Shawn's Wanna-be-a-powerlifter Journal

[MooseTequila]

Nice early bird squats Shawn... way to just get after it man!
That is some heavy reppage dood... strong and smooth. Killed the morning off, good work!

[raynerd]

Awesome platform. I have to get around to making one. Your deads looked good.

Thanks, ya the platform is sweet and an easy build. You should make one!

New platform... new video view... lifts still looking the same, strong as fuk!!!

So I envision the next step for the gym... a little remodel work...

haha thanks Mooseman, may have to take out an exterior wall or two soon!

That is something to consider for sure. I do think the height of the ceiling will work for me though.. but going to check that out! Nice lifting today... and gym looks great

Ya I am a bit over 6 feet tall and I would hit the ceiling even with smaller plates. Thanks Simon

Solid session 2 Shawn....strong pulls in those vids

Thanks Ron, liking the program so far!

Nice couple of sessions. Strong deads and bar humps . Yea if your not used to squatting early morning its a challange to get fired up. Hip thrusts are something I could probably use, but will never do, at least not at the gym

Ya it's been a while since I trained early…find it's ok when I do it more often I am just always pushed for time. Bar humps need work lol. I found them pretty awkward. Only to be done in the comfort of the home gym though lol

Nice work Shawn! I have never tried hip thrusters either. For the same reasons you mentioned, haha. I know they are useful though. How did they feel besides awkward? You wake up any new muscles with them?

Early morning squats and I am sure you are wide awake now. Better than a cup of coffee.

Have a great day Shawn!

Thanks Shane, ya they were just hard to balance the bar, find a comfortable position across the crotch etc. I did feel them lots in the gloots though. See if I am sore tomorrow.

lol at the hip thrusters. Got them on tap for tonight and have the same thoughts as you guys. Not sure how I'd explain that to my wife if she walked in during those

Better early morning than after work squats imo. I'm not overly looking forward to tonight.

lol yup there are an odd exercise. Gotta find some sort of padding to use. It was nice to get the session over for sure but was dragging azz at work today.

Nice work in the early AM....props for being able to motivate yourself to do that early...as I am amazed at all here that do the early AM thang....Hip thrusts will be a good addition....once the weight starts to get challenging you might want to wrap a towel around the bar or get a bar pad because it will get a bit painful

Thanks Ron, still really don't like early mornings but last time I trained after work I couldn't sleep lol. Good plan in wrapping the bar…I can see them getting very uncomfortable!

Strong squatting.. and in the morning..

Keep trying to get those elbows down.

Thanks, and yes agree 100%. I squatted backwards to film my warmups from directly behind as I have been leaning to one side in the hole. I never realized just how bad the elbows were winging!! Damn I hate my squat!!! Work to do!

ha. Lol'd at that one. I have been humping the fuk'n bar as well. I never thought i would ever do a hip thrust either.... go figure.


Solid work Shawn. Strong as always.

Thanks Doc, gonna hump me 3pps soon

^^^This!

Facing the mirror totally fuks with me. I hadn't done it in ages until recently when I use the regular ( not mono rack ) at Herc. You normally face away right? Just wanted to see how awesome you look with some weight on your back ?

Yes…I saw that…more chit wrong with my damn squat I faced the mirror to get a back vid on my warmups to see how bad I was sinking into one side in the hole. I have been working on my faaked up hip trying to loosen it up and did some band work to warmup this morning (mimicking hip circle) The lean was better but out hops the elbows. I will be working on this now too. Facing the mirror sucked and won't be doing that again!

Shawn those OHP, seated or standing ( I know you said you have clearance issues with standing)

Stellar work.

Thanks Simon, they were seated.

Good workout today Shawn. Way to get in there and get it done early.

Nice job on those squats. Like gannicus99 and John said, keep trying to keep the elbows down. That was one thing Alan had me work on as well. The more my elbows came up the more I was leaning forward. He had me focus on keeping my chest up and elbows down and I was instantly able to stay more upright and my squats improved, fwiw.

