11 Weeks Out from XPC Finals @ The Arnold Classic
For max effort day this week Matt Smith suggested doing some squats into chains slightly above parallel with some heavier weights to work on my biggest weakness with my squat: setup and unrack while staying upright. We repeated singles at each weight until I got it right, and focused on hammering home keeping the upper back tight and arched during the unrack, and staying upright as I sat back into the squat. I had a few reps where I made the same mistake of rounding forward as I unracked it, and missed 780 the first time because of this. I went back and unracked correctly, getting 780 the second time with no problems. This was a great movement for me to work on my positioning, and we're going to repeat the same movement with slightly lower chains 8 weeks out and 4 weeks out. I was happy with 780lbs, especially after doing quite a few singles and not using knee wraps. My best squat is 750, and I'm confident that if I can continue to improve positioning and setup a PR is in the works.
A. Standing Pull-Down Ab Warm-Up - 3x20
B. Squats into Chains in Metal Jack Squatter - Singles up to 780lbs
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEi8UW-MOpw]
Work sets: 690x2x1, 730x2x1, 780x1
C. Reverse Hypers - 4x15
D. Standing Pull-Down Abs (heavy) - 4x10
Recovery Workout (the next day):
A. Seated Exercise Bike - 5 mins
B. 45 degree back extension - 50 reps
C. Lying hamstring curl machine - 50 reps
D. Seated adductor machine - 50 reps
E. Leg extension machine - 50 reps
F. Hanging leg raises - 3x12
^I've begun doing these recovery workouts on my off-days after reading some good reminders from Chad Aichs.
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