*Notes
-Squats were pretty good. I’m thinking I need to maybe do like 5 minutes on the bike or something because even after my dynamic warmup and warmup sets, my first work set I still feel kinda tight. Suggestions?
-Would have nailed bench had I tracked down a spotter. Oh well, I’ll get it next time for sure on my own.
-Deadlift was heavy for me, haha. Maybe I should have only added 5 lbs?
-Time to clean up, eat a bunch of food and head off to work.
*Notes
-Added a general warmup. . . did 5 minutes on the bike just to get the blood flowing. seemed to help.
-Squats were very comfortable, really starting to dial in my form I’m thinking. Loving the wider stance!
-Rows are getting hard, and I really need to be careful that I’m doing these with good form.
-I finally nailed all 15 on the overhead press. 2nd set was a grinder. For the third I found one of my favorite Foo Fighters songs cranked it up and told myself to nail these last 5 reps! Legs were wobbly on the last one, HAHA!
so long as your back doesnt round its fine to add more weight on the deadlift.
also the wider the stance, or the more outward the toes point in the squat the more you use your glutes/hamstrings and less the quads.
also if your knees come inward again you use more quads, the reasoning is that … whatever is closer to the barbell you’ll use it more and more. when you turn your toes outwards, the back of your leg will come inwards and more forward, hence why you use your hamstrings more.
thats why you’ll notice, most olympic lifters have their toes pointing forward during the first pull, and even in the squatting up again they rarely point them out too much.
Damn I need some food! Weight is up slightly, as is my BF. I know that using a scale is NOT the best way in determining BF, I guess I’m just using it more as a way to look at trends in that dept.
FUCK YOU GRIP! Just one more rep on the deadlift and I would have had an unbelieveable workout. Regardless I’m pretty damn pleased; had a good session.
Its amazing how much help MENTALLY it is in having a spotter. My first two sets of bench were medicore; but my last set I found a kid from work and asked for a liftoff and a spot. It ended up being my strongest set!?! Ok, Matt get a spotter from now on.
Grip gave out on deads, probably a good thing because my 4th rep was a grinder. Going to have to get some chalk, or maybe implement a mixed grip. Chalk should do the trick, thats pretty light to think about using a mixed grip.
Ok, I’m rambling now (thanks Spike Shooter!). . . thanks to all who checks this out.
I’m jealous of your OHP. I just barely broke through 75 on mine - it’s probably my weakest, slowest lift.
Do you squat with a wide stance, or a narrow stance?[/quote]
While my numbers on the OHP are higher, I agree 100% that my press, and now row will be the slowest movers of the bunch.
I now squat with a fairly wide stance. I had been squatting with my heels about shoulder width apart and was leading to some knee discomfort in my right leg. With some help I’ve widened my stance, flared out my toes a little more to create a much more comfortable/powerful movement.
[quote]slimsaw00 wrote:
darwin420 wrote:
Great progress!
I’m jealous of your OHP. I just barely broke through 75 on mine - it’s probably my weakest, slowest lift.
Do you squat with a wide stance, or a narrow stance?
While my numbers on the OHP are higher, I agree 100% that my press, and now row will be the slowest movers of the bunch.
I now squat with a fairly wide stance. I had been squatting with my heels about shoulder width apart and was leading to some knee discomfort in my right leg. With some help I’ve widened my stance, flared out my toes a little more to create a much more comfortable/powerful movement.
-Matt
[/quote]
Everyone has that weak lift, I guess. I’m really struggling with both OHP and bench. But, consistency is key, and my ego is not above making slower progress on those lifts, lol.
I much prefer the wider stance, as it helps me keep my form more intact. And I’ve noticed I’ve become a stickler for keeping myself going ATG, rather than just below parallel. I was struggling for a bit, but the wide stance with a little more flare on the toes made all the difference in the world.
Couldn’t make it to the gym today. I got called in to work, and stayed longer than expected. Wish the gym were open later on the weekend. Tomorrow is a no-go too unfortunately as we’re having family over for Mother’s Day.
I will start back up on Monday. Kinda sucks, I feel like I’m breaking momentum. OR a couple days off could simply pay off in the long run. Maybe I’m just worrying about minutia too much.
Anyway on Monday expect 185x5/5/5 on my squat and 235x5 on my pull!
