Lift, Smash, Repeat

[kaleida]

reps @ weight (lb)

5/23/2015

high bar squat
3@95
3@135
8@160
8@160
8@160

competition bench press
1@95
1@95
8@95
8@95
8@95
8@95
8@95

leg raise on bench
8
8
8
8

new PRs today
160 was a new PR for 3 sets of 8 high bar squat
95 was a new PR for 5 sets of 8 competition bench press

[kaleida]

End of week squat volume chart:


It is nice to be able to get my volume up pain-free...no physical complaints this week except the pollen allergies. My stress level is very low too because my working hours have been lower than usual lately, nearing the end of a project. I don't know how long that will last and I wouldn't want it to last forever but for now it's a welcome break

[kaleida]

reps @ weight (lb)

5/25/2015

high bar squat
3@95 wide, beltless
3@135 wide, beltless
1@155 wide, beltless
5@165 wide, beltless
5@165 wide, beltless
5@165 wide, beltless
5@165 wide, beltless
5@165 wide, beltless

leg extension
8@40
5@50
5@50
5@50
5@50
5@50

lying leg curl
8@30
5@40
5@40
5@40
5@40
5@40

hip thrust
12@120
12@120
12@120
12@120

new PRs today
165 was a new PR for 5 sets of 5 high bar squat
120 was a new PR for 4 sets of 12 hip thrust
50 was a new PR for 5 sets of 5 leg extension


Lifting Charts has a new Rep Ranges chart on the PR Grid page (it shows how many times you have made a PR in each rep/set combination). Check it out!

My normal gym is closed and my stuff is in my locker there so I had to do beltless squats.

Happy Memorial Day! Hopefully you're not suffering from pollen allergies like I am...lol. It'll be over soon though.

[lazyaj]

Your squat volume is really amazing! I'm always shocked at the scale bar when you post the volume chart!

[kaleida]

Your squat volume is really amazing! I'm always shocked at the scale bar when you post the volume chart!

I think the magnesium supplement is helping a lot. 2-3 weeks ago is about when I started taking it. I ended both of the past 2 weeks surprised at how high my volume was, just felt too good for volume that high. There's no DOMS, no stiffness, no "heavy" feeling when I get up after resting a while, and I've only needed to do a very small amount of trigger point release. It's almost too good to be true. I'm waiting for a plate to fall on my head or something, to balance things out

[kaleida]

reps @ weight (lb)

5/26/2015

high bar squat
3@95
3@135
1@185
5@200
5@200
5@200

hybrid deadlift
2@135
2@185
2@225
2@275
4@235
4@235 wider
4@235 wider

conventional deadlift
4@205
4@205
4@205

RDLs
10@80
10@80
10@80

new PRs today
235 was a new PR for 3 sets of 4 hybrid deadlift
205 was a new 4RM for conventional deadlift
205 was a new PR for 3 sets of 4 conventional deadlift
200 was a new PR for 3 sets of 5 high bar squat

[kaleida]

reps @ weight (lb)

5/27/2015

trigger point release
QLs
psoas
gluteus medius
piriformis

step up to knee-high box
10@60

high bar squat
3@95 wide
3@135 wide
7@165 wide
7@165 wide
8@165 wide

competition bench press
3@65
1@95
5@100
5@100
5@100
5@100
5@100

new PRs today
165 was a new PR for 3 sets of 7 high bar squat
100 was a new PR for 5 sets of 5 competition bench press
60 was a new 10RM for step up to knee-high box

[lazyaj]

Great benching today! And great squatting every day!

[wishiwasdivin]

More solid squatting an benching

[kaleida]

More solid squatting an benching

Great benching today! And great squatting every day!

Thank you both!



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


reps @ weight (lb)

5/28/2015

high bar squat
1@135
1@185
1@225
5@205
5@205
5@205

lat pulldown
10@75 wide
10@75 wide
10@75 wide
10@75 wide
10@75 wide

lat pushdown
10@30
10@30
10@30
10@30
10@30

chest-supported rows
8@45
8@45
8@45
8@45
8@45

reverse fly machine
20@10
20@10
20@10

new PRs today
205 was a new PR for 3 sets of 5 high bar squat
75 was a new PR for 5 sets of 10 lat pulldown
45 was a new PR for 5 sets of 8 chest-supported rows
30 was a new PR for 5 sets of 10 lat pushdown

[kaleida]

reps @ weight (lb)

5/29/2015

paused front squat
5@105 wide
5@105 wide
5@105 wide
5@105 wide
5@105 wide

competition bench press
1@95
5@105
7@100
7@100
5@105
5@105
7@100

new PRs today
105 was a new PR for 5 sets of 5 paused front squat
100 was a new PR for 3 sets of 7 competition bench press
100 was a new PR for 6 sets of 5 competition bench press


Someone stole a 5lb plate off my bench press bar after the first set and I did not even notice until I was about to start my 4th set. Lol. I knew they felt a little bit unsymmetrical but I just assumed my hands were in the wrong place or something. Was all excited because I thought I did 7@105 twice....but no. Hahaha. Then I did a couple more sets with 105 and one with 100, symmetrical.

