In the youtube video editor interface, you can remove a song, or if that fails, you can remove sound from the video entirely.

It's one thing to neckbeard incessantly over the unimportant details of your program in search of the optimal one. It's another to do something that is simple and has worked for thousands of others. I don't see how improvising your programming would increase the chance that you would stick with it. Sounds like a lot of mental toil ("what should I do today / tomorrow / next week?") that would make it harder to stick to a routine. Something like starting strength, GSLP, or 5/3/1 tells you exactly what's on the agenda, which frees your willpower up for focusing on what's most important: showing up to the gym when you're scheduled to go.

I agree in principle, but most of the popular programs have squats as the central exercise (for good reason). There's a few reasons I'm staying away from that:
- Every time I've tried I've hated squats enough to lose drive
- Similarly, every time I've tried it I've had knee pains after a couple weeks
- I have serious flexibility constraints in my ankles and knees (confirmed empirically by my physiotherapist), which makes form tough and not cookie cutter. It's improved in the past 6 months but not substantially.

Adding squats at some point could make sense, but probably at a point in life where I have the time to get a (knowledgeable) trainer to really work on form.

I'll look into GSLP, maybe swapping the squats with leg press, seems like squats are less central there.


Deadlift video:

Screwed up the angle again, will get it right eventually!

Still moving the hips up prior to lifting. I think what is getting me is the step where I bring my shins forward. I go down to the bar with my shins and arms vertical, which is the position I will lift from. When I bring my shins/knees forward, I necessarily drop my hips a bit, which then go back up when I start applying pressure to the bar. What am I doing wrong?

I do think a bit of the visual of the hips going up is actually me attempting to extend my lower back.

That'd be fine, but if you train leg press hard and through a full range of motion, the way it should be trained, then you'll probably hate it about as much as squats. It's pretty easy to puss out on the leg press, either by not putting enough plates on there (most people can LP more than they think) or by skimping on ROM. You could alternatively train some type of lunge or split squat as your primary legs movement if you enjoy them more than squats or leg press.

It's hard to tell from the angle, but in principle, if your hips are rising before the bar leaves the floor, then you didn't get tight enough before the pull. Like I said before, you should be applying 50-75% of the weight of the bar in force with your quads, posterior chain, and lats for a solid beat before the pull. Then it's a matter of just dialing the effort up to 100% to get the bar off the floor. The position should feel very uncomfortable and the bar should feel heavy in your hands.

Another possible answer to your question is that you're too far away from the bar, i.e. you're rolling the bar forward when you get set up or too far away from the start. Unless you're very big and tall, your shins should be pretty close to vertical against the bar when you set up. So perhaps try setting up closer and see if that fixes your hips rising problem.

Given your goals and this ^ then yeah maybe you should stay away from them. I think it's really important to not dislike whatever it is you do for exercise, because it's really hard to sustain and keep going.

With that being said how much effort into form work and trying different things have you done with squats? Specifically-- have you tried widening your stance and angling out your toes. Have you tried low bar? Squat shoes will help in terms of decreasing the amount of ankle dorsiflexion needed. Overall though I wouldn't say one needs THAT much ankle flexibility. If you made me take a "standard" narrow stance, or have my toes straight, I literally just couldn't squat to depth like that.

I think most people can usually find some form and setup that works with trial and error. But if you can't get a setup that's comfortable then yeah squats are just miserable.

I think I go pretty much maximum ROM. I guess the nice thing about GSLP is that you can easily tell if you are skimping on the weight because your last set will be >10. Probably I am a fair bit below my max at this point.

I'll post some videos in the coming weeks once I feel I'm maxing out to confirm ROM.


I did try to remember to put a lot of pressure on the bar prior to lifting.

I'll try lining up closer to the bar. I did notice that the barbell has not been scraping my shins lately.

I started out on low-bar and that was much worse than high-bar squatting for me. I tried a lot of combinations a couple years back, haven't tried anything recently. I've done lots of lower weight squats (goblet squats, one leg squats) so I'm comfortable with the movement, just not comfortable loading up with weight.

Like you suggest, I do think its possible with effort to get squats to work for me. With my injury concerns, and seeing benefits from my existing routine, I don't feel urgency to incorporate squats. If at some point it becomes necessary, whether I stall and am motivated to lift heavier, or I decide that I'm missing out, I'll need to hire somebody who can help me figure it out, since I haven't managed to do it myself.

In the meantime, I'm taking Renton's suggestion and will work with GSLP. It will involve less total volume than my current routine (down from 5/6 days to 3 days), but hopefully help long term with consistency, especially after the move.

