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

More experimentation with hip hiking...

Squats (first rep paused)

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5

Deadlifts

Warmed up to a single of 365 with a loose belt. Just want to keep a groove here with heavy-ish for me weights.

Bench (first rep paused)

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
215 x 5
215 x 5
215 x 5

OAC Practice (2 finger assist)

Me x 5/side
Me x 5/side
Me x 5/side

Discussion

I went from all reps fully paused to only the first rep fully paused, and touch and go reps in squats and bench. This facilitated lifting heavier objects.

For squats, while difficulty was comparable at 225 and 4 lightly bounced reps to 205, my hip hike was noticeably worse, seemingly largely as a product of actually bouncing. It's like one side is getting more stretch reflex than the other or something. Asymmetry sucks. On the plus side, I still have no lateral hip drift, which was my original ambition to eliminate. I took some videos of this which I may upload later.

Bench and OAC both went fine.
 
Mikey, have you taken any vids of you doing the 1AC practice? How do you feel it's progressing?
 
<div>
(Lol @ Aug. 20 2009,8:38)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Mikey, have you taken any vids of you doing the 1AC practice? How do you feel it's progressing?</div>
Haven't taken any vids of that, and it seems to be doing well enough. I'll find out more next week when I drop to a single set of 5, perhaps I'll snag a video to show what I'm talking about
smile.gif
 
Man, a single set of 5 feels like so little...

Squats (all reps paused)

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 5 (loose belt)

Bench (all reps paused)

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
210 x 5

OAC Practice (1 finger assist)

Me x 3/side
Me x 3/side

Discussion

Squats went alright today in terms of symmetry. I experimented with shoes and, weirdly, I actually seem more symmetric in oly shoes, despite feeling arguably less &quot;stable.&quot; So perhaps this was counterintuitive, i.e. a more symmetric squat is what felt less natural to me. Also begs the question of why...I am guessing asymmetric hamstring flexibility. In terms of strength, 225 x 5 with a loose belt was actually quite easy, even with every rep momentarily paused.

Bench and OAC's both went fine, though the jump in difficulty from two to one finger assist was pretty impressive. I snagged a video of the OAC practice for Lol that I will upload in a bit.
 
Good day for everything BUT OAC practice.

Squats (all reps paused)

Bar x warmup (band)
135 x warmup (band)
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x warmup
235 x 5

Bench

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
210 x 5

OAC Practice

Did these earlier, but they felt shitty, didn't manage 3 reps on either of my sets with the left arm, groove was wildly off without warmup.

I tried these again later, going through a full warmup sequence:

Me x 5/side (3 fingers)
Me x 3/side (2 fingers)
Me x 3/side (1 finger)
Me x 3/side (1 finger)

I experimented going between a normal and gymnastic (thumbless) grip, but think I actually prefer normal. Interestingly I managed the sets of 3 better the second time through with the full warmup, so I will be doing this every time.

Discussion

I tried stretching my QL and then warming up with a band in squats, the idea being to inhibit the QL on the right side via static stretching and then do some activation stuff for the hip.

What I found is that I actually squat down towards my left side much worse when warming up with the band.  So it turns out that I've probably been exacerbating things...nice.

The 235 x 5 wasn't bad at all, though the hip hike is quite present.

Bench went fine, and OAC felt really shitty, though mostly on the left arm.  My second set I tried a &quot;gymnastic,&quot; thumbless grip on both sides, and I think it's actually easier that way, weirdly.
 
Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x warmup
235 x 5

OAC Practice

Me x 5/side (3 finger assist)
Me x 3/side (2 finger assist)
Me x 3/side (1 finger assist)
Me x 3/side (1 finger assist)

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
210 x 5

Discussion

The middle day of my week (Tuesday) is often the slowest, and today was no exception, at least for squats, which were a bit sluggish. I did manage to capture the 235 x 5 on video, which I will upload in a second.
 
I watched it twice, Mike - and reps 3 and 4 look a little bit GM-y to me. Any chance you could do the same thing with a side-angle view? That way your hip angles could be more easily seen and the concentric motion could be more clearly analyzed.
 
<div>
(_tim @ Aug. 25 2009,6:23)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I watched it twice, Mike - and reps 3 and 4 look a little bit GM-y to me.  Any chance you could do the same thing with a side-angle view?  That way your hip angles could be more easily seen and the concentric motion could be more clearly analyzed.</div>
Yah, I can snag it from another view no problemo, but I've been using this view since my primary concern has been my symmetry of form.

Probably worth noting here that I'm using Rippetoe's &quot;lead with the hips&quot; method of squatting in which there is an almost inherent GM-y-ness built in.
 
In my opinion, symmetry was perfect. Agreed - Ripp's form can lead to GMy reps - but look at reps 1 an 2. TRUST me, Mike - those were spot-on form-wise.
 
<div>
(_tim @ Aug. 25 2009,9:00)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">In my opinion, symmetry was perfect.  Agreed - Ripp's form can lead to GMy reps - but look at reps 1 an 2.  TRUST me, Mike - those were spot-on form-wise.</div>
I think rep #4 is the first that's clearly GM-y, rep #3 would still be acceptable in my book. 5 is the first that's over the line GM-y, but I have filmed this from other angles and the GM-iness actually looks worse from behind.

