el_flaco

Just a couple of comments on squat (what can I say, I dig squatting) Unless you're got a solid powerlifting squat technique, going to parallel is a very deep squat. Your knees will come forward if you are squatting upright, meaning you have to go lower to break parallel. With my usual squat technique the difference between breaking parallel and hamstrings hitting calves is a matter of a few inches. I rarely see guys squatting this deep in my gym, which is a hardcore bodybuilding gym. In fact many of the guys I've heard claim ass to grass squats are hovering around the parallel mark, sometimes even higher. Ass (or hamstring) parallel is quite a bit higher for most guys. I think there's a place for partial squats, but you have to keep safety in mind. Set the safety pins close to where you plan to descend too (or even lift from the pins). One of the issues with a partial ROM is the risk of dipping beneath that and being unable to handle the weight. I saw a guy recently tear his pec when doing incline bench. He was stopping about six inches above his chest, on the last rep (with 160kg or so) he dipped a bit lower and the chest went. That's why I love exercises with definite starts and finishes, you can't cut range when the weight gets heavy. As an example, for me that's a great reason to choose barbell bench over dbell bench when measuring strength (we've all seen the dbells get heavier and higher).

Top video. I guess he's wearing a squat suit, but I doubt they gave much in those days. I think this is from a squat competition against Dr Squat, Fred Hatfield. Hatfield won the max squat, Platz ate him up on the max reps. http://www.fatmanunleashed.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/tom_platz_legsfront.jpg Could be a lesson to the bodybuilder types out there - get off the leg extension, leg curl and leg press machines and get SQUATTIN' HEAVY If you want to look like you can rep 500lbs, you better start training to rep 500lbs.

I'd always thought that 21s should be done as 7 half-reps in your weakest range of motion, 7 through a full range (momentum will help in the weakest range), then 7 in the strongest rom. Done this way you shouldn't need to drop the weight. Plenty of ways to skin a cat though, so if it works for you I'm not going to knock it

I'm pretty new to the forum, but I think I'm seeing how it works. When you lift a weight, you add a hundred pounds to get the "true strength"?

I'm about 220lbs. My friend's an IT guy, not a manual labourer. He does play some (field) hockey though, and he's quite fast. I reckon he's 5'10 or so, he's thin. I didn't think he'd have such a good deadlift in him. By the way 400lbs went up he must have more in there too. Sometimes having no preconceptions of what is heavy can help. The only guy he's seen deadlift is me so he doesn't consider what he's lifting to be heavy. If he went into a gym where no-one deadlifted heavy he'd show too much respect to the weight and it would defeat him.

I got 606lbs last night, no straps. Guy who started training with me hit an easy 400lbs, bodyweight is 154lbs. He's only been squatting and deadlifting for a month!

Cheers man I got engaged to AbFab two weeks ago, we met on a VF cycling weekend earlier this year. She's an amazing lass. Being banned shouldn't stop you from reading the forum, just from logging in? But banning is a pretty fluid situation anyway, sometimes just used to calm things down when a thread gets out of hand. I've seen a few guys return recently after "episodes"

The "dwarf" comments on VF are due to me having a beard that resembles Gimli, not because of my lack of height.

I wanna be just like you! Please direct your adoration to Tuc, he runs the "I want to be built like el_flaco" fan club

6'0, 225lbs

Since this thread is in the "bodybuilding" section I'm going to have to assume you guys have found a way of gaining more height... Synthol in the soles of your feet perhaps?

Nailed the 155kg earlier today - might tempt you into a 157.5kg attempt perhaps? Aye not had an update from Hannibal. A 160kg from him would end any hopes I had of giving him a scare during my Australia visit. It's been a long time coming on the squat - that's JP's max as well so nice to nail it (would be sweeter if he was still in action though).

Yeah I saw that man. Big progress, I suspect your squat and deadlift will come up pretty quickly. We are neck and neck on bench, I failed a 155kg last week when the spotter touched the bar when I thought it was in the bag (was a slow grinder though admittedly). I'll keep an eye out for the bench results (should I assume that silence = failure, or will you update us either way? )

You were better off on VF then, guys here are too busy cutting to get big and strong

Using multiples of bodyweight isn't a good way to compare the quality of lifts from different lifters. From http://tsampa.org/training/scripts/relative_strength/

WTF? Solid lifts for sure, but he's in 21st place...

Yeah in KG. That's a good total, would put you in 17th place I think, 485kg or so.

Solid lift man. You could always chalk it up on the strength table on VF - http://www.veganfitness.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12941&start=0 There are a lot of guys in the 400-500lb deadlift range, you'd have some good competition.

I'd guess that for most people lack of power off the chest is caused by poor setup and technique. No point in pausing or working at the bottom range unless the setup is correct. Also I see so many people with no tightness as they lower the bar. Get tight! For me this means gripping the bar as hard as I can, some outwards pressure, and squeeze the bar to the chest. Lowering even lighter weights takes effort! Westside style with bands and so on isn't for pop off the chest imo, because they will mainly be benching shirted. It isn't an issue for them.

I can't help but be impressed by the straightforward and logical advice that the OP received in this thread.

Aye it's a solid plan, JP is doing similar. Using some enforced downtime to sort a few issues out and shed some excess weight. The strength will come back quickly once everything is back in place. Turns out that before I could nail another PB (I'm 2kg behind you) a guy called Adam nailed a good deadlift and overtook us both

Damn man, I'm closing in on your PL total on VeganFitness so I came over here to find how things are going. Do a little spying. AND YOU'RE CUTTING!!! Good luck with it though, hope the strength levels stay high

If I had to choose one (former) veganfitness member who is clearly full of shit...

You are still overweight, just not fat. Sure, by the BMI definition. And I'm ok with that. Of course you are. The BMI definitions aren't pejorative terms, they're just categories. Just as you didn't take into account the activity levels of the subjects. And to my knowledge no studies on heart disease have been done involving a population of 260lb bodybuilders... What do you mean "use it on an individual level"? All you can do with it is index into population studies to see what the risks are for other people with your BMI. This isn't a breakdown. What do people expect from a ratio of bodyweight to height? A horoscope?

Benching alone is dangerous whether you believe you can bail or if there are lower pins to rack it on. Failing to get the weight back up is not the worst thing that can happen to you. You won't bail after a pec tear or after the falling bar knocks you out. Just ask for a spot. Working to COMPLETE FAILURE ON EVERY SET is an asinine way to train.