Zander's Training Journal

[Zander1983]

Friday 13 June: Lower Body - Quad Dominant

Squats
220 x 6 x 2 sets
242 x 3
264 x 3

Bulgarian Squats
16.5 x 6/leg x 2 sets
22 x 3/leg x 2 sets

Compared to yesterday, I didn't feel quite as strong and ready. Nevertheless, my squat is unacceptably low and I'm striving to continually improve it.

264 x 3 was a PR, even though the weight is so low by everybody's standards. That said, I wouldn't have been squatting for more than 6 months in total for my entire lifting life (thanks to injuries). Anyway, progress is progress and a PR is a PR

Videos of my squats to follow sometime soon...

 

[Zander1983]

Squats video here

 

[Zander1983]

I decided to treat Elite to some wonderfully exciting shots of my ass in the ugliest shorts this world has ever produced. They're damn comfortable though.

 

[revexrevex]

That was very nice. Very deep and back was straight, my form needs to be like that. Also your abs didnt collapse at your sticking point and you pushed right through it, some people reach that sticking piont and then turn it into a goodmorning

 

[coolcolj]

Nothing wrong with 265lbs, I mostly squat with 265-275 for my worksets these days - explosively


I think you set your pins a notch or two higher. They should be an inch udner the bar at the bottom so you can dump it safely if you get in trouble

Also why are you holding the bar with such a wide grip? You should hold em as close as you can, so your your traps form a nice shelf for the bar, and it will help your form and help your back arch.

Hold your arms to the side, it makes you feel like hunching, hold em in close as you can, makes you arch instinctively

 

[Zander1983]

My shoulders cramp if I hold my hands closer together. I recently switched to extra-wide and it feels super-comfortable. I think you make a good point though. Holding my hands as close together as possible will allow me to set the bar slightly lower, which is only a good thing. I need to increase the flexibility of my shoulder girdle, I guess.

 

[Zander1983]

I do spatts' rotator tri-set weekly.

What I do need is a good stretching routine for my shoulders... Any good stretches you can suggest?

 

[coolcolj]

If you can't hold it close then your heading for some cuff issues in the future - the pitfalls of too much benching

do you stretch your external rotors regularly? especially after benching? Also start hitting your extenral rotors hard.

 

[Zander1983]

What I do need is a good stretching routine for my shoulders... Any good stretches you can suggest?

I found a couple here:
http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/archives/rotator-cuff-injury.htm

 

[coolcolj]

The one I use is

fist on waist pull the elbow forward -hold for 3 secs, release repeat a few tiems and then when its relaxing hold for longer.

start with your other arm doing the pullling on the elbow, when you get better, use a wall to apply pressure

do shoulder dislocates and arm swings as well