See, the problem with the chicken was that I was SO HUNGRY that I kept eating it long after my brain told me to stop. Luckily since that debacle, I’ve had plenty of delicious real-food meals to make me forget the fake-food.
Friday’s training was disappointing, but not unexpectedly so. I knew that I was rapidly reaching the end of my ability to make the sumo deadlifts required by this fifth wave of 5/3/1. I had hoped (in vain) that I could see this cycle through, but sadly no.
5/3/1 Wavee 5, Week 3 - Sumo Deadlift Day
From steps loading with 10# plates:
65# 1 x 5
105# 1 x 5
From floor:
135# 1 x 2 <–looked good, not touch n’ go but only a momentary pause
142.5# 1 x 5 <–working set, looked good and only momentary reset
161.5# 1 x 2, 1 x 0 <—failed to get the 3 reps even with a full reset, plus the reps were sort of ugly
135# 2 x 5, 1 x 3 <–reps looked good, but pulled doubles then stood and reset.
Oh, was I pissed off to miss a rep at 161.5# especially since last week I got 2 reasonable-looking reps at 171#. If I can break it off the floor, I’ve always been able to lock it out. Here I failed two reps by utterly failing to get that shit off the floor.
I looked at the 161.5# video in slow motion. Its clear that when the weight is heavy for me, I am struggling so hard to keep my back sort-of straight that I utterly fail to pull back and instead kind of lurch forward a little and pick the weight up. At lighter weights (135 & 142.5) I don’t do this.
So, I clearly know how to do the lift correctly. But my form is breaking down in the 160-170 lb. range.
After being pissed off, I set out to plan my offensive. I briefly considered switching to conventional pulling. But I pull sumo for a reason – my long legs are so in the way of conventional pulls. Plus, someone mentioned here recently that sumo pulling is very technically difficult and I don’t want to back away from learning something hard.
I need to work form on weights that are lighter than this wave, so clearly I will have to reset my max. I also need better speed off the floor and to work my sticking point, to wit the damned floor again. I’ve ordered up two short mini bands from EliteFTS and plan on as my accessory work doing speed pulls against these bands anchored by dumbbells or my feet.
Neutral grip pullups
4/3/3
supersetted with
Decline pushups (feet up on bench)
3 x 10
The best part of the workout was getting one more neutral grip pullup than last week, and doing much prettier decline pushups than the last time out. Thank goodness for small victories!
I bet you were wondering why you were tipping to the side! HAH!