Petesmithings Log

[petesmithing]

Keep the bar on your shins.

Yeah, I usually do pretty well on my shins. Its when I'm distracted by other parts of form, like focusing on not performing the lift by cranking my neck back, where I have a little bit of a hiccup around my knees.

27 FEB
Squat: 210x5x3
Press: 115x5x3
Deadlift: 270x5x1
Note: I've done 3 sets of 5 reps for the entire log, I just suck at set notation and need to relearn how to write it correctly.

Session Notes:
Didnt makethe time to work on shoulder mobility over the weekend and it showed. Still having trouble with shoulders in the squat. I cant get wide enough to keep my wrists straight without causing elbow pain. High bar sucks. Did better about staying more vertical and keeping the chest up today, but still not good enough. I dont think I went deep enough on the first set, made sure for the next two to go deep. I pretty much have to imagine keeping myself vertical to keep a good back angle. My lower back was sore by the first set. I cant keep doing a LP on squat every lift, going to have to at least make a light day in the middle of the week. My back cant keep up with this. Worked on press form today, still a challenge for me. First set felt terrible, got it together on the second set, and did ok on the third. Short on time again, only got my deadlift in. My back was worn out for deadlift. Got through warmups and workset, but that set felt really taxing. By the end my back was so worn out it was difficult to stand up straight, had some significant discomfort. Form felt pretty clean though. I feel like my lower back just gets overworked and tenses up and wont release. Also did some foam rolling in between sets to help out. Within half an hour the discomfort was gone and it was down to a normal soreness. Somethings gotta give between squats and my back, and I'm going to injure my back if I keep going. Gonna have to feel it out and reduce heavy volume on squats until I can unfuck this situation.

[petesmithing]

1 MAR
Skipped

3 MAR
Squat: 215x5x3
Bench: 175x5x3
Deadlift: 275x5

Session Notes:
Skipped Wednesdays workout, had other stuff going on and also just need a mental and physical recovery day. Dealt with some serious discomfort in upper back and shoulders after the last workout. Lower back felt fine during this period surprisingly. Did some extra mobility work and I'm finding more and more knots just about everywhere that can tie in to my shoulders in some way. Didnt feel good about the discomfort going into the workout, glad it did it because I'm actually feeling better after it. Squats went well and were relatively pain free. Just accepted that I should be working on high bar and didnt really try anything extra like trying to work into low bar during warmups like I usually do. This had a strong positive effect on my squats today. I think I should probably buy a piece of wooden rod dowel to do stretching and low bar position work outside of workout time. My form needs correction because I still have a strong distaste for high bar squats, but I think its a significant improvement over the last workout. First pain free squat session I've had in a long time. Bench was another easy 10lb jump today. Felt a little unstable through my elbows and bar path though. I might be able to get another 10lb jump or two, but I think 5lbs might be a better plan depending on how I feel. Deadlifts went up well, starting feeling tension in my neck about halfway through the set. Made the set a little harder and I need to work work on form and probably get videos again. Had a little low back tension after the set which quickly went away.

Question: Any suggestions on how to visualize/cue the deadlift so that I'm not trying to perform the lift by cranking my neck back? I feel like mentally I'm visualizing the lift that I have to create the upper back/chest tension by initiating a pull from my neck.

And now for a squat video: 215 Squat 3March - YouTube

Self critque: This was my last workset. I'm still doing a little bit of a good morning in the movement, but its a good improvement/step in the right direction. I'm letting my wrists get cocked back during the set. And I'm not sure whats causing that foot tapping at the top of the movement.

[petesmithing]

7 MAR
Squat: 220x5x3
Press:117.5x5x3
Chinups: BWx5x3

Session Notes:
A day late for workout. Had a case of the sniffles on Sunday and Monday, decided to push through it today. I'm gonna lift today (tuesday) and friday for this week for some extra recovery. Another amazing shitty session. Got a back angle video for squat today. And I cant center the bar for shit, I was dragging it pretty far off to the right, Tried to adjust and its a little hard for me to feel when the bar is on center. No wonder why my lower back was killing me in squats. Felt good about staying more vertical for high bar this time. Not sure how I did with depth since squat is practically a whole new movement now. Felt much stronger and weaker at the same time. Didnt feel as hard, but felt entirely foreign. Could feel the left side of my lower back acting up, as its finally getting some work in now. Press went ok, got all the weight up pretty well. Tried to work on form but got distracted by the frustration of what a shitshow my squat form is. Skipped deadlift for today because I didnt feel like pushing it since the left side of my lower back is finally getting some training and I could feel it. Wasnt pain, just the soreness that comes from using a neglected muscle. Tried to start power clean study, first time I've tried to get into the rack position. It's quite a stretch for my wrists and pretty uncomfortable, not sure I have the flexibility for it at the moment. Didnt go any further. Did three sets of five for bodyweight chins. Could have probably done more, but spent more time relocating and adjusting the bar on the rack. I have to maneuver my head without banging the ceiling joist right behind me and barely have enough room to clear the bar before I hit the plywood ceiling. I'm a little bit frustrated now that my squat could have been fixed at the start with time with a trainer, or a workout partner worth half the salt on a margarita glass. But I can hardly afford to eat right now...

