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gramboh's Journal

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Originally posted by: brikis98
congrats on the squat PR, that's some good weight, and just 10lbs short of three 45's per side. however, why is your deadlift so much less? for most people it's the other way around.
Click to expand...

Thanks brikis, I'm going to be trying for 3 plates tomorrow (Friday). My DL is embarassing. I'm just starting to now get comfortable with the form, whereas the squat has always felt 'natural' for me and I'm confident in it. With deads, sometimes I feel mentally defeated before evening lifting (dumb I know, need to get psyched up) and other times I'll have a bad rep with rounded back. I think I just need to kick my mental ass a bit and try moving up faster. I think I'll do 275 tomorrow instead of 270 (not that 5lbs is a big diff on DL).
 
Week 14 - Day 2 - June 25, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
1x225
1x275
5x5x310 (PR)
5x45 OH squats

Benchpress:
Skipped

Bent-over rows:
5x65 - warmup
5x135
5x5x185 (PR)

Dips:
Skipped

Squats felt heavy but good. Other than one rep in the 4th set, I think, where for some reason I lost concentration and breathed out and lost tension in my midsection which led to GM'ing the weight up and tweaking my back a bit. OH squats felt a lot better than last time I tried them with the bar, I was able to sit back into a decent position at good depth this time, I used a wide snatch grip, going to keep practicing these.

Skipped benchpress this week to allow the pain in my elbow area (tendons I think) to heal.

Rows felt alright, last rep on last 2 sets I cheated a bit more than I'd like but the weight was still coming up and touching my body. I felt a bit of lower back pain on set 1 and 2 from the screwed up rep in squats, but by the last set my back felt fine with no pain.

Skipped dips to rest elbow area (see bench above).

Had a gift certificate for a couples massage at a spa which my GF and I used last night (Wednesday), it felt pretty good (first professional massage I've ever had). Although I felt relaxed afterwards, it wasn't an amazing difference like I've heard some people say. I think I might look into active release therapy type massages since I think my work health plan might cover them.
 
Originally posted by: gramboh
Originally posted by: brikis98
congrats on the squat PR, that's some good weight, and just 10lbs short of three 45's per side. however, why is your deadlift so much less? for most people it's the other way around.
Click to expand...

Thanks brikis, I'm going to be trying for 3 plates tomorrow (Friday). My DL is embarassing. I'm just starting to now get comfortable with the form, whereas the squat has always felt 'natural' for me and I'm confident in it. With deads, sometimes I feel mentally defeated before evening lifting (dumb I know, need to get psyched up) and other times I'll have a bad rep with rounded back. I think I just need to kick my mental ass a bit and try moving up faster. I think I'll do 275 tomorrow instead of 270 (not that 5lbs is a big diff on DL).
Click to expand...

interesting... for me, deadlifts always felt like an incredibly natural motion (i felt like i'd been doing them all my life when moving furniture & the like) while the squat motion always felt bizarre and never quite right. both exercises take a huge amount of mental effort - if you're not into it 100%, you just can't go heavy.

incidentally, you mentioned in a previous reply how your legs were big from hockey. a few years ago, i was playing hockey 3 days a week, and lifting 3 days a week (squatting just once a week) and the leg development was incredible. I got up to a PR of ~350 (and 375 once, although I don't think it was deep enough) and my quads got massive. i think the ice skating motion really overlaps with squat motion and once your body adapts to both, you can make amazing progress.

keep up the good work 🙂
 
Dead lift is also my strongest lift, while I suck ass at squats due to being afraid of my form and hurting myself. I'm just focusing on my stretching and mobility before I start moving up in squats again. looks like I'll be close to DL 1.5xBW before I sqat BW.
 
I'm curious how many people are currently at the supposedly ideal sequence of being able to DL the highest weight, followed by Squat, then Bench, then Row, then OH press.
I am, but I'm not happy where I am at with Row, which is only a little higher than my OH - and I think my form is weakest with Row as well (it seems to be the easiest to cheat at.)
 
I'm close, I guess.

I current DL 255, bench 230, squat 180, row 170 and OH 135.

My bench likely isn't going anywhere anytime soon (or maybe 5/10 pounds in the next two months) and hopefully my squat will catch it.

 
when my lower back was uninjured, i was definitely that way (numbers for ~4 reps): DL 405, squat 335, bench 315, row 225, OH 160. the injury has screwed up my deadlift and squat, which sadly puts my bench in front... but, as it gets healthier, i expect deadlift and squat to leap ahead again.
 
