2017-09-28
Bench Testing
1x275 @9.5 (PR)
0x280


This is a new 5 pound PR. 275 was pretty solid, but 280 completely ate me up. I need to do a better job of staying tight and keeping tension in my lats.

It took me a long time to hit 275 but I finally got it.

Going forward, I think I need to incorporate heavy singles or doubles into my programming more often. I simply wasn't comfortable lowering the heavy weights today, and the problems I ran into I don't see when doing sets of 5, etc.


Pros:
- Solid leg drive and bar path

Cons:
- I had a hitch in my unrack at 275 and cocked my wrists back for a split second.
- I need to do a better job of staying tight. This is very noticeable at 280 where I completely lose tightness right before touching the chest.

Grats on the PR’s

They're a prime mover, after all.

eta:

just work up to an @8 single prior to work sets.

Also, if you plan to compete at some point, that 275 bench might get red lighted for sink and heave. seems like you kinda load your legs and extend your knees on the ascent.

Good idea on incorporating @8 singles before work sets.

I plan on competing eventually but it's not a huge motivator for me so I haven't looked into it much. I worried about getting red-lighted there too. I definitely used a sink and heave approach, which is also a product of losing tightness.

What KC said. Also consider getting a liftoff for any nearmax or maximal benching.

2017-09-29
Deadlift Testing
1x491 @9 (PR)
1x501 @10 (PR)



Woohoo! Finally hit a 500 pound dead. Feels good man. Things felt real solid and I was able to get very tight at the bottom which I find helps me break the floor much easier. Only thing I notice in the vid is my hips move up and forward very slightly before the pull begins.


Pros
- 500
- Felt tight. Never felt like I was losing control or in a dangerous spot

Cons
- Slight hip movement before pull
- Keep my tongue in my month if I want it to stay in 2 pieces.

Awesome PR!

@9.5 imo. Def good for 230kg. Besides 3 reds for the drop. Also prob good for like 515 if you don't take the pussy 491 attempt to ensure a PR. But I get it. And it's not like anybody pulls 515 without ever trying 500 anyway.

Don't love the rock back before pull but think id have to see it live to know if it was doing something wrong mechanically.

Haha, I didn't know dropping the bar was 3 red lights. I can bring that down easy but dropping it just felt right in the moment.

I agree I prob had a bit more in the tank but you hit the nail on the head with regards to how I chose the weights to pull.

Rock back I might cut out. When I first implemented it, it helped me sit back more and my numbers went up. I've been experimenting with cutting it out and I don't think it's as helpful as it used to be.


Thanks all btw. I know I don't post much outside of this log so it's always cool to see people follow and contribute.

Deloaded last week.

2017-10-09
Squat /w Belt
5x354 @7
5x381 @8
5x413 @9 (PR)
5x391 @9

Comp Bench
5x215 @6.5
5x230 @8.5
4x235 @9.5
3x225 @8

TNG Bench
6x185 @7.5
6x190 @9
6x180 @9


I got very tired pretty quickly today. Squats were alright and pretty strong, but bench sucked. My first set on bench felt awesome so I took a big jump, but every subsequent set was weak and a regression from last time I did 5's. I burnt out quick on TNG bench afterwards as well.


There is an injury concern and it's my left knee again. I returned to playing basketball on Saturdays after taking the summer off to let my knee heal. My only game so far was a full 10 days ago, and I thought I got through it fine, but my knee started feeling sore about 5 days ago. During squats today, it was hurting pretty good, but by the time I got to my worksets I wasn't feeling pain anymore.

If I had to guess, it's patella tendonitis. It hurt the most on squats when I would lockout and straighten my knees.

have you considered benching before squatting? I could easily see heavy squats effecting your bench but don't really think benching first would fatigue you enough to really effect your squats.

I had similar knee issues a couple years ago. pretty sure it was tendonitis from heavy squatting and a lot of basketball. I cut back on bball and starting squatting in sleeves and haven't had any issues since. the SBD knee sleeves are expensive but make my knees feel great

I've thought about it, but I like starting my workouts with the toughest stuff first. I don't think benching after squatting usually affects me too much. Yesterday was just a bad day.

Thanks for the recommendation on the SBD knee sleeves. I try to minimize my equipment but I clearly have a problem (I can't even walk down a flight of stairs without pain), so it might be worth shelling out the money for them.

