[quote]Modi wrote:
Great effort mrodock.
I used to Squat with my feet out to the edges of my power rack, because that’s what I thought I was supposed to do. In the past year I’ve moved it in about 3-4 inches on each side, and feel much stronger, and don’t feel like I’m going to tear an adductor.
I had good success with the 13 week Sheiko cycle. The only problem was that I wasn’t pressing back towards my head on Bench, but at the lighter weights it didn’t matter. That’s why I failed my second Bench attempt, but got it on my third.
Do you have to start Sheiko on Wednesday? It would be better if you could base it off a real max. The nice thing with Sheiko is that you will get a lot of practice with the big 3 lifts. You can play around with your stance during the cycle to see what suits you best. If you are doing 4 or 5 sets on a given day, you can try 2 or 3 different stances and then stick with whatever is working for you.
I feel for you when it comes to locking out the Bench. Most raw benchers here have an easier time locking out a weight if they get it off their chest. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten it past mid way and stalled for an eternity before they took the weight from me. Lockout has never been my strength. I did switch to a wider grip for the past 13 weeks, and really forced my arch so the stroke was shorter and this seems to have helped, you may want to play around with hand position and move out a finger or two.[/quote]
Thank you very much Modi! Your advice and help along the way have really meant a lot, I get a little choked up thinking about it; no wait, this is TESTOSTERONE Nation! Your advice and help really get the testosterone pumping, caveman grunt, etc.
As far as squat width I will play with it, and deadlift width for that matter. You are right, the number of sets definitely gives you an opportunity to experiment, I guess I was thinking that only with near max attempts am I going to learn anything but that is very short-sighted, so thanks for the great insight! I think my squat width ended up a fair amount wider than normal because I wasn’t squatting within the confines of a rack for the first time. My stance looks a few inches wider than the rack would allow (I believe). I will work on narrowing it a few inches and see what the results are.
The reason I am starting the 13 week program on Wednesday is I fly out to get married the first week of June, giving me exactly 13 weeks to get this thing done! I sent a pm to Matt McGorry for advice on this, will be curious to hear what he says. I don’t think I can move the wedding back a week incidentally, haha.
Yes I will definitely have to work on pressing back toward my head as it gave me a better chance of locking out max attempts in the past. I will be disciplined in working on a different bar path, and Sheiko will definitely give me a chance to practice it a lot.
I was extremely impressed with your adjustment for the 3rd attempt bench, that was awesome.
I might play with a wider grip. It wasn’t so long ago I was stronger on a close grip bench than the width I am currently using and weaker on an illegal width grip (than the width I’m currently using). On close grip I felt that lockout was extremely easy. I have no idea in the world what all this means!
Thanks again for everything, it really means a hell of a lot!