Day 1 – Squat/Deadlift

Saturday 3/14/2015

Back Squat (belt and knee sleeves)

• Warm Ups:  10×45;  5×135;  3×225;  1×275;  1×315,  1×365,  1×405,  1×455
• Work Sets:  1×485,  3×435

4 inch Cambered Bar Goodmorning (Paused on Pins)

• Warm Ups:  5×135,  3×185,  1×225,  
• Work Set:  6×255    Watch Here: Goodmorning Video
  

Conditioning:

• 3 Rounds as fast as possible:  20 Weighted Step Ups (10L/10R), 10 Decline Sit Ups

Step 1 on this process back to respectable competitive performance is garnering some idea of where the hell I am at.  I really have not lifted much at all since last year.  In the first 2.5 months of 2015, I’ve probably had 4-5 serious training sessions, and a handful of “blow off” workouts.  It’s been fairly pathetic. My goal for today was to work up to a heavy-ish single on the squat and then do a back off set at 90%.  485 actually went up decently easy and I think I left a little on the bar. But its been such a long time since I’ve squatted heavy (probably 3-4 months) that I just didn’t want to push it and get injured going for an all out max.  

I’m still feeling out my plan for the meet, but I’m thinking the good ole paused goodmorning is going to be a staple lift after I get done with my heavy squats.  For goodmornings, I now use a 4-inch cambered bar- one that was originally designed for bench pressing.  This thing is the best for goodmornings, as it completely eliminates the annoying and often painful, tendency for the barbell to roll up your back into the base of your neck.  I take goodmornings DEEP, setting the pins where I feel a tremendous stretch on my hamstrings.  

Volume today was minimal, partly because I don’t feel like I need excessive volume to progress and partly because I’m dreading the next few days of attempting to walk after not having squatted heavy in several months!