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Thread: Less weak than last week

  1. #41
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
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    Knoxville, TN
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    310

    Default NLP Week 17

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    TL;DR - Deadlift and Press went well. A good day.

    01 April 2021 (No April Fool's stuff here)
    Weight - 205
    Squat - 245 (light day)
    Press - 107.5
    Deadlift - 335

    Work interfered yesterday, so I moved my workout to today. The squat was just normal light day stuff. Lots of focus on depth and controlled descent.

    Press went well, but that last rep was really a grinder. I wouldn't be surprised if I fail 110 on Monday but I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.

    I had previously considered redoing 325 or only going up to 330 since the last deadlift was janky since a failed grip lost the last rep, but I figured that if my grip were to fail at 335, it'd fail at 325 anyhow so I might as well go for it. Glad I did. I need to repeat 315 on squats on Saturday, so I'm starting to see a bit of daylight between the squat and deadlift weights.

    Now for the end of month table. From start to now, weights in lb.:

    Lift Start Now March Gains
    Squat 105 310 25
    Overhead Press 46 107.5 10
    Bench 75 155 15
    Deadlift 155 335 10
    Power Clean 65 115 5

    Modest gains mostly due to recovering from injury. The power cleans also had a big reset thanks to horrid form.

  2. #42
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    Jul 2016
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    Default NLP Week 17

    TL;DR - That's gonna leave a mark.

    03 April 2021
    Weight - 205 lb
    Squat - 315
    Bench - 157.5
    Power Clean - 120 (fail)

    Redid 315 on the squat to atone for a couple failures to make depth last time. Today felt much better, and another guy at the gym said the depth looked really good, fwiw. I'll take that.

    Bench went fine, but wrangling the bar out of the hooks is still a lot of work. It feels like I'm exerting as much on that as I am a rep. On the upside, I found a use for the 35 lb plates. They make great footrests for the bench without taking up 25s. (See image.)

    Power clean was going so well! I was getting 120 lb up solidly and crashing it beautifully onto the shoulders. Everything about the PCs felt the best it ever has, except ... the bar was bouncing off my pelvic bone. It hurt more with every repetition, and somewhere in the 3rd set the pain was enough that I just couldn't do them any more. Self-preservation, flinching, whatever - the jumps just didn't happen at all. We'll see how bruised it is tomorrow. Meanwhile I have yet one more thing to research on cleans.

    I'm eating more, but bodyweight isn't moving. I'm okay at the moment since I'm still hovering near 25% BF, but it won't be long before I have to up the intake again.
    Useful-35_lb_plates.jpg

  3. #43
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    Default NLP Week 18

    TL;DR - Yep, that might be an issue.

    05 April 2021
    Weight - 205
    Squat - 245 (light day)
    Press - 110 (4,4,3)
    Deadlift - 345 - grip fail

    Not terribly surprised the press failed, but still disappointing.

    Got the deadlift up, but again had to re-adjust the grip and lost the set. I did rest for a it and tried one more after putting athletic tape on my right thumb and it went up, so maybe I'll try that and see if it helps. But maybe I'm just chasing my tail at this point. Maybe I should shelve my pride and consider straps for work sets. In the attached image, my right arm is the janky one that doesn't go straight and has limited internal rotation. I had this picture taken after the deadlift attempts and just had a couple 45s on it to let it hang, using hook grip. I'm not sure the shoulder asymmetry is real as I was just holding it and not locking it out, but the elbow is as straight as it can go. (In hindsight I should have locked out for a better picture, but here we are.) I get coaching this coming weekend so I'll be sure to bring it up then.
    elbow.jpg

  4. #44
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    Default NLP Week 17

    TL;DR - Progress.

    07 April 2021
    Weight - 205
    Squat - 320
    Bench - 160
    Power Clean - 115

    Squat was grindy as usual. Not a whole lot to report there other than I'm up to 7 minutes of rest. I do wonder if getting some Prowler work would help with inter-set recovery. At this rate I'm probably going to be doing 10 minutes or more of rest by the time I reach 405.

    Bench - ditto. In addition to the 35s for the feet, I put some 2.5s under the bench to give it a bit of lift. It seemed to help with unracking. (Lesson learned: don't ever buy a power rack that has 3.5" gaps between holes.)

    I just did power cleans for form and fun today rather than trying to push. Coaching is coming, so I just went up to a weight that was hard and worked on form. I got the 5 sets of 3 in, but still need to get it figured out.

  5. #45
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    Default NLP Week 18

    TL;DR - Not a normal update - just me writing my thoughts so I don't forget.

    Had 1-on-1 instruction on power cleans, which helped immensely. I got up to 125 (not 5 sets of 3, just singles) and still had far better form and execution than whatever the heck I had been doing. Lots to unpack, but the most important notes:

    - I had been leaning back on the second pull, trying to make it more of a back extension exercise than a jump. The big correction was to stay forward and catch more in a front squat. This not only made the weight go up easier, it (in part) solved the problem of crunching my pelvic bone.

    - Not consistent on the launch point on my thigh. This also contributed to bone crunching. This will take work.

    - Stiff-legged catching, which is in part a function of the back overextension.

    - Elbows not whipping forward fast enough.

