Spesmilitis's workout journal

[spesmilitis]

I want to go below parallel but I don't want to go as low as possible because I can put more weight if I don't go all the way down.

 

[Quagmire911]

I want to go below parallel but I don't want to go as low as possible because I can put more weight if I don't go all the way down.

Surely that defeats the purpose though? Cheating in a sense. I think Alex will say the same but it would make sense to me to just do ass to grass for both sets.

If I am doing rack deads, I use more weight than regular deads cause of the decreased range of motion. But that has purpose. To me you are better training the movement as whole, if you have a certain weakness such as coming out "the hole" as I do, then you add in box squats or whatever.

If your reason is simply that you can use more weight, then I think dropping that and going with 2x5 ATG would give you more benefit. Everyone can use more weight if they don't go right down, that doesn't make it good practice however.

Quagmire

 

[Warboss Alex]

I agree with Craig - there is no point in going higher than a2g other than to boost your ego.

Even if you were competing for powerlifting where you don't have to go all the way down (but still below parallel) you would train a2g so the higher squat is easier.

Do a2g every time, you're just cheating yourself otherwise.

 

[Warboss Alex]

By the way - the rack deadlift has a specific purpose - to train the top half of the deadlift and overload the back, by removing the legs from the equation. This is a valid exercise (although you can go too high on this, end up pulling above knee level and making it a glorified shrug).

Whereas there is no actual benefit to doing high squats. If you want to overload your legs, do box squats as Craig said, or you can use bands or chains. But with a 135 a2g squat, I'd just do a2g squats all the time. Anything between 2-5 x 5.

How much have you gained on your a2g squat since you started?

 

[spesmilitis]

So I should go as low as possible for every set? Not just as good amount below parallel?

I always thought of atg as a variation to the regular squat. I aways assumed that for the following reasons: parallel depth is the standard for powerlifting competitions, the intercollegiate athletes at my school are taught to go just slightly below parallel.

I rarely ever see anyone even go down to parallel in the gym, so if ATG is the proper way to do them almost every time, I thought it would be mentioned more in the T-nation articles about the squat such as this one.
http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459775

 

[spesmilitis]

I'm usually too exhausted from my first one to take my ATG seriously. Till now I've always done my ATG second. I remember I could only do 115-125 ATG in january.

 

[Warboss Alex]

So your a2g squats have increased 10lbs in 8 months? That is poor progress my friend.

I notice you do very similar workouts all the time. What's your actual routine?

 

[Quagmire911]

Yea if your ATG was that 8 months ago and is 135 now, then ouch. Time to look at something else. I think I suggested 20 reppers a month or so ago. Would seem perfect to get your numbers moving.




I'll let Warboss handle this...:box:

 

[Warboss Alex]

I'll let Warboss handle this...:box:

You have a very sound knowledge base of your own, you're well qualified to advise people on how to grow..

 

[Quagmire911]

Thanks to you my friend

And only if they are little hamsters like most of my friends...

 

[spesmilitis]

Well I'll going to attempt 150 lbs ATG next time I do the squat. My first squat has gone up, but so has the energy/damage I use during my first set.

My current routine:
Day 1: squat, shoulder press, BOR,
wait 2-3 days
Day 3: deadlift, chest press, pull ups
wait 2-3 days
Repeat

Sometimes its:
Day1: squat, BOR
wait one day
Day2: chest press, shoulder press, dips, skull crushers.
wait one day
Day3: deadlift, pull up

Accessory exercises I sometimes put at the end of my workouts: Grip work (holding a heavy dumbell for as long as I can. Increase weight if I can hold it for more than 20 seconds), weight decline sit ups, spinal decompressions (not really an exercise actually), curls (10-12 rep).

EDIT: acutally I'm going to try 140 lbs next time and just go for higher reps, then just keep increasing by 5 lbs each time. 20 lbs might be too big of jump even if I could probably handle it.

 

[Warboss Alex]

The routine looks okay, keep it consistent to gauge progress. Are you gaining strength and size?

