Week 18 - Day 51B

Squats felt unusually heavy.  First day of first deload since my volume drop to 3x5.  I definitely engaged my back, glutes and hamstrings more when I shoved my knees outward and pointed my toes out.  Press was not too bad, proper form definitely made the lift more difficult and really felt it in my shoulders.  Deadlifts were heavy as hell.  My grip was failing on my last warm-up 1 rep set.  Alternating grip was used with my right hand facing up.  I think I definitely rounded my back on the last and maybe even the second to last rep so I'm considering this as my first deadlift stall.  I'm thinking of purchasing an Inzer Forever Lever Belt.  I'm just not sure what thickness is optimal for my goals.  Accessories were pretty easy except for the pull-up.  I decided to do wide grip pull-ups instead of close-grip to emphasize work for my lats and back.  Treadmill was pretty easy.  I'm going to start doing HIIT instead of steady-state endurance work to speed up the fat loss.  Combined with my lower caloric intake, I think my sessions will start becoming tougher and tougher.  I weighed in at 175.6 today.  Hopefully the weight loss is mostly fat and not muscle.

Squats:

2 x 5 x 45 5 x 145 3 x 165 2 x 185 3 x 5 x 205

Press:

5 x 45 3 x 55 2 x 65 3 x 5 x 75

Deadlift: 

5 x 155 3 x 185 2 x 225 1 x 265 4 x 290

Accessories:

4/3/2 x Wide-grip Pull-ups 3 x 45 sec. Planks 15 min. x 5.5/5.0 spd treadmill