February Q and A thread
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I've been amazed at the difference going from sneakers to Chuck Taylor's has been for my squats. Sounds like you guys are saying these are better. Would it be worth the expense to change now, or are my CT's good enough?
I went from squatting barefoot at home and Chucks in gyms. I got Wei-Rui Warriors (also from MaxBarbell) and was shocked at the difference. Depth is much easier and I felt stronger. Unfortunately I got injured before testing them on the platform.
If you are considering competing, I would get squat shoes, if not...depends how much disposable income you have.0 -
I stopped lifting for about 4 months. I started again recently. Noticed buttwink on my squats. I went on to check my form and noticed I have butt wink even with body weight squats.
I've read several articles, including Dean Somerset's, so I have a good enough idea of what to do to begin the process of remedying this.
I have very tight hip flexors, hamstrings and calves, particularly on the left side, and I also and trying to correct my anterior pelvic tilt.
My question is, since I have buttwink even with body weight squats, will goblet squats help at this stage? Should I hold them off until the above issues are addressed?
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Desterknee wrote: »I stopped lifting for about 4 months. I started again recently. Noticed buttwink on my squats. I went on to check my form and noticed I have butt wink even with body weight squats.
I've read several articles, including Dean Somerset's, so I have a good enough idea of what to do to begin the process of remedying this.
I have very tight hip flexors, hamstrings and calves, particularly on the left side, and I also and trying to correct my anterior pelvic tilt.
My question is, since I have buttwink even with body weight squats, will goblet squats help at this stage? Should I hold them off until the above issues are addressed?
I don't think I could advise on this unless I see the squat and how severe the buttwink is.0 -
Desterknee wrote: »I stopped lifting for about 4 months. I started again recently. Noticed buttwink on my squats. I went on to check my form and noticed I have butt wink even with body weight squats.
I've read several articles, including Dean Somerset's, so I have a good enough idea of what to do to begin the process of remedying this.
I have very tight hip flexors, hamstrings and calves, particularly on the left side, and I also and trying to correct my anterior pelvic tilt.
My question is, since I have buttwink even with body weight squats, will goblet squats help at this stage? Should I hold them off until the above issues are addressed?
I don't think I could advise on this unless I see the squat and how severe the buttwink is.
Very well! I will acquire video over the weekend, hopefully.0 -
I've been amazed at the difference going from sneakers to Chuck Taylor's has been for my squats. Sounds like you guys are saying these are better. Would it be worth the expense to change now, or are my CT's good enough?
I like SABO deadlift shoes more than chucks. However, I couldn't tell you that they are somehow superior. I just like the feel of them and they also seem to grip the floor a tad better.
If you prefer a flat shoe for squats I think SABO deadlift is superior. They are arguably better than chucks on deadlift because you're losing a whole 1/2" of ROM, but for practical purposes that probably doesn't really matter much. Women's chucks are too narrow for me, and men's chucks didn't SEEM too wide, but when I would wear them squatting my feet would slide a smidge laterally, and they soles would compress a bit when I got close to 300. I also love my Wei-Rui (I have the powermax) for competition bench to ensure my whole foot stays down. I usually bench in SABO until a few weeks before competition then switch.1 -
sammyliftsandeats wrote: »sammyliftsandeats wrote: »I just switched from Stronglifts to 5/3/1 and I'm just about to start my second cycle. The book says to add five pounds to your upper body maxes and ten pounds to your lower body maxes, and then recalculate.
I did that and now I'm a bit intimidated by the numbers.
Mind you, they're not super big for an experienced lifter, but they're pretty big for me.
For example, my training max for deadlifts is 205lbs. I've pulled it before but never more than one or two reps.
My question is...should I have gotten a belt a while ago? I know that in week 3, it's 5/3/1 and it's 1+ at 95%. I'm a bit scared, to tell you the truth. I don't want to hurt myself.
A belt is a great tool to use if you have the disposable income to purchase one, and you have a goal of getting stronger, and you aren't using it in place of proper technique
Having said that, hopefully when you started 5/3/1 you took 90% of your actual 1RMs when you started the program. Most people don't do this step, but it's pretty important.
For what it's worth, even with my competitive powerlifting clients, when I use % based programs I always make a slight reduction to their actual 1RM's when I run the calculations.
Oh yes, I definitely used 90% of my actual 1RM to make my calculations.
I'm looking at the Inzer 10mm lever belt. I have a friend who uses it so I'm waiting for his review. Nice to know someone personally who uses it.
My goal is to get stronger, for sure. That's my #1 goal.
