There will be blood

Last night was very satisfying.

I finished up work early and had a simple, effective, and difficult weightroom session. The Shell wasn't overly crowded despite getting there at 5:30PM. And I got home before 8 to find that I'd have the house pretty much to myself for the rest of the night.

I have been in dire need of some de-stressing time, and I was glad that it sort of fell into my lap with some quiet time at the casa.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I scrapped plans to ride the rollers and just sort of relaxed my way through the evening. I ate some gumbo that had been frozen since the Cajun night extravaganza at the RaccconBear city. I washed some clothes. And I finally got my legs shaved.

And it was good.

Wednesday, 2/2/2008

Warmup:

Hip Mobility Drills
Back Squats (free), 3 x 12 @ 45#, increasing depth as hips opened up through sets

Work:

Back Squats
1 x 5 @ 115
1 x 5 @ 155
5 x 5 @ 185


This was about as much as I could handle and after the last set of "5" (I actually only got 4), I was pretty shaky and had to walk it off a bit. But the depth is getting better, the hip mobility is getting better, and I feel a lot more stable during the lift and confident that I'm squatting with proper form and through a respectable range of motion.

I also really want to develop the ability to properly clean a barbell. To that end, I figure I should be able to front squat well enough to catch the bar on the low end of such a position.


Front Squats
3 x 2 @ 111


This was the first time I tried front squats with anything other than a bare barbell. This was a tad heavy for me. Next week I'll shoot for sets of 6 w/ maybe 85lbs to see if I can get the technique down. The body position feels very different from a back squat, and I'm going to have to research and experiment a bit with what's good form on a front squat. It seems like the conventional back squat wisdom of "keep your knees from going over your toes and the push your hips back during the lift" are not as favored in a front squat.


Hang Cleans/Push Press
1 x 5 @ 111

Power Cleans/Push Press
3 x 3 @ 111


The Power Cleans felt awesome--probably owing to a focus on deadlifting of late--with the bar coming up really quickly. The push presses were tough--probably owing to my neglect of most press exercises of late--and I really couldn't muster more than a few in conjunction with the power clean. I should do more cleans. Especially if I want a rematch with the 21/15/9 workout.

Called it at that.