Saturday 11.10: Smolov squats

Saturday. Smolov, back squat 5x7 (125kg).

Today we were in no hurry at all so we slept till midday, it felt heavenly to get some rest for this body. I slept something like 11+ hours =) regular weekday sleep is around 7 hours so this was a real pampering. We decided to hit it downtown for a date night wit Pauliina and eventually I had time to sneak in some Smolov in the afternoon. Got time only for squatting.

Strength.

• Smolov, back squat 5x7 (125kg)

I thought to myself how the heck am I going to nail these squats. It would be 125kg on the barbell and it stood 7's for a total of 5 sets in my notes. Then I comforted my mind by thinking I was able to complete similar sets last week with 120kg. Those were tough for sure back then but I tired convince me of being able to go for these as there was only a 5kg difference.

I climbed up to the set weight by doing some empty barbell squats and then random reps at 60, 90, and 115kg weights. Pause squats and regular reps too. I figured having 1-5 reps with these lighter loads would get me ready for the upcoming challenge.

I realized the cruelty of this day on the very first set. First reps brought me back to reality as I noticed how heavy the weights were. Last 2 reps on each set were as challenging as they were about a week ago when I did similar reps / sets last time.

I still don't know how I managed to pull these off as my legs were jello after 2 sets. Those were tough! It was a mental game all the way. The first set was so heavy I was thinking how hopeless it felt. On the second set the 5th reps was a real battle (you'll see it in the video) and I thought about racking the bar. My legs barely go the 5th rep up but after inhaling and exhaling a bit I decided to give it a shot and nailed the last 2 reps too.

After that I decided to do some crosstrainer for recovery between sets. Just slow pace, keeping the legs moving and active so they wouldn't get all jammed up. I wanna believe that helped a little. After 3 full sets I convinced my head we are always past the midway so just man up and do your thing. I went and did. And felt superb after having done all 5 sets!