Squatter's Journal-The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

[Hunterace]

That's good your going to follow the program Jim! I'll have to do more maxes to make up for you and balance the universe !!!!

[Squatter]

JB OLD SCHOOL WEEK 1 DAY 3 ME BACK

This is now the 3rd ME day in 4 days. Next week I think it would be prudent to take 2 days off after Sunday's squats as my lower back was not really recovered quite enough. With that said, i still managed to get some quality work in. I have never done Rack Pulls before, so going in my thoughts were that they would be easier than deads since I do not have to pull off the floor. Wrong, at least as far as today went. I now fully realize why it is so important to power up the jets and rip it off the floor. Without that momentum, I found rack pulls to be harder. Not sure if this theory is correct or not, but it's how I felt. I felt that the rack pulls were all lower back. The rails were at the lowest height possible. The bottom of the bar sleeves were 14 inches off the floor and the bottom of the plates were 6.25 inches off the floor. I am pretty sure this qualifies for low pins rack pulls.

Low Pin Rack Pulls
Warm Up Sets
135 X3
225 X2
315 X0 WTF?
245 X6
265 X6
285 X6
305 X6
Working Sets
315 X6 That's better.
315 X6
315 X6
315 X6 Grip starting to fail
I did so many 'warm up" sets because I didn't know what my working weight would be. This is how JB instructed me to do these - start light and slowly work my way up until I reach a good working weight. I thought I would ramp up like I normally do for deads, but that didn't work as you can see by the 315 miss. I think I might have to use Versagripps for heavier sets as I progress, if that's OK?

Shrugs
Warm Up Sets
135 X5
225 X5
315 X10
Working Sets
365 X10
365 X10
365 X10
365 X10
365 X10
These felt OK, bothered my lower back somewhat. I went as heavy as I thought I could safely do.

Bent Over BB Rows
Warm Up Sets
135 X5
185 X7 Too heavy
Working Sets
170 X8 Perfect weight here as i had good speed.
170 X8
170 X8
170 X8
Lower back was feeling much better after these. Facet joint is OK. I am sure the achyness during the rack pulls and shrugs may have been a pump or not recovered enough from Sunday.

Overall a great session and I got stronger as it went on.

Squatter315X6LowPinRackPull - YouTube

Squatter315X6LowPinRackPull - YouTube

Squatter365X10Shrugs - YouTube

Squatter365X10Shrugs - YouTube

Squatter170X8BBRow - YouTube

Squatter170X8BBRow - YouTube

[Hunterace]

Great workout Jim! Let that back recover some bud !

[ravimolasaria]

Originally Posted by Squatter

JB OLD SCHOOL WEEK 1 DAY 3 ME BACK
Low Pin Rack Pulls
Warm Up Sets
135 X3 225 X2 315 X0 WTF? 245 X6 265 X6 285 X6 305 X6

Working Sets
315 X6 That's better. 315 X6 315 X6 315 X6 Grip starting to fail

Shrugs
Warm Up Sets
135 X5 225 X5 315 X10

Working Sets
365 X10 365 X10 365 X10 365 X10 365 X10

Bent Over BB Rows
Warm Up Sets
135 X5 185 X7 Too heavy

Working Sets
170 X8 Perfect weight here as i had good speed.
170 X8 170 X8 170 X8

Very very strong Pulls and shrugs ... that BB row is actually HEAVY ... Superb intensity and volume brother ... You will get stronger only ... keep working hard ...

[markievicz]

great effort Jim.

[J_Byrd]

The rack pull will expose some weaknesses pretty quickly. Sets looked solid though, and you got the work in. You only have your bench auxilliary day left this week, so we need to make the adjustments for week 2. You completed all lifts and all sets with no misses. The squat was more of a struggle than the bench correct?

[Squatter]

Originally Posted by Hunterace

Great workout Jim! Let that back recover some bud !

Thanks Jay. I agree, thus the decision to take 2 days off after Sunday Crew Squats.

Originally Posted by ravimolasaria

Very very strong Pulls and shrugs ... that BB row is actually HEAVY ... Superb intensity and volume brother ... You will get stronger only ... keep working hard ...

Thanks Ravi!! I know if I give the program all I have, getting stronger is guaranteed.

Originally Posted by markievicz

great effort Jim.

Thanks Alan. It is a good base and starting point to progress with

[Squatter]

Originally Posted by J_Byrd

The rack pull will expose some weaknesses pretty quickly. Sets looked solid though, and you got the work in. You only have your bench auxilliary day left this week, so we need to make the adjustments for week 2. You completed all lifts and all sets with no misses. The squat was more of a struggle than the bench correct?

The rack pulls certainly felt better as the session went on. I was also able to do them from a dead stop as opposed to touch n go as the session went on. My lower back certainly wasn't used to it (lifting from a dead stop) and I am confident the numbers will rise dramatically over the coming weeks. I thought I did it exactly how you advised and I feel really good about them becaus eof it.

I will do the bench auxilliary on Thursday.

Last Sunday's squats felt harder and were a bit of a struggle I think because not only did I lift 10 lbs more than presribed because I forgot the bar was 55 lbs, but I was not recovered from that brutal crazy 8 session I did before I started the program. I am quit confident I can do the upcoming 295 this Sunday with less struggle sort of speak.

WRT Benching, it was tough on my triceps. Heck, I still have DOMS in them 4 days later lol.

[J_Byrd]

Originally Posted by Squatter

The rack pulls certainly felt better as the session went on. I was also able to do them from a dead stop as opposed to touch n go as the session went on. My lower back certainly wasn't used to it (lifting from a dead stop) and I am confident the numbers will rise dramatically over the coming weeks. I thought I did it exactly how you advised and I feel really good about them becaus eof it.

I will do the bench auxilliary on Thursday.

Last Sunday's squats felt harder and were a bit of a struggle I think because not only did I lift 10 lbs more than presribed because I forgot the bar was 55 lbs, but I was not recovered from that brutal crazy 8 session I did before I started the program. I am quit confident I can do the upcoming 295 this Sunday with less struggle sort of speak.

WRT Benching, it was tough on my triceps. Heck, I still have DOMS in them 4 days later lol.

Haha! I knew you would be sore from the week before. You did exactly what you should have done and found the right working weight on these. It is more about getting stronger in a weak area then worry about a number right now. Weeks 5-10 we will hit some impressive PRs. In the coming week.

[MikeM]

HA HA! I do too. I think my arms hurt worse yesterday than the day after I benched.

Nice Rack pulls! I know what you mean, I did them for the first time last week and I think they are harder than from the floor too. At least at first. Getting used to that first pull off the pins is a killer.

I'm going to ask JB, but my plan was to do the bench auxillary then deadlifts last. Not sure if you're supposed to do it that way, but it would give your back more time in between squats and deads.