So why DID I run out of gas?

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 17, week 1

• Work Set – Squat (working max: 295#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x120
  • 1x5x150
  • 1x3x180
  • 1x5x195 (work)
  • 1x5x225
  • 1x7x255 (rep PR?)
• Assistance – Squat
  • 3 x 10 x 145
• Assistance – RDL
  • something… see below
• Assistance – Pulldown Abs
  • 3 x 15 x 120 (hold 1 sec at peak of each rep)

I was exhausted. My brain was screaming, wanting to do more, but my body just couldn’t move. I’m not sure why. Was it because I cranked like hell during squats? Was it because of CBL? Some other third thing? I don’t know.

On the squat work set, I worked hard. I pulled out 7 reps with 255. Last cycle week 1 was 7 reps at 245. Cycle 15 week 2 had 2 reps at 255. Cycle 14 was week 3 getting 3 reps at 255. As I keep flipping back, even to cycle 13 which holds my current squat PR (3×280)… I busted out more reps today than I have. So fuck yeah. But I had to work for it. I MIGHT have gotten 8 reps if I really felt like pushing it, but it would have been a gut buster and that’s not the point of work sets.

So then my assistance squatting. Recall that I’m trying to make every rep to be awesome form. This is the time to really focus on form. In fact, today was a huge focus on form. Didn’t plan on it, but it happened. I didn’t care so much about my lower body, just get into a stance that felt right. My upper body tho…. I worked HARD on keeping it tight, “inflated”, my lats were flared hard with every rep (well, I tried to… I would get tired, notice they were loosening up, then tighten then back up). I worked HARD at every rep. It was 10 sets of 1 rep, not 1 set of 10 reps. It wasn’t about pushing through just to get to 10, letting shit falter, letting the bigger stronger muscles do the work just to crank out the required number of reps. No, every rep was a reset. Every rep was the same (or greater) mental intensity. I wanted my weakest muscles to be involved and failing first, so I could make them stronger. And I’ll tell you… 3 sets of assistance work was enough. I was tapped.

Thus when I started the Romanian Deadlifts, it didn’t work out. I had no idea where to start, so 135 on the bar and off I went. But after about 6-8 reps I stopped. I wasn’t getting much depth before my back would fail. I tried a second time with 95 on the back — I’m learning the movement, better to be lighter. But even that was bad. Basically, my lower back was tapped out… just flat out exhausted and that’s not a recipe for learning a new movement. So after 2 sets I cashed it in and just did some high-rep leg curls — my hams needed something!

Also on the squats, I’m falling forward out of the hole. But you know what I noticed? The squat rack at the gym doesn’t face a mirror, but it does face a window. In the early morning, when it’s black outside, the window is basically a mirror… and I see myself. I have an old EliteFTS troubleshooting article and one of the cue points for falling forward is to NOT squat in front of a mirror. I noticed today that I was looking down… I was doing alright, because when I told myself to look up/forward, I saw myself and I think that fucked with my head. I can’t change the gym much here, but I have two thoughts 1. look to see if I can find something to put in front of the window so I stare at nothing, 2. close my eyes. I think I might try closing my eyes because I know that also puts me more in tune with what my body is doing. Could be interesting to try.

Anyways tho, I was happy at the intensity of the squat session. Sure the weights are far from elite, but it was a tough session for me. I was worked hard. I didn’t realize how I beat a bunch of rep records until I got home and looked at my spreadsheet. That’s alright.