The Ups and Downs of high-bar squatting

Touché, you have me there. But what I meant is that it's been because the gym has been closing (somewhat unexpectedly) rather than me having other commitments. What I should do is before I start benching, do the DBSS as I can use the bench to elevate my back foot, do a few sets and then start benching immediately. I'll do this tomorrow and see how I get on.
On another note to please you, tonight I did drop snatch (looooooooove this), millions of snatch drills (first pulls, high pulls, overhead squats), and then at the end we started doing split jerks (not very good atm - never done them before either!) and for giggles some squat jerks, turns out I can do them pretty well... It was funny watching people fall over and dumping the bars whilst I could hold it overhead with a clean(ish) grip.
 
24/9/15 - Thursday

Front Squats, DBSS, Bench, done.

Lots of dynamic warm ups.

Front squat

Bar x lots
30kg x 3x3
40kg x 2x3
45kg x 5x7

Not my best evening regarding clicks to the knee but not painful at all and I think it's my left quad that is tight and that's pulling the knee a bit.

DBSS

BW x 3x8 (each leg)

Definite strength/coordinate imbalance, need to make sure I'm doing these correctly too.

Lots of shoulder mobility....

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
47.5kg x 2x6
55kg x 2x5
60kg x 2x4
65kg x 3x3

Work sets were awesome, so much stronger than all warm ups!

Rest day tomorrow! Huge session on Saturday!
 
mrthingyx said:
Juicy.
Click to expand...

Oh it got a lot juicier today!

26/9/15 - Saturday

I had to merge two sessions into one so weightlifting was minimal and used it as a way to warm up, and all other efforts went into powerlifting. Weightlifting stuff just consisted of snatch high pulls to get the shoulders, hips and glutes working.

I'm sticking with the dynamic warm up that I'm doing as it's working wonderfully. This time I added in walking lunges with a light bar on my back. This helped wake up the quads and the hips. Knee clicks went.

Front Squat

Bar x lots
30kg x 8
40kg x 3
47.5kg x 5x7

Not worrying about opening the hips as much and I'm getting much more quad use and fewer or no clicks in the knee. I am however still opening the hips rather than letting my knees crash together.

DBSS

BW x 3x8(each leg)

I actually did these on a deficit this time! Still need to sort out the foot positioning so my shin is a bit more vertical, but all in all much better this time.

Bench

Bar x lots
40kg x 8
47.5kg x 6
55kg x 3
60kg x 3
65kg x 9!

Upping the weight next week, seemed nice and easy today!

Sumo Deadlift

60kg x 5
80kg x 3
100kg x 3x6

Finding really nice positions that don't aggravate my left hip and also making the pulls so much smoother. Turns out the pull is much easier if I break the bar from the floor by actually using my glutes!

Paused Sumo Deadlift Below Knees(S)

60kg x 3
72.5kg x 3
85kg x 3
90kg x 5x2

Nice and straight forward. Need to make sure the bar stays nearer mid/upper shin when pausing rather than just below the knee.

OHP

Bar x 10
27.5kg x 6
35kg x 3
40kg x 3x3
35kg x 3x6

Getting better each week!

Chin Ups

BW x 6,6,6

That was one hell of a session! I ended up eating food in between sets to keep me going. Time to rest and prepare for training on Monday.
 
28/9/15 - Monday

Front Squats and Bench.

Front Squat

Bar x lots
30kg x 8
40kg x 5
45kg x 4x9

Easy enough. Looking forward to the weight getting heavier and the reps coming down (slightly) to help really hammer the quads.

DBSS

BW x 3x8 (Each leg)

Bench

Bar x some x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 3
67.5kg x 3
72.5kg x 4x3
60kg x 3x8

Super happy with that. I was worried that my strength had completely gone and I was pleasantly surprised. It was made harder due to not having anyone to help unrack, but I survived.

BOR

Bar x lots
30kg x 10?
40kg x 4x10

Definitely can go 5kg heavier rather than 2.5kg next week.

Deadlifts and OHP tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
29/9/15 - Tuesday

Deadlift and OHP. I liked this, I liked it a lot!

