8/3/15
My team won the series of strongman/conditioning games by 4 points. It felt very good and it was a nice team building experience. We all had a lot of fun, and some of us got shirts (I think my team and the second place team).
8/4/15
Max effort squat/deadlift day
Warm up
GHR
(bwX8)X2
squats against double cinched light bands
45X5 bar
45X5 bar
45X5 bar+bands
135X5
185X3
225X3
275X2
290X1
325X1
340X1
350X1
GHRs, I came in hoping to get 100 then realized I am not even close to that yet
bwX15
bwX13
bwX6
bwX6
bwX6
bwX4
pull down abs
90X6
90X6
90X5
back extensions
75X8
75X8
75X8
[quote]Destrength wrote:
8/4/15
Max effort squat/deadlift day
Warm up
GHR
(bwX8)X2
squats against double cinched light bands
45X5 bar
45X5 bar
45X5 bar+bands
135X5
185X3
225X3
275X2
290X1
325X1
340X1
350X1
GHRs, I came in hoping to get 100 then realized I am not even close to that yet
bwX15
bwX13
bwX6
bwX6
bwX6
bwX4
pull down abs
90X6
90X6
90X5
back extensions
75X8
75X8
75X8
That doesn’t look like anything to really worry about, but I would suggest a couple of things.
First, drop the load on the bar down - 350 is around 85% of your max, unless I’m wrong, which I’d say is way too heavy for working against bands. Any technique deterioration you see is probably largely due to that factor alone. Assuming the bands add even 20 lbs at the top, that makes the top 370 lbs which is almost 90%. If they add more, you’d be getting close to your max. That’s very high to work on speed. If you want to overload the top and keep the bar heavy I’d suggest reverse bands - but with reservations, as I haven’t tried them.
What I would suggest is dropping the load to around 60% - so 250 lbs or so, and using heavier bands adding around 70-90 lbs at the top. That way you’ll be much faster out of the hole but still have a significantly higher load at the top. Try going for doubles without a belt, too. The higher tension at the top will really force you to stay tight unracking and walking out which will probably help your heavy regular squats too. Fight the push of the bands trying to pull your chest down.
In terms of your knee drift, it really doesn’t look bad. What I did notice is that it looks like your torso angle changes a fair amount going up and down and also that your hips shoot up a little. I would suggest leaning a little bit more at the top before you drop, and work on keeping that angle the same throughout. Don’t let the pull of the bands make you stay more upright, instead use your lower back to keep your torso where YOU want it. It’ll give you a tight lower back for a little, but it works. Squeeze your glutes as hard as you can the whole time. You might need to slow your descent a bit to do all that, but that’s no bad thing. That’s what I’ve recently been doing and it makes a big difference. Also focus on pulling your elbows under the bar more, as that will push your chest up. Combine those cues and you should find life a lot easier.
Finally, I’d suggest squatting in shoes - either Chucks, wrestling shoes or Oly shoes - simply because you’ll need to wear shoes in comp, and the less that changes between training and meet the better.
I hope all that makes sense. Glad to help in any way I can, at any rate.
[quote]MarkKO wrote:
[quote]Destrength wrote:
8/4/15
Max effort squat/deadlift day
Warm up
GHR
(bwX8)X2
squats against double cinched light bands
45X5 bar
45X5 bar
45X5 bar+bands
135X5
185X3
225X3
275X2
290X1
325X1
340X1
350X1
GHRs, I came in hoping to get 100 then realized I am not even close to that yet
bwX15
bwX13
bwX6
bwX6
bwX6
bwX4
pull down abs
90X6
90X6
90X5
back extensions
75X8
75X8
75X8
That doesn’t look like anything to really worry about, but I would suggest a couple of things.
First, drop the load on the bar down - 350 is around 85% of your max, unless I’m wrong, which I’d say is way too heavy for working against bands. Any technique deterioration you see is probably largely due to that factor alone. Assuming the bands add even 20 lbs at the top, that makes the top 370 lbs which is almost 90%. If they add more, you’d be getting close to your max. That’s very high to work on speed. If you want to overload the top and keep the bar heavy I’d suggest reverse bands - but with reservations, as I haven’t tried them.
