Squatting has become a way of life for me in the last few months. Literally I love and hate the damn lift.
3 months ago I hit 360 for 2 grinders. Last month I got 365 for 4 decent reps. Yesterday I hit 370 for 5.
I think things are moving along quite well at the moment.
[quote]trivium wrote:
[quote]chobbs wrote:
Did you get a slingshot while you were there?!?![/quote]
Unfortunately I did not. They were only $25 and Mark Bell was there to ask questions, but as I said he didn’t look like he wanted to be there.
Also they had like 185 lbs in weight to use, so I wouldn’t have gotten a great trial of it.
I should have just bought one.[/quote]
Ya they’re normally 45-50 lol
awesome write-up and squat PR. I was planning on going next year but now I don’t know if I’m so eager lol. That sucks that Mark seemed like such a doucher. Malanichev is even cooler in my eyes after the Skittles and posing hahaha
Fantastic squatting!
[quote]browndisaster wrote:
awesome write-up and squat PR. I was planning on going next year but now I don’t know if I’m so eager lol. That sucks that Mark seemed like such a doucher. Malanichev is even cooler in my eyes after the Skittles and posing hahaha[/quote]
I would have thought that it was going to be the other way around. I thought Malanichev was going to be standoffish and douchey, and that Bell was going to be an awesome, light hearted bro haha.
[quote]csulli wrote:
Fantastic squatting![/quote]
Thanks man. I feel like my squat is just about at the point where I have a good shot at hitting my goal of 405.
Deadlift and press are lagging a bit behind the goals.
I have to build some confidence with the bench press, but it is there somewhere.
The lift from 3/7/14.
YTWL
Bench Press
10x45
5x45
5x135
3x185
5x205
3x230
6x255 (All paused. No failing.)
3x230
7x205
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
80 lb dumbbells for sets of 10/10/10/5/7
(I am starting to not be a fan of these. I think that the stretch that I get at the bottom of the rep strains my shoulders. It was easier to do incline press with dumbbells for various reasons at the gym I was visiting.)
Kroc Row
115 lb dumbbell for sets of 10/10/10/10/5/1
After this lift I had some left shoulder tightness going on for a day or so. Nothing big. I do believe that (in contrast to conventional wisdom) dumbbells are worse for my shoulders due to the extreme ROM and decreased stability that they promote.
The lift from 3/9/14.
YTWL
Apley’s Band Stretching
Pendlay Row
5x135
5x185
5x205 (5rep PR)
4x215 (Form started to break down, so I called it at 4 reps.)
5x185
5x185
5x185
10x135 (They only had bumper plates, so I couldn’t do T-Bar rows like I normally do.)
10x135
10x135
10x135
10x135
10x135
10x135
5x135
Triceps Rope Pushdown
10x20 (Immediately moved up in weight and continued with…)
10x30 (Immediately moved up in weight and continued with…)
10x40 (Immediately moved up in weight and continued with…)
10x50 (Immediately moved up in weight and continued with…)
10x60 (Immediately moved up in weight and continued with…)
10x70 (My arms were pumped and on fire here. Took a small break and then…)
10x80
10x80
10x80
10x80 (I was having some shoulder discomfort around this set. Probably from dumbbell bench.)
10x80
10x80
10x80
10x50
A decent lift. I had to make due without t-bar rows, but other than that it wasn’t bad at all.
I then took a few days off because I was on vacation and I couldn’t have people running me to the gym all the time.
After I flew home I did the following lift on 3/13/14.
Deadlift
5x135
5x185
5x225
3x275
5x335 (Switched to mixed grip here.)
3x375
4x420 (Weight and rep PR. Switched hand supination. 40 second hold at top. No failing.)
3x375 (Switched supination back. Felt a bit off at the top. Held for a short while.)
5x335 (Again, felt a bit off at the top.)
(The big set of the day felt rough. I need someone to help me evaluate my form, and perhaps to take some weight off the bar.)
Leg Curl
10x60
10x80
10x100
10x120
10x130
8x130 (Dead stop reps. Barely got 7, and 8. Just missed 9.)
15x100
15x100
15x100
10?x100 (Not sure how to count this. I definitely got at least 10, but I started missing reps.)
10x100 (Missed 9 on first try. Tried again, got it and then got 10.)
10x100
10x100
10x100 (Missed 9 on first try. Tried again, got it and then got 10.)
I have no idea why I started missing reps here. I had some pain in my forearm (left medial epicondyle) and hand (over the left medial aspect of my palm). These were the supinated hand for my top set. It has since resolved. Probably just a very small strain.
I decided that I wasn’t going to take any off days after deadlifting so that I could catch back up with my schedule.
Here is the lift from 3/14/14.
YTWL
Apley’s stretch
Press
10x45
5x45
5x95
5x120
5x135
7x155 (Paused. No fail. Spot touched my elbows on way up 7, but didn’t help any. These were all mine.)
2x155 (Just wanted a few more reps. No way was I going to get 3 or more haha. I was beat.)
5x135 (Paused.)
5x135 (Paused.)
5x120 (Paused.)
Dips
10/10/10/10/10/5/6
(Drove home to use my own pull up bar.)
Pull Ups
9/7/7/7/7 (I don’t know what was up here. I was kind of pissed about only getting 9 on my first set. I would have done more sets, but I had to leave. I was going to be late for dinner if I did more.)
