OVERCOME: My SS log to become a MAN

[ChiefCisco]

I was just practicing power cleans with 65lbs. Last time I tried 105lbs I badly injured my wrists. Thankfully lots of ice kind of made it ok. But I am not happy with my form. I cannot point my elbows forward, it just points it to the ground. Very bad flexibility. Will have to work on it.

Are you holding the bar in your palm or your fingers for your deadlift and clean? I had a similar problem with my cleans until I adjusted my grip. Once I moved the bar from my palm down into my fingers, I had an easier time of getting my elbows forward without bending my wrist too much. The finger grip allows you remove a couple fingers from the bar when you rack it. This eases wrist tension. I am usually just holding the bar with two fingers on each hand once it is racked.

[ivankannan]

Are you holding the bar in your palm or your fingers for your deadlift and clean? I had a similar problem with my cleans until I adjusted my grip. Once I moved the bar from my palm down into my fingers, I had an easier time of getting my elbows forward without bending my wrist too much. The finger grip allows you remove a couple fingers from the bar when you rack it. This eases wrist tension. I am usually just holding the bar with two fingers on each hand once it is racked.

I think I generally hold on my palms. Actually the bar wouldn't even touch my shoulders. So now I think about it, the 105lbs was held by my hands, or by my wrists, it didn't get racked fully.

[AndrewS]

Best of luck man. Looks like you've already made some decent progress from where you started out.

[ChiefCisco]

I think I generally hold on my palms. Actually the bar wouldn't even touch my shoulders. So now I think about it, the 105lbs was held by my hands, or by my wrists, it didn't get racked fully.

Check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTqNSgCmM2s

[ivankannan]

That was incredible. I never give thought on such small details. Wish I could train under Rip!

Today's nutrition:
4 breads + 2tbsp PB + 4 egg whites + 2 cups 1% milk + 1 cup skim milk + 1 scoop whey (wasn't that heavy)
Subway chicken footlong + avacado
3 cups of 1%milk + 1 scoop whey + handful of almonds
Sardines in olive oil (26g protein + rest fat = 220 calories)
Chicken breast + veggies + 1 egg + 1 egg white (omlette) + 1 cup skim milk [generally i eat rice but i am skipping it on off days]
Cottage cheese + mozarella cheese + half scoop casein

Eating at Subway has become a routine now. Don't know whether its good or not. The good thing is that I get a decent serving of chicken, some veggies, some good fat from avacado (generally i stay away from the dressings) and the store is nearby. Don't know how long i will do this.

[ivankannan]

I keep looking at this guy's transformation: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=923892
Simply incredible. But it also amazes me how he started at 150lbs bench, must be naturally strong.

Looking forward to the Deadlift session tomorrow. Last time I did 165lbs, will try 170lbs. My grip strength is down the gutters, need to increase it. I hope I remember to record a video of my lifts tomorrow.
For the squats, I am going to deload a bit to 170lbs and work on my form. I realize that I don't feel much in my hamstrings, which might mean that I am not going down. And I am wondering whether I should still work on my bench form at 110lbs as last work out or try to increase it. I have learnt few stuff which I need to incorporate. A useful thread for bench press: http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=17817

[ivankannan]

Well, today's workout was good and bad. I recorded almost all my lifts. I decided to do 180lbs in Squat to incorporate some changes I had in mind.

Squats:
45lbs 5, 5, 5
95lbs 5
115llbs 5
180lbs 5, 5, 5
Videos:
First set of 180lbs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoA4gWu1RvY
Second set of 180lbs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWIrbAMcbLM
I took the second set to show that my legs are shoulder apart. But now that I look at this video, it seems that I am not sitting fully but I think it could be an illusion from being shot from behind. Also I am not bending a lot to the forward. My third set was tough. I almost stopped in the air in the fifth rep and thought for a moment that I should give up, but fortunately I didn't.

Bench:
45lbs 5, 5, 5
65lbs 5, 5
110lbs 5, 5, 7
Videos:
Somehow I lost my first and second set videos of bench. But here is the link to the third set: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxschFT3bGo
First of all, I was trying to bring my chest up and secondly I was touching the bar on my chest, though it doesn't appear like that in the video. I tried squeezing my shoulder blades but still I sometimes feel a pain on my bones, namely the clavicles. WHY ARE MY PECS NEVER SORE. ARE MY BONES AND SHOULDERS DOING ALL THE WORK??

Deadlifts:
65lbs 5, 5, 5
95lbs 5
170lbs 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK-ulhDjd04
Its clear that my back is rounded towards the end. Also my grip strength is an issue. I was using gloves all the time, today I stopped that. After the fourth rep I thought if I lift, the bar is going to roll down and also I knew my back had rounded.

Dips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz0mPXCJnOQ
That looks very bad to me. Any tips? My clavicles hurt while doing dips.

[MazdaMatt]

Hey Ivan, since you posted videos here I might as well talk about them here insetead of in PM's. PM me with further questions if you want.

I mentioned before that your quads should not be the prime muscle being worked. I can absolutely see why from these vids, especially the second one.

As I had assumed, you're letting your knees cave in. That immediately takes the tension out of your hamstrings and into your quads. Watch your second video. As you transition from down to up your knees jump inwards. You NEED to fight against this as hard as you can. The resulting slack in hamstring tension can be seen in the first video - note how your knees also travel back wards at the start of the rise, this is another sign of loose hamstrings.

Another thing that is causing more quad dominance is that you're donig high-bar squats. That is not bad in itself, but if you're trying to do this program, you probably mean to be doing low-bar. I'm going to address this indirectly by saying:

Lose the maxi-pad! You need to learn to push your elbows up behind you very hard. This serves two purposes - it keeps your upper back tight and it gives the bar and nice comfy pad of muscle to rest on. You'll feel silly for using the pad once you discover that those muscles can hold the bar up for you. You'll now be able to lower the bar as well. Check the book for bar position.

Summary: knees out harder in transition. Lose the maxi-padand get your elbows up.

Thanks for posting videos.

[MazdaMatt]

I might as well reply about deadlifts, too.

DEAD lifts are from a DEAD stop on the ground. Lift it up, put it down, repeat.

Take your time. You're really wiggling around then BAM you pull it. Set up. Gradually increase the tension.

You're also not setting up quite right. Deadlift setup is so simple:
Bar over midfoot (you've got that, I think)
Bend at the hips to grab the bar TIGHT.
Bend at the knees till your shins touch.
Shoulders PAST the bar so your shoudler blades are over it.
Pull the bar HAAAAAARD against your shins using your lats

Start the pull slowly by driving with your heels and KEEP PULLING THE BAR TOWARDS YOU. This helps you keep your shoulders past the bar for as long as possible.

You will put a LOT of weight on the squats and deads when you sort out those form issues. GOOD LUCK and report back!

[ivankannan]

Thanks. I have been using the maxi-pad all this time. But I am starting to stop using it. I didn't use it for the warmups but I felt the need for it during the main three sets. I have tried low bar squats before but I couldn't do it, the bar felt too heavy to sit there. Also Rip always says to keep the elbows upwards in the videos but I am not able to do it, need more flexibility. So first I will start to work on the low bar squats.

Also why is it that I don't have any such thing called an upper back? Starting from the neck it falls down immediately without rising a bit

When you say knees are caving in, are you saying that the knees are trying to move towards each other? This is what I am able to note from the second video. And I can see that my knees are moving here and there during the rebound. So if I have to start using low bar squats, how much would you suggest I deload to? There is no way that I can do high bar squats with this weight.