Dark_MadMax’s BodyBlog

So this was initial evaluation with EC.

He did basic test of my hips ,quad and ankle mobility .Had me do walking lunges. Thought me 3 main soft tissue warm ups with a roller .

His main advice is to work on hips mobility and incorporate walking lunges and reverse lunges work (1 leg work with hips) . Also to do soft tissue work.  -So that I will do. Plus he said I am tight in my neck and recommended couple of static stretches .

All good stuff - money well spent. Plus for next follow up workout it is going to be significantly cheaper.

Also I did deads with him - did up to 240lbs x5  .And he says my form was good! YAy! Except for the part that I look up - but he says that is OK for me as I do not have upper spine flexibility yet ,so this way he says is better for me - else I will round my back. 

 So after my session with him expired I did 

Bench 160 5/5 ,155 x 5 

 Was very heavy.I dont know maybe his weights are significantly heavier than one in my regular gym .Maybe I am still tired (most likely)

Chins x 6 - really really bad. So guess I am tired

Cable Rows 150 8/8 60 10/10

150 was with cheating according to E. So I will drop to proper form. 60 is way too light- I think my proper form weight is around 135. - That I will find out.

So overall I  think I will compose new program. incorporating E’s suggestions. SS is over, but I will take progression plan from SS or from Texas method. Will replace one squat day with front squat, add lunges, reverse lunges, etc…-

Overall I think I have a sense of where to go from now - so rest next 5 days , and on next Friday I will begin round #2 of transformation from skinny to skinny!

This one right now takes a spot of worst workout so far (including one I tweaked my back in). this is a first workout I wasn’t even able to complete core exercises. Dropped 50% short. I dunno whether it is overtraining , I am sick , shitty day or all of the above.  - I was feeling crappy on weekend and skipped cardio. on Monday I skipped the job due to being unable to get from bed (was super tired) - but monday workout was ok.

Tuesday was uneventful, on Wednesday I was ok during the day but toward afternoon I was tired and had headaches. so here is my disaster:

Squats 205 5/5, box squats 155 x 8 , Front squats 135x 6

That 205 went badly. i mean i was barely able to do 5, while on Monday I could do 6 easily. Form also suffered.Didnt even try 3d set - replaced it with accessory squats with lighter weight.

Mill press 115 5/3, 95x 5   wg pull up x9

I had a feeling it wasnt happening on warm up set already. -Plan was to do 115 for first time , but given how heavy last warm up set with 95 felt I was ready to fail. And indeed I did first set was horrible form ,slowdowns. After It i was nauseous and read to drop dead on the floor. Pull ups were  ok muscle streght wise but overall feel was very bad.

 So my 2nd set failed. And  at this point I knew workout ain’t happening. -So bad I felt

So that was it . 1 set of rows with warm up weight,stretches and went home.

 I hope I am not sick with some crap -this is Thursday and I am stil feeling bad , exhausted and fatigued, while typing this .I willl have light workout on sat (that will be consultation with Eric Cressey) -will possible skip Monday workout (substitute it with light cardio) ,will Skip Wednesday. If it is overtraining that should give me enough recovery time

Literally. My camera’s battery died during work set of deads. So I didn’t get all of it (got 2.5 reps). Sucks.

Squats 205 (pre-reset weight) 5/6/6

Wow it is like it is not the weight that I failed. Went strong . I think better form this time  - except one thing - I need go a tad deeper.

Bench 165 (same) 6/6/5

Excellent 2nd set ,so-so 1 and 3. Will increase next time

Deads  : ( 280 5 -baaad form

Ok tried new form today -no idea really what I am doing. It sucked even on 185 set. Workset was horrible (i mean when I rdl’ed form was better -at least 3 reps were without lumbar bending on this one it starts on 2nd rep) .

I will see Eric Cressey this sat. Hope he can help. I am ready to drop to whatever- just I want to get it straight- without feat that on heavy sets I wont control it .

Dips 25 9/8/8  + bw Chins 11/11/9/4

I think I unintentionally dropped dips from 30 to 25 (just forgot ). Chins were good first 2 sets ,but 3d blew.

Stretches and one set of 20 rep abs.

So I calmed down a little bit since my encounter with PT. I was practicing my form all days long (with stick and just with bw in the office) . I pretty much set my goals to be semi wide stance ,bar on the back . With aim to unhinge my hips and keep knees straight as possible ,achieving drive trough the heels .

That I think I pretty much got down (not completely but at least I got feel for it). So I decided to give today a try to normal weight with new form

Squats 200 (-5) 6/6/6

 Very strong methinks .Form is basically what I aimed for (cant tell for sure since camera is restricted at that gym) - but I had controlled descent, drive trough heels and I think my knees were better.

Only some thing - seems that low bar position gives much harder workout for my lower back, but I am fine with it ,since on deads day I will do front squats soon - so should be no concerns.

