In the pursuit of strength

Warmup: ME, airsquats, 30 situps, 10 pushups.

Workout:
Back squat:
5 X 45# warmup
5x3:45-50-50
21x1:30#
5x1:60#

Bench press:
10 x 45# warmup - plus 4-5 extra to work on grip placement.
5x3: 55-60-60
21x2: 30-45

cashout:
a couple forward roll attempts, a handstand attempt, some static hold work, some single leg box steps, some knees to chest/elbows work.

Comments:
Today was day one of the new strength cycle. It was supposed to be a 'warm-up' week, but I really wanted more of a workout today, so I didn't take it as easy as maybe I could/should have.

Despite being light, my squats are still crap. I'd say my form is better than it was, but it is still not solid. I'm not really sure where I'm losing it. There are just a lot of moving pieces, and my compromised nervous system has a very hard time keeping track of everything all at once. Knees out, chest up, core tight, keep the lumbar arch, use both legs equally, get to the right depth, don't plunge into the hole, etc. It's a lot to hold onto. Sometimes I keep it all straight (rep 1). A lot of the time one thing or the other falls apart(rep 2-5 :-p ).

I probably didn't go heavy enough with my set of 21. I probably should just have used the empty bar, but it seemed kind of ridiculous since I was struggling to get a solid 5 reps with 50#. At any rate, once I was finished with it, I wasn't quite ready to be finished with back squats, so I did an extra set of 55#. It actually felt pretty solid and went pretty well.

Bench press is different. This movement actually feels pretty strong, and I can clearly see the gains I have made in my arm strength. I warmed up with 10 reps of the empty bar. It went very well. It seemed silly to be benching more than I was squatting, but other than that strangeness, there was no reason not to work with 55 or even 60# on the bench. I started with 55, and it was easy. Round 3 was 60# and it was challenging, but still solid. I stuck with 60# for round 3 and it was much more challenging, but there was no danger of failure.

I definitely did not go heavy enough for my set of 21 the first time through. I opted to use a 30# body bar, and for the first 10-15 reps it felt as if it weight nothing. The last 5 or 6 reps felt a little burn-y, but it was too easy. So Daniel convinced me to try it with the 45# bar. "Just see how many you can get". I (barely) managed to get 21! :-) That felt good - or at least it did once I was done. My right arm was threatening to just quit pressing for the last 4 reps. If I hadn't just done 21 of the 30# bar it would probably have been no problem. But it's great knowing that I managed to do 21 consecutive reps tonight of a weight I could barely even lift a year ago.

Afterwards, I tried a few forward rolls as a progression exercise for handstands. These make me SUPER dizzy. uncomfortably light headed. I hate them. The last time I tried them I was fending off a migraine so i thought that's what was causing the dizziness, but I have no such excuse today, and it's disorienting and uncomfortable, and it makes me angry. I did not have the wherewithal today to push through the discomfort and the fear, so i left Daniel practicing them and went to work on other stuff.

Sleep:
11:23 - 7:45 - over 8 hours! Only got up once - around 5:15, and even thought to let the cat out before he could start getting obnoxious. I can, in fact, learn from past experience ;-)<

Food
8:30 - 3 egg cheesy scramble with 2 pieces turkey bacon. yum! 12 oz coffee w 2/3 cup 2% milk.
1:15 - cottage cheese, almonds & cinnamon
failed to eat lunch again - damn inventory should be done soon, i hope)
5:15 - 2.5 oz spiced cashews
8:00 - 1 bowl orange curry - w/ chicken, and cashews, 16 oz milk
9:15 - 1 multiv, 2 glucosamine, 4 omega-3
11:00 - 2 zma