AB's 2007 log

[s8nlilhlpr]

Are you still doing all your ab work at home? I've noticed when I lose my breath/ab tightness I tip forward more.

 

[blut wump]

That's a good point. Do you make a big effort to tighten your abs while you squat?

 

[anotherbutters]

I make a point of listing all my ab work here, so you can see that I'm still not doing much. I want to, but don't always have the time/equipment/whatever. The gym just got a load of new benches in and chucked out the old ones. The new ones are really flimsy and none of them have foot rests that you can hook your feet around, so I've no way of doing situps there now (they had one bench that was half decent before). I'm hoping to move in with my girlfriend (the one I met 2 months ago ) soon and I won't be bringing my bench with me, so I don't want to rely on it. I was thinking of trying to do them leaning back off the top stair at home with her sitting on my feet.

No, I don't consciously tighten my abs when I squat, although I get mild DOMS after front squats a couple of days later, so I know I'm using them. If you're thinking that weak abs are causing the leaning forward, there was a thread a while back about how to stop leaning forward and someone wrote some pretty good posts pointing out that people tend to lean forward to make it easier to complete a squat, rather than because of a weakness. That makes sense to me (although I'm certainly not using it as an excuse for not training my abs).

EDIT: I forgot to mention, but I hit my nose on the way up during one of the push presses. It was just the tip of my nose, but I won't do that again

 

[blut wump]

That's really good news. Making a conscious effort to tighten your abs is like learning to add your core into driving the bar upwards. It helps to stabilize and protect your whole midsection, front and back, which results in an improved application of the force.

I also expect to get doms after a front squats session. It's a good exercise.

I must either have missed or forgotten that thread. It stands to reason that someone who leans forward during a squat does it to make the lift easier. That doesn't imply that it's the best way to perform a mechanically efficient squat, though. We naturally shift emphasis during a lift to muscles that feel like they'll take the strain we're anticipating and away from ones that feel less capable.

When you do your 140s on Friday, make a big effort to tighten your core before going down and hold it tight through the lift. It should help with feeling strong akin to wearing a belt.

 

[TomoUK]

why don't you just do sit ups on the floor holding a plate out in front of you with either your feet under some heavy dumbells or with someone standing on them?

 

[anotherbutters]

Thanks BW, I'll try that. Occasionally, I'll try to think about leading out of the hole with my hips rather than thinking about extending my legs, which seems to help, but I usually forget.

Tomo, I might try that, although I prefer to get into a decline. It would be good to get everything done at the gym.

 

[anotherbutters]

AB's 5x5: Week 16, Fri (light day)

Bodyweight: 185.5lb

Summary spreadsheet. Top sets only; all weights in kg; previous weeks in orange.

1. Squat (1x3)
Week 1: 100 x 3 - was that it? (220lb)
Week 2: 105 x 3 - heavy, but no probs (231lb)
Week 3: 107.5 x 3 - ok (237lb)
Week 4: 110 x 3 - ok (242lb) mini PR
Week 5: 112.5 x 3 - pretty hard (248lb) mini PR
Week 6: 115 x 3 - pretty hard (253lb) mini PR
Week 7: 117.5 x 3 - pretty hard (259lb) mini PR
Week 8: 120 x 3 - pretty hard (264lb) mini PR
Week 9: 122.5 x 3 - very hard (270lb) mini PR
Week 10: 125 x 3 - getting used to straining (275lb) mini PR
Week 11: 127.5 x 3 - yeah, yeah, whatever! (281lb) mini PR
Week 12: 130 x 3 - very hard, worried about monday, as per usual really (286lb) mini PR
Week 13: 132.5 x 3 - not too bad really (292lb) mini PR
Week 14: 120 x 3 - easy enough (264lb)
Week 15: missed
Today: 140 x 3 x 1 - singles with 3 metric plates for fun, just got the 3rd one (308lb) PR for weight