Great work on the assistance lifts too. I wish I had a cable machine like yours...I really miss doing those cable rows.

Thanks Greg, I agree completely. It was the first thing I saw and almost didn't post the vid in shame lol. I think I may have too widen my grip a tad as well to really work the elbows down. Today I was concentrating on even knee spread in the hole so hopefully that made the elbow flare worse. My cable machine was cheap…300 bucks but it serves me well.

Nice early bird squats Shawn... way to just get after it man!
That is some heavy reppage dood... strong and smooth. Killed the morning off, good work!

Thanks Moose, glad I got it in early anyway. I would have liked to have more time to work on my squat more but gotta work sometimes!!

[Jtbny]

Well- you could widen your grip is mobility is an issue;

You could try moving the bar position to one that allows you not not chicken wing your elbows;

You could try a thumb-less grip if you don't use one to help too.

You could also ( and I believe this might be a main issue here ) retract your scaps and lats. Getting your lats tight with automatically force your elbows to go vertical.

[raynerd]

Well- you could widen your grip is mobility is an issue;

You could try moving the bar position to one that allows you not not chicken wing your elbows;

You could try a thumb-less grip if you don't use one to help too.

You could also ( and I believe this might be a main issue here ) retract your scaps and lats. Getting your lats tight with automatically force your elbows to go vertical.

Thanks for the tips. I use thumbless grip already and will stick with that. The reason I mention widening my grip a bit is I am super locked down with bar intitially in my setup. My hands are squeezed as narrow as I can put them and I try to pull the bar down into my back. I think I am so squashed in that postion I am starting with already winged elbows then I just make it worse coming out of the hole with my awful lean.
Think you are spot on with the last point about retracting scraps, tightened lats etc, and with a bit wider hand I should be able to get the elbows down further initially and "try" to hold this position better into the hole. I will give it a spin today with my warmups. I have been so worried about an even knee spread and crooked squat that I may have sidelined some cues as well. But...this elbow thing is not new for me at all.

[Hammerhagen]

John mentions some good cues like always...Good to see that other view of your squats, your grip is thumbless but I can see your hands are over the bar which naturally throws your elbows back. Have you tried getting your grip under the bar while retracting your lats? This position works well for me to keep the upper back right and lower spine in a neutral position. Interestingly for me when I moved the bar down my back to a more mid-bar position, I went back to a full grip. I like to also squeeze the bar with my hands. Feels stronger and keeps bar in place locked in tight. Here is a pic when I first started going to this set up and it has helped my form immensely

https://imgur.com/a/I3o4A

The other thing I'm thinking is you are strong as an ox. I bet when you get your lower back and spine into a power position your squat will skyrocket. The strength is there for you already

[raynerd]

Morning Weight: 187.6lbs

Warmup:
Cardiovascular:
BB complex
-leg swings front/back, side/side
-hip circle BW squat holds x 5 then 10 BW air squats

Dynamic stretch:
Shoulder roll
Cat/camel
Donkey kicks
Glute bridge
Hollow rock

Bench warmup:
Band pullaparts
1 arm pullaparts
Lat pulldowns

Bench:
CGBP bar x 10
Ultra wide bar x 10
Comp. bench bar x 10

135 x 5
185 x 3 paused

Program sets:
225 x 4 all paused
225 x 4 vid paused
225 x 4 paused RPE 7.5

Deads, paused 1 inch off floor
135 x 6
225 x 5
315 x 1

Program sets:
355 x 3
355 x 3 vid RPE 8

Pendlay Row:
225 x 5
245 x 5
245 x 5
245 x 5 RPE 7

CGBP
135 x 6
205 x 3
215 x 3 RPE 7.5

Dun:

Notes: good workout, bench is still light this week so did all sets paused. 1 inch paused deads were new, but not too bad. Pendlays were light, CGBP felt strong and will increase next week. Week 1 down, will start week Sunday. So far enjoying the program a lot

[raynerd]

