woke at 79,8 kg - 175,9 lbs
Lots of calories yesterday at least 3500 
Todays training
Bike at work 2 x 10 km
Rowing ergometer 6 min - 1500 m
Run 2 km 11 min.
a bit of mobility and pull downs not much for fun
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woke at 79,4 kg - 175 lbs
calories yesterday - 2500
Iām gaining a bit every week I think.
Eating as clean as it gets, within calorie goal.
Deadlift in a couple of hours, will post a video, if I can manage that technical thing to upload the damn thing.
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Todays training
28 week of training 5/3/1 from Beyond
Cycle 6 week 1 day 4 Deadlift
Warm-ups agile 8, lazy lifter, jump rope, yoga stuff, standing long jumps
Powerclean + push pres
3 x 40, 45, 50 kg 1 x 55 kg 121 lbs
SS
DB incl row
3 x 16 x 22,5 kg
DL Worksets (did some sumo practice 5 reps at 70 and 95 kg)
105 x 5 good double overhand video
117,5 x 5 felt heavy double overhand
130 x 3 loose belt hook grip. Thought now way Iām gonna PR today
130 x 9 286 lbs Belt tight, mixed grip PR by 1 rep, first 5 where good, last 4 not so good. Video.
Dropping the prescribed AMRAP of TM. They are to taxing after a PR set.
Back off
2 sets of 105 kg x 5, no belt + straps.
Front squats
40 x 7
50 x 7
55 x 7
60 kg x 6 132 lbs video
40 x 5 backoff for the camera.
SS
DB bench
4 x 25 kg x 10
Not as fast and strong as I would have liked, but hey got the PR. Still prās every damn workout for 6+ cycles.
Took videos today, will post them in a minute, have to figure out how to.
Well first time ever Iāve looked at myself in training. Thatās funny.
I think I forgot all the cues I had in mind
Brace, engage lats by bending the bar around shins.
So @MarkKO, @Frank_C, @TriednTrue, @guineapig, @The_Myth, Iāll tag you guys for some feedback.
I really really hope the videos will load
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Easiest way is YouTube or Instagram
105 kg x 5 reps
130 x 9 reps PR
And some front squats
60 kg x 6 kind of PR
Back off 40 kg x 5 perhaps better angle
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Deadlifts
Your back doesnāt start out super flat but you maintain the same spinal position so Iād say thatās alright. I noticed on a couple of reps that your hips shot up first. You might need to focus on āpressing the floor awayā with your feet or trying to keep your chest up. You might also be starting with your hips too low. If I get lower in my setup then the first thing to move is my hips. If I just start with my hips a bit higher than it doesnāt happen.
Overall they looked pretty good. I try not to turn into a form Nazi; I look for obvious issues that stand out. I had to look close and get a bit picky with your reps. You could make some minor adjustments and improvements but I wouldnāt stress about it unless youāre goal is to pull 500 lbs or something big that requires you to be perfect. Iām all about safe technique/form and I think youāre good in that aspect.
Front Squats
The 40kg backoff sets looked much better than the 60kg sets. The weight was pulling you forward on those reps. Itās going to happen when you get tired or really push yourself but I saw it on most of those 6 reps. I try to think about keeping my elbows up when Iām coming out of the hole. Iām sure the other folks will have some cues and tips for this as well. My advice is simpleātry to apply your 40kg form to all weights.
Good stuff and thanks for sharing!
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Thanks for the comments.
Yeah I do have a bad posture, tend to have a bit of a hunchback.
Iāll try to start a bit higher, next week.
Well goal is to pull 440 pounds 200 kg. Might not ever happenā¦ With this log Iām even more into doing it, in 16 months that is.
The front Squats I do not like them hope theyāll help building a bit on the upper back and quads.
Trying to keep back as straight as possible and trying to lead with elbows, that doesnāt show much
You were doing good on the lighter set! And, yes, front squats are the devil.
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I tweaked my back doing front squats - I was using slightly too heavy of weight, got pulled forward, and slightly twisted to recover, which wrenched my spine. I advise being very careful when doing front squats with a fatigued upper back.
Iāll echo @Frank_C observation about your upper back being a bit rounded. Years of bicycling does that! Concentrate on retracting your shoulders and pinning your shoulder blades down and back. This is healthier and adds exercise value to the deadlift, creating an isometric hold for the upper and middle back.
The second form correction I noticed is you often lock out your knees before your hips, transferring all the weight to your back and turning the second half of the rep into a Romanian deadlift. People commonly fall into this, and I had to detrain myself from it, too.
