10/9, Fri, Workout A

Squat	Bench	Deadlift
2x5x45	2x5x45	5x135
5x95	5x75	4x135
3x145	3x105	3x205
2x195	2x140	2x265
3x5x245	3x4x157.5	5x315

Squats were hard. Recorded these. Knees shooting out at the bottom a little. Rest seemed OK.

Bench kinda sucked. Just never felt right. Didn't fail any reps, just busted nuts on the 4th so didn't bother with a 5th. We'll give it another go next week. Also got very tired during this, probably due to the squats. I had the yawns, despite plenty of food and sleep. Maybe I should start taking some form of peri-WO nutrition.

Deadlift: 3 plates bitches, Bar Don't Lie! These were hard, but went really well. I recorded these as well. My last 2 reps, and especially my last one, felt like maybe I rounded my lower back slightly, but when I watched it on the camera I didn't notice it really. Timing felt a lot better than the 305 on Monday. Took me a while to get psyched up for these. Took a few Bane songs.

Do you do anything else besides SS? Why don't you get on some kind of cardio program? I'm sure you could lose your gut in a 2 months or so which would obviously look better then anything SS will give you visually.....IMO of course.

Nothing more than a few steady state bike rides here and there. I don't care about cardio right now cuz it'll cut into strength gains. First half of september I ate very cleanly and lost ~5-6 lbs, but started noticing recovery being an issue. I decided, meh, f it, get as strong as possible and worry about the gut later. Once I get semi-satisfied with my strength levels I'll worry about dropping body fat. Maybe something like Cressey's Maixmum Strength with cardio on off days (he calls them "energy workouts", maybe like 1 steady state day and one met-con sorta day) and a much cleaner diet at maintenance or a slight deficit.

Lifts for today:

squat - 5x245, set 1 (****ty view, last rep gets cut off, feel free to skip)
squat - 5x245, set 2
bar don't lie

lifts look good imo

why descend so slowly? you're pretty much eliminating the chance for any kind of bounce out of the bottom. and we can't really see knees from this angle. tape from about 45 degrees behind you so "knees out" is discernible. last couple reps stop just short of parallel, too.

I go slow thinking about ass back. I'll try to speed it up.

Agree short on parallel on the final rep. 4th rep is pretty close.

What about knees shooting "forward", rather than out? OK? Next time I'll record it as you suggest.

deadlift form looks great. teach me

sick avatar.

I dunno, it just feels automatic to me. Maybe I just have a perfect build for it. I've never struggled with it. It's been like that since day one. I follow the setup straight out of SS. Feet in a position as if I were to jump. Bar over midfoot, shins just an inch or so from the bar. Break at the hips and grab the bar at shoulder width, just outside the legs. Break your knees until they touch the bar. Get your chest up. Take a big ****ing breath. Pull like a motha. Really fire those glutes to lockout. Do the same in reverse with controlled crash. Repeat.

Deadlifts are perfect.

10/12, Mon, Workout B

Squat	Press	Power Clean
2x5x45	2x5x45	hpc practice with bar
5x105	5x65	5x70 (hpc)
3x155	3x80	3x89
2x205	2x95	2x110
3x5x250	3x5x112.5	5x3x125

Squats were OK. Got a little shallow on a rep or two. Messed up the decent on one rep. But overall OK, didn't massively struggle but they were hard. I'm keeping rest between relatively short (3-4 mins).

Press reset going fine. Form felt OK. Focused on getting my head under the bar fast. Struggled with one rep. Right arm still doesn't seem to lock out great. Not sure why. Mobility issue probably.

PCs went OK. 4th set was lol bad.

I'll have some squat and PC vids up later.

I see this big, fairly strong kid and what I assume is his strength coach (even though he's like 5'9" 140). He pressed pretty major weight today, either 210 or 215 (probably close to his BW), but his form is such that it's not a true OH press. It's more of a standing extreme incline bench press. He locks out about over his nose. Still, not too shabby.

having trouble uploading my PC vids, so here are the squats:

squat - 5x250, set 1
sqiat - 5x250, set 2

Nice shoes.

Form looks great.

