Atonement

What better way to atone for a crappy session, than with 1RMs? There is none, absolutely correct!

So squats I was aiming for 180 - a 15kg PR. Well, actually, I amended that to 182.5, just because that would officially get me over the 400lb mark, for precisely as much as that matters!

So I worked my way up, singles at 140, 160, 170 before attempting 182.5kg. First attempt I rose maybe three inches out of the hole. Second attempt...

Better, if not exactly pretty. But I felt sure I could lift the weight, just had to control and stabilise. Not exactly minor issues, but I wasn't going to give in. But I took the 1.25kg plates off the end - even if just for the mental feeling that it was that tiny bit lighter (all of 1.4%!) and went at it again:

Again, not entirely pretty. But by Gads it went up, and produced a happy chappy at the end!

Bench... meh. 90kg again, felt heavy. Have to nail down my technique. Who cares, they're only chesticles!

Deadlift... goal here was 200kg, a 20kg PR. I'm nothing if not ambitious. Coming in to my final 'warmup' at 160kg, I thought 'unrealistic' as well. Went for double overhand, no chalk, no belt, and could hardly move it. Of course I'd had no rest, either. Switched to hook, got it above the knees but lost the grip. Ah well, continue on!

The next obvious step was to skip straight to my previous 1RM of 180kg. Belted up, chalked etc. got set... and it went up really fairly easily! I wasn't shocked - only 10kg more than my 5RM of a week ago. Still, it was pleasant.

So 190kg was the next cab to depart from the rank, only the first time, it didn't depart! Got it about an inch off the ground, just wouldn't come. I realised as I stood back up that I hadn't really done a valsalva - just a general sort of tightening. So I reapplied some chalk, got myself set, and ripped it up - felt damn good, nice speed, and locked it out solidly. Grip slipped a little on the left hand as I started setting it back down, and tore a little hole, a tiny speck of blood. I had been intending to leave it at that, partly because I was running a bit late, but the lure of 200kg was just too strong!

So I whacked a couple of 'half' plates to go with the 4 plates on each end, and took a quick breather. In the end, perhaps slightly too quick - but I couldn't hang around too long. I grabbed the bar, set myself, big breath, and pulled - damn solid. Sliding up the legs. Barely felt heavy (this may be a lie.) But then as I passed the knees, my left hand began to slip. I kept pulling... closer, closer... an inch or so from the top, just about to lock the knees out, and my left hand started giving way, and I had to take it back down so as not to completely drop it from the top (no bumpers, no platform!) Damnit! So close to a 200kg pull, but not quite any cigars on offer for this chappy. Just a ragged hole on my left thumb where the knurling had chewed away a bit of flesh as the bar slipped.

I wish I had video, but I someone was in the rack so I had to go elsewhere to dead, and there were no convenient camera-propping locations.

Still, quite pleased with the session - a total of 460kg - over 1000lb -  and a bit of work on my bench would bring that to 500kg pretty easily. And there's still a ways to go on my squat and dead, without question.

And we won't mention my lack of racing at SSS R5. I'll be back! Much stronger, hopefully leaner, and with some of my bike-handling skills returned...

1RM

Today was the first time I've ever gone in to the gym with the specific intention of working up to 1RMs in the 'big three' lifts - squat, bench and deadlift. Partly this was because of the time out of the gym, and the lower weights on Monday, so as to feel heavier weights before returning to 3x5s next Monday. Partly it was because of racing on Sunday, to keep the volume lower. Though it now looks as though I might not be able to race anyway - family stuff, which is a bugger. And partly it was... well, just wanting to get some decent and specific PRs. Because sometimes, that's nice.

Squats I set my sights just above the 1RM of a few weeks ago. I thought about shooting for the 170 again, but decided to stick with 165 as the target, and to go for 170 if it felt really good. So I worked up to that, got the 165, but decided against attempting 170 - 165 had felt very heavy, but I didn't really grind or get stuck. Just a little bit. I thought though that 170 might take a bit too much out of me with deadlifts to follow, so I opted not to. If I was just doing squats, I would have done it, and I think I probably would have gotten it.

Bench I wasn't really sure - I figured probably 85, but I've not really done much benching lately, and mostly it's been 5x5 at lower weights. But I aimed for that, comfortable that it wouldn't be nearly so taxing to 'overextend' a little if I felt I could. And I did - 85 was fairly easy, and then 90 was slower, but still smooth. I was wondering whether or not to ask someone for a spot at 95, but there was noone around that I knew, and I wasn't too concerned about leaving one in the tank. Again, I think I could have got the 95, but not certain enough to try without a spotter.

So on to dead, and I was feeling pretty pleased with my efforts. After the last time I deadlifted, I wanted to make sure that I had better form and kept the back solid. I had the camera with me (which is also how I can be certain that my squats were deep!) and it told a disappointing story - back rounding, and not keeping the bar back against the legs. Obviously I knew this, but seeing it on video is not so pleasant! Just the same, I worked up to 180 and felt pretty good with it - I could have tried more, but my grip was failing on the last rep at 180, and I didn't think I'd lock it out. That, and my thumbs were feeling rather stripped and compressed! Going back to workset weights though, I'm really going to have to focus on keeping the bar back and the back tight, shoulders not too far forward. Hopefully I won't need to drop the weight back, but if I have to, I have to. Don't want to fuck around with that!

So a 'total' of 435kg, or 957 pounds - just a little shy of 1000 pounds. Nice to set a total, and something to aim for next time I give it a go - perhaps in the week before the February round of SSS. I reckon I'll get it that time!

Go hard and go home

Or something like that. After declaring that I wasn't going to rearrange training just because of pesky races, it's been nearly 2 weeks since I've been in the gym. Ah well. Week and a half until the effective end of semester...

Of course, being me, this meant a mix of sensible and silly. Sensible was 5x5 squats at 85% of the 'supposed to be' 3x5 squats for this session. So 5x5 at 125... no problem. And there wasn't. Which lead to a problem...

I thought I'd do a 1RM(ish) just to feel the weight on my back before going back to 'normal' training next time. So after 5x5 at 125 (that is, after over 4 tonnes of volume) I did a few singles. 150kg... no problem. 160kg... not many problems. 170kg (note the sensible jumps...) no problems... for my hips. Unfortunately on the way back up as it got to the point where I'd need to start grinding, I lost a little tension and started to rotate to the right... tried to bring that back, and lost my balance. I still tried to get it back and save the rep, but I'd been paused halfway back up for too long and I couldn't stop the over-correct. So I dumped the weight on the pins. But because I was trying to be controlled about it, I kept my hands on the bar, and squished my right ring finger a bit. Not badly, nothing broken, but enough to cause a reasonable amount of blood and swelling.

So that was it for the day, no press, no deadlifts. But it's a new squat 1RM, so that's something. And I'm also nicely warmed up for Thursday. That's how I'm thinking about it, at least!