Started with 5/3/1 squat. Warmups went well, although My right hip/groin was bugging me a little. I have a bit of an issue with that hip. My setup is often not square, with my left foot being a little furthr back, and my right foot tends to turn out a little more. and, that hip is the one that tends to be sorer. I'm not sure If my right hip is just tighter, or maybeee one leg is longer than the other? Either way, no biggie, just an observation. Took a while to get warm, but then I hit the bar for a few sets, then 135 x 10, then straight to 210 x 3, then 240 x 3. Then I loaded up 270. Hit it for 3 solid reps, but Josh told me I was moving to slow, so on the 4th rep I tried to descend faster and lost my balance, dumping the weight back. It wasn't a failed rep., I just completely lost the bar off my back. But those three reps were solid, so I decided to re-rack the weight and go again. This time, I moved a little faster and got 5 reps, the 5th being a struggle, but still got it. This is nice. In my mind, I predicted that I would probably get 7 reps week one, 5 week two (as my technique improved), and hopefully 4 or 5 week 3. So far, I'm on track, so we will see what happens.
Next were speed deads: 265 for 10 sets of 1 on the minute with no deficit. They moved pretty nicely today. Fast, I felt better dropping my hips a tiny bit lower on later sets. hopefully 285 will be heavy, but solid.
Finally, ended with 5 x 5 at 215, and this was really good. I really got to work on my technique - namely, a faster descent. When I try and descend to the bottom of a squat fast, I feel out of control, like I'm going to lose tension. HOWEVER, I simply do not lose tension. I just hit the stretch reflex better, and it makes all the reps easier. The heavy set was harder than it needed to be, simply because I was moving slower than I needed to move. The same was true for the first set or so of my 5 x 5. However, around set 3 I started forcing myself to drop faster than I was comfortable with. Although for a split second it feels as though I'm out of control, and I will lose it out of the hole, in reality I just hit the bottom smoothly and shoot right back out of it, making every rep cleaner and easier than in the sets where I moved slower. It's still not completely comfortable, but it's a big step in the right direction. Hopefully on thursday when I do my heavy work, I can mimic the speed that I moved at in my 5 x 5 today, and start to make that second nature. If I can move the weight that smoothly and keep my chest up, I think I have quite a few reps waiting for me at 285. We will see.
Finally, ended with snatch grip RDL's supersetted with hollow rocks. I liked the snatch grip RDL's better that the other back stuff I have tried. However, I went fairly heavy (205 for 3 sets of 10), and I hope it didn't mess up my back for benching tomorrow. If I feel I can't get as tight, maybe I will try these with less weight next time. We will see.
SO, good day. My squat technique is getting more and more comfortable, and as it improves to does the weight I'm moving. Hopefully thursday and monday will both go very well, and I can keep my 5/3/1 work this heavy. But, if not, it will only be a small setback on my journey. The squats are returning to me. It's just a matter of time.
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