70% 300 x 3 (Double Overhand)
80% 345 x 3 (Double Overhand)
90% 385 x 3+ (10 Total, Mixed Grip)
?% 315 x 5 (Pause below knee)
Assistance:
-Lat Pulldown
120 x 10
4 x 10 @ 150
-DB Row w/ Straps (Strict as possible)
5 x 10 @ 100
Superset:
-Straight Arm Pulldown
-5 x 15 @ 80
-NG Low Row
5 x 20 @ 150
Superset:
-Single Arm pulldown
-3 x 10 @ 100
-Low Row/High-Pull (Overhand Grip)
-3 x 15 @ 100
Felt great today, took a video of my pulls at 385 to see what I could see, never done it before so it was kinda cool in my mind…everything looked good, the last two that I felt were real grinders turned out to move pretty well still…cool stuff.
I created a youtube account and upload my videos there. When using a PC I click the upload icon and open my youtube in a second window. When you upload from a PC it gives you the option of entering a web address. I copy the youtube address for my video and paste it.
From my phone I can upload from the device which is a little more direct but I like having my youtube collection.
70% 115 x 3
80% 125 x 3
90% 140 x 3+ (8 total)
70% 115 x 8
Assistance:
-BO Row/Flies 5 x 20 @ 20
-Plate Raises 4 x 25 @ 25
-High Incline DB Bench 3 x 15 @ 45
-Lateral Raises 4 x 15 @ 20
-Rev. Fly (Pec Deck) 3 x 20 @ 60
Biceps:
-Preacher Curl (Turning into a Scott Curl) 5 x 12 @ 35
Superset:
-Alt. DB Curls 4 x 10 @ 25
-Arnold Press 3 x 10 @ 25
Cardio: 15 Minutes Full Incline 3.0 mph on treadmill.
Good day of pressing, 7 good presses with a bit of a grinder for number 8. This is going to be my first TM to be reset for sure as next week I will be at my original TM. Everything else is moving great, shoulders feel big and healthy. Grind on, grind on.
5/4/17 Squats
75% 225 x 5
85% 255 x 3
95% 285 x 1+ (8 total)
Assistance:
RDL 3 x 10 @ 205
Standing calves 5 x 12 @ 90
Lying leg curls 3 x 10-12 @ 40
Leg press 3 x 20 @ 200
Cardio:
Awkward bag carry - 88lb heavy bag for 1/2 mile
Not real happy with today, went back and forth and back and forth about lifting today, finally decided to go ahead and hit it. Everything felt super heavy, it moved but not as well as it should’ve. Still got 8 on my plus set, but wasn’t happy with that so I did the heavy(ish) carry to make up for it a bit. Just lacked energy and focus. Felt like I had a couple grinders but video looks like I stuck a bit on my 4th rep and was pretty smooth and steady on the rest. Liking the videos. Gives me some good feedback. Was worried about depth as well, but that seems to not be a problem.
75% 185 x 5
85% 210 x 3
95% 230 x 1+ (10 Total)
75% 185 x 8 (Full Pause)
Assistance:
-Pec Deck 2 x 15 @ 80
-Swiss Bar (Middle Grip) Bench
160 x 5
170 x 5
180 x 5
110 x 12
-Incline DB Bench 3 x 8 @ 60
-Dips 3 x 10
-Low Point Flys 3 x 20 @ 30
Triceps:
-Rope Extension 3x25 @ 50
-Seated OH Extension 3 x 15 @ 30
-Rope Kickbacks 3 x 10 @ 20
-Wide Grip Pull ups 4 x 5
Trying to cram to much heavy stuff into a compressed time frame and I can tell, end of the week with below average sleep, in my heaviest part of the cycle…could have been smarter, but keep grinding, keep grinding. (But I just wanna be huge and strong right now!)
Snatch Grip High Pull
-A mess of sets at 135
-3 x 5 @ 185
-3 x 5 @ 225
Hang Clean
-3 x 10 @ 115
-2 x 3 @ 185
Muscle Snatch
-3 x 5 @ 115
Upright Rows
-3 x 10 @ 95
Pretty low key, probably should’ve taken it off, can feel it in my traps 2 full days of rest later tho, hoo boy. Gotta get rested back up before I hit deads. Two full days in the sun helping work track meets plus ripping out a mess of bushes by hand, forgot how much fun it is to swing an axe/adze/pick for 3-5 hours in a day, forearms are shot this morning.
I always feel the snatch grip high pulls for days. I do a push /pull split and I’m due for some pulling today. Unfortunately, my legs are sore (probably a 4-5 out of 10) from Saturday. Going to be another disappointing Deadlift session. Hopefully you come out better than me.
75% 325 x 5
85% 365 x 3
95% 410 x 1+ (Total of 8)
70% 315 x 6
Assistance:
Lat Pulldowns 5 x 12 @ 130
Low D-Handle Row 3 x 20 @ 150
Face Pulls 4 x 20 @ 80
Superset:
High Pulls (Rope) 4 x 12 @ 80
Single Arm Calbe Row 4 x 10 @ 80
Neutrel Grip Chins 5 x 5
Superset:
BB Row 3 x 8 @ 135
BB Curls 3 x 10 @ 45
Not a bad day, thought I’d get more than 8, but 8 was my minimum that I was aiming for, felt like the last couple were real grinders, but looking at the footage (am I a fitness slut yet?) they actually looked pretty good to me for being beltless and strapless, still a little beat up from the weekend, but overall pretty happy with how things moved.
