Your ability to sustain a flat back was because you switched to sumo. Something I suggested eons ago.

No, what I meant was that I could pull light weights conventional with a flat back without blocks. I'm sure it would still be challenging to go heavy on them without rounding. Sumo seems like a happy medium between pulling from blocks and conventional from the floor. It may just be optimal, who knows.

You do a lot of research on stuff, so I'm surprised that this is something in a beginner routine.

I would tend to think something more on the aesthetic and pure mass side would be less important for a beginner then just building a raw base level of strength.

It's something I'd vaguely planned to do once my forearm pain went away, which it now has. The sets take a tiny amount of time to do, so not a big cost to pay. The point of doing them is to strengthen those muscles a bit as a preventative measure so the pain doesn't return. And the aesthetic benefit is not nothing.

Thursday, July 6, 2017 Training
Squat Variant, C5W1 TM124 3x10 @65%

1. HBBS (lb):

45x10
95x5
135x4
155x3
175x10
175x10
175x10 @ not much

2. Romanian Deadlift (lb):

190x9
190x9
190x9

2. Cable Straight-Back Crunch (lb*):

57.5x15
57.5x15
57.5x15

3. DB RFESS** (lb): 0x15, 10s x15x2
3. DB Curl*** (lb): 20s x15x3

Training time: 1:32

***

Squats were challenging, but probably 4-5 reps in the tank on the last set. I may be leaving some gains on the table, but I want to try taking it easy in Week 1 and see if I get better results. RDL form is getting questionable again. I made sure to keep my shoulders back and squeeze my glutes really hard at the top of the linked set.

(*) This cable crossover has the actual resistance listed. It felt similar to 115 in my normal gym, so that confirms that the leverage was 2:1.

(**) These were super tricky to keep balance on. I put them in for no other reason than to try something new. We'll see how it goes.

(***) Done like this.

Saturday, July 9, 2017 Training
Overhead Variant, C5W1 TM50 3x10 @65%

1. Press (kg):

45x6
55x5
62x3
72x10
72x10
72x8 @8.5

2. Chin-ups (@132lb)

9
9
9 @9.5

2. Paused Bench (lb):

115x7
115x7
115x7 @7.5

3. Rope Triceps Pushdown (lb): 17.5x15x2
3. V-Handle Seated Row* (lb): 75x12x2

4. DB Hammer Curl (lb): 20x15x2
4. Cable Face-pull (lb): 32.5x15x2

Training time: 1:41

***

I felt like absolute **** during this session. I drank alcohol for the first time in months last night after my mother's wedding reception, then slept terribly. I'm not that discouraged about the press performance under the circumstances, and I could have hit the 3x10 if I didn't intentionally take it easy.

Bench press was pretty easy. Again, I'm avoiding pushing these sets too hard until my shoulder gets better. It felt okay today, with some minor discomfort during the harder reps. After benching I felt like I was going to throw up, so I cut the assistance work short today.

(*) I think these felt like what t-bar rows should feel like. I was surprised at how little weight I could do.

you press 72kgx10?!! Color this man golden!

lb obv

How do you think those TMs relate to a 1rm? Those numbers are getting pretty good for a 130 lb man.

I am thinking of trying block pulls too. I am inspired by this post on ROM progression I found:
http://mythicalstrength.blogspot.com...ogression.html

I made a post about this in my log, but I have been searching out videos of t-rex armed conventional pullers. None I could find have "textbook" form. Overall I think it is very hard to have a good looking dl if you're not built for it.

For deadlifts / block pulls, they don't relate at all. I might back myself at even money to pull 125 off blocks. The other lifts should be somewhat closer, but it's impossible to say as I haven't trained a set of less than 6 for over 5 months now. My guess is that this program is building work capacity and making me better at doing high reps. And hopefully making my muscles a little bigger . I have no idea what I'd be able to get to on squat/bench/ohp by practicing singles/2s/3s for a couple of months. As to my actual numbers, I feel that I could have a pretty good squat and deadlift for my size if I trained with low reps for a while, and maybe even a decent bench too. My press will always suck, though. If I ever put 60 over my head in this log, it will be a god damn miracle.



I think I saw a nuckols video a while back where he cited progressive ROM as a method that added a lot to his deadlift in a short time. I'll send it to you later if I can find it. For my case I don't think it's so much that training block pulls improved my mobility as that it broke down deadlift technique in a way that made it simpler for me to understand things like "pulling the slack out of the bar." In other words, it was far easier for me to assume the correct starting position with the bar a few cm off the ground, which allowed me to learn to deadlift. Now that I've learned, it's far less challenging (albeit still pretty hard) for me to pull from the floor with a flat back.