Weight felt great - challenging but not as deadly as it was last time I did 200. I did 6/6/6 as well ,so next time it would be 205 -the weight I got stuck at .

Mill press 110 (same ) 6/5/5 + wg pull ups 10/9/8

 As I mentioned before mill press is probably one of the most challenging exercises for me. Weight is just either every heavy ,either god damn hellish. So first set was ok ,2nd significantly worse and 3d just awful. Definitely stay. Pull ups were sorta ok, except i didn’t hit 9th rep on last set- but I think i just got lazy(plus mil pres was exhausting)

Rows 175 (+5) 8/8/8

 Pretty good . I bet if it goes this way I will max out this machine by the end of the year -

Accessories

 Did bunch of playing : Power cleans 110 for about 6 , Leg press 225 for reps ,seated leg press 315 for reps.

Abs 35 (+5) 8/8

Mild stretching , bar hangs and done

So I was sorta in state of shock, so only writing this post today (this PT workout was Wednesday). The guy definitely knows something - at least most of what he talks about is in line with what I read . Now the little things his opinion is different is what sorta dumbfounded me .

First Squat:

I agree with him  about my knees problems (they were going forward too much). So worked with him on it.- That I think is my new target to fix.

What I don’t agree with is his requirement of keeping my toes  straight forward and doing narrow stance -that is just so wrong for me on so many points - I want do wider stance , with knees 30-35 degrees pointing outwards .

Wider stance because I found that wider stance with lower bar position is actually the technique which allows me to do "unhinging of my hips" part the best  and I think my knees are most stable. Also I can maintain my balance etc. With narrows stance toes straight forward it is just pure torture balance and technique wise.

Deadlifts

Well From suggestion on bb.com regarding my videos and from what I managed to read and watch I think I knew where my problem lay mainly. So I actually did it ok (at least no huge flaws from his perspective). Little thing is he wants pull my shoulders back all the time. Which is sorta not exactly what I had  in mind (from what I read mild shoulder pull forward is ok - it is the lumbar area which is important ,not thoracic). 

So he made me do all those exercises with ridicoulously low weight. I mean I sorta fine with it to do once  a week(for form)   - except I just came from reset both on deads and squats and he basically want me to do the weight I was doing 3 months ago (when I just started) for next 3 weeks. I mean I just feel I can do normal work weight  once I polish the form little bit, I just cant justify losing 3 months of hard work for nothing - resets went just great and I should be on track  for adding weight now.

 He also suggested do more "core" work -he meant abs ,Which I am ok with . I already pretty much 2 out of 3 workouts - will just do it everytime now.I do consider my abs relatively strong though -but I am fine training it more.

So aside squats and deads rest was normal workout ,albeit low energy one (from my sorta shocked state I guess) :

bench 170 (+5) 5/4 165 5

Should have stayed 165 . I wanted to do something positivie thsi workout to compensate for blown deads/squat session, but it wasnt happening

Chin ups 10/9 .. Dips 25 6/6

Those were bad and hard as well

abs  decline 30lbs 8/8/8, variety of  body abs

So not in mood to retype my huge post again. Stats only:

 Squat 195 (-10) 6/6/6

narrow/wide/wide

Mil press 110 (+5) 5/5/5 + wg pull ups 9/9/9

Lever Rows 110 8/7/7

cable rows 170 5

HS incline press 153 9 163 8/8

abs 30 10/10

Was sorta not very energetic so no records broken:

Phase 1 28 or 30 laps 15 min : 

16 FS. 14 Brass .Lost count somewhere in 25th range not sure therefore how many laps excatly

Phase2 (18 laps)

4 FS sprint - I keep gettign cramps on this one WTF

2 backstroke

BF 1+1 .First lap owas strong. 2nd one much weaker

2 bf kicks

4 FS arms only

4 Fs 1 arm only

Phase 3 24 laps

FS 14 , Brass 10

Total volume 72 (or 70)

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Floor

Preacher curls 55 8/8/8- yeah lol .curls . I just dont know what else to squeeze  after cardio

Stretches

So I have 3 day vacation -that means I will workout in different gym. Also I got camera this week as well. What does it mean??- That I am going to post critique my form post ! Other than that was average workout. Got really tired towards accessories and they were less than what I hoped for

 BTW vids:

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I think it was decent form, but again that for BB board member to decide .

Bench 165 (+5) 5/5/6

165 for first time . Pretty good -even did 6 on last set (6th was struggle though) .tried practice “PL arch” - dont think it was successfull

Deads 275 (-15) 6

Strictly speaking it was 3. -Because I arched my lower back in 3 last sets. But at least now with camera I saw it- and will work on this. Will stay same weight( or will drop - if I cant get it right next workout)  till I get my back straight

Accessories

Chin ups 10/9/9 + Dips 20 lbs (+5) 8/8/8

No dip belt in this gym, so I  had to hold dumbell with my toes - very awkward. Chin ups sucked

Some hardcores stretches and that is

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I was quite tired -long day ,stress on the job (uuh I almost feel like venting when I think about it). Plus i wasn’t getting much sleep lately. but I came to gym ,warmed up and after first set of squats I was back in business-  awesome effect I would say.

