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Keosawa's Powerlifting Log

Setup looks good, as does your walk-out. You run into trouble when you allow your chest to fall; you need to constantly be thinking "chest up!". When your chest collapses here, you lose your arch, your back rounds, and the weight of the bar is displaced over your toes, not the middle of your foot. Also, when your chest dips and your back rounds, your elbows are going to flare up, which will further compound weight displacement issues.

The issue is probably a muscle-group weakness, and it's probably twofold. First, your hips rise out of the hole because you're lacking a bit of posterior chain strength. You're not getting your glutes to engage the movement enough, which is why you're leading slightly with your hips out of the hole. This is a pretty small weakness, and it's not as prevalent in your squat as some bad offenders, but it causes you to goodmorning the weight slightly, and you've got an upper-back or erector weakness that's keeping you from maintaining an arched back as you do so. Elevated hips plus a rounded back is a really bad combination for a low-bar squat, because it puts you in a biomechanically awful position. Some can get away with just the former on heavy attempts (when performed in moderation), but the two, together, are bad.

The first fix would, for me, be to simply focus on keeping your chest up and keeping your arch out of the hole. This could be an issue that's corrected within the movement itself over time. The second would be to consider seated goodmornings with a rounded back for an assistance movement, plus additional upper-back work.




Thanks a bunch for the advice man, I really appreciate it. I might try the seated goodmornings, but the problem is that when I did standing good mornings. I would have lower back pain after deadlifting (and sometimes squatting) while I was doing them...once I stopped doing them again, the pain was gone..lol so not sure exactly what was going on there, but idk if seated ones would have the same affect or not.

Do you have any specific upper back work that you'd recommend? Right now I"m doing pullups twice a week, chest supported rows once a week, and then front squats once a week (I know that last one doesn't really count as an upper back excercise though lol.)
 
Squat
Barx8
Barx8
135x3
185x1
225x1
275x1
315x3
355x5
355x5
355x5

Reverse-Band Low Box Squat
225x1
315x1
365x5
365x5
365x5

Back Extensions
BWx25
+52x15
+52x15
+52x15

Weighted Crunches
110x20
110x20
110x20

Glute-Ham Raises
BWx25
BWx25
BWx25

This is a basic restorative week for me after my meet, so I worked up to three quintuples at 75% on both the back squat and the low box squat. My back is still a little fatigued from Saturday, but these reps felt fast and easy, considering their proximity to my meet. I think I should be ready for my first training cycle by Monday of next week; until then, I'll be operating at about 10% below capacity and working on integrating a lot of GPP into my programming.
 
Thanks a bunch for the advice man, I really appreciate it. I might try the seated goodmornings, but the problem is that when I did standing good mornings. I would have lower back pain after deadlifting (and sometimes squatting) while I was doing them...once I stopped doing them again, the pain was gone..lol so not sure exactly what was going on there, but idk if seated ones would have the same affect or not.

Do you have any specific upper back work that you'd recommend? Right now I"m doing pullups twice a week, chest supported rows once a week, and then front squats once a week (I know that last one doesn't really count as an upper back excercise though lol.)

Seated goodmornings, back extensions, or hyperextensions, in that order. It's likely an issue with your spinal erectors. Watch the "so you think you can squat" series for a good tutorial on a rounded-back seated goodmorning.

So You Think You Can Squat Part 4 - YouTube

This is what you need. Start light, perfect technique, destroy your spinal erectors, ?, profit.
 
squat-o.gif
 
awesome, I"ll definately start doing those. Thanks for the advice man!
 
Reverse-Band Two-Board Press (all paused)
Barx10
Barx10
(w/ bands)
135x5
225x1
(w/ board)
275x1
315x1
365x5
365x5
365x5
385x1
385x1

Floor Press
135x3
185x3
225x2
225x4
225x6

Tricep Rollbacks
25x15
40x12
40x12
35x12
35x12

Wide Grip Pulldowns
130x8
150x8
150x8
150x8
150x8
150x8ish

I'm trying to work around my pec strain, so I went with some two-board pressing and floor presses. I handled it OK and left training relatively unscathed. I might just floor press on Saturday, but if this thing is still nagging me at all, I might consider just not pressing and resting it.
 
Nice! They posted it! I submitted this a couple of days ago and wasn't sure if they'd post it, but they post a lot of less worthwhile stuff.

In b4 people tell me I squat narrow.
 
Nice! They posted it! I submitted this a couple of days ago and wasn't sure if they'd post it, but they post a lot of less worthwhile stuff.

