December 9, 2015 – Week 9, Day 2

Dynamic Warm-ups

Hatfield Overload Squats
170x5
170x5
270x3
270x3
370x1
370x1
460x1
550x2
600x2
495x5
495x5

Dead Zercher Squats (2” above parallel)
135x1
225x1
315x1
405x1
480x1
520x1
540x1

One Legged Trap Bar Romanian Deadlifts
100x3/3
150x1/1
200x3/3
200x3/3
200x3/3

One Legged 16” Box Squats
bwx5/5
bwx5/5
bwx5/5

Kneeling Cable Abs
110x12
110x12
110x12

32 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Always seems to be something on my mind. More or less just documenting the things for my own. Lower back a tad stiff but thankfully nothing else seemed to be sore or achy. I was excited and nervous about the hatfield squats. I knew the weights were happening. I was excited to do these with j-hooks for my hands again as it feels better but I wasn’t sure if the bruised toe would be an issue. Who know, I may have a hairline fracture or something and squatting in excess of 500lbs may not be the panacea. Right hip felt tight in the hole and I felt slower and heavier on warm-ups then in the past. Maybe getting used to the walkout with j-hooks versus without is enough of change to tweak/throw off my setup. I know I was letting the weight settle more without them and I definitely was carrying that over this session. I think I was also doing that as the good collars are missing. Rep scheme changed; two increasingly heavy doubles and then two sets of five. The doubles weren’t going to be an issue, just a matter of how they felt. Both went surprisingly well. The first could have been easier but I usually find the first working set is usually my last warm-up. Definitely had more reps in me on the heaviest set. The first set of five felt like speed work. Then I relaxed and it was much tougher the second go around haha. Zercher stuff was next. I had hoped I would be done with them but I was wrong. Three singles, more rest. Not sure what is going on but these have felt way tougher than they did that first week when I worked up to a heavy single. Maybe I’ve bent the bar too much as it feels like the weight is rolling out of my arms at the midpoint, making these epic grinders. They don’t look like it but they feel like it haha. I did adjust my stance for the last one as the set before I felt I had my stance too wide and it was bothering my knees during the lift. More trap bar stuff followed. I apparently had been going too easy as the weight jumped up a bit. I had a lot of “false starts” with the working weight on my left leg and maybe one or two with the right. These were quite a bit tougher than they have been in the past and it wasn’t just balance. The next exercise I think was thrown in just make me look stupid at the gym. One legged box squats. I’ve done one legged squats (pistols) in the past when I was about 50lbs lighter but they were always all the way down so this was a change. I wasn’t even sure I could do one. I’d seen a program on tv for robotics where they create a body and then upload a program that attempts to move the body and it learns the best way to move the body over time. This felt like that haha. What I mean is that I got better and more comfortable with each set. I struggled mightily the first set and was acing them (almost) by the end. I know I will be sore in the posterior tomorrow for sure. And probably the next few days too haha. Finished up with cable abs. I’ve used a lot more weight on these in the past so this was very easy. Pulled these fast and rhythmically. Stretched a good bit and then home.