Only 2. 2 good ones, but still…. only 2.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 23, week 2

• Work Set – Squat (working max: 300#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x120
  • 1x5x150
  • 1x3x180
  • 1x3x215 (work)
  • 1x3x245
  • 1x2x275
• Assistance – Front Squat
  • 5 x 8 x 95
• Assistance – Crunches
  • 3 x 15/15/10 x BW
• Foam Rolling

If I’m diagnosing things correctly, it’s my legs that suck. My back is strong(er) by comparison, so it’s easy for my body to want to keep the bar where it is, let the hips shoot up (and the back/hip angle closes), then basically “good morning” the weight up… ratchet it up. I can do that to move the weights, but that doesn’t make me stronger.

So my squats, I’m really trying to keep upright, press back, and drive drive drive with the legs.

On the 245 set, it was tough. I knew the 275 would be tough, even with the belt on. It was. Maybe I mentally set myself up for it (failure). I know that when the weight gets heavy, I want to ensure I get back up, so I’ll cut depth. No no no, that’s unacceptable. I would rather get 1 awesome rep than 3 shitty reps. I will go all the way down. And I did. Rep 1 went down, and it was hard coming up. Rep 2 went down, and mid-way up I stopped… I just couldn’t go any more. My body wanted to lean forward to let my hips shoot up and then good morning the weight up, but no no no, fought it because that’s not the point. Push with the legs. I just refused to dump the bar. I knew I was on the cusp of dumping it but figured if I was going to then let my body fail and dump, meantime keep fighting it until then. And I managed to get it up there, keeping as upright as I could, pushing as much as I could with my legs. I racked it after 2. I thought about resting 30-60 seconds and going for 1 more rep, but why? What purpose would that really serve? I left it alone.

I am not happy with only getting 2 and missing prescribed reps, but that I didn’t miss depth and that I fought through on form? I’ll take it. But still… we’ll see what next session brings. And this probably means next cycle I’ll keep the weight the same and go for more reps.

Front squats. Oye. I dropped the weight down because I want to ensure I’m getting form right. Feet are just a little inside of shoulder-width, toes mostly forward. Using the bodybuilder-style cross arm setup (anything else really hurts my elbows). Fight to keep upright. Slight pause at the bottom… not of any noticable count, but enough to avoid the stretch reflex. Push back as I go up… almost like I’m trying to lauch myself backwards in an arc. And holy crap…. my quads were killing me. Pumped like hell, and well, that’s what I’m after. 5×8 was good, the last few reps of the last few sets were hard. So it doesn’t feel all that impressive, but it sure knocked it out of me. 🙂 If this helps me out, great.

Someday, the 300# barrier will be broken. I struggled a lot at 230 and broke through that plateau, I’ll get through this one.