20 August 2012
Monday - Squat, New Training Max - 375
HRV - 81, Green
Hang Clean - 95 x 5, 115 x 5, 125 x 5, 135 x 5;
Squat - 135 x 10, 185 x 8, 225 x 5, 280 x 5*, 300 x 5*, 320 x 10*;
Front Squat - 185 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10;
Reverse Hyper - BW x 10, 25 x 10, 50 x 10, 75 x 10;
Reverse Crunch - (with foam roll) 10, 10, 10;
Prowler - 90# on sled - 10 sprints at top of each minute, remainder of minute as rest period - 10:00
Did hang cleans as an activation kind of thing before squats. My lower back didn’t hurt afterward, but it felt odd, so I will either reexamine my form, or switch to box jumps(which I like better anyway).
Reread some of 531(1st Ed), and changed up a little this go round. For the final set of the main lift each workout, you are supposed to try for more than the prescribed reps, ie, instead of 5, go for 8 or whatever. He also says in the book, when you are writing out your workout for the day(or week), to make a goal for how many reps you want to achieve. I actually tried that when I wrote out today’s routine. I saw it was 320, and decided to get 8. Then I thought, if I can get 8, I can get 10. So let’s go for 10. And I did. Can’t say it is a PR, since I’ve never tried to rep out 315 or 320 before. But I was happy with it. I think my form may have suffered a little on the last couple reps- I was still getting my depth but on the way up, I could feel the quads firing, when it should have been more posterior.
Followed that up with front squats, but instead of raising the weight, I added another set of 10. Next week I’ll start adding weight gradually, either 5 or 10 each week. I know it is an accessory lift, but I plan to increase the weight as much as possible, as long as it doesn’t interfere with recovery or the main lift(it’s done after the main, so it shouldn’t affect it anyway).
Still working my way up with the reverse hypers. Started with just legs(BW = bodyweight), then added 25 each set. Added another set at the top above what I did three weeks ago before going out of town. 75 ain’t much, but I can feel it.
I have been using a light medicine ball between my ankles and butt for reverse crunches in the past, but my current gym doesn’t have any light ones, so I used the default Eric-Cressey-recommended foam roll instead.
Prowler sprints felt good, it sucked not being able to do them for two weeks. I watched some vids on youtube to answer a question I had form-wise, and then went back to alternating high handles down - low handles back. I was trying(before) to stay as flat footed as possible on the low handles, and 1) had a horrible time doing that, and 2) could barely get traction. After watching videos, I came to the conclusion that running on the balls of my feet while on the low handles shouldn’t be an issue.