There's a Storm Coming, Mr. Wayne.

Training Training Logs
701

Yowdy

Squats
135 x 5
145 x 5
150 x 5
155 x 5
145 x 6
135 x 8
115 x 10

Most felt awful. :confused:

Bench
115 x 8
115 x 8
120 x 8
first/last paused

One rep might have not actually touched my chest, but that seems fucking insane. I would never do that…

chin ups
4, 3, 3

front squats
95 lbs 3 x 3

ab circuit.

I dunno folks. I kinda felt like giving up on squatting for the rest of my life today. I can’t understand why I have to be so bad at it when I work so hard at it all the time…
Chicks who don’t squat could out squat me in a week if they tried…
SOB

So I was thinking of a new plan of attack (like always) for my worst ENEMYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!
I have been trying lately to really like…sit forward and not back to make my quads the prime mover, etc…
This feels so fucking wrong to me. I could do it rep after rep and it still feels like, unnatural and like I really have to stop and think about what I am doing.
IF i just sit down (not back) it feels normal. So I think I am going to go back to doing it that way. Still high bar, but not all like as quaddy as possible. AQAP
BUT at the same token then I will worry that my quads wil become a major weak point because front squats do something seriously wonky to my right shoulder. And that bugs me, I am not a girl of excuses when it comes to working out, but it is affecting my pressing movements. UNACCEPTABLE .
SO
I think for squatting I will work up to a daily either 1RM 2 RM 3 RM 5RM cause 4 RM seems weird… then one high rep light set afterwards
Random accessories.
Squats is the main focus and everything else is put on maintenance. Like bench once or twice a week, shoulder press once a week. Back stuff often. Deadlift once a week, and leg extensions 2-3 times a week. OH back extensions 2-3 times a week also.
K something like that.
My plans never last so you can all begin placing your bets on when I’ll change my mind about this and do something differently :/.

Life news:
No dreams to report.
My “to-do” list of guys I’d do remains the same as it was yesterday
RECAP
Anthony
Robert Downy JR
JW:Gym edition

UMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Ya I dunno, work is fucking tiring. I guess this is why nobody else I know really has the time to come up with witty status updates and take scrabble turns like 6 times a day. I barely have time for band pull aparts now :O!
OH I got to phone people and ask them to come in for an interview after reading their resume. Isn’t that so cool? I get to like look at people’s shit, LOL. I feel very special.
Hello, this is Jenn calling from sherwood park target. We have recieved your resume online and would like to schedule an interview with you sometime next week. Do you have a day in particular that would work best for you? Monday? Yes, I have a 2:00pm open on monday if that works for you. Great! See you then.

ME SO FORMAL
BYE

702

“IF i just sit down (not back) it feels normal.”

Do this. If you sit too far back it takes your hips away from the bar and you end up bent over too far and with a screwed up centre of gravity.
The high bar / low bar decision will depend on which feels strongest to you. This will take some time and practice to figure this out. What if you alternate high and low bar training days and monitor the results?

And do the regular squat stuff you already know (drive your knees out hard to keep your posterior engaged, don’t let your chest cave over, get your head back into your traps (do the double chin), don’t crane your neck)

703

[quote]giterdone wrote:
“IF i just sit down (not back) it feels normal.”

Do this. If you sit too far back it takes your hips away from the bar and you end up bent over too far and with a screwed up centre of gravity.
The high bar / low bar decision will depend on which feels strongest to you. This will take some time and practice to figure this out. What if you alternate high and low bar training days and monitor the results?

And do the regular squat stuff you already know (drive your knees out hard to keep your posterior engaged, don’t let your chest cave over, get your head back into your traps (do the double chin), don’t crane your neck)[/quote]

Thanks Gitty!!! I trust your opinion about everything BTW!!!

704

Yolla!

First good work out of bascially 2013…

Squats
95 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 3
145 x 3
155 x 3
belt
165 x 3
180 x 3
170 x 5

OH EDIT: I want to add that I also did 175 x 3 before 180 x 3 but the first set was imperfect so I re did the 175 x 3 a bit faster and i came up way better out of the hole. Then I racked it and thought “that was like youtube perfect”. So I moved up to 180, but then I didn’t believe myself that the 175 was actually perfect cause I couldn’t get the fist one out of my head.
And I also did the 180 x 3 twice, but the first one my belt was a bit too high, and my form stayed fine which was really nice, but I did it again anyway with my belt lower and it felt a lot better. I just have to say these things so that my brain stops repeating them to me over and over all day.

