Chasing 300/405/500 - A skinny labcoat's journey away from 90's Small™

[blowdpanis]

As per the thread in the training forum, my accidentally uneven Rip's seem to level out my hips nicely in the squat:



Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup (band)
185 x warmup (band)
205 x warmup
225 x 5,5,5

RPE ~8-9 on these, for the most part. Maybe a 9 on the last set.

I did a much better job today not GMing these towards the end.

Video of the first and third sets:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDtdyBup3Nk&fmt=18

Chins

Me x warmup
Me + 80 x 5,5,5

RPE ~9 on the last set.

Rehab Press

Bar x warmup
95 x warmup
110 x 5,5,5

RPE = ~8-9

These felt smooth form-wise, but my left shoulder started bothering me. I was getting a distinct feeling of "pinching" towards lockout on that side. On the plus side, my right shoulder DIDN'T bother me. Go figure.

Deadlifts

225 x form check (Rip's)
275 x form check (Rip's)
315 x 1 (Vibram's)

I tried giving the Rip's a fair shot in the pull, but I just vastly prefer the Vibram's, which are tantamount to deadlift slippers. Much easier to adopt a slightly lower hip position with better spinal extension, as evidenced in the videos I was taking of myself.

I was pretty tired, though, and threw off my groove by changing shoes midway through, so instead of grinding stuff out for no real reason, I'll save a heavy deadlift attempt for Monday.

Speaking of which, next week will be a deload week, cutting down the training days to 2 and only working up to a top set of 5. I need to let some fatigue dissipate, methinks, from the bizarro lifting schedule I've had lately.

[Gary Gibson]

Saving throw versus having to return the shoes: successful. Congrats on the uneven heels actually working out for you.

Don't you just hate the "More of a GM toward the end" thing?

Nothing at all wrong with preferring to deadlift in slippers or their equivalent. I vastly prefer it myself. Tried a cycle of pulling in my squat shoes with their slight heel. Switching back to slippers as of tomorrow.

[blowdpanis]

Fucking around in Windows Live Movie Maker...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ4gPq-OoLs

[blowdpanis]

Interesting day, day 1 of 2 of my "deload" week.

Pause Squats

Bar x warmup
135 x warmup (band)
185 x warmup (band)
205 x warmup
225 x warmup
245 x 5 (belt)

Decided to go top end here. My depth was fantastic. Possibly too fantastic, as my last rep was wicked GM'd. Weirdly, the 4 prior reps were reasonable. Given the depth, this is technically a PR of sorts, but the last rep was way too ugly in my book.

Chins

Me x warmup
Me + 90 x 5

RPE = ~9 here. Tough, but manageable. Perhaps a little tougher than this should have felt, but eh.

Pause Bench

Due to the pinchy pain from overhead pressing last time, I decided to bench today, press later in the week.

135 x warmup
185 x warmup
205 x warmup
225 x 5

RPE here was closing in on 10. Not a failure effort, but not far off. Shoulder felt...eh, okay-ish.

Hook Grip Deadlifts

This felt really good. Yay @ Vibram's...

Here's my top set of 350 x 6:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTg2ZoIHuYE&fmt=18

[blowdpanis]

Second day of my "deload" week. Fucking exhausted, got a nice headcold going on.

Paused Squats (Now noticeably below parllalel, wearing Vibram's) - 245 x 5. Eccentric speed way too slow on these, tiring myself out unnecessarily on the way down.

Chins - me + 100 (~270 lbs) x 5. Mostly fine. A little wild.

Press - 115 x 8. Need to bring the bar down a little better, getting my elbows a little forward at the start.

[blowdpanis]

First day of a new training cycle...

Squats - 225 x 5, first rep paused, the rest touch and go, 3 sets. Need to work on staying tighter when introducing a bounce, probably through slowing it down a little. I compensated a bit on the next sets, knees out also helps. Cues to remember: chest up, knees out.

Chins - me + 80 x 5, 3 sets

Bench - 225 x 5, first rep paused, the rest touch and go, one set. This was harder than expected staying as absolutely tight as possible.

Press - 115 x 5, Rippetoe method of resting at the top. Two sets (+1 bench = 3 total sets of 5). This felt harder than it should have, possibly due to having done everything else first.

[blowdpanis]

Because I am weird, I wound up doing an additional two work sets of 225 x 5 yesterday, trying to find some rhythm. I wound up tiring myself out and never got things to look nice. For whatever reason, I can't seem to introduce a bounce without stuff relaxing or looking/feeling extremely awkward.

I am thinking that the paused style I have been using will probably be good enough for my needs for now. If I want to not "bounce" per se, I can keep the pauses extremely momentary, basically just reversing once I've consciously found that tightness at the bottom.

[blowdpanis]

Squats and Deadlifts from today's workout:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVU3QBzQTRg

[blowdpanis]

A video of one of my good friends pulling 500:

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

I'm extremely proud of him, awesome work ethic and potential for this stuff. He's still a young'un, too (only 22 going on 23).

[blowdpanis]

Pause Squats from today's workout:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-3Jy1VVa6I