3/2/18

Squats: 215x6x4; lsRPE @ 6.5

Comp bench press: 175x4x5; lsRPE @ 8

Superset:
CGBP: 125x10x3
Banded facepulls

BB rows: 145x10x3

Squats felt magnitudes better. I don’t feel pinched forward like in oly shoes. Still looks like some hyperextension at the top. I really need to work on getting my midsection tight before the descent. I’m not sure what to do about the bar being over my heels at the top. Leaning over makes sense, but then it is hard to squeeze the glutes. Oh well.

Starting next week, I will be going back to GSLP with some modifications. No AMRAP sets for squats and deadlifts. After my top set on deadlift day, I will do two back off sets at -10%. Once I get a better sense of when I fail on squats and deadlifts, I will move to a more intermediate program.

3/5/18

Squats: 220x5x3; lsRPE @ 6

Bench press: 170x5,5,7

BB rows: 145x10x3

Back to squatting two plates on Friday. Should be fun.

3/7/18

Sumo DL:
300x5 @ 7
270x5x2

Superset:
OHP: 115x5,5,7
Neutral grip pull-ups: 7x3

Superset:
RDL: 155x10, 7; 135x10
KB split squat: 16 kg x 10x3

Banded facepulls

I’m glad I did not shoot for the stars with my top DL set. It has been a while since I have pulled a somewhat heavy set for five reps. Fourth rep was touch-and-go as I came up on my toes. Next week, I think I will straighten my legs to get some hamstring tension in between reps.

My RDL form is so bad. As the set goes on, I lose thoracic extension and bend my knees more. That is the reason for cutting the second short and going down in weight.

Can you film some squats with a lower load? Are you capable of keeping the bar over midfoot and not over extending your spine until a certain load is reached, or do you just have a completely borked movement pattern in general?

I think you accidentally attached your last deadlift warmup set video; can you throw up the one that shows you lifting a set of 5 @7? That was about @3.

I’ll include a set at 135 tomorrow. I’m pretty sure the problem is my lower back is so tight, I can’t get to neutral. The only ways I can is if I stand up against a wall with my feet a few feet away from the wall (which hurts my back) or get into a 90/90 position on the floor (which is fine). When standing, I can’t get to neutral no matter how hard I squeeze my glutes and brace my abs. It is similar to how I can’t get enough thoracic extension to deadlift with a flat back. I’m working on improving both, but is is an agonizingly slow process.

I think the only way to start with bar over mid foot is to lean forward from head-to-toe. Somehow this tends to be my position when I finish a rep. I may be able to get to this position in oly shoes, as they pitch me forward at the top.

Don’t know what to say about deadlifts. First three reps felt easy. Getting so far forward probably skewed my thinking of how tough the set was. One of these days I will have to fail so I can have a better sense of RPE!

3/9/18

Squats: 225x5x3, lsRPE @ 7

Bench press: 172.5 x 5,5,6

BB rows (supinated grip): 145x10x3

I used my oly shoes until my last working set. That was a mistake. I had difficulty hitting depth and sitting back. My knees kept moving forward throughout the descent and butt wink was ugly. My bar path might look a smidge better with oly shoes. Looks like chucks are my squat shoes going forward.

I’m still trying to start with a better lower back position. Not having much luck. It makes me wonder if I should stay at 225 and work on getting tighter. I can’t imagine you get better at stuff like that when the weight gets heavier.

3/12/18

Squats: 230x5x3; lsRPE @ 6

Superset:
OHP: 117.5x5,5,6
Neutral grip pull-ups: 8,7,7

Squats not feeling tough yet. Need to tuck that chin and work on cutting off my forward knee travel. It goes forward the entire descent. I tried working on that during warm up sets to no avail.

3/14/18

Sumo DL: 305x5 @ 7?; 275x5x3

Comp bench press: 175x5,5,6

BB rows (supinated): 145x10x3

Deadbugs and pallof presses

The weight of the deadlifts was fine, but my grip went to doo doo in the fourth rep. I could barely hold the bar on the fifth rep, which is why the lockout looks a little off. It is also the reason I have no idea what my RPE was for the set.

In the second backoff set, I went mixed grip. It feels like a completely different exercise. For some reason, the weight shifts backwards when I go with a mixed grip. I’ll need to work mixed grip pulls into my warm ups next week to get used to them.

Rows were hurting my left wrist. Probably going to back rowing with a pronated grip.

3/16/18

Squats: 235x5x3, lsRPE @ 7.5

Superset:
OHP: 120x5,5,6
Neutral grip pull-ups: 8,6,7

Deadbugs and facepulls

I moved my stance out wider. My forward knee travel looked better/reduced. My lower back feels sore because I was sticking my butt out too much.

Tomorrow I plan on playing around with my grip, as well as trying to break at my knees and hips simultaneously. Trying to break at my hips seems to be suboptimal. I hope working on these two things will help with my lower back, as well as coming out of the hole. My last two reps below looked pretty bad in that respect. My butt is definitely rising too early out of the hole. I will likely stay at 235 next workout if my lower back feels compromised.

3/19/18

Tempo squats: 145x5x3

Comp bench press: 177.5x5x3; lsRPE @ 9

BB rows: 135x10x3

Deadbugs and windmills

I thought I may have tweaked my lower back yesterday while doing some 90/90 breathing. I was able, however, to sleep fine. Something happened this morning that caused my lower back to hurt and feel tight on the bus to work. With that background, today was a good day to work on squat technique. I still need to work on the last few inches of the descent so my pelvis does not tuck under.

