#drizzt

[drizzt]

I think a stance that's slightly wider than shoulder width works fairly well for a lot of people; it allows you to sit back and use your glutes and hammies but also to really drive up with your quads. Oly shoes are great for hitting your quads or finding depth if you struggle with flexibility (and for bench!), but I find that it's very hard to feel the weight loading onto my hamstrings as I descend in them, and because of this I feel like the only drive out of the hole is from my quads - presume this is because it pushes my knees forward a fair bit. That might all be because of my proportions, or because my hamstrings are tiny and fairly useless, though. Always worth experimenting though!

Too true man, good advice, cheers.

Any idea where to look at Oly shoes/good brands? Worth a shot

[ApriliaRS]

Too true man, good advice, cheers.

Any idea where to look at Oly shoes/good brands? Worth a shot

What size are you? There's a few of us at the House with them, should be able to find someone with some that'll fit that you could have a go in. Worth giving them a try before you shell out $200-300.

[drizzt]

Size 12-13 :nod:

... woah that much? Haha was just having a browse on Google, but yep will keep an eye out at the house for potential candidates :shifty:

[ApriliaRS]

Size 12-13 :nod:

... woah that much? Haha was just having a browse on Google, but yep will keep an eye out at the house for potential candidates :shifty:

Hmm maybe try Costa? Yeah they're not cheap.

[drizzt]

Sweet man cheers again for the help, might start a thread on the PH forums

[drizzt]

but too wide (especially when you've got strong quads) and you're going to have a heap of issues (stable but no power, huge strain on hips, etc).?

Actually just re-read your first reply man, and this is exactly what I feel like - stable under wide stance, but I feel like almost every rep is a grind. I also feel it a lot in the hips (and adductors afterwards), and at the moment I'm finding it hard to activate the hams (although I have my days where they're good to me :pfft:).

When I switched to a narrower stance for the last 2 sets today it just felt smooth. Maybe slightly wider than shoulder width, but power out of the hole was better, and was able to keep more upright - I seem to collapse on the wide stance. Maybe depth will be harder to come by, but in getting deep with a narrow stance, I feel a bit more confident of coming back up.

Things seem to be getting a bit more clarity for me in terms of squat problems. Not saying I'm fixed or even had a "eureka" moment, but it's starting to seem as though it's not quite as simple as just strengthening my core (which has been, and will continue to be one of my focuses).

Maybe I'm over thinking it, but I'm thinking I might just need to forget a few things I've seen, read, and heard, and just go back to what's comfortable and go from there :nod:

[/musings]

[HarryB]

Shot bro, got to find a stance that's comfortable for you and your structure and work from there. You can make small adjustments as you go but if you are used to a medium stance then you can't just overnight change it a superwide one.

One of my powerlifting girls also does olympic lifting and so her squats had always been high bar and close stance. She had tried changing to low bar and wide all in one hit and both of her sports suffered. When I took her on it was just a matter of week by week moving her a bit wider and the bar a little lower. Took a wee while but she's going ok. Right before a meet isn't the time to do this though lol so find something comfortable and apply your power to that.

[drizzt]

Cheers man that is quite reassuring to hear actually :nod: I kinda did decide one day last year during Sheiko "hey, maybe I should get into a wider stance" and kept it since then as it got hammered in with the volume :shrug: Now that I'm starting to concentrate on squatting, instead of just walking under the bar and blasting the reps out, I'm starting to think about my leverages and what is best for me at the moment - as well as core strength and things like that (Glutes, hams) that contribute.

Right before a meet isn't the time to do this though lol so find something comfortable and apply your power to that.

Haha very true, not quite the time to be experimenting but I do want to just slip into whatever is comfortable... well, whatever is going to give me the best lift on the day really :nod: Will maybe try a couple of top sets on my ME day this week, one wide, and one closer, and see which feels best. Not going to try anything new really, maybe just go back to what worked in the past.

[steak]

Have a look at http://www.qwa.org/products/content.asp for shoes bro. Big John,Barbelle Cory and I use them..so do others..been good for the price and they usually have stock

[drizzt]

Thanks Steak! Sounds like a good idea, and cheap enough to give a blast. Will see if anyone replies to my thread on PH in the next couple of days, and if not, will take a gamble. Cheers

edit - about how big is the heel?

[PeterDolan]

Wrestling boots are pretty cheap and I don't think there is much difference between them and oly shoes

[drizzt]

Yeah just feeling it out for now PD, have a couple of guys at the House who may have the same size feet as my clunkers, so will try them out and make a call. Heck, may even just put 1.25/2.5kg plates under the heels to give a feel for that elevation in the meantime, see if it may be something that could help :nod:

[drizzt]

21.02.11 - Chest, Tris

95.5 today. Considering this is after a couple of meals/later in the day, compared to the 95.5 on Saturday (morning, little water, no food) I think I'm probably slightly lighter. Creatine usually takes a week to let go of the water IME.

