Workout/Bodybuilding III: Revengeance: Part Deux

I like Texas method because I love the reward of a PR at the end of the week after putting in the hard ass work on volume day. I also like the fact that it's so adaptable. I started off with vanilla TM setting PR's with 5's, then that stalled so I switched to cycling between triples, doubles, and singles weekly. Now I'm kinda starting to stall with that after several months of PR's so I'm gonna start doing DE work on intensity days. But I've been able to drive progress pretty fast over the past year with TM.. Should be skwaaating and pulling 500 within the next couple weeks.
Nice man, big numbers.  Okay workout today, had to wait around for a rack and bench for a while so that was annoying... Back at school though so should be able to get in a pretty good routine of eating/lifting - always a lot less consistent when I'm home. 

absolutely crazy the difference having a friend / coach / lifting partner do programming. Starting programming for my next meet in like 10 weeks tonight. 

 

What at was your old username jack n tan

 

 

also anyone ever have IT band pain? but not in the knee or hip but just like the whole IT band other than knee or hip? 

My old username was Darkstar.. I had to make a new account because I couldn't remember my old password, and I could never get it back from email either so I just made a brand new account haha.

Do you taper for your meets?

that's what I thought. 

 

yeah i did for my first and will be for this next one. less of a taper since it's not too long after my first. It's just too good of a location to pass up plus my buddy knows the director. 

 

many first peak went astoundingly well it'll be hard to duplicate. 

 

Basically did the following. Squats. Monday heavy set of 4, more sets working up. Saturday same as Monday less ramp ups more weight. then a week of 3s. two weeks of twos, last week Monday is a single around an opener and Saturday is meet day.  went from 315x4 first week to 395 for 3 singles. insane progress. 

 

did basically the same thing for bench. 

 

deadlift ft was only singles just fewer and heavier across weeks. 

Hell yeah dude that's awesome.. I've been following a lot of stuff from Chad Wesley Smith lately, and I kinda wanna do one of his tapering programs. Starting off the first two months doing hypertrophy blocks and tapering off to strength. That's prolly what I'll do when I sign up for a meet.

I'm just assuming that you're not bracing your entire core as tight as possible since you're going so deep. That's a bad thing.  

 

What the fuck am I reading. Being able to go deeper is not a sign of not being braced. I personally can squat deeper low bar than I can high bar, but if I ever did a powerlifting meet obviously I would stop myself at minimum depth to do more weight. it's all down to anthropometry and relative limb lengths and mobility, not doing it right or wrong. Stopping slightly below parallel can move the most weight, but if he's just doing it for general strength and not planning on competing there is NOTHING wrong with him going deeper if he can hold good form. 

 

And back horizontal is not something you should actively cue. Watch some euro/russian powerlifters and you'll see they're closer to vertical but with a low bar position, have elbows under the bar and stop just below parallel because of wanting to for a meet, not because they can't brace by going deeper. There isn't a magic limit 1" below parallel that immediately makes it impossible to brace with low bar. 

 

Bromara what are your goals? Are you trying to compete? If you're just doing this to get stronger then squat as deep as you want, high bar or low bar. Just squat and you'll get stronger, the details of low versus high, 3x5 versus 5x5 etc will be so negligible it won't matter. Just squat and eat and sleep. 

 

Not trying to be a dick darkstar but some of those assertations man. You don't need to have a horizontal back and drive hips up to move the most weight. Wanna know who moves the most weight in squats? Olympic lifters that have ramrod straight backs and lift with leg drive. Lu has a 320kg (704) squat at 169lbs. The 181 record is something like 285kg. No hip drive there, fuck not even a belt or wraps.

No plans on competing in the immediate future, just trying to get stronger and put on some weight right now.  

 

Do you have any critiques on my form, Willey?

 

Also, what are your (or anybody else's) thoughts on getting powerlifting shoes for low bar?  From what I've read it seems like even if you have good mobility they still help a lot with keeping your feet "glued" to the floor, and I think they could definitely help me.  I've been looking at the Adipowers, and I know there are some cheaper options, but I'm thinking it might be better just to buy the better ones now even if the cheaper ones could work for me at the moment. 

I'm just assuming that you're not bracing your entire core as tight as possible since you're going so deep. That's a bad thing.  

