Quagmire911 Lifting Journal

[Quagmire911]

If the glutes didn't fire though, they wouldn't anchor the hips down, and therefore it would become a stiff-leg.

 

[Quagmire911]

Monday

Pretty good day today. Going to be concentrating on bringing the shoulders up to par over the next few weeks and going easy on the benching. I decided still to do close grips in a higher rep range to at least maintain the bench. You never know though, maybe it will take off. I haven't done anything like this before. Here it is:

Pulldown abs 35kg 3x10 -This felt great for the abs. I anchored myself against the pads on the pulldown which made the move a lot more stable. So I am at 35kg and the stack goes to 110kg I believe-so there is plenty room to improve. Glad I have found something that works well.

One arm Oh press-22.5kgx9 25kgx6x6 PR-This is the first time I have done this before doing anything else, so naturally I was going to do a bit more. I was surprised how much more I did though. The second set wasn't great, form was iffy on the left side. The third set was better though. Based on my PR CG bench of 203lbs, Poliquin says that I should be able to handle about 26.75kg for 8 reps. So if I get to 27.5kgx8 over the next few weeks, I should be good to go. I was switching between this and the chins below.

Chinups BW+5kgx6x6x5-The way I did this was I started on the above exercise, rested 90s, did a chinup set, rested 90s, and returned to the db presses, and vice versa. This is taken from Poliquin's "The lost art of overhead pressing".

Cuban press 20kgx8 25kgx8 27.5kgx6-I actually only did the external rotation part of the cuban press, and not the overhead press. Poliquin says to include some external rotation when focusing on overhead work.

CG bench 60kgx10 65kgx9-Not bad considering it was at the end of the workout. Could hear my shoulders clicking at the bottom, but it doesn't hurt. I reckon it should be alright as it is a lighter weight and a high rep range. If things aren't improving over the next few weeks, I will take these out.

Then did:

Shoulder dislocations 1x50-I adjusted these a bit. Re-read the DC article and I think I was going to fast before. I concentrated on going slowly and really stretching like he said-different places were sore that hadn't been before. On the road to recovery!

HIIT/GPP-Squats 40kgx60-I was basically doing reps, racking the weight, and then doing more reps. I have a serious problem with not doing cardio, as I don't enjoy it. However what I have noticed is that once I start something new, I usually do it for a few weeks and then stop. So I am thinking that I will cycle cardio-rather like weights-to try and keep things fresh. Bodyweight moves/the rowing maching/barbell moves/whatever...Still need to get sandbags and a sled...

Well that was all for today. Pretty different from anything I have done before. Will be interesting to see what happens. My aim here is obviously to get the shoulders 100%, although maybe the bench will go up. At the very least I hope to maintain it. Well that is all for today, until next time...

 

[I-tallionStallion]

Wow...some fun stuff Quag. Interesting exercises, haven't done most of those. BTW I hope you get the shoulder back 100% soon. I am still waiting to see a lb 400 DL dude haha

How's the diet been?

 

[Quagmire911]

The 400 will fall soon. Need to get two plates a side on the bench too...and hopefully the squat will improve with the switch to low bar.

The diet is alright although could be better. I am only maintaing right now so usually I will get in four largish meals with a lot of protein. Some days it is five. Don't know where the calories are, probably high 2000's or low 3000's. On the days I work I eat more obviously. I moved to part-time last month so I am usually only in two days a week, so I put a few pounds of fat back on. I am sitting around 173-178 at the moment. I also wasn't quite as strict with the carb cutoff for a few weeks which didn't help, although I am doing it again.

Didn't drink this week, and am going to cut it down to once a week and no more than 7 units. Hopefully with cycling cardio so I don't get bored and actually do it, will improve my conditioning and I will lose a few pounds of fat.

