Chasing 300/405/500 - A skinny labcoat's journey away from 90's Small™

[blowdpanis]

Matt (PMDL) and I both decided to make logs here, as we both feel this site has the potential to grow into a rather promising community. I like the convergence of forces here - the 70's Big™ mentality, old school Bill Starr, and new school Rippetoe and his tried and true yet labcoat'd analysis of lifting mechanics. Things that actually work combined with labcoating about why - this is a cause I can get behind.

Stuff About Me

I'm 30 years old and currently enrolled in a Doctor of Physical Therapy program of which I am not wildly enthused. I have competition aspirations in terms of achieving the 300/405/500 in that context, but no definitive plans at the moment for my next meet.

My story is actually similar to Gary's, to some degree. I started off as a fully grown adult weighing in the low 130's with extremely small bone structure. I started "lifting" at the tail end of my senior year of high school, but it took me many years to arrive into some form of sensible training.

I am presently almost 40 lbs heavier than what I started while still having reasonably low bodyfat (maybe 12-13%), but experiments to date with getting heavier have not gone awesome. I.e. I've seemed to gain disproportionate amounts of fat relative to muscle when overfeeding past my current weight (~170 lbs). Perhaps you guys can convince me to become an adult male.

Establishing E-Cred

To date, I have only competed once, raw, in April of 2006, and put up a ~341 squat, ~275 bench, and ~452 deadlift. I peaked out heavier than I've ever been at the time by embracing absolute garbage food, but wasn't a fan of either the gut I gained or the lipid panel that came back afterwards, so I've somewhat restrained myself from the 70's Big™ philosophy the past few years.

As opposed to posting old vids of my meet, I'll post more recent stuff in terms of what I've been up to the past several months of training:

315 Pause Squat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEZE2o1neY0&fmt=18

335 Momentary Pause Squat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwYT3ZMswjU&fmt=18

280 Bench:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHcFj3Gydu0&fmt=18

405 Hook Grip Pull

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c3lF6wGd-w&fmt=18

160 lb Strict Chin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZY7rEf_4nc&fmt=18

170 lb Paused Dip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU5bK-aL6lU&fmt=18

165 lb Press:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWrqfmB7Cco&fmt=18

I've also dieted down to pretty god damn low bodyfat levels, just to see what I'd look like:

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/5858/dscn0148bhf6.jpg

This back in the summer of '08. Don't ask me what my weight was. Okay, the low 150's. I can already foresee the "EAT A CHEESEBURGER, LABCOAT!" comments forthcoming.

My Goals:

Hitting those ~300/405/500 marks are primary amongst my goals, but to get stronger in general is my primary training goal. Gay or not, my health is extremely important to me, and I will admit that aesthetics play a role in my decision making.

My Current Routine:

The past few weeks have been a mess, but I've been experimenting a lot with frequent, submaximal, volume-varied routines. Basically my own ideas on what makes the Russki routines work, based on dual factor thinking, and incorporating Tescherer's RPE ideas.

RPE = a scale of effort from 1-10, basically, with a scale that goes like this

7 = speed weight, lots of reps left over
8 = ~a couple or few reps left in the tank
9 = probably another good rep if you really pushed it
10 = the limit of your ability

I try to keep most of my training in that 8-9 range, and it's been working quite well.

[blowdpanis]

An example of my training from yesterday (Friday), went like this...

Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup (band around the knees - helps me to remember shove them out)
185 x warmup (band)
205 x warmup (no band)
225 x 5
225 x 5

Chins

Me x 5
Me + 75 x 5
Me + 75 x 5

Rehab Press

Due to a nagging right shoulder injury, I've been using the overhead press as my primary upper body push exercise. Without getting overly optimistic, it seems to be working, as a good deal of my shoulder pain is already gone after a week of doing these daily. I am really, really concentrating on good form/shrugging the shoulders at the top, and theoretically this isn't anywhere near the limit of my ability.

Bar x get the shoulders warm
105 x 5
105 x 5

Hook Grip Semi-Sumo Deadlifts

As the first kind of interesting thing here, I've been fooling a little with an alternate style of pull that some people who have a difficult time setting up in a tight, conventional stance might like...

345 x 5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_Jh9hYGidA&fmt=18

As per the description in the video:


This is a form of deadlift I've been playing with. In a sense, the mechanics are fundamentally the same as Rippetoe's prescribed conventional form, but with the arms outside of the legs.

The setup:

* Position the bar approximately over midfoot.
* Take your grip, such that your arms are more or less perpendicular to the ground.
* Take your stance RIGHT outside of this grip. This will be narrower than a standard sumo deadlift.
* Otherwise, same as Rippetoe's setup - big breath, squeeze the chest up, take the slack out of the bar, THEN pull.
* Use the lats to keep the bar "towards" yourself on the way up and down.

Between switching to a hook grip full time and really emphasizing good deadlift mechanics, my pulls took a nosedive for a bit, but are starting to recover in terms of getting back to my prior levels of strength. As evidenced by the 405 vid above, I should be capable of a good bit more, but I am in no rush, trying to keep things pretty on the way up.

[misspelledgeoff]

Christ you are a strong fucker! Especially for a skinny, ripped guy.

Glad you started a log and look forward to following it.

[blowdpanis]

Thank you, geoff. I figure my lifts at my bodyweight imply that I certainly do my job on the training end of things. It might be fairly argued that my bodyweight itself implies that I haven't properly done my job in the kitchen, though.

I ordered a pair of those new .5" heel Rip weightlifting shoes, so when I get them hopefully sometime later this week, I'll post my review. I've been lifting in Vibram's as of late for funsies, and actually really like them, but will ultimately side with the shoes that give me the biggest squat.

[K.Diesel]

Christ you are a strong fucker! Especially for a skinny, ripped guy.

Glad you started a log and look forward to following it.

No joke, man! How much do you weigh?

[blowdpanis]

No joke, man! How much do you weigh?

Maybe ~170 on a good day. As low as ~165 depending on my calorie intake/water weight.

[blowdpanis]

My back is tighter than it should be. Could it have something to do with pause squatting 5 days per week? LOL COULD BE. So I'm moving this to a poor man's Pavel routine. Wasdatmean? 3 sets of 5 done thrice weekly, with RPE's kept in the 8-9 range (preferrably more towards the former). This suits my purposes for now (right shoulder irritated, school starting up again etc).

Pause Squats

Principle thing I've worked on here lately is getting better depth and pauses. I think I've arguably done both more consistently.

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup (band)
185 x warmup (band)
205 x warmup
225 x 5,5,5

Video of the 2nd and 3rd sets hither:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtTUslmhGVk&fmt=18

Looks mostly pretty good, by my eye. 4th rep on the 2nd set is a little more segmented than I'd prefer, but these things happen.

Chins

Me x warmup
Me + 75 x 5,5,5

Rehab Press

Bar x warmup
105 x 5,5,5

Legs to Bar

Like knees to elbows, but harder/cooler looking.

Me x 6,10

I actually take a wide grip on these to reduce the help of the lats in rotating me up towards the bar. Quite a burn in the abs.

[blowdpanis]

Video log of today's workout:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaTBn_a4T-A&fmt=18

Rocking out the oly shoes with a musical soundtrack!

Exercises shown...

