Alright. Aside from my squats that were a giant pile of dog crap, I had a decent workout today. I really focused on getting a bunch of mobility drills done before hand. After I did the mobility warm up stuff I did all the standard warm up sets. And as for my work sets:

Squat Work Set:
255x3x5/5/FAIL

Notes: Just an incredible amount of fail on these. Even on the first set I almost had to dump the bar. Very frustrated with these right now. Some reps I was able to shove my knees out more than others, but overall it was pretty terrible. My descent speed was very erratic, and I good morninged about 1/2 the reps. I will probably be resetting down to 225 for my work set because I've been eating and sleeping like a freakin' champ, so I know it's not that. Arhghghghghgh FU SQUATS

Press Work Set:
110x3x5

Notes: I meant to do these before squats, but i forgot and it didn't really matter anyway. BUT, I feel like this is my best set so far. Doesn't mean it's ideal but I really felt like I am getting better at this. I realized i was not setting my back in the right position at all, after watching Miles latest press video. Makes a pretty big difference. Also, I was really looking forward to doing this in my power rack, but I'm too tall, the rack is too short, and the pins don't come off. I'll invest in some J-hooks and that will solve all my problems. It kinda sucks racking the bar on a chair and cleaning it to my shoulders before my sets.

"Pendalay Rows":
135x3x5

Notes: I think I am going to start alternating rows and PCs, so I can have the best of both worlds. I guess. Anyway, I've never done these before so I have no idea really what I'm doing. I tried to lock my back into extension but now that I'm watching it I can see that by the end of the set it's completely rounded. I'll have to focus on that.

"Clean And Jerk"
135x1x5

Notes: I've attempted these a few times before, but I figured I might as well video tape it so I can eventually learn. I've got to start somewhere. I know it's inferior to hiring a o-lifting coach, but hopefully by then it will be fine tuning and not re-learning the lifts. Anyway, no idea on these I'll have to get some feedback on these.

Jumping Pull ups x 5

Assited Chins 2x5

That's all for now, squats aside I am happy with the output. I'm really going to be focusing on increasing pull up and chin up volume so I can get better at the press stuff and generally have nicely sculpted arms.

yeah it's time to drop the weight there playa and hammer out your form issues. The knees out look better and some reps look solid. Still need to focus on tight back, both lower and upper, though lower looks much improved. Upper needs to be a lot tighter to keep your chest up. And maybe set the pins one step higher so you don't bounce the bar off your spine next time.

Those aren't really pendlay rows. Pendlays focus on an explosive movement off the floor by going from relaxed upper back to extended upper back quickly. youtube some form.

Your garage, while it's cool to have a home gym, seems seriously depressing. Need some tunes and some light.

It's obvious the weight is just too much for you on the squats, so agree with kc on that + pin height. Your fail was funny.

Yeah I need to set the pins one level higher so I don't have to worry about building up spinal column strength, I was mulling over this fact at work.

And thanks for the tip on the rows, that actually makes a lot more sense and seems like it would feel a lot more practical and doable.

My garage is pretty depressing. Not sure about tunes because the left wall is shared with the apartment next to mine. I can be loud in my apt but not so much in my garage, but perhaps during the day it won't be too bad. My schedule is so erratic that I just seem to workout whenever it works out which leads to weird hours of training.

And I did have a light but my buddy broke it. I'm unsure of how much longer I want to live there, if at all, so I'm kind of in a limbo stage when it comes to getting cool stuff for my pace, including decking out my home gym fully.

Anyway thanks for the tips, I'l be more than happy to drop down a little in weight and not have soul destroying squats every time I work out, for a while anyway.

Cool training tip: get a mini-MP3 player. I love using it when my wussy brother & his gf skips training.

It sounds to me like you're waiting a couple of seconds after taking a deep breath before you start each squat. This might be an individual thing but I find when I wait like that I have a much harder time lifting anything. Have you tried starting your descent immediately after inhaling?

agree with deathpotato. Also the descent is too slow imo, no bounce at the bottom.

