Bling Bling, new squat 5RM :)

[coolcolj]

FullSquat PR from today!

315lbs x5 - you can see on the 4th rep I shifted to the right leg. And on the 5th a slight twist which tweaked my right groin a bit.
Not too serious.

Right click and save
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj/Movies/CCJ_FullOlyBackSquatPR315x5_10Sept03.mpg

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Wednesday 10thSeptember - Squat Intensive - Loading Cycle - Week 5 - Day 3 -

Okie Dokie, last loading workout!
I rest for 3 days, and then comeback to start my unloading cycle, and ramp up to a new 3x3 PR.

Bagged me a new 5RM squat PR today!
After that I didn't feel like doing Rows or Presses, so just did some clean and jerks and called it a day.

Workout Rating - 8.5/10
Workout time - 1.5+ hours

General Warmup + Core work

My usual warmup - leg and shoulder swings etc
clean deadlift (shrug onto toes) - 25x10, military press - 25x10
GoodMorning onto toes - 25x10
Snatch Grip Press behind the neck 25x10
FullSquat Behind the Neck Press - 25x10

Alternating between each Rest - 30secs

Incline Situps - BW 2x10
Hypers - BW 2x8
Torso Twists - OlyBar 2x6 to each side
Reverse Hypers - BWx6

Then Military Press - Bar x10

MidThigh Hang Powercleans - resting a min between sets
Bar x5, x3
75lbs 2x3, 95x3, 115x3, 135x3

Full Olympic Back Squats - RAW

Warmup sets - Bar x8, 95lbs x5, 135lbs x5, 155lbs x3
Tempo 10X0 Rest - 3mins, 4.5 mins for last 2 sets

185x5, 225x5, 250x5, 280x5, 315x5 New PR!! + 2 reps

resting a minute for these
FrontSquats 135x3, 175lbs x 10

Bent Knee Explosive GoodMornings onto toes
- Bar x10, 95x5, 135x10

I originally was going to just aim for 305lbs for my new PR, but when 280lbs felt lighter than I expected, I knew I had to have a go at 315. In fact every setleading up to 315lbs felt way springier than any other set so far in this training cycle.
Boom got it! I did seem to favour my right leg more on a few reps - tweaked my right groin slightly on last rep. Nothing serious. 315 did feel heavy though.


Clean And Jerks

Just practised my form, did some triples up to 155lbs, and then
did a whole bunch of singles with 175lbs mostly and one with 185lbs. Jerk needs work, but I started to hold the bar in the rack and that really helped my form on the clean.


Core, Other and Remedial Work

Reverse Hypers - BWx15

Walked up 10 flight of stairs back to car.

 

[Numani]

congratulations mate.

that was a great set on 315.

 

[coolcolj]

thanks

 

[Serea]

Great job!

That's a really nice gym you work out in.

 

[from zero]

Kickass!!

 

[AWILD]

Congrats on the 5 reps. Make sure you watch that groin though, cause I facked mine up a little on squats, and now i have to do leg press instead

 

[Tagio]

awesome set.

 

[Exodus]

great work......... thats a really deep really close squat.

but i will say 1 thing. im not that big into oly lifting, but your knee's first movement on each rep is in, which is a lack in hip strength. thats what i noticed, i dont know how important hip strength is too you.

X

 

[needsize]

awesome bro, 3 plates for 5 is a great milestone, I still remember when I did it....

 

[coolcolj]

great work......... thats a really deep really close squat.

but i will say 1 thing. im not that big into oly lifting, but your knee's first movement on each rep is in, which is a lack in hip strength. thats what i noticed, i dont know how important hip strength is too you.

X

Thanks guys

Well I do not consider my hips weak relative to my quads, especially when I can pull considerable more than what I can squat oly style.
Mel Siff (author of SuperTraining) says this is normal for the legs to do that, when you moving heavy weights the abdductors contracting hard will shift the legs inwards. Every Olylifter's legs I've seen do that when squatting,
and when you consider they are basicly pulling machines, why would they have weak hips?

Squatting deep activates the hips pretty hard as well. The fact I've added a 3inches on my hip girth over the last year proves that

 

[Lord_Suston]

nice job

 

[longarms]

You sure made that look easy!

 

[coolcolj]

Looks easy - but it sure didn't feel it.

Maybe I'm expecting too much - but does the squat ever feel easy? It seems anything over 155lbs feels heavy for me all the time

 

[dood]

Looks easy - but it sure didn't feel it.

