Author Topic: chasing athleticism  (Read 940467 times)

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Raptor

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #1815 on: May 29, 2014, 04:28:51 pm »
0
By the way - check out how bad this guy had it improving his back squat:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFVquvhz7s" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFVquvhz7s</a>

Wow. All strength it looks like. Hus run up/jumps don't look 'athletic' he just powers through it. Wonder how long it took him to get there?

Those roids seem to work, don't they?

ChrisM

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #1816 on: May 29, 2014, 06:42:44 pm »
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Hmmmmm......
Insert motivational quote here...

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #1817 on: May 30, 2014, 10:26:36 am »
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This whole time I don't think i've been lifting correctly wrt to trunk stability, which is probably why i've had such terrible results to date. I feel as though i'm on the cusp of a breakthrough. But right now, my core is so weak that it's holding me back, but i dont think that means i will do extra ab-work, getting a 180kg backsquat with my build will be more than enough of a challenge and stimulus for great core strength. The flip side of this is that I have over relied on my lower back than my trunk and legs due to imperfect form.

The problem arose from the popular 'chest up' cue, i had interpreted it as a prescription for anterior pelvic tilt. Which makes it very difficult to keep a strong rigid core. I dont care much for APT myself, i abandoned that sometime in 2012 but that didn't fix the problem which was i needed to figure out a way to keep my chest up without involving APT. So that's where I am now, have figured out the right way to get chest up without going APT.

To check my theory i've thought of a good test to see if i'm on the right track. I will try it next workout and see what it says. It's quite simple, if I can put on a lifting belt and have no or little break down of technique, then i've fixed the problem. It's always been the case that my form without a belt is far superior to with one. This is a consequence of the problem i wish to fix and the belt is a magnifying glass for technique that serves to compound my technique defects.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2014, 10:36:00 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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chasing athleticism -- W4D3
« Reply #1818 on: May 31, 2014, 07:38:13 am »
0
Training
FS 2x120, 0Fx132
BS 2x130, 2x2x132.5, 2x130, 8x115 (PR)
WCU 6x88, 3x98, 4x93

Squat notes:
Legs were jelly, had no desire to front squat heavy but i forced myself to attempt a 132kg max single anyway, was too heavy to bounce out though. Im trying to get my old groove back, i had this thing where i went knees out halfway up the concentric right after hitting the sticking point so to prevent upper back rounding. It's hard to believe how elaborate my technique has to be to get a good safe front squat but i'll get there soon.. just hpe i dont hurt myself before that happens. On a stronger day i'm probably good for 135kg right now though.

BS, i could have tripled that first set of 132.5kg, i had meant to do triple with 130kg but wore myself out before i could attempt them. Just wasn't a good day for squatting so all things considering, i did ok.

Upper notes:
Sucks but it looks like my squat obsession is going to get in the way of my upper body ambitions. Why am i even bothering, not like I care that much about my squat, would rather look like i lift if i really had to pick a goal but yet here we are, still putting squats first..
« Last Edit: May 31, 2014, 08:20:52 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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chasing athleticism -- W5D1
« Reply #1819 on: June 03, 2014, 08:19:51 am »
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Training
FS 1x127.5,  0Fx132.5
BS 3x130, 3x132.5, 1Fx137.5, 1Fx135, 8x117.5 (PR)
BP 6x79.5, 5x80, 6x77.5
CRLZ 7x42.5 (PR), 6x42, 8x40 (PR)

Squat notes:
A string of failures today when I should have done a lot better. Oh well. I prob picked the wrong weight after getting that 2nd very good triple, should have done doubles with 135kg after that, or maybe just one double and then another double with 132.5 or something like that instead of failing 2 doubles! Still, i had the right idea, would have been nice to double 137.5kg, considering that's my training weight goal. but today it wasn't on the cards. Oh and the 8x117.5kg pr was nice. Im getting that dreadful about-to-hit-the-wall feeling as I aproach 120kg though, it just gets that much harder when you move to bigger plates. oh well, my plan is to maybe attempt say 6x120kg next time, get that, give myself some confidence, and then finish off with 8x119.5kg, which will set me up to maybe, maybe get 7 reps on a following session? Dunno we'll see.

