Let's chase new totals for the end of 2020!

[WolfRose7]

That squat is impressive. I'm still getting the form down and have yet to challenge myself seriously with it, but hopefully the encouragement still does you some good.

It looks like you had more to give with the bench, as I didn't see you struggle much on the last rep. Looks like you had 4 or 5 there if you wanted to.

Should be around 5rm weight if his TMs are on point.
Looking at these I'd say Squat is close, Bench and Dead TMs are easily below actual maxes

I've no comment on those EC, looks great

100 x 13 @hitthedamnsafeties.



Shoulda had 15, which would still be ****, but less **** than bouncing off a safety and having to rack at 13

[EliKoehn]

Should be around 5rm weight if his TMs are on point.
Looking at these I'd say Squat is close, Bench and Dead TMs are easily below actual maxes

I've no comment on those EC, looks great

100 x 13 @hitthedamnsafeties.



Shoulda had 15, which would still be ****, but less **** than bouncing off a safety and having to rack at 13

What's the weight?

[WolfRose7]

What's the weight?

100/225

[EliKoehn]

100/225

Looks good. No criticism from me until I can beat you on it.

[WolfRose7]

Looks good. No criticism from me until I can beat you on it.

Lol fair xD, can't say I'm happy.

Pause Squats friday, hoping to come close to matching this ^^ but with pause tbh. Will see if I can pull my form n bracing together.
Conv deads for reps first on Wednesday, that'll be fun. 120kg, no idea what to expect, probably 10 and then who knows after 10

[ECGordyn]

Thanks for the eyes. TMs are: 185 / 135 / 207.

Wolf, take advantage of that Westside spacing and drop a notch or two. Very good depth btw. Slow down and practice perfect form. Don't strain your lumbar or anything trying to crank out reps. A couple of reps you tip back on your heels. Slow down and control the weight. "Practice makes perfect, but only if that practice is done perfectly," as Gibbs would put it. Mike T would want to see you practicing as many perfect reps as you can.

What's your rep & set scheme for the pause squats? I hope it's much lower than 15 reps.

[WolfRose7]

Thanks for the eyes. TMs are: 185 / 135 / 207.

Wolf, take advantage of that Westside spacing and drop a notch or two. Very good depth btw. Slow down and practice perfect form. Don't strain your lumbar or anything trying to crank out reps. "Practice makes perfect, but only if that practice is done perfectly," as Gibbs would put it. Mike T would want to see you practicing as many perfect reps as you can.

What's your rep & set scheme for the pause squats? I hope it's much lower than 15 reps.

same as these, 5,5,5,5+
It'll likely be lower as I'm starting at the same weight, but the minimum goal is 10 on the last.

Yeah those were rushed, to worried about getting gassed. Pause will be more steady, and 105 next week for Comp will be much better controlled.

[EliKoehn]

Alright guys, lackluster and disappointing workout today. Went for 495 again on the deadlift and 315 on the bench. Mindful of all the aforementioned pointers, prepped, well-fed, and coming off of 3 days of rest, I got the bar like 2 or 3 inches off the ground and then failed. The bench I almost got, but not quite. It seriously felt like I was worse for having tried seriously.

Discipline means staying on the grindstone and the humility of failing what you've swollen yourself up to believing you can do is healthy, as long as the drive to keep going is there. I just don't know what went wrong, since I trained auxiliaries, ate plenty, rested plenty, cycled the 5/3/1 observantly. I did get psyched out a little, as I was quite hyped up, and the gym was crowded (there was a high school kid next to me who usually runs around and gets in the way, and he was doing like jumping jacks with 2.5s and walking up to the rack to grab different weights in between my warmups which was getting irritating).

After that I did alternating pullups and paused rep benches at 225, but that fail was humbling...

It just seems like getting it over my knees a few weeks ago was leagues better and I just walked up and did it without thinking about it much. Wonder what happened?

[WolfRose7]

Tech changes probably made it harder, especially since they aren't drilled in yet. If you tried to pull with a flatter back it would be harder off the floor.
Not as sure for bench without seeing it.

[ECGordyn]

same as these, 5,5,5,5+
It'll likely be lower as I'm starting at the same weight, but the minimum goal is 10 on the last.

Amrap pause squats eh? Through the meat grinder.

