Deth

Fitness and everything else

My Lifts Were A Great Surprise Today!

I really didn’t have high hopes today for my lifting. Dumb ass me did two running WODs yesterday both of which I sprinted because for the first time in my life the 200 meter sprint didn’t kill me. I also had my stomach feeling off for a while this morning. I don’t know why but it felt better a couple of hours later so I decided to go ahead and do my strength and see how it felt.

I started out with front squats at 215 pounds for three sets of five. They felt tough and heavy but in my form check video that certainly didn’t look that way at all. They were pretty fast and explosive reps with an extremely upright torso. It really got me thinking about just how far along my form with these has come over the past seven years. No longer do I have the rounded upper back like I had all my life. I think I basically had that from looking down all the time due to my vision problems but when I need to set up a lift now I can make that go away. Cardio wise these were tough but I think it’s more mental of feeling like the bar is choking me and wanting to hyperventilate. I’m thinking this go around my max front squats will be cut off a bit by the uncomfortableness of it rather than strength but next time around I should be more used to them.

Next up I did five sets of five strict press at 100 pounds. This was not heavy or challenging at all but I feel that the lighter sets help just as much as the heavier ones anyways.

Finally I had my five deadlifts at a nice heavy 305 pounds for me. Going into this, I even mentioned it to Molly last night, I was accepting that today would be the day I failed these. It’s heavy for me and my grip is shit. I was ninety five percent sure that I wouldn’t make all five reps today and accepted it. I know my strengths and weaknesses and try to keep realistic expectations.

As it turns out I did not fail these heavy deadlifts at all today. The first three reps were actually pretty easy. The fourth was tougher but not hard. The fifth one was a bit tougher but not really because of lack of strength. The bar just started slipping out of my hand as the lift was a little bit slower than the previous ones. I could use mixed grip but I haven’t really been comfortable with that in years. It just always feels like it throws off my setup.

It’s not close to a PR or anything but I’m also significantly lighter than I was the last time I pulled 305. I would guess that I am at least twenty pounds lighter than last time but that is mostly just fat loss. I feel much stronger now.

My legs were shaking like hell on that last rep but I didn’t feel my form break down and nothing in the video stood out to me to suggest that it did. The weight was just heavy and harder to lift but onward I go with these deadlifts next week I guess.

Music for today was Edge Of Sanity