Squat - C19W1. 07-05-2014
5x270
5x310
5x350

SLDL- 10x110, 10x132, 10x152
DB Curls - 4x12x25


My left hip flexor was feeling pretty tight during this workout and during my final rep of squat, I heard an audible pop in my left hip flexor when I was in the hole. I finished the rep and reracked the weight but my groin/quad/hip remained pretty sore throughout the rest of the workout. I walked home from the gym and the pain turned into just mild tightness/discomfort. I'm still getting pain in my hip flexor if I do leg lifts. I really hope I avoided an injury here since this could be bad.

I (stupidly?) decided to go rock climbing a few hours after straining my hip flexor. I lasted maybe 30 minutes before my leg swung out from me on a climb and i felt tremendous strain/pain in my hip flexor. I called it a day after that, and my leg was pretty uncomfortable on the walk home.

I'm officially worried. I bought some bags of ice on the walk home and just took an ice bath. I won't be putting too much strain on my hip flexors until Bench day. This gives me 4-5 days to ice up and try to get this injury under control. I'd hate to have to take a month off squats.

Ice baths are awesome btw. I might make them a Sunday ritual.

Update on the hip injury:

I've changed my self-diagnosis to an adductor strain. Things are looking much better. I took 2 ice baths over the weekend, and probably spent a collective 90 minutes over the last 2 days doing SMR on my leg. Foam rolled the **** out of my IT band and shoved a lacrosse ball right up in my groin. I've also been doing some stretching - mainly the warrior lunge stretch.

I realized during my workout today that perhaps the most relieving stretch was to get down into a squat and shove my knees out. I'm going to try to do this twice a day for 10 minutes.

I experienced a good bit of pain while initiating leg drive during CGBP, but otherwise my injury felt pretty good today.

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Press - C19W2. 07-07-2014
3x115
3x130
4x145

CGBP - 8x120, 8x140, 6x160
Dips - 4x10 1x8


I hit 3x145 on the last two cycles, but got 4 reps this time despite continuing to cut weight.

I made a concentrated effort to keep my wrists straight before unracking. I also got super tight and tried to make a shelf with my lats before starting the motion. It paid immediate dividends. I think I can make some progress on all my of lifts by focusing on my form before I actually begin the movement.

Deadlift - C19W2. 07-08-2014
3x290
3x330
3x370

Front Squat - 8x132, 8x154, 6x176
HLR - 3x10


Deadlifts were okay. My back seems to be 100% again which is nice. I checked the film and I still need to do a better job of not losing extension in my back as I reach for the bar. Another issue is that I'm still jerking the bar off the ground somewhat. This should be easy to fix by just pulling the slack out of the bar before I start the movement.


My adductor was a little aggravated on front squats. There were a few reps where it flared up but it seemed to be fine as long as I focused on shoving my knees out hard.

Bench - C19W2. 07-10-2014
3x155
3x181
4x200

Incline - 8x110, 8x130, 6x150
Chins - 10, 9, 5, 5, 6

Bench was a little weak today. It was an early morning workout and I'm always a bit weaker during those. I'm still dealing with some stress in my adductor which is affecting my leg drive as well. Overall, these feel good.

Incline went up quick despite failing last week.

Squat - C19W2. 07-11-2014
3x291
3x330
0x370


SLDL- 8x132, 8x152, 6x171
DB Curls - 4x12x25


Meh. My groin was pretty sore during this entire workout but it didn't bother me enough to stop. I was able to push through for the most part. Unfortunately, my power out of the hole was completely sapped. I wasn't able to explode up because of the injury. This will probably be a lost month for squats.

Press - C19W3. 07-14-2014
5x120
3x140
0x155

Incline - 5x130, 5x150, 5x170
Dips - 10, 10, 10, 9, 7


Crap. Two cycles in a row where I've failed to hit 155. I guess I'll need to reset. I wasn't able to get as tight and comfortable in my setup as I was last week. Couldn't find a good height for the pins.

Deadlift - C19W3. 07-15-2014
5x310
3x350
1x390

Front Squat - 5x143, 5x165, 5x187
HLR - 3x10


These went way better than last cycle's debacle. My back is at 100% (finally!) and I'm getting more and more comfortable with the top down approach. I pulled 420 a few months ago, so I've definitely lost some strength. I think I can get back there as I continue to improve my form.

Front squats felt alright. My groin/adductor flared up on a few reps, but it felt better than last week. Heavy squats in 3 days are gonna suck. I'm not feeling confident.


Any thoughts on form?

quite a bit of back softening imo. definitely concerning since you have prior back issues. i don't know much about top down setup, but id definitely work on your neck positioning: you have it cranked back.

Yeah, I agree with you on the back starting to round a bit. I just looked at some vids of myself doing DL on deload week (where the weight is light), and my back stays perfectly straight. When I approach max effort it starts to round a bit and I'm not sure why.

Any good fixes for this? I might just not increase the weight until I can keep my back completely straight.

Neck craning is an issue for my squats as well. I can't seem to get it down.

I think I might add in some good mornings and back raises into my routine for low back assistance.

