PR Friday – 10 APR 2015

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17 thoughts on “PR Friday – 10 APR 2015

  1. Howdy everyone

    I’m happy I made it to Friday this week. It’s been a tough one.

    Weather was nicer on Sunday so did some moderate intensity prowler work.

    Yesterday I stepped into the gym after a week off. No time to get in the gym this week. And tried to hit some press but may have hurt my back. I warmed up adequately and got 140×5 and 145×5 but on my next set of 150×5 the last two reps really put my back into a painful position. I always try to lock my abs and legs and everything. I also wear a good thick inzer belt for these work sets.

    Is lay back an issue to be worried about? Should I try to be more strict with my form and not just muscle the weight up overhead?

    What’s your advice on this issue? When you train people to try and get their press stronger what is your acceptable limit of lean back?

    • I stopped doing heavy presses just for this reason. To me, a heavy press is the grindiest lift there is, and that layback is too much for me. I do only 10+ reps now and save my back equity for squats and deads.

      • Did either of you get any significant injury from heavy pressing or just a soreness that was manageable with rest and ice/foam rolling/etc?

        Im just wondering what was the line in the sand that caused you to stop completely pressing heavy

        • I have a protruding and and extruding disc in the lumbar, I just feel uncomfortable with the layback. When it comes to limit presses, for me they include about 6-10 seconds of concentric work with a severe layback before I can push my head through. Push presses for me are better, I can set my core hard in the dip and push through that sticking point that causes problems.

    • I don’t know how I’d quantify an “acceptable level” of layback, but for my own sets, if I feel like I’m not ‘punching my body under the bar’ on my reps, I know I need to take the weight down a bit.

  2. Like many things in life, my work schedule intensity comes in spurts. Since I knew this week and last would be very light, I decided to try workout out every day. I just completed my 12th consecutive workout. Both weeks I’ve squatted heavy twice, lighter high rep front squats once, and deadlifted heavy once. I mixed in ohp and bench, rows and chins, on those days. The other days I did sprints and accessory work (bis, tris and Levi’s stuff). I’ve also spent at least 15 min on mobility each time. If only I was retired, I’d be a pro strongman body builder power lifter Olympian for sure.

    All of my strength has increased and I lost about two or three pounds.

    Back to a more regular work schedule next week. I’m really hoping for a five rep deadlift PR on Monday (405 at bodyweight 186), and to maybe discover a belt visible vein or something similarly awesome.

  3. Press – 135x5x3 Stoked on finally getting a full plate for my 5’s
    Bench – 190×7. Then 225×1 just because I’d never tried two plates on bench before. Went up easy.
    Squat – 280x5x3
    BB Row – 225x5x3
    Deadlift – 345×6

    PR’ing in everything but power clean made for a good week in the gym. Also dicked around with some DB rows at 115# cause my pec is strained in a weird way. I can still bench with minimal pain, but pullups aggravate the hell out of it.

    Question: I’m noticing that my stance is a bit uneven with my squats. My right foot wants to be place further back and at a bit of a wider toe angle than my left foot. Nothing crazy, but I can notice it and it bugs me. I know that some lifters (Klokov comes to mind) have uneven stances like that, but Klokov is Klokov and I’m squatting in pounds what he’s squatting in kilos.
    Getting some left sided shin splints and some right sided rear knee pain, and I suspect my uneven stance is to blame. What do.

    • My right foot has the same tendency as well. I find that the foot angle changes by the end of a squat set if I don’t clear the dust from my shoes/floor. Getting rid of the dust helps my sole stick better. Rub your shoe with your hand like a basketball player. As for a long term solution, I’m not exactly sure. I had right knee surgery a little over a year ago so there’s still some strength imbalances and twinges of pain which I’m certain is contributing. I find really concentrating on pushing evenly with both legs and keeping my knees out helps. Maybe work on your ankle and groin mobility.

  4. 531 rest week so no PRs.

    I don’t know if any other 70s Big followers are also big shooters but I had the opportunity to attend a Costa Ludus: Carbine Elements Theory 1. It was quite expensive but certainly worth the money. Chris Costa is a phenomenal instructor with an eye for detail that astounds me. Highly recommend!

  5. Still grinding my way through Cowboy Method. Had to do a 3RM today.
    I had been feeling pretty sick, so i went a bit conservative and did 185kg. All three came up real easy, which was nice. Especially since I did a rep Max on my front squat two days ago.

  6. Hey Justin. I’m probably a little late to the party, but I’m going to ask my question anyway.
    I’m currently running the 70’s Big LP right now after running the TM for a while and I would like to include some unilateral leg work for the sake of fixing some minor imbalances and more lower body hypertrophy. I’m thinking of switching friday’s front squats with a few sets of walking lunges for reps of 10 each leg.On top of that, maybe I could even alternate between back squats/front squats each week on monday so that way I’ll still be doing front squats.
    Any thoughts on this idea?

  7. 70s Big LP, things are still going well. Nothing newsworthy, just glad to be back to another solid week of training. Bodyweight is the only PR – hit 210, so I might start to trim down some for the summer as this was my goal weight.

  8. Finally hit 500 lbs on the deadlift on Friday. Have failed close to that number a few times and I think I had a big mental block. I felt great on Friday and just went in and nailed it. Think I had another ten lbs in me. Hopefully I get that this week.

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