sking's log

[sking1001]

I've never gone in with my legs still this sore. Mostly in the adductors and hamstrings.

Squat - PR
135x5, 225x5, 315x2, 355x1, 390x4
Going for 5, but the 4th was an ugly grinder.

Deadlift
245x5, 355x2, 455x2
This is my weakest deadlift performance since I started this cycle 11 weeks ago. However, I could really feel the soreness in my hamstrings, so I could attribute it to that. Also, I did say the last day before the break that I was going to start alternating in rack pulls every other week. I don't really have the equipment in my crappy gym to do that, but next week I'll see what I can rig up.

It seems things are going downhill rapidly for me this week, although I did okay on squatting. Some thoughts on this are:
1) My week off last week, the first in a year, was not exactly a rest week. I was a sponsor at youth camp, so there wasn't much sleep and a good deal of volleyball in the heat.
2) As a result of the week off, jumping back into my normal volume squatting on Tuesday pretty much crippled me for the week.
3) I've lost a little bit of weight, which usually affects my bench and press the most.

4) I suck.

[PackMule]

That fourth rep on squats looked like fun! Time off usually screws with me too. You'll be back in action in a week though.

For your rack pulls maybe you could lay down some 25s and/or 10s and prop them up. May look goofy/not the safest but whatever lol.

[sking1001]

That fourth rep on squats looked like fun! Time off usually screws with me too. You'll be back in action in a week though.

For your rack pulls maybe you could lay down some 25s and/or 10s and prop them up. May look goofy/not the safest but whatever lol.

Thanks, man. I thought about you and all you went through after your cut. I haven't caught up on your whole log yet, but I'm pretty sure you are rockin' it again! I don't have any massive weight loss or low back injury to deal with, but I do hope I'm stronger next week.

I think I can use the half rack to do rack pulls, but I'll have to see. The full "rack" isn't a real rack. I'm getting to the end of 12 weeks, so I'll be starting to think about changes. This may sound random, but I'm going to start doing power cleans on Tuesday instead of speed dead, just to see the difference it makes...I think Wolf would appreciate that :-)

[PackMule]

I think power cleans are great. I definitely feel more wrecked after a "heavy" power clean day than I do after speed deadlifts. And just a loose, unscientific observation of mine here: seems like all the people on this forum who have crappy deadlifts in relation to their squats (no offense to those guys if they read this!), don't put much emphasis on their power cleans.

[williamlexcrawford]

Don't you have a garage gym your kids mostly use? You could builds some boxes or even cut up some of the horse stall mats they sell at Tractor Supply. I don't know the exact construction of the jerk boxes I see all the time on Pendlay's videos but they have to be built pretty strong. Plus if you did pulls from boxes rather than rack pulls you would lessen the likelihood you'll bend a bar dropping it on pins.

[Mac Ward]

Next week is the 12th week of my program, and I'm supposed to hit a new 1RM. I'll try for 295 instead of 300.

It seems things are going downhill rapidly for me this week, although I did okay on squatting. Some thoughts on this are:
1) My week off last week, the first in a year, was not exactly a rest week. I was a sponsor at youth camp, so there wasn't much sleep and a good deal of volleyball in the heat.
2) As a result of the week off, jumping back into my normal volume squatting on Tuesday pretty much crippled me for the week.
3) I've lost a little bit of weight, which usually affects my bench and press the most.

4) I suck.

Don't cut yourself from the team just yet. I personally don't think a week off crushed you, people do it all the time before a meet. I think you're in your head a little too much. You're one of the most diligent, focused lifters on the forum. Put all this noise out of your head and get into the gym with a positive mental attitude to the maximum extent possible. There is all kinds of weight in the gym, don't add any extra weight to the bar that we can't see with mental crap. The bar is light, your mind is not. You train 1.5 hours a day four times a week, that's 6 hours a week. Somehow, I think you can do this. Instead of thinking about 300, think about repping 315.

You know I want to squat 400 - so I think about what repping 455 feels like. Suddenly, my piddly little 370 PR doesn't feel so bad. There's lots of weight, let's use the kind we can measure.

[sking1001]

I think power cleans are great. I definitely feel more wrecked after a "heavy" power clean day than I do after speed deadlifts. And just a loose, unscientific observation of mine here: seems like all the people on this forum who have crappy deadlifts in relation to their squats (no offense to those guys if they read this!), don't put much emphasis on their power cleans.

Thanks for the confirmation. I actually haven't done them in a while now. I never even got over 190, so I have some work to do, and I'm looking forward to it.

Don't you have a garage gym your kids mostly use? You could builds some boxes or even cut up some of the horse stall mats they sell at Tractor Supply. I don't know the exact construction of the jerk boxes I see all the time on Pendlay's videos but they have to be built pretty strong. Plus if you did pulls from boxes rather than rack pulls you would lessen the likelihood you'll bend a bar dropping it on pins.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll keep this in mind, but the gym is actually closer to work, so I'll see what I can do there first. I do have an S-2 stand at home now too :-)

Don't cut yourself from the team just yet. I personally don't think a week off crushed you, people do it all the time before a meet. I think you're in your head a little too much. You're one of the most diligent, focused lifters on the forum. Put all this noise out of your head and get into the gym with a positive mental attitude to the maximum extent possible. There is all kinds of weight in the gym, don't add any extra weight to the bar that we can't see with mental crap. The bar is light, your mind is not. You train 1.5 hours a day four times a week, that's 6 hours a week. Somehow, I think you can do this. Instead of thinking about 300, think about repping 315.

You know I want to squat 400 - so I think about what repping 455 feels like. Suddenly, my piddly little 370 PR doesn't feel so bad. There's lots of weight, let's use the kind we can measure.

Thanks for a great pep talk as usual, Mac. I'll try to start with a fresh attitude next week!

[sking1001]

Bench
135x10, 185x5, 225x3, 260x3, ...close grip... 235x5, 235x3, 225x5, 225x4, 185x10

Press
135x5, 135x7, 135x8

[sking1001]

Power Clean
135x3x2, 155x2, 155x1x12 on a 30 second clock

Squat
135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 315x2, 370x3, 315x8, 315x5

[sking1001]

I just wanted to be the 1,000th post...yay