Thats tha plan. I feel the effect now… but to get bigger weights i need more natural strength in my core. Just like using pauses and deficits a belt is a tool to get there.
Whoa. Upper 2/3 of my back and traps are lit up today! Lowback and most every where else is fine. Front delts a bit from the inclines. Funny enough chins make my rear delts quite sore.
Looking ahead I took inclines off friday and basically made room for a longer squat session. My barbell rows fit nicely here afterward. Should be able to add some volume to them too…which willbe nice cus you cant over train your upperback and just hitting the planned sets has been ok…but i want to grow here to support my deads n squats.
Zero pump going on here. Zero. Just barbell movements!
Friday 1-24-14
Squat to a box 3x3 @245
Squat 5x5 @215
Barbell rows 4x6 @155
Weighed 217.5
3x3 to a box is set at parallel. New so it feels akward. Like im aware so I descend slower. Touch n go. Feels like a partial movement vs my highbar atg.
5x5 a fairly easy weight…but I can tell I been hittin 3s … cus I felt a bit outta groove on 4 th n 5th reps. Again… a 5x5 on the minute winded me more than I expected. All 3 did this week.
Rows- when I started these again I added a 3 in. Deficit. .not knowing the effect I played it safe. These are all light weights to me. I did the scheduled 4x6 as a 6x6 and did a dead hang set after wards for 12…60 reps total here Including warmups.
My barbell rows
-stand on 3 inch deficit deadlift stance
- as if deadlifting lower self to bar where I grab it a. My exact bench grip.
-unwrap thumb into a thumbless grip - get tight as if deadlifting, head up upper back tight using thoracic extension take any slack outta bar or arms
-shift weight a bit to front of feet tomprovide resistance while remaining tight - stay tight… row rep to where your bench touches your chest
-reset on floor for a quick sec. Then explode back up. Each rep this way - minus my deadhang set- where I let the bar hang bout an inch off the floor then explode up. Constant tension is felt on entire body… hams quads back shoulders you name it… repping out is a bitch. Got 12.
Well well well …
1st time NOT sore after a squat day. Feels great!.
- even tho I dont squat much… squatting once a week has left me quite sore every time.
- going atg makes you more sore than not
-pause squatting makes you more sore than not - I do all all 3- well now ive added a 2nd squat day and what a difference
- truly makes it easier to push even harder now…
-yay for me!
Looks like things are going good bro, on the RDLs it sound like you have it, but thought I’d throw my cue’s in anyway, and see if it helps. RdLs are the first lower body move I teach new recruits, I have them stand around 18-24inches away from a wall, with a soft lock on they’re knees, and then tell them to touch they’re butt to the wall, don’t bend over, just touch your butt to the wall.
What happen’s is you have to bend over when you do this ( keeping your back arched) you end up loading the ham strings. This is mabey the most important move people can learn in the gym, because once you get it, you learn the proper way to set-up for a reg dead, and all squating moves. Loading up the hams, by pushing the butt back. Sounds like you have it, but I thought I’d throw it out there, because mastering this, then loading, and becoming strong at it, has biggest carry over to reg squat and dead, than anything else period.
Try it out before your next RDL session, you’ll see what I mean. Other wise, things look good, stronger and smarter are the goals. Latter
Thanks Anytime,
Ya. Ill try that out and see how it compares. Sounds like what im doing but wont know till I compare.
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I chose these because much like paused closegrips for me - it seemed like the most logical and direct assistance.
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I reset each rep like a dead to even mimic that aspect… so technically its not romanian. Im not stuck on word play but want to be clear on the exact movement
-when I do these I also stay mostly on my heels after the initial lift off for the entire set. I can really feel it in my hams during and sore the next day!
-since im highbar olympic squatting I feel like the front 3/4 of my foot is utilized most once I screw my feet outward and ascend down. It remains this way thenentire rep. Basically very little heal drive. Whichnmeans very little hamstring involvement.
- if I pause the reps this changes a bit…and outta the hole I feel some ham and def glutes firing.
Not sore= can’t wait to train Monday. Bench/pause squats.
In order to keep your back arched, most people can only go down to aprox they’re knee’s with the bar, at first, then over time you can get to a point with an arched back, and a soft lock on your knees, where the plates start touching the floor, this is when a deficit comes intp play, but this takes time usually, unless people are really flexable from the get go.
On that note, it’s probably whats allowed me to train this long without needing direct mobility work, is using exercising in a maner, wher your always working towards improved ROM. I don’t put names on stuff either, I’m not sure if what I do are considered Stiff leg, or RDL, or Dimel, or whatever, I just know that they target the PC idealy, this is the point.
