doug,

i think that is the case. also i havent been getting much sleep this week. i have a feeling i will stall on squats this friday at 255lbs but i have felt worse before and completed the sets, so im hoping for that.

soul,

lulz

gonna take a long nap then hit some type of bench PR later imo.. will try to get some vids up

Thursday night

Bench
95x5
115x3
135x3
165x2
205x1
225x1
255x1
295x1
250x10
275x2 paused

No PRs, 295 went up kinda slow so figured I try and get a decent 10 repper.. picked the right weight, 10th rep was a grind

Lolcleans.. I think my forms better, vids later
135x3
165x3
15 or so singles with 135

40chins now 40chins in 3hrs too..

Really impressed by your bench/press. Sorry if it's been asked already, but how long did it take you to get these kind of numbers?

my endurance is so bad. like i just did 297.5x4 but i don't know if i could do 250x10.

death- whats goin on in your avi? lol who is that kicking? i have been training on and off for probably 3 years but didnt make much gains til i focused on the compound movements (upperbody, anyway) and implemented military presses. no joke, my gains started improving rapidly when I stopped doing isolation work lol

miles- we can trade if you want, sir. these squats are killing me and apparently making me weaker everywhere else. i just care about hitting a 315max but the end of next month. did 3x5x250 on wednesday. do you think it is doable?

form checks pleeeaasse

my friend's squat he says he has groin pain when he tries to push his knees out but it doesnt hurt when just pointing them forward. he is doing high bar style

friend's PC 165

135 PC, done after the 165 set

165x3 PC

we are obv terrible at them. any help would be great. what can we each do to improve these PC and also , is my 135lb PCs with the little jump a lot better than me 165? lol lotta questions i know.. very appreciative of all the help here

I can't tell because of the video angle, but in both videos, it looks like your knees are obscuring the bar bath and you are actually circumventing them in your pull (which is a no-no), I can't quite figure it out, it's either that or you start your pull at that point... but hte biggest thing is htat your arms are already bent before you even hit full extension so when this weight actually gets heavy for you, it will be really really hard to clean...this basically looks like a reverse curl. ON the 1st 135 video, if you stop it at 2 seconds, you an see your knees are still bend, your arms are bent already, you have no shrug at the top of your shoulders/full extension.

I think it might be your set up, it looks like you are leaning too far over hte bar in yoru set up and that might be screwing up your 1st pull with your knees....

This is how I was taught to set up for power clean
1) feet closer in then convential dl, toes not at a full 30 degrees, maybe 15-30. bar over the bridge of the foot, reach down, hook grip bar, i sometimes get into a full squat in this position to remind myself how upright i am going to be on this pull...rather than approaching the bar and having knees over (which you may or may not be doing), the knees actually go out side to side a little bit...this probably isn't making much sense, but when you bend your knees to grip the bar and get in first pull position knees are going out sideways towards the plates (according to greg everett) vs. over the bar and then being re-adjusted by arching your back (like in a convential Dl - a la rippetoe)... so your knees aren't too far over the bar, maybe just a 1/4 of the knee, your back angle is also way more upright for the clean and you are holding hte bar with your shoulder blades pinched...so picture holding a walnut between your two shoulder blades...

You start your first pull really slow, does not need to be fast, the whole time contracting your lats and keeping the bar as close to you as possible, you start yoru 2nd pull above the knee, and try to get full extension, so arms are straight, then it's shrug, shoulders, elbows....in that order....

This post could go on forever...but I think correcting your first pull is most important initially if you are always going to take these from the floor...the bulk of this movement (and benefit) is the 2nd pull though, so you could just take these from the hang, get your 2nd pull down to perfection, and then approach the first.... might be more prudent....

edit: set up looks a little better in 165 video, not as much knee thing, maybe it was a fluke...arms still bending early/doesn't look like you are getting full extension

I would work from the hang with less weight. You're so upper body dominant in strength that I don't think you can really learn to use your lower body effectively at this much weight.

PCs are kind of a pain to learn, but you can get a similar training effect doing DB snatches which are very easy to learn. See miles' log a couple months back for examples.

i think you should be able to get it. when i first did 315 it was after 3x5x262.5. given you can do 250x10, you should be able to hit 3x5x270/275 or so. if you just went in to try a 1rm fresh, i think you'd do it by then. it's a little weird though because you are way better at longer sets than i am, so it's hard to say for sure.

azk- thanks a lot for that writeup.. i will try to apply everything there. i def am not getting close to full extension and as soon as the bar passes my knees my arms bend

doug- i think you are right. i tried a few hang cleans with 135 and i just have a similar movement without full extension

miles- i was talking about my squat. at this point im kinda sick of pressing movements which is probably a good thing. it was what i looked forward to since im so bad at squats/DL and I could always redeem myself but its not been the case recently

going to attempt 3x5x255 on squats in a few hours.. maybe 5x285 DL and more lol cleans

Friday night

Skwats
Warmups
3x5x255

Wow a lot easier than Wednesday.. wednesdays seem to be the worst days for me..

DL
225x2
285x5

Not toooo hard

Did some clean pulls after.. at least I think I did.. gonna try hang cleans next week

I really hope I don't stall on the squats bfore 275... 255 was my max a month ago

monday night

squats
warmups
2x5x260
3x260
3x260

i pussied out in the last set.. im sure i coulda did it but my WIM wasnt working

front squat
2x1x185

military
5 x bar
3x 95
3x 95
1x135
1x165
1x195
1x200
1x205 fail
1x205 PR!

standing one arm presses
1x75
6x75


oh yea, sooooo i saw a 194lb beast hit 365, 385, 395lbs for doubles in CLOSE GRIP bench.. wtf lol.. dude's upperbody is ridic

and he was did a 275lb power clean really easy also

-------------------
if i hit 2x5x260 then 2x3x260, can I increase my weight on wednesday for squats or should I repeat?

bump it up, espec when it's WIM-related

Tuesday night
Squats (decided I'm just gonna squat the rest of this week. Spring break = 10hrs sleep plus I'm eating like a moron anyway)

Warm ups
1x255
1x265
3x1x275 (First time ever squat 275.. )
2x2x185

Front squat
3x1x185
5x135

Clean pulls
bunch of sets of 3 with 135 and 95lbs...

friend of mine that can clean 275 is kinda coaching me.. he was doin 5 sets of 3 with 365 today and weighs under 200.. pretty strong dude

Bout to hit 40 chins now

Wednesday night

Front squats
Warm up
2x155
2x175
1x210
1x225 (tied PR I think)
1x205
2 x 1 x 185
2x175
2x155

Was murdered after 3 straight squat days

Bench
Warm ups
1x225
1x255
1x280 suuuper tough
7x230... did 10x250 last week I think lol

Pushups
35...... 17

Gonna squat Thursday and Friday then I think switchingback to 5/3/1.... I'm sick of squats, I'm sure I can hit 315 for a single when fresh but won't just incase I can't lol