A good day

[Toby]

It's been a while since I had a good day. Today I did 265x5 on the bench at lockout (with chains). Easy - I'm loving the chains again. And I did 340x4 on DL. I tried twice for the 5th, but my back was shot and I couldn't get the form right. I probably could've got it if I kept trying but enough was enough. I also struggled on the 2nd due to crappy form, but the 1st, 3rd and 4th were no problem.

[rubthebuddha]

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

[Chief Fox]

Nice going man. Congrats. Here's to more good days ahead.:D

[Vash]

Congrats.

[IronFist]

I haven't lifted in a while. I just got my wisdom teeth pulled and I'm on the soup and soft things diet. No lifting for a while, and I'm probably going to lose a lot of weight. My legs look like my forearms by now.

Which is funny cuz on my last workout before I had my teeth pulled I DL'ed 96% of my old 1RM, and that was without even cycling really. I just DL'ed a few times a week doing some random 5's and triples and then I pulled 96% of my old 1RM for a single after about two weeks.

I wanted to enter that contest but I don't know if I'm going to be able to eat/train enough in time for it. It's on March 12.

[fa_jing]

Well don't enter unless you are perfectly prepared, as the lowest scoring participants will be fed to crocodiles after the meet.

[fa_jing]

Tobers: nice work. What is the weight of those bench presses at the chest? My bench press has stalled a bit but the squat and deadlift are still going up, albeit slowly. My squat is pretty pathetic as I recently failed on a 1RM attempt@ 265lbs (high-bar/full). My form is getting better though. DL is better, I just barely missed 335 x 5 due to grip in my weak hand. Remember I do reps continuously.
I'm thinking of ordering some CoC grippers since I've not been doing kettlebell work.

I had somebody check my DL form, he says I'm too far over the bar and am just using strength to get it up rather than leverage. Thing is, if I try staying back fa.rther, my hips move first and the weight doesn't move. I think my groove is off from two things: putting the weight back down slowly, and doing power cleans. As long as my progress doesn't completely stall I won't be making major changes. My back rounding issue has gotten much better and I'm no longer hitching the weight on my thighs which would disqualify a lift. I plan to open the comp in March @ 405 w/belt and go from there. Tactical pullups will be around 10.

[fa_jing]

I've been doing a 5 x5 variation I came up with for the bench, it goes 185, 195, 205, 215, 225 for 5 reps each, about 3 minutes rest between sets. It's cool cause this way I don't have to warm up, and feel mentally challenged for the next set. I still haven't achieved every rep perfect - butt on the bench. I hope to do 225 for 5 x 5 on both squat and bench before changing things up. My 1RM is higher for bench than it is for squat :( :mad:

[fa_jing]

and, I can clean more weight than I can stand up with :rolleyes: :( :mad:

[fa_jing]

in fact, I can rack jerk more weight than I can stand up with

[IronFist]

Originally posted by fa_jing
I plan to open the comp in March @ 405 w/belt and go from there. Tactical pullups will be around 10.

Wow, I'll get owned. How much do you weigh? I probably won't even get 10 pullups. That 1 sec pause is a b0tch. I forgot you live in Chicago and you'll be there, too. Represent.

[Mo Lung]

What's the comp?

[_William_]

in fact, I can rack jerk more weight than I can stand up with

Thats odd. You have trouble recovering from the split? Or are you doing them power or squat style?

Not that I know how to fix that. I never push myself on jerks because I have no bumpers.

[Toby]

Originally posted by fa_jing
What is the weight of those bench presses at the chest?Dunno. I just weighed the whole chain setup by carrying them onto the scales with me. As luck would have it, they happened to weigh 43lb, so close to a regular 20kg plate. When racked, they have a couple of links on the ground. When locked out, they barely touch, just enough to stop them swinging around. At the bottom, figure 2' of chain on the ground. That 2' includes a 1/2" and two 5/8" chains. My goal with these is to exceed my unchained 1RM at lockout for 5 reps. One bonus is that the other day I did a warmup without chains and almost lost hold of the bar throwing it up in the air because I was used to the increasing load and the load stayed static. It was only 132lb, but still. I figure it helps acceleration. I like the chains even more for squat, because so much chain ends up on the ground due to the increased ROM. You need the chains set up nicely though to make it easy for different exercises - I've got grab hooks so adjusting length takes a couple of seconds.


Originally posted by fa_jing
I had somebody check my DL form, he says I'm too far over the bar and am just using strength to get it up rather than leverage.I hear you about the form thing. I really could do with some coaching. Some lifts feel great, some impossible. I feel I'm nowhere near getting DL properly though.

[Toby]

Originally posted by fa_jing
My 1RM is higher for bench than it is for squat:eek: Wow. My squat's almost 100lb better, although I do powerlifting style.

[IronFist]

Originally posted by fa_jing
My 1RM is higher for bench than it is for squat :( :mad:

This is typical for people who started training upper body before legs. For my first months of weight lifting when I was just learning I didn't really ever do legs. Then one day I was like um I need to start squatting. For a while my bench was higher than my squat, but now I'm all caught up again and my squat is much higher, like it should be.

[fa_jing]

Nah, I've been training lower body alot harder for longer and feel the lower body is stronger and looks bigger than the upper body. I'm just kinda good at benching and kinda bad at squatting. The style of squatting I'm doing now I probably haven't been doing for too long, but I haven't been benching for much longer. I do feel that my squat will catch up. I've locked out and walked out 315 from a low rack and it doesn't feel like all that much on my shoulders, but I know if I held 315 in my hands in a bench lockout I'd be crying.

Regarding what I said about not being able to stand up with what I can rack jerk, I meant I can't make the recovery from the clean, not the recovery from the jerk. So I can't do a full clean and jerk with what I can rack jerk or catch in the bottom of a clean. Squat needs work.

Iron, I understand about it not being the best time, but hope to see ya out there.

[fa_jing]

I had a good day Saturday - my wife came out with me and joined the gym, and with her watching me, I knocked out a PR of 6 reps DL @335. I switched the grip so the other hand was up and that seemed to help. My posterior chain is fried today in a good way.

I weigh between 195-200. I don't have visible abs, but I do have visible lower back muscles. :D I'm going to try to trade beer for creatine between now and the event and see what happens.

[Toby]

Originally posted by fa_jing
My posterior chain is fried today in a good way.:D So was mine all weekend.

Originally posted by fa_jing
... I do have visible lower back muscles.My lower back is like a rock from squats and DL.

[Mo Lung]

Originally posted by fa_jing
I had a good day Saturday - my wife came out with me and joined the gym, and with her watching me, I knocked out a PR of 6 reps DL @335. If only we could bottle and market this as a supplement! ;)

[IronFist]

Yeah dude my goal is to get to a 2x bw DL for the event. Not very good relatively speaking, but that would be a PR for me. Plus I'm just doing it for the experience. I don't really care if I win or not.