Once More. From The Top.

[Gary Gibson]

Hey Gary, did you ever find out exactly what was wrong with your knees? I cringe every time you talk about draining them yourself after squats, and throwing liniments at them feels good but I'm not sure that actually does anything for joint health....I guess you have more experience than I do in this sort of thing though...

Mainly training too often. Add fallen arches and weak lower leg muscles and you get far too many reps with poor alignment.

I spend all day working on keeping arches in my feet. It helps a lot. ARP is all about getting proper muscles to activate to keep stress from the connective tissues.

[Gary Gibson]

2014-07-01
Bench Press, touch and go
45x12
105x6
135x4
165x3
185x2
195x1
200x3,2

Back Squat, high bar, high heels
(Champion suit bottoms)
45x6
135x5
225x3
(Champion suit bottoms + loose True Black wraps)
315
345
(Champion suit bottoms + True Black wraps + Toro belt)
365
375

Bench was a disaster. I should have stuck with 195.

But today was really for me to play with my new gear. I LOVE the True Black wraps. Like a heroin-filled baby Jesus hugging each knee. 345 without the belt was a max, but with the belt the 365 flew up. 375 was hard, but I think I could have gone higher with the straps up...but I was exhausted...mainly from wrapping my own knees!

The 365 flew up so easily that it took me by surprise and the bar leapt off my shoulders and landed on top of that bony bump at the bottom of my neck. Hurts a little now.

I'm loving wraps more and more. If they're not adding weight, they're not protecting the knees!

[Gary Gibson]

2014-07-05
Bench Press, touch and go
45x15
105x5
135x4
165x3
195x2
210x1
220x1
225x1 (Easy)
195x3,1

Back Squat, high bar, high heel
(Inzer Champion pants)
45x10
135x5
225x3
(pants + loose True Black wraps)
315x2
(pants + wraps + belt)
345x1
365x1
(suit + wraps + belt)
385xmiss
(pants + wraps + belt)
315x4x4

Deadlift, conventional, low heels
315x3
365x2
405x1
(suit + belt)
435x0

Russian Leg Curl, partial x3,4,5

Steady progress in bench, not overdoing it with greed and I hit 225 for the first time in a year. Yet volume seems to be eluding me here. The 225 was easy, but I didn't go higher so I'd have the energy for volume with 195, but still got immediately shut down there.

Got humbled by the squat suit. Straps up meant nothing. No additional weight. Gear beyond the very basics of belt, wraps and pants means having to get stronger and much more skilled.

The belt, pants and wraps give me an extra 50-60 lbs over my totally naked squat. A naked hard 315-320 becomes a hard minimally geared 375. But the extra help means they're doing their job of protecting my joints. I feel fresh s a daisy after a session in this stuff. Knees feel good. Tricky right hip feels good. Back feels good.

Too tired for sumo. Conventional seemed less intimidating. Too tired for a new best today though.

Six weeks till meet. My plan to beat my 82.5 kilo bests now seems comically ambitious. I just want to beat my bests in the 75 class. If I can high bar squat 375 lbs with just a belt and sleeves, I will have soundly beaten my previous best of 369 low bar. 375 also puts me in the "extremely strong" ranking on that raw strength chart I like.

I like the idea of a raw day alternated with a gear day. Raw means no Inzer pants, as I'd compete in USAPL raw. That would be a day with minimal volume, just working up to some heavy single in belt and sleeves or wraps.

Today I also learned why some lifters don't use a suit for deadlifting.

[Gary Gibson]

2014-07-09
Bench Press, touch and go
45x15x2
105x5
135x4
165x3
195x2
205x1 (hard)

Dumbbell Row, semi-supinated
100x8x4

Emotionally difficult evening. Had nothing for bench.

[ColoWayno]

Following along, good to see you here.

The ups and downs; that part never seems to change.

[Gary Gibson]

Following along, good to see you here.

The ups and downs; that part never seems to change.

Yep, but I think I'm back on track now. Just had a lull due to work and interrelationship stresses. I don't think I'd been eating nearly enough.

2014-07-12
Bench Press, touch and go
45x12
105x5
135x4
165x3
195x2
215x1
225x1
230x1
195x4x4

Back Squat, high bar, high heels, loose Champion bottoms
45x15
135x5
225x4
(knee wraps)
315x2
(knee wraps + belt)
345x1
365x1
325x4x3

Russian Leg Curl partial x3x3

Benches were right on track after all. Maybe I just need a week of rest for those, too, now. But I've also regained some weight after dropping for about a week. I went down to 158. Got my feed on at an all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant special last night. I ate $60 worth of food for $25. I had a good breakfast this morning and have weighed 162 all day.

The 230 BP was about all I had in me, but it's the most I've benched in a year. This time, I got a volume local (recent) PR to go with the 1RM PR. Finally mastered 195. Each set of four was better than the last and I finished on a high note with the feeling that I could have done another set (Experience tells me that I would have failed another set...that good feeling means my performance has peaked for that session).