I'm altering it in a couple ways
- Replace squats with LP/One leg LP (alternate)
- Alternate deadlift and LP days (as opposed to 2/3 squats)
- Increase by minimum plate available (no microplates available)
- Minimum 1 day rest, but not necessarily a 2 day rest on the weekend

Workout 1
Bench - 2x5, 1x5+
Chins - 2x5, 1x5+
LP/OLLP - 2x5, 1x5+
Drop set at half LP weight
Bridge - 2x5, 1x5+
At ease TRX Miyagis, Woodchops

Workout 2
OHP - 2x5, 1x5+
Curls - 2x5, 1x5+
DL - 1x5+, 1x5 at 75% weight
Paused DL at half weight, 10 reps
One leg squat - 1x5, then max number in 1 minute, then balance exercise
At ease Briefcase Carry, rotator cuffs

One thing I like about this is it will force me to move up fast when appropriate, since I can't pretend I'm pushing myself if I can hit 10+ reps, so a good beginning routine in that sense

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...Tvc/edit#gid=3

June 6

Starting out the program, might involve a bit of calibration. Feels at the moment like I'm lowering both intensity and volume.

First number is the weight, second number is the number of reps on the third set.

Bench 105x7
Maybe need to slip a yoga mat on the bench. I haven't been able to maintain an arch

Chins -40x9
Major improvement here over the last few weeks

LP 305x15
I used the plate loaded 45 degree machine over the seated press that I've used in the past. I think this may reduce the effective weight since this was significantly easier. The challenge here is certainly flexibility. I need to be able to get far enough down without rounding my lower back.

Drop set 195 20
A single set immediately after the previous set

Bridge 70x17
Still reasonably easy, continuing to increase load

rope pull/woodchops

Decent programming choices being made here. I might increase the reps for leg press though. Thinking about working near a 5RM on leg press makes me a bit uncomfortable. It would be hard not to cheat the ROM at those loads. Leg press also has a lot less bang for your buck than a squat does so I'd rather pound the volume with higher reps, and in time, more than 3 sets.

Maybe also consider rear foot elevated split squats if you're looking for lower body exercises that don't load your spine.

With chins, if you can do one or two unassisted, start with that first and do four or five sets before you go to the assisted ones, maybe add some negatives in too.

Sounds reasonable, I'll work at 10 rep sets.

I'm completely incapable of Bulgarians due to ankle flexibility

I think I'm making good progress and should hit 5x unassisted in the new few weeks. I think your suggestion would break from the linear progression goal of my current program.

June 8

OHP - 7x75

DL
5x235
10x185
7x 135 PS
moved this before curls since I didn't want to waste grip strength. Was hoping to get 6 or 7 reps but not to be. Nervous to move up after 3 straight sessions at this weight but at least I'll get to reset soon
Forgot that I was supposed to go for 185x5 in the second set, barely managed to get those 10.
Totally gassed by the end of the paused sets and had to give up or sacrifice form.
Have a video, I'll try to get it up tonight

Curls
9x60
Don't think I've done a curl in a decade, was debating between dumbbells and barbells and went for the barbell

One-leg squat
10lb
12 on right leg, 13 on left leg
I've been using a plate, will need to switch to dumbbells to increase weight at this point

Briefcase carry/Rotator cuff

Lifting regularly + getting rid of everything I own prior to the move = I can now deadlift the combined weight of all my material possessions. I think thats a good thing

Excluding the dog that is, if you consider a dog a possession.

Still a bit of hip movement here, I tried really hard to stand close to the bar and to push into the weight prior to lifting, it actually felt like I wasn't moving the hips, possibly I just need to press even harder.

The back extension isn't great either. It felt solid while doing it, so most likely its just a flexibility thing, which could be why my arch sucks when benching. Might need to look up some exercises to help with flexibility to make sure I don't screw my back up.

I've also dropped a couple pounds in the 1.5 months since I started deadlifting. Maybe I need to start consuming more at some point if I want to break my current deadlift barrier, although I'm still at a pretty high bf%

ibav,

My main point is that 1) assisted chin-ups are a different exercise than actual chin-ups and 2) there's limited carryover, in that getting better at assisted chin-ups isn't very efficient at getting you stronger at actual chin-ups. With that plus the fact that you can currently do/approach 5 unassisted, I'd just do a bunch of triples on workout day and grease the groove with singles or doubles on off days (if you have access to a door mounted bar) if you want to get better.

Deadlift looks much improved. You can still get tighter over the bar before the pull, and it doesn't look like you're engaging your lats enough (i.e. feel like you're bending the bar around your shins/squeeze oranges in your armpits/whatever cue works for you). Your hips are rising a bit before the bar leaves the floor, and increased tightness should help that too. Again, though, much improved over the last video. "Feeling like you're pushing the ground away" is a good cue I've found to cue lower body tightness before the pull, and it also reminds me to engage my quads.

