Well, since you're still adding weight to the bar each session and recovery doesn't seem to be an issue, no need to add a light day yet. Right now you seem to be making very good progress. Keep it up, but not to the point where you're completely beating yourself up. I think you'll know for yourself when it is time to add that light day.
25 Sep 2019
Squat 385x5x3 (+5lbs)
Press 150x5x3 (+5lbs)
Deadlift 415x5 (+10lbs PR)
Body weight 253lbs
Everything was awesome.
Squats felt better today than 380 did. Glad too because I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep.
Presses definitely are slowing on final reps of each set but once I started focusing on the straight bar path it felt more natural.
Deads felt heavy but moved really well until the last rep. Was letting breath out on the way down on a few of the reps. Going to focus on staying tight and breathing right.
Also, another guy from my slo pitch team is going to train this off season. He’s never touched barbells and had his first session tonight in my garage gym. Looking forward to seeing his progress and developing a bit of a coaching eye. Hopefully he’ll be joining these forums too.
Great session and looking forward to the next one.
28 Sep 2019
Squat 390x5x3 (+5lbs)
Bench 215x5, 212.5x5x2 (+5,+2.5lbs)
Power Clean- Tomorrow
Ran out of time to do the cleans. Hopefully will fit them in tomorrow.
Squat was good. It’s a heavy weight but I’m staying tight and driving up with the hips hard out of the hole. Not feeling the need for a light day yet. I think I did one set with too much weight going into the elbow so it was a bit sore leading into benching.
Bench was really tough at 215 so I decided now is the time for 2.5lb jumps from here on out.
212.5 moved decently. Crazy how that little bit makes such a difference. I’ve never micro loaded but I’m hoping there is continued gains. My plan is to add a 4th set once I start to stall on the micro loading jumps.
29 Sep 2019
Power Clean
120x3x5
Easy work. Was a bit beat up and sore from yesterday so taking my time. Need to eat more protein I suspect.
1 Oct 2019
Squat 395x5x3 (+5lbs)
Press 150x5x3 (+5lbs)
Deadlift 425x5 (+10lbs PR)
BW 256
All I can say is I feel great. On to the next one. Hoping I can stay healthy.
3 Oct 2019
Squat 400x5x3 (+5lbs)
Bench 215x5x3 (+2.5lbs)
Squats moved well but really made my left elbow sore. I need to find out if I’m doing something wrong with my grip, width or elbow angle. I still have more to go on LP with these but only if my elbow cooperates. Very happy to hit 400!
Bench was hard and slow. Elbow soreness on top of that sucked. Decided to pass on cleans or deads for today. Hopefully I can get a full session in next time.
Weight is 258 and I’ve been using a scoop of creatine every day for the last 4 days.
If anyone has any advice on dealing with the inflamed elbows after squats, I’d love to hear it.
Last edited by Jared_T; 10-04-2019 at 03:43 PM.
Nice work Man.
Congrats on your 400!
I have had something similar. To me it just was temporary and I did a couple of workouts with less stress on elbows. Pain went away within a week and never came back.
It might be an adaptation thing which just takes time to build both, your elbow stress tolerance and sufficient shoulder/wrist/elbow flexibility for low-bar position.
Might also be your form related cause. If the bar is too much supported by your wrists instead of your back puts more pressure on elbows in an uncomfortable elbow position. Or if your scapula is not fully retracted then you do not have such a good ‘shelf’ on your upper back for low bar support and also your elbows would need to bend backwards more putting them into an uncomfortable position.
But I’m not an expert by any means. These are just my thoughts based on the very little experience I have so far and what I have learned from materials I’ve studied