I think I've reached a turning point... at least in my squat

After remembering a snippet I read in one of Westside Barbell's articles (this one: http://www.westside-barbell.com/westside-articles/PDF.Files/04PDF/Box%20Squatting.pdf), I recall it said that basically as a lifter gets more experienced at a movement, their first rep will be the best, and subsequent reps aren't as good.
Conversely, lower-skilled lifters use the first rep as a body awareness tool, so their later reps are better.

Now I'm not for a second comparing myself to the Westside lifters in terms of strength, but I think that particular idea is quite interesting.

I feel that I've reached a kind of turning point in the squat, now that I've maintained the same form for quite a while with no injuries. In my last few squat sessions, I have been noticing that indeed my first rep is the best. I believe that I can attribute this to my love of low reps (3 and under) as this gives practice on the first rep. Obviously it's the first rep that counts in powerlifting.

I've also found what actually makes my squat increase - high intensity, high frequency and low volume. In fact, I believe that in the three weeks before my most recent meet, I put 10kg on my squat.

In other news, I really, really like this picture.

Something else I'm starting is behind-the-neck presses. Essentially, I had this idea today or yesterday. I found an old pool cue in a skip, so I salvaged it. And so for the next week, I'll be doing loads of behind the neck pressing with the cue, just to make sure I have the shoulder mobility when it comes to adding weight this weekend. I'm already noticing my traps working just as hard as my shoulders when I do them. Good sign, I suppose, that I'm doing them right and squeezing the scaps.

Woof.

I'll leave you motherfuckers with some music. I really rate Emmure, though they're not sludge metal. Either way, they get me ready to kick some major ass. I think they have an album coming out soon-ish, so look out for it.

Lift hard.

Meet Results - 22nd April

This post is pretty much lifted word-for-word from my log over on T-Nation.

MEET RESULTS - 22nd April 2012 

Arrived at just after 9am, and weighed in at 81.9kg. I could have been lighter, but I had a particularly stubborn dump that refused to move until after I'd weighed in lol. This is 1kg lighter than my last meet in November. This was an unequipped meet. 

Warmed up for squats at about 11:30-12:00. 

40kg x5 
60kg x3 
80kg x2 
100kg x1 

1st attempt: 120kg - fast and easy, 3 whites. In the meet. 

2nd attempt: 132.5kg - another fast and easy one, 3 whites. Opened up a new bottle of Nose Tork which was obnoxiously strong. 

3rd attempt: 145kg - actually decent, 3 whites. 5kg raw PR, 12.5kg meet PR. Very happy with this, moved quick without stalling. Had at least 5kg more in me. 


Bench 

50kg x5 
50kg x3 
60kg x2 
80kg x1 

The ref was giving extra long pauses, unfortunately. 

1st attempt: 90kg - miss, 2 red/1 white. I lifted my head off the bench, but the weight itself was easy. Just a technicality. Actually this is the first time I've ever missed an opener. 

2nd attempt: 97.5kg - fast, 3 whites. In the meet. 

3rd attempt: 105kg - good, 2 whites/1 red. Head just came off the bench but went straight back down, and luckily only one judge saw it. Weight itself moved great, no stalling. 2.5kg PR. Had about 3-4kg more in me. Shoulder work has paid off. 


Deadlift 

70kg x3 
90kg x2 
110kg x1 
130kg x1 

1st attempt: 150kg - good, 3 whites. No problems here. 

2nd attempt: 160kg - again, great. 3 whites. 

3rd attempt: 170kg - after liberal use of Nose Tork, ripped it up quickly without stalling for 3 more white lights. 5kg conventional PR, matched all-time PR. I had at least 5kg more in me. 


Total: 420kg (20kg raw PR, 17.5kg all-time PR). 

I'm buzzing with my performance today, went 8/9 with all good 3rd attempts. Unfortunately no-one was taking videos, so no videos to put up here. 

I had a caffeine + other stims shake in between each lift, so my energy levels remained sky high throughout. 

I'm going to have an easier week, then right back into heavy training.

I can take a few lessons away from this last training cycle: - High frequency, high intensity squatting is working well for me at the moment. Programming this over the next few months will be a lot more difficult though, due to lack of access to a bar through the week. At least I know what works now. - Olympic squatting has improved my strength out of the hole and general leg strength and size. - Heavy overhead work is da bomb. - I need to train my hamstrings harder and heavier, and plan out a decent deadlift cycle based on my strengths and weaknesses. - I also need more ab work - Especially with pulling, I notice a big strength increase when I put on my belt. - Finally I will incorporate more rowing movements in my next cycle, to put a bit of mass on the upper back. Apologies to my very few readers for not writing anything for a while - I pretty much had nothing to write about.