[quote]darwin420 wrote:
slimsaw00 wrote:
darwin420 wrote:
Great progress!
I’m jealous of your OHP. I just barely broke through 75 on mine - it’s probably my weakest, slowest lift.
Do you squat with a wide stance, or a narrow stance?
While my numbers on the OHP are higher, I agree 100% that my press, and now row will be the slowest movers of the bunch.
I now squat with a fairly wide stance. I had been squatting with my heels about shoulder width apart and was leading to some knee discomfort in my right leg. With some help I’ve widened my stance, flared out my toes a little more to create a much more comfortable/powerful movement.
-Matt
I much prefer the wider stance, as it helps me keep my form more intact. And I’ve noticed I’ve become a stickler for keeping myself going ATG, rather than just below parallel. I was struggling for a bit, but the wide stance with a little more flare on the toes made all the difference in the world.[/quote]
Yeah I know what you mean. Wider stance = better stability, and the ability to really throw those knees out to keep everything in line. As a result, I’ve had a more severe case of DOMS from the squatting.
[quote]slimsaw00 wrote:
Couldn’t make it to the gym today. I got called in to work, and stayed longer than expected. Wish the gym were open later on the weekend. Tomorrow is a no-go too unfortunately as we’re having family over for Mother’s Day.
I will start back up on Monday. Kinda sucks, I feel like I’m breaking momentum. OR a couple days off could simply pay off in the long run. Maybe I’m just worrying about minutia too much.
Anyway on Monday expect 185x5/5/5 on my squat and 235x5 on my pull!
-Matt[/quote]
I’d say don’t worry about it. I skipped a session too last week because of soreness, then I was afraid that I’d be weaker when I got back to lifting, instead I hit a new PR on squats!!
by the way, I’ll be going for 185 on squats as well on Monday!! good luck
[quote]Tonino wrote:
slimsaw00 wrote:
Couldn’t make it to the gym today. I got called in to work, and stayed longer than expected. Wish the gym were open later on the weekend. Tomorrow is a no-go too unfortunately as we’re having family over for Mother’s Day.
I will start back up on Monday. Kinda sucks, I feel like I’m breaking momentum. OR a couple days off could simply pay off in the long run. Maybe I’m just worrying about minutia too much.
Anyway on Monday expect 185x5/5/5 on my squat and 235x5 on my pull!
-Matt
I’d say don’t worry about it. I skipped a session too last week because of soreness, then I was afraid that I’d be weaker when I got back to lifting, instead I hit a new PR on squats!!
by the way, I’ll be going for 185 on squats as well on Monday!! good luck
[/quote]
Yeah I’m thinking its one of times when I just couldn’t make it to train. I don’t really envision taking any planned time off, or deloading unless I REALLY need it. BUT nothing wrong with a day off from time to time. I’m still sticking to the plan.
[quote]slimsaw00 wrote:
Yeah I’m thinking its one of times when I just couldn’t make it to train. I don’t really envision taking any planned time off, or deloading unless I REALLY need it. BUT nothing wrong with a day off from time to time. I’m still sticking to the plan.
-Matt
[/quote]
Life happens, no matter how much we try to plan around it. Don’t let it stop you - let it motivate you!
[quote]slimsaw00 wrote:
maddog_612 wrote:
You probably already know this, but I found that microloading (especially on bench) has been VERY helpful.
quote]
Yeah I think you’re right. Where did you find plates for micro-loading? I know of a product called “Plate-mates” but I don’t know where to find them.
-Matt[/quote]
I just made my own. You can go to any hardware store and get the 6 zinc-plated chain links and the clips. I think I spent about $14 total.
I lift at home so I just have them sitting there. Lugging the chains into the gym might be a bit of a hassle, but I haven’t stalled on my bench since using this method. My opinion is that I am able to handle the slight progression more easily than the 5lbs jumps in weight each time (on bench).
I think that it is worth investigating once the bar speed of your lifts starts to really slow down as you go up in weight.
-A weekend of poor nutrition (i.e. not enough food) led to a somewhat sluggish workout performance. But I still made some progression.
-Squat. . . no complaints really.
-Having a spotter is key to increasing your bench. Not only does the liftoff that they provide get you setup in a good position, the mental aspect of giving it your all can translate into more reps. These felt like speed bench presses.