It was a jack-shit sort of day.

Squats actually went pretty well. The work up was pretty smooth. The 325 went up better than prior sessions, a little slow out of the hole, but accelerated nicely. A period of pause squats may be in my future. The triple was good and about where it should be. Then the AMRAP was upped in weight, and I could have gotten 1-2 more but I fell forward pretty bad on the 9th rep, even taking a step to regain my balance. Not good. So I racked it.

Why?

On the way home I thought about it. It’s gym novelty. The racks are up against the wall, which has full-length mirrors over the run of it. Thus, I’ve been using the mirrors to watch for depth, ensuring I do NOT cut anything short. That’s been great because I’ve been certainly sinking every squat, which is also cool because I know sometimes I’ve had confidence problems when the weight got heavier and cut depth. No more. I also have increased confidence because I have real racks, able to set catch-bars exactly where it’s correct for me so if I do miss it should be simple to set the bar down. So I’m watching myself, I’ve increased confidence, and as such, I’m losing a few things — like kinesthetic feedback. I’m being driven more by visual feedback, so I’m focusing more on what I see and less on what I feel. I shouldn’t do that. I should be using the kinesthetic, and only using a glance of visual just to confirm what I feel.

Again, it’s the novelty of the new gym, the new equipment, and being able to have all of this. So, just something I have to be aware of and focus on.

Anyways, I jack-shitted the day because I’m tired. I’ve been thinking “gee, do I need to deload”? and no I really don’t, because gains and progress is solid. But I am worn out, because of my sleep issues. So I figured to not dig my recovery hole that deep today. Just squat (and ellptical, and foam-roll/stretch) and head out. It was a good day, so end on a good note.

• Squat
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 4
  • 195 x 3
  • 245 x 2
  • 275 x 1
  • 305 x 1
  • 325 x 1
  • 300 x 3
  • 225 x 9 (AMRAP)