Just over correcting. I was dive bombing sets last couple times so I tried to go slower. So yeah I know my squats suck, that's why I'm resetting.

I'll try the breath thing, and I doubt it will make a difference, but I'll try anything

I don't think your squat sucks at all, like kc said some reps are good. Those are just too heavy for you to perform with decent form.

Kind of an odd workout. Hrrmmmm. I tried to focus on warm ups and I def did good as far as lower body mobility warm up stuff but I unintentionally kind of neglected my upper body warm up stuff. Bleh. Anyway, after I did that stuff I did the usual warm up sets. And then for work sets:

Squats:
225x3x5

Notes: I edited this to play back in reverse order since I think my last set was a little better than my first. Anyway, it was a reset day, so back all the way down to 225 to focus on form. I can def see my knees caving a little on the way up. Looks like I made sure to keep my knees shoved out on the way down, but didn't do as well on the way up. I tried to keep my chest up more and my back tighter, and it looks like I was able to more than last time. Not as good as I hoped for a reset, but feels better than last time I squatted 225.

Bench:
170x4
155x2x5

Notes: This is where my upper body mobility came into play. My right arm felt really tight and I was getting no stretch reflex on it at all. On my 5th rep my arm felt super tight and I just couldn't get the rep up. It felt like more of a form issue than a strength issue, and I didn't have a spotter or anything. I should be able to bang out 172.5 next time, assuming I have a spotter. My bar speed was very good on 155 and it went up easily and very straight, I felt very good about that.

Halting Dead Lifts:
225x1x8

Notes: This is where my workout turn a turn for the weird. I loaded up the bar planning on doing rack pulls today. I loaded up 365 and couldn't get it to budge. I de-loaded it to 345 and couldn't get it to budge. What? I de-loaded it down to 295 and couldn't get it to budge (even using alternate grip). WTF IS GOING ON?!? I did 315x5 last time I DL'd. I think it takes me 10+ days to recover from DLing, that's the only explanation I can come up with. Whatever. These halting dead lifts suck anyways. Anyone know an alternate pulling exercise to do on days where I can't DL?

"Snatch"
95x2

Notes: No idea how to do this. This was my first attempt ever. Other than the fact that it looks like I need to be catching the bar with straighter arms, I have no idea what other errors I'm making and need to correct.

I'd say that you lose tightness in the hole. Your knees start moving when you bounce before you catch them again. I don't think that should happen. You are probably bouncing by loosening up instead of bouncing off fully stretched hamstrings and extensors. I'd be easier to see with more lights on or at least a lighter shirt.

lollolol the squat hunter.

i'm wondering if you could shave a little off of your depth because you get plenty deep, but the final inch or two might be at the expense of back tightness.

Yeah it's getting kind of stale making videos of my form every time so I have to get somewhat creative with the videos or I'll go nuts.

I think the extra depth is coming partially from my new and improved warm up stuff. It also might be from not wearing my belt this time for a change of pace. I'm wondering what cues I can focus on to avoid going too deep. I'm guessing as the weight goes up again I won't have to worry about getting too deep.

Try to get a feel for your lower back tightness - once you feel it getting slack, stop and go up. Rip's much wanted feel-your-body-don't-see-it-thingy (which I can't remember the name of right now).

Oops: vids are uploading onto youtube right now

Alright my dad came over to my place today to workout with me and check out my home gym. Pretty sweet. I focused on some dynamic stretching and did all the warm up sets. And as for work sets:

Squat:
230x3x5

Notes: it felt heavy, but watching it back it doesn't look like it's giving me too much trouble. Looks like I'm getting very deep (possibly too deep?). It also looks likes my knees are caving for a split second at the bottom. I wonder what cues I can use to to fix this. They felt a little sloppy in general, but overall I'm feeling better about these squats.

