5/3/1 Squats

Today was a very good day. It got off to a rough start; I had to get up early to do some work this morning, and was on my feet from 7:30 until 11:30. And on top of that, I forgot to have my coffee today. However, despite the rough morning, I felt fulllllll of power from my rest this weekend (I took sat. off and only did 4 sets of 200 m runs yesterday). By the time I got to the gym, I was SERIOUSLY ready to lift.

Warmups felt really good. My hips were a little tight from lost of sitting this weekend, but even so my reps felt beautiful. My work sets were: 205 for 5, 230 for 5, and then 260 for reps. The first two felt amazing, and even thoughI didn't want to get my hopes up I was ready to FUCK UP the 260. And I did. My biggest problem wasn't actually the weight, It was the bar fucking shifting around on my back. I'm not sure if I was just sweaty or the bar was bent or it was just a weird day, but I could not get that fucker to sit in one comfortable spot. I must have rolled and hopped that shit around like 6 times over the course of the set. And because Of that, I had a few shitty reps - I think around rep 5 I had one where I lost some tension from leaning back too far (like rep 5 at 280 last week), and even though I got it no problem I need to watch that. Also, rep 6 or 7 my right knee came in pretty far, which felt bad bad bad. Even so, I managed to get 12 reps, which is a 3 rep pr at that weight and pretty awesome considering that at 265 I only got 10 just a couple weeks ago.

After that were speed deads. I moved the weight up, fairly steeply - I think I'm going to do 225, 245 and 265, see how that feels. the 12 x 2 at 225 moved pretty fast, and pulling them off the ground feels like such a small range of motion after the 45 lb plate last cycle. But anyways, these felt good. I'm sure 265 will feel pretty heavy but that's okay, it's kind of the point. If it's really hard/slow, I'll just only bump the weight up 5 or 10 lbs after this next 3 week cycle. But I think my body will react well to these heavier deads as I wave the deficit height.

Finally, The 5 x 10 at 185 was really hard today, but I made it through - and that alone is a huge accomplishment. Its hard to believe that I'm doing this 5 x 10 with THAT kind of weight already - especially considering I started a full 50 lbs lighter. I was also careful to make every rep full range of motion today (last week I felt like I was banging them out a little too sloppy). Also, I need to try and be careful to force my knees out on every rep, and not get lazy just cause I'm tired. But without picking at the details too much, it's pretty fuckin awesome to be hitting that weight for 50 reps. Before I know it, I'll get that 205 x 5 x 10, and then I can start to knock the reps down and keep upping the weight. there is a LOT of heavy squatting in my future.

Ended with some situps, although they were pretty pathetic after that workout. I didn't have much gas left. Overall, awesome day. I'm really happy with everything, and pumped to bench tomorrow.