Thanks.

What's your point?

There are advantages to full ROM and doing quarter squats will always be less useful.

That being said, you can still reach elite levels of strength without this. IE if you never used a DB, you could still become very strong. But I think it'd be ridiculous to suggest that DBs "don't matter".

In light of the edited G4S comment, I think *trying* to get greater ROM should be a goal for all trainees when they can't achieve reasonable depth level.

To be clear, I am not giving up on trying to get deeper. I'll squat as deep as I can in every set. I'm just saying I'm not going to nit over it anymore to the detriment of progress. And as for the front squat, it's not that I think they're inferior to back squats or that I think I'm biomechanically incapable of doing them (the Rippetoe quote is not how I interpret my situation). It's that I seem to be so mobility- and technique-limited to do them that I don't feel it is worth the investment of time and effort it would take to even be able to train them heavy, much less to progress on them.

I made a lot more progress when I admitted I was just a pussy who won't back squat ever again. I don't think there is anything wrong with bailing on variants of lifts to focus on another. I still have no real idea how to sumo DL and I have not done a non-clean position DL in probably a decade? I dunno. Much long time.

I don't think there is anything wrong with what you're doing, just good time to nit G4S. Lest loco cast aspersions of me playing favorities with my pedantic nitting.

That's fair.

Do whatever you want and whatever feels good, we recreational lifters.

I mean one example of the madness is bench press. Powerlifters do everything possible to shorten the ROM so they can lift more weight. I have never seen an EMG study comparing bodybuilding bench vs powerlifting, but I don't even have to see it. The results are going to be loltastic.

So why does everybody obsess over benching like a powerlifter if it has less ROM?

Well it's safer for your shoulders? Well has anybody seen studies to prove this? Are bodybuilders ripping rotator cuff left n right? Crickets.

Point is the forum is very leaning towards the powerlifting side of things. Squat must be to parallel. Shorten ROM on bench. No straps for deadlift.

We recreational lifters not powerlifters. Who cares how deep your squat is? But if you are a nit about your lowerback, I would suggest following McGill's suggestions on squatting.

Having said that, we have standards around here. A squat must be at least to parallel. Can we get a moderator in here to relabel all these "squats" here? G4S does it correctly, he puts quotes. I do it correctly also, I don't backsquat and instead do variations and name them appropriately.

Ignore above post for obvious LOLco.

In retrospect, there was one glaringly obvious physical limitation to me front squatting, and that's my left knee. A lot of my issues with squats and depth are probably because I just suck, but one indisputable fact is that I have poor knee flexion ROM, especially the left. Switching to front squats only increased the knee flexion demand since my knees had to go forward even more. And conversely, low bar should have the least amount of knee flexion of all. The problem now, of course, is that my hip flexion will increase to make up for that and it isn't very good either. But that's at least an area that I can improve a lot just with improved bracing and technique, whereas the actual pain I have from bending my left knee any farther makes that seem like more of a hard limiting factor.

Saturday, November 25, 2017 Training
Strength Block C5W2

1. RG Bench (kg):
TM76 80% 5s until @9

65x1 @8 maybe
61x5
61x5
61x5
61x5
61x5
61x5 @9.5

2. Chin-ups (@64kg):

4kg x6
4kg x6
4kg x6 @8.5

3. Press (kg):
w/ Band Facepull: #0 x30x4
TM53 65% 8s until @9

34x8
34x8
34x8
34x8 @8.5

Training time: 1:36

***

It was one of those days that I remembered how to bench. More weight, more sets/reps, shorter rests, and lower RPEs than last time I did 5s (which I'd considered a great day at the that time). Best of all, my shoulder felt fine. There were definitely some PRs to be had if I wanted them. The single went fine but it's still not even 90% of my training max, so loads of room to improve there.

Sunday, November 26, 2017 Training
Strength Block C5W2

1. LBBS (kg):

100x5
100x5
100x5

2. RG Bench (kg):
w/ Band External Rotation: #0 x19x5
TM76 70% 8s until @8

62.5x1
52.5x8
52.5x8
52.5x8
52.5x8 @7.5

3. Block Pulls (kg):

95x5
95x5
95x5

Training time: ?

***

The squat rebuilding is going well. I think I can probably squeeze in one more 5 kilo jump for Wednesday (which will match my high-bar PR), then go with 2.5 jumps from that point. I took a bigger jump on the pulls as well since I'm becoming a bit more confident in my form and my back's been feeling better. The near term plan is to get my squat as high as possible with 3x5 two days a week and then switch to one squat day with DL assistance and one DL day with squat assistance.