Let me make this as clear as I can...Those suit bottoms are already no longer giving the help they initially did two sessions ago! I probably got a 20 or 30-lb boost the first time I used the bottoms. But they have already stretched out. They were already a size too big. Now they are essentially a pair of "warm" pants.

So the 365 I did today was more "all me, bro" than the 375 I did a week ago with the same pants. The 365 today was HARD. The 10-lb jump from last week's 315 to today's 325 for the work sets was also probably a much bigger jump because of how much less the bottoms helped.

But I think that's pretty cool: buying a suit for overload and then having it stretch and give less help over a few sessions as the load is linearly increased. I get the confidence to handle more weight and actually get stronger. In this case I was getting 20-30 lbs of help with 315 for sets of four...then today I got 10-15 lbs of help with 325 for sets of four.

By the time I hit the meet in four weeks, I should be able to take off the bottoms and hit 365 or 375 with just a belt and sleeves.

Important note: turns out some quad stretches that actually stretch my quads and not my knees are a very good idea for knee happiness. As is wearing wraps and squatting less frequently. My knees have been trouble-free now that I'm protecting them better during the session and giving them enough time to heal between sessions.

[Gary Gibson]

I am so damned close to 2.5x bodyweight raw squat and 3x bodyweight raw deadlift...but just far enough away that I'm pretty sure linear programming won't get me there in time for the August 16 meet.

My knees are feeling amazing. The combination of foot strength training, new springy knee wraps, and sensible quad and ham stretching seem to have done the trick. For the first tie in months, I didn't immediately reach for my knee sleeves when getting dressed for the day.

I am smitten with this burgeoning knee health. I don't want to ruin a good thing. So I'm fighting myself from applying the Smolov base phase to peak my squat and by extension my deadlift by 30-50 lbs.

If I were to start the Smolov base phase tomorrow, that would land me at the meet for my new 1RM tests after a week's rest from the three-week loading phase. So tempting to just go for broke and do it...but at what cost?

I know from experience that a good pair of knee wraps makes a huge difference in knee health, especially with the heightened volume and frequency of something like Smolov base phase. But even a good pair of wraps may not keep away the inflammation and effusion that I've finally gotten under control with more sensible loading.

At my current 158-162 I am a bit stronger than I was five years ago 163 in my first meet. I can high bar squat a lot more now than I could then, more than I could low bar squat probably (haven't tested without wraps lately to have a more honest comparison). I can probably deadlift more, but haven't tested that in a while either. I can definitely bench about five pounds more. And again I'm walking around a couple pounds lighter than I did at weigh-ins when I was trying to come in light.

A good goal would be to weigh 163-165 for the meet and simply outdo what I did at 165 (369 raw low bar, 231 paused bench, 440 raw sumo pull with a close miss at 474). 375 raw high bar is probably well within reach for another three weeks of training. A 474 pull also seems just within the realm of possibility.

But then I am so close to 401 squat and 495 pull...! Which would put me at the much desired 2.5x bodyweight squat (high bar!) and triple bodyweight pull (and so what if it's sumo)!

I tell myself that Smolov would take me there. And that I would definitely take the recommended two weeks off afterward and let any knee aggravation subside.

But the same old man wisdom that's been creeping into my skull and keeping me healthy in training is also telling me to put those bigger goals off for another meet later in the year...to use besting my 165 best as a respectable and sensible first triumph on my comeback.

I suppose I could just lower the bar position and widen my stance now and hope that practice like that translates both to a bigger sumo pull and a bigger squat. I hate how bent over I get with heavy low bar. I confess that I want my heavy squats to be beautiful as well as heavy. But I also want to register a really big raw squat in the 165. Instead of considering Smolov, maybe I need to consider working on my low bar. I've already taken up residence in the sumo camp because it's just a smarter way to pull limit weights.

I've always maintained -- even throughout my high bar heresy -- that low bar is a great way to squat for competition. Maybe I should let go of my high bar fixation long enough to you know, squat big numbers in competition.

[JTC_MN]

I appreciate how your posts give us a glimpse of your thinking. I look forward to see how the competition goes for you. I may be in attendance in August, so its possible we may meet. I won't be competing, only spectating.

[Gary Gibson]

I appreciate how your posts give us a glimpse of your thinking. I look forward to see how the competition goes for you. I may be in attendance in August, so its possible we may meet. I won't be competing, only spectating.

Thanks. Always good to hear that someone is getting something from this public log! Let's chat at the meet. I'll be the skinny black guy.

2014-07-14
Back Squat, high bar, high heel, loose Champion bottoms
45x15
135x6
225x4
(knee wraps)
255x4
285x4
(knee wraps + belt)
315x4
330x3,2+miss

Just had a bunch of energy today and figured I'd up the frequency for at least a week or two.

Now I'm thinking I should have stuck to my plan to do a raw day (light) and a heavy volume day (gear) :\

Or gone full bore with the Smolov.

I came up unevenly on a couple of the heavy reps. Because they were heavy. And I was quickly tuckered. And now my right hip is complaining a bit.

[hamburgerfan]

When you low bar squat, how wide is your stance?