Today was a good, but abbreviated, day.

“Week 2”

• 3 reps – Deadlift (working max: 295#)
  • 1x5x120 (warmup)
  • 1x5x150
  • 1x3x180
  • 1x5x210 – oops (work)
  • 1x3x240
  • 1x10x270 (PR-ish)
• Asst. #1 – Good Mornings
  • 5 x 10 x 65
• Asst. #2 – Hanging Knee Curl/Raises
  • 5 x 6 x BW
• DeFranco Agile 8
• Grip
  • 2x10xS, 2 sec. hold between reps
  • 3x5xT, 2 sec. hold between reps
  • 1 10 sec hold, No. 1

I had to cut today short. I had an early appointment to tend to, so time was critical this morning. I drove to/from the gym, I supersetted the assistance work, I didn’t sprint. Not what I wanted to do, but it shaved off 30 minutes and that was important time. Just how it goes sometimes.

But I think it may have played well into mental outlook on the workout. First, I wasn’t distracted with the workout. The mindset wasn’t wondering about the workout, it was “just get in there, lift, leave”. As well, I figure since I didn’t feel a need to worry about having energy for other things, I put everything into it. Hitting 10 reps @ 270# isn’t a pure PR, but the last true PR was 1x8x275; 10 reps with 270 isn’t something I’ve done before, and when you “mathematically compare” those two amounts of work (for whatever equations are worth), today was more than the true PR. I don’t really care about being a true PR or not, just that I know I’m getting stronger and better. I attribute this to better mindset, improvements on my sleep issues which contributes to better recovery, and just a desire to break that 300# work weight barrier. 🙂

Frankly the only reason I stopped at 10 reps is because well… that’s still a LOT for what should be a “>3 rep” set, and I just got to a point where my head said “enough” because all that breath holding was getting me a little light headed. Needed a break. 🙂

Supersetting the GM’s and curls is probably something I should stop doing. It seems my right shoulder isn’t happy with that, because it goes from this extreme position of flexion in the “squat” position to being at an extreme extension/hang/stretch with the curls. It’s just a lot of extreme stress on the shoulder and it told me so. Before the 5th set I took about 30 seconds of rest between the two and my shoulder was much happier. So, that’s how it goes. Still, I feel good about the curls, really getting my full body into it and getting my knees way up there and really curling my body into a fetal position… not just raising my legs up and stopping with thighs parallel. Feels good! In fact, today was so good that for a moment I thought “gee, so that’s how the gymnasts do it”. Not that I feel I’m anywhere near things, but for a fleeting moment I didn’t feel like such a wuss.

Alas, no sprints or anything else today. I did manage to do the grip work since that’s not too difficult to do while I do some other things around the house (instead of on my walk home, since I didn’t have one today). Just how it goes sometimes. I’ll resume on Monday.