Adarq.org

Date: 12/11/12

BW: 138 lbs
CNS: 7/10

Soreness: low back, hip flexor muscle

Warm Up:
  Quick Activation and Mobility Drills
  30 min walk to gym

Workout:
  Squats 1 x 6 (empty bar), 1 x 6 45kg (i wanted to do 25kg, but i accidentally put 20kg on both sides, 3 x 7-8 55kg (wrong form so did more, will explain in the             
  comment section)
 
  Calf Raises 2 x 8 x 55kg
  RDL 2 x 6 x 55kg  (still finding grip difficult)
  Pull Ups 8, 5
  Dips 13, 8
  Arm Swings 6kg 20 each slow, 10 each fast after x 2 sets

Stretches: 
   Cool down overall body stretches

Cool Down:
  30 min walk back to uni
 
Comment:
Firstly I have to talk about what happened with my squat, during the warm up i planned on progressing the warm up, empty, 25kg then 55kg, but accidentally went empty, 45kg, 25kg (i realized my mistake), 55kg, back to the main point when i was doing the squats i thought i was going parallel but when i simulated it without bar in front of mirror i was only going about 3/4 of the way.

This way

            \
             \
              \
             _\
  _---'''''''
  \
__\

And not this way (parallel)


          \
           \
            \
  .---,,,__\  <-Hip crease in line with knee)
  \
__\

So that is a problem, so i decided to try again but go lower than i usually do at the same weight, more struggle but was able to complete 6 reps.
So i am thinking should i start from low weight and do deeper squats or carry on with same weight. I was thinking do a progressive increase in load for one workout until i reach a weight i fail at and keep working at it until i get to my current weight going that low (55kg).
I also missed out the 20 rep as i can imagine how brutal and hard it would be for me to get the 20 reps.

My back is sore and my hip flexor muscle was sore when i went deep. But i think when i did try go deep i was able to get my thighs parallel to ground and not my hip crease in line with my knees. So my lower back is a bit sore.

I will have to ice it. The other exercises were ok as they were not as hard as the squat. Now the RDL another problem for me because when i was about 1 years old, my finger got cut on the door, like a piece of my finger was on the floor and after a while, miraculously a nail still grew from that point and instead of going up goes around the broken finger and is perpendicular to a normal nail, like below, its my little finger btw.

normal finger

Nail
\/
|/''''|
||    | <- Finger
||    |
My finger
 
   ,...._ <- Nail
  ||'''''\
  ||     | <- Finger

So when i lift bar for RDL, my fingers wrap around, my little finger doesn't wrap round is only 3/4 around and since the nail is facing towards the bar, the bar has the rough texture, i can feel when it gets heavier my little finger gives way first as the bar trys to pull on my nail, so i am left with 3 fingers and thumb.
So i dropped the bar back on the rack when i was at 4th rep because of my little finger.

I thought i was going to be able to get only lower body work done today but managed to get all the workout done.
 

Workout Rating: 8/10

So, your 8 rep squat is ~55kgs, but you can do 45kgs for 20 reps? Seems a bit off...possibly you're losing depth in the 20 rep near the end, or you should try to put more weight on for the 8 rep set.

When i am doing squats, i try do a completed reps of between 6-8 reps. After i do 75% rm and do adarq's 20 repper squat.
So i can possibly do more but i want to do the reps between 6-8 reps and progress to next weight and aim for those reps and i can advantage of my body i deloading 5kg off and do that for the 20 repper squats.

So yeah, i try complete 6-8 reps of squats and if i can hit those i increase the weight by 5kg and do 6-8 of those and keep progressing from there and my 20 reps, the depth is the same but i feel both of my squats are not good enough depth as when the weight gets heavier my body cheats to get to avoid getting to a point where i feel i won't be able to get up.

Try a mixed grip with the RDLs (one hand over and one under) if you're having problems (although, the little finger really doesn't do much for me grip-wise, my grip is basically the same with or without it for bar exercises).

will try, but might have to leave my little finger out so it doesn't get grinded by the bar.

thanks

Quote from: seifullaah73 on November 13, 2012, 05:17:17 am

Quote from: acole14 on November 12, 2012, 11:01:03 pm

So, your 8 rep squat is ~55kgs, but you can do 45kgs for 20 reps? Seems a bit off...possibly you're losing depth in the 20 rep near the end, or you should try to put more weight on for the 8 rep set.