2. Bench (1x3)
Week 1: 67.5 x 3 - easy (149lb)
Week 2: 70 x 3 - heavy, but ok. 3x5 might be hard (154lb)
Week 3: 72.5 x 3 - heavy. 3x5 would definitely be hard (160lb)
Week 4: 72.5 x 3 - heavy. 3x5 would definitely be hard (160lb)
Week 5: 73.5 x 3 - heavy. 3x5 would definitely be hard (162lb)
Week 6: 75 x 3 - heavy. 3x5 would definitely be hard (165lb)
Week 7: 76 x 3 - heavy. 3x5 would definitely be hard (167lb) matches 3RM
Week 8: 77.5 x 3 - heavy. 3x5 would definitely be hard (171lb) mini PR
Week 9: 77.5 x 3 - very hard (171lb)
Week 10: 78.5 x 3 - hard (173lb) mini PR
Week 11: 80 x 3 - hard, but not in doubt (176lb) mini PR
Week 12: 80 x 3 - very hard (176lb)
Week 13: 50 x 8 x 3 - tried some DE work - felt way too easy (110lb)
Week 14: 77.5 x 3 - ok (171lb)
Week 15: missed
Today: 81 x 3 x 2; 65 x 12 - ok (178/143lb) - doubles and backoff

3. Rows (1x3)
Week 1: 55 x 3 - ok (121lb)
Week 2: 57.5 x 3 - fairly hard (127lb)
Week 3: 60 x 3 - fairly hard (132lb)
Week 4: 60 x 3 - ok (132lb)
Week 5: 61 x 3 - ok (134lb)
Week 6: 62.5 x 3 - just ok (138lb) mini PR
Week 7: 63.5 x 3 - hard (140lb) mini PR
Week 8: 65 x 3 - just ok (143lb) mini PR
Week 9: 66 x 3 - just ok (145lb) mini PR
Week 10: 66 x 3 - ok (messed up on Monday, so repeated here too) (145lb)
Week 11: 67.5 x 3 - ok (149lb) mini PR
Week 12: 68.5 x 3 - ok (151lb) mini PR
Week 13: 70 x 3 - ok (155lb) mini PR
Week 14: 70 x 3 - hard (155lb)
Week 15: missed
Today: 72.5 x 3 - ok (160lb) mini PR

4. Accessory
Decline situps, 10kg x 2 x 10 (22lb)


Comments

A fun workout. It felt like I'd changed things up a lot, but all I did was change some sets and reps.

Squats were ok, but I only just made the 3rd single. I toyed with 143.5kg so I could get 315lb, but it wouldn't have happened. It felt really good to get three (metric) plates on the bar though. I didn't have any problem with my back, but it still feels sore if I twist to one side. BW, I tried tightening my core on some of the warmups (120x3, 130x2), but it felt as though it was working against me, rather than feeling better.

Bench doubles were fun. This is a light day, so I just did 3 sets and a backoff. I could probably have thrown another 1.5kg on on the doubles.

Rows were ok too, but with a little humping.

I finally have a solution for abs at the gym - leaning back off the lat pulldown machine with my knees under the pads. If I braced my feet against the floor and knees under the pads, I ended up using too much hips, but with my feet off the floor and knees under the pads, I could curl up my abs nicely. I felt them a lot after just 10 reps, so I quit there to avoid any DOMS. I'll hit these twice a week from now on and increase the weight.

------

I'm pretty sure I'll be resetting and changing things a little from next week. I don't want to risk hurting my back by pushing heavy squats over the next couple of weeks, it just isn't worth it. I'll get back to these weights in 3-4 weeks.

I'll have a think about what's next over the weekend. Suggestions welcome (apart from JK). My current thoughts are to move front squats to tues and start back squatting on weds, with a different set/rep scheme on each back squat day. I'm still not sure about the push and pull. This week shows that I could push front squats the day after back squats, although back squats weren't as heavy as they ought to have been.

Off the top of my head, I've come up with this, below. This will probably change as I think about it some more.

Mon
---
b squat: 5x3 (heavy triples) - pushing PRs
bench: 3x8 (hypertrophy)
row: 3x8 (hypertrophy)

Tue
---
f squat: 5x3 - pushing PRs
overhead press: 3x5 (heavy 5's) - pushing PRs
row: 5x3 (heavy triples) - pushing PRs

Thu
---
b squat: 3x8 (hypertrophy)
bench: 5x3 (heavy triples) - pushing PRs
deads: 1x5 (heavy 5) - pushing PRs

Fri (light day)
------------
b squat: 3x1 (singles, low volume)
bench: 3x1 (singles, low volume)
row: 3x1 (singles, low volume)

 

[blut wump]

That's a phat old lift AB. Congrats.

 

[anotherbutters]

Wow, crowns

Thanks BW.

 

[mad dipz]

lol @ the jkurz comment.

is tuesday the heavys, and mon and thursday mediums?