///\\\ end\\ OCD

belt off
135 x 10
115 x 10

Great!! Form stayed pretty good even on the heavier sets.

deadlifts
175 x 8
175 x 8
175 x 8

For some reason I am unsure if the first set was 7 or 8, but I know deep down it was actually 9 cause I wanted to re do an imperfect rep or something. I dunno why I started doubting that it was actually 8.

plate side bends 25lbs
2 x 25/side

Single leg leg ext.
2 x12/leg

Good.
My plan is taking shape:

Saturday: Squat to a rep back + high rep set at the end
deadlifts 3 x 8 slowly increasing weight each week like next week maybe 175 x 8 175 x 8 180 x 8, so I can keep steadily increasing for a long time/ leg ext.

sun: Sqauats and military press for same rep idea as deadlifts, upper back+back ext. and some ab thing
Mon: Squats/leg ext. abs
Tues: Squats + bench, same deal as military press and dealift/upper back
wed: Squats / back ext/ abs maybe like biceps here or something
thurs: Squats/ upper back
Fri: Maybe off cause I will have to do the career booth thingie at the mall all the time so it will be a really busy day …
Sat: REPEAT

UM YA Seems ok. I get a good mix of things and good frequency. Might add a bench varation day on like thurs. if I have time or something.

I love planning.

K life news:
I had a dream that I was being chased around a village by a lion. I am curious as to what the lion could possibly represent. Lions often represent things. Like courage or whatever. Is a groupd of lions called a pride because lions often sit and act so proudly??
So I wonder what was action chasing me? Like maybe even fear of something. Fear of failure, fear of success.

Fear of my own wrath.
I am a scary one.
I mean the lion wasn’t chasing anyone else, there were people around me, but it was only going after me. I had to keep closing doors and running away. It makes sense that it could be something jsut about ME, like my own wrath or whatever, right? Otherwise he lion would just be terrorizing everyone.
Anyway, then I ordered some pizza and the pizza delivery boy showed up at my house and I was in a housecoat and I think he hit on me. Like he like my big bum or something.
My pizza had on olives and pepperoni, I also got cheese sticks because my kid could live on those things.
So that was my dream.
Anthony still hasn’t answered my tweet. I told him I just want to be his friend, which is a lie because you typically don’t masturbate to your friends.
Anyway, going to galaxy land soon and gonna have a blast on some rides.

TTYL AND LOVE YOU LOTS!

<>>

BYE

705

[quote]Spock81 wrote:

[quote]giterdone wrote:
“IF i just sit down (not back) it feels normal.”

Do this. If you sit too far back it takes your hips away from the bar and you end up bent over too far and with a screwed up centre of gravity.
The high bar / low bar decision will depend on which feels strongest to you. This will take some time and practice to figure this out. What if you alternate high and low bar training days and monitor the results?

And do the regular squat stuff you already know (drive your knees out hard to keep your posterior engaged, don’t let your chest cave over, get your head back into your traps (do the double chin), don’t crane your neck)[/quote]

Thanks Gitty!!! I trust your opinion about everything BTW!!![/quote]

OK, let’s not get carried away here, lol.
Trust your instincts and try not to self doubt.

Do you watch the Youtube vids for Supertraining? They are pretty good and there is quite a bit of form critique. I was watching one just the other day where the advice was to squat down more between the legs…just like you figured out on your own

706

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
BUSYBUSYBUSY!!!
[/quote]

You called my name???

Oh…

NVM.

Seriously, good to see you’re moving the iron. Great work!

And congrats on the job!

707

[quote]giterdone wrote:

[quote]Spock81 wrote:

[quote]giterdone wrote:

Trust your instincts and try not to self doubt.

[/quote]

YESYESYES!! THis is my biggest problem! I will have a great squat workout and then see somebody critique someone else’s squats and tell them not to do something that I did and I’ll freak out about it. Like descend quickly or whatever. Going down slowly feels stupid.

Everyone’s squat is unique! Squats are like snowflakes, no two are alike!!

708

[quote]2busy wrote:

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
BUSYBUSYBUSY!!!
[/quote]

You called my name???

Oh…

NVM.

Seriously, good to see you’re moving the iron. Great work!

And congrats on the job![/quote]

Hey stranger!! Thanks for stopping by! And welcome back :slight_smile:

709

hey hey kids!

Squats
115 x 5
135 x 3
145 x 3
155 x 2
belt
165 x 2
175 x 2 (farted)
180 x 2 ← walkout was a little weird here and I figured you should know…
185 x 2
175 x 5 <— took me three sets togt this one perfect :/. First set of 5 was a little too strained for my liking. Second set was PERFECT, but the final rep didn’t feel as low as the others. 3rd one was hard, but nothing wonky happened so I felt content.

belt off
135 x 12

Bench
Oh, I know I ‘scheduled’ military press for today, but then i rememberd how hard it is to get a bench on weekday evenings, so I figured I’d make my bench day for a weekend. Fricken 5 o clock benchin’ bro’s!

