Still training

So I haven't fallen off the bandwagon in regards to training -- just with the updates. :)

I have increased the weight each workout by 5 lbs. as planned, and just deadlifted 225 lbs. x 5 on Friday (which felt easy). I've taken the weekend off, and will be deadlifting again tomorrow. There's going to be a deadlifting competition at the gym Doug and I train at this Saturday, so I think I might do it just for the heck of it, and for the experience.

That's pretty much all there is to say right now. Lata!

I think I found my quads...

But I didn't know I'd lost them.

Day 4

DL: 1x5, 190 lbs.
1x5, 170 lbs.

MP: 3x1, 20kg

Pull ups: 3x1


Day 5 (My lifts felt weak today; I took the weekend off after this to recover)

DL: 1x5, 195 lbs.
1x5, 175 lbs.

MP: 2x1, 10kg
Swings: 3x15 32kg

Day 6 (Here is where I made an interesting connection)

DL: 1x5, 200 lbs.
1x5, 185 lbs.

MP: 3x1, 20kg
Swings: 3x15 40kg


So it occurred to me while I was walking up to the bar to dead lift it that, sometimes, one rep will feel significantly easier to me than, say, the one immediately prior to it. I know that my deadlift form is good, but there was obviously something that was changing ever so slightly between reps.

I found the following:
- I learned to deadlift with my gaze down and in front of me, with a neutral spine. If I raise my gaze up a few degrees, so that my neck is in slight extension, my lift is stronger.
- My focus is in my heels so much, that I forget about my toes. They never leave the ground, but I don't root my entire foot with my intentions. When I grip the ground with my entire foot, my lift is stronger. Perhaps an obvious one, but I've found that my intention alone has made a huge difference -- like when I grip the ground with my toes, my quads fire much, much more. Strange as it may sound, I've never really thought about my quads when deadlifting; I've always lifted from my glutes. I'm curious to see what happens now...