A Month of Masochism: 20-rep breathing squats

[Guinness5.0]

Glad you're OK. Seems you're alternating breathing squats and choking squats?

Well played

I think I just got a little overzealous with bar placement - when I have it back far I tend to stay upright more easily. I jammed that bastard back and I think I musta pinched my arteries a bit much. Anyone whose done MMA knows what a blood choke feels like, and I'm fairly certain that's what it was.

On a happier note, thighs are up a quarter-inch already and the gut is down a quarter-inch.

 

[Jim Ouini]

I was gonna say, that's good FSQ placement, at least you know your elbows were up.

On a happier note, thighs are up a half-inch already and the gut is down a quarter-inch.

Dude you gotta slow your progress down, you're making me feel like I'm going backwards

 

[Guinness5.0]

Well you caught it before I edited it - thighs are only up a quarter inch (forgot that righty was 28.25" to start, not 28" even)

 

[Jim Ouini]

Oh well in that case, I'm right behind ya nipping at your heels

 

[blut wump]

Bite his ankles.

 

[Guinness5.0]

Week 3
MONDAY

I'm a dumbass. Read on...

Squat
warmups, 315x5, 365x3, 405x1, 455xwalkout, 335x10

-I clearly pushed myself into overreaching (this was supposed to be a 20-rep atttempt). I was struggling by rep seven. This is a lesson I should have learned already, but oh well. Guess it takes making the same mistake a few times for me to get it. I'm thinking that I'm gonna use percentages on my future cycles to keep myself honest. I'm just too antsy to go all out, which I know is fun in the short term but is not good for facilitating long term progress.
EDIT: I am referring to the fact that I went all kamikaze last week on weds. and friday when they should have been 'normal' progression days.

Bench
warmups, 285x10(PR), x8(failure)

-Pretty happy with this I guess. Woulda liked to have gotten both sets, but whattayagonnado.

DB Rows
110'sx5, 125'sx5

OH Squats
bar x lots, 95x5x3
-This was redemption. I finally realized that these are generally done with a snatch grip. I'd been using the same grip I use for OHP, which is pretty damn narrow. No wonder I had so much trouble keeping the bar back It was kinda fun to do these properly - I can tell that I'll be able to use decent weight fairly soon. It was all about balance - within the span of one rep, I'd be thinking "this is easy", then split-seconds later I'd almost lose it. Plus this loosened up my back a bit, which sad to say is pretty damn sore, and not in a muscular sense but a disc/vertebrae sense .

So next up is deloading, prehab on the low back, and then some DL focus. I will HAVE to be smart about my training if I wish to get anything accomplished. I am pretty mad at myself for being a meathead last week and pushing way too hard way too early. There's no reason other than overreaching that I shouldn't have gotten 335x20 today, and maybe 355x20 next week. But I gotta get my pulling going.

 

[Tweakle]

Yeah, going 100% everytime is awesome for a couple of weeks then it stalls and you get a crappy workout.. thats something I've still not learned even though I can tell other people not to go balls out all the time

dont stress it, next time go lighter then push all out the workout after

congrats on the bench PR, 285 x 10 is no joke!

 

[nelmsjer]

1) CONGRATS on the PR! Tweakle is right: 285x10 is impressive!
2) An even greater congrats on the overhead squat hand placement. I wish I had thought to check with you on your hand placement sooner, bud. My apologies!

 

[NorgePrecision]

I never saw more gains than when I did 1x20 squat. It makes me want to go back to that routine, but I'll save it for my cutting days for a mixture of cardio and definition.