Pause Squats - 225 x 5, 3rd of 3 sets. Pauses here are a little borderline, and the last rep is a little more segmented than I like. Principle difference in my paused squats now is that I am consistently BELOW parallel, instead of just above.

Pause Bench - 215 x 5, 2nd of 2 sets. A little wobbly, as per usual. Eccentrics a little over-slow, but the weight felt light.

Chins - me + 75 x 5, 3rd of 3 sets. Pretty speedy.

Rehab Press - 105 x 5, 3rd of 3 sets. It's possible I'm being wildly overcautious here, but I'm trying to really, consciously shrug the bar at the top, which seems to be doing good things for my right shoulder.

[blowdpanis]

Just got my pair of 9 Rip's. These feel amazing, can't wait to give them a proper run-through tomorrow.

[blowdpanis]

So, some first impressions of the shoes...

They feel tremendously stable, which is awesome. However, there seems to be a difference in heel height between my left and right shoe...

http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/3492/dscn1153smallred.jpg

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/2369/dscn1155smallred.jpg

If I were a normal leg length'd person, I'd probably send these back as I consider a margin of error of ~20% on the heel height to be unacceptable. However, this provides me a sort of weird opportunity to try something I've wanted to do for a while, which is get the soles shimmed in my right shoe such that my left shoe has a higher heel, since my retroverted hip makes my right leg sort of permanently, functionally longer at a given foot angle. I had actually experimented squatting on additional material on the left side, and this seemed somewhat promising, but I ended up ditching it since A) the surface could move, which creates instability and B) it was too much of a pain in the ass.

As such, I'm thinking about keeping the shoes, even if there is a defect in heel height. That said, I'll see what Bill from Rogue says when he sees these pictures.

[blowdpanis]

As per the thread in the training forum, my accidentally uneven Rip's seem to level out my hips nicely in the squat:

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/5056/symmetrycomparisonm.png

Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup (band)
185 x warmup (band)
205 x warmup
225 x 5,5,5

RPE ~8-9 on these, for the most part. Maybe a 9 on the last set.

I did a much better job today not GMing these towards the end.

Video of the first and third sets:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDtdyBup3Nk&fmt=18

Chins

Me x warmup
Me + 80 x 5,5,5

RPE ~9 on the last set.

Rehab Press

Bar x warmup
95 x warmup
110 x 5,5,5

RPE = ~8-9

These felt smooth form-wise, but my left shoulder started bothering me. I was getting a distinct feeling of "pinching" towards lockout on that side. On the plus side, my right shoulder DIDN'T bother me. Go figure.

Deadlifts

225 x form check (Rip's)
275 x form check (Rip's)
315 x 1 (Vibram's)

I tried giving the Rip's a fair shot in the pull, but I just vastly prefer the Vibram's, which are tantamount to deadlift slippers. Much easier to adopt a slightly lower hip position with better spinal extension, as evidenced in the videos I was taking of myself.

I was pretty tired, though, and threw off my groove by changing shoes midway through, so instead of grinding stuff out for no real reason, I'll save a heavy deadlift attempt for Monday.

Speaking of which, next week will be a deload week, cutting down the training days to 2 and only working up to a top set of 5. I need to let some fatigue dissipate, methinks, from the bizarro lifting schedule I've had lately.

[Gary Gibson]

Saving throw versus having to return the shoes: successful. Congrats on the uneven heels actually working out for you.

Don't you just hate the "More of a GM toward the end" thing?

Nothing at all wrong with preferring to deadlift in slippers or their equivalent. I vastly prefer it myself. Tried a cycle of pulling in my squat shoes with their slight heel. Switching back to slippers as of tomorrow.

[blowdpanis]

Fucking around in Windows Live Movie Maker...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ4gPq-OoLs

[blowdpanis]

Interesting day, day 1 of 2 of my "deload" week.

Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup (band)
185 x warmup (band)
205 x warmup
225 x warmup
245 x 5 (belt)

Decided to go top end here. My depth was fantastic. Possibly too fantastic, as my last rep was wicked GM'd. Weirdly, the 4 prior reps were reasonable. Given the depth, this is technically a PR of sorts, but the last rep was way too ugly in my book.

Chins

Me x warmup
Me + 90 x 5

RPE = ~9 here. Tough, but manageable. Perhaps a little tougher than this should have felt, but eh.

Pause Bench

Due to the pinchy pain from overhead pressing last time, I decided to bench today, press later in the week.

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 5

RPE here was closing in on 10. Not a failure effort, but not far off. Shoulder felt...eh, okay-ish.

Hook Grip Deadlifts

This felt really good. Yay @ Vibram's...

Here's my top set of 350 x 6:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTg2ZoIHuYE&fmt=18

[blowdpanis]

Second day of my "deload" week. Fucking exhausted, got a nice headcold going on.

Paused Squats (Now noticeably below parllalel, wearing Vibram's) - 245 x 5. Eccentric speed way too slow on these, tiring myself out unnecessarily on the way down.

Chins - me + 100 (~270 lbs) x 5. Mostly fine. A little wild.

Press - 115 x 8. Need to bring the bar down a little better, getting my elbows a little forward at the start.

[blowdpanis]

First day of a new training cycle...

Squats - 225 x 5, first rep paused, the rest touch and go, 3 sets. Need to work on staying tighter when introducing a bounce, probably through slowing it down a little. I compensated a bit on the next sets, knees out also helps. Cues to remember: chest up, knees out.

Chins - me + 80 x 5, 3 sets

Bench - 225 x 5, first rep paused, the rest touch and go, one set. This was harder than expected staying as absolutely tight as possible.

Press - 115 x 5, Rippetoe method of resting at the top. Two sets (+1 bench = 3 total sets of 5). This felt harder than it should have, possibly due to having done everything else first.

[blowdpanis]

Because I am weird, I wound up doing an additional two work sets of 225 x 5 yesterday, trying to find some rhythm. I wound up tiring myself out and never got things to look nice. For whatever reason, I can't seem to introduce a bounce without stuff relaxing or looking/feeling extremely awkward.

I am thinking that the paused style I have been using will probably be good enough for my needs for now. If I want to not "bounce" per se, I can keep the pauses extremely momentary, basically just reversing once I've consciously found that tightness at the bottom.

[blowdpanis]

Squats and Deadlifts from today's workout:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVU3QBzQTRg

[blowdpanis]

A video of one of my good friends pulling 500:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQHibmspEmU

I'm extremely proud of him, awesome work ethic and potential for this stuff. He's still a young'un, too (only 22 going on 23).

[blowdpanis]

Pause Squats from today's workout:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-3Jy1VVa6I

[blowdpanis]

Still tweaking form after some discussion with Gary. I'm really working on my back position, and arching this hard is making me fatigue quicker than expected in my sets. I consider this a good thing, as my ability to maintain extension under heavy loading needs work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWeaSgeI9Hg
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pYu-0RicRQ)

[jacob cloud]

As per the thread in the training forum, my accidentally uneven Rip's seem to level out my hips nicely in the squat:

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/5056/symmetrycomparisonm.png


Randomly clicked on your log. Good stuff.

But this pic makes me wonder why nobody mentioned the crooked bar. Fix this!

[blowdpanis]

Randomly clicked on your log. Good stuff.

But this pic makes me wonder why nobody mentioned the crooked bar. Fix this!

