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Post by George on Feb 23, 2013 13:18:41 GMT -5
Tu: I have watched the squat videos and wanted to throw a few opinions in. There is power there, but I have a feeling that more than one red flag might hinder your progress later down the road.
I've noticed that you have a soft start and end. By that I mean that your not fully upright or erect, and have considerable knee bend. If your converting to full power, in a stringently judged meet, you might be redlighted or not even given the squat signal, and certainly wouldn't be creditted for a "lockout" with such knee bend. I have noticed that something as simple as changing shoulder rotation might help erect the body. For example, the next time you squat, consider standing more upright while torquing your elbows a little higher behind you. It sounds counter productive, but it increases tightness.
It is difficult to tell with one angle, but it appears as though your knees might be buckled inward. Compared to the form test you did earlier, your position does not look as powerful. I'm assuming this might be to accomodate the box. If so, I used to turn the box a quarter of a turn, this way I am sitting to the corner and do not have to worry about walking backwards into the outer portion of it. If your knees are moving inward, this is probably a bad shear force angle and not worth it.
One final thing I would suggest is getting rid of the box all together. You mentioned earlier that you use it to avoid going below parallel. I don't understand why. A lot of research suggests that knee shear forces are increased dramatically when abrupt stops and pushes are made above parallel. Without fully resting on the box and popping up, you are doing an exercise which is taking away your stretch reflex while promoting bad depth. I guarantee that if you train to that height, which should not be considered a "white light" depth anywhere, and then take the box away and perform a heavy rep...the added three or so inches you need to break parallel will shock your body, meaning a missed lift. The extra recruitment will not be cns ready...and your body/muscles will protect themselves from the extended range by shutting down. You likely lose anywhere from 20 to 60lbs off of your max.
These are just opinions, and you may have reasons that negate them. I will end my 2 cents by saying you would probably get more by removing the box, focussing on lockout and control, using higher reps for a while and not form testing with heavier weights and monitoring your bar speed with the good form for a while.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2013 17:13:49 GMT -5
I don't really train as if I'm competing. I rather keep it separate. I avoid lock out in all my training days. I will have to do it at a competition though. But during training it makes me too stiff. Standing straight and locking my knees, i lose the ability to flex the hamstring at will. For me going past the parallel depth, overworks some of the muscle that I require. I do do quad squat. Also sumo squat, which I think works the muscles I skip out for not going past the parallel depth. It's still the cold season at the moment, my knees don't do we'll in it.
Maybe it's the video angle but my knees just wiggle since I'm still trying to adjust my stance. Though it is pretty stupid to do minor tweaks during a lift.
Week 1 - I moved a little too fast, so a lot of unnecessary bouncing.
Week 2 - I tried a more narrow stance but not a quad squat stance. It didn't work so well.
Week 3 - my whole upper back and ribs were sore from the day before. Belt on the rib in the video. It's still light weight so I lifted anyway. In hindsight its pretty dumb to lift in this condition.
I actually like the box.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2013 18:06:38 GMT -5
one last note to further complicate things. i had bowlegged condition from infant to 5. i didnt get surgery for it. it some what straighten out by itself (sort of).
forgot to mention the box is behind my heels or shoes.
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Post by George on Feb 23, 2013 20:43:24 GMT -5
"I don't really train as if I'm competing"
Tu: I'm not sure if you have done a stringent competition yet, but I have a feeling after your next meet this quote might change a bit. Pausing at the bottom, locking out...if these aren't being done in training yet you manage to master them only at comps, then I will formally apologize for adding anything against your methods! I had a 400 touch and go (maybe more)when I did my first meet, and didn't train the pause. In fact, if you look at my early log, I talk about not training it. My meet result...350. Waiting for the command felt like an eternity because I was not training it.
If you posted an unassisted video of a pause with a weight at or above 90%, it would be easier to gauge the result. The only thing close so far was the warmup video a while back of 6 x 295, in which a spotter gave mixed assistance to a warmup set of six that ended with the final two reps not assisted, but a dramatically decreased bar speed and a shaky lockout at best on the last... with a weight allegedly 150lbs below your stated max. This should send some signals.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2013 13:08:36 GMT -5
Woke up at 3, waited outside at my brothers dorm at 350 until 430 with a dead heater. He did wake up at 5 though lol I'm taking George's advice. Gonna train pausing for bench. Wasn't gonna do my 5 4 3 without a spotter today. So I did a rack press instead. Haven't done it in a year. My usual bench form requires my lats for the up and down part. But today my rack press I'd used only my arms, without flexing my lats. Kinda deviating from my form but a good way to check my arm strength. Got only up to 325. youtu.be/0UgfUvidU04A downer but I kinda saw this coming since the weights I been using on my arms exercise has been the same for a while. I'm guessing my arms peak a couple months ago.