• Bench Press (sets, reps, weights)
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  1 x 5 @ 80kg
  1 x 2 @ 105kg
  1 x 2(failed 3rd) at 122.5kg
  1 x 6 @ 100kg
  1 x 8 @ 70kg
  
• Dips
  1 x 7 @ +40kg
  1 x 9 @ +20kg
  1 x 9 @ bw (failure)
  
• CG Bench superset with Floor Press
  3 x 10 @ 60kg/10 @ 60kg
  
• OH Tri Press (1 consecutive set to failure on each weight)
  1 x 10 @ 85lb/5 @ 70lb/4 @ 55lb
  
• GHR
  2 x 10
  1 x 8
  
• Standing Cable Crunches
  2 x 8 (5sec pause) @ purple band
  1 x 6 (5sec pause) @ green band
  

Comments

• Bench isn't feeling that great if I'm being honest, I'm thinking it's got something to do with being a bit smoked from Saturday's Deads/Push Pressing. Might cut back on that, program probably needs further scrutiny following the comp, but I guess it depends on what I want the focus to be.
  
• Dips, Floor/CG Bench, and OH Tris absolutely blasted the tris out. Would feel ok for a few reps on a given exercise, and then BAM they just wouldn't move. Awesome feeling :nod:
  Actually failed at rep 5 on the last set of CG bench, so had to have a rest for 20secs or so while they recovered a bit, then blasted out 6 extras. The 85lb OH Tri press was meant to be for 5 reps, but 10 went up quite well... although that then burned the goals out for the following weights. All good though.
  
• GHRs were brutal, good!
  
• Standing band crunches were sweet with the purple band, but once we switched to the green band for the last set we realised we probably aren't ready for it. Will stick with the purple band for now until we improve at it.
  

Pretty good workout, also tried on a couple of pairs of lifting shoes, I think they suited the line I squat in so I'm gonna look at the options available and likely invest in some :nod:

[drizzt]

All thoughts with CHCH at the moment :?

22.02.11 - Squats, Bis, Upper back

95.2 today.

• Squats (ME) (sets, reps, weights)
  1 x 10 @ 60kg
  1 x 5 @ 100kg
  1 x 3 @ 120kg
  2 x 3 @ 140kg (+belt)
  1 x 5 @ 120kg (+belt)
  1 x 8 @ 100kg
  1 x 10 @ 80kg
  
• Chins
  1 x 6 @ +20kg
  1 x 7 @ +10kg
  1 x 7 @ bw
  
• Hammer Curls (1 consecutive set)
  1 x 10 @ 40lb/7 @ 30lb/5 @ 25lb
  
• Lat Pulldowns
  4 x 10 @ 40kg
  
• DB Rows
  1 x 5 @ 95lb (+straps)
  1 x 8 @ 75lb
  1 x 10 @ 65lb
  
• Rear Delts (cables)
  3 x 10 @ ?
  
• Decline Band Crunches
  3 x 6 (2-3sec pause) @ purple band
  

Comments

• Squats felt pretty good despite the sore back, didn't go heavier due to it though kinda was happy with the 2 sets @ 140 which were fairly comfortable. Last set was as low as I could get - bounced off calves.
  
• Chins felt great, have a suspicion that the first set was a PB but not sure enough to list it as such.
  
• Strapped the DB rows up to see how it shifted the emphasis (grip/bis were stuffed at this point), definitely felt the difference. Probably something I'll continue to do for heavy lat sets.
  
• Obliques (and oddly ribs!) are still stuffed from Saturday's russian twists :pfft: So we stayed away from the side type of exercises and did some band crunches again, this time lying down/decline. Very tough!
  

Good session.

[Big john]

solid bro

[drizzt]

Chur big fulla!

[HarryB]

coming up bro!

[drizzt]

Cheers Harry!

24.02.11 - Quads

94.7 today (-shoes), within a couple of kilo a couple of weeks out so pretty happy with that.

• Chain Bench (sets, reps, weights)
  1 x 10 @ bar + chains (17.5kg at top I believe)
  3 x 10 @ 60kg + chains
  
• Front Squats
  1 x 8 @ 60kg
  1 x 3 @ 90kg
  1 x 5 @ 100kg (+belt) PB
  1 x 10 @ 60kg
  
• Reverse Sled Drags superset with BB Hack Squats
  3 x 4 lengths @ 90kg sled & 10 @ 70kg
  
• GHR superset with Seated Calf Raises
  1 x 10 @ bw & 20 @ 35kg
  2 x 10 @ bw & 15 @ 45kg
  
• Landmines (wide grip)
  3 x 10 @ bar
  

Comments

• Chain bench was nice and fast early on, but man it gets tough after a couple of sets! Loving this exercise so far.
  
