200, 300, 400, 500 - A quest for greatness

<div>
(mikeynov @ Dec. 10 2008,4:55)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">
Just use a dip belt and hang plates under yourself.

Example (90 x 6 in chins from over the summer):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2xudo7EWfc</div>
Mikey, thanks much for the demo.  Will have to increase the height on my dip bars, but definitely workable.  Great form on those chins!
 
Lower Body

Deadlifts - flat shoes + loose belt on work sets

I got to deadlift with my old PL training partner today, it was good times.

Wound up working up to 355 for 3 sets of 3.

I actually got his nazi form expertise, and it appears that I am largely maintaining extension, but was having difficulty doing so on the third reps of the set. Weirdly, the third set was the tightest.

As another sidenote, fully deloading, resetting after a few breaths, then pulling again, totally feels harder than just cranking them out.

Squats - flat shoes + loose belt on heavy set, nothing on lighter sets

I warmed up to a set of 265 for 5 earlier in the day to catch that video, and did another 2 sets of 185 for 10. Not too bad. Feels weird doing sets of 10.

Bottom Half Leg Presses

4 plates per side for 3 sets of 15 reps.

1-Leg Back Extensions

Me + 45 lbs x 11 reps per leg. How I managed to match my performance with only 25 lbs, I'm not sure. Might be a distribution of weight thing. Interesting.

Calf Raises in Nautilus Nitro Leg Press

Me x ~25, the last 5 or so reps probably being more like 3/4 reps. Crazy burn.
 
Today's workout went pretty quickly, I supersetted all the exercises and limited rest periods as I worked out late and wanted to knock it out.

Chest/Back

Barbell Bench

175 x 10,10,10

Close Grip Lat Pulldowns

135 x 10,10,10

Incline Dumbbell Bench

70s x 10,10,8

Cable Rows

135 x 10,10,10

Machine Flies

75 x 10,10,10

Wide Grip Pulldowns

105 x 10
120 x 10 (lats way too fried for form to be proper @ this weight)
105 x 10
 
Full Body

Squats - flat shoes + loose belt on work sets

Much like Icarus, I attempted to fly too close to the sun, and burned my wings today.

I keep playing with my form a little, working on really controlling it on the way down (i.e. slowing it down).  Today I attempted to simultaneously think about driving my *** up while driving my heels through the floor out of the hole.

Interestingly, I felt pretty stable, and felt my quads more than usual, though it's possible this also led to a comparatively more upright position/knees forward.  I'd need to get video to see if this was the case, but I didn't notice anything screwy until my fourth work set.

I worked up to 245 for a single with a band around my knees, then up to 265 for 4 sets of 5, and one set of 3.

My original intention, of course, was to go bananas and work up to 5 sets of 5 with 265, which would be a PR by a mile.  Technically, 3 sets of 5 with 265 is an all time PR.

The first 3 sets felt pretty solid.  I didn't really notice anything shitty happening, at least, and felt reasonably symmetric, more symmetric than the video I posted above, even.

By the fourth set, it felt like my knees were sliding forward a little too much at the bottom (i.e. hamstrings relaxing), and my GM tendencies were making it difficult to keep my back extension.  The fourth rep was rough, but not super horrible.  The 5th rep of the 4th set was roundback'd, pretty ugly.

The 5th set, I just tried to maintain form the best that I could, and stopped short of risking a breakdown, hence only 3 reps.

Still, 4 sets of 5, or even 3 sets of 5 = all time PR, so this isn't too shabby.  The only problem is that, as fatigue mounts as I continue to play with my form, I lose a sense of what the rep is supposed to feel like, so start second guessing whether **** is going wrong, which is really hard to know for sure without video/an outsider watching.  Nonetheless, at least in terms of repping **** out, my squat strength is at an all time high, so that's cool.

Bench

I decided to bench today instead of dip.  Why?  Because I randomly felt like seeing where my top end strength was, and wanted to test out the setup in the rack at my local gym that allows me to bench without a spotter.

All else constant, benching out of a rack = harder for me, adjustable benches never really feel as stable and I'm able to notice a difference in terms of strength.

Even still, my strength was pretty reasonable, I managed 225 for a set of 5, and then two sets of 4, first reps paused.  It's possible I could have managed 5 reps on set #2, but feared greatness, and stopped due to being unsure of my ability to crank that last one out.  The third set, 5 reps was simply not going to happen.

*** Rehab

1-Leg Back Extensions (right) - me + 45 x 11 reps
1-Leg Leg Curls - 45 x 15
1-Leg Abduction - 30 x 10 (trying to get this to feel right in a machine, I think the band version actually feels better?)

Chins

Me + 85 lbs for 3 sets of 5 reps.