I started wearing one of these lightweight knee braces when playing basketball and it kept me pain-free during the game but my knee has since flared up: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2017-10-10
Floor Press
4x205 @7
4x205 @7
4x215 @8.5
4x220 @9
4x210 @9

Deadlift /w Belt
5x376 @7
5x403 @8
5x435 @10 (PR)

Hip Belt Squat
5x100 @7
5x115 @7
5x140 @7
5x165 @7.5
5x190 @8


My knee was in terrible shape today. For the first 20 minutes of being in the gym, I couldn't even get into the deadlift starting position without experiencing intense acute pain in my left knee cap. Literally every time I bent my knee and pushed my hips back, my knee would flare up. It got worse if I pushed down through my feet. I could bend my knee and squat between my legs pain-free. Any time I pushed my hips back and got my hamstrings taut to prepare for a pull, my knee was screaming at me. Deadlifting was out of the question.

I was pretty dismayed afterwards, and the benches were taken, so I decided to just do some floor presses and get out of there. However, after benching, I tried deadlifting one more time and experienced no pain. None. I tried bending my knee and moving my hips every which way and couldn't experience the pain anymore. Jumping? Pain free. We're talking 10/10 pain down to nothing.

I talked to my PT friend about it, and he thought I was experiencing patellar tendonitis. As mentioned before this has been my self-diagnosis all along.

It's odd that my knee was in so much pain originally and then just stopped hurting completely. This leads me to believe the pain is originating in my hips or up my leg somewhere. I'm thinking my patella was off-track and something in my hips loosened up which took the pain away. Either that or my knee just got warmed up and I stopped feeling the pain while doing more damage.

I am going to continue icing my knee and also try to do these stretches every morning - https://www.ssmc.com.au/education/pa...exercises.html . I took months off of basketball and this thing flared up again after 1 game. I gotta get this fixed.

On the bright side, the lifts today felt strong and I set a new PR in deads. I worked too hard, getting up to a 10. That lest rep was such a grind that I think it was worth it to experience that struggle. As long as I'm not going that hard every time I should be fine. The whole knee thing had me a bit out of focus as well.

2017-10-12
High Bar Squat
6x275 @6
6x305 @7
6x335 @9
6x315 @9

OHP
8x115 @7
8x125 @9
5x115 @10 (my stamina on OHP remains a joke)

3ct Pause Bench
6x185 @7
6x195 @9
6x185 @9

Leg Extensions


This is the first time I've ever done a rep of high bar squats. I am focusing on strengthening my quads this cycle to try to fix my knee pain and also fix my squat issue where I drift backwards on max effort sets - so I figured high bar would be a better option than pause/pin squats (which I usually put into this slot).

I definitely need some more practice at high bar since I felt like I was squatting with low bar technique on alot of the reps.

My knee started hurting me on the last 2 sets of squats. I did some leg extensions afterwards as rehab and this also hurt my knee even though I was only doing 15-20 pounds.

I just bought some SBD knee sleeves, have been icing my knee every night after workouts, and have been doing a stretching routine in the morning to try to reduce this knee pain.

2017-10-13
5ct Pause Deadlift
3x220 @6
3x242 @6.5
3x264 @7
3x286 @7.5
3x308 @8
3x291 @8

CGBP
6x185 @6
6x195 @7
6x205 @8
6x195 @9

Chest Supported DB Rows
8x60s @6
8x65s @6
8x70s @6.5
8x75s @7
8x80s @8


Bringing back the pause deadlifts. I'm doing long pauses to hit my lats, which I'm hoping will carryover to bench since my lats are a weak spot there.

2017-10-16
Squat /w Belt
6x340 @7
6x370 @7.5
6x405 @9 (PR)
6x385 @9

Comp Bench
6x210 @6.5
6x220 @8
6x230 @9 (PR) (butt came off on last rep)
5x220 @10 (lol stamina...again)

TNG Bench
8x155 @6.5
8x165 @7.5
8x180 @9
8x170 @9

Absolutely smoked the squats. 6x405 was on the easy side of @9 and puts my e1RM at an even 500 - which is a new high. My knee mostly held up but got a little painful at lockout on a few of the heavier reps. Also, I'm using a new, simpler rack at my gym and can use the iron plates measured in pounds - so no more annoying kilogram math if I stick with these racks.

