Week 6, Friday
Right, back to what matters...
1. Freeweight back squat conditioning (kg)
bar x 18 (warmup)
40 x 9 (warmup)
50 x 5
55 x 5
55 x 5
60 x 5
60 x 5
2. Bench (kg)
bar x 9 (warmup)
30 x 9 (warmup)
40 x 5
45 x 5
50 x 5
57.5 x 5 (up 2.5)
65 x 3 (up 1.5) -- triple
50 x 8 -- backoff set
3. Row (kg)
bar x 9 (warmup)
35 x 9 (supposed to be a warmup at 30 but put wrong weight on the bar)
40 x 5 (up 2)
45 x 5 (up 2)
50 x 5 (up 2)
56 x 3 (up 0.5) -- triple
45 x 8 (up 2) -- backoff set
Comments
As I work out at home now, I don't have a treadmill or anything to warm up on so I did a lot more squats under the bar today. I haven't had any significant knee aches for the last few workouts so I'm going to start ramping up the weights on squats from workout to workout, then when I feel they're high enough, I'll start following the proper 5x5 format again. I'll keep Wednesdays as light days, just so the volume doesn't get out of hand.
60kg squats felt good today. I did 93kg on smith squats, so it'll be interesting to see where I start to slow down as I ramp up the freeweights. (I was told I could count the bar in the smith machine as 8kg, so assuming that's right, 93kg is my smith squat 5 rep max).
Bench was good for 3 reps at 65kg today. I remember when 60kg was hard for 5 reps just 6 weeks ago and my training buddy ignored this and got me to try 65kg. It was pretty comical, yet very sad - I unracked the bar, lowered it to my chest and it just stayed there! Today I did 3 reps. Not perfect, but I did them. I know it isn't a lot of weight, but 65kg is almost 10% more than the 60kg that I did a few weeks ago.
Rows were good, but I think I'm starting to stand up on them, so I'm going to have to watch my form.
Ouch - my abs are aching from trying out some hanging leg raises last night from my new 'high bar'.