115 x 8
120 x 8
120 x 8

FIrst/last paused
Maybe the last rep of the first set wasn’t paused, but i know it was, BUT MAYYYYBEE MAYBBBBBBE not!!

drop set of lat pull down x 5 sets

decline sit ups
3 x 12

back ext. 1 x 25

K, dandy!!

Life news:
UMMMMMMMMMM I went out for dinner with my bestest friend from high school last night whom I haven’t seen in years cause she’s been travelling and living in other countries. It was awesome, picked up right where we left off, as if we’d just seen each other last week.

Nothing much else. DIe hard comes out next weekend so I gotta big date with myself, OH I should pre buy tickets! YES YES YES!! WHeeeeeeeeeeeeee

BYE

710

Here`s an example of just dropping down (not sitting back) with a fast descent. Bar is pretty high. Stance is shoulder width (quite narrow). Eric is a monster.

NOT saying this is the style you should use. It`s just an EXAMPLE. Trust yourself.

711

I can’t wait for Die Hard! Russia should be a great place for a Die Hard storyline!

712

yer the fun one, so there.

713

How many sets do you not count in your log during an average workout?

Like, your volume is already very high if you only did the weights listed here, I’m just wondering how ludicrously high it really is.

714

I ask because this:

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
OH EDIT: I want to add that I also did 175 x 3 before 180 x 3 but the first set was imperfect so I re did the 175 x 3 a bit faster and i came up way better out of the hole. Then I racked it and thought “that was like youtube perfect”. So I moved up to 180, but then I didn’t believe myself that the 175 was actually perfect cause I couldn’t get the fist one out of my head.
And I also did the 180 x 3 twice, but the first one my belt was a bit too high, and my form stayed fine which was really nice, but I did it again anyway with my belt lower and it felt a lot better. I just have to say these things so that my brain stops repeating them to me over and over all day.

[/quote]

Means that your ACTUAL last 2 squat workouts were like this (bolding the parts you left out):

workout 1:
95 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 3
145 x 3
155 x 3
belt
165 x 3
175 x 3
175 x 3
180 x 3
180 x 3
170 x 5

workout 2:
Squats
115 x 5
135 x 3
145 x 3
155 x 2
belt
165 x 2
175 x 2
180 x 2
185 x 2
175 x 5
175 x 5
175 x 5

…Anyways my point is when you get frustrated about lack of progress, it might just be because you are overdoing the volume due to “not counting” any set that isn’t perfect. The stress to your body of squatting 175x5 is the same whether or not you count it in your log. In other words if your goal is 175 for one set of 5… doing it 3 times and only counting one of the sets may be counterproductive.

When I fuck up a top set I write down a note for next time and move on, because I know for damn sure I’m not able to repeat that top set multiple times.

715

This^ You beat yourself to death because it “doesn’t count” when you do a bad rep.
Your body fucking counts it. Stress is stress, and you redoing and stressing out over “bad form” or some ludicrous reason to not count a rep, doesn’t mean you didn’t do it.

You only need 2/3 white lights. Don’t kill yourself over “perfection”

716

I think you might be putting too much thought into you squats ( and probably most of your lifts)…as in if they are worthy of being a squat! Of course they are! And Darke’s right on about the body counting it…it does!!

And any other girl would NOT beat you in squats after a week of training! Come on! Well, I’ll leave my cheer leading aside…I know how it is and I know what you mean by it, but I seriously have to stop myself from chimin in every now and then in your log to scream TAKE IT EASY ON YOURSELF!! YOU’RE FABULOUS SPOCK!!

717

OKAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY FRIENDS!! I am hearing what you are saying, and I WILL try, but you must remember that I am a mentally tortured soul. This gift of crazy is often a curse, I’ll attempt to make the best of it!

K YO,

Squats
95 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 3
145 x 3
155 x 3
belt
165 x 2
175 x 1
185 x 1
190 x 1
195 x 1 <— This was a little fast and felt oddly easy so I am going to assume I did not hit depth on this rep. Suspiciously easy. Like easier than 185. Did not hit depth, but did not re do!!
See, here’s the thing, does a fast, maybe-not-to-depth 195 count for anything? Like, it has no purpose in my workout. That is why I typically re do stuff, they need to have a purpose.