John mentions some good cues like always...Good to see that other view of your squats, your grip is thumbless but I can see your hands are over the bar which naturally throws your elbows back. Have you tried getting your grip under the bar while retracting your lats? This position works well for me to keep the upper back right and lower spine in a neutral position. Interestingly for me when I moved the bar down my back to a more mid-bar position, I went back to a full grip. I like to also squeeze the bar with my hands. Feels stronger and keeps bar in place locked in tight. Here is a pic when I first started going to this set up and it has helped my form immensely

https://imgur.com/a/I3o4A

The other thing I'm thinking is you are strong as an ox. I bet when you get your lower back and spine into a power position your squat will skyrocket. The strength is there for you already

Thanks Andrew and appreciate the insight. You are exactly right I think. I played with a wider grip today and was able to get the elbows in a better position...much better. I flipped back and forth from old to new and it was significant. Much more upright in the hole. I will be trying it out Sunday with some weight. I have been locking the bar down with my hands over on purpose but pretty sure I am ramming myself forward in the process. Think this is gonna work well
I actually agree that I am stronger on squats than my current form allows, I just need to dial it in!!

[RT1957]

Pause day looked good....strong work Shawn.....love that platform you built....I got nothing for you about squats....mine are always a mess....got lots of good advise to follow

[MooseTequila]

Holy sh!t Shawn (Great rock band name)

Those paused deadz looked awesome man! The CGBP... I am beyond jelli... i am off to eat donuts and cupcakes...

[shaneinga]

Paused deads looked strong Shawn. Looking beastly in the vids man.

Great to hear you are loving the new programming.

[wasmeFINAFLEX]

Those paused deads look brutal man

[raynerd]

Pause day looked good....strong work Shawn.....love that platform you built....I got nothing for you about squats....mine are always a mess....got lots of good advise to follow

Thanks Ron, the new platform is pretty sweet! Ya squats are a mess for me too. I have made progress in strength and depth so that's something I won't complain about but the GM squat has to be fixed before I end up in a wheelchair lol. I am going to be leaning forward no matter what but have to keep that back angle consistent. I think I have some ideas to play with tomorrow and hope I can fix this quickly.

Holy sh!t Shawn (Great rock band name)

Those paused deadz looked awesome man! The CGBP... I am beyond jelli... i am off to eat donuts and cupcakes...

lol, thanks Mooseman, donuts and cupcakes are my department now Paused deads were fun.

Paused deads looked strong Shawn. Looking beastly in the vids man.

Great to hear you are loving the new programming.

Thanks Shane! The paused deads were pretty cool. The one thing I like about the programming is the huge warmup believe it or not. It's nice to have an actual dictated set of moves to do, it takes all the guessing work out of wondering if what I am doing is adequate. I also like the 4 day a week format and the exercise selection. Always motivating to start something new!

Those paused deads look brutal man

haha, they weren't bad Simon. They are at light weights so far so very doable!

[mirroroferised]

Those pause deads are tricky. Looking forward to seeing what happens and what they actually do to with normal deads. And I agree on that warmup too. It's great. I've got it down to about 12-15 minutes and I added on to it today as well. Amazing that warming up helps

[raynerd]

Those pause deads are tricky. Looking forward to seeing what happens and what they actually do to with normal deads. And I agree on that warmup too. It's great. I've got it down to about 12-15 minutes and I added on to it today as well. Amazing that warming up helps

Ya I think the paused deads are going to really carry over. That dood I was following on the tube doing this program made exceptional deadlift gains.
The warmup is great, I was tight as hell going into every workout last week and by the time I was ready to lift I felt good!
5x5 zombie squats for this kid tomorrow. Kind of excited to implement some new form stuff!

[DocJekyll]

Nice first week. Waiting on number 2.

Looking pretty yoked in the vids buddy.