[petesmithing]

10 MAR
Squat: 225x5x3
Bench: 185x5x3
Deadlift: 280x5x1

Session Notes:
Bench felt heavy for what I thought was a 5lb jump. Making a 10lb jump on accident will do that. Reps went up, going to switch to 5lb jumps now. Remembered to update the app for the appropriate jump. Felt like my grip in my right hand was getting ready to give on deadlifts. Ordered chalk.

13 MAR
Squat: 230x5x3
Press: 120x5x3
Deadlift: 285x5x1

Session Notes:
Still suck at press form. Noticed the bar went up just as easy when I really messed up timing and did a strict press and it didnt feel any harder than with the hip movement. Sets seem to be getting easier, increasing bench is helping and maybe I'm unfucking my shoulders. Deadlift went up easier than last time. Chalk didnt come in yet, but grip held out and felt better today. Still need to work on how to put more hip/leg pull and less emphasis on back. Felt stronger on workset today, stopped thinking so technically about the lift and just thought rip the bar off the ground. Worked well.

[petesmithing]

15 MAR
Squat: 235x5x3
Bench: 190x5x3
Deadlift: 290x5x1

Session Notes:
Decided not to do a light day for squats and not sub pullups for deadlift for this workout, since I am expecting to have to take all of next week off. Bench a little heavy, really need to start figuring out bar path now that weight is actually feeling heavy. Deadlift felt strong.

17 MAR
Squat:240x5x3
Press 122.5x5x3
Deadlift: 295x5x1

Session Notes:
I've been giving up on videoing myself to review every heavy warmup and workset. Tired of trying to micromanage every bit of muscle control required to perform a rep. Just getting under the bar and grunting out a rep. I figure I'll have to figure out form intuitively if I keep going. I feel better and happier about my workouts now. As long as I'm not completely butchering form in a way that risks injury putting up the weight is good enough for me. Only focusing on big fuckups like noticing myself turn a press rep into a push press once. Deadlift went well, right hand felt a little loose on grip again. Still havent needed chalk.

[petesmithing]

Updates: Back after a week vacation Still a little disappointed that I had to interrupt gains. But I did decide to treat myself to some color rubber bumpers for my lifts. Really need to work on diet and recomposition, I'm still eating whatever the hell I want and not counting macros, even if that means eating half a package of cookies everyday. Stats: 5'8", 213lbs, ~25% BF, pants are getting pretty tight again (36" waist). Decided to drop all my weights to second to last session weight completed befor the vacation.

27 MAR
Squat: 235x5x3
Bench: 185x5x3
Deadlift: 290x5x1

29 MAR
Squat: 240x5x3
Press: 120x5x3
Deadlift: 300x5x1

Session Notes: It's an odd feeling returning back after a break. Weights felt difficult to control at first, feels like I lost half the muscle memory for movement patterns. But this seems to also be a good thing, as I also forgot bad habits. Maybe now I can move forward working on maintaining proper form. At the least, its a psychological boost feeling like I'm starting off clean and dont have to constantly watch for shitty form. I can just focus my energy on positive cues for my lifts. I'm also noticing a pattern to my deadlift grip. I'm still holding out double overhand without chalk (have some, just havent needed it yet). But when I train deadlift on consecutive lifting sessions, my grip doesnt fully recover while everything else to give me the strength to rip the bar off the floor seems to recover well. Feel like my hand is getting pried open by the weight. Still holding on, but I think its time to start alternating deadlift days and maybe move to 10lb jumps for the short period that I can sustain that while doing them less frequently.

[petesmithing]

31 MAR
Squat: 245x5x3
Bench 190x5x3
Deadlift: 305x5x1

Session Notes: Everything felt really strong today. Let the bar slide a little lower down my back than strict high bar position. Had a little left elbow irritation but I think I can slowly make my way down to low bar with the extra mobility work I'm doing to free up my shoulder. Bench was smooth once I got setup form down again. Tried a little chalk on deadlifts, probably didnt use enough. Definitely close to the limits of grip recovery. Might have compromised form rounding my back some when I was distracted by my failing grip. I really want to stick with double overhand, so less frequent lifts with 10lbs jumps seems like the plan.

