The Student Room Group

Raising the bar

All-time PBs as of 14/09/2016
Back squat:
1RM: 180kg(@74kg)
2RM: 160kg
6RM: 150kg
20 reps at 120kg

Front Squat:
1RM: 150kg (@73kg)
Paused 1RM: 137.5kg

Clean:
1RM: 118kg
2RM: 105kg
Power: 100kg

C&J:
1RM:115kg

Snatch:
1RM: 82.5kg
2RM: 70kg
Power: 70kg

Deadlift:
1RM: 190kg
5RM: 150kg

Overhead Press:
1RM: 67.5kg
2RM:65kg
5RM 55kg

Jerk
Split: 115kgx1
Power: 100kg x1

Other crap:
Box Jump 43 inches
OHS: 90kg
Push Press: 90kg
Strict BW Pull ups: 10






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Start of thread.



Greyskull LP:
Started with a reset to:
Squat at 100kg, Bench at 50kg, Deadlift at 100kg, Press at 40kg.


Not currently comfortable with my squat, going to vid it because I feel like I'm not hitting parallel, maybe its just because I didn't really lift at all during June, so I'm not feeling as flexible? I was hitting parallel with 115kg when I recorded that, but that was ages ago.

Fridays session:
Bench 52.5x5,5,12
Curl 22.5kgx12,12,10 - Did 3 sets because I felt like 2 wasn't enough.
Squat 105kgx5,5,8&4 (short rest between the 8 and 4 to catch my breath). Did 60kgx8 afterwards to get some blood pumping round my legs. Y'know, so I could walk the day after.
(edited 7 years ago)

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In.

What about a small deficit, so you can lose some fat but still gain some strength over the next few weeks.
Small deficit wouldn't be too hard, like 200-300 cals or so, I could probably get that by cutting out/reducing my snack at around 5pm. (Usually have some cheese on toast or something - gotta be like 200 kcals per slice?)

Todays:
Press: 45kg x5,5,7
lat pulldown: 47kg x8,8,8
Squat: 107.5kg x5,5,8

Press wasn't quite as good as I had hoped, really wanted 8 on my last set, but the bar refused to go back up for the 8th rep.
Squats felt much better, adjusted bar positioning a bit, went slightly lower, felt lighter than Friday's tbh. Looks like I just about hit parallel, the guy waiting to use the rack after me reckoned I had decent form.
Finished early so decided to get some of todays chins done whilst I was waiting to be picked up from the gym, got 8,8 and 7. Will do some more small sets later - 5 reps or so, wanting to keep increasing the amount I get per day, maybe by like 5-10 every week? e.g. go from 30 a day one week to 35 the next or whatever.

Think I'm just going to do 5 sets of push ups, aim for 20 in each and go from there.

[video="youtube;jTFKT1yLU9c"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTFKT1yLU9c[/video]
Just realise I put them in the wrong order, the set of 8 comes before the set of 5 in the video.
Depth looks good to me!
Just realised I didn't even include the set of 5 in the video, just the set of 8 twice. :lol:
Today:
Bench, 55kgx5,5,13
Curls, 22.5kgx12,12,12
Did power cleans as a warm up for DL, worked my way up to 70kgx3 <- New PB! :biggrin:
DL, 105kgx9
Dropped the bar on my finger whilst loading it up for cleans, nice bruise on my fingertip now.
Conditioning was intervals on treadmill - 30s at 15 kph(+ if I felt I could), 30s at 6kph. Did 8 intervals.
Squat depth looks good!

I'm no squat expert but if you lock your knees a bit more, don't let them push forward and move about at the bottom of the squat, it'll strain your knees less. I have bad knees and am sensitive to that travel at the bottom, it gives me aches of the bad kind the next day. You want to hinge more.

I would post it in the form check thread. Any feedback is good feedback.

Posted from TSR Mobile
(edited 10 years ago)
Okay, will do.

Today:
Press, 45kgx5,5,8
Lat pulldowns, 54kgx8, 47kgx8,8
Only one set at 54kg because its a large jump, and don't really want to add 7kg a session, so just going to increase the number of sets at the higher weight. (e.g. next press session, go for 2 sets at 54kg)
Squat, 110kgx5,5,7 Let all my breath out in the hole of my 8th rep, got stuck.

Probably won't manage to stick to diet for today as we're going out for tea (mum's birthday).

Wish it wasn't so damn hot when I go out for my pre-breakfast walk, I have a shower before I leave, and I'm ready for another when I get back.
Yesterday I decided to run a mile for my conditioning - its supposed to be under 10 minutes, so I thought a mile would be perfect, plus its something I can easily keep track of progress with - unlike intervals (I guess increasing speed for high effort intervals would work, but doing that on a Wednesday anyway).
So yeah. Yesterday's time was 7:16. Not my best, but considering I've not done any real running other than intervals since Easter, not bad.

Trying to sort out sleep pattern as well, I've been going to bed at like 1am every night and waking up at 10am. Fair amount of sleep, but just doesn't feel as good as going to bed earlier. Hours before midnight count double and all that.
Reply 9
Original post by Appeal to reason
Small deficit wouldn't be too hard, like 200-300 cals or so, I could probably get that by cutting out/reducing my snack at around 5pm. (Usually have some cheese on toast or something - gotta be like 200 kcals per slice?)