What I would suggest is dropping the load to around 60% - so 250 lbs or so, and using heavier bands adding around 70-90 lbs at the top. That way you’ll be much faster out of the hole but still have a significantly higher load at the top. Try going for doubles without a belt, too. The higher tension at the top will really force you to stay tight unracking and walking out which will probably help your heavy regular squats too. Fight the push of the bands trying to pull your chest down.
In terms of your knee drift, it really doesn’t look bad. What I did notice is that it looks like your torso angle changes a fair amount going up and down and also that your hips shoot up a little. I would suggest leaning a little bit more at the top before you drop, and work on keeping that angle the same throughout. Don’t let the pull of the bands make you stay more upright, instead use your lower back to keep your torso where YOU want it. It’ll give you a tight lower back for a little, but it works. Squeeze your glutes as hard as you can the whole time. You might need to slow your descent a bit to do all that, but that’s no bad thing. That’s what I’ve recently been doing and it makes a big difference. Also focus on pulling your elbows under the bar more, as that will push your chest up. Combine those cues and you should find life a lot easier.
Finally, I’d suggest squatting in shoes - either Chucks, wrestling shoes or Oly shoes - simply because you’ll need to wear shoes in comp, and the less that changes between training and meet the better.
I hope all that makes sense. Glad to help in any way I can, at any rate. [/quote]
It was max effort instead of dynamic effort, so that explains the excessive weight (if it was supposed to be DE work I mean). Do you recommend I not use a normal band set up for max effort work? I always thought it was okay to use bands for ME work as long as you do don’t get too carried away with how much tension you use.
When you talk about keeping my torso angle lower before I star the descent, do you mean pushing my hips back/tilting them back? I will have to try that out the next time I squat. Also, yeah, I’ll stop being a bitch and wear my chucks when I go squat.
When you tell me to squeeze my glutes the whole time, you mean the whole ascents, right? I will work on getting and staying tighter in my set up and walkout, and incorporate those cues. Thanks a lot, man, every little bit helps.
Well, there you go - I hadn’t figured it was max effort. That makes a lot more sense. I certainly haven’t heard of any sound reason not to use bands for ME work, although I would question their usefulness for someone of our level. I think a lot of the DE/ME work is best suited to equipped lifters unless you modify it to suit a raw lifter. Not to mention DE/ME work for all that Louie Simmons says works for every level of lifter, I think that would only be true under the supervision of someone who knows the Westside method inside out. Otherwise, I think it is best suited for a lifter of the calibre found at Westside, i.e. master level at least if not elite.
My reasoning is that the heavier the load, the more technique deteriorates. This happens to everyone and is normal and acceptable. I also think that the 85+% range is when this starts to happen - lower in the range it will be when working for reps, but higher in the range it can happen with singles. When you add tension to the top of the movement in this range, what is going to happen is that if you naturally pitch forward and shoot your hips up under heavier loads, the added tension will reinforce this pattern simply because at the top it is too damn heavy for you to fight it. With a lighter load, the added tension is not so much you can’t fight it, but is enough to teach you how to stop pitching forward and shooting your hips up.
The other question I would ask is that given the top is going to be overloaded and you were working with 85% at the bottom, let us assume the top is anywhere between 90 and 100% of your max (I don’t know how much tension the bands add, so it might be even more). How is that going to help you come out of the hole and out of the first third of the squat fast and strong with 100% or more of your max? That is another reason I don’t figure using bands that way with heavy loads works so well, although I may have put it awkwardly.
