Monday, January 28, 2008

The wider the base the higher the peak...

After I finished the AAU meet in October I just kind of "worked out" for November and December giving my body a break from the heavy loading etc... Then I decided to hit the ADAU meet with 12 weeks to go (enough time really) but what I am finding is that I have let a lot of mental crap and form changes work their way in to my squat. Like I mentioned in my last blog I have been trying to treat my heavy weights light, my set up and tension are off, my stance has varied, and my legs don't feel like they are recovering well....and so on and so on...

Now I have to keep in mind that I hit a new 5 rm by 10# and hit 475 for two sets of three with a wider stance - but all of that is off of a very narrow base. My last squat cycle the Ryabinyakov was a 15 week routine that put down a very good base so my peak was also good. I tried to short change the peak and jump a level in my squatting.

What I need to do is work on that base with limited heavy days - todays training put it into focus.

Squat 445 x 3, 475 x 1, 405 x 3, 605 x walk out and hold, 405 x 3, 315 x 3 paused

Bench (paused) 225 x 3, 3, 275 x 2, 225 x 3, 10 (set of 10 not paused)

The paused squats need to make a come back to cement my tension and position in the bottom of my squat. Paused benches make for good speed work and tension in the bottom. The walkout and hold was spur of the moment to try to feel some increased tension and weight on the back.

So I will be re-tooling my routine and looking to have more back off and variation in the routine.

4 comments:

Rick & The Family! said...

Brett-

Box squats with different bars has made my raw squat come up by leaps and bounds. My strength out of the hole and my stability is much better now since doing them every week.

-Rick

Brett Jones said...

Rick,
I have never had the chance to hit the box squats - maybe next cycle.

Authentic Strength Training said...

Brett,
You, my good man, have quite a wide base yourself. I have revised and retitled this blog. You had me linked as authentic strength training, and I do sincerely appreciate it.

Will

Joe Sarti said...

Box Squats are in my near future and I am excited to give it a whirl. I like the idea of waving. My experience doing so with Rif has given me great success and my body is not just holding up but feels strong and balanced. the yoga is my nice form of active recovery

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