AB's Happy Smiley Thoughts journal

[Cynical Simian]

When doing GMs I put the bar across my back like a PL would for squatting. No trouble with forward roll so far...

Same here.

 

[anotherbutters]

And you all get down around parallel? It just seems to me that the bar wants to roll down the slope from my back to my neck once I'm parallel. I don't think I'm going down too far. This is where a vid would be useful but I don't have a camera.

I tried the bar lower down my back, but it didn't seem to make enough of a different. No matter, I'll start regular deads next week.

 

[s8nlilhlpr]

How are you gripping the bar? Are you just setting it on your back, or do you grip hard with your hands, and pull the bar onto yourself? It might be considered cheating by some, but if I pull hard with my upperbody, while doing squats or anything, the weight feels lighter.

 

[anotherbutters]

I was gripping it as I do in a squat, pushing reasonably hard into my back, with elbows pushed back. Maybe I just need to focus more on pulling the bar down my back a bit more. I'll give them another go some time next week, but I'm not going to fret over it.

 

[anotherbutters]

Week 1, Saturday

Bodyweight: 78.5kg/173lb

1. OH Pause Squats (5 secs)
mop handle x 5, lol
bar x 3
bar x 5

With so much oly talk on the boards these days, I thought I'd try OH squats again. I tried them last night with a mop handle but found that my hands and upper back kept coming forward when I started to descend. I'm guessing that's upper back inflexibility, since my shoulders are fairly flexible (I pass the shoulder flexibility tests mentioned in coolcolj's journal easily). I kept trying and finally got there, so I tried with the bar today, pausing in the hole to get used to the position. These kill my wrists because of the angle from the snatch hold.

2. Squats (kg)
(warmup: bar x 5)
40 x 5
50 x 5
60 x 5
70 x 5
80 x 2 - fail, wow!

I just couldn't get out of the hole. I haven't squatted for months, so these will rise quickly.

3. Powercleans (kg)
bar x 5
30 x 5
35 x 3
40 x 3
45 x 3

I tried these to see how my back would feel. Pfft! No problem. I want to get good at these so I have an alternative to rows that I can switch between on different training cycles. Oh, and because they're fun!

4. Bench (kg)
(warmup: bar x 5)
40 x 5
50 x 5
60 x 5 (oops, should've been 55)
60 x 5

Disappointing that I found one plate so hard. I've done too much messing around with higher reps (oh yes, and I'm weak ).

5. Core work
Just did a few single-leg lower & raises, lying, keeping my back flat on the floor and stomach held in.


Comments

Thursday's workout generated some seriously 'nice' DOMS. I'd say I ache in every muscle in my body, but I can still wiggle my ears without any soreness .

Thursday's workout also caused a mild 'twinging' pain very close to the sharp nerve type pain from my back injury. I now recognise this and know that core work will stop it, so I'm not worried in the least. It only lasted about a day. I've been doing core work in the evenings, even though I haven't listed it here. I did some double leg lowers on Thursday (from lying down, feet in the air), lowering them over about 10 seconds, keeping my stomach held in, the tension on my abs and then raising them to vertical again, trying to keep my back flat to the floor and not use my hips. I also did some stomach vacuums, after reading up on them again. My TVA has some serious DOMS going on right now!

I have a question on recruiting your abs for squats. I used to just contract the rectus abs (and probably obliques), but I've now been trying to suck my stomach in (TVA) before recruiting the outer abs and breathing into my stomach. It feels completely different - completely solid. Is this what everyone else has been doing all along? Sucking the stomach in first?

I had some fun today. This was my best workout in months, even though the weights were crappy! Bring on more DOMS!

 

[blut wump]

I don't suck my stomach in on squats. I fill myself with air and then hold everything tight.

It sucks to lose strength after breaks and layoffs. It comes back quickly enough, as you know, but it always takes longer than you'd like it to.

 

[nelmsjer]

NO stomach sucking on the squats. A full set of lungs is your friend on the squat, bro.

 

[Cynical Simian]

Heh, don't go overboard trying to apply your new core tricks to squats. Like blut wump said, just taking a breath and concentrating on keeping your torso erect is all you need to do. The change now that you're a core work fiend is that you'll have the strength to do it.

 

[anotherbutters]

I still have a lung full of air. What I meant was that I tried recruiting the transverse abs first, then the outer abs, then a big lung/stomach full of air. I don't mean the whole hog stomach vacuum type of recruitment. It just seemed to be a LOT more solid to me.

 

[blut wump]

If your using a belt, a stomach full of air is more important than raw. With a belt, you need the air to help you to push hard against the belt. When squatting raw, just fill your lungs as the first priority and then clamp everything down.