 

What the fuck am I reading. Being able to go deeper is not a sign of not being braced. I personally can squat deeper low bar than I can high bar, but if I ever did a powerlifting meet obviously I would stop myself at minimum depth to do more weight. it's all down to anthropometry and relative limb lengths and mobility, not doing it right or wrong. Stopping slightly below parallel can move the most weight, but if he's just doing it for general strength and not planning on competing there is NOTHING wrong with him going deeper if he can hold good form. 

 

And back horizontal is not something you should actively cue. Watch some euro/russian powerlifters and you'll see they're closer to vertical but with a low bar position, have elbows under the bar and stop just below parallel because of wanting to for a meet, not because they can't brace by going deeper. There isn't a magic limit 1" below parallel that immediately makes it impossible to brace with low bar. 

 

Bromara what are your goals? Are you trying to compete? If you're just doing this to get stronger then squat as deep as you want, high bar or low bar. Just squat and you'll get stronger, the details of low versus high, 3x5 versus 5x5 etc will be so negligible it won't matter. Just squat and eat and sleep. 

 

Not trying to be a dick darkstar but some of those assertations man. You don't need to have a horizontal back and drive hips up to move the most weight. Wanna know who moves the most weight in squats? Olympic lifters that have ramrod straight backs and lift with leg drive. Lu has a 320kg (704) squat at 169lbs. The 181 record is something like 285kg. No hip drive there, fuck not even a belt or wraps.

Damn man I never claimed to be a god damn coach, did I? I was just trying to give him some pointers based on how Rip teaches a low bar back squat. And the only reason I spent the time doing it was because nobody else ever commented on his form. If you would've spent the 15 minutes that it probably took you to type out that drawn out post  on critiquing his form then you prolly would've actually accomplished something.

Jesus christ I remember why I stopped givin a fuck about this forum now.

In what world is a beginner dive bombing a low bar squat ass to grass not an indicator of loosing tightness? 

 

Willey you used to be a huge rip supporter, preached his stuff. Hip drive the whole thing, not sure where that came from. 

 

so should we all squat like lu? high bar vertical torso? look at Jesse Norris or maybe Norton? dudes are fucking parallel with the floor. 

 

none me of us are ever going to squat that much so pick a way and do it. 

 

 

 

Im with dark star, no way you're staying right low bar that deep. slow your descent and hit closer to parallel. maybe do some pause squats to learn where parallel is. that helped me. 

 

also so do some core isolation work to get a mind muscle connection with your abs. going to help you learn how to stay tight. 

Willey you used to be a huge rip supporter, preached his stuff. Hip drive the whole thing, not sure where that came from. 

 

 

That's what I was thinking too.. Like Willey was the one that instilled a lot of my ideas on squat technique and 3x5 programming. I was a little shocked when I saw that he was talkin to me like I'm a fuckin retard.

I

 

Willey you used to be a huge rip supporter, preached his stuff. Hip drive the whole thing, not sure where that came from. 

 

 

That's what I was thinking too.. Like Willey was the one that instilled a lot of my ideas on squat technique and 3x5 programming. I was a little shocked when I saw that he was talkin to me like I'm a fuckin retard.

 

Yea it came off harsh, but Dark's original writeup came off pretty know it all to me, and with things that literally only Rip preaches. I completely agree that SS/SL etc are great as beginners but I no longer agree with his style of teaching low bar. No other powerlifters teach the high elbow purposeful lean. Yes they cue the hips, but they aren't bent super far forward, and their elbows are almost always under the bar. Purposely trying to cue a horizontal back is not correct, and I don't even think Rip teaches that. Pushing through the hips can lead to that, but it isn't the GOAL.

Depth of low bar does not magically stop at parallel. going that extra inch or two is going to change based on lifters. And again, if he isn't competing let him do it. If he's dive bombing and losing tightness it's gonna happen regardless of where his end depth is. The speed and control is the issue not depth.

What he's doing there isn't divebombing. Is it a little quick for standard, competition low bar? yea sure. But for just general strength training while lifting bodyweight he doesn't need a 3 second descent to keep hamstring tension and all that jazz. He's not rounding his back, pitching forward or wobbling around in the hole and stays pretty consistent across reps. He's fairly solid for such little experience with it.

I didn't reply previously because I hadn't actually opened my personal computer for a week so I hadn't seen any posts.

 

@Bro: Romaleos and Adipowers are your best bet but are more pricey. There's a thread on r/weightlifting on reddit right now with an eastbay code for romaleos for $135 but no long if that has expired yet, it came up yesterday if you scroll down a bit. Adidas Powerlifts are a pretty good middle ground choice if you don't wanna break $100, as well as VS Athletics.

