Thursday - heavy squat

Wednesday - deadlift night

this was supposed to be doing mid 400's for 3 sets of 4 tonite, but pulls are rough when my back is acting funny like this. I will not give whatever is going on back there any attention. I've always felt the best way to come back from injuries is to do the most you can right away within reason. Monday nigh squatst had bad news written all over it, but tonite i wanted to see what i could do without too much discomfort.

warm up - everyone else does the warm up Paul gave me, after Willies max every day program, I've been trying a few different things
-back raises, Dimitri recomends these big time
-bodyweight squats till things didn't hurt too much
-kettlebell swings - i think i do these fine, i just squeeze my butt, and i think i feel my glutes a lot better while i'm squatting.
- reverse barbell curls - brachials are feeling fine and under control lately
-ankle stretches... Sarah Leighton told me she finds it harder to hit depth when her calves are tight, then Megan Told me the same thing,.. so I started to stretch them a fair bit

barx a bunch
135x a bunch - just warming up until I feel kinda close to poition
185-
225x4-5 not really keeping count, but feeling like position is coming better each time
275- everything seemed to stay in the right place after watching the video
315- just stayed tight like crazy for this one, my squat don't usually loosed up all the way till after this

then did around 100 bodyweight squats in sets of 20 while watching all the guys. Being hurt makes it a ton easier to coach, when I'm lifting I find it hard to be helping out the guys. It's one of the reasons I take a lot of videos, I watch what i can during the lift, then I usually grab the guy and play him the video, and we chat quick about any changes for next set. I find showing them what's happening, they are a ton more aware then me trying to explain... which I'm really not smart enough to be able to do well. I also will generally watch the videos on a larger screen that night, to get a better sense of what's going on. Also helps me to see any dumb coaching moves I made... I started screwing Erics elbows on a set and totally screwed him up when he was squatting beautifully before I said anything. My bad.

Thursday - heavy squat night
I was supposed to do low 400\s for 4 sets of 4 tonite, backs been feeling better, and I think one of the reasons is just from being fairly physically active during the day. Sitting or laying for extended periods ruins me. I felt truly horrible all day after taking an old school ripped freak and just having a splitting headache... threw the bottle out, not the first time that's happened. But I made a deal to go in and warm up, then decide what to do.

warm up went really well so I went:
bar
135- not bad
225- not hard to hold position back noticeable
315- feeling fine
365- belt on, felt decent, then after the set felt totally normal, as I usually did during the Willie max out program. Nothing felt out of place during the set, mistimed a rep at the end but nothing serious.
405- fell forward on the 3rd rep, i think mostly just from having a bit of doubt. All the other reps looked fine, and much better speed with 405 then anything i've done in a while. I take it for a good sign, but stopped there as the squats felt good, everything was in place, so if I'm going to get tight overnite, I'd rather have my body get tight after doing reps with no twisting or favoring.

I missed a session with Dimitri this week, but I'll be seeing him tomorrow, and i think after this my hips should be back where they're supposed to be, my left leg that was extremely tight to the point where I could barely straighten it and my kneecap was sore to touch during the Willie program, but it's feeling a lot more even and equal with the right leg now which I think is going to be very important for the next push.

The boys had a big in their ass to max this week, so I let them, then dropped them down for reps really drilling in form as best we could. Cam and Ohri are still going head to head, tho I'm going to slow Ohri down next week, his form is off, and he's tight in the wrong spots... we're going to switch his pull to sumo, his squat is gorgeous, and he's gotta back off bench till his shoulder is feeling better. Cam is pissed about his first meet, which I love, and he's already pumping hard, he told me tonite the meet is only "9 weeks away"... he's going to make big progress. Jeremy amazes me with how technical he's becoming. His bench presses are great, and his squats have just become so smooth and flowing it blows me away every time I watch him.

Every night in the gym these days are good ones.