Saturday, September 29, 2012

Meet Prep - Week 1 - Squats

Bodyweight -246

1 legged squats - 4x10

Squats - no belt no wraps
barx10,10
135x,5,5
225x4
315x3,3
365x2,2
405x1
425x1
455x1
500x1

455x5,5,5
425x3
405x3
365x3

Swiss Ball Hamstring Curls - 4 sets

Notes - When I got started, I felt like my blood sugar might have dropped a bit.  I was shaky and already felt gassed.  My awesome companion went and fetched me some gatorade and I waited a little bit for things to stabilize.

500 felt shaky.  Not heavy at all, like an empty bar.  But I think that blood sugar drop took a little bit out of me.  The first back off at 455 also did not feel "good".  So I taped the second set, to see what it looked like.  I didn't really notice a big difference in the two, to be honest, after I looked at it.

I know someone would ask what swiss ball leg curls are, so I went ahead and video taped it.  Fun/different little movement that is more difficult than you think.

Also, front squats are out.  I had planned on doing them however I went to do a set with 315 and I'm pretty sure now, that I tore my quad doing fronts.  Intense sharp pain exactly where it had been hurting for months. So those are out. I didn't reinjure it, but it didn't feel good.





  

20 comments:

  1. Nice Workout Paul. That's 23 sets of squatting including warmups! How long does a workout like that take you??

    ReplyDelete
  2. "My workouts vary quite a bit depending on what phase of training I'm in but a general split looks like this:
    M--squat (heavy)
    T--overhead presses bar or DBs
    W--squat (heavy) or front squat (volume)
    Th--CG bench
    F--deadlifting
    Sa--rest
    Su--benching"
    This is from a comment Dan Green made in youtube. He also said that he trains back At the end of each session, sometimes every day. What do you think of this kind of aprouch to training?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It obviously works really well for Dan. He and I have spoken quite a bit this week actually, and his training methodologies are very similar to mine.

      Delete
  3. I noticed that you dip your ass down at the bottom of the squat. I have heard that this is not good to do, what are your thoughts? Not saying that you are wrong for doing so, just wondering.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think that people that are overly concerned with that usually don't squat very much. That's my thoughts on it.

      Delete
  4. Why is your hand placement so wide? just wondering

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you watch my video on fixing your low bar squat?

      Delete
  5. One more thing.
    I'm doing Bill Starrs 5x5. Intermediate version.
    M-Bench, Squat, Barbell row 5x5. Weighted situps-4 sets and Hypers- 2 sets

    W-Deadlift, Incline or Barbell press, Light squat 4x5. 3 sets situps, 3 sets pullups (optional)

    F-Bench, Squat, Barbell Rows 5,5,5,3,8. Weighted dips 3 sets 5-8 reps, Barbell Curls 3x8, Tricep Extensions 3x8.

    The sets are all based on percentages. This is the second time I've ran this program with good results on my bench press while my squat has extremely suffered. I've been a reader on this site for quite a few months and respect your advice. I actually know you from another forum.

    -I'm thinking on Wednesdays I should throw out the Light squat and Pullups and hit Leg curls, Extensions, and Weighted lunges.

    Whats your opinion on my changes and the program overall?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Doesn't seem to make much sense if my strength is decreasing on squat.

      Delete
    2. Is it possible that you're programming your squat too high? That may be the issue.

      On the light day, it should be nothing more than like a general warm up. Lots of guys do these full body programs and then don't realize that their percentages are too high, and recovery suffers. For every Jamie Lewis that can squat heavy 3 times a week there are 1 million guys that can't, and will make their best gains squatting heavy once a week, with maybe 1 light one now and then.

      Delete
  6. Nice work Paul! I just finished my first week of the short strong-15 and started off with week 2 squats today. All is going great so far!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've tried deloading a few times only to quickly hit a wall again. I'm guessing I just can't handle squatting that heavy twice a week. On the other hand I seem to handle the benching part fine. Maybe I should cut out the Friday squats and keep the Monday 5x5, and Wednesday 4x5 (light)?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Paul,

    Quick question I going to be running a 2x a week training similar to the one in the squatting and deadlifting in the same day post. So the questions can you run the over warm-up on overhead work also what kind of volume and rep ranges do you put on stuff like rows, pulldowns and dips as assistance?

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul

      Do you ramp up or straight set the assistance and how often do you add weight on the assistance stuff. This is based on the fact that I will new big 15.

      Thanks

      Delete
    2. I generally care more about getting the volume in on assistance and getting a "pump" (yes I wrote that) and using it to keep my healthy. I don't get overly concerned about adding weight to assistance work. The meat and potatoes is in the main lifts.

      Delete
  9. "I think that people that are overly concerned with that usually don't squat very much. That's my thoughts on it."
    AMEN.
    I was a "Crossfitter" for a few years. If i had a damn nickle for every time a Crossfit "coach" told me my "butt wink" was about to start the end of the world, while i was squatting 2x what they could, id have alot of damn nickles. I would use them to buy steaks.

    ReplyDelete