Today, I made a decision to push myself harder than I have been lately. Here's the deal: I make my best squat gains when I push myself to my absolute limit. However, with the change of style I had to take some steps back and really focus on form. And I made some great progress that way - by focusing on improving my technique, I was able to get my squat right back to as strong as it was this summer, but much deeper and more athletic. BUT I haven't hit a PR. And I finally realized why - I have been a little too relaxed on my hard sets. I have been taking them as they come, pushing HARD, but not NEARLY as hard as I was when I was making my best squat gains.
As I was thinking about todays workout, I decided that 8-10 reps was a good guess for how many I could do. But then as I thought more and more about it, I decided that I WAS going to get 10 reps. That, or fail trying. After warming up, hitting 220 x 5 and 255 x 5, I got under the weight and began. And it was an insane set. I hit the first 5 well, then 6 and 7, but after 7 I was hurting. I felt like I couldn't see straight, I was dizzy, my back was loose and the weight was insanely heavy. But I kept pushing, and somehow managed to get 8, 9, and 10. My first serious PR since I switched my style. I was really proud. There is a lot to be said about the way I took a step back and fixed my form, and focused on really locking that good technique in over the past few months. However, now that I have solidified that technique and am back to my old strength, one thing is going to get me better, and that is HARD WORK. I need to push myself beyond where I think my limits are, and risk failing in the process. And I am willing to bet that is going to make me WAY better. From now on, I am going to pick a number to hit each week for my 5/3/1 work. I want to be careful not to always be escalating those expectations, because that will exhaust me physically and mentally. However, if I set reasonable goals and am not afraid to push myself to the breaking point in order to reach them, I think I will make huge gains. I have more experience now and better technique than ever before, and I am excited to combine that with simple hard work and start SMASHING some squat PR's.
Anyways, after this, did 12 x 1 speed deads at 265 from a short deficit. They were a little bit slow, but that is typical when I change the height that I am pulling at. Hopefully, they will stay at least this fast and maybe even speed up as the weight increases.
5 x 5 squats at 255 was a little silly. My legs were done, and form was a little iffy, but over all pretty damn good. However, My back was fucked up and bleeding, AND the bar I switched to was SO bent. I made it through the first 2 sets okay, but on the third I almost fell the fuck over after rep 3. I racked it, switched bars, then re-did set 3 and finished the 5 x 5. Overall, these were tough for sure, but this is a pretty damn heavy 5 x 5, and considering 1) how hard I pushed early in the workout, and 2) the fuckedness of the bar/my back, I'm happy with making it through. Hopefully next week I can push this a little harder on the last set. We will see.
Finally, ended with 3 hard sets of hollow rocks and a moderate set of back extensions.
Overall, an awesome workout. I'm really proud of how hard I pushed, and looking forward to crushing some more squats in the near future. Can't wait to bench tomorrow, it's gonna be fun.
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