Also, if you can DL is bare feet at your gym, I'd do that. Or bring Chucks or another kind of thin, flat soled shoe to the gym with you on DL day -- air soled shoes not only have a raised heel, but are more unstable to push against.

+1 monte

I think I see what you're saying. The assist doesn't capture any of the horizontal move while gravity does, so with the assist I'm incentivized to just use arms, push my butt out and let the assist do the rest, unassisted gets the lats/core much more. Which I guess could help with DL as well given your second point.
I like the oranges cue. I'll try socks next time, I think barefoot would be frowned upon. DL is definitely the highlight of my routine (although also the most challenging) so hoping to continue progressing

June 10

This wasn't a bit of a disaster, but can't always have a great workout I suppose.

Bench
2x5x100
1x5x110
1x7x110
Apparently I suck at math, I was wondering why my first sets were so easy and was thinking I had made amazing progress!
Nonetheless I found a good bench with grip which allowed me to improve the arch and leg support. Still have lots of form improvements to make so hoping I've got a fair bit more linear progression in this lift. I'll try for a video next time.

Pullups
Was able to complete 1 set of 2 (full ROM), wasn't able to get a second set. Did a bunch of negatives then 1x5x(25). Can definitely feel a substantial difference in the lats.
Unfortunately no bar available for off-days, but I'll throw in some negative on deadlift days until I can get to 5 unassisted.

One-leg LP
Gym I was at today had something that looked promising, a plate loaded leg press machine with separate pedals for each leg.
http://www.maximfitness.net/sites/de...-Leg-Press.png
Unfortunately turns out the plates just move laterally so its not challenging but is stressful on the knees. Should have quit on it immediately but I 'toughed it out'. I'll avoid this in the future but totally wasted the major lift today.

Bridge
2x10x80
1x13x80
Increased the reps since I clearly have plenty in the tank here and don't fancy getting too heavy to fast. Really focused on keeping the upper back on the bench and going deep. Probably could have done a couple more but ended up hitting the floor and sitting down so called it.

TRX/WC
Highlight of a pretty weak workout, possibly because of a lot left in the tank, but felt I had good form and got a decent burn.

June 12

Boiling day today, had ~4 liters of water but definitely needed more. Some hip adductor pain but nothing substantial. Unfortunately came to the gym at rush hour, I should never do that since I don't need to, so combined with limited time I had to skip some stuff.

Press
5x80
Pretty nice that 10 days ago I failed on 1 set of this. I think I have a shot at 85 next time, given that I wasn't 100% today

Deadlift
2x240
1x240
4x240
Had a weird bar today, felt thicker than the bars that I'm used to. Went with socks as per the advice but couldn't take a video since it was really busy. On the last 4 I switched to a cross grip which is so much easier for lifting, although I still prefer the overhand grip.
I have excuses but per the schedule this is the first reset of the program. Eager to conquer this next time I get up there. Also nice after a couple weeks of deadlifting around my max to try to get more reps in.
5x185
Felt good, no real issues
9x135 paused
So much harder than I would have thought! After the first couple it feels like I could go forever but the difficulty ramps up fast. I'll stay at 135 despite the reset.

OL squat
10lb
15 on right leg 11 on left
lots of variance here depending on if someone breaks my concentration. Might try 25lb next time.

Did a bunch of negative throughout, hoping for 2x3 pullups next time.

80 minutes of ultimate, first time in a while. It's a great feeling going to the point where you can barely pick up your legs then getting some adrenaline and taking off again.

June 13

Football
A bit heavy on my feet, but that tends to happen the day after Ultimate. Still won 5-1. Throw is reliable at 35 yards, so still a long way to go to stretch the field. From what I've read online its mostly genetics, but hoping the noobie lifting gains will help somewhat.

I'm used to playing flag on smaller fields and relying on speed with lots of designed runs, this season I'm in a touch league on a 90 yard field, so really need that extra distance since there's virtually no running or YAC.

Getting somewhat worn out, will try to get the next two sessions in and take 2 days on the weekend.

June 14

Bench
2x5x115
1x6x115
Have a video uploading. I think I'm bringing the bar down a bit to close to my stomach, but not as bad as I expected

Pull-ups
1x2 once again.
Switched to chins after this, turns out its easier for me. Which is recommended? My intuition was chins involve more biceps and pullups are more compound, but I'll plan to continue doing chins until I can do 5 unassisted pullups. Will keep doing negatives as well.
2x3 chins

Leg Press
2x10x335
1x13x335
Video coming as well to check ROM. Felt deeper than it looks. Was going down until I could feel my lower back start rounding. I could try pointing my toes and flaring my knees more which should let me go deeper. I could also try a standing leg press, with the back already angled here its tough to go really deep.
1x22x195

Bridge
3x90x10
After reading up a bit in the past couple days I'm not going to go for AMREP on the accessory exercises, just get in and out and focus on the compound lifts.