These reps are getting to be chin JUST over the bar (i.e. touching neck) rather than the sternum style, as things get harder. Which is fine, really.
 
Sitting back in the squat...

I'm going to offer a few thoughts on this, because I think it's a misunderstood subject.

Despite the universal suggestion of &quot;sitting back&quot; in the squat, it's entirely possible to sit back too far, imho, particularly with &quot;normal&quot; stance squats (i.e. athletic squats), versus powerlifting style squats.

What I think screwed me up today was noticing my hamstrings relaxing a little towards the bottom, and trying to sit back as far as I could.  This partially killed my sense of power out of the hole, despite the fact that I felt it strongly in my posterior chain.  Why?  Because if you sit back too far, you're actually putting the quads in a really shitty position to help, which is problematic unless you're really, really wide.

Rippetoe actually makes a point of this throughout his literature, that the feeling is shoving your *** back while shoving the knees forward and out simultaneously.  The net effect is that you sit back moderately (what Jim Wendler calls sitting down and back), and wind up reasonably balanced at the bottom with your torso squatting &quot;between the legs&quot; ala Dan John.

I think you can replicate this feeling by simply pushing your but back/up and attempting to feel natural/balanced at the bottom.  If you go too far onto your heels, or too far onto the balls of your feet, it'll just feel awkward out of the bottom, if you're nice and balanced, it'll feel like a strong, natural groove.

Of course, this is easier said than done, and when the weight is heavy and you get fatigued, it's easy to lose a sense of what the **** is happening to you, e.g. my 4th/5th sets above (legs were just fried).

The moral of the story here is to try to get the squat to feel natural, and I think a component of that is simply the sense of being very balanced in the bottom position, which will probably have your knees as far forward as they need to be such that the quads can do their job along side the hammies and glutes.  Sitting back for back-ness sake really isn't going to do you any favors per se outside of a geared + super wide squat, imho.
 
Shoulders/Traps/Arms

Press

Warmed up to 100 for 3 sets of 10. Difficult, I am not awesome at repping out standing presses.

Hammer Shrug

2 plates + 5 lbs per side for 3 sets of 10. Second two sets felt a little iffy.

Nautilus Nitro Lateral Raise

80 x 10,10,10.

Shrugs in a Standing Calf Stack

135 x 15,15,15

EZ Bar Curls

85 x 10,10,10.

Dips

Me + 45 lbs x 10,10,10.
 
Lower Body

Deadlifts - flat shoes + loose belt

Warmed all the way up to 405 for a single, which was not that bad, entertained the thought of testing a new 1 RM, but decided to rep out 315 instead.

315 x...12. Oooooooouch.

Squats - flat shoes

Yes, I squatted after that. What a bad idea. lol

195 x 10,10,10. First set I felt very hip shifty, interestingly I seem to have asymmetrically fatigued my hips.

Second and third sets were actually better though, for reasons unkonwn.

Bottom Half Leg Press

5 plates per side for 10,10,10. I realize I'm underestimating my strength in these.

*** Rehab

Assisted one-legged squats to opposite leg knee. I think what's sometimes called one legged deadlifts.

Me x 15 on the right leg.

Standing Leg Curls - 25 x 15 on the right leg.

Calves

Seated Calves - 25 x 25
Calf Raises in Nautilus Nitro Leg Press - 300 x 8 immediately following the previous.
 
Forgot to log yesterday's workout...

Chest/Back

Barbell Bench

180 x 10,10,10

Lat Pulldown (close grip)

140 x 10,10,10

Dumbbell Incline Bench

70s x 10,10,10

Nautilus Nitro Compound Row

140 x 10,10,10

Nautilus Nitro Fly Machine

70 x 10,~10
65 x 10

Nautilus Nitro Pullover

145 x 10,10,10
 
Pretty solid strength day despite the temperature (a few degrees below zero, feels like almost 30 below zero with the wind chill)!

Full Body

Squats - flat shoes + loose belt on work sets

Warmed up to 225 for a single with the band, then up to 267.5 for 3 sets of 5 reps. Hard, but my form felt pretty good/symmetric. Another all time PR here.

Bench

Warmed up all the way to 225 for 3 sets of 5 reps, first reps paused. This felt very noticeably easier than last week, I seem to have adapted to top end bench strength rather quickly, and this reaffirms in my mind that the combination of heavy dips + light bench has a HUGE impact on my bench strength.

*** Rehab

1-leg squats (depth = rear leg) - me + 10 lbs x 15 reps with one arm helping balance.

45 degree back extensions - me + 45 lbs x ~12 reps on the right leg.

Chins

Me + 87.5 lbs for 3 sets of 5 reps.