I am going to try to do 5 sets of pull ups every day. These will be wide grip for two reasons. First because I get a better feeling in my back from wide grips, and second because I feel that they are easier on my shoulders and biceps.
I will log all of these when I complete them.
I think my poor performance with pull ups has to do with amount of back work that I have done in the last day or so.
I suspect that going back to back with deadlift and press (which I never do) may have had something to do with it.
My back is lit up today. I will be going later on today as well.
I will have to catch up with everyone’s logs later on.
You know that feeling you get when you have too many quests open in an Elder Scrolls game?
That is how my life feels right now haha.
I also wanted to add that during my last squat workout, I had an odd feeling in my eyes. Not sure if it was spots or halos.
It was like a grey spot that happened in the lower right hand quadrant of my left eye’s field of view.
3/15/14
Gym closed way early. I am used to my other gym’s 24 hour a day policy.
I worked out at home as best as I could. The rest of the workout will be completed tomorrow in the AM…hopefully.
Pull Up
8/8/8/8/8
Standing Straight Bar Curl
73.4 lb barbell for sets of 10/10/10/5 (Good pump here.)
Dumbbell Rear Lateral Raise
23.3 lb dumbbell for sets of 10/10/10/10/10/10/10
(I only counted good reps. Most of these were actually sets of 10-15. I will repeat a few of these tomorrow.)
100 Rep Curls - only made it to 71. (Damn these were rough on the grip.)
Tomorrow I will do pull ups, face pulls, and some rear lateral raises.
My left trap was much more sore than the right. No idea why.
Today’s workout. (1/16/14)
Face Pulls
10x50
10x65
10x80
10x87
10x95
10x95
10x95
5x95
10x87 (Superset with 10 dumbbell rear lateral raises with 20 lb dumbbells.)
10x87 (Superset with 10 dumbbell rear lateral raises with 20 lb dumbbells.)
10x87 (Superset with 10 dumbbell rear lateral raises with 20 lb dumbbells.)
10x87 (Superset with 10 dumbbell rear lateral raises with 20 lb dumbbells.)
20x72 (Not real happy with these reps.)
20x50 (Much better reps.)
I am going to hold off on the pull ups today due to soreness in my arms and back (mostly arms).
Later on tonight I will do my stretching.
I ordered a mini-band from eliteFTS and some Phiation headphones. Should be coming early in the week.
The bands will help with my shoulder stretching, and allow me to add the band pull-apart to my mobility/prehab work.
My knee feels pretty good.
My hamstrings are still sore from deadlift day, and my shoulders/biceps feel a tiny bit tight. Hopefully my workout later will help loosen them up.
Today’s workout. (3/17/14)
I shouldn’t have lifted today. My legs and back were still recovering from other workouts. I also slept on a bed with no support, so that didn’t help at all.
Squat
5x45
5x45
5x45
5x135
5x185
3x225 (These popped off my back. Felt OK.)
5x255
5x295
6x335 (Not a good set. See below. Failed at bottom of 7.)
1x335 (Moved Safety bars down. Paused.)
Leg Press
1x400
During the top set of the day, I managed to bang the bars on the squat rack 4 of the 6 reps. I am sure that helped me get out of the hole some. I should have stopped after I hit the first time, but I didn’t for some reason. I decided that that set should be trashed, so I took a break and unracked 335 again. My back felt tight so instead of doing another set, I racked it. I took another minute, and got one rep for a paused rep and it was pretty easy, but my low back was feeling like it was tightening up.
I had never squatted in that rack before, so I didn’t know where to set the safety bars. I think what happened was that I was tight during all of my warm up sets, and then 335 was enough to push me fully down into the hole. I really think that if I would have gotten a bit of a stretch/rebound at the bottom, and the rack didn’t hold me from going all the way down, I would have set a PR.
During the reps that banged the bars, I lost my balance badly and had to muscle the bar up. These reps were shit. I just don’t know what was going on with me today. I mean I should have stopped and adjusted the rack.
I decided to scrub the rest of the lift. I was going to try to salvage the leg press, but I couldn’t. My back was already too tight.
I have never had this happen to me before.
I should have taken my time to recover, but I didn’t.
I am pretty sure I am going to switch 5/3/1 templates. I have somehow made this one unmanageable and hell on my body.
I may make my own, or I may do one that is pre-written.
I like the pyramid style of 5/3/1. That will remain.
I am going to deload. I am not sure of the numbers yet though.
I don’t feel good enough to do a mock meet though.
I am going to finish my work week and then decide. All of the rest of this week’s decisions will be made based on recovery, and not lifting like I have been doing.
After I eat lunch I am going to start writing my new program.
Thoughts:
It would be nice to have a set training schedule. My program works, but it can get hard to manage sometimes. I may keep it that way though because it allows flexibility and recovery.
Things that are important to me - Squat, Bench, Deadlift, Press, Rowing, Pull-ups, Dips
I am learning that going to failure is not a good thing with heavy weights. (Yeah a lot of you are saying “no shit” right?) I am going to make a better effort to not miss reps. I have a hard time holding back though because I don’t want to leave any effort or opportunity for gains out. I have an idea for curing this.
I need work on my form. Getting #3 in check may help out with this very much.
All fluff needs to be eliminated while continuing to grow strength and size.