What does 90's Big mean?

the good thing about that angle is you get to see the leg that's in line with the camera, but your right leg is hidden by the cage. it looks like you have the slightest of knee caving at the bottom, but it's very hard to tell. it looks good though.

tnx. If knees are caving, it's accidental, as I'm trying hard to focus on knees out, but I doubt I nail every cue every rep. I def good morning'd the 5th rep of the 1st set, and I was shallow on one of the reps too. 2nd set is better imo. I think I can go stall free for a while longer. 300 would be amazing, but I think somewhere in 270-280 is where it'll happen. Weird thing is, with all the time off and then the hamstring injury, it took me a while to get back to squatting heavy, but right now it's easier than 225 was back in June. Maybe just the training effect of deadlifts? Better form? dunno.

my right knee is clicking at the bottom but I doubt it's a big deal. I'm dealing with a little knee stiffness. Like, when I'm sitting down, towards the bottom, just feels tight from the top of the knee right over the kneecap. Are they not shooting out forward? Felt better today cuz of the weekend rest, will probably suck some tomorrow.

Maybe I'll go to Rip with this. Maybe I'm just losing some tightness right at the bottom or something.

90s big just means you're fat and weak. Could be 00's big too but that looks dumb. 80s big probably means you're a ***. 70s big is the goal, obv.

Here's the PC: power clean - 3x125

they could find their sticking point a little earlier on the descent, but they're definitely not sliding forward at the bottom. they may have slightly in 1 or 2 reps if i remember right (you'll see a little wobble at the bottom).

nice squats yo, power cleans look a bit awkward. I'm not an expert but the bar seems to far from you and perhaps you're pulling it a bit too high?

lifts look great, I'm jealous. its starting to look like you have strong guy arms

noticed the same thing. When it feels solid, it rides up my shirt, but sometimes I shoot it out in front of me. I pull it too high cuz I'm too strong for this light ass weight. I do it though. Still, these look and feel worlds better than they used to be. I was struggling mightily with 115 a few months ago, before my time off.

I'm gonna PC lighter tomorrow (just 110 3x3 or something like that), cuz I've decided to start the once a week DL this week. Maybe I'll record from the side to get the bar path view.

also, knee update: a little stiff today but not too bad and better than it was. I'll just keep grinding at it and maybe perfect form will clean it up in due time.

10/15, Wed, Workout A (modified)

Squat	Bench	Power Clean
2x5x45	2x5x45	hpc practice w/ bar
5x105	5x75	2x3x90
3x155	3x105	3x3x110
2x2055	2x140
3x5x255	3x5x157.5

Squats were hard and didn't feel as good as last time. Sloppy descent or something, and leg pressed a couple. Kept knees out, though, I think. Didn't struggle too mightily. I think I still got a ways to go linearly. 315 by the end of the year sounds like a good goal.

Bench went well. I switched the form slightly. I realized I wasn't really getting my leg drive previously with the Tate arched setup. I was tight, but I was having a hard time actively pushing into the floor. I went with a flat foot, shins slightly past orthogonal, and I really pushed into the floor while doing my best to keep my upper back tight. Got everything up relatively easy. Final rep final set was fairly slow and took a lot of work, that's about it. So hopefully I can actually hit 3x5x160 in the first try next time.

Power cleans were OK.

Finished up the workout with:
Chins: 5 jumping singles. Supinated grip under a load bothers my wrists some. I got like super calcified growths on my wrist bump thingy, and I think it messes with some tendons or ligaments or whatever.
Pull-throughs: 8x70, 8x80

fwiw, when you are on your toes you need to push your heels into the ground and think about sliding yourself up the bench.
also proper leg drive in that position would mean that 0% of your weight is rested on your ass. it should be touching but not carrying (nearly) any weight.

this puts the weight on your traps.

Well said.

yeah I know. It's hard though. And it makes my upper glutes/lower back sorta sore from the exaggerated arch. And is it really optimal for strength gains? I dunno. I'm gonna stick with flat foot for a while. Doug Young benched flat foot.

Musta let my knees cave squatting yesterday. Knees are kinda sore. Pain is a good biomechanical feedback tool.

10/16, Fri

Squat	Press	Deadlift
2x5x45	2x5x45	5x135
5x105	5x65	3x135
3x155	3x85	3x205
2x210	2x100	2x265
3x5x260	3x5x115	5x320

Squats went better than last time.

Widened my grip slightly on the press. Yeah, it makes my forearms a little off perpendicular, but it allows me to rest the bar on my delts and helps me reach lockout. These went fine. I think I'll go +2.5 to 120, then +1.25.

Deadlifts were hard as hell. Lockout was maybe a little iffy. Timing was OK. I'll record next time.

A dude was helping out his wife with powerlifting training. Her form sucked and he didn't seem too helpful, but still, thumbs up brah.

Pedro deserved better.