UB: Reps Week 1. Squats

Defranco Mobility

Squats -
BarX15X2
95X10
155X6
195X3
225X1
195X8, 6, 7, 6, 5 (32 Total Reps)

GHR - 5 sets of 10 (on a medium setting)

You guys, these squats were no joke.  The last two blocks were relatively easy the first week or two.  This.  Was.  Not.  Now, I usually start cycles with some kind of pressing day because that's the way Defranco laid it out, and that's the way Wendler laid it out.  For the first two blocks of UB/WCS, I always ended up Squatting on Saturday or Sunday, invariably on not-enough-sleep and often a bit hungover.  I wanted to break that cycle up, and decided to start this block with Squats to make sure I was fresh going in.  Man am I glad I did. 

Squatting has never come easy to me, and yet I knew 195 projected to around my 15 Rep Max so I expected to get to those work sets and maybe start off with 10, and try to get the 30 reps done in 4 sets.  This was a complete brain-fart on my part because it didn't take into account fatigue from working up to the single.  With Deadlifts, a more natural lift for me, this wouldn't have mattered as much, but with Squats I new I was going to be in trouble right around the 155X6.  Everything felt heavy and hard.  By the time I got to the work sets, I had no idea what would happen.  Frankly, I'm kind of amazed that I got the reps I got, because I was afraid I might not be able to do even 6 sets of 5 to get my 30 rep total.  When I'd finished my 3rd set, though, I knew I'd be able to clear 30 with my last two.  Man.  I'm pretty excited to see how this goes with the other movements, and for the rest of the block.

Carter calls for Leg Curls as the assistance here, but there's a GHR in my gym, and I've never used the damn thing for an entire cycle, so I decided I wanted to do that with this block.  I went back there, and put it on a medium-difficult setting that I'd gotten 10-12 reps on before, and did 5X10.  After the Squats, I had a little bit of difficulty getting into the damn thing to tell you the truth, and afterwards, my legs were "emptier" feeling than they'd been in a long time.  I'll try to keep myself honest on these, and go for more reps, or increase the difficulty of the set-up throughout the program.

This morning, I actually expected to be much, much sorer all over than I am.  I will say my upper body is tighter feeling than I expected.  I'm also reminding myself that I could always wake up twice as sore tomorrow, or get up from my desk chair after lunch today, and fall right down.  Good times.