Strength Engineer Log

[StrengthEngineer]

3/18/17

Squat 210: 5/5/5
Bench 125: 5/5/6
Chin 17.5: 8/8/6

Thoughts: Really good day today. No shoulder pain, and only a tiny bit of pain in my left elbow on the bench. Focusing on keeping my humorous angle in a little bit on bench relieved a lot of pressure and weight from my elbow. I caught a queue on the squat when reviewing the book that never quite stood out to me before. It said to rest the bar on the meat of your deltoids. I was not doing this. I was actually about an inch higher than this! So I was unknowingly kind of in between a low bar and high bar squat. Going down that extra inch made a huge difference! I was able to transfer much more of the weight from my knees to my hips. From reviewing the video I still am using a little too much knee, but definitely better than where I was before. I felt much more balanced, and I didn't feel like I was about to die from the third rep on, lol. The last few workouts I've been in a phase on the squat where going into the third set I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make all 5. Today I knew after how the first two sets felt that I was going to get the third. I almost fudged the 5th rep up, but it was totally my fault, I paused in the hole for a split second and it killed my stretch reflex bounce, but I was still able to recover and finish off the rep using pure aggression, lol. Either way, going into my two day break I'm feeling very happy and confident with the direction my squat is heading in. After failing out at 200lbs a few weeks ago, taking a deload, and slowly working my form out I'm back to making linear progress every workout, and my squat is slowly coming into a more normal range of my deadlift. To quote Sir Winston Churchill "the very definition of success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm." I was definitely frustrated and down about my squat, but I kept going at it regardless, and now I'm back to making progress again. Note to self to remember this next time I inevitably hit a wall.

[StrengthEngineer]

3/21/17

Squat 215: 5/5/5
Press 97.5: 5/5/5
Deadlift 300: 5

Thoughts: Holy CNS shock, haha. Did good and hit everything, but I'm definitely very shaky afterwards. PR squat and deadlift on the same day just fried my CNS, lol. My squat form looked great today after reviewing the video. I focused on breaking hard at the hips at the start today, and my form was excellent for it. I got just below parallel, me knees weren't too far forward, my knees weren't floating at all, my back angle was perfect, and most importantly with the lower bar tweak I made last week I had 0 strain on my elbows and shoulders It was a great squat day. I do believe that putting up 3 increases on squat a week has probably run it's course though. I could tell that the squats were really heavy today, even after two days of rest. So this Thurs I'm going to transition into having light squat day mid week. My press still felt really heavy on the new equipment, I had to dig deep to get that last rep up. I was a little shaky after the squats today too, so I'm sure that had something to do with it. On DL I finally hit that big 300! Like the squat, I think I'm at the end of being able to increase every other workout on deadlift. Going from doing weekly DL's to only 5 day break this week I could really tell the difference, it was a bit tougher today. Glad I'm working with the SSC this Saturday. Hopefully I can get the power clean finally sorted out and start trading that in and out with the DL as instructed in the book that way I'm only hitting DL every 4th workout. I think that this is the perfect time to make the changes to the squat and DL to keep myself going forward without hitting a deload. That also allows me to keep my body weight going up, which will help the lifts as well. Weighed in at 167.4 this morning, up 2 pounds this week. Definitely starting to get a little uncomfortable with the body fat I'm accumulating around my waist (bye bye abs ), but I know that once I can get through this LP I can slow it down. I maybe have a month or two left of easy novice gains, then I can slow the bulk down a bit when I transfer over to HLM.

