training week Oct 17-21

Monday Light squat (Light squats also means high bar)
375 3 sets of 4
- these felt pretty good, and I really worked on dropping until I hit bottom, and coming up hard, elbows forward, big chest and treating every rep like it was 500.
-there's still something going on with my left leg, some kind of imbalance or soemthing like that. I'm missing something, and looking forward to getting it figured out.

Pin squats
515 for 3 sets of 4
-I do these very knees forward and drop straight down, and oh man are they hard. I actually missed my reps on my 3rd set, only getting 2, then my good friend Dash, who's also 6'' shorter than me did a rep off my pin to rack it. I love these challenges that the guys throw down, and I love stepping up to take them on. I took the 10's off each side, threw on the quarters, and did a double. Thanks again my friend.

Chin ups
5x10 - i think I only did 3 as I was fairly messed up afterwards.

Tuesday - bench
245,265,270 for 4 reps each
- I still don't understand the program, but these weren't hard at all, just really working on speed and solid technique each rep.

Floor press
- aborted when my shoulder just about ripped off.

flys 40 for 5 sets of 10 - these were actually pretty hard as well

Wednesday - deadlift
440 for 4 sets of 4
- I'm still wrapping my head around not going nuts all the time, and still amazed when I get my ass kicked by these weights. Something i did was to really get it off the floor in good position, then straighten my legs hard and fast, and this really got me past my knees well, and kept the bar very close to my body, instead of having it further out where i lose my pulls.

I told Cameron that if he couldn't pull 435 for his set after this i was going to Zercher squat it from the floor. He missed it, then I did a PR zercher squat with no warm up. I almost passed out when i was locking it and just let it drop.

Rack pulls
610 for 4 sets of 4
- first set good, second set was brutal. I didn't get all my sets or reps, but I was extremely happy with my form, and I'm starting to understand neutral back. I've been yelled at to arch over and over... and it's just been the wrong cue. I went back and watched Willies pulls, and noticed how he didn't so much arch, as straighten his entire torso, and lock it, even his head. This was back when he pulled 683 at 2010 CPF Nats... or 2009, can't remember. But I think I'm on the right track there.

Chins

Thursday - heavy squat
-this was a very annoying workout. None of the guys were training together, everyone was doing their own thing, and this slowed training down like crazy, rest periods were fucked, and I was losing concentration. I eventually just asked for spots and that made all the difference. I prefer to squat no spot and just dump if I get into trouble, but having the boys right there really helped me focus.

410 for 4sets of 4
-didn't stay as uprigtht as last week, which I feel was my shoulder, and not being able to pull my elbows forward. I was going deeper than last week, and felt a ton more comfortable, altho Megans feedback was that I looked hesitant... which I think she meant I was descending then dropping instead of making it smooth. I'd like to just drop from the top, but I'll need to build to that, as if I go slow, I'll never get out of the hole with my second and third attempts. well, I might not.

Good morning.
250 for 5x5 - these aren't fun, and I don't know if i was going deep enough

Chins

Friday - heavy bench
-had to miss this session as I flew to Atlanta for a Visalus conference. My glute med has been spasming the entire time, giving me some pretty annoying sciatic nerve pain that runs right down to my calves... sitting for hours at a time hasn't been fun, but I've tried a few different things to get it under control. I made up for this workout in the hotel gym, which actually wasn't horrible, and I feel a lot better than doing nothing at all.

This wasn't a perfect week, but it was a very good week, and I'm very happy with my form changes and overall execution. I'm looking forward to this week coming up, I'll likely skip Mondays workout if I need to, just to get back onto the same page as everyone else. I think that's more important than missing a workout.