If you read 5/3/1 thoroughly, Wendler advocates for the slowest increases possible. If you can get your hands on some 1.25 cookies, going up 5 lbs. on lower and 2.5 upper is perfectly acceptable as well.1 -
Gallowmere1984 wrote: »sammyliftsandeats wrote: »sammyliftsandeats wrote: »I just switched from Stronglifts to 5/3/1 and I'm just about to start my second cycle. The book says to add five pounds to your upper body maxes and ten pounds to your lower body maxes, and then recalculate.
I did that and now I'm a bit intimidated by the numbers.
Mind you, they're not super big for an experienced lifter, but they're pretty big for me.
For example, my training max for deadlifts is 205lbs. I've pulled it before but never more than one or two reps.
My question is...should I have gotten a belt a while ago? I know that in week 3, it's 5/3/1 and it's 1+ at 95%. I'm a bit scared, to tell you the truth. I don't want to hurt myself.
A belt is a great tool to use if you have the disposable income to purchase one, and you have a goal of getting stronger, and you aren't using it in place of proper technique
Having said that, hopefully when you started 5/3/1 you took 90% of your actual 1RMs when you started the program. Most people don't do this step, but it's pretty important.
For what it's worth, even with my competitive powerlifting clients, when I use % based programs I always make a slight reduction to their actual 1RM's when I run the calculations.
Oh yes, I definitely used 90% of my actual 1RM to make my calculations.
I'm looking at the Inzer 10mm lever belt. I have a friend who uses it so I'm waiting for his review. Nice to know someone personally who uses it.
My goal is to get stronger, for sure. That's my #1 goal.
If you read 5/3/1 thoroughly, Wendler advocates for the slowest increases possible. If you can get your hands on some 1.25 cookies, going up 5 lbs. on lower and 2.5 upper is perfectly acceptable as well.
Thanks! I do have fractional half pound weights which I got while doing Stronglifts and I do use them for 5/3/1 as some of my percentages are not in multiples of five and I don't want to round my numbers up and struggle. I am going to give these current numbers a try and if it is a struggle (ie. can't hit 3x3 for 90%) then I will scale back and do the smaller increases.
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sammyliftsandeats wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »sammyliftsandeats wrote: »sammyliftsandeats wrote: »I just switched from Stronglifts to 5/3/1 and I'm just about to start my second cycle. The book says to add five pounds to your upper body maxes and ten pounds to your lower body maxes, and then recalculate.
I did that and now I'm a bit intimidated by the numbers.
Mind you, they're not super big for an experienced lifter, but they're pretty big for me.
For example, my training max for deadlifts is 205lbs. I've pulled it before but never more than one or two reps.
My question is...should I have gotten a belt a while ago? I know that in week 3, it's 5/3/1 and it's 1+ at 95%. I'm a bit scared, to tell you the truth. I don't want to hurt myself.
A belt is a great tool to use if you have the disposable income to purchase one, and you have a goal of getting stronger, and you aren't using it in place of proper technique
Having said that, hopefully when you started 5/3/1 you took 90% of your actual 1RMs when you started the program. Most people don't do this step, but it's pretty important.
For what it's worth, even with my competitive powerlifting clients, when I use % based programs I always make a slight reduction to their actual 1RM's when I run the calculations.
Oh yes, I definitely used 90% of my actual 1RM to make my calculations.
I'm looking at the Inzer 10mm lever belt. I have a friend who uses it so I'm waiting for his review. Nice to know someone personally who uses it.
My goal is to get stronger, for sure. That's my #1 goal.
If you read 5/3/1 thoroughly, Wendler advocates for the slowest increases possible. If you can get your hands on some 1.25 cookies, going up 5 lbs. on lower and 2.5 upper is perfectly acceptable as well.
Thanks! I do have fractional half pound weights which I got while doing Stronglifts and I do use them for 5/3/1 as some of my percentages are not in multiples of five and I don't want to round my numbers up and struggle. I am going to give these current numbers a try and if it is a struggle (ie. can't hit 3x3 for 90%) then I will scale back and do the smaller increases.
Greg Nuckols from strongerbyscience.com (formerly strengtheory.com) has been known to say something(s) to the effect of: getting stronger is about putting in the work, not seeing how much you can endure.
As such, instead of "true" rounding, you could always go down to the nearest 5-lb increment - it's the "floor" function in Excel. For example, if you plug in your numbers and some weight comes out to 138 - instead of rounding up to 140, you'd use 135. That's what Greg has on the spreadsheets that come with his 28-Programs.4 -
I have a question about calorie deficit and strength training.
I did 6 months of strength training last year at a normal diet and saw lots of strength progress. The past month I've been eating at a calorie deficit and have continued strength training. Today I couldn't lift my overhead press max that I did last week.
Could I be losing weight too quickly and it's affecting my strength/ muscle mass? Should I increase my calories? I've lost 8 pounds in the last 30 days.