Eli, we've all been there, man. DL is tricky for me too a lot of the time, and I pull much less than you do. Good thing is, now you know your strength limit for this cycle, and you can set a realistic goal going forward. 5 plates or more by the end of the year should be doable for sure.

[WolfRose7]

Amrap pause squats eh? Through the meat grinder.

Eli, we've all been there, man. DL is tricky for me too a lot of the time, and I pull much less than you do. Good thing is, now you know your strength limit for this cycle, and you can set a realistic goal going forward. 5 plates or more by the end of the year should be doable for sure.

Could be worse. I've done 303 for 8s before, that's actually just torture.

[WolfRose7]

Some harder bench for once

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHssujPA..._web_copy_link

100x3 @9
Followed with some of these bad bois

[EliKoehn]

Let's hope it is mostly a matter of acclimating to technical changes. Relearning the lift and making more use of the legs should transfer some of the difficulty and help me get past the previous sticking point.

Do you all think 5/3/1 for Squat is good for me on the beginner/novice fence-line, at the same time as deadlift? I'm thinking DL on Monday and Squat on Wednesday is a good spread.

Wolf, do you have a pull up bar on your setup?

[WolfRose7]

Let's hope it is mostly a matter of acclimating to technical changes. Relearning the lift and making more use of the legs should transfer some of the difficulty and help me get past the previous sticking point.

Do you all think 5/3/1 for Squat is good for me on the beginner/novice fence-line, at the same time as deadlift? I'm thinking DL on Monday and Squat on Wednesday is a good spread.

Wolf, do you have a pull up bar on your setup?

Yup, just a standard one with no neutral grip option or anything though.

[Camarija]

<snip>

Do you all think 5/3/1 for Squat is good for me on the beginner/novice fence-line, at the same time as deadlift? I'm thinking DL on Monday and Squat on Wednesday is a good spread.

<snip>

I think it's worth a shot, but to be honest I'm struggling with squats myself. I'm considering a program like 5/3/1 for my squats in 2021 so that I can focus my work in sub maximal weights to dial in on my form and technique problems.

So problem number 1 for me is squat morning. Yesterday I hit 305 lbs for 3 reps and the last rep turned into a squat morning that I powered through. Today I went for 295 lbs for 4 reps, and again, the last rep turns into a good morning that I power through. I've heard the cue 'keep your ribs down' and that helps a bit. I descend a bit too upright and when I hit the hole my body is forced to double over a bit. When I push out of the hole, I now have to simultaneously push up with my legs AND my back. So I know what I'm doing wrong, but it's still a technical issue I need to overcome.

Problem number 2 is that my knees just hurt! I tried widening up my stance, angling my feet out, and pushing out with my knees; that seems to have helped the most but my knees are still cursing my persistence with squats.

Good news is that my raw strength deadlift is decent! My back is rounding a bit too much for my liking at 395 lbs, but the weight still goes up easy enough.



Any critique on my competition deadlift form would be much appreciated!!

[ECGordyn]

Let's hope it is mostly a matter of acclimating to technical changes. Relearning the lift and making more use of the legs should transfer some of the difficulty and help me get past the previous sticking point.

Do you all think 5/3/1 for Squat is good for me on the beginner/novice fence-line, at the same time as deadlift? I'm thinking DL on Monday and Squat on Wednesday is a good spread.

Wolf, do you have a pull up bar on your setup?

Which version of 531 are you running? What kind DL volume does it have? If you want to practice tech, then you'd want lots of good reps to really ingrain the motor patterns.

For squat (DL too?), maybe find a periodized intermed. program. I recently read somewhere (I forget exactly where but it might have been Nuckols) that if you're borderline novice-intermediate, you'd probably do better jumping ahead to intermed. rather than grinding out a couple more pounds on novice programming.

[ECGordyn]

So problem number 1 for me is squat morning. Yesterday I hit 305 lbs for 3 reps and the last rep turned into a squat morning that I powered through. Today I went for 295 lbs for 4 reps, and again, the last rep turns into a good morning that I power through. I've heard the cue 'keep your ribs down' and that helps a bit. I descend a bit too upright and when I hit the hole my body is forced to double over a bit. When I push out of the hole, I now have to simultaneously push up with my legs AND my back. So I know what I'm doing wrong, but it's still a technical issue I need to overcome.