Week 86 Diet
"Maintenance" Phase Week 5



Pretty uneven week, and likely not all that accurate with counting. I'm kind of dreading what the December nudes will look like. The scale is pretty locked at 62, but I feel like an upward whoosh has gotta happen soon, considering that I've steadily gained weight on these calories up until now. The mirror shows some upper body gains, but I'm also fatter than ever (besides when I was fat).

Tuesday, November 14, 2017 Training
Strength Block C4W4

1. Press (kg):
TM53 up to 85% x5+

39x5
41x5
45x5 @10 [PR] {TM+1}
42.5x5 @10

2. Chin-ups (@64kg):

0kg x5
7.5kg x5
7.5kg x5
7.5kg x5
7.5kg x5
7.5kg x5 @9.5

3. Pause RG Bench (kg):
TM76 77% 3s until @8 or 5 sets

62.5x1
59x3
59x3
59x3
59x3
59x3 @8

Training time: 1:50

***

Decent day. Press didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped, but I'm pretty cool with my form and with the amount of effort that I was able to bring today. Probably I'm going to need to address the rom-cheating at the bottom, but I'll save that for later when I'm no longer making PRs every two weeks.

I seem to be maintaining on chins, while bench is showing steady gains. My shoulder felt kind of crappy during benching but better in the sets that I paused under more tension, as opposed to relaxing a bit during the pause which seems to aggravate it.

Good looking sets, nice WIM on ohp.

Thanks bro. I'm tryin' over here.


Wednesday, November 29, 2017 Training
Strength Block C5W2

1. LBBS (kg):

105x5
105x5
105x5

2. Block Pulls (kg):

100x5
100x5
100x5

3. Machine Seated Row (lb):

115x10
130x10
130x10
115x10

Training time: 1:35

***

Squats are getting hard. The first set was fairly smooth. The second set had a sloppy unrack and some grinder reps. The last set was better than the second, but the last rep was a bit shallow and forward.

The block pulls and rows were fairly miserable. It's pretty hard to bring much to those lifts by the time I get to them. I think that I'm going to have to settle for a crappy deadlift until this squat LP runs its course.

Yeah, seriously. Didn’t think there was any way you were getting that fifth rep.

When you say rom-cheating in your OHP, do you think you cut off the descent to high?

Yeah the bar barely clears my chin on some reps. It's cheating for sure but I'm not sweating it because a) I can press pretty close to my calculated 1RM for a single, and b) my sticking point is above my head. So I guess I feel like I'm not getting a ton of benefit from the cheating.

for rep 5!

ty


Saturday, December 2, 2017 Training
Strength Block C5W3

1. RG Bench (kg):
TM76 up to 85% x5+

57.5x5
61x5
64x7 @9.5 [PR] {TM+2}
67.5x1 @7.5 [PR]
70x1 @9.5 [PR]
62.5x4 @9

2. Chin-ups (@65kg):

7
7
7
7 @8

3. Press (kg):
w/ Band Facepull: #1 x21x4
TM54 72.5% 6s until @9

37.5x6
37.5x6
37.5x6
37.5x6 @8.5

Training time: 1:40

***

The bench gains are real. I'm repeating the top set weight I used two weeks ago because I only got 4 reps. The 61 set didn't move that well so I kind of expected to barely squeak by with 5 reps. But the stars aligned with my form and cues on this particular set and I was able to smash my PR.

The singles have been paying off as well. I'm still nowhere near to pressing what I should be for a single, but 70x1 is huge progress. The +2 TM jump will result in skipping 65 next time, but I think I will just do 65 and base all my rep work on the training max. In other words, progressing the 85% set separately from the rest of the work, since there seems to be a steep dropoff in performance as I approach 1RM.

Sunday, December 3, 2017 Training
Strength Block C5W3

1. LBBS (kg):

107.5x5 [PR]
107.5x5
107.5x5

2. RG Bench (kg):
w/ Band External Rotation: #0 x20x4
TM78 75% 6s until @8

50x5
55x6 @8 bleh

3. Deadlift (kg):

60x5
100x5

Training time: ?

***

Squats were okay. First and third sets were decent. In the second set, the 4th rep was a grinder and the 5th was very shallow so I had to get psyched up for the third set:



After that, my innerEV called some audibles. The low-bar rack position has been giving my left shoulder and elbow some grief, and that combined with fatigue from yesterday's benching led to me not being able to put up anything reasonable for bench. My programming called for 6s at 59kg. I just decided to take an L after the 55 set went so terribly.

I then decided to skip block pulls in a non-effort to improve my chances of hitting 110 squat 3x5 in 3 days. The powerlifting bro at my gym happened to be setting up to deadlift as I was leaving, so I pulled a quick couple of sets from the floor to see where my mobility was. They didn't look too bad, but I can imagine my lower back rounding would still be the limiting factor if I got to heavy weights. Dunno.