What are you fags' Instagram names? I have Connor but not anyone else.

First training session of the year was Monday. I took the rest of 2015 off after my meet and started doing ART and some other rehabd stuff and it's going pretty well. Doing bodybuilding stuff for a while then I'm going to start serious training in a few months.

@jackedtuary for lifting videos

@slinkydoe for not lifting videos

me and a buddy are trying to go to raw nationals in Georgia this year. 

 

I just have to compete and not bomb out and he has to do ok at our next meet. 

The only heinous thing going on with dude's squat is that his elbows are too far back. Everything else is fine.

 

look at Jesse Norris or maybe Norton?

Reigning Good Morning world record holders!

 

 

That's Dr. of Nutritional Sciences Doctor Layne Norton, PhD in Nutritional Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 2010

Yea it came off harsh, but Dark's original writeup came off pretty know it all to me, and with things that literally only Rip preaches. I completely agree that SS/SL etc are great as beginners but I no longer agree with his style of teaching low bar. No other powerlifters teach the high elbow purposeful lean. Yes they cue the hips, but they aren't bent super far forward, and their elbows are almost always under the bar. Purposely trying to cue a horizontal back is not correct, and I don't even think Rip teaches that. Pushing through the hips can lead to that, but it isn't the GOAL.

Depth of low bar does not magically stop at parallel. going that extra inch or two is going to change based on lifters. And again, if he isn't competing let him do it. If he's dive bombing and losing tightness it's gonna happen regardless of where his end depth is. The speed and control is the issue not depth.

What he's doing there isn't divebombing. Is it a little quick for standard, competition low bar? yea sure. But for just general strength training while lifting bodyweight he doesn't need a 3 second descent to keep hamstring tension and all that jazz. He's not rounding his back, pitching forward or wobbling around in the hole and stays pretty consistent across reps. He's fairly solid for such little experience with it.

I didn't reply previously because I hadn't actually opened my personal computer for a week so I hadn't seen any posts.

 

@Bro: Romaleos and Adipowers are your best bet but are more pricey. There's a thread on r/weightlifting on reddit right now with an eastbay code for romaleos for $135 but no long if that has expired yet, it came up yesterday if you scroll down a bit. Adidas Powerlifts are a pretty good middle ground choice if you don't wanna break $100, as well as VS Athletics.

I agree that my post did sound know-it-all-ish (wasn't intending it to come off that way), but what's the point of any of us commenting on the guy's form if we all literally have different views on ideal squat form? I'm gonna disagree with you on certain things, and myzo, and spanker, and tea, and davo, etc. I figured bromara was trying to squat the way Rip teaches since that's what EVERYBODY in this thread used to preach to people wanting to learn how to squat. And you can't disagree with that since YOU used to be the main person telling people to squat the Starting Strength way. I haven't gone to this forum in awhile so I didn't really know your views on squatting changed so drastically. 

Also, Rip and all of the SS coaches definitely actively cue the horizontal back. It's a big section of the book, and it's mentioned in most of the form checks posted on his forum. A lot of beginners have the idea the torso needs to be vertical during a squat. Obviously, torso and ligaments play a role, but for a person with normal anatomical proportions, the back is going to be more horizontal to keep the bar over the mid-foot.

Why are the majority of beginner programs linear progression?  Does a beginner benefit more from linear vs. non-linear progression because of "noob gains", or is it just the simplicity of the training that makes it better suited for beginners? 

My main question I guess is would I benefit more from a non-linear program than from a linear program?  And if I should stay on a program like SS or SL for now, at what point should I plan to make the switch? 

Why are the majority of beginner programs linear progression?  Does a beginner benefit more from linear vs. non-linear progression because of "noob gains", or is it just the simplicity of the training that makes it better suited for beginners? 

My main question I guess is would I benefit more from a non-linear program than from a linear program?  And if I should stay on a program like SS or SL for now, at what point should I plan to make the switch? 

