531 - C3W2

Deadlift
92.5x5
107.5x5
120xAMRAP=11 (rep PR, never done a set for 11 before, and highest projected 1RM of 164)
92.5x5x5

OHP
40x5
45x5
50xAMRAP=8
This was down 1 rep from 3 weeks ago, so I made a decision then to do 5x10 for FSL instead of 5x5
32.5x10 (This was really really hard, so I dropped the weight)
30x8x4

I'll do 30x9x5 next week, then 30x10x5 hopefully.

32.5x10 being so hard when I can do 50x8 seems like a weakness (poor muscular endurance?). So these high rep ranges for the back off sets sounds like a good idea.

Face Pulls
3x10

Pullups
8,8,7,5,5 (2 min rest)

Barbell rows
50x5x5

Dips
8,8,8,8,8 (60-70 seconds rest, last set was RPE 10)



How do the first few reps look? renton, I stood just a touch further away so I didn't kick the bar forward. It seems like I forgot to do that for the last few reps though, so ignore those.

Better but you're still doing it. And as you say, worse as the set goes on. You can see how it affects the lift; every rep you have this second pull where shoulders started off back, kick forward, and then the bar actually starts to leave the floor. Your shoulders need to just start in that forward position and it will allow you to get tighter before each pull. It might be better for your lower back also.

Just try my suggestion, which was to not have your shins push the bar at all. Just imagine your shins are made of glass and you can only lightly touch the bar with them without breaking the glass. You could also try a SLDL to know what it feels like to pull with higher hips. Also to be clear: starting out farther back from the bar isn't the answer, it just prevents you pushing the bar forward. The issue is you pulling with the bar forward of mid foot, or at least it will be once you get to difficult weights (140+ for you I'm guessing). So just find your mid foot when setting up and don't move the bar at all.

Cool thanks, this will be my only thought while pulling next time.

Run

5.5k at 6:32 pace

It was a recovery run at a really easy pace. I need more of these to increase my milage.

Rest day today, I just wanted to post my rough daily food intake during this bulk (last 4.5 months)

Breakfast
3 slices of toast
3 eggs
some vegetable (I roast veg in bulk for about a week)

650 cal, 45 protein

Supplements
half a scoop protein powder (for the taste)
5g creatine
BCAA (not sure why I'm taking this)
multi vitamin

50 cal, 10 protein

Lunch
I use a meal delivery service called Prep Kitchen, and I get 5 meals a week. I eat them at lunch. It contains meat, veg, some carbs and tastes pretty good.

General macros are:
700 cal, 50 protein

Between lunch and dinner
This varies, but I try to get 500 calories in. It usually consists of a protein bar, some fruit, whatever I decide to buy at a grocery store. Maybe nuts.

500 cal, maybe 30 protein

Dinner
This is where my somewhat healthy day breaks down. I get super hungry at dinner time, it's the toughest part of the day when cutting. Now, I just usually eat chinese food from a takeaway shop close to me, which is delicious. If not, I order something in.

Calories are a guess, but probably
1000 cal, 60 protein

Summary
So that's 2900 cal, 195 protein and I invariably end up eating something not on the list that gets me to 3000 and usually over.

Weekends is the same breakfast, and then anything goes - but I try to keep it at 3000.

I've always been concerned that my dinner was too many calories, but logging my weight everyday has let me monitor that and adjust my calories up or down.

Do you see any food leaks?

Crossfit

4x600m sprint, every 5:30
2:47, 2:45, 2:47, 2:53

10 minute AMRAP:
15m DB walking lunge
10 burpee chin ups

3+5, with 17.5kg DBs

2 metcons in a day, it wasn't fun

531 - C3W3

Squat
82.5x3
92.5x3
105xAMRAP=10 (no PR)
115x3 (joker)
120x2 (joker)
82.5x5x5

Bench Press
55x3
65x3
72.5xAMRAP=7 (no PR - failed 8th rep)
45x10x5

Face pulls, seated row, hammer curls

Dips
9,9,9,7,7 (80-90 sec rest)







Squat 105 set was RPE 12 with good form. I'm nitting over my estimated 1RM and rep PRs and not stopping when my form goes bad. That's why I even went for my 8th rep in my bench set and failed. I am now going to focus on quality reps and just stop if my form starts getting worse.

Having said that, the 115 and 120 look better than the 105 to me. Any feedback on those sets?

They look high, on first glance

I don't think they're high as in above parallel, but the depth looks "cut off". You don't lack the flexibility to get deeper, just the stability. I recommend pause or tempo squats to address this. That, along with better bracing/valsalva, would also go a long way in addressing your lower back "squish" in the hole.

I think every rep is below parallel. I've been trying to restrict my depth because of my lower back losing tension. I really need to learn how to brace better. I'm going to watch some videos now.

I may do 5x5 at FSL with pause squats next time. I have been thinking about it and just needed someone to say it.

So I just watched this entire series and took some notes on what will help me.

Setup
Hands a bit closer (as close as shoulder mobility allows)
Retract scapula and elbows back, before unracking
Elbows under the bar, while upper back remains tight

After unracking
Squeeze glutes
Big breath in, air goes down

Descent
Go down as fast as technique can tolerate (going to ignore this for now)
Better to be fast in the final part of descent to get the rebound

Feet and knees
Weight evenly distributed on feet between big toe, little toe, and heel (keep this out of the hole as well)
SCREW FEET IN and externally rotate feet. This seemed to help me a ton practicing in my room to get my knees tracking properly.