<snip>

Good news is that my raw strength deadlift is decent! My back is rounding a bit too much for my liking at 395 lbs, but the weight still goes up easy enough.



Any critique on my competition deadlift form would be much appreciated!!

Wow, thanks for that view at the end of the vid!! Last second is gold.

DL looks smooth, but one thing is that you set up with low hips and a flat back, then as you start the pull your hips rise but your shoulders stay at the same height. This lowers your back angle to nearly horizontal, and shifts much of the load to your lumbar.

Re. squat morning, Tipping forward is either: too much weight, too soft core, or too narrow stance. Do you low bar or high bar?

[Camarija]

Wow, thanks for that view at the end of the vid!! Last second is gold.

Have you seen this video about selection attention?


It's funny because she definitely caught my attention while I was there but I didn't realize the gold medal timing in this clip when I uploaded it. Like, I couldn't have captured the moment any better if I tried!! LOL

DL looks smooth, but one thing is that you set up with low hips and a flat back, then as you start the pull your hips rise but your shoulders stay at the same height. This lowers your back angle to nearly horizontal, and shifts much of the load to your lumbar.

Yeah I'm still struggling with this and I'm not sure how to address it. I keep in mind the cue to push with my feet. When I work with pause deadlifts my back angle seems to gravitate towards near horizontal as well.



Maybe in my setup it would help to set the bar further or closer to activate my quads earlier? Right now I set up with the bar over the medial cuneiform.

Re. squat morning, Tipping forward is either: too much weight, too soft core, or too narrow stance. Do you low bar or high bar?

I squat high bar and I have the habbit of keeping my torso upright going down.



I've slowed down my tempo since the clip above, mostly to maintain control out of the hole, but the squat morning keeps appearing towards the end of my reps recently. You're right, it could just be losing control of my core pushing out of the bottom. I'll try to remember that when I work on pin squats thursday!

Thanks again for the help bro

[WolfRose7]

Think you just need more air and brace on both camarja, not a lot else that seems off.

Apologies for the skinny fat torso on show here, was highly caffeinated and way to warm lol.
Heads all over the place because ivee gone from now work in 10 months almost.. Getting rejected from cheap supermarket jobs. To 2 very good job offers in 2 days... And no idea what to do cuz I don't wanna close down options.
So I needed this lol.

120 amrap. Nothing special, some form degradation at the end unsurprising, but happy with what I did. Easily a rep PR.

[EliKoehn]

It's funny because she definitely caught my attention while I was there but I didn't realize the gold medal timing in this clip when I uploaded it. Like, I couldn't have captured the moment any better if I tried!! LOL

The last frame too, you're making a face that looks like you're trying to look away but can't lol

That deadlift looks just about perfect. The only thing I might suggest (and if this is a problem, I have the opposite one) is that your hips seem a little low on the start. Raising up just a little on the start would probably give you more muscle to work with.

[EliKoehn]

Re. squat morning, Tipping forward is either: too much weight, too soft core, or too narrow stance. Do you low bar or high bar?

That Ed Coan squat video that Wolf quoted has him elaborating back extension as a legitimate part of the lift; not to the extent of a full good morning, of course, but I'm curious how you regard it, since in a previous post you were making the argument that squat is still a back-oriented lift, but in commenting on my form and in response to this post, you seem to be arguing for maintaining as straight a back as possible. Mind clarifying?

[WolfRose7]

That Ed Coan squat video that Wolf quoted has him elaborating back extension as a legitimate part of the lift; not to the extent of a full good morning, of course, but I'm curious how you regard it, since in a previous post you were making the argument that squat is still a back-oriented lift, but in commenting on my form and in response to this post, you seem to be arguing for maintaining as straight a back as possible. Mind clarifying?

Coan still argues for a straight locked down torso, he's not saying to arch into the back but to drive up with everything as a unit including the back, while maintaining that complete tightness.

[EliKoehn]

Coan still argues for a straight locked down torso, he's not saying to arch into the back but to drive up with everything as a unit including the back, while maintaining that complete tightness.

Well, I mean the angle itself of the back relative to horizontal with the hips, not arching or losing tightness.

At 18:46, he's at about 45 degrees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsXj2fQ4uow&t=559s

[WolfRose7]

Well, I mean the angle itself of the back relative to horizontal with the hips, not arching or losing tightness.

