Homemade Power Rack and stornglifts 5x5

[thehobbes]

^^^Noted, haha.

Those are some HEAVY squats, nice work! A little fast on the descent but beasted them out. Keep attacking that bp, form looked pretty good, I'm sure strength will come up fast now that the shoulder is doing better. You do the jimmy legs like me, would try to plant your feet to keep more solid and use a little leg drive, I'm still strugglin with that one, easier said than done.

[scotthm2]

^^^Noted, haha.

Those are some HEAVY squats, nice work! A little fast on the descent but beasted them out. Keep attacking that bp, form looked pretty good, I'm sure strength will come up fast now that the shoulder is doing better. You do the jimmy legs like me, would try to plant your feet to keep more solid and use a little leg drive, I'm still strugglin with that one, easier said than done.

Yeh I have been trying to figure out the leg drive. Honestly I just don't know what I am meant to do?!
-------------------
Just as I predicted in my last post, I can tell the future!!

Finished up cardio on my new treadmill. Funny how just changing the machine makes me start enjoying it again!

[scotthm2]

So it was light squats day today

Squats 70kg 2x5
These felt lighter than 67.5kg did last week! Worked on a narrower stance and my walkout. Really happy with form today.

OHP 28kg 3x5
Easy!



Deadlift 120kg
So I decided to repeat the same weight from last week on this lift. Technically the bar left and returned to the floor 5 times the last day but the form was atrocious!! Did I do better this week?



Yeah, so I'd say the 2nd rep was the best/only good rep in there. I see a deload in the imminent future. Think I am going to decrease the workout to workout weight increase to 2.5kg instead of 5kg. Hopefully this will help me break the 120kg barrier.

Pull-ups to finish.

[scotthm2]

'Its raining men' came on during cardio this AM. Tune!
I am going to be increasing my cals a bit as now that I am in the season I am burning 3300+ cals 3-4 days a week.

[scotthm2]

Squats 97.5kg 1x5



Bench 48kg 4,3,2
This was my last chance to hit this weight. I am going to deload and switch to 1x5 (from 3x5) with possibly a back off set of 8 reps. Sound good?



Pendlay row 65kg 2,3,3



Tricep Dip BW x10, BW+5kg x3, 5
DB Standing Tricep extensions 12kg + handle

Ab Wheel 3x8
Really liking this exercise. Haven't done abs in ages and can really feel the burn!

[scotthm2]

I was away on tour last night and flew in late. Got to bed at around 1AM. I had planned today as a rest day but felt pretty good when I woke up. 4 sets into my squats an I was mentally kicking myself!

Squat 90kg 5x5
This was killer. After rackin my last set I just sat down right there on the floor in the rack. Didnt move for like a minute.



OHP 29kg 3x5
My left elbow was giving me a bit of trouble over the weekend and continued to niggle during the workout.



Deadlift 107.5kg 1x5
Deloaded by 10% to this weight to work on form.



Elbow too sore to do pull-ups

[tina722]

Nice job with the heavy squat day. I can tell you are working hard, but form stays pretty much spot on.

Your changes in bench should be helpful to keep increasing the weight. Will you be doing that every other session?

Your team is in the middle of competition season? Has lifting helped you there at all?

[scotthm2]

Nice job with the heavy squat day. I can tell you are working hard, but form stays pretty much spot on.

Your changes in bench should be helpful to keep increasing the weight. Will you be doing that every other session?

Your team is in the middle of competition season? Has lifting helped you there at all?

Yup I'll be benching every other workout. I am wondering what percentage of my working set weight should my back off set of 8 reps be. Any ideas?

[thehobbes]

Benching form looks good to me. What does your whole bench setup look like as far as warmups, work sets, etc?

[scotthm2]

Benching form looks good to me. What does your whole bench setup look like as far as warmups, work sets, etc?

I do resistance band stuff before hand. More for my shoulders though. Then I do 2x5 with the bar. 1x3 with 60% of WS weight, 1x2 80% WS. It's really annoying how weak I am!

[scotthm2]

Legs so, so sore/stiff today. HIIT was out of the question but did some LISS on the treadmill for 30 mins while I read game of thrones. Just wanted to bring new blood to the area. Wish I had a bath and/or foam roller :-(

[scotthm2]

Light Squats Day
Think my legs only just recovered in time for this session!

Squat 72.5kg 2x5
Felt really light. Love how easily I can rep out over my bodyweight unbelted.

Bench 43kg 3x5
Deloaded as missed 48kg 3 times. This felt heavy :-( I did 3 sets as figured its light enough so might as well but think I will be starting 1x5 next bench workout.

Pendlay Row 65kg 3,2,3

Here is my first set of 3 reps. Yeh as you can see the major cheating in the last 2 reps makes this a 3 rep set!