Upper back
Push back into the bar out of the hole


This is a lot, but let's see if they get better.

In my experience, it's better to focus on one or two cues only at a time. Also in my experience, pause squats were far more effective when done at the end of a progression of tempo squats. Tempo squats made me better at keeping the tension on the way down, allowing me to get into a good bottom position. Pause squats loaded that position and made me stronger in it. You could do slow tempo + pause, but that will really restrict how heavy you can go. I prefer one or the other.

Most of the cues that will help me are during unracking and before squatting, so I can do all of those. While actually squatting, I will focus on the externally rotated and stable feet, and back to the bar. I think those along with bracing properly, should be really useful.

What tempo do you suggest?

I like 3 sec down 3 sec up, for a number of reps low enough that you can still go fairly heavy, but not so heavy that the 3 up is grindy in the least. The 3 down helps with keeping tight in the bottom 1/3 of the ROM, the 3 up helped me with keeping my knees from shooting back into a good morning.

Thanks. I'm definitely going to do 3 down. I'll do a few with 3 up as well and see if it is useful for me.

Run

10.1k run at 5:56 pace

Weekly distance: 18

The plan is 18-18-18-10-21-21-21-10-24-24-24 and then evaluate. Hopefully I don't get any injuries.

Strength - Upper

I made a last minute decision to go to the strength class instead of crossfit. More pressing can only be good for me at the moment.

Speed Bench Press
55x3x9 (45 seconds rest)

Bent over row
50x8x4

Lying barbell extensions
20x12,10,7
15x10

Dips
BWx8x4

Planks

I then wanted to do an EMOM with 2 bar muscle ups per minute. I failed the first 2

Either my gymnastics is significantly worse or my technique was a bit off. I did 1 and then left.

Run

3k run at 5:58 pace

Crossfit

Power snatch EMOM
Minutes 1-5: Halting power snatch (pause 3 seconds each just off the ground, below knee, above knee)
Minutes 6-12: Power snatch

Went 35-35-35-35-40-45-45-47.5-47.5-50-50-52.5

15 minute AMRAP
30 cal row
15 hang power snatch @42.5
60 double unders
15 overhead squats @42.5

Scaled to 30kg and did 1+70. I lost my double unders today, and need to practice them to get them back before the open starts in a month.

531 - C3W4

Deadlifts
100x3
115x3
127.5XAMRAP=8 (no PR, stopped when form got bad)
140x2
100x5x3

OHP
42.5x3
47.5x3
55xAMRAP=6 (ties rep PR, 6th rep was a 5 second grind, last time it was easier)
30x9x5

Face pulls
3x10

Pullups
5x8 (75 sec rest)

One arm rows

20 minutes of double under practice which was horrible.

This was a really ****ty session. I got so confused with my deadlift form. I kept taking videos and trying to correct something. My starting thoughts were not to kick the bar forward and keep my hips a bit higher.



These look pretty bad. I struggled to stay tight with my hips up.



Kept my hips up, struggled to get my chest up, and didn't feel tight.



Hips lower, chest up, felt tighter

Between the last 2 sets, which one is better? Should I somehow try to get tighter with my hips higher?

renton, regarding kicking the bar forward, there was so much going through my head that I probably remembered not to do it in around 50% of the reps. I'm just really confused about my starting position regarding my hips. If I keep them higher, I find it really hard to keep my chest up and stay tight. If I keep them lower, I feel stronger, but I get that false first pull where my hips sort of reset a bit higher to that default position.

I watched this video and I think it answered a lot of my questions. These two bad sessions are hopefully the best thing that will happen to me regarding form. Hips are definitely too low, I just need to squeeze my chest up without lowering my hips once my shins touch the bar. AND DO NOT MOVE THE BARBELL

I think the 140 and the first 100 look pretty okay. Getting tighter is an everlasting battle so don't sweat it too much.

Run

5.5k run @5:39 pace

Middle 3.5k was tempo @5:12

531 - C3W5

Squats
87.5x5
100x3
110XAMRAP=7

Bench Press
60x5
67.5x3
75xAMRAP=6

Double under practice, it was a lot better. I used to think jump higher, but I started jumping too high and my timing was off. Shorter jumps, and it was all good again.

So after a warmup set at 60 with squats, I realized that my lower back DOMS from Tuesday wasn't actualy DOMS, but was pain. I could feel it in the hole. I made a decision to just do the 531 sets, no supplemental work and no assistance. I really should have just called it there and went home. The lower back feels pretty bad now and bending down is painful.

If it does take a couple of weeks to get better, I will increase my running and just stop lifting. Let's see how it feels over the weekend.

The 100 set looks better than before, right? I forgot all my cues in the 110 set when the weight got heavy and I was breathing heavily. I also cut it short and didn't push it once form broke down.

Run

11k run at 5:59 pace

I was a bit worried about the back, but there was no pain while running.

Weekly distance: 19.5

If my back hinders my lifting, then I will up my mileage, if not then the next week will be a reduced mileage week