Les' Powerlifting Log

[cole]

squats look good les, no way in hell youre a vegan

[tersh]

Hip pain is such a drag. :-\

Hope you can get it completely resolved.

[Les]

Thanks Cole. Yes, I have been vegan for 4 months now. It was mainly due to health markers, but I wanted to see if I could still get bigger and stronger, even beating lifetime PR's. So far I am on track with things.

Yeah, the hip pain sucks. In the past we rotated exercises (high bar close stance or close stance box squats) to help out. I've been in a long block of just doing wider stance low bar squats for the meet, and my hip is yelling at me for it.

[KarlM]

Les, I'm wondering what the benefits are for the floor press. Why that over spoto press?

I don't know if there is any extra benefit over something like a spoto press or a different bench press variant. But they are easy on my shoulders, which is a big thing for me. I also go with a max legal grip and pretty flared out shoulders, which is also easier on me. Most people really like to tuck, and I did that for a long time, but I always hurt the back of my shoulders. Now touching on top of or slightly above the nipple line, it feels great. Floor press sort of helps simulate that. Other than that, you always go through the same ROM similar to a board press, but you don't get any leg drive.

It is sort of a try it and see type thing.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. That's helpful

[RdC]

Blame Broseph for this rookie's post on your log...why blame him--he suggested if I wanted to witness heavy duty lifting to check out Kong's, Manveer's and your log. I just finished reviewing your log and I'm impressed! Dang, to get where you are took a lot of blood, sweat and tears! I spent some time copying a few items from your log the last one was your tip on floor presses. Thanks!

[Les]

Blame Broseph for this rookie's post on your log...why blame him--he suggested if I wanted to witness heavy duty lifting to check out Kong's, Manveer's and your log. I just finished reviewing your log and I'm impressed! Dang, to get where you are took a lot of blood, sweat and tears! I spent some time copying a few items from your log the last one was your tip on floor presses. Thanks!

Thanks for checking out my log! When it comes to specialty assistance exercises, I think most of them will work because of the added volume. But as you continue to lift, you will find certain ones will work better than others given your mechanical disadvantages, etc. With bench for instance, I went with a narrow grip (POR) to a wide grip and tried many variants in between. But I used to tuck my elbows no matter what I did. Then I got the idea to try a larger flare, based off how the floor presses felt. They will probably work for you, but over time you may find that something like lower pin or board presses work better. But that is part of the fun.

[RdC]

Les, thanks so much. I appreciate the additional pointers. I will continue to follow your stellar progress!

[Sirimiti]

Out of curiosity, what kind of hip pain? Front, side, pinch, pull, ache, joint, muscles, etc. I have recurring hip botherations so I just want to know if you've noticed any cause/correlation with certain movements, and what have you found to help, if anything. How do the knee sleeves help?

Btw, nice Halloween costume. You make a very convincing murderer.

[Les]

Out of curiosity, what kind of hip pain? Front, side, pinch, pull, ache, joint, muscles, etc. I have recurring hip botherations so I just want to know if you've noticed any cause/correlation with certain movements, and what have you found to help, if anything. How do the knee sleeves help?

Btw, nice Halloween costume. You make a very convincing murderer.

Thanks!

It feels like the pain is in the front of the hip (left hip flexor). I only really get it squatting or doing leg presses. I've found that my wider competition stance seems to be the culprit. For a while I was doing 4 weeks wide stance, 4 weeks narrow stance (high bar), and I had no real hip issues. Now I have been going probably 8 weeks + with just doing my wide stance. It feels like a sharp pain when I push off out of the bottom. Knee sleeves don't help, but knee wraps do for some reason. Maybe it is pinching the quad a little or something? This last week for instance, my last set with sleeves was 525. I could feel the hip pain. Then when I threw on the wraps for 555 and 585, I have no pain whatsoever. But it still must be aggravating things, because my drop sets hurt more than my warm up sets on the way up.

[Sirimiti]

Your hip pain almost sounds like when I was squatting with excessive knee slide at the bottom. My left hip flexor was really aggravated and caused sharp pain right when pushing up out of the hole. I had to reset and really focus on getting the knees out first then sitting back. I could tell right away if I got it wrong because my hip would complain. I was also shifting the weight to my right side to compensate. I filmed myself one day from the front and it looked really weird, a kind of twisting motion.

I wonder if your knee wraps make it feel better because they restrict knee flexion just enough that your squat mechanics change and you sit back more. Not that I am an expert in any way. Just a thought.