So:

Squat 185 (same) 6/6/6 

Probably one of the cleanest squats workouts I did so far. 6 full reps ,good speed. Of course this is a reset weight and same weight as last workout - but that was my point. Get reset and concentrate on form during it

Mil Press 105 (6/5/6)  wide grip pull ups 8/9 

Was good. I mean at first press was feeling kinda heavy, some slowdowns. But I already decided I am going to add weight next time (this is my 3d workout with 105)  so did 6 first set (slow 6th). Did 5 2nd set (some slowdown) .But on 3d set I just exploded (catchy song or something -dont know )  just exploded in fast , powerful 6 reps , putting an end to 105. 110 next time baby!

Pull ups were good too -1 rep increase on 2nd set. i did lateral pull down for 3d set - just to confirm I can pulldown my bw for about the same as my pull ups (if you cant - means your pull ups are really dirty with lots  of cheating)

Rows 165 8 , 170 (+5) 8/8

I dont really care about those so I was stuck at same weight, doing them sorta at ease .Then I am thinking -for Christ sake I am doing 165×3x8 for quite a while , time to move it! So I moved it - same feel.Probably move it again next time

I tried do rows on HS machine but didnt like the way it activates my shoulder (overly stressing) - I like it to hit my lats .

Accessories:

Abs 35 8/8 - my least favourite exercises now. Plus the heavier dumbells (over 25) are all dirty and my white BB t -shirt looked some bums clothing after the set. -will use a towel or something next time

Stretches ,bar hangs and home.

Was really anxious to do something else - but couldnt really figure what , lol. Thought maybe some power cleans -since my  bastid left loaded bar lying in the middle of the floor, But then i decided I would have to deload bar after the bastid -so NO!

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I signed up for 5 training sessions with PT . If you were reading my blog/ posts ( I know nobody does ) you would know I tended to bad mouth my gym’s PT .Mainly that was because of bitterness that they restrict camera and I cant really check my form which frustrates me to hell and back.

So anyway I decided if I cant work against the system I would work with it  it will cost me quite a $ ($210 for 5  30 min sessions) but oh well. So I asked for form spot one of the PT. He seems to know what he is talking about and his spot and advice afterward seemed sound .That was the only PT I saw who trained his other guy to do deads (stiff leg kind but nevertheless)  -that’s why I picked him.

So I will work on a form with him for about once a week. That will probably mess up with my regular SS schedule -but if I get my deads form straight on, it will be well worth it . 

 Anyway overall feel and energy level today were excellent - turned into quuite a good and long workout:

Squat 6/6/5 185 (-20)

Ok. I mean I do notice some tendention to lean on my toes. Plus bar slowdown at about 4-5 rep.  Tried to do low bar position -this time I barely did one rep , don’t  know what happened lost my grove totally? -I did not too long ago 6 reps wide stance with 190 (or 195)? .

Bench  160 (same) 5/6/5

Again on warm up 135 feels heavy. Making me doubt my work set again. But actual work set is quite good. Excellent explosive bar speed first 3 reps on all sets, some  slowdown on 4th and 5th -still good though. 6th rep on 2nd set was very slow ,but completed nevertheless .And 4th and 5th on 3d set  were slow( I blame 6th rep on  previous set) .I will move add 5 pounds next time

Deads 265 (-30)  5 or 6?

Lost my count. PT said my lower back held strong - no bending.  Thats good news. Bad one is he said I start drive with hips and end up doing sorta romanian dead. -So he says I should drive up more with my shoulders (upper back I guess) - to ease up load on my back. It is actually good news in the term that I am a noob ,yet doing  265 Romanian deads .

 Bad news in term that I want actually do normal deads and I guess this super load I do is what caused form problems on 290 last time. I had hard time figuring how the hell i should drive with my upper body -since I just cant for the love of god move deadlift weight  without my hips - I cant shrug 250+ , cant vertical row it ,cant curl it - so only way I was doing it is use my strongest part (which seem to be my back).

Accessories

bw chin ups 11/10/11 + dips 15 (+5) 8/8/8

Strong chins today .Practically perfect form first 10 reps , second 9 and last 9 . All the way to pecs ,controlled. Dips were good - except some discomfort on 2nd set due to poor positioning of weight on a  belt.

Solid stretches ,bar hangs and done.  

 p.s. Ohh yeah i forgot "the extra load" -

I did 10 reps of box squats  with 135 lb after normal workset

6 reps with 225 - after workset on deads 20ish shrugs with 135 lb - just for fun , when I was actually heading to change room -just because machine was loaded with that an was near ramp