New squat rack ordered

Today I ordered a new squat rack, with the all-important “spotter catcher” feature. My only concern is the low price, but I looks very sturdy and has the right measurements. The price is even less than the belt I ordered yesterday! With this and my the new belt, I’ll feel much safer when training and hopefully the weights will go up too.

Today I simply repeated yesterday’s workout:

• Squat: 77.5 kg × 5 reps × 3 sets
• Bench press: 57.5 kg × 5 reps + 3 sets
• Deadlift: 92.5 kg × 5 reps × 1 set

The squat felt about the same as yesterday – just brutally heavy. I’m glad I didn’t go for 80. The bench felt surprisingly easy in the first set, but by the third set, I still didn’t dare to go for any extra reps. I considered going for 95 kg in the deadlift, and I used the slightly heavier warm-up weights for 95 kg. But as I got to 90, I realized even 92.5 would be really hard today.

That was a good lesson: by using the warm-up set weights for the next weight without increasing the working set weight, you get a level of intensity between the two workout set weights – if that makes any sense…

Squat: 77.5 kg

Today was the first time I did three full sets at my new squat weight. It’s so heavy I have to pause between almost every rep, so I probably won’t move up to 80 kg before I’ve been doing 77.5 kg a few times. I’m also glad that today’s workout was a complete SS workout. I’ve been straying a bit from the programme lately.

Since my two day streak earlier this week, the thights (in particular) have felt harder and bigger than ever. So whatever SS says, I think I’ll repeat this whenever it feels right, and not worry so much about overtrainig and recovery.

Today I finally ordered a weightlifting belt – the Inzer Forever Lever Belt. It will cost $200, most of which is shipping. It’s an awful lot of money for a belt, but it will be worth it if I keep lifting regularly.

And today’s workout:

• Squat: 77.5 kg × 5 reps × 3 sets
• Bench press: 57.5 kg × 5 reps + 3 sets
• Deadlift: 92.5 kg × 5 reps × 1 set

The squat weight is just right. I can probably do more, but I’ll keep on the safe side as long as I don’t have the option of failing a squat rep. My bench press progression is still on a standstill. I’ve had a few attempts at 60, but it almost killed me.

Today I reached my personal best of 92.5 kg in the deadlift. It was many weeks now since I made that record, so I’m glad to be back. And I did more deadlifting that I had planned today. After my warmup sets, I messed up when loading the weights and loaded a slightly lower weight, so I had to do it all again with the actual 92.5 kg I had planned.

Two workouts

Monday and Tuesday this week have been workout days so far. I got inspired by the “squat every day” meme, and decided to add overhead press today. Monday’s workout:

• Squat: 75 kg × 5 reps × 3 sets
• Bench press: 57.5 kg × 5 reps + 3 sets
• Deadlift: 90 kg × 6 reps × 1 set

Tuesday’s workout:

• Squat: 75 kg × 5 reps × 1 set + 77.5 kg × 5 reps × 2 sets
• Overhead press: 35 kg × 5 + 4 + 3 reps