Upper notes:
BP is going ok. I'm still 10kg below my PR 5RM though. Shit didn't do curls last week, as a result i couldn't progress from last time's PRs. Have to force myself not to skip curls. Maybe I should just do them every time? Idk.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2014, 10:05:44 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

Coges

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #1820 on: June 03, 2014, 08:30:12 pm »
+1
Hey Entrophy. How's it going?

I see your post about your lack of enthusiasm for squats and your want to look like you lift. What's stopping you from prioritising your upper body ambitions?
"Train as hard as possible, as often as possible, while staying as fresh as possible"
- Zatsiorsky

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #1821 on: June 05, 2014, 02:19:22 am »
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Good to see you back. I knew you would return eventually! haha. You mean like doing upper body before? I think that's a good idea actually. Perhaps split up my workouts into an AM and a PM session and do like upper body on AM and a primer squat to finish off the AM. Then do lower body volume in the PM session. Gives me a bit of variety too, i could do another upper body exercise to finish the PM session. Might try that next week. Thanks!
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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chasing athleticism -- W5D2
« Reply #1822 on: June 05, 2014, 07:29:54 am »
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BW: 85.6kg

Like I said in the goal thread, i'd like to be a lean 85kg before I can even think of weighing 90kg again. There is no point being 95kg like i was in december with good lifts if it means i'm 10kg overweight. Now if i can beat my PRs while weighing 85kg or less, i'm doing really well and can build on that in future by letting my bodyweight climb up to 90kg while getting a lot stronger in that time and then i can cut to say a lean 87kg before repeating the process. So lets own 85kg before chasing 90-95kg, which is really where I should be for my height and power forward ambitions. Im an undersize PF in a unathletic SF body, worst of both worlds.

Training
FBS 1x130
BS 2x2x135, 7x120 (PR)
OHP 3x2x60, 5x55
AbW 3,1
CND - 10min @ 7kph, 0incline (new exercise!)

Squat notes:
After failing 132.5kg FS last time, i figured i wasn't ready to go 2x120, 1x127.5 and then 1x132.5. Instead i tried 2x120, 1x127.5, 1x130 and got it. That 130 was a max effort lift though. I think i repeat it until i can get the 130kg easier, then i'll be able to progress it a little. Right now i'm getting my ass kicked by front squats. I find myself passing out like a bitch just unracking it and holding the bar before the heavy singles and have to do 2 re-rack and re-attempt it. I forgot how hard i had to work before to get used to front squatting :/ I hate that blanking out feeling like you're about to pass out with a heavy ass bar on your chest.

BS wise, im doing pretty awful too. I wanted to do triples or doubles with 135-137.5kg, in reality the 135 doubles were close enough to 2RM that i had no business thinking of doing more sets. Hopefully just a bad day. I want to do lots of doubles with say 137.5-140kg before i can consider something accomplished.

Upper body notes:
Had this crazy idea to try an RSR inspired program with my OHP. I'll basically use 60kg as my training weight and aim to master it over time to get six sets of sixes with it, hopefully that'll translate to some hypetrophy and strength gains.

Conditioning notes:
There we go, added in that postworkout conditioning session i've been talking about for ages. Will stick to it, not trying to do anything amazing, just be consistent and keep doing it, slowly improve and hopefully i can build up my fitness to a decent level without much fuss.

« Last Edit: June 05, 2014, 08:59:20 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

Coges

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #1823 on: June 05, 2014, 08:09:34 am »
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Good to see you back. I knew you would return eventually! haha. You mean like doing upper body before? I think that's a good idea actually. Perhaps split up my workouts into an AM and a PM session and do like upper body on AM and a primer squat to finish off the AM. Then do lower body volume in the PM session. Gives me a bit of variety too, i could do another upper body exercise to finish the PM session. Might try that next week. Thanks!

Cheers. Thanks mate. I eventually made it.

Good to see you got something out of my post cause I actually had no idea in terms of structure but I think it's something us skinny guys do is want to look like we lift and then continually focus on stuff that doesn't necessarily connect with that goal. 

