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Much apprech. You are spot on with your analysis. A split second before I take the bar, I'll say to myself, do X Y Z - but as soon as I unrack the bar, I am so completely focused on the lift that my mind goes blank during the set and I forget what I was supposed to remember. It's frustrating because if I remembered to squeeze the bar hard, keep the weight balanced on my feet etc i'd have better form. I guess that's where it helps to have a coach or a training partner. But i'll try to take a second before the rep to run thru what I'm supposed to do before I start the lift.

No don't do that. If you're half squatting 265 you won't be able to full squat that much. Just warm up normally and find a weight you can do for 3x5 which allows you full depth and good form. Then progress up from there.

My bodyweight thru the month of July



Weighed in at a light weight 83.6kg today. It's strange being under 185lb. I think that's hydration related more than anything else but still i'm confident i'll be under 84kg by the end of the July.

Still fat at 83.5kg - but i'm confident somewhere along the way from 84kg down to 83kg I will cross the 15% bodyfat barrier. And i'm going to be agressive about fat loss over August - nothing short of 82kg will do.

Soreness - right glutes, and right hips. Quads are still sore from friday sprints. low back is fine, lats are a bit sore from marathon chins on friday too.

Taking the day off training today, I could probably force it but there is no point pushing it. I'm deloading anyways.

Woke up 84.15kg, thought I should go try dunk. Didn't eat anything, just sipped on a whey shake. This whole kellyb inspired idea of dunking when you're light is fucking dumb.  I won't do it again. Gotta have a solid meal in and well hydrated. Couldn't actually land any dunks, i was using a different ball and i couldn't even palm it, otherwise I would have got some dunks. Then played pickup ball for 3 hours. That was dumb. Finished up and could barely walk, got in the car and started feeling nauseous, like i was about to faint, and just really freezing cold. Somehow managed to get home ok, and popped some mini snickers bars and felt better. Guess was just suffering from low blood sugar. What a waste of a day. Couldn't even play well, was sluggish and slow, was getting beaten off the dribble and couldn't even block guys who were driving inside where I was waiting.

Not sure if i'll be able to lift tomorrow, blah, the fog continues. What would abishek do? Probably quit lifting and let the adrenals return to normal function. I lost my libido like 2 months ago for the first time ever, and it hasn't come back. Maybe i'm overtrained.

Training
SQ 1x115, 1x122.5 (failed 2nd rep badly), 1x112.5, 1x110
FS 2x95 (PR)
SQ 6x95 and i think i did another set with 97.5 but i can't remember how many reps
10x30m sprints (best time 04:63 - im not sure if its a pr? anyway i hit 04:65 consistently several times today- yes checked out as PR)
1 1 hand dunk, could barely palm the ball for some reason
BP 2x85 (ugly shitty set), 6x75, 8x70
chin ladders, 26 total reps

worst training in a long itme. next week im just gonna reset and work back up on backsquats. the failure today was very ugly, my back was rounded so much when I got pinned at hte bottom. I didn't expect to fail, i haven't failed in a long time, so i didn't set the pins high enough, meaning i had to rest the bar on a low pin (i leave it there for benches) and it crumbled me up in a dangerous position. no more of this bad form shit. i honestly thought i had 120+ for a triple today after finding the 115 pretty ok. but i got greedy, maybe if i had just gone with 3x117.5 i'd have got it too :/

not mentioning how bad front squats were today, every single rep i did today whether FS or BS sucked bad, my back was rounded, every single rep was horrible and dangerous. even warmups. I shouldn't have done RDLs and DLs last workout, i should save them for fridays, lesson learnt. i think my hams (or lb or abs or all of the above) were fried from wednesdays marathon hamstring sesh and i couldn't squat for shit. end of story.

horrible end to the week, reset and good form next week!