[HealthNut12]

I can't believe someone would steal a plate of a bar being used! I can see how that would throw you off.

Your benching is coming along quite nicely! Some real good numbers there. And I'm always impressed with your squatting numbers. Over 200 lbs is just incredible.

Really great work!

[lazyaj]

That's a crazy story! But actually the other day I was sitting on the end of the bench in between sets, and a woman came up to me and pointed at the plates on the bar and said "Are you using those?" Like, whu??? Haha. I guess I should be happy she asked instead of just grabbing one!

But great benching despite the weirdness!

[kaleida]

I can't believe someone would steal a plate of a bar being used! I can see how that would throw you off.

Your benching is coming along quite nicely! Some real good numbers there. And I'm always impressed with your squatting numbers. Over 200 lbs is just incredible.

Really great work!

That's a crazy story! But actually the other day I was sitting on the end of the bench in between sets, and a woman came up to me and pointed at the plates on the bar and said "Are you using those?" Like, whu??? Haha. I guess I should be happy she asked instead of just grabbing one!

But great benching despite the weirdness!

It was weird bench pressing with a stolen plate. So much is wrong with my bench press that I just assumed it was my fault setting up wrong when I felt asymmetrical. Lol.

I have a squat volume chart from last week.



I didn't want to have crazy-high volume for the third week in a row, so I took Saturday and Sunday off instead of just Sunday, thinking I would get some extra rest and feel extra rested.

That extra day off was not as restful as I thought it would be, though. We travelled to a friend's house and stayed overnight, and I forgot to bring 3 things that turned out to be really important. 1) I forgot my vitamins so I went without my usual magnesium pill on Saturday night - the one that made rest positions less stressful and made all of my trigger points so calm and happy for the past few weeks. 2) I forgot my yoga pants. So I slept without the rolled-up sausage of yoga pants underneath my neck (I do that because my neck needs something under there, but a pillow is way too big and pushes my head too far forward). 3) I forgot my favorite tea, so no caffeine either. Is it a coincidence that I woke up with active trigger points in my suboccipitals and within a few hours I had the absolutely worst migraine I could ever remember? We're talking knife-in-the-head, rainy-day-sunlight-brings-me-to-tears-because-it's-too-bright, dog-barking-feels-like-a-taser-and-a-gunshot-wound-to-the-head kind of migraine. It was not long before I was hiding in bed in tears from the pain.

But Luca fixed it He found some caffeinated tea for me and also smashed my suboccipitals a lot harder than I was able to...the weight of my head on my fist was not enough but he put my neck in between two hands and smashed. It sounds awful but it worked. It was amazing how fast the migraine went away with just those two things. He's pretty darn useful

[kaleida]

reps @ weight (lb)

6/1/2015

high bar squat
3@135 wide
3@155 wide
3@175 wide
3@175 wide
3@175 wide
3@175 wide
3@175 wide
3@175 wide
3@175 wide

lat pulldown
10@85 wide
10@85 wide
10@85 wide
10@85 wide

cable rows
8@50
10@50
10@50
10@50

face pulls
12@30
12@30
12@30
12@30
12@30

lat pulldown behind the neck
15@40
15@40
15@40
15@40
15@40

reverse fly machine
10@15
10@15
10@15
10@15
10@15

band pull-aparts (red band)
10
10
15

band pull-aparts (red + black band)
10
10
10

band pull-aparts (thick red band)
5
10
10
10

new PRs today
175 was a new PR for 7 sets of 3 high bar squat
85 was a new PR for 4 sets of 10 lat pulldown
40 was a new PR for 5 sets of 15 lat pulldown behind the neck
30 was a new PR for 5 sets of 12 face pulls
15 was a new PR for 5 sets of 10 reverse fly machine

[HealthNut12]

Great work! Seven sets at 175 lbs is crazy. Crazy good of course. You're squats are impressive.

Looks like a great workout!

[kaleida]

Great work! Seven sets at 175 lbs is crazy. Crazy good of course. You're squats are impressive.

Looks like a great workout!

