Can't wait to see this 250kg

Very nice trap bar deads Karlos. 250 would be sweet.

I will be going for 246 next week, which should hopefully be straight forward, then 251kg the next week.

I seem to have lost a bit of leg size with diet and extra 'cardio', so when i start gaining weight again it should make deadlifts a lot easier in my experience.

Session 1

Unfortunately my torn cartilage knee played up slightly after the deep squats i did last week. I have a feeling it's to do with how my feet want to turn outwards at the bottom of a deep squat and because they can't due to my rubber flooring, the 'torque stress' if you like, is being transferred to my knees.Not good.

i know it's to do with tight hips, probably glutes, but are there any exercises/stretches to directly fix this? I'm always stretching my glutes and it hasn't helped thus far.

Im not going to note my warmups any more, they're dull and i pretty much do the same every session.

A1.ATG Front squats*NEW*

50 x 5
60 x 5
70 x 5
80 x 5
100 x 5 x 3

i took a close stance as this stops my toes going outward. I can't do this on back squats as my lower back would bend. 100kg felt kinda tough, but weight flew up obviously.

A2. Pullups

bw x 3
+5 x 5
+6.25 x 5 x 3

+1.25, nice reps with quick pull and stretch at the bottom.

RC work/shoulder warmup

Cuban rotations

bar x 10
22.5 x 10

burny.

Muscle clean to strict press

bar x 5
30 x 5
40 x 5
50 x 5
65 x 5 x 5
50 x 5 x 2 - Hold and brace for a few seconds at top

+5kg on last week, but feckin 'ard.

B1. DB face pull

20 x 10

weird pain in elbow

B2. Partial chins

bw x 12 x 2

+4reps

Alright session. Was bloody roasting in gym which was a strange experience.

but weight flew up obviously

Obviously....

Lol looks a good session, I have read front squats have a more direct carry over to sports etc than back squats, but at the same time, if you are squatting well on either variation it will cross over. However its good to get a bit more core involvement with the fronties.

Coop_de_Ville wrote:

but weight flew up obviously

Obviously....

Lol looks a good session, I have read front squats have a more direct carry over to sports etc than back squats, but at the same time, if you are squatting well on either variation it will cross over. However its good to get a bit more core involvement with the fronties.

I think if you keep your bofy upright with back squats you'll be doing pretty close to same as a front squat - Upright body means you have to push the knees forward and sit the hips in to not fall over.

Recently I often warm up with front squats before I hit back squats to reinforce a good sitting in position and it's definately helped - I just don't bother to mention it in my log so the 60,s, 100's and sometimes 120's are fronts quite often

Recently I often warm up with front squats before I hit back squats to reinforce a good sitting in position and it's definately helped - I just don't bother to mention it in my log so the 60,s, 100's and sometimes 120's are fronts quite often

Ah right, thats good to know. May try this myself also.

Karlos wrote:
Unfortunately my torn cartilage knee played up slightly after the deep squats i did last week. I have a feeling it's to do with how my feet want to turn outwards at the bottom of a deep squat and because they can't due to my rubber flooring, the 'torque stress' if you like, is being transferred to my knees.Not good.

i know it's to do with tight hips, probably glutes, but are there any exercises/stretches to directly fix this? I'm always stretching my glutes and it hasn't helped thus far.

There's a really good yoga stretch I'll try & find a vid of for you.

The usual stuff helps me a lot: hip flexor stretch, hamstring stretch, piriformis stretch. For a lot of people its often more important to stretch you hip flexors & do glute activation work than actually stretch your glutes. High rep Clams have also sorted out glute issues for me - they improve pelvic stability too if you do them slowly & carefully.

Do you get any anterior knee pain - any knee tracking issues?

I don't think i've got any knee tracking problems? how would i know?

I havn't been stretching the hip flexors that much, i'll hit them harder. For my piriformis i sit on my bench, ankle on other leg and lean forward, is that a good one?

I do lots of fire hydrants and glute bridges, plus my ass is pretty dominant, so i don't think that's a problem.

ITB stretches too might be a good idea

Karlos wrote:I don't think i've got any knee tracking problems? how would i know?

Probably pretty hard to tell yourself. I had a physio look at me doing some movements & in my case she thought there was some damage to either the underside of the patellar or the groove it runs in - I think possibly from when it got stamped on during sparring. I just thought that some of the 'torque stress' you're feeling at the knee could be related to irregular movement at the knee itself. If you get anterior knee pain its a possibility - it wouldn't hurt to foam roll your IT band, TFL etc. & do some high rep TKEs unweighted or with a band to groove good movement patterns.

I havn't been stretching the hip flexors that much, i'll hit them harder. For my piriformis i sit on my bench, ankle on other leg and lean forward, is that a good one?

I like the lying piriformis stretch


I do lots of fire hydrants and glute bridges, plus my ass is pretty dominant, so i don't think that's a problem.

