Deth

I ended up sleeping really well last night. We went to Joy’s and drank, but for some reason I slept straight through the night. I was awake pretty late on my tablet exploring Lemmy, but I felt well rested this morning. I drank my coffee while browsing the web and started debating on whether I wanted to attempt my heavy set of squats today or not.

Around 9:00 AM or so, I settled on giving my squats a try today. Molly’s home so she could watch, and I knew she wanted to. I figured I would see how the warm-up sets felt and judge whether I wanted to go for the lifetime PR or not based on that.

The lighter sets didn’t feel too great today. I just felt like I wasn’t moving that well. Molly said they looked good, or at least the ones she saw when I was up close to two hundred pounds. As they got heavier, they did feel much better to me. Usually, that is the case, though. I’ve always said it feels better to me when I can feel the weight.

The set at two hundred and eighty pounds really felt great to me. The three at that weight were very fast and explosive. Two hundred and eighty pounds is actually my current five-rep max, but the three reps that I did today were so fast and light that I was very hopeful for getting under the heavier weight. Molly said they looked like textbook squats.

I was excited to give the heavy set a try! Today called for one plus reps at three hundred and ten pounds. Unless I’ve forgotten, I don’t believe I have ever been under that weight.

I double-checked that the bar was loaded properly. I realized then that I was running very high on adrenaline. My heart rate was up there, and my mouth was dry and felt a little shaky. I timed it wrong, though, and got under the bar in time for the crash.

The first thing I noticed when I unracked the weight was that it felt good. It didn’t feel heavy on my back at all. That fact alone is a big positive for me.

I failed the squat. My hamstring sort of cramped on the weight up, and right at the sticking point, I pushed the bar slightly forward as my ass shot back. It was still moving, but I dumped it on the safeties. Attempting a lifetime PR attempt is not one of those times when I want to push through. It’s not a time when I wish to allow my technique to degrade. I don’t use a belt or anything like that for squats, so that’s even more reason to be extra careful.

Even though it’s a failed rep in my mind, it’s a gigantic win. I got under the heaviest weight of my life and was not intimidated by it at all. Honestly, when I dumped it, I felt like I could make the rep but chose not to fight it. When you know that it’s best to call it, that’s what you should do.

Music for today was Suffocation.