Today was not the day I wanted.

This week is the culimination of the past 9 weeks. I was aiming to get 5 reps on the top set, at least.

I only got 4.

Every set didn’t feel right. Things were off, out of groove. I found myself on the 285 set cutting depth short. I also found I had to fight that dizzy feeling more than usual. Every single rep of the 320 set was bad, and while I felt I had the strength for a 5th rep (and that would have still left 1 in the tank), everything was so off, the dizzy was real, and I felt it wouldn’t be prudent to take the rep.

sigh.

It’s my fault tho.

This past Saturday was a very long day teaching at KR Training. Up at 3 AM, not in bed until 10 PM. Out in the 100º heat all day teaching two sold out classes. It was draining. Sunday then I should have napped more, and I did nap some but not as dedicatedly as I should have. and then that threw off my eating and I didn’t eat as well as I should have. So this explains part of it: still worn out, poorly fueled. All my fault.

The other part of it? I psyched myself out. I’m finally emerging from my strength loss and getting into new weights I’ve not done before. It’s a little intimidating. But the thing is? I can DO these weights no problem. I just got myself all psyched out, found myself changing my approach to the bar all day today. Being worried about making the reps so I cut that depth short and was like “why the fuck did I do that?” because I’d rather hit depth and get good but fewer reps than get any amount of shitty reps. I just blew the mental game.

So, some good learning got reinforced – because most of what happened I know already, I just need to consistently do it. For example, if this is how I need to approach the heaviest weights, then I need to approach EVERY weight this way. So if there is something technique wise I feel I need to adjust, I should do it.

But I think part of it is that I need to go BACK to what I was doing. That is, instead of adopting the shit I did today, today I should have done what I’ve done all along. For example, keeping tight and allowing the descent to be slightly slow but tight. I found myself allowing for a little more acceleration on the descent and trying to reverse that speed didn’t fly well.

However to be fair — one consideration in that specific thing? Could I actually change my technique now that my knees are so much better? In part my technique to date has been considering my knee pain. But that’s well under control. So might I be able to adopt different technique now? Something to consider.

To that — next week is deload week. Wendler’s 7th Week Protocol has a specific approach to a “post-anchor, pre-leader” deload, which is basically some sort of testing week to ensure your training max is correct. I am not sure I’ll follow it. I might actually use the week to still play it deload, but play with technique some. TBD. I’ll think about it this week.

Anyways, the day is what it was, and that I learned something is good.

As for other stuff.

1-leg press is getting better. I’m not worrying about weight but getting good reps here. After my changes to belt squats last week, here I opted to allow my toes to point slightly out. That made a positive difference! I found my quads getting hit better, because I got a slightly deeper ROM. But what surprised me was the amount of gluteus minimus (side of your butt) burn I felt! That bodes well for the whole reason I’m doing these: the knee rehab work. I shall continue to explore this.

1-leg extensions I want to continue to play with, because I don’t have that 100% mind-muscle connection here, but it’s getting better.

Front plate raises continue to be a ton of fun. I like these.

The reverse curls are good. I am also enjoying the daily biceps work. Things are feeling better.

Skipped calves. Because yes, I didn’t feel like it.

10 minutes bike.

5/3/1 (3rd cycle, anchor, 3/5/1, PR, Jokers, FSL; modified for knee rehab)

• Squat (superset with band pullaparts)
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 200 x 3
  • 250 x 5
  • 285 x 3
  • 320 x 4 (PR set)
  • 335 x 1 (Joker)
• Band Pullaparts
  • Not tracked
• 1-Leg Leg Press
  • 45 x 14e
  • 45 x 14e
  • 45 x 12e
• 1-Leg Leg Extensions
  • 40 x 15e
  • 40 x 15e
  • 40 x 13e
• Front Plate Raises (all the way overhead)
  • 45 x 20
  • 45 x 15
  • 45 x 12
• Reverse Curls
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 10
  • 70 x 8