Deth

It’s somewhat cool how it worked out that my last programmed strength session worked out to fall on December 31st. Realistically, doing strength every other day it had a fifty percent chance of occurring, but I like that I didn’t have to finagle the days to make it work out. I guess it starting on January first would have been cool too, but I like that I was able to end this clusterfuck of a year on a good note.

The actually lifting today felt and went great.

The squats today were a pretty moderate weight at 215 pounds, but they felt great and very fast. I worked through them with minimal rest and minimal breathing between reps. That’s going to end probably next week as the weight’s start getting towards the heavy side, but I will continue for not working through them as fast as I feel I safely can. I was thrilled with how my five sets of five back squats went today.

The strict presses were a moderate 107 pounds, and they felt excellent today. The video shows the same, and Molly said they looked exquisite, and she was watching. I am not sure what has really happened with these, but they seemed to have clicked and taken a big step towards better technique. I was back up to the two extra sets for a total of five sets of five today, since I felt better today.

Finally, I had deadlifts. Deadlifts are basically my nemesis lift that I have always had a tough mental block with. Early on when learning them, my back tended to be rounded naturally, and I was well aware of it. It didn’t change, and I wasn’t pulling with my back, but at the same time I knew it wasn’t ideal. That hasn’t really been an issue in a long time, though, but it’s still in the back of my mind for every single lift. I am getting used to using my 2pood belt now to help feel the position. I’m thinking that it’s going to be a good, long overdue, investment. For the deadlifts, I did five triples at 255. It’s a moderate weight, but in a few weeks it will get real for sure.

A little while later, we did the SHIFT version of today’s WOD. It was a bunch of hang power snatches with a dumbbell and unweighted step-ups. I briefly considered scaling the weight up to 50 pounds to give it a try, but then I remembered my shoulders are toast from the long ass row yesterday. Well, really, it’s everything that’s shot. That’s one of the reasons I did the SHIFT WOD. I would rather not do a 24 minute AMRAP today or weighted step-ups, considering the row yesterday plus the fact that I did my lifting this morning. The WOD went fast and easy. The hang snatches were easy at the 40 pounds I ultimately decided to use. That was the part I went faster at. Due to vision the step-ups were a bit slower but at least they weren’t as slow as they are every so often. If the lighting isn’t just right for me, any form of step-ups can be a nightmare for me. I do them still, but slowly.

Music for the strength and workout was Illogicist.