I think the direct ab work should specifically be anti-extension, so dead bugs and ab wheel roll-outs?

I am not much of a core expert, I tend to do ab wheel roll outs, side planks and banded pulldown abs. Some decline sit-ups, but these are probably not a great idea. SS does something called curl ups, and plank rolls, which I keep meaning to investigate. I've done pallof press as an anti rotation exercise in the past and they're pretty good.

Aidan, your comment made me want to try to get that 10-repper this time. Miscounted and did 11, lol

OHP - 40kg - 5+5+7 - Still feeling alright, but not quite as tight in the upper back anymore. Will really need to keep focussing on this aspect. Also, not really sure what a good warm-up routine is for the OHP specifically. At the moment doing stuff like band pull aparts and foam rolling the upper back and traps. Anything else I should do?

Pull-ups - so there is a assisted pull-up machine in this gym, which I will use from now on (on squat day). I started out on "20" (maybe -20lb?) and did 5+4, and then did 7 more on "40".

ss with

Hammer curls - 7kg - 15+7+7 - So weak.

LBBS - 82,5kg - 5+5+11 - Feeling pretty good, video'd the AMRAP set and will try to get a video from behind next time. Form seems.. ok. Not very consistent, sometimes I get a bit of "hips first, then good morning"? But maybe I am wrong.

video is private...

Woops, fixed it

I asked the same question and (iirc) aidan said he uses that same bench warmup routine for OHP as well.

Cool, thanks!

That's a good looking set of hard squats Dare i say it, good for another rep?

Yeah, I use that for all my upper body days. I spend more time stretching my lats on OHP days, less time on pecs etc, so you can adjust it based on the emphasis for the day.

12 reps next sesh? Hm might be tough

Thanks.

DL+BP day:

BP - 52,5kg - 5+5+8 - I don't know.. Think maybe I am getting there wrt form and consistency. Still difficult to keep back tight+shoulders down on the final reps.





Pull-ups - "-35" - 5+5+7

ss with

Hammer curls - 7kg - 15+7+4...

DL - 110kg - 5 - Heavy again. Below is my last warm-up set at 90kg and my working set. 90kg looks alright I think, 110kg is pretty bad again. I am going to think a bit on if there is a way to adjust my form so that I can protect my lower back easier/better.

OHP - 42,5kg - 5+4f, 40kg - 5. Meh, bit disappointed that I wasn't able to get all the reps up at 42,5kg (which was my previous PR). Oh well, back to 37,5kg next time and hit some rep PRs

Pull ups - "-30lbs" - 5+5+6

ss with

Hammer curls - 7kg - 15+10+9

LBBS - 85kg - 5+5+9. Took videos from three new angles, for your viewing pleasure. Look a touch high on some of these new angles, but not very worried, just make sure I go all the way next time. (Yes, Aidan, I suppose I could also have gotten 10 reps haha)

Hips shooting up in deadlift still, you've got to really fight to keep that back angle from closing off. You're thinking very hard about it because you sit in the starting position too long, so just keep working on making everything a bit more automatic.

LBBS look reasonably tidy (apart from depth), but you run the risk of developing a similar problem to your deadlifts (hips rising but bar not rising). Chest up, traps into bar when driving your hips, don't waste energy not moving the bar.

OP have you read this?

The Deadlift: Perfect Every Time



1. Take your stance, feet a little closer than you think it needs to be and with your toes out more than you like. Your shins should be about one inch from the bar, no more. This places the bar over the mid-foot – the whole foot, not the mid-instep.

2. Take your grip on the bar, leaving your hips up. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.

3. Drop your knees forward and out until your shins touch the bar. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.

4. Hard part: squeeze your chest up as hard as you can. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR. This establishes a "wave" of extension that goes all the way down to the lumbar, and sets the back angle from the top down. DO NOT LOWER YOUR HIPS – LIFT THE CHEST TO SET THE BACK ANGLE.

5. Squeeze the bar off the floor and drag it up your legs in contact with your skin/sweats until it locks out at the top. If you have done the above sequence precisely as described, the bar will come off the ground in a perfectly vertical path. All the slack will have come out of the arms and hamstrings in step 4, the bar will not jerk off the ground, and your back will be in good extension. You will perceive that your hips are too high, but if you have completed step 4 correctly, the scapulas, bar, and mid-foot will be in vertical alignment and the pull will be perfect. The pull will seem "shorter" this way.

Yes, many times. Never bad to revisit, however I think the first line in point 1 is pretty much completely useless..

BP - 55kg - 5+5+5 - Was feeling pretty solid and strong, but this bench is slippery for. My AMRAP set I completely lost upper back tightness on unracking the bar. Tried to get it tight again, but couldn't really get there so just racked it after 5 (could have done more strengthwise).





BB Row - 40kg - 5+5+7

ss with

Hammer curls - 8kg - 15+10+10

DL - 112,5kg - 6 or 7 - I think I am improving ever so slightly, but definitely not there yet. On my AMRAP set I tried to speed it up a bit, like Aidan suggested. This has been detrimental to my form, but I was able to get the weights up easier than on my previous work out.

