Patrick's Novice Log

[PatrickDB]

Front squats are, in my opinion, much more analogous to pushing things around in real life. @Hanley agrees.

They feel so good. When I back squat it's like jamming a square peg in a round hole.

[PatrickDB]

Seriously considering never back squatting again. That would remove 90% of what I hate about lifting.

[mgil]

Did you never see the “ALP” that Hanley and I bantered about on SS? It’s dead simple:

FS
OHP
SGDL

Guaranteed to give a dude the proper “V” taper with the quickness, minimal equipment requirements (squat stands), easiest Rx ever written.

[PatrickDB]

Did you never see the “ALP” that Hanley and I bantered about on SS? It’s dead simple:

FS
OHP
SGDL

Guaranteed to give a dude the proper “V” taper with the quickness, minimal equipment requirements (squat stands), easiest Rx ever written.

Excellent. I will move toward using more of these movements once my 6 weeks of this is over. "A" stands for "Aesthetic"?

Also I got wrecked when trying to troll for SGDLs -- see Hanley's log for what I'm curious about.

[KyleSchuant]

Just front squat then. So long as you're adding weight to the bar regularly, if you're deadlifting as well then there'll be no weird muscle imbalances.

[mgil]

Did you never see the “ALP” that Hanley and I bantered about on SS? It’s dead simple:

FS
OHP
SGDL

Guaranteed to give a dude the proper “V” taper with the quickness, minimal equipment requirements (squat stands), easiest Rx ever written.

Excellent. I will move toward using more of these movements once my 6 weeks of this is over. "A" stands for "Aesthetic"?

Also I got wrecked when trying to troll for SGDLs -- see Hanley's log for what I'm curious about.

Yeah “A” for aesthetic.

[PatrickDB]

Did you never see the “ALP” that Hanley and I bantered about on SS? It’s dead simple:

FS
OHP
SGDL

Guaranteed to give a dude the proper “V” taper with the quickness, minimal equipment requirements (squat stands), easiest Rx ever written.

Excellent. I will move toward using more of these movements once my 6 weeks of this is over. "A" stands for "Aesthetic"?

Also I got wrecked when trying to troll for SGDLs -- see Hanley's log for what I'm curious about.

Yeah “A” for aesthetic.

You need to market this. I hear Amazon self-publishing can be lucrative.

[platypus]

When I back squat it's like jamming a square peg in a round hole.

When you've posted video, you back squat form is good. I strongly suspect you're much better at them IRL than you are in your head.

On the flip side, you can certainly get strong from front squatting. And if front squats allow you to make progress without injury or overanalysis holding you back, they're probably the better choice.

[PatrickDB]

When I back squat it's like jamming a square peg in a round hole.

When you've posted video, you back squat form is good. I strongly suspect you're much better at them IRL than you are in your head.

Thanks. One thing I've been wondering about recently is bracing. I can never Valsalva too hard or I feel like I'm going to vomit. So I'm doing every rep on a very small breath, sometimes through the nose. This is probably why I hate them.

Someone random Crossfit website I read tonight suggested Valsalva'ing with the tongue on the room of your mouth, and I tried it, and it seems to work much better. I'm not sure if my soft palate is messed up, or if this will make any difference under the bar Friday, but I'm optimistic it might make a difference.

[KyleSchuant]

I can never Valsalva too hard or I feel like I'm going to vomit.

Swallow, don't spit.

[Hanley]

Also I got wrecked when trying to troll for SGDLs -- see Hanley's log for what I'm curious about.

Dust yourself off & get back in the ring.

Austin needs to actually measure the change in bar displacement using a snatch grip (index fingers gotta be outside snatch ring). He then needs to try to do a deficit elevated by that measure.

If you can get Austin to film himself doing a 4-6” deficit, you win the troll crown.

###

I forgot about ALP. I had the best run of training in my life using ALP (but modified for a weekly cycle).

[PatrickDB]

I forgot about ALP. I had the best run of training in my life using ALP (but modified for a weekly cycle).

Just repackage the DUP template in Zourdos's thesis with the above "aesthetic" substitutions, buy a bunch of youtube ads, and profit.

Also, you said somewhere you've thought about bracing a lot. Do you have any good Valsalva insights? (See my post above.)

[PatrickDB]

Friday, January 12.

Bodyweight: 163.5

Squat, beltless: 185x4, 205x4, 225x4
CGBP: 125x4, 135x4, 145x4, 155x4, 160x4@9
DL: 205x5, 225x5, 245x2x5 (straps)
Chins: 30, in 10 + change
BB curl: 55x10, 60x2x10

Felt pretty good today. The tongue on the roof of the mouth trick is excellent. Bracing felt a lot better.

Squats were good. I think this is a beltless PR. I need to knock off the hips shooting back/goodmorning bullshit though. If anyone has a good cue for this, I'm all ears. All the good squatters I see don't do this, even on max attempts. Hip drive is a lie.

DLs felt good. Back is starting to come apart just a little. This is a volume PR for me.

Surprisingly I close grip bench almost exactly what I bench. This is weird. The @9 was spotter confirmed.

Tagging @mgil because I need someone to scold me for sandbagging.

[mgil]

Any cue that keeps your hips a touch forward at the bottom should help. @Hanley likes the “corkscrew your feet” for knees out, but it also helps with hip position.

[PatrickDB]

Any cue that keeps your hips a touch forward at the bottom should help. @Hanley likes the “corkscrew your feet” for knees out, but it also helps with hip position.

This helps with hip position? Interesting.

Is trying to do anti-hip drive by "pressing through the legs" useful at all?

[mgil]

It’s hard to say.

If I do a half squat and cue “knees out”, they go out. When I “corkscrew” my butt tighens up more and slides my hips a little forward.

I do think “leg press” can be better than hip drive in your case.

[PatrickDB]

If I do a half squat and cue “knees out”, they go out. When I “corkscrew” my butt tighens up more and slides my hips a little forward.

I will do this Monday. Thanks.

[Hanley]

When I “corkscrew” my butt tighens up more and slides my hips a little forward.

Yeah, this should work. The good old "chest up" as you come out of the hole should help too.

On deads: your lats are doing nothing (well, not enough). When you set up, right before you pull, imagine squeezing limes as hard as you can in your armpits. That's right: limes. For real.

[PatrickDB]

When I “corkscrew” my butt tighens up more and slides my hips a little forward.

Yeah, this should work. The good old "chest up" as you come out of the hole should help too.

On deads: your lats are doing nothing (well, not enough). When you set up, right before you pull, imagine squeezing limes as hard as you can in your armpits. That's right: limes. For real.

Roger that. Thanks for the advice!

[PatrickDB]

It has a positive effect on MPS.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2109188/

I'm still sort of the skeptical about this, given other things I've read. The benefit of creatine is usually thought of as the ability to do more volume and hence reap more gains. The evidence for direct impact on MPS seems much sketchier.

But, to play devil's advocate, I think this study is better if you want to argue if you want to for creatine affecting MPS, since it more directly measures what we're interested in:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 07359/full

The sample size is too small for it to be more than suggestive, though.