My Road to Elite, Part 2

Took just shy of 4 hours to get this video up! Think I have a much better system now so should be a lot easier in the future.

Notes: Some bench reps didn’t have a pause! Haven’t paused much lately so that might be why. I am not usually a cheater.

Squat looks a little ugly. Squatting too deep, trying to come out of the hole too fast, not having good enough stability to go heavy without a belt are probably the biggest contributors to it looking ugly. Might also be because I lack good strength out of the bottom so I compensate by leaning forward to get out the hole easier.

Deadlift, looked pretty good to me overall. Could have the upper back locked in a little bit better.

The Barbell row is for Alkoholik, he was wondering about the form I learned from a bodybuilder on these. Any questions buddy let me know.

Lifts on video go . . . Squat: 3x365, 3x385; Bench: 3x205, 3x225, 3x235; Deadlift: 3x435, 3x465

Damn man… how about you slow down and let me catch you.

Shit look solid on the Youtube video. The spotter for the SQ looked funny with his hands up and everything, made me chuckle.

Bench looked great man as did Deadlifts always text book form

[quote]ALKoHoLiK wrote:
Damn man… how about you slow down and let me catch you.

Shit look solid on the Youtube video. The spotter for the SQ looked funny with his hands up and everything, made me chuckle.

Bench looked great man as did Deadlifts always text book form[/quote]

First, we don’t know where you will be after you finish with Korte, so slow down I will not!

He’s a cool guy and has hit some damn good numbers. For raw squats I definitely prefer people spotting the bar, I squat low enough that people that spot below the arms usually touch me, makes me go on tilt, haha.

Bench is starting to feel a lot different, really hoping I can have an extremely productive year on the bench. Think I’m going to hit a pretty big set on deadlift next week.

Week 8 GPP/Recovery

Note: Wasn’t supposed to foam roll again this week, get to next week though!

Monday

40 min. soft tissue/stretching left hip

Tuesday

10 min. stretching

Wednesday

KB circuit x 4 (9 min)
—front squat (x10), overhead press (x8), swings (x15), rows (x10)

Thursday

Soft tissue: back and hip

20 min. stretching

SLDL
2x10x25

External rotations
3x10x4

Friday

KB circuit x 3 (10 min.)
—front squat (x10), overhead press (x8), swings (x15), rows (x10)

Saturday

Soft tissue: back and hip

15 min. stretching

SLDL
2x10x25

External rotations
3x10x5

Week 9, Day 1

Fat bar incline bench (middle finger on rings)
1x4x145@8
1x4x155@8
1x4x165@8
1x4x175@9
3x4x165@8
1x4x165@9

BB Lunges
1x5x165@8
1x5x185@8
1x5x195@9
2x5x185@8
1x5x185@9

Zercher rack pulls
1x7x200@8
1x7x215@9
1x7x205@9

Ab wheel
2x10

Landmine
2x10

Cable “L’s”
3x10x20

I guess the most noteworthy thing is that the last time I did fat bar incline benches was Week 1/Day 2 and my top set was 4x140@9.5. This was after doing paused bench; regardless, I know I’m improving quite a bit on upper body stuff.

My posterior chain was fried from yesterday, only explanation for how Zercher rack pulls went today!

Cable “L’s” look like a real possibility for improving my shoulder that last ~5%. Left side is definitely weaker.

[quote]mrodock wrote:
Squat looks a little ugly. Squatting too deep, trying to come out of the hole too fast, not having good enough stability to go heavy without a belt are probably the biggest contributors to it looking ugly. Might also be because I lack good strength out of the bottom so I compensate by leaning forward to get out the hole easier.[/quote]

Wowza, you sank those! Probably a little excessive lol.

[quote]grettiron wrote:

[quote]mrodock wrote:
Squat looks a little ugly. Squatting too deep, trying to come out of the hole too fast, not having good enough stability to go heavy without a belt are probably the biggest contributors to it looking ugly. Might also be because I lack good strength out of the bottom so I compensate by leaning forward to get out the hole easier.[/quote]

Wowza, you sank those! Probably a little excessive lol.
[/quote]

I have this ridiculous fear of squatting high. I am really going to focus on descending very tight and not as far on Sunday, hopefully I can reign it in a bit and squat what I am capable of squatting. Would be good for the confidence.

