I don't think being addicted to McGriddles is a normal thing. They also seem to be having a psychological effect

Your naive if you think they don't put crack in them.

SUNDAY
workout #38
weight: 186 lbs (+31 lbs)

5 min on bike

squat
2x5x45
5x100
3x150
2x205
3x5x250 -> increase by 5 lbs

press
2x5x45
5x60
4x75
2x95
3x5x112.5 -> increase by 2.5 lbs

row
3x5x125 -> increase by 5 lbs

I missed a workout b/c of sleep schedule mumbo jumbo. Ate a couple McGriddles on Thursday and a couple McMuffins on Friday though. Right now it is 1:27 pm and I've been up since 2 am. I'm going to try to tough it out 'til 5 am since that's what time I can be in bed every morning after work. In the mean time I'm about to help my stepdad move the washer out to the garage since it's water pump is locked up.

WEDNESDAY
workout #39
weight: 187 lbs (+32)

5 min on bike

squat
2x5x45
5x100
3x150
2x200
3x5x255 -> Increase 5 lbs

bench
2x5x45
5x85
3x120
2x155
3x5x172.5 -> Increase 2.5 lbs

chin
4x215 fail
2x3x215 -> Repeat weight

This workout is a day late b/c I decided to take a nap before work yesterday. I think I made a huge stride in finally getting my sleep schedule on track today by pinning up 2 sheets over my window to keep the sunlight out. I also have a curtain so if sunlight is going to come through it has to achieve triple-penetration. Today at 2pm, despite the brightness of the snow, it looked like midnight when I turned my lights off.

I might as well post this deadlift video I uploaded. I think its a significant improvement over the last one in extension and back angle, though I don't think I lockout my knees on a couple reps.

deadlifts 5x300

Well, Youtube apparently doesn't hate me anymore. Here are a few videos.

Squat 5x250
Press 5x112.5
Row 5x125

What do you all think about the presses and rows? I have a deadlift video in the last post as well.

rows look good. something looks off about the start position of your press. bar might be too far from the wrists, or your grip is wide, or you don't have your elbows under the bar enough, but i'm not sure. it should sit/hit higher on your chest imo.

squats, just think about "winning the war" on your pelvis with your lower back and you'll stop going much past parallel and you'll get more of a bounce off the bottom.

Squat - I think you need to keep your knees out more to help with your lower back. Reps 3 and 5 were high. You need more bounce at the bottom.

Press - looked pretty good... do you have a set way of breathing, it seems like you flip back and forth which may affect how tight you get...for me, i only breath in or out at the top, so that at the bottom I am tight and get a good stretch reflex and just power through the first few inches of the press.

Rows - can't comment since I don't do them.

rep 5 was probably 2" below parallel.

Agree with miles on the squat. Looks good otherwise man.

aint nothin to it but to do it

ppx, I have this fan http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-HF-8...6538769&sr=8-5 and its great for daytime sleeping. It blocks out all other noises without being intrusive. You can probably find it for cheaper at Walmart or Home Depot.

SUNDAY
workout #40
weight: 190 lbs (+35)

5 min on bike

squat
2x5x45
5x100
3x155
2x205
3x5x260 -> Increase 5 lbs

press
2x5x45
5x60
3x80
2x95
3x5x115 -> Increase 2.5 lbs

dead
5x120
2x120
3x185
2x260
5x310 -> Increase 10 lbs

I didn't take a nap yesterday and I managed to sleep a full night for the first time in a while. I slept from 1 am to 9 am and again from 11 am to 1 pm. My goal is to sleep from 5 am to 1:20 pm 7 days/week, so I'm almost there. If I can do that then I don't think I'll miss anymore workouts or GOM.

It was awesome when I stepped on the scale and it said 190. As usual I kept stepping off of it to make sure it read 0, then I'd tweak the dial a little to calibrate it and step back on. After a few reps it still said 190. My goal at the beginning of the month was 200, but I was stuck for a while so it doesn't look like I'm going to make it. I'm kinda changing my mindset wrt weight gain though. Since I plan on training for a while I'll always be able to gain weight, so there's no reason to rush. I'm still gonna drink a GOMAD. Instead of eating McGriddles after work every day I'm going to eat some hamburgers before work. I did that the other day and it was great.