Fixing it is not as easy as you might think. I have some anatomic problems (congenital retroverted right hip, shorter left leg) which prevent this from being as straightforward as "oh the bar is crooked let me fix that LOL!"

[blowdpanis]

How to film deadlift PR's from a front angle 101:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcMdiKIT7WE

New, all time PR in this style. Milk is doing me good, despite squats being a bit all over the place.

[blowdpanis]

Also, the usual form check in squats, this time from the side (was one of three working sets at this weight today):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yAfJuZBDBk

[blowdpanis]

Pause Squat Form Practice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6PN79W03FA

Bench Practice + Chins:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybRWxi93bO4

[icooley]

How is the shoulder? Are you still doing frequent presses in an attempt to rehab it?

[blowdpanis]

How is the shoulder? Are you still doing frequent presses in an attempt to rehab it?

Shoulder has been better lately, knock on wood. I think what originally did me in was the frequent benching/dipping with pauses, as I was relaxing a little at the bottom.

[blowdpanis]

Weighted Chin Madness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFNqMmPaAj8

[blowdpanis]

PR Hook Grip Deadlifts, 430 x 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NPo7h8RNfI

Alternate view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O3WE1S_-dw#t=0m52s

PR Weighted Chins, me + 115 x 5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLmB4GsMqN4

[blowdpanis]

So, I had my second "peak" day this week, and it was god fucking awful in basically every conceivable sense. I went from stronger than I've ever been on Sunday to feeling like the previous cycle didn't happen today. Overtrained? Undertrained? I dunno, but meh.

New lifting cycle starting Sunday, I'll have to stew over what I'll do.

[Gary Gibson]

So, I had my second "peak" day this week, and it was god fucking awful in basically every conceivable sense. I went from stronger than I've ever been on Sunday to feeling like the previous cycle didn't happen today. Overtrained? Undertrained? I dunno, but meh.

New lifting cycle starting Sunday, I'll have to stew over what I'll do.

You really do have the other half to this amulet. In the exact same boat right now.

Man, I just can never believe how much strength can fluctuate even during a very productive cycle. I've actually weighed bars just to make sure they were standard after a weight felt surprisingly heavy or surprisingly light.

Anyway, trying my first real shot at linear progression after the meet. Both SQ and BP.

[blowdpanis]

You really do have the other half to this amulet. In the exact same boat right now.

Man, I just can never believe how much strength can fluctuate even during a very productive cycle. I've actually weighed bars just to make sure they were standard after a weight felt surprisingly heavy or surprisingly light.

Anyway, trying my first real shot at linear progression after the meet. Both SQ and BP.

I realize conventional wisdom dictates that linear progression = fastest possible progress, but in some ways, I don't like forced %'s/loads. I'm of the same mind as Broz in that strength can vary HUGELY on a day per day basis, and being able to modify shit on the fly seems critical. My past experience is that it's very, very hard not to start slipping into suboptimal form when you "have to" hit a certain load x reps prescription.

Looking back over periods of time in which I did use linear progressions, I think I actually got most of my progress when the RPE wasn't off the scales and I was simply medium-heavy, i.e. the sets were challenging but I wasn't in any real danger of failing earlier in the cycle. When I start hitting the higher end RPE's later in the cycle, my progress invariably stalls.

As such, I seem to honestly do better by saving true maxes for the occasional work (been doing so once a month), and simply trying to accumulate medium-heavy volume dictated by my state of fatigue on any particular day without any "have-to's" along the way besides some basic variations in volume week to week. I usually make most of my work sets 5's, simply from the observation that it bleeds over in both directions better than any other rep range (i.e. it benefits my 1 RM probably as much as triples, but also seems to bleed over into 10's, too).

[Gary Gibson]

Don't mean to spam your log...

Strength does indeed wave around a lot, but I've found that it moves consistently UP in the first three weeks of a cycle. With the percentage target protocols, I'm also always amazed at how weak I am in the first week and how much stronger I am in the third. Depending on how concentrated the loading was (i.e. Smolov Base Phase versus the Russian Squat Routine which waves back to 80%x2x6 every other session) I can get stronger up to week five or so. After that, the gains sputter and there are wild swings and I have to start light again and work back up.

[blowdpanis]

Don't mean to spam your log...

Strength does indeed wave around a lot, but I've found that it moves consistently UP in the first three weeks of a cycle. With the percentage target protocols, I'm also always amazed at how weak I am in the first week and how much stronger I am in the third. Depending on how concentrated the loading was (i.e. Smolov Base Phase versus the Russian Squat Routine which waves back to 80%x2x6 every other session) I can get stronger up to week five or so. After that, the gains sputter and there are wild swings and I have to start light again and work back up.

I have a similar experience, which is why I've been creating my own one-month cycles, 3 weeks "on" and 1 week peak/deload (the combo works well for me, usually). I spent some time last year doing linear cycles but would sputter out usually in the same place. The way I've been doing things, I seem to be able to consistently increases my maxes (either 1 RM or 5 RM) ~once a month from previous bests in most lifts, though I've had some drift lately in squats since I'm simultaneously de-GMing myself, or trying to.

P.S. Spam my log all you want, while I've been lazy lately, I love having nerd related training/nutrition talk in my logs. I enjoy the intellectual component of the iron game as much as I do the practical component.

[icooley]

Looking back over periods of time in which I did use linear progressions, I think I actually got most of my progress when the RPE wasn't off the scales and I was simply medium-heavy, i.e. the sets were challenging but I wasn't in any real danger of failing earlier in the cycle. When I start hitting the higher end RPE's later in the cycle, my progress invariably stalls.
I've noticed the same in the past when adhering to a set cycle of increasing weights (such as texas method type stuff). I seem to make true progress for the first few weeks when the sets are anywhere between "fairly easy" and "bearable". When the weights start to get really heavy it becomes an exercise in finding a way to get the given planned weight instead of accumulating a beneficial training effect.

[blowdpanis]

I've noticed the same in the past when adhering to a set cycle of increasing weights (such as texas method type stuff). I seem to make true progress for the first few weeks when the sets are anywhere between "fairly easy" and "bearable". When the weights start to get really heavy it becomes an exercise in finding a way to get the given planned weight instead of accumulating a beneficial training effect.

Yep, which is why I now try to base my programming around that sweet zone of "medium-heavy," as many people call it. Bearable and in the context of good form, occasionally pushing the boundaries, but not grinding day in and day out, and letting your fatigue on any particular day dictate the output, within a set of preplanned parameters.

I've been able to consistently peak my strength higher doing this than any previous method I've used. Though the simultaneous depressing thing, as Gary and I note, is that you can peak strength incredibly well, only to have it turn to shit a short time later. The body is a weird machine.

[K.Diesel]

This reminds me of my miserable attempt at Brad Gillingham's bench routine about a year ago. The sad part is, I was using an easier, modified version. Strength is like surfing in one sense: ride the big waves when they come, but if it's not there, just stay in the water.

By the way, blow, I just caught up to some of your vids. You are the king of weighted chins.

[Gary Gibson]

Though the simultaneous depressing thing, as Gary and I note, is that you can peak strength incredibly well, only to have it turn to shit a short time later. The body is a weird machine.

