ExRx.net

Ass down, chest up would be my suggestion. Your back is almost perpendicular to the floor and your legs straight when you begin. Try to get lower down.

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What if the Hokey Cokey really IS what it's all about?

you mean parallel
I meant horizontal and I said "flat"

/wordsmith

Thanks, but I actually change to hook grip at about 265.

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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

Yeah, I'm getting this. I want to run back to the gym for a few sets to work on this.

For anyone interested, here's what Eric Troy had to say over on GUS: http://www.gustrength.com/forum/t-421496/jungledoc-s-strength-log#post-1356067

Thanks, all for your time and your comments!

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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 have read ET's DL set up article previously, yep.

Seeing that thread, it's nice to see you taken care of over there.

The idea of your hips slightly gonig back first ("pulling slack from bar") shows ETs trained eye and his dedication to helping is quite an asset. The thought of drving my hips forward, though, I alway think, "I would if my arm were'nt attached to this heavy bar" Mentally, I think I need to rise with the shoulders to allow room for the hips to pull through. Understanding that with a rigid back, the hams/glutes are pulling the shoulder up, I can begin to get the full message. I probably butchered that there.

It was good to see both sites hit the major set up issue.
At first, I was going to ask, "Hey, did you cross post our comments over there as well"... after reading the thread, I decided not to ask. :(

my error. still strong grip.

Yep, and i thought i was being clever finding a use for the word perpendicular in a sentence.

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What if the Hokey Cokey really IS what it's all about?

Well, it was pretty near perpendicular to the wall!

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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

Not really. I get what you mean. At least I pretty much get what I think you mean.

The idea of consciously using my glutes is pretty foreign to me--I just don't "feel" individual muscles like some people claim to. See my notes on today's workout. I tried so hard to feel my glutes contracting that I ended up inventing an exercise to allow me to do it. It's probably not really new, but I couldn't find anything on a google search (well, I didn't try very hard) like it. I'm actually sitting here hoping to start feeling some DOMS in order to convince myself that I did a significantly larger amount of glute work than I'm used to. So after spending the afternoon in the gym feeling my glutes, I'm spending the evening thinking about them. Maybe if I really concentrate, they'll hurt.


Yeah. It's like having some coach doing distance training. Several of them (Cressey, Ferruggia, etc.) offer this service, but I haven't priced it. Plus, I think Eric is probably better than a lot of them.

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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

Actual hip thrusts. Read anything by Bret Contreas, and it's about glutes or hip thrusts. They solve everything from world hunger to lower back pain and glute activation. Or so he claims. That man knows alot about asses, so check his exercises out. So called "American deadlifts" and single leg RDL:s could work also.

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Prove the impossible!

I"ve read everything by BC, and I've done actual hip thrusts, but it's a different ROM. Mostly the terminal few degrees. Standing you can get way down with the hips flexed quite a bit. That's the part of the range that I want to work on. I don't have any trouble with the terminal part of the movement. Well, could be stronger, of course, but you know what I mean.

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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

But can you feel the glutes on that exercise? It's should be awesome for hip and glutes wether the ROM is what you seek or not. You were talking about not feeling the rear end, so I thought that would be the solution to the problem.

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Prove the impossible!

Sorry I wasn't clear. I can feel them fine when my hips are near full extension, but I can't when they are more flexed, like more than 20 degrees or so (standing, looking down at my hip angle to estimate). I worked down into these gradually, trying to stay focused on glute contraction. I'm thankful for a place to work out where I can be my myself much of the time!

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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

Really, I'm not obsessing on the work load issue. Well, not completely. But I still think it's a useful way to pay attention to how much I do one week compared to the last. Here's the updated chart:

Total Workload
Week 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8
Dead 	3035 	3510 	3446 	4120 	5255 	5005 	6265 	8495
Squat 	3495 	3130 	3515 	3941 	1866 	4662 	5388 	1625
Bench 	2335 	1465 	2670 	2870 	3215 	3535 	5060 	4605

So, I was able to back off quite a bit in the work load on squat, (maybe more than I really needed to—even less than the deload a couple of weeks ago) but still got some heavy singles. Bench was a decent increase over 2 weeks ago without the big jump of last week. All of which explains why I still feel like I'll live for a while more, and not last week, when I was so tired I could hardly function.

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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

New template, will start Monday. Not a radical change be any means, but major lifts moved around a bit, accessory work changed a little. Deadlift is priority. Bench and squat second-tier, press on maintenance for now.

Day 1
Deadlifts - SDT, base volume 3x4, starting at 260
Unilateral Leg Exercise - Bulgarian split squats for 2-3 sets of 7-11 reps
Static Holds - grip training

Day 2
Bench - SDT, resetting BV of 2x4 to 160
Chin-ups - volume
Rows - probably seated cable, relatively high-volume

Day 3
Squats - alternating 5x2 and 4x3
Pullthroughs
Core work, pallofs, planks, etc.

Day 4
Chin-ups - weighted
DB Bench Press - progression to be determined
Rows - Prob DB, relatively low rep
Press, maintenance

Day 1 is always after at least 2 days rest, days 2 and 3 always after at least 1 day rest, day 4 usually after 1 day rest, but occasionally with none. Extra days added as needed to accommodate my call schedule. Deloads and additional rest days as needed.

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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