I will take more vids the next couple of days and see how things go, my set of 5 in 235 today felt harder than it did yesterday, though I do have a tendency to get invariably GM-y in low bar squats, as per previous thoughts in the journal. Not entirely sure how to fight it, or if it matters if the segmentation isn't too severe.
 
One thing I've neglected to mention amid this form exchange: you're doing an amazing job this cycle on all fronts.  Your strength increase alone is remarkable with the amount of work you do each week.

Keep rollin', mikeynov.  Keep the vids a-comin' and keep KICKING ***.  
mad.gif
 
Mikey, if these reps were with a load that was anywhere near your 5RM, then who gives a rat's @$$ that you GM'd a little?! However, if these were easy reps for you,(ie. closer to your 10RM) then you should be able to keep your form consistent for each of the five reps.

Ever used weight releasers? They look like a bit of fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmW69kELJFI

Thanks for posting the OAC vid. Have you tried looping a towel over the bar and holding onto it for assistance with your 'free' hand? The farther from the bar you hold it, the more difficult the job of the working arm becomes. It's worth experimenting with the distance between the towel and your 'working' hand too.
 
<div>
(Lol @ Aug. 25 2009,11:25)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Mikey, if these reps were with a load that was anywhere near your 5RM, then who gives a rat's @$$ that you GM'd a little?! However, if these were easy reps for you,(ie. closer to your 10RM) then you should be able to keep your form consistent for each of the five reps.

Ever used weight releasers? They look like a bit of fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmW69kELJFI

Thanks for posting the OAC vid. Have you tried looping a towel over the bar and holding onto it for assistance with your 'free' hand? The farther from the bar you hold it, the more difficult the job of the working arm becomes. It's worth experimenting with the distance between the towel and your 'working' hand too.</div>
Doing paused reps like that, 235 is definitely a lot closer to something approximating a true 5 RM, so yah, that's getting towards my limit (within reason).

The weight releasers look fun, and having Tuscherer's strength would be even more fun...

I've tried forms of one arm chinup with the other arm offset, but the form I evolved described previously, where I use a helping hand adjacent to the working hand, seems to work best, as no other method really duplicates the feeling of compromised balance you get in a one arm chin.
 
<div>
(mikeynov @ Aug. 26 2009,4:44)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">The weight releasers look fun, and having Tuscherer's strength would be even more fun...</div>
Too true, but there's no way on this earth that he's ever going to get a one-arm chin!

Does a OAC compare to a 700lb raw squat? Maybe, maybe not, but I do know you are doing some pretty cool stuff too, Sir.
 
Decent day.

Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x warmup
235 x 5 (loose belt - video of this below)

OAC Practice

Me x 5/side (3 finger assist)
Me x 3/side (2 finger assist)
Me x 3/side (1 finger assist)
Me x 3/side (1 finger assist)

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
210 x 5

Discussion

I took another vid of my squats today, and did a better job avoiding GM-iness, I think. Still an inherent, slightly GM-y quality to it, but that's what this &quot;style&quot; of squat seems to produce, so I'm okay with that.

OAC practice was awkward, but I found a way to make it less awkward, I think, reset between reps for a second as I am losing balance coming back down.

Here's a present for Tim...groove felt better this go around.

Besides slight knee wobbliness (wtf?) on the first couple of reps, I'd say this definitely looks better than yesterday's effort.  I think I mostly managed to avoid GMing it, too!
 
<div>
(mikeynov @ Aug. 26 2009,5:32)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Here's a present for Tim...groove felt better this go around.

Besides slight knee wobbliness (wtf?) on the first couple of reps, I'd say this definitely looks better than yesterday's effort.  I think I mostly managed to avoid GMing it, too!</div>
BINGO.

Form looked great, Mike. Symmetry was perfect, rep speed was good, GMy-ness, GONE.

OUTSTANDING.
 
<div>
(_tim @ Aug. 27 2009,1:52)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(mikeynov @ Aug. 26 2009,5:32)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Here's a present for Tim...groove felt better this go around.

Besides slight knee wobbliness (wtf?) on the first couple of reps, I'd say this definitely looks better than yesterday's effort.  I think I mostly managed to avoid GMing it, too!</div>
BINGO.

Form looked great, Mike.  Symmetry was perfect, rep speed was good, GMy-ness, GONE.

OUTSTANDING.</div>
Thank you much, Tim
smile.gif
 
Last day of this lifting cycle...

Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x warmup
235 x warmup
245 x 5 (belt)

Deadlifts

225 x 3
275 x 3
295 x 3
315 x 3
335 x 3

Pause Bench

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
215 x 5

OAC Practice

Me x 5/side (3 finger assist)
Me x 3/side (2 finger assist)
Me x 3/side (1 finger assist)
Me x 3/side (1 finger assist)

Discussion

Reasonably good day lifting. I finished by upping the squats to 245, which was probably ~9 on the RPE scale for a set of 5, all reps paused. Managed to keep it from being GM-y, too. This would technically be an all time record.

Deadlifts did not feel awesome. 335 x 3 without a belt was probably a ~9 on the RPE scale, though I was trying to be extra anal on form.

Bench felt reasonably easy, OAC's felt about as hard as usual. I will test some conservative maxes in this stuff next week
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top