Spidey: Eudaimonia

Training Training Logs
381

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
…

Front Squats: Stopped trying to point elbows ‘in’. It seems like its a solid cue for some, but it rounds my upper back for some reason, so i just forgot about elbows, concentrated on making back ‘big’, and it was much better
185x5x6
…
[/quote]

Hey Spidey - training looking solid buddy. As our body types are similar, maybe you will respond well like I did to specifically pointing elbows out for front squats. My pinkies go on the first knurl mark (rogue 2.0 bar) and to get my elbows up I go out with them. May not be pretty but it works for me.

Also - as I have been doing more squatting recently I totally agree that core is where I feel it the most. If my core can’t handle it I fold into the hybrid good-morning sort of movement.

Cheers,
Needa

382

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Yo

Squats: Felt alright. Knees come in a bit, but I’m just trying not to fold over. Still not perfect, but it’s much improved IMO. Filmed last set
295x1
275x4x3

Front Squats: Stopped trying to point elbows ‘in’. It seems like its a solid cue for some, but it rounds my upper back for some reason, so i just forgot about elbows, concentrated on making back ‘big’, and it was much better
185x5x6

Breathing Squats: Nothing too hard
185x2x10 Breaths

SG RDL’s:
215x3x10

Then a cool little shoulder girdle triset of rear delt flies, OH Shrugs, and band Upright rows.

Then some cardio.

Good workout. Squat is coming along. I think I do need to start leaning forward justttt a tad, because otherwise I ‘dip’ at the bottom, and while I want to stay upright as possible, my Squatting style isn’t going to really ever have a near vertical back when using max weight. Right now my squats result in lots of lat and abs soreness the next day, and during glutes, hips, and quads feel like they are really all firing ‘together’. So while my Squat isn’t beautiful, I think I’m at least getting to where it’s in the ballpark of ‘correct’ for me. [/quote]

For front squat it’s more important to get your elbows up than in to get your upper back tight, similar to getting your elbows down to tighten your lats for back squat. The elbows in and up cue helped me get my chest tight so I could lead with it, which also kept my upper back tight. Definitely do whatever works for you. The time you learn which cue works best is when you’re close to failing so take advantage of those moments to see which cues force you to maintain good position.

Can you get a side angle of your back squat next time?

383

Whoops

384

[quote]Captain Needa wrote:

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
…

Front Squats: Stopped trying to point elbows ‘in’. It seems like its a solid cue for some, but it rounds my upper back for some reason, so i just forgot about elbows, concentrated on making back ‘big’, and it was much better
185x5x6
…
[/quote]

Hey Spidey - training looking solid buddy. As our body types are similar, maybe you will respond well like I did to specifically pointing elbows out for front squats. My pinkies go on the first knurl mark (rogue 2.0 bar) and to get my elbows up I go out with them. May not be pretty but it works for me.

Also - as I have been doing more squatting recently I totally agree that core is where I feel it the most. If my core can’t handle it I fold into the hybrid good-morning sort of movement.

Cheers,
Needa
[/quote]

Yeah man, pushing the elbows out seems to help a bit, which surprised me. Could have something to do with having abnormally long arms, or just shit flexibility haha

The core bracing stuff makes my squatting feel entirely different, but in a good way. Definitely a key component I’ve been missing.

385

[quote]lift206 wrote:

For front squat it’s more important to get your elbows up than in to get your upper back tight, similar to getting your elbows down to tighten your lats for back squat. The elbows in and up cue helped me get my chest tight so I could lead with it, which also kept my upper back tight. Definitely do whatever works for you. The time you learn which cue works best is when you’re close to failing so take advantage of those moments to see which cues force you to maintain good position.

Can you get a side angle of your back squat next time?[/quote]

Yeah I think it’s just allowing me to keep my elbows up more. I think maybe my mobility causes my elbows to shift downward when trying to point them in, and point them out almost makes grip similar to the cross arm style of front squats, where elbows are obviously pointed out.

Yeah I can get one from the side. Just a back squat? I squat tomorrow, just my hypertrophy style day, but I can get some regular Back squats in after my Mat pulls.

386

fgt

387

[quote]xjusticex2013x wrote:
fgt[/quote]

only 4 doges

388

Nice workout today

Mat Pulls (4): Went really well today, felt controlled, really hit quads and hips like crazy
475x1 (no straps or belt)
455x9

Pin Squats: At right about where my hips drift back, idk how I feel about these
225x3x3

Piston Squats: RIP tear drops
135x2x20

Single Leg RDL’s: I’ll alternate these and elevated lunges I think, both kind of good iso lifts that increase ROM and flexibility a bit
25’sx3x10

Delts + Abs+Cardio

Then I took some vid of my Squats from the side, which I’ll post below

389

This is a quick set I did after my workout, so glutes, hams, and lower quads were pretty wrecked. But some problems I see are the fact I should probably start with my elbows pointing a tad back, not STRAIGHT down, as they need to be in line with my torso a bit now. Also, my hips are drifting back a bit still, but honestly I think that could be from being a bit fatigued and overall just needing to get my quads a lot stronger.

