Not this last week but the week before that I had a lot of things get in the way of training. Tuesday May 22nd was good but I missed the following two sessions due to chores, laziness and other crap. I have been toying with my program for 2-3 weeks now making excuses for not nailing down my squat at 285. I did 290 for 4 but I feel like I have more in me I just need to eat plenty and get after it. So I did. This week I reset my squat to 275 and hit three workouts and I nailed 3 sets of 5 at 285. The last rep was a real grind. But the last time I had a grind like that it was at 280 so I certainly improved. Sometimes there is no excuse and you just have to get things done. I got stuff done this week.
Tuesday
Squat 275 3x5
Bench Press 230 3x5
Deadlift 345 1x4.8
I got 4 solid reps but the 5th rep didn't get locked out all the way. I'll hit this weight again next week.
Thursday
Squat 280 3x5
Press 155 3x5
Chins BW 3x5
RDL 160 3x10
Saturday
Squat 285 3x5 Oh Ya!!!
Bench Press 235 3x5
Chins BW 3x5
Here is a video of my recent Deadlift and Squat PRs. The deadlift was done in the evening when I can control the music (Dropkick Murphy's). The squat was done on a Saturday afternoon with my daughter watching "Mighty Machines" in the background. I think its great that my kids appreciate the awesomeness of heavy machinery like bulldozers and skid-steers but the "voices" they use for the different pieces of equipment didn't quite capture the moment of my squat PR. Whatever.
http://youtu.be/QQoLPXgKB48
If you watched the video you notice I don't even get my knees all the way out over my toes. This is from my severe in flexibility. In some ways it serves me well because a lot of people have trouble getting their knees too far out. I also think it makes my squat a bit more hip dominant which really helps drive up my deadlift.On the other hand I can't front squat because of the flexibility issue so I don't have plans for Olympic lifting in the near future. Perhaps I'll learn the split clean and split snatch. Not really a concern now.
I have tried stretching it in the past and it just led to really really really bad pain the next day. It inflamed everything near my ankle. My doc basically told me the lack of cartilage in the anterior portion of my ankle joint makes dorsiflexion really hard. This is the precise area that is described as osteoarthritic. I can do the lifts I really care about right now and I walk around mostly pain free if I ice it at night and take my ibuprofen. So it could be worse.