Lifting at the Purdue Rec Center is a blessing and curse. It has many machines, benches and racks, so pretty much everything I need to lift. Its a curse because there are a lot of “noobies” in the gym that don’t know enough to help you when need be. Luckily, I have my Purdue Barbell members I can count on to be there. Today I got in the gym earlier than I usually do, around 9:30 AM. Its always a battle for me to get up and go to the gym when I could stay in my warm bed, but I did it anyway. Ethan and I start with warm ups and went straight into our working sets. We did have the help of Heejung and Cody to help wrap and spot which was very nice.
Today didn’t go as planned. I started out with my last warm-up of 420lb. Easy money. Jumped to 450 lb. No problem. I decided to go straight to 480 lb. Everything felt good. The wraps were on point and felt tight. I squatted it and got out of the hole just fine, but I knew right when I got stuck what my problem was. I have always had trouble setting my upper back and that is something I really need to work on when I get under the bar. I need to pinch my back together as hard as I can and bend the bar, but I wasn’t thinking, so the weight pitched me forward causing my back to lose tightness. That’s how it goes sometimes and I’ll be sure to focus on that next time. Still confident that I can smoke it. I didn’t end up taking a third attempt against bands because Heejung and Cody had to leave, so we called it there.
I”ll live to fight another day.
A1) Competition Squat (wraps) – Last Warm Up x1; 420
Opener x2x1; 450
Then keep taking singles up to the heaviest
single you can WITHOUT MISSING (this does not have to be a PR, should be near a second-third attempt); 480
Then take projected Third Attempt with reverse mini bands
B1) Close Stance Pause Squat – 3×5 (RPE 8) (225,235.245)
C1) Walking Lunges – 3×12 per leg
D1) Leg Extensions – 3×15
E1) Wtd Decline Sit Ups – Work up to a hard set of 10