In b4 people tell me I squat narrow.

I gave you a little shout out to get the comments goin.
 
Also, the warcry at the end of the video was fucking glorious.
 
Blue Reverse-Band Deadlift
225x3
225x3
315x1
405x1
495x1
585x1
635x1
675x1

Deadlifts w/ doubled short mini-bands (150 lbs. at top)
135x1
225x1
315x5
315x5
315x5
315x5

Face Pulls
115x20
125x20
125x20

Hammer Curls
45x8, 8
40x8, 8
40x8, 8

Deadlifts with heavy band tension will be done regularly for the next six weeks; I want to see if it'll have a positive impact on my lockout.
 
Bench Press
Barx10
Barx10
95x3
135x1
185x1
225x1
(final rep paused)
235x7
235x7
235x7
235x7
235x7

Close-Grip (all paused)
135x3
185x7
185x6
225x3

Wide-Grip Pendlay Rows
95x5
135x5
205x5
205x5
205x5
225x5
225x5

Neutral Grip Pulldowns
130x8
160x8
160x8
160x8

Standing Cable Ab Crunches
65x21
75x21

Good bench session. My pec feels fine and I got some good sets in on bench. I got a head start on my first wave; these sets were supposed to be done next week.
 
Front Squat
Barx5
Barx5
135x3
185x1
225x1
275x1 (PR)
315x1 (PR)

DE Low Box Squat
Barx3
Barx3
135x1
185x1
225x3
225x3
225x3
240x3
240x3
240x3
255x3
255x3
255x3

DE Conventional Deadlifts w/ doubled short mini-bands (150 lbs. at top)
135x2
225x1
315x1
335x1
335x1
335x1
335x1
335x1
335x1
335x1
335x1

Glute-Ham Raises
BWx10
+45x15
+45x15
+45x15

Squat Belt Walks
+185x5 trips
+185x5 trips
 
Well, I feel fine about my box work now. :)

Assuming the knee holds up and I can continue back squatting I'm thinking about implementing a similar plan for my squat as I'm using on my DL.

Thoughts?
 
My programming for the next few months is as follows:

Seven-Day Split:
Monday: Extra workout; lat/rear delt work.
Tuesday: Heavy Back Squats
Wednesday: Heavy Bench Press
Thursday: Medium-Heavy Box Squats
Friday: Heavy Deadlifts
Saturday: Medium-Heavy Bench Press
Sunday: DE Box Squats and DE Deadlifts

Mesocycle Breakdown

Mesocycle one (three-week wave): July 23rd-August 12th
Mesocycle two (three-week wave): August 13th-September 2nd
Mesocycle three (three-week wave): September 3rd-September 23rd
Mesocycle four (four-week wave): September 24th-October 21st
Pre-meet week: October 22nd-October 26th
Meet: October 27th

Mesocycle one set/repetition scheme for squats, bench presses, and deadlifts:

Tuesday, Heavy Back Squats:
Week One: 82% (385)x6x4
Week Two: 87% (410)x4x5
Week Three: 92% (435)x2x6

Wednesday, Heavy Bench Press:
Week One: 82% (245)x6x4
Week Two: 87% (260)x4x5
Week Three: 92% (280)x2x6

Thursday, Medium-Heavy Box Squat:
Week One: 95% (460)x1x10
Week Two: 91% (435)x2x8
Week Three: 87% (410)x3x6

Friday, Heavy Deadlift:
Week One: 4-inch block pull, three singles at 90+%, then three triples at 80%
Week Two: 2.5-inch block pull, three singles at 90+%, then three doubles at 85%
Week Three: 1-inch block pull, three singles at 90+%, then three singles at 90%

Saturday, Medium-Heavy Bench Press:
Week One: 95% (285)x1x10
Week Two: 91% (275)x2x8
Week Three: 87% (260)x3x6

Sunday, DE Box Squat/Deadlift:
Week One: 50% (230 box squat, 285 deadlift)+short mini-bands, 9x3 squats, 9x1 deadlifts
Week Two: 55% (255 box squat, 310 deadlift)+short mini-bands, 9x2 squats, 9x1 deadlifts
Week Three: 60% (280 box squat, 335 deadlift)+short mini-bands, 9x1 squats, 9x1 deadlifts

After the first mesocycle, I'll tweak the weight used based on my progress. I have myself set for 681 lifts at 80% or above--264 of which are 90% or above--over the next three weeks.
 
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