Simple. Solid.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 20, week 2

• Work Set – Squat (working max: 305#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x125
  • 1x5x155
  • 1x3x185
  • 1x3x215 (work)
  • 1x3x245
  • 1x3x280
• Assistance – Pause Squat
  • 3 x 5 x 512
• Assistance – Planks
  • 3 x 1:18/1:22/0:48

The new setup is helping. My hands are closer in, not too close, but where it feels right and natural for everything to be tight. It is helping my whole upper body be tight and drive. I will say I was focused more on being tight and kinda lost some of the “drive the head back into the bar” and such. But it’s getting there.

One change I made — and this was kinda cool.

The squat rack at the gym is in front of a bank of windows. Because it’s dark out, the windows act like mirrors so I always see everything I’m doing. I never thought much of it, but something ran through my head as I sat there after the 215 set. I closed the blinds on the windows. Whoa… that was different. You don’t realize how much feedback was visual. Now it was all by feel. I get under the bar for 245 and I had to ask myself, am I actually centered under the bar? Is my grip where it should be? As I set up, was everything as it was to be? Am I moving as I should? And of course, I became strongly aware of every muscle, every thing that I was doing. The kinesthetic feedback was huge.

Of course, I think it threw me off a bit because I didn’t expect such a radical shift in feedback and perception. So the last 2 sets were muddled a bit by this massive change — I wasn’t focused so much on squatting, but kinda surprised and fascinated by the sudden shift and overload of feedback I was getting. It was weird, but really cool. And I think it shall be how I do any and all work at the rack.

Otherwise… I just kept it to prescribed reps and left it alone. I might have gone for 4, if I wasn’t dealing with the perception change. That just blew my concentration too much, but I’m alright with it because it’s a good change.

Pause squats were brutal. No belt. Pause. Hold. Don’t lose anything while you’re in the hole. Man…

I also made a last minute change and opted to do planks. I’ve been reading enough stuff about their benefits for squatting and such (Cube Method), and well… the tighter hand position on the bar now really starts to hurt my elbows. The pulldown abs? really forces my arms into flexion and wears on my elbows. So, if planks can be a fun change, get good benefits, and gives my elbows a rest? Fine. Funny thing.. on the first 2 sets everything else in my body gave out before my abs did, from being taxed from squatting. Only on the 3rd set did I really feel it in my abs and they were what gave out. 🙂