 

[Quagmire911]

Wednesday

Had to go in a day early unfortunately, not that it mattered. Here it is:

Deadlifts -145kgx1x1x1x1x3-I want to get my deadlift going and I amen't as concerned about my squat, although I will do it as an accessory move. I am following the intermediate deadlift cycle by Mike Roberston. Anyway, about the sets: My camera batteries ran out so I couldn't check form which pissed me off. I have been doing glute activation and was really focusing on using the glutes/legs and bracing my abs at the start of the move. Now here is the f***** up part:

Sets 1, 2, and 3 sucked. The weight felt heavy. I could do it, it was just hard and took effort. I wasn't going to fail, but you get what I am saying. Set 4 something f****** up happened. I ripped that f***** of the ground. I wish I could have had videos to see the difference. Set 5, did a rep and smoked it again. Decided f*** it, did another. And another. I could probably have done 4, maybe 5. It felt a lot lighter. I don't know wtf happened here, maybe something (glutes?) fired properly. All I know is it felt great. If I can replicate those last two sets, I know my numbers will climb. They were spot on.

Speed deadlifts 5x1 80kg-Could barely feel any weight.

Box squats (1-2" below) 100kgx6-First week utilizing low bar properly in training. I felt a million times more stable and balanced. I am going to PR here soon. My best is 105kgx7 I think, but it was terrible form. I will be doing more than that with better form soon. Again, focusing n driving with the glutes, and bracing the abs made quite a difference, especially coming of the box. Also, I think I need to sit back a bit further on the box, as I am swinging a bit. Will need to get more videos to see and correct this.

Good mornings 2x5 70kg-These were lighter than they would have been as the posterior chain had been used quite a lot by this point. They felt good though.

Dorian rows 85kg 2x6-Not bad.

Kneeling ab rollouts-1x8 1x1-F****** hell. Anyone reading this, you have to do these. My abs were on fire. I had to stop after one rep on the second set, I thought my abs were going to cramp. These are here to stay. Progressing to standing rollouts and then adding weight...

Grip: COC No.1 (inverted) R 1x8 1x6 No.2 1x0 No.1 1x8
L 1x8 No.2 1x0 No.1 1x4 -I don't feel like I am progressing much here. I think I will not bother with inverted and do a 5x5 or something.

For pinch grip: Plate pinches with thumb and each finger individually, and then door grabx2.

And that was all. Training felt spot on today. Form was a lot better on squats and deads, especially on the last two sets of deads. Those ab rollouts were insane, if anyone is interested ask me about them. I may make a thread.
I actually still had DOMS in my quads today from the 40kgx60 on squats from Monday. Didn't seem to affect anything. Feeling good about how things have gone this week, it must continue! Anyway, it is time for a salt bath,

That is all for this week, until next time...

Quagmire

PS-I was talking to the guy I mentioned in here before that I have seen do 195kgx6 on deads. He was squatting a shi*load today. I asked him what he can deadlift and he says the most he has done recently was 230kgx4. That must mean he is close or at 600lbs for a rep. He is pretty built as well. He says he reps 140kg on the bench too. Pretty good having someone like that in the gym with you, inspiring. He agrees the gym must get a power rack.

 

[Quagmire911]

Monday

Productive day today, although I have a cold. Was just a bit dizzy on and off and didn't do any cardio-maybe tommorow. I sucked it up and went at it though and it went pretty well. Here it is:

Pulldown abs 40kgx10 PR Then decided to do rollouts as they fry me a lot more:

(Kneeling) Ab rollouts-1x8 1x6/8 PR-Don't know if it was 6 or 8 on the second set, can't read it. Looks more like a 6 but I thought it was 8 Good progress from Wednesday's session. I decided to attempt a standing rollout just to humour myself...quite a good laugh

Braced One arm OH press 27.5kg DB-x5x5x4 PR -Getting there. Shoulders are still clicking too much which is pissing me off, although not on this exercise. I did the same as last week alternating with chins every 90s.

