Road To 1200

[KRC]

11.17.12 - C2W3

Deadlift: 5/3/7 @ 235, 275, 300

Speed Band DL: 6x1 @ 120

Step Downs: 1x10

Deadlift was ultra rawwwww: no belt, no chalk, no knurling. Gym apparently ran out of chalk and the only available bar was one with no knurling where my hands go. Goal for minimum reps was 7, so given the circumstances I'll take this as a victory. Just destroyed a 1100 calorie omelet, time to loaf for the rest of the night and watch the fights.

[KRC]

11.18.12 - C2W2

Press: 5/3/11 @ 95/105/115

TSG Negs: 4x1 @ BBE (167)

TSG OCs: 4x1 @ BBM (102)

Felt like total crap; just got the main set done.

Here's the DL video from yesterday of my new technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLnVaXV3ErI

Been tinkering with my sumo stance on and off for about 2 years, and this is definitely the best position so far in terms of "feeling solid" (i.e. feeling like I'm not about to get injured) as well as posterior chain recruitment.

Things I see off the top of my head:

1. Speed. This vid was shot with no chalk and almost no knurling so the speed is slowed down a bit, but overall speed can pretty much always be improved.

2. Keeping the bar closer to my mid-line throughout the pull. May have to start with hips slightly lower/torso slightly more erect to effect this.

3. Conditioning. Sucking wind between reps isn't ideal.

[daniel reinard]

Nice looking gym bro. Sucks no chalk.

Your form looks really good to me. I wish I had the neutral head position you have. Shin angle and stance look good. Some people like the toes pointed out or more forward. I favor more forward. I just feel more powerful and that I can push my knees out better. The only thing I see is you should try to show your belt. Mark Bell talks alot about that in most his deadlift vids. You basically try to show your belly more before the pull. That should rotate the hips to show the belly and it gets the shoulders rotated back. That will be a great back angle to start the pull. I do an ok job at this. With that technique addition the floor will feel alot better and even locking weight out will snap back faster, allowing the hips to just pop the lockout. I hope that makes sense bro. Check out my and marks vids.

[KRC]

Thanks for the comments dude. As always, a huge help. The neutral position took lots of work, honestly. Every natural impulse tells me to buck the head back, but neutral has turned out better for two reasons: 1. I get way better glute and hamstring recruitment, and 2. I minimize neck pain and even exertion headaches. According to Kelly Starret, straining with you head back is the primary cause of exertion headaches.

I'll check out mark's vids on technique. I subscribe to him but haven' theard that before. I think I can visualize and if what I'm visualizing is what he's talking about, I do think it could help. I'll look around and tinker accordingly. I'll also play around with foot position. I'm usually rotated pretty far out (~45 degrees), and it feels good so far. Given how far out I am to begin with (toes about 1-2 inches from the plates) I think a toes forward position may be difficult, but I'll play around and see what happens.

Thanks again man.

[daniel reinard]

Mark is wearing a suit in this one and has to wiggle into position but the same form of chest up and show the belt works for me. And you can see his feet are pointed forward a bit and kind of torqued as if there is tension going down to the feet. I am pointed a little more forward and I still torque me feet and knees out. Everyone one is different but the stance was something I have played with recently and found to like this. Of course as you say I have to stand a little more in, not plate to plate. The chest up thing has worked good too. I feel like I can get more weight behind the bar and that I can pull in bar tension and sit back on my butt before the pull. Anyways, just things that come to my head. I can tell you've dialed technique in alot bro. It looks really good.

So my next project was to get my head position right. Have any tips? I know it wont be easy.

Hey this next Saturday i'm free and down for a workout. Just let me know bro.

Edited November 19, 2012 by daniel reinard

[KRC]

I think it was a series of posts by Eric Cressey with a few by Tony Gentilcore on "packing the neck." Bret Contreras has written a bunch about it too, but generally I avoid his articles, just personal preference. Tony is kind of annoying too, but Eric consistently puts out great stuff. I'll look around and post what I can find.

Basically deadlifting or squatting while looking "south of the horizon" takes a lot of getting used to. Deadlifting was especially weird for me, but it has turned into an asset. I usually pick a point about 6 feet in front of me and don't take my eyes off of it, and I make sure my eyes are always "looking straight ahead" and that torso angle dictates where my eyes point. No special magic here, just getting reps in in an initially awkward position.