[RT1957]

The GM squats do look a bit scary.....its not like your upper back is weak....since you can do billion pullups and row 100lbs over BW....that surely isn't the issue.....Have you tried moving the bar up just slightly into a hybrid position....I have issues High bar squatting I won't even try to low bar with my back issues.....I already look like a wilting flower as it is...just thoughts

[raynerd]

No weigh in

Late one today, I was beat after nights lastnight and slept till 5pm

Warmup:
Cardiovascular
-BB complex with bar
-leg swings
-hip circle BW baby makers then 10 BW squats
-lumpy roller right adductors, quads, ITB, glutes and piriformis

Dynamic Stretch:
-shoulder roll
-cat/camel
-donkey kicks yeehaw
-glute bridges
-hollow rocks

Squats: new setup practice
Bar x 5
Bar x 5
135 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 1

Program sets with new setup:
290 x 5
290 x 5
290 x 5 vid
290 x 5
290 x 5 vid RPE 8

Bench:
Warmups:
Band pullaparts/dislocations
Lat pulldowns x 10
Single arm pullaparts

Bar x 10 CGBP
Bar x 10 ultra wide
Bar x 10 competition grip
135 x 5
185 x 3

Program sets:
210 x 7
210 x 7
210 x 7
210 x 7. RPE 10

Narrow cable row plate load:
180 x 6
180 x 6
180 x 6
180 x 6 RPE 8

CGBP:
185 x 6
185 x 6 RPE 9.5
175 x 6
155 x 6

Dun:

Notes: didn't mean to sleep all damn day today but guess I needed it. Wasn't looking forward to this at all, head wasn't into it.
So...I changed my squat grip out about an inch, I changed from thumbless grip with wrists cupping the bar down, to closed grip with my wrists slightly bent back trying to keep my elbows closer in line with my body. Please make some honest comments on the vids about if they are looking better or not. IMO it's better...but wtf do I know.
It felt good but different for sure so finding a new balance point was a bit of a challenge etc.
I didn't feel strong at all but got my reps in, bench killed me by the last set and CGBP I just continued to die lol.
It was a long workout today...
Very happy it's under the belt

[RT1957]

Reps looked strong I can't really see your elbows that well but they seem to be more under you and not so far back....Big WO Shawn.....sleep was needed

[PtReyesGreg]

Good looking workout tonight Shawn. Sounds like it was a tough one. I'm impressed you were able to do so much work after so much sleep. When I have a day like that my body feels weak for some reason but you got up and got 'er done.

I think your squats are looking better. The elbow position definitely looks much improved. One thing I forgot to mention the other day that Alan mentioned to me, was when I am coming out of the hole I needed to push my back/shoulders up through the bar...explode it up and lead with that. It's a subtle thing but basically I was starting with my hips instead of pushing up against the bar with my upper back and shoulders. Because my hips started up first they would get a headstart on my shoulders and it would turn into a good morning for me. I thought I saw a little of this especially in your set 3 video. Like I said it's a subtle thing and it is linked to forcing my elbows down and chest up. If I do those things though the good morning really goes away...although it's something that didn't come natural to me at all.

Nice job knocking out the bench too btw. You knocked out a lot of heavy reps there at a damn high RPE. That is awesome especially on a day where you're not feeling too strong.

[raynerd]

Nice first week. Waiting on number 2.

Looking pretty yoked in the vids buddy.

Thanks Doc, got it in but late. Slept away the whole damn day!!

The GM squats do look a bit scary.....its not like your upper back is weak....since you can do billion pullups and row 100lbs over BW....that surely isn't the issue.....Have you tried moving the bar up just slightly into a hybrid position....I have issues High bar squatting I won't even try to low bar with my back issues.....I already look like a wilting flower as it is...just thoughts

Thanks Ron, and you are right, I have no back weaknesses at all, it is by far my strongest asset. I think today went well, I used to grip as narrow as I could and actually bend my wrists on top the the bar. It felt great and locked in…but think I was just pulling myself further forward.

