Zentinel's log

[zentinel]

Second "rest" workout today, back to the grind on Thursday.
I ordered in a copy of Starting Strength, and am reading it between thesis work. Interesting stuff. Now that I know how I'm squatting wrong, I'm torn between my desire to keep my morale up with my present numbers, and actually do it right. I'll likely incorporate Rippetoe's technique with my current lift, and if I can't do the weight after 3 days I'll do a drastic (-30%) soft deload.

[zentinel]

Well, still trying to figure out what to do with squat, but I think I''m going to seriously drop them to low weights while I relearn my form. All this "below parallel, knees out, head down, low bar" stuff is so new it might as well be a new exercise. So I went with 185 today, but I think I'll drop it even lower next time, and work my way up again. I think I'll start at 135.

Squat: 185 x5/5/5/5/5
Bench: 140 x5/5/5/5/4
Rows: 115 x5/5/5/5/5
Close Grip: 120 x5/5/5/5/4

[zentinel]

Ugh, seriously demoralizing day.
I decided that I need to rework my squat form from scratch, so just went 10 sents of 10 reps - bar only. I'll increase by 10 lbs per day until it starts getting hard. It's hard to adjust and judge my form by myself... I'm just convinced I'm doing everytthing wrong.
Anyhow, then I failed on my deload work weight for OP, which happened last time I deloaded. At the same weight. Shoulders continue being a weak spot. Then I miscalculated the weight on the bar for deads, and went 10 lbs too light. Just sucky.

Squats 0 x10x10
OP: 80 x5/5/5/5/4
Dead: 275 x5
Pullups: 7.5 x5/5/5/5/5

[zentinel]

Wow, really weak day today. My lifts have dropped significantly since my rest week. I'm feeling it was a bad idea, I was making good progress. Ah well...

Squats: 55 x5(x10)
Bench: 140 x5/5/5/4/3
Rows: 120 x5/5/5/5/5
Close Grip: 120 x5/5/5/5/4

[zentinel]

Squats: 5 x 65
OP: 80 x5/5/5/5/5
Deads: 285 x5
Chins: 7 x5/5/5/5/5

[zentinel]

Hmm, skipped a day...

Sunday:
Squat: 75 x5/5/5/5/5
Bench 140 x5/5/5/5/5
Rows 125 x5/5/5/5/5
Close Grip: 120 x5/5/5/5/5

Tuesday:
Squat: 85 x5/5/5/5/5
OP: 85 x5/5/4/5/5
Deads: 290 x5
Pullups 10 x5/5/5/5/5

[zentinel]

Amusing day. Someone at the gym was telling about a minor challenge they had going on where they would see how many squats they would do at 135 lbs. "Hitting the safety bar in the cage" on the way down was emphasized, but when he demonstrated, he was doing like a quarter-squat. So I did an easy 40 and got more winded than tired.

Anyhow, then I did my real workout.
Squat: 95 x5/5/5/5/5
Bench: 145 x5/5/5/4/3
Rows: 125 x5/5/5/5/5
Close Grip: 125 x5/5/5/5/5

[zentinel]

Finally, failed on Deads. Took a while, to say the least.

Squat 95 x5/5/5/5/5/5
OP: 85 x5/5/4/5/5
Deads: 295 x1
Chins: 10 x5/5/5/5/5

[zentinel]

Squat 115 x5/5/5/5/5
Bench 145 x5/5/5/5/4
Rows: 130 x5/5/5/5/5
Close Grip: 130 x5/5/5/5/5

[zentinel]

Squat: 125 x5/5/5/5/5
OP: 85 x5/5/5/5/5
Deads: 295 x5/5/5/5/5
Chins: 12 x5/5/5/5/4

[zentinel]

Squat 135 x5/5/5/5/5
Bench 145 x5/5/5/5/4
Rows: 135 x5/5/5/5/5
Close Grip: 135 x5/5/4/4/3

Soft deload on bench next time.

[zentinel]

Can't believe I deadlifted what I did today...

Squat: 145 x5/5/5/5/5
OP: 90 x5/5/5/5/4
Deadlift: 300 x/5 (!!... I weight 145)
Pullups: 12 x5/5/5/5/5

[zentinel]

Friday:
Squat: 155 x5/5/5/5/5
Bench 130 x5/5/5/5/5
Rows: 135 x5/5/5/5/5
Close Grip: 135 x5/5/5/5/5

Monday:
Squat 160 x5/5/5/5/5
OP: 90 x5/5/5/5/5 (finally!)
Deads 305 x3
Chins 15 x5/5/5/5/5