The Ups and Downs of high-bar squatting

12/11/15 - Thursday

Such a good session.

Edit: Missed out Snatch stuff!
After benching I worked on Snatch technique by simply doing muscle snatch x5 and then Overhead Squat x 5 for a couple of sets. This was to get used to using the hips properly, keeping the bar against me and pulling high with the elbows. Lovely stuff.

Bench

Bar x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 3
67.5kg x 5x5 - Easy.

Nuff said.

Squat

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 5
60kg x 3
80kg x 3
100kg x 2
110kg(B) x 3x3 - Noice
95kg x 4x8

That was so much fun, brutal and sickening, but so much fun. Fingers crossed for leg gains.

OHP

Bar x lots
30kg x 5
37.5kg x 3
42.5kg x 5

Feeling better.

RDL

75kg x 4x12

BOR

45kg x 4x12

Well my back is fried and my legs are pumped. Good times. Time to rest for a monster session on Saturday.
 
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14/11/15 - Saturday

Another really good session. Not impressive, it just felt good.

Started with power snatch for sets of 5 from boxes, starting with the training bar (5kg), for a few sets, working up to 15kg for a few sets, and then working up to 20kg for 3 sets of 5. I'd like to point out that is an all time pb!:cool:

Onto Powerlifting!

Bench

Bar x lots
40kg x 8
45kg x 8
55kg x 6
62.5kg x 2x4
72.5kg x 2x3

Super easy.

Squat

Bar x lots
40kg x 5
60kg x 3
80kg x 3
95kg x 2
102.5kg(B) 5x5 - I think that's a rep/set pb
87.5kg x 4x6

Felt so good.

Sumo Deadlift

70kg x 5
90kg x 3
110kg x 2
125kg(B) x 2x6

Felt heavy, yet moved really easily. Just doing lots and lots of squatting probably did not help matters.

Sumo Deadlift Knee Pulls (S)

80kg x 3
95kg x 3
110kg x 3
117.5kg 4x3

Now everything is fried.

OHP

Bar x lots
30kg x 5
35kg x 12
30kg x 12 - Supposed to be 32.5kg
30kg x 15

That's enough of that.

Power Shrugs

40kg x 4x12

Really getting the hang of these. Felt good.

And that is that done. Such a long session but such a fun session. Thank goodness that I have tomorrow off.
 
GSVBagpuss said:
How long were you in the gym for? 9 sets of squats is bascially cardio ;)
Click to expand...

That session took a fair while, close to 3 hours but I did stop at one point just to eat pasta. That session took longer though because I just put two session together and worked my way through two days worth of volume and intensity at once. It didn't seem to do me much harm.
I've temporarily spread my sessions out even further now to six days but by keeping the volume and intensity the exact same over the week. Hopefully this will result in being in the gym a little but less and give me more time to other areas.
 
16/11/15 - Monday

Squats and OHP.

Nothing went quite right tonight. Rather disappointed.

Squat

Bar x lots
40kg x 5
60kg x 3
80kg x 3
100kg x 2
110kg(B) x 5x3
102.5kg(B) x 4x4 - Nice!

Didn't feel as smooth as previous sessions but the reps weren't difficult either.

OHP

Bar x lots
30kg x 5
37.5kg x 3
42.5kg x 4+1, 5, 4+1
37.5kg x 3x8 - Felt so much lighter

Back just felt fried and nothing in general was firing tonight. I know people use that as an excuse at times but I can feel the difference :p

Power Shrugs

50kg x 4x10

Good Morning

25kg x 4x10

Done and finished. Pleased that's over so I can get some rest.
 
mrthingyx said:
Happens to everybody at some point... There are certain precursors, but sometimes the bar just mocks our efforts... :cool:
Click to expand...

GSVBagpuss said:
Fixed it for myself
Click to expand...

Tonight was marginally better than last night but I had almost zero food in me. I went into the session having eaten nothing more than a bowl of cereal the entire day.

17/11/15 - Tuesday

Snatch, "Clean" and Power Jerk, Deadlifts..... No bench again... :(

Start of the session began with lots of snatching consisting of 15kg, 20kg and 25kg for various sets and sets of 3. My technique is far from perfect, far from good tbh but at the least 'respectable'. Lots and lots to work on such as not hoping forward. Turns out it's just something I do rather than the bar being away from me; need to get out of this habit. "Cleans" were ok, first pull is nice and easy, second pull makes me look like a fish out of water. The power jerks were nice but I was only doing it with 15kg and 25kg so it doesn't even count. But working on timing is important so I'm not too fussed that I DYEL right now.

Bench

Bar x lots
40kg x 8
45kg x 8
55kg x 6
65kg x 3
72.5kg x 3

And had to leave it there as I had no one to lift off... Never mind, onto deadlifts!

Deadlift

70kg x 5
90kg x 3
110kg x 3
125kg(B) x 2
135kg(B) x 5
135kg(B) x 3x3

Heavy. But nice.

Deficit Deadlift 2" (S)

75kg x 3
90kg x 3
105kg x 4x2

And that is me done. Time for food and rest before a training session tomorrow morning!
 
18/11/15 - Wednesday

Bench and squats. Starting to touch slightly heavier weights.

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 5
67.5kg x 3
72.5kg x 4x3
67.5kg x 3x6

Done.

Squat

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 5
60kg x 3
80kg x 3
100kg x 3
110kg(B) x 2x3
115kg(B) x 3x2

Not horrific. The weight was fairly easy but I had to really focus on not letting the hips drift to one side which mean the descent was slow and therefore the movement as a whole was harder than it should have been.