Bench was meh. My last rep and maybe 2nd to last rep of 6x230 get red-lighted for sure. I'm starting to develop a bad habit of driving my butt off the bench when things get real tough. I really need to focus on keeping things solid and tight.

I had a lot of bar path issues today which I think can give me an easy 5-10 pounds on my bench if I can clean those up.

Knee sleeves came in the mail today, but I didn't have them at the time of this workout.

Nice PR's! No vids?

Thanks. No vids. I don't film that often - usually only when attempting a 1RM or if I'm specifically trying to fix a form issue that I'm having trouble with.

2017-10-17
Deadlift /w Belt
6x354 @6.5
6x386 @8
6x418 @9 (PR)
6x398 @9

Floor Press
5x205 @7
5x215 @8
5x225 @9
5x215 @8
5x215 @9

Hip Belt Squat
8x115 @5
8x135 @5.5
8x160 @7
8x180 @8


Deads felt pretty good and I set a new PR and new e1RM PR. I took videos today (will post later). I could probably do a better job of keeping my back more straight, but it's not a big deal.

Hip belt squats are tough. Still figuring them out. Some sets are easy and some are hard.

Are you doing those belt squats with a special machine or just attaching a dip belt to a barbell wedged into a corner nook?

I'm attaching a dip belt to a barbell wedged in the corner.

They're a pain in the ass to set up and the dip belt chain can pinch me in the stomach sometimes. I like doing them but I'm not sure if I'll include them in my programming that often since they're annoying.

2017-10-19
HBBS
4x315 @7
4x345 @8
4x375 @9
4x355 @9

OHP
6x133 @7
6x138 @8
6x145 @10
4x133 @9.5

3ct Pause Bench
5x185 @6
5x195 @7
5x205 @9
5x195 @9

Leg Extensions 5x20x15



Knee was getting a bit sore during the squats, even with the knee sleeves. I misjudged the required effort on OHP and bench, and tired out quickly. Other than that, good day.

2017-10-20
5ct Pause Deadlifts
5x220 @6
5x242 @7
5x264 @8
5x247 @8

CGBP
4x185 @6
4x195 @6
4x205 @6.5
4x215 @8
4x205 @7
4x205 @7
4x205 @8

Chest Supported DB Rows
7x70s @6
7x75s @6
7x80s @6.5
7x85s @7
7x90s @8


These long-paused deadlifts are either gonna kill me or turn me into a beast - we'll soon find out. They're absolutely brutal.

My lower back was really fatigued coming into this and tightened up on me early on. I just pushed through it and seem to be fine.

I banged knees with someone while playing basketball this weekend - injuring my right knee, which was my good knee.

The knee has a huge, dark bruise and it's quite painful and hurts to walk. I'm 90% sure I have a bone bruise - so nothing disastrous but I'll probably just be in alot of pain for a few days.

I might end up deloading this week due to the injury. I also forgot to bring my gym clothes with me to work so I'd need to push back Monday's workout anyway.

I'm back lifting heavy again. Both knees haven't seen much improvement. The left knee still has the patella tendonitis and the right knee still has a massive bruise and hurts.

Walking is uncomfortable. Going up and down stairs is a nightmare. But heavy-ass squats? No problem.

The body is weird sometimes.

2017-10-30
Squat /w Belt
4x375 @7
4x405 @8
4x435 @9 (PR)
4x410 @9

Comp Bench
4x225 @7
4x235 @8
4x245 @9 (PR)
4x235 @9

TNG Bench
7x165 @6
7x175 @7
7x185 @7
7x195 @8
7x205 @9


Bench felt great today. 245 was relatively easy and I probably could have still hit 2x250 @9 afterwards, but opted to scale things back.

Two things which I've been focusing on and have helped my bench:
1. Most importantly, I'm starting to really get a good feel for leg drive. I'm getting proficient at "firing up" my leg drive before I even unrack the bar by engaging my quads and glutes. A lot of this actually reminds me of a sumo DL set up. I position my feet the same (a bit closer together), and I try to rotate my knees out to open up my hips, while spreading the floor. It's much easier to initiate this before unracking and keep it engaged throughout the lift rather than initiating it mid-lift.
2. Keeping the lats engaged by using the "rip the bar apart" cue (also prevents my wrist from cocking backwards). In addition, lowering the bar in a slow controlled manner to my chest rather than letting it drop. The tightness I retain doing things slow outweighs the difficulty of more time under tension.