Bench
1x5x230
2x5x210

Felt heavy

OHP
5x5x110

Chins/Curls

11/22

Went up to Seattle for Thanksgiving. Lifted at the UW IMA on Wednesday (my mom is staff there)

Squat
1x3x310
1x5x275

So I didn't have a belt and I didn't realize how much I relied on it. After the third rep I was losing the bar forward similar to how I did before I took some weight off to work on form, but worse. As such I decided to quit after 3, and then I went down to 275, and even those were kinda ugly.

Deadlift
2x3x405
1x2fx405

These were hard

11/24

Decided to bench today because there were cute girls around

Bench
1x4fx225
2x5x205

Maybe not recovered from previous bench 4 days ago?

OHP
5x5x105

Chins/Curls

11/25

Rows
5x5x175

Tried to set it down carefully because it is a different gym

Front Squats
1x5x165
1x5x185
1x5x205
1x5x185

These were pretty hard but ok result seeing as I don't practice this movement anymore

11/27

Press
1x5x127.5
2x5x115

WS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dQgaR9uhPg

Bench
5x5x205

Chins/Curls

11/29

Deadlift
1x5x405

WS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwUrZDZaZtk

Felt not too heavy. Bar tends to roll around on the platform and there's always an issue of wondering if I should reset between reps. My bro suggested I do so and not worry as much about the issue of 'am I really doing a set of five or five singles' provided I not take super long resets.

Squats
1x5x310
2x5x280

WS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa0Otl3ZREs

Felt and looked alright. One thing I've noticed is that the bar moves left to right on my back, and on a probably related note my left shoulder is now bothering me a bit. Something to look at.

Edit: I was watching the video of my lifts and the next video that played was one of my first vids from september of last year. God I was skinny back then (not imo a good thing at least for me). I bring this up only because I plan on doing my first real cut once I get my squat form to where I'm comfortable with it and have ran out the reset rapid 'progress'.

12/01

Felt kinda weak today

Bench
1x3fx232.5
2x5x212.5

OHP
3x5x115
1x4fx115
1x5x105

Chins/Curls

12/03

Squat
1x5x315
2x5x285

Camera malfunction prevented filming

Rows
3x5x175

What is your weight/height?

6'2 235

So are we talking about an epic 40lb cut or what?

We'll sort of play by ear. Probably try to get down to 220. See how I look/feel there and what that does to my strength levels and then re-evaluate. Getting sub-200 might be cool and would given me room to re-bulk.

Given the foundation that you've built, cutting to somewhat lean levels would show a very impressive transformation. You might be the dark horse that steals next year's Golden Loco!

Thanks. I suspect like many things it's easier said than done, but I guess we'll see

My mega-cut was not something that I'd like to experience again, but there is something satisfying about the input X - output Y simplicity of cutting. Getting strong and jacked is complex, requiring programming and in some cases even luck (like avoiding overtraining and injuries). With cutting, you get nearly exact results proportional to the effort.

12/04

OHP
1x5x130
1x5x115
1x5x120

Felt good

Bench
5x5x205

Chins/Curls

12/06
Squat
1x5x320
2x5x285

WS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oit6OUnOGbk

Felt weak today, bit of a regression form wise. Will probably re-do this weight next time.

Deadlift
1x3x410
1x1fx410

Bench
1x4x232.5
2x5x212.5

Feels like I could be more consistent in my setup

OHP
2x5x115
2x5x120
1x5x115

Chins/Curls

12/10

Squat
1x5x320
2x5x285

WS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh7ivZbwemE

So I looked at my video, and I think a big issue is that I'm having some 'knee slide' at the bottom of my rep. I think I can cut depth by about a half-inch, and still be at 'legal depth'* and that might alleviate some of the issue. Here are some screenshots:



One of the big things the Feigenbaum/Baraki wing of the SS people emphasize is that a lot of issues with the ascent start by having a poor descent, and in particular when the knees slide forward at the bottom it causes the hips to shoot back on the way up.

*My camera, while not on the ground, is still a little below the plane of parallel, and I think that can make the squats look a little deeper than they are. I should probably try to film from dead on to confirm that squatting a little higher will be deep enough. Really since I'm not planning on competing in PLing it might not matter, but if I'm close I'd like to be able to say that they are legal depth.

I dont think depth has even been an issue with you , so you got room to spare if you wanna cut if off a little higher. I counted at least 8 frames where(in my opinion)you continued to descent past "legal" depth.

It seems to me that "knee slide" thing is trying to compensate for the bar being so forward of midfoot at the bottom of your lift. You used to do a serious good morning squat and now its not as bad, though I suspect to some degree that knee is bearing more load from the bad form.

Well said, and I agree. Adding to that point is that I think, in general, you're pretty loose overall, and that just getting and staying tighter and being a bit more deliberate and precise would help a lot.

Thanks dudes I think that is solid advice

12/11

OHP
1x5x132.5
2x5x120

WS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aajNCMCK8TQ

Bench
3x5x210

Chins/Curls

Been really sick, had some other lifting sessions but none of them good

12/18
OHP
1x5x135
2x5x122.5

WS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHSRhivVags

Bench 5x5x205

Chins/Curls

12/20
Squat
1x5x320
2x5x295

WS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18oZ3qUjv88

Tried to cut depth a hair per earlier analysis. These looked a little better. Fourth rep I thought looked really good, but then fifth not so good. Maybe some of that is that I'm deconditioned from not squatting in a while.

Deadlift
1x2fx410

Felt pretty worn out after squatting

I’ve lifted some over the past few weeks although not super regularly. Part of that was the holidays and part of it was I got quite sick. Anyway

1/1

OHP
1x5x130
2x5x115

Bench
5x5x205

Chins/Curls

So I've been 'cutting' and am down to 219lbs as of tonight. Plan to keep doing that as people have been saying I look skinnier. I've been lifting too and have definitely gotten weaker. We'll see if that continues or not and if so how much and reassess from there.

Squat in my novice opinion:
You need to keep the bar over the center of your foot (right in front of your shin bone).

You're hitting the bottom, bouncing off of your calves. And then your hips shoot back like you were alluding to.

You need to cut some depth. You need to control your descent more. You need to have your knees locked in position by the time you hit the hole.

I have a feeling that if you only think
1) KEEP THE BAR OVER THE CENTER OF MY FOOT!!
2) Squat a little bit higher.

You'll probably fix a lot of issues.

I think that's more or less correct. I'm going down in weight again because of the cut so hopefully I'll be able to fix this stuff.