3/21/18

Sumo DL: 310x5 @ 7; 280x5x2

OHP: 120x5x3; lsRPE @ 9

Neutral grip pull-ups: 8,7,6

Deadbugs and pallof presses

Warmed up going mixed grip for deadlifts just in case grip was a factor. Apparently the supinated arm should be a bit wider than the pronated side. Unlike last week, no grip problems today. I still need to work thoracic extension at the bottom and top. RPE is still a wild guess.

3/23/18

Squat: 235x5x2

Comp bench press: 180x5x3; lsRPE @ 9.5

BB rows: 135x10x3

Deadbugs

I didn’t do a third squat set because my lower back felt sore. I was squatting the opposite direction I normally do. A dumb idea since my platform is on a decline in that direction, which puts me at more of an APT. Plus, I was watching an old Johnnie Candito video where he recommends pulling yourself down with your hip flexors. When I do that, my back hyperextends. I won’t do that next week and I will go back to looking at a wall when squatting.

3/26/18

Squats: 240x5x3; lsRPE @ 7.5

OHP: 122.5x5x3; lsRPE @ 9.5

Neutral grip pull-ups: 8,7,6

Deadbugs and windmills

I’m starting to wonder whether I should keep going up in weight in squats. My back was sore after the first two sets. This motivated me to make sure to lean forward when initiating the descent. I did a better job on the third set, but I’m still sticking out my butt. I don’t have this problem nearly as bad when deadlifting. Should I be leaning forward more at the top? Any suggestions are welcome.

3/28/18

Sumo DL: 315x5 @ 8; 285x1

Bench press: 155x5x3

Chin-ups: 8,6,7

I’m a big dum dum. The right side of my lower back felt tight since getting up in the morning. I should have taken it easy, especially since my warm up sets felt heavier than normal. I felt something tighten up when I lowered the weight after my first rep of my back off DL set, so I stopped. My lower back did not like the arch I normally do for bench. I moved my feet up to lessen the arch and benched a lower weight. My back is tight now, but not as bad as it has been in the past. The fun will likely begin when I go to bed.

3/30/18

Squats: 135x5x3

OHP: 105x5x3

Neutral grip pull-ups: 8,7,7

Ab rollouts

4/2/18

Squats: 185x5x3

Bench press: 175x5x3; lsRPE @ 9

BB rows: 135x10x3

Deadbugs and windmills

4/4/18

Sumo DL: 295x5

Sumo RDL: 155x10x3

OHP: 115x5x3; lsRPE @ 8.5

Neutral grip pull-ups: 8,7,7

Ab rollout and pallof press

Pretty sure I screwed my back last week because I bend my knees too much on the descent, which means my hammies are not carrying the weight. I figure sumo RDLs should help with that. Maybe sumo DLs with a slow tempo on the descent is better.

4/6/18

Squats: 195x5x3

Comp bench press: 177.5 x 5 x 3; lsRPE @ 9.5

BB rows: 135x10x3

Deadbugs

Back to oly shoes for squatting. It helps with starting with the bar over my mid foot. No problems tipping forward.

I don’t know what it is about rows and pull-ups, but the difference in RPE between first set and third set is at least 2.

4/9/18

Squats: 205x5, 215x5x2

OHP: 117.5 x 5 x 3; lsRPE @ 9.5

Neutral grip pull-ups: 8,7,7

Deadbugs

Squats felt better than any time in recent memory. Two plates will be a game day decision on Friday. I almost pussed out on squatting at all due to an abrasion on my left lower delt that was bothering me on warmup sets. It went away during my working sets.

4/11/18

Sumo DL: 305x5

RDL: 155x10x3

Comp bench press: 180x5x3; lsRPE @ 9

BB rows: 135x10x3

Ab rollouts

Sumo DLs felt awful. I switched to mixed grip after two reps. After that, I could feel the bar getting away from me when it left the ground. I’m pretty down on my sumo DL so I think I will go back to conventional DLs for a while.

4/13/18

Squats: 225x5x3

OHP: 120x5x3; lsRPE @ 10

Neutral grip pull-ups: 8,7,7

Deadbugs and pallof presses

4/16/18

Squats: 230x5x3

Comp bench press: 182.5 x 5 x 3; lsRPE @ 10

BB rows: 135x10x3

Squats were easy, but bench was ridiculously tough. It was difficult staying tight during the pause the last couple of reps of each set.

4/18/18

Conventional DL: 275x5

RDL: 155x10x3

OHP: 122.5 x 5,5,4

Neutral grip pull-ups: 8,7,6

Ab rollouts and windmills

I’m hoping going back to conventional DLs give my hips a break. I never understood why people complained about that until recently. A few times after DL sessions recently, I had a tough time sleeping on my side. DLs were surprisingly easy. I was expecting to lift 255. I guess sumo DL can help improve your conventional DL after all. I don’t think I have conventional DLed 275 in a few years.

4/20/18

Squats: 235x5x3; lsRPE @ 7

Comp bench press: 185x5,4,3

BB rows: 135x10x3

Deadbugs and pallof presses

I’m starting to squat morning my last couple of reps. Squats are tough.

I may touch-and-go next bench session. Bench is tough.

4/23/18

Work up to a weight I could for eight reps, but only do five reps

Squats: 235x5

OHP: 105x5

Deadlift: 280x5

Bench press: 165x5

Also did some deadbugs.