Not that I am blaming the Dr Squat Strap for my feelings of flu and wore out ness as this past week has also brought a very unexpected tragedy with the loss of a good friend but then again maybe i will just blame it on the Dr Squat strap training.
The normal aches and pains aside , my erectors and rib cage have been bothering me for quite awhile now. So when I put it on the first time I felt the great support I seemed to get from wearing it. You can say it has a queing factor as well, to me, where I feel the expansion of not only the mid section but also the rib cage, upper back and erectors. I would call it "briefs for your back". But before it gets called assistance it is not that at all. My testing has included sled drag, belt squat, RDLs, zerchers, KB Gms , squat, box squat and bench plus others but you get the point. Every training session the past two weeks has included work with it on. In order to test this, you have to put a decent amount of weight on there which means more to me. So I put in alot of work and at higher intensity then I have been doing. The result was a tired and flu like symptoms for the past almost two weeks. Needless to say I have enjoyed testing it on everything. I may call it my support bra my new lucky lifting charm. I am in to not breaking as many things nowadays and maybe my lucky charm will help with that. We are headed to the CSCCa this week so I will try to get on as many coaches as possible. Especially the broke up ones!
5/6
Lots of activations
Bench wear the Dr Squat strap. Ya, still working every angle I can get to with this/ 5x5, 3x5, 3x2
Sled 30 mins
5/5
45 mins seld
5/4
Hour sled
Activations
Reverse hypers 4 pre, 1 post
Belt squat GMS with Dr Squat strap in a different position. Low on stomach with velcro. Always a terrible idea but made it more of a front squat GM. Several sets of 6 then 12, 12
Rever
5/3
Stepmill 20 mins
Activations with Tim Tam
V strap work:
1/Belt squat rows 8x8
2/ Push downs one side 4x8, both sides(really thick) 6x8
3/Flyes two side(thick) x6 with one side x6 x 4 rounds
-Tsunami bar press8x8
-Push ups off GHR handles 1x100
5/2
Sled for about a hour
5/1
Tim tam activations
Reverse hypers 4 pre, 1 post
Box squat with Dr squat strap. 375x3x2 sets,415x3, 375x3. Ok with this. Hip do not revolt!
Yoke carry 4 trips about 50 yard per trip wtih the Dr Squat Strap on
Stone load 180x3 x3 sets with the Dr Squat Strap on.
4/30
Snuck a hard 15 min on the stepmill
4/29
Activations with the tim tam
MAG close grip pull downs. 23 sets I think
Assisted dips 8x10, man dips 8x8
Machine press 4 rounds of 10 reps, 6 reps 3 reps to finally any reps. Moved up each rounds
One lap prowler push more for time
4/28
30 mins sled drag
4/27
45 mins sled drag
Reverse hyper 5x10 pre, 2x10 post
Did not really think much leg action was going to happen. Felt like shit and had to Tim Tam everything.
I wanted to try some squats out using the dr squat strap. I used it for the high pressure and then a regular power belt. I was only going to do a couple sets but ended up at 375 for some easy 3s which is not normal nowadays! I capped it there after 4 or 5 nice sets. I almost went up but it was nice and sunny and the world said leave it be. I did drop it and used the new SSB harness for a couple sets. It is just about there.
Getting back to the Dr Squat Straps. Th e Ab pressure was much higher keeping me tighter. But the erector support and awareness was the gold ticket. Fred Designed this just for his back raises that focus on the erectors which it does a fabulous job of but so far I think the support squatting is just as fabulous. My new old guy survivor gear.
4/26
Activations
Triple suckto- 1 lap wheelbarrow, 1 lap sled, 1 lap prowler. The prowler took about 25 mins, rest were okay.
Bench with Rhino bar. 45 sec rest, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 , 4, 3. Singles back up 6x1 with 30 sec rest
Couple rounds of the spagetti incident. New multiple use strap. Basically strands of strap where you can grab as much or as little for rep work. tris, curls , abs one arm , forearm. Probabll 70 or 80 reps a round.
4/25
30 mins sled dragging
4/24
30 mins stepmill
Reverse hypers 4 pre, 2 post
Belt squat wide x10 and x close stance 3 to 5 rounds. Tested new adjustable belt squats belt for one round followed by the regular version. 12 sets total of each stance with 2 more sets with just the adjustable to test out the higher weights. So lots of sets and reps
Broke out the Dr Squat strap for some GM/deads with the 154lb farmers walk/KB. I like the high low pressure on the abdominals. Some guys like their belt high on the abs and some low on the abs. I like them both so figured I would try them together. More of a front squat pressure on the abs with the GM type posterior work. 3 sets x 3. Finished me off!
4/21
30 mins sled drag
4/20
Tim tam activations
1 lap semi heavy drag
reverse hypers 5x12
Rhino bandbell rack pulls. worked up to 605x3x2 sets , 2 down sets
4/19
Alot of tim tam work and boomstick activations
3 laps upper body sled. Tried out some new tug of war straps. Different dynamic to the work. Liked the variations
4/17
Narrow leg press 8x10, 4 sets of negatives
Hack squat 5x12, 3 sets negatives
One heavy lap drag forwards and forwards
4/16
15 mins stepmill
4/15
Tim Tam activations
Machine pulldowns 20 sets
Fat bell gripless rows with Figure 8 straps 5x10 per arm
Bench with 1 softee pad 7x10 moving up 20lb a clip. 1 x failure
Machine press for 5x20 with negatives at end.
Stepmill 12 mins worked up to 11 for 3 min then back down
4/14
20 mins stepmill
4/13
Stepmill 20 mins
Screwy day. Body wasdragging all morning so had to get some work in and then did a bunch of BT work.
Reverse Hypers 8 x 12 with 2 post
Body masters squat machine 9x5 with a tight close stance
BT work was 30 mins straight.
300lb on stomach for 2 rounds of 2 mins
160lb(2 80lb) for 4 rounds of 2 mins each arm. Started at pec upper arm for 2 min, mid bicep and elbow, forearm and back up one more
160lb quads top for two min, mid for 2 mins, lower for 2 min. Then straped toes straight up and down with Infinity loop and ran this again.
All tissues were very soft and seperated nicely. Don and I had talked alot about the strength benefits of this type of static loading. Different then traditional top down loading with bars. Load is across the muscle this way. The loading/smashing breaks up the tighter areas while smashed tissue continues to load back under the static loading. This one is my opinion of the reaction.
4/12
Bike 20 mins
Press 200 reps
One arm weirdo tricep extension