[StrengthEngineer]

3/23/17

Light Squat 170: 5/5/5
Bench 147.5: 5/5/5
Chin 17.5: 8/8/7

Thoughts: Definitely made the switch to light squats mid week at the right time. I am definitely still fatigued from the heavy squat and deadlifts on Tuesday. There's no way I would have successfully made the gain to 220 today. 175 is one of my normal warmup weights, and 170 today felt way heavier than usual. I guess that's why he programmed the light squat day in. My ego kind of wanted to push for 220 as I'm so close to that double plate milestone, but I made myself stick to the light squat and I'm glad I did. A failure today would have set me back way more than taking today as a light squat day. I gotta get used to having these sub-maximal days, as unless the SSC I'm meeting with this weekend can work some miracles, intermediate is likely not that far off. I've been on LP for 3 months now, I would love to squeeze two more months of LP gains out, but I think a month is probably more likely. We will have to see how the late novice programming treats me. Another gain on bench, as well as another rep added at 17.5 weighted chins. I can tell that the weighted chins are making my arms grow, gotta love that

[StrengthEngineer]

3/25/17

Squat 175: 5/5/5
Press 100: 5/5/5
DL 275: 5

Thoughts: Worked with SSC Robert Santana today. Went really well. We made a ton of changes to my form, all of which felt really good. Deloaded both squat and DL for me to focus on form and rebuild. Changes made to form below. He is also adjusting my macros, I was averaging ~250g carbs and ~110 grams fat, he's pulling me back to 70-80g fat and increasing carbs to 350g. This should both give me more energy and help my weight gain to put more muscle and less fat on.

Squat: Upper back tighter. I have great flexibility, and I'm able to squeeze my arms in tighter than I want to. Also, moved my wrist up higher above the bar. Move feet out about 3-4 inches wider. Push knees way out, and make sure that I feel the groin stretch going down, and focus on squeezing the groin muscles as I rise out of the hole. Squat was like a totally different movement. I've never felt my groin muscle stretch like that before. Probably going to be a little sore tomorrow since I haven't been activating that muscle.

Press: Put elbows in front of the bar instead of vertical under it. On the first rep drop the elbows down and push hips forward for a quick stretch reflex to get the first rep up. On subsequent reps, rest with the bar in the air, lean the shoulders back on the way down and do a quick touch and go. Try to push the bar behind me, since what feels like vertical actually goes forward for me. Press felt super light today following the tweaks here.

Deadlift: Heels closer together and toes pointed more out, "frog stance". This should activate the groin as well similar to the squat. Lift my hips up is my biggest cue. I'm rounding my lower back, it feels like hyperextending my lower back up to actually get my back straight. Pay close attention to lifting those hips up. Look at the floor. Also recommended I start warming up with hook grip so I can start moving away from mixed.

[StrengthEngineer]

3/28/17

Squat 180: 5/5/5
Bench 150: 5/5/5
Chin 17.5: 8/8/8

Thoughts: Good day. The high carb/low fat diet that Robert put me on is really working. I have so much energy, I feel about 10 years younger, lol. Every aspect of my life has been easier, especially the workout today. Normally I'm running on fumes on the last exercise of the day, but today I could have easily kept going if I had to. Recorded all my squat sets today to compare to the adjustments Robert made to my form. Everything looked pretty good. I get a little butt wink on some reps, gotta ask about that next time. The weight feels much heavier in the new form though, which I expected the opposite, but likely I've got some weaknesses from not hitting all the muscles right that I need to strengthen up. Bench felt really good today. Chins I finally maxed out all 3 at 17.5. Next go first set will be at 20! All in all, good day. It's always a little bit of a bummer deloading squats, but getting the form right will help me later on.

[StrengthEngineer]

3/30/17

Squat 185: 5/5/5
Press 102.5: 5/5/5
DL 285: 5

Thoughts: Pretty good day. Wasn't feeling great going in, and did better than I expected. Squat felt really good. Video looked pretty good, still a little butt wink, gonna have to talk to Robert about that. I'm starting to feel comfortable in the adjustments Robert made to my squat form. Today felt easier than Tuesday even though there was more weight on the bar, that's a good sign. Press was a PR, and the last rep on the last set was a grind. Might be beneficial to start micro micro loading the press. Deadlift felt good too. Just like the squat I started to gain some comfort in the new form today. I felt the new leg position really allowed me to recruit my adductors and quads to help more with the movement. All in all, went in feeling like crap but did the job. Also weighed in at 167.8 this morning, which is 1lb gain over the last week.

