Life has been amazingly, immensely, endlessly FULL. It has, for the most part, been filled with one incredible thing after another (RKC in Italy, HKC in San Diego, pouring wine at the wine festival in Paso Robles for my aunt and uncle's winery, motorcycle modifications and rides); and of course, things not quite so fun, like finals. I also recently started working part time as a receptionist at a medical office, so that will be filling time, as well.
Something very cool happened last week. For whatever reason, I have had a mental block against pressing anything heavier than the 16kg. I was fairly certain it wasn't a matter of lack of strength, because I can do a Get Up with a 32kg, and I can snatch the 24kg relatively easily; I have even snatched the 32kg once. So, I didn't feel it was a matter of not being strong enough. I certainly didn't trust myself to press it, though.
A couple of days after the La Jolla HKC, where I talked about this issue with Franz and Yoana Snideman, and also with a couple of the participants, Doug and I went to the gym. I did a couple of sets of 5 reps of cleans with the 32kg, and a couple of sets of a couple of reps with the 40kg, and looked over at the 20kg. I decided it was small. Upon deciding that, I cleaned it, and pressed it on both my left and right side. I've gotten it consistently since. :)
So, now that I'm home for awhile, my training will be back on track. I still have every intention of deadlifting 400 lbs., and here's how it's going to happen:
-My current 1 rep max is 305 lbs.
- I am going to follow Pavel's "Power to the People" regimen. For those of you who are familiar with the different cycles, I will be following the Flexible Wave Cycle. This means I started with weight that I can easily do 10 reps with. I will then perform 5 reps with this weight for 1 set, go down to 90% of that weight, and do 5 more reps. And that's it, for deadlifts, for the day. Each day, I will increase by 5 pounds.
- To complement the pulls, I am doing presses, as well. I am also GTG with pull ups.
-I will also be doing heavy swings (meaning swings with a kettlebell that is ≥32kg).
So far:
Day 1
DLs: 1x5, 135lbs.
1x5, 120lbs.
MP: 5x1, 20kg
Pull ups:
3x1
Day 2 (missed a day, so I added 10 lbs)
DLs: 1x5, 145 lbs.
1x5, 130 lbs.
MP: 5x1, 20kg
Pull ups:
3x1
Day 3
DLs: 1x5, 185 lbs. (at this point, I figured this was a better starting point for me)
1x5, 165 lbs.
MP: 5x1, 20kg (I attempted the 24kg with my right side after the 3rd set; it went up halfway. I'll have to try it again fresh...)
Pull ups:
3x1
I am very, very excited to see where this takes me. :)