When i am doing squats, i try do a completed reps of between 6-8 reps. After i do 75% rm and do adarq's 20 repper squat.
So i can possibly do more but i want to do the reps between 6-8 reps and progress to next weight and aim for those reps and i can advantage of my body i deloading 5kg off and do that for the 20 repper squats.

So yeah, i try complete 6-8 reps of squats and if i can hit those i increase the weight by 5kg and do 6-8 of those and keep progressing from there and my 20 reps, the depth is the same but i feel both of my squats are not good enough depth as when the weight gets heavier my body cheats to get to avoid getting to a point where i feel i won't be able to get up.

Well, the 20 repper should be hard as fuck (the last time I did it, with a max squat of maybe around 155kgs at the time, I did 100kgs for 20 reps and it was brutal, barely finished). There's no way I could do 20 reps by just dropping off 5 kilos from my 8-rep max (prob 120kgs).

If you're having problems telling if you're hitting below parallel, a cue I use is that when you feel your calves and hamstrings making contact, then you are probably past parallel depth. My advice is that you have a session where you just try and get as deep as possible with low weight so you know what hitting ATG depth feels like. Then you'll have a better idea when you start your work sets. Also, improve your squat flexibility by doing deep squat sit holds and stretch your adductors and hip flexors before you go too crazy. One mistake I made was not being flexible enough in the RoM of the full squat before doing it at high-frequency.

I guess i was cheating that's why it wasn't that hard as i was only maybe do half squats but when i go very deep i struggle to do 6 reps at a deep stance and that is just about parallel so i can imagine how hard 20 reps would be.

i found a stretch in stronglifts website a hip flexor stretch where you place your hands under your feet squat all the way down lift each hand up towards the sky alternatively and leaving your hands under your feet you come up and then back down and repeat.

i would always do warm up sets by going deep its just when it gets heavy my body doesn't want to go that low any more as it fears it won't have enough strength getting back up.

i think its a mentality thing as well that i'm scared that i will be stuck at the bottom, so have to overcome that barrier as well.

i will try what you said, thanks for the advice mate

peace

Soreness: lower back (occurs when going low in squat), core (don't know why, must be the protein shake), hip flexor muscle

 

Date: 25/11/12 (long time)

BW: 140 lbs  (like this weight)
CNS: 8/10

Soreness: none, suprised about that

Warm Up:
  Quick Activation and Mobility Drills
  30 min walk to gym

Workout:
  Box Jumps with dumbell, 12inch and 16inch; estimate: 10 reps x 2 box x 6kg db, 10 reps x 2 box x 8kg db
  Squats 1 x 8 (empty bar), 1 x 8 20kg, 1 x 8 x 30kg, 2 x 12 x 40kg
  Squat ATG 1 x 1 rep x 40kg (just for fun)
  Calf Raises 2 x 12 x 40kg
  RDL 2 x 7 x 40kg (no rugby players as i went there at 1pm)
  Pull Ups 8
  Dips 10
 
Cool Down:
  30 min walk back to uni

Stretches: 
   Cool down overall body stretches
 
Comment:
As i went to the lockers outside the changing room, all were taken, so had to use lockers in the changing room aka nude room    , disgusting, but what was worse that a guy straight from the shower, towel over his shoulders, naked went up to this guy on the same bench as me but in the corner 2 metre away, in front, nude,  telling him he was in front of his locker, i guess he got the bad seat, lol. No shame nowadays these people. So left went to the gym, all squat racks taken, decided to do tke using leg press but the seat is wierdly shaped when i lower the weight towards me and puts pain in my lower back i don't know why, so LEG PRESS BAD FOR YOUR LOW BACK. I decided to do some explosive training got some dumbbells and did box jumps, they were more like tables then boxes. did it with 6 and 8 kg dumbbells. on both medium and above medium tables. Then the squat racks were free so went on. Did proper low depth to parallel and felt comfortable and hit 12 reps on 40kg. It felt controlled and my glutes even were killing when i sat so that was good lol.
btw i decided to wear the black trainers as they close to lifting shoes a bit elevated on the heel. But when doing calf raises it is difficult so did calf raises with my socks. When placing bar down for deadlift i decided to do ATG squats where i go down with muscle restriction and reach bottom and push out, not that difficult to come up and felt good and then all the way down to place bar on the lower part of the rack which sticks out , which i had to go right down sit on my heels, and place bar down and duck underneath and get up and caused this strange little painful lump on the top part of the left ab muscle near the part of the rib where they meet, strange, don't know why. Did RDL's, good form on second and third set i think i did. Then time was running out so did pull ups 8 reps and with only a few seconds rest did dips of 10 reps after and was finished. Went back to the changing room and suprise suprise; well not really, some nude dudes, lol. Got my stuff and left. I would like all my squat at any weight no matter how heavy to be as comfortable as the squats at 40kg.

