Despite being pretty tired from yesterday, I was psyched to go to the gym this morning. Today's WOD was to find a 1RM for your back squat, and it had been a very long time since I had tested my back squat. I have generally been underwhelming when it comes to my squats. I have good flexibility and can get solid depth on them, but I tend to get stuck midway when I try to stand up with heavier weights. It has been frustrating hitting a plateau while athlete after athlete either surpasses 300 pounds on their back squat or moves towards eclipsing that mark faster than I will. During last summer, I began a long front squat program that worked out well for me, but it really just moved my front squat PR eerily close to my back squat PR. Last I checked, there should be some gap between those two numbers.
My goal for today was 285, even though my PR was only 270. My front squat had improved 15 pounds and I felt like I was close on the final attempts that I failed on. And really, that has been my problem. The weight hasn't felt unbearable, I just keep getting stuck. Generally that's a sign that my sucky form is holding me back.
With the gym jam-packed for the 10am session, we worked in groups. I worked with Cline, who told me that his PR was 210. We moved through the warmups pretty quickly and started working towards PRs. Both of us experienced a weight along the way that made us think "ugh, we are not PRing today", but as we increased the weights, it seemed more reasonable that we could hit our marks. I had no doubt that Cline was breaking 210 as his reps from 185-205 looked very smooth. Not sure how mine looked, but it wasn't until 265 that I had any trouble. Cline put on 220, had a little pause at the bottom, but stood up no problem, and called it a day with a 10 pound PR. I tried out 275, had a tiny struggle again, but made it. As we were told to wrap up our squats for the cash out, I decided to give 285 a whirl. There was a split-second when it felt like I had gotten past that point where I normally got stuck, but I was just spinning my wheels. I soon learned that my bailing technique is very good, which includes (according to Alison) "a cute hop". At least I can do something right! It was a little disappointing not getting 285, but it's not everyday that you get a PR, and I felt pretty optimistic that I could get 285 given a few more tries.
That positive experience faded from memory quickly when we did the cash out. Today's cash-out was a sit-up rep scheme of 25-20-15-10-5, with 10 pull-ups following the completion of each round of sit-ups. And what has two thumbs and can't do pull-ups? This guy! (I know you can't see me, but I actually did the "this guy" thing as I wrote this.) I mean, look at this:
What the hell is going on there? It's like I gave myself a chest wedgie.
Needless to say, the cash out did not go well. Finishing last isn't out of the ordinary for me, but finishing several minutes after everyone else in what was essentially a sprint? Embarrassing.
So some serious time is going to need to be spent on pull-ups, because flailing around like I have been just isn't cutting it. I'm not sure how fast that progress will be (likely answer: not very fast), but I can't continue to be as incredibly inept at pull-ups as I have been.
Tomorrow will mark the first open gym that I have been able to attend in quite a while. It is a safe bet that pull-ups will be on the agenda. Not sure what else just yet.
WAY TO GO DAVE!!
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