Kyle's PL log

[Chris McCarthy]

You'll get there Kyle.

[sking1001]

You may also consider squatting to a high box and lowering it an inch each session without changing the weight as an alternative progression.

+29

[KyleMask]

I've already done squats to a box without weight, progressively lowering the box height. Once I hit parallel I started doing air squats with no box. Then I added a 25 lb plate in my hands. Then I added a barbell.

The problem is that I competed in strength sports for 16 years on knees that weren't made for it. Let me say this unequivocally: I was not made to squat heavy. More people than I used to admit are not made to do certain lifts heavy. Squatting ruined my knees.

Now that that's out of the way (I was not happy at my 4 month followup appointment yesterday. Can you tell?), there's no good way to strengthen my legs besides squats. I'd at least like to squat enough weight to make my legs useful, so that I'm not falling and having extreme difficulty with stairs like I am now. To that end, slightly high box squats with a flat shoe might be my best bet. If my knees can tolerate any squat-esque activity whatsoever.

[KyleMask]

Cambered bar bench 285 3x5
KB press 53 4x10

[Sean Herbison]

More people than I used to admit are not made to do certain lifts heavy. Squatting ruined my knees.

Care to expand on this? Also, by "heavy", what level of heft/effort are we talking about?

[KyleMask]

Care to expand on this? Also, by "heavy", what level of heft/effort are we talking about?

I'll expand slightly. I think more people have bad (bad, for one reason or another) knees, hips, backs, etc.--often congenital/inherited--that preclude long term training at the advanced level. I've seen too many strong guys and training partners forced to stop lifting after only a few years because of a joint that just couldn't take the pounding. These weren't physically weak or weak-minded guys. They were guys who lived and breathed lifting and would've given anything to continue, all forced out of the game in their 20's.

By "heavy", I mean whatever weights a person is using once he/she is an advanced trainee. I think it makes sense for everyone to exhaust novice LP. But stronger is not healthier (or better for athletic performance in most sports) past a certain point. I don't know where that point is, but I think it's sooner in an individual's progression than most around here would admit (maybe mid-intermediate?).

[Sean Herbison]

that preclude long term training at the advanced level ... By "heavy", I mean whatever weights a person is using once he/she is an advanced trainee.

Gotcha.

But stronger is not healthier (or better for athletic performance in most sports) past a certain point

Not technically true, but I get your point. Rip likes to say "all other things equal," but things are never equal.

I think it's sooner in an individual's progression than most around here would admit (maybe mid-intermediate?).

I'd agree with that in most cases. Getting stronger just takes too many resources for an athlete to spare past that point (further for some than others), and while I still say a 600-lb deadlift is occasionally more useful in life outside of the gym than a 500 lb deadlift, I will admit that the occasion where it is significant is pretty rare. (But not non-existent!)

It's also why the 6' --> be 275lbs to be your "strongest" logic doesn't always compute.

I was thinking about that yesterday. Rip said in a recent video that the worst lifting advice he ever got was to stay at 220, but how much heavier could he realistically have gotten while remaining competitive? He's 5'8" and seems to have decent but not amazing genetics for holding muscle mass. Since he has alluded to the fact that he wasn't willing to do what the other guys were doing (I think most of us can guess what that was) to remain competitive, I'm not sure the advice was that bad.

On a related note, I think a whole lot of our recommendations for X lbs/inch of height or related measurements are based largely on guys who were working with more than what nature gave them. True, you may need 3-4 lbs/in to be an elite powerlifter, but if you don't have the genes for that, what are you supposed to do? Gain the weight anyway and get fat? Hell, Ed Coan dominated as a 220 (and other weight classes, true) and he's only two inches shorter. And that's with enough drugs to fail three tests.

/mini-rant.

So are you going to be a deadlift specialist now?

[KyleMask]

All other things are never equal, as you say. Strength training at the advanced level does lead to fatigue, aches, pains, tendinitis, even injuries, that detract from training, even maintenance I'll argue, of other physical parameters. Each of our bodies and each joint in those bodies has a finite shelf life. This is why you don't want Adrian Peterson doing thousands of sets of squats with 500-600 lbs prior to and during his playing days. If he's already 215 lbs with a 4.3 40 and he's already running everyone over, I'd have him do as little as possible in the weight room to get those results on the field. But I'm digressing.

And I'll become a deadlift specialist if I can get strong enough to do so That remains to be seen, though.

[KyleMask]

KOTJ, you inspire me to want to stay hard with you forever.

[KyleMask]

Deadlift 455x5 (surprisingly easy)
Sumos 265x5, 285x5, 295x5
High (by about 4") box squat 95 5x5
Sled push 4 runs x 40 yards
GHR 3x10

Patellar tendon in left knee felt like shit, but the right knee felt fine on squats. I'm going to keep the box at this height for a while. Easier on my knees, I don't plan to squat competitively again, and some of the strongest guys I've trained with squat 2-4 inches high all the time, including 2 pro strongmen lol