I got the Harbinger 4-Inch Nylon Weightlifting Belt

I imagine most serious lifters here mock non leather belts, but my theory was it will be easier to stuff into a backpack (I go to the gym from work) and my obsessive side likes the adjustability of Velcro, I always feel like the optimal tightness is between two holes with the leather belts

Yeah I have. I try to mostly follow that method but when I put my feet as far back as he suggests its too much of a stretch for me properly flex the leg muscles.

Dec 29

First time where I'm not feeling 100% recovered by my next session. I guess that means I'm finally generating enough stress. Unfortunately have had a massive crick in the next past 24 hours, lots of lacrosse ball rolling has made it bearable.

SQ 2ct P
4x195 (7)
4x200 (8)
3x4x205 (8.5/8.5/9)
+5



OHP
5x95 (8.5)
5x100 (8.5)
4x105 (F)
3x5x95 (8.5/8.5/9)
-5



Rows
8x115 (7)
8x120 (8)
8x125 (9)
3x8x115 (8/8/8.5)
flat



120 minutes

IMO, the weight is shifting too far forward on your squats. I see your heel lifting in the hole. You can also see it in the path of the barbell. (Or maybe I'm just trying to throw you off so your squat PR doesn't go past mine while I'm trying to fix my stupid knees )

How are you liking the new belt?

I think you're right, although its nowhere near as substantial as it used to be, and I'm making a conscious effort to keep it straight. It's partly a flexibility issue, I've been using an ankle ramp at work lately.

I don't think you need to worry about me catching your PRs any time soon, if you look back at the pace I like to progress

Haven't used the new belt yet, going to different gyms next few days, will give it a shot early 2018, seems pretty solid.

Dec 30

pullups BWx34
isometric abs 7 minutes
DB hammer 20x67
elliptical @133bpm 30 minutes (455 cal/hr pace)

I really like this elliptical in my building, you set a hr target and it dynamically adjusts the difficulty to keep you at that HR. Will be tough to see progress with no defined difficulty, which is why I included cal/hr. Not sure if that is just a function of HR or if it will go up as I do more work at the same HR.

21 consecutive chins

LOL wtf. man you've made some awesome progress.

I can't take all the credit



I'll test my actual chin-up max sometime in the next few days, guessing 9-11ish

Got through high stress week!

Dec 31

DL
5x300 (6)
5x315 (7.5)
2x5x320 (8/8)
5x315 (8)
+4lb

Decided to try crunch fitness, a gym next door to me. Terrible idea, I forgot most gyms in SF spend 99% of their space on TRX and spin. They had 4 total 45lb DL plates, so ended up using all the weight they had available

Belt worked well though



BP 1ct P
5x125 (6.5)
5x130 (7)
5x5x135 (7.5/8/8.5/8.5/9)
+3lb

Probably could have pushed 140, but this bench kinda freaked me out. Totally unpinned so it moved back every time I reracked.



3-0-3 SQ
2x8x155 (6.5/7.5)
2x8x160 (9)
flat

This lift is death. In this video I squat for 70 consecutive uneventful seconds. Viewer discretion is advised.

Need to decide on 1RM for all the new exercises in month 2 of the program

Pretty sure
Squat/belt - 270
press/belt - 125
rows - 170
DL/belt - 402
Bench 1ct pause - 170
SQ no belt - 255

no real clue
3ct pause bp - 150
2ct pause dl (taking away the block pull) - 350
Pin squat - 225

thinking about some general plans after I finish this month

I'd like to do a 2 month hypertrophy block, something like PHUL probably

Then a 1-2 month peaking program, while I'm healthy and strong might as well take the opportunity to see where I'm at, and put up some numbers that no one can take away from me, and aren't just estimated 1RM Dream would be to hit a 4 plate squat by my first liftaversary and maybe even 1000lb total

After that I'll probably rerun the bridge combined with a ~1lb a week cut, see if I can't develop a lean physique

Now I desperately need a nap. 2.5 hour work, 1.5 hour dog walk, I usually go to sleep at 9 and just realized I'll be expected to stick around until at least midnight tonight. whelp

My unprofessional, novice lifter opinions:

Deadlift Awesome. I'm jealous.

Bench Try tucking your elbows close to your ribs. Especially on the way down. Your shoulders are in a rough position right now.

Squat
- Your elbows are cranked way too high up. Your humerus is parallel with the floor, it should be closer to parallel with your torso. This is how I (and a lot of people) got shoulder pain. It's a thing I see the BBM guys mention a few times.

