mattciupak's SS log: wrestling with bears

[mattciupak]

Monday, March 19, 2012

walk to gym

squats: 175x5x3
bench: 155x5x3
deadlift: 245x5
+curls (55x20, 45x10)

walk home


-was actually able to consciously keep my knees out. actually felt when they were coming in a little bit, and then I pushed them out as far as I could. some of these reps felt very slow, though, especially the ones where I had to push my knees out. not necessarily hard, just slow. rebound was pretty good. next time I need to cue "midfoot" more. no elbow pain at all today. back felt fantastic, too, which is funny because yesterday it hurt when I bent over.

-bench was easy. there was this piece of shit who walked in, probably 2 or 3 years older than me but he looked like he'd never seen a barbell in his life. he started with 135 and worked his way up to 215 for reps, decent reps too. basically, he was benching more than I squat. I hate being so weak.

-deadlifts were alright. last two reps felt a bit sloppy. bigger breaths next time, and need to keep the bar in closer.

[mattciupak]

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

walk to gym

squat: 180x5x3
press: 115x5x3
hang PC: 100x3x3

walk home

squats sucked. slow and hard.

press was ok. took breaths at the top rather than at the bottom. was able to stay much tighter.

power cleans sucked. ran out of time, only did 3 sets.


BW is at 184.5 now. gaining weight and still making shitty progress. ok.

[mattciupak]

Friday, March 23, 2012

squat: 185x5x3 (belted)
bench: 160x5x3 (last two sets belted)
deadlift: 255x5? (belted)
+3 sets lat pulldowns w/ v handle
+back decompression

got my belt in on Thursday.

squatting with the belt felt really weird. my natural instinct was to push out against it rather than valsalva, so I had to stop myself from doing that. the belt was also "forcing" me to be much more vertical. in addition, I felt like I was bouncing off of the belt. I have no idea if that makes any sense but the rebounds out of the hole were fairly quick, and it didn't feel like my hamstrings or adductors were being stretched out. maybe I wasn't hitting depth. the belt left some nice bruises on my hips. overall, I'd say these squats were easy compared to last time.

bench was harder than I expected it to be. might be due to insufficient warm up. moved my feet a little more under me today (while still keeping them flat on the ground). awesome setup, was able to stay a lot tighter. the belt seemed to help too, although that may be psychological.

I have no idea if I actually got 5 reps. not enough oxygen in my brain at the time to think. all I remember was my last rep was pretty easy and I could have gotten another one if I wanted to. I have no idea if the belt helped or not but I was able to feel when I got out of position during my warm up sets and then I tried to stay in position during the work set. surprisingly, the belt felt comfortable, which is weird considering how short my torso is. perhaps I was just numb from the squats.

back decompression felt awful, still feel awful today. pain could also be due to shitty deadlifts/squats, I don't know. any bit of lumbar overextension hurts like hell. even doing the valsalva hurts a little bit.

[mattciupak]

Monday, March 26, 2012

walk to gym

squat: 190x5x3
press: 120x5x3

run home

tightened belt to third to last hole, last time did fourth to last. thought it was too tight at first but ended up being perfect, or at least I think so.

squats felt awesome. wasn't able to use the power rack today, had to use one of the squat racks which is in front of a mirror. kept looking at myself in the mirror. if it wasn't for that, these were definitely some of my best feeling squats in a REALLY long time. absolutely incredible how tight I was able to stay. knees stayed out without much effort on my part. belt wasn't digging into my hips, either. rebound solid. elbows were bugging me a little bit during my warm up sets.

loaded up the bar for the press and I was a bit intimidated. forgot to bring my 1.25's (even though there's probably a few around the gym, short on time so I didn't want to spend 20 minutes looking for them), so 5lb jump it was. most i've ever pressed. every rep was easy besides the last rep of each set. fucking awesome. I might just keep going with 5's until I stall, then reset and work my way back up with 2.5lb jumps. I remember that being mentioned to me at one point.

short on time, no powercleans, had to run home. almost forgot how much I hated running/jogging.

[slowjoe]

Monday, March 26, 2012
loaded up the bar for the press and I was a bit intimidated. forgot to bring my 1.25's (even though there's probably a few around the gym, short on time so I didn't want to spend 20 minutes looking for them), so 5lb jump it was. most i've ever pressed. every rep was easy besides the last rep of each set. fucking awesome. I might just keep going with 5's until I stall, then reset and work my way back up with 2.5lb jumps. I remember that being mentioned to me at one point.

Good work on the press. I'd advise against the big jumps. You seem to be fairly hard on yourself anyway, and if you have to go through a reset cycle unnecessarily, it will just bring unhappiness. I'd stick the 1.25 in my lifting shoes or tie them to the belt with some string. And good work for concentrating on your form!

