You're unconsciously going to start cutting the ROM from what you had in the video if you are following a scheduled progression.

Alright. I wasn't planning on lifting for a few hours, but I woke up and my WIM levels were wayyy too high. So I drank all night and got far less than optimal sleep. But I didn't miss any reps today. Life is good.

Here is what I did (1st work sets recorded only):

Squat: 210x3x5 (+5 pounds)

Notes: I am pretty happy with these. I still have a tendency to good morning, but all in all I am feeling good about my form with the squats. I hope I will be able to maintain it as the weight goes up and up.

Bench: 175x3x5 (+5 pounds)
Bonus: 140x1x10

Notes: I was going to start micro-loading today, and decided to just go for it instead. It's not like I failed any reps last time. I am very happy that I didn't fail any reps this time either, though it got pretty close on the last set. I didn't have a spotter either which makes a dif. I'm used to it now, though I prefer it with a spotter.

DL: 285x1x5

Notes: Meh. I can't seem to get my back in extension, it's especially bad on the last rep. I guess I'll have to focus on getting some more stretching in, specifically before doing these. I feel like my finishing position was good though, and I took even less time to do this work set of DLs than the previous 2 lighter weights. Cool I guess.

After I finished I did a really short little circuit consisting 5 rounds of 1 chin/5 push ups. EZ game.

It's getting really hot in my town, it routinely gets to 110+ temperatures, and were getting close to that, though we aren't there yet. It makes my garage a million degrees. But whatever it's a lot better than lifting in the cold, imo.

Now I am off to go eat at a chinese buffet. If I am remembering correctly, most of the food sucks pretty bad, but there are a few things (crab legs) that make it totally worth it.

Life is good, WIM and all that.

Head down, and lift barefoot on the DL imo.

Bleh. Another sleepless day before lifting. That makes 2 workouts in a row with way less than optimal sleep. Oh well. The plus side is that I wasn't going to have enough time to lift before work, but due to only sleeping 4 hours and not being able to go back to sleep I made it in time. Without really high WIM levels I wouldn't have been able to finish today.

Here is what I did:

(Vids aren't done uploading yet, I'll put them up after work. Sigh)

Squat: 215x3x5 (+5 pounds)

Notes: Felt alright. On the last set I went back to having my arms closer together and it felt quite a bit better. I guess I'm back to that now, which also involves the bar higher on my back by 1/2 an inch or so.

Press: 105x3x5 (+2.5 pounds)

Notes: Felt pretty easy. Hopefull as long as I keep micro-loading it will feel relatively easy for a long time.

Power Cleaners: 165x3x3 (+5 pounds)

Notes: F these were hard. As you can tell by the video. I caught all of them on the 2nd set, and missed one on the last set. I can't believe how much harder a 5 pound jump in these is. I am very proud of myself though. If I ever miss the first rep of any work set I usually rage quit as it's not a very good sign. But I buckled down and made it through like the champ that I am.

Didn't have time for much else today. I have to zip off to work. I plan on doing some chins later as I completely forgot to do any yesterday. Oops.

WIM, Life is good and all that.

Squats

Press

Lol "power cleaners"

You should get setup better before you unrack it, you were wiggling around and **** under the bar. It's hard to tell from behind but it looks like your knees are possibly caving a bit right at the bottom (where you go super low imo). I guess just verify with another angle. Otherwise, looks sexy.

Power cleans have obvious arm pull. Relax those arms, they're just coming for the ride. Perhaps try a hook grip to help relax the arms and get them out of it. This is completely killing any power you could generate from hip extension.

You are also not hitting the thighs with the bar at all. Read the book again, but I think consciously trying to **** the bar will help you get it.

Here's another thing you can try that worked for me (by accident). I was doing high rep hang cleans (or I was doing xfit Grace) and my forearms would be the first thing that just got completely fried and pumped. It obviously affected the strength of my grip but it also prevented me from being able to do any kind of muscling-up of the bar like you are doing and which I also tend to do sometimes. So it allowed me to exclude the arms more from pulling and rely more on whipping my body into extension. I just started from a low hang above the knees (you want to be in more of an RDL position than an upright torso) and then forcefully extended up (the jump). All my grip could muster was to hang on to the bar so they ended up more relaxed.