Following and learning from set programs, and exercises is great, but thinking outside the box, and mashing shit togeather, will get you to a point, where you understand your own body, and what works. It all takes time, and people don’t realize how much of this thing, ties into your mind, and the mental side of things, both mental fortitude, wrapping your mind around certain weights, and finding a routine that fits your personality. All this stuff really comes into play when I’m working with kids, so prone to excuses now days, and so easily board. Anyway, I got way off track form my original point there, LOL, just board myself, on a Sat morning, Latter
I try to save my rambling to my own log, but it happen’s 
Its all good man. I welcome the convo.
Fairly flexable myself. I stretch daily and always have. Since turning 30 ive becomenna bit less flexable than I once was but yet still more flexable than most.
I can sit on floor, legs straight ahead knees locked and can grasp my feet. Legs spread as far as possible I can touch my face to tha floor!
Standing up feet together knees locked I used to be able to bend down and palm the floor! Now I can easily touch the floor but when i go to palm it my knees do unlock some now…
Glad you mentioned this because this is one of my commitments aside from training weights I first want to stick w. Stretching mobility and.proper warm up. To avoid injury at all costs. My ability to go to work and.provide is number one. which starts with my health and ability to do so. Weight training is my assistance in lifento get stronger and healthier as I age whereas avg men regress.
By 40 I want to be the healthiest and strongest version of my self. Im 33 now.
I’ve nevver held much belief in stretching and mobility, all the strong guys I know, some highly ranked, don’t bother with it, just balanced training, and full ROM. It’s sort of like tread mills, you only see fat people on tread mills, and you only see skinney weak guys, spending hours on stretching. This is from a guy thats lifted heavy for 20yrs, and never had a weight lifting injury, or nagging pain in any way, but that being said, I’m 40 now, and not nearly as active as I once was.
I think at this point it fits the bill for me, and I’ll give it a shot for a few months, and see how it works. I track every detail, in my log, so I’ll be able to tell if it makes a differance. This is where a detailed log comes in handy, because I can tell you what works or dosen’t work. Same with supps, I try them one at a time, and then watch over a 3mth period, to see if it makes a differance in my log or not. This is the reason, I don’t ues supps, other than protien powder, and fish oil, haven’t found anything that works, so we’ll see how the stretching effects me. I have a feeling that my shoulder’s and elbow’s will thank me, I’m pretty tight lately, and for the first time in my life, I’m feeling rolled forward. I’ve always believed in doing 2 pulls, for every push, and this has kept my upper body balanced. I just think I’m to tight right now, and everything is all balled up. Gotta go make lunch, latter
Monday 1-27-14
Bench 10x3 @280
Closegrip pause @235 2x amrap
Pause squats no belt @5x3 205
setted w. Chins
B.w 220
Bench felt fast n pretty easy. When first starting 10x3 I did minimal warmup due to the new volume. Imm adding in extra warmup sets now cus ive adapted.
Closegrip was easy as last week despite being 10 pounds heavier. Full pause n explode up. Got 8 n then 6 reps. 3 sec paused last two reps to make grinders.
Squats got a good warmup scheme going. Again extra warmup vs. Before. Keepin it. My 1st 5x3 as my 2nd squat day. Same stance highbar olympic. No belt. Full 2 sec pause. Explode up. Felt decent not perfect. I did 2 more sets so it was a 7x3. Im adapting to this volume idea and will add beyond whats planned each week based on feel. Point is still nail the 5x3 then do what you can after. I feel like the harder I push myself on the monday beltless paused squats the better ill do on fridays 10x3… resulting in less soreness as well !
Chins setted w. Every set of squat till im done. Today got9 b.w sets of 3.
-3x3 as explosive as possible then…
-3x3 full 3 sec pause at bottom then…
-3x3 full 3 sec pause at top…explosive as possible outta thebottom
-finish remaining squat w.o chins. Bout 3 sets cus I went 7 working sets this time.
Funny story- w. Anytime n chobs front squatting. I gave it a major try. …
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major fails- tried the paul carter grip a d since I dont front squat felt scary unstable. Re racked and did my horrible clean grip- basically im holding the bar…
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with 205 -unracked.stepped back. Big air.get tight. Descend.kinda slow. Core n legs feel good. Atg… explode up. Core n legs feel good. Upon exploding up bar popped right outta my grip. And evenly slammednon the floor onebig bang.
My initial reaction.- omgnmy shoulders ok? My shoulders ok? Cple circles on each. …yup both fine… whew.
-take 35s off
-powerclean off floor
-same grip hit 135 for easy set of 3
- had to do this .I was. Bit shaken but wanted my confidence back
- starting at 205 was to heavy for trying grips. Tho I think ill get it for reps core nnlegwise.
-end fail.
Same day. This ones free 
Since I have the evening off and kids was In Timeout…hah!
Did some unplanned sets.
Barbell curls w. My bench bar
-45x10strict
-65x8strict
-85x6strict
-95x4strict
-115x2strict
-145x0 strict- couldnt get it outta thebottom much
-145x3 unstrict
Reverse curls pyramids down from end of curls
- 95x6 unstrict
-85x6 strict
-65x8 strict forearms done.