Sunday, July 9, 2017 Training
Deadlift Variant, C5W1 TM143 3x7 @65%

1. Sumo Deadlift (lb):

135x4x2
185x3
205x7 (front)
205x7 (side)
205x8 (oblique)

2. Paused HBBS (lb):

45x8
95x5
135x3
170x7
170x7
170x7*

2. Hanging Leg Raise:

21
21
21

3. DB Row (lb): 55x15x2, 55x12
3. Leg Extensions (lb): 100x12x3

Training time: 1:46

***

I like the way sumo feels. During warmups, the bro in the background gave me some unsolicited advice. He thought my grip was too narrow, and he seemed fit and knowledgeable so I decided to give it a try. Then, as he proceeded to do mile-high squats and then to max out on sumo cringelifts, I went back to my narrow grip in the 2nd and 3rd work sets . Some of the reps felt a little awkward, but there was a lot in the tank on the third set. I used the same TM that I was using for block pulls in the last cycle, and it appears that I'll be substantially stronger on these. I'll still go with conservative numbers during this cycle just to get more comfortable with the movement, though.

Squats were a bit harder than expected, and a bit less deep than I'd like, but what's new? I can already tell that sumo will have more training overlap with my squat than the block pulls did previously. It probably just means I won't be able to go as heavy on deadlift day squats.

* Solid GGO here. I let out a massive burp in the middle of this set.

Week 65 Diet
Mass Phase Week 6



This week had me putting out fires from blowouts on Tuesday and Friday. Protein sucked, but it took everything I could to get calories under control. I'll do better this week.

Wednesday, July 12, 2017 Training
Bench Variant, C5W2 TM79 4x8 @70%

1. Bench Press (lb):

45x8x2
85x4
105x2
120x8
120x7
120x8 @9.5
120x6 @8

2. Machine Seated Row (lb): (*)

120x11
120x11
120x11
120x11

2. Arnold Press (lb):

35x8
35x7
30x13
30x13

3. Machine Fly (lb): 62.5x10, 50x14, 50x12, 50x11
3. WG Lat Pulldown (lb): 100x13, 100x12, 100x9x2

4. Cable Laterals (lb): 7.5x15x3
4. DB Concentration Curl (lb): 15x14, 15x13, 15x14
4. DB Wrist Curl (lb): 15x13x3

Training time: 1:44

***

Kind of an annoying day. I had to tiptoe around my shoulder injury during bench and dumbbell presses. The second set was just a mis-groove on the 6th rep that caused me to hit the j-hooks and lose a lot of tightness. The fourth set was solid, I just didn't like the way my shoulder felt. The strength to finish the set was there but that left shoulder just didn't feel very stable. I think may be visible in the recording too; that shoulder shifted a little at the bottom in the last couple of reps. It was much the same with the 35s. Stabilizing the left dumbbell was very tough while the 30s felt fine and I even gained a rep on each set.

I'm going to tweak the TM down 2kg for bench press, for now. Pretty irritating considering I kept the numbers the same as last cycle and I should be able to bench more with a wider grip. It might have just been an off day considering how easy 10s week was.

Thursday, July 13, 2017 Training
Squat Variant, C5W2 TM124 4x8 @70%

1. HBBS (lb):

45x8
95x5
135x4
170x2
190x8
190x8
190x8
190x8

2. Romanian Deadlift (lb):

190x9 (weight misload)
195x9
195x9

2. Cable Straight-Back Crunch (lb):

65x9
57.5x16
57.5x16

3. DB RFESS (lb): 10s x15x3
3. DB Curl (lb): 25x9x3

Training time: 1:41

***

My knee felt pretty good today so I thought there would be a good squat performance, but depth problems plagued the session. I think there are some gains here just in terms of the RPE of the sets. I could have ground out some ugly and shallow additional reps in the last set but meh. I think I did a good job of controlling the descent on most of the reps so there's that at least.

Squats a tad high....but at the same time, I'm totally starting to buy into that recent elitefts article that talks about how people ignore the shin angle with regard to squat depth and the whole "parallel" business.