Everybody has a certain genetic potential, which is basically just the limit of how strong you can get. The "novice/intermediate/advanced" designations have nothing to do with how strong you are, but rather how far along you are in the process of approaching the limit of your ability to adapt. Novices can generally make strength adaptations every 48 hours; intermediates make weekly adaptations; advanced lifters generally make monthly adaptations. So the easy answer to your question is this: if you can add 5 more pounds each time you perform an exercise then it's a no brainer, that's what you should do. If you start stalling after 2 or 3 deloads, then that's when you should switch away from a linear progression like SS or SL. The reason for doing a linear progression while you're a novice is because it's the fastest and most efficient way of getting strong. There's gonna come a point where you just can't add 5 lbs every workout though, and that's when you should switch to an intermediate program. Which program you switch to is entirely up to depending on your goals bruhhhhh.

Sorry for bringing Rip into this again hahaha, but this is a great read about how powerful a linear progression can be if it's done right.

http://startingstrength.com/site/article/the_novice_effect#.VphZgvkrLIU

tl;dr: you want to progress as fast as you can recover. Novices recover quicker because they can't get as much volume and intensity load.
Trying to get used to low bar, still very foreign feeling for me.  I can definitely feel that it is more taxing on my lower back... not sure if that's just how it is as a result of working the posterior chain more or if I'm squatting incorrectly.  Also noticed today I seem to favor one leg when coming out of the hole - I have to consciously push with my right leg out of the hole in order to feel even remotely balanced, which is annoying. 
315x3x3, 325x3x3 squat and I felt like shit and didn't even wanna lift. I started my last peak with 315x4. such hyphy. 200kg or bust. 
    
Bought myself some adipowers and lifted with them yesterday, first impressions are very good.  Took a little getting used to, only got 4 reps on my first set of 210, but then adjusted and the other 4 sets of 5 went well.  Stalled on OH Press already, lol - my triceps and shoulders are definitely a weak point, also probably helps explain why my bench is so poor, so I'm  gonna add in some additional exercises to try to strengthen those.  Weight is up to 170, highest it's ever been, so I'm going in the right direction. 
Adipowers are very good. I honestly recommend shoes over a belt, if you can only afford one in TYOOL 2016.
do you really need either? i would rather spend that money on weeks of food.

Adipowers are very good. I honestly recommend shoes over a belt, if you can only afford one in TYOOL 2016.

Yeah, I'm going to be training without a belt for a while just to try to continue to strengthen my core as much as I can.  I don't think I'm at a weight where I really need a belt yet.  Once I do decide to purchase one though, any suggestions?  Are any significantly better than others or are they all pretty similar?  (Anybody feel free to answer)

Also, should I bring different shoes to deadlift in? 

do you really need either? i would rather spend that money on weeks of food.

i would say that lifting shoes are pretty important.. if you don't have a lot of discretionary income then just get a pair of chucks. i'm pretty sure Rogue is having a big closeout on their lifting shoes if you're looking for a deal.

then again you can never really go wrong with savin your money for more food either lol.

Also, should I bring different shoes to deadlift in? 

some people prefer to lift in shoes with raised heels and some people prefer to lift in flats or barefoot.. try both and see which you like better. I feel like my romaleos give me more power off the floor, but that's just me.

rather lift barefoot, butt ofc i  haven't tried adipowers. tonight went well. finally made 3 plate squat my personal whore for a good, clean set of 5.  i'd guess i've worked out less than 30 times since i started in mid-october, which is a problem, butt i've been eating a lot.
maybe they weren't that good.

very very few people deadlift with a raised heel. For a beginner I would say lift with a flat sole. 

 

for  a belt get a 10mm Titan. single double prong doesn't really matter. I honestly couldn't tell you which I have. 

Not allowed to lift barefoot in my university gym, I'll probably just end up grabbing some chucks at some point.

Squatted 5x210 again today, just wanted to get used to the shoes with weight more towards my max.  Sets all went well except for the last rep of the last set, just loss tightness on my way down and couldn't get back up... annoying because the rep before it went really well.  Think I'm just gonna consider it a fluke and go to 215 for my next workout since I already hit 5x5x210  2 days before. 

Benched 5x5x150, Rowed 5x5x135.

 

My lower back is very sore/tight though, what are your guys' go-to to help out with that?  I've been foam rolling and using a lacrosse ball on my legs and hips already, that's helping a bit.

better posture. and more sleep. 

 

Ill foam roll my back if I'm super tight. 

 

 

5x5 box squats

255x3x3 + 265x3x3 bench

405x5x3 deadlift

 

 

probably gunna need to take a dinner break tonight. tryna to cram two days into one because I'll be away the next two weeks and I want to get ahead on my programming.