Honestly, if you want to overload the top I’d recommend doing heavy wrapped squats at aroud 90-95% for singles and low reps and increase from there over time. You’re not exactly overloading the top of the movement as such, but you are working at heavy loads and the wraps will let you get reps for what unwrapped you could only get for a single. That’ll get you used to walking out close to your max and eventually setting new maxes. Combine that with lighter squats against heavier bands to mimic the feel of a wrapped squat but without the recovery costs. But, again, that’s just my opinion. If what you’re doing is working for you keep doing it, I just know I wouldn’t want to add the tension and instability of unracking a banded bar to 85% or more of my max squat. I’m not a good enough squatter for that yet. I think that’s why reverse bands would be better - you very effectively overload the top, but without the pull down of bands and instead having the pull upwards on the weght in the bottom of the movement.
With the torso angle, yes, push your hips back but DON’T tilt them. The tilt is what I used to do and got told off for. Think start of a good morning, just a couple of degrees of hinge and hold that position. Then drop pretty much straight down pushing your knees out. For your glutes, the squeeze starts the moment you’ve walked the bar out, before you even hinge back a little. Try to keep that squeeze as hard as you can right into the hole and then come up. That should all keep your whole trunk rigidly positioned so it doesn’t move, which will let the bar move up and down in a straight line.
[quote]MarkKO wrote:
Well, there you go - I hadn’t figured it was max effort. That makes a lot more sense. I certainly haven’t heard of any sound reason not to use bands for ME work, although I would question their usefulness for someone of our level. I think a lot of the DE/ME work is best suited to equipped lifters unless you modify it to suit a raw lifter. Not to mention DE/ME work for all that Louie Simmons says works for every level of lifter, I think that would only be true under the supervision of someone who knows the Westside method inside out. Otherwise, I think it is best suited for a lifter of the calibre found at Westside, i.e. master level at least if not elite.
My reasoning is that the heavier the load, the more technique deteriorates. This happens to everyone and is normal and acceptable. I also think that the 85+% range is when this starts to happen - lower in the range it will be when working for reps, but higher in the range it can happen with singles. When you add tension to the top of the movement in this range, what is going to happen is that if you naturally pitch forward and shoot your hips up under heavier loads, the added tension will reinforce this pattern simply because at the top it is too damn heavy for you to fight it. With a lighter load, the added tension is not so much you can’t fight it, but is enough to teach you how to stop pitching forward and shooting your hips up.
The other question I would ask is that given the top is going to be overloaded and you were working with 85% at the bottom, let us assume the top is anywhere between 90 and 100% of your max (I don’t know how much tension the bands add, so it might be even more). How is that going to help you come out of the hole and out of the first third of the squat fast and strong with 100% or more of your max? That is another reason I don’t figure using bands that way with heavy loads works so well, although I may have put it awkwardly.
[/quote]
For me on max work the bottom third of the squat is practically weightless compared to the rest of it. I have a very quick and easy bottom half then bar speed starts to drop and I am left to grind the rest of it up. I am essentially trying to train trying to carry that momentum all the way to the top and for the grinding that happens when the momentum has ran out.
[quote]MarkKO wrote:
Honestly, if you want to overload the top I’d recommend doing heavy wrapped squats at aroud 90-95% for singles and low reps and increase from there over time. You’re not exactly overloading the top of the movement as such, but you are working at heavy loads and the wraps will let you get reps for what unwrapped you could only get for a single. That’ll get you used to walking out close to your max and eventually setting new maxes. Combine that with lighter squats against heavier bands to mimic the feel of a wrapped squat but without the recovery costs. But, again, that’s just my opinion. If what you’re doing is working for you keep doing it, I just know I wouldn’t want to add the tension and instability of unracking a banded bar to 85% or more of my max squat. I’m not a good enough squatter for that yet. I think that’s why reverse bands would be better - you very effectively overload the top, but without the pull down of bands and instead having the pull upwards on the weght in the bottom of the movement.