Saturday, July 15, 2017 Training
Overhead Variant, C5W2 TM50 4x8 @70%

1. Press (kg):

45x5
60x3
70x2
77x7 @9
77x8 @9.5
77x8 @10
72x7 @9

2. Chin-ups (@133lb)

15lb x6
15lb x5
15lb x5
15lb x4

2. Paused Bench (lb):

120x4 @8.5
105x6 @8.5

3. Rope Triceps Pushdown (lb): 22.5x11x4
3. V-Handle Seated Row (lb): 75x12x4

4. DB Hammer Curl (lb): 25x9, 25x10x2
4. Cable Face-pull (lb): 37.5x12, 32.5x17x2

Training time: 1:51

***

An abysmal session, this time with no hangover as an excuse. I felt well-rested and recovered going into this one. In the first set of press, I lost balance in the middle of the set. The second and third sets were much better, but the strength just wasn't there to hit it for sets across. The backoff set was a wimless abomination of bad technique that I'm a bit embarrassed to even log.

Bench press was much worse news. I'd programmed 4 sets of 6 at 120, but it was clear in the first set that my bench strength had dramatically decreased. I took some weight off and was astonished at how heavy it still felt. And my shoulder felt worse than usual.

So if my shoulder is getting worse, I guess it's time to retire the bench press from my program for an extended period of time. I really have no idea how to approach this.

My main concern is that if I get lazy on depth that it will be tougher to determine whether I'll be making progress, or simply be increasing the weight and decreasing the ROM steadily over time. I don't really care about going below some arbitrarily-determined line as much as just going to the same reasonable depth every time.

Sunday, July 16, 2017 Training
Deadlift Variant, C5W2 TM143 4x6 @70%

1. Sumo Deadlift (lb):

135x4x2
190x3
205x2x2
220x6
220x6
220x6
220x7

2. Paused HBBS (lb):

45x8
95x4
145x2
175x6
175x6
175x6

2. Hanging Leg Raise:

22
22
22

3. DB Row (lb): 50x15x3
3. Leg Extensions (lb): 115x9x3

Training time: 1:44

***

Not exactly the win I was looking for, but still a decent day. Sumos felt a little clumsy. I had trouble keeping my balance at the top on some of the reps. I need to work on evening out my grip. With sumo, it seems much easier to grip the bar in an unbalanced way, and you can see that one side of the barbell is substantially lower than the other in the front-on shot. The last set was kind of bad, too. I didn't get tight enough before each pull and my lock-outs were a bit soft. I just need more practice. I feel like I could get quite strong on these, in time.

Squats were easier than usual, and some of the better-looking reps that I've done in a while. I'm pretty happy about that.

do your bars not have good knurling to go off for grip?

They do, I just think that with mixed grip one of the arms is effectively longer than the other so I need to compensate by moving one of my hands out a bit further. And it seems like this matters more with the narrower grip that I take with sumo. Maybe I'm wrong?


Week 66 Diet
Mass Phase Week 7



Hey, at least my macros are improving.

Wednesday, July 19, 2017 Training
Bench Variant, C5W3

1. Bench Press Medley (lb):

Standard Grip Bench (pinkies just inside rings)
45x8
65x5
85x5
105x5 bit of discomfort
115x5 better

Close-Grip Bench (my former grip, pinkies ~2" inside rings)
105x5 felt really good
120x5 no pain, bit of weakness on left side

Wide-Grip Bench (middle finger on rings)
105xf pain immediately during eccentric, after which I racked it
45x8 some discomfort

Reverse-Grip Bench
45x8
95x5 felt very good
110x5 bit awkward but no discomfort, weakness, or pain in left shoulder

Dumbbell Bench
30s x10 last 5 reps with neutral grip, both grips felt fine
35s x5 standard (somewhat ext. rotated) grip, felt fine
35s x5 neutral grip, fine
40s x5 standard grip, fine
40s x5 neutral grip, fine

2. Machine Seated Row (lb):

125x9
125x9
125x9
125x9
125x11

2. Arnold Press (lb):

30x11
30x11
30x10
30x12 (*)
30x12

3. Machine Fly (lb): 50x12x2, 50x10 (**)
3. WG Lat Pulldown (lb): 90x14, 90x12x2 (**)

4. DB Laterals (lb): 15s x15x3
4. DB Concentration Curl (lb): 20x9x2, 20x10
4. DB Wrist Curl (lb): 15x14x3

Training time: 2:01

***

Today, my goal was simply to find a bench variant that I could do without pain or discomfort. It looks like I might be able to train close-grip again as long as I ramp up carefully. DB bench felt decent, but I didn't have time to get to heavier weights, and I'm not sure how much rotation is appropriate for those. Reverse-grip bench was the most interesting of all.