Thanks for the encouraging words guys. As you will see below, 3 plates didn't go exactly as planned, maybe it will later this afternoon. I'm getting more confident in DL with each time I do the exercise, I think I will catch up to my squat pretty soon hopefully. Other than that, my lifts are in the normal order (right now, Squat > DL > Bench > Row > OH Press, with bench and row being very close, I am slow with bench due to elbow pain).

Week 14 - Day 3 - June 27, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
1x225 - warmup
1x275 - warmup
5x315 (PR)
2x4x315
1x315

OH Press:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x80 - warmup
5x5x95

Deadlift:
5x135 - warmup
2x225 - warmup
5x275 (PR tie)

Pull-ups:
1x7 (PR)
1x5

I felt a bit off during this workout, I had just eaten a large breakfast and was in a rush as I had a meeting in the afternoon. First set of squats with 3 plates felt heavy, but good to finally reach that milestone. The next two sets I didn't feel comfortable coming up to the last rep (worried about my back, probably all mental). The 4th set I just did a single and racked it, deciding not to push it. Will go for 5x5 today (Monday)

Press I am deloading from 125 (failed 3 times). Felt good. I re-read the press chapter in Starting Strength and will be focusing on keeping my eyes forward (I think I look up at the weight sometimes), a good starting position with chest up, shoving my torso and head under the bar as it passes and also keeping the bar path as straight as possible.

Deadlifts felt good. Pull-ups I got 7.75 reps, the last was just a bit low, but I'm still counting it as a PR. Skipped the last set as I was already late.
 
Week 15 - Day 1 - June 30, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
1x225
1x275
5x315
4x315
3x315

Benchpress:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x115 - warmup
5x5x185*

Bent-over rows:
5x65 - warmup
5x115 - warmup
5x5x190

Dips:
Skipped

Didn't feel confident going into the gym, it was the hottest day of the summer so far and without AC the gym gets ridiculously hot. First set felt ok, but after that I just wasn't feeling it. Rather than try the 5th reps I just gave up after the 4th and 3rd reps rather than go to failure. On Wednesday I will be trying for 5x5 even if it means failing every set, just need to get more pumped up.

First time back on benchpress since June 20, I still felt it slightly in my elbows but it was nowhere near as painful. Needed a tiny bit of help on the last rep to lock it out but I'll still count it.

Rows felt pretty good, tried to minimize cheating, should probably deload soon down to 145ish and work back up with tighter form.

Skipped dips as I was late for a few things.
 
Week 15 - Day 2 - July 2, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
1x225 - warmup
1x275 - warmup
5x315
4x315
2x2x315
1x315

OH Press:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x75 - warmup
5x5x100

Deadlift:
5x135 - warmup
2x225 - warmup
5x285 (PR)

Pull-ups:
1x8 (PR)
1x4
1x3

I finally forced myself to go to failure on squats (the past 2 attempts at 5x5x315 I've just racked it when I thought I couldn't do any more). The last 2 sets I went to failure and just let the bar down on the safety bars. That is the third attempt at 315 so I'll be deloading to 270ish next day.

OH Press felt fine. Deadlift I was a bit gassed on, I did 3 reps fast then the last 2 needed a bit of time. It's weird, I don't really feel much strain at all in my legs on deads, just a bit in my upper back, mostly the grip is the hardest part for me versus moving the weight.

Got 8 reps on pull-ups first set which was a record. Finally getting closer to 10.
 
Week 15 - Day 3 - July 4, 2008

Skipped due to one of the most vicious hangovers I have ever had. I live in Calgary Canada and the Stampede had just started which turns the city into a huge party. Two friends from out of town came back (plus the GF is out of town) and we just went wild. I was still getting sick at 6pm the next day, and just couldn't go to the gym. I was mad about missing this session all weekend.

Week 16 - Day 1 - July 7, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
1x225 - warmup
5x5x270

OH Press:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x75 - warmup
5x5x105

Deadlift:
5x135 - warmup
2x225 - warmup
2x290

Chin-ups:
1x6
1x4
1x4

I was happy to be deloading on squats and be able to focus on form rather than the stress of moving weight near my capacity. The first set felt heavier than I thought it would, but subsequent ones all went up nice and easy, no back pain, fast bar speed, knees locked outwards.

