My Twenty Rep Back Squats Were Tough Today But They're Done
I didn’t get nearly enough sleep last night. We didn’t put in the air conditioner for one, so it was maybe a bit warm. The other thing that messed up my sleep is I had a fucked up dream and have been awake since 3:00 AM. It wasn’t a bad dream or anything like that, but just a fucked up one. It was so nonsensical that I’ve had a sort of puzzled feeling in the back of my mind since then.
The other non-ideal thing about me doing a WOD or lifting today is the fact that my legs still feel like dead weight. Perhaps not quite as bad as the past couple of days, but I’m still not fully recovered. Perhaps I’m not eating enough, well, I’m convinced that’s a big factor.
Finally, I decided to go ahead and get my weekly twenty reps back squats done. I am getting up there in weight with the squats now, for sure. The 235 pounds I had to do today was just five pounds under my max from last time around on these high rep squats.
The warm-up felt mentally challenging. Not impossible, but just sort of like my legs were saying we really don’t feel like doing this today. I allowed myself a little extra rest between the sets.
Once I got to my working set, as soon as I walked out the weight it felt heavy and my legs were telling me nope. In the back of my mind, I knew I could do it. I just didn’t feel like it. I could almost hear our old Crossfit coach Steph saying, “Carl, don’t be a bitch. You got this all day. One rep at a time”.
That’s precisely how I approached this heavy weight for today. I took it one rep at a time. I took my time to reset my core for each rep, as it’s heavy, and I’m not really feeling it. No need for sloppy reps at this weight that could easily lead to injuries and rest days, which I don’t like.
I did complete my twenty reps with zero issues at all. As the set went on they actually felt a little better as I guess my legs were getting convinced to just do it and then they can be done. The video actually showed me that they were, in fact, nice solid looking, if not great looking, consistent squats. No lapse in my form, so that’s the thing I’m the happiest about.
It is days like today that are my favorite ones to be out in the garage gym. Obviously, it being a successful day is a big part of that. The thing that drives me most about days such as this is the mental aspect of it. It’s like I overcame my doubts by believing in myself and knowing exactly what I am capable of and how to push my body to do that. It’s the pushing out of my comfort zone that drives me to want to keep going and truly enjoy my fitness journey.
My music for the squats was Augury.