A 150 bench locked out huh? Very nice!
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I’d probably call it 147.5, the chains have a couple of links still on the floor at lockout, but I was really happy with it either way! Locking out I dont have many problems with, its more that first couple of inches off the chest what makes or breaks it for me!
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Weighing in at 202.5lb this morning so things haven’t started moving yet, i’ll be dropping my cals down to around 2900 from next week, see what happens with that.
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18-11-16
Lower
Band pullaparts between warmups (rear delts were fried so didnt manage many reps)
Deadlift
Warmup: 5x 60 / 100 / 130, 3x 150 / 175kg
Work: 5x5 @ 192.5kg (stiff bar)
2" Block Pulls 3x3 @ 200kg + chains (30kg)
Hip abduction / adduction 2x10 @ 70kg
Back Raises 10, 10, 8 @ 70kg
Hamstring Curls (single leg) 3x10 @ 35kg
Leg Raises 3x10
So I wanted to do 5kg less than next week to ease me in, got to set 4 / 5 and checked my program for what was next, then realised next week was 5x5 @ 192.5kg, for some reason I thought it was 197.5… oh well! They were quick and comfortable, using a slightly lower hip position and I feel more powerful off the floor, so I’ll be running with it to see how it goes.
Skipped high bar squats today as hip still isn’t 100% but its slowly getting there, it just feels tight and uncomfortable now more than painful, only pain I get is if I lift my knee up and outwards and even then its only slight.
A good weekend of rest now and then back into things properly from Monday 
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21-11-16
Upper
Band pullaparts between warmups, RC work
Bench
Warmup: 5x bar / 50 / 50 / 70 / 80kg
Work: 5x5 @ 112.5kg
Inc DB Bench 10, 10, 9, 8 @ 40kg
DB Row 4x10 @ 50kg
Seated OHP 10, 10, 8, 6 @ 70kg
Machine Rows 3x15
Inc DB Flys 3x12 @ 20kg
Hip still isn’t right, the plan for tomorrow is just to warm and stretch my hip, then start warming up as usual on squat and see how it feels, first sign of pain and I’ll be skipping squats and just doing my assisstance work. It is a lot better than it was and ots only slightly painful if I really open my hips up, bodyweight squatting doesnt cause any pain so fingers crossed!
Todays session was good, I’ve opened my grip up another fingers width this week and it feels really good!
I’m going to move around the DB Bench and DB Rows so that it gives me a little chance to recover between Bench and DB Bench.
If it’s any help, I’ve paused squats to fix many woes.
I’ve had hip problems with the squats before and I found that the cause of my issue was low bar squats coupled with me trying to go as high as possible whilst still hitting depth. Apparently that placed a lot of unnecessary shear on my hips after doing it for a prolonged period of time. Perhaps it might seem counterintuitive but you can try going deeper on your squats and see if it feels any better.
What I did was totally drop low bar “powerlifting” squats in place of high bar “olympic” squats. That being said, you’re training for powerlifting so it probably isn’t a viable option.
Cheers guys, I’ll see how tonight goes first. Its just a pulled hip flexor thats not quite healed yet, if need be I’ll just skip squatting for another week.
I always squat deep @Benanything stopping just below parallel was something I wanted to work on over my next few training cycles.
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Ahhhh, my bad. The only video I recall watching of you is your double PR.
1 of my issues at my meet (imo) was squatting too deep and struggling out of the hole lol, made things a lot more of a struggle than they had to be
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I think depth is like bar position: everyone has a different optimal one. Mine is maybe an inch or so below parallel. I had to learn that and I’m still learning exactly openly feels because otherwise I bury my squats and do myself and my back no favours.
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At my last meet, the side judge (who happens to be a friend of mine) told me I also squat way deep. I asked him if I should practice cutting it higher and he said NO. So I’m taking that to mean training to beyond reasonable depth developing strength out of the hole.
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I think as long as you don’t tuck your butt too much when going deep that’s OK - it just so happens I’m not built that way and after a month or two my lower back starts to get irritated.
I think the issue comes when you get PLers who deliberately train their squats a tad high because of that ‘you don’t lose anything fifteen degrees either side’ garbage and the belief that you can just rely on the extra weight to push you down. Same as squatting in wraps 90% of the time. I figure you train yourself into a corner that way, with just about no margin for error.
My mate Justin is in that camp and there’s no telling him otherwise. He’s missed squats on depth a few times in meet and gets pretty upset about it. I’m pretty convinced if he trained to hit depth by a safe margin instead of just legal he would never get reds for depth.
I can’t justify it for myself. I always try to hit obvious depth. I don’t obsess over it in training and I definitely make an effort not to bury my squats (but that’s for safety really), and if I squat high on occasion I don’t panic but my goal is to eventually be able to hit that same, safe legal depth every single rep without thinking.
So yeah, if you can safely squat deep no reason to do otherwise.
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Thanks guys, good advice as always!
22-11-16
Lower
Band dislocations between warmups
Squat
Warmed up to 110kg then called it a day, hip started causing me a bit of pain.
Speed Deadlift
Warmup: 2x 60 / 100 / 140kg
Work: 10 singles @ 180kg
RDL 3x10 @ 100 / 110 / 120kg
Leg ext 3x12
Back Raise 3x8 @ 70kg
Hip is still causing issues, so no squats again this week, hopefully next week!
Aprt from the hip, rest of the session was good, deadlifts were very fast. Worked up on RDL, 110kg feels like a good starting weight for 3x10.
Second day on reduced calories and I’m feeling hungry for around 30mins to an hour before I’m due to eat so hopefully start to see something happen this week.
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Holy crap, those RDLs yesterday… my hamstrings are on fire today!! I’m glad I’ve finally found something that hits them hard!! Hopefully see some good strength gains from doing them
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24-11-16
Upper
Band pullaparts between warmups
Bench
Warmup: 5x bar / 50 / 50 / 70 / 90, 3x 100kg
Work: 4x5 @ 112.5kg, 7x 112.5kg
DB Row 4x10 @ 60kg
DB Inc Bench 3x10 @ 40kg, 4x 50kg
Pulldowns 3x10 @ 12 plates
DB OHP 10, 10, 8 @ 35kg
DB Laterals 3x12 @ 12.5kg
DB Inc Flys 3x12 @ 20kg
Good session today, feeling strong but my hip is still causing issues, not happy with it at all!! Seeing my physio on Saturday so fingers crossed he can work a little magic!
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Forgot to add, after Bench I had a play around with a Slingshot. 1 of the guys I train with has bought himself one.
It feels really strange to use, but it works at overloading the triceps at the top of the lift! I managed an easy triple with 135kg after all my work sets. It didn’t fit me very well though, all the guys I train with are 110kg+ and they’re sized on weight.
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Red or blue? I’ve got a blue one, barely changes your groove unlike the red.
It was a blue one mate! Just felt really weird to use
Eh, if you could sneak it under your singlet/shirt at a meet without anyone noticing, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind either haha.
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