On Saturday I'm going to try some incline variants and dips. I originally thought dips would be the worst choice, but given that they're not done with a pronated grip, I'm now betting that they're fair game.

It's also curious that the wider grip caused me the most pain. I'd have thought that a wide grip would be the best since there's not as much front delt recruitment. I guess the injury may not be the delt after all.

(*) I changed to a less-vertical seat for these sets, which made the movement slightly easier. Maybe 80 degrees instead of 90. It's what I normally use, hence the decrease in performance this time around.

(**) I'd originally programmed 4 sets of the tier 3 stuff, but I kind of burned myself out in terms of how many reps I could do once I reached the third sets. I think it's going to take a little while to get accustomed to shorter rest intervals.

Hm.

Your arm length shouldn't really change notably at all. Not to the degree where its going to make you feel like you have to offset the grip.

It almost makes me believe that what you're doing is contracting your bicep on the palm up side.

Lock your triceps on a deadlift - you want to avoid anything that remotely might look like a 'curl' in order to avoid bicep strain.

I really don't think I'm doing that, but I'll look into it. I think it's more likely an arm effective length thing, especially considering all the weird **** that's been going on with my left shoulder since I began lifting. It's always been tighter and had worse ROM than the left. It's notably the "shorter" arm during that front view sumo vid. I'm going to pull a bunch of 135s on Sunday until I get centered. I will also switch the supinated hand and see if the problem happens in reverse.

Thursday, July 20, 2017 Training
Squat Variant, C5W3 TM124 5x7 @72.5%

1. HBBS (lb):

45x10
95x5
135x5
175x3
200x7
200x7
200x7
200x7
200x7

2. Romanian Deadlift (lb):

200x8
200x8
200x8
200x8

2. Cable Straight-Back Crunch (lb):

60x14
60x14
60x14
60x14

3. DB RFESS (lb): 15s x15x3
3. DB Curl (lb): 20x16x3

Training time: 2:00

***

I busted out some of my new gym gear today: a bunch of rogue bands and minis, new straps, and a pair of slingshot knee sleeves. I got the smallest ones and they were pretty tight. I'm not sure I got much elastic help from them as 200 felt about as heavy as I expected it to, but my knees definitely felt better in all of the sets.

Squats went reasonably well. The depth was patented Renton depth, but no reps were excessively high or forward of mid-foot. I'm still avoiding AMRAPs as I'm not sure it's worth it to grind out a couple of extra dubious reps after having done a ton of quality volume and with a bunch of sets of RDL and split squats to do after. I may reintroduce them next cycle if I feel a stall coming. This is (slightly, previously was 198 for 6's) the most weight I've had on my back for high-bar, and I think I performed well enough with it that gains are apparent.

Saturday, July 22, 2017 Training
Overhead Variant, C5W3 TM48 5x7 @72.5%

1. Press (lb):

20x10
45x5
60x3
70x2
77x7
77x7
77x6
77x7
77x7 @9.5

2. Chin-ups (@134 lb):

20.5 lb x5
20.5 lb x4
10.5 lb x6
10.5 lb x5
10.5 lb x5

2. Dips (@134 lb):

0x5
0x6
0x6

2. DB Flat Bench (lb):

40s x8 standard grip
40s x12 neutral grip

3. Rope Triceps Pushdown (lb): "50"x14x4
3. V-Handle Seated Row (lb): 87.5x10x4

4. DB Hammer Curl (lb): 20x16x2, 20x15x2
4. Cable Face-pull (lb): 32.5x17x4
4. DB Reverse Wrist Curl (lb): 10x10x4

Training time: 2:03

***

I reduced the press TM back to 48, which resulted in using the same weight as last week. I had a great session considering that. In third set, the strength off the shoulders was there, but I had that familiar problem locking out the left shoulder. The linked set was the best, and the last set had the same thing happen on rep 7. It's like I can't get the bar far enough back after it clears my head, maybe due to bad thoracic mobility.

Really good news: I can do dips without pain. I do them facing the opposite direction from most people, as having shoulders in external rotation seems to feel a lot better for me. Can anyone else relate?

Doing the dumbbell bench press with a neutral/hammer grip seems to be the best. I was able to actually push that set pretty hard without any pain, weakness, or discomfort in my left shoulder. The 45ish degree grip that most people use felt decent, but the left shoulder felt a little unstable as I got through the set.