    - Catching (a bit) with my hands. Need to let the fingers 'guide' the bar to the shoulders rather than control the bar. (My wording.)

    Can't wait to get back to them now, and see how much I retain. For once in a long time, the cleans were really fun. :-)

  6. #46
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    Jan 2021
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    Gatineau, QC
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    Default

    Very helpful, thanks for sharing!

  7. #47
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    Jun 2020
    Location
    Maine
    Posts
    268

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Hooper View Post
    TL;DR - Not a normal update - just me writing my thoughts so I don't forget.

    Had 1-on-1 instruction on power cleans, which helped immensely. I got up to 125 (not 5 sets of 3, just singles) and still had far better form and execution than whatever the heck I had been doing. Lots to unpack, but the most important notes:

    - I had been leaning back on the second pull, trying to make it more of a back extension exercise than a jump. The big correction was to stay forward and catch more in a front squat. This not only made the weight go up easier, it (in part) solved the problem of crunching my pelvic bone.

    - Not consistent on the launch point on my thigh. This also contributed to bone crunching. This will take work.

    - Stiff-legged catching, which is in part a function of the back overextension.

    - Elbows not whipping forward fast enough.

    - Catching (a bit) with my hands. Need to let the fingers 'guide' the bar to the shoulders rather than control the bar. (My wording.)

    Can't wait to get back to them now, and see how much I retain. For once in a long time, the cleans were really fun. :-)
    I've been working on the same things. Did you get any verbal cues that seemed to help?

  8. #48
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    Jul 2016
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    Knoxville, TN
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    Default

    Not verbal cues so much as actually getting to see him do the clean. For me, the problem stemmed from my interpretation of the diagrams in the blue book. In all figures (stick or real human), there's a bit of backward lean during the second pull. I was trying to feel like I was doing that, and leaning back way too much (basically doing the exaggerated layback but without having the bar too far forward). For me, getting a good pull doesn't feel like I'm leaning back at all. I suspect a part of it is that I'm still so light on the bar.

    As far as cues go, though, I think the one I'll try is "front squat" which (hopefully) will have me anticipate the catching position better and stay more vertical.

    I also found out over the weekend that I tend to be on my heels on every lift (except the bench, obvs.), so cueing 'midfoot' will be the cue during the early phase. I'm hoping to get to the gym this afternoon so I'll see if it helps.

  9. #49
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    Jul 2016
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    Default NLP Week 19

    TL;DR - Therapy day for lifting. Also, twerk.

    12 April 2021
    Weight - 205
    Squat - 275
    Bench - 155
    Power Clean - 125

    I had my second vaccine dose on Thursday the 8th, went on the road on Friday and did power clean training, then got training on the other four lifts on Saturday, then drove home on Sunday. In the meantime, I had some pretty good side effects from the vaccine (fever, loss of appetite, malaise) and had a really hard time sleeping. A very long weekend, to say the least. So today, I felt justified in lifting to feel better about myself more so than making progress. Hence the lighter squat and bench.

    I learned that I'm too far back on my heels when squatting (a theme for all my standing lifts, actually). I was actually getting too horizontal in my back as a result. Fixing it does make the squat feel much smoother and makes it far easier to hit and feel depth. I'm not sure where my weight really is right now, so I backed down to an easy-to-load weight and practiced feeling the balance on midfoot. I may take a 10 lb jump on Friday.

    The bench was fine. I used 5 lb plates under the bench to adjust the bench/rack height delta, and unracking was far less of a pain.

    Did 5 sets of 3 on the power clean for 125. :-D Not all were pretty and I should redo the weight on Friday, but I got there. Turns out when you (a) jump off your heel, (b) lean too far back, (c) try to catch stiff-legged, and (d) don't fully let the bar roll off the fingers, the power clean becomes very inefficient and frustrating. Whodathunk? I remembered today that I tend to rock back onto my heels as I set my back, so I had to focus on that at the start. Then it's a matter of keeping there and jumping without getting too far back. Once jumping, though, I need to unlock the hips to catch the bar. I eventually figured out that the fastest, most effective cue for me on that was 'twerk', which is disastrously funny for as uncoordinated as I am.

  10. #50
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Knoxville, TN
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    Default NLP Week 19

    starting strength coach development program
    TL;DR - resuming progress. And straps.

    14 April 2021
    Weight - 205
    Squat - 235 (light day)
    Press - 105
    Deadlift - 335

    Kept the light squats on deadlift day. Focusing on true midfoot is helping, though. I had previously been too worried about horizontal back angle, and getting the balance fixed is making depth much easier as I'm not closing my hip joint quite so much. Still need to be careful with heavy days as I'm not sure if I'm artificially heavy at the moment.

    Press went well. I stayed at 105 to work on things I learned this weekend. Will continue with 2.5-lb increases as per NLP.

    Deadlift went great. Based on feedback from the weekend, I'm now using straps on the top sets. The torque I'm getting from the goofy elbow is indeed screwing up my grip. My options are to (a) struggle with it and progress very slowly or (b) use straps and get strong. Since I have zero intention to compete, I swallowed my pride and bought Olympic style straps, figuring they'll make me be more honest with grip than other styles. I'll use hook grip up to the top set to get some grip work in; that will also help with my power cleans.

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