As always, critique and advise often for those along for the ride!
Thanks.
Looking at bar speed and technique change, you had another three to five. Not a grinder in sight. Possibly because you have quite high hips your back notices even a slight increase in effort more than it would with lower hips and more leg drive.
I think you’re spot on, when I watch it I realize I have a few more left in the tank, the bummer of not having a good partner with ya sometimes… as far as high hips, I really try to consciously sink my hips into it to get that leg drive, but definitely end up with those high hips, not sure what to do about it at the moment though
We’re all a bit different. My hips are high too. I try to lower them and guess what the first thing to move is…my hips. They go right back to their happy place.
It looks like your shoulders are a bit in front of the bar instead of directly over it so you probably have some room to drop your hips. This is only nit-picking though. That was a great set! And when I grind the touch and go reps stop. I have to reset after each rep.
Yeah it’s definitely my “go to” starting spot, feels natural to me to start right there, and yeah looking at it again sitting back a bit more may help. Will try that moving forward! Got a couple weeks before I film again, so will see if I can make some progress there. Much appreciated! (Even if you think it’s just nitpicking, ha!)
I used to think I had a naturally higher hip position until I spent time working on sitting back with my shoulders behind the bar. I do agree that some people do have a higher hip position, of course, but a lot of the time I think relatively weaker hamstrings give a false sense of naturally pulling with higher hips. If you’re stronger in your glutes and hips, it’ll probably feel like you default to pulling high hipped.
Weight: 214.2 (little surprised by this, obviously a ton of things could account for the fluctuation but I’ve been pretty consistently over 215)
75% 115 x 5
85% 135 x 3
95% 145 x 1+ (8 total, #8 was a grinder, but I got 'er locked out!)
75% 115 x 7
Assistance:
-Snatch Grip High Pull
135 x 5
5 x 5 @ 185
-Seated DB Press
10 x 5 @ 70
Superset:
-Lateral Raises 3 x 15 @ 20
-Rear Delt Flys 3 x 15 @ 20
-Tricep Extension (Rope) 4 x 25 @ 50
-Single Arm Tri Ext. (Rope) 4 x 10 @ 30
-Wide Grip Chins 5, 5, 5, 5, 8 (kipped a bit on the last couple)
Pretty solid cycle, enjoying getting back to “my” type of training (a leg day, back day, etc.) with the 5/3/1 progression, feeling good, feeling strong, feeling motivated. Definitely in an upper body “cycle” feeling really strong in my presses and not so much in my pulls or squats, which is a bummer, but they will come back around. Got to thinking of athleticism and age thanks to @Frank_C and decided to do a softball league just to get more activity and have a reason to sprint haha so thanks for that! Hate to be the old “has been” that only has war stories from college/high school that’s all show and no go (on a side note, sprinted around the bases and am definitely feelin it in the ol’ hammies…reminded me that I am a has been haha)
This I think is an underrated cue for deadlifts. This may be the single biggest thing that helped my pull.
To be honest, watching deadlift events from Strongman competitions really drove home the importance leaning/sitting back with the weight, staying behind the weight and just dragging that bar against your shins.
I used to have the bar a good inch off of my shins, and since keeping contact with my shins, my deadlifts has become much more proficient.
Glad to hear that! I’ll warn you though - - start doing some sprints at about 75% effort and build up from there. My go-to conditioning is the run the straightaway and walk the curve workout I’ve been doing. The only problem is that I usually stay at or below 85% effort. When I play softball I tend to run all out…especially if I’m playing outfield. I wake up with sore hamstrings.
I recently played in a basketball league. I realized basketball is a bit higher risk in terms of injury but it might be the more healthy option for me. I have to decide between that or softball this summer. Softball takes longer because we play two games per night and they’re usually not back to back. We arrive early to drink beer and play corn hole. We return to the parking lot between games for more of the same. On a bad night I’ll kill 10 tall boys. On a good night I’ll limit it to 5 or 6–still not that great.
Squats
65% 205 x 5
75% 235 x 5
85% 265 x 1+ (10 total)
70% 225 x 5 paused
Assistance:
RDL
-135 x 10
-3 x 8 @ 205
-135 x 10
Standing Calves
-5 x 12 @ 90
Lily Shrugs
-5 x 10 @ 60
Superset:
Close stance leg press
-3 x 12 @ 200
Wide stance leg press
-3 x 12 @ 200
Leg extensions
-3 x 20 @ 70
Decent day, had more in the tank for PR set, I’m in my head for some reason lately (confidence is shit on squats for whatever reason). Took some video and had more, I know I had more and I’m a little upset about it. Had a pretty good leg pump overall, rest of the workout went fine.
TL;DR - Pussed out on squats, need to mentally prepare better.
