Training update: Short Timing To Meet Training

ast week was deload for the 5/3/1 program, had a deload squat sesh, skipped the deload bench sesh, and I managed to convince myself that "deload" deadlift day surely meant "dynamic effort" deadlift day. At first, I was reasonably convinced that it was just going to be a rep day, and as mentioned in the last sesh report, I had already decided on working toward getting hips more involved. If you track what happens biomechanically in a sumo pull versus a conventional pull, this generally means working the feet a little further out BUT I didn't want them as wide as I had initially had them set when starting with sumo pulls. 

"Skip a bit, brother..."

Here, listen to this

At any rate, according to the standard program the deload top set was supposed to be a set of five at 225lbs

HOWEVER

being apparently bored and easily swayed by peer pressure - Austin's fault, and maybe a preworkout isn't necessary on deload days - went ahead and pulled out the band platform for the deathlifts and added some doubled over EliteFTS orange Pro micro mini bands. Since we were adding bands, might as well do them in the dynamic fashion and, instead of a single set of five, go ahead and knock out eight sets of three with short rests between. True dynamic fashion, at least how we typically run it, would see you with less than 60 second rests between sets but as this was a deload (and deadlifts, to boot) I went with enough time to check form on video and grab some water between most sets.

Fun stuffs. Almost makes me want to rewrite the program to give deathlifts their own day in the block periodization scheme, but too late for that now.  Maybe gearing up for the next one after November's meet, probably April at earliest.

C'est la vie.

Sooooooooooo... this week was supposed to see the start of a new cycle of 5/3/1

HOWEVER

I went back the other day to look at my programming for my upcoming meet and tracked it backward from the meet date on my calendar. After doing so I realized that, based on a three day per week lifting schedule, my meet training actually needs to start this upcoming Monday, 29 July, not 09 August or so like I originally had mapped out.

And I got a little giddy.

As an aside - it's kind of a sad commentary on the current state of things when you go to do a Google image search for "schoolgirl", as in "giddy as a schoolgirl", and the results come back more suited to "naughty schoolgirl". I found out, though, that if you search for "giddy as a schoolgirl" instead, this image is among them:

And of that I approve. It makes me giddy as a schoolgirl.

What. The. Crap.

Anyhoo, looks like this couldn't happen at a better time, because I am apparently getting bored with 5/3/1. Don't get me wrong- 5/3/1 is a great program that I wholeheartedly believe in and will run again when not prepping for a meet. It does, however, get a bit monotonous, especially when you start remembering things like bands and chains and specialty bars and start to cave into your own programming ADD. Of course, you can program 5/3/1 for specialty bars, swap movements, etc, as it is a very flexible program, I just heart me some block periodization.

But I digress.

A few days later it was time to squat. Having decided to go off program and having caught the scent of the upcoming program, I decided to try something else out- getting back to squatting wide(ish) in my Chucks. Despite my recent mobility concerns, this didn't go as bad as expected. I did manage to expose some imbalances and technique fixes that need to be made, but aside from some mobility work that needs to be done this was halfway decent.

Here's an earlier video in the sesh.

Yeah, the camera is not set properly level, so it looks like I am leaning way right BUT I am actually leaning a little right- note the more closed knee angle on the right side, the higher grip, etc. My left shoulder is the injured side, and you can tell the shoulder is tighter as it is physically higher than my right- that plus tight hips is probably most of the imbalance there.

A little later on in the sesh -

Side view on a little later set - 

Hard to tell, but I got my feet set out a little wider, balance is a little better left to right. The left shoulder still tight and a little high, still need to get a little lower into proper parallel. There's also a little front to back motion that needs to be eliminated.

And just a touch of... BUTT WINK... DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Work to do. Mobility work to do. But David already knew that.

Stay tuned and destroy.