Today was a squat day at Apollon.
The exercise was a free squat with 3 chains. Since I don't have my Metal Canvas squat suit yet, I decided to work in some old gear so I know I have something that will work if the canvas doesn't pan out. I selected my Ace Squatter and a Pro brief, both with the bottom seam cut off. I wore these when I was bigger, and always had trouble hitting depth in the Ace. I figured that now that I am smaller, I could make it work.
Here's how I worked up:
Bar x a few
150 x 5
Added chain x 1
260 x 1
Put my Pro brief on. It slipped on like an old pair of shorts, lol. I knew it wouldn't give me much, but based on my previous problems with depth in the Ace, I figured that this might not be a bad thing.
350 x 1
Put my Ace suit bottom on.
440 x 1 - hit depth on my first set.
490 x 1
530 x 1
580 x 1
Hit depth on all of my sets, and while this combo wasn't giving me a ton of support, it allowed my form to be dead on and consistent. Since I am just getting back into gear, this was a good day. I have a full cycle to get my strength back, but if I can't perform the lifts correctly, then what's the point?
I was really happy with this session so far.
By the way the gear felt during the squat work, it occurred to me that this might be a good combination for the deadlift. So I decided to do some sumo pulling as a second movement. Our girls were deadlifting while we squatted, so I started working in with them as they were finishing up.
I went
315 x 1
405 x 1
495 x 1
545 x 1
The 545 was nice and quick, even though I haven't even pulled in gear in about 5 months. In fact, the last time I did, it was with this weight and I looked like shit. Today I felt great! No back pain whatsoever, and I felt like I had over 600 in me.
Of course, as soon as I pulled the 545, Paper jumped right in and doubled it raw just to be a bastard, but I'm so far ahead of where I was just a month ago, I didn't care.
Finished with reverse hypers and incline situps, then to was off to Five Guys. My weight has been consistently in the 207-208 range in the mornings, so I'm bumping my carbs and calories way up on Sundays to help recover from the squats and prepare for bench the following day. Still staying strict the rest of the week, I'd like to remain at this bodyweight for a while, but see if I can improve my body composition.