Training 12-17-07

A well-intentioned guy at the gym approached Token Asian Roommate and I as we were Pressing and advised us to go from the top of our heads to just before lockout to better "work our shoulders" and not give the muslce a break or "push the range of motion too far." He was a really nice guy and only wanted to help us out, so I told him I was grateful for his advice, but I was going to keep on Pressing all the way from my chest to full extension overhead. I'm not quite sure if we made a new gym friend or just convinced this guy that we're a couple of punk kids who don't know what we're talking about. If we made a new friend, maybe we can eventually convince him that full range of motion is a good thing!

Week 4, Day 1

Squat
5 x 5 x 235

Press
5 x 5 x 125

Power Clean
6 x 3 x 135

Bent Over Barbell Row
4 x 5 x 165
4 x 165

I figured out low bar position on Squat! The high bar had been feeling a bit unbalanced as the weight increased, so I decided to give it a go and found the bar position on my posterior deltoids almost instantly. I'm psyched -- using this position should help keep my form good and my base strong as the weight increases. 240 next time.

Beginning of a Press deload here. Tried to focus on form, and it was a bit inconsistent. I want to do some overhead situps tomorrow to get that "pushing through" feeling that I should have at lockout down.

Power Clean was also inconsistent. For the first 3 sets I was trying to avoid re-scraping my leg (no blood on the bar, please!), so form suffered. The next 2 sets were much better because I focused on keeping the bar close to my body. Racking on the last set suffered thanks to fatigue. Keep it at 135 until my form is better.

The first 3 reps on all sets of Bent Rows were good, and the last 2 were usually questionable. Fatigue builds quickly for me on these, apparently. Get that 5x5 next time!