RDL

82.5kg x 4x10

BOR

50kg x 4x10

Done.

Really focused on keeping everything symmetrical tonight. It helped but it made some reps harder because of going slower.

Super light day tomorrow consisting of some weightlifting technique work and some easy OHP.
 
19/11/15 - Thursday

Bench and OHP

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
45kg x 8
55kg x 2x6
62.5kg x 2x5
67.5kg x 2x4
72.5kg x 3x3

Niceeeee. Turns out if I super squeeze my chest throughout the entire movement it helps reduce elbow clicking since it holds the humerus in place.

OHP

Bar x lots
30kg x 6
37.5kg x 10
35kg x 10
32.5kg x 12

Last set was broken and tbh, I don't know what rep I broke the set on, or even how many reps I did. fatigue hit hard around the scapular on both sides.

Power Shrugs
50kg x 4x10

Getting better at doing these from the 'power position' of a clean.

And that's that. Light squat session tomorrow.
 
20/11/15 - Friday

Such a good session. Power sntach, snatch balance, sots press and squats.

Started off the session with weightlifting technique work and focused on the snatch. Started with the technique bar (5kg) from hand position for a few sets of 5. Moved onto 15kg from the floor for a few more sets of 5 and then 20kg from the floor for another few sets of 5.
Form and technique is getting better as I'm starting to extend fully (more at least..) at the hips before pulling the bar overhead.
Moved onto some snatch balance (sets of 5 again) and on the last rep of each set did 5 reps of SOTS press at 5kg and 10kg.

Squat

Bar x lots
40kg x 5
60kg x 3
80kg x 3
100kg x 2
110kg(B) x 2x2
102.5kg(B) x 4x3 - Felt epic.

So pleased that those squats, particularly the back off sets. Main work sets moved easy enough but not as quick as I would have liked. The back off sets however were brilliant and possibly the best sets I've had in a long time.

Maybe some weightlifting tomorrow. Definitely bench and sumo deadlifts, maybe some OHP if I can be bothered and depending on what the weightlifting involves.
 
21/11/15 - Saturday

Bench, weightlifting technique stuff, sumo deadlifts.

Weightlifting technique stuff consisted off getting used to snatch into the full position rather than just power. Popped the technique bar onto boxes and mainly focused on the bar being just below the knee for the first rep and then from about mid thigh for the rest of the reps per set. Typically sets of five for multiple sets until I was told to stop.
Moved onto "clean" technique work with the technique bar but we agreed that after a while the bar was just too light and will move onto something a bit more significant next time. The cleans were followed by power jerks.

Onto powerlifting.

Bench

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 5
67.5kg x 3
72.5kg x 9

Yay! Finally able to up the training weight! Bring on next week...the heaviest week of the cycle...

Sumo Deadlift

70g x 5
110kg x 3
125kg(B) x 6
130kg(B) x 6
135kg(B) x 6 - rep pb!

Double Paused Sumo Deadlift (Just off the floor and then above knee) (S)

80kg x 3
95kg x 3
110kg x 3
117.5kg(B) x 4x2

And that is that done!

Super happy with everything from that session! Thank goodness for a rest day tomorrow.
 
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24/11/15 - Tuesday

Tonight I did I thing. I discovered gains. I did a bit of power snatch too of 25kg 5x3, nothing exciting.

Bench

Bar x lots
40kg x 8
50kg x 6
60kg x 5
70kg x 3
80kg x 4x3 :eek: Considering my max was 82.5kg 3 weeks ago, I'm quite happy.
65kg x 3x8

Super pleased with that. Going to miss out on my chance of a new pb this week and instead just go with an amrap to see if I should increase my training max or not.

Squat

Bar x lots
40kg x 8
60kg x 5
80kg x 3
100kg x 2
110kg(B) x 2x4
115kg(B) x 4x3

The gym was just far too cool which meant only half the muscles were firing and it felt like whenever it was convenient in no really structured order. Thanks muscles... Most reps were fine but due to it being cold and things not firing one or two reps looks like proper old school powerlifting squats that use a lot of back. At least I didn't good morning though. Just didn't look like pretty high bar squats.

And that's me done. It's cold and it's late and I cbf doing anything else.
 
1/12/15 - Tuesday

I'm taking things light for the next few weeks as I'm extremely busy and can't spend much time training. So I'll more than likely only squat, maybe bench but I can't see myself doing anything else.

Squat

Bar x lots x lots
40kg x 5
60kg x 3
80kg x 3
90kg x 2
102.5kg x 2x3
90kg x 3x6

And that's that. Nothing exciting but hopefully this should just all help with building a good base for when I can get back to lifting properly.
 
3/12/15 - Thursday

Another day of light squats


Squat

Bar x lots
40kg x 5
60kg x 3
80kg x 3
102.5kg x 3x3
90kg x 4x8

Wasn't brilliant if I'm honest but I'm still underfed and still getting back into the swing of things. Bring on more light squats on Saturday!
 
5/12/15 - Saturday

A little bit of weightlifting and some light squats.

Deficit Power Snatch (3"?)

15kg x 5
20kg x 3
22.5kg x 5x3

Snatch from Boxes

22.5kg 6x2

Still finding it difficult to sit :(

Squat

Bar x lots
40kg x 5
60kg x 3
80kg x 3
97.5kg x 5x5
82.5kg x 4x6

Feeling much better today.

Followed this up with some stretches because why not.
 
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