Day 2 of 30 And Feeling "Hungry"...

I have 30 training sessions to fit in before this meet. Being older and hopefully wiser, my training is a lot different than it used to be:

1. Training off daily RPE: I know what my percentages should be for a competition cycle so I'm trying to make the RPE match the percentage on a scale of 1-10, for example, 70% is an RPE of 7. This will hopefully produce a natural "rhythm" to my training that I can study and learn from in order to set up future cycles.
   
2. Respecting that weightlifting is truly a Power sport supported by Maximum Strength and adjusting the rest periods accordingly: In the past, I'd "challenge" myself to make my training sessions "tougher" by using inappropriate rest periods, anywhere from as low as 45s to 120s. Part of this was brought on by my first weightlifting coach who never allowed us to rest longer than 2 minutes because that's all you have in a weightlifting meet if you have to "follow" yourself, or take two attempts in a row. This was a mistake and led more often than not to burnout and/or injury. Looking back on my college days when I was "ox strong," and 250+lbs, I always trained with a rest period of between 3 and 5 minutes. Sounds familiar, doesn't it, Party members? Now, I'm training with 5 minutes of rest between sets. Around 3 minutes in, I can't wait for the next set. And if I want conditioning, I'll just put a complex or chain together, as long as it gets me under the bar.
   
3. Training for the sport of weightlifting, not just hitting numbers in the gym: Because I didn't have a platform in the past, I trained with iron on concrete, so I never had any room for error getting under the bar, or so I thought. Who really knows for sure? The point is now I have my own platform and weightlifting is about getting under the bar. Now I'm forcing myself to get under. Also in the past, the right knee was a serious issue, so going under wasn't very fun. Now it's remedied. Inevitably, I trained to hit numbers in the gym and less to learn how my body was working. Z has fixed that. I'm much more in tune with the feedback my body is giving me.
4. Leaving the training session "hungry:" In the past, if I came up short in a session, I saw it as a personal insult to my psyche, so I would push myself that much harder, often attempting lifts (and completing them) I had no business attempting. That too led to burnout and/or injury. Now I'm making it a point to feel like I can do more but leave instead of doing more. This ensures I'll come back. Tonight's training session was a case in point: Snatch DL to 5 Rep Training Max of 150kg. RPE 6/7. If I pushed it, possibly 180kg. But why? It's the start of the cycle. My goal is to train 6 sessions per week and accumulate as much positive chunking under the bar as possible. The Back Squat was the old monster who came to visit: 140kg for a 5 Rep Training Max (5TM--5RM is a full on "all you can lift for 5 reps"--TM is what you "feel" like going up to). It was surprisingly heavy and the groove was all but absent. I was a little discouraged--in my prime I could hit that for 25 reps...Then the monster wanted to do battle: Stay and fight and hit 145kg/150kg and prove to myself I could do it or just walk away. I talked myself "down" and walked away, fresh, knowing that I probably need more warm-ups next time, and wanting there to be a next time.

The next 28 training sessions will be exciting for sure. I'm looking forward to learning even more in that time frame.