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Post by toolpod on Feb 25, 2013 13:46:52 GMT -5
I'm going to second George's advice from a different angle:
All of these isolation moves that you are doing...they are great, but for a young lifter such as yourself, i think it is kind of like focusing on dessert all of the time instead of the meat and potatoes. You're sort of working on weak-spots in your lifts...weak spots that you haven't even developed/don't even have yet.
Work on really nailing the full-range movements, train like you would compete. Ride that horse until it drops...THEN bring back the isolation movements to shore up specific areas of weakness that you notice.
Like George said, the strength is there, just focus on the basics, master those, then add the detail work later as needed.
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Post by Rosario-546 on Feb 25, 2013 15:05:14 GMT -5
I've always run with practice like you play, and there will never be any surprises. George was wondering but Ill just ask, have you taken the platform as of yet?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2013 15:53:51 GMT -5
Nope.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2013 18:23:57 GMT -5
i am making minor tweaks to my lifting program. not gonna make a complete overhaul. some pauses on thursday
i might have to move my log back. my friend is not even using the website i made for him.
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Post by George on Feb 25, 2013 21:24:51 GMT -5
Tu: Just so you know, retooling and dropping your projections is not embarassing. I've probably ate more crow than anyone here in guessing outcomes...only to find out the hard way how wrong I was. I doubt I'm alone when I say that my first meet was an educational experience, to say the least. (I was so amped I buried my first squat and waited a second or two for an "up" command before coming to my senses...that was just the beginning).
Based on what I'm seeing your probably good for a lower to mid 300...which is outstanding at 165. If you follow the advice being given by some strong guys here, you have one Hades of a base to begin with....before you even get started. When I converted from gear, I was using a lot of top heavy movements that had poundages in the mid 500's to 600's...my triceps were as strong as could be...but the push from my chest outright sucked. The reality of training without the "meat and potatoes" for me was a 575 shirted bench, a lower 400 gym lift with no pause and a paused 350 at a raw meet. To correct this, I had to strip away the gimmicks, stick with multiple raw reps and train the heck out of the pause.
I say this because I wasn't sure what you meant by moving the log back...as if that meant not posting here anymore. Hopefully thats not the case. Just start a new log...lol. Hopefully you take any criticism here well, because there is a bit of family on the forum...access is as easy as signing up. When you have someone spot assisting you with poundages over 400lbs in the gym, it might raise some eyebrows. It does here to, but for different reasons. Once you join the ranks of competitive powerlifting, you'll find its a new world. When people are critical, its because they care. In the gym, among those who likely don't know better, people are probably not as critical. Among guys who are platform tested, with years of experience, you'll find people who are critical...because they have made mistakes, blown lifts, been injured, miscalled attempts, experimented, etc.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2013 7:42:23 GMT -5
I been keeping my weekly log at a website I made for a friend. he's not even using it and still calls me about bb info. I'm the only member who posts on there.
I'm actually not gonna change my heavy weight on Thursday. I do the heavy weight and the negative because I enjoy doing it. I am adding unassisted pauses after my negative though. To practice pausing.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2013 16:19:26 GMT -5
I might have to eat more. In the middle of changing my weights to lighter weights and higher rep for dl and squat.
Bad day for bench. My arms couldn't handle 480. I drop it. My lats couldn't help much either. So I went down to 475. I couldn't get half, barely a third way up. Prolly just gonna drop to 470 or 465 and do failures there.
I did found a new rotation for all my exercises. A revamp on the pyramid sets. I was able to strengthen my arms farther. Pumped my arms to 18 inches. Felt pretty neat.
Weirdest thing happen. An old guy told me I was the "hottest" in my group. Ehh
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Post by Rosario-546 on Mar 8, 2013 18:27:16 GMT -5
How did pause benching go?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2013 21:10:12 GMT -5
With the rack press add in on Monday, I only normal press on Thursday. And since I nearly drop the 5plates on my neck during the negative, I haven't done wavebacks or pauses for the past 2 weeks. We lost our third lifter Gilbert, he has a new job. Sort of in a bind at the moment, I can't pull weights above 400 to spot my little brother on bench in case he drops. Same goes for me, Tom can't help either with his bad ankle. We been using the lower pin on the bench, in case we can't push up, it's like 2 or 3 inches from my neck.
So no progress on it.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2013 9:02:22 GMT -5
Switching rack press and normal press days around next week. During break week. I might be able to add pausing in then without affecting my routine. I only have neck press and cable flyes on chest day. Add in Normal press and pausing. I should have enough time.