Week 9, Day 2

Cambered bar bench
1x2x175@8
1x2x190@8
1x2x200@9
4x2x190@8
1x3x190@9

Conventional deadlift
1x4x335@8
1x4x355@9 (added belt)
4x4x335@8
1x4x335@9

Tricep pushdowns + mini band (straight bar)
1x5x130@8
1x5x145@8
1x5x160@10
2x5x145@8
1x5x145@9

Chinups
1x8
1x7

BB rows
1x6x150@8
1x7x170@9
1x5x190@9
2x10x150@8

Dragon Flags
4x8

I don’t think I worked up to a true 9 on cambered bench today. Really feeling good on the bench.

Quite the opposite, felt awful conventional deadlifting. Couldn’t get comfortable, low back started feeling really odd on my first work set so I belted up. Played it pretty conservative because I didn’t want to at all risk injury.

Barbell rows are improving quite a lot, cool.

Did a few snatches today for the first time. Did them with 40kg, and it was absolutely a blast. Maybe one of these days I will start trying to chip away at a 100kg+ snatch.

Glad to hear the bench and shoulder are doing well. Great work man honestly, it is an inspiration everytime I come here.

Sorry to hear it about the conventional deads tho, was odd like hurting or huh? How are the dragon flags compared to every other ab exercise you’ve done? Like Hanging leg raises or ab wheel?

Oh and to comment from my long, there is never a dull day, tho I really wanted those 2 singles today, however something in my hand wouldn’t let me

[quote]ALKoHoLiK wrote:
Glad to hear the bench and shoulder are doing well. Great work man honestly, it is an inspiration everytime I come here.

Sorry to hear it about the conventional deads tho, was odd like hurting or huh? How are the dragon flags compared to every other ab exercise you’ve done? Like Hanging leg raises or ab wheel?

Oh and to comment from my long, there is never a dull day, tho I really wanted those 2 singles today, however something in my hand wouldn’t let me[/quote]

You are too kind, pretty easy to work hard when things are going well.

Ahh hell, who cares about the conventional deads. I was smart (thank goodness) and didn’t push it when it didn’t feel right, that’s all that matters. Speaking of being smart, sounds like you did that on bench the other day, it will get you a lot further in the long run.

I love dragon flags, definitely my favorite ab exercise. The best thing about them is they are extremely adjustable. Want to make them harder, slow down the concentric and eccentric. Want to make them extremely hard, slow both the concentric and eccentric to a crawl.

Week 9, Day 3

Pause squat (no belt)
1x4x295@8
1x4x310@8
1x4x325@9
5x4x310@8
1x4x310@9

CG Pin Bench (1/2 way up)
1x4x225@7.5
1x4x245@8
1x4x260@9
2x4x245@8
1x4x245@9

DB Rear Delt Raises
1x7x35@8
1x7x40@9
1x7x37.5@8
1x7x37.5@9

Ab wheel
2x10

Landmine
2x10x40

Good session. I set an estimated 19 pound PR on close grip pin bench. This is a damn good sign.

I am working hard on making some adjustments to my squat technique. I don’t feel as tight and stable as I should at the bottom of the squat, and I am working on pointing my feet more straight forward and not pushing my knees out as far (open up my hips less). Also, work harder to pull myself down in the descent and keep every muscle in my body tight. The pause squats felt pretty good, kept them pretty light and got some good volume in.

I was told by one of the two best squatters in the gym that I should move the bar further down my back. The reason, it makes it easier to finesse the groove of the squat. If you are coming out of the hole slowly, you can push the butt up ahead and then straighten the torso out for instance. Not entirely sure if this is true but the bar did feel pretty good and more stable further down my back. Curious if anyone has any thoughts on this.