Press:
112.5x3x5/5/4

Note: Freakin' crap. I can't believe I failed the last rep at this low of a weight. Seriously tilting. I tried doing the breathing at the top technique and using the stretch reflex on the first two sets, and it seemed to work pretty well. I seem to understand how it works now. Anyway, I'm going to try to do 115 next time and hopefully not failboat. My dad put these up without blinking.

Power Cleans:
165x3x2/3/3

Notes: I only filmed the first set, for whatever reason. I missed the 3rd rep on my 1st set, but other than that I managed to do the rest of them. Don't really know on these, I think they are pretty mediocre.

Clean and Jerk:
140x2

Notes: Even though I only added 5 pounds it seems super super hard. Probably because I just came off doing some heavy cleans.

Jumping chins: 3x5

Well, I'm sad to say it, but I'm officially going to be cutting starting February. I'm happy with my body except for my gut. It seems like any tiny caloric surplus that doesn't go to muscle growth goes straight to my stomach and I'm getting sick and tired of it. I def wish I was sttonger before cutting, which is why I was going to wait until April, but at ~28% body fat, it's going to take a looong time to get a stomach that's not grossly huge.

So the plan roughly will be to eat about 2k calories/ day including lots of protein shakes, work out 2x a week and lift heavy. I might do something like 3x5 heavy monday, 5RM stuff on friday. Or maybe something like 2x5 heavy both days. Avoid sugar, that's basically eat. I'll do some more research and see if it's a good plan or not.

Squats

PCs

Press won't upload for some reason >:/

FONDUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EE


<3

have you considered just doing a M/Th SS workout?

I'm almost doing that due to laziness, albeit a more disorganized. Probably a more structured M/TH clear-cut schedule would be more effective.

Pretty much what I plan on starting in a week here or so

dont like the view on the PCs, need to be right down the path of the barbell or face on, but your setup looks too much like a DL setup, from what I can tell at this angle you need to get your back more vertical, your hips down a touch, and your arms should be vertical as well.

squats look better. Your toes look to be pointing about 45 degrees out, maybe close those in some.

Good point, I forgot about that. I corrected that when I worked out today. I went with my mom today and got her started on SS. I'm jealous of the strength/ muscle tones gains that I'm pretty sure she'll make fairly fast. Anyway, as for my work out (didn't film anything today except for DLs which I'll upload later):

Squats:
235x3x5

Notes: Super easy. Form felt good, corrected my toe angle, and I took only about a minute in between sets because I felt good. Probably because I drank a GOM about 3 days ago.

Bench:
172.5x4
165x5
DB 50x5

Notes: Lots of fail on this one, shouldn't have increased the weight. I'll learn my limitations eventually.

DL:
325x3

Notes: Bleh only 3. Filmed it and will upload later. Back angle looks better, but not great.

Crossfit chins: 3x5
(Shirt off+jumping chins)


Though I'm not sure if it's actually CF chins if there was no one around to see me with my shirt off.

On another note, I ordered a 3 months supply of caffein and ephedrine from amazon. I had a gift card there so it was only like 30 bucks. Will start doin the EC stack on Feb first. Hope to lose 40 pounds in 3 months (attainable?). I guess if I do 3 pounds/ week. Probably not attainable if I have any hope of retaining any strength. Maybe I should just try for 40 pounds in 6 months.

link to ephedrine?

don't post the link directly JF, you might gets the ban/infarction.

edit: hrm it's from amazon. Then I dunno.

Lol it's kind of funny. I won't link it, but I'll explain how to get it. It's in a product called bronkaid.

When I went to amazon and added 3 months worth of caffein pills to my cart, there is the recommendations of what to get along with it, based on what other people got. "Other people who go xxxx, aslo got xxxx" And all the recommendations were brokaid. I'm pretty sure you can find it at your local drug store.

And I was going to ask you SM since you know a lot about weight loss, does my basic plan that I outlined look ok?

EC stack + SS twice a week and a small deficit looks good to me.

Edit: perhaps a smallish carb refeed after one of your workouts once a week.