+1 to a lot of what TBK said, esp. the PC stuff.

I feel like a genetic freak that just hasn't lived up to my full potential yet. I feel like I am, in fact, very far away from my genetic potential and the only thing that has stopped me from getting there is a lack of WIM in the past. I'm like Bruce Willis in Unbreakable. The only reason I haven't benched 300 pounds yet is because I haven't tried. I'm going to keep increasing the weights like champ until I am the best that's ever been.

Anyway, despite some of the worst DL form that I've displayed in a long time(as you'll see in the video), I had a very good work out today. No missed reps. Some form issues and overall sloppiness, but whatever I do what I want.

Summary:

Squat: 225x3x5 (+10 pounds)

Notes: I was scheduled for the standard 5 pound increase today, but my warm ups felt good so I opted to skip straight to 2 plates and make a full 5 pound jump. I good morning'ed the 2nd rep pretty bad, but I was aware of it and make a conscious effort to fix it and you can tell that I did on the 3rd+4th rep. The 5th was just plain heavy and as a result there was still some good morning in there. I guess I have to sacrifice form a little bit when I get greedy with the big jumps. Hopefully my next 5 pound jump will be met with better form.

Bench: 180x3x5 (+5 pounds) <----- PR! F YEAH!
Bonus: 140x1x10

Notes: After skimming back through my log, I noticed that this is my heaviest work set ever, and I am not sure, but I don't even think I ever successfully completed 175 for 3 full sets of 5. Great success. As far as form goes, my arms don't go up and down symmetrically as demonstrated by my l33t cinematography skillz. Not sure how to fix this on the heavy weights, I'm not sure if I was doing this in the warm ups or not.

Dead Lift: 295x1x5 (+10 pounds)

Notes: ZOMG WTF?!? As I was pulling my last rep, I realized how far away from my body the bar was and how much my back must have been rounded. I was terrified to come back and watch the video. I almost didn't upload it due to embarrassment. But I can handle criticism and I know I f'd this one up. On the plus side, it went up pretty easy. Lolz. I was focusing on other cues and forgot to make sure my back was straight. Oh well, live and learn.

I did some chins and push ups, too.

Other: I got some acne cream for my back (worst acne ever afaik) that was recommended by a dermatologist. I will report back if it works at all. I hope so.

I think I finally have to admit that I've gained a little bit of weight back. I am eating a ton though so I guess it's to be expected. I am going to try and chill out a bit starting tomorrow (July). I've decided to do the following:

Workout like a maniac, slowly gain weight until I am a solid 200 again. RFL back down to 190. Rinse and repeat until I am at a decent BF%. I think the longer I can stay under 200 while increasing weight and RFL as fast as possible while maintaining strength will be a good idea.

I also have sorted out some +EV financial stuff, I have a meeting in a little bit to finish working out the details. It is a very good opportunity for me and I am looking forward to the possibilities it will bring.

Life is good, WIM and all that.

Squats really don't look too bad. It's a good thing that you're able to recognize what's going wrong mid-rep and try to fix it.

Bleh. Low WIM today. Not sure why. I don't even have much motivation to do a detailed log update like I usually do.

Squat: 230x3x5 (+5 pounds)
Extra: 135x10

Notes: Sucked. I suck, it was heavy. Bleh

Press: 107.5x3x5 (+2.5 pounds)
Extra: 80x10

Notes: Sucked. I suck, should have felt lighter, but no failed reps. bleh

PC 170x4 (+5 pounds, kinda)

Notes: I tweaked my neck so I only did 4 reps. It was also super f heavy. And it sucked.


I'm having people over in a little bit. It will be party time and I will feel better.

Hooray for party time.

Alright. I took yesterday off because of the holiday, and it will now work better with my work schedule this week which has been changed again. I took some vids, but I won't upload them until a little latter. I also tested a couple 1RMs today.

Anyway:

Squat 1RM: 290
Work Set: 235x3x5 (+5 pounds)
Bonus: 145x10
Front Squat: 145x3

Notes: I ramped up to a 1RM of 290 before doing my work sets today. I filmed it and will upload a little later. Form was decent, good depth for sure despite some good morning. My work sets were very hard but I completed all the reps. They all started of with decent form and I usually good morning the last rep pretty bad. Oh well.

