Coming from two strong guys who are also great coaches - thanks, always means a lot.
Today was a mixed bag - some good, some not as good. But overall feel good coming out of it.
Squats
45x5x2, 155x5, 240x4, 325x2, 390x5x4, 375x5. Rested about 5 mins between the first three sets, then more like 6-7 for the last two.
I had trouble staying tight and not getting forward on a bunch of reps today, but got em all done and none felt "hard." I suspect it was fatigue left over from squatting the heavy singles on Saturday, instead of Friday, so I'm not too worried. For the same reason, I backed off again on the last set to 375, and it was the easiest of the 5 sets. Total volume was 150 more lbs than last week's VD, whereas a normal addition of 5lbs to the work sets adds 125. I thought that was appropriate, considering the 385 last week was a conservative start to account for the time lost because of the storm. Aggressive, but not stupidly so.
Bench Press
45x5, 135x5, 195x3, 255x2, 305x5x5. Rested 4-5 mins between sets.
Chose 305 for my first 5x5 bench day. It's about 90% of my 5RM, and my bench has been responding very well so felt OK being aggressive. All 5 sets were solid - none hard, none easier than expected.
Rack Pulls
275x4, 385x2, 465x1, 545x5, 595x1
I just smoked these. The 545 was so easy I felt like I needed to ride the wave, so threw on a pair of 25s on each side, waited 5 minuted, and then smoked 595 as well. 545 tied the most I've ever held in my hands (a failed 545 DL 3rd attempt at the May meet). 595 was a whole new territory but I got SQUOZE as Steve says, and just out and out smoked it. It felt great, especially considering this was after my 5x5 squats, 5x5 bench, and 5 rep rack pulls at programmed weight. If I can get 600 to my knees at the meet, I should have no trouble locking it out.
Rack Pull Videos Below. As usual, please excuse the 1. Offensive commercial gym music 2. Fact that I rack pull off of group-x class steps. They're the best option where I lift, don't judge. 3. Excited squeal "woo-hoo!" from the trainer who took the vid. Same trainer who took the 440x5 squat vid the other week. She's young and has a lot of potential, so I'm trying to bring her into the lifting fold a bit. Unsuccessful thus far, but I did get another new trainer interested today, who is a former gymnast, so that could be interesting as well. Anyway, video with bad music and girly squeal below:
545x5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19qiJ...ature=youtu.be
595x1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnJslYnu2U0&feature=youtu.be