Maybe I'm expecting too much - but does the squat ever feel easy? It seems anything over 155lbs feels heavy for me all the time

Me too. 50% of my max feels hard to do. Same on deadlift. I think I got weaker but 70 and 90% of my max feel similar. Both are very hard. Its weird.

 

[Lord_Suston]

they do get easier but I find after 315 it is always heavy

 

[pwr_machine]

Good stuff!

 

[sk*]

Congrats man.

-sk

 

[PolishHammer1977]

looks like too much weight.

the reps look scary to me;

1-your arch is non existant
2-I can see the core weakening through your shirt.
3-your knees are pushing in hard on EVERY rep

 

[coolcolj]

Polish - I appreciate your comments, but I'll offer my own views as well.

To be fair I never arch my back, it stays neutral, personal preference.

core - I don't know, It didn't feel to bad, but we could always use more core strength I suppose.

knees - I do that ever since I squatted, wether the weight is heavy or light. It doesn't bother me, and every person I've seen who squats in the same style of squat does the same thing judging from the Ironmind tapes. Especially on front squats.
I don't bother trying to push my knees out, that's just another distraction I can do without, I just let me body do it naturally.

I actually push my knees outwards slightly on the way down, unlocks the hips for me, so you would naturally expect them to spring back inwards to their normal path on the way back up.
Watch the clip carefully and you'll see I push my legs outwards on the way down an dthen on the way up they pop back into their normal path

Like I keep saying, Mel Siff says, it's normal for the legs to do that when moving heavy weights. And Mel Siff knows a lot more than any of us

The weight is a PR, so it has to be heavy and near my limits. I'm supposed to pushing myself hard right at the end of the loading cycle. The human body isn't a machine and the squat is a 3 dimensional movement, so you can't expect perfectly strict planes of motion. Lifting at 70% and under I could get close to ideal, but that wouldn't be a PR though

 

[PolishHammer1977]

I see temporary progress through your eyes now (PR) but sooner than later you will have to alter your training and techniques (arch, knees not movingm etc.) in order to reach outstanding heights.

Sorry I am so blunt but I really do not know how else to be.

 

[coolcolj]

No problem I always welcome feedback, otherwise I wouldn't post any clips

I just feel arching the back fatigues the erectors too much and puts alot of pressure on the spine.

 

[coolcolj]

article that supports my views

http://www.t-mag.com/nation_articles/270spine.jsp

http://www.t-mag.com/nation_articles/271spine.jsp

SM: Yes…from several perspectives. When you look at the mechanisms of injury—let’s take for example a herniated disk—if a person maintains a neutral spine, as would an Olympic weight lifter for example, it’s very difficult to create a herniated disk. In contrast, in powerlifting some of the folks repeatedly flex their spine, and repeated full flexion with spinal compression is the mechanism to create a herniated disk.

Here is an example of where a muscle physiologist might tell you "Yes, you’ve got to work the spine through a full range of motion," but if you do it under load you risk replicating the disk herniating mechanism. So the training becomes a damaging routine accumulating microtrauma rather than continuous tissue enhancement and improved performance motor patterning.

Another vital fact is that under pure compression loads, and when the spine is fully flexed, we’ve measured the spine losing up to 40% of its ability to bear compressive loads. In other words the spine is strongest when in a neutral position.

Also among the misperceptions that I hear out there about the rectus abdominis, and upper vs. lower abdominals, is that you’ve got to work the rectus throughout its range of motion. Again these might be muscle physiologists speaking but not people who are cognizant of spinal mechanics. For example, when you look at the architecture of the rectus, it’s a muscle with four heads, four contractile components each separated by a lateral tendon.

If it was a muscle designed to work through its full range of motion it would be one long continuous muscle—but it’s not. It anchors the obliques and transmits the hoop stresses laterally through those lateral tendons. If it wasn’t beaded, the oblique forces would rip it apart laterally. In many elite performances the abdominals contract isometrically. Too many bad backs are created by misinformed people thinking they need to train the rectus with repeated full flexion exercises. There are much better and safer ways to do this.

So again if we’re training athletes to perform, the question is do they need to work the lumbar spine through a full range of motion? Lumbar flexibility often increases the risk of future chronicity! For example, I’ve worked with some very good discus throwers and you’d think that discus throwing would require a huge amount of twist in someone’s back. In fact, if you take the twist out of the training, stabilize and lock the ribcage onto the pelvis, and twist through the legs and shoulders, you may actually enhance performance. Certainly it may be required to reduce back symptoms.

