I should say that on exercises like SLDL or good mornings that I would worry less about moving weight than using good form and letting the weight help make the movement obvious. By that I mean that the weight should be enough to make it obvious that you have to stay tight, and it should be enough that it shows you where your flexibility is. You should feel the stretch in your hams and the arch in your back all at once. The weight really is there to act as a feedback tool. I wouldn't start adding weight until the feedback starts to diminish. Once you are using a good ROM and the back arch is second nature without it being a concentrated effort... THEN move the weights up a bit.

Update

Body weight - 168 to 169

So I'm down a couple of lbs in weight. I ended up not doing a strict cutting cycle like I outlined. When I got serious about losing some fat, I figured my maintenance calories were around 2500-2700. So that's what I've been eating at. Or just a bit above. I've been doing cardio. I've also been taking 3g of CLA per day, and a variety of stims (all are primarily EGCG/caffeine). My strength has still been going up, and I'm looking leaner. I've lost at least 2% BF, if not more. And I have added some muscle mass. It's been a very slow process, but I'm happy. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up for a while.

P rows - 120 X 12, 8, 6
DB rows - 50 X 15, 12, 10
Lat pulls - 120 X 15, 12, 8
Curls - 55 X 10, 10, 8, 8
Hammer Strength Rows - 140 X 15, 12, 10

I talked with a few people about the workout I'm doing and it looks like I'll have to increase calories. Every set to failure kind of sucks. And apparently my body will eat itself very quickly training like this.

Squats - 225 X 15, 12, 10
Leg press - 200 X 20, 15, 12
Leg curls - 110 X 10, 7, 5
Narrow stance squats - 135 X 15, 12, 10

I'm becoming better conditioned to this kind of workout. But obviously I'm not pushing myself as hard as I need to be. The fact that I have a pattern on my reps shows that. It's getting better.

Bench press - 160 X 16, 9, 6
Incline DB press - 50 X 10, 6, 4
Dips - BW X 11, 8, 7
Tri ext/press combo - 45 X 20/12, 12/10, 10/6

No more incline db press...shoulder can't take going anywhere near to failure. I'll probably replace that with hammer strength incline press or some kind of machine shoulder press.

Where did your program come from?

One of the trainers at the gym. He's a great guy and very knowledgeable. He has a masters degree or two...one is in exercise physiology, I believe. I don't know if I have described the program very well. We talked for close to an hour about diet and training, my goals, pre existing conditions, etc. before putting everything together. He has been training a few different bodybuilders...one was in a show last weekend, in fact. It's very different from what I'm used to though. Why do you ask, just out of curiosity? What are your thoughts on it?

Well, typically I can see what people are going for in program design, but this one... I don't know. It doesn't really seem to fall into any of the normal trains of thought. Take for instance your back day. You have Pendlay rows, DB rows and hammer strength rows. Now, while I suppose one could argue that they could be targeted at different areas of the back, I might be tempted to throw the giant BS flag on it. You are doing pulldowns, great, but I don't understand their place in the order of things. Most people (bodybuilding types) would put emphasis on back width before thickness... Though I might be pretty quick to point out that I don't think pulldowns are the best way to skin that cat. Regardless, then you have curls before what I will assume is a "finishing" move in HS rows... but I'm not sure why you would need a finisher after two other kinds of rows, and why you would do that after curls.

Don't get me wrong, there could be a great reason for all of this, but from where I sit I don't get it. I suppose the better question would be "is it working?"

I will also say that at a BW of 160-something I would expect to see some pullups on the menu. Potential injuries aside, I would certainly tell you to quit goofing with pull downs and learn to knock out pullups, preferrably with weight. I would say three pullups are worth more than 12 pulldowns.

My shoulder is pretty much obliterated. I love pull ups. If I do them, aside from the immediate excruciating pain after a few reps, it becomes so inflamed that I can't push or pull well for the next few days. I can do plenty of reps and I can do them with weight, but it's just the shoulder that's holding me back. It's hard to describe, but I'll try...when I go all the way down with arms fully extended, it's almost as though I go onto another plane with the shoulder. I can barely start a rep. If I do partials, when I come to a stop near the bottom of the movement, it puts a lot of stress on my shoulder. I've tried basically relaxing and letting myself fall from the top to land on my feet and jump a little to start the motion again. I can get more reps in, but I still get very sore that way. So that's why I've been doing the pull downs. It's the best option for width that he or I could think of considering the circumstances. I'll eventually get an MRI of my shoulder so I can do more specific rehab/prehab stuff, but so long as I don't do anything stupid, then I should be able to avoid hurting it before then.

As far as the rows go, I'm obviously pretty weak when it comes to rowing. Compared to thickness, I have pretty good width at this point. That explains the prioritizing. I like the pendley rows followed by db rows. I wouldn't mind something in between, but nothing else fits very well. One of the things that I'm still focusing on is creating better mind muscle connections. I still have plenty of imbalances, especially in my back. Everything is evening out nicely though. The HS rows help with that because I am doing much less weight, but honestly I don't know why they're in there. I can't remember if I asked for them or if he threw them in. Either way, when I get to the hammer strength rows, I always wonder why I'm doing them. My biceps are exhausted way more than my back at that point, so I'm limited by biceps.

As far as whether or not it's working...I don't know. I'll get back to you in a few weeks. :) I have been doing more strength training in the past. I think I might be growing, but part of the reason that I'm "progressing" is because my endurance is improving. I've been at it for a week or two now. I'm past the stage of hating the program, and I like it a little bit every now and then, but I feel mostly neutral about it at this point. If it works, then I'll love it.