This may not be new news to other people, but I found out the isometric hip extension works better if the inactive leg is up on a 17in box. be sure to stay up on the balls of the feet.
Hang cleans are fun. I enjoy them. I don’t think they do jack shit as far a performance is concerned. The first day I started doing snatches my vertical increased 2 inches. Ever since then I’ve either stayed the same or gotten worse in the broad jump and vertical jump. It’s all a fucking scam.
LOL
great log
x2 on the inversion table being good for the back. Do you use a belt for front squats? I should be asking you for advice considering yours are 100lbs heavier…
I think I’m going to have to axe front squats for a while. My t-spine popped today while I was playing video games. It popped the way my lumbar region used to pop before I seriously hurt my back. I don’t want to herniate a disk in my t-spine. So much for functional hypertrophy and performance gains.
[quote]browndisaster wrote:
LOL
great log
x2 on the inversion table being good for the back. Do you use a belt for front squats? I should be asking you for advice considering yours are 100lbs heavier…[/quote]
No. No belt. I haven’t really had any problems with my lower back since I started front squatting. I think I have aggravated a disk in my t-spine though so that’s going to keep me from doing front squats for about 4 weeks. Hopefully that lets the inflammation go away. If the problem persists then I’m doing to have to drop front squats for a little longer maybe 12 weeks.
I weight 220lbs so my front squat isn’t that impressive. If I was 175 then it might be something to be proud of. Pound for pound I’m about average strength as far as average guys are concerned.
If you want a big front squat and have a healthy back take creatine monohydrate then do 4 weeks of good mornings and 4 weeks of deadlifts followed by 4 weeks of front squats.
I’m suffering from a severe case of indecision. My back popped last night while I was slouched over playing video games. My guess is I have a bulging disk in my t-spine.
I can A) stop doing front squats now, only do single leg training, surely save myself from being hurt worse and still train, but at a lower level. Or I can B) stick with my what I had planned for week 3, lower the weight to something I can maintain flawless form in the front squat with, keep working on functional hypertrophy, and still continue to have an impressive front squat, but at a lower rate of progression than I had originally planned.
Right now I’m thinking option B. Right now I only get a minor back ache for a day or two after I lift. I think if I lower the weight and cut the slop I will be able to continue training the front squat with little trouble. However, if the pain continues after week three with perfect form I will drop the front squat for single leg training.
I wish I could switch to deadlift, but I wasn’t planning on deadlifting for another year or so.
This just goes to show that once you advance past the novice lifting stage you can’t really plan on anything. I can have a general idea of what I want to do, but that’s it. It’s really just checking the ego at the door and listening to what this bag of bones will allow me to do with minimal pain.
when I started 2 weeks ago I was planning on 12 weeks of functional hypertrophy followed by a cycle of the Justa program for front squats. That’s what I would like to do. I don’t have any clue where I’ll be in 12 weeks. For all I know I might not be able to walk.
The Justa deadlift program has a funny name. It’s like someone was trying to be clever and make some bullshit into a legit program. “It’s just a deadlift program. That’s it. I’ll call it the Justa Deadlift program. Everyone will accept that it’s legit and believe that you can get strong as fuck doing it. All it will take is a story about a guy that does what these people like to do and gets really good at it with this program”. I don’t know if it’d be like Dan John to come up with an anecdote like that to sell people on his training approach or not.
I tried Dan John’s 40 day program and I feel it worked to some degree. I had already had a front squat of 315, but before I started the 40 day program I maxed out in the front squat and couldn’t hit 315. Take from that what you will, but I think training everyday at a low level works well for a certain period of time.
That brings me to another topic. I need to stop maxing out. It’s like Dan John says, you should max without really maxing out. I need to stop pushing the limits so far. That just leads to injuries as you get older.
