Still trying to lift more at the shore

[Agilic]

Hi Agilic, I saw your post in the programming section and I'll be following along with your progress. I am interested to see how things go when you start basketball, and with a baby on the way I'm doing as much recon as I can on Dad Style programming I ended LP with similar numbers to yours, Always wondered why my squat wasn't higher despite knowing I gave it my all. Ultimately I realized I just didn't have a lifestyle that allowed for enough rest/preparation as my body needed for the squat (but doesn't seem to require for anything else) so I stopped worrying about it as much. Anyway, just my experience FWIW. Best of luck in your training and everything else!

Thank you. Do you have a log? It certainly is difficult, and I can't even remember the last time I've slept more than 4 or 5 hours uninterrupted. I'm hopeful that I can make some decent gains only trying to push the squat hard once per week.

[Agilic]

solid squats

Thanks Lou, just want to do them with another 70 lbs on the bar.

[Agilic]

Bench (I)
187.5x4
Well that's frustrating. Just did 200x3 and was expecting to get this for at least 6, if not 7 or 8. 5th only made it about 3 inches off my chest. This is the last weight I failed 5's on (got 4 then too), so I don't know if I reset further or try to run back up with triples. I'm sure low carb the last 2 days played a factor.

Press (V)
107.5x5x5
Very small amount of redemption as these were easier than ever. If I can nail 122.5 for 5 I'll finally bump this up.

Chins
+6.25 lb 3x5

[Agilic]

I keep going back and forth whether my best option is to just keep eating and trying to get stronger, or cut some BF% for basketball. I would say if I had to choose, I would slightly favor my performance on the court as a priority over performance on the iron, I just don't know whether cutting a little fat or being a little stronger would benefit me more. I'm also looking into purchasing an airdyne for some conditioning.

I'm hoping to get a good night's sleep tonight and not bomb out on squats tomorrow.

[Agilic]

So it seems like 1 low carb day and 1 semi-low carb day sent everything to crap.

Squat (H)
+5 250x4, 230x2x5
+5 lbs = -3 reps. I thought I was going to fail the 4th....took me probably 5 seconds to grind it out. The last rep of backoffs I actually shut my eyes when I hit the hole in order to will my way through it. It's kind of silly if I can't even make weekly squat progress at this stage of the game. This lift will be the death of me. I guess I need to just keep eating and say fuck it to the bf%. I feel like I always read about people slowly getting stronger while maintaining or even cutting.

SGDL
+5 135, 175, 205, 230x5
Significantlg harder than first time doing them at 225. Almost lost grip on 5th rep. Is it even possible to mix grip these or should I get straps for when they get heavier?

[foothills_g]

Thank you. Do you have a log? .

Yes indeed: Grayson's El Niño 2016 / K.I.S.S. log

You are definitely at the reckoning point. How much do you like basketball?

I've chosen the "GPP" route over the "squat at all costs" route. I too have said "fuck it to the bf%" during LP, gained 30# which was awesome, but the deal I made with myself was that it was a one-time thing because it really affected my enjoyment of anything besides weight training.

That said, I think that if I only squat once per week I can rest, eat and prepare enough to hit my numbers. The trick will be whether 1 x week is enough to keep making gains. I'll report back in about 7-8 weeks.

[Agilic]

Yeah, while it is great seeing the weight go up and hitting PR's, basketball league is pretty short and only once per year, and I'd like to perform well. I was thinking that I could do a very slow cut while slowly getting stronger or at least maintaining strength, but the early returns are not promising. I don't even know if my H/M 2x per week squat programming is too much or too little stimulus. Depending how things go over the next couple of weeks, I may try a light squat after deadlifts and see if that allows me to recover for heavy squats.

I'm sort of starting to feel a little beat up and like an entire light week might do me some good. I may actually hold the title of worst male squatter on the forums.

[Jugrock]

So it seems like 1 low carb day and 1 semi-low carb day sent everything to crap.

Squat (H)
+5 250x4, 230x2x5
[I]+5 lbs = -3 reps. I thought I was going to fail the 4th....took me probably 5 seconds to grind it out. The last rep of backoffs I actually shut my eyes when I hit the hole in order to will my way through it. It's kind of silly if I can't even make weekly squat progress at this stage of the game. This lift will be the death of me. I guess I need to just keep eating and say fuck it to the bf%.

You're hitting the same sticking point I did, ~250-260. I'd get there, start failing, miss a couple sessions and have to build back, or get minor injuries. It took me a long damn time to work through it. I'm not a coach, but your form looked good, albeit a little too deep. I personally never got much out of back-offs, and PPST calls for ramped sets for squats and back-offs for presses. I never tried them, and I rarely see ramped sets on logs, so ymmv. My advice, fwiw, is to just keep going, taking rest or easy days if needed if you feel beat up. One of these days 250 will go well, then 255, then 260 and you'll get on a roll for 20-30 lbs more and wonder what the hell happened.

[Agilic]

You're hitting the same sticking point I did, ~250-260. I'd get there, start failing, miss a couple sessions and have to build back, or get minor injuries. It took me a long damn time to work through it. I'm not a coach, but your form looked good, albeit a little too deep. I personally never got much out of back-offs, and PPST calls for ramped sets for squats and back-offs for presses. I never tried them, and I rarely see ramped sets on logs, so ymmv. My advice, fwiw, is to just keep going, taking rest or easy days if needed if you feel beat up. One of these days 250 will go well, then 255, then 260 and you'll get on a roll for 20-30 lbs more and wonder what the hell happened.

Thanks for the encouragement man. It can get very discouraging but I try to focus on the long term and think about how sweet it will be when I finally do squat 3 plates and how hard I had to work for it.

I'm still working through reading PPST, but the top set with back offs is something I saw Coach Campitelli recommend multiple times to keep advanced novice gains going. Off the bat it doesn't seem like ramping vs. back off would make a huge difference, but I look forward to getting to that part of the book.

Regarding depth, I also noticed I was an inch or 2 deep on 245, and I tried to stay a little tighter and cut depth off a fraction on 250. I would rather be an inch deep than an inch high though.

I think my immediate plan will be to squat light instead of medium on deadlift day and see if I'm better recovered for Thursday's heavy squat. I'm also due for a deadlift reset very soon, so maybe not pushing that to the max for a couple weeks will let my squat move along a few lbs.

[Jugrock]

I was surprised that PPST separated ramped vs backoffs for different movements, because I agree that most people seem to do backoffs. That was just a thought. Same on depth; I was picking nits.