Long story short, for over 3 years i've had chronic sciatica. I would get some bad bouts where it would be painful even getting out of bed. I sought medical treatment and I believe on last count tried 3 different physical therapists, a massage therapist and two 2 doctors. This was a complete waste of time. The first doctor told me it was ok to take ibuprofen for up to 6 months. I can't imagine anything more negligent than this advice. I took that stuff, and probably did more damage to my body than good. The physios prescribed a battery of different stretches, did that stuff, it made things better or worse sometimes. I did the foam rolling bullshit the bros love, the tennis ball and softball rolling all of that. It sometimes helped and sometiems made things worse.

Come 2012 and I just resigned myself with the though that i'd have this problem for the rest of my life. and hey, i got pretty good at managing it, i could use dencorub and ibuprofen when things got particularly bad. I knew the stretches i could do make me feel better. But i just accepted that it would be a life long thing.

So the last few months ive had no problems with my back. I've felt normal. But it was only today that I realised i was completely cured. I did the one test which always failed - lying on my back and raising my left leg into the air. Normally it would go about 50-60 degrees before I couldn't go any further, i'd have to stop there from sciatica caused discomfort. But what a shock when I found I could go all the way to 90 degrees, pain free. I'm cured. I can't explain this at all.

If i was to attempt an explanation, i'd say adding sprinting into my training, doing a lot of RDLs and staying away from deadlifts and working hard on my squatting form has made me better. I can't explain why these things would help, but they have. Perhaps my sciatica was caused by some kind of imbalance? I don't know. I couldn't tell you. I just find it completely stunning that i've fixed something that defied treatment for so long.

This is the best training community around. There is a focus on movement, strength, athleticism and so on. I know if I was doing what i had been for the last few years i would still have sciatica but being around here and doing sprints and jumps and working on form and different facets of movement, even trying different exercises has been a godsend. I think you guys are genuinely on to something with the multifaceted philosophy and training approach.

Training
SQ 1x110, 2x6x92.5
FS 2x3x92.5 (PR)
10 SVJ jumps on carpet (About 8" away from the roof so when I ever touch the roof i'll have a 30+" SVJ)
OP 2x60, 4x55, 5x52.5, 7x50 (PR)
RDL 3x115 (PR), 10x90 (PR)
DL 6,4x90

How I went from doubling 127.5 to a max of 110 I don't know. I Still can't squat very well, I think my body has forgotten how. I kind of remembered in the last set of 6x90 though by screwing my feet into the floor. I was previously forgetting to use hamstrings. But in that set my depth was borderline. So either I had depth and shitty form (quad centric squatting) or better form (hamstring involved) and bad depth. Should be able to get both next workout if I work on both aspects.

FS was fine. I failed to take a tight grip on the bar on set 1, did so in set 2 and form was better as a result.

OP, working on mastering the weights between 50-60kg aiming for the goal of 10x60. Will keep working with various rep ranges until I've mastered things. In the coming weeks i'll get 10x50 to start with, then 10x55, and finally work towards 60x10. I was able to double 60kg today so i'm not too bad on pressing considering it's only my second pressing workout this year. I'm a much better presser than bench presser, I should probably just press more, but I wanted to bench 100kg first and it's just not happening.

RDL - I didn't RDL last week, so was keen to get back into it. The only problem was grip. I haven't pulled this heavy in about 2 weeks explaining the grip weakness.

Finally I did DLs today. And i'm pleased to report the press the floor cue worked. I actually pulled with a flat back, and the weight was very easy, my form was good. This was prob the best part of training today. I would love to have a decent DL if i can fix my form, there is no reason why not.

Bodyweight: ~84.5kg - bounced up from yesterday. I guess that's to be expected.

Training
FS 2x3x90 (PR)
BS 2x100, 4x95, 2x6x90,
BP 5,4x75, 4x72.5, 2x6x70

Rusty all round after the marathon pickup ball session yesterday. Could not backsquat for the life of me, but still managed to front squat PRs. Will work extra hard this week to recover lost ground on the lifts from illness.