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

Form all around looked great, Mike. I could tell you got crazy tired in your second set of squats, but you maintained form throughout. Great stuff!

Looking at your deads, it looked like you could have done at least one more; you showed no visible signs of fatigue. Regardless - congrats for the tied PR. So now that this cycle has concluded, a couple questions...

1) How successful was the cycle overall?
2) How much rest are you going to give yourself before starting the next one?
3) What's next?

I hope you continue to feel better!
 
_tim said:
Form all around looked great, Mike. I could tell you got crazy tired in your second set of squats, but you maintained form throughout. Great stuff!

Looking at your deads, it looked like you could have done at least one more; you showed no visible signs of fatigue. Regardless - congrats for the tied PR. So now that this cycle has concluded, a couple questions...

1) How successful was the cycle overall?
2) How much rest are you going to give yourself before starting the next one?
3) What's next?

I hope you continue to feel better!
Click to expand...

1) The cycle overall wasn't all that successful, though it was only a 3 week block. Getting very sick this week probably screwed it up something fierce, though even despite illness I was still able to technically eek out PR's.

2) Not a lot, my high intensity weak is sort of a deload week, so I'll just start something up new on Sunday.

3) Good question, not entirely sure. I'd still like to try for something autoregulated (versus preplanned), and I've been trying to think how that'd work overall while still maintaining the general principles of what I've found seems to work well (frequency, periodization, and RPE-controlled work).
 
Don't faint, Tim, but I tested my high bar squat strength today. And yah, I bounced :p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2U2Vu_pnzo

New PR here. Reassures me that pause squats transfer just fine to other forms of squat, seemingly even without specific practice.

edit: Included the other lifts from today in the video above, to see (most) of today's workout.
 
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(Light-headedness has passed...) :D

It was a very controlled bounce though, Mike. Heck for a PR attempt, do that all day; your knees were never at risk, nor was your back or hips. That transition from eccentric to concentric was PERFECT for a non-paused rep.

Very nice work, my friend. Good lifting!
 
Hey Mike, congrats on the PR.

Seeing that you seem to have a liking for high-bar, have you ever given front squats a shot for a cycle or two? I don't recall seeing them in your log. Maybe they would also work well with your hip situation?
 
Lol said:
Hey Mike, congrats on the PR.

Seeing that you seem to have a liking for high-bar, have you ever given front squats a shot for a cycle or two? I don't recall seeing them in your log. Maybe they would also work well with your hip situation?
Click to expand...

I like front squats alright, but could never get them to feel particularly awesome.
 
You audibly grunted after that 295. It actually looks and sounds like you're trying now. ;)

Form looks fine to me, if a little shakier than yesterday's lift. What was that wobble for just before the second rep?
 
Lol said:
You audibly grunted after that 295. It actually looks and sounds like you're trying now. ;)

Form looks fine to me, if a little shakier than yesterday's lift. What was that wobble for just before the second rep?
Click to expand...

I always do that wobble. For some reason it helps me feel "even" given my mutant hip (I have a tendency to hold the weight asymmetrically).

And yah, the 295 wasn't super easy, particularly done after the 290, which wasn't a walk in the park.
 
The 275 was great, Mike. 300 was a tad GMy at about halfway through the ascension, but you corrected before the rep completed. All in all, very impressive. Great way to start off the holiday weekend!
 
_tim said:
The 275 was great, Mike. 300 was a tad GMy at about halfway through the ascension, but you corrected before the rep completed. All in all, very impressive. Great way to start off the holiday weekend!
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I agree with this assessment, but top squats will always be a little GM-y imho, low bar or high bar. Actually the form looks extremely similar in this 300 pause to last week's 305 bounce, I think the weight is high enough at that point where it's challenging my ability to stay tight through the sticking point.

The nice thing about high bar is it never seems to get as out of control as what happens to me with low bar...
 
You busted through the stick, Mike! Nice work! I like that you went beltless for the rep - I think it makes a huge difference in your overall control.

I didn't see hip kick at all, and any hint of GM was quashed as quickly as it appeared. Nice rep!
 
Both reps looked great, Mike. I didn't see any compromise in form at all through either rep. Great stuff! Keep the PR's flowing!
 
Here's what a typical (bad) day looks like...

Pause High Bar Squat

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 1
245 x 1
265 x 1 (slow/grindy, stop here, no backoff work since a big spike in RPE from one day to the next)

Strict Press (beltless)

Bar x warmup
95 x warmup
115 x warmup
135 x 1
145 x 1
155 x 1 (a bit grindy, so I'll stop here, but do a bit of backoff work)
125 x 5 (belt)

Cable Rows (#'s are meaningless/skewed on my home device)

120 x 3
140 x 3
160 x 5

And that's it. I don't really know what I'm going to do day to day. Squats are kind of the barometer for how I'm feeling, and go first. I will not put on a belt unless the warmups start going great by the time stuff gets heavy and/or I'm in beltless PR territory. On a day like today, in which form felt tight but I was just slow as hell, I knew a PR wasn't going to happen. Given the past few days of success, I'll just call it quits here, so today becomes an automatic deload of sorts. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

And some words of wisdom, courtesy of Bruce Lee...

3JOJo.jpg
 
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