Deadlift

60kg x 5
80kg x 3
100kg x 3
110kg x 2
120kg x 5 - Was there even weight on the bar?
120kg x 4x3

120kg x 5(4 shown)

Super happy with that, went up much easier than I thought it would! Fatigue set in hard though as my 4x3 sets were much tougher, yet the pulls were incredibly smooth! Legs and glutes being sore from last night probs didn't help.

Paused Deadlift Below Knee (S)

65kg x 3
80kg x 3
92.5kg x 3
100kg x 2x2 - hahahaha, this felt far too heavy
105kg x 2 - supposed to be 2 singles; feeling even heavier!
105kg x 1 - pretty sure I had forgotten how to count and clearly loaded the bar with 200kg instead of 105kg, it just should not have felt that heavy. Felt great though!

OHP

Bar x lots
27.5kg x 6
35kg x 8
32.5kg x 8
30kg x 10

Done, nice and simple.

Chin Ups

BW x 6,6,7

Great session, time to eat everything and get ready for a two part training session tomorrow. Weightlifting in the morning and powerlifting later on.
 
Last edited:
30/9/15 - Wednesday

Front Squats and Bench.

Front Squat

Bar x lots
30kg x 8
40kg x 5
47.5kg x 5x7

Done. Getting better.

Bench

Bar x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 2x6
60kg x 2x5
67.5kg x 2x3
75kg x 3x1

Happy days, some strength is still there!

Done, time to rest.
 
02/10/15 - Friday

Front Squats. Had to get in and get out so there's almost nothing to log.

Front Squat

Bar x lots
30kg x 8
40kg x 2x3
45kg x 2x2
50kg x 5x5

I was meant to do 7 sets but calf was slightly tight so that was pulling on the knee. Just not comfortable.

Update: I have a competition in 5 weeks time so I am reintroducing back squats for light doubles and triples and shall be doing the same with front squats on my off days. So I'll squat mon/wed/fri and front squat tues/sat if I'm feeling up for it. This will be after deadlifts so we shall see... This should help be bring me up to a reasonable number to squat in the competition. The fun thing is that I'm not cutting for the competition since it's an equipped comp and I'm competing raw. So I wouldn't in anyway, I'm also not properly prepared for it either and tbh, I'm entering for the fun of it because others are. I'll worry about competing properly next year to get my qualifying total.
So next week I shall do some back squat and some front squat to get used to the movement again and then on Saturday I'll do an easy 1rm to see where I am and then do a 4 week program as (improper) prep for the competition. Should be good fun.

Bench, Sumo Deadlift and OHP tomorrow!
 
Last edited:
03/10/15 - Saturday

Bench, sumo deadlift and OHP! Oh there was a lot of awesome going on today.

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 3
67.5kg x 9

Nice and easy, had another 2-3 in me! Training max goes up next week!

Sumo Deadlift

70kg x 5
90kg x 3
100kg x 5
105kg x 5
110kg x 5
115kg(B) x 5
120kg(B) x 5

Super happy with that. I've gone from a challenging 100kg 2x6 with hip issue to 120kg x 5 with what felt like brilliant posterior chain activation, in 2 weeks!

Sumo Deadlift Block Pulls (S)

85kg x 3
97.5kg x 3
112.5kg x 2x3
125kg(B) x 2x2
132.5kg(B) x 3x1

The last top sets felt challenging to break from the block but they each went up nicely. After doing so many deadlifts though, I'm not disappointed in the slightest.

OHP

Bar x lots
30kg x 6
37.5kg x 3
42.5kg x 3x1
37.5kg x 3x5

Dones.

Chin Ups

BW x 6,7,7

BOR

30kg x lots
40kg x 4x10

And that is that finished with!
Really happy with that session. Shall be interesting to see where my deadlift is at next Saturday!
 
Last edited:
Somnambulist said:
I just went on your Instagram and did a double take. Hiiiiii.

Not seen you at Elite lately...
Click to expand...

