AD69's Training Log

[AD69]

Any feedback will be appreciated. Hard to tell from this angle, but think that lower back rounding is not an issue any more. Maybe a bit short on depth. And need to stay more upright. Also, think one side is coming up faster, but may be due to the few twinges in hip and thigh muscles that I'm trying to iron out.

[nburge]

Good stuff! I recommend reading the Dave Tate ideas - I focus on making my body as inflexible as possible, tighten up all the back muscles and it just makes a more stable platform to push from. It takes a while to get used to though.

Will be good if you do join in on the BGWLC too - we can have our own mini Olympics across the 10 weeks! I still don't understand how anyone gets to the strength of those guys - snatching 260kgs+ strikes me as a recipe for disaster.

[markg]

Nice vid mate. Your squats remind me of my own. Depth looks fine to me.

You have one elbow quite a bit higher up than the other and like you say, there is a little 'twist' going on as one side slightly overtakes the other.

I try to battle this by concentrating on keeping both sides even and pushing my knees out as hard as possible. Your knees do tend to come in a little as you start the ascent, so this would be a good thing to concentrate on (knees out).

I can't prove any of these ideas will help, as I say I am still battling with similar issues.

Good luck!

[atypical1]

Just a couple of quick thoughts on the vid. I'm obviously not a squat expert by any means so take the ideas with a grain of salt.

I like to bring my elbows down more. I find that trying to put them under the bar makes me much more stable and tight. That might also help keep your chest up and your hips down.

I'd also slow down the descent a tad. I think that's contributing to you looking just a bit unstable in your lift. You're not bouncing from what I can tell but you don't look like you're in total control of the weight either.

james

[AD69]

Thanks James, I think I do need to be in more control of the downward phase. And I've noticed my feet are not at the same angle, or indeed same width from shoulders.

[nburge]

like to bring my elbows down more. I find that trying to put them under the bar makes me much more stable and tight. That might also help keep your chest up and your hips down.

I can't get the vid working in the office so couldn't add much, but a word of caution on this approach - I seem to do this too (I'm trying to fight my urge to put arms under the bar) and on weights >90kgs my elbow starts hurting like hell.

[AD69]

Friday 11th September:

Overhead Squats: 20kg 7x5
Squat: 60kg 3x5
OHP: 30kgx5, 37.5kgx5, 47.5kgx0, 40kg 3x5
SLDL: 30kg 5x5
Chins: BW 5/5/3 PR

Overhead Squats: Following some trusted advice on another forum, I did these originally as an alternative to back squats. It demonstrated some postural imbalances, and the fact that my left foot turns out during reps. Must be due to, or a cause of, the tweak in my hip/glute/back area. Tried to ensure there is no rotation in my feet during the reps.

Squats: Well, I always think that doing is the best way to correct problems, rather than focus solely on flexibility. So I dropped the weight back (AGAIN! ) tried to narrow my stance slightly, make sure no rotation of feet and keep knees pushed right out. It showed as some reps felt really hard, and foot placement did alter during reps.

OHP: I think that the OHS tired my upper body out, as couldn't get one rep at 47.5kg. Decided to strip back to 40kg and kept rests at 1 minute.

SLDL: God, my hamstrings were tight, even from Monday. Reduced ROM, and can still feel that niggle in my hip while performing these. Will stretch out hamstrings over the weekend.

Chins: Well! Don't know where this came from. Possibly due to not being fatigued from heavy deads. Felt the pull from the back/shoulders and helped me get the extra rep on the 2nd set. And again on the last set, felt like 2 was going to be it, but somehow squeezed out a 3rd. Happy with that!

[AD69]

Monday: 14th September:

Overhead Squats: 20kg 5x5
Bench: 72.5kg 3/3/3
Dips: BW 8/5/3
BB Rows: 30kg 5x5

OHS: My hip has been playing up a lot, and also strained my right quad yesterday (actually not sure it is quad, but it felt right at the side of my leg, a few inches above the knee). Decided to just work on flexibility, stayed longer in the hole and tried to hit real depth too to get a good stretch in. In between sets, I did lots of mobility work, leg swings, lunges, side lunges, etc that Mehdi recommends. Real weakness in my left hip, which reduced ROM on the side lunges. However, my hip is feeling better, and flexibility in my left leg seems improved. Will concentrate on flexibility, before a large deload to around 60kg and work back up again. Frustrating, but better to iron out these things now that force on with poor form. Starting back at Bethnal Green next week, and hopefully with nburge as a training partner. Looking forward to it.

Bench: Deload needed. Think OHS didn't help. Need to do more shoulder dislocations as felt some strains in upper back that I've not had before.

Dips: On to these next as smith rack occupied. Fine, just tired as went straight from the bench.