Scale weight with clothes on at the gym was 169.8, dip belt is probably ~2.5 lbs, so this is ~260 lbs for 3 sets of 5, in terms of absolute weight.
 
Shoulders/Traps/Arms

Press - flat shoes

Warmed up to 102.5 for 3 sets of 10 reps. Getting pretty tough.

Hammer Seated Shrugs

2 plates per side for 3 sets of ~12 reps (I think middle set was 11?).

Something about this thing feels kind of awkward to me. Maybe I should man up and just do standing, feractual shrugs.

Nautilus Nitro Lateral Raise

85 x 10,10,10.

Seated Cable Rows

~142.5 x 10,10,10. I forget if I did the last set or not...

Dips

Me + 50 x 10,10,10.

EZ Bar Curls

90 x 10,10,10.
 
Today's workout occurred at home due to the holidays. It was alright, but could have been better.

Lower Body

Squats - flat shoes

I started warming up in oly shoes, but I just really prefer the feeling of flat shoes in this movement. I just feel stronger/more stable. Interesting.

Anyways, up to 205 for a set of 10 in a power style (was ******* around), then 2 more sets of 10 in traditional style.

I felt a bit hip shifty, though my last set, oddly, was the best.

Deadlifts

Doing deadlifts after 3 sets of 10 with a heavy for me weight was probably a big, big mistake.

During my warmups, I just felt awkward/slow, was really having a tough time getting a tight setup with a flat back.

By the time I donned my belt, I felt a little better, and decided to go for glory with my original goal of 370 for 5 for the cycle.

I managed ~4.25 reps, got the 5th rep to right below the knee but had no more in me. This set felt kind of sloppy, honestly, not the prettiest work I've done by far. But in terms of brute strength, this is not so bad. I suspect the 5th rep might have happened had I not been foolish and squatted for sets of 10 beforehand...

I may attempt to repeat this next week but get that 5th rep in. We'll see.

Leg Curls

3 sets of 80 on the home setup (doesn't translate well at all to actual machine values) for 10 reps.

Sissy Squats

Weirdly, this is the first time I've tried this exercise, and holy Jesus on a Rocket Ship did this fry my quads to a ridiculous extent. 3 sets of bodyweight for 15 reps here, using my free hands as a guide for balance in my squat rack on the way down. Ooouch.

I may finish up with some *** rehab/calf work in a bit. My post workout meal was a protein shake and bunch of cookies - yay Christmas (Eve)!
 
<div>
(mikeynov @ Dec. 24 2008,10:06)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Sissy Squats

Weirdly, this is the first time I've tried this exercise, and holy Jesus on a Rocket Ship did this fry my quads to a ridiculous extent.  3 sets of bodyweight for 15 reps here, using my free hands as a guide for balance in my squat rack on the way down.  Ooouch.</div>
I used to do these a lot when I couldn't get to a gym. Always got a burn from hell but not much else. But that was back in the day when I thought 'intensity', HIT style, meant everything so I persevered. I also experimented with holding a plate to my chest with one hand whilst steadying myself with the other; that was a lot of fun! Definitely worth a try.  
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A Christmas workout in the basement...

Chest/Back

Bench

185 x 10,10,10.

This was easier than expected. Cool.

Chins

Me + 25 lbs x 10,10,10. Tough.

Incline Bench

155 x 10,10,10. Not so hard.

Cable Rows

3 sets of 10 on the home setup.

Gironda Dips

I tried doing these as best as I could infer they're done from watching videos and such.

3 sets of bodyweight for 10 reps.

Pulldowns

3 sets of 12 on the home setup.
 
blowdpanis: I just witnessed something impossible
blowdpanis: a bro was doing for real squats
blowdpanis: and with a lot of weight, too
blowdpanis: at cardinal fitness
blowdpanis: that's like seeing bigfoot riding on the back of the loch ness monster right before they fly away in a UFO
 
Last week marked the end of my 6 week planned cycle, but I'm not ready to deload just yet.

As such, I've extricated all the main lifts into an upper/lower split and will attempt to milk strength gains for as long as possible.  In a sense, this serves as an overall deload of volume, which should theoretically help performance a bit.

Heavy Bench/Chins

Worth noting here that I actually did the press and rows heavy today, as I was trying to think of the best way to handle this.  Trying to press heavy after benching heavy was a mistake, hence the idea of switching the emphasis between the two upper body days.

Bench

Warmed up to 3 sets of 227.5 for 5 reps, first reps paused.  This actually didn't feel that bad, my strength in bench continues to climb.  Sweet.

Cable Rows

180 for 2 sets of 8 reps.

Press

As above, originally intended to be heavy, but after my first set of 5 with 135 was pretty sluggish/hard, I realized trying to do both heavy in one day = mistake.