Week 87 Diet
"Maintenance" Phase Week 6



I finally had the upward weight whoosh that I'd been expecting, to 63kg/138lb. I know that I should be reining the calories in, but it's so hard to find the motivation to do so when these have been my last 8 heavy press days:

13.8 - 36x8 @8.5 [PR]
27.8 - 37.5x8 @9.5 [PR]
10.9 - 39x7 @9.5 [PR]
25.9 - 40x6 @10 [PR]
17.10 - 41x5 @9.5 [PR]
31.10 - 42.5x5 @9 [PR]
14.11 - 44x5 @9.5 [PR]
28.11 - 45x5 @10 [PR]

So I guess I kind of feel like I don't want to change anything while this is happening. Getting pretty fat, though... Maybe I should set a hard limit like 65kg to my weight and shut it down at that point.

Yes when you gain weight you break PRs. But only a fraction of it is real.

Tellusmore.jpeg

Wednesday, December 6, 2017 Training
Strength Block C5W3

1. Press (kg):
TM54 80% 5s until @9

47.5x1 @8
42.5x5 @9.5 bad set
42.5x5 @9
42.5x4 @9
40x5 @9.5

2. Chin-ups (@66kg bleh):

0kg x5
6kg x5
10kg x5 @9.5
14kg x1
19kg x1 @10 [1RM benchmark)
6kg x5 @9

3. Pause RG Bench (kg):
TM78 75% 4s until @8

62.5x1
57.5x4
57.5x4
57.5x4 @8.5

Training time: 1:50

***

Some **** came up yesterday that prevented me from doing this workout on schedule. I'll squat tomorrow and just not get to enjoy the 2-day break this week.

I decided to throw in an @8 single on my press volume day. It went fine. In the first set of 5 I lost balance at the top of the first rep and the set went downhill from there. I had a really good second set but it was clear that the botched first set tired me out.

Chin-up gains continue to be glacial to the point that my body weight gains are outpacing the rate that I can add weight to the belt. I had to check back through my logs to see if the top set was a PR for total weight and found that it matched my old PR, but at a lower RPE. I'll take it.

As the 5th rep wasn't a total grind, I didn't feel too gassed from that set, so it decided to try maxing out my chins for the first time. I'm pretty happy to have hit 85kg total weight for a single. That's reasonably close to 90, which is what I've been basing my programming on.

The elbow thing made benching more difficult than it needed to be, but at least this time I managed not to pussy out of my work because of it.

Thursday, December 7, 2017 Training
Strength Block C5W3

1. LBBS (kg):

20x5x2
40x5
60x5
80x3
90x2
102.5x2
110x2
110x0

2. Block Pulls (kg):

105x5
105x5
105x5

Training time: 1:25

***

This is frustrating. As I was ramping up to my squat worksets, I was trying out different grips. Thumbs around, thumbless, closer grip, wider grip. Nothing felt right and the only way I could unrack heavy weights was to do it the way that I've been doing (thumbless, moderately wide). By the time I got to the first workset, the pain in my left elbow / tricep area had gotten pretty bad. That set was ruined by my belt being too tight and digging painfully into my ribs. I kind of feel like 5 wasn't going to happen even if I endured the pain though. During the rest after that set, my left arm was trembling, and by the time I set up to do the second set, I couldn't even unrack the bar in a way that felt safe to squat.

I really don't want to give up on low bar, because aside from the rack position, it feels way more natural than high bar and I think I could be a lot stronger at it and get to a 2xBW squat for 5 or maybe even 140x1 relatively soon.

I've opened a lot of negative feedback loops at this point with my life and training. The low bar rack position is hurting my elbow/shoulder which will likely prevent me from making progress on bench in the immediate future. I had a lackluster press workout yesterday so 46x5 this week isn't looking too likely to happen either. I'm having my worst month of poker in years. I'm unhappy with my body composition and diet. All of these things make me feel bad, which makes it harder to recover from and overcome these obstacles, which makes me feel worse, and on it goes. I think it's time for a deload, and maybe a mini-cut. The deload is an easy choice to let this tweak work itself out and regroup mentally. Whether to cut is a tougher call and I'll decide that sometime this week. As for the low bar squat, I'm probably going to try to go with a closer thumbs-around grip using wrist wraps and see how that goes.

A wise man once said, erryday is upperbody day.

Obviously don't take it to that extreme, but you get my drift bro. Upperbody don't need deload.

Ignore if this has been asked before, but does your gym have a SSB or a cambered bar? They were my go to after two elbow surgeries.


At first I was like...wat?

But then I was like...WAT??