Chinups BW+9kg-x5x5x4-First set was a lot easier, could have done 6-7 probably. Started to die on the last two sets though. My bw was 176-177 the otherday (fatty ) so I am a good 5lbs more than when I did these 6 weeks ago. Too much cheat meals and not enough cardio, *sigh*. Infinite Intensity will sort me out!

DB External rotations 12.5kg DB x12x10x10-Did these instead of the cuban presses as my shoulders click on the cuban's. Quite tough.

Pressups +30kgx10 +35kgx10-Ouch. Some amount of stabalizing involved from the abs and quads. Near failure on the last set. I decided to put these in instead of the CG bench as my shoulders were clicking at the bottom of those. If I do what I am doing and don't bench for 4-6 weeks, I doubt my bench will sink much if at all. Going to the doctor on Thursday to see what he says about the shoulders. Will probably try and ice them to reduce any inflammation. Pressups are meant to be very beneficial for the shoulders, especially the serratus anterior which can lead to shoulder difficulty.

As I say above, no GPP because of the cold. Felt pretty good about how today went. Don't know if I have mentioned, but I am using something called the 5 percent solution for the ohpress/chins as outlined here:

http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=12fivep

That's it for today. Workout song of the week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km8xIs24UeY

Until next time...

Quagmire

 

[Quagmire911]

Thursday

Wasn't feeling it today. It could be coming off this cold and the CNS wasn't firing well. Deads weren't right either. Here it is:

Deadlift 155kgx1x1 150kgx1-Wasn't getting any leg drive. Heavy singles aren't going to work until I can get my legs working properly. I have a couple of ideas of how I will work through this. Power cleans/deadlifts from a deficit in a higher rep range (3-5?) and then deadlifts. Maybe some sumo for hip drive too. Coupled with the box squats and gm's.

Isometric-Deadlift starting position-1x4-Each rep held for 5s, 10s inbetween reps. Focusing on maximum contraction. Here my ass came up and back rounded-there is a shocker. Don't think there is any point to these until form is fixed. This was included in Ross Enamaits Infinite Intensity, which is why I am giving it a go.

Speed deads 5x1 100kg-Mix of sumo and conventional. Strangely the sumo felt better. Conventionals just felt slow.

Box squat 105kgx5-Tough. Camera had died by this point which sucks as I couldn't get a video of this again.

Good mornings 75kgx4-Left it at that, was feeling wiped.

Dorian rows 60kg 2x10-Light because I was wiped.

Core: Kneeling ab rollouts 1x5-Just did the one, was wiped.
Russian twists 2x10 (10kg with arm outstreted)

Cardio: One arm snatch 3x15 each side-20kg DB -Pretty brutal.

Just wasn't there today. Was going to do some grip work, but I will do it either later on today or tommorow so as to give them a rest because of the deads etc. I will also include some neck work. Ross Enamait makes the point about hands/neck being undertrained by most. Whilst my hands aren't a problem, my neck is I reckon. I looked up moves like deads/rows on exrx and the splenius and the sternocleidomastoid (neck muscles) aren't included as synergists or whatever. I will therefore devote a couple of sets to moves that will train these muscles and I recommend anyone that reads this too as well.

http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Splenius.html
http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Sternocleidomastoid.html
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/NeckWt.html#anchor1940364 -Exercises

On that note, I have finished reading Infinite Intensity. Whilst it is geared more towards combat athletes rather than powerlifters-many would learn a good deal by reading it. A lot of great info included. Enamait makes this point clear, however he also states that you can easily make changes to suit your own personal needs. I for example am not competing in combat, therefore I can cut down the amount of cardiovasular work and put more of an emphasis on strength work. This is not to say cardio should be neglected, far from it. I also don't need to do as much in the way of skill work-punching drills and the like-however I do like to maintain this skill.

Anyway that is all for now, I will update with the grip/neck work later this evening or tommorow...

Quagmire

 

[mrRuckus]

Those isometric deadlifts:

Are you just loading up the bar to something you can't possibly lift and pulling on it from a starting deadlift position as hard as you can for 5 seconds?