- Your knees are sliding forward the entire way down. I also have this issue and am working to fix it. I'm pretty sure it's a major contributing factor to my recent knee pains.
Your knees should only go forward for the first 1/3-1/2 of the descent. After that they should stay fixed. You should use the TUBOW to help fix this.
Here's a video of SS coach Adam Franklin using it:

- Your gaze is straight forward. I don't even know how bad this actually is, but if you want to do the SS style squat that the BBM crew does, with 'hip drive', it really helps to look down 4-5' in front of you the entire time and keep your chin down.

Programming
I'm very confident if you ask Jordan or Austin they'd tell you to just finish up SSLP before moving on to any of their other templates if your goal is to get stronger and hit some nice PRs this year. I know it's boring for you, but you probably only have 2 months of progress on most of your lifts any way.

Been trying to implement this: https://www.strongerbyscience.com/wh...bows-benching/

Maybe overdoing it, not sure

Good point, my shoulders haven't been feeling great after squatting lately

This is the first time I've ever heard about this in squatting. In that vid it looks like he'd trying to keep his knees behind his toes? I thought thats just a common PT bro tip. https://www.strongerbyscience.com/ho...o_past_my_toes

Yeah should probably improve neutral neck, to my understanding its sort of whatever though

I don't really ascribe to SS philosophy, just following the BBM medicine program for now. I could do without all the dogma, although I understand why they promote themselves that way I think it does a disservice to people relying on their free materials.

I put my goals at the beginning of the thread, I guess its changed a bit since then (knee feels great for the first time in a decade!) but getting stronger is pretty far down on the list and getting stronger as fast as possible isn't even on the list - and that is often an implicit assumption I see when people give advice. I like this chart from Layne Norton:



Comparing max recoverable volume to minimum effective dose. Yes if your goals are to compete or if you are looking at the sort term you will be better off pushing the limit. But if the goal is to get better over time with minimum injury risk, you don't lose out by getting stronger slower (as long as you are doing hard sets). People are always talking about 'losing out on newbie gains' but really all that means is letting the newbie gains drag out over more time. You'll still get close to the same place eventually, barring injury etc.

imo, the real progression for a starting lifter is learn technique -> adapt neurologically to lifting heavy -> continue linear progression to the point of actual hard sets -> diverge based on your personal goals. That mostly fits the standard advice given but for slightly different reasons. Maybe also explains why I'm doing PLing programs for the past 7 months despite not caring too much about strength.

Goals fluctuate over time but I'd say right now its approximately:
Personal satisfaction (kind of a catch-all, but I've had lots of recent change in my life and my job is very high variance, it's amazing having a consistent routine where I can see clearly defined progress over short time horizons).
Aesthetics
Short term health (reducing pain/aches)
Long term health
Strength
Sport performance

Maybe that helps explain why I consistently ignore some of the conventional programming advice. I do really appreciate all the suggestions and advice from posters itt!

Re: knees past toes.
Knees past toes is fine. MOST people doing lbbs have their knees just slightly passed their toes. Some people will need to be a few inches past their toes.

You should get down in your squatting position, without the bar, with your elbows inside your thighs, and see where your knees are relative to your toes. And that's where you place the tubow to make sure you don't go past it.

But the problem is not knees past toes, it's knees sliding forward for the entire movement. Knees should get to where they need to be in the first 1/3-1/2 of the descent, and then basically stay fixed.
Yours right now are doing what mine have done and sliding forward the entire way. We are bouncing out of the bottom and a lot of the reflex is coming off of our knees.


Re: programming. That actually makes a lot of sense, and I like that. I definitely think there is a middle ground, though.
Actually, the more u think about it, the more irresponsible it seems to have someone do the SS program without having proper coaching. Even reading the book thoroughly it seems almost everyone messes some lifts up (myself included).
Interesting things for me to think about now, thanks.

Tested chins max with no editing this time

10 reps, wasn't hard, really should have gotten 11. I believe I can hit 12 with some prep/good day.

Somewhat held back by adding weight for the last few reps.

Could you provide a cite for that? I've never heard about that before. Intuitively I would think it's simply a mechanical/body type issue - if we say my bottom knee position is optimal, than you're saying my knees need to move forward faster. That implies my hips flexing more slowly, which would wind up with a more upright back position. Not necessarily bad, but counter to the quote you provided, and not clearly preferable in any way.

It's in the Starting Strength book.
Here's a video from the starting strength YouTube:

Again, I'm no expert, just trying to go off of the stuff I hear from Jordan/Austin and a few of the guys they seem to agree with.

