My bodybuilding split!

[Beltshumeltz]

Ok I'm pissed. Turns out my gum had one bar that was 40 pounds instead of 45, so I basically did the same weight as last week on my squat. It felt light on the press, so I added 2.5 but that was still not the 5 pounds I wanted to add. To top it off, I fucked up my deadlift. I had been doing it with a thiner bar the last few weeks, so this thicker bar gave me grip problems, and I didn't use chalk. So my bad.

Squat: 3x5 x 230 (thought it was 235)
Press: 3x5 x 107.5 (thought it was 112.5)
Deadlift: 1x2x300, 1x2x295, 1x1x295 ish. Should I do that deload thing?
Chin ups: 2x5x17.5 (ran out of time)

Shrugs/close grip bench: Fuck it, I'm stopping these. I'm stopping the shrugs because it's kinda pointless and it might mean less recovery for my wrists. I'm stopping the close grip bp because I don't know why I added it in the first place, besides to have more exercises.

[Beltshumeltz]

Now that I have my 1.25 plates I think what I will do is increase the squat by 7.5 next time, and then another 7.5 the next time I get a 2 day break between workouts. Yeah, I'm kinda on a schedule to show off my quads at the beach :P

[Beltshumeltz]

Squat: 3x5x237.5, easy
Bench: 3x5x160
Pendlay rows: 3x5x155, really easy
Bicep curls: 3x5x70

Need a better ab routine...

Also my left knee hurt badly but I don't know if it came from squatting or from running at 12 mph because it hurt only when I woke up.

I'm considering using straps for my heavier deadlifts, I will have to read up on their downsides compared to mixed grip. If mixed grip is useful only for those who wanna compete and straps aren't bad, I'll use them.

[Beltshumeltz]

AWESOME workout today.

I still had doubts about my knee yesterday but it was 95% fine today. Now, 4 hours after training, it's still about 90% so I just hope it doesn't get worst through the night.

Squat: 3x5 x 245 + 1x3x185 for form. The 245s were 7.5 pounds above last time and it was still easy thanks to 3 days of rest.

Press: 3x5 x 115 - Pretty slow bar because I raised by 7.5 here too (due to mistakenly lifting 107.5 last time instead of 110). Next time I will perhaps add 2.5 pounds at a time until it gets easy.

Deadlift: 1x5 x 295 - I thought of resetting to 280 but decided to just go for my previous best lift + 5 pounds, so I did 295 and it was easy. I then did a backoff set of 1x5x265 with a double overhand grip for form and grip practice and it was also very easy. Chalk and a thicker bar were therefore the reason why I failed last week at 295.

Chin ups: 183BW + 20 = 3 x 5 x 203 - Done pretty well. The long range of motion makes these very hard though but I ended up above the chin each time.

Shrugs: 210 - Decided to keep doing them anyway.

Abs: Trying new stuff, mixing multiple short bodyweight exercises until I get at least the endurance most 2 months newbies have.

[Beltshumeltz]

I had horrible elbow pain from letting the bar roll on my back while squatting. I wonder if I should use a thinner bar to avoid this, or if it will make it worse?

Squat: 3 x 5 x 250
Benchpress: 3 x 5 x 165
Pendlay Row: 3 x 5 x 160
Bicep curl: 73.75 (using micro weights)

[MazdaMatt]

I have found that slimmer bars go down my back worse. But that was in the past when I wasn't lifting my elbows enough. Chalk your hands even for squats. You can also slap some chalk onto your anterior delts where the bar will rest. It helps.

[famendoza]

I had horrible elbow pain from letting the bar roll on my back while squatting. I wonder if I should use a thinner bar to avoid this, or if it will make it worse?

Squat: 3 x 5 x 250
Benchpress: 3 x 5 x 165
Pendlay Row: 3 x 5 x 160
Bicep curl: 73.75 (using micro weights)

It rolls on your back if your connection to the bar isn't tight enough. Your shoulder blades (and shoulders) probably aren't tightly retracted and down enough, your chest isn't high and the bar isn't tucked into the shelf of your spinal scapulae enough, and that probably kills your tightness. Without that tightness, the bar will always roll around on your shoulders, even with a cue for high elbows. It's also easier to maintain high elbows during reps for squats if you have a tighter connection - so that should be fixed first.

[Beltshumeltz]

It rolls on your back if your connection to the bar isn't tight enough. Your shoulder blades (and shoulders) probably aren't tightly retracted and down enough, your chest isn't high and the bar isn't tucked into the shelf of your spinal scapulae enough, and that probably kills your tightness. Without that tightness, the bar will always roll around on your shoulders, even with a cue for high elbows. It's also easier to maintain high elbows during reps for squats if you have a tighter connection - so that should be fixed first.

Thanks, what do you mean by "shoulders blades aren't down enough" though? I try to bring them back and up, not down.

[famendoza]

Thanks, what do you mean by "shoulders blades aren't down enough" though? I try to bring them back and up, not down.

Try this as an experiment. Stand up straight. Then attempt to bring your shoulders down to the floor vertically while standing straight, as though you have two really heavy barbells (or dumbbells or whatever) in your hands - you don't have to pretend to grip anything, the important thing is to bring your shoulders down. You'll feel a lot of pressure and tightness at your shoulders. Then once you've brought your shoulders down as far as you can feel them, lift your chest up. You should feel even more tightness in the upper body once you bring your chest up - pretend like you want to bring the ribcage up, rather than 'cue' a back contraction. You should feel a tight upper back and tight chest up with no slack whatsoever.

You're also in a great position to be able to rack the bar on your spinal scapulae, as the "shoulders down" cue essentially brings your scapulae together and locks them to a certain degree. The chest up completes the lock. Bringing your shoulders up requires you to contract your traps - under a heavy weight they'll just get dragged down and you'll experience rolling of the bar on your back, and a subsequent lack of tightness which will effectively make you weaker. You're not trying to lift your trap muscles to put the bar in place, you want to lock your upper back tight so the bar doesn't move. It also has the side effect of lowering the placeholder of your bar on your back, giving you better leverage on the 1st moment arm (distance between the bar and your hip).

I use this cue heavily in my squatting and my pressing. It has in fact lead to PRs in both for reps. You will get sore between your shoulder blades as you do this the first week if you've never done this.

Here's how I setup for the squat:
- stand at bar, grip at landmarks (I use the ring and put my index finger on it)
- immediately set shoulders down, then once they're tight, lift chest up. Take a deep breath in, and begin racking the bar.
- Before removing bar, ensure I'm still tight upper body, and find the shelf I've created and place bar there. Set bar on scapulae shelf as though I'm attempting to crush the bar against my back. This will bring the elbows to where they need to be. Set lower back straight - I DO NOT HYPEREXTEND THE LOWER BACK.
- Unrack and walkout. The bar should be secured on my back and my torso should be tight.

My press setup is similar
- stand at bar, grip at landmarks about 1-1.5 inches on knurl away from center smooth area (you will be different)
- immediately set shoulders down, then once they're tight, lift chest up. Take a deep breath in, and begin racking the bar. Bar should be racked just at the bottom of my neck. Elbows should be slightly forward of the bar. Point is not to loose tightness.
- Unrack, upper body should feel taught, which is a good springboard for your first rep. Rest of body (feet, lower back, glutes) should be tightened.

I use this motion as well when I walk; it's a way of effectively placing yourself in good posture (standing tall, chest up shoulders "relaxed"). This is in fact how I practice it, and it forces me to stand and sit straight.

[Beltshumeltz]

Thanks a ton for the explanation! I just tried with a broomstick and it makes a huge difference although it will take some getting used to. Thanks again!