Squat technique changes

So I hadn’t filmed my raw squat technique from face-on in over a year. When I filmed it last week Sunday I was surprised by how shitty it looked. The technique looked inefficient and weak. So I started studying great squatters and realized two things. 1. They don’t point their toes out as much as I do; 2. Their knees track their toes throughout the duration of the motion, my knees move outside of my toes.

Then I decided to study my technique in a suit vs. raw. In the suit my knees track my toes MUCH better than raw, no wonder raw always feels like crap.

I think that pushing out with my knees is something very ingrained and something I do not likely need to think about anymore.

Below is a video of me squatting raw and suited:

[quote]mrodock wrote:
Week 9, Day 3

Pause squat (no belt)
1x4x295@8
1x4x310@8
1x4x325@9
5x4x310@8
1x4x310@9

CG Pin Bench (1/2 way up)
1x4x225@7.5
1x4x245@8
1x4x260@9
2x4x245@8
1x4x245@9

DB Rear Delt Raises
1x7x35@8
1x7x40@9
1x7x37.5@8
1x7x37.5@9

Ab wheel
2x10

Landmine
2x10x40

Good session. I set an estimated 19 pound PR on close grip pin bench. This is a damn good sign.

I am working hard on making some adjustments to my squat technique. I don’t feel as tight and stable as I should at the bottom of the squat, and I am working on pointing my feet more straight forward and not pushing my knees out as far (open up my hips less). Also, work harder to pull myself down in the descent and keep every muscle in my body tight. The pause squats felt pretty good, kept them pretty light and got some good volume in.

I was told by one of the two best squatters in the gym that I should move the bar further down my back. The reason, it makes it easier to finesse the groove of the squat. If you are coming out of the hole slowly, you can push the butt up ahead and then straighten the torso out for instance. Not entirely sure if this is true but the bar did feel pretty good and more stable further down my back. Curious if anyone has any thoughts on this.
[/quote]

Looks like you are having some great proress on your bench! I think you are on the right track with closing your toes up a little in the squat. Guys that have their toes more opened up are usually, but not always, the bigger not so flexible types… like myself :). To be honest when I look at the videos aside from your knee going way past your toes the problem appears to be your tightness. If you notice on the raw squats your first movement seems to make you go forward just a tad, but it is enough to throw the entire lift off. When you have gear on this does not happen due to the gear supporting you at the bottom. I would focus on staying super tight in the bottom and really driving my head back into the bar while keeping my elbows pointed down at the floor.

[quote]bad_mo_fo wrote:

Looks like you are having some great proress on your bench! I think you are on the right track with closing your toes up a little in the squat. Guys that have their toes more opened up are usually, but not always, the bigger not so flexible types… like myself :). To be honest when I look at the videos aside from your knee going way past your toes the problem appears to be your tightness. If you notice on the raw squats your first movement seems to make you go forward just a tad, but it is enough to throw the entire lift off. When you have gear on this does not happen due to the gear supporting you at the bottom. I would focus on staying super tight in the bottom and really driving my head back into the bar while keeping my elbows pointed down at the floor. [/quote]

That is interesting about people that are tighter usually open up the toes. Makes a lot of sense as it REALLY opens up the hips.

When you say first movement, do you mean the first movement in the descent or ascent?

Will be interested in hearing what you think about the new squats.

Thanks!

Week 9, Day 4

Squat (no belt)
1x2x355@8
1x2x385@8
1x2x405@9
1x2x385@9

Pause Bench
1x2x225@8
1x2x240@8
1x1x250@9
1x2x235@9

Deadlift (no belt)
1x2x45528
1x2x475@9
1x2x450@9

Pullups
1x8
1x7

BB rows
1x10x145@8
1x10x145@9

Dragon flags
4x8

Inverted rows
2x8

Squats felt much better than last week. Could have maybe had a good double at 415 or slightly higher but it is very difficult for me to get my RPE scale exact without a belt when squatting.

Really thought I had a good double in me at 250, but it just wasn’t there and was glad I kept it at 1 good rep.

