Week14 - Day38A - Got Milk?

Weight:  186.8 lbs Duration:  10:57am - 1:15pm

I decided to stick with StrongLifts for now and milk as much out of it as I can.  My weights will be monitored pretty carefully- I'm not trying to train until failure because at the point of failure, I feel like my technique is no longer there.  My preference is to maintain good technique over attempting to push more reps to failure where I could potentially injure myself.  For this reason, I'm basically going to go for 1+ sets of 5 on the squat.  The weights are all pretty heavy so I'm basically going to do it by feel.  Bench press is still improving, I don't feel a need to drop down to 3 sets just yet.  The same goes for the rows.

Soon enough, I'm going to start sprinkling in some conditioning into the mix.  I'm not sure where I'd like to start.  Ideally, I would like to perform conditioning for a short period post workout 15-20 minutes, not on rest days.   Adding conditioning will no doubt affect my recovery times on the lifts and my numbers may drop a bit.

Squats:  3x5xBar + 5x100 + 3x125 + 2x150 + 1x175 + 1x205 + 2x5x220

Decided to do 2 sets instead of just the one on the top set.

Bench:  3x5xBar + 5x75 + 3x95 + 1x115 + 5x5x135

Decided to go up in weight anyway instead of doing 130 again since I failed on a few reps last A workout.  Finished the 5 top sets pretty strong.  Gave myself ample rest time, but not too long.  Grip was slightly wider than usual.  My middle fingers were on the knurling.

Rows:  5x85 + 3x105 + 1x125 + 5x5x145

I stuck with the same weights.  Using a different form, I was able to have less difficulty and also engage more upper back and biceps in the lift.  Typically, my stance and grip has been fairly narrow.  Feet are about shoulder width and the hand grip is pretty much on the outside of my shins, kind of like a narrow bench.  Today, I tried a wider stance as well as wider grip placement.  My index finger when gripping the bar was about 1.5-2inches away from the knurling.  Basically, the stance was close to how someone would prep their snatch lift, minus the snatch.  This effectively shortens the distance the bar had to travel and at the same time, I definitely felt a lot more upper back and bicep recruitment on the lift and less quads.  My form looked pretty good from the side mirror, but again, I'll have to record to really be sure.

Accessories:** **DB Rows:  8x50 + 2x8x60 DB Incline:  3x8x45 Dips:  8/7.5/4

Changing things up a bit.  I minimized the amount of accessory work here.  Instead, I'm incorporating more exercises that complement my core lifts or train weak points in my core lifts.  I know for a fact that my bench has always been weak so I kept the dumbbell incline and dips.  The 45s on the incline were very easy, I will most likely press 50s next time.  To complement the pushing, I did some dumbbell rows to add some pulling into the mix.  50s felt pretty light.  60s were slightly more demanding so I stuck with them.  Next time, I will probably do 60s across and work my way up in weight from there.  Dips weren't bad.  I split up the reps a bit more evenly and am going for 8 across 3 sets.