Blood, Sweat, and Chalk - Rediscovering Iron and Myself

[sleepingdog]

2/17/13

Squat
45x5x2
115x5
170x3
230x2
290x5x2
290x10

Bench
45x5x2
130x5
180x3
230x2
260x5x3

Deadlift
125x5x2
185x3
265x2
315x5

Deadlifts went really well today. Control over my form came much easier, despite being overly frustrated at the jackasses attempting to turn the weight room into circuits, using all the main pieces of equipment for just 2 D-bags. I held my temper. My 315x5 didn't break down til the last rep where my hips shot up first, but it still felt light. Might try some sumo deads next time to see if my form holds out longer that way.

Bench felt heavy. I haven't really been making progress there, and it has the potential to become frustrating. I should have stepped it up to 265 today, but I was actually dreading it. I've got a "twinge" in my left elbow and shoulder from earlier today that I hope is gone when I wake up tomorrow.

Squats were pretty awesome today. I wonder if it's because they're done first. Doesn't matter really as long as I keep getting progress. I do need to find a solution to the safety bar height. I think there are a couple more reps in there if I stop hitting the bars. I wish I could get my hands on a couple 4'x4' 3/4" sheets of OSB. Another 1.5" would be perfect. Then I could move the rack up another notch as well instead of doing a half squat just to unrack it.

I didn't go for a max today. I really wanted to, but I resisted the urge on the logic that I can just do my openers at my current work set weight and see what feels right from there. I'd love to have a plan, but I'm not really at the stage in my lifting development where I know in advance how it should go.
More squats tomorrow. Depending on how I feel tomorrow, I might back off and just do the prescribed 295x5x3 because I want to try and video myself in a few days, hopefully smashing 300x10.

[BendtheBar]

Awesome squats were awesome. Keep hammering them.

[sleepingdog]

Yesterdays twinge got even worse after a bad partner for Muay Thai practice. He kept flinching the pads back on my jabs and my left elbow was fully extending without the resistance ot slow it down. It's better today, but better is not good, just better. So no messing around with it, if it's not good tomorrow, I will wait again.

[BendtheBar]

Hope you're feeling better.

[sleepingdog]

Elbow is doing better. Gonna lift tomorrow. I was going to go today, but I decided that I'd rather miss one more day of training than several if I continue to aggrevate this.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by sleepingdog

Elbow is doing better. Gonna lift tomorrow. I was going to go today, but I decided that I'd rather miss one more day of training than several if I continue to aggrevate this.

Good call.

[sleepingdog]

2/20/13

Squats
45x5x2
120x5
175x3
235x2
300x5x2
300x10!! Yet another rep PR today. This might be my last workout that I can pull this off for now. This was HARD. I know my form was a bit off, I could feel it, see it in the mirror, and I videoed it where I saw the struggle as well. It still felt pretty good, and I don't foresee any significant soreness from this. I double checked today, and the "mini-meet" is actually Saturday, not Friday as I was expecting. This works out because of the extra day off I took yesterday for my elbow. Now the meet will fall on my already planned squat/bench/deadlift day.

Bench
45x5x2
135x5
185x3
230x2
245x5
255x6
265x4
As I sort of knew would happen, strength gave out on the 4th rep of the 265 set. I'm a little bummed because I was hoping to have just enough in the tank to finish this set, but I'm going to go ahead and back it down next time to ramp 235x5, 245x5, and try to get 255x7. I'll probably do this two A days in a row, then move the ramp sets up. I'm going to try to find some 1lb "something" to hang on the ends to go 257x7, and so on.

Deadlift
125x5x2
185x3
265x2
315x3
365x1
385x1
I wanted to see how much I could pull today after all the other work before 1. Form broke down, which happened at 315. 2. I started feeling the pull in the wrong places, which happened at 385. I might have had another 5-10lbs in me, but I wasn't going to push it today. It's still progressing, just slower than my squat. Progress is progress, ja?

Overall a good day. I had no one waiting for my equipment, so I took an extra minute or two between work sets. I could have gotten some better sleep prior, maybe been a bit better hydrated. I wasn't sweating buckets like normal, so I might have been a bit low on water. I'm currently loading up on water, because as far as I know, there's no weight classes for the mini-meet, it's just for the 1000# club tshirts.

Current plan for lifts are
Opener:
Squat 350 Bench 255 Deadlift 335
Second Attempt:
Squat 375 Bench 275 Deadlift 365
Third Attempt:
Squat 390 Bench 300 Deadlift 385

I know this leaves me just 25 shy of a RAW 1100, but I've got a laundry list of excuses, top of the list being that I'm just not quite mentally ready. I'll hit that 400 squat and deadlift very soon. I might even go for broke on the squat and attempt more for the third attempt. If that goes well, and I'm feeling good on the first two bench attempts, I'll probably try to hit the 1100. I'm going to play that third attempt by ear rather than making a concrete plan before I make my first attempts. I was shocked last time at how exhausted I was from the adrenaline pumping all day. I'll be expecting it this time.

I'll post the horrible attempt at videoing myself as soon as it finishes the upload to YouTube. Hopefully there's enough of me in the video to get some critiques.

[bruteforce]

Good luck amigo! Smash the meet, you've got some big numbers in here.

[BendtheBar]

Great, great, great squatting. Huge accomplishment.

[sleepingdog]

Squatting 300x10 - YouTube

Squatting 300x10 - YouTube

Attempted to follow the auto-imbed directions, lets see if this works.