I didn’t do jack.
“Week 2” – BBB 3 Month Challenge
- 3 reps – Squat (working max: 280#)
- 2x5x45 (warmup)
- 1x5x115
- 1x5x140
- 1x3x170
- 1x3x200 (work)
- 1x3x225
- 1x5x255
- Foam Rolling
Slept in, need to be somewhere this morning, so I had to do “jack this” this morning.
But it was good. I got to really concentrate on squatting, which I needed.
I’m really working on my form. Am I getting low enough? If it feels like “ass to grass” then I’m at least breaking parallel… it feels too deep to me, but no, it’s just right. What feels “right” is too shallow. Out of the hole, “hip drive”, like Rippetoe talks about. As soon as I start out of the hole with the hip drive, have to be careful about back angle, so the “tuck chin” cue comes in, and I repeat… that makes a HUGE difference to me. But the one that I’m now trying to get added more into the mix is arm drive.
Rippetoe talks about keeping your elbows back because that naturally tightens up the shoulder and upper back area, which is good. But all the powerlifters talk about getting your elbows under the bar and driving them up when you come out of the hole. On the surface, this doesn’t seem right to me… physics, “equal and opposite reaction”, and if my arms push up, isn’t that going to somehow cause downward force and thus work against my legs? I’m not arguing with the powerlifters because they know more than I do, but on the surface it doesn’t jive with me. Still, they say to do that so… I do it. And I can see a HUGE difference. What happens is I start out of the hole and think “hip drive”, then an instant after that it’s “tuck chin”, and now I’m on my way up and THEN I remember the arm drive…. and boy, it makes a difference. It really helps.
On the 255 today, it was tough, because I’m trying to not just move the weight through space, but maintain this better form, and so it’s harder! I start to bring it up, it starts to get heavy, remember to involve my arms, and that gives the boost needed to get up. It was cool.
I do need to work on the cues being simultaneous, not sequential… that I should be pushing with the arms right out of the hole. But I’m getting there. Things are coming together, slowly. 🙂
Oh, and since I knew I was doing jack, I opted to let myself “rep max” today and got 5. I was happy with that. I could have muscled out 1-2 more, but it would have required sloppy form and I wasn’t interested in that. I visualized 5 good reps, and I got 5 good reps.
Next up…. PR week. 🙂
Stuff From Hsoi 
It’s good to see someone who is focuses more on proper form and technique than simply loading the bar with as much weight as possible. I’d rather see someone squatting 135lbs and going all the way down than see someone wasting their time going 1/3 of the way down with 300lbs. Luckily I’m at the point where going slightly lower than parallel is natural for me, and I know exactly when I’m parallel.
Thank you.
I got over a NEED to feed my ego a long time ago. Oh sure, my ego enjoys being fed now and again, but it’s a far more satisfying meal when things were done right instead of just half-assing it because I wanted some false glory.