Today was a good day to learn that I’m not nearly as strong as I was before my hiatus, and really need to be patient with picking up movements that I haven’t done in quite some time.
Case in point, I haven’t done a low bar squat in way too long. I honestly don’t remember the last time I did a single rep, and trying to jump back into them today was a major challenge. I tried to use 225, which was 60% of a projected estimate of my current 1RM of 365. I did 3 doubles with this weight and honestly the weight was just throwing me around, and my technique was all off. Both of my knees were complaining and it just felt wrong overall. I also, definitely, didn’t do nearly enough warm-up reps. Normally, my warm-up progression with squats is 45x10x2, 95x5x2, 135x3x2, 185×2, and then work up until I hit the working weight with singles. I did half of this and only did 1 set at each weight, and then just jumped directly from 185 to 225.
Anyway, with all these issues noted, I decided to drop the weight back down to 185 and moderated the overall volume that I’d had in mind. My original program called for 12 sets of 2 with 225. Considering the trouble I had with 225, I decided to go with only 8 sets of 2, including the 3 sets at 225, and gradually build into the higher volume dynamic work that I really like.
Given how squats were going, I opted to drop the deadlifting intensity to 50% of 1RM (230 from 275) and went with 8 singles instead of the 12 sets of 2 that I’d planned there too. Overall, I think these were good decisions that give me a place to grow and build off of rather than grinding myself into the ground.
Here’s the whole workout:
Speed Squats – 225x2x3, 185x2x5
Speed Deadlifts – 230x1x8
SSB Goodmornings – 65x20x3
- So I felt really good following the speed work, and went into the SSB Goodmornings feeling strong and dynamic. These completely torched my backside! I forgot how freaking hard this movement is, and opted for high reps with it. I’m glad I did, and I think these will pay off in the long run, but doing these was a challenge. I’m going to add some weight next DE Lower day, only 20lbs or so, but that should be more than enough. I used the wider squat stance that I was working with during the linear block and the effect was a great stretch on the hamstrings.
Back Raises – 10x10x1 SS w/ Ab Wheel – 10×1
- The other side effect of the goodmornings was that my back, glutes and hamstrings were completely fried by the end and doing the back raises, even with only 10lbs, was just too much. I’m going to lose the added weight next DE Lower day, lower the pad a little bit and get all of the programmed volume on these.
- My abs were also really, really sore from using the ab wheel 4 days ago, which is just ridiculous. That said, the 1 set I did was beyond painful.
- After 1 super set, I knew I was better off just calling the workout there and work on building the next time around.
Overall, I’m happy with the workout and looking forward to the DE Upper session on Monday morning!
Ramble on Fitness 