You've got a lot of movement thru your back that I wouldn't like to see on a weight you're pulling for reps. Keeping yourself tight will feel pretty different from what you're doing currently. If you were in my gym I'd ask you to get set, then push the ground away, and lessen the movement. Otherwise pretty solid.
I agree with Shimm, I think. There is a lot of extraneous hip movement throughout the lift. Cut that out and make it one solid, fluid movement like she said and you'll notice a big difference.
Don't listen to those charlatans FreeCorps. Just do what this guy's doing and you'll be sure to break records in no time:
That made me sad, but one of the related videos more than made up for it. So do you guys mean I should try to pull the bar to me more instead of bringing my hips forward? And yeah, I see what you mean Shimm, I kept good lat tightness on my first rep but then it kinda went to hell. I'm trying to get used to going beltless for everything, but I definitely need to work on my hamstrings specially. I've started doing GHRs almost daily, which should bring them up to speed (I hope).
You want to keep the bar close but you don't want to have any rounding of or in the spinal column really at all, unless you're at your one rep. A deadlift isn't an explosive lift, it's a controlled pushing of the floor away resulting in the bar moving up the shins and thighs.
One certainty of my working out, other than never really losing my gut, is that once I get a good rhythm going for a few months and progress is looking great. I fucking pull something or injure myself sidelining me for weeks. This time I can't place it on messing up at the gym. I woke up one morning two weeks ago on my side in a weird angle and my back has been strained ever since. Muscle relaxers, stretching, and rest helps but as soon as I do something even moderately it tightens up and feels strained again. Heat, massage wands, icy hot, hot tub time are some of the other things I am doing. I've tried doing some light biking at the gym and swimming, but they just seem to aggravate it more. I fucking hate being out of a good groove.
Set a new PR on my squat today, and could have probably gone for even more. Not bad for not feeling 100% when I got to the gym. On the other hand, I look like a fucking disaster when I do good mornings. Rounded back, bar riding up on my neck, not enough hip pivot, inconsistant depth from rep to rep, it's awful. Seems no matter how much I practice I just can't get the form down. I honestly think I'm going to have to devote an entire day just practicing the form until I can figure out how to do it properly.
Sucks man. Pre-injury, do you do a lot of stretching/foam rolling? Lately I've been putting extra emphasis on these things and have been noticing solid results. Foam roller is my new best friend for only 20 bucks. I realize these are pretty basic things and mean no insult to your training know-how, just figured I'd throw it out there.
I do about 10-15 minutes of stretching pre workout, all from the Mobility WOD in the first two weeks or so of post as recommend for beginners. I don't have a foam roller though. This basic stuff has really helped in the flexibility department and Ive been able to squat lower then I ever have. Ive had long standing issues with my back but when Im in a good lifting groove, with solid deads and squats my back feels like cloud nine.
Cleared 225 for 5x5 on Saturday (it and 220 both required 3 full tries, but still no resets yet on squats). I am starting to think it's getting close to time to invest in a weight belt for both squats and standing military press of all things (my first reset weight). Anybody have a recommendation for a good belt? I am seeing Inzer as something recommended on Amazon, but wanted to see what others thought. Last time I had a weight belt was like 7-8 years ago and I was still squatting on the smith machine so that should tell you something about how much I actually needed that belt or know about them.
How important is it to regulate break time in between sets? I often worry that I'm short-changing my workouts because I take (what I perceive) as a lot of time between sets. Is there some common wisdom around how much time you should take between sets?
I remember in MBP it saying to start at 2 min and try to work down to eventually 1 min in between sets. It's been awhile since I've read through it though. I usually vary my rest time based on exercise, load, and number of reps. I'm doing 5/3/1 right now. On the 5 weeks when the load doesn't go over 85%, I'll try not to rest more than 2 min between any set on the main lifts. I also usually try to keep the rest to 1 to 1.5 min on the assistance work. On the heaviest week I go the opposite and all rests are minimum of two min and on squats and dead lifts I might rest up to 5 min. Usually I just go with what I'm feeling, normally I don't find myself resting too long between sets. If anything, I have to force myself to rest longer when moving heavier weights. Because if I don't, I have good chance of failing a rep or not hitting as many reps as I should.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.bestbelts.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bestbelts.net/</a> From what I've heard, you might want to call the guy and chat about what you're lifting, how you'd like the belt, etc. Personally, I don't really understand the obsession with tempo or rest time. I've never seen any hard evidence that it actually makes you stronger. I figure: rest longer, be able to do more reps, do more work, build more muscle. If you're going with your typical 3-5 rep heavy sets, I'd say 3-5 minutes between sets makes sense. Anything longer and your workouts end up taking forever.
I agree with RCGT, somewhere in the realm of 5 minutes should be fine. If you're lifting heavy there's no reason to hamper yourself by being out of breath before you even start. This is obviously different if you're going for intervals or anything like that, but for anything like a 5x5 workout your goal is to lift as heavy as possible, so facilitate that.
MBP got 2, 1.5, 1, then bumped up to 3 minutes changing every three weeks (so the excel someone put together says...), I don't really know the reasoning, I guess it kind of throws a conditioning element into standard lifting by making the rest times shorter. I usually have to rest on squats and deads as they are the hardest.
Rest times are a lot more important if you're lifting for fitness/to lose weight and are doing interval type training. If you're lifting to get as strong as possible, you should get full rest between sets. Getting full rest is especially important if you're like me and compete in strongman competitions. In a contest, you'll go balls out with 100% effort for one set. Then you sit around and rest, get cold, lose focus for 30 min to an hour before you have to get back up and go 100% again on a different event. No warm up sets, no staying loose, etc. Just get up and go balls out for 90 seconds, then sit down for an hour.
Cool! Thank you, I have a week off next week due to travel and it would be a good time to talk with this guy and see what he says.