One of the big guys from the forums told me I wouldn’t stick with weight lifting. I’d be one of those people that did it for two years and quit. I don’t know if that means I’ll lift for two years and have to quit or lift for two years and decide to quit. Personally I don’t think that will happen unless I injure myself to the point that I can’t bend at the waist or knee. I’ll admit that with some of the stupid stuff I do that is a possibility.
I want to be doing the big three lifts for the rest of my life. I don’t want to sink into the mediocrity of old age as a weak old man that might fall over and break his hip if he’s not supervised.
I want to be like these 70 year olds that deadlift 400lbs Dan John writes about in Easy Strength.
That seems far fetched because it goes against everything we’re taught to believe, but if it’s not bullshit that’s what I want to do with my life. I want to be as physically strong and powerful as I can be until the day I die.
If I’m going to lower the weight for the front squat I think I may implement the “on the last set go nuts” approach. Overall that might allow me to lower the total volume. On heavy training loads weeks I might try going nuts on the last 2 sets.
That might be a bad idea too. It seems like every time I modify one of these tried and true principles I injure myself. I guess that’s what I get for going my own way. As long as I don’t get too tired my form should stay decent since I’m lowering the weight. I guess I’ve basically changed my approach from functional hypertrophy rep ranges to 20 rep squats on the final set. I don’t think I’ll hit 20 reps on the last set or two with 255-265 lbs though. I’d like to try.
I just sneezed and farted at the same time. I guess some of us aren’t as immune to intraabdominal pressure as we’d like to think.
Wish the local gym would get a trap bar.
This is the best log ever. As far as the front squats, just keep good form and continue as planned. (at least what you can do with good form) I’ve noticed if the thoracic rounds too much when front squatting you just simply lose the lift by either not being able to lift it or having to dump the weight, there is less stress put on your back anyway when front squatting. Also I saw a worm in my semen.
[quote]DSSG wrote:
This is the best log ever. As far as the front squats, just keep good form and continue as planned. (at least what you can do with good form) I’ve noticed if the thoracic rounds too much when front squatting you just simply lose the lift by either not being able to lift it or having to dump the weight, there is less stress put on your back anyway when front squatting. Also I saw a worm in my semen. [/quote]
This log is a joke. I’m a joke. I shouldn’t even think about altering the expert’s advice lest I be sabotaged. All the injuries. All the pain. It’s just sabotage. All it takes one good punch to the back of the head and the curb stomping begins.
My guess is my 5 rep max with flawless form isn’t 265. My 5 rep max with flawless form a explosive concentric and a 3 second eccentric contraction isn’t 265. I was just reading the first few pages of “The Black Book of Training Secrets”. Thib says this: “the higher the intramuscular tension, the more functional the stimulated hypertrophy will be”. He then goes on to say: “In every concentric contraction lifting the weight with more acceleration will always produce a greater degree of intramuscular tension”. Next he says: “in an eccentric contraction…the less acceleration you allow the more intramuscular tension there will be”.
A benefit of the long concentric is technique practice and upper back strength. If my form is flawless I’ll have more time to ingrain that movement pattern.
I’m in the gym doing isometric hip extensions and kettlebell swings every day. I’m going to add 3x3 of front squat technique practice in there with off day workouts.
[quote]DSSG wrote:
This is the best log ever. As far as the front squats, just keep good form and continue as planned. (at least what you can do with good form) I’ve noticed if the thoracic rounds too much when front squatting you just simply lose the lift by either not being able to lift it or having to dump the weight, there is less stress put on your back anyway when front squatting. Also I saw a worm in my semen. [/quote]
The reason I’m getting back pain from the front squats is I’m not using proper squat mechanics. My trunk is straight up and down, my knees are out over my toes and my shins aren’t vertical. I’m squatting from the knees not the waist-you know, not sticking my butt out trying to touch the box with it. There’s been times when I’ve been up on the balls of my feet with heels off the ground. When you front squat like that the safety check of “you’ll dump the weight if you don’t use proper form” goes out the window. You’ll end up with t-spine pain and severe knee aches. It’s not a fool proof exercise. I’ve been doing it wrong.