Bench:

1RM: 200
Work Set: 185x3x5 (+5)
Close Grip: 145x10

Notes: Weird. I ramped up to try a 1RM of 205 but really didn't even get very close to getting it up. 200 went up pretty easily and quickly. I guess a spotter would help. I am very pleased with my bench progress, I don't know why it stalled for so long and is going up again. I'll credit it to the assistance work and greasing the push up groove.

DL: 300x5

Notes: Lots of suck here. Form was as bad as it was last time. I dunno wtf. I am think about lowering my DL frequency to once a week now. I'll see how next DL goes. If I can add 5 pounds without awful form I'll just stick to what I'm doing now.

My WIM levels are about back to normal. Decent workout today. Lots of vids.

Here is what is looked like:

Squat: 240x3x5 (+5 pounds)

Front Squat: 150x3

Bonus BS: 150x10

Notes: My form has been feeling awful, but then I watch the tape back and it doesn't look as bad. Still plugging along on these, but they are getting very hard. I tweaked my knee last time I was squatting. It feels like I hyper-extended it a little, kinda like I shoved my knee out too far. It hasn't been bothering me too much, though it certainly doesn't feel great after my work sets.

Press: 110x3x5 (+2.5 pounds

Bonus: 82.5x10

Notes: I just suck at this. My last work set was incredibly hard, mostly because I lost focus and my form suffered pretty bad. My back also got tweaked a little, but it feels ok now. I also messed around with some push presses. I successfully got 135 up once, but was too scared about dropping the weight to try a bunch more.

PC: 1RM 185

Notes: Sloppy but whatever. Take that KC. I am coming for you.

I ate a bunch of shrimp (great macros) afterwards, and am working on a 1/2 gallon of chocolate milk right now. Om nom.

Since this year is 1/2 way over, I've decided that I am going to come up with some end of the year goals. I'll try to come up with them by tomorrow and post them here.

WIM, life is good and all that.

Front squats look good but the weight is light so they should look good.

PC has a lot to work on but you got the weight up so it counts.

Squats looking quite solid these days imo.

Bleh. Today kinda sucked. I think it's time to switch over to PPAN. I am planning on starting this on monday. Instead of resetting 10% when I do this, I am jut going to keep progressing.

Here is what I did:

Squat 245x3x5 (+5 pounds)

Notes: Really, really hard. I was sooo close to failing the last rep of each set and good morninged the last couple reps of each set pretty bad. I watched it back and it didn't look as bad as it felt, anyway.

Bench: 190x3x5/4/5
Thumbless grip: 150x10

Notes: Not sure how I made the last set without failure, but I'm pretty sure I failed the 2nd set because I had slightly lacking form. Kinda lost some tension/leg drive and it was a little sloppy. Oh well. Pleased I did all 5 reps on the last set. I like the thumbless grip, it felt more natural to me.

DL: 305x1

Notes. I suck. Going to start DLing once a week now. I didn't really even get close on the 2nd rep. Just off the ground a couple inches. My back was much better though at least.

So hopefully PPAN will be sweet, I might alter it a little bit to include a little more volume, but I def going to stick the the overall format of it.

WIM, life is good and all that.

I still truckin' along, pluggin' away and slowly increasing my strength. My town has been super hot (although not as hot as usual) and while it was only 100 today, my garage was a little bit hotter. I've reviewed the PPAN program and I am going to alter it quite a bit, but I am going to use the squat programming for sure. The rest will be a little different.

Anyway, on to the workout:

Squat: 250x3x5 (+5 pounds)

Notes: Very, very hard. My second two work sets degraded in form pretty bad, and that was with taking at least 7 minute breaks in between work sets. I'm looking forward to adding in front squats once a week to take a break from 3x5 three times a week. I've actually learned to keep from doing a really bad good morning on the sets, and it basically just involves coming up out of the hole slower and really forcing my chest to rise as fast as my hips.

Press: 112.5x3x5 (+2.5)

Notes: I just keep on grinding out the small weight increases. They all seem to be about as hard each time, so I would call that progress. I really hope I'll be able to keep micro-loading this along with the bench for a long time before I have to switch to an intermediate style programming.