Hahahahahaha, I was going to say hello in Elite when I put two and two together but I didn't see you for ages, and now I've moved back to Newcastle for a while! Great work on the squats btw! How's the Greg Nuckols programs working for you?
 
I haven't done it in a while. I had 6 weeks of not being on shift so did a cycle of Lyle's Generic Bulking Routine and I've used last week and this week to deload (bar going and getting that 135kg deadlift after not doing them for 6 weeks). Was't used to doing lots of higher rep sets before but it's got my squat up from 90kg 3x4 to 4x8 and I think I look a tiiiiiny bit bigger, so that was good.

As of Monday I have no idea what I'm doing again so I'm sat here at work trying to figure something out... it's tempting to go back to Greg's stuff again but... I've got all my strength back from pre-surgery then some and my strength standards according to pretty much all the calculators are basically right at the bottom of intermediate, so it's tempting to do something slightly different. His intermediate routines don't work as well with my shift pattern and for instance the squat x2 or x3 ones involve doing low/high(/front IIRC) soooooooooooo....
 
Last edited:
Somnambulist said:
I haven't done it in a while. I had 6 weeks of not being on shift so did a cycle of Lyle's Generic Bulking Routine and I've used last week and this week to deload (bar going and getting that 135kg deadlift after not doing them for 6 weeks). Was't used to doing lots of higher rep sets before but it's got my squat up from 90kg 3x4 to 4x8 and I think I look a tiiiiiny bit bigger, so that was good.

As of Monday I have no idea what I'm doing again so I'm sat here at work trying to figure something out... it's tempting to go back to Greg's stuff again but... I've got all my strength back from pre-surgery then some and my strength standards according to pretty much all the calculators are basically right at the bottom of intermediate, so it's tempting to do something slightly different. His intermediate routines don't work as well with my shift pattern and for instance the squat x2 or x3 ones involve doing low/high(/front IIRC) soooooooooooo....
Click to expand...

Damn.. two week deload? I didn't know you had turned into a Westside powerlifter before a meet... Sounds like you made some tastey gains though and grats on the deadlift!
What have you got in mind for your next routine if Greg is off the list? Wendler, Sheiko? Or maybe because of your shift pattern go for a Conjugate STYLE routine where you do 1 heavy day, one hypertrophy/technique day for squats/ deadlift and then the same for bench. The main thing is that you only go heavy on 1 lower movement a week and alternate each week. When you go heavy on a lower body lift, you do the opposite lift light on the same day. There's much better documentation on the interwebz but it might be worth considering. Also, check out Massthetics as they both did(do?) conjugate and had great results. Just food for thought.


05/10/15 - Monday

Just Bench and Rows since I'm testing squat and deadlift on Saturday so I'm just doing enough to keep the motor patterns and not much more.

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 3
70kg x 3x2
60kg x 3x5

Easy enough. Odd bit of elbow clicking caused by a tight ankle... Sounds crazy but having a tight ankle prevented me getting into a stable position on the bench, this threw my hips and my ribcage out of line and put the scap in a silly position that just was not working. Bizzare.

BOR (Bench Grip)

Bar x lots
30kg x 12
40kg x 12
45kg x 4x8

Nicer that these are heavier. Can't get as low as I would like because of the fatigue in my lumbar but I'm still getting decent contractions and great ROM so it's still doing it's job.

Finished up with some pec and shoulder stretches followed by some ankle and calf stuff because it's been giving me havoc just walking around.
 
Last edited:
mrthingyx said:
Interesting elbow issue... Although I haven't benched properly in around... Err... A very, very long time! :D
Click to expand...

Freefaller said:
Is that in Orpington or is there another Elite gym in London?
Click to expand...

I know it sounds crazy but I was talking to a physio earlier in the day and she explained all the medical mumbo behind it, I thought she was crazy, yet made sense. So when I went to bench last night, instead of looking directly at the problem area, I checked everything else. I stretched out the ankles to get a better setup and it just worked...

And yeah it's in Orpington, pricey but decent. No bumper plates though :( I was tempted to come over to your gym in Greenwich but it would have been too far for my training partner to travel, so we compromised and settled with Elite.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom