I front squatted 410 lb first, which got stuck about half way up for a split second, then went up fine. That was a +5 lb PR.
Decided to go for 420 lb because I missed it last week.
Nailed it.
High Bar Squat: 460 lb x 5 (5RM)
+20 lb PR.
Started seeing stars after the first rep, and with each consecutive rep I saw even more stars until the entire Alpha Quadrant (one-quarter of the Milky Way Galaxy) occupied my basement home gym.
I missed more than I hit when it came to PRs this past week. Not sure why. Maybe it was because my primary source of meat was left over turkey from Th-thanksgiving (rather than the usual pork).
I did go out for sushi buffet on Friday, and then hit some PR's again on Saturday.
But it was probably because my body needed a bit of a break from the heavy lifting I've been doing.
Missed PR Attempts
Front Squat: 420 lb
Wanted a +15 lb 1 rep max, but it was too big of a jump. Might try this again next week.
OHP: 265 lb
Wanted a +5 lb PR. Felt light in my hands and easy coming out of the rack, but could only get it half way up before the bar came to a grinding halt. I think I'll have to build up strength via volume, hit some rep PRs, and then come back to try pressing 265 lb over my head.
Low Bar Squat (no belt): 500 lb
Wanted 2 reps for a beltless 2RM, but couldn't even get 1! Dammit.
Well, things turned around yesterday and I was able to score a couple of high bar squat PR's:
High Bar Squat: 510 lb x 1
+5 lb PR. I don't think I needed to engage my squat face for this one, because the bar pretty much flew up and I did a partial calf-raise at the top.
High Bar Squat: 520 lb x 1 (1RM)
Decided to take 520 lb for a ride after feeling how easy 510 lb felt.
+10 lb PR from about 5 minutes earlier!
Tough, but I fought through the sticking point and stood up with it.
By the way, I used a wider stance than normal for HB squatting, which allowed me to get a bigger bounce out of the hole (but less depth). I might stick with this wider stance for HB squats (and maybe front squats) in the future.
I think I've been having some good success with beltless paused squats for warm-up, and occasional for PR attempts. I've also been pausing all of my front squats (including work sets) and I believe they have carried over pretty well to my low bar squat.
Also, the load I'm using for my work sets are feeling tough and grindy, so I want to lower the weight.
So...I'm going start performing beltless paused squats for my work sets starting tomorrow.
The plan is to do sets of 5 for beltless paused squats, and once that gets tough change to sets of 3 reps. Once that gets tough, add a belt, maybe lower the weight, and then go back to sets of 5 again. Once 5's are tough, move onto sets of 3 with a belt.
For my warm ups, I'm going to keep it as is, that is breathing paused squats up to 320 lb, then paused squats up to 460 lb, and finally a low bar squat of 500 lb before moving onto the work sets. I might add in some reverse bands as well to keep my body accustomed to handling heavy weights.
Bench Press
Similar to squats, I'm going to drop the weight and pause my work sets. I want to build some more strength from the bottom, and also give my joints a bit of a break from benching heavy all the time.
Also there's a push/pull powerlifting meet coming up in November, and if I decide to do it, it's probably a good idea to train paused bench presses. Still undecided if I'm going to compete or not.
Deadlift
I need to start deadlifting consistently on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
On Tuesdays, I've been experimenting with speed deadlifts with a band (green), only doing 5 sets of 3 reps at a pretty light weight.
Starting this week, I'm going to change up my warm up so that I'm doing a regular, no-band deadlift, working up to 500 lb with no belt. Then, strip the bar back down to do my work sets of banded speed deadlifts.
For Saturdays, I think I'm going to go back to mat pulls. Maybe warm up with deadlifts off the floor up to 500 lb with no belt, but transferring the bar + plates onto the mats for mat pulls will be a pain in the ass. We'll see how it goes.
CORE
I've been regularly doing dragon flags, ab wheel and L-sit chin ups as part of my warm up. I'm going to start making use of my inversion table (Teeter Hang Ups EP-950) and perform inverted sit ups. I'll do these on the days that I don't do dragon flags/L-sit chins.
These felt very explosive. Any more explosive, then the bar would have leaped off my shoulders and into my chin, and the bar would have beat me by KO.
Previous 3RM was 350 lb, and previous best with 370 lb was 2 reps.
Overhead Press: 250 lb x 2 (2RM)
+5 lb PR. A little bit of lean back is fine (maybe even necessary) for heavy overhead presses, IMO.
Low Bar Squat: 520 lb x 2 (2RM)
+20 lb PR! Missed the second rep last week, but got it today.
~518 lb *was* my 1RM at my last powerlifting meet in June, and now I can do 2 reps with a little more than that weight. Progress is still progressing.
Paused, No-Belt High Bar Squat: 440 lb (1RM)
This felt easy, but a tiny 20 lb more crushed me :/
Vibram FiveFingers KSO Review
I got around to writing a review for the VFF KSO toed minimalist shoes.
TL;DR: They look strange, but are very comfortable. Works well for kicking the heavy bag, OK for low bar squats, not so good for high bar and front squats, and awesome for deadlifts.
Also nailed a very smooth 400 lb reverse grip bench press, which is a milestone weight and puts in the 400 lb bench press club!
Here they are:
Low Bar Squat: 550 lb x 1 (1RM)
Reverse Grip Bench Press: 400 lb x 1 (1RM)
Really surprised at how super smooth this went!
LMAO4PLATE...YOU ARE NEX!!1!
The Perfect Rep
With the 550 lb squat and the 400 lb bench press I did a few days ago, they both felt like the perfect rep.
It felt like the bar moved perfectly inside the groove during the rep, everything is "on", and I just nail it.
No struggle, no missteps, no grind.
Just a perfectly executed rep from beginning to end, using a load that I've never successfully completed before.
Feels good.
I'm not very articulate today, but maybe this feeling is similar to Dwight Schrute's "Perfectenschlag":
Actually, it's probably more similar to Samuel Ander's description of "perfection" from Battlestar Galactica (Season 4, Episode 19: "Daybreak" Part 1:
If you want to know the truth...I don't really care about the stats. Or the cup, or the trophy, or anything like that. Um, in fact, even the games aren't that important to me, not really. What matters to me is the perfect throw...making the perfect catch...the perfect stepping block.
Perfection is what it's about.
It's about those moments when... you can feel the perfection of creation. The beauty of physics, the wonder of mathematics. And all the relation of action and reaction. And that is the kind of perfection I want to be connected to.
I want to experience more perfect reps.
Other PRs
Reverse Grip Bench Press: 300 lb x 9 (9RM)
Pecs and shoulders feeling sore and worn out, so I decided to do my warm up (missed at 370 lb though; usually it's no problem) and then rep out as many as I could with 300 lb.
Previous max number of reps at 300 lb was 7. Would have settled for 8 reps for an 8RM, but I went for 10. But after the shaky 9th rep, I was pretty sure I would have failed the 10th rep, so I re-racked the bar. NEX TIME.
Front Squat: 330 lb (Paused, No Belt 3RM)
EZPZ
Overhead Press: 230 lb x 4 (4RM)
Pretty tough! Shaky last rep, but I stuck with it and locked it out.
Pretty happy with this PR. OHP PRs are rare to come by these days.
Low Bar Squat: 500 lb x 3 (3RM)
3 reps with 500 lb FINALLY! I attempted 3 reps many times with 500 lb, but missed on the 3rd rep in the past.
Prior to this, I attempted a 555.5 lb squat to, but missed. Hit the uprights while walking back, and the bar didn't seem to sit in the right position during the lift.
Anyway, last Sunday I felt a bit beat up from the previous week of squatting and deadlifting, so I "de-loaded" my regularly scheduled low bar & high bar back squats with a lighter-but-still-challenging paused, no-belt front squats this week.
Tomorrow I'm going to go back to the regular low bar/high bar volume day.
PRs This Past Week (6)
1. Front Squat: 370 lb x 1 (No Belt 1RM)
Did 350 lb x 1 before this, which was an easy PR. Decided to try 370 lb because I missed this weight a couple of days ago, and 3 plates plus a quarter on each side of the bar looks cooler.