Also why competing is a real challenge. Getting stronger is actually pretty straightforward. Being as strong as possible on someone else's schedule--that's tricky. My first set with 405x3 felt almost light a week ago, but recently 365x2 felt close to a max effort. Not sure that bodes well for lifting my best on Saturday in competition.

You can progress linearly or wave back and forth while progressing overall. Either way, you can keep adding weight for three to six weeks, depending on how concentrated your loading is. After that time, you're going to have to drop the weight and start over. Only novices can progress linearly for months before they start having to cycle back. And even novices wave back a little bit when they get stuck.

My favorite protocols so far have been: the concentrated loading of the Smolov Base Phase in which I add 20 lbs to everything in week two, 10 more lbs in week three, then unload in week four and get a 40-50 lb personal best at the end of the unloading week (but the sessions are true hell and I swear never again every time I finish this protocol); and the more distributed loading of the Russian SQ Routine in which I deload to 80%x2x6 every other session (instead of unloading entirely at the end like in SBP) while increasing volume on the heavy days for the first three weeks, then dropping volume and increasing intensity for the last three weeks. Gives me a 5%+ personal best in six weeks.

[blowdpanis]

A rant on squats and programming...

Weirdly a lot of the stuff I've tried over the years has been attempts to desuck my squat, and while it's gotten better, it still totally sucks. I blame this on two factors:

1) Inconsistency in form & programming/overanalysis

2) Being a mutant

#1 is obviously my fault, I tend to way overthink the lift, and as a result, my squat seems to suffer constant form variation, which is not awesome for progress. Then again, when I DON'T overthink it, I've fallen into some really shitty habits...

#2 is an issue. Imagine that, every time you squatted, one leg rebounded different than the other, and you have my dilemma. My hips are thrown off because the god damn femoral neck on my ride side is comparatively retroverted, i.e. ~15 degrees off relative to the normally anteverted left femoral neck. By extension of this, the muscles which have attachments in this area (glutes, external rotators, etc) are affected in terms of their line of pull, such that there is an inherent, structurally-derived asymmetry between sides. I suspect this is fucking up my power transfer out of the hole something wicked, and may be part of the reason why I can pause squat such a high % of my bounced squat. But the difference in feeling between sides is pretty distracting, and annoys the piss out of me.

Thankfully, deadlifts don't really suffer this problem, since the hip angle isn't very large, and there is no stretch reflex component. If you look at my latest deadlift PR, which I actually think is done in pretty reasonable form for a 1 RM, my squat seems well below what you would predict. I.e. I see people doing like 355 for a set of 5 in pulls and 315 for sets of 5 in squats. I can pull 365 for 5 in reasonable form and probably can't even squat 275 for a set of 5 at the moment, no matter how much bounce I use. And I'm not a long legged person - it's the opposite, the type of build allegedly good at squatting (comparatively long torso relative to femur length). Very frustrating.

[icooley]

Yep, which is why I now try to base my programming around that sweet zone of "medium-heavy," as many people call it. Bearable and in the context of good form, occasionally pushing the boundaries, but not grinding day in and day out, and letting your fatigue on any particular day dictate the output, within a set of preplanned parameters.

I think that type of overall "theme" of training is a good one. How, specifically, are you trying to accomplish this currently? You said you are doing primarily sets of five- is this going by feel with the weight, by feel with the volume, planned progression of some sort?

[blowdpanis]

I think that type of overall "theme" of training is a good one. How, specifically, are you trying to accomplish this currently? You said you are doing primarily sets of five- is this going by feel with the weight, by feel with the volume, planned progression of some sort?

I basically use variable volume week to week (pre-determined) with sets of 5, simply aiming for a given RPE. It has generally looked something like this:

Done 3-5 times per week:

Week 1 = 2 working sets of 5 @ RPE ~8 (i.e. a good couple of reps to spare if I had to)
Week 2 = 3 working sets of 5 @ RPE ~9 (a good rep to spare if I had to by the third set, pushing a little closer to a max effort than week 1, but still submaximal)
Week 3 = 1 working set of 5 @ RPE ~8-9 (by the end of the week I'm usually getting closer to maxes)
Week 4 = test conservative maxes (1 or 5 RM) once or twice in the week, which also serves as a deload
Week 5 = new cycle etc

This format has worked very well for me so far, as well as another friend who has been using it. He stretches it out to two week blocks, whereas I seem to prefer the 1 month cycles.

[blowdpanis]

A video of me doing a high bar squat single with 285 from earlier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnxXIWaUguw

DON'T TELL RIP!@ONE!LOL :-x

[blowdpanis]

Some work sets of squats from yesterday and today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7ZCh5PgPUg

[blowdpanis]

High Bar Squats - 230 x 5 (side view):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARh3vs80_sU

I realize my log has become mostly video at this point, but I find it the most useful aspect of judging day to day form and such. I could log what I do every day, but my training style is so repetitive that I'm not sure people would find it interesting.

[blowdpanis]

High Bar Squat

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1
275 x 1 (belt)
295 x 1 (belt) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPk_GPQBWM4
235 x 5,5,5 (belt)

Chins

Me + 85 x 5,5,5

Press

120 x 5,5,5

[blowdpanis]

My lower back on the left side was pretty tight today. Ditched front squats and I think I'll just stick to squatting thrice weekly.

Hook Grip Deadlifts

225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 3
375 x 3 (belt, technically an all time PR)

I haven't done this before, but given I've done 365 x 5, it isn't quite as impressive of a performance. Given my back's pre-fatigue and the fact that I haven't pulled conventional in over 2 weeks, I'll take it.

Pause Bench (all reps)

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
210 x 5,5,5

Pullups (overhand, wider grip)

Me + 45 x 5,5,5

[blowdpanis]

Brutal workout was pretty brutal today. Warmups felt like garbage but I persevered.

High Bar Squats
Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 1
235 x 5,5,5,5,5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvgFdjA0CtA

Press
95 x warmup
115 x warmup
125 x 5,5,5

Chins
Me + 90 x 5,5,5

[blowdpanis]

Jesus, fatigue is mounting like crazy. I suppose that's the point of this week but...ouch.

Pause Bench (all reps)
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
215 x 5,5,5

Pullups (overhand)
BW + 45 x 5,5,5

[blowdpanis]

Hardest workout/workout week in months.

High Bar Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 1
These all felt like **** up to this point, so because I'm crazy...
240 x 5,5,5,5,5 (belt) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxOfU2UD4dY

Felt awkward but actually looked okay on camera. I tightened up my bottom position quite a bit. I'll comment more on this after I post my vids later.

Press

95 x warmup
115 x warmup
125 x 5,5,5

Chins

Me + 90 x 5,5,5

So yah, absolutely brutal. Deload/intensification week next week, which will be...excellent.

[Locutus]

Takin' a break?

[blowdpanis]

Takin' a break?

Unfortunately I got what appeared to be the flu over the weekend. I'm still sort of deloading/intensifying but it's fucked up my training a bit.

[blowdpanis]

Well, I'm not sick anymore, but my sleep has been ridiculously erratic and my energy still isn't awesome. I took 200 mg of caffeine today and barely felt it.

My past two workouts looked like this...

High Bar Squats

Worked up to a set of 245 x 5. A little uglier than I like. Having the flu didn't help.

Pause Bench

Up to 220 for a paused set of 5.

Chins

Me + 100 for a really hard set of 5.



And today...

