Hi, I'm Chris and this is my training log.

[Ishmael]

You've got those goals in the bag. Don't let a minor hitch get you down.

You should knock the squat and bench out before summer rolls around. The deadlift is messing with my head right now as I break 300 next session, or I would have added it too. The mental side of this activity is the worst part.

[chrisstophere]

You've got those goals in the bag. Don't let a minor hitch get you down.

You should knock the squat and bench out before summer rolls around. The deadlift is messing with my head right now as I break 300 next session, or I would have added it too. The mental side of this activity is the worst part.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. And I can completely relate to what your saying about the mental thing. A bunch of times I'll just try to hype myself up the day before and for some reason that works with me.

[chrisstophere]

Session 20 03/28/12

Squat: 225x5x3 ---> +5lbs
OHP: 125x5x3 ---> +5lbs
PC: 125x3x5 ---> same

Notes
Squat http://youtu.be/dwk9sABEoLw
I definitely felt the bounce this time around. I worked on keeping my head down and trying to get depth. Going to keep at it.

OHP http://youtu.be/Fm55dJHX534
I had to clean the warm-ups and 1 of the worksets which sucked big time, but I got them up. I don't think i'm using any hip drive. I'll have to reread that section of the book and see what i'm doing wrong. I got them all up none the less while trying to take a pause at the bottom.

PC http://youtu.be/9p9bxhdaKV8
Ugh, I still feel like I'm pulling these instead of jumping them up. I warmed up with hang cleans and i'm thinking about just changing to hangs until I get the whole jump and rack thing down better.

Thoughts
I taped my last set of each exercise and I'm going to get them posted to the technique forum for some help. Otherwise, it was a nice time at the gym today.

[chrisstophere]

Session 21 03/28/12

Squat: 230x5x3 ---> +5lbs
Bench: 185x5x3 ---> +5lbs
Deadlift: 290x5 ---> same due to form

Notes
Squat http://youtu.be/ggiBaTn6nyU
These felt good. Pretty sure 1 or 2 reps might have been a hair high, but I was trying to stay tight at the bottom and I think I'm more inflexible than I thought. Hip drive was better than it's been before.

Bench
I got stuck at this weight last time and it felt nice being to push these out this time around.

Deadlift
Recorded these and damn I'm pretty sure my form is just shy of fucking ugly. I watched a youtube video of rip explaining the setup of the lift and I tried using that method. Well I must of fucked that all up cause to me, it looks like my back is fucking smiling cause of how much flexion is there. That sucks cause the weight felt pretty light. Oh well, I'm going to stay at this weight until I can get the form halfway decent. I'm done rushing thru this shit.

Here's the Rip video for reference:


And here's my set:

[Mr_Rogers]

Notice how your hips shoot up in your DL before the bar leaves the floor? I think that's an indication you're starting with your hips too low. Your back looks like it's in flexion the entire time, but I'm not sure how to correct that. Maybe raising the chest at the setup would help ie "stick your boobs out". A cue somebody gave me is "try to imagine your dragging your nipples up and down a wall"...odd but it works for me.

I'd post the DL video in the techinques thread as somebody there with more knowledge on the subject will be able to get you going in the right direction.

Try not to beat yourself up too much, if lifting heavy weights were easy more people would do it. Keep up the good work, you're doing great and you'll do even better with a few form tweaks :-)

[Ishmael]

Deadlift- What I do...

Keep your back straight while bending over at the wast, and then grabbing the bar without bending at the knees.

Set your grip, and then bend the knees until your shins just touch the bar. Your hips shouldn't move down much at all.

If this makes you dizzy, hold your breath before you bend over, and do not take another until after the next step.

Think hard about contracting your lower back while pointing your nipples forward.

Now notice where your weight is on your feet. If it is on your toes shift your upper body to the rear until you feel it on your heels. Then shift a little more forward, until it feels a hair in front of your heel. I am always on my toes at the beginning when setting up this way.

Once there, take a deep breath and push your feet through the floor while holding your back tight.


Power Clean - I'm not good at these myself, but my problem is wrist flexibility at the rack. ...and conditioning at the end... ...

I setup for it the same way as the deadlift above, with the exception of not trying to push my feet through the floor. I just stand up with purpose, and then jump.

[chrisstophere]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll give them a try this Wednesday. That nipple cue sounds like what I need to think about.

[chrisstophere]

Session 22 04/02/12

Squat: 235x5x3 ---> +5lbs
OHP: 130x3, 125x4, 125x4 ---> same
PC: 95x3x5 ---> same

Notes
Squat
Felt okay. My descent seems a bit faster. Might be all in my head.

OHP
Ugh, I was super tired by this time. Based on feedback from my form checkup request, I altered the way I did these and damn did they seem so much harder. I stood straight up and tried to use the hip drive thing without leaning back and starting from a dead stop. Holy crap that's hard. I spent what felt like an eternity trying to get the last rep of the last set up and my upper body was shaking crazy. I was just spent after that one, no gas left for the 5th one.

PC
I lowered the weight and concentrated on trying to explode these. I think they were better then last week, but I still need to practice. Still, a bad clean is better than no clean at all.

Thoughts
I felt kinda tired today, but not the sleepy kind, just kind of run down. I've eaten well and my sleep is as good as it usually is so I'm not sure what's going on with that feeling. The caffeine helped in the beginning but I still didn't feel rip roaring like I used to in the beginning. I'm not bothered by it, just curious.

[chrisstophere]

Session 23 03/28/12

Squat: 240x5x3 ---> +5l bs
Bench: 190x5x2, 190x4 ---> same weight
Deadlift: 290x5 ---> +10 lbs

Notes:
Squat
The first 2 sets, energy felt pretty good. Blew thru the 1st set, 2nd set got slow on the third rep, and the last set started to get ugly after the 3rd rep.
Bench
Super great on the first set, slowed down with the last rep on the 2nd set, and I just got stuck on the 5th rep of the last set. had to dump the weights to the floor. felt like i lost the groove
Deadlift
Really tried hard to get form right on this to the point where it felt like it making more tired than I had to be. I taped it, but haven't looked at it yet so that might all have been for naught. Also, that last rep was a bitch and a half to get up, but it got there.

General
I felt really rushed thru this session due to some other issues going on. In hindsight I really should of just gotten this done after work so I would've had time between sets. One of these days i'll have to start taking this more seriously than I am. i bet that time is getting close.

[chrisstophere]

Session 24 04/06/12

Squat: 245x5x3 ---> +5lbs
OHP: 125x5x3 ---> +5lbs
PC: 100x3x5 ---> +5lbs

Notes
Squat
These are starting to get heavy, but not till the last set. Felt good and pushed them all up. Gotta keep queueing myself to keep my knees out.
OHP
These felt really good. Reps went up fast.
Power Clean
Decided to up the weight by 5lbs from last week. I'm glad I did. I know most of them are still ugly with some arm pull, but not all of them. I think I need to keep progressing with them cause only practice will improve them. It does feel good when the weight racks right. Just gotta keep working on that explosiveness.

General
More rest between sets definitely makes a difference. It was nice not having to rush thru this session with the worry of getting back to work on time. Chin-ups are progressing nicely as well.