Once I smashed through the sticking point, it felt like the bar just flew up. Nice.
Also tried a wider stance during warm up. Hips felt weird and it was a bit painful so I changed back into my narrower, hams-to-calves knee cracking stance
2. Overhead Press: 200 lb x 7 (7RM)
Wanted 8 (or 10) reps, but my upper back couldn't take it anymore.
Haven't had an OHP PR in a long time. Also gotta start tracking 7 rep maxes (in case I can't hit 8 reps).
3. Low Bar Squat: 490 lb x 4 (4RM)
Would have settled for a triple, but went for a quadruple instead. Previous 3RM was 480 lb.
4. Reverse Grip Bench Press: 365 lb x 3 (3RM)
+10 lb 3 rep max! Was thinking about going for 360x3, but 3 plates plus a quarter on each side of the bar looks better than 3 plates plus a bunch of tiny baby plates.
Second attempt at this today. Missed on the 3rd rep on the first try, probably because of experimenting with a different way of gripping the bar (having the thumbs in line with the bar instead of grabbing it normally).
Also decided to try to regular grip bench press this weight, but failed. Pain in my forearms and shoulders :/
5. High Bar Squat: 460 lb x 1 (No Belt 1RM)
Harder than I anticipated, but got it.
Missed trying a paused, no belt, high bar squat with this weight earlier.
Felt easy coming down and sat comfortably in the hole, but couldn't keep my chest up as I stood up. Got crushed :/
6. Deadlift: 500 lb x 3 (Hook Grip, No Belt 3RM)
Did 1 rep last week for a 1 rep max, and got 3 this week! Triple the number of reps...triple the amount of thumb pain.
Also warming up by hitting the heavy bag is pretty fun. Kicking the bag repeatedly seems to get rid of any hip tightness. Just have to try not to over do it.
The Travis Mash Article About Mark Rippetoe
So there was an article published on jtsstrength.com this past week (which has now been taken down) written by Travis Mash, criticizing Mark Rippetoe.
I won't go in detail about that article, and, to be honest, I prefer not to get myself involved in internet conflicts, because we all know what happens when you argue on the internet...
But let me throw in my 1 cent about this hip drive thing people have issues with, for what it's worth:
I think the "hip drive" cue seen in various hip drive videos and criticized by many is really taken out of context. To me, it seems like he's just helping out some person learning how to squat to better utilize his or her posterior chain, and the hip drive cue fixes some problems many beginners have.
However, in the Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training DVD, under the "Squat" video, Rippetoe was cuing someone to lead with their chest up first.
Weird right?
Well, he did this because the person who was learning to squat was always leading up with his hips first, followed by his chest (basically how people perceive the Rippetoe's teaching of the squat should look like based on those hip drive videos), and the "chest up" cue ended up correcting the "hips shooting up" problem that this person had and he ended up squatting with his hips and chest rising at the same time. Different cues work for different people in different situations to get the desired effect I suppose.
Anyway, I don't want to get too much into this, but personally I thought the book Starting Strength was a pretty good book. I mean, I made my initial gains based on it. And I think my squat kinda looks like a SS-style squat, even though these days I'm trying to really lead with my chest.
I don't do SS anymore (only did it for 3 months), but I still refer to it from time to time. It has very detailed information about the squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, power clean and other stuff. I don't agree with it 100% (I suck at power cleans and reverse grip bench press FTW!), but still, it's a solid book. Also, I enjoy the video interviews and articles on the Starting Strength website, especially the ones involving Marty Gallagher.
I think that some people who have issues with SS and Rip are making opinions based on small videos rather than fully understand what's written in the book itself. He's also got that abrasive grumpy old man charm that I find hilarious, but I'm sure other people are offended by.
As for Travis Mash, I don't really know of him much, but he seems pretty awesome from what I've read. He has trained Greg Nuckols, who I've spoken to on a few occasions and received (and implemented) training advice from.
I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to learning what Travis Mash has to teach in the future.
