Adarq.org

I need to measure some stuff... brb

Training
FS 4x100, 5x99.5 (PR)
BSS 35x5R, 35x5L, 35x4R (fail), 35x4L, 35x5R, 35x5R

OHP 2x5x56, 8x50

FS notes:
Was annoyed at not getting the 100kg pr, so decided to attempt a closeby 99.5 pr on the 2nd set. Got it but form left much to be desired. So next week i'll probably get 100x5 and then i'll see what to do about progressing from there.

BSS notes:
My right side is a lot weaker than L. I can go deep (touching ground with knee) on L. Not so much on R. Good! This means i've got an imbalance and I have an exercise which will fix it hopefully!

Shit failed BSS at the bottom of the last rep. had to jerk the barbell over my head, then drop it infront of me. Not sure how i'm supposed to fail these without breaking my shit.

Ok back into the rack, the pins will save me if I get trapped. Sorted out.

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Anyway i'm fucked off with with my problems with squat form. I dunno if it's my body dimensions, my bent bar, the not level floor, or just flexibility but i've had enough with asymmetry. The bar isn't straight on my back, isn't straight out of the hole. Was thinking since i pay for medical insurance regularly I should probably try geting something back for my money and try seeing a physiotherapist, if it will help rule out a few of these factors. They tend to be useless quacks in my experience but surely this isn't a difficult problem to diagnose..?

Just another thought. If the problem is imbalance - I should try unilateral exercises. I've wanted to try bulgarian split squats earlier this year. But I couldn't because of a persistent ankle injury. I'm healed from that now so I might give it a shot. I just realised I don't even have to use a lot of weight. Suppose I work up to 100kg BSS then that's plenty of weight for just 1 leg. right? It shouldn't be too unsafe. I'm not used to training outside the cage though so it feels a bit weird.

Make sure you keep an upright torso as possible if you're doing barbell bulgarian split squats. When I did them I tended to lean forward as I was going down - that's why I switched to dumbbell BSSs that are so much better (for me at least).

Well I mean... you're probably going to load the quads quite a bit if you do bend forward and considering you're already doing front squats I guess you're using BSSs for glute development, which they're GREAT at.

For me, the BSS is the best glute exercise ever. Better than hip thrusts and RDLs.

you can shift the focus of BSS within your leg by moving your forward foot closer to or farther from the bench. closer = more quad, farther = more hip. have you considered doing TKE's or something as part of the warm up? you might just have trouble activating your quads at all, "feeling" them working.

for low back it's all about hypers and reverse hypers. you can do reverse hypers on a kitchen table.

Here is a summary of what i'm going on about -

• Use BSS to fix strength imbalance of R leg << L leg
• In addition to correcting the imbalance the BSS will also improve quad strength of both legs
  
• Use extra leg strength from BSS to improve form on the last 1/3rd of front squat
  
• Use corrected leg strength symmetry to backsquat with great form

So BSS will help both FS and BS. It will help BS the most because of its corrective effect on asymmetry. It will help FS too because more leg strength -> better FS form. My current FS being limited by leg strength as i'm very strong out of the bottom of the hole but weak at finishing the last 1/3.

Does this make sense?

My goals are still much the same - I like FS as my favorite squat exercise and will continue to use it as my main squat with the goal of hitting a FS ~ 1.9xBW, BS ~ 2xBW.

I just see correcting imbalance as neccesary for going further because i'm currently limited by the imbalance from doing backsquats well. And FS are limited by leg strength but unfortunately I can't see a way to improve leg strength using FS alone. I seem to have turned the FS into one that doesn't emphasis the quads somehow and it is the BS for me which is the more leg dominant exercise. But the problem with the BS is my form is horrendous due to the assymetry. So hopefully once symmetry is restored, I can use the BS to add tons of leg strength which will carry over to the FS as well.

Mad DOMS in glutes post BSS. Wasn't expecting that but looks like you were right raptor. Nothing in quads (or hams for that matter). Maybe it's not heavy enough yet to make my quads sore?

Kelly is setting the bar low there, 80% of BS is pretty inefficient, maybe if you use a belt on BS and don't go very deep and get bent over a lot? Dunno. Mine is closer to 100% lol. I like it that way. A good oly lifter has a ratio closer to 90-95% from what i've read though.