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so stick to high bar. they both looked pretty jerky, for what it's worth. take a look at your high bar video and then go look at any of kingfish's squatting videos. the focus on the knees and hips. see how smoothly his break, how controlled his body is as it folds. then compare that to how segmented your movement is.

I'll never squat as pretty as you or KF. If I was going by that i'd never bother with backsquat whatsoever. I have to compare the two relatively, not absolutely against others.

yeah i know you'll never squat like KF (don't limit yourself against me, though!). your body's completely different. doesn't mean you can't try to focus on smooth, continuous movement.

I don't want to get at all into the RDL usefulness argument ( because i have no knowledge ) , but the ROM from RDL to RDL can be different.

Here are the RDLs i used to do before Lance coached me on them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh82VnSzpT0

And here are the improved ones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldfE0SGGvxU

Yes, the improved ones are also 35kg lighter, but that was forced, the improved form caused a major load decrease. An indication of how harder the exercise got.
Also , i am not even sure if the latter is still and RDL or an RDL/stiff legged DL hybrid, but it sure is a full ROM exercise.

Just some food for thoughts

I will say that the RDL is a great grip exercise, having to hold on to a bar continuously for the whole set is by far the hardest part of doing them

I hate good mornings... even with an empty bar the tendency of the bar is to roll on your neck forward and the load on the back is a ton etc, fuck them.

ANYWAY

The snatch grip deadlift is really the "full deadlift" if you want to go that route. I'd argue that the regular deadlift is a half-deadlift and the RDL is a 1/4 deadlift.

The SGD has the longest ROM, gets you the deepest, and it really works the glutes and hams and everything. I did 2x10 yesterday with 60 kg and it was great. It's a bitch to hold the weight though so you'll use very low weights but that's great, it just means your more likely to use your legs rather than your back, and that's what you want to do. I also use the mixed hook grip when doing SGDs.

Yeah it might be a good idea, to have the backoff sets as low bar for more posterior chain work/hypertrophy.

I should do it the other way around - having the backoff sets being high bar.

Yeah it might be a good idea, to have the backoff sets as low bar for more posterior chain work/hypertrophy.

I should do it the other way around - having the backoff sets being high bar.

Makes sense. It might even be possible for me to do it more than 1x a week which is what i've been using only for my 'volume' day. I'll see how it goes.

front squats look great. you still have a weird hitch in your giddyup on the back squat that you don't on the front squat, but it does look better than before. the first rep looks good and then you start breaking kind of jerkily at the knees. i wonder why front and back are so different for you w/r/t knees.

Thanks mate! Yeah I see what you mean wrt the latter sets and jerkiness (the derivative of acceleration this is not!). I think it's because I forget to tighten up hammies, maybe? I'll keep that in mind next time. Why my FS and BS are so different, i have no idea, welcome any explanations. I'm just a natural frontsquatter and an unnatural backsquatter, I think.

Treated myself to a 'cheat' dinner + Peep Show episodes  - so good

Damn, hamstrings are nice and sore today. But nothing in the glutes Some faint late soreness emerging in glutes also!

I remember when the only part of my body that was sore post squats was glutes. That was when I had a big strong ass from really heavy sets of dangerously ugly belted lowbar backsquats of questionable depth. I wish I still had that strength and glutetrophy, I bet i'd be a lot faster on my jumping approach. I'd probably be a complete athlete then, with decent acceleration in general, sprinting, basketball and dunking. Also feel fat today. I should eat perfectly for the rest of the week.

I like what i'm getting out of lowbar assistance work. I want big firm strong buttocks that accelerate me from 0 to 100km/hr very rapidly. But i can't do 3x6 assistance every session can I?

---

Rough plan for the next 2 weeks before the basketball tournament
This week - FS 3x115 (PR) and 5x110 (PR). I'm confident about the 115 but not so much on the 110 - considering 107.5 was a 5RM yesterday. But 2.5kg in 2 sessions might be doable. I might go 108.5 tomorrow, if I get it, then go for broke sunday for the 1.5kg PR. High bar BS I'll keep going up in 2kg jumps, I did 6x107 last time, 6x109 tomorrow and 6x111 on sunday. That will be brutal im sure, but i'll pysche myself up for it.

Next week
If I get FS 5x110 and 3x115 then I'll put that lift on maintenance and focus on backsquat.  I would like my HB around 6x120 but I don't think that's doable before I leave for melbourne (26th). So. A realistic target is 6x115 - that will be challenging in itself. If I get it, then my 1RM ought to be around 300lb - which is not bad for a beltless highbar fullsquat, especially at my bodyweight. My quads will be strong.

Now that leaves hams and glutes. I'll keep doing LB assistance, maybe every session while it's still light. But dunno, maybe i'm biting off too much than I can chew. On the other hand I think there are newbie gains (esp memory gains) to be had there easily, but i have to be careful and not overrun my recovery needs.

And the one thing I haven't mentioned which is very important.. conditioning. No point being athletic as fuck when you run out of breathe within a few minutes. So i'll alternate HIIT and longer aerobic cardio (20-30mins) conditioning on training days.

And i need to work on my skills as well.. shooting, dribbling, etc. Do that every day I reckon. Aim for 10 more shots made each time. I did 45 last time, go for 60 today and then from there 10 more per session.

I'd also like to lose 1kg of fat while getting myself into top shape. So on rest days, diet. On training days, eat slight surplus. Yes i'm doing a recomp and I don't believe in them for most people (too fat, too slow a process), but I think I'm in a position to do it now.

Damn I left it last minute..  but lets see how close I can get.