Low Bar Squats

Cause I felt like it
Up to 275 for 3 sets of 3. I may post a video later showing my problem with low bar with a moderate stance - while I'm stronger than high bar, I go from not GMing things to GMing things in a pretty strong hurry, and I can't seem to avoid it at heavy for me weights.

Pause Bench

225 for a paused set of 5. This went surprisingly well.

Chins

Me + 105 for a set of sort of 5. The last rep my chin was BARELY over the bar, would have to see on video whether I'd even count it. I peaked out too hard too early here, oh well.

Hook Grip Deadlifts

Warmed up to a single of 345 x 1 sans belt.


Theoretically, I'm going to lift with a friend and some really strong dudes on Saturday, so my last two workouts were merely to prevent me from detraining while dissipating some of the fatigue from last week's craziness. We'll see how things go.

[blowdpanis]

Workout from Sunday...

Low Bar Squat

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x warmup
245 x 1
265 x 1
275 x 1,1,1 (belt)

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1,1,1

Chins

Me x warmup
Me + 90 x warmup
Me + 125 x 1,1,1

Deadlift Practice

I'm going to start my ferrealz deadlift cycle on Thursday, I just wanted to get some practice in again so this doesn't totally detrain. Unfortunately, it already feels somewhat detrained.

Warmed up to a single of 365 with the belt. Felt harder than it should have, though certainly not a max effort.

[blowdpanis]

Today's workout...

Low Bar Squat

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
225 x warmup
245 x 1
275 x 1 (belt)
280 x 1 (belt)
280 x 1 (belt, misgroove)
285 x 1 (belt) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X13DNItS1Sg

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1
250 x 1,1

Chins

Me x 5
Me + 125 x 1,1,1

Press

95 x warmup
120 x 7 (belt)

[blowdpanis]

Low Bar Squat
Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
225 x warmup
245 x 1
275 x 1 (belt)
285 x 1,1 (belt)

Pause Bench
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1
255 x 1,1

Chins
Me + 125 x 1,1,1

Hook Grip Deadlifts
225 x warmup
275 x warmup
315 x 1
325 x 5,5,5 (belt) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fisZlWMBXzE (last set)

[JLascek]

Pardon me, Sir 90's Small, but how much do you weigh? I went back a few pages and couldn't find a body weight.

[blowdpanis]

Pardon me, Sir 90's Small, but how much do you weigh? I went back a few pages and couldn't find a body weight.

Howdy, Justin. Home scale has me at like ~174 lbs at the moment.

[blowdpanis]

Video of today's workout:

http://www.vimeo.com/10466593

Just what the title says.

Low Bar Squats - 285 x 1 (2 views, 2 of 5 singles)
Pause Bench - 255 x 1 (1 of 5 singles)
Chins - me + 135 (1 of 5 singles)
Hook Grip Deadlifts - 335 x 5 (1 of 3 sets of 5)

[SamGriffin]

Those are mighty impressive chin ups! Any idea how many you can do with bodyweight only?

[blowdpanis]

Those are mighty impressive chin ups! Any idea how many you can do with bodyweight only?

Untrained, not as many as you think. Maybe ~20 strictly.

[blowdpanis]

Well that was a minor disaster...

Low Bar Squats

Singled up to 295. Felt harder than it should have, and also uneven (can often be a sign of fatigue with me).

Pause Bench

Singled up to 260. Felt okay-ish.

Chins

Singled up to me + 140. I did a single of me + 135, thinking I'd probably do like 145 for a not so hard single afterwards, and I probably should have stopped, as it felt oddly hard. 140 felt like an actual 1 rep max.


In theory I'm "deloading" in this context by only going up to a single JUST above where I left off at 5 RPE-controlled singles last week. I am thinking I am not recovering well from working this high a % of 1 RM this often.

I will do this one more time on Thursday to see if I feel any better recovered (no intentions of going for real 1 RM's), but I will probably start a new cycle of something else next week as this 3 week block is up. Experiment failed, probably, but hey, at least now I know.

[blowdpanis]

Another peak/deload day. Went surprisingly well for upper body stuff.

Hook Grip Deadlifts

Singled up to 365 in a belt with this. Last pulled for 3 hard sets of 5 only 6 days ago, so no attempt at a PR here. Not so hard, but didn't want to approach grindy weights, so this is fine to keep the groove.

Strict Press

Singled up to 165 in this. Which puts me near my all time best strength in this lift despite lack of practice. Go figure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0sNfU2Ev9c

Weighted Pullups

This also went bizarrely well. People have asked me what my weighted pullup strength is, given my chin prowess, so I decided to test it out. This was the result:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s14N4NbtP6Y

[blowdpanis]

Some pause squats from today's session:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihYTjZvpREE

[Sami]

^^ Blocked on copyright grounds.

[blowdpanis]

^^ Blocked on copyright grounds.

Haha, seriously? I used Unchained Melody as the song. Just out of curiosity, where are you at, geographically speaking? Curious if this is blocked domestically or internationally.

[Paul Sousa]

Blocked in the US too. Pretty sure Sami is in London.

[blowdpanis]

Blocked in the US too. Pretty sure Sami is in London.

See if it works now, I replaced it with a Beethoven song via youtube itself.

[Sami]

I was in Texas... but now I'm in -->London.

[blowdpanis]

Moar pause squats:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UJF2cyRH0c

[blowdpanis]

Today's workout:

Pause Squats

Worked up to 250 x 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFQg1Uje3vg

Pause Bench

Worked up to 225 x 5

Chins

Worked up to me + 100 x 5

Hook Grip Deadlifts

Worked up to 370 x 5. 4th rep was a little ugly, I normally would have stopped there. But I decided to go for another since I wanted a PR. 5th rep was real ugly, but it went.

I got the PR. Unfortunately, the video is utter ****, I'm half not in frame.

[blowdpanis]

Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x warmup
230 x 5,5,5 (belt)

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
210 x 5,5,5

Chins

Me x warmup
Me + 80 x 5,5,5,

Video of a set of each of the above:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vqAxdWygkA

[blowdpanis]

Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x warmup
235 x 5,5,5

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
212.5 x 5,5,5

Chins

Me + 82.5 x 5,5,5

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC5_O0j3rZs

[blowdpanis]

Accidentally broke my camera, so no vids today :-x

Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 1
240 x 5,5,5,5

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x 1
215 x 5,5,5,5

Chins

Me + 85 x 5,5,5,5

Absolutely brutal day. I still didn't feel recovered from the previous session, and the weights actually felt HARDER this time, despite going higher in volume. I may actually use Tuesday as a mini-deload day of sorts and then use Thursday to get the full 5 x 5 before intensifying next week.

[blowdpanis]

Improving this week workout-wise.

[blowdpanis]

I actually took some videos today on an old camera, but they're such ****ty quality that I don't think I'll upload them.

Also deviated from the plan and decided to push 3 sets of 5 a little higher. Because I'm a little nuts.

Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1
265 x 1 (belt)
275 x 1 (belt)
242.5 x 5,5,5 (belt)

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
217.5 x 5,5,5

Chins

Me + 90 x 5,5,5

I went for a 2 mile jog afterwards in my Vibram Fivefingers. Due to being sort of forced to midfoot strike, my calves are absolutely wrecked (since the plantarflexors turn into shock absorbers). I can't even walk properly.