Reps looked strong I can't really see your elbows that well but they seem to be more under you and not so far back....Big WO Shawn.....sleep was needed

Thanks again Ron, ya it was a bad view for the elbows. I am more concerned about not caving my torso in the hole though and think it looked better from the respect. I played around on my warmups with different grips and shot vids from behind and this setup was by far the best. That was a big workout…did me in lol

[raynerd]

Good looking workout tonight Shawn. Sounds like it was a tough one. I'm impressed you were able to do so much work after so much sleep. When I have a day like that my body feels weak for some reason but you got up and got 'er done.

I think your squats are looking better. The elbow position definitely looks much improved. One thing I forgot to mention the other day that Alan mentioned to me, was when I am coming out of the hole I needed to push my back/shoulders up through the bar...explode it up and lead with that. It's a subtle thing but basically I was starting with my hips instead of pushing up against the bar with my upper back and shoulders. Because my hips started up first they would get a headstart on my shoulders and it would turn into a good morning for me. I thought I saw a little of this especially in your set 3 video. Like I said it's a subtle thing and it is linked to forcing my elbows down and chest up. If I do those things though the good morning really goes away...although it's something that didn't come natural to me at all.

Nice job knocking out the bench too btw. You knocked out a lot of heavy reps there at a damn high RPE. That is awesome especially on a day where you're not feeling too strong.

Thanks Greg, I am glad it looked even a bit better. I just need something to work with right now without making constant changes to my setup. I find concentrating on more than one cue at a time a complete disaster so next session I will work on driving the back into the bar. That was one that I wasn't thinking of today, I was trying to keep the lats tight as I could and thats about all that was on my mind lol. Bench was tough today, think squats and all the form work was all I had in me today

[Hammerhagen]

Good job Shawn, I can see a definite difference in your upper body with the revised set up. Your chest looks more opened up with lats retracted better. I do still see the old GM creeping in, but less drastic, and I suspect a lot of that is your motor patterns you have developed over 1000's of squats. I bet it will continue improving as you go and work in the adjustments with more reps.

Tough workout after the long hours, nice to get that one under your belt!

[gannicus99]

Love the music. Three pistols always gets me fired up. I don't know if you ever do them but I am very curious to see you do a high bar squat and what your body positioning looks like or maybe a front squat. Your upper torso collapses over on the descent and your low back is so freaking strong that it takes over. But regardless you are getting stronger, weights are moving up and that's all that matters. Awesome lifting

[fittofattofit]

I know I've said it before but when I'm back in the logs after a break, your log takes me the most time to go through: always so much reading and so many vids. Don't feel bad if I take my time to get to you

Thanks for checking it out Andrew. I always value your input! Ok I do agree about the quads being weak, or at least way weaker than my PC. It makes sense that my PC wants to grab the weight when things get too heavy.
Where I part ways is the knees coming in. As soon as I bring my knees in, for whatever reason, my body has no choice but to go forward. I can demonstrate this simply by trying a body weight squat with a narrow stance and my knees in. I will either fall straight on my azz or lean over tremendously to get my COG over my mid foot. I need to get my knees out of the way and out to the sides to compensate for my femur length. The moment they come in, I have to compensate by shooting my hips back and dumping forward.
So…that being said, the only real choice I have is to keep the knees out the whole squat. Now I am not saying my quad weakness is not the problem, I think that is pretty much the reason I transfer the bar weight to the PC and do so by bringing the knees in. This works for oly lifters or lifters with longer torso length relative to the femur. For me..I have one position that works and it's keeping the knees out or I am going to GM that weight up.
I think I can kill 2 birds with one stone hopefully, working on keeping the knees out while I work with lower percentages should strengthen the quad weakness by keeping the quads activated by not dumping so much to the PC. If I can keep it together as I slowly increase the percentages within the parameters of the program, I can hopefully correct this issue. I don't have much room to add front squats in on this one but will take a closer look at the programming and maybe there will be a spot for them.
Thanks again Andrew, you have an awesome eye for form issues and always appreciate your advice. Do think some of what I said makes sense?