11.18.12

Hub: 3x2, 1x1 @ 55

Hammer Pro/Sup: 5x6 @ 29" w/12lb Hammer

Looking forward to recovering for a while as the last few hub reps were hard to come by and I'm failing lifts on the IM hub that I hit first time touching it. I think once I get out of doubles and into singles (next workout is pre-dinner on Thanksgiving day), things will taper out and I can go for a real number.

[daniel reinard]

Thanks bro. I'll try that method.

I def get burned out on pinching after 6 weeks or so. Heck I just had to drop 2HP and put in RT in its plce. Will cycle RT for 6 weeks then go back to 2HP. For some reason pinch doesn't like prolonged abuse. I did a bit of cycling with blobs too.

[KRC]

Guess it wasn't Cressey though he does talk about it; it was an article he linked to by Charlie Weingroff

http://charlieweingroff.com/2010/11/packing-in-the-neck/

There's also a good article here by Mike Robertson (who has coauthored a lot with Cressey):

http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/cuing-good-neck-posture/

I have a good deal of neck pain on a regular basis and doing this stuff has definitely helped.

[daniel reinard]

Thanks bro! I gotta get my head right, that's for sure.

[KRC]

11.21.12

V2: 4x1 @ Level 13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuMKUiYRvLM

1 of 3 Nationals qualifier's done! Getting all three done before this years comp isn't impossible, but really I'm just looking to hit 3 or more of the items on the list. If all goes well, it would be awesome to compete in the 2014 comp though.

As you can see in the vid, the set is the main issue. I could hold that parallel set all day and still close it. Hit a double on my last set even. I can't overemphasize how useful this tool is for someone like me with stupidly short fingers and thus someone who has a very hard time setting big torsion spring grippers.

[Chez]

11.21.12

V2: 4x1 @ Level 13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuMKUiYRvLM

1 of 3 Nationals qualifier's done! Getting all three done before this years comp isn't impossible, but really I'm just looking to hit 3 or more of the items on the list. If all goes well, it would be awesome to compete in the 2014 comp though.

As you can see in the vid, the set is the main issue. I could hold that parallel set all day and still close it. Hit a double on my last set even. I can't overemphasize how useful this tool is for someone like me with stupidly short fingers and thus someone who has a very hard time setting big torsion spring grippers.

Great job. I hear the CROM spring is super hard to set.

[KRC]

Thanks, dude. Yeah it is really tough, though the Vulcan with any spring is a bitch for me. Literally the first inch of the ROM is all setting hand as my fingers don't make any contact with the other handle until it's been set down about an inch. So literally I have to balance the gripper in my hand and just blast away with my setting hand until I get my gripping fingers on it. From that point it's fairly easy. I think I'm strong enough for a 14 definitely, maybe 15 close, but the set is still the limiter at this point. But, like lots of people say, getting good setting the Vulcan makes TSG's like butter so that's the main objective. I'll trade a big V2 close for a big TSG close any day. Still, I'm hoping for a 14 close next week regardless.

[KRC]

11.23.12

Hub: 6xF @ 56.25

Face Lever: 1x1 @ 9" w/16lb Hammer

Failed every working single on the hub tonite. Not sure what happend, though I think Daniel may be right about pinch work benefitting from shorter cycles. Every workout I've had with the hub after I pulled 53 has gone down in quality substantially. I think it's a combination of two things actually: like Daniel said, perhaps I spread out the work over too long a time frame, and second, I think the nature of my programming itself was faulty.

Instead of decreasing volume while increasing intensity in direct proportion for a 10-week cycle, I think I should increase volume for weeks 1-8 substantially, but only increase intensity slightly. So I'd do a ton of volume at 75-85% for the bulk of the cycle, and then peak for weeks 9 and 10.

I respond much better to volume and less well to regular high-intensity workouts. Gonna program like this for my rolling thunder and pinch cycle starting in the new year. Not sure how the blob programming will go yet, but the RT should be pretty straight forward.

Hammer was solid. A bit slow but in control the whole time. Only 5 more inches to go.

[daniel reinard]

Solid lever dude! That was strict and smooth. Making great ground there.