Tricep Dips +5kg elbow starting to hurt so didnt want to risk it. Did this instead:
DB Standing Tricep Extensions 12.5kg + handle 2x8

[scotthm2]

Squats 1x3 100kg
So missed my heavy squats :-( was going for 5 reps. I'm not actually sure what you do if you miss your squats on the heavy day in madcows. Goin to have to go research some.



OHP 30kg 4,4,5
Damn! For some reason the 3rd set felt so easy?? Here is the first set:



Deadlift 110kg 1x5
If you wanna c what someone looks like on the verge of fainting just watch this vid! Right after my last rep. Phew it was a close one!!



Pull-ups, barbell curls and ab wheel to finish.

[scotthm2]

Now that I am into my session, on match days (2-3 times/wk) I am burning over 4000 cals/day. Does that seem astronomically high for a women??

[kaleida]

Just popping in out of curiosity ... your videos look awesome! I am impressed

[scotthm2]

Just popping in out of curiosity ... your videos look awesome! I am impressed

Thank you! Feel free to stick around for some more ;-)
--------
So rest day today. I am away on your until Tuesday morning so depending on how tired I am there might be a workout ton that day until then folks.

[scotthm2]

Back from tour this morning. I contemplated doing a workout but was too stiff/sore after the weekend. I did 20 mins of LISS and stretched loads. Also got the foam roller out. Have a massive crick in my neck and a not in the top of my back. Just feel so tight. Got a tennis ball into the crick in my neck with the barbell on top. Was very sore but loosened it out some. Think I will do the same sort of LISS/stretch/foam roll session tonight.

[tina722]

Just sayin' hi! How's all the extra training treating you?

Don't worry about missing the rep. Bad workouts happen.

[scotthm2]

The best thing about volume day is tht once you have done it you don't have to do it for another week! Seriously these squats are killer!

Squats 5x5 90kg
I am working with a narrower stance here. Man Dow it make it harder as you can see in the video below of my first set I struggle with the final 2 reps.
After the 3rd set I was feeling a bit light headed (by a bit I mean a lot). So I decide to move on to bench and then returned to finish up the lat 2 sets. I'm not sure if this cheating or not!



Bench 44kg 3x5
These felt a feet deal lighter then 43kg felt!



My workout was nearing 2 hours at this stage so I foam rolled and cut it short. The beauty of being a student with a home gym: I went back in in the afternoon to finish up the workout. I sorta liked the whole split in 2 morning/evening workout thing. Not sure if it is a good idea though. Thoughts?

Pendlay Row 65kg
At what point are you cheating too much and the weight is too heavy? I dont know!



Tricep Dips BW x 6 , +5kg 3x5R

Matt Ogus mentioned a new show called 'Viking' that is similar to game of thrones. I have to check this out!

[Zero_Degreez]

The best thing about volume day is tht once you have done it you don't have to do it for another week! Seriously these squats are killer!

Haha, I can totally relate to this feeling!!

[thehobbes]

I do resistance band stuff before hand. More for my shoulders though. Then I do 2x5 with the bar. 1x3 with 60% of WS weight, 1x2 80% WS. It's really annoying how weak I am!

That's a good proper warmup srs, most people just jump right in and it makes me cringe. Meh so your DL and squat are at a more advanced level than bench, so what, still much stronger than lots of people I see around here benching like 65lbs for work sets. (Nothing wrong with starting out w/ 65lb bp but really anybody at any level should be able to smash past that quickly if they are not injured.)

Deadlift 110kg 1x5
If you wanna c what someone looks like on the verge of fainting just watch this vid! Right after my last rep. Phew it was a close one!!



Pull-ups, barbell curls and ab wheel to finish.

Damn that is really really good form! How the hell do I get my DLs to look like that?! Glad you didn't do a header into the wall haha, I've seen some stars a few times myself on dem DLs of death and destruction.

[tina722]

I'm glad you posted the thread - good advice there. There's a few things that I need to work on too - so easy to lose flat back.

[scotthm2]

Squats 72.5kg 2x5
Really liking my new narrower stance.

OHP 30kg 4, 5, 4
Decided to do these unstrapped etc. I figure I am training for a sport so I want to be as strong as I can be without any 'artificial help'.
Elbow/shoulder a bit sore so did lots o resistance band and tennis ball work before I lifted even the empty bar! Definitely helped me get the reps i did get. Can't over stress the importance of a good warmup!



Deadlift 112.5kg 1x5
Remind me to never moisturise right before a workout! What was I thinking?!
I decrease the workout to workout weight increase on deadlifts to 2.5kg (from 5kg) hopefully this will help me break the 120kg plateau. (Too scares to do this exercise unbelted!)



Pull-ups, weighted side crunches and ab wheel.

-------------------------------------
I want to start working abs heavy in 5 rep sets like my other exercises. Anyone idea what exercise I could do in a home gym?

