Wednesday 23 November 2011

Legs: Heavy weight

Nice, simple and heavy today. I videoed myself so I could check on my form again.



Front squats (a2g with pause) 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
95, 105, 115, 125, 135, 145, 150, 155, 160 (1)

I was pretty pleased I was able to use the proper grip until I got to 160lb, when I switched to a crossover grip. My pauses weren't totally consistent when I got to the heavier weights, but at least I managed to squat all the way down.

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Back squat - 1 rep max to parallel
135 (8), 165 (5), 185 (1), 205 (1), 215 (1), 220 (1), 225 (1), 230 (1-ish!)

My squats to parallel weren't too bad, until the last couple of sets where it looks like I'm a little above parallel. Also, I think I'm leaning too far forward, which affected my balance and form.

5 comments:

Paul French said...

You are really getting into this video thing, that's good!

Unfortunately the squats in the sets were all above parallel, slight but still above parallel. If you pause the video at 13 seconds and 26 seconds (the first 2 sets) you can see the crease of your hips (your hip flexor) is above your knees, and that mark needs to be broken in a back squat.

Secondly, I'm curious as to why you do back squats to parallel, and front squats hamstring to calf?

Thirdly, these are the kind of routines I like, simple, heavy, and effective. In my experience keeping things simple is the best way to see progress.

Common Sense Design said...

Videoing is the only way I can assess my form. The trap bar deadlifts were an eye-opener on Monday. I was starting to get too preoccupied with hitting big numbers with my training, rather than concentrating on doing it right. The high numbers will come in their own time, so I shouldn't let it be the only reason I train. If I was competing, then I wouldn't care about perfect form (I've seen some athletes with awful deadlift form, in competition) but this is supposed to be so I can make myself stronger and healthier. Knackering my back would be counterproductive.

No idea why I aimed for parallel with the back squats. The last time I did a 1RM was back in August when I did the CrossFit Total routine. I think I aimed for parallel then, so that's what I did today (or tried to!) I felt like I went lower this morning than in August, when I was probably too forgiving of my reps than I should have been.

Common Sense Design said...

By the way, thanks for the advice - I appreciate it!

Paul French said...

No problem, in the past I know back squats....even with 95 pounds where you went hamstring to calf would cause you back pain, that doesn't seem to be an issue anymore, so you should have no problem hitting below parallel.

In the crossfit games in 2009 they have an event called the deadlift ladder, where basically once you couldn't go any further up the ladder you were eliminated, the form of some of those athletes were horrible....and ya know what if I was there with them I'd probably do the same.

But they do not train like that on a regular basis, you are right the high numbers will come. I usually am ok with not getting greedy with my weights but I used to be terrible at listening to when my body tells me to rest, and when I'd ignore it my back or hip or whatever would cause problems and my training would suffer for weeks.

Are you adding these videos to your youtube channel or just keeping them here?

Common Sense Design said...

The videos are uploaded to YouTube before I embed them here, so they appear as part of my channel automatically, albeit with lots of other non-training stuff.

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