Sunday, December 09, 2007

2475kg. 15 Reps. 20 Minutes--Plus or Minus.

Or 165kg (363lbs)/3 x5 sets. After Snatches. After Cleans. Hardly anything to brag about, yet, a milestone. It's been at least 3, probably 4 years since I've lifted this.

Depressing.

Joyous.

Exciting.

At least three words to describe how I feel about it.

It went relatively well. My last rep was a little suspect as it felt like something, right glut med maybe, stopped working.

It shouldn't be this hard, though. But, alas, therein lies the joy--overcoming the struggle. I was experiencing a little more mental discomfort than I normally care for as I approached this training session, which I guess can be expected: Over the years, these weights started playing havoc with my nervous system--startle reflex without knowing it.

But tonight, everything felt smooth once I got under that first set. I am experiencing a weird, almost eerie calm during this type of training. I've never experienced it in the past--except of course at the meet last month. Peace of God I guess. I distinctly remember feeling very "grounded" underneath the bar--I could feel my whole foot--both of them--on the floor with even pressure between them throughout the each rep. Very weird. Everything's firing in the order in which I assume it's supposed to fire. And the best part: Pain free. I guess that's why I approached this session, and some previous ones with a little bit of trepidation--because in the past they caused so much pain.

The crazy thing was that this must have been tougher on my CNS than I thought--probably from an emotional perspective--because after dinner, and even throughout really, all I wanted to do was go to sleep.

Addendum.

Today's Monday. Last night I crashed hard. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I've been relatively tired all day and I've been sucking on the B5's.

No major soreness except for the traps. Left glute and right adductor are more sore than the rest of the legs. Sign of a good training session and I know with these types of loads I am really starting to cement my new squat style.

Really looking forward to tomorrow's training. Starting to think about the next cycle too. Perhaps I'll switch over to FSQs and I'm going to throw in some Snatch-grip DLs. Can't seem to mix these with the heavy BSQs--yet.

4 Comments:

Blogger Brett Jones said...

I would follow the back squat cycle to your goal of 405 x 3 and let the full cleans work your front squat for now - and congrats on the 5 minutes rest - you still need to rest a bit more to catch up with me but you are getting there ;)

11:46 AM  
Blogger Geoff Neupert said...

Yeah, I plan to follow this cycle up to 405/3, then switch. Looking forward to the long rest periods. Miss those.

3:20 PM  
Blogger Mike T Nelson said...

For Brett, Rif, Geoff or anyone really--do you find as you do more Z and focus on the 4EEs, that you can not tolerate as much volume?

I was looking back at my old training journals and since starting Z, the overall volume I can do is less; although my adaptation is better (increased strength) and my movement is exponentially better.

My initial thoughts are that with less arthrokinetic reflex (less "neuro breaking") you are operating more efficiently and tapping further into the amount of muscle tissue that you can recruit; thus creating a larger inroad into your recovery abilities?

Although in the past my external stress level was much less than currently too and my movement sucked completely in the past; so those are huge factors also.

Rock on
Mike N

5:48 PM  
Blogger Geoff Neupert said...

Mike,

Yes, at first. As my body has adapted I've been able to tolerate a little more. But with that increase comes a larger increase in size and strength, at least in my case.

2:01 PM  

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