I have trouble keeping the weight on my heels and sometimes I exaggerate. I don't think its a problem as long as I don't fall over.

6/12/2012

Squat: 200# 5, 4, 5
Three videos. These were pretty hard and it seems like I'm not going deep enough. I'll try to think more about depth next time.

Bench Press: 105# video 5, 5, 5, 75# 12
These were fairly easy.

Deadlift: 220# video 4
These were super hard, but I think I could have banged out the fifth rep. I just get really apprehensive about my lower back. I'll only jump 5# next time.

Prone Grip Pulldowns: 85# 10
Back Extensions: 10# 10

Another triple PR day.

Leg drive on bench looks good, I can never figure that out

I'm more concerned with your lower back in lowering the weights on the DL, seems like it could lead to some trouble there.

Yeah I could never figure out the leg drive either, but I think it was always because the absolute weight was too low; basically when I was benching only 70 pounds, leg drive was just pushing back the whole body/bar system on the bench, but now I think the weight is high enough that I have enough inertia to actually be able to involve my legs in the movement.

Never figured out that leg drive, either. or anything bench-related, really.
Meh, time to go watch that Dave Tate's bench-series once again.

6/14/2012

Squat: 202# 3, 3
Spectacular failure on the squat. Actually had to drop the bar on the pins on the 4th rep of both sets. Not sure whats going on here. I'll try 202# again on Sunday, the two day break might iron things out for me.

Overhead Press: 70# video 6, 5, video 4ish, 50# 10
Pretty happy with these. I lost balance and sort of botched the third set, but doing six on the first set is enough signal for me to go to 72# next time.

Chin-up work: goofed around with a resistance band and inverted rows. I feel pretty uncomfortable with the band and totally hate the inverted rows. Then I did 5 chin-up negative singles and a set to failure on the lat pulldown machine.

Back Extensions: 10# 12, 12

6/17/2012

Squat: 202# video 4, video 5, 2
I dropped the weight during the 3rd rep of the 3rd set. Time for a reset?

Bench Press: 107# 5, 5, 5, 80# 12
Easy stuff.

RDL: 95# video 5
Just warmup for deadlifts. I'm not sure if I'm doing these right or no.

Deadlift: 225# video 5
I like the form on these better. I made a conscious effort to keep a tight back during the descent this time. I think I need to lose the habit of breathing out at the top, though.

Chin-up: Negatives 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, Pulldowns 120# 8
Back Extensions: 10# 12


All in all a pretty successful day. My plan is to reset the squat to 182# on Tuesday, then do 190#, 195#, 200# and 202# the following days. Is this a good plan?

You got 5, I wouldnt reset, I'd take longer in between sets and make sure you're warming up properly.

Gawd I'm already doing 5 minutes. Gonna be at the gym all day lol.

My warmup this time was some stretching, 10xbw, 10x45, 5x95, 3x135, 1x190. Maybe I could have done another rep or two in there somewhere.

No where near enough

How long could that session have taken you, an hour at the most?

6/19/2012

Squat: 5x45 5x95 5x95 5x135 failx165 5x135 5x135
Just a big practice day. Really trying to concentrate on depth and hip drive. I lost balance and failed on the 165 set. Could probably have done more volume but I was worried a little about taking some of the gas away from the press. I'm pretty patient about progression on the squat since its 3x a week and all, so whatever.

Overhead Press: 72# 6, 5, 4
Yay PR and time to move up.

Chin-up Work: Negatives 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
After the negatives, I tried to get a set to failure on the pulldown machine but had some weird soreness in my forearm so I quit. The negatives seem to really be getting better quickly so I think I'm doing something right.

Back Extensions: 25# 8, 8, 8

6/21/2012

Squat: 5x45 5x95 5x135 5x155 3x175 5x155
I felt major form breakdown during the 175 set so I decided it was a waste of energy to finish the set. The 155 sets were fairly challenging and I think the form on them is pretty good. I've decided to go for linear progress from 155. Will do 165# on Saturday and reevaluate.

Bench Press: 112# 5, 3, 110# 4, 82# 13
The last few bench press sessions have been sufficiently easy that I tried for a 5 pound jump this time, I guess it was a little over-ambitious. I'm gonna pretend like I went for 110# and succeeded. Don't judge me. 112# next time.

Deadlift: 1x235, 0x225
LOL, the first rep of 235 was ungodly hard and it totally psyched me out. I deloaded the bar to 225# and couldn't break the bar from the floor. I'll go for 230# next time and proceed with 5 pound jumps. Hopefully this was just a fluke.

Back Extensions: 25# 9, 9, 9
I normally only do these on off-deadlift days but my deadlift volume was so pathetic today that I thought it would be a good idea.

Chin-ups: Negatives 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, Pulldowns 120# 7

6/23/2012

Squat: 45x5 95x5 135x3 165# video 4, video 5, video 5
Pretty good stuff. These were quite challenging so I'll go 5# jumps from here and hopefully back in PR territory in a couple of weeks. Again, no rush here. The first set was four reps because I felt the bar trying to roll down my back, I guess I lost tightness.

Overhead Press: 75# 6, 4, 4 55# 8
I have an interesting problem with OHP in that the first set completely gasses me and I always under-perform on subsequent sets. I rested for 4 minutes after the first set and a full six minutes after the second just to see if more rest would help. Either way, I'm ecstatic to get six reps on the first set and that means (according to the arbitrary rules that I made up) that I get to go for 77# next time. Super happy about my recent press progress.

Chin-ups: Negatives 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

I've decided in light of my lack of performance in the recent deadlift session to suspend back extensions from the program.

was looking at your squat vidoes and i agree the 2nd set of videos your squat looks better.

6/26/2012

Squat: 172# video 5, video 5, video 3
These were hard and I'm having some bar path issues. Chest cave at the bottom it looks like. Not sure how to fix this without lowering the weight. I had to dump the bar in the last set, I wish there was a more graceful way to do this, I think it would have hurt at higher weight. I guess I should have set the bars higher. I'll do 172# again next time. The weight number is weird because this Cambodian gym im using is in KG.

Bench Press: 116# 4, 112# 4, 4
Sigh, set the wrong weight to start until I realized they had smaller plates. I'll try for 115# next time I suppose.

Deadlift: 5x132, 2x176, 1x198, 230# 0
Complete, utter fail. Definitely strength loss at this point. Since I pulled 225 for 5 two deadlift sessions ago, I failed terribly on 235, and now I can't even break 230 off the floor. I blamed the 235 fail on having gone hard on back extensions the workout before, this time there's no excuse since I'm not doing the BE's anymore. I've had some very mild soreness in my lower back for the past couple of weeks that I am slightly worried about in light of my lack of performance in deadlifts. I'm gonna deload to the 185 area and continue working on form, in which I'm not at all confident.