OH press felt heavy, like it was 115ish or something, although some reps felt super light, still working on my technique. I finally bought a camera the other week so I'll get friends to video me.

Deads I could only get 2 reps with mixed grip. Over the weekend I learned to wakeboard at a friends cabin, and injured my forearms/grip ability (because it took me about 20 attempts to get up in the water on the wakeboard, and the failed attempts involved the rope being ripped out of my hands which pulls on the tendons in my forearms). On the second rep at 290 I almost dropped the bar (which didn't have bumpers since someone was using the oly platform). Didn't want to do that so I just stopped.

Grip was bugging me again on chins.
 
Do you grip the bar more in your palm, or mostly with your fingers? I've stopped trying to keep it in my palms; it was just too much work, and distracted me from everything else I needed to focus on during each rep.
 
Originally posted by: lucasorion
Do you grip the bar more in your palm, or mostly with your fingers? I've stopped trying to keep it in my palms; it was just too much work, and distracted me from everything else I needed to focus on during each rep.
Click to expand...

On deads? I try to keep my hand closed around it, bar near my fingers. On Monday it slipped down (like peeled open my fingers) even with mixed grip. I think it was from the wakeboarding last weekend since the prior deadlift workout grip was not a huge deal. I find with mostly fingers it feels like it's about to drop?

Originally posted by: TecHNooB
Your bentover rows are impressive. Your back must be huge!
Click to expand...

Thanks, but I think I'm cheating my form too much. I tried 190 again tonight and I'm standing up with my hips way too much the last rep or two of each set. I think I'm going to deload to 145-150ish and work back up with tighter form.
 
Week 16 - Day 2 - July 9, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
1x225
5x5x275

Benchpress:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x115 - warmup
2x5x185
4x185
3x185
1x185

Bent-over rows:
5x65 - warmup
5x115 - warmup
5x5x190

Dips:
3x5x35

Squats were fast and easy today, got my heart going by taking short breaks and lifting as fast as I could. Felt good. Benchpress felt good the first set but heavy, which is weird because I got 5x5x185 last time other than the last rep of the last set needed a finger. Today I failed fast. I blame it on going to an afternoon party and having 2 beers (outdoor festival, and paid for by my employer, so impossible to resist).

Rows I stayed at 190 because I'm not happy with my form, I'm standing up too much with hips. I will try 190 one more time then deload 35-40lbs if I don't get it. Dips were fine.
 
Week 16 - Day 3 - July 11, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
1x225 - warmup
5x5x280

OH Press:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x75 - warmup
5x5x110

Deadlift:
5x135 - warmup
2x225 - warmup
5x290

Pull-ups:
1x5
1x3
1x2

Squats still feeling good, either my quads or the top of my knee (couldn't tell if it was the joint, must have been muscle since I felt no pain/stress after the gym or today) were sore right after the workout. I figure it is because I ran stairs on Thursday. Gotta continue to focus on sitting back as the weight goes up just to be sure.

OH Press was fine other than the last few reps of the last 2 sets I let the bar get infront of my face too much and it was a bit ugly going up.

Deadlifts, I did 2 reps back to back then had to take ~20 seconds before the next rep as I was scared of dropping the bar due to grip failure (wasn't using bumpers). All told the last 3 reps took probably 3 or 4 minutes to get through but I did get them. Not ideal. Will stay with this weight again next time.

Someone removed the tape from the pull-up bar and we didn't bring any to replace it so it was super slippery. I tried to learn kipping on set 2 and 3 but couldn't get the feeling.
 
Week 17 - Day 1 - July 14, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
1x225
5x5x285

Benchpress:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x115 - warmup
5x5x185

Bent-over rows:
Bar x5 - warmup
2x135 - warmup
5x5x150

Dips:
3x5x40

Tried to go fast on squats again today, felt good, focused on squeezing my glutes as that is something I haven't been doing as well as I'd like. I need to perfect my form so I can get 315 5x5 and farther this time around. Weight still feels a lot lighter than 315, like a world of difference.

Got 185 on bench which was a relief since I sucked on last attempt on Wednesday. Last rep of set 4/5 was a bit of a struggle but I got it with no help from spotter. Hoping to get 190 and beyond this time. I want a BW bench press 5x5.

