite slow which i like because its controlled and it allows me to get a slow stretch and create potential energy, I could probably drop the last 2 inches in the whole a little quicker but not going to change too much. The initial conversion of that energy into kinetic energy is fine, I start to move up OK and its not necessarily slow. The issue is then converting this initial movement into a hinge and pushing my back up into the bar. I know its just practice, when I look at the start of this year i’ve had nearly 20 weeks of higher volume and less weight and I’ve seem some great improvement in reps up to about 105kg. Now I just need to practice with heavier weights again and get comfortable.
