First Squat Day

Today was an awesome first day back. Weights were relatively light, so I tried to just keep good form and have a good time. And it went awesome.

Started with 5/3/1 squat. Hammies were still a little sore today, and my middle back was a little easily fatigued. BUT, overall form felt really nice and weight was moving fast and easy. did 2 sets of 10 at 135, then went straight to my first work set - 215 x 5 was cake, an 250 x 5 was also cake. Then, went up to 280. I was a little nervous, but did my best to calm down and just take it one rep at a time. The weight was moving REALLY nice. I had a couple small problems - basically, because the weight was a lot lighter than usual, I think I was a little less tight than I might have otherwise been, which meant that the bar was moving around on me a little, and there were couple reps where I got a tiny bit out of position - Nothing bad at all, but enough that maybe at heavier weights it would have caused some serious problems. But overall, it was an AWESOME set and I repped that weight out for 12 reps, with at LEAST 2 reps in the tank. Totally awesome.

Next, speed deadlifts actually went really well. I decided to only bump my weights up 10 lbs this cycle, to really focus on speed. Then, next cycle I will go up 20 lbs again. Anyways, today was 275 for 12 sets of 1 on the minute with no deficit, and it moved really nice. I have to make sure I focus on these, because although every rep moved easily, when I REALLY focus on speed I can feel the bar moving faster. But these felt great.

Snatch grip deadlifts are a BITCH. My hands are killing me from that hook grip. I stayed fairly light today, but even so I can tell this is a great movement. I felt it in my ass, and even in my lasts. Right now, my hook grip is DEFINITELY my weak point, especially with sets of 8. However, hopefully my hands will adjust, and ass the reps decrease I will be able to go up nice and heavy on these. Today, I did 2 sets of 8 at 135, the 165 x 8, 185 x 8, and finally 205 x 8. Those 8 were no problem for my legs. Hands hurt a ton though. Gonna keep trying to push these up heavy, maybe try 225 next week. We will see.

Finally, did a few sets of situps, some with weight. Nothing crazy, just going to try and keep in the habit of doing a moderate amount of core work after my lower body days.

So, great day. Happy with that big set of squats, that's gonna help my legs growww. Lets keep at it.