[StrengthEngineer]

4/1/17

Power Clean 85: 3/3/3/3/3
Bench 152.5: 5/5/5
Squat 190: 5/5/5
Chin 20: 8/6/6

Thoughts: Today I met with my SSC Robert to go over power cleans and bench. We did a lot of work on the power clean. Finally got it feeling reasonably good, and most importantly figured out how to get it to not hurt my elbows and shoulders. He assigned me some drills to do every day with an empty bar for the next couple of weeks to try to drill the movement in, as I still don't have it quite down to a reflex, I still have to think a lot about what I'm doing. Details of corrections below. He also said that once my squat is back out of deload and I bring light squat day back to do front-squats as opposed to light squats to help my mobility. Bench went well, he didn't really have to correct anything, just noted that sometimes my left shoulder loses tightness as I get fatigued, so I need to focus on holding it down. Showed him my squat videos from earlier this week, and I was right, everything was looking pretty good. Came home and squatted and chinned after. Both felt a little heavy after spending 2 hours working pc's and bench prior, lol. I'm also driving the chins up a little quicker to get them into fahve's territory, then I'll go back to increasing by set.

Clean adjustments from the floor (first pull): Hips up, and chin down. Keep my back angle down so my shoulders are above the bar. Keep eyes locked on a specific spot on the floor for the entire movement. Hook grip. Go slow. If I rip it off the floor too fast I kill my drive on the second pull. Point elbows out and squeeze the lats.

Clean second pull adjustments: Keep my hip angle, and keep shoulders above the bar until second pull. Speed the bar up as soon as you clear the knees. SHRUG, this is really the key. I wasn't shrugging hard enough, and I was compensating by arm pulling. Shrug it and shrug it fast, if I do the second pull too slow, that's when I get elbow pain. Once you shrug quickly pull elbows back and front-squat down to meet the bar.

[StrengthEngineer]

4/4/17

Squat 190: 5/5/5
Press 105: 5/5/5
PC 90: 3/3/3/3/3

Thoughts: Really good day today. Squat form is still really good. Felt easy today. I was able to use some good intensity and really rattle the plates at the top. Looking back at my log from just last month I was having a hard time at 190, and today it was a breeze. I have a feeling once I get through this deload my squat is going to go way up. Press was a PR!!! Feeling really pumped about that. I felt like I still had one or two reps in the tank on the last set too, which is always a good sign. I had much better form this time than last time. Last time I had a grind out last rep, but I forgot two of the queues that Robert had given me, to keep my elbows in front of the bar, and to squeeze my ass and keep it tight. Did both of those today and just rocked it. Power cleans went well today too. The drills Robert gave me have helped my comfort level on the second pull. I had one or two that were sloppy, but most were really good today. Keys for me are on the first pull keeping elbows out, lats tight, chin down, and hips up, and on the second pull shrugging the shit out of the bar. When I shrug hard I rack well and get no shoulder or elbow pain. When I don't shrug it hard enough, that's when the pain hits. All in all great day, I'm feeling very good afterwards

[StrengthEngineer]

4/6/17

Squat 195: 5/5/5
Bench 155: 5/5/5
Chin 22.5: 5/5/5

Thoughts: Went into the workout not feeling very good today. So I would definitely say today was a success. I hit all my numbers, and set a bench PR and weighted chin PR in the process. In the last month I've hit PR's on all my lifts now. At 35 years old I'm officially the strongest I've ever been

[peez]

4/6/17

Squat 195: 5/5/5
Bench 155: 5/5/5
Chin 22.5: 5/5/5

Thoughts: Went into the workout not feeling very good today. So I would definitely say today was a success. I hit all my numbers, and set a bench PR and weighted chin PR in the process. In the last month I've hit PR's on all my lifts now. At 35 years old I'm officially the strongest I've ever been

Congrats! And you've only just started. This program will take you much further.