Mercere's 3x5...The quest for a decent Squat

[Mercere]

12.07.2006
Day 6

Squat:
bar 1x8
52kg 3x5 Rep Range PR

Military Press:
bar 1x8
28kg 3x5 Rep Range PR

Rows:
bar 1x8
37kg 3x5 PR

No problems today. Form was good, energy and motivation was good, a good workout. I realized today that I haven't been eating enough to move the scale. I still weigh 72 kg. Going to up the calories. I'll go for my 5RM squat on the next workout. The way things looked today, it's unlikely that I'll stall. We'll see.

 

[Mercere]

Congrats on the progress. I fould that deads were my fastest progressing lift when I started it. Lok forward to adding weight every week for a while

Thanks dj. Adding weight every week is a lot of fun, one of the good parts of being a newbie I'm so glad I listened to anotherbutters on this one.

looks like things are moving along nicely

Yup, so far so good. Stumbling upon madcow's site was a blessing for me. I found this form via that site. It's near impossible to get good training advice for amateurs lifters like me in Turkey. Powerlifting is almost non-existant because of the popularity of Olympic Lifting. The coaches who has the right kind of knowledge are OL coaches and since it is a professional sport here, it's very difficult to get advice for my level. They're used to training people who've been lifting since 7-10 years old. They really don't bother with guys like me.

So all we have is the grand wisdom of Weider or Jones.

 

[Mercere]

16.07.2006
Day 7

Squat:
bar 1x8
55kg 3x5 PR

Bench:
bar 1x8
47kg 3x5 Rep Range PR

Deadlift:
bar 1x8
60kg 1x5 PR

Recovering from a stomach problem, I had to move Friday's workout to sunday. Despite coming from sickness, workout was very good. I'm just concerned about one thing: On squats there is a point which I slow down. Just when my thighs are past parallel. After passing that I accelerate again to lockout. Is this something to be concerned about?

 

[GSP]

I'm just concerned about one thing: On squats there is a point which I slow down. Just when my thighs are past parallel. After passing that I accelerate again to lockout. Is this something to be concerned about?

Nice Job on the PR's!!

The slow down at that point is perfectly normal. Everyone has a sticking point somewhere on each lift, this will probably be yours (it's mine too). This is the point where the quads take over fromt the glutes & Hamstrings in the lift. It's a fairly common trouble point based on what I've seen, but it should continue to improve just the same.

Looking good so far!

 

[Mercere]

18.07.2006
Day 8

Squat:
bar 1x8
56kg 3x5 PR

Military Press:
bar 1x8
30kg 3x5 PR

Rows:
bar 1x8
40kg 3x5 PR

I'll go with 1 kg increments on squats, this way I hope to set PR's every workout for some time. Rows are getting more difficult, but I'm confident I can add 2 kgs per workout for now. MP's didn't feel that difficult, seems like I'll be making quite a gain on those.

 

[Mercere]

21.07.06

Squat:
bar 1x8
57kg 3x5 PR

Bench:
bar 1x8
50kg 3x5 PR

Deadlift:
bar 1x8
65kg 1x5 PR

No problems in any of the lifts. I'm pretty amazed how the lifts are climbing steadily.

 

[Mercere]

24.07.06

Squat:
bar 1x8
60kg 3x5 PR

Military Press:
bar 1x8
32kg 3x5 PR

Rows:
bar 1x8
42kg 3x5 PR

I felt very good today so I went for 60 on squats, went up no problem. MPs were easy. I still have to watch my form on rows. I haven't got that "groove" of the lift yet. I'll use a smaller increments until I'm used to rowing parallel.

 

[silver_shadow]

nice lifting. i see you've been getting all your PRs.

about the sticking point on squats - (or for that matter any lift). try to gain as much momentum while lifting as early during the movement as possible. this should help you blast through the sticking point. incorporating this into your lifting early on will really help your progress in the long run.

 

[Mercere]

nice lifting. i see you've been getting all your PRs.

about the sticking point on squats - (or for that matter any lift). try to gain as much momentum while lifting as early during the movement as possible. this should help you blast through the sticking point. incorporating this into your lifting early on will really help your progress in the long run.

Thanks man. I'll try to be exposive coming out of the hole, that will certainly be helpful for bigger weights in the future.

 

[anotherbutters]

Congrats on the 1 plate squat!

Great work. Keep those PRs coming!