I hope everybody can tolerate another Starting Strength training log. I decided to start a thread since making posts in my personal blog is sketchy at best. . . sometimes it takes them, sometimes it doesn’t???
Anyway I’m about 3 weeks into my re-start on the Rippetoe program. I’ve struggled with my squat form as of late, and did a slight reset to really nail the form. I’d like to squat correctly before I start making progress.
Here we go. . .
Starting Strength: A
*dynamic warmup
A) Squat
155x5/5/5
B) Bench
135x5/5/5
C) Deadlift
225x4
*Notes: Realized I was going TOO DEEP previously on squats and losing the stretch reflex out of the hole. I’ll do 165 on Thursday. Didn’t feel strong on bench, but my deadlift felt great!
well I noticed that when I squatted deep, my knees would cave in on the way up. I noticed that getting to parallel made it easier for me to use a hip-drive on the way up.
I don’t even know if that made any sense, to anybody who reads this. . . but it makes sense to me.
its funny you mention that. . . I ordered some mini bands from Elite yesterday. Should be on my doorstep when I get home from work this afternoon. I’ll be adding that to my mobility work immediately.
That was one thing I’ve been meaning to ask you, what is your warm-up routine like?
Right now, all I do is about 5 minutes light jog on a treadmill, then a couple dynamic stretches, and then warm-up sets for each exercise. Sometimes I think I’m lacking in this department, not sure if my dynamic stretches are doing anything for me…
I’ll usually just do 8-10 dynamic moves from Magnificent Mobility. If you don’t have that I think that is an awesome product. If not then if you check out stronglifts.com, its got some good stuff on hip/ankle mobility.
After a couple of warmup sets I’m usually good to go. I do a lot of mobility work, I feel it is very beneficial.
*Notes. . .
Pretty good session, wasn’t really into it for some reason but came out productive nonetheless. Squats were better, I still fought the knee cave a LITTLE so I’m going to definitely address that issue. Lots of work with my new bands from Elite. Rows were good considering last time I used 105, whoops! Overhead press was hard; simple as that.
had the day off so I did some mobility work focusing on hip/ankle mobility and glute activation. then I did a “brisk” walk on the treadmill, which led me to believe that I’m not in good shape.
I found that widening my stance a little bit and turning my feet out (just a tad) goes pretty far in getting the glutes to fire around parallel on the way up.
I mean… raising the depth of the squat? Blasphemous!
[quote]Otep wrote:
I found that widening my stance a little bit and turning my feet out (just a tad) goes pretty far in getting the glutes to fire around parallel on the way up.
I mean… raising the depth of the squat? Blasphemous! :)[/quote]
Otep,
I had to do the same thing to my squat, with the widening of the stance and the toes pointed outwards a bit. It works tremendously. More or less, how much do your feet point outwards? Do you think around 30-45 degrees is ok?
[quote]Tonino wrote:
Otep wrote:
I found that widening my stance a little bit and turning my feet out (just a tad) goes pretty far in getting the glutes to fire around parallel on the way up.
I mean… raising the depth of the squat? Blasphemous!
Otep,
I had to do the same thing to my squat, with the widening of the stance and the toes pointed outwards a bit. It works tremendously. More or less, how much do your feet point outwards? Do you think around 30-45 degrees is ok?[/quote]
Thirding the widening of stance… I found I had to widen my stance during today’s workout when I upped my weights. It made my form not feel like it was on the verge of breaking down. I’d say my feet were roughly 30-40 degrees, and also would like to know if that’s acceptable. Thanks!
Thanks guys I’ll give it a shot. . . right now I’d say my heels are tad outside shoulder width and toes pointed out to like 1/11 o’clock (respectively).
Otep do you think widening the stance, and pointing toes out even more will be beneficial?
Thanks guys I’ll give it a shot. . . right now I’d say my heels are tad outside shoulder width and toes pointed out to like 1/11 o’clock (respectively).
Otep do you think widening the stance, and pointing toes out even more will be beneficial?
Ha! This is the first time on here I’ve read of someone squatting too deep…
I go ATG with my squats and my knees get a little wobbly as my thighs come back up to parallel, so I’m glad you posted and got the responses you did. I’ll try going slightly wider on my stance and angle my feet a bit.
I’ve been doing Rippetoe’s program for a few months now and am absolutely loving it. So I’m no expert by any means but, if you’re not making the full 3x5 sets, I would think that you should drop the weight down to a level where you can get all the reps in, then work your way up again.
For me, I like to choose a weight where the first set is challenging, the second set is damned hard and the third is absolutely ball-breaking. That usually gets me 5, 5 and 5 or 4 reps for the sets.
3 sets of 5 reps is pretty low volume as it is, so I would think that dropping a rep or two each set could limit your progress…
[quote]StupidMonkey wrote:
3 sets of 5 reps is pretty low volume as it is, so I would think that dropping a rep or two each set could limit your progress…[/quote]
If you’re referring to my row/OHP I completed the previous weight at 3x5. My gym doesn’t have platemates or anything like that, so basically I’m stuck adding 5 lbs to each lift at a time. I’ll nail it next time for sure. . .not really worried about my progression because it was still progress from the previous workout.
*Notes
-FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC WORKOUT!!! Thanks for the suggestion on widening my stance, and a little extra toe flare. . . it helped IMMENSELY!
-Bench was solid, no real issues with that.
-Last rep on the deadlift was a grinder but I willed it to lockout.
-I’m extremely pleased, hahah!
Notes
-pretty decent session. squat form was pretty good, the bar just moved slow today. I need more food!!!
-rows and OHP were alright, nothing really to report.
-I will nail all 15 reps on the squat on Thursday, and the same can be said for rows/OHP on Saturday! This progress isn’t going to slow down if I can help it.