OHP - 37,5kg - 5+5+10 (+1)

Pull up - "-25lbs" - 5+5+5

ss with

Hammer curls - 8kg - 15+10+10

LBBS - 87,5kg - 5+5+7 - Was looking to hit some extra depth. Definitely breaking parallel now, but I think it is causing a little bit of butt wink. Going to keep working on mobility in the hole and not pushing it on depth. Also was focussing on keeping the chest/shoulders up on the way up. Result: omg, my quads! I think I have hardly been using my quads since moving to low bar. Any point in incorporating some quad work (front squats?)? Or am I misdiagnosing?

BP - 57,5kg - 5+5+5





BB row - 40kg - 5+5+10

ss with

Hammer curls - 8kg - 15+10+10

DL - 115kg - 7




and my first ever front squats, just for laughs:

Front squat: elbows need to be parallel to the ground and the bar resting on your shoulders, rather than in your hands at all. You're setting yourself up for wrist and elbow issues with your current method.

more like this:



It should only be barely supported by the fingers, with most of the weight carried on the shoulders.

Deadlift: i'd be tempted to reset to 100-105 and work back up again. Just starting to get too far out of tidy form for my liking. Keep working on your core strength and bracing, keep working on form.

bench press: looking tidier, definitely could get tighter through the legs. try driving your heels towards the ground, should help lock them up a bit more. you're also pushing the bar too vertically off your chest, it should be back a bit more towards your face. once you remember to push it back then the reps are fine, but its costing you efficiency off the chest.

squats: looking good

So I've been trucking along calmly. Resetted DL as per Aidan's suggestion. Got my squats up to 102,5kg where I failed for the first time since doing GSLP. OHP and bench have failed and reset already a couple of times, I really need to buy fractional plates. Below are my most recent videos. In other news, I have been tracking my weight and calories for about a month and a half now: avg. 3240 cal/day (started out aiming for 2900), weight started out at 82kg, peak weigh in at 83,4 and now back to 82kg consistently. I will increase my daily target to 3300 cals (so will probably average 3400/3500) and see how things go.

Deadlift: 110kg - I think my form is very slowly improving, but still needs a lot of attention and need to make more time for core exercises.


BP: 60kg - I feel like my upper back tightness is improving, but still need to touch chest more towards navel.


Squat: 102,5kg - Depth is not great, but will be easily achieved on upcoming reset.

Deadlift looks solid.

On bench, you need to drive your heels down to tighten your whole legs, as they're moving around too much. This should tighten everything a bit more. bar path seems ok, though maybe pressing it a bit closer to your face right off the chest would help.

Squats look solid too, maybe right on parallel or a touch high.

Lifting has been a bit irregular recently, but Tuesday I did:

BP - 60kg - 5+5+5


BB row - 52.5kg - 5+5+5

ss with some hammer curls (10kg)

As warm-up for deadlifts I have started to do some hang cleans, filmed them for the first time:


DL - 115kg - 5. Heavy deadlifts are still not pretty, but improving.


After this work-out I was ill for two days. Today I went to the gym, although not fully recovered so took it easy. Did

OHP - 42,5kg - 5+5+9 (+1)

LBBS - 95kg - 5+5+6 - Didn't want to push it on the AMRAP

PR'ing on deadlift, squat and overhead press. Bench press has continued to suck. I started to use a new way of setting up, but think will go back to my old routine because it is just not working. Deadlift form is again getting really sucky on the final reps of heavy weights, thinking about changing the programming to something like 3 reps heavy and some more reps on lower weight. Also planning to incorporate some more DL accessories.

Yesterday's LBBS (102.5kg, AMRAP set):


Heard something rip on the first rep, thankfully turned out to be my underpants not trousers - but it was distracting lol.

Am quite happy with my squats. Doing somewhat regular stretching of the hip area is making it feel much more comfortable to reach depth. This, combined with trying to get some speed on the very last part of the descent to get some bounce, seems to really help me to hit reasonable depth without big discomfort. I am expecting this to keep improving.

6 reps puts you ahead of my 102.5 squat pr

Did 105kg today
Don't worry though, you are still so far ahead of me on bench press..

I am looking to change up my programming. Starting November I am doing an internship which will effectively limit my lifting days to Friday-Sunday-Tuesday. Further limitation is no OHP and no (heavy) back squats on bench press days (gym with proper bench does not have squat rack safeties and a low ceiling).

My basic idea is that I am looking to do some more volume/hypertrophy work for upper body / aesthetics. Squats I am happy to just do strength work because I think it is pretty cool to put up big numbers, but I don't really care for getting humongous legs

Currently my idea is to do:

Friday:
OHP / 5,5,5+
Squats / Cha's programming, as mentioned in Snitch's log
Incline bench / **

Sunday:
Bench press / 5,5,5+
Other stuff*

Tuesday:
Deadlift / Cha's programming
Bench press / **

*Other stuff: I was thinking about doing things like barbell rows, front squats, deadlift-stance box squats, cleans; mostly accessories to squats and deadlifts, I suppose?

**I think just to get some extra upperbody volume in, something like 3x8 or even 5x10? Don't really know what is smart, especially for "bench day 2".

Also, I aim to do random sets of (assisted) pull-ups/chin-ups throughout each lifting day, e.g. in between squat warm-up routine etc.

Thoughts? Advise?

It's going to be hard to get too aesthetic benching 40kg x10x5...