Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Entry #783

Yesterday kicked ass. I trained with Andrew again by doing box squats while he opted for speed deadlifts right next to me. I realized that the gym bands I've been using are actually of different tensions. You know, I seriously thought that the bar felt uneven last time but chalked it up to paranoia on the scale of believing that baby carrots are trying to turn me gay. I didn't have my own ones with me so I tried to compensate by having one of the safety bars come out of the slot to stick up a little high, reducing some of the pressure from the stronger band.

I think I found the perfect set-up for box squats. I start with five plates on the low stool. Up to 5 sets I incrementally remove one until I'm just doing ATG on the platform. After about three sets the extreme height (Andrew remarked in surprise at the set-up WITH the plates stacked that it was amazingly low) gets my knees to really feel it, so I put a few plates back on and remove the bands for two final super fast and reasonably deep sets. The sensation of "pop" after removing the bands is insane, and that's what DE is all about: supercompensation.

Afterwards, I did the deepest 225 lb. good mornings I've ever done. My depth has always been a little suspect so a few weeks ago I backed down to 135 and added resistance bands. I also made sure to use the safety bars to gauge depth. Now I go down to a perfect bend with 225 for 8. Unfortunately, by the third set I was so worn that I managed 2 reps before I stopped to prevent potential injury and knocked it down to 135. Without mercy, we moved on to GHRs. My reps were ugly as sin, by this point.

My back is still fried. Today, though, was no break.I started by doing bagwork at the gym using their shitty gloves that constantly kept coming undone and my Everlast timer. All I did was 3 rounds for 3 minutes, but I was sore all over and my intensity was good for that kind of a condition. I did a lot of stretching beforehand.

Post-gym, I jogged home and had no discomfort despite weighing a record 245. Actually, I felt more spry than ever. From there I swam laps in the pool.