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After a last hectic crescendo, school is finally over for the year. Long Christmas vacations are a teacher’s privilege, but as anyone who works full-time in an elementary school can attest, we’ve earned every second of it. For the next three weeks this lifter will enjoy good sleep, much increased together time with Sanna, good food… the list goes on and on, but one thing is for sure, this is definitively good news for any possible training progress lurking behind the corner. One deep breath, two deep breaths, three deep breaths… behold the tranquillity that descends upon us!

YABAD (Yet Another Blakley Accessory Day). I had trouble keeping my arch throughout the reps on the reverse-grip bench, which has been something of a trend on the normal bench as well. For the third set, I tried applying a liberal amount of chalk on the trap region of my T-shirt and suddenly found myself glued to the bench! Can definitively be recommended for those who have a tendency to flatten out due to slippery T-shirts. Didn’t quite succeed in whizzing past 4x6 @ 82.5 kg/182 lbs after losing the groove on the third set causing the bar to crash into the pins prematurely and coming up one rep short on the fourth set. Then humiliation struck on the seated pin press as I only got 4 @ 62.5 kg/138 lbs - mission aborted after one set.

Some acute elbow strain on the reverse-grip bench and the fact that my seated pin press has really gone nowhere, made me question whether it makes sense to continue doing them as accessories. The last thing I want now is a strained elbow - don’t want one major injury a year if I can avoid it. Some minor ones should suffice.

Come to think of it, it might be time to take a break off the whole Blakley program for a while despite some early signs of renewed progress after overtraining on a modified version of the program (that program is in itself probably great, just couldn’t recuperate from the increased volume). I’ve reached the goal I set when I embarked on it back in August, i.e. I’ve raised my repping weight from 77.5 kg/171 lbs to 85 kg/188 lbs (a 7.5 kg/17 lbs gain), and also broke the 100 kg/221 lbs barrier in the bench. The program put some life back in my stale bench and I’ve got nothing but praise for it, but I could use some variation to keep motivation running high. I might go back to Westside benching for a while to break some of my old records, but am also considering a host of other possibilities including Korte’s 3x3 program a reader raved about, a USSR squat routine adapted for the bench and a simple Mendelson inspired bench single-2 board press routine I got from Mike as a solution to my overtraining problem. Suggestions warmly welcome as usual.

In the meantime, here’s a breakdown, or index if you will, of the Blakley experience. Based on my experience with it, I can highly recommend the program for anyone whose max is stuck/sticky (might even be a good program to cycle back to back with Westside). Blakley will be back, I promise you that!

PROGRESS ON BLAKLEY 4x6 BENCH PROGRAM, 2 AUG-15 DEC 2004

ME SQ/DL. Unaccustomed as my back is to squatting, it felt like a good idea to do something a little less lower back strenuous today. The kneeling squat popped first into my head, probably because I was reminded of its existence while rewatching the Westside Squat Workout tapes earlier in the week. Worked up to a decently heavy 5 reps at 120 kg/265 lbs; it was no max effort, but enough to give the hip flexors some stimulation. My best pre-injury result on the exercise was 10 @ 135 kg/298 lbs.

Next did incline cable sit-ups with a puny 5 kg/11 lbs of resistance. Got three reps, then continued on with bodyweight reps. I much prefer the cable to holding a plate, because a) cheating is out of the question (the plate can be moved a bit forward to make it easier) and b) the resistance is the same no matter what angle you happen to be in. I’m going to work hard on getting the weights up on this one. Some more ab work, walkouts for core stability and curtains.

VIDEO (2.2MB)

Today was swimming day for the whole school and I spent the day supervising in the swimming stadium (I’m a teacher if you missed that). With no time for lunch, I was feeding on protein-carb shakes all day long. Felt like I was also coming down with something to boot. No surprise then, that I sympathized with the plight of the armless feller who stood guard outside the men’s dressing room - all in line with my recent abnormal interest in signs.

Once I got to the gym I did surprisingly well managing to post a new PR series on the bench although I did have a bit of ass lift-off on the last rep of the first set. So shoot me. I’ve decided to do circuits on ME day for both the bench and the squat/deadlift after the max lift, but feeling like I did I thought it best to not flaunt my luck.

I trust my back is now stable enough to throttle back to ordinary Westside training. Screams from beyond the grave… DE Squat/Deadlift is back! The need for speed is indeed great, but I hope the near weekly (will follow the three-day rotating Westside split) box squatting sessions can also help rectify my horrendous squat technique. To this effect, I will start out with the Rookie Cycle, intended for this very purpose, out of the Elite Fitness System’s Dynamic Squat manual. Clap your hands, for it goes like this:

ROOKIE CYCLE
Week 1: 35% for 15 sets of 2 reps
Week 2: 40% for 18 sets of 2 reps
Week 3: 45% for 20 sets of 2 reps
Percentages adapted for a raw lifter, deduct 10% if calculated off an equipped max.

Armed myself with print-outs of Dave Tate’s Squatting from Head to Toe and Rob Wagner’s Powerlifting Technique Part I and headed for the gym. First loaded the bar to 90 kg/199 lbs to practice setting up properly. In the past, I’ve just put the bar on my back and then stepped back into my stance in whatever way caught my fancy (you get the picture). Now, I focused on creating a stable base by pulling the bar down hard over the shoulders while pinching the shoulder blades tightly together. Then drove the elbows in under the bar while wishing I had a buffalo bar, unracked and practiced stepping into my stance with two elegant steps. Next time, I think I will try doing it the Mikesell way via three steps as the plates had a tendency to sway out a bit (ok, so I am setting up too far from the rack, admitted). Rack! Repeat for 10 sets or so. Ritual isn’t built in one set.

Next moved into the actual work sets of 15x2 @ 35 kg/77 lbs. Kept the speed purposively a bit slow since the bar can move a little too fast for my well-being when weights are this light. My main concern was to eliminate the usual forward dip on ascent while lessening needless rocking after sitting down on the box… a tall order! I was after as vertically straight a bar path as possible with Wendler’s “picture yourself in a Smith machine” advice ringing in my ears. If the bar is not allowed to deviate from this path, it follows that the sitting back phase is nothing more than arching hard to push the hips and glutes (your colloquial butt) back. To quote Wendler again, “this is a very uncomfortable position and it should be noted that squatting is not a comfortable exercise”. In retrospect, I probably was a bit too comfortable still as I should sit back further still. Mental note to self: shoulder and back discomfort are essential to good squatting technique.

Secondarily, I also did my best to spread the knees to better open up the hips on descent while pushing the feet out sideways (aka “spreading the floor”). Not very intuitive, but we all begin somewhere.

After the 15 light sets, I pyramided up to a couple of sets with 80 kg/177 lbs to see whether I could keep form up with a bit heavier weights. After concluding that this is about where form begins to break down, I moved on to some accessory work before heading home to compare today’s squat footage with other squats filmed from the same angle, i.e. straight from the side. I ended up dissecting Mikesell’s 229 kg/505 lbs raw squat from the Brent’s Hardcore Powerlifting video and Tommy Fannon’s 319 kg/705 lbs box squat with briefs alongside my best rep at 35 kg/77 lbs and the final 80 kg/177 lbs single (VIDEO 1MB). First created a complete breakdown of the lifts with a central axis running from the middle of the foot for comparison purposes (note, this is not necessarily where the bar should be at all times), then used this information to map the bar path for both descent and ascent. The result shows Mikesell and my light set being very close to perfectly straight, while Fannon’s hefty box squats shows a bit of forward dipping although not quite as severe as on my heavier set. When doing this kind of work, layers are your friend whether in Photoshop or The Gimp.

Bar path of Mikesell’s raw squat, Fannon’s box squat and today’s light and heavier box squat. Yellow dots are mapped bar position during descent, red dots bar positions on ascent.

CONCLUSIONS

One thing that strikes me looking at these comparisons is how long my bar path is compared to the other lifters. I am fairly tall at 183 cm/6 feet and could probably gain quite a lot by moving my stance out a bit more. In fact, at Westside a very wide stance is usually used on box work to effectively overload the hip region with the competition stance being more narrow. In my case, widening the stance would probably force me out of the rack, in case of which a spotter would become paramount (ok, perhaps not on DE work). Will experiment.

Secondly, I am quite content with the bar path on my lighter sets, but still think I need to arch harder. The 80 kg/177 lbs set shown on the video was probably a bit better than my usual form when working around 100 kg/221 lbs, but the root of all evil still forces me to take a dip before driving up. What seems to happen is the common mistake of driving off the box too much with the legs instead of driving from the hips, which forces the bar to dip as the head is not driven back early enough. I think I have the same mistake on my light set as well, it’s just that extremely light weights provide good camouflage. Technique wise I need to drive back against the bar more aggressively, strength wise I need to strengthen my lower back at this angle (short range arched back good mornings spring to mind). More work to follow.

The reader survey was closed at 21:00 EET (GMT +2). Shortly thereafter, beautiful Lady Fortuna Sanna picked the lucky winner from a casket… a Westside Barbell T-shirt goes out to long-time reader and powerlifter Gareth from the UK. His response to the good news?

AMAZING!!! This is about the first thing I’ve ever won.

The survey result will be made public sometime this week, but at this stage I can reveal that there were 14 respondents. A HUGE THANKS to everyone who responded. If I were rich I’d proclaim you all winners.

Jamie’s training partner Ryan has also started blogging his workouts.

This will probably not be of any real value to fanatic gripsters, but novices struggling with the Captains of Crush Trainer gripper (100 lbs/45 kg of resistance) and those in need of lighter tools for rehab will be pleased to hear that IronMind has just released two lighter versions of their famed gripper. The Guide clocks in at a mere 60 lbs/27 kg of resistance putting it at the level of most sporting goods store grippers, with the Sport providing 80 lbs/36 kg.

There is something in store for those struggling with heavier grippers as well with IronMind also launching Hand Gripper Helpers, which is basically a string that gives 22 lbs/10 kg of extra resistance when grasped together with any gripper thus helping to overcome the fixed weight mentality. As IronMind puts it, “who’d have thought of this: progressive overload for your grippers.” Hmmm… the venerable Ivanko Super Gripper does spring to mind.

The reader survey will close on Sunday. The number of respondents isn’t overwhelming, so there is actually a real chance for you to win some powerlifting stuff in the draw. Plus I would appreciate the feedback. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

To save my nose for the benefit of mankind, I got myself a board to use as a backrest on the seated pin press. The Spirit of the Barbell nodded in approval as the bar did no longer need to clear Cape Head before moving into a proper groove. Later on in the workout, the board also came in handy as a back rest to assure good form and zero momentum on barbell curls. This simple board is already turning into one of my most useful gym accessories.

Partially solved the problem of not having heavy enough dumbells to replace the risky bent over rows (my back) by doing one-handed rows with the barbell. The advantage over dumbells is that you can pull very close to your waist as there are no plates to hit the thighs, but you can’t move the supporting leg much out to the side like I usually do since the bar is in the way. Some gentle swaying aside, bar balance is not the huge problem it might first appear to be. Psychologically, the bar also works well since 40 kg/88 lbs on a barbell looks puny whereas a dumbell of the same size is already borderline imposing. Too bad the gym doesn’t have two bars, otherwise I could go back to doing heavy dumbell benching… dumbells are for sissies, right?

VIDEO (5.4MB) (includes Måns demonstrating One-legged lying cable leg extensions in the upper pulley - great exercise for you bodybuilders out there!)