ExRx.net

I am finally making good progress and have made a few changes with some great results.

Warm up:
This week I started to do a more rigorous warm up routine prior to the lift. Before I was warming up 2 light sets of 5 then going on to my squat lift of 80+++. This week I do a warm up with 45# then add 20# so I get in 3 warm up sets.
1. practice (no weight)
2. low weight
3. good warm up weight.

This is only the squat example but I am doing this with all of the lifts and it seems to be working. My squat weight is up to 95# and my BP is 65#. DL is 130#. Still have trouble with the OH press very stuck at 55# but I am using the push press so I don't have to decrease weight. Row is at 60# but I may be at an the end with this one.

Mental attitude:
Prior I was only going up in 2#-2.5# increments and I don't think this was enough. I ditched the lower weights and now increase all of the exercises with 5#
Stopped worrying so much about how low I go on my squat and the associated pain. I work on getting a good explosive power and go as low as I can and stop when it becomes painful. I can go about 1" above parallel.

Rest periods:
I give myself 2 days of rest between workouts.

The next thing I will do is possibly add a couple of upper body exercises to the routine for triceps and biceps on the days off.

Lots of flexing in the mirror:-)

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Diana
Goals
squat 150
bench 100
DL 175

That's great! Keep up the good work, both with the weights and working at figuring out what works best for you.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

I don't understand this part, do you mean you warmup with a push press then use a normal press for work sets? - you shouldn't really involve your legs in order to progress in an exercise, you should stick to a strict press and yes, possibly de-load and ramp back up slower.

Glad you are making more progress and are feeling encouraged though, good stuff.

Robert I have done a deload several times. The OH press is very difficult for me with anything over 50#. I think when I posted something before about using my legs it was my understanding that a push press could actually help get me over the hump and improve my OH press.

_________________
Diana
Goals
squat 150
bench 100
DL 175

The OH press is notoriously difficult to progress in. Doing a push press is a good idea. I would reccomend coming down on the negative as if it were a strict overhead press to overload the deltoids - you will get stronger quicker.

So you do

AXXBXXAXXBXX...

?

I read "to press more, press more"

yes at first I thought you were sending me hugs and kisses

It works pretty well. I think the article that Doc pointed to makes a lot of sense at least for me. I am going to try and work out tomorrow just because I can't over the weekend and with 2 days in between I want to make sure I don't miss any days.

I have noticed increased muscle soreness after my workouts so that tells me I am probably doing a better job with my workouts. hehehe i will be an Olympic power-lifter in no time!

Diana

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Diana
Goals
squat 150
bench 100
DL 175

maybe... ?

I play with days and time between constantly, like I play with my routine in general. Funny, I'm settling into MWF though, after all that.
I do 4 unique routins though (I think that is like Doc, gosh, another way I'm like Doc.)
Used to be 12 or 24 unique routines, but that made progression/monitoring tough.

So yeah, keep experimenting.

I'd make a goal to fix the pain and squat to at least parallel. I imagine you have already