Have to up my calories AGAIN! I am eating more on this cut than when I was bulking during the winter! I am just so active during the summer.

[scotthm2]

Whoot! Yay. I am actually so satisfied without myself rights now! This was the first workout I took a full scoop of Hyde plus some extra citrulline malate and man did it work.Also think upping my carbs by 50g was a factor in my energy levels.

Squat 100kg 1x5
The start of the video is me just showing off my lovely bruise.



Went onto bench. I felt like I was unstoppable today. Seriously, no way was I NOT going to hit my reps.

Bench 45kg 3x5



Pendlay Row
Okay so I put up a video on the forum earlier this week for form critique and I got some very helpful advice. I basically worked up in 5kg increments until my form started to break down. I think it happened around the 55kg mark.
How's my form guys? All observations welcome :-)
p.s. I am seriously putting every effort into arching my lower back even though it doesn't look it!

Vid 1: 50kg


Vid 2: 55kg (ignore last rep, don't know what I was doing!!)


Tricep Dips & Ab shizz to finish

Sitting down drinking my shake and eating my PWO meal of 6 wheatabix with sweetened almond milk.

[scotthm2]

Did my HIIT cardio session this AM. I am reducing my cardio sessions to 2/wk. I had to eat with my family for lunch today. I tracked it all as it was a 4 bird roast that came in a packet an veg/ potatoes on the side. The thing is, I am so full. Fuller than I hav felt after a meal in a long time and I find it hard to believe that the meal only came to about 600 calories?!

[scotthm2]

Squats 5x5 92.5kg
Below is a video of my first set.



I had a refeed day yest and I put the belt on at the usual hole and it was too tight. Threw me off a bit during my set.

OHP 30kg 3x5
Finally got these! This was my 3rd attempt and the thought of having to deload if I had missed them really motivated me here!



Wish my upper body would catch up with my lower body. I know I'm a women so am going against genetics but its jut so frustrating to be so weak!!

Deadlift 115kg 1x5

Not too sure about these ones. I think I might have to repeat this weight.



Pull-ups and chin-ups to finish

I think might have eatin some gone off humus yesterday. My stomach does not feel good!

[scotthm2]

Did 35mins HIIT cardio this morning. It was fairly tough going! I don't think I have ever sweated so much. Reckon it was because I was probably still recovering form my volume squats day yesterday. I'm going to take a rest day tomorrow and by rest day I mean play a match which means I will be on my feet for most of the day. On average match days burn anywhere between 3800 and 4300 cals depending on how much I do in the match.

[thehobbes]

Was watching specifically for depth on squats, damn jelly at that, you can get quite low! First two reps on DL looked perfect, would repeat wt until I didn't have to reset though, looked tough. Good workout, way to gut it out!

[scotthm2]

Summer is here so the legs are out lol! I meant to do this workout 2 hours earlier but just couldn't make myself get out of bed. So I was about 16 and a half hours fasted when I started the workout.

Squats 75kg 2x5



Bench 46kg 3x5

I am in the process of adjusting my usual bench (foam too squishy) so I had to use this crappy back up one. Had to put it onto of something to make it taller! A bad work man blames his tools though.
The warm up sets felt so heavy I was like faurk how the shizz am I going to get my workset. Then I just got my head in the game and worked myself up before my workset. Mind over matter and all that!



Pendlay Rows 3x5 52.5kg

So I posted a video in the forum for form critique after some really helpful advice I have deloade nd m presently working my way back up. I am really, I mean REALLY, making every effort to arch my lower back. In a video on youtube demonstrating the row the poster mentioned that his lower back arch isn't obvious as he had really big something or others (spinus errectus??). Maybe I have the same problem?



So after watching back my first set ^^^ I made even more of an effort to arch that back. No joy! Below is my second set. It actually looks like its rounded doesn't it!?



Tricep Dips

[scotthm2]

I wore shorts with no pockets! What a mistake :-( I couldn't listen to my music. Anyway I didn't miss my squats because of it!

Squats 102.5kg 3R

I good morning'd the 2nd and 3rd rep so even though I new I could go ass to grass 5 times I also new I was in danger of f***ing up my back so I called it quits.



OHP 31kg 5,3,1

Got the first set reletivly easily but started feeling my left shoulder during my 2nd set and I only needed to do 1 rep in my final set to know my shoulder was not going to comply!



Deadlift 115kg 1x5
Repeated this weight. I actually really like the advice I got from hammie ^^ that I should repeat this weight until I don't new to reset durin my set. Totally makes sense. I think I might repeat again.
Have you ever seen a sexier gym outfit? I could totally pull this out on a Saturday night right?



Pull-up/chin ups
Wish I could do these everyday! The mornin of deadlift day all that's going through my head is 'yay, I get to do pull-ups today'.

That is all.