Todays:
Press: 45kg x5,5,7
lat pulldown: 47kg x8,8,8
Squat: 107.5kg x5,5,8

Press wasn't quite as good as I had hoped, really wanted 8 on my last set, but the bar refused to go back up for the 8th rep.
Squats felt much better, adjusted bar positioning a bit, went slightly lower, felt lighter than Friday's tbh. Looks like I just about hit parallel, the guy waiting to use the rack after me reckoned I had decent form.
Finished early so decided to get some of todays chins done whilst I was waiting to be picked up from the gym, got 8,8 and 7. Will do some more small sets later - 5 reps or so, wanting to keep increasing the amount I get per day, maybe by like 5-10 every week? e.g. go from 30 a day one week to 35 the next or whatever.

Think I'm just going to do 5 sets of push ups, aim for 20 in each and go from there.

[video="youtube;jTFKT1yLU9c"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTFKT1yLU9c[/video]
Just realise I put them in the wrong order, the set of 8 comes before the set of 5 in the video.


Depth looks adequate, but it seems like your ass is rising up before your chest, meaning that you're still bent over and are doing a good morning with the weight. Focus on keeping your chest up and your torso as upright as you can during the squat. It's also hard to tell, but are you squatting high bar or low bar? If high bar, definitely focus on keeping a more upright torso position. If low bar, keep at it, but keep in mind the chest thing.
Original post by JordanR
Depth looks adequate, but it seems like your ass is rising up before your chest, meaning that you're still bent over and are doing a good morning with the weight. Focus on keeping your chest up and your torso as upright as you can during the squat. It's also hard to tell, but are you squatting high bar or low bar? If high bar, definitely focus on keeping a more upright torso position. If low bar, keep at it, but keep in mind the chest thing.


Yeah, I definitely see what you mean, really noticeable in the last few reps. I squat low bar, but I'll work at it, guess I just need to remember the chest up cue when I feel it starting to happen. Either that or ask someone to shout it at me.
Reply 11
Original post by Appeal to reason
Yeah, I definitely see what you mean, really noticeable in the last few reps. I squat low bar, but I'll work at it, guess I just need to remember the chest up cue when I feel it starting to happen. Either that or ask someone to shout it at me.


Honestly, just remember every single rep to rise with your chest. If you're rising with your chest then the rest of you will follow; the opposite is not necessarily true. Remember that for low bar, you don't have to go any deeper than parallel to make it a full squat. Also it maybe looks like your knees are coming in a tiny tiny bit, so just focus on spreading the floor with them and shoving them out. Looking good though, these are just minor niggles.
Bench 57.5kgx5,5,13 I almost didn't get the last rep up. Would've been embarrassing as I didn't have a spotter.
Barbell curls 25kgx12,12,12
Squat 112.5kgx5,5,7 Chest felt up when doing these, which is good.
Did some incline situps, 2 sets of 25, and some cable curls to try them out. Cable curls didn't feel as comfortable for my wrists as barbell (presumably as I used a straight handle, and had to take a narrower grip than I'm used to).

Wasn't happy about having to wait so long to squat though, two guys were doing lunges with just the bar in the squat rack, they did like 5 sets, don't see why they couldn't use the bar on the floor. (They were big guys, its not like they would've found it hard to lift the bar onto their shoulders)

This week, I've increased chins to 45 a day (in sets of 5), and press up volume has decreased, but swapped from 4 sets of 25 to 3 sets of 30, with the aim of building towards fewer large sets (I guess it would be cool to be able to do 100).

Weigh in: 71.30kg, change of .15kg from last Monday, seems like I got the deficit just about right this week.
(edited 10 years ago)
I think silent ninja has the better advice here.. think "down" when you're near the top, and then as you get to the bottom start thinking about "reaching back" with your hips. Leading with your chest is a horrible cue in my opinion, and you are not really GMing the squats to any significant degree.
Fell on my coccyx at taekwondo today. DAT PAIN.

Will see how I feel in the morning, but I highly doubt I'll be lifting tomorrow. (Certainly won't be DLing)
ouch! stay safe brah
Reply 16
Original post by The Troll Toll
I think silent ninja has the better advice here.. think "down" when you're near the top, and then as you get to the bottom start thinking about "reaching back" with your hips. Leading with your chest is a horrible cue in my opinion, and you are not really GMing the squats to any significant degree.

cues are different for everyone, the "reaching back" or "Hiiiiiip draaaaaaahve" cue didn't really work for me, but the chest thing did.
I know they are, but I think in the OP's case you are trying to solve a problem that isn't there. Silent ninja is trying to solve a problem that is there, so reaching back at the bottom might help.
Reply 18
Original post by The Troll Toll
I know they are, but I think in the OP's case you are trying to solve a problem that isn't there. Silent ninja is trying to solve a problem that is there, so reaching back at the bottom might help.

Hmm true, but I can't imagine this tiny little niggle getting any better as OP adds more weight to the bar, so it's best to stamp it out early. I actually stopped doing low bar squats for this reason -- high bar and its more upright torso position felt a lot better for my lower back.

Hip drive is definitely important though, I agree, even if it didn't work as a cue for me.
Original post by JordanR
Hmm true, but I can't imagine this tiny little niggle getting any better as OP adds more weight to the bar, so it's best to stamp it out early.

Honestly I think it'll stay the same and keep being insignificant. I can't really elaborate on that.

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