[icooley]

I basically use variable volume week to week (pre-determined) with sets of 5, simply aiming for a given RPE. It has generally looked something like this:

Done 3-5 times per week:

Week 1 = 2 working sets of 5 @ RPE ~8 (i.e. a good couple of reps to spare if I had to)
Week 2 = 3 working sets of 5 @ RPE ~9 (a good rep to spare if I had to by the third set, pushing a little closer to a max effort than week 1, but still submaximal)
Week 3 = 1 working set of 5 @ RPE ~8-9 (by the end of the week I'm usually getting closer to maxes)
Week 4 = test conservative maxes (1 or 5 RM) once or twice in the week, which also serves as a deload
Week 5 = new cycle etc

This format has worked very well for me so far, as well as another friend who has been using it. He stretches it out to two week blocks, whereas I seem to prefer the 1 month cycles.

Are you still going with this basic set up? I apparently missed it the first time around but is the 3-5 times/week used as another way to manipulate volume on each of the weeks for a sort of loading/unloading effect? How do you feel lifting five times a week (I presume you are sticking with a squat/pressing/pulling set up for each workout)?

[blowdpanis]

Are you still going with this basic set up? I apparently missed it the first time around but is the 3-5 times/week used as another way to manipulate volume on each of the weeks for a sort of loading/unloading effect? How do you feel lifting five times a week (I presume you are sticking with a squat/pressing/pulling set up for each workout)?

I've stuck to mostly 3 times per week. The basic pattern is simply to build up in volume/intensity, then slash the volume in favor of a higher peak intensity.

I felt good lifting 5 times a week except for two problems:

* Right shoulder started getting irritated, particularly when dipping that often
* QL on my right side, which is prone to tightening up a bit with squatting, was getting extra tight squatting that often

3 times a week seems to at least give most of the benefits of higher frequency for me, so that's what I've settled on lately.

[Mr.City]

Nice shirt

[blowdpanis]

Last day of this current lifting cycle...

Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1
275 x 1 (belt)
245 x 5,5 (belt)

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x 1
225 x 5,5

Chins

Me + 100 x 5,5

Hook Grip Deadlifts

135 x warmup
225 x warmup
275 x 1
315 x 1
345 x 1
370 x 3 (belt)

A reasonable day overall. Rather than going for top end numbers, I did a second set of weights I had never done for more than a single set before, so this is a PR of sets across, of sorts.

Pulls might have tied a PR of 370 x 5, but I wasn't sure I could get all 5 reps with good form (i.e. the 4th would have been a grind based on how the 3rd felt), so I just stopped without pushing my limits here. Wisdom and such, particularly given the fact that I'm getting over a nasty case of bronchitis & pinkeye.

Video of the above:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIPlhynyw3I

[blowdpanis]

Today's workout:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2U2Vu_pnzo

[blowdpanis]

High bar pause squatting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3GVHi6nO4s

Giving serious thoughts to just converting, feels more natural to me than low bar and the strength difference isn't that much.

[Gary Gibson]

High bar pause squatting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3GVHi6nO4s

Giving serious thoughts to just converting, feels more natural to me than low bar and the strength difference isn't that much.

BETRAYER!

Just kidding. Do what works for you and gets you strong.

[blowdpanis]

Let the PR's keep rolling...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlgjV02imc0

[blowdpanis]

I went and did it again, two more PR's (unbelted and belted):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV31A4Jyw_Q

[blowdpanis]

Difficult PR was difficult:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpAKJ58xcx4

[blowdpanis]

I realize these videos are being fired off rapid-fire like, but it is what it is. A PR train...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYVR68S3r0I

Still trying my damnedest to not GM it. New all time PR's in both unbelted and belted.

[blowdpanis]

Courtesy of Matt (PMDL):

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs508.ash1/29991_621822016736_20500154_34671821_2875917_n.jpg

[MAD9692]

Courtesy of Matt (PMDL)

Where the fuck has Matt been?

Impressive PR's BTW. How much do you weigh now?

[jameson]

Curious as to what kind of program you're following. I saw where you posted that you're doing daily 1RM with back-off sets. Is this something you devised on your own? Mind sharing?

P.S. Sorry if this is demonstrated in your videos. I can't view them where I am. If this is the case, I'll watch them later.

[blowdpanis]

Curious as to what kind of program you're following. I saw where you posted that you're doing daily 1RM with back-off sets. Is this something you devised on your own? Mind sharing?

P.S. Sorry if this is demonstrated in your videos. I can't view them where I am. If this is the case, I'll watch them later.

The program is basically something inspired by John Broz. The idea is to work up to a heavy single daily (I was initially using the rule of making it feel like a 2-3 RM - pretty heavy, but no doubt of being able to get another rep or repeating it), and then do some % of that for backoff work. Initially this was 80% of the heavy single for 2 sets of 5. The frequency is high - done 5 times per week. I've been doing this with squats, bench, and chins, though with the bench and chins I've been alternating with some other stuff (e.g. overhead press in place of bench, seated rows in place of chins).

The idea has been high frequency, heavy, but submaximal. Lately things have been feeling light enough that I keep testing near 1 RM's on the heavy singles. While I wouldn't have recommended starting off like that, by 2-3 weeks in it's become not a big deal to hit higher numbers like this frequently, for whatever reason.

The two threads that were the original inspiration for tinkering around with this stuff:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121212081
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?p=450142851#post450142851

[blowdpanis]

Where the fuck has Matt been?

Impressive PR's BTW. How much do you weigh now?

Matt's around, he just hasn't been forum-ing much as of late.

As to my weight, still ~170 lbs, though I may be recompositioning a little as my waistline is down but my total weight is still about the same.

[blowdpanis]

Here's what a typical (bad) day looks like...

Pause High Bar Squat

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1
265 x 1 (slow/grindy, stop here, no backoff work since a big spike in RPE from one day to the next)

Strict Press (beltless)

Bar x warmup
95 x warmup
115 x warmup
135 x 1
145 x 1
155 x 1 (a bit grindy, so I'll stop here, but do a bit of backoff work)
125 x 5 (belt)

Cable Rows (#'s are meaningless/skewed on my home device)

120 x 3
140 x 3
160 x 5

And that's it. I don't really know what I'm going to do day to day. Squats are kind of the barometer for how I'm feeling, and go first. I will not put on a belt unless the warmups start going great by the time stuff gets heavy and/or I'm in beltless PR territory. On a day like today, in which form felt tight but I was just slow as hell, I knew a PR wasn't going to happen. Given the past few days of success, I'll just call it quits here, so today becomes an automatic deload of sorts. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

And some words of wisdom, courtesy of Bruce Lee...

http://www.thehighdefinite.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/3JOJo.jpg

[blowdpanis]

Some overdue upper body PR's:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNN80WQ1RZs

[Gary Gibson]

Re: Upper body lifts


Jeezus Christ!

[blowdpanis]

Today's workout...

Low Bar Pause Squat (no belt)

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1
265 x 1
285 x 1
295 x 1 (PR, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MM5LIVyMMA)
245 x 6 (belt, PR, though when I'm absolutely as tight as possible, these are borderline parallel or just above)

Strict Press

Bar x warmup
95 x warmup
115 x warmup
135 x 1
145 x 1
155 x 1
125 x 5 (belt)

Cable Rows (where #'s here are screwy due to it being a home station)

120 x 3
150 x 5,5

[blowdpanis]

First symptom of my increased frequency training to really annoy me...forearm pain, particularly right side. And from the squatting, of all things. I suppose reflexively squeezing the bar every day or something.