I got 7x290 on rack press today. /rawr I didn't wheeze at all today with the new routine.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2013 23:19:20 GMT -5
Boo hoo I think I hurt my right elbow from the 495 negative drop. It makes a crackling noise when I pull and flex my right arm. Not gonna do any upper body exercise for a while or until its fully heal.
I set up leg days every other day. But I lost motivation to go the gym, since I can't bench. Miss this mornings leg day.
I should prolly start jogging. My weight jump up to 182 from not lifting. It's still climbing.
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Post by toolpod on Mar 26, 2013 10:03:52 GMT -5
Dude, that sucks! Prayers for speedy recovery!. rest that arm up, use the negatives sparingly.
Try to hit the treadmill or drop the cals to keep the BWT under control.
I had the same problem last year when I was out of the gym.
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Post by mikefrost on Apr 6, 2013 9:43:35 GMT -5
I read George's advice and agree 100% percent. Toolpod is bang on also, only I would add their is very little place for assistance. The lifts+its variants=success.
You can do whats best in your eyes, but at my last meet in 100% Raw I saw whole flights of lifters not budge the bar off their chest on the bench press. Why? None of them ever pause lol. My PR bench is a measly 155kg but I did this with a 3-5 second pause just to "have no doubts I really did it", I've benched heavier when I was in HS/college but it was touch and go donkey probably off the bench so I just don't count it.
Ditch the box squats they are useless for Raw lifting. Paul Carter, Scott Yard, Chad Smith have all been saying this for years and nobody listened. Squat ATG or close to, the judging is strict in USAPL and 100% Raw. In my experience most guys just squat near ATG in training so they "have no doubts". Also imbalances will occur with squatting to parallel or higher(hams+glutes)
"Train like you compete"
With an overhaul on your programming you could be a great raw lifter I believe judging by your videos. You have talent for sure, but always be your biggest critic. Put the ego aside(applies to everyone) and be honest with yourself and you will be competition ready at all times. Also find a meet and enter it, it will be the best thing for your taining to get a feel for what the judges expect.
Good luck and keep us updated.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2013 14:57:29 GMT -5
Took a week off (no lifting) and I am still in my break week. Only doing 876 on bench. I decided to do a 1 rep pause with weight I use for my 8 rep. Right after the 876 sets. Pauses tires me out too much.
It should be good practice and help my confidence a lot. 355 pause at near exhaustion. How high I go on the pause at near exhaustion is what I'm gonna open at the competition.
My bad luck keeps racking up. I caught the stomach flu again. Meh.
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2013 9:19:00 GMT -5
I think my arm is fully healed. Been on cables during break weak and some of this strength phase. I slack off last time on arms so I upped arm lifts. Last Thursday. 8 second 495 negative. /rawr
Had to solo today's bench. I rather have no spotter then a random person.
I tried 385 pause. Lowered it too slow. End up leaving it on my chest for awhile. Couldn't lock out and got stuck 3/4. Had to rack it on the lower pin.
And it looks like I took someone's favourite stall, he was cursing the world
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2013 8:58:12 GMT -5
Solo bench again
I fail at lowering. 385 pause Lowered the top half too slow. End up dropping to chest the bottom half. Didn't want to bounce so I left it on chest for awhile. Was able to press up smoothly to lock.
Didn't get 4x315 close grip. Not one rep I got tired from unracking by myself Drop down to 3x305
I curse you finals week.
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Post by toolpod on May 16, 2013 13:03:26 GMT -5
Still, the fact that you are close on 385 should be encouraging. Especially after being gimped-up.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2013 9:05:50 GMT -5
Been a while since I post on here. I won't be participating this year at the worlds meet. Trainings been off and on lately. I drop down to below 164. My pause has been dwindling down from 385 to 335 lately.
For the past month I been working on developing my video game. So my forearm is like gone lol. 8 to 13 hours in front of a computer screen. 6 hours at work. 1 hour at gym. A few hours of sleep. Equal dead in September.
Yesterday I struggled with my warmup on bench. Felt 225s weight. Struggled with 6x295. Made me cry a little. When I used to warm up with 5x305 and leave it on my chest to pretend I can't get it up.
I am almost finish with my game though. Release this week hopefully.
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Post by dbunch on Aug 20, 2013 14:34:06 GMT -5
Good luck with your game. I look forward to seeing you back on the forum. Do worry too much about the drop in numbers once you get back into your routine it will quickly come back.
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Post by buckeye2010 on Aug 20, 2013 20:53:12 GMT -5
Echo what dbunch said.Good luck on getting back to the gym.
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