I’m changing my training plans again due yet again to something I read in “The Black Book of Training Secrets”. I’ll tell you what it is right here: "For the last four years I concentrated mostly on Olympic lifts, and even before that I would train for strength not size. But during my last 2 years in Olympic lifting I would include 4-6 weeks of bodybuilding type training once or twice per year.
Oddly enough I found that during those 4-6 weeks I could gain more muscle size than most guys doing bodybuilding training year round would gain in 4-6 months". So I suppose I can assume Thib was training O-lifts 44-48 weeks of the year. Whether or not he was using steriods during that time period I’ll never know.
So how much this tidbit relates to whatever morsels of training potential I have left is to be debated.
At the end of this 4 weeks I’m going to focus on strength and power for a while. I’m interested in trying and every day type training approach combining hang cleans, cleans from blocks, hang snatches, snatches from blocks and front squats. There has to be a book on bulgarian training that talks about what I’m thinking of.
I could always experiment with alterations to tried and true methods and get myself hurt. Like for instance I was thinking something like the justa deadlift program, but with cleans and front squats in the same day. 70% of my max. The front squats would have a explosive concentric and 3 second eccentric.
Monday 3 singles,Tuesday 5 singles,Wednesday 7 singles, Thursday 9 singles, Friday 11 singles, Saturday 15 singles, Sunday 17 singles.
It’d probably be system overload and lead to overtraining. I don’t know how taxing 70% 1rm front squat everyday of the week is on the CNS. 70% 1rm in the hang clean everyday of the week is difinitely CNS intensive Everyone is already pointing and laughing so it’s not like anything is going to change. Some people might say told you so.
If motherfuckers can max on squats everyday then why the hell can’t I do singles in the front squat AND clean with 70% 1rm everyday of the week…and have it lead to decent gains without overtraining?
The CNS and muscular system recover at different rates. Okay. I’m not a fucking scientist so that really doesn’t mean that much to me, besides everybody is different. There’s no scientific proof that CNS recovery occurs in X days or weeks. That makes me want to try and inverse justa program.
I mean the highest volume day for singles in the front squat would be friday and the one for hang cleans would be monday. Or I could do this: refer to pdf. That gives me a longer recovery time from the more CNS intensive hang clean.
singles program. who knows if it would work. there is never any more than 3 days off. I guess if you do an upper lower split with 2 training days for each upper and lower you never really get any more than 3 days off too. I think it would be better to have the clean and front squat peak at the same time. It’s a low intensity singles program so it won’t kill the CNS. If the clean and front squat don’t peak at the same time I’m afraid CNS fatigue would accumulate over time and it would lead to overtraining.
There’s really no way to know what will happen other than try it and see what happens. Maybe have a progression. The first four weeks have the clean and front squat peak at the same time. Retest your max and find 70% of that or add 10-20lbs. The next four weeks have the front squat and clean peak inversely as a sort of overload. retest or add weight. peak at the same time.
The idea of just adding weight is dependent on how well the weight is being moved. Maxes can decrease while on the justa program. Gotta check the ego at the door, be an honest judge of my own performance and not lie to myself about it.
I’m going to try it in two weeks. I’ll monitor my CNS fatigue with 3 reps of broad jump at the beginning of every day I train. If there are any drastic changes within the first 1-2 weeks or no changes after 2-3 mesocycles I’ll know if it’s a good/bad/ineffective training approach.
I think the weakness of this approach is the fact that it doesn’t train your body to handle supramaximal loads. You’re form caves when you go 90% and above.
“athletes have a limited capacity to sutain and adapt to training stress, so it is a mistake to try to invent the “world’s best program” by adding a bit of everything that works” Black Book of Training Secrets. I’m not sure if that’s what I’m doing in this log or not. Someone tell me if the training schemes I think up are fucktarded or reasonable.
