Log - Tues., 8/10/10

Workout:

running - morning

2 miles in 16:09. 

weights - evening - 5/3/1 Cycle 2 Day 9

power clean, 135 - 3x3
deadlift, 5/3/1
 - 315x5
 - 355x3
 - 395x6 (474 - PR)
front squat, 145 - 3x8

Comments:

The run was spur-of-the-moment.  I slept terribly, but was up with the kids too long to go back to sleep at all before work.  So I did a "fast" two miles.  Amazingly, that would have felt very fast a few months ago, but even after a month off (due to my hamstring), that 16:09 was a breeze.  With a better warmup, I think I could have approached 15:00.  I was pretty tight.

That deadlift felt amazing.  I went in thinking, "I need two reps, that's all."  The first was easy.  So was the second.  Well, neither was easy, but neither felt like I had only one more in me, either.  After the sixth, I was jubilant, and I think I held it too long, beaming.  Otherwise, I might have even had a seventh in me.  Who cares, I nailed it.

This is a big increase in weight - my tested max was 405 - and I attribute this to two things.  First, I'm now using a real deadlift bar, and while I cannot explain why the flexibility makes a difference, it does.  The lift is simply more comfortable.  Second, my technique has dramatically improved.  I'm "over" the bar more, if that makes sense, engaging my lats more, and the leverages simply all feel better.  I have very high hopes for this lift.  I'm still a long way from pulling 500, but it's looking realistic.  Very realistic.