Countdown to competition...

Nice work mate.

A few points:

1) Put some weight on the bar :) I haven't seen you fail a lift so you could be one of those weirdos who goes from fast-and-easy to failing in no time, but that looked like the type of lift you'd have as your opener in a PL meet. Going by that 170, I'd say you've got 180 at least, most likely 190-200.

2) You waste a bit of energy in your set-up. Firstly, don't take as many steps out of the rack. Get under the bar, get set, big breath & unrack; then, take a step back with your left to clear the rack, move your right foot back and put it into squatting position, then adjust your left foot. 3 steps max! Secondly, what's with the weird shrug thing before you start squatting? Take the time to set your upper back/rack position before unracking and you shouldn't have to do that.
Mental cues: set - unrack - left-foot - right-foot - adjust - brace - squat
 
Thanks guys... SquatNemesis is going to be interesting!

@gazareth: all very good points. I've not paid too much attention to any of what you've suggested in the past becausei it's never been much of a concern. I know I could have squeezed a dirty 180/185kg out, but it was making sure the form adequately reflects the snatch and that the strength is more efficiently translated... not sure what this means for my front squats/cleans, mind! :eek:

I can grind out lifts like the best of them, but that just winds up setting unrealistic expectations (I generally train at percentage values) and screws over my progress. I ground out 170kg in May last year, but it was a dirty, dirty rep and running RSR based on that number (and some more!) set me back a long way. So I generally don't try to grind out 1RMs any more...

But as regards the messing about pre-lift, yeah - I do that a lot. What will probably make a lot of people wince here is that I slacken off my bracing between the unrack and the lift because my head hurts from the pressure. :D

And the shrug is because the bar gets uncomfortable sitting on my traps as they're a bit of a funny shape. :(
 
There's a man with a focus ;) the oly coach in my old gym said the same thing of my grindy reps but him and I were squatting for 2 different reasons :)
 
So... Still felt a bit ropey from Thurday's session (DBSS more than anything else) so what is a guy to do without anything Ilynpic, overhead or involving biceps or pecs?

CLEAN FIRST PULL (6-8) 80-110-110 Can't remember the reps but it was more than five and less than ten. Tried snatch pulls but my addictive laughed at me...
SNATCH SLDL (5) 120-120-120 I can do these without bending my legs much... Nice back and hamstring pump.
DEFICIT SPLIT SQUAT (8) BAR-40-40 Hair of the dog. Why not? Quads were numb by the end of this...

Probably knocked back Monday's squatting but so what... :D
 
So... first day of Squat Nemesis. Currently vanilla, so triples (3RM) to doubles (2RM) to a heavy training max. This is then followed by triples from 70% of the training max Iin 5% jumps to a clean 3RM...

And then two sets of five @ 50% as fast as possible for the concentric element.

I stretched out last night and was still sore from Saturday, so was not syre what would happen today...

BACK SQUAT

60*3
110*3
130*3
140*2 So heavy... :(
150*1 Screw doubles.
160*1 Clean; but a griiiiiiiiind.

Quads and adductors and my hips were extremely unhappy at this point.

112.5*3
120*3
127.5*3
135*3
142.5*3

Nasty. But still clean...

80*5*2 Easy, but so hard after the previous fun!

First day... not bad, but legs are not amused. Piriformis will die via hockey ball tonight...
 
Urgh... Squat nemesis for front squats as my "rest" day. Adductor a are like piano wire and piriformis has rigorous mortis.

FRONT SQUATS

40*3
60*3
100*3
110*1 Really hurting now...
120*1
130*1
92.5*3
97.5*3
102.5*3
107.5*3 Started to lose bracing so stopped here...

75*5*2 Legs are insanely pumped...

Back squats tomorrow will SUCK.
 
At least Nemesis is auto-regulated and you're not having to hit numbers on a sheet. I'll definitely be erring more towards the 'daily minimum' end of the spectrum, no hyping up etc when I give it a go...
 
Looks brutal but very interesting - hadn't heard about Nemesis before but it may for well wih my desire for a programme of squats once I get done run just adding 2.5kg each workout. I could certain to squat more than once a week; have been thinking of adding it to my push day.
 
Somnambulist said:
At least Nemesis is auto-regulated and you're not having to hit numbers on a sheet. I'll definitely be erring more towards the 'daily minimum' end of the spectrum, no hyping up etc when I give it a go...
Click to expand...

The problem with auto-regulation is what Nick Horton describes: feeling rubbish if you don't hit something like the numbers hit the day before or whatever...

GSVBagpuss said:
Looks brutal but very interesting - hadn't heard about Nemesis before but it may for well wih my desire for a programme of squats once I get done run just adding 2.5kg each workout. I could certain to squat more than once a week; have been thinking of adding it to my push day.
Click to expand...

Go into it with your eyes open... it hurts and doesn't leave much room for anything else in a workout. :o

BACK SQUAT Warmed up with some quad tendon tack flossing - felt a lot better afterwards.

40*4
70*3
110*3
130*3
140*1
155*1 Could have squeezed out 160kg again, but didn't want to go full dirty.
110*3
125*3
135*3 Didn't twig until I loaded up 135kg that I had got my percentages wrong...

Quck checkup with the physio and he's now reasonably certain that it was a tear to the long head of biceps tendon that has caused the shoulder injury. If it carries on healing nicely, I get eccentric brocep work next week... I am sure I can workin some eccentric 21s... :eek:
80*5*2 Essplossseeeve.
 
mrthingyx said:
The problem with auto-regulation is what Nick Horton describes: feeling rubbish if you don't hit something like the numbers hit the day before or whatever...
Click to expand...

I suppose it comes down to how well you're able to let go of a single workout and look at progress over a longer time frame, get into that 'strength is a skill' thing, as well as using time productively (e.g. like how the Chinese lifters, if they're having a bad day with their high % singles will just make up the volume by doing more triples or whatever at a lower percentage whilst still using time as a gauge - more work capacity = do more in the same session time!). Must be easier with any given lift if you're training it with higher frequency though v.s. twice a week or something where you tend to put greater expectations on yourself to make progress each time.

People like Tom Martin say when doing high frequency things tend to start off good, go to pot for a bit, then smooth out and be fairly consistent so bad days are relatively uncommon and usually end up being down to external or self-inflicted factors like illness or partying too hard the night before.
 
Pretty much. I was reading about the 'Bulgarian' training method, and the commentary from most people that have been subjected to it is that it is sickeningly brutal and results in feeling like death... but the results speak for themselves.

The same commentary normally highlights that it takes about 6 months to adapt properly... those who did not got cut. :)
 
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