• Front squats were awesome, started off sluggish as hips were a tad sore, but by the time I hit 100 they were going well. Just wanted 5 reps, and I'll try for 105 next week. Was sure I had hit 100 on front squat before, but searched through my old training logs and the highest I saw was 90, so I'll take it as a PB with room to go up :nod:
  
• Supersetted the last few exercises to toughen it up - hack squats were a b*tch! - and also to speed it up a tad as the weather was awesome, so had to hit the beach :nod:
  Swapped hack squats in for the usual leg extensions, wow that was a tough variation.
  

Done and dusted, til Saturday :nod:

[teamfatboy]

Nice work D, just read back over the past, some big work going in.

Kudos on the 5x 100 front squats, that's wicked work...I've always reckoned front-squatting in excess of bodyweight for reps is one of those milestone objectives :salute:

[drizzt]

Cheers man the House has been good for me :nod:

[HarryB]

Good work man.. high intensity with those supersets.. making me feel lazi........er!

[drizzt]

Cheers Harry, it's what I gotta do if I want to enjoy some relaxing time on the beach after a session - nut it out quickly :grin:

26.02.11 - Deads, Hams

Ahh yeah so I was 97kg today! Hopefully just a spike, and weighed post-workout (where oddly I tend to be slightly heavier - water intake increases a lot), nothing too much has changed diet-wise lately so a little annoying but honestly not gonna worry too much about it. A few kilo in a few days will go off just as quickly knowing how my body works.

• Deads (sets, reps, weights)
  1 x 10 @ 70kg
  1 x 6 @ 100kg
  1 x 4 @ 120kg
  
• Squats
  3 x 10 @ 60kg
  1 x 10 @ 60kg (with pause)
  
• Ham Sled Drags
  2 x 4lengths @ 90kg sled
  1 x 2lengths @ 130kg sled
  1 x 2lengths @ 150kg sled
  
• Suitcase Deads
  1 x 8/ps @ 60kg
  

Comments

• Want to keep deads light from now to the comp, they're just taking too long to recover from at the moment. Nutted out some quick ones just going off what my TP was doing, he hit a PB of 165kg :clap:
  
• Squats were purposely left light as well, just working on speed and holding the breath in.
  
• Suitcase deads were fun, hit the obliques hard.
  

Not much else to say! Had to help the gf move house afterwards so that was my GPP for the day :pfft: Otherwise a big postworkout meal, and making a biggish dinner now then that'll be me for the day.

[drizzt]

28.02.11 - Bench

95 today so was holding a bit of water last week. Still feeling heavy though, have cut cals back a tad, but still sinking approx 4-5litres of water a day which is probably what is keeping weight up there.

• Bench (sets, reps, weights)
  1 x ? @ 60kg
  1 x 3 @ 100kg
  1 x 1 @ 120kg (pause)
  1 x 2 @ 130kg
  1 x 6 @ 110kg
  1 x 12 @ 80kg
  
• Dips
  1 x 4 @ +60kg PB
  1 x 2 @ +60kg
  1 x 1 @ +60kg
  1 x 2 @ +40kg
  1 x 5 @ +20kg
  1 x 5 @ bodyweight
  
• GHR
  1 x 15 @ bw PB
  1 x 8 @ bw (arms out)
  1 x 12 @ bw
  
• Standing Band Crunches
  3 x 10 @ purple band (3 sec pause at bottom)
  

Comments

• Bench felt greeeeat, think I nailed the leadup here. Was aiming for 130 for a couple so that was pleasing to get (touch'n'go). I'm hoping that might reflect a 140 come comp time. Got stuck on the 2nd rep but managed to push through it which I think is attributable to the hard tri work I've been doing lately. Was also surprised to get an easy 110 x 6 straight after the 130 set. 120 had a nice, deliberate pause to simulate comp conditions (with another pause at the top), probably open at 125-130 on comp day I'm thinking. Setup felt really tight, good.
  
• Dips were awesome, was tricky hanging 60kilo of chain off me but we got there :pfft: But got 4 nice, clean reps. All sets were basically consecutive, just a little rest between the sets @ +60kg. Mate snapped a photo to show how 60kg of chains looked:
  
  Have a couple of "action" shots too but they didn't come out too well. ROM was really good for the first set, but as the tris got tired it got closer to upper arm-parallel than what I would say was a "full" rep.
  As I've found in the past, strength on the dips seems to transfer somewhat to strength on my bench. :nod:
  
• GHRs were good, another PB there hitting 15. May look at ways to gradually increase difficulty here - putting the arms out in front (superman-esque) seemed to increase difficulty a bit which was good, may be the goer for now.
  

My bro tagged along to check out the house, looks like he's going to join some time this week :nod:

[groovy]

1 x 4 @ +60kg PB

1 x 2 @ +60kg

1 x 1 @ +60kg

1 x 2 @ +40kg

1 x 5 @ +20kg

1 x 5 @ bodyweight

Insane bro. Awesome strength on the dips. :clap: :clap: :clap:

[drizzt]

Insane bro. Awesome strength on the dips. :clap: :clap: :clap:

Thanks mate Dips have always been a strength of mine, I think because tris are my strong point (usually!).