I need to look around for tips on how to make the belt squat less awkward to get in and out of.
Could have gone up on DB Bench, as the weight felt easier each set, but the shoulders also felt a bit "crunchy" not having done this movement in a while, so I let it ride.
Hoping to use the band pull-downs to help a little bit with keeping the bar in groove on DL. I may actually try it with mixed grip for shits and giggles.
Kept rest time <2 and="" aria-haspopup="true" class="goog-spellcheck-word" curls="" id=":df.3" min.="" on="" role="menuitem" span="" style="background: yellow;" tabindex="-1" the="">RPE
hilariously climbed by 1 on each set.
Was very foggy coming into the gym today. Kept having to rally my focus before each workset. Strength just seemed to be off, as you can see that I had to drop weight to hit target RPE on all movements. Fatigue just seemed to build quickly and dissipate slowly on this day. We'll give it another session or two and see if it's time for a pivot.
Squats and Bench on Day 5.2 both went really well. Deadlift gassed me out pretty fast, and had to drop 10% for the third set.
Attended the Chicago Strength Symposium at my gym all day on Sunday. A lot of great presenters providing a lot of good info.
Got some DL instruction from Hani Jazayrli and Megan Rori Alter. Hani gave me some advice on mixed-grip placement to keep the bar from rotating away from me on the supinated side, and Rori noticed I had one bloodied shin, and spent some time working with me on set-up before the pull to get my hips and chest in a better starting position. Ended up going much heavier than I have in months, but it was fine. No adductor, quad, or back pain issues.
Then I decided to start my workout. Ended up getting a squat check from Bryce Lewis ("Looks good.") and having a great conversation with him about when to worry about technique and when not to, the value of peaking, and a few other topics. Friendly talk. After squats, I felt a bit "done," and decided to do the rest of the workout on the following day (this evening).
Felt good about this workout in general. Not a lot to say.
Squats feeling much stronger. Can't tell if the quad discomfort is getting less, or if I'm just getting used to it. Had trouble getting the bar set comfortably for high-bar on the first two sets.
Bench fatigue jumped a lot on the 3rd set. No idea why.
On Deadlift, the "master" cue right now is "patience." Commit to the new set-up (breathing at the bottom with shins still against bar), and don't rush from one rep to the other.
Tempo Incline 2-2-0 -
120X5, 5 @6.5, 7
117.5X5 @7.5
Tempo Row - 110X8, 8, 8 @6/7
Because of the larger than planned jumps I ended up taking last session, I went in with slightly elevated targets for this session.
For Squat that ended up being right on. 2nd set felt easier than the first, and 3rd set was still @6.5
With Incline, I ended up taking slightly to big of a jump, and had to come back down a bit. The TUT here still takes a lot out of me; combined with my pressing strength tends to drop off quickly.
Tempo rows were the one lift where I didn't plan to take a larger jump (planned +2.5 over last time), but a 5 lb. jump ended up being warranted after all. However, my 2 count hold at the top doesn't quite stand up to video scrutiny. Oh well.
Quad still "tickles" a lot during warm-ups on squats, and a bit during the 10 rep set. I get acclimated to it, and it doesn't really interfere with my work sets. I am sometimes waking up in the night to find my quads really achy, and hard to get into a position where they calm back down. I get something similar when I've been driving for a long time.
Mis-loaded the bench to 155 instead of 145 and it was til @6 so....interesting.
On DL, getting more acclimated to holding position and taking a breath at the bottom of the rep. SUPER boring on warm-ups, but actually seems to help prevent cardio fatigue on the work sets. In addition to keeping form tighter.