It does all make sense and everyone's leverages are different. I'll comment on a few things later in reference to the vids

Thanks guys will multi in a few. Whipped up my deadlift platform this afternoon, turned out pretty decent. Threw in a tour of my dungeon as well.
My new bar is still going to be a couple weeks before it comes it, some order screw up...booo

That is beautiful! I remember that space looking like Josef Fritzl's basement and now it's an awesome home gym ... so many pieces of equipment, quality plates, and a great looking deadlift platform! And cool Canadian accent is much more interesting than a flat Aussie accent

Ugly squat view for ugly squat:

You know, for 'ugly' reps, apart from one wobbly rep, you actually kept the bar path very smooth and vertical, so your balance through your feet is very good. Seeing it from that angle and seeing the other comments reminds me of the first critique I made of your squatting years ago when I talked about 'chicken winging' .... how often do we sort things out and tweak problems one at a time and then come around full circle. I noted John's comments about the mirror: I hate squatting in front of a mirror as it draws my gaze away from where I want it. I think the mirror has accentuated the problems with your squat

Paused deads are sick ... I'm having trouble pulling that from the floor with a max effort and you're making it look so casual just stopping at 1"
Looking jacked as well

Looking so much better now. Facing away from the mirror; bar slightly further behind your delts with the wider grip; knees look like a slightly wider stance (is that so?). You really kept it tight on most of those reps and even on the last rep of the past set with fatigue setting in you kept it to just a slight squat morning

[PtReyesGreg]

Thanks Greg, I am glad it looked even a bit better. I just need something to work with right now without making constant changes to my setup. I find concentrating on more than one cue at a time a complete disaster so next session I will work on driving the back into the bar. That was one that I wasn't thinking of today, I was trying to keep the lats tight as I could and thats about all that was on my mind lol. Bench was tough today, think squats and all the form work was all I had in me today

Fwiw Shawn I think they were definitely more than a bit better. I think they are really looking much better. You have been putting a lot of work in on them and it shows. The leading with the back idea was more of an icing on the cake observation. Squats are definitely a fickle lift...there always seems to be something else we can do to make them a little bit better...reminds me of restoring a classic car, in that we're never quite done with the phukkers.

[DocJekyll]

Nice work on Sunday Shawn. Looking better in deed.

[shaneinga]

Nice squats Shawn. Great job knocking it out even though you felt like you head wasn't in the game.

FWIW, I think your squats are looking improved as well.

Have a great day!

[raynerd]

Good job Shawn, I can see a definite difference in your upper body with the revised set up. Your chest looks more opened up with lats retracted better. I do still see the old GM creeping in, but less drastic, and I suspect a lot of that is your motor patterns you have developed over 1000's of squats. I bet it will continue improving as you go and work in the adjustments with more reps.

Tough workout after the long hours, nice to get that one under your belt!

Thanks Andrew, glad you thought it looked better, I thought the same. I wasn't expecting perfection fresh after a form tweak but needed to know I was on the right track. That little tweak had a whole different feel coming out of the hole so it will take a ton of reps to engrain some new patterns.

Love the music. Three pistols always gets me fired up. I don't know if you ever do them but I am very curious to see you do a high bar squat and what your body positioning looks like or maybe a front squat. Your upper torso collapses over on the descent and your low back is so freaking strong that it takes over. But regardless you are getting stronger, weights are moving up and that's all that matters. Awesome lifting

Thanks, Three pistols is by far my favourite Hip song…fired up every time! I will try to get a vid of my highbar or front squat. I have a bunch on my youtube channel I can probably dig up. To an extent with my long femurs I will always fold over a bit but the goal would be to keep that same back angle from start to finish. I have been watching Layne Norton's squat a lot lately as I feel that is the style that I am going to end up looking like. It will never be pretty…but need it to look much better!

