Randy's Log

[RandallH1989]

After examining a bit more, I think what I was doing wrong today was remembering by habit my low bar cues, which was throwing me off. I forgot to keep my torso vertical, and was leaning over as if to go in to a low bar squat. When I squatted down with a vertical back after remembering this, my problem was fixed. Will squat 195x5x5 Friday.

[Jethro]

Randall,

I started reading SS but I haven't gotten to the program yet. Does the program have you backing off at all? You shouldn't be taking your lifts to almost failure at every workout. Not at your level of strength and youth. You should be keeping a little "gas" in the tank each workout and shouldn't have to worry about failure for months!

Take smaller weight jumps or "wave" the weights. I think all of those 10 pound jumps you made was too fast.

Don't move up in weight until you nail down your form or you will injure yourself and it ends up effecting your whole lifting career.

Example for next 8 squat workouts:

180
185
190
195

185
190
195
200

Like I said I don't know how SS has you backing off. Got to cut back on reps, weight, or workout frequency every once in a while.

[RandallH1989]

I did reset a couple of times because my squat form was horrendous, and moved to doing high bar squats. However I was told that at these stats, I should still be able to make 10 lb jumps on deadlift and squat. Obviously I am not, though.

And yes, SS has you backing off once you think you're going to stall, but why the hell should I be stalling at such light weights? Surely it's a technique issue on my part.

But not to worry - i'm done f*cking around and have pretty much nailed down my form on the lifts, so it should be smooth sailing from here.

[RandallH1989]

So right now i've decided that I have enough healthy foods to make my weight gain more clean now. I just had a pizza as my last junk food for a long while.

Some rules I am setting for myself:


*No starchy carbs
*Keep protein to AT LEAST 40% of total caloric intake
*Eat 4,000-4,500 calories per day

[RandallH1989]

Had another pretty shitty workout today. Was not able to get 5 reps on any set past the 1st on bench.

Also, I cannot stop falling forward on squats and coming on to my toes, even though the bar is as high as I can get it. I watch videos, think about cues, practice w/ light and heavy weights, and it just seems inevitable.

The only thing good about today's workout was that I was able to deadlift 300x5.


I think it's time for me to try something else for a little while. It's a good idea to change things up and I think it could help me here, as I seem to be stuck.

What I am going to do is maintain the diet I posted in my last post, and my workout will look like:

Monday - Strength Upper
Tuesday - Strength Lower
Wednesday - Off
Thursday - Hypertrophy Upper
Friday - Hypertrophy Lower

I will be maintaining a log on the bodybuilding.com forums. Don't worry, i'm not about to go prance around in a speedo or anything, I think that place is just more suited for something like this.

I am still going to maintain an active membership on these forums.

[Jethro]

...and don't give up, that's what training is all about!

You can't go wrong investing in learning how to squat. Mark Berry said it took him two years to learn to squat correctly (as told in his periodical Physical Training Notes in early 1930).

1 Squat from the heels, slowly at first if you have to.
2 Squat straight down, not back in your stance.
3 Don't initiate the forward lean on the descent. Bend at the knees and the lean takes care of itself. If you think about the forward lean at all you will automatically screw up the rep.
4 At the bottom, focus should be on the hip drive (power from the glutes)/while looking at the floor in front of you.

Did I mention stay on heels?

[RandallH1989]

I want like hell to continue strength training.. I just can't seem to nail the back squat down, and my lower back is getting fucked up as a result.

Not sure what the opinion on this is, but I am going to replace back squats with front squats, since I have no problems with these squats. I tried searching all over the place to see if it was an acceptable substitution until I get a coach, but I didn't find anything. I'd appreciate some input. I don't know what weight to start at with these but I am assuming it'll be somewhere around 165 lbs. I did 135 the other day to play around and it was pretty easy (this just goes to show how messed up my BS technique is, since the FS weight is so close).


70sbig.com is the shit.

Doing workout B tomorrow.

[fluxboy]

Hi Randall,

I just returned to civilization and thought I'd swing by and see how you were doing. Struggling a bit, huh?

Been there. And returned. More often than I care to remember.

I've noticed that you've really been focusing on form issues. While this is a fine past-time, my personal view is that anything obsessed with tends to ultimately become a hindrance. For instance, in the squat one could spend a lifetime working on it's nuances, but the focus should really be on get bigger and stronger. The squat is just a tool.

Now, given that you are putting forth a mighty effort, and I hope that Rip forgives me for this comment, you should be getting bigger and stronger regardless of whether high, low, or whatever whacky bar position you chose for the squat. You have placed a heavy weight upon youself, gone down, and come up. Your body should get bigger from this.

If it isn't, something is amiss.

I'd start with the essentials, forget the routine.

1) Air : Are you breathing?
2) Sleep: Are you sleeping soundly?
3) Water: Are you drinking enough fluids?
4) Food: Are you eating enough calories?
5) Stress: Are you relaxed?

Any significant difficiency in this chain will cause you gains to grind to a halt. The importance of your muscles is generally outweighed by about a factor of a gazillion to one by your body's need to live. If it feels threatened, which will happen if it's dehydrated, tired, undernourished, or stressed out, you can pretty much forget any muscular development. It's not the time or place. You body is too busy keeping the heart pumping, or preparing to keep the heart pumping, to allocate any resources to look 70s big.

Anyway, that has been my experience. The routine is no more important than any other single factor (air, sleep, water, food, stress). If one is lacking, muscle growth will not take place.

Okay, gotta fly.

Take care Randall.

Best,
Flux

[RandallH1989]

Flux, thanks for your help.

I believe I have fixed my squat and I even made a thread with a video in the Mark Rippetoe Q/A forum. He said that there wasn't anything too bad with it, and if he is happy with it than I am. I just had to focus on some cues that worked for me in particular.

Anyways, I am now calling my log "Randy's journey to 70s big". I aspire to be 70s big. However, it's kind of difficult balancing it with the military. In the event that my schedule starts to mess with my training too much, I have a backup plan.

I might have to commit to spending the rest of my time (about 2 months) in Afghanistan doing Crossfit WODs and eating a steady healthy paleo diet. I will choose to do this because my schedule is just too inconsistent out here, and it is going to get worse before I go home.

Upon my return to the states, I plan on..will.. do the following:

1) Start novice linear progression @ 135# on the squat, weight to be determined for the other exercises

2) Work up to drinking a gallon of milk a day

3) Eat and sleep enough to recover and grow

Mainly the thing that will help me is the consistency of my schedule while I am stateside. I will be able to hit the gym at the same time every day and go to sleep at the same time every day and ensure that I get enough rest, something that cannot be done out here. This is why I might have to delay my training. I do not want to be inconsistent. Also, I don't have milk out here.

Anyways, I am absolutely determined to follow my plan.