Briefcase (feels like an ab workout with the right hand, and a grip workout with the left)
WC
Negatives

A nurse measured me at 5'7. I've always told myself I'm 5'9. Feels like my life is a lie I think she was off by a bit

Since I've never lifted for an extended period of time, I've always had a nagging suspicion that every time I increase the weights its not that I'm getting stronger, but I could lift it in the past and was just under exerting myself. I tend to be pretty risk-averse (body-wise, I was a poker player after all), so it probably was often true, which makes it feel really good to be getting upper body lifts that I was failing at in the past. Feels like the first real accomplishment.

Had a weird pain in my left shoulder throughout the workout today. Only realized afterwords that its from a vaccine yesterday. Hopefully I'm not becoming artistic

Touching point looks ok, but you're not staying tight when the bar is in the bottom third of the lift. Pinch your shoulder blades together hard and keep them there, squeeze the bar very hard with your hands and try to bend the bar all through the descent of the bar. AS the reps get tougher, try to keep the bar moving back towards your face right off your chest (you do this well early in the set but get worse at it on the later reps and they are consequently slower)

Does pinching your shoulder blades together mean you decrease ROM in a legitimate way?

Squeezing the bar is something I need to improve on, in the upcoming OHP vid as well, I tend to lift softly.

June 16

Quickie here, 35 minutes in and out

OHP
3x5x85
Doubtful about 90 coming up, but will keep trying. I think the 'squeezing the bar' will help a bit, other than that my form seems ok to me.



DL
1x7x215
Probably had one more, didn't want to lose form though
1x5x175
1x10x135 Paused

Curl
2x10x45
1x8x45
Focused on form, no rest

OLS
1x5x25

Negatives

2 day rest coming up I think next DL day I'll add an empty barbell squat, to see how (un)comfortable I find it.

Well, yes, it does decrease your ROM. But more importantly it provides a solid, safer platform for your shoulders to operate from and allows you to build stability that increases the efficiency of your pressing

A couple of notes about your OHP that I noticed:

- You don't need to worry about pulling the bar apart. It is more of a cue for bench press instead of OHP.
- It looks like you are not engaging your lats at the bottom of the lift. You can tell because your elbows are behind your wrists. This put your shoulders in internal rotation, which will likely screw them up when you are pressing heavier weights. Pretend you are trying to pinch a quarter in your armpits at the bottom.
- It also looks like your grip may be too wide. Try putting your fingers just outside the knurling.

thanks

I'll try to keep that in mind. Seems like lats engaging is a consistent issue for me.

June 19

Bench
3x5x120
Just barely got it up at the end, pretty sure I'll fail on the next one. The form improvements helped a lot, couldn't take a video since it was busy

Pullup - 1x3
Chinups - 2x3
Improving here

Leg press-
Tried the standing leg press, was pretty terrible since you start at the bottom of the squat (need to be a bit lower in fact), the weight you can get started with is way lower than the weight you can carry. Switched back to the regular old seated leg press machine. Pretty annoyed at how difficult it is to find a good leg press machine. Definitely would like to figure out squats at some point.
Knees were sore after the first machine, so kept it to 2 sets. Weight was way more difficult than the 45 degree machine.
2x8x290

Bridge
3x10x95

WC/rotator cuffs

Empty squats - tried these out just to see how my automatic form is, haven't read up on it in years



Ultimate frisbee - 80 minutes

June 20
Football

Lost playoff game 2-0 so that's the season. Was pouring hard and had a couple no shows so played a man down. Didn't even bother checking distance, had to play with a glove on.

June 21

OHP
2x5x90
1x3x90
Moving back down to 80. Focused on keeping the elbows forward and it did help



DL
1x7x220
1x5x185
1x10 135 Paused
Gym asked me to use these deadlift pads, not sure what I think about it but leaving soon anyways.



HHBS : 2x5x45
Curls : 3x10x45
Front Squat: 2x5x45
Haven't front squatted in the past but I liked it, felt that I was able to get a lot more depth with it

Thinking of resolving my leg press annoyances by switching to a mix of high rep one-leg LP, and high rep low weight squats

Rope pull/negatives

Starting my first concrete goal in this log:
I'm moving this week, then starting a new job in a couple weeks. Goal is to maintain consistency and work out at least 3x/week over the next month. To ease the transition I'll freeze the progression for a month. High risk of compliance failure so I want to make it as easy as possible

DL: 225
OHP: 80
Bench: 125

If I hit 10 on an AMREP I'll still move up.

SQ vid, when you unrack get your spine straight and under you, like bring your hips in. Breath and brace there too during unrack/walk out.

also noticing some butt wink.

Omar just put a new video out on it: