Tonight was interesting. I didn't feel great all day, not sick but low energy and lethargic. But I decided when I got to the gym I was going to see if I could front squat more than anyone else there. Which admittedly isn't very much, at 365, but I thought I could do it, easily, even on a bad day. I was wrong. I also pulled sumo but we'll save that for later.
Regarding front squats, I've written a couple times before about this, but I have truly terrible ankle mobility as a result of 10-15 severe ankle sprains on both sides, and another ~10 not as severe on both sides, mostly sustained during my illustrious high school basketball days. Without lifting shoes on, I can barely get enough ankle movement to squat low bar; I need 3/4" heels to high bar, and can't really get upright enough to front squat properly without a heel of about 3-4", which is obviously impractical for other reasons.
So when I front squat, even with my highest heeled shoes, I still need to lean over more than is ideal to make depth and the bar is forward of mid-foot. Because of this, I can't really front squat enough weight to make it a worthwhile lift to generate a stimulus, so I don't do it. Other than messing around, I haven't front squatted in 5-6 years. Despite this, I thought I still might be strong enough to squat 370 and beat the gym PR of 365. And I probably am, but have been not squatting long enough now that between not front squatting at all for 5-6 years and only squatting twice after 10 weeks off completely, I wasn't able to do it today. Still, it was a fun thing to do.
Front Squat
95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x2, 265x2, 295x2 - beltless
315x1, 335x1, 355xF - 3" belt
225x1, 275x1, 315x1 - beltless
Notes: The 355 miss was me just not preparing properly and then wussing out. I worked back up but had run out of motivation and gas by then so stopped after coming back to 315..
Press
165x5, 185x5 - beltless
200x5x2, 205x5 @8.75 - belt
190x5 @8.5 - beltless
Notes: Pretty solid, not much of note except that pressing after front squats is a little harder than after high bar or low bar. Front squats tax the pressing musculature more, and I felt the fatigue. But no problems.
Chins
BWx5, BW+8KGx5, BW+12KGx4, BW+16KGx3, BW+43x2, BW+48x2, BW+24KGx2, BW+45x3, BW+35x3, BW+12KGx4, BW+8KGx5
=38 reps, 33 weighted
Sumo DL
190x3, 225x3, 265x3, 315x2, 345x1, 365x1, 385x1, 405x2
Notes: My back has continued to bother me when trying to deadlift so tried pulling a relatively narrow sumo to see how it felt. It was better, though not perfect. #pullsumoeatbutt