Another possibility is meal timing- last week I lifted about an hour after breakfast and today was 4 hours after lunch and I spent those 4 hours playing with my kid at the park... so maybe I was tired?0 -
FragileMoonDreamer wrote: »I have a question about calorie deficit and strength training.
I did 6 months of strength training last year at a normal diet and saw lots of strength progress. The past month I've been eating at a calorie deficit and have continued strength training. Today I couldn't lift my overhead press max that I did last week.
Could I be losing weight too quickly and it's affecting my strength/ muscle mass? Should I increase my calories? I've lost 8 pounds in the last 30 days.
Another possibility is meal timing- last week I lifted about an hour after breakfast and today was 4 hours after lunch and I spent those 4 hours playing with my kid at the park... so maybe I was tired?
I think it's too early to tell.
Additionally, what's more important to you if you had to choose? Overhead press strength, or weight loss?
These are not mutually exclusive by the way, but I do think it's a valid question.
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@SideSteel Weight loss is more important to me right now but I'd rather lose fat and lose as little muscle as possible during my weight loss. Overhead press strength is only important in that it made me worry about losing muscle.
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FragileMoonDreamer wrote: »@SideSteel Weight loss is more important to me right now but I'd rather lose fat and lose as little muscle as possible during my weight loss. Overhead press strength is only important in that it made me worry about losing muscle.
Overhead press is going to be a strugglebus for most people regardless and if something is going to stall, that's going to generally be the first of the barbell lifts to get stuck.
I wouldn't change anything yet.1 -
^but maybe eating a little something before lifting?2
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_benjammin wrote: »^but maybe eating a little something before lifting?
Yes, good clarification thanks!1 -
Even without changing diet, your OHP #'s one week do not necessarily correlate to your OHP #'s the next week. Lots of factors at play... quality/quantity of sleep the night before, stress level, the song playing in your earphones at that exact moment, etc.1
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Even without changing diet, your OHP #'s one week do not necessarily correlate to your OHP #'s the next week. Lots of factors at play... quality/quantity of sleep the night before, stress level, the song playing in your earphones at that exact moment, etc.
Yes. We all have bad days sometimes. I can go to the gym and struggle mightily and just make my working sets on an exercise sometimes. And then the next week the weight will fly up. I wouldn't make any changes based on one day's performance.2 -
Thanks for all the feedback, I think I just panicked because I haven't seen myself unable to lift something that I had done previously yet. But I was a beginner last year and I understand strength progress can be faster in the beginning. Also I wasn't eating at a deficit then so it was fun to see constant progress.0
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You also referred to this particular OHP lift as a max. It's not surprising to not be able to hit your max every time. If this were something you lifted for, say, 5 times? And you couldn't lift it once? That may be an issue. But not being able to hit your max? Eh, probably no biggie.1
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I can guarantee you I could not go to the gym right now and hit my bench max tonight, no sir, no ma'am! But the weight I pressed for 5 reps last workout? An easy 3-4, right now.1
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Gallowmere1984 wrote: »sammyliftsandeats wrote: »sammyliftsandeats wrote: »I just switched from Stronglifts to 5/3/1 and I'm just about to start my second cycle. The book says to add five pounds to your upper body maxes and ten pounds to your lower body maxes, and then recalculate.
I did that and now I'm a bit intimidated by the numbers.
Mind you, they're not super big for an experienced lifter, but they're pretty big for me.
For example, my training max for deadlifts is 205lbs. I've pulled it before but never more than one or two reps.
My question is...should I have gotten a belt a while ago? I know that in week 3, it's 5/3/1 and it's 1+ at 95%. I'm a bit scared, to tell you the truth. I don't want to hurt myself.
A belt is a great tool to use if you have the disposable income to purchase one, and you have a goal of getting stronger, and you aren't using it in place of proper technique
Having said that, hopefully when you started 5/3/1 you took 90% of your actual 1RMs when you started the program. Most people don't do this step, but it's pretty important.
For what it's worth, even with my competitive powerlifting clients, when I use % based programs I always make a slight reduction to their actual 1RM's when I run the calculations.
Oh yes, I definitely used 90% of my actual 1RM to make my calculations.
I'm looking at the Inzer 10mm lever belt. I have a friend who uses it so I'm waiting for his review. Nice to know someone personally who uses it.
My goal is to get stronger, for sure. That's my #1 goal.
If you read 5/3/1 thoroughly, Wendler advocates for the slowest increases possible. If you can get your hands on some 1.25 cookies, going up 5 lbs. on lower and 2.5 upper is perfectly acceptable as well.
@Gallowmere1984 - I re-calculated my weights with only adding 5 lbs on lower and 2.5 on upper. I am going to start fresh.
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