A sentence in an article here that helped me said the knees and hips should achieve lockout at just about the same time. A Dan John article then opened my eyes to the difference between bending forward at the waist (which is what most do, and it puts lots of strain on the lower back) versus hinging backwards at the hips, like a door hinge turned 180 degrees, so the pivot bar is like the hips, and the upper and lower pieces mirror the upper and lower body. Iāll try to find the article and link it here.
In case they help you, the DL form cues I use are: space my feet the same width Iād use for a standing long jump; stand close enough to the bar so itās barely touching my shins when Iām holding the bar; hinge back at the waist and bend at the knees, grabbing the bar with my arms along the outsides of my legs; lean my weight back, taking the slack out of the bar and my body so the bar counterbalances my body weight; pin my shoulders back; and simultaneously push my feet into the floor while hinging my hips forward/shoulders backwards and up.
Thatās probably a lot to remember, so discard anything that interferes with your deadlifting form.
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Thereās definitely nothing Iād worry about for safety. What I did notice is that your middle back flexes a tiny bit just as you pull - thatās a power leak, and most likely caused by not bracing as hard as you need to. It also may be why your hips come up slightly. Youāre not quite tight enough, so you get pulled forward a little and then your hips rise to compensate.
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Am a bit late to the party but thatās some great work. High rep deadlifts are pretty bad ass. it looked like you were kind of lightheaded after the last rep lol.
Iāll try to add something new to the discussion but everyoneās been pretty thorough.
Deadlifts looked alright and like others have said a slightly rounded back starting position is safe enough as long as itās maintained through the lift.
If youāve ever maxed out Iād by curious about how/where you fail like off the ground or at the knees or do you explode off the ground but slow down somewhere. This can tell you where your focus should be so you can work on your weakness until it doesnāt hold you back anymore.
Like for example if you fail a pull by having your back immediately round off the floor and consequently you canāt lockout you need to work on bracing harder with every rep right now and by the time you come to maxing out it wonāt be a problem anymore.
Front squats arenāt to easy on the eyes lol. Itās a pretty demanding lift in terms of mobility all over the body from ankles to wrists. But if you can get in a good starting position then youāre mobility enough.
Iām gonna stress rep quality here because to get the most out of front squatting you need to have that sexy form. Adding more weight on when form is already going to shit isnāt worth I think.
Something that helps my front squat is slowing the eccentric down and being aware of my upper back position and how my torso descends (i.e. hips dropping down vertically). This way I can keep the position I started with much more successfully
What kind of cues are you currently using for front squat or how do you front squat?
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@MarkKO, @Frank_C, @guineapig, @TriednTrue, Thanks guys.
Hoping that the rounded back was sort of okay, Iām really trying to put my shoulderblades back and down in the pockets.
Actually as I recall it, Iām trying to brace, but as you pointed out, Iām not bracing that well. Iāll work hard on that.
At the start of the year I pulled 150 kg (Or tried to) that thing was kind of glued to the ground. A week later I pulled it, OR grinded it really bad. And Itās off the ground that it was the hardest, the second it left the ground I knew it would come up.
For the front squats I try to brace (not good enough) and lead with the elbows. I can see there are not good, well bad.
Iāll lower the weights and slow down the decent. They are assistance so light weight baby.
And a bit light headed at the end. When I did 140 x 7 I had to sit down
I love DL. Itās badass and beastly.
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Iāll work on that bracing.
When I lift, I got the cues I think. But the minute I grap the bar it seems like I forget the damn cues.
Do you think of several different cues all the time, like that bend the bar around shins, brace and so on, or are they kind of natural to you?
Sounds like an interesting article. If you donāt find it, Iāll try finding it myself.
Thanks for the cues. My stance are quite wide there. Video does a lot.
I know MarkKO sits back a lot, and I sometimes try to do that, it just feels awkward, but I will try.
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woke at 79,4 kg - 175 lbs same as yesterday
Calories yesterday 2750 (itās weekend sue me)
Great cues for DL and Front squat from you guys out there, great forum this is.
Todays training
Badminton for 1 hour and a bit.
Great fun, high pulse, quick reactions breaking some sweat.
Itās about time to evaluate training so far. Really enjoyed Beyond for 28 weeks, but the last cycles where I was supposed to do jokersā¦ well I am about to max out, so I donāt know if Iām able to do jokers at all. Might change for another 5/3/1, of course.
But still 2 weeks to see how things are going.
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Here it is!
I focus on bending the bar/squeezing my lats, sitting back/dragging the bar up my shins and bracing hard. Thatās five cues, I guess, although the first two pairs pretty much go hand in hand so more like three.
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Thanks man, looks like great fun
Might even do them twice a week.
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