With the torso angle, yes, push your hips back but DON’T tilt them. The tilt is what I used to do and got told off for. Think start of a good morning, just a couple of degrees of hinge and hold that position. Then drop pretty much straight down pushing your knees out. For your glutes, the squeeze starts the moment you’ve walked the bar out, before you even hinge back a little. Try to keep that squeeze as hard as you can right into the hole and then come up. That should all keep your whole trunk rigidly positioned so it doesn’t move, which will let the bar move up and down in a straight line. [/quote]
I think I will keep normal band work in the rotation, but space it out more/almost phase it out completely in favor of different types of overload (high box squats so I have to fight with no momentum from a part of the lift where I am weak at without my starting speed, and reverse bands to keep essentially the same affect as normal bands). I agree that it may not be a good thing in the long run at the moment to have to walk out supramaximal weight while bands pull me around when I want to change my improve my form.
I’ll be honest about the wraps, I’ve never done them before and I don’t own wraps. Are they something you recommend me getting now and introducing them ASAP (I’ll probably be lifting in a meet where they are legal)? What brand do you recommend for my style/the cost and durability?
I think what I am doing works for me, I’ve had past results with pretty much everything in my ME rotation in the past. I am definitely going to relax on the accommodated resistance variations though, I kinda got out of hand with that. I do adjust the DE/ME work to make sense for raw lifters though. I add bar weight the the percentages (a lot of the DE work is recommended based off of your equiped lifts), and I try not to go too insane on accommodated resistance. Because of my weird-ish strength curve (I guess from leverages/training history) I have upper end sticking points so I need more upper end work without losing my bottom end strength.
Also I’ll do that glute/hip hinge thing, it sounds like a good thing to include for tightness.
That sounds pretty well thought out. I’m just speaking from my own experience, which is based on my very non-Westside style of training. I do use bands, and I like varying my DLs a bit but beyond that most of my work is on competition style lifts. I figure I’m not good enough yet to need to vary things more.
I would absolutely recommend wraps, and get them yesterday. I’ve used the Inzer Iron Zs and the red Mark Slingshot Lilliebridge wraps. The Inzers are softer and stretchier and I preferred them when I started wrapping; now I prefer the Slingshots. The Inzers are more forgiving of shitty wrapping technique, but once you learn better wrapping I found the Slingshots are much better.
I can’t honestly say I’d have a clue which ones would suit you better. I will say, the Slingshots are much stiffer and stop you going too deep - they actually feel like they stop you a bit high even when you aren’t. However, the drive they give me when properly wrapped is much more than the Inzers, which also don’t feel like they stop me at all.
That being said, I last squatted wrapped with either with a very wide stance, and haven’t yet tried with the narrower stance I now use. My understanding is that wraps tend to give more pop the narrower your squat, but I’m not sure whether it’ll be noticeable. Of course, the thing with wraps is that the tighter your wrap, the more you get - it is down to pain tolerance and being able to force yourself to depth. I can currently get seven to eight revolutions of my Slingshots, but I’m going to try for more.
In terms of cost/durability, I would say anything from Inzer, Metal or Slingshot should be fine (they’re the only brands I have, and only Inzer and Slingshot for wraps). APT have a gerat reputation, and so does Titan. Harris (and Australian brand) makes some great stuff - I’ve got a belt of their and their knee sleeves are really popular. Their wrist wraps are very nice, so I would think their knee wraps would be good too. Is there any way you could try someone’s and see how they feel? Most of the time, the brand tells you whether wraps are springier, stiffer or more cast like.
When you first use wraps, I’d recommend starting out around 80% because they make the first few walkouts REALLY awkward, and the feel is very different at the bottom. My first time I got pinned in the hole out of sheer surprise.
[quote]MarkKO wrote:
That sounds pretty well thought out. I’m just speaking from my own experience, which is based on my very non-Westside style of training. I do use bands, and I like varying my DLs a bit but beyond that most of my work is on competition style lifts. I figure I’m not good enough yet to need to vary things more.
I would absolutely recommend wraps, and get them yesterday. I’ve used the Inzer Iron Zs and the red Mark Slingshot Lilliebridge wraps. The Inzers are softer and stretchier and I preferred them when I started wrapping; now I prefer the Slingshots. The Inzers are more forgiving of shitty wrapping technique, but once you learn better wrapping I found the Slingshots are much better.