I have a narrow scope of training for each mesocyle. For instance the latest plan I came up with focuses on power and strength. I use the conjugate method, but in the same day opposed to the same week.
I think a explosive concentric and 3 second eccentric phase is reasonable with 70% 1rm singles is reasonable. I think doing that after hang cleans is reasonable.
each day would go like this:
hang clean 70% singles
front sqaut 70% singles
KB OHP or narrow grip bench press 2x5
hip flexion 1x20/side
isometric hip extension inactive leg on box 3x10 seconds/side 10 seconds rest
KB swing 1 set of no more than 50 reps
Turkish get up or ab wheel 1x5/side
If the turkish get up is going to be used you have to use a low % of 1rm because the OHP combined with turkish get up is a strenuous shoulder workout.
I enjoy screwing around with my training approach. It motivates me to complete mesocycles. Designing an effective program is awesome, but even if I fail it’s better than sitting around watching TV and eating pizza. Call me as much derogatory stuff as you want at least I’ve found what motivates me and enjoy what I’m doing.
Just do it and see what happens. Maybe it will make you awesome! And if it doesn’t…then you can learn from your mistakes.
I can’t improve power. If anything I’ve lost power since I started doing cleans. hang cleaning 225 sucks balls. It seems like it should have gotten a little easier by now. I blame the sabatuer for my shitty performance. The sabatuer gives me things that make me suck balls and not improve.
I feel like I can barely get the weight the racked position. The quality of my reps varies way too much. Wednesday I was doing snatches and it felt like I was getting my posterior chain involved because the weight was flying over my head. yesterday and today I felt like I could barely move the weight and was coming no where close with posterior chain involvement.
If the hypertrophy phase of this log is followed. I’m guessing it won’t be. You won’t turn out looking huge. Your traps, lats, spinal erectors, glutes, hamstrings and quads might gain a little size. YOU WILL NOT turn out looking like the hulk though. Your arms will stay skinny, your delts will stay small. And your traps will become more dominant over your delts. You have to keep in mind that form follows function.
I “sort of maxed” today on the front squat. I managed 345. It was a slow rep. I was surprised by how well I was able to move 315 though. Form was mediocre. Dropped the elbows a bit, the knees edged out toward the toes and the T-spine rounded a little bit. I’ve done worse reps.
There comes a time in lower body training when it starts to get “prison gay”. Don’t forget the golden rule of training. Everyone is different. I decided to start using something Pavel calls the anal lock. I’m not sure of the quality you get when you torrent books. I was surprised when I read that, but good to know you can do that nonetheless. Bahaha. It sounds funny. Yeah, it’s funny until your butt hole falls out while you’ve got heavy weight on the bar in front of 20 people on elliptical machines. It’s gay man. I feel like I bitch. Sitting here on the couch writing about doing kegels. Kegels are for women that just had babies and loose hookers. Sterotypes aside I want to save myself the embarrassment of rectal prolapse.
night night. keep your butthole tight.
I think contreas glute bridge is garbage. It may activate your glutes better than any other exercise out there, but how many people can do it with extension at the hips and not the lumbar spine? Probably not that many. It’s one of those things I wouldn’t try without expert supervision. If I had contreras coaching me; yeah I might try the glute bridge, but on my own I would never put the glute bridge in my own programming. Even when I strive for hip extension rather than hyper extension I wind up with my back popping. You know what happens with excessive lumbar extension? fracture of parts of the vertebrae. So in my training hip extension and barbell hip thrusts are out.
Next week I’m starting a cycle of the Justa Program for hang clean and front squat the way justa designed it. There is no need for variation at this point. For the front squat I’m using 50% 1rm though.
people say the justa program isn’t efficient and is time consuming. If I rest 1 minute between each single on the high volume days I’ll be through the main movements in 30 minutes. It’s not a 90% single. Why the hell do you need to rest 3-5 minutes between each single?
hang clean max max is 255. front squat sorta max is 345.