Deadlifts were pretty disappointing. Maybe it was the conventional deadlifts from 4 days ago with high volume but I was incredibly slow/weak off the floor.

Don’t think I had ever hit 8 bodyweight pull-ups at any bodyweight, so that is kind of cool.

Note: Just found out the meet date, June 12, 2 weeks earlier than I was figuring it would be. Last year it was 1 week after Men’s Open Nationals, this year it is one week before. Because the meet is held in a school gym they have to figure out when they can reserve it, and the meet gets scheduled pretty late. So, at present, I am 8 weeks out.

Week 9 GPP/Recovery

Monday

contrast shower x3

Wednesday

contrast shower x3

Thursday

foam roll: upper and lower

10 min. stretching

soft tissue: low back/upper back

60 min. stretching and soft tissue on hip

External rotations 3x10x5

Friday

soft tissue: low back

contrast shower x4

Saturday

foam roll: upper and lower

[quote]mrodock wrote:
Week 9, Day 4

Squat (no belt)
1x2x355@8
1x2x385@8
1x2x405@9
1x2x385@9

Pause Bench
1x2x225@8
1x2x240@8
1x1x250@9
1x2x235@9

Deadlift (no belt)
1x2x45528
1x2x475@9
1x2x450@9

Pullups
1x8
1x7

BB rows
1x10x145@8
1x10x145@9

Dragon flags
4x8

Inverted rows
2x8

Squats felt much better than last week. Could have maybe had a good double at 415 or slightly higher but it is very difficult for me to get my RPE scale exact without a belt when squatting.

Really thought I had a good double in me at 250, but it just wasn’t there and was glad I kept it at 1 good rep.

Deadlifts were pretty disappointing. Maybe it was the conventional deadlifts from 4 days ago with high volume but I was incredibly slow/weak off the floor.

Don’t think I had ever hit 8 bodyweight pull-ups at any bodyweight, so that is kind of cool.

Note: Just found out the meet date, June 12, 2 weeks earlier than I was figuring it would be. Last year it was 1 week after Men’s Open Nationals, this year it is one week before. Because the meet is held in a school gym they have to figure out when they can reserve it, and the meet gets scheduled pretty late. So, at present, I am 8 weeks out.[/quote]

The squats are looking much better than last week. Much better! In the previous week I think the problem with moving forward was on the first movement during the concentric but it was caused by the eccentric. In your decent toward the bottom your weight is supposed to stay on the heels but as were were going down your weight was shifing forward, thus the knees going way over the toes. So when it came time for the concentric you were already in a bad position and you fell forward a little.

[quote]bad_mo_fo wrote:

The squats are looking much better than last week. Much better! In the previous week I think the problem with moving forward was on the first movement during the concentric but it was caused by the eccentric. In your decent toward the bottom your weight is supposed to stay on the heels but as were were going down your weight was shifing forward, thus the knees going way over the toes. So when it came time for the concentric you were already in a bad position and you fell forward a little.[/quote]

Thanks man, they sure felt significantly better.

Makes perfect sense, thanks. Definitely felt very out of position in the bottom of raw squats before.

Week 10, Day 1

Cambered bar bench (RPE 9-10)
1x5x185@9
1x5x190@9
1x4x195@10
1x5x185@10

DB Bench
1x4x80@8
1x4x90@8
1x4x95@10
1x4x90@9

DB rear delt raises
1x8x30@8
1x8x35@9
1x8x32.5@8
1x8x32.5@9

Hand walks
2x60 sec.

Cable “L’s”
3x10x20

I figured a set of 5 at 175 would be the equivalent of what I did last week on cambered bar bench. When 185 felt really solid I was very pleased. On 195 the 4th rep was difficult and figured the odds weren’t with me on the 5th rep. Trying to be smart and aggressive, don’t need to hurt my shoulder by being dumb.

On DB benches the RPE’s really sneak up on me.

Didn’t bench really well on Sunday, but pressed really well today. On track.

Great job on the workout man. Even better job on not pushing it to the point of injury. Working smarter!!