Workout Rating: 9/10 (a very good workout)

Date: 2/12/12

BW: 140 lbs
CNS: 8/10

Soreness: lower legs, slight upper body

Warm Up:
  Activation and Mobility Drills
  30 min walk to gym
  TKE using Leg Curl Machine

Workout:
  3 x 10kg box jumps
  Squats 1 x empty, 1 x 8 x 20kg, 1 x 8 x 40kg, 2 x 12 x 45kg
  Calf Raises 2 x 12 x 45kg
  RDL 2 x 8 x 45kg
  Pull ups 6, 8 (first set doing pull ups on squat rack, which bar on rack, so bar got in the way)
  Dips 12, 10

Stretches: 
   Cool down overall body stretches

Cool Down:
  30 min walk back to uni
 
Comment:
The workout went excellent, squat racks are occupied on sundays so gives me a chance to do box jumps, which is jump specific and with 10kg dumbells, this gave me an idea that i can do 10kg dumbell full atg pistol squats, i have strength to do it without dumbell 10 reps all the way down. this can maybe help my squat more, don't know, regarding the squat before i had this problem that my body would lean forward when i can't go any lower, so i decided to split my legs a bit wider than shoulder stance, as before it was shoulder width or a bit less, so that was hard to go deep, but wider stance, helped a lot, that doing squats was nice and comfortable and after i was able to do 3 reps of atg 45kg and still felt could do more but stopped. Calf raises in socks, as i wear the trainer which the base is stiff, so i have to take it off and do it in my socks. The alternate grip, did not feel like last session. Heavy but maintained good form. Pull ups was good, i think i have improved my max to a bit more than 8 and dips easy at 12 reps and 10 reps. Lets see how it goes at 50kg, my struggle weight, the nemesis of my 5RM.

Workout Rating: 9/10

Date: 07/12/12
BW: 63.7kg
CNS: 5/10

Soreness: mid upper back, lower right back, glutes and legs before now a little

Warm Up:
  30 min walk to gym 
 
Workout:
  Olympic Squats 1 x empty 6 reps, 8 reps of 20kg, 40kg, 2 x 12 x 50kg (good form but the last 2 reps was a struggle)
  calf raises 2 x 12

Stretches: 
   Cool down overall body stretches

Cool Down:
  30 min walk back to uni
 
Comment:
I went to sleep at 1 pm coz i ate late, than i had to wake up at 6pm get ready, ended up waking at 6.20pm and leaving home at 8.20am, i arrived at 8:45 got to work straight away as i had to leave at 9:25 to make in time for my lecture. I didn't realize how much less sleep would affect like it did today. i didn't feel tired but when squatting 45kg was nice and easy 50kg was struggle made sure good form, my glute was very very sore during the last few reps. i had time for calf raises and go.

So i got a plan that maybe the box jumps with dumbells can help as they did on sunday and made 45kg look comfortable or maybe because i rested well that day.
so my plan is that every time i achieve a weight a factor of 50 like, 50, 100, 150.

everytime i add 50kg on the weight, i will add a variation, i will start adding box jumps and then when i reach 100kg i will probably start adding single leg atg pistol squats with dumbbells and move on to front squats and then bulgarian split squats or whatever i think of at that time. hopefully this can help make the bar i lift comfortable and less of a struggle.

Workout Rating: 7/10
Fatigue: 7/10 (from the 12 rep squats)