That's a perfectly valid technique for sure. It sounds like a decent idea for developing explosive strength off the floor, which is my biggest weakness in the deadlift: the start. I can lockout all kinds of sh1t but i'm limited by what i can budge from the bottom.

From what I've read isometrics actually cause more fibers to be recruited than a 1RM since your muscle is doing everything it can to move that weight. I've read that Bruce Lee trained like that and even made his own machines and that's why he could punch and kick so quickly and even get a ton of strength out of a very short range of motion.

I've seen Poliquin recommend an isometric bench like that for breaking through sticking points too.



I never really got much out of ab rollouts. Are you sure you're just not used to that movement so you're getting extra sore from it? I mean it's a good exercise but not some super awesome secret ab exercise of the pros. I was doing them like 6 years ago with a $5 thing from walmart before i ever even started lifting and it didn't seem a big deal or even that hard.

From the poliquin article about overhead pressing you mentioned:

1. The ratio between seated dumbbell overhead presses and the bench press

It should be that the weight done for 8 reps on each dumbbell represents 29% of the close-grip bench press measure. In other words, a man able to close-grip bench about 220 pounds for a single would use a pair of 65's for 8 reps in the seated dumbbell overhead presses.

Well, well, that only solidifies my decision to switch to focusing more on pressing than benching. I'm a good 20 lbs off of db press making that ratio

 

[Quagmire911]

Yes, I loaded it to 190kg and pathetically tryed to rip the thing from the floor. Must have looked pretty sad...My 1RM is 165/170 at the moment for reference.

You are right in saying Bruce Lee trained with iso's, Enamait says this in Infinite Intensity.

As for the ab rollouts: I can't even do one standing ab rollout=I suck at them. They absolutely fry my abs. Have you tried doing them one handed with a 20lb back pack or weighted vest, this is what Enamait can do for reps:

http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/wheel.html

Maybe your abs are a strong point for you...

Ps-Grip/neck workout to follow...

 

[Quagmire911]

Thursday-Evening training

Grip: Captains of crush No.1 R-1x15 1x9-Second set done after roller.
L-1x11 1x5-The roller was hard, took it out of me. I could really do with a COC No1.5 for training, the 2 is just a bit too much for training purposes.

Wrist roller-40lbs-One set turning backwards and forwards.
42.5lbs-One set turning backwards and forwards-This was difficult. I will need to get better rope and a longer handle and make a new one of these. This was tricky. I will put it across dip bars or something.

Plate pinches-15lbs suspended from rollerx2

Neck work-Forward/back/side flexion-2 sets each-Just used hands as resistance for pushing against, as it was the first time doing this. Will use other modalities soon.

And that was it. I forgot to mention in my post earlier that the doctor says I have dry tendons. He says it is a "sympton" of using that area a lot. I am actually not sure benching caused it, I think it may have been the shi**y job. He said that I can still bench if it doesn't cause discomfort-pretty much what the physio said. I think I will take another week or two off and then start off with a higher rep move and go from there.

That is all for today, until next time...

Quagmire

 

[MrS]

Thursday

Wasn't feeling it today. It could be coming off this cold and the CNS wasn't firing well. Deads weren't right either. Here it is:

Deadlift 155kgx1x1 150kgx1-Wasn't getting any leg drive. Heavy singles aren't going to work until I can get my legs working properly. I have a couple of ideas of how I will work through this. Power cleans/deadlifts from a deficit in a higher rep range (3-5?) and then deadlifts. Maybe some sumo for hip drive too. Coupled with the box squats and gm's.

Isometric-Deadlift starting position-1x4-Each rep held for 5s, 10s inbetween reps. Focusing on maximum contraction. Here my ass came up and back rounded-there is a shocker. Don't think there is any point to these until form is fixed. This was included in Ross Enamaits Infinite Intensity, which is why I am giving it a go.

Speed deads 5x1 100kg-Mix of sumo and conventional. Strangely the sumo felt better. Conventionals just felt slow.