I can’t honestly say I’d have a clue which ones would suit you better. I will say, the Slingshots are much stiffer and stop you going too deep - they actually feel like they stop you a bit high even when you aren’t. However, the drive they give me when properly wrapped is much more than the Inzers, which also don’t feel like they stop me at all.
That being said, I last squatted wrapped with either with a very wide stance, and haven’t yet tried with the narrower stance I now use. My understanding is that wraps tend to give more pop the narrower your squat, but I’m not sure whether it’ll be noticeable. Of course, the thing with wraps is that the tighter your wrap, the more you get - it is down to pain tolerance and being able to force yourself to depth. I can currently get seven to eight revolutions of my Slingshots, but I’m going to try for more.
In terms of cost/durability, I would say anything from Inzer, Metal or Slingshot should be fine (they’re the only brands I have, and only Inzer and Slingshot for wraps). APT have a gerat reputation, and so does Titan. Harris (and Australian brand) makes some great stuff - I’ve got a belt of their and their knee sleeves are really popular. Their wrist wraps are very nice, so I would think their knee wraps would be good too. Is there any way you could try someone’s and see how they feel? Most of the time, the brand tells you whether wraps are springier, stiffer or more cast like.
When you first use wraps, I’d recommend starting out around 80% because they make the first few walkouts REALLY awkward, and the feel is very different at the bottom. My first time I got pinned in the hole out of sheer surprise. [/quote]
Unfortunately I can’t try any wraps before I get them. To be honest I’d probably want something that gives a lot of support instead of a lot of rebound, or just something wrapping beginner friendly since I am not entirely sure how to wrap. I think I’ll start off with the Inzers you recommended then go for something more stiff/cast like once I have experience with wraps.
Also on westside: I probably don’t have to have variations and weak point training, I just prefer it and think I get better strength gains from it. Doing a cycle of cube (roughly how it was written) showed me just doing squats and pause squats at varying reps and intensities with and without a belt is enough to still get stronger on the squat. The biggest thing is that my bench thrives on this work (it is the only way I’ve been able to hit PR’s for the past couple of years), and doing the whole westside style of periodization is a lot easier to manage and program than having a mix mash of westside, cube, and a bunch of other stuff. My biggest weaknesses are that I am inexperienced, small, and not exactly super lean. Those really can’t be addressed aside from lots of time under the bar and hypertrophy work.
Like I said, if it works, keeping doing it. I’ve heard Ed Coan saying that too, so it must be true.
You don’t look particularly small, though. I don’t know about the whole experience thing - I’ve only been powerlifting for about a year, and if I’m completely honest three months of that was just faffing around with squats, DLs and some Oly stuff in sets of three.
If you want something stiffer, go for the Slingshots. Wrapping isn’t hard, you just need to find a good video/demo, and here’s the one that changed everything for me:
If it helps, I didn’t try before buying either - I bought both blind, and didn’t regret either.
ME bench
shoulder warm up, jog with team
close grip incline bench
45X5
45X5
45X5
95X5
135X5
185X3
205X3
225X3
235X3
245X2
close grip bench
135X5 wtf, it feels like a decline bench
205X3 still feels like a decline bench…
245X3 yep still decline, last rep was a grinder
245X3 feels slightly better
245X6 I actually felt great and decided to AMRAP
I think it was a mix between just coming off of the incline bench, not getting my lats tight, where I had the bar rest (I made it a point to touch a lot lower on my last set), and my first spotter. It literally felt like it wanted to drift towards my face between reps. I’ll do 3X5 next week.
seated rows
180X12
190X10
200X9 full stack m8s
cross body tricep extensions
20X20/13/8
20X12/6/4
EZ preacher curlz
quarter per sideX15
quarter per sideX12
quarter per sideX10
My teammates were maxing so I stayed and coached some friends on the deadlift. I got this one freshman kid who couldn’t budge 235 off the ground to almost lock 235 out, and I helped one of my running back/wide receiver (not sure which, he is one of those fast guys who catches the bar) hit 315, and I was helping some friends on the line who were trying to go for 445 with straps. Both missed it at lockout, I think my buddy who was going conventional would’ve gotten it if he kept trying to push his hips through, and the other guy who was pulling sumo would’ve gotten it if he arched while setting up.