From the goals thread you sound like you were killing it late last year though.
"Train as hard as possible, as often as possible, while staying as fresh as possible"
- Zatsiorsky

entropy

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chasing athleticism -- W5D3
« Reply #1824 on: June 07, 2014, 07:09:15 am »
0
Training
FBS 1x132.5
BS 1x140, 1Fx137.5, 3Fx130, 6Fx122.5
WCU 3x87, 2x97, 3x102, 5x93, 6x90

Squat notes:
Excited that i progressed my FS. It was a technique thing. For some reason i was slowing, almost pausing into/outta the bottom. And on my warmups with 100kg i had the flash of an idea to try bouncing into-and-out-of which made that set very easy. The following set i bounced up 120kg for a double, probably could have done a triple which is novel because i'd been owned by 120kg doubles previously. So happy to improve something. The rep was ugly as shit though.

Finally squatted 140kg. Yay for me lol.  How pathetic. I used to warm up with a 140kg front squat, now im happy about backsquatting it lol. Whaever, progress is progress. I need to work hard though, this should be something i'm repping for 8s not psyching up for a ME single.

My goal from last session was to do a PR of 8x120kg today -- but -- having failed the 4th rep of 130kg, i knew i had zero chance of repping 8 with 120kg, so i thought go for the 7x122.5 PR instead, and came close but failed the 7th. Next time i guess i'll repeat 122.5kg and try get 8 before moving on to 125kg. Or maybe just go for 125kg and try to get 6-8 reps, we'lll see how it goes. As sensible as it is to first get 10x120kg before adding weight, i really dont care much for 120kg - would rather work my way up to 8x130kg instead knowing that whenever that happens, i'll probably, automatically also be good for 10x120kg. Have to balance hunger and greed for progress with patience.
 
Too many failures this session :/
« Last Edit: June 07, 2014, 08:27:34 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #1825 on: June 07, 2014, 11:07:09 pm »
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I had a dream, nightmare, I tried to dunk and i couldn't; impotence. I think the last time i went on a basketball court was in april :/ might swing by a court today. I should really jump at least 1x a week, just to maintain my 'athleticism'. But more that, i need to improve it..
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

Raptor

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #1826 on: June 08, 2014, 08:09:25 am »
+2
You should do more speed work... if there's anything that jumped right at me in your videos, is the TOTAL lack of speed and quickness. You basically walk to a jumping spot and jump. You look like an old man yet you have a lot of strength in comparison to your displayed power.

So the problem must be in the strength to power transfer.

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #1827 on: June 08, 2014, 09:20:17 pm »
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are you referring to sprints? they are shit bc they'll kill me in the gym for squatting afterwards. If there was an exercise i could do without disrupting squats i'd do them. as it is, not worth taking off 20-40kg of the bar just to do sprints when they can never do much anyway

also, i jump better and higher when i take a slower controlled "walk" up than if i go speeding in.. it's to do with how i best produce maximum force, im not very reactive and that's not my strength, it's a weakness. taking a quicker run up sacrifices my ability to generate the most amount of force. for most ppl there isnt that tradeoff cause they gain more from a quicker runner up due to reactivity though so i understand why you'd suggest it but it doesn't take into account my strengths and weaknesses

it's the same way you guys recommend hamstring work to people but it doesn't apply to me because i have big/strong hamstrings and never do rdls/ghrs/deadlifts/hip thrusts/etc .. just dont need them cause my squats are so hamstring dominant
« Last Edit: June 08, 2014, 09:25:27 pm by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

ChrisM

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #1828 on: June 08, 2014, 09:29:55 pm »
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Thats just counterintuitive in my mind. You say you lack reactivity so you avoid doing things that can help your weakness?  I think you'd see more gains by attacking your weaknesses over trying to cover them up with your strengths. I'm not saying neglect working on your strengths (which is strength in your case) but by pulling your weaknesses up you become a more well rounded athlete.

Insert motivational quote here...

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #1829 on: June 08, 2014, 09:40:20 pm »
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Can you get more reactive though? Isnt that something you're born with. You can get stronger thru lifting obviously, and that translates to more force production, more power, which you can use to jump higher. but reactivity is in your CNS, in your genes, it's not something you can train (much). i think there is a much lower limit on what you can do for poor reactivity :(
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat