Whats the idea behind the hanging plate? Just for added stabilzer work?

IW

^^ Yup. It makes the exercise I absolutely detest a hella lot more fun :p

Beginning Thoughts:

This is last night's workout. I have such a love-hate relationship with the Front Squat. I love FS and it hates me :(

Workout:

Front Squats:
255 lbs x 2 reps
275 lbs x 1 rep
285 lbs x 1 rep
295 lbs x FAIL
295 lbs x 1 rep
Oh man....This destroyed me. The bar rolled forward in 295 on the ascent and I had to dump it. I got the weight on my second attempt though.

Front Squat Cluster Sets:
(225 lbs x 1 rep x 4 minisets) x 1 set
(225 lbs x 2 reps x 4 minisets) x 1 set
Did 2 sets here. Tired the shit outta me. If anyone is wondering: you do clusters by choosing a weight, doing some reps, resting for 20 seconds, doing some more reps, rest for 20 seconds and then do some more reps, etc. I have these two sets on video but I warn you that they are VERY boring because of all the waiting around I did.

Cable Pull-throughs:
90 lbs x 10 reps x 3 sets

Farmers Walks:
110 lbs x 2 trips x 3 sets

Jackknife Pikes on a Swiss Ball:
BW x 7 reps x 2 sets

Videos:

Front Squats, Cluster Sets, Pull-throughs, Farmers Walks and Jackknife Pikes on a Swiss Ball. WARNING: VERY LONG!:

YouTube

Overall Impression:

The workout was pretty decent. I am happy with 295 on the Front Squats. The Cluster Sets were really difficult (mentally) to go through.

Beginning Thoughts:

Went in on Tuesday again....

Workout:

Pistol Squats:
7 + 7 + 7 = 21 reps
My form went to complete shit come the 3rd set. I was pretty pissed off about this.

Pull-ups:
BW x 3 reps x 3 sets
BW + 20 lbs x 3 reps
BW + 35 lbs x 3 reps
BW + 50 lbs x 2 reps x 2 sets
BW + 40 lbs x 1 rep
Total Reps = 20
Decent session.

Banded Bench Press:
Orange short band x 10 reps x 2 sets
A friend of mine bought these bands so I thought I'd be the first to break them in :D

Renegade Rows:
50 lbs x 7 reps x 3 sets

Alternating 1 Arm 1 Leg Front Planks:
BW x 60 seconds x 3 sets
I got this one video.

Videos:

Pistol Squats, Pull-ups and Core Training:

YouTube

Overall Impression:

I hope everyone's having a good week. Thanks for reading! :)

Beginning Thoughts:

I went in last night got this workout in....I have finals going on this week and the next and I had just consumed 4 scoops of protein and 2 chicken breasts over the course of the whole day before I hit this workout.

Workout:

Deadlifts:
415 lbs x 1 rep (91%)
435 lbs x 1 rep (96%)
455 lbs x 1 rep (100%)
455 lbs x 1 rep (100%)
425 lbs x 2 reps (93%)
I was supposed to get in 9 Singles but I slept in such a weird position my upper trap was hurting and in extreme pain and my form went to shit....I applied some tiger balm at night but it's still hurting today though the pain has subsided considerably.

Weird Ab Exercise:
BW x 6 reps x 3 sets

Pallof Press:
32.5 lbs x 12 reps
37.5 lbs x 12 reps
42.5 lbs x 12 reps
47.5 lbs x 12 reps

Videos:

Deadlifts and Core Training:

YouTube

Overall Impression:

My diet has gone to shit recently but I am making changes. And I hope my trap heals up. I hate it when I get these tweaks...and I got it while sleeping!

Beginning Thoughts:

This is Friday's workout. Tonight I'm gonna go do Squats...

Workout:

Military Press:
175 lbs x 1 rep (95%)
185 lbs x 1 rep (100%)
185 lbs x 1 rep (100%)
175 lbs x 2 reps (95%)
155 lbs x 5 reps (83%)
I weighed in at 190 lbs that morning. I am pretty pleased with this workout. The Press was definitely hard and 185 was a bit of a grinder but I think all this cross-training of bench and dips have definitely helped me.

Dumbbell Rows:
120 lbs x 3 reps x 3 sets
My calluses were hurting a lot after Deadlifts on Thursday and I've ripped some flesh off my palms. So it was very painful to do this exercise which is why I cut it a bit short. I need to figure out what to do about this problem I have with my calluses.

Wide Grip Pull-ups:
BW x 5 reps x 5 sets

Cable Rows:
170 lbs x 10 reps x 3 sets

Lat Pulldown Crunches:
80 lbs x 10 reps x 2 sets

Videos:

My Military Presses:

YouTube

My boy Conner Wilson hit a 715 Box Squat @ 18 years of age:

YouTube

Overall Impression:

I'm done with 2 finals and I have 2 left: Wednesday and Thursday. After that I am a free bird lol...

I hope everyone's having a good weekend.

I went and saw Invictus last night. What an awesome movie. "I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul."

715lb @ 18yrs of age.... crazy!

Are you training this guy or just know him?

IW

^^^ He's the latest member of GUStrength and he's been consulting me regarding his program over the last 4 months. His Box Squat has gone from 675 to 715.

Conner is a freshmen football player from Arizona and has aspirations to become a professional strongman or a bodybuilder or a powerlifter. In any case, his focus is on strength training.

Conner's Squat workout roughly involves some heavy box squats to a bench, some deep ass to grass front squats with 315+ and some deep ass to grass back squats with 400+. His training is extremely impressive to me and I think the only reason he survives his training is because of the sheer amount of clean food he consumes. I have never met a more dedicated trainee who is only 18 years old.

To directly answer your question: No, I do not train Conner. We do train together most of the time though, but he's not a trainee of mine. He is an avid reader of Eric's and Kane's articles on GUS and our latest member though :)

Beginning Thoughts:

I am going to be starting the 4 squat workout this Mesocycle. I dunno how long I will run it but I am going to gradually get into it. This session involved only 3 squat variations but come next week I will add in the 4th variant.

Workout:

Overhead Squats:
135 lbs x 3 reps
145 lbs x 3 reps
155 lbs x 3 reps
175 lbs x FAIL
I am just getting back to doing this exercise. It wreaks havoc on my shoulders and whenever I start doing this exercise after a big layoff (in this case a month or two), I need to relearn it in terms of hand placement. As you can see in the video, my sets with 135 and 145 lbs were kinda shoddy but my form was spot on with 155. Thats because through trial and error I finally found the sweet spot for my grip on the bar come 155 lbs. Too bad I lost it and failed at 175 though.

Front Squats:
225 lbs x 5 reps
255 lbs x 3 reps
275 lbs x FAIL
275 lbs x 1, FAIL
I am in a dilemma about this exercise. I tried using the clean grip with wrist straps (coz I lack wrist flexibility) but it feels extremely unstable on my shoulders. With all my shoulder injuries, this grip makes me feel like I am ripping my shoulders out and I don't know how to hold the bar in place. If I use that gay ass cross grip, I end up making the bar roll forwards as what happened with 275 lbs. Also, the safety bars distract me for some reason because they make me want to touch them on every rep. I've spent so much time doing Anderson Front Squats that regular front squats baffle me at times!

Back Squats:
275 lbs x 5 reps
305 lbs x 3 reps
335 lbs x 1 rep

Farmers Walks:
110 lbs x 2 trips x 3 sets
120 lbs x 2 trips
Finally moved up to the heaviest dumbbells in my gym (which isn't saying much).

Pallof Press:
37.5 lbs x 12 reps
42.5 lbs x 12 reps
47.5 lbs x 12 reps

Videos:

Overhead Squats, Front Squats, Back Squats and Farmers Walks:

YouTube

Also, here is my boy Paul who doesn't believe in Pre workout nutrition who almost got killed doing Full Clean and Presses with 205 lbs:

YouTube

Overall Impression:

Decent workout...Time to get back to studying. Tomorrow is going to be Pistol Squat Day.

I hope everyone had a fun weekend! Thanks for reading!

Nice squat day!

You should tell your buddy paul he is lucky but also that he could add some leg drive into his jerk for an easier press portion. I'm still very impressed though he pretty much did a strict military press with 205.

IW