[Les]

Maybe I can film one of my drop sets this week, although I am moving back to high bar with a closer stance. We could then see if there is any excessive knee slide.

11/6 (hitting a deload this week, then moving into the final block before the meet)

Bench Press (paused):
335x6 @ RPE 7-7.5
315x6 @ RPE 7
315x6 @ RPE 7

These felt pretty good.



Cable Flies (3:1 eccentric):
60's x20x2
70's x20

Rear Delt Machine (3:1 eccentric):
150x20x3

DB Lying Tricep Extensions (3:1 eccentric):
30's x15x3

DB Hammer Curls (3:1 eccentric):
30's x15x3

[KarlM]

Lol, 335 X 6 is a deload. If only!

[LexAnderson]

Excuse us mortals who can't live up to your 335x6 standards sir!

[Les]

Heh, thanks guys!

[Wilhelm]

Yeah. You're pretty much benching my squat PR.

Awesome

[Les]

Thanks Wilhelm!

11/7- the deload continues

Deadlift:
525x6 @ RPE 6.5 (I could have maybe hit 10 reps if I channeled my inner kitten)
470x6 @ RPE 6.5
470x6 @ RPE 7

These were fast and solid. I had a mac attack level 10 on the first set after rep 3! I thought I was doomed, but my glutes saved me. *Trying not to get too graphic!

1 Arm Supine HS Rows:
185x15
225x15x3

Kitten Back Pulls:
65x8, 85x8x3 *totally new lift and I don't want to f up my back. Basically this is a barbell hanging and my back is in full "cat back" position (rounded). I then straighten my back up. This may not work, but my middle back seems to be a weak point. If I get some rounding, it is there. These hit that area, but again, I am going light and easy to feel things out.

Pulldowns:
225x8x2 *shoulder bothering me
185x15

[Les]

Ok, so maybe a little bad news, I think I have an adductor tear. I tweaked it during my squat last week, but I noticed a really nasty bruise today. It doesn't hurt a lot, but I kind of want to take it easy on it this week to see if things heal up. I am going to try deadlift stance box squats and see what happens. It might throw me off a little for the meet not going up to 510x6 this week, but I would rather play it safe.

11/9

OHP (4 mins between sets):
210x6 @ 9 *tried these TnG instead of resetting 2.0 every time.
195x6 @ 8.5 *did the same thing
195x6 @ 8 *went back to resetting between reps, I will stick with that.

Felt a little flat on these compared to last week, but I got it done.

Floor Press:
320x8x2 *second set of 8 was getting a little past RPE 8 so I dialed the reps back on the last set
320x6

These were easy, but I am trying to always keep them under RPE 8 just to not mess up my normal benching.

Cable Rear Delt:
20x12x6

Tricep Extensions (rope):
130x15x3

Cable Curls:
100x15x3

[Mkgillman]

Ok, so maybe a little bad news, I think I have an adductor tear. I tweaked it during my squat last week, but I noticed a really nasty bruise today. It doesn't hurt a lot, but I kind of want to take it easy on it this week to see if things heal up. I am going to try deadlift stance box squats and see what happens. It might throw me off a little for the meet not going up to 510x6 this week, but I would rather play it safe.

Damn man, that sucks. Hope that it heals up quickly and doesn't become an issue for the meet.

[TimK]

Kitten Back Pulls:
65x8, 85x8x3 *totally new lift and I don't want to f up my back. Basically this is a barbell hanging and my back is in full "cat back" position (rounded). I then straighten my back up. This may not work, but my middle back seems to be a weak point. If I get some rounding, it is there. These hit that area, but again, I am going light and easy to feel things out.

So is your ending position basically the same as a deadlift lockout? Or are you bent over in a rowing position?

Hope the adductor heals up quick!

[Les]

Thanks guys! It feels pretty good, even though I have a large bruise. Today I took it easy with a close stance box squat (my deadlift stance really). With that stance I had zero pain. So I think I should be ok to continue on next week.

Tim- The kitten back pulls probably have me ending up more in a rowing position on the top. I am going to do them off the floor next time to facilitate an even bigger ROM.

11/11

Deadlift Stance Box Squats:
375x6
415x6
435x6
455x6 *RPE 8ish or a tad lower

These felt great, but I wasn't sure where to start with them. So I sort of played around and kept adding weight every set.

Leg Extensions (3:1 eccentric):
80x15x3

Calf Raises:
400x20x3

Leg Curls (3:1 eccentric):
50x20x3 *I kept these super light just in case. No real pain.