Notes: Good workout, close grip benching felt really weird, but I managed to figure out the issue. I’ll push (245X5)X3 next time. I think I am going to go bench against a 5/8" set of chains next week to a max. I don’t want to test my bench yet, but the chains should give a general idea where my bench is. If I get 300+ with chains then I should be good for a big PR on the bench.
[quote]MarkKO wrote:
Like I said, if it works, keeping doing it. I’ve heard Ed Coan saying that too, so it must be true.
You don’t look particularly small, though. I don’t know about the whole experience thing - I’ve only been powerlifting for about a year, and if I’m completely honest three months of that was just faffing around with squats, DLs and some Oly stuff in sets of three.
If you want something stiffer, go for the Slingshots. Wrapping isn’t hard, you just need to find a good video/demo, and here’s the one that changed everything for me:
If it helps, I didn’t try before buying either - I bought both blind, and didn’t regret either. [/quote]
Yeah, you are right. I was trying to say I need to get more experience and size to be advanced. I’m doing good for my age, but I definitely have a long way to go until I am great.
Oh, how much carry over did you get from your slingshots? I think I’ll order some gear tonight (wraps, and a good belt so I don’t have to bum a belt off of my school’s weight room).
I am going to buy the heavy esf wraps and the P2 13mm prong belt tonight. The heavy wraps seem to be what I want out of a set of wraps without going too overkill, and I need my own belt anyway (I’ve been bumming an old super broken in belt from my school’s weightroom). The support should be really nice for my squat and deadlift, especially the squat.
DE squat later tonight, I am not looking forward to the strength speed band cycle, it is going to be soul crushingly hard.
8/8/15
DE squat/deadlift
Box squat against light bands
without barX5
without barX5
45X5
45X5 add bands
135X5
185X2
205X2
230X2 for 8 sets, 1 minute rest
doubled light band deadlifts
255X1 for 8 singles, 20 seconds rest
sumo SLDL
265X5
265X5
265X5
erector extensions
10X7
10X7
10X7
feet to bar
5X8
5X8
5X5
notes: I introduced bending the bar and squeezing the glutes. They provided amazing amounts of tightness. My hips, back, and abs feel fucked after this workout.
[quote]Destrength wrote:
notes: I introduced bending the bar and squeezing the glutes. They provided amazing amounts of tightness. My hips, back, and abs feel fucked after this workout.[/quote]
If you’re talking about deads, then yeah you definitely ought to stick with that. The faster I learned to push the bar off the floor with building tension, the less my back would explode and the better I felt each deadlift day. I used to just rip the fuck out of the bar (still do but it’s gotten loads better). It’s a shame I did that for so many years lol. Looking good anyway, diggin the vids.
[quote]strongmanvinny wrote:
[quote]Destrength wrote:
notes: I introduced bending the bar and squeezing the glutes. They provided amazing amounts of tightness. My hips, back, and abs feel fucked after this workout.[/quote]
If you’re talking about deads, then yeah you definitely ought to stick with that. The faster I learned to push the bar off the floor with building tension, the less my back would explode and the better I felt each deadlift day. I used to just rip the fuck out of the bar (still do but it’s gotten loads better). It’s a shame I did that for so many years lol. Looking good anyway, diggin the vids. [/quote]
Nope, talk’in about my sqwatz. I do pull the slack out of the deadlift and brace the shit out of my abs when I pull though. It goes something like
Set my stance and distance from bar then…
- put arms out horizontal mix grip
- get back ass breath of air and push abs out
- push hips back and get grip and pull slack out
- brace abs
- do lilliebridge up and down (stretch reflex/helps getting set up comfortably) thing once or twice then pull
Pulling the slack out and getting the abs really fucking tight is important. Also glutes, once it gets to the knees I try to squeeze the shit out of my glutes and push my hips forward.
