7.22.10 - Back Squats (wk2) + Tabata

241.8

Strength:
Back Squats
Set 1: 3 reps at 145 (70%)
Set 2: 3 reps at 165 (80%)
Set 3: 7 reps at 185 (90%)

Focused as much as I could on depth, making sure my butt hit the ball so I may not have gotten as many reps as I could have, but that's fine. I'm in this for the long haul - for life. It's funny, it really hit me on my second set (3 reps at 165) how much stronger I am now than when I started CrossFit 8 months ago. Then I think about where I'll be in another 8 months, or this time next year, and I actually feel optimistic. A year from now, I should be under 200 pounds. My back squat will be around 300 and my deadlift should be well over 400. I should be able to Power Clean 180 or better (correctly) and my "Grace" time should be solidly under 6 minutes. Seriously, Grace in under six minutes is fit by anyone's standards. My 3 mile run should be down around 22 mins. My standing press should be better than 170 and my bench should be around 275. I'll be approaching my 41st birthday and I'll be in the best shape of my life.

I'm shifting my focus away from pure strength and more towards building up my endurance. As an example, I would like to get in a back squat workout where I do max reps at something like #145 and then follow that up the next week with max reps at #155. Then in week three go heavy with sets of 3 at 90%. Then maybe deload in week 4. Essentially, what I want to do is take the 5/3/1 concept and lower the loads so that max reps are drastically increased, but then also add in the occasional pure strength gain workout as well. The idea is that the 3rd week workout should lift overall capacity, so that when you start the next cycle at #150, you can equal or exceed the number of reps you did in week 1 of the previous cycle.

On the other hand, the most important thing, long term, is to just keep working on squats in a progressive manner, whether it's with lower loads and more reps or higher loads and fewer reps.

Metcon:
31 burpees followed by:
Tabata
Squats (bottom to bottom)
Kettlebell Swings (#53/#35)
Ring Dips
Push-Ups (static hold)

I didn't count any of the tabata reps. The static hold push-ups went really, really well though.

Food:
Grande Latte
Salad w/lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onions, blue cheese, flank steak
Yogurt mix
Pork Quesadilla
Tall Decaf Latte