AGH MY ABS
Oh, and agh my palms.
The Short Bands arrived, and I've decided I should probably just do light speed pulls every week anyway. I may alternate chains and bands, or something.
Unfortunately, the short band setup has been somewhat difficult, because I want tension at the bottom. I managed to rig something up with 3 DBs and 2 25lb plates per side, but that gnawed through two layers of latex (fortunately, the ones I used are cheap and easy to replace - not to mention the fact that I will, hopefully, be using the next size up soon). I've decided to get some of the smaller DBs from the machine room, choke the bands are those, use 25s or 45s to add extra weight, and support the plates with the hex DBs. Basically the same setup, but easier on the material.
Box Squats w/ Lights:
4x155, 5x165, 1x175, 2x165
Yeah, just recording sets here and ignoring the warmups. Spent a fair bit of time talking to Alex, but my rest periods were down around 90 seconds each time, so whatever.
I've found that I lose drive if I push my knees out properly at the bottom; I'll have to take some frontal shots to see how far my knees go out with the good drive and where they are when I push them further...though pushing them further probably can't hurt.
Oh, right, new set of lights. These ones are the same length and the same thickness, and will be my dedicated squatting pair; the other 3 lights will be used for recovery and accessory work.
Speed Pulls w/ Monster Mini Shorts:
8x155
Various setup attempts. Alex thinks I should be a CivE or MechE, given the stuff I rigged up; I disagree, on the utterly arbitrary basis that I'm a BioE and don't know what CivE really is what MechE really gets used for, though I frankly think I'd find the latter fascinating now that I'm willing to go hands-on and actually BUILD shit.
I've found that I can at least reduce the lumbar lockout effect by really squeezing my glutes at the top; not sure if I got the upper back position working, though.
Deficit Deads w/ 225:
8, 8, 6
Yeah, uh.
Let's go ahead and increase the weight on this.
Lockout Holds w/ 275:
3 holds of about 20 seconds each
I figured I should probably do something to bring my grip up, since I'm pretty set on pulling 400 in the next two training cycles.
Swiss Ball Rollouts:
Attempted on feet; switched to knees and did something around 6x10 with various numbers of pads beneath my knees.
My abs now cramp up when I sneeze.
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