Even Keel 1 (Circuit A)
<60 min, 96kg
WARM UP
Ski machine: 8 min.
Stretching, etc.
SQ: 9, 6, 3 @ 100kg, 115kg, 130kg
BP: 9, 6, 4 @ 75kg, 85kg, 90kg
SDL: 7, 4, 4 @ 110kg, 117.5kg, 125kg
PU: 12, 10*, 5** @ bdw, bdw + 7.5kg, bdw + 20kg
Press: 9, 6, 5 @ 38kg, 45.5kg, 52kg
Seated “plank” cable curl: 10, 8, 10 @ 27kg, 36kg, 45kg
“COOL DOWN”
db IBP: 10, 6, 6* @ 36kg, 40.5kg, 45kg
Tonight was an extemely “mental” workout. The A Circuit of my Even Keel regimen is simply more grueling than the B Circuit. I was nervous many times during the day––partially because I was imaging for the workout, partially because my wife feels she's ready to pop… hello, newborn! When I got to the gym, I felt totally uninpsired. I just did not want to workout. But I checked my data again from my previous A workout, ate some mouthfuls of honey, drank some water, and got on the ski machine, my mewling dread be damned.
It was also annoying that the students from the Phys. Ed. College powerlifting team were there again. So I had to work in on the SQ. There was also a huge guy doing DL, so I had to work in on that. And of course there was the “pec bouncer” (as I call him) on the BP, so I had to work in on that, too. C'est la vie, I know, I'm just saying it didn't boost my mental game.
I guess I knew, in a psychosomatic, pre-verbal way, that my SQ was going to be a new plateau for me, at least in this new season of weightlifting. And it was an epoch. For the first time in a long time, I can feel a little stiffness in my lower cervical spine, from the weight of the bar, and I could feel the ache of my legs after each set of SQ. Not pain, mind you, just a good threshing of the body.
A not insignificant mental deterrent was the fact that the students were squatting more than I was, albeit not always ass-to-grass (ATG). So I had to block out the carpings of my ego, state my weight, and just get under the bar to do what I knew I had to do for my own goals. An interesting aspect of this mind game, however, is that the students all used knee wraps, which I perhaps only tonight realized are to be wrapped so tightly that one cannot really bend one's knees while walking. According to this article, wraps can add as much as 10% to your SQ, so it was hearteaning to know I went “raw”––no wraps, no bands, and ATG on every rep.
I also felt a bit shaky on the BP, since I went heavier on my first two “run up” sets than I normally do. Getting 4 reps at 90kg on set 3, even with a little spotter help, was good enough for tonight.
The SDL was also frustrating, since I had to block out once more the egotistical urge to lift more than I wanted to, given the fact that “the big guy” was lifting, at one point, perhaps 200kg. Now, he used straps and was doing straight DL, while I was using a snatch grip and only used some chalk on my 3rd set. The SDL realls is humbling. The angle removes about four of your ten fingers from the grip, so it's hard to activate complete exertion for the lift itself. This weakness is based on a neurological reflex which inhibits full motor flexing given an insecure grip on an object (sort of like the”anticipatory” adjustment mechanism discussed in this (PDF) paper). The problem is parallel to squatting in “squishy” shoes or on an unstable surface. Your body just will not “commit” to moving so much weight if basic effector units feel compromised.
Anyway.
I had to re-adjust my grip on my 2nd and 3rd sets, and when I finished, the leader of the powerlifting pack advised me to use his wrist straps. “Next time,” I told him. The problem is not how much can I DL as such, since, if I used straps, I know I could put on another 30kg. The problem, rather, is that I prefer to let my grip catch up with my DL, at least until I get to a truly massive DL.
The basic problem is that I felt out of place tonight. Even using my chalk, I felt skittish, wiping it up as fastidiously as I'd seen the powerlifting kids do so a week before. But I want a gym where chalk is already on the plates, on the bars, on the floor! In due time…!
The press felt very solid, and I think I'm definitely approaching an APR (all-time personal record). … SCANNING… No, scratch that: I see that in April 2011, I finished with 6 reps at 65kg! Sometimes I even surprise myself.
PU were just wacky tonight, and another instance of me facing the urge to alter my parameters in light of what other guys were doing. Two guys, namely, were doing weighted PU, and I felt chummy enough to get into the mix. Of course both of them used straps. One guy, very lean and solid, did an impressive number of close-grip PU at bdw + 20kg. His buddy did partial PU with up to 35kg on the chain! Now, I'm all for pushing to new heights, but at the end of the day, I still believe the most basic test of PU ability is a wide-handle, strap-free PU with full range of motion and only “natural” kipping. By the 3rd set, I could barely do a 5-second negative, much less do a single rep. Still, it was nice to have “the buddy” spot me on my 2nd set and exchange thumbs up all around.
Lastly, I tried a new exercise tonight, perhaps of my own devising. It's basically a cable curl in which you sit on the floor, as if doing a cable row, but the key is to rest a plank of wood on your stomach and your triceps on the plank. This makes it as effective a concentration curl as the preacher bench, but removes that annoying lull at the top, since the cable keeps constant tension on your arms. It was also interesting to note how much space I had to curl into a good squeeze, sometimes curling all the way up to my forehead. This supine cable curl also seems mighty nice.
I threw in the powerset of db IBP just to give my chest, once again, that much more love.
All in all, I had a good workout, and need some days off before going back. Maybe by then I'll have held my daughter!
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