Cores coreing it up ITT

Cores gonna core imo.

9/17
Upper Volume

Bench
wu+1x5x270, 1x5x267.5, 1x5x265

Press
wu+ 2x5x150, 1x4x150

Though I'm pretty unhappy with my lower body lifts (mostly squat I guess), I'm really happy with how my upper body lifts are going. My bench just keeps going up (microloading seems to agree with me) and even though I only got 4 on the last set of press, I'm pretty happy that I got close to getting 150. My left elbow/forearm tightened up pretty much as soon as I got to the gym (need to remember to floss it beforehand I guess) so gutting that out was nice.

Dips
1x5xbw+65, 1x4xbw+60, 1x5xbw+55

Getting hard.

Chins
8,7,7 x bw+0

Planned to do 5 AMRAP-1 sets, but my forearm cramped up and I only got 3 in. Probably had 10 in me on the first set but I was trying to leave something in the tank for the next few sets. Might just go back to weighted chins and maybe superset in 2 or 3 chinups in between bench worksets or something to get that extra volume in.

Good stuff on the family updates

Thanks for the well wishes everyone; they are much appreciated.

9/18
Lower Volume

Squat
wu+5x5x205

Since I've widened out my squat stance, I took BPA's advice and dropped down in weight. Going to move up every week or two by 5 lbs, depending on how I feel. Concentrating on trying to keep my upper and lower back tight and my chest up, I videoed set 4 and 5 below.





RDL
3x8x185

Pendlays
3x5x190

Standing DB Curl
3x9x40

Montebro,
1) Glad to hear fam is doing well.
2) Squats look fine. Why progress so slowly and not on a LP?

Thanks man!

I finished up SS at 3x5x265, but looking back my form was pretty good morning-y and my lower back was a real weak point. I started TM after having been off for a while due to the above mentioned family stuff, and reset a bit as per the program.

As per BPA's advice after I posted my first vids, I reset my volume sets due to the change in stance, and also to work on upper and lower back tightness. I've also been doing extra hip mobility stuff in order to get my knees shoved out to the point they need to be given my new stance. Given how many stops and starts I've had with squatting, I want to progress slowly enough that I can get to some reasonable volume set weight (say 5x5x275) without having to reset much, if at all. I know this will probably slow me down, but I'm so much of an upper body bro at heart that I'm not really concerned with rapid squat progression. I just want to be able to build up the weak parts of the lift so when I get to where I want to be, I'm actually there, as opposed to kind of there with bad form.

Ehm I mean...if you're doing Rip-style squats, that stance is actually too wide. I dunno if that's what you're going for though. I'd also try to slow the descent a little bit at the bottom. It's light enough now that it's not an issue, but will likely lead to some knee caving and speed bumps midway up again.

Not Rip style squats, cha posted an article on squatting wider a little while ago that looked interesting, so I wanted to try it out and see if I liked it any better. It definitely fatigues my posterior chain more, so I'm going to keep it up a little while longer and see if it takes.

Noted on the descent, I'll try to slow it down a bit. I tend to slow down naturally when the weight gets heavier, though, so not sure it will end up being a problem.

ETA: linky

Alrighty, just checking.

Appreciated as always.

Agree you should be wayyy more aggressive adding weights on your squats in getting stronger/progressing is your goal. I mean, if you wanted to progress you should be adding at least 5 pounds/workout until you get back to 265 and go from there.

However, if you're happy with your current squat strength levels and are just interested in fine tuning a form that suits you then I like what you're doing. That's pretty close to what I'm doing for squats and like it

I mean, obviously I want to get stronger, and I will probably be more aggressive adding weight to my intensity squat than I will for my volume squats. On the other hand, outside of functional concerns and long term goals wrt squatting (5x315, etc), I'm not as concerned with the speed with which I increase weight -- I'll get there eventually, and I'm not trying to squat Aidan type weight or anything.

9/20
Intensity

Bench
wu + 1x3x292.5
Good god was the 3rd rep a grind; felt exactly like the 315 I missed a few weeks ago (struggling on the lockout), only this time I got it. I was yelling "no" and "don't touch it" through my teeth while trying to keep my breath so I'm sure I sounded like I was being raped.

CG Bench
3x5x240
Went up 5 lbs, still pretty smooth. Probably below what I could maximally do for 3x5 at this point but I'm trying to go slowly enough that I don't jack up my tris between these and the heavy dips.

Stand EZ Bar Curl
10/10/8x72.5

Stand DB Hammer
3x13x25

Stoked to get that weight on bench, next up 295.

Very Nice bench bro.

How wide your squats? I am doing 4x10 at 135!!! LOl. But super wide and
ATG. Really catching up my glutes and abductors/adductors. They don't even tickle my quads but this is what happens when we ignore lower body.

Just yesterday I was squatting and some old fatty came into my squat rack and military pressed my squat weight around 8 times. What an *******!!

Thanks man.

There are some videos on the previous page, but they're a fair bit wider than shoulder width, with my toes almost out to the edge of the rack. Figured I try it out after that link cha posted since I sort of plateaued on my squat due to lower back weakness out of the hole.

Show him your lats and abs imo.

Okay I saw them. Decent width there. I am about the same but trying to go wider. But I can't, my abductors feel like they are going to blow. The good news is my normal shoulder length hbbs are true ATG now and not partial like before.

loco --

I'm in the same boat, I am doing a lot of hip mobility work to try and get my knees out further over my toes (they're not quite there at this width). Combine that with mobility work for my poor hamstrings and foam rolling and whatnot, and I've got a pretty long routine after the boys go to bed.

At least the wifeacore doesn't make fun of my when I do it . . .

Lol this is a pro move. G4S has talked about doing this before.

A bit more pro if it's 200+ lbs, but still a nice troll.

No doubt. Unfortunately, no one else in my gym ever squats when I workout (except for the Smith machine) so I can't do it

Which brings up a question -- what's the "proper" ratio of press:bench press weight? 2/3rds is a number I remember seeing tossed around but I have no idea if it's commonly accepted.

You can have a look at Rip's strength standards I guess.