light stretching, came in immediately after a 2.5hr practice
SEATED PIN PRESS
*pins set at top of head
1x3 @ 135
1x3 @ 185
1x2 @ 205
3x3 @ 205
2x1 @ 225
FRONT SQUAT
warmup w/ bar
1x3 @ 135
1x3 @ 185
1x3 @ 225
1x1 @ 275 (hard)
1x1 @ 295 (decent) → PR (no belt/wraps)
1x1 @ 315 (hard) → PR (no belt/wraps)
3x2 @ 255
decent workout, used a clean grip for front squats and it was much more comfortable, also no towel this time. Pin presses were good, I widened my grip on the later sets and it was much easier. Had a fire alarm right at the end so no time for deads.
Finally! It took 8 months but I finally got a bench PR. Took my grip out wider today and was able to drive through the sticking point better. Very, very pleased with this. Squats didn’t feel great, I think the bar is sitting a little uneaven on my back and I was getting some pain in my left elbow as I drove my elbows forward out of the hole, I think this might be leading to a slight rotation of the bar on the ascent. Something to look out for. 405 is still decent for a gym max. Slowly moving towards that 300 bench!
Very good night, after the 475 I was torn between 485 or going for the glory, I erred on the side of caution and hit a solid single. I think I might have some sort of flexibility issue in my left shoulder/upper back area. On all the squats my right elbow stays pointed down but my left pops backwards on the way up, causing a bit of a rotation, on my second set of 445 the bar rotated too much for me to stay with and I chucked it out of the rack. If I don’t resolve it I could seriously hurt myself, or at least miss a PR, neither is acceptable. I’m gonna try some aggressive stretching and really focus on the elbow during squats to see if that helps. Still, only 30 lbs. away from my all time squat PR, good shit.
I took last week off completely, I meant to go light but midterms and a trip to Tremblant kept me busy. I did take some time at Tremblant to use the hottub and sauna…recovery work!
Anyways I feel refreshed and ready to go.
MON FEB 22 (at Anvil)
SQUAT
1x5 @ 145
1x3 @ 235
1x1 @ 325
1x1 @ 375
1x1 @ 415 → PR (depth may not have been good enough for ipf but probably ok for a multiply fed)
3x2 @ 375
DEADLIFT
warmup
1x2 @ 315
*add belt and straps
1x2 @ 405
3x2 @ 495
PULLUPS
BWx6
32 lbs.x3x5
Squats felt very heavy when I set up but actually felt alot lighter in the hole…strange. Weights moved well, the depth might be above ipf but I didn’t bring my camera so I can’t tell. The deads felt good.
SQUAT (squat bar, monolift, calibrated plates)
warmup w/ bar
1x5 @ 176
1x3 @ 286
*add belt
1x1 @ 396
*add APT wraps
1x1 @ 506 (5 kilos off all time pr!)
2xmiss 528
DEADLIFT
warmup w/ 275
1x2 @ 365 (double overhand)
*add belt and straps
1x2 @ 455
2x2 @ 505
one set of 6 or 8 pullups
Fucking awesome day, finally squatted over 500 again and pretty easily too. Went for a 5 kilo pr but sank it a little too deep on the first one and just didn’t have enough for the second go. No worries I’m finally back over 500 so I’m stoked. Deads were fine, I was a little tired for them but I pulled the top sets easy enough.
I see a big squat comming in may.
BENCH
warmup w/ bar
1x5 @ 132
1x3 @ 176
*add belt
1x1 @ 220
1x1 @ 264
1x1 @ 286
no lift @ 286 (spotter decided it would be a great idea to be a douche and grab the bar half way up)
3x3 @ 242
SQUAT
warmup w/ bar
1x5 @ 155
1x3 @ 264
1x1 @ 375
1x1 @ 419 → PR
miss 424
another solid day, the front squats are a huge PR, I was training with some olympic lifters and the numbers some of these guys were moving was pretty impressive. One guy clean and jerked something like 170 (375). Pretty crazy. After the benching I still felt pumped and a couple guys I knew from the summer had put 20 or 30 kilos on their back squat so I had to test mine. I did 190kg so another PR there. I feel like 200kg (440 lbs.) is definately in the cards soon.
POWER CLEAN
worked up to a single at 100kg and 110kg, missed a couple at 110 and 115
SQUAT
warmup w/ bar
1x5 @ 135
1x3 @ 225
1x1 @ 315
2x1 @ 405 → first one high, second a little better probably not ipf though
315x10
275x10
225x10
Cheerleading competition on the weekend so this week will be fairly low stress, the power cleans were to see where I’m at with them. Squats weren’t great, my first single at 405 was way too high and even my second rep wasn’t great, I’m trying not to round my back and lose my arch but it’s making it hard to get deep. Guess I need more flexibility, I think the second rep should have been good in most multiply feds though. Did an abreviated dan john workout after, sets of ten suck I can’t imagine doing 30. The drop from 275 to 225 was pretty much a drop set as I only had a few minutes to finish the whole thing.
SQUAT
warmup w/ bar
1x5 @ 135
1x3 @ 225
1x1 @ 315
*add belt and Metal wraps
1x1 @ 405 → lazy
*add APT wraps
1x1 @ 455
1x1 @ 495 → a little high, left side lower
Not a great day, I didn’t have alot of energy and didn’t want to push to hard with a competition in two days. The 495 squat wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible either. Bench was decent, I think the 245x4x4 might be a pr.
SQUAT
*used O-lifting shoes and tried a more olympic style squat
warmup w/ bar
3x5 @ 135
1x3 @ 225
1x1 @ 315
*add belt
1x1 @ 405
miss 425
*belt off
*switched shoes went back to old squat style
2x1 @ 315
1x1 @ 365 → felt easy
The weekend went well, we won our devision and had a decent routine, we missed some stuff we shouldn’t have so there is room for improvement. I had one of the best performances of my career, I hit everything nicely and was very pleased. We celebrated with 3$ tall boys, somehow I misplaced over 40$ at the bar…and ate a Big Mac and quesadilla as my only meals before lifting. Needless to say I wasn’t at my best, I tried a more olympic style squat to see if it could get me more depth without rounding my lower back, it didn’t really seem to make much difference so I think I’m going to stick to what I’ve been doing so far and try to open the hips a little more at the bottom to sink my squats deeper.
