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

Thursday night.. 4th straight squat day

Skwaaaahts
Warmups
2x245
1x265
1x275 (thought about hitting for two but pussied out)
Fx245 (lol failed on first rep when trying for two.. got pinned on bottom and couldn't move it, just dumped)
2x2x245 (stepped up after failing)
1x225
1x205
2x185

Front skwat
5x2x135 all with a 5sec pause on botton

Two light set of face pulls and now eating "shoyu chicken".. pretty good stuff, try it since its easy to make

One more day of this hell

Friday night... had something typed out but didntget through on phone

Squats for 5th night in a row
Warmups
Worked up to a single at 315.. PR for me

Was going to deadlift but decided to hit a few light reps of front squats instead.

I'm really happy with hitting this milestone. I just wanted to hit this sometime during the summer.. I def could get a little deeper "but its a PR" lol.. hit parallel and I'm fine with that.

What should I do now? I weigh prob high 180s lowwww 190 right now and all lifts other than squats and DL seemed to have lost power. I did just hit a 205 military last week I think but yea, bench is down a ton.

I really feel like dropping some bodyfat, but hitting this squat goal of mine so early makes me want to see how far I can take this. Idk, have to make up my mind.

How bustoed are your legs right now after squatting 5 days in a row? Good job man.

lol this squatting every day thing has gotten pretty trendy thanks to Mr. Broz.

Holy! how tall are you? for some reason I figured you weighed like 220 or something. Thats damn strong for being that light.

Soul- not too bad actually.. I don't get DOMs from squats, but it just takes a whiiillle to warmup before squatting

Evoken- yea, I think I squatted 20+ times in february.. that was brutal

Halstad- 5'6 high 180s low 190s in weight I assume. Gonna cut now

Decided on going back to 5/3/1 and going to try and cut while doing it. Squatting twice a week and 1-3 sprinting sessions a week is going to be my plan. That and some short jumprope sessions spreaded throughout.

I thought you might have been on steroids until you said you weren't somewhere iirc. Maybe you have nice jeans. Good job sir!

pkr- i only use creatine monohydrate pretty much unless caffeine counts. i know lottttsss of people taking prohormones though. they take sus lmg or tren around here. i guess thats a compliment if people think im on roids lol. thanks!

planning on switching to 3x a week using 5/3/1. i wont follow the program how its written because im an idiot.

here's the plan

Monday-
531 press...one set of heavy military or push press...
531squat.... 3-5 sprints

Wednesday-
531 bench.. one or two heavy one board sets..
squat warmups.. 1-3 sprints

Friday-
531 front squats...
531 deficit deadlifts (going to only do prescribed reps)
some sorta generic metcon or 2-4 sprints

on MWF, i will most likely do 3 sets at most of some inverted rows at the gym and possibly kroc rows when I feel good, since they seem to leave a lot of soreness for me.

probably going to do some GTG chins throughout the week and try to get some short jumprope sessions in if I feel good.

that's alistair overeem, a huge roidmonkey mma/kickboxing fighter. he's just enjoying one of his favourite pastimes, kicking small girls.

Monday night
(Just gonna post the rep out sets for 531)

531 military
140 for 5+ = 13 reps

Heavy single (just throwing in a heavy single for milllies and bench because I want to lol)
175.... was really tough after the 13repper

531 Squat
230 for 5+ = 11 reps... tough.. never went above 5 in forever.. and I ran a few sprints last night.. lol excuses

Did some dumb power cleans with 135 and a few frnt skwats


Inverted row / tate press (25lbs) / hammer curls (25lbs)
Hit each for 9 then 6 then 5... forearms were super pumped after

Kroc rows
5x55
5x65
10x75 (ezpz.. coulda did 20, I think)


3x 15yrd sprints
4x40yrd sprints

Both slight uphill... taking Tuesday off cuz exam on Wednesday then doing 531 bench, heavy single, inverted rows, kroc rows, squat warmups and 3-5 sprints after

Isn't doing 20-30 reps with a heavy weight the whole point of Kroc rows?

Krs- you're right... Its pretty much my first time doing them since I hurt my finger almost two months ago.. did them tonight..

Tuesday night (so much for a day off)
Front squats
Warmups
5 singles of 185
1 single of 205

Kroc rows
Warmups
20 reps with the 80s... -5lbs off of PR I think

10 sets of 2 chinups

Just gonna jump rope for a bit then study for lolnutrition exam.. 531 bench tomorrow

Wednesday night

531 bench
Warmup
275 single (gonna hit a heavier single before repouts now)
230 5+... did 235 instead for 13.. couldn't find little plates

Inverted rows/pushups
12/9/6/3 non stop.. last 5 rows were tough

Front squats cuz I'm stupid
Warmup then 5 singles of 185

My shoulders feel good so might get a little session in on my off day.. I'm addicted to lifting weights.. I find it so hard to not go to the gym now

Yeh Kroc rows are so great. Turning rows into a ME exercise rules.

Your numbers are looking pretty impressive from tje start. Looking forward to see how far you can take it. I've just finished my 3rd 531 cycle and while none of them have been optimal I've had some decent gains. Though I've realised that the deadlift volume is kicking my ass ATM so I'm going to try a modified WSB routine with some added volume work in. Looking forward to planning that out.

krs- thanks. I am only happy with my military press PR right now though lol. I doubt I can get that any higher if I start to drop some fat/weight. I can def improve on squat and DL still and possibly bench press. I take it easy on DL because they kick my ass whenever I go hard on them. Planning out a routine is such a pain for me because I can never choose what to do lol.

thursday night

this was supposed to be fridays session lol but i'll just get a military press session in for friday

531 front squat
warmups
1x185
155 for 5+ = 11 reps (I absolutely HATE doing any type of squats/DL for high reps)

531 deficit deadlift
warmups all done on 1 inch deficit
1x235 at 1 inch
235 (2inch) for 5+.. felt really easy and stuck to the plan of doing just prescribed reps

did some weak attempts of power cleans at 135lbs and just called it a day. a very easy day. i really should start counting calories or taking weight. im just eating a lot cleaner than I have been recently, so thats a start.