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Back is very sore today , confirming yesterday's hideous form. Haven't had such back soreness in years, must have been the worse squats ever.
Must take a step back. Perfect form will be the red line , no limited rom / bad form reps , either perfect rep or fail.
Since i am not perfectly healthy too, i will start over squats using the Starting Strength proposed method to determine my starting point , no matter how light the load will be:

The first set of squats begins at 45 lbs (an empty barbell) and a set of five is performed. If this is completed easily with the trainee's best form, ten pounds are added to the bar for the next set. If bar speed does not slow and form does not break down, ten more pounds are added to the bar and another set is performed. This process continues until either form begins to falter or the bar speed slows more than the preceding sets, whichever comes first. This is the trainee's starting weight. Once this occurs the trainee rests and performs two more sets at this weight, for a total of three sets of five reps (3x5) at the starting weight.

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4 July 2012

Bodyweight@session : ~190
Soreness : none
Injuries/aches : left quad.

Starting Strength - workout #4

HANG POWER CLEANS:
3@88lbs
3@99lbs
3@110lbs
3@121lbs
3@132lbs

SQUATS:
5@181,5 lbs ( +5,5 lbs )
5@181,5 lbs ( +5,5 lbs )
5@181,5 lbs ( +5,5 lbs )
-Embarrassingly challenging but got all reps.
-Quad almost not bugging at all.

BICEPS EZ-BAR CURLS:
12@59,5 lbs
12@59,5 lbs
12@59,5 lbs

TRICEPS PUSHDOWNS:
12@55 lbs
12@55 lbs
12@55 lbs

You get off, just like in MSEM singles. CoolColJ got some serious strength gains using the myo-reps.
I remember kellyb saying that's not too convenient for squats, as unracking-setting up-reracking is supposed to be very demanding in heavy loads ( 400+). The heaviest set i've done in my life is 374lbs quarter squats so i don't really know...

inb4, JC posting sarcastic gif about CoolColJ in 3...2...1...

Rest-Pause is what the "Lance method" is actually called.

2 July 2012

Bodyweight@session : ~191
Soreness : none
Injuries/aches : left quad.

Starting Strength - workout #3

SQUATS :
5@176 lbs ( +5,5 lbs )
5@176 lbs ( +5,5 lbs )
5@176 lbs ( +5,5 lbs )
-Quad bugging much less. Much easier than Friday although heavier. Sweet!

BENCH PRESS:
5@137,5 lbs ( +5,5 lbs )
5@137,5 lbs ( +5,5 lbs )
5@137,5 lbs ( +5,5 lbs )
-Got all reps but cheated ROM on 3 or 4 reps so i will stay at same load next week.

SEATED MACHINE ROWS:
8@215 lbs ( +5 lbs )
8@215 lbs ( +5 lbs )
8@215 lbs ( +5 lbs )
-Very hard but legit, strong!
Edit : I just checked my journal, my all time PR is 8x215 while being 195lbs. Also it was a ramp-up 4x8 : 185-195-205-215.
So today's 3x8@215 being 191 lbs is a big

STANDING CALVE RAISES:
3x15@209 lbs

Consumed way too much alcohol this weekend, i expected to be weak as shit today, i was surprisingly strong.
Also did a lot of swimming , i expected that it would help my quad heal. This morning it felt very tired and injury was bugging but by the time i got to the gym ( 7:30 pm ) it felt better than ever since last re-flare.
It is very irritating/frustrating that i can't go out and jump/dunk but oh well , i gotta do what i gotta do.

28 June 2012

Bodyweight@session : ~191
Soreness : none
Injuries/aches : left quad.

Starting Strength - workout #2

SQUATS :
5@170,5 lbs ( +5,5 lbs )
5@170,5 lbs ( +5,5 lbs )
5@170,5 lbs ( +5,5 lbs )

SEATED OHP:
5@110 lbs
5@110 lbs
5@110 lbs

CHINUPS:
7@Bodyweight
6@Bodyweight
6@Bodyweight

LANCE CALVE RAISES ( SL eccentric - DL Concentric ):
3x8@110lbs each leg

Today for some reason I thought to try partial squats. Looking at the video, with my long limbs, it still looks like a legitimate exercise. I can imagine a small person not doing much work with partial squats, but for me, it looks like a genuine lift. I mean someone 5'7" even full squatting looks a bit like a ezy peazy curtsey to me, nevermind their partial. But discovering how wonderful partial squats are to do makes me question the whole zealous dogma surrounding full squats. But for me right now, the main advantage is that works well with restricted ankle ROM. I also felt it target my quads very well, which was surprising. Will explore them further. Wish I had sooner, I guess I could afford to be even more open minded than I thought I was when it comes to training.

Welcome to my world!
I have had those thoughts about full/half squats in relation with long legs ( mine are ~38'' to hip joint with a height just under 6' ) for many years now.
I think that the answer is that we are WEAK AS SHIT and we tend to favour the half squats because we can lift more weight there. Having long-ass limbs makes it even worse , because it amplifies the full/partial squat strength gap.
Using both is not bad though, just imho make sure to stick with the (lighter) full squats for strength gains, use partials for specifity/stim/peaking.

Just 2 bro-science cents