At 18:46, he's at about 45 degrees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsXj2fQ4uow&t=559s

oh right, that's entirely build dependant, whatever angle it needs to be for bar to be over mid foot

[EliKoehn]

Today I'm going to try low bar and a relatively wide stance. That seems like it would be right for my skeletal frame but we'll see.

I've got some decent strength in the hams and glutes, but my quads are weak as hell and there's really no getting around that with the squat. I think that's one reason dropping down lower and bringing them more into the lift was such a dramatic drop in strength on my DL attempt.

[MyEgoProblem]

Any critique on my competition deadlift form would be much appreciated!!

First thing I see.

Your knees jutting out way forward at the bottom and hips too low. Knees want to be in line with your elbows, not forward off them.

That's the cause of the thot booty pop before the bar moves.

---


As for knees hurting with squat, I often find most people who hurt break with their knees first without loading their hips.
This vid may help.

https://youtu.be/1LKXzPkDZCo

[CW47]

As for knees hurting with squat, I often find most people who hurt break with their knees first without loading their hips.
This vid may help.

https://youtu.be/1LKXzPkDZCo

The example rep in this video looks exactly like my squat, lmao! That would help explain why I have a tendency to lean forward at the bottom. I'll have to test out his suggestion next time I squat.
Thank you for sharing the video!

[MyEgoProblem]

The example rep in this video looks exactly like my squat, lmao! That would help explain why I have a tendency to lean forward at the bottom. I'll have to test out his suggestion next time I squat.
Thank you for sharing the video!

👌 Glad it might help mate.
Bryce has some amazing pl content

[CW47]

👌 Glad it might help mate.
Bryce has some amazing pl content

Yeah, I started watching his video's more frequently over the last 6 months or so, but I've not had a chance to go through his entire backlog of video's yet. I think I recall seeing this video title at one point, but I was looking specifically for deadlift related stuff at the time so I didn't watch it. Glad I caught it now.

[Camarija]

Think you just need more air and brace on both camarja, not a lot else that seems off.

Apologies for the skinny fat torso on show here, was highly caffeinated and way to warm lol.
Heads all over the place because ivee gone from now work in 10 months almost.. Getting rejected from cheap supermarket jobs. To 2 very good job offers in 2 days... And no idea what to do cuz I don't wanna close down options.
So I needed this lol.

120 amrap. Nothing special, some form degradation at the end unsurprising, but happy with what I did. Easily a rep PR.

Good effort with that marathon set! Maybe it's the angle, but it looks like your setup has your shoulders far in front of the bar. Is that something I should replicate?

The last frame too, you're making a face that looks like you're trying to look away but can't lol

That deadlift looks just about perfect. The only thing I might suggest (and if this is a problem, I have the opposite one) is that your hips seem a little low on the start. Raising up just a little on the start would probably give you more muscle to work with.

Lol! I'm new to this gym and I'm trying to develop a friendly rapport with the regulars I see around so I REALLY don't want to be a creep caught staring!!!

*edit* For more information on that video... yeah she pretty much knew what she was doing there. I had asked everyone around there if they would mind if I was recording my deadlift form for that set, and she was 100% within earshot.

First thing I see.

Your knees jutting out way forward at the bottom and hips too low. Knees want to be in line with your elbows, not forward off them.

That's the cause of the thot booty pop before the bar moves.

---


As for knees hurting with squat, I often find most people who hurt break with their knees first without loading their hips.
This vid may help.

https://youtu.be/1LKXzPkDZCo

BRO! I've been watching Bryce's form check fridays and keep hearing and seeing similar advice but it's just kind of hard to put into practice. THIS VIDEO, however, is a game changer. It's similar to how I prepare to activate my hams and glutes for romanian deadlifts; I think this video really helped me figure out how to prepare to activate the correct muscles for squats. Thank you very much!!

The example rep in this video looks exactly like my squat, lmao! That would help explain why I have a tendency to lean forward at the bottom. I'll have to test out his suggestion next time I squat.
Thank you for sharing the video!

I hope we both improve squat form dramatically now, not just for our own benefit, but to prove that Calgary Barbell coaching is elite.

---

Also, if anyone gets a notice that the Calgary Barbell Merch Store is up, please bump this thread! I'm not discord so I'm not in the loop