BB Rows: Smith machine still taken after dips, so did rows instead. Dropped weight right back, as these aggrevated hip last time. Felt fine, good to get a bit of stretch in the hips at the same time.

[AD69]

Wednesday 16th September:

Overhead Squats: 10kg 2x5, 30kg 3x5
Squats: 50kg 3x5
OHP: 30kgx5, 35kgx5, 42.5kg 5/5/3
Deads: 60kgx5, 80kgx5, 100kgx5, 120kgx1
Chins: BW 6/3/4

OHS: Used the lighter bar to start with, then added some weight. Had me sweating like a rangers fan doing the sun crossword. I got compliments on form from one of the guys I see in there who I trust (i.e. not a PT!). He does some brutal barbell complexes with all the right exercises and form.

Squats: I can't keep away. Felt I needed to do these to stretch out my hips/hams as much as possible. Kept the weight light though, and watching that my left foot does not rotate outwards at the bottom of the rep. Did the usual mobility work in between sets of this and OHS.

OHP: Damn. This felt heavy even after a deload. I will continue to blame OHS for tiring my upper body out...

Deads: Watched the SS DVD on deadlifting on Monday and was itching to try it out. Felt much better - I think I started with the bar to far away from shins, and didn't touch my shins to the bar enough. Also I was lowering hips instead of raising chest to set my back straight. What a difference! I was planning on doing 5 reps at 120kg, but I was using those blocks that raise up step platforms to raise the height of the bar, unfortunately this meant that when I lowered the weight, it dug right into my shins. Lucky not to have gouged a chunk of skin out!

Chins: Hmm. Anyway, there was some fairly muscular lady on the station at the same time, and she did a kind of reverse crunch while hanging from the pull up bar - pulled her legs up over her head and back down again. Awesome core strength and flexibility. Put my weakling chins to shame!

[nburge]

Nice work... looking forward to meeting up this monday!

[helm]

AD69, OHS are pretty hard indeed. when I tried them once, I had major problems with balance and stuff. and OHP afterwards wasn't that easy either.

the SS DVD is a mean thing, it always makes you want to try the things you see... they should have a mobile screen and dvd player for instructional dvds at the gym, so you can set it right next to your squat rack

I'm sure you guys will have a good time lifting together!

[AD69]

Wednesday 23rd August:

Went to the BGWLC last night. Good to be back and getting coached. Talked through my progress so far and we agreed that it would be good to work on some assistance exercises. So......

Box Squats: 60kg 10x2
Good mornings: 20kg 3x7
Dimmel Deads: 40kg 2x20
Glute Ham Raises: BW -/-/-
Band leg curls: Light band 2x10
Band GMs: Light band 2x20
Bench: 50kgx5, 60kg 3x5, 50kgx5
Weighted core work

Box squats: These felt good, need to stop letting myself drop onto the box, and stay tight all the way down. The short sets helped focus on form, as not having to fight fatigue so much. Coach reckons that box squatting 60kg makes my struggles at squatting 85kg look a bit silly!

GMs: Kept the weight low here, as didn't want to aggrevate my hip injury. Didn't seem to. One thing that seemed to help was keeping a neutral head position - previously I've kept my head up so ending up with an extended neck position at the bottom.

Dimmel Deads: These are like hanging deadlifts. Basically take a weight that is 30% of your working weight, and lower to just past your knees (enough to get the legs involved) and power through with the hips into lockout. High number of reps makes it quite a cardio workout!

GHRs: Didn't get any of these without assistance, they are so hard.

Leg curls: Using a light band, sit on a bench, tie the band round something stable, and put the band round your ankles. Hold onto the bench and curl your legs from straight to 90o angle. Again, quite a hamstring workout, and easier than the GHRs!

Band GMs: Stand on the band with two feet, put other end over head to neck, and perform a GM. More of a stretch for the hams, than a workout.

Bench: Did some light bench work. Was told to pull shoulders back as much as possible on the bench (a la Rippetoe) to reduce distance bar has to travel. Did feel easier.

Ended up doing some weighted ab work to strengthen core. I think I need to do this a lot more, as I've always neglected it (thinking that squats, deads and OHPs worked core anyway).

Feeling ok today, but I know that my hams will be tight as banjo strings tomorrow. Will try to stretch them out tonight.

One of the lads last night managed a squat of what I reckoned to be 230kg or thereabouts. Awesome.

[groundskeeperwillie]

Hey AD

Wednesday 23rd August:

So is BGWLC something to do with time travel then?
Seriously though, looks like you're enjoying this, which is why you'll make progress dude.

gkw

[AD69]

Indeed! Do you want to know the lottery results?

Good to do something different, was getting into a bit of a rut with not much progress.

[Foxybass]

Good luck with the new workouts AD69... sounds like you know what you're doing.