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My 2c (worth less than than when converted to real currency) is that this is a nail in the coffin for raw-dawg thinking which says beltless is best. For 2 guys squatting the same weight, the guy without a belt is stronger. Fact. No one can dispute that with any EMG study.

But moving on from that obvious fact, this says if you put on a belt, you get more pop out from your legs when squatting. Greg says it in terms of quad and hamstring recruitment which is something I don't understand but the gyst of it is that the weight gets a lot easier to move when you use a belt because you can fire more leg muscle fibres to move the load. This a revelation.

 In the past it was thought just have more IAP with a belt made it easier because it helped with the superficial and obvious matter of stabilising the torso. But now we think it helps activate more muscles in the leg. If i was a beltless guy before, i'm not for-belted just because leg strength is training goal #1 for most of us and if a belt helps us use more leg musculature then that's a good enough reason to use it.

Rambling digression, it's kind of like when I squat without using caffeine. Everything is a lot heavier. A lot harder. I must take off 10% off the bar. It's magical taking caffeine and finding the same weights a lot easier and more than that, being able to lift a weight you couldn't lift without the caffeine. Belts seem to have the same effect here, so if we take caffeine to lift more weight better then using a belt is justified on the same grounds.

I only wish I could use a belt but it always seems to throw my form off so much. I wonder if it's because I get so much contribution from my legs and buttocks with a belt that it causes my hips to shoot up too fast? Might be something to explore.

Just checked quads and they're ~19.5" - which is dwarfed by todday's 24" quads (!) - but yeah i need a lot more meat on my quads to not have stick legs. I'm all ham (he says as he bites into a slice of ham and cheese pizza).

if you think you can take it psychologically, i'd try doing one assistance exercise at a time for your back, low weight, moderate-to-high reps, after squatting. so start with 3x10 really light good mornings, maybe. or hypers, which you can do on a bench.

When you put it that way i can def work with that. Thanks so much. I see now that I need to keep it fresh and interesting, i couldn't stand the thought of doing the same assistance exercise for a long time. Also starting conservatively so it doesn't disrupt regular training is a lesson i've always had to learn the hard way.

also, 27" is huge!

lol, 27" sounds crazy to me too but it's true even when cold. After squatting it goes up half an inch. But I do weigh 96 or whatever it is now  so dunno.

I just realised I still have to lie about my squats. I was too embarssed to tell my friend that i'm a lowly 140 and 155 squatter and instead said i am a 150 and 170. The latter is my current goal sure, but i'm not there yet. So I have work to do.

Training
FS 1x137.5
BS 1x145, 6x2x130

FS notes:
Honestly had no idea what to attempt on FS today. i felt that I wasn't ready to do a repeatable 140kg just yet, but i didn't wanna go as low as 135. It's all bullshit really. I will work up to a repeatable 140kg and once i get there then i'll find out what my max is, hopefully on the strong side of 145kg.

BS notes:
Fuck basketball, has ruined my backsquat and hurt my back I am having serious form problems have found myself with technique amnesia on the heavy reps. I think i eventually figured it out during 3rd double of 130kg but by then enough fatigue had accumlated that i couldn't go for a PR. For the record I failed a string of reps starting from 145-153.5kg which i haven't logged.

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So russian squat program redux. This time i'll get more out of it after my first attempt. Bring it on!

Played ball again lolz. Was a lot more explosive today jumping. But on that end of the court the rim is low so it's not really anything special. I am going to try the Broz approach of embracing the dark times. Perhaps i'll adapt and come out of it ok.

Training
BS 1x150, 0Fx160, 0Fx155
BBALL ~1hr
BP 3x95 (PR)

BS notes:
I was running late for basketball so I had to rush everything but still managed to be really late anyways. I have to say a few things - my choice of weights was probably wrong, i must admit in hindsight. I could have given it a lot more consideration. For instance. If my 1RM is 155-157.5kg then I shouldn't have done a single with 150kg first. It's too close to the max that it causes enough fatigue to prevent a successful PR attempt. But. It seemed like a jump from 140kg to 160kg was too steep. that's why I went for the intermediate 150kg. In hindsight my last warmup shuda been around 145kg only.

I'm pretty gutted at failing what I thought was an ideal end to the program -- 160kg max would have been sick. Unfortunately lack of sleep and having a cold and playing too much basketball on the last week cost me my goal PR.

