Broke the 300# barrier. 🙂

“Week 3”

• 5/3/1 – Deadlift (working max: 325#)
  • 1x5x135 (warmup)
  • 1x5x160
  • 1x3x190
  • 1x5x240 (work)
  • 1x3x270
  • 1x7x305 (PR)
• Asst. #2 – Hanging LegHip Raise
  • 5 x 6 x WT
• Foam rolled

Finally! I broke the 300# barrier, deadlifting 305 for 7 reps. Nothing monumental in the grander scheme of the history of lifting, but for me? It’s a great personal record. I knew it was going to go well… could just feel it when I started my work set. Happy happy.

Next cycle will be a cool PR too… 3 plates.

But after deadlifting, I didn’t really want to do much more. It took a lot out of me, and while it didn’t kill me well… my lower back wasn’t feeling hot since class on Saturday. Being on my feet all day makes my lower back unhappy. So, why press my luck when I’m already behind the curve? Everything else? Just skipped it… maybe it’s because I have the day off and hope to rest a bunch today. Recovery good. Tho the grip work, that wasn’t intentionally skipped… I just flat out forgot to do it and didn’t realize it until I sat down just now.

I will say, the leg raises are getting better. Yes I know my rep range hasn’t changed much so it doesn’t appear that I’m making progress with it, but I am. First, I’m finding a way to do these and keep my shoulders happy. It’s a whole “ritual” in terms of grasping the bar, allowing my shoulders to relax, then slowly tighten things up, slowly let my body hang but not totally dead hang, but then slowly lower my shoulders so it’s not an awkwardly tight position…. then I can go. So that’s good. Plus when I curl, my curls are getting MUCH better. More body involvement, tighter and stronger “crunch”, knees really coming around. I can tell that I’m getting stronger here and really doing MUCH better in terms of form and technique. So I am progressing acceptably here, even if it’s not obvious on paper.

Anyways, I’m not going to sweat the details. I set a great and satisfying PR. Going to take it easy the rest of the day.