That guy in the thumbnail looks to be doing the thing that everyone makes fun of SS for: having practically vertical shins and exaggerating weight on heels and hip drive.

(didn't watch the vid though)

Yeah, idk who that guy is, and his knees do seem more inside the toes than most people I've seen.
But in the book it says most peoples correct position will have knees just in front of toes by a few inches. It's even that way on the main illustration of the book.

Here is a vid of layne norton squatting, knees moving forward the whole way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2b8UdqmlFs&t=810s

I think like you said Siq, if you really want to adhere to SS, you really need to hire one of their coaches. While they can accurately defend almost all their positions, it's a very cue-based training style, and different cues work for different bodies. The fact that the cues are easily misinterpreted isn't a knock against their knowledge, but it is a knock against the applicability of reading SS or watching SSC videos and immediately applying. After all, the free content is just to generate traffic, and they make their money from coaching.

Idk if your knee form check is correct or not, but SS material is never nuanced enough to convince me unfortunately, since ime they often just subtly imply that anyone who doesn't know they are right is dumb.

Greg Nuckols seem to think that 'break knees and hips simultaneously' as SS strongly advocates is not nearly that big of a deal: https://www.strongerbyscience.com/ho...t/#The_Descent

Jan 4

SQ
4x210 (6)
4x220 (7)
2x4x225 (8/8.5)
5x225 (9.5)
+5

Weight felt super light. However, this was one of my worst form days in a long time. Tried bring my hands a lot closer in and bringing the elbows down and in. It definitely felt a lot tighter, and the ledge was easy to find, but I needed to stay a lot more upright and felt like I couldn't get a vertical bar path no matter what I did. Felt more like my old high bar squatting than anything. Mobility was also more challenging and I struggled to hit depth without really stretching. I'll probably go back to my old form for now but I'll keep trying it out during some warm up sets, since the tightness was great.



3ct P BP
4x120 (6.5)
4x125 (7)
4x130 (7.5)
4x135 (8)
+10

I'm guessing that for the pause I'm not really supposed to let the bar rest on my chest, need to work on keeping the full weight in my hands.



DL 2ct P
4x285 (6.5)
4x295 (7)
2x4x305 (8)
+10

105 minutes

I love having the place packed with new years folks, nice ego boost

Sweet man nice PR/milestone on the SQ!

Maybe I'm crazy, but those squats look better than the ones I've seen before. The things I'm seeing here is:
1) Keep the center of mass over your mid foot. You're getting a little forward with the weight. I can see your heel lifting up.
2) On a few reps you need to actually lift the chest as fast as you lift your hips. Most people have the opposite of this problem. I think #1 and #2 are related.
2) knees out a little more? It looks like they track just inside of your toes. Instead of with your toes (Chad Smith says to aim knees at your ring-finger toe)

Your elbows look much better, and you definitely don't look "too upright" at any point in the squat. I think besides the 3 things above I don't see anything major.

Great work!

Edit:
P.S: ignore my old knee slide comment. I had a SS coach review my squats and he said my old squat was fine/had no noticable knee slide. And that my form "correcting" was actually worse.

Thanks, I'm over halfway to your numbers now lol

Congrats on the golden loco!

I tried it today and it did feel better, so maybe it was just bad mobility the other day. The issue with the descent was that I wasn't able to keep the bar over midfoot at the top position, which is why it was tracking forward. At the bottom it was over midfoot (I think I'd tip over otherwise), but my heels were coming up because of ankle mobility.

I've always had the problem about lifting hips first. The pin squats today were great because the bar just doesn't move if your hips are moving alone. It'll probably be a mainstay in my routine until that goes away.

I took a video from the front this time, I *think the knees are ok

Jan 6

Pin SQ
4x180 (6)
3x190 (F)
4x190 (8.5)
4x195 (9)
+5

190 isn't that heavy, but bar just would not move off the pins once I got down ever so slightly off the right position. Should be great for fixing form. Last rep in the video was almost a fail for the same reason.



OHP
4x95 (8)
4x100 (9)
4x105 (10)
4x95 (7.5)
3x4x97.5 (8)
-2

Press day is pretty meh as always. On the last few reps I did cock my wrists back a little bit which seemed to help.

Frows
8x115 (5)
8x125 (6)
8x135 (6.5)
8x145 (7)
2x8x155 (8.5)
+30

Stole those cheat rows that TC posted in his thread. I like those more than the ones I've been doing so far.

100 minutes