170 x 6 <— that felt really awesome. Like awesomely hard, but every rep was flawless no matter how hard it felt, SO YAY.

belt off
140 x 10
115 x 10

So pretty good other than that one rep. I actually did a really short pause in the hole for almsot all my reps other than 195 and it made things stay really tight and be in control. Maybe I’ll attempt to do that for a while so I can feel less anal about form or something, I dunno. It was a pleasent squatting session anyway.

Single leg leg ext.
4 x 8/leg

DB row 30lbs
2 x 12

hanging leg raises and knee raises or whatever
4 sets of 6

So ya.

K good effort…

Life news:

Oh, I made a mistake about the die hard release date. I got ahead of myself :frowning:

ANDDD I got tickets for my kid and I to see the monster trucks in a couple weeks.
GUESS WHO GON’ BE THERE?!!!

…

GRAVE DIGGER!!!

EEEAAAAAAH!!! I will be so star struck, I mean, it’s the fucking legend…ROAR.

!

BYE

718

Ya know Jen, i think we all have a little Dr. jekyll and Mr Hyde opposition in our pysch. I know that for me Mr Hyde is awesome, but other people dont agree. So my Dr Jekyll side allows me to temporarily reign in MR Hyde, but only temporarily. Its probably why i prefer to be by myself more than not. Because when Mr Hyde is out to play… So that is where i turn to Dr. Jekyll to reign in my other side then unleash that in the gym. Letting Mr. Hyde out to play is like playing with fire, sometimes its awesome, and sometimes i get burned badly.

So what i’m saying, you’re probably asking how this relates to life and powerlifting. Well, i will say that you gotta let Hyde out, or in other words you got to let yourself get a little crazy. Who’s to say what the percentage is, but you also have to use DR Jekyll to reign in MR Hyde sometimes to accomplish things. For powerlifting Mr Hyde is awesome, that side of you gives you that drive to push your limits, and you should let that part of you out once in awhile, especially when you need to push your limits to establish new ones. But Dr Jekyll is where the planning comes in and the wisdom in planning what you’re going to do and stick with it.

So while i think your nuts, i think i can make a case that i’m just as nuts if not more so than you. :slight_smile:

Happy lifting Jen and get that 225 squat already, i know its already been done, just a matter of actually doing it.

Oh sorry about the novel, but one more thing, look up brandon lilly’s youtube vids and watch ben rices vids as well. They both have some good points to progression and sticking to the plan. Of course there’s always Supertraining06 as well like git said, mark bell is one cool mofo.

719

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
195 x 1 <— This was a little fast and felt oddly easy so I am going to assume I did not hit depth on this rep. Suspiciously easy. Like easier than 185. Did not hit depth, but did not re do!!
See, here’s the thing, does a fast, maybe-not-to-depth 195 count for anything? Like, it has no purpose in my workout. That is why I typically re do stuff, they need to have a purpose.

[/quote]

Yes, remember the greater purpose of working out is to put your body under a load that forces it to adapt. Your body has to think it NEEDS to change in order to survive your particular day-to-day life. The purpose of strength training is NOT to hit x reps at y weight. THAT is just the means by which you force adaptation. In other words:

**SET/REP SCHEME is just the TOOL by which you accomplish the goal of adaptation. It is not the end goal itself!

Example: if your workout calls for 200x5 on something as your top set, it means that that one set of 5 should be incredibly difficult - difficult enough that your body says HOLY SHIT THAT WAS HARD and you really aren’t sure if you could repeat that set if you tried. If you pick a weight low enough that it will allow you to attempt 3 sets of 5 in case of mistakes… you aren’t picking a high enough weight to accomplish the goal of adaptatione.

Same thing if your program calls for 3x5 or whatever. If you think you won’t be happy with a couple sets so you pick a weight low enough that you can do 5 sets of 5 if needed… your weight was not high enough to force adaptation. Those 3 sets of 5 are supposed to be so hard that a fourth set of 5 is impossible or damn close to impossible.

I really doubt anyone who is very strong has had a top set with perfect form on every rep in many years. To get that strong you have to lift a weight so heavy that PERFECT form is impossible.

720

Check out Lillebridge’s 800x3 squat (1:10):

Watch his last rep (at 1:55). His knees shoot to the right on video (right knee caves a bit, left knee goes outwards)… his chest falls just a bit and he good mornings it more than the other 2 reps…

Do you think that set didn’t make him stronger because his form was slightly worse? Or do you think that he knows that in order to get stronger, he has to challenge himself and lift something that is really freaking hard to do at all, let alone with perfect form?

Just trying to help you keep focus on the larger goals, sometimes you seem to get caught up on the small ones (such as perfect form on every rep vs. getting stronger). This is no license to work with horrible form - you should be concentrating hard on TRYING to be perfect with your form while choosing a weight that’s heavy enough to make perfection damn near impossible.