Box squat 105kgx5-Tough. Camera had died by this point which sucks as I couldn't get a video of this again.

Good mornings 75kgx4-Left it at that, was feeling wiped.

Dorian rows 60kg 2x10-Light because I was wiped.

Core: Kneeling ab rollouts 1x5-Just did the one, was wiped.
Russian twists 2x10 (10kg with arm outstreted)

Cardio: One arm snatch 3x15 each side-20kg DB -Pretty brutal.

Just wasn't there today. Was going to do some grip work, but I will do it either later on today or tommorow so as to give them a rest because of the deads etc. I will also include some neck work. Ross Enamait makes the point about hands/neck being undertrained by most. Whilst my hands aren't a problem, my neck is I reckon. I looked up moves like deads/rows on exrx and the splenius and the sternocleidomastoid (neck muscles) aren't included as synergists or whatever. I will therefore devote a couple of sets to moves that will train these muscles and I recommend anyone that reads this too as well.

http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Splenius.html
http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Sternocleidomastoid.html
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/NeckWt.html#anchor1940364 -Exercises

On that note, I have finished reading Infinite Intensity. Whilst it is geared more towards combat athletes rather than powerlifters-many would learn a good deal by reading it. A lot of great info included. Enamait makes this point clear, however he also states that you can easily make changes to suit your own personal needs. I for example am not competing in combat, therefore I can cut down the amount of cardiovasular work and put more of an emphasis on strength work. This is not to say cardio should be neglected, far from it. I also don't need to do as much in the way of skill work-punching drills and the like-however I do like to maintain this skill.

Anyway that is all for now, I will update with the grip/neck work later this evening or tommorow...

Quagmire

I feel my nagging posts have had SOME effect before I was cast out by the "deadlift is not a squat" patrol.

Infinite Intensity is an excellent book, the nutrition stuff (or is it in NG?) is a bit meh but Ross is the truth, his principles are where its at.

My friend I feel you have no goal. Make a goal.

Why are you doing: Conventional deadlifts, isometric deadlifts, speed deads, box squats, good mornings (mostly working the same thing) and rows in one day? You need a bit of direction in your training, you'll get better results.

You said the speed deads were slow, of course they'll be slow you just pulled a PR single.
Make a proper program. Patience is a virtue. You want to try lots of different things? Train more often but lighter, if you stuff it all into one day you won't make a lot of progress.

Don't feel the need to do everything Ross uses. Absord what is useful, discard what is not. Isometrics, hand training, neck training.
Do you want to be a powerlifter, get stronger, get faster, get more conditioned?
Make a list of GOALS prioritized, and move accordingly.

Hope this helps.

 

[Quagmire911]

A deadlift is a deadlift, a squat is a squat, however I think we can both agree leg drive is important in a pull. Let's leave it at that.

I actually felt deads work properly last week. My last two sets with 145kg were great, much better than the previous three.

And nah I didn't PR today on deads, I was just drained. Maybe coming off a cold as I say above.

My goal is quite simple: Get stronger. Get stronger everywhere. I agree with what you are saying about the Ross Enamait thing and I think I say this above. I am not a combat athlete and shouldn't train like one. My work will be more strength orientated and less conditioning orientated than what he recommends. Although my conditioning needs to improve by some margin, I have let it slide too much. Speed will still be important.

I think you may have a point about the exercises being bunched together.

Anyway, thank you for the input.

PS-Article January 2006:

http://www.westside-barbell.com/articles.htm

 

[MrS]

What I meant about Ross was, you don't have to include hand/neck/isometrics because he says its more eggs in your basket. You feel you have weak hands, weak neck (do you know how to know this even?), or you have a sticking point in a certain position to do isometrics with?

Anyway, cool with the deadlifts, don't take what I say badly, I'm only trying to help here.