Looking at the video now, i had it pretty controlled into the hole, came out of the hole ok. And i just couldn't get past the sticking point. I hate that about my squatting - i either get a rep strongly or fail. I don't have the opportunity to grind out a heavy 1RM like most ppl.

Basketball:
Pickup ball has been ramping up, i worked up a decent heart rate today. And hit a lot of my jumpers. To the point where leaving me open for a midrange was a defensive error costing points against. So that's the only good thing about training today. Otherwise very ordinary.

BP notes:
I did the cgbp today AFTER playing basketball. I think on a fresh day i could triple 97.5-100? I really want to get to 100kg just for the milestone then i'll work towards a 120kg max which is an awesome uperbody goal (to/for me). Surprisingly i'm being beginning to grow what appears to be pecs! I wonder what the next 10kg will bring? So exciting. Til very recently I had no visible pecs, just man boobs.

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I feel pretty terrible about missing 160kg.  I didn't even get a chance to weigh my fat ass so i dunno what bw was. Doesn't matter. Next week, new program. I am also putting an end to the unlimited eating. I am so sick of eating food now, i have turned myself off eating. Looking forward to eating less as of tomorrow onwards.

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My new goal going forward is a 170kg backsquat @ bodyweight of 85kg. My plan for getting is quite obvious to me after my stint with the RSR. I'll just restart RSR with 130kg. The only difference is i'll try to bump up my 1 rep PR by 1-2.5kg every week, so i wont be going 6 weeks before attempting a heavy PR again. Ie. i'm adapting RSR to my needs. I will also be capping volume to under 25 reps, no 6x6s this time around while on a caloric deficit. Oh and basketball takes precedence so i'll have to be really smart about recovery. But yeah thie job is only half done. I need to get the 2xbw BS out of the way asap, it's the easiest most trivial goal I am embarassed not to have done yet.

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Also, sad day today. Rip to a fallen soldier, original OG, Mandela. Grew up looking up to him, we will miss him.

When is the last time you've done plyometric work? You look like a guy with a lot of untapped strength into power. You're like a mini-tractor that sucks when he's pushed at high RPM.

Looking good^^^

You're still SO slow in your plants and moves and everything... you should start doing some more plyos and sprints and stuff like that when you think you've had enough with strength training.

Just cycle these things out.

agree.

But that beard....epic sir, epic.

I'm going to have to agree with Raptor and LBSS, just imagine how much higher you'll be jumping with a proper run up and low BF though!

Raptor i haven't done plyometric stuff since last summer when I dabbled at it for a few weeks. Did depth jumps from 24" or so? I didn't measure it out just used a retaining wall near the basketball court. I haven't done sprints in ages. They used to make my legs too sore to squat normally but i really loved doing them when I did.

If you want to run up faster. Do you just .. run up faster? Is that what I should be focusing on? I will think about it next time.

It's still really early for me. I only played ball for the first time on saturday. Then played again monday. And will play friday once more. Saturday I was really slow and unexplosive. Monday I was much much faster but still quite ultimately slow.  So i'm going to get a lot of muscle memory gains each time i play for a while. But when it stops working i'll need to ask for help. I actually would like to know what sort of things would give me the most value for the buck. If there is a low-impact exercise or activity which can make me more reactive i'm all ears. I used to love doing short sprints, 5x30m but they leave my legs too smashed to play ball normally and/or squat well. Maybe i'll try longer sprints this time and do 200m ones instead? I can try that friday.

I haven't reached my strength goals though so i'm going to keep trying to push my squats up. I feel a 180kg backsquat will make me strong enough and if I achieve it my front squat will be round that 2xbw corner. Otherwise the only way my front squat becomes a double bw is if i do the long cut to 75kg which i've been advised to avoid.

Fared pretty poorly the next day. Soreness all over, legs, hips, buttocks, lower back, upper body. Ugh. I took it as a sign and smashed a lot of protein, starting with 2 shakes. Drank over a litre of milk. Ate eggs, bread, ham. Loads of chicken. Pasta. Went out for a birthday dinner at a thai restaurant -- ate loads again, green curry chicken and phad thai represent. I haven't been this full in a long time. I also did a fair bit of restorative work, stretchin and rollin. Feels pretty good at the end of the day. Lets see how it goes tomorrow.

Just for fun i'll go weigh my self and see how it compares to the morning bodyweight.

Morning bw: 94.25kg
Night bw: 97.5 kg
delta: 3.25kg (7 pounds for my imperial brothers)