Thanks I think the wide squats are helping me right now

[kaleida]

reps @ weight (lb)

6/2/2015

high bar squat
1@135
1@185
1@225
5@210
5@210
5@210

competition bench press
1@95
1@105
1@115
5@105
5@105
5@105
5@105
7@105

new PRs today
210 was a new PR for 3 sets of 5 high bar squat
105 was a new 7RM for competition bench press
105 was a new PR for 5 sets of 5 competition bench press


Guarding my bench press plates like a hawk today because I really wanted that 5 sets of 5 PR

Also I might post a squat video when I get home...I haven't done a squat video in a while and I am happy with the squat at the moment.

[lazyaj]

Wow what a session! That's some really awesome volume squat and bench. The wide squats definitely look like they're helping!

Also - yeah squat video! You haven't posted any in a while.

[kaleida]

Thanks AJ!

I accidentally left my camera in my gym locker last night, so no video of yesterday's squats ...but I do have a video of the wide squat stance that I've been doing a lot of lately. It's not a request for form check... just a "this is what I've been up to lately" kind of video since my journal has been all text and no pictures lately. I think these were from sets of 8 or something like that. I trimmed it a lot so the video wouldn't be ridiculously long. How short my legs look from the side view...lol.



The 210lb sets that I did yesterday were in a stance that is very narrow, only an inch or two wider than hip width...I'll try to get a video of that stance too at some point.

[kaleida]

reps @ weight (lb)

6/3/2015

hybrid deadlift
4@135
4@135
2@185
2@225
2@245
2@265 wide
2@285 wide
6@185 wide
6@185 wide
6@155
6@155

conventional deadlift
6@135
6@135

stiff-leg deadlift
6@135
6@135
6@135

trigger point release
mid-back


I have yesterday's squat video 3rd set of 5 with 210. I was happy with these. As usual it's not a form check video... just a "this is what I've been up to" video since my journal has been all text and not enough pictures lately.



Edit: the original video had 5 reps I swear I just accidentally trimmed the first rep too when I was trying to trim the walkout. That would have been a bummer if I had miscounted ...I had to go back and watch the original to make sure I didn't!

[lazyaj]

Wow, wide squat stance is really wide! Like multiply wide. Can you specify what it's helping the heavier, narrow stance squats with? Or is it too soon to articulate that?

edit to add: Great pulls btw!!

[kaleida]

Wow, wide squat stance is really wide! Like multiply wide. Can you specify what it's helping the heavier, narrow stance squats with? Or is it too soon to articulate that?

edit to add: Great pulls btw!!

I do have an idea, but it's going to sound so brosciency and half-baked (which is why I haven't written about it yet - lol!)

Short answer: I think it is helping with bar path issues. Bar path is the current bottleneck for my squat.

Long answer: A few months ago, if my narrow stance was even 2 inches too wide, I would definitely lurch forward on the way up and my bar path would go too far forward on the way up. That makes the squat a lot harder for me, if it succeeds at all. I was in the middle of a "get all volume from my strongest stance" experiment and I was curious to see how that would turn out, so for a while my strategy to avoid bar path issues was to make my stance even narrower. Eventually I was getting bar path issues in my narrowest possible stance (hip width). So that didn't really work out. I did become reasonably good at correcting a bad bar path because it was happening so often. That twitchy pushing-knees-forward repositioning thing in the very last rep of my 210lb video - that is a bar path correction. That's a legit workaround that I am fine with using in a pinch. But I wanted to reduce dependency on that workaround or at least move it to higher weight. So it felt like time to embrace the most awkward movement (wide stance) and get better at it. In a wide squat with my knees pointing way out, I am forced to avoid both the bar path issues and the bar path correction workaround, I have to manage bar path in other ways. I think some of that "avoiding bar path issues in other ways" is floating over to my narrow squat.

Here's the brosciencey half-baked piece: I think that my medial glutes (gluteus medius + gluteus minimus) are involved in keeping a better bar path. Those were the first to complain when I added the super-wide squats. A few months of all-narrow squatting left my medial glutes very weak and tight. I have had to smash them multiple times to make them happy again. The combination of smashing medial glutes + doing wide squats helped my medial glutes get more flexible, more functional, and stronger. I feel my medial glutes contracting very hard in my narrow squat now. That is new. I am also getting less frequent bar path issues. More medial glute action + better bar path are really the only things that feel different in my narrow squat. So I think maybe they are related. I wish I could visualize how that muscle helps with bar path but I'm not sure.