Do a 4 days strength split and in the middle day do some conditioning and your extra work. If you're after pure strength then concentrate on that and split your exercises and workouts up accordingly. Try and boost the big 3 only for a few months, work around them only. Do something like Bench, bench assistance, deadlift, squat. Split over any days out of the 7 you want, and in the middle or the end throw in a conditioning and isometric day if you like.

 

[Quagmire911]

I'll be sticking to two days, although I may be able to do iso/speed work at home on seperate days.

I don't feel I have weak hands, I say the opposite above. They are my best part. However I do feel my neck is a weak area, and doing a few sets of the exercises he prescribes will not interfere with weightlifting at all.

I have the deadlift starting position as a weakpoint, although as I say above I probably won't utilize it until I am confident my legs are firing on the lift. Another position would be just above parallel on squats, and a few inches above the chest on bench.

 

[Quagmire911]

Monday

Couldn't get to the gym today. There was some holiday on and the buses were off. I wasn't going to walk 40 minutes or pay for a taxi. Luckily since I wasn't benching, I could get a decent amount done in my garage with my old weights. They consist of a shi*t* barbell that can fit about 150lbs onto it. Anyway here it is:

Kneeling rollouts 3x10 -Improvement from last week. Still quite hard nearing the end of the last set. Good stuff.

Overhead/push press 135lbs (61.36kg)-x4x3x3-I was meant to be doing braced one arm press with 30kg DB's. I also didn't have a rack and had to powerclean the weight. So I used the legs to help me iniatiate the movement. I will progress to next weeks workout as normal and go for the 27.5kg'sx5...

Chinups BW+13.5kgx4x3x3-Alternating with the above again every 90s. Same as last week. First set I could have got 5 at least, and the subsequent sets were a lot harder.

One arm pressups-Right hand 2x15 Left hand 1x10 1x8-My plates were to big to do weighted pressups with, so I just did one handed. Quite a big difference in pressing strength here. I will be doing one arm bench press soon.

GPP-DB swings 3x15 20kgDB-Heart managed alright, arms and lower back were cooked. This is what I did on Thursday, I think I may have put snatch by accident.

Shoulder dislocations 1x20

Well that was all. Not too bad considering the circumstances. Will just have to see how I get on next week. My flexibility has improved quite a bit recently, and cardio is coming along. Unfortunately I went to a party after this and had a weeks work of reservetrol. It's healthy alright Anyway that is all for today, until next time...

Quagmire

 

[Quagmire911]

Tuesday-Extra work

50pressups/100jumping jacks-Alternating -Nothing to hard going. Getting the heart going a bit and warming up.

Military press/Dorian rows 3x8 55lbs -Alternated again. Just to get the blood moving around. My back was quite sore today which is why I put some rows in.

Neck work-2sets front/back/sides-Same as last week.

Calf work 2x8-One leg raise-Bit of a calf strain yesterday, so I put these in to get the blood moving around. Feels quite reasonable at the moment.

Light ab work-2x10 Crunches-Same kind of idea.

Dynamic stretching/Glute activation

And that was that. Afterwards I went for a salt bath and listened to Caravanserai by Santana. The whole premise of today was restoration, improving recovery and a bit of conditioning too.

May be going to the gym tommorow, I haven't decided yet. Tommorow suits better this week, but I was feeling beaten up. Will see how I feel.

That is all for today.

 

[Quagmire911]

Wednesday

:cuss: :cuss: :cuss: :cuss: :cuss: :cuss: :cuss: :cuss: :cuss:

I hate the stupid f******s in my gym. F******** dumbas*****.

I went in a day early beacuse the manager was talking to people today about new equipment etc. So in he comes. I probably looked like I was attacking him, before he knew it there I was with my picture of a power rack with him and a few others looking at me like big dumb monkeys. They then proceeded, as I knew they would, to look at the picture and then at the smythe machine, back and forth, and in the process their few remaining brain cells died. I then started going on about how they are not the same blah blah. I said that if there was only one thing that I could change, that it would be a power rack brought in. He didn't mind the price I quoted, and said he'd "look into it" which was the only positive.