Here's some videos. I tried to adjust according to miles' advice I quoted a couple posts ago. I think I was significantly more explosive, though maybe a tad shallow on the squats. I narrowed my grip on the presses a little and tried not to let the bar hit me so low in the chest. I fixed my lockout problem on the deadlift since all I had to do was remember to lock out my knees. I could still probably afford to flatten my back a bit more.

Squats 5x260
Presses 5x115
Deadlifts 5x310

the look good. one last comment is that it's not surprising that you're just barely at parallel and possibly missing depth sometimes like this. it won't take a lot more squatting like this to get to the point where your hamstrings are a little looser. you can also experiment with barely increasing the speed of descent as you get close to parallel to get a more pronounced bounce. be careful though, because doing so does make it a lot harder to resist the temptation to "let go" with the lower back.

DL's look about perfect to me. stance could maybe be narrowed a tad, but it's hard to say.

sick log yo

Are you double overhanding the DL?

No, it's just the camera angle. I alternate which hand I supinate each week. You can see that my left hand is supinated in my 5x300 video

Ah, makes sense.

Great progress imo. You look a lot stronger comparing the initial videos with your latest ones.

I was confused about his advice. my squats look like your 250 vid. what did u change and what cues were you thinking about on the 260?

My goal is to keep my back locked in extension while I go deep enough that my hamstrings get maximum tension in the bottom to get a stretch reflex without going so deep that they pull my back out of extension and cause my pelvis to tuck under. I should stop thinking of it as a "bounce" b/c that word suggests to me to relax in the bottom. Instead I'm going to think of it as a seamless, explosive transition upward out of the bottom. I also used to just think "go deep" which kept my mind off of the upward explosion. Hopefully with some practice I'll get better at "exploding."

WEDNESDAY
workout #41
weight: 190 lbs (+35)

5 min on bike

squat
2x5x45
5x105
3x155
2x210
3x5x265 -> Increase by 5 lbs

bench
2x5x45
5x85
3x120
2x155
3x5x175 -> Increase by 2.5 lbs

row
3x5x130 -> Increase by 5 lbs


This workout is a day late. I didn't workout yesterday b/c I was tired when I got home from school and I ended up taking a nap. I'm thinking I'll probably stop taking naps before work eventually, but it's not really a big deal if I don't b/c I'm still sleeping a full night. I'm gonna switch my workout schedule from Su/T/Th to Sa/M/W since I've missed Tuesday 2 weeks in a row now. I did the Su/T/Th schedule to start b/c it meant I only had to go to school and workout on the same day once/week, but now I realize that going to school and working out on M&W is better b/c I go straight to class after waking up which gives me time to workout before I get tired.

I think I'm changing my long term goal. I made a post in which I said I wanted to hit certain #s on my lifts for certain bodyweights, but I've changed my mind. I had been planning on cutting sometime before summer, either after I finished linear progression or at a certain date. Instead I think I'm just gonna transition to TM and continue GOMAD until I get disgusted w/how fat I am. I thought about it and I don't like the idea of cutting weight b/c it means getting smaller and weaker. That bothers me. I was thinking about how I compare myself to other males and I feel like I'd rather be bigger and stronger than the next guy instead of more "ripped." I don't even like hearing or seeing words like ripped, shredded, jacked, cut, or swole. It hurts to type them. I think I would take more pride in telling someone that I just want to get big and strong vs. feeling uneasy to say I want to be "cut" b/c it seems gay. I'm not saying it's wrong or gay in an objective sense, I'm just saying that's why it doesn't work for me. So I'm just gonna keep getting bigger basically until the size of my gut is unbearable, then I'll diet til I lose it. Who knows, maybe my gut is gonna get big quick and my goal change won't make a difference in how my training unfolds.

Good stuff.

Gaseous Clay is back!

seriously though, good call.

Oh, couldn't find in the op, how tall are you?

I'm 5'10