Squat Monday! New PR

Today kicked off Week Three in my 531. Heavy squats. 

I filmed by lifts for the first time, and it was very humbling. I was disappointed to see I lost my lumbar extension on my heavy back squats. Of course switching to high bar would help with that, but I'm not ready to switch until I plan to reset in January.

I also filmed my front squats and I need to work my rack position - my wrist is a mess today because of my poor rack. 

On the plus side, I hit a new LBBS 1RM!! 

Take a look: 


Overall happy with where I am. Still shooting for 405# by the 31st. A part of me doesn't want to rush it, but the rest of me is stoked to get in there on the 28th and just crush four plates. 


LBBS
275# x 5 
315# x 3
335# x 1

Good Mornings
135# 3x15
These were disappointing too. I need to drop the weight and work on form. They looked so ugly on the video, and I thought I had awesome form in my head. 

Front Squat: 
135# x 2
155# x 2
185# x 2
225# x 2
255# x 2
275# x 2

Mobility 
I have to build a more comprehensive mobility plan. I've been hitting my flexors, quads, glutes and groin, but I feel like there is something missing. I also am in need of a massage. 

Friday Deadlift and Press

Yesterday I missed the gym. I took a day to work from home on some projects and my daughter ended up puking all over herself before school. So instead of getting a lot done I watched TV and cuddled a sad 3 year old until she felt well enough to do some baking. Yes, I cured vomiting with chocolate chip cookies.

Today I hit the gym with a vengeance. I had deadlifts to do, I had press, and I was there early.


Deadlift
275# x 5
325# x 5
365# x 8 PR!
I'm trying to keep my third set in the range to keep my estimated 1RM at or near my goal.

Press
135# x 5
145# x 5
165# x 5

Pull-ups
3 x 3,2,2

Pendlay Rows:

185# 3x5
Reduced weight and reps to concentrate on form. Felt much better, some soreness in my upper back this evening.

Push Press
185# x 5
205# x 5
225# x 3
This was just a random addition when the Pendlays felt good. Power clean those presses punk! First cleans in a while and they went up easily - the form was ugly at 225# but it went up. Felt huge. Tried to get a video on my tablet, but the case cut off half of it. You can see the top of my head and the bar coming up. Next week I'll video a lot more.

Skipped Conditioning, stretched lightly, and ate like a monster.

YEEEAH Tuesday Bench

Right so today I have proof my de-loading week absolutely paid off and I'm feeling silly for even wanting to skip it last week. I know I thought I was feeling good. I know LBEB posted "When in doubt go heavy" and I  saw it as a sign. I know it even started a debate about when it was appropriate to skip de-loading and I still felt like it was a good idea. But it was a bad idea.

Last Tuesday I jumped into my new 5x5 bench day, and struggled through, hitting 260#x4 in my top work set. Then I realised my poor performance was due to skipping the ever important de-load and spent the rest of the week with light weights and higher volume and just took it easy.

Today I went in on little sleep. I was a little apprehensive after sucking so badly last week but I warmed up thoroughly and got into my work sets. 205#x5 felt easy, 230#x5 was solid, and 260#x5 was mothaflippin awesome. I ended up hitting 260#x7 punks. Yeeeeah buddy.

So let me sum it up.

No de-load = weak; de-load appropriately = strong. Follow your programming, it's there for your benefit.


Bench:
205# x 5
230# x 5
260# x 7


Pullups:
5 x 3,2,2,1,1


Dips:
3 x 19, 8, 6

Mobility:
Couch.
Feeling a little pain in my plantar fascia, so I stretched out my tibialis anterior and calves, and mashed my foot on a bulbous area of my desk all day. Feeling much better.

Conditioning:
Watched TV for 15 minutes. Riding the stationary bike. Doesn't count.

Squat Monday - New Cycle

You'll notice I didn't log for the back half of last week. Well de-loading is necessary but boring. You don't need to hear about all my light lifts. I did some stuff to stay mobile, I stayed at about 50% of my 1RM. Excitement!

Today I started my new cycle! I was feeling must better than last Monday. Maybe it's because I ate everything in sight since lunch at the Wasabi buffet on Friday. That must be it. 

While I was toiling away working my squats there was a bro grunting it out loud and proud and banging and clanging while he hit his 1 RM on the tricep push-down machine. Maybe he got a new decibel PR. I'm not against grunting, or even clangin n banging, I just prefer for it to be in support of actual work.

Speaking of work, I decided to add front squat doubles to the program today because Garcia is making me feel like a skinny child since I don't work front squats or Olympic lifts in my program these days. Worked myself from 135 up to my max for the day. I hit 275# then wimped out on 295. I'm going to have to fix that next week and probably clean something. 

LBBS
265# x 5 
295# x 5
335# x 5

Good Mornings
135# 3x10

Front Squat: 
135# x 2
185# x 2
225# x 2
255# x 2
275# x 2

Mobility 
Couch stretch...after I soaked the mats at LA Fitness in cleaner and scrubbed. Nobody cleans that place and the smears and salty sweat stains are disgusting. 

Conditioning: 
Swimming again tonight at the marginally cleaner LA Fitness in Burlington. Then hot tub. I hope I didn't get staph from that mat earlier. 

De-load back on

Remember what I said about skipping my de-load week? 

Yeah, forget that. De-load is back on, Week 1 of my new program cycle starts Monday. 

Monday Squat - New Cycle

Welcome to my 5th Cycle of the Wendler 5-3-1

This was supposed to be my de-load week after making a bunch of new volume PRs. However, by this morning I was feeling strong and well recovered and decided to hell with recovery, let's just keep it going. Here's the result: 

LBBS
265# x 5 
295# x 5
335# x 5

Good Mornings
135# 3x12

Front Squat: 
135# 3x5
I haven't front squatted in ages, just wanted to see how they felt. I think I'll be adding to my Mondays and determining a proper load. 

Mobility 
Couch stretch, 2 minutes a side whistling dixie. Ahh supple quads and hip flexors. 
2:30 squat (+:30 since last week, on the way to 10 minutes uninterrupted!)

Conditioning: 
I might swim tonight!

On an unrelated note, the giant (1cm+) stone in my sub-mandibular salivary duct is giving me trouble again. It hurts and I want it out. I have heard that they are starting to use ultrasound to break up big stones (extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy or ESWL) so you can have the less invasive scope removal, but I'll have to wait to see a specialist (Dr. Sommer is the saliendoscopy specialist around here) to see a)if it's possible and b) how much it will cost. Wish me luck, because the alternative is that they go in through my next under my jaw, like this. 



Obviously not ideal. 

Skip that de-load.

I am feeling too good today, so I think I'm going to skip my de-load week. 

That is all.