Zen and the Art of Back Squatting

     This video is old but it's a bit of a classic so I thought I'd post it here for you to check out.  It's a little better than 2 minutes long but, if you're like me and have the attention span of a fruit fly, the real action is between about :35-:50 seconds.  Check it out....I'll wait....

     Fortunately I managed to avoid that today.  For the record, I actually am hoping to avoid having any of my lifts or workouts end up on YouTube.  Although, in all fairness, he was trying for a 1008 lb squat.  That's half a ton people!!  There's also a note in the original posting that says that after all of this, he actually tried the lift again!!  I'm not sure if that's indicative of having the heart of a lion or the brain of a lion.  Either way it's pretty impressive.

     Before I get to the results from today's training allow me to give a little back story.  Back in May of last year Justin and I set about trying to improve my back squat, with the goal of getting it to at least 250lb (114kg).  I started off with a PR of 105kg and it was just barely parallel.  Seriously...allowing me to count that rep was extremely generous.  Over the coarse of about 6 weeks we hit it pretty hard and managed to make huge strides with the quality of my back squat.  I went from just barely parallel to a true, full, ass-to-grass squat.  However, when we re-tested I saw literally no improvement in my numbers.  I failed at 114, 111 and 109kg attempts and was completely demoralized.  Justin managed to talk me down from the ledge (something that he's actually gotten pretty good at over the past year or so) and we moved on.  Fast forward a few months to October 2011.  After returning from the OPTathalon I started a strength cycle working with some of the real heavyweights at WCCF.  Something about this cycle clicked with me and I started to feel more comfortable under heavier weights (again, it's more mental than physical sometimes) and I took my then 108kg PR all the way up to 118kg (keep in mind that I weigh about 70kg).  This cycle is the first time since then that I've tried any squats in the upper percentages of my new 1RM, starting with last week's 85% day.  The one I wrote about here.  Today was a real test though and I'm happy to say that I totally passed!

SERIES 1

back squat: 90-95% x 2 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes
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airdyne - 4-6 minutes easy

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depth jump over hurdle: 8-8; rest 4 minutes (drop from 12" box)
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airdyne - 8-10 minutes easy
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SERIES 2

back squat: 90-95% x 2 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes
+
airdyne - 4-6 minutes easy

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depth jump over hurdle: 8-8; rest 4 minutes (drop from 12" box)

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3 sets:
12 glute ham raise

15 ghd sit-up
rest 2 minutes

     Both Series 1 and Series 2 back squats were 112kg x 2 x 2.  Hitting 247lbs 8 times felt like a huge victory, especially since none of the reps were ever in doubt.  I was able to stay focused and push through the sticking points with relative ease.  300lb squat- you will be mine, oh yes, you will be mine!!

     Series 1 of the depth jumps were 31" x 8 and then 34" x 8, dropping from a 12" box.  I did both sets of Series 2 over the 34" hurdle x 8.  These felt great as well and I worked on springing out of the drop and exploding over the hurdle.  It's hard to explain, but it felt right.   

     

Arnold wasn't watching me squat today but he would have been pretty impressed if he were.