 

[Quagmire911]

Yes Spes, post your numbers for Deads, Squats and Bench for 6 months ago and for now.

 

[spesmilitis]

Squat: "first set" 135x7 "atg"125x8
Squat now: "first set" 170x6 "atg"135x7

Bench: was with a barbell 135x6. Currently I am doing with dumbells: 60 lbs dumbell x 7 reps.

Deadlift: 265 5repsx4 sets with probably really bad form. Current 325x5.

Weight: 125 in january, 130 in early june, 138 current.
Within 2-3 of stopping grappling in may I gained 5 lbs. I gained another 5 lbs when school closed. Gained about 3 lbs since then. I'm not as lean as my grappling days so some it is probably fat.

I do seem to be making personal bests on my deadlifts and my 'first set' squats so i'm probably gaining strength. My chest press is going up as well. My BOR is not increasing by much. Neither is my pull up but my pull up is already very good.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Spes I think you could optimise your gains, as they're rather slow and you should not be gaining fat, lean as you are.

Let me know if you're interested.

 

[Quagmire911]

Something needs to change, although your deads aren't bad. Although comparing isn't as easy because it is four sets to one. For the numbers you have things should have improved more. I have to go to bed now so that's all I can say at the moment, although I'm sure Alex will chime in, (if he hasn't beaten me to it already).

Quagmire

 

[spesmilitis]

Spes I think you could optimise your gains, as they're rather slow and you should not be gaining fat, lean as you are.

Let me know if you're interested.

Always interested in improving.

 

[spesmilitis]

For improvement, judge me starting end of june. Up till may I've been doing grappling which was very taxing on my body. Up till end of june I've been occupied with school, which took a lot of my focus (lack of sleep, stress, ect).

 

[Warboss Alex]

Well, first I'd give yourself some structure.. like, choose an upper/lower or squat+bench/deadlift split, or a 3day, or whatever - you tell me what you'd think you'd recover from.

 

[spesmilitis]

I would prefer a two day full body split with deadlifts and squats on separate days, similiar to the one stronglifts posted in this thread
http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=123924&highlight=full+body

Actually, what is wrong with my current split? It is similar to the one stronglifts but I made the following changes:
-Squat and deadlifts on separate days
-Addition of BORs
-Pull ups and chest press with my deadlift days. Since squats take more out of me than deadlifts, I prefer to do chest press and pull ups on a different day as those take a lot of energy compared the shoulder press and BOR.

My deadlift progress since school ended has been good (295 to 325 (hopefully 330 this weekend)). I seem to add 5 lbs about every work out. My squat on the other hand seems to go slower. About 5 lbs every 3rd squat day. Even though it was not for the ATG's, I'm sure I'll make similar progress for them. Hopefully. Is that good squat progress?

My pull up has been stagnant, but its at a very good level (65lbsx7 reps). I'm not as concerned about my pullups as I am about the squat (much weaker than it should be) and the BOR. Speaking of BOR's, progress has been very slow for the BOR. As for the presses, I'm not too concerned about them until my BOR is as much as my bench.

Looking at myself physically, my two most needed areas of improvement are my leg thickness and my back thickness (hence emphasizing the squat and deadlift in my current routine).

My diet seems to have room for most improvement:

Diet throughout day:
10 eggs
7 glasses of whole milk
20-30 grams of beef (i'm living with parents and they are vegetarian, i'm limited to how much beef I can eat as I can only sneak it in late at night).
40 grams of whey
about two fist size servings of veggies and one more serving of fruits
Plate of whole what pasta
Liberal amounts of butter and olive oil on my pasta, eggs and bread.
1-2 slices of whole wheat bread and hummus
15 fish oil capsules
couple spoon fulls of creatine
cup of oatmeal
two-three fist size servings of cottage cheese
ZMA before I sleep

I know the most obvious thing to do is eat more of what I'm currently eating.
Anything you think I should add to this diet?