[petesmithing]

3 APR
Squat: 250x5x3
Press: 122.5x5x3
Chinups: BWx7x3

Session Notes:
Changed the organization of shit around my rack. Went to go do my first workset of squats and bounced the bar plates off the plates in my plate cart. Couldnt reach full depth without making contact because they were directly underneath the weights on the bar. I was dumb enough to continue the whole set of 5 bouncing off every time. Got second and third set in fine after moving the plate cart. Squats were really bothering my left elbow trying to go halfway between high and low bar while keeping my wrists straight. Press felt strong. Need to focus on strict form on chins, which is difficult because I'll ram my head into the ceiling at the top and touch my toes on the floor early at the bottom. Back discomfort crept in slowly leading up to the next session. Also had some delayed inflammation in left wrist.

5 APR
Squat: 205x5x3
Bench: 195x5x3
Deadlift: 315x3x1

Session Notes:
Tweaked my back pretty good being a retard and doing a whole set bouncing off balance hard last time. Decided a light day was in order between my back tweak and left elbow/wrist discomfort. Did high bar for sets, since thats what I can do without irritating elbows and wrist. The weight felt a little heavier than it should have. Bench felt pretty good, finally hitting a heavy-ish weight. Did same setup as usual, tapped the jhooks on my rack a couple times on the first set. My bar path is changing a little under what is finally a heavy workset weight. Moved the bench about 2 inches and second and third set went fine. Deads fell apart for about half a dozen different excuses. Back already tweaked from squats. Tried changing setup a little from usual to see if I started with bar directly over midfoot. Whatever I did threw the whole feel of the lift way off just by moving the bar closer to my shins a little. Tried doing hook grip during warmups and threw me off since I couldnt get it by workset, tried normal double overhand on workset. Forgot chalk. Held my first couple reps at lockout a few seconds longer than usual to make sure I was hitting it all the way. Didnt bring my mental game because I was distracted by changing my form on setup. A lot of stupid reasons for a shitty deadlift. I want to just go at it again next session, but considering I'm also dealing with a minor back injury, that definitely shouldn't happen. My back feels like shit now, especially on the right side (the side I was bouncing plates on squat). Not sure what weight I'm gonna do next time for deads. We'll see how things go for squats next session, but that should probably also be another light set. I was already dumb enough causing the injury, now I cant be dumb in letting myself heal.

[petesmithing]

7 APR
Squat: 235x5x1, 225x5x2
Press: 125x5x3
Chinups: BWx8x3

Session Notes:
Squat warmup to 205 felt good, knew I couldnt handle a full workload though. Did one set at 235, felt a slight strain on my injured side of my back. Backed it off to 225 for the last 2 sets, felt good with no strain. Press went ok. First set was difficult but good. Second set was strongest with great form. Third set fell apart. Just couldnt get form timing down, went back to a slight push press knee bounce, stopped myself like a quarter of the way up about two times. Had to muscle out the reps with poor form. I'm sure I didnt rest enough for the last set. Tried to do a couple more reps without enough rest, more poor form. Gave it about 15 minutes rest and got out a 4th set with much better form, not quite as strong as 2nd set but definitely not as bad as third set. Rest longer between 2nd and 3rd set and I should be good. I didnt think that the extra press volume would hurt much. Deadlift rest day, I think I can see how deadlift warmups go at the start of next week and reset to a lower weight that I've already hit. I'm thinking 305, do 5lb jumps with deads every other workout. Bodyweight chins went well, a little better form but still a little slop because of poor clearance and not enough room to perform a complete rep.

[petesmithing]

10 APR
Squat: 245x5x3
Bench: 200x5x3
Deadlift: 305x5x1

Session Notes:
Did warmups and then a couple of heavy singles to work my way up to 245. Needed to test my back out and see if it recovered. Didnt have any specific problems with the injury. Sets felt unbalanced, got a video of the last set from the front and could see the I wasnt keeping the bar level. Dropped my right side down lower on the second half of descent. Not sure how long thats been going on, I dont think very long. I noticed it by feel right away in this session. Bench went well. Good momentum on progression. Starting to feel heavy but havent really use leg drive yet. Deadlifts went well, dropped back to 305 and will go back to 5lb jumps every other session. Tried to work on hook grip on everything but my workset. Need some practice. Could only get index finger over the tip of my thumb, didnt work well when it got heavy. Ditched it for workset, double overhand grip held out well with chalk. Workset form got a little shitty, was just worried about ripping the bar off the ground to get my confidence back with a heavy weight. Dont think I kept in on my shins. Cleaned up and worked on hook grip with the bar in the rack. With some stretching I can hook the right hand. Not sure I'll get my left, that thumb has a bit less flexibility from having it reconstructed.