I’ve been looking at Mike T’s videos a lot, and it’s where I started ‘unhinging’ my hips a bit before squatting down, which feels a bit better because I’m in a position to go straight down from there.

390

Forgot the Mat Pull video haha

391

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Forgot the Mat Pull video haha

Damn. Where did all of that come from?

392

[quote]xjusticex2013x wrote:

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Forgot the Mat Pull video haha

Damn. Where did all of that come from?[/quote]

Wut

393

Hi Spidey (damn I’m sorry I don’t know what’s your real name),

I saw on your first page that you liked both powerlifting and bodybuilding, I was wondering what advice you would give me if I’m interested in training both too… something along a four day upper/lower body spilt with two days working on strength and two days on hypertrophy.

What are the exercises you would advice on for the hypertrophy days and what should the training parameters like?

I skimmed through your previous log but I couldn’t really find what I need, hence the question. Hope I didn’t make you repeat anything.

Thanks.

PJ

394

Great to see the mat pulls progressing well. That was a killer set. Seems like you got a good handle on things. Something to consider in the future is the breathing style. I see that you are breathing in between reps, which I did for a long time with this approach. About a year ago, I focused on taking in one huge breath right at the start and then just holding it for as many rep as I could. With touch and go, this meant that I never lost any tightness in my core, and really allowed the reps to move quickly. I set a lot of personal records with this approach.

However, you’ll also blow out a ton of blood vessels in your upperback/chest/neck/traps, and once you run out of breath, you might only have another 2-3 reps in you. Still, good training for the vasalva maneuver.

395

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Great to see the mat pulls progressing well. That was a killer set. Seems like you got a good handle on things. Something to consider in the future is the breathing style. I see that you are breathing in between reps, which I did for a long time with this approach. About a year ago, I focused on taking in one huge breath right at the start and then just holding it for as many rep as I could. With touch and go, this meant that I never lost any tightness in my core, and really allowed the reps to move quickly. I set a lot of personal records with this approach.

However, you’ll also blow out a ton of blood vessels in your upperback/chest/neck/traps, and once you run out of breath, you might only have another 2-3 reps in you. Still, good training for the vasalva maneuver.

[/quote]

Man, breathing I feel is the one ‘little’ thing I’ve fucked up the most with lifting haha. The vasalva maneuver is something I’d like to get down, but I just suck at it, and I think it effects my bracing a lot. I’m really prone to passing out anyways, getting light headed often, so I think it’s just a fear of that holding me back.

I’ll give it a go next DL session. I’m also thinking about maybe keeping Sumo mat pulls, like 3-4 mat height, as an assistance move, and then running this progression with Conventional DL’s, which I think might be a better ‘stance’ for true TnG and the breathing/constant bracing strategy you’re suggesting.

I appreciate you helping me out. If I can just maintain even close to the reps I’m getting over the next few weeks to my pulls from the floor, this’ll be some ridiculous DL progress. I’m definitely a believer in the mat pull ROM progression philosophy now haha

396

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Man, breathing I feel is the one ‘little’ thing I’ve fucked up the most with lifting haha. The vasalva maneuver is something I’d like to get down, but I just suck at it, and I think it effects my bracing a lot. I’m really prone to passing out anyways, getting light headed often, so I think it’s just a fear of that holding me back.

I’ll give it a go next DL session. I’m also thinking about maybe keeping Sumo mat pulls, like 3-4 mat height, as an assistance move, and then running this progression with Conventional DL’s, which I think might be a better ‘stance’ for true TnG and the breathing/constant bracing strategy you’re suggesting.

I appreciate you helping me out. If I can just maintain even close to the reps I’m getting over the next few weeks to my pulls from the floor, this’ll be some ridiculous DL progress. I’m definitely a believer in the mat pull ROM progression philosophy now haha[/quote]

The first ROM progression cycle tends to be pretty crazy in terms of results. Most times, I don’t lose a single rep. Follow on cycles will be a little less dramatic, so don’t get your hopes too high, haha.

From what you’re displaying in these videos, I think you’ll maintain a decent amount of reps. Doesn’t look like you’re struggling or “cheating” in any way.

I think your idea about using a mat pull as an assistance exercise is sound. They’re a stellar movement, and if it weren’t for that fact that my sport requires floor deadlifts on occasion, I’d primarily use mat pulls. Be curious to see how it works out with a combination of sumo and conventional.

Keep up the hard work.

397

[quote]pjlife wrote:
Hi Spidey (damn I’m sorry I don’t know what’s your real name),

I saw on your first page that you liked both powerlifting and bodybuilding, I was wondering what advice you would give me if I’m interested in training both too… something along a four day upper/lower body spilt with two days working on strength and two days on hypertrophy.

What are the exercises you would advice on for the hypertrophy days and what should the training parameters like?

I skimmed through your previous log but I couldn’t really find what I need, hence the question. Hope I didn’t make you repeat anything.

Thanks.

