Week 13 (Rest Week) - Day 36A
Today's my first day of recovery. I decided on lower volume and intensity for this week because I felt that my body wasn't recovering fast enough to keep my going workout to workout. In addition, mentally I was very exhausted, motivation was very low when going to the gym. I've also decided to force deload my squats because I feel as though my form has deteriorated to the point where, if I continue doing what I'm doing, I would most likely end up injuring myself very badly.
I arrived to the gym much earlier than usual so I took my time with my warm-ups. Squats felt relatively light compared to the 230 I was rocking a week ago. I felt pain in my lower left back area when warming up and all throughout my sets. Benching was a bit heavy as I decided to continue progressing on the lift but with just recovery volume, 3x3. I think the problem with my technique is that I'm not benching straight down and straight up. I noticed that I shift the bar a lot when pressing the weight, usually shifting the bar to the right a bit. Also, I think I need to find the correct bar width grip. Many times, I think I may be gripping to narrow and therefore flaring my elbows when pressing. For some reason, when I engage my back into a powerlifter arch, it seems as though the lift becomes significantly easier. I think this has a lot to do with lifting stabilization. When I start from a flat back, I don't really engage my lats and upper back and stabilize, lending to my wobbly press when I press up. Coinciding with this effect is that, I'm not using as much of chest as I want to and instead I feel my biceps and shoulder being worked and due to imbalance, my right side gets worked a bit more. Rows were pretty heavy. I tried using the hook grip and it did wonders for my gripping strength. I can definitely see many people screwing their thumb up though using the hook grip. I'm not sure if I will continue using the grip, but I think this would be the appropriate time to invest in some lifting straps. It really does suck that the gym doesn't allow chalk use.
Warm-ups:
3 x 10 Shoulder dislocations
3 x 15 sec. Doorway pec stretch
3 x 10 Leg swings
3 x 20 sec. static Squat stretch
Squats:
2 x 5 x Bar
5 x 135
3 x 155
3 x 3 x 185
Bench:
2 x 5 x Bar
5 x 95
3 x 115
3 x 3 x 135
Rows:
5 x 95
3 x 115
2 x 135
3 x 3 x 150
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