Yeah, just more reps that are tough but you manage to keep your back straight. Good mornings with superb form might help. Learning better bracing and more an recruitment might also help.

I think the soft back is a core strength issue. Too many people worry about low back strengthening exercises when their core is the issue imo. If you get the front side as hard as a rock, push into the belt as hard as you possibly can, and engage your hamstrings, glutes and lats properly, you dont need your low back to do much work.

The foot positioning in the pic you sent me is fine if you like that. It is a little closer than mine, but my shoulders are probably wider than yours.

Bench - C19W3. 07-17-2014
5x165
3x190
2x210

Incline - 5x120, 5x140, 5x155
Chinups - 10, 3

Early morning workout so I wasn't at my strongest. I still feel great about the progress I've been making on bench.

Squat - C19W3. 07-18-2014
5x310
3x350
0x390

SLDL - 5x139, 5x161, 5x183
DB curls - 4x12x25


My adductor strain felt better today but it was still pretty bothersome. I definitely don't have 100% of my power back yet. I'm thinking I might reset my squat anyway just because 390 is looking more like my actual 1RM. I'll think about it.

Headed on vacation for deload week. Gonna do alot of boozing. Unfortunately this might affect my gains a bit.

Press - C20W1. 07-28-2014
5x95
5x110
7x125

CGBP - 10x103, 10x125, 10x144


I reset my press training max from 160 to 145. I also spent the last 10 days/nights drinking pretty much 24/7, so I was feeling pretty ****ing weak today. I decided to cut out dips because of this reason.

Deadlift - C20W1. 07-29-2014
5x270
5x310
8x350

Front Squat - 10x112, 10x135, 10x157
Superhuman Planks - 5x10 (mixed in with DL warmups)
Back Extensions (+25lb) - 4x12


Some of my best deadlifts in a long time. I took some of cha's advice (again), and really focused on squeezing my core as hard as possible during all my lifts. There was one problem with DL where I felt like I was going to faint from the core squeezing and had to rip the bar up quick before that happened.

These felt tight as hell and I felt stronger too. Wish I got some vids but I didn't.

Bench - C20W1. 07-31-2014
5x150
5x170
6x196

Incline - 10x95, 10x110, 10x130
Pendlay Rows - 3x5x132
Chins - 8, 5, 5, 4, 6

First time ever doing any barbell row variation. Felt good. My right shoulder is in some pain if I move my arm in certain ways. I think I may be flaring my elbows too much during bench, so I'll work on fixing that going forward.

Squat - C20W1. 08-01-2014
5x270
5x310
5x350

SLDL- 10x110, 10x132, 10x154
Ab Wheel - 4x12
DB Curls - 4x12x25

These squats were a real grind, but it was nice to finally hit my required reps after injuring my groin. I'm not completely healthy yet, but I'd say I'm at 85%. I'm still not at full strength out of the hole.

why grind reps on an injured groin? Doesn't make sense.

I'm kind of a slave to my programming and paranoid about losing strength if I switch things up and go light. Also, I think the risk of re-injury is pretty low. I've been putting a ton of focus into stretching and SMR and I'm just dealing with lingering soreness.

Press - C20W2. 08-04-2014
3x105
3x120
6x135

CGBP - 8x125, 8x144, 6x164
Dips - 10, 10, 10, 9, 6


Only had 45 minutes today because the gym was closing and I got there late. I rushed through this workout but my results were nice. I still want to add more assistance (chins?) on Press day.

Deadlift - C20W2. 08-05-2014
3x290
3x330
4x370

Front Squat - 8x135, 8x157, 6x181
Superhuman Planks - 5x10
Back Extensions - 4x12x25


Deads didn't feel as solid as last week, but felt pretty good nonetheless. I've been doing some superhuman planks (http://www.t-nation.com/training/superhuman-planks) to strengthen my core, but I'm finding it damn near impossible to breathe while doing them (as recommended by the article).

Bench - C20W2. 08-07-2014
3x159
3x181
3x205

Incline - 8x110, 8x130, 6x150
Pendlay Rows - 2x132, 2x110
Chins - 10, 9, 5, 4, 5


I wanted at least 4 on bench, and came close. I'll use the excuse that it was early morning where I'm generally weaker. The good news is that my right shoulder stayed 100% pain free after acting up the past few bench sessions. I brought my grip in a tad and focused more on tucking the elbows. I think next week I'll bring my grip back out and see if I run into any issues.

I realized that 132 was probably too heavy for rows so dropped back to 110 in the middle. I'll probably stay here next week.

Squat - C20W2. 08-08-2014
3x291
3x330
2x370

SLDL - 8x132, 8x154, 6x176
Ab Wheel - 4x12
DB Curls - 4x12x25

Meh. Groin is still sore but I'm almost at 100%. I felt kinda sick during this workout and had a headache, so that may have affected me a bit.

I've actually gotten much sicker since last Friday. Dealing with constant sweats/chills/headache and extreme fatigue over the last 4 days. Reminds me alot of pneumonia but the doc I saw told me it was probably just a viral infection that I need to wait out. I may end up taking this week off from lifting.