[kaleida]

reps @ weight (lb)

6/4/2015

high bar squat
1@95 wide
1@135 wide
1@185 wide
10@140 wide
10@140 wide
10@140 wide
10@140 wide

back extension
10@25
10@25
10@25
10@35
10@35
10@35

standing calf raise
8@20
8@20
8@20

seated calf raise machine
10
10
10

conventional deadlift
10@95
10@95
10@95
10@95
10@95
10@95

new PRs today
140 was a new PR for 4 sets of 10 high bar squat
95 was a new PR for 6 sets of 10 conventional deadlift
35 was a new PR for 3 sets of 10 back extension


This looks kind of random but there is a theme uniting it....I have an active trigger point in the erectors that keeps coming back even though I keep smashing it, and I remembered how I got rid of it last time it appeared (by smashing my calves)===so. I'm trying to make everything sensitive enough to smash both later tonight; hopefully the same thing will work again. I think it will probably work. If not then I have more ideas.

[HealthNut12]

You made it look so easy on the video. This reminds me I am due for a squat video. Bar path is an issue for sometimes, also I have a tendency to lift up my heals slightly. I think I need to work on ankle mobility.

Anyway, enough about me. I really like you log since you put so much thought into you lifts and how to correct issues as they arise. I didn't even really notice that thing you did with your legs to get the bar back on path but after you pointed it out I thought, that is so neat you can correct the bar path like that. Videos are really great, everyone at my gym has taken videos for me at one point! lol

[kaleida]

You made it look so easy on the video. This reminds me I am due for a squat video. Bar path is an issue for sometimes, also I have a tendency to lift up my heals slightly. I think I need to work on ankle mobility.

Anyway, enough about me. I really like you log since you put so much thought into you lifts and how to correct issues as they arise. I didn't even really notice that thing you did with your legs to get the bar back on path but after you pointed it out I thought, that is so neat you can correct the bar path like that. Videos are really great, everyone at my gym has taken videos for me at one point! lol

Ankle mobility should definitely help keep heels on the ground. That little bar path maneuver wasn't an option for me before I did ankle mobility work; I just wouldn't have been able to get into that position without relaxing something.

I intentionally push through the balls of my feet in my squat and that is just heresy. I know. Lol. "Push through the heels" cue does nothing for me except turn off all the muscles in my lower legs and make me feel unstable because my lower leg muscles are turned off. But as long as I have enough ankle mobility then my heels stay down so no one even knows I'm doing it.

I like that I can think out loud in here

[kaleida]

reps @ weight (lb)

6/5/2015

walking lunges
12@25

high bar squat
1@135
1@185
1@225
4@215
3@215
2@215
1@215

competition bench press
1@95
1@105
1@110
1@115
1@120
3@110
4@110
4@110
4@110
5@110

new PRs today
110 was a new 5RM for competition bench press
110 was a new PR for 4 sets of 4 competition bench press
110 was a new PR for 5 sets of 3 competition bench press


A bench press video!

[lazyaj]

Your thoughts about the wide stance/bar path are really interesting. I was pretty sure you'd have a good theory.

Also, great benching! Your arch is terrific and your form looks tight.

[kaleida]

Your thoughts about the wide stance/bar path are really interesting. I was pretty sure you'd have a good theory.

Also, great benching! Your arch is terrific and your form looks tight.

Thanks!

[kaleida]

reps @ weight (lb)

6/6/2015

trigger point release
erectors (lowest rib)
soleus
hamstrings
adductor magnus
gluteus medius
gluteus minimus

paused front squat
8@95
8@95
8@95

step up to knee-high box
16@50
16@50
16@50

conventional deadlift
5@135
5@135
5@135

hybrid deadlift
6@135
6@135
6@135

stiff-leg deadlift
6@135
6@135

new PRs today
95 was a new 8RM for paused front squat
95 was a new PR for 3 sets of 8 paused front squat
50 was a new 16RM for step up to knee-high box
50 was a new PR for 3 sets of 16 step up to knee-high box



This is a list of trigger point release I've done in the past week or so - not all today. I did successfully fix the persistent erector trigger point on the lowest rib, by smashing my soleus the other day. Now my left hamstrings are saying "me next!!" but smashing hamstrings yesterday got me nowhere fast. Next thing I will try is smashing adductor magnus near the pelvis, because in the past that one has felt like hamstring tightness on me. If that doesn't work I have a few more ideas.

All of the trigger point release in the past few weeks feels like deja vu from right after my last meet - QLs, then psoas, then a persistent erector trigger point on my lowest rib that was unresponsive to smashing the erectors, then I finally figure out I need to smash my soleus to calm down my erectors, then my hamstrings start complaining next... deja vu. Kind of a weird time for it because I'd love to be doing real deadlifts right now, not this light stuff. But better now than later. If there's a sudden deadlift PR out of nowhere waiting for me at the end of this, just like last time, I will be very happy But who knows. I am not always that lucky.