JMOvechkin writes:

Would you say that front squatting would:
A. Improve low bar back squat
B. No change
C. Decrease low bar back squat
D. All of the above

Please fully circle your answer with a No. 2 pencil.

I’d prob guess B, though training the front squat with the low-bar back squat means less time training the low-bar back squat overall so slower progress on the back squat might be a long-term result.

I rolled on my IT bands for the first time a few days ago, with a lacrosse ball, was pretty awful. Did the best shoulder mob ever, which I found has significant benefits when I do it before benching, so it’ll be a regular on the nights before I bench (I’ve been neglecting it). Uhh rhomboids and external rotators were real sore after touch-and-go deads and bent-over bb rows, so did quite a bit of soft tissue work there, standard couch/table-top stretch as well, and also anterior deltoid soft tissue stuff. Last night I also hit up an IR stretch for my right shoulder, the discrepancy in internal rotation between my shoulders is slowly decreasing which means my snatch (and prob a few other things) should be getting even better.

Friday I benched 225 x 7, 5 touch-and-go, last set x 4 paused. High-bar squat 365lbs x 5, 375lbs x 4, 355lbs x 3. This was a pretty terrible workout. Didn’t feel that great before, and I wanted to kill myself after.

Today was a little better. I started off by power snatching 195lbs and squat snatching it, was hoping for a power snatch double but I’ll take this as well. Snatched 205lbs for an easy single after.

Power clean + squat clean + jerk 245lbs, this was as high as I got, felt heavy.

Double overhand no hook deads, 330lbs x 6.

I superset that with close-grip bench, hit 215lbs x 8 and 7 for a PR. Yes, this was the day after benching. No, I don’t give a fucking shit if it was a bad decision. I wanted to close-grip bench yesterday after squatting but time wouldn’t allow. Also, I needed to do well on some kind of press after yesterday, or I would have been upset until next bench day. Something to think about is that there are numerous programs i.e. Sheiko, Smolov, that involve benching and/or squatting 4+ times a week (Sheiko, which is actually mega fucking legit since it’s the official training program of the Russian national powerlifting team, is actually like 5-7 i think … if I just liked powerlifting I’d prob be doing Sheiko).

FYI, my training schedule is going to become a little more intuitive for a bit. Work schedule will be a confounding factor in regularity, though I will still follow a basic order (i.e. volume squat/press, light pull, intensity squat/press, heavy pull). Mainly the biggest difference is I may be pressing on different days than I squat.

Justin, this is a good thread. Msingh talks about you. Basically he doesn’t train (he lifts, but he is a real virgin newbie about it) and thinks that because he sucks, everyone else sucks too. Guy could not be more self-victimizing. Msingh is the epitome of the guy who is too busy talking about training on the internet instead of actually training.