I’ll record some sumo pulls Tuesday, I need to record myself benching. Thanks for kind words. 
8/10/15
DE bench against doubled minis
155X3 for 8 sets, 1 minute rest
185X3
205X3
tricep extensions against doubled minis
75X8 2 minute rest
75X8
75X5
weighted pull ups
25X8 1 minute rest
25X8 2 minute rest
25X8
seated plate clean and press
10X20
10X15
10X12
pinwheel curl
45X18/12/6
45X4
8/12/15
ME squat/deadlift day
low box squats
45X5
135X5
185X5
225X3
275X3
315X3
345X1
360X1
375X1 tied my last beltless squat PR
395X1 a bit of a grind/the bar was uneven on my back, shut it down here since hitting a 50+ pound PR on my low box squat is pretty fucking good
hip thrusts
225X9
225X9
225X9
side bends
110X8 R
110X8 L
110X8 R
110X8 L
shrugs
265X10
265X10
265X5
This was an insane training session. I hit those low box squats beltless off of a 2" below parallel box with 10+ pounds to spare. I feel like that is a sign that very very good things are going to be happening with my squat in full gear (although I don’t think I get much/anything out of a belt).
Also, my knee wraps arrived; however, there was a shipping issue with my belt so all I did with them was play with wrapping them. They feel like castes on my knees and are tight as fuck.
Just out of interest, what do you do with your belt?
Where do you put it for the lifts, and how do you breathe? How tight do you cinch it up? Those and some other factors are going to affect how much you get out of it.
[quote]MarkKO wrote:
Just out of interest, what do you do with your belt?
Where do you put it for the lifts, and how do you breathe? How tight do you cinch it up? Those and some other factors are going to affect how much you get out of it. [/quote]
I cinch it up on the squat so that it’d be loose/almost hanging off of me when I am not pushing my abs out. The notch afterwards on the belt I normally bum off the weightroom just kind of crushes my stomach/back so much that I think it causes harm to how tight I can get. I put the belt about belly button height at the bottom, the belt height in the squat against bands video is how I normally have it.
For the deadlift I cinch it a notch closer than the squat and I put it about an inch higher. I get carryover on my deadlift I think (it makes it feel easier to break the weight off the floor), I’d guess about 15-20 pounds of carryover.
Most of my training history has been completely beltless, it is something that I only started introducing in the past 8 months, and I pretty much always include ab and lower back work. I think it just might be that my abs and back are strong enough that they don’t need the support. That might change with introducing wraps, since it’d be more weight than my abs and back are used to supporting.
8/14/15
max effort bench day
floor press against doubled 1 light and mini bands each
45X5
135X5
175X3
205X3
225X1
240X1
255X1 this felt insanely heavy to unrack myself and dicked up my wrist a little
floor rack lockouts
275X3 2 minutes rest
275X3
275X3
band pull apart holds
lightX30s 1 minute rest
lightX60s
lightX45s
didn’t really like these to be honest, I thought it’d work on keep my back tight for bench, but meh
bent over rows
275X5 1 and a half minutes rest
275X5
275X5
db curls
30’sX20 1 minute rest
30’sX12
30’sX4
neck extension
10X28
neck flexion
10X20
notes: This was a good training session, and I felt strong as fuck. I am not sure I like band floor presses with this set up, the bands are doubled around my back and the bar and placed wide enough that there is tension on the bottom. I don’t think I’ll try them again until I can quad the bands against a rack.
I realized recently that I’ve never done any neck work aside from having big traps from heavy pulling, and that having a weak neck is a good way to get injured/killed on the football field. I am going to include neck work of some kind three times a week at least until the football season ends.