Week 6 – Madcow5x5 – Day 16B

Squat:

5 x 135 5 x 160 5 x 190 5 x 190

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-18eqBGzuC4]

Not bad.  I think I may have rushed a bit too much though and did the negative way too fast causing my left side to lean forward.  Other than this little tidbit, the rest of it was pretty breezy.

Press:

5 x 55 5 x 65 5 x 75 5 x 85

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8S4uywfM4s]

Not bad.   Again, used a wider grip than shoulder width.  From what I remember reading from the Stronglifts archive on proper Overhand Press technique, I recall Mehdi mentioning that I should re-position my elbows forward after each rep.  I believe this was a method to ensure that my elbows didn't flare out and to engage the shoulders much more.  This made the lift a headache for me because re-positioning my elbow forward would mean that my forearms would come to out to an angle and not perpendicular to the floor.  Doesn't this reduce power transfer?  Lately, I've been avoiding the repositioning of the elbow forward all together and just trying to press straight up and down making sure my forearms are perpendicular to the floor.  I've also widened my grip.  Seems to be helping.

Deadlift:

5 x 155 5 x 190 5 x 225 5 x 250

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC3jH6VRB8o]

Not bad (there seems to be a pattern here...).  These weren't bad.  Ended up using alternating (pronate-supinate) on the remaining 4 reps of the 3rd set; my grip was failing me and I didn't want my back to round because of it.

Accessories:

Situps - 32/26/17:  Basically did as many as I can in 1 minute.  Pretty exhausted by the third set.

Pullups - 4/3/3:  Fairly pathetic...  Going to do chin-ups.  Google'd rippetoe and pull-ups and came up with a search result where rippetoe suggests use of the chin-ups as it engages pretty much the same back muscles and lats, but puts more stress on the biceps.  Who doesn't want that?