Nathan : 9/28

Weight: 219. Time: 2:15.

Squat day today.

Warm-up on bike for 10 mins

SSB box squat - going for speed work, 2x8 @ 7, 1x2 @ 9

warm-up

245x2x4 @7 - These popped off my shoulders at the top, but the bottom part off the box was still slow. I have no speed through the bottom part of the motion for some reason.

225x2x2 @7 - Tried a lighter weight, but I didn't feel any different.

245x2x2 @7 - Went back up

295x1, 315x1

335x1x2 @9 - These were very easy at the top, but I struggled at the bottom. This is also the weight that I started to fall forward on.

This was a productive session of squats. I feel like I learned a few things, with some coaching help from Carlos:

- Keep glutes tight at the bottom to prevent "plopping" onto the box. I realized that I am not keeping tension in my glutes at all near the bottom. This is probably what gives me my "dip"/rebound at the bottom of normal squats, but isn't necessarily better in the long run. I think this might be the reason why I fall forward in my squats.

- I am supposed to be shrugging into the SSB bar to prevent from falling forward. I didn't actually try this today, I will do it next week.

- I am very slow off the bottom on these. These are definitely targeting something in the last 4-6 inches of motion that I am weak on. I felt very tired in the same muscles for sumo dead immediately following this, which to me means I normally don't use some muscles in squatting that I should be.

- These tire out my back like nothing else. This week it seemed more like a healthy tiredness rather than a pull in my glute/lower back. That part of my back felt tired but not aggravated.

Tires - I forgot about these until I saw Dee's post. Basically, I was watching Dee and Jansel flip tires, and Dee yelled at me calling me a pussy until I did them too. These were done in between sets of speed squats.

350x8? - Flip down the driveway one way.

450x3 or something - This was just dicking around.

Sumo dead w chains - going for 3x6 for volume. Feeling tired after squats, lower back not feeling good. Probably could have gone heavier, but because of the back I really wasn't feeling it.

warm-up

315+120x3x6 @8

Back not as good as usual. Rounding ever so slightly, especially on later sets. Murph says I need to get my shoulders back more quickly, immediately after the bar crosses my knees. I will try to do this, although I am a little vague on exactly what it entails.

Pause squat w chain - skipped because of back/time. I have yet to do these. That maybe says something about my exercise selection for this day ... Maybe I should choose something less stressful for the third movement?

Abs - sandbag crunch/twists - I really like these.

35x12x3

Overall, I feel like I am not going as heavy as I should be. But I think I am following the RPEs correctly. We'll see if this actually gets me stronger or not.

Videos:
ssb squats, third set
ssb squats, fifth set
ssb squats, eighth set
ssb squats, second single
sumo dead, third set
sumo dead, sixth set + bonus! dee doing hanging abs