Hardly ever do direct arm work. More of a point to work my forearms here.
-squeeze bar as hard as I can each set
-2 sec pause at bottom each set n rep
-forearms lighting up pretty good after 1st reverse set… goal attained by ending set !
LOL, on the front squats, Its no wonder such a great exercise gets no love, its fucking awefull. I have the strangest feeling though, that great things could come from mastering such an abortion of an exercise, if I can get to the point of 315 for 5 good reps, I`m sure I could acomplish anything I put my mind to, next to a hard set of front squats, even going a couple round with Jon Jones seems do-able. Good work going on here, keep it up, and thanks for the pep talks lately. Latter
Bones !
Wednesday 1-29-14
Deads from 2" def 10x3@270
Shrugs 5 sets
Stiff legged dead from 2" def. 3x6@225
Incline bench paused 5x3@230
B.w 218 no shoes
Last week was 3 " def. This week 2"…next week 1"…heavy week -floor
Adding deficit and going beltless so far… feels like its paying off. Last week dead day was hard as shit…but I finished it and now this week felt much better. 1st 5 sets double over hand. Last 5 sets mixed grip alternating supination left to right each set. These felt good from the deficit and beltless after set 5 when I switched to mixgrip it was like I started fresh again. Lightweight all reps felt good.
Shrugs
-270x8
-245x8
-245x8
-225x8
-225x8
Incline bench supersetted w. Shrugs keep things rollin. Paused each rep pretty easy weightlast rep felt least good on a cpl sets. 3 sec paused last set.
Stiff legs felt good. 1st time ever doing them beltless. Went well. Last cple reps on these my grip is struggling and im super sweatty n huffin n puffin a bit. Good stuff still gotem in. Def. Leading by sticking my ass out first. Legs stiff as possible
Friday 1-30-14
Squat to a parallel box 3x3@ 255
Squat 10x3@ 220
Barbell rows 4x6@ 165
B.w 218 no shoes no belt.
Squats to a box gettin better. Findin a groove between a full sit and a touch go w.o a bounce. Gettin more confident here…better each week.
Squats 10x3 after feels light. Getting confident to where I feel like im attacking each set now. Once I start I want to squat on the minute and just feel agressive about it. The one minute seems long at first… was just feelin good today. Felt light…till last cpl sets where I was just sweatty n gettin fatigued.
Rows- from a 3" def. Again lightweight to me turned this into a 6x6 for some volume. Did a dead hang set as a finished. This time instead of stripping to 135 I just hit the working weight…got 6. Not bad really feel the burn in my hams gluttes n quads from the constant tension on this final set. 54 total reps here.
Still kickin ass and taken names I see, nice work.
On the box squats I can only squat to just parelle, because of bad knee, so the box squats probably don’t feel as weird to me, it’s never more than an inch or two away from where I squat. Stan Efferdin is the only PLer that uses box squats like I do ( atleast that I’ve seen) and he says he pretends the box is on fire, so as soon as he feels it touch him, he explodes up. The other kind of box squats where they actually sit, and push they’re butts way back, I’ve used as an asistance exercise in the past, great for the PC, but I’m not 100% convinced they work miricle’s for raw lifter’s the way people say they do for geared guys. Anyway just a couple thoughts. Latter
Yup. Thats how I see it. Touch n go. In the future- imma vid myself and make sure I hit parellel and that can be the standard I set hitting a max at- yett have a trai ing max that ass to grass because I ilike the full rom here and as youve noted the soreness shows the extra work being done.
Speaking of which- is nearly non existent for 2nd consecutive week.not being nearly crippled by doms after squat day is a fresh of breathe air
-direct correlation of adding programmed 2nd squat day for the second straight week has led to minimal soreness both times.
- this does nothing but fuel my fire to push myself now on both squat days
-particularly monday where im beltless and pause each rep. The harder inpush here I feel theres more work capacity strength and less soreness which carries over to the friday squat which is heavier n belted.
I’ve found, and mentioned on other logs, that it seems like eternity to get from 225 to 315 for all three lifts, this seems to be the dead zone, but I’ve noticed with myself and my lifter’s that 315 to 405 is like a blink of an eye, only to grind to a hault at 405. I only mention it becuause your in that zone, but I can promise once you finaly break 315, you’ll have a fun 6-8mths ahead of you where you seem to be able to get PRs every workout.
I don’t know why this is, but I’ve noticed it on almost every lifter I’ve been around, so hang in there, this is the tough time where most lifter’s give up’ or settle for less, getting they’re squats to 275 and give up, deciding to diet down, or come up with non-strength related goals. Anyway your in the slow zone, but getting through it builds character for life ‘‘Later’’ ( new spelling )
Ya. But this time is different. can feel it. Its gonna happen. Totally agree on 225to315 !!!