anybody into bodybuilding/powerlifting?

[IronFreak]

Inhale/motion/exhale.

Getting yourself full of air is what keeps you tight, it shouldn't be a part of the motion especially when you are lifting heavy. you'll deflate under the load and lose your form.

[rbartongrimley]

Respiration question for you long-time experienced lifters. Do most of you just inhale going down with the weight then exhale as you extend? I know you're supposed to hold air in as you squat for example, just wanted to get someones opinion on simpler movements like benching etc..

thanks

My squat breathing is similar to my bench breathing but a bit different from my deadlift breathing.

I always take a huge breath and unrack the weight. I have super small walk outs and set up quite fast, so a huge breath isn't always needed. I then exhale when set up and take another huge breath. After this last breath I tighten my lats and my glutes and proceed to squat. I normally have that breath in me for the entire squat unless at the very top I exhale or utter some type of primal scream. I reset my breath in between reps and do the same thing.

Bench is roughly the same.

I can't do that with deadlift. I have tried to keep tight the whole time by holding my breath but it makes me want to die and I actually find I am weaker at the top for some odd reason. So I normally set foot position, set grip, take a breath, tighten my upper body, stand up and exhale when I am near the upper portion of the lift and while locking out.

It all works for me, but who am I to say anything!

[IronFreak]

^^^Much better explanation. I'm very similar, But on my DL's I set myself, roll the bar out in front of me, stand up, deep inhale, bend over (try to keep my eyeballs from popping out), pull the bar in, sit and pull.

[drumad]

Tweaked my lower back on sunday WARMING UP for DLs. Went to chiro and apparently I have compression on my L4 and L5 pinching a nerve. Shit sucks, I basically couldn't function at all on Sunday evening. Good thing is I don't have arthritis or a herniated disc.

I'm slightly better now but I still have lower back pain. Chiropractor is doing his number and said I should find to go hard again come Thanksgiving.

[alB5]

Tweaked my lower back on sunday WARMING UP for DLs. Went to chiro and apparently I have compression on my L4 and L5 pinching a nerve. Shit sucks, I basically couldn't function at all on Sunday evening. Good thing is I don't have arthritis or a herniated disc.

I'm slightly better now but I still have lower back pain. Chiropractor is doing his number and said I should find to go hard again come Thanksgiving.

Oh man, Sorry to hear. Good luck on whatever amount of rehabilitation you need to do. Get better soon.

[Shangsta]

I have also been out a week. Tweaked something in my right shoulder

[drumad]

Fuck everything. Here's a 500lb pull from earlier today. Super ugly. Super shaky. Whatever. No lower back pain so I'm happy.

[alB5]

Fuck everything. Here's a 500lb pull from earlier today. Super ugly. Super shaky. Whatever. No lower back pain so I'm happy.

beast.

[alB5]

New PR this morning for DL: 325x1

Ever since I bought a weight support belt I've been doing much better at keeping good form throughout the pull. Also hit a new PR for squats (with belt) 235x3 :)

[IronFreak]

Fuck everything. Here's a 500lb pull from earlier today. Super ugly. Super shaky. Whatever. No lower back pain so I'm happy.

Dude!!! Right on....especially since you were hurtin a couple of weeks ago. Last Thursday I hit a PR on Reps, pulled 405x5 for 3 sets. Was completely smoked after that.

Today starts the no BS get ass in the gym consistently. Going to hit it right after work Mon-Thurs. That's about the only time I have available right now. I'll start posting more in this thread. Going to do a week of getting back int othe groove then start a heavy 5/3/1 setup.

[drumad]

What assistance are you going to do? My favorite was the one with close grip bench (ohp), front squat (DL), incline bench (bench), and stiff leg DL/RDL (squat) as secondary main movements. There's a progression for those big lifts too which helped me tons.

I'm currently doing the following for my 531 assistance

OHP - Bench (65%x7x5, 75%x7x3, or 85%x10x2 depending on which 531 week)
DL - Front Squats for heavy triples between 5-7 sets, I autoregulate here
Bench - OHP, sets of 5 between 5-7 sets, autoregulated also, move volume for OHP=good
Squat - more squats (65%x7x5, 75%x7x3, or 85%x10x2 depending on which 531 week)

I know it goes against the 531 ideas, but I found the heavy rep work in those ranges have seriously helped me with my big four lifts. The extra work helps with form. Volume is seriously beneficial to everything but the DL.

I think I'm going to rethink my DL programming as I'm starting to miss lifts in my regular work sets. Feck.

[IronFreak]

I really like that. Last time I did it I did the big10 assistance. where you did the main lift, then like 40% of that weight for 5 more sets of 10. it's was pretty brutal but I put on a lot of size, especially in my shoulders. I worked up to a 205lbs. strict OHP, was pretty happy about that. I probably couldn;t do 185 right now......

[drumad]

I can't even imagine having a 205 strict ohp. I failed on my last 185 attempt. Then again, it is one of the slowest gaining lifts.

Boring But Big might be the some of the best assistance work out there for OHP bc of the volume. Hmm, I may experiment with that.

[IronFreak]

it is boring, you spend 70% or your workout in the same rack haha. I did that program for 4 months straight, started with a 165OHP I believe and hit 205 before my wedding......then I went on honeymoon and the gym life went to crap.....and frankly has stayed crap. That's changing starting this week. I hit the gym every day mon-thursday. first time I've done that since probably the first of the year.

[drumad]

My best ohp is 180. I failed at 185 twice so I decided to deload.