Lifting for 1-31-11

Squat:
5 @ 45 lbs, 4 @ 95 lbs, 3 @ 135 lbs, 2 @ 165 lbs
3×5 @ 185 lbs

Bench Press:
5 @ 45 lbs, 4 @ 95 lbs, 3 @ 125 lbs
5, 5, 4 @ 150 lbs

Deadlift
5 @ 135 lbs, 4 @ 225 lbs, 2 @ 275 lbs
5 @ 305 lbs (PR, new 5RM)

Barbell Row
3 @ 135 lbs
5, 4, 4 @ 155 lbs (+5 lbs)

difficulty: medium

Long day. Late for class this morning. Showered. Went to work, was in full food safety audit mode. We’re expecting one soon, that is. Came home, ate. Got groceries, hit the gym. Wasn’t entirely in the mood to go, but once I got there, I felt like I had a lot of energy.

Squats felt spot-on today. I’ll slowly work my way up starting next workout.

Added a rep to bench. Third rep of last set was slightly wonky. I think I lost my tightness slightly. Grinded it out. Fourth rep was fine.

Felt really good through my deadlift warm-ups. I knew I was going to nail it. Which I did. How I feel through those warms correlate strongly with how my work set ends up going. Next workout will be 315 lbs, my previous 1RM. Yeah, going to skip 310 lbs. There’s no point. I can pull 315, I might as well get the mental block of pulling it as a 5RM out of the way. If it’s particularly slow or it takes a workout or two, I’ll slow my increments then.

Added a single warm-up to my rows. Previously, I would strip the bar down to my row workset, then rest. Here, I strip to 135 lbs, do the warm-up, then add the weight to the work set. So, I’m not really adding any time to my workout.

Despite what felt like liberal rest periods, total time including cooldown was only 65 minutes. Got to thinking about a post or two saying that starting strength was “too taxing”. Really? Seriously? Sure, there’s going to be days when lifting heavy is going to kick your ass. But that’s why you rest liberally until you feel ready, and maybe a little more.