Yeah with the pinch i'm only now finding that out myself. If every pinch session you get worse that's overtraining for sure. Make a 2 week vacation from pinch and ease back into it. I bet you ramp to a PR.

[KRC]

11.24.12

TSG Negs: 2x1 @ BBE EH (176)

TSG OCs: 2x1 @ Filed BBM

Week one of cycle three starts next week. Looking forward to peaking out on the hub and grippers, taking a week off over the holidays in NY, and moving on to programming for a potential comp in February.

[daniel reinard]

Good stuff bro. Gonna take a week off myself, will do one big grip day, then take another week. Something I do to mimic pre and post comp rest cycles. We'll try to lock in comp events soon to give everyone alot of training time. Also we have to have a 2 month notice to allow for the comp to count for records.

[KRC]

11.26.12 - C3W1

Squat: 5/5/12 @ 185/215/245

Leg Press: 3x8 @ 275

Back Ext.: 3x8 w/15lbs

Was all pumped to go for 20 on the top squat set; I don't have that kind of conditioning yet. I will hit 20 eventually though. Not regularly, just a small sub-goal I've wanted to do for a little bit. Still pleased with 12. Level 14 attempt on the V2 tomm!

[KRC]

11.27.12 - C3W1

Bench: 5/5/13 @ 190, superset with

NG PU: 5x6

DBR: 3x8 w/80

Lat Raise: 3x8 w/20s

JM Press: 3x12 @ 95

Rocking Hammer Curls: 3x8 w/27.5

V2: up to a single at Level 14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShwvZOUePJQ

Got surprised by the difficulty closing it and forgot to show the spring levels... Once I set it to parallel I felt almost no tension so squeezed sort of half hearted and it didn't go very far, lol. Finished anyway, barely. I know if I can get past the set I can close level 15.

[daniel reinard]

Looking strong dude. That's a mean set and you plowed through a cruddy start to the close. Takes HP to plow through that.

[KRC]

Looking strong dude. That's a mean set and you plowed through a cruddy start to the close. Takes HP to plow through that.

Thanks man. I was so pissed that I f*cked up the initial squeeze I had no choice but to kill it

11.28.12

Hub: single at 52.5 and 2 attempts at 60. Got decent air with both but called it there, still trying to "rest" on this lift. First time hubbing in a week and I'll take another week+ off before I hit it again.

Face Lever: single 3" from the bottom. Looks a lot easier on video than it felt. As soon as I started the descent I was saying "nope, nope" over and over but got it anyway.

[anwnate]

Nice! 16lb lever's no joke. Full length is right there man.

[KRC]

Nice! 16lb lever's no joke. Full length is right there man.

Thanks a lot, man! Yeah, when I was working on the 12lb'er, after the workout during which I levered it from 3" from the bottom (same as the video above), after I did that I just said f' it and did a full one. Given how touchy my forearm has been a few times in the past week, I decided to take it easy and be patient. 16 to the face within 2 weeks

Speaking of face levers, I'm still deciding which goal I want to tackle next once the new year comes, and making this progress in less than 8 weeks on a 16 has really gotten me thinking about attacking the 20. Even designed a very elaborate training plan for it today on my lunch break. Way more elaborate than my current plan which is "lever from further down the handle each week a few times." We'll see. I am so weak at open hand I figure I should focus on that but the thought of levering a 20lb (of which I've only seen two very strictly done on YT--surely there have been more but only 2 on the YouTubes) is very appealing.

[KRC]

11.29.12 - C3W1

Deadlift: 5/5/11 @ 215/245/275

Speed DL: 10x1 @ 110 + bands on 50 seconds

Good Mornings: 3x10 @ 65

DL'ing was EXHAUSTING. Need to work conditioning. Hi rep DL's are murder anyway but still, conditioning needs work.

[KRC]

12.5.12 - C3W2

Squat: up to 3x225

Back felt twitchy so I cut it halfway through the warm up. Been very stiff lately and work is picking up lately. Gotta be better about mobility and staying consistent in times like these.

[KRC]

12.6.12

Full Lever!!

Before watching the video I felt like my arm was basically pointing at the ground and so was about to delete the video figuring it was not strict at all. Watched the vid, and although it can definitely be more strict, I will count this as a victory. Gonna work on really owning this as I move on to the 20 (which is now a main goal for 2013).