PJ[/quote]

Hey man

I’d definitely say 2 heavy, 2 light days is a great strategy! That’s pretty much what I do, except usually do something like 6x a week, alternating upper/lower or Push/Pull/Legs, but that’s just because right now I have time to get into the gym frequently.

Are you asking how I’d set up a 4x a week upper lower? I really liked the Westside 4 skinny bastards set up, with a bit of tweaks to my personal preferences. But as long as it’s sensible, go with whatever you want. I could think of a lot of cool, interesting 4x a week upper lower routines that could work, or even something like the Cube Method could be good.

I’d say one of the best choices for hypertrophy day, is the main lift you did on your heavy day, for about 2x’s as many reps. So if you Benched heavy 3-5’s earlier in the week, on your hypertrophy day, start that with some 8-10 rep Bench. Maybe a variation, like high bar Squats, wide Grip Bench, some slight variation to target quads/chest/whatever more specifically.

Do a lot of reps, get in some volume, and make sure to hit whatever body part you’re trying to stimulate. So for Big, compound movements, my goal is usually to make a heavy weight feel light. And when I’m doing curls, laterals, extensions, etc, my goal is to make a light weight feel heavy. Make sense?

398

Solid variation day, just played around.

Did some High Incline Pin Presses, really liked these, superset with band straight arm pulldowns
Then Wide Incline Bench, piston style, superset with chins
a Rest-Pause set of CG Bench, 155x10+5+3, so 18 total reps
Then Incline Rows with band pushdowns
Then some pump tri/bi stuff

Good workout, the High Incline Pin Presses felt really solid.

399

You’re making great progress on the mat pulls. For your squat it looks like your hips still go back a bit when coming up but you’re doing a good job trying to fight it. It’ll be easier once your lower quads and glutes are stronger which you’re strengthening with the sumo mat pulls. Mat pulls helped me learn how to use my hips at the start of the lift too. Keep it up.

400

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]pjlife wrote:
Hi Spidey (damn I’m sorry I don’t know what’s your real name),

I saw on your first page that you liked both powerlifting and bodybuilding, I was wondering what advice you would give me if I’m interested in training both too… something along a four day upper/lower body spilt with two days working on strength and two days on hypertrophy.

What are the exercises you would advice on for the hypertrophy days and what should the training parameters like?

I skimmed through your previous log but I couldn’t really find what I need, hence the question. Hope I didn’t make you repeat anything.

Thanks.

PJ[/quote]

Hey man

I’d definitely say 2 heavy, 2 light days is a great strategy! That’s pretty much what I do, except usually do something like 6x a week, alternating upper/lower or Push/Pull/Legs, but that’s just because right now I have time to get into the gym frequently.

Are you asking how I’d set up a 4x a week upper lower? I really liked the Westside 4 skinny bastards set up, with a bit of tweaks to my personal preferences. But as long as it’s sensible, go with whatever you want. I could think of a lot of cool, interesting 4x a week upper lower routines that could work, or even something like the Cube Method could be good.

I’d say one of the best choices for hypertrophy day, is the main lift you did on your heavy day, for about 2x’s as many reps. So if you Benched heavy 3-5’s earlier in the week, on your hypertrophy day, start that with some 8-10 rep Bench. Maybe a variation, like high bar Squats, wide Grip Bench, some slight variation to target quads/chest/whatever more specifically.

Do a lot of reps, get in some volume, and make sure to hit whatever body part you’re trying to stimulate. So for Big, compound movements, my goal is usually to make a heavy weight feel light. And when I’m doing curls, laterals, extensions, etc, my goal is to make a light weight feel heavy. Make sense?[/quote]

Hey Spidey,

Yea I guess you meant that when lifting heavy I should think about moving the weight as fast possible while lifting for hypertrophy I should focus on contracting my muscle as much as possible to tire them out??

I actually came up with a program but I need some advice from you (I’m really terrible at this hypertrophy stuff lol).

I didn’t settle with an upper/lower body split due to some constraints.

Anyway, I’m planning to train on Sun/Tue/Wed/Fri, with the first and last days of the week as my strength days and the middle two days as my hypertrophy days.

My strength days are really simple: Back squat and shoulder press on one day, front squat and bench press on another. Plug in whatever strength progression I want to. I do my strength training at home, in which I only have power rack, bench and weights, hence I want to keep this as simple as possible.

My hypertrophy days will be:

Tues
Dumbbell shoulder/incline/flat bench press (kind of following Christian Thibaudeau’s High Performance Mass’ idea)
Biceps curl/triceps pushdown (superset)
Lower back exercise

Wed
Bulgarian split squat
Lat pull down/shrugs (superset)
Leg extension/hamstring curl/calf raise (how important are these? If the gym doesn’t have leg extension/hamstring curl machines what exercise can I substitute with for the same results?)
Abs work (I suppose I’ll throw in some circuit here)

What are your thoughts? Would you recommend the “shoulder/incline/flat bench” progression? What exercise will you recommend for lower back? What should be the tempo be? Anything else I missed out?

Ok I know that’s a lot of questions, I’m sorry for taking up too much of your time. :confused:

Thanks!