Steve Vai

Because the Audience is Listening.

115kg squat. Can I do it? Yes I can! My second bodyweight lift after the deadlift - well, within a percent or so, anyway! My form wasn't quite as graceful - I was going down too straight, not pushing my hips back enough. As a result I was too far forward coming back up, which robbed a little power. But I got them all done, and it's a relatively simple thing to work on since the thing I need to pay attention to is the thing that starts the lift!

Then... shameful bench press. Actually, I was feeling quite good and strong, which is what undid me. I was planning on repeating 70kgs, which is what I should have done in the first place rather than going up to 75kg. But because I was feeling strong, and confident, I decided to give 72.5kg a try. And the first set felt fine. I gave myself 10 minutes rest. But I couldn't get the 4th rep up. So I deloaded back to 70, which is what I should have been doing, and did 2 reps to 'complete' the set. Rested 10 minutes. After 3 good reps, the fourth rep I lost my focus and tension - but still got it done. 5th rep, going fine, halfway back up, and I lose tension again. And the lift stops. And comes back down again. Bugger. 70kg all the way and I probably would have done 3x5. It's mostly mental rather than strength, but I'm tempted to reset back to 60kg and work my way back up anyway. I know I can do it though, so I'll give myself one more attempt at 70kg. If no beans, then reset!

Powercleans... up to 65kg, and I felt like I was still pulling some of them, the jump/shrug wasn't quite working. Third set, I changed my grip slightly to get it more in the fingers and really focussed on the jump - and bang! Up went the bar over my head again. What a difference! The third set went up very (relatively) easily and felt much more fluid. Excellent!