Other performance requirements include variables like speed, agility and/or strength for example; all three of these things require stability, perhaps keeping a line of drive down the torso and through the feet into the ground, etc. A stiffened core may be optimal. So, of course this whole issue depends on the person and the task. But in many cases from both performance and safety perspectives, it’s a bit of a myth that the spine needs to be trained through its range of motion.

 

[PolishHammer1977]

But it would strengthen your erectors and your entire posterior chain as well.

Do you have weak erectors?

 

[coolcolj]

Probably not, I do explosive hypers with up 105lbs for several sets of 10 so far

And don't forget I pull a lot in my olylifts which I do 3 times a week plus reverse hypers

 

[Tiervexx]

Great job!

 

[JOKER47]

Also, I think part of the reason he has little to no arch, is due to where he places the bar. WAY up on his shoulders, almost on his neck. Far higher than power lifters, I believe.

I squat primarily olympic style, yet I still hold the bar lower "in the groove", therefore, I have a lot more arch than CCJ just holding the bar on my back.

As for the knees, I know what you mean, CCJ, about seeing "all oly lifters" have there knees push in. I saw that in the competition on TV a while back. Looked even MORE dangerous when they did it. I noticed, the bigger (stronger) the lifter, the LESS the knees came inwards. Stronger hips on those guys?? They were moving 200lbs or more than the smaller guys.

My personal thought? Take a slightly wider stance. Not much, and keep your toes pointed out. (Like there are now.) That will enable you to try and spread the floor a little more than you can with the stance you have now.


This is just MHO, and thoughts. Please take it as that.


Regards,
Joker

 

[coolcolj]

I actually squat wider somtimes, depending on the alignment of the moon and stars
My squat stance width changes from set to set, just where ever I plonk my feet after I walk out. Doesn't seem to effect my strength or feel.
Not sure about spreading the floor, especially in oly shoes. I just push through my heels and try to slam the bar to the ceiling

Here is that clip from last week - 295x5 - from a more side on angle. You can see my back is just straight - neutral.

right click and save
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzforce/Movies/CCJ_FullOlyBackSquatPR295x5_3rdSept03.mpg

 

[coolcolj]

Just measured my legs, 28.5 inches

Thats what lots of squatting will do, I remeber them being around 27 inches not so long ago!

 

[JOKER47]

I actually squat wider somtimes, depending on the alignment of the moon and stars
My squat stance width changes from set to set, just where ever I plonk my feet after I walk out. Doesn't seem to effect my strength or feel.
Not sure about spreading the floor, especially in oly shoes. I just push through my heels and try to slam the bar to the ceiling

Here is that clip from last week - 295x5 - from a more side on angle. You can see my back is just straight - neutral.

right click and save
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzforce/Movies/CCJ_FullOlyBackSquatPR295x5_3rdSept03.mpg

The slightly wider stance will enable you to feel like your "spreading the floor" a bit more. At least, that's how I've heard it described. With a "true" powerlifting stance, the feeling of that becomes much more prominent.
I am just to inflexible at the moment to squat with such a wide stance.


Joker

 

[lucidblue]

Good job on your PR!!

 

[coolcolj]

Thanks

Well my goal this year is to hit 405lbs for a single By Christmas
I think I'm schedule to hit it.

I'm busting my balls to get there, after that I can relax on the squat a bit and concentrate on other things like plyos and upper body strength

 

[revexrevex]

Sometimes when I watch olympic lifters on ESPN.... their attempts look maximal effort...... I dont know about their training but they probably never max out on clean and jerk, and snatch.... just like powerlifters. Only on the contest day they try out their maxes. That may be the reason why their knees cave in, their snatch lockout is uneven and other things. All of this is because they are pushing their limits and the weaker links break down. However I see no purpose why this has to happen in training.. just an opinion.

 

[coolcolj]

Then you haven't seen the Ironmind Bulgarian TrainingHall tape then

Max effort in training, some lifts were close to world record and they attempted it many times in the same training session within minutes of each attempt

The only way to get better at lifts over >90% is to practise lifts that heavy. Lighter lifts have different form.

 

[PolishHammer1977]

Well my goal this year is to hit 405lbs for a single By Christmas
I think I'm schedule to hit it.

If you WANT it than it's yours.