Decided to deload on rows rather than try 190 again because I knew I'd be humping the bar up with my hips. Focused on keeping entire body locked other than arms and succeeded for the most part thanks to the deload.

Dips were fine, no elbow pain thank god.
 
Nice job on the squats. I usually forget to squeeze my glutes on the first couple sets. The all-over muscle tensing (grip, back, glutes, abs) really helps.
 
Originally posted by: conorvansmack
Nice job on the squats. I usually forget to squeeze my glutes on the first couple sets. The all-over muscle tensing (grip, back, glutes, abs) really helps.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I'm finding it more important to focus on those exact things (on every rep) as the weight gets closer to where I failed last time (315). I find with a bit lighter weight I can just squat 'naturally', but the heavier it gets the more focused I have to be on doing everything right if I want to get the bar back up.
 
Week 17 - Day 2 - July 16, 2008

Squats:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x135 - warmup
1x225 - warmup
5x5x290

OH Press:
Bar x12 - warmup
5x75 - warmup
5x5x115

Deadlift:
5x135 - warmup
2x225 - warmup
5x290

Chin-ups:
1x8
1x5
1x5

Squats are starting to feel a bit heavy again, although I felt off today for some reason (didn't eat enough I think). OH press I had to push-press the last rep on the last 2 sets, not happy about it as I'm 10lbs off where I failed last time (125lbs). Will try 115 again. Deadlift I did the first 3 reps fast, then had to take 20-30 seconds for each of the last 2 reps as I felt like I was going to drop the bar. Chinups felt pretty good.

First CrossFit orientation session is tonight, hopefully I'll get some form pointers on deads and presses that will help me out.
 
July 17, 2008 - CrossFit Level 1 Orientation

Two friends and I had a one hour Level 1 orientation session at OPT aka http://crossfitcalgary.ca/ last night. We are interested in starting to train CrossFit full-time, or a hybrid of strength training and CrossFit. Personally, I want a 2X BW deadlift, 2X BW 1 rep squat, BW bench 5RM, 165 press 1RM in terms of strength before I would consider doing CrossFit full time (these could change, just what is in my mind now).

OPT is a dream gym. Just racks, oly platforms, bumpers, pull-up bars, kettlebells, ropes, loud rock music, buckets for people on the brink of barfing etc.

Our trainer was Brett, one of the main OPT guys. Super enthusiastic guy and in amazing shape.

For the level 1 session we spent about 20 minutes on squat mechanics. It was interesting that he advised a more upright, narrow stance (shoulder width) olympic style squat compared to the low bar, wide (outside shoulders) stance squat that I had been doing based on Starting Strength. I guess the idea is that this translates better into olympic lifts used in CrossFit. I think what I'm going to do is try to squat both styles during different workouts as I know I can lift more weight with the wide stance low bar (but I understand the benefits to olympic style).

We also went over CrossFit standards for push-ups, sit-ups, KB swings and spent the last part of the session learning kipping pull-ups. The way he taught makes so much more sense than when I tried to figure it out myself. I still can't quite the motion but I am getting closer.

Sunday we have level 2 (getting into oly lifts) and then we are going to try to arrange to go at least once a week the rest of the summer to do CF workouts and continue to work on form.

Overall I'm very happy with the session and just watching other people at OPT doing the WoD motivated me to get more into CrossFit. The people there were training at maximum intensity and cheering each other on, really positive environment, it was awesome, so much better than a gym playing crap R'n'b music with peopel curling and staring at themselves in the mirror.

Went for a quick 3km run down the highway after as we didn't work too hard during the session (more focused on form).

For SL 5x5 tonight I will try olympic style squats with lower weight (starting @ 225).
 
Man, i'm jealous - the CF classes and facility sound pretty sweet. The nearest CF facility to me is ~25-30 minutes away, which would add an hour to my workout, which I just can't spare. If I have time, however, I might make the effort to do the orientation seminar, so keep us posted on how it goes 🙂
 
I'm currently around the "ideal" with my deads at 355, squats close at 335, bench at 205, Row at 175, and OH press at 115. My OH presses are by far my weakest, but i'm pretty sure a lot has to do with form. I could probably push 135 up once, but not for a whole routine.
 
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