The last two days looked like this...

Yesterday

High Bar Pause Squat (beltless)

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1
265 x 1 (heavy enough, albeit not maximal)
225 x 3,3,3

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1
255 x 1
225 x 5

1-Arm Chins/Chins

Me + 2 finger assist x 3/side
Me + 1 finger assist x 1/side
Me + 90 x 5

Today

High Bar Pause Squat (beltless)

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1
265 x 1
275 x 1 (again, not maximal, I probably had a good chance of tying my record of 285 if I really wanted to push it, but eh)
230 x 3,3,3

Strict Press

Bar x warmup
95 x warmup
115 x warmup
135 x 1
145 x 1
155 x 1
135 x 3,3 (belt)

Cable Rows

140 x 3
160 x 3,3,3

[blowdpanis]

Today's workout, guest starring lots of extended family in the bench portion :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rIVR_MFUVk

[PVC]

Your bench presses always look so smooth, it's hard to believe that they're PR sets.

[blowdpanis]

Another example of a slow/bad day...

High Bar Pause Squat (beltless)

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1
265 x 1 (not super hard but just felt slow. weight itself felt heavy on my traps, so I knew I was a bit juiced)
225 x 3 (even this was slow so I called it quits after a single set)

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1
255 x 1
230 x 3,3,3

1-Arm Chin Practice

Me + 2 finger assist x 3,3,3

The squats in particular were sluggish, the weight itself feeling a little too heavy on my traps. No doubt from squatting and deadlifting all of 2 days ago. You might think this is crazy, but it's all part of the plan, and the cumulative effects of training are arguably more important than the acute effects, imho. I.e. waiting around to be "fully recovered" between sessions is not optimal for people past the noob stage, imho.

So we'll see how stuff goes tomorrow. I constantly adjust parameters on the fly, and today I cut back on assistance work and my top single in squats specifically to build a little extra desire to go heavier in the near future. At some point in the coming weeks, though, I may try this routine on a 3 days a week schedule, possibly, just to see if it works as well, or perhaps a way of deloading/peaking even higher. I've tried lots of various shit in my training past, but the general spirit of this autoregulated training appears to be working quite well, and is the direction I want to continue to investigate.

[blowdpanis]

Shitty past couple of weeks, but towards the end of this week I managed to get my strength pretty much back in line by easing up on the volume...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KP5xUJUQaQ

[blowdpanis]

New PR in high bar pause squats for reps:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diwBI4R0XBQ

Started getting a bit GM-y, but this is a limit weight, so shit happens.

[blowdpanis]

Another episode in the day of the life of...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVhcq0kuUl4

This is the first time I've done weighted dips in quite a while. The main difference here is that I'm trying very hard to stay as tight as possible at the bottom of them, versus allowing myself to relax, which definitely limits my ROM. However, I'm still well below "dip parallel" or whatever you'd call it, and I'm fine with this. Most importantly, doing them like this = no shoulder pain/discomfort.

[blowdpanis]

4th of July Lifting PR...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvQj77z7HJs

Finally got the 315 high bar squat.

[blowdpanis]

See next post...

[blowdpanis]

Still chasing 4 plates...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVWFbYgmFb4&hd=1

[blowdpanis]

More pullups...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bguCRT8UJk

[blowdpanis]

And more dips (me + 125 x 5):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPDTXfKwSSc&hd=1

[K.Diesel]

Those dips are pretty damned impressive.

[Sami]

Odd question, but how do put up copyrighted songs on youtube without getting them muted? I see that you have an 'ad' like thing that enables the viewer to buy that particular track, is that how you bypass the rules? And how do you get that option?

Thanks.

[Cheech32917]

I dunno how Mike does it, but I just rename the song before I upload it and it works.

[Sami]

I dunno how Mike does it, but I just rename the song before I upload it and it works.

what do you mean? How are you even getting it on there? I was thinking to edit the vid on my PC then upload it like that straight to youtube. But I thought youtube goes and mutes the audio if you do that? I don't know yet because I've never bothered trying.

[Cheech32917]

I use windows live movie maker to edit my vids. I had a problem with youtube blocking my music until I started renaming the songs before I put them on youtube. I don't know if thats the preferred method, but thats how Ive been doing it.

[Sami]

I use windows live movie maker to edit my vids. I had a problem with youtube blocking my music until I started renaming the songs before I put them on youtube. I don't know if thats the preferred method, but thats how Ive been doing it.

Do you mean you changed the mp3 file name before adding the track to the vid on movie maker? I was going to use movie maker too.

[Cheech32917]

Yulp!!!

[Sami]

Sweet. Thanks.

[blowdpanis]

It appears that Chuck has answered my questions for me...thanks Chuck!

[blowdpanis]

Last workout before a week's vacation in Wisconsin. Every lift is a PR, nicely enough:

http://www.youtube.com/v/lwF1YZFqojI&hd=1

[blowdpanis]

As per the thread in the technique forum, I noticed this past week that my symmetry had gotten pretty messed up in squats, so here's a little video of me making some observations and trying to correct stuff. This is actually after a few days of trying to "fix" things, with some improvement. I'm not sure I'll ever fix the characteristic hip hike/shift I have on the way up from squats, since it shows up even at light weights (i.e. seems to be at least partially a product of a structural abnormality in my right hip, i.e. femoral retroversion on the right side).

http://www.youtube.com/v/9AtJO_BCn8o&hd=1

[blowdpanis]

Another video trying to get my squat form the best I can, given my mutant hip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aERdU99Z-Vw

[Gary Gibson]

Another video trying to get my squat form the best I can, given my mutant hip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aERdU99Z-Vw

Mike, those squats look great! What a humongous improvement. Did you get my email?

I kept waiting for your form to deteriorate as the last set wore on, but it didn't. Excellent work. Looks like that band helped you groove the right pattern. How did your hip feel during those sets, with and without the band?

[blowdpanis]

Mike, those squats look great! What a humongous improvement. Did you get my email?

I kept waiting for your form to deteriorate as the last set wore on, but it didn't. Excellent work. Looks like that band helped you groove the right pattern. How did your hip feel during those sets, with and without the band?

I did, also saw your posts on irongarm talking about your training. It seems you've found a good template that's allowing you what you want to work on (pulls, bench) without making your knees explode.

And yah, the band helps. My warmup form was actually all over the place initially due to the mirror experiment. At times I wonder if my home weights, or something about my basement (not level?), isn't helping contribute to the asymmetry, because, for example, the squats feel noticeably better facing the opposite direction in my rack, which seems...bizarre.

Either way, to my brain, wearing the band actually feels more awkward, but I suppose that's normal since my right hip is weaker, mutantry aside. As stupid as it sounds, just cue-ing "knees out" and "chest out" (I spoke about this before, but for whatever reason thinking about sticking my chest OUT, as per the Dan John cue, feels better than "raising the chest" or whatever) seems to be helping, perhaps in conjunction with the band. During my warmups, I'm also being more conscious of where my balance is foot to foot. I.e. I'm trying to focus on just being evenly balanced on the way down.

