Transmutation to Accumulation Pivot Day 2.

BW - 218

Pause Low Bar Squat -
275X2 @7
285X2 @8

Belt Squat - 135X8, 8 @8.5

Standing PBN - 95X3 @8

Bench-Grip Press (dead-stop on chest) - 95X5, 5 @8

Bench-Grip Deadlift -
245X8, 8 @~7.5
255X7 @8.5

Rope Cable Curls - X9, 8 (straight-weight)

More improved pivot work.  Broke a little further out of the mold on this day by using no comp. movements.  Also didn't bother getting video of anything but the BGDL.  Wish I'd gotten video of the BG Press, though.  Those felt good.

Squatting still difficult because of quad pain.  A little better on belt squat, but obviously much lower intensity.

I used to do a fair amount of PBN, but I tried doing these as dead stops on my traps, and they felt like crap.  May try them again in the future with a floating rack above the shoulders.

A year or so ago, one of the strongest guys in the gym had mentioned that he got more carryover from the press to his bench if he moved the grip out and allowed the bar to sit fully on his chest.  I've had that in the back of my mind ever since.  I rolled it out today, and once I found a good grip position they felt great.  Feels very stable, especially with a belt on.  The lift kind of starts with the hips pushed forward already to allow the bar to sit on the chest.  This makes it virtually impossible to use hip drive, and thus makes the movement much "stricter."

Decided to do a wider grip DL and only use double-overhand.  SGDL has always made me a bit nervous as far as technique breakdown under fatigue, but bench-grip has always felt comfortable to me.  Decided to do this of high single-digit reps.  The capped it with some rando-curls.

Hybrid Training. Week 3. Light Lower

BW - 229.4

Speed Squats - up to 255X5, 5, 5

Pause Squats -
225X4
245X4
235X4

"Bench" Grip DL - 225X5, 5, 5

Hang-Cleans - 133X3, 3, 3, 3

Hanging Leg Raises - X8, 8, 8

Finally.  Four weeks I've been on this program, and this is the first time I've been able to run this day the way I'm supposed to.  Low back trouble feels 95% recovered now, and isn't bothering my lifting at all.

It was humid as hell in the gym today, so the Speed Squats weren't as "speedy" as I'd have liked.  Also, I try to avoid max acceleration for the last 1/4 of the lift.  I sometimes find that "popping" up at the top bothers my back.

Haven't done Pause Squats in quite a long time, so I wasn't sure where the weight should be.  I Goldilocks'd that shit, and 235 was juuuuust right.

The program suggest Snatch Grip DL, but I've had trouble with deficit DLs aggravating my low back, so I didn't want to go that wide.  I went with my bench grip which is out to the rings.  I've wondered for some time about getting similar effects to deficit deads by just moving the grip out wider.  I started off a little too low on the first couple of reps (I could tell because I was scraping my shins suddenly).  I think I found the sweet spot, and these went pretty well.  My hamstrings and traps are fairly sore today, and the hamstring soreness at least is from these.

The program also calls for jump squats, but I've never felt comfortable with those.  I thought about doing DB or KB jump squats, but I thought I'd try hang-cleans instead.  I've never done these, and it took awhile to find how low to come down so that I could accelerate into the jump.  My left shoulder wasn't loving these, so we'll see.