I know I've said it before but when I'm back in the logs after a break, your log takes me the most time to go through: always so much reading and so many vids. Don't feel bad if I take my time to get to you

It does all make sense and everyone's leverages are different. I'll comment on a few things later in reference to the vids
That is beautiful! I remember that space looking like Josef Fritzl's basement and now it's an awesome home gym ... so many pieces of equipment, quality plates, and a great looking deadlift platform! And cool Canadian accent is much more interesting than a flat Aussie accent
You know, for 'ugly' reps, apart from one wobbly rep, you actually kept the bar path very smooth and vertical, so your balance through your feet is very good. Seeing it from that angle and seeing the other comments reminds me of the first critique I made of your squatting years ago when I talked about 'chicken winging' .... how often do we sort things out and tweak problems one at a time and then come around full circle. I noted John's comments about the mirror: I hate squatting in front of a mirror as it draws my gaze away from where I want it. I think the mirror has accentuated the problems with your squat
Paused deads are sick ... I'm having trouble pulling that from the floor with a max effort and you're making it look so casual just stopping at 1"
Looking jacked as well
Looking so much better now. Facing away from the mirror; bar slightly further behind your delts with the wider grip; knees look like a slightly wider stance (is that so?). You really kept it tight on most of those reps and even on the last rep of the past set with fatigue setting in you kept it to just a slight squat morning

Thanks for reading through my mess Andrew lol. I always value your input a ton. Home gym is getting pretty sweet now and still loving training in it. Just bought a box of chalk I can mess it up with too!
That set I took facing the mirror really opened my eyes to what was going on from behind. I only face the mirror to get some vids but agree it sucked. I remember you giving me advice on the chicken winging lol, and you are right that it came around full circle. The 2 things on the agenda are keeping the knees out coming out of the hole and with the new bar setup, trying to keep the lats tights. I don't lack back strength so it's more of a technical issue with the upper back. My old setup had me actually bending my wrists over the top of the bar and pulling it down on my back and this had my elbows up quite high already. Once in the hole I was pulling myself even further forward, driving the elbows up and making a mess of it. I am now bending my wrists slightly back, widened it out a bit and can engage my lats better. It will take a lot of reps to drive to it home but think it's helping lots already.
I may have been slightly wider stance but nothing significant. I want to slowly work it wider though if I can, I think me trying to keep the knees out coming out of the hole may have given the illusion of a wider stance, I dunno.
Paused deads were tough despite how they looked and they only get heavier from here.
I am glad the general consensus is they look better, I had spent some time visualizing my mechanics beforehand and what would work better for me and it's nice when things actually go how you intended them too.

Fwiw Shawn I think they were definitely more than a bit better. I think they are really looking much better. You have been putting a lot of work in on them and it shows. The leading with the back idea was more of an icing on the cake observation. Squats are definitely a fickle lift...there always seems to be something else we can do to make them a little bit better...reminds me of restoring a classic car, in that we're never quite done with the phukkers.

Thanks Greg, I was just happy with any visual improvements but appreciate the comment. Squats are a constant battle for me and I am always trying to fix something. At one point I thought I had it dialed enough lol, then I had to look at it closer and realized they looked like chit. Lots more work to do but think I have a template for success, just have to put in a ton of reps!

Nice work on Sunday Shawn. Looking better in deed.

Thanks Doc, glad you thought they looked better! That's all I was going for!

Nice squats Shawn. Great job knocking it out even though you felt like you head wasn't in the game.

FWIW, I think your squats are looking improved as well.

Have a great day!

Thanks Shane, it was a grind to get through and felt like I was training forever last night. I am happy you think they look better as well! So far the comments have me feel like I am on the right track

[raynerd]

Morning weight: 184.5lbs

Did some stretching and back mobilty work

Calves:

BW block raises x 100

Seated calf machine 120lbs:
20/20/20/20/20

1 leg donkey BW donkey calf raises:
20/20/20/20/20

Tibialis Anterior with 45lb bumper on top of foot, raise from floor:
12/10/11/10/8

BB curls:
60 x 15
60 x 15
60 x 15
60 x 15

Side laterals 25lbs:
12
12
12
12

Hammer curls 25lbs:
12
12

20 min sauna/cold shower

Dun:

Notes: wanted to get a few things in today that I have been slacking on lately.
Deads tomorrow!

[wasmeFINAFLEX]

Looks like a great maintenance session...