The combination of getting my knees out and trying to stay balanced does appear to be helping. The only thing that frightens me is that when I stop paying attention to this stuff it seems like I very easily slip into asymmetry. There is something a little obnoxious about feeling like I have to record all my warmups and watch them versus just getting shit done.

[Gary Gibson]

I did, also saw your posts on irongarm talking about your training. It seems you've found a good template that's allowing you what you want to work on (pulls, bench) without making your knees explode.

And yah, the band helps. My warmup form was actually all over the place initially due to the mirror experiment. At times I wonder if my home weights, or something about my basement (not level?), isn't helping contribute to the asymmetry, because, for example, the squats feel noticeably better facing the opposite direction in my rack, which seems...bizarre.

Either way, to my brain, wearing the band actually feels more awkward, but I suppose that's normal since my right hip is weaker, mutantry aside. As stupid as it sounds, just cue-ing "knees out" and "chest out" (I spoke about this before, but for whatever reason thinking about sticking my chest OUT, as per the Dan John cue, feels better than "raising the chest" or whatever) seems to be helping, perhaps in conjunction with the band. During my warmups, I'm also being more conscious of where my balance is foot to foot. I.e. I'm trying to focus on just being evenly balanced on the way down.

The combination of getting my knees out and trying to stay balanced does appear to be helping. The only thing that frightens me is that when I stop paying attention to this stuff it seems like I very easily slip into asymmetry. There is something a little obnoxious about feeling like I have to record all my warmups and watch them versus just getting shit done.

You're talking to a guy who had to inject and drain his knees several times per day for months. Sucks that our bodies can't always be ready to go on their own and that we have to add exogenous, industrial artifacts to get shit done. But bands and hypodermics are no worse than barbells and racks.

You'll eventually burn in the correct motor pattern. Mind, it could take over a year, but it will happen.

[blowdpanis]

You're talking to a guy who had to inject and drain his knees several times per day for months. Sucks that our bodies can't always be ready to go on their own and that we have to add exogenous, industrial artifacts to get shit done. But bands and hypodermics are no worse than barbells and racks.

You'll eventually burn in the correct motor pattern. Mind, it could take over a year, but it will happen.

I believe in the power of us!

[blowdpanis]

Today's workout:

http://www.youtube.com/v/66aPyc2co3I&hd=1

[blowdpanis]

A couple of lifts from today:

http://www.youtube.com/v/BhsLUoYTc1o&hd=1

[blowdpanis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZDW6v0iDA8&hd=1

Squats from today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBLLB52cm7U

And some pause bench/pullups.

[Gary Gibson]

Hey, Commander, those squats look great. Way to keep the back angle.

CoBRAAAAAAAAA!

[blowdpanis]

Side views of the previously posted squats:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1oRW_J5UDg#t=0m37s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suMuaQXpRRs#t=0m42s

[blowdpanis]

One of the things I find interesting about the side vid and my squat style is that A) I definitely have knee slide but B) the bar path is actually pretty linear and C) I maintain the back angle well enough, considering these are limit weights. Possibly a function of looking straight ahead instead of down? Not sure it matters tbh.

[blowdpanis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwtxcQiQQIM

Some squatting and dipping from today. Big fan of the song.

[poopmonkey]

Good call on the song.

I feel like you're my doppleganger on this board. We have the exact same power rack, exact same knee sleeves and our numbers are quite similar. Whether you know it or not I'm cursing your name when I do my weighted chins.

Keep up the good work, race ya to 300/400/500.

[blowdpanis]

Good call on the song.

I feel like you're my doppleganger on this board. We have the exact same power rack, exact same knee sleeves and our numbers are quite similar. Whether you know it or not I'm cursing your name when I do my weighted chins.

Keep up the good work, race ya to 300/400/500.

Cheers, sir. Looking at your log, it looks like your squat, at least, is well ahead of mine, of which I am envious.

[blowdpanis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDGxGjkV4kw

Okay, so I'm going through an Incredibad stage. Sue me.

I didn't include the 235 vid as the last two reps were unacceptable, imho. It's a fine line pushing low bar squats for reps, because the tendency for them to get out-of-control GM-y as fatigue mounts is very difficult to counteract.

[blowdpanis]

http://www.youtube.com/v/MhDOGW2ygSY&hd=1

Another PR Friday update.

[Cheech32917]

I think fresh you could get the 4 plate dip!!!

[blowdpanis]

Today's PR Friday session:

http://www.youtube.com/v/XZ0MKiGD8nY&hd=1

[blowdpanis]

Another PR Friday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yXo5z0-JuM&hd=1

The highlight of the evening was probably my set of chins, managed me + 80 for 10, which is a pretty solid, all-time PR.

[blowdpanis]

Here's a video of my daily Broz-ing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XppFi7OMGMI&hd=1

Of interest to me is the fact that these two singles look almost comparable in difficulty at all of 10 lbs apart, and the second one is fully paused. I really just do not get much out of my bounces, weirdly.

I also included my dipfail, mostly because it's the first time I've manned up and actually attempted the weight. I wish I had the 170 on camera, but ran out of memory literally moments before completing the rep.

[blowdpanis]

More singles from today. The singles towards the end of the 2nd wave through, i.e. pauses, started getting noticeably better, such that I was able to tie my bounced top single (in fairness, I might have been able to go heavier, but usually will stop as speed deteriorates that much) with my pause. Actually, I think a no belt, banded pause with 285 is an all time PR in this style, so that's cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy_2Pf1YpdE&hd=1

[blowdpanis]

Another PR Friday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl3Gj3sQbyM&hd=1

I'm feeling kinda lousy (cold), but my lifts were decent.

[blowdpanis]

Groove felt pretty good today, so I pushed the top single a teency bit higher:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOQj1JFQJLU&hd=1

[Cheech32917]

Good Shit Bro!

[manisstrong]

Hey dude, nice log, you looked pretty fuckin lean in that pic in the first page. Must have been like 6-7%? Did you manage to diet down without losing any strength?

Anyway, I haven't really been following this log, but I'm wondering why on the first page it had a video of you deadlifting 400+ but on the last page you only deadlifted 335 or something?

[blowdpanis]

Hey dude, nice log, you looked pretty fuckin lean in that pic in the first page. Must have been like 6-7%? Did you manage to diet down without losing any strength?

Anyway, I haven't really been following this log, but I'm wondering why on the first page it had a video of you deadlifting 400+ but on the last page you only deadlifted 335 or something?

Competition 1 rep max with a belt vs. a work set without a belt? 8D

My deadlifts have lagged behind, but I did get my top set of 5 up to 365-370. I need to make a push towards 405 for 5 at some point, but have been prioritizing the (beltless) squat for a bit now.

[blowdpanis]

Another PR Friday...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6xmRx54kos&hd=1

[blowdpanis]

A couple of PR attempts that would have been nice, but didn't go how I wanted them to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCuzESjADOs&hd=1

The 295 attempt preceding the 315 attempt on squats was quite solid, and the 275 bench before the 285 literally flew up. However, both subsequent attempts didn't go the right way.

I tried these, in part, because I want to be more willing to actually fail lifts, since I very, very rarely fail reps in anything.

[spiderman]

blowdpanis,

What is your height and weight now?

[blowdpanis]

Some lifts from yesterday...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ibxfNBQQYY&hd=1