So, one set of 5, two followup sets of 4.

Chins

I warmed up to 3 sets of me + 90 for 5 reps.  Definitely an all time PR, though my final reps were BARELY clearing my chin (and I was angling my head slightly upwards).

But still, this is ~260+ for sets of 5 in chins, I'll take it.

Dips

I added a set of dips here as I think I'll only (overhead) press once weekly, and wanted a way to work in dips. So Sundays will be heavy bench and chins, and light dips and rows (instead of light press and rows).

Me + 55 x 11. I'll try this for 3 sets of 10 next week.
 
Ugh, really shitty workout last night, the first shitty workout I've had in a long time.  This was made possible by a combination of two factors:

1) Possibly starting to get sick
2) Warmed up in a little different squat form, a little wider and looking more ahead

Heavy Squat Day

Squats - flat shoes, light belt on work sets

Warmed all the way up to 270 for 2 sets of 5.  As opposed to 3 sets of 5.  The two sets of 5 were BRUTAL, and probably a little ugly, required lots and lots of breathing.

Now, doing 270 for repeat sets of 5 with something resembling a controlled eccentric is technically getting into record strength territory, but the difference in difficulty vs. 2.5 lbs less weight last week is not good.  I will sit at this weight until I dominate it for 3 sets of 5 across.

Bottom Half Leg Press

4 plates + 25 lbs per side for 2 sets of 15 reps.  Ooouch.

Good Mornings

3 sets of 135 for 10 reps.  This was ridiculously tiring, and felt absurdly awkward with a ~shoulder width stance.  I really don't know that I like this exercise.
 
I decided to lift today despite having an obnoxious cold going on.  Weirdly, my strength was actually decent.

Heavy Press, Rows

Press - oly shoes + belt on work sets

Warmed up to 135 where I performed 3 sets of 5.  That's more like it.

Cable Rows

195 for 3 sets of 5.  Not too bad.

Bench

190 for 3 sets of 10, first reps paused.  Definitely an all time PR in sets across.

Lat Pulldowns

Worth noting here that I focus on scapular retraction and depression as I maintain thoracic extension to really feel these in my lats.

160 for a set of 10, a second set of slightly sloppier 10, and a final set of 145 for 10.
 
Good day overall, though my asymmetric tendencies in squats drive me nuts.

Heavy Deadlifts, Light Squats

Deadlifts - loose belt on work set

Warmed all the way up to 370 for a set of 6. Take that, 4.5 reps.

Was it a little messy/stiff-leg-y/roundback-y? Sure, just as the good lord intended. But this is a PR by a mile, and tops my original goal of 370 for 5 for the deadlift cycle, so good ****.

Squats - oly shoes on first set, flat shoes on second two

I tried squatting in front of a mirror today, much to Rippetoe's chagrin.

Observations:

* Looking more or less straight ahead makes it FAR easier to avoid GM-ing the weights, contrary to Rippetoe's wisdom of looking down.
* I really am a little less hip shifty in flat shoes vs. heeled shoes.
* It is really, really hard for me to avoid shifting my hips even at moderate weights.

Anyways, worked up to 210 for 3 sets of 10. Extremely tiring.

Leg Press

5 plates + 10 lbs per side for two sets of 8 reps, paused ~2 seconds in the bottom and half way up.

Calf Raises in Nautilus Nitro Leg Press

2 sets of 300 for 8/15, i.e. 8 full reps, then 15 half reps.
 
Heavy Bench, Chins

Bench

My groove actually felt off on this for some reason today. Still, I managed to rely on brute strength.

Warmed up to 230 for 3 sets of 5, first reps paused. All time PR.

Chins

Warmed up to me + 92.5 lbs for 2 sets of 5, one of 4.5.

Weirdly, I think the first two sets of 5 arguably felt better than 90 did last time, but my third set, I just could not crank out that last rep.

Still, this would represent another all time PR in terms of total load (i.e. me + weight added).

Dips

Me + 55 lbs for 3 sets of 10. This was oddly hard after chins, but I made it.

Bodyweight Rows

A set of 15, then another set of 11.
 
Great result on your deads and bench Mike. What grip are you using for deads?

Interesting what you say about looking ahead when squatting. I find I'm happier looking only four or five feet in front of me at the lowest point in the squat; at the top, my gaze is fixed a lot further away. So, it's like my eyes are following a line away from me on the floor as I raise out of the hole.

It's difficult to be absolutely definite about this because head orientation and eye rotation are independent (to a point), so changing the focus of gaze doesn't have to correspond to a change in head orientation. What I'm trying to do is to keep a neutral spine as much as possible rather than allow my head to rotate back in order to look up. For me, it just feels more natural and comfortable this way when doing a low-bar squat.
 
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