LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 1. Week 4. Front Squats

BW - 202

Seated Calves - 140X15, 15, 15

Front Squat -
BarX10
65X5
85X4
95X3
125X2
145X1

125X20

Squat - 145X15

RDL -
135X10
225X12
185X9

Leg Press - 3ppsX15, 15, 15, 15

125X20 is an all-around PR on Fronts.  Legs were shay-kee.  This will actually be my last Front Squat session of the cycle.  I have one more day scheduled, but I'm using that day for my Birthday Squats.  Deciding now whether to do Fronts again on the next cycle, or try out High-Bar Squats for the first time.

One back-off set of back squats in prep for B-Day Squatting.

On RDLs the warm-up set with 135 felt fine, but as soon as I started my first rep with 225 something felt wrong.  There was pain radiating from, or into my low back on the left side.  I finished the set, and dropped weight, but got no relief that way.  There was no aggravation in that area before the 225, and there have been no issues since I aborted the movement.  I even did some band work at home later on, and felt nothing.  This is frustrating because this movement is one of the big stand-ins for developing my deadlift strength on this program, so not being able to do all my work-sets is delaying that development.  Also, I've got a history of low-back strains when I'm doing Front Squats and DB Rows, and I've done both this week.  But with no incident on those actual movements, it's impossible to tell if they are related.   Lame.

I was determined to get 15 reps on every set of Leg Presses, and they were brutal after the first set.  Nice.