The monkeys then proceeded to whine about needing a new "shooouderrr machine"(shoulder), that the pec deck needed fixed, and some other **** as well.

So there it is. It looks very doubtful that there will ever be a power rack. I will be astonished if there is. Just needed to rant about that to some people that actually know what a f***** power rack is.

Anyway here is today's work:

Good mornings 60kgx5 70kgx5 75kgx5-These are always very hard. Weakness? And what happened the last time I concentrated on them...Will be interesting to see if history repeats itself. Here is a video of the last set, I thought my form was alright although I think swtichting to low bar will make me tighter. Feel free to share your thoughts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXFMKUUUN8Q

Box squats 110kg 3x3 PR-Changing to low bar is definitely helping here. I feel able to actually drive the weight up now instead of it going out infront of me. I have done 107.5kgx3 on a box back in September, but I remember that I was on my toes which probably means my posterior chain wasn't working in the lift and my quads were doing all the work. That wasn't the case today. I also did 110kgx3 regular squats back in January, which I still don't understand. So this is a step in the right direction, onwards and upwards. These were around 2-3" below parallel I reckon. I have a video of the last set, again feel free to share your thoughts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm27jAAAWrA

Dorian rows 85kgx6-This just felt heavy. I think this was too soon after Monday's pullups, same as last week. I will either lower the weight or do them on Monday's haven't decided.

Kneeling rollouts 1x5-Abs weren't recovered from Monday so I called it quits.

Grip work

Crushing: COC No.1 R-1x19 1x10 L 1x14 1x7 PR-Again, I wish I had a No.1.5. The reps are too high here. Might just start training the f*** out of the No.2 with partials. Will be getting a No.2.5 before a No.3.

COC No.2 Iso holds-1x4 each hand. Holiding for 3-5s and resting 10s between reps. I actually closed it on the first rep with my right hand, but that was all. Not bad considering it was after the No.1 work.

Pinch grip: Door grabx2-Noticeable improvement from when I first started doing these. Not sure how long it has been, 1-2 months.

That was all for today. Pretty happy to see results on the squat again. As I have said, having gone low bar I feel I will be able to progress consistently. My hips/gluteus medius were actually sore today which is great. 300+ here I come. Once I get this and the GM up, I am sure the 400 will fall on the deadlift. Last time I did this and didn't deadlift for a month and a half I hit a 12.5kg PR for reps. It would make sense too, my GM is weak and so is my squat being honest.

I reckon tommorow will be some speed work for the upperbody along with some conditioning. That is all for today, until next time...

Quagmire

 

[MrS]

don't look down on the box squats
and bring your hips forward and the bar UP, don't try and lift it off with the quads because you lean forward and make it harder.
Imagine you going up and everything slotting into place.

Good PR.

 

[mrRuckus]

The cue i always see for box squats is to lead with your head and shoulders.. to move those first. I think your hip/back angle should actually open up a tiny bit. If you don't, you tend to lean forward and do more of a good morning.

A lot of those cues just happen to make things work magically... like "chest up" when what you really want is a tight upper back.

I'm not even sure if this is right (i saw it in a PL article or another sometime i think) but on squats and box squats i concentrate on pushing out-wards on the edge of my feet. More of back and to the outside to also keep my heels down. I think it forces hip activation and it really does feel strong. I do it even standing up out of my chair anymore. It's an especially good way when my quads are sore to stand up in a wide stance with my hips

edit:
Found it in a dave tate article:

You also want to be pushing out on the sides of your shoes. Never push downward. Act as if you're tying to spread the floor apart. This is to further activate the hips.

 

[Quagmire911]

Yeh, I rememeber that tip about spreading the feet. I do think I lean forward a touch too much on reps two and even more on three, I thought one was alright though. Definitely better than what I was doing high-bar.

MrS, I am looking down because that is what Rippetoe advises to do to enhance glute activation.