PC: 190x1, 175x2x5

Notes: Lol this is pretty terribad. I failed 190 2x before catching it. I was going to do three sets of 175, but my back was kind of hurting. On the bright side, I feel like forcing myself to get this much weight up has greatly improved my form on the lower weights. I think that I have pretty solid form on everything up to 155. Pretty sure I'm going to crush KC in this, even if my form is ugly as sin and my 'powercleans' barely meet the minimum requirements of the term.


Anyway, life is good, WIM and all that.

pressssssssssssssss. bar seems to be hitting pretty low. like your elbows are moving back behind the bar every time you go down for the bounce. grip may be too wide or you might just be tucking your elbows in too close to your body, but either way your forearms are definitely not vertical at the bottom.

How are you eating nowadays bro?

I've decided to go all bodybuilder and work down to 10-11% before "bulking" (i.e. Texas/other intermediate stuff) again, heh. Suck it Rip.

I support the move to PPAN. It helped me a ton and really made it clear that I was overtrained.

RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE.

I had my entire work out log typed out and updated my and browser quit.

It was super lengthy and in depth, too. ARHGHGHGHG


I'll come back later and finish is with vids and stuff but for now, I did

FS 185x3x3
BS 185x10

Bench 192.5x3x5

DL 310x5

vids and notes will be up later

Wait til your form gets better on the PCs.. there's at least 15lbs waiting for you.

Alright my rage has subsides. Now with in notes and vids and stuff.

Re: the press. That makes sense, thanks miles. I think I was trying to make sure that I was getting the bar all the way down so I wasn't cheating the full ROM, but if I'm going too low to the point where my elbows are going behind the bar than it's unnecessary. On my second set I did the whole thing without using the bounce. It was fine, didn't seem any harder or easier.

Re: diet. I'm eating a whole bunch right now, that's basically the summary of it. I am getting a lot of protein and if I eat unhealthy foods, I try to at least get stuff with a lot of protein to justify it somewhat. I am pretty easily keeping my BW under 200 which is pretty much all I care about. I'm going to see where I'm at as far as weights/BW goes at the end of the month and might do a 1-2 week RFL at the beginning of August. Gotta get below 15% BF eventually.

Re: Programming. It's sort of a modified version of PPAN than I am doing, and it basically is more volume, DLing once a week instead of once every 2 weeks, and adding in more PCs and some snatch work. I'm excited about it.

And off to what I did yesterday (though it's still the same day for me)

FS: 185x3x3 (75% of previous BS work set)
BS 185x10

Notes: Not really sure about this, felt good. I think I picked a good weight to start doing these at. It's just almost my BW. I had to sneak in some BS work though. It was pretty easy. I am looking forward to FSing once a week. It's a nice change of pace.

Bench: 192.5x3x5 (+2.5 pounds)
Bonus: 155x7

Notes: Lol wtf. I didn't tape it but my form was awful I somehow managed to squeeze all the reps up, the bar kept taking different path, my back would lose tightness, lose leg drive, etc. Hopefully it was just a weird day. At least I got all the reps up without failure. I was going to try to do a full 10 reps of 155 but forgot to take a full rest after my last work set and my arms were dead. Lol, oh well.

DL: 310x5 (+5 pounds)

Notes: Well, I sort of did it. My form was better than it has been (in the beginning, anyway) even though I lost any resemblance of a straight back at the end of the set. I was also having weird grip issues. I went to pull 275 double over hand when I was warming up and my grip totally failed. I did it very easily last time. Not sure what this is all about. That's why I barely was able to finish the last reps, my grip was failing and I hate dropping the weights in my garage.


Also, I think my legs look really really skinny in the DL video. Wtf?

Anyway, life is good, WIM and all that.

Considering it took 3 minutes to do 5 deadlifts, I am not sure it should be characterized as a set. I sort of do the same thing so I wanted to use your video as an example and ask others watching this video whether they think doing a set this way is a good idea.

ya it's not a set, but I think once the weights get relatively high it might be better just to do 5 singles on the minutes, speed singles, or something to that effect. Taking just a little bit longer to walk around, reset completely, and insure good form is obv much better if you're going to take that long to do a "set" of 5 anyways.

no way was that a set imo