I like this stretch which comes from yoga & really works the hip / glute area. The way I was shown is to start in the dog posture & swing one leg up in the air |& then forwards under you - you then progressively lean into it. Flexible yoga types can get flat on the floor:
http://www.drbackman.com/hip-stretches- ... d-yoga.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ader wrote:ITB stretches too might be a good idea

^^ x2

Thanks richard, I actually do that second one already, not as often as i should, There's another stretch I can add to my half an hour warmups

That lying on back one works well, i'm really bad at it too which kinda tells you something.

Karlos wrote:Thanks richard, I actually do that second one already, not as often as i should, There's another stretch I can add to my half an hour warmups

That lying on back one works well, i'm really bad at it too which kinda tells you something.

Personally I don't think I would do that stretch in warmups Karlos. Even with your dominant glutes it would probably inhibit glute activation, which I doubt you'd want. I do stuff like that in sessions separate from lifintg. The same with that second yoga stretch, which is pretty intense.

Interesting, I recently read an article which said the whole stretching is bad before weights thing is BS. Sure you wouldn't stretch directly before a heavy set, but as part of a warmup.

Karlos wrote:Interesting, I recently read an article which said the whole stretching is bad before weights thing is BS. Sure you wouldn't stretch directly before a heavy set, but as part of a warmup.

That is interesting Karlos. Do you have a link? I'd like to read that:

Richard wrote:

Karlos wrote:Interesting, I recently read an article which said the whole stretching is bad before weights thing is BS. Sure you wouldn't stretch directly before a heavy set, but as part of a warmup.

That is interesting Karlos. Do you have a link? I'd like to read that:

Yes interesting - I usually stretch enough to ensure enough mobility to, for example, hit a full squat comfortably, but don't really actively do a lot of stretching pre training. Just want to make sure nothing's going to go 'ping' In fact in the squat example I use just the bar as part of my pre-training stretching so sort of 'active' or dynamic stretching rather than static stretches.

Stretching after training just plain feels nice to loosen up before heading home after a hard session

Session 2

Warmup and mobility.

(Excluded glute stretches, mainly stretched hip flexors and hammies a bit)

A1.Hang power snatch

30 x 5
40 x 5
50 x 3
60 x 3
62.5 x 3 x 3

Keeping it light and fast.

A2. OH squat

30 x 5
40 x 5
50 x 3
60 x 3
62.5 x 3 x 3

Tough, hit bottom of the squat and held it for a second.

B1. Single leg glute bridges

bw x 12
+7.5 x 10 x 3

+2.5kg on last time.

B2. Single arm rows (UNsupported)

17.5 x 10
27.5 x 10
30 x 10 x 3

Really knackering, core strength has gotten pretty good.

B3. Ring pushups

bw x 8
+7.5 x 8,8,13

+2.5, nice stretch at bottom position.

C1.Standing ab rollouts

8 tiles x 5 x 2

I know 8 tiles doesn't mean much to you, but it's a way for me to measure progression Each tile is about 6 inches i'd guess.

C2. BB curls

bar x 10
45 x 10, 6, 8

+2.5k on last week, few reps too.

Richard wrote:

Karlos wrote:Interesting, I recently read an article which said the whole stretching is bad before weights thing is BS. Sure you wouldn't stretch directly before a heavy set, but as part of a warmup.

That is interesting Karlos. Do you have a link? I'd like to read that:

I shouldn't have said recently, it was a few months ago on tnation It basically said stretching as part of a warmup will improve flex and like ader said form. And there's only strength losses if you stretch within minutes of a heavy set. Saying that I steered away form glute stretches today and still hit the bottom of my OH squat probably better than last time.

Nice oveyheads. How come you are doing snatches? Have I asked you this before?

Coop_de_Ville wrote:Nice oveyheads. How come you are doing snatches? Have I asked you this before?

why not? I think they're better than power cleans for power development.

Do you think so? I would say power and hang cleans are the best for power dev and snatches are best for speed of movement.

I suppose we would have to define the terms power and speed work, but I think if you're doing them relatively heavy they're still power based, no way would I constitute +60kg speed work for me. The ROM is much greater than cleans and I i personally feel cleans hit the upper back more whereas getting the hips through is much more important on snatches.

Still the load is a lot lower in comparison to power cleans, so surely lifting a heavier weight faster is more beneficial to power dev?

With that logic speed deadlifts would be the best. Your forgetting about the difference in ROM and muscle recruitment. Plus It's just a personal thing, I've done both and i feel my lower body benefits more from snatches than cleans. That's not to say i will always do snatches over cleans, i like to mix it up, probably too much if the truth be told.

Fair doos! Yes speed deads are pretty good lol

They're all good, but snatches are the most fun

Very nice overhead squats there Karlos.