Can you describe the back pain you are getting?

[mattciupak]

Good work on the press. I'd advise against the big jumps. You seem to be fairly hard on yourself anyway, and if you have to go through a reset cycle unnecessarily, it will just bring unhappiness. I'd stick the 1.25 in my lifting shoes or tie them to the belt with some string. And good work for concentrating on your form!

Can you describe the back pain you are getting?

thanks, and good call. will do 2.5lb jumps from now on. i'll see how benching goes tomorrow and find out if 2.5lb jumps on that are already necessary as well.

right now I have zero back pain. it used to be really bad when I was squatting with weight on my back, especially the few times I squatted during the wrestling season. when I stood in the rack position it was fine, but as soon as i'd descend it would begin to hurt. after decompression, it hurts so bad I can't even bend over. a tiny bit of overextension makes my spine feel like it's going to explode. also, there's a bit of a bulge on my spine which I can feel through my erectors. it's right about where my ass starts.

yesterday I was able to run home with my backpack on my back just fine, but when I tried a few weeks ago it hurt way too much.

[Mr.City]

I would get that back issue checked out if you feel a budge. There's no need to rush things or be so hard on yourself.

[mattciupak]

I would get that back issue checked out if you feel a budge. There's no need to rush things or be so hard on yourself.

will do.



Wednesday, March 28, 2012

squat: 195x5x3
bench: 165x5x3
dead: 265x4, 265x1

all belted.

first set of squats was fantastic. smooth, nice rebound. second and third not so much. no idea what happened. probably lack of tightness. had to keep reminding myself to valsalva rather than push my gut into the belt.

bench was about as difficult as last time. slightly easier than the last time I hit this weight. couldn't use the good bench today (forza), stuck with shitty bench and the bar kept hitting the j-hooks on the way out. going to start microloading.

first failed set today. may or may not have something to do with the fact that I ran home on Monday and ran out of whey. i'd venture a guess and say it does. about 100g less protein every day right off the bat definitely isn't doing a whole lot of good for recovery.
wasn't really feeling the deads today. maybe I was just tired from the squats. all 4 reps were slow, especially the last one. last one had the potential to be shitty, but I didn't allow it to happen and patiently dragged it all the way up. tried hard to keep my back from rounding on the last rep especially, and judging how easy lockout was I don't think I was rounding, but I have no idea. attempted a 5th, got it like 3 inches off the ground then it stopped. that has never happened to me before. waited for a minute or two, then got another single. should get this no problem on Monday.
I got 5lbs less than this for 5 shitty reps in the past without a belt. only decent rep was the first one IIRC. last 4 were semi-cat-backed and hitched.
edit: here's a video of that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctY2zdBHa2I

[mattciupak]

Friday, March 30, 2012

walk to gym

squat: 200x5x3
press: 127.5x2, 122.5x3x2, 95x10
power clean: 100x3x5

walk home


first set of squats was decent but pretty hard. second and third sucked, just like last time. second set weight kept shifting forward, third set I wasn't tight enough and I may have been going too deep. another problem is the hole I used last time was pretty loose. I think it's because I didn't have a huge meal like I always do before training. first set I used the second to last hole, second set I used the third to last hole, third set I used the second to last hole again.

misloaded the bar for the first set of presses. got 2 hard reps, could have possibly gotten the 3rd but I pussied out. only after did I realize I put on 5's instead of 2.5's. even with 122.5 I only got 3 reps. another fail. my diet/sleep has been pretty shitty lately.

power cleans done from the floor with bumpers. these didn't feel correct at all.


need to start eating/sleeping more.

[mattciupak]

Monday, April 2, 2012

walk to gym

squat: 205x5x3
bench: 167.5x5x3
deadlift: 265x5

all belted

walk home

squats were a fucking joke. i'd like to say this is due to a weekend full of food and rest. still don't have whey though, so i'm going to drink a hell of a lot more milk until I get some. belt fit me well today. also, I did these in the squat rack. my best squats have been done in the squat rack so far, for some reason. I don't think i'll be using the power rack any more.

bench was pretty tough. couldn't use the forza. used a different bar also, knurling wasn't as sharp as the bar I normally use. leg drive could have been better. last set was the best set.

dead set was kinda sorta hard. really felt it in my hamstrings. got this guy who competes to look at the set. he said it looked fine except that I could have my